Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast. Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

This is my first time speaking in 2022, and it happens to be here with you.

I don't know if that's significant. I don't know if God's trying to tell me there's a Texan inside of me, y'all.

I don't know if I'm about to get cowboy boots for my birthday this year. I don't know, but I am thrilled and I'm honored that it's with you guys.

And I have a word I believe from the Holy Spirit for this house.

The first conference at the Gateway Church family.

A conference that is put there because we want to give God the first.

We want to give Him the first of our attention, the first of our offering, the first of our devotion, the first in our love, the first in our gratitude.

And so we find ourselves at this first conference at a church that is known as not just in name being Gateway, but actually in who you are as a people.

Have become a gateway for others to find Jesus, for others to find truth, for others to find a way to live a life with Jesus at the center.

And so I felt God arrest me, which I really don't like that He feels He can do that to us, right?

When you just like, you have your plan and God's like, that's lovely, but that's not my plan.

Like that happens to me all the time, like, God, why am I always wrong? Why don't I always have the wrong plan?

I thought it was a really great plan, but I was on the way here and I felt God just whisper into my spirit that at this first conference,

though it is the last night, that God wants to set you a challenge church.

He wants to speak into your lives about taking some first steps.

When we say first steps, that term, right, we think about when a child takes their first steps,

and if you've ever been there with a child or you have a toddler or you're right at that stage,

you're the parent and you're watching them and they're about to make the biggest discovery of their life, the father.

They're about to realize, oh my gosh, I was not designed to do this.

I actually have things to do this. This is amazing.

And so they begin to like lift their little body up and you're stood there and you're like, yeah, you can do it, you can do it.

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