Go a little deeper
Pastor Joel Bennett returns to the platform after roughly three years, recalling a March 2020 flight into America that turned into an immediate return as borders closed. He thanks Pastor Keith for staying in contact and describes the past years as holding both mountaintops and real valleys, while insisting God has not changed. The message, which he titles "The In Between," argues that life is not lived on the peaks or in the valleys but in ordinary, consistent days.
After prayer, Pastor Joel tells the reported origin story of the hymn "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" and reads Romans 12:1-2, including the Message paraphrase, to frame a life offered to God in the everyday. He refers to highs and lows in his own recent years—including a season of travel, a stretch of loss and hard work, and a return to preaching he describes as a gift.
Three points follow: mountains and valleys should not determine your praise, should not determine whether you follow Jesus, and never determined his love for you. A child's hallelujah on a roller coaster, Proverbs on the tongue, a list of God's promises, Psalm 23, and a secondhand story relayed from a pastor in India carry the argument. Pastor Joel closes with remembrance, a record of God's faithfulness, and an invitation to respond to Jesus.
Take this with you
Your Words Locate You
Pastor Joel cites Proverbs on the tongue holding the power of life and death and on a person being filled with the harvest of their lips. From that passage he urges speech that builds life in ordinary days, contrasting words that pull a person back toward anxiety with praise that keeps them moving forward.
Walk Through, Don't Camp
Reading Psalm 23, Pastor Joel notices that the psalm describes walking through a threatening valley, not pitching a tent there, and he applies the same to mountaintops. He draws from the psalm God's restoring of the soul, his leading, and his table prepared in the presence of enemies, arguing that seasons should not decide whether you follow Jesus.
His Love Was Never Conditional
Pastor Joel earlier cites Romans on nothing being able to separate believers from God's love, and later teaches that our responses—victory, failure, fog, or fear—do not determine God's love for us. He points to the empty tomb as the sign of remembrance that God's love stood firm.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
so question for you does anyone actually remember when I was here last there's a few of you you're at the remnant you know like the ones left over since Co hit because uh let me tell you it's been a journey for me about 3 years ago I flew into America and it was the 10th of March 2020 I was coming in for to to do three three weeks on the road to share the gospel all around America and then all all of a sudden in the first conference hadn't spoken yet having a great old time and then this little thing called Co here and so we're at in the back of Colorado I my wife called and said you probably should come home I got back on a plane after two days of being here and flew straight back home and Australia did something that no
other country did because we're an island all to ourselves we locked down the country no planes in no planes out at all for 2 years um and also we couldn't even go anywhere further than 3 miles from our house for almost a year we had a lockdown just so you know you guys think you may have had a lockdown you all didn't have nothing you may have been like we got mask let me tell you we got mask and we can't go nowhere so it was kind of strange but this is my first Sunday in 3 years speaking again right let's we're going to praise God for something that there's that but let me tell you in the those three years of me being around being at home there was a a handful of people who stayed in contact but one of them was your pastor
Pastor Keith I think every few weeks or every few months would message me and go I still believe in you you're a friend of Journey he was like one of the only ones that stayed and kept I had friends apparently all over but there's you know when there's friends and then then there's friends Pastor Keith is not only a pastor on the platform he's also Pastor behind the scenes to many and you've got one of the greatest pastors and I know he's on sabatical and you can't really cheer him too hard and so he can hear you but if you if you could just want to thank him for having me it's an absolute privilege to one to be able to speak again but also for him to allow me to step into the the topic today on mountain tops and valleys cuz let me tell you the last three years I have
experienced some valleys I've had some mountain tops don't get me wrong but I've experienced some serious valleys and if I was to tell you that uh the last few years were um were bad I would probably be lying that I I lied awake many nights anxious and a little worried that this was going to be how it was but let me tell you God is faithful he hasn't changed he's the same yesterday today and forever and let me tell you what he what the enemy planned for evil God turns for good every time you just got to some times go the The Journey with him so let me get I didn't get these back to how I should have them let me get my message back to the we'll start with that page cuz that looks good this could go anywhere you like I
only just flew in so I'm also in Australian time I'm also in like I don't know where time um I've also had the the the the the head cold from heaven like if you want a title for today's message it's in the in between and I'm going to speak messages or I'm going to give you some things from the in between so I'm going to pray and we're going to get into this Jesus this morning I thank you that you come and move and you do only what you can do as I speak you take my words and them you you make them yours they aren't mine I pray that what you've given me on paper steps out of the paper and touches
someone's life and as it does you revolutionize theirs and mine in jesus' name we all said it was in the 1800s in the G of the the G tribe of Assam in India a man by the name of no sang first ever uttered or sang the words to the well-known song I have decided to follow Jesus The Village Chief ordered everyone from The Village to come together and then he called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith of publicly or face execution moved by the Holy Spirit the man sung his reply I have decided to follow Jesus no turning
back enraged the refusal of a man to to to change his ways the chief ordered his archers to shoot and arrow down his children as his both his children's lay on the floor twitching the Chiefs asked will you deny your faith you have lost your children you will also lose your wife will you say no to Jesus but the man replied again singing though none go with me still I will follow no turning back no turning back the chief was beside himself with Fury and he ordered his the wife to be arrowed down and in a moment she too joined the children in eternity now he asked for the last time I'll give you one last chance to save yourself deny your
faith and live in the face of death the man saying the the famous lines the cross behind me sorry the World Behind me the cross before me no turning back no turning back see that's one amazing song but with the deaths a miracle took place the chief had ordered the killings was moved by faith of the man in spontaneous confession the the the the chief declared I too belong to Jesus Christ when the crowd heard this from the mouth of their Chief the whole village who had come to witness these people renounce their faith had turned to Jesus and all proclaimed I have decided to follow Jesus see m and valleys come people last
week Pastor David said it out that there is a songs of a scent in the Psalms there is a whole lot of life and you're going to have mountains and valleys there's Seasons there's mountaintops there's valleys can I tell you something there's people in here today who are on Mountain Toops you've had some great moments your business is flourishing your marriage is doing great you're getting great grades at school whatever it looks like that maybe you're a young man in here and you found a girl yes there's always that one and you know maybe there's someone in here this morning who are facing some valleys there's been cancer in the family there's there's hell or high waters in your world maybe you've got something that you don't know what you're not talking about but you've got a valley that's very real cuz let me
tell you they are very real and they are very raw but life isn't lived in and on the Mountaintop or even in the valley Valley it's lived in the in between it's lived in the consistencies it's lived in the normal it's lived in the everydays so if you have your Bible why don't you turn it to Romans 12 1 to2 we're going to just share it for a moment uh if you have if you don't have a Bible it's okay we're we're we're we're um you uver believing church and it will be on your on your screen or in your hand so you're more than welcome to turn to it Romans 121:2 it says this therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of
God's mercy to offer your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship do not do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will it's a a great scripture I love how it says by the renewing of your mind and you're becoming a Living Sacrifice it's it's it's beautiful but when I was reading this and starting to think about what God has done in me over the last 3 years and the lessons that I've learned can I just I'm going to preach from what I've learned from the in between he took me to the message translation of this and it says this so here's what I want you to
do God helping you take your everyday ordinary life you're sleeping eating going to work and walking around life and place it before God as an offering embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into what to into it without even thinking instead fix your attention on God you'll be changed from the inside out readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it unlike the culture around you always dragging down to the level of immaturity God brings the best out of you and develops well formed maturity in you this
morning you've got to realize there's seasons for life but in that scripture it doesn't say that I want you to go into your everyday like mountain tops and valleys it says you're everyday walking around normal everyday m M normal lives I want you I want I want to invade your in between because it's all good to well and truly tell God how good he is at the mountain tops but let me tell you it's one thing at the bottom of the mountain and the valley to go oh God I need you but in the in between will you declare he's still there when you when it gets foggy and you can't hear him as clearly as you did on the mountain top will you still tell God that he's in charge I remember having our first child child 9 weeks premature and my wife
almost dying it felt like a valley but but can I tell you it wasn't such a bad Valley CU a few years later when he's now all 16 and all grown up it it feels so long ago but there's been a lot of life in between we've been married for almost 20 years now and I should introduce you to them I think you may have seen them before if you can bring it up I miss them hopelessly it's been the first time in three years I haven't seen them every day so my wife her name is River she was coming with me but she got to sorry people are like can I see she um she's got into the top 28 of photography competition and is being shown in the middle of Sydney like huge and I'm like that's awesome and I missed that but the first thing I've missed in 3 years and then there's my son Zion 16
who's almost as tall as me but he never will get there um then Rome he hopefully if he sees his photo I'm sorry and then KNX well pray for him he's the youngest and he does the craziest stuff but there's seasons in life and you know when you're married there there's highs and there's lows for and then there's husbands you know what I mean like for me one of my Mountain Toops was in the 1st of September 2018 we flew from Australia to Kenya and we landed into Kenya and we had a 10day um organiz Crusade where I felt like I was going to be Reinhard bonkey and let me tell you I don't have the accent but I felt like it
for 10 days I did everything I could possibly do and get the stomach from Hell over there like I copped every part of Africa you could imagine it was a like when I had mountain tops I was preaching and seeing people get find Jesus I saw them rolling around and demons leaving I saw the New Testament in action that I got on the plane and flew home and halfway home they moved my wife and I from economy class all the way to business class and I went I always knew where I should be I got off the plane and we got in a car and as I was driving my sister who picked me up and said just so you know Joel um we're going straight to the hospital because Mom collapsed went on your way home and she passed the third the 1st of September to
the 13th of September were Worlds Apart in highs and lows and the valley was so real what about the Mountaintop of 2019 where we were all I I did 24 trips to the US in 2019 it was phenomenal God was doing amazing things to then the 2020 pandemic and I got stuck at home for 3 years we lost everything I mean my wife's business went my business went we were Stone Cold broke to about a year ago when God gave us an idea and we started a business which has exploded I couldn't see that coming and I couldn't see so you just you know I went back to a job I swore I'd never go back to I have a trade and went back to it and I was like this is horrible but God gave me an idea and a dream with a
few friends and it's exploded so I'm like wow last week literally the reason I'm here is cuz I quit that other job and I can now do what I want to do the Mountaintop of standing on a platform again being able to share the gospel like God is faithful but let me tell you the mountain tops and valleys don't didn't determine who Jesus was it was the in between because the the days were long and arduous though I still woke up at 5:00 and went to bed at 10 and and guess what there was a lot of Life lived that was ordinary Monday I had to put my pants on one leg at a time it was the same every day so I want to give you a few things that I learned in my in between is that okay they're not revolutionary they're
actually really ordinary things but I don't believe that this Bible that God gave us is anything but Supernatural for our everyday so it's point one mountains and valleys should not determine your praise can you look at the screen just for a moment I want to show you just a short video is that okay [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
we [Music] are hey hallu Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah here we go here we go [Music] [Applause]
can I tell you something never lose your hallelujah it's cute and it's and it's so innocent but I think we can learn the most the most profound things from a child on a roller coaster he was experiencing some crazy high eyes and then he saw the valley coming and he still was singing Hallelujah through it all his Declaration was hallelujah hallelujah when it was good Hallelujah when his eyes went oh here we go and then even on the way down he was still screaming hallu my question is have you lost your Hallelujah cuz your Valley or your Mountain might have been really great
and huge but have you lost your Hallelujah your praise see mountaintops shouldn't determine your praise I believe praise praise gives us access to God's point of view God has ordained praise so much so that if you won't praise it says the rocks will Proverbs 188 20 to 21 it says this from the fruit of their mouth a person's stomach is filled with the Harvest of their lips they are satisfied verse 21 the tongue has power of life and death and those who love it will eat its
fruit the power of life and death is held in your tongue in how you speak in how you praise in how you your language will locate you wherever you are and on your journey how you speak and what you speak into existence starts to come to fruition start to speak praise start to speak good things start to Speak Life over your situation start to speak it because I tell you in the middle in the in between as you start to speak God's goodness over it it starts to come to fruition and I know it's hard sometimes when it's normal in every day to praise like waking up at 5:00 a.m. is like the last thing I felt like doing was praising Jesus just being real is that okay you are you vulnerable for a moment like I didn't want to wake up
after my mom passed away and praised Jesus that's not what I wanted to do cuz let me tell you I had a few other words to say to him but he wasn't scared of my other words in fact he asked me to tell him more and as I started to Journey with him he asked me to spill out my heart and he kept giving me hope and future he G me purpose and plan he to bring back to remembrance who he was and what he did he started tell me his promises over my life and the life of my kids he started to do he'll do the same for you and it was day in and day out in my every day going to school with my kids or going to work with my my my friends who didn't know Jesus he he was right there in it all what are you speaking into existence today in the normal everyday
mundane what have you spoken into existence existence cuz it will determine what comes out of your life but because I let me tell you praise produces Faith praise produces power and it produces power in your every day and your highs your lows but mostly it produces power and faith in your in between I I wish I could tell you that your in between was like the most exhilarating place it's not it looks like going to the c or Starbucks and waiting in line for 45 minutes because they missed your two pumps you know what I mean like it it it means that you're going to just go through the normal and nothing great is going to happen it's just going to be what it was and and in that you've got to determine that Jesus is still the same
yesterday today and forever in that moment you got to determine and you got to speak it into existence sometimes because even David said though my soul goes through this I will speak to it and tell him praise see it says in Acts 18 you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you and you shall be Witnesses it doesn't say you'll just be standby Lookers it says you'll be Witnesses and Witnesses have a language and what is that language and if it's going to go to Jerusalem Judea Samaria to Redmond to to Portland to to Washington if it's going to do that and going to be a witness it means it's going to have to sound something like Jesus it's going to have to sound a little like praise cuz let me tell you when you're going to if you're going to tell yourself wo is me it ain't
going to go very far what always me is going to take you back to bed to anxiety it's going to take you back back to bed to to some issues in life it's going to take you back to those places but praise takes you forward praise is always looking forward see when you feel trapped the holy spirit will come on you when you and you just got to start to pray a little you've got to keep your Hallelujah it may seem really silly but a little four-year-old kid his response to fear was Hallelujah so what are the promises of God I mean there's 7,487 of them in the Bible I mean I'm not to be exact or
anything they might I might have missed one or two but there's roughly 7,487 Promises of God do you know what they are for your life do they Journey with you every day let me just give you a few he says he promises to strengthen you in Ephesians 3:14 he to give you he promises to give you rest in Matthew 118 28 he promises to take care of all your needs in Philippians 4:19 to answer all your prayers in Matthew 7:7 he promises to work all things together for the good in Romans 8:28 he he promises freedom from sin in John 8:36 he promises nothing can separate you from God in Romans 8:38 and he promises eternal life in John 3:16 see their promises do you
know them or they just things in the Bible I would suggest we need to get these in us to help us through our inbetween and the in between is really okay you might just be a a mother at home let me tell you you're not just a mother at home you're a praise you are there to praise over your child so they can get through it you're there to praise through your day so they so you can get through it see he has promised you all these things in 2 Corinthians 10:4 it says this the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but they are Mighty so powerful through God for the pulling down of strongholds praise
cuz a valley is just around the corner a mountain Top's on its way but life isn't lived in mountain tops and valleys but in the everyday ordinary mundane number two that's not number two mountains and valleys shouldn't determine if you follow Jesus some 23 says this the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me to lie down in Green Pastures he Li he leads me beside the
Still Waters he restores my soul he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake though I walk through a valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil and my cup runs over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will Fe no evil it does not say though I walk through the valley it doesn't say though I set
up a tent in the middle of my valley and stay there that journeying wordss it's a story where in the middle of it all God is walking you through and he'll restore your soul he'll put you in Still Waters he'll he'll Lead You In the way Everlasting he'll give you righteousness he'll set up a table of food for you when you feel you can't eat of anything he'll set it up he'll put you with people who don't you don't don't like you but he'll be with you and you'll be praising through it all and you'll be wellfed but don't camp in the middle of a valley don't even camp in mountaintops cuz God has way better than that moment ahead of you and the best moments sometimes have been for me the last three years being able to walk with my kids day in and day
out talking about Jesus taking him to basketball sitting in the car for hours on end on road trips because we couldn't go any very far and as we've done those moments we've seen the life of our children and our family revolutionized because we decided we would continue to follow Jesus In and Out of Season the seasons shouldn't determine if you follow Jesus they should determine that you will follow Jesus I'm going to get the keyboard person up she makes things sound way better than I am I mean I know my accent's okay but she makes it sound way
better so last year or actually was 2020 I spent some time doing some work with the ministry in Australia just I had time to kill um and as I was doing that I got the opportunity to speak to a pastor in India and he has a church of 1.2 million people none of us have ever heard of this pastor he never will but one he has a following in his church or one that's a lot of people we're hearing story after Story of all God had done and some amazing Stories and then he told me this one story that I will never forget so if I if I cry I apologize up front but he told me a story about of a a pastor in a little tribe who' moved his whole family there he had a few kids
one girl was 12 and other was five or six and and he lived next door to a a Hindu family cuz they were trying to reach the Hindu community and every everyone has extremist but next door he lived to the most extreme of the extreme Hindu families and the mother of the Hindu family she had a few boys and her eldest was turning 16 years old and she said for the right of passage for you to come to be a man in our faith you need to Assault The Girl Next Door [Music] so one day when this young girl 12 years old was walking home from school this 16-year-old man boy now whatever he is jumped out stripped her naked publicly assaulted her and created the biggest shame on his
family he was cheered and she was despised and she she was just a young young girl who loved to sing and and be a part of her dad's Church's choir so this ministry that I was a part of sent they could have sent Bibles in cuz that's what they do but they didn't send just Bibles they send in counselors they spent weeks on weeks on weeks with this young girl and they they from my understanding it was about eight months of time with her and they was getting close to the end of their time with her and they asked her just would like you to do one thing you haven't done these last six months just do one thing to show that how far you've come to your
parents and in that moment she stood up and the only song that would come out of her was I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back the cross before me the World Behind Me still I will follow no turning back she's 12 years old we will never know what it costs to follow Jesus Jesus but let me tell you it wasn't that the highs and the lows would determine her faith the in between wouldn't determine her faith she knew who Jesus was she was following from mountain tops to valleys and the in between that's the type of faith that this should produce in you the Bible the Bible that Jesus who took a cross he didn't deserve rose from a grave that wasn't made for him said I will do it for them and you know what his only request of us is to follow heart and
soul see that story gives me hope see my valleys don't look like her valleys my mountain top you know what don't look like hers and mine don't look like yours and yours don't look like mine and that's okay but could I inspire you just for a moment young person or older person or in between wherever you sit to follow him all the way through see there is oh you got to understand mountain tops shouldn't determine your praise mountain tops shouldn't determine if you follow Jesus and finally mountains and valleys didn't determine his love for
you you know this is real simple Joel yeah I preached this message to myself for 3 years when it looked horribly hopeless can I tell you better when my son was winning Grand finals and having fun I still preached this to myself cuz sometimes Jesus didn't look like he was right there with me sometimes it felt like the cuz the in between days is when it seems the foggiest the valley sometimes that's when God is the clearest but but on the in between on the road the journey it's when it feels like he's not there [Music] see how you respond to a mountain or a valley shouldn't and doesn't determine his love for
you you have to understand whatever and however you respond his love isn't conditional it doesn't run out it doesn't fall short see we will and and we probably will tomorrow and we will this afternoon we watch football but we he never will his love isn't Changed by your Valley your Victory your failure or your tomorrow his love is steady it is true it is pure and it's righteous and his love is for you it's been there all along even when you couldn't feel it it was there right with you too often I hear God wasn't with me when Joel you understand my story no
no let me tell you the only one who was with you when was going wrong with him but Joe you have no idea I made it on my own yeah yeah yeah let me tell you the only one who was with you at the top of it all was him he's been carrying the whole way [Music] through in the Bible it talks about [Music] altars the old testament's full of them if you read the Old Testament there was Moses and they something happened and they would would build an altar of 12 Stones and it would be set up so they could see it it was in a prominent spot so as they walked by they could see it when the Red Sea parted they crossed over before they before the enemy was coming and getting drowned they stopped and they put 12 Stones in the middle of the Red Sea have you ever read that why
did they do that it's quite simply to a remembrance of who and what he did so we in our lives need to set up some altars of remembrance so when we're we understand in the midst of it all when we're traveling and it's foggy that he's right there with us see these altars they don't have to be amazingly glossy in a this big ex exuberant thing they can be simple but it's got to be something that you can remember if you're like me in the three years that just went past for me I'm not a very good journaler anyone any males they say I'm a terrible journaler yeah it's okay but do you can I tell you what I've got I've got a book with like big
pages of just what God's done now because can I tell you that the road seems real long horribly long but I remember when I started my business and I felt God say to do it and I just wrote it down not knowing what it could [Music] be and that was a moment for me and then when we we we we were going backwards in some areas and I didn't know what to do I looked back and I remembered okay he did it then I go kept going you have to be able to have something to look back on to keep you going forward sometimes see remember mountain tops and valleys shouldn't determine your praise
mountain tops and valleys shouldn't determine if you follow him in mountains and valleys shouldn't definitely you have to understand never determined his love for you so I'm going to ask the team to come just for a [Music] moment see Jesus Took a cross he didn't deserve if you want to know what the ultimate sign of remembrance is for us today is that you can go and see an empty grave where Jesus sat he once laid and is no longer there he's alive see a rock of remembrance for our generation is knowing that the Rock That was
supposed to keep him locked is now opened un like it's unfiltered it's open it it's is no one there why because he conquered sin and death he conquered hell and high water for you it shouldn't determine what was it never determined the love he had for you what you're going [Music] through so what's your praise going to be like tomorrow when church is finished what's your praise going to be like this afternoon when you're watching the football if you're a parent and here what kind of words will they hear you scream
[Music] will be those that will Propel us to our future and our purpose will they be words that show what God is and who he is is your house going to be one that people look at and go are they the crazy Praises how are you going to follow him when it when it when it's just normal when you got to wake up tomorrow and it's cold just let you know it's going to it's going to snow again in Bend it's going to be 5 a.m. and dark outside how are you going to follow him will Church be just maybe or will you be I'm in here heart and soul because that's what we do in mountain tops and valleys in the in between we're
here when they they ask for Ser people to serve will you be one of those people that put your hand up and say here I am I'm I'm ready because I I'm one of those people [Music] see his love doesn't change because sometimes you do his love is unconditional it's perfect this morning my greatest privilege for you for me is to ask you this one question do you know that Jesus do you know him as the one who will carry you see I I we can talk about Muhammad we can I can show you his grave
I can show you Buddha's grave I can but and they were all great and well but can I tell you there's only one God who who wrote himself into the story and has lived out this everyday ordinary existence and that was Jesus Christ he's the only one everyone else was apparently Supernatural and amazing but not Jesus he was just everyday ordinary he was a carpenter who came and lived a life that was amazingly ordinary why to show you that it could be done he took a cross made for barabus a grave made for Joseph and he rose again for you so could ask this question today do you know that Jesus cuz he loves you it's could ask you to close your eyes and bow your heads just for a moment just ask yourself where do I
stand with Jesus today and if you can't answer that Joel I'm all in I don't know where I'm at in truth Joel I if I could be honest my my Valley seems way too deep right now or I feel so foggy today's the day of salvation it says today is the day that you can make a decision to follow Jesus there'd be nothing greater and the biggest privilege today would for me to say congratulations so wherever you are if that's me and say Joel I'd love to follow Jesus I make that decision would just raise your hand and go Joel that's me wherever you are quickly nice and high I don't want to labor thanks so much thank you so much if that's you and go Joel today's my day I need to come back to Jesus thank you sir I I've been living a little bit iffy whiffy uh Airy fairy I need to come back and make a
decision that today is the day thank you ma'am and says Joel I'm going to serve him for hell or high water I'm going to serve him the inet I'm going to praise him in the mountain tops and the valleys and everywhere else that's you just raising your hand good today jolm thank you sir [Music] last time I'm going to count to three and you go Joel I need to follow Jesus whether you're online whether you're in the room I want you to raise your hand and go Joel that's me all right wherever you are I've decided to follow Jesus one he loves you thank you so much two today is the day of salvation it's no coincidence or accident you're in this room but it's planned Way Before Time that you would be here to hear a big Australian yell at you for 40 minutes so if that's you on three and if you you raised your hand already but you need to
I want you to raise it again 1 2 3 throw your hands up and say Joel that's me thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you at the back thank you at the front thank you at the Back Sir let me tell you today that's an amazing decision and it's just the beginning of your journey so let me pray this prayer and I'd love you to pray it with me just repeat after me say dear Jesus nice and Loud say dear Jesus this morning thank you for taking the CR cross thank you for Rising again to forgive me of my sin today I'm deciding to follow Jesus I'm a Christ follower in jesus' name amen it's been an absolute privilege
[Music] Journey if you made that decision don't let it be on your own don't do it the don't do the inbetween on your own I know journey is definitely a church where we do it together and if you are speak to some of the team or a pastor I know that would love to help you so thank you for having me and I am back tonight bring a friend
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Life in the In-Between
Pastor Joel argues that most of life happens in ordinary, repetitive days rather than on dramatic highs or lows. Romans 12 is read and then revisited in the Message paraphrase to invite reflection on offering everyday life—sleeping, eating, working—to God as worship, and on being changed from the inside out rather than conformed to surrounding culture.
Romans 12:1-2
- Pastor Joel says the fog of the in-between is where praise is hardest. What makes it hard for you, and what has helped?
- What would offering your ordinary weekday routine to God as worship change about how you approach it?
- Where do you notice pressure to fit the surrounding culture without thinking, and what would renewed attention to God look like there?
The Tongue and the Harvest of Your Words
Proverbs is cited for the claim that the tongue holds the power of life and death and that a person is filled with the harvest of their lips. Pastor Joel ties this to witness—Acts is cited for receiving power to be witnesses—and argues that how we speak about our circumstances shapes our journey through them.
Proverbs 18:20-21 · Acts 1:8
- What have you been saying about your current situation, and how does it line up with the Proverbs passage Pastor Joel cited?
- Pastor Joel contrasts 'woe is me' with praise as directions of travel. How does that land for you?
- If a witness has a language, what would it sound like to speak like Jesus at work or home this week?
Walking Through the Valley
Psalm 23 is read in full, and Pastor Joel focuses on the phrase about walking through a threatening valley rather than settling there. He draws out God restoring the soul, leading beside still waters, and preparing a table in the presence of enemies, and applies the same not-camping idea to mountaintops as an urging to keep following Jesus through changing seasons.
Psalm 23
- Where do you most feel like you have settled in rather than kept walking?
- Which of the shepherding actions in Psalm 23 that Pastor Joel named do you most need right now—restoring, leading, or provision?
- Pastor Joel speaks of following Jesus in and out of season. What season are you in, and what would faithfulness look like there?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
What does "the in between" mean in this message?+
Pastor Joel uses the phrase for ordinary, consistent life—the commuting, working, sleeping, and eating days that make up most of existence, as the Romans 12 passage is paraphrased. The argument is that mountaintops and valleys are real , and the in-between is where life is actually lived. It is also where praise is hardest, since nothing dramatic is prompting it, and where the fog can make God feel distant. The message is preached from lessons Pastor Joel says he learned over roughly three years away from the platform.
What ordinary rhythms have most shaped your walk with God?
How does Pastor Joel handle Romans 12:1-2?+
The passage is read, then revisited in the Message translation, which turns it into plain language about taking everyday life—sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around—and placing it before God. The emphasis falls on being changed from the inside out rather than fitting the surrounding culture. Pastor Joel then asks what it looks like to declare God's goodness in the foggy middle, not only on a mountaintop when gratitude comes easily.
Which ordinary activity would change most if you treated it as an offering?
What does the sermon draw from Psalm 23?+
The psalm is read in full, and Pastor Joel pauses on the line about walking through a threatening valley. His observation is that the text describes passing through, not camping there. From that, the message draws God restoring the soul, leading beside still waters, and preparing a table in the presence of enemies. He also applies the warning against camping to mountaintops, urging continued following through changing seasons.
Where do you sense God asking you to keep walking rather than settle?
What does Pastor Joel say about God's love at the end of the message?+
Earlier in the message he cites Romans on nothing being able to separate believers from God's love. In his closing point he teaches that our responses to a mountain or a valley do not determine that love: it is not conditional, he says, and does not run out or fall short, and it was there even when it could not be felt. He points to the empty tomb as the sign of remembrance that God's love stood firm.
Where is it hardest for you to believe God's love is steady right now?
