Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Livestream
Grace Community Church Lead Pastor Des Wadsworth experienced turmoil at the end of 2024, which reenforced how he should handle those dark times.
“And the Lord said, ‘Des, I’m going to remind you this is who you are. You’ve encountered storms,’" Wadsworth shared with students during Grand Canyon University Chapel on Monday at Global Credit Union Arena. “You can be like a regular guy and run and take cover, but you know I’ve called you to be a bison. Will you go into the storm but don’t go into it alone? … Will it be easy? No. But it will be worth it. Oh, yes.
“Seek Him in the storm, the darkness. Don’t see a way out. Seek a way through.”
Wadsworth used the bison as an example because of its knack for sensing a storm, but, unlike other animals, it tends to turn toward it instead of running away from it. The elements may be brutal, but the bison powers through, their hump serving as a snowplow.
“To absolutely knock, and by faith, ‘Lord, you said if I knocked, the door will be opened,’" Wadsworth said. “That’s the posture He’s calling you to be.
“Don’t back away. Don’t get complacent. The storms are going to come. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become a bison. When the storm is coming, it doesn’t change who I am. It doesn’t change the call that Jesus said, ‘Ask, you’ll receive, and you’ll seek and you will find.’”
The last sentence is an important part of the Sermon on the Mount, particularly Matthew 7:7-8, in which Jesus emphasizes to ask, seek and knock. This illustrates God’s encouragement for those to talk to Him and seek His help.
Furthermore, “My verse for 2025 is Psalm 27:4,” Wadsworth said:
One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek
That will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And to seek Him in His temple.
At the start of his speech, Wadsworth addressed the audience – including many students who worship at his church – with a question.
“What is the one thing, that if you are asking God for it, He were to give you?”
What is the one thing that would bring you the greatest impact and transformation this semester?
“Many have the answer. But the majority haven’t got one thing,” Wadsworth said. “‘I've got a huge list, but there’s something really significant about having a focus on what I’m asking God for. What am I desperately pursuing?”
Wadsworth provided a clue by reciting five groups of three words:
Ask, seek, knock
Head, heart, hands
Way, truth, life
Faith, hope, love
Father, Son, Holy Spirit
“Everything is so interconnected, it’s so dynamic,” Wadsworth said. “The ask has everything to do with what you are asking. How you perceive God is how you’ll receive from Him.”
No matter how much you value your parenting, remember that God is a heavenly, all-perfect father and is loving, all gracious, full of kindness.
“Remember, it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance,” Wadsworth said. “He is so good, so loving, and because He sends His Son, He views you not as a sinner. You are a saint that battles with sin.
“Even more than that, He adopts you as a child of God.”
Wadsworth warns that the word seek is a passionate word, a craving you want to be satisfied.
However, “The enemy knows the cravings in your soul. And he’ll make sure you look to have that fulfilled in all the wrong places,” Wadsworth said.
The enemy may distract or distort, causing a feeling of despair.
“I don’t get a feeling of despair when I find time with Jesus,” Wadsworth said. “Ask, seek, knock, and we got an action.
“… I say this all the time: Faith is not believing in God. Faith is believing God.”
You must take action, and from the moment you take the step toward things God has for you (and not what may seem good or what others think), it might involve stopping something, moving something, moving away or starting something.
“It may involve what looks like a foolish risk,” Wadsworth said. “But if He says it, I’m going to trust Him.”
The moment you step out, Wadsworth warns it won’t go like sunshine and rainbows or a beach day in the Caribbean, because all of hell does not want you to do that.
“They are going to resist, cause doubt and create a potential storm to come your way. Don’t get complacent. Be a bison.”
Next Chapel speaker: Tim Birdwell, Phoenix Bible Church, 11 a.m. Feb. 3, Global Credit Union Arena.
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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