Taking the Next Step

Kevin Campbell · Tidal Church Moncton · October 19, 2025 · Vital Signs series

Kevin Campbell uses Hebrews 12:1 and the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 to call us to take the next step in our spiritual journey, honouring God with our time, talents and money, and to keep walking when the enemy attacks.

More from Kevin Campbell · The Vital Signs series

Topics: Purpose, Money & Generosity, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] I love New Year's resolutions. See, each year I try to resolve to do something to better myself. And a couple years ago, 2024, I thought, I gotta get in shape. And I was inspired. I was inspired by a good friend of mine, Dave Flanagan. Many of you might know Dave and Pearl Flanagan. They attend this church. They're good friends of Barb and I. Dave is one of your board members. I think he sits over here somewhere. Dave. Yeah, he's right there this morning. Well, Dave inspired me. See, a couple years before that, Dave went to see his doctor for the annual checkup and everything was fine except the doctor said, Dave, your cholesterol is a little high and it's time to put you on a statin. Dave did not want to take any unnecessary drugs, so he tried to make a deal with the doctor.

[0:50] It went something like this. Doctor, give me six months to get in shape. I'll lose some weight, I'll come back, we'll retest. If my cholesterol's not lower, then I'll go on to statin. Well, the doctor smiled and politely agreed, but said, Dave, many have tried, most have failed, but the doctor didn't know. My friend Dave, see, he's stubborn and when he puts his mind to something, he does his best. So Dave hatched a plan. This was his plan to get in shape: to walk. That's it. Just walk. But Dave wasn't just gonna go for a little jaunt each day. No, my buddy Dave was gonna Forrest Gump walk.

[1:36] This was his goal. He was gonna walk 20,000 steps a day, every day, rain, sleet, snow, or hail. Let me put this in perspective for you. 20,000 steps is approximately 16 kilometers or 10 miles. If you got up tomorrow and decided you were gonna walk 10 miles, it would take you around three and a half hours. He was going to do this every day and he got at it and Dave started getting in shape. He lost weight. He looked younger. He had a little spring in his step, and I don't mind telling you I was jealous. I wanted to be like my buddy Dave. He inspired me.

[2:23] So, not clearly thinking clear about this clearly. I decided if Dave can do it, I can do it. My wife and I were heading to Florida for a few weeks and we were gonna be near the beach. I thought, how hard can this be? I've got the time, the weather be good, let's do this. And Monday morning came and I went out and I started walking and I was fine for about the first 45 minutes to an hour and then pain set in. I felt aches and pains in areas that I didn't know you even had muscles. I don't know how I did it, but I got through that first day. But at the end of the day, I was a wreck.

[3:08] I was hot, I was sweaty, I was dehydrated. I didn't drink enough. I was sunburn. I didn't put the right sunburn block on. My eyesight was going blurry, and I thought, I gotta get back to the condo. I gotta get to sleep. Tomorrow will be a new day. How many of you have tried to get out of bed the day after you way over exerted yourself? You know, you went downhill skiing or you did that two-hour hike that you thought you were prepared for? Well, it goes something like this. If you'll allow me to demonstrate, this is gonna be my bed right here and I'm gonna show you how it went for me. See, when I woke up in the morning and realized where I was, then I kind of said to my body, body, it's gonna be a great day.

[4:00] It's time for us to get up, but my body said, Uh-uh, we're not going anywhere. We hurt. We're staying right here today. And nothing moved. Somehow I got upright and I remember thinking, not only can I not walk 10 miles today, I don't think I can make it to the washroom. Well, not wanting to quit on day two, I somehow gathered my strength, got some breakfast and said, you gotta at least try, Kevin. So again, I went out there, not at the same pace as the day before. I started walking about 45 minutes and an hour, set in, pain set in. But this time it was my ankle. My ankle started really hurting for no reason.

[4:46] I didn't break it or sprain it or anything. But I started limping and then it got really bad and I could barely put any weight on it, and I'm going down the beach like this. Somebody must have thought, call that old guy an ambulance. Then it came to me. I thought, this is it. This is my excuse. See, I've injured myself. I've got this bad ankle. Surely I shouldn't put any undue stress on such a serious injury. So I called my buddy Dave and I said, Dave, I'm doing the 20,000 step thing and I've injured my ankle. I can barely walk on it. I think I need to take a break, maybe four, six months here. Let it heal up. And this is what Dave said to me. I'll never forget it.

[5:32] He said, Kevin, did you break it, or sprain it or twist it? I said, I don't think so. And he said this: keep walking. I thought, what he said, keep walking. Your ankle will swell up, you'll be fine. If you're going to accomplish your goal, if you're going to achieve what seems impossible, keep walking. Dave was right. See, I needed to keep walking, but in addition, there was a problem. See, my problem was I was trying to accomplish Dave's goal, his vision, his challenge, and quite frankly, it was too much for me. I needed to adjust. I needed to set a goal for myself that was personal, something more realistic and obtainable, something that matched my physical capabilities.

[6:22] So I decided that I would do my best to walk 10,000 steps a day every day. Now before you judge me, keep in mind, 10,000 steps is still eight kilometers or five miles. And when I attempted this, it took me an additional hour and a half of additional intentional walking each day. So how would you like to see how I did in 2024? See, our cell phones capture our steps. I didn't realize this at first. I was being accountable and didn't even know it. So here is my record. I snapped this a few days ago. Here's 2024. You see on the bottom, my average steps, 12,000, and in 2025, yes, I've kept up with this. An average of 11,000 steps.

[7:08] I think that deserves a round of applause. What do you think? How would you like to see how my crazy buddy Dave has done? I stole his phone and clicked this the other day. Here's his numbers. Let's have a look. In 2024, this guy walked 22,000 steps on average and in 2025, almost 23,000 steps. This guy is an animal. I want to talk to you today about taking the next step, about taking the next step in your spiritual journey. Can we pray? Dear God, I just wanna invite Your Holy Spirit into this place.

[7:55] God, both here in this room and wherever people are watching online, God, would You open our hearts and our minds to what You have given me this morning? Lord, these are Your words, not mine. This is Your message. God, humbly use me and we will anticipate Your moving and working this morning. Here's my first point. God has a plan for you, a race, a marathon that He has laid out for you for the rest of your life. A race that He wants you to run. It's your race. It's not my race, it's not Dave Flanagan's race. It's your race. And this is biblical.

[8:40] Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance a race marked out for us." Right along with that, God has a plan for the world, a plan to evangelize the world, a plan to share the good news of salvation and eternal life. Do you wanna know what His plan is? His only plan. See, I don't believe there's plan B or C. There's only plan A, and it's this: the local church. The local church is the hope for the world to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to our local community.

[9:27] And it's only as effective as you and I are involved. Let's look at Matthew 16:18. Jesus says to Peter, one of His disciples, He says, "Peter, on this rock I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." See, the church is God's plan, and this verse tells us the church will last forever, but we need to do our part. If God desires you to be part of His plan, the local church, and for you to do your part in the Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel, found in Matthew 28:18-20, you might say, Kevin, this seems overwhelming to me. What difference can I make? I'm glad you asked.

[10:16] The Bible tells us God has given you and I a special talent and ability, a spiritual gift that He desires for you to use to glorify Him and bring others closer to His saving grace. See, God has equipped you already. The Bible tells us you have a unique ability or talent, something that comes natural to you, something that maybe you have that I don't have, something that God wants you to use to glorify Him and do your part in the Great Commission. And this is found in the Bible. Also, I wanna read about spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, it says this, "There are different kind of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is a source of them all.

[11:03] There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it's the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person, the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice to another. The same Spirit gives the message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else, the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles and the other the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak an unknown language, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.

[11:54] It is the one and only Spirit that distributes all of these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have." This Bible verse highlights some of the more prevalent gifts right now. But you might say, Kevin, I don't really relate to any of these, and that's okay. You know what? Good news, the Bible talks about many, many more gifts. I wanna mention three or four more that you might relate to even better. So you might have the gift of hospitality. You might naturally be a very hospitable person. You're quick to open your home. You're quick to include others. God wants to use that.

[12:40] You find these people out greeting this morning in our church. They're also hosting small groups in their home. God wants to use your gift of hospitality. If that's what you have, you might have the gift of compassion. You might naturally be a compassionate person. See, you feel what others feel. You cry when others cry and you rejoice when others rejoice. The church needs you in the care ministry. These people, you find Tuesday, we have Celebrate Recovery. They're here coming along with people that are trying to get control of hurts, habits. You might have the gift of servanthood. You might naturally and easily serve others.

[13:29] You just quickly put others before yourself. You find these people this morning in our children's ministry. They're over there this morning in the nursery. They're pouring into the lives of the next generation. So moms and dads can be here in this service under the authority of the teaching of the Word of God. And you might say, Kevin, I'm introverted. I'm still not seeing anything here. Well, you might have the spiritual gift of a strong work ethic. You might just be a really strong worker. You're not scared of hard work. You show up early, you come late, you tear down, you set up, you find these people out in our parking lot this morning. They're parking cars, no matter if it's raining or snowing or sleet or rain, their work ethic is next to none.

[14:18] You have a spiritual gift and God wants to use it. So let's review. God has a plan for the rest of your life, a spiritual gift, and God has a plan for the world. It's His church. You might be thinking then, what does God expect from me? Here's my second point. God wants you to take the next step. He wants you to take the next step in your spiritual journey. Then what does taking the next step mean for me? You might ask. The Bible teaches us to honor God with everything. See, the Bible tells us that God is a jealous God. He wants all of us, not just Sunday morning, but all through the week. He wants us to walk with Him, to include Him in every decision.

[15:04] He wants us to totally surrender to Him. This is where you find happiness and peace and joy that the Bible's talking about. And God wants us to honor Him. Let me break it down this way. Let's look at three areas. Let's look at three areas that we can honor God. The first is with our time, with our talent, and we can honor Him with our resources. First, let's look at time. Ephesians 5:15-16 says this. "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of your time because the days are evil." See, we come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing.

[15:50] And in between we have a measure of time that God gives us. What we do with this is what matters most. I think of it this way. There's only four things you can do with your time. First of all, if you're employed and you get up Monday morning and go to work, you know what you're doing. You are selling your time to your employer. If you're a student, you go to university or college and tomorrow you go to classes. You know what you're doing. You're buying your professor's time, their knowledge so that you can hopefully resell it for more later. And thirdly, you can invest your time, give it away. That's what we're talking about this morning, investing our time in the church, in God's work and what He would have us to do.

[16:35] And lastly, you can spend your time. See, the Bible tells us, we often say, "I'm gonna go spend time with my friends, with my family, with my kids." The Bible tells us to honor Him with our time. Next, honor God with your talents. God has given you a spiritual gift. We've already talked about that, but we do consider the parable of the talents. This story was told by Jesus. It's found in Matthew 25:14. I don't have time to read it all this morning, so I wanna paraphrase. It tells us that there was a master and he was going away on a long journey and there was three servants. This is a strong metaphor, of course. The master is God, the Father, and the servants are you and I.

[17:22] And the story goes, the master gave the first servant five talents. The second servant, he gave two talents and the third servant, he gave one talent. I love that. The Bible translates this from the original Hebrew, Greek, to talents. See, it actually is silver. It's an amount of money. And the Bible tells us that the first servant got to work while the master was away. Jesus has gone. The Bible tells us He walked this earth, He died for our sins, and He will return someday for us. The servant invested his talents and his five talents became 10. The second servant did the same and his two became four. But the third servant was scared. He didn't have any confidence. He didn't think he could do it, and he buried his talent in the ground.

[18:12] The master returned and he said to the first and second servant, "Good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come share in your master's happiness." But to the third servant, he wasn't happy. The third servant started making excuses. He said, "Master, I know that you are a strong master. You reap where you have not sown. And I was scared. I didn't wanna lose the talent I had, so I buried it in the ground so that I would have it." When you returned, I wanna read the last few verses of this parable. They're so powerful. I think they might speak to you like they did me. They're found in Matthew 25:26-30. It says, "But the master replied, 'You wicked and lazy servant.

[19:01] If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I did not cultivate, why did you not deposit my money in the bank? At least you could have gotten some interest on it.' Then he ordered, 'Take the money from this servant and give it to the one that had 10 bags of silver, to those who use well what they're given, even more will be given. To those that who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" This is a strong rebuke. This story was told by Jesus. He's clearly saying to us, "You have talents and it's My desire that you use them to glorify Me.

[19:49] Don't bury them." Then let's look at honoring God with your resources. See, God wants us to honor Him with our money. Your tithe, which the Bible describes as 10% of what God has blessed you with. You might say, "Kevin, you are doing so good to you. Brought up the topic of money." Stay with me. I know that this is controversial. All I want to do is preach the word of God to you this morning. I've got three verses I want to read. See if these do not convict you like they have me. The first one says this in Matthew 6:19-21. "Do not store for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

[20:36] But store up for yourself treasures in heaven, where moth and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be." Also, the Bible makes a clear correlation between our treasure and our heart. It's like God knew this would be a heart matter, an area that maybe many of us would struggle with the most to really surrender to God in this area of finances. Proverbs 3:9-10 says this: "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with your first fruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."

[21:25] The Bible instructs us to honor God first with 10% of what He's blessed us with, not with what's left over after the bills are paid. Not the pocket change that you have after the car's filled with gas. No, He's challenging us to put Him first, to trust Him that the 90% that we're left with, that is blessed, will go so much farther than the 100% that we might try to keep for ourselves. Thirdly, let's look at Malachi 3:10. It says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing.

[22:14] There will not be enough room to store it." Two things. Number one, I'm not preaching a gospel of prosperity this morning. I don't even think that's biblical, but I am preaching a gospel of blessing. And sometimes that of course involves our finances. Secondly, do you know this is the only place in the Bible where God says, "Test Me"? Other places in the Bible, it actually says, "Do not test the Lord your God." But here, God clearly invites us to test Him. See, He wants to test Him and He's inviting us to trust Him in this area of finances and honoring Him. You might say, "Kevin, you don't know my financial situation.

[23:03] You don't know the financial burden that I am currently under." And I get that for some of you, at no fault of your own, maybe job loss or sickness, you find yourself under so much financial pressure. You don't know where to turn. Or maybe you simply just made bad financial decisions. You've overextended yourself, you've bought too much, and you've put yourself first before you put God first. Can I challenge you this morning? Can I challenge you to do this? Would you consider taking a step, just a step towards tithing? Could you decide on maybe an amount that's more manageable, something that you can resolve to do, something that you can say, "God, I want to honor You first with this amount"?

[23:55] And as you do that and you see God bless and you actually test Him in this area, somebody told me a story after the first service of how God blessed them in this decision. They gave a small amount. And as you do that, you can take the next step and the next step and the next step. See, God wants financial freedom for us all, and it only happens when we put Him first. My third point is this: expect attack, expect to be attacked. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him. Stand firm, because you know the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.

[24:45] The Bible doesn't guarantee prosperity; it actually warns us to expect suffering. Some of you might be suffering this morning. You're going through a season of suffering. I wanna encourage you: keep walking. In a moment, we're going to have the prayer team down front. I'm gonna invite you to come down and be prayed over, even. But before that, I've got a quick story about attack. It actually involves walking again. See, I don't live far from here. I'm on the Salisbury Road, and I was coming to the church. It was in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. And I turned up Edinburgh Drive, right where the auction is. Many of you know where this is. And I was walking along and I saw a young man in a car, and he got out and he had something in his hand. He was across the road. At first I thought, this is an auction, he must be working on a car.

[25:32] And I looked around and there was nobody there. And I turned around. This man had crossed the road and he had came in, and he was coming at me with a crowbar, with a big hook on it. And I said, sir, what is going on here? And he said something like, what are you going to do about it? And in a split second, I felt like God already prepared me for this. I can't tell you the whole story, but a couple weeks before, as I was considering and praying to God, He said, Kevin, if you ever were attacked, I want you to run out into traffic. God gave me this before, not thinking I'd ever use it. And so I ran. I had a split second. This guy was faster than me. He was younger than me. And I ran out into traffic. A car was coming this way, two cars were coming that way.

[26:17] And I quickly, they tried to get around me. I got one stopped. I went around and I said, sir, you gotta help me. He reluctantly let me in his truck, and he drove me around the corner, and I called the police and I said to the police, somebody tried to attack me. They said, somebody already called us in. Probably one of the other two cars I got in my truck. I came back up. The police had blocked this guy in and arrested him. See, expect attack, but don't give up. Here's what God is saying to us this morning. Don't get discouraged. Don't give up. Don't let fear paralyze you. Keep walking. In closing, I have this. I think this is from God for some of you, and it's this.

[27:06] Satan is a liar and a deceiver, and he is lying to you and me. This morning, John 8:44 says, Satan is a liar and the father of lies. John 10:10 says, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that you may have life and have it to the fullest. I'm going to read a few lies to you here in a minute, and then I'm going to give you an opportunity to respond to this message. The prayer team will come, and I want to challenge you. I wanna challenge you to take the ultimate, maybe some of you, a step and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. The ultimate first step. Accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus has for you.

[27:54] Start your journey today trusting Him and walking with Him. Others, you might say, Kevin, this has spoke to me. I want to do better. I wanna honor God with my time, with my talent, and with my resources. I wanna challenge you to step out, to take a real physical step. You can resolve today to do better, to honor God and put Him first in these areas and others. You might be under attack. Satan might be attacking you with lies. Lies that he wants to bind you with. Chains that he wants to paralyze you so you can't take a step. We want you to be set free this morning. The team could pray over you this morning. In a moment, let's look at four of these lies.

[28:40] Here's the first one: I've tried this before. It doesn't work for me. I've tried to serve God, and I have fallen flat on my face. I try. I go back to sin. I try again and fail. This isn't for me. Hopefully I'll be a good person, and I'll make it. This is a lie. Don't believe it. John 21. When you consider Peter, that we just talked about, that said, on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail. That Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, denied Jesus three times when Jesus needed him the most. He let Him down because he was afraid and didn't think he can do it. Fear of his home life, his own life. This is what Jesus said to Peter.

[29:26] He wanted to restore him, and He said, Peter, do you love Me? Peter said, You know I love You, Lord. And He said, feed My sheep the truth. Jesus forgives and redeems. You might say, but I've done terrible things, things that I cannot be forgiven for. It's a lie. Kevin, you don't know the horrible things I've done, things I can't forgive myself for, let alone expect God to forgive me or others to forgive me. Would you consider Mary Magdalene? In Luke 8, it tells us about this woman. She was demon possessed. The Bible tells us, and she was most likely a prostitute, a woman of ill repute.

[30:13] Jesus got ahold of her life. It says that Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, and she was part of His ministry the whole time He walked this earth. And when Jesus was resurrected from the grave at the garden tomb, do you know the first person that He revealed Himself to? A woman? Mary Magdalene. Here's the truth: God is a God of forgiveness. I have broken relationships that beyond repair. Don't believe it. It's a lie. You might say, Kevin, I've been through divorce. Maybe you're in search of your identity. Maybe you have kids, siblings that you haven't spoken to in years. You have relationships that are so damaged. You think there's no hope. I have to settle for second best.

[31:01] Don't believe it. Would you consider the Samaritan woman at the well? In John 4, it tells us this story that this woman came to the well, another metaphor. And Jesus met her, and she has had five husbands. It tells us, and the one she was living with was not one of them. This woman had messed up relationships. Jesus said to her, come drink the living water, the truth. God heals the broken. And I've saved this one for last. I think this might be something God wants to use in some of your lives here, even online, and it deals with addiction. See, Satan is playing havoc with addiction. He's trying to bind us up with addiction so that we will be paralyzed.

[31:51] Here's the lie: I have an addiction that cannot, that I cannot get free from. I'm addicted to alcohol. I'm addicted to drugs, gambling, pornography. I'm addicted to my cell phone, gaming. I've tried to get free, but I have failed over and over. I try to get freedom. I fall back into addiction. I do it again and fail. I'm too far down the rabbit hole. There's no hope for me. Don't believe it. Here's the truth. There will be no temptation that God will not provide a way out. I wanna end with this one verse. It's powerful. Yes, praise the Lord.

[32:38] Listen to this verse, some of you need to mark it down. You need to write it down. You need to take it with you, put it in your pocket, read it to yourself every day. It's a powerful promise. Put it on your mirror in the morning, on your fridge, whatever it takes, but believe it because it is true and it is the Word of God. It's this one: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13. So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you do not fall. When God starts bringing you out of addiction, do not get cocky. Give Him the praise and glory. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. You're not the only one, but God is faithful.

[33:23] He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure. Would you stand with me? As the prayer team comes, I want to challenge you to respond. Maybe accept Jesus Christ as your Savior this morning. Start your journey with taking the next step, maybe coming down and resolving, I'm going to do better, Kevin, in these areas. I wanna honor God with my time, my talent, my resources. Or maybe you're under spiritual attack. Maybe Satan is lying to you in one of these or many more.

[34:09] This is spiritual warfare. Come down, let's pray over you. Let's claim victory. Let's let the chains be broken. God wants to set you free this morning. Will you consider, as the band plays the final song, take the next step in your spiritual journey?