Trust I Robert Madu I Social Dallas

Summary

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Social Dallas Podcast: "Trust" | Robert Madu | January 11, 2026

Episode Theme Overview

This special episode launches Social Dallas Church’s “Word of the Year” for 2026, focusing on "Trust." Lead Pastor Robert Madu, with teaching moments from his team, explores what it means to have "confident trust" in God, especially in today’s climate of widespread skepticism and uncertainty. The message is both a challenge and invitation—to let God form deeper levels of trust within each individual and the church community throughout the year.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Announcement of the Word for 2026: Trust

• Scriptural Foundation: Hebrews 10:35-37 – “Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord... Patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised.”
• Kind of Trust: Not ordinary or blind trust, but "confident trust"—forged over time, formed in waiting, grounded in God’s character.

Notable Quote:

“Not ordinary. Trust. Confident. Trust. Not blind trust. Not borrowed. Trust."
— Lead Pastor (03:37)

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2. Trust as God's Word—Not Human Choice

• Robert Madu admits that "trust" would not be his personal word of the year. He highlights that true words from God often push us into areas where we are weak, not already strong.
• Cites biblical examples (Abraham, Moses, David) where God gave people a prophetic word to describe what He would form in them—not what they already possessed.

Notable Quote:

“God will give you a word not because you are strong in it, but because He is shaping you to become it.”
— Teaching Pastor (06:49)

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3. The Cultural Crisis of Trust

• Trust is described as foundational to all relationships, yet it's a severely eroded "currency" in modern society.
• Observes how skepticism, cynicism, and suspicion define contemporary culture—whether regarding institutions, leaders, even churches.
• References societal changes, mentioning the rise of AI (“age of AI”) and how it’s hard to discern what’s real.

Notable Moment:

• Pastor jokes about hesitation to tell strangers he is a pastor due to public skepticism toward church leadership (13:51).

Notable Quote:

“Skepticism and suspicion is the air that we now breathe.”
— Teaching Pastor (15:45)

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4. Where We Place Our Trust

• The problem isn’t that people can’t trust, but that they place trust in the wrong objects: systems, platforms, plans, emotions, and even themselves.
• Urges the congregation to “throw away” trust in anything but the Lord.

Notable Quote:

“If you’re going to throw away anything, don’t throw away your confident trust in the Lord.”
— Lead Pastor (17:51)

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5. Hebrews as a Call to Endurance & Trust

• The Book of Hebrews inspires with its “relentless exhortation” for believers to keep going, not shrink back.
• The author’s anonymity is considered significant—a reminder that faith sometimes persists without all the information or certainty.
• The original audience were mature, enduring persecution and loss, yet the author urges them not to let their grip on trust loosen—highlighting that trust can become exhausting.

Notable Quote:

“Sometimes, trusting is exhausting. …You’re so tired of having faith and so tired of believing…”
— Teaching Pastor (31:23)

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6. Transactional vs. Confident Trust

• Pastor Robert contrasts “transactional trust” (I do my part; God, you must reward me) with “confident trust” (faith rooted in God’s character, not circumstances).
• The journey this year is to move beyond transactional faith to a trust that stands regardless of immediate outcomes.

Notable Quote:

“Confident trust relies on the consistent character of who God is.”
— Teaching Pastor (33:02)

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7. Trust is Contagious and Communal

• Encouragement to remain in community, as “trust is contagious”—we draw strength from witnessing others’ faith in adversity.
• Cites Hebrews 10:23-25, emphasizing the importance of not giving up meeting together.

Notable Moment:

“Your trust affects my trust. ... When we get together, it allows trust to become contagious.”
— Lead Pastor (38:08)

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8. Trust in the Dark and Uncertainty

• Uses the venue’s building sign (Texas Trust Theater) with burned-out letters as a metaphor: “Can you trust God when the light is out?” The call is to trust not only in daylight but especially through dark and uncertain times.

Notable Quote:

“The question is not, can you trust God when the light is out? Can you trust God in a dark place?”
— Lead Pastor (41:05)

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9. Story of Louisa Stead: Trust from Pain

• Shares the story of Louisa Stead, writer of the hymn “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” who penned the lyrics after her husband died rescuing a boy from drowning.
• Highlights that meaningful trust is often forged in the crucible of pain, not triumph.

Notable Quote:

“Sometimes you gotta lay not knowing or knowing on the altar to say, God, I’m going to keep trusting. Sometimes trust is all you have left.”
— Teaching Pastor (44:00)

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10. Call to Surrender and Trust in Jesus

• Pastor Robert leads a call for surrender—trust in Jesus is not just church attendance or mental agreement, but a wholehearted commitment.
• Urges listeners that the true transformation comes not from effort but from receiving what Jesus has accomplished.

Notable Quote:

“It’s not about your effort or you trying hard. It’s about receiving what was done for you on a cross.”
— Teaching Pastor (47:55)

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11. Closing Worship & Prayer

• The episode closes with collective worship (“I trust in God my Savior, the one who will never fail...”), a moment for recommitment, and a prayer for trust to be formed afresh in every heart.
• A reminder to distinguish between human failures and the faithfulness of God.

Notable Quote:

“I want to be louder about my trust in God than I am about my trauma.”
— Teaching Pastor (55:57)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• [03:37] “Not ordinary. Trust. Confident. Trust. Not blind trust. Not borrowed. Trust.” — Lead Pastor
• [06:49] “God will give you a word not because you are strong in it, but because He is shaping you to become it.” — Teaching Pastor
• [15:45] “Skepticism and suspicion is the air that we now breathe.” — Teaching Pastor
• [17:51] “If you’re going to throw away anything, don’t throw away your confident trust in the Lord.” — Lead Pastor
• [31:23] “Sometimes, trusting is exhausting. …You’re so tired of having faith and so tired of believing…” — Teaching Pastor
• [33:02] “Confident trust relies on the consistent character of who God is.” — Teaching Pastor
• [38:08] “Your trust affects my trust. ... When we get together, it allows trust to become contagious.” — Lead Pastor
• [41:05] “The question is not, can you trust God when the light is out? Can you trust God in a dark place?” — Lead Pastor
• [44:00] “Sometimes you gotta lay not knowing or knowing on the altar to say, God, I’m going to keep trusting. Sometimes trust is all you have left.” — Teaching Pastor
• [47:55] “It’s not about your effort or you trying hard. It’s about receiving what was done for you on a cross.” — Teaching Pastor
• [55:57] “I want to be louder about my trust in God than I am about my trauma.” — Teaching Pastor

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Important Timestamps

• 00:00–05:25 — Opening, worship, announcing “Trust” as the word of the year; reading Hebrews 10:35-37
• 05:25–10:33 — Pastor’s honest confession about struggling with trust
• 12:14–15:45 — Discussion on trust as foundation and its erosion in society
• 17:17–18:12 — What we must “throw away” and where our trust must be rooted
• 20:27–28:32 — Lessons from the Book of Hebrews and the endurance it calls for
• 31:23–33:02 — Moving from transactional to confident trust
• 36:05–39:18 — Imagery drawn from the Texas Trust Theater building and metaphor of trusting in the dark
• 42:10–44:00 — The story of Louisa Stead and writing of “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
• 47:55–58:26 — Call to surrender, collective prayer, and worship conclusion

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Summary & Final Encouragement

This episode sets the spiritual tone for 2026 at Social Dallas: God is inviting the community to let go of misplaced trust and let Him form “confident trust”—even through pain, exhaustion, and uncertainty. The journey will require endurance and authenticity, both individually and together. As Pastor Robert says, “Sometimes trust is the only thing you have left”—but it is enough, because “Jesus is better.”

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Transcript

[Worship Leader]

Come on.

[Lead Pastor]

Anybody ready to receive a word that's gonna change your life, change your year, change your family, change generations? This is the year I will walk.

[Teaching Pastor]

In the fullness of the word of God. That's over my life.

[Lead Pastor]

How you feeling, Social fam? I didn't have no Celsius, but I'm.

[Teaching Pastor]

Trying to calm down today. Today is the day that we reveal our word of the year. As that video showed, since Social Dallas was planted, we always started our year with a word. And I need you to know that we don't just arbitrarily choose a word. We hear from God and receive a word, and then we watch how that word is formed in us over the year. So I just want to let you know if this is your first time or you've been with us since day one. This is not an ordinary Sunday. This is an extraordinary Sunday. And get your expectancy up for what God is going to do this year.

[Lead Pastor]

Remain standing.

[Teaching Pastor]

Because how many know the word of the year comes from the word of God? Comes from the word of God. So as you're standing, we are gonna read for the very first time our verse for 2026. Y' all ain't ready.

[Lead Pastor]

Leviticus, chapter five. I'm playing. Somebody almost walked out the church. Oh, I play too much.

[Teaching Pastor]

It's not in Leviticus. Although Leviticus is good, too. A word from the year comes from the verse of the year. That is Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 35 through 37. Now, in a moment, we're going to read it together. But first, would you just allow me, as is our custom, to read this over you? It declares, so do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you. Patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all, all that he has promised. For in just a little while, the coming one will come and not delay. Did you catch it? Did you catch it? The word of the year is hidden in those passages of Scripture. Encapsulated in those passages of Scripture is.

[Lead Pastor]

A phrase that, hear me, you need in this day and age that we live in. It is a phrase that hear me you don't just need for 2026, you're.

[Teaching Pastor]

Going to need every single year of your life.

[Lead Pastor]

This moment mandates a phrase that is in that scripture.

[Teaching Pastor]

The writer of Hebrews says, don't throw away your confident trust in the Lord.

[Lead Pastor]

I don't know what you're throwing away in 2026, but don't throw away your Confident, Trust in the Lord. Social fam. Our word for 2026 is trust. Trust. Come on, somebody. Not ordinary. Trust. Confident. Trust. Not blind trust. Not borrowed. Trust.

[Congregant/Participant]

Not cultural optimism.

[Lead Pastor]

Come on. Confident.

[Worship Leader]

Trust.

[Lead Pastor]

The kind of trust that is forged over time. The kind of trust that is formed in the waiting. The kind of trust that knows the character of our God, that he is faithful. Confident.

[Teaching Pastor]

Trust. Now, y' all ready to read it together? Do your feet hurt? All right, let's read it together for the first time. Here's how we're gonna do it. Let's establish the rhythm of how we're gonna read matters. I don't want you to start until I say so, okay? We gonna do it different this year.

[Lead Pastor]

I'll say so.

[Teaching Pastor]

And then you go. Is that cool? All right, you ready? So do not throw away this confident. Trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you. Patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God's will.

[Lead Pastor]

Then you will receive all that he has promised.

[Teaching Pastor]

For in just a little while, the coming one will come and not delay.

[Lead Pastor]

Come on, somebody. Give God some praise. You sound good. Sound good.

[Teaching Pastor]

One down, 50 to go. Father, speak to us today. Thank you for the power that is in your word. Let us leave. Different than the way that we came in. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. So do not throw away this confident Trust in the Lord. Social fam. I need to confess something before we go any further today. And that is, if it were just.

[Lead Pastor]

Up to me, I would not have.

[Teaching Pastor]

Chosen trust as the word of the year. Let me be very clear. This was not my pick.

[Worship Leader]

Trust?

[Teaching Pastor]

No. Maybe rest, That's a great word for the year.

[Lead Pastor]

What about blessed?

[Teaching Pastor]

That would be an amazing word for the year.

[Lead Pastor]

But trust, out of. Of all of the words in the English language, trust is not the one.

[Teaching Pastor]

That I would have chosen for us. And I think that's often how you know that a word is from God.

[Lead Pastor]

Because whenever God gives you a word, rarely is it something that you see.

[Teaching Pastor]

In yourself or that you would have picked for yourself.

[Lead Pastor]

More often than not, it is something.

[Teaching Pastor]

That God desires to form within you. God will give you a word not because you are strong in it, but because he is shaping you to become it. From the very beginning of time, this.

[Lead Pastor]

Has really been God's rhythm. This has been his cadence and his flow all the way from the book of Genesis.

[Teaching Pastor]

Genesis chapter one says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness covered the face of the deep. In other words, nothing was finished. Nothing looked functional. But when God spoke, His word carried within it creative power. He didn't speak what already was. He spoke what he intended to form. And he didn't just do it with.

[Lead Pastor]

The planets and with the plants.

[Teaching Pastor]

How many know he did it with people? Oh, read your Bible. You will see person after person. God gave them a word that he was going to form within them.

[Lead Pastor]

Look at Father Abraham. Father Abraham gets his word for the year.

[Teaching Pastor]

Remember what it was. You're going to be the father of many nations. That's a good word for the year. Except he have no kids.

[Lead Pastor]

Not one, as a matter of fact, he is 75 years old. Him and his wife are infertile. And God gives a word that you're.

[Teaching Pastor]

Going to be the father of. Of many nations.

[Lead Pastor]

How in the world. I have no evidence to substantiate that word. But you don't understand. When I give you a word, Abraham, I'm not describing your present. I'm declaring your process. I will form it within you.

[Teaching Pastor]

Let's do it with Abraham.

[Lead Pastor]

And did it with Moses, too. Remember, Mo?

[Teaching Pastor]

Remember his word for the year? Deliverer. Oh, that's a good word. Except for he wasn't a deliverer. He was a murderer and a stutterer.

[Lead Pastor]

And all while he's arguing with God about why he's not the one and you should pick somebody else. God says, I am calling you deliverer because this is something that I'm going to form in you. You will step into it. You don't see it now, but you will see it as I form it in you. We could do this all day. Look at David. He's just a kid on the outskirts of Jerusalem with some stanky sheep playing his harp and praising God. And God looks at a forgotten kid and says, you're a K. He calls him a king before there's ever a crown on his head. Because whenever God gives you a word, he doesn't give you the word you would pick for yourself.

[Teaching Pastor]

He's forming something in you. And I say that for somebody to understand. That when you get a word from God that feels uncomfortable, when it feels premature, when it feels like it just doesn't fit yet. That's not a mistake. That is formation. God is forming the word in you. And that is exactly why this year for Social Dallas, God didn't give us.

[Lead Pastor]

A word that we already feel strong in.

[Teaching Pastor]

He gave us the word trust. Let the church say trust.

[Lead Pastor]

Say it with your chest.

[Teaching Pastor]

Say trust.

[Lead Pastor]

Put it on the screen Trust. He's given us that word because that is what he's going to form in.

[Teaching Pastor]

In us this year.

[Lead Pastor]

Deeper levels of trust, confident, trust. And if it were me, I'm telling you, I would have picked another word. Cause your boy has trust issues. Oh, I'm the only one y' all gonna leave me out here? Okay, See, some of y', all, you ain't gonna like this word of the year. You're not gonna like any of the sermons that we preach, because you're one of those people. And if that's you, God bless you. You always trust God. I mean, you never are nervous. You're that type of person that if the rent is due on the 5th and you ain't got the money on the 4th, you don sweat at all.

[Teaching Pastor]

You say, el Shaddai shall provide.

[Lead Pastor]

Your landlord calling you. Don't call me, it's coming. I know God will show up. Oh, if that's you, God bless you. If you're the type of person when the doctor gives you a negative report and you do are not expecting at all, and you look at the doctor's report and your first reaction is to just crumple up the report, throw it on the ground and say, I know the God I serve. He's Jehovah Rapha. I don't believe your report. I believe God's report.

[Worship Leader]

Report.

[Lead Pastor]

If that's you, well, God bless you. You probably floated in here today and you should preach today. But for the rest of us who has ever had life hit us with something that we were not expecting, that has ever had God go, oh, if.

[Congregant/Participant]

You going to show up on time, right now would be a good time.

[Lead Pastor]

For you to show up. For anybody else that has ever struggled with trusting God, please walk with us in this journey this year, because God is going to form deeper levels of trust. Trust in us. That's the thing about trust, is because you never graduate in your trust with God. Right when you think you trust him in one area, boop. Here's another area. He says, trust me in this. Right when you say, oh, I got this area down pat. God, I trust you in this surprise. Here's another area for you to trust him in. Now I know why the songwriter said, oh, for grace to trust him more and more. And this is a word that God, God is going to form in us this year. Even if you don't have it in you, he's going to form it in you. Elbow the person next to you and.

[Teaching Pastor]

Say, this is for you.

[Lead Pastor]

This is for you.

[Teaching Pastor]

This is for you.

[Lead Pastor]

Trust. Trust, trust. Look at it. Trust. How many know Trust is not cute. Trust is not even optional. Trust is foundational. Oh, think about it. Trust is foundational. Every single single relationship will grow in.

[Teaching Pastor]

The soil of trust.

[Lead Pastor]

Trust is the bedrock of every single healthy relationship. If you don't have trust, you have.

[Teaching Pastor]

No relationship with anybody at all.

[Lead Pastor]

You can't have a healthy marriage without trust. You can't parent well without trust, you can't coach a team without trust, you can't have a great work environment unless you build a culture of trust. Trust is everything. You can't lead anybody. Without trust, nobody's gonna follow you. Without trust. Trust is not optional. It is foundational.

[Teaching Pastor]

And it is essential. And yet it is one of the most eroding currencies in the world today. Have you noticed? Have you noticed how hard it is today to trust anyone or anybody? Are y' all gonna leave me out here by myself?

[Lead Pastor]

It is hard to Trust in these 20, 26 streets climate in which we live.

[Teaching Pastor]

Come on.

[Lead Pastor]

We don't trust institutions the way we used to. We don't trust systems the way we used to.

[Teaching Pastor]

We don't trust leaders the way we used to. We don't trust churches the way we used to. We sure don't trust pastors the way we used to. Oh, ask me how I know.

[Lead Pastor]

I'm the one that's on a plane. I'm the one that's on a plane talking to the stranger next to me in seat 3B, trying to figure out, do I really want to tell them that I'm a pastor? This conversation was actually going real well. Do I want to? Is it lying if I say, you know, I do social work.

[Worship Leader]

I'm in.

[Lead Pastor]

The oil business, anointed.

[Congregant/Participant]

You know, just something else. Something, let's be honest, because some of.

[Lead Pastor]

Us have been so hurt and we've got so much trauma and legit trauma from the church and from leaders that.

[Congregant/Participant]

Some of us have thrown in the.

[Lead Pastor]

Towel and said, never again. Somebody watching online right now is social, global because they're saying, never again will I step foot into a church. We don't trust anybody. This is the climate in which we live. Everybody has triggers from their trauma that.

[Teaching Pastor]

Causes us to be reluctant to trust.

[Lead Pastor]

It is the culture in which we live. It used to be a time where you could confidently say, if I don't see it with my own two eyes or hear it with my own two ears, I don't believe it. Now you can see it with your own two eyes and hear it with your own two ears and still not believe it. Welcome to the age of AI Really. This is the culture that we live in. We got artists that are topping the Billboard charts, and they're artificial artists. You hitting them runs, and it's not even you that's a computer. This is the world that we live in. Last week, I saw a golden doodle on Instagram. Instagram, that looked as real as my Goldendoodle on his back, two legs, dancing, just getting it. And for three seconds, I thought it was real.

[Congregant/Participant]

I'm looking at my golden doodle like, why can't you.

[Lead Pastor]

Why can't you get it like that? This. This is the age in which we live. We live in a society that has become so artificial and so synthetic that.

[Teaching Pastor]

Skepticism and suspicion is the air that we now breathe. We're in a culture where everybody's asking the question, but is it real? Oh, come on. Some of y' all did it today. Walked into church, maybe starting off the new year, and you're, like, looking around. Yeah, they were smiling with those signs.

[Worship Leader]

But.

[Teaching Pastor]

Is it real?

[Lead Pastor]

Some of you looking at me like that, you don't think I can see your face?

[Teaching Pastor]

I see it looking like me. Yeah, he preaching high, but is it real? Oh, I've been there. That cynicism is the air we breathe. She says she lost that weight with flat tummy tea.

[Worship Leader]

Is it.

[Teaching Pastor]

Is it real? Is it real? So you mean to tell me, Pray, you mean to tell me that in a culture that has so much suspicion, that is critical about everything, you mean to tell me our word for the year is trust? Absolutely, 100%. Because trust is not the problem for us. The problem is where we've been placing our trust. So some of you this year need to throw away some trust. You need to throw away trust in your plans. You need to throw away trust in having confidence in yourself. You need to throw away your trust in what happened last year.

[Lead Pastor]

You need to throw away your trust in your emotions that keep going up and down. You need to throw away your trust in systems that change every election cycle. You need to throw away your trust in platforms that profit from enraging you to keep your attention. You need to throw away your trust in voices that rise quickly and disappear just as fast. You need to throw away your trust in things that were never meant to carry that kind of weight. And hear me clearly and 2026, if you're going to throw away anything, don't throw away your confident trust in the Lord.

[Congregant/Participant]

Oh, it will bring you a reward.

[Lead Pastor]

Patient Endurance is what you need now. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

[Teaching Pastor]

For in just a little while coming, one will come and not delay. Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 35 through 37. That's our verse of the year.

[Lead Pastor]

I already got it memorized.

[Teaching Pastor]

Don't be impressed. I've been working since December.

[Lead Pastor]

But by the end of the year.

[Teaching Pastor]

You'Re gonna have it in your heart and you're gonna have it in your spirit, too, to not throw away your confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it's going to bring you if you've been a part.

[Lead Pastor]

Of the social fam for, I guess, since 2024. You know, this is not the first time that we've had a verse of.

[Teaching Pastor]

The year out of the book of Hebrews. This is actually our second time.

[Lead Pastor]

The first time we had a verse out of Hebrews was in 2024. The year of UN.

[Teaching Pastor]

Was Hebrews chapter 12, verses 28 and 29. That says, do you see what we've got? An unshakable kingdom.

[Lead Pastor]

And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He is actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won't quit until it's all cleansed. God help is fire. Oh, y' all still here.

[Worship Leader]

Y' all still here.

[Congregant/Participant]

And you still remember. It sounds like you planted in the.

[Lead Pastor]

House of the Lord.

[Congregant/Participant]

And you do know that those who.

[Lead Pastor]

Are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

[Worship Leader]

Are y' all still here?

[Lead Pastor]

Ain't that something, that you're still here and still got that word in you? That's the thing about trust. Anybody can trust in a day, anybody can trust in a minute. But can you trust over time? Can you let the word get down in you long enough to trust? See, that's why I gotta be careful. I love that you're here. I am not knocking that you came to church. This is amazing. But the beginning of the year at church is just like Planet Fitness at the beginning of the year, everybody's up in there. You know how it is. You can't even get on a single piece of equipment. It's like, you go here.

[Congregant/Participant]

Yeah, I go here, too.

[Lead Pastor]

The challenge is not the beginning of the year. Can you Keep showing up and keep showing up and keep showing up.

[Congregant/Participant]

And when you don't feel like it.

[Lead Pastor]

Keep showing up and keep on trusting. And so I love that we're back in the Book of Hebrews because Hebrews speaks to endurance. Hebrews speaks to believers who need to keep going and not quit and not throw in the towel. Y', all, your boy is obsessed with the Book of Hebrews. It is a powerful book in your Bible. As a matter of fact, I might just preach out of Hebrews verse by verse and chapter by chapter for social studies. Maybe in the fall. Maybe in the fall, something like that. Because I love this book. Hebrews doesn't even read like a letter. It reads like a sermon. It is powerful. It is dense in its theology. It is articulate in its language. It is relentless in its exhortation. I love the Book of Hebrews. Matter of fact, when I get to.

[Teaching Pastor]

Heaven, when I find the writer of.

[Lead Pastor]

Hebrews, I just want to give him a high five and say, thank you for giving us a book to let us know that we can't shrink back, that we got to keep on going. I want to give a high five to the author of Hebrews. The only problem is.

[Worship Leader]

Who?

[Lead Pastor]

Who is it? We don't know who the writer of Hebrews is. We don't know who it is. And so many scholars debate and have diatribes about who the author of Hebrews is.

[Teaching Pastor]

But let's keep it 100. We don't know. We don't know. Some people think Paul wrote Hebrews.

[Lead Pastor]

I disagree.

[Teaching Pastor]

I disagree vehemently.

[Lead Pastor]

I disagree. Cause, come on, every time Paul writes.

[Congregant/Participant]

A book, he lets you know who he is. I love Paul.

[Lead Pastor]

He always giving his ad handle. Y' all don't know who this is? I, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, writing to you, he lets you know who he is. So I don't think Paul wrote it. Some people think Barnabas wrote it. Some people think Luke wrote it. Some people think Priscilla wrote it. Hello, ladies. Some people think Apollos wrote it. But that's not what I'm fascinated with. And I don't want to have a.

[Teaching Pastor]

Debate over who wrote the Book of Hebrews.

[Lead Pastor]

I do find it intriguing and even.

[Teaching Pastor]

Compelling that the greatest exhortation for us to trust in God comes from an unknown author.

[Lead Pastor]

You got somebody, you don't even know his name, and he got the nerve.

[Teaching Pastor]

To tell you, don't throw away your confident trust.

[Lead Pastor]

Excuse me, sir. Who are you? Don't drift away. Who are you? So he does not take time to explain to you who he is. He wants you to focus on what God is saying. Oh, I wish somebody would catch that revelation today. Because some of you, the thing that is sabotaging your strength to trust is your need to know everything.

[Congregant/Participant]

And God said, let this be the year that you just throw up your hands and say, there's some stuff I'm never going to know. But, God, I trust you. I don't know why my daddy wasn't there in my life. I don't know why my mama still has issues. I don't know why they ghosted me. I don't know why they walked away. I don't know why I'm going through this sickness. But there's one thing I do know. I am not gonna throw away my confident trust in the Lord, because it's gonna bring me a reward if I keep trusting. Somebody needs to take about 10 seconds and give God some praise for the stuff you don't know and you're glad.

[Lead Pastor]

You don't know about it.

[Congregant/Participant]

I don't know.

[Lead Pastor]

I don't know.

[Congregant/Participant]

And I'm not going to lose my.

[Lead Pastor]

Ability to have confident trust in God because I got to know everything. One of my favorite embodicons to send.

[Teaching Pastor]

People is the Because I don't know. And for some of us, we're going.

[Lead Pastor]

To lose confident trust in God because.

[Teaching Pastor]

We'Re obsessed with the need to have to know.

[Lead Pastor]

The writer of Hebrews goes, I ain't gonna tell you my name. Homeboy opens up his book.

[Teaching Pastor]

God, who spoke in times past, doesn't.

[Lead Pastor]

Even say my name is. It don't matter what my name is. Because I don't want you obsessed with my personality. I want you obsessed with the person. Y' all like that because, you know, we live in a culture where people.

[Teaching Pastor]

Like, love the personalities.

[Lead Pastor]

Oh, I see it all the time. There's people like, oh, I listen to.

[Teaching Pastor]

The word when so and so preaches it. Oh, I love how they break it down. Oh, I listen to my podcaster. I love his stuff.

[Lead Pastor]

We are so obsessed with personalities. We're actually missing the person of Jesus.

[Teaching Pastor]

And look at the writer, the unknown.

[Lead Pastor]

Writer of Hebrews, still preaching to us in 2026, saying, don't get caught up in my personality. I want you to be caught up in a person, and his name is Jesus. That's who I want you to be up in, obsessed with. Oh, this is why I love Hebrews. If you don't want to read all the chapters in Hebrews, can I give you Hebrews in three words. Here it is, right here. This is Hebrews in its entirety. Jesus is better. Six claps for that. I know, because it hadn't got in you yet. But I'm telling you, that's the message of Hebrew. Jesus is better. That's what he's trying to get you to understand. He's better than the angels. He's better than the prophets. He is better than Moses. He is our high priest. He is the greatest. In times past, the high priest had to bring a sacrifice for the sins of the people and he had to have a sacrifice for them and for his own sins. And year after year they kept doing it and it was never able to remove their sins. But thank God for Jesus, who is our high priest, because he was the high priest and the sacrifice at the same time. So that's why you ought to shout and not walk away, because we don't have to bring the blood of bulls and animals.

[Congregant/Participant]

Thank God for the blood, Jesus. Oh, if you want something to shout about, don't just keep it on Good Friday, every single Sunday. Thank God for the blood. That's how I'm able to lift up my hands. That's how I'm able to approach the throne of grace with confidence. Not off my record, but that blood that still has power to.

[Lead Pastor]

Writer of Hebrews is saying, we have a greater high priest.

[Teaching Pastor]

His name is Jesus and Jesus is better.

[Lead Pastor]

I wonder if you believe that today.

[Teaching Pastor]

Like believe that he is better or.

[Lead Pastor]

You are looking for something else to.

[Teaching Pastor]

Be added to your life to fulfill you.

[Lead Pastor]

Well, what if the best thing that.

[Teaching Pastor]

Could happen to you this year was to understand that Jesus plus absolutely nothing.

[Lead Pastor]

Equals everything. Hallelujah.

[Teaching Pastor]

And the writer of Hebrews, with great precision and powerful exhortation writes, jesus is better. We don't know who he is, but when you read the book of Hebrews, you get some insight about who he is writing to. Yeah, his audience, he's writing to Jewish Christians. Many of them are second generation. And I want you to understand who these people are. These are not immature Christians. These aren't little baby Christians. These are people who have been walking with the Lord for a while. These are people who have some substance and have some weight to them. These aren't people who just show up when it feels good. No, no, no, no. These are people who have been planted in the Lord. That's who he's writing to. And it's interesting if you read the verses that precede our verse of the year, he even lets us know the caliber of people that we're dealing with. He says many of you had joy as you endured persecution, as you were thrown into prison, and even as your property was confiscated, you still stood with joy. That's a different type of believer.

[Lead Pastor]

It's a different type of believer to.

[Teaching Pastor]

Go to prison for the gospel. You still got your joy.

[Lead Pastor]

They locking you up for the gospel. Talking about, yes, I love this cell I'm in here for Jesus.

[Teaching Pastor]

That's a different type of believer to.

[Lead Pastor]

Have your property confiscated. Come on, y'.

[Worship Leader]

All.

[Lead Pastor]

Put your feet in the text, pull up to your house, and your home is gone. Cause you're a believer.

[Congregant/Participant]

You're talking about, oh, yeah, we out here in these streets. Praise the Lord.

[Lead Pastor]

I got joy. That's a different type of believer than we encounter today. The type of believer today that's like, oh, there's just so many people. And I mean, the parking, it's just. It's the parking. It's just so mighty. Are these all the coffee options that y' all have? Different type of believer today. So I just want you to know.

[Teaching Pastor]

The audience that this unknown writer is writing to.

[Lead Pastor]

And what intrigues me is these people.

[Teaching Pastor]

Have been faithful, they've been mature, they've endured trial, and they're not even at the place that they're going to backslide.

[Lead Pastor]

It's not like they're in rebellion. It's not like Paul writing to the Church of Corinth saying, hey, y' all wilding out like, y' all orgies and communion. We gotta. We gotta fix this. This is not that they haven't gotten into debauchery. These are people.

[Teaching Pastor]

Watch this. Who've just started to drift. He says, don't throw away. Don't throw away your confident trust in the Lord.

[Lead Pastor]

I can't throw away something that I had.

[Teaching Pastor]

I can't throw away something I never had. That means they had confident trust. But the writer of Hebrews can tell their grip is starting to loose and they're about to throw it all away. If it was me, and I've watched people endure prison and heartache, I would come at them like saying, hey, man, y' all did real good. Keep up the good work. I would come with, like, some encouragement. Not this gangster, unknown writer of Hebrews. He pulls no punches back. He said, we are not the type of people who shrink back.

[Lead Pastor]

He says, don't fall away. He keeps encouraging them, don't start to drift.

[Teaching Pastor]

Don't lose your confidence. Why does he need to tell people who have been faithful and trusting to not lose their confident trust you know why? Because sometimes trusting is exhausting. Can we be honest in here today? Trusting is sometimes exhausting. And sometimes you're so tired of having faith and so tired of believing that.

[Lead Pastor]

It's not like you don't believe in.

[Teaching Pastor]

God anymore, but you're losing your strength to trust him again.

[Lead Pastor]

Maybe that's how you feel at the beginning of this year, because it's not like you were at the crib. You're here, but your hallelujah is kind of.

[Teaching Pastor]

Hallelujah. And I'm not knocking it, but I want to echo the words of the Hebrew writer and say, don't throw away your confident trust to keep on trusting. Patient endurance is what you need now. Not just endurance.

[Worship Leader]

Patience. Right.

[Teaching Pastor]

Patient endurance. In other words, this year God wants to give you the strength to wait. The strength to wait when you still haven't seen the promise to have the type of confident trust that is not predicated upon your circumstance. I don't want to get into next week's sermons. He wants to graduate you from transactional trust. You know, transactional trust. God, I prayed you better bless me, God. I'm giving. Where's my raise, God?

[Lead Pastor]

I'm doing my part.

[Teaching Pastor]

You do your part.

[Lead Pastor]

Oh, you stopping your part? See, man, this stuff don't work anyway.

[Teaching Pastor]

I'm out of here. That's transactional trust. Confident trust relies on the consistent character of who God is. And the writer of Hebrews is giving us a word for our year. Hear me? That will be formed in us. Don't throw away your confident trust. I want the worship team to join me again. This is just an intro to our word. Every single week we're going to go deeper. But can I tell you, I didn't want this to be the word of the year. You got to know that because your boy has trust issues. And it is exhausting sometimes to keep trusting. I was watching that video they played. This is year number five of our church. And I've seen what God has done year after year. And I wish I could tell you that year after year, every single Sunday, I come out, let's go.

[Lead Pastor]

This is going to be the year God's going to do it.

[Teaching Pastor]

It's exhausting sometimes to keep trusting.

[Lead Pastor]

It's exhausting to keep speaking life when everybody around you keeps speaking death. It's exhausting to have joy and believe when everybody around you wants to always see what's bad in the situation.

[Teaching Pastor]

It's exhausting sometimes to keep on trusting. But I love this word because when God gives it to you, he's going to form it in you. So can we go on a journey this year to allow God to take us into deeper levels of trust? Confident. Trust in him. I didn't want to do this word for another reason. Have you seen the venue we're in? You know where we're at, right?

[Lead Pastor]

Texas. I'm trying to tell you the conversation I'm having with God. I'm like, really? They gonna think I'm some corny preacher that's like, trust is on the building.

[Teaching Pastor]

We supposed to trust him this year?

[Lead Pastor]

I'm. This conversation I'm having with the Lord?

[Teaching Pastor]

No. And I had to remember, every year, I don't pick the word, I listen. We listen to receive the word.

[Lead Pastor]

Rather than thinking it was corny.

[Teaching Pastor]

God reminded me, guess what? I'm actually giving you an opportunity through the venue.

[Lead Pastor]

That every time you drive.

[Teaching Pastor]

Up here every single Sunday morning, you will look up on this building and have a reminder to trust.

[Lead Pastor]

And I don't know what The Sundays of 2026 are gonna hold every single Sunday. I don't know what your 2026 is gonna hold. I wish I could tell you. Oh, it's gonna be all blessing this year. You're not gonna have any pain, you're not gonna have any struggles. You're gonna win the lottery this year. Oh, it's just. I see bonuses in the spirit. Oh, you gonna find your boy. I wish I could tell you that, but I would not be a true preacher of the gospel if I told you that. Can I be honest? You're gonna have some stuff hit you this year. You're gonna have some real trials this year. And those are the moments that you gotta have your trust anchored and secured.

[Congregant/Participant]

And I'm thankful that even on a Sunday morning, every time I pull into this parking lot, I'm gonna look at.

[Lead Pastor]

That building and see trust and say, no matter what happens, God, my trust is in you. That's what somebody needs to do every day of this, this year.

[Congregant/Participant]

Lift up your eyes to the heels. That's where your help comes from. Look up and say, God, I am trusting in you and you alone this year. I don't know what's going to come.

[Lead Pastor]

But I'm going to keep looking up and I'm going to keep trusting. I know what you're thinking. Oh, come on, Pr. You just trying to tell us to keep coming to church up here at the Texas Trust Theater. Maybe. Maybe. Because have I. Can I tell you one thing I've learned? Trust is contagious. Okay? I gotta give You Scripture. Before we get to our verse of the year, you notice what the unknown writer says in verse 23? I believe it is. He says this right here. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider. Consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. Oh, y' all don't like that verse right there? That unknown writer says, I know you're.

[Congregant/Participant]

Going through a dark season right now.

[Lead Pastor]

But don't let that put you in isolation.

[Congregant/Participant]

You better keep getting together with some other believers because trust is contagious. Somebody in here right now is trying to trust God because they're believing God for healing. And you need to be around somebody that has watched God heal their body. Somebody right here is thanking God because he did give you your spouse. And you need to be worshiping with somebody who just had somebody walk away. It's something about when we get together. Your trust affects my trust. I wish somebody would try it right now. Would you open up your mouth and start giving God praise? And watch how trust and praise begins to be contagious in the atmosphere. I need your trust. I need it.

[Lead Pastor]

You don't have a clue what some people are walking through and they're still trusting. You don't have a clue. And there's something about when we get together, it allows trust to become contagious. As I see you worshiping through your trial, you see me worshiping through mine.

[Teaching Pastor]

We get strength from each other.

[Lead Pastor]

That mean you gotta come to social Dallas. No. Find you someplace. Find you a community where it's not you just in isolation.

[Teaching Pastor]

But it's us. It's us.

[Lead Pastor]

Oh, I told you, God will speak through anything. I told you I didn't want the word trust. I want that said for the record. But it is on the building. And I noticed something, y'.

[Worship Leader]

All.

[Lead Pastor]

I'm keeping it 100. We had our family Christmas. I already knew what the word was.

[Teaching Pastor]

You didn't. And I pulled up to Texas Trust theater and I noticed the light in U was out. This is what it looked like. It was just tr. But that it was like that on the building.

[Lead Pastor]

I'm not throwing shade.

[Teaching Pastor]

I'm just. I just noticed that it. So I just held on to it. I was like, well, you. You, Robert, you need to trust. You know what the word is? You trust put up today, the S is out. The S is out. So I feel like you say, not.

[Lead Pastor]

Just you that need to trust. Trust is on us, that.

[Teaching Pastor]

Watch this. If you go outside after service and you look at the building to see.

[Lead Pastor]

If I'm telling the truth and those.

[Teaching Pastor]

Lights are out, you won't see it because it's daytime. When I pull up is still dark.

[Lead Pastor]

The question is not, can you trust.

[Teaching Pastor]

God when the light is out?

[Lead Pastor]

This is the year you're gonna have to find out. Can you trust God? Oh, I feel his presence in a dark place. Can you trust God when you've been betrayed?

[Congregant/Participant]

Can you trust God when people that.

[Lead Pastor]

You helped have walked away?

[Congregant/Participant]

Can you trust God when you ain't got no money in your account? Can you trust God when you get diagnosed with the disease? It's in the dark. Anybody can trust him in the daylight. Anybody can trust him for a minute or a day.

[Lead Pastor]

Can you trust for a decade? You trust when it's dark?

[Teaching Pastor]

Sometimes trust is the only thing that you have left. Every person that can. Would you stand? I got.

[Lead Pastor]

I gotta finish, but.

[Teaching Pastor]

Anybody know who Louisa Stead is? Anybody know Louisa Stead? Anybody know what? I don't think you would. Louisa Stead, in the late 1880s, was an immigrant to the United States from England. And one day, Louisa goes to the beach with her husband and her daughter. As they're having an amazing day on the beach, they hear screams beyond the shore in the water of a young boy who's drowning. Louisa's husband immediately gets up, swims to go rescue this young boy, saves the young boy's life. But tragically, he didn't make it to shore, drowned and died immediately. Louisa here's a widow and her daughter has no father.

[Lead Pastor]

I don't know what you would do.

[Teaching Pastor]

In a moment like that. I'll be honest, I don't know what I would do in a moment like that. But you know what Louisa did? She pulls out a pen and she writes. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus Just to take him at his word Just to rest upon his promise Just to know Thus says the Lord Jesus Jesus How I trust Him How I proved him O' er and o' er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus oh, for grace to trust him more she had to write that hymn. Out of triumph, she wrote that hymn. We're still singing today. Out of pain, out of nothing not knowing why Hear me today I feel this so strongly in this service, some of you. The enemy is sabotaging your strength to trust. Because you keep going. I gotta know why. Sometimes you gotta lay not knowing or knowing on the altar to say God, I just. I'm going to keep trusting. Sometimes trust is all you have left. I'm telling you, this is going to be an amazing year. But to the degree that our trust is anchored in Jesus, I'm going to ask every head be bowed and eyes be closed today. Father, thank you for your word. God, thank you for this church. Thank you for the community that you're forming. Thank you for the lives that are being transformed and changed. But Father, today, on this first Sunday where we received our word for the.

[Lead Pastor]

Year, God, we're available.

[Teaching Pastor]

We surrender. Let trust be formed in us.

[Lead Pastor]

Deeper.

[Teaching Pastor]

Levels of trust, so that we can confidently say our trust is in you. Father, I thank you that we don't have to know to trust you, but we do know. Verse 37, that the coming One will come and you will not delay. Father, thank you that you are the coming One and that this earth is not our home. Father, I thank you that heaven is going to make earth make sense. And ultimately we are not living for this world, we're living for you. Would you help us to know that we know what the writer of Hebrews was trying to get them to understand that you're better Jesus, that you plus nothing really does equal everything form that in us. This year I'm gonna ask heads to stay bowed and eyes stay closed. Please just honor this moment. It really is a holy moment. If you're here today and you'd be so honest to say, hey, pr, I've not surrendered my life to Jesus. If you got issues trying to trust, surrender is the first step. There's some of you who, if you're honest, you've not fully surrendered and given your life to Jesus. And I honestly can think of no, no better time. It's always a good time to surrender to Jesus, but especially at the beginning of a year where everybody's trying to have a new them and a new.

[Lead Pastor]

You, you can truly have a new you that's not external, but something on the inside.

[Teaching Pastor]

And I love it.

[Lead Pastor]

It's not about your effort. Are you trying hard? It's about receiving.

[Teaching Pastor]

What was done for you on a cross. And so with heads bowed and eyes closed today, if you're here and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, I'm not asking you to just go to church. I'm not even asking, do you just.

[Worship Leader]

Believe.

[Teaching Pastor]

The demons believe? Have you surrendered your life to him? If you haven't, I want to give you that opportunity today. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see if that's you saying, pr. I need to give Jesus my life today. Thank you, Lord. I see that hand. I see those hands. Thank you, Lord. Hands are going up all over this room today. Thank you, Jesus. Anybody else? This is where it starts. You want to start trusting.

[Lead Pastor]

When you hear him speaking to you, you start responding. The more you keep rejecting it, when you know God is talking to you, the quieter his voice gets. That's why the writer of Hebrews says.

[Congregant/Participant]

When you hear his voice, don't harden in your heart.

[Lead Pastor]

Some of you, he's been begging, he's been pleading, saying, come to me. You've been throwing your trust and so many other things, and they can't handle the weight of the trust. You got to put it in me. Anybody else? Just lift it up.

[Teaching Pastor]

Thank you, God.

[Lead Pastor]

I want us to pray this prayer.

[Teaching Pastor]

We're all going to say it as one big family, actually. Know what? Scratch that. I want to do this. We got to. This is how we roll at Social. Dallas, if you lifted up your hand, or you should have lifted up your hand, I just believe this is a new year and you're about to step into the greatest season of your life.

[Lead Pastor]

Not because everything's gonna be perfect, but.

[Teaching Pastor]

Because your trust is anchored in a sure place.

[Lead Pastor]

If you lifted up your hand or.

[Teaching Pastor]

You should have, I'm just asking you to be so bold and brave and.

[Lead Pastor]

Just get out of your seat and come right up here to the front. I'm not trying to embarrass you. I just think it's something powerful about leaving where you are. It's indicative of you saying the old me is in my seat, but the new me stepping into what God has for me. Come on. And Social fam. You know how we do. Don't stop clapping until people stop coming. Come on. I don't care how far you got to walk. I don't care if you all the way at the top. I promise you, it's worth every single day. Single step is worth every single step down those stairs. Come on. If anybody be in Christ, they are a brand new creature. Your past is washed away. Come on.

[Congregant/Participant]

I gotta give him my trust.

[Lead Pastor]

I surrender this year. Thank you, God. Come on, Come on. Just get as close, close to the front as you can. Come on. Come on, Come on, Come on. I wish y' all would clap like it was your cousin. I wish you would clap like it was your mama. I wish you would clap like it was your sister. I wish you would clap like it.

[Congregant/Participant]

Was Your brother you've been praying for.

[Lead Pastor]

Come on. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God.

[Worship Leader]

Come on.

[Congregant/Participant]

That's still coming.

[Worship Leader]

And he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he. Come on. Come on. That's why I trust him thank you, Jesus. That's why I trust him I stop the Lord. Answer I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered that's why I trust him I stop the Lord I stop the Lord and he heard me and he answered I stop the Lord and he heard and he answered that's why I trust in that's why I trust in God my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail I trust in God my Savior the one who will never fail. I stop the Lord any hurt any answer I Lord and he heard Any answer I heard any answer that's why I trust him that's why I trust.

[Teaching Pastor]

Declare it my sa. Thank you, Jesus.

[Worship Leader]

He will never he will never fail I trust I trust in God my savior.

[Teaching Pastor]

Somebody needs the truth of that song to be cemented it in your soul. He will never fail. I know people have failed you. Please don't project that failure onto our God. He's faithful. Not only is he faithful, he's good. And has this amazing sovereign way of even taking the most painful, heartbreaking situation and using it for its glory. So last week with Christine Cain, abandoned by her parents, sexually abused for decades, and goes around the world declaring the gospel. Please don't ever hear me say that people that hurt you, that caused you to be triggered or the trauma is excusable. It's not. But I want to be louder about my trust in God than I am about my trauma.

[Lead Pastor]

I want to love people well.

[Teaching Pastor]

But still know my confidence is not in human flesh. My trust is in God. He will never fail. And God opened up my eyes to see even the moments when I think you did to get clarity on it. Sometimes we think God failed, but it.

[Lead Pastor]

Wasn'T him that failed. It was our plan that we had.

[Teaching Pastor]

And that's why trust starts with surrender. I'm laying down my plans. I can have a vision board, but I'll lay that down too. God, I am surrendered to you. I trust you. I want us to do something. Can we just posture ourselves to trust? Those of you at this altar, thank you for being so bold and brave to respond today. Would you just lift up your hands just as a sign of surrender? And even all over this place today. This is a beautiful way to start our year of confident trust. Those of you who've responded, I want to lead you in a prayer, but I want you to say it from your heart. Would you just say this? Say, jesus, my hands are lifted because I surrender. Lord, thank you so much for loving me enough to pay the price for my sin. Jesus, I believe you're the son of God. Your sacrifice, your blood that was shed on the cross was enough. So Jesus today, give you everything, give you my heart, my mind, my soul. From this moment forward, I'm walking with you. I give you this year, Jesus, help me to go to deeper levels of trusting you. No matter what comes, my trust is in you. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[Worship Leader]

Amen.

[Teaching Pastor]

Come on. If you meant what you prayed, would you give Jesus some praise today?