How To Have The Best Year Ever - Part One - Stand

[Music] [Applause] [Music] all right what's up everybody welcome to part one of this brand new series called how to have the best year ever i want to say hello to all of our campuses all of you streaming live online and of course all the correctional facilities that continue to receive these messages throughout the week come on church just put our hands together welcome on another today yeah if you haven't already take a moment to grab something to take some notes with because every time we study god's word i believe the holy spirit makes things come alive it's different for every one of us but god loves to speak to us through his word it's important that you jot those things down so that you do not forget as we take this amazing spiritual journey together before we jump into the message a couple of things i want to share with you first of all i think it's important for us to pause and celebrate all that god has done here at i town in 2020 and specifically in our christmas eve services we had thousands of people attend but more importantly we had nearly 500 people make decisions for christ come on church let's give god praise isn't that amazing you know i was looking at some of the statistics and year over year we're seeing an average of nearly 5 000 people saved every year at i-town and it's fascinating to me how many times we pray for things for god to move in certain areas and for god to do certain things and then when he does we don't recognize it for what it is and i want to pause for a moment and tell you that i've spent my entire life praying that god would move and that revival would come church i believe we're living in the middle of a modern day revival i think god's moving in a powerful way we need to honor for what it is this is a move of god god's presence and power is at work every weekend and it's such an honor to take this journey together with you and as we prepare for this brand new year we have a tradition that prepares us mentally emotionally and spiritually for the new year and that's our 21 days of fasting in prayer we'll begin that next sunday january 10th it'll run through the 30th i'm going to dedicate the entire message on this first wednesday to the subject of prayer and fasting why is it important that we fast what does it look like the different ways that we can fast so join us first wednesday seven o'clock it's going to be an amazing time together and we're going to dive into this and i want to challenge everybody in the church to participate in the spirit of fasting and as i'll show you on wednesday there's lots of different ways for you to fast so don't let it be something that's intimidating if you've never fasted before but it is a spiritual discipline that we should embrace in our lives on a regular basis i believe i think that's how jesus taught it and so i want to lead you through a season of fasting kate and i with all of our hearts believe that this is the reason why we're seeing spiritual momentum nothing happens in the natural till it first happens in the spiritual and so we are going to pray at noon here at olsen farms we'll stream it as well all throughout the 21 days from monday to friday and it's gonna be an amazing time in god's presence and i promise you if you've never participated before it'll be the best way that you've ever kicked off a brand new year and your entire life there are unbelievable spiritual benefits as we silence the world and increase the voice of the holy spirit and i think we need to hear from god now more than ever before we're certainly living in crazy times and we don't know exactly what 2021 has in store for us we're all thankful that 2020 is over but all of us with rational minds know that the fairy magic pill doesn't make 2021 all of a sudden totally change and all the chaos in our world completely be removed the reality is we'll have some things we have to navigate and it's funny how in 2020 god gave us the word for the year is the word fresh we felt like god was going to do something fresh something new something different in fact i remember we were sitting in meetings talking about how man we're just kind of fresh encounters with god and we're going to do church in fresh ways and like things are going to change and little did we know what exactly was going to happen or what that would look like but of course it was kind of a year of crazy turns and lots of pivots and amazing things that god did and god did move in a fresh way and i'm so thankful for that as he brought provision and direction into our lives just as we had prayed for as kate and i prayed and prepared for 2021 we felt like this would be a year that would really be encompassed by this one word it's the simple word stand i believe that we're headed into a season where it's going to be important for us as the body of christ to stand to stand for what we believe in to stand for the cause of christ to stand and speak out for others who are marginalized to truly step up yeah and be the church that god's called us to be ephesians chapter 6 starting in verse 11 it says put on all the armor that god supplies and in this way you can take a stand against the devil's strategies i'm going to pause for a moment and and pray that you notice that the bible compels us to put on armor that's preparing you for warfare it's not playing patty cake it's not a club thing it's not uh a social gathering this is war that you there's armor for you because just as god has a plan for your life as jeremiah tells us you need to know that the devil has a strategy he's got a strategy for your mind he's got a strategy for your emotions he's got a strategy for your marriage he's got a strategy to destroy your kids and all of that strategy is to undo every bit of life that jesus came to bring you he wants to steal kill and destroy and we can't just pretend as though he does not exist we can't pretend as though the spirit of the antichrist is not alive and well in our world today operating in our own nation and even in some cases in our own government levels if you don't open the media and watch what's happening in the world around you and say my god we are in a spiritual crisis in america then i don't think you have a pulse or maybe you're not following christ or reading the same bible i'm reading because i believe that we're desperately in need of revival in our nation and the devil has a strategy that's working and so it's important for us to be the church god's called us to be to be alive to be awake and to be ready so that we can stand we can't do that if you don't have your armor on this is not a wrestling match against human opponents we're not fighting people the bible says we are wrestling with rulers and authorities and powers that govern this world this world of darkness and then there's spiritual forces that are controlling the heavenly world as well there are unseen spirits and i know this is probably deep for some of you but we need to think about this there is an unseen world that is controlling the seen world and if you don't believe that we need to have a theological lesson about the fact that god is unseen the devil is unseen we're not playing patty cake this is real warfare here we are in a battle for humanity's souls and the devil has never been more blatant and never revealed his agenda more than he is right now nobody's trying to hide it any longer now it's just out in the open and the question is will the church actually stand up and be a voice for change for this reason he goes on to say take up all the armor that god supplies and then you'll be able to take a stand in these evil days we are in evil days okay we should see that once you have overcome all obstacles you'll be able to stand your ground so then take your stand i believe that's god's command for us and that there is our verse for the year church it's time for us to take our stand it's time for us to know what we believe and why we believe it and to stand for truth so that we can make a difference now what we're going to do for the rest of our time together is we're going to go to daniel chapter 3. it's a it's a passage that we've studied several times over the years that i can't have pastored this church and i actually brought it to you last year in the series of daniel from a little bit different perspective in the battle over worship but today we're going to look at it from a little bit different perspective about this stand the physical stand that these guys had to take because i believe there's so many applications practically to our lives and it's going to show us kind of the path for the next several weeks for this series and how to have the best year ever let me give you the back story nebuchadnezzar comes and conquers israel takes away the leading thinkers of the day and the leaders of the day daniel and his three friends shadrach meshach and abednego were included in that group and so daniel is elevated to a position of leadership in babylon and then he hooks up his friends with jobs which is what every good friend does when you get put in charge of something you hire all your friends and so daniel hired all of his friends and so now they're on staff and decided i'm going to create a new religion i'm going to have everybody bow down to this new statue that i'm making and when we play the music everyone's going to bow daniel chapter 3 verse 4 we'll pick it up the herald loudly proclaim this is what you're commanded to do o peoples nations of men of every language as soon as you hear the sound of the horn the flute the zither the liar the harp the pipes and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the image of gold that king nebuchadnezzar has set up and whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace so this is the message that is being given to the people look we're establishing a new religion everybody is going to do the same thing we're all going to bow down and we're going to worship this image and if you do not conform there will be a penalty it's amazing how the devil always leads out of fear in fact you can always tell when it's god and when it's the devil because the devil loves to manipulate through fear god leads through love god leads us it's the goodness of god that leads people to repentance the bible says everything god does is commanded out of love and so the problem is if we try and make faith-filled decisions out of fear we end up falling for the tactics of the enemy so here's what the devil is telling them everyone is going to worship this everyone will bow their knee to this one thing and if you do you'll be safe if you don't you'll be killed there'll be consequences you'll be thrown into the blazing furnace and shadrach meshach and abednego had to make a decision that day the decision they made was that they would stand that they were only going to bow their name their knee for one name and it wasn't nebuchadnezzar's name it wasn't somebody else's name it wasn't the the idol that he had built on the plane of dura it wasn't out of fear they just said we're not going to bow well of course people didn't like that verse 8 at this time the astrologers came forward and they said to king nebuchadnezzar there are some jews that you've said over the affairs of the province of babylon shadow with meshach and abednego they pay no attention to you o king they neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up they are not conforming there's a problem king we've got a group of people that won't do what they're told to do this is an issue we have to we have to squash this we have to deal with this we don't like this at all and the reason why they're not doing it is because they're not paying attention so question number one that we're gonna have to resolve in our hearts if we're gonna stand in 2021 is what do i give my attention to what do i give my attention to there are a lot of voices in the world today and it's amazing how many of those voices are saying the same thing but haven't you kind of had a moment where you're like man i know everybody's saying the same thing but it doesn't feel right it doesn't feel like they all know what they're talking about it doesn't feel like that's what i should do and you have that moment where you're like am i crazy am i the only one that's crazy are there other people who are also crazy like me because certainly i'm not crazy like this is crazy i'm not crazy but am i crazy because i feel crazy because everyone else is doing the same thing and saying the same thing and worshiping the same thing but i just i can't be okay with that i just doesn't seem right to me i just can't what is happening they had to have that moment as the three hebrew boys right there had to been in my holy imagination i'm reading into this you can throw it all out right there had to have been more hebrews than just three that were taken from israel and there had to have been some others who bowed in that moment and there had to be that moment that the three guys were like are you going to bow i'm not going to bow are you are we are we going to do this what is that are we going to listen to this are we going to let the government tell us who to worship are we really gonna go through this like what what i think they had that moment and they probably had that moment of and where is daniel he's the one that got us into this theologians speculate that he was sent on some mission because he was so high in the government he just wasn't there that day lucky daniel but you can feel crazy when you've got the media saying something and the government's saying something and hollywood is saying something and everybody in your life is all saying the same thing and you're going but wait a minute the bible says something else and i'm kind of confused about why people that even profess to believe what i believe are doing what we say we don't believe i don't understand exactly what's happening but i'm just telling you you can be influenced if you don't watch what you give your attention to what do you give your attention to and i'm just telling you that we at the summer household and here at i town church we have decided that we will do everything we can to follow every law we can until it conflicts with what the bible says and at the end of the day we're going to stand on the principles of god's word it's the same yesterday today and forever we will only bow our need for the name that's above every other name and his name is jesus because we worship him alone that's the most important thing and i don't care who hears that because it's a strong conviction we'll deal with that in this series but what i want you to see is at least they had one another i would suggest to you today that you're only as strong as your relationships because you have to have those people that surround you that go no you're not crazy i see it the same way you do i don't understand what's happening but we need to get to church we need god's presence we need his power we need each other's relationships look at every other curve that's off the charts people are committing suicide and overdosing and getting into addiction and depression at rates that our culture has never seen but you're not going to hear that message because what we're doing is not working and yet what god's word says always works so we have to decide what am i giving my attention to so that i'll have the confidence to stand ecclesiastes chapter four though one may be overpowered two can defend themselves the court of three is not quickly broken the more of us their strength and numbers the more we stay together the more we live in spiritual community the more we worship together and gather together just like the bible tells us to do the stronger we will be because you have my back and i've got your back and all of us together can conquer whatever happens in 2021 because we have each other we're not going to bow collectively because we have each other to stand with and it doesn't matter what the devil tries to do it doesn't matter what persecution comes and i'm not prophesying anything i'm not predicting anything i have no idea what's going to happen this next year but i do know what god's word says and the bible says that we need to be prepared for battle we need to have armor on knowing that we are engaged in a spiritual battle for the souls of humanity and it's important that we're not hiding it's important that we are fighting that we are prepared because we have to stand in the gap and help those who are hurting and help the fallout of everything that's happening in the world around us because the church is called to be a solution called to be a voice so the king gets these guys and he goes look you probably didn't hear maybe you just didn't get the memo we sent it out we did a broadcast maybe you don't follow us on instagram it's cool we'll iron it out so verse 16 shadrach meshach and abednego replied to the king nebuchadnezzar we don't need to defend ourselves before you in this matter if we are thrown into the blazing furnace the god we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from you even we're not worried about you king so the question that we have second question we have to answer if we're going to stand is who do i put my faith in who do i really trust to protect my life my family my finances my own health is it in my own plans is it in my own initiatives is it the government is it science is it medicine who is it that's protecting me who is it ultimately that i have placed my faith in who is my trust in and i love what the hebrew boy said in verse 17 the god we serve is able and willing he is able to rescue us and he will rescue us i am confident that god is for us and not against us that he's got a good plan for our lives and it doesn't matter what's happening in the world around us god is going to protect us because we know his desire towards us we're confident in who our god is and above everything else in this life i'm going to put my faith in jesus god is able and i hope you know today that your god is capable well capable of rescuing you and saving you from everything that you might find yourself in you got to have relationships around you but then you have to have a strong faith within you that says i am not going to shake i'm not going to be moved i'm going to stand my ground because my confidence is in jesus and he'll provide for me he will heal me he will rescue me he'll surround me he'll protect me he will give me his favor it doesn't matter what happens in life because jesus is there for me now it's amazing how many times that we ask god to do great things for us we want him to bless us we we say god i want to get to know you better and then something happens that allows that opportunity to happen and we actually pray away the answer to our prayer because i would suggest to you today that the way god touches us is by taking us through things to get us to the place he wants us to be isaiah chapter 43 verse 2 says it this way when you go through deep waters in great trouble i will be with you and when you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown when you go through the fire of oppression you will not be burned up and the flames will not consume you i hope you hear that today that you may have to go through some stuff and lord knows we all went through stuff in 2020 but god is going to protect us you're not going to drown you will not be consumed you're going to be protected because god's presence is with you surrounding you leading you guiding you every step of the way but the problem that we don't like to hear and the reason why almost none of you are clapping is because you always have to go through to get to we don't like that [Applause] we say god make us a better leader and then everybody on our team betrays us and quits and god says here's the answer to your prayer now you have to lean on me and i'm going to surround you with great people and you're going to learn how to culture and develop people we say god give us a better marriage and then god brings up all of the issues that you fight about all the time so you finally have to resolve it and you're like god what is this make it stop isn't it true that so many times we pray for things and god takes us through seasons of life that will not just grow us they'll grow our trust in him what do you put your faith in i love how god always uses different seasons these guys were well seasoned the reason why they were able to say that is because they had already been taken as slaves from their own land taken to another country and yet risen to power they refused to eat the king's food they had been fasting and just eating vegetables for weeks and they were stronger and smarter than everybody else god's hand was on their life so as they just take a step back they go look at all the things god has done for us i'm not going to worry about this god has proven to me that he is able just like david when he was getting ready to battle goliath he said i've killed the lion and the bear bring on goliath this is not a problem for me but none of us go lord would you please send a bear to kill me today just so i can grow praise the lord none of us are in the lion's mouth going what a blessing these teeth are sharp i hope i live this would be just a great story just like none of us would have asked to walk through 2020 but now that you have you should have a confidence and a resolve that god is for you like you have never seen before that he will surround you and protect you and that what the devil intends to be the worst of times will actually turn out to be the best of times for your life because god will turn it for the good if you love him and are called according to his purpose i'm just telling you you got to go through to get to god's got some great things in store for you but you got to walk through some things to get there it's good preaching verse 18. this is my favorite part but even if he does not we want you to know king that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up man here's the toughest one to at to answer but the third one that you're gonna have to resolve if you're going to stand in 2021 what will it take me to quit will it take for me to quit what's the breaking point for your life i read a great article about how in 2020 the body of christ was as sharp as a double-edged marshmallow what will it take for us to quit for some of us not much what would it take for us to walk away from our faith what will it take for us to give up our conviction because we can explain away a million things the message of the world that creeps into the church is bow now so you can stand later all you got to do is bow this one time and nobody's going to know it's just three of us in a plane who's going to notice what will it matter in fact we'll be doing the spiritual thing by preserving our lives we're going to bow in this moment because in our hearts we're not bowing we're just doing what they tell us to do physically it's not a big deal spares our lives we'll be able to preach the gospel later we have to be alive for revival to come to babylon and clearly god wants revival to come to babylon so this must be the path but for them they just said you know what even if it doesn't work out for us i'd rather die than bow i'm going to do what god's called me to do there's got to be a level of conviction we'll deal with this at the end of this series what is the cross to us is this a message of convenience did we get into this because jesus was just going to make our dreams come true and it was a nice social club to hang out on sundays or if we had an encounter with the living god jesus who gave his life for us who is alive and well he has risen and this is supposed to be a movement to tell everybody the good news you don't have to die for your own sins that jesus came to rescue you you can spend eternity in heaven and in his life that's really all that matters because this life is not about this life it's about the life to come because this life is a vapor and that life is all of eternity we have to stay focused on the things that matter and it does not matter what happens in this life there is nothing that can happen to me that will make me quit there's nothing that will cause me to recant the gospel there's nothing that will make me move from the unchanging truth of god's word what will it take for us to quit maybe if you don't get that job or maybe if your marriage falls apart maybe if it's your kids that run away from god or maybe god forbid somebody you actually love gets sick and dies and then it becomes personal what will it take these guys said there's nothing that you can do to us and there's nothing that you can take from us our expectation is that god will save us but even if he doesn't we will still never bow we're going to stand we're still going to stand and the thing that's amazing [Applause] is that the message that you'll receive is if you bow now then you can stand later and display love and be a voice of hope i would suggest you if we bow now there will be no standing later and there will be no message of hope and it will actually be the most hateful thing you could do and the most selfish thing that you could do that will actually sabotage the message that god has for the world because i want you to see in a moment that it was only in standing that they actually displayed love for the people of babylon and that they actually brought revival to the country verse 19. all of a sudden king nebuchadnezzar was furious the tolerant crowd becomes very intolerant when you don't do as you're told shadrach meshach and abednego and his attitude toward them changed and he ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual i think about this like what an anger issue does this guy have you know that flesh human burning temperature that we keep it at seven times hotter you know our normal people killing furnace that we burn people at we need to heat that bad boy up that's an issue and he commanded some of the strongest soldiers in the army to tie up shadrach meshach and abednego and then throw them into the blazing furnace so these men wearing robes trousers turbans and other clothes i think it's kind of funny isn't that weird like they're wearing hats they got their underwear they got their trousers they got the whole deal robes they're like fully dressed i don't know if they're going to church but then it's just like all these details and then other clothes so like a watch they have on jordan's like i need some more you can even all those details what are the other clothes and why is that necessary i don't know sorry it's just my brain so they were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace and the king's command was so urgent that the furnace was so hot that the flames killed the soldiers that took them up to throw them in and these three men firmly tied fell into the blazing furnace and this is the part of the story that all of us hate because in our theology if we just take our stand against public opinion and a few people write nasty things about us on facebook and as long as we can withstand that then we will have suffered for the gospel i lost 12 followers over that and a couple people even dm me that they thought i was hateful i'm suffering for jesus at about that point of the story we want everything to change we took our stand and then angels came down from heaven and killed all the babylonians and revival came and the jews got set free and everything changed no unfortunately as much as i love you i have to tell you the truth we usually end up in the fire there's usually a lion's den waiting on the other side of your godly obedience paul had trials and persecutions was stoned to death several times beaten with rods shipwrecked the story doesn't usually go how we would predict for it to go which is why we have to so desperately answer the question what is it going to take what is your breaking point because most generations before us in america haven't had to answer that question and i pray if the lord tarries that we don't either but it may be in our generation and maybe in our kids generation will we endure actual persecution will we be able to take our stand when we get thrown into the fire here's the beautiful thing there's absolutely nothing to fear about the fire there's nothing to fear about taking your stand there's absolutely nothing to fear about following jesus because he is the right way he is the right one to follow it always ends right when you do what is right following jesus is never wrong you should never bow your knee with the idea that you can stand later anytime you compromise you compromise but when you take your stand god will position you for things that you never dreamed possible and there are three things that you can expect in 2021 if you'll join with us and stand number one in your own life you're gonna find jesus like you never dreamed possible you're gonna experience the lord like you have never experienced him in your life in verse 24 king nebuchadnezzar jumps up and he looks in amazement and says to his advisers wasn't there three guys that we threw in because i you know we throw so many people in the fire i can't keep track this was a group of three right one four one seven there's three but i see four men and one of them looks like a son of the gods i think jesus is in the fire i want you to know that when you're in the fire you're going to encounter god in ways that you cannot when your life is comfortable and easy and cushy and let's be honest for a minute if i were to ask you to tell me about the story of jesus in your life you're probably not going to share with me all these great mountaintop experiences you're going to tell me if you've been impacted by god how you once were lost and now you're found you once were sick and now he has restored you and healed you you once were addicted and broken and now he has set you free you're going to tell me about how your marriage is broken and lost and how god brought supernatural reconciliation and restoration you're going to tell me about how your kids were lost and broken and far from god and how now today they are serving the lord with all their heart and there's nothing in this life that can take that faith from you because you have watched god move in your life in ways that you never dreamed possible but you never would have seen it had you not been in the fire let me encourage you even more jesus never saves you from the fire he joins you in it these guys are just hanging out in the fire nebuchadnezzar had to tell them to come out because they weren't afraid jesus is in the midst of it if you just follow god it doesn't matter what he leads you into because he will always be there for you psalm 23 even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will not fear why because you're with me your rod and your staff they comfort me i'm not worried about what anybody could ever do to us or do to our church or do to our family you know why because if jesus leads me there he will be with me in that moment and he will protect us he will surround us he will bless us and we will have stories and encounters like you can never have if you didn't take that step of faith now what's amazing is when you find jesus number two you're gonna find freedom there are things in your life that get settled when you walk through some issues verse 25 he says look they're walking around in the fire they're just hanging out in this blazing furnace and i don't know about you but that's not a decision i probably would have made i probably would have run from the fire seems logical like oh we're free we should probably leave but these guys are having this moment with jesus but what's cool is the bible says that they were unbound if 2020 showed us anything it showed us the things that are completely irrelevant to life and a lot of us had to make decisions of should i really spend my time over there and do i really want my kids doing all these things and is it really important that we spend all this time doing this and investing all these this money in it does this matter in light of eternity hopefully you made some of those decisions and i'm praying that in 2021 you hang on to that conviction because at some point things will probably go back to normal and it'll be easy for us to forget it'll be pretty easy for us to get bound once again by all the pressures and the weights of what culture tells you is really important and what you should be chasing and how you should be spending your weekends and all of your time when you walk through the fire stuff breaks off of your life they were fully bound as they were thrown in but the moment that the fire touched them and jesus showed up they were unbound walking around the fire there's a freedom that comes to your life addictions break off distractions break off false perceptions of god break off things begin to set free as you're in the fire with jesus but then it also says that they were unharmed the verse says in 27 as they came out of the fire they weren't harmed in their bodies their hair on their heads the robes weren't scorched there was no smell of fire on them do you know that you'll be the greatest walking testimony to the goodness of god as you walk through difficulty the world is going to look at you and go man you shouldn't have that much joy and i don't know why you have that much confidence and look at how your family's blessed look at how your finances are blessed look at how much confidence you have look at the boldness in your life look at the faith that you live in look at the freedom that you experience in every area of your life i want what you have it's about being salt and light to a world that desperately needs it when you find freedom guess what you're going to find influence because the world's going to look at you and go man i want that i'm tired of living in fear tired of people controlling every decision in my life i'm tired of living in bondage i want that and nebuchadnezzar looked at these guys and said praise the god of shadrach meshach and abednego he has sent an angel and rescued his servants they trusted in him and defied the king's command they were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own and so the king promoted shadrach meshach and abednego in the province of babylon there is no such thing as bow now to stand later if they had made the compromise to bow babylon would have been lost but they chose potentially at the expense of everything including their very lives to be people of conviction they said we will not bow and it doesn't matter if god rescues us or not and god did probably in a way that they didn't expect but on the other side of it they were given a position to now impact the very culture that was seeking to destroy them i just want you to know church i believe this is a year that we'll have to stand and i think that love requires us to stand not because we don't like the world it's because we care about the world and the only way for them to hear the hope that's found in jesus christ is for us to be different for us to live by conviction for us to live in community doing the things god's called us to do but in that i believe revival will come and i think you and i in our lifetime will see some of the greatest moves of god that planet earth has ever seen but we will miss out if we do not stand with every head bowed and every eye closed before we go today i want to take a moment to pray with you i want to pray god's blessing over you i want to pray that this is an amazing year it can be the best year of your life i truly believe that first i know there are some of you here today for one reason or another you're far from god [Music] you need a fresh start and there's no better way to start a fresh new year than by becoming a fresh new you and that's what the bible says that when you give your life to christ everything passes away and all of it becomes new it gives you a fresh start some of you here maybe need that others of you maybe you followed the lord but you found yourself bowing your knee to things you didn't expect i want you to know no matter how you got away from god he's not mad at you today he loves you all he did was come to rescue you and if you'll surrender to him he'll touch you and make you brand new if that's you today i'm not going to make you stand or come to the front i'm not trying to embarrass anybody or single you out i just want to pray with you where you're at but i would love for you to do me a favor and let me know just so i know who's praying with me if that's you today you say dave i need to make a fresh commitment to the lord i need a fresh start i want to make jesus the lord of my life would you shoot your hand up high all over this room just to let me know come on right now just say dave that's me yeah that's amazing awesome so so proud of every one of you it's incredible you can put your hands down here's what we're gonna do i'm gonna lead you in a simple prayer you can pray it quietly in your heart just make it your own just say lord jesus forgive me today for all of my sins god i repent i invite you into my life to take control me brand new fill me with your spirit today help me to live a life of boldness in jesus name i pray god i'm so thankful for the opportunity we have to start another brand new year thank you that you have chosen us to be alive at this very significant time in human history god does our culture continues to be in crisis we thank you that you are the solution there's nothing to fear in the fire because you're there protecting us and surrounding us father we thank you that it'll actually accelerate the plan that you have for our lives god i pray today that you would give us incredible faith god that we would be people of conviction surrounded in community with people who are pursuing the dream that you have for them and god we thank you for the light that we can be to the world around us as we choose to take our stand that it's a message of hope and life for every person we meet so holy spirit i pray that you would empower us and strengthen us not just this week but all year long to follow your voice we love you today in jesus name we pray and all god's people said amen amen come on church would you celebrate with those who prayed that prayer [Music] thank you so much for joining i town church online today we would love to have the chance to meet you and your family in person at one of our campuses or of course you can join us streaming live online this weekend now for more details about times and locations and even some of our streaming options you can go to itownchurch.com i sure hope to see you soon and god bless [Music]

Channel: ITOWN Church

Views: 1,297

Rating: 4.6923075 out of 5

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Id: 7moamjXh50U

Length: 41min 55sec (2515 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 04 2021