Hey, I wonder, are there any warriors in the house today? Can I hear from our warriors (audience clapping)
at all of our Life.Churches? I had a friend last week tell me, "My gosh, Craig, you are in the zone "when you talk about warriors. "You're brave, you're confident, you're unwavering. "You show courage." And I thought, "I'm glad I looked that way," 'cause I didn't feel that way at all. I mean, not at all. If you could've seen me last week before the message, I was a complete emotional wreck. That doesn't happen often, but on this particular message, I worked and worked and worked, and I just couldn't get it to the place where I felt good in my spirit about it. I wrote it and rewrote it, threw it away, started over again, rearranged, restructured. I am always finished by Wednesday, always finished by Wednesday. It was Saturday, 10 minutes before, and I was rearranging the notes in the back, and I told Amy, "I'm just not ready. "I don't have what it takes." And it's interesting, as men, there are a lot of times we can portray something on the outside, but on the inside, we're feeling something totally different. If I looked brave and passionate and courageous, I'm glad that I did because what I felt, honestly, was I felt inadequate. I felt unsure. I felt weak. I felt nervous, and I felt afraid. You have a kingdom to advance. You have someone to protect. You've got a battle to win. And your pastor wanted to run and hide. That's what I felt. We're talking more specifically to the men in this message series. We're talking about being a warrior. I wanna be very, very clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that I know, embrace the reality that some of the strongest, bravest, most fierce warriors are not just men, but there are amazingly brave women warriors who know how to fight and fight for what's right. I embrace that. I want you to know I know that. I'm talking more directly to the men for a couple reasons because one reason, I feel like men need it. Secondly, I think I understand men. Admittedly, I don't understand women. I don't know any man that understands women. Secretly, I think women like it that we don't understand them, but I cannot prove that. But I wanna talk directly to the men because I feel like men need spiritual encouragement. I know that I do. What tends to happen as men is a lot of times, we know how to put on a little bit of a front. Hey, look at me, I feel strong. I look confident, I look brave, I look like I know it all, but so often, as men, our insecurities, privately, scream louder than our faith. And that's why, today, I wanna look at a warrior that I think a lot of men and women can relate to. He's what I would call a hesitant warrior. You can find his story in the Old Testament in the Book of Judges in chapter 6. And just to give you the context is, he was one of the Israelites, and the Israelites were very afraid of the evil and oppressive Midianites who, for seven years, ravaged the Israelites' lands, burned their homes, killed their entire families a lot of times. And so Gideon and his people were very, very, very afraid, scared for their lives. In fact, what's interesting to me about Gideon is, I can so relate to him because, if you'll notice, there are parts of him where he was very, very courageous, and there were other times when he cowered. There were times when he showed bravery and courage, and then there were other times when he was wavering and would retreat. In fact, one of the ways you will see that he was actually full of courage is he was the only family member to worship the one true God. All the other family members worshiped the false prophet Baal. And so you can imagine the ridicule, the persecution that he got for standing up for his God. He was brave. Then at the same time, he was hiding from the bad guys because he was afraid he didn't have what it would take to defend his family. He was simultaneously courageous and full of fear. You can read the beginning of the story in Judges chapter 6 verses 11 and 12 that tells us this. "The angel of the Lord," now that's just pretty cool if an angel appears to you. "The angel of the Lord sat down under the oak in Ophrah." Oprah's been around for quite some time. Hashtag dad joke. Sorry, can't stop, won't stop. It just happens when you get to be my age. "The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak "in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, "where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress." What does that mean, he was threshing wheat in a wine press? Well you would never ever thresh wheat in a winepress unless you were afraid of the Midianites, and that's what he was doing. He was trying to hide, and that's what scripture says. "He was threshing wheat in a winepress "to keep it from the Midianites." Then the angel's gonna speak to him, and I love what the angel says because what the angel says is not at all what Gideon feels about himself. The angel appeared to Gideon, and he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." What I'd like to say to every man and every woman in this place is this. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Whether you feel like He's with your not, He's with you. Whether you feel like you're full of courage or not, you are a mighty warrior because the Lord sees more in you than you see in yourself. What's interesting to me is the moment that this angel of the Lord says to him, "You have the heart of a warrior," immediately, this man's insecurities, his inner fears, and his self doubt start to arise. That's why I call him the hesitant warrior. The title of this message is "Killing Your Inner Coward." Gentleman, if you're anything like Gideon, if you find yourselves occasionally full of faith and then often full of fear, if you sometimes hesitate, I've got three truths for every hesitant warrior. The first one is this. Gentlemen, number one. Every warrior must fight their inner fear of failure. Every single one. Every time you go into battle, you may feel partially prepared and partially afraid. Every warrior must fight their inner fear of failure. The angel says to him, "You're a mighty warrior." And then the Lord turned to him and said this in verse 14. The angel says, "Go in the strength that you have "and rescue Israel from the Midianites. "I am sending you." In other words, guess what? You've got someone to protect, a kingdom to advance, a battle to win. I've prepared you, you're equipped. You're a mighty warrior. This is your kingdom assignment now, and go do it. Gideon replies, and instead of saying, "Yes Lord, I know You with me. "I'm full of faith and I'll do what you called me to do." He says the very same thing many of us say, "But Lord," Gideon replied. "Let me give you all the reasons why I'm not good enough. "Here's my resume of excuses." "But Lord," Gideon replied, "How can I rescue Israel? "My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manaesseh, "and I am the least in my entire family." The Lord says, "I've given you everything you need. "Go in the strength that you have." And Gideon replies, "But Lord, I'm not good enough." Gentleman, this is the very thing that will often happen to you. You'll sense God leading you to do something, prompting you. Maybe you're supposed to share your faith with a coworker, with a buddy, with a friend, and you really believe you're supposed to. But Lord, what if he asks me a question? What if I don't know what to say next? God says, "I want you to do it." But Lord, I'm not prepared. You feel like maybe you're supposed to start something, a ministry, a business, start tithing. But Lord, what if I try and it doesn't work? What if I don't have enough? What if I fall short? But Lord. God's leading you out of your lifestyle of partying. You're gonna be a witness, you're gonna be different. You're gonna be set apart. You're gonna be holy. Yes, God, I wanna stand up for you, but what if I don't have any fun and what if nobody likes me? And what if I'm 35 and I'm not married and all my friends who are hooking up, they get married, but I'm not? But Lord, it's just not fair. Every warrior must fight their inner fear of failure. And that's one of the reasons why we need to encourage one another so often. In fact, I wanna talk for a moment to the women just to bring a little bit of encouragement because you like to be built up and encouraged in a different way than most men. Many women, what you wanna know is this. You wanna know, do you cherish me and value me today? Ladies, that would be true for most of you. You wanna know from the men in your life, am I cherished? Am I valued? And that today really, really matters. Gentleman, you might listen to her, spend quality time with her, do something she enjoys and that matters. You get points when you do that. You might serve your bride. I've learned in almost 29 years of marriage that doing the dishes is really sexy and romantic. It's like a spiritual fact. In fact, it sometimes outranks flowers, but it only counts today, you see. You may get points, but in the woman's economy, all points evaporate at midnight. (congregation laughing) And all the women said-- Amen.
Amen. I don't understand that I read that or learned it from a woman. It wasn't intuitive. Most women wanna know, do you cherish me? Do you value me today? But men, we don't do that. I've never ever said to Amy, "Do you cherish me?" We're wired differently. What most men, most warriors wanna know is this, do you respect, admire, and believe in me today? And again, the today really matters. Why? Because our security as men, ladies, you need to know this, our security as men tends to evaporate with our last accomplishment. I'm not saying this is right. I'm just saying it's the way it is. Everything in culture says, what'd you sell today? How'd you score today? What'd you shoot today, what'd you do today? What'd you produce today? What'd you earn today? And culture programs us essentially that we are only worth what we last accomplished. And that's why we need to know, do you respect, admire, believe in me today? And ladies, I hope you'll understand. The warriors in your life, your sons, your brothers, the men in your LifeGroup, your husbands, they will fight and stand strong and engage in the battle until they're afraid that they might lose your respect, that they're stripped of your belief. Or they're afraid they might let you down. That's why my warrior's words, Amy, when she says to me, it means more to me than you could ever imagine, when she says, "You have what it takes. "You can make a difference." Because if she doesn't believe in me, here's what I think. Well, she knows me better than anybody else. If she doesn't believe in me, I must not have what it takes. It matters more than you can imagine. Last week, what happened was, right before the message, I'm telling you, I was an unusual wreck. I'm normally not like that. It's five minutes to go time and I'm not ready, and she grabbed my hands and she said, "Look at me, close your eyes. "We're going before God." And she opened up heaven with her faith and prayed the power of God (congregation clapping)
down for her warrior, and then said, "Christ in you will get it done. "Get out there and fight like a man of God." (Craig growls) So I preached my brains out, and when I came back, she might've jumped into my arms, might've kissed me behind the ear, and might've said, "That's how my warrior preaches," but I can't publicly declare that as a total fact. What I want you to know, ladies, is it's not your fault if a guy goes astray. He's got his own mind. But what you do or don't do can be the difference sometimes in how we feel about ourselves. Imagine if Amy always told me, "You're not like him, "and you don't do what he does, "and I wish you were more like and you're not," what it would do in so many ways. It would strip me of the confidence that she helps give me when she says, "You are strong in the Lord." "You have what it takes. "There's fight inside of you. "I believe in you." Every warrior must face the inner fear of failure. That's why we need to build each other up, encourage each other in the things of God. Gentlemen, question. What are you afraid of? Because every warrior fears failure. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? Failing? I am. Falling short? That would be me. Appearing weak? One of my greatest fears. Not providing for my family like someone else might provide keeps me awake at night. Letting someone down paralyzes me at times. Being a spiritual failure is a fear that can haunt me. What are you afraid of? Because every warrior has to fight that inner fear of failure. And that's why thought number two is so incredibly important, gentlemen. In Christ, you have everything you need to fight and win. Every word of that statement is important. Not on your own, you don't. On your own, you will be in trouble all the time. Gentlemen, you can't even find your car keys on your own, okay? In Christ, you have everything you need to fight and to win the battles that are before you. In fact, this is what scripture says. As Gideon was battling his own inner demons, his own insecurities, verse 14, "The Lord turned to Gideon and said, "'Gideon, listen. "'Go in the strength you have. "'I've given you everything you need.'" The New Testament says, "You have everything you need for life and godliness. "Go in the strength you have "and save Israel out of Midian's hand. "Am I not sending you?" Gentlemen, I hope you'll understand that God has given you someone to protect, a kingdom to advance, a battle to win. And you do have enough strength in Christ. You do have enough power in Christ. You do have enough faith in Christ. In Him, you have everything that you, you are strong and mighty in the power of the Lord. And the good news is, the weapons you fight with are not the weapons of this world. Your spiritual weapons have divine power to pull down strongholds. What do you have? You have the helmet of salvation. Nobody can strip you out of the hand of God. If you're in Christ, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and no one can blot it out. You have the breastplate of righteousness. It's not your righteousness. It's the righteousness of Christ. You, gentlemen, have the shield of faith with which to quench out the fiery darts of the evil one. You have the sword of the spirit, which is the living Word of God, sharper than any double-edge sword. You have the belt of truth. You have the shoes prepared with the gospel of peace, and can pray in the Spirit on all occasions, going boldly before the throne of grace, and God will hear your prayers and give you grace and mercy in your time of needs. Gentlemen and ladies, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior. The problem is, so often, we hesitate. We cower. We take our eyes off of the power in Christ and put our eyes on ourselves, and we fall apart in our own insecurities. You're gonna see this happen with Gideon. God is saying this, God is saying, "Gideon, go fight." What you don't know perhaps is that Gideon's brother was murdered by the Midianites. He had reason to be afraid. God says, "You have what it takes. "You engage in the battle. "You go attack and defeat them." And Gideon's looking at his army saying, "God, I've only got 32,000 men. "I don't feel like that's enough." And God's gonna say, "That's too many "because if you fight with that many, "you're gonna think you won the battle on your own, "and I want you to understand that "I was the one that gave you victory." Watch it, very clear in chapter 7, verse 2. The Lord said to Gideon, "Gideon, you have too many warriors with you. "If I let all of you fight the Midianites, "the Israelites will boast to me "that they saved themselves by their own strength." So God says, "Tell any warrior who's afraid, "they may look strong on the outside, "but they're afraid on the inside. "If they're afraid, tell them to go home." And 22,000 warriors went home, and Gideon is thinking, "This ain't good. (laughs) "I was nervous at 32,000. "Now I'm down to 10,000." And God says, "There's still too many. "Tell the rest of them to go out and drink water, "and those who do it the right way can stay. "The rest of them, send them home." And only 300 were qualified for battle after this simple exercise. And Gideon is thinking, "We didn't have enough at 32,000. "Now I'm down to 300. "There's no way this is possible." And what Gideon is going to learn is this, that with God, the way forward often starts with a step backwards. That with God, sometimes a warrior, in order to win the war, has to be willing to first lose a battle. You'll see this all the time, gentlemen. What I know about you is we're at the second weekend of the new year. A lot of you have New Year's resolutions, and so you declared boldly, "This is what we're gonna do," only to get knocked backwards almost immediately. Some of you might have said, "This is the year, this is the year. "We're getting out of debt this year. "I'm telling you what, "I got Dave Ramsey's face tattooed on my arm. "We're getting out of debt." And immediately, your car broke down and so did your washing machine, and your kid went on a spending spree, and you're like, "What happened? "We took a step forward and three steps back." Or maybe for you, it was this. I'm gonna invest in my marriage. We're gonna have the most spiritual year together. We're gonna pray together, and you messed up the start and you got in the biggest fight you've had in the last 10 years. What happened, God? You declared boldly, "This is the year I get in shape. "I'm gonna exercise every single day." And seven days into the new year, the only exercise you got was going to the refrigerator four times for chocolate ice cream. (chuckles) What happened, God? And what you're gonna find is, oftentimes, the way forward starts with what looks like a step backwards. This is my story as a pastor. What a lot of you wouldn't know, I started when I was about 22 years of age, and Amy and I led the fastest-growing single adult ministry in this part of the country. (congregation clapping) Pretty impressive, right? The problem is, we had what I call a Gideon revival. Gideon's army got smaller. Our ministry grew backwards. We grew from pretty big to very small. It was the fastest-growing backwards ministry in this part of the country. We grew from hundreds at a downtown church. In a few short weeks, down to four people. Only four showed up. One was me, one was Amy, she had to be there, and the other two, dear God, they had nothing to do with their lives whatsoever but show up. It was only four of us. Fastest-growing ministry, and it grew backwards. And everything in this warrior's spirit cried out, "I told you you weren't good enough. "You're never gonna be a pastor. "You don't have what it takes. "You don't know enough of the Bible. "You can't communicate. "You don't have any real faith. "Everything you touch just falls apart." The insecurity screamed louder than my faith. Step backwards. And God started to show me very clearly. In fact, I heard from God. It wasn't audible, but it felt audible, and what I heard was this. What I heard was, "Be careful. "Don't blame yourself for the declines "because if you blame yourself for the declines, "one day, you might take credit for the increases." Here's what had to happen. God had to do something in me that felt like a step backwards before God could do something significant through me. I had to be stripped of anything that appeared to be self confidence so I could recognize, it's only in Christ that I have what I need. This is where some of you are right now. Gentlemen, you believe and then step forward for God. And then you feel like it's a big step backwards. Sometimes, with God, the way forward starts with a step backwards. This was Gideon. I'm afraid with 32,000 men, and you've stripped me to only 300. How are we gonna fight? And God says, "I'm gonna tell you my plan." You can read, it's an interesting story. Gideon made fleeces and bargains with God, and essentially God said, "Here's your battle plan. "Take your 300 warriors "and go out there with trumpets and with jars or pitchers, "and I want you to blow your horn. "Toot that trumpet really loud "and throw those jars down and trust in me." That doesn't sound like a good plan to me. (congregation laughing) I want some machine guns, I want some some missiles, God. I want 50,000 men, 100,000 men. God says, "Take your 300. "Lead the band with a horn "and throw your root beer mugs on the ground "with all your strength." And when did they start to advance, conquer, and win the battle? Verse 21 of Judges, chapter 7 tells us this. They did exactly what God told them to do, and scripture says this. "While each man did what," let's say it aloud, all of our churches. "While each man held his position," in other words, while every man stood their ground, while they didn't run, while they did not cower, where they didn't quit, where they did not surrender. (laughs) "While each man held his position around the camp, "all the Midianites, all the bad guys ran, "crying as they fled." When did God's people start to advance? They advanced when they stood their ground, when they held fast, when they didn't cower, when they refused to retreat. When did they move forward? When they had the faith to stand their ground. Were they afraid? You better believe doggone straight they were afraid. Gideon was afraid with a big army, and now he had a little group with no weapons. Was he afraid? Yes, but gentlemen, you need to understand that your greatest victories and your greatest fears often go hand in hand. In other words, when you engage in the battle, you can feel the fear and fight anyway because you have the heart of a warrior, someone to protect, a kingdom to advance, a battle to win. The fear may never go away, but neither will the spirit of the warrior who's willing to stand his ground. Last week, I told you about one of my worst parenting moments. I'll tell you another one. I could do this every week for years to come. (congregation chuckling)
I've got a lot of them. Amy and I, we have six children. Four daughters and two sons. My youngest son is Steven, and hopefully he's had the better end of the deal because I learned from the mistakes I made with his older brother, Sam. I told you one of the Sam mistakes last week. This is another one that's famous in our family. I don't know if you've ever seen these scooters that kids have. There's a bar that goes up and there's handlebars that go like this, and there's kinda like a skateboard at the bottom. They're made for 14-year-old kids or something. Well, since my son is advanced, and obviously, I'm advanced, I got him one when he was two years of age. (congregation laughing) Mistake number one. (laughs) Mistake number two was, we have this really long driveway, and at the end of it that goes toward the house, as it approaches our house, there's a sharp incline that's a great place to go sledding or take a very fast scooter down the hill with a two year old, so I thought. And so I wouldn't put Sam on there by himself. I'm way too smart for that, but I get on the back of the scooter, and he put his feet on mine, and then we'd ride down. And we did this, it must've been 50 or 60 successful rides and it was great. Everybody said, "Don't do that, it's dangerous." Like, you have no idea, oh, this is fun. And it was until it wasn't. (laughs) Sam, on one particular ride, two years of age, for whatever reason decided just to step off of the scooter. And when he did, the momentum of the forward thrust snapped his femur, and you could just hear the crack. And immediately, I was just shamed with the guilt of breaking my son's femur. We stayed the night in the emergency room. They had to operate the next day 'cause they couldn't get to it. And I'm telling you what, Amy'll tell you this, it was like every day, and I promise you, it seemed like three years, there wasn't a day where Sam wouldn't say, "The scoot scoot broke my leg. "The scoot broke my leg. "The scoot broke my leg." And so Amy said, "Get rid of that scooter. "I don't wanna ever see it again." And there was something in me that thought, "Ah, we need to keep it." So we kept in the garage. Sam would avoid that thing like it was the devil made of metal. He'd say, "Oh, scoot, scoot's gonna get me. "Scoot gonna break my leg. "Scoot gonna get me." And he would avoid the scooter like this. This went on for years. Poor little kid, traumatized. He was probably five, maybe six years of age. One day, I came home, and little Sam, my little warrior, was at the peak of the driveway looking down toward the garage, holding the scooter by his side. I was like, "Whoa, there, little buddy. "What you you doing?" And he didn't speak, he just kept looking down. I said, "Wait, wait, wait, what are you doing?" He just had this fierce look on his face. I said, "What are you doing?" He just looked and he looked and he looked and he looked. I said, "Hey, man, listen to me. "You don't have to do this. "You don't have to do this." Then the tears started coming down his face. And I said, "Listen, you don't have to do this." He looked up at me, said, "Dad, there are some rides a man's just gotta take." (congregation laughing) And then he did it. Through the tears and the fear, he took the ride and conquered the scoot scoot. (congregation chuckling) And in that little warrior's mind, he reengaged in the battle. Gentleman, do not abandon your post. Do not abandon your post. Listen to me, every warrior's gotta fight the fear of failure. Every warrior's greatest fear, that's what it is, failure. Every warrior's greatest fear is failure, but every warrior's greatest pain is regret. Do not regret. Do not disengage. Do not abandon your post. Gentleman, hear me, feel it, step into it. You have someone to protect, a kingdom to advance, a battle to win. You don't want to die with regrets. How do you do it? You stand your ground. Ephesians chapter 6 talks about the spiritual war, and it says this, "Therefore, put on," gentleman and ladies, "the full armor of God, "so that when the day of evil comes, and it will, "you may be able to stand your ground." And when you've done everything else you know to do, warriors, what do you do? You continue to stand. You're a warrior. You have fight in you. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. You don't back down.
(congregation clapping) You don't cower, you don't walk away. You stand your ground. Whenever the enemy tells you, you can't, you won't, you don't listen to the enemy. You listen to the voice of God that says you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. You are an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of your testimony. When lust rages itself up against you, you just continue to stand your ground. Even if you have a setback, you step back in and you don't back down. (congregation clapping) If your marriage is struggling, you don't cower. You don't run. You don't flee. You fight like a man. You fight like a man of God. And when you've done everything else, you remain standing week after week, month after month, year after year, you show back up and you stand your ground. Before I preach, I take one big step, and I'll tell you why. Because every week, there's a part of me that feels insecure, inadequate, incapable, and afraid. The voices say, "You don't have what it takes. "You're not good enough. "You're gonna mess it up. "People's eternities rest on what you do." The fear becomes overwhelming. So every week, those of you at other locations, you won't see it. Those here, you see it because as the lights come on and the camera goes up, I take one big step forward. And what I'm doing in my mind is this. I'm stepping out of my fears, out of my insecurities, out of my weakness and the inner voice that tells me I can't. And I'm stepping into the authority of God, His anointing, His power, His strength because this warrior has everything he needs in Christ to fight every battle I'm called to fight and win
(congregation clapping) and so do you. Gentlemen, step out of your fear of failure and step into the battle. Do not abandon your post. You have the heart of a warrior. So Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that You would speak faith to every woman and every man warrior to believe that You are with us, God. You will fight on our behalf, and You've given us what we need to engage and to win. At all of our churches, those of you that would say, "Oftentimes, my insecurities scream louder than my faith. "My fears hold me back. "Increase my faith, O God. "Build my faith, build my faith. "O God, increase my faith." If that's you, would you lift up your hands right now just a moment of honesty, just all of our churches? Just lift up your hands and say, "Yes." God, thank You that You build our faith as we hear Your Word, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So we thank You today that You're building our faith. Continue to do so, God. That You've given us what we need in Christ to fight the battles that we need to fight and win. We thank You for the ultimate victory that we have through Your son, Jesus. God, especially for my brothers, give them the courage to stand their ground. Give them the heart, God, that reflects Your heart, the heart of a warrior. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, just listen to me. Some of you, there's a spiritual battle going on for you right now. The kingdom of God is drawing you, and the kingdom of darkness is trying to keep you from surrendering to the goodness of God. There's a battle. You might have one of different types of fears. Your fear might be, what if I'm not good enough? What I've sinned too much for God? And let me tell you right now, that's a real fear because you're not good enough and you have sinned too much. So have I. None of us in our own efforts qualify to be good enough for God. And that's why we need His grace. That's why we need a savior. Others of you think, "Well, maybe, yes, "I kinda do wanna follow Jesus, but I'm afraid. "What if I do and then I mess up "and I'm a hypocrite and I fail?" Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. The good news is, the Bible tells us this, that perfect love casts out all fear. And our God, He is perfect love. He is love. Love is not just something that God does. Love is who He is. For God so loved the world that He sent Jesus, His only son, who lived without sin and died in our place so we could be forgiven, and God raised Him from the dead. Why? So that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved, anyone, anyone. Doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter how dark your world is. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved. At all of our churches, I'm asking, for those of you that say, "I wanna follow Jesus," not like, I wanna kinda join a church and try to be a good person. No halfway, no partly. No, this is, I've sinned, I need a savior. I'm turning from my sins. I'm turning toward Jesus. I'm engaging in His battle. I know He is the king of kings. I wanna follow Him. At all of our churches, those who say, "Yes, Jesus, forgive me. "I turn to You. "I give You my life. "I want You, I surrender to You." That's your prayer today. Jesus, I give my life to You. Lift your hands high now all over the place and say, "Yes." That's my prayer right here in this section. Warrior, right here
(congregation clapping) and up here as well. Right back over there, praise God for you guys. Others of you right back here, right back there, ma'am. Praise God for you. Right back up here in this section. Oh, come on, somebody. Why don't we give God a little bit of praise? Church Online, you click right below me, and I need some warriors to stand up in this house to give God some praise. Would you just stand to your feet? As you're standing all around the room today, praying aloud, nobody prays alone, join your faith with those around you. Pray, Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father. Forgive my sins. Forgive my sins. Jesus save me. Jesus save me. Be my Lord. Be my Lord. Fill me with Your spirit. Fill me with Your spirit. So I could follow You. So I could follow You. For the rest of my life. For the rest of my life. My life is not my own. My life is not my own. I give it to You. I give it to You. In Jesus' name, I pray. In Jesus' name, I pray. Could somebody celebrate, (congregation clapping)
somebody give God some praise? Welcome, those born into God's family. Hey, thanks for joining us here at Life.Church. You know, as a church, it's always our heart to see you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ. We have a great resource to help you do that. It's called life.church/next. There, you can find all kinds of resources to help you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ. And we'd love for you to subscribe and be a part of our online community. Again, thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time.
