"DIFFERENT" - Pt.2

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolve Church, and this is the Evolve Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Alright, I sang it last week.

I'm gonna sing it again.

You're gonna know this song by the end of this series.

I'm different, different, different.

Nobody is like me.

I'm different, different, different, and that's okay with me.

Yeah, that's okay with me.

You wanna try it?

I'm different, different, different.

Nobody is like me.

I'm different, different, different, and that's okay with me.

Yeah, that's okay with me.

You got it?

I'm different, different, different.

Come on.

Nobody is like me.

I'm different, different, different, and that's okay with me.

Yeah.

You left me hanging.

You're gonna get it.

As a matter of fact, it's gonna be ingrained in if you wanna like look it up on Apple Music or Spotify, the artist's name is Butterfly Boucher.

The song is called Butterfly Boucher.

The song is called I'm Different.

And uh, as I was preparing for this series, I had flashbacks to when our three children were much younger, and I heard that song and I taught it to them.

And we're taking four weeks, this is part two of a four-part series of talks, to talk about what does it mean to be different as a follower of Jesus?

And if you're in the room today, and at some point in your life's journey you've made a decision to follow Jesus and trust him with your life, and even if you haven't, I want to encourage you to lean in as we look at today's topic of um how are how we're meant to be different, living in a culture that doesn't necessarily embrace Jesus, in a culture that doesn't adhere to what Jesus lived for and how Jesus lived and how Jesus loved.

Um what does it look like to be different?

Last week we looked at what does it mean to be different in our faith when we're going through trials, we're going through something difficult.

And today I want to talk about how do we live different in a world that doesn't embrace what Jesus believes to.

We're looking at the book, um, the letter called First Peter in the Bible, um, and uh going through this uh collection of writings from Peter, a guy who walked with Jesus, a guy who had a reputation for being brash and volatile, and then he encountered Jesus and he went through some significant trials and failures and overcame that and became an incredible leader in the early church in the first century.

And he wrote this letter in about kind of somewhere between 16 and 65 AD, when people who follow Jesus were being incredibly persecuted by a Roman leader named Nero.

And so we talked a bit about that last week.

But the two themes that emerge in this collection of letters in 1 Peter are this: the hope that we have in Christ.

Peter wanted Jesus' followers to know, regardless of what you're going through, there's hope because of Jesus.

And the second theme throughout this book is that Peter says, because we follow Jesus, we're actually meant to be different than the world that we live in.

So I want to look at that today.

We're gonna pick it up in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 13, and on.

1 Peter 1:13

1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13.

1 Peter 1:13

Here's what it says so roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, and be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives.

Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing.

You didn't know any better then, but you do now.

Okay?

So as obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.

God said, I am holy, you be holy.

You call out to God for help, and he helps.

He's a good father that way.

But don't forget, he's not just a good father, he's also a responsible father, and he won't let you get by with just living sloppy.

Okay?

So for many of us, one of the greatest obstacles that we're gonna face in our following Jesus in our lifetime, one of the greatest obstacles we're gonna face is the obstacle of having a desire to fit in and fit in with the world around us.

And as I was preparing for this, I had a flashback to grade 11.

And in grade 11, middle of grade 11, I moved from Chatham, Ontario, which is a small city, uh about 40,000 people.

Has anybody ever been to Chatham, Ontario?

Yeah?

You were born in Chatham?

Shut the front door.

We gotta talk after.

I was, I mean, I spent the first 17 years of my life in Chatham.

I was born in Sarnia, yeah.

Um, grew up in Chatham, middle of grade 11, my parents, I was the youngest of four kids, the only one living at home, and we moved from Chatham, Ontario, city of like 40,000 people, barely, and moved to Vancouver proper.

And I mean Vancouver, not Surrey, not Burnaby, not Richmond, not Langley, not Coquitlam, not North Coquitlam, not West Van, not North Man.

I mean Vancouver proper.

And I went from like a high school of about 300 kids to a like a class of 300 kids, and culture shock, everybody spoke different.

They were like West Coast kids, and I was Southern Ontario kid, and and I I had this overwhelming desire to fit in.

And in a moment of vulnerability, I want to share with you one of my most embarrassing moments.

Okay, and just to prove to you, like if you are perfect in the room and you're wondering what we're all about, this is a church community full of imperfect people, Nicole and I included, and I'm about to tell you one of my most embarrassing moments, and it involves a bad word.

The little, little so if you've got kids in the room, I don't endorse this, I don't encourage this, I certainly don't think we should speak to people in this manner.

But for the sake of transparency and vulnerability, I'm gonna share with you that in grade 11, I wasn't quite as tall as I am, and I hadn't hadn't grown into my height, so I was a little bit shorter and and as such a little bit rounder, and um and I really struggled.

I always had chubby cheeks when I was a kid, and because I was the youngest of four kids, and I was kind and loving and like I was just like I was a perfect child, um, people would call me cute.

Okay?

They would say, Oh, Jonathan, he's so cute.

And by by grade 11, that kind of got old.

I'm not gonna lie.

When you're 17, and unless it's a like a smoking hot girl, she's like, hey, I think you're cute, that's different.

But like when grown-ups and people you don't know and grandma like pinches your cheeks and calls you cute, it's old.

Are you with me?

Can anybody feel that kind of pain?

Like, grade 11, middle of grade 11, new city, trying to fit in, struggle with like I don't want to be cute, I want to be a man, right?

So um, so in in in the high school I went to, it was a great music program.

Um, the the choral department hopped on an airplane and flew to San Francisco in grade 11.

I I had a trip to San Francisco from Vancouver with my with my high school music choir.

So we're on an airplane, these people are just getting to know me.

I've known them for a few months.

They know I follow Jesus, they know I'm trying to figure out what that means in a new school, in a new setting.

And we've been in the air for a little while, and and I fell asleep in the um the chair in the airplane, surrounded by classmates, teachers, and um one of the girls that I sang with Inquire, she had like a stuffy and she put it on my chest while I was sleeping.

And have you ever had those moments where you're like sound asleep and you you you you're consciously aware that somebody's looking at you, and so you're kind of like half asleep, half awake.

I had that, and I opened my eyes, and there was a flight attendant standing over me.

And I never met this flight attendant, keep that in mind.

We didn't have a personal connection.

She was just standing over me, looking down at me.

Awkward, right?

Grade 11.

This flight attendant, she cocks her head to the side, I will never forget this.

She reaches down, she grabs my cheek, and she pinches my cheek and she says, Oh man, you are so cute.

I just have to pinch your cheek.

Yeah.

True story, okay?

And in a in a half-asleep desire to fit in, not want to be cute anymore.

I I don't even know why I said what I said.

I'm gonna be honest.

I said, children plug your ears, oh you're so cute.

Can I pinch your?

It it rhymes with class.

I said it out loud.

In an airplane full of people, and the airplane erupted, my classmates were like, Oh, church boy! And have you ever, and so the worst part is is this flight attendant was so offended, she stormed off.

She said, Young man, I can't even believe you just said that.

And to be honest, that's not who I was in high school.

That's not even who I like.

I've never been that guy.

It just sort of came out of me, and I think it's because I was tired and angry and offended, and and she actually pinched my and so I don't know why I said it, but she went to the front of the airplane, she told the other flight attendants, they went into the cockpit, told the pilot.

A few moments later, as we begin our descent into San Francisco, the pilot comes on and says, ladies and gentlemen, uh, please put your tray tables, blah, blah, blah.

We're about to make our descent into the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hope you enjoyed your time with us.

And by the way, to the gentleman in seat 21D, uh, Mr.

Jonathan Zanting, he tells the entire airplane what happened.

The entire airplane.

And says, She'll be waiting for you at the front door.

And I I have never, like, I have never wanted to crawl into a hole as badly as this.

True story.

The things that we do to try and fit in.

I wanted to impress, and I don't know why it came out of me.

It just happened.

True story.

You know, for a lot of us, the greatest obstacle to following Jesus and being different as a follower of Jesus is our desire to fit in.

God didn't create us to fit in.

God created us to stand out, stand up, stand out.

Never said for you to blend in.

As followers of Jesus, we weren't designed to blend in.

We were called to be set apart, to be different.

So why do we want to fit in so badly?

Why do we want to be normal and just sort of blend?

Beige.

And let's face it, what's normal in the world nowadays?

What's normal?

2019, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, what's normal?

Well, brokenness is normal.

Disease is normal, hurting is normal, stressed out is normal, depressed is normal, divorced is normal, afraid is normal, anxious is normal.

Do we really want to be normal?

That's what's normal in the world that we live in.

That and so much more.

In Matthew chapter 7, there's this well-known um couple of verses that Jesus shared about about this narrow path to the kingdom of God.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Matthew 7, 13 and 14, it says, enter by the narrow gate.

For wide is the is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

It's normal.

Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, there are few who find it.

And the unspoken invitation is follow me down the narrow path.

Follow me down the different, narrow path to life.

I love the message translation of those same verses.

It says, don't look for shortcuts to God.

The market's flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time.

Isn't that true?

Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people fall for it.

The way to life to God is vigorous and requires total attention.

A total, vigorous invitation into a narrow path that leads to life versus a wide, broad, normal path that leads to destruction.

What does it mean to be different in a world that's filling up that broad, wide open path?

I want to pray and then we'll carry on.

God, thank you so much for this moment, this opportunity to be together.

And God, as we take a few minutes together today and look at the words of Peter written to first century Jesus followers who are going through it.

God, I ask that you would awaken us today, that you would open up our hearts, that would open up our minds, open up every part of our life, that we we open it up to you, to your spirit, to your word.

Would you shape us?

Would you help us learn and grow in what it means to be different in the world that we live in in our culture today?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Turn to your neighbor and say, You look different.

Come on, all the way up top.

I'm watching.

You look different.

Don't don't say it like this, you look different.

Don't say you gotta say, you look different.

That's good.

That's good.

This message is not for you if you're perfect.

It's not for you if you've got it all together.

This is for those of us, as a matter of fact, if you're perfect, I just, you know, I want to encourage you to stand up.

You can go into the back, go grab a cup of coffee, just take the next few minutes off.

The rest of us, the imperfect people, we're gonna stay here in the room and just kind of learn something together.

And uh, have you ever, like the story I shared, the most embarrassing moment.

Have you ever had a moment like that, maybe out of a desire to fit in or just out of response where something kind of came up out of your heart and then found its way into your mouth and came out of your mouth in a way that surprised you?

You're like, did I just say that?

Have you ever had a moment like that?

You know, and I I'm not a cursor.

Like I don't I don't swear as a general rule.

Like it's not kind of a you don't hear me curse.

But every once in a while, I've had a moment where something's happened to me, and these words just kind of come rising up out of my heart, just like, you know, I smacked my head yesterday.

The cupboard door was open, and it was just right right there, and I turned and it was like wham.

And and um it was like it was like a Christian swear.

I said a German word.

I said scheiße.

Sorry, grandpa, sorry, Auntie Millie, but I said it, and and it was like it just kind of flowed out of my mouth in a response.

Have you ever had a moment like that where you say something?

I had another moment.

We uh we had these floating shelves on the wall recently, actually, just like about a month ago, and these beautiful floating shelves that I put up a year ago, and they had books in them, and my record player, my record collection, and books on top, and and a new fish bowl that we'd just gotten.

And I've been talking to my boys about not like sitting on the floating shelf or leaning on the floating shelf, and and uh the new fishbowl attracted some attention.

It was it was a Monday morning, it was 7 a.m.

I was just starting to make a pot of coffee, and I was looking across at my two sons leaning on the floating shelf, and I had this thought like they shouldn't be leaning on that, and boom, the whole thing came down off the wall, fish bowl, water everywhere, router, electronics, record player, books soaked, carpet, floor, fish flopping.

And a word came out of me that I just I don't use on a regular basis, and it just kind of came out as a response.

And I was thinking these moments I've had, you've had them too.

Come on, don't you look at me with those, you know, you've had them too.

I I I I can't believe that the same mouth that stands up and declares the word of God has the capacity to utter things that I don't normally say on a regular basis.

I'm being really real, is that okay?

Okay, because I'm different.

Anyways, the same mouth that teaches and proclaims God's word one moment can profane and curse in a moment of like response or reaction or sheer terror or whatever.

Just because, you know, as a rule, my outward behavior over the years has changed, I'm not a swear, doesn't mean that my inside man has changed along with it.

Just because I've worked hard behavior modification to not be a cursor, doesn't mean that my inside person has changed along with that behavior modification.

I'm able to stop saying it, but I am I able to stop thinking it.

Okay?

Because if if I'm different on the outside, but not on the inside, am I truly different at all?

If I'm different just on the peripheral physical outside things, but not on the inside, am I actually different as a follower of Jesus?

1 Peter 1, verses 14, 15, and 16, here's what it says.

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life.

Notice this a life energetic and blazing with happiness.

God says, I am happy, you be happy.

Oh, did I get it right?

Somebody that was a good sound effect, Dave.

That's not what it says.

It says, as obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life of life, energetic and blazing with holiness.

I am holy, you be holy.

So many people wrongly believe that God's highest calling for them is their happiness.

We see it in parenthood in our generation.

I just want my kids to be happy.

Right?

Well, God's highest calling for you as a different follower of Jesus is not to be happy.

God's highest calling for you is not your happiness, but your holiness.

God's highest path for you is to be holy.

So what does that mean?

When I say the word holy, what sort of things do you think about?

Like I know, I know for myself, I wrote a list.

Like, what images come to mind when you think of a holy person?

I know a lot of you just naturally picture me.

And I'm grateful.

Thank you.

No, but do you picture like long robes, excess facial hair?

Somebody that knows Latin, Greek, Hebrew languages, someone that quotes scripture often, but only the King James Version.

That's holy.

Walk slowly, almost in a hovering sort of meditative state.

They're very holy, right?

How they walk, this sort of what sort of images when I say, oh, holy?

You know, maybe you uh have flashbacks of watching the sound of music and you you picture uh mother superior from the sound of music.

Bless you, my child, right?

Holy.

What does it mean to be holy?

What do you picture when you think of the word holy?

It's really important.

You need to know this.

If you want to be different as a follower of Jesus in the world that we live in, and if you want to reject the notion that God's highest plan for me isn't my happiness but holiness, then what does it mean to live holy?

And that's what I want to share as we close out our time together.

Because a personal theology of happiness, that God wants me to be happy, you know what it does?

It empowers us with personal justification.

I know those were really big words altogether, but you're smart people.

Hang with me.

A theology of happiness empowers personal justification.

If God wants me to be happy, then he must be okay with me doing these things that are outside of his plan for me to be holy.

And that's what the world looks like.

That's what's normal in the world.

Someone who's married can easily say, I'm not happy in my marriage, and so I will no longer be married.

They justify their personal happiness to explain and personally justify their decisions to live outside of what God would deem holy.

And we do this in great ways, and we do this in significant ways, and we do this in little ways.

Since I'm not happy, I must be allowed to do something that would otherwise be not holy.

I want this thing.

I saw this thing, that person has this thing, I really want that thing.

I can't afford that thing, but I'm gonna get that thing because God wants me to be happy.

I'm gonna sacrifice and go into personal debt because I want that thing.

And God wants me to be happy, so I'm gonna get that thing.

I deserve that thing.

That's a theology of personal happiness.

Maybe you're in a Dating relationship and things are getting a little steamy as they're designed to, as God created.

But you're dating, and you're not in a covenant partnership with that person, but you personally justify behaviors and activities that God deems holy within the context of covenant because you believe that God wants you to be happy more than he wants you to be holy.

When we believe that God wants us to be happy above all else, then all of a sudden, things like discomfort, delay, patience, risk, suffering, well, those things couldn't be God's will.

God wants me to be happy.

All of a sudden, without knowing it, we begin to worship false gods called comfort, money, pleasure, things.

When we live to be happy, we believe that God exists to serve us.

When we live to be holy, we believe that we exist to serve God.

And there is a big difference, my friends.

So what does the word holy mean?

To be holy means to be set apart, to be different, to be pure.

You know, I think what what decisions have you made in your lifetime so far that were intentional about being different as a follower of Jesus?

If you're in the room here and you you have um parented some kids, maybe you've got some things in your home that you've established as different than what's normal in the world around you.

You know, one of the decisions that Nicole and I have made in raising our three three children that I've actually learned, I thought it was normal, but it's actually quite different.

We've set aside Sundays as sacred.

Like Sunday mornings as a family, we rise and we gather together with our church community every week.

That's actually really different in the world that we live in.

Because a lot of Canadian families, they worship together at the gathering place of recreation or sports or activity.

And they like, they believe that Jesus' church is important, but they haven't established things that set them apart as being different.

And I'm not sharing this.

If you're in the room and you've spent a lot of Sundays at the hockey rink, hear my heart.

I'm not trying to condemn you or make you feel guilty about that.

That's just a personal thing we've done that feels really different than the world that we live in.

Every Sunday, we rise as a family and we gather together with Jesus' church.

You've got your own things in your own home with your own spouse or partner or children, family, your own tribe that you've established as this is who we are, as God's holy, set apart, different people.

And it is different than the world that we live in.

If you're not different in any way, how can we expect our children to want to be holy, to want to be different, to want to be set apart?

If we don't model that first for them.

And if you're not in, if you're in the room and you don't have any children yet, I guarantee you have an opportunity to model this to your extended tribe, to your friends, to your to your loved ones in some way.

1 Peter 14, 16, again, it says, as obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life.

Let yourself be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life.

And the fact is, have you ever heard the phrase, I, oh man, without it, I stumbled into righteousness.

Have you ever heard that?

No.

Alright?

What have you heard?

And I I stumbled into that sin.

I stumbled into that choice that I know wasn't.

I fell into that way of thinking or that way of behaving that I know was outside God's best for me.

But you don't hear people say, man, without even knowing, I just tripped and I fell right into holiness.

You don't hear people say that.

Do you find that interesting?

It's because we don't slip into righteousness.

We actually have to allow ourselves to be pulled into God's way of life, God's way of thinking, God's way of living, God's way of dreaming, God's way of speaking, God's way of loving.

We have to let ourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life.

We have to choose that.

We have to desire that.

We have to pursue that.

We have to go after that.

There's an enemy.

The devil is subtle and he's sneaky.

He's a defeated foe.

Don't give him too much credit.

But he's real.

And this is what I've learned.

Not once has the enemy of my soul been like, hey, John O, I've been thinking, you should pursue a path of like Satan worshiping.

Like you should sacrifice chickens in your garage and draw weird symbols on the ground with jock.

Yeah, come on, man.

Like, not once.

Not once.

But you know what he does?

He like whispers in our ears, like, hmm.

Did God really say that?

Did God really say you shouldn't be gossiping?

Like, your motives are good.

You just you want people to care about the person you're talking about.

You should be fine.

Alright?

Did God really say to reserve a sacred sexual relationship until the covenant of marriage?

Did he really say that?

Because like, doesn't he want you to be happy?

Did God really?

The enemy of our soul doesn't ever come out right and say, you know, hey, worship me.

I'm awesome.

Right?

Sacrifice chickens and goats in your garage.

It doesn't happen.

Did God really say you probably shouldn't watch that mature-rated show on Netflix or HBO?

Did he really say that?

I mean, you're you're wise, you can handle it.

Did God really say that you shouldn't post like half-naked pictures of yourself on social media?

Did he really say that?

Like everybody's doing it.

And let's face it, you're okay, because lots of people are doing way worse things than that.

A lot of people doing what they're doing isn't our standard.

A lot of other people isn't the standard that God has for us.

Since when is what a lot of other people are doing that seems normal, when has that become our standard?

What about righteous, holy living?

And what does that look like?

God calls us to be different, not like a lot of other people.

From the youngest of you to the oldest and most seasoned of you in the room, you're gonna face moments where you're gonna have to rise up with a spirit of faith and say, my desire to be holy overrides my desire to be happy.

Because if I believe that God wants me to be happy, then I believe that God exists just to serve me.

But if I believe that God wants me to be holy, then I recognize that I exist to serve the Father.

Some questions for reflection.

I'm gonna share these again at the end, but what are some areas I struggle most trying to fit in?

When was a time I put my happiness above God's call for holiness?

What are the biggest ways now that I'm different from the normal world that I live in?

What is the biggest area that God's showing me he wants me to be different?

The call to be holy, the call to be different, set apart.

Why does it even matter?

Why is it even important?

We're going to close with 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 18 through 21.

1 Peter 1:18–21

The last few verses in this first book says, your life is a journey.

You must travel with a deep consciousness of God.

It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.

He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know.

Jesus, he died like an unblemished sacrificial lamb, and there was no afterthought.

He just did it.

Even though it has only lately, at the end of the ages, become public knowledge, God always knew that he was going to do this for you.

It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you now trust God, that you know you have a future in God.

It's because of Jesus.

Living holy isn't the path to knowing Christ.

Knowing Christ is the path to living holy.

When we embrace and know Jesus in the fullness of what Jesus stood for, it awakens and inspires in us not just a uh a have to to live holy for God, but a desire to and a want to.

I want to live for the Father.

I want to live holy, and so I see myself as living in service of the King.

We're not talking about superficial behavior modification.

If I work hard enough, I can stop doing these things.

We're actually talking about an inward spiritual transformation from the inside out, a change, a full change on the inside of how we think, of how we feel, of how we how we take wrong thoughts captive, of how we submit our feelings to the work of Jesus and the active relationship with God's Spirit on the inside of us.

We're not talking about behavior modification, we're talking about spiritual transformation.

Living holy isn't the path to knowing Christ.

But knowing Christ is sure the path to living holy.

And so as we move in through the rest of this week, in our homes, where we do life in your evolved group, if you're getting together this week, with your partner, with your spouse, with your kids, with your extended family, maybe just open up the conversation of what does it look like for us to be different in the normal world that we live in?

Set apart.

And I want you to write down these questions to kind of take some time and go through.

List what are three areas that you're currently struggling most with trying to fit into the world that you live in?

Maybe in your workplace, maybe in your friend group, maybe with your family members who aren't yet serving Jesus.

I don't know.

What are three areas that you struggle most trying to fit in?

Can you think of a time that you put your happiness above God's call for you to be holy?

Think of a time that you intentionally chose to be happy instead of holy.

Number three, what are the biggest ways right now that you are different from the normal world that you live in?

See what God's done in your life so far.

See what it looks like right now for you to be set apart, different, holy.

What does that look like?

And lastly, what's the biggest area that you feel God is showing you that He wants you to step out and be different?

To be different in the world that you live in.

1 Peter chapter 1, verses 13 to 21.

1 Peter 1:13–21

A clear invitation as obedient kids to lean in and receive to pull out of Christ the life that he modeled, the life that he lived.

To pull out of our relationship with God, the life that he's inviting us into.

An invitation when God says, Hey, I'm holy, you be holy.

And a purpose to not confuse holiness with happiness.

I urge you and encourage you this week to just these four questions as a reflection, as a response to what we're talking through this week, and as a setup to us being together next week's Sunday and talking about what what it means to be different as followers of Jesus, the hope that we have in Jesus, the life that he paid for in full, and an invitation to continue to be different as we learn to trust and follow him every day.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the example of Peter, this very human man who walked with you, did life with you, made brash, bold statements, and then betrayed you not once, not twice, three times, denied even knowing you.

And through your love and grace, in the middle of Peter's brokenness, you restored him.

You brought hope back.

And you placed him into this incredible leadership role with Jesus' followers in the first century.

And as we've looked at the words he wrote to Christians who were hurting and persecuted and going through something really difficult in the culture that they lived in, today we pull out of that a longing and a desire to live lives of holiness set apart, pure, different than the world that we live in.

God, I ask that you would forgive me for the times when I've believed that my personal happiness outweighs my call to be holy.

And where I've developed those beliefs and that thinking, that kind of theology.

Where others have.

Thank you for your forgiveness and your grace.

And thank you for an opportunity to step forward in faith in the middle of whatever we're going through.

And choose to live lives that are different.

Choose to build marriages that are different.

Choose to raise children that are different.

Choose to have integrity in the workplace that's different.

Choose to walk in grace and love with our neighbors that's different.

Not normal, not average, but different.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, God.

If we could just take a moment and I just get the sense that God's presence in a very real way in the room is is um already sort of stirring in people's hearts.

And people in the right now are thinking about things that they want to talk to their spouse about or talk to their kids about.

But I also get the sense that in this room um are people who have never made a decision to trust and follow Jesus.

And maybe it's because of fear.

Like if I follow Jesus, do I have to be one of those weird Jesus followers?

I I I think that's the lie.

I get that sense that somewhere in this room is somebody who's who's been hesitant to be all in out of fear for being different.

Out of fear of not fitting in anymore.

And I just want to tell you that's okay.

Welcome to the club.

There is a path that leads to life, and it's a path of living different.

A path of knowing and serving and following Jesus, a path that leads to purpose and fulfillment and real life.

And if that's you and you're in the room here today, and for the first time you would like to make a decision to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, too.

To believe fully that what Jesus paid for in full, through his death and through his resurrection, applies to you today.

To come under that grace and forgiveness, but also to come under that leadership and that love that only Jesus can bring.

In a moment, we're gonna pray a prayer all together, but with every head bowed and eye closed, if you're in the room here today and for the first time you would say, Pastor John, oh, I want to make that decision today.

I feel that pull.

I want to follow Jesus.

Would you just slip up your hand right where you're seated, all across the room?

Thank you.

Incredible.

I'll just give you a minute.

Thank you.

That's awesome.

Thank you.

Out loud all together, we're just gonna pray a real simple prayer with the people that put their hands up.

And if you've prayed this prayer before, that's okay.

You can pray it again.

Uh pray it in agreement and in a sense of unity and family with those who are praying it for the first time.

Out loud, just repeat after me.

Say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus to stand in my place, to set things right now and forever, between me and you.

Forgive me for all that I've done wrong.

Thank you for restoring me, for redeeming me, for calling me your own.

I embrace a life of holiness, of being different, whatever it costs, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit Evolvechurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.