Dying to Live (Baptism Sunday Message)

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, how many are you ready for the word this morning?

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, that's good, yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's good.

[SPEAKER_02]: We should get excited for the word of God, amen.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, we'll turn with me to Romans chapter six.

[SPEAKER_02]: And if you'll stand to your feet with me with your Bible in your hand or if you want to follow along on the screen, that's perfectly fine as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to honor the Word of the Lord today by standing on our feet.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 11.

Romans 6:1–11

[SPEAKER_02]: Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 11, and it reads like this.

Romans 6:1–11

[SPEAKER_02]: It says, what should we say then?

[SPEAKER_02]: Should we continue to sin so that grace may apply?

[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely not.

[SPEAKER_02]: How can we who died to sin still live in it?

[SPEAKER_02]: Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized in the Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

[SPEAKER_02]: Therefore, we were buried with Him by baptism in the death and order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we, too, may walk in a new way of life.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, somebody say amen to that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Verse 5, for if we have not, for if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

[SPEAKER_02]: For we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that sins dominion over the body may be abolished so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sins claims.

[SPEAKER_02]: Whoo!

[SPEAKER_02]: Now if we die with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him because we know that Christ has been raised from the dead will not die again.

[SPEAKER_02]: Death no longer rules over him.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah!

[SPEAKER_02]: For a verse 10, in light of the fact that he died, he died to sin once and for all, but in light of the fact that he lives, he lives to God.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you too, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is dying to live, dying to live.

[SPEAKER_02]: You may take your seat as I'm praying.

[SPEAKER_02]: Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day.

[SPEAKER_02]: We thank you, Father, for what this day represents and what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_02]: I thank you Father God for being here in our midst.

[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for your presence this morning, Lord.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're grateful, God, that you are here.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're grateful, Father, that you have chosen to come and spend time with us and dwell amongst the praises of your people.

[SPEAKER_02]: And Lord, today we get to celebrate and honor new life in you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Where the old man is buried, and we come up alive, alive in you.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we thank you for your word today.

[SPEAKER_02]: Teach us something new.

[SPEAKER_02]: Challenges, shape us, mold us, transform us.

[SPEAKER_02]: Lord, we receive your word, and everybody said, amen.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: dying to self, dying to self.

[SPEAKER_02]: So today we're celebrating water baptisms, which we're super excited about.

[SPEAKER_02]: And here's the thing about being baptized in water.

[SPEAKER_02]: We know that being baptized in water really does represent new life.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, when you get saved and you say yes to Jesus, you give your heart to Him, their salvation that takes place, you become new.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then you go into the water of baptism.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you lay down your old man, you lay down your old self, the old Jew who you used to be before Jesus, and you come up somebody completely new and completely different amen.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what water baptism is all about.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you know why water baptism is so important, it's important because it is dying to live.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's the killing away, the crucifying of the flesh.

[SPEAKER_02]: For saking the flesh and coming out of that water saying, I'm no longer who I used to be.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm no longer who I used to be.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm no longer bound to sin.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm no longer...

[SPEAKER_02]: broke and disgusted and miserable, and live in my life like I'm going towards hell, but now I'm living towards heaven, come on somebody, and heaven is infiltrating my life.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm looking more like Jesus, each and every day, come on.

[SPEAKER_02]: Behold, the old has passed away, and the new has come, amen.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it not only is a dying to self, but it's a representation of our faith.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a declaration of our faith in Jesus, it's representing the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus, much like our lives we can go and we can lay ourselves down and be buried and we can come up like the resurrection of Jesus and come alive again.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you're dying in the likeness of His death, and that's what Scripture just taught us.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you see you got to die to something to be something.

[SPEAKER_02]: You got to die to something to be something.

[SPEAKER_02]: And in order for you to come up out of that water, somebody completely different.

[SPEAKER_02]: You got to make the choice that I'm going to kill something in that water.

[SPEAKER_02]: That I'm going to lay down my flesh.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to lay down the old me.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm going to kill the old me so that I can come up a new me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so we got to remember that when it comes to our walk with Jesus that,

[SPEAKER_02]: When it comes to him, it's never been about us trying to get a hold of God, but it's always been about God trying to get a hold of us.

[SPEAKER_02]: We don't have to do all these things to get God's attention and try to get him to come into our lives when he is actively lovingly, passionately, compassionately chasing after us.

[SPEAKER_02]: So when Jesus found you and He rescued you through the power of His love and through His saving grace, He really desired more than anything else that you become alive in Him.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we just read that in verse 11.

[SPEAKER_02]: It says that you yourself are dead to sin, but now you are alive to Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so he who does Ior is nothing more out of our lives that we become alive to him, amen?

[SPEAKER_02]: And so your life is no longer yours.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's no longer about you anymore.

[SPEAKER_02]: But it's about living for Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: Living alive dedicated to crucifying your flesh and taking it on the cross and taking on Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And this is why in Christ we are now forgiven.

[SPEAKER_02]: In Christ, we are now set free.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: In Christ, we have been made justified.

[SPEAKER_02]: In Christ, we are now the righteousness of God, the Father.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Which means that we don't have to identify by our past and we don't have to identify by our sins and by our mistakes.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now our identity is only found in Jesus and in Jesus alone.

[SPEAKER_02]: which means that you can fall short of the glory of God and that's okay because he then forgives you, applies his grace, and picks you back up and says, I still love you anyways.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the power of the gospel.

[SPEAKER_02]: The power of the gospel is quite simple.

[SPEAKER_02]: And can I tell you what the gospel is not?

[SPEAKER_02]: The gospel is not just trying to get to heaven.

[SPEAKER_02]: The gospel is living a life surrender to Jesus knowing that He has washed our sins away, that we are forgiven, we are set free.

[SPEAKER_02]: And in Him we have everlasting life, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so it's not a pursuit of trying to get our lives right.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a pursuit of Jesus as He fixes our lives as we chase after Him.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm grateful for water baptism because water baptism is a step in our faith.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a round two, if you will, of coming in contact with Jesus where He reminds us that our old as passed away and we're coming up new.

[SPEAKER_02]: In other words, we don't have to live the same life we've always known.

[SPEAKER_02]: We get a new life now.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, I said we get a new life now.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so hear me church, when you died to you and came alive and Christ, you were cleaned, you were freed, and you were forgiven.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're not on this constant pursuit of trying to get clean every single day.

[SPEAKER_02]: He already cleans you up.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on now.

[SPEAKER_02]: He already cleans you up.

[SPEAKER_02]: He already sets you free.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's just now living out that life in Christ, finding out your true identity in Him, in realizing that your life is no longer yours that now belongs to Him.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we're not trying to wake up every day, trying to see how can I avoid sin?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, because that's how some Christians live their lives.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love Jesus, but I hope today I don't fall short or I hope today I don't do this or I hope today I don't do that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus doesn't look at you for that.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's already cleaned you up.

[SPEAKER_02]: OK, it's like a fish that you caught in the lake.

[SPEAKER_02]: And he takes that fish and he don't look at you and say, yeah, it's OK now and throws you right back in.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now he gets you.

[SPEAKER_02]: He cleans you up.

[SPEAKER_02]: He removes the scales off of your eyes.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: He washes you up and he makes you a new fresh you.

[SPEAKER_02]: A new fresh you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Which means that we don't have to try to live to get free.

[SPEAKER_02]: We don't have to try to live to get forgiven.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, he's already done that for us.

[SPEAKER_02]: When we said yes to him, he said, I forgive you.

[SPEAKER_02]: I accept you.

[SPEAKER_02]: I choose you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Your mind now.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And listen, you can't just sit around waiting to get free when you know you're already free.

[SPEAKER_02]: I hope that said some of us free this morning because I feel like so many times we're sitting around waiting to get free and God said, I've already freed you, I've already liberated you, I've already destroyed the power of sin and death over your life, I have removed the bondage, I have broken the chains, there is nothing holding you back any longer, now it's your respondent,

[SPEAKER_02]: You want to be willing to step into that place of total surrender, total freedom to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, where he says, I accept you for who you are.

[SPEAKER_02]: I accept you even know you have a messed up past.

[SPEAKER_02]: I accept you even know your family was all messed up and all broken up.

[SPEAKER_02]: I accept you even know that your parents thought that they can live this way and it kind of messed it up your mind.

[SPEAKER_02]: I accept you for who you are.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care how you try to identify yourself.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care what you've been through.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care how bad your past looks like.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care what kind of sin your caught up in right in this moment.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love you and I look at you through the eyes of freedom because I went to the cross for you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on somebody, I died for you.

[SPEAKER_02]: I clinned to you.

[SPEAKER_02]: I've set you free.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the life that we get in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't have to every day wonder does Jesus love me?

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't have to wonder in my forgiven.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't have to wonder if his grace is applied to my sin.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't have to wonder if I make a mistake as he's going to strike me down or take me out.

[SPEAKER_02]: I get to wake up every day with fresh breath in my lungs, with a purpose attached to my life.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, with an assignment that's tied to my name.

[SPEAKER_02]: And listen to me with a future that I'll have yet to step into, because of Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11, he says, I have a future for you.

Jeremiah 29:11

[SPEAKER_02]: So we don't live our lives day by day.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, if we're living that way, we're living wrong.

[SPEAKER_02]: We live our lives with our eyes fixed on Jesus, noting that he had our yesterday,

[SPEAKER_02]: He has our tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we are safe in the palm of his hands.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so when you understand the finished work of Jesus, and that you no longer live for you, but now you live for him, you're no longer the same person that you used to be.

[SPEAKER_02]: Instead of, instead, you get to wake up every morning and join the fact that you're a son of God.

[SPEAKER_02]: enjoying the fact that you're a daughter of the king.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now love water baptism because it takes us into a place of understanding where we know that our lives are completely started over.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now we get to start a new life in Christ, a new life.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's fresh, it's brand new.

[SPEAKER_02]: But that's all gone and it's buried and it's behind us.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love sharing this story every once in a while.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because I love baptisms.

[SPEAKER_02]: I've been a part of a lot of baptisms.

[SPEAKER_02]: Myself being baptized and me baptizing.

[SPEAKER_02]: When I was a kid, I got baptized a lot of times.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because when you're a young child, you really don't know what you're doing, which is be honest.

[SPEAKER_02]: You just really don't know.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're a little friends or your siblings are doing it, sign me up too.

[SPEAKER_02]: Baptize a lot of kids that later on, it's they've become teenagers, they become adults, they realize, I don't think that I really knew what I was doing, I think I need to do that again, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Same thing went for me, got baptized several times when I was young because all my friends were getting baptized or that was just the thing to do, not really understanding or realizing what I was doing.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then when I got a little bit older and maybe middle school age, I came to the realization, understanding revelation of what baptism really was, and decided to get baptized yet again, but this time I wanted to mean it, and I didn't want it to be a ritual, I didn't want it to be a thing that I did because that's what we do in church, but I wanted it to be real.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember going down into that water,

[SPEAKER_02]: And that baptism tank, with my eyes closed, but somehow my spiritual eyes were open.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I went down in the tank with my eyes closed, but I can see,

[SPEAKER_02]: fully.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, as if it was my eyes were wide open, I can see this figure of me just coming up out of that water.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember it was a supernatural thing and it was so spiritual in that moment.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember understanding and coming to the knowledge of that was my old

[SPEAKER_02]: that that was for real.

[SPEAKER_02]: I knew that that was the real thing, that that was not just a time to do it because it was a time to do it.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I knew that the old me had finally been buried and a new me is coming up out of that water.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I love baptism because in the waters of baptism anything can happen because in the waters of baptism

[SPEAKER_02]: This is not just physical waters out there that we're getting into, but these are spiritual waters.

[SPEAKER_02]: These are holy waters.

[SPEAKER_02]: I have seen people go into the baptism tank with sickness in their body and come up completely healed.

[SPEAKER_02]: Melissa told the story, I think last week of, I remember when I was young and we had a baptism service and my grandpa was baptized and folks and a gentleman by the name of Marty, he was had all kinds of back issues

[SPEAKER_02]: All messed up and was in a, was he had crutches or canes or something, and he, we, they got him up in that tank, you know, the grace of God, and he came up out of that tank.

[SPEAKER_02]: When I say that he came up out of that tank, he shot up out of that tank.

[SPEAKER_02]: And he jumped and he leapt out of that tank and he took his crutches and he snapped him over his leg and he started running around celebrating in that church and God's supernaturally healed him.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you ought to clap for that, yeah, that's a good, that's a good time to clap.

[SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes I feel like we need like applause, you know.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like we're in a studio audience.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just kidding.

[SPEAKER_02]: And some people are like, that would help me because I really don't know when to clap, no.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, we ain't doing that.

[SPEAKER_02]: I've got story after story after story of supernatural things that have happened in the waters of baptism.

[SPEAKER_02]: I remember years ago, many of you have heard this story many, many times, but I'm sharing it again anyways.

[SPEAKER_02]: I remember when we were youth pastoring and we took a whole bunch of kids to youth camp one summer as we did every week and there every summer, excuse me.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we went to a water park to spend and afternoon there.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was a part of our time on our camp weekend.

[SPEAKER_02]: We went to the water park.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we were there with our youth group and the public, the general public.

[SPEAKER_02]: And this was in South Dallas, over in Oak Cliff, OK, off a highway, 67, and OK, yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, and we're out there and

[SPEAKER_02]: We're at the water park, and something just came over me.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that one of my students asked, can I get baptized or something?

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, heck yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so we were standing in the lazy river, but it was like the entryway to the lazy river.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it was probably about as big as this room.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was a good size, like general pool that led into the lazy river itself.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so

[SPEAKER_02]: We had a lot of space, and it was about way steep, and I buried her buried it.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's good.

[SPEAKER_02]: Nobody pulled that clip on social media.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, try that again.

[SPEAKER_02]: I baptized.

[SPEAKER_02]: I baptized.

[SPEAKER_02]: That kid.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we, I mean, we buried him in the same thing.

[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, baptized him and several more of our students said, I want to get baptized too.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we just started baptizing people.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, something came over me, and obviously it is the Holy Ghost.

[SPEAKER_02]: I stood there and I kind of made a loud declaration into the whole water park as all these people that I don't know who they are, I never met them, don't know.

[SPEAKER_02]: They're just there enjoying time with their families and friends and all of that, I just yelled out loud, hey, does anybody want to get baptized?

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, and I got the crazy looks, but then I also had, you know, not crazy looks and you know, before you know it, all these random people started swimming up to us.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I started baptizing complete strangers.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was amazing.

[SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, it's OK. That's a pause.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to be going to come a new thing around here.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to come like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so anyways,

[SPEAKER_02]: I literally turned around, mostly it's true, it's 100% true.

[SPEAKER_02]: I turned around, I pointed my finger at him, not the bad one, just this one, this, and I said these words, no kidding you, this is real.

[SPEAKER_02]: I said, in Jesus' name, shut up!

[SPEAKER_02]: Like that guy looked at me like this, like probably thought I was crazy.

[SPEAKER_02]: He looked at me and said they walk.

[SPEAKER_02]: I baptize probably another 20 strangers after that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because, have me and know, nothing can possible from going forward.

[SPEAKER_02]: Nothing can stop the power of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah, come on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And if God wants to leave some people in an environment, if He wants to get some people baptize, how does I do when I share stuff?

[SPEAKER_02]: So when it comes to immersion, I'm about to eat this.

[SPEAKER_02]: Then the bottle is far as to full.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's not full.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, subscribe it to you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Cook eat those.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's today to cook.

[SPEAKER_02]: into that Oreo, you know, crunching and everything and it's soggy.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the best is when you just take about five of them and drop them in the cup and then you just take a spoon, baby, and you just start.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, come on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is anybody know that line right there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the way to do it, all right.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now, let me tell you, it's just like this with baptism.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's something amazing when it comes to the Oreo and milk, okay?

[SPEAKER_02]: That Oreo goes down into the milk and somehow it absorbs the milk, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it's becoming fully immersed.

[SPEAKER_02]: In other words, it's not just getting moist on the outside of the cookie.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's also getting moist on the inside of the cookie.

[SPEAKER_02]: And when we get baptized, come on, in holy waters, we're not just getting baptized so we can get wet on the outside, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_02]: But God is doing something as we're immersed on the inside of us.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's just like that cookie being dunked in that milk.

[SPEAKER_02]: All of a sudden, we get filled up with the waters, come on with the living waters, and God begins to do something when we're filled up when we're fully immersed, amen?

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: So water baptism is the same way, and when we go down in those living waters and we're immersed, we get it all on the outside of us, but we get it all so all on the inside of us.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's how we come up a new person.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because how can we become someone new if we only got cleaned up on the outside?

[SPEAKER_02]: That wouldn't make no sense.

[SPEAKER_02]: So God's got to do an external work, but watch this, he's also got to do an internal work.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so that's why water baptism is supernatural and it's spiritual.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because when you go in those waters, it don't just represent, you go in down and get in dunked and coming up, soak and wet.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, it represents what God is doing from the inside out, hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_02]: And when we were baptized into Christ, our lives now become more like him.

[SPEAKER_02]: We become more Christlike.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's not another version of salvation.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's not another version of the sinner's prayer.

[SPEAKER_02]: This is literally heaven and the power of God coming to dwell within us.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we don't get baptized to get soaking wet.

[SPEAKER_02]: We get baptized to come up out of those waters.

[SPEAKER_02]: Somebody completely knew leaving the old man in that water.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's why I love water baptisms because not only do you get immersed and come up someone new, but it also declares what Jesus has done on our behalf.

[SPEAKER_02]: We get to come up out of those waters and everybody gets to celebrate, and we get to declare that we have been saved, we have been redeemed, we have been set free, it's letting everybody else know and letting ourselves know that we are not who we used to be glory to God, and we're coming up somebody completely new and fresh.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think about it this way.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think about it as a PSA.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a public service announcement, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus saved me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hey world, Jesus rescued me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Come on now.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hey world, Jesus set me free.

[SPEAKER_02]: He broke my chains.

[SPEAKER_02]: And now I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.