Summer Jams 2026 Part 1 | Jump into the River with Chris Schlotterbeck

Hey guys, this is Tracy. If at any time you'd

like to connect with HCV, go to hcv .church forward

slash connect. If you feel called to give, go

to hcv .church forward slash give. And if at

any time you feel called to make a change in

your life, text change me to 970 -00. Enjoy the

message. Welcome to Summer Jams 26. Please turn

on your cell phone flashlights and help me welcome

to the stage international performing artist

Nelly and the Tanzanian Twosome as they bring

you Leon Bridges River. Mm. Traveling these wide

roads for so long. My heart's been pulled from

you. Ten thousand miles gone. Oh, I want to come

near and give every part of me. But there's blood

on my head. And my lips are unclean. In the darkness

I remember Mama's words reoccur to me Surrender

to the good Lord And you'll wipe your slate clean

Take me to your river Oh. Well, good morning,

everyone. If you're joining us from home, thank

you for welcoming us into your space. June means

summer jams at HCV, a yearly series that we've

been doing here as a part of our community of

faith for going on over 10 years now, focusing

on music and its connection to our culture. See,

this series is about discovering God in everyday

life and the songs that we listen to and how

they influence what we do and how we choose to

follow them. The songs that have been chosen

for this series are simply tools to assist us

in discovering God's truth for our lives. Now,

people ask me, Chris, is this biblical? Is it

biblical to play songs that aren't worship inside

a church? And my answer to that is, let's look

at what the Bible tells us. In the book of Acts,

Paul referenced the unknown God in chapter 17,

verse 23, when we read, For as I was walking

along, I saw your many shrines, or idols, and

one of your altars had this inscription on it,

to an unknown God. This God, whom you worship

without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.

So Paul was using their idols to point them to

Jesus. In the same way, a lot of times music

becomes an idol in people's lives. We are simply

using this as a means to point people to Jesus.

River by Leon Bridges is a powerful gospel soul

ballad about seeking spiritual redemption, letting

go of past mistakes, and finding a fresh start.

I personally was first introduced to this song

from my recent graduate, Lily, who is a Leon

Bridges fan and actually used this song for her

senior year chapel talk at St. James. As I was

sitting there listening to her share and challenge

her student body to walk in forgiveness and grace,

I was moved by her talk and said, this song has

got to be a part of Summer Jams. Now, River is

widely considered Leon Bridges' signature and

most popular song, where it has been streamed

well over a million times across multiple platforms.

The track appears on Bridges' Grammy -nominated

album, Welcome Home. that was nominated for Best

R &B Album of the Year in 2016. Bridges wrote

it during a period of deep depression, using

the river as a metaphor for baptism and surrendering

one's struggles to God. Bridges would go on to

explain to Spin Magazine, a river has historically

been used in gospel music as symbolism for change

and redemption. My goal was to write a song about

my personal spiritual experience. It was written

during a time of real depression in my life,

and I recall sitting in my garage trying to write

a song which reflected this struggle. I felt

stuck working multiple jobs to support myself

and my mom. I had little hope and couldn't see

a road out of my reality. The only thing I could

cling to in the midst of all that was my faith

in Jesus. So the opening lyrics, you heard him

sing, 10 ,000 miles gone, blood on my hands.

Reflecting, of course, Bridges' feeling of feeling

lost. He was burdened by guilt. He was trapped

in a difficult reality while working multiple

jobs, wondering, will this music career ever

take off? The line, Mama's words reoccur to me,

surrender to the good Lord, he'll wipe your slate

clean, highlights. the grounding power of his

faith when he had nowhere else to turn. And as

I was listening to this song and praying about

a direction to go in, I felt the Holy Spirit

challenge me that I had to charge our recent

graduates. So if you're a graduate, this year

I'm going to charge you and all of those that

are part of our community of faith to go all

in with Jesus. It's time to go all in with Jesus.

Because here's the reality. It doesn't matter

what season of life you're in, it's not easy.

Daily, we're going to face challenges. We're

going to face struggles that make us question

who we are, what we are called to do, and what

is this whole thing about life. And you heard

in Bridget's interview that he was working multiple

jobs. He was trying to support his mom. He was

trying to support himself, all while making a

career out of his music. And it's in those difficult

seasons of life that I believe our faith is so

important. Because remember what David told us.

You know, in those times of difficulty, God's

presence is there. And we need to be reminded

that daily Jesus invites us to come and follow

him. But we must remember that Jesus' invitation

doesn't mean that life will be easy. It simply

means that we can live a life of abundance and

meaning if we choose to go all in, which leads

us to our first thought from the Song River.

See, Jesus challenges those that follow him to

go all in. In Luke chapter 9, Jesus addresses

Luke 9 · chapter mention

three men and the desire to follow him. Now at

this point in Jesus' ministry, the miracles had

been performed. The dead had been raised. The

blind see. The truth had been shared. The Sermon

on the Mount was spoken. He was now preparing

to head to Jerusalem where he will face trial,

be beaten. and hung on a cross and died for our

sins. All of the glamour, all the excitement

of three years of ministry has passed, leaving

Jesus to face the reason that God sent his son

to earth. And I felt, right, that I needed to

remind you that if you're in a relationship with

Jesus, right, all in means, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer

wrote, when Christ calls a man or a woman, He

bids them to come and die, to come and die. I

mean, that's following Jesus 101. To be all in

with God means that we get out of the way and

we let Jesus have his way with our life. Hey,

God, wherever you lead me, it doesn't matter

how difficult it is. It doesn't matter how frustrating

it will be. It doesn't matter what comes my way.

I will follow. I will die to myself so that I

can live in abundance. But here's the reality.

Anywhere self is involved, it kills the relationship.

When we have a lot of self in our marriage, the

partnership suffers. When we have a lot of self

in our friendships, it becomes one -sided, all

about one individual, and the friendship ends.

When we have a lot of self in church, churches

split. And it literally kills the purpose of

the church. And Jesus says, hey, if you're going

to follow me, you must first deny yourself, then

come and follow. We read this in Luke chapter

Luke 9:23–25

9, verses 23 to 25. Then he said to the crowd,

if any of you wants to be my follower, you must

give up your own way. Take up your cross daily

and follow me. Right? Follow me. And notice,

it's not about what we get. It's about who we

become. He continues, if you try to hang on to

your life, and that's what our culture is telling

us today. Hang on to yourself. Take care of yourself.

Make yourself higher. You will lose it. But if

you give up your life for my sake, you will save

it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole

world, but are yourself lost or destroyed? See,

the world is doing everything it can to get us

lost and frustrated. To destroy us by chasing

after all these other material things that promises

us life. That promises us peace. That promises

us joy. Yet in the end, what are they? They're

empty and meaningless. Paul says it this way

in Philippians chapter 3. Everything else is

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

worthless when compared with the infinite value

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake

I have discarded. everything else. Counting it

all as garbage so that I could gain Christ. And

see, unfortunately, there's too many people in

our culture today who are a part of the church

and they've bought into this American version

of Christianity. That it's all about this feel

good, be a better you, live a comfortable life,

give me more God. missing out on the ultimate

message, the ultimate challenge that Jesus came

to communicate to us, and that's church. You

need to come and die. Come and die and follow

me. Then you would understand what life is and

the meaning of life. It doesn't matter if it's

difficult. It doesn't matter if it's challenging.

It doesn't matter if none of your friends want

to do the right thing. Stand up for truth and

be a difference maker in this world. And see,

it's my desire to lead a church that is passionate

about following Jesus no matter the circumstances.

Because we are not in this for nominal, passive

Christianity. We are in it for Jesus, and we

are in it to make heaven more crowded. That's

the type of church that I want to lead. I want

to see people coming to Jesus, being baptized,

and the world turned upside down. side down because

we as the church are out there doing the stuff.

And this happens by dying to self. And today

we're going to discuss three men and their three

different excuses as to why they could not follow

Jesus. And chances are that you are going to

see yourself in each one of these men. And as

you do see yourself, my challenge to you is lay

it down and change. Holy Spirit, come. Prepare

our hearts, God. Open our minds, our ears, our

hearts, most importantly, to receive your truth

and to be different than when we walked in, in

Jesus' name. So all of that leads us to our first

excuse or our first reason to go all in with

Jesus. We need to replace comfort with sacrifice.

Looking at Luke chapter 9, verses 57 to 58. As

Luke 9:57–58

they were walking along, someone said to Jesus,

I will follow you wherever you go. Notice the

statement, I'm all in. But notice Jesus' response.

Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests.

But the Son of Man has no place even to lay his

head. And what Jesus is saying here is, hey,

if you choose to follow me, you may not have

anywhere to sleep. Because it's not about your

comfort. It's about sacrifice. And this first

man thought it was going to be comfortable to

follow Jesus. And immediately, Jesus responds

to him and says, no, you have to be willing to

make a sacrifice. And we live in a world and

a society that is built around the idea of making

us comfortable. We can order food without leaving

our home and have it delivered to our front door.

We can shop without entering a store and have

it delivered to our front door in two days. We

can be entertained without moving from our couch.

Comfort has become one of our highest values

in American culture. And let's be honest. We

gather here at HCV every single Sunday. Some

of you. Some of you every other. Some of you

once a month. Some of you on Easter and Christmas.

Oh, it's Summer Jams. I'll show up. And our community

of faith is making a difference in the tri -state

area. Yesterday alone, we had more than 60 people

show up for our annual bed build. And we built

beds that are going to be given to children without

beds. Right? A great way to make a difference

in a practical way. Right? Yeah. Give yourself

a hand if you're a part of that. Thank you. God

bless you guys. But for many of us, if we're

honest and we look in the mirror, we're comfortable.

We show up on Sunday. Our kids are cared for

and loved. The music and worship in this place

is awesome. We have a great facility that invites

people in to hang out with their friends in the

cafe. And my challenge to you is guard against

becoming comfortable. Because the second we get

uncomfortable, suddenly it's bad for us. There's

something wrong. And Jesus is challenging this

man. Look, if you're going to follow me, it's

not going to be comfortable. And that is significant

to our lives because Jesus, right, Jesus desires

that we go all in with him and experience uncomfortability.

Have difficult conversation. Make the lifestyle

changes. Don't compromise your convictions. Why?

Because God wants us to be more like Jesus. It's

not about beating people over the head with the

Bible. It's about looking and representing more

and more like Jesus every single day. That we

would die to self and we would make a difference

into the world, not conform to the world and

be more comfortable. See, following Jesus is

not a call to come and be comfortable. It's a

call to come and be crucified. Luke 9, 23, he

said to the crowd, if you want to be my follower,

Give up your own way. Get off of yourself. Take

up your cross daily and follow me. And this is

important to discuss because if we think following

Jesus is comfortable, then the second we stop

being comfortable, you're going to walk away

from God. And you're going to go back to the

world. And you're going to desire the world to

make you comfortable. And you're going to find

your peace and your joy and your happiness in

the world. And God says that's the way to destruction.

Going all in means we're willing to risk everything

for Jesus. John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard

Movement, used to say faith is spelled R -I -S

-K or risk. And it's interesting. I did a word

study this week, and that word risk in the Greek

is defined as to expose oneself to danger, to

venture boldly, and to risk everything. And it's

interesting. That word is only used one time.

One time in the entire Bible. And it's used to

describe a friend of Paul who is all in in his

faith. Paul is writing this letter from prison

to the church in Philippi. And he gives his friend

a shout out. Let's read Philippians 2, 25 and

30. Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus

back to you. He is a true brother, co -worker,

and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger

to help me in need. For he, notice what Epaphroditus

did, he risked his life for the work of Christ.

And he was at the point of death while doing

for me what you couldn't do from far away. And

notice, many of you have no idea who this guy

is because this is the only time he's mentioned.

Epaphroditus was all in and his faith cost him

something. Because this man risked his life,

we now have a beautiful letter written to us

called the book of Philippians. And this book

records truths for us like, hey, church, don't

worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need and thank him for all

he's done. Hey, church, you can do all things

through Christ who gives you strength. Men and

women. have been encouraged for the last 2 ,000

plus years from this letter. Think about it,

because one Jesus follower chose to go all in

with Jesus and risk his life because that's what

it takes to build a life of faith. So I want

to ask you, church, when is the last time you

made a sacrificial decision to build your faith?

When is the last time you took a risk, and went

all in with Jesus. See, maybe God is challenging

you to end that relationship. Hey, choose to

honor God instead of compromising your values.

Maybe God is challenging you to give, to tithe.

Give to God first in your finances, but you continue

to make excuses that you can't afford it. Maybe

God has been challenging you. Delete that social

media app. It's distracting you. Maybe God has

been challenging you. Hey, you want to get closer

to me? Get up earlier. Set your alarm 30 minutes

earlier. Make a sacrifice. Maybe God has been

challenging you to serve in our community of

faith. Join a team. Maybe it's to teach kids,

to encourage the youth, to help people find parking

spaces wearing a yellow vest. But you simply

haven't done it. You hear Chris talking about

it every week and you think, yeah, I got to do

that. But there's always an excuse. Listen, following

Jesus is not putting a post on Instagram. Following

Jesus is not putting a scripture verse on Facebook.

It doesn't cost you anything. It costs you nothing.

I want to challenge you. Do something difficult

that challenges you to grow. Become the best

version of you. Remove that toxic relationship.

Share your faith with somebody. Share your story

of how Jesus radically changed your life. Forgive

that person, even though they don't deserve it,

because God tells us to forgive. Pursue sacrifice

over comfort. This man, who we never hear about

again, chose comfort over sacrifice, and he didn't

go all in. Which leads us to our next excuse

or second step. We replace delay with obedience.

Luke chapter 9, 59 and 60, continuing on. He

Luke 9 · chapter mention

said to another person, come, follow me. The

man agreed, but he said, Lord, first, let me

return home and bury my father. But Jesus told

him, let the spiritually dead bury their own

dead. Your duty is to go and preach about the

kingdom of God. Now listen. If we're going to

make an excuse about why we shouldn't follow

Jesus, in my opinion, this is a pretty good one.

Would you agree? I mean, Jesus, let me go bury

my father. And when you read these words, you're

like, Jesus, that's a little harsh. You just

told this man, no, don't go bury your father.

But isn't it true that we as people are really

good at coming up with excuses? I mean, we're

really good at it. I don't need to really make

my bed. I'm going to sleep in it later. All of

us think that. We all think, I'm going to get

in it later. Even though it's 10 hours, it's

all good. That doesn't mean anything. But what

I've found in pastoring a church is the same

goes with our relationship with Jesus. Hey, why

don't you come serve at the bed build? I'm busy

tomorrow. Hey, why don't you be a part of a growth

group? When things slow down, I'll take God seriously.

I need to focus on my career first. Well, once

the kids are a little older, I'll have more time

for God. Oh, someone else can do it. There's

a lot of people in here. There's over a thousand

people over there. Someone else can do it. Well,

Chris, I'm really not qualified enough. I haven't

read the Bible. Stop making excuses. Because

on the surface, this man's excuse sounds like

a good one. He simply wanted to bury his father

and then go and follow Jesus. But that is why

context when reading the Bible is so important.

So in studying this section of the Bible, I learned

that many scholars now believe that this man's

father wasn't dead. He wasn't dead at all. Notice

this man didn't say, let me go bury my dead father.

See, Jewish culture tells us that burial needs

to happen for a person that dies within the first

72 hours of death. And if his father would have

died within the last few days, he would have

been buried. And this man asking the question

would have been considered unclean for seven

days. He wouldn't have been out in public having

this conversation with Jesus. So now scholars

are unanimous that this man's father wasn't dead.

He was simply making an excuse by saying, one

day when my dad eventually dies, I will bury

him. Or in other words, Hey, Jesus, I need to

go back and handle all this other stuff first.

Then I will come and follow you. And here's the

reality. All of us have excuses in this life.

I'll go all in with God, but first, but first,

I need to get married. I'll go all in with God,

but first, I need to get out of college because,

man, I want to have some fun in college. I'll

go all in with God, but first I need a career

because the career pays my bills. We can't say,

if you're in a relationship with Jesus, we can't

say, Jesus, let me first fill in the blank and

still call him Lord. Because that means we're

holding on to whatever we're putting first. Jesus

first. Jesus first. Right? It's got to be him

first. And if we're saying, Jesus, let me first

build a successful business, then I'll prioritize

you. Jesus, let me graduate. Jesus, let me, you

know, whatever it may be, get a new job. Delayed

obedience is disobedience. If God is asking us

to do something and we delay or we put it off,

it's disobedience. And following Jesus is not

about what we want for ourselves. It's not our

ideas. It's not our ambitions. It's not our plans.

Following Jesus means we go all in on that relationship

and prioritize it. We understand this truth from

1 Kings chapter 18, that Elijah stood in front

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

of them. Imagine Elijah standing in front of

the church and saying, how much longer will you

waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the

Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God,

follow him. In other words, if you're following

Jesus, follow him. If you want to go all in with

the world, go all in with the world. There's

not one or the other. It's one, choose one. Right?

Don't continue to hop the fence, put one leg

in one and one leg in the other, go all in in

one direction. If you want the world, go for

it. If you want Jesus, let's go on a journey

and change the world. How long are you going

to waver between going all in with God and all

in with the world? How long are we going to continue

to make excuses about that habit, that addiction,

that relationship, that career that God is telling

you to change? I want to encourage you, make

a decision to go all in with God today and start

right now. And see, that's what many people don't

understand. Start right now. Stop saying, but

first. Yes, Chris, eventually I'll join a team.

No, join a team today. I'm going to forgive that

person. Forgive that person right now. Like,

choose to do it. I will remove social media from

my phone. Some of you need to get your phones

out. Just delete it. Right now. Remove the toxic

relationship today. Make the phone call. End

it. I'm going to start eating healthy right now

as I take a crumpy out of my mouth. It's your

fault, Chris. You gave us crumpies. When will

we fully commit to Jesus and go all in? Because

I'm going to encourage you. When you go all in,

that's when we experience an abundant life. Which

leads us to our final excuse or our final step.

We need to replace the past with God's plan.

Continuing on to our third gentleman, Luke 9,

61 to 62. Another said, excuse me, yes, Lord,

I will follow you. But notice, but first, let

me say goodbye to my family. But Jesus told him,

anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks

back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Why is

Jesus telling this man not to say goodbye to

his family? So in study, and again, there was

common belief among scholars that if this man

went back to his family, he would have gone back

to a group of people who did not have an encounter

with Jesus. So think about this. He goes back

to his family. He's excited. He got invited to

come and follow and die. He goes back to his

family and says, hey, mom, hey, dad, I met this

rabbi. He's heading to Jerusalem to die, and

he wants me to go with him and follow him. I'm

going to go and die with him. His family and

friends, they would have gone to him and said,

no, you can't make that decision. You can't do

that with your life. You'll ruin your life. Here's

the reality. This man was going to the wrong

people for advice and opinions about a life that

God had called him to. He was going to the wrong

people. His family and friends did not have the

same encounter that this man had. And Jesus was

trying to protect him. He was trying to keep

him focused on the goal. And I want to challenge

you, church. Stop going back to the past. Stop

looking backwards to friendships, to influences,

to family for advice and counsel on what God

wants for your life. Now, don't get me wrong.

If your whole family's in a relationship with

Jesus and your mom and dad are passionate about

God, yeah, you go to them for counsel. But if

they're not, you don't. So many people wonder

why they become stuck. It's because they continue

to look backwards and go to the wrong people

for advice, and God wants us to move forward.

We won't change our lives until we change our

community. We've got to surround ourselves with

friends, with like -minded people that will encourage

us, pray for us, and challenge us to grow. God

is calling us forward. But if we continue to

look backwards and go backwards to wrong influences

and voices, that don't not speak to God's will

for your life, you're going to become confused

and frustrated. And when we become confused and

frustrated, we begin to doubt, and when we begin

to doubt, we walk away from God. My challenge

to you is stop going backwards. Surround yourself

with people that love Jesus and invite them into

your life so that they can challenge you to grow.

1 Peter chapter 4 tells us, you have had enough

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

in the past of the evil things that godless people

enjoy. Their immorality and lust, their feasting

and drunkenness and wild parties and their terrible

worship of idols. Of course, your former friends

are surprised when you no longer plunge into

the flood of wild and destructive things they

do. So, they slander you. See, Jesus is not anti

-family. He loves your family. But he's also

pro -focus. He wants us to focus on him. Jesus

is not against your friends. He simply does not

want us to be distracted by our friends and pulled

away from the mission that God has called us

on. Jesus challenges us then. He challenges that

man. Put your hands to the plow and move forward.

So a plow was used in biblical times to till

up a field. And I have an image here of what

a plow looked like in biblical times. It's a

piece of equipment used in farming that is pulled

by oxen. And notice, in this image, the man has

the equipment and both hands are on it. The oxen

are doing all the work. The man is simply responsible

to have his hands on the equipment and to direct

it. The oxen were leading. He was simply guiding

it in the right direction. But there would be

a problem arise if that man let go of one of

his hands and began to look backwards, not focused

on the course in front of him. And Jesus is challenging

us. Don't let go. Keep your hands to the plow.

Don't look back. Because when you look back,

you're not experiencing God's best. So I began

to think, what's a modern day version of this

plow? And I found something. Are you ready for

it? Now some of you, you have no idea what this

is because you pay people to do your yard. Okay?

So for those of you that pay for your grass to

be cut, this is called a lawnmower. Okay? And

this lawnmower has a unique device on it called

a self -propelled mechanism. So when you pull

this handle down, the lawnmower actually mows

the grass for you. And what do you have to do

as the person following it? Walk along. That's

all you have to do. You don't even have a push.

I remember as a kid, I hated mowing the lawn

because I could barely get through the grass

because you had to push the thing, right? But

now it does it for you. But if I was to be mowing

my grass and instead of walking like this, had

one hand on it and was looking backwards or pointing

backwards, what's going to happen to my lawn?

It's going to be a train wreck, right? Because

the lawnmower is basically going to go wherever

it wants. And Jesus is trying to tell us, he's

leading the way. Put your hands to the plow and

allow him to have control. Put both hands on

it and focus on going forward, not backward.

Because when you focus on going backward, then

you're focused on all the wrong things. And he

challenges us in Hebrews 12 too. Therefore, since

we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses

to the life of faith, strip off, church, every

weight that slows you down, especially the sin

that so easily traps us up. And let us run with

endurance the race God has set before us. And

we do this. How do we do it? We keep our eyes

on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects

our faith. We don't have to do the work. We simply

follow the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us through

life. So I want you to all ask yourself, what

are you still holding on to from your past that's

keeping you from going all in with Jesus? Because

whatever it is, It doesn't matter if it's an

addiction, a friend, a habit, an excuse, a job.

When we go all in with God, everything changes.

And if you think about these three men, we never

hear from them again. And if you think about

them, they probably heard the news that Jesus

went to Jerusalem and was killed. He was crucified.

And they celebrated, and they probably thought

to themselves when they received that news, man,

I'm so glad I didn't go after him. I'm so glad

I didn't follow him. But then three days later,

they would have heard that, but he's risen from

the dead. He's been resurrected. We've seen him.

He's walking the earth. They would have recognized

that they missed out on abundant life because

when resurrection life happens, we need to die

in order to rise again. Jesus promises us a life

of abundance. That happens, church, when we choose

to go all in and when we choose to die to our

old life. Will you stand with me? So as we reflect

on our lives today, I want you to reflect on

where you are. You just heard three men. You

heard three excuses. And you heard the challenge

to go all in. It's not a simple challenge. It's

a heartfelt one. But that's where Jesus is. He

speaks truth and he invites you to come and prosper.

He invites you to come, walk away from what was

and walk into what's new. Graduates, you're going

into a new season of life. Be a difference maker

wherever you go. Stand up for truth. Be the light

to the world. Doesn't matter what's happening

around you. Don't compromise. Be a truth seeker.

Be a truth speaker. Lead others into a relationship

with God. That's the meaning and purpose of life.

That's what it's all about. It's choosing to

go all in. So I'm going to invite the Holy Spirit

to come, and I want to encourage you. If God

revealed to you something that's keeping you,

holding you back from going all in, lay it down.

Leave it here. Right, had many of you come forward

to experience a miracle, to worship and experience

that encounter with God today so that you can

walk away from it? For some of you, you're holding

on to your past. You're comfortable. Right, you're

comfortable. You're making excuses. And if that's

you, I wanna encourage you, before you leave

this place, walk up here to the altar, lay it

down, and then leave. Because sometimes an act

of obedience Changes your life. So Holy Spirit

come. I'm grateful God for this community of

faith. And it's my prayer that all of us go all

in. That we won't hold back. That we'll see our

friends, our family, our coworkers, our classmates

come into a vibrant relationship with you. That

heaven will be more crowded because this church

exists in the tri -state area and this community

will be turned upside down for Jesus that will

continue to be out there making a difference

in the lives of others. Empower us, God. Reveal

to us those people that we're called to serve,

those people we're called to pray for, those

people we're called to share with. Change us,

God. Make us more like your son. And if you're

here today and you aren't in that relationship

with Jesus, you're distant, you're far from God,

you've never made that decision, today's your

day. I'm not going to have you raise your hand.

I'm not going to have you come forward. I'm going

to pray a simple prayer. And all of us will pray

with you because we are a family here. And we

believe in welcoming people home. Amen? Let's

pray together. Jesus, I'm broken. I'm full of

doubt. Shame, regret, sin. Change me. Forgive

me. I believe you're God's son. I believe you

died for me. I believe you're alive today. Make

me new. Set me free. Fill me with your spirit.

Help me, God, to serve others. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Now there are several words of knowledge

I want to share with you. If these are you, our

prayer to you on my left and my right to pray

with you. You have an abnormal growth from the

middle of your back. You have neck pain that

is causing you to not being able to sleep. You

have left knee pain because of an injury. You

are struggling with sciatic pain in the lower

part of your back or butt area. You are married

and struggling in your relationship and considering

divorce. If any of those are you, come up here

and get some prayer. We believe that God wants

to meet you and heal you. If you're a couple

and you're struggling, Husband and wife, get

up here so we can pray with you. God bless you

guys. Summer Jams continues for the month of

June. Next week, we have The Killers, a modern

-day rock and roll band that's going to blow

your mind. Invite your friends and family. God

bless you guys. life for mine you're the one

turn water into wine please fix my heart things

inside