Welcome To The Otherhood | Ryan Leak

I want to say hello to all of our locations, everybody that's watching online.

Welcome to Shoreline City Church.

If it is your first time, I want you to know that is not an accident.

I know your friend might have invited you and said, hey, we're going to brunch, and then they just pulled in here really fast.

And you might have think they tricked you into your seat, but I believe God put you in that seat for a reason.

I am so grateful for our pastors that consistently challenge us to really get in the word.

You get in the word so that the word can truly get in you.

And all year long we have been challenged to read different books and parts of the scripture.

And this month we have been challenged to read through four prison epistles.

The prison epistles are the books of the Bible that Paul wrote from prison.

We're looking at Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, and Colossians.

And as I have been personally combing through these texts, I'm going to be honest, I don't like it.

And the reason I don't like it is because it's not about me.

And it's not about you.

What you're going to see in these books if you decide to comb through the text yourself is you're going to see a word that pops up that should bother you.

And it's the word others.

Others.

And here's what I want you to know.

Your relationship with God, some of us want it to be a solo sport.

That's not Christianity.

We're all in this together.

In fact, proof of our relationship with God is displayed in our relationship with each other.

As you continue to read through the scriptures, you will see others, you will see one another.

My biggest issue with the word others is it includes others.

And trust me, you're not gonna like others.

Because others include Democrats, others includes Republicans, others includes your in-laws, others includes the person who told you they would get coffee and they never called you at all.

Others includes that group chat, others includes people that hit reply all at all the wrong times, others is everybody in the club, others.

And so today's title, if you are taking notes, is Welcome to the Otherhood.

And what we're going to do is we're going to take a drive through the prison epistles, and we're just going to take some stops in the other hood to say, hey, what would it look like in our relationships if we were to take some of these other scriptures seriously?

They might seem simple on the surface, but in practice, they will absolutely change every relationship you got.

Our first stop is going to be serve one another.

Serve one another.

Philippians chapter 2, 5 through 7.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

It says, you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had, though he was God.

He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges.

He took the humble position of a servant and he was born as a human being.

Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, comes to the planet with all power in his hands.

What we know in Scripture about Jesus Christ is that he controls the weather.

If I control the weather, anytime somebody says anything crazy to me, hurricane, right away at their house.

That's just how I roll.

Okay, yeah.

I couldn't have been Jesus.

In fact, I think the greatest miracle Jesus ever performed was restraint.

Come on.

Oh, that's so good.

Because he had power to save himself and decided to use it to serve others.

I love what we see in Galatians chapter 5, verse 13.

Galatians 5:13

It says, For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters, but don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.

Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

Serve one another.

You will be tempted to walk into every room in your life asking the question: what can they do for me?

What can this church do for me?

What can this job do for me?

What can my spouse do for me?

I go on this date and go, what can they do for me?

The scripture is pointing us outward to walk into every single room and go, what can I do for them?

How can I serve them?

What can I do for my spouse?

What can I do for my kids?

What can I do for my church?

What can I do for my boss?

And you go, but Ryan, I don't like all of those people.

Welcome to the other hood.

It's not supposed to be easy.

It's easy to serve somebody that's servable, that you like, that has your same preferences.

Unfortunately, when we start looking at the scripture, it's going to point us to some people that are very, very difficult to serve.

But when we do it, it's a game changer.

Because some of us go to work with this attitude.

Y'all don't pay me enough to do all that.

But when you walk in going, this isn't even my real boss in the first place.

I serve him.

And so because I serve him, I'm going to show up early.

Because I serve him, I'm going to go above and beyond for our customers.

You go, man, but they got attitudes.

Yeah, but do you have the attitude of Christ?

I know what would make us feel better is if I told you, let me help you be you.

I'm not here to help you be more you.

I'm here to help you be more like Christ.

Can we be more like him, more humble like him, serve like he served, treat people how he treated people.

Isn't it interesting that if somebody was trying to kill you, you would probably defend yourself.

Jesus' plan was let's serve them to death.

Mine.

That's how we'll defeat the Romans.

Not the way you think.

No, you want to change every relationship you got.

You want to change every room that you walk into.

Serve like crazy.

Do walk in going, because it's easy, especially if like if you're just checking out of church today, I get it, right?

And you're just going, hmm, what can this place do for me?

But you got a gift living on the inside of you that sometimes we hold back to go, well, I'll think about it.

What can you do?

Do something for me first.

No, serve one another.

Um, I was talking to uh my my our oldest Jackson.

Um we were doing uh just a very mini Bible study before bed.

I don't want to pretend like I do a Bible study with my kids before every bedtime.

Like that's not true, okay?

This was like once a quarter type of deal.

Nevertheless, the one time I was doing a Bible study with my child, we were talking about this idea of going to heaven.

And I said, Well, buddy, just so you understand what we're trying to do here is we're trying to make it on earth as it is in heaven.

We're trying to make it heaven on earth.

And we do that in every room we walk in.

Like, no, we're trying to be a blessing to people.

We want people to sense a touch of heaven everywhere we go.

We're trying to serve people and encourage people and build people up.

Like, like that, that's the kind of people that we're we're trying to be.

And I wasn't sure if he got it.

You know, you just be saying stuff to your kids, praying that they're listening, and they're just kind of like looking around, and you're just like, well, we'll see what happens.

And then that night a storm came through, and it was also a garbage can day, and and the storm came through and started knocking garbage cans all over our neighborhood, trash is everywhere, and I didn't know that.

I'm just getting the kids ready in the morning.

Hey, Jackson, Roman, get in the car.

I told Jackson to get in the car.

I don't know what was happening with Roman, God knows.

And and and then I get in the car and Jackson's not in the car.

So I'm instantly hot.

You know what I'm saying?

Because you know, when your kids don't listen to you, you're triggered.

You know what I'm saying?

And so I'm like, Jackson! Jackson, where you and and and now I'm looking around the house, can't find nowhere in the house.

Now I'm getting more angry.

Now I I walk outside and I see a devastation in our neighborhood.

I see Jackson all the way down the street.

And I go, Jackson! And now I'm like, you're about to get arrested, dude.

You gotta chill out, right?

I said, What are you doing, Jackson?

And he said, You said heaven on earth.

And he starts picking up trash in the neighborhood and putting the cans back.

And I just yell back, my bad.

Heaven on earth, people.

I got an assignment.

Some people think, oh, I'm here to make some money and make a buck.

You're not, you're there to make a difference.

And if you're going to be one of those people, serve one another.

And I love that the apostle Paul said it's the same attitude that Christ had.

Yeah.

It's my attitude.

When I walk in, I'm I'm walking in today going, man, what can I do for this place?

How can I add value to the world around me?

In a connect group, at a summer party, I want you to answer this question.

Who can I serve this week?

It might be the person you sleep next to.

It might be your church.

It might be your boss.

It might be your in-laws.

It could be your kids.

You're going, no, no, no.

I'm trying to teach them to do some laundry around you.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

This week you're going, I'm trying to have the attitude of Christ.

The second house I want us to stop in, in the other hood, is uh the second thing is carry each other's burdens.

Carry each other's burdens.

Galatians chapter 6, verse 2.

Galatians 6:2

It says, share each other's burdens and in this way obey the law of Christ.

Carry each other's burdens.

It's interesting.

Most of us, what we do with burdens when we hear somebody else share one with us is we compare their burden to ours.

And therefore, we either diminish their burden or go, oh man, you got it tough.

Like we got our Frisco campus.

We're like, I mean, they're in Frisco.

I mean, I mean, come on.

You know what I mean?

I mean, and then we've talked, look at our old Cliff campus, we're like, oh, old Cliff, okay, well, they need it.

You know what it's like, like, like we have this like scale that we like carry around Dallas, Texas, and San Antonio and Guatemala City and Antigua.

Like, like we have this like scale of like, it's actually not that difficult for you.

Wow, come on.

Instead of just going, that sounds hard.

I have a very, very practical takeaway.

I want you to write this down.

Check on your strong friends today.

The most successful, the person that has the most followers, the person you think has the most notoriety, the person that they've got a really nice car and they've got a really nice house that you've given a pass to, and they go, Well, they well, I mean, compared to compared to who?

Pain's pain.

Doesn't give discounts.

And you become an incredibly valuable person when you look people in the eye and you hold space for what is difficult for them.

Because what's difficult for you may not be difficult for me.

And what's easy for you may not be easy for me.

Like some people, if you ask them to talk, they're like, talk.

Oh my gosh, what are we gonna talk about?

Like, what?

That sounds like a lot.

And for some people, like, that's all I love to do is talk.

You're like, that's great.

You should go, you guys should talk to each other.

That's amazing.

Some people, they're overwhelmed by laundry.

They're like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?

How am I gonna, how am I, how am I gonna put it in the machine and hit start?

I don't know how that's gonna happen.

Like, you're not hand washing it, you know, but but again, for some people, it's the one task on top of a hundred.

And it's difficult for them.

I see this happen with people who are grieving all the time.

When people lose a loved one, they instantly have to fall under grief rules.

You should have cried more.

Or you should be over it by now.

Well, which one is it?

What is the proper way to grieve?

I recently had a friend who was losing their father, and they said, Ryan, what do I do?

How do how do I grieve?

I said, You just grieve.

No rules, man.

If you want to talk about your father and all of the funny things he did, and you need someone to laugh with you, I got you.

I will laugh my head off with you.

And if you need to tell some stories and you just want to miss your dad, I'll meet you there.

I'll miss him with you.

It's holding space for one another.

Some people in this room, you got friends that you can't even tell you, tell them your dreams because you're afraid they're gonna get jealous of you.

So you just hang out.

You're at the summer party, but you're not really at the party because they're in a tougher position than you are, and so you just stay silent.

And if we're really going to do this, share each other's burdens, we gotta actually be willing to be vulnerable.

To say, hey, I this is actually a burden.

Some of us are going, man, I got so many burdens myself, I can't help carry somebody else's.

That's why we come together.

Because on your dark day, I might be having a bright day.

And on my dark day, I hope you're having a bright day, and we get to do it together.

And so I I I saw this C.S.

Lewis quote the other day, and it and it just really shook me at my core.

He said, if you want to keep your heart safe, give it to no one.

If you want to keep your heart safe, give it to no one, lock it up in the casket of your selfishness, and it will not break, but it will change.

It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and unreachable.

So, yeah, you can do your isolation thing, you can do your play play church thing, you can come in and slip out and talk to no one, but you will also reach no one.

What's the point of coming if you're just gonna be lonely in a sea of a bunch of people at each and every one of our locations?

You were meant for community, you were meant for others.

Welcome to the otherhood, full of people who are imperfect, broken, and need a savior.

It's gonna be hard to carry a burden over text.

It's gonna be hard to carry a burden from across the city from behind the screen.

Proximity is at the crux of being in the other hood in a connect group.

This week I want you to ask the question: who has a burden I can make space for this week?

Who has a burden I can make space for this week?

I know you got a lot going on.

I got a lot going on too.

What would it look like for you to make space for somebody else's lot going on?

The third house I want us to visit in the other hood is number three, build each other up.

Build each other up.

Ephesians 4, 29, NIV says this says, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths.

But only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Shoreline, I want us to take an inventory of what we be talking about all the time.

Are the things that are coming out of your mouth, building people up, tearing people down, or worse, neutral.

When people walk away from you, nothing happens.

Nothing.

I don't even remember talking to you.

It was so neutral.

You got options today, you got choices today.

Decide to be a person.

When I'm in a conversation with somebody, I want them to walk away better than they can.

You know who does this really well?

Pastor Eric.

Every time I talk to Pastor Eric, I walk away feeling like a million bucks.

You can't tell me nothing after getting off the phone with Eric.

I feel like Denzel.

I call him my golf pastor because I'm terrible at golf.

He's really good at golf.

And I just call him my golf.

Hey, I'm literally just swinging clubs right now.

I got them in my airpods like a man.

I just, how you do, and he makes me feel like Tiger Woods.

I'm like, how did he do that?

You're like, I just, and I just think, man, I want to do that for people.

Like when people meet me, when people talk to me, I want them to walk away going, uh, I feel better than I than I did before.

Um, Hebrews says something, it's it's literally, I think, the craziest piece of scripture in in the Bible.

It's very simple.

You may have read it before, and if you haven't, I'm about to tell it to you.

It's in Hebrews chapter 3.

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

It says, um, encourage one another daily.

Do you know what that means?

It means encourage one another every day.

Do you realize if you did that, what your life would look like?

That means you will you would have encouraged 365 people a year.

Who does that?

Sounds simple, but in practice, change your life.

Not just change your life, or change somebody else's life.

Oh my goodness.

Can you I I I see the scripture here in Philippians 2, verse 3 through 4.

Philippians 2:3–4

It says, don't be selfish.

Don't try to impress others.

Be humble.

Thinking of others as better than yourselves.

Don't look out only for your own interest, but take an interest in others.

Like to be this kind of person that is not being fake, not putting on a smile.

Hello, we're glad you're here.

No, no, no, no, no.

I'm talking about a person that is genuinely looking for something positive in somebody else, looking for a teammate to say, man, I'm looking for a way to encourage you.

I'm trying to catch somebody doing the right thing instead of trying to catch them doing the wrong thing.

I'm looking for ways to encourage somebody.

You want to know what you should do?

Uh this is the again in the Connect Group.

I want you to write this down.

Um, who are five people I can encourage this week?

Five people I can encourage this week.

Five people that need some encouragement.

Uh I'll just tell you this.

This is just from my experience.

Take it or leave it.

Um I can guarantee you every single one of us has 50 people who need encouragement.

And I can prove it.

Um, I have never in my life met a person who said, I don't need no encouragement.

I'm good.

Yeah, yep, yep, yep.

Move on to the next person.

I don't need any comment, I don't need any encouragement.

I just I'm good, bro.

Keep it moving.

Nobody says that.

We all need it.

But it takes a special person to give it.

You should walk in and work a little bit different.

You go, oh, here are my five people.

You go, but Ryan's the five people I got, they need encouragement, but I don't like them.

Good.

This is gonna be good for them and good for you.

I gotta go encourage my boss.

I think they're trying to fire me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Make it hard.

It's gonna be really hard to fire you.

You'd be like, hey, boss, I just wanted to tell you like you've gone above and beyond for our team.

The way you've trained us, the way you've coached us, they're gonna be like, Man, I was about to fire you, but here's the deal.

Um, you may not be the smartest person at your job.

And it's really hard because some people go to school for fun, right?

You know, it's just like some people they just be getting degrees.

You talk to them, you you you had a summer party, they're like, How many degrees did you get this summer?

You're like, Well, I was I had I got kids.

When did you get a whole degree?

Like, that's crazy to me.

You may not be the smartest person.

Look, the smart line is very long.

Good luck.

But you can be the most encouraging person at your job tomorrow.

Why?

Because a year from now you go, well, okay, five times 52, okay.

You know, I probably 260, okay.

Every day I picked a different person to just encourage.

Oh, and you should tell them.

You should tell them, hey, hey, here's the deal.

Just so you know, I I try to encourage at least one person every single day.

It's just a habit of mine, and today, tag, you're it.

This is what they're gonna first off, they're gonna be blessed that you would encourage them.

Secondly, they're gonna go, You do what?

Why do you do that?

Oh man, I.

You don't it's this thing called Hebrews.

If you ever want to come to Shoreline, we'll tell you about it.

Our pastor, he's always happy.

Like, we can't get him in a bad mood no matter what happens, and you'll you'll be encouraged.

And then you're around all these encouraging people.

Trust me, you'll try to encourage somebody too.

You know how many people are living in this world who've never been encouraged?

Who've never been told that they're loved.

You have no idea what could happen in your life a year from now if you just decided to walk around the other hood going, I'm gonna encourage as many people as I possibly can.

The people I like and the people I don't.

Because when I decide to encourage these people, I become somebody that I do like.

There is this text where Galatians 6, 9 through 10 says, so let's not get tired of doing what is good.

At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone.

Especially to those in the family of faith.

We should start here and work our way out to everyone.

Oh, when we do this, we start becoming people that we're proud of.

The future version of you will be proud of the person that made a decision and says, I'm actually going to do good to people who didn't do good to me.

Because in the process of dealing with people you don't like, you don't want to become a person you don't like.

In the process of dealing with people I don't like, I'm actually trying to be like Jesus.

So I got a different set of rules.

Welcome to the other hood.

The last stop in the other hood.

You're not gonna like it.

But it's gonna change your life.

Forgive one another.

Forgive one another.

Yeah, this one's a hard one.

It's very, very hard.

I don't want to be remiss and talk about forgiveness in church as if it's easy.

No, it's very, very difficult.

It's easy to say I forgive you.

It's another thing to actually forgive them.

It's another thing to actually walk in relationships.

Some people you gotta forgive from a distance, some people you don't have a choice on the proximity.

They live in your house.

They're not going anywhere.

Colossians chapter 3, verse 13 says, make allowance for each other's fault.

Colossians 3:13

Make allowance?

Leave space in your back pocket for other people to make mistakes, make allowance?

Have you ever been in a relationship with somebody who you just had no allowance with?

Have you ever been in a work relationship with somebody that just had no allowance?

Have you ever been on a date with somebody that just had no allowance?

Have you ever been in a place where life experiences have done its number on you that you have no allowance for people anymore?

You have lost your patience.

It has been run dry.

You give no space for mistakes.

Make allowance.

Here is the Apostle Paul behind bars going, hey, this is what I would encourage you to do.

Make allowance.

Have an allowance.

You know you've lost your allowance for people.

When you can talk about what they did and what they said, and then you start inserting why they said it and why they did it.

You start inserting motives.

Yeah, they they they only invited me because they're trying to save faith.

You know that.

You know that.

They left me off the email on purpose.

Are you sure?

In that moment, you lost allowance in here for it to be a different story.

And my prayer for us as we navigate the other hood is that we would not lose allowance for other people.

The ability to be able to go, you know what?

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.

Let me tell you why you desperately need allowance for others.

It's because you need some allowance yourself.

Colossians 3.13 is very, very difficult, Apostle Paul.

I don't like it.

Because somebody pops in my brain when I read Colossians 3.13.

To which the Apostle Paul would say, you pop up in somebody else's brain when they read Colossians 3.13.

I'm somebody's Colossians 3.13.

And so are you.

And until we can wrestle that to the ground, that it's gonna be hard for us to really divvy it out to other people.

He says, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you.

And remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Some people think, well, Ryan, you're just a nice person.

You're a motivational speaker, you're optimistic.

You must be one of those forgiving people.

I'm not.

I am not a forgiving person.

I'm a petty person, trust me.

Okay, trust me on that.

I get petty betty fast.

I am a forgiven person.

Big difference.

And a forgiven person has a responsibility to forgive others.

I won the eternal jackpot.

That's it.

I have been forgiven, therefore I can give it to other people.

This idea of making allowance, it allows us to do this thing of saying, I'm actually going to forgive this person before they make a mistake.

Why?

Because I have an allowance for it.

I have an allowance.

I have grace already ready for them before they do something.

That's pre-forgiveness.

It's awesome.

If you can pre-forgive, well then you've already made a decision about your future.

Some of you have made a decision.

Some of you are will see people.

How are you gonna respond?

I don't know.

We'll see.

Depends on what they said.

Depends on what they did.

How am I gonna respond to my in-laws of the holidays?

I don't know.

We'll see.

Depends on their attitude.

No, no, no, no.

Why are you letting somebody else's actions and attitude determine yours?

No, make a decision ahead of time.

Some people are what I like to call a pre-offended.

Have you ever met a pre-offended person before?

You can't compliment a pre-offended person.

People like, hey, you did a good job today.

You like somebody like, hey man, I could have sworn.

I could have sworn he said build each other remember.

I was trying to run and this person, I tried, and it just didn't work.

You know, people like, oh man, you look good.

Today, oh, okay.

Well I'm gonna get some look good yesterday.

He was like, man, I I promise you, I'm trying to encourage you, but you you you fighting me right now, okay?

Hey, man, you've been lifting, you look good, man.

You lost a little weight.

Are you trying to say I was big before?

No, I didn't say that.

I promise you I didn't say that.

I promise I'm trying to encourage you.

Some people, it's like they're incapable of receiving love.

Because sometimes you've just been that hurt.

Sometimes you've just been that discouraged.

Oh, I'm I'm here today to help us do the thing that sometimes feels impossible, which is moving on.

Moving on.

My prayer is that you and I would be able to navigate the other hood in a way that is like Christ.

To do that, you gotta walk in forgiveness.

I saw this definition of forgiveness and it challenged me.

It says forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better path.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better path.

Some of us spend way too much time wishing the past was better.

Going, if they would have just not said that, if they would have just not done that, if they would have just, if they would have just, if they would have just.

And I'm with you.

I wish they didn't.

I wish they didn't walk out.

I wish they would have called back.

I'm with you.

But if we stay there, you might not move on until you're destiny.

Some of us, we stay at the age of our pain.

So you might be 35, but you're still 13.

Because that's when they hurt you.

I want us to walk in freedom.

I want us to walk with our heads high.

I want us to be able to walk into our jobs and have thriving relationships and not make other people pay for what somebody else did.

If forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past, I think pre-forgiveness is giving up all hope for a perfect future.

I don't need it to be perfect.

Humans will be there.

Now, in my future, there are going to be some others in the other hood who are a little offensive, who are a little crazy, who say the wrong thing at the wrong time, who rub me the wrong way, and in that moment, I am not waiting for that moment to decide who I'm going to be.

I've made a decision.

I've made a decision that in that moment I want to have an allowance.

I don't want to be so irritable that no one actually even wants to be around me.

No, I want to be a person that.

Yeah, people can make mistakes in my life because I am not a spectator, I am a participator in the lives around me, and I'm gonna give them allowance because I think I'm gonna need some myself.

Can you imagine?

If you and I were the kinds of people that looked around the room, every room we walked in and go, man, what can I do for this place?

Not what can this place do for me?

Can you imagine what it would look like for us to be the kinds of people when people share their burdens that we don't just go and give them the Heisman and say go talk to your therapist?

But in that moment we just pause and go.

You know what, God?

Maybe I was reading something in here that wasn't for me.

Maybe there's something here that I've uh that I was combing through that I oh wait, maybe God was teaching me this because he knew this burden would be in front of me instead of hey, thanks for sharing that for me, sharing that with me.

I know that might be difficult.

Hey, I was reading this this morning, I think this could have value to your life.

Can I pray for you?

It might cost you five minutes of your time, but it makes a world of a difference for somebody who's fighting hell itself.

Your quiet time isn't just for you.

Your church isn't just for you to have a good time and sing some songs and get a good word.

No, no, no, no, no.

It's our relationship with God only begins to truly make sense when there is a relationship with others.

Oh, what would it look like Shoreline City Church for us to encourage somebody every day?

Start with the person you sleep next to, start with your roommate, start with the people that are closest to you.

You can even cheat if you want to.

You can schedule the text if you got an iPhone, if you got an Android, I don't know what you would do, but maybe Chat GPT could schedule it for you, maybe.

Um why don't you pick the five people and go, hey, I'm gonna actually think about them now and just schedule it because I'm I'm not that good at remembering stuff.

Okay, great.

You automate it.

Yeah.

You automate encouraging text?

Yeah.

Who does that?

Shoreline City people who've just decided they're gonna walk into the other hood a little bit different and bring something different to the group chat and something different to the party.

Yeah, I'm I I I can bring chips, I can bring some good food.

But why don't I bring something intentional?

It says I don't want to have normal relationships, I want to have godly relationships, I want to have Christ-like relationships, I'm gonna bring something different to the date.

Not here to impress you, I'm here to serve you.

And if God has something for us, then let's not play the dating game.

That's not a game.

No, no, no.

I'm a Christ-like person.

I treat women with respect, I treat men with respect.

I'm not making them pay for my last date.

No, I'm walking in here like Jesus.

And then I have to imagine, Shoreline City Church, what it would look like to forgive somebody in a connect group.

Maybe the question you gotta ask is who do I need to forgive?

Some of us need to make a tough phone call this week to say, I gotta get this out of my heart.

I got to.

For me to be able to move on.

My friends, that's how I believe we can operate really well and navigate the otherhood.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to give each and every person under the sound of my voice an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of their life.

You might hear me talking today, going, man, Ryan, I'm not giving allowance to nobody because you've never received it.

Today's your opportunity to receive the greatest allowance ever.

The forgiveness of sins that can only be found in Jesus Christ, Son of the living God.

If you're here today, you know something's just not right.

You want to surrender your heart to God, you want to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life, or maybe today you want to rededicate your life to Christ.

If that's you, would you just slip up your hand and say, Hey, Ryan, that's me.

Ryan, that's me, Ryan, that's me.

I see your hand, I see you all on the back, I see you in the balcony too.

Anybody else?

Anyone else?

We'll wait for you.

Anybody else?

Anybody else?

Hey, can we all pray this prayer together as one big church family?

Say, Jesus, thank you for dying on a cross for my sins.

I ask now that you would be the Lord and Savior of my life.

I surrender my past, my present, and my future to you.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Everybody say it.

Amen.

Come on, can we make a noise for every single person that gave their heart to Christ?

Best decision you've ever made.