“Healed Days” by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Good morning.

Welcome to church, everybody.

Come on, Levery Campus, put your hands together for Jesus today.

He is worthy.

All of our worship.

Want to say hello to all of our locations, everyone joining us online or on demand later in the week, of course.

Our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses.

And if you're here for the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time, we want to say welcome.

Come on, every campus.

Let's put our hands together for those who are with us.

Maybe the first time in a little while, we're honored that you chose to spend the morning with us.

We are in week two of a series called Best Days.

And uh we've been last week we talked about last week, your best days are your faith-filled days.

And today I want to talk on this idea that your best days are your healed days.

That God could have so many wonderful things for you in your future, but if you walk into them wounded, you will miss out.

And so we want to talk about your best days are your healed days.

So if you're the note-taking type, write that down.

If not, write it down anyways.

And uh do want to remind you, September the 13th, don't miss that Sunday, having a series called This Is Us.

We're gonna be talking about where God's leading us as a church.

And so if this is home for you, uh then you want to make sure you're in the room for all of that series.

Psalms chapter 61, verse 1 through 4, David writes this in a really tough time in his life.

Psalms 61:1–4

He says, Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you.

I call as my heart grows faint.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.

I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Talk to you about healed days.

Let's pray together.

Father, our heart and our minds is open to you today.

So, Holy Spirit, speak to us.

We believe your word can change us, can heal us, can transform us.

And so would you do that in this place?

And we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Everybody said, Amen.

Amen.

How many of you have ever been around two children and they get into the my dad is conversation?

My dad's stronger than your dad.

My dad can beat up your dad.

Anybody ever been around that?

Like my dad, um, I mean, it'll get to the place of where my dad can lift a car.

I mean, it just it escalates really fast, right, everyone?

Um, and what what's happening in the conversation is this they're just basically saying, I've got a lot of confidence in my dad.

Um, you can see it on the playground, right?

I I know when our kids were little, and maybe a first time into a new environment or first time on a playground, we may have been in the park, or even walking into school, they'd kind of make their way by themselves but look back over to make sure that mom and dad was still present, right?

Why?

Because the presence of their parents brought confidence to them, right?

And and how many of you know that whenever they got hurt on the playground, then they quickly run over to mom and dad, right?

Expecting that you can fix it, that you can solve the problem, that that the scraped knee can be resolved if I can just get to mom and dad.

And and here's the reality of it is my kids never were concerned about whether or not their scraped knee mattered to me.

They never asked dad, do you care about this?

They assumed I did and ran to me, really to Tammy first.

But if she was to come on, everybody runs to mom first.

We're second, Dad.

We understand that.

And so all of us had those people in our life, father figure, an uncle, somebody in your life that you're like, man, their presence brings me confidence.

And whenever I'm hurting, I could run to them as a child.

And here's what I've noticed is that when you're wounded as a kid, you're quick to run.

To those who can help you, when you're wounded as an adult, you hesitate to run.

That whenever something gets wounded in our soul, because what do you do in life when it's not a scraped knee anymore?

And it's it's not uh uh hurt feelings, and it's not something happening on the playground and I bump my knee.

What do you do when the wound is deeper?

What do you do when the wound is in your soul?

What do you do with a wounded soul?

Because here's the reality is that you will never live your best days if you're walking wounded.

You'll never experience everything that God has for you in life if you're walking with a wounded soul.

Because here's why.

Because your wounds become the window through which you see everything.

Your wounds become the window through which you see your relationships and you see friends and you see marriage and you see parenting and you see how you develop in your career.

Everything gets filtered through the window of wounds.

Let me say it this way: it becomes the lens through which you see everything.

Have you ever been taking a picture or maybe a selfie with some friends and you hold it up and it's it's like cloudy the picture is, and someone's like, give me the phone, they take their shirt and they clean off the lens, right?

Here's what a lot of us do.

Instead of fixing the lens, we want to fix the picture.

So if I could fix the boss, if I could fix my wife, if I could fix the kids, if I could fix the church, if I could fix the whatever fill in the blank, then maybe it would fix everything.

So we spend all of our energies wanting to fix people, and maybe just maybe God is saying, if you would change the window through which you're seeing life, maybe it would fix a whole lot of things.

Maybe I'm just proposing, remember, I'm your friend.

That the that the picture doesn't need to be fixed.

Maybe it's something in you that needs to be healed.

Because we look through the window of our wounds.

Peter Scazario in his book, The Emotionally Healthy Leader, calls this the shadow side.

That we all have this shadow side, and I love the way he says it.

I want to read the quote to you, says, your shadow is the accumulation of untamed emotions.

It's less than pure motives and thought that while largely our unconscious, listen to this, strongly influence and shape behaviors.

It is the damaged but most hidden version of who you are.

It's the wounded part of you.

In the book Meeting the Shadow, the psychologist Connie Zweg writes this it is dangerous, it's disorderly, and forever in hiding, as if the light of consciousness would steal its very life.

It is the part of you that whether through life experience or circumstances or whatever it may be, trauma of the past, something someone has spoken over you, sometimes someone hurt you, they didn't stand up for you, whatever it may be, whatever caused the wound in your life, it is that part of you that wants to stay hidden.

Matter of fact, the enemy wants you to keep it hidden.

Because what you hide cannot get healed.

But whenever you're willing to expose it to God, God has a way of healing the deepest wounds in your heart, but the enemy wants you to keep it hidden.

Why?

Because it will undermine the very best of you.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4 that we have this treasure, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory, but it is in earthen vessels.

So we have this beautiful treasure, which is Christ.

If you've placed your faith in him, you have this beautiful treasure.

If not, I'll give you an opportunity to do that today.

But it is housed within earthen vessels.

In other words, beautiful treasure, clay pots.

Can I say cracked pots?

How many of you know we've all got some cracked areas in our life?

None of us have arrived yet.

None of us are perfect yet.

And so it's this tension of we have this beautiful treasure of Christ, but it's in these earthen vessels, and these earthen vessels are subject to pain, and they're subject to issues, and they're subject to challenges, and it's that shadow side.

Let me say it this way: that shadow side is the part of you that caused you to respond with a higher level of anger to your children than the moment really deserved this week.

And in the moment, you knew this has nothing to do with them.

Is this too real?

It's the part of you that you've been walking with Jesus for 40 years, but you still can't say certain names without tightening your jaw.

That's the shadow.

That's the shadow.

And it undermines the very best of you.

The shadow side of you keeps you from being able to be a safe place for other wounded people.

Because whenever you're hurt, hurt people hurt people.

And whenever you're wounded, you judge in others what you disdain in yourself.

But can I tell you something?

The good news is healed people can heal people.

And Jesus has the power to heal whatever wound that you're dealing with.

Let me explain it to you this way.

Did you know you're made up of three parts?

You're like, I thought I got more parts than that.

According to the Bible, you are body, that's this, your flesh, your soul, that's your mind, will, and emotions, and then your spirit.

Your spirit is made alive whenever you come to Christ.

But how many of you know your mind, will, and emotions have had a whole life experience?

And so your spirit is saying, forgive them, love them, care for them.

Your soul is going, I want to give them a piece of my mind.

I want to punch them in the throat.

And God is in the process of sanctifying, this is the process of sanctification, your mind, will, and emotions, so that your body acts more like Jesus and less like you.

And the wounds happen in your soul.

So the Spirit of God is wanting to transform and heal that part of you so that your mind, will, and emotions come into line with who Jesus is and how he wants you to live in this life.

Are y'all tracking with me?

And so the world tells us medicate it.

The world tells us brand it.

In other words, give an image to everybody around you that everything is good on the inside.

The world tells you to suff it, forget about it.

But David gives us another option in Psalms chapter 61.

Psalms 61 · chapter mention

I'm going to show you today.

David is writing this psalm in the context.

If you're with me, say amen.

We good?

Dave's writing this.

David is Dave.

We'll call him Dave now.

King Dave.

New name.

Psalm 61.

Most scholars believe the context of this, that he's writing this while he's running.

Listen to this, from his son Absalom.

So if you know the Old Testament story, his son Absalom, instead of waiting his turn to become king, because he would have been heir apparent to the throne, he decides to get ahead of God and ahead of timing.

And so he begins to curry favor with the people, and he starts to sit at the city gate and say things like, Hey, if I were king, I'd do it this way.

And so people begin to become endeared to him, and he begins to build some followers while David is out fighting battles.

David comes back and his son is trying to overthrow the kingdom.

And so David is now on the run because Absalom wants his dad dead.

Let me just pause here and say that it's often not the Philistine or Goliath or a stranger that gives you your deepest wounds.

It's often the people that are closest to you.

Because people that you do not open your heart to cannot hurt you, but the people you open your heart to, you're vulnerable for hurt.

And here's the deal: you can either choose to live life without hurt, you'll also choose to live life without love.

So it's David is wounded, and you hear it in the Psalm because he says, Oh Lord, hear my cry.

I wonder if you've ever been there where you're like, God, are you even listening to me?

This is what David is saying.

God, can you even hear what I'm saying to you right now?

He says, Oh Lord, hear my cry.

I'm at the end of the earth.

In other words, I feel like I'm at the end of my rope.

Like I've got nowhere else to go.

I don't know what else to do.

This is the cry.

I love the vulnerability of David.

Aren't you thankful that the people that we learn about in the scriptures aren't like, well, bless the Lord.

Everything is wonderful.

Aren't you just glad that there's some rawness?

How many of you are encouraged?

There's a little bit of dysfunction in David's family.

Come on, somebody.

All of you have a little bit of.

All of you have a little bit of dysfunction in your family.

And if you're like, no, I don't, you're the dysfunction.

Okay.

I just love the rawness of him.

But I love what David says next.

He says, but lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

This is a man that is done with self-help and self-talk and self-medication.

This is a man that knows that healing has to come from something that is beyond him.

That he needs God, that he needs the presence of God in his life to heal him.

Can I tell you something?

The presence of God or the Holy Spirit working in your life doesn't make you better than anyone else, it makes you better than you.

How many of you know you need something better than you?

That there's some things that, like how good you are, smart you are, how much resources you have will not accomplish.

You need the power and the presence of Almighty God working in your life.

And David is saying, I need you to lead me to the rock that is higher than me, that is outside of me, that is beyond me, that is supernatural.

I need something.

I can't fix this.

And I wonder if you've ever been in that place if you were to take the church face off today.

Just say, I need something beyond me.

I'm tired of carrying this wound.

I'm tired of every time that subject comes up, it's like a scab and it's not yet a scar.

I'm tired every time I run into that person, it reignites.

That feeling.

I'm tired of every time I go to that place, walk into that environment, then it boils up again in my life.

I'm tired of carrying.

Can I tell you something?

You'll never heal what you hide.

This is where David is.

He's got a wounded soul.

But then in verse 3 and 4, he gives us four places to run.

It's almost like David's reminding himself in the moment.

Okay, I've been at this place before.

I've been distraught before.

Hello, he lost a little child.

I've been at the depths before.

But I remember some things.

And I just want to give you four places that you can run when you have a wounded soul.

Four places that bring healing into your life.

And it's found in verse three and verse four.

David lists them.

He says, This He says, For you have been my refuge.

That's number one.

A strong tower against the foe.

That's number two.

I long to dwell in your tent forever.

Number three, and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

And so we're just gonna, those four things from the scripture, I want to break those down for us.

Number one, my refuge.

David said, You've been my refuge.

If you want to write this down beside that, it's a place of protection.

The refuge of God is a place of protection.

We see this over and over again in Psalms.

I want to read you two of them.

Psalms 46, 1 says this, God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble.

Psalms 91, 2 says, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress.

These aren't words that we use today, like fortress, refuge.

What it basically means is He is our shelter, He's our place of safety.

He's the place where we can run into and nothing else can get to us.

He's a covering for us.

I think about it like this.

You ever watched a movie?

Um watch movies at Southlake.

I know they do at Frisco.

You watch movies, you know.

I'm holy, I just read my Bible.

I don't know what to do for you.

Um you ever watching a movie where someone is being chased and they're running and someone is chasing them, and the music intensifies, and your heart is, you know, like your heart is elevating.

You're like, you're you're in the moment with them, and it's moving, and the bass is going, the whole thing, and then they run into the room, they slam the door and they're safe.

And all of a sudden, this calm comes over you.

You ever notice that?

Like your blood pressure goes down, your heart rate goes down.

Why?

They found safety.

This is the picture.

That things in life are chasing you, that enemy of your soul is chasing you, and God is the place where you go.

I can breathe again.

I'm at peace.

The shalom of God.

My heart rate goes down.

He's my place of refuge, my place of safety.

When my soul is wounded, where do I run to?

I run to God.

Why?

Because he is my refuge.

I think about the cities of refuge in the Old Testament.

Israel had six cities of refuge.

They were pre-established places for people to run to, and they were all within a day's run.

Anywhere you were in Israel, you were within a day to get to a city of refuge.

God created these places of safety physically in the nation of Israel before the city of refuge was ever needed.

And can I tell you something?

That in Jesus, we have a city of refuge, a place to run, a place of safety, a place where we can find contentment, where our blood pressure can, we can go, God, I don't know what's there's chaos all around me.

There's hurt coming at me, but you are my place of safety.

It's because I dwell with you.

Psalms 1891, right?

I dwell in the shadow of the Almighty.

It's my place of refuge.

Okay, do you ever play?

Let me illustrate it this way.

Did you ever play tag when you were a kid?

I was thinking about this.

I don't think my kids have ever played tag.

They played Minecraft.

Played Pokemon.

I don't think they've I don't know if they ever played tag.

But whenever you played tag, what happened?

You had a base, right?

The base was the place of safety, and then you went and hid, and then someone finds you, you take off running, and you just gotta make it to base, and they can't get you when you get to base.

Well, the base wasn't, it wasn't because of how fast they were, how good they were.

It's because of where they were standing that made them safe from anybody that was chasing them.

Can I tell you something?

Whenever you are wounded, it is not time to push away from God.

It is time to run to God because He's base, He's a place of safety, He's a place of protection, He's the refuge.

Number two, he said, You're you've been my strong tower.

If you want to write this down beside it, this is a place of perspective.

It's a place of perspective.

Isaiah 58 says this, 55, 8, I'm sorry, he said, For my thoughts are not your thoughts.

In other words, I don't see it the way that you see it, God says.

Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

If you've been around church, you'd recognize this one, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understandings.

Understanding all your ways, submit to him, and he'll make your path straight.

Lean not on your own understanding, your own perspective.

God says, My ways are higher than yours, my thoughts are higher than yours.

The tower is a place of perspective.

Why?

Because when you climb up in a tower, you see it from a different vantage point.

How many of you know that whenever you're wounded in your soul, all you can see is what's right in front of you.

Why?

Because it becomes the window that you look at things through.

All you can see is right.

When you get up in a tower, you can see what's in front of you, you can see what's around you, and you can see what has been behind you.

You get perspective.

You can see it from a different view.

The battle doesn't change, the perspective changes.

The fight hasn't changed.

How you see the fight has changed, which changes everything.

You get a different perspective in the tower when watchmen were put up on the wall.

Why did they go up on the wall so that they could see things from a higher view?

God is saying, my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts.

I'm trying to elevate your perspective so you can see things from a different level, so that when chaos is going on around you, it doesn't have to go on inside of you because you see what I'm doing.

Can I tell you when you get up in the tower of God, you can see the future.

And that provides hope for you.

To know that I may be facing something right now, but I know the God that I serve, that He has good plans for me, that my best days are in front of me, that that's a promise of God, that He's moving me from victory to victory.

I can see out in front of me, but I can see beside me, I'm not the only one walking through this.

That if I run to God, when I run to God, I end up running with God's people.

And I got some people that'll fight the battle with me and walk alongside with me.

This is why you need to be in community.

It's why you need to be in a small group.

Right now we're in small group season.

You need to get into a group.

Why?

Because there are gonna come some moments in your life where you're finally willing to take the mask off, and you need to know there's some people beside me that'll carry me and walk with me, celebrate with me, but you also can see behind you, and that's an important one.

Because when you get the perspective to see behind you, you can see how many times God has been faithful in your life, and the God that was faithful before will be faithful today, and he'll be faithful in all of your tomorrows, so you can worship him knowing he's got my back.

So the tower gives me perspective, helps me to see.

David went on to say, Dave, our friend, he said, You've been my tent.

The tent, you can write this beside it, is a place of his presence.

Psalms 16, 11 said, You make known to me the paths of life, and you will fill me with joy in your, everybody say it together, in your in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

There's joy in the presence of God.

Exodus 33, 7 through 9, Moses said this.

Now, Moses would used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the tent of meeting.

And anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.

And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances of their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.

How many times can we say tent?

As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud, the presence of God, would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke to Moses.

This is where God invites me to connect with his presence.

The tent of meeting.

This is the place of worship, the place of prayer, the place of the word.

And can I tell you something?

That where the presence of God resides, the power of God resides.

That where the presence of God resides, the power of God resides.

The power to heal.

The power to save, the power to set free, the power to forgive whatever it is that you need in your life, where the presence of God is, the power of God is.

But I want to point out something to you in that passage in Exodus 33 is that the tent of meeting was established.

Moses would go to the tent, then God's presence would descend and set at the entrance of the tent.

So God met Moses at the point of his pursuit.

God met Moses at the point of his pursuit, and his presence will meet you at the point of your pursuit.

Notice that the cloud didn't run around the camp trying to find Moses.

It didn't say the cloud by day was like running through the camp going, hey, somebody meet with me.

No, God's not needy.

No, it said when Moses determined, when Moses went, when everyone went, whenever anyone wanted to go inquire of the Lord, they went to the tent of meeting.

In other words, they set a sacred space.

And you and I were going to have to set a sacred space.

If if Sunday is the only nourishment you're getting of God's presence and God's word, you're going to be emaciated spiritually.

If you only ate once a week, you would not be healthy.

How in the world could you be spiritually healthy if all you get is what our team provides in worship and then the word that you get on Sunday?

No, you've got to determine every day.

I'm going to make my own tent of meeting.

I'm going to find a place where I invite the presence of God and I seek the presence of God and I get in the word of God and I worship God and I cry out in prayer.

It's got to be a part of your everyday.

God isn't confined to the walls of our campuses.

He is everywhere at all times.

He can meet you in your car.

He can meet you on the interstate.

He can meet you in your dorm room.

He can meet you in the boardroom.

The presence of God can meet you wherever you determine to set a tent of meeting.

And say, God, I need you to meet me here.

I need you to tabernacle in this place.

Because in the presence of God, there is the power of God.

And where there is the power of God, the healing of God can happen to a wounded soul.

You need the presence of God in your life.

He met Moses at the point of his pursuit.

So the question is: are you pursuing his presence?

Are you creating space in your life for his presence and power to heal the most wounded parts of your life?

Finally, he says, You're my shelter.

He said, Actually, I find refuge in the shelter of your wings.

This is a place of promise.

Deuteronomy 31, 6 says this, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you.

He'll never leave you, never forsake you.

I love what Isaiah 54 10 says.

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken.

Listen to this, nor my covenant of peace.

How many of you are grateful today that God is a covenant-keeping God?

My covenant of peace will not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.

He said, Don't be terrified.

I'm will go with you.

He said, The heels may be shaken, but my covenant for you will not be shaken.

The shelter of his wings is a place of promise.

It's a place of I got you.

It's a place of I'm covering you.

Now I've never been under the wings of an animal.

I don't know if you have.

Never experienced that.

But I have read a little bit about how eagles, when little eaglets hatch and they're in the nest.

There's a whole interesting thing about how an eagle works with its eaglets and how actually when they're trying to get them strong and fly, they'll remove the bottoms so the thorns poke them from the nest, so they actually begin to get strength in their legs because to build strength, you got to have resistance.

But it says that it'll gather the little eaglets, it'll land on its necks, it'll gather the little eaglets under the wings.

And here's what I just imagine is true is that if you're under wings, you can't see what's happening on the outside.

And some of us, we're wanting God to show us step 12, 13, and 14.

And he's like, I just need you to trust me.

But here's what I do know is that if you're under wings, you've got to be close enough to feel the heartbeat of the one covering you.

And this is the point.

God said, I'm gonna shelter you under my wings.

Why?

I want you to learn my heart.

And in learning my heart, you find healing for a wounded soul.

I want you to learn my heart.

I want you to learn my heart for you.

I want you to learn my heart for others.

I want you to learn my heart for that situation you're walking through.

I want you to learn my heart.

It's a place of promise.

If God said he'll do it, he'll do it.

If God said it'll come to pass, it will come to pass in your life.

He is good on his promises.

He is a covenant keeping God.

And so what do we do practically?

Three thoughts real quick as we wrap up.

Number one, you find help in God.

You've got to run to God.

You'll never heal a wounded soul trying to figure it out on your own.

And so you've got to run to God.

Some of you have never done that, and today I'm gonna give you the opportunity.

You've never surrendered your life to Jesus.

Maybe you've done church, maybe you've done religion, but you've never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

Today will be a day that you do that.

Number two, you find hope in God's presence.

The presence of God brings hope, it brings strength.

What did he say?

I find joy in your presence.

But number three, you find healing with God's people.

You find healing with God's people.

1 John 1:9 says what?

1 John 1:9

Confess your sins to God, and you will be forgiven.

James 5, 16 says, you got to confess to somebody else to find healing.

Forgiveness comes from God, healing happens with God's people.

Well, I don't like it that way.

I didn't make it that way.

God did.

Take that up with Him.

Which, you know what that means?

That means at some point pride has to come down.

At some point you've got to be willing to take the mask off.

The church mask that so many times we wear.

How are you today?

I'm blessed and highly favored.

What are you talking about?

You cussed your child out this week.

You're not blessed and highly favored.

You're wounded and you need healing.

You switch campuses because you can't see somebody that you're bitter towards.

You're wounded.

That's a wounded soul.

And God never meant for you to live that way.

But you have to come to some point in your life where you go, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I'm sick and tired of giving the enemy a playground in my life.

I'm sick and tired of carrying that wound day after day, moment after moment.

I'm sick and tired of not being able to go in that environment because this thing comes back up in me.

I'm sick and tired of it, and today I'm getting healing for it.

So you find healing with God's people.

That means in just a few moments, when we open the altars for prayer at every campus, you should slip out, make your way.

I've never done that, I've never asked for prayer, Pastor.

Well, if you want to keep getting what you've always got, keep doing what you've always done.

But at some point you got to do a new way.

At some point you got to go God's way.

You have to come down and grab one of these prayers and say, This is my wound.

This is the struggle.

This is the thing I'm dealing with.

We're going to pray together and believe by faith that there's healing in the presence of God among God's people.

And today's going to be a day where you draw a line in the sand.

And I'm believing today is going to be a day of transformation in your life.

That something's going to lift off your life, that God's going to touch you in a powerful way.

But you've got to be willing to take the step because you find healing with God's people.

Will you pray with me?

Every head bowed, every eye closed, all of our locations, if you can, where you are online today.

And for some of you, you can't take the step of healing your wounded soul because you've never encountered the healer.

His name is Jesus.

Today you need to take the step of receiving him as your Lord and as your Savior.

You need to take the step of surrendering your life to Jesus.

In just a moment, we're going to pray together.

And there's not anything special, particularly, about the words I say.

It's just me helping you communicate your heart to God's heart.

It's your faith that matters.

It's you saying, Jesus, I need you.

I want you to forgive me of all my sin.

I want you to give me a brand new start today.

I make you the Lord of my life.

In other words, He's in control.

If you've never taken that step, I'm not asking you if you've done church or if you're a member somewhere or if you've been through confirmation.

I'm not asking that.

I'm asking if you have a personal relationship with Jesus.

For some of you today, there was a time when you were really walking with the Lord and you know that you're far from God right now.

And you need a fresh start.

You need a moment to come back home to Him.

If that's you, before we pray, no one's gonna come to you or point you out, but I'm gonna count to three and I'm gonna ask you just to shoot your hand up high enough long enough for myself or the pastor at your location to see.

We just want to know who we're praying with.

And then we're gonna pray together.

So when I count to three, if God is speaking to you, you shoot your hand up high and long enough for us to see, and then we'll pray together on three.

One, two, three.

Shoot your hand up.

God bless you.

Shoot it up high.

God bless you.

I see you.

God bless you.

God bless you at the very back.

Beautiful, over to my right, I see you.

God bless you.

You can put it down, church.

Will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of all those who just slip their hand up, say, Jesus, I need you.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.

I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I make you my Lord and Savior.

Thank you for a brand new beginning.

In Jesus' name.

Everyone said amen.

Amen.

Can we put our hands together and celebrate those?

Made that decision.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.