Stage 1: Recognition of God | John Challinor

I just want to say welcome, welcome to, if you're new to this space, extra special welcome to you.

I'll come back to you in a second. We got to welcome some special people across screens today.

We have Balden, not Paulden, and Baghdad. Baghdad, we love you. We're glad that you're with us.

Paulden, Mike and Sue, just love to you guys and what you guys are doing. There's also Darryl and

Wilhoyt and Teresa in Birmingham, Alabama. It just felt right to say hi to Alabama, right? So,

we're just glad that we get to do this together. Welcome. We are glad that you are here. Here's

what I mean by that. There's no one that takes it lightly that you being here isn't a sacrifice of

time, energy. There's many, many other places you could be. And so, for you to entrust kind of to

us as a church family, especially if you're new, to go, hey, I will give you this. I just want you to

know that that's an honor and we don't take that lightly. And what I hope that you find is that

this feels like home. And for those of you that are here and you look kind of like the furniture,

because you've been around a little while, it's home, right? That's how this feels and it should

feel. And so, welcome. Glad you're here. Because it is family and it is home, I'm going to do

something. I got to get my table right here. And so, you guys can just listen to me as I walk.

But I have something that I need to say to a group of people in the room. And Walt, you're leading

the parade down front with your bright red shirt on, with a big old KC logo on the front.

Go Chiefs, huh, Walt? Well, here's what I got to do, because we're family.

I got to give you props, Chiefs fans. You deserve it. I have been so hard on you guys for weeks

and you did it. You pulled it off. You're setting history. How can you not give props to people

that are setting history, right? And for those of you that don't care, you can just blank out for a

second, right? But the fact that you won 12 games by a score of one point, that's a big

score or less this season alone. You know how to finish games. Well done. Congratulations.

Bill's fans, I am so sorry. Six times in the game, you could not get one yard. Come on. Come on.

It's painful. Painful. We feel your pain. But enough football talk. We're done with football

talk. You'll be happy to know. Well, maybe, sort of. We'll see. See what happens.

So, here's the thing. We are starting a new collection of talks that will run seven weeks.

And here's what I'm asking of you. Here's what we are asking of you.

That you would give your calendar and your commitment to the next seven weeks.

And here's why. Because we believe that it is this important. The journey we are about to embark on,

we are calling the critical journey. That language is not mine. I did not come up with it.

That is, this information, if you're wondering where does it come from, I want to give honor.

Where honor is due is from a book called The Critical Journey. The people that wrote it,

Janet Hagberg and Robert Gulish, like they are brilliant. But what they have done is they have

mapped what does it mean to be human and what does it mean how is a human formed spiritually.

So, this entire seven weeks is talking about what you were made for by God. That when they

researched and they looked at kind of human nature across religions, how is the human soul formed?

How is what you have been given by God? How are you developed? How do you grow? How do you mature?

And so, what we're going to talk about is we're going to talk about different stages, one each

week. When you hear the word stage, if you're like me, I cringe, I hate things that kind of

go linear. This is not linear. Stage is merely a way to map different points on the journey.

Our hope is this. This is our goal for every single person, both in this Prescott location,

across screens, wherever you happen to find this, whenever you are listening to this.

Here's our hope is that you are able to go, this is my home base, meaning this is the frame I am in

of growth. This is the stage of growth that I am in. This is my home base. And you can take ownership

because you know how the human soul is formed, that you can take ownership to step forward into

your next kind of process of growth. The goal is this, that you're empowered, you're empowered,

and the word that we're capturing around this is to mature. Right? In Ephesians, Paul talks to the

church there and he says, the goal of all of this is that you would mature in your life, that you

would mature to the fullness of Jesus Christ. What does that mean in common language? That you would

look, live, and love a whole lot like Jesus as you mature like him. And so the hope is this, that over

the next seven weeks, you get to take ownership of your journey. Why? Because there's too many people

expecting others to do for them what they can only do for themselves. And this is a gift. Hopefully

it's a gift. And so here's what I'm asking. Would you commit your calendar? Would you commit your

calendar? Would you commit your calendar? What do I mean by that? Be at gatherings, be at gatherings

for the next seven weeks. Don't skip them. Right? I'm asking that you would make a commitment to go,

hey, we are going to show up because it's this important. It's the critical journey. It's the

greatest journey you'll ever take. It's the most meaningful journey you'll ever be on. I would say

along with that, would you also give your calendar, if you are in a life group, would you give your

calendar to life group? Would you make sure that you show up? Why? Because life groups, most of

them are going to be talking about this. If you're not in a life group, can you commit your calendar

to go, hey, I'm going to pick one person and I'm going to go talk to them about it over coffee

one time for the next seven weeks, each week. If you happen to miss a gathering, because life happens,

right? We're all busy. We all got stuff. If you miss a gathering, would you commit to, I will go back

and listen and catch up because it's that important. And so this critical journey that we're on,

I'm asking, would you commit your calendar and would you commit to make sure that if you can't

be there physically, that you figure out how to go on the interwebs as they are and figure it out.

Deal?

Okay. That's on you now because you clapped. Just saying. Just kidding. Just kidding. Here's another

context to put that in. So I have four daughters, my oldest daughter, Rylan. When she was born,

important for you to know, she was two weeks late. Why is that important? Because my wife is five

foot nothing. Okay. And I'm not being mean. She's literally five foot nothing. How do I know? We were

in Walmart once and we were having an argument about her height and I took a tape measure out.

Right? So I know she's five foot nothing. Now, five foot nothing and two weeks late,

you can imagine everything went out the front because she tiny. Right? And so if you were

looking at her this way, you're like, oh, you're, you're pretty pregnant. She would turn this way

and you're like, whoa. Right? So much so that the night before we went to the hospital, when she was

going to be induced, I got out, you know, remember those things called camcorders, right? And so I

got out the Sony camcorder and I'm like, babe, we got to capture this. Right. And so, so I'm like,

okay, okay. Face me. And so she faced me. And now I'm like, okay, turn sideways. And she turned

sideways and I go, you look like an alien. We'll do a marriage conference later about that one,

cause I'm lucky to be alive and still married. So, but, but, but we go into the hospital and

praise the Lord, everything goes as it should. Rylan is born. And so we're going through the new

parent phase where I like, like just everything she did is, is that normal? We're asking the nurses.

And then there comes that moment when the nurses are like, okay, we're going to let you go. Now you

go home. And so then they're like all over you. Right? Like I was so nervous. I'm buckling Rylan

into the car seat and they're watching everything I'm doing. Like every latch it's clicking, make

sure it's they're tugging on it. And I'm like, okay, good. I got that part done. Go downstairs,

put her into the rocket, you know, that we're going to drive away in. And, and they watch you

all the way to the car. And then they closed the door. And I remember driving away and going,

wait, you're not coming with us. Like I got to be responsible for this thing, not to die. Like what,

what happened? So you get home and you begin to figure it out and you go through the baby stage.

Right. And then, and the baby stage can't wait for them to crawl. And then they crawl and you're like,

okay, you can stop moving. Cause I am tired of chasing you and telling you not to touch stuff.

Right. And that doesn't stop that carries on all the way through their life now. Cause they started

moving. And so, you know, she's crawling, then she gets to walk and, and you know, it's the

wibble wobble at first, and then she's walking good. And then she's in that toddler stage where

if you have toddlers, God bless you, you will make it through. Just keep going. Right. And so you got

toddlers and they're the cutest things, but they're also like little hellions, if we're honest. Right.

Like, so, so you got the toddler thing happening, then they become kids, right. They, they develop

into kids and now they're going to school and they're learning so much. And it's like, the,

the world is wonder and they see everything through wonder and awe. And then they become preteens and

you begin to pray that Jesus will come back. And then they hit teenagers and you really pray that

Jesus will come back. No offense to the teenagers in the front, but like, like that's just reality.

And then they turn into young adults and then they go to college. How weird would it have been

if I showed up to Ryland's dorm in college with baby food and I'm like, Hey, I'm here. I'm here

to feed you because you never learned how to do it. And you guys be like, wow, you guys miss some

stuff, right? Because in the, in the natural process of growth, there are stages that are critical

and you don't do in college, what you do for a newborn, that would be weird. And yet when it

comes to the spiritual journey of how we're formed, right. So many of us are in college

and we're acting like babies or we're a baby and we're trying to pretend we're in college.

And what hopefully you get over this time is you get this really clear. This is what it looks like

to form the human spirit. This is how God designed us. And in a fallen context, this is what it looks

like. This is the struggle that we will all go through. But, but with going back to the physical

sense, if Ryland had not been born, she would never have gone through the other stages. There's a

critical piece to the journey that is about being born. The first stage of this journey is recognition

of God. You have to have recognition of God in our context, in our, in our conversations. You have to

know the person of Jesus. How did Jesus talk about it? In John chapter three, John chapter three,

John chapter three, Jesus meets a man named Nicodemus and says, now in verse one, now there

was a Pharisee. So he's a teacher, right? He's a teacher of the Jewish scriptures. And on top of

that, it says that his name is Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. So he's not

only a teacher, but he's a high up. Like, like this is a person who knows what he knows. He's in charge

of areas. He's ruling over, so to speak. He came. So Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said,

rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God for no one could perform the signs you

are doing if God were not with him. So he specifically comes and he has recognition of God.

And he says, because, because of that, we know that we need to recognize you for what you are

doing and who you are doing it from. Verse three, Jesus replied, very truly, I tell you, no one can

see the kingdom of God. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are, what's that next word?

Born unless they are born again. To which then Nicodemus says, how can someone be born again

when they are old? Nicodemus asked, surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's

womb to be born. Jesus answered, very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless

they are born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to

spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again. The wind blows wherever

it pleases. You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is

everyone born of the spirit. So, so Jesus, in explaining to a man who understood the scriptures

of the time, he says that it's critical, critical that a human being is born again.

And he specifically gives the work of being born again to the Holy Spirit of God,

that your soul, my soul needs to have a moment where we've experienced physical birth. That's

why we're here, right? Now, now that you're here, there needs to be a moment because we are born

into a fallen state. We're born into a state that is not yet fully fully fully fully fully fully

fully fully alive. In this state, we're all born again. We're born into a state that is

dead to God. And so in the reality of being dead to God, what you need, what I need, what every human

needs as a moment when the Holy Spirit of God makes you alive, there's a moment where it's

only a work that the Holy Spirit can do, that the Holy Spirit has to has to come into you and ignite

that it's not something you can force,

which is why Nicodemus is asking,

because Nicodemus, he's doing all the things,

he's keeping all the laws,

he's got a resume of how good he is, so to speak.

And in this moment, what happens is Jesus goes,

it's not about that,

it's about you being born by the Spirit of God.

It's a moment when you're made alive.

For me, it was sitting on the couch

with my mama at three years old, from what I can remember.

And at three years old, it went something like this.

I'm sure it was much different from my mom's perspective,

but in my mind, it went, heaven is awesome,

hell is terrible, where do you want to go?

I must have been smart enough to go, heaven sounds great.

And she said, well, you need Jesus.

And at that moment, there was a moment

when I made a choice to go, I am giving my life

and trust to Jesus for eternity.

And I was three years old.

There needs to be a moment in your life

where you have given your life, so to speak,

you have said yes to the gift of Jesus.

This Jesus who we just sang about,

that died and conquered death,

this Jesus that carried your sin, that took your worst,

there needs to be a moment when that becomes reality

for you where you go, that is where my trust is.

And it's at that moment that the Holy Spirit

makes you alive and you are born again.

But there has to be a moment when you go,

I know that happened, I know that happened.

There's another story in Acts chapter nine,

and you'll hear me go back and forth between Saul and Paul.

Paul, if you've been around church,

Paul's the one that's written a lot of the letters

in the New Testament, so we talk about Paul a lot

because he wrote letters to churches.

Before being Paul, before his name changed,

his name was Saul, and we pick up where his name is Saul.

So meanwhile, verse one,

meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats

against the Lord's disciples.

He went to the high priest and asked him for letters

to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found anyone

there who belonged to the way, whether men or women,

he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

So Saul is actively pursuing, when it says the way,

those are followers of Jesus, those are Christians,

those are churches, right?

He's actively pursuing them with an intent of,

we're gonna arrest you and put you to death.

The chapter before, he's been a part

of physically murdering Christians, right?

So what happens in this moment is you have a man

on the road to Damascus, he's going to Damascus,

he's got permission from the God people,

you know what I mean?

And he is now on his way with that permission,

and he is gonna go and arrest whoever he finds.

I wanna pause for a minute because sometimes

we can paint ourselves in a picture

that we're unworthy of what Jesus has done for us.

Like John, if you knew my story,

if you knew how bad I really was,

if you knew the things I'd really done.

And so we paint this kind of picture of ourselves

that puts us on the outside, that we're unworthy.

Maybe even martyrdom comes in that.

I love that this story's here, you know why?

He is actively murdering Christians,

God's people, in the name of God.

Now I'm pretty sure that no one in the church right now

has murdered Christians in the name of God.

I'm pretty sure you're not, like, can I just encourage you

that Paul later says I'm the worst of the worst,

and Jesus has done this for me?

Can I just let you know that no matter how you sit today,

no matter what you think is your barrier,

no matter what you think you have done that is so bad,

it is not greater than what Jesus has done for you.

And so Saul, who's going in the name of God,

it says in verse three,

as he neared Damascus on his journey,

suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Who, look at this question, who are you, Lord?

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, he replied.

Now get up, go into the city,

and you will be told what you must do.

Wait, so this is a man who is on his way to do God's work.

He is believing and convinced

that he is doing the very work of God.

Maybe different language for that is he is busy for God.

Right, he is doing all this in the name of God.

He's on the road, the light comes,

and his question is when Jesus speaks to him,

he goes, who are you?

Which is amazing that you can be busy for God

and not know who God is.

You can be actively busy for God.

You can be giving your life to the things of God

and never had a moment where you actually met God,

where you actually met Jesus.

You can be doing the things of God

and in the midst of that, never had a moment

when God has changed you.

And what you get from Paul here,

as you get to man, he's busy.

He's out working.

He thinks he's doing things for God.

He thinks he's in alignment with God.

And Jesus shows up and goes, you don't even know me.

Which reminds me in Matthew chapter seven,

Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is giving a talk on a mountain.

And in verse 21, he says this,

not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,

will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but only the one who does the will of my Father

who is in heaven.

So only the one that knows my Father, right?

You gotta know him to know what his will is.

You gotta have a recognition of him.

Verse 22, many will say to me on that day,

Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name

and in your name drive out demons

and in your name perform many miracles?

Then I will tell them plainly,

I never knew you away from me, you evildoers.

I love the language that Pastor Ben had

in our teaching prep this week about this verse.

He says, it feels like the person showed up

with their resume for God.

Like they showed up and go, here's my resume.

In your name, Jesus, we prophesied.

In your name, we cast out demons.

In your name, there were miracles performed.

And Jesus says of those people,

I will tell them plainly, I will tell them plainly,

I never knew you.

I don't know how you feel about that.

That is haunting.

That I can get lost in all the things I do

in the name of Jesus and miss Jesus.

It's amazing to me this idea of,

they think one of the best examples was Judas.

The Judas had experienced all those things.

The Judas has been a part of those.

And what's fascinating is that Judas was in proximity

at some of the most intimate moments with Jesus.

That Judas had experienced those moments,

that he'd been around it.

And maybe just for clarity's sake,

church, you gotta understand proximity to Jesus

and proximity to God's people does not equate

a relationship with Jesus.

You can be here, you can hang out,

you can enjoy the bennies of Jesus.

That's a title for some other day,

bennies of Jesus.

But you can enjoy the benefits.

You can enjoy all the good things.

You might leave here and you're encouraged.

You might leave here and you're like,

ah, I came in down and I always leave so positive.

We love that, but don't mistake that feeling

for a relationship with the living God

and the person of Jesus Christ.

Too many people do it.

And so what happens naturally,

if you skip the being born again,

if you skip the relationship part with Jesus,

here's what happens.

Because you hang around the people of Jesus,

you get busy for Jesus and you'll say,

but I did all this in your name.

And Jesus is going, but I never knew you.

Don't miss, don't miss, proximity doesn't mean

that you have met the living Jesus.

What do I mean by that?

If you go back to Acts chapter nine,

Acts chapter nine, verse five,

who are you, Lord, Saul asked.

Saul had been around plenty of Christians.

Saul had seen many, many things done.

He'd seen the trust of the people of Jesus

and he'd seen the trail of what Jesus had done.

He'd sat with people that had met the resurrected Jesus

and told them that they'd seen a dead man come to life.

And yet he still put them to death in God's name.

Right, he'd been around, he'd experienced.

He'd done things in the name of God,

but he had not met the living Jesus.

So when Jesus talks to him, he's like, who are you?

And Jesus' reply, I am Jesus.

I am Jesus who you're persecuting.

Now get up and go into the city

and you will be told what you must do.

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless.

They heard the sound, but they did not see anyone.

Saul got up from the ground and when he opened his eyes,

he could see nothing.

So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

For three days he was blind and did not eat anything.

The story breaks here and goes to a man named Ananias.

God goes to Ananias and essentially says,

hey, I need you to go to Saul.

And Ananias, who's a Christian, is a follower of the way,

he's like, I don't think so, I know that guy.

He's the guy putting everybody to death, right?

And he's like, no, I need you to go to him.

And what happens is Ananias,

and we'll talk about this maybe in weeks to come,

Ananias as somebody who's further ahead

on the critical journey, he has a moment of faith

that he has to step into.

Because there's something about faith

that requires your heart.

Here's what I mean, maybe a way to put it in context.

I have some friends in my life,

some very dear friends to me, even my own daughter,

who is a Chiefs fan.

Okay?

Now, if I stood here and said, because I have a daughter

and some close friends of mine that are Chiefs fans,

you know what?

I'm a fan.

You'd be like, no, you're not.

You just know some people.

And if I told you, okay, well, let me double up on this,

right, so not only do I know them,

but we talk about the game together, right?

We have these conversations about it.

And then I told you, well, am I a Chiefs fan?

You'd be like, no, you're not a Chiefs fan.

But then I tell you that we watched some games together.

Like, we've actually shared the same meal together

while we walked out of the house.

We watched those games.

Right?

And I may or may not have cheered for the Chiefs.

But if I asked you, so does that make me a Chiefs fan?

You'd go, you're not a Chiefs fan.

And I said, okay, hang on, hang on.

But if I wear the jersey and I watch the game

and I eat the food, does that make me a Chiefs fan?

And you'd be like, no, that doesn't make you a Chiefs fan.

Why?

Because my heart is black and yellow.

Right?

Why?

Because it comes down to the heart.

It comes down to your heart.

Does Jesus have your heart or doesn't He?

And what we see in this beautiful moment with Ananias

is we see this surrender from, I am scared to go there.

Fear doesn't hold him back from faith.

One of the things that will hold you back this morning

from faith is fear.

Fear of what other people will think,

fear of what you will think, fear of how you'll be seen.

Fear of all of it, you pick it.

And here's the thing, He doesn't let fear hold him.

He steps out, why?

Because Jesus has His heart.

And He steps out to follow.

And then in verse 17, it says,

then Ananias went to the house and entered it,

placing his hands on Saul.

He said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus,

who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here

has sent me so that you may see again

and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Immediately, something like scales, don't forget scales,

immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes

and he could see again.

He got up and was baptized.

After taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

At once, at once, he began to preach in the synagogues

that Jesus is the Son of God.

You see what happened there, right?

Ananias shows up and there's an awakening in Saul

by the Holy Spirit.

There's an awakening in him that by faith,

Saul has walked blindly to this house.

Now, Jesus brings Ananias along and in that moment,

in that moment, his eyes are open and his spirit is ignited.

And what happens is it's like scales.

What does Saul do next?

You find them in the very place, the synagogue,

which is where they would be, the old system of belief,

he's in the synagogue and what's he doing?

Hey, Jesus is the Son of God.

You ever been around somebody that met Jesus?

You ever been around somebody that came alive

by the Spirit to Jesus?

They had a moment where they're like, Jesus is my savior.

You ever had that moment?

What do they do?

All they can tell you is they just start talking.

They don't know what they're saying.

They don't have enough about it.

They don't have enough about it yet.

But you know what's common?

They go, man, it was like I was lost and now I'm found.

It was like I was blind, but now I can see.

It's amazing.

It's amazing to me

that we complicate stuff so much.

And yet faith is so simple.

And that same passage where Jesus is saying,

you gotta be born again,

is where we get probably one of the most quoted verses

on the planet.

Because what John says after summarizing what Jesus has said,

he goes, for God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son.

That whoever, whoever, not limited, unlimited,

whoever, whoever believes in him

will not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus goes on to say later, you know what eternal life is?

To know God.

It's this beautiful, beautiful moment

when you, through the power of the Holy Spirit, go,

I give my life to you, Jesus.

We're gonna do something.

We're gonna do something.

You're gonna have an opportunity to respond today.

But it's not our normal.

We were in teaching prep this week,

and I just said, you guys, I just,

I just feel like we're supposed to really ask people

to step forward in response.

And it was unanimous around that room.

Absolutely, we gotta follow the Holy Spirit into this.

And so we're gonna do something

that's out of the cultural box for Heights even.

Because normally when it comes to this moment,

what happens is, is hey, everybody just bow your heads,

close your eyes, and for a moment of privacy,

and then raise your hand while everybody's heads,

and it's a very private moment.

But if you were here last week,

you heard us talk about that what we're supposed to do

is celebrate as a family together.

And there is something that happens.

There's something that happens internally.

Right now in you, God and the Holy Spirit

are already working.

You're already making decisions to go,

Jesus, I'm giving you my life.

But the physical response cements it

for the rest of your life.

So that when the enemy comes along,

and he wants to try and steal,

and he wants to try and tell you that it really didn't work,

and he wants to tell you that it really didn't happen

because it was just you, and are you crazy?

And no, you go, no, no, no,

there was a moment in my life where I responded to Jesus.

And there was a moment where Jesus called me forward

and I went.

And so in the room, in the room, you guys,

across screens today, wherever you happen to find yourself,

some of you are in a living room together in Pauldon,

some of you are in a school in Baghdad,

some of you are on your couch,

some of you are in a car,

some of you are listening later,

but wherever you are,

there are people today, right here, right now,

that have never had an awakening to Jesus.

There are people that you know,

you know you've been hanging around,

you've never given Him your life.

It's interesting, I told you the beginning part of my story.

Three years old on the couch, clear profession of faith.

If you follow my journey from three years old to eight,

my mom has testimony, because back in those days,

they did Sunday morning church and Sunday night church,

and they were both different.

But in Sunday night church, they would always go,

does anybody have a word of testimony?

And five-year-old me would walk down and go,

I got something to say.

And my mom would cringe like,

what is gonna come out of his mouth, you know?

What is it this time?

But from three to eight, there's very, very clear testimony

over God in my life, over Jesus owning my life.

And then at eight years old, it goes dark.

And it's dark until about 18, 18 and a half to be precise.

And at 18 and a half, I had a moment,

because for those 10 years I had been running,

I had been angry, I had been mad at God,

and didn't even know it.

I didn't realize that was where my anger was coming from.

It's only as I've grown older

that I'm able to put language to it.

But at 18 and a half, I had the most cliche moment for me,

where I end up on my knees,

and I'm just like, God, I can't do this.

I can't do this.

I'm so angry, I'm so broken.

I don't have peace.

I'm searching for life and everything else, and I'm done.

I give you my life.

And it's never been the same since that moment.

And we're sitting in our life group this week,

and we were talking about our journeys.

And one of the things that was said in life group

that I thought was amazing is

as each person shared their story,

there was a common thread, and the common thread was this,

that at some point, Jesus had become their Savior.

They had had a moment with Jesus where, He's my Savior.

But then, whether it was a little time after or years after,

there's a moment when Jesus becomes Lord.

And I thought it fascinating.

I wondered how many of us have had the moment

where Jesus is Savior, but I'm still living like, I'm Lord.

And I wonder today, if you just need to let go and go,

I'm done being Lord of my life, I'm giving it to Jesus.

Jesus, you need to be the one.

I'm giving my life to you today.

Some of you in the room, ah, you're so busy for God.

You're doing all the things, you've got the best resume

in the room to give to God.

And yet, you know, you know that you've never had a moment

where Jesus is Savior and Lord.

And today's the day.

I'm gonna give you a moment where you're gonna be

Jesus is Savior and Lord, and today's the day.

Some of you, you're hiding.

What do I mean by hiding?

Your sin is so big that you're so embarrassed by it

that you're just in shame and you feel worthless today.

And you just need to know,

you're so worthy of the person of Jesus.

For God so loved you, He showed up.

And today is your day to step in and go,

hey, I'm done, I'm done living in my sin,

I'm done hiding in my sin, I'm done.

Today I come out into the light and I go,

Jesus, here is my life.

So here's what we're gonna do.

Because here's what I know about the Holy Spirit.

He's already working on you.

Some of you, like there's a burn in your chest

that you don't know what to do with, right?

That's the Holy Spirit.

There's a twist in your gut that you're just like,

oh, he's talking about me.

Oh, he's talking about me, you know, that's the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is working

and the Holy Spirit is moving already.

He already has been.

And so here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

If you're here and you go, John, today,

I need to give Jesus my life.

Today I need to be born.

Today I need to stop playing God

and I need to give it to Him.

And I'm gonna ask you to do something

that requires crazy courage,

but I need you to know you're in a space with friends.

So whether that's here,

whether that's you are sitting today

in a living room with people, you're with friends.

Whether you're in a school, you're amongst family.

Even if you are by yourself, you can respond.

Here at the Prescott location,

here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

I'm gonna ask you to stand

and I'm gonna ask you to walk down to the front.

Why?

Because the decision you're making here,

the decision that God's burning in your heart and your chest,

by walking down, you will never be the same.

What else is gonna happen when you get here?

People are going to pray with you and over you.

Right?

There's power in someone praying for you in this moment

because the enemy would love to take it away.

The enemy would love to keep you in your seat.

And so here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna count to three and then if that's you,

I'm gonna ask you to stand where you are.

If you're in the middle of a row, we don't care.

Inconvenience, those around you.

Right?

They wanna be inconvenienced.

But I'm gonna ask you, if it's you, on the count of three,

I'm gonna ask you to stand and come on forward.

One, Jesus loves you so, so much.

Two, it's a crazy act of courage in faith.

Three, if that's you, stand on up and come on down today.

Come on down, let's celebrate Church, come on down.

Clearly we're just standing here kupada Kambofax

But we're still watching firsthand 其實是在finitely愛人

If you are on staff, if you are an elder, if you are a life group leader, I'm going

to ask you to come and pray with people so you can come on down to pray with

people. If you're still sitting, I need you to be speaking to God. And the first

group of people that need to speak to God today are, if you're sitting, Holy

Spirit, is it me? It's today I give my life. If you're still sitting, I need you

to pray over everybody else in this room that the Holy Spirit intercede for them,

that the Holy Spirit would work, that the Holy Spirit would transform. And so we're

just gonna take some moments to sit in this church. I'm gonna ask you to pray.

And here's the thing, if you're still sitting and you're like, I know I got to

get up, there's still time, come on down.

If you're still sitting, I need you to be speaking to God. If you're still

sitting, I need you to pray over everybody else in this room that the Holy

Spirit would work, that the Holy Spirit would transform. And so we're just gonna

take some moments to sit in this church. I'm gonna ask you to pray over everybody

else in this room that the Holy Spirit would work, that the Holy Spirit would

transform.

I'm gonna ask you to pray over everybody else in this room that the Holy Spirit would

transform.

I just need you to know there's still time. We're not done. There's still time.

The God, when he calls, our job is to listen. So even as we continue on in the

service, there may be moments, there's a couple of you where you're

just really uncomfortable because you know God's working and you're like, I

don't know what to do with this, but I'm scared to do that. Then in that moment,

that's where faith and courage comes in, right? But there's also some of you that

you're like, I've experienced this. I know what this is. I know what life change of

the Holy Spirit is. And so you should be celebrating. This is a celebration. I've

got recognition. I can remember when Jesus saved me. And you should be

celebrating along with them because their story is your story. And so here's

what we're gonna do because there's something about when you see a

move of faith and a move of God and you see the Holy Spirit go to work that the

proper response is thank you. And that's where worship comes in. And that's where

we just take our voice and we declare. And so we're gonna intentionally sing a

song that is just this is what we believe to be true. And so in an

act of celebration as they continue to pray, as they continue to talk here, would

you stand and would you join us in worship?