What You Actually Need This Year | Pastor Chris Kouba

January is a big month.

We got a lot going on.

And we believe that if you will make this a priority this year, uh, by giving God the first of your day, by giving God the first of your week, by giving God the first of your income, by allowing God to, we're gonna talk about it in just a second, by fasting and praying and giving God the first of your year, what you're gonna see is this is gonna be the best year of your life spiritually.

I believe that in all uh sincerity, and I just want to kind of walk you through some ways that we want to try to guide you in that.

Hopefully, if you are a part of our email list, you are joining with us.

You are seven days in on our 21 days of prayer.

Anybody in doing that, enjoying that?

Are you getting emails?

Hopefully.

Okay.

A ton of you did not raise your hand, which means you're doing one of two things.

Either the email is going to your junk mail, or you're not signed up for our email list.

And we want to make sure that you can join with us in the next 14 days as we pray together.

There is something powerful when we all come together as a church praying the same thing.

We're walking through the Lord's Prayer.

So here's a QR code.

You can sign up for our email list.

I promise you, we're not gonna spam you, we're not gonna overwhelm you.

We're just gonna send you an email at six o'clock every morning that's a guided way of how to pray together.

And so please join us for this 21 days of prayer.

Next week begins something we've been doing the last few years, and I want to encourage all of the church to come alongside and do together.

In fact, I want to ask you to go ahead and grab the card that was in your seat uh as a prompt for this.

We are asking that the last week of the 21 days that you would not just pray with us, but you would fast with us, okay?

Fast, like, isn't that what you do before you get blood work?

Like, that means you don't eat anything for a little bit.

No, I'm not talking about that, okay?

Uh I'm talking about getting away from the things of the world, primarily food, so that you can focus on the things of God.

And what we've done is we've given you a number of different ways that you can participate in this fast.

And we're asking for all of you to participate, okay?

Let me mention the first one there.

It's a complete fast, liquids only, maybe water and juice or just a water-only fast.

I want to just plead with you to consider this, okay?

Consult with your medical professionals and doctors and all that.

Some of you are like, if there's no way I could not eat food for an entire week, I would die.

You will not die.

I promise you will not die.

I can give you, I've given multiple fasts over a week, and I'm telling you, I've never died.

I'm still here, I'm still talking to you about this.

So please consider this.

In fact, if you want more details about it, you can click that QR code that's there at the bottom.

And we've got a whole resource page on all of these different fasts to give you guidance, to let you know what it looks like, to get you know what it, what it, what it, what you can do.

Uh, I also want you to know, I just did a podcast episode or release, my latest one was on fasting.

And I literally talked through what you're gonna go through physically throughout the week whenever you go through one of these fasts.

And so I just want to encourage you to also maybe consider listening to that and seeing kind of what it looks like.

Here's what I would tell you don't quit on Tuesday, don't quit on Wednesday.

You're gonna want to quit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I'm just telling you right now, okay?

Don't do it.

What you're gonna see is that God's gonna allow you to begin to tune out the things of the world, and you're gonna be able to be more sensitive to the spirit.

Now, what a fast is not, is not just not eating for a week.

You'll lose a lot of weight, I promise you that.

That's called a diet, all right?

That's not a fast.

A fast is instead of the time that you would spend preparing meals, the time that you would spend in eating, you're instead doing something else.

We've listed a number of things for you to consider there as well.

I'm reading through the book of Colossians right now.

That's kind of what I'm doing in my fast, as I'm just beginning to use that as a time just to get my heart stirred.

What you're gonna experience, let me just gonna walk you through this because I've done it many, many years now.

What you're gonna experience is you're gonna be way more sensitive.

You're gonna be way more sensitive to the spirit, you're gonna be way more convicted of sin than you've ever wanted to feel.

You're gonna find yourself, though, also just with profound gratitude.

I mean, just sitting on the front row and seeing that video of what God did in the life of our church through you, through the people of United City.

I never want to get over that.

And our God tells us not only can we say thank you, but we can boldly ask for more of it, which just seems so crazy because it's like, God, you've already done so much.

I don't want to, I don't want to press my luck here.

But instead, he asks us to boldly pray to him and ask him to join with us.

And so please consider doing this.

Here's what I want you to do: fill out this card.

If you're ready to go ahead and decide what fast you want to do, fill out the card, fold it in half, and as you leave today, there's gonna be some boxes where we give you, we give you the opportunity to put your offering in.

You place that in there as your way of letting us know that your participation in the fast.

We're gonna do it next week as well.

So maybe some of you need to pray about it.

Whatever you're thinking, do one higher than what you're thinking.

That's what I would tell you.

Because you're gonna try to take the path of least resistance.

Don't do it.

God's breakthrough is gonna come.

He tells us repeatedly to be to follow him in prayer and fasting.

One of the things we're also gonna do, which is next Wednesday, not this coming Wednesday, this Wednesday, all of our activities start back up.

But the following Wednesday, which is January 21st, we're gonna have a worship night.

We're gonna ask all of our activities, kids, youth, and adults, all gonna come together.

We're asking the church to be a part of this in the middle of the week of fasting.

Come and let's seek the face of God.

Let's truly sing, uh, my father has it.

I put my trust in God.

I want to, we want to declare these things together as a church.

It's gonna be an awesome, awesome night.

You do not want to miss our worship night coming up on January 21st.

Scrap your Bibles, open them up with me to John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

I do want to welcome everyone that's joining us online and the thousands that are joining us on the pando app.

You might have seen we had just under a million views on our pando app just in 2025, which is just insane.

I met a lady who came forward for prayer uh last service, her very first Sunday here.

She watched our services all the time on the Pando app.

I met a guy three weeks ago who came to our church who'd been in prison for 15 years.

There he is, right there, David.

Right there, 15 years.

Watch this on the Pando app.

Praise God for you, David.

Folks, I need you to know what's amazing is the fact that whenever we end services, the services don't end.

Like they keep going.

We get the opportunity to be able to reach people.

It's just incredible to be able to see that.

We do want to welcome all of you guys on the other side of that camera.

Uh it's January 11th.

How's your New Year's resolutions going?

Little up check.

How's it going?

Still doing it?

Still committed, huh?

Uh statistics tell us 80% of people have already failed.

Okay.

Which means if you're still going, you're the top 20%.

All right.

You're you're great.

And if you failed, everybody else has too.

Don't worry about it.

All right.

No big deal.

Okay.

Uh, when you make New Year's resolutions, though, it says something about you.

I mean, it kind of lets you in a little bit on what's a priority for you or what you want to change or what you want to improve in your life.

Most of the time, it's either more of something or less of something.

Okay.

So it's like I want more money.

Okay.

I want more experiences.

I want better health.

Or maybe it's I want less weight.

I want less debt.

I want less stress.

None of those things are bad.

But here's a question I want us to consider this morning.

What if there was someone who knew you better than anyone else?

Who loved you more than anyone else?

Who knows your past, who knows your situation this morning, and who knows your future.

And that person was going to pray for you to God.

What do you think they'd say?

Here's maybe even a better question.

What would you say to God?

And does what you say and ask God line up with what the person who knows you the best, who loves you the most, would be praying on your behalf?

We get the chance to figure out what the answer is to that question today in John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

It's called the high priestly prayer.

We started the series last week called Signal Strength, and our idea is that we want to make sure that we can pray in such a way where our prayers get heard and our calls are not disconnected.

You ever had that situation?

Is it not the most annoying thing in the world when you're in the middle of a conversation and all of a sudden you go over somewhere and if the call drops because the signal was lost?

Some of you may feel that's exactly the description of your prayer life.

You've tried it, but you can't ever get the signal right.

You can't ever feel like it's always connected.

And so what we want is five bars level of connection.

Okay, we want maximum receptivity to be able to talk to God and know that he not only hears us, but that he would respond back to us.

That's our goal.

Last week we talked about the upward signal, and we looked and saw that Jesus in John chapter 17 actually prays for God's glory to be done.

John 17 · chapter mention

And what we saw is that God's glory as a prayer of our lives isn't something that means we don't get anything.

It actually, Jason taught us that when we learn what glorifies God will ultimately satisfy you.

And so therefore, we should pray for God's glory.

Some of us, our problem is we're praying that we get propped up.

And instead, what we need to realize is that God instead wants us to pray that God would be made much of.

Today, what we get to see is the inward signal.

This is where we're gonna see what Jesus prays for us.

We're like getting to sit in on his prayer time, we're getting to read his journal, and we're getting to see what he says, because he prays specifically for his followers.

I'm gonna be honest with you, when I first read this, though, it is not something that I expected.

Because his prayers look a lot different than my prayers.

His prayers seem to be asking for different things.

And so if I want to make sure that my signal, I got five bars when I'm praying up to the Lord, I want to make sure I'm praying what he prays and align those things together.

John chapter 17, beginning in verse 6, we're gonna read a long passage of scripture here.

John 17 · chapter mention

I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor.

Would you stand up in the reading of God's word in honor of the reading of God's word today?

John chapter 17, let's begin reading in verse 6.

John 17 · chapter mention

Jesus praying, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.

For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

I am praying for them.

I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

All mine are yours, and yours are mine.

I am glorified in them, and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, and which you have given me.

I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the Son of Destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I've given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in your truth.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

And for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth.

You may be seated.

I want you to see what Jesus asked for.

It's not comfort, it's character.

It's not stuff, it's sanctification.

It's not more for them, it's mission through them.

Not once does Jesus ask their circumstances to improve.

Not once does he ask for all of their problems to disappear.

Instead, I want you to take out your little card that was in your seat there.

I want you to write this down as well.

On your card though, God's best prayers for our lives are about who we're becoming, not about what we're getting.

That's tough to hear.

Because, man, a lot of my prayers are like, God, I need you to do this.

I need you to give me this, I need you to change this, I need you to fix this.

But what it says is God's best prayers for our lives are about who we're becoming, not about what we're getting.

I want to walk you through three different things that Jesus prays for us that should be a part of our prayer life to Him.

The first one is this character over circumstances.

Character over circumstances.

Think about how most of us pray.

God fix my marriage.

God heal my body.

God, change my boss and let him see how awesome I am.

God fix my circumstances, God improve my situation.

That's not what Jesus prays for us, though.

In fact, let's begin looking back at verse 11.

Let's look at what he what he prays.

I am and my and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.

Holy Father, underline this, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one.

Verse 12.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.

I have guarded them.

Underline that.

Skip down to verse 14.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you underline this you keep them from the evil one.

Listen to the type of prayers that he's praying.

He's saying, Father, guard their hearts, father, protect their faith, prod, father, keep them from the evil one.

Father, don't remove them, preserve them.

Verse 15 is stunning to me.

He says there in that verse, I do not ask that you take them out of the world.

Think about the context.

This is right before Jesus was going to be betrayed, arrested, and ultimately crucified.

You got his disciples, these men who have been walking with him from the very beginning, who are going to be in a panic when they see all of this go down.

Peter loses his mind so much that he ultimately denies knowing Jesus three times.

And Thomas, despite having seen miracle after miracle after miracle, begins to say, Man, I don't believe this stuff.

You would think that Jesus would pray, or I would hope for me, he would pray, Father, keep them from all of that.

Like take them out so they don't have to experience.

And God has been changing your circumstances so that you could develop your character.

Some of you are like, Well, I've been praying, God will give me patience.

And you know what he gave you?

An annoying coworker.

Okay, God, I didn't mean that, right?

Some of you are like, God, would you increase my strength?

Would you give me strength?

And what has God done?

He's made you weak.

Why?

Because the scriptures say that whenever you're weak, that's when you get to see how strong Christ is in your life as you lean and depend on him.

Some of you are praying, God, would you give me faith?

And what is he doing?

He's instead causing your entire world to seemingly go uncertain and in chaos.

Why?

So that you can't walk by sight, but you've instead got to walk saying, God, I'm gonna see if I really believe this.

I trust in God.

And he heard and he answered me.

Do I really believe that, or do I just sing that?

Because if I really believe that, what that means is that God is answering my prayer, but he's not answering in the way that I wanted him to.

Has that ever happened to you?

Your assumption is that somehow you're just asking for the wrong thing.

It's like when ChatGPT has a hallucination, you're thinking, oh, well, it just must have been my prompt.

I gotta put a better prompt in there.

Your problem with prayer is not your prompt.

Your problem with prayer is your alignment, it's your expectation.

Because God may be answering your prayer, but it's not the way that you wanted to.

And instead of it being an indicator that God's not hearing you, instead it's an indicator that God wants to do something else in and through it.

Folks, if that's you today and you're here, and man, you just feel like I'm just kind of hanging on.

I don't know if God's hearing me.

I'm not sure if God's responding to me.

It doesn't feel like it.

I would simply tell you this, man, that's why you desperately need the church of Jesus Christ, because there's gonna be somebody sitting in front of you or next to you, and man, they're hearing God.

And you need to get some of their faith.

Or you need to be in a place where you just drag yourself and depend on him and trust, I'm gonna believe what I know to be true more than what I'm experiencing in this moment.

And when you do that, what you begin to see is that God comes alongside and he helps us and he and he and he meets with us and he allows us to continue.

Notice what Jesus identifies at the end of verse 15, which is part of his prayer, is the actual danger.

He says, Keep them from the evil one.

The protection Jesus seeks here is spiritual, not situational.

Why do we know that?

Because bad things happen to us.

Bad things will happen to you.

It is unavoidable.

But what the enemy does is he tries to take both the good things in our life and the bad things in our life, and he tries to mess with us.

So if we're having a good thing, what the enemy wants to do is he wants us to be able, in the midst of our comfort, to get really complacent.

And in the bad things, what he wants to do is get us to a place where in the difficulties of life, we become bitter.

Bitter at others, bitter at God.

So instead of praying, God change my situation, we should instead pray, God protect my heart in this situation.

That's the kind of prayer that Jesus prays for us.

Character over circumstances.

And honestly, that's way better because circumstances change.

If you like how things are going, just wait a little bit, it's gonna change.

If you don't like how things are going, just wait a little bit, it's gonna change.

But character, that lasts.

Character is something that we get to bring into eternity.

Character is something that shapes generations in our families.

Character is something that allows us to be able to withstand the difficulties of all of life.

I went to a funeral yesterday for Kevin McElroy, Coach Mack, who was the head tennis coach at Kingwood High School.

Um he is a man that has been in the tennis community and in this community for many, many years, both at Kingwood, Deer Park, as well as Pasadena.

Uh he went in for 50 years old and went in for a uh heart procedure, and uh after the heart procedure had some complications and ultimately lost his life.

And I went into a packed church that was filled with people, and the number one thing that kept coming up about this guy was his character and his integrity.

Man, everybody wishes the circumstances were different.

Every single person in the room does.

But what you heard was not only his character at home, his character at church, but also my son's a tennis player.

I got the legacy of seeing Coach Mack didn't just care about how my son hit his forehand and his backhand, Coach Mack cared about how my son was becoming a man, and that character radiated in that room.

His integrity, his wife got up there and spoke about his her husband's integrity.

Folks, let me just tell you something.

When it comes down to a moment like that when you got a bunch of people coming at your funeral, that's what you want to be said.

You want people to hear not about how the circumstances, oh, if I had this break and I had this thing, that it had been better.

No, no, no.

You want to hear about how God worked in your life in the midst of difficult circumstances to shape you into the person that he longs for you to be, which is why our prayers need to be way more things like God keep me, God guard my heart, God protect my faith, don't let the enemy win, even if the situation doesn't change, because that's the kind of prayer that God loves to answer.

Character over circumstances.

Jesus prays for character.

Here's the next question.

How does character actually get formed, though?

Look at verse 17 with me again.

Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth.

Write this down.

The second thing that Jesus prays for us is this transformation through truth.

Transformation through truth.

The word sanctify there in verse 17 means to be set apart, to be marked as different, to be designated for a special purpose.

It's identity language.

It's it's about what makes you distinct.

And notice what Jesus says makes you distinct.

It's the truth, specifically, it's God's word.

Here's something interesting.

The culture and the world is yelling at you to make sure that you're distinct, to make sure that you stick out, to make sure that you are who you have been uniquely designed to be.

And it's telling you all the ways to do that.

If you just scroll on social media, even for a little bit, it's going to tell you the way that you get to be distinct is you pick your political side and you rank.

And you let everybody know what you think.

That's what's going to set you apart.

Or it tells you you choose your sexuality.

And it's not just about what you do in the bedroom, it's about who you now are.

It's your whole identity.

And so that's the most important thing in you.

You got to make sure that you declare loudly what a letter on the alphabet that you actually are.

Or you're told, hey, you got to make sure that you post and let everybody know about your status.

You got to show all your homes and you got to show all of your cars and you got to show all of your vacations and all your clothes and all the things that go along with that.

And the idea is this you need to be distinct.

You need to be different.

You need to stick out.

You be you.

Here's the irony.

We all look the same.

We all look the same.

Like we're just all running the same play.

We're just all coming in the same group.

There's nothing distinct about us.

And we may think that if we just kind of begin to be a radical version of that, then we're gonna stick out.

It's not true.

You're just a radical version of everybody else.

You're not distinct.

Here's what the scriptures say: the way that you are distinct, according to verse 17, it says that we are to sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth.

He doesn't say set them apart by their opinions or their preferences or their experiences or their accomplishments.

He says, set them apart by the truth.

Your word is true.

Jesus said it plainly.

Everyone who hears my words and does them will be like a man who built his house on the rock.

But everyone who hears my words and doesn't do them, who ignores them, is like somebody who builds his house, a fool that builds his house on the sand.

You want to know what the sand is?

Politics, sexuality, pleasure, and status, that's the stand.

When the storms hit, what happens?

It just wipes it away.

And then what happens?

They just come back with a new version.

Why?

Because the old one didn't work.

But instead, what the Bible says, that if we build our life on this, if we make this the foundation of our lives, then we can be set apart.

We can be different.

Here's what's fascinating every single thing that the world promises through these identity markers that it gives us and tells us that we're supposed to do, the culture does, God's word delivers every time.

You want to have life?

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I've come to give you life and not only life, but have it abundantly.

You want to have guidance in your life?

Here's what the word says: your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

God's word tells you who you are.

It tells you why you're here.

It tells you where you're going.

It answers all of the deepest questions that the world offers that can distract you from Him.

You have peace when everyone else has anxiety.

Why?

Because your identity doesn't rise and fall with political election or social media likes.

You have purpose when everyone else is drifting because you know who you are.

You know whose you are.

You know what you're here for.

You have stability when everything around you is shifting.

Why?

Because God's word doesn't need updating with cultural trends.

Psalm chapter 1 says it like this that he is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit and its season, and whose leaves do not wither.

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

What's it trying to say to us?

It's saying this it's deeply rooted.

So that no matter how much the storm comes, no matter how bad the wind is, no matter how much the floodwaters push against it, it's not going anywhere.

That's the kind of life that God is calling us to do.

So here's the question if God's word is where we find life and direction and meaning and peace, are you spending any time in it?

Look, I'm grateful that you're here.

Praise God that you're here for the services.

And I hope that you will make the first day of the week a priority this coming year in 2026 and give God the first day of every single week by being actively at church.

And I and I'm gonna preach God's word to you, and whoever is up here is gonna preach God's word every single time that you come here.

The first thing we're always gonna say is turn in your Bibles to.

Because we're not giving TED Talks, we're giving life lessons from God's word.

We're trying to teach you the key foundation that comes along with building your life on Him.

But here's what I want you to discover, okay?

Here's what I want you to know.

You do not need to just let this be the only time you hear His Word.

Instead, let me plead with you to make sure that you are allowing God's word to be in your life after just this time together.

You're reading it on a daily basis, you're spending time with him.

And more than just reading God's word, you're letting God's word read you.

If you don't have a, but you're like, well, how do I do that?

Let me let me show you a little, a little picture here as well.

Get your phones out.

Bible recap.

It's about my fourth year to do this in a row.

Uh I can't tell you how much I've seen this particular Bible reading plan to help people who've never previously been able to read through the Bible in a year be successful for doing so.

Uh it basically is a chronological Bible reading plan, and then it is a short podcast, five to seven minutes explaining what you just read.

It is incredible.

I want to highly encourage you to join us.

You're like, well, it's I'm too late.

It's already January 11th.

Make January 12th, day one.

It's fine.

You'll be all right, okay?

But take a look at this, look at the resources that are there, and join in with one.

There's a ton that are on the UVersion Bible app.

Let me just encourage you to get in God's word.

And then here's what I would tell you as a continuation of that.

Not just read God's word, but allow God's word that you read to be the things that you pray.

Folks, I go in with my list and I read God's word and realize He's got a different list.

And if I just went with my list, you know what would happen?

The call would drop.

And so what I want to do is I want to be aligned with him.

And sometimes that alignment with my list and his list is there, and man, I ask it boldly.

But a lot of times what I begin to discover, particularly in a time of prayer and fasting, is that man, my my list is totally opposite of what God cares about.

And so therefore, I want to pray to him and allow the truth of God's word.

So therefore, I go in, God, would you give me more?

Would you provide for me in this?

And then I read something and I see about God's graciousness and his provision, and God tells me, Hey, you need to give more.

That's when you see transformation happen.

When the truth of God's word begins to transform your life and your prayers and your future.

The word shapes your prayers, your prayers shape your desires, your desires shape your life.

Stop letting the world be the thing that sets you apart, but let the word set you apart.

Character over circumstances, transformation through truth.

But here's what I almost missed when I read this.

God doesn't transform you so that you can just sit and be holy.

The third thing I want you to see that He prays for is mission over more.

Mission over more.

And if we're honest, we kind of take that same mentality into our spiritual lives.

I need more knowledge, I need more blessings, I need more spiritual experiences, more for me.

Most of our prayers, most of our resolutions are about more.

But Jesus prayer has a different trajectory.

It's not about getting more, it's about being sent.

Look with me again at verse 17.

Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth.

Verse 18, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

The sequence matters.

Verse 17 is about sanctification, being set apart.

Verse 18 is about sending.

These are not disconnected thoughts.

Sanctification, growing in Christ, transformation that happens leads me to living a life that is being sent.

We often think about sanctification in the negative sense.

I've got to be set apart from the world.

I've got to be set apart from the distractions.

I've got to be set apart from evil.

All of that is true, but it's not enough.

I also am set apart for something.

I'm set apart for mission.

I'm set apart for a purpose.

I'm set apart to be an evangelist and to tell other people about what God has done in my life.

In the Old Testament, temple vessels were sanctified, not to be put on a shelf like in a museum where everybody went and looked at it.

They were set apart so that they could be used.

In the same way, you're not a trophy, you're a tool.

You are not for display, you're for deployment.

And let me just tell you, when you know your purpose, when you know your mission, when you're living out God's calling and moving in your life, there is nothing in life that's more gratifying and satisfying that anything could ever replace.

Think about the most fulfilled people that you know.

It's typically not the richest or the most comfortable.

It's the people who are living out their calling.

They found their scent.

What if 2026 wasn't about what you can get, but about where you are sent?

Instead of what do I want to accomplish this year?

What if you instead prayed, God, who is who are you sending me to this year?

Character over circumstances, transformation through truth, mission over more.

This is what Jesus prays for.

And here's what is incredible.

It's exactly what we got to witness and experience last year in the life of our church.

We had a bunch of numbers up there.

It's not about numbers.

Every one of those numbers represents a life, an individual story, an individual background, an individual thing that happened in their lives leading them to that place.

One of the numbers that I want to celebrate today, you've seen the signs out in the lobby.

Today is New Member Sunday.

What we want to do is celebrate the 297 new members.

297 new members that joined United City Church last year.

You know, I was a drug addict from 14 years old.

He'd be like, Promise me that you'll never do this again.

And I'd be like, I wish that I could, but I'd already been at rehab.

I had been in drug counseling.

I went to I spent a lot of time in juvie and stuff like that as a kid.

Like I had I knew what I was supposed to do.

I just couldn't do it.

Right.

I knew what was possibly gonna help me.

I mean, we were definitely not like being good for each other, you know.

Like we were definitely feeding off each other with like the drinking, but she was hiding, like she was hiding other stuff.

You know, I'd wake up in the morning and be like, I hate myself.

I don't want to be like this.

I'm ruining his life, I'm ruining my whole family's life.

It wasn't until we got married that I went off the deep end.

It was a very hard life.

Very hard.

And I I mean, I desperately wanted to raise a kid that didn't have to go down that path.

And I knew that I was trying to fill a void and I didn't like who I was, and and so after I got sober, then he was drinking still.

And we just kind of got to a breaking point.

She got to a point in her life, and like her she was take she took her sobriety seriously at that point, and she like basically she was told me, she's like, I can't do this.

I'm not gonna be able to do this with you still uh drinking.

And as I was drinking a lot, so it wasn't gonna work.

And she told me, and uh so I quit too.

We were definitely like going in two different directions all the time, and and it was scary.

You know, it was scary to think about our future together because it was clear that I found things important that he didn't find important and vice versa.

She would always she'd always said, like, going through uh the the rehab and all and her things was like if we were led back to church, she would go, but she wasn't really like searching for it either.

And I wasn't searching for it.

We went to church a few times when I first got sober because we were just kind of like, I don't know what to do.

I don't we're we'll try it.

And we didn't go.

My idea of God would change all the time, and people at church were so closed and hidden, and I felt like my life had changed enough and that I was on the right path.

And I had a whole lifetime of like rejecting God and rejecting Jesus, and Christianity is just people, a bunch of people not doing things they want to do, and like everyone that I deeply cared about all loved Jesus.

I was off on Sundays and we were going to church.

That church was United City.

I went to Growth Track, and the first week it was like lost people matter.

Everything that I had believed from recovery that changed my life was coming out of the Bible or in the service, and I looked around and I was like, what makes me think that I know more than all these people in here?

Like I and I I did.

I immediately prayed, like, God, help me believe.

Help me believe that if this is true, that this is true.

I wouldn't have chosen the things of God, no way.

No way.

Nope.

He came after me.

My name's Ryan.

Uh this is my wife Kayla.

And this is Crosby.

Or the Hannons.

Every way that we talk to our child, how we how we approach our marriage, everything is different.

Yeah.

Like everybody has that God-sized hole in them, and Jesus is the only one that can fill it.

It's powerful.

Ryan and Kayla I'm a small group, uh, love them to death, and it's just amazing.

297 is a lot of people.

Everyone has a story, though.

Everyone's got a testimony just like that.

Your yours may not have looked like Ryan and Kayla's.

Yours may have been a little bit different.

Guess what?

God came after you still.

Same thing is true.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 11 30, or Espignol at 1 o'clock.