Try Softer: Well Pleased | Part 2

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Today we're in part two of Try Softer.

As last week we started this Try Softer series.

And as I told you, and if you were here, if you weren't, let me catch you up a little bit.

This is a deeply personal series.

It's a process, it's been a lifelong process, but one that came to a head really at my 40th birthday a few years back, or a couple years back to be more precise.

And Jenny and I had some time to finally stop and evaluate.

And as we did, we came to a couple big conclusions.

Aha.

One, we're really good doers.

Anyone else really good at getting stuff done?

Yes, yeah.

And we're fantastic.

Give us a task, give us a problem to solve.

We're fantastic doers, but we're really bad beers.

Really bad at just being present and with.

And here's the conclusion that we we kind of came to.

And as I'm looking at my own life and kind of start stepping into like the next season, the next stage, the next half, that I don't really want to do life the way I've been doing life if I'm gonna step in for the rest of my life, this next half.

Like something needs to change.

And if I had to sum it up, is that fundamentally for most of my life, and maybe you're in the same stage, uh, same place, I've been trying harder at just about everything.

I've been trying harder to be good, trying harder to succeed, trying harder to be someone, trying harder to follow Jesus, just trying harder.

And I think I think our culture trains us, especially Silicon Valley, trains us to try hard.

To like gut through it, push through.

And if it's not working, don't tell anybody.

Just fake it till you make it, right?

Put on a smile and just kind of try to like say, no, this is this is life, right?

This is how it's supposed to be.

And what trying harder produces is oftentimes stress and anxiety and leaves us overwhelmed and overworked, doesn't it?

And this is where we feel like we're at chronically as a culture today.

And this fundamental question we asked uh my wife and I as we're wrestling with this is like, there's gotta be a better way to live.

And then Jesus talks about this abundant life, this flourishing life, and you're like, where is that?

How do you experience the flourishing life?

And and here's the one conclusion that I've come to the flourishing, abundant life of Jesus isn't found in trying harder.

And what if?

What if the secret to the life that you've always wanted and dreamed of isn't trying harder, but trying softer?

A different way to go about life.

And we talked about this and we went to Jesus' invitation, this incredible invitation that he gave to us, where he said, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, all who are burdened.

Anybody weary this morning?

Anyone burdened?

Go ahead, it's church, you can be honest.

Um, yeah, yeah, we all many of us are.

We're like, I'm weary.

I just moved.

Uh like we moved our entire house yesterday.

A few of you were there.

Thank you so much.

Uh, by the way, this is exciting, totally off topic.

Whoo! Uh, the reason I'm unshaved today is we moved and I couldn't find my razor.

Um yeah, yeah.

Um, I don't have this, isn't a five o'clock shadow.

That would be amazing.

Uh, I only shave once a week, and it's for you on Sundays uh there.

But but we come in tired and weary, full lives.

And Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy, laden and burden, and I'll give you rest, I'll give you refreshment.

Like we need that.

He says, Take my yoke, my pattern, my way upon me, my teachings, and learn from me.

Remember what we said, like Jesus saying, watch how I do it, watch how I do life.

And who do you approach?

For I'm humble and gentle in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

It's the invitation of Jesus, instead of trying harder, to try softer.

And if we want to experience the refreshing life of Jesus that He offers us, uh we need to embrace the Jesus way of life.

This is the big idea for the entire series here.

If you want to experience the life that Jesus offers, that refreshment, this is what's missing so often in our discipleship and why we miss out on these promises of Jesus, is you have to embrace the Jesus way of life, the way Jesus went about life.

And we're spending the next several weeks looking not just at what Jesus taught, but also how did Jesus live?

He said, Watch me, learn from me, pattern your life after me.

And so today, as we uh jump into part two, we're gonna talk about the sermon title is Well Pleased.

Would you go ahead and say to your neighbor, Well pleased?

That was that was that was good, by the way.

Yeah, I don't tell anyone, but but you're my favorite service this weekend.

Um really good job.

Let me ask you this.

What's the truest thing about you?

What's the truest thing about you?

Like, like if somebody asked, who are you really?

And you had to answer it.

You you're the you're you put in a room and you like you can't get out of this room until you write it down on a piece of paper and you have to hand it in.

You're like, that sounds stressful, right?

And you write at the top of the paper says, I am, and then you fill in the blank.

What would you fill in?

I am.

You have so many different things that bubble up.

We often we talk about our work, often we talk about our relationships, our identity, our sexuality, all these things begin to, our ethnicity.

I am really smart, I'm really not smart.

You know, what would you do?

What would you say?

Here's what's interesting is your soul, and my soul, is actually searching for something to center upon.

We actually look for it to bring worth and value and purpose, significance to build our life upon.

Our souls are constantly searching for something and wanting to anchor our lives to, whether we're aware of it or not.

And so, what are you looking to bring significance and worth in your life?

What are you hoping like make you a somebody?

Here's what's fascinating.

Um, when it comes to the Christian life, and I grew up as a follower of Jesus, my dad was a pastor, so I grew up in the church, had really good teaching, but most of the way that I understood the Christian life was to try harder.

Okay, you know, following Jesus, I I gotta try harder to be a better person.

And, you know, maybe I need to read my Bible more, maybe I need to pray more, um, maybe I need to give more, maybe I need to serve more, maybe I need to be in a group more, maybe I'll be in three groups, so I and just trying harder.

But here's what was interesting is no amount of trying harder accomplished the internal change that I had longed for.

There was some external stuff that happened, and then it would be good for a while, but then I'd like just kind of blow it, and then I'd feel really bad and guilty and shame and be like, oh man, I suck, and then hide away from God like He's down on me and needed a little bit of space, and then finally felt like I'm, hey, I'm good enough and not come back to God, and then I try harder again and caught in this loop.

And it was um, it was actually in my 30s when I began to realize spiritual formation, the Christian life, the deep work isn't in trying harder, but is all around understanding our identity in Christ, who we are.

And here's why.

All of your activity flows from your identity.

All of your life and the things that we do, our activity ultimately is rooted in who we actually believe we are.

See, we think we believe some things.

Our behavior reveals what we actually believe.

If you want to know what you really believe or what your identity isn't really built around, look at your behavior.

I'll give one small confession.

Um, my son Ryder, he's a really good basketball player.

He made varsity as a freshman, sophomore year uh game this week.

He had six threes in the game.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

All right, here's how subtle it is, and no one watching my action.

I slowly started to see, like uh Jenny kind of pointed out, I'm like, I'm starting to live vicariously through my high school student at basketball of like my joy and success is connected to his joy and success.

And I'm like, oh my gosh.

It's it because our activity, our activity flows from our identity, spiritual formation, the deep work is actually not in doing more, but understanding, embracing more your identity in Jesus.

And remember what we just said that if we're gonna experience the life that Jesus offers, we have to embrace the Jesus way of life.

And so let's look at where Jesus found his identity.

Where did he actually find his true north?

What's the truest thing about him and his significance and value?

If you got your Bibles, would you open up to Matthew chapter 3?

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 3, verse 13.

Matthew 3:13

And to give you a little bit of context, okay, Jesus, uh, he was, you know, born in uh Bethlehem, grew up for 30 years, went through the um Jewish educational system uh in the Podunk town of Nazareth area.

Then he spent time training with his father, becoming a carpenter, took up the family trade.

30 years.

This moment that we're about to read is 30 years.

He's 30 years of age.

He hasn't done any great miracle.

No teaching that we know of, no sermon on the mount, sermon on the plain, sermon in a cave, sermon in a house.

I don't know.

There was no sermon yet.

John the Baptist, his cousin, was kind of a wild one.

If you if you read about him, he would be in the wilderness and he was literally preparing the way for the Messiah.

He wore camel hair clothes, which sounds itchy, honestly, and ate locust and honey, and he's declaring this, you know, repentance and this national renewal is happening out in the wilderness, and they're coming to the Jordan, and people are being baptized, and and they're they're seeing this like widespread, like God's on the move.

And Jesus shows up onto the scene.

This is where we pick up the story.

Jesus shows up onto the scene and says, I want to get baptized too.

And John's going, like, no, no, no, I should be baptized by you, Jesus.

And Jesus says, No, I gotta fulfill all righteousness.

What this means is he's gonna identify with the people that he came to save.

And he's gonna step into the waters of baptism, and it's here, 30 years into his existence on this planet in flesh, that we see where he draws his identity.

The text says it this way: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

At that moment, heaven was open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighting on him, and a voice from heaven said, I want you to read this with me out loud, all together.

This is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.

Let's do that again.

This is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.

You ever think about that?

Like, what was God pleased with?

Like, 30 years so far, you haven't done anything.

Haven't raised anybody from the dead, haven't healed any lepers, you know, haven't cast out any demons.

Yeah, maybe he made some nice yokes and built that house.

See, this is so important and we miss it all the time.

Trying softer is coming to accept our identity in Christ is received, not achieved.

I'm looking at a group of achievers in Silicon Valley.

You love to achieve and to attain, and we just live in that, and we live in the reality that to get love, to earn love, to be approved, we have to somehow achieve it and attain it some way.

And God, from the outset, before Jesus ever did anything, says, You're my kid, you're my beloved, and I'm already pleased with you.

I'm already pleased with you.

Write in your notes if you want to.

From not for.

From not for.

This is the Christian life summed up in three words.

From not for.

From approval, not for approval.

See, you walk and you live our identity in Christ.

Jesus was ministering from approval.

He was already approved.

He wasn't doing miracles to earn his heavenly father's approval.

He was approved, and from his approval, he then began to live and work and do all that he did.

From acceptance, not for acceptance.

He was already accepted, well pleased before he did anything.

And then he goes and lives out his life from it, not for it.

And when we mix that up, we are starting to try harder instead of try softer.

See, for is try harder, do better.

And when you blow it, feel really bad about yourself.

From belovedness.

The object of your affection.

The delight.

Like when he thinks of you, he just smile comes across.

Not for.

See, and some of us have a background, don't we?

We have a background, whether as a coach, as a parent, or somebody, that that that we live in and we go, we have to earn it.

You're not good enough.

You're not, you you need to achieve it.

And to get my love, you you you have you have to do better, you have to show up, you have to perform.

And God says, No, no, no.

Your identity and everything, your activity flows from it.

And when you understand you are loved, you are accepted, you are a child of God, it changes everything.

Now, here's something really cool about this text and Jesus getting baptized.

Um, throughout the biblical narrative, what you'll see is this motif of passing through the water, God uh saving his people through passing through the water.

It begins all the way in Genesis chapter one, uh, when the creation of the world, it says that the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And it literally, that word there is the wild and the waste, the chaos.

He was hovering over the chaos, and out of the chaos, God created all that was good and life and true.

And so the spirit hovering, just as the spirit hovered and came upon Jesus there in that moment.

You see God saving Noah through the waters.

You see God saving Moses and the people of Israel as they walked through the Red Sea, through the waters.

We see God saving Joshua and leading them into the promised land through the Jordan, the very Jordan that Jesus was now being baptized.

And Jesus is then getting baptized, and this is this incredible symbol that Jesus is saying, I am ushering in a new way of life right now in this moment, a new way of relating a new kingdom.

An invitation happening right here in this moment, and passing through the waters, the prophet Isaiah then would talk about this suffering servant that would need to pass through the waters, and that we have a savior who didn't just pass through the waters, but passed through death itself and came out on the other side to extend, to offer, and to bring new life for you and me.

And so here's the incredible reality.

And if we can get it through our minds, if we can understand it, this whatever is true of Jesus is now true of you in Christ Jesus.

Whatever is true of Jesus is now true of you in Christ Jesus.

Like that same reason I know we're not getting it, so let me read Colossians 3, 1 through 4.

Since then you have been raised with Christ, he has raised you up that you have identified with his death and resurrection.

Set your hearts on things above.

Why?

Not because you're trying to get above, you've already been raised above, who is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Why?

This is your identity.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ.

Like all of you, think about this is amazing.

This picture of the scripture is like you're enveloped in Christ.

Your whole life is enveloped in Christ.

So when God looks at you, you're thinking he sees the ugliest, worst parts of you.

Certainly he knows all those things.

You know what he sees?

He sees his son Jesus.

Because you are in Christ.

And your life is hidden in Christ.

And when Christ, who is your life, appears, you will also appear with him in glory.

Whatever's true of you, uh true of Jesus, and all those things are now true of you because you are in Christ.

You have been raised in him.

There's a book in college that was deeply formative as I was journeying to understand the radical love of God.

It's a book by Brendan Manning called Ragamuffin Gospel.

In it, he writes, My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and have done nothing to earn or deserve it.

Listen to that.

My deepest awareness of myself.

Like, what's the truest thing about you?

If you can get to the thing that is most core, my deepest awareness is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ.

And I've done nothing to earn it to deserve it.

Now, here's what's interesting.

Because we can hear that and go, all right, Ryan.

But why do we struggle to really embrace our identity in Christ?

Well, we have an enemy that wants to lie to you, that wants to keep you from believing who you really are, because if you believe who you really are, who he is in Christ, and you're gonna live out your activity, he's gonna flow out in a different manner that's gonna set this world on fire in Jesus' name.

It's interesting, Jesus gets baptized, and then he enters into the wilderness, and he's actually rehearsing the exodus and the entering into the promised land, uh, and he's showing that he is the new way.

And what happens, this is amazing, what happens only like in my Bible, right here is the the voice from heaven of God, and then two verses, three verses down, notice after fasting for 40 days and forty nights he was hungry.

Yeah, I would be too.

Uh the tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God.

If you see You have an enemy that wants to lie to you about your identity.

Because if you can believe the lie, then you'll live the lie out, and you will be caught trying harder and stuck.

If you are the son of God, if you are, you know what Jesus called Satan?

He called him the father of lies.

That when Satan is lying, he's speaking his native tongue and he shows up on the scene, casting doubt onto Jesus' identity.

Are you really the son of God?

Then prove it.

And that's what we spend our lives doing.

We're trying to prove it.

We're trying to show up.

We're trying to perform.

Whether to ourselves, to a parent, to a mentor, to someone that's not even around, but their voice is still ringing in your ears.

If you are.

Robert McGee wrote this great book called The Search for Significance.

If you've never read it, I encourage you to take time to read it.

He takes the four big lies that we believe about our identity and then attaches them to the work that Jesus did on the cross.

And it's a fantastic book.

I don't have time to go into all of it, but let me just give you the four big lies that many of us believe.

The first is the performance trap.

We all fall into this, I think, at some point in time, but I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.

I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.

We have to perform, to show up.

And let me just give a little word to those that, well, you're the type A, get it done.

Like this tri-softer is kind of grating against you a little bit.

Because you're like, well, if I really embrace my identity, where's the motivation going to come from?

And like, I I use shame and I use all this to like really motivate me, you know.

Just by the way, Jesus accomplished in three years what you could never accomplish in three lifetimes.

He was pretty effective, I think.

I mean, his life literally divided history.

We're still talking about him 2,000 years later.

But we get caught into the this performance trap.

I need to perform to feel valued.

Second is the approval addict.

I must be approved by others to feel good about myself.

I must be approved.

And we keep racing and hoping and wanting someone else to say, and we do things and and and we we're trying to control these areas and hope.

Oh, I really you show up and overextend yourself just to get someone's approval, and it's exhausting.

Or the blame game.

Those who fail believe are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished.

And you feel this immense failure, and you even feel it with God, and that's how you relate to Him is like I failed and I deserve to be punished, and you're just you you spend long times after you fail just away from God because you think He's down on you, and you self-inflict wounds.

Or I think the one that we can often slide to, and I have is shame.

I am what I am.

I cannot change.

I'm hopeless.

Shame isn't that you've done something bad, it's saying that you are bad.

It's not that you did something wrong, it's saying you're wrong.

And we embrace this identity.

I'm wrong, I'm broken, I'm no good.

I am statements are powerful.

Watch the words you say to yourself.

The father of lies says, if.

And if you believe the lie, you'll live and spend your life striving and trying and wondering why you're not experiencing the life Jesus offers.

But your heavenly father, he says, This is my son whom I love, whom I well please.

And what's true of Jesus is true of you in Christ Jesus.

And so let's break this down.

This is my son.

First, you have been adopted into the family of God.

Okay, I'm gonna need a little bit more from you.

Um just um, let's try that again.

You have been adopted into the family of God.

Is anybody excited about that?

Come on.

I don't know that we're excited about it because we don't fully understand it.

Romans 6, 8, 15, and 16 says, the spirit you receive does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again.

Rather, the spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship, and by him we cry, Abba Father, that the same spirit that came down and rested on Jesus, and the Father speaking to him, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased, has come down on every believer who says yes to Jesus, rest on you, dwells in you, and cries out, Abba Father in you.

You are now a child of the Most High God.

That is your identity.

And we build it on who we are, and he says, No, no, it's way more important whose you are.

Adopted.

Now, here's something interesting.

This is a technical in the Greek here uh for the legal heir that has been adopted.

And why this is important is in uh Roman law, uh you you could actually disown your own kids.

And if you had some kids that were like, I don't really want to leave my estate to them, disown them.

But if you adopted an heir, that person could never be disowned.

Uses this word, wanting you to know that no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, no matter what's going on, you are never ever going to be disowned.

You are adopted into his family, and he says, You're my kid.

And and I I remember a pastor once telling this story, and it made so much sense to understand because why don't we live out our new reality when we've been placed into the family of God?

And why do we struggle with that?

He was telling about this couple that adopted this child, and I remember sharing it with my men's morning group, and this couple had adopted this child and come from a really difficult background, was a uh, you know, like about a 10-year-old child, and um they started finding this little girl um hiding food in her bedroom, and they're like wondering why in the world are they hiding food?

And they talked to uh the adoption agency and said, Well, you know, this this child, um when she was punished, her parent would uh lock the fridge and lock her in her room.

And there's days when she would go without any food.

And she learned to survive by when there was access, grabbing some food and hiding it.

The adoptive parent, when he saw the little child hiding food, wasn't angry, wasn't upset, wasn't like, why in the world do you do that?

What's wrong with you?

Heartbreaks.

Went to that little girl and said to the fridge, I know this is gonna take a while because this is your only life, this is your only experience.

But here's what I want you to let you know this fridge will never be locked.

The doors will always be open.

In fact, you can have it anytime you want because you're a part of my family now, and it's a new family, you have a new last name, you have a new home, and as a result, a new identity.

But here's the thing is we bring our old identity into our new family, and we think God is down on us, and he's not down on us.

He says, No, child, you just need to learn that you carry a new name, you're a part of a new family, and I'm not down on you.

My heart breaks, and I just want you to know that the fridge will always be open.

You have been adopted into the family of God.

This is my son whom I love.

That Greek word agapetos is this technical word that is uh this one of a kind, precious one that he loves and cherished.

Like when I when God looks at you, he says, You're my one of a kind, precious one.

Paul thinks this is so important that he prays for the church in Ephesus.

Yeah, he says this, for this reason, I kneel before the Father.

Next slide, there we go, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

Why?

Because you're now in the family of God.

Hello.

That should get us way more excited.

I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, uh, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Next slide.

And as I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, to know this love that surpasses knowledge.

Why?

That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Like my prayer for you, if I'm gonna take time, I'm gonna write it out.

My prayer is that you would know how deep and wide and high and breadth is his is my love for you.

And when you grasp that, you'll be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Like if you could just understand how loved you are.

And just goes, I love you, I delight in you.

You are his beloved, you are loved from beloved.

You don't have to do anything to earn it, work your way there.

And if you had a bad day, come back to his arms of grace.

He says, I love you, don't stay away.

First, you have been adopted into the family of God.

Secondly, you are the object of your father's affection.

Third, well pleased.

You already have the approval of your heavenly father.

Let me say it again.

You already have the approval of your heavenly father.

Before Jesus did anything, he was approved.

And regardless of where you've been, what you've done, what you've gone through, you are standing in Christ Jesus.

You are approved.

Ephesians 1 is Paul unpacking your identity in Christ.

And by the way, it's been really intentional.

I just wanted a lot of scripture about who you are in your notes, though you can take it home and you can think on these things.

You can set your heart on these things that you can start preaching to yourself.

And you're like, well, I won't really preach.

Well, talk to yourself and instead of identify the lies of the enemy.

Hello.

No, you're a liar.

Go to hell.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, seriously.

Because it's a lie from the pit of hell.

And yet we take it on and we wear it like it's our native clothes.

And God says, no, you have a new identity, and you're not trying to earn and work and somehow be approved.

You are already approved.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who's blessed us into heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

You're approved.

You already got all the blessings of Christ.

Everything.

He's not like you got a few of them, some of them.

Hopefully you get some more of them.

Every single blessing in Christ, he chose you.

Whoa.

Whoa.

He wants you.

You're worth it to him.

You didn't just sneak in, squeak by.

He chose you in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love, he predestined us for adoption.

There it is again to sonship.

You think this is a theme throughout scripture?

Through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he's freely given us in the one he loves.

In him.

All of this is because we're in him.

We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, accordance with the riches of God's grace that he just poured out, he just lavished on us.

You've been adopted into the family.

You're the object of your heavenly father's affection.

You already have the approval of your heavenly father.

David Brenner wrote this book a number of years ago called Surrender to Love.

In it, he writes this imagine God thinking about you.

What do you assume God feels when you come to mind?

Imagine God thinking about you.

What do you assume God feels when you come to mind?

The overwhelming response of people that he talked to and asked that question to, their word was disappointed.

I think God feels disappointed.

I think God feels disappointed in me.

I feel like I've been a failure.

I feel like I haven't done it well.

I could do better.

I haven't measured up.

Just trying and sucking, and sometimes I don't even try.

I in fact today I didn't even want to want.

I just feel like a disappointment.

He says, You already have my approval.

You're the delight of my life.

When I was in college, shame became my identity.

When I was eight years old, I um I remember seeing my first graphic pornographic image.

It was my brothers watching a movie in the basement of my uncle's house and the rated R1, and I saw that stuck with me.

It led me on a journey of being addicted to pornography, and uh by college it had come to a head.

And I just felt so shame.

Like this is who I am, and I'm I'm just the worst.

And I'm a failure.

I'm like studying theology, wanting to like follow Jesus with all my heart, and I just kept getting sucked into this world, and it just covered me.

And I I had some of those dark thoughts that uh some of us have of like my life's not worth living, and even going down some of those roads that really scared me.

One night I had this dream.

And it was the first time I think I've ever been able to see myself or at least get a closer glimpse of the way God sees me, not the way I see me.

And in this dream, I remember walking into my dorm room and the lights were off, and there was this little eight-year-old blonde boy sitting at my desk in the dark.

It was me as an eight-year-old.

And the computer was up and the screen was lit, and you all you could see was the blue hue against his face.

And it was the first time I could look at that little boy and not feel shame and feel like I'm a failure, but feel hurt.

And I remember in my dream I'm like crying out, like, don't do it, it's gonna cause so much heartache and pain.

No, please don't.

And God's looking at that little boy and going, No, I'm not down on you.

I love you.

I don't want you to experience it.

It breaks my heart that you're there.

Please come into my arms.

Oh, that you could see yourself the way God sees you.

Oh, that you could know your true identity.

Because all of life flows from that.

You don't have to achieve and work and perform, and God's not down on you, and He's not holding his arms crossed.

You're my kid.

You're my daughter.

You're my son.

I love you.

Before you've ever done anything, uh you already had my approval.

I'm well pleased.

I'm well pleased with you.

From.

Not for.

Could you stand?

We're gonna close with this song.

And I think it's one where I I actually just want you to preach to yourself.

I'm no longer a slave to fear.

I am a child of God.

Where you'd sing that out, you'd declare it, and you go, maybe God, this is a really hard one for me to say right now.

But hello, I'm gonna lean in and I'm gonna trust and believe, and I'm gonna stop believing the lies of the enemy, and I'm gonna declare your truth over me, and I'm gonna keep declaring it.

I'm gonna read these notes, and I'm gonna keep going in until it sinks its way all the way from my mind into my heart, and then I begin to believe it that today I am a child of God.

I am his beloved, I am approved, I have the full affection of the God most high.

And every spiritual blessing is mine in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Let's sing.

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