DEFEAT Your Darkness // The Light of the World (part 3) // Pastor Drew

Heat. Heat.

this Christmas season. Do I got any uh

people who is like this is your time of

year, right? When you jam out and this

is your favorite season. Anybody? Come

on, let's go. I got like all the I don't

know what to call it. Elves, right? Like

like this is your this is your time.

This is your season. Uh, I I am I I'm so

grateful that we get to come together. I

so great I'm so grateful that we get to

have this time. Isn't that photo booth

outside just beautiful? Who's taking

advantage of that photo booth so far?

That's our events team here just to try

to make this experience

something memorable for you and for your

families and so that we can be a

blessing as you guys are coming in here.

Uh, and and I got to say I just I get

filled with so much gratitude. uh being

together and in this time and uh for

family and uh there's there's a lot of

things as we talk about the light of the

world in this season. There's a lot of

things that it just makes me so grateful

for. Uh but

but I was thinking as I was thinking

about a light, I was thinking about how

my wife is always a light to me. Right.

>> Right. Yes.

and she does almost nothing wrong, but

this I hold against her

every once in a while when we're laying

in bed and and you know like pillow talk

and we're trying to we're wind we're

winding down and she may she may go, "Oh

my goodness, I saw this video or this

sermon clip or this uh illustration or

this little boy that hugged his mom or

like I don't know, right? Like I saw

this video. You need to see it." and she

will hand me her phone

and you know it's like lights are off,

the room is dark and she hands ME HER

PHONE ON FULL BRIGHTNESS

AND IT'S GOT THE IT'S GOT THE LIGHT OF

10,000 SUNS. MY RETINAS are immediately

burned. I can't see anything. And she's

like, "Look at it." And I'm like, "I

can't. I don't know if I'll BE ABLE TO

SEE TOMORROW."

His government and its peace will never

end. He, this person, this prophesied

Messiah will rule with fairness

and justice from the throne of his

ancestor David for all eternity. The

passionate commitment of the Lord of

heaven's armies will make this happen.

So, this is crazy. This is a prophecy

that gets really specific

that there will be

in a time of deep great darkness,

there will be a light that comes and

this light is going to come in the form

of a baby. And this baby will eventually

bring light to this area between the Sea

of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea.

And that'll kind of be this home of this

light in this area of Galilee of the

Gentiles. And the light's not only going

to be for the Jews, but also for the

Gentiles. And that we're going to see

that this this LIGHT COMES AND IT'S NOT

ONLY going to be a light of a good

person, but it's going to be called a

wonderful counselor. Mighty God.

Mighty God. So, this is going to be God

in the flesh coming down to be born and

to minister in this area of Galilee.

Isn't that incredibly specific? 700

years prior to the birth of Christ.

It is this incredible

prophecy that we look at and we go if

you want if you want to wrestle with I

think it's important too and to look at

things like is Jesus actually the

Messiah that was prophesied you got to

look to prophecies like this keep nine

uh Isaiah 96 through7 pulled up uh that

that is that that looks to this and

actually begins to speak into such

specific details And if not, if you

haven't ever had those questions, I

think it's important to remember for

your friends that may because there's a

lot of weird stuff, a lot of false

truth, a lot of false things going on.

In fact, we see that now

in this picture that as it was

prophesied and then you see the reality

later because

what we're talking about today is we're

talking about a land filled with

darkness.

And we've talked about how Jesus is the

light of the world, but there's darkness

around us and there's darkness in us,

right?

What I want to talk about today is

defeating your darkness.

Defeating your darkness. And this is

this is where we see that the the light

of the world, the light of Christ

overcomes

all darkness.

But here's the here's the crazy thing

about this Isaiah. So, if you Isaiah

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9, if you've got that, if you

pull back one chapter and just look at

the verse right before Isaiah chapter 8

Isaiah 8:22

verse 22,

if we can pull that up, Isaiah 8:22, it

Isaiah 8:22

says he's prophesying about a time right

before this. says, "They will look to

the earth, but behold distress,

darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they

will be thrust into thick darkness, or

in other versions say a deep darkness.

It's a season of silence. It's a season

of darkness. It's a season of hardship,

of oppression that he's prophesying

about."

And this is not, maybe this sounds

familiar. Maybe this season right now

looks like that to you.

A season of deep darkness.

And yet

chapter 9 verse one it says this

darkness will not go on forever.

This too will pass.

And to remember, did you know this

darkness that actually was over Israel

was was actually a judgment of God on

them?

The darkness was not even the enemy.

This one was a hardship in a season of

judgment that Israel needed for

constantly

disobeying and coming against God and

chasing other idols and then saying,

"Oh, but God, I want your good things

still. I want you to bless me, but I

want to do it my way. I still I I I want

to come to you when it's helpful to me

and abandon you when it's inconvenient."

And he says, "If you're going to keep

doing that, I'm you're going to

experience judgment." And they do. and

they end up experiencing judgment. But

every single time, every single time

when God judges, when God brings about

judgment, he's always got a good plan

and a good purpose that is intended to

walk you into light and life. And that's

exactly what we see here. We see that

Israel needed this reset from idolatry.

And they needed a place of going, this

is what it's like when God's hand is

removed.

This is what it's like. And this is a

lesson that we all need to pick up on

because man, does that not sound

familiar to some people in here? Does

that sound familiar? When I need God, I

go to God. When things are doing all

right,

I'm not praying quite as much. I still

love him, right? Like I'm still a

Christian. And I'm still like when

things are going okay, I'm not I'm just

not leaning in quite as hard. I'm just

not I'm not I'm not chasing him as much.

And like I think I kind of I I think

I've got this thing figured out. I think

I

have mastered this thing. You know what?

That last victory that I was praying for

and then I was begging for, I think I

really played kind of the big part in

it.

And we convince ourselves of these false

victories and we take the medal that is

deserving to God and instead

claim it for ourselves.

And we find that our distance with him

increases

actually in the easiest times. Many

times that's how people's life works.

When I need God, I draw near to God.

when I don't need God or when I feel

like I don't need God, I pull away. And

they experience this judgment in this

dark season. But in the same thing as we

look at this, so 700 years later,

700 years later, you have this season of

deep darkness. What did this look like?

See over this same region, over the area

where Jesus was born, you have the king

and the ruler was Herod the Great. And

Herod the Great

was this. You never knew what you were

what was coming. He just would he he was

always afraid of someone taking over his

throne. and he would kill anybody who he

thought might potentially be going after

his crown,

including his wife, including three of

his sons, including every boy in

Bethlehem.

if you come against and yet you want to

know what he called himself he

considered himself

to be the king of the Jews

was his self-proclamation

because he was over this this Jewish

society and he was the king over there

and he's like aren't I so great aren't I

so merciful aren't I not aren't I so

kind I am one of you I helped to restore

and help to beautify your temple I

helped to build it and expand on it.

Aren't I great? And people are like,

"No, watch out. It's actually a time of

deep darkness." He's bringing about this

false. What he's trying to do is he's

trying to call on David, King David, who

we talked about in our last series. He

He's trying to call upon this of like

the king of the Jews. And he's like,

"Aren't I Aren't I like David? Aren't I

this picture?" See, the enemy will

always try to bring about a false

picture of the good thing that God is

doing. Did you know the devil can't

create?

God's creator. So any sin, anything that

the the enemy that Satan produces is

actually a thing that God has created

that's then been twisted and warped and

perverted and twisted into something

evil into something dark. And so in the

same way, whenever you see something

like this that you're like,

I feel like this is

this is bad, but it's got the it's got

the right name on it. It's got the right

picture. Just because someone slaps the

name Jesus on their business does not

make it a Christian business.

Just because someone quotes a Bible

verse does not make them a follower of

Christ.

Right? Just because I say I'll be

praying for you or just because I say

merry Christmas does not mean that I'm

actually submitting to the purpose of

this season. And in the same way, we see

this se this season of deep darkness

going on. But then we we look at this

now as we call this back to Christmas

because unto us a child is born. And as

we take this into where we are right

now, we look at a the darkest time of

the year when the sun is at it is winter

solstice.

It is a season that that's actually was

celebrated for thousands of years in

pagan festivals. And there's a lot of

people that say that Christmas has

piggybacked on this in order to and and

and this is why Christmas is a pagan

holiday. Anybody ever heard that? Ever

heard that? Yeah. Here's the reality.

The reality is is that there's old

traditions that say that Jesus was

conceived on March 25th and so he would

have been born on December 25th. And so

that's where and then you also get this

idea, this picture that was a Christian

staple throughout all of history that

these these Christians that have just

left Judaism or just let whatever left

whatever pagan religion they had and

they're going, "How do we give this

light out to the people around us?" And

they would take they they would take

these ideas and these principles and

they'd find the good truths inside and

say, "Actually, this is what we're

celebrating." Like Paul does in Athens

when he says, "Oh, I see that you guys

worship a lot of gods. I want to talk to

you about the one unknown god and who he

is." And then he begins to give the

testimony of Jesus. In the same way,

Christians would use this time of pagan

festivals to be able to when they when

their friends say, "SO, WHAT ARE YOU

doing for uh Saturn what what's it

called? What's it called? Saturnitis or

whatever the heck the celebration was

called. What are you doing for this?"

Yeah, that sounds like a disease. It I

didn't say that right. I didn't say

that. Uh but what are you doing for

that? And they're saying, "Actually, I'm

celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

I'm doing that with my friends. That's

why I'm bringing gifts to my workplace.

That's why I'm bringing it into the

marketplace. That's why I'm doing all

this. Would you come and celebrate this

with me?

What's a better way to be the light in

this time? And so, this was actually a

missional purpose. The heart behind

Christian behind Christmas was always

Christ was always him. Was always to

point to him and to in inject Christ

into a lost world that desperately needs

light. Isn't that amazing? I want to

challenge you guys to find what's the

gospel thread. What's the way that you

can inject Christ

into your life,

into your celebrations, into the way

that you not just go about Christmas Eve

and Christmas Day, but actually get some

light in there. Amen. Can we do that?

Like be intentional at your workplace.

What are you doing to inject the light

of Christ in there? That's what we were

talking about all last week. I'm going

to keep it going. Okay, here we go. So,

this is this is where we got to look at

Isaiah 9 verse one. Pull that up again.

Here he talks about bringing darkness

into light. Turning darkness into light.

And the darkness in your heart, the

darkness in your story. There's a lot of

different darkness that we have to see

him overcome. In fact, Jesus, God wants

to turn your darkness. God wants to turn

your sin, your life, your story,

yourself. He wants to turn it into

light. And this is where we see from

these passages.

We see a couple different things when he

talks about this the land of Zebulun and

Naphali. What's going on is they

actually this is the part

of the nation that would begin to mingle

with the surrounding nations. and not in

a not in a good way of like being

missional, but like we're taking on your

gods. We're taking on your customs. And

they were beginning to abandon their

faith in the truth in the one true God.

And they were beginning to and he says

though you are here. So what is he

highlighting? The first area that God

wants to turn your darkness into light

is actually your sin.

Is actually an area and I want you you

can write this down. God wants to turn

your darkness into light. Your sin is

the first area. This is where they have

allowed for the enemy to come in and

influence them. Instead of being a

light, they are being overcome by

darkness. And they're choosing these

actions that are wrong, that are sinful.

And whether you want to admit it or not,

your sin has a massive impact on you.

Not only in that sin separates you from

your creator, but sin separates us from

his perfect good plans for us. And I may

try to remove and ignore the weight that

my sin puts on me, but I cannot.

I cannot

see. Only Jesus

can overcome this.

What God wants to do is he actually

wants to redeem your sin.

He wants to take your sin. He wants to

cover it up. But here's I was just

having a conversation this last week

with a gentleman who was talking to me

about uh his his anger and he's like,

"For my whole life, I've been angry.

I've blown up. I've had a short fuse.

I've had a quick temper. I've been so

angry." And you want to know what,

Pastor Drew? in just the last few months

is I've been seeking Christ and pursuing

him. It's like it's it's just

disappearing. It's going away.

We're able to talk about this this

problem of like I can work on it without

Christ, but here's the problem. I've got

this sin issue. I've got this emotion

and I got this SOMETHING THAT I GOT TO

DO SOMETHING WITH. And so, what do I do

in my anger? I sin. And so, BUT HOW DO I

HOW DO I DO THIS? I have nowhere to put

it. If you have no Christ, YOU HAVE NO

PLACE TO actually lay this down. You

just try to try to hide it and deal with

it. In a lot of counseling, they're just

like, "Hey, this is how you you try to

fix it yourself or you try to just come

to terms with the reality of your

brokenness." And Jesus is like that can

like I want you to come to terms with it

but not in agreement and going I'm a

sinful person and I need to lay this at

the foot of Jesus. And you cannot lay

your sin at the foot of a counselor. You

cannot lay your sin at the foot of a

pastor or a priest or anyone else. No

human can do that. only Christ can be

given our sin, take that down to the

grave and give us victory and redeem it

into something good. He want in the in

the same way he takes this this darkness

and this evil and this season of deep

darkness when you look over the whole

land and he says it's going to look so

dark and he says and it's a lot because

of sin.

See, sin's not so powerful that God

can't do anything about it.

Your sin is not something that I hide

from God. My sin is something that I

expose to him and I give it to him. And

suddenly when I've got whether it's

anger, whether whether it's uh how I how

I blow up at people or whatever my sin

may be, suddenly when I have a place to

put this within my soul, within myself,

I have a place to put this and it's at

the feet of him. And sudden now I I can

get rid of it and I can step away. And

now I'm free from this thing. I don't

just have to hide it or stuff it in my

pocket or brush it under the rug or

ignore it or pretend like it's not

there. I actually can give him my mess

because he's the only one who has access

to your heart, to your soul, to who you

are. Let Jesus redeem your sin. You

cannot place your sin and your guilt and

your shame on any crystals, on any ju

guu, on any power, on any person, on any

good karma, on any good deeds. You

cannot do that. It will do nothing for

you. It will not remove that weight. I

must give it to Christ. Amen.

>> Amen. So God wants to turn your darkness

into light. That is your sin. Your

second thing, you can write this down.

your story. Turn your darkness of your

story. I don't know what your story may

look like.

I know every single story Morgan talked

about a season of darkness that had

nothing to do with us bringing in sin

into a situation where we where we're

wrestling through and we're trying to

celebrate Christmas while while our

daughter's life is hanging in the

balance in the niku and we're going this

is it's a season of darkness. Maybe your

story looks like the darkness of your

own mistakes.

Maybe you're facing the consequences of

your actions.

Maybe your story has darkness injected

in it by someone else.

and their abandonment, their rejection,

their harsh attitude, their abuse, their

neglect,

their lies that have echoed in your mind

for decades

continues

to haunt you.

And this is this is that darkness that

Isaiah is talking about.

He's talking about

an area where the story has always been

off.

Where the story

of this area of of Israel has always

been dark,

has been injected with their own

mistakes, has been injected with the

enemy's curse, has been injected just

with hard times and dark seasons. And

this is similar to what I think Mary

must have felt 700 years later when an

angel shows up in Luke chapter 1 says,

Luke 1 · chapter mention

"Don't be afraid, Mary. For you have

found favor with God.

You will conceive and give birth to a

son, and you will name him Jesus.

He will be very great, and he'll be

called the Son of the Most High. The

Lord God will give him the throne of his

ancestor David. Remember we that was

just prophesied that this that this

savior is going to come from the

messianic line of David. And it says and

he will reign over Israel forever. His

kingdom will never end.

I don't know what Mary's story was that

she had built for her life, but I

guarantee you it was not nearly as

incredible as the story that God had

written for her life.

See, God wants to reshape

your story.

He wants to the the way that I find that

he does this in in in ways that he never

can. I know of people who have gone

through and they talk about looking into

their darkest, hardest seasons,

the time when they're curled up as a kid

in the corner of the room

and I this a man told me this story

about

as his mother was getting beat and he's

hiding and he's crying and years later

he's trying he God highlights this to

him and it's as If Jesus is in the room

right there saying, "I'm I'm not I'm not

lost. I'm not gone. You have not left my

sight. I am still with you. I am

protecting you. You are okay." And it's

this this reshaping and this reforming

of this old memory, this old darkness,

this old season. And he says, "I want to

reshape your story in a way where it

doesn't look like hopelessness and like

trauma and like issues, but I want to I

want to reshape it into a story and a

testimony.

He's got more for you than just your

past being cut off, stopped. Now I'm a

new child in Christ and I start brand

new." He says, "No, I'm actually gonna

use that. I'm gonna use your old sin.

I'm going to use your old story. And the

last thing here

that God wants to turn from darkness

into life is your self.

See, self is this this this you inside

of you, right?

When I reason with me, when I try to

figure out what am I doing? Why am I

feeling the way that I'm feeling? Self

is that part of me. It's my soul. It's

not just it's not my identity. It's not

the way that I perceive me. It's not

just my body. It is my soul, my myself,

who I am. And I don't know how Mary

perceived her self prior to this angel

showing up.

But as a as as a good Jewish girl,

she certainly probably in her teens pro

certainly did not would not have been

expecting teen pregnancy to be on her

on on on her list of life dreams.

Certainly did not expect an angel to

show up. Certainly did not expect to

have to explain this to her fiance

Joseph. certainly did not have to did

not picture these things in the way that

she thought that they were going to be.

But I'll tell you what, who she thought

she was, she what she did, the amazing

thing about Mary that you see in this

song that she writes right after she

learns about this is that she gives

herself

and all this image, all this picture,

all these dreams, all these like this is

just what I should do. this is who I am.

Instead of going, MAN, GOD, YOU'RE

MESSING IT UP for me or you have messed

me up or or I'm I I get to pick who I

am. She looks to him. She listens to his

voice and she says, "I lay my self at

your feet and whoever you are calling me

to be, I will be." See, in this world,

we're told to do the exact opposite.

We're told you build yourself.

Yet, as we look at this guys, I'm

telling you, the more you build yourself

without

surrendering self to Christ,

the more depression rates rise, the more

suicide rises, the more the more

problems I run into, the more sin I get

caught in, the more I'm finding myself

caught in darkness.

See, God wants to take who you think you

are.

And when I give it to him,

he

will redefine it.

He will reshape your story. He will

redeem your sin.

And he's going to make it new. He's

going to turn your sin into

righteousness. He'll reshape your story

into a testimony and he will redefine

yourself into his true good perfect

design. If we can stand up in here, what

I want to do is as everyone stands up,

go ahead.

See John John 15. We can pull that up

again. John chapter 1 verse 5, the very

John 1:5

last verse in that in in our main

passage here. Here it says the light

shines in the darkness and the darkness

has not overcome it.

The darkness has not overcome the light.

The darkness cannot now. It'll try to

convince you that your sin's too big.

Your story's too bad.

Your self has already been defined, has

already been shaped. Your past has

already made that. You've your decisions

have already made that. You've already

come to terms with all these issues.

Yet, guess what? He wants to redeem

that. He wants to reshape that. He wants

to redefine that so that you will find

light in him. It only happens in him.

Lay down

yourself.

See, this is I I've had these I've had

these moments in my life. For me, it was

years ago. I was in a season of

depression. And my depression had a

little bit to do with my situation, but

a lot to do with my darkness.

Had a lot to do with my sin. I'm dealing

with an addiction to pornography at the

time. I had a lot to do with my story. I

had I I I had a a a girlfriend cheat on

me. I had moved and I didn't have

friends. I had my grandma was sick and

dying. I had all this stuff that was

going on all at the same time. And I

just I was young and I just I was so mad

and I was so frustrated. And the only

emotion I ever had genuinely

I could fake a smile. I could fake a

laugh. The only emotion I genuinely felt

was anger.

Everything else was numb.

See, I had I had this sin I didn't want

to let go of. I had this story that I

was everybody else was the problem.

everything else was the issue. And I had

this self that I was hanging on to. And

guess WHAT I WAS STILL DOING? I DIDN'T

MISS A SUNDAY. I kept going to church.

I was helping out in my in my church. I

was serving. I was on the worship team.

I was helping to lead junior highs in in

ministry and Bible study and all this

stuff. And I was I I was doing the right

thing. But my action was there. Myself

was not. My person was not. I had not

given me to him and I was holding me

back.

And I want to I want to have us step

into this moment.

Can we pull up those three points here?

God wants to turn your darkness into

light.

He's going to do it. He's going to do

it. And I want to ask you guys,

what's the part? What in you is the

thing that you go, I need to I need to

bring this out into the light. See,

Jesus

doesn't

take your sin. He doesn't take your

story and take yourself and turn it into

something good. He receives it.

He will He will absolutely transform

you.

He will change your story. these old

traumas that continue to show up that

cause me to cling on to old things, old

habits, old addictions, old people, old

problems that I've always had. If I lay

them at his feet, if I bring them into

his light, suddenly

they do not carry the power that they

once did.

Suddenly,

I get to walk in freedom

instead of slavery to sin. I want to

invite us into this. If God is calling

you uh to to defeat your darkness, not

by fighting harder, not by figuring out

the right counseling, not by building

all the right tools, but by just

surrendering it, bringing it into the

light and surrendering it at the feet of

Jesus. Your sin, he will redeem into

righteousness and to purity.

Your story, he'll reshape into a

testimony. and yourself. He's going to

redefine into his perfect image, his

perfect plan, who he has made you to be,

not who I make me to be. Amen. So, I

want to take this time I want to take

this time and I want to I want to ask

ask us to pray if we can close our eyes

in this room and uh I just want to I

want to have a second here.

And if God is

God is asking you in this moment,

if God is asking you to give him your

sin,

to give him your story or part of your

story,

to give him yourself while we got our

eyes closed in here, would you actually

just scoot out of the aisle

and meet me up here? I want to I want to

come up just right up here to the front.

If God's asking you to give him any of

it, come on up. I see you. Come on. Come

on, everybody else. You can keep your

eyes closed. Make room. If someone's

coming through the aisle, come on up.

And we need to give this. This is the

moment. This is the moment where you

just set this at the feet of Jesus. You

bring it into the light. And you begin

in your own words, in your own words,

just loud enough for you to barely be

able to hear yourself. Your own words,

begin to confess it and be able to give

it into his light. It's important to

speak it. It's important to speak it

because then the enemy hears it as well

and it begins to shut it down. Then your

mind and your own ears hear it as well

and your mind begins to process it

differently. Come on forward. I believe

there's more of you. If you need to lay

your sin at the altar, if you need to

reshape you, you say, "God, I need you

to reshape my story. I got past. I got

abuse. I got traumas. I got sins. I got

mistakes. I got things that other people

have done. I've got areas where I've run

away from you. And I need to give you

me." And maybe you're saying, "I just

need I DON'T KNOW WHAT I NEED, BUT I

NEED TO give him me." Come on forward.

This is your time. And if I can have a

couple of our prayer leaders come on up.

If you're one of our spiritual leaders

here at Collective, would you come on up

and lay a hand on someone? And if you

want them to pray with you, would you

just would you turn around and talk with

them for a second? But if not, just just

meet with the Lord right here. Holy

mighty Father, if you're still in need

of this, would you come forward while

I'm praying? And if not, would you pray

in your own seat? Would you begin to

pray for a renewal? Would you begin to

pray for a restoration? Would you be

able to begin to pray for a redemption?

Would you begin to pray for reshaping?

Would you begin to pray for a a

redefining of self? Mighty God, in the

name of Jesus, I pray that there's lives

that are being reshaped. There's lives

that are being changed. That there's new

things that are coming right now in this

place. that we walked in with darkness

and we're walking out with light. Lord,

here we are as helpless, HOPELESS

PEOPLE. I HAVE NOWHERE TO PUT MY SIN. I

HAVE NOWHERE TO PUT MY STORY. I have

nowhere to put myself

unless I INVITE YOU INTO MY HEART.

UNLESS I GO TO THE CROSS, unless I offer

it at your manger, unless I give it to

you. And so, Lord, we give you all of

it.

And I pray, God,

Holy Spirit, would you meet in this

place right now? Right here. I believe

that he's coming here. I believe there's

also still some people that need to

respond. This is your opportunity. Keep

Come on up. Come on up. if you need to

respond. There's nothing special about

this place. There's something special

about putting action and putting steps

to the things that you need to do. Yep,

I see you. Come on, keep coming up. Come

up.

God, there's something that you're doing

in this place. Holy Spirit, would you do

what we cannot? Would you anoint the

prayers that are being prayed? Would you

hear the cries of the hearts that are

coming on up that are that are up here

laying self sin and story at your feet?

And would you bring A BURST OF LIGHT

INTO THE DARKNESS that forces darkness

to run away THAT THE DARKNESS CANNOT

OVERCOME IT?

We ask for your story

over the stories in this room. We ask

for your identity over the identities

and the self and the people in this

room.

And we ask for your blood

over the sin in this room that turns our

sin that though it was once like

scarlet, you will make us as white as

snow,

innocent,

pure

with no attachment, no more chains.

God, I pray for freedom here in this

room

in Jesus name.

What I want to do real quick here is if

you've if you've made a decision, I want

to honor what's going on here. But if

you've made a decision and you go,

today I'm laying down my life, I'm I'm

rededicating my life to Christ for the

first time in a while. Or maybe I'm

giving my life to Jesus for the first

time ever.

Never ever ever do this alone. I want to

ask you, would you just put your hand up

real quick just so I can see you? Just

so I can see you. If you're saying, "I'm

rededicating. and I'm giving my life to

Jesus again for the first time ever, for

the first time in a long time. Would you

put your hand up so I can see you? Come

on. Come on. I love it. I love it. Thank

you. Anybody else? Who else? Who else?

Come on.

What I want to ask us to do is I want to

ask us We've got We've got a couple

things over here. We've got some gifts.

We've got some uh a card that you can

take home. We've got a Bible reading

plan. We've got a notebook. We've got a

free Bible for you if you want it. We

want to help you walk through this

journey. Never do it alone. Never do it

alone. If you if you try to do it alone,

you're doing it wrong.

He's got something for you. And if you

walk in it,

I promise you, you're going to see light

begin to get injected into your

darkness.

So before you leave, if you want to head

over to this banner and we'll help we'll

help get you your if if you didn't raise

your hand or if I missed it, would you

please head out? Do not leave without

grabbing this because we want to help

walk you through this journey. And I

want to pray a quick prayer to close us

out. Heavenly Father, in the mighty name

of Jesus, we give it all to you. We

trust you. We surrender it to you. We

ask, would you do what only you can do?

The one who has access to the deepest

parts of our heart. The one who has

access to the darkest parts of our

story. The one who has access to the

sickest parts of our sinfulness. You,

God, we give it to you. We give it to

you and you are not intimidated. You are

not afraid of any of it.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.