Collective Church LIVE // Theo Hudalla

man thank you

guys These are moments I love Can we get

Yeah you can go ahead and bring you can

bring the bring the table on up Uh I'm

Pastor Drew I'm the lead pastor here and

I uh you guys are in for a treat I'm not

actually the one preaching today Uh but

I want to give honor a little bit before

uh but before Theo comes on up Uh Theo

is a longtime mentor of mine and he's

got a message that he's going to be

bringing today and uh and and I'm really

I'm I'm just so grateful I'm so grateful

for you Theo I'm grateful for when I was

a freshman in

college He he he he took me under his

wing right after I don't even know if

you know about this Right after I faced

like a a big ministry rejection that

that like I needed like I I I needed

time to recover from Theo took me under

his wing and uh and and I learned so

much about the heart of God and the

heart of ministry and and he's been a

mentor and I've kind of just we we've

kept in contact and then he became a a

member on our management board as we get

started and we need people pastors

people that I trust from the outside

that can help lead collective church and

lead me as we are trying to get this

thing going in an honorable righteous

good way And I believe I need to come

under a covering as well And so he came

on there and then and and then when he

had a transition in his life he and his

family go we want to start coming here

to collective And I think that shows a

little something of what God's doing

here Something that's really special Uh

and he has got incredible wisdom and uh

and and he and his family are going to

be moving in like a month to uh to to

Colorado for a ministry opportunity for

Chelsea's got a his wife's got a

ministry opportunity down there and I

really want I I was like fighting I know

it's a crazy season for you and I really

want for us to be able to hear from him

So please can you grab out your notes

Open up your notes Open up your Bibles

Let's get ready God's got something good

listen to the words and to the spirit

that Theo carries Can we give a hand for

Theo

Amen Well thank you Drew Um it's crazy

Uh when I went to college I

literally smoked my last bowl of weed

jumped in my car and went to Bible

college

it Now um God is good and uh I had been

in Bible college for a semester and then

I came back and um I I didn't have a

place to go back to like I my family

wasn't close or connected and I was like

well if I go back and I hang out with

the people that I knew before what am I

going to do So I just stayed at college

over

Christmas and I don't know if Drew and

Mason if you remember this Uh you guys

invited me to come have Christmas dinner

with you which was incredible because

they were at the college and so uh in a

way uh your family has been uh more of a

blessing to me than you even know And uh

moving to Colorado is not something that

we thought was on our radar We got a

random phone call in December from a

former intern of Chelsea's that said

"Hey uh our department head is leaving

Do you do you want to apply God told me

to call you." And next thing you know uh

we're selling our house and moving to

Colorado Um and it's amazing how God

works And right now the story that I am

working on in my

life is how do I say yes to a call that

I didn't see coming that I didn't know

was in my life And now uh my and my wife

gets to do her dream job in her dream

location the place that she was born And

it's incredible how God has opened all

that up and we're navigating like how do

we how do we do all of that How do we

say goodbye How do we uh move How do we

handle the stress How do we get all the

pieces as we're moving nine hours away

And I am

excited about how I get to share God's

story through that whole process from

the moment like when I was dragging my

feet so hard on this like I was not like

I was like I don't know I don't know And

I knew like she was on the phone and I

was like "Crap we're moving to

Colorado." Like I can't I kind of just

knew like God was doing something And so

after we went down there I we

um I was dragging my feet and I decided

you know what I I need to commit to this

because Chelsea was ready So I went up

to our room She was folding clothes on

the bed and I said "Babe I I think we um

I think you need to sign the offer

letter and we need to go to Colorado."

And I said "Can we pray together?" We

prayed together And within 10 m it was

between 10 to 20 minutes I'm on the

couch Kai's in the shower Chelsea's at

the kitchen table Nobody except for us

and God knows we're going to sign that

letter and send it off and she gets a

message from the executive pastor saying

"Hey if you accept we'll cover your

moving

costs." God yeah amen There's I got like

five more stories of what God has done

but I don't have time to tell you them

all But I'm excited because I just

constantly see God working And the more

we open ourselves up to him every day

the more he seems to step in

And I think in the midst of this series

love uh living worthy of your story

That's what I want to talk about today

But love people into the light Uh our

stories are are powerful It's a

testimony of what God is doing And

stories they inspire me and move me in

in ways that just other things don't

And I remember I had the unique

opportunity to go into people's homes

for a water restoration company and I'd

help them put their homes back together

when it would flood or catch fire It's

pretty special to walk with somebody

through that And one day I got to go

into um this lady's house I'm gonna call

her

Shelly She was an older lady She didn't

understand everything She's like "Can

you just like sit down with me and walk

through all of this I just want to make

sure I'm not getting ripped off and I

understand everything that's going to

happen in my home So I do that and I'm

talking with her and I notice she has an

accent and I was like "So so that's a is

that a European accent Like what is

that?" And she goes "Oh it's French." I

was like "A French How'd you end up in

Omaha Nebraska?" Obviously military

connection right It's in Belleview And

she says "I met my

husband after World War

II." And I was like Wait a second That

means French France World War II And I I

let her talk a little bit She was uh

after World War II a ski guide in the

Swiss Alps and her husband was from the

States and was stationed in Germany and

took a week-long vacation and she was

one of the ski guides and that's how

they met and then they got married and

moved to Omaha and then they had a bunch

of kids and a family and it was just

kind of cool to hear that story And I

said "So you you were in France during

World War II." And she said "Theo when I

was seven years old Nazi

Germany occupied and invaded my hometown

From the time I was 7 to 11 years old we

lived under their thumb of uh of

occupancy." And she and the way she

talked about it was just different I was

just I was moved I was like "How do you

go through something like that How do

you live through that And I was also

moved because that story when she's

gone that story's kind of gone with her

So I spent the next 15 20 minutes

talking to her about life and about

faith and family and all that stuff and

just soaking up what I could And it

inspired me to hear how she overcame

that how she lived in light of that

And stories do

that Every single one of us in this room

has a story that is powerful It may not

be I survived Nazi

occupation and it may not be I did this

on the way to Bible college Uh but it's

something that God has done in your life

And when you begin to express

that it

inspires and changes lives And I want to

ask you what is your

story What has God done in your

life that could shape someone else's

life And it doesn't have to be crazy It

doesn't have to be big

I think there are more people in this

room that need to know what it's like to

grow up in the church and to find your

own faith and to stay faithful to Jesus

while going to

college I think there are people in this

room that need to know how you stayed

faithful and handled when your parents

got a divorce I think people in this

room need to know what it's like uh to

live through the loss of a family member

and know that God is not uh avoiding or

punishing you Right There are so many

things and the way you have walked with

God through those circumstances can show

others how they ought to and how they

can walk with God And there's stories

that everyone needs to hear Stories are

powerful

See who were you before

Jesus How did you meet Jesus And what

has he done And if you can sum that up

in two minutes or five minutes or 10

minutes like you should who were you

before Jesus What did he do in your life

How are you different now And if you can

just talk about that in two minutes five

minutes it's powerful

through work I do a lot of network

marketing which just means I hang out

with a lot of people get to know them

and we send business around And so I'm

in a lot of different groups or a lot of

different uh uh open houses or events

where just ton of people talking in the

room And I get to often present at those

types of

things And I decided early on that well

I was a pastor for 20 years I probably

just need to get that out of the way So

I just tell people my story I kind of

would get up in these things and I'd say

I do two truths and a lie And the two

truths were I've been arrested seven

times and I was a pastor for 20

years And like it's like what are we

doing here Who is this guy You know and

it and it's like don't worry I've

changed right I was I was arrested a

long time ago then became a pastor for

20 years But people want to

know is he

real Because when you start talking

about Jesus when you start telling

people about what he's done in your life

or who he saved or how he saved you they

want to know is that authentic Is it

real

And it it kind of puts put pressure on

me because I knew then that if there

were people in the room that had a faith

story that they would be drawn to me and

I could possibly minister to them And I

got some cool stories that come out of

that And also it puts pressure on me

because now uh when I'm out on the golf

course at a golf scramble where

everybody's getting absolutely hammered

I have to control

myself right It's

pressure And so I do I live in a way

that is worthy of my

story right Do I live in a way that

speaks to what Jesus has done in my life

and wants to continue to do And and when

I think of your story and and whatever

that might be do you live in a way that

when people were to hear that story and

then see your daily life they would go

"Wow that's why that story matters

And I want to challenge us to do two

things today Two big things that one is

are you living worthy of your story

That's my first question for you And my

second question is a little more

difficult Are you using your story to

call people to follow

Jesus Because it's not just about living

your story and living worthy of your

story At some point the church has to

become people that call others to join

them on that

journey So are you living worthy of your

story I love what the Apostle Paul

writes to the church at Ephesus Uh if if

you're not familiar with the book of

Ephesians Paul is writing to the church

when he's in prison He helped plant the

church Now he's in Rome He's in jail And

he's trying to tell them how to live in

the first three chapters are this

incredible picture of God's blessing in

our life Like when you accept Jesus and

and receive the forgiveness that comes

freely through his grace and the work on

the cross you you are adopted into

sunships You're given every spiritual

blessing in Christ Like there's it's

amazing You should read it I I sometimes

just go back to Ephesians to remind

myself that God has given me everything

I need And then he gets to chapter 4 and

this is what he says Verse one and two

As a prisoner for the Lord then I urge

you to live a life worthy of the calling

you have received Be completely humble

and gentle Be patient bearing with one

another in love And it's funny the next

few verses he's going to talk about the

church building each other up and

supporting each other And so he's like

"Hey hey you want to live worthy of your

story Start by bearing with one another

in love as part of the

church It's going to be messy because

we're

messy." And he he's trying to encourage

the church to live a life worthy of that

calling And in verses uh 17-2 and I just

want to read some of this because I I

don't know it's powerful to me He says

this So I tell you this and insist on it

in the Lord that you must no longer live

as the Gentiles do in the futility of

their thinking They are darkened in

their understanding and separated from

the life of God because of the ignorance

that is in them due to the hardening of

their hearts Having lost all sensitivity

they have given themselves over to

sensuality so as to indulge in every

kind of impurity And they are full of

greed That however is not the way of

life you learned when you heard about

Christ and were taught in him accordance

with the truth that is in Jesus

You were taught with regard to the

former way of your life to put off the

old self which is being corrupted by its

deceitful desires to be made new in the

attitude of your minds and to put on the

new self created to be like God in true

righteousness and holiness Therefore

each of you must put off falsehood and

speak truthfully to your neighbor For

all we are all members of one

body And he's saying "Guys we understand

that Jesus didn't die on the

cross for you to stay the

same Jesus died on the cross to forgive

you for your sins so that you could be

transformed and part of the kingdom of

heaven." The message that Jesus preached

every town he went into was "Repent for

the kingdom of heaven is at hand turn

away from your old life and step into my

kingdom into a new life that I have for

you And the power of the gospel is that

you don't have to do that alone because

he says "I'm going to give you the Holy

Spirit to help you do

it right I'm just not going to leave you

out there to carry the weight and the

burden

yourself

but but your life ought to be

different."

Ephesians 5:1 says

Ephesians 5:1

this "Follow God's example therefore as

dearly loved children and walk in the

way of love just as Christ loved us and

gave himself up for us as a fragrant

offering and a sacrifice to God." And I

hope that you took to heart a few weeks

ago when when Drew was calling us to

love our

one to to find a to pray for them and

then find a way to express love that

really really impacts

them Live a life of

love But sometimes I think in America we

we take the gospel message and say love

is love is all you need Right What's the

song How do you do I can't sing like

Drew and Morgan Um no Drew got up here

to sing the other day other week and I

was like my goodness what can't he do

But because he was I was like who how

can you sing like that Anyway uh but um

but he says this this is what Paul goes

on to say But among you there must not

be even a hint of sexual immorality or

any kind of impurity or of greed because

these are improper for God's holy people

Nor should there be obscinity foolish

talk or coarse joking which are out of

place but rather

thanksgiving For of this you can be sure

no

immoral impure or greedy person such a

person is an

idoltor has any inheritance in the

kingdom of Christ and of God

And Jesus didn't

just die so that we could stay the same

He called us to into a life of

love and a life of

holiness where our words and our deeds

and the things we do and the way we

treat people all

matter And living worthy of your

story when you encounter Jesus and you

surrender to him is about being

transformed day after day after day And

are you living worthy of his

sacrifice And I don't know that most of

us are like come to church on a Sunday

and then go out and just do whatever

like it's a free-for-all and like this

is our time to repent wash ourselves

clean and go back out for a party I

don't think that's most the people in

the room I think most people struggle

with the daytoday consistency that

becomes a slow

creep Uh back in 2019

um I just I I could not stay where I was

a pastor at any longer And I we almost

moved to California We interviewed all

over and I ended up moving to a church

just down the road from here It was a

small struggling church plant And we

were there for about eight months and

COVID hit And like we thought like man

we're putting the wheels back on the bus

We're getting this thing going Like it's

starting to heal People are getting

healthy Like we're not as wounded as we

were when I got here And it felt like

God was really really moving And then CO

hit and we had one of the best years

we've ever had It it but 2021 came

around and I was just

tired I was uh struck like it was just a

tough tough year And then we found out

some medical things in our family and it

just kind of took like our my emotional

health for sure

uh down to like nothing And I remember

sitting there thinking I don't want to

help another person through their

problems as a pastor because I don't

even know how to help myself through

those problems That's where I was as a

pastor I was like dude I don't I don't

even I don't I can't do this But I I

didn't know how to step away without

being a

failure And um I grabbed lunch with a

friend And we sat down at a Chipotle and

I was telling him about what was going

on He says "Theo I God wants me to tell

you about

Elijah." Said "Elijah went and was fed

by raven ravens and let God minister to

him." And then there was a drought and

for three years he took care of a widow

and her son and nobody else He says "You

can still be faithful to God's calling

if you're not a pastor but let God heal

you and you worry about your family

right

now guys That was like three years

ago and and I just can't tell you how

crazy that it it was the way God works

because I needed that But then like we

stepped away from ministry and we visit

started visiting churches trying to

figure out where we'd settle down and

about a year

later we weren't visiting churches as

often Uh and sometime I I don't know I

think there are times where we would go

a month without going to church towards

the end of it

and and we still prayed every night

together as a family We still did all

the things that we would do but me and

Chelsea looked at each other and we're

like you know if we don't start going

back to

church I'm not sure if we're going to

keep going to

church I was a pastor for 20 years and

it was easy for me to get out of the

habit of that commitment once I started

down that

path And and I think that all of our

lives When life gets difficult when life

gets hard when your life gets rocked

when there's a challenge or an upheaval

it's easy for us to walk away from the

thing that we know we need most which is

Jesus in our lives in the presence of

the church community to walk with us and

support us And and for us it was like it

it wasn't like we were in danger of

walking away from Jesus but I can tell

you that I talk with people every single

week who say "I just got out of the

habit of going." Oh yeah I was a worship

leader but I don't really go to church

anymore Oh yeah We go on We just have a

lot of sports stuff so you know with

baseball and all that we just don't make

it out a whole lot So we maybe go once a

month get over there And and I wish it

was a abnormal

conversation but I I'm literally running

through the names of people who have

walked away and aren't living out their

faith in any way shape or form And it

just happened slowly over time And I

think Jesus has a challenge for us

He speaks to his disciples and he tells

them something that if we were to

practice it would confront that problem

It would challenge us in disciplehip and

in life And this is what he says in Luke

Luke 9:21

9:21 And for context the Apostle Peter

has just proclaimed that Jesus is the

Messiah that God has sent to save the

world Peter has just proclaimed that

It's kind of the first time that anybody

has fully expressed it And this is

Jesus's response He says it says Jesus

strictly warned them not to tell

anyone And he said "The Son of Man must

suffer many things and be rejected by

the elders the chief priests and the

teachers of the law and he must be

killed and on the third day raised to

life."

Then he said to them all "Whoever wants

to be my disciple must deny themselves

and take up their cross daily and follow

me For whoever wants to save their life

will lose it but whoever loses their

life for me will save it What good is it

for someone to gain the whole world and

that lose or forfeit their very self

Whoever is ashamed of me in my words the

son of man will be ashamed of them when

he comes in his glory and in the glory

of the father and the holy angels Truly

I tell you some who are standing here

will not taste death before death before

they see the kingdom of

God And Jesus says "Here is my purpose

I am coming to fulfill God's will which

is to die on the cross be buried and

raised from the dead in three days That

is my cross That is my burden That is

God's plan And he says if you want to be

my

disciples if you want to you must deny

yourself They must deny themselves And

it's like wait a second wait a second

You're saying that some at some point

Jesus the desires of my heart are going

to conflict

with your desires for

me and you want me then to deny

myself Okay that's what it means to be a

disciple But he but he doesn't stop

there He says you they need to take up

their

cross They need to take up their

cross Not Jesus's

cross Jesus's cross was the

cross but it was God's

plan Your cross my cross is God's plan

for our

life And Jesus is saying if you want to

be my disciple not only do you deny

yourself but you pick up my plan for

your life

every single day submitting to that

plan and then you

follow me That means you learn from me

You can walk in my

footsteps That you can do what I do That

you can go where I go That you can be

with me where I am at You follow him

wherever he leads And if you can do that

on a daily

basis if you can do that on a daily

basis pick up your cross deny yourself

when push comes to shove you will begin

to become more and more and more and

more like Jesus every single day And I'm

not saying you're not going to fail I'm

not saying you have to be perfect I'm

not saying there's not going to be

conflict or tension But I'm saying that

if you can try

that your life will be transformed in

incredible ways Right Um it means that

when you get into a fight at church

you're not just going to leave the

church It It means that when somebody

calls out your sin you're not just going

to run away You're going to evaluate it

It means that you'll actually take time

to pray and talk to Jesus and see what's

said in his word and get into biblical

community right Like you're you'll jump

into that

It means that when you're engaged or

dating that you're going to set

appropriate boundaries while waiting to

get married I know that's crazy but

Jesus desire is for you to wait until

you're married to have

sex It means that you'll actually

compare your life to the teachings of

Jesus and then try to adjust

Jesus says "Deny yourself take up your

cross and follow me." And here's what

happens when you start doing that The

fruit in your life will be exponential

You will start to see things happening

in you And people will start to notice

The people around you will go "Why are

they different Why are they good Why are

they kind Why do they love in the way

that they do?" Uh I was driving a van

full of teenagers once back from a

concert and before the concert we

stopped at an A&W and a Taco Bell Bad

decision And I and

I So we're on the way back and one of

the kids had too much soda and candy as

well And we're about halfway

back got another 20 minutes and he just

hurls everywhere in the 15 passenger

church

van Um it was bad Like we pull over like

you know you're hoping that worst case

other kids don't start throwing up or

whatever And we you know we handled it

all And one of them said to me uh one

there were three siblings there One of

them whose parents have gone to church

and they were in the church because the

parents gone to

church said "Wow if that would have

happened my dad would have flipped out

and like made us walk home How come you

aren't angry at us right now?" And I was

just blown away that there was that

identification that that like "Oh you're

treating me differently than how I

expect to be treated."

what is and I and I got to love and

disciple that family in a lot of awesome

ways But my point is is that your

friends are going to see Your family's

going to

see Your kids are going to see If you

have kids one of your deepest desires is

probably that they would come and follow

Jesus

I hope that my life is so worthy of the

gospel the way I live that my son sees

that and says "I want to

follow Jesus like my dad follows Jesus."

And that can happen when

you die to yourself

daily And so here's my my challenge As

you start to live like this you're going

to earn the right to call people to

follow

Jesus I say that again If you start to

live like this if you live worthy of

your story you will get the opportunity

to call people to follow Jesus because

you'll share your story You'll testify

to it and they'll say "This is real."

And at some point somebody might

actually ask you the question "I want to

follow Jesus What do I

do?" What if somebody asked you that

today What would you do What would you

say

Do you feel equipped to answer that

question

Anyone It it that is a little bit

intimidating isn't it You'd like I I

call Pastor

Drew Hey this this person wants to

follow like how do they actually respond

to the cross of

Christ Like what do we do And I I my

hope

is

church that as you

grow as a pastor of 20 years the vast

majority of the people that sat under my

pastorship lacked the confidence to lead

somebody to Jesus That they the extent

of their faith of inviting somebody to

follow Jesus was inviting them to church

And I love that as a starting point but

I want you to realize that God wants you

to entrust you with the purpose of

inviting and calling people to follow

Jesus And so I'm going to read a couple

of things And I want to show you the

biblical response Check out Romans

10 says this If you declare with your

mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead

you will be saved For it is with your

heart that you believe and are justified

and it's with your mouth that you

profess your faith and are saved And as

scripture says anyone who believes in

him will never be put to shame For there

is no difference between Jew and Gentile

The same Lord is Lord of all and richly

blesses all who call on him For everyone

who calls on the name of the Lord will

be saved Now check this out How can they

then call on the one they have not

believed in And how can they believe in

the one of whom they have not heard And

how can they hear without someone

preaching to them And how can anyone

preach unless they are sent Is it as it

is written how beautiful are the feet of

those who bring good news And God is

sending you And he's saying I want you

to be people that don't just live worthy

of the calling but you start to speak

and be the voice of God in people's

lives Can I get the salvation line up

there I love this line because we get so

hung up on like when is somebody saved

And I want to suggest to you that Jesus

wasn't calling us to salvation He was

calling us to disciplehip in his kingdom

That that Jesus wanted to seek and save

the lost but not for the sake of

salvation It was so that you could be

united with him forever in heaven Right

It's about so much

more than just getting saved

And so salvation we like to nail it down

to a

point in our culture I I I would I want

to nail it down to disciplehip and maybe

step away from that fixed point and say

guys every time in the scripture when

people

believe and follow Jesus there's really

five things that happen almost

simultaneously

The first is they

believe They believe in Jesus Not just

like ah Jesus is real Like no Jesus

actually died on the cross for my sins

and God raised him from the dead and he

is who he said he is And so I have to do

some I have to respond to that And so I

choose to confess him as Lord and repent

of my sins And and really as you are

walking in life to follow Jesus means

that at some point you he changes your

heart in a way that you go I don't want

to walk towards hell and live for myself

I want to now repent of my sins and

start living for him And so I'm going to

start pursuing him I'm going to start

following him I am going to become

obedient to

him And and for some reason we take

communion which is one of these the

sacraments where we remember the

sacrifice of Jesus The other thing that

Jesus

prescribed for people to do as part of

their surrendering was to be united with

Christ into his death burial and

resurrection through baptism

It's just a a part of the process that

how do you turn you you believe in Jesus

You confess him as Lord You repent of

your sins You unite with him in baptism

And then you live in

obedience because you now have a deposit

guaranteeing your inheritance for

salvation And you live following after

him And so if somebody comes to you and

says "How do you follow Jesus?" You say

"Well what do you think about you What

do you believe about him?" And if they

believe that Jesus died on the cross for

their sins and God raised him from the

dead and that he is who he says he is

then you could say "Then you just need

to repent of your sins confess him as

Lord and I you should step into baptism

so you can see what it's like to

identify with the death burial and

resurrection of Jesus And then I am

going to help you walk in obedience."

that I hope is your response And I I

want to read a passage of scripture to

you because it's u I love the same guy

who wrote Romans 10 that you're saved if

you believe and you confess wrote this

in Philippians 2 Therefore my dear

friends as you have always obeyed not

only in my presence but now much more in

my absence continue to work out your

salvation with fear and trembling

For it is God who works in you to will

and to act in order to fulfill his good

purpose And that passage has kind of

always freaked me out Work out my

salvation I'm not saved through work

because I can never do enough to save

myself But Jesus is working in me

And that sounds a whole lot like if you

deny

yourself take up your cross daily and

follow me you can be my

disciple That's what Philippians 2 looks

like It's saying "Hey once you step in

now it is time to deny yourself take up

your cross and follow me." And for some

in this room you've done that But there

are I'm certain there are people in this

room who have not repented of their sins

who who have looked at uh the cross of

Christ and said "This is amazing I'm

interested but I don't know if I'm ready

yet to make that commitment." And so

this

morning I want to challenge you to live

worthy of your story And if you have not

started that journey or that Jesus is in

the middle of snatching you from the

flames of hell to bring you into his

kingdom I want to encourage you I'm

going to pray and then I think Drew are

we going to have you come up or are you

going to go Okay Drew will come up and

and I want to encourage you to engage in

that because God wants to write an

incredible story in your life of hope

and of joy and of peace in his kingdom

God you are good Thank you for saving us

We didn't deserve it We can't earn it

but you've called us to

it And so God would you help us to live

as we submit to you and we go to take up

our cross I pray that it wouldn't be us

doing it on our own accord but that you

through the power of your spirit would

enable it in

us That you would transform us in Jesus

name

Amen Can we stand

up This is a moment I want to give a

moment of an opportunity to

respond a chance for us to

because that was an incredible sermon

but the greatest sermon of all time

doesn't hold doesn't doesn't do anything

if we do nothing

I've got to

respond to my faith I got to respond to

what God is doing what he is stirring

And this is your moment And I want to

give you guys that opportunity right

here to look at uh one maybe it's just

taking these notes of like how do I how

how confidently can I actually lead

someone into confess of your believe in

Jesus Confess of your sins Repent of

your ways Turn of your ways Turn towards

him Be baptized into the death burial

and resurrection of Christ and then live

a life worthy of that calling And and

some of that may even be I want to

challenge us We've got Can we get our

our challenges that we have for this

series we've said we want you guys to

pray with your pray for your one Then we

want you guys to love your one Then we

want you guys to just listen Ask

stories Just ask for them to hear I I

want to hear your story and then look at

the moments for you to be able to share

your story and to be able to share the

gospel So share with your one your

testimony Some of you guys took up that

challenge and and and now this week I

want you to I want you to go to that

same person and say "Hey they they they

said "I got to I now I got to share

these things with you and and like this

is this is what it looks like Can you

just pretend that you're like interested

in Jesus for a second?" like I'm trying

to I'm trying to if if I was to walk

someone through this would that make

sense to you So I want to give that as

as one of these

challenges Walking someone into what

does it look like to

actually actually turn from our old

ways And then what I want to do right

here there's an opportunity right now

And if you fall in one of these five

convictions where you go I am choosing

right now I'm gonna believe in

Jesus I'm gonna believe in him for the

first time Not just that he existed as a

historical person That is that that that

is just true There there's not very many

people that deny that and and those who

do are pretty ignorant There there's but

it's a believing in him as the son of

God as the Messiah and that he died

buried and was resurrected again for the

sake of our sins to have salvation and

to have this beautiful eternal life with

Christ and with with the father And then

so I I believe if that's

you maybe you are in the category of I

I'm I got to

confess I got to confess to maybe

someone in this room or I'm going to

just confess I'm just going to start and

I'm going to confess to the Lord some

mess some sin some dirt some sinfulness

that I know I've got in my life that I

need to confess I need to get this off

And confession oh guys it's so much more

powerful than just speaking something Oh

it releases the power that it has over

you And then you can repent Maybe you're

going "Hey I've confessed it I've

admitted it but I need help with this

repentance thing I need to turn and I

need to start following Christ and I'm

just going to that's my new focus." And

maybe maybe it is I need to get baptized

And I don't know if you can find the

baptism slide but we've actually got

baptisms in like five weeks We're going

to be doing baptisms And I want to

invite you if you've never been baptized

as an adult to make a decision and say

"I'm going to meet Christ in the death

burial and resurrection and I'm going to

I'm going to obey in that." But if

you've got in and and then five number

five live in obedience Live a life

worthy of the calling and the story that

God has for you If you're in any of

those

categories I want to invite you to come

down If we can have our prayer team as

well come and our prayer team can meet

you prayer team come And if you are in

that category go ahead and come on down

as well If you say "I need to either

confess I need to repent I need to live

in obedience I need to uh I I I I need

to be baptized and I need to figure out

what that response is." Go ahead Come on

forward I see you guys Come on You're

not alone You're not alone And if you

know that the person next to you that

God's doing something in their heart and

you need to grab their hand and walk

forward with them go ahead and walk

forward with them But this is the

opportunity to take some boldness and to

take some faithful steps towards him And

big things are happening here guys Come

on As you respond come on Can we give a

hand Can we give a hand to what God's

doing in this room We got people

responding up here I love

it And this is not I'm going to pray and

I want for us Can we gather around Can

we gather around some of these people

Can we gather around Becca here Can we

gather around We got Malie right here

Come on come on forward if you guys if

you need to respond We're going to pray

and we're going to get an opportunity

You're not going to be alone in this If

you need to respond and you didn't want

to do so with people's eyes open we're

all going to shut our eyes and we're

going to pray and you can come on up

right now Go ahead Jesus in the name of

Jesus I declare that there is new life

in this place I believe that there is

there is repentance God I pray for

confession to exist in the house of the

Lord that we will admit of our wrongs

and repent of our ways and come to you

so that this sin no longer has power

over us God I am ready for all of

collective for everybody here to live

lives that look like we've been changed

and transformed and never the same again

God I pray that our co-workers God I

pray that our family members that our

neighbors that those who we are riding

in a van with in the car with those who

we sit by that they are curious about

the different way that we operate that

we would live so radically different

that people can't help but question it

Lord I pray right now in the mighty name

of Jesus We thank you that salvation is

possible because of your grace We thank

you that salvation is possible because

of your sacrifice And we thank you that

right now no one in this room has to

leave the same And so we pray and we ask

and every single one of us just

surrenders our lives Would you in your

own words to Christ just as loud enough

for you to be able to hear yourself Just

confess and repent and say "God I need

you I give my life to you again I don't

care how long you've been following him

Surrender again Lord I confess I repent

And I give my life to you again I am all

yours We are all yours And never again

do I want to be the same I want to be

changed I want to be filled with your

spirit more than ever I want to be

refilled with your spirit I want to walk

in your power and I want to live

according to your grace a life worthy of

the story that you are writing for me in

my life God I pray this in the mighty

name of Jesus we pray Amen Amen Come on

can we give a hand for what God's doing

in this room right now Amen

[Music]

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

[Music]