Cutting Corners || Pastor Aaron Levy

Welcome to the LSC podcast. Here at LSC we seek the loss, teach

the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by this

week's message. Let's stand on our feed us. Pastor Aaron Levy comes and

preaches the gospel. Get in and get in and sit down, Sit down,

sit down, actually stay standing, steaks standing. Give a round of

applause to our founding pastor, Pastor Diego. Thank you for being a generous

man of God. All right now BCDBCD, BCD, Hey online, you're

right here with us. Lock in, don't hand me as background noise like

tune in right now. And if you're watching outside, thank you for being

here. Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Aaron Levy and

I lead the Pomona campus with my wife Erica. So honored to be able

to do that's online. If if you're in the La County, we have

a church for you. You can follow us on Instagram. ALFC Pomona same

service as we are one church, multi locations, but so great to be

in Rancho. This is where me and my wife first came Easter of twenty

and ten. We've been members for thirteen years. And and let me know

it. Am I tripping? Or can you sense things shifting at ALFC?

Can you hear? Can you sense our growth and our health, not only

just our preaching, but with our worship, with our neighborhood groups, with

the amount of people going through Ford one hundred and sixty four people register for

baptism, Pomona got seventeen. Don't disrespect and our church is excellent. Pastor,

we do have votos in Pomona, but it doesn't stink because we are

in Pomona. But but just so honored to see all that's happening in our

church. I'm a pastor here, but I'm a member here. So I

just wanted to us to just celebrate for what's happening in our church right now,

just the health and the growth. And if you're new to ALFC,

I just encourage you get plugged into a neighborhood, Get plugged neighborhood group,

get plugged in the growth track. Pastor Diego told me in two thousand and

ten, hey come to church for a year straight and see what God to

do in your life. Didn't know that included a career change, but but

it definitely had my values change. It definitely transformed my marriage and now I

have biblical kids. So thank you Pastor Diego and ALFC for that. So

tonight we're gonna squeeze these scriptures. You're ready to squeeze the scriptures. We're

gonna go with a first Sammeo Chapter sixteen. We're gonna stand in just a

moment. But before we do that, are you guys? Okay? If

I just jump in with a thought to kind of drive what we're gonna talk

about, I'm gonna draw the point as long as you don't bag on my

drawings. That okay. Okay. Online, when you see this drawing,

just give me a thumbs up. Don't bag on me, okay. So

I'm gonna draw this point, and then we're gonna read from First Samuel sixteen.

So I am a runner, and in Pomona, we always like support

community events. So in two thousand and twenty one, we ran the Pomona

five K ten K. We sponsored a booth and everything like that, and

your boy won the race and his age true. Okay, okay, So

so so here's me right here, there's me right there, and I'm coming

in two thousand and twenty two, and in two thousand and twenty two.

I'm going for community, but I'm also going to like reclaim my title,

like to be honest. Right and and in six point four miles and as

a part of the race, they say, you gotta go around these cones.

And as you go around these cones, what happens you'll come out on

the other side. Now here's the problem. I'm a rule follower. So

as I'm going around the cones, there were people that were going straight across.

So there's there's there's people that are up here. Now I'm running around

looking at these people. But now while I'm doing that, I'm like,

well, you know what, I have integrity. I'm just gonna run my

race. I'm not until this guy won. He cut corners, he didn't

go the route he was supposed to go, and he won. How do

you think I felt? And sometimes we feel the same way in the Kingdom

of God. I go to church, I serve, I do the right

things. I'm trying to treat my spouse right. But it seems like I

don't win, and the people that win are the ones that cut corners.

I had the character to follow the rule. I don't know if I had

the character to celebrate this person. No online tell me, should I have

snitched? Because you see the guy on the front and he's getting his medal

and everything like that. And that was me last year and I followed the

rules and I didn't win. What about you? Have you been trying to

do things the right way? Have you been trying to honor God? Have

you been trying to follow the rule? And all of a sudden, all

you see on TikTok, all you see on Instagram? Are you hear about

your co workers? Well, I just got engaged. Well we just celebrated

here, we just took a vacation here. But you know their life.

They cut corners. What do you do when other people cut corners and they're

the one that wins. But these are my sermon points tonight because this looks

like our discipleship journey. Okay, Because what happens is God will call us

to go on a discipleship journey, but in his infinite wisdom, a lot

of times he'll call us to a cave. He calls us to the cave

because he wants to give us a crown. But before he gives you a

crown, he has to test your character in the cave when we give our

lives to God. A lot of times we think we are called to get

the crown, and you are but God. And as infinite wisdom allows us

to go through some caves, and through those caves, it gives us the

opportunity to not only get the crown, but keep the crown. So with

that said, if we can stand on our feet, please, we're gonna

read first Samuel sixteen, verse six through seven, and this will be the

first point, which is call, everybody, say call. We're gonna look

at that journey as David's life. But what I want you to do is

parallel your season. I want you to parallel your discipleship journey because God has

called all of us. This is when we look at the scripture right here.

This is when David was called in front of his family to be king.

But the portion of scripture that we're going to read is how God calls

and how he chooses you guys. Ready, okay, First Amuel sixteen six

through seven. When they came, he looked on a lie up in thought,

surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel,

do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature,

because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

You may be seated. I want to emphasize a couple of words. I

love the Bible because sometimes the Bible just preaches itself. So so if you

look at this, this is as relates to call. God looks at the

inside, man looks out the outside. So you have this man of God,

Samuel, and he's trying to see God, who have you called for

this assignment? But look what he says here, surely this must be the

Lord's anointed. But he said, don't look at his appearance. A's right

there. And then it says, don't look at his height, we gotta

look at his heart. You see the a's and the agent. Sometimes the

Bible just preaches itself. It just works out right. So so what ends

up happening is a lot of times when we're trying to get called, we

try to get attention from people, maybe subconsciously. But if I have the

right look, if I have the right appearance, if I carry myself a

certain way, surely I'll get this opportunity. But an opportunity is different than

a call. So so man looks at how things look. So look at

your height. Height could be your resume, your experies, your education,

or like what Pastor Diego always says, Yo repute Sean. But he said,

but what God is saying, I'd rather someone anointed than having a good

appearance. What is anointing? Anointing is a supernatural ability to do something for

God. And if it's gonna be for God, many times it's gonna be

beyond our skill. But God is looking for an open heart. So when

we have an open heart, we could be utilized for the call that He

has for our life. So God looks at our heart a lot of times.

Man, we look at the height. But this this begs the question,

though, what is a call? How do you know you're called?

I want to be called by God? What is a calling? Do our

callings change? I believe the Beyond the Letter podcast. We'll talk about that

this Sunday. But if you think about it, I have my cell phone

in my pocket right now. What is the purpose of a cell phone?

It's for calls, it's to even to make calls. But the reason why

my twelve year old daughter Faith doesn't have a phone yet because I know that

there's other opportunities outside of just the calls. If you look at any commercial

about you getting a phone, do you ever see the commercials looking like this

and you can talk all day? No, the commercials are about storage and

photos and apps and all these other things. So what ends up happening is

have you ever been on your phone? You're looking on TikTok, looking on

Instagram online, and then what ends up happening is a call comes in.

Somebody might be calling you right now, and you got about ten seconds to

decide am I gonna focus on what I'm doing? Or am I gonna answer

this call? Right? But if the same thing is with our hearts.

Our hearts are devices to hear God's call, but a lot of times we're

distracted by so many opportunities around us that when God calls us, man,

I don't know if that's a call because I'm working on this right now.

And then once this gets figured out that I'm a is I the only one?

So let's talk about what's the difference between a call and an opportunity?

What's the difference. I gotta I gotta I gotta graph up here that will

give us some difference here now, one based upon the standard of living,

an opportunity to make you money, a calling, and make an impact.

When you think about a standard of living, a lot of times the culture

says, hey, the standard of living is what car you drive, what

house you have. But standard of living could be the values that you instill

to your children, how you treat your spouse, how you're just, how

your employees describe you. That's the standard of living. So if this is

something that you can process next time you have to make a decision, I

want to filter through this system. Is this an opportunity for me to just

make money or make an impact? What about attention? Attention is the new

currency today with everything going on and people trying to get instant virality. If

you could keep somebody's attention, you can make money. But after you do

something, do you want people to talk about you or talk about God?

The best compliments about a sermon is when somebody comes up to me and describes

God in better detail, not me in better detail. All glory goes to

God. So opportunities a lot of times make us look better. And that's

the last one higher. That's our thing for the year. So if we're

trying to go higher, are we trying to look good? Are we focused

on how we make God look? So this is just something the process as

you're thinking about is this God's call in my life or is this just an

opportunity? What you want to process is hey, is this giving glory to

God? Or is this giving glory to me? And sometimes you can have

the Actually, I would say majority of the time you'll be in the same

call. You'll just be in different seasons. And sometimes when you go to

different seasons, it may feel like, man, I don't know if I'm

called anymore. Let's look at David's seasons for a moment. Okay, if

we look at David the life of David, because we're looking at his discipleship

journey. If you know David's story, he started off as a shepherd and

this was in his hands. But remember annointeing as about what's in your heart

and it's expressed through what's in your hands. Okay, So he has an

anointeing to be a caretaker. He's taking care of sheep in private. He's

called to that, he's anointed to that and a lot of times God's call

becomes an interruption to us already in front of us. So a lot of

times you're good at something and I'm called to do this. But since I

can care for people, my father is saying, hey, can you take

ten cheeses to your brother's. So it has you have to have the humility

to be like, why is this in my hands? I got my own

operation, I'm taking care of sheep, and now I'm running errands from my

brothers. Well, the context is he was too young to being in the

army, but that didn't mean he was too young to serve and make an

impact in the same call because he's great at care, So now he gets

an opportunity to care for people. But as he's caring for people, you

grow when you're calling and you start taking care of problems. So as he's

taking the tin cheeses, all of a sudden he sees Goliath, something else

is in his hand, same call, same anointing, different season. If

he didn't have the humility to serve with the cheese, he wouldn't get the

publicity of killing Goliath. He wasn't looking for giants to slay. He was

looking to be in his call and being that he's good at at caring.

It looks like this one season. It looks like this one season. I

hope this is giving us clarity that you can have the same calling, you

just go through different seasons. Kills Goliath. He gets the attention of the

king. And as he gets the attention of the king, the king has

some mental health issues. Name is King Saul. And a part of his

skills now that what's in his hand because now he's learning how to honor people.

He's playing the harp for kings Saul. But I think we have King

Saul in the building. I think king is King Saul. Here, let's

get rid of a philosopher, King Saw as he comes up, little little

little millennial King Saul. Here's the challenge why. Sometimes we're in God's call.

But as we transition the point number two, God allows us to go

to a cave. Where's this guy? Oh no, no, no,

no, no, the spear my guy. Okay, come on, come

on, come on this side right there. Okay. This is an illustration

of First Samuel, chapter eighteen. Online. You'll have to read it.

I'm just giving you a commercial for it. Here's what happens. He kills

Goliath, women start singing about him, but the king needs people to calm

him down, so he starts playing the heart. Calm down, Soul,

please calm down, and it be. The people that you serve are the

ones that try to take you out. Be the people that are close to

you that throw the spears at you. I'm in my call, i am

annointed, I'm using my gifts for God's glory. And why does this spear

get pointed at me? What did I do? God? God is testing

him in the cave, because had this spear not be pointed at him,

he wouldn't have ran to the cave. Here's what God is testing him.

I need you to have the courage to kill Goliath and the self control to

honor him. David knows that he's a punk because he didn't kill Goliath.

You don't think David wanted to be like man. But he's anointed and he

wants what's in his heart to be expressed through his hands. So sometimes when

you're in God's calling, you will serve others, and those people that you

served be the ones that try to take you out. That could be in

your marriage, that could be with your spouse, that could be with your

children, that could be with your boss, your parents, it'd be the

people that are close to you that you try to serve. Be the one

that's like, so calling looks different from season to season that we've illustrated.

But let's see what happens as David runs to the cave. Because what happens

is he throws this down and he runs for his life, and now Saul,

King Saul is on the lookout for King David in the cave. You

just stay right there for a second. Police, We're gonna go to the

next scripture. How are we doing so far? Are we got okay?

Cool? Cool? Cool, Let's go. Let's pull up the next scripture.

Police. We're in First Samuel twenty four one through five. This is

important. Let me get my Bible. Second point cave, he's called so

far everything has gone good for him. I'm anointed to be king. Why

am I in a cave? That's the context. When Saul returned from following

the Philistines, he was told, be old David is in the wilderness of

Hinghetti. Is how you have to read the Bible. So wherever you're hiding,

people see. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all of

Israel went to go seek David and his men in front of the wild goats

rocks, and he came to the sheep bat foes by the way, where

there was a cave. Everybody said, cave, and Saul went in to

relieve himself. Look at God. Now David and his men were sitting in

the innermost parts of the cave, and the men of Davis said to him,

here is the day that which the Lord said to you. Behold,

I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him

as shall sells, as it shall seem good to you. Can't break character.

Then David arose and steadily cut off a corner of Saul's roll. He

cut corners, and afterwards David's heart, where does the anoint him come from?

His heart struck him because he had cut off the corner of Saul's roll.

Let's play this out. Let's play this out. So so first Samuel

twenty four, King Saul has some taco bell and he's relieving himself, which

means in some translations, he's taking a number two. Okay, so I

need you to relieve yourself. And now just just just face this way and

just kind of do a little squat for me. Just squat this squat.

Just stay okay, okay, okay, all right. So here's the thing.

David. David has some goons with him. First Samuel, chapter twenty

two. You gotta, I tell you, we gotta work out, Okay,

David. David got some goons with him. And this is the first

perspective that I want to give you. Please be aware of the advice that

you get when you're in the cave. Please be advised who you share your

information with when you're in a cave. If you go to first Samuel twenty

two, verse one through two, I think I think it'll come up right

here for Samuel twenty two, Dave, this is David's team. King Saul

had three thousand men. Okay. This is David's team that was in the

cave. This is the context. David departed from there and escape to the

cave of Adullam, and when his brothers and his father's house heard of it,

they went down to him, and everyone who was in distress, everyone

who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter and soul gathered to him,

and he became commander over him. That was his launch team for his

church. Okay, so he's a leader, but his team is broke.

This team is stressed out. His team's so now they're in the cave,

and out of all the caves in Angetti, they're in this cave and the

dudes that David are wit. We're like, yo, look what God did.

And the guys put the sword in David's hand and say, hey,

remember he was playing the hart for this cat. Remember he said that you

wouldn't have to pay taxes and you can marry his daughter. Remember remember when

he look what God did. God said you could kill your enemy. God

said you could take revenge. And sometimes when we're an emotional state and we're

in our caves, we cut corners. So David looking that was happening here,

and when he's looking at the spear, this crazy right. When he's

looking at the spear, he's also looking at his enemy. I tried to

help you. I played music for you, I killed Goliath for you.

I didn't want no harm from you. And in our emotional state, when

we're in a cave, we can I'm not gonna do that, but yeah,

yeah, yeah, thank you. So here's what ends up happening.

He cuts corners, same call, different thing in his hand, and he

recognizing, Ah, my heart strikes me because what's in my hand is not

aligned with God's call in my life. Same call, different season. So

as he looks at this, the reason why he can his heart can strike

him is because he has a devotion time with God, because he's seeking the

Lord's face. When we're not seeking the Lord's face, we always grab this

sword for revenge. But if we're seeking God, we seek this one for

restoration. It's just which sword do you want to pick up. Being that

David spent time here, he can recognize when something is in his hand and

it's just not what I'm supposed to have. But I don't want to belittle

any pain that you've gone through online. So let's talk about the spears.

Let's talk about the people that betrayed you, cheated on you, lie to

you, stole money from you. There's gonna be seasons where you have an

opportunity need to get revenge, because spears are like the thoughts that pop up

in your mind that remind you of what happened, and then it takes you

down a rabbit hole. So what do you do with the spears. Many

times when we look at the spears, we connected with the person, and

that's why we want revenge. So I need you to feel what I felt.

But let me give you perspective of the spears. The spears, they

came at you, but God didn't let it take you out. No weapon

formed against you self. Prosper The spears are real, but it didn't take

you out. You're still here. You have an opportunity for a testimony,

so it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. But God's power is greater than

this spear. Thank God, the spear didn't kill David. Thank God you're

still married. Thank God your kids are still alive. Thank God you are

awake today. You still have another opportunity. But the way that it becomes

a testimony is when you stop looking at him and start looking to God.

God. This does hurt. So I'm not gonna say all men are like

this, all women are all this. Type of people are like this.

That's me connecting the spear to the person. You have two people that go

through the same thing. It's not the issue that you go through, is

how you respond to it. It's good the spear is real, but so

is God's power. Don't pick up the wrong sword, spend time with God.

Let's give him a round of Applaus for his cask on fire. Thank

you so much, Thank you so much, so God to give you a

God to give you a call. I feel like I feel like my dad

a preacher. I'm becking to day. God got to give you a call.

And in that call, a lot of times we feel like we're in

a cave. When you're in a cave, surround yourself with people that are

healthy that can give you perspective of overcoming. If you're having a marital issue,

sometimes you're just talking to single people that may not be the best.

Or if you're talking to a mary. If you have a merital issue and

you're talking to people that are still having the same merital issues and cycles,

you probably want to talk to a married couple that is overcome. Same with

financial issues, if you if you're like like like practically speaking, I don't

want any barber whose own hair is jacked up, like because I'm walking in

there with hope, like I want to come out there looking better. Right,

So that's just some practical advice. But gotta call us a lot of

times we end up in a cave, but it's in the cave where we

get our crown. I believe that there are crowns, and crowns are.

Being at the height of your purpose doesn't mean that you're gonna be president.

It means that you may be the best teacher. It may mean that your

podcast will go off, and maybe you will be the best husband. That's

the crowns. You're being at the height of your purpose, but you're being

tested in your cave. So we're gonna show you how David's character qualified him

to be a king. We're gonna look at verse six and seven, and

we're just gonna highlight a few things I love the Bible. Watch this,

Look at this. This right here is a great leadership principle. Like this

is really good. He said to his men. Watch this online. He

said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to

my lord what the Lord's anointed to put out my hands. See how the

Bible preaches itself against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed. So this

is the this is the this is the part two peas David persuaded his men

with these words and did not permit them to attack saw, and Saw rows

up and left the cave and went on his way. Leadership principle, you

get advice in the cave. Sometimes you're with your team and your team has

a bad idea. What you do is you focus on influence instead of authority.

Here's what influence does. I'm gonna lead by example because I could have

killed him. But I'm gonna be led by my convictions more than I'm led

by my circumstances. So as as I lead and saying no, we're gonna

go We're gonna go the mercy route, then I can persuade my team to

follow my lead, and then I won't permit them to do it. When

I was a younger leader, it will be the other way around. I

thought leadership was just about permission. You can do this, you can't do

that's that's just compliance. This is authority. But if you want relational equity

as a leader, focus on leading by example. That will build trust.

You'll have influence in the authorities already there. So if you're gonna persuade someone,

you have to be able to lead in a way that they would follow

you. If you just focus on your authority, do this. Do that

you're not permitted to do this, then they will only do it when you're

around. But leadership is tested when you're not around. So look at how

he leads by example. Though he's hurt, he's convicted that he has this

in his hand. So now his team member distress, broke, poor,

whatever, But now they have hope because they're like, you know what,

I can rock with that type of character. Good if we keep if we

keep it going, we're gonna look at verse eight. Afterwards, David also

arose and went out of the cave. Look at the Look at the courage

of this guy. I can't write yet, but three thousand men against him

By this time he only has six hundred for SA twenty three thirteen six hundred

verse three thousand men. He had the courage to come out the cave.

Why because he was convicted that he cut corners. So watch this, watch

this. He went out the cave and caught at this Aul, my lord

the king leadership principle. How he described the king in the cave is the

same way he described the king in public. There are so many people when

you're in front of your ball, Hey boss, how you're doing? I

love you man, and then when you get in the cave, and I

think I should kill this guy, But look at his character. He's not

just using flattery, he's using faith. And when Saul looked behind him,

David bow with his face on the earth and paid homage. Wait a minute,

this is the guy I played the heart for. This is the guy

that really brought pain in my life. But I honor God, and God

has chosen this person to beat my anointed leader. So I will be able

to look past their weaknesses because I want to serve God then get revenge.

So if we look at verse eleven, I think verse eleven is next.

See my father the corner. Look at this confession, the corner of your

robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner

of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that

there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against

you, though you hurt my life to take it. He confronts him,

but he confesses, Hey, man, I cut your robe. I cut

your robe. He honors him in private, he honors him in public.

Leadership principle, if you want to honor as a leader, give honor to

your leader. A lot of times we have a cap on our leadership because

we've capt our honor. Once we stop honoring, God can't trust us with

more authority. That's what it comes down to. Okay, now let's look

at let's look at him. Let's look at King Saul's response verse sixteen.

Yeah. As soon as David finished to speaking to these worst to Saul,

Saul said, is this your voice, my son, David? And Saul

lifted up his voice and webbed. Don't always trust the tears of people,

Okay, just don't. He said to David, you are more righteous than

I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I've repaid you evil.

And you have declared this day how you have dealt with me, and that

you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For

if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe?

He's processing I wouldn't have done this. I would have killed you, but

you let me let me live. So may I watch this, So may

the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.

And now behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and

that the kingdom of Israel. Shall be established in your hands, same calling,

different seasons of what's going to be in your hands. And see see

when David had the cheese, he wasn't grabbing for the crown. But he's

able to be trusted with the crown because of his character in the cave.

So my conclusion statement is God has called every single one of us. You

are called. Let's know the difference between a calling and an opportunity. Let's

focus on making God more famous and not us make more famous. But as

we're and as we're doing that, God will entrust us to caves to squeeze

out certain things out of us, to testuffs if we're ready for the crown.

That's what it comes down to. And a lot of people get stuck,

including myself, because we're confused in the cave. But let me give

you hope. Today. Jesus was in a cave because he was the one

that was called from heaven to earth. He came down to a cave,

but three days later he got his crown because of what he accomplished on the

cross. It's good, you know. I'm reminded of a story right now,

and he just came to me. I just spent three thousand dollars on.

Trinity braces her teeth her mouth. It's like it's like a lot of

money and Pastor, that's why I can't afford to PlayStation five right now.

Trinity, Trinity has all these cavities. She's not brushing her teeth. Just

don't let's not let her hear this. She's not she's not brushing her teeth.

She's eating too many sweets, and she got cavities. But here's what

I love about Trinity. She's very honest. So she comes up to me

as her father, and she starts complaining about her pain. And as she's

complaining about her pain, I already know she has a cavity. And we

go to the dentist's office. When my wife goes, my wife sends me

the text message which card do I use? But what ends up happening is

being that Trinity confessed her cavity to her father. Her mother and father were

able to orchestrate away that she can exchange her cavity for a crown. And

the dentist's office and the Kingdom of God are the only two places that I

know that you could go to your father and say I got cavities. And

he lets the dentist Jesus work on you, and you walk in with cavities,

you walk out with a crown. Heavenly Father, we thank you for

what you've accomplished in your word. Thank you that you've called us all.

Help us not to compare callings. Give us your wisdom on the difference between

an opportunity and a calling. But may it just be in our daily spending

time with you so we can know your voice. And Lord, for those

that are in a cave right now, I thank you that you've given them

hope today. That you see us in the cave, but you're also testing

us in the cave. Help us to have the character to come out to

get the crown that you've assigned to us in Jesus name. Amen, thank

you. From God's perspective, these cavities look the same. Culture will teach

us, well, there was this person that did this, and I only

did this because you did this. And God is saying, you guys both

need a dentist. You guys both need healing. And I don't know who

this applies to, what this looks like, but there's one person that's caused

the hurt and there's been one person that's been responding from their pain, and

God wants to heal both of you tonight. Every single one of us in

here experience pain and experience sin. All of us deserve hell. But thank

God that his love for us is not depended upon these things. He just

loves us, and he loves us so much that he sent his son Jesus

to die the death that we deserve and live the life that we couldn't live.

So I just want to encourage you tonight. If if you're online,

could you lock in with me? Could you give me your undivided attention.

Please? If you're in rancho right now, you're already saved, You're already

just start praying right now because it's the most important part of our service.

Eternity is available right now with Jesus. But it's just confessing what you've done

in the cave. I don't know if you're the one that calls the pain.

I don't know if you're the one that's responding to the pain, but

I do know the one that can heal your pain. The start line of

Christianity is forgiveness, and it just requires you confessing where you're at. Are

you ready to start your discipleship journey. What do I mean by that?

Run a race directed towards the values that the Bible indicates. Run your race

based upon God sending his best to you on your worst or you're already saved.

You're running your race. You're on your discipleship journey. But there are

some things that have happened in your life that tripped you up and it got

you stuck. It's time to be set free. It's time to keep going.

I want to pray for you, but I want to know who I'm

praying for online. Would you use an emoji and just give me a hand

to let me know that you need prayer, that you want to give your

life to Jesus for the first time, or this message resonated with you and

you want to continue your discipleship journey, you want to continue following Christ.

And for those of you here in Rancho, I'm gonna ask you to bow

your heads and close your eyes. As I was talking directly to online,

it felt like I was talking directly to you one on one, and that's

great because there's hope for you as well. My encouragement to you is that

you repeat this prayer after me. To give your life to Jesus for the

first time, or you're gonna repeat this prayer after me to continue following and

pursuing Jesus. You're gonna rededicate your life to Christ. And what I would

ask all of us to do as a community, whether you're inside or outside,

repeat this prayer together to encourage those that are praying this prayer for the

first time to give their life to Christ or to rededicate their life. Say,

dear Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me as is. I believe

that you died on the cross for me. From this moment forward, You're

my savior and my Lord. Give me a desire to be in your word

and to be in community. I rededicate my life to you. This is

my fresh start. Thank you for giving me another chance in Jesus. Nay

we pray. We really hope you enjoyed the message and if you said yes

to Jesus, we just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional

to help you walk out your faith. Click the link in the description or

head over to grow dot Faith to download your devotional. Oh and be sure

to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC

podcast and hope you tune in again