WHY AM I NOT SEEING RESULTS? | Pastor Shaun Nepstad

How many of you ignore instructions when building something new?

Anybody?

Lift it up, lift it up.

Okay, put your hands down.

If you're sitting next to somebody who ignores instructions, point at them so we know who they are.

Yeah, that's a lot of you.

They didn't raise their hand, but you we'll raise it for you.

I'm I'm one of those guys.

I will get something.

Recently, my wife bought uh a big remote control car for our grandson, and she was like, Could you go get the car from the you know from the truck?

I thought it was gonna be a car.

It was a car.

It was a mail truck.

And it took my my grandson wanted to play with it right away.

It took me like two hours to build that thing.

And I'm the kind of guy who's like, you start off so confident.

You're like, I don't need instructions, I got this.

And then three hours later, you have a lot of extra parts and something that wobbles.

And instead of you confessing that you messed up, here's what you say.

You say, I don't know why they design it like this.

Blaming the company.

Well, God gave somebody in the Bible some very clear instructions on what to build.

His name?

Noah.

How'd you know?

Noah built an ark.

And the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, I'm gonna read a lot of verses today.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

We'll go Hebrews 11 and then Genesis.

Without faith, shout faith.

It's impossible to please God.

No wonder the devil's been attacking your faith because you can't please God without it.

Because anyone who comes to God, him must first believe that he exists.

That's a pretty big deal.

You gotta believe that he is.

And watch this, he is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him.

So whenever you seek him earnestly, God rewards that.

Then it goes on to say, by faith, Noah.

Now I preached my first sermon on Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And it's kind of like we call, you know, the Hall of Fame.

We call this in church world the Hall of Faith.

Because it just lists hero after hero after hero.

And I'm by what I mean by hero is just regular people who God used to do amazing things, but they're heroes to us.

It's all about Jesus, but God used some incredible men and women.

And I remember 13 years old.

I preached my first sermon when I'm 13 years old in front of an entire church.

Had 30 pages of notes, nervous, just so nervous.

I wore a turquoise silk suit.

I came swishing up to the pulpit.

Preached on the hall of faith, baby.

But I never forget studying for that and use some of my grandpa's notes, and I remember coming to this phrase: By faith, Noah.

How did he build the ark?

By faith, Noah.

When warned about things not yet seen.

That's by the way, why you need faith.

In holy fear, he built an ark to save his family.

Now, the story of Noah is found in Genesis 6, 7, 8, and 9, about 11 centuries after Adam.

And to this day, we have murals in preschools and nurseries and baby rooms all around the world because we're trying to teach these young kids what it's like for an average guy who walked with God to have the favor of God on his life.

So now go with me to Genesis chapter 6, first book of your Bible.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 6, verse 5.

Genesis 6:5

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was so great on the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of their hearts were evil continually.

So God is getting ready to judge the world with the flood.

And people are like, why would God do that?

You know, that's crazy.

It wasn't like these were innocent people.

There were such sin, such diabolical sin that they turned their heart away from God.

There was judgment that came from God.

So the Lord was sorry that he made mankind on the earth and was grieved in his heart.

And then verse 8, come on, read this out loud, everybody.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Isn't it great to know Noah walked with God?

He walked with God when nobody else was.

This is the account of Noah.

Skip to verse 9.

This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless.

Watch, among the people of his time.

And he walked faithfully with God.

Mankind at this moment in history was doing whatever the heck they wanted to do.

They were living their life apart from God.

Violence ran rapid.

And you have to understand the context.

This is before Jesus Christ gave grace by paying for sin.

So mankind had to pay for their own sin.

Anybody grateful we don't live in the Old Testament that Jesus Christ died, paid for sin, now we received that grace.

We're not working for salvation, but there was a standard God set in the Old Testament, establishing the need for Him.

And so God would judge the world, save this one family.

Go over to Genesis chapter 6, verse 11.

Genesis 6:11

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and full of violence.

So God said to Noah, I'm going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.

And I'm surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

So make yourself an ark, say ark.

This is a big old boat of cypress wood.

Make rooms in it, coated with pitch, inside and out.

This is how you are to build it.

I want you to understand.

God did not give him an order and then tell him to go figure it out.

This, Noah, is how you are to build it.

The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits high, and he gave him these instructions on how to build what he required.

Now there's one verse jumps off the page of me, and that is where the Bible says, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Here's what's wild.

It wasn't like Noah was dropped into godly culture.

It wasn't like Noah was raised in revival.

He wasn't.

He lived in a corrupt generation.

And he lived in a generation, literally, verse 5 of chapter 6 says, every inclination of the thoughts of human heart was only evil.

Watch, all the time.

This is not like, hey, we had a rough week.

They made a couple bad decisions.

This is like a moral free fall.

But there's a man named Noah.

Can I tell you everybody, you can live right when a generation lives wrong?

Come on, write this down, somebody.

Noah walked with God when it was weird.

It's not weird, but it's weird to other people.

You ever been looked at crazy because you believe that God is love?

You ever look been looked at weird because you believed in intelligent design and not evolution?

You ever look been looked at weird because you believe the Bible and not just what other people say on YouTube?

Yeah.

Well, you're not alone.

No, he stood for God, walked with God, even when it was weird.

And he was blameless among his time.

How can you walk blameless before God among your time?

I'll tell you how.

It's walking in obedience to God.

You're gonna have to stand out at some point in your life.

You can't fit in everywhere all the time.

Because here's a generation that was drifting away from God, and Noah walked with God through obedience to what God said.

Now let me explain this just for clarity's sake.

To walk with God does not mean that you just float through life playing little worship music in the background.

It doesn't mean that you just like you're really following God because every once in a while you post a cute little inspirational content from scripture on Facebook.

It's not that we attend church occasionally.

This is what it is it means daily obedience even when nobody else is doing it.

Now, God came to him and said, Hey, you have any experience building a boat?

And he was like, no.

He said, Do you do you have any tools?

He was like, no.

And that's how he got his name.

That's the best thing you're gonna hear all day.

I made that joke up years ago, and it still kills every time.

Listen, we like to sit in what other people are building, but we don't like to build.

And I want to encourage you, that's why you need to go through a growth track.

Growth track is a three-week class that helps you discover your gifts and then join the church and then find out your best next step.

And for those that agree with the statement of faith and our values and our culture, they get on our dream team.

They start helping build this thing.

Like our job is not to just come through, attend a church, or be in a generation.

Come on, we're to build what God's called us to build for a generation to come to know God.

Come on, clap your hands if you're with me.

Our next growth track is the first weekend of every single month.

So make that a priority.

But I want to go back to Noah for a second and imagine the ridicule that he had.

Because it had never rained up to this point.

God just watered the ground with the dew of the morning.

And how many people looked at him and were like, hey, what are you building?

He's like a boat.

They're like, What's a boat?

Floats on water.

Oh yeah?

Where's the water?

It's coming.

To be able to continue to build when you're not seeing much movement requires a certain level of faith.

Listen, everybody.

Faith looks foolish before it looks faithful.

Did you hear what I said?

Faith looks foolish before it looks faithful.

He obeyed God before he had evidence.

Hebrews says in 11, chapter 11, verse 7, by faith Noah being warned of things to come that had not yet been seen.

Like not yet been seen means he moved on a word, not the weather.

You know how we'd be like, all right, I'm gonna build this thing, but I'm gonna wait for it to rain first, and then maybe the ground starts getting real wet, and then I'll go to Lowe's or Home Depot, and I'll I'll I'll get my tools and I'll he moved before he ever saw anything.

Why?

Because God said there's gotta be a respect and an honor for the word of God to move even though you don't see anything yet.

Genesis chapter 6, verse 15.

Genesis 6:15

He said, This is how you're to build it.

Like it's it's not about just building anything.

There's a lot of people building stuff, they're building their life the way they want, their marriage the way they want, their kids the way they want.

It's not about just building, it's about building right.

Come on, everybody, turn and tell somebody the instructions matter.

Turn and tell somebody else the instructions matter.

God gave him blueprints, gave him the tools to use, the measurements, the materials, because God is so gracious.

God always provides for what he requests from you.

He's not gonna just give you something, turn his back on you.

He's given us the word of God, the instruction manual.

And he told him, here's the type of wood to use.

Use this type of wood, here's how you build it.

It's 300 cubits long, it's 50 cubits wide, it's it's 30 cubits high, which that translates into 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall.

So here's a boat that is four stories high.

Picture a football field in your mind.

It's bigger than that.

And Noah's like, all right.

I I almost I almost lost it building a mail truck from my grandkid.

And Noah's about to build a boat that's bigger than a football field.

I need you to see this.

I need you to understand, God didn't give Noah vibes, he gave him instructions.

Like when we come to church, we don't come for good vibes.

We come because we are desperate.

We need the instruction manual for God to teach us how do we build our life on the word of God.

Noah didn't have a picture and a box to follow.

There's no YouTube channel, like, hey, like and subscribe for more big boat builds.

He had none of that.

He had a word from God when it never rained.

And Noah built he did it exactly the way God said.

Watch, I love this verse.

Noah did everything just as God commanded.

Say everything.

You know what everything means?

That's rare.

That that's rare.

Because we will we will give God partial obedience and call it a day.

But you need to know partial obedience is just polished disobedience.

We think it's all polished and nice, nice, it looks good.

It's still disobedience to God.

Noah did everything just as God commanded.

And here's something people miss the the ark did not look efficient, it didn't look nice, it there's no sails, there's no rudders, there's no steering mechanism.

Why?

Because God didn't call Noah to drive.

He was called to build, but not steer.

And our job is obedience.

God handles outcomes.

And some of you in life right now, you are so stressed because you're trying to steer what God only told you to build.

Listen, church, if we're not careful, our independent spirit rises up and tries to control what we were only supposed to steward in life.

We're not to control everything.

We just steer, we just we just steward it.

God steers.

Another interesting fact, did you notice that the ark, the measurements God gave was six times, exactly six times long as it was wide.

Do you know that's the exact measurements and ratio that boat builders use to this day?

And God gave that thousands of years ago.

How long did it take him?

The brother was six hundred years when he started.

Come on, somebody.

What's our excuse?

Genesis 5.

I'm sorry, 500 years old when he started.

He's 500 years old, and then in chapter 7, he's 600 years.

How long did it take him?

My gosh.

100 years?

A hundred years building the same boat when it had never rained.

I'm trying to get this into our perspective today because can you imagine 40 years in and not seeing movement how you'd feel?

75 years in, no rain, how would you feel at that moment?

Kids are asking, like, hey dad, you sure about this?

The kids are making fun of us at school again.

He built a boat bigger than a football field with no Home Depot.

How many times did he hit his thumb with a hammer?

How many words did he want to say when he hit his thumb with a hammer?

How many splinters did he get?

How many days was he mocked by his neighbors?

All of this.

You ever built something for God for like five years and didn't see movement?

And how did you feel?

I wrote a book called Don't Quit in the Dip several years ago and talked about the frustrations that we had even starting this church.

Because this might not resonate with you exactly, but as a church planter, somebody who starts a church, you want to reach as many people as possible.

Well, we grew to 300 people and plateaued.

We did not grow for seven years.

Now, a church of 300 is a great sized church in any city, but what do you do when the dream inside of you is not matching the reality that's in front of you?

Let's turn it around.

Maybe it's not just a church.

What do you want to do when you are building your marriage and you're not seeing the results that you want?

When you're building your kids and you're not seeing the results that you want.

When you're building the business and you're not seeing the results that you want.

All of us know the feeling of frustration when there's something inside of us that we want to see something built bigger than what we're seeing.

For me as a pastor, I was like, let's just let's pass this church to somebody else.

We might as well just go try something another city because I've hit my lid.

And I'm so grateful we didn't stop.

I'm so grateful we didn't quit in the dip.

Because there are thousands of people that come to church now at fellowship whose lives have been changed.

Not because we're great, but because God is great.

Come on, give God all the glory.

I'm here to tell somebody delayed rain doesn't mean denied promise.

Just because you don't see movement right now, like anybody can serve God for a week.

But while God was having Noah build the ark, Noah was focused on building the ark, but God was focused on building something in him.

Never underestimate seasons of development because oftentimes we think it's all about what we're building, and oftentimes God is building something greater inside of us.

You hearing what I'm saying?

Noah gets on the boat.

He doesn't do much fishing because he only had two worms.

Two of every kind.

Two of every kind of animal gets on there.

Now some people argue, like, how do they get you can't tell me they put all the animals on the boat like that?

There's no room.

Look, if I'm Noah, I'm not taking big old animals that are past reproductive age.

I'm bringing babies.

And I'm gonna bring a lot of eggs.

Noah's family gets in the boat, they're saved, and here's something powerful.

The very first move that Noah does, when he gets off of the ark, according to Genesis 8 verse 20, he gets down, and the very first thing is he builds an altar of worship, not a house.

Genesis 8:20

He does not build a fence or a resume, he builds an altar of worship because before he's about to rebuild his life, he rebuilds his worship.

Come on, if you survive a storm but lose your worship, you still lost something.

Understand, he understood something we missed, and that is this the miracle was not the boat.

The miracle is the mercy.

His family was saved from judgment.

Come on, anybody grateful for the mercy of God?

That means God not giving us what we deserve.

Noah tried preaching to the whole generation and they wouldn't listen.

Like he built a boat on dry ground during the day.

He had some tracks with a three-word sermon on it, it's gonna rain, and he passed those out in the evening time, and nobody listened.

So that generation died in the flood, and his family would be saved.

Listen to me, everybody.

Here's another point the door was not closed by Noah.

The Bible says in Genesis chapter 7, verse 16, God closed the door.

Genesis 7:16

Which tells us a couple things.

Number one, God seals what He what He said He was gonna do.

He will seal it.

And number two, this is important.

Not everybody who laughs at your obedience will come in with you.

Not everybody who laughs at your obedience to God is gonna enter in with you.

This is a sobering fact.

Listen, grace has a door.

That door to the ark was open.

Nobody took it until it was too late and God closed the door.

Grace has a door, it doesn't stay open forever.

So my recommendation is move while the door is open.

While we preach, while we give demissions, while we plant churches, while we feed people, while we do everything we do, is we are trying to encourage people to receive the grace of God, to come through the open door while it's open.

And this is obviously a foreshadow of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is coming back again.

And Matthew, back in the New Testament, the Bible says, and it was in as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark.

Like they're just living their life, no care for God.

And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

So while we preach Jesus and preach Christ grace, repentance, the Bible.

It's because we're trying to tell people come in.

The door's open.

Jesus is the door.

And all of you who've entered in, how many are grateful for that gift of grace and salvation that God has given you?

If that's your heart, clap your hands.

And God would give them a rainbow.

Watch, I've set my rainbow.

Whose rainbow?

God's rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant.

Say covenant between me and the earth.

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.

Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

And the world has seen floods, but God said, I will never flood the entire world.

World again.

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, every kind on the earth.

Now listen, we live in a day and age where that symbol has been taken to use, be used, and represent homosexuality.

Let me tell you, God's original plan for that symbol was mercy.

That is a symbol of God's holy covenant to never destroy the earth again with a flood.

It's God's.

So Noah built the ark.

It wasn't pretty, but it was effective.

It was like probably had a lot of duct tape on it.

But it worked.

And it wasn't a yacht.

Like, literally, if you think about it, it was a floating barn.

And an animal's smell, noise.

You ever realize sometimes obedience stinks before saves?

What does a farm smell like?

Purpose.

No endured.

How in the world can you endure a hundred years of mocking from the world while still building what God told you to build?

I'll tell you how.

He valued his calling over his comfort and God over culture.

At some point, we've got to get there.

Now here's what we skip.

Oftentimes, trying to encapsulate his entire life, we skip this part, but I want to include it because it's there.

After all of this, the big victory, they're saved, Noah got drunk.

Yeah.

Genesis 9 21.

He messed up.

He got drunk.

And we're looking at him like, wait a second, you're the hero of the faith.

Yeah, freedom doesn't mean you're not still vulnerable.

Come on, somebody.

God using you doesn't mean you're still not vulnerable.

And a matter of fact, you know this to be true.

Sometimes it's after the greatest victories comes the greatest vulnerabilities.

So guard your heart.

Takeaway some Noah's life.

You can be faithful in a generation that doesn't have a heart for God.

We're seeing it in our young people.

Our young people are taking a stand for Jesus Christ, and it's not popular.

They're looked at as weird.

But I'm here to tell you they're taking a stand for God, and I'm proud of them.

Number two, you can obey God without applause.

You don't need the world to applaud you.

You don't need so many likes for what you stand for.

Some of us, some people, influencers will not post something unless they know and are convinced it will get a lot of likes.

You don't need a lot of likes.

You need one like from God.

Number three, you can build without immediate results.

We don't have to have the results immediately.

Have patience like a farmer.

Have patience, and you can survive what destroys other people.

There are some things that have destroyed other people's lives, and you're still standing because you're built on something different.

You're built on the solid rock of the Word of God, Jesus Christ our Lord.

And you can recover from your failures.

You can.

Now let me give you this.

I just wrote this in here.

I was talking to a friend, a minister in Israel, and I just was reminded of a couple things.

I want to bring to your attention.

You've probably never seen this before.

Genesis 8 4.

When it was all said and done, I'm going to ask you a question, but you would answer it probably wrong.

If I said, How many days was Noah on the ark?

Most everybody would say, 40 days.

No, it rained for 40 days.

The brother was on there for a year.

The Bible talks about about a year and 10 days or so, he's on this boat.

So they come to the end.

The waters begin to recede.

And Genesis 8.4 says the ark came to.

What's the word?

The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararod.

Okay, watch this.

Here's the Hebrew connection to Noah's name.

Noah in Hebrew is Noah.

It's like a hard guttural H at the end.

Noah's name.

Noah means rest.

There was a prophecy over Noah when he was born.

Genesis 5.

Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son.

Now he called his name Noah, saying, This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the land.

So when the ark came to rest on Mount Ararot, it was the fulfillment of prophecy of Noah's name.

From curse to rest.

And then in Genesis 8.21, after Noah comes out of the ark, worships God, God said, I will never again destroy all living things.

One translation literally says, I will never again curse the ground.

Noah, rest is the first prototype of a greater rest bringing.

Because in Noah's day, rest from the cursed ground.

And then Moses and Joshua rest in the promised land.

And then David and Solomon got rest from their enemies.

And then there would be a Messiah who would come and give us our perfect ultimate rest.

And in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, Jesus says, Come to me.

Matthew 11:28

Anybody weary, anybody heavy laden and burden, I'll give you rest.

Come to me, I will be your ultimate perfect rest.

From all your trouble, from all the sin, from all the burdens.

This was a picture of what Jesus was going to come and do in our lives.

He placed them in the mountains of Ararat.

Listen, he didn't bring them back in the valley where they started, he took them to a higher elevation.

Can I tell you what tried to drown you might just be what carries you?

Closing thought, just remember.

Just remember everybody.

The ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic was built by professionals.

We build God's way, not the world's way.

Not all skill, it's submission to the word of God.

Noah didn't have experience.

What did he have?

He had obedience.

We don't need to be the best.

We just need to obey God.

And Noah found favor.

He didn't have favor, but he found favor with God.

That's through obedience.

Like the word found implies there would there have been a pursuit.

When you pursue God, you find favor through obedience to God's word.

So here's the question: What are you building?

What are you building in your life that God's called you to?

Because everybody's not gonna understand why you build your marriage the way that you do.

They'll say, Why are you building your marriage that way?

Why are you building your kids that way?

Why are you building your business that way?

Why are you building your legacy that way?

Why are you building your life that way?

And you have to be able to say confidently, I'm building according to the pattern that God has given me in the word of God.

Noah was obedient.

We don't like the word obedient because we think obedience means you're under someone's thumb.

It doesn't mean you're under someone's thumb, it means you're under God's protection, you're under his provision.

And never forget the opening verse.

God is a rewarder of them who earnestly seek Him.

The difference is in Noah's day, the world lived however they wanted to.

Noah did what God said.

And today we've been given instructions on how to build our lives, how to build our marriage, how to build our kids, how to build a church, like how it's to be constructed, what do we use to build it, how do we protect it?

Look at me.

This is not the time to ignore instructions.

This is not the time to wing it in life.

Because if Noah would have ignored the instructions, that brother would have sunk.

And if you and I don't build according to the word of God, we're going to sink too.

And some people are sinking around you, and then they turn around and they're blaming God.

They're building according to their own pattern of the world, their own ways, and then they want to get mad at God.

Come on, everybody.

They're building their own way, they're ignoring the instructions.

How many think it's time we come back to the Bible?

We come back and build our life on the word of God.

Know it at all that the Lord commanded in Genesis.

And then the Bible says in 2 Timothy, all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Let me end by saying this.

Find out what God wants you to build.

Find out how God wants you to build, and then you keep building.

Once you start building, don't stop building, no matter if you even if you haven't seen rain yet, build anyway.

Even if you don't see movement yet, build anyway.

Walk with God anyway.

Trust God anyway, obey anyway.

Because when the rain finally does come, and it will come, you'll be so glad you built your life according to the pattern God gave you.

Come on, clap your hands if you agree with that.

Noah.

Truth is, some of you, you've been building your own way and you feel like you're sinking.

Could be in your relationship with God, could be your marriage, could be finances, could be, I don't know, a myriad of things.

But today let's come back to God.

Listen, listen.

The door of grace is still open.

Jesus is the door.

So with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, watching online or in this room, if you're here and you say, I want to give my life to Jesus, I'm just and I don't want to be anymore.

Or you're once close to God and you've drifted, and you want to come and recommit your life to God, it'd be my honor to lead you in a commitment prayer that you can pray right where you are.

I'm not gonna have you stand right now, call you to the front.

I don't want to embarrass you, I just want to connect you to God.

But this is a moment where you have to make a decision.

Just like everybody in Noah's Day, they had a choice, so do you.

We have a choice whether we enter the door of grace, whether we make Jesus our Lord, and give our life to follow Him.

But I'm here to tell you when you find Jesus, you find favor, you find forgiveness, you find hope, you find healing, and everything else that comes along with Him.

So that's you.

Watching online in this room and you want to give your life to Christ on the count of three.

Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

Just slip your hand up and say, Count me in that prayer when you pray it, Sean.

I'm giving my life to Jesus today.

Don't feel like you gotta go fix yourself before you come to God.

That's then that wouldn't require grace.

That would require you to work your way into salvation, and we can't, because we need Jesus, who already paid the price 2,000 years ago.

So if that's your heart, you're gonna give your life to Jesus.

On the count of three, lift your hand up.

Come on.

One, two, three, lift your hand up and just leave it high.

Lift it high, lift it high.

Lift it up and leave it up.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Every yes is a hand.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Great, great.

Many of you online, just respond in the chat.

I'm in.

It'd be my honor now.

I'm gonna give you the words to pray, but I want you to take these words and make them your own, all right?

Well, I'll pray it out loud with you so you're not alone in this moment.

Just say this.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me first.

Today I give you my whole life.

Forgive me from my sin.

Wash me clean, be my Lord and Savior, and from this day forward, I will follow you.

Help me to build according to the Bible.

Help me to find favor in following you.

And help me, use me to reach others with your love.

In Jesus' name.

Amen, amen, amen.