Love Actually: | Ps Luke Nucifora

We're starting a new series called love

actually. So much has been said about

love in our world and yet there has

never been a time with less clarity on

what love actually is.

Our understanding of relationships, of

marriage, family, friendships

has been deeply blurred. We need

clarity. We need to come back to the

word of God and see a fresh his vision

for human flourishing in all of these

areas. And over the course of this

series we want to invite you to go

deeper. We have some great

opportunities, some great resources for

you. We are going to be running across

all elevation but definitely here at

Hills the Alpha marriage series. My wife

and I are in the process of doing this

and I want to tell you it will

strengthen your marriage, it will grow

your relationship with your spouse. It

will, you know, be a wonderful

investment into your married

relationship. Make sure you sign up and

get a part of Alpha marriage as it runs

in October. You can do so I believe

through the QR code or the church center

app. We've also got our website, we've

got a bunch of resources, books about

marriage, relationships, sex, it's all

on there and you can go deeper. The

other thing I want to say is life

groups. Life groups, life groups, like

what a great place to get around a

community of believers and talk through

some [snorts] of these things across the

series. But today as Ben mentioned I'm

talking about God's design for marriage.

Now whether you are married or

unmarried, single, dating, divorced,

widowed or have chosen a life of

celibacy,

I believe and pray that this sermon will

serve you. And if you are a parent here,

I'm going to do my best to keep this as

PG as possible but just be aware. We're

going to talk about some things that

maybe you as a parent would like to be

the one to introduce your kids to these

concepts and not just me from the

platform, okay? So, if you've got kids

and you they're not ready for some of

these chats, then our kids ministry, I'm

sure you could sneak them in right now.

So, just know you have been alerted.

I brought something with me this morning

and I want to I guess contend that it is

a something that is a significant danger

to marriages everywhere.

Um it only cost me $25 from Kmart,

but it can cause arguments, tremendous

levels of stress,

and even the need for marriage

counseling. Jackie, can you bring it out

for a second?

Uh behold

the assemble-yourself

flat pack.

Uh I I I heard that in the prayer time,

I think Andrea was saying that there was

a a couple that um that was getting

married, they got engaged. Maybe we

should get them up and while I'm

preaching, they can start the process of

trying to put this thing together

because there are few things that will

test a marriage more

than trying to assemble furniture

together, right? Can I get an amen to

that? Here's the problem. Every flat

pack Every flat pack comes with a set

Look, I've got here the the What is it?

The two-tier shoe cabinet. See, $49 I

got it for 25. How's that for a deal? Um

but every flat pack comes with a set of

uh instructions, right? And on it, you

see it's got the design. They've got it

on the front here. It all looks

beautiful and one That's the ideal of

what your cabinet should look like,

right? But how many know that as you

start to unpack this and you look at the

the different pieces and you go, "Okay,

these pieces, they're not as

straightforward as I thought they might

be." Um there always is something

missing out of this bag, right? That

just This one of the screws and there's

like stuff that's missing. It It's a

little bit harder to put together than I

first thought. And then you start to do

it and like you put something apart in a

spot that you don't realize is wrong

until like 15 minutes down the journey.

And then you have to go back and like

go, "Oh gosh, that was wrong. I thought

it was right." And you have to undo it.

And if you're doing it together, let's

just say that's when things kind of get

a little

heated.

Right? And maybe some arguments ensue.

Uh and but after all that

in your frustration, it inevitably gets

to a point where you have to blame

someone. And you don't blame your

spouse,

but you look at who does this. You look

at this and go, "Well, it must be

it's the design. The stupid design.

They've got it wrong, right? They didn't

give me the parts. They've got it wrong.

How are we meant to do this?" And I

think that this captures for us how

Western secular culture has come to

think about marriage,

broadly speaking.

Uh two flawed people come together and

despite their best efforts,

they discover

missing pieces,

misaligned expectations,

and deep brokenness.

Under the weight and pressure of life,

things may begin to crack a little bit.

Rather than recognizing the inherent

goodness of the design being assembled

by albeit two people who are fallen and

sinful who didn't need the grace of God

desperately to make [snorts] it work,

our culture looks to the design and

says, "No, the design is the problem.

The design is wrong." And for decades

[snorts] our culture has mocked and

criticized and redefined and torn apart

marriage, devaluing it to the point

where for

many Australians

today they're asking the question,

"Well, why do I need the design at all?

I can shape my relationships

in the composition and commitment of my

choosing. Let's just throw the design

away."

But I want to contend today that

marriage is a fundamental aspect of

God's created order.

That his [snorts] design is not to be

thrown away.

His design is good.

It's conducive to human flourishing. And

that on a Christian worldview, a

Christian worldview is not one where

every person is forced to be married,

but it's one in which it's a worldview

that upholds the value, the sanctity,

and the sacral nature of marriage in the

world. We don't want to idolize

marriage,

but we do want to elevate marriage.

It's not an idol,

but it is proper and right and true to

elevate it to the place that God wants

it to be.

And so today my aim is to speak with

theological clarity

and pastoral sensitivity.

Truth with grace.

I do [snorts] recognize that this topic

brings up a range of raw emotions and

experiences.

I really want to acknowledge that at the

start of this sermon.

Because it sits in the back of my mind.

I want you to know that as I am talking

in the back of my mind as I've been

writing this and preparing this,

all of the what ifs and the these

situations and that situations that

where I've sat with people through the

pain and the hurt and the suffering and

the and the abuse and the different the

downsides that come not because of of

design of marriage, but because of weak

and broken and fallen humanity, right?

And like so I understand and I want you

to know that I see you. I recognize

that.

But I have to say I at the same time I

don't have the time to unpack every

pastoral issue that might arise. Like

divorce, domestic violence, adultery,

remarriage, single motherhood, blended

families, infertility, all of those

things are very important for us to

discuss, but it just won't be today.

That's why

being part of a church is more than

going to a service.

That's why church is about being in the

body of the the community of believers.

Because we've got life groups where you

can hear something on a Sunday, read

something in the word, then you go

wrestle it out with people, go talk it

through and be like, "But how does that

apply? What about the exceptions? What

about the concessions? How do I align my

life and my heart with this teaching?"

That's why life group is great. In your

life group, you might have a hundred

years of Christianity sitting in that

circle that you can draw upon that

wisdom and go, "I'm going to apply that

to my life. Help me to understand."

We've got our prayer team, our pastoral

care team, alpha marriage, resources on

the website. Just know I see you, but

we're not going to be able to cover

everything today. So, what is God's

design for marriage? What's in his

instruction

manual? Now, to do this we're going to

look at uh

the blueprint given to us in Genesis,

but we're going to look at two

scriptures where uh one where Jesus

actually quotes the blueprint. And then

we're going to look at where Paul quotes

the blueprint. And and both add um an

added element or they're given an extra

element that reveals God's intended

design

um around marriage. And so we're going

to read them side by side. And so let's

put them up on the screen. And we put

them side by side so you can kind of see

the similarities and then the

distinctions.

First, the words of Jesus in Matthew,

right? The book of Matthew, an

eyewitness account of the life and

teaching of Jesus.

This is what Jesus says, "Haven't you

read?" He replied, "that he who created

them in the beginning made them male and

female." And he also said, "For this

reason, a man will leave his father and

mother and be joined to his wife, and

the two will become one flesh."

So, they are no longer two, but one

flesh. Therefore, what God has joined

together, man must not separate.

And then Ephesians 5:31 to 32. This is

Ephesians 5:31–32

Paul the Apostle speaking in a letter to

the church of Ephesus, right? Dealing

with pastoral issues, theology, the

whole works. This is what he says, "For

this reason," quoting again the

scripture from Genesis, "for this reason

a man will leave his father and mother

and be joined to his wife, and the two

will become one flesh." And then Paul

adds this, we'll get to it a little bit

later. This mystery is profound. But I'm

talking about Christ

and the church.

If we dissect these two passages

together, and sort of pull them apart

and go through them, we can find

embedded within what I want to call the

three layers of marriage.

The three layers of marriage that make

up God's design. They are the natural,

the spiritual,

and what I'm going to call this morning

the transcendent.

And if we as the people of God can bring

ourselves back and get a fresh

revelation of this, it will begin to

elevate to the proper place God's design

for marriage. Are you with me here this

morning, Hills? Cool, we're going to do

some teaching. Is that okay? All right,

let's go. Layer number one, let's talk

about the natural. First, Jesus gives us

it's the nuts and bolts, it's the it's

it's the the physical components and the

natural elements that make up God's

design for marriage.

>> [cough]

>> Excuse me, he outlines in very clear

terms from the beginning God's created

order. Ready? He describes it as if we

get those scriptures up. Let's get the

comparison scripture up again just so

you can read along with me and and and

fact-check everything I'm saying.

It's monogamous. God's design is that

marriage would be monogamous, not

polygamous, not polyamorous, not keeping

an only fans subscription on the side,

not swinging on the weekends, not an

open relationship as long as my

partner's okay with whatever I do and we

communicate. No, no, no. God's design is

that it would be monogamous, one partner

that you're faithful to.

It's also marked by sex distinction,

biological male and biological female.

It is a lifelong commitment till death

do us part.

And it includes a physical sexual union

where the two become one flesh, creating

a brand new what I would call the

fundamental social unit. A

man leaves one social unit, his father

and mother. Likewise, the woman leaves

her father and mother. And the two form

the basis of a new social unit from

which the possibility of offspring can

naturally flow. That's layer number one.

It's the natural. But if that was all

that marriage was, then I can see the

argument for saying, "Well, then

marriage really is just a man-made

thing. It's just a

contract. It's just uh

a socio-evolutionary

development." But the words of Jesus

don't afford us

that conclusion.

What does Jesus say?

He says, "What God has joined together

Notice this, he brings God into the

process. The second layer that I want to

talk about today. First, you have

natural, but then there is a spiritual

layer to marriages.

Even though the relationship is

initiated by humans,

at the point of marriage, there is an

invisible divine hand at work. Meaning

marriage is a divine institution

orchestrated and gifted to us by the

creator. It's part of his good creation

from the beginning. It's not that man

came up with this concept as the best

way to sort of function in a social

unit. No, from the beginning God had

orchestrated and designed this. And

although there is the physical aspect to

it, something deeply spiritual is taking

place. What what's going on? I'm going

to give you two quick things on this.

There's about 50,000 we could talk

about, but we're just going to highlight

two, okay?

The first one is this what what the

spiritual layer of this is that marriage

is not a contract, it's a covenant.

It's a covenant.

There is an invisible divine witness

that is present at every marriage

ceremony.

As such, the vows of lifelong commitment

of faithfulness and love and sacrificial

self-giving are not only sworn to each

other, but are sworn before the Lord.

This elevates that from being a contract

or simply a commitment between two

people to being into a covenant.

>> [snorts]

>> A binding thing between two people that

have invited God into the middle of this

relationship. In some ways, it is a

reflection of the trinitarian formula,

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. There is this

spiritual aspect to it that it's myself,

my wife, and the Holy Spirit all

functioning together to make this thing

work. God gets into the middle of it.

And I bring my weak, broken self to this

marriage with my uh you know, a human

strength of commitment. My wife brings a

far a far less level of brokenness and

and think cuz just I'm just making sure

she hears that. Just brings wonderful to

the table, right?

You heard that, hey babe? Okay, good.

Good good good. Um,

uh, she brings a really great thing to

the table. I bring my weak and

brokenness. But both of us have the Holy

Spirit in the middle giving us grace and

strength and power. He's in the middle

convicting me. He's in the middle

stirring me. He's in the middle

invigorating me. He's in the middle

giving me strength. He's in the middle

going, "Luke, you're being selfish.

Luke, you need to think of your wife

more. Luke, you need to have grace in

this situation. Luke, you've got to

forgive." He's right in the middle of

this interaction. It is not just some

human relational kind of agreement. God

is in the center. It is a covenant and

not a contract. When I I said I do to

Nikki, God was there witnessing and it

is his it is him who I'm accountable to.

So, it's covenant. There's something

spiritual going The other thing I want

to highlight is the fact that, um, there

is something spiritual about the sexual

union.

There is a bonding that takes place that

goes beyond the physical. It is

obviously physical, but it goes beyond

the physical. The Bible says, as we've

read, a man will be joined to his wife.

In Greek, the original language that

this was written in, um, it it it uses a

word that the root of which

is proskollao.

And this is what it means.

It's the action of being glued

or fastened to someone or something so

firmly that separation would damage the

whole.

So, sex is not just about

the engagement of physical bodies.

It fuses you.

Body,

soul, and spirit to another person.

Now, it is the expression of love and

intimacy that brings the possibility of

children into the world. That's a huge

part of this and in our Western culture,

we we we often disconnect sex from that

very possibility, but on a Christian

worldview, that is a big part of it.

We're not going to spend time digging

into that today with all of the pastoral

things that come with that. I want to

highlight what it does between the man

and woman in their relationship and in

that bonding. See, that powerful bond

serves to bind husband and wife together

time and time again, stronger and

stronger connection, deeper and deeper

intimacy through the ups and downs of

life.

It's powerful.

And this is why scripture classifies

sexual acts outside of the covenant of

marriage as being immoral.

The bonding power of sex is so great

that the only vessel that is strong

enough to safely contain it

is the marriage covenant.

And there are studies that suggest this,

not from Christian kind of academics,

from secular institutions and academics,

that suggest that casual sex, multiple

partners, sexual encounters outside a

committed marriage relationship can have

a damaging effect. Let me point to some

of the research. The Journal of Sex

Research in 2013, in a study of just

under 4,000 young adults, students,

college-age students, concluded that for

emerging adult college students engaging

in casual sex may actually elevate the

risk for negative psychological

outcomes. That is a

academic way of saying it does damage.

In another study from James Cook

University, it found that women reported

significantly more negative emotional

outcomes than men, although it noted

there were negative outcomes for men,

including loneliness, unhappiness,

rejection, regret, general negative

feelings, and a perception of negative

judgment from others.

In another study, one of which

participants gave sort of a long-form

response,

let me read to you

some of their quotations based on their

own experiences and the effect of sex

has had on their life as individuals. I

believe these are two males.

They say, "The first one says this,

'Each girl you meet and have sex with is

like if you're giving her part of your

soul.

And at some point it's like if you broke

your soul into like a lot of fragments

and you're giving it away. I'm obviously

reading it word for word

what this guy said.

Another one said this

about his own sort of um

moral, I guess, or sexual behavior. He

says, "I just wanted to sleep with as

many women as I can,

but I could feel like it's empty.

During one week, I was with four or five

different girls, but the next day I felt

this emptiness.

And I would say each of them take a part

of your soul and make you more

empty."

Again, these are not Christians writing

the

This is a secular secular studies. What

are they talking about? I don't think

they would even have comprehension of

the the perspective that we are giving

today, right? But what are they noting?

They're noting that there is a bonding

that takes place through this physical

act that they weren't even aware of, and

then they're wondering why their soul is

feeling torn

as they've had multiple different

partners, right? Because that is a real

reality for us today. Now, I want to say

this, a pastoral note for a second. If

that is your history, which in our

modern Western culture is most people's

history, there is absolutely no judgment

here. There is no heaping on of shame.

There's no pushing you away from the

presence and the love of Jesus. There is

only the hopeful invitation that the

love of Jesus and the power of the Holy

Spirit can heal you and turn soul holes

into whole souls. That is the good news

of the gospel. We all bring our own

stuff to the cross. We all need

redemption. We all need saving. We all

need transformation. It doesn't matter

what your story is. We find hope and

redemption and healing in the cross of

Jesus Christ, right? Now, our culture

looks at the Christian perspective on

sex and it's sees it as being

restrictive, repressive, trying to

smother the fire of sexuality. But, I

want to say this, God isn't trying to

extinguish the fire. He's just placing

it in a fireplace.

He's just placing it in a fireplace. A

fireplace doesn't oppress the fire. It

stops it from burning the whole house

down.

And God is the author of sex. He created

it to be passionate. He created to be

intense, enjoyable, full of love, but

within the place or the boundaries of

the fireplace of marriage. That he wants

that fire to be roaring in your

marriage, but it's got to be within that

conference. Why? So, it doesn't burn you

and others and the whole house down.

And what I've found from my own life and

talking with others

is that

that process of self-denial

required to honor God

with your sexuality outside of the

boundaries of marriage and inside.

But, outside prior to being married, to

honor God with that,

I found it to be helpful training.

It acts like a butterfly struggling out

of a cocoon

in order to have the strength to fly.

When you honor God with that

self-denial, you are building strength

and character that you will inevitably

need for the daily denial of selfishness

and laying your life down for your

spouse.

See, there is a physical and there is a

spiritual. Let's get to the third one,

which I want to call the transcendent

this morning. Are you still with me here

this morning? Okay, Paul points to a

third layer. Let's read it again. We'll

get that scripture back up from

Ephesians 5. He quotes Genesis. He says,

"Man will leave his wife, etc., etc.,

etc." But then verse 32, he says, "This

mystery is profound and I'm talking

about

Christ

and the church. Paul lifts our eyes from

the physical, although it is physical or

the natural, sorry, although it is

natural.

He lifts our eyes even from the

spiritual, although it is spiritual, and

he lifts our eyes to what we want to

call the transcendent.

That all throughout redemptive history,

marriage has actually been a sign and a

symbol to describe God's desire for

relationship, the nature of relationship

that God wants to have with human

beings. The Old Testament is full of

this. Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah.

They all use imagery of marriage to

describe the covenant of grace that

existed between God and Israel. And then

we see that also in the New Testament.

Jesus describing the kingdom of God

often multiple times uses this imagery

of marriage. I can think of the the

parable of the 10 bridesmaids or the 10

virgins. We can think of the parable of

the wedding feast. All of it uses this

imagery. Why? Because this thought is

soaked all throughout the Bible. At the

last at the last supper, the night

before Jesus would go to be crucified,

he's breaking bread and drinking the

wine, initiating a new covenant between

God and man. And he uses Jewish

betrothal language to talk about what

he's doing. In John 14, he says this,

there is more than enough room in my

father's home.

If this weren't so, would I have told

you that I'm going to prepare a place

for you?

When everything is ready, I will come

and I will get you so that you will

always be with me where I am.

In ancient Jewish custom, a groom would

legally bind himself to his bride, go

away for a time, prepare a bridal

chamber in his father's home, and then

come back to take her to be with him.

Jesus is using this language to describe

the relationship God wants to have for

us. Now, Paul affirms it here and says

this whole thing of marriage, we think

it's just been about us, but no, it has

been about a bigger picture of what God

is playing out. It is a picture of the

relationship and the love between Christ

and his church.

The earthly bridegroom is a represent-

ation of the heavenly bridegroom who

entered the world in the person of

Jesus.

It is the church who is the bride of

Christ, the recipient of his affection

and love. Now, gentlemen, I have to be

really honest, I haven't always felt

comfortable with referring to myself as

the bride of Christ. Like I just I'm

going to be very real here, it kind of

makes me feel a little bit awkward at a

surface level reading. It's not talking

about gender here, it's not interested

in in our gender. What it's talking

about is the place of privileged

relational position that a bride has

with her husband, where they are equal,

where there is Well, we're not equal to

God, let me rephrase that.

Where there is a a privilege there,

where there is an openness there, where

there is a sharing there, where there is

a love and a deep affection there, where

where there is a a dedication providing

every need. But there there something

about that when when we talk about we're

the bride of Christ, it's talking about

the fact that we've been elevated to

that level of connection and intimacy

with God like a bridegroom has for his

bride. What a place of privilege that we

get to share.

It's the daily dying to

self-centeredness in a marriage

that is a daily reflection and testament

to the sacrificial death and

resurrection of the heavenly bridegroom

for his church.

The covenant of marriage, bound by love

and faithfulness, is a sign of the

unswerving

covenant love of God towards us.

And the loyalty, love, friendship,

connection, fulfillment, and depth that

we find in marriage is a reflection

of what Christ wants to have with each

of us.

Here's my final thought on all of this.

Are you still with me this morning?

Marriage is transcendent because it

[music] ultimately points to the future.

In the book of Revelation, John has this

vision that's revealed to him, the

culmination of all redemptive human

history.

And he writes of this heavenly crowd

that's crying out. And this is what they

say. This is the final chapter. This is

the finale. This is where it all comes

to fruition. This is where it all comes

together. This is what they say, "Praise

the Lord, for the Lord our God, the

almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and

rejoice, and let us give honor to him."

Why? For the time has come for what?

What's at the end of all this? What

what's the final chapter? For the

wedding feast

of the lamb, that's Jesus, and his

bride, who's the bride? The church has

prepared herself for him. At the very

end of the story sits a marriage where

the the church is united with Jesus.

Marriage is given this cosmic weight it

represents the final episode of

redemptive history. God didn't just

think, "Oh, you know what? This marriage

thing that they've got going on here.

This is a great idea for how I can

explain my love for people." He didn't

work that way. No, from the very

beginning in his sovereign wisdom and

foreknowledge, looked at the final

chapter and said, "I'm going to give

this institution to mankind." Why? So

for that all of their days, their life

can be pointing, pointing, pointing

forward to the very final chapter, to

the culmination of everything that I

will do in order to love and save and

set people free. I'm going to bring it

to the most joyous moment. It's going to

point to that for all of human history

where I

unite

with my people.

This

is why

the design matters.

Because it is about you,

but it's not only about you.

It points to a bigger reality. When we

choose to be married, even in our

imperfections and struggles, our lives

point to the gospel.

When we forgive, bear with one another,

sacrificially lay our lives down for our

spouse, we're bearing witness to the

very nature of Christ. Even sex itself

points to the mystical union of Christ

and his church. When we work to build

marriages that last a lifetime. Now,

hear me. I sit with people. I know

marriages don't always last. Hear my

heart in this. This is not a

condemnation. This is not

an exclusion. But but let me say,

according to God's design, when we are

able to make marriages last a lifetime,

we are bearing witness to his unswerving

faithfulness and commitment to us. And

even though marriage can be filled with

the mundane, it can be filled with the

repetition of of the same person that

you're waking up every day, it is

equally, in the midst of the mundane, it

is equally pointing forward to the most

joyful and exciting of moments, the

final marriage between God and his

people. This is why the design matters.

It's not ours

to mess with. It's God's because of the

transcendent that he's playing out.

Physical and natural,

spiritual,

transcendent. Right across this place,

why don't we stand on our feet? We've

run to the end of our time together.

And I just want to pray.

I haven't had many action steps in this

sermon.

But what we're going to do is we're

going to invite the Holy Spirit to now

come and speak to us.

And so what I want you to do is

I'm going to pray, but I want you to

position yourself ready to receive.

Um God made us body, soul, spirit. Our

bodies have a part to play in our

prayers. And so [music] maybe you just

want to open up your hands like you're

going to receive something because you

will if you ask cuz God is good.

Um

maybe you want to lift your hands in the

air. But whatever you need to do, we're

going to ask the Holy Spirit to speak to

us. And what I felt this morning just to

pray for is simply I got this word of

alignment, alignment, alignment. The

Holy Spirit's going to come now and he's

just going to speak to you. He's not

looking to condemn. Maybe right now the

relationships in your world don't look

like God's design. He's not pushing you

away. This is not a condemnation. This

is an invitation to bring it into

alignment. Maybe you are in a committed

relationship with someone, but you're

not in a covenant relationship with

someone. He's going to invite you to

bring that into alignment. Maybe you're

single, but you're you're participating

in things that God has ordained and

reserved for that covenant of marriage.

He's going to bring you into alignment.

Maybe today, I don't know what your

story is. Maybe you're you're you're

dealing with the hurt and pain of of

relationships and marriages that have

gone wrong. I believe the Holy Spirit by

his grace is going to bring healing and

alignment. Wherever you're at, I just

feel alignment, alignment, alignment,

alignment, alignment. So, let's pray.

And I'm going to just pray this the

simple prayer. A prayer that the church

has prayed for about two millennia now.

That ancient prayer, Holy Spirit

come.

Fill this room

and speak to our hearts

in Jesus' name.

Come.

Holy Spirit.

Come.

Thank you, Lord.

Father, I pray

for every person here that you would

give us and suffuse in us the grace that

we need to take a step towards you.

Give us your power.

Give us your help

that that same immeasurably great power

that raised Christ from the dead be at

work in us

to take the steps to make the changes

that we need to make

in Jesus' name.

Still praying with eyes closed, heads

bowed. Maybe you're a person here and

you're not a follower of Jesus.

Again, he invites you into a depth and

level of relationship that is

so profound.

He loves you. He died on the cross for

you. He rose again from the dead to

restore and reconcile you to God the

Father.

And you're now invited into this story

that culminates at the end of all things

with eternity with him. And maybe today

you've never made that decision before

or you are a Christian at one point in

your life, but you have to reflect

honestly on your life and know that

you're not walking with the Lord right

now. You just know it. Maybe others

don't know it, but you know it. Now is

your invitation. The Lord is calling you

home again. And I just want to say a

quick prayer with people.

Uh and I want to acknowledge maybe who

those people are as eyes are closed,

heads bowed. If you're wanting to make

that decision, say, "Jesus, I want to

begin following you. I want this

relationship." Just lift your hand

wherever you are right across this

place. Nice and high for me. I'll

acknowledge it. You put it down again.

We'll say a prayer real quick together.

Let me look across one or two times.

Just give us a quick wave you're at. One

or two times. Come on, who are those

people today? You're like, "That's me.

That's me. That's me. That's me. That's

me." Awesome. I think I see a hand

there. Fantastic. [music]

Is there anyone else?

Is there anyone else? Just quickly lift

your hand. Awesome. All right. Let's say

this prayer together as a church. Repeat

after me. "Lord Jesus, today

I'm deciding

to follow you.

I'm sorry

for my sin,

but I thank you that you forgive me.

And that today [music]

I'm born again

as a child of God. In Jesus' name.

>> [music]

>> Amen."