Just Do It

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

But hey, I'm excited to preach.

I'm not the best, but I'm gonna try to give you something good.

Sound good?

So but before we before we jump in, I need you to know this.

Two things.

Number one, I'm used to preaching at night.

So if I say tonight, give me some grace.

I'm gonna try to say this morning, but if I say tonight, just just don't don't write me off.

Just give me some grace.

Now the second thing is this I preach at night.

So I need you to make sure that I'm awake, but I need to make sure that you're awake.

So talk back to the preacher.

You can yeah, come on, let's talk back.

Come on, let's try it.

And the church said, Oh, come on, somebody.

Y'all just I preach faster when you talk back.

So that was five minutes off the message right there.

So and the church said, Come on, seven minutes, gone.

Here we go.

The time my message this morning is just do it.

Somebody say, just do it.

And so I'm excited to preach.

Before we jump into God's word, let's pray.

Jesus, we love you and we thank you.

Would you be in the room with us this morning?

Would you prepare hearts and minds for what you have for us tonight or today?

See, look, Lord, help me right now.

This morning.

Help us this morning at 10:30.

In Jesus' name, everybody said.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, you need to know something about me is that I'm not from I'm not originally from Florida.

I'm not originally from Lakeland.

I'm born and raised from New York.

And so dang, let's go, New York.

Let's go.

This is my favorite service already.

But I'm from New York, and so I need to tell you this because it's gonna make sense in just a couple minutes.

But I was raised by a mom that is kind of older.

I have one service.

She comes to the 12 o'clock, I have one service to figure out how to say that better.

But my mom, my mom is from the older generation.

I'm 24, but my mom is kind of older.

And so my mom is somebody that's just no nonsense.

Like my mom does not play games.

Like some people are like, your mom's strict.

I'm like, no, she's just not, she's not playing games with you.

And so she's gonna, like when we were growing up, it was it was either good, like you're gonna do what I tell you to do, like the rules were do what I say and don't embarrass me in public.

Like that was my mom's rules.

And so some parents do this with their kids, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

I'm just saying my mom would never do this with us kids.

And so there's some parents that they'll tell their kids what to do, and if they don't do it, they say, I'm gonna give you to the count of three.

And they'll go, one, two, three.

And I look at parents that do that.

I'm like, I just my mom wouldn't, I wish my mom gave me the grace of three.

Because that just wasn't, that wasn't my mom.

I was at Disney uh the other day, and so this this kid was walking on this white line, like on the other side of traffic, and there's cars coming.

And so this parent is looking at his kid, and he's like, hey, don't do that, buddy.

And he keeps on doing it.

He's like, I'm gonna give you two three, and he starts counting.

I'm like, man, I wish my mom gave me the grace of three.

That wasn't my mom.

That was not my mom at all.

I remember I was growing up and I'm from New York, and so you guys won't understand this because this won't make sense to you, but there is something called winter.

And there's also this crazy thing called snow.

And I know we don't know anything about that because we live in the sunshine state, but this thing is serious.

This thing called winter, it's it's cold, man.

And so we it's it's snowing, there's a lot of snow, and so I wake up early, I'm like, yo, this is this looks like a lot of money I'm about to make because I'm gonna go to all these houses and start shoveling.

And so I see my sisters outside and they have like the snowblower, they're all outside, they're they're shoveling, they're getting rid of all the snow.

And so my boy calls me, he's like, yo, I'm I'm here, let's go, let's go make some money.

And so I was like, Yes, okay, I'm on my way.

My mom was like, hey, hey, hey, where do you think you're going?

I was like, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go shovel everyone else's house.

He's there, I'll be back and I'll shovel ours later and it'll be good.

And my mom was like, no, go outside and go help your sisters shovel.

I was like, but but mom, there's there's money waiting for me.

I gotta go make some money.

My mom was like, you're not going until you do this here.

And like I was giving her a hard time and she said, you know what?

So she cost my sisters and she said, put the snowblower up, come inside.

You're gonna go shovel the whole house by yourself.

Like, don't you dare touch the snowblower.

I was like, yo, this is crazy.

Now I know we don't know anything about this because we live in Florida, but there's a principle that I want to share with you.

That there's sometimes in our lives as Christians that God commands us to do something, and sometimes we're delayed to do it.

You need to understand this: that delayed obedience is still disobedience.

It's like we can't wait to the count of three to do what God's telling us to do.

Like delayed obedience is still disobedience.

I think we as Christians, like when we go to like a restaurant, we order, like we'll order a burger and we'll say, hey, let me get a burger, but like I don't want any pickles, I don't want any onions, I don't want any ketchup.

And so sometimes we kind of treat God as a menu.

Like, God, give me your grace, give me your mercy, give me your forgiveness.

But hold off the things that I have to forgive the person that hurt me.

Man, I don't, I don't give me your grace, give me your love, but I just I don't I don't want to give to the church.

Give me your grace, give me your mercy, but I I don't want to serve.

I don't want to do these certain things because it's hard, I don't like it, I don't want to do this.

And so there's somebody in the Bible that I want to look at because I think sometimes if we're if we're honest, we kind of do the same things as this person does.

And so we're gonna be in the Old Testament.

This this book is literally one page.

You read it, you flip it over, it's gone, it's done.

And so we're gonna look at Jonah.

And now, some of you, you might say, Oh, not the youth pastor preaching about Jonah.

Come on, it's a re it's it's a real thing.

But I I think there's some principles with Jonah that if we're if whether you're a Christian for your whole life or you don't know who Jesus is at all, like this is one of the most famous stories in the Bible.

And so, like, we know the story, like Jonah gets eaten up by this whale, by this fish, and then he goes and he does what God tells him to do, and then it's over, the book is over.

But there's some principles that if we're if we're not careful, that when we just read it and we just read it for information, or we just, oh, I know this story, like we're gonna miss what God wants to do.

So I want us all to take all the veggie tales that you know about Jonah, turn them off, everything that you know about Jonah.

I turned, like, turned all of that off because I want us to read this story with a fresh perspective because I think there's there's some special there's some special things in this story.

So let me give you some context to who Jonah is, and then I'm gonna set up what we're about to read, and it's gonna be fun.

I'm gonna step on your toes a little bit, and then I'm gonna give you some hope after.

So, Jonah, he's this prophet.

In the Old Testament, we don't really know much about him.

We know he's a son, but we don't really see much about him in scripture.

In fact, the only time we see him in scripture is one other time in 2 Kings chapter 14, verse 25.

2 Kings 14:25

And Jonah, he's giving this, he's giving this prophecy to the Israelites, and he's telling them, hey, your borders are going to expand and it's gonna actually help you and bless you.

And so the the first time we ever see Jonah in scripture, he's being obedient to what God tells him to do.

And then we get to the book of Jonah, and this is how the book opens up.

It says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.

But Jonah ran away.

Somebody say ran away.

He ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.

The first thing, this is just for fun, so that you can say, hey, guess what I learned about Jonah today?

We think that Jonah's the main character of this story.

And he's not, he's a character.

But the book opens up with saying, the Lord gave Jonah a word.

The main character of this book is actually the Lord.

And so, how many of us know that the Lord speaks, like God is speaking to us today?

In fact, God speaks clearly, but we may not always like it.

Like God is speaking, but we may not always like what he has to say.

So you're like, what does this mean?

How does this connect with Jonah?

I'm gonna help you right now.

Here it is.

See, Jonah, he hated Nineveh.

Nineveh was this great city, it's called great because of its size and its port and of its importance.

Actually, in fact, that this city is modern-day Iraq.

And so, what what these people would do before they would go and conquer a city, they would go and they would drag people out, they would take women and children, they would drag them out in front of everybody, and they would actually torture them and kill them before they would go and conquer this city.

And so Jonah hated these people, they hated the Assyrians because of what they would do to people.

Like this, that it this is like modern-day racism that is taking place right now.

Like Jonah cannot stand these people.

That's part of the reason why he didn't want to go.

The other reason why is because he knew what God would do.

God tells him to go and preach against what they're doing, go and preach against the wickedness that they're doing.

The reason why Jonah didn't want to go was yes, he didn't, he hated them, he didn't like them.

But he also knew how God would respond.

God, he knew that God would give show them grace, God knew that he would show them mercy and give them forgiveness.

And Jonah didn't want to see that take place, he didn't want to see God rescue his people.

I find it interesting that the only time we see Jonah be obedient is when it came to blessing his people.

And then the moment that he's disobedient is because he had to bless his enemies.

Can I tell you something?

That God's commands won't always align with our preference.

Like there's some things in our life that we may have to go through, that we may have to do, and we may not like it, we might not always understand it, but God's command won't always align with our preference.

It won't always be what you want it to look like.

God might be telling us to do stuff, to act on what he's saying, and we may not always agree with it, we may not always like it.

I love what Jesus says to his disciples.

Jesus, he's he's preparing for his departure and he's he's talking to his disciples, and he says this in John chapter 14, verse 15.

John 14:15

It says, If you love me, keep my commands.

Can I say it to you this way?

If you love Jesus, you'll be obedient to him.

Like if you truly love Jesus and you're a follower of Jesus, you're gonna be obedient to him.

It may not always be what you want, it might not always align with what you want to do, it might not always align with your preference, but we can't wait until the count of three to be obedient to God because delayed obedience is still disobedience.

God speaks clearly, but we may not always like it.

But running also costs more than obedience.

That running costs more than obedience.

And Jonah, if we pick back up, it says, but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.

He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port.

After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

I find it so funny that Jonah, that is a prophet, knows who God is, is trying to run from him.

But how many of us know that there's nowhere that you can go to outrun his presence?

Like there's nowhere that you can go.

It's scripture with Psalms 139.

Where can I go?

I can't, I can't escape your presence.

But I want us to look at what's happening here.

Go ahead and put that map on the screen for us.

This is where Jonah's at.

Nineveh, where God told him to go, is 500 miles the other way.

Scholars would say it would take about a month for Jonah to get there.

But look at where he goes.

500 miles that way.

Jonah runs 2,000 miles the opposite way.

It's funny to look at it on a map, but isn't that how we sometimes act?

God tells us to do something.

Oh God, I just I'm good.

I'd rather avoid it.

I'd rather run.

I'd rather not do this thing.

Jonah runs two thousand miles the opposite way.

You understand this?

That Jonah found the ship waiting.

But just because the boat's waiting doesn't mean God sent it.

Like there's some things that you can do, but it doesn't mean it's God's will for your life.

I can say it to you like this: if you're fleeing from God, don't be surprised when the enemy picks you up.

Don't be surprised when the enemy gives you distraction.

Don't give you, don't, don't be surprised when the enemy gives you another way out.

It's the same thing as the verb from the very beginning of the Bible from Genesis.

Did God really tell you you shouldn't eat from this tree?

Don't be surprised when the enemy gives you another option.

But just because the boat's ready doesn't mean God sent it.

Just because there's another way out, just because God told you to do something and you do the opposite way and the door was open, I just walked through, doesn't mean God sent it to you.

So don't be surprised when the enemy comes and picks you up.

The story goes on in verse 4 and says, Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own God.

And then they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below the deck, where he had where he lay down and fell into a great sleep.

The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep?

Get up and call on your God.

Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.

Running will cost more than obedience.

Like this storm in his life is taking place because of his disobedience.

You need to understand that Jonah wasn't just sleeping because he's like, oh, I'm chilling, I'm good.

Like, oh, this storm's taking place.

What a great time to take a nap.

He's sleeping because he's spiritually and emotionally exhausted.

He's not sleeping because he's he's at peace, he's sleeping because he's trying to avoid what God's telling him to do and he's stressed out.

How many of us know that sometimes a nap, we don't, we're stressed out.

I just need a 30-minute nap.

Come on, somebody.

But this is what Jonah's doing.

Jonah is doing all of this different things where he can just be obedient to God.

See, obedience would have cost Jonah comfort, but disobedience cost him peace.

It cost him safety.

And it even cost him the other sailors' lives on the boat.

I find it funny.

Like I love reality TV.

And like if I could tell myself a little bit, I love the Bachelor and the Bachelorette.

Like it is my it is it is the funniest show in the world.

Because you're just like watching one bad decision after the next bad decision.

And I'm like, you idiot.

Just stop doing this thing.

Stop being dumb.

And what I love about the bachelor and bachelor, right?

It's like you're watching one bad decision to the next bad decision to the next bad decision.

And then you finally see the person, and they're like, they're breaking down crying.

And they're like, man, I just don't understand what's happening.

I just don't, I feel like every time, every time it's from one bad thing to the next to the next, he's like, Yeah, I'm watching you make dumb decisions.

It's funny, but we do it often.

We make bad decisions and we try to blame everything else.

And can I maybe submit something to you?

Maybe you're the problem.

This storm that's taking place is not because of Mother Nature just wanting to rain down on them.

It's because Jonah was disobedient.

Sometimes the storms in our life, the things that go wrong in our life, it's because we're making poor decisions.

And there's a consequence to our actions.

And it's hard.

Sometimes there's things in life where we just can't control.

Like, there is some things in life where we're like, God, I don't know what you're doing.

But there also is some things that we, if we're honest, we're being disobedient, we make poor decisions, and then there's a consequence.

And sometimes we're the prophet.

For some of us, if we're honest, this is I didn't say this last service, so this is a freebie for y'all.

Some of us, we we have Jonah in our lives, and that's why everything is just going wrong.

Like we're dating Jonah if we're honest.

Oops, come on, somebody.

And you're like, why is everything going wrong?

Because you know you shouldn't be with him or her.

That's why.

There's some things in our life that the more we run, it's gonna cost us more.

Story goes on and says, and the sailors came to each other and said, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.

They cast lots, go back one for me.

They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

So they asked him, Tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us.

What kind of work do you do?

Where do you come from?

What is your country?

From what people are you?

He answered, I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

This terrified them, and they asked, What have you done?

Because they knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so, and the sea was getting rougher and rougher.

So they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?

And this is what Jonah says, Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm.

I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.

I want to look at Jonah and say, bro, you are dramatic.

Like, bro, chill out.

You're gonna you wanna throw yourself into the sea and die because why?

Because you're disobedient.

And what I find funny is that even in this story, even in this section of scripture, like Jonah is acknowledging who God is.

Like you are the creator of the sea, like he knows a great deal about who God is.

He's a prophet, like he knows who God is.

But here's what you need to know that knowing about God isn't the same as obeying him.

That you can know a great deal about who God is, but if you're not obedient, the knowledge doesn't matter.

I will say it to you this way: spiritual maturity isn't about how much you know, it's about how fast you say yes to God.

It's not about how much you know, it's not about how much scripture you know.

You should be reading your word, you should be studying the word.

But all if all you know is him, but you don't obey him, it's not spiritual maturity.

You want to grow in your faith, say yes to Jesus, be obedient because spiritual maturity is about how fast you say yes.

You don't have to wait to the count of three.

When God speaks, just go do it.

Because running will always cost more than obedience.

Sin will always charge more than you expect to pay.

Sin will always charge more than you expect to pay.

Jonah thought it was simple.

I'll get on the boat, I'll buy the ticket, I'll get on, I'll go the five 2,000 miles the opposite way instead of going 500 miles the right way, and I'll just avoid God and I'll be good.

But that's the truth about sin.

It never shows you the full price up front.

It will never show you the full price tag up front.

See, this is what sin does.

It promises you escape, but it actually delivers you chaos.

It will always promise you escape, but it will always deliver chaos.

See, sin will it looks like freedom, but it actually leaves you trapped.

It leaves you in cycles that you just can't get yourself out of.

Here's what it also does it starts with a choice, but it leaves you with a consequence that you never saw coming.

See, here's what's funny about Jonah.

He's on the ship.

The sea's getting rougher and rougher.

Like he'd rather die than obey.

He says, just throw me off the boat.

Like I'd I'd rather not do this.

I'd rather be in the sea and die than obey what God's wanting me to do.

So here's where I step on your toes a lot.

But can I give you some hope this morning?

Is that even in disobedience, grace is waiting for you?

That even in disobedience, there's grace that's waiting for you.

So here's what happens in the rest of the story in Jonah chapter 1, verse 13.

Jonah 1:13

It says, Instead, the men did their best to row back to the land, but they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.

Then they cried out to the Lord, please, Lord, don't let us die for taking this man's life.

Leave this here for a second.

This is funny to me.

Why?

Jonah the prophet.

Jonah who knows a great deal about who God is.

And the first person to pray was not the prophet.

It was the people who had no idea who God was.

The first person to pray and speak to the Lord is not the prophet.

It is not Jonah.

It is these people that don't know who God is.

I play pickleball a lot and I love it so much, but I'll go and I'll start talking with people.

And then they ask me the question hey, so what do you do for a living?

And I'll say, Well, I'm I'm a youth pastor in town.

And it goes one of two ways.

It's like, oh man, that's great.

You got it.

Charge.

I'm like, okay, sure.

That's cool.

Or they look and like, oh, well, don't pray for me.

Like, we're good.

Like, I'm good.

I don't want to hear about that.

I'm like, okay, like I you asked.

But then sometimes they come to me like, hey, can you pray for me?

I'm like, yeah, what do you need prayer for?

You told me not to do this, but here we are.

I'll pray for you.

But this is kind of what this what's happening in this story.

The people that don't know who Jesus is, all this stuff is happening, and they pray to God.

And here's what it says it says, Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.

Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.

At this, the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Goes on to say, Now the Lord provided, somebody say, provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Now, this is the story of Jonah that we know.

We're like, yes, this is great.

We know the rest of the story.

But I find it funny.

I think the Bible is funny sometimes.

I think God is funny sometimes.

What Jonah didn't want to do, he didn't want to go preach against what Nineveh was doing.

He didn't want to go talk to the people that didn't look like him, act like him, sound like him.

But yet, even in his disobedience, he did the same exact thing to different people.

That Jonah's disobedience was actually their revelation to who God was.

Like the story says, they ended up fearing the Lord, and they're the only one in this chapter that speaks to God and prays to God.

You understand this?

Like God's grace is so committed to getting to where it needs to be that He'll even use our mess ups to make it happen.

Like even the things that we don't get it right, we miss the mark.

God still uses our mess ups.

He still uses the places where we're disobedient and he still can use us.

Like Jonah is in the sea.

He should have died.

And the Lord provided the fish, not out of punishment, out of protection.

God was saying, hey, you blown it.

You ran 2,000 miles the opposite way I've told you to go.

You tried to avoid my presence.

But can I tell you something?

Grace doesn't wait for you to get it right.

He meets you where you get where you get it wrong.

Like you don't always have to have it together.

You're never too far gone for God to say, I still love you, and I still have a plan with you.

I'm still gonna use you.

Like God's grace doesn't wait for you to get it right, it meets you where you got it wrong, and the Lord provides a fish for Jonah.

I love what 2 Corinthians chapter 12 says.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

It says, But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Not in my strengths, not when I get it right, not when everything's going well, in my weakness, in my mess ups, when I miss the mark.

And it says, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Grace doesn't wait for you to get it right.

Me too, where you get it wrong.

God's grace.

I love what scripture says that God will turn all things.

What the enemy meant for evil, you'll turn it for good.

Like there's there's some people in the room that we feel like, oh man, I've I just missed the mark.

I'm too far gone.

God will never forgive me, God will never love me.

But yet, his grace is not waiting for you to get it right, it's waiting, he meets you where you get it wrong.

And there's nothing that you can do that God won't say, I still love you, I can still use you.

So here's how I want to close.

I'm gonna ask two questions.

The first question is this what areas in my life am I trying to justify my disobedience in?

Like, what are some things that I know I'm not, I know I'm not supposed to be doing, but I'm trying to justify this?

For maybe some of us we know, like we feel the tug to actually lead an access group.

And we're like, oh man, I get out of work late and I have the kids, and then I gotta make dinner, then I gotta clean, then I gotta do this, and then I have a busy week, and then I go, I'm trying to go on vacation.

But what if you can actually be somebody's prayer, answered prayer?

And what if we actually just did the right things?

For some of us, we know we shouldn't be dating this person, we know we shouldn't be hanging out with these people.

But it's like, oh man, they're the only ones that want to hang with me, they're the only ones that want to do, they're the only ones that when I text them, they answer.

What are some things in our life that we're trying to justify our disobedience in?

For some of us, it's like, man, you know my financial situation.

Why would you ask me to give to the church?

You know the church, the last church they burned me, and why would you ask me to serve?

You know what that person did to me, why would you ask me to forgive them?

What are some areas in our life that we're trying to justify or disobedience in?

Because if we're honest, we're all kind of like Jonah from time to time.

Like we we get it right the first time, and then God tells us to do something, we miss it the second time, and then as grace meets us where we get it wrong, and then we do it right, then we get it wrong.

It's just sometimes we're gonna miss the mark, we're not perfect.

The second question is this what areas of my life where I just need to do the things that God is speaking to me to do?

Like, what if we became the type of church and the type of Christians and the type of people that said, I'm not gonna just hear what God speaks because God speaks clearly.

I'm not just gonna hear it and then wait for the count of three.

What if we became the type of church that said, I'm gonna be obedient every time God speaks?

Whether it doesn't align with my preference, whether I don't like it, whether it's uncomfortable, because running costs more than obedience.

Running will always cost you more than obedience.

So here's how I'm gonna close.

I want to pray over two groups of people.

I'm gonna pray for us to actually just do the things that God tells us to do.

Let's just be the type of church that just does it.

Because what would it look like?

What would our city look like if we just were obedient to God?

I think our city would look like a little bit more like heaven.

But then there's maybe some of us in the room, if we're honest, maybe we feel like we're so far gone from God.

Like God, how could you ever use me?

How could you ever do this with me?

God still used Jonah.

The end of the story of Jonah is Jonah gets it right, then he gets it wrong, then he goes, and he still complains.

And that's how the book ends.

Leaves you on a cliffhanger.

But God still used him, and God can still use you.

So some of us we just need to start or maybe restart our relationship with Jesus and say, you know what, I've missed a mark.

But I'm so thankful I serve for God that his grace has a way for me to get it right and meets me where I get it wrong.

So let's pray.

Jesus, right now, Father, would you be with us?

Would you help us to become the type of church and the type of Christians and the type of people that are just obedient to what you tell us to do?

That we can all be like Jonah from time to time, but would you help us to be obedient?

Would you help us not to wait for the count of three to be obedient?

Help us to not have a delay in our obedience because it's still disobedience.

Would you help us to just do the things that you're calling us to do, that you're telling us to do, that you're commanding us to do?

Would you call out the areas in our lives where we're trying to justify our obedience?

Would you help us this week?

Would you help us in our families?

Would you help us in our schools?

Would you help us in our workplaces?

Would you help us in our marriages to just be obedient to what you have for us?

And we'll give you all the praise with all heads bowed and all eyes closed.

Maybe for some of us in the room you've you've missed the mark.

Or maybe some of us in the room we're like, man, I I've I've I've I've messed it up big time.

But I know God's grace is sufficient for me.

And today I'm gonna make the decision.

I'm just gonna follow, I'm gonna go all the way with Jesus.

I'm gonna be obedient, I'm gonna make the Lord my Savior.

I'm gonna give him the leadership in my life.

For maybe some of us, we just need to start or restart a relationship with Jesus.

So if that's you, no one's looking around.

Can you just just slip your hand up?

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Yeah, I see that hand too.

You put your hands down.

If that was you, saying a prayer only means it if you mean it with your heart.

So if that was you, I want you to pray this in your own way, in your own heart, and say, Jesus, today I give you my life.

I know I've missed the mark.

But today, for the rest of my life, you're the Lord of my life.

That thank you, that you Jesus came from heaven down to earth and died on the cross, and three days later rose again for my sins, for the penalty, the for the penalty that I should have had, that He paid it off for me.

So today, Jesus, I'm giving you the Lordship of my life, you're the leader of my life, and for the rest of my life, I will follow you.

And Jesus, we love you in Jesus' name.

All across this room, we said, Amen.

Church family, look up at me.

We just have people for the first time, except Jesus, come on.