New Friends

So we're in part three of our series called Brand New. And what's interesting is Brand New is one of those words that we just love to ring and chime and talk about because there's something special about brand new, right? Brand new cars, brand new clothes. Hey, man, I got some brand new kicks this week, man.

I got to sell on these things and they're just, look at them. I don't want to, I was afraid, I was tiptoeing in this morning in the rain, you know, like I don't want to get these things wet. I want to, you know, like, there's just something about brand new, right? We love brand new and we all want to want brand new things. But did you know God loves brand new too?

In fact, He makes us brand new in 2 Corinthians 5 17. It says this, when someone becomes a Christian or a believer or a follower of Christ, however you want to call that, he becomes, she becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun. A new life has begun.

You're a changed person when you become a Christian. But for so many believers and followers of Christ, brand new hasn't really been experienced. In fact, they say, a Barna study says 97%, and I know some of you have been here all through the series, but I got to get this in your head. 97% of people who confess to be believers kind of just go through their Christian life not experiencing this brand new joy-filled life. They just kind of feel like it's the same as it was before, just a little more improved.

You know, and that's because many people, and in the new year, we see a lot of people come back to church, come into church, and they want to improve their lives, right? We think, well, if I get back to Christ, or I get back to church, or if I have a relationship with Christ, I'll just, you know, do the same things, but it will improve my life. But God wants so much more than that. He wants you to have a brand new life. He wants you to be changed and transformed from the inside out.

He wants you to be so full of joy. He wants you to experience a brand new life. And, and, and, but the problem is we chalk it down to just New Year's resolutions. I'll just, you know, eat better, be better, go to church better. So instead of starting out with habits and addictions, and, and I'm going to be better at these, we need to start inwardly.

So we've been kind of going on a journey here the last few weeks. And the first week we talked about changing our approach to God, our new faith, how do we put things into our lives, feeding ourselves with the Word of God, going into worship, gathering together, being together so that we can grow together, so that we can mature together, so that we can know and grow in God so much more. Week two last week, we talked about a new kind of fitness. And instead of looking at coming into the new year with, I'm going to eat better, I'm going to lose more weight, I'm going to do all these things that improve my health and improve my life, why not talk about a spiritual fitness? God has a spiritual fitness for us.

So we need to shape ourselves up spiritually. So we went into that. This week, we're, we're moving into a, a, a really, really critical and probably not kind of a subject that a lot of people don't really do or act on. And that's friends and relationships. And, and I'm not going to really go into marriage and all that today because we're going to save that for another series.

And I'm excited about that. But today, I just want to talk about the general principle of new friends, new friends. So the big idea is this, that relationships are spiritual. Relationships are spiritual. Whether we want to believe it or not, there is something deep.

There's something inside of us that connects with, we have, and we long to connect with people. From the very beginning, you know, God did not want man to be alone, right? Because there's something about us. When we're alone and we're isolated, something just doesn't help us and, and, and fix us. And, and, and we're missing something when we're not in relationship.

And so relationships are spiritual. Why? It's, it's so fundamental. It shows up in the first chapter of the Bible. So walk with me as I, as I, as I go through this because this was very, um, just instrumental to me.

A few years ago, I was in a conference and I was with a, a, a few pastors and we heard this scripture. Never heard this scripture taught from this angle before. And it really impacted me. It's Genesis 1, 11, and 12. It says, and then God said, let the land produce vegetation.

Seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. Now let's just talk, let's just create everything from the beginning. Like the first tree. How does he make various kinds? What, what is he talking about?

He, he put them according to their various kinds. He placed them with other trees? No. What he's saying here is that from the beginning, he created vegetation. He created everything to be able to reproduce.

So the tree you have in your backyard today was the, was, was the same tree that he created from the very beginning because reproduction took place. So he, he made trees to, uh, to its various kinds. He placed them in their various kinds. Seed-bearing plants. And it was so the land produced vegetation.

Plants bearing seed according to their kinds. The trees bearing fruit with seed in according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And this is just a great thing. I love how God always ends things with, this is good.

Right? I did this well. I do all things well. I do all things good. And God wanted to multiply things.

Really what we can get out of of this is, God wanted to...he... He started something back then that would carry on until today and into the future. His plan all along was to multiply, to multiply, and how do we multiply? Things have to become intimate.

Everything that becomes intimate brings reproduction. Everything. Not just marriage and, you know, children and things like that. Everything from the plants, they fertilize each other, they, you know, powder each other, pollination, they reproduce, right? Everything that is in relationship reproduces.

Absolutely everything. In fact, let's go on and jump to verse 26 in Genesis 1. It says, and then God said, let us make man in our own image, in our likeness. So the Godhead got together, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and they, man, let's make something absolutely special. Something above everything we've ever made before.

Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the livestock, all over, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image. In the image God, of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them and said to them, and this is interesting right here.

I want you to underline this next part, if you're following along in your notes, because this is the first time God actually gives man a commandment. He says, let there be, let there be, let there be, all through Genesis, right? This is actually the first time he says, hey, be fruitful and increase in number. He says, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves, moves on the ground. So the only creature that God gives his likeness to, first of all, is men. From the very beginning, he created all things, but there was one thing he did special with man. He breathed the breath of life into man. He made man in his own image.

And the first thing he tells man to do is, you need to go out and you need to reproduce what I've started. That thing that's inside of you, that spirit, that man that, as we talked about last week, that's inside of you, that wants so badly to connect with something far beyond where you, any kind of physical reality. That's the likeness of God. And your spirit man wants to connect with God. And God wants you to reproduce what he's given you.

He has orchestrated strategically and set into motion his kingdom through relationships. Isn't that interesting? He used the thing he used. He could have used anything, but he decided to use relationships, friendships, fellowships, marriages, family, all these things. He decided to use those things to reproduce who he was.

He set something into motion long ago. And that's why God loves relationships. He knew that there would be a transference of everything, spiritually, temperament wise. He knew that attitudes would be transferred. He knew that personalities would be transferred.

All that was good that he made, he knew and he started it. He set something into motion that's still going today through a reproduction. And that's why God loves, loves, and cares, and is critical about relationships. Because anything there was and is transferred through intimacy. Because anytime there is intimacy, anytime there is intimacy, there is reproduction.

So let's dig into this a little bit. And here's the kind of downside of this. Some of you are asking why, you know, why are things happening the way they are. When he set an emotion of transference and the potential for blessing down the line, there also was the potential for evil. Not that he created evil, but there was us who came into the picture, right?

And the devil's plan is to kill relationships. He wants to steal, kill, destroy, right? Steal your joy, kill everything that you have relationally, and absolutely destroy your life. That's his plan because he knows that God has a good plan for relationships. So he infiltrates relationships.

The devil comes into relationships. He hurts relationships. He breaks up relationships. He hurts people. He causes confusion.

He does all these things. He wants to kill it because not only do we transfer the godly things, there's the potential for us to transfer ungodly things. And that's why we hear in the Bible this thing called generational curses. Now when we listen to that word curse, we think automatically that somebody put a spell on us. And I want to kind of break that down and make it very simple for you to understand.

And in Scripture, they talk about the passing down of curses to, or the sins of the father to the third and fourth generation. And you know, when I first saw that, and I said, well, that's not fair. I mean, a father sins, and then a child is stuck with whatever that sin is down the line. And it can go three or four generations. Now that just doesn't seem fair.

But if we read this in context, and we actually see the practicality of it. In fact, there was a statistic said a child that is abused by their parents has a 97% chance of abusing their children. A 97% chance because something is being carried down the line. And when he states that sins will be passed down, it's not because he's cursing that individual particularly on its own. There's something going on.

He's just calling out what's already been set in the motion. And he's saying, this is why sin and relationships and things like that, why good, healthy relationships are so important. Because if we don't have good, healthy relationships, then these things are set into motion. And they can bring about damage. And this is why Jesus comes into the picture.

This is where Jesus comes in. Because he knew our relationships and our relationship with God. he's something to do with God. If we don't have good, us. And he can do everything but he wants that ...

을 Our vertical and our lateral relationships were so messed up that he came into the picture to put things right, to put them back in order, to put them straight again, to change the trajectory of the direction back to the original intended path of the believer. That's his goal. He wants you to be what you were originally intended to be from the very beginning. Isn't that beautiful? He wants, he's created something in the very beginning, all the way back to Genesis, something that he said was good, and guess what, in his eyes it is still good, and he is fighting.

So what did he do? He said, I'll send my son Jesus into this world to put people back on track, to put people, to redirect people back where I want them to go and where I want them to be. That's why God doesn't like divorce. In fact, it even says he hates divorce. Malachi 2, 13 and 15, let's just dig into this a little bit.

Let's talk about this. And this is the second thing you do. You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying, so he does not regard the offering anymore. Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, for what reason?

Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did he not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? And I love this part.

Underline this. He seeks godly offspring. He seeks godly offspring. Therefore, take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. So, it's interesting.

In this scripture, he's not as concerned as much about the marriage itself as the offspring that's coming from that. Now, he's concerned about the kids. And here's the deal. Before you feel, let me just pull back a little bit. Before you feel bad, because it just seems like heavy stuff, I want to tell you this.

We've all messed up in our relationships, okay? You have, I have, we've all fallen short. So, take a deep breath, okay? Just take a deep breath for a second. He can heal you.

He can step into the situation. He can make it whole. He can make it brand new. And that's what he wants to do for us. He wants us to make, make our relationships.

He can break the curse on your life. Some of you are really digging this because you know that there's something going on inside of you that you didn't necessarily cause and you're dealing with and you feel like you can't break those things. Maybe you've been abused. Maybe you've been hurt. Maybe you've been angered.

Maybe you've lived in an angry, or maybe it's just as simple as an attitude that you just can't shake because that's the way you were shaped. That's the way you were raised. That was something that was passed down to you. Well, can I tell you that God can fix all of that? But all he has to do is say the word.

He can break every chain off of you. You can live a brand new free life. I don't want Christians living the way they always lived before they knew the Lord. I want them to experience a brand new life. God wants that for you.

Did you know that? He wants you to live free. He wants you to have a brand new life. So, what should we do? Well, first of all, we have to recognize three things.

Relationships are spiritual. We've been talking about that, right? If you're following your notes, fill in the blank. Relationships are spiritual. They are spiritual.

And we need to take every relationship seriously for that reason. Your work relationships, your neighbor, your friends, your church family, relationships are crucial. And the closer we get to people, guess what? The more reproduction that takes place. And that's at every level.

At every level. Whether it's your family, whether it's your wife, or your husband, whether it's your co-worker, whether it's just, you know, a friend that you're just kind of casually know, or whatever. It happens at every level. Anytime there is intimacy, and I'm not talking about romantic intimacy. I'm talking about intimacy in general.

Reproduction takes place at every level. Secondly, relationships have lasting impact. Did you know that? Relationships have lasting impact. Just like the very beginning, in the Word of God, when the first tree was made, that tree had the potential to bear trees in generations and generations until it got to your backyard, right?

In the same way, your friendships, your relationships have lasting impact. They impact the life of people all around you, both bad and good. So, if you get around the wrong relationships, guess what? You'll reproduce a pattern. It will begin.

But if you get around the right relationships, they help shape your life and direct you into the things that God intended you to be. The things that God intended you to be. So, show me your friends. You've heard the saying, probably, show me your friends, and I'll show you your future. The people that you're around will help influence your life.

And God is desperate to get you in the right relationships so that you can have a lasting impact. Did you know that? He wants to get you in the right relationships. He's creating. And you're starting a family line now.

I'm just thinking about my own family line. I can go back to a few generations. And if my grandfather, a poor man from Chicago, Illinois, with tuberculosis, with a death sentence, didn't decide to give God a chance and walk into a prayer meeting one day and have some people pray over him. And he gave his life to Christ. And then soon after that was miraculously healed.

Powerful story. If he had not made that decision that it was time to go the way of God and not the way of the world, where would I be today? Because of his relationship with God, he would choose to not just know Jesus, but follow Jesus with everything that's in him. And then move across country to a little humboke town called Falcon, North Carolina, where there was a children's home where he would give his life to children. And he would begin to reproduce seeds in relationships with the kids who had no father.

And then he would meet. My grandmother there, who was also in that same situation in ministry, who was, who had a grandfather, or a great, a grandfather who had a grand, had my great-grandfather, who is my grandmother, who had passed down those hearts for ministry and those loves for, that love for Jesus. And then they would meet that day. And as a result, my father would come out of that relationship, and a brother and two sisters who are all in ministry today. My father's been in ministry for 40 years, still preaching.

This morning he's up there on stage just like I am today, still doing his thing, and loving it. And that came because of their relationships. And now here I am today. Not saying it's all sugar, candy, and we don't sit around the fire singing Kumbaya all day. You know, that's not, that's not, that's not real Christianity.

But I'll tell you, if it wasn't, there's something about godly seed that's passed down through generations. And it can start now. If you have bad seed, that bad seed can be broken. You can begin a relationship with Jesus. You can have a more full relationship with Jesus in your family.

You can make decisions within your home that this is not going anywhere further in this, in this idea of whatever it is that, that you're dealing with, whatever brokenness, whatever bondage that you're in. You can break that in the name of Jesus. And I believe that today. God wants that for all of you. Because God is desperate to get you in the right relationships.

He's lining things up for you, even as we speak. The third thing is relationship choices are critical. They're just critical, guys. We put them to the side. We don't make big deals about, oh, you know, they're just, you know, they're not hurting anything.

We're not hurting anything. But God, we have, we need, we have to, and we need the right people in our path. We need people that can help us and encourage us. And they are critical in the process of God shaping us to be who we were intended to be. It's extremely important that we take responsibility of who we allow to minister and be a part of our lives.

It's extremely important. So let's look at new friends today. Let's, let's talk about new friends. Proverbs 27, 19 from the Good News Translation. I love how it says this.

It says, a mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses. So the kind of friends you choose will just, will, will, show me your friends. I'll show you your future. So what kind of people are we hanging around? What kind of friends do we have?

Who, who do we need to, what do we need to work on here? So I'm gonna give you three things real quick for application, and then we'll be done today. But the first thing I want to mention is, and you can ask this question, or I'm gonna make the statement, I need to nurture important relationships. That's the first thing you, you got to tell yourself, I need to nurture important relationships. So you got to ask yourself, are you nurturing important relationships?

Well, what do you mean important relationships? The most important relationships first start out with your family, your sons, your daughters, your, the people that are closest to you. What are you teaching your kids? What are you pouring into your children? Am I the, I mean, you think about everything I just said.

Am I, am I producing a seed that will carry on to the next generation and the generations after that? It really starts there. And, and us pastors probably have the hardest time with that, to be honest with you. I mean, more than you do, and you're probably like, wow, you're a pastor. But we do because we've got so many hearts to wear as pastors.

You know, all praying with people, being with people. And, and it was always a joke, like the preacher's kid, because I was a preacher's kid coming up and, and the, the preacher's kid is kind of like the bad cheap or whatever, you know. They're always the one in the church. Everybody's like, and I don't know if necessarily they're worse than anyone else, but, you know, everybody's eyes are on them, you know. Let's see how the, how the father raises him, how our pastor raises our child, you know.

And, but I think a part of that is a result of, of fathers, uh, pastors, ministry leaders putting others before their children and not ministering to their children. And I would say today that you need to make them your first, if you're a parent today, or you're planning on being a parent, or you're planning for the future to be a parent, that is your first priority in your relationships. Nurture those, feed those relationships. Are you praying with those kids? Are you teaching them how to pray?

Are you teaching them how to, how to, to feed on the Word of God? Are you spending time? How, how is your, what's your habits like in your house? Um, what is your attitude around them? How are you loving your wife?

How are you loving your husband? All those things play into how your children are formed, because you need to nurture those children, because they're, you're starting a process. If you're, if you're entering into some things you don't need to be entering into in your household, if you have bad attitudes in your household, you're starting a process that could carry on from generation to generation to generation. Generational curses, generational hang-ups, however you want to word those things. That's what we're dealing with.

Nurture the most important relationships. Galatians 5, 13, and 15 says, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single commandment. Everything that's in the Bible comes down to this, right? Love your neighbor as yourself.

If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. Relationships are critical. Your church family is critical. I've seen more biting and chewing and devouring in the church than I have in any other place, and I've worked secular jobs, I've worked all kinds of different types of jobs, and ministry is absolutely the most brow-beating work because people have to be in relationship, and relationships are hard. But we should be relationally, we should be nurturing those relationships more than any other relationships in our church.

The spirit of offense and complaining and so-and-so did this to me, or said this, or didn't say hi to me this morning, and we just, it's just kind of silly things in church. And this is not, I'm not talking about our church. I'm just kind of throwing it out there. It's kind of like that in church. And we should be, nobody, that's not detractional at all, right?

No wonder people don't want to be in church. Relationally, we should be on one page. Loving each other and being with the people. We're accountable to our family, right? So when somebody does correct us and help us and push us towards being better, should we just bail and run and they don't understand, whatever?

You know, we do that all the time. I do it. I'm guilty of it. I get offended too. I get all worked up.

It's human nature, but God doesn't want that for us. God wants us, he sees these as very important relationships. Love your neighbor. Love the people around you. Love your neighbor doesn't mean your literal neighbor.

It's everyone that's around you. Anybody that you're associated with. Anybody that you're in a relationship with. So we need to work on those really important relationships. Discover what there's, you know, think about it.

Pray about it. What are those, what are the most important relationships in my life? What are the ones that are, I'm, I'm actually reproducing seed in and those ones that are reproducing seed in me? How do we connect in those ways to the most important relationships? Secondly, I need to stop harmful relationships.

I need to sever harmful relationships. I need to cut off harmful relationships. Now this doesn't mean that you can't love somebody and care for somebody. But sometimes we, we, we have relationships in our life and again, where intimacy is, reproduction takes place. So what's happening is we're, if we're in the wrong relationships, if we're walking with the wrong people, what begins to happen is we start acting and looking like those people, right?

And we start carrying those habits with us. So assess where you are and what, what relationships in your life you need to cut off. Maybe you have an old friend that just is, is just, just weighing on you. Maybe some type of, like you're always around them and, and even when you're joyful and, and enjoying life, you just feel like they're kind of weighing down on you because of their attitudes or, or whatever that might be. The habits they have, the hangups they have, and you're trying to live a full life.

And, and, and there's, there's people that are going to do that in your life. And maybe, maybe it's a coworker, you know, you're at work and, uh, you're, you're kind of, you're kind of talking and then the, you know, the bad jokes happening. And you just don't feel comfortable with, with that, with that joke, uh, among the men or whatever. So what do you do? You kind of pull away.

You, you, you distance yourself. You have to distance yourself so that you can grow more, so that you can be more of what God wants you to be. When, sometimes we have to cut off relationships, young people, get away from those relationships when you're with people who are, who are, who are making you compromise what you believe in. Girls, he's a sweet talker. I know he is, but you, you cut that off right away when he's, he's asking you to do something.

Guys, you do that too, right? I mean, you cut these relationships off. This is not where God wants you to go. You've got to, we've got to decide who we're going to surround ourselves with, who we're going to be with. We got to, we got to do this.

First Corinthians 15, 33 says, do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Man, I love the Proverbs, man. They just hit you right between the eyes, right? Proverbs 13 says, he who walks in the, with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

Proverbs 12, 26, a righteous man is cautious in friendships. Are you cautious in your friendships? Second Corinthians 6, 14, do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what do fellowship with light have with darkness?

So we need to really be careful and cautious about our relationships. Guard our hearts, guard our lives, and our relationships. And the third one is, I need to start meaningful relationships. So if you don't have anything but harmful relationships, maybe it's time to initiate some meaningful relationships. Make the initiative to connect with people.

If you want to live a brand new life that God has given you, or made available to you, where he's intended, the life that he actually intended you to have, you are going to have to be intentional about your relationships. So pastor, why am I not forming the right relationship? Why am I not connecting? Why am I not growing inside? You're talking about all this brand new stuff?

Because you're probably avoiding the relationships that you're supposed to be having. The very people that can help you in your life, that can help you grow and get to the next level, and experience a brand new life, you're actually avoiding. Right? I don't want to be, you know, one of the biggest reasons people don't connect to church, connect with their church well, and this is across the board. This isn't just Salt Church.

This is church in general. Connecting with people is the issue. They haven't decided, they haven't made the step to connect with the people in the church. I don't feel connected. The first thing I'll ask, are you a part of a small group?

Usually it's no. Nine out of ten times it's no, I just don't have time, my job, blah, blah, blah. Well, you need to intentionally get connected to a small group. Because those are the people that are going to help you. Those are the people that are going to get you to brand new.

Those are the people that are going to tell you when it's hard to hear, man. I've got people, I've got accountability in my life. I've got people I call as a pastor. I've got other pastors, and they just, bam, Leon, you're doing that wrong. You know what you did wrong there?

And they'll just blow, I mean, and it hurts at times, right? But those are the people that love you the most. Those are the people that are going to encourage you and build you up. Hey, let's do this together. Let's get this together.

Let's go with this together. And we're starting small groups this week. And Chris just mentioned there's a card in there. And it's got all kinds of different small groups. Man, we really hammered it up this time and just did a lot of small groups so that there would be something available.

Because I know a lot of you don't have certain nights that you're available. And we tried to do one almost every night of the week. There's a few nights missing. But I'm telling you, please intentionally get connected to a SALT group. You can connect to it online.

You can go on saltchurch.org, hit groups. And we actually have something you can click there, and we'll get you connected to the group leader. And that group leader will call you up, let you know what's going on, and you can get connected right away. And I know at times it feels awkward, you know, getting connected, taking that first step in a small group.

But you have to know you need them first of all. You need people. So why do I need people? Why do I need it? First of all, they are spiritual, right?

Relationships are spiritual. Secondly, relationships have lasting impact and relationships are critical. So take the first step to a small group. I know it's awkward. I know it's weird walking to a house with people that you don't really know, but I promise you, I haven't met one person yet that hasn't walked into a small group and felt like, wow.

The second question I ask is, are you connected to a team in the church? If you're not able to be at small group every week, that's fine. Are you connected to people? Man, we've got teams all over this church. We've got a tech team.

And boy, we needed more tech people today because, you know, a few of our people are out today. Our two biggest guys were out today and we were putting lights up and things like that. But I love it because what I do is I'm in here and I'm helping set up. I do everything just like anybody else. I set up curtains and get things ready even when I'm not playing.

But what I see is relationships. I see people cutting up with each other, hanging out, talking about the week. Let's go do this after church. Let's get together on a Tuesday night. Whatever it is, let's have coffee.

Man, what's going on in your life? I mean, you hear those things happening and people are actually happy being here serving because they're serving with other people and building relationships. So take the initiative in your relationships. So even though it's awkward, just shop. We've got a lot of opportunities to get connected.

But here's the one that you need to commit. You need to commit. You need to make that decision today that I'm going to commit to a relationship this year. I'm going to commit to getting connected to someone that can help me grow. Proverbs 18.

24 says, A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Let me tell you about that one. The most important relationship that you can have, the most important relationship you can have is a relationship with Jesus. Because he will stick to you closer than a brother and any friend that you can have. You know, friends will disappoint you.

Relationships will hurt you and disappoint you. But Jesus will never disappoint you. John 15.15 says, Because I no longer call you servants. He was talking to his disciples.

Because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I call you a friend. He calls you a friend. He calls you a friend. Take that next step.

Take that. That's the actual first step. Is knowing Jesus. And with all heads bowed and all eyes closed today, I just want to make that offer. I want to, you know, just the presence of the Lord is here.

We are gathered. God begins to move. And perhaps you're somebody here in the service that has failed a pull in your heart to something greater. And maybe it's something I said in the message. Maybe it was just something in a song.

Maybe it was watching these people give an open confession that they have now been raised to life in Christ. Whatever that moment was, you know, you know, deep down inside yourself, there's something that you're missing. That's that relationship with Christ. It's not about improving again. It's not about improving.

Listen to me. It's not about improving your life. It's about giving your heart to someone who will step in and make your life new for you. Because he can do it. If that's you today, if you're somebody who's ready, maybe you've walked away from God a long time ago and you're ready to give your life back to Jesus.

It's time to take that step and get your life in order. But you need a relationship with Jesus. If that's you, raise your hand. If you're somebody who's never given your heart to Christ before, just boldly, boldly say, I'm in. I'm in today.

If that's you, if that's you, please, please, we want to know. Just gently raise your hand. We're not going to embarrass you. We're not going to make you come to the front. We're not going to clap.

That's for baptism, right? We will clap afterwards. But we care deeply about your heart, your life, and where you're going. Because it begins now in relationship with God. You can begin a trajectory for the rest of your life for generations to come after you that is centered on the one who will stick to you closer than a brother.

He says, here I am. I knock at your door. If you open, I will come in. He wants to come into your life today. If that's you, just give it to him.

Give it to him. If that's you, just raise your hand. I'm just going to give you a second. You made it to make that decision today. If you would pray with me.

If you would pray with me. All of you who are ready to give your life to Christ today. Or make a dedication to Christ today. Maybe rededicate your life. If you say, Lord, I believe that you are the son of the living God.

That you died on the cross for my sin. That you laid it all that day. As you were spat on. That you were shamed. You were killed by your own.

The people you created. So that we could have life. So I receive that today, Lord. I walk with you from this day forth. Come into my heart.

Transform me from the inside out. Make me brand new. Make me brand new today. Make me brand new today. Come into my life, Jesus.

Come into my heart. In Jesus' name... Amen. Hallelujah.