Reclaim Your Calling

This series, I'm Called, is a short series to try to discover why we are called. And I want to talk to you today in a little bit of a different tone. For you that are online, we're so glad that you're here with us today. And you interact as well and type in called. Type in called.

Type in I'm called. I want everybody to say, I'm called. Everybody here, I'm called. I'm called. And I want to talk to you today, not as a pastor talking to a congregation, but a man of God that was called.

A man that was called by God. To a people that are called by God. A man that was called by God. Just a man that's called by God. To a people that are called by God.

Because as Christ followers, you have been chosen. You have been set apart. You have been gifted. You have been given gifts. You have been enabled with a unique calling in your life.

And last week, Pastor Brett shared with us that he doesn't even want you to think about your calling, your overarching calling. Am I going to be the next Billy Graham? Am I going to do this? Am I going to start this business? And whatever.

He just asked that we just look at the next three months. What are we going to do in the next three months? How are we going to honor God's calling just in the next three months? To end this year well, which is really the last couple of years have been an incredible, incredible season. And we're still feeling that.

What are we going to do in the next three months? Because you are called, I am called. And he showed us that we are all called. And that we do go through seasons. And we're ready.

We're going to two services. And we're ready to really make a dynamic impact in this community. And I believe that God is going to do this just strategically where we've been located. If you don't know, we've moved around so much during COVID. It's not even been funny, you know.

And y'all are still coming. And God is still moving. And people are still finding life in Christ. People are still growing. People are still taking next steps.

Do you want to be a part of something thrilling? Do you want to be a part of something exciting? You are called. And God has called you. God has called me.

And I want to take you to a scripture in Ephesians 4, 1. And Paul gives this powerful and very personal message to the church as he's imprisoned. He's under house arrest. Doesn't know if he'll ever be out of this situation again. And he's writing to the church.

And he says, therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you. I love that word. Beg you. I plead with you to lead a life worthy of your calling. To lead a life worthy of your calling.

For you have been called by God. Now just let that set in for a second. Lead a life. Lead a life worthy of the calling. And I'm not talking about, some of you are out here, well, what am I called to?

And I'm going to talk about that in a few minutes. But we're not, Paul's talking to the church in general. Because that holy phrase, let's just take a holy pause for a second. God wants you to live a life, lead a life worthy of the calling. You have been set apart.

You have been chosen. And the church isn't just an add-on. The church isn't just something we do. The church is who we are. You are the church.

We are the church. We are set apart. It isn't just something we add to our normal activities. We add to the side of our job. We add to the side of our hobbies.

We just put them in line. We are the church. We live the church. We breathe it. We are the church.

We don't go to church. We are the church. Amen? In fact, Peter says it like this, 1 Peter 2.9, but you are a chosen people.

You have been chosen. You have been called. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. And he's talking to the believers, the church, of God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. So we lead a life worthy of the calling.

And what I know about some of you, especially during this season, that you're probably worn down. You're emotionally drained. And you're going through an exhaustion period, perhaps. And you're spiritually discouraged because so much has happened over the last few years. So much has happened.

But if the devil can't destroy you, if the devil can't destroy you, he can discourage you. He can discourage you. He can speak to you. He can, is it really worth it? Is it really, should I just keep going?

Does it really matter what I do? Does it really matter what I'm doing? Is it really making a difference? So I've been asked as a pastor, how do you overcome discouragement? How do you overcome fatigue?

How do you overcome exhaustion? How do you overcome self-doubt and spiritual opposition? How do you keep your passion alive? How does that, and the only answer I can give people is, I'm called to it. It's a calling.

I can't get away from it. I can't not do it. It's something that I even think about stepping away from. I come back to it. It's a calling on my life.

And I'm asking you today to reclaim your calling. I'll reclaim my calling. You reclaim your calling. If you're going through a season of discouragement, if you're going through a season of frustration, reclaim your calling. So we are all called.

But what are you called to? See, most people think, and particularly this scripture, when they see it and read it, a job or a task or some kind of, you know, mission project or whatever it might be that God is calling me to. Some of you are trying to decipher that and try to figure that out. But what Paul is getting at here is something that all of us have been called to. And it's probably the case.

Some of you have been called. But I want to get down to three things today that you have been specifically called to. You, me, all of us have been called to. Number one, God calls you to salvation. God calls you to salvation.

Before God calls you to a job, before God calls you to a task, before God calls you to any type of mission project or any type of ministry or any type of business or whatever it might be, he calls you to himself. And he didn't call the righteous. He called the unrighteous, the sinners to repentance, right? Go back to that day. He didn't call the healthy.

He didn't call the wealthy. He called the sick. He called the impoverished, right? He didn't. He rescued you.

You were far from him. You were heading to death. You were lost. And he found you. He showed up.

And he caught you at that moment. You didn't deserve it. But he gave it to you anyway. He met you. He found you.

And no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter what past you have, no matter even how you feel today and where you're at today, God calls you. God loves you. You are called by Jesus. He calls you to be transformed by his grace. He calls you to be captured by his mercy.

He calls you to be rejuvenated and energized. Something changes inside of us. And don't ever let that become old news. You need to reclaim the joy of God. of your salvation.

You need to get excited. You need to go back to that day where God changed your life. Reclaim the joy of your salvation. So he calls us to salvation, and then he calls us to sanctification. He calls us to be transformed.

He sets us apart. He makes us a different people that we look different, we act different, we do things different. He calls us to a holy life, different than the world. And then thirdly, he calls you to service. He calls you to service.

Every one of you have gifts. Every one of you have talents. Every one of you have abilities. He calls you to something very specific that he's designed for you, specifically. Something he's given you.

Something he's inputted into you since you were born. And there's spiritual gifts that he equips you with, that he enables you to do certain things. All of us are called to service. It might be very specific. It might be very broad.

But whatever you do, I want you to say that. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. I want you to believe that. Whatever you do, in fact, this is what Paul says in Colossians 3, 17. And whatever you do, whether it is in word and deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

So what's your calling? What are you called to? Whatever. What are you called to? Whatever.

What are you doing now? Whatever. What do you have available in front of you? You are called. Whatever you do when you walk into your place of work, when you walk into the community, when you walk into the grocery store, when you're driving down the road and that person cuts you off in traffic.

Whatever I do in word and deed, do it for the glory of God. You are called, okay? It's not any big mystery. It's not something out there. You're waiting for lightning to flash in the sky.

Today, you are called. Whatever you do, whatever you're doing, whatever it is right now, you're doing. And some of you are like, well, I'm not ready. I don't know how to do this. I don't know the Bible well enough.

I mean, what if somebody asked me the question about whether dinosaurs existed, you know? Or if you lose your salvation or the end times questions, you know? I'm not ready for this. Am I good enough? Do I feel ready?

And it's hard to embrace that you are called to service, perhaps, because you're, you just don't feel like you're equipped. But let me encourage you today when the Apostle Paul talks to the Corinthians church at 1 Corinthians 1 26. He says, brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise, okay? You didn't have all the knowledge by human understandings or human standards.

Not many were influential. Not many were noble birth, of noble birth. So they weren't influential. They weren't smart. They didn't come from prestigious families.

And that should be encouraging for all of us, that no matter who we are, where we are, where we come from, that God has a call on our lives, and we should never feel like we're ill-equipped. He often calls those who are unqualified, who are untrained, who are unprepared, because God doesn't call the prepared. God prepares the called. God doesn't call the prepared. If you're waiting to be prepared, if you're waiting to go through a six-month training session before you start stepping out, one of the greatest tools of discipleship is to step out with someone who is mature in the faith and walk with them as Jesus did with the disciples.

Come, follow me. We're going to go change some lives, okay? These guys were not normal people. They weren't good Christian people, okay? Yeah, they grew up in a religious system, but man, they were fishermen and tax collectors.

Nobody wanted to be with a tax collector, right? Matthew was a tax collector. He had no friends, okay? But Jesus said, come with me. I'm just, just, just come with me, and we're going to do this together.

He calls you to himself, and we walk it out. He calls, he doesn't call the prepared. He prepares the called. And let me just share with you today, I want to get a little, a little personal with you. Thought I'd take the opportunity about my, my call.

My call. When I was called to salvation, I, let's just be honest. I was a mess. My calling to salvation. How many of you have been a mess?

How many of you were a mess when God called you? I was a mess. I had graduated from business school, got a double major in business. I was, I was rocking it, you know, in, in, in the, what I thought was the goals of life, and, and working up the, the chain, the ladder of, of, of the business world, and, and, and, and had the new car, and had the things, you know, that I thought were good in life. But, but I was lost, and I was hurting.

There was, there was a tug at my heart during that period of time. See, I knew the Bible. I grew up in church. I was a preacher's kid. I could give you all the right answers.

I, I could, I could quote scripture. I, I knew all of that, but it wasn't, I, I didn't really understand grace. I understood works. I understood what you needed to do to be qualified, I guess, as a Christian. But I never really understood until that moment after college that I had a life-changing experience.

And it wasn't in a church coming to an altar, which many people that happens for, and that's great. But that wasn't me. And it wasn't a, a, an evangelism event. It wasn't any kind of, you know, group setting. It was in my bedroom.

In my bedroom. Because what I sensed was a tug at my heart. Because I had tried everything. I had done everything. I, I had been successful in a relatively short period of time.

I, I knew what success was. As Apostle Paul says, I know what success is, and I know what it means to have nothing. And I knew that part of it. I knew what success, it seems like everything I was doing was kind of turning to gold. And everything looked great and everything, and, but, but there was something inside of me that was missing.

I was hurting. I was empty. And God came and met me there. Even when I wasn't seeking Him, He, He was seeking me. He was calling me out.

And my life was altered. My life was changed forever as I, I knelt down in that bedroom and cried out to God and says, there's nothing, nothing that's going to satisfy me in this world. I'm ready to give you a chance, Jesus. Come into my life. Come into my heart.

Change me forever. I got up from that floor. I was never the same. I was never the same. God didn't call me immediately to be a pastor.

He called me to Himself. But there was a period in which He called me to sanctification. Because I didn't have it all figured out on the first day. I didn't come out of that room that day not messing up, not doing things. I had sin in my life still that I was working through, as many of you are probably dealing with.

Because sanctification is just a fancy word for being set apart, for being made more like Christ. And it is a process that takes place after you have been called, and you've been called to be set apart. You've been called to be sanctified. And, and, and there was still struggles there. And it took people walking this out with me.

Walking my, my, my story out with me. There was a guy that, that was my boss at the time. His name was Mack. Okay. Mack was, um, yeah, we were from the south.

So, you know, there's Mack's and, you know, things like that. People were called Mack. Hey, Mack, what's up? And, uh, he was, he was very, I was very blessed to have him in my life. And, and, and he, he, oh, he always just cared.

He invited me to a young adult Bible study and he was just inputting things into my life at the time because I wasn't prepared, but I was being prepared in that process. It was an immediate, come with me, let's do this together, come to my Bible study, come to my group, come to my business. He walked it out with me and he would answer questions for me and help me and encourage me and he didn't condemn me. He didn't, when I made mistakes, he didn't, he corrected me gently, but he didn't condemn me. He encouraged me and there were other people in my life that came along.

Because you're not going to have it just right. Pastor Craig Groeschel shared the story of his salvation experience and says he and his best bud went out to get drunk to celebrate they had gotten saved. I mean, he didn't know. He was like, I just thought that's what you do, right? I mean, let's go, let's go out and have some beers and celebrate.

Brett Cooper, who was here last week, Pastor Brett, if you get to hear his story, it's incredible. He showed up high to church every Sunday morning to work in the parking lot. He didn't know any better until people loved him and encouraged him and they accepted him where he was. And he says, he will tell you to this day, he would not be where he is pastoring and ministering and affecting people's life. He's raised people up that are pastors today that are real successful pastors.

But it started in a church where he came in with red eyes on Sunday morning and people didn't condemn him. They walked it out with him. They loved him where we are. They realized that he had been called and now God's calling him to a sanctified life. And then God calls us to service.

See, service wasn't an option once I experienced this, okay? I was getting involved in everything. I was walking in. It was like there was something inside of me that compelled me to serve. I was serving in ministries I had no business serving in, you know?

I was just trying to get involved in everything. I was hanging out in old men Bible studies and young men Bible studies. And I was just kind of getting involved in the church in every facet. I was taking over ministries and trying to do things that I didn't know how to do. But I had people in my life that were walking it out with me, that were correcting me, that were helping me, that were encouraging me, that were building me up, that were seeing the giftings inside of me as I developed in ministry.

And ultimately, I was drawn. And why was I drawn to be a pastor? Because, honestly, guys, I didn't admire pastors growing up. I mean, my dad was a suit and tie wearer with a nice, he still wears a suit and tie in church. I mean, he's pastoring today, you know?

And I love my dad dearly, and he's a mentor to me now. But in that day, you know, here I am, this long-haired, blonde kid with a surfboard under my hand, you know? And there weren't like the cool Steve Furticks in that day with the nice jean jackets and all that kind of stuff, you know, kind of hip and in the camera and stuff. You didn't have that. There were really no pastors to look up.

There weren't the cool pastors. There were no megachurches. There were a few, but there were no megachurches to look up to. There were no book deals. There were no conferences.

There were no moving lights in the background of church. There were no cameras. There was no Instagram post of your cool shoes, you know? Look at my cool church shoes. Look what's going on, you know, like with me and this guy and what we're wearing.

We didn't have any of that. So why was I drawn to be a pastor? Because I was called. Nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't about anybody I was looking up to but Jesus Christ.

And I was called. And I felt that tug and I felt that burden in my heart. And as I went to church and as I was involved in church and I saw there was a need. There was a lot of people not in church. There was a lot of people that didn't know Jesus because they couldn't relate.

And sometimes the scripture were way over people's heads. And they were, they just weren't connecting. And I was here and I said, how can we make the Bible simple for people? How can we create environments where people can actually come to church and enjoy church and not feel like it's over their heads? And not that they weren't ministering to people.

Those people were ministering to people but there was a lot of people that were falling through the cracks. And I wanted to create an environment where I could reach people that sort of looked like me. And went through some stages of life that I went through. The people that I could connect because I knew that God had gifted me with a certain, can I use a take and turn, a special set of gifts, skills. That was off the top of my head.

I should have wrote that down so I get it right. Because, you know, Liam Neeson is one of my favorites. A special set of skills that God had laid on me to be able to pursue what he had for me, what he had called me to. You're being called by God to live a life worthy of the calling. Now, here, listen here, it's not easy.

Calling is not easy and perhaps you're going through that. Sometimes you get faced with criticism. I got faced with criticism. It's hard sometimes. And maybe you're somebody, there's no way you can be that.

Or no way you can do that. But sometimes the criticism from people confirms that you're called by God. Sometimes criticism from people confirms calling of God. And when people don't understand, it just means that you're entering into the realm of faith in which we can't understand. That God has called us to something that not everybody's going to understand.

It's not going to make sense because we're walking into a realm of faith. We're walking in faith. And you're being called by God. So live a life worthy where we find purpose, calling, fulfillment, and joy. Joy that's much deeper.

Fulfillment that's pure and whole and strengthens. So let me just give you two qualities of calling as we kind of start drawing this message down. First of all, calling costs. Calling costs. When God called Saul, he was blinded by the light and he lost his sight.

And there was this guy named Ananias that was speaking into his life. And Ananias showed up, and if you're looking at Acts 9, verse 15 and 16. It actually came up a little soon, but that's okay. So I've got a long ending here. So Ananias shows up to Paul.

Paul's blinded by the light. He's called by Jesus on the road to Tabascus. Most of us know that story. He was Saul. He's a persecutor of Christians.

God shows up in the scene. He was blinded by the light. And here's this guy named Ananias. God speaks to Ananias and says, You're going to go and share with Paul what his next mission is. And Saul that's now Paul.

But he didn't go to Ananias. He didn't... I mean, Ananias didn't go to Paul. And he didn't say, Hey, hey, you're going to be, you know... You're going to have this amazing testimony.

You're going to have this Instagram following so big. He didn't say you're going to have this podcast that everybody's going to connect to. Everybody's going to be a part of. Everybody's going to... You know, he didn't say that.

He didn't say that. Instead, God sends Ananias to say this to Paul. But the Lord said to Ananias, Go. This man has been a chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles. And their kings.

And to the people of Israel. And that sounds great, doesn't it? Wow. I'll have a big Instagram following. I'll have this podcast to go out everywhere.

I'll have all... All this stuff, but it ends like this, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. I will show him how much he must suffer. Now you may be a chosen instrument in the context of your environment. You may be a chosen instrument in the context of your workplace or your family or whatever it is, your office, maybe your college or university.

Maybe you're a chosen instrument. But if you're called to it, it's going to come with cost. It's just going to come with cost. But the moment you step into your calling, you step out of your comfort zone. The moment you step into your calling, you step out of your comfort zone.

When I was called to start Salt Church, it was stepping out of my comfort zone. Let me tell you, I faced spiritual attacks. I faced opposition. When we decided we were going to step away, we're going to step out and do this thing called Salt Church. That we're going to minister to this community.

I remember when I put in my two-week notice in my job and I talked to my pastor and everything. We'd worked out a plan. I started getting this little pain in the back of my side here and it wouldn't go away. And it got worse and worse and then I went to the doctor and they gave me antibiotics and it got better for a little bit. Then it went back to where it was before and next thing I know, I'm septic.

I've got this severe infection in my body. And before I even know that I have this severe infection in my body, I'm sitting across from my wife having Savannah. My mom was actually like, get up, get over here and be with your wife. I couldn't even get off the table. I didn't know how sick I was.

We had a new baby on the way. And I was sick as a dog. And not only that, just a few months before, my son was diagnosed with autism. So I had an autistic son, a new baby, sick as a dog. And I don't want to go into details with this because I believe and I love the church that had planned to support me.

But the church that, the reason I stepped away from my job, the reason I stepped out is because we were going to be supported for a year with a salary. And as soon as I stepped out, that was pulled away from me. It was almost as if it was never a conversation. So here we are. I have no job.

I'm sick as a dog. I go to an emergency room. They put me in a hospital for about three or four days. On heavy antibiotics. Have a new daughter.

Have an autistic son. And oh yeah, my wife ended up losing her job too because the company had to do some rearranging because of some contractual things with the government. And we're called to do this. God, are we really? It was a question.

God, am I really called to do this? But here's the thing. God often uses our deepest pain to launch our greatest calling. Many of you will not be where you are today. And I think about it often.

As I had a young man just text me the other day. He says, I'm so glad you honored your calling because I don't know if I would be able to make it without having Salt Church as my family. Because I honored a call that would have been easy to say, you know, I've been rejected. I've been misunderstood. I've been all these things.

But I honored the call. Because here's the thing. Private pain is a big part of public calling. Private pain is a big part of public calling. Serving Jesus is a gift and a grind.

Serving Jesus is a thrill. It's also a burden. Serving Jesus is exhilarating. But it's exhausting. Because calling is hard.

And if following Jesus isn't the greatest gift and the greatest burden, then you're doing something wrong. You really are. Because it's not easy. And God never promised it would be easy. And the biggest enemy to calling is comfort.

Some of you today have stepped away from your calling because you want to be comfortable. But never sacrifice your calling on the altar of comfort. Listen to me. Never sacrifice your calling on the altar of comfort. Hearts and lives are at stake.

Your fulfillment is at stake. Everything that God has gifted you with is at stake. If we don't honor that. And secondly, calling sustains. Calling keeps us going.

Calling keeps us moving. Calling carries us on. How did Paul endure? How did Paul stay faithful? How did Paul not get discouraged?

How did Paul not get bitter? How did Paul not quit? What did he do? He was brutally persecuted. He was tortured.

He was imprisoned. He was whipped. He was stoned. He was snake bitten. I mean, he had all these things happen to him.

How did he not just give up? Because Paul didn't finish because he was competent. He finished because he was called. He was called. And that's why he says, that's why he says in Philippians, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead.

I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which is in God that God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ. He says, I kept the faith. He says, I kept the faith. I won the race. In the very end of his life, one of some of the last statements he made in the Bible were, I've kept the faith.

I've won the race. I'm getting ready to go to be in heaven. And I sustained. And I continue to sustain. So how many of you would say you're, this has been a really hard season, right?

It's been hard to keep going, right? It's been a hard, it's been the hardest season of ministry. I mean, of all the times to have a church that doesn't have a permanent facility, it has to be in a season that our country has never seen before. A lot of uncertainty. A lot of things, just a radical season of the political tensions that are taking place even now.

It's hard. And it would have been easier, you know, and I've had those thoughts. It would have been easier just to, you know, maybe I could do something in leadership. Maybe I could train other pastors. Maybe I could teach at a university.

Maybe I could just get in, you know, start another business or do another. You know, sometimes you have those thoughts as a pastor. It'd be easier. But when it comes down to it, I can't not do what I'm called to. I would be miserable.

I'd be lost. I won't quit. I can't quit. I've got, it's what's inside of me is who I am. It's not what I do.

It's who I am because I'm called to it. It won't go away. It won't let go. It never gives up. And I can't let go of it.

It's who I am. And someone needs, today, needs to reclaim your calling. You need to reclaim your calling. You are called. You are salt and light.

You are salt in this world. That's why we call our church. Salt Church because salt always makes a difference, right? Jesus said it, that's why we believe it, salt always makes a difference, and a little bit of salt goes a long way. You are salt.

You are light in the darkness. When people are hurting, you have the answer. When people are far from God, you are the connecting piece to bring them to God. When people are in need, you have access to the throne room of God through prayer to help people spiritually and those who are in need physically. And you have the ministry of reconciliation where you are reconciling people back to God and to each other.

Don't let what's around you talk you out of your calling. You are called. You are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. You are called by God. Don't let the world tell you any different.

Don't let the world shake you up. Don't let that whisper that comes into your head, well, you're not really making a difference. You don't really have what it takes. You are called. And what you are is uniquely made.

You are uniquely made. You are uniquely created in such a way that's different than anybody else. And you are called. So don't let that. You are called by God to Himself.

Salvation. You have been set apart. You have been set apart. And you have been commissioned to serve Him. Will it be difficult?

Yes. Perplexed but not spared though. Persecuted but not abandoned. Struck down but not destroyed. And maybe I am.

And maybe I am talking to some people today that perhaps have lost their calling. Maybe you started off well because it is easy to start but it is even easier to quit. Right? It is even easier to quit when you hear that voice in your head. Maybe you have gone through a season where you have just kind of become spiritually weak.

You are off your spiritual game. Maybe you just aren't on target. And you are ready to get back on. But you have done some bad stuff, you know, during the season. You have done some things that you did not think you would have done because of everything.

Maybe that is where it is. But let me just say this. Romans 11.29 says this. It says, For God's gift and His call can never be withdrawn.

It can never be withdrawn. Some versions say it is irrevocable. So your calling is still there. Your calling is there. All you have to do is reclaim it.

Just reclaim your calling. Walk in your calling. You have been called by God. You have been set apart. And you have been commissioned and given everything you need to serve that unique calling that you have been gifted to call.

So be called to. So reclaim your calling. I am called. So today I want to just pray this over you. If I could just all heads bowed and all eyes closed today.

And it's a statement that the Apostle Paul prayed over the church. He wrote it in his letter to Thessalonica. He said, We constantly pray for you. And I constantly pray for you as a pastor. That our God may make you worthy of His calling.

And that by His power, by His power, He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness. And your every deep prompting by faith. We pray this so that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified. May be glorified. I pray that over our church, Lord.

That you would just give them everything that they need. Every desire for goodness, Lord. Every deed prompted by faith. So that ultimately, which is our chief end, to glorify you, God. And enjoy you forever.

We enjoy you forever, Lord. C.S. Lewis said, in commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him. We want to enjoy you, Lord.

So give us everything we need. For others of you, maybe you haven't ever taken the first step. Maybe you haven't. Committed your life to Christ. Maybe God has been tugging on your heart.

And you're here today because you're ready to check this out, to see what this is about. And what you need to know is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin. What you need to know is that the Father chose before you even were in this earth. He chose you before the beginning of time. He chose His Son.

He predestined His Son by the seed of Abraham. Abraham, Jesus Christ. He predestined His Son to die so that you could know Him by believing in Him, confessing that you are wayward and walking back into restoration with Him. So, if that's you today, you can make that decision. And like I was when I was on that floor that day and I surrendered my life to Christ and I believed that He was the Son of God and I asked Him to come and just take away everything that I thought was good, that I thought was bad, and I surrendered it all to Him.

You could do that today. I just pray this with me. Father, in the name of Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God. Thank You for dying for my sin. Come into my heart.

Come into my life. Make me new. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Can y'all give God a praise, a hand clap of praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you for being with me today and I thank you so much. Remember, just this one last, my wife's getting ready to end this off real quick, but invite somebody next week.

Invite a few people next week. Let's pack this house. Let's do two services, guys. I think it's gonna be amazing. I think God's gonna move.

Incredible things are gonna happen. Amen. God bless you. Tell you what, I think I might be in favor of Andrew just playing the whole service because it's like extra anointed today. I was sitting down and I thought, this is actually really nice.

Maybe she'd come up about midway through and his guitar sounds really angelic today. Am I wrong? It's beautiful. Yeah, it sounds awesome. It's like this wonderful little soundtrack for your sermon.

I mean, that just can't be bad. Thank you everybody for being here. Please don't forget if you are a regular attender. There are multiple ways you can give to support Salt Church. If you are a visitor, please don't feel pressured to give.

We just want the service to be a gift to you. For everybody else, as usual, you can give the text message. You can text the amount you want to give to 84321. You can give securely online through Planning Center. You can mail it in to our PO box.

You can even drop something right here in the box conveniently placed at the back of this hallway on your way out. Thank you for that. We know God's just going to do incredible things with it in Jesus' name. Everybody have a wonderful week and we'll see you next week at the fall kickoff at either 9 a.m.

or 10.30. We'll see you next week.