What’s First?

Today I'm going to, it's going to be a one-message series and it's called, we are calling it, What’s First?. What’s First?. Some of you are probably asking that question, what’s First this year? And the idea is that the order is important. The order of what we do things, of how we do things when we start off our year is very important.

And we are entering the new year, all of us are probably making lists, making New Year's resolutions, putting goals together, this is what I want to accomplish this year. Talking to you, some of you this morning coming through the door, you're like, man, this year is going to be a great year. I'm totally psyched for this year. I'm planning, I'm preparing. God’s going to really do some cool things with this year.

And even with our church, we're thinking about, you know, goals. We got some big goals ahead of us. We're going to grow. We're going to do some things. We're going to reach more people.

We want to reach just as many people as we possibly can this year. So we're creating goals. And you're creating goals. And we want to put these things, we're always putting these things together. We're making to-do lists.

And we're always concerned about what's most important. Why is that? Why do we create lists? Why do we design our years such as, I need to get this done or I need to get that done? It's because we have something innately inside of us that says, you know, I don't have much time on this earth.

And we all want that, we all want it to mean something. We want our lives to mean something. And we want to make our lives, count. And the truth is, there's not enough time in this life. We don't really have a lot of time.

And we need to, and we want to recall that time, even inside ourselves. That's why we do these things is because we don't really have a lot of time. Life is actually very short. Life, the question comes, well, what's most important? And what are the priorities in life?

And why, you know, with time not really on our side all the time, our average age is about 80 years these days. That's really not a lot of time in the scope. Even Job makes this statement in Job 7, 6. He says, my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and they come to an end without hope. Remember, oh God, that my life is but a breath.

That there's something inside of us that says, man, I really want this life to make sense. I want it to mean something. And there's not a lot of time to do it. And I love how Job uses the idea of a weaver's shuttle. And some of you may not know what that is, but it was a wooden instrument that was used to weave together threads.

And the idea was when the thread was done weaving, it would immediately shut and clip it off. So it abruptly ended. The thread, when it was through, abruptly ended through the weaver's shuttle. And sometimes life is like that, right? Life is like that.

We're like a weaver's shuttle. We're going through life. We're doing our things. We're busybodies, you know, getting things done. And all of a sudden life can end.

And I don't know about you, but I've noticed that in 2016, particularly among actors and actresses. We've had a lot of actors and actresses die. Have you noticed? I mean, it seems like more so this year. Maybe it's common, but it's like they were happening left and right.

It was like this week so-and-so died, this week so-and-so died, this week so-and-so died. In fact, here are just some actors from 2016. Alan Rickman, Florence Henderson, Gene Wilder. We have any Gene Wilder fans in here. Yeah, I figured we did.

John Glenn, Arnold Palmer. Music, David Bowie, George Michael. And what's interesting, this was really interesting, these last two I want to mention. Alan Thicke. He was with his son playing hockey going along.

I mean, I'm sure he was doing commercials. His commercials are still coming on TV. And life's just going great, right? Life's wonderful. And just like that, on a hockey floor with his son, he goes into cardiac arrest, and he's even giving thumbs up as he walks out.

I'm going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay. But he didn't make it. By the time he got to the hospital just a few hours later, he was gone. Life ends abruptly.

And Carrie Fisher. We have any Carrie Fisher fans in here? All right. Star Wars. Yeah, we had some hands in the back.

Amen. Hallelujah. We got some Star Wars fans in here. Well, Carrie Fisher, the same thing. A plane flight.

She's at the top of her career. Her career was like resurrected with the new Star Wars trilogy, right? Everybody's thinking Carrie Fisher again. Carrie Fisher again. She's back, you know.

She's in the new Star Wars movies. She's on a plane flight. And just like that, a heart attack. And within days, she's gone. Life is short.

It can end abruptly. It can, like a Weaver's shuttle, it can end abruptly. And Job also says this, Job 9.25, my days are swifter than a runner. And they fly away without a glimpse of joy.

And that can happen to any of us. They can, it's like yesterday, it seems like yesterday, 2016 began. And now we're in 2017. And I'm going to be here next year in 2018. I'm like, where did the year go?

And it seems like, and I know I'm not that old. I'm 38 years old. But it just seems that the closer, the older I get, the more precious life is. And the less time I have. I watch my, you know, my hair's getting a little grayer.

And I have less hair. And I'm getting more hair in other places, you know. And, you know, you notice yourself, I can't remember things like I used to, even at 38 years old. I mean, I'm too young for this. And my energy level certainly isn't what it was when I was in my 20s.

In fact, I tell people often, maybe I should have started a church in my 20s rather than my 30s, you know. But the psalmist reminds us of this, you know. He says this in Psalm 39, verse 4 and 5, Lord, remind me of how breathed my time on earth will be. Remind me. We need him to remind us sometimes, you know, remind me that my days are numbered and that my life is fleeing away.

My life is no longer than the width of my hand. The width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you. Human existence is but a breath. Human existence is but a breath.

I love how he uses the width of his hand, the width of his hand to determine his life as opposed to eternity. Just take a second and just lift your hand up in the air and just imagine that being your life and that this room with all the space in it being eternity and all the space thereof outside being eternity. This is your life. This is it. And it really matters what we do in this little bit, which again reflects eternity.

It reflects what we decide to do now really matters. And honestly, think about it. 2,000, 3,000 years ago, 4,000, 5,000 years ago, 6,000 years ago, the further we go back and the people that lived in that particular period of time and the things they may have accomplished and the things that they may have did, they've been forgotten. They've forgotten. Maybe we're forgotten.

We can remember a few people here and there, for the most part, hundreds and hundreds of people. What you do in this lifetime, over a period of time, but it really matters. So we need to refocus where we place our lives and how we order our lives. Order is important. In fact, James gets preachy about it.

He says this in James 4, 13 and 14, Now listen, you who say, today and tomorrow will go to this or that city or spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why? You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. You don't even know if you have tomorrow promised to you. What is your life?

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. That's all you are. A mist that appears and vanishes. And what he's saying here is we're going haphazardly through life. Oh, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to do that. And I've got to get this done and I get that. And we live life without a sense of urgency. And James is calling us. He says you need to live life with this sense of urgency.

And you know, one of my pet peeves, can I just get up on my soapbox here for a second? And maybe it's the area I live in. I'm sure it's with everybody. But people like to talk about where they want to be a whole lot rather than where they are. I want to be in, you know, I can't wait till I get to Florida.

I can't wait till I get here. I can't wait till, you know, I'm going to have a retirement place in Hawaii or Costa Rica or whatever. And we talk about these things. You know, we're always talking, man. And then we talk about how miserable we are here.

And we're not living life. We forget about what's happening right in front of us. You know, we've got a whole community to reach. We've got people here that are hurting. And all you're thinking about is where you're going to be tomorrow and how I'm going to get there.

And your focus is on there and there. And then once you get there, you're going to be thinking about where you're going to go from there, right? And that's how we often live our lives. We're always consumed with everything else. But here and now we're not living life with a sense of urgency.

So here's the thought. Time is short and your days are numbered. Time is short and your days are numbered. And the reality is that we are all going to die. Welcome to Salt Church where you're encouraged to live a positive life.

But it's true. The ratio is one and one. Everybody dies. Unless you want to count Enoch or Elijah, but that was thousands of years ago. Come on now, right?

I haven't seen that happen in quite a while. And they're still not here, right? Everybody's going to die. And when you live with the mentality that you only have a certain time, you think differently. You think differently about life and you look at what's most important.

You want a life that matters. A life that makes a difference. So the psalmist says in Psalm 90, 12. And this is a psalm actually written by Moses. And he writes this.

Teach us to number our days. Teach us to note what is important. Teach us to order what is important. Teach us to number our days, the importance of our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. He says, teach us to number our days.

In other words, order is important. What comes first is the most important. Let us number our days. So here's an assessment you can take of yourself today. Let's just be honest with ourselves just for a second and take an assessment.

The truth is, if you look at what you spend your time doing, what you spend your money on most, and what you think about the most, that probably has your heart. What you spend your money on most, what you spend your time doing the most, and what your mind is wandering to the most, is probably where your heart is. And we want to shift that thinking. If you're thinking, if your heart's somewhere else, we want to shift that thinking to something else, to something more, something eternal. And then the second part of this verse says that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Wisdom is not just knowledge. In fact, this is a room full of smart people, and all of us are very knowledgeable. We know a lot of things, I'm sure. We know a lot about a lot of things. We know that we're going to die, right?

I mean, yeah, duh, Pastor, you mentioned that earlier. And you're right, one and one. That's just the reality of it. We know that we make these New Year's resolutions because we want a better life. And if I'm going to have a better life, then I need to, you know, sleep better.

I need to take care of myself better. I need to work out. I need to treat my wife better. I need to treat my kids better. I need to be a leader in my family better.

I need to pay off my bills. I need to manage my money better. I need to do all these things to make a better life. I think that's knowledge. All of us know that.

But the problem is, we can have a lot of knowledge, but if we're not putting it to use, if we're not actually doing it, then it's just knowledge. And true knowledge comes only from God. The beginning of wisdom is God, is our focus on God. See, knowledge isn't the problem. It's wisdom.

There's not a problem with knowledge. There's a problem with wisdom. And wisdom only comes from God. And if we make a list, and we look at our calendars, and we look at our checkbooks, and we look at all the things we do, then we can see, wait, wait, wait a minute. Maybe, you know, I have a lot of knowledge.

Maybe I'm not putting this in the right place or going in the right direction with it. So, make an honest assessment of yourself to determine that. But wisdom only comes from God. So, if you're following your notes, I want to give you three quick truths about that. The first is, we've got to put first things first.

We need to put first things first. We've got to know what they are, and we've got to do them and follow them, right? And that comes from God. Because true wisdom comes from God. Secondly, you've got to give focus and energy to the things that really matter.

Focus and energy. Once we know what we're supposed to do, we've got to give focus and energy to the things that really matter. And what are those things that really matter? They're eternal things. They're the eternal things.

The things that last. The things that are going to be around far past when you're here. Those are the things that really matter. And then the third thing we want to do, we want to do it. Do it now, too.

We want to do it now. And we are going to live with such an urgency that we know that this life that God gave us really matters. So, we make our New Year resolutions. You know, it's good to make New Year's resolutions. I'm a firm believer in making goals and resolutions.

And you need to do that, too. And it's a good thing. But if our resolutions aren't centered on spiritual things, then they aren't good resolutions. And you won't have the energy and you won't have the ability to accomplish those resolutions until you first, first focus on spiritual things. They got to be grounded in spiritual things.

You will not accomplish what you need to this year if they are not grounded first into spiritual things because the beginning of wisdom is God. Wisdom comes from God. And we want to make sure those things are... And you need to tweet this. You need to either tweet this.

You need to throw this on your Facebook. You need to write it down. I know our internet... I know our internet... This is not good, but you need to do this because this is a great statement.

And it says this, you are not a physical being having some temporary spiritual experience, okay? You are not a temporary, you are not a physical being having a temporary spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being having a temporary physical experience. You are a spiritual being having a temporary physical experience. And so often we look at it the other way.

We're just having these random spiritual experiences. We come to church on Sunday, oh, but, you know, the real life's waiting for me out there. But you are a spiritual being having a temporary physical experience. And when we begin to change our thought pattern to that, it changes everything. It changes everything.

And how we position our life, what comes first. So what do we do first? Answer. The spiritual things. The spiritual things.

What do we do first? The spiritual things. Because we are spiritual beings having temporary physical experiences. And if we want to accomplish the physical, we've got to start out with the spiritual. We've got to start out with the spiritual things.

So let's talk about that for a second. I want to give you three things. What to do first? How do we do this? How do we focus on the spiritual things?

How do we do first the spiritual things? Well, first of all, we need to turn when into now. We need to turn the when, W-H-E-N, into now, if you're following your notes. We often hear one day when, then I will blank, right? One day when I make enough money, I'll pay off my bills.

One day when I have a bigger house, I'll perhaps start a small group. Or one day when I do this, when the kids are out of the house, when, you know, I'm married. And we're always focused on the when rather than the now. And sometimes we do this with God, right? We say, when I'm good enough, or when I'm ready to change my life, or when I'm ready to fix myself, then I'll think about God, right?

And we do this when, and I will. And now is the time. Time. It's not when, it's now. Now is the time.

Please listen to me today. Now is the time. It's time to take that leap of faith. It's time to step out. God has something for you, and some of you are here, and God's been calling you to something for so long.

He's been pulling at your heartstrings for years. And you say, when I, then I'll think about that. When I, then I'll think about. But the time is now. 2 Corinthians 6 2 says, I tell you, now is the time of God's favor.

Now is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. And some of you are here, and maybe it's a day that you've, maybe you've wandered away from God. Maybe there was a time that you had a close relationship with God, and you're like, well, you know, you've walked away, and you're like, well, you know, I know that God's calling me to something. Well, today's the day.

Salvation is here. And maybe you're someone who's coming here with a lot of bitterness or heartache, or you're cynical about church, and you're cynical about religion, and you're cynical about all these things. Or maybe you're just having, just life is tough. And you don't feel like you're loved, and you feel condemned. But can I tell you that God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world?

He didn't send His Son to the world to condemn you, but so that you might have this thing called life. And He calls it life. He doesn't care about your baggage. He doesn't care about where you've been, what you've been through. None of that matters to Him.

He's seen the worst of the worst. He's God. He knows, but He loves you anyway. And He desires to have a relationship with you, and His mercies are new every day. His mercies endure forever, forever is what the Word of God says.

And He has a mercy. He has mercies for you. And if you mess up, and if you stumble, salvation is available for you. He delights even in showing mercy. Did you know that?

God delights in showing you mercy. His grace is abundant. It's sufficient. It's everything that you need. And it's available for you.

And you can know Him just by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. And He says, you will. He doesn't say you might be saved. You will be saved. You will be saved.

Believe and confess and make Him Lord of your life. Make the good, when, when, now. Don't wait any longer. And what better day to do that than the first of the year. What a great New Year's resolution.

Amen. Secondly, we need to turn our intentions into actions. We need to turn our intentions into action. We need to put God first. Let's not talk about putting God first.

We, we, we, and, and think, oh, that's a great idea. Maybe I should put God first. Because, again, we're full of knowledge, right? We know that that's the right thing to do. But we need to put our attention, our intentions into actions.

James 4, 17 says, anyone then who knows the good he ought to do, the knowledge, right, but does not do it. Sins. Plain and simple. The Bible's pretty easy to understand, actually, right? I don't understand this complicated book, you know, you know, it sells you right here.

If you know what to do and you don't do it, it's sinful, right? And there's three things I want, I want us to be intentional about in our actions. Number one, focus on power. We need to be intentional on focusing on the power and the presence of God. Because I'm going to be honest with you.

If we're not intentional, if I'm not intentional in focusing on God's power, if I'm not praying out here right before I walk in saying, God, I need your power, I need your power, I need your power today, I cannot do this. Riding into this parking lot, I need your power, I need your power. If I'm not waking up in the morning saying, God, I need your power, I cannot do this without you. I am desperate with your power, for your power, Lord. But if I cannot have your power, then I need to just quit what I'm doing right now.

Because I am desperate. I need God's power. I need God's power in my family. I need God's power in my ministry. I need God's power all the time.

I am desperate and I am hungry for God's power. And we need God's power in this church. We need power in this congregation. We need God's power. We need to be desperate for God's power because we cannot do it.

And I'm praying for great revival in this community. I want God to just break out. But I have to be desperate for Him. This is not me. This is God.

God has to do this. God has to do this. And we have to be desperate for His power. 1 Peter 4, 7 says this, the end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

Be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. If we want God's power, we need to be clear-minded and self-controlled. And that's why I'm inviting you into three weeks of prayer and fasting. That's why I'm doing this. Three weeks out of 52 weeks in the year to give God the first of your year.

And I'm not here to look over your shoulders and make sure you do it. I ask no questions because I believe it's between you and God what you decide to do. But I firmly believe that it will answer some of your greatest questions. How would my life be different if I started my day off with God? If I started my year off with focusing on God?

How might my year be completely different? Because we need the power and presence of God in our lives. And fasting is a great way to do this. And I'm asking you, during this time, you need to be praying. A place, a time, and a plan.

And if you're on our email list, I sent out a link to a prayer book that was written by Pastor Chris Hodges. It's an excellent, excellent resource. Hold on to that. It teaches you how to pray. It has places on there where you can write out prayer requests.

Maybe people who are unsaved. And it teaches you about different types of prayer. Warfare prayer. Intercessory prayer. It goes through tabernacle prayer.

It teaches you. It gives you a good theology of prayer. And this is an excellent way to get into a place where we seek God this first part of the year. And if you don't have that plan, I'll be glad to send you. Connect with our email list.

We'll send it out again as we go through this time of prayer and fasting. And I ask you to get a Bible plan. To pull out a Bible plan. It's really, really easy these days to find a Bible plan. You no longer have to go to the bookstore and find you one.

Because you can pull it right up on your phone. They got this cool app called YouVersion Bible app. That a lot of churches have worked hard to make possible so that everybody can have access to the Bible at any time, at any place. In fact, people around the world where Bibles aren't allowed in are actually getting access to the Word of God. We have covered the world more than ever before because of the great gift of technology that we are using for the Lord's glory.

And you have access to that. And you can actually do a one-year plan, Bible plan. I do that myself. I have a one-year Bible plan, and every day, every morning, I'll put that. And guess what?

You don't even have to read it. You can actually press this button, and it will read it for you. Isn't that cool? And you can just listen to it. And then you can sit and write down stuff as you listen to it.

I personally like to listen to it while I read it because it helps me focus a little more because I can get distracted, you know. So I focus on, you know, while I'm reading, I listen to it. And it's just there's so many resources out there and so many plans out there. And I would say start off your year by developing a habit. Do you know it takes 21 days to develop a habit?

And you can develop a habit in 21 days, and for the rest of the year you can. And I guarantee you, and not only because the Lord says it and he teaches it and he says it will happen, but because I've experienced it, that if you develop a habit and you develop a prayer life and you develop a life that gives God first, that gives him what's first, then your year is going to be changed. You're going to be given energy, you're going to be given momentum to be able to accomplish the physical because you're focused on the spiritual. And my job as a pastor, listen, my job as a pastor is not just to create an environment where you can come in and worship and to go visit you when you're sick in the hospital, but my job is to lead you into something. So I'm inviting you, and I'm leading you into this place of worship.

I'm leading you into this place of the spiritual things of God. So I'm leading you by going into this time of fasting myself, and I'm inviting you, and I'm telling you, and I'm showing you, and I'm guiding you into this. So join me. The second thing we need to focus on is people. Focus on people.

First of all, pray for the lost. On that prayer manual I was telling you about, you can write down those people that you want to pray for, and you pray for those people. Pray for those people. I mean, don't be general. Be specific.

I want to pray for my uncle Jim Wall. Okay, Jim Wall's a pastor, so just for fame came up. But my uncle Jim, I want to pray for him. I want to, my uncle Raymond, my uncle, my aunt, my best friend growing up, Janie Smith. You know, whoever it might be, you know, just write it.

Be specific. Pray for people that are lost. And secondly, come together. Get in healthy relationships. Because the best way to experience life change is in healthy relationships.

Healthy relationships. How do we do that? Small groups. We have semesters of small groups. And we'll begin our semester of small groups on January 29th.

And you'll have an opportunity. And if there's not a small group that fits you, then start a small group. It don't even have to be in the church. You could start your own group in your neighborhood with people who are not in church or at other churches. Whatever it is.

You know, you can start your own small group. But we're going to have those available for you. And the best way for life change to take place is in small groups. 1 Peter 4, 8 and 9 says, above all, love each other deeply. Love each other deeply.

Because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. We need each other. We desperately need each other. We need each other.

Can you say that with me? We need each other. Look at the person next to you and say, I need you. Look at the other person on the other side and say, I need you. We need each other.

We desperately need each other. In fact, we are going to create another Facebook piece called Salt Community. And I know a lot of you kind of come in and out of church. Maybe you don't quite connect with some of the small groups or haven't yet. And I'm encouraging you to.

But this will also be another avenue for people to connect out. You know, if they're, say, somebody wants to go out. Scott McDevich, thank you so much, man, for that idea. But we're going to create a Facebook community. And you're going to be invited into that community.

And this is a way for you guys to connect. Maybe for lunch after church. Hey, guys, I'm going to Buffalo Wild Wings after church. Anybody want to go? Bam, bam, bam.

Bobby Cinnabaldi probably says, hey, I'm going to breakfast Monday morning. Who's coming? You know, and Alex Rubio, they do that a lot. We're on a text group. He says, I'm going to breakfast Monday morning.

Anybody want to join me? You know? And this would be another avenue we can use to connect each other because we desperately need each other. And we desperately need to work out our hurts and our pains and our sins and all these things because we best heal. When we′re together.

Thirdly, you need to focus on purpose, on your purpose. Because each one of you have a purpose. And frankly, many of you are not working within your purpose. And that′s why your life is miserable. That′s why your life, you may know the Lord, but you′re not experiencing the fullness of life in Jesus because you′re not living out your life′s purpose.

1 Peter 4, 10 and 11 says, Each one should use whatever gift they have received to serve others faithfully, administering God′s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one′s speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ. to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen′s.

Do you know, statistically, 87% of people in church don′t know where they belong? They have no clue. And then they wonder, why′s why′s why′s I′ん. Why am′s definitely experiencing the fullness of life in God, because they′ are not following their purpose God′s has a purpose for every′ one. You need to find your gift.

In fact, we′re launching′ in February, we're launching a gifts assessment piece where you can actually assess your gifts and learn who you are. It will tell you where you, it'll talk about your, it'll look at your personality and our dream team did it when we started the church. We came together right before we launched the church and we talked about, you know, who we were. Many of you took it and some of you knew exactly who you were because you're like, yeah, I'm a servant. Yeah, I'm a servant.

I said, you know, I don't mind coming out and helping and serving and this and that. That just makes sense. You know, that's who I am. And there's a place for you because we have so many teams in this church and we got so many ideas and we got big things coming and we just got huge vision for this church and we want to do it. But guess what?

If you're not involved, we got to put some things to the side. We can't accomplish all that God's calling us to do if we can't get this percentage of 87% down to much lower. I'd like to see it at 0%. I'd like everybody to be involved in experiencing the life they can have in Jesus by knowing exactly who they are in Jesus. And you can know.

And we want to help you do that in Salt Church. And if you're new here today or you've been with us for a little while, not everybody's been here for a long time because we're a new church, but if you've been with us for a little while and you don't yet know where you belong, you need to get involved and get plugged in because you're going to experience so much. And we can do so much more together. Together, together it has to happen. Together we can make a difference.

Together we can change the story. We can make a difference. And third, back to my main point, it's third. And lastly, I've got to turn my whole heart towards Jesus. You've got to turn your entire heart towards Jesus.

Now, I don't know where you grew up. I don't know what culture you were a part of, but I grew up in what they call the Bible Belt. And we're still sort of in the Bible Belt. This area is a little different, you know, because we've got a smorgasbord, a melting pot of people, you know, from different cultures and different backgrounds and different religions. So it's a little different.

Yeah. But I come from the Bible Belt. And everybody kind of was okay with church. And they were okay with a little bit of Jesus. Just a little bit, though.

Just enough. It's like the flu shot. You know, you take a little bit of the flu shot to be vaccined. But that's all I need is just a little bit. And we live with this idea that we just, if we just get a little bit of Jesus, then I can, you know, the rest of life, the rest of my day, it'll be okay.

A little bit of Jesus. But I'm asking you, and God is asking you, to turn your whole heart towards Jesus. Mark 12, 34 says, when Jesus, he was, just to give you some context to this verse, a Pharisee was asking him questions. And he answers him with the greatest commandments. He says, you've got to love God and you've got to love people.

Those are the greatest commandments because all the other commandments are under these two commandments. Love God and love people. And then the man repeats, yes, I know that, Lord. Love God. That's the greatest thing.

And Jesus said this, and when Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, because he had knowledge, right? And he answered wisely. He said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. You're almost there. You're almost there to experience the abundant life of freedom that God has for you.

You're almost there. But you can't just turn a piece of your life over to Jesus and say, yeah, I'll just give him that piece, but I'm not giving him this piece. You've got to turn your whole heart towards Jesus. Turn your entire heart towards God. Consider Jesus today if you haven't.

Consider Jesus today. Maybe he's been pulling on your heartstrings for a long time. Make this new year the year of commitment. And for some others of you, make this the year of recommitment. I was with God a long time, but I went away from him.

He's been pulling me back, and I've been hearing his voice, and he's been convicting me. We call that the conviction of the Holy Spirit when you feel like you're just drawn, and maybe you've been drawn back to him, and you know you need to make things right with him. Well, you can do that today by confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart, knowing that you can't do it without him, that he was the perfect lamb that was shed on the cross for our sin. He covered it all, the past, the present, and the future. He bridged it together.

Have a relationship. This is not religion. Well, I'm not a very religious person. I'm not either. Praise Jesus for that, because I would have fallen every time if I was religious, but it's not about doing the right things.

It's not about when I start making changes in my life, then I can know God. No, God says, don't make changes in your life yet. Just know me. I just want you. I want you baggage and everything.

I want you hurting everything. I want you far from me and everything. I don't care if you're in sexual sin, if you're in drugs, and you're alcohol, you're in a dark place. If you're falling, he doesn't care. He doesn't care.

He doesn't care what your past is. He says, I got this. This is not a problem for me. You just have to believe that I can do it. But you don't believe me.

So I'm asking you today to believe in him. That's what it means to believe in him. Put your trust in him. Put your hope in him today. And if you're here today with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I want you to make that confession.

If that's you today, I want you to pray this with me. Either a recommitment or a commitment, you make that today. Jesus, I believe that I am a sinner, that I've fallen short of you. And I know that you paid it all on the cross. I know that today.

I have that knowledge. I know it. That you died for my sin and you were the son of God. And you rose from the dead on the third day. And I'm trusting the blood that was shed on the cross.

The perfect land that was slain. I'm trusting you today, Lord. I admit and I believe and I confess. So come into my heart. Come into my life.

Change me, Lord. I thank you so much, Lord, for what you've done. I'm praising you today because you brought me at the right place in the right place. It's time for this to happen. In your name, amen.

Amen. Let's give God a shout of praise. We love you, Jesus. We love you, God. Thank you.

Hallelujah.