An Undisciplined Life Is an Undefended Life - Pastor Steve Smothermon

The goal isn't becoming a stronger version of yourself. The goal is becoming more like Christ. And Scripture tells us where self-control ultimately comes from. Galatians 5, 22, and 23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things. There's no law. In other words, you can't have enough of this in your life. So you cannot substitute intention for training. And I wonder how often we do exactly that spiritually. We have good intentions. I want to follow Jesus. I want to pray. I want to know the Bible. I want my marriage to honor God. I want to control my temper. I want to overcome this temptation. These are all good intentions. But good intentions, as we know, don't produce a disciplined life or don't produce anything. In fact, it's been said, hell is paved with good intentions. And there are things that have to be trained into us. And throughout this series, we've been asking one simple question. How do you become battle ready? Because there is a spiritual battle, and the Scripture tells us there is, and we should probably, if there is, and we know there is, we should probably know how to prepare for it. And one of the biggest mistakes we can make is thinking we will somehow become ready when the battle arrives. We think when the temptation comes, I'll be strong. When the pressure comes, I'll stand. When everything falls apart, I'll pray. When I really need to hear from God, I'll get into His Word. But that's not how preparation works. An athlete doesn't wait until game day to start training. We see these great catches, now the football is starting, and these guys make some great catches. That didn't happen because they showed up. That happened because they trained and trained and trained. A soldier doesn't wait until the bullets start flying to finally figure out how to use his weapon. He's trained long before the bullets start flying. See, you don't prepare for the battle during the battle. Preparation has a deadline. Eventually, the temptation comes. Eventually, the pressure comes. Eventually, somebody says something or says something that makes you angry. Anybody ever had that happen? Eventually, you're tired. Eventually, you're discouraged. And eventually, you feel alone. And when that moment comes, the question isn't simply, what do I intend to do? The question is, what have I trained myself to do? The reason so many Christians falter and fall and never get back up, because the Bible says the righteous will get back up seven times. What is that saying, really? That's saying that no matter how many times you fall, how many of you have fallen more than seven times? Yeah, you just put up two hands and two feet.

I can't put up my feet right now, but hopefully in about a year I'll be able to. But the Bible says the righteous get back up. And there are a lot of people who never get back up. You know why? Because they're not prepared. They'll say, why is this happening? Well, if you get in the word, you'll know that things are going to happen that you don't like and don't seem fair. It's just the way it is. Well, I thought if I believed God, nothing ever would go wrong. That's a joke. That's a lie that's been perpetrated on the body of Christ for so long that people actually start believing and teaching it. Well, if you're honoring God, nothing will go wrong in your life. Well, then what? That'd be true if there was no devil. There's a devil. You have an enemy that comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That's his job description. And he's no respecter of persons. You know what's interested in our culture today? Satanism has become in a bigger deal than young people. Worship in the devil, going to hell. And people think, well, when I get to hell, the devil and I'll be buddies. The devil's not in charge of hell. God is in charge of hell. And he'll suffer just like the rest of the folks that go there. Dang, I'm preaching a little bit right now. See, today we're talking about discipline. See, we love motivation. Motivation feels good. You hear the right sermon. You read the right book. You watch the right video. Something gets stirred up inside you and you think, I'm changing everything. Tomorrow morning, when I get up, I'm going to get up at five. I'm going to read my Bible for an hour. I'm going to start working out. I'm going to start eating right. I'm getting my finances together. And then tomorrow morning comes. And suddenly yesterday's motivation has disappeared. You didn't get up at five, you got up at seven. You didn't read your Bible for an hour, you didn't read it at all. And you looked at something to work out and you thought, now I'll start tomorrow. Because motivation asks you this. Do I feel like doing this? Discipline asks what needs to be done.

And there's a major difference. Anybody can do the right thing when they feel like doing the right thing. Discipline does it anyway. Whether you feel like it or not, discipline does it. And if you're going to be battle ready, you need discipline. First Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24 through 27, this is Apostle Paul. Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Under control, less after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Paul gives us the picture of an athlete. He talks about running. He talks about competing. He talks about self-control. He talks about disciplining his body. Notice something important. Paul isn't just trying harder. Paul is training and there's a difference between trying and training. Trying happens in the moment. Training happens before the moment. You can try to run a marathon tomorrow, go ahead. So buy the right shoes, the popular shoes, hokas or whatever they wear now, asics. Put on those proper shorts, I don't know what they are. I freak out at the guys that ride bikes. I'm like, "Dude, put on some shorts, man." I'm like, "Dang." You can download the playlist, stand at the starting line and tell yourself, "I believe

I can do this." And maybe you believe it with everything you've got, but believing you're prepared and being prepared are two different things. I don't know anybody that could just walk up and run a full marathon and just because they wanted to. You have to prepare for it. You have to train for it. It doesn't matter how much you believe are you prepared. Number 1, discipline has a destination, Paul says in verse 26, "So I do not run aimlessly." Paul knows where he's going. That's important because Christian discipline isn't discipline for discipline's sake. We're not trying to prove how spiritual we are. We're not trying to impress God, and we were certainly not earning salvation. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. You cannot pray enough to save yourself. You cannot read enough Bible to save yourself. You cannot fast enough to save yourself. You cannot discipline yourself in the righteousness before God. Jesus did what you could never do, what none of us could do. So discipline isn't about earning God's grace. It's about learning to live faithfully because of God's grace. Discipline without direction is punishment. Think about that. Discipline with direction is called preparation. And Paul knows where he's going. That's why he can say no to things because he knows where he's going, where he wants to do. That's why athletes live differently. They have a destination. They have a goal.

And when you know where you're going, it changes what you're willing to do right now. Number 2, discipline means saying no. Think again at verse 25, every athlete exercises self-control in all things. Self-control. That's interesting because we live in a culture obsessed with control. We want to control our circumstances. We want to control what people think about us. We want to control our future. but scripture repeatedly brings our attention back to something different. Control yourself. You cannot control tomorrow. You cannot control another person. We cannot control every circumstance. And we cannot control whether temptation shows up or not, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can learn to govern your response. And discipline requires the ability to say no. Remember the drug thing? Just say no. No to my appetite. No to my anger. No to my lust or greediness. No to laziness. No to another purchase. No to another hour of scrolling. No to saying what I'm thinking just because I'm thinking it. Well, I'm thinking this. Keep it a thought. No to what I want right now,

because I want something greater later. And here's something we don't like to admit. A lot of us are raising kids in homes with no walls. We overwhelm our children with everything. Everyone becomes a need. Every whim gets granted. And we wonder why they grow up and can't tell themselves no either. We believe because of this culture that we have to give our kids everything. And somehow if we don't give them everything, then we're not a good parent. Folks, that's a lie from the pit of hell. And I want to free some parents here tonight. Just because you can't get your kids everything every other kid has, that's not because you're a bad parent. That's maybe because you can't afford it. Or maybe you just don't want them to have it. But today parents think they got to hover over their kids and my kids never do anything wrong. My kids never lie. I've been told that by so many parents in the school that my kids never lie. And I want to, I don't say it, but I kind of say, I look at them and I'm like, are you kidding me, everybody lies. You're lying right now. (congregation laughing) Oh, the teachers lie, the authority lies, but you my kid, oh no.

She or he's a saint. Ain't none of us that, didn't notice my English, ain't none of us, none of us that saintly, but our kids are. And we think if we don't give them everything right now that everybody else has, that somehow we're not parenting them well. Folks, that's not true. And sometimes we need to tell our kids, no, I see people, they go to stores and their little kids, I want this toy, no, ah, and then they give it to them. And we're teaching our children today in this world to have no restraint, no control. And folks, there's a, listen, everybody in here will pay. You will pay now and play later, or you'll play now and pay later, either way you're gonna pay. And I know people that, you know, people have great businesses and make a lot of money and people say, I don't know why they need that much money. That's none of your business. And I'll tell you why, 'cause you don't know what they did to get it. You don't know how hard they work. I know people that I talk to work almost seven days a week. They work all the time. And people say, well, they have so much 'cause they work for it. Some of us get upset if we have to work over 35 hours. And you wonder why you never get anywhere.

Some of us, when the boss asks for overtime, we're like, no, I'm gonna go home. And then you wonder why you don't get anywhere. Why don't you work the overtime? Make some more money. Bless the kingdom, bless your family. But we say yes to everything and then you don't get very far. I mean, when I was in Bible school, I used to say to the Lord and think to the, when I was meditating and praying and I'd look outside my window and all my buddies that I knew were playing basketball and out paying tennis and doing things I like to do. And I used to think, Lord, why did they get away with that? And I have to be up here praying. No, I didn't have to, but I knew I was supposed to. Why is it that they get away with that? And I gotta be up here an hour praying this time and an hour this time and reading and studying. And here's what I can tell you because the Lord said, if you want what you have today, you pay back there. There's a price to pay for success. But we don't want to say no. It's on sale. Who cares? I need these shoes to look cool. No, you don't. And we teach our kids that they,

Then we wonder why they get older. They're broke. They're in debt. Because now they want whatever they want. Because we never taught them to say no. Parents be free. Don't get caught up in this trap that so many people are caught up in. Let your kids fail. Let them go through some things. Don't just run and think, well, if I don't protect them, then I'm not a good parent. No, they need to learn to deal with things themselves. And we should start them at a young-- my teachers being mean to me will then quit acting up. I can't even imagine when I would go home and tell my dad or mom, my teachers being mean to me. Because I know what I would have got. I'd have got a butt whooping. It would have been this woke stuff, it'd have been a butt whooping. So I wouldn't dare say it. But now all authority's bad and we're all good. Dang it, man. Discipline isn't just something you build in yourself. It's something you model for the people watching you. That's what an athlete understands. Even an Olympic athlete sitting at the table asking, am I legally allowed to eat this twinkies, hostess cupcakes? I love those hostess little donuts. I like the chocolate ones, I like the crinkle ones, whatever those are, crunchy ones, whatever. I just like them. See, that's not the question. So they arrest me if I stay up till 3 in the morning.

No. Is it technically against the rules of vice skip training today? Maybe not, probably not. But they're asking the wrong question. The mature question isn't merely am I allowed. It's, will this help me run? Will this help me accomplish the goal? And Paul says something similar earlier in the same letter, 1 Corinthians 6, 12. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. That's called maturity. There are things you may have the freedom to do that you still need the discipline to say no to, because maturity isn't merely learning what you're allowed to do. maturity is learning what you're willing to give up because of where you're going. And some of us keep asking, is this sin? And maybe a better question would be, is this helping me follow Jesus? Is this helping my marriage? Is this helping my mind? Is this helping me become more like Christ? Because you can spend your whole life asking how close you can get to the line without crossing it. The discipline person asks, where am I going and what will help me get there? Number three. Now this is a term most of us probably haven't used, heard, it's called Hebrewism. And I want to show you something in Scripture that trips a lot of people up because on the surface it sounds harsh. Jesus said it himself in Luke 14, 26, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, just even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." This is called a Hebrewism.

It's like we have idioms. If someone from another culture came and you said, "Hey, that guy kicked the bucket," they'd be like, "He kicked the bucket. Why would he kick a bucket?" But we all know it means what? I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. Someone would say, "They're going to eat horses?" No, it's an idiom. And there's Hebrewisms that we don't talk about, I've not talked about, I'm just learning a lot about them and it makes so much sense to my brain. So was Jesus actually asking us to hate mom, dad, brother, sister, our family? No. It's a Hebrewism. But we take things, especially in Christianity so literally, take up snakes and we have snake handlers. I think they're dumb. If you sin, if they bite you, it's because you sin. No, if they bite you, they're a stinking snake. That's how this crazy stuff gets happening. That sounds like Jesus wants you to despise your family. This is not what he's saying. Again, this is a Hebrewism. It's a way of speaking that shows up all through scripture where hate doesn't mean what we think it means. It doesn't mean despise. Here's what it means. Are you ready? I love this. This help me. It means love less by comparison.

You see, it earlier in Genesis when Jacob, Rachel and Leah, a lot of us know the story. Maybe some of you don't, you can go back and read it. In Genesis 29, verses 13, 31. So Jacob went into Rachel also and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another seven years. And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Read those two verses together. Verse 30 says, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. And verse 31 calls Leah hated. Same situation, two different words. Jacob didn't despise and hate Leah. He didn't abuse her, he didn't wish her harm. He just loved her less than he loved Rachel. The scripture calls that hate. And that's the key that unlocks what Jesus said. Hate in that world simply means to love less. So folks, let me say it this way. You even have to love less yourself when it compares to Jesus. Well, how do I do that? How do I know when I do that? When you're willing to say no to things. Now, I'm not getting on anybody that smokes, but I understand that a pack of cigarettes is like 10 to $15 a pack today. When I was a kid, it was like 50 cent. I'm like 10, people will spend 10 to $15 on a habit. That they, if they believe God, they could break.

But they won't give the kingdom $10 or $15. So let me say this, who do they love more? And all we have to do is love ourself a little less. Don't, you have to love yourself. No, I'm not saying don't love you. So just love it less than you love Jesus. And that's where discipline comes in. That's how it works. And I love the way this works. You just gotta love your family less than you love Jesus. In other words, they don't come first, God comes first. The kingdom comes first, Sunday comes first. Not my family, they're having a picnic Sunday. Well, they can have it after church. Oh, I gotta go to a birthday party. That's always sickening me in my spirit. And I'll tell you why, 'cause I've never, ever, ever, and however long I've been a Christian, done that. Were you gonna come? Yeah, I'll show up after church, but I'm not coming before church. That's how you know. It's just simple things. Some of us love sports more than we love God. We'll spend tons of money. Tons of money on taking our kids to everything. You know, in my day, there wasn't club sports. There wasn't these other kinds of sports. There was just sports. And you played baseball and baseball season,

basketball and basketball season, football and football season, track and track season. And yet, some of the greatest athletes and pro athletes ever, to this day, came from that. Well, I gotta give my kids everything. They need to play club sports to keep ahead. Not if they're a good athlete. They just need to play when it's that season. Same, and, oh me, but say something. I'm back. See? See how this works? (audience applauds) You thought I'd be here tonight and be flowery, like, oh. (audience laughs) So when Jesus says you have to hate your father and mother, he's not telling you to stop loving your family. He's just telling you this. If Christ is truly first, everything else gets loved less. Not gone, not despised, just less. Your love for your family doesn't disappear. It just isn't allowed to sit where only Jesus belongs in. Why does that matter for a sermon on discipline? Because discipline is always a question of priority. You cannot train for two different races at the same time and expect to win either one. You cannot say yes to Christ and yes to everything else and call that discipline. At some point, the discipline life requires you to love something less so you can love Jesus most or more.

Love your comfort less. Love your schedule less. I mean, we have a next step class that started tonight. less and love the kingdom more. And when they give their time and their energy, they'll find their Christianity is more worth the while. It's the people that sit in isolation that always have problems. It's the people that don't sow into the kingdom that are the most critical. Wow, these churches want is your money, but you ain't given a penny. Why do you care? I'm telling you, we have found out the people who have criticized us the most don't serve and haven't given a penny. But yet they want to tell us how to arrange the furniture. And here's the funny part, they think we care. Dude, we looked you up. I don't know how many people come and say, "I come to church all the time. Pastor Steve knows me and I'm like, I've never seen you in my life." And then we can ask, "What did he preach last week?" Well, I don't know. What did he preach this week? Well, I don't know. They just want something. Okay, I'll leave that one more. I'm going to discipline myself right now. Love your opinions less, love your reputation less, love your things less. Not because those things are evil, but because if Christ is truly first, everything else gets to love less. And that's what Paul meant when he disciplined his body and kept it under control. He wasn't hating his body. He was loving Christ more and everything else, including his own body.

God, God loved less because of Jesus' sacrifice. Number four, an undisciplined life is an undefended life. And there's a quote from JJ Douglas that captures this well. "Lack of discipline creates emergencies." Bills become urgent because planning was delayed. Health becomes urgent because warning signs were ignored. Relationships become urgent because difficult conversations were avoided. People say, "I'm just going to sweep it under the door. I don't want to have that conversation." And if you're a young couple in here and you're married, have all your train wrecks right now. You want us to fight? No, I just want you to have your train wrecks. When you disagree, go ahead and deal with it. Don't sweep it under the carpet because here's what I know. When you're newly married, you've been married a few years, you still love each other. I mean, you love one another. If you put ten years behind with all the stuff, it'll be like, "I don't know if I love them anymore." That's why you hear people say that leave their spouse like, "I don't know if I ever love them." No, you love them. You just run willing maybe to have a conversation so you can keep loving them. And so don't think avoidance is great. Well, I just won't say nothing. But after a while, it's going to irritate you. When Cynthia and I first got married and Cynthia can cook and she was sweet to me. And she made me meatloaf. True story, huh. She made a good meatloaf. I wish she knew how to make that recipe now because I kind of like it a little bit now. But when she made it, I was eating it. It got as slow as something.

She goes, "What are you thinking?" I'm like, "Well, and everything in me said, "Just say you like it." But then some other voice said, "If you say you like it, you're going to have to eat a lot." True story. So I looked at her, my sweet wife, and I said, " Cynthia, I don't really like meatloaf." She never made it for me again. But I didn't have to try to eat it again. And some of you are eating stuff you shouldn't be eating. And I'll tell you why. That didn't sound good, didn't it. I'm so sorry. But what I meant, what I mean by saying it, you guys, you guys haven't changed either. What the heck, you know? But what I'm saying is you're having to deal with things over and over again because you weren't willing to deal with it one time. Let's pray and go home. That's just, I don't know. I was even being innocent. Come on. Bill's... Bill's... What problem in my life keeps becoming an emergency because I refuse to address it while it is still manageable? Listen to the picture of Proverbs 25, 28. "A man without self-control is like a city broken into the left and left without walls." [BLANK_AUDIO] A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. That's an incredible picture. In the ancient world, walls weren't decoration.

Walls were protection. A city without walls was vulnerable. Anyone could come in. Anything could come in. There was no defense. And Scripture says that that's what a person without self-control looks like. They may think they're free. Nobody tells me what to do. I'll do whatever I want, and we call that freedom. The Bible calls it a city without walls. Because if you cannot tell yourself, no, you aren't truly free. And if your appetite tells you what to do, your appetite is your master. If your anger tells you what to do, your anger is your master. If lust, and I'm talking about lust for things, lust for money, lust for whatever, tells you what to do, lust is your master. If your phone tells you where your attention goes, your phone is your master. Some have been looking at your thinking phone on Facebook or whatever while you're in church. Or doing your, I got to go buy this stuff and I got to go buy food for the house. In this something, I think we need to have, you know, to have alcoholics anonymous. We need to have phoneaholics anonymous. And we need to stand up here and say, "Hi, my name is Steve Smotherman and I'm a phoneaholic." How many of you would say your phoneaholics, to be honest? We're in church, yeah. If money tells you what matters, money is your master. If your feelings determine your obedience, your feelings are your master. An undisciplined life is an undefended life. And here's what makes that especially dangerous in a spiritual battle. The enemy doesn't have to knock you down. It doesn't have to knock down a wall you never built. Sometimes we're asking God to deliver us from something we continually leave the door

open to. We're praying God help me with this temptation, but we won't establish any boundaries. God help me control my thoughts, but we keep feeding our minds garbage. God help me control my anger, but we excuse every outburst because that's just how I am. At some point, prayer and discipline have to meet. Not because discipline replaces dependence on God. Discipline is one of the ways dependence on God gets lived out. Number five, this is not try harder either. Now I want to be careful here because you could hear everything I've said today and walk away thinking, "Okay, I need more willpower. That's not Christianity." Christianity is not self-improvement with the Bible versus attached to it. The goal isn't becoming a stronger version of yourself. The goal is becoming more like Christ. And Scripture tells us where self-control ultimately comes from. Galatians 5, 22, and 23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things. There's no law. You can't have enough of this in your life. That's what that means. We'll say, "Well, there's no law, against no." It means you can have as much of these in your life as could be had. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and that's important because Christian discipline isn't. Look how strong I am. Christian discipline says, "Jesus's Lord, His Spirit lives in me, and every part of my life increasingly comes under His authority." It won't happen overnight, but increasingly I'm getting better. We tell us I'm getting better. I'm better today than I was last year.

I'm better today than I was weeks ago. I'm doing better. My body belongs to Jesus. My sexuality belongs to Jesus. My money belongs to Jesus. My mouth belongs to Jesus. My time belongs to Jesus. My thoughts belong to Jesus. My appetites belong to Jesus. My feelings don't get to be Lord. Jesus is Lord, and through the Spirit of God I'm learning to say no to my flesh and to my feelings and yes to Christ. But here's the tension. If self-control is through the Spirit, does that mean I just sit around waiting for God to make me more disciplined? No. God works in us. We work it out. Grace doesn't eliminate effort. Grace changes what our effort means. I'm not working for my salvation. God is working in me and therefore I obey. I train. I practice. I discipline myself. I say no. I say yes. I get back up when I fail. I keep going. Not so Jesus will love me.

So where are your walls down? So here's the question I want to leave you with at night. Where are your walls down? Where is there a lack of discipline in your life? Maybe it's your phone, maybe it's your money, maybe it's your food, maybe it's lust, maybe it's anger, maybe it's your mouth, maybe it's your thought life, maybe it's your schedule, maybe it's simply that you've trained yourself to obey your feelings and most people have. But there comes a point in following Jesus when you have to learn. I don't have to feel like doing what I know what God has called me to do. Be honest with you guys, I didn't fit my back. I didn't feel like coming here. I wanted to come here. I wanted to be in church. But my back is not better. I mean, it's getting better, but it's not better. But some of us say, well, I don't feel like it, so I don't go, that's not discipline. Discipline does the right thing anyway. Self-control does it the same way. And every act of obedience is another brick in the wall. Every time you tell your flesh to know and Jesus bless, you're training. Every time you choose scripture over your feelings, you're training. Every time you pray instead of panic, you're training.

Every time you control your mouth when you want to explode, you're training. Every time you walk away from temptation, you're training. Every time you obey when nobody's watching, you're training. The battle is not the time to build discipline. The battle reveals the discipline you've already built. Folks, let me say this about training. When you train, you're gonna make mistakes, you're gonna fall to, you're gonna fall, you're gonna blow it, you're gonna blow assignments, whatever it is. But you keep getting back up 'cause you're in training. You're not perfected, we're training. And some of us could do a lot of training on controlling this. Well, you better listen to me when I wanna listen to you. And usually when you have that attitude, some of the things come out in your mouth aren't worth listening to. Nobody becomes battle-ready accidentally. So train yourself for godliness. Love Jesus most, love everything else a little less. Because an undisciplined life is an undefended life. And if we're going to be battle-ready, we've got to be more disciplined. Let me close with this, some of you need to go home today and tonight and look honestly at where your walls are down. Not to feel guilty, guilt doesn't build discipline, grace does. Jesus already loved you before you ever got a single rep right. You know what a rep is, right?

I do 110 pounds, 10 reps or whatever, a rep, one rep. He's not waiting on you to earn a place at his table. He's inviting you to train because you already have a place at his table. So start small, pick one wall. Pick one thing you've been avoiding saying no to. Pick the one, no, you keep putting off. Most of us already know what it is. You knew before I even got to this place. So build, build your walls. So you can be prepared for whatever the enemy throws at you and life throws at you. You can be disciplined. You can exercise self-control. Just remember, in training it doesn't mean we get it all right. That's why teams continue to practice. And practice and practice and practice. And practice doesn't make perfect, it just makes you prepared. And even in the battle you may lose a few rounds, but just don't lose the fight. Keep fighting the good fight of faith and watch what God does in your life. Father in Jesus' name, I thank you for being with us. I bless your holy name. For you are worthy to receive glory and honor and praise and thanksgiving. We thank you for gathering us together here tonight and everybody online all over the country. And at times around the world. Father, without you, we don't gather.

We just believe that it's your will that we all make it home safely tonight. So we give you praise and glory and honor. And now Father, I ask that you, by your spirit, deal with hearts and minds, to be disciplined enough, to have a little bit of self-control and say yes to this. That if you're here and you've walked with Jesus and walked away, it's time to come home. Or if you're here and you've never asked Jesus to be Lord of your life, this is your moment to say yes. And with every head bowed, just for the next few moments. If you say preacher, that's me. I heard the words of God and I want to start building my walls. Now go home and say I'm going to change everything. Just start building on one wall, just one thing. But you can't really do it without Christ and this is the only way you get right with God. It's by believing in your heart and confess with the mouth of the Lord Jesus. So I'm going to ask this. I'm gonna ask you not to hesitate, just do what's right. And if you want a relationship with the Heavenly Father, it only comes through Jesus. If that's you right where you're seated, in Jesus' name, without any hesitation. You say, "Preacher, include me in your prayer. "God, I want you in my life. "I wanna know that you're in my life. "Would you lift your hand all over this place? "God bless you, thank you.

"People already lift their hands, God bless you. "God bless you. "God bless you, thank you. "God bless you, God bless you. "God bless you, God bless you, I see your hands. "God bless you over here, God bless you over there. "God bless you over there, thank you. "God bless you up there." I'm just looking around. It's between you and God. God bless you over here. God bless you right there. God cares. He showed you how much he cared when we did that thing at the beginning about grief. And I do pray that you walk out of here feeling, "Okay, I can get through this another day, "another week, another year. "Because God is with me, and God's with us now. "Anybody else, by the lift of your hand, "I'm gonna look across the top and say, "Okay, for you, thank you, sir. "I'm gonna look across how anybody else. "I know the answers are so good to help me. "This is preacher and clue when you pray. "Anybody else on the bottom sections? "Thank you, God bless you. "Father, in the powerful name of Jesus, "I thank you for the hands of a ray, so many.

"And Father, this is the way we come to you. "We can't come any other way, but humble ourselves "before your mighty hand. "So we humble our hearts and minds, "and we come before you, Lord. "Believing for salvation, believing for your help, "as we make you Lord of our lives. "In Jesus' name, if you lifted your hand, "I want you to pray this prayer aloud with me "right where you're seated. "I want everybody in here to join us "and pray together with these folks. "And I always say this, maybe you didn't lift your hand, "but you know you should have let me introduce you to Jesus. "Let me have that privilege and opportunity. "Maybe someone brought you here. "And if they brought you, they're believing "that you'll get your life right with God too. "It'll change everything. "Would you pray this prayer with me aloud? "The Bible says we believe in our heart "and confess with our mouths. "Would you play Father? "I choose to believe in your son, Jesus. "And I believe he's your only son. "And you raised him from the dead to give me a new life. "So with my mouth, I willingly confess. "According to your word, Jesus be Lord of my life. "Thank you for saving me. "Thank you for forgiving me.

"In Jesus' name, amen and amen and amen. "Let's thank the Lord, church." Hey, just so you know, this has been wonderful. Thank you guys for the welcome. I get to serve with some of the best people in the country and you're it. Thank you so much, God bless you.