Believing God for Mighty Things

Hey, church family, before we dive into the Word today, we're in week number two of the message series, He Will Be Called. Next week is the weekend before Christmas, and I think it may be my favorite message that I'm doing in the series. We're gonna be talking about Jesus as everlasting Father. Now, I wanna remind you, Christmas Eve is the week after that, and we will have worship experiences on the 23rd and the 24th. If you wanna check on your campus, this is the number one most likely time someone that wouldn't normally come to church will come to church. And so be sure and be inviting people during this season. We believe that God's gonna reach out and make a big difference in the lives of people. I got great news for you today. I think we may be bringing in the number one favorite Life.Church guest speaker. You beg for him all the time, so God has answered your prayer. He is the founding and lead pastor of Social Dallas, one of the fastest growing churches in the nation. He is a great man of God. Maybe the best preacher alive today. Who knows? You're about to find out. Buckle your seatbelt.

He's a dear friend of mine, dear friend of our church, Pastor Robert Maddow. What's up, Life.Church? Come on, anybody excited to be in God's house today? I tell you what, I am not just excited to be at Life.Church. I am Red Bull excited, expresso elated to be back, to be back. This is not my first time here. I hope you know that I've adopted myself into the family. Yep, I'm your distant cousin from the great country of Texas. And it's just such an honor to be here. I love this church, but even more than that, I love your pastors. I think they are two of the greatest leaders, pastors, and humans on the planet. So I just want us to cross every location. Can we thank God for Pastor Craig and Amy for who they are? Come on, y'all could do better than that. You're blessed, Life.Church, you are blessed. Never take for granted the gift that God has given you in leadership. And I'm excited because this is week two of the series, His Name Will Be Called. Ooh, and I gotta tell y'all, the series title alone preaches. Oh, oh, it preaches. Because you understand that biblically, and honestly, even today, whenever you name something,

it meant you had authority over it. Like my wife and I, we named our three kids and our two dogs. I will not tell you which ones obey better. But to name something meant you had authority over it. But in the Bible, nobody gives God his name. He tells us what he will be named because nobody has authority over our God. He has all power. He has all authority. Ooh, nobody voted him in, nobody can vote him out. He is God all by himself. And he is a mighty God. That's what I wanna talk to you about today, our mighty God. So let's look at our anchor scripture for this series. Y'all ready? Isaiah chapter nine, verse number six. It says, for unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called. Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. And then today I want us to look at a moment in scripture where we really see his might on display. Let's look at Luke chapter one, verses 11 through 20. We're gonna jump right in. It says, then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, that him is Zachariah,

standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zachariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you. And many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or fermented drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Zachariah asked the angel, how can I be sure of this? You missed it. He's looking at an angel going, how can I be sure this is going to happen? Do you see how discouragement and disappointment can make you doubt the might of our God? Come on, Zachariah, you're talking to an angel. He says, I am an old man and my wife is well along in years. Husbands, take note. He said, I'm old, she's not.

She's just well along in years. Smart man, smart man. And the angel said to him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time. Ooh, Life.Church, I don't know about you, but I don't want an angel to have to shut my mouth and put me on mute because I didn't have faith to believe in a mighty God. Ooh, but if an angel does put your mouth on mute, guess what you're left to do? Just stand there and watch God work. That's what I wanna preach to you about today. Watch God work. In fact, across every location, just say that. Watch God work. Ooh, let's pray. It's gonna be a long prayer, but bear with me. God, you're awesome. You're mighty. Speak today. Amen. Watch God work. My father is here with me today. And last week, he and my mother celebrated

42 years of marriage. 42 years. 42 years since the day my Nigerian father walked in the library on the collegiate campus of Texas A&M to my mom and said to her, excuse me, are you Nigerian? To which my American mom said, no, I'm not. Whatever it did, it worked. And here they are, 42 years, still going strong. And because I am not only their firstborn child, but their favorite child, I bless you. I blessed them with a trip for their anniversary. I said, I want y'all to go on a trip, have a good time, relax, enjoy the spa. I mean, just have fun. But then I said, but don't have too much fun. Amen, don't have too much fun because I am not trying to have another sibling. I'm too old for that. My mom immediately started laughing. I said, no, I'm serious, okay? I need y'all to help me watch my kids. I can't be helping you watch yours. Then my mom just looked at me and said, boy, that is impossible. And when she said that it was impossible, it reminded me that as though, although my mom is faith-filled and an amazing woman of God, she is unfamiliar with Luke chapter one

and what happened there. And especially verse 37 that says, nothing is impossible with our God. Life.Church fam, I think we forget that when Luke puts pen to parchment and begins to describe in great detail and accuracy, the birth of Jesus Christ, a birth that would change the world forever. He does not begin by discussing a virgin named Mary or her fiance Joseph. No, no, no. Luke begins with an old couple. He decides to start with this senior citizen couple that has some gray hair coming in, has their J-A-R-P card. Yeah, Jerusalem Association of Retired Persons. He begins his gospel talking about two people, Zachariah and Elizabeth, who had been faithful to the call of God and thought that it was too late for God to come through on his promise. Look at Luke, the doctor in great detail, letting us know that the angel Gabriel's first cameo appearance in the Christmas story was not to Mary. It was actually to Zachariah, a priest that was serving in the temple. Now, I know every single Christmas, Mary and Joseph get all the shine. They get all the shine, and they should.

As the young people say, they've got main character energy. Oh yes, they should get their due diligence. They're awesome. But I love that Luke does not begin with Mary and Joseph. He said, I don't wanna start with the young couple that went viral. I wanna start with the old couple that was faithful. Ooh, the old couple that kept showing up. The old couple that God says was righteous and blameless in his sight. They were righteous, they were blameless. Doesn't mean they were perfect. It does mean that they were consistent. They had consistency. Ooh, I love people that are consistent. I love consistency. The older I get, the less I'm impressed with people that have intensity. Get out of here with your intensity. Anybody can show up and be faithful for a day. I love people that can be faithful for a decade. I love people that have consistency. Ooh, consistency. Life.Church fam, I gotta tell you, I'm not impressed with the couple at the restaurant. They've been married three months, all over each other. Get out of here. Give me that elderly couple. Still in their 80s. It takes a long time just to get to the table. They sit there, and they're sitting across from each other. Don't say anything, because they've said it all.

And they're just looking at each other. Oh, I love consistent, faithful people. I'm not impressed with the guy in the gym with his shirt off, bench-pressing 300 pounds, making all that noise. No. Give me the older guy in the corner, got his shirt tucked into his sweatpants, just has the bar. Just faithful. There's something about consistency. Zachariah and Elizabeth, they were consistent. And let me tell you the power of consistency. There's something about consistency that gives God an opportunity to show you how mighty he is in your life. Oh, to be sure, God can show his might in a minute. He can show his might in a minute. When you can look back over the years and say, you were faithful then, and you've been faithful now. That's why he said, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I've been mighty a long time. I will not fail you. I am a mighty God. I love it. Zachariah and Elizabeth were consistent. They were faithful. Zach and Liz. I love them. I love it. I love it because Zachariah's name translates to mean God remembers, and Elizabeth's name translates to mean his oath. So you put them together. God remembers his oath. God remembers his promise. Every time they walked into a room, they were declaring God remembers his promise. Every time they went to a holiday party, they said, oh, here comes God remembers his promise. Every time they went to get a reservation party for two, yes, what's the name? God remembers his promise. What's interesting is that their name, their declaration was contradictory to their circumstance because the Bible lets us know they're righteous, they're blameless, but they're also childless. They don't have a child. What do you do when your circumstance is contradictory to what God calls you? What do you do when God declares something over your life, but the reality of your circumstance doesn't show what he declared over your life? Have you ever been there before where God declares you're blessed, but you're looking at your bank account going, how am I blessed when I got more bills than I got income? How am I blessed when I don't have enough to even provide gifts for my family this holiday season? What do you do when your circumstance is contradictory to what God is calling you? God, you say that I can have peace, but where is that peace? Because I'm feeling worry and anxiety. God, you're saying that I'm favored, but right now I feel forgotten. What do you do? This is exactly where Zachariah and Elizabeth were. Their names were God-remembers-his-promise, but they had yet to hold that promise in their hand. Understand in biblical days, to be barren was not just something that was painful. It was something

that was shaming. You understand in that culture, they would have thought that there was some secret sin in their life, that there was something that they did that would preclude them from having children. There would have been whispers in the hallways going, I wonder what Zachariah did. I wonder why Elizabeth wasn't faithful, and maybe that's why they can't have any children. Isn't it interesting? That would have been the whispers, but yet God said, no, you're righteous in my sight. This is why you can never live on the whispers and opinions of other people. You have to know what God has said about you. Oh, if God says you're blessed, you're blessed. If God says you're a victor and not a victim, you are a victor. You are what God says about you. Here they are. Their circumstance is not lining up with what God has called them. All of a sudden, one day, one seemingly ordinary day, they start casting lots for who's going to serve in the temple that day, and Zachariah's name gets called. Y'all, it was just a normal day. It was an ordinary day. I have found that God will be mighty often in the ordinary. Just a normal day. There was no sign that day, ooh, something big is about to happen. It was just a normal day. His name gets called. Oh, I'll take that back. Actually, it was a big deal. Historians tell us there were approximately 20,000 priests serving at that time, 20,000. So for his name to get called, come on, that's like winning the lottery. But I'm sure Zachariah was like, ah, just another day. Just got to go light some incense here in the temple. Can you see him walking in on that day? Nothing's going to happen. This is just ordinary. And as he's there preparing the incense thinking this is an ordinary day An angel Shows up Out of nowhere Y'all can you imagine he probably had a heart attack What in the world is going on? Come on I can't imagine just an angel showing up out of nowhere Y'all I get scared when my kids just come in the room at night You know how they do They don't say anything they just stand there And you just see that silhouette

Ah what are you doing? Say something I want some water Go to bed Can you imagine an angel showing up out of nowhere No wonder every angel had the same script Out of nowhere Don't be afraid Stop showing up unannounced Zachariah probably had a heart attack What in the world are you doing? And here comes Gabriel With the announcement Zachariah Your prayer Has been heard Not your prayers Your prayer The one that you keep bringing to God Over and over again The one that you have buried now The one that you think Oh there's no way That can come to pass now Because it didn't come through On my timetable God heard it And you're about to give birth To a son His name's gonna be John What would have been your reaction?

I would have said oh hallelujah I would have done the Holy Ghost two steps Thank you Jesus Not Zachariah Here's his response To an angel How can I be sure This is going to come to pass You laugh But we allow disappointment To do the same thing to us God how are you gonna bless me In this season of life God how is this gonna be a good year You should have done it in January The year's almost over now And when Zachariah said that It revealed How disappointment Had aged him Zachariah was old Not just in age I found out he was old In spirit He was old in spirit by what he said How can that be You know you're old in spirit When you no longer believe God is able to do the impossible I am convinced

That there are some old people that are young And there are some young people that are old Matter of fact let's just find out where they are All the old people across every location make some noise All the young people make some noise Some of you don't know which category you're in And that's the way it's supposed to be Cause I have met some people Who are young in their age But when it comes to their faith and their spirit Old Critics Cynics Heard this before Been there done that And I have met some people who are old in their age But they are young in their faith And they believe God can do the impossible And that he can do the exceedingly abundantly Above all you could ask think or imagine Cause they got history with God They saw him show up in the 60s In the 70s And they know he can show up today So I want to know how old are you I'm not talking about your age chronologically I'm talking about faithologically I just made that word up How old are you in your faith To believe

That God can do the impossible Because he's mighty Do you know how hard it is To keep that childlike wonder To believe that anything Is possible Especially in this critical age in which we live When was the last time You really believed that God could do the impossible This is what I love about this Christmas holiday season Is that young people believe anything is possible Kids believe anything can happen They're excited about everything The elf moved again You're like yeah that's what he does Have you lost your childlike wonder It's interesting in the gospels Jesus says you can't even enter Into the kingdom Until you become like a child You have to have that childlike wonder Where you go I believe you can do anything When was the last time you said Wow God can do it When was the last time you said wow When was the last time you said it backwards It's interesting Jesus says that you can't enter

The kingdom unless you become like a child But then Paul says When I was a child I thought like a child I spoke like a child I understood like a child stood like a child, but when I became older, I put away childish things." So then that confused me. I said, which one is it? Jesus says you've got to be like a child to enter the kingdom of God. Paul says put away childish things. Which one is it? Then I realized there's a difference between being childlike and childish. Childish is immaturity. Expect everything, give nothing. Childlike is the faith-filled wonder to believe that a mighty God can still do the impossible. Zechariah, he lost the wonder. He's talking to an angel and doesn't believe the Word of God will come to pass. So Gabriel goes, oh, you don't believe? All right, I'm going to put you on mute, and you won't say anything until the Word of God comes to pass. I'm going to make you watch God work. He had to watch God work. It's interesting to juxtapose Zechariah's experience with Gabriel and Mary's experience with Gabriel, because the angel comes to Mary and says, guess what, Mary, you've got favor. You're going to give birth to the Son of the living God. At surface level, I thought she said the same thing Zechariah did. How is this going to happen? Then the angel says, guess what? The Holy Spirit is going to come. Then I started reading that. I said, oh, hold on now. Zechariah said the same thing. His mouth gets mute. Mary says it, and she gets explanation. That's not fair, Gabriel. That is gender discrimination. I don't like that. How come Mary doesn't go mute? Then I started digging deeper because Zechariah said, how can I be sure? Mary said, how will this be? Zechariah was asking for certainty. Mary was not asking for certainty. She knew God could do it. She was just asking for more clarity. She had the faith to believe God could do it. She was just saying, hey, I'm just trying to figure out how, because I don't know Joseph like that, but I believe he can do it. But Zechariah was like, I don't know. Prove it. That's why Mary got an explanation, and all of a sudden, Zechariah gets his mouth mute. Look at the faithfulness of God. I don't know who this message is for today, but I need you to respond to the promises of God like Mary and not Zechariah. When God gives you a promise, don't let doubt be the first thing to come out of your mouth, because God often will have to silence the doubt, even when it comes

from you. So we put Zechariah on mute. I'm encouraging you in this message today to respond like Mary. Mary said, let it be to me according to your word. In other words, I don't know how you're going to do it, but I believe that you can do it because you're a mighty God. Come on, is there anybody that believes our God is still able to do the miraculous? Oh, come on. You can do better than that. He's a mighty God. His promises are true. Mary says, let it be to me according to your word. Receives the promise. I love the difference between the miracles, because I think God is mighty, and he does his work, and he will do it. But sometimes you've got to do some work too. Someone's like, God, you're mighty, so you do it. You've got to do your part too. See, Mary received the promise, and she became pregnant. But I noticed that with Zechariah, the angel Gabriel does not go to Elizabeth, just goes to Zechariah. In other words, God did his part and opened up Elizabeth's womb. That means Zechariah had to go home and do his part. Oh yeah. God did his part. I'm opening up Elizabeth's womb. Zechariah, you've got to go home and do your part. Look at how God set it up. He put his mouth on mute. God is so good. Can you see Zechariah coming home and talking to Elizabeth? She's like, you're just listening to me today. I just feel so connected to you. God set it up. He had to do his part. He had to go light some candles. He had to do his part. Some of you are waiting on a mighty God to move, but actually he's waiting on you to do your part. He can give you the job. You've got to fill out the application. Come on. He can open the door, but you've got to take a step and walk through it. He can provide salvation. You've got to invite the person into a presence and atmosphere to receive it. Are you doing your part? I love that God says, Zechariah, you're going to have to do your part. All of a sudden, look at Mary and Elizabeth, both of them pregnant. the promise from God, a mighty God. Mary wasn't even expecting it. Elizabeth said, I was expecting it, but I thought it would be when I was younger. And I love when they met, the Bible says that all of a sudden within Elizabeth's womb, the baby leaped. I say that to say, you need to believe God for mighty things because he's a God with you. You need some friends that when you say hallelujah, they say, when you tell them the promise of God, they say, oh, I believe God can do it. Look at the connection between Mary and Elizabeth. Both of them were really alienated and ostracized dealing with the whispers of other people, but they had each other to talk to.

Can you see them having tea together? Can you believe we're pregnant girl? I can't. I can see Elizabeth going, girl, I thought I was too old. And Mary's like, girl, I thought I was too virgin, but God is mighty. And there's Zachariah in the background watching God work, watching God do the impossible. Have you put the promise of God on the shelf because it hasn't come to pass on your timetable? God sent me all the way from Dallas, Texas, to tell you that he is mighty and he is still able to bring his word to pass. Let it be to me according to your word. Don't be like Zachariah who doubted God's ability. Be like Mary said, I don't know how, but I believe you can do it. Can I tell you, this ain't something I'm just preaching. This is something I'm living right now. Our church in Dallas, God opened up an amazing door for us to acquire a property. We've been mobile for four years in 14 different venues, setting up, tearing down. And I was giving God praise when we got the miracle of the building. I was like, oh God, you're awesome. And then I'm like, yeah, it's going to cost 30 million to make it a sanctuary. I was like, oh, that's a lot. Here's my faith. He can do it. I don't know how he's going to do it, but I have faith to believe that he can. Why? Because he's a mighty God. It's interesting. I want you to see this. All of a sudden, Elizabeth gives birth to John. That's what his name had to be called. Can you look at this? It says, when it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father, Zachariah. But his mother spoke up and said, no, shout out to the mamas. His name is to be called John. They said to her, they, there's always a they. There's no one among your relatives that has that name. Have you ever experienced that, the promise of God? Here comes a they saying, well, that's never happened in your family before. You've never had a marriage and your family stay together. You've never had anybody get free from alcohol in your family. I've never seen that happen before. It doesn't matter if you've never seen it. I serve a mighty God who is able to do things that eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of men the things God has already prepared. Who cares if it doesn't run in your family? God can do something new through you. They said to her, no one among your relatives has that name.

So they made signs to his father, Zachariah, to find out what he would like to name the child. Look at this. And he asked for an iPad, writing tablet. And to everyone's astonishment, he wrote, his name is John. Immediately his mouth was open, his tongue set free, and he began to speak praising God. Watch this. He finally did what he should have done the day he got the word. He finally responded like Mary responded. Mary got it immediately. Let it be to me according to your word. And then she just started praising God. It took old Zachariah a little bit, but at the end, he only wrote what God spoke and said his name will be called John. And no wonder his mouth opened up then. So then he began to praise God because that's the response to a promise from God. Just say let it be to me according to your word and then start praising until God brings it to pass. Is there anybody in here that knows that God is mighty in the waiting? He's mighty even when you haven't seen it come to pass. He's mighty even when it seems like there's a contradiction between what you're called and what you are. I'm looking at he's still mighty. So my prayer for you, Life.Church family and anybody watching this message today is when you get a word from God, and even when your circumstance is contradictory to what he's called you, be like Mary. Matter of fact, have a merry Christmas. You say, let it be to me according to your word because God, you are mighty and you're still able to meet me right where I am. And if you'll do that, you will see the power and the might of our God show up in your life. Amen, amen. God bless you Life.Church. Give God some praise. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's good preaching. You may even wanna type that online. If you're really good, you can go, ooh, that's good preaching. I don't do it right. But that's, Pastor Robert, thank you for that word. And I just believe that right now, God wants to do something in the lives of many people that walked in today and you experienced maybe an impossible situation. So let's pray. Father, we thank you that you're a mighty God. We thank you that all things are possible with you. So Father, we just declare by faith that we know you're able, we believe that you're willing. And so God, we ask you for miracles today at all of our different churches. I wonder how many of you, you're facing something and you need God. Maybe you need God for physical healing. Maybe you need God for provision. Maybe you need God to reconcile a relationship.

Maybe you're praying for conception. Maybe you're praying for a mate. Maybe you're believing that God is gonna show up and do what only he can do. And we're gonna believe he's a miraculous God today at all of our churches. Those of you online, that you have a need and you believe in the power of a mighty God to meet it. Today, by faith, we're gonna ask him to do it. If you have the faith to believe that all things are possible with God, would you just lift your hands right now. You need the power of God in your life. You can type online, I need the power of a mighty God. I need the power of a mighty God. And God, we just declare that we believe that all things are possible with you. We pray, God, for your provision. We pray for your healing, God. We pray for your presence. We pray for your comfort, God. We pray for your strength. God, wherever we are weak, we pray that you would meet that need and we would give you all the glory, God, believing that you hear our prayer, a singular prayer, God, that as we cry out to you, you hear the cries of your children. And God, we'll give you all the glory for all that you do, believing that you hear our prayers,

that we can come boldly before your throne of grace, God, and find help in our time of need. Holy Spirit, work. God, move in a way that only you can move. And God, as we believe for miracles, we believe that we'll see that the touch of your hand, the power of you at work, we're gonna give you all the praise for it. And many of you right now, there's a miracle that you're about to experience that is greater than any miracle that you could ever imagine. If we could just sit down and maybe have a conversation and I could ask you, where are you with God? Do you know that your eternity is secure? Do you have peace with God? If there's any hesitation, any hesitation at all, I believe that you're here by the divine purposes of God, that his spirit is reaching out to you, drawing you, his loving kindness is pulling you toward him. What did God do? When we talk about the birth of Jesus, a virgin Mary, who says, may it be done unto me according to your word. She gave birth as a virgin. Jesus did not inherit the sin nature of an earthly father, but the divine nature of a heavenly father so that he could be all man and all God and be the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. So when Jesus went to the cross, he went to the cross as the lamb of God

who shed his blood so our sins could be forgiven. He died in our place for our sins. On the third day, God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this is miraculous, including you, no matter what you've done, no matter how dark your life feels, no matter the shame, no matter the guilt, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved. There are those of you God brought here today. Today is the day of your salvation at all of our churches. You recognize you're doing life without the presence of God. You don't know where you stand with God. You need the forgiveness of God. You need the power of God. We're gonna step away from our sin. The Bible calls it repentance. We're turning away from our sin. We're turning to the Son of God, the risen King of all kings, Jesus. If you don't know where you stand. stand today, we're just gonna call on Him, we're gonna pray, and the power of a mighty God is gonna forgive you and make you brand new in all of our churches. You say, yes, that's me, I need His grace, I need His forgiveness, I want His peace, I want His promises, I wanna walk in His power. I need His salvation, Jesus, forgive me of my sins today

by faith, I make you first. You be the Lord of my life, that's your prayer. All of our churches, yes, today I'm giving my life to Jesus. Jesus, be first, be my Lord, that's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now, all of our churches, and say, yes, today I give my life to you. We got people today at all of our churches saying, yes, Jesus, I surrender. You can type in the comments section, I am surrendering my life to Jesus, and today in the presence of a mighty God, let's all pray together, pray, Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins, make me a new person, fill me with the Holy Spirit so I can walk in Your power, so I can know Your goodness, so I can show Your love. I need all of You, Your mercy, Your grace, Your presence, Your provision. My life is not my own, I give it all to You. Thank You for forgiveness and salvation and new life. I give You all of mine, in Jesus' name I pray. Church, can we praise a mighty God, a mighty God, a mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, a wonderful counselor, His name is Jesus, and we give Him praise. Hey, it's Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel with Life.Church, and if you just made the decision to give your life to Christ, this is the most important and life-changing decision that you'll ever make, and all of heaven is celebrating right now because of your decision,

and we're celebrating with you too. That's right, and we want you to know that God sees you, He's with you, and He loves you, He has a purpose for your life, and incarceration, it doesn't define you, it doesn't confine you, because you are free in Christ, you are new in Him, chains have been broken today. And so as a follower of Jesus, God wants us to be on this journey together, and I want you to know you don't have to do this alone, and that's why we, as your church family, we're here for you, and we want to help you grow in your faith and find your next steps. So first of all, just keep joining us for church every single week and worshiping through the Pando app. We're so thankful that you're here. When we draw close to God, He draws near to us, and so I would also encourage you, read God's Word if it's available to you, and as you do, just start to pray and invite God into every single aspect of your life, and then if you feel led, you might even share your decision with somebody else, there might be a family member or a friend, and they're gonna want to hear your story and your spiritual journey, we'd love to hear it as well. And you can send us a letter if you'd like to, the address is on your screen, and our team will write back to you and help you grow in your faith with Jesus.

And so we'd love to mail you some content about who Jesus is and help you grow in your relationship with Him now that you've chosen to follow Jesus. That's right, and God's plan for your life, it's greater than anything that you could ever imagine. In fact, Ephesians 3.20 says, God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. Trust Him with your whole life. You will see Him work in ways you have never thought possible. Congratulations on this decision. We are your family, and you're part of the family of God.