CHATGOD - JJ vasquez

I've got girls, I've got things. I've got your name still in my head, but I'm gonna get it. Let's do this. What's up, what's up, what's up. Journey's family. It is Journey College Takeover Day. We're repping the merch you know? That's right. And my name, if we ever met, is Alex. And I also have the joy to be a Journey College student and as well, online host for you today. Well, today is Sunday, obviously, Journey College Day, and it's the Lord's Day. So can we put some raised hands in the chat to give glory to God? And also, can you guys tell us where you're watching from? What you're doing to prepare for service? Last Sunday was Baptism Sunday. It was, it was awesome. And can we talk about how we had 348 baptisms. So good, so good. What was your favorite thing? Yeah, I had this really, really cool moment in the lobby, actually. I ran into an old coworker, just by chance, and they walk up to me and they actually were like, you know, Alex, I was gonna get baptized today, but they told me no. Like registration online was full.

It was like one of those moments like, who told you no? What are we talking about right now? So we rushed over to the tent. We got them signed in. We got them the clothes they needed and they got baptized last Sunday. Super, super cool moment that I'll never forget. But yeah, how about yourself, Mariah? That's amazing. That's an amazing story. But also, we had one of our fellow Journey College students get baptized as well. And we have Alexa and we have Raven, who moved from New York and Virginia to come be a part of our college. So we're so excited to share more information with you guys today. But most importantly, we have another Journey College student. That's right, that's right. Who's that? Bro, in the lobby. We're going to pass it over to you right now. Shout out my brother, Alex, and my sister, Mariah, my fellow classmates. Thank you for that fire intro. Well, what's up Journey Church Online? I have the honor and the privilege to be your online lobby host today.

And speaking of Journey College info day, you can see I'm repping the merch right now. I just want to share my experience of how Journey College has changed my life. When I transferred from the University of Central Florida, I did not know what to expect. I did not know what I was expecting to, but I just felt like God telling me to drop what you're doing, stop doing what you was comfortable and do the uncomfortable. So I joined Journey College last year in 2025. And after just a few weeks and a few months of being surrounded by my amazing classmates and leaders and being led by our amazing Journey College director, Gianna Hill, they had stretched me and they had challenged me because of my experience. Now I lead two small groups. I lead a man's Bible study. I also lead and co-lead Journey basketball. I also have the privilege to serve with the production team and now with the online team. So it has truly been a blessing. So Journey Church Online, if you feel called to be part of this amazing program, or maybe you just want to take an online class, make sure you go to journeycollege.oral.com so you can get more information. Also, don't forget to download the Journey Church app.

This is an easy way to stay plugged in, to stay connected, to join a virtue smart group. And also you can submit your prayer requests. That way we can pray for you and be there for you if you are not alone. And you can also tune in to our Wednesday night prayer service that shows up every single night at 7 p.m. With that being said, Journey Church Online, let's get ready to prepare our hearts, our bodies, mind and soul, and let's press in to what God will reveal to you. So let's go ahead and pass it on to my one and only brother, Ben. Amen, amen. Thank you, Dro, Alex, Mariah. Thank you guys so much. My Journey College brothers and little sister, I'm so excited what God is doing in their life in this season where they're seeking wisdom and guidance from the Lord. And I know that there's some waiting going on in their lives, whether they're waiting on graduation or they're waiting to really see what God has called them to. I ask you, what are you waiting on in this season? Maybe you're waiting on for a relationship to be restored. Maybe you're waiting on healing. Maybe you're waiting on direction from the Lord or that family member that's far away from God to make the decision to come back to Him.

Can I be real with y'all? Waiting is hard. Waiting is exhausting. You can run out of energy, you can get fatigued in the waiting, but there's a scripture in Isaiah 40, 31 that says, those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. See, waiting on the Lord. Waiting isn't passive. Waiting is a posture. And one of the ways we wait on the Lord is in worship. Worship in your waiting. What worship does is it shifts our focus from what we're waiting on to who we're waiting on. So you're not waiting for healing. You're waiting on the healer. You're not waiting for provision. You're waiting for the provider. So I encourage you this morning set aside those things that are taking up space, the waiting that's going on, and just lift your hands, lift your eyes up into the hills to where my help comes from, from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Shift your focus to him and give him the glory that is due his name. Father, this morning we praise and we worship you. We posture our hearts to give you all the honor that is yours and yours alone. Help us today to release all our cares and cast them at your feet. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's worship the Lord together. Welcome home, Journey Church. Come on, we serve a real God, a faithful God, a good, good father. Let's fill up this room with praise. Come on. We thank you, Jesus. I have felt the hand of bitter scars reach down and rescue me. I have known the love of a father's heart, a prodigal now redeemed. From where I was to where I'm now, it's overwhelming. But more and more, I've seen you move all around me. Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shout of joy. When I think of how good you've been, faithful now to the end. Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. Come on, sing it if you know it. For the blood you spilled to save my life, the debt I cannot repay. For the cross you bore with open arms, salvation that called my name. From where I was to where I'm now, oh, it's overwhelming.

But more and more, I've seen you move all around me. Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shout of joy. When I think of how good you've been, faithful now to the end. Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. Oh, I can't help but dance because I'm free, got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed. All on the name that buried my shame, who opened my grave. Come on, church. Dance because I'm free, got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed. All on the name that buried my shame, who opened my grave. I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shout of joy. When I think of how good you've been, faithful now to the end. Praise you, praise you, Lord. Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shout of joy. Yes, Jesus. What a privilege it is to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Who's happy they woke up and came to church? Father, we welcome you here. We know that. That you are a good God and that you are with us. We welcome you here, God. In Jesus' name, amen. We serve a good God, yes, we do. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. I call you faithful for the promises you've kept and every need you've met. Lord, I'm so grateful you've been with me every step. And I never will forget that when I think

of how you've blessed me, how your hand has never let me go, never let me go. You have been so good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. How you love me, what a friend you have been. So good, so good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. What a friend you've been, Jesus. Jesus, oh, sing, I call you Savior. I call you Savior for the blood that washed me clean, for the wrongs that you redeemed. And I know you're able, yes, you are. And my eyes don't have to see no more reason to believe. Cause when I think of how you've blessed me, how your hand has never let me go, never let me go. You have been so good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. Oh, how you love me. You have been so good to me. So good, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. Oh, what a friend we have. Oh, what a friend we have been, Jesus. I've never known another like him. No, I've never known another like him. For every morning, for every open door, I call you faithful, and I just wanna thank you, Lord. For every mountain, for every time you brought me near,

I call you faithful, and I just wanna thank you, Lord. For your forgiveness, for how you never turn away, I call you faithful, just thank him. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I just wanna thank you, Lord. Just thank you this morning. Oh, I just wanna thank you, Lord. I just wanna thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Cause you have been so good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. ♪ So good to me, what a friend you have been ♪ ♪ So good to me, God I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been, so good to me ♪ ♪ You never left me Jesus, you've been so faithful ♪ ♪ How you love me, what a friend you have been ♪ ♪ So good to me, God I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been ♪ ♪ Lift up your voices and give him thanks, thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ I just wanna thank you Lord ♪ What a good song. Wow, what a beautiful worship. Yeah, beautiful. I want us to go into another form of worship, which is prayer. Because we believe that prayer is our first response and not a last resort. That's right.

And we actually have one of our family online members prayers in hand, and it's Scott. And he says, if you can pray to help keep my anxiety at rest. If you can pass your hearts as we pray over Scott. We thank you Lord because you are in this moment and you are always in the mist. Thank you because you are a prince of peace and the Holy Spirit of comfort. We pray for our brother Scott. We pray Lord that as you continue to walk with him, you continue to show him every way that you are healing his heart God. We pray that you continue comforting him through his troubles, through his joyous times, but that you have not given him the spirit of fear, but you have given him power, love and self control. And I pray Holy Spirit that you continue guiding every step. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen, amen. What a beautiful prayer. And guys, like Mariah said, as a church here at Journey, we believe prayer is a first response and not a last resort. We believe there's true, genuine power in prayer. So if you guys have any prayer requests, drop them in the chat below, put in the QR code. We wanna walk alongside you with that and lift that up for you guys.

Well, welcome back Journey Church Online. My name is Mariah and I get to be a Journey College student and one of your online hosts today. And my name as well is Alex and I'm also a Journey College student. And I get to be, and I have the joy to be your online host today as well. We wanna give a special shout out to those watching on our Pando app from the correctional facilities. You guys are family and we love you guys and we're so happy you're here with us. Absolutely. But can we do another drum roll? For FTG's, our first time guests. Come on, yeah. If you're a first time guest, would you drop FTG in the chat so one of our online chat friends can reach out to you and help you get connected. But also we encourage you to scan the QR code below because we do not believe it's an accident you're here. And so we're so excited to hear your story and get you connected with us. Yes guys, and if today is your first time being with us or you've been with us for months or even years, we wanna remind you that you can do Next Steps and that is a way for you to get plugged in to help find your purpose here in church with the community, how you can be involved

in the online team. I myself am a product of Next Step and I know that I'm so grateful for all the things that this opportunity the community has opened up for me getting able to serve and getting plugged in. So we just want the same for you guys as well. And through that same area of Next Steps, talking about Next Steps, if you are questioning God's call for your life or your purpose or even furthering your education, I'm so excited to share with you that today is our Journey College Info Day. And I mentioned it before, but I wanna reiterate that we had Alexa and we had Raven. One of our college students come from New York and Virginia and it goes to show that God's call and purpose for your life is never limited to where you are physically, mentally, but he will pursue you and your purpose. So we wanna invite you to take a look at our website. It's journeycollegeorl.com to see what God might be calling you to. So, so, so good. And I couldn't have said it better myself. And guys, we wanna remind you that this Journey College, but as well other things wouldn't be possible without you. And today we actually have a story for you about one of our sisters here at Journey, Liz. Her story starts back in 2021 when her mother suddenly passed away.

And so she says that it left her feeling angry. It left her feeling bitter. And so she just had. navigate life, but then again, in 2025, her father passed away. She felt so alone. She wasn't sure what to do, but in turn, she found Journey Church and she started attending. And so she notes herself that while she was continuously coming to church, she didn't fully understand what it was to truly pursue God and to truly go deep into her faith. Yeah, and in 2026, Liz decided, even though it was hard, even though she had another loss, to give God her daily. And with that obedience, she fully surrendered and God took it and transformed her life. She now gets to serve on our online team and she prays for people every time she gets the chance. And last Sunday, she was able to get baptized with her boyfriend. All in, all in. All in. And she knows that her family and friends from heaven are smiling down on the woman that God is creating her to be. Yeah, that's so good, that's so good. And guys, again, none of this stuff would be possible if you guys wouldn't come alongside us and partner with us in generosity.

If that's something you feel led to, you can scan the QR code below. You can go to journeyurl.com slash give. Guys, we just want to remind you to share this message if you feel so led to. We never know what that can do for you. So guys, we're gonna take a second to put our hearts back in a posture for one last song. We'll see you later. Love you guys. Amen, amen. At this time, let's welcome our online community and all of our other campuses to worship with us. Praise God. We serve a good God and He's with us, amen. ♪ In the dark, but I never knew till I had the scars ♪ ♪ How good your grace could be ♪ ♪ How you would be my strength ♪ ♪ No matter what I have solved on my longest day ♪ ♪ You're still in control, I will not be afraid ♪ ♪ I'll get back up and say, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, ever present in my hour of need ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, yes, yes ♪ ♪ You never said it wouldn't be fine ♪ ♪ You promised that you'd be right by my side ♪ ♪ No matter how it seems, my confidence will be, yeah ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, sing it out, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my hour of need, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, yes, yes, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my hour of need, the Lord is with me ♪

♪ Yeah, He's never left my side, oh, He's never left my side, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus, though fear may tell me to tremble ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna bow, I may be thrown into fire ♪ ♪ But I'm gonna walk out, the heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke, it may look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm not alone, though fear may tell me to tremble ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna bow, I may be thrown into fire ♪ ♪ But I'm gonna walk out, the heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ Walk out, the heat of the flame won't come to me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke, I may look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm not alone, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my army ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my army ♪ ♪ No fear may tell me to tremble, I'm not gonna lie, I may be thrown into fire ♪ ♪ But I'm gonna walk out, the heat of the flame won't come to me, it won't come to me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke, I may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm not alone, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my army ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, yes he is, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with me, ever-present in my army, the Lord is with me ♪ We're never alone. Come on, do you know it? Like, do you really know it? You're never alone. You know, back in the days of the early church, you used to use songs to teach Bible. And that was why they had that old Father Abraham, you know, they were trying to teach you things. If you grew up in church, you know that. There's a story in the Bible that this song comes from, if you've never heard it before, it's in Daniel chapter 3, verse 16. And just to give you some context, there was a king who passed a law that said that everyone must bow down to the statue of him. And if you did not, you'd be thrown in a blazing furnace. And there were three men who followed the God, the Lord, our God, who decided not to bow. And the king didn't like that very much. And so he brought them in, put them on trial, and gave them one last chance to bow or else they would burn, bow or burn.

And verse 16, the names of these men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar, this was the king who built the statue of himself, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. And he will deliver us from it, from your majesty's hand. I love verse 18. But even if he doesn't, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. Well, the king really got mad. So the king grabbed them, threw them in this blazing fire, kicked up the heat. And when he did that, verse 24, the king jumped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? They said, definitely, your majesty. He said, well, I see four. And they're walking around the fire, unbound, unharmed. And the fourth man looks like a son of God. And when the three men came out, everybody gathered around them. And they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair on their head singed. And their robes were not scorched, and they didn't even smell like smoke. Here's what I love about this story. Listen, here's what I love about this story. They didn't know for sure if they were to get out. They believed it. They didn't miss out. But then right after, he said they will. He said, but even if he doesn't. Because what we do know for sure, this is a word for somebody, is that if we are thrown into the fire, we're not for sure we'll get out. But we know this, God will be with us in the fire. and that's the word for somebody today i don't know how your situation is going to turn out in the name of jesus you will come out but even if you don't you got a god that is with you

in the fire and you will not burn up you will not burn out you will make it through come on somebody declare it to your situation oh the lord is ever present come on if you're in the fire this morning will you just call on the lord father god it's been hard it's been tough it's not been easy but i declare in the name of jesus i will come out i don't know when i don't know how but even if i don't i know you'll be with me right here in the middle of the pain in the middle of the hurt in the middle of the flames and when i come out i won't even smell like smoke god we thank you for all that you're doing and we thank you lord not because you promised us a pain free life or a struggle free life or a life without battles but because you promised us that we'd never be alone in life and god and if you are with me i can get through anything come on somebody tell the lord that lord if you just promise to be with me i can get through anything be with me lord be with me lord be with us your people as we call on your name in jesus name we pray amen and amen come on if you believe that would you give lord a hand clap of praise this morning if you believe he's always with you and you're never alone amen well listen before we continue on with our service i want you to find three people that you did not drive to church with today give them a high five welcome them to church and tell them you're never alone come on tell them remind them you're never alone you're never alone awesome how you guys doing today feeling good who's excited to be in church awesome i'm so glad that you're here if we haven't had the opportunity to meet yet my name is jj and alongside my wife liz we have the honor and the privilege of serving journey church as its lead pastors and if you didn't know that that probably means you are a first-time guest and we're so glad that you chose to be with us today if you're looking for a home church look no further we think you found it not only because you're surrounded by the presence of god which is what we felt when we were singing there but because we are also all surrounded by some of the most amazing honest open and transparent people in all of central florida journey church will you prove me right by putting your hands together welcoming all of our first-time guests one more keep it going for journey church online what's up during church online keep it going for journey east

orlando what up east orlando meeting at university high school and give it up for journey kasemi meeting at gateway high school and not let's not forget to celebrate those who are currently incarcerated watching in jails and prisons throughout the united states we're so glad that you're with us we get your letters every week and we're grateful that we get to be a part of of your life and you get to be a part of ours all right well who's ready to hear a word from god today i'm ready to preach it i'm ready to jump right in we are in week three of a series called planted somebody say plant it now i want to encourage you today on this idea of planting now if you're coming for the first time today i don't want you to get disturbed because you came in you know week three and you maybe feel like you've been left out of the sermon and it's you can jump in whenever you want i actually put together a sentence to help catch anyone up to speed who's just joining us today so that today's message can really do in your life what i believe god wants to do in your life and so uh if you're looking at the screen you you can see this and you can i want you to repeat some parts of it after me but but here's here's the sentence to kind of summarize what we've been talking about uh what gets planted someone say planted must be tended someone say tended to be rooted someone say rooted Or you'll never see the fruit of it someone say the fruit of it It's so important to know that there are certain things in our life that God does for us And we're still celebrating over 200 people who gave their lives to Jesus at Easter, and we're celebrating 348 people who got baptized last Sunday Raise your hand if you got baptized last Sunday you got baptized last Sunday What up, what up, what up, what up? You came back I'll make a joke of it, but I'm kind of semi-serious Because Jesus saved us on Easter. We baptized you last Sunday But you got to get rooted There's some things in our life that only God can do but then there are things that he looks at us to do with him and Planted gardening is such a great picture of that because you could water a seed But only God can provide the Sun only God can do that magic that he does under the soil provide the soil himself So there are things we have to do and I don't want your journey with Jesus to end at I accept you as Lord and

Savior I don't want your journey with Jesus to end with coming out of the baptism water And I'm not just speaking to new believers I'm speaking to those who've been following Jesus for a long time Because if we're not careful we can be around him so much that we never get in him We can think it's okay to be around the soil around God's people around these Atmospheres and environments and not knowing what God really wants to do is not just change what's around us But most importantly change what's in us and so God planted it We watered it, but you got to tend it you got to tend to what God is doing in your life or He will not be able to produce in you what he wants to produce in you and the way we've been talking about Tending has been the the teaching of spiritual disciplines What are spiritual disciplines spiritual disciplines are what Jesus did when he was on earth? It was the way he lived his life as a model for us to follow him and live accordingly There are nine spiritual disciplines, and I want to put them on the screen behind me and you can follow along community witness prayer scripture fasting Sabbath solitude Service and generosity, and that's what we're going to be talking about throughout this planted series And I want to really just take a second before we continue along this path We talked about community and witness last week. I want to really destigmatize Discipline because when I say the word discipline, I think there are a lot of people who get overwhelmed I think there are a lot of people who are like you want me to do how many things? Nine is a lot Nine is a lot if you had given me one thing to do today pastor JJ It would have been a lot because life is a lot and I understand But also we already have so many disciplines in our life that we do that we've done so often They actually become automatic now, and that is really my hope My hope is that these disciplines will become such a big part of your life That you won't even think to do it that just because it's a discipline doesn't mean it's extra labor or extra work

They can actually become things in your life to become automatic that you don't even think about doing when you think about this We already have disciplines like this in our life brushing your teeth is a discipline Taking a bath or a shower is a discipline, but you never hear anybody say when we suggest those things every day Hold up hold I got a I got kids to raise you want me to brush my teeth every day I Gotta go to work you want me to take a shower every day. It's like. What are you talking? You don't even think about it anymore you do it It's become an automatic part of your life because you see the benefit of it it when you don't you want your teeth Don't you want people to hang around you because you don't smell like this is where baths add value to you And so it's important that you do that and there are some disciplines that we ought to have in our life But we don't have in our life, but would help us if we can implement them that are not even spiritual They're just good disciplines disciplines like a bedtime We need bedtimes. I feel like we turn 18. We were like we can stay up as late as we want and that's what we did and Then paid for it the next morning Disciplines like diet and exercise Disciplines like date night or a budget These are disciplines and and we don't like disciplines And I think one of the reason why we don't like disciplines is because we think that disciplines equal control And we like I don't want to be controlled. I want to be free It's my money. I spend my money. However, I want to spend my money. It's my body I do whatever I want to do with my but I won't be free discipline equals bondage Discipline equals boundaries discipline equals control and nobody gonna control me. I'm 45 years old. I do what I want And I just want to let you know Freedom if the reason why you don't want to discipline is because you want freedom and you hate control. I got bad news for you Here's the bad news. Nobody has freedom Freedom is an illusion and All of us are under control Every single one of us are controlled. Listen to me. You are either being controlled by your vision or by your desires But everybody in this room is controlled by something I'll give you an example if you got a vision

For the way you want your body to look or the kind of energy you want to have throughout the day Then the vision for your body and your energy is gonna control what you eat for breakfast If that's your vision then then it's gonna control what you eat. You're gonna eat some fruit You're gonna have something light. You're gonna drink a lot of water. You're gonna take your vitamins You're being controlled by the vision that you have for your life. But if you wake up in the morning and you eat a donut You were still being controlled just by your appetite You weren't free. You were controlled by the desire for sugar It controlled you if you got a vision for being married for the rest of your life Happily married then that is gonna control who you text That is gonna control who you follow on social media that is gonna control whose jokes you laugh at at work that is gonna control who you hang out with because your vision for your marriage is controlling you or You can go out there and have an affair and you're still being controlled just by your desires By your appetite, but we're all under control If you got control for raising healthy functional kids Then that vision for your healthy functional kids is gonna control the way you spend your free time It's gonna control what you do when your weekends It's gonna control the conversations in the way you spend the few hours before bedtime when you really want to unwind But maybe you can open up that book with your kid maybe you can have that moment of prayer or You can be controlled by the algorithm on your social media while you're scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and just wasting time But don't for one second think that a lack of discipline equals freedom We're all being controlled What is gonna control you you get to choose what you control not that you are controlled My hope is that you will be controlled by the vision that we set forth in this church when January launch Which is the vision of following Jesus following me if you had a vision for your life to become like Jesus be with Jesus live like Jesus act like Jesus love like Jesus then the spiritual disciplines are how you control that Spiritual disciplines are what make you like now you might have just come to church and be like I don't want any of that This is my first Sunday. I Just came because I thought coming to church might lead me to my best life and I want to say you're a spot-on Thank you for coming to church. Thank you for wanting your best life. Jesus tells us how we can get our best life

Here's what he said anybody who wants to keep his life must lose it And anybody who loses his life for my sake will find it Your best life is always on the other side of sacrifice You never see anybody without discipline living their best life You know, we call those people unhoused Free you never find a more free person Than an unhoused person When we would administer when I'm not not everyone some of them have illnesses and we minister to them I remember one guy he told me he we were out there ministry. He was like I like it out here I get to do what I want go where I want. I'm like cool That's what freedom looks like but control Discipline that's just part for the course and so I want you to be experienced this last week We spoke about community and witness this week. We want to speak about prayer Scripture and fasting and I'm gonna say a really big statement that might sound like an overstatement, but I really mean it I don't think that there is a more important moment in human history Than today to hear this message Because in today's world we have something that many people know no one else had That we have in this era and it is it is the existence of a seemingly omniscient Apparently kind always available entity called chat GPT or Claude or Siri or Alexa or Gemini you can call it what you want. I called it an entity I was tempted to call it a person because some of us have developed a relationship with it Now to be clear I cannot hate on chat I Love chat GPT Even when I said it, I love it. See what I said. That's not good. I love it It has helped me out with a lot of things. It's helped me with sermon research is

It's helped me draft documents. It's helped me plan my vacations, put together my itineraries. It's saved me a lot of time. And I think when it's used appropriately, it can be constructive, and when it's used inappropriately, it can be destructive, and we gotta be careful. Now again, I said, like, I like it. Like, I don't wanna come off like a, I'm gonna use the language of the kids today, I don't wanna come off like an unk. I don't wanna come off old. I never wanna be one of those people that push back on technology just because it's new, although I find myself becoming that. I have to actively be pushing against that. Like, you see these kids riding the e-bikes everywhere. The other day, I literally said, I had to catch myself, I literally said these words. I said, in my day. I said, you used to have to pedal. You know, like, you wanted to go somewhere on a bike, you used to have to pedal your bike. So, and I'm not trying to come off like that. I just think we gotta be careful, because the debate about whether or not you can trust AI, that'll always be something that people are discussing, and maybe one day they build it in a way where you can trust it,

but I don't think we can ever put our faith in it. And there's difference between trust and faith. Faith is, I'm putting in you the direction of my life. I'm putting in your hands, and we gotta be careful, it never becomes that. And I think it is for some of us. I asked Chad Chibiti a question when I was preparing for this message. I said, what are the top five questions people ask you that they should not be asking you? And he gave me them. I said, number one, what's wrong with me, slash, why can't I be happy? Number two, should I stay or leave this relationship? Number three, I feel like hurting myself. What should I do? Number four, why do I keep sabotaging my life? Number five, who am I really? Oof. Listen, Chad Chibiti is a good tool, but it's a bad therapist. It's good with documents, but it's a bad doctor. And it's helpful in moments, listen, but it's a terrible God. And here's my question as I'm thinking through today's message. Are there things we're turning into prompts that we should be turning into prayers? Wow, so big, come on, so big. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Because I don't know that you should put your faith in chat. Chat bots, number one, can be wrong. God is never wrong. That's right. I mean it, they can be wrong. I once asked Chad for help putting together a sermon. I said, create a map of Israel. I was talking about the water. It was when I was doing a series on wells recently in December of last year. And I said, I need a map of Israel. I knew what it looked like, but I just needed to show it on the screen. And I was, so they did this. And when they did this, thank God, I knew what Israel looked like because this whole bottle of body of water in the middle here next to Jordan, that doesn't exist. So then I put in chat, I said, the one in the middle doesn't exist. And then chat said, you're right. That was, what are we doing? What are we doing here right now? How many people know God's never wrong? Not only that, a newspaper recently did an investigation with the Chad GPT to find out

if it was liberal or conservative. So they put up their newspaper and they said, this newspaper, is this newspaper liberal or conservative? And Chad said, no, it's pretty unbiased. It's pretty fair. And it gave some evidence. And then it wrote in its next prompt, it said, but I heard it can be liberal. And then Chad said, you know what? It is liberal. And it started giving all the reasons why it is liberal. Here's what I've learned about chatbots. Chatbots can prioritize agreement over accuracy. God prioritizes transformation over affirmation. The computer is built for you to hit the little thumb button on the bottom, because if you hit the like button, then that tells the programmer that the chatbot's doing a good job. How many people know, and I'm glad to announce it, God does not have a like button. God does not care if you like what he has to say or not. He is in the business of transformation, even if that makes you uncomfortable. And here's the last thing, chatbots know the past and your patterns, but God knows the future and your purpose. AI knows everything that has ever happened. So does the devil. God knows everything that will happen.

God knows the future and how to prepare you for it. Not only that, it knows your patterns. It knows you, that part is scary. I asked Chad the other day, I asked him, it was a scientific question. And after I asked him the scientific question, it said, at the end, it said, do you want me to turn this into a three-point sermon? I was like, no, and yes. How did it know? It knew me, man. But how many people know, you need some people in your life that don't just know you for your search history? Because not all of our search histories are good. I need someone who can speak to me, not on my patterns, but on my potential. Someone who doesn't speak to me from my history, but on my destiny. Somebody who knows me for who God created me to be, who can guide me, not to who I've always been, but to who God knows I can be. And so here's what I want to do today, I want to replace that urge that you have when you feel lost in life to turn to G-P-T. And instead, I got a cheesy sermon title for you today, but I hope it ministers, I want to teach you to chat G-O-D, let's go, come on. I want to speak today on the topic, chat G-O-D, here's my subtitle, going to God for the answers. Going to God for the answers. And so, listen, when it comes to identity, healing, direction, and pain, there's a place you can turn to for the answers, and it's the disciplines of prayer, scripture, and fasting. Now, I got to give you a disclaimer, the answers that you get from these three disciplines won't always be on demand, and they won't always align with your bias, but they are trustworthy,

and they are true, and they are faithful to guide you through whatever issue or pain you are navigating in your season of life. Another disclaimer, I could do three hours on prayer, three hours on fasting, and three hours on scripture, but I don't have that time, I got 20 minutes. And so I'm going to filter what I teach you next through the lens specifically of the voice of God, and how to hear the voice of God. So let's talk about prayer. Prayer exists in three forms, really. A form is a good way of describing the way I'm going to describe it to you today. There are different types of prayer, but essentially there are what I would call three forms of prayer. And the first form of prayer is the most popular, it's the most common, it's the most well-known. The second, a little bit more. The third, hardly anyone practices the third, and I think it's going to help you. The first is talking to God. Talking to God. This is probably, like I said, the most common form of prayer as we know it. And it's biblical. Everything I'm telling you, by the way, when it comes to these types of prayers, it's biblical. When the disciples asked Jesus, how do we pray, Jesus was the one that said, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and then he went on to talk about the Lord's prayer. So talking to God is important, and talking to God is a part of prayer, and it works, and it's good. It's only, it's just limited, because the only time we talk to God, most of the time we're not talking to him, we're talking to him about my agenda. We're talking to him about the things that are on my heart, the things that are on my mind, the things that I want him to do in my life. And we have to just be careful, because there is no problem too big or too small for God to care about. If you care about it, God cares about it.

Sometimes there are little things in our life, and we're like, do I even pray about that? And God's like, absolutely. If you care about it, God cares about it. So pray about it, but you need to know this, God always cares about what you care about, but he's not always focused on what you're focused on. So if I'm being mistreated at work, and I feel like I've experienced an injustice, I might tell the Lord, prove my innocence, and God will say, okay, I get it, I'm so sorry you went through that, God might reply, but I'm more concerned in your maturity than your innocence. I care less about, I'm focused less on making sure everyone else knows your right and more focused on your righteousness. I want to use this trial to do things in you that are greater than you can imagine. See, the real issue about only praying about what we want is that God could actually want things for you that you don't even know to ask because he wants greater things for you than you want for yourself. So when we only limit our prayers to my agenda, we only limit our answers to our answers. What we want him to say in that situation, and God's like, I can do way much more in your life if you let me. And so the next form of prayer is not just listening, it's not just speaking to God, but it's listening to God, listening to God. And this is good because now we're open up. What are we open to? We're open to his agenda, his agenda. What is it that you want to speak to me, God? What do you want to say to me? And we practice listening to God through meditation. We practice listening to God through, are you ready, through just being quiet after you ask him a question. I think half of the time God doesn't speak to us, it's because we'll pour out our heart, we'll say amen, and then go away.

We'll be like, I'm going through all this. This is terrible, and I really need your help, amen. And God is like, I wanted to tell you what you wanted to know. Because we don't speak with the expectation of hearing. So that needs to shift. I think also God can speak to us, we can listen through prophecy, the prophetic. I believe that God gives gifts to people and uses people in that way, where someone has an on-time word for you and your situation of life, and has something that just really blesses your heart. And so this is good, but it's still limited. And listening to God is limited because when we're listening to God, most of the time we're treating God like a light switch. Are you there? I need an answer. Speak to me. And it's limited because, listen, God is not on your timeline. We're supposed to be on his. That's right, that's right. And this is where the third form of prayer comes in, and it's the one that is the least practiced, but I honestly think it's the one that can help you the most, and I hope this gets in your soul. And this isn't talking to God or listening to God,

this is being with God. Being with God. First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 16 and 18 says, always be joyful. These next three words are really tough. Never stop praying. That's hard. That's hard because even if you practice that, it's kind of weird. Like, imagine bumping into somebody who just never stops praying. You're trying to have a conversation with them. Hey, what do you want to eat, steak or lunch? And they're like, hold on, give me a second. Father, got steak or chicken? Steak or chicken, which one, Lord? Show me a sign, speak to me. And you're like, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. My bad, did I interrupt something right here? How do you even pray without ceasing? How do you never stop praying? But if we put the verse back on the screen, I think you can actually see how. Look, never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances. This is God's will for you. You know how you never stop praying, ready? You experience everything in life as a gift from God. You wake up in the morning and you drink your morning coffee and as you're sipping that morning coffee,

you go, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, because I didn't think I was going to make it. But then this caffeine hit and now I'm good. Thank you, Jesus. When you're driving to work and you might not really even want to go to work that day, you start thinking, thank you, Jesus, because I have a job and I'm able to put food on the table for me and my family. Thank you, Lord. It is in awareness of the presence of God. Wherever I go, if you're married, you spank your spouse on the butt, thank you, Jesus. Mm, mm, mm, thank you, Lord. If you're single and you ain't got to tell nobody where you're going, you don't got to report to nobody when you come back home, you open up the fridge, you know how much milk is in there and you don't got to guess how much milk is in the car. You know how much, you got your independence. Thank you, Jesus. I got my independence. I get to go where I want to go. I got to text nobody. It's seeing, and here's what I love about this, listen, if talking to God is about my agenda and listening to God is about his agenda, here's what beautiful about being with God is, there's no agenda.

There's no agenda. You are just with God to be with God because you are enjoying God. And this is beautiful because when you are with him throughout the day, you're not with him so that he can do something for you. You're not with him so that he can heal you. You're not with him so that he can bless you. You're not with him so that he can get you pregnant. You're not with him so that he can fix your situation. You are with him because he's beautiful and being with him brings you joy, and you know what's beautiful about that? When God is with you, he's not with you so you can serve on a team at church. He's not with you so that you can be a preacher. He's not with you so that you can be a singer. He's not with you so that you can tithe. He's not with you so that you can give financially. He is with you because he enjoys you because he wants to be with you because he loves your presence. There are times when my wife and I get together and we do something productive, and there are other times when we get together just to be with each other, and if there's anything I can deposit in you by the end of today is that God just wants to be with you, and if you can learn to pray that way, to just always be with God in awareness,

in thought, in thankfulness, in appreciation, it's gonna help how you hear his voice. How does that connect, Pastor Jay? It's gonna help how you hear his voice. What do you mean? Well, let me tell you a story. I remember the first time I ever got a girl's number. It was in middle school, and I was too shy to ask the girl herself, but we had a mutual friend, so I asked the friend for her number, and she was able to give me the number. I got the phone and I called her when I got home on my home phone. I have to say home phone because some of you don't even know what a home phone is. It's a phone that's connected to your wall. There's no call ID. There's nothing. You just you pick it up and you gotta and you gotta know the number. So I had it on paper and I wrote it down and I and I called that number when she picked up. I was so nervous because I'd never talked to a girl before on the phone and so I said hey. She said hey. I said how's it going. She said good. I said cool. I was just calling to say what's up. She said cool. Who's this? And because I'd never spoken to a girl before I didn't really know how to respond so I said it's me. She said who's me and that was the moment I realized I never introduced myself. I never said hey it's JJ. Now fast forward to today. I remember preaching on a Sunday and it was a service where Pastor Liz, my wife, wasn't supposed to be here. She was at home taking care of stuff and I was preaching and out the corner of my ear I heard so good. That's so good and I was this way and the moment I heard it I knew instantly Liz is here because nobody says it that way. Nobody says it like her. I had to tell her I heard it and the reason why I was able to recognize her voice was because of the amount of time we spent together. The girl on the phone didn't recognize my voice because we had never had one conversation but the girl that I live with, go to work with, spend time with, go to sleep with, wake up with, eat with, I'm able to recognize her voice a mile away and her and me. Do you know why you cannot recognize the voice of God? Because you're not around it enough to know it when you

hear it. If we could start practicing just being with Jesus we would have spent so much time with him that the sound of his voice, we pick up on it, then we'll be at work and there'll be somebody that we hear God tell us pray for them. You don't know what they're going through. God knows and when you hear it you go oh I know that voice. That was the voice of the Lord. Hey I don't know what's going on but I just feel like I had to pray for you. Oh my God my husband just left me. Father God I just pray right now or you'll be at work and your boss will try you and everything in you wants to blow up and but then you hear a voice going calm down forgive them like I forgave you. That's a brother and sister in Christ. You're witnessing to them. You gotta invite them to church next week. Don't say anything you're gonna regret and then you go that was the voice of the Lord. I heard him. You would do more cool things if you spent more time with God because you would hear him more challenging you to do things. So good. If your Christian life is boring you are the problem. Not God because the God I serve always be trying me. Talk to that person. Pray for that person. Give that amount. Come on Jesus. Boy you know the voice of the Lord when you hear it and you go I gotta do it. Amen. But what do I how do I keep it from becoming emotional? How do I how do I know if that's the Lord and not the pizza? How do I know if that's the Lord not the devil? How do I know that's the Lord? Someone had a bad dream the other day and they got scared. It was a family member of mine and they said oh I don't know what God's trying to tell me. I said who said it was the Lord? It could have been the devil. How do you discern? And this is where the next discipline comes in. Scripture. Because scripture becomes a filter for what you're hearing from God. Scripture becomes the thing that the voice of the Lord passes through. What you're hearing in your heart. Hearing it has to pass through before you can make sure that it is of God or not. Now most people when they want a word from God ask the Lord for a supernatural sign. Most people who are looking for their their one, their future husband, their wife are like Lord when I come to church I want a light. To shine on that person. I want to sit next to that person not even knowing and when I look over they've got my name tattooed on their forearm. You know I just I want some like some some sign and I just want you to know it's not going to happen that way and even if it did happen that way you wouldn't answer. How dare you? You don't know because I know because it's in the Bible. Look what the Bible says Luke 16 27. He answered then I beg you Father send Lazarus to my family. Now I've got to give you some context. There's a man in hell and he's

talking to Father Abraham who is standing with Another man named Lazarus. On earth, Lazarus was poor. The man in hell was rich, but he wasn't generous. He never helped anybody with his money. And so now that he's in hell, he's asking Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his family because he doesn't want his family to go to hell. So he says, I got five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Abraham replied, but they have Moses and the prophets. Do you know what he's saying when he's had Moses and the prophets? He's saying, they got the Bible. Moses wrote the first five books and the rest of the books are written by the prophets. So he's saying, they got the whole Bible. Let them listen to them. Let them read the Bible. Verse 30, know Father Abraham, if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. They need a sign. He said to them, look at this word, if they won't read the Bible, if they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. Are you ready? If you can't hear it in a verse,

you won't hear it in a voice. If you can't get it from this, you won't get it from this. Because this is accurate. In my house, we have this thing every once in a while, we'll look at each other, my wife and I, and we'll go, text it to me. Which is wild because I'm right there. And she's right there. Anybody else like that? Married, they'd be like, text it to me, friends, text it to me. I'd be like, babe, can you do this? She'd be like, text it to me. I'm like, okay. But I'd do the same thing. She'd tell me something, I'm like, text it to me. And there's a reason why we do that. Number one, because I might forget and I might need to be reminded. Do you know why God didn't just tell it to you? Do you know why he texted it to you? Do you know why he texted it to you? So that when you needed it, you could be reminded of it. So that when you're going through a dark season, you can think, oh yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you. You're with me, you're riding your staff, they come for me.

So when it gets hot, you can go, oh yeah, you're in the fire with me. It's a reminder. You know why else I tell my wife to text me? For evidence. Because I swear sometimes she'd be saying things, I'm like, you never said that. And I say things and she'd be like, you never said that. I'm like, where's the text? Where's the text at? Can I let you know when you were in a situation and things get tough, you got evidence? You can go to the Lord and go, I don't understand why I'm in this. You said. You said all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Lord, I need you to turn this around and I need you to turn this around today. Help me, Lord God. Lord, I'm sick and there's no medicine. You said that by your stripes we were healed, that you were the great physician. I'm just saying what you said. Someone say, I got the text. I got the text, Lord. I got the text, Lord. I got evidence of your goodness, evidence of your faithfulness. Listen, there's two reasons

why we don't hear the Lord in the Bible. Number one, I don't understand it. Reasons why we have trouble getting answers from Scripture. I don't understand it. The Bible says that, Matthew 13, 18 and 19. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed that was sown along the path. Now, I can't help you understand the Bible in like all of the Bible in the three minutes that I got left here tonight, today. But what I can do is give you a resource to help you understand the Bible. And I'm gonna give you two. One costs money, the other one's free. This is the one that costs money, but it's a good resource. This is a book called The Bible Simplified, which is gonna teach you how to understand the Bible as a whole story from Genesis to Revelations. And I'm really proud of this book because it was written by Zach Wendell, who's actually a member of Journey Church. He's a best-selling author, and he comes here, and you can buy this book on Amazon. We've got this book at all of our campuses in the lobby for purchase. I think it's $20.

And Zach is a member of our church, and so all the proceeds from this book are actually gonna go to Wycliffe Bible Translation to translate the Bible into languages that haven't been translated into yet. So that's where all of the money's going to for this book. I think we only have 20 copies left at Fern, and we have some more at all the campuses. And Zach himself is actually at Fern Park Campus in the lobby if you wanna meet him, have him sign your book, and he can talk to you more about it. And then here's a free resource. This free resource is called thebibleproject.com. Now, I love thebibleproject.com because it's free. You can download it on your phone. It's gonna give you videos. It's gonna teach you some tough concepts in the Bible. It's gonna teach you how to understand the Bible holistically if you're not a reader. This is a great go-to resource for you. And so, but you've gotta learn how to understand the Bible. And second, when you understand it, make sure you do what it says because here's the second reason why we won't get things from the Bible, ready? It's not because you don't understand it because you don't agree with it. And let's be honest. There are things that we read in the Bible

that we don't agree with. I just tell you, that's how you know it's working. You know the Bible's working when you don't like what it says. It's challenging you. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, for the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between, what? Joint and marrow, soul and spirit, soul and spirit. You know what soul is? Soul is what you want. You know what spirit is? What God wants. And here's what we often do to the Bible. We often bend the words of the Bible to say what we want it to say, instead of reading the Bible and bending to what it says. Well, I just don't agree. Well, my mom said, well, my dad said, well, this is my life. Well, I don't really feel like I had a choice. Just do what the Bible says. I know that's not easy, but your best life is on the other side of doing what the Bible says. And lastly, fasting. I wanna talk to you about fasting really quickly in the little time we have, it's so important. Fasting, Jesus fasted often.

And if we wanna be like Jesus, we gotta do what Jesus did, and he fasted. Here's what fasting is. Fasting is really literally abstaining from food for a set amount of time by not eating. I'm choosing to not eat for a set amount of time. And here's what that does. That lowers the volume of the flesh. What is the flesh? Romans 8, five through six. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires. Here's what the flesh is. Selfishness, lust, pride, all of the forces that influence your decision-making. And here's why choosing to not eat food actually helps you hear the voice of God clearly. I hope you catch this. Because when you're choosing to not eat food, this is so good, guys, you are choosing not what you want. Because you want food. But by choosing to not do what you want, ah, this is it, you are minimizing the influence of want on your decision. Did you catch it? Because whenever there's a decision to make, what you want is like really loud. But how many people know what you want isn't always good? Sometimes I wanna slap somebody.

That's not good just because I want it. Did you hear me? That's not good just because I want it. You can't make decisions based on what you want, but what you want can be so loud sometimes. So by choosing to not eat, which is what you want, you are training your body, God, to lower the voice of want so that you can hear more clearly what God wants. Now, I love fasting. Listen to me. But it cannot be just 21 days in January. So grateful that it's become a movement around the country and around the world. 21 days, everyone in January is great. Fasting was never meant to be an event. It was always meant to be a discipline. You gotta find out a rhythm in your life where you can fast regularly. Maybe it's once a month, or maybe it's a cue. Maybe you go every time I hear myself being real loud in my head, that's when I gotta fast. But then go a day, and then go fast. And it helps you. Because everybody always comes up to me like, oh, I love January. January was so powerful. I was so close to the Lord in January. And you're gonna wait until next January? Or are you gonna turn June into January?

May into January? Here's the other thing the Bible says. The Bible doesn't say this about fasting, but I think this is a form of fasting that God would have mentioned if the Bible was written in today's time. And it's not just abstaining from food, but I think it's also from abstaining from media for a set amount of time. Here's what abstaining from media for a set amount of time does. It lowers the voice of want. It lowers the voice of want. And here's what a set amount of time does. It lowers the volume of the world. How many people know the world be loud? Here's what Jesus said in Mark 135. Very early in the morning, this is Jesus's life. Listen, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. Sometimes you gotta get away from the world to hear from God. But what do you do when the world fits in your pocket? What do you do when the world is literally everywhere you go? I'll tell you what, you gotta put the world down. You gotta put the world down. You gotta put the world away. And you gotta say, I just need a second. I just need a second to hear from the Lord. I think you and I think that we stopped being influenced

by other people when we left high school, and that's just not true. It's amazing how someone else's post can make you feel poor. And we just need, like, every once in a while to be like, I'm just gonna take a step away, because this is getting real loud, and I'm not being able to hear the Lord. Here's what I'm gonna let you know. Fasting doesn't make God louder. It makes you quieter. Because, here's what I wanna end. God is always speaking. If you hear nothing else, hear that. God is always speaking. You and I are the ones that are having trouble. he's always guiding Lord I want to know where to go Isaiah 30 21 whether you turn to the right or to the left your ears will hear a voice behind you saying this is the way walk in it you know that God is always behind you saying this way not that way this way not that way but we can't hear it because our flesh is so loud and the word is so loud but if we could quiet those down we would hear the direction you feeling empty you know that the voice of the Lord is what sustains you Deuteronomy 8 3 man does not live on bread alone but on every what every word that comes from the voice of the Lord from the mouth of the Lord God is willing to fill up the emptiness inside of you but you got to just listen here sometimes I'm feeling empty and I'm gonna spend some time with God and I'll come back I'll be like oh that hit like if I had a sandwich I'm like if that hit that was what I was missing time with God because man does not live on bread alone God is always speaking listen through Jesus Hebrews 1 1 through 2 in the past God spoke but in these days he has

spoken to us by his Son Jesus Christ you know that Jesus is always speaking just when you look at Jesus he's speaking if you look at Jesus and you think the cross good he's speaking lay down your life so that you can have life if you look at Jesus and you think Easter the empty tomb the tomb is preaching saying this situation that you're going through today it will not kill you it will not bury you you will come out on the other side if you if you're looking at life and you don't know what to do look at Jesus's life as he says follow me live how I live walk how I walk I'm speaking to you do it like I did it this is how you do life Jesus is the voice of God he's the one speaking to us today come home do life with me if you'll hear it Hebrews 3 7 & 8 I preached this verse a couple weeks ago I'm gonna say it again because it's important therefore as the Holy Spirit says today if you will hear so God is always speaking if you will hear because the real truth is we don't always want to hear what he has to say but he's speaking today will you listen if it's getting hard would you close your eyes and bow your head all over this room for just a second why do we do that because it's loud because I'm loud because these lights are loud because your neighbors loud because your phone is loud so every time we get into a prayer we'll close your ears and by close your eyes and bow your head because I want you to block all that out for just a second and I want you to hear the voice of God and I'm speaking to two people I'm speaking to someone who's maybe they're a couple maybe it's an individual who's needing direction on next steps did you know that God is behind you giving you the way turn to the left turn to the right God I pray right now for everybody who's needing guidance anybody who needs to make a decision but I pray that you would speak right now speak to the husband speak to the wife speak to the teenager speak speak to the father speak to the mother speak to the brother speak to the sister begin to give direction for them and leading their family leading their children leading their spouse leading themselves Lord God speak because you're always speaking today God we listen today we listen today we listen God your people you got the answers finally father we pray for anybody in the room

who doesn't know Jesus if you came today to church and you were thinking about knowing God thinking about taking the next step in your faith thinking about getting serious about this God thing let me tell you who this God thing is it's Jesus the message of the Father speaking to you and to me offering life offering hope offering the best life if that's you and you're in this room today and you've been wanting to know God but you've been on the outside in he's telling you come home come to me I'm the way I'm the truth I'm the life that we have about every I close that's you on the count of three would you raise your right hand high to the sky Jesus I need you on three all over this building one two three Jesus I need you come on if you hear his voice calling you today so many hands all over the room today thank God thank God whoever invited you thank God thank God thank you for listening to the voice of Jesus whether you raised your hand or not I want everyone to pray this prayer out loud everyone say father today I hear you and I'm coming I'm coming with my life coming with my pain I'm coming with my Past coming with my sin I'm coming with my fears and I'm coming for your hope I'm coming for your life I'm coming for your promises I'm coming for your words I'm coming for your life Jesus I receive you Jesus I follow you and after today I will never be the same in your name we pray amen and amen come on let's put our hands together and welcome everybody who made a decision to follow Jesus today amen amen amen amen if you are one of those people that just made that prayer and gave your yes to Jesus let me be the first to welcome you to the family excited that you have chosen to dedicate your life to Jesus today. If you are one of those folks, we want to hear from you. We want to get to know you, get to know your story. So go ahead and scan that QR code below and let us know your information and we will be reaching out to you so we can talk to you and help you figure out what's next. But for right now, I just want to say welcome, congratulations, and we love, love, love you. That being said, I'm excited to hear what your takeaways are from the message that Pastor JJ just preached. So I'm gonna throw it over to Alex and Mariah in the studio to get their thoughts as

well. See you next time. Welcome home. We want to celebrate you again if you gave your life to Jesus today. You're part of the family and now we're brothers and sisters. We want to ask, what did you get from today's sermon? Drop it in the chat because today's sermon was fire. What did you get Alex? Yeah, I love that part where Pastor JJ gave the analogy of, you know, sometimes when we're talking to somebody, we need a reminder. It's like, oh send me a text, send me a text, you know, just because you can go back and you can see it. It's evidence. Then he's like, well God was the first one that sent us a text. Flipping over the Bible, it's like it's right here, the text. Sometimes when we get lost, we forget what he said about us. We can get into the lies of the enemy. Now we can go to the text from God and get that reminder. Yes, that's so good. That is so good. Man, when he said the title of his message, chat, G-O-D, I already knew I was being clocked. I was like, Lord, please, no conviction. But I received it when he was just talking about not trusting or having faith in AI, but in God and highlighting the disciplines that God would deposit. And then there was a point where he made and it was like being with God, there's no agenda. Meaning like when I just sit with God, like there's no agenda. He just wants to be with me and he'll deposit wisdom in me. And I don't need to rely on AI. And I was just like, yeah, ChadGBT, you got to go. That's right. That's right. One of our brothers here in the studio was like, we can't rely on AI more than we do the Most High. And I was like, oh my goodness, that'll preach. So with that being said, guys, we want to remind you about our Journey Church app. It's the best way for you guys to stay connected with us, be in community, see all the resources that we have available for you here at Journey. So to close it out, we're going to pass it on over to our brother, Joe. What a message from Pastor JJ. We just want to congratulate you again for giving your life to Jesus. This is just a beautiful moment. And also Journey Church Online, I just want to remind you about next steps. So make sure that you scan the QR code below.

That way we can walk with you. You're not in this alone. And also, we just want to thank you for your generosity, because of your generosity, we are able to make Jesus accessible to everyone from everyone watching online. So if you want to partner with us, make sure that you scan that QR code. Again, it has been truly a blessing and an honor to be your lobby host today. And we cannot wait to see you next Sunday. Have a blessed day.