Creed Week 1

Welcome to Free Life Chapel, where we help you discover and live the free life in Christ. My name is Kadi, and I'm so glad that you decided to tune in with us today. If you ever find yourself in the central Florida area, come visit us. We want to see you face to face, but until then, feel free to visit our website, freelifechapel.org, to find out more about what's happening at your church. There's an amazing message in store just for you. I hope you're encouraged. So we're jumping into a series that's going to be running all this week, and let me just go ahead and dispel all of the wrong thinking. The series is called Creed. This is not a boxing series. I'm very sorry. I'm going to go in a different route with this, and I want you to hear where we're going. If somebody were to ask you tomorrow, you go to work tomorrow, okay, before you get to work, you're getting your coffee. You get a coffee, you're standing in line to get your coffee, and someone, you're just tracking up a conversation, and they hear, they see something about you that, man, you must obviously be, like, a Jesus follower, like, there's something special about you, and they look at you, and they ask you this question, what do you believe? How would you answer them? What do you believe? Like, okay, well, we're going to have to sit down here all week, and let me tell you what Like, how do you take 66 books of the Bible and answer that before they get the proper cream in your coffee? How do you do that? It's important that we have the ability to express what we believe. Our early church fathers, they understood this. Now, when I mean early church, I'm not talking about the 9 o'clock service, all right? No, I'm talking about, like, early, like, Jesus died, resurrected, went to heaven, and now the disciples that were behind him and their disciples, the men who became the fathers

of the church, they said, you know what? We need to come up with a statement that identifies who we are as Christ followers. We need a statement that we can put in the ground that is fully based on Bible. This is not going to be our opinion. It's got to be God's Word, but we need to be able to identify who we are, brief but intentional what we believe, and that's called a creed. A creed is simply this. It's a formal statement of a belief. You have a creed in your life. You have a credo. There is a belief system. You got some BS in your life. You have a belief system in your life, and that belief system is what runs your world. That's why you got to get your BS right. It's really important that that's all in order, and that's what I want us to begin to look at here because the creed, when it was written, and there's many creeds, but this one's specifically related to Christianity. They were usually short and designed to be easily memorized so that it could be repeated and it becomes a part of your heart. It's not just what you know, it becomes who you are, and after Jesus, after he exited and the apostles were there, they began to write a statement, a creed that Christian followers in their day and those following them, ta-da, here we are, would have this order and have this statement and this foundation of our faith that we can lean on, look back to that would unite us, and it's important that we look at it. It was originally called the Old Roman Creed. In fact, the first pieces of this creed were identified and accredited to the first followers of Jesus somewhere around 150 AD, so 150 years after Jesus died, we actually began to see there's evidence of this being written down, which means it preceded that. It's even older than what we found, but it was actually identified there, and eventually then it was turned into that Roman Creed.

It was upgraded, if you could say. It was put some more detail to it, called the Apostles' Creed, and then even later on after that, they changed it to the Nicene Creed. They were the same creed, they were just expanded versions. We're going to be looking at, in our series this month for you and I and today, the Apostles' Creed, the expanded initial version of the Roman Creed that became the Apostles' Creed that really became the foundational point that anchors all of it, and it's important for us to have a united reference point for our faith because in the world that you and I live in today, there are over 45,000 people who believe in the Apostles' Creed. thousand versions of Christianity. Did you catch that? 45,000 variations. In other words, people call themselves Christians, but they believe something completely different than you. How can you do that? Because today people are defining themselves, they're defining God, they're making God in their image instead of being made in the image of God. I'm morphing God to fit me. So it's varying beliefs, varying interpretations of the Bible, different practices, the way that they express that. And ladies and gentlemen, that is dangerous because you and I need a statement. We need something that we can hold on to that tells me number one, what I believe, and number two, what I don't believe. Because it's just as important for you to know what is wrong as it is to know what is right. Now there are people that say today, well it's just all paths go to heaven. Well kiss my holy grits, no it does not. Because you can't go north and south and end up in the same place. All paths don't go in the same place. And so you better know what you believe and what you don't believe, especially in the day we're living in right now. You better know, you better know, because I promise you TikTok has a theology, Instagram has a theology, and there are people that talk emotional and loud and they'll even put a scripture to it and it sounds so convincing. But you've got to know what you believe so you can look at it, you can do the sniff test and go mm-mm cancel and delete and just go through that stuff. You've got to know what you believe. Proverbs chapter 22 verse 28 speaks directly to this and why we're in the Apostles Creed. It says this, read it

with me, don't move a boundary marker set up by your ancestors. Now this is in the Bible y'all. Don't move a boundary marker. Okay so so back in the day they would put big rocks or something a stick or something to be driven in the ground at the corners of a person's allocated piece of property to identify this property belongs to our family. And what he's saying is don't in the middle of the night while everyone's asleep go out there and start moving it over into your neighbor's yard and taking some of their land. Our property just grew by three feet last night. Whoo that's good. Next week we're gonna go a full yard. Here we go. Like don't play with that, be honest about it. But but it carries a dual meaning because it also means the things that the forefathers and the foremothers of your faith are our matriarch and patriarchal for those who went ahead spiritually. They're going to put some things in the ground that are truths that you need to live by. And when your generation comes along and you think you are the new and improved version of life and that we understand life a whole lot better than they did, God's Word says do not mess with what they told you is truth. Leave that marker there, don't play with it. If it was good enough to work then, it's good enough to work now. Don't mess with the fence. In fact let me put it to you this way. Before you take down the fence, you better check and learn why the fence was put up in the first place. Because the fence is not there to limit you, the fence is there to keep things from getting to you. That fence isn't something that shuts life down for you, that fence is there is what gives you life because it keeps things out of your life. How do you know that there's some things that you could do but you probably don't need to be exposed to? It would not be good to put your head, your heart, that's right. The book of Lamentations says my eye affected my heart. I saw some things I shouldn't have saw and it turned my heart. In other words, if I hadn't have seen it, it never would have affected me. I got to make sure that I've got to guard my eyes, I got to guard my ears, I got to guard what I say. Those are the three gateways into your soul. You better put some boundary markers right there and fence in, hedge in to protect your mind, heart, spirit,

your future, your decisions today. All of that is what this is being spoken of here. So the forefathers of our faith, they put boundaries in place to direct and protect future generations of Christianity. So watch this, more than 1,800 years ago, these guys who fought for, searched, studied the faith, who were one generation away, two generations, Jesus told me this himself. Boom. Based on that, I'm putting this down. This is a marker. That's exactly what you're holding in your hand, the Apostle's Creed. Did everyone get one of these little bookmarks when you came in today? If you did not, we're selling them for $10. as you leave. Kidding, I'm kidding. I'm going to go ahead and tell you now. I'm going to challenge you to memorize this this month. All month we're going to start working our way through the Apostles' Creed. Now, let me just help you before we go there. I did not grow up in a liturgical church. I grew up Pentecostal. We never knew what was going to happen in church from week to week. You just knew somebody was going to run the aisles and you had a good idea between him and her. And if he goes, you know she's going because he won't be outdone. You knew it was going to be kind of it. And I'm not mad at my heritage. I love it. We just weren't raised with liturgy where we stand and we repeat together. Now, there's some Methodist and Episcopalian and Lutheran and Roman Catholic.

There's different other denominations that to this day everybody in the room on that day they're repeating the Apostles' Creed. That you had to say the Apostles' Creed before you got baptized, before you take communion. You had to repeat the Apostles' Creed to make sure, are your beliefs in order? Do you line up? Are you a part of the church that Jesus died for? Or are you a variation that culture has sanctioned? Don't get twisted. We've got to know which version we are because everything out there makes it confusing. So today I want us to go back. I want us to go ancient. These are ancient truths from modern problems that I want us to look at. In fact, today I want you to join me and let's read. Oh, this will get out. Free Life Chapel, they're repeating the Apostles' Creed. Yes, we are, baby, and we're going to do it right as well. So on the count of three, I want you to read this with me as an entire church from the balcony to the floor. I want you to read it loud, read it proud. Don't get tired midway through. It's only 107 words. You'll be fine. We can do this. Are you ready? Here we go. One, two, three. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day, He rose again. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Congratulations. You're all Catholic. Kidding. Kidding. Somebody said, I've been Catholic all my life. Good for you. There's so many Catholics busting heaven wide open. It's awesome. Just like there's going to be a few Pentecostals get there as well. It's so good. So good. What you just read is a highlight reel of faith. God is, Jesus is, Holy Spirit is the church of Jesus Christ. That's like, bam, bam, bam. Someone at Starbucks asked you, what do you believe? I'm so glad you asked. I believe in God the Father.

You can back up and just download that right there. And they're going like, oh. You're one of those people who actually believe something, aren't you? You don't just check a box. You've actually invested your heart and your mind into being an educated believer, and you have a conviction. You actually have a stance on things. There's some things that you have chosen to not agree with based on that you know. It's important that we have these standards in our life. Today, I want to address the first aspect very quickly of this creed. I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Understand this. The whole creed starts off with something that's irreplaceable. Irreplaceable. I believe. Your faith is built off of belief. Your faith is the convictions of your life, the decisions that you've made, the lifestyle. You see, to say that you believe something is not that you're just aware of it, not that you have an opinion of it, but I know what you believe based on how you live, not based on what you say. So all of a sudden, when I say I believe, my lifestyle judges what I declare if I believe it or not. And I'm tripping like all y'all. Ain't nobody crushing it.

We all have issues. We all struggle in some area of our life. You don't believe me. Look at your neighbor. They're struggling right now But we all do and if you don't have a neighbor just look at me. We're all struggling We all have things that were that we're dealing with we're wrestling with but we're wrestling forward in this I believe Christianity starts with belief. It's faith, which means I can prove nothing, but I have too much evidence not to believe it I Can't prove to you God, but there's too much evidence to ignore him This is what our faith does and these biblical truths We decide and build our lives based on those truths, but I watch this I believe in what I believe in God Let's unpack that because The writers of the Apostles Creed the forefathers of our faith over 1,800 years ago They chose three attributes of God to put in here out of every attribute They could have picked from this word They chose three to highlight who God is and they say if you want to encapsulate who God is these three are going to identify him Look at what it says. We believe in God the Father Called him a daddy. Who is your daddy? He is that's my daddy That's who my daddy is what what does what does him being a father mean? It means he's relational means he's loving it means he's correcting. It means he is Protecting he is a provider. His presence is with me now if I don't know how you were raised Some were raised in a home where dad was there and engaged some were raised where dad was in the home But disengaged some were raised where dad wasn't there at all I'm just telling you right now you and I need to make sure that we're properly defining What father is based on God's Word and this is what a father is This is what we all aspire to as fathers in our house. We love our kids. We protect our kids. We correct our kids We have presence with our kids. We provide for our kids. We love our kids

No, I need to hear some dad say amen a little bit better than that That's what a father is and and and the four the four fathers about faith said you need to know he's a daddy in your Life Matthew chapter 6 verse 9 the disciples asked Jesus. How should we pray? Here's what Jesus said our Father in heaven may your name be kept. Holy. He's saying call him your daddy daddy Yes That's who he is The relational God is not a cosmic ego that is drifting out there That doesn't have a clue who you are The Bible says he knows the very number of hair on your head and he's working hard in subtraction in a lot of us You know, it's just like but but he knows us intimately. He's engaged. He knows what you don't know about you He knows what you know about you, but you're not willing to admit and he loves you in spite of it This is the loving father the daddy that he is to us and the fact that he is a father And that we can know yeah, that's a good place to say. Thank you God Because he's a loving father, that's the first attribute this helps me believe what he promised Because a loving father doesn't lie a father doesn't tease a Father was good to his word if he said it he meant it So that means whatever he told me in this book the founding fathers of your faith said I need you to know He's a father and if he spoke it you can build your life on it He's not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent if he spoke it It shall be done believe his promises. Then he said I need you know, also that he's God Almighty I Love this one In other words, he's supreme in every way There is no equal there is no rival He's never had an enemy that he could not take on Oh, there's a lot of people that think he God is their enemy if God hiccups wrong. He will annihilate them. Do you understand? He's almighty because he's all-knowing. He's all-powerful. He's present everywhere at the exact same time First Chronicles chapter 29 verse 11 says this you are great and powerful glorious splendid and majestic

Everything in heaven and earth is yours and you are King you the og supreme ruler over all The Bible doesn't pull punches put God back in his rightful place Some of us actually think that that God hey, you know, he might have dementia. He forgot about you He just kind of moved this way He's wrestling with the devil and he's too busy fighting with the enemy to help me ladies and gentlemen He is God he rules over everything heaven and earth. He's Almighty all-powerful all-knowing This is the God that you're serving put him back in his proper place This is there's no other guy every other G's little g. He's the big g. Do you understand every knee will bow every tongue will confess that he is the lord you are serving the king of kings the lord of lords the of all that's who he is this helps me because I believe he's god I believe in his power in my life oh when you know he's got the power to be all of that and I'm his favorite that's kind of nice we have to understand who he is he is a father we believe his promises he's almighty we believe his power but it also says he's a maker he's the maker of heaven and earth he in other words God pre-existed everything designed it planned it and then created everything around you if you see it you need to go go God no God did not make that exit sign men made that sign and let me help you man takes what God provided and arranges it but if God hadn't provided it there'd be nothing there for man to arrange do you understand you go Elon you go you make that Tesla but it's God who gave Elon the capacity to think and the material don't ever get it twisted don't ever get it twisted Elon is creating he's making he's not creating God is the creator in fact it's so interesting to me even the theory even the theory that that that we just evolved evolution the theory of evolution it actually opposes itself it's a joke scientists who say they believe in evolution have to violate science in order to believe it because what scientists will tell you about the theory of evolution is that the world exploded and all these atoms came together because there was a density and an energy that was in the atmosphere that then it hit and exploded and I want to say excuse me mr. PhD DDD DDD DDD let me help you with something who do you think gave the density and the energy to anything to begin with where did that come from it didn't just appear no the by in fact the scientists will call it that there is a nothingness and science can't even define what nothing means

therefore they go the next step and they say well we have these elements and that's what happened but baby I can explain to you how nothing happens you have a God who preceded everything took nothing in his hand threw nothing into nothing and everything came into being there has to be a divine originator in order for something to be there it never just happens if there's a cup of coffee in a room when you walk in you don't ever think that the cup of coffee just evolved on that table you know somebody was there before I got there and they put a coffee cup there ladies and gentlemen the reason you're here right now is because God the creator of heaven and earth has been fully involved his work his handiwork is everywhere quite honestly it takes way too much faith to be an atheist I don't have that much faith Psalm 90 verse 2 says this before you created the hills or brought the world into being you were eternally God and will be God forever gotta say was some attitude forever watch the fact that he's a father helps me believe his promises the fact that he's Almighty helps me believe his power the fact that he is also the maker the creator helps him believe his plan for my life if he can do all that surely he can handle Scott he's he's got a design for me as well you see the Apostles highlighted him as father Almighty and maker father he's relational and safe Almighty he's all-sufficient and he's the provider of everything you're going to need in life he is the maker because he's the originator and owner of it all and he has a design for everything that he does so when we believe God is all that when you and I I believe in God Almighty our father the maker of heaven when you believe that you think different you talk different you live different you act different it'll mess up a pity party you don't have time for anxiety and worry to overtake you because my God who is Almighty my God who is creator my God who is a father he's taking care of all these issues in my life you you you rest different you sleep different you work different you're married Different you parent different your friend different you date different because everything it's good. It's good. It's good in the neighborhood Yeah, everything rests when you truly believe that he's God I believe he's God when you believe that ladies I I don't know how people make it in this life without knowing that he's the God of my life He's the source of my strength. He's the hope that gets me through tomorrow I've got a plan for my life that I didn't have to decide I just gotta follow the designer if he did it with this world in the universe. He can do something with me, too It's good

Everything is going to be all right You got to know this So here's the big question have you put your full weight on him In the good times and the bad times When I first started deer hunting years ago, I had to go through a very traumatic experience The guys who introduced me to deer hunting like you could stay on the ground and hunt deer But the best thing to do is get in a tree Get up in a tree. We'll get up in a tree Yeah they got these thing called ladder stands or lock-ons where you climb the tree and you strap that you strap that that seat to the tree 25 feet in the air So that the deer doesn't have any visual sight of you you're sitting way up above him Well the first time I climbed that tree to get up in that seat I thought this seat cannot handle my big behind hanging up here in the top of this tree right now I don't know if this is God's will or not I'm dressed in my camel. What if I fall and they can't find me? I'm hidden really well. This is not gonna be good And I got up there and I'm climbing the tree and I'm putting a foot around and I'm I'm pushing on to see if it's gonna Fall like is it going I mean I guess well It took me like a half an hour to actually get it I Got one leg wrapped around the tree like I'm trying like that I don't know if I can do this and it took a minute and then you sit down in the tree and then the wind blows oh Jesus I prayed more in a tree than you could ever send you said once you go once you go hunting you need some more Spirituality like Jesus help my brother right now. There ain't nothing okay about that But once I once I got comfortable with it now, it's like Come on boy, where are you? I don't even think about it Why? because I tested the seat and Once I found out that it would do what it claimed it would do. I

No longer had any worry or fear and I got back to doing what I was supposed to do You see when you try the word when you try God and you understand that he said I'll never leave you nor forsake you Trust me in all of your ways believe what I'm doing with your life cast all your care on me because I care for you I will I will supply meet all your needs according to my riches and glory no weapon formed Against you will prosper and every tongue that rises against you in judgment. It'll be condemned Trust me hold on to me when you understand and when you don't and watch me bring you through because I'm a father and I'm Almighty and I am the maker the creator of everything you can put your full weight on me And once you discover that then you get back to going if I can trust him in that I can trust him in everything Eventually, you got to put your weight on him So if you're struggling to trust God Believe God, let me help you Something that's really important Knowing God Precedes your loving God You'll never love him until you know him Jesus told us in Matthew 22. You need to love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength that sounds really good But here's what I've learned People don't fall in love with strangers Even if the stranger is God It doesn't just happen Back in the 1900s, I was in college for the first time. I Was hanging out with the guys it was 1986. I'll never forget it Hanging out with the guys and I looked across the street It was during the winter and this brown-skinned Beautiful Angel was walking across the other side of the street. I Said hmm Look what the Lord has done. Mm-hmm. Look what the last sorry, that's Pentecostal. Sorry. Sorry, sir Dang and Lord spent some extra time on her. What in the world is she doing here? And I'm just watching like like I

So I was like smitten. I was like, look at the beauty. Does anybody know who that is? Who is that right there? Who is she? They said her name is Cindy. I said, no, Puerto Rican is not called Cindy. It's gotta be a Maria. It's gotta be like, but okay, if that's what you're saying. After some bribing and some money and some extra things, eventually she agreed to spend some time with me. And so now I went from being like this, attracted to her, and then I started talking to her. Oh my God, I did it. I talked to her. And we spent time, and then we exchanged ideas and thoughts. And I asked questions, and she asked questions. And we began to understand we're spending time together. And then I learned in that time that she's compassionate and she's brilliant. She goes to school, goes to college not knowing English, and makes the dean's list every semester. I've been speaking English all my life, and I was just glad to get out with a piece of paper in my hand. Do you understand? She's compassionate. She was hilarious. All these goals. She was a leader.

She got things done. I began to understand. She's that, and it's like this is the total package. I'm not doing life without her. Watch. As a stranger, I was attracted. Dang, looking good, girl. I want to spend some time with you. My, my, my, my, my, my, my. No, no, sorry. But as we started spending time together, it went from what I saw to what I felt, what I knew. And then I decided because we spent time together from knowing her, I started loving her and decided I will rearrange my life and decided I will rearrange my schedule to be where she is. What do I need to do to be where you are? What do I need to do? Do you like that cologne? Do you not? Do you like that kind of food? Do you not? If you don't like that food, we ain't going there. Because I want to do what you like. So pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Watch this, watch this. Let me start to wrap this up. Before you, I promise you, the Apostles' Creed was never meant to be taught this way.

I know that, but just hang with it. Before you will ever desire to love God or before you will ever desire to even obey His word, you got to know Him. I can't just be attracted to God. I've got to know God. I can't just say, oh, no, God is great. That's fine. That doesn't mean anything regarding your belief. I go to church, doesn't mean you believe anything. But I own a Bible, good for you. They're available everywhere. It doesn't mean you believe anything. I can quote scripture, awesome. Doesn't mean you believe anything. The Bible says this. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commands. I'll know your love by what you do. You don't do things to earn my love, but it's the outplay of love. You went from liking me to loving me. And it's evidence because now you're doing whatever you need to to change your schedule to be where I am. So you'll put everything aside to make sure I've got some prayer time because I just want to talk to you. You'll rearrange and set Sundays so you can be where my presence is going to be. And they're going to sing songs about me.

And you're going to add your croaky voice. You can't sing worth a lick, but that's why I said make a joyful noise unto the Lord. So just bring your noise and let's honor. Whatever, can I serve Him? Can I serve in His house so that people can know Him? Can I go to activate? I want to learn more about who He is in me and how I can live that out. I want to go to Israel. I want to walk the land where He was. I want the Bible to explode wide open in front of me that I can understand what truth is. All of that is why we offer life groups, the blend. All of this is to continue to bring you closer, one more step closer to go from knowing Him to loving Him. It's a daily journey, one step at a time. And it changes everything. Because here's what's surprising. When you start to love God because you know God, you start to know yourself. In fact, I'm going to tell you, you can't even know you until you first know Him. How can you say that? Because Genesis 1 said you're made in His image. And until you understand who He is, you'll never understand how you're wired and why you are the way you are. Understand the giftings that He has that are operating through your life.

That's a game changer. And once you start to know Him, not only will you understand that you now start knowing yourself, but then you start advancing in life. Because John 14, Jesus said that whenever God is alive. Side of you now the spirit of truth is speaking to you and what blinds other people you can look at and go That's crazy. That's bunk. That's no, I don't believe because you just you have a voice you have something deeper than it's not my head It's my spirit What's in me is speaking giving direction from my life and how to move my career move family Parent children decisions to make in tough times. There's a truth that is bigger than you that's leading and directing Life was is beyond your paygrade to make these decisions. You've always needed God to help you through this We can't do it in a vacuum. I need him in my life And then Philippians chapter 3 says that when you start to know him you get stronger in your life and your spiritual growth doesn't Have an option. I Don't know how to grow spiritually just get to know him and watch everything begin to change in your life Being attracted to God is not enough Liking God is not enough being raised in a Christian home is not enough Attending church is not enough Pastoring is not enough Be really careful what you listen to Podcast doesn't mean they're a preacher We put it a different way a podcast doesn't mean they're a pastor They can preach a lot, but it doesn't mean they have the roots and the foundations of God's Word Be real. There's a lot of voices today. Everyone's got platforms. That's why it's important That you know What you believe in life, would you please stand to your feet? So more than 1,800 years ago folks listen to me Free life did not come up with our expression of faith We're standing on the shoulders of men and women some who gave their very lives for this truth. They refused to walk from it

Deny Jesus or die then take my life, but I'm willing to die for it That's the shoulders we're standing on. This is an ancient truth for modern problems And until you and I realize that this is so much deeper than you and I and we've got a root system that anchors us We're not a newfangled idea bouncing around where we're going to try something what I'm telling you is based on 2,000 years worth of scrutiny and proving you can trust this This is why Gen Z right now is running out running back to the church in unprecedented form They're googling Christian music has gone up 60% in the past five years Going back to church Gen Z is busting the doors down in church Why? Because they tried everything that they were told was truth and it turned out to be a lie and they're running back to Jesus and realizing He's the best thing that ever happened to me. He's a friend. He doesn't lie. He doesn't drop me I can do life like this. This is how we live So the Apostle started the creed by saying this I believe I know I trust I'm living I'm loving God. Let me ask you Do you believe in God Are you aware of God are you attracted to God or do you believe in God? Because life gets a lot easier when you actually start believing him instead of just knowing about him. I Want us to pray today? I Don't know where you are in your relationship or you walk with him but today I'm not asking you to take leaps. I don't want you to take a leap of faith. I want you to take one step Just one step more than where you are right now You don't have to impress anybody you want to impress God. He's already loves you. You're his kid But if you want you to take one more step towards that believing him You may not be sitting in the chair in the tree right now But you can at least take one more step up the tree towards the chair Let's let's try him today father All of us in this room are coming towards you Not at the same pace. We've been through some stuff in life

We've had some things that have made us doubt worry fear be hesitant We've had all Experiences with church and sometimes it's hard to know what's right. What's wrong, but today God If I'm founding and building my life on a creed that is biblical and has been proven for centuries Has been time-tested. It has been scrutinized by the top universities around the world for Generations for decades and it still keeps coming up as truth The God I want to build my life on that. I Believe I believe you're my father and I believe you're almighty and And I believe that you're the creator, maker of heaven and earth. So today, God, I wanna move my life towards you, and I'm asking you, God, to have your work and your will, your way in me. I wanna know you. I'm asking you to reveal yourself, show yourself to me. I'm gonna show up, I'm gonna put myself in places that I can learn more of who you are, that I can experience you, where I can test your word for myself to see if you're true to that. Today, Father, I pray that you would be so personal in my friends' lives all through this room, that God, they would feel a closeness to you that they have never felt in their entire life. Let these next seven days be shocking. Let these next seven days be so peaceful and so restful in their life. When they lay down in bed at night, let them feel a peace that only you can give and remind them you are that kind of father,

a protector, a designer, a provider. You're there, you're available. And if we will speak with you, you will work in our lives personally. We don't just wanna know you, we wanna love you. Today, God, lead my friends towards you. If you're in this room today and you don't know Jesus as your savior, or you don't have that confession, that statement of I believe, it starts with faith. Again, I can't give you any proof, but I can give you a lot of evidence as to who he is. And today, I just challenge you to say a simple prayer. Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive me, change me, take all my sin. I receive you as my Lord and my savior. A simple prayer like that. If you just repeated those words, you're saved. You're on your way to heaven. Now keep taking steps towards him. Try him, discover him, and you'll realize that he's everything he said he was and even more. Father, we love you today. Thank you for those who went ahead of us that we can live in victory today. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. If you love him, would you put those hands together today? Come on. I told you the message would encourage you. For more encouraging messages,

feel free to visit our website, freelifechapel.org. Until then, I hope you have an amazing day.