I expected to be different by now - JJ Vasquez

All right, well we are in week two of a brand new series that we are, we started last Sunday called What Were You Expecting? Come on, say that with me. Say, what were you expecting? Yeah, yeah, what were you expecting? For all of our first time guests today, what were you expecting when you showed up to church today? Now, our series is more, it's less about our expectations of life. And I think it's less about our expectations of life, because I think all of us, when it comes to life, we kinda know what to expect. Life's gonna be hard. Life's gonna have its challenges. In life, things will be up and things will be down. In life, people will abandon you. In life, people will be with you. Life has its ups and downs. No, we wanted to speak about something a little more specific. We wanted to speak about, in this series, not our expectations of life, listen, but our expectations of following Jesus. Because I think that we all expect life to be one way, but then we also expect that life to change when we start following Jesus in another way. And it's important that we set our expectations correctly, because a phrase that I shared with you last Sunday that we're gonna keep coming back to every week,

because every week, we're gonna be examining these different expectations we have when we follow Jesus is this, that disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality. Yeah, it's the gap between expectation and reality. If I opened the door to an average room, a nice room, and I said, this is the honey room, honey moon, that's what it's called. Sorry, I haven't been on one in a while. Honeymoon, honeymoon suite, this is the honeymoon suite. You might look at that room and you might be disappointed. You might be disappointed because there is no chocolate fountain in the room. You might be disappointed because there's no view of the beach in the room. You might be disappointed because there's no hot tub or jacuzzi in the room, and you might go, ah, yeah, it's not that great of a room. But if I opened up the door to that same room and I said, this is a prison cell. You'd be like, this is the nicest prison cell of all time. This is a beautiful prison cell. Please note that what changed was not the condition of the room, but the condition of your expectation. A lot of times our experiences are affected, the level of our experience is affected by the level of our expectation. And this is so important for you and me to know

because there are so many people in the room today who are disappointed with God for an experience in their life, are you ready, that has nothing to do with God. Your disappointment had everything to do with your expectation. And here is my heart behind this series. Why I'm preaching it for five weeks is because I am tired of people walking away from a good God because of bad expectations. God is so good, God is so good. It's not God's fault. That's not what God does. The experience is bad because the expectation is off. And this is what happened with the disciples when they were walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, we shared this last Sunday, they were expecting a political liberator, but what they got was a spiritual liberator. They didn't get a governor of a city, they got the king of eternity, a resurrected king, but they couldn't appreciate him, couldn't celebrate him. In fact, the story says they couldn't even recognize him because he did not come in the form that they expected, which actually was better than what they thought it was gonna be. See, here's the flip side of disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality, because it works both ways.

Faith is the gap between reality and expectation. See, if I have the wrong expectation of God, then I will often drop to the level of my reality. But if I have the right expectation of God, did you know that the right expectation of God can actually pull you up from the level of reality? It can actually lift you up and you have the right expectation. So that's what we're gonna try and do throughout this series. We're gonna try and address the wrong expectation and we're going to try to set the right expectation, not only so that you can avoid disappointment, but so that you can build faith. And the first expectation that we're gonna talk about is in the book of Philippians, chapter one, verses three through five. The book is called Philippians because it's written to the church that was founded in the city of Philippi. Now, Paul, the apostle Paul, an apostle is someone who starts churches, is writing to this church, not as an apostle, but as a pastor. Not a person who starts churches, but a person who cares for churches. He's caring for this church and he's got something on his heart then he opens up his letter like this in verse 3 I thank my God every time I remember you in all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel From the first day until now and I just want to give you some timeline context is when he says first day until now the church at Philippi was founded around 50 AD and

Paul is writing this letter around 60 AD Which means that the church he's writing to is about 10 years old Which means that the people who have been following Jesus in this community have been following him for over a decade I know if I were to ask for a raise of hands I think the majority of the people in the room today would have given their life to Jesus and under a decade But I'm using these people in this story to prove a point that even though they've been following Jesus a long time and even though They've come a long way according to Paul in the next verse. They still got a long way to go Here's the next verse we says in verse 6 Being confident of this that he who began a good work in you Will carry it on to completion Until the day of Jesus Christ in other words, you're not done yet Now two things in this passage that I think are important to grasp before we really get into the message The first is that the good work and if you're looking at the verse behind underneath me The good work that Jesus wants to do is not necessarily a work on the outside of you But the good work that he wants to do is actually a work in you How many people know that God's primary objective when he gets a hold of you is to work in you Not just around you when God wants to work in you. He wants to work in your character He wants to work in your desires and your perspectives your humility your insecurity your jealousy your wounds your trauma And this is good news because the Bible says that he will finish it. Amen. He will finish the work that he started That's good news. That's good news because he's coming to work on areas of your life that pills can't fix and their surgeons can't fix and The doctors can't fix and the meditation can't fix. He's coming to work on those parts of you. So that's good news That's good news. But the bad news someone say what's the bad news? The bad news is when he'll be done Good news is he's gonna do it Come on that's something else used to sing in church who say he gonna do it. Someone say yes, he will Mm-hmm, but we got to keep the sentence going but when And the bad news is he tells us when are you ready look at the end of that verse until The day of Christ Jesus that is the second return of you in other words until you see Jesus in heaven He's still gonna be working on you. Oh I'm surprised you said amen

If I was sitting in your seat, I would have said ooh, I said, ah My parents are building a house right now you gotta pray for my parents I've been praying for them them and my cousins that are also Building their house building a house and you told me the first service How long was your house supposed to be done already? It was their house was supposed to be done Not that they started was supposed to be done being constructed a year and a half ago they'd be homeless for a year and a half a Year and a half they've been waiting was supposed to be done and it's still not the end They're still waiting but I've been I've been praying for you mom dad and God gave me a word It's gonna be done Amen, I'm there and I'm gonna tell you when Sometime Before Jesus comes back I'll know it. I believe it. I believe it Sometime and if he comes back before that, well, you got a better house waiting for you up there But I believe it I can say that with confidence sometime before Jesus comes back our house gonna get done now Here's the cat. Here's the kick. I can't say about your soul the same thing. I said about her house About Her house I can say it's gonna get done before Jesus comes back But when it comes to your soul scripture teaches us you actually won't be done Until you see Jesus face to face That's that that that can be frustrating that can be frustrating to know that you're not done yet Depending on your expectations Here's the first expectation we're going to deal with today I Expected to be different by now. I Expected to be different by now You know when we come to Jesus most of us come to Jesus because We're ready to be different.

Something has happened in our life. Something has happened in our relationships. Something has happened in our finances. Something has happened in our health. And we're like, all right, Jesus, I'm done. I'm ready. Change me. That's when most people come to Jesus, which is great. But the frustrating part is when you've been following him now a few years and you still feel like the person you were when you first started. And you been following him a couple of years, ready? And you still struggle with your eyes. You've been following him a couple of years and you still wrestle with your thoughts. You've been following him a couple of years and you still yell at your kids. You've been following him a couple of years and you still get angry. You've been following him a couple of years and you still care what people think. And you're like, man, I thought at this point I'd be changed. I thought at this point I'd be different. And it can be so frustrating thinking that God is not doing anything in my life. God is not changing me. But here's the truth. It's not that God is not changing you. It's just that God is not changing you

in the timeline you expect it. God is not changing you in the timeline you expect it. My son, a justice is like, he's a great cook. He's only 14. He's probably at 14 already a better cook than my wife and I are in our 40s. And we're not ashamed to say it. We're glad. The only problem with justice cooking is the food is great. He still hasn't figured out how to cook quickly. So it just takes a long time for him to make things which we don't mind because we know it's gonna be good and we have the right expectation. We know before we sit down, it's gonna take a long time. And we just learn to live with it. We just know, you just don't ask justice to make something if you're hungry. You just don't do that. Because you're gonna stay hungry for a minute. So you just don't do that. But that's fine because we'll snack up before we ask him to cook. Because it's gonna be, we'll have a pre-dinner before he cooks and just know it's gonna be good when he gets here. But the other day this week, we were watching a movie and his mom asked him for toast. And then about 20 minutes later, there was still no toast. And then I think he got distracted.

Then I got a little impatient. I kind of said something I probably shouldn't have said. I got sarcastic with him. I was like, bro, where's the toast? I was like, it's been 20 minutes and we're waiting for toast. And I said this thing which I already apologized to him. I got sarcastic. I said, it's toast, not turkey. Yeah, and I got frustrated. I got frustrated because I was expecting toast in a toast timeline. I wasn't expecting a turkey timeline for toast. We are the same way, but in the opposite. We get upset with God because we expect, listen, a turkey transformation. On a toast timeline. And it don't work like that. Here's what I honestly believe. Society has somehow grinded our ability to wait and we love it. Yeah, we sign up for it. The Amazon same day delivery, which when it first came out with it, I was like, this is amazing. The other day I ordered something and it was like, do you want it in three hours? I was like, where is this stuff popping out from? At this point, it's witchcraft. At this point, three hours.

Chad GPT and all the AI agents cutting everything down in half the time, half the time, what Netflix has done to an entire generation. I grew up, and I hate it, but I think it built something in me. Watching commercials. I don't, I didn't like it, but it built character. You had to wait. You had to hold up. You had to lock in. You had to be patient while things were happening. Everything didn't happen instantly. And you get the whole season. Forget having to wait next week for your episode to come out. Get the whole thing right there. But technology. Will never advance to the point There is something listen that technology will never advance to the point that it can safely speed up technology will never safely speed up this It will always take As long as it takes look at me if you're looking at the camera looking because it takes time to make a person And you are not a piece of toast And you are not a piece of turkey You are a person Oh, and if there's anything that we can learn about the way we came into this world getting prepared for this world Is that it's going to take time to prepare us for the next world? If the womb was an incubator that prepared you for life life is the incubator that prepares you for eternity And it's just gonna take time

And i'm really trying to free people because I think there are some people in the room today who think you're not changing And i'm like you are Just really Really Slow Because you're a person Not toast I want to go into the scriptures. I want to teach you today how you are transformed Where you are transformed when you are transformed why you are transformed But we can't even really get into any of that until we answer the first question philippians chapter 1 verse 6 being confident of this that he Who began a good work in you while this verse is on the screen? Can I just tell you that really understanding how we change is by first understanding who changes us? And if you're just looking at this verse right here, will y'all shout out at me on the count of three? Who is the one that changes us 1 2 3 Some people say he some people say god Some people said the lord. Oh, you're all right. You're all good he Changes you now The reason why I had to emphasize that he changes you is because the description tells us that he changes you Well, then by default, you know what that means that you do not change you No, no, no, you have to get this because what this means is that you are not the driver of your growth Yeah Which means don't expect to force growth You can't force it You can't force it. Imagine that you are your flight was delayed by 30 minutes Your flight was delayed by 30 minutes and now you're gonna miss the connection So you get on the plane and you're on the plane. You're thinking you're thinking I gotta make up 30 minutes Or else i'm gonna miss my connection so

You unbuckle your seat belt You walk over to the aisle And you start running Up and down the aisle The stewardess says sir, ma'am, you gotta sit down you go. No. No you took off 30 minutes late So i'm just trying to make up that time I'll be done in 30 minutes Can I tell you what you already realized? That you're not going to get to your destination any faster Because you are not the pilot So good. Come on You can't speed it up Because you're not in control Galatians 3 3 says this in the message version. Let me put this question to you. How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please god or was it by responding to god's message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think that they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by god If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it How do you suppose you could perfect it? Can I ask you a question? When you gave your life to jesus when you got saved saved means i'm redeemed the hell is broken It's hold on me control on me. Did you do that or did jesus do that? Jesus did that. He's the one who hung on the cross. He's the one who came out of the grave So if jesus is the one who gave birth to you in this new life How do you think that you can now build that life without jesus is the one who builds it? Not you. He's the one And you and this this ought to free you i'm just telling you this ought to free you This will explain this is going to help so many people this will explain why you can go into 21 days of prayer and fasting

And then finish 21 days of prayer and fasting and still have some struggles that you had before You started praying and fasting Why because you can't force it? Because it's not about you Now do I believe that god does things in our life when we pray and fast? Absolutely god does it We don't He does it in us. You can't manufacture it. You can't force it. Well, here's the next question. Well, then why even do it? Why even pray? Why even read the Bible? Why even come to church? Why even come to small groups if none of that can speed up my growth? I'm gonna show you another image. This is a picture of a cake. I'm gonna explain to you. It is a picture of a cake. This cake is fully baked. Here is a picture of what this cake looked like before it went into the oven. It's cake batter. Now, let's say this cake batter, this is not the real numbers and stuff, but let's say this cake batter has to go into the oven for 60 minutes on 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and it takes an hour, okay? So an hour, 60 minutes, 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

You put it in, and when you're, but you get impatient. And so you're like, no, I want this thing to come out in 30 minutes. And so 30 minutes in, you take it out. Well, you took it out too early, so now look what happens to the cake when you take it out. It deflates, because what's on the inside did not have time to rise. Okay, so then you go, well, yeah, I would never do that. I'm smarter than that. If it takes 200 degrees for 60 minutes, I'm gonna just put it to 400, and it'll come out in 30. This will be your cake at 400 degrees. Can I help you? Why do I pray? Why do I this? Why do I go to church? If none of it speeds it up, ready? Because you can interrupt the process, but you cannot accelerate it. There are things you can do to mess it up, but there isn't a thing you can do to speed it up. You are gonna take as long as you take. Well, I saw God do something in their life, and it was really fast. You're not that cake. You don't bake every cake the same way.

God knows how much time you need in the oven. If God needed another one of that cake, he'd have created another one of that cake, but he created you. You need your time in the oven. Can I show you both cakes one more time? Put both cakes up on the screen. I need you to see this, because this is what happens when we try and speed it up, or when we think that this is how God works in our life. Well, I'm gonna make it happen faster than it's supposed to happen. I can make this happen faster than it's supposed to happen. I can make this happen. Listen to me. The incorrect expectation of transformation will either leave you deflated or burned out. You're either gonna end up walking away from Jesus, because he didn't do it in the timeline you want him to, or, ready? I've seen so many people burned out on religion. Fasting 40 days, and joining 25 teams, and 13 small groups, and I'm just, what are you trying to do? I'm trying to change. That's not how it works. You stay in this while God changes you. I'm just telling you, so here's what it does, ready? Well, then do I not go to church? Do I, no, no, it just changes your focus, ready?

From effort to consistency. That's the shift. Now, I'm not just gonna try the hardest every day that I wake up. I'm gonna stay, reading the Bible, praying, coming to church, you know what that is? Staying in the oven. God is staying connected to the one who does the transforming. So yeah, God changes me, that's awesome. Somebody else is saying, well, will he start already? Will he just please go ahead and get started then? Because if he's the one who's changing me, he needs to lock in, because I don't feel changed. Philippians 1.6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you. When is God gonna begin? Are you ready? Here's my second point, he's already begun. He's already begun. But I know why you feel like that. I was at the gym about a year ago, and this guy came up to me. He said, hey, Pastor JJ. I said, hey, what's up, man? He said, hey, I just started coming to the church. I just started giving my life to Jesus, and it's been great. I said, awesome, and then this girl walked by, and he kind of put his head down,

and he was like, ah. He was like, I just, I still struggle with my eyes, though. And I feel so bad, man. I feel like I'm wrong, and I feel like God's not working in me, because I'm struggling with my eyes, and this is really hard, and I'm just not changing, you know, and I don't know. I don't know if it's working. And I looked at him, and I said, that's so good. He was confused. He said, so good I'm looking at girls? Or so good that I'm not changing? I said, no, no, no, neither. I said, it's so good that you feel bad, because there was a time when you used to look at girls and not feel bad. And you didn't even notice it, but something on the inside of you has already shifted, has already changed, has already been transformed. Can I encourage you, Journey Church? Can I encourage you, Gateway High School, our Kissimmee campus, the East Orlando campus, all of our inmates, can I encourage you? Sometimes I have to hit you with hard truth, and I don't like when I do that, but I have to do it. I got to say things like this and I'm so glad I get to say things like this. Listen, you're more different than you realize Did you know you have changed more than you will give yourself credit for Things in your life. I've already said you don't even realize it Sometimes I stay up late and I watch the infomercials on TV And I don't know if you ever seen the before and after pictures

You ever see the after pictures of some of these infomercials like these physical fitness one. I'll be honest about these after pictures Man, these after pictures are really not that impressive until you see the before Then you'd be like, I'm gonna order three That's what they look like before and that's them after The after might not be something when you compare it to the before you go. Oh my gosh Can you just tap your neighbor real quick on the side of you and tell them and just some of this say? I know I might not look that impressive But you should have seen me You should have seen me Tell him tell him before I know I ain't got a microphone. I know you don't see me preaching I know you don't see me singing I know I'm not be a greeter at the front door and I didn't park any cars But you should have seen me before Jesus got a hold of me You should have seen me before I started coming to church You should have seen me before I started reading the Bible You should have seen me before I learned how to worship You should have seen me before the Holy Spirit got a hold of my life I might not look that great to you, but I promise you I am NOT what I used to look like I'm different Don't you wish you had a before picture of your life I Am NOT who I was Someone hears that and they go pastor Jay I'm really glad you brought up that point because here's the funny thing I felt like I changed a lot when I first gave my life to Jesus, but I don't feel like I've changed a lot since then I'm glad you brought up that question Philippians 1 6 ready being confident of this that he who began a work in you Will carry it on Can I encourage you he hasn't stopped He hasn't stopped

Next slide. He hasn't stopped He's still working Even if you don't see it, can I say something that's gonna make me look really bad? And but I just gotta be honest with you. I've shared this story before it's not like a secret You know that God has delivered me from from pornography years ago his part that I only get to put into perspective It took me 20 years to be free Now I don't share that so that anybody who in the room who's been struggling with ten years can be like I got ten years left to go. I'm still good. I'm still good I'm not sharing my story. So did you have a license to sin and abuse the grace of God? That's not why I'm sharing my story because honestly, it shouldn't have taken 20 years I'm sharing that so that every guy and girl in the room who wrestles with it doesn't quit Because God is still working Failure is just another step on the journey of growth This and I went to with the family on sabbatical. We went to Disneyland and we were we got there early She convinced me to go to the rope drop Which I don't know if you know what that is as you get into the park before it even opens Which I never done in my whole life And she says if we do that, we're gonna get on every ride And then then she got us the lightning lane on top of that. And so we got there early before the park open I'm waiting on line the rope drops the gates open We go to the ride that we really want to go to which is supposed to be the best ride in the park I think it's the cars ride we get there and there are 300 people already ahead of us in line, I Don't know how they did it. I don't know if they can't I Don't know if they got parachuted in I Saw the gates they were closed and I was so frustrated because my expectation did not match the level of my effort I'll put in a lot of work. I put in a lot of time I was expecting to be further along than I was and we get on this ride and God starts speaking to me He's told me like five things. I only got time to share with you like one or two It's lying. I don't know if you've been on a line or ride line ride lines are like this I

Stop and go last time to go last stop and go and and here's here's what I had Keep telling myself what I keep reminding myself The reason why it's stopping is because somewhere over there in the ride where I can't see People are getting on getting off move like the the ride is still moving Even though I am not Here's what you have to understand When it feels like you stop moving That doesn't mean that the process has stopped going God is working in areas You can't see Even when it feels like you're stuck And I just gotta believe He's still working. He's still moving and It actually looked for our benefit Because we were in a rush running from ride to ride that whole trip. We didn't even talk to each other that much Because we gotta go to this one. We gotta go. You know what we did on that long line We talked We laughed we made jokes here's i'm trying to tell you even the line had a purpose Come on Even the line god was using I thought I was online for the ride the line had a different design for me The line was trying to work on the areas of my life Why is it taking so long to get free because even the line has a purpose? Because god is trying to teach you how to be patient God is trying to teach you how to take your time You know what? God is trying to teach you how to have mercy on other people who struggle because when you've been struggling with something for so many Years, you can't judge other people who are struggling you look at them and you go. Yeah, I know what that's like Yeah, I know what that pain is. I've been there. I've been on that line, too Let's pray for them and not judge them

Let's bless them and not judge because I know what it's like so god gotta keep you waiting on the line so you can grow some empathy For other people who are waiting for their transformation Is that helping? Listen and here's the last thing you need to know and god never stops He never stops He never stops the verse said until the day of christ. Jesus returns. Can I shift the right expectation for you? Here's the right expectation ready Expect to be changing for the rest of your life Expect to be changing For the rest of your life. So when you've been in this 20 years and there's still areas of your life that need changing Remember that pastor jj set that expectation The word set that expectation expect to be changed until the day of christ. Jesus my family and I went to um This place called mariposa grove in california where these giant sequoia trees are. I think we have some video Of the giant sequoia trees we can put it on Yeah, these are ginormous trees. This tree in particular is called the grizzly giant It's the largest of the sequoias there. Here's just some quick facts, uh of the tree. It's a 20-story building It's taller than a 20-story building. It's actually 58 feet taller than the empire state build not the empire state. Sorry statue of liberty It's 58 feet taller than the statue of liberty Its trunk is 30 feet wide one of its lower branches are six feet seven inches in diameter So its branches are bigger than most florida trees It's ginormous. It's huge. I think we have some other photos, but the size is like the third most that's us walking through it With the kids right there the size is the third most impressive thing about this tree The second most impressive thing about this tree at this age. This tree is actually over 3 000 years old 3 000 I think we have a picture with the roots. We have yeah, there's That's the roots of one of the trees that fell down that they kept You can't even see how expansive the roots but it shows you how old the trees are 3 000 years old

Can I put that in perspective? That means that when jesus was walking the earth this tree was already a thousand years old um it's Survived hitler. It survived world wars. It survived nuclear bombs. It survived Caesar rome it's it's old three thousand years old And but here's the the third most important thing about the impressive thing about a giant sequoia and that's its seed And so there was a seed that was on the floor on the street. It wasn't gonna make it to the to the grass So I saved it And I took it home with me because it was ministering to me I want to show you a picture of the giant sequoia go to that last that's zane in the tree Go to the last picture just a giant sequoia so you can see how big it is Here is a picture of the giant sequoia seed And the crazy thing is this isn't even the seed This is actually the container that holds the seed inside this container are hundreds of seeds So the real seed of the sequoia that builds that tree is actually this tiny And I and I leave this seed Of this container on my desk on my office desk to remind my soul whenever I feel like god isn't moving fast enough This seed reminds me of what God is trying to build, because what God is trying to build takes time. And you might feel like this this morning, you might feel this small, this insignificant of a Christian, of a believer, of a follower of Jesus. You are being developed and you will look like that one day, but it is going to be a process because the thing God is trying to build in your life takes time. You know what the coolest thing about a sequoia is? This is cool. They don't die. Like when they die, it's because a storm came and knocked it down or a fire came and burned it up.

But otherwise, if a fire does not burn it up or if a storm does not knock it down, did you know that those sequoias can go on living? Like there's a chance that that tree will see the second coming of Jesus. So these trees can live forever. Here's my point. Here's my point. If it feels like it's taking an eternity to grow, it's because you're being grown for eternity. It's because what God is developing in you is built to last. Y'all listen. He doesn't want to give you any joy. He wants to give you a joy that lasts. He doesn't just want to give you any peace. He wants to give you a peace that lasts. He doesn't want to give you any strength. He wants to give you a strength that lasts. And He doesn't just want to give you any life. He wants to give you a life that lasts. Every head bowed, every eye closed. You're in this room today and you're going through your process right now and it's hard. Can I encourage you? Come on. You are being built. You are being developed and it takes time. Maybe you're still wrestling with your eyes. Maybe you're still wrestling with porn. Maybe you're still wrestling with alcohol. You're still wrestling. God is working in you. Just don't quit.

Don't walk away. Still wrestling with anger. God is still working. Don't quit. It takes time. If he was trying to build a little baby plant, you'd have been done by now. But what he's trying to build is a giant sequoia, something that lasts until eternity. And I'm just trying to tell you, brother and sister in Christ, that kind of growth takes time. Just tell the Lord today in your own way, I'm not going anywhere. As long as you need me in this oven, Jesus, I'll be here. Until you rise, everything on the inside of me that needs to rise up until I rise up, I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. Would you just continue to make that commitment with God? At the same time, if there's anyone in this room that's saying you don't have a relationship with Jesus, today is your time. God can change your life. If you're in this room and you're ready to be a different person, I'm going to tell you good news. Jesus can help you be a different person. Jesus can help you be a different person, but it's going to take time, but he'll start today. Something inside of you today. I can promise you if you authentically give your life to Jesus, something today will change. Your heart will begin to change. Your convictions will begin to change. God will move on the inside of you. Things in your life will begin to shift. If that's you and you're ready to give your life to Jesus, you're ready to be a different

person. On the count of three, would you raise your right hand high to the skies and sign to the Lord, I'm ready to be different today, Lord. I'm ready to be different today, knowing that it's going to take the rest of my life. All over this room on the count of three, one, two, three, would you raise your hand right now all over this room? Come on. I see those hands. I see those hands. I see those hands. I see those hands. I see those hands. Praise God. So many people. I know there's hands over at Kissimmee and over at Gateway. Good. You can lower your hand. Let's everyone pray this prayer out loud. Everyone say, Father God, today I'm ready to be different and I'm ready to give you control like a seed in the ground. I put my heart in your hands. Change me and take as long as you need until I look like Jesus. Forgive me for my sins. I'm ready to look like you, Jesus. In your name we pray, amen and amen. Come on. Would you put your hands together? Give God a hand clap of praise. Hey, we're JJ and Liz Vasquez. We wanted to say thank you so much for watching and engaging in today's content.

Maybe today you made the decision to follow Jesus. We want to celebrate the incredible decision that you made. All you have to do is text journey to 55498. We would love to walk this journey out alongside you. Hey, and don't let the journey stop here. We love for you to do one of three things. Subscribe, share or support. If this ministry has blessed you at all, subscribe so you don't miss out on any new videos. Share with a friend. You never know what the people closest to you are going through, or you can choose to partner with us through generosity, which helps bring these videos to people just like you. Thank you so much for connecting with us. God bless.