I Have Decided To Be The Church | Pastor Dan Stauffer

We are in a series as a church called I Have Decided. Before we jump into the message let me look into the camera. Welcome our online family that's joining us. Come on church. Let them know we're grateful for you. And then come on I need you to do a little bit better. To all the men and women in the correctional facilities. Come on you are our church family. Yeah Amen. Hey, well today I am so grateful because I got a friend of mine in town and he'll tell you a little bit more about himself, but let me just say this Pastor Dan Stauffer is a gift to the body of Christ, to the church He is a pastor to pastors and about ten years ago My wife and I found what is called the Next Level Relational Network. Here at our church we tell you get in a group, build relationships with people. Ten years ago, that's what we did We got in a group. We started building relationships with other pastors around the country And I'm so grateful. These are our people for ten years now. We have been doing life with them and It's a whole purpose, hear me out, is to get pastors to remain healthy So they can pastor healthy churches who are making a high impact in their city And because we are a part of this network, my wife and I, we are healthy I believe we're pastoring a healthy church And I believe our healthy church is making an impact in the city of Jacksonville and God's got more in store And so what I love about this network is that when we joined it was 25 churches Ten years later, it's a hundred and ninety plus churches And you're not clapping so you're obviously not impressed. Let me tell you why that's amazing That means a hundred and ninety pastors are getting healthy That means a hundred and ninety churches are getting healthy So that those a hundred and ninety churches can make an impact in the city that God has called them to So that the good news of Jesus can go forward We're in the United States Our network is even in Canada, eh? Come on God has opened up a door. We're now in Europe as well Come on

God is moving in a mighty way because pastors get lonely sometimes and you need Relationships with other pastors and so Pastor Dan Stauffer leads in this network He also leads in the church that he is a part of Next Level Church down in Fort Myers, Florida He is a gift to my wife and my life. I'm so grateful for him. Would you do me a favor, Rise Church? Would you stand up on your feet? Would you help me honor my friend Pastor Dan Stauffer Come on Jack, can you give Jesus a high praise right now? Come on, lift your voice Give him a shout of victory. Come on Jesus. I'm shouting because I believe I have the victory Come on, shout unto God the voice of triumph Go ahead and take your seats. It's so good to be in the room with all of you So good to be in a church that loves God Loves his word Loves his people Loves his people Loves his word Loves his people And loves the pastors of your church You guys love your pastors It's amazing and I want you to know I do as well. So thankful for for pastors Adam and Rebecca You need to know that they're not just in our relational network They actually lead in a very significant way in our network So we have 198 churches right now all around the world as Pastor Adam was saying We have about 17 in Canada right now 17 or 18 in Canada We have 23 churches. So again the churches that means these lead couples 23 of them in Europe all around Europe I mean Ireland, Northern Ireland In London, several in London, in Italy, in France, in Germany, in Latvia, in Romania, in Poland In Amsterdam, in the Netherlands like just joining Our network and just so grateful for that again, we have a church in Puerto Rico as well

We have a church in Jamaica. We have a church in Peru. We have a church that's about to launch in Colombia And God is just moving and so our network is split up into different regions We have four regions here in the U.S And pastors Adam and Rebecca actually don't just lead a brotherhood and sisterhood group They lead all of our brotherhood and sisterhood groups in the southeast. Yeah, it's a big deal And so we give it up for you We're so thankful for the way that you lead the way that you carry the heart of the relational network And i'm here on behalf of my pastors pastors Matt and Sarah Keller. I have a picture of them I want you to see them and they love you Some of you they've been here and they're coming again soon and they'll be in the room But pastors Matt and Sarah it was 20. It'll be 24 years This may that launched next level church in Fort Myers, Florida. They moved from Indiana And it was early on in just a few months into the church and they were sitting on the edge of their bed with tears running down their face and they felt so alone, felt hopeless, that the church wasn't growing, felt clueless, wasn't quite sure what to do. And their prayer to God that day was, God, if you let us live through this, and it was a big if, if you let us live through this, we'll do whatever we can to make sure that no lead couple ever has to feel the way that we feel. And that was the birth, yeah, it's a big deal. That was the birth of the network. That's what captured the hearts of your pastors, it captured the heart of my wife and I, Stephanie and I. We planted a church in 2008 in New Jersey, led the church for eight years, and then God called us to transition our church, became a campus for another church in New Jersey,

and we came on team. It'll be 10 years next month that we come on team at Next Level, and we just get to serve alongside pastors Matt and Sarah and lead the network globally right now, which is absolutely amazing. I'm also here with my family. They are in the area. They'll actually be at the next service. My parents are celebrating their 60th year of marriage, and so we're all in town celebrating them. And so I don't have a picture of my family, but I do have a picture of the most important two people in my family. Let's take a look. My wife and my grandson. Those of you that are parents, if your parents are little right now and you're wondering, oh my gosh, are we gonna make it, just make it. Hold on, I'm telling you, it's so worth it. Get your kids grown, get them married, and get some grandbabies. This little dude has changed our lives. His name is Malachi, and he is just a joy. And you can see my wife Stephanie is just smitten by this little character. Just absolutely amazing. Hey, I'm here today because I wanna talk about, in this series on I Have Decided,

I wanna talk about what it means to be the church, that I have decided to actually be the church. And you might be thinking, what do you mean? Is that like to go to church, to have a church, to have some church merch? Some of you might be wearing some Rise merch, like, oh yeah, I have a church, I go to that church. No, I don't wanna talk to you about having a church or going to church. I wanna talk today about what it means to actually be the church. My hope today is that every one of us in this room, for those of you experiencing online as well, that we would all come to this decision, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey. Some of you might be brand new to church. Some of you might not even be in the room. You're online because you're not quite sure about church yet, right? Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you could have grown up in the church like me, wherever you are, that today, before we leave this room or before we log off from being online, we will have made a decision. I'm making a decision right now, today, before I leave here, that I'm not just going to attend church. I'm not just going to have a church. I'm not just going to sporadically maybe participate, once in a while give, once in a while serve, or maybe not serve at all, maybe just observe, participate,

but I'm actually going to transition from that, and I've decided today that I'm going to actually be the church. So I want to take a look at a passage of scripture here. Mark chapter two, verse one. We'll have the scriptures on the screen. If you have your Bible, open up with me. This is an amazing story, amazing passage of scripture. Some of you that are familiar with Bible study probably have read this, or you've seen it in one of the other different gospels, but Mark is telling the story of a day that Jesus, it says in Mark chapter two, verse one, a few days later, when Jesus again entered in Capernaum, which means he was there prior, and he's come back, and the people heard that he had come home. Now the home that Mark is writing about is actually the Apostle Peter's home. So in Capernaum, where the Apostle Peter lived, on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus would stay there. He actually lived with Peter, with his family, when he was in the Galilean region. So this was his home as well. So he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Now hold that scripture there just for a moment. So here's the story. It says that he returned a few days later because a few days earlier, Jesus was here,

and he healed a man with leprosy. It was such a miraculous healing that crowds surrounded, came from all over the region, surrounded Jesus. He was so pressed with people that it actually says that he couldn't do any ministry there. So he made this decision, I can't do anything here. So now I'm gonna go out around the Sea of Galilee. He went about teaching and preaching in all of the different regions, in the synagogues, in the cities, and he started doing other miracles and healing others. And so now, a few days later, he's back in Capernaum. Well, everybody heard that he's back in Capernaum. So the same crowd that hindered him before has returned. They flooded inside the house. There's no more room inside the house. So people are now outside the house. Windows are open, doors are open. People are all around, just, they can't even see the preacher. They can't even see Jesus, but they're just listening to whatever he says. Because they know if he's speaking his words, his words changed people's lives. So that's where they're at, they're surrounded this house. And it goes on, and it says, some men came bringing to him, to Jesus, a paralytic carried by four of them. If you're taking notes as we start off, the first thing of our decision to be the church,

number one, we are making a decision that we will do the heavy lifting. If we're gonna be the church, I'm deciding I'm not just going to observe. I'm not just going to watch. I'm not just going to attend. I'm actually making a decision that I'm going to step outside myself. And I'm gonna sacrifice a little bit. And I'm actually going to step in, and I'm gonna grab the corner of somebody else's life that is paralyzed. And many of us, we might not know somebody that's physically paralyzed, or interact with many that are physically paralyzed, but I promise you, you are walking past, driving past, pushing your shopping cart past, dropping your kids off at school, passing. Neighborhoods, walking into your home, past your neighbors. I'm promising you, you might even be sitting by somebody right now in this room that is struggling with some sort of paralysis in their life. Somebody might be spiritually paralyzed, far from God, have never surrendered their life to Jesus, don't know what it's like to have guilt and shame completely removed and washed away. Not because they're perfect, but because he's perfect, and he's done something so that you no longer have to be ruled by guilt and shame. So a healing that can come to heal you spiritually.

You might be sitting by somebody whose marriage is experiencing paralysis, who's paralyzed financially, who's paralyzed with addiction, or anxiety, or depression, or hopelessness, or a physical ailment, a diagnosis that has literally taken the breath out of you, just a shock to your core. There can be so many different paralysis, but what's so amazing here in this passage of scripture, it says that there was a paralyzed person that was brought into the presence of Jesus, carried by four people. And we just know that four people grabbed a corner, we don't know if there was more around him that walked in with him, but Jesus, it says that they brought him to Jesus. These four people, here's what's amazing about the story, and I love to do this when I'm reading scripture, because sometimes we don't get all of the detail. Is it possible that one of the people, one of the men that grabbed the corner of the paralyzed person was the guy that was healed of leprosy just a few days earlier? It's possible that that's the case, that someone whose life was so transformed by God that needed to touch, that was paralyzed at some point in their life, and God so healed them that now they've made a decision, I'm no longer gonna just go to church, I'm no longer gonna just hear Jesus preach, I'm actually gonna grab the corner of somebody's life,

and I'm gonna make sure that they get to Jesus. They did the heavy lifting. Come on, turn to the person next to you and say, grab a corner, grab a corner. Turn to the other person that you were ignoring, probably rode here with them. You don't have to make eye contact, it's all right, but just grunt it, grab a corner. We do the heavy lifting. Well, back to the story, so here's what happens, these four guys, they bring this man on this mat, paralyzed, verse four, it says, since they could not get him to Jesus, this amazes me, I mean, they're working so hard, right, it's one thing, I mean, how many of you have invited someone over and over again, and they finally say yes, and then you show up to church with them, and Pastor Adam's preaching a message on tithing and giving, you're like, oh my gosh, right? Just wanted them to have a good service, Pastor Adam. They couldn't even get him to Jesus because of the crowd, so what did they do, and this is a big jump, right, from we can't get him to Jesus, and now they're on the roof, how'd you get him up there, how'd that happen? Then they make an opening in the roof, and after digging through it, they make a man-sized hole in the roof, and then they lower the mat that the paralyzed man was lying on, they lower that mat at the feet of Jesus.

Just imagine the story, imagine if you're the Apostle Peter, and you see how his roof's been torn off, you're like, what is going on? That is not in my insurance disclaimer, I know it's not. Now look at verse five. It says, when Jesus saw what? He saw their faith. What does faith look like? What did Jesus see in these four men? In their expression, in their countenance? When he looked into their eyes, what did he see? He saw faith. What does that look like? Was it, there had to have been some sort of expectation in their eyes, wide open. Have you ever hoped for a gift? A specific thing? Maybe you asked people for it. Maybe you've asked year after year after year after year, or maybe you're a fiance, and someone just knelt down before you, and they had that box, and they opened it. I bet the expression on your face when you saw that ring was very similar to what Jesus saw in their faces. I might not be married yet, but now something has opened up in me, and I have this expectation that something's about to change. He saw their faith, and then he says to the paralyzed, so again, see this interaction.

There's a shift between the different people in the story, right? We've got the four guys. We've got the mat lowered down with the paralyzed people. We've got the people in the room. Jesus looking up, sees their faith. We don't, it doesn't say that they asked for anything. Not that they needed to. It was pretty obvious what they needed, right? So it's so obvious of what they lowered him down for. It's so obvious of what he's there for, and then Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven you, and I'm like, kind of time out for a minute. Like, Jesus, I appreciate that, but you could tell, like, I'm not sure you know why I'm here, right? I can't walk. I can't move. I'm paralyzed. I appreciate the sins forgiven, but hey, here's what I understand about Jesus. He knows what you need more than you know what you need. There are some of us in this room, some of us online right now. We think we know what we want Jesus to do, but Jesus actually knows what you need more than you need him to do, and if you'll allow Jesus to do in you what he knows you need him to do in you, actually, not just this, but the other will be taken care of as well.

What does it mean to decide to be the church? One, it means we do the heavy lifting, but number two, it means that we actually have faith for others. I have faith for you. I can look around at married couples, and I can tell you I have faith for your marriage. I can look around in this room and even see those of you that are online right now that might be struggling with anxiety and depression, and I want you to know I have faith for you. I have faith for your healing. For those of you that have been ravaged by addiction and you've just given all hope, I want you to know that I have faith for you. I have faith for your healing. I have faith for your freedom. I have faith for your deliverance. Those of you that are upside down, you are paralyzed financially. I want you to know that I have faith for you. I'm gonna be the church. I'm gonna come alongside you and encourage you. I want you to know that there's nothing too far gone. Nothing is impossible with God. If we just believe God, He will move in our lives. He'll do things in us we never thought possible, but I want us to know that those of us that are experiencing paralysis in this room, we need some people to grab the corner of our lives

and to have faith for us, and those of you that have faith and are no longer paralyzed in your life, you need to grab the corner of somebody's life that is, and you need to have faith for them. That's what it means to be the church. It was the faith of those four guys that actually opened the door for Jesus to speak into the paralyzed man's life. Now that's, if that was the end of it, if that was the end of the story, that would be enough, but it's not. Look what happens next, verse six, it says, now some teachers of the law were sitting there, so these are religious people. I like to say, Pastors Adam and Rebecca, these are like church staff. Church staff, this is you. All right, everybody get ready. How many church leaders in here? You're actually leading teams, some of the dream team. Raise your hand if you, a few of your hands going up. You're a leader here, you're leading a small group, you're leading a team, you're involved in leadership here as a volunteer or servant. Some teachers of the law were sitting there and they're thinking to themselves. Now this is what happens to some of us that grew up in the church. If you're like me, I grew up in the church.

We were there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. My parents were in the choir. Choir practice was on Thursday night. We were there on Thursday night. We had missionaries staying in the home. I literally could have been born at the church. My mom could have gone in labor and I would have just been delivered at church, right in the pew. I mean, we were there all the time. So the reason I'm saying that is I know church. I have my preferences. I have the style of music that I wish we would do. I have preferences of how long the music should go, how short the music should go, how long the message should go, how short the message should go. I have my preferences of all of it, right? So we get so locked into how church should be that it's easy for us. to become critical of church. And we could be the teachers of the law just sitting there thinking to ourselves, why does he talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Number three, when we decide to be the church, we need to know that we will have critics. And there are critics outside the church, some that maybe have never stepped into Rise Church. They might be criticizing Rise, but they're not even necessarily because they don't know, they've never been here, they have no idea. But there's a critical of church in general, of larger churches, of smaller churches, just church. There's a criticism of even being a follower of Jesus. There can be people find out that you're a Christian, a Christ follower, immediately they're making assumptions about us based on just our spiritual beliefs of who we are as a professed follower of Jesus. So there can be critics outside the church, and I get that.

That's a small part of persecution. I don't think anybody's taken you outside, strapped you to a pole and beaten you for your faith yet. I doubt it, not here. Some of our other churches around the world, yes. We have a church in Israel right now. People are literally made to leave Israel when they find out that they are not just a follower of Jesus, but a leader in the church. They're being asked to leave if you're not Jewish, born Jewish, like a lot of persecution. But we also can have critics inside the church. Just like this story shares of, they were religious leaders. Kind of like you'd almost think like, we should know better. We should know better. We've been around God long enough. We should have a relationship with God so strong, and we've been in His room, we've heard His words so much that it should soften our heart. It should change us. We should be the most flexible, open, soft-hearted, as in receptive, not soft like we can't take it. We have to have a tough skin, but a soft heart. Does that make sense? We don't allow the world to get to us. Our heart is softened and open to what God is wanting to do, and there's an openness to what the Spirit of God is doing. Really what it means is we're not so married to our preferences that we miss out on God's purposes. That's usually what happens with us that have been around, I'm speaking to myself as well, when we've been around the church so long. We're so married to our preferences that we miss out on God's purposes, and we can't see what God's doing in the moment because we've become so critical of what's happening in the moment. And Jesus speaks to them. Verse 8, it says, immediately Jesus knew in His Spirit that this is what they were thinking in their hearts. This was not something that they even necessarily said out loud. Maybe He saw it on them in their demeanor like He saw faith in the four guys. Because if you can see faith, I bet you can see a critical spirit. I mean, I've seen it. I mean, not in this room. And He said to them, why are you thinking these things? And I love this next phrase. He asked them, which is easier? He didn't ask them which was harder. He asked them, which is easier? Because what Jesus said to the man that was paralyzed, He said, your sins are forgiven. For them, forgiving sins was hard. Nobody can do that. So one, they didn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but they also felt like it was very hard to have your sins forgiven. Because they were under the law. They had to work a lot. They had to do a lot. It's interesting for us today. I would say that we've kind of turned it

around. We've flipped the switch on this. For the majority in this room and those online, we would probably say, forgiving sins, that's easy for God. We see people surrender their life to Jesus all the time. We saw, I don't know, 37 people get baptized last Sunday. We see people's lives spiritually changed all the time. So forgiving of sins, that's easy. But that healing thing, that physical healing thing, that's really hard. Why is it? Maybe it's because we don't see it enough. We haven't experienced enough. We see salvation all the time. But I believe, rise church, that it's time for us to begin to believe God, have faith for physical healing, like the four men did up on the roof. That when we see somebody physically paralyzed, we don't think that's harder for God. We say it just like Jesus. Which is easier? They're both easy. For God, they're both easy. Forgiveness of sins is easy. Healing physical bodies is easy. Delivering someone from an addiction is easy. Setting a marriage free is easy. It's all easy. For God, your sins, so what is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to get up and take Matt and walk number four what does it mean to be the church it means that we always remember that the point is life change the whole point of everything that we're doing in this room everything your pastors are challenging you to do to go go through the growth track to get on the dream team and serve to get in a group and let other people surround you too because we're better together to get in relationships to to step out in faith and begin to trust God and worship him with our finances when we begin to be the church everything that we're challenging you to do through God's Word is for life change it's also somebody's life would be changed the religious leaders in this story that were sitting there criticizing they thought the whole point was just to sit around and argue everything that was being said and everything that was being done Jesus saying listen forget about all of that you need to know that the whole point is life change you see when we begin to do what God's called us to do when we begin to be the church it's not simple it's not easy and it can actually get messy have you ever tried to help somebody that was struggling in their life have you ever tried to help someone that maybe physically was what maybe they just came through a surgery or or you know a mom that maybe had to have a c-section and just needed extra help or you had surgery and you had to

care for them or or maybe you've experienced a loved one who's has experienced paralysis and you you are the caregiver and have to come alongside of them I mean that's just some of the physical things but have you ever been around someone that's just struggling with addiction and you're trying to walk with them through healing have you have you ever walked with someone trying to hold them accountable that's that's struggling financially and they've asked for your help and you've put the budget in place and like to truly grab the corner of somebody's life it's not as easy as just inviting them to church to truly be the church and grab the corner of somebody's life we're saying I'm gonna get you to the presence of God I'm gonna walk with you through this I'm gonna help carry you in I'm gonna walk with you out I'm gonna be that person that you can message I'm gonna be a part of your world and it gets messy following Jesus is not easy when someone tells you all that church thing that Christian thing that's just a crutch that means they've never tried this is hard come on it's hard there's nothing easy about it Proverbs chapter 14 verse 4 it says without oxen a stable stays clean we've got that but you need a strong ox for a large harvest what does that mean if you've ever anybody been around large animals not your spouse by the way I'm talking about like farm he might invite me back maybe not I don't know just having fun without oxen a stable stays clean that means without these large animals that actually help you bring in the harvest the the work that needs to be done without them there's no mess but if we're actually gonna have a harvest if we're actually gonna see people's lives change if we're actually gonna open up and actually be a church that wants to reach lost people to be a church that wants to reach the sick to be a church that wants to reach the paralyzed to be a church that wants to set people free that wants to be a church that's gonna make a difference in its community we're gonna we're gonna have some mess we're gonna have some mess so Jesus says this to those that were sitting in the room he says to them those that were critical verse 10 but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins I

see Jesus kind of shifting who he's talking to one point he's looking up at the four guys and one point he's looking down at the paralyzed man at his feet and other times he's looking across the room and he's speaking to those who he senses in their heart that they're struggling with what's happening but that you may know that the Son of Man has a thorough authority on earth to forgive sins he now looks at the paralyzed man he says I tell you get up take your mat go home get up take your mat go home number five what does it mean to be the church it means we go home different then we came no matter how you walked into this room today no matter what you're experiencing right now no matter who you are in the story if you're sitting in this room or experiencing online and you would say that you've actually been grabbing the corner somebody's life you've been you are paralyzed in a season of your life and Jesus healed you and redeemed you and restored you and there's some strength in you healed people Help people get healed. Hurting people hurt people, but heal people, help people. So many of you have been grabbing the corner of somebody's life and you've gone through the growth track and you've found your place on the dream team and you've been serving, you've been lifting the corner. Some of you, you just served at the 830 and you're attending this service right now. You're engaged and involved in what's happening here at Rise. If that's you, you're to walk out of here different today. God wants to do something in you, whether that's to strengthen you, to encourage you, to grow your faith, but if you're someone right now at the sound of my voice in this room and you're experiencing paralysis

and you need someone to grab the corner of your life, you need Jesus to speak to you, to speak to your need, even the need you don't even know you need. He wants to speak to you today. Your next step is simply to say, yes, Jesus, whatever you wanna speak to me. I hear, but if you're one of those that in the story is the religious leader who is struggling with what was happening and found themselves critical, today Jesus wants to heal you as well. Bring forgiveness for pride and to bring redemption. He wants you to leave here different. No matter who we are in the story, there's a next step. Whether we're grabbing a corner, whether we're paralyzed in some area of our life or whether we've become critical of what's been happening, there's a next step for us to take. Last verse here in verse 12, it says, he got up. Now, don't just walk past that. He couldn't even get himself to church that day. It took four grabbing a corner of his life. It took four pushing past obstacles and lowering him down. It took humility to receive in front of a crowd of people that were critical of what was happening. But it says, he got up and he took his mat and he walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God saying, we've never seen anything like this before. Never seen.

When was the last time someone saw your life so transformed by God that they said, I've never seen anything like that before? I've seen marriages and in divorce left and right, but I've never seen one so far gone come back together and there's actually genuine love in that marriage. I've never seen anything like that before. I've never seen somebody so addicted and ravaged by addiction and their life, that seemed like their body was deteriorated and see them so transformed by God. I've never seen anything like that before. I've never seen somebody so opposed to church, so opposed to God's word, so opposed to the gospel, to see them so softened by God's presence, so transformed by the power and the life of Jesus Christ. I've just, I've never seen anything like that before. Rise church, can I tell you today, God wants to move in your life so significantly that you walk out of here different than the way that you came and the result is, others around us will see the life change and will be drawn to Jesus. That's the result. That's what God wants to do in our lives today. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, right now in Jesus' name, I pray for every man, woman, boy and girl in this room and at the sound of my voice. God, that you would open up our hearts to you right now,

that we would hear you and we would be willing to take a next step with every head bowed and every eye closed for those of you in this room right now. And you know who you are, you're even sensing of what I'm about to do. If you have never said yes to God, yes to his gift of Jesus, to wash away your sins, to make you new, if you have never said yes to the salvation, the saving grace that God has for you, asking Jesus to come into your life, I wanna pray for you. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter what your background is, no matter what you did right before you got here, it doesn't matter to God. He just wants you. Those of you that might sense that God is far from you, I want you to know he's not far from you. He's been chasing after you, sacrificing for you and he wants a relationship with you right now in this room. With every head bowed and every eye closed, if that's you and you're saying, Pastor Dan, pray for me, I wanna say yes to Jesus, I'm not gonna embarrass you, but simply right where you are on the count of three, just raise your hand

and I wanna lead you in a prayer. One, two, three, raise your hand. Hands up, thank you. Yes, sir, I see your hand. Ma'am, I see your hand. Lady, I see your hand, thank you. Ma'am, I see your hand. Yes, I see your hand, come on. Hands going up. Young man, I see your hand, praise God. Hands going up all over the room. Thank you, Father. Hey, church family, together with these that have their hands raised, can we all pray this prayer together? Just repeat after me. Say, Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for me. Jesus, I ask that you would come into my heart I believe that God raised you from the dead and you are alive today. And I ask you to make me alive spiritually. Wash me clean of all my sin and make me new today. I'll say this boldly. I commit from this day forward that I will follow after you all the days of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Come on, rise, we celebrate God. Amen, amen.

For those of you that just prayed that prayer, you're gonna get some next steps here in a moment, but for the rest of us, here's how we're gonna kind of end this moment. I'm gonna invite the prayer team to be down front. And I wanna encourage you, this will kind of feel like maybe a different dismissal, kind of a soft dismissal. Pastor Rebecca's gonna give you some instructions here in a minute on how we'll leave the room. But for right now, I believe there's so many of us that need to take a next step. So I want us all to stand to our feet. And in this next moment, for those of us that need to take a next step, whether it's I just need some strength, I've been carrying the corner and I need some strength, or maybe it's time for you to grab a corner and take a next step, this is our moment. For those of you that maybe have been dealing with that critical spirit, there's a next step. For some of us, it might be coming to a prayer team member. For some of us, it might just be coming to the altar and just kneeling and praying and ask God to solidify in our heart what he wants to solidify. But I wanna encourage you, take the step that God has for you. Father, right now in Jesus' name, I pray for everyone that's in this room right now.

God, I pray that you would strengthen them. God, I pray that they would see clearly the next step that you have for them, that each one of us would decide, God, I've decided I'm gonna actually be the church. I'm gonna grab a corner, I'm gonna have faith for others, I'm gonna push past the criticism. God, I'm gonna see the whole point in everything that we're doing, and God, I'm gonna know that I'm gonna leave here different so that others can see how my life has been changed. God, I commit them to you right now, in Jesus' name, amen.