It Must Fall | Pastor Earl McClellan

I don't want you to just come in here week in and week out and it just being a show. We don't do shows. We ask God for his glory to show up. We pray over the worship team. We pray over the ballet team. We pray over the kids team and we pray over the ushers and the host. We pray over the lattes that they would be anointed to. We are asking God to do what God can do because we know in the presence of God, a miracle can happen in a moment and I love that God does it. But when he does it and he knocks down the idol, if you don't change your pattern, next week you'll have that same idol in the same place and you'll be asking God for the same miracle. We're opening up our Bibles today to 1 Samuel chapter 5. 1 Samuel chapter 5. If you have your Bibles, turn there with me. If you don't have your Bible, we're going to put the verses on the screen so that you can follow along with us. 1 Samuel chapter 5 beginning in verse number 1. It says after the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. Verse number 4, 1 Samuel chapter 5. The following morning when they rose, there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken and were broken off and were lying on the threshold. Only his body remained. That is why to this day, neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who entered Dagon's

temple at Ashdod's step on the threshold. The title of today's message for those of you who are taking notes in the new bulletin. The title is It Must Fall. It must fall. It must fall. It must fall. I love God's word, it's alive and active in this passage of scripture, I have had it actually ringing in my heart for some period of time and have not known when I'm supposed to share it. And as I was praying this past week, going through the book of 1 Samuel, this passage jumped off the page at me. So today I believe is supposed to be a day of breakthrough and a day of transformation in our lives. So I want us to have ears to hear. I don't want you to have your arms crossed, I mean you can if you're a little bit cold, but meaning in your heart, I want to make sure you're wide open to what God is wanting to do in you today. I want you to have ears to hear, okay, because the spirit is wanting to speak to every single one of us today because he knows exactly where you are, exactly what you're navigating, exactly what you're dealing with, and God wants to talk to you today. You're here on purpose, for a reason, stumbling across this message on purpose, for a reason. So I want to jump right in to this passage of scripture, and I'm not jumping in light, we're jumping in deep, okay, we're going in the deep end right away. You all with me? I mean it's like, this is not shallow end, we're going deep end, alright. One of the first things that this passage of scripture teaches us, it teaches us the authority of God over every idol and every demonic force. The authority of God over every idol and every demonic force. Every single idol and every single demon, all of them, not some of them, all of them. Not only the ones that are little, I'm talking the ones that are big.

I'm talking the ones that are in your community, in your family, around the nations of the world. I'm talking about hate, I'm talking about sexism, I'm talking about racism, I'm talking about brokenness, I'm talking about poverty, I'm talking about depression, I'm talking about anxiety, I'm talking about being stabbed in the back, I'm talking about discord, I'm talking about every single thing in this world that would try to raise its head against the authority of the king of kings and the lord of lords. This passage of scripture teaches us that all of them must bow at the authority of God almighty. That he is high and above every single thing that you're facing right now. Do you know your your demons try to talk to you? Tell you you'll be bound forever You'll be stuck forever This will be your lot in life. This is just who you are You'll never change and this passage of scripture teaches us that when the ark of God is in Dagon's temple You do not see this idol staying upright This idol has to fall down at the presence of Almighty God And I'm speaking that over every single idol that's trying to stand above you I want you to know the things that are trying to intimidate you and tell you that they are bigger than you They're not bigger than the one who has your back Remember you getting bullied in school and you got but you got a big brother Yeah I'm going to get my brother. I'm going to get my father. I don't have to fight this battle I'm going to get my father My father's fighting this battle for me and some of us have been fighting some battles on our own and no wonder we are losing But as you and I surrender our lives under the authority of Jesus Christ We get a power that can only come from heaven and heaven alone And it's a spirit of the Living God that fills us up and stands in front of us to fight on our behalf This is the mindset that I want you to have in the way that I want you to live Yeah, I was talking to my friend and he was telling me and I love this so much that the the enemy does not have Authority he only has deception

He can only trick you into Thinking he owns you But when you become a blood-bought follower of Jesus Christ, you are not under the authority of the enemy any longer You have a new dad There was a day that the father of lies was your father This is when you and I were separated from Jesus Christ living our lives on our own But the moment you and I surrendered our life to Jesus that blood of Christ Came in cleansed us washed us made us new and even though you have the same body Like you don't lose weight when you give your life to Jesus physically. I wish we did I Got saved lost seven pounds. I'm going back next week to rededicate my life to Jesus It Doesn't work like that, but man, there's something on the inside you do lose weight internally You do lose weight in your spirit. That was once dead and now it comes alive in Jesus Christ the authority That the enemy thinks he has over you. Matter of fact, I know the devil knows he doesn't have the authority over your life But you and I don't know it Because we keep struggling fighting through things So we think we must still be under his authority. You're not I'm gonna talk about that in a second I just need you to know now. I need you to understand family I want young people older people married people single people all of us I want us to get this in our hearts this scripture teaches us God has authority over every idol and Every demonic force in the world and in your family This is for the unks under my boy on the sound of my voice There was a fight There was a fight in 1974 I believe it was and anytime I use a number like 1974 my kids are like whoa You were born in the 1900s I'm like, yeah, we were

It was awesome Care bears, come on somebody Sunshine bear I mean Anyway In 1974 there was a fight in what is now the Republic of Congo back then it was a year But it was in the Republic of Congo and this is where Muhammad Ali was fighting George Foreman heavyweight boxing match It became because it became to be called the rumble in the jungle Now George Foreman massive strong. I mean if you ever saw a wreck it Ralph. He was a wreck it Ralph fist massive huge pound Pulverizing anyone that stood in front of him. The man was Absolutely unstoppable and Ali is in the ring with him for this boxing match They are there at the beginning of the match and Ali hits him a couple times in the first round but then And George Foreman seems to have taken over the fight, takes it over. Ali is actually on the ropes, round after round after round, getting punched over and over and over again. George Foreman is just throwing haymakers at him. Ali is taking all these punches. Now we find out later that this was actually part of Ali's strategy. His strategy was to try to tire out George Foreman. So he was staying on the ropes, letting George hit him over and over and over again. Matter of fact, if you dig into it a little bit, you'll find out that Ali was actually talking to George the whole time George was punching him. Oh, that's all you got? They said you could hit hard,

and that's just making George throw even bigger punches. But as he's throwing these punches, this is where the rope-a-dope comes in. He is now wearing out George Foreman. So George is throwing all these punches and it looks as if Ali is losing. But this is all part of Ali's strategy, to wear out his opponent. So then in the eighth round, he steps up and... Oh! Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, and he knocks out George Foreman in the eighth round. I know right now it can look like some areas of your life. You are just taking some haymakers, and it looks as if the enemy is winning. Can I tell you that God has a plan and a strategy, and he can... Float like a butterfly, and sting like a bee, and at just the right moment, I'm telling you what's been knocking you down and knocking you over, God can knock out in a moment, because that's the power of our God. Every single thing that is trying to stand above you does not stand above God. Anna just came out with a wonderful new album. I love it. And one of the records is called, I love it. And one of the records is Afraid, and the line in Afraid is,

That's a bar right there. I love that. Everything that I'm afraid of is afraid of you, and I know we've got some fears. Some people are afraid of the future. Some people are afraid to get married. Some people are afraid of their season of singleness. Some people are afraid of what's going on in the world, but everything that you're afraid of is afraid of God. I'm letting you know that the authority of God over your life is real and strong, and every idol and every demonic force must bow at the name of Jesus Christ. Now, I don't want to pretend that there's not pain and difficulty. Don't wanna pretend like there aren't funerals. I don't want us to clap our way and just pretend that we don't actually navigate pain and tears. It's so real. Of course we do. Man, some of us are in that right now. I didn't know I'd be here. I didn't know I'd be in this spot. I didn't know I'd be navigating this. I didn't know I was gonna get that news. I didn't know that they were cheating. I didn't know that they were stabbing me in the back. I thought they had my back. Little did I know they had a knife in my back.

I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know. There are very real things that we navigate from a diagnosis to a disease to sometimes we even go to funerals. And in those funerals, it's like, man, I guess God lost this one. I guess he did not win this battle. I felt that at times. And if you're honest, maybe you have too. I don't have something just to kind of pretend it didn't happen, but here is a truth. Inherent and woven into the greatest story ever told, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that all of us are reconciled to God. Not by our good works, but by the finished work of the cross through what Jesus Christ did. Not through what I did, but through what Jesus Christ did. I'm made right with God. In the fabric of the story is a funeral. You don't get a resurrection without a funeral. You don't get a stone being rolled away without a stone first being put in front of a tomb. You don't get the glory. of new life, without the pain of an old life dying. So I don't want us to skip the funeral, I just want you to see that God takes the funeral and goes, I'll use it. And he starts weaving. I don't even know if this is how you do it, but this is how I think weaving happens. He starts weaving a tapestry, saying I'll even take that part

and I'll use it too. And this is what he did even in the gospel, and this is what he does with your life as well. So if you're in the midst of something that's so crazy hard right now, just know that God is using it. I put it like this, that God doesn't lose battles, he uses them. He uses them. I got it, I got it, yep, I'll use that, I'll use that, I'll use that. And he keeps on taking us forward in him. That's just one of the things that this passage of scripture teaches us. Another thing that this passage of scripture jumped off the page at me is patterns. Patterns. And some of the patterns that can chain us and keep us bound. And this is one of the patterns. When you're reading the text, you're reading this narrative, you see that the ark of God is brought into Dagon's temple. Okay, and when it's in the temple, you see the next morning, they come in, the priests come in and Dagon, this false idol, has fallen down in front of the idol. He's bowing. This is kind of the idea. He's fallen down in front of the presence of God. The ark of God is not God, it just represents God. It represents God's presence. Like a wedding ring is not the marriage, it just represents the marriage.

So the ark of God here representing the presence of God, this false idol falls face down in front of the presence of God. When they come in to see this, they don't turn and do something new. They do something that's in alignment with what they've always done. And they continue to worship this God. So they pick the idol back up and they put the idol back in place. Well then the next day, they walk in, there's Dagon again, face down on the ground. What do they do? They pick it back up and they put it in place. It made me think about us. The idols and the struggles that God knocks down. What do we do with them? Pick them right back up and put them in place. The problem isn't just the problem. Stay with me for just a second. The problem isn't just the problem. The problem is the pattern. The pattern keeps on putting you in the same spot that you were in before that you don't want to be in. That God gets you out of. But the pattern puts you back in. Okay, married couple, married couple, they're figuring things out. Been married six years, figuring things out. Been married six months, trying to figure, married 60 years,

trying to figure things out. But a married couple, trying to figure things out. They're at each other's throats. I mean, they are just, I mean, they are at each other, tearing each other down. One time we're talking to a couple, this is years ago, so y'all don't know them. We're in another city, so y'all don't know them. But this couple, the husband and the wife, they were sitting there in the hot tub together. And he said, the husband said, I got out and I looked at her and I said, no wonder your last husband left you. And then he got out of the hot tub. I'm like, what? You said that to her? I mean, just venom, throwing venom, venom, venom, venom, venom at each other. And this couple, they have, they're throwing venom at each other. And they're having these difficulties, so they want to get help. So they're like, I'm coming to the church. They send a DM. They send an email. So we get a connect group leader, a team leader. We get a pastor, somebody to sit with that couple. And that couple is sitting with them and sharing wisdom and hope and life, letting them know your marriage doesn't have to look like this. And the couple, you can see it at times.

You can see a couple that was at each other in the presence of God and the word of God and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. You can see things being able to begin to fall off of them in a moment. You can see their eyes getting brighter. You can see a couple that was just at each other's throats all of a sudden holding hands like, we're not ending this in divorce. We got this thing. We're going to make it through. a whole new day and they walk out skipping. Then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all of a sudden this couple that had a bright countenance now they are back at each other. What happened? God knocked down an idol, but their patterns put the idol back up because they didn't learn how to change how they spoke to each other. They're still tearing each other down. They're still disrespecting one another. They are still bringing up each other's past. They're still bringing up each other's brokenness. They're still reminding each other of how they don't measure up. They are still looking at the other like there's a problem with them, but there's no problem with me. They are still disrespecting, dishonoring. They are still talking about their friend, talking about their husband or their wife behind their husband or wife's back. The guy is still hanging out with all the boys, slipping in late at night, not praying for his wife, not giving her a kiss on the cheek, but I had to watch the game. I had to be there to see what Bron was going to do and he's not investing in his relationship. His wife is just scrolling on Instagram or TikTok trying to get another recipe or another

outfit or find out what she's doing with her husband or what she's doing with her boyfriend, but she's not investing in her man and all of a sudden all these other outside voices are telling them what they need to be doing in their relationship. Now they sat in a moment and God gave a miracle, but now their patterns have put them back in a spot where they are picking up the idol, putting it back in place and saying, Hey God, fix this. I need you to know that my preaching is not good enough to outpace your patterns. It's not. My preaching can't outpace it. I'm going to try to give you everything I got every single week. I'm going, I'm on my knees. I'm asking God to speak. I'm praying that the fire and the presence of God fills every single heart and life. I don't want you to just come in here week in and week out and it just being a show. We don't do shows. We ask God for his glory to show up. We pray over the worship team. We pray over the valet team. We pray over the kids team and we pray over the ushers and the host. We pray over the lattes that they would be anointed to. We are asking God to do what God can do because we know in the presence of God, a miracle can happen in a moment and I love that God does it, but when he does it and he knocks down the idol, if you don't change your pattern next week, you'll have that same idol in the same place and you'll be asking God for the same miracle. I need patterns to change. If you are in so much debt right now, and this is real, right, you're like, man, God, just get me out of it. God, please have somebody give me a check. God, please have somebody give me a check. God, please have somebody give me a check.

God, please have somebody give me a check. God, please have somebody give me a check. God, bless me with a director deposit, Lord. Let me make a mistake, Lord. Let me make a mistake. Let him not see it. And it gets you out of whatever hole you might be in if you don't change your patterns. It might not be right away but over a period of time, you end up in the same spot you're in right now. I'm talking patterns. Now for some of our patterns, we learn them, right? I mean, it's all we knew. Like this is how my mom and dad talk to each other. That's all I saw. I only saw that you tell them everything up one side and down the other. That's how I talk. Well, you're going to need to change how you talk because if you don't, you're going to end up in the same pattern and you're going to be putting an idol back in place that you don't even want in place. But if you've only seen it one way, you've only seen relationships one way, you've only seen money handled one way, you've only seen a relationship God handled this one way, then you start copying the pattern that's in front of you. And that pattern sometimes is not right. You ever been on a dance floor and doing the electric slide? Come on, y'all, right? And somebody, you know, it's three to the right and three to the left. You know that, right? You feel it. But you know, back the other way. You know, you feel it, you feel it.

And then it's backwards. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. And then there's that little ah ha, ah ha. Hey, that's how you do it. You feel it. You feel it. But I've been on the floor sometimes with some people and they don't know it. They don't know the dance at all. And they're doing the wobble when we're all over here doing the electric slide. As an aside, I don't know what the superman is still to this day. I still watch people do it and I'm like. Hey, watch me, hey, watch me roll. Hey man, see that super, hey. I didn't even know who Soulja Boy is. I have no idea what's going on with that dance. So I watched that one. But I've been on the dance floor with people and they're doing it incorrectly because maybe they just saw it done incorrectly. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Watch, watch my pattern. Watch my pattern. Let me teach you a new way. Let me teach you a new way. This is disciple shit. Let me teach you a new way. Let me teach you a new way.

No, no, no, not like that, not like that. You don't just ask God for the things that you want. You also ask him to change your heart. Prayer is not just, prayer is not just a big request. He's your father. He wants to change you from the inside out. Let me teach you. Let me teach you how. This is how you pray. Oh, when you worship, you're not like, oh, give me my song. No, no, no, no. This is adoration to God. We're lifting up his name. This is for his glory. Worship is not just for me, it's for him. This is me saying, God, you're good, you're righteous, you're pure. I don't have to feel it to give him worship. I give him worship because he's good and he's faithful. You gotta learn the pattern. You gotta learn the pattern. And definitely the case in relationships, in marriage, and in singleness. Because if we're taking the pattern of the world, man, some of us have made claims like, okay, I'm only sleeping with him after the third date. Whoa, whoa. No, no, no, no. Okay, okay.

Not third. Fifth, because I haven't been working for the third. So my standards are going higher. It's after the fifth. I go, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not the standard. The standard is actually this ring. And though I know the world is saying, y'all getting quiet on me. I'm not talking about y'all. Come on. Other services, other campuses. You may know that. This is Frisco. You have to learn a new pattern that's in alignment with God's word that helps you become who God is calling you to be. Man, it's not always easy. I'm not saying it's easy. But you didn't sign up for easy. You want to be a mighty man and mighty woman of God. Show me someone that is doing something significant in the world and it was all easy for them. No, friends. This road here is you and I surrendering our lives day in and day out as we respond to God's grace saying, son, daughter, come on close. Stop hiding. I already know that stuff is there anyway. Why are you trying to hide it?

Let's talk about it. Get in a connect group where you can take off that mask, be honest and real with some people around you so you can know you're not alone in the battle and the struggle that you have. These patterns, they're trying to take us out. And for some, the pattern when we struggle, we think we must not be saved because I'm struggling. That if I was really saved, I wouldn't have this battle. I wouldn't have this struggle. Like if it really, if I got really, really saved. So next week, I'm raising my hand. Then the week after that, I'm gonna get baptized now. I'll get baptized again. I'll get baptized again. And we're looking for some goosebumps, some feelings, some moment where it's like, now it's real. Then we struggle and we go, oh, maybe it's not real. Maybe there's something else I need to do for God to know that I'm serious about being with Him. And I want you to know your struggle is not a sign that you're not saved. Your struggle is a sign that you are human. I have struggles. You do too. Don't stop pretending like you don't, okay. And it's easy for us to point at other people's sins and oh, that's a bad one. But if anybody were to highlight our own, we would be like, well, you don't know my situation.

Hey, we all are struggling. My wife loves clothes and, you know, fashion and all those things. She's been like that since she was a little girl. And I don't really care about any of that stuff. Okay, me personally, I don't care. Now, I look like I do. Kidding, kidding, it doesn't. But if it ever does, it's because my wife dresses me, okay. And I don't like to go shopping. I can't stand it. My eyes actually have physical responses. When we're going to the mall, my eyes start getting red. I start getting weary. I get irritable. I mean, it's not good. And I only know she's got me maybe for one store. Give me, honey, if it's all not there, you know I'm going downhill. I'm going downhill fast. So we don't do a ton of shopping, you know, together at all. But sometimes she would go to a thrift store or something, and she would find a shirt. And some of you have been to a thrift store, right, and you find something like, oh, a dollar, oh, yeah. And you take that shirt, you're like, okay. And you buy it, and then you take it home. And what are you supposed to do with that shirt before you wear it? Wash it. Wash it. Thank you, okay. A couple of y'all looking at me like, okay.

You're nasty, okay. You're nasty. You need to wash your stuff, okay, before you put it on, okay. If it's from a thrift store, you better wash it, okay. That's a side note. You buy the shirt, it's yours, okay, it's yours. But then you still have to wash it. When you buy the shirt, that's the biblical word justified. It happens in a moment. Salvation, boom, right there. It's yours. Then when you wash the shirt, this is the biblical word sanctified. Now you're being purified. Tumbled around in this old washing machine. Oh, that's God like, I'm trying to shape you into who I want you to be. Because I'm going to use you for my glory in the world. So I got to scrub you. If you go to Ephesians chapter 5, you can turn there real quick. I'm going to end on time. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 25-28. It talks about husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. And he gave himself up for the church. And he cleansed the church. He washed the church. He did all of this to make the church holy and blameless in his sight. To present the church without spot and without wrinkle. This is what Jesus did. How do you get rid of spots? You wash them out.

You get rid of wrinkles, heat and pressure. You got to get rid of all the spots. So Jesus, what he's doing in all of our lives is he's making us and molding us and shaping us and washing us. But do not think for a second that you don't belong to him. You are already purchased at the store through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Now each day and each week he's just scrubbing you so you can keep looking more like him. And so you can be used for his glory. This, my friends, is Jesus trying to break the patterns in our life. Y'all heard about that elephant, right? The elephant when it was a baby, it was tied to that little stake in the ground. And it was chained to that stake in the ground. Since it was chained to the stake in the ground when it was a baby, it learned that it could not get away from the stake. So by the time it became a fully grown elephant, they didn't have to use a chain. They only had to put a rope around its ankle and keep it connected to that little stake in the ground. Because it had learned the pattern that I can't break free from this when it was younger. So now it's older and has more power, but it's still thinking like when it was a baby. And some of y'all are still thinking like your old self, and you think I can't ever break free from this. But you need to understand that you're not your bloodline of your family. You got a new bloodline, and it's Jesus Christ, and it's his shed blood on the cross.

And you got a whole new father saying, son, daughter, you now belong to me. You don't have to stay chained to that thing forever. Now I know pornography is real in our world, but I don't think you have to be bound in it like you're bound in it right now for the rest of your life. I know mental health is real and there's fear and anxiety, but I believe in the name of Jesus. You don't have to struggle like you're struggling now. 15, 20, 25. Years from now the grace of God is available to every single one of us. I Want to break the pattern? Break free of these things and some of y'all it's not even just for you It's for kids. You don't even have yet So you you cannot you cannot quit right now If you quit now, and you got your little girl looking at you Then she thinks that's what you do You're setting a pattern No Break that pattern in the name of Jesus Break that pattern with the authority and the power that comes from the finished work of Jesus Christ This is what God wants to do in my life and in your life. It's available to all of us Okay available to every single one of us I Got to end here, but um, I just want to pull off this last thing that I see in this text and that is He's in or the brother the ark is in Dagon's temple and The ark is not in a beachfront community it's in a dark place a Place with demonic activity a Place with idol worship all around and that's where the ark is and

Even in a dark place the light and glory of God Forces the darkness to bow to it It does not bow to the darkness Can I talk about your job for just a second? That you feel you're in a dark place These people how they talk how they live I'm not better than them. But man God get me out of here Because there's so much darkness around me and I don't know exactly why you're there But I know while you are there Understand this the text teaches us this that even in a dark place God's glory and might and power always has the final word so you can walk through your cubicle with your head held high Knowing that the darkness that is in your office complex the darkness that is in some of your co-workers or employees This is not something you have to run from you're bringing the light of God into a place and God gets the final Word even there. I'm talking schools. I'm talking homes I'm talking jobs that God always gets the final word And as we step into this Can't wait to see what our lives look like living for God's glory Hey next week. Let's pray that we don't have to knock down the same Maybe this week ask God what I don't What thought What cycle am I in That I don't even recognize that I'm in That you keep knocking it down And I almost unintentionally Keep on putting it back up in place The Holy Spirit will speak to you God's Word

Shout something at your heart Getting community around some other people who following hard after Jesus Jesus that will pray for you And you watch how light bulbs will begin to go off Yes salvation happens in a moment But the transformation of your mind it happens over a lifetime Would you bow your heads family today As your heads are bowed Maybe your eyes are closed. They don't have to be But you know right now your heart is not in God's hands You have not made him first. You have not made him number one. You're not following the path of Jesus Christ I'm not asking if you have a Bible or if you think you're a good person. That's not my question I think you're a good person. That's not my question at all I'm asking have you surrendered the authority of your life to the Lordship the person of Jesus Christ? The Bible uses the word repent to turn the change of thinking a change of direction Have you turned from going your own way? And now you're going his If you're under the sound of my voice and you have never given your heart and your life to Christ, or at one point in time you did and you slipped away, whether you're online or you're in this room right now, and you're saying, I don't want to go my own way, I want to go the way of Jesus. On the count of three, I want you to do something simple but something bold. I just want you to throw your hand in the air and say, yes, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. Ready, one, two, three. Just lift your hand up. You're saying, yup, that's me. Raise it up high. Come on. Come on. There was a day you were raising your hand high when you were going the world's way. Now this is your moment to go Jesus' way. You're with confidence. You're saying, God, I want you to have my heart.

I want you to have my life. I'm not going my old way anymore. I want to go your way. I want to give you my heart. I want to give you my life. This is beautiful. I'm going to ask friends online and in the room, everyone put your hand over your heart if you would not mind. And I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me. Say, dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I've made mistakes. And today I give you my heart. I give you my life. Give me the power to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.