Only My Spirit Is Saved - Herbert Cooper

Jesus came so lost people could be saved. This church is not a cruise ship where we lay by the pool. This is a battleship and for 23 years we've been on mission for Jesus. For 23 years we've been worshipping Jesus, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, reaching lost people, baptizing people, helping people know God and grow in God, discover a purpose and make a difference. We've been on the mission of Jesus. For one reason, to see more changed lives. Welcome to People's Church everyone. Hey we invite you to stand to your feet. Come on let's lift up the name of Jesus together. Come on. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. The sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see. Singing Hallelujah, there's no chains on me. Thank you Jesus, you have set me free. You welcomed me in, called me by name. Was dead in my sin now I'm dancing on that grave. Hallelujah, it really is amazing grace. It was grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear. The hour I first believed. Singing Hallelujah, there's no chains on me. Thank you Jesus, you have set me free. You welcomed me in, called me by name. Was dead in my sin now I'm dancing on that grave. Hallelujah, it really is amazing grace. I'll testify of what he did. He gave me life, I'm born again. My heart is free, my soul is saved. It really is amazing grace. I'll testify of what he did. He gave me life, I'm born again. My heart is free, my soul is saved. It really is amazing grace. Singing Hallelujah, there's no chains on me. Thank you Jesus, you have set me free. You welcomed me in, called me by name. Was dead in my sin now I'm dancing on that grave. Hallelujah, it really is amazing grace. He is amazing grace Well today we are celebrating life changes People go public for Jesus and water baptisms You can turn your attention to my left, your right

Will you put your hands together for more Change Live There's a praise that we release There's an anthem of the free When you know what you've been rescued from Worship fills your life It's the sound of the redeemed Lift your hands if you've been forgiven We've been brought into the land of the living There is freedom in this house Lift your voice if he's been faithful Shout it out, tell him you're grateful There is freedom in this house There's a grave where we used to be Before grace changed everything If you know that you've been born again Come on say amen It's the sound of the redeemed Lift your hands if you've been forgiven We've been brought into the land of the living There is freedom in this house Lift your voice if he's been faithful Shout it out, tell him you're grateful There is freedom in this house See the chains on the floor Prison doors open wide All our hope is restored What was torn brought back to life See the chains on the floor Prison doors open wide All our hope is restored

What was torn brought back to life Lift your hands if you've been forgiven We've been brought into the land of the living There is freedom in this house Lift your voice if he's been faithful Shout it out, tell him you're grateful There is freedom in this house Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah There is freedom in this house Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah There is freedom in this house Come on will you put your hands together for Jesus Will you just thank him for your freedom that you have Oh we thank you God We thank you that we are free We thank you God that you came down And that you saved us Oh there's no one like you Jesus Oh we put you at the center of our lives At the center of our families At the center of our Oh you're everything that we need God Maybe we've made this complicated More than it was ever meant to be Hasn't it always been about the same things Lord bring us back to simple things You are the center of it all My heart belongs to you my savior

♪ You're all in all, You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of Your name, my soul will live to say ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love You, oh You are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to You, my Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to, for the beauty of Your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love You, oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ And my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name, my soul will live to say ♪ ♪ And my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name, my soul will live to say ♪ ♪ And my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name, oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ And my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name, oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You, oh how I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You ♪

♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You, oh how I love You, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ You are the center of it all, my heart belongs to You, my Savior all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love You, my soul will live to say, Jesus, I love You, my soul will live to say, Jesus, I love You ♪ There was a moment when the lights went out When death had claimed its victory The king of love had given up his life The darkest day in history Their arm a cross they made for sinners For every curse is blood atoned One final breath and it was finished But not the end we could have known For the earth began to shake And the veil was torn What sacrifice was made As the heavens rolled Come on church will you put those hands up Let's sing this out together Sing All Hail King Jesus All hail King Jesus All hail the Lord of heaven and earth All hail King Jesus All hail the Saviour of the world You're the Saviour of the world There was a moment when the sky lit up A flash of light was breaking through When all was lost he crossed eternity The king of life was on the move For in a dark cold tomb Where our Lord was laid

One miraculous breath And we're forever changed Sing All Hail King Jesus All hail the Lord of heaven and earth All hail King Jesus All hail the Saviour of the world You're the Saviour, you're the Saviour of the world Let every knee come out before the King of kings Let every tongue confess that he is Lord Lift up your shout Let us join with all of heaven singing Holy, singing Holy Holy, singing Holy All hail King Jesus All hail the Lord of heaven and earth All hail King Jesus All hail the Saviour of the world We worship you God We honor you today We lift up the name of Jesus in this place today God be glorified in our lives Be glorified in our homes And Lord today we ask that you would meet with us here in this place Speak to our hearts Make us more like you Change us today in your presence we pray in Jesus name amen and amen come on give them praise one more time amen amen well church family before you're seated you know every single Sunday we love to take a moment to connect to get to know each other want you to find two or three people you may not recognize learn their

names today shake their hands let's connect you all right well welcome to People's Church everybody hey my name is Rob Champion I'm the campus pastor here at the Oklahoma City campus whether you're joining us online or in the house today we are family we're so glad to have you with us today I do want to take a moment just to welcome all of our guests today come on People's Church family would you show them some love today welcome to People's Church well People's Church last weekend was nothing short of a sovereign move of God as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus in all of our Easter services and so many of your family and friends that you wrote down on cards that we so we could pray over they showed up at our campuses and our services across all of our campuses so many people joined us online and most importantly so many people encountered the power and life-changing power of Jesus Christ I want you to check out this video you come on can we praise God for lives that have been changed oh we could do better than that church can we give God glory today for all the lives changed come on you prayed you invited and our great God showed up in a powerful way and changed lives and to all of our dream team I want to say thank you thank you thank you for showing up and serving on Easter Church come on can we put our hands together and celebrate our dream team we love you thank you for serving so lives can be changed we honor you today God is moving in a powerful powerful way he's not done he's just getting started a man father we thank you for all the lives changed we thank you for our dream team and father we thank you Lord that everyone who's taken that step to say yes to Jesus help them take their next step in you we pray in Jesus name amen you well hello church family how we doing today you're doing good it's good to see you church success starts on Sundays in God's house lifting up the name of Jesus welcome today and welcome to all of our locations if you're new with us today for one church in multiple locations so welcome Midwest City and

Northwest and our Edmond location and Indianapolis campus and the ladies at Mabel Bassett correctional facility and all of you joining us online around the world welcome to church today and so much to be thankful for I just it never gets old how God moves and changes lives and seeing over 700 people, 781 people give their life to Jesus. It just never gets old. 24 years of pastoring this church in May and every soul touches my heart. It really does. It just never gets old. I just want to say thank you to the Dream Team. Thank you for serving. Thank you for the way you make the weekend happen, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Thank you for all that you do. So I just genuinely mean that very grateful for all of you that served to make Easter weekend happen and so many lives were transformed because of it. Well are you ready for the Word of God today? Come on you ready for the Word of God today? I'm ready to preach. We're kicking off a brand new series called Saved But Struggling. It was a couple of years ago one of our kids had graduated from high school. We were having his graduation party and Tiffany asked me to go to Costco to pick up two graduation cakes that she ordered and I had only been to Costco like one or two times and both times I was with Tiffany. I don't pay attention when I'm in the store. I just kind of goof off and follow my wife and she has the grocery list and so I wasn't paying attention to how things operated and when I got to the front door at Costco they asked me for my membership card. I said I don't know about no membership. I don't have no membership card. I'm here to pick up two cakes for my wife that she ordered so I just need to pick up them cakes. That's all I'm here for and they let me in the store. They let me in and I went back to the bakery and they had the two cakes ready, big old cakes and I picked up those two cakes and I started to walk out the store the same way I came in and they stopped me and said no no you can't, you can't, you can't exit this way. You have to go through the cash registers. I said no you don't understand. I just here to pick up these two cakes. My wife already paid for them. I'm just picking up these two cakes. That's all I'm doing. They said well even though you're just picking up

them two cakes you're gonna have to exit out that way. So I went and through the registers and to exit out and and as I was exiting out that they let me know hey sir those cakes have not been paid for yet. I was like oh I almost stole two cakes. Your pastor almost ended up on the news station. And then I found out at the cash register I could not pay for those cakes because I did not have a membership card with me. They would not let me pay and take them cakes home even though they got my kids name on it because I did not have a membership card. They let me walk around the store. I could smell all the food. I could taste them samples. I could put groceries in a grocery cart but when I got to the register I could not check out. I could not access all the benefits without a membership card. And this is what it's like for each of us before salvation. We can come to church. We can drop our kids off at Kids Church. We can sing the songs. We can quote a scripture. We can hear the sermons. We can be around spiritual things but we cannot access everything that God has for us in his kingdom without salvation. Salvation is the membership card to access all of God's blessings that he has for our life. Number one. I'm gonna just jump right in. Number one. Number one. Number one. Right this now. Before salvation our spirit is dead. Just look at your neighbor and say I think we're gonna get a theology lesson today. Go ahead let them know. Yeah just get ready. Get your theology hat on. All right get your theology hat on. This is the condition. Understand this. This is the condition of every single human being before salvation. Dead. Dead. Here let's look at the Word of God Ephesians chapter number two. Picking up in verse number one. It says as for you you were dead. Come on everybody shout the word dead. This is key. This is key. This is key for our teaching today. Get this in your mind. Before salvation as for you you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you follow the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of those also lived among them at one time gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath. Now when scripture says we were dead it's

not talking about being dead. physically. It's talking about how we are dead spiritually before we surrender our lives to Jesus. Now we're familiar with physical death. Most of us, we've been to a funeral, maybe graveside service. We're familiar with physical death. We know that our bodies die, but what you may not clearly understand is that every human being is more than a body. We are triune beings. God created us spirit, soul, and body. Let me give you a biblical example of this, and what I, this verse right here is really the key verse for our series, the key verse for this six, seven week series that we're going to be in. This is the key verse. 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, here's an example of we're triune beings, may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. So you are spirit, soul, and body. And because Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, you can read about that in the book of Genesis, every human being is born with a dead spirit. Before we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our spirit is dead toward God. Dead does not mean non-existent. Dead means non-active. It's like an iPhone. If you have an Android, I've been praying for you to get delivered, the Lord will cleanse you. I'm just playing, don't get all the fear out of my mouth. It's like an iPhone. This phone, it's a smartphone, it's advanced technology, it has a body, it's expensive and valuable, but the iPhone is dead if the battery is not charged. Now, the phone is full of potential. Just because the battery is present does not mean the phone is active. So we call a phone with no charge dead. The phone won't function. It's without life. Every human being has a spirit inside of their body. But when Jesus is not our Savior, our spirit is not active, it's without power, it lacks life. The Bible says it like this, it's dead. But now, here's what's interesting. When you have a dead spirit, you're still physically alive. You experience emotions, you can eat and go shopping, you're full of personality, you can think, you can feel,

you can succeed, you can raise a family, you can build a business, but you're spiritually unresponsive. You're spiritually disconnected from God. You're breathing but not spiritually alive. Ephesians chapter number 4 verse 18 says it like this, they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their heart. So without Jesus, people are separated from the life of God. They're spiritually dead. This means separation from God. They're living in spiritual darkness. They're spiritually blind. They're in bondage to sin. They're under Satan's authority. They're living in deception. They cannot catch this. They cannot discern spiritual truth. Here's what Paul says to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, from the Holy Spirit, but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. So before Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit seems like foolishness. People are socially functional but spiritually dead at the same time. So I want to help us grow. That's our word of the year as people's churches grow. to grow in our understanding of salvation, especially this Sunday after Easter. And I want us to dive deep. I want us to dive deeper today to get a greater understanding of what it means to be saved, to be born again, to be regenerated. Number two is this, at salvation, your spirit is made alive. Notice Ephesians chapter two,

picking up in verse number four, it says, but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved, and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. So at salvation, you're made alive with Christ. You become alive spiritually. Come on, how many ever been to a place of business and you're trying to get on the internet but you're on your phone and you can't get on and you're frustrated and then you notice you can't get on the Wi-Fi and then you pull up and you try to click on the Wi-Fi and then it asks for a password. And you may be like, why y'all got a password? Why y'all hide the password up in this business? What's the password? Like, I need to get, I'm trying to check something, I can't check, and I cannot get on. The Wi-Fi is there, the issue's not the Wi-Fi. The issue, you have not entered the password. But as soon as you put in the password, you're instantly connected and you gain access to the internet before salvation. You could not access and connect to God and all of his blessings. But as soon as you gave your life to Jesus, God gave you the password, the Holy Spirit,

and now you have access to God. You have access to all of his blessings. The Bible says it like this, you're alive in Christ. Colossians says it like this, Colossians chapter two, verse 13, when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ, forgave all our sins. Just like a dead battery won't respond when you turn on the iPhone, a dead spirit won't respond to God. But when our spirit becomes alive, we can now respond to God. We can respond to the work of the Holy Spirit. We can respond by hearing the Spirit speak to us. We can respond to the Spirit leading us. We're alive. Number three, at salvation, your spirit is born again. John chapter three and verse three, Jesus replied, very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom, notice I'm talking about God's kingdom, the kingdom of God, unless they are born again. So Christians have two births. We are born the first time as babies by our mothers. And then at salvation, our spirit is born again. Ephesians chapter one, verse 13 says, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit at salvation. So at salvation, your spirit is literally born again because the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. You're born again.

Number four is this, at salvation, you go from darkness to light. Ephesians chapter five, verse eight says, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. So as soon as you give your life to Jesus, you go from being dark in your spirit to now having the light of the Lord living inside of you. The light does not improve the darkness, it replaces it. Your spirit literally goes from lights out to lights on. You are now light of the world because the light of Jesus now lives in you by the person of the Holy Spirit, lights on. Number five is this, at salvation, you go from blind to seeing. Your spiritual eyes are opened at salvation. Acts chapter 26, verse 18 says, to open their eyes. Talking about your spiritual eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the power of God. So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. At salvation, God opened, he literally opens your spiritual eyes. So you can see spiritual truth. You see, before salvation, you cannot discern the work of the Holy Spirit. But after salvation, you can now discern spiritual things,

the work of the Holy Spirit. Your spiritual eyes are now opened. Number six is this, that salvation, you become a child of God. This is key. Romans 8, verse 16, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. After salvation, the Holy Spirit will literally testify with your spirit that you are a child of God. And this is so important because when you become a Christian, some of you did last week after Easter. You became a Christian on Easter. You've been a Christian for this last week. And what happens is this, is your mind, your emotions, your flesh, and the devil will tell you that you're not a Christian. Look at all the mistakes you made this last week. Look at them bad habits you still have. What happened to you last week wasn't real. Look at you. Look at you. You're a mess. But the Spirit of God will speak to your spirit. That's what Scripture says, that you're a child of God. No, no, I'm a Christian. No, something's happening on the inside of me. No, I sense something. That's the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. Number seven is this, at salvation,

you gain access to God the Father. This is so important. If you're a brand-new Christian, you may not have realized this. You gained access to God the Father when you gave your life to Jesus. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18 says this, for through him we both have access to the Father by the password, by the Holy Spirit. So just like when you enter the Wi-Fi password, you gain access to the internet, at salvation, you receive the password, the Holy Spirit. And now you have access to God the Father. You know what that means? This is such good news. That means you can approach God with confidence because he's your heavenly Father. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16 says, let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. I think about my four children. Three of them are grown now. But they can still approach their dad with confidence and ask me for whatever they want. And sometimes I say no. But they can ask me. But they're my kids, right? They can come with confidence and I say yes a lot of the time because they're my kids and I love them. And what I want you to understand is you can go to

your heavenly Father and pray bold prayers. He is your Father. The amazing news about being a Christian is you now have access to God through the password, the Holy Spirit. Now I want to camp out here. Here's where I want to spend the remainder of our time. And this is on point number 8. At salvation, you are a new creation. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 16, excuse me, verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, a lot of Christians quote this verse. He is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. At salvation, as soon as a person gives their life to Jesus Christ, they instantly become a new creation. Our spirit is born again. At salvation, a new creation. Our spirit is born again. At salvation, a new creation. Our spirit is born again. Every single Christian is a new creation. If you gave your life to Jesus last week on Easter or if you gave your life to Jesus 40, 50, 60 years ago, you are a new creation. At salvation, every Christian becomes a new creation. You don't get a repaired spirit, you get a reborn one. Your identity changes instantly. Your position changes instantly. The Bible says you're seated with Christ in heavenly places.

Your spirit is alive to God instantly. You have access to God. It changes instantly at salvation. You are spiritually connected to God instantly at salvation. You become spiritually responsive instantly at salvation. Your eternal destination changes instantly at salvation. You gain spiritual sensitivity instantly at salvation. But pastor, if I'm a new creation, Why don't I always feel new? This is where many Christians get confused. They think, if I'm a new creation, why do I struggle so much to live a new life? If I'm a new creation, why am I struggling so much with all this sin? Because, here's the answer, because you are more than a spirit. Remember, you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. At salvation, your spirit becomes a new creation, but you still have the same soul and body. Your soul, which is your mind, your will, and your emotions, they have not become a new creation. See, salvation happens instantly in your spirit, but getting a new soul and body is a process. The Bible calls this process sanctification. Let's go back to our key verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at

the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, sanctification is the process of your soul and your body becoming more and more like Jesus. Your spirit is saved in a moment, but your soul is renewed over time. You're saved in a second, but you're sanctified over a lifetime. So immediately, your spirit becomes a new creation, but your soul and your body do not. So after salvation, you go look in the mirror, you still have the same face. You don't get a new face after salvation. If you had black, brown, or white skin before salvation, you still had the same skin after salvation. You don't get a new skin color. If you weighed 200 pounds before salvation, why don't you wish, girl, how you lose them 50 pounds? I got saved. Lord Jesus, I got saved. I stepped on the scale. Nope. If you weighed 200 pounds before salvation, you weighed 200 pounds after salvation. That's not new. If you spoke English before salvation, you speak English after salvation. You don't all of a sudden start speaking Chinese. I speak Chinese now. I just speak it fluidly. No, you don't.

After salvation, you still have the same mind. You still have the same emotions. You still have all of your memories. You still remember your family. Come on, don't you wish you could forget two or three of them after salvation? I don't know you when I got saved. I don't know you anymore. No, no, no, no, no, no. You remember your family. You remember your upbringing. You remember the pain. You remember the trauma. You remember the good. You remember the bad. John chapter 3 verse 6, flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. Spirit gives birth to spirit. The spirit does not give birth to a new soul or new flesh. Spirit gives birth to spirit. When you become a Christian, your spirit is made new. But you still have the same body and soul. That's why you can be saved and still struggling with hurts, habits, and hang-ups. You may be wondering, well, does God care about my soul and body changing? Absolutely. That's why Paul says in our key verse, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 in verse 23, that God wants to sanctify us through and through. God wants your mind renewed, your emotions whole, and your

body disciplined. God's plan is to sanctify you completely. God doesn't want you living your whole life. He don't want you to live the rest of your life saved, but struggling with the same issues, the same mess, the same junk. I've been dealing with this. Same stuff, 30 years. No, no. See, the Christian life is the struggle of learning to let your alive spirit now lead your still developing soul and body. See, the battle is no longer about deadness or darkness. That's been settled. You're a new creation. The battle's not about deadness or darkness. Now, the battle is about direction and devotion. It's about discipleship and dependence. It's about alignment and surrender. It's about growing and becoming more like Jesus Christ. Our word of the year at People's Church is? Grow. It's grow. God's will is for your soul and your body to grow, to become more and more like Jesus. But if you don't understand how God made you, spirit, soul, and body, you will misjudge how God matures you, how he grows you, how he develops you. You see, at salvation, a new birth is immediate, but new habits are not.

God gives you a new heart at salvation, but not a new personality. Salvation changes your position, but not your patterns. Grace is instant, but growth is intentional. What God saves in a moment, he sanctifies over time. Born again, understand? You can have a born again. You're a born again, healed spirit does not guarantee a healthy soul. You can love God and still have a conflicted and struggling life. I love you, God, but I'm conflicted. I love you, God, but I'm struggling. We're gonna talk about that next week. But here's the good news. I do have good news for you right now. Here's the good news today. At salvation, now that the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, you and I now have the ability to live in freedom, to live in wholeness, and to live a new life. We now have the ability as children of God to be led by the Holy Spirit instead of being led by our soul and our body. And the next several weeks of this series, here's what we're gonna do. It's all about helping you learn how to get your soul and your body under the control of the Holy Spirit. I don't care how long you've been a Christian. I don't care how long you struggle.

Hear your pastor. You don't have to keep struggling with the same issues over and over and over and over again. You really can live in freedom, wholeness, and victory. You can, in Jesus' name. And we're gonna teach you how through God's word in this series. Today, here's what I'm asking you to do. I'm asking you to do two things. First, no matter how much you're struggling in your soul and your body, I want you to make up your mind right now that you're determined to grow. Just make up your mind. Just by faith. Ooh, I'm struggling like crap, but I'm gonna grow. Things are gonna change. It's gonna get better. You're determined to become more and more like Jesus in your soul and your body. I want you to commit to attending every week of this series. And if you miss a week, get on YouTube and watch the message so you can gain new tools to help you overcome hurts, habits, and hangups. And maybe you've been struggling with for years. You're a new creation, and God's will is for you to live like a new creation. I'm gonna say that again. You're a new creation. God's will for you is to live like a new creation.

Here's the second thing I'm gonna ask you to do. If you are determined to live like a new creation, if you're serious about just saying, God, I surrender all of me. We sing about it today. My whole life, my body, my soul, my spirit. I wanna surrender fully to God. I want you to get water baptized today. Water baptism is the first physical act that says, God, I'm fully surrendering to you. Baptism. It's the first act that declares my whole life belongs to God. Baptism is the moment your body participates in what your spirit has already experienced. I like how Paul says it in Romans chapter six, verse three and four. He says, do you not know that all of us have been baptized into Christ Jesus? We're baptized into. his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God we too might walk I love this might walk in newness of life walking in newness of life begins with baptism if you're committed to living a new life it begins by getting water baptized baptism is your first step into this new life salvation happens internally baptism happens externally salvation is received by faith baptism is expressed through obedience salvation is a miracle of the heart baptism is a movement of the body salvation is God's work in you baptism is your response to it salvation is private surrender baptism is public surrender salvation is your internal yes to God baptism is your external yes to God salvation is inward

transformation baptism is outward identification salvation is the birth of your spirit baptism is the burial of your old life salvation settles your eternity baptism signals your new identity salvation is getting married to God baptism is putting on your wedding ring salvation is the start of new life baptism is the first step into the new life when you go under the water you're saying my mind I'm still strong I got some struggles but I'm saying my spirit's new and now God I'm saying my mind my will my body my spirit it all belongs to you I'm going underneath that water I'm saying God all of me belongs to you my identity has changed my leader and Lord has shifted and I'm taking my first step to live like the new creation that I am today's your day today is your day to begin to live like the new creation God created you to be father I love you today I thank you for your word I thank you today Lord that you're working deep in our hearts there's a lot of people that are hearing this message saved but struggling the same hurts habits and hang-ups for years and I thank you for this series that you're gonna bring freedom and healing and victory I thank you Lord you're gonna sanctify us you're gonna grow us you're gonna mature us I thank you that our soul and our body is gonna come in light to alignment to what the Holy Spirit wants for our lives have your way in us Lord we say yes in Jesus name his eyes are still closed and heads are bowed I'm talking to some people that don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior you never confessed Jesus with your mouth and believe it in your heart they got a raisin from the dead you never surrendered your life to him today is your day to do that to have your sins forgiven to become a new creation today's your day today's your day there are others of you that prayed this prayer months ago years ago and yet you drifted away from the Lord you're not back in the world you're back living a life that doesn't honor God you're back following your soul and your flesh not even trying to follow God and today's your day to recommit your life to the Lord would you do that would you rededicate your life and say God I surrender all maybe maybe you said pastor you know I'm ashamed because I rededicated my life two years ago or six months ago and I'm back in the world

again that's okay come home he's a God of grace he's a God of mercy you come home today you get things right with the Lord today if that's you as I count to three would you shoot your hand high in the air and I want to lead you in a prayer to say yes to Jesus and have your sins forgiven one two three just lift your hand high right now say pastor that's me see your hand I see your hand see your hand there see your hand so awesome see your hand come on every location just lift it high Midwest City Northwest come on Edmond just lift it high ladies at Mabel Bassett just lift it high online click the raise your hand button that's me that's me that's me just I'm gonna ask for every hand that's raised to pray this prayer with me see your hand there just pray this prayer with me confess it with your mouth believe it in your heart God's gonna wash away your sins pray with me now Heavenly Father I turn away from my sin and I turn my life over to Jesus I confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and I will live for Jesus the rest of my life you have all of me I'm yours in Jesus name I pray. As eyes are still closed and heads are still bowed I'm talking to some people as well today that you need to start walking in newness of life. And today is your day, your first step to get water baptized. That's the first step to this new life. It's to say God I surrender all to you. I surrender my mind, my body to you and I'm gonna get water baptized today. I'm gonna surrender all. And I want you to take this step. We have everything that you need to get water baptized after this service. Our campus pastors at every location will give you directions about that. But we got towels and clothes and hair nets and undergarments and all that you need to get water baptized today. We have everything that you need. All that you need now is a willing heart and a heart that says I surrender to you God. My whole life belongs to you and I'm taking that step and I'm getting water baptized today. If that's you, you're taking that step and maybe you took it years ago for the wrong reasons but it wasn't because your whole life belongs to God. It was because you were pressured by family. You did it for friends. You did it for grandma or your parents but

now today you're like no no no not for anybody else. Today I'm getting water baptized again because my whole life belongs to Jesus and I'm declaring it. I'm saying I'm living like a new creation that I am. If that's you, would you just as I count to three shoot your hand high in the air and I just want to recognize you before I turn the service over. One, two, three. You want to go public today with your faith by getting water baptized. Just shoot your hand up high. That's it. Every location. That's it. So awesome. So awesome. See your hand there. Others today. Others today. Just shoot it high. Shoot it high. That's it. Come on up. Midwest City, Northwest. Edmond just lives it high. I'm making that decision today. Go public with my faith. So awesome. So awesome. Come on. Would you put your hands together? Would you celebrate all those that said yes to Jesus today? Come on. You can do better than that. Give God praise. I'll turn it over to all of our locations. Praise the Lord. We are celebrating with every one of you and you know some of you here today, you said yes to Jesus and your spirit was made new. Some of you are gonna go public in baptism and you're saying man God I want my body and my soul to become new. I'm dying to my old way. Here's what I know. Every one of us needs to declare God I need you in my life to make me more like you. Amen. Before we leave today can we declare that God my whole life for your glory. Would you stand up with me all over this room. Come on let's declare this. Let's sing this out together. Let's sing it one more time. Come on declare it church. My whole life. Come on did you enjoy that word today? Come on what a powerful powerful word. Well church family you do not want to miss next week. The People's Church Choir is back. Invite your family, friends. It's gonna be a wonderful wonderful time together. If you're a guest with us today and you're looking for a home church I hope you don't have to look any further. You are among some of the kindest and most loving people in all of Oklahoma. Give us a year of your life. Really get plugged in. Really go all in and watch what God will do in and through your life. If you have kids with us today we have free ice cream for all the kids. The way that they can pick it up today if they're in our PC Kids

environments today they'll get a ticket and that ticket they can pick up their ice cream. If they're joining you here in the auditorium you can go straight to the ice cream area which is located in our main lobby right through these doors next to our coffee bar. So you can take the kids there. We have free ice cream for all the kids today. Hey we're famous. here at People's Church and we shout it every service because we do believe it. Come on, would you shout it with me on three? One, two, three. We're family. God bless your church.