Red Flags And Roses | The Power Of Proximity | Jeremy DeWeerdt

Well, today we are wrapping up our relationship series and I'm speaking the last message in this series. I've called it the power of proximity. I'm talking about the kind of impact those closest to you have, the ones that are close in proximity, they have a power in your life. And so therefore we gotta be careful who's in that inner circle. And if City First Church has been your home for any amount of time, you've probably heard me say this statement like 10,000 times over the last 35 years. Show me your friends and I will show you your future. Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. Now, many of us have heard this so much that sometimes we listen to it and we don't understand the power and the impact that's in that statement, because it's really true. And so sometimes we don't take it as seriously as we should because we've heard it so many times. But I will say that over the decades of pastoring that I've done, and over the decades that I've lived my own personal experiences, today's topic is one of the most defining conversations that you can have about who actually gets up close to you. Because here's the reason why, relationships are never neutral.

They're either growing in a positive way, or they're shrinking in a negative way, or they have positive influence or they have negative influence. This goes for romantic relationships, it goes for friendships, it goes for business partnerships, it goes for classmates and coworkers and people that are a part of your family. Every relationship has energy, you could say, and it's going in a direction. So I want us today though, I'm gonna primarily focus on just those people that are the closest to you. Not gonna talk about all your friends, I'm not gonna talk about all your business coworkers or people that you're on the job site with or whatever, I'm talking about those that are very close. And here's the reason why, every close connection carries powerful influence in your life. Because your heart was designed by God to bond with somebody else and some other people, and who you bond to will shape what you become. It's a part of your actual makeup that you will bond with people. And I put together this little rhyme, it's a little cheesy, but I hope you remember it. Whoever has your ear shapes your year. So right now you're like, I wanna have a new 2026.

Well, if you're still having the old friendship circle that's negative, speaking into your life, you're gonna have another 2025. It won't give you a new year because whoever has your ear will shape your year. No matter how strong you are. Some of you are like going, no man, I'm independent, no one can influence me, baloney, all right? Every person, no matter how old you are, how young you are. In fact, there's various types of relationships and friendships that we have in our lives. I'm gonna show you a graphic here of a bullseye. This is like a target. And that little dot in the middle, that's you. Okay, that's you. And every circle around, the closer to the dot, the more influence they have. So that inner circle, the one that's right around the dot, that's the one I'm talking about today. I'm not talking about the other circles. Those other circles could be your classmates or other coworkers or extended family or whatever else. Those are all very important people, but the further out you go from the dot, the less influence those people have on your life. I'm talking about that inner circle today. I wanna talk about the closest circle because God designed you for connection with others, but not every connection is covenant. In other words, not everyone should get

into that inner circle. This is not a sermon today about you being a diva or you being like, you know, too cool for school or haughty or whatever else. And it's like, I'm not gonna let people, no, no, no. This is about wisdom. Who is in that circle that's around you? I think it's interesting before sin entered the world. So we're talking way back in the garden, okay? Way, way back, way, way back, Genesis chapter one, okay? When God created Adam, way back when in the garden before there was sin, there was a significant problem. It's kind of hard to understand because you're like, well, wait a minute, it's paradise. There wasn't any sin, no sickness, no sorrow, no pain. If there was a problem, yes. In fact, God himself pointed it out, Genesis chapter two, verse 18, this is what he said. He said, then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone. And every wife said, amen. Because we're not sure if the kids will get fed or they'll get to bed before midnight, right? But there's something here that's interesting. If you really think about it, this is a very strange statement. Adam is created in a perfect environment. No like sin, no problems, no stress. And he has perfect communion with God. In other words, a perfect relationship with God.

And God said, yeah, but he's still lacking. That's kind of weird. Well, wait a minute. Is he lacking? He has a perfect relationship with God. No, no, it's not that he's lacking because that God somehow is not enough. No, God is enough. He is more than enough. But the way that God designed you and I is he designed us to have a need for connection with other humans. It's kind of like how he designed us to need oxygen. It's something we just need. It's not that God isn't enough. It's more that he designed us to have a relationship. And so he created Eve, God created Eve. And then obviously family after that and friendships and everything in the world began to evolve. And so even though we're made for connection, that doesn't mean that everyone in your life should have access to your soul. All right, you hear that? Why? Because we form spiritual connection with those closest to us. And you have maybe never heard us talk about this before. You've never thought of it before. But the people in that inner circle, that's just not just like, hey, those are my bros

or that's my husband or my wife or boyfriend or girlfriend or what. No, no, no. There's a spiritual connection there because we are spiritual creatures. Now you may not think that because you're like, well, I just have a physical body. No, no, no. We're made in the image of God. And if we're made in the image of God, God is a spiritual being, which means there's an element of us that is spiritual. The Bible talks about this, points to it, but we kind of frame it in modern day language like this, body, soul, spirit. Do you know we're also a trinity? We're made in the image of a trinity and we're a trinity, body, soul, and spirit. We're made in the image of God. Therefore, there's a part of us that is deeply spiritual, even people that are atheistic that don't believe in God. There's a part of them that is spiritual. And here's what I know. If you've ever been at the bedside of someone who is passing from this life into the next life, and maybe it was a grandpa or somebody that was a relative or a friend. And if you've ever been in that moment where a person takes their last breath, something leaves them.

Spirit and soul leaves at that moment. And the body, the physical body is left, but you know what? We're more than just a physical body. And in that moment, it becomes evident to me. And as a pastor, I've sat in countless hospital rooms where this has happened. Something changes, why? Because we are spiritual. We have a soul. And at that moment, that departs and goes to the next life. So here's the thing, all that to say, when we are alive here, we are spiritual, we are soulish, and who we allow into that inner circle, there becomes soul ties, there becomes soulish bonds, spiritual bonds between us. This is best like showed in the Old Testament. There's a story, I'm not gonna actually drill down in this. I have a whole other passage I'm gonna preach on today. But there's a story of a person by the name of David who would eventually become king of Israel, and another person by the name of Jonathan. And they are like blood brothers. They're best friends. Jonathan's dad is the current king of Israel. His name is Saul. And the Bible says in 1 Samuel 18, verse one, after David had finished talking to King Saul, Jonathan, his son, became one in spirit with David. One in spirit.

This is not a romantic relationship. The reason I pointed this out is this. We many times think when we get into a romantic relationship or we get married, then we're one in spirit, right? But I will tell you this, that that doesn't mean it's just romantic relationships. Who's ever in your inner circle, your best friend, the person who is closest to you, you become soulishly tied, and there is a spiritual connection. in there, it's a spiritual bond. Because within a relationship, repetitive actions or attitudes create spiritual habits. They create spiritual habits. Now these could be good, or these could be bad. I guarantee you, I could tell by the room right now, some of you are like, I've never thought about this before. You need to think about this, because you gotta be picky about who gets up close to you. Because you are going to tie your heart to their heart. You're going, soulishly, you're gonna tie, spiritually, there's gonna be a tie there. Let me ask this. Have you ever been around somebody, or maybe you know somebody, that whenever you're with them, it's just easy to get in trouble? Just easy to get in trouble. You know, it's just easy. I mean, it's like, no matter what you're like outside of that friendship or that relationship,

when you're in that relationship, it's just like, man, it's like gas and a match, right? And it's easier to become sarcastic, or do things you shouldn't do. Things that, you know, that in a sense, tell jokes that maybe, you know, your mama wouldn't be proud of. Wouldn't, and conversely, how about this? Are there anybody or any person in your life that when you're with them, it's easier to do the right things? Why is that? Why is it with some people, it's easy to do the wrong things? And others, it's easy to do the right things. And yes, there's influence. I know there's influence. We're gonna talk about that in a moment. But I even think there's a spiritual reason. I think it's because you have formed spiritual habits with that person that you default to when you're with them. And old spiritual habits die hard. And new spiritual habits, to form them is really difficult when you already have kind of a path that you've traveled with somebody, and now you have to form a new path. It's difficult. It's easier just to default to the old habits you used to have. I remember before I got saved,

before I gave my life to Jesus, I had some really great friends. And we hung out a lot. We were like super, super close. We did a lot of dumb, bad things, as college students do. And, you know, we partied a lot together. We, yeah, excessive drinking, lots of conversations that I cannot repeat in church. And I will tell you, once I did give my life to Jesus, and I knew that I needed to make some decisions to head my life in a different direction than that friendship group, that I really loved them. They are great guys. And here's the problem, is that when I tried to like change my life, whenever I would hang back out with them, I would do the old things. Because we had formed these habits together. You know, it wasn't because I was better or more holy that I had to create some distance. It was because I found myself doing the things that were the old Jeremy and not the new Jeremy. And they weren't too interested in going the direction of Jesus like I was going. We kind of had to create some distance. And I know it created a little bit of maybe frustration on their part, and I tried to communicate. It's nothing personal. It's just I wanted to live a different life and such.

Here's the problem, here's the problem. Though I had made a decision to make Jesus the leader and the forgiver of my life, my old spiritual habits were still strong. And I had all the good intentions of the world, of like, well, we're gonna go out tonight and I'm not gonna get lit. Because I'm a Christian now. And you know what I would do? I'd go out with them and I'd get lit. Why? Because we had formed these habits together and it was very hard. Now, I think some of you know what I'm talking about, right? Like you spend time with that one person, all of a sudden you find yourself going back to old sinful you that, you know, like the things that you used to do or maybe start hanging around that one person and pretty soon you start drinking too much. You start talking in ways that you shouldn't. You start joking about things or doing certain things that you shouldn't. Or maybe, I mean, let's even get real. Like I hear people will confess this to me from time to time. They'll be like, you know what? I went back and hung out with that person for a night. We slept together again. And I went home and I'm like, what are we doing?

Why did I do this? It's because you have formed a spiritual bond with these people. They're the ones that are a part of your inner circle. And unfortunately, you in the middle of that inner circle, you're wanting to go a different direction in your life, but they're not. and they have the most say. Whoever has your ear shapes your year. You can have all the good intentions in the world, but can I be honest with you? Good intentions are not enough. The road of regret is paved with good intentions when traveled with bad company. So here's the thing. You can be like, I really wanna, but that doesn't mean you're gonna, all right? Habits, many times will trump good intentions nine out of 10 times. So you gotta be careful. You gotta be very picky about who gets in that inner circle. Who has your ear? Who has your heart? Who you tie your soul to? Because here's what I know. Most people become like who they hang around the most. You start to take on habits and worldviews and all these things. And those actions, those decisions, those behaviors become the default.

This is true for all ages. I'm not just talking to 16 year olds today. I'm talking to 65 year olds today. Some of the 65 year olds in here, you're hanging around negative Ned and negative Nancy. And then you go home at night and you're like, why do I feel so negative? It's because they are in your inner circle. The apostle Paul is writing a little church in a city called Corinth. And we see his letters in what are now called the New Testament. We call them books, but they were originally letters. First and second Corinthians. Let me give you a little history on Corinth. Corinth in 44 BC was totally rebuilt by Julius Caesar because it had been destroyed. And so he built it up to be a modern city. About a hundred years later, Paul comes along and it's around 50, 52 AD. And he has planted a church in Corinth. It's a little group of Christ followers there. And they're living in this modern city and Paul is writing them. And the problem here is this, is that Corinth was full of rich, modern, influential people. It was a powerhouse location. It would be like modern day if Miami and Las Vegas had a baby.

That was Corinth. It was like super trendy, full of lots of money, very diverse, lots of cultures, and lots of sex and partying and pleasure all wrapped up into one. Here's this little church trying to be holy. And here's the thing, the people that are a part of the church used to be the ones out there having sex and partying and all kinds of pleasure seeking. So now they're Christians and they're going to church. And Paul is trying to write them and say, hey, listen, let me show you the way you're supposed to live, but here's the problem. You still have people in your inner circle that are influencing you in a bad way. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, it says this. Paul says, do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? Or what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Now, Belial, it's an old fashioned way of saying basically wickedness or Satan. So it's kind of a name for Satan. So you could read it as, what harmony is there between Christ and Satan? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

And God has said, now Paul's gonna quote some Old Testament verses. He says this, I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord, touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Now, as I read that, there are some statements in there that feel a little unsettling. Like it almost feels like Paul is writing, pitting Christians against those that don't have faith. He's almost making it sound like we should go build a commune somewhere and contemplate our belly button in prayer and store up a bunch of canned goods and just wait for the rapture or something like that. He almost is giving a theme of, you know what? Don't hang around anybody who doesn't believe in Jesus. Is Paul saying that we are to isolate ourselves from God? of the world, the answer to that is no. That's not what Paul is saying here. He is not talking about all the people that you're friends with. He is not talking about all the people that you're acquaintances with. He's talking specifically about the inner circle. Let me show you that graphic again.

He's talking only about the circle in blue right here. He is not talking about your neighbor. He's not talking about your unchurched coworker. He's not talking about the person that you go get coffee from every morning that doesn't believe in God and instead has a pluralistic worldview. And whatever it is, he's not talking about witnessing. He's not talking about loving your neighbor. He's talking about just those that are in that inner circle, the ones that have the greatest influence on you. He's saying don't create spiritual bonds with those that don't have faith because you're gonna become like the ones that you hang out with. How can you form godly spiritual habits with someone who doesn't follow God? That's what he's saying. He's saying whoever you allow into that inner circle has your ear, shapes your ear. They're the ones that are gonna influence you the most. You're gonna become like them. And the most important part of you, City First, is your faith. That's the most important part of you. So if your faith is in Jesus, how do you have a soul tie or a spiritual kind of connection with someone who doesn't care about Jesus? So Paul uses this term, don't be yoked.

Now, most of us in here are not farmers, and even if we are farmers, we haven't probably used yokes for like the last 150 years, right? But this is a picture right here of a yoke. It was kind of a wood beam you'd put between two oxen and they would, in a sense, put a plow on the back of it or a cart or whatever. And Paul is saying you cannot be unequally yoked. In other words, imagine if one of these animals was much larger than the other. Imagine if one was stronger than the other. Imagine if one was an adult and one was a small calf, all right, what happens if you're not equally yoked? In other words, you aren't together in the push or in the pull. Well, what happens is you get all wonky. So the stronger ox is starting to do this and the younger one is doing this and you start going in circles. And this is why some of our relationships are spinning in circles. It's because only one of us is praying and only one of us is trying to follow Jesus. And only one of us is trying to have the fruits of the Spirit and is seeking holiness and the other one is not. And so the life, the friendship, the relationship is doing circles. This has nothing to do with loving your neighbor.

Paul is not in any way, shape or form because in the rest of his letters and even in other parts of Corinthians, he's talking about loving people that are far from faith. He's talking about reaching people that are far from faith. He's talking about befriending and sharing the gospel. So this is not like being isolationist at all. Instead, he's specifically talking about the people that you create spiritual bonds with. You know, I'd say this, you can love without yoking. That's a weird point. The minute I wrote that, I was like, I don't think I've ever preached this in 35 years. Love without yoking. But in other words, you can love people but you don't have to give your soul to them. See, those people are the ones that are in inner circle. So Paul's instructing them, guard your life by guarding your inner circle because the closer the bond, the deeper the influence that person has on your life. And you can love everyone. You can love everyone without linking your destiny to them. You hear that? Because close relationships are spiritually formative relationships. And I know what some of you are thinking. And I just wanna like point out the elephant in the room for a moment, as they say. And that is that some of you right now,

you are in a marriage and maybe your soulmate, your spouse is not a person of faith. And maybe you came to faith after you got saved or maybe you didn't know anything that I'm talking about today. And maybe you married somebody and you really love them and they love you, but they just don't follow Christ. So what do you do in that circumstance? Well, that's really a whole other very complex and delicate, fragile conversation to have. So I am not in any way, shape or form saying like, well, you need to just distance yourself or nothing like that. What I am saying is this. is that you are gonna have to go on a journey of praying for your spouse and showing love and Christ-likeness to your spouse and believing that someday, maybe your spouse is going to come to faith. And I am actually, I lived up close to this, and I don't think my parents would mind me saying this. My mom was a Christ follower well before I was, or my dad, and then in 1990, I decided to follow Jesus. But my dad had not, he did not have a faith. And for 13 years after I gave my life to Jesus, my mom and I, and many other people, we prayed for my dad's salvation. And 13 years later, he gave his life to Jesus. And so there is hope, there's hope. I have spouses talk to me all the time,

and they're like, my spouse is not saved, and you know, I'm heartbroken, they don't come to church with me and things like that. Let me just tell you, let my little testimony there give you hope, give you hope. You model Jesus to the best of your ability, you continue to pray, you get some other people in that inner circle that are gonna pray for your spouse, and let's believe that God's gonna get them, all right? Let's just believe that God's love is going to break through. So today I wanna end with painting for you a picture of what I think some attributes should be for people that are in the inner circle of your life, whether that be a romantic-like relationship or a best friend relationship. And I would even say this, even a business partner relationship to a degree. Like the people that are most tied to your destiny, what are the attributes that they should have? Now, nobody's gonna be living up to all five of these, all right, but I'm painting a target for you and what you should look at. The first thing is this, and this one I've already talked about, but someone who follows Jesus and inspires you to do the same. That is the number one thing you should look at. That the person that's in your inner circle, the person that you date, the person that you marry,

the person that you give your heart to should be someone that you love. Someone who also follows Jesus and inspires you to do the same. There's a shared faith. They're not just saying they're a Christian. I'm talking that they truly are following Jesus to the best of their ability. Not perfect, but they pray. And they have a faith. And they're not trying to pull you away from the faith that you have in Jesus. And they did the best of their ability, they tried to make Jesus the center of their life. They're not perfect. Like you're not perfect, but that's there. That's the number one thing. Number two is this, they help you get better. They help you get better. They look at the word of God and they say, this is the way we're supposed to live. And guess what? They're helping you get better by not trying to tempt you to do the wrong things. Some people I watch, they're in relationships and the people say they love each other, they're best friends, but there's one of the parties that's constantly like tempting the other person to do things they shouldn't do. Like that's not good.

That's not good. In other words, they really want you to get better. That's the person that should be in your inner circle. Number three, they tell you the truth. They tell you the truth because godly relationships are not built on pretending. You gotta speak truth to one another. And it's weird because we've somehow in our culture recently like in the last five, 10 years or whatever, we've made it where only people are in our inner circle that affirm the snot out of us and tell us what we wanna hear. Well, if that's true, you are never gonna develop into the leader or fulfill the purpose that God has for your life because you need people in your life that are gonna tell you truth and it may hurt your feelings sometimes. And guess what? It's okay. Here's the reason why. They honestly look at you and they say, you could get better in this area. See, that's real love. Real love is not lying to you and making you feel good. Real love is carefully, strategically, kindly, and lovingly, but sometimes very firmly saying what's true. Bible says this in Proverbs chapter 27, verse 17. It says, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

You take two pieces of iron and you start doing this, what happens? Sparks. Sometimes the people in your inner circle create sparks. That's okay. It's okay because you know that they love you. Jen does this for me all the time. Like literally. She'll be like, Jare, you can't say that. You can't do that. When you were talking and you blah, blah, blah, you had an edge in your voice. I mean, she'll say that stuff to me. Do I like it? No, I don't like it at all. I'd rather she just be like, Jare, you are awesome. You are amazing. And she says that from time to time too. But my point is this, is that she tells me the truth. And I tell her the truth. There are times I'll look at her and be like, you know what, shouldn't have done that. You see, we make each other better. Iron sharpens iron, sparks sometimes. But I allow people into my inner circle that are gonna speak truth to me that make me better, not just criticize me. So there's a difference. The fourth thing is this, they are loyal and they are trustworthy.

They genuinely care about you. They love you with a Christ-like love. They are faithful. They don't just show up when it's convenient. They are safe. You need people like that in your inner circle. You need people that are trustworthy. There is a circle of love and trust and honesty. And the last thing is this, that they encourage. They encourage. I love the word encourage because it basically means to pour courage into, like pour in courage, encourage. You need people that are gonna champion you. They want your life to win. I have people in my inner circle that I know to their core, they want my life to win. And I am in their circle. And I, to the core, want their life to win. There's no competition. There's no weirdness. It's something where there really is encouragement because in our culture, everyone is tearing each other down. And I love what it says in 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul writes, so encourage each other and build each other up. In a culture that tears each other down, you need in that inner circle, a person or a couple people or a few people that are building you up.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking to yourself, man, I wish I could find some people like that to be in my inner circle. And my answer to that is this, like attracts like. So in other words, you live out and become what you desire to have. So if you can't find some people like that to be in your inner circle, it's better to have a short season of loneliness than a long season of regret of having the wrong people in the inner circle. So you wait, you pray, you be picky. I'm not, again, I'm not advocating putting up walls and all the other things that are defense mechanisms that are usually there because of hurt. I'm talking about you be very picky about who gets access to your soul and who you tie your spirit to. So as we close, two questions before I pray and I want you to think about it and I'm gonna pray about these questions. The first one is, are there any relationships pulling me away from God? Are there any relationships pulling me away from God? You're gonna need to apply some wisdom to that relationship or those relationships. If it's some good friends and it seems like every time you get together you slip into old habits,

well, it might mean that you need to maybe not hang out with those old friends to the same degree that you used to. Maybe it's in different environments. Maybe it's going to coffee instead of going to the bar. So what is it? Are there people that are pulling you away from faith? Are they creating confusion in your faith? Are they disrupting your faith? Well, you need to be careful because they're probably in that inner circle and they probably shouldn't be. Second thing is this, second question is, am I becoming the kind of person I want in my inner circle? See, these questions go both directions. We could make it all easy and make it all about them and those people need to get better and I'll let them in my inner circle. But the second question is about me. It's about you. Are you becoming the person that you want in your inner circle? Are you becoming those five things? Are there things? that you need to improve upon. Do some inventory. Make some assessments on those five attributes. Score yourself on them. And say, God, I wanna become better

in the ones that I'm weakest. So as we pray, think about that. Anybody pulling you away? Probably need to do something about that. And then for yourself, are you becoming the kind of person you want to be in your circle someday? Let's pray. Father, I thank you. I thank you, you built us for a relationship. We see that all the way back in Genesis. It's not good for us to be alone. So Lord, I ask that you would help us to be very careful and wise about who we allow into our inner circle. The ones that shape us, form us, that we create spiritual habits with. We tie our souls and our hearts together. God, may we be careful. May we have wisdom. It may mean we have to distance ourself with some people. It may mean that we have to get into a life group and go find some new people. It may mean that we need to break off a dating relationship. It may mean that we need to have an honest conversation with someone who's a good friend and say we can do better as friends. Lord, I just pray, give us wisdom today because we want the people in our inner circle to make us more in love with you.

Obviously that's our responsibility, but they help us. They champion us. They encourage us. They confront us. They pray for us. Lord, we thank you in Jesus' name. With every head bowed and every eye closed, if you say real quickly, I've never given my life to Jesus and you wanna do that, it's not joining a church. Today is not a membership class or anything like that, so it's not joining a church. It's just if you say I'm listening to all this and listening about this relationship with Jesus, I've never done that before. Well, today can be your day. You don't have to wait. And again, I'm not gonna make you do anything. I'm not gonna make you come forward or nothing like that. I'm just gonna have you raise your hand. I'm gonna pray for you. If you say, that's me, I wanna make Jesus the leader of my life. I wanna ask for forgiveness of all my sin, and I wanna have a new life in God. If that's you, just go ahead and raise your hand and put it right back down. Just put them up. Yeah, hands are up everywhere. Hands are up everywhere.

I guarantee it, all locations. Let me pray for you, all right? Heavenly Father, I thank you for those that raised their hand and I ask that you would just come into their heart. Lord, by raising their hand, they're saying they wanna make you Lord. They want forgiveness for their sin. So God, I pray that you would give them a new life. I pray that Lord, you would come in and show your love, how much you care about them. You're concerned about them, that you created them. And ever since the beginning of time, you have waited for this moment. Lord, we thank you. We love you in Jesus name. Everybody said, amen, amen, amen. All right. Well, what an amazing message from Pastor Jeremy. And I just really wanna quickly speak to individuals who maybe you wanna make that decision or you made that decision to follow Jesus. That is the best decision you could make on a Sunday like this when we're talking about our prioritizing our relationships with people. And it's a strong kind of thing when we know that in order to have strong relationships with other people we have to have strong relationships with God first. And so we wanna encourage you to do a couple of things. First off, tell someone you made that decision to follow Jesus.

That is the best decision you could ever make. And then also we have a free resource for you. If you scan the QR code on the screen or visit our website, it's called our new beginning resource. It's a 14 day devotional that really helps answer the question of what does a relationship with Jesus look like? So we highly encourage you to check that out and it's gonna be a great day. And then also we wanna let you know, we have something special around here called Growth Track. And we believe everybody should go through Growth Track, whether you've been with us a day or a decade, this is such a powerful experience to be able to discover your divine design, get connected here, get connected to a life group and a dream team and everything. It's just a, it's a great experience. And so it's four weeks, it starts the first Sunday of every month. You can go to cityfirst.church forward slash growth track, but let's go ahead and check that out. Starts today and then it starts again the first Sunday of every month. Yes, and we want to encourage you to download the City First Church app because on there you can send prayer requests, you can also practice praying over other people's needs and their prayer requests. Because as it says in Jesus's word,

the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. We believe in the power of prayer around here at City First Church. And we wanna encourage you. That's the best thing that you can do to grow in your relationship with God. a physical location, we'd love for you to come in person. We're praying for you, and we'll see you right back here next week.