Stand Firm and Act Like Men

Hey, happy Father's Day to all the dads today. I pray you feel very, very blessed. And we actually have something special for you today for all the men in the house. Two weeks from now, we are doing At The Movies and we've been talking about it. It's amazing to see the lives changed. In fact, we have more people come to faith in Christ during At The Movies than any other message series during the year. The perfect time to bring people who don't normally come to church. To date, we are in the message series called Book Club. Next week, we have my good friend, Pastor Torin Wells. You probably know him as a worship artist. He's also an amazing preacher of God's word. Today, we have the pastor from the Church of 1122. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the book, Stand Firm and Act Like Men. His assignment is to speak directly to the men. Now, let me tell you very clearly, ladies, God's word speaks to everyone. So you don't get a pass, lean in, let God speak to all of you today. Would you please help me welcome my good friend, Pastor Joby Martin. Thank you, brother. Thank you. It is quite the honor to be here. Pastor Craig, Amy, thank you for the opportunity.

If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, we're gonna be in 1 Peter chapter five. I'll meet you there in just a couple of minutes. I wrote this book last year, Stand Firm and Act Like Men, because how many of you know that when men lead and love well, everybody flourishes? And so, ladies, I'm going to be talking to the men, but you're smart enough to make all of the connections. They're not. So I have to put this thing on the bottom shelf. The Bible has so much good news for men, that if you're a man, that was God's idea. You don't have to apologize for being a man. In 1 Corinthians chapter 16, 13 and 14, this is where I got the title of the book from. The Bible says, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. And the way that I see that, the imperative, act like men, is like the hub in the middle of the wheel, and then the instructions around it are how we are to do that. And so we live in a world where you even have to define what is a man. What it means to stand up and act like a man is first and foremost, you've got to bend your knee to the God-man, Jesus Christ. And so the Apostle Paul says, be watchful, or watch out, because we are at war. Very few people woke up this morning realizing

that we have an enemy who is a thief, and he only wants to steal, kill, and destroy. And if you don't know that you're about to get in a fight, you're always gonna lose. You know what a sucker punch is? Some of you look like you know what a sucker punch is. When punches are about to happen, and you didn't know punches were gonna happen, and you're the sucker. And the enemy, if he can take out the man who was put on that wall to defend and protect those that he loves and care for, our families, our community, our churches, our nation, then by definition, those that we love most will be left defenseless. The reason I want to go to 1 Peter chapter five is Peter is talking to the men in his church, and he gives us, he gives us kind of the photo negative of what men ought to be doing in order to fight against the attacks, the methods, the schemes of the enemy. 1 Peter chapter five, beginning in verse six says this. Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober minded, here's our word, be watchful. That means, like if you served in the military, first and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you. But when you were on watch, you know that you were on that wall to defend.

The apostle Paul says, be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world, and after you have suffered a little while. The God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. What I wanna take a look at, this is not an exhaustive list, but the way I see this text is Peter is showing us at least five ways that men are typically taken off of that wall by the schemes of the enemy. The first one I see is this, is pride, is pride. This is why the apostle, this is why Peter says, humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. And pride is really hard to see in yourself because you like what's looking back in the mirror. So men, are you prideful? Do you demand credit? Do you demand a thank you? Here's how you know if you're prideful. When you look at a group photo, do you determine it's an okay photo based solely on you in the picture? And it's so hard to see in ourselves. In fact, if right now you're thinking,

I need to send this to my brother-in-law, you're the prideful one. Pride is when we just think too highly of ourself instead of thinking of who we are in light of the character and nature of the perfect, almighty, holy, and just God. And here's the thing. Peter says, humble yourself. Humility is not a feeling, humility is a posture. And I don't know if you've read to the end of the book, but you've only got two options. You're gonna bow or you're gonna bow. Those are your options. Sometimes people at my church will ask me, they'll say, when I meet Jesus, I'm gonna ask, no, you ain't gonna ask anything. I don't know if you realize this, but one day the trumpet will blast, the heavens will open up, Jesus is gonna return with fire in his eyes and a sword out of his mouth and tattoos on his quads. It says king of kings and lord of lords. I don't think it's a sharpie. He's gonna come back dressed in white to go to battle. You know who wears white to a fight? Somebody that knows they're gonna win and it ain't gonna take long. And every tongue will confess and every knee will bow because Jesus is Lord. He will either be Lord of your salvation

or Lord of your judgment, but he is Lord's. Men, are you prideful? Well, God has given us the antidote against pride. And it's worship. It's worship. Oh, you see, when we worship, it's an exercise in humility. Because first and foremost, what we do when we worship, listen, man, when we gather together, when the saints of God gather together to make much of him in worship and word, it's not like Christian karaoke and a TED Talk. This is the thin place where God meets his people. And when we worship, first and foremost, we're saying, it's not about me. So when people at our church come up to me and they're like, well, I don't like that song, pastor. Well, that's adorable, cupcake. We're not singing to you. We're singing to him because he and he alone is the one worthy of our worship. And men, worship is war. You know what got the devil kicked out of heaven? He was in charge of leading the angelic choirs. And one day he got tired of being looked through, wanted to be looked to, and seven times says, I will ascend to the throne. And he gets cast out like lightning. And so every single time we worship God, not only do we humble ourselves, but we humiliate the enemy because you don't,

we tell him, you don't get to sit on that throne. Only God does. And men, you gotta get into it. Some men worship like a mannequin. It's in the heart. Is it? Doesn't look like it. You should tell your face. My Bible, Paul tells Timothy to tell men to lift holy hands in the sanctuary. You know why you lift your hands? Come on, man. You ever go to a game and your team wins? What do you do? You go, we won. I've read to the end of the book. I got good news. We won. How many, remember when you were in school and the smart kids, those gifted kids? Remember how they'd always raise their hand because they know the answer? How many of you know that no matter what problem, life throws at you, you go, ooh, I know the answer and his name is Jesus? Or how about when you were raising your littles and you would get home from work and they would come to you, they'd say, hold me, Dad. Sometimes that's what you do in worship. Now, some of you are really gonna get this one.

Remember this? All right, you got me. That's worship. Because you're saying, I surrender. Humble yourself. One of the ways you could do that is worship the one who is worthy of you. The second way I see men get taken out is this, worry and anxiety. This is why Peter says, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Do you worry? Are you stressed? Are you anxious? You see, the difference between fear and anxiety in faith is when you look into the future, who do you think's in control? Because if you think you were in control, it will overwhelm you. The Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians, I love Paul as a counselor. He'd be the worst counselor ever. This is why they don't let me counsel at my church because I do it like the Apostle Paul. He says in Philippians chapter four, he says this. Be anxious for nothing. Think about that. Anybody stressed, anybody worried, anybody got some anxiety? Probably be like, Neek, don't.

How do you do that, Paul? How do you just not be anxious? It's like trying to sleep, it makes it worse. And then he says, be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Let me put it on the bottom shelf. He just says pray four times. Pray, pray, pray, pray. And then God promises to do something. And the God of peace who transcends understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So how about use what the enemy intended for evil and use it for good? When the enemy tries to stress you out, why don't you take that thing to the Lord over and over and over again? Worry and anxiety. Let me ask you this. Is prayer for you a first response or a last resort? The next time the enemy tries to make you worry, why don't you take that thing to the throne room? Cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you. The third thing that I see in the text that the enemy takes us out with is this, laziness, abdication of responsibility. So Peter says, be sober-minded and watchful, be on guard, wake up, that's what that means. Some of you just need to be sober. Seriously.

Like if you're a follower of Jesus Christ sitting around on your blessed assurance drinking a few beers and smoking some weed, that ain't for us, man. We're a part of the army of God and not only are we supposed to cast off sin but anything that easily entangles us because we have a mission from God. My daddy used to always say, men are like a flatbed truck, they drive straighter with a heavy load. When did David's life begin to unravel? Do you remember this? In the time of the year where kings go off to war, what's David doing? He'd abdicated his responsibility and he's laying on the couch. And so get in the game, man. And we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day for us to pursue comfort. Listen, if you wanna be comfortable, don't be a Christian. Do something else with your life because we are followers of Jesus which means we follow in his footsteps and he went all the way to the cross. And so we are supposed to follow him. One of the biggest fights I ever got into with my elders at our church is our eldest elder, his name's Dr. Paul. He used to be a brain surgeon, really smart.

He was the Dean of the School of Medicine at LSU. He's done a few things. He's 92 years old. He just got back from Malawi on a mission trip where he's starting medical clinics. You hear that? Malawi, that's where most doctors go when they're 90 and collect seashells, Malawi. And my young elders in their 70s, they come to me and they're like, hey, Dr. Paul won't listen to anybody. Maybe he'll listen to you. Could you please get Dr. Paul to quit going on so many mission trips? And I go, absolutely not. I mean, first of all, he's 92. He's earned it. He can do what he wants. But what are you afraid of? Are you afraid he's gonna die? He's gonna die. He's 92 years old. But how do you think he wants to go out? Don't you think he wants to go out swinging against the darkness against him? Or do you want him to just sit with an Afghan and an old folks all munching? Nah, man, let's go. We gotta stay in the game. And men, one of the areas that we give all of our attention

and all of our affection is at work and that we can advocate what is most important and that's at home. And we don't live on the frontier anymore where we can prove our love to our wife and kids by fighting against the grizzly bear out front. But let me tell you a way you can go to war on behalf of your wife and kids is every single day you can get on your knees, put your hands on your people and pray out loud and go to war against the devil of hell himself who wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Men, pray out loud over your wife every day. And I know some of you are like, well, pastor, I ain't good at praying. Biggest word I know is delicatessen. Don't know how to work it into the prayer. All right, I'm gonna give you a hack right here. Today, I mean today, this is what I want you to do. Husbands, wives don't listen to this, okay? Only husbands, listen. Husbands, I want you to go to your wife and I want you to take her by the hand and just simply say, how can I pray for you? And she's gonna say words. Probably a lot. And just listen, listen, listen. And when she finally gets done, then you go, okay. And just say, dear God. And then just repeat verbatim all the things

that you can remember that she said. And then at the end of it, just go, amen. And when you say amen, if you haven't been doing this, if you. You say amen, you can look up, she's gonna be crying a little bit. And you go think, ooh, tears bad. No bro, tears good, you're killing it. Now wives, tune back in, don't correct him. Don't be like, that's not what I said. Don't correct his theology. Men are very simple creatures. We're like puppies, we repeat what is rewarded. So when he steps into this space, your reply is this, Hercules, Hercules, got it? Men, don't be lazy, be sober-minded, be watchful. The fourth thing that I see take men out in the text is isolation. This is why Peter says, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. You ever watch the animal planet? And you see the lion creeping through the grass, and then there's a bunch of little antelope over here by themself, and then there's that one little lone antelope. What do you know about that one? He gone, every single time, man. That isolation is a tactic of the enemy. Listen, men, the three most dangerous words

a grown man can say is this, I got this. Because bro, you ain't got this. I hope you realize the beginning of the gospel is I ain't got this. The beginning of the teaching ministry of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, he starts with blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are you when you realize I don't have what it takes. I need someone to do for me what I cannot do for ourselves. And then we need each other. Do you have a band of brothers? Do you have some foxhole brothers? At our church, we call them mat carriers, because in Mark chapter two, there was a paralyzed man on the mat. He had four friends that picked up the corners of his mat and took him to Jesus. Do you have four friends like that? Because at some point, you're gonna be on the mat. Financially, spiritually, emotionally, relationally. And if you don't have four friends like this, you're not doing it right. You're not doing it right. So what do you do? Do something, man. I don't even go to this church and I know what to do. Join a life group. Get involved.

Get plugged in. Because true Christian community, it's like a retirement account. If you wait till you need it to build it, you missed it. And so get plugged in. Just think about this for a second. Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, who spoke all things into existence, he is preeminent, that it's by his very power that he holds the cosmos together. And on that night, when he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, the place of crushing, and he feels the weight of the sin of the world. He knows what's coming the next day. He feels like he's gonna die. He's praying and sweating like drops of blood. And Jesus gets three of his boys, Peter, James, and John. Can you three just come with me and watch and pray? Let me ask you this. Who's praying for you? And you go, no, I got this. Well, if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the perfect lamb, the all-powerful one, if he felt like he needed people praying for him, then who in the heck do you think you are to think you got this? You ain't got this, bro. Get in the herd, get involved.

Don't settle for mere buddies. You need some mat carriers in your life. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. So don't be taken out by isolation. The fifth one is this. And I'm gonna need a little bit of hermeneutical license here. I'll explain it. Because the text does not explicitly say this. This has just been my experience in 34 years of full-time ministry. Peter says, resist infirming your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. The thing that I've seen in the past 30 years take out more men, take more men off that wall than anything else. The thing that they have in common, the number one temptation that I see is this. It's lust. You see, because the reality is in John chapter 10, Jesus says that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that you may have life and have it eternally. And every single time we believe the voice of this world, the voice of this enemy, even our own flesh, it always marches us towards death and destruction.

And every single time we hear and heed the voice of the good shepherd, it marches us towards life. Right and wrong is not enough. These are pathways that lead to life or death. These are pathways that lead to life or death. So you think they're just pictures, they're not just pictures. It's a pathway that leads to destruction. And so what's interesting is the Bible gives very clear instruction on how to deal with sexual temptation. And if you wanna get radical, Jesus says, if your eye causes you to sin, he's talking about sexual immorality. If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, throw it in the trash. He didn't say that's part, but that's what he meant. And you go, well, that's extreme. And Jesus is going, this is extremely important. Let me tell you what a big deal it is. Is in 1 Corinthians 6, the apostle Paul has a very specific and a very short command on how to deal with sexual sin. It's one word, he says, flee. Flee sexual immorality. Now let me put this into context. Do you know what Paul says we are to do if we come toe to toe against the devil of hell himself?

In Ephesians 6, this is a very famous verse about spiritual warfare, about the armor of God. He says, when this service is over and you walk out and get in your truck, if the devil of hell is sitting in your truck, whatever you think he looks like, I mean, maybe he's with the horns and a pitchfork. He goes, ah-ha, it's my truck. Then the Bible says that you're supposed to stand firm against the enemy and his evil schemes. It says it four times in two verses. To stand means like take a stand or stand your ground. It means to fight. That you're supposed to armor up with the armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the feet fitted in the gospel readiness, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And you are supposed to fight against the devil. So if this happens, come get us. Me and Pastor Craig will go out there and we will say, listen, man, this truck belongs to me and I belong to Jesus. Therefore, that truck belongs to Jesus. You better get up out of my truck. You don't belong here. And at the name of Jesus, the demons have to flee. You realize that? That is how we are to fight against the devil. But if you walk out of your truck

and your ex-girlfriend's in your truck, run, Forrest, run, you can't handle it. This is what he says. And every single time any of us failed when it comes to lust and sexual immorality, it's because we flirted and we didn't flee. Now, those are just five ways that the enemy tends to take men out. And some of you hear that and you think, well, that's a great sermon, Pastor. Could have used that 20 years ago. What about me? I've been taken off that wall. What about me? And so I want you to see how Peter closes this. He says, and after you have suffered a little while, just a reminder, we're at war. And if you don't have a bloody nose from the enemy, it could be because you're not playing for Team Jesus. If every once in a while you don't feel a significant pushback from our current culture, it could be because you're just going with the flow. This thing is a war. This thing is a battle. And he goes, and after you have suffered a little while, here's what God offers to you. I want you to hear this. The God of all grace who has called you, not the super righteous person sitting next to you, the God of all grace who has called you

to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be dominion forever and ever, amen. Listen, man, grace doesn't just save us. Grace sustains us. Not only does grace forgive us of our sin and we are imputed with the righteousness of Christ, but even as believers, when we stumble and fall, we fall upon that same grace that got us in the game to begin with. So I got really good news, church. Failure is not final. I got really good news. In the kingdom of heaven, there's not second chances. There's the blood of Jesus and from now on. I got really good news. No matter how many times you've screwed up or what you wish you could undo and redo, that the enemy constantly wants to define you by your scars. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna define you by mine. In the book of Revelation, there's this beautiful picture where the Bible says that Jesus will wipe away every tear. Mamas, you know how you wipe away a tear, right? You guys all do it the same. Your kid's crying and you take these two thumbs and you go straight at the inside eye, right? And then what do you do? The little reverse windshield wiper, squeak, you know? And all the pain and all the sorrow

and all the guilt and all the shame. because of Christ's finished work on the cross. Not by anything that we have done, not because we got ourself cleaned up, not because we avoided all the pitfalls of the enemy, but simply because when we believe we receive the right to become a child of God, when we see him face to face, think about what you will see as he puts his hands towards your face. We will see some nail-scarred hands. The very thing that washes away the tears are evidence of what he went through to earn the right to be able to do so. The Bible says this, 1 John chapter four, verse 10. In this is love. And it's not if you do all of the right things and one day you can stand rightly before a righteous king, that's not what he says. It says, in this is love. Not that we first loved God. Not that we avoided all the pitfalls. Not that we got it right every time. Not that we stood firm like men perfectly. No, no, no, no, no, no. In this is love. Not that we first loved him, but he first loved us and sent his son as the propitiation for our sins.

Say propitiation. One more time, propitiation. You know what propitiation means? It means a payment that satisfies. Pastor Craig, when I was starting our church, all the church growth experts told me I wasn't supposed to use theological terminology like propitiation. But I'm just of the belief if you can order a venti caramel macchiato, you can learn propitiation, okay? And if you're drinking that, repent and drink it black like a grown man. Stand firm in that, let me know. Now, here's why this matters, man, and this is love. Not that you first loved God, but he first loved you and he sent his son as the propitiation for our sin, the payment that satisfies, which means when Jesus pushed upon his nail-pierced feet and says, it is finished, if you believe that somehow that counted for you, then Jesus Christ at the cross is the full and final payment. He satisfied the law of God, the justice of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God. And here's why this matters. And when you put your faith in him, he imputes you, gives you, credits you with his perfect life.

And if he is the payment that satisfies, check it out, then God cannot be dissatisfied in you. That when Jesus got baptized, the heavens opened up and God said, behold, my son, in whom I am well pleased. Pop quiz, how much ministry had Jesus done yet? Hadn't preached, hadn't done a miracle yet, he hadn't died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin, and yet God had placed his favor on him. And for you are in Christ, hear me, even if you've messed up bad, I got really good news. Failure is not final. Your scars don't define you, but Jesus's does. And only Jesus gets to tell you who you are. And he said, he is ready to restore and confirm and to strengthen and establish you by his grace. So men, you wanna stand up and act like a man? It begins with humbling yourself and bending your knee to the God man. Because you ain't got this. And you need someone to do for you what you can't do for yourself, and he has done it. And then Peter later on is gonna say this, that his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. And what that means, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ he has given you everything you need to accomplish everything that he has called you to accomplish. So go to war against the enemy, not so that you can win, but because Christ has already won you. Would you bow your heads, let me pray for us,

our good and gracious heavenly father. God, you're just that, you're good. You're always good, it's just who you are. And God, you're gracious. And God, we do not get what we deserve. And yet Lord, in your divine providence you have called us into the positions that you have. And so Lord, may we steward it well. God, every single time the enemy begins to whisper lies of condemnation in our ear, may we stand on the reality that we learned in Romans 8.1 that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And Lord, I pray for an outpouring of men who will stand firm and act like men. Lord, I pray for an outpouring of women who would play the role that you have called them to play. God, I pray for an outpouring of students that don't think their role is one day in the future, but they follow you this day. And God, may we do it. For one name, which is the only name worthy of our worship, that we do this for the name and the renown and the fame of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We pray this in His name, Amen. Well, did I tell you he could preach? Yeah. Let's just stay kind of in an attitude of prayer and worship, and I want to talk to the, we'll talk to the men, gentlemen. I wonder how many of you, you know deep down God has something more he wants to do in you, he wants to do more through you, and you're sick and tired of being conformed to the image of this world, but you want to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Gentlemen, how many of you say you know there's more in you,

you want to, and do not raise your hand if you're playing, this is not, this isn't dress rehearsal. You know there's more in you, you know God wants you more through you, you want to act like a man, you want to be a man of God. Would you raise your hands right now? Raise them up, raise them, leave them up if you will, leave them up if you will. All of our churches, leave them up, gentlemen. Let me tell you who you are. You're made in the image of Christ, you are an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of your testimony. You're blessed by God coming in, you're an ambassador of the Most High God, the highest ranking diplomat sent by God from heaven to earth. You have the full armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You're wearing combat boots, the gospel of peace. When you walk into the room, hope walks into the room, faith walks into the room. Who are you? You're not just a man, you're called to be a man of God. Ladies, how many of you will pray for the men around you? Raise your hand, don't even hesitate, don't even think about it, don't hesitate. That your sons, your brothers, your fathers, your friends, let's all pray. Father, we thank you at this moment. God, your Word speaks to everyone, but on this day, would you raise up the men of God to stand firm, to stand in the gap, to be strong on behalf of those who are weak, God, to speak for those who have no voice, to protect those who are defenseless. God, would you stir up the power of your Holy Spirit within the men of God of this church, that they would lift up holy hands before a righteous God, and God, that we would bend a knee in submission to the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. God, would you raise up men to be defenders, protectors, providers, and pastors, preaching your Word, showing your love. God, make men godly fathers, godly husbands, friends who love and serve and protect. God, we thank you that on this day, your Spirit is working to raise us up to be the men you've called us to be. God, strengthen families. God, build up the ladies to be who you want them to be. May we function according to your biblical qualities to be the church that you want us to be. Holy Spirit, do your work in all of us today. As you keep praying without looking around, hey, it's

amazing news because on this Father's Day weekend, there are some of you that God brought you here for a weekend for a divine purpose greater than you could ever imagine. Where are you spiritually? Like really, like no playing around. If you think I've got this, or I hope I got this, let me tell you right now, you don't got this. You don't got this. The Bible tells us very, very clearly that every single one of us, including you, we've all sinned. What does that mean? We've broken the commands, the laws of God. We've fallen short of God's standards. We've all sinned, and we all need a Savior. You can't save yourself, not a single one of you. There's not a person here can ever be good enough. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, the perfect Son of God, the sinless one, the Lamb of God that was slain for the forgiveness of sins. And God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, it doesn't matter what you've done, anyone who calls on that name, the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, at that name one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his lordship. When you call on the name of Jesus, God, hears your prayers. He forgives your sins because Jesus paid the final price for your forgiveness of sins. There are those of you today, you don't know where you stand with God, and let me tell you, without Jesus, we're not in a good place. But with him, he forgives our sins. He makes us new, and you are not here by accident. Today, at all of our churches, those of you that know, hey, there's more in you. God wants to do something more. We're gonna step away from our sins. The Bible calls it repent. We're repenting of our sins. We're turning away from our sins. We're turning to the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords. We're saying, Jesus, what you did is enough. Would you be my savior? Would you be my king, the Lord of my life? All of our churches, that's you. You know it.

This is the day of your salvation. This is why you're here. I need his grace. I need his life. I turn from my sins. Jesus, I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place, lift them up. Lift them up. Come on, church, let's celebrate today as we have people at all of our churches calling on his name, saying, yes, I surrender to him online. You can type in the comment section. I am surrendering my life to the King of all kings. And today, nobody prays alone. Everybody pray aloud. Gentlemen, you may pray a little bit louder than normal with passion, like men of God. Pray, Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus, be my king, the savior of my life, first in every single way. I bend my knee. I bow my heart in submission to you, your lordship. Fill me with your spirit and your power so I could do your will on earth as it is in heaven. My life is not my own. I surrender it to you. Thank you for a new life.

You have all of mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Church, could you celebrate today? Celebrate big. Welcome those born into the family of God. Thank you. Hey, it's Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel with Life.Church. And if you just made the decision to give your life to Christ, this is the most important and life-changing decision that you'll ever make. And all of heaven is celebrating right now because of your decision, and we're celebrating with you too. That's right. And we want you to know that God sees you. He's with you, and he loves you. He has a purpose for your life. And incarceration, it doesn't define you. It doesn't confine you because you are free in Christ. You are new in him. Chains have been broken today. And so as a follower of Jesus, God wants us to be on this journey together. And I want you to know you don't have to do this alone. And that's why we, as your church family, we're here for you, and we want to help you grow in your faith and find your next steps. So first of all, just keep joining us for church

every single week and worshiping through the Pando app. We're so thankful that you're here. When we draw close to God, he draws near to us. And so I would also encourage you, read God's word if it's available to you. And as you do, just start to pray and invite God into every single aspect of your life. And then if you feel led, you might even share your decision with somebody else. There might be a family member or a friend, and they're gonna want to hear your story and your spiritual journey. We'd love to hear it as well. And you can send us a letter if you'd like to. The address is on your screen. And our team will write back to you and help you grow in your faith with Jesus. And so we'd love to mail you some content about who Jesus is and help you grow in your relationship with him now that you've chosen to follow Jesus. That's right. And God's plan for your life, it's greater than anything that you could ever imagine. In fact, Ephesians 3.20 says, God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. Trust him with your whole life. You will see him work in ways you have never thought possible.

Congratulations on this decision. We are your family, and you're part of the family of God.