The Table Pastor Jimi

We are so happy to have you here this morning. Everyone, stand up to your feet and let's worship the Lord together. Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and your way is the only way for me. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but I want to be on it. It's a narrow road, but the mercy's wide, because you're good and you promise. Come on, church. I'll take you at your word. You said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you're starting, you'll come leaving. I'll take you at your word. When you lose hope, and the chaos fell in line. Well, I don't know, because I've seen it in my life. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but I want to be on it. It's a narrow road, and the light is high. If you're part of the water, I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you're starting, you'll come leaving. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you're starting, you'll come leaving. I'll take you at your word. Because you're good and you promise. You said you'll love, never give up. You said your grace is always enough.

You said your heart will never forget or forsake me. You said I'm safe, you call me yours. You said my future's full of your love. You never fail, so I know that you'll never fail me. You said your grace, never give up. You said your grace is always enough. You said your heart will never forget or forsake me. You said I'm safe, you call me yours. You said my future's full of your love. You never fail, so I know that you'll never fail me. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you're starting, you'll come leaving. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you're starting, you'll come leaving. I'll take you at your word. I'll take you at your word. Yeah, I'll take you at your word. I'll take you at your word. All right, come on, let's sing this out together, here we go. Everything changed, it's getting harder to recognize The person I was before I encountered Christ I don't walk like I used to, I don't talk like I used to I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame I cannot explain, but nothing's more real to me In the presence of God, oh what my heart experienced With my shame at the wayside, and my sin at the most high I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Could have only been to blame Could have only been to blame It's never been about performance, perfection Or striving for what's sacred Let me tell you, it's only by the blood It's never been about deserving or earning It's a gift that's freely given Let me tell you, it's only by the blood Does anybody want to be holy and righteous Or pure of heart and spotless Let me tell you, it's only by the blood Does anybody want to be worthy or giving Or justified really living Let me tell you, it's only by the blood Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Could have only been to blame Oh God, we thank You for the blood We thank You for the blood

Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was to blame, could have only been to blame Could have only been to blame We thank You for the blame There is a love that calls to every prodigal, it says come home to where you belong. No one is too far gone, despite how far you run, you can't outrun the love of God. You can't outrun the love of God. You can't catch up at nothing, never stop searching, all for the sake of one that's lost. Who could love like this? No one but Jesus, all for the sake of one that's lost. All for the one, the one. I can't make sense of it, why in your innocence you trade your life to ransom man. Your sacrifice was made, the sinner's debt is paid, and on that cross you saved the lost. Oh, on that cross you chased the lost. You can't catch up at nothing, never stop searching, all for the sake of one that's lost. Who could love like this? Only you Jesus, all for the sake of one that's lost. All for the one, the one. All for the one, the one. Just how far would you go for me? There's no depth that your love can reach. You moved heaven and earth to save me when I was lost. You would do it a thousand times, there's no end to your sacrifice. You moved heaven and earth to save the one that was lost. Just how far would you go for me? There's no depth that your love can reach. You moved heaven and earth to save me when I was lost. You would do it a thousand times, there's no end to your sacrifice. You moved heaven and earth to save the one that was lost. Just how far would you go for me? There's no depth that your love can reach. You moved heaven and earth to save me when I was lost. You would do it a thousand times, there's no end to your sacrifice.

You moved heaven and earth to save the one that was lost. You'd stop at nothing, never stop searching. All for the Savior, one that's lost. Who could love like this? Only you, Jesus. All for the Savior, one that's lost. All for the world, the world. All for the world, the world. I'll stop at nothing, all cause you love me, never forsake the one that's lost. Father God, you stop at nothing. You've always been chasing after our hearts. You know, we read the scripture, Lord, and we see that even in the beginning, even in the garden, right after we fell short and allowed sin to enter our heart, you even then were seeking after us, and we hid. Lord, we read your word, and it's a love story. It's a story of you countless times, again and again, chasing after us as we run, but we can't outrun your love. Lord, we thank you that you leave the 99 for the one. Lord, we thank you that your love is never ending. Lord, we thank you that you didn't give up on us, and you sent your son for us in the ultimate expression of love. Lord, we thank you. God, here today I ask that you open hearts and ears to your word, that you can plant seeds in our hearts, and we can walk out of these doors changed. Lord, God, speak to us today. It is in your Son, Jesus' name, that I pray, and everybody said, amen, and amen. Or would you look at someone near you, will you give them a high five, say, it's a good day for a good day, and you may be seated. Man, what a day. Welcome. Good morning.

My name is Jimmy, and I get the privilege of speaking with you guys today. I'm so excited to be in the house, because it is a good day for a good day, amen. Before we get into it, though, I got a story for you guys. Who here is a sports fan? My sports fans, I love it. And I know just like me, your favorite sport is obviously soccer. So you know what, it's okay. We can all have opinions, but that means some of y'all are wrong. So I've been playing soccer for about 10, 12 years, and then I've been coaching now for about 12 years. The playing days are behind me. But I love sports in general. It doesn't matter what sports on TV, I will get into it. But nothing beats a live sports event. Man, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be basketball, football, the Blue Wahoos, ice flyers. It doesn't matter. I'm in it, man. I don't even have a dog in this race, and I'm excited about the energy in the room. But if you can imagine, nothing beats to me a live soccer game. You know, a couple years ago, right after the World Cup, I had the opportunity, I saw that the U.S. men's national team was playing in Orlando, and I was so excited. I got a couple friends of mine together that would be able to go, and I thought, man, these are the legends we talk about. It's the guys we see on TV. Let's go watch them. So I get them together, and I say, I'm the soccer dude. I'll buy the tickets. I'll get them. I know where the good seats are.

Quite frankly, it wasn't a huge stadium, so there's not really a bad seat in the house. And I say, you know, trust me to take care of that. We go down to Orlando, and even on the street, man, the street is lined with fans. I got my U.S. men's jersey on. I am pumped. We get there for the warmup, and I am like already going berserk for this thing, and they're just warming up. I'm over here like, let's go berserk. You go stretch it. Yeah, come on. Warm up. I'm all in. And if you thought I was excited during the warmup, just imagine how I was after the kickoff. I'm going crazy. Me and my buddies were cheering for our team, and finally about 15, 20 minutes in, we score, and we go nuts. First game, first goal I've ever seen. And I notice that not a ton of people are cheering, but you know what? I don't even give a whoop. I'm like, I'm going to bring the weather then. This is my team. I'm going to cheer for these guys. About 15, 20 minutes goes on, you know, I'm in the game, I'm watching, I'm just in it. And the other team scores, and I notice everyone around us starts cheering. I'm thinking to myself, well, that was weird. I look around, and I see that's the jersey of the other team, and that's the flag from the country we're playing. And I'm recognizing we're in the game. the visitor's section. And I don't know who bought these tickets,

but they obviously didn't look ahead to see where the visitor's section was. And in that moment, I became almost hyper aware of where my seat was. And unfortunately for me, my friends, not so much. And I'm thinking to myself, you gotta like, you gotta quiet down there, man. Like, we're in the wrong section. I'm thinking back, I'm thinking, how much crap did I just say in the last 25 minutes? Am I gonna have to be escorted out to the parking lot? Or I'm like, I can't remember. And it was that awareness of where my seat was that was really necessary in that moment. And once my friends were just as aware, they toned it down, and not as much as I would have preferred probably, but it was the awareness in that moment that was important. And last week, Pastor Tim unpacked the table. He unpacked what the table is. It's the church, right? And at the table, we have the bread of life. We have Jesus, and everyone is invited. But today, I want every one of us to walk out of here chair aware, because at this table are these various chairs. And what they represent is different steps in our journey towards Christ, different steps of our journey with God. And every one of them has value.

Every one of them's important. Frankly, every one of us has probably sat in each one of them. But it's important to know which chair you're in, but more importantly, where is God calling you to? Which chair does he want you to move to? That's what we're gonna be unpacking here today. So we have the first chair. We have the curious chair. You know, maybe you're just kind of checking things out. You've heard of this Jesus guy. You know there's something going on here at the table, and you're just wondering what it is. You know, maybe this is your first time that you've stepped into a church in years, maybe the first time ever. Maybe you're a Christmas and Easter type of churchgoer, or a once-a-month-er. But you're curious about what's going on at the table. You can smell the bread. You know, my wife is an incredible baker. I mean, it is a, yeah, come on. It is a gift from on high. But I'll tell you what, don't even try to diet in my household. There is zero chance that it's gonna last. I mean, for me, I'm over here mustering up the courage to say, no more carbs, I'm cutting the calories, and then she whoops up this baking masterpiece that is like 2,000 calories a bite,

but you know I'm going all in. I mean, it's incredible, and I can smell it. We have a neighbor across the street who we bring treats to of what we've made. And I say we as if I've actually contributed to that. I like to think I did, but it's what she's made. And it's funny because sometimes we'll bring it over and he will literally say, I could smell something was cooking, so I was hoping you'd bring something over to me. See, he knows there's something going on. He can smell the bread. He can smell something's cooking, just like the curious chair. See, it's not an accident that you're here today. Jesus says in John chapter six, he says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. You see, it's not an accident that you're sitting at the table today. And what I say to you is keep coming, keep going, stay curious, keep asking questions. You know, I challenge you to give it a month and watch what God does in your life because every one of us has sat in that chair at one point or another, and it's that chair that starts the journey. It all starts with the curiosity. Keep going, keep coming, keep asking questions. And what's encouraging is Jesus in Matthew,

he says, come to me, all who are weary, I will give you rest. He doesn't say, go get yourself cleaned up and then come take a seat at the table. He doesn't say, go get yourself perfected and then come here. You know, clean up your mess. He doesn't say any of that. He says, come today as you are, the table's ready, the seat is there. He's saying, come. And what I love is when someone takes that step and they say, you know what? I've sat at the table, whether it be for a minute or a year, I've stayed curious and I've had an encounter, a personal encounter with Jesus. And you say, I'm a sinner who needs a savior, and that is you, Lord Jesus. And they go from curious to convinced. And now. Everything's new. And I love that chair, man. You could see the fire in their eyes. Everything's new, everything's shiny, everything's exciting. They're opening up the Word and they're diving in and they're learning new things. Well, Jesus said, what? God loves me, how much? They're diving in with such a fire. They're excited for church.

They're excited for group. They're excited for worship and to dive into the Word. They just can't get enough. Peter speaks directly to this chair when he writes in 1 Peter, he says, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into your salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. But what I love how Peter points out is he's giving the assignment for the chair because what he says is you are to grow up in salvation. See, this chair was never meant to be a destination. It was meant to be a launching pad. It was meant to be a pit stop as you are prepared for what God has planned for you. You see, what I say to you, if you're in that chair, if you've just recently taken that step of faith, I say, get in a group. I say to you, get involved, get on a serve team because there's so much more ahead for you that God has planned for you. And that moment where you decide, you know, I'm all in and I'm learning and I'm growing, God is preparing you for the third seat. But before we get to that, there's a seat that is near and dear to my heart because it is direly important in my household. It came of importance about 18 months ago and that is the high chair. You see, in my household, without this thing, we're doomed.

Without this thing, there is not an ounce of sanity left in this old noggin. You see, this is where we put baby James and baby James is a little bit of a mess. I got a couple of pictures up here. Yeah, I mean, it's a mess in the high chair, thank God. You look at him straight chilling like a villain. I mean, come on, come on. And it keeps it contained. It keeps it in one spot and thank God it keeps it contained. The mess, it's a mess. But that's normal behavior for a baby. We expect that, right? They sit there and he'll cry if he doesn't have food, he'll cry if he needs water. And what I love about this picture is just off to the side, there's a spoon. That was the first time we gave him a spoon. You can tell it clearly went super well. And what's amazing though is, I mean, we're oohing and aahing and laughing because it's cute. It's because it's normal for a baby. Now imagine if that's me. I'm sitting there in my diaper. I've been showered in Greek yogurt. It's not as cute anymore. In fact, we have a picture to show you. And I'm just kidding. No, we don't have that.

It ain't that kind of Sunday. But you get it, right? I mean, it's not normal behavior if a grown man is sitting in the chair covered in Greek yogurt, dependent on others. You see, maybe you're here today and you're saved. You've been around church. You know the songs, you know the language, but you still need to be carried. You still need to be catered to. You still need to be constantly accommodated. And you're sitting there in your high chair, banging your fists on the tray, going, wah. What about me? What about my preferences? What about my favorite song? What about my favorite series? And the high chair, I like to call it the I chair. It's all about me, me, me, I, I, I. I don't like that series. I don't like that song. I want more events. I want less events. I'll come back when the topic applies to me. I didn't get chosen for that role. I'm not getting anything out of this group. And the problem isn't that they're evil, because I look at my son in the chair and I don't think, you just, you're nefarious, you evil. I'm praying this away.

Like, I'm not looking at him thinking he's evil. He's just immature. And the same thing goes for us when we hang out in this chair too long. See, if you went your whole life without the high chair, it'd be a difficult life. It's a necessary step. But if you spend your whole life in the high chair. That's where we get stuck in our faith. And what I see often and I hear often is the phrase or the sentence, I'm not being fed. I'm just not being fed. And let me tell you, when you show up here at Momentum on Sunday, you are going to hear the word. Pastor Tim, when he sets the table, he's the dude with the food. He is going to open the word and he's going to feed you. When Pastor Steph's up here, she's the dudette with the food hat. And so she, I mean, you'll hear the word. You'll be fed. But what's important is that a mature believer, someone who understands that, they don't eat once a week and then blame others for why they're weak. They eventually, at one point, pick up a fork. They understand that they are, have a personal relationship with God. See, you have the word. You have prayer. You have worship. You have, we have these devotionals in the lobby and this is meant for you. And we spend thousands on these to resource you so that you can be fed during the week.

Paul dealt with this when he was talking to the Church of Corinth. It says in 1 Corinthians 3, he says, I gave you milk, not solid food, because you're not ready for it. That I could not even address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready. He's over there saying, I got a steak and potatoes just waiting for you, but you're stuck on the milk. I have something better for you. But rest assured, the disciples dealt with this as well. We see in Matthew chapter 18, the disciples come to Jesus. And by the way, this isn't a day one thing. This is, they're years into this with Jesus. They've already given up everything to follow him. So they're in it, but they have a high chair moment. And I imagine they're kind of like pushing through each other to get to Jesus. They go, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Who's going to have the greatest spot in the kingdom of heaven? Who's the greatest in the kingdom? And what they're asking is, where's my seat going to be? Where am I going to sit? I hope it's a good one. I've done a lot, Jesus. I hope it's a good one. I hope it's right up there next to you. James and John, their mom, and two chapters later, drags them to Jesus and goes, can you give them the best seat? Because the high chair is the eye chair. It's all about me.

Where's my seat at? Where am I going to sit? The disciples even fell trapped to this. And what I notice in my house is underneath the high chair, it's a mess. I went to breakfast yesterday at Stripes in Navarre. Once a month, we do a men's breakfast. And I brought baby James with me, and he's going to town on this food. Man, I'm over here like, dude, he's eating half a Belgian waffle with the syrup, of course, powdered sugar, whipped cream. Don't tell mom. He's had potatoes. He's had eggs. He's had the whole thing. And I'm looking at it thinking to myself, I cannot wait to brag about this when I get home. I'm like, baby, he ate the whole thing. It was incredible. Until I get him out of the high chair. I pull it out from the table, and there's like a second meal under there. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, so that's where it went. And I'm shoveling it on a napkin. I'm trying to hope the workers don't see me because I don't want them to have to deal with this. There's a mess underneath. Well, same thing goes for the spiritual high chair at the table. There's relational mess. There's church mess. There's group mess. There's hurt and frustration and comparison and complaining. See, because when everything is about you, everything starts to break apart and fall down. I've seen it time and time again on teams and groups. A community group goes from being a growing session to a groaning session.

This is where leaders feel drained. This is where churches split. This is where teams lose their health. You see, messy babies, spiritual babies, they don't just stay messy. They spread the mess. And what's important to understand is this is not where we're supposed to stay. Hebrews chapter 5 says, He's going to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God? You need milk, not solid food. He's saying you guys should be teaching people by now, but yet you're stuck in the high chair. And what I see there, and what breaks my heart isn't the mess, it's what I know is going on in here. You see, it's not the mess that puts you in the high chair, it's a position of the heart. See, at one point, and I've been there, I've sat in the high chair, but at one point, you took your trust off of Jesus and placed it on something smaller. A platform, a feeling, a church. You've placed it on something else other than Jesus, and when it can't handle the weight, it starts breaking down. You see, Jesus is looking at you, and He's hearing you cry out, Why am I still anxious? Why am I still dealing with this sin? Why is my marriage not healed? Why is nothing changing? And He's saying to you, I didn't die on the cross and rise again, conquer sin and death, for you to stay strapped into dependency. He did it for freedom. He did it so you could walk in freedom. Not endless dependency. Not circles for years and years and decades. And maybe that's you today, and you're tired. You're tired of blaming and comparing and being stuck.

And I'll say that exhaustion, it's not a dead end. It's not. It's a gift. It's grace. It's God saying, Stand up. I have more for you. And today can be that day. Today you can say, I don't belong in this chair again. And when that moment happens, you arrive to the third chair, the commissioned chair. And this is the chair that gets it. They understand their calling. And what I love about this chair is that you don't have to guess who's in that chair. You can see it. There's something that's happened in their heart that you can now see in their fruit. Jesus says it in Matthew. He says, You will know them by their—what? Fruit. Why? Because healthy things bear fruit. See, maturity shows up in behavior. It's active. It moves. And we'll talk about what you can see in this chair. But it's important to understand that it's not a checklist. It's not something that's like, okay, oh, you do those things? You must—now you're in the chair. It's something that happens in your heart that you then see the fruit. See, what you see from this chair is that they sit. They show up, and they show up faithfully. They show up consistently. They show up because they know that God has something for them at the table. They see this and go, I'm going to be here. They look at Revival and go, I'm gonna be there. Because the I chair sees Revival and says, I don't need that. The I chair will say, oh, you're doing a series on that? I'll see you in a month. The I chair will say, I'm gonna sit out on night of worship. The I chair says, I'm already going to Easter. Why do I need to go to Good Friday? Not realizing that without Good Friday, we don't have an Easter.

You see? They get it. They sit. And what's important to know is that they sit so that—see, they know that they don't live to eat. They eat to live. They know that they're at the table to get the sustenance, the energy, to push off, to stand up, and go out and walk the path that God has placed in front of them. That is why. That is why they sit at the table. They share. They see seats around them that are empty at the table, around them. And they say, someone belongs there. Let me go find them. They carry the invite with them. They know that no seat should go empty. They've had their experience there. They share that experience. You see, Hebrew says you ought to be teachers. Teachers. They're teaching the curious. They're bringing people to the curious. They're teaching the convinced. They're teaching the I chair. They're teaching them. They're bringing. They're sharing. caring. They see that someone belongs in that seat. They are the ones that when they hear Pastor Tim say, Sanger, Easter, 10 a.m., we're filling every seat, they say, yeah, we are, let's go, baby. And they carry the invite. They go out there and invite, hello, gas station attendant, here's an invitation. Hello, server at the restaurant, here's an invitation. Friend at the gym, family member, co-worker. They understand that they are meant to share. See, in your life, you have neighbors, you have co-workers, you have friends, you have family, you have people at the gym, you have teammates, you have classmates that are waiting for you to invite. There's a chair already there at the table. They're just waiting for your invitation. The commission chair shares. And when we see Jesus speak on this in Matthew 9, He says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers, the workers, they're few. We need more workers because the harvest is there. The harvest is plentiful. Just waiting for the workers. Number three, they sow. You see, the commission chair, the mature believer, they see what God is doing in their local church in momentum. They see momentum investing in the kingdom, investing in the community. They see where God is taking momentum. And they say, I want to be a part of that. God has given me resources to be a part of that. And they give. Did you

know statistically, only 20% of people in churches fund 100% of churches work? 20%. You see, the I chair will see that and say, well, I don't need to give. Somebody else will. But the commission chair says, I am that somebody. They recognize and take ownership of that calling. And you can tell a lot about someone's spiritual maturity by their level of generosity. And it's not about, well, he gave one more dollar than them, so he's obviously how holy are thou. It's not about that. It's about the heart. Jesus speaks to it in Matthew. He says, where your treasure is, so also is your heart. He's saying it's about the heart. Paul mentions it in Corinthians. He says, we are all to give, not out of reluctance, not out of compulsion, but because God loves a joyful giver. And let me tell you, by the way, those are both New Testament references. Yes, the Old Testament talks about it, but the New Testament does too. It's important that we get that. And the commission chair grasps that. They own that. They understand that. And they sow. And last, because they sit, they share, they sow, and they serve. You see, they recognize that the gifts that God has given them weren't meant for just themselves. And it's so painful as a leader when I see that. Oh, you mean that God has given you the voice of an angel and you don't want to help lead worship? That He's given you an attention for detail and you don't want to help with production? That He's given you a smile that welcomes people and that makes them feel more welcome than they ever have before, and you don't want to be out there greeting people, welcoming them to the house of the Lord? That God has gifted you with an abundance of patience and energy, and you don't want to serve in our kids? The gift was never meant to hold close to the chest. It was meant to be deployed. And the commission chair gets that. They have found their lane. They show up early. They stay late. And they do it with joy when no one else sees them. They understand that this gift wasn't meant for just themselves. Peter writes this in 1 Peter chapter 4. It says, use whatever gift you have received to serve others. To serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. You see, this chair has stopped asking, what can you do for me? And started asking, where can I help? How can I get involved? How can I be a part of this and deploy the gifts that God has gifted us, gifted me? And what I love about Momentum is there's so many examples of people that are sitting in this chair. And you know them. You've seen them, because you know them by their

fruit. Cindy, you and Scott are clearly sitting in this chair. Man, you guys sit, you share, you sow, you serve, and we're better because of it. So thank you. Thank you. Mary and Rob, you guys get it. You guys went from Navarre to Pensacola and you didn't ask a question. You said, where can I help? Because you get it. And we're better because of it. Thank you. You guys are commissioned. Chuck, from day one you've been serving, man. And you asked, where can I help? And they said the sound booth. And you said, cool, I have zero experience, but I'm there. And you're still back there making us better. Thank you. You get it. You see, it's not just the fruit. It's not about the fruit. The fruit is a result of what has happened in here. Because at one point the people that are sitting in that commission chair, they had to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, whose are you? Whose are you? Who are you living for? It's a posture of the heart. So today the question isn't, are you at the table? Because you're at church. You're at the table. The question is, what seat are you in? What chair are you in at the table? Maybe you're curious. Maybe you're curious and you've been coming for a little while. Maybe you've never come before and it's today's first day. Welcome. Maybe you've just taken that step of faith. Maybe you're stuck in a high chair. Or maybe you've been deployed in your commission. But the matter is, where are you? And where is God calling you to move? Will you stand with me? I want to speak to the curious chair for a second. Maybe that's you here today and you've been smelling the bread. Something's brought you here, but friend, it was not an accident. It was not a coincidence. It was on purpose. See, the Father is drawing you in and today is the day that you say, Jesus, I am yours. I'm all in. And Jesus is saying, come as you are right now, today. And if that's you here today, we're going to pray in a moment, but I want to tell you about Jesus. See, many years ago, God created man. He created us to have a relationship with Him. And when sin entered the world and crept into our hearts, we became sinners. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. We're all sinners. And the punishment of that sin was death, but not the death that you and I think about, but a death that's far worse, a separation from God in heaven forever. And God could have looked at that and said, that's the end of the story. But instead, He saw that and said, I'm going to send my one and only Son, Jesus, to live a perfect, a sinless, a blameless life, and to go to the cross to die a painful death,

to shed His blood so that blood could cover our sin. Jesus on the cross took our punishment and died for you, died for me. But three days later, He rose again just like He said He would to conquer sin, to conquer death, and to set us free. But now it's our turn to say it is You, Jesus, that I need. I am just a sinner who needs a Savior. That You are my Lord. And if that's you here today, and you're tired, you've been carrying this weight that life has placed on your shoulders that was never meant to be carried alone, and Jesus is looking at you and saying, let me shoulder it with you. Let me carry that burden with you. Because you were never designed to go at it by yourself. And I want you to know that He's calling you right now as you are. And if you'll pray this prayer with me, and not let it just be words come out of your mouth, but it be a heart change, a heart shift, a chair change in your life. Because it's not through the words that you're saved, it's through the posture of your heart that you say, Jesus, You are my Lord. It is not through me that you are saved, it is through you and your connection with the Father through Jesus. And we're going to all say this together out loud, because It's a nice reminder of where we came from because every one of us has been there before. It doesn't matter which chair we end up in, we started there with a prayer. Will you join with me as we bow our heads and pray this together? Repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner who needs a Savior. I know I need you to be my Lord. I believe that you bled for me, that you died for me, and I believe that you rose again on the third day. And today I give you my life. I receive your life. Now teach me how to live. Amen. Eyes up here, eyes up here. Because it says in His Word that whenever one person decides that they go from curious to convinced, all of heaven celebrates that movement. And we want to celebrate with you.

We want to also resource you knowing that it's not a destination for you to be convinced. It is a launching pad for you to be commissioned. And we want to resource you, but we want to know who you are. So I'm going to ask you for a moment of boldness. I'm going to ask you for a moment of bravery, a moment of courage, as you can share with us what God is doing in your heart. Will you raise your hand on the count of three for me so that we can see you, pray for you, and celebrate you on the count of three? One, don't procrastinate. Two, don't hesitate. Three, let me see them hands. Come on. Love it. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. I love it. It never, ever gets old. Never gets old. But I want to also address that.