The Win Within | You Already Won | Lisa Seaton

Well, good morning, City First fam, and happy new year. We're at the top of 2026. I hope that you had a great Christmas and had some meaningful moments. And I can't think of a better way to launch into 2026 than here together as a church family lifting up the name of Jesus. It's what we're created to do. But I want to take a moment before we dive into our new series, The Wind Within, and we look ahead to 2026, I want us to pause and reflect for just a moment on our personal lives in 2025. You know, 2025 might have been your best year yet. You might have loved it. It might have been one of the most difficult years yet. Maybe it was equal mountaintops and valleys. But I just think it'd be appropriate before we ask God to do anything in 2026 that we pause and we say, thank you, God, for seeing me through 365 days in 2025. He was faithful. You're here with breath in your lungs. He is faithful. And so, Heavenly Father, we just pause, and God, we say thank you for your faithfulness on our lives in 2025. Thank you for the ways you provided when we didn't know how it was going to happen. Thank you for those who experienced salvation and now have eternity forever as their home. For those who grew in their faith through water baptism or joining a life group, God, thank you for the ways that you've healed and you've provided and you've restored. God, we just want to say we're so grateful for you. Thank you for how you've moved. And as we step into this brand new year, God, we release 2025 to you. And we want to walk into 2026 with your peace and with fresh strength and purpose. And God, this morning, we give you permission to do what you want to do in our lives. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would minister to each and every person in such a specific

way. Help me to get out of the way so that you can have your way. Love you, God. And in your name, amen. Church, one more time, can we give faithfulness for his goodness? It's important we look forward before we look at it because we are launching a brand new series based off of the life of Daniel in the Old Testament, and we're calling this series The Win Within. Okay? Now, this series has some good alliteration, The Win Within. It might even sound like a little self-help-ish. So I just want to clarify that it indeed is not a self-help series because if we could have helped ourselves, we would have already done that, right? We need more than that. And it's the top of the new year. Many people are making New Year's resolutions. Maybe you made some. Maybe you caught on that New Year's resolutions don't always stick. In fact, studies show that within the first week of January, 23% of people quit their New Year's resolutions. It's called quitting week, right? By the end of January, 64% of people will have quit their New Year's resolutions. Only 10% of people have long-term success with their New Year's resolutions. Are you feeling encouraged today? Are you happy you're at church today? But I think what this shows us is that we need something more than just wishful thinking or a New Year's resolution or a pretty mood board. We need God in order to experience all that He has for us in 2026. And so when you hear The Win Within, this is what we want you to think of. First John 4.4 says this, but you belong to God, my dear children.

You have already won a victory because the spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. What spirit are we talking about? Romans 8.11 says the spirit of God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you. That same spirit lives in you. That's something that we should get excited about. The Win Within comes because of the victory that Jesus has already paid on the cross for you and for me. And as Christ followers, we have access to so much more authority than we often acknowledge. We walk around feeling defeated or discouraged or depressed, full of worry or fear about the future or that thing. But today I want to remind us that because of Jesus, we have access to salvation and freedom and forgiveness and joy and faith, that what's ahead of us is greater than any that we leave behind us. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for all God has for me in 2026. I don't want to be the same that I was in 2025. I want everything he has for me. And as we look at the life of Daniel, it's so inspiring because we see that Daniel had this great resolve and he had this great grit and determination that he was gonna dig deep to tap into the wind within and excel whether he was up against opposition or he found himself in the middle of opportunity. And sometimes I think we just got to get a little of that determination back, a little bit of that resolve back. And I want to give you some backstory on Daniel before we dive into some scripture about him.

How many of you love to know the backstory of somebody? Like you're watching a game, but you're also researching that player. You want to watch a documentary about him. I like to know the context. So here's a little context for us about Daniel. This story we're about to read happened 2,600 years ago. And it started when Daniel was a teenage boy who lived in the city of Jerusalem. Now, Daniel was immersed in the culture of Jerusalem, which is a culture where they focused and they worshiped on the one true God, the God of Israel. They ate food that was clean and kosher and thought was pleasing to God. And their identity was rooted in who God is. But Jerusalem ended up being attacked by Babylon and they took the people of Jerusalem into captivity, including Daniel, and they became exiles or captives there. And we threw a map up just so you have some context. You can see where Jerusalem was at, Babylon, the journey that they had to make. And the thing about Babylon is the culture was in complete opposition with the culture of Jerusalem. The people of Babylon worshiped many false gods. They ate food that had been sacrificed to pagan gods and their identity was rooted in their human king. So here we have Daniel, who finds himself in exile in this culture. Daniel's in this culture, but he's not of this culture. He wants to please God in the midst of a culture

where it's unpopular and unfamiliar to do so. He finds himself living in this great tension. And as Christ followers, we should relate to this, that we're in this world, but not of this world. We're in this culture, but not of this culture. And we wanna please God even if it doesn't make sense to other people. And what I love about Daniel is he's not just trying to get by. He's not trying to blend in. He's not just trying to hide through the opposition. No, Daniel ends up leading through it. Daniel did not just get through Babylon. Daniel grew through Babylon. He doesn't just survive, he actually ends up thriving. Daniel moved from a culture that was God-centered into a culture that was self-centered, idol-centered. But what I love is that instead of Babylon shaping Daniel, God shaped Babylon through Daniel. How incredible is the influence that Daniel had because of his dependence on God. Daniel's in exile, and over time, he ends up getting promoted to the third most important person in Babylon. He ends up carrying great responsibility and earned the respect of those around him, even those who didn't agree with Daniel's faith could not deny his God. I pray that that's true about us in our workplaces, in our schools, in our family.

Even if you don't get it, even if you don't agree with it, I pray that the goodness and power of God would be on display through our lives. So what do we learn from Daniel? The first thing I wanna point out today, because we're gonna look at three different things we can learn from Daniel that applies to our lives today so that we can win in 2026. The first one is Daniel's patterns revealed his priorities. Daniel's patterns revealed his priorities. Maybe New Year's resolutions don't work because they're trying to make a lot of big changes all at one time. And human nature shows us that we are creatures of comfort, okay? Think about it in your own life. You probably have some habits that are on repeat, like maybe you drive the same path to work every single day. You just have your route, that's the route that you take. Maybe you go to the same coffee shop every day. You know which one you like, you go to it. Maybe you're an at-home barista like me and you make your own coffee, and I tend to make the same type of coffee, right? brown sugar, ice shake, and espresso. It is so good. I wish I could make you all one right now. But everybody probably has their patterns, right, that you're taking in every day. Without realizing it, we create these habits in our lives.

And it might not seem like a big deal, just doing the same thing day after day, but how many of us know day after day turns into week after week that turns into month after month? And patterns are powerful. In fact, I heard a pastor give advice to a young single person who was debating if they should date somebody. So if you're single, this is good advice. This is what he said. You need to look for patterns, not potential. And you might be like, but everybody has potential, right? Potential is who someone could be. Patterns reveal who people choose to be. OK, so if that person that maybe you're interested in is like, I'm going to get a job. I'm going to apply. I'm going to apply. I'm going to apply. But you're like, but you full time on your couch playing video games. I'm just saying you got to look at what the patterns are there. Patterns reveal priorities. Are you all OK? You're not mad at me. We're good? Yes. All right, so you might want to reflect on your own life this week and just look back. If my patterns point to my priorities,

what do I prioritize? It's just a good question to ask yourself. What's the pattern in your finances? What's the pattern in your calendar? What's the pattern in your habits and your friendships and how you hang? What are the patterns? What do you prioritize? And what I love about the new year is it's a great opportunity to get some things that might be out of order into order in our lives. Hey, maybe it feels like some things are out of order with your family or your marriage or your finances. It's a great opportunity to get some things into order. But the best goal that we can have in 2026 that's going to propel us forward is that we would put God first in our lives in 2026. That's the best priority, the best focus that we can have. And we do this together every year as church families through 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, which launches today across all of our locations. And maybe you're brand new here and you're like, whoa, that sounds kind of intense. I want to invite you to be a part of it. It really is for everybody. Whether you've been coming for a day or a decade, whether you can't imagine praying for 21 days or you can't imagine not praying for 21 days, this is for you.

And I want to encourage you to be a part of this. Why do we do this? Why is this something that we believe everybody can participate in? It's because it helps to form some new patterns in our lives. Every day for 21 days, I want to challenge you. Determine to put God first in your life. Give God the first 10 to 15 minutes of your day every day and watch how your day unfolds differently. You're not going to get shook by what used to shake you. You're not going to get stressed about that unknown thing because you know God's got you. You spent time with him that day. And maybe you don't know where to start. We're going to help you with that. We've got a prayer guide for everybody. You can get a physical book or you can get a digital copy online. And every book, a prayer that you can pray, it's got additional prayer models in the back. Take advantage of it. Spend time with God in prayer. And all throughout Daniel's life, we see that there were two things that he did that helped him put God first. And as he put God first, everything in his life, the first thing that we're going to look at that Daniel did about what he was selective about what he consumed. Now, we already talked about he was from a godly culture,

went to a godless culture. And so when he was a teenager, he gets there and they're wanting to train Daniel and these young people in this culture that opposes the way he has been living that pleases God. And so this is what it says. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king's service some of the Israelites, meaning Daniel and his friends, and the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. Some of you are like, well, that wouldn't be so bad. But they were to be trained for three years. And after that, they were to enter the king's service. So the plan is that they would train Daniel and his friends according to the culture that was in direct opposition with godly living. Part of that would be to eat this food and this wine from the king's table, but that food and drink had been sacrificed to pagan gods. And so Daniel knows if I'm gonna be. who God has called me to be. And if I'm gonna live the life that God has called me to live, I cannot eat what everyone else is gonna eat. He knows I cannot consume what everyone else is going to consume and expect to get different results. And so Daniel in his boldness goes to the guy in charge.

And he's full of boldness but so much respect and wisdom. And he says to him, please, test us for 10 days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink and then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see. So he agreed to this and tested them for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, they, Daniel and his friend, looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. Now, when Daniel's choosing to omit from his diet all of these things that he knew wouldn't please God, Daniel wasn't just changing his menu. He was declaring his devotion to changing the menu. He was declaring his desperation for God. I need more than this royal food. I need God in my life. And I'm gonna do maybe what's unpopular in order to prioritize God. He knew if I want God's wisdom and strength and favor, I can't consume what the culture consumes and expect to get kingdom results. And so Daniel fasted and he simplified. This is where we get the Daniel fast from. If you read about it, it's a lot of vegetables, water, very minimalistic. He simplified what he would take in. And he was doing this so that he could make more room for God in his life. And as we launch 21 days of prayer and fasting,

I encourage you to prayerfully ask God, God, what do you want me to fast during these 21 days? Everybody can participate, but it's gonna look different for every single person. Some of you might type a certain fast to food or maybe you're gonna fast to drink or alcohol or you're gonna fast to meal every day or you're gonna do a digital fast of social media or video games, but it should be something that you normally lean to that instead you're gonna lean on God. Somebody was like, can I fast my kids? No, you can't fast your kids. Adam's praying I'll fast Amazon. I don't think it's gonna happen. But the idea of fasting is that you strengthen your spirit and you starve your flesh. Because we have this tension of spirit and flesh, right? And we oftentimes just give into our fleshly desires. Yeah, I'll do that. Yeah, I'll have that. And we can be indulgent. I heard a nutritionist say that whatever you had the night before, you want it again the next night. You get stuck in this pattern of comfort and familiarity. And when we learn to say no to our flesh, then we strengthen our spirit because what you feed will grow. So when you feed the things of the spirit,

your spirit will grow stronger. And so over the next 21 days, as you focus on denying your flesh, you're gonna find that your spirit is strengthened. And this is important for us just to think about every now and then is that we're not earthly beings who are having a spiritual experience. We are actually spiritual beings who are having an earthly experience. But if we only try to live according to the earth, then we're not gonna be strong in our spirit. So this is a chance to refocus and to reframe. And so this morning, I wanna give us four benefits of fasting. I just wanna be able to teach you what we're about to walk into so you walk into it empowered with knowledge from the word of God. Okay, so the first thing, benefit of fasting, if you're taking notes, the first one is this. When you fast, you are in alignment with Jesus. Okay, in Matthew 6, 16, Jesus is teaching his disciples. And as he's teaching them about fasting, he opens it with saying, when you fast. So Jesus is saying to his followers, I'm assuming that fasting is a part of your rhythm and a part of your life. And as Christ followers, we want to adopt that as well and make fasting part of our rhythm and part of our life and some of our patterns that we have.

And we even see that Jesus himself fasted. It said he went into the wilderness. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And the incredible thing is when he was done with that fast, it says that he left full of the spirit and full of power. So he received power during that fast and that's when he went and started his earthly ministry. How incredible is that? The second thing that fasting does, the benefit of it, is it increases your focus and your clarity. Okay, you know, if you're driving somewhere and you've got. your music turned up really loud, you're listening to whatever you listen to, the Eagles, I don't know. Maybe you're listening to the Bears, then hopefully they win today. Okay, yes, we're praying that. They're gonna give me a heart attack those last two minutes. But maybe you've got sports turned up, you've got your music turned up loud, and then all of a sudden, if you realize I took a wrong turn, or I'm kind of lost, what's the first thing that you do? You turn down the noise. Maybe you turn it off. You reduce the noise around you to gain clarity about where you are

and where you should be going. And some of us have so much noise, and we're just living on autopilot. We've been lost for a long time, and we're not even acknowledging it because everything's just so noisy. And so as we go into 21 days of prayer and fasting, we're reducing the noise. Sometimes we can accumulate so much noise without even realizing it, but we're always scrolling, we're always going, we're always consuming, and we're so full of all of this stuff. In Matthew 5, 6, Jesus is talking, and it says, blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for what is right, for they will be filled. Do you know that God wants to fill you? The deepest desires that you have, God wants to satisfy you in a way that no other person on this planet can, only He can because He created you and you are His creation. He wants to fill you and satisfy you. But sometimes we're so full that we can't even receive what it is that God is wanting to give us. When my kids are hungry, they're like, I'm hungry, I'm making dinner.

I look over, they're like eating all the sugar and candy. I'm like, what are you doing? Then it's time to eat, and they're like, I'm already full from sugar, which is not gonna nourish you. We do the same. And God wants to fill you and satisfy you, but we gotta give Him space to do that in our lives. The third benefit for fasting is it creates a spiritual quickness. Even the very word fasting indicates it propels you forward. It's not 21 days of prayer and slowness. It's 21 days of prayer and fasting, that there's a quickness. Some of you have felt stuck in your relationship with God for a long time, and you're ready to move forward. Prayer and fasting is a way to push you forward. You know, the New Testament talks a lot about running the race that God has marked out for us. And each and every one of us have a race marked out for us that God has created for you to run. And here's the thing. How you run your race and what your race looks like is gonna be different than the person on the right and the left, and different than any other person on this entire planet. You know why? Because you know what your superpower is?

You are the only you. There's no other you that exists. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. Every person is created uniquely by God for a unique purpose. And so often, God's going, run your race, run your race, but we're comparing our race to somebody else's race. And then the Bible gives the analogy that when we're running our race, we're to throw off the things that hinder us, throw off the things that entangle us, throw off the things that slow us down. And when we pray and when we fast, it gives God the room to say, hey, you've been carrying around that bitterness. It's slowing you down. Hey, you've been carrying around that anger, and it's preventing you from running the race to your fullest potential. Hey, you've been carrying around that insecurity. I want you to surrender it because I need you to run your race, and your coworkers need you to run this race, and your family needs you to run this race so that you can be a light in every place that you go to. So when we pray and we fast, we shed the things that slow us down, and we give God space to point those out to us, and we find a quickness occurs. You know, I was listening to something

from a race car driver, and he was talking about part of how he goes fast is knowing the importance of breaking. He said, I have to go slow in order to go fast. Sometimes the fastest way forward spiritually is slowing down long enough to hear God's voice again. Take advantage of these 21 days. Let's be different at the end of them. The fourth thing that fasting is a benefit for is it's essential for spiritual breakthrough. Fasting is essential for spiritual breakthrough. And I know it might be like, wow, this kind of sounds extreme. Guys, the world is looking to crazy stuff for spiritual help. They're looking to rocks, and magic, and cards, and we get access to the all-living God who wants to give us spirituality. breakthrough and I want to encourage you to tap into everything that God has for you over these next 21 days. In Matthew chapter 17 Jesus is teaching his disciples again because there was a case where a son, where a dad had a son who needed healing and the disciples prayed for him and couldn't heal him and then the dad brought the son to Jesus and Jesus healed him immediately and the disciples said why could you heal them but I couldn't and Jesus says some things only come out, some things only change through prayer and fasting and maybe you carry something with you in 2025 that you cannot carry with you into 2026. You might have carried in 2025 a marriage that's hanging on by a thread. You might have carried in 2025 fear or depression or anxiety or addiction or an inappropriate relationship that you know needs to end. I don't know what you carried in 2025 that breaks the heart of Jesus but I do know

that Jesus loves you so much he doesn't want you to carry it into 2026 and you've tried to overcome it and you've prayed about it and you've talked about and you worried about it but if you try praying and fasting about it. I remember in April of 2024 was the original Women's Conference, one of my favorite things that we that we get to host and God always moves in such a significant way and I was doing a host spot and I walked up on the stage and as soon as I got on the stage my voice started to like crack and and go and I went to preach my voice I was losing my voice and from that day for the next ten months almost every time that I picked up a microphone to minister which God has called me to do my voice would start to give way. Many of you know you would text me, you would message me on Instagram like I'm praying for your voice, everything okay. I did everything I could do in the natural. I gave up caffeine which is hard for me to do. I saw a vocal specialist. I was like am I talking from the wrong part of my throat like what can I do? I had people pray for me, lay hands on me and nothing changed and then we got to revival nights in January 2025 and I was in the middle of praying and fasting and we had prayer teams in the front and I was on the prayer team and I was praying for people and I prayed for everybody else. I looked over and I saw a couple in the church that I trust and I love and they always are praying for us as pastors and I went over to them and I said hey I know you've already prayed for me before about this throat issue will you pray for me again? And they laid hands on me and as they prayed for me I felt like a warm soothing balm running down my throat and from that day on I have had no problems and God has healed my throat. I don't know why it took prayer and fasting for there to be breakthrough in the area but it's what it required and I want to encourage you the thing that you've been carrying that's heavy, pray about it, fast about it. Fasting doesn't twist God's arm but it positions your heart and your life to access more of God's power as you depend on him instead of depending on the things of this world. But here's the thing about fasting, it's not just omitting something it's also adding. If you're fasting breakfast but instead of praying

you're just working more then you're not really fasting you're just dieting which is not what we're trying to do here. Okay and so I want to encourage you as you fast instead of picking up that thing turn to God in prayer and dependence on him. Fasting disconnects us from the world, prayer connects us to God. The last thing I want to point out about Daniel is that Daniel consistently prioritized prayer. It was a priority in his life and so when he had been in Babylon for decades, he was about 80 years old, Daniel was so respected by the king and he was so empowered by the king that other people in the court were jealous and so they're trying to get Daniel to be demoted, they're trying to get Daniel even worse than that, they want to get him killed but they can't find anything that Daniel has done to jeopardize his position. So they go to the king and they kind of use them as a pawn and they say if anyone, let's create a decree king, if anyone prays to any God except for you because they identify the king of Babylon as a God, then they should be killed by being thrown into the lion's den and the king agrees and he passes this decree and so what happens is that Daniel hears about this decree that you're not allowed to Pray to the one true God. You can only pray to the King of Israel. And it says this in Daniel 6.10, when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows open towards Jerusalem. Three times a day, he got down on his knees and he prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. It was his past. Prayer was not his last resort, it was Daniel's first response. Daniel didn't pray because it was safe, he prayed because it was necessary.

And maybe you're like, I don't even have time to pray, I'm so busy. Daniel was the third most important person in the nation and he stopped to pray three times a day. I would argue that you are too busy not to pray. You need God's wisdom in your life. You need God's strength as you parent. You need God's discernment as you're assessing what to do about that thing to move forward or not. And so Daniel got down on his knees and prayed and the officials knew Daniel would do it. They saw him praying before, so they went and they're watching for him. Will he pray even though there's a decree? Because if he does, that's how we're gonna take him down. So they go and they see Daniel praying and then this is what happens. They go to the king and tell him and the king is sad because he actually loves and respects Daniel. He didn't realize what he was doing by passing this decree, how it would impact Daniel specifically. So it says that the king gave the order and they brought into the lions in it. And the king said to Daniel, may your God continually rescue you. A stone was brought in place over the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and the rings of his nobles so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to the palace

and he spent the night without eating and without any entertainment. He brought to him, he couldn't sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and he hurried into the lion's den. Called to Daniel and said, living God, servant of the Lord, has your God whom you continually serve been able? Daniel answered, may the king live forever. My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight, nor have I ever done any wrong to you, your majesty. The king was overjoyed and he gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him because he had trusted in his God. And I wanna encourage you, City First Church, that the same God who shut the mouths of the lions at Daniel's prayer is the same God who hears your prayers today and can still do what seems impossible. That the same God who responded when Daniel fasted is the same God who sees you and is gonna respond when you fast. That our God still is satisfying hungry and thirsty hearts in a way that only he could. And what I love about this story, if you keep reading in this chapter,

you'll see that the king made a new decree. And he said that the new decree is all people should worship the living God of Daniel because he's faithful, he designs and wonders miracles. God changed Babylon through Daniel's faithfulness and his obedience. And I wanna encourage you, if you're able, would you stand to your feet? As we launch into 21 days of prayer and fasting, I wanna encourage you to trust God, to pursue him with everything that you've got. That at the end of 21 days, we will be different than when we started. At the end of 2026, we will be different than we were in 2025. And so if you want to say this year is gonna be different, I'm gonna commit to trusting God, no matter what I'm walking through. I wanna encourage you to declare this and to sing this with us. And then I'm gonna come up and pray. ♪ I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, sing it again ♪ ♪ Sing I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, He will never fail, He will never fail ♪ I trusted God, my Saviour, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Sing, I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered.

I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Oh, I trust in God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. You can give God praise for His faithfulness. I just want to encourage you, as we spend these next 21 days seeking God, don't just seek the hand of God, but seek the face of God. Don't prescribe how God's going to answer the prayers that you're praying. You know, Daniel praying didn't prevent him from getting thrown into the lion's den, but it did invite God to be in the lion's den with him, and that's where the miracle happened. God can do miracles in an instant, and sometimes I don't understand the way that He works. Sometimes it takes 10 months. Sometimes healing happens on the other side of eternity. But what we want to do is seek God's face, because when we seek His presence, we experience His peace and we experience His wisdom and His strength and His boldness, and we're reminded that He's with us in whatever it is that we're walking through. And so I just want to pray a prayer of blessing over you, and if you say, you know what, for the next 21 days, I'm in. I'm going to seek God more than I ever have before. I'm going to be open to hearing from God. Would you just lift your hands in the air, and let me pray a prayer of blessing over you.

God, you see your church, hands lifted. God, what could you do through life surrendered? What could you do through a church surrendered to your ways and to your will? God, I pray for a supernatural strength over this room. As people decide to fast things that would be difficult for them, whether it's an alcohol or a substance or a thing or a web, whatever it is, God, I pray that because of the Spirit that is in them, the Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, that what should be hard would not be, but there would be a supernatural strength, God, and that there would be a breakthrough in the name of Jesus. God, I pray for the individual who's always been intimidated to read the Bible. God, I pray they would open up your word, and the words would make sense, and they would come alive, and they would strengthen and sharpen them. God, I pray for the person who feels intimidated to pray. Prayer is not for the spiritually elite. Fasting is not for the spiritually elite. It's for everybody, and so God, I pray that you would give them courage to try something that they've never done before, and God, as we seek you, I thank you that your word promises that those who seek me will find me, because you're kind, and you're good. And so God, as we seek you, we trust that we will experience more of you. Bless, my friends, God. May this be a season of spiritual depth and breakthrough for our church. God, where we've been comfortable, we ask that you would forgive us. Wake us up. We don't want to live on autopilot. We don't want to live comfortable, God. We want to discipline our spirit and our flesh so that we can grow into all you called us to be. God, I pray this would be a mile marker in our spiritual journey.

You can go ahead and put your hands down, and if you've never made the decision to follow Jesus, can't think of a better time than right now, beginning of this new year. You've heard about how much Jesus loves you, and the power that he gives you, and he forgives our sins, and so if you believe that Jesus is a son of God, died on a cross to forgive your sins, rose again, giving you a brand new start, and you've never made the decision of following Jesus, Follow him with no one looking around except for me. can't think of a better time than right now, And you wanna say, today's my day beginning of this new year. that I secure my spot in heaven forever. God, I pray this would be a mile marker in our spiritual journey. I wanna invite you to go ahead and lift up your hand. You can go ahead and put your hands down, One, two, three, go ahead and lift up your hand. and if you've never made the decision to follow Jesus, If your heart is beating, can't think of a better time than right now, that's probably means that this is for you. beginning of this new year. You're not joining a church. God, I pray this would be a mile marker in our spiritual journey. You're just saying, I'm gonna live You've heard about how much Jesus loves you, according to the purposes that God has for me. and the power that he gives you, So if everybody would repeat this prayer

so no one's saying it alone. Heavenly Father, thank you for your son, Jesus, that he died for me, forgives my sins, and gives me a brand new start. Today I choose to follow you. And in your name I pray, everybody said amen. Can we give everybody who prayed that prayer? Wow, what an absolutely incredible message. I hope it was an encouragement and a challenge to you as we walk into 2026, of really taking a look at it and going, hey, where are my priorities at as we go into it? And so we wanna make sure that we're focusing on that as we walk into 2026. And maybe you're here today and you say, hey, I just prayed that prayer, now what do I do next? Well, first of all, let us just say congratulations. It is the best decision that you can ever make. It is life-changing, amen. You allowing Jesus to be the leader and the forgiver of your life will change everything about your life. And so maybe you're going, okay, great, well, I prayed the prayer, now what? Well, let me give you a couple of things just to kinda help you along on the next couple steps. The first thing is this, let someone know. Do you have a family member, do you have a friend, maybe a coworker or somebody, you can let us know in the chat,

but just somebody that can come alongside you to just encourage you in your journey of faith. The second thing is this, there's a QR code on your screen for a free resource called New Beginning. And so it's gonna answer some basic questions like how do I pray or where do I read in the Bible? Some simple things like that that are gonna help you get started. And then Candice is gonna share something with you that's also as helpful as well. Yeah, that's right. Hey, we would also invite you to jump into GrowthTrack, whether you just made that decision to make Jesus the leader and forgiver of your life or you've had a relationship with him for a while but you've never done GrowthTrack, we want you to jump in. It's in person and online. It restarts at the beginning of each month. We just did it in person, the first class. It's very easy to get to. It's absolutely free and it's such a great way to discover your divine gifts and your divine design. You also get to know a little bit of the church and behind the scenes of it too. So you can go ahead, scan that QR code and jump into GrowthTrack today. Absolutely, and if you need prayer for anything, we're going into 2026 and we're talking about prayer and fasting and maybe you're going,

I would just love for someone to pray with me. We'd love to do that. We have teams that pray all throughout the week and so if you want to drop it in the chat or let us know on the app, it's a great way to do that. You can just submit a prayer request and we'll be praying for you. And then if this encouraged you, send a link to somebody and invite somebody to come back with you next week. We want somebody else to be encouraged as well and so if it was an encouragement to you, send that link to somebody and share it with them and invite them next week. Yep, and one last thing, just a reminder, we do have Revival Nights. It's happening Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. You can come in person at any of our locations or you can hop in online as well. It's gonna be such a significant time. So we encourage you guys to come. Make all of them if you can. Make one of them. Come, come, come. Try to make as many as you can. So we love you guys, we're praying for you and we'll catch you at Revival Nights.