The Year Of Jubilee

Well, can we just thank God for all that He has done in this last year, 2025? Come on, everybody. We can do better than that. It's all God. When they say that the church is getting smaller and smaller, well, the world that we live in, I don't think that's happening. In fact, let me just give you a shout out and a praise report and just an attaboy when it came to our weekend services. We had an increase of 51% for our Christmas week. Can we just thank God for the increase? Nearly 20,000 people attended our candlelight services. We had on our street because where we live, we're going to take over. That's just kind of our mindset. And some of our neighbors are here who we see almost daily. And so she and others, we have our signs in our yard like you were supposed to have in your yard. And we found out that people from our neighborhood came because they said, well, if this many people go to this church at Christmas, we better go to that church as well. And so we don't know what happened to them. Maybe they hated every second of it, but they came to church and we just want to say thank you and thank you to the incredible dream team and thank you to all of you. If you're here for the first time, you came for Christmas Eve services. You came because you saw one of those signs. Maybe you're here as a result. Welcome. And we want you to know we've been doing what we've been doing here for 25 years, just waiting for you to finally get here in Jesus name. Can we just thank God for all those dream teamers. And before we go any further, I want to give a shout out and of course, we want to welcome those that are watching online.

All of our campuses today are watching live direct. Lake Travis, you've gone to a second service. Shout out to you. Can we just thank God for the growth at Lake Travis and Central continues to grow as well as Liberty Hill, Leander, it's just amazing and the 13 correctional facilities and Mozambique and Italy are watching as well. When you came in, hopefully at all your locations you received as it relates to the year of Jubilee or as it is now this season of Jubilee, look what the Lord has done in 2025. So make sure you pick that up, take it home. It'd be a way for you to just pray and just remember all the good things that God is doing in all of our lives. And then also tonight we begin our week of pursuit. I'll talk about that in a moment, but you'll receive a Jubilee journal tonight. So we want you to make sure that you know how we're all praying and how we're all on the same page. But I just want to also say this to you, a follow-up to our legacy offering and the final toll, the final count, 2025, this is what you gave over and above your tithes and your offerings just for the legacy, $3,728,635. And then missions and outreach giving $7,398,451. Can we just thank God for that? And so what that is and what that means is that this is what flows out of our house into the world. We are a church on mission. Someone asked me, are you a missional church? Well, you're not a church if you're not a missional church. A church that is a church is a church on mission. And we came here to not just affect the city of Austin and beginning in Austin, as the Bible says in the book of Acts, starting in Jerusalem, but then it goes to the corners of the earth. It does not stop.

It continues to grow. And together we can do great things. Together we can continue to expand the kingdom of God. It's not just to the life of the world that we bring the kingdom of God, the word of God to this world. It is also, if we don't, to our death and our detriment. Because how many know the good news, the truth of God must go forth in the earth? Can I hear an amen? When it fails to go forth, when the truth of God's word fails to go forth, truth is no longer in the earth. We are the pillar and the support of all truth. Paul wrote to Timothy, we are the carriers of the truth. And when there is no truth, there is lies. And we are as the carriers of the truth, we are the salt of the earth, Jesus said. We are the light of the world. He is the light, but so are we. Because we are co-heirs. We're joint heirs with him. We're co-laborers, the Bible says. And so thank you for your continued generosity. generosity and your continued giving and your continued serving, and I believe that we're going to see Ava in a greater year in 2026. Can we just, before we go any further, can we just bless this year? Father, we thank you for what you're going to do in 2026. Thank you, Father, that you are the God who wants to do extraordinarily above and beyond anything that we could ask or imagine. Lord, I pray that we would all see who you are, the God of the impossible, and that, Lord, no matter what circumstances or situations, no matter what may be the season that we're in, you're the God who has come down to bring life. Lord, I thank you that you're going to do great and marvelous things in us and in our

families and our children, our grandchildren, in our neighborhoods, through our works, through our employees and those that we work with. Father, I just thank you that you're going to do great things this year. We declare this is a year of jubilee, a year of supernatural blessing. In Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen. Let me just say something to all of our campuses and to all of us as it relates to why do we have Pursuit Week? Why do we take beginning tonight at 6 o'clock and then every night at 7 o'clock? Why are we doing this throughout this week? And we're not just praying, but we're also fasting. If you need information on how to fast, there's all sorts of biblical fasts. There's hard fasts, there's those just going all in kind of fasts, and then there's partial fasts, there's vegetable fasts. But I really want you to do what the Bible tells us to do. As Jesus said, this only happens, these things can only move except through prayer and fasting. So why are we pursuing and why do we do what we do every year? Well, let me just give you just a theological standpoint because I really want to see everyone here tonight. Number one, Genesis 1.1 says, in the beginning, God. How many want a good beginning? How many want a year that has some great beginnings and new things? Well, the Bible says in the beginning, what, God. You can't have a beginning without God. In fact, God says, if you really want a beginning or if you want to begin again, if you want a fresh start, you got to have me in it. And then the next word, he goes, in the beginning, God created. God is the one who can create a new destiny. He's the one that can create a new life for you. That's what God came to do. The Bible says in Psalm 65, just another angle as it relates to praying this week and being

committed to prayer and fasting every night this week. Psalm 65 says, Lord, you have crowned the year with your bounty and you have caused your paths to drip with fatness. Who would like to get fat in 2026? Sounds like a pork roast right there is what it sounds like to me. When he says you have crowned the year, that word there means you have encircled this year with your bounty, with your provision, and you've also circled or you have crowned, you have put a royal diadem upon this season of my life, God, and it is not going to be something that is partial. It's not something that is little. It's not something that is insignificant, but it's to the fullness of God. Who wants to see the full glory of God in 2026? This is why he says he wants to do something. Now you go in the previous first two verses of Psalm 65, the Bible says, Lord, there's silence before you, but you will answer the vows or you will answer the prayers, you will perform those words that people have asked you to perform. Oh, you who hear prayer, to you all men come. In other words, if we don't pray, there's a silence. There's a silence. There's a silence over people's lives for one reason. They stop seeking God. And that is a consistent theme. And if you want the Lord to shout over your life and over your year, I'm just telling you this is the week to start off, God, I'm coming after you with all of my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my body, and I truly believe that this year can be one of the greatest years of your life. I want to get into what is, of course, our year of jubilee. We started this in October. I want you to turn, we're going to go to the book of Luke chapter 4. And when we look at the life of Jesus and when we look at why he came, he came, frankly,

to bring to pass what forever had just been a promise. And that promise, or you could say it like this, it was a prediction. It was a promise. It was something that God had put and instituted into Israel, but they never did. And that is what the word would be is Jubilee, the 50th year in which seven Sabbaths or seven years of Sabbath, 49 in that 50th year, there was to be a reset. There was supposed to be a restart. There was supposed to be something that would come from not just God's word and God's command, but it would also have to be in obedience with God's people. And that is to let everyone have a brand new beginning. Let everyone begin again. And this was supposed to happen, but it had never happened. There's no record. There's no truth that gives us any indication that they would perform. But ultimately we know why only God could do this. And so when we pick up the story in Luke chapter four, and this is why I really do like speaking as a lot of my friends and pastors, they may take off and they may still continue to have some time of rest on the first Sunday of the new year. I like spending time with God's people on the first Sunday of the new year because I need to be in church the first Sunday of this new year. I need a reset. After all the junk I ate, come on, where are my people at? How many know you need to fast? You don't even fast for God, just fast for diet. You need it. You may be skinny fat by the end of this week, but the reality is, is that we all need to reset. And I love this about what new year and what you and I have on this first Sunday. And that it helps us to tap into the God who's always wanting to do something new. In fact, Isaiah 65 says, for behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness. Former things, former things. You can either dwell on the future or you can dwell on the former. You can either begin to say, this is going to be the beginning of a new life, or you can continue to just say, I'm going to live the same old life that I've been living. So when Jesus comes to Nazareth in Luke chapter four, he comes, of course, and he takes the book as his custom. He enters into the synagogue and he stood up to read. He stood up to read. He took the book and he read it and he wasn't going to just read it casually, he's going to read it with force. And he takes the book of the prophet Isaiah that was handed to him and he opens the book and he found the place where he's declaring and, of course, he's going to announce what was to be the characteristics of Jubilee. He says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year or the favorable year of the Lord. There's that word to encircle, there's that word now, that word crown or acceptable year of the Lord. Again, it means God's going to circle this year to be encircled with his power. The favorable year of the Lord. And then he says, and as he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and he sat down, the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say, today, this day. Not only this day, but every day, and not only this day and every day, but this year

and every year from now on today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all were speaking well of him. There was a group of people that were speaking well, there was a group of people wondering at these amazing gracious words that were falling from his lips, but then I have to believe there was another group of people that were saying, but wasn't this, and isn't this Joseph's son? It's amazing how the same word, the same gospel, the same Jesus can come to the same group of people. And there was a group of people who were the first ones to say, wow, God. See when God comes to you, you're going to say either, wow, he's come to me. He has visited me. He is speaking to me. I can remember in my early walk with Christ, wow, he's talking to me. I can remember when I go to places and places where I know I had a visitation from God, one would be at the end of a pier on Lake St. John in Ferry, Louisiana. And I would be at the end of this pier and I would bring my Bible. This was during that season, during that time when God was really dealing with me with a spirit of drawing me in. It was heavy in a good way. It was weighty. And as I felt the weight of God, I'd bring my Bible out to the end of that pier and I could just know. And I had this, I wanted to jump in the lake, but it was freezing cold. And I wanted to jump in the lake with joy because he was calling me. And he was talking to me and the Bible was alive.

My prayer life was alive. My worship was alive. You ever had that season when you're just stuck in the wow of God and the grace of God? The Bible says they were wowed by his grace, wowed by his mercy, wowed by his kindness, wowed that they were being visited with the fulfillment of God's word. But then it says, but then there was another one and another group of people who said, this is Joseph's son. It went from wow to how? Nicodemus, Nick at night, comes to Jesus. And he says, Jesus, we know you're from God. No one can do what you're doing unless you're from God. And Jesus says, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom. And the first words out of Nicodemus' mouth was what? How can this be? Are you a wow or a how? As you start this year, I wanna encourage you, don't be a how, be a wow. Because God comes down and he gives us what is wow, the fulfillment. This scripture is now being fulfilled. And then he takes it a little bit further. Those that were wondering how can this be, because you're Joseph's son, you're just, you're really not the son of God, you're the son of a carpenter. And yeah, he was, but we know he was not just that,

he was the son of God. He was God in flesh. And then Jesus, on the heels of their how, he says to them, no doubt, you're gonna quote this proverb to me, physician, heal yourself. Literally what he was saying is, I know what also you're thinking. You're saying and you're thinking these thoughts, just mind your own business. Heal yourself, take care of yourself. Don't worry with us, leave us alone. Do your works, but why don't you just work on you? What business do you have to do with us? It sounds like the same demonic voices when Jesus crossed to the other side and the demon possessed men said, what are you doing here? Have you come to torment us? But the thought and the idea of humanity, the idea, and this is of course the response of a world that has lost God, and that is what are you doing here, God? This is our world. This is our life. This is my body. This is my life. This is my time. These are my hands, these are my feet. This is my heart, this is my breath.

This is my vision. This is my world, and I don't have time for you in it. That's what they were saying. I know what you're saying when you go to the thought, how can this be? The next thought is God, just take care of yourself and you and your people heal yourselves. And then he said, truly, I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown, but I say to you in a truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, and when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over the land, and yet Elijah was sent to none of them. None of the widows who were a part of the collective nation of Israel. None of the widows that were Israelites were healed, but only one was, and she was in Zarephath, in the land of Sidon. She was an outsider. She was not one of covenant. She was not one of the promises of God. She was not born of the lineage. She was not born according to the traditions and the teachings. And Jesus said these words, and then he comes to another. Example he says and let me remind you there were many lepers in Israel. There were many lepers who were Israelites in The time of Elisha and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman a Syrian an

outsider and When they heard these things they were filled with rage and they got up and drove him out of the city and they had every intention to take him to the edge or to the brow and To the cliff of the hill on which the city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff But he passed through their midst and he went on his way I'm gonna insert a little commentary a Mayor of New York City just recently said it's about the collectivism and not the rugged individualism and What he is declaring is communism and what he's declaring a socialism What Jesus says right here is oh, it wasn't the collective ism that brought people healing it was the rugged individual faith that got themselves close to God and Just because they were a collective group This is why the Bible says as a collective group of people they tried to kill Jesus they were furious that Jesus came for the whosoever will let him come and What our nation was founded upon and what the church is founded upon reality is this is That you and I notice as he says this one this one widow a woman this one this leper a man notice he gives a picture of whether it's man or woman it is something that you and I can have and that is there was a People and a person in these stories that said I want this to be my greatest year of my life I want this to be the greatest time of my life in other words What he is saying is I came to give Jubilee. I came to make it available I came to make it possible the future is now what he is declaring when he said the acceptable year of the Lord in other words He is saying it's no longer tomorrow tomorrow I'll give my life tomorrow Tomorrow somebody like That's a voiceover. I Will trust in the Lord someday

Tomorrow come with me. Thank you so much Was either my wife or my son clapping But probably not These when he says these in the form of this widow This widow this lonely isolated small broken broken hearted Woman we know what goes with widowhood, you know what happens in a widowhood cease The leper who you know as well isolated lonely Deemed cursed Declared cursed Not able to enter into community The Bible tells us both of these cases they said we want it today You see it's the reason the purpose that Christ came it was it's the existence or the It's the explanation of his existence If you want to know why Christ came we know he died to take away our sins He died to take away our sins, but he also came to give us his powerful promises and It wasn't something that was in the just in the future. But now in Christ, it's living color It's a person. It's no longer a prediction. It's no longer a possibility It's no longer when it comes to Jubilee It's not just one day one year one season one time in other words We've all had these words said to us especially when you're making a large purchase and you're at the car dealership or you're in the you're in the title office and Everything comes down to this. It's pending approval How many have ever had those years in a car dealership, you know I'm saying When you go and you find the car and you say well we need to talk And they bring you into the manager's office

they have you sit down and Fill you with coffee From a machine and I'm not saying if you're in the car industry, this is how you do it but the truth is is that we are brought into a room and you fill out the paperwork and now you've worked on your payments and it comes down to pending approval. We've all had those. You've been at the Home Depot or Lowe's, washing machine, dryer's broken. You need it. You need it now, but it's pending approval. And you're in that waiting time. You're in that moment when you're trying to, of course, hope against hope that whoever has to make the final decision is not going to reject you. When Jesus said the acceptable year of the Lord, what he is saying is it is no longer when it comes to Jubilee, when it comes to approval, when it comes to what I have for you in the form of why I came, it's no longer in the hands of other people. It's in my hands. It's in my hands. One of the greatest barriers you're going to have to break in life is thinking because you're an outsider, because you don't come from within, because you're not what they would call a blue blood, because you are not one that has been around or been raised. And this could be, whether it's spiritual or whatever your particular profession is, you begin to think, well, I will never, I can't be, I remember coming into the calling and knowing that I was called to ministry and I was in a very large, famous church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a lot of famous preachers. And I all of a sudden know that I'm called and my whole thought is, well, how do I get into this world? And I felt like the Lord just whispered to me, I'm the door. And from that moment on, it became to me aware that resumes, for me, for me, for me to put out resumes, for me to try to look for jobs, for me to try to look for opportunities to

preach, for me to have places where I could go and be asked to speak. I was told, this is how you get your resume. This is what needs to be on your resume. This is who you send it to. And I'm reading the Bible and I'm thinking, but I believe that God is the God who opens doors. I believe God is the God who causes things to come together. And to be honest with you, I just said, Lord, I'm going to stay on my face. And if this is all you want me to do is stay on my face for the rest of my life and stay here on my face in your presence, doing what I've been asked to do. And yes, wanting to be obedient in all things. I just came to a place in my life that says, Lord, if you don't do it, I'm not going to do it. There just comes a time in your life when you have to come to your family. When it comes to your family, when it comes to your future, God, if you don't do it, I'm not going to make it happen. This acceptable year of the Lord just simply means that the power has been announced. And what God says in the coming of his son is yes and amen. Second Corinthians, the Bible tells us in chapter one, for as many are the promises of God in Christ, they are yes. Come on, say the word yes. All the campuses, Lake Travis, I want to hear you five million miles away. Yes. They're yes and amen. He's called the amen. Do you know the name of God is called the amen? Which means it's done. It's finished. And as many are, and as many as there have been declared the promises of God in Christ, they are fulfilled.

So when Jesus says the good news has come and that you have wonderful news to the poor, to those that are bruised and broken, to those who are without life, to those who are without vision, for those that don't know where to go, for those that are without strength and movement, he says over their life, yes. When Jesus declared yes, but then there were those in that same audience, no. And of course, that's the same thought. Are you a wow? Are you a yes? Or are you how? And a no. And I want to close with this story because I think it's a powerful point of what Jubilee looks like. In our own practical expression, how can we have a year Jubilee for 2026? How do you live the life of what Jesus wants us to live? The Bible says after the feast, Jesus went to Jerusalem, John chapter five. And there was in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda. And there were these five porches, five porticos. And in these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. I want you to notice it's in italics in your Bible. We'll come back to that in a moment. Waiting for the movement by an angel or something, and whoever was first into the water, whoever made it there the fastest, that from whatever they had, whatever their disease, they would be delivered. Verse five says, there was a man who had been there for 38 years, same number of years Israel was in the wilderness. It's not a coincidence that he did what he did here.

And when Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that he'd already been there at a long time in that condition, he said to him, do you want to get well? It's an interesting approach to a man who has been, frankly, stuck in bed for a long time. Have you ever been stuck in bed? Have you ever come to a place in your life when you don't want to get out of bed? In fact, you've enjoyed these last couple of weeks. You enjoyed being in bed. If you would have your way, you'd stay in bed around till three o'clock. Get a little bite to eat, go back to bed. You ever been in a place where you can't get out of bed? You don't want to get up, you're stuck. This is the bed, this man is stuck to his bed. And he's not just stuck, but he is constantly coming back to it. He gets up, but then he falls right back to it according to what we see. And Jesus doesn't say, I so pity you. I so feel sorry for you. And of course, he is the God of pity, as a father pitieth his children. We see that God is a God of pity, but here he says, it's not pity that you need. He asked him the question. And the sick man answered him, well, sir, it's not my fault.

I don't have anyone who will put me into the pool. And when the water stirred while I'm coming up, another one is faster than me. It's an interesting picture. Can you imagine what this looked like? Crippled, lame, blind. And all of a sudden, a gunshot, bang, go. And what that looked like and how that appeared. And he goes, I don't seemingly have the speed to get there like the other cripples do. And as Jesus hears this story, verse eight, Jesus said to him, get up and pick up your pallet and walk. It's an interesting thought that God does not even give him any time to discuss, to review, to rehearse, to go over. It's like Jesus just punches him in the spiritual gut. And before you know it, even before we have any indication that he believed, he has been taken from his bed and he has been taken from his pallet and he is now walking. And the Bible says immediately the man became well and whole and he picked up his pallet and began to walk. And this was done on the Sabbath day. This was done on a day in which this was not supposed to happen. The Sabbath day was not a day of work. It was a day of rest. They're gonna come after this man

because he was healed on the Sabbath. They're coming after Jesus because he was healing on the Sabbath. Isn't it amazing how stupid religion people and religious people become? And so I want you to see what I believe for a year of Jubilee. Before we go, I'm gonna close with these thoughts because I think this man teaches us. He gives us an indication as to how can we have our year of Jubilee? How can we come from a place where we have frankly been probably more about how is this gonna happen? How is this gonna happen? When we moved here 25 years ago, it is Austin. The word that Lord gave Lori and I, and we moved here 25 years ago and we started the church 50 days later. August the 10th, October the 1st, we just started in the Round Rock Library. We were outsiders, we'd never been to Austin. We knew no one here, but we had a wow word from God. We had a wow. We responded to God with a wow, not a how. I really do believe it's offensive to God. When we read the Bible and our response is, and your life is, but I think God loves it. Whether you feel it or not, by faith you respond with love. Wow!

Did you see that Bible verse? Wow! Did you see what God is doing in my life? Wow! He's here. Wow! I believe. Are you with me today? You gotta give and it will be what? Give. You give doubt, you sow doubt, you reap paralysis. When you're analyzing, how many know when we begin to analyze, paralysis by what? Analysis. There's colonels and generals and all sorts of people in this room. Hey, can we just thank God for our Delta Force? I believe that we have some of the greatest. Some of the greatest men and women. I mean, that's just true. Went to bed listening to a Delta Force lecture last night. You can look at why, if you don't know why I'm talking about it. And we have people that live in Christ with constant paralysis. This man is stuck in analyzing. He's stuck in just questions and doubts. For a year jubilee, let me just tell you,

number one, it takes more than a wish. Why the Bible verse is inserted in verse four, and an angel would come once a year and stir the water. It's not true. It became a fable. This verse was an addendum. It was added. This is not in the original text or the original canon of scripture. This became like a folklore. And if you're not aware of the word of God, if you're not aware of the word, let me just say, you'll start buying into folklores and fables. And you start putting your faith in wishes, and you, yeah, paranormal and strange things. And you begin to just think that God is all of a sudden gonna do something. And yes, he is the God who does something supernatural. He is the God who does abundantly above and beyond anything we could ever. I know he's the God of the miraculous. But I think a lot of us are stuck because we are just wishing that our lives would be better. And we have this kind of theology, much like we would rubbing a rock or a doll or something that is gonna change our lives. Number two, for a year of Jubilee, it takes asking and being asked the hard questions. Do you wanna get well?

What Jesus was doing to set this man free is what you and I have to have. And that is a confrontation with ourselves and with God. And let me add, and with other people. Do you know you need to do that with your wife, husbands? I'm gonna give you something, if you really want some good confrontations. Who wants to grow? Let me just see your, it's awful quiet over here. Just ask your wife, what are the three things that I need to work on in my life? Just three, I didn't say. How many would have a hard time? Wives, how many of you would have a hard time stopping at three? Let me just, just pick. Just, please God, don't just keep going. Don't destroy the man, just give him something to work on. If you don't ask yourself hard questions, if you're not having someone ask you hard questions, it's called accountability. I really think Jesus was asking him the question because the man didn't really want to be whole. I really believe that, he goes, I don't think you really want to get out of this. You've become so stuck, you've become so familiar with your dysfunction that it is now how you live. If you change churches because someone pops a question or asks you a question,

or the preaching in your opinion is hard or challenging, you're delaying the future. What do you mean, do I want to get married? You see every time that angel, and I think Jesus said, no, the angel doesn't show up. You're waiting on something that's not real. You like the imagery, you like the pretending. I went to go see a movie with Laurie this week. I love Neil Diamond. And it's in the news, I'm not giving away the movie. But the movie's really not about Neil Diamond. It's about an impersonator. Where are my people at? Did you have the same feeling? It's like, where's Neil? Some of you are like, you gave away the movie. It's in the reviews. And Lori and I, halfway through the movie, just kept looking at each other going, where's, where's the show about me? And I think a lot of people, we live an impersonating life. We're impersonating our faith. And God goes, ah, I want to drop some truth to you. Number three, for a year of Jubilee, it takes dropping our excuses. I have no man to put me in. You notice that's what he said. The reason why I'm in this condition, it's not my fault. And we come up with reasons and excuses

why we can't go all the way with God or why we can't be what God's called us to be because I just don't have the right connection. Which leads me to number four for a year of Jubilee. It takes a healthy view of what people can do for you. One of the greatest, I believe, hindrances to people becoming what Christ wants them to become is you're waiting on other people to do it for you. And if you're sitting around waiting on people to do something for you, I'm here to tell you, you're going to be constantly disappointed. And I say healthy view of what people can do for you because I do believe that we have an unhealthy view of what people can do for us oftentimes. I believe that we are disappointed and we do what we call church hurt now because people, it's not people. It's not people that you need. And at the moment that he says, I don't have a man to put me in the water. I think at that strategic moment, Jesus said, get up, pick up your pallet and walk. I'm the man that you need. How many know you need Christ and he is all you need? Oh, I'm not saying we don't have people. And I said a healthy view of relationships, a healthy view of people because God has this ordered to be relational.

But the last one, of course, it takes the word of God. It takes the power of God. And when he hears the word, the word immediately begins to move him. When you get out of your Bible, you get out of the will of God. When you get out of your Bible, you get out of the power of God. When you get out of the word of God, when you get out of scripture, I'm here to tell you, you place yourself and your life and your future in a desert. But the moment you hear the word, the moment that you're saying wow to the word of God, the moment that you take the word like you are taking gold and silver, is the moment I believe your life will be forever changed. Jubilee will begin to be manifested in your life. Pastor Joe, I'm just a widow. That's why he came. Pastor Joe, I feel like a leper. That's why he came. Whether you go with or you go alone, I'm here to tell you God's gonna answer your faith. How many have something that you're believing God for in 2026? Can I see all of our campuses raise their hand yet? Pastors, would you come and close in prayer at our campuses? We love you, we're proud of you, we thank God for you.

And every now and then come see us up here in the country at Georgetown. God bless you. Can we stand to our feet? Would you just, and I know many of us are new to church like this. I know what that means. I know what that's like. I have no background in church. I have a background, it was an NFL football stadium with my father as an NFL football coach. And so when I went to church for the first time and I saw people express their hands, it was the first time outside of a football stadium that I saw people lift their hands. I believe it's the universal signal to God. Lord, you're mine. You're mine. How many want to sing to the Lord? Lord, here's my hands, which means here's my life. Can we say this out loud, Lord Jesus? I don't want to be the one who says to you about your word and about your promises. I want to be the one, Lord, that says to you, wow, I believe you, that you are able to take my life. Take this season, this circumstance, this moment, and turn it around. And as there was an immediate miracle, I believe for an immediate miracle in my life, in my home. Lord, I thank you that you're the God who hears when we pray. No more excuses, no more wasted time, I take the promises of God, and I will stand firm

and believe in all that God's people say. Can we just thank God for what he's going to do this year?