This Ain't My Story // FEAR-LESS (Part 5) // Charles Metcalf

What is up friend? Hey, listen, you're about to hear a sermon called this ain't my story and You know I heard somebody say one time that at some point you're gonna have to decide to live your story for yourself and it's easy To find yourself in the wrong story and many times in our life We don't realize it but fear has stepped up and started narrating our story and in this sermon I'm gonna talk about this idea that God is the author of all of our stories but you have to choose for yourself who's gonna narrate and I'm gonna give you some practical ways where you can eliminate fear from being the narrator of your story Take your story back find your power and walk in the authority that God has given you I know it's gonna be a blessing to you It's gonna encourage you and I just want to let you know that God sees you right now where you are I'm gonna take a moment to pray for you that as you hear this sermon God will speak to your heart and also empower your spirit to live a different way. Would you pray with me Lord God? I thank you for the person that is hearing this right now Thank you that as they hear these words We'll go into their mind sink down into their heart so they can live in a brand new way Thank you that you have a big beautiful story for them to live and I pray they would step into it with confidence It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. We love you. And without further ado, let's jump into the sermon Well, welcome to church We got some work to do. So let's find your seat. Let's get to it I hope you're doing well If we haven't got the chance to meet my name is Charles and I get to serve here a part of our team and I am beyond Excited that you're here today. And today we will be culminating a series that we've been in called fearless somebody say fearless Look at your neighbor Look at your neighbor say neighbor. Oh Come on, you guys. Come on. I know they breath stink. Let's just say it. Come on Say neighbor, I don't know about you, but I didn't come to play today Get you another neighbor get you another neighbor find somebody else somebody else say neighbor

my last neighbor was playing around but I need you to know I Did not show up here On Sunday Whatever the date is today to play games with the devil Yes, sir, he should have killed me when he had the chance I I The last couple series I've done They've made these awesome podiums and I was supposed to draw on it the first week and I just kept putting it off and this Last week I was like I got to do it, but this is my I drew on every side of it But this is my favorite side. So I drew this cross and it says Jesus saves but that's not even my favorite part You got to drop the camera down a little bit because this oh, yeah, let me get out the way This is this is my message to the devil today. It says but you can't really see it Let me scoot it up. The devil is an actual bum That's what So just in case you see me I see you you're a bum Some of y'all don't know how to talk trash you stop talking trash a long time ago I did I I had to stop playing some sports because my talking trash got out of hand and I was playing with some of Y'all and I said stuff I shouldn't have said and I had to apologize to you, but I still talk trash I just redirected it to the devil who thought he won when they put Jesus in the tomb and He had about a good three days where he thought he was somebody but then Jesus stepped out of the tomb And it was the firstborn from the dead that got up and said you thought you had So I just like to remind the devil That he's an actual bum So We're going to read the Bible and then I'm gonna preach and then we're gonna go home

Let's see here We're just gonna read the Bible, I know I have to make an announcement, but let me just read the Bible Okay, we're gonna read a nice little chunk of scripture here. We're gonna start in 2nd Timothy Give me a second. This jacket is way too hot. I can't do the jacket Thank you very much, okay, y'all ready you already know what time it is Okay, first Timothy Our second Timothy, we're gonna start in verse three. This is what Paul says. Actually, we're gonna start in verse one. Why not? This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I have been sent out to tell others about the life he promised us. I am writing to Timothy, my dear son. May God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord, give you grace, mercy, and peace. Timothy, I thank God for you. The God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted, and I will be filled with joy when we are together again. I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and I know that same faith continues strong in you.

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you, for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, of love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about the Lord, and do not be ashamed about me either. Even though I'm in prison for him, with the strength God gives you, you will be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the good news, for God saved us, and he called us to live a holy life, for he did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time to show us his grace through Christ Jesus, and now he has made all this plan to us by appearing in Christ Jesus, our Savior, for he broke the power of death and illuminated the way of life and immortality through the good news, and God chose me to be a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of this good news. That is why I am suffering here. I am not ashamed of it, for I know who I trust, and I am sure he is able

to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. Title of my sermon is This Ain't My Story. If I could live your story for you, I would. This ain't my story. If I could show you how I see you and give you that confidence to know what God put on the inside of you and to see yourself the way the creator of the universe knit you together in your mother's womb before you were formed, I would do that for you, but I'm sorry I can't do that, because this ain't my story, this is your story, and can't nobody else live it for you? Can't nobody else make you do nothing? This is your story, it ain't mine. Mine. This, this ain't, this ain't my story. Some of you are gonna be able to look at the situation that's kept you bound, and you're gonna remember the God that lives on the inside of you, and you're gonna have a flip and say, hold on a second, this, this is not, this ain't the way my story's going down. I didn't go through all that. I didn't go through that pain, I didn't go through that disappointment, I did not go through hell for this to be my story. This is not my story, this ain't my story. Would you pray with me?

Dear Jesus, we love you, you're everything to us. Show yourself to us this morning that we might be different, is our prayer. In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray, and everybody said, amen. I don't know about you, but I love a good story. I love a good story, and they don't make stories like they used to make stories. Me and my wife, we go on date night every week, and the last two date nights, we have straight up one date night. out of a movie not because it was bad demonic but it was a bad story they don't make movies like they used to can I get an amen I'm talking about movies like John Q y'all don't know about John Q I'm talking about movies like Nodding Hill what you know about Nodding Hill you don't know preacher's wife I mean we could get down real stories the first matrix number one these lame stories but story is intricate to the human experience for it is in story that we find hope that we fight to see in our real life it is in story that we find pictures of ourself of who we dream we could be it is in story that our life and the desires and the meaning and the burning fire that we feel it is in story that we seem to think we could be something more than we ever thought we could be it is in story that we find meaning it is in story that we find purpose and so we love a good story because a story will give you hope that maybe things could be different maybe the pain you're facing will work out one day there's a story that is thousands of years old it's called the Odyssey there's a movie that'll be coming out soon and the story is the journey of a man trying to find his way home and it's interesting because we don't actually know who the actual writer of the story is it's Homer's Iliad but we don't know if Homer was a real person we don't know if it was a group of people but what we do know is we know a good story and this story is

about a man trying to find his way through life and in my interest in stories I was listening to the director talk about the story and watching interviews about how they navigated the story and there was something so profound that one of the interviewees said in the middle of the interview he said you know it's easier than you think to find yourself in the wrong story this actor was talking about all these movies that they've done and there was this one moment where they were acting out a scene in a previous movie and they had this monologue they were supposed to deliver and it was a man giving an apology to a massive group of people and he started the scene and they called action and he started giving his lines and he said I felt it deep in my bones and I started crying and the emotion was there and the room was dead silent I delivered this monologue one of the greatest pieces of acting I have ever done said the director called cut he's in tears he wipes his face and the director goes nope that ain't it what do you mean to say that would you see that tears emotion I had the room he said the director walked to him and said you're in the wrong movie you're in the wrong movie the gentleman giving this apology is not giving an apology he said I want you to give this next time like you're accepting an award and the actor said he immediately realized I was in the right lines but somehow deep down I was living the wrong story here's what you need to know about every story every story has key parts that make it a great story it has a plot it has a setting it has characters it has conflict but there are two things I want to talk about today in every great story and that is every story has an author and most stories have a narrator and here's what I want to say to you today we all have the same author in case you didn't know Hebrews 12 to we look to Jesus the author and finisher we all have the same author but here's what you need to know you got to choose your narrator because the author determines the plot and the purpose but the narrator controls the perspective and you can be in a great movie with a bad narrator and the narrator can tell you that's what's happening to them is the end and what's happening to them they didn't see coming and what's happening to them is only about who

they're not and who they're not gonna be and how they're not gonna grow and that they're not gonna make it and a narrator can ruin a good movie because the narrator controls not what you look at but how you look at it And today I have a very simple message for you today and that is if you're not careful it's very easy for fear to narrate your life God is the author of your story. Do not get it twisted. It wasn't your grandmother. It's not your dad It's not your co-worker. It's not your boss. It's not culture It's not the man God is the author of your story He has numbered every day of your life. He knows exactly how it's gonna go and the Bible tells us that he has good plans for you That he orchestrates everything that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are calling to his According to his purpose and we can look all throughout the Bible and see great stories by the greatest author The only problem is If you're not careful Fear will sneak in and start narrating God's story back to you He forgot about you Nobody sees you And you could be in your story being protected by God and That's the reason your friendships aren't clicking But the narrator of fear will tell you it's because there's something wrong with you. It's because you're not important It's the same reason your family doesn't talk to you anymore. It's the same reason you've always felt left out It's the same reason that you're not you're still single. It's the same reason that they left you It's because something's wrong on the inside of you. And today I want to remind you you get to choose your narrator It's your choice If I could choose it for you, I would but this ain't my story. It's yours You've got to choose how you see your life. You've got to choose how you look back on your history You've got to decide if trauma will always be everything you ever know You've got to decide if it stops with you. You've got to decide if you want to change your bloodline Nobody else is coming. The pastor's not gonna magically do it for you It's you the Spirit of God on the inside of you and you've got a decision to make what's gonna be your story Your mama can't write your story your daddy can't write your story the money in the bank can't write your story

Your good deeds can't write your story going to church can't write your story Getting a new degree can't write your story being the boss can't write your story You're gonna have to look yourself in the mirror and decide as for me and my house I'm taking my story back and some of you have been so lazy with your story You've given your story to the first bad person you met you gave your story to that first person you dated You gave your story to a doctor's report. You gave your story to abandon me. You gave your story to loneliness You gave your story to depression. I'm here to remind you You better get some power back up in yourself and remind yourself. This is my story Ain't nobody else living it for me and I sure as heck Ain't gonna let fear live my story It stops today. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired I'm sick and tired of blaming everybody else. I'm sick and tired of waiting on somebody to give me a handout I'm sick and tired of trying to control God with my prayers and trying to make him fix everything that's broken But thank God that the power that raised Christ from the dead lives up on the inside of me and he's empowered me right here Right now on this day To take my story back Some y'all just need to say that say I'm taking my story back Yeah, some of y'all your shoulders just got lighter cuz it's the first time you realize you had that choice Taking my story back We find Paul talking to a young man named Timothy and Paul knows What Timothy doesn't know and that's he's fighting for his story At this time in church history Paul finds himself in prison. He is going to die in what theologians believe to be months and All the first-generation disciples and apostles are dying and Timothy's next Timothy is a young man pastoring a church in Ephesus and it is growing out of his control and there is cultural pressure and he Lives in a city that one of the temples of Artemius Which was that one of the seven wonders of the world at his time and all that means is there's a lot of confusion There's a lot of cultural pressure

there's a lot of leadership pressure and there is this early movement that is budding and taking over the world and Paul starts to realize he doesn't know He's next He doesn't know this is about to be his story. So he writes him a letter and he says, hey Timothy, first I want to say I miss you. I love you. And I want you to know I've seen the faith that started in your great grandmother. Some of you only here because you're a great grandmother. You're only here because somebody who ain't here was praying for you. He says, I saw the faith in your great grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, but they're gone now. They ain't here. This is your story. And he's telling him, you may not realize it, but fear is standing at the door trying to see if it can take your story. So he says to him, God has not given you a spirit of fear. In the original language, this word is not like fear, like, oh gosh, I'm scared because something jumped around the corner. The word would be a military term that would refer to a coward in battle. What it's saying is, it's like a soldier standing on the front lines with all his friends and his platoon and all his group of people. And they went through training together and they went over the plan together and they decided that we're going to stand on this front line. And all of a sudden, one of the gentlemen sees what's ahead and it's a coward. It's one who runs away from the fight. And Paul comes to Timothy and I'm coming to you to say that God did not make you a coward. Fear tried to tell you you were a coward. That's why you've avoided difficult things in your life. That's why you've avoided commitment. That's why you've avoided stepping out and living your dream.

That's why you've avoided talking to certain people because fear tries to narrate to you that you're a coward and it could never work and nobody's going to listen to you and they'll never hear you and you'll never be anybody again and your time is up and your time is over. So just step back and let the other people do it. Just step back and let the qualified people do it. Just step back and let the perfect people do it. But no, God has not made you a coward. You've got to decide to live your story. And I want to walk you through today, we're going to do it clearly but quickly, four different types of fear that try to narrate your story. Four different types of fear that try to narrate your story. Now my idea and theory with this is that no matter who you are, no matter your background, no matter how you were raised, that every human on planet earth shares four core fears. That every fear you have stems from these four fears. Now I need to warn you, in just a couple of seconds, they're going to throw a graph on the screen and the graph is absolutely ridiculous. Just going to prepare you, it's got so many words and so many different things and I love it. And I've already decided that before telling you about it. But I'm going to slow you, walk you through some of these so you can hopefully identify how these fears are impacting you. Okay, throw the ridiculously worded chart on the screen. Okay, they're going to put it up on here on the side as we walk through these so you can know. But these are four core fears that we all have. Okay, throw the first one up, where are we starting out here? Here's my, I have a cheat code under here. All right, here we go. The first fear that you all got to deal with is the fear of man.

We all have this fear and the core question is, what do people think about me? At some point in your life, you are struggling with, what do people think about me? And your life is determined by what they think. So if they think you're special, you're special. If they don't think you're special, you're not. And here's how that shows up in your life. The emotions, it shows up as insecurity, it shows up as shame, it shows up as jealousy and loneliness and self doubt. Why? Because the value is determined by what they think about you. So here's what happens to your behaviors. You start hiding, you start performing for people, you start comparing yourself, isolating yourself, avoiding decisions. Why? Because you are so concerned with other people's life and the truth is they're controlling your story, you're not. So you don't say stuff because you're worried about what they'll think. You don't step in. out because of what your family might say you don't do what you know you're supposed to do because your core fear is that my value comes from your acceptance of me and i'm only important if you think i'm important so i gotta earn this money and prove to my dad and i gotta earn this thing and show them that they were wrong why because if you don't think i'm enough i don't know if i'm enough so i gotta prove it to you and it's all motivated narrated by directed by fear the fear of what they think the fear of man the next thing we've got to go to is the fear of failure the fear of failure the fear of failure the fear of failure now the question with this one is is what if i can't do it so this is different because fear of man will have you thinking what do they think about me but the other one there's something on the inside of you that thinks what if i step out there and it don't work what if i try this and i'm embarrassed what if i try to do this in it and

it can't happen so it shows up as stress and frustration and you're discouraged and there's pressure and anxiety because you are overwhelmed with the idea that it will fail the business might fail the marriage might fail the relationship might fail the idea might fail that your kids might fail so what do you do you try to control everything you quit early so you have an excuse oh i know this one because if you quit before you really had to try we don't know if you weren't good enough or if you just didn't try so it's easy to downplay your own giftings so you have an excuse to require less of yourself oh i didn't even really want to go to college i didn't even really want to start the business i didn't even really want to be married no that's not true you wanted it more than anything you've ever wanted in your life you were just so afraid that you might fail that you thought the only way to deal with this is not to deal with the fear of failure but to run away as fast as you can because what if you fail and there's another one that couples itself with the fear of failure that not everybody knows but some of you do and it's kind of up under the fear of failure but it's the fear of success some of you know it's going to work and you're terrified of what that means fear of man the fear of failure the next one is the fear of inadequacy inadequacy this fear tries to narrate your story and here's the story it tells you you're broken the fear of man is about what they think the fear of failure is about your skill and the talent you have or the idea you have but the fear of inadequacy tells you it doesn't matter where you go it doesn't matter how much you learn it doesn't matter what you think about yourself something's broken with you you don't have all the pieces and you'll never be enough and that last failure is your whole life and there's something broken and intrinsically wrong with you you're the reason your family isn't together you're the reason the marriage didn't work out you're the reason your kids are messed up you're the reason nobody's chosen you and you're the reason you'll never get promoted and you're and these lies they try to narrate your story there's the fear of man the fear of failure the fear of inadequacy and the fourth and final one is the fear of loss some of you are so gripped by the idea what if i lose what i love what if i lose what's kept me safe so you don't realize it but as a kid you had to figure out how to keep yourself safe

so you devised a plan of action that worked for you when you were five but now you're 35 and your life is built on these things you have kept and accumulated and if you lose a dollar this is this is what what is so funny about how we engage with finances because some of you think if you had enough money in the bank you wouldn't be afraid and it ain't true because there's no amount of money that can have your soul and your mind in one place at peace 10 billion dollars in the bank account you'll still be worried but what if the economy goes down and what if something bad happens and what if i can't pay for this and what if they take it all and what if i miss something and what if i why because i'm afraid that it If I lose this, I don't know who I am. If I lose this title, I don't know who I am. If I lose this job, I don't know who I am. If I lose these friends, I don't know who I am. I, if I lose this spouse, I don't, I don't know. I don't know who I am. Now, the question is what, what do we do? I'm going to give you three simple things to do and we going to go home. The first thing you're going to do, if you're going to rewrite your story, you got to first thing you got to do is you got to recognize which one of these jokers is trying to write your story. Which one is it? Do you find yourself thinking about what people think about you all day? Which one is it? Who's writing your story right now? Are you writing your story or that opinion of that person? You've never met writing your story. Are you writing your story or is it a dead loved one that never looked at you and never saw you and never acknowledged you. And now you're a grown person talking to someone at your job. Like they're that person. Why?

Because you're not writing your story. They are who's living your story, who's writing your story. And I don't, honestly, we can go through these and it's important that you recognize it. You've got to acknowledge for my life. This has been the thing that has written my story. I know these all too well, because the truth is all of them at different points have written my story. I always thought some of you know this, I've told the story a billion times, but usually it's in your early adolescence years where you start to pick up this narrator. And in sixth grade, I picked up a narrator and I was at a free throw line. It was the game winning free throws and I missed both of them and we lost the game. Dang, dad with the, my God, that's crazy. That's crazy. I said, I missed both. He said, my God, come on, dad. What was that, man? Let's go free throw right now for me and you. No, he said, my God, that's the thing about having church. They talk back to you. They, it doesn't stop. So, and then I felt so small. You right. Felt like nothing, absolutely nothing at all. It's like, wait, don't I'm so insecure. You got reason to be son. No, wait, dad. Okay. She's like, he got hit in the head.

Terrible at free throws. Okay. This is why I'm so broken right there. That's what happened in my head when I missed it. My God. So I shoot the free throws. I miss him. And this was the line that ran with no stoppage in my head until about three or four years ago when I sat down with my friend, it was, you're good enough to be the captain. You're good enough to be the leader. You're good enough for the coach to trust you while time runs out. You're good enough to draw the foul. You're good enough to be the leader at the free throw line. But when it comes down to it, you don't have what it takes. And it controlled my whole life. Terrified first years of my marriage because I thought I'm good enough to find the right girl. I'm good enough to get married, but I don't know if I'm good enough to stay married. I'm good enough to become a pastor, but I don't good to know if I'm good enough to stay a pastor. You've got to recognize who's writing your story. And after you recognize it, you got to do the every single day of your life work to replace it. Now, this is this is the important thing I got to I got to tell you, we're going to we're going to get out of here, but I can't emphasize this enough. You don't go to the altar one time. And your story all of a sudden be replaced. Well, I went to the altar at the prayer conference, so I know what.

That's not that's beautiful. There's a supernatural encounter. But the Bible says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Not that you can be transformed by your mind being renewed. The renewing every single day. You got to wake up. You got to remind yourself. Wait a second. My value is not determined by my performance. So if I get up here and miss both of them again, I am still important. I am still called. I am still chosen. I am still valued. I'm still the man. Abbey i'm still the father for those kids i'm still the pastor that this generation needs regardless Of My performance you gotta replace it with the truth So each one of these they have a truth one of one one of the ideas is the fear of man will tell you Your value is only important because of what they say about you. The truth is your value is what god says about you And he says You're loved you're chosen and here's the greatest one you're mine You're his So any earthly parent knows Oh my gosh, I have to tell this story. I have to tell this story yesterday My beautiful daughter jade october She is beautiful She's the sweetest she comes marching down the steps

bawling crying She starts crying and this proceeded to be like an hour and a half thing where she said dad i'm trying to be fashion Like you and aunt laurie and I can't do it Because This is real I mean bawling we had to facetime aunt laurie She sat the phone up went through every piece of clothing. She owns Holding it up to the camera like see I can't wear this These don't fit me And I can't no like just just and this is just a four-year-old little girl And I had to sit her little chubby cheeks down And I squished her little face And I said girl daddy loves you no matter what you wear Who cares about these clothes I love clothes I get it i'm not sure what i'm wearing tomorrow But you need to know I love you no matter what And some of you you need to know god will Kneel He will kneel down The bible says it then the word became flesh And dwelt among us that's the eternal infinite god kneeling down They say hey your value is not what they said about you Because before you were in your mother's womb I knew you I Love your mama. I love you daddy, but I knew you before they did And you've got to go through and you've got to replace each One of these the fear of man will tell you your value is what they think about you the fear A failure will tell you your value is your performance

But the gospel is your performance is not what saves you God this is why you got to be careful with religion because some of you think you're saved because you're a good person Which the sentence is flawed in and of itself Because the goal is not a good person and there aren't good and bad people the scripture says For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god So to say you're a good person is to only in of itself compare yourself to someone you think is A bad person and that puts you in the judgment seat and let me tell you friend. I love you I'm glad you're a church to say but me and you should not be in the judgment seats I don't determine good and bad. I don't say who's good and what I recognize Is that the grace of god had to come find all of us no matter what we did No matter how good we thought you were you could do all that work and the grace still had to reach down and find you Amen The fear of inadequacy tells you that something's broken but god says you're my masterpiece And the fear of loss Only makes sense when you realize Think of the thing you'd be most terrified to lose over anything else Your own life Now modern church we stray away from conversations like this But the early church was built on conversations like this because they knew Even if I lose my life I'm gonna open my eyes And look him in the face So crucify me upside down if you want to Stephen being stoned to death Says God forgive him I'm not scared right now because I know I'm about to see you I'm not terrified right now cuz I know where I go when I die, and I got some friends up there That's waiting on me, and I'm excited to see Abraham, and I'm excited to see David. I'm excited to see Moses

I know what's gonna happen to me So even if I lose everything I'll be alright You've got to replace it the last thing you've got to do Is it your life will only make sense when you release it And here's the most powerful thing you could recognize on one hand this is your story But on the other hand This ain't your story You didn't do this You think your life is about you You think you on this earth for you You think those kids were about you You think God gave you that idea for you? You think we up in this church for us? The most beautiful thing that will bring peace to your life is you realize this is not your story and You are not the main character This is why your life doesn't make sense Because humans make horrible main characters We do all right at supporting actors and extras, but we make terrible main characters There is only one man who can handle the weight and the glory and the Expectation and the intricacies and the Understandings of what it takes to stand in human history and say I am the main character And it's not you friend And your life will never make sense as long as you think it's about you But we find this in our example Jesus as I close for he is on the cross pinned there by the people he made and the scripture says he is on the cross and says in to your hands do I release My spirit

Because even Jesus knew in that garden This ain't my story God if there's any other way Because they're gonna beat me And the weight of the sin of human history is about to be on my shoulders Think about this think of your worst moment The darkest you felt the heaviest you felt when you are gonna take your I don't know what moment but think of that moment And then multiply it past every person who's ever lived every person who is alive and every person who will ever be born and Jesus is on the cross With all of that on him not metaphorically not idealistically in reality And he's in the garden thinking about this reality and he knows what it's gonna take and he know how it's gonna feel and he Starts to think to himself God if there is any There's any other way But This isn't my story So not my will But yours be done And I want to tell you friend If you want to get your story back It's kind of confusing because you gotta let it go For he wants to gain his life I Want to pray for you today That the Spirit of God Would empower you to recognize who's been writing your story, that he would empower you to replace that lie with his truth. And the easiest way to do that is to read what God says about you in this book. When you read that book, it changes your life. And that we all might find the courage to ultimately

release our story back to God. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, Lord Jesus? Thank you. Thank you for including us in your story. Thank you for giving us a role, even though we were unqualified. Thank you for looking past our bad auditions of holiness and the times we misrepresented you to include us in your story. And right now, I pray supernaturally that the spirit of God would begin to illuminate where people are living a story that is not the one you've called them to live. And I pay fear would be released from their body, from their mind, from their thoughts, from the control center of their life. And may the peace of God, which transcends understanding, may the security of God, may deep trust in God rule and reign in their life and in their mind. God, I pray that starting today, everyone under the sound of my voice is going to live a new story. Every head bowed and every eye closed. If you're in this room, you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And really, this is the ultimate moment of releasing your story. I said it before, but as good as you are, you're not a great main character. But it is in putting the right character in the right position that you start to see all the other characters will make sense. And to make it plain to you, your life won't make sense until Jesus runs your life. And I'm not talking about a partial commitment. I'm not talking about giving him your couple of little things. I'm talking about laying your life down at the altar and saying, I'm done. I can't do it. I don't want it.

Jesus, take control. And I promise you, when you make that choice, it'll change your life forever. It's what you've been looking for. It's what your soul has been searching for. It's why you feel overwhelmed. It's why you feel like you can't handle it. It's because as great as you are, you were not made to be in that role. But when you release it to Jesus, he gives you the clarity, the power, the understanding to live this life with him. If you want to accept Jesus today, I'm going to count to three. And you're going to raise your hand boldly. One, he loves you. Two, today is the day of salvation. Don't wait another day. Three, right now in this room, lift your hand if you want to accept Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. I'm so proud of you, buddy. So proud of you. I got you up there. So proud of you. So proud of you. I see you right here, dog. I got you. So proud of you. I got you right here, sis. So proud of you. So proud of you. Online, if you made that choice, we're so proud. Here's what we're going to do all together as a family. We're going to pray out loud together for the benefit of those who are praying for the

first time. Everybody out loud, repeat this after me. Everybody say, dear God, thank you for loving me. Dear Jesus, I admit I've made mistakes and I've tried to make myself the main character. But today, I release my life to you. Change me. Restore me. Make me new. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Hey, can we celebrate people who just made that choice? Go ahead and stand up to your feet. If you just made that choice, it's the best choice you could ever make. We would love to know about it. There's some information on the screen. You can text us to let us know. If you're in the room, give somebody a hug and tell them you made that choice. It's the best choice. Hey, listen, our worship team is going to worship in just a moment. Some of you just need to sit in the presence of God and you can do that. Next week, you don't want to miss it. We start a brand new series with Pastor Tim Ross. He released a book. Oh, yeah. Pastor Tim Ross is going to be here, a new series called The Missing Peace. And it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful continuation of releasing fear and finding real peace. in your life so make sure you're here next week that you're here early I want to pray for you and we're gonna go out of here if you need prayer for anything our team is gonna be up here at the front and in the back but I love you

Lord God I thank you for everybody in this room I thank you that your peace your power and the purpose of God follows them all this week and they live confidently knowing that you chose them that you're with them and that they will live a beautiful and bright and big story it's in the beautiful name of Jesus we pray and everybody said amen amen amen let's worship together you're not done with me there's so much more to the story you're not done with me you're not done with me come on if you're in this room lift your hands and say there's so much more there's so much more to the story he's not done rewrite your story you're not done with me God we're so grateful you're not done he's still writing your story to the story you're not done with me we're so grateful you're not done with me there's so much more like this it's in the way what the Lord can do what the Lord can do what he can do with your story if you place it in his hands he's gonna move he's gonna move can you imagine can you imagine with all of the waves in the room what the Lord can do what the Lord can do it's gonna