Toxic Traps | Crashing Out | Jeremy DeWeerdt

All right, hello, City First. How's everybody doing today? Put your hands together if you're happy to be in church. I'm sure happy you're here. And keep clapping for Janesville, for Cape Coral, for God Behind Bars, PandoApp, and everyone at City First Anywhere. We love you guys. Thank you for being a part of the City First Church family. And today, we're continuing our series called Toxic Traps. We're talking about finding real freedom by not taking the bait of the toxic traps that many times are in our path. We believe that there's a very real enemy of our soul that wants you to be distracted, to be tempted. And many times in our journey of life, he sets traps for us and for our culture. And many times, people will fall into those traps. And we don't wanna do that. Otherwise, we won't experience the fulfillment and the joy that God has for each and every one of us. So today, I'm talking about a trap that quite honestly, I'm thinking most of us are gonna probably go, yeah, that's a trap in our culture. It's pretty obvious. You might see it at your workplace. You might see it even in your family. You definitely see it online. And you might say, okay, what is this big trap that it's pretty obvious,

but a lot of people are falling into it, and the enemy has set it, and the masses are taking the bait? Well, I believe the trap that we need to talk about today is the trap of taking up an offense. Taking up an offense. In other words, being offended. You know, we live in an offended society and culture. It seems like everybody's ticked about something. Can I get an amen on that, right? Especially online. Everybody's angry online. And so taking an offense means that maybe you react to how somebody made you feel insulted or disrespected, or they hurt you, or maybe the other person's words or actions or behaviors kind of set you off, or maybe was vindictive or whatever. Maybe you might feel like it was even a personal attack. Like it makes you feel angry. It makes you feel hurt or sad or resentful or the fact of how you've been treated. And I would say, man, we are living in a society and a culture that is crashing out over everything. Literally freaking out over everything. Fuses are super short. And some things, it's like legit. And some things, it's probably not so legit. How many of you have seen like on social media, the reels or whatever of somebody getting out of their car and they start beating the windshield of the car

behind them because it's like road rage or whatever. And I mean, it just seems like people are just angry and they're crashing out and they're raging and such. And I think we've created a culture where being offended is considered a badge of honor and ranting is the reflex. And we don't respond anymore. We don't have civil discourse. We don't have healthy debates. Rather, we just react, we repose, and we rage. I heard a true story recently about a couple of neighbors that were in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. And again, true story where one of the neighbors had parked his car in the grass ditch on his property. And basically, the next door neighbor, his name was Blair, he didn't like the fact that his neighbor had parked his car in the ditch. And so he went over and he left a note on the car and said, you can't park here. Kind of like he became the self-appointed like policeman of the neighborhood. Anybody have one of those in your neighborhood, right? And so anyway, the neighbor who parked the car in the ditch said, hey, the reason I'm doing this is just temporarily is because I have construction happening at my house and the vehicles need access to my drive. So I'm just parking my car here temporarily. Well, Blair, the next door neighbor, did not care. And so what he did is he began a series of hostile actions, hostile actions towards his neighbor.

And first, Blair basically installed commercial-grade lighting on the side of his house and aimed it at his neighbor's bedroom window and turned it on all night. And so the man next door, he told him to shut off the lights, Blair wouldn't do it. And so he got film and put it on the inside of his bedroom window and blacked out his window so that the light wouldn't come through anymore. So Blair decided to take it to the next level and he got some speakers and he put it on the side of the house outside and aimed the speakers at his neighbor's house and blared music all day at his neighbor's house. Blair also started to dump garbage in his neighbor's lawn. He pressure washed cuss words on the sidewalk in front of his neighbor's house. He installed a flagpole in his neighbor's yard, which I'm not sure why you would do that, but he did. He also would drive his car. onto his neighbor's driveway, and it was a gravel driveway, and he would peel out and shoot rocks at his neighbor's house windows. The best was that Blair threw frozen meat on his neighbor's roof. I don't know. Blair danced naked in front of his neighbor's security cameras. He did all kinds of things.

And the authorities were called time and time again and would come to Blair and be like, you need to tone it down, you need to take down the speakers, you need to take down the lights, you need to take down whatever. Quit throwing meat on your neighbor's roof. I mean, all the things, right? Well, finally, on October 9th of last fall, there was a hurricane that went through Florida, Hurricane Milton, and Blair saw this as an opportunity because the wind was swirling, and so what Blair did is he went in the backyard of his house and he built a big bonfire, hoping that the ashes would blow onto his neighbor's house and start a fire and burn his house down. So finally, Blair was arrested, and he was charged with $67,000 of damages, all because he did not like where his neighbor was parking his car. Wow. Turn to the person next to you and say, that's a whole nother level. And then turn to the other person and say, of being crazy. Today, I wanna talk about being unoffendable, unoffendable. What do I mean by that? It means that you're not easily upset by criticism, insults, or negative comments or actions made in your direction,

that you're a person that remains calm and composed and level-headed regardless of what people try to do or say to you. And as Christ followers, the Bible word for this is, we need to have self-control, self-control. Have self-control in a culture where it feels like everybody's spinning out of control. And in fact, I would say in an offended world, composure looks like rebellion. Like literally, if you're a person that keeps even-keeled, level-headed, don't fly off the handle, don't freak out, don't retaliate, don't post something you shouldn't, doing all those things, you are gonna stick out like a sore thumb, as they say, in our culture because everybody's offended, everybody seems to be raging, everybody seems to be ranting. And we need to be people who try to have restraint, people that are not obsessed about the offenses that people do to us, but rather, we are obsessed about our God that gives us fulfilling life and purpose beyond any offense that happens to us, we rise above it. Does that make sense? Yeah, you can put your hands together for that. Now, I do wanna set the record straight. I wanna be honest here. In life, people will offend you, they will offend you. You are not gonna make it through this life without any scratches or dents.

People are going to say things to you, they're gonna do things to you. Some of those people may be coworkers, some of them might be fellow students, some of them might be neighbors, some of them might be somebody you don't even know, some of them might be even your family. They're gonna do things, and it's gonna offend you. And the result is, you're gonna feel insulted, you're gonna feel angry, you're gonna feel hurt, you're gonna feel irritated, and you will want to carry an offense. And by no means in this message, again, let me set the record straight, by no means in this message am I saying what that person did or is doing is okay. I am not saying it's okay. I am not saying that it doesn't create frustration. I am not saying it doesn't create pain. What I am saying is this, after those people, that person does whatever they do, says whatever they said, you and I have a choice what we're gonna do with it. We have a choice, and it's one of two things. We're either gonna, number one, we're gonna process the offense and let it go, or we are gonna carry that offense into our future. Now, you know what the problem is with carrying the offense into your future? Is that person not only robbed you of your joy and happiness that day that they offended you,

but now if you carry it into your future, that person is gonna rob you of your joy and your happiness every day of your life going forward. So we have a term around here in America, and we say we take offense, like I take offense. I take offense to that. I take offense to that. Now when you think about the word picture on that, I take offense. I take offense. The word picture is I'm taking it, I'm carrying it, I'm owning it. It now becomes my identity. It becomes my driving passion. I hang onto it. And there are all kinds of people, literally by the millions in our country alone, that they are living with offense because they have taken the offense and that offense has become their partner on the journey of life. Craig Groeschel said this, and I love it. He said, just because you feel offended doesn't mean you have to live offended. There's a difference between feeling offended and deciding to make it your life. In fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 14, it says this, Proverbs 14, boom. People with understanding control their anger. A hot temper shows great foolishness.

If that verse is true, which it is, because it's the Bible, but if that is true, that means that our culture sometimes is kind of foolish. Because man, we lose it, we crash out, we rant, we rage, we flip out all the time. Now, let me also say this. Not all offenses are created equal. There are some offenses, as I'm talking today, that you have gotten angry because somebody cut you off on the way to church. Or someone said something to you about your favorite sports team. Or you were at work and somebody made a snarky remark. Or somebody did something at school. And it's like, you know, it's an offense, but it's more of like an irritation. Like you're just perturbed with the person. But then there's a spectrum. And you have various types of offenses all the way to maybe the other side where somebody has truly hurt you. They've truly attacked you. They have truly like wounded you. They've done something either by action or word that is absolutely wrong. And so today, as I talk about offense, I realize this. I'm talking to people that have experienced offenses all over the spectrum.

But this is what I know the Bible would say. Regardless of where you're at on the spectrum, it's gonna take a little while if you're on the more egregious side. Somebody did something really, really bad versus somebody cut you off on the way to church. But you're gonna have to process that. And then you're gonna have to practice self-control. And you're gonna have to eventually let it go. Otherwise, it is going to bury you. Like when you carry an offense, it's like drinking poison and hoping the other person lives. So you can't just carry offense and just expect to have a great life. In fact, you know what? All of us know somebody. Let's raise our hand on this if you know somebody. How many of you know somebody that you can just tell they live with an offense? I mean, our hands are up, right? Maybe you're raising your hand and be like, that's me, it's me. I'm the problem, it's me. Okay, I don't know. But I would say this, we all know somebody. Nobody looks at someone who lives offended and says, I wanna be like that someday. No one does, why? Because we all know deep down in the inside

when you live with an offense, it begins to make your life small and it pulls the joy out of your life. So I'm gonna talk about two stories today and we can learn about how to deal with offense. The first one is found in the Old Testament. A guy by the name of Moses. Most of you probably have heard of him before. I've been personally studying Moses in my personal devotional time over the last few months. And I've studied him multiple times over the last 35 years. And every time I study this guy, I learn more about how to be a better person. And Moses, his assignment from God was that he was supposed to take the children of Israel out of slavery and captivity that they had been in for over 400 years in Egypt and was supposed to bring them to the promised land. And it took 40 years. Now, you may not know this, but actually, if you were to walk from where they were in Egypt to where we believe the promised land is, it's only an 11-day journey. It's only 11 days by foot. But it took them 40 years. Why did it take them 40 years? Because the whole 40 years, the people are complaining. They're angry at Moses. They're calling him names.

They're questioning his character. They're disobeying God. They're creating false idols. And so God just had them kind of wander around in the desert to refine them because they weren't ready to get into the promised land. and the whole time Moses is having to lead this group of grumbling people. Towards the end of the 40 years, they are once again complaining, and they're complaining because they don't have water and they don't like the food. And God is providing supernaturally food and water for them, but you know what, they feel like they don't have enough. And so they start saying, we wish, Moses, you would have never brought us out of Egypt. We wish we could go back into slavery. Basically what they're saying is they wish that they could go back into captivity, be beaten into submission, worked like dogs, and somehow that would make them more happy. They were very subjective. They were complaining at that time. They weren't really in their right minds. And Moses once again goes to God and goes, well, what are we gonna do? Well, it's kind of interesting because, you know what, the people that were complaining at the end of the 40 years, the majority of them hadn't even really experienced Egypt. In fact, theologians believe

that of the 3 million people that left Egypt, 2 million of them have died by this point of old age or because they were in the desert and they had disobeyed God and there's a plague or whatever else. So about 2 million of the 3 million had died, but yet those 2 million had been replaced because they had kids that grew up. So now there's 3 million of them 40 years later and 2 thirds of them had never even been to Egypt before or they don't remember it because they were too young. And yet they're going, we want slavery. We want captivity. So God comes to Moses and says, we're gonna go ahead and I'll do a miracle once again. I'll provide water. And we pick it up in Numbers chapter 20. Says then, he, meaning Moses and Aaron, summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. Listen, you rebels, he shouted, must we bring water from this rock? Now, what is happening here is God is gonna do a miracle by bringing water out of this rock. And he had told Moses, he goes, I want you to speak to the rock and I want you to speak to it and water will come out and everybody will have their water and they'll be happy. So what does Moses do? He gets in front of everybody, he stands next to this rock and he goes, hey, you rebels.

Now, modern day language, this has been translated from the Hebrew. Modern day language, it'd be like he stood up, he's angry, he's tired. And Moses is looking at the people and he'd be like, hey, you morons, you idiots. I mean, like literally, that's his tone. He's had it, he's 120 years old almost. And he's tired. And how many of you know that tiredness is like truth serum? And he's tired, he's been leading these people for 40 years and he's like, oh, you idiots. How long do I have to like manage you and handhold you and baby you and deal with your complaining? Do I have to really bring like water from this rock? And so what does Moses do? He raises his hand and the Bible says he struck the rock twice. He didn't speak to the rock like God told him to. Instead, he struck the rock. I mean, I see him, he's probably going, idiots, idiots. You know what I mean? He's just angry. Struck the rock twice with the staff and water gushed out. So the miracle still happened and the entire community and their livestock drank to their fill. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land that I'm giving them. In other words, what God is saying here is he's like, Moses, you crashed out. You lost your temper. You blew it. And because of that, you can't go into the promised land. Now, I think reading this, most of us say, that's kind of unfair. Moses has been like consistent and a great leader for the most part, for 40 years dealing with these complaining people. And you know what? He loses it for like five minutes and that disqualifies him from going into the promised land? Like God, that seems heavy handed. That seems like that's a little too much of a punishment for the track record that Moses had. But if you dive in a little bit deeper, you realize this, I believe that Moses striking the rock is not what kept him out of the promised land. Yes, he disobeyed God. Instead of speaking to the rock, he struck the rock. But at the end of the day, I think God might've forgave him for that. Here's the real problem. It's what Moses said to the people. You morons, you idiots, you rebels. How long do I have to help you?

He lost it. He lost it on his people. And you know what? I know this about humans. is that people don't want to follow a leader who thinks that they're a moron. And I think at that moment, Moses lost all credibility with the people. Even though he was titled a leader, he no longer could lead because he lost credibility, he lost ships. And God knew that Moses had lost credibility and said, okay, buddy, it's time you tap out. We need a new leader to bring him into the promised land. How does that relate to us today in 2025? Rage robs you of respect. So you got to remember that next time you rage, next time you want to post that online, next time you spout out, spout off, next time you rant, next time you say that at Thanksgiving dinner, the next time you use your words, guess what? You are being put in a category in people's minds and your impulsive reactions to other people's poor decisions actually puts you at their level. That day, Moses lost respect and he just became one of the other complainers. That day, there were 3 million people complaining, but after that day, there were 3 million and one complainers

because Moses joined them. There is a reputational impact every time we crash out, blow up, or say words that we can never take back. So be careful what you say, be careful what you post, be careful what you text, be careful what you tell people because the people were acting dumb. The people were being disobedient to God. So Moses was kind of right, but the way that Moses reacted made him look dumb too. And we're living in a culture where people will say things to you, especially they'll say things to a screen that gets to you. They don't say it to your face most of the time. They'll say it through a screen, which is kind of cowardly in my estimation, but they'll say it and they'll attack your self-worth or maybe they even say it to your face. And here's the thing, if you respond in a way, don't respond in a way that proves them right. Like if they call you a moron, don't act like a moron. Not every impulse deserves an outward action. Not every time you have an impulse, does that mean you gotta act on it? In fact, it says in Proverbs 29, 11, it says a fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. I will tell you our culture is on full vent, on the daily, full vent, right? And yet the Bible says, no,

a wise man or a wise woman holds it back. Don't let people keep you from the promise. And that's what Moses did. He let the people get under his skin and he reacted in a way that was ungodly and brought him down to their level and it kept him from the promise. Instead, when people offend you, you say, no, God, I'm not gonna allow this fence or this person to keep me from the promise that you have for me or the good life that you have for me. I won't do it. Self-control is the pathway to freedom and to God's blessing. It isn't that we're just supposed to be godly and self-controlled, okay? It's not Pollyanna, it's the best way to live. Now, some of us are listening to this and like, man, I wish I would have heard this sermon like a month ago before I blew up on that person. All of us are in that category. I could tell you stories, I don't have time, but I could tell you stories where I lost it, I blew up, I said something I shouldn't have said, and guess what? I lost chips, I lost credibility. And I would say, if you are in that category where you've lost it, you've lost credibility, it's not too late to ask God to help you start building back that credibility.

And you don't have to do it. For a long time, you have to be self-controlled. And then you'll win back the reputation that you once had. And it may even start today with like calling somebody or texting somebody and saying, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for how I acted at Christmas dinner. You brought up politics and I lost my mind. And you just say, you know what, I apologize, that was wrong. It may start with an apology. For our last story, first one being Moses. Now, this one, this story I picked it because sometimes the offense is more serious. It's more serious than somebody bringing up politics at Christmas dinner. It's more serious than somebody budding in front of you at Starbucks. It's more serious than somebody pulling into your parking space as you're trying to pull in yourself and they zoom in real quick. You ever had that happen? That always drives me crazy, right? It's more than that. Maybe the offense is pretty serious. Like, I mean, like really. like serious, like they've done something that's hurt you, they've been vindictive, they've betrayed you. So Easter is just around the corner, three weeks away. And before Easter Sunday, or what we now call Easter Sunday in the Jesus story, a few days before that,

there was a story that took place in the garden. And what had happened was that Jesus with his disciples went into the garden and Jesus was going to pray. And the disciples were falling asleep. And the people who hated Jesus were coming into the garden to arrest Jesus and take him captive, falsely accusing him of things. And this was the beginning of what we now call Easter weekend. And so we pick up in Matthew chapter 26, and it's in a bunch of the gospels, but we're gonna read out of Matthew. It says, even as Jesus said this, Judas, the one of the 12 disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. And they had been sent by the leading priests and the elders of the people. The traitor Judas had given them a prearranged signal. You will know which one, meaning you'll know who Jesus is, who to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. So Judas came straight to Jesus. Greetings, rabbi. Don't you love it when people smile at your face and then talk behind your back? This is one of these moments. Like, can you imagine here? Here is Judas, been hanging out with Jesus for three and a half years, doing ministry with Jesus. Jesus, come give me a hug. And the whole time, it's a setup.

It's betrayal. He gave him a kiss. And what does Jesus say back? He goes, my friend, go ahead and do what you have come for. Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men, okay, in the other gospels, it specifies who this man is. It's Peter, the apostle Peter, like one of the disciples. Peter, who's with Jesus, pulls out his sword. How did the mob come? With swords and clubs. What does Peter pull? A sword. He goes back at the people that are attacking Jesus with a sword and struck the high priest slave, slashing off his ear. Put away your sword, Jesus told him. So I mean, Peter's swinging for the fences, man. Takes off a person's ear. And Jesus goes, put away the sword. And then he goes on to say this. I think this is interesting. He goes, don't you realize that I could ask my father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? For those of you that are Marvel comic-like fans, this is a Thanos moment. Jesus is going, all I gotta do is, and everybody's obliterated. Jesus goes, that's all I gotta do.

I could call thousands of angels, everybody's dead. Everybody loses their ears. He looks at Peter and he goes, Peter, put away your sword. Don't you realize who I am? I'm God. They're coming to arrest me. You think that they can really arrest me? No, I'm gonna let them arrest me. I have power beyond your imagination. I could call all of the angels of heaven that would come and turn these people to dust, and yet I am not doing it. Put away your sword. Put away your sword. Now, this story holds so many complexities. First, Judas is a part of the disciples for three and a half years doing ministry with Jesus, watching him do miracles with the other disciples, having conversations around campfires. For three and a half years, they sat under countless teachings of Jesus, and now Judas is gonna betray Jesus and the other disciples, but really Jesus. Peter's ticked. Peter's like, not on my watch. He pulls the sword. Modern day, this was written in 2025, Peter pulls out his nine. He's like, come on, look at the glock. I mean, right?

Peter's like, you ain't doing this. You ain't doing this. And you know what that tells me? It tells me this, when someone up close to us hurts us, the natural response is to be offended and to pull out the sword. Like we trusted somebody, we confided in somebody, we let them into our inner circle, and they broke our heart, they betrayed our trust, they did something that created a lot of pain, so what do we wanna do? Pull out the sword. They came with a sword. I'm gonna pull out the sword. Off with the head. You know why we do that? Because hurt people hurt people. That's the reason why, hurt people hurt people. But Jesus was looking at Peter and going, no, no, no, no, we're gonna do it different. You see, Jesus acknowledges, first of all, the offense. Like this is important for us to hear. I am not saying. You pretend that it didn't happen. La, la, la, la, la. That person didn't say that. My family member didn't say that. My friend didn't do that. My coworker didn't do that. La, la, la, la.

No, no, no. That's not what Jesus did. In fact, in another gospel, Jesus looks and says, Judas, are you betraying me, the son of man with a kiss? In other words, he's calling it out and it is okay when somebody offends you, it is okay to call that out, to say that hurt. That's wrong. What you did has offended me. That is okay. Jesus calls it out, but this is the thing. Secondly, Jesus tells Peter, put away the sword because many times we'll call it out and we'll draw the sword. And Jesus is like, no, no, no, put away the sword. There's a better way of doing it. In other words, don't go back at the same spirit that that person came at you with. In other words, if they came at you with anger, don't go with anger. If they came at you at hurt, don't go back at hurt. Don't go back with offense. They came at you with a sword. Don't go back with a sword. Why? Well, because we shouldn't mirror their morals. You are no better than the attacker when you attack, and you're no better than the offender when you offend. And Jesus is saying, no, no, no, you're better than that. They came at you with offense, and this is what you're going to do. This is what you're going to do, city first. They offended you. You're going to rise above that. You're going to be more of a man or a woman than that.

You are going to be more mature, and you're going to rise above. You're not just going to be like on the playground in elementary school, and you're a dummy. No, you're a dummy. No, you're a dummy. You're not going to do that. You have graduated out of elementary. You are more mature, and you are not going to go back at that person in the same spirit they came at you. And the last thing that Jesus modeled is this. He understood his real power. He looked at Peter, and he goes, don't you realize I could, that, thousand angels, boom. Everybody turned to dust, boom. Everybody loses their ears, boom. Everybody falls over dead, whatever. He goes, don't you realize, I'm God. I invented life. I could take it away. He's like, he goes, don't you realize that, Peter? Your little measly sword is not going to do anything. He goes, I choose to not exercise the wrong kind of power. Instead, I understand that my power comes from God the Father is what Jesus was saying. It's the same with you. Real power is understanding that God's got your back. Somebody offended you and hurt you, God's got your back. Oh, listen, they hurt you, they're going to have to deal with God. They offended you, they're going to have to deal with God. They betrayed you, oh, baby, they're going to have to deal with God. Because why? Because power isn't in the payback. Power is in the protection that you are one of God's children and he cares for you.

That's where the power comes. The God of the universe will defend you. And as we close, there's a verse that is found in 1 Peter and notice it's found in 1 Peter, which means that Peter wrote this verse, but he wrote it decades after the garden. In fact, most people believe, theologians believe that 1 Peter was written somewhere around 60 to 65 AD. This is well after Jesus has died, was resurrected and went to heaven. Decades later. Peter's older now. He's watched Jesus. He learned from the garden moment. And I personally think that as he wrote this verse, I think he was remembering the moment in the garden when he pulled the sword. I think he's like thinking back when he was younger and he tried to take out somebody by swinging a sword. This is the verse, 1 Peter, he, meaning Jesus, did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threatened revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. We say those four words on the count of three, one, two, three, who always judges fairly. You know what Peter is saying? He's like, I've learned something important, especially that day in the garden. Real power is knowing that there's a God who sees it all and sees when people hurt you and sees when people betray you and offend you. And that God is not deaf or dumb, that God watches and that God is. just, and guess what? Justice will be served someday. The God of the universe is a just God. See, we always talk about amazing grace and we should, but you can't have grace. If you don't have justice. So God is a God of justice, but he also gives grace. And I think Peter is saying, you know what? Instead of drawing the sword, draw on the power of God, that you have a relationship with him and that God sees what's going on. And he's a just God and he will judge justly.

It may not be right now, but it will be someday. And that person that betrayed you and hurt you and offended you more than just parking in your parking place. I mean, they deeply hurt you. God sees it and not only will help heal you and help you move on, but also he'll deal with that person. He's a righteous judge, but I would also say he's also a righteous judge with our actions when we hurt others. So it isn't a one way street. It's not just like, oh God, you go get all those bad people that hurt me. But also it's God help me not to hurt others because you're also a just judge. Oh, when somebody hurts you, it'd be easy to draw the sword. But the more mature, godly and self-controlled option is to choose to draw on the power of God and say, God, you got my back and I'm going to leave it to you. I'm going to give my case to you. Like Peter said, give my case to a God who judges justly. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, let's pray that you would help us to realize that you are a just God. And even when injustice happens in our lives and to us, you see it, you're not blind, you're not deaf, you're not dumb. You are a just God and justice will be served eventually. But also may that sober us up in how we treat others. We don't want to be like Moses and lose it. And when we lose it, we forfeit the promise. Help us to be self-controlled. God, you got to give us strength to do that because that's super hard. We want to crash out. Instead, may we go to our knees and we pray. May we ask God for strength. Lord, you will give it to us. So Lord, may we seek self-control in a culture that's spinning out of control in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Come on, let's give God a huge round of applause. That's a significant message from Pastor Jeremy today. And if you find yourself sitting in your living room wondering, you know, what is the next step that I need to take? Well, if you haven't invited Jesus into your life, if you haven't made him the leader and forgiver, that's the next step to take. And it's really as simple as praying a prayer after me. So if that's you and you're feeling led and drawn to do that, I'd invite you to repeat this prayer after me. Dear Lord, I know that I've made mistakes and need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins and I now invite you to be the leader and forgiver of my life. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, hey, if you just made that decision to make Jesus the leader and forgiver, we want to be one of the first people to say congratulations. Also, we invite you to not keep that to yourself. Tell your friends, tell a family member, shout it from the rooftop. It's such a significant decision to make. And also we've got a free resource that's just for you. It's called A New Beginning Booklet. You can download that by scanning the QR code on the screen. Or if you did download the City First

app, you can download that booklet on there as well. That's right. And after you go through the New Beginnings resource, the next thing we want to encourage you to do is sign up for GrowthTrack. So what GrowthTrack is, is it's a four-part class where you can go through and it helps you identify how God has wired you and what his purpose is for your life based on that stuff. So you can do it in person or online, but that's a great class for you to sign up. It's the perfect next step. Well, we had 75 people last month sign up for it and go through it. And now we're in the business of plugging them into God's purpose for their life. So we're excited. We want you to sign up. Yeah, that's right. You can do that in person or online too. And we do invite you to download the City First app if you haven't already. It's a great place to get to know all the different events that are happening. We've got First Wednesday coming up this month. That info's in the app. Also, one of the things that I love is there's a prayer feature in the app. So you can put up a prayer request 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can throw a prayer request up there. You can pray for others. There's also a really great daily devotional, daily reflection. So you wake up first thing in the morning instead of heading over to those socials, head on over to the City First app. We would love to help just guide you and give you some direction on how to start your day with Jesus. That's right. And the next best thing you can do is come Back next week, so we would love to see you guys back next week. We're going to be continuing in our series, Toxic Traps. So invite a friend to come with you next time. You guys have a great week and we'll see you next time. Bye, guys.