Upward Signal | Pastor Jason Mick | United City Church

Come on, let's stand and worship together. I'm expectantly excited for what the Lord will do. Come on, let's stand and worship together. I'm expectantly excited for what the Lord will do. It's my strength. Oh my soul. Bless His Name. All that is within me sing the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Jesus, come what may. You are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. And oh my soul. Bless His Name. All that is within me sing the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord. Let it rise up like a river. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Let it pour out with no limit. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Let it rise up like a river. Overflowing Holy Spirit.

Let it pour out with no limit. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Come on, we have the joy of the Lord this morning. Sing it out with me. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. And oh my soul. Bless His Name. All that is within me sing. Oh my soul. Bless His Name. All that is within me sing. Oh my soul. Bless His Name. All that is within me sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord. He is my comforter. Woo! Good morning, church. Today is a good day because we get to celebrate life change. Yes? Yes. And this is Kate Holt. And she has been coming to UC for the past couple of months. And within the past couple of months, she's gotten to really be devoted to the Lord and just seek Him out and bring her family and all the things.

And today is the day where she wants to get baptized. Declare that she has a relationship with Jesus and now she gets to proclaim that for everyone to see and everyone to hear and we Have friends and family back here and it's gonna be a party. It's okay. I have one question for you Have you turned from a life of sin and say yes to Jesus? When I get to baptize you in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit bear the crimson basket I Good morning, United City. We are so glad you chose to kick off your new year with us Let's take a moment to stand up and greet someone next to you All right, all right, man, it is so good to be with you this morning 10 o'clock 10 o'clock I hope you said good morning to somebody Well, happy new year United City family It is so good to be with you on this the first Sunday of the year If I've not had the pleasure of meeting you, my name is Josh I have the privilege of being your host and I'm so glad you chose to be with us this morning I'm so glad you chose to be with us this morning If I've not had the pleasure of meeting you my name is Josh I have the privilege of being the worship pastor here at United City and man We are so excited for everything that God has got in store for us this year. If you're a first-time guest I just want to say thank you so much for choosing to spend the first Sunday of the year with us We know that that's a big deal. We hope that you find family here We hope you find a home here, but more importantly, we hope you find God here with us as well Can we just thank every first-time guest is with us this morning 10 o'clock for choosing to come spend some time with us Show of hands anybody already got their calendar filled out for January, February, March, April, May Okay, you're not better than us Okay Some of us are just trying to enjoy the holiday while we can But hey as you are planning out the next few months We'd love for you to consider some of that activity with us

And so if you want to stay up to date with everything going on in the life of United City Church You can text guide to five five four nine eight This is going to get all the information on everything happening here at the life of United City Church Be it from small groups life groups to Sunday morning worship to youth activities Everything going on in the life of our church is going to be found there at five five four nine Eight and we love nothing more than to invite you into the life of our family here In Humboldt, Texas with that being said, I'd love to go ahead and invite our ushers forward as we move into a time of giving I've said this a lot of times So one of the easiest ways that you can distinguish our believer is the way that they handle their finances In many ways when we give It it is separating us from the materialistic worldview of the world That because we live in a kingdom that is not of this world But we have a dual citizenship of that in heaven Then not only is it a blessing when we receive but it is also a blessing to us when we get to give and this Being the first Sunday of the year I'm going to ask you to give that you can start off the year not by receiving that before you receive any of God's blessings This year we get the opportunity to go before a holy God and to trust him with our finances to entrust him With your finances and so here's what I'm gonna ask you to do I'm gonna ask you to give today For some of you that may be physically in the room with us right now for some of you that may be online and if that's The case you can text you see give to five five four nine eight and somebody On the other end of that gift is going to be blessed because of what you've done And the last thing I want to say is this as we move into a time of worship either through giving or through prayer Or through teaching we've got our 21 days of prayer that that's coming up And I can't tell you how excited we are about it because what we have seen God do Routinely is a measure of more that we could ask think or imagine and a lot of that starts with your gift And so with that being said I love to pray as we move into this time of giving God. We love you God we thank you God. We worship you God. We do adore you father I do pray that you would bless the work of our hands God. I pray that you would bless our offering Father it is not ours in the first place, but father as we give

May we do so with the mindset that we are giving to Kingdom Impact that we are giving to the changing of generations to come God And God even now as if we start off the year together, would you just be exalted in life of your church? It's in your name that we pray Amen Oh I ♪ Thou has been, Thou forever will be ♪ ♪ And great is Thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is Thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning by morning new mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed Thine hath provided ♪ ♪ Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me ♪ You know, we sing that song and it's so true. And this morning we wanna introduce a new song to you. It's called, The Lord Will Provide. It's a song deeply based in Matthew chapter six, where Jesus is actually speaking to a group of discouraged people. Anybody out there be discouraged every now and again? They're worried about where their next meal is gonna come from, they're worried about where their next outfit is gonna come from, they're worried about what their next paycheck is gonna be. And Jesus says, hey, can I just tell you one thing? If you seek first the kingdom and all of its treasures and everything else would be added, look at the birds of the field, look at the flowers. They don't worry about being watered, they don't worry about being dressed.

And if your heavenly father cares about them, how much more does he care about you? And church, Jesus is saying the same thing to us right now at the beginning of 2026. And so we wanna teach you this course as a promise you can hang on to for the rest of the year. Amen, it goes this way. ♪ Sing everything I need, everything I need ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it ♪ ♪ And every single time the Lord will provide it ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it ♪ Now sing it like you believe it. ♪ Everything I need, yes everything I need ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it ♪ ♪ And every single time the Lord will provide it ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it, yes he does ♪ ♪ Yes he does, yes he does ♪ ♪ And look at the flowers and all of their beauty ♪ ♪ I don't have to wonder, you know what you're doing ♪ That's right. ♪ So why would I worry at all when you're faithful to supply ♪ Come on, you know this part. ♪ Sing everything I need, everything I need ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it ♪ ♪ And every single time the Lord will provide it ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it, yes he does ♪ ♪ Yes he does ♪ ♪ And look at the sparrows, they're lacking for nothing ♪ ♪ No fear of tomorrow and what it will bring ♪ ♪ Oh you're enough, if I have you I have enough ♪

♪ Cause your love will satisfy ♪ ♪ So everything I need, yes everything I need ♪ ♪ I know my father has it, my father has it ♪ ♪ And every single time the Lord will provide it ♪ ♪ My father has it, my father has it, yes he does ♪ ♪ Yes he does ♪ ♪ So seek first the kingdom and its treasures ♪ ♪ Everything else it will be hiding ♪ ♪ All that I'm needing ♪ ♪ Yes, I know the Lord will provide ♪ Come on, can anybody testify? Can you believe that? ♪ That I know my God's not empty handed ♪ ♪ He gives us blessings upon blessings ♪ ♪ I'm still believing ♪ ♪ Yes, I know the Lord will provide ♪ Come on, 10 o'clock, sing it like you mean it. ♪ Secrets, the kingdom and its treasures ♪ ♪ Everything else will be added ♪ ♪ All that I'm needing ♪ ♪ I know the Lord will provide ♪ ♪ I'm confident I know my God's not empty handed ♪ ♪ Empty handed, He gives us blessings upon blessings ♪ ♪ I'm still believing ♪ ♪ I know the Lord will provide ♪ Sing everything. ♪ Everything I need is everything I need ♪ ♪ My Father has it, my Father has it ♪ ♪ Every single time the Lord will provide ♪ ♪ My Father has it, my Father has it ♪

♪ Everything I need is everything I need ♪ ♪ My Father has it, my Father has it ♪ ♪ Every single time the Lord will provide ♪ ♪ My Father has it, my Father has it ♪ ♪ The kingdom and its treasures ♪ ♪ Everything else will be added ♪ ♪ All that I'm needing ♪ ♪ I know the Lord will provide ♪ ♪ Yes, He will ♪ ♪ I know my God's not empty hand ♪ ♪ He gives us blessings, all for our blessings ♪ ♪ I'm still believing ♪ ♪ Yes, I know the Lord will provide ♪ ♪ I know the Lord will provide ♪ ♪ Yes, I know the Lord will provide ♪ Amen, amen, amen. ♪ Yeah, He will provide ♪ ♪ This is my testimony ♪ ♪ And rain came and wind blew ♪ ♪ But my house was built on You ♪ ♪ And I'm safe with You ♪ ♪ And I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ And rain came and wind blew ♪ ♪ But my house was built on You, yeah ♪ ♪ And I'm safe with You ♪ ♪ And I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ And rain came and wind blew ♪ ♪ But my house was built on You, was built on You ♪ ♪ And I'm safe with You ♪ ♪ And I'm gonna make it through, I'm gonna make it through ♪

♪ Cause I'm standing strong, cause I'm standing strong on You ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ Cause I'm standing strong on You ♪ ♪ Christ is my firm foundation, yes He is ♪ ♪ The rock on which I stand ♪ ♪ When everything around me is shaking, I've never been ♪ ♪ I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me down, He's faithful through generations ♪ ♪ So why would He fail now, He won't, He won't fail now ♪ He won't, He won't fail, my God He won't fail, and He won't, do you believe? He won't, oh no, He won't fail, and He won't fail, and He won't, no He won't, no He won't Oh, let's celebrate that, let's celebrate that together, our God never fails, He will not fail us, amen, amen. Oh, let's celebrate that, let's celebrate that together, our God never fails, He will not fail us, amen. Well good morning 10 o'clock. Good morning. Happy New Year to you, my name is Jason Mick and I have the privilege of serving here as our executive pastor, and I'm so excited to have you all worshiping with us on this very first Sunday of 2026. Now it's great that we're starting off in a brand new series, as you guys just saw, Signal Strength. So if you have a copy of God's Word of Bible, I want to invite you to open up with me to the book of John. We're going to be in John chapter 17 in the first five verses today. Certainly we're excited about a new year and a new series, but here's what I know to be true, is that Jesus is still King, the gospel still saves, the Bible is still truth, prayer is still powerful, and our God is still the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's what I know to be true. That remains the same. We have much to give thanks for, just even as we're walking into this new year, much to reflect on, and one of the things that God just kept reminding me of in His faithfulness was that in 2025, here at United City Church, we saw 348 people go through the waters of baptism, y'all. 348. Okay, now listen.

830, they're half awake already. They did better than that. This is 10 o'clock. I'll say it one more time. I'll give you one more opportunity. In 2025, 348 people were baptized. They went from death to life, and they showcased that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior. May we never lose the awe and wonder in the majesty of King Jesus and what He has done, and as we roll into 2026 and we begin this new series on prayer, we're actually going to launch into 21 days of praying, and in that last week, we're going to do seven days of fasting. So I see some of you already quick with the phones. Go ahead and get it out. I want to invite every single one of you, and I'm going to talk more about this in the sermon today, but go ahead and scan that now. That way, you've got it locked and loaded. You'll see how you can subscribe to this. More to come in the series or in today's message, but again, the heart behind this is that we would be a people who hunger and long for Jesus, more of Him and less of us. We can't be filled with us and the Holy Spirit at the same time, so let's pour out ourselves and ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit that we would walk in Him. Let's be a people who lift up our sails and say, God, would you breathe a fresh wind of your Holy Spirit here at United City Church? We want to be people who are desperate for God, cling to Him, need Him, look to Him in all things, that we would be people who give up something good for something godly and greater. We would also be a people who hunger more and more for Him. You know, last service, and it still hit me true even this morning, sitting there worshiping with you before 10 o'clock, I couldn't help but think, we're about to start a series on prayer,

and we're about to, for 21 days, unite our hearts together in prayer. Can we pause for a moment and pray this morning? I'm going to invite you, if you have a spouse, just take your spouse by the hand. If you've got kids, you want to put your arms around them, great. If you're here by yourself today, great, it's okay. But I do want to take a moment, I think it's vital, I think it's imperative that we draw near to the Lord. Would you pray with me? God, this is a moment we just want to pause and reflect on you. Jesus, would you fix our eyes upon you, the author and perfecter of our faith? And God, we bear witness and give testimony to your mighty hand and the miracles that you've done in the past, and Jesus, thank you. Would you do it again? God, there's brokenness in this room, but in you there's healing and restoration and redemption. Jesus, we recognize that we don't have it all together, and we cry out that we need you. We pray, Lord, that you would move amongst us now. God, we know you're here. Holy Spirit, would you do a work in us that would make us more like you, transform our hearts, make us more like you? God, you've done miracles in the past, and we ask and beg of you to continue doing them in the days and the years ahead. To you be the glory, in Jesus' name, amen. Have you ever driven around, only to be on a phone call,

and the signal drops? Like, I'm talking, you're in a serious conversation. I was having one of these the other day. Like, every word I was hanging on to that person's, everything they were saying, I was just like, dude, all right, tell me more, tell me more. The next thing I know, it's just like, hello? Like, silent, not goodbye, not see you later. Like, he's mid-sentence, mid-story, and I hit a dead spot. Have you guys ever hit a dead spot before? Okay, on the count of three, I want you to think of that one dead spot that you normally drive around here in Northeast Houston that you know, if you go into that area, and it could even be your house. Like, if you go there, you're hitting a dead spot, all right? So, in a joyous chorus of frustration in first world problems, can we just shout out our dead spot on the count of three? One, two, three. Did I hear lubies? That's awesome, I'm not sure I ever heard that right. But I mean, so intently, like, you've been there, you've been in those conversations, in those moments where, man, you're hanging on, and you're into it, and then all of a sudden, the call drops, and you look, and I did this the other day, and I had like one bar. What did I start doing? Can you hear me? Are you there?

Can you hear me? Can you imagine if someone was recording us when we're doing this? Like, how funny it would be? And then, what do we all start doing if we try to find signal? We get six inches taller, and we're moving around, and that was definitely the case for me the other day when that signal dropped. I looked at my phone, I saw the one bar, and I wasn't disconnected from the person, but I was misaligned with the cell phone tower. I thought about that, and it dawned on me later, and here was the thought that I had, that a weak signal doesn't mean the person is far away, it means I'm not positioned to hear them clearly. In church, for so many of us, that describes our prayer life. I want you to take heart today. I want you to take heart in the fact that God is everywhere, that God is near to those who call upon Him, who draw near to Him, that God desires to hear you, God sees you, and God cares. I want you to take heart with that. And for these next four weeks, we're gonna be learning and discovering and unpacking just how to pray like Jesus prayed. Not necessarily longer prayers, not necessarily louder prayers, but specifically aligned prayers.

That we would be people who pray aligned prayers, aligning our hearts with God's heart. When we do that, when we align our hearts to God's, three things begin happening, begin changing and transforming. Our perspective changes, how we see things. Our power, how we pray effectively, and our purpose, how we live missionally. My friends, this is not a message or a series about guilt. It's not about shame, it's about realignment. Realignment changes everything. If I had an opportunity after this service, if you and I, every single one of us in this room, had an opportunity to have a. a simple one-on-one conversation, and I looked at you with a smile, no condemnation in my voice, but just ask a pointed but grace-filled question, and that question was, how is your prayer life? Really? I think I would ask you that question, you might default to, oh, it's good, it's fine, it's good. But I'd really impose with that challenging question and phrasing of, but really? I think some of the responses I would get would be, you know what, Jason, it's pretty strong, I feel close to God, I know that I'm walking uprightly with the Lord, and prayer is a daily habit. Some of you might even respond and say, well, Jason, to be honest, it's inconsistent.

I start, but I just, I don't sustain, the wheels kind of come off a little bit. You know, every day as I come into the office, I have a time and a place and a plan, I sit down, I read my word, I have my prayer journal, and I do have ADHD, and so my prayers can often be like disjointed, like where I'm praying something, and I'm like, squirrel. And I'm like, what was I praying? Oh, yeah. And I'm so thankful and reminded that sometimes even when I don't know what to pray, or if I get off course in praying, that even the Holy Spirit intercedes on my behalf. I do think some of you, though, would respond to me, perhaps with your head down just a little bit, and say, Jason, it barely exists. Some of you may even look at me and say, hey, I'm kind of new to church, Jason, what's prayer? Valid question. Great question. I love what Pastor Billy Graham said about prayer. He phrased it this way. He said, at its deepest level, prayer is fellowship with God, enjoying His company, waiting on His will, thanking Him for His mercies, and listening for what He has to say. That sounds a lot like less pressure and more like relationship.

Can we lean in that today, church? That God desires to meet with you. And that's why we're starting this new series called Signal Strength, a journey into the prayer life of Jesus Himself. And wherever you find yourself this morning on that spectrum of response, and if I ask you that question, how's your prayer life? No matter where you find yourself at today, you're not alone, and you're not stuck, and I'm not talking about you. And you're not stuck. And on this very first Sunday of 2026, here's the good news. God is not frustrated with you. He's inviting you to realign with Him. What if one of the biggest issues in prayer isn't that we don't pray enough, but it's that we don't pray aligned? We're not prayerless because we don't love God, we're prayerless because we feel like the signal is weak. We pray, but it feels like static. We pick up the phone and we dial, the call keeps dropping. Got the bars, but there's no connection. We talk, but it feels like nothing changes. We ask, but we wonder, is God even hearing this? God does hear, God does care. Prayer isn't something that God demands, church. Prayer is something that God desires to do with you.

And God invites every single one of us to ask, to seek, and to knock. In John chapter 17, we get a wide open door to the heart of Jesus at one of the most critical moments of His life. And I would argue, and I'm convinced that when Jesus prays and what He prays, if we look at it correctly, and if we posh ourselves correctly here, we're gonna see how God will reshape how we pray as we see how Jesus models alignment. John chapter 17, it'll be on the screen as well, but in your Bibles, it reads in verse one through five, when Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all who have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have chosen to be their Lord. have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. This is the first five verses of the high priestly prayer, if you will, of John chapter 17, that we will unpack over these next four weeks.

But if we just set the scene for the moment, Jesus is just hours away from his betrayal, hours away from Gethsemane, and hours away from being arrested, beaten, being put on trial, and then being crucified on a sinful cross. Hours before all that, and what is Jesus doing? He's praying. If the Son of God and the Savior of this universe chose prayer as a first line of defense, what does that say to you and to I about our problems and our issues? That we too must also seek the Lord in prayer. Not panic, not despair, not whiteboard it, not go to chat GPT or Google and try to strategize our way around it. We seek the Lord in prayer. His very first words of his prayer reveal what a God-aligned prayer life looked like. If you're taking notes, we see this. We see that the strongest prayers start with God's glory and not our goals. You'll notice when you came in today, you got a card in your chair that will remind us of this as well throughout this series. Praying for God's glory does not diminish your needs or your situation. It actually places everything in the only context where they can make sense and where God can transform them. So Jesus models to us what a God-aligned

prayer life looks like and in this, Jesus teaches us where to look, to whom we look to. Verse one, Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, Abba. Before anything else, Jesus looks up. My friends, prayer is first about direction because when that cell phone signal drops, nobody calmly says, well, you know what? I think I'll now just patiently wait. Yeah, I'll just wait. This seems like a really good idea. What do we start doing? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Ah. What if we became so dependent upon the voice of God that as Mark Batterson said in his book, The Circle Maker, that if we would draw a circle around ourselves and be so steadfast and immovable that we say, God, if you're not in it, I don't wanna take a single step out of this because I wanna be in the center of your will. Jesus shows us that prayer isn't about saying the right words first, it's about looking in the right direction first. Why? Because God and God alone is and should be the object of our faith. So we look to him. I could be guilty of this is that oftentimes

when I pray, I pray from the perspective of my problems and when I do that, everything feels overwhelming. Can anybody relate to that today? Where we feel like we're drowning in sorrow, drowning in problems and everything feels so overwhelming but what Jesus reminds us is that when we pray while staring and looking to God, everything becomes re-centered. Y'all, I have failed at this time and time again. Where I have looked to my own understanding and I found out that I make a terrible God. I look to my wife and she's human and she lets me down. I look to the fulfillment of my job and what I do to define who I am and what value I have and it lets me down. I look to friends, it's the same thing. And I think if we're all in one accord here, we would all recognize, yeah, we live in a fallen, broken world and I'm a part of that mess. And so if self is the problem, self can't be the solution. We need a savior and his name is Jesus. And so we're gonna put our eyes on him. So remember, when you pray, you're not trying to get God's attention. You already have it. And when we look to God, he changes our perspective, and the perspective of God changes everything. I'm gonna give you an application right here at the very beginning of our message. A question to ask.

This week, when you're bringing a need to God, I want you to pause and ask, where am I looking right now? To whom am I looking right now? Are you looking at the stress, the bills, the fear? Are you looking at that relationship tension? Are you looking at the diagnosis? Or are you looking to the Father? Because our prayer life strengthens when our eyes lift before our mouth even opens. Psalm 121, the psalmist says, I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Hebrews 12, two, looking to Jesus. Looking to who? Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So as you begin to pray this week, pause and ask, Father, would you lift my eyes to you? God, would you give me vision? Can we be a church that says, where God gives vision, he gives provision? And where he gives will, he fits the bill? Where we say, Jesus, I'm looking to you in all things. I'm fully dependent upon you in all things. Jesus, I'm going to choose to abide in you because I recognize in you, your Holy Spirit can do much,

but apart from you, I can do absolutely nothing. And once our perspective is set, purpose becomes clear because lifted eyes lead to aligned hearts. So Jesus, he teaches us who to look to. Then he also teaches us what to seek. Jesus teaches us where to look, and Jesus teaches us what to seek, and Jesus begins his prayer with a supernatural request. He said, glorify your son so that the son may glorify you. Jesus is simply saying this. Father, put your greatness on display in my life. Could you imagine if the people of United City Church, we begin praying that way? Jesus, would you and your majesty and your splendor, would your holiness be showcased in my life? And remember, Jesus is praying and saying these things to the father before the cross. Jesus isn't asking for comfort. He's asking that God be glorified through whatever comes next. And here's the part that we often forget and neglect, that God's testings can be God's greatest blessings. We talked about that even in our Joseph series. And I'm not saying that God causes your pain. We do live in a fallen, broken world. But what I am saying is that God is so good that he can take what was meant to break you and use it to build you if you let him be glorified in and through it.

He does work all things together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. His glory, not our goals. The cross, that was Jesus' greatest testing. And Jesus' greatest testing became the world's greatest blessing for those who would call upon him. I'm thankful that Jesus chose and willingly endured the cross for my salvation and for yours. Thank you, Jesus, that you didn't weasel your way out because you wanted to be more comfortable, but you leaned in because you said, God, would you glorify yourself through me? Thank you, Jesus, for your example. What if, what if the very thing that you're asking God to remove is the very thing that God wants to use to transform you? What if? Not to punish you, but to position you. Not to crush you, but to transform and to cultivate you. My friends, remember God's testings aren't a sign of God's absence, it's often a sign of God's alignment. And this is the alignment issue for us. Because we typically pray things like this. God change this. But Jesus prays God be glorified in this. Martin Luther, a theologian, said, he put it this way, prayer's not overcoming God's reluctance,

it's laying hold of his willingness. This doesn't mean that we can't bring our needs to God. Scripture actually commands us to bring everything to him, to ask, seek, and knock. But it does mean that we bring them through a filter. This is a generation that's got lots of filters, but here's the key, that we bring it through the filter of, God, I wanna glorify you. So ask another question. God, does this prayer glorify you? Would this outcome display your goodness or just make my life easier, or if I can put it a different way. God, if you answered all my prayers today, would it change just my world, or would it change the world? What if we went from thinking and praying one thing to something completely different because of God aligning our hearts? For example, what if we went from praying, God, give me this job, to, God, if this job brings you glory and grows me in Christ, open the door. Instead of praying, heal this relationship, we begin crying out, heal us in a way that showcases your grace and forgiveness. Instead of, fix my finances, we go to the Lord in prayer and say, do a work in my heart that depends on you

and not just more money. So why the filter of God's glory? Why instill that, why infuse it, why seek after the upward signal of God's glory, fame, and name? Because what glorifies God will ultimately satisfy you. What glorifies God will ultimately satisfy you. When we depend upon the Lord, when we run to the Lord, we cling to the Lord, and the Lord begins transforming and renewing our hearts and our minds through his word and through his Holy Spirit, our wants and desires begin aligning more with what he desires. So Jesus doesn't just pray for God's glory, he actually points to the work that revealed it and the reward that flows from it, and that's knowing him. And church, that's why we exist, that's why you're here. In a generation that is constantly seeking and searching for what is my purpose and why am I here, Jesus maps it out, that you may know God, that you may be in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That's why you are here. Jesus teaches us why we exist. So he teaches us where to look, who to look, and he teaches us why we exist in this very prayer

in verse three, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. My friends, eternal life is not simply duration. Eternal life is a relationship. Eternal life with God is knowing him now, today. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day you can call upon him and be saved. Today you can repent of your sin and turn to Jesus and be saved. And know him not just when you die physically, but you can know him on this side of eternity and for all of eternity. Don't put off tomorrow what you need to do today. Philippians three, Paul was so hungry for Jesus, he authored and penned these words. Indeed, I count everything as loss. Everything is loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Jeremiah chapter nine, verses 23 through 24. Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, and let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love,

justice, and righteousness in the earth. Earth, for in these things I delight, declares the Lord. Jesus continues in John chapter 17 in verse four, when he says, I have glorified you on earth, having finished the work you gave me to do. And Jesus's entire earthly life had one mission, to reveal the glory of the Father that we may know him. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And now he says in verse five, Father, restore to me the glory I had with you before the world existed, meaning Jesus left glory to give us glory. He stepped down so we could be raised up. He emptied himself so that we could be filled. In other words, if we could put it into one simple statement, Jesus didn't just die and raise from the dead to get you into heaven, and that is true. He died and rose again to get heaven into you. That you may know him, not know about him or the things about him, but you would know him personally. And you can know him as deeply as you desire to. There are no levels, there's no elites. There's simply a Father in heaven inviting his children into relationship with him. So another question I want to pose to us. Does my life make God look glorious or simply make me look busy? Does my life make God look glorious or me just busy? We mentioned the 21 days of prayer. And at the end of it, we're gonna do seven days of fasting

and Pastor Chris will talk more about that in the days ahead and earlier in our service, many of you decided to go ahead and scan the QR code. Some of you have not yet, but I would invite you to do that now if you have not yet. This is more about just saying, oh cool, we're gonna do a New Year's resolution thing and I'm gonna be better at praying. Here's our prayer, church. Is that we would be so desperate for God that again, we ask for a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. That we'd be people who say, Jesus, I can't do anything without you. How dangerous is it, church, that we would try to advance so far in this life and so far in 2026 that we're running so hard and we say, hey God, catch up. As if that's theologically possible. But in our heart of hearts, we don't seek the Lord to hear his still, calm voice. To be in the center of his will. If Jesus is all that we have, we have more than enough. Why do we live and operate outside of that basic principle? So here's our encouragement, here's our challenge, church. Is that we would be a people who run to Jesus through 21 days of prayer, but why 21 days of prayer? Do you know that it takes 21 days to develop a habit? How's your prayer life? Really?

Here's an opportunity to lean in. Here's an opportunity to seek the Lord like never before. Depend on him more and more. John the Baptist said, more of him, less of me. So for 21 days. And shouldn't that be a low bar, church? Doesn't 21 days almost seem like minimalistic? Do you know that society and churches as a whole and a general statistic and principle, that church members statistically attend church one out of four Sundays? Let it not be said of United City Church that we settle for one out of four Sundays. Let it be said of United City Church that we're a people filled with the Holy Spirit, driven by the word of God, recognizing that we're better together and that we're so far dependent upon God and we need him desperately 365 days a year, 24 seven, that we're gonna pray unceasingly. Let that be said of us, that we are a praying church, desperate for a move of God. So these next 21 days, don't just seek to pray more, do that, but seek to pray aligned and start every prayer by lifting your eyes to the Father before you bring your need. Ask, how, God, how can you be glorified in this? And watch what happens. And I believe, we believe as a staff, collective, we believe that as we do this together,

as we seek the Lord together, our city will feel it. We're gonna feel it personally. Our families are gonna begin feeling it and being transformed. Our workplaces will feel it. Our schools will begin to see it. Church, let's be a people who seek the Lord in this, together. On January 21st, if you're a calendar person, you wanna jot this down. Towards the tail end of our 21 days and in the middle of that last week of fasting, we're gonna have a night of worship, here in this room. Let's pack it out. We can't say, oh, I didn't know about it. I'm telling you now, a few weeks in advance, if you're a calendar person, save that date. Wednesday, January 21st, a night of worship will be powerful. This whole message and the prayer of Jesus really sets us up perfectly for our time that we're about to enter into with our Lord's Supper. Because what we see in the communion is that this is where the glory of God and the sin of the world collide at the cross. Jesus prayed, glorify your son, so the son may glorify you. And that prayer was answered at Calvary. That prayer was answered when Jesus took up his cross. The bread and the cup, they remind us of God's glory and our deepest need and how those two things

collide at the cross. So church, here in a moment, before we receive the Lord's Supper, remember this, in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed, Father, the hour has come, and that hour was the cross. The son was lifted up, not comfortably, but crucified. And the glory Jesus prayed for in verse one was fulfilled at the cross, and through this communion, we remember and celebrate his glory. In just a moment, our deacons will come forward. You can stay seated where you're at, and they will come and pass out the elements. Simply take your cup and bread and hold on to it. I will come up, and I will lead us through the taking of the Lord's Supper together. So Holy Spirit, we pray right now in this moment that this would be a time of reflection, a time of gratitude, a time of confession and repentance. God, may our prayers be aligned with you. God, we pray, Lord, that you'd be glorified in and through us. God, we remember what you've done for us on the cross. We remember, Lord, the sacrifice you made for the payment of our sins. To you be the glory, to you be the honor, and to you be the praise. Holy Spirit, move in this time and be glorified. ♪ I hear the Savior say ♪

♪ Thy strength indeed is small ♪ ♪ Child of weakness, watch and pray ♪ ♪ Find in me thine all in all ♪ ♪ Jesus paid it all ♪ ♪ All to win my own ♪ ♪ Sin had left a crimson stain ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ The precious fountain from Calvary's mountain ♪ ♪ Flowing down to you and I ♪ ♪ It washes us clean ♪ Oh, what a mystery That red blood makes me wild Isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder How something so profound Could be so simple? The blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood The love, your love, your love Oh, the marvelous love Let the redeemed sing a song Praises belong to the sign Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood My precious Jesus Oh, I'm so thankful

For the day you saved my life As I remember My heart grows tender Tears begin to heal my eyes Isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder How something so profound Could be so simple? Isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder How something so divine Could be so simple? Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood Your love, your love, your love Oh, the marvelous love Let the redeemed sing a song Praises belong to the sign The blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood Thank you, Jesus The work you did is finished All of our sins forgiven And now begin to live The wonder of the work and the blood The cross was your decision But death was not the end You rose and now we're risen The wonder of the work and the blood The work you did is finished

All of our sins forgiven And now begin to live The wonder of the work and the blood The cross was your decision But death was not the end You rose and now we're risen The wonder of the work and the blood The wonder of the work and the blood Oh, the wonder Oh, the wonder Oh, the splendor Oh, the wonder Thank you, Jesus Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood Your love, your love, your love Oh, the marvelous love Let the redeemer sing a song Praises belong to the Son The blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood And oh, how precious is the flow That makes me white as snow Oh, the wonder Flows I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ Jesus, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ That night in the upper room, Jesus was with his disciples.

After giving thanks, he took the bread and he passed it to his disciples. He said, this is the bread, represents my body, it's broken for you. Eat in remembrance of me. Then he took the cup that was filled with the fruit of the vine. It represented the cup of the New Testament. This is my blood that has been poured out and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. As often as you drink, do so in remembrance of me. Church, I invite you to bow your heads for a moment. As we move into a time of invitation and response, there's two kinds of people in this particular moment that I wanna invite. The first group of people are those who say, Pastor Jason, I'm someone who needs my prayer life realigned today. I need God to do a work. I need God to reignite and refuse and restore and renew. And I wave my flag of surrender and say, Jesus, more of you in my life. Your prayer life has been built around survival and not surrender, around needs and not God's grace. Around needs and not God's glory. In this new year, you've resolved yourself to fix your eyes on Jesus. So today, I invite you to simply pray this. Father, align my heart with yours. Church, there's no shame in a restart with God.

His mercies are new every single day. In the second group, you're in here today and you need salvation. You know about Jesus, but you don't know him personally. But today is the day of salvation. And today is the day that you can call upon his name and be saved. Jesus said, this is eternal life, they may know you. And if today you say, Jason, I know about God, but I don't know him, but I want to. Jesus invites you. And that one who prayed John chapter 17 as we read is the same one who died and rose so that you could know the Father. So today, turn to him, surrender to him and receive eternal life through Jesus. If that's you, I'm gonna lead you in a moment of prayer where this can become your new reality in eternity with Jesus begins now. Say, Jesus, I admit that I'm a sinner. I'm broken and I need you. Jesus, I believe, I believe that you died on a cross for my sins. I believe that you rose again, that you conquered sin and death. Jesus, save me, I need you. I choose to follow you. And I confess you as Lord and Savior. If you just prayed that prayer in just a moment as we sing it in our time of invitation,

I'm gonna invite you to step out of your seat. If you're in the middle of a row, you can look down and trust me, people will gladly get out of the way to let you walk by. But if today, in this moment of response, if you're someone who needs prayer, we're gonna have some of our prayer team and staff up here, come and pray with them. If today you say, I just gave my life to Jesus, come and tell them and shake their hand and say, Jesus, just save me. Others of you, you know Jesus personally, and like the one we just saw be baptized today, that you would align yourself with that one and also the 348 from 2025. And you say, I need to talk with someone about being baptized. Or perhaps today is the day that you become part of the United City Church family. As we sing, you come, this time of invitation is for you. So Holy Spirit, we pray, Lord, God, that you would move and stir within souls and hearts today. God, that people will confess you and profess you as Lord and Savior. Holy Spirit, move, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You come as we sing. ♪ The blood, oh the wonderful blood ♪ ♪ In love, in love, in love ♪ ♪ All the marvelous love ♪

♪ And the reading sings on ♪ ♪ Praises belong to the Son ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh the wonderful blood, the blood ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh the wonderful blood, the blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ All the marvelous love, and the reading sings on ♪ ♪ Praises belong to the Son ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh the wonderful blood, the blood, the blood, the blood ♪ Father, we come to you. Just the day before we embark on this journey together as a church, God, I would ask, Lord, as you meet us where every single one of us are at, God, that you would lift our eyes to you, off of our problems, off on ourself, and on you, Jesus. God, may we be a people who run to you and cling to you, not walk away in shame. May we be a people who depend upon you. God, glorify yourself in and through us. God, again, we just lift ourselves to you and ask for a fresh wind of your Holy Spirit. You've done it before, Lord, and we're asking, Lord, in 2026, would you do it again? For Jesus, we cry out, more of you and less of us. To you and to you alone be the glory forever and ever. In Jesus' name, amen. Pastor Josh.

Hey, can we just thank Pastor Jason for delivering a timely, powerful word for us on this, the first Sunday of the year. And we've got just a few things for us. If you did not feel comfortable coming forward today to pray, don't worry, we've got you. We have a prayer wall in our lobby, and we'd love nothing more than for you to give us some ways that we could be praying for as a church family, but that's gonna be on this side of the building, on the Townsend side of the building. We'd love for you to give us a prayer request and to pin it on our prayer wall. Also, we've got a fun little event coming up here in the month of January called Encounter Weekend, and it's for all the youth in the room. It's gonna be at the end of this month. They are actually doing registrations in the lobby right now, so if you need to sign your kit up, we'd love for nothing more for you to do that as we help them take their next step spiritually at Encounter Weekend 2026. And lastly, we love you guys so much, and we're gonna ask you to help us by taking all of your Lord's Supper elements with you as you exit the room today. We love you guys so much. We'll see you next week. Happy New Year.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning. We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8.30, 10, 11.30, or Espanol at one o'clock.