Vision Sunday | City On A Hill | Jeremy DeWeerdt

We are on in 10, 9, 8, 3, 2, 1, fade on. Well, how is it going, friends? You know, my name's Cameron, and I'm here with the one and only Dakota. And we just want to say shout out to all of our friends who are watching from all over the world. We're so thankful and grateful that you guys are joining us. It's going to be a good time. All right, let's do it. All right. Should be good. There we go. The craziest thing, even, like, here, is that, like, you drive 10 minutes west, 10 minutes south, you're in, like, an entire different world. I stayed in a lot of different parts of Rockford. I moved to Rockford when I was 6 years old. I realized that my family was struggling with a lot of addictions, and it, you know, just affected our livelihood to the point where I left when I was around 12. Around 13, I got introduced to a lot of gang violence. When you're in it, it's normal. You know, like, it's the way of life. It's how you speak, how you talk, and, you know, you're just trying to grind and make money, money, money, money, money. And I think you just become so normalized to it. So, for instance, right here on this street, this was my bus stop. And at this bus stop was the first time I ever saw a crime scene. I was in the fourth grade, and a guy had gotten shot behind this house, and they didn't clean up the blood or anything. You see that in movies, you know? But I didn't freak out because it was normal, you know? And this is the street I grew up on. My house actually got torn down because it was just so busted, which is crazy because they literally built a playground where my house used to be. And I think it is—I mean, I don't believe in coincidences, and I don't want to give credit to irony, but, like, I love that they did that. Everything that I had known about God, it didn't seem real in comparison to my environment. I mean, you grew up in a world where, like, 70% of the people that live on your block, 70% of the kids that live on your block do not know their father. I knew that once I was in middle school and I was, like, getting tattoos and I was, like, becoming accustomed to my environment,

that I was destined to just, you know, go to the path that was ahead of me, right? And for me, I was very curious, and I'm like, it has to be more than this. Like, this cannot be the sum total of, like, my existence. Like, there has to be more for me. There has to be more for us. When you hear about God, like, things might not change, like, right away. But when you meet God's people, that's when stuff starts to shift. That's when stuff starts to become very different because for me, my friend Anthony, when I met him, I was like, yo, this is different. This is different than any sermon I've ever heard. This is different than any experience. This is way different. And that's when things started to shift for me. All right. Hello, City First Church. It is good to have you here. It's a special day. It's Vision Sunday. Welcome to all of our locations. I'm very glad that you are here also, Cape and Janesville and God Behind Bars and everyone at City First Anywhere. And every year we take a weekend and we prayerfully ask God to give us as a church direction as to an overall theme and focus for our prayers and efforts over the next 365 days. We call it Vision Sunday. And what we do is we set our faith levels high and we believe that God is going to move in such a way that it blows away our expectations of what we think he is going to do. City First Church, I just want to say this from the get go, that this is God's church. This is not Jen or my church or anybody else's. This is God's church. And this is what I know about God, is that God wants to do things at City First beyond anything we can imagine. And also he wants to do something in your individual life. So as I talk about the church, I want you to know that I believe that God wants to do well more than what you could ever imagine, even in your own life, in your own family, in your own neighborhood and community and workplace and school. In fact, it says in Ephesians chapter three, verse 20, I love this verse. It says now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work. are within us to accomplish infinitely more. Everybody say infinitely more. Ready, one, two, three, infinitely more. Not just what you expect, not an incrementally more, infinitely more than we might ask or think. I believe in 2026, God wants to do infinitely more through City First Church and you individually than what we could ever imagine.

In fact, the Church of Jesus Christ, since its very beginning, since day one, has been advancing even in seasons of hardship, persecution, or challenge. You look at the last 2,000 years, there have been seasons that the capital C Church has faced hardship and I would say this, even in times of hardship, it advances. I would even say that sometimes in times of hardship, it even advances quicker. The Church of Jesus Christ is continually moving forward. In fact, if you study the original church, like where we all come from, all right, go back in our lineage spiritually of church, you go back to Acts chapter two in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus has ascended to heaven by this point and he had asked 120 followers to seek him, to pray, and to wait. And so they were in a place that we now call the upper room. 120 of them gathered there. The Holy Spirit fell and they began to preach. In fact, that day, the Apostle Peter, he preached in the city streets of Jerusalem and the Bible says that over 3,000 people got saved in one day. So literally, the church started in the morning with 120 and by dinnertime was over 3,000 people. 3,000 people got saved in one day. Some historians will look at the next like 20 to 25 years after that day of Pentecost, we call it,

and they will look and they will say about 20 to 25 years later, around maybe, I don't know, 55 AD-ish, somewhere in there, that the Jerusalem church was running approximately 20,000 people. So it started as 120 or the next 20 to 25 years, it's now running 20,000 people. At around that time, the city of Jerusalem's population, we figured during non-festival moments was right around 60,000 people. That means that one out of every three people who called Jerusalem home were a part of Jesus's church. Could you imagine that right now in the community, the city that you live in, in this community, that one out of every three people be a part of City First? Can you imagine that? That is exactly what happened in the city of Jerusalem those first 20 to 25 years. My point is this, that the church is always and has been always and will always be a force in its community. Love it or hate it, you cannot ignore the church of Jesus. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he was talking to his followers and he was forecasting what it was gonna be like to be a part of the church, to live as a follower of Jesus in the future. And he's giving this sermon, we call it the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, we did a whole series on this

at City First recently. But I wanna look back at one of the points of his sermon. It's found in Matthew chapter five, verse 14 through 16. Jesus quoted here, he says, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine. Can we say all that together? One, two, three. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works. And what's the result? Give glory to your father who is in heaven. Jesus is teaching on a hillside. They call it a mountain there. It's not like a mountain like in Colorado, like we're accustomed to. But you know what? A very large hill, and they call it mountain, was on basically the side of this mountain teaching all of these people what we now call the Sermon on the Mount. It is right next to the Sea of Galilee, all right? And so you can basically see to the other side of this Sea of Galilee. We think of a sea sometimes, we think of like an ocean. It wasn't an ocean. It was a very, very large lake,

but it wasn't dinky either. It was pretty big. Storms could brew. We know of another story that the disciples were being tossed, their boat was gonna sink, and Jesus walked on the water. Happened on the Sea of Galilee. I actually have had the privilege of being able to go to the hillside, the mount, where many. Many Bible historians and archaeologists and such believe that Jesus actually taught this famous sermon. Here's a picture of it right here. I took this picture on the side of what we now call the place where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. If you go to the very top of the mountain, I took a picture here. This is the Sea of Galilee. You can see that you can see to the other side of this large lake. Now, you've got to imagine Jesus is teaching on the side of this mount. The people are facing him. And over his shoulder, they're seeing this scene. They're seeing the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus is using a metaphor to describe how Christ's followers are to live. And the metaphor is this. He says, you're light.

You're light. Now, this is not in the Bible, what I'm about to tell you. But I am pretty confident that this happened. Because if you read between the lines, you've got to imagine that the people are sitting there. They're listening to Jesus. And all of a sudden, he starts talking about being the light of the world. And then he says this. You are a city on a hill. Right across from the mount that they were seated on, looking across the lake, there is a city over there that we now know as being named Hippos. Hippos was a Roman pagan city. It was elevated on a mountain on the other side of the lake. And so this is a picture of Hippos today as they've excavated the ruins of it. You can see it is sitting on top of a high place next to the Sea of Galilee. And so Hippos is located on the pagan side of the lake. You go, what does that mean? Well, you see, the lake, basically, the Jewish people lived on one side, the west side of the lake, and they had established their towns there. And on the other side of the lake, there are 10 Roman cities. They were called the Decapolis, okay? There were 10 cities, one of them being Hippos. And all of these cities were pagan cities. Every night, as the Jewish people were in their own towns

on the other side of the lake, they would look across the lake and they would see Hippos glowing in the midnight skies, elevated almost like it was floating in the midnight darkness. Now, Jesus is preaching, and he's saying, hey, followers of me, he says, I will tell you what you are, you're light. And you're like a city on a hill. Like, I can almost see, and Bible doesn't say this, but I can almost see him pointing across the lake. If he didn't point, everybody listening to him knew he was talking about Hippos. He was talking about a city that was elevated 1,100 feet above the Sea of Galilee. It could not be hidden. The fires in the streets and the homes of Hippos would send light for miles and miles and miles in every direction. Hippos was known for a few things. It was known for pagan temples, pagan god worship. In other words, they didn't worship the god that we worship, they worshiped pagan gods. They were known for theaters, bathhouses, business and trade, and basically Roman civic life. Hippos was morally the opposite of what the Jewish people believed, which is why they never went over there. It was their Vegas, you could say. It was the place that they were like,

well, I'm not going there, because it was opposite spiritually, it was opposite morally, but yet it was bright, it was elevated, and it was visible to all who were near. It's almost as Jesus was saying, if pagan cities shine visibly, how much more should my people shine? Light's interesting. I did a little study on light preparing for this message. Do you know this? Darkness has no independent existence. It simply is where photons are absent. In other words, light is made up of photons. If light is not there, photons are not there, and then darkness is present. In other words, darkness has no independent existence. It cannot be measured. You cannot measure darkness. Do you understand that? Physicists always measure light. They measure lumens, they measure lux, wavelengths, intensity, but there's no such thing as measuring units of darkness, because darkness has no metric, because it literally has no substance. You cannot measure. is your darkness. Darkness has no direction. In other words, darkness cannot advance. Darkness cannot retreat because it has no direction.

Darkness cannot slowly appear. Like at night, as the sun is going down, you think, oh, the darkness is appearing. No, no, no, it has no ability to grow or shrink. It can only be present as light comes or goes. Darkness only exists in the absence of light. You can measure light. Light can dim and light can brighten. Light can only move outward in direction. Like right now, you know, if the skies were clear and we were to look up and it was nighttime, we would see stars. Those stars are burning gases that are millions of miles away. And here's the thing, that light is going in a direction. It can only go in a direction outward. Light can only go outward. And so that light is now hitting our eyes, but it has taken light years to get there. In other words, the light is traveling. It can only go outward. It cannot fold back on itself. Darkness is subservient to light. Do you hear that? And Jesus doesn't call his disciples to fight darkness. He calls them to be light because you can't fight darkness. You can only be light. In other words, light doesn't conquer darkness. It replaces it. When light is there, darkness is not able to be there.

And so Jesus is saying, you are the light of the world, like a city set on a hill. Our very presence makes darkness disappear. Do you understand the power of light? See, the church is not a civic, cultural, or community center. Neither is it a club or a social gathering. No, the church of Jesus is a force of light, his light in a city. The Greek word for church is aklesia. You've heard me maybe talk about this before. The Greek word is aklesia. It was actually a word given as a descriptor to the movement of Jesus Christ during the first century. They didn't know what to call these people that were becoming Christian. They didn't know what to call them. And so they were like, well, they're a church. They're an aklesia. It means a movement. It does not mean an organization. It does not mean a structure. Like right now, I am in a building that we now in our modern day vernacular call a church, but this is not the church. This is a building. It is a structure. What I'm looking at right now is an aklesia. This is the church.

It is a movement of people who are light in a dark world. See, City First is a city on a hill in Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, and Southwest Florida, and other places wherever you're watching right now. You see, we are a movement, a city on a hill. So many times we think to ourselves that we are a building. No, no, no. Wherever you go, you are light. This year, our prayer is that we wanna shine even brighter in our neighborhoods, at our businesses, at our schools, at our gym, in our community. We wanna shine bright the love of Jesus. We wanna shine bright a different way of living. I love how the new American Standard Bible says it, says it this way in Matthew chapter five. Jesus's words are translated this way. Your light must shine before people in such a way let's all say those words together. Ready? One, two, three, in such a way. In such a way that they, meaning those people that don't know Jesus, may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. In such a way. Shine in such a way. In other words, the inference there is there's more than one way to shine. There's more than one way to shine.

Jesus is saying shine in such a way that people see your good works. Which means sometimes we can shine in a way that they don't see our good works. You see where I'm going here? You see, Jesus, I think, is saying this, we get to choose. We get to choose whether our light is gonna have maximum impact or not. Our light will either shine people, and on people, and in a sense, point people to the Father that is in heaven, or our light might shine in such a way that it has a filter on it. And maybe it's a Jeremy filter. Maybe it's a you filter. And now people aren't seeing Jesus, they're seeing Jesus jaded by you and by me. And in essence, we shine in a way that maybe denies people from the opportunity to see the real Jesus. Now, if you haven't figured it out yet, the theme for 2026 is a city on a hill. A city on a hill. That we wanna be a church that shines brightly and authentically who Jesus is. So here's some thoughts about this. Here's some thoughts. Number one is this. Our light is really Jesus shining through us.

Our light, your light, is really Jesus shining through us. Jesus said this in the book of John, another book in the New Testament, if maybe you're new and you're like, these books, they're called the Gospels, tell the story of Jesus. So John is one of them. Basically says this in John, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. While I am in the world, while I'm in the world, that's important, Jesus is saying while he was physically here 2,000 years ago, that he is the light of the world. So now that he's ascended to heaven, yes, his spirit is still here. His presence is still here, but his physical body is not. So here's the thing, now that he is not here in the world, how does his light shine? I think what he's saying here is he's saying that while he was here, he is the light of the world, but then later on, now he's saying now we are the light of his world. In other words, we are his light. Let me put it in relation to this. It's like the sun and the moon. It's like the sun and the moon, and here's the thing. The sun and the moon have a relationship. At night, the moon shines light, but it is not the source of light.

It reflects light. The moon can only reflect the light of the sun. You and I are not the source of light. We can only reflect the light of the sun. Does that make sense? Jesus is saying, while I'm here, I'm light, and then when I leave, you're gonna reflect my light, he says. Now that Jesus is back in heaven, he is relying on you and I to reflect and shine light, and it will point people to the Father who is in heaven. I have a question. How else will they, and you can put anybody in that word they there, how else will your family, how else will your coworkers, how else will your fellow students, how else will your workout buddies, how else will the people where you shop, how will they see Jesus except through his followers? How are they gonna find Jesus? How are they gonna see Jesus? Now, some people will say, well, yeah, they could read the Bible, and that's true. They could see Jesus through the Bible. I just don't know many people who don't follow Jesus that are avid readers of the Bible. So you know who they look to? You and me. They may not be reading the Bible, but they're reading you every day.

They're reading your actions, they're reading your voice tones, they're reading your love, how much you care, they're reading your convictions, they're reading everything about you. And here's the question, here's the question, is are we really accurately then sharing and radiating Jesus because they're reading us? Are we putting a filter on it or are they seeing the light of Jesus? See, we can hinder his light. How? By shining in such a way that does not truly reflect who Jesus really is. At work, at school, at home, in your world, wherever your world is, how are you accurately shining Jesus to those people around you? Well, the answer is probably for all of us, not as good as we could. And I'm included in that. We could all get better at this. It's almost as Jesus is saying here. He's saying, people will come to know my Father by how you shine, how you treat them, how you respond to them, how you embrace them, how you prioritize them, how you live around them. These are gonna be ways that you shine. And again, you don't have to be ultra talented. You don't have to have an influencer level kind of charisma.

You just need to be willing to be used by God in everyday ways. You build a lifestyle, a lifestyle around trying to accurately shine Jesus. Getting to know people, getting to serve people, listening to people. There's all kinds of people talking right now. No one's listening. Maybe one of the biggest tactics, and I don't wanna say tactic. That seems a little shallow to say it that way. But one of the biggest ways that we can shine is maybe we listen before we talk. We befriend people, not just the people that are like us, but even the people that aren't like us. We respond and not react to circumstances in our world or in our life. Everybody's reacting. How are we responding in a way like Jesus would want us to respond? Another way you could do is invite people to come to City First Church. Invite people, that's a way you could be like, or exposing them to spiritual things. Like for example, talking about what God has done in your life. So here's the thing. We are not the source of light. We are just reflecting the light of the sun, S-O-N.

Number two, our light is more than just good behavior. It's transformed life being made visible. It isn't just trying to like live good. Okay, that's not it, all right? A lot of people who don't even know Jesus are trying to live good. It's different than that. As a city on a hill, it shines, not because we're louder, not because we're trendier, not because we're angrier, but because we are strangely different than the culture around us. We're different than the darkness. We're different. We have to, we're gonna live in a tension, friends. And the tension is this, and we must guard against it. We gotta guard against both isolation, some Christians wanna do that. In other words, withdrawing from culture, and also assimilation, in other words, mirroring culture. Like that's the tension. It's like we're in the world, but not of the world. The church is present in the world, but it's distinctly different than the darkness in this world. In other words, we're distinct from culture. A follower of Jesus, if I could say it this way, is a humble non-conformist. A humble non-conformist. Why humble? Because we're not drawing attention to ourselves.

Jesus said it, your light shines, and it draws attention to the Father in heaven. So it's humble and non-conformist. You go, where do you get that from? Romans chapter 12 says this. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Do not conform to the patterns of this world. So you gotta ask yourself, what's the patterns of this world? Well, let's just look at some of the patterns. Like on social media, the pattern is being divisive, denigrating, dehumanizing, sharing hate. Sharing hate. Do you understand your enemy was made in the image of God? Does your social media posts reflect that? Even if they disagree with your views, your politics, your worldview? Dehumanizing people. We are cannibalizing each other in our culture. You go, physically, that's gross. No, no, no. Spiritually, we are cannibalizing. We are so dehumanizing people. We saw it this week on social media. I'm telling you, quit getting your morality from your political party or from social cultural constructs. Rather... We need to look at each other as that is a person made in the image of God having high value.

If you want to conform to this world, then just add to the noise on social media. If you want to conform to this world, chase after things like money and pleasure to try to build your identity, buy all kinds of things that you think are going to make you happy, be stingy and selfish with your money, be selfish in the way you live your life, me first, not others. See, that's the pattern of this world. And Jesus says, don't conform to it. You are going to be a humble non-conformist. You say, well, what's Jesus talking? How do we actually do that? Well, I'm glad you asked, even though maybe you didn't, but I'm going to just tell you real quickly as we close. This is just a portion of Jesus's sermon. It goes on for chapters. Be light, be a city on a hill. Well, before that, he makes some statements that we call the Beatitudes. And he says these Beatitudes, and then he says, oh, by the way, you're light. So let's back up a few verses. Let me read for you what it means to be a humble non-conformist. This is what Jesus says. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him. In other words, they're not self-reliant. Culture's pattern is self-reliant. I can change things. It's me. It's all about me. Jesus says, we realize that it's not all about us. We need God. For the kingdom of heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, who mourn, who actually, another word for that would be empathy. We have empathy, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, not cocky, not prideful, not thinking they have it all together, not thinking they're the greatest thing since microwave popcorn. For they will be, they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice. In other words, that we are bothered by injustice. There's a lot of injustice in this world. We should be bothered by that. Jesus said they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, so that we have mercy, mercy, and say, you know what? I extend mercy with my life, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those whose hearts are pure. In other words, living a holy life. So what does it mean to be a humble, nonconformist? We live God's way, not what the world says. For they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, not division. Oh, the world's full of division. You want to be a person that's full of divisiveness? Join the club. Everybody is divisive Everybody is divisive right now. Jesus says we work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right. In other words, don't be surprised when the world doesn't like that you're being a humble nonconformist. For the kingdom of heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you

and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you, because you are my followers. Be happy about it, Jesus said. What? Yeah, he's like, hey listen, when this happens, be happy. And then he even doubles down. Be very glad. I'm not glad when people make fun of me. That means I got a long ways to go to be like Jesus, because he says that our reward will be great in heaven. Our reward awaits us in heaven. And then right after he said these statements, right after he said these things, he said, you are the light of the world, like a city on a hill. Like a city on a hill. So we live that way and we become the light of the world, a reflection of who Jesus really is. We're like a city on a hill. Your life, your worldview, your priorities are going to be radically different than the darkness around you. So in closing City First, you are, you individually, not just us collectively, you individually are the light of the world, reflecting Jesus's light. You are a city on a hill. And so in 2026, shine Jesus's love in a way that awakens curiosity about God in those that know you. Jesus's commands in a way that affirms the reality of God. See, this is what we want to do. We want to shine the love of Jesus, and we want to live in a way that shines the reality of God that he's given us a new life. And when you do that, when you do that, others will notice and give glory, like Jesus said, to the Father in heaven. In other words, they will acknowledge there is a God. Let's watch this. When I was 12 years old, I met my best friend, Anthony. We were standing outside the Rockford Public Library, and he turned to me, he said, hey, what are you doing tonight? And I said, nothing. He said, you want to go to youth? And I said, yeah, when is it? And he said, an hour. Let's go. And from that moment, everything changed. I think for me, growing up, like where I grew up and experiencing the experiences that I had, life was really simple. You struggle, you survive, and you pray that you make it to your 20s. But when I was introduced to like our church, when I was introduced to City First Youth, what began to change like inside of me was that I was told that like I have time to grow. And it was a space where I got to ask questions. It was a space where I got to meet Jesus. And that's so vital and so important for me because before that time, you never had the time, you never had the space to do that. You never had the environment. Once I got into that environment, I came alive. My personality, who I am as a person, that's when that started to take root. And these things that God had

planted inside me since I was a kid were finally being watered. And it was monumental when it came to my relationship with Jesus. It changed from just being this old scripture that's in a dusty book that sits on my mom's table to being something that like literally came alive in my heart. And my ideas started to change. My morals started to change. It was like someone took like the compass in my heart and they just attuned it the way that it was supposed to be. We have Bless Ballers White versus Bless Ballers Gold on court one. Middle school team. Stay right here, we'll get y'all out here. Man, I just want to say thank you guys so much for all that you did. We're going to give grace to God. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the Bless Ballers coming out here. Anoint them in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. All right, coaches, real fast, we got some gifts for y'all. I think if I didn't have Jesus in my life, not only would I live unfulfilled, I think that I would be on a destructive path. I'd be lost. I'd feel nameless. I would have nothing to look forward to. And that's like why my heart breaks for a lot of people who live in the darkness. I have seen God change so many people simply by the sermon of my life. The way you live will preach so much better than anything you teach or you can say. And I think that once we take the time to introduce to who Jesus was and to all these dark places in our city, I think that that's a light that is undeniable. It's a light that you can't run away from. It's a light that you can't argue. It's a light that you can only accept. I'm excited that we get to tell people like, hey, not only do you matter, but you have a purpose and God sees you and he loves you. I'm excited to see where God is about to take us and what he's about to put inside of us that we get to share with other people. So City First, 2026, let's be a light on a hill. At our workplaces, at our school, in our families, sometimes that's the hardest place to be light. In our communities, in our neighborhoods, we go to the gym, when we go to the coffee shop, when we go to the grocery store. Let's be a light on a hill. We're not fighting darkness. We're just reflecting the light of Jesus. And when we do that, darkness disappears. People notice a difference about you. They notice that you live different, you act different, you respond different. There's a different spirit about you. And it becomes something that

maybe could raise a curiosity inside of them and they're wondering why is he different why is she different why don't they do what everyone else is doing why are they living a certain why are they so like like loving they start asking questions and it starts to cause a little bit of maybe curiosity and confusion and you and I have that opportunity at that point to point them to Jesus and you say well I don't know I'm not a preacher I'm not evangelist no no no no no first just tell them what Jesus did in your life the Bible says in Revelation that the people of God overcame because of the power of their testimony what did Jesus do to you what do you do for you he saved you he changed you to give a new life right so so talk about that you were once lost but now you're found you were once this way and now you're different because of Jesus's new life the second thing you do is invite him to church how did Cameron find Jesus it was a simple invite you don't understand the power of a simple invite it can change someone's eternity it can change their family it can change everything invite him to come to church with you I'm to come to youth I'm come to your life group I'm to come to the men's event invite him to come and see what God does because here's the thing at the end of the day you and I can't change somebody only the Holy Spirit can but I tell you what we can do we can take off the filters and allow Jesus's light to shine accurately in the places and spaces that we live with every head bowed and every eye closed as we wrap up here if you don't know Jesus as the leader of your life today you've heard me talk about light you heard Cameron's testimony about how Jesus changed him and it wasn't that it was behavior modification it was literally that Cameron was forgiven that he was saved and if you say that's that's me I I need that I need Jesus to save me I need him to become the leader of my life I want forgiveness for all my sin I I want a new life I want to no longer be tripping up in the patterns of this world that have done nothing but give me emptiness and striving you say that's me I want to make Jesus leader of my life just go ahead and repeat this prayer all of us after me but if you want Jesus to be the leader of your life I want you to know when you're praying this prayer Jesus is

listening let's all pray together dear Jesus today I come to you and I ask you be the leader of my life be my Lord and Savior come into my heart and give me a new life forgive me of all that I've done wrong all the sin all the mistakes all the bad things I give to you thank you that you died for me I want to live for you thank you for loving me in Jesus name and everybody said amen come on let's give God a huge round of applause we do that hey what an incredible incredible message of being a city on a hill and being a light into the world around you and so hopefully you found that as an encouragement may be challenging to you and so we just want to say thanks for joining us but maybe you prayed that bird he said I want to make Jesus the leader to forgive my life well congratulations that is the best decision that you will ever make and maybe you're going well what's next what do I do there's a couple of things we would love to share with you number one is let somebody know tell somebody do you have a family member do you have a friend of a co-worker somebody can tell about the decision that you've made and then secondly is this is you're gonna see a QR code pop up on the screen in front of you it's for a resource called new beginning and it's just gonna help you know things like this where do I start reading in the Bible how do I pray some basic things are to help you on your journey and then Cory's got something he's gonna share with you as well that's right after you walk through the new beginnings resource we have something we offer here called growth track which helps you discover your God-given purpose for your life starts the first Sunday of every month you can find out more information on the city first church app or on our website absolutely and if you need prayer for anything you can drop it online here or you can go to the website or on the app and just let it know hey we'd love to join our faith with yours maybe you're walking through Somebody's going, I just want somebody to pray. We have teams that are praying all throughout the week. We believe in the power of prayer. We know that prayer moves the hand of God.

And so if you need something, drop that in there. And if you've had an answered prayer, let us know. We wanna celebrate with you and hear all that God is doing because we know he's doing some incredible things around the world. Yeah, that's right. And the best thing you can do is keep coming back to church. So we've got a new series we're starting next week on the book of James entitled, Didn't See It Coming. So we'd love to see you back with us. Hope you guys have a great week, church, and we'll see you next week. Bye.