Waking Up from Dead Religion

Good morning, Cross Church Springdale, come on, stand up all over the room, glad you're here this morning. If you're joining us from our secondary worship venue, we're glad you're here this morning too. Why don't you stand up with us, engage from there, just like you're in the room. Thank you so much for being here today. Come on, we're going to put our voices together and sing to our God. Here we go. Just one word, you calm the storm that surrounds me. Just one word, the darkness has to retreat. Just one touch, I feel the presence of heaven. Just one touch, my eyes were open to see. My heart can't help but, come on, sing it with me. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's not a mountain that he can't move. Oh, praise the name that makes a way. There's nothing that our God can't do. Just one word, you heal what's broken inside me. Yes, I believe now. Just one word, and you revive every dream. Just one touch, I feel the power of heaven. Just one touch, my eyes were open to see. My heart can't help but believe. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's not a mountain that he can't move. Oh, praise the name that makes a way. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's not a prison wall he can't break through. Oh, praise the name that makes a way.

There's nothing that our God can't do. Yes, we believe he can do all things, Jesus. We trust you, God. Oh, I will believe for greater things. There's no power like the power of Jesus. Let faith arise. Let all agree. There's no power like the power of Jesus. I will believe for greater things. There's no power like the power of Jesus. Let faith arise. Let all agree. There's no power like the power of Jesus. I will believe for greater things. There's no power like the power of Jesus. Let faith arise. Let all agree. There's no power like his power. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's not a mountain that he can't move. Oh, praise the name that makes a way. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's not a prison wall he can't break through. Oh, praise the name that makes a way. There's nothing that our God can't do. Oh, praise the name. I will believe for greater things. There's no power like the power of Jesus. Let faith arise.

Let all agree. There's no power like the power of Jesus. There's no power like Jesus. There's nothing that our God can't do. There's nothing that our God can't do. Oh, praise the name that makes a way. There's no power like Jesus. There's nothing that our God can't do. Let us praise his name. Oh, praise the name that makes a way. There's nothing that our God can't do. All right, we'll give morning, everybody. Great to have all of you here in the room at Fayetteville. in our church where we all link up together across campuses. So I know we've got people spread across the three campuses. We've even got people in the student room here at Fayetteville. We've got people in the chapel at Springdale, everywhere. We're glad to have you wherever you are watching from today and looking forward to how God is gonna use today in your life. As I said, we're 21 days of prayer right now. We're seven days in. Some of you are just back from the holidays or we got a lot of students making their way back in and you think, well, man, I've already missed it. No, you haven't. You got 14 days of prayer left, all right? So let's join in here together.

You may have even been here last week and you're thinking to yourself, I don't know if I'm doing 21 days of prayer right. Here's what I tell you. There's no right or wrong way to do 21 days of prayer. I'd make it simple. What's on your heart right now? Pray about that for the next 14 days. Meredith and I have done that. As a family, something we're praying about together. I've got something in my own life I'm praying about every day as well. That's a simple, simple, simple way to do it and I hope you will join in with us. As you just heard Jeff talk about, we are two weeks away from the launch of Highway 62 down in Farmington and we are pumped beyond belief about that. Listen to this church. We have about 650 people who will be leaving one of our three campuses and will be joining that new work down there. So we're pumped so much with all that God is doing right there and it's gonna be an incredible journey together. Here's my ask, okay? I have an ask for everybody who is at Springdale, Fayetteville, and Pinnacle Hills. If you are not planning on going to that campus full-time, I do not need you to show up in two weeks, okay?

Some of you are like hardcore cross-church people. You have been at the first of everything since the 60s. We really don't need you to come on this day. We need as many open seats as we can for guests who will be making their way and so wait a little while. You can come another Sunday and see all that God's doing but it's gonna be an incredible time on the 25th. I would like everybody who is from the Farmington and Prairie Grove region to know that in your honor, last night, I ate a full cinnamon roll from Briar Rose Bakery. If you know, you know. And I just heated up the microwave just enough where the icing started to melt. Not always the best decision if you're preaching the next day but man, I don't regret it. I don't regret it. It was amazing and so it's gonna be an incredible time together. If you got a copy of God's Word, why don't you grab it? Revelation chapter three is where we're gonna be today. We last week began a series. We're just calling 21 Days to Spiritual Awakening. It's really what 21 days of prayer is all about, that God would awaken our hearts to the things of God and awaken our hearts to Him. And so we have been speaking about the first great awakening that happened in the 1730s, 1740s

which was a massive movement of the Spirit of God across the colonies here in early America. It even jumped across the Atlantic and made a major impact in England as well. I said this last week. I think it's appropriate to say it again that when we talk about a big idea about awakening or revival, I think it's hard to view that in any other way as that's something big that happens that doesn't really have anything to do with me. It may have to do with my church but it doesn't have to do with me. I think that's the exact wrong way to think about awakening and revival. These things cannot happen on a large scale if they don't happen on a small scale. It cannot happen in my church if it's not happening in me. It cannot happen in my family if it's not happening in me. And so we're talking about how to have a personal awakening in your own life. And each week I plan to introduce you to somebody, a man or woman from the first great awakening who God used in a major way. I wanna talk to you about a guy today by the name of John Wesley. Have you ever heard of the name John Wesley? Hey, maybe half the group here at Fayetteville. John Wesley, listen to this, mom and dad's in the room today.

He was the 15th child born to his parents. Hello. He had a famous brother by the name of Charles Wesley. Charles was a famous hymn writer. He would write, come thou long expected Jesus. He wrote Hark the Herald Angels Sing. We just got done singing that at Christmas time. And John Wesley grew up very religious, like very committed to the things of God. Even during his college years, he joined what was called the Holy Club, which probably has some pride in there somewhere. But he joined a group called the Holy Club that they would meet together. They'd study the Bible. They'd pray and fast, take the Lord's Supper together. And the only problem with all this in John's life is that John was lost. He was not a Christian. He was a very religious guy, but had never been saved. Even in his lostness, left England and I almost said flew, didn't have planes in, they sailed across the Atlantic to try to convert the Native Americans here in America. And so had a heart for the things of God, just didn't know the Lord. And while he was on the. ship, there was a massive storm that hit, and as maybe you've been in an airplane before, when there's turbulence, man,

you begin to consider everything in your life. And John Wesley, on that ship, in the middle of this massive storm, really began to debate in his own mind, have I ever been converted? Like, am I really genuinely saved? Through a series of events, he gets back to England, and he goes to a meeting at a place called Aldersgate. Here's how he describes his own conversion. He says, in the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Pause there. It means they were reading Martin Luther's writings on the Book of Romans. So it's kind of like a Bible study of sorts. He says, about a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, he says this, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given to me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. Pretty cool testimony right there. He would go on, it was radically changed by Jesus, would preach countless messages, lead thousands of people to faith in Christ,

and yet, one of the hallmarks of John Wesley's ministry was to speak to Christians. And here was the message that he would give to Christians. It's time to wake up from your spiritual slumber and to get back to where they needed to be with the Lord. Wesley was known for creating systems for discipleship that would basically end up in people meeting in small groups outside of the Sunday gathering. So if you're in a small group, you're in an essence living the legacy of John Wesley. He was also known to be the founder of the Methodist movement. So if you have a Methodist background, you also are kind of living the legacy of John Wesley. Today, here's the title of the message. We're gonna talk about waking up from dead religion. Waking up from dead religion. History records the story of a woman by the name of Hannah Ball. Hannah was kind of like John Wesley. She was a very religious woman during that time. She would read her Bible, attended church faithfully, and yet, she pondered the thought, man, am I really a Christian? Like, am I really genuinely saved? And she hears Wesley preach the gospel, and she recounted, I saw that all my religion had been self-righteousness. I love to appear good, but my heart was far from God.

I wonder how many people across all three campuses today have that kind of story right now, that your life is a life of self-righteousness. You wanna appear good before other people, and yet, in your heart, you know that you are far from God. This woman was saved that night as she heard Wesley preach the gospel, and she would go on to lead the first Sunday school for children in England. It's just kind of a cool story there. Her story really illustrates our main point for today. So if you got a pen, you got your journal, I want you to underline, excuse me, just write down this statement. Here's what it is. God is calling me to wake up from dead religion and spiritual slumber. No matter where you're at in your life, God is calling you to wake up from a dead religion and to wake up from spiritual slumber. So I told you to turn to Revelation 3, and let's look at it together, just beginning in verse one. If you don't have a Bible, you can just look at the screen. We'll have all these verses on the screen for you today. He says, and to the angel of the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Pause there. If you do not know the beginning of the book of Revelation, Revelation is basically Jesus speaking

to seven different ancient churches. And so this is one of those in a place called Sardis. And when he says the word angel here, you say, well, who is the angel of the church? He's referencing the pastor here, which I love, okay? Because I know you view me as an angel as well, all right? And to the angel of the church in Sardis, let me tell you a little about Sardis. Sardis was like in the southwest part of modern day Turkey. It was known as like a commercial city. It was like, it was at the head of like five trade routes that all came together. And so it was known as like a bustling place for business. It was also known as a place of pagan worship. So think about this. These are wealthy pagans, okay? They have what they need in many ways, many of these people, and yet they are worshiping false gods. He goes on and he talks about the seven spirits, right? You say, well, what is that speaking about? There are various opinions there. I believe that it's just speaking about the movement of the Holy Spirit in the church. And again, the seven stars right here is a reference to the seven pastors of the seven churches, okay? Everybody got that so far? Keep on reading. Here's what Jesus says to the church in Sardis. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are what?

All three came to say it out loud. You are. Amen. You're dead. He says this, he says, "'Wake up and strengthen what remains "'and is about to die, "'for I have not found your works complete "'in the sight of my God.'" God is saying this to these people who are in church. He says, man, you appear like one thing, but you're actually an entirely different thing. Anybody know anybody in your life whose words do not match up with their lives? Like maybe it's a friend or even a family member, maybe it's a boss or somebody you work with. You're like, dude, you say this, but your life actually is this. In fact, one of the reasons many people say, well, I don't wanna go to church. Full of hypocrites. You know, next time, don't like try to argue back and forth with them. Just say, man, I agree with you and we're looking for one more. Why don't you join us? All right, it'll totally shut down the conversation right there, okay? It says here that they have an appearance or reputation of being alive, but they're actually dead.

Some scholars believe that this is a word to the church that is essentially saying this. You have so compromised with the wicked ways of the world that you are Christian in name only. I don't know how many of you follow politics closely at all, but in the conservative movement, there is like a jab that they give one another in the Republican Party, where if you like say one thing and you do another that doesn't align with the values of the Republican Party, what do they call you? They call you a rhino. You are a Republican in name only. You say one thing and you do another. I don't know if that also is true on the Democrat side, like you're a dino. I have no idea. I only hear the rhino thing, but maybe there's dinos as well. Basically, what they're saying is this. You do not agree with the core tenants of who we are. And you tell your constituents one thing and then you come to DC and you do an entirely different other type of things. It is a shot of like you do not line up with who we are. Can I give you a word like for Christians? It's a hair cheesy, so just bear with me. It's one thing to be a rhino or a dino. It's another thing to be a kino. Can I just make that up today?

What is that? It's a Christian in name only. Or can we speak about all three campuses collectively as a church, a church in name only? In other words, we got it on the walls of the church, cross church, but are we actually acting like a church? Are we actually being the church? You say you believe one thing, but your life tells me another. You say you're serious about your faith, but your life tells me something different. You say you're set apart, but your life shows me who you really are. This is dead religion. Listen, this is meaningless spirituality. Even the New Testament speaks about this. In the book of 2 Timothy 3, verse five, says having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Jesus said this about the Pharisees. This people honors me with their lips, but what their heart is far from me. Wesley went along these lines, and he said this great quote. He said, to turn Christianity into a set of opinions is the grand device of Satan. In other words, some of you out there, you would say, Nick, I know all the right things. I know right doctrine. By the way, this is who Revelation chapter three

is written to. People who know the right thing, have the right doctrine, and you are satisfied. But in your heart of hearts, like get beyond the junk today, and take off the mask, pull off the facade. If you're honest with yourself, your spiritual life is dead. No power, no joy, no eternal impact. No doubt about it, there are many of you who are here today on one of our three campuses who this is your life. You're a Christian, but man, your spiritual life in all reality is dead. Meaningless spirituality with no power and no joy whatsoever. Can I get even more practical for you? Like this is the person or this is the family who calls yourself Christians, but have a very distant relationship with the church. You come only when it's convenient or when it's nice outside, but not too nice because then we're gonna be at the lake. There's no real personal walk with Jesus outside of the hour that you spend in church. I'm not saying that you're not a Christian. I'm also not saying that you are. Does that make sense? But if you're here today and you say, Nick, I really believe that I'm a Christian,

like, if you're confident you've had a salvation moment, you could say, Nick, I heard the gospel at this time in my life, I was right here, I surrendered my life to Christ. From that point forward, man, I've not been perfect, but man, my life has been changed and not where I need to be, but man, I genuinely am saved. I'm just not living the life that I really need to be living right now. You are the person in mind in Revelation 3. This is you right here. You have a dead religion. You're living the bare minimum of what it means to be a Christian. Your church, sometimes, you pray sometimes, you read your Bible when things get really bad and you're just hoping that God would somehow speak to you. What does Jesus say to you? What does Jesus say to this kind of church? Here's what he says. Wake up, like wake up. It's interesting that out of all the things that he could have said to this church, he tells them to wake up. It's an interesting history of this city called Sardis. Twice in its history, both in 546 and in 214 BC, the city had been attacked when watchmen failed to stay alert and the city was attacked by its enemies. So a little ancient history here. Back in that day, they would build a wall around the city

so that other armies would not attack the city and there would at least be some kind of fortress between them and the people of the city. And so at night, in the middle of the night, you'd have what you call watchmen, who their job is to watch. That's good. Wasn't a trick question. We're just gonna watch. And so it's kind of a thankless job. Night after night after night, you're up all night just watching and nothing happened. You get to the next night, you watch all night. Nothing happened. No, we told you thank you the next morning. Man, thanks for keeping us safe. No, we told you. So eventually, what happens twice in their history, some dude's up there, it's 2.45 a.m. He's tired of watching and he falls asleep and an ancient army attacks. And twice the city was attacked when watchmen failed to stay alert. These are people who knew the value of staying awake, of being alert, and yet they had fallen asleep spiritually. So regardless of who you are or where you're from, been in church, not been in church, here's the word to every single person at every single campus here, Springdale, Pinnacle Hills.

Here's what it is. Today, you need to be alert. You need to wake up. You need to listen to what the Holy Spirit of God is saying to your heart right now. Now, if you look in the original language that this is written in, you look at the Greek language, this is written in such a way to indicate this is not just a one-time waking up, but a call to continually find yourself in a spiritually alert and awakened condition. So you're often seeing the Bible that someone who is lost is called spiritually dead, right? And so you are awakened at your salvation and you become a Christian. This is not speaking about that. This is speaking about the call to, as a Christian, to remain awake, to remain alert. Like you gotta stay awake, you gotta stay in the fight, you gotta keep alert with what's going on around you. Every Saturday night, I am terrified that I'm gonna oversleep. Anybody else struggle with that? But I'm always, especially when I have to do the eight o'clock at Fayetteville, I'm always nervous and I'm gonna wake up, it's gonna be like 7.57, and I wake up and I'm like, oh my gosh, what do I gotta do? And I gotta call somebody, somebody else I gotta preach, I gotta shake my head, you know, stuff like that.

And so I'm just panicked. So every night, I'm not lying, I set like eight or 10 alarms on Saturday night. And I'm just freaked out that I'm gonna oversleep. And so sometimes I'll even look over at Meredith in bed, I'll be like, okay, you see this? I've got this time, this time, and this time. It's like a double check for me. She's like, you're so weird, like, I don't know. And so I'm just terrified that I'm going to oversleep and to snooze when I don't need to be snoozing. Okay, anybody ever, time of confession, all three campuses, how many of you are snoozers? We got a hallelujah here in the room of Fayetteville. I don't even know what to say about that. Sometimes we intentionally snooze. You got your iPhone going off and you're like, clickety click, I got another eight to 10 minutes I want to go right here. Then there's times when we unintentionally snooze, you know what I'm saying? It's actually a pretty good picture of your spiritual life as well. Well, sometimes you know, like, man, I'm just, I'm not in this right now, I just wanna sin. You say, I would never say that. We all do. There's moments where you just say, man, I just don't wanna fight right now, and you just snooze. And then there's other times where you didn't intend

to get where you've gotten, and yet you're there, and now you gotta get out, and you're not exactly sure how to get out, okay? I put four things in my life spiritually to help me stay awake, okay? I'm gonna rattle through these. I'll call them the four alarms of awakening. Like, what are things that keep me awake spiritually, keep me alert spiritually, help me to be a watchman on my own life? I'm gonna roll through these right quick. Number one, devotional time with the Lord every day. Every day, read the Bible, and I pray. Don't make it more complicated than that. Read the Bible, get a prayer list, and pray. Number two, deep involvement in church. The Floyd family is gonna be here in church. I think there's value to have somebody else speaking the Word of God into your life. My kids are gonna be involved on Wednesday nights, they're gonna be involved in student camp. As a family, we're gonna be involved in 21 days of prayer together. Like, we're gonna be deeply involved. Third, small group. Meredith and I are in a weekly small group that encourages us weekly in our walk with the Lord. And then fourth, I would just say accountability. Every Wednesday afternoon, I sit with three other men, I'd say anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes,

it's not a long meeting. We give an account of our lives to one another. All of these things help me stay awake. So if you have some of those in your life, but not all of them, I would say those are easy things to implement that are several alarms to make you alert to where you need to be with the Lord. And yet, I don't think those are like shocking things for me to say. There are some of you who are like, I know all those things, I'm not doing those things. And many of us are living a dead religion. See, the problem is, is that many of us today, through hearing the word of God will say, Nick, I am who you're talking about. Like Revelation chapter three is about me. I'm a Christian, but man, I'm just kind of asleep. Like I'm just living a powerless Christianity, and there's no joy and just no life. And I know that, I just don't know how to get out of that. Or I know that, and I know I need to change. It's one thing to know you need to change. It's another thing to follow through with the change. It's one thing to be convicted on a Sunday morning in the middle of a church service. It's another thing to let that conviction make a difference in your life on Monday morning. Someone once said it this way, change happens when the pain of staying the same

is greater than the pain of change. Sometimes we don't wanna change because man, it costs us something. And often we don't change until the cost of staying the same is worse than the pain of change. Look at the key verse in this whole passage, verse three. Here's what he says. He says, remember then what you received and heard, keep it and, what's the word? Repent. If you will not wake up, here's what Jesus says, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. I think that's an interesting verse. I will come against you. This word remember right here, it has the idea of not just recalling information, but continually like to bear something in mind. And when he says, remember what you have received and heard, keep it. He's speaking about remembering when you got saved. You remember who shared the gospel with you? Remember where you were at? Remember what your life was like before? You remember how your life changed since then? He's even speaking about what you received. Who taught you the word of God in your life? Was it a parent? Was it a pastor? Was it a mentor?

He said, man, keep all this that's happening in your life. He says this and then he says, and repent. It's a good reminder here at 21 Days of Prayer that you are one moment of repentance away from a renewed fellowship with God. Some of you feel so far away from God. Some of you at Pinnacle Hills, at Springdale, you're at Fayetteville, you feel so far from God. You're one moment of repentance away from a renewed fellowship of God. Some of you are one moment of repentance away from some restored relationships in your life. Or one moment of repentance away from God using you again. So here's the call from Revelation three. So just repent, like wake up and repent. Come back to where you need to be with the Lord. The last part of that verse, honestly, it's gripping. And it may not be as gripping upon a surface reading because you don't totally understand what it says, but I'm about to break it. Take it down like what it says. Jesus says, if you will not wake up, he says, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. You see the word thief, then you say, okay, this must be like, it is Revelation, so it must be like a thief in the night type of reference here, it's talking about the return of Jesus. Not that, all right? This is not about the return of Christ,

but listen to me, this is shocking. This is instead speaking about, listen to me, the unexpected judgment that Jesus brings about in the lives of believers who are living this kind of sleepy Christianity. So like, let me be clear. According to Revelation chapter three, God will bring judgment upon those who are unrepentant in your life as a Christian, and you are asleep as a Christian. And that should cause every one of us to like go, oh my goodness, like, needs to be a fear of the Lord in my life. Listen to me, church, God will not allow you to remain in your calloused casualness. He will not allow you to keep going into things and using things and dabbling in things that are ultimately harmful for your spiritual life. He will allow things to happen. He will allow consequences to happen. And what is the purpose of God allowing these things? To wake you up. What is the purpose of God's judgment against believers? To wake us up. And so will we wake up? Don't miss this, okay? One of the things in my life and in your life that we just dismiss as, man, man, life's really hard right now. Or we say things like,

Satan is really coming after me right now. Now, both those things could be true. You could just be living in a fallen world and things happen, right? There is a real enemy who is seeking to steal, kill and destroy your life. So that's an option. Can I bring a third option to the categories here today? According to this passage, could it be the judgment of God upon your life? The judgment of God as a believer who you're just sleepy. You're just casual. You just don't care. And God says, listen, if you will not repent and wake up, I will ensure that you wake up and that you repent. So harsh message from the Lord. Is it not, everybody? So here's the good news. You can wake up and repent on your own or you can have God awaken you and bring you to repentance. I've been through both. One is always less painful than the other. I would encourage you to wake up today. I'll close with this. One Sunday in 1739 in Bristol and over in England, Wesley was preaching. He was actually preaching in the open air, like not in a church, but one of those open air meetings. And he was speaking to believers, listen to this, who in their complacency thought

their religion was sufficient. He said this. He said, you think you are alive, but you are dead. You carry the form of religion, but your hearts are unmoved. You must awaken. You know, I read that this weekend, just working through my notes. Here's the thought that came to mind. How many of us at all three campuses here at Fayetteville, Springdale, Pinnacle Hills, how many of us that quote describes our spiritual life? Unmoved by the things of God. If you're wondering like, well, man, am I who God's speaking about in Revelation chapter three? Here's some tests. If you come Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, and you're unmoved, you are the person in Revelation chapter three. If you read the word of God by yourself, day after day after day after day, and you're unmoved, you are the person. If you find yourself just in a calloused, I don't really care attitude, you are who the word of God is speaking to today. And listen to me, this is not for your harm. God does not bring the judgment of himself upon you to hurt you, but to heal you. Book of Hosea says that. He wounds us to heal us. He breaks us so that he might put us back together

the way that we're supposed to be put together. On that day, there was a man in the crowd by the name of John Bennett. Bennett was much like Wesley, much like Hannah I told you about earlier. Bennett was a devout Anglican. He attended church regularly. On that day, the words of Wesley had a profound convicting effect. And he later wrote about his experience. He wrote it this way. He said, it felt as though the spirit himself shook me from my slumber. I wonder who here today just needs to be shaken from your slumber by the Holy Spirit. I can't do that. I wish I had that effect. That's a Holy Spirit of God effect upon your life. And it is my prayer that God would shake some of you and wake you up. This man trembled with conviction from the Holy Spirit. Realized that it was all masking just a dead religion in his own life. So in the words of Revelation, I just say it this way. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. If I can make it personal, he who has an ear, I'm looking at a lot of ears in this room.

Most of you got two. He who has an ear, let him or her hear what the Spirit is saying to your heart. So maybe you're here today and you would say, Nick, I had the appearance of being alive, but I know that I'm dead. Meaning you know that you're not saved. Why don't you come today and meet Christ for the first time? I'm gonna ask you to come. Maybe you're here today and you're a Christian, but if you're honest with yourself, you've been refusing the voice of God. You've been unmoved by the voice of God in your life and you're ready for that to change. I'm gonna ask you to come. Maybe you're here today and you have the appearance of being a godly person, but man, inside you know it's all a show. And if we were to cut you open, you'd say, Nick, I got no power, I got no joy in my life. I have no victory over sin. And yet I want that to change. I'm gonna ask you to come at every campus. Maybe you're here today and you would be honest enough with yourself where you'd say, Nick, I think I'm under the judgment of God right now. Like how you described it, I think God is trying to awaken me from slumber. I'm gonna ask you to come.

With every head bowed and every eye closed across every campus, here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. The staff of our church is gonna make their way right now. All three campuses. And if you're here today, and you would say, Nick, I know that I need Christ. In just a moment, I'm gonna encourage you to find one of the men or women that's closest to you. And I'm just gonna ask you to come and you just say, I need to give my life to Christ. They'll know exactly what to do. They'll lead you to faith in Christ today. Don't delay that decision. There are others of you who you'd say, Nick, I know that I'm a Christian, but man, you described my life. I'm living in an empty religion. I've got no power, I've got no joy. I'm gonna ask you to come. Maybe here you would say, Nick, I have been unmoved by the voice of God. I've refused the voice of God. I don't want to any longer. I'm gonna ask you to come and just get on your face. Every campus, this altar's open. How many of you just, again, just need a fresh touch of God upon your life? We're in the middle of 21 days of prayer. How many of you just wanna say, Lord, I just wanna give you my heart. Like I just, everything that I am,

I just wanna lay at the altar. I'm asking you to move. If that's you, I'm gonna ask you to come. I'm gonna pray, and then in a moment, we're gonna stand and sing at every campus. And as we do that, as soon as we begin to stand and sing, I'm gonna ask you to come. You make your way to the altar. Lord, we trust you today to do a special work, the convicting work of the Holy Spirit that only you are capable of doing. Father, we ask that you would move right now, and it's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.