What's Keeping You from Life to the Full?

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, oh, there's nothing ♪

♪ Nothing's better than you, I know that to be true today ♪ ♪ Well, there's nothing better than you ♪ ♪ There's nothing better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing is better than you, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You turn morning to night, singer ♪ ♪ You give beauty for ashes ♪ ♪ You turn shame into glory ♪ ♪ Cause you're the only one who can turn the world around ♪ ♪ You turn morning to night, singer ♪ ♪ You give beauty for ashes ♪ ♪ You turn shame into glory ♪ ♪ Cause you're the only one who can turn the world around ♪ ♪ You turn morning to night, singer ♪ ♪ You turn morning to night, singer ♪ ♪ You turn sin to night, singer ♪ ♪ Cause you're the only one who can turn the world around ♪ ♪ You turn praise into knowledge ♪ ♪ You turn mountains to valleys ♪ ♪ You turn seas into islands ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can turn the world around ♪ We don't know where to start this morning. As we continue, we'll do so by reading God's word together. Our call to worship comes out of Psalm chapter 93. Let's be reminded of the character of God as we continue singing and reading Psalm chapter 93. Will you say this with me, church? The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed, He has put on strength as His belt.

Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old. You are firm, everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty. Your decrees are very trustworthy. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. This is the word of the Lord, and we say it today. Thanks be to God. Let's continue singing. ♪ Upon a hill, a perfect Savior, upon that day ♪ ♪ The greatest love, the punishment should have fallen on us ♪ ♪ Upon Him, upon Him, upon His head a crown of thorns ♪ ♪ Upon His heart a broken word, the weight of sin ♪ ♪ The weight of our transgressions, upon Him, upon Him ♪ ♪ Christ has died, we are forgiven and Christ alive ♪ ♪ We are the risen and He shall come again ♪ ♪ Praise the King, praise the King ♪ ♪ Upon our hearts, His name is written, His name is written ♪ The King of kings and the Lord of lords The pouring out of sorrow praised again Upon Him, upon Him Christ has died, we are forgiven In Christ, Lord, I We are the risen and He shall come again

Oh, praise the King, oh, praise the King Christ has died, we are forgiven In Christ, Lord, I We are the risen and He shall come again Oh, praise the King, oh, praise the King The Name of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, no greater Name than this Jesus, and every knee will bow Every tongue confess Jesus, Jesus The Name of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, no greater Name than this Jesus, and every knee will bow Every tongue confess Jesus, Jesus The Name of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, no greater Name than this Jesus, and every knee will bow Every tongue confess Jesus, Jesus Christ has died, we are forgiven In Christ, Lord, I We are the risen and He shall come again Oh, praise the King, oh, praise the King Christ has died, we are forgiven In Christ, Lord, I We are the risen and He shall come again Oh, praise the King, oh, praise the King The Name of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, no greater Name than this

Jesus, and every knee will bow Every tongue confess Jesus, Jesus One Name upon our lips And no greater Name than this And every knee will bow Every tongue confess Jesus, Jesus Jesus, Jesus I worship you, mighty God There is none like you, I worship you, O Prince of Peace. That is what I long to do, I give you praise, for you are my righteousness. I worship you, Almighty God, there is none like you. I worship you, Almighty God, there is none like you. I worship you, O Prince of Peace, that is what I long to do, and I give you praise, for you are my righteousness. I worship you, Almighty God, there is none like you. There is none like you. There is none like you. There is none like you. All my words fall short, I've got nothing new. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as we often do, but every song must end, and you never do. So let's throw up our hands and praise Him again and again, because all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, I've got nothing else fit for the King Jesus, except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. I've got one response, I've got just one need. With my arms stretched wide, I will worship only you.

So let's throw up our hands and praise Him again and again, because all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ Oh, that I'll hurry to hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I love you so much that nothing else will speak for me ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord yes, amen ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise, praise the Lord, praise King Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, praise to you, oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-le-le-le-le-le-le ♪ ♪ Oh come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs, come on let's sing, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallele-le-le-lele-le-le ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-le-le-le-le-le, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-le-le-le-le-le-le-le ♪ Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Bow your heads with me. Let's pray to the Father for just a second. Father, we worship you. We lift our hands. We lift our voices. First and foremost, because of just who you are. You are our Creator. You are our Good Father. You are our Savior and Redeemer. You're worthy of our worship. You're worthy of our gratitude. Just because of who you are. But it doesn't stop there. We worship you. We thank you for what you have done. You redeemed us from the pit. You saved us when we couldn't save ourselves. We worship you and we thank you for what you will do. Because a day is coming where every tear will be wiped from our eyes. All of our problems, all of our suffering will be over. We will be your people. You will be our God. We will dwell together forever. And so you are worthy of every bit of this praise this morning. And so church on the move, let me invite you one more time. Put your hands together. Raise your hands. Give a shout of joy and worship to God because he's worth it. He's worthy of it. Who he is and what he's done and what he will do. Thank you guys so much for worshiping with us. Now, most of you know if you've been around here, you know what I'm about to say. I'm about to say, turn around. Welcome somebody. Say good morning. Did you know that that practice at church services has been around for generations and generations? In church history, it was called, in the service, it was called the passing of the peace. And people traditionally would turn to one another and they would say, Peace be upon you. And the other person would say in response, and peace be upon you as well. Now, I'm not saying you have to say that, right? Some of you are going to do it. Some of you are going to say it. But this is a key feature of what it means to be a church family.

It's that we're not just here to come and sit and listen to what happens from the stage. We're meant to interact and encourage one another, spur one another on, welcome one another, greet one another. And so we're going to take a second just to do that. So turn around, introduce yourself, welcome somebody, let them know how glad you are to see them, and then you can have a seat. Priscilla, it's pass the peace, not pass the peas. I would pass on the peas. Pass the peas, yeah. Some of you did that. Listen, thanks so much for being here. I'm Lee. This is Priscilla. We're a couple of pastors around here. Can I just say this? Chris Turner and I were just talking about this. Hey, we're getting close on the building. I know the parking situation for those of you who are coming in the 1130 and everybody's going out of the 945 service, kind of nuts out there. Hey, we're getting closer. Those doors are going to be open. Our parking lot's going to be open to back up real soon. And so thank you for your patience through that process. God is doing some amazing things at Church on the Move. And some of you may be new around here. You're like, man, this is my first time. It's all I've known is this construction, right? It's going to get better. But if that's you, if you're new, we're thrilled that you're here and we've got something for you. That's right. If this is your first time with us, we would love to welcome you with a gift. So please let us know that you're here by texting the word new to the number 23101. We're going to send you a Chick-fil-A gift card on us as our way of thanking you for joining us today. Also, Lee and I would love to invite you to join us for lunch next weekend right after this 1130 service at our monthly Next Move gathering. Next Move is the best place to learn more about who we are as a church and the different ministry areas that we have on offer for you and your family. Pastor Witt and our entire team are in there. We love getting to meet you and hearing more about your story. Really, our goal with Next Move is to help you decide if this is a church home you want to plant roots in. So if you want to get signed up for that, just text next to 23101. Child care is provided as well, and we would love to see you at Next Move. Yeah, we would. And I also want to speak to all the men in the room. Men, we are less than a month away from a national men's conference that we're doing right here at Church on the Move Tulsa called the Forming Men Conference. This is John Tyson, Jefferson Bethke, Pastor Witt will be speaking at one of the main sessions. We'll have men from all over the city and all over the country coming here. It's February 6th and 7th. That's Friday night after work and to about the middle of the afternoon on Saturday.

If you get your tickets from cotm.info, it's half price. If you go get your tickets like regularly for the Forming Men Conference, it's a price, but it's half price if you get it from cotm.info. So any of you and your friends, bring them, get that discounted ticket price. I know that some of you are like, yeah, I was planning on going, but I just haven't done it yet. Hey, do it for us because it helps us plan for food and resources and all that kind of stuff. But there are others of you in this room. Maybe you're like, you know, I'm involved in Brotherhood Breakfast. And I don't know that I need another men's gathering. Can I say this? This is what myself and a bunch of guys have been praying about for months, that this wouldn't just be a weekend where we get together and hang out. But this would be a weekend where God, where we have an encounter with God that puts us on a trajectory for 2026. It's going to make life better in our homes and in our church and in our workplaces, in our community, that the Capital C Church might move forward because of what's going to happen in this building. And I just don't want any of you to miss out on that. So wives, moms, girlfriends, remind your husband, boyfriend, son to get signed up for this because we want to see you there. God's going to do something special. And I don't want any of you to miss it. That's right. We're excited to host Forming Men in February. Also, we're only a couple of weeks away from the kickoff of our spring group semester. And if you're new to Church on the Move, we believe we were meant to follow Jesus together. It's much more fun and meaningful to grow spiritually when we're building relationships with one another. That's why we host midsize groups on site on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We also have a variety of small groups that meet all throughout the city throughout the week. And there's one group I wanted to highlight today because it's deeply personal to me. It is our Real Jesus midsize group. You see, several years ago, I went through my first Real Jesus group. And it was there that I discovered even though I had been following Jesus for decades, there were areas of my life I had not fully surrendered to Him. I hadn't given Him full access to. And through Real Jesus, I was able to finally break free from some of the things that had been holding me back for years. And if you're interested to learn more about that Real Jesus group or any other small or midsize group we have available, go to cotm.info. Don't wait. Get signed up for a group today. Yeah, I hope you'll take that step. Well, before we move into a time of receiving

from the Word of God, we're gonna honor and worship God with our giving. If you've never given around here before, it's pretty easy to do. You can just text the word give to 23101. You'll get instructions there on how to give electronically. We also have two other ways that we give that are outlined on a black card in the seat back in front of you, a generosity card. We give to our compassion offering and this expansion that we're in the middle of. You can understand a lot more about those and how to give to those from that card. Also, if you can't prepare to give in the room, just the traditional way, cash or check, there's drop boxes at all of our exits and you can give in that way. However you choose to give, thank you for partnering with us, allowing us to do what we do as a church family for the city of Tulsa and around the world. That's right. We're excited to jump in now to week two of Breakthrough. We're gonna be diving deep into John chapter six. So get your Bibles and your notebooks ready. But let's take a moment right now just to commit this time together. Heavenly Father, Lord, we're so thankful to be together as a church family.

What a joy it is to gather again this weekend to hear your gospel proclaimed and to worship you. So we ask that you would help us right now to open up our hearts and our minds and our ears to receive from you. We give you all the glory, Lord, for the things that are to come. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well hey, Church on the Move. Good to see everybody today. Welcome. If you're new around here, my name is Pastor Whit. And it's an honor to be able to worship with you this weekend. We are in week two of a series that we started last week called Breakthrough. And it's based on this familiar passage from John chapter 10. You've probably heard it before. This is Jesus speaking in John 10, 10. And he says this, the thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. In contrast, though, I have come that you might have life and have it to the full. This is the promise. This is what Jesus came for. This is his mission statement, to bring you life and life to the full. The question is, what does that look like, really? Like, practically, what does he mean?

Is this just about dying and going to heaven? Or is there more to it than that? I'm here to tell you there's a lot more to it than that, that this abundant life that Jesus has on offer is a life of purpose, a life of meaning, a life of connection and relationship, a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, a life where the circumstances of our situations can rise and fall like everyone's. But we are different in the midst of that. We are no longer insecure. We are no longer filled with bitterness. We are no longer filled with unforgiveness, right? We have changed, and we're living the life that we were meant and designed and created to live. I was talking to a church on the move, or just yesterday before the service, he stopped me and was just like, hey, Pastor Wood, I just want you to know, me and my wife experienced our breakthrough here at COTM. And of course, I knew his story. I knew that God had delivered him from an alcohol addiction. I hadn't heard as much about his wife's story, and he just told me when we came here, my wife was diagnosed bipolar, was severely anxious, and was like borderline schizophrenia, was on all kinds of medications,

like a crazy amount of medications. Then he said, but by God's grace today, she's not on a single medication, and she's living a healthy and whole life. That's what breakthrough looks like. You wanna know what real life is, that's it. It's real life, life to the full in Jesus, not just kind of getting by, not just remaining enslaved to the sin patterns that we've been living with for so long, the brokenness that we've just become accustomed to, but living life to the full. How do you do that? That's what we wanna talk about in this series. So today, if you have a Bible, I wanna invite you to turn to John chapter six. Now, I wish I could read this whole chapter. There's so much here, but for the sake of time, I'm just gonna summarize a little bit. John six, we get the feeding of the 5,000. If you've been to church at all, maybe especially when you were a kid, this is a miracle you probably remember. Remember the little boy bringing the loaves and fish to Jesus and he multiplies them? That's this story. And interestingly, it's the only miracle story that appears in all four gospels. This miracle story shows up in all four. But John captures some details

that the other authors don't capture. For one, he captures the response of the crowd. After Jesus multiplies these loaves and fish, the people go crazy. They're like, this is the prophet. Moses had prophesied that there would be another prophet like him, one who provides bread in the wilderness who would show up. And Jesus is doing that, and they're like. Like this is him, he must be that guy that Moses told us about. Then it says in verse 15 that they took him or they wanted to take him and forcibly make him their king. Now how many of you have learned you can't make Jesus do anything he doesn't want to do? He's God, you're not. So he's not gonna play their game. So in the night, he slips away, he disappears. He goes across the lake. This is when he walks on the water. His disciples are rowing a boat. He's on his way past them and then jumps in the boat with them and they end up on the other side. The next morning, this crowd wakes up and they're like, where is Jesus? We want that guy with the bread. We like that food that he made for us. They can't find him. So they notice that some of the boats are missing

and they deduce that he's gone to the other side of the lake so they start walking around the lake and they come to a little town, a little village called Capernaum and they find Jesus in the synagogue and they say to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? And that's where we're gonna pick this story up in verse 26 with Jesus' answer. He says this, truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures, it lasts to eternal life which the Son of Man will give to you for on him, God the Father has set his seal. Then they said to him, well, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to him, well then, what sign do you do? What proof can you offer us that you are who you say you are? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, well, sir, give us this bread always.

Then Jesus just cuts right to the chase. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Now, Jesus would double down on this idea of being the bread of life. He even goes so far as to tell them that unless you're willing to eat his flesh and drink his blood, of course, he was speaking about communion, which we practice on a regular basis. God's people have for the last 2,000 years. But they didn't get it. They didn't understand what he was talking about. So what he said offended them. Skip all the way down to verse 66. It says, after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, are you going to leave me as well? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Where else am I gonna go? You have the words of life. This is the word of the Lord. And we all said, thanks be to God. So as I said, this is the only miracle story that appears in all four gospels. But John captures details that the other gospel writers don't include. And it's in those details

that we get something of human nature, what we do. But we also get something of the human condition, why we are like we are. And if we're going to be cured of what plagues us, we're going to have to understand what's going on on the inside of us. Let's look at the text a little bit more carefully together. Here's what Jesus says. Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. In other words, the miracle was a sign. You know how signs work. They point you in a direction, this way to the restroom. Here's the exit that you're looking for on the highway, right, a sign points you to where you're trying to go. Well, that's what Jesus is doing these miracles for. These miracles were meant to point to something. They thought the miracle pointed to the bread. What they missed was that it was meant to point to him. They were meant to see something, to catch something about his identity, not just his identity as Messiah, not just his identity as Savior or Redeemer, but to get something of his identity of him as their satisfaction. Jesus is more than just your Savior. He's more than your Redeemer. He is meant, and he came, to fulfill your deepest longings and desires.

This is why. He said, I am the bread of life. Food fills a need, but he's saying you have a deeper need than food, and I have come to fulfill that need. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is a mouthful, it's really very simple. It's kind of a historic document that sort of puts core Christian beliefs in a sort of question and answer format. And the first statement in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is this, that the chief end of man, meaning why you're here, like what's the meaning of life? What is the point of life? Here it is, to glorify God. I think we can understand that pretty easily. If you're a Christian, that's not hard to accept. But look at the second part, and to enjoy him forever. Now, I want you not to just move past this, but to really think about this. I think it's easy for us to consider or to think about Jesus as our savior, as our redeemer, maybe even as our Lord, the one who paid for our sins. We get all of that, that all makes sense. I can visualize him that way, but to think of him as our satisfaction, as the one who fulfills the longings of your heart, that's much harder to consider. Reminds me of this old John Piper quote,

to maybe help illuminate what I'm talking about here. Look at what he says, he says, Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And I'm gonna make that idea clear, because what he's doing is he's saying sin, and this is really where we're gonna go today, is misplaced or misguided desire. It's not just the breaking of cosmic rules, it's desires gone astray. He's saying Jesus didn't just come to save you from the consequences of sin, meanwhile your desires just keep going where they've always gone. Look at what he says. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there will not be there. In other words, if your idea of heaven is just a place where all your problems have gone away and where everyone that you love is surrounding you and you can fly, that is not heaven. Heaven apart from God, hear me, is not heaven. Do you understand? Look at what he says. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven. Whoa, what? The gospel is not a way to get you into heaven. It is a way of getting people to God. Your problem is that you have problems and that you need your problems to go away.

The problem is that you've been separated from your creator. You were made with a need for God and nothing, not even heaven could satisfy you if God were not there. To put it really simply, we could say it like this. You weren't made for heaven, you were made for God. Now I want you to stop and think about that because so many of us, if we're really honest, and I hold my hand up here too, we don't really believe this. Because we could, if we were really honest and our heart of hearts, we believe that if we had our needs met, whatever those are, financial, sexual, whatever they may be, success, worth, if we could just fix those things, we think life would be just about perfect. What we miss is that we weren't made for only those things and that those things can't really satisfy, not at the deepest level, yet we try. And this is what's going on in this parable. The people have come to Jesus and he's given them bread. He's the one that multiplied the loaves and fishes. That's where they got the bread. But the problem is that they fixate on the gift rather than the giver. Mistaking the physical bread for the eternal bread, not realizing that there are needs deeper than physical hunger, that physical bread cannot satisfy.

We have eternal needs and unless you find a solution to the eternal need problem, your life will be incomplete. Such is the human condition. This is what we're left with. Look at what Jesus says. This is why you can now see why he says, don't work for the food that perishes. In other words, stop pursuing things that will never fill you up. And we talk about this and we say, well, money can't buy happiness or love and we're like, I don't know. It buys a jet ski. I don't know. It can give me whatever it is that you think will bring you some kind of pleasure. We spend our lives pursuing stuff, pursuing success. Pursuing pleasure, pursuing riches, thinking that it will fill some incomplete void that we have when it doesn't. It doesn't last. That's what he means by the food that perishes. None of this stuff lasts. Instead, he says, chase, seek the food that endures to eternal real life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father has set His seal. Notice how they respond. Well, then give us this bread. We want it. What does he say? Notice now he's really clear. I am the bread of life. It's me. Only I can satisfy you the deepest level. Now, this is the idea, and I want this to click, because when you get this, when this penny drops, it will change the way you think about yourself and sin, and you'll have a whole new approach to this whole idea of breakthrough and change and transformation in your life. Here's the idea. All sin, all sin is an attempt to fulfill our deepest longings and desires apart from God. Sin is more, hear me, sin is more than the breaking of divine rules. God said, thou shalt not fill in the blank, and I did it. Oops, I'm sorry. Could you forgive me? It's more than that. What you need to see in sin is that it is rooted,

hear me, in a deeper desire. You're after something. You're seeking something. This is where sin begins. I can show it to you from Genesis chapter 3. Look at what Genesis 3 says. This is the first sin. So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired. Notice, three times here, the writer emphasizes the desire of this tree, the allure and the promise of what this tree could offer. They desire it, so she took it and ate, and she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. What is happening here? It's an attempt to fulfill a desire apart from God. If we were going to give this thing a name, we could call it idolatry. In other words, the sin beneath all sin is idolatry. I'll never forget the first time I heard a pastor teach on idolatry. It was 2005. I was born in 1976, and the first sermon I ever heard anybody even talk about idolatry was in 2005, because most of us believed like I did, and thought that idolatry wasn't a problem anymore. Idolatry was for ancient people, people who believed in Baal, and Ashtaroth, and all these other gods, and they made these little figurines, and they thought that they were real gods. They didn't know there's only one God. That's what I thought. I was at this conference. It was a church leader conference. There was a pastor there. He was going to be speaking. I was really excited to hear him speak. I'd heard sermons of his from a distance, and I was excited to hear what he was going to have to say. Maybe he would talk about how to grow your church, how to build a better church, how to be a great leader, whatever the case may be. I was looking forward to it. He began speaking on idolatry, and I'm confused right out of the gate. Why is he talking to a room full of pastors about idolatry? We don't struggle with this. Boy, was I wrong, because he began to describe sports stadiums and malls as temples where we go and make our sacrifices to our gods. Success, pleasure, money, and wealth as gods that we chase. We create for ourselves a heaven, a thing, a life in our minds where if we just could attain it, that we would be finally happy and satisfied. You could call it a successful career. You could call it a certain amount of money in the bank. You could call it having all of your family around you, and the beautiful house, and the dogs running in the yard, and everything in your world arranged just as you wanted. If you could finally have it, then you wouldn't feel that sense of emptiness inside. You could finally lay your head on the pillow at night and feel completely satisfied and secure. We create for ourselves a heaven, and then we invented Jesus who can get us to our heaven. I just need to work a little harder. I just need to arrange my world a little bit more. I just need the things that I'm

looking for because they'll get me into the heaven that I desire. Pastors do this. If my church was only a little bit bigger, if I only had a little bit larger following, if I could finally get that recognition that I feel like I deserve, if I could get invited to that conference, we too build our identities on things that don't last. We can use even the best of things, things that God gave and created, and turn them into to gods that can give us what we're longing for. That, my friends, is idolatry. This is why the first commandment is, doubt shall have no other gods before me. This is the starting point for sin. Sin is more than just the breaking of rules, it's pursuing another god. What you're looking for in your search for pleasure, what you're looking for in your pursuit of success, what you're looking for in riches, what you're looking for in control is a way to be your own savior and god, to attain the heaven that you long for and to avoid the hell that you fear. But Jesus came to promise a better kind of life. Let me be for you the savior that you cannot be for yourself. This means that our problem, friends, is that we're trading the true God for a false one. You wanna know why that sin pattern is going on habitually in your life? It's because you're believing, you have falsely believed the lie that it can provide something for you that Jesus cannot. And even as I say this, some of you,

you're thinking of certain needs that you have and it's almost unthinkable. You can think of your kind of sexual habits, your pornography and lust habits, and you're wondering even right now how ridiculous it seems that I could tell you that Jesus could fulfill the thing that you're looking for even there. It seems unthinkable. How is such a thing possible? You're telling me that Jesus can be the satisfaction to my lust and yet I am telling you that is exactly the case. It's so unthinkable because we're so used to pursuing other idols and gods that we've just thought it's impossible for him to give me what I'm looking for. This is exactly what Paul says in Romans one. Look at it, he says you've exchanged the truth about God for a lie. What happens as a result? You worship and serve a false god, the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. This is the core of our problem. We are chasing other things. We're after other gods. And until we can identify what we're seeking in our sin and we just try to treat the symptom or the sin symptom, we will miss the deeper problem

and we will never find breakthrough. The principle is this. You cannot heal what you cannot name. You know this when you go to the doctor. If something's wrong, my back hurts, got something going on in my knee, my shoulder hurts, what's the problem? If they can't diagnose it, how can they treat it? The last thing you wanna hear from the doctor is I have no idea what's going on, here's some pills. No, what's the problem? And in fact, some of you, it's been very frustrating for you because you've had physical symptoms and no doctor can tell you what's wrong with you. It's terribly frustrating because you can't attack the thing and seek a cure if you don't even know what's going on. We have to start with a diagnosis. So if we just kind of stay on the surface, well, I'm anxious. Well, I have a lust problem. Well, I get angry easily. Well, whatever, I'm too enamored with work or I'm a people pleaser. If we just stay on the surface and we don't really take the time to identify what am I seeking at the heart level, you can never then turn to the Lord and say, would you satisfy and heal this place in my heart where I've been seeking from a false God what only you can give.

That's the idea of breakthrough. So I wanna talk to you today, just give you a little bit of a framework for how to begin to excavate what's going on in here. How to understand, how can I think about what might be going on inside of me? And this is only the beginning, by the way. We're gonna talk about this for several weeks, but this is just kind of like a primer, just to give you a starting point, to start thinking about maybe that's what I'm after. Maybe that's my issue. And by God's grace and through the power of the Spirit, I have prayed that he will illuminate these things for you so that you'll understand yourself so that you can take that to Christ. Let's talk about this. Four different idols. These come from Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century philosopher, theologian, he was a friar, and he did some thinking, a lot of thinking. He's a brilliant guy. In fact, what we're finding is that what he put together in these four idols is actually what behavioral science has come along and confirmed this is really the human condition. This is what we struggle with. Aquinas figured it out hundreds of years ago just by reflecting on Scripture.

Here's what he figured out. that underneath all of our sin there are really four main idols, four main false gods that we all go looking for our satisfaction from. We go looking to these gods to meet a deeper need and until you address the idolatry in your heart and let the Lord meet you there, you'll just keep returning to that God over and over and over again. Let's look at them. What are they? Number one, he said power. This is the desire to control, to be independent, to be self-sufficient. Some of you whenever you get under stress you level up, you power up, you begin to try to control the world around you. Maybe that expresses itself in an outward anger or a rage at the world that is failing to comply with your wishes and desires. Maybe you try to seize control of every situation by believing that if you can get control you can be safe and secure and powerful again. We fear being in the sort of out of control and having others having power over us so we try to keep as much control for ourselves. We like being in charge because we feel better that way but it's a false God. The second is pleasure. This is gratifying or pleasing your desires. This sort of false God promises that if you could just meet your needs, your desires whenever you feel them, that it will make you happy. This is the kind of person that tends to binge certain things, tends to spend more than they have, tends to indulge themselves, turns to substances when life gets chaotic or they feel insecure. We binge watch Netflix or we eat a whole tub of ice cream. We're pleasing ourselves, trying to gratify our flesh so that we can avoid the uncomfortable feelings that we don't know what to do with. Many of us are plagued by this false God. The third is riches. Now when I say riches, don't hear money. What we're talking about is hoarding wealth so that you can feel safe and secure. This is the kind of person who believes that their possessions or what they have within their control is able to provide sort of like a security blanket for them. They can withstand whatever storms life may throw their way because they have the resources to deal with it. They don't really even enjoy their money. Their money is just a security for them. People like this, it's very hard for them to be

generous. We'll talk about that here in just a second. Then lastly is glory. This one's the most counterintuitive because it sounds almost opposite to what people like this deal with, but these are people who are seeking their approval in what other people think about them. They actually worship their own self-image. That's why it's called glory or pride. We don't think about this. We think of the person who's desperate to please other people as a person who's way down low and needs to be lifted up and needs to have their self-esteem lifted when actually it's quite the opposite. What you don't realize is that you've elevated your opinion of yourself above God's. That is the height of pride. Humility is to see yourself as you actually are, but the person who deals with a glory problem cares way too much about what other people say about them and their own worth and value is dictated on the opinions of others. So they're constantly working to build a self-image, to get other people to like them, to be seen as nice. When they text somebody and they don't immediately text back, they immediately start thinking to themselves, what's wrong? What did I do? Did I offend them? They start to get anxious. They get in a little bit of a panic because they care too much about the opinions of others. They try to please other people. Now these are the four idols that Thomas Aquinas put forward. He said all of us have a preference or a bias toward one of these. We struggle with all of them at different times. You could probably see yourself in every single one of these, but there's one, maybe two of them that you struggle with considerably more. And the way to figure it out is to start by asking yourself, which one is just really not a problem for me? I'll give you a hint. Mine is probably pleasure. I've been thinking about this for a while. This has been an issue for me in my life, indulging my desires. I've told you that I had a pornography problem when I was younger. I can see that very much in this God of pleasure. Just pleasing myself, spending money on myself, which by the way is what allowed me to eliminate riches right away. I have no riches because I am addicted to pleasure. Some of you can relate, right? So what you do is you eliminate the ones that you're not, that

doesn't, it's not really a temptation for me. Pleasure is probably the one that I struggle with most. So you kind of start backwards, right? This is not it. What's the second one that you struggle least with? Probably power. I don't know, between power and glory, but I think pleasure's at the top of the list. Now, my prayer for you is that you'll think about this, that you'll spend some real time considering this, that you'll journal, that you'll talk to the Lord about this, Lord, reveal to me which one of these. But I wanna show you why it's important that you know. Because if you don't understand what your vulnerability is, where you're likely to stumble and fall, you won't be able to take that idolatry problem to the Lord and say, I need you here. I need you here. I need you to heal me here. I need to learn to find in you what I've been looking for in power or pleasure. See, the problem is each one of these idols is related to an actual need that you were created for or with. Here's the idea. Power speaks or promises this agency, meaning being able to take responsibility for your life. It promises strength. The problem is it does it in a wrong or false kind of way. Pleasure promises comfort. These are good things.

These are things that God wants to give you. The trouble is is that pleasure tells you that the way to get it is not by sublimating your desires to God's desires, but by simply pleasing and gratifying your flesh over and over and over again. The problem, of course, and those of you who have the idol of pleasure in your life in a stronger way, you know exactly that when you return to this thing over and over and over again, it doesn't give you what you think it's gonna give you. It's always hollow. It leads to nothing. It doesn't build on anything. Riches promises security, and lastly, glory promises worth. These are all things that God wants to do for you, things he wants to provide for you. The trouble is we go looking for them in other things. Let me just give you a couple of examples of how these express themselves through sort of specific situations. Let's think first about money. How might people with these different idols, how might they think about or treat money? How might they sin with money given their idol? Well, let's imagine first the person with power. The person with power sees money as a tool to dominate others so that they can get what they want. They use their money as a weapon. It's not that they love money.

They like that money allows them to get their way. That's what they're about. They want control and power, so they use it to make sure they can have what they want. They use their money like a bludgeon. These people can't be really generous because they're too busy using their money to get their own way, or they might give a little bit here and there, but it'll only be a tip. They need to remain, they need to keep their resources so that they can have what it is that they're after, control, right? That's their problem. A person with pleasure, this would be me, doesn't have any money to give because they've spent it all on themselves. They're over leveraged. They've gone into debt. They've made bad financial decisions because they keep indulging their impulses over and over again, believing that getting that next thing, that car, that house, or whatever it is, like that next thing will finally bring them the satisfaction that they're looking for. So this is a person who can't really be generous, can't honor God with their money because their money's tied up in other places. The third person, riches, they can't give

because their money is their security. It's not that they don't have anything to give, it's that they are unwilling to give because they feel like they can't risk it. If I give, I don't know. It's not safe, it feels scary. I've seen people like this who have a lot of money in their bank account and their savings account, they're unwilling to give it because they just have a number in their head. If it drops below this, I feel uncomfortable. I can just promise you this, the Lord will challenge that idol every time. He's gonna ask you to give away more than you're comfortable with because he wants you to trust him as your source and your security. But as long as you're using money for that, you are chasing a false God. Fourthly here, we've got glory, and this one's the one, as I told you, is counterintuitive because this person might be giving. They might actually be doing the right thing, but they're doing it for the wrong reasons. It's called virtue signaling. Are you aware of this? You know what it is? It's where you do something good, but you do it publicly

so that other people will pat you on the back. You see this with social media influencers, but let's be honest, all of us common folks, we like to do the same thing. We want people to see our good deeds. We want people to say, you're awesome, man, look at how generous you are. I love that you went over there and served. I love that you're helping the poor like you are. Man, you're a good person. We feel better about ourselves. We're not doing it for the right reasons. Actually, at the root of our generosity is selfishness. That's why I heard Tim Keller say. Years ago, you not only need to repent of the right things you've done, but of the wrong things you've done, you need to repent of the right things you've done for the wrong reasons. How often is our good behavior still motivated by sinful, idolatrous impulses? It happens. Let me give you another example. Imagine, if you will, a young lady. And imagine her father was maybe a good man, maybe he loved his daughter, but he didn't have the emotional capacity to express it. He really struggled to even verbalize or ever say, I love you. He struggled to say, you're beautiful.

It was just not his way. He wasn't raised like that. He couldn't get the words out of his mouth. There wasn't a lot of external affection. And so when this young lady reaches kind of her teenage years, she begins to go searching for that kind of male affirmation and approval in relationships with guys. And she finds herself in one relationship after another, finding that she can't really be alone. To be alone is to be rejected. To be alone is to be ugly. To be alone is to be less than. But to be in a relationship means that somebody sees her, somebody maybe even loves her. And maybe what she finds is that in order to stay in these relationships and to get the kind of affirmation that she's looking for, she finds that she has to engage in sexual practice with these men that she's in relationship with. She's bouncing from one sexual relationship to another looking for that kind of validation. I want you to imagine that a well-meaning Christian who sort of kind of knows just a little bit like on the surface about her situation and maybe knows the nature of these sexual relationships one after the other wants to sit down with her and just explain God's plan for sex. And that God wants sex to be in a marriage

between a man and a woman and that it belongs in a committed relationship. I wanna ask you, how motivating do you think that will be to this young lady to stop doing what she's doing? Not at all. Because you failed to recognize her idol. Her idol is not pleasure. Her idol is worth. She may not even enjoy what she's doing. She may hate what she's doing, but she needs the affirmation. So she finds herself in relationship after relationship with one bad guy after another, but she can't bear to be alone because that's how she finds her worth. Do you understand how you'll never solve the problem if you don't know what the idol is? You have to understand what you're seeking. What is it that I'm looking for? And when you can finally identify that, oh, this is what I've been chasing the whole time, then you know what you're ready to do? You can now turn to the Lord and say, can you do something about this? I'm coming to trust you. The question I have for you is, what are you chasing? My hope is that you'll examine your life, that you'll allow the Holy Spirit, maybe even better, to examine your life.

What is it that you've been pursuing? What is it that you've been looking for? Is it power, strength? Is it comfort? Is it security? Is it worth some combination of two or three? What is it that you've been after? What is it that you're seeking? Here's the key, this is what you need to know, and this will change everything. Behavioral science has caught up to this and is now realizing, oh, this is how this works. This is how human nature is. Let me show you this. Idols aren't abandoned, they're replaced. In other words, you can't walk away from an idol. Let me tell you why. Because you are made with a need. You can't just walk away from these needs. They're so core, they're so at the soul level, you just keep coming back to it. This is why you can't stop. What behavioral science is teaching us is this, that you can't just walk away from bad habits. You wanna know how you walk away from bad habits? You find better ones. That's how you move on from a bad habit. You only can replace it with a better habit. In other words, a subtraction, just subtracting the bad behavior is never enough.

This is why your choice isn't between sin and not sin. Your choice is between a false God and the true God. So do you wanna walk away from sin? What do I do? Face sin with Christ. Choose him. Believe that he and he alone can truly satisfy. As crazy and out of the box as that may seem, as wild as you, like impossible to believe that Jesus could meet the need that you're facing, and yet that's exactly what he dares to promise. Look at what he said. I am the bread of life. Whatever need that you're craving, whatever desire it is that's driving you, he's the one who promises to fulfill it. And how could he not? He's the one who made you. He formed you. He created you. Wouldn't it stand to reason that he knows exactly what you want at the deepest level and what you need? The question is, are you willing to trust him with those places? This is what Christianity is. It's more than just saying, oh, Jesus died to pay for my sins. Many of you, that's not been a problem. What you're now realizing is I've never given him my desires.

I've given him my sins in the I committed a sin and I need some forgiveness. I've never trusted him with what I want most of all. And can I be honest with you? That's the most terrifying thing. Because you're not sure if he can really do it. And now you see where your trust is off. Your allegiance is off. Your desires are off. See, to the person who idolizes pleasure, you need to come to believe that only God can give you a comfort that doesn't fade. To the person who idolizes riches, you need to believe that only God can give you a security that cannot be lost. To the person who idolizes power, you need to believe that only God can give you a strength that doesn't come from controlling your situation. And to the person who idolizes glory, you need to remember or believe that only God can give you worth, a self-worth, that doesn't depend on, praise God, performance or approval. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. What if you could believe that? Would that not set you free from your social anxiety if you actually believed that were true? If you could have that kind of fortitude in yourself, could you not then stand up to the disapproval

of other people? Could you not then be the kind of differentiated person that maybe you've always longed to be, but didn't have the power to be? You're missing what you need, what you lack, it comes from Christ. Can we, will we find it in him? Now this is what we're gonna talk about over the next several weeks. How do we do this? Because different idols need a different aspect of the gospel. We need to hear different parts of the gospel. I was talking with a pastor this week who was telling me his own story, how several years ago the Lord met him in a really significant moment, changed his life. We could call it a real Jesus kind of transformational moment. He was swimming laps in a pool and the Lord visited him there. Out of nowhere, he said, the Lord said to me, and he goes, I know this was the Lord because I wasn't thinking anything about it, it just hit me. The Lord Jesus said to him, Simeon, you don't love me. It was exactly what he needed to hear. It was the same thing I needed to hear when I realized that I was religious, that I didn't really love God.

When we do the next move, let me put it like this. When we do the next move, we play this game at the beginning where we kind of stand up, sit down, stand up if you've, fill in the blank, stand up if you've got a speeding ticket in the last month. Stand up if you, you know, root for OU or OSU or whatever. But at the end, it kind of gets a little bit more serious. One of the questions is, stand up if you've ever had doubts about God's existence. I stand up on that one. I've had those doubts. If I'm gonna wrestle with doubt, that's where it'll be. Is this all real? Is there really a God? But then the next question is, stand up if you've ever doubted that God loves you. I sit down on that one and a lot of other people stand up. It's interesting, for me, it's harder to believe that there is a God than to believe that if there was a God, he would certainly love me. It's funny, but that's how I think about it. If there is a God, what point would there be in him not loving his creation? I've never doubted that if there was a God, he would love me. What I needed to hear was that I didn't love him. But you know, there's some of you in here that you've doubted many times that God could love you. You've doubted your own worth before God.

You've doubted that you are righteous to stand in his presence. You've doubted how you felt in his presence. And what you need to hear is very different than what I needed to hear. I needed to hear, you're not king. Get off the throne of your life. You need to hear you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You need to hear who you are in Christ. It builds you up. For me, that kind of preach. Teaching never really did all that much. For some of you, it lifted you out of your despair. We need different dimensions of the gospel to address the different desires that we pursued in different idols. That's what we're gonna do over the next few weeks. We're gonna address every one of these and show you how Jesus is better than what you've been seeking and everything else you've been chasing. Now we'll close with this. John six, starting in verse 66. After this, after Jesus made these staggering claims about his identity, I mean, think about it. This is more than just like, I'm somebody, I'm the Messiah. To claim to be the one who in himself can meet every human longing and need, what? Only Almighty God could claim something like that.

That's exactly what he was saying. Look at what happens. Many of his disciples, they turned back and they no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, do you wanna go away as well? There will come a point in your pursuit of Jesus that he's going to ask something from you or he might say something to you that's hard to hear. And you might find yourself wondering, is this guy really worth following any further? Is he really doing anything? Maybe you find yourself kind of in the midst of sort of a breakthrough battle and you've been following Jesus for a while. You had a high emotional moment maybe in the beginning, but maybe you're not in that place anymore. It doesn't feel great. Maybe you've looked in the mirror or looked inside yourself and thought, I don't know that I'm changing at all. I can't see that the Lord's really doing anything and maybe you feel the temptation to bail. Can I tell you, this is what I've seen. People who retain the option to leave Jesus always do. There's a difference though between those types of people and what Peter's going to represent here. Look what Peter says. Lord, to whom shall we go? He's confused by what Jesus has said as well. He doesn't get it all yet.

He's not seeing the whole picture. But where else am I gonna go? You have the words of life. And this is what it is to go all in with Jesus. It's not to understand everything. It's to come to the conclusion that I've been down that road and it leads only to death. I'm ride or die with you, Jesus. I'm in this with you till the end. Whatever it may be, if I come to the end of my life and I take my last breath and it's lights out and there is no eternity and there was no God all along, it's too late for me. I've already made my stand. I've already pushed my chips into the middle. I'm in this with Jesus one way or the other. And when you come to that point, here's what I can tell you. Breakthrough is not just likely, it's certain. It's inevitable. It will happen because I know the one who made the promise and he will fulfill his word. Will you stick it out? To whom shall we go? Maybe that needs to be your prayer this week. Lord, where else can I go? I'm confused, I'm scared, I don't know what's next. Where else can I go? I trust that you have the words of life. That kind of faith, that tenacious faith

in the midst of confusion, in the midst of disappointment, in the midst of being partway through your journey and not seeing where God is taking you. I got a text this week from my daughter-in-law. It was a picture of my son. He was sitting in his living room reading the scripture. He doesn't even, I don't know, she told him this. I haven't said anything to him about it in here. I guess I'm making it public now. He was reading his Bible. And she said, this is what he's been doing every night. He sits here and he reads and he reads and he reads. He's doing a, I understand, a 30-day shred, reading through the entire Bible in 30 days. That's a lot, that's a lot of reading, especially for a kid with dyslexia. And he's reading and he's reading and I turned to Heather and I said, this is an answer to prayer. There were so many times where it was like, God, what's with this kid? Will it ever work out? Where it felt like there was no hope and there was no future. But you don't know what God can do. You don't know what he's capable of doing. He's able of taking things that seem way too far gone and turning them around and bringing new life. You're not too far gone.

To whom shall we go? You have the words of life. I trust you. That's my prayer. that we'll be all in. Whatever it looks like, wherever you lead, even to the cross, I'm in this with you. You have life, and I will not let go. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Father, thank you. You're so good. Lord, I pray that strongholds would be broken in this congregation. Addictions, long-standing. Patterns keep turning to the same old false God to try to please us. It can never. Lord, help us to come clean about that, to be honest about it, to be honest about our desires, where they are misguided, and where we have sought other gods. We have not trusted you, but we want to. Lord, we see you have the words of life, so we come to your feet and we cling to you. Where else can we go? We tried everything else. It's not working. We are with you. There's nowhere else to turn. Lord, would you do what only you can do? Start a new work, bring new life, break chains of addiction, break cycles of sin, iniquity that we have chosen over and over and over again. Break it, and I pray for new life, new life to begin even now. And though we may not see it, though it may seem only a seed, it is certain to produce fruit. Lord, I pray we would cling to you with everything that we have. Give us the strength, the boldness, the courage, and the humility to do it. Now heads bowed and eyes closed, you're in the room and you say, God is doing such a significant work in me right now. He's drawing me into relationship with him. If you were to be honest, you know you've been separated from God maybe your whole life or maybe for some time. You've been living for yourself. You may have said you believed in Jesus, but you know down in your heart that you have been living for yourself. There is a pattern of sin and you're being convicted. I'm not just talking about you feel bad about something you said yesterday or a fight that you got into or whatever. I'm

talking about a long-standing pattern of choosing your own ways instead of God. You've been doing this for your whole life, a long time, and you're being convicted. That's the Holy Spirit. He's the one that does that. He convicts us of our sins. Like I said about my friend Simeon, you don't love me. You're realizing that there's conviction, but here's what's amazing about it is that conviction is also paired with grace. You can feel his love and his mercy. It's the goodness of God that draws us to repentance. When those two things are happening, this is what I would call a deep work of renewal. Salvation, meeting the real Jesus. If that's you, he's the one doing it. You don't have to do it. You just respond. God always goes first. If he's calling and you want to answer, would you be bold and courageous enough right there where you sit just to throw your hand up right now and say, that's me? I'm saying yes, no matter what. That's me. Yep, I see you back there. Thank you. God bless you. Over to my left. Thank you. Another one there. Anybody else say, that's me? Yeah, right out in front of me. A couple hands there. Another one there on the risers. Thank you. Yeah, over here to my left. Thank you. God bless you. Anybody else say, that's me? Over here to my right. Awesome. Thank you. God bless you. Anyone else? Yep, I got you right there. Thank you. That's me. Just wave at me. Where else? Over here to the left. Awesome. Thank you. Wonderful. I see you young man. I see you. Thank you. God bless you. Anyone else say, that's me? I'm saying yes. Yeah, I got you. Anyone else say, that's me? The Lord's doing that to me. I'm just saying yes. Yeah, I got you. Left side. I see you. Thank you. Another one right here. Yeah, I see you. Thank you. God bless you. Anyone else? Yeah, I got you young man. Thank you. God bless you. Anyone else? Yeah, right here in front of me. Thank you. Anyone else? Look, that's me. We're gonna pray here in just a second. Over here to my left. Great. Thank you. Anyone else? I see you. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah, I see you. Thank you. Yeah, I see you over there. Thank you. Yeah, I see you young man. Back row. Thank you. Anyone else?

Over here to my right. Yeah, I see you, right there. Thanks. Anyone else? Church, we're gonna pray together, whether you raised your hand or you didn't. Would you say this after me? Say, Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take my sins upon himself. He went to the cross for me. I believe he was raised from the dead. Lord Jesus, I give you my life, my past, my present, my future, my hopes, my dreams, all of me, I belong to you. Thank you for saving me, in Jesus' name, amen. At the close of the service, our prayer team's gonna be standing right here in front of the stage. If you raised your hand today, you took step one. Let me tell you, a walk with Christ is more than a single step. You just took a first step, it's a beginning. But a real relationship is more than a step, it's more than an emotional moment in a service. It's not to discount that, it's only to let you know that it's just a beginning, and that your next step is to come forward and get this little guide we have. It's a little book we've written that just talks about the decision that you just made, what it means, and what your next steps are. We're not wanting to badger you, to hassle you.

We just wanna be able to connect with you and help you take those next steps in Christ that you need to take, and if you're serious about the commitment that you just made, then this is what you'll do. So at the close of the service, our team will be down here. We would love to be able to connect with you. Now, if you have a prayer need, we would also love to be able to pray with you. This team is down here for you, too. Maybe you're going through something at home, maybe it's something at work, maybe it's a health thing, whatever the case may be, we would love to be able to pray with you. So at the close of our service, our prayer team lines the front of the stage. We do this every week. We would love to be able to connect with you. Stand to your feet. We're gonna close with this blessing out of Numbers, chapter six, and we put the words on the screen, we'll say it out loud together so you can join with me as we dismiss. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you, I love you. We'll see you next week.

You're dismissed. I love you. Love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love

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