Worthless Religion | Josh Leake & Melodie Leake

Welcome to all the APC family in the room. It's good to be with you guys. I know we also have Pastor Kyler in the Northside Campus. We got Pastor Greg in the Butler Campus tuning in. And then of course, God Behind Bars over in Somerset. Would you just welcome them? Love you guys. And as they said before, I am gonna be team preaching this message with my mom, which is super exciting for me. So I'll invite her out in a little bit once I've kind of set up the topic. And just one more thing I wanna say before we get into the message for today. It is a huge honor to have been selected as the candidate for lead pastor. And I... And I... And I... And I... And I... And I... And I... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So I'm looking forward to sharing with you guys next weekend before the meeting, you know, in the weekend services, just my heart and what God's been doing in me,

my journey with God over the past little bit. So I'll share some of that next weekend in the services, looking forward to that. And for the message today, we are going to kick it off with a quick proverb. So Proverbs chapter 18, verse 21. Again, the whole book of Proverbs is collections of short little sayings of wisdom. This one's real short. 1821 says the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. So we've got a simple but important idea, which is that our words have significant power. They have weight, they have force. And sometimes we forget about this because we live in probably the noisiest era of all time where having access to the internet, we're exposed to more words, more information, more shouting matches than ever before. There's just so many words that sometimes we forget the weight and influence that our words have. But we've experienced what Proverbs talks about of life and death. Everybody in the room has experienced words of wounding and words of inspiration, life and death. And usually we can remember back even decades to words that were spoken to us that were wounding or inspiring. I remember when I was eight years old, there was a friend of my older brother.

So I had a friend who was my age. His older brother was friends with my older brother. And my older brother and his friend were three years older than me. And this, my older brother's friend, I looked up to him so much. So he was a musician. He always had a crowd around him. He was hilarious. I wanted to be like him. I thought he was so cool. And when I was eight years old, I was just your standard eight-year-old. So I was boundless in energy. And my only use of the English language was to quote SpongeBob SquarePants at full volume poorly everywhere I went. So I was just a real pleasant guy to be around at that age. And I remember being at this friend's house and I'm looking around and I see some people that I grew up with. It's nobody in the room. This person, I don't even think attends here anymore. So I was at this friend's house and I remember overhearing my older brother's friend who I looked up to say something about me. So I was just kind of off in the distance and I heard him say to my older brother, he said, man, I thought my little brother was annoying, but I don't think I've ever met somebody

as annoying as your little brother. I can't even imagine living with him. And from there, I turned to a life of crime. That was my villain origin story right there. I remember how wounding that was. That crushed me of becoming aware. I must be really annoying for him to have said that. Somebody that I really looked up to, it stuck with me decades later. The moments that wound us really stick with us and so do the ones that really inspire us. Probably most of us or all of us in this room have stories of people who believed in us. Pastors and coaches and teachers and parents, all people who spoke something that we can come back to that shaped who we were in a positive way. So life and death is in the power of the tongue is what the Bible is saying. And we remember these moments of life and death. But actually what scripture is teaching about our words is even deeper and it takes it further than that. And we're gonna look at an interaction that Jesus has with one of his disciples that's kind of disturbing. It's one that I remember having a hard time understanding growing up. So in Matthew chapter 16, verse 21, Jesus is explaining to his disciples the process of what eventually would be his arrest. rest and his torture and his death

at the hands of his enemy. So verse 21 says this, from that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed on the third day, be raised to life. Peter, over-eager disciple, took him aside and began to rebuke him, never, Lord. He said, this shall never happen to you. And Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. When I was younger, this always confused me because I empathized with Peter. Like Peter was just doing his best. So Jesus's words to me always felt harsh, calling him the devil. It felt like Peter was just saying to Jesus, Jesus, I got your back. When things get hard, I want you to know I'm there.

I'm not gonna let anyone kill you. I'm gonna be there for you. And Jesus is like, yeah, you're the devil. You know what I mean? Like it's just so harsh for a guy who's doing his best. But actually what Jesus is highlighting is so important. It's easy to miss because we feel bad for Peter. But what Jesus is highlighting is our words can actually partner directly with the enemy and the kingdom of hell without even realizing it. The enemy has a strategy to stop God's plan. And the enemy's goal is to cause fear and pain and insecurity and division. And often, this is the thing we don't realize, that the enemy can accomplish his strategy through the mouths of Christians. Peter was devoting his whole life to following Jesus, to the kingdom of God. But his words in this moment were a tool of the enemy to work against God's plan. So I know that some of the verses we've been looking at are intense,

especially that one right there. But I think this is a powerful truth that God wants to remind us of. And it's this, our words actually reveal which kingdom we're partnering with. The kingdom of God or the kingdom of hell. And as I was praying this message through, this particular part was just hitting me like a ton of bricks, which is that in this interaction, once we get past feeling bad for poor Peter, who was just doing his best and got slapped down, if you recognize what's going on, the most important event in history, Jesus dying on the cross and raising again from the grave, the most important thing that would ever happen, giving us hope for the future. The enemy was trying to work against this through the emotional words of someone close to Jesus. The enemy has a strategy to inflict division and chaos and pain and bitterness in the world around us. And often he does this through the words of people close to us

to target where we are weak or insecure. Or he will do it through our own emotional words, where it opens the door to say things that we don't even recognize are actually partnering with what the enemy wants for somebody else's life. Because Peter was unknowingly partnering. The enemy can use our words even when we don't realize it. We can give our lives to following Jesus and yet we can have regular moments of careless words that become tools for the enemy to stir up division or negative emotions and to build what Satan wants to do. So Jesus, and I think the writers of scripture, Proverbs, are highlighting our words aren't neutral. We tend to think big moments of life, big moments of death that wound us or inspire us, but really all of our words have weight and impact and influence and they're partnering one way or the other, whether we realize it or not. All our words have transformative power for God's kingdom or for the kingdom of hell. And James was the half-brother of Jesus. He wrote about this idea too. James chapter one, verse 26, he said this.

Those who consider themselves religious, this is intense too, by the way. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves and their religion is worthless. Why are religious acts worthless if you don't have control of your tongue? So reading the Bible, generosity, praying, showing up to church. Why is that worthless if you don't have control of your tongue? It's because your word. Words are a gift of God of influence in the world around you and every single one of them matters to God. All our words are partnering with something. What are your words partnering with? That's the question we have to ask ourselves. There's no neutral. We live in a universe that is a word-based universe. So God created everything by speaking. There's power to speech. Jesus healed by saying, be healed. So words have power and Jesus and the Proverbs and James are rewiring how we think to see every word that leaves our mouth is a measure of God's creative power that he's gifted us. John Maxwell is a famous leadership teacher and he talks about the idea that the most potent form

of influence that we have to shape and transform the world around us is our words. Words have power. We shape the future of our kids and our businesses, our homes, everything around us. And so many of us in this room are the product of people who shaped us with their words, maybe for good or for bad. Our words, every word that leaves our mouth has power and every word we speak is partnering with something. So we have to be aware that we can unknowingly be devoted disciples of Jesus and yet be at risk to lose control and speak out of fear, anger, division, jealousy, irritation, and actually open the door for that to be used by the enemy for his plans and purposes. So God's reminding us every word that we speak matters. Okay, now that we know that, what do we do about this? Because controlling our speech, I think, is one of those things that can feel overwhelming. So we'll talk a little bit about what do we do with this? I'm gonna invite my mom to join me. Please welcome Pastor Melody Leak as she joins me. Hello. Hi. Hey. And this is a very special thing for us because I got to team preach with my dad back in like 2017 or 18, right after I had my son Benjamin. But you and I have never got to do this before, so this is very special.

I know, this is fun, this is great. Happy Mother's Day. Thank you. And also, this is a great topic for us to talk about because you are a words person. Yeah, I'm passionate about words. As an author, as a pastor, I realized the power of words. And I've always loved words. You know, like I'm intrigued by how the right lyrics can bring, you know, the right lyrics to a song can just bring your whole being to tears, right? Or like someone can motivate you for a cause they have by their speech. You can be like, yeah, I'm gonna join that cause. And so, the other reason I love words is because, how many of you are familiar with Gary Chapman's book, The Five Love Languages? Any words of affirmation people out there? Yeah, so I'm a words of affirmation person, so yes, I love words. And I think this is such a key topic. It's so important for us to discuss. Yeah, so I love that we get to talk about this too. This is a special thing. Also because my mom's love of words would often come out when we were younger, when she would use a word that we had no idea what it meant. And they would make fun of me, let's be honest. We were laughing about this because I remember I was arguing with my older brother, Dave.

I don't know how we, I was very young. And I had brought up an argument that I was supposed to have let go. That's right. And so, she said to me, Josh, every time we put this to rest, you keep, every time you wanna delve back into it, and me and Dave were like. Delve. Delve? And they busted out laughing, and they were unified in their mockery of me. But guess what, they stopped fighting, so mission accomplished. We did stop fighting. Mission accomplished. And I learned a new word that day, so it was a win-win across the board. There you go, there you go. So, okay, words is the topic, and we're talking about, again, every word that we speak is a gift from God. Every word has influence and power, and so we wanna learn to partner with what God's doing and not open ourselves for our words to be used by the enemy. But controlling our words feels almost like an impossible task. Yeah. Because our emotions feel so heavy,

and sometimes we don't even remember what we say, so how do we even begin to do this? Yeah, oh, I think the first thing is recognizing that it's not just, that words have a source, right? The Bible tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so, when the words come out of our mouth, there is a source that actually starts in our heart. We may say, oh, I didn't really mean that, but there's something, there's some kind of truth somewhere in there that we actually did mean, even if we're not aware of it. And so, I think understanding. That it's not just it doesn't come from nowhere. It doesn't just come from our mind. It actually starts with our heart So that's going to frame the whole message for the rest of the stuff we talk about is uh Here's the main idea. We'll put this up more than controlling words. We got to pay attention to the condition of our heart so our Leaning is to say okay. I gotta watch what I say but really The holy spirit is after all always after deeper heart work Because if we just try to control the things that we speak, but we don't let the holy spirit do work in here It's going to end up fruitless Because it will never work its way down to where the source of the words is coming from So we got to start asking what are the thoughts and emotions? And desires that are brewing And is my heart submitted to the loving direction of the holy spirit? I love that Yeah of the holy spirit because he does love us right and I think sometimes when we talk about Even just what this first point is So here's the first one is embracing correction from the holy spirit when we talk about an idea like this

sometimes our old religious frameworks of god as an angry disciplinarian Come out or we're like we we attach or else we got to get control of our words or else but over and over again scripture talks about god being a loving father Who wants to shape our heart not just the externals? So embracing correction is recognizing That so often I can speak out of emotion And this is what peter did most likely he was speaking out of some type of fear Passion of i'm not going to let anything happen to you And in doing that he had opened the door for the enemy to influence against what god's plan was So again, not just paying attention to the words that I speak but the things that are fueling it so words that are fueled by fear Or by anxiety or by jealousy? Insecurity not just the words it's allowing the holy spirit to speak to the things underneath embracing that kind of correction And recognizing that takes a sensitivity To what god wants to speak? Yeah So from the moment that we accept jesus christ as lord and we surrender our life to him the holy spirit begins to live on the inside of us And the holy spirit convicts us He is constantly addressing things in our lives. He his goal is to make us look like jesus That is the goal and the role of the holy spirit on the inside of us So he's convicting of us our thoughts our attitudes our actions he's convicting us of our words, right? Words matter to the holy spirit and so he's he's constantly correcting us And so we have to embrace this as a recognition That this is for our good that there is a purpose that he is trying to make us look and act and sound like jesus and I remember

a very poignant interaction with the holy spirit It was more than two decades ago because you were six years old and so that means I had five children under nine dave was nine All the way down to a baby and it was a sunday morning and pastor jeff was here. He was praying and preparing for Um, you know the weekend messages and I was getting myself and the five kids ready for church and it was chaos I don't remember specifically but I never made it easy on you either when we were getting ready No, he had so much energy. I was insane so much energy running around so I get everyone dressed we make it to church. I get the babies dropped off I drop off the older ones and I come in to the to the auditorium and begin to worship and I lift my hands up as the the worship starts And I felt the holy spirit speak to me now not audibly but so clearly to my spirit get your hands down I won't accept your worship until you apologize to josh and he Highlighted some words I had said and I don't even remember the words now. I just remember that it was harsh and so I put my hands down and I walked out of the sanctuary went up to kid zone and Got josh out of out of kid zone I got on my knees so that I was eye level with him and I was like josh I really made god's heart sad today, and I know I made your heart sad today And I I would ask you to forgive me for being so mean And he forgave me and he gave me a hug and as I was making my way back into the auditorium I was like god, thank you for your correction And thank you for forgiving me and then when I lifted my hands in worship, we were good we were good Um, you know our prayers the bible tells us our prayers can be actually hindered if we are not handling um that these relationships Well are the relationships with other humans who are created in the image of god, right? And so we are responsible for the words that we speak I think it's sobering And and so with this in mind, there's a psalm that I pray all the time. It's psalm 1914 Hear it as a prayer May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart notice

Words of my mouth and what I'm thinking out because that's what it's gonna come from the meditation of my heart May they be pleasing and you're so in your sight. Oh Lord my rock and my Redeemer We pray this and and we're really embracing correction Like God help me be a limiter on what I'm saying what I'm thinking what I'm you know What I'm putting out there today And one of the things that I'm so grateful for from you and dad as you raised me is how you modeled teaching us to apologize to each other as siblings, but really Apologizing to us too. I think that's something that a lot of parents Can struggle with and so let me just talk to the parents in the room for a second Don't underestimate the value of saying I'm sorry to your kids It's a huge huge Thing that forms in them a willingness to take ownership and I think sometimes we can struggle with it as parents So I have nine seven and four year old and when we're trying to discipline them and correct them Sometimes we can feel like saying I'm sorry We'll mitigate the correction that we're trying to bring but so often the emotion behind our correction can get out of line and So learning to show our kids I'm gonna take ownership from the tone that I said or the words that I spoke is really powerful I'll just say one other thing as we just close out this section of embracing correction If you if you want the Holy Spirit to speak to you about this he will So so some I was talking to some some people in the past couple services where they were like this feels Overwhelming because you know, I talk a lot and I'm like worried about how God's gonna judge me because of my words I think the posture is less about I always got to be afraid of what I'm gonna say and it's more about God I need you to work on me. I need you to work on my heart so that it comes from the right place and Imagine if after service Somebody who has really hurt you Called you and they said hey, you know, I was praying and God convicted me and I just need to say please forgive me Imagine how that would impact you Right, that's the kind of people we want to be is to say Lord. I need you to work on me, right? I need you to make me more like you

Being open to God's correction. Okay, so that's number one is embracing God's correction Number two is practice restraint. So more than controlling words. We're allowing them to work on our heart We got to practice restraint because emotions tend to lead most speech in humanity If you go on the internet you'll see that instantly where Somebody says something angry and then somebody is outraged that they said something angry and then somebody else is offended that they responded angry And it's just a cycle. It's like most of how human speech is happening is led by offense and anger and fear James again talks about this idea and a different verse Chapter 1 verse 19. He says my dear brothers and sisters take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen Slow to speak slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires Anger doesn't produce what God wants anger is one of many emotions that when we allow it to lead our speech and We react quickly from our words. It opens the door for the enemy to Build what he wants when we react out of our emotions. So what does restraint look like? Yeah, what are the practical steps that we can use to to restrain our speech to to practice restraint? I think the first thing is the old adage if you can't say something nice don't say something at all, right? There's a time just to bite your tongue In fact, one of the Proverbs says the fool fools give full vent to rage where those who are wise bite their tongue So there's a time just to bite your tongue and not say anything at all But if you are gonna say something, I think there's an aspect of careful communication and that I want to propose three three points to careful communication the first one would be our tone so there's a way to say something and Say the same phrase sarcastically and with sincerity, right you it can be the same exact words But the tone that we use actually changes the meaning and changes the impact of the person receiving it but also With the tone the Proverbs also says that a gentle answer turns away wrath We actually have the capacity with our tone. Someone can come in Really angry really intense and with our tone We have the the capacity to bring things down a notch to bring peace to turn away their wrath

wrath by the tone of our words. I would say the second thing would be timing. Like a dashboard or a warning light on your dashboard, timing is really key. There are times when it is better not to speak. Let's talk about this. When you are tired, when you're triggered, someone has said something and it set you off, right? When you're hangry, being hangry is a real thing, right? This is probably a time when there's a little warning bell going off, like, hey, let's use a little restraint right here, and then I would say, so tone, timing, and then totality, like the total amount of our words. Proverbs 10 says this, when words are many, sin is not absent. So the more you speak, the more there is a likelihood that you're gonna tip over into pride or prejudice or anger or gossip, right, slander. So making sure that we are a little guarded, right, that our communication doesn't go overboard, that we restrain and we practice some level of Holy Spirit-inspired restraint. Yeah, so when we're practicing restraint, again, we gotta come back to, it's not just controlling our lips because, or else. We're saying, slowing my words is precious to the heart of God, because then we can discern his voice. The speed of my response actually reveals something about the condition of my heart. So learning to slow down is precious to God,

and I do wonder the amount of healing that would come in relationships, marriages, and parents and kids, simply by learning to slow our words by listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, right? It's precious to God when we learn to slow and listen. So practicing restraint is number two. Then the last one, number three, is partnering with God's heart. So as we're learning not to just control our words, but to allow the Holy Spirit to work on our heart, we wanna partner with his heart, because he is a person. He has a heart, he has desires, and we wanna get to know what he cares about and what he values. Again, we're coming back to the first verse in the message, Proverbs 18, 21. The tongue has the power of life and death. So how do we learn to speak with words of life? And so much of this just starts by recognizing what matters to God. Yeah, so the first two points were more on the negative end of things, but this one, point three is my favorite, that we get to partner with the heart of God. You know, in Matthew 16, Jesus has this conversation with his disciples, right? And he's asking them, who do people say that I am? And so they're throwing out different things that people are saying, like Elijah back from the dead, and then he asked a pointed question, and he said, but who do you say I am?

And Peter steps up and he said, well, you're the Messiah. You're the son of the living God, and Jesus blesses him. He blesses this declaration of faith, and then he actually renames him, and this is what it says. His name up to this point had actually been Simon, and he says, you are Peter, which means rock, and upon this rock, upon your confession of faith, I will build my church. When I read these words, I wonder what the disciples were thinking to themselves when they heard Jesus call Peter a rock. Okay, let's think about it. Like, this is the guy who stepped out of the boat, but he sunk, he's a rock. This is the guy who tried to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, do you remember this? He had a sword, and he's passionate, and he's swinging it all around, and all he manages to do is cut off the ear of some guy, right? He's a rock. What about this? Peter was the guy who was following Jesus. Jesus is arrested, and he's now put on trial, and Peter's outside in the courtyard, and three times, he denies that he even knows Jesus. This is the rock. But Jesus has renamed him. He's now Simon Peter. He's given him a new identity, and I love the fact that Jesus didn't just speak to Peter's past failures.

I mean, it's there, it's part of his history for sure, right, Satan, get behind me. But he actually renames him and gives him a new identity, and calls out his destiny. When Simon Peter, what Simon Peter would actually become, and when we look at the Book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost, it is Simon Peter who stands up and begins to declare the gospel, the good news of who Jesus is. He has this pivotal message that begins the formation of the church, and when he speaks this message, 3,000 people give their heart to Jesus Christ that day. Yeah. So. This is the incredible life-giving power of words. When we don't hold people to their past, but we speak hope in a future, we speak to their potential, we speak to the progress that we see them in their life, the steps of progress that they're making. And so I guess the question is, how do we practically speak words of encouragement and speak words of life? I wanna propose that it's not flattery, right? It's not vague generalities, it's not just praising good outcomes, but it's actually specific. So when we're talking generalities, fluffy generalities, that's like, hey, you're the best person ever. That doesn't really do much for you.

But if you point something out in someone that you've observed specific, like, hey, I noticed that you really handled that difficult client so calmly. That's something that can really land well. It can hit in a way that they realize that they've been seen and that they're valued. Using our words to speak life calls out potential. It makes someone feel seen and noticed and recognize that they're in progress and that you see that progress. And I'll never forget, one of the most impacting testimonies I've heard about this was from Pastor Russ Horne. He pastors Sharpsburg Family Worship Center. He and I were, we went to Bible college together. And I think it was his first or second year, he was taking a homiletics class, how you learn how to preach. And it was his turn to, he was one of the first ones to give his message. And he was recounting that when he got up there, it had sounded so good in his head. This happens a lot. Sounds really good. And then when you start speaking it out, it doesn't land the way you expected it. He was stumbling over his words. He ended too soon. He just felt like it was a disaster.

And so he went and sat in his seat. He was so ashamed. He felt so discouraged. And then to make it worse, he felt like as his classmates got up and began to deliver their messages, it just felt like they were funny. It was landing well. It was like powerful, such good insight. And so he just felt so defeated. And he said, I began to question the call of God on my life. Like, am I even supposed to be in the ministry? And he then began to make a plan that he was gonna leave class, he was gonna go to his dorm room and pack up and come back to Pittsburgh, that it was over. But as he was leaving class that day, his professor said six words that transformed his life. Six words that kept him in the ministry. He looked him in the eye and he said, Russ, you've got what it takes. You've got what it takes. This is what it means when we use our words to speak life, to identify the good in someone, to identify their destiny. There is life and power in the tongue. So we gotta start to see other people the way that God sees them, the way that Jesus saw Peter.

Even in Peter's worst moments of failure, Jesus saw who Peter could become. And this professor with Pastor Russ, starting to see, God, who can I speak encouragement to? Because people are desperate for encouragement from God. And to hear the voice of God speak about who they could be. Now, it's one thing when we do this with people that we like, it's another thing when we have to do it with people that have really wounded us. And I know that in this room, there's a lot of pain of maybe, a kid that you have, you're a parent and the relationship has just kind of been severed and you've tried to repair it. Or maybe you're in the opposite place where you're a son or a daughter and the relationship has just been strained. Maybe it's a spouse, things ended ugly in divorce and you're carrying around this hurt and rejection. Learning to see in that person who God sees in the midst of your pain is one of the key ways we learn to partner with God's heart. Jesus actually talked about this as one of the key marks of a disciple is that we learn to speak well of and pray for our enemies, those who've wounded us. So, oh, there goes my phone. So learning to do this is asking God

to change our heart towards people who have really hurt us, even in the midst of pain. I know that's really hard to do. But again, if you're willing to say, Holy Spirit, I need you to change how I speak about them, how I think about them, how you see them, show me that, He will do that. Doesn't make it easy, but that's what it means to partner with His heart is to realize. The word I speak has power, and Lord, I want my words to be used for life, even when it's hard. So as we get ready to close, would you just close your eyes with me, bow your heads. And if you're in the room and you have been distant from God, you know, I talk about getting to know the heart of God, getting to know your Father who loves you. Maybe you've been distant from Him. Maybe you've never given your life to Him. I wanna give you the opportunity to give your life to Him today. Because really, it starts with a decision to say, Jesus, I need you. A lot of times, we do life on our own terms, our own way. Maybe you even believe in the idea of God or Jesus, but you haven't surrendered to Him. We need Jesus because when we decided to do life our own way and rejected the leadership of God, which every single one of us has done, it invited corruption and brokenness, which is sin.

And every one of us needs healing and forgiveness for this sin that we've invited in. So this is why Jesus came. He came to the earth to live a perfect life, to take our place on that cross. And if we wanna look at the power of words, we look at Jesus being nailed to that cross, being tortured by His enemies. And He cried out, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do. Jesus saw who they could be. I wanna say that today to you. Jesus doesn't look at you and only see your mistakes. He sees who you can be. And the way you spend eternity with Him and receive forgiveness is not by works. It's not by good behavior. It's by surrendering your heart, by confessing your faith in Jesus Christ and giving your life to Him. So if you're in the room and you're saying, man, I know I need to make that decision. I've been feeling distant. I've been living for myself. I've been living an empty life, and I need to give my life to Jesus Christ. I wanna give you that opportunity today. And when I count to three, I just want you to raise your hand. Because when you're making a decision about your eternity,

it's important to have some level of your will acting on it. So I know there's some of you in the room where you're like, I know that this is me. Listen, I wanna encourage you, be bold about this. Okay, one, two, three, just raise and say, yeah, that's me, today I'm making that decision. That's awesome. As you hold it up, just feel yourself now stretching out to King Jesus, saying, Jesus, I need you, my Father. I wanna come to you this morning and receive your love and receive your forgiveness. And you can put your hands down and let's pray a prayer now of dedication. Everybody together, repeat after me and say, dear Jesus, thank you for shedding your blood on that cross. Thank you for taking my place. Lord, I need forgiveness. I need you to cleanse me. I need you to lead my life. So today I receive your love. I confess my faith in you. You're the leader of my life. I surrender to you, in Jesus' name. Everybody said together, amen, amen. Come on, give it up for those that made that decision this morning. And if you made that decision, I know there were several hands across the room. We want to help you take some next steps. So one of our pastors is in the back, Pastor Matt.

You could slip out during the song we're gonna sing. You can go there after service, but we have a little table on that side of the room right outside the doors just to give you some next steps to take resources that'll help you in your journey. But now as we get ready to close, we're just gonna take three minutes. They're gonna sing a song that you may not be familiar with, that's okay. But we're just gonna pray this prayer and say, Lord, I need you to correct me because I want to be close to you. I want to represent you well. I want to learn to speak in the way that you're asking me. So I believe that even as we sing this and pray, that some of you are going to hear from the Holy Spirit of people that you will need to send a text to, or somebody you need to call or go to in person and say, listen, the emotion that I spoke out of, or the words that I said that wasn't pleasing, forgive me for that. Or maybe God's gonna give you encouragement that you need to speak to somebody. Let's just take three minutes here before we go celebrate in the concourse. Let's pray and worship, and then I'll come back out to close. ♪ Oh, we look to you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior, all in all ♪

♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, oh, Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Oh, you are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my savior all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I'll hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, oh Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you, you are the center, oh you ♪ ♪ Are the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My savior all in all, you're the one I'll hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to say, oh Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you, oh how I love you ♪ ‪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, how we love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you ♪ Let's all stand to our feet as we get ready to close here together. This song I think represents the posture that we should take when we're learning to have the Holy Spirit control our words and our heart, right? It's saying, Jesus, you matter to me more than anything. You're the center of my life. And God, I know I'm not gonna be perfect, but would you change my heart to look more like you? So as we close, I wanna pray for two things. First of all, I wanna pray for those of us in the room who have been carrying words that other people spoke over us, a parent, a friend, a spouse, whatever, that we've been kind of carrying that wound and we still feel the raw emotions.

Just praying over forgiveness and healing for that. So would you lead us in prayer for that? Yeah, so Lord, today I thank you that you provide healing. And for those of you who, this applies to you, I want you to repeat after me. I want you to say, I choose to forgive and to release. Okay, ready? I choose to forgive and release. And I want you to say their name right now. This is so key. And Lord, now, as they have made this declaration of faith, of choosing to forgive and to release this person who offended them, who spoke a word curse over them, who released poison into their life, I pray, Lord, there would now be a severing of that impact in the name of Jesus. By the authority of the cross now, we consider those words canceled over you. And I ask now that the Holy Spirit would give you his eyes to see how he sees you and he views you, that you would now be healed from the inside out, that you would no longer be marked by those words, but that you will be marked by the love of Christ. We declare that in the name of Jesus. In Jesus' name, yeah. Now, just everybody in the room, join me. Just put your hands out in front of you as if you're offering yourself up to God. And let's just pray for God's conviction and loving correction in our lives.

And so, Lord, we pray, especially for those of us that we just kind of got hit with the weight of some things that we said or some ways that we've been talking. Lord, first of all, help us to remember your heart, that you don't carry a heart of shame towards us. Shame is not in your toolbox. Your desire is to discipline and correct us out of love. So, Lord, help us to desire and to seek out your correction. And we pray, Lord, help us to speak according to your will. We ask for your forgiveness for where we've spoken in a way that's not, but Lord, help us to speak about others and to others in a way that partners with life and with the kingdom of God in Jesus' name. And let me pray a prayer of blessing over you. Just stretch forth your hand like this. I just pray this week, as you seek after God, that you would sense his closeness, that you would sense the Holy Spirit walking side by side, that you would keep in step with his spirit. I pray for clarity. I pray for wisdom from the spirit of God. And I pray that he would bless you and your family on this Mother's Day weekend. Blessing over you, grace upon you. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen, amen. Awesome. Guys, happy Mother's Day. Thank you for being here. Enjoy the concourse.

See you next weekend. ♪♪ you