Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - 4 Signs You Might Have a Keeper | The Book of Ruth | Part 3

Episode Date: August 20, 2023

You’re ready to date, but how do you attract the right people? What kind of qualities should you bring to a relationship? What should you look for in a spouse? We’re talking about it in this message. ABOUT THIS MESSAGEWe often define our lives by the big moments. But most of our lives consist of ordinary chapters. They may not feel significant, but ultimately end up changing everything. In our new series, The Book of Ruth, we'll discover the hidden beauty of life’s small moments. NEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to the next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextCONNECT WITH A PASTORDo you need prayer? Would you like to find out how you can get involved at Life.Church? One of our pastors would love to meet with you. Schedule a video call with a pastor: https://www.life.church/meetwithusABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.churchFind locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/appFIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LCNowCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/craiggroeschelFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #thebookofruth Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are continuing in our message series through the book of Ruth. And today, we're going to watch as Boaz and Ruth actually start to get to know each other, start to date, and date in a way that will prepare them for a marriage that will honor God. So we're going to talk about dating. We're talking about marriage. I want to start with dating. How many of you would agree that dating can be kind of awkward? Raise your hands.

It can be kind of awkward. Those of you online, you can type in the comment. section dating can be kind of awkward. It's a little bit like a job interview, right? You're going on a job interview and you're not sure what to wear. You're not sure what to say. Maybe the most difficult part about the date for me always was like, how do you end it? What do you do? You don't want to shake hands. Do you knuckle bump? Do you do the Christian side hug? Do you kiss them on the cheek? do you go for the tonsile hockey on the first date? You don't go for tonsill hockey on the first day.

How do you end the day that can be kind of awkward. My first date was at a movie, which is not a good place for a first date, with a girl that was taller than me, because at that age, every girl was taller than me. And my sole goal was to get my arm around her. That was the big win. And I did the whole like one, two, three count and chickened out. I did the whole go get popcorn, slide.

I didn't give her the popcorn technique and chickened out. The movie was almost over, so I just did the Hail Mary. I just went now, and I went through my arm. I hit her in the nose with my elbow. Her head went back. It came forward. She was bleeding. True story.

Her nose was bleeding. So I ran to the bathroom, got some toilet paper, and I came back in, and I did the comfort them, wipe the bloody nose slide, put your arm around technique. A win is a win. Sometimes you've got to do it the way you got to do it. And I'm glad you clapped because I never had a second. date, dating can be awkward, right? And back when I used to date, it was really awkward because you actually had to talk to people

like face to face, you know, or on the phone, you know, you couldn't just do it all online, you had to talk. And so there is the ability to online date now. And sometimes people say, like, Craig is a pastor, do you like online dating? And so I get asked so often, I say that I've seen many, many times God bring great couples together through online dating, I think it can be a very, very good thing. If there's any type of a downside, it might be that it trains us almost to like commoditize people, is that a word, to treat them like a commodity? You know, like, this is the type of person I'm shopping for, which can be

almost degrading. And I know that it's wise to know what you want. Ladies, you know, you don't ask for much. You just want a guy that's attractive and funny and driven, has a good job and is strong, yet sensitive and handsome yet humble and shares his dessert but goes to the gym and likes dancing in the rain and loves the notebook and wear socks with your face on them that's what you want not not much you you never seen socks with the girl's face on it i've actually got um it's a thing and uh i'm not sure amy likes those but i like amy and so sometimes i wear socks with her face on it where where are we going all this like Are we going to get anywhere today?

We are. We're going to continue our study through the Old Testament book of Ruth, and to bring you up to speed, if you missed out. We're looking at a Moabite woman that left Moab for Bethlehem, and she got completely transformed and started worshiping the God at Israel. And this week, what we're going to do is we're going to watch as Ruth, who's a widow, gets to know Boaz, who is a man of someone. His name means strong. He is a man of integrity. And we're going to watch them get to know each other and see principles that will help you date wisely and will strengthen any marriages. I want you to enjoy this week. Like I really want you to dive in and enjoy this week because this week is practical and this week is helpful. And next week I got to warn you, it just gets weird. I mean, it gets all weird up in here. Next week, you don't want to miss next week, because I'm going to teach very directly what gets really weird in the Bible. The Bible doesn't hold back, and I just need to warn you, it's going to get strange next week. Principle for today is this. We all are shopping for the type of person we want. I would suggest that instead of just looking for what you

want to get from someone, I would suggest that you look at what you want to give someone. Why is this so important? Because you don't just attract what you want to get from someone. I would suggest that you look at what you want to give someone. you want, you tend to attract what you are. We're going to see that play out today in the book of Ruth, and we're going to look at four signs that you might have a keeper. Four signs that you might have a keeper. Boaz is checking Ruth out, and we're going to see four things happen. The first thing that we're going to see is this. We're going to see that he is actually seeking character. We're going to see that they are exploring connection. We're going to see that they are showing consideration and they are receiving confirmation. I hope you see the four sees.

It's always more anointed when the preacher brings points with letters that are the same throughout the text. They are, thank you. They're seeking character, exploring connection, showing consideration and receiving confirmation. And I want to break these down one by one. But first, let's make sure we understand the context. Boas, who is a landowner, he is a lover of God. he is a good leader. He is very kind, and he's generous to Ruth. And she's a little bit surprised. She's taken aback, and she's wondering,

why are you being so kind to me? Verse 10 of Ruth II says this. After this, Ruth, she bowed down with her face to the ground, and she asked him, both, why have I found such favor in your eyes that you take notice of me a foreigner? you can almost see she might be a little bit insecure. And what I love about this text is there is no mention of her physical appearance.

Boaz isn't focusing on what's on her outside, but way more important, he's looking at what's on her inside. And we're going to see the first thing he does is he's highlighting who she is as a person because he is seeking character. Watch how he replies. Why me? she says. And Boas replied, I've been told. all about essentially your character, all about what you've done for your mother-in-law, Naomi,

since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and your homeland, and you came to live with the people that you did not know before. What's he saying? He's saying, I heard that you stopped worshipping the false god, Kymash, and you left Moab, and you came, and you turned to the one true God and worshipped him, and that you were loyal to your mother-in-law when that other girl, Oprah, wasn't and went back,

and that you're not a victim, meaning you're not sitting back when someone take care of me. You're not looking for a handout, but you got up early, you shut up to the field, you started to work, you were gleaning in the field, and you didn't do what many women feel tempted to do when they have no other options. They tend to sell their body in order to meet their knees. You didn't do that. You have godly character. I would ask you this very, very serious question.

Are you, are you a person of character? Are you a person with growing spiritual character? And I'm not talking about like, yeah, yeah, I'm a Christian because, you know, I'm growing up in the United States of America and I'm not a Muslim or a Buddhist or something else. You know, yeah, I kind of believe in God. I'm a Christian. No. Do you have true character?

Are you a genuine disciple, a follower of Jesus? Because I've met a few people that will bar hop on Saturday and come to church on Sunday. I've met a few people who in the dating will go from bed to bed to bed to bed to bed, asking God to bless them along the way. Are you a person of spiritual character? Why does this matter? It matters because you don't build a life of righteousness. on a foundation of sin.

If you want a godly marriage in the future, it's really wise to seek God and live a godly life today. Are you a person of spiritual character? What does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things. Are you seeking to know God in His Word? You're studying to His Word and letting it change you. Are you a person that doesn't just like go to church

or just watch a video online, but you're actually serving in the church and as the church. I mean, it's like, how do you live? Do you tell the truth in conversations? Do you treat people with honor and with integrity? Are you being conformed to the image of Christ? In other words, you look more like Jesus.

You behave more like, you love more like Jesus. Today than you did a few months ago. It doesn't mean that you're perfect at all. my gosh, I'm not perfect, but you're being perfected and changed by the presence of God who is active in your life daily because you're seeking him daily. Are you a person of character? If you want a godly marriage, you want to have a godly character and you want to seek character. So if you are dating and it's complicated and you meet someone, I would say pay really close attention. What are you looking for? If we can be practical for just a moment, you're looking at their

friends? What are the friends like? Are their friends the majority of them pursuing Jesus? Because you tend to be like those that you run with. How do they treat their family? How does he talk about his mom? How do they treat people that serve them? You go to a restaurant, are they kind to the waiters and waitresses? Or are they arrogant and entitled? Does she have a work ethic? Does he take initiative. In other words, if they are jerks to everyone else, if they have no quality friends, if they're critical of everyone else, and they're always a victim, and they push you sexually, and they distract you from God, these are not signs of godly character. And I would say, right now, for some of you, if you're with someone and you're seeing things that are not

pleasing to God, someone said this, when a person shows you who they, really are, believe them. Believe them. The way people are living is a reflection of what they believe. What we believe determines how we behave. Let's be a person of godly character and seek people with godly character. So if you're dating someone and they're not helping you get closer to Jesus, and let's say they're taking you away from Jesus, you might want to get the heck out of Moab because God has something better in Bethlehem. I know that made some of you mad, but a third of you clapped, so we'll go with that, all right? So somebody like, hate me now. Ah, you're messing with my, don't deal in my relationship. Okay. Boaz is a man of standing. He's a man of

character, and he notices Ruth's character. The next thing we see is that they're actually exploring to see if there is a connection. They're exploring connection. What we don't see is what's kind of normal today. Boaz doesn't slide up in her DMs and say, sup, want to come over and watch some Netflix and chill? We don't see that. What he does is he actually invites her on a date. In a sense, he says, do you want to have lunch? And it's actually not even a private lunch. They're in a place where everybody's going to feel comfortable. And they're actually going to get to know each other. We see it in verse 14. This is what the text says at meal time.

Boas said, hey, why don't you come on over here and let's have some lunch together, have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar? And so when she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. And I like this. She ate all she wanted and she had some leftover. I don't know. She might have done the whole like, all I want is a salad and had some leftover thing. I don't know.

Or maybe she just ate all she wanted. she had some left over. What we do know about Ruth is that she doesn't do what a lot of women tend to do. Notice what she doesn't do is she doesn't move too fast. She doesn't say, thanks for the salad, and by the way, what are you looking for in a wife? How many kids do you want? And what do you want to name them? Notice what they're not doing on this first date. They're not making out. They're not fooling around. They're not playing naked twister, right? You know what I'm saying right hand green left whatever maybe you didn't play twister okay they're not doing that something like what is that i don't even know where'd that come from who knows just pray for your pastor

we will get through this together don't quit on me now they're not fooling around they're getting to know each other they're making a connection and ladies what you want is you want a man who will initiate you want one who will put out some effort next week we'll actually show that you may to help them along sometimes and that's okay because we're in so good but that's the next week we'll wait until next week but you want someone who put out some effort to pursue you not your body but you my eyes are up here right you want someone who's going to pursue you put in a little work now my first date with amy i got all into the whole thing i created a mixtape now for those of you don't know what a mixtape is uh a

Mix tape is next to godliness. Now, back in the day, back in the day, before you could just listen to whatever song you want for $7.99 a month, you actually had to pay for music or have a boom box and wait for hours. Listening to the radio until your song came on and as fast as you can, press play and record and record the song, then you have to take the song from one cassette tape, you had to have a double cassette boom box and put it in one and put it on the other and you could make, it would take hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours to preferably create the right

mixtape to set the tone for a six-kid marriage. And so I picked Amy up. I took her to my Honda Accord, the biblical car, because all the disciples gathered in one. Thank you. And I put her in car and I said let's pray together and she said okay and so I grabbed her hand within three minutes I'm already holding hands praying to God to bless our relationship and I hit play and a Christian song came on followed by a Christian because we put Jesus for followed by a Christian song followed by a Christian song the Holy Trinity establishing three Christian songs followed by some air supply a love song followed by a Christian song, Christian song, Lionel Richie air supply. Christian song, love song, love song, love song, love song.

Founded on Christ, driven by love, because the greatest of these is love. I made a mixed date, took her to her Bible study, oddly enough, because she had a Bible study, and then we went to my Bible study, oddly enough because I had a Bible study, and you don't have to be that spiritual. You don't have to do that. We just happened to do that, and we were getting to know each other, getting to know what was valuable to each other,

and pursuing one another, and just making a real connection. What are you going to do? You're going to seek godly character. You're going to explore the connection along the way. And then we're going to watch as they are showing consideration one to another. We see this in verse 15. Scripture says this.

The Bible says that she got up to glean, so she's working in the field, and Boas gave orders to his men. Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimend her, even pull out some stocks for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to pick up and don't rebuke her. What do we know? We know that according to the Levitical law, they would have to leave behind whatever. fell on the ground, so someone who's a widow or someone who's an outcast or someone who is poor could come along and glean it and they could take it. And what he's doing is he's literally guarding her dignity. He's letting her work. She came to work for food and he's letting her work. He's not going to give her a handout. But he's saying, hey, guys, make it easy on her. Give her a little

extra. He's going out of his way to bless her. According to the law, he had to give her what was there, but he's going beyond that. He didn't just do what the law requires. He is blessing her with so much more. In verse 17, we read this, that Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley that she had gathered, and it amounted to about an effa. What's an effa? Let me tell you what an effa is. In the Hebrew, that means a lot of barley. That's what it means. An effa was too, weeks wages. She worked for a day, but he was so generous. He just kind of like on an Easter egg hunt, like for your grandkids, you just put him everywhere. That's kind of what he did. He put so much

everywhere that after one day's work, she got an effort, two weeks wages. He blessed her with more than she ever expected. And that's why I would just say, when you're dating, I would encourage you, don't settle. Don't settle for whoever is there. Settle for someone who puts out some effort. Seek someone who puts out some effort. We don't want just someone who just meets our expectations. It's amazing when sometimes they would exceed them. Amy did this for me.

When we met, I had two jobs. I had a full-time job in sales, and I was the single adult pastor at First United Methodist Church. And I was so busy that she noticed sometimes I didn't eat. I mean, every now and then I'd go to Taco Mayo, 29-cent taco.

On a splurge day, it'd be Taco Bueno, because that was blowing it out and going big time. But I'd be so busy that I wouldn't eat, and she was worried about me because I was losing weight. Well, we were just dating, and I didn't ask her to do this, but she went to the grocery store, and when I was, that works, she came in, and she completely filled my refrigerator all the way up

on her own, exceeded my expectations, and I proposed to her on the spot. Will you marry me right now? I mean, this was like, it's just crazy. I didn't ask her to do that. She didn't have already any money. She just went and blessed me like crazy. And that's why you want someone who will exceed your expectation.

So gentlemen, you want to put some thought into a date. Clean your dang car. Take your Big Mac rapper out of her seat so she doesn't wear it for the rest of her night when she gets out. Ladies, you want someone who might bring a thoughtful gift. It doesn't have to be expensive on me. You may just pick a flower on the side of the road. Like, I picked this for you.

and takes you at least one time to a restaurant that doesn't have a drive-through and sits down and asks you questions and gets to know you and walks you to the door and protects your heart, protects your purity, honors you, and values you. Guys, if you want a Ruth, be a Boaz. Be a giver. Be generous. Put some effort into it. Because you don't just attract what you want. You tend to attract what you are. So he's seeking character. They're looking for a connection. There's consideration. Then what I like is they actually are receiving confirmation. They're receiving confirmation. So Ruth comes home to her mother-in-law and she's got this effa, this mother load of grain.

And she says, Naomi, look what I got. And her mother-in-law asked, her this, her mother-in-law says, hey, where'd you glean today? Where'd you work? Blessed is the man who took notice of you. Whoever that guy is, I like him. Whoever did this, he's a good, honorable, godly man. And what we know about Naomi is she loved Ruth. If you remember in chapter one, she prayed, God, send her a godly man. provide for her a husband. And so this person who loves her that she can trust is actually confirming that this is potentially a good candidate.

That's why it's always a good sign when those who love you the most like who you like. When those that love you the most that are really good people that you trust, when they say, hey, I see potential in her. Hey, I see potential in him. When the people that you trust the most and love you the most confirm it, that is really a good sign. I'll let you in on a little secret.

Our family, you know, we have six kids and we got like three son-in-law's going on, another one getting married, a bunch of grandkids, and they're popping out every day, every day. So, but it is a stupid, close tribe. I mean, like, we got strong family culture. So to get in, you don't just have to win one person, you've got to win the family. And so we have this thing that we've never even talked about with our kids. And no one knows about this, but Amy and me and all the rest of you, because I'm not to tell you. But we just call it the family dinner test.

At a family dinner, there's 22, 25 people there. And when someone knew who likes a Groshell kid comes, we've never talked about it. about it, but everybody there just kind of knows, we're watching to see how this person does. And what we're looking for is, do they mix well with the entire family? Do they engage in conversations? Do they contribute?

Like, do they just leave their dish there? Do they carry it over? Are they polite? Are they grateful? Whatever there is potential in a person, there's kind of like this collective confirmation. Everybody goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then when it's not, they're like on,

hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. And hopefully you're going to have some version of this in your own life. Doesn't have to be a massive family, but it could be a life group, or it could be two or three friends, or it could be a mentor or someone, it could be a prayer partner. And you have this Christian community of people that you trust. Spiritually, you trust them.

And when they like someone, that's a really good sign. It's confirmation. don't like someone, I encourage you to listen. And you're going to say, but I love him. He's got someone I know her. I'm going to say, please be careful to be careful. When everyone else that you really trust doesn't like someone, especially when you're engaged in premarital sex. Can we go there for just a second? Because the Bible is really, really clear that sex is a gift from God, reserved for the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. And Proverbs 5 tells us that sex is intoxicating.

It's in your Bible. You should read the Bible. So, if sex is intoxicating, if you're having premarital sex, you're drunk. And when you're drunk, people look better than they really are. So some of you, you're drunk on sex. and you need to sober up. If your mama doesn't like him and your dad doesn't like him and your brother doesn't like him and your best friend doesn't like him and your life group doesn't like

him and your dog doesn't like them. It's most likely you're not receiving the confirmation from the trusted people that you want in your life. So what do we see? Naomi says, I like what I see. there's some confirmation. So Ruth shows up sweaty for her first date. She's not looking her best. Her hair is nothing but a mess, and she smells like the funk. She's been working all day in the sun.

But he's not looking at just what's on the outside, but he sees her character, and he likes what he sees. And he gets to know her, and he likes who he gets to know. and they show consideration for each other, and there starts to be confirmation around. So what if you're dating right now

and you don't have these qualities? Or what if you're married right now, and you're looking going, my marriage is not where it should be or could be or probably where God wants it to be? I want to let the text help us answer this question, and we'll spend even more time on this next week. But Ruth comes in and tells Naomi, Naomi says, who is this guy that did this?

And she says, his name is Boaz. Boaz. And Noah, Naima's like, Boaz. He's relative of ours. And verse 20 says, he's one of our guardian redeemers. What is a guardian redeemer? Other versions say he's a kinsman redeemer. This is one of the big themes in the book of Ruth.

And we're going to spend more time in the week. weeks to come, but it's a metaphor, the guardian redeemer. This is the person, this is the relative, whose role, who chooses to come in and provide for someone who's had significant loss. A family member loses a spouse and the widow has no means to provide for herself. So the guardian redeemer protects her and provides for her and honors her and takes care of her. What's crazy is that legally Boaz is not obligated to be our guardian redeemer. He's not nearly the closest relative at all. He's not a Limelech's brother who would have been the one who was supposed to do it.

And Ruth's not even an Israelite. He doesn't owe her anything. Not a thing. He doesn't owe her a thing, and yet he chooses to give her everything. This is not just the law. This is grace. And in the New Testament, we have a guardian. Redeemer, and his name is Jesus. He is the living Son of God who protects us, provides for us,

paid the debt for the forgiveness of our sins, and meets all of our needs. He is the one who works in all things, even in your broken relationship, even in your struggling marriage. He is the one that when you call on him and when you seek him, he will all be found by you. And he is so good in his providential power. He's working in all things to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Do you love him? Are you his disciple? He takes what's broken. Our guardian redeemer and he makes things new. therefore if anyone is in Christ doesn't matter what you've done doesn't matter what you're doing right now doesn't matter how dark or sinful your life is anyone who is in Christ he's a new creation

the old is gone and the new comes it doesn't matter how jacked up your dating relationship is it doesn't matter how screwed up your marriage is when you call both of you on Jesus He can redeem. He can renew. All things are possible with him, but it takes both pursuing him. And I want you to hear this. I want you to feel this because I know there is so much pain out there right now. I know some of you are barely able to hear this bad.

It's like, good for you, Craig. You and Amy go do your thing. Play your tonsil hockey and play your twister. I know. I know there's so much pain. but I want you to hear this. There is no sin too great for God's grace.

There is no marriage too broken for God's healing. And there is no relationship beyond God's redemption. When two people will seek one God. You say, well, I can't make her do it. I can't make him do it. You can't.

But you can do what you can do. So if you're dating and it's like jacked up, what do you do? You got some options. If it's not going where you can end it, or you can seek God to help fix it. If you're in a marriage, you can't change him, you can't change her, but you can seek God and you can be a person of character, and you can pray and fast and believe,

and you can do everything possible within your will to live at peace with everyone and trust God to do what only he can do. No matter where you are, I want you to hear it and feel that Jesus is our guardian redeemer and he is here right now. He loves you. He's for you. And he's working in all things to bring about good

to those who love him. Do you love him? Because he loves you. Father, help us to help us to, help us to know you and to put you first in all that we do. As you're reflecting and praying today at all of our churches, I'm curious, how many of you need prayer for a relationship? Don't raise your hand just yet, but I want to talk to you for a minute.

It may be you want to pray for your mom and dad's marriage. It may be a couple in your life group. It may be a friend. I'm praying for a friend's marriage. It may be your marriage. You're praying for healing in your marriage. It may be you, like you're not married right now and you hope to have a godly spouse. You want to pray that God would bring the right person.

Or you're dating right now and you want wisdom and dating. Or maybe you know you're not even called to marriage. You want the strength to honor God faithfully as a single adult doing ministry for his glory. I'm going to ask you again, how many of you would say whether your owner or someone else says you want, you need prayer for a relationship. Would you lift up your hands right now? hands went up all of the place online. You can just say pray for, pray for a relationship. You can type it online. Pray for a relationship. God, we come to you and we thank you that you are a good God. You're a healing God. God, you specialize in healing broken relationships. God, we start and ask for

prayer for us that we would do what's right, that we would have faith, that we would be full of love and grace and forgiveness. And we pray God for those that are broken. We pray for broken marriages. We pray for those who have been betrayed. We pray for those healing from painful divorces. God, we pray for those who need your presence. Holy Spirit, do what only you can do. We pray for miracles and relationships. We pray for transformation stories.

We pray, God, that your power would be made evident. God, we pray that there would be testimonies that would come from people who turn to you. You are the God who makes all things new, God. things new, God. We seek you, we seek you, we seek you, we seek you. As you keep praying today, there are some of you that you may find yourself broken. You've done some things that you're ashamed of. You don't know where you stand with God. Let me tell you about the goodness of God. He loves you so much that he sent his guardian redeemer. He sent Jesus, the son of God,

who is perfect and sinless, who died on a cross so that our sins could be forgiven. And God raised him from the grave. And now anybody, and this includes you, it doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter how dark your life is, anybody who calls on his name,

you'd be saved, your sins forgiven, and you would be made new. He is the one who makes all things new today, wherever you're watching from. You may be online, you may be at a life church location, and you recognize that you're not walking intimately with God. You're not a person of spiritual character. You're not living a life that truly reflects a love for God.

He loves you. He sent Jesus for you. Our only reasonable response is to give our life back to him to make him first. What do we do? We just step away from Moab. We step away from the old sinful life. And we step toward the God of Bethlehem. God, I need you.

I give my life to you today. I surrender to you, wherever you're watching from. You say, that's my prayer. Today I'm leaving my old life. I want to trust in Jesus to save me. I surrender my life. I give my life to you. That's your prayer.

Lift your hands high right now, all over the place and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Lift your hands and say yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Right up here in this section. Praise God for you, others today. Say yes. Right back here in the middle section, right back over here.

Come on church, let's tell God thanks others today. Jesus, I need you, I need you. Forgive my sins online. You can type it in the comment section. I am surrendering my life to Jesus. Would you pray together with those around you? Pray Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus be first, my Savior, my guardian redeemer.

Thank you for forgiveness. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you. I could live for you. I could show your love in all I do. Thank you for new life. You have all of mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. I need somebody to tell God, thank you.

Come on, church. Let's give God praise for new life in Christ.