Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - A Way Out, Part 4: Feed Your Spirit

Episode Date: August 29, 2015

Temptation is the seductive little voice that twists what you want into what you need. It distorts your thoughts until you’re trapped—and when you’re trapped by temptation, it’s not the time to listen to yourself. Put your trust in someone who kno... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is awesome to have all of you with us today at every life church location. Our network churches, we love you all. Those of you at church online, I'm personally thankful that you're here. And every now and then, just this week as I was driving, I was just overwhelmed with this sense of love for you, my church. And I just had to say it's the greatest honor of my life to share God's word with you. I'm thankful that you come every single week. I'm thankful for the way you serve and for all that God is doing. And it's the greatest honor.

And I just want you to know, I love you, I thank God for you. And blessed and blessed beyond measure to have an amazing church that cares so much. And today we are in week number four of a message series called A Way Out. If you're just joining us for the past several weeks, we've been talking about the power of God to help us overcome addictions. Almost all of us battle at one level or another with some unwanted behavior, often something that's plagued us maybe for our whole life, maybe even been in our family for generations. The key verse that we've been looking at every single week is full of so much hope and builds

so much faith when Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 1013. He said, no temptation has overtaking you except what is common to mankind. In other words, we're all tempted. To be human is to be tempted. He said, but this, God is what? Somebody's saying it loud. Our God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. What an amazing promise.

Our God is faithful. He will never let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, what will he give you? This is the title of our message series. Our God will also provide a way out so you can endure it. no matter what you are facing, no matter how deep the claws feel sent into you, our God is faithful, and He will always give you a way out of temptation. Today, as we wrap up this message series, I want to tell you a story to set the tone.

It's actually a story I've told before in the church, but I really think it sets up well the principle. When I work out about once every two weeks or so, I do a very high-reaching. rep, low weight workout day, where I do ridiculously high reps and a very low weight just to kind of burn out the muscles. And like last weekend I did 500 dips, not all at one time, but I just do 30 and then rest 30 until like this to the rest of the day. I'm just totally trying to fatigue the muscles. Well, I did this one time with my workout partner, John. It was the end of our chest day, and we had done the full workout, and we just took the bar and decided to do just just reps until we couldn't do it anymore. So a 45 pound bar with no weights, you know,

we're binge pressing this, looking ridiculous to anyone who looks on. And, you know, the first 20 or so is just so easy. It's not even funny. 25, 30, the lactic acid sets in, you know, your muscles start to, you know, about 35, you know, my arms are shaking, my little boobies are on fire, baby, down fire! You know what I'm going like this. And I don't know, about 45 or 50 or so, I'm shaking with this bar. So John gets kind of over me and kind of grabs the bar and just starts helping just a little bit. And he's just screaming, come on, Grosier, there's more in you. Come on, go on, go show.

Come on, go see. Everybody's looking on. Why is that guy struggling with the bar? And he's like, there's more. And finally, I couldn't do it by myself. And so he's helping me. And he goes, he said, it's all you. It's not all me.

It's a lot you. But it's all you. Come on. Come on, great. It's all you. And finally, I just gave out and just let go. well, it was so light and he wasn't looking down that he continued, it's all you, it's all you.

And he got in another four or five reps telling me it was all me when it was really all him, okay? That to me illustrates so many different things on so many levels. The reality is you can be strong for a while. You can be strong for a season. You can have the ability to withstand some temptation for a little, little while. Eventually, though, if it keeps coming and you're not prepared and you're not prayed up and ready, you find yourself at a moment of weakness and end up doing something that

you didn't want to do. Over time, you seem to become consistently weak to some of the same things. We ask ourselves, why am I so weak? If anybody messes up, they're going to say something along the lines of, well, I didn't want to gamble again. I know I get in trouble and I gamble, but I just felt so weak. I didn't want to look again. I really, I mean, I prayed, I didn't want to look at the thing I's not supposed to look at. But at that moment, I just felt so weak. I didn't, you know, I'm trying to eat better and, you know, and then there it was, and it was homemade and, you know, chocolate layers and strawberry stuff and everything. I didn't want to eat it. Oh! But I just felt so weak. Why is it that our spirit can be willing, but our flesh so weak.

The reason that we are often so weak is because we are not bonded with what makes us strong. I'm going to say that again because somebody missed a chance to write this down. We're often weak because we haven't bonded with that which makes us strong. We're weak and vulnerable because we're not abiding with the vine where we get the spiritual strength so we can produce fruit that is not of our own power, but is by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We're often weak because we haven't bonded with that, which makes us strong. And to illustrate, I came across a really interesting study done by a guy by the name

of Bruce Alexander, who was a professor of psychology in Vancouver. And he did a study on addiction by taking rats and putting them in a cage with water, regular water, and a second bottle of water filled with either cocaine or heroin in the water. He wanted to study what did the rats drink. Well, inevitably, the rats ended up getting addicted to the chemical-laced water, and 100% of the rats overdosed. 100%. And so he said the conclusion is that we are chemically biased towards certain things,

and the neurological brainways make us more vulnerable to this out of the other end, and we are going to be just naturally more addicted. And we all know that science has proven that to some degree that's really, really true. But then he took a step back and said, now wait a minute. Okay. All I did was gave them two choices, regular water and this chemical-infused water. I didn't give them anything else to bond with. So what he did is he created what he called Rat Park.

Disneyland for mice. He put little balls that rats like to play with. He put tunnels. He put spinny things. He put cheese everywhere. If it was a male rat going in the cage, he blessed the male rat with a female rat so they could get ratting and do whatever rats do in a cage, you know.

And he did all this. fun stuff and then left the regular water up with the chemical-laced water. In the previous study, 100% of the rats overdosed in Rat Park, not one single rat overdosed on the chemical infused water. And suddenly, he had what many consider to be a breakthrough on the study of addictions, which is when we do not bond with that which makes us strong, we are incredibly vulnerable to the wrong wrong desires that we have. But on the other hand, when we are bonding with those things that make us healthy, when we are bonded with those things that make us strong, we are incredibly more resistant to the addictions that take so many of us down.

I don't care what it is that you're addicted to. And I have my issues. Believe me when I tell you, there are those things. Anytime I'm more vulnerable to what my flesh desires is because I'm less connected to that which makes me strong. Now, this to me is a little bit discouraging, but I have people, it's not uncommon to say, hey, Craig, what's your workout schedule? What do you eat?

They might, you know, contact my office. They were just curious, what's Craig workout schedule? In other words, what they're saying is, what do you do to get physical? stronger. What's really frustrating is I cannot remember the last time anyone has called and said, hey, what do you do to get spiritually stronger? I can't, I can't remember the last time. Someone just said, what do you do to get spiritually stronger? Because we studied last week that whatever you feed grows, whatever you starve dies. We talked a little bit about starving our fleshly nature. Today, I want to talk about feeding our spirit nature. I want my spirit to be connected

to that which makes me strong, because I know my flesh is weak and vulnerable. I also know I can be strong for a little while, but after resisting and resisting, there's going to be a moment perhaps when I'm not as strong as I was, and weakness sets in. So I want spiritually to be at my best. I'm I want spiritually to be connected to the one who makes me strong, because the one who makes me strong always gives me a way out. How do we feed our spirit and become stronger spiritually so we can withstand the weaker moments of our flesh? Well, I want to talk today about three things. And admittedly, if you're not a Jesus follower, you're going to hear these things go, you're wasting your time. And quite honestly, if you're not a Jesus follower, this probably is a radical waste of time and completely stupid.

If you are, though, if you are a committed follower of Jesus, you would have to agree that doing these things, these strings are absolutely essential for your spiritual strength and for your survival. Now, here's the ground rules. I'm going to only ask you to choose one of the three as your area of focus. One and three. I don't want you working on all three because you're not going to work on any if you work on all three. I don't even want you being like, hey, I'm one plus one, two, Mr. Mann, okay? No two. I want you focusing on one.

And at the end of our time together, I'm going to ask you which one area of focus is the place that you need to most pursue God to connect with him? Why? So you can be spiritually strong and able to withstand the weaker moments of you. of the flesh. How do we feed our spirit to be spiritually strong? Three things. The first if you're taking notes is this. We're going to feed our spirits with prayer.

Feed your spirit with intimacy toward God in prayer. Why? Because just like exercise makes the body strong, prayer makes the spirit strong. Let me say it again. Just like exercise strengthens your body, Prayer strengthens your spirit. In fact, Jesus said this in Matthew 26, verse 41.

He said, watch and do what. Somebody help me out. Jesus said, watch and pray. Watch and do what? He said, watch and pray so that you will not, what? So that you will not fall into temptation because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Watch and pray. Watch and pray.

When Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray, he said, pray, lead me not into temptation. But deliver me, set me free from evil. Prayer is a great weapon against temptation that strengthens your spirit. Watch and pray that you do not fall into temptation. Those words are very important. Fall into temptation. What did you do? Well, I fell into sin.

Well, I fell into immorality. No one ever says I fell into righteousness, right? Ever heard anyone say, I was just going along. I tripped up, became holy. Woo! How'd that happen? No idea. Wow, amazing. I mean, I didn't even planted it, and I'm so righteous I can barely live with myself.

Okay, it's amazing. That doesn't happen, okay? You trip and fall into temptation, but righteousness is only through an intentional pursuit of the goodness of God. Watch and pray so that you don't fall into temptation. So Jesus said this when he was in a place known as the Garden of Gassimony, and this was right before he was going to be going to the cross to give his life. He knew what was coming, and right after he said, basically, if you're weak, pray, you know what he did? He felt weak, and so he prayed. He went to God, and he said, God, if there's any other way, remove this cup from me. What was he saying? It was a picture of the cup of suffering that he knew the physical torture that he would endure. If there's any other way, God, let's do it that way.

Then he prayed perhaps the greatest prayer of submission. Nevertheless, God, not my will, but your will be done. Remember week number two, I talked about my prayer of submission. When I'm not submitted to God, I'm more vulnerable to temptation. When I am submitted to God, my spirit nature is stronger and able to withstand the temptations that come against my flesh. If you weren't here, God, I submit my mind to you. me the mind of Christ. God, I submit my eyes to you today, that I would only look on things that are pure and pleasing to you. I submit my ears to you, God, that I would only hear that which

is consistent with your word. I submit my mouth, that my words would only be used to build others up and give you glory. God, I submit my heart to you, which is deceitful. Above all things, God, give me a pure heart, pure motives to serve you in every way. God, I give you my hands. that they would be used to build your kingdom. God, I submit my feet to you today, that you would take me to the places that would bring you glory. God, I submit today my whole life to you that I would be used to lift up your name in every way in all I do. Today, I submit myself to you. Strengthen in prayer. I don't know what this will look like for you, but maybe your prayer is this. lead me not in temptation, but deliver me from evil.

God, may Christ in me be stronger than the wrong appetites in me. God, may you always give me a way out. Prayer doesn't have to be your down on your hands and knees along. 45-minute prayer doesn't count. Let's pray an hour, pray now, pray now. You know, it can be shotgun prayer in a moment. God, help me, lead me, empower me. God, give me a way out.

Just pray, pray, pray, pray. Some of you, this is your one. You're done. media the rest of the time. You got your thing, and this is yours. You know it right now because your prayer life is inconsistent, sporadic, not focused toward God, and this is your one, and you know it. Some of you, I need to build my prayer life. Strengthen your spirit in prayer. The second thing is this. You need to feed your spirit with God's word. You need to feed your spirit with God's word. I love the question that David asked in Psalm 119, verse 9. He said,

how can a young person stay on the path of purity? What a great question, huh? How can a young person stay on the path of purity? Then he didn't say, by living according to whatever culture says is cool and fun, by living according to what all your friends are doing, by living according to what you see and read, no, what did he say?

How do you stay pure? By living according to what? According to your word. He said, God, I seek you with all my hearts. Do not let me stray from your commands. I've done what? He says, I've hidden my word, your word in my heart. Why?

That I might not sin against you. I've hidden your word in my heart. The word of God in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. there was nothing that was made that was not made through him. In him was life, and in the life is the light of the world,

and darkness has not overcome it. And the Word of God became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We've seen the glory of God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, who came full of grace and truth. In the beginning was the Word. The Word of God is living. It is active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword.

When we talk about the armor of God, the word is the only offensive weapon. The helmet is defensive. The shield is defensive. The breastplate of righteousness is defensive. The belt holds your britches up, and that's really important, okay? Your shoes are prepared with the gospel. The only offensive weapon we have is the Word of God. And this is how Jesus fought back against the attacks and temptations of Satan

after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights when the evil one said to Jesus, He says, hey, why don't you turn these stones into bread? And Jesus said, no, it is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And Satan said, hey, why don't you throw yourself off this building and let the angels catch you? And Jesus said, no, it is written. Man shall not put the Lord by God to test. And Satan said, why don't you bow down and worship me?

and Jesus said, no, it is written. I will worship the Lord, my God, and serve him only. You hide his word in your heart, so you will not sin against him. Some of you say, well, I'm not good at memorizing. Don't give me that. Most of you, you know every single line to every song in the new Taylor Swift album, and you can dance with it, okay? You will memorize what is important to you.

You feed yourself on the Word, and just as food strengthens your body, the living bread, the Word of God, strengthens your Spirit. It's a little bit like the Princess Bride. Anytime, I believe, you add the Princess Bride to a sermon, God just likes that. Some of you are too young to even know what that's like, and it's actually worth going back to see. There's the guy in there, I don't know how you say his name, but he's the guy's like, his name is, Hello, my name is Inigo Montego. How's he say?

Something like that. And he says, he said, you say it with me if you know. You kill my father. Prepare to die. I love that. And it's just a great moment. Well, sometimes he's fighting with a sword and he goes,

I've got bad news for you. I am not left hundred. He throws the sword. I am right hundred. Prepare to die. Okay, I love that. Okay. Every now and then, listen to me.

Okay. You are going to be tempted. And if you know God's word, word, it is written. I got bad news for you. I am not left-handed, okay? Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, okay? I am an overcomer by the blood of the lamb and by the words of my testimony. I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. I can do all things through him who gives me strength, and my God is faithful. He will not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear, but every time I am tempted, my God will always give me a way out. I'm finding the button.

There's a hyper grace button. There's a hyper grace button. I'm finding the button. And I'll find the way out. Some of you, this is yours right now. It's feeding on the bread of life. Okay. There's no excuse. Listen, it's on your phone. Your phone is with you when you're on the throne. It's like all the time, everywhere, all the time, everywhere, all the time, everywhere, all the time, everywhere. There is no, you can listen to it. I don't read. You can listen to it, okay? You, you strengthen yourself in God's word. And some of you going, oh, the stupid preacher talk, listen to me. It is living bread. It is the bread of life. It strengthens you spiritually. It transforms your mind. It takes the trash of this world out and it replaces with the eternal truth of God.

It strengthens you spiritually. You need it. It is written. It is your sword. It is your offensive weapon. Some of you are trying to live a victorious Christian life without an offensive weapon. You need defeat on his word. It will strengthen you spiritually.

And you can fight back against the attacks of the evil one. So what are we going to do? We're not just going to be physically in shape. We're spiritually strong. Our spirit person is growing in faith. God's word is renewing our minds. We're intimate with him in prayer. And then the third thing we're going to do is we're going to feed our spirit with the right people.

We're going to feed our spirit with the right people. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 33 and 34, Paul was very direct. He's not pulling any punches here. He's not being politically correct at all. He says, don't be misled. In other words, if he's saying don't be misled, it's very easy to be misled. Some of you right now, you are being misled by believing the people you are hanging with are not impacting your lives.

And the reality is they're taking you down spiritually. He says, do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Bad company corrupts good character. Then he says, come back to your senses as you ought and what? Say it with me. Stop sinning. Cut it out.

Stop it. Don't go there. Stay far away from it. Stop hanging out with the wrong people, letting them bring you down so you're doing the wrong things and getting caught in that, which destroys you. We have to understand this. Being around the wrong people never helps you do the right thing.

Let me say it again. Being around the wrong people never helps you do the right thing. And quite honestly, some of you may need some friendship upgrades. Okay. Now, you don't need to go to them and say, sorry, you don't make the cut. I'm upgrading you for somebody else, okay? But the truth is, you may have to do that at some point. In other words, if you're overcoming an alcohol addiction, you're not going out Friday night with the same old group to the bar, right? You got some

different friends, okay? If you're overcoming the sugar addiction, you're not going to the small group at the donut store with those same people. Okay, we need to change our friendships, and this is absolutely critical to have truly a victorious life following Jesus is being around people who sharpen us, who strengthen us, who love us enough to be in our faces, who care about us enough to tell us the truth, who don't hold back and we'll call it like it is. In fact, I'll tell you right now,

the most important thing I do for my spiritual life is I work out with the same person. The most important thing I do is I work. work out with the same person. For 23 years now, I've worked out with Paco Bruski. I don't know why I call him Paco Bruske, but any good friend has to have a nickname. His is Paco Bruske. You say, is Bruski. Does it have to have beer? Not really. It's just Paco brusky. It's just what it is. And John, Paco, and I have worked out now. I think it's 23 years. And at first, we did it honestly because it was fun to work out with someone else and not just to be alone. But what we discovered very quickly is it wasn't about a physical workout as much as it was about spiritual

development, okay? Because there is not a, there is not a single temptation that I have faced that I didn't open up and talk about to him. There's not a, there's not a significant moment that I'm not going to call on the phone if we have, if we've already worked out and say, hey, let me tell what I'm going through right now, pray for me. And what's interesting is I just thought everybody had that. I thought everybody had, you know, at least a couple of people that they're totally and completely transparent with. That there's a confession of sin immediately or even temptation. But what I have learned is that that's actually quite rare. I tell you why so many people get in trouble is because sin grows best in the dark. There's something about when there's

someone that you can go to immediately and say, here's what I almost did, here's what I'm thinking about. Here's what happened. And someone who loves you enough to say, you know what, that's twice in the last three months. Let's make a change in how we're handling things. Someone who's going to say, you know what, hey, I'm not going to judge you, but let's deal with this severely. Someone who cares enough to bring some, you know, lovingly in the name of Jesus. Like, we're not going to go back there. God has something better for you. And let's take it a step up. Let's take it a step up. Let's take it a step up. Let's take it a step up. Okay. There's some of you right now, you are, you are lacking the depth of real spiritual community.

It's one of the reasons we're doing discussion groups, because we need each other. Listen, the church is not something we go to. We are the body of Christ. We are family. We are vulnerable without each other. When we come together, we are strengthened as we worship together. We are strengthened when we open up and we care for each other in circles and pour our lives out.

we are strengthened when we do life together. Now, I'm going to wrap this whole thing up, and I'm going to be embarrassingly honest with you, and I'm just going to lay it all out and say something I've never said before. Before I was a Jesus follower, I knew how to serve myself. My desires, I was, like I told you in week one, I think, addicted to alcohol, as were people for generations in our family. I told you last week I was vulnerable to wanting to do inappropriate things with girls, and that was keeping me from Jesus until I finally surrendered that to him.

When I met Amy, in the back of my mind, there was this fear that I didn't have what it would take to be the man of God that she deserved, because in my mind, I knew the people. path to all the wrong things. And with everything in me, I'm going to tell you right now, everything in me, had I not learned to hunger after God in prayer, because I didn't always, I didn't like prayer meetings, hated prayer meetings. If you wanted to pray long, I didn't want to pray with you, okay? I had to learn how to pray and to know God intimately and hear from him in prayer. And if I didn't feed my spirit with his word daily for probably 17 years or so I've read through the Bible cover to cover every year, every year. Not so I can brag about it, because I have

to have it. If I didn't have the Paco Bruske, the small group, those close friends I have on staff, a couple of senior pastors that I talk to daily, if I didn't have that real, deep, transparent, loving and butt-kicking spiritual community, I can tell you right now, I would not have had what it took. And I would have been a casualty. I would have done something destructive.

I would have ended up divorced, and I would not be here as your pastor. Because I don't have what it takes. okay i'm weak it's all you it's all you saw you it's all you it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god it's all you god no temptation has seized you except what is common to mankind we are all crazy vulnerable we are a couple of moments away from doing things that are totally destructive. No temptation has ceased us, except what is common to mankind. But here's a deal.

God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. And no matter what it is, no matter how big it seems, when you are tempted, our God will give you a way out. Why do we not take the way out more?

are often because we're so weak, we're so weak, we're so weak. Why are we so weak? Because we're not connected and bonded with that which makes us strong. Because the reality is when we are, when we're in rat park, when we're doing life God's way, when we're bonded with his people, when we're strengthened in prayer, when we're feeding on this word, then when we're weak, which is all the time. His strength is made perfect through us. Our God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. The good news is our God will always give you a way out. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would encourage and stir within us. And God, I know there are some people here right now they recognize it's spiritual friendships for them. That's their one. They don't have

those things, and those things are not going to happen by accident. For some, it's a prayer life. For others, it's time in the Word. And all of our churches, I'm going to ask you right now just to decide which one yours is, and I'm going to ask you to commit. Every head up, every eye opened all of our churches, so there's some accountability because that's kind of how we do it every now and then around here. Those of you would say, you know what, for me, it's prayer.

Lift up your hand right now, so everybody can know. praise God for you we are praying for you to pray to God those of you who would say you know what it's time and his word lift up your hands right now I need to feed on the living bread the bread of life praise God for you all of our churches those of you say you know what for me it's an upgrade of friends I need some spiritual strength around me lift up your hands right now say yes I need the right I need some spiritual strength in the people around me father I thank you today that everybody here I believe at all of our churches are calling out to you that God you would plant deep within our spirit a hunger for one of these three things.

God, just like exercise might not be fun at first, but after a while we see the benefits and we fall in love with it. Just like eating right may not seem fun at first, but after a while we actually develop an appetite for these things. God, I pray that we would develop an appetite for that which makes us spiritually strong. That, God, those who need to pray would fall in love with prayer. They would actually become very passionate about praying. God, those who are inconsistent in your word, that your, your word,

that your word would speak to them daily, and not out of duty, but out of devotion, they would feed on the bread of life. God, I thank you for those that need the right friends. They are in a place where the right friends are available. Lead them, God, to the right people who would empower them to do the right things. And now, God, we lay whatever that one or those two kind of big strongholds are

that perhaps have been holding us back. God, we thank you, that you are faithful, that you will give us a way out. God, I pray that when we are weak, that your Holy Spirit would make us strong. God, help us to feed our spirit, that our spirits would be strong enough to overcome and support and sustain the weakness of our flesh. God, we thank you that people will be healed in your presence as you give us, God, the way out. Continuing to pray at all of our churches, there are some of you you recognize right now

spiritually, this is almost like a foreign language to you. What does it mean to be spiritually strong? You don't even know where you stand spiritually with God. Where I grew up in kind of Baptist churches, there's this phrase that was used that is taken from John chapter 3 in the Bible that Jesus said you must be born again. It's kind of like the Baptist almost had a corner on that word. It's actually a great word. What does it mean to be born again?

Well, you've been born physically. You've been born one time. But the reality is God wants you to be born a second time. What does that mean? Not just born physically, but born spiritually. The truth is that we are spiritually dead without Christ. Our sin nature kills our spirit. We were born spiritually dead. But when we call on Jesus, by the grace of God, because of what Jesus did, spiritually, we're made new, but we're born a second time. We're not just born physically, but we're born spiritually. Suddenly our spirit is connected with God. We can talk to God. We can hear from God.

we're literally filled with the Spirit of God and we're never on our own. And all of our churches there are those of you, you recognize you have a deep spiritual need. Perhaps what you need to be is born spiritually. When you call on Jesus, here's what happens. Your sins are forgiven. You are made completely brand new. He separates from you as far as the east is from the west. Your sins are removed and you are never ever the same.

And honestly, that's why many of you are here today. You need spiritual new life. You need his grace. You need his forgiveness. call on him and he will make you new. All of our churches you say, that's my prayer. I need his grace. I surrender to him.

Would you lift your hands high right now and say, yes, that's my prayer. Lift your hands and say, I surrender right over here and back here to the back. God bless you guys. Others of you today who say yes, that's my prayer right back over here. Over here on this side, God bless you guys as well. Church online, you click right below me. Right back over here, praise God for you. Would you all pray today?

Just pray with those around you. I pray Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you, so I could serve you, so I could follow you. I submit my life completely to you. My life is not my own. It is all yours, God. Thank you for new life.

Now you have mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Would you guys worship big, worship big. Welcome those born into God. Standly today.