Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Beginner’s Guide to Studying the Bible | How to Study the Bible | Part 1

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

Let’s be honest: the Bible’s not always easy to understand! But when you know how to read and understand God’s Word, it transforms your life. Let’s learn How to Study the Bible in this message.  ABOUT THIS MESSAGEReading the Bible is one thing. Understanding it's another. When you can do both, it's truly life changing. God speaks to us through His Word, so let’s learn How to Study the Bible together in our new series. Get the tools you need to understand the Bible as you grow closer to God: https://www.life.church/biblestudy 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 your 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 #howtostudythebible Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There is no greater way to get to know God, his character, his nature, his goodness, and the life that he has for you than reading His living Word. And yet, most people don't do it, right? people around the world and with good reason they would say, well, I don't really believe it in their own mind. And so because they don't believe it, they don't do it. Or some Christians might say, well, I tried to read the Bible and it was boring to me or it didn't really apply to my life. And so people have access to God's word and yet either don't take time to do it or when they try, they don't really understand it. I would argue that, especially for Christians, that the biggest

reason that so many Christians don't faithfully study the Bible, besides the devil trying to talk them out of it, is that they don't know how to do it. Where do you start if you're going to study the Bible, and how do you study the Bible? So what a lot of people do, I found just in my experience, is they typically do one of two different things. They'll do what I did as a kid, and I thought, okay, I need to read the Bible. And so they start at the very beginning. They start in Genesis, and it's relatively interesting and exciting. And they read Exodus, and it's pretty interesting and kind of exciting.

Then they get to the book of Leviticus, and they die in the book of Leviticus. They put it down in the book of Leviticus. And if you're not laughing right now, it's because you've never read the book of Leviticus. And so a lot of people will try like that, and they kind of get into it, and they don't get very far, and so they stop. Or there's kind of a second thing that a lot of people do. I call it the Lucky Dip method. The Lucky Dip method is when they say, I'm just going to open up the Bible, and I'm just going to point my finger to a verse, and whatever that verse says, I will do what it says. I'm going to do it right now, just so, you know, the lucky dip method, whatever, this verse says, I will do it.

do it. Ezekiel 412. And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung. That is in the Bible. And I actually pre-planned that. I actually put it there. But that is a real verse. And that's typically what happens as people just put their finger in there. They just kind of end up in a weird place. That is a method, but it's not the best method. So I have a very, very, very strong goal. And what I want to do over the next couple of weeks is I want to sincerely and very practically help you learn how to study the Bible. And when I tell you that this could be two of the most important weeks in your journey

with God, that is not an overstatement at all. What I'm going to ask you to do, and I know this could be a big ask for a lot of you, is to not just be at church this weekend, but like we're going to go. go for two weeks in a row. Crazy. I know like, but like two weeks in a row. And if you can't do it, because the weather's too nice next week, or the weather's too bad, or the game's too good, could you at least pick it up online, take it seriously? Because if you learn to study the word of God, it can be one of the most important things you ever do in your journey with God. Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to talk about how do we study it. And we're actually going to study it. We're going to talk about how to do it, and we're going to apply it. We're going to study a short book in the New Testament. We're going to study the book of filet mignon in the New Testament, which is not really filet mignon. It's really Phileiman. And we're going to learn how to pronounce the books of the Bible. For example, the book of Job in the Old Testament is actually the book of Job.

But I called it the book of Job when I was 20 years old in a Bible. study and that was embarrassing. We're going to learn how to pronounce it, but I'm very, very excited to teach you the Word of God. And the reason is because the Word of God is living. That's what it says about itself. It's living, it's active, it's powerful, it's sharper than a double-edged sword. The Word of God will speak to you. It will guide you. It will protect you. It will empower you. It will guard you against temptation. It will renew your mind. It will build your faith. It will show you every heavenly rich that you have in Christ Jesus. It is truth and it is the truth that will set you free. Today we talk about how to study the Bible and we're going to get

really, really practical. Let me give you five thoughts we're going to look at today and we're actually going to apply it in the book of Philemon. The first thing you want to do, number one, is you want to choose a translation that you understand. The second thing you're going to want to do is you're going to want to choose a time, a place, and a plan to study the Bible. The third thing that we're going to talk about today is we're going to seek to understand the context.

We're not just going to read a verse out of context, but we're going to understand the context as we do. The fourth thing is we're going to read slowly, and we're actually going to ask questions of the text and to God as we read. And then number five, we're going to pray for God to speak to you, and we're going to apply what He shows you. We're going to do these five things. Choose a translation, a time of place, understand the context, read slowly and ask questions, and ask God to speak to us and apply what He shows us. So we're going to do that in the book of Philemon, and we're going to start in verses 6. seven and eight. What I'd love for you to do is wherever you are, those online too, it's no fun

without you. Everybody, let's read these two verses aloud together. Are you ready? If you're ready, say I'm ready. Online, type it in the comment section, I'm ready. Type it in I'm ready. Are you ready? Let's do it. Read it aloud. For we have such great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. Wherefore thou I might, though I might be much bold in Christ, to enjoin thee that which is convenient. Wow. That was awkward. That didn't make any sense at all.

Why did that not make any sense? Thought number one, choose a translation you understand. That was the King James translation. Some of you may say, now, why in the world are there different translations and what is a translation? Let's try to understand this. The Bible is actually a book written in three original languages. It's written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. And so there are Bible scholars who translate a word in Hebrew and the word could mean this or it kind of means this.

And so they'll choose the best and most accurate words. How many of you notice that language changes over time? When do you think the King James translation was translated? Anybody know the answer? The year of 1611, 1611. Do you think the English language has changed any since the year 1611? I don't know about you, but I think it's changed since this morning. Like I got Jin Ziers in my home, and I just found out somebody told me I had Riz.

I didn't know if that was dandruff. I had no idea. That's charisma. I got riz. In case you know, I got riz. So language changes over time. If you go back to 1611, and you look at this text, it says, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee. Back at that time, people thought that humans felt emotions in their bowels. Today, people would say, well, you probably feel emotions in your heart. So a modern translation would take the original word, and would translate it into a language today based on the original intent.

Now, there are over 3,000 different translations on the U Virgin Bible app alone. How in the world do you choose one? And the answer is, I'll give you some advice. I'll tell you what I like, and my advice is just my opinion. There are a lot of different opinions. People would disagree with me. You're going to read some stuff that says, these are bad, these are bad, whatever. I'm going to give you my opinion.

based on a lot of study, I'll recommend forward to you. I'm going to recommend to you the NIV, the NLT, the New King James, and the ESV, English standard version. NIV and NLT would be on the side of more current language, accurate, but more like people speak today. New King James and ESV and also the NASV are more on the very accurate, accurate, accurate side without being as current in the language. So I personally study NIV, NLT, and then I'll look at other ones to see along the way. In my opinion, those are all very, very strong translations.

My top two, I like to read, or NIV and NLT. You can choose your own as you go. But we're going to start with choosing a translation that we understand. The second thing we're going to do is we're going to choose a time, a place, and a plan to study the Bible. Here's what I really recommend, that you have a consistent time and place. Doesn't really matter when or where, but I would recommend that it's consistent. If you don't have a consistent time and a place, you're not likely to do it.

If you ask my opinion, I would recommend when possible to do the morning. And the reason I like the morning is because you're starting your day with God's Word that will align your heart, renew your mind, and drive. direct your steps. That may not be possible with your schedule, but when it is, that would be my recommendation. Then I'd recommend you have a place. It might be your favorite chair. It might be your kitchen table with your Hebrews coffee mug. A little New Testament joke there for those of you that are Bible scholars in the New Testament. You might look at what you prefer as far as the method. For example, some people prefer a paper Bible so you can write in it and you can feel it and

turn the pages. Other people might just have time on a commute. They prefer to listen or reading might not be as easy for them. You might prefer digital because you have the Bible with you everywhere you have your phone. You might go through a book of the Bible. We're studying through maybe First Corinthians. Or you might have a devotional, a little book that you read. You might have a U-Version Bible plan over 32,000 of those available to you to go through something that could be helpful to you. So what we're going to do is we're going to pick a translation that we understand. We're going to choose a time, a place, and a plan. The third thing we're going to do is we're going to understand the context of what we read. And what I want to do is I want to try

to show you why this is so important. It's more important than I can describe to you. I'll illustrate it this way. What would you think if I told you that someone took a photo of me with another woman who is not my wife out of town all alone at a restaurant. That would probably raise concern. And that really happened. It's really true, but context matters more than you can imagine. Because I was caught having dinner alone with another woman out of town all alone at a restaurant, and this woman was my daughter, Mandy. I was so happy about this time at a ministry event in Denver with her, and she was so happy about sushi, I took this picture to remember it.

We were all alone on a snowy night, only one other couple in the restaurant, who unbeknownst to me took a photo of me and sent it to a volunteer saying this. Does this look like Craig? It is Craig. And the next one says this. And he's with another chick. Amazingly, the volunteer happened to say, funny. Yes, it's his daughter.

Where are you? And then they said, introduce himself. Of all the odds, as they were accusing me and being with another chick, they happened to send it to a volunteer who knew Mandy, texted it to Mandy at the table while I was sitting there and turned and looked over at that other couple. Context matters more than you can imagine. There's a really sad day when I realized that I cannot eat with one of my daughters without getting accused,

or I have to hold up a sign that says this is my daughter, or I have to say, forget you, I don't care, I meet with my daughter. Context matters more than you can imagine. So let's talk about the broad picture of context for the Bible. Let's start here. The Bible we need to understand is a library. It's not just a single book. In fact, I'll explain it this way.

The Bible is a collection of 66 different books. It's written in three languages across three continents, over a 1,500-year period, by 40 different authors, including shepherds and farmers and tip makers and doctors and fishermen and priests and philosophers and kings and on and on. What is it? It's actually a collection.

of poems, prophecies, letters, laws, histories, and biographies written by people and inspired by God telling one unified story that shows us our need for Jesus and teaches us to become like him. So when we understand what the Bible is, then we want to understand the context of what we're reading, and we're going to ask essentially three simple questions every time. We want to know who wrote it, we want to know to whom was it written, and we want to know what is its purpose. Who wrote it? To whom was it written? And what is the main story of the book of the Bible that we're reading? And so we'll start with Philemon, and we'll try to get the context as we're reading Philemon, and we'll start in verses one and two, and see if you can pick up the context as we go.

here. What do we see? We see Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. Who is he writing to? He's writing to, Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker, and the church that meets in your home. If you want to learn a little more context, you might get some extra resources. There is a QR code that's going to come up on the screen in a moment. You can go ahead and capture this now. If you don't capture it now, your campus pastor will give it to you at the end of the message, and those of you online, it will come up again at the end of the message for you. On the other side of this QR code, we have several resources and a very detailed study to help you learn how to study the Bible. For example, you'll see on there the U-Virgin Bible app created by our church.

If you want to learn the context of the Book of Philemon, there's actually 11 studies on the Book of Philemon. in the U-Version Bible app. You may get what I have here, and this is a study Bible. For example, this is Philemon. And if you turn right over here one page earlier, you have the context of Philemon and read things like it consists of 303-5 Hebrew words, and it explains the context very simply to you.

If you do a very, very, very simple study like this, what you're going to find out very quickly about the Bible is this. You're going to find out that Paul wrote, Phileman's, Paul wrote it, he says up there that he wrote it, you're going to find that it's the shortest letter that he wrote. What's interesting is you're going to see that he was actually, he says Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus. He doesn't say Paul an apostle. Almost every other time he writes an epistle, he'll say Paul the apostle. And the reason he's doing this is he doesn't want to pull his official rank on his friend Phileman. He's writing this letter. He's writing this

as a very, very dear friend. So if we're going to summarize what we find out, we'd find out this. We're going to find out that Philemon was written by Paul from a Roman prison. Remember, he said, a prisoner of Christ, to a wealthy man named Philemon who led a church in his home. We're going to discover that it was written about, and this is if you just read through Philemon, you're going to see this guy named Onesimus, who was a runaway slave. We're going to see that it was written about Onesimus, a runaway slave, who would evident stolen from Fleiman. We're going to discover that Onesimus, this runaway slave, he stole something, he runs to Rome, and by the providence of God, he meets Paul. And Paul leads Onesimus, the runaway slave to Christ.

Then we're going to discover the purpose of this letter. Paul's purpose, and this is crazy, was to encourage the Flemen, the small group leader, or the church pastor in wealthy business, owner. He was going to encourage Philemon to forgive Onesimus the runaway slave and accept a slave as a brother in Christ. With a little bit of research, you're going to go, this is a really big deal because you might discover in a study Bible or from watching a video on YouTube that there were about 60 million slaves in Rome at that time. Slavery is never right. It's Never been right. Wasn't right then. It's not right now. That's a whole other point. But at that time, because there were so many, if a slave owner didn't deal with a rebellious slave, the slaves might

revolt. And so you'll learn with just a little bit of research that any time a slave runs away, they would brand F on their brow, which stands for fugitivist, which we get our word fugitive, this guy would be branded. That'd be the very least thing they would do. And then sadly, and this is horrible, and we hate it, but they could beat the slave or they could actually kill the slave. So here's what Paul's going to say. He's going to say, hey, Philemon,

this guy who stole from you, who escaped, who put you at risk, who embarrassed you, I want you to receive him back and treat him not as a slave, but as an equal. Treat him as a brother. And so when you know that,

reading Philemon, it shapes the words you're going to see. I'm going to show you in verse four, and you tell me, is Paul being very, very sincere, or is he buttering up Phileman? I don't know. But you ask that question. Probably because of my nature being a little bit skeptical, I think he's buttering him up, but we don't know. Paul may be way more godly than I am. but I'm asking myself, what are his motives? And here's what we see. He says, Flemann, I always thank God, as I remember you and my prayers.

Sounds like he's buttering up. Maybe he's being sincere, we don't know. Because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're so loving and you're so holy. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people. You're so loving.

amazing. Or maybe he's just being really sincere. I always thank God for you. My prayers. You're so loving. Your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement. Maybe he's just being very sincere. Maybe he's buttering up. But when you understand the context, you start to ask some very real questions. So we know the context. Then the fourth thing we're going to do is we're going to read slowly and we're going to ask questions. And let me tell you what we're going to ask. The two biggest questions we're always going to ask of anything we're reading in the Bible is we're always going to ask, what is this say about God and what is God saying to me? If you ask anything every time, what is this say about the character, the nature, the goodness of God,

and what is God saying to me? If you want to go a little bit deeper, someone else came up with this, I don't know who it is, I'd give them credit, but it's called the spec questions. S-P-E-C-K, spec. And what you can do is, S, you can ask, is there a sin to be avoided? It's a good question to ask. P, you can ask, is there a promise to be claimed? This is really, really helpful. If you want to take out your phones to take a picture when we get all through, you can, because this can be a game changer when you're studying the Bible. E, is there an example to follow? C, is there a command to obey? and finally, K, is there something to know about God? As you're going through the text, is there a sin to be avoided?

Is there a promise to be claimed? Is there an example to follow? Is there a command to obey? Is there something to know about the character, the nature, and the goodness of God? Now, since you're all going to be back next week, I'm going to tell you that next week, this is going to come alive to you in a way that to me is almost mind-blowing. Today we're setting it up. Next week we're going to come back to this, and you're going to see how studying the Bible

in context, empowered by God, the Holy Spirit, can speak to you, can form you to the image of Christ, direct your steps, renew your mind, change your heart, make you more like Jesus and literally change your life. But you've got to come back next week to get that. So let's review. We're going step by step, making it really practical. We're going to choose a translation you understand. We're going to choose a time, a place, and a plan to study the Bible. We're going to seek to understand the context. We're going to read really slowly and ask questions. And number five, we're going to pray for God to speak to you and apply whatever he shows you. So that's what we're going to do right now.

God, we ask that as we continue to study your word, that you show us more about you and that you speak to us. God, I pray that even somehow in these few verses in the next few minutes that you would speak to people in a way that would help conform them to the image of your son, Jesus. We pray this in your name, and everybody said, amen, amen, amen. Those online, you can type it in the comment section. Amen and amen. So let's look at verses 8 and 10 and see what we find out. Here's what we see. Therefore, although in Christ, watch what Paul says. He's talking to Philema and he's going to ask him to forgive.

I could be bold and I could order you to do what you ought to do. Remember I'm an apostle. I outrank you. I could tell you, but I'm not going to do it that way. He says, I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. Now watch what he does. And again, this is why I think he's actually, he's pulling on every heartstream. Watch what Paul says. He says, it's none other than Paul. An old man, I've been serving Jesus for a long time, and I'm maybe in the end of my life, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I've been serving God for a long time, and I'm writing you from prison. I'm in prison for Christ. So maybe he's using that as a little leverage. We don't know for sure. He said, it's on these terms, I appeal to you, and watch what he calls Onesimus. My son. My son. My son. Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. I led your runaway slave to Christ. And now this slave is a son in the faith to me. This is massive, because Onesimus stole from Philemon.

What do we know? He runs to Rome. He meets Paul. Paul leads him to Christ. And now he's saying, I don't see him as a slave. I see him as a son. If you go a little deeper and you can just do this, you can Google the Greek language. What does it say in the Greek?

And if you do that, you'll find what I call a buried treasure or an Easter egg. If you Google, what does Onesimus mean, his name? Anybody know what his name means? His name means useful or profitable. That's what the name means. And if you read verse 8 and 11, says formerly, he was useless, to you, but now he's become useful both to you and to me. Other versions translated as profitable.

Paul is evidently using a play on words. He's taking the name Onesimus, which means useful, and he's saying formerly he was useless, now he's useful. Now he's profitable. Because I'm a little bit of a nerd, and because preachers only work on Sundays, I research some more. I like the words formerly and but now. I like the tension. Formerly there was

this, but now there was that. So I looked up those words. I just liked the way they sound. Literally, that's it. Formerly is the Greek word potet. Everybody say potay. But now is the word denuni. Everybody say denuni. Now put them together. Potet deno. One more time. Pote denuni. Potet Danuni and what I like to say in my own notes is this you can't have the Danuni without the poti I could do a lot with that some of it would probably be embarrassing but if we just say it that way you can't have the Danuni without the potay you can't have the but now without the formerly

formerly onesmus was a slave he was useless but now because of the power and the providence of God he's profitable. So if I'm reading this and I'm asking, what is the nature of God and what is God saying to me? I'm probably saying, well, your life was formerly one thing, but now God took that thing that you didn't want and made it profitable or useful. In fact, in the margins of my Bible, back years and years ago, I wrote these words right here, ask God what not. why? That's what I wrote years ago. So as I'm going through this, years ago, God was speaking to me about formerly it was one thing, but now is something else. Instead of asking God, why is this

happening? What do you want to say to me? And I would ask you, what is God showing you? How is God maybe using something right now that you don't want to do something in you? Or you may look back because the providence of God is like Hebrews, often best read backwards. How did God use something in your past formerly, but now it's much different. For example, let's take Mandy. From this trip, it was more meaningful to me than you've got to ever imagine. This was us on our plane driving out there. This was us in the gym. And then she posted this and it meant so much to me. I actually captured it because they didn't want to forget it. She said, the cold never bothered us anyway. Thankful for quality time with the greatest dad in history. The reason that trip was so special to me,

it was because it was our last trip we had alone. Because shortly after that, Mandy got sick and has been dealing with an ongoing, very severe chronic illness. That's the formerly, where she was. But now she is getting better. But to the glory of God, he's actually using her. to make a difference in the lives of people all of the world, because she wasn't just sick, but she actually saw herself sick moving toward healing with a purpose. She got a degree in health, and she started posting online. And now when I go to different places and I'm around,

they might say thank you to the church for your generosity of free resource, or thank you, always thanking you. They never even mentioned my sermons, but they're thanking you. Or they'll say, would you tell Mandy, and I hear this over again, would you tell Mandy thank you because she helped my daughter, Thank you because she helped me over and over and over again, because God took what was formerly something that was useless and made it very, very profitable.

What does God want to show you? You can't have the Danuni without the potate. Next week, this will come to life. God is writing your story. Some of you, your story might change because formerly you were sick, but now, by the power of the God, great physician, the name that is above every name, the one who can do all things, you might be

healed by the power and the goodness and the glory of God. There are some of you that formerly you might have been addicted, but now because of the grace of Jesus in your life, you have a day sober or two days sober, or three days sober, and you are on your journey to a testimony of one who has overcome the power of addiction through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or formerly, you battled with depression. But now the peace and the presence of God guards your heart, your minds, and souls in Christ Jesus, and you experience a peace that goes beyond your human ability to understand.

There may be those of you that right now your marriage is hanging by a thread, but one day your story is, formerly we were in trouble, but now we've been healed by Jesus. We are closer and stronger than we ever. have been before, serving together in church, leading a life group with real spiritual depth and intimacy. And some of you, your story changes today. Because your story is, formerly, I was lost, and formerly I was broken, and formerly I was ashamed.

But now I've been changed. by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who makes all things new. God will write your story. When will we write it? He writes your story as you read his word, as you feed on his word, his living word, his active word,

his powerful word that will speak to you and guide you. and protect you and empower you and guard you from temptation and renew your mind and build your faith and show you every heavenly riches that you have in Christ Jesus because God's word is truth and it's the truth that will set you free. So my question for you is this. How many of you we'll pick a translation you understand. Pick a time and a place, open it up, study it every day this week, and come back next week, and see what God starts to do. How many of you will say yes?

Once a day, a time and a place, lift up your hands right now. Lift up your hands. Online type, I will study the word every day this week, just type in the comment section. And God, I ask that even starting now, our lives would be different because we're in your word. As you keep praying today, let me tell you the story of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. And the Word became flesh among us.

Jesus is the living Word of God. Who is He? He's the Lamb of God perfect in every way. felt guilty for your sins, it's because we've all sinned against God. And Jesus is the one who never sinned. Therefore, as the word says, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, Jesus, that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but would have eternal life. Wherever you're watching from today, there are those of you, it's time for new life. Your story's about to change. Formerly, you were this, and now you are new. Formerly, you are dead in your sins,

but now you've been forgiven wherever you're watching from today, those who need the grace of Jesus, ready to step away from the old life when you call in his name. He hears your prayers. He forgives all of your sins. He makes you brand new. He fills you with the spirit. You will never be the same. You're not here by accident.

Pote de Nune. Formerly you were that. And now you're being saved by Jesus wherever you are. Those who say, yes, I need Jesus. Yes, today. I surrender. I give my life to him. That's your prayer.

Lift your hands high right now. All over the place and say, yes. That's my prayer. Praise God for you. And right back there. And I'm here, oh man, others of you today say, yes, Jesus. I need your grace. Lift up your hands and say, I surrender to him. Those of you online, type it in the comments, section. I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. And as you do, let's all pray aloud. Pray Heavenly Father. I'm coming back next week. I'm a student of your word. Forgive me of my sins. Save me. Fill me with your spirit so I could live for you. for you. Renew my mind with your truth so I could show your love. And all I do, my life is not my own. I give it to you. Thank you for new life. You have all of mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Somebody give God praise. Welcome those born into the family.