Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Dangerous Prayers, Part 1: Search Me

Episode Date: January 16, 2016

Believe your big risks will be rewarded. Believe what you ask for is possible. If you’re ready to see a spark in your life, pray boldly. Pray daringly. Pray with fire. And remember God's listening to your Dangerous Prayers. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Heavenly Father, as hard as this is for me, I'm asking you to search me. Search me, God, and know my heart. God, test my motives, reveal to me my anxious thoughts. Show me anything in me that offends you. God, I want to see in me what you see in me so I can become more like Jesus. God, I ask you to search me. very excited to dive into this three-part message series. I want to welcome all of our churches, excuse me, all of our network churches, everybody at church online.

The reason I'm really excited about this, and I just want to tell you up front, is I have this very real sense that for some of you, one of the next three messages will become what I call an anchor message. What is an anchor message? As I look back over my relationship with God over the past almost three decades, there are maybe three or four days. different messages that I remember. When I heard that, everything changed. I call it an anchor message. When I heard that one message and was in God's presence, my life really took a different direction. And I just, I really believe that for a significant portion of you, one of the next three weeks has the potential to be an anchor message where you, where you hear from God in such a way that it impacts your life and the trajectory of your life actually changes for the better.

What we're going to do is we're going to really start praying three new prayers. And I want to warn you, these are not easy prayers, these are not safe prayers, these are not benign prayers. We're calling them dangerous prayers, but they're dangerous in a good way. In fact, if you ask my opinion, most people I know in this part of the world, most people's prayers are way too safe. What do we often pray for? God bless us. safe. Okay?

God help us. Good, but safe? God protect us as we travel. Doubly safe, right? What I want to do is I want to arm you with some prayers that are not safe to pray. In fact, just no going into them. When you pray these prayers, you're really asking God to do something that will often take you out of your comfort zone. Next week, for some of you, next week will be.

one of those anchor messages. We're going to talk about a very dangerous prayer where we ask God to break us. Break me, God. You want to pray a dangerous prayer. You ask God to break you. That's the last thing any of us want, but on the other side of brokenness

is a real intimacy with God and a dependence on him that you cannot get to any other way but through brokenness. Week number three, for some of you, this will be it. It will change the direction of your life. We're going to pray, send me.

Instead of saying, God, I'll do what? I want to do for you. We're going to say, God, I'm signing a blank contract, basically. Whatever, whenever, however, God, I'm available to you. Whatever you want to do, my life is yours. You send me. Today, we're going to start with an equally dangerous prayer, and we're going to look at a prayer that David prayed in Psalm 139. David prayed this after his enemies and God enemies were kind of on the attack and accusing David of having wrong motives. And instead of saying, no, no, no, no, no. And defending himself, he actually prayed a very dangerous prayer before God

when he asked God to search his heart. Psalm 139 will introduce our dangerous prayer for the day. I'll read verses 23 and 24. Then I'm going to ask all of our churches to just say this prayer aloud the second time. This is what David prayed, a very dangerous prayer. He prayed, search me, God. and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

A very dangerous prayer. If you wouldn't mind at all of our churches just kind of to move our hearts toward prayer, let's just say this aloud together. Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. In order to digest this, what I want to do is break this prayer down into four subparts, and we'll talk through each of these, and this will arm and equip you to make this prayer

a regular part of your prayer life. The first thing that David prays is this, number one, he prays, search my heart. He says it very directly in verse 23, search me God, and know my prayer. my heart. Now, for some of you, you may look at that and go now, why would we ask God to search our heart? He knows it, and I've got a good heart anyway. I mean, you've got a good heart, and I've got a good heart, we've got a good heart, right? Actually, we need to understand that without Christ, we do not have a good heart. It's a very common saying, well, she's got a good heart. Actually, she's got a wicked heart, okay, if you want to be completely accurate.

Jeremiah 179 says this. The human heart is what, let's all say it aloud. The human heart is what, The human heart is the most deceitful of all things. And what is it? It is desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? We need to understand that without Christ, our heart is not a good heart. That we deceive others. We deceive ourselves.

In fact, we're all liars. How many of you are liars? Raise your hands. Raise them up for a second. Leave them up, if you will. Leave them up. Look at everybody's hands nod up in the air. Just stare at them for a moment.

Call them. Just go ahead and say it. Liar, liar, pants on fire. We're all liars. We lie, we lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. And I'm going to argue that often the most common lie that we tell is to ourselves. We lie to ourselves. The most common lie that most of us tell is to ourselves.

The heart is deceitful. We deceive ourselves. We don't even know how bad we are. We lie to ourselves. Like, I don't eat a lot. I don't eat that much. I don't, excuse me, I don't eat that much. I'm only going to have one drink.

I'm only going to have one or two many drinks. I'm not full of pride. I'm not full of pride, but I can't help it if I'm better than everybody else. I mean, I'm not full of pride. I mean, I don't lust at all. I mean, you know, I just appreciate a nice fine physique, you know. I'm not materialistic. I mean, I just need nice things, you know.

I'm not a gossip. I never gossip. I'm just telling people so they can pray for all these people who are doing bad things. You know, the heart is deceitful. Above all things. And we need a really dangerous prayer when we go before God and say, search my heart, God. Show me what is in there.

Search my heart, oh God. In fact, I remember the first time I was exposed to this verse. I was in high school. I was in the UMYF. Okay, that was the name of our youth group. The most cutting edge title for any youth group in the history of the world. UMYF stood for United Methodist Youth Fellowship. Boom!

That was a good title. And in my UMYF, the youth pastors didn't last very long, okay? They're there a year and there we'd go. We had this one old guy who came in. It seemed like he was only there for about six weeks or so, which is really disappointing to me because he almost reached me, okay? I was a kid. I went to church, but I did not know Jesus personally.

I was just going playing Foursquare, playing truth or dare in the back of the van on the way of the ski trip, which was awesome. Asked me the truth so you can get to the dares. You can dare me to kiss the girl. Oh! I don't know. where God was in that, but that's what happened in the back of the van at UMYF, okay? And so, I mean, it was all, it was four square champion, and it was all about the ranking

of four square. Well, this guy came in, and he had, like, business to accomplish. And he was talking about God and how you could know God. And I was, like, going, can you really? And it was intriguing to me. And he said, what I want you to do is, is he read this verse, and he talked about David, searched me God, and how David had courage to pray this. And I just remember, going, wow, that's like, I kind of understand this.

And he said, I want you all to go take about a half an hour and pray this prayer. Then when you pray, I want you to listen and listen for God to speak to us. I was like, dude, you mean like maybe I could hear from God like this was crazy? And so I went and sincerely prayed this prayer. Search me, God. Know my heart. Test me and show me anything that's offensive in me. And I prayed this prayer.

And then I listened. And God said, you have an amazing heart. You're the best kid I know. I can't believe I created you. You're so good. You know what happened is I'm praying this prayer and I heard it. It was like it wasn't audible but I had this overwhelming sense of this presence going, you're faking it.

Like, oh, that's encouraging, okay? But it was so true and it might have been because I always wanted to wear Izodz or Lacoste, depending on what you call it, but we couldn't afford them. So my mom went to the garage show and bought Iazod socks and cut the alligator off and put it on a generic shirt and I was the guy with the crooked alligator going this way. Maybe that's why I don't know. But the real sense at that moment was, I am faking it.

I'm at this youth group pretending like I'm a Christian, and I'm not. More so, I'm with my parents or teachers that I'm one guy, and then I'm with my party friends and I'm somebody else. I'm with the athlete friends on somebody, and I'm with the girl, you know. And so I just was not ever true to who I was anywhere, and I was faking it. And so in this moment, I had this real sense and awareness of my sinfulness and my need for God. and I just remember being drawn to God. Well, somehow I managed to shake it off.

He got fired. You know, maybe he was too excited about God for you, MIF, I don't know, but he got fired, and I went on my life without God. Okay. When you pray, search my heart. It's a dangerous prayer. Because God is going to show you things in your heart that are not pure, not to be cruel, but to bring you into deeper intimacy with them as His Holy Spirit

It transforms you to be conformed to the image of Christ. It's a dangerous prayer you need to understand, but it's one that can make you so much closer to God. David pray, search my heart. Then he prays, essentially, reveal my fears. Reveal my fears. He says this in verse 23, search me God, and know my heart, test me and then know what. Let's all say it aloud all over churches. He says, and know my anxious thoughts.

Know my anxious thoughts. What is it that makes you anxious? Know my anxious thoughts. A lot of times we don't even acknowledge them. We just kind of think, well, everybody has to worry about this. What is it that makes you afraid? I'm not talking about like snakes and spiders. And the man behind the shower curtain is there in the dark waiting for you when you come into the bathroom.

I'm not talking about that guy, okay? He might be there. He's never been there, but I check for him every time. And if you ever think you're going to be him, just understand, I'm cocked and ready. Every single time. Okay? Every single time. Every single time.

What is it that internally makes you afraid? What is it that makes you anxious? Afraid of losing your job? Afraid of not getting married by such and such age. Afraid of being stuck in the marriage that you're in and not getting any better. Afraid of the future, the unknown. Afraid of failing. Some people are afraid of succeeding.

afraid of loss. What if I lose somebody? What if I lose something that I value so dearly? Why does this matter? Why would we say, God, show me my anxious thoughts? I would argue because of this, if you're taking notes, you can jot this down. Because what we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least. Think about that. What we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least. If I'm scared to death that my marriage isn't going to work, I'm not trusting God with my marriage. If I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to pay the bills, I'm not trusting God to be my provider.

If I'm afraid that I've got to keep my children saying, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, okay, I'm not trusting my children to God. What you fear the most reveals where you trust God the least. God, reveal my fears. Test me, God, and show me where my anxious thoughts fall. So I prayed this prayer this week. Every day, I started the day praying this prayer.

Dangerous prayer. Search me, God. Know my heart. Reveal my anxious thoughts. What God showed me about what I fear the most is not something I'm really proud of, but I am scared to death of failing. If I succeed, it's often because I'm so driven by fear of failing. And I kind of prayed through more of that, and I recognize, well, actually what I fear is not just failing, but it's letting people. down. And then I got to the deeper level as I was praying through it, and I realized I just

have a massive fear of being inadequate, of not being enough, not being good enough, not being righteous enough, not being wise enough, not being whatever enough. This is my fear, okay? And this is a real issue because in the church and in my role, I cannot be driven by fear. I have to be led by faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And there are some things that I really believe God wants our church to do, but there's no guarantees that's always going to work. Okay? And so often my fear will keep me from being obedient. And what in this, I'm just telling you maybe more than you want to know, but it's really

meaningful to me. As I was praying through it this week, what I really believe God showed me is that I have to love pleasing him more than I fear failing. And that was just, that was really powerful to me. I have to love pleasing him and being obedient to him more than I'm afraid of failing. And so just in my own time of praying this, God test me, know my anxious thoughts. This comes to mind. And so what am I doing?

I'm quoting scripture to renew my mind. Perfect love cast down all fear. God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And I just kind of dare you, double dog dear you. Pray this prayer. Search my heart, oh God. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. What is what you fear matter?

What you fear the most reveals where you trust God the least. Suddenly you recognize in this one area, I'm really not trusting God. And suddenly, as you start to do what I did, you get down to the root of it, and then God's word can speak to the root of the problem, and that can become an anchor moment when suddenly you say, no, I will take that step of faith, or I will do what God is calling me to do. It's a dangerous prayer. When you pray this, God will reveal things to you about yourself

that you may not have been willing to acknowledge for years and years and years, because the most common lie we tell is often to ourselves. Now, that's not an issue for me. Oh, I've got this. Well, I'm fine. Oh, yes, I'm whatever. Search my heart, God. Reveal my fears.

And then number three, man, this is where it gets even a little more difficult. Uncover my sins. God. This is what David prays. And I love the courage it takes to pray this dangerous prayer. He prays, God. See if there is. any offensive way in me. Show me, God, anything about my life that is inconsistent with your

truth. God, show me anything that I'm doing that's displeasing to you. See if there is any offensive way in me. Because have you noticed it's really difficult to see our own sins in the mirror? Oh, it's so easy to find everybody else's. Can you believe the way she walks around talking like, she's all hot stuff? And she's a blah, blah, blah, blah. And he comes to her thing like, If I were him, I tell him, oh, they just, I had one moment with her. I just, la, blah, la, la, la, yeah. Me? Oh, no, no, no, bless Jesus, I am holy, okay?

Have you noticed that? We tend to accuse others, and what do we do with ourselves? We excuse ourselves. Oh, well, I just have to do it. I mean, this is how I get through it. It's not that big a judge. It's not your business. Judge not less you be judge, okay?

It's so easy to see everybody else's sins, but not our own. I'll give you a crazy example. This is crazy and is completely true. Years ago, I was going off on a Sunday morning, kind of having fun, making fun of people. And this would be some of you. And if it's you, I am making fun of you. You're stuck in traffic, and you're not moving on a highway.

And somebody thinks they're so important they can drive on the right side down the shoulder. Who knows what I'm talking about? Like, who do you think you are? You arrogant? Oh, you're so important, Mr. Spartan. car driving beat, beep, beep, beep, beep, beat, beat down the side while we're all law-abiding God, fearing faithful Americans, you know, here you are. And I mean, I just went off on it, just went off on it, just unleashed on it.

That's on a Sunday. Monday, I'm driving to my office, okay? I used to office at the campus I'm at now, I don't anymore, but I'm driving there, and there's like a wreck or something, nobody's moving. I'm about 50 yards, only 50 yards away from the drive-in, the little place to get into the church. I'm sort of going, this is ridiculous. I'm like, I can throw a tennis ball and hit it.

And there's not a shoulder, but grass on the side, and it's a church grass. So here you see where my mind is going. It all belongs to God. I'm a servant of the most high God. It's kind of my grass. And so next thing you know, I'm just driving on the grass. Past some of these people. There's a kid.

His name is Alex Dawson. He's actually on staff now. He was a little kid at the time. He looks out in the window with terror. He goes, dad, there's one of those guys, Pastor Craig hates. He looked at it and he started crying, Daddy, that is Pastor Grigg. Where did that come from?

24 hours later, less than that. I'm doing the very same thing. And this is the way the heart is deceitful above all things. The most common lies are the ones that we tell ourselves. And that's why it takes tremendous courage to say, search my heart, God. test me know my anxious thoughts see if there is any offensive way in me and this can be one of the most game-changing prayers you ever pray when you give god permission to point out any sin that's

dwelling within your heart now i want to give you three questions that are really helpful to ask yourself as you're praying uncover my sins three questions that really help you with self-awareness. The first question is ask this, what are others trying to tell me? What are other people trying to tell me? In other words, if you've had three or four people tell you, hey, they love you, like, I think you might have a problem with this. This is kind of an issue. Hey, I'm a little bit concerned about you here. If you've got consistently people that love you tell you that, that might be something you want to pay a little close attention to. There is a common denominator here, and it is you. Okay? Pay attention to that. The second question is

this, ask yourself, what have I rationalized for some time? What have I rationalized? In other words, yeah, this may not be right, but it's not that big of a deal. And this is just how I deal with things. I mean, this is how I cope. It's nobody else's business anyway. This isn't really hurting anybody. This is just kind of my one thing or whatever. What are you rationalized? Well, I'm going to quit. You know, it's not that big of a deal. And then the third thing is this, where am I most defensive? Where am I most defensive? Oh, no, no, we're not going there. No, we're not talking about that. No, don't you judge me. No, no, no, no, I don't have a problem with that, and no, back off.

When I told you, we're not talking about that. Where are you most offensive? You see, when I see those three questions, it takes my mind right back to a significant issue that I had and denied for quite some time until I gave God permission to reveal my sinfulness. I've told a version of this story before. I'll tell it again. In the early years of the church, I had person. after person set appointments with me. We had like 200 people coming at the time, and I mean, they would set appointments with me. I thought we're going to talk about whatever.

And their appointment was to lovingly confront me saying that I was too crude in my preaching. In other words, I had potty humor or whatever. And they say, you know, hey, we like the church, but Craig, you're too crude. I'm like, well, you're just a big old prude, aren't you? You still have a sense of humor. I mean, he who the son says free is free indeed. And obviously, you're still in legalism and bondage, because if you were free like me, wouldn't be that big of a deal, okay? And person after person, literally, probably 12 to 15 times, I had appointments where people would come in, really, you know, people,

I respected him say, hey, we think you're being too crude. And how in the world do I hear this? The heart is deceitful, above all things. And so finally this one guy came in, to me, he was so wise, looking back on it. He said, hey, Craig, I just want you to know, man, I'm in. This is my church home. I'm going to serve you. I got your back, no matter what.

but as you know, a lot of people think you might be too crude. Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. And he says, I know you really want to please God. I know that about you. And so, would you mind just praying and asking God? Ask God to show you if you're being too crude. If you are, he'll show you, if you're not. He won't.

Either way, I'm here. But maybe you can do this because I know you want to please God. But, well, that sounds reasonable enough. So I thought, okay, I'll do this. And I did. I prayed it wasn't like a deep, you know, like, oh, show you. It was just, okay, God, show me if I am, you will. And that was it.

very next weekend, I'm preaching, and I had a zinger. Man, you'd have liked it, okay? The sinful side of you would have liked it. I mean, it was, and it was like maybe up to the line, maybe a little over the line, maybe five steps over the line, I don't know, but it was a zinger, and I was about to say it, and I was about to say it, and that was the week that my oldest daughter, Katie, had been promoted from kids' church into big church, and she was sitting right over to my side, and right as I was about to say it, my mind just went racing.

Wait a minute, I wouldn't want her to say this, and I don't really even want her to hear it, and I'm a pastor and oh, all these people have been right, dear God, I've been crude, I can't believe this, and it just hit me like that, just like that. Boom. Oh, now, some of you are saying, well, why haven't you done anything about it all these years? Okay, now, to my defense, if you've been with us for 18 or 19 years,

you will say, oh, he has done a lot. You would have, you're like, yes. Okay, so it's a working process. And it was at that moment that I was massively convicted. Oh my gosh, I have been saying things that would be a bad example to my daughter, therefore it's a bad example to the church. When you have the courage to pray this prayer, see if there is any offensive way in me. Let me make you a promise. God will point some things out. God will point some things out that you've been trying to explain away for a long time. God will point some things out that you're

trying to deny. Do not deny the truth. Denying the truth does not make truth false. Submit yourself to what God is trying to show you. And then what do we do is we have the courage when God shows us something to bring it to light. There's different types of confession. We confess to God for forgiveness and we confess to people for healing. We confess to God for forgiveness. Scripture says if we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all and righteousness. But we also confess to people, confess your sins to one another, and pray for each other that you might be healed. We confess to God for forgiveness, but we confess to people for healing. And this is why life groups, they are an absolute vital part of what we do, because we come together

as a part of the community of God, and we say, you know what, I need help here. Would you hold me accountable? Would you pray for me? God is showing me this. God is showing me that. And suddenly we recognize, well, he's not perfect and she's not perfect, and therefore I can show my imperfections. And by the way, if you are perfect, this is the wrong church for you, okay? There's no perfect people allowed. So if you're like perfect and holy and all that kind of stuff, go polish your halo somewhere else. This is a place where imperfect people are being transformed by a perfect God.

And we just open up about our faults to one another, and we recognize we're all in process. We all need the help of Jesus. And so, search my heart, God, reveal my fears, uncover my sins. When I put all of what I just told you about me together, let's see what it points to. You're a fake, okay? So I'm kind of performing for people. We see that back in high school. I don't want to fail.

I don't want to let people down. I want to live up to people's expectation. I don't want to be inadequate because I don't want other people to think I don't have what it takes. I'm saying jokes that are maybe inappropriate. I'm performing for people. When you add all these things up, what I see is, for the vast majority of my life, I've battled with living for the approval of people instead of living for the approval of God. How's that for disturbing?

How's that for honest? I've battled living for the approval of people instead of living for the approval of God. That's not encouraging for anybody, especially when you're a pastor. So what does that do? That points me to my need for Jesus. That points me to my need for His grace. That points me to knowing that my identity must be in Him and not in what people think. And what our need does is it always points us to the area where we must call on and learn to depend on Christ.

whatever he shows you. Well, I'm addicted. I don't want to admit it, but I'm addicted. Listen, you need his power to overcome your addiction. Well, I'm full of pride, okay? You need his power to be humbled and depend on him. Well, I've got a lust issue, and it's out of control. You need his truth to renew your mind and transform your heart.

Well, I'm materialistic. I'm loving the things of this world. You need to fall so in love with him that this, world is not your home, but heaven is your home. Whatever he shows you, it always points directly to your need for Christ. It always points directly to your need for Christ. And it's a dangerous prayer. It takes courage to pray it. Because when you pray it, he'll show you some things about yourself that you're not real proud of. But there's always grace. There's always grace. Then David at the very end, what does he pray? He prays number four. Lead me. Lead me. When you show me what I don't like,

about myself and show me what needs to be taken. Now you lead me in the way of everlasting. Verse 23, verse 24, he says, to see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting. Lead me in the way of everlasting. When you have the courage to pray a very dangerous prayer, search me, God, you have permission to look deep into the depths of my deceitful heart and show me. me, God, test me. Reveal to me my anxious thoughts. Show me the very places that I fear the most

because that shows me where I trust you the least. See if there's any offensive way in me. No, I'm not pointing a finger at anybody, God. I'm letting you reveal to me what I need to hear. You see, in the early years, you often get the big things out of the way, okay? Then you walk with Jesus for a long, and suddenly it's the little things. You know what? You know what I've found? little things are often the big things. It's often the hard issues that are the biggest things who will reveal to you. And then when he shows you, what does that do? It points us to our direct need for Christ. Jesus, I need your help. Jesus, I need your power. Jesus, I need your grace. Jesus, I need your freedom. So for me, Jesus, my identity must be completely in you because I refuse

to perform for people. I only God want to live. you. Help me to live for an audience of one by knowing so much who I am in Christ that my security is in him and him alone. When you pray this prayer, it will show you your need. Then you take that need directly to Christ, and you let Christ meet that need and conform you to his image. It's a dangerous prayer, okay? But it's a prayer that can transform your life. So at all of our churches, let's close together with this prayer from Psalm 139, and here is our prayer. Search me, God. God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. As you continue in prayer today, Father, we ask that your

Holy Spirit would do a work in us. And God, I thank you that there are a few people today that this will become an anchor message for them. That as they start to pray and seek you, you're going to show them something in their life that you're going to transform. You're going to lead to you. You're going to them in a way that takes them out of bondage and brings them into the life that you have planned for them. God, we thank you that they'll have the courage to ask for help. God, we thank you we'll all have the courage to pray. Search us, God, and trust you to reveal whatever is in us that you need to change. What I'm going to ask you to do today at all of our churches, as you're praying, nobody looking around. I'm going to ask you if you'll commit just to pray this

dangerous prayer every day this week, every day this week. In fact, for many of you, this will become an ongoing part of your prayer life. So when you wake up in the morning, the first thing we do is not look at Instagram. The first thing we do is we're going to pray. We're going to pray this prayer. And I'm going to ask you to commit to do this. And I want to be real, real clear, do not raise your hand because you feel pressure. I don't want to manipulate anybody. Just if you, if you'll do this and make it real, real, a real serious commitment every day, I'm going to to pray, then I'm going to listen. Just for a few moments, just listen and see what God shows you. And when he does, he will give you the power through his son, Jesus, to become

who he's calling you to become. All of our churches, if you say, you know what, I am in, I'm ready to pray some dangerous prayers. And this week, I'm going to ask God every single day to search me and listen for what he shows me and be faithful to where he leads me. If that's you today, would you lift up your hands high right now? Just all of our churches just lift up your hands. Man, fantastic. I'm so thankful for so many people hungry to know God in a personal way. Father, I ask that over the next few days, that for those who maybe don't have a morning time with you, that this would be the beginning of an intimate time of putting you first. We put you in the first of our day, the first of our week we worship you, the first of our income we worship you. God, we want to put you first.

I pray, God, this would be the beginning of seeking you first in a day. And God, we'll just submit our hearts to you, recognizing that our hearts are impure and deceitful above all things, but knowing with Christ you can transform our hearts. So, God, we give you permission to search our hearts. We ask you to test us. We ask you to reveal our anxious thoughts. God uncover our sins, show us anything that is offensive in our lives. And then, God, we ask you to lead us.

And I thank you in advance that for some, this will be an anchor message, and this will become an anchor prayer. that we continue to seek you, and you continue to transform us, God, as only you can do. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, there are some of you, if you even just started to seek God, you're going to recognize your massive need for God. This is what's so crazy. I grew up going to church. I was in the youth group. I did not know him.

You can be in church today. You can be in church every week. And some of you, when you pray this prayer, you're going to recognize you don't have an intimate relationship with God. Others of you, you're not a church person. You can't even believe you're in church or watching online right now. Like this is pushing it for you, but there's something that's drawing you toward God right now. Let me tell you what that is.

That is His Holy Spirit. And when you pray and ask God to search you, what you're going to realize is that you've done a lot of things wrong. If you ever feel guilty for those things, listen, that's a good thing. It's, I believe, a conscious that God has given you to recognize that we have all sinned. Every single one of us. How do we know we've done something wrong because God put in us? an inner device that says this is right and this is wrong. And so we try to be better, we try to work hard,

and we think maybe I'll be good enough for God, and we don't recognize that it is totally and completely impossible for us ever to perform or be good enough for God. We were not designed to be good enough for him on our own. The fact that we're sinners reveals to us our need for a Savior. And that's how good God is. He loved us so much that he became like us in the person of his son, Jesus. And Jesus hung out with people like us,

the messed up ones, the ones that didn't get it right, the ones who sinned and fell way short, and he loved them, but he didn't leave them there. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. On the third day, he rose again, so that anyone in this includes you who calls on his name would be saved and forgiven. Some of you, this is your anchor message, because today you recognize you need Christ, you need his forgiveness, you need his grace, and that's why you're here. No one needs to tell you this. You can sense it even now.

You need His forgiveness and you're ready to call on Him. What do we do? We simply turn away from our sins and say, I want to walk away from that. Jesus, I'm walking towards you. I surrender my life. I ask you to save me and be first in my life. At all of our churches, those who say, yep, that's me. Today is the day I can sense it.

By faith, I give my life to him. That's your prayer. And all of our churches, would you lift your hands high right now and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you right back over here. God bless you. Others today who say yes back here in this section right over here as well. Up here close to me. Others today right back over here all the way toward the back.

Say yes, Jesus. I surrender to you. Church online, you click right below me back here in this section. Praise God for you. Others today. Others today who say yes, I call on him. Would you all pray aloud with those around you? Pray Heavenly Father, today I give my life completely to you.

Jesus, forgive me. me of all of my sins, make me brand new, fill me with your spirit so I could follow you for the rest of my life, I surrender to you. My life is not my own. Today it is yours. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray.

At all of our churches, would you worship big? Would you worship loud? Would you welcome those born into God's family? new life in Christ Jesus.