Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Get Over Yourself | Deep Clean Part 5

Episode Date: May 2, 2021

Pride is something that most of us struggle with, but it’s not always easy to detect. During Week 5 of Deep Clean, we’re learning more about pride and humility so we can step into who God created us to be.ABOUT THIS MESSAGESometimes life can leave us feeling like a mess. The kind of mess that’s just too complicated to figure out. But it’s possible to start fresh. To experience life in a new way. Discover how in our new message series, Deep Clean.Start Your Deep CleanAs we talk through different topics in our current message series, Deep Clean, we want to equip you with tools specific to your personal needs. Visit http://www.life.church/howtoquit and https://www.life.church/mydeepclean to learn more.Learn more about Deep Clean: www.life.church/deepcleanStart the Deep Clean Bible Plan: http://www.go2.lc/cleanWE’RE OPENTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT 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/nextABOUT 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.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel#lifechurch Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How good is it to be together in the church or even online? Today we are concluding our message series called Deep Clean with a message I pray will speak to you. We're going to do something different today. I'll tell you about in just a moment. Next week we're starting a new message series. It's called True Virtue. Today I want to start in Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 18. If you wouldn't mind at all of our church locations if you're able, would you stand to your feet in

honor of the reading of God's word. Luke 18, starting in verse 9, Jesus said this. He said, to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One of Pharisee and the other a tax collector. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but this is no joke. This is a parable of Jesus. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, like robbers and evildoers and adulterers, or even like this tax collector. He said, I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all I get in our world today. He might say, I read my U-Versian Bible plan daily. I attend the right church, not the wrong church. I tithe. I always vote

the right way, not like some of the rest of you. I'm smarter than everybody else. I'm informed, not like you. I've got a college degree. I've got no debt. I'm on my way to a six-figure income. I might even be verified one day on Instagram, whatever it is. Jesus said, but the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn't even look up. He beat his breast and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you, Jesus said that this man, the repentant tax collector, this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Today, I want to talk to you about the deadly sin of pride. And the title of today's message is, get over yourself. Go ahead and be seated at all of our churches today, if you will. I'm curious today, how many of you would say that you've got a pride? with pride. Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Type it in the chat. I've got a problem with pride. If you do, I'm talking to you today. But

I'm especially talking to those of you who are too proud to raise your hand. Because the truth of the matter is, all of us at one level or another struggle with pride. And the truth is, pride is ridiculously challenging to identify.

What do we know about pride? A couple of things about pride that we need to acknowledge is this. Pride, number one, is dangerously destructive. And number two, pride is difficult to detect. It's incredibly destructive, but it's also very, very difficult to see in the mirror. Most of us, when we think of, like, the bad sins, we think of like murder and greed and lust. But all of us have a little bit of pride.

The truth is, God hates pride. Because it's destructive and difficult to detect. In fact, a couple of verses from Scripture, Proverbs 16.5 says, The Lord detests all the proud of heart. He can't stand. He says, be sure of this, they will not go unpunished. Proverbs 813 says,

All who fear the Lord will hate evil. God says, therefore I hate pride and arrogance. God hates it. It's dangerously destructive to your soul. and it's difficult to detect. The challenge is that those who need it the most don't know that they need it. This is a difficult topic to preach.

Since it's so difficult, you know what I'm doing today? I'm delegating it. That's right. I am going to team teach this message with your local campus pastor. I'm excited for you to hear from, very godly, very faithful leaders at all of our life church locations.

Could you help me welcome today, your campus? this pastor. Well, it is an incredible honor to stand up here right now. My name is Sam Marin, and I get to be the pastor here at Life Church in Edmund. I'm also one of the pastors at Life Church Online, and man, I'm just so thankful for Pastor Craig. Pastor Craig, Amy, Liz and I love you guys so much. We respect you deeply. We're honored to serve under your leadership, and we thank you for this opportunity as well. Would you all show us some love to our pastors today? So we're going to talk about pride today, right? Now, when Pastor Craig told me, hey, I want you to talk about pride, I thought, okay, cool.

Yeah, I think I could crush this. Yeah. And then I thought about the last time that I did something after Pastor Craig because this is Pastor Craig Groschelle, okay? And so here's what happened. I saw our pastor post this workout video a while back. Check us out. This is our pastor right here, busting out this core workout, right? And I'm looking at it.

I'm like, that's our pastor. pastor. What a beast. And I started thinking, you know, I think I could, I think I could do that. I think I could rock that. Well, check out my attempt. This is my first attempt right here. Here we go. Nope. Watch those knees buckle. Oh, yeah. Nope. Can't get it. So, you know, so I came out. I was like, I'm pretty confident that I could do this. And it was immediately followed by this just obsession with, oh my gosh, I hope I don't mess up. Like, I hope people like me. I hope I communicate well. I hope my knees don't buckle when I'm preaching. Like, this is pride because it's about me, right? And it's pride and pride is a problem.

My pride is a problem. And if you're open to hearing from God today, I believe that you might find the same for yourself. Now, if you battle with pride, the good news is, is your You're not alone. Okay? Throughout history, throughout the entire Bible, we see examples of people who struggled with pride, beginning with God's first creation, Adam and Eve. They struggled with pride.

Then with King David, a man after God's own heart, he struggled with pride. And then Peter himself, he struggled with pride. See, Peter, he knew all about being prideful, but then he also knew about being humbled. After confidently declaring his loyalty to Jesus, Peter denies Jesus three times. After being stripped of his pride, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5,5,

He says this, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time, he will lift you up in honor. Now, before we get too far into the message, So I want to address a question that many of you're going to ask. You're going to say, hey, is it always a sin to be proud? Is all pride sinful?

And the answer is no. If your kid treats somebody kindly and you're proud of your kid, that's okay, right? That's good, right? It's not prideful. It's not sinful to bring your best to something that matters. It's not sinful to be proud and be confident in the gifts and talents that God has given you. That's not sinful pride. Not all pride is sinful.

So what is sinful pride? What makes pride sinful? It's simply this. Sinful pride is an elevation of ourselves above others and a denial of our need for God. It's an elevation of ourselves above others, and it's a denial that we actually need God. And so today, I want to look at three different types

of sinful pride. You guys ready? All right, if you're ready, you've got to bring a little bit more here today. I know some of you are like, this has been a minute. Let's go right now. Are you guys ready? Let's go. If you're ready in the chat, type it, I'm ready.

Here's the thing about pride that I love. Pride is actually international. It respects no borders, right? So in the chat right now, if you're joining us online, our life church family all over the world, type it in your language. Put the word pride in your language. Maybe in Argentina, it's Urguzio, right?

Or Chinese is Zhaoao. Or in Lebanese, mit Kapir. Like these are the different words for prize. It doesn't matter where you're from. Pride is international. And so we're going to talk about pride. Here's the first type of sinful pride. It's, I'm better than you pride.

I'm better than you. We see this type of sinful pride in Jesus' parable in Luke. What does it say? It says that the Pharisee looked down at his nose at the tax collector. And he said, thank God I'm not like you. It's the I'm better than you pride. What's odd is that this Pharisee had no idea

of how full of himself he was. See, pride is dangerously destructive, and it's difficult to detect in ourselves. Now, when I started preparing this message, I really struggled, because I was asking, God, show me if I have this type of pride. And honestly, I couldn't find anything. I was like, I'm the most humble guy you know. Like, that's pride, right? And I prayed, and I said, God, show me if this is in my life. And then he hit me with it. So I was born in Mexico, And at five years old, my parents decided they felt from God called to move to the United States to be pastors of a Spanish-speaking church.

So we migrated to the US on what's called a religious visa. And then we went to the process and became residents and then eventually we became citizens. Now I'm very proud of my Mexican roots, but I'm also very proud to be an American. And what I realized, and this is where God hit me with it. There was a time in my life where I elevated myself, and I would think,

Well, at least I'm not like those immigrants. At least I'm not like them. And I put myself higher. And that's embarrassing to tell you. Because that pride is disgusting. It's awful. And God hates that pride. Now I want to acknowledge right now,

this room got really quiet. Why? You might be thinking, Pastor Sam, this is barely. Point number one, you're already going deep. Because this series is not called a gentle scrubbing. This series is not called just a slight cleaning. This series is called deep clean, right? Because that's what pride is.

It's deep inside of us. Most of us don't ever say, I'm better than you. But this type of sinful pride often manifests itself as a spiritual pride, as a critical spirit. Now, maybe for you, it's like, oh, I would never watch that movie. Like, I watch Netflix. I watch my old Victorian show. Yeah, it's got a little bit of nudity in it, but nothing like that.

It's historical, right? I would never watch something like that. I would never drink that drink. I would never vote for that candidate. Oh, we're going to go there, right? Maybe it's at work for you. Like, nobody works like me. Nobody can do it like me.

Nobody works as hard as me. I'm the best at this. Maybe it's in current events. Oh, everyone is stupid. I'm the most informed, right? Or maybe it's in relationships. It's especially in relationships. Now, I want to talk to the married couples right now

because married couples, you know this. When you get married, you're gonna fight, right? We fight. Y'all are acting really holy right now. You know you got in a fight right before you got to church, okay? You get in fights when you're married. And so here's what I want you to realize, like when you fight. I want to give you some advice for married couples.

This advice is gonna rock your world. It's been verified, it's been justified, it's been certified by marriage council, by psychologists, by pastors all over the world. Write this down. If you're married, you want to write this down, it's gonna change your life. You ready?

Here it is. Married couples. If you're gonna fight, fight naked. Down, come on, get all the way naked, right? Why is this? Because you can't fight when you're naked, right? You're vulnerable, you're susceptible to injury, like you can't do it.

Look, trust me, try it. Your spouse will either run out of the room or they'll just stay there laughing at you or who knows you might just make up in the moment right it's crazy you can't do it right because you're vulnerable you're transparent in that moment now single people y'all thought i forgot about you nah i got you i'm coming for you i'm stepping in your business today single people because you too can struggle with pride now i want to be clear you should never settle for anything less than what god has for you okay you want a godly person but some of y'all, y'all have a laundry list of expectations for that spouse that you're looking for.

Right? Ladies, you're looking for that 6-2, handsome, rich, deep spiritual leader, right? Gentlemen, you're looking for that gorgeous, humble, beautiful, respectful woman of God, right? Here's what I want you to understand. Sometimes, and the truth could be, for you single people, you're waiting for perfection and missing out on God's great selection. Because check this out. You might be waiting, right? You might be expecting blonde and blue eyes, but you might get a black beauty or a brown brother.

And let me just tell you, you know this, black don't crack and brown don't frown, baby. Like, you need to open up your horizon a little bit. Like, you need to see that there are so many, countless godly men that are, you know, five, six, which is average height. I mean, that's good. or you might just recognize that there are countless godly women who will not maybe cook all your meals

and sew your clothes but they will honor you respect you and build you up and here's the thing i know this firsthand right if liz and i would have waited until we were perfect we would have never gotten married i'll show you a picture real quick this is liz and i when we first got married well when we got married we got married on the beach and uh early on in our marriage i said something to my wife I said, babe, if I wanted to wash my own clothes, iron my own clothes, and cook my own meals, I would have stayed single. What an idiot, right? Like, why would I say that?

And, you know, it's crazy because this, she had a lot of grace with me. She's had a lot of grace with me. This is how it started. Let me show you how it's going, all right? This is me and my wife, and this week we celebrate 19 years of marriage, baby. And guess what? I'm a pretty good cook and I ironed this outfit. Here's the thing about marriage.

If you get married, marriage is the greatest relationship you'll ever have second only to your relationship with God. Why? Because this person is the person that you can be completely vulnerable with, transparent with. This is the person that commits to choosing you, regardless of your failures, regardless of your mistakes. They choose to show you what God wants to show you.

And that's that your best, biggest failures aren't too big for God's grace. Somebody just needs to hear that right now. This is maybe the only thing you came for. You feel like you failed. You feel like you let God down, like you've let those around you down. I need you to hear me right now.

The God that we serve is a God that can handle your failures. You're not too far from God. You haven't messed up too much. He loves you and his word says that nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God. He can handle it. And this leads us to our second type of pride. This is the I can handle it pride.

I can handle it. Put that in the chat right now. I can handle it. Some of you, if you're honest, this is your type of pride. It's a pride in yourself. Maybe for you, you love to give to help others, but you find it really hard to receive.

Maybe you've been dealing with the same obstacle, the same challenge for years, there's the same addiction, and you can't overcome it because you're too prideful to ask for help. I can handle it. Perhaps one of the biggest indicators of this type of I can handle it pride is the fact that you rarely pray. You rarely pray. You rarely talk to God, and when you do, your prayers are flat, they're faithless, and they're predictable. God, give us a good day.

God, bless this food. God, keep us safe. They're predictable. And when you think about it, when you don't pray faithfully, your lack of prayer is you declaring that you don't need God. I can handle it. We see this back in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. God tells Adam, hey, don't eat of the fruit. Anything else, you can eat of everything,

but just don't eat of this fruit, because you'll die, right? So Adam lets Eve know, hey, we don't need of that fruit. So then the serpent comes along and tells Eve, you won't die. Man, you'll be like God. And if you're like God, then you don't need God. And check out what Genesis 3,6 says. It says this.

It says the woman was convinced, and she wanted the wisdom that the fruit would give her. She felt and wanted to be like God. She thought I can handle being like God. so then she goes to Adam and gives him the fruit. Now, this is mind-blowing to me. Homeboy didn't even stop to ask, hey, why are we eating this fruit? Like, he didn't stop to question it.

Like, forget about asking for directions, guys, right? He didn't stop to just say, maybe we shouldn't do this. What's going on here? And then I thought to myself, what if, what would have happened if Eve would have just stopped and talked to her husband? What would have happened if they would have just stopped and talked to God?

That's all prayer is. It's talking to God. And then I really thought, like, what is Adam? Would have actually been the spiritual leader he was called to be? And when God shows up, he would have fallen on his face, humbled him and said, you know what, it's me. It's all me. I didn't protect my wife.

Whatever you would have fought for her. But instead of humbling themselves, they fell. to what I call the pride cycle. This is the pride cycle. You feel like you can handle it, you've got pride, and that leads you to sin. And then once you sin, you feel shame. And because of that shame, you're embarrassed.

You don't want anybody to know, so out of pride, you cover it up. And you get stuck in this cycle where pride leads you to sin, And sin leads you to shame and out of shame, you cover it up. And why did we cover it up? Because we wanna pretend that we're strong enough. We wanna pretend that we can handle it.

In fact, the Bible says that Adam and Eve, when they ate the fruit, they realized that they were naked. And it says that they were a shame. So they took leaves and they covered their shame. We do this with our lives. We act like we can handle it. And that shame that you feel, you don't know how to handle it, so then you actually just cover yourself up.

I want you to understand if this is your type of pride, humble yourself. Humble yourself. If you're addicted, ask for help. If your marriage is in trouble, ask for help. If you're spiritually struggling, reach out to somebody. If you're battling depression, ask for help, humble yourself, and God will lift you up. So I've given you two types of pride.

And some of you are here right now, you're like, whew, I made it, I'm good, because those don't apply to me. Can you guess what number three is? It's the, that doesn't apply to me pride. It doesn't apply to me, right? And here's how that looks. You act like you're above the rules. Those rules don't apply to me.

That's for someone else. Some of y'all came to church today and you're like, the message is on pride. Man, I gotta text my homeboy. He needs to know. Like he needs to, it's not for them, it's for you. The rules don't apply. Listen to what Proverbs 1618 says.

It says, the higher you lift yourself up in pride, the harder you'll fall in disgrace. Consider King David. King David, a man after God, own heart. Now, at the time when kings were supposed to go to war, King David decides, that's not, man, I'm above those rules. I don't need to go to war. So he stays home. So he ends up somewhere that he shouldn't have been. He sees something he shouldn't have seen and he does something that he shouldn't have done. You see, he recognizes and feels above the rules. So he goes

to his rooftop and he sees a woman bathing. And he still thinks the rules don't apply. And he still thinks the rules don't apply to me, so he has her brought to his castle, to his house, and then he sleeps with her and gets her pregnant. The rules don't apply to me. See, what you got to understand is status without accountability is the breeding ground for pride. The more status you have, and all of us have influence, the more influence you have, without accountability, it's the breeding ground for pride. And I don't know where you might see this in your life, but if you're honest, you might admit it's there. Maybe you think, well, I don't need to tithe. Like life is good without tithing. Why, why should I tithe? Man, I can look at whatever I want. Now, we're just, we're married in our

hearts. Is there somewhere in your life? Is there a sin in your life that you've rationalized? Some place in your life that you're pretending like you're above the rules. So watch this. Walk with me, okay? Check this out. Adam and Eve. I can, I can handle it, pride. I can be like God, right? So what does that happen? It leads them to sin, then it leads them to shame, so then they cover it up.

They're embarrassed, they're vulnerable, so they cover up their vulnerability. King David, it doesn't apply to me pride. I'm above the rules, leads to adultery, leads him to feel deep shame when he gets called out. And out of pride, he covers it up, and he has the husband basically killed. And then Peter, Peter who says,

I will never betray you. I'm better than all the disciples. I'll never betray you, Jesus. And he denies Jesus three times. And that leads him to shame. He runs away. But guess what? Instead of covering up his sin.

Instead of covering up his shame. You know what he does? He humbles himself. He's stripped of his pride. And then he tells us, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God. And at the right time, he will lift you up in honor. It's fascinating to me to think, who is saying this?

This is Peter, the guy who denies Jesus. The guy who steps out of the boat, starts to walk on water, sees the waves and the wind, and he starts to sink. And what does Jesus do when he starts to sink? Jesus reaches down with his mighty hand and lifts Peter up. And this same God that lifts Peter up, this is the same God that lifts us out of our sinfulness. And you see, I know this personally.

I know it firsthand. I've struggled with all three types of pride. But the biggest one for me was that I can handle it, pride. I can handle it. What I'm about to tell you is something that still to the day I can't believe that I did. It's an area in my life that I really never shared publicly. Now, if you've missed this message series,

you need to go back and watch all the services because they're so powerful. But specifically week number two, our pastor, Pastor Craig, delivered a message about how to beat porn. And as he talked through this message, I sat there and I thought, you know, he literally just described my childhood,

my teenage years and my early adulthood. As a kid, I suffered an early wound. I was exposed to pornography, and that led to years of addiction to porn. And just like Pastor Craig said, there were times where I would stop, but then I'd fall back. And I would try again, and then I'd fall back.

But out of my shame, I covered it up because I was too prideful. I could handle it. I was a pastor's kid. Nobody could know that I was struggling with this. I got involved in ministry. Nobody would, I can't tell anybody. They'll look at me differently.

They'll look at me bad. I covered it up. I felt like a hypocrite. I covered it out of pride. So I finally got to the point where I said, no more. I can't handle it. And I reached out to a brother

who had overcome this and I was humbled and I humbled myself and I said, I need your help. And see, many of us think that pride is just like a soft thing, but no, look, pride is what we just said. It's elevating ourselves above others and denying our need for God. So what's the opposite of pride? Pride is up here. It's elevating ourselves. Some of us think that pride is just simply to sit down.

And that's not the case. The opposite of pride, maybe it's to drop to your knees. But when you really want to humble yourself, there's no other position more humiliating, more humbling, than to just get down on your face. And some of y'all are thinking, this is really awkward. When's he going to get up? This is strange.

Please get up. But that's exactly the point. You see, society tells you, fight for yourself. prove your point tell them what you can do promote yourself but god says humble yourself even when it looks awkward even when it feels wrong humble yourself before me and when you humble yourself before god at the right time he will lift you up in honor you see i asked for help and i found free freedom. I turned in my shame and I received grace. I put down my pride and my life was lifted up. And let me just tell you right now, over 11 years of being set free from porn, never again looking back, never again struggling with that.

Why? Not because of what I did, but because of what God has done for us, he lifted me out. and he can do the very same for you. Maybe for someone here, it's time to humble yourself. It's time to confess a sin. Maybe it's time to humble yourself and ask for help. Maybe it's time to humble yourself and turn back to God. Because just like Luke 1814 says, for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled.

And those who humble themselves will be exalted. You see, pride is dangerously destructive. and it's difficult to detect. But the moment you do, you humble yourself before God, and He will lift you up. So God, we thank you that you are a father who loves us.

God, that no matter what we've done in our lives, you're there for us, ready to forgive us, ready to lift us up out of our sinfulness. As we pray today, I wonder if you would take just a moment and just slow down and just pray this prayer. God, do I have pride?

I believe that as you pray this prayer, he'll reveal it to you. He'll show you the areas in your life where you're battling with pride. If you're here today and you say, you know what, I recognize that I do, I struggle with pride. Maybe it's one of these three.

Maybe it's just a sinful pride in your life. Maybe you've recognized that you, you're acting like you don't need God, or you've elevated yourself above others. If you're hearing you say, you know what, I do struggle with pride, but today I want to be set free. I want to humble myself.

If that's you, would you raise your hand right now? Hands going up all over this place at Life Church Online. You just type it in the chat. Say, yes, I struggle with pride. We want to pray for you in the chat right now. God, I thank you for every person in this room. I thank you for a church family who is honest, Father God. and who is willing to humble themselves.

We humble ourselves before you. I pray that even in this moment your Holy Spirit would come. And God, that your hand, your mighty hand would lift us up. We humble ourselves before you today. As we continue in an attitude of prayer with every head bowed and every eye closed, there are some of you that God brought here for a very specific reason. You've been walking through life on your own, trying to fill a void in your life. You've tried all kinds of things.

Maybe you've tried relationships, maybe you've tried substances, but you can't fill that void. And here's the truth is that if you and I were to just sit down and have a conversation, and I would ask you, hey, where do you stand with God? You might sit and recognize, man, I am far from God. Here's what the truth is.

All of us sin. You've sinned. I've sin. We all fall short of God's standard, and that sin leads us to have shame. But today, today is a day that you can be rid of that shame. And the only way you can do that is by humbling yourself before a God who loves you and is ready to forgive you and give you a new life.

And for many of you, that is why you're here today, because it's time to turn away from your sins and turn towards Christ. And so in a moment, I'm going to count to three. And when I get to three, in this place right now, when I get to three, if that's you, I want you to shoot your hand up in the air. At Life Church Online, I want you to just put it in the chat right now. If you're hearing you say, I need Jesus. I need his forgiveness and his grace.

Listen to me, Jesus lived a sinless life, and he died on a cross so that you and I could be forgiven. And the Bible says that anyone, and this includes you, anyone who calls on the name of Jesus would be saved and be forgiven. And that is why you're here. So if that's you, man, don't hold back. One, God loves you. He's here for you right now.

Now. Two, don't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow's not promised to anyone. Today is your day of salvation. Three, come on, shoot your hand up in the air and look up at me. I see you right there in the back. God bless your sweetheart. God loves you. Welcome to the family of God. Right back over here, God is with you today. For giving you making you new. Others of you, I got you right there, brother. He's with you right now. Those of you online, just type it in the chat. I'm giving my life to Christ. Do that right now. Church family, would you pray with those around you, those watching online? Just repeat this simple prayer with me. We're going to pray together.

Say Heavenly Father, I give you my life. I surrender my heart, forgive me of my sins, and make me new. Fill me with your spirit so I can follow you and serve you all the days of my life. No more guilt, no more shame. my life belongs to you. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for your grace. And thank you for new life.

Now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray. Come on, church family. Would you celebrate right now?