Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Getting Closer to God | Pre-Decide: Part 4

Episode Date: January 30, 2022

Do you want to start getting closer to God? This message is the perfect place to start! We’re learning how to become fully devoted to God’s plan for our lives. ABOUT THIS MESSAGEWhat if becoming the person you want to be starts long before the moment you make a decision? Before you click "buy," before you take one more bite, or before you lash out at the people you love. Can the decisions you make today help you live the life you really want tomorrow? Let's learn together in our new message series, Pre-Decide. We’ve hand-picked articles, podcasts, and Bible Plans to help you learn how to make better choices in your life. Check out our Pre-Decide resources page to learn more! WE’RE OPENWe’re continuing to monitor guidelines and best practices for gathering in a safe way. 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/lifechurchTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIId...Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do you ever feel disappointed about where you are in life? Do you ever wake up and think, by the time that I was this age, by this time in life, I thought I'd be doing something more. Or maybe I thought I'd be doing something different. I thought I'd be doing something that's more significant. And so you kind of have these maybe secret or not so secret goals of I'd like to accomplish this. I'd like to get that. I'd like to have this type of relationship.

and then even when you find out you get what you thought you wanted, you still feel like life is a little bit empty. And then one day you're aware that life just seems to be passing you by. Do you ever wonder, is this all there is? Is there something more? Spoiler alert, there is. There is. And that's why the title of today's message is getting closer to God.

Father, we pray that by your power and the truth of your word, that you would stir within us the desire to know you intimately and serve you faithfully. And all that we do, we pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. You can type that in the comment section. Just type it in real big if you're with us today. Amen and amen and amen and amen. We are in a message series, and the message series is called Pre-decide. we're talking all about the power of our decisions because the direction of our life is determined by the quality of our decisions.

We make our decisions and our decisions make us. Our decisions are incredibly important. We know that, but the problem is most of us are not great decision makers. And so what we're doing over a period of a few weeks is we are pre-deciding some important decisions. In fact, on the screen we have a statement that we have a statement that we're going to be a few weeks. we've been looking at. And instead of waiting until we're in a certain situation to try to do the right thing then, we're saying this, whenever I'm faced with what, and you're putting some scenarios in the blank, whenever I'm faced with what, I have pre-decided to take a very specific

action. We're not waiting until the future to decide the moment, but with the wisdom of God, we're deciding ahead of time. And there are six specific areas that we're pre-specific areas that we're pre-deciding that we're going to be to reflect the goodness of God as followers of Jesus. If you've been here, we've covered a few of them. The first week, we decided that we are ready. What are you? Would you say this aloud to everybody? I am ready.

Last week we looked at the idea of being consistent. What are you saying? I am consistent. Today, we're going to talk about being devoted. Everybody say, I am devoted. We're going to talk about the gift of generosity. Everybody say, I am generous. I am generous.

then the next week we're going to be faithful and faithful always what are you i am faithful and in the final week we're going to talk about being a finisher what are you i am a finisher today i want to talk about devotion with god's help i will be devoted in all that i do and we're not talking about just devoted to your workout regimen as followers of jesus we're going to be devoted to jesus fully devoted followers of christ and jesus was the one who said this this in Matthew 633. He said, but seek first. Somebody say seek first?

He said, seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first his kingdom. Seek first God. Seek first his righteousness. And then all these other things will be given to you as well. We seek first God. When we're devoted to God, when we're devoted to His kingdom, then all those things you're searching for in your life that matter,

that brings fulfillment, that make a difference. When you seek first, then God brings fulfillment into your life. And that's why we're going to say this. I will seek first, the one who matters most. I am devoted to Jesus. Would you say that with me? I will seek first. I will seek first the one who matters most.

The one who matters most, I am devoted to Jesus. I am devoted to Jesus. I will seek first the one who matters most. I am devoted to Jesus. I will seek first the one who matters most. I am devoted to Jesus. I have pre-decided before the next day comes. I will seek first the one who matters most

because I am devoted to Jesus. Now, that raises the question. What does it mean to be devoted to Jesus? What does it mean to be devoted to the Son of God? And I'll give you some context from the book of Acts when you see the first century believers after Jesus had given his life on the cross. And after he was raised from the dead, he was ascended to see it at the right hand of God the Father. And when all the believers were together, God sent a wind like a mighty storm and filled them with the Holy Spirit. And the question is, what did these first century followers of Jesus devote their lives to?

What were they devoted to? And Acts 2.42 tells us they devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They heard teaching about the Word of God. They fellowshiped with each other. They broke bread kind of like life groups. And they were completely devoted to prayer. And here's the result. The result was that everyone, around them was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. They were devoted to the things that made them close to God. They were seeking first Jesus and His kingdom and His righteousness. And then God added everything else. And they were effective in ministry. And even nonbelievers looked on, wow, these people are so full of love. And they're

doing so many miracles that were born out of seeking first the one who mattered most. They were devoted to the word of God, to prayer, to fellowship, and the breaking of bread. Now, the Greek word that's translated as devoted is a really cool word that's actually in the imperfect tense. And what that means is, it means it's ongoing. It's not a one-time devotion, but it's an ongoing continual devotion. It could very accurately be translated that they were continually devoted. In other words, these disciples had a single-minded, ongoing pursuit.

of Jesus. We seek first the one who matters most, and we continue to seek first the one who matters most. But pause for a moment. And imagine that that verse written about the first century Christians would be written today describing modern day Christians. I would say maybe even what you might call a cultural Christian or a casual Christian. You know the type? Some of you are this type. You're the ones that kind of like, yeah, I kind of believe in God. You know, you won't see it in my life. and you won't hear about it in my life, and I may go to church every now and then, and morally I try to be a good person.

I kind of believe in God, but, you know, no one really knows that much about it. Imagine if that very verse were written about people today and talked about their devotion. I would say Acts chapter 2, 42 from the MCV version, the modern Christian version, would go like this. They devoted themselves to themselves. They continually and passionately pursued a,

self-centered life of comfort and ease. And I don't mean to be rude and I don't want to nitpick anybody because these are good people. These are people that you like to be around. And they just have normal everyday desires. They just want to be liked. And they just want to be comfortable or they want to be popular or they want to be TikTok famous, right? Come on, let's talk about it. Right? It's just normal stuff. Like, I want to finish school and have a job that I love and I want to marry a and have a nice house. And one day I want to travel the world and then I want to die and go to heaven.

I'm a modern day Christian. And many of you are listening right now and you're probably saying, well, that's not me. That's not me. And truthfully, in many, many cases, that's not you. Or at least hopefully, it's not you.

But what I want to do, just in case it is you, is give you a little illustration for perspective. Do you want to see it? You want to see it? Okay. Let me, I'll show you this. This is a line.

And according to the people that helped me make this line, if you measured it, this line is actually 168 inches across this line. Divided up into little segments, if we can, 168 inches. Why? 168 little inches? Because this represents one week of your life, and one week of your life has 168. hours. Now, if you're devoted to something, you would probably agree that you tend to devote your time to that which you're devoted to. And so what I want to do is just kind of ask you to think about, where do you spend your time during a normal 168 hours a week? And I can help you answer that

because I've done the research on it. And I know that almost all of you, unless you have sleep apnea, you spend about one third of your time sleeping. How many of you like sleep? sleeping. Sleeping is a good thing. Oh my gosh, I'm thankful for a good night's sleep. Then you spend another third of your time going to work or school, which leaves you exactly 56 flexible hours remaining. Now, how many of you are on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, whatever, LinkedIn? How many? Social media. If you're on social media, the average social media users spend 17 hours a week, taking up 17 of your 50-something hours, leaving you only 39 hours left for what I'm going to call other stuff, all the other stuff. And you all have the other stuff. It's taking your

kids to everywhere. Oh, dear God, to everywhere. You take them to dance and piano and baton practice and, you know, algebra lessons and helping them with school. And it's going and getting gas in your car and cleaning your car up once every seven years. And, you know, going to grocery store and buying groceries and cooking something and cleaning them up and paying your taxes and paying your bills and mowing a yard and doing this and doing yoga down thing and working out and being with your friends and binge watching the next whatever series you have. And you have all this other stuff. Wait a minute. There's one little, there's one little hour left. And hang on a second.

Give me a second. I'll have my notes with me. Let me, hang on a second. There's one little hour left, where is it, that you spend... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot. I forgot. We're Christians.

And that hour goes to God. That hour goes to God, because we are Christians. And obviously, a lot of you devote more than one hour to God, but some people don't even devote that. and call themselves Christians. And to state was really obvious, if you invest one hour a week in anything, you're probably not going to grow

or improve significantly in that thing, right? If you only exercise one hour a week and eat whatever you want, you're probably not going to be in peak health. If you only spend about an hour in the same room as your spouse, you're probably not going to have a dream marriage. if you only study for one hour a week,

you're probably not going to graduate the top of your class. In fact, you'll be lucky to graduate. So if we are only partially, partially devoted to God, if we only spend a little time with God when it's easy, when it's convenient, when we don't have anything else to do, it's no wonder we fall back into the same old sense.

men. It's no wonder we rarely share our faith. It's no wonder we're more concerned with what people think about us than what God thinks about us. It's no wonder we find ourselves lukewarm, wondering, is there anything more in life? If we only give God what's left over, we have to ask ourselves, are we really devoted to him? If we want to live a life fully devoted to the things of Jesus. What I want you to know is it's not going to happen by accident. Because all that other stuff just seems to take over. There's no one that ever says, like I just was just doing life and just going with the flow. And I accidentally became a spiritual powerhouse. Oh. I mean, I don't know what happened. I'm just like, I'm just like, whoa, I'm close to God.

Whoa, I know the Bible. I woke up and I've got a powerful ministry. I don't, I have no idea how it happened. But like, I'm so involved in the church right now. And oh my gosh, I'm, I'm, I'm a, I'm a, missionary I'm alike when I go on how did that happen I just became morally pure well I don't I'm not tempted by anything anymore that's not going to happen if you want to be fully devoted to Jesus is never going to be accidental you have to pre-decide decide ahead of time I want to live with an ongoing not a one-time decision but an ongoing single-minded pursuit of Jesus so how do we do that what does it mean to pre-decide to be devoted to Jesus, and how do we faithfully serve him in that way? Well, I want to show you in John chapter 15, when Jesus was telling kind of this parable,

he was likely near a vineyard, and people were looking on, or at least they certainly understood what a vineyard was like, and Jesus said this to his disciples. He said, I am the vine, and you are the branches. He said, if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, though, Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing. Let's illustrate this. Jesus says, I am the vine and what are you? You are the branch.

Let's make sure we understand your role in this parable. Everybody say, Jesus is the vine. Instead again, say Jesus is the vine and I am the branch. So here's the key. When you the branch are connected to Jesus divine, what happens is you bear spiritual fruit. And what is spiritual fruit? Well, according to Galatians 5, spiritual fruit with things like love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness. and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

If you're displaying consistent love and joy and peace and gentleness and faithful, do you think your life is empty? Do you think you're wondering, is there any more to life? No, you're living the highest calling of life. Your life used to be empty, but when you're the branch connected to the vine, your life starts to be full of what matters, starts to be full of what lasts. In fact, let's play a little game. There's one word that appears 11 times in this chapter.

11 times. That's probably a pretty important word. What we're going to do is we're going to try to find that word. And if you cannot find the word, there'll be a prayer time for you at the end of our service. I'm just telling you. So tell me when you find the word. Okay, it's in John 15, 4. And Jesus said, remain in me as I also remain in you.

If you don't have it yet, stick with me. Jesus said, no branch can bear fruit by itself, but it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Do you have the word? What is it? The word remain, obviously. This comes from the Greek word mino, M-I-N-O. And it means to abide, it means to dwell, it means to live in.

This is not just a one-hour weekly duty to God. I got to do my Bible time. I got to go to church to please God. Now this is a fully devoted, all in devotion to the one who matters most. I will seek first the one who matters most. To state the obvious, the branch needs the vine. If you don't stay connected, you're just a dead limb. You lose your life source.

And that's why we pre-decide. I'm not going to let life happen to me. I predetermine I will seek first the one who matters most. Because if I'm not connected to the vine, I don't get the spiritual nutrients. I don't bear fruit. And I break so much easier. Jesus is the vine. You are the branch.

So your assignment is, ready? Be the branch. Be the branch. Be the one who needs, seeks, and stays intentionally connected. I am pre-decided. I am staying connected to the life source. I will seek first the one who matters most. Wow.

That's good preach. I'm going to tell me if you don't say it. That's good preaching. So I'm sorry. Like, if you're going to be quiet, I'm just going to say amen to myself. Sometimes I preach a little better than you respond. I'm just saying. Okay.

What we're going to do is pre-decided. And what I want to do is get really practical. How do we live this out? And what I want to do is talk about the first and then the all, because we're going to seek first. And I'm going to give you a game plan, but this game plan isn't just a specific time. This is a specific start.

The time starts the full week devotion. And we're going to pre-decide three times. Here's our game plan. The first thing, say it with me. We're going to pre-decide a time. The second thing is we're going to pre-decide a time. predeside a place. The third thing is we're going to pre-decide a plan. In order to seek God, seeking God is not something that we hope to do. It's not some abstract idea. We actually are going to

start with a time. If I want to spend time with Amy, I'm not going to wait until everything happens all week long. We're going to predetermine a time to be together. I don't know when your time would be. It might be before the kids get up, you spend a little bit of time with Jesus. It might be when you drink your coffee. It might be before you go to the gym. It might be after you go to the gym. It might be after you get the kids to bed. Whatever it is, it's going to be a predetermined time

that I am intentionally seeking God through his word, spending a little bit of time, reconnecting, being completely committed to him. And then we're going to decide on a place. And it doesn't have to always be the same place. But if you don't have a pretty regular place, you're probably not doing this, right? I mean, you got that kind of probably a most of the time place.

And for Amy, there's this, I call it her prayer chair, and she's always in her prayer chair. It might be, but you kneel down by your bed. It might be that you stay in bed. It might be you sit at your kitchen table. It might be that you're on your back porch. It might be if you got little kids in your bathroom, because you only got time when the bathroom door is locked, and you don't have long before there's fingers coming under the door. Mom, where are you?

It might be, and this is not necessarily ideal, but in some sense, seasons of life, it might be on your commute and you're talking to God on your commute, but you're going to pre-decide this is a time, this is a place, and then I also have a plan, meaning if something is important to you, you plan it ahead of time. You're not going to get there, well, what am I going to do today? I got no plan. Well, one of the great things you can do is you can go through a U-version reading plan. And you, for several days, you go through a plan, you can do it with friends. Amy has a journal where she writes down what God is showing her. She has a journal where she writes down, here's the people that I'm praying for.

You might have a podcast you listen to. You might have a worship song that you listen to. You might have any number of different things. But what we've done is we pre-decided this is the place, this is the time, and this is the plan. Because we have 168 hours during our week. And we're not going to give God what's left over, but we're going to start and seek first the one who matters most. And then what happens is we just start walking with God. Our time with God is not limited to a 10 minute, 30 minute, one hour, whatever it is, devotion.

But we're just throughout the day we're talking to God and we're listening to God and we're aligning our heart to God. And we have a posture, a mindset, a mood of seeking Jesus first. What happens is when we're seeking Jesus, weird spiritual things start to happen. He starts to, like, convict us and say, we shouldn't do those wrong things anymore. And he starts to make you weird things like, nice, and loving and generous. And you start to have joy. And he starts to give you words to say. And what happens is God doesn't just get what's left over in your life because God is not a part of your life.

Instead, you say, God is your life. He is your life. He is all and all and all. He's not a little part. He's not a compartment. He's everything. It's a full devotion to the one who matters most. And so all through the day, I'm seeking first, the one who matters most.

And then you're talking to Jesus. You're listening to God. And he starts to impact your work life. And he starts to give you wisdom. And he starts to give you words to say to people. And he starts to give you an encouragement to others. And he starts to correct you and guide your steps. and lead your ways.

And you're a fully devoted follower of Jesus, aligning your heart to that which lasts. It's not just a moment in time, it is a devotion. I've pre-decided because of who Jesus is and because of what he's done, I will seek first the one who matters most. I am devoted to Jesus. I'll tell you a brief story about one of the most emotional moments that I had in a long time.

I got a text from an unknown number, so this is some number, I don't have a name to it, and I'm not going to tell you the real names because I want to respect the people, but essentially this text said, hello, this is so-and-so, and I am Patrick's, not his real name, but I'm Patrick's sister, and Patrick's in the hospital. he has a rare form of progressive cancer, and she said the doctor's not giving us much hope. So Patrick's a friend of mine, a longtime friend, and I had no idea. And she got on his phone, got my number, and so I got the text, and I zoom, rushed to the hospital. If you knew Patrick, this guy, he is an athlete, big, strong, and when I walked in, he was so frail that it,

took me back. And I've been on a million hospital visits and never get used to that first moment of shock. And so I tried to hide my emotions and act like I didn't even notice, but on the inside, I was, this doesn't look good. And so we did the guy thing. He could barely talk, but we told guide jokes. And we laughed, told a few old stories. But the conversation, the tone turned serious really, really quickly. And Patrick looked at me, and if you could imagine, he's trying to speak between it was hard for him to get he couldn't get a full sentence out and he said he said Craig he said when the doctors tell you to get your affairs an order he said you look at your life and you think about the things you wish you had done and it just hit me so we talked about what are

some of those things we talked about memories we talked about regrets and then we joined hands. We prayed one of the most passionate, faith-filled prayers that I prayed in a long time. And I said goodbye to my friend and left. And seeing someone who seemed invincible in such a state, it brought me once again that sense of urgency. To just pause and look at my 168. and ask myself, what do I believe deep down in my heart? What really, really matters in life? What is it that will outlast our time on earth that matters most? I want to devote my life to that.

I want to devote my life not to something that's self-centered and self-seeking and easy and comfortable. But I want to stay so connected to the vine that I'm sensitive to the voice of the spirit to reach out and make a difference in a moment's notice. I want to seek first the one who matters most because you have to pre-decide. You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, accidentally live a fully devoted life to Jesus. So what do we do? Well, we're going to pre-decide because of who he is. is because he matters.

He didn't get what's last. He didn't get what's left over. He doesn't get what's easy. He doesn't get what's convenient. He doesn't get my attention when there's nothing else going on. No game this weekend. The weather's not beautiful so we can go to church. The weather's not horrible so we can go to church.

I just happen to have a good book. No, no, no, no, no. I have a time. I pre-decided. I have a place. This is where we meet. And I have a plan. Because when it matters, you make a plan.

And let me tell you, the moment you start and you predetermined, to seek first the one who matters most, what I promise you is there will be resistance. I promise you. You're going to be distracted. There's going to be reasons to quit. And you're going to pre-decide, I am devoted to Jesus. Because if it's not important, you'll find an excuse. But if it's important, you'll find a way.

Come on somebody. Because Jesus is divine. And you are the branch. and so your assignment's easy. Be the branch. Be the branch. The branch needs the vine. The vine is not optional.

The vine is not there for you at the last minute. It is all in full. I need you. I need every bit of you. I need you now. I need you later. I need to stay connected to the vine. You are the source of life.

And when we're connected, there's love. And there's joy unspeakable. And there's a peace that you can't find from this world. And there's patience. Oh, dear God. give me some of that? And there's goodness and faithfulness

and there's gentleness and there's self-control. And what I know right now is that Jesus isn't a part of my life. He is my life. And therefore, because of who he is. And because eternity is real. And because time is short. What is your life?

It's a vapor. It's here today. It's gone tomorrow. It's a vapor. I want to invest my life in a place that matters. So I've pre-decided. I'm going to wait until tomorrow. I already know what's important tomorrow.

I've pre-decided to seek first the one who matters most because I am devoted to Jesus. So Father, we pray today that there would be some powerful spiritual predecisions made. Help us commit God not to give you what's left over. but to make you the driving force of our life, the ongoing single pursuit, the devotion of our hearts. As you're reflecting in prayer today, you may be watching at a church location,

you may be watching online, but you say, yes, I am a Christian. Those of you say, yeah, I actually am a Christian. But when I look at my 168, there's probably some room for improvement. What I want is with God's help, with God's help, because I need it. I want to pre-decide to be devoted to Jesus. What that might mean for you is you choose a time and you choose a place and you get a little plan going,

and you start integrating and staying connected to the vine. And as you connect to the vine, suddenly it's not just a little bit of time in the morning or the evening or on your commute, but it becomes an ongoing pursuit of the one who matters most. Wherever you're watching from today, you would say, God, help me be devoted to Jesus. Would you lift up your hands right now? Lift them up, lift them up, lift them up.

You can type it in the comment section. God, help me be devoted to Jesus. As you're in an attitude of prayer today, God, we thank you. that you hear the cries of our heart. And we ask God that you would draw us by your spirit. And ahead of time we thank you that you'll meet us when we cry out to you. God empower us to pre-decide to be intentional,

not to have an accidental, coincidental relationship with you, but to intentionally seek you first. Today, this is where we meet. This is when we meet. This is what we're going to talk about. and God then will talk to you and we'll listen to you and we'll align our hearts to what lasts so that you won't be a part of our life, God, but you'll be what you truly desire. You will be our life.

Help us, God, to be devoted to you. As you keep praying today at our different churches, some of you're going to recognize, like, oh, man, I'm not even close to that. And I remember growing up in church and thinking, well, I must be a Christian because I'm in church. and I was kind of one of those, what you might call casual Christians or cultural Christians, I kind of believed in God, but I was not, I didn't know him. I didn't know him. And some of you, you're going to recognize that's you right now.

What do you do? First of all, I want you to understand that God is a relational God, that being a follower of Jesus isn't just like joining a church or checking a box, it's an ongoing relationship. And God is love. He loves you so much that he sent Jesus, his son, to show you what the father is life. Jesus is love, he's perfect, he's sinless, and he hung out with people that were very far from God,

people who were broken and had really messed up lives. And he loved them. And Jesus gave his life for them, he gave his life for us, and God raised him from the dead, so that anyone, and this includes you, it doesn't matter where you are, what you've done, how dark your life feels, anyone who calls on his name, the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus, your sins will be forgiven, scripture says,

you'll be brand new, you'll be saved, you'll be different. You're not just better, you're different, you're new. Wherever you're watching from today, those who say, I want that. I want that. All we're going to do is very simply, we're just going to step away from our old life, and we're going to say, Jesus, I want to be your follower. I trust in you. When you call in the name of Jesus, he hears your prayers.

Listen, he forgives your sins, and he makes you brand new. Wherever you're watching from today, those who say, yes, Jesus, I want your forgiveness. Today, I give you my life. I surrender to you. Wherever you're watching from those who say, yes, Jesus, I give you my life. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now and say yes Jesus I surrender to you. Oh my gosh, as we've got hands up at all of our churches today. Those of you that are watching online,

you can just type in the comment section. I'm giving my life to Jesus. And in a moment we're going to celebrate with you. Let's just talk to God right now. Let's seek first the one who matters most and let him hear the desire of your heart. Just pray. Heavenly Father, pray aloud. Heavenly Father, I seek you. Forgive my sins. Jesus saved me. be first in my life. I want to be your disciple. I want to be your follower. Completely devoted to you.

You're not just going to be a part of my life. Jesus be my life. I'm the branch. You're the vine. Help me stay connected to you so I can show your love and all I do. Thank you for new life. I give you all of mine. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Could somebody give God some thanks right now, give God some praise.