Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Man in the Mirror, Part 2: Embracing God’s Love

Episode Date: June 6, 2015

You were never meant to be perfect. You were created to be loved. So why is it so hard to love ourselves? It's not a simple answer. Maybe it's time to take a look at your relationship with the Man in the Mirror. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today I want to introduce you again to Louis Giglio. I can tell you all about the amazing stuff he's done, which there's so many things. The Passion conferences reaching tens of thousands of the next generation, his amazing church, Passion City. Really, what I like to do is I like to introduce our church to people who, number one, they'll bring a blessing in a powerful message. But I also want to introduce people that I really believe in their character, their heart, because I'm hoping you'll listen to his messages, download his podcast, and this will be another voice. into your life to make a big difference.

This guy is a great man of God, and when he teaches God's word, I'll tell you, it impacts me deep in my soul. I know it will impact you as well. Please welcome back. Pastor Louis Gigliobe. Thanks, sir. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Wow. So good to be back. And as it turns out, I'll be back next week also in for the next four weeks because I want to come to the series. I'm hooked already.

So I don't know about what. you're thinking, but I'm thinking, wow, I got to find somebody to preach at my church for the next four weeks because I want to show up. It's a good thing that the resources are available from this place all over because I definitely look forward to hearing those messages. And I also just want to say, you know, our church in Atlanta, Patchen City Church, we just finished a series called Built. And on the backside of that, we did a daily Bible reading as a church where we went through the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. You know those books that you just can't wait. to read and we did those together chapter a day just talking about builders and

influencers in life and so that meant for me waking up almost every morning because I had two text partners that I would text my thoughts and insights and what God was speaking to me that day too and so I'd wake up early in the morning and first thing I would do was grab my phone open my Bible app click over to Nehemiah and do my reading pray, think, let God speak to my heart, and then text my two buddies. And their two texts, typically, they wake up earlier than me. Their two texts be already waiting for me. And it's just a phenomenal thing. And I've said this in a lot of different settings. We've had Bobby come to passion conferences

before and celebrated the way that God's using the growth and the expansion of the Bible app around the world. But it's something that can't be celebrated too much. And to think it came out of a local church of people who I know still undergirded in a lot of different ways from the support side, the financial giving side, from the prayer side. As a beneficiary of that and as one person who represents the millions and hundreds of millions of people around the world, what an incredible thing that God has done out of this place. And I think we could celebrate that again today. It's really remarkable. It's remarkable. It's remarkable. It's remarkable. And, you know, if you're a pastor and somehow you're listening to this later downstream,

podcast, something, somehow you're getting hold of this resource. We need to be thinking larger than what happens in the four walls of the building on Sunday or on Saturday night. We need to be thinking, who are the gifted people in this room, what could God use them and us collectively to do to touch the lives of 7.5 billion people and growing on planet Earth? Because that's the mission. And that mission is still clear.

It's not to make all the people happy sitting in the pews today, is to marshal all the people sitting in the pews today into an unstoppable force to carry the name of Jesus and the Word of God to all the people on this planet in our lifetime. And I love being a part of a place where that's happening. Speaking of things that have gone around the world, Michael Jackson wrote a song called Man in the Mirror. I don't know if anybody's old enough to remember Michael Jackson or not,

but pretty powerful pop song. For my money, and I don't really even think there's going to be open to any discussion. There really doesn't matter what your opinion is. The best pop song of all time. And so some of you're going to have to go. I don't even know this song. I'm going to have to go and listen. It's rated for the whole family.

You'll enjoy it. The whole family can dance along around the house. But the lyric says, anybody with me, I'm starting with the man in the mirror, and I'm asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clear. If you want to make the world a better place, you've got to look at yourself and make the change. Now, that message is a we-centered message. And we came today to celebrate a God-centered faith.

And so we're just going to twist a little bit today, remind ourselves about what we were talking about last week, which was our primary relationship, is the relationship that we have with our creator. So we would modify that song in a pretty significant way. And we would say if anything is going to change in the world, it's not going to be because of our perception of ourselves. It's going to be because of us believing in God's perception of who we are. And we talked about last week that when God sees you and me, he thinks about you and me like this.

If when he looks at the person, the man or the woman in the mirror, He says, I want you to know that I love you. I'm grateful for you. You are a rare and beautiful treasure. I don't know what your ex-husband told you. I don't know what your friend at work told you. I don't know what you've told yourself. But you are not ordinary. There's nothing normal about you. There's nothing run of the mill about your life. You are an extraordinary, rare, one-of-a-kind, God-created, unique person. Your value is intrinsic. That means it doesn't have anything to do with your net worth or your circle of friends or how many likes you get on your Instagram pictures. Your value is intrinsically woven into your person because you were stamped with the very image of God at the moment of conception. You were a miracle of God. I think a lot of life and a lot of people spend our whole journey trying to deep. value what God said in the very first instant of life could not be valued any higher. You are a rare

and beautiful treasure. You are completely forgiven, not just for what you have done, but for what you're going to do, and this is the gospel. Jesus only died one time. So he's not going back to the cross. It's done. He's not going to die again if you really mess up. It's already done. It's all of our sin, past, present and future, was laid on the innocent life of Christ. The guilty for the unguilty, the righteous, the righteous. The exchange was made, and God says, I forgive you. He says, I'm going to hold you to a high standard. Is that okay with everybody?

I'm not going to let you get away with stuff. I'm not going to let you dabble in things that are going to destroy you. I'm not going to just let you wander off the trail and say, oh, it's fine. don't you worry about it. I'm not that kind of parent. I'm the kind of parent that says, hey, you're a son of God, you're a daughter of God, you are bought with a price, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit,

you have all kind of potential, you're filled with a life of Christ, you got resurrection power, you are to be conformed to the image of Jesus. I'm going to hold you to a high standard. Also, I want you to know you got a special calling on your life, and even today, there's a special calling in today for you,

and I want you to know that I'm going to be cheering for you, and I believe in you. This is heaven's account of who you are today. And when God looks in the mirror, this is the way it works. Heaven is speaking. So we're not really asking for anybody's opinion. Heaven is speaking. And now heaven is reflecting to you and me.

We're not asking, okay, honey, what do you think? We're not asking, hey, social media, what do y'all think? we're understanding that heaven has spoken. God Almighty is on the record. And all this is not just some sort of a wonderful propaganda that makes us feel better. All of this is rooted in the reality that Jesus Christ exchanged his life for us on a cross.

So the love of God is not just like a fortune cookie that has a little happy saying in it, it's the son of God with his arm stretched out saying, this is how much I love you. In fact, this is the way it's written in scripture in the little book of 1 John chapter 4. All this gets unpacked for us in this passage beginning in verse 7. It says, dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.

And this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. I love that because it blows up every concept of religion. Because religion is trying to tell me how I can be better at loving God. And the gospel tells me that it all began with God in the first place.

And like we talked about last week, Jesus didn't just come part of the way or half the way or even three quarters of the way. He came all the way. So this is love. Not that we love God. None of our story is, man, I was such a great lover of God, and I just pursued God, and I was so kind-hearted towards God, and I was so intent in my devotion to God. That's none of our story.

Our story is, I was an idiot. I ran away from God. I did it my own way. I knew right, but I did wrong. He said left, but I went right. I knew some things about God, but I thought I knew better about how to do my life. I knew God made the universe, but I was going to drive the car. This is our story.

Is it not? There was a God, yes, but I wanted to somehow do this my own way, because I knew better. I knew the solution. I knew how to get there. I knew how to take care of it. I do my own thing. I don't depend on anybody. Our story isn't what we did.

Our story is what God has done. And this is love. This is love. Love is not that we loved God. That is not the story. The story is that God loved us. You know why that's so powerful? Because if you're at a point today where you don't think that you can measure up to God, that's okay.

Because guess what? You can't. And because we couldn't, he did. And what he did, we could have never done. and this is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us. And how did he love us? The scripture says, he loved us to the degree that he gave his one and only son to be a substitute. The text really says an atoning substitutionary agreement for all of the wrong of our lives.

So when God looks in the mirror and says, hey, I just want you to know, I forgive you, and I want you to know I love you. It's not a little pep talk for the day. He's saying, this is based in the reality of the sacrifice of my son for your life. So it's not a feeling kind of thing. I don't feel love today. Well, guess what? Jesus died anyway.

Well, I don't know if I'm really, you know, emotionally connecting with that reality. Well, Jesus has already paid the price. And so when he looks at you and me, he says, I love you, the kind of love that forgives you, I'm holding you to a high standard. it's a special calling I've got for you. I believe in you and I'm cheering for you. This is what heaven is on record is having said about you and me today. But here's the question that's hanging in the balance today.

Do you believe it? We talked about last week that shovel and the spoon. The spoon kind of stung a little bit last week if you were with us in that talk because the shovel is all about how God dispenses his grace with like a bulldozer. and we dispense our grace with a thimble. And the thimble doesn't tell me that you don't deserve grace. The thimble actually tells me that I haven't fully received grace. Because the scripture says, as we've received, we give.

And that's how John finishes this text. So he talks about the price it's paid. And then this is what he says, Dear friends, since God so loved us. Now, how do you believe God? God has so loved us. Anybody can I just see a show of hands? If you really are in tune with that, you don't have to raise your hand, but you believe God so

loved us. Not that he loved us. He could have just said, since God loved us, but he said he so loved us. John 316 could have just said, for God loved the world. Doesn't that get the point across? For God loved the world, but he said, no, for God so loved the world. Because we're talking about an extraordinary mess. of love. And that's what John writes about here. He says, since God so loved us, are you ready?

We also ought to love one another. So the thing that becomes clear is that to the degree we have received the so love to that degree, then we love one another. And if I'm not loving somebody in my life, it's not their fault. It's a reflection of the fact that I haven't fully received what God offered me. You say, yeah, but she didn't deserve it. But they'd already done it twice. But they stabbed me in the back. But they talked about me at the office. But they tried to steal my promotion. But they ran around and said such and such and such and such. But they were this and they were that. And then I look at the man in the mirror and I go, I was every one of those things to God. And God still loved me through Christ and still speaks for me and cheers me on today.

And that's why I'm at church, frankly, today, because I haven't found anyone like that in all the universe who has that kind of an extraordinary capacity to love me because I need it. I need it. But the degree to which I know I have it is the degree to which I share it with the people around me. And when I'm stingy with grace, it just means there's something keeping me from receiving the grace that God has for me. And I think the most powerful thing, you know, last week we talked about the two great commandments. Love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. But I've never heard too many people talk about the last part of that phrase. love your neighbor. Can you say it with me as yourself? In other words, to the degree that you love

yourself, to that degree you're going to love your neighbor well, and I believe you're going to love yourself well to the degree that you're in that intimate relationship with God. It's all tied together. And I'm telling you, when we end today, you're going to see how it really, really matters that we get this right. That we understand that our priority is to love. love ourselves well. Now that sounds like a self-help talk, doesn't it? People today, we're going to talk about loving ourselves well because you deserve it. But it's really not that angle that we're looking at. It's looking in the mirror and going, if this is what heaven thinks, guess what? This is what I think. And if this is what heaven says, guess what? This is what I say.

And if that's what heaven believes about me, hello, that's what I believe about me. And I'm going to begin to receive that so that then I can go to my neighbor and say, you don't deserve it, but I didn't either. And I've got a lot of it so I can give you a bunch. And that's going to change the world. That will change the world. And so here's the way this looks. It doesn't just look.

It's there's two sides of this mirror. So you've got to be able, and this is going to sound goofy for a minute, okay, but just hang in there. You've got to be able to say, if I'm going to take this scripture seriously, dear friends, just as God has so loved you, then love one another, I've got to camp out in the he so loved me for a moment. And I've got to come around this idea and say, hey, Louie, and you don't want to say that unless your name's Louis, that'd be weird. But I'm going to say to the man in the mirror, the woman in the mirror, hey, Louis, I want you to know, Louis that I love you. That, for some of us, is a radical statement. Because you not only don't love you, you hate you. You're mad at you, frustrated with you, short-tempered with you, despise you.

Some of you are hurting you, intentionally hurting you, you're hurting you. And to say, I believe God, not because it came and an email, but because it was nailed on a cross this love, I believe God. And this takes extraordinary humility. You say, oh, no, no, I'm already humble because I don't believe I'm worth the love of God. I'm so humble that I don't believe God could love someone like me. I'm so humble that I don't believe God would really care for somebody who's as awful as me. That's not humility. That's pride. Because we are setting ourselves in our own. opinion above God's opinion. And I'm telling you, God is on record and God has spoken. And when we

see this and God opens our eyes, the spirit of God opens our eyes and our hearts. And it's not just going through the motions anymore, but it's like revelation happens. And we're like, oh my goodness, Jesus Christ gave his life for me. I'm worth that to God. That's not a movie. that's not a series on television. That's a real historical moment where God spoke to me. And guess what? My eyes are open. My heart is open.

My faith is open. Louis, I want to tell you today, I love you. I want to tell you, Louis, that I am grateful for you. I appreciate you. And I want to tell you, Louis, that you are a rare and beautiful treasure. I was different than going to work and going, hi, everyone. happy to see me today. Well, you should be.

Hello, people. Yeah, we're like, no, thank you. But to be able to see the cross and to agree with God and to embrace your value. Not because of what you do or what your GPA was or if you have a boyfriend or don't or if your kids are going well or not. or how many acres you've got or blah, blah, blah,

but to say this cross tells me that I'm a rare and beautiful treasure and I believe it. And then I'm looking at this man in the mirror, this woman in the mirror, and I say the words that can change the trajectory of every relationship you have. I, Louis, forgive you.

And we put to bed forever the party line. I'm hard on myself. Oh, I'm good at forgiving other people, but I'm not so good with myself. Or the one I've heard so many times, I know God forgives me. Can you say it with me? But I just can't forgive myself. And to be able to humble ourselves at the foot of that cross and to say, it is finished. and God says it is finished.

And I'm not greater than God. So I'm going to agree with God, that's always a good idea. And if God says I'm forgiven, I'm not going to have a testimony that says, I know God forgives me, and that'll make heaven work out okay, but Earth's going to be hell

because I just can't forgive myself. Listen, we've all stumbled. You're like, hey, but you don't know what I've done. You don't know how far I've fallen. You don't know how far I've run. You don't know how awful it was, or how disappointing it was. Look, I don't know all of that,

but we're all in the same boat together, and sin doesn't make us bad, it makes us dead. And Jesus didn't come to make us better. He came to make us alive. And the price has been paid. The price has been paid. So when he says, I forgive you, the power of the gospel is when I look in the mirror and saying,

guess what, Louis, I want to tell you today, on this day, this is the moment, I forgive you. you. And I didn't really even mean a lot because I didn't have the power to forgive you. He had the power to forgive you, and he did. I'm just agreeing with what he's already done. And I'm now saying, you're free. You're free from the guilt and the condemnation that he's already freed you from, but I've been holding you prisoner to for the last seven years. You're free. When you look in the mirror and you say, hey, guess what, Louis?

Hello, I want all high school kids and college kids lean in. Louis, I'm going to hold you to a high standard, buddy. No, we're not going where everybody else goes this weekend. Nope, we're not going to think like everybody else thinks. No, I'm going to hold you to a higher standard. Oh, but good news. I'm going to give you grace and mercy in appropriate ways. So, Louie, you're not going to get like a thousand passes on that one,

but I'm also not going to beat you up for stuff that Jesus already got beat up for. So I'm going to keep holding you to a high standard, but I'm also going to give you grace and mercy in the same way God. Hey, Louie, I just want you to know that you've got a special calling today. So you're not sitting on the freeway going, ah, you're like, man, God's got something today. Something's going to happen today. Hello? Something's going to happen today. Because God has got a special calling on my life.

Like, Louie, you have not been to a place where I work. There is not a special calling involved. Oh, yes, there is. Oh, yes, there is. And can you say, and I know that, see, this would get goofy if we were, you know, walking on colds, blindfolded, or something like that. But can you say, I believe in you and I'm cheering for you? Hey, Louie.

hope it goes great I believe in you man not like that's a revelation of self-help but because God believes in you I believe in you and I'm cheering for you I'm not cheering for you to fail

I don't believe you're going to fail I believe you're going to succeed I don't believe you're going to fall apart I believe God's going to come through and I'm cheering for you how many of you would love it if when you woke up tomorrow that there were 700 people between your front door and your car,

lining away for you, high fives, middle fives, and low fives, the whole way for whichever way your whole thing is, whatever you like. And all the way they're like, come on, man, this is going to be amazing. This day is going to be phenomenal. You look incredible. You are so phenomenal. Look at you. Awesome.

And I mean, all the way to the Camry, you know, it's just a celebration. And then the car starts, I mean, it's amazing. amazing day, right? And you're like, and you're pulling out of the parking lot, they're like, and you get to the street, you turn the corner, and there's a whole other line at the corner, and they're like, come on, you made it out of the parking lot. You are doing good. You are, on your way, and you get on the freeway that people on every overpass, yeah, come on. You're like, yeah, I think I'd probably feel better, you know, about today. But it's not enough. Hello, it's not enough that heaven was cheering for you when you woke up,

today. And that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit believe in you and are cheering for you. And if you start agreeing with heaven, you've got four people. Four people cheering for you. See, people at my work don't appreciate me. No, they don't. And that's not good. And maybe that means eventually you need to think about a new scenery for you. But don't go home going nobody appreciated me today. Because God the Father sure did. Jesus sure did. The Holy Spirit sure did.

And you did. And you did like, I believe in me. I appreciated me. I'm grateful for me. And God's grateful for me. There was this little cloud of appreciation and belief around me all day to day because I wasn't waiting for somebody else to believe in me. I believe in me.

I believe in me. You know, it's standing here. I just kind of keep coming back to the cross, okay, because I'm starting to feel like I'm going to sell you something right at the end of this. And I'm not. I don't have anything to sell at the end of this, okay? There's not like nine DVDs, and you're going to listen to these in the car, and you're going to, you know, turn into a gazillionaire. This is all because of what Jesus has done. And it's all based on what God has already said. And here's the thing.

Some of you've lost touch with that. Some of you've never heard it, and today your mind is just blowing up. and some of you know that it's true you've just lost touch with it you know pastor craig mentioned that we do these events called passion conferences mostly for college age young people and a few years back we were doing one in the basketball arena in Atlanta and we were had too many people to fit in there so we went to the convention space across the street and built another arena inside there so there were six or

eight thousand kids over there and whatever 20,000 in the the basketball arena and we satellite linked thing together, much like some of this is happening. And so the bands were live in both places. Hosting was live, but the speaker was going across the way. We had this big opening that we'd plan, right? So first night, first session, big deal. And Chris Tomlin is leading over in the arena, and Matt Redmond's leading over in the other arena that we built in the convention center. And they're leading a song called Our God. And that wasn't a big surprise to people because people kind of knew this song, Our God is greater. I got as stronger, I got his higher than any other.

I don't remember the words, although it was a great song at the time. And that's going to be problematic in about 40 seconds. But here was the kicker. LaCray, who's a hometown guy, was going to come right into the middle of the song with this rap that he had written for the middle of the opening. So this was our big opening. So we've got everybody on a click. If you don't know what a click is,

these musicians have these things in their ears, and they're hearing the click, click, click, click, click, and some of them talk to them. We're going back to the chorus and three, two, one, big, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. And that's how they all play together. Well, both auditoriums, arenas, were on the same click. So when the song started, Chris started, and Matt started exactly at the same time. So that when Lecrae comes breaking in, in the arena, arena is going to fit in perfectly with Matt across the street. Problem is, is that Matt lost the click when the song began. And the only person who knew it was the front of house sound guy over there in that arena. Now, the front of house guy is sitting in that big thing with all the stuff going around, and he's kind of running the show from, you know, out in the seats. And he's looking at the stage, and he's watching Matt and everybody's going crazy. and if our goddess for us and who can be against us

and everybody's worshipping and everybody's into it. And then he's looking at his monitor, which is over in the arena, and he sees the lyrics on the screen, and he sees the lyrics on his screen, and he realizes they're not the same lyrics. Matt started about 15 seconds after Chris. And in about 50 seconds,

our huge moment is going to go down. and Lecrae is going to come on the screen in that arena entirely the wrong place in the song or we're just going to have to can Lecray and they're going to get a bee opening and hear all their friends say that Lecray thing lights out and we didn't get Lecray and so the front of house guy is like

what do I do? You know Matt Redmond is up there going on and he's like I'm the only man who knows this right now I'm the only living human who knows we have a train wreck coming in our opening what do I do. And so all he knows to do is he presses a talk back button and he gets a microphone and he starts talking to Matt Redman in his ears while he's leading. And he starts singing with Chris Tomlin in the other arena. And so Matt's going, and if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And he's like, our God is greater.

Our God is stronger. Our God is higher than any other. Our God is T. And if our God is an, our God is Healer. Our God is higher than any other. Because Matt Redman's a genius. So he just starts singing right on cue. And 10 seconds later, bam.

And Lecrae appears on both screens. and our A opening happens and everybody's happy. And it's all because it's one guy. And so I close today and say this. Here's the thing. If somehow you've lost this and you've lost the click, then this is what this is about. Because this is God's spirit singing along in time with heaven.

And if you open it and open your heart to it, no matter where you are in your song, this will put you in time with the song. Jesus, thank you. Just praying for every person in this place right now, in every location, in every seat, every place in this world, that by the power of your Holy Spirit, through your word that we have opened and proclaimed today, that you will begin to sing us back into the song of heaven,

into the song of forgiveness and mercy and love and value and significance. And we trust that you will do that now. By the power of your spirit who has birthed this living word, we trust it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, I know God spoke to so many of you as he did to me, and I just want to keep praying with you. God, I thank you that you're going to conform our image of ourselves to the image that you have of us.

At all of our churches, as you reflect in prayer today, I wonder how many of you, when you look in the mirror, you often feel inadequate, you feel incredibly unworthy, and you recognize today that your self-image is inaccurate, that God's image of you is different, it's better. He loved you so much, and you want today to get back on the click. You want your click track to be consistent with what God thinks about you, and you need his help by the power of the spirit and the truth of his word at all of our churches, if that's you today, and you recognize I need to get back on the click. I want to see myself as God sees me so I can love others as He has loved me.

Would you lift your hands right now? Just be real honest to all of our churches. God, I thank you so much that over the last two weeks you're doing a deep spiritual healing work in our souls. And God, I pray that our minds would be renewed by your truth. That, God, we wouldn't see ourselves as what others have said about us, what we've born to begin to think over the years, God, but we would truly recognize how valuable we are because we are valuable to you.

God, I pray for those who find it difficult to forgive themselves, that they would be able to look in the mirror and say, God, because you have forgiven me, I will forgive myself. And God, I thank you that today, at this moment, your Holy Spirit is doing a deep and healing work in so many people's lives. As you keep praying today, the good news is there are many of you that you're here for more than just a week at church, but you're here to really begin a different trajectory of your life.

And all of our churches, I know that there are many of you that when you look at yourself, if you don't like yourself at all. You feel very guilty. You feel dark. We need to understand what Louis said is so powerful that sin doesn't make us bad. It makes us dead. And the reality is all of us have sinned.

And every single one of us, we fall short of God's standard. The good news is Jesus did not come to make us good. Jesus came to bring us to life. And there are many of you here because you need that life. You recognize what sin has done to you. You recognize that you have not lived up to God's standards. But God didn't meet you halfway. He came all the way in the person of

his son because he loved you. Jesus went to the cross. The righteous one gave his life for us, the unrighteous ones, so that when we call on him, we would be forgiven and transformed. And all of our churches, there are those of you, you need his grace, you need his mercy, and you're here today because you need salvation. You recognize that all of our churches, those of you who say, yes, I'm turning away from my sin, I'm turning toward Jesus. And today, I surrender my life, and I want to become a follower of Jesus. All of our churches, you say, yes, that's me. Today, I want to see myself as he sees me.

I trust my life to him. I give my life to Jesus. Would you lift your hands high right now and say, yes, I surrender completely to him. I want to follow Jesus. Church online, you click right below me. And is there those of you at all of our churches saying, yes, to the greatest gift of all, life in Christ. I would invite you to join in prayer with those around.

You just simply pray, Jesus, I come to you today, needing your grace, your mercy, and your forgiveness. I believe that you died for me so I could know you and live for you. Forgive me, change me, make me new. Help me to embrace your love for me so I could love you and love others. Thank you, Jesus, that I'm brand new. My life is now not mine, but I give it to you. Thank you for new life.

Jesus, you have mine. In your name, I pray. Would you celebrate worship big today? All of our churches, thank God for new life in Christ.