Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Struggles, Part 1: Contentment

Episode Date: September 6, 2014

As you scroll through your day, does it feel like everyone else has it all together? Someone always has the best job, cutest kid, or happiest relationship. We're pressured to measure up to other people's status updates and left with more #struggles. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's awesome to have you with us today at all of our life churches and our network churches and all over the world at church online on the other side of computer screens. We're starting today a brand new five-part message series called hashtag struggles, following Jesus in a selfie-centered world. Now, if you're not a regular user of social media, you may be saying, what in the world is a hashtag? If you're asking that, I want to show you exactly what a hashtag is. A hashtag looks a lot like a pound symbol that you can use on your phone or your computer. If you're on Twitter where you type your thoughts to the world in 140 characters or less, and you click on lifesearch. com.

What you'll do is you'll see what everybody is saying about Life Church that is used that hashtag. There'll be quotes, there'll be comments, there'll be announcements, there'll be announcements, If you go to Instagram where people upload pictures and you click on the hashtag cool shoes, what you'll do is you'll see everybody's awesome kicks. Look how cool my shoes are. A hashtag is simply a tool to connect with what other people are saying in a similar venue on social media. And what I want to do in this message series is I want to talk to you about five different struggles that interfere with biblical values

really as a result of social media. Now, we're going to use social media as a starting point. If you're not on it, these messages will still speak to you. But I wanted to say up front that I absolutely love and embrace the value of social media. I'm on several different forms, and we all know who use it that there are so many incredible benefits of social media. You can connect with people all over the world. It really makes a big world so much smaller.

You can promote things that are important to you. You can push causes forward. There are so many benefits. At the same time, with all of the great opportunities that technology provides, there are also some unintended downsides or unintended negative consequences of social media and different forms of technology. What I want to do is raise a few of those issues, contrast the struggles with some biblical values, and I believe that this is going to be a very powerful message series that will speak to the hearts of so many people today.

So let me tell you what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about contentment. We're going to look at the problem that when we compare with others, we become dissatisfied and discontented in our own hearts. Next week, if you look at your notes, we're going to talk about intimacy. When we post something, we get immediate feedback and therefore we feel close to people. But as one person said, social media really gives us the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. And so we can be very comfortable relating to people online, but many of us were longing for something more face-to-face. We're going to talk about that next week.

Week number three, we're going to talk about authenticity. Really, for the first time in history, we can filter everything we show people. We can self-edit what we're going to say. the more filtered our lives are, the more difficult it is for us to be authentic. Week number four, we're going to talk about compassion. Studies show that over the last 20 years, we actually care considerably less about other people. And these studies argue that technology overwhelms us with all the information in the world that we feel like we simply cannot care.

And yet God calls us to be compassionate. We're going to talk about how do we care for one another in a selfie-centered world. And then week number five, we're going to talk about rest because I'll tell you, honestly, I am so tethered to this stupid little thing. It is absolutely ridiculous. I do not sleep with my phone like 80% of teenagers do, but I'm pretty close. I check it when I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, which is a sickness that I'm sure Jesus can set me free.

We're going to talk about that in week number five on rest. So let's dive in today in our first hashtag source. struggle, we're going to talk about discontentment and envy and how do we become content in Christ. Some people believe that discontentment has never been a bigger problem in the history of the world than it is today. Think about it. Never before have so many people had so much and yet want so much more. And some sociologists are actually saying that social media is one of the biggest driving causes of discontentment. Because what happens is when we look at other people's lives on social media, they look perfect because they're putting their best image, their filtered image

forward. As my good friend, Pastor Stephen Ferdick says, he says, we're comparing our behind the scenes with other people's highlight reels. We feel like losers because we see the best of their best, and we know the worst of our worst. For example, I heard two moms talking about how they had hated each other on social media. One was a working mom, and she was like, I just hated you because you're like the perfect Pinterest stay-at-home mom who does crafts and structured time with her kids and made me feel so guilty. And to stay-at-home mom said, I hated you because you have a life and you're out in public and you're

doing things. and I haven't had my hair in anything but a ponytail, nor have I seen an adult since 2009. Here we have two people comparing and longing for what the other person has. Maybe you've been like this. You're at home all by yourself, and you see your friend down on a date eating lobster, and you're eating lean cuisine,

and you don't even like lean cuisine, or you see your friend at the gym, and he's doing his selfie, you know, muscle pictures, and you're like single-handedly trying to get hostess out of bankruptcy yourself, you know. And you're like, I feel so bad about myself. And never before in the history of the world could we so accurately measure popularity. When I was a kid, we just had to kind of randomly gist that we weren't popular. Like, yeah, I'm not so popular, I don't think.

Now you can measure it. I've only got 287 followers. and she's got 492. I'm like half as popular as she is. You know, my picture only got 19 likes, and the one before that only had 12, and my record is 33, and every time she posts,

she gets three digits of likes. It's just not fair, and so we compare and summarize everybody else's life is so much better, and my life simply sucks. Okay? the more we compare with others, the less satisfied we are. In fact, researchers did a study at two college universities,

and they had students spend half an hour on Facebook and then surveyed their feelings after a half an hour of just looking on Facebook. And what they found is one third of the students felt significantly depressed, citing envy as the number one emotion of what they felt after 30 minutes of just watching what happens on Facebook. So this is a real issue, and what I want to do today is be very, very honest and expose any

discontentment that we have in our hearts. So what we're going to do at all of our different churches, our network churches, I want you all to participate. I'm going to give you three different categories, three different categories of discontentment, and then I want you to be gut-level honest about any of these areas that you struggle with. We'll broaden it beyond social media, obviously, but for those of you who use it like I do, you'll probably see yourself in at least one of these areas. Let's talk first about material and financial discontentment.

Maybe you see him post a picture of his car, and you hate your car, and you want to be happy for him, but you're jealous. You want that car. Or she posts a picture of brownies, but you're not looking at her brownies. You're looking beyond her brownies at her kitchen and her countertops and her little cabinet pull knobs that she has in her. perfect little kitchen, little brownies, you know, and you're like, I wish I had that. It could be that, you know, your friends at the beach again, you know, for the second time this

year, and you can't even go to the lake. And you're very, or she has more shoes than Zappos, and you're like, ah, I've got my three pairs, and she's got all these, and it makes you materially or financially at some level discontented. Would you be real honest, all of our churches and say, if this has ever been in. issue for you. Just raise your hand right now. Call it what it is. Do not lie in the health of God. That's dangerous. Just dangerous. Raise up your hands and say yes, that can be true. But let's talk about relational discontentment. Relational discontentment. You see all your friends

and they are together and you're not and you are not invited. Why was I left out again? Why am I never invited to these events? You're not married and like every person you know is married and they're happy and you're not. You know, I wish that I had somebody special. You see someone else and they have time with their children and you're like working your tail off just trying to make ends meet for your children and you feel guilty. You see the relational intimacy that other people have and you don't have all that you would want. They look like they've got a great marriage. You don't feel like you've got a great marriage and all of a sudden you find yourself in one form or another a little bit envious of someone else's relational status. If that's you,

let's be real honest today and say you've ever felt that lift up your hands. The third one is what I just call circumstantial discontentment. You're looking at your life comparing it to someone else's and you're thinking, I wish I was where they were. By this point in my life, I thought I'd be doing something more significant. You know, I wish I could have a baby and like there's the 14th reveal party, you know, of the week and they're showing the sex of their baby and I can't have a baby. I wish I had more significance in life or whatever.

Quite honestly, for me, I thought I'm just being really. honest, this is what trips me up. Circumstantial is because, like most of our campus staff members, I have to work all weekend long, Saturdays and Sundays. I'll even get on social media because you're showing pictures of, I'm at the football game. I'm at the lake. I'm thinking, fine, I'll serve God while you serve the devil. Have your little fun, and I'll just save the world and do something significant on the weekends,

you know. And so that's just kind of just being real honest, you know, have your fun. and all that kind of stupid stuff. I wish I could be at the game with you with my shirt off, painted my favorite team color, and cheering. So anyway, sorry about that. I don't know where this comes from. It just happens.

Somebody said this. Somebody said this. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% how you respond. I think that's good. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond. The reality is,

for most of us, it's the flip side of that. Most of us live as if life is 90% of what happens to us, and we really don't have much power in our response. The Apostle Paul was the master of responding with the Christ-like perspective. In fact, we look at, to me, what is the best verse in all of Scripture on contentment, and he's writing this, you need to understand,

he's writing this while in prison, under house arrest, chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day. So let's just put it this way. He's not on the beach drinking a little drink with an umbrella in it. Life is not great for him when he writes this. And here's what he says. Philippians 4, verse 12 and 13. Paul says, I know what it is to be in need.

And I know what it is to have plenty. Then he says, I've learned the what? All of our churches, let's say it loud. Everybody, I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. In other words, if life is going the way I want it to or if life is not going the way I want it to at all, I know the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. You want to know the secret. Here is the secret of being content in every situation.

He says, I can do all this through whom. Say it with me. I can do all this through whom. Christ who does what? Through Christ who gives me strength. I can do anything and everything through Christ who gives me strength. The secret of contentment is not found in what I have or do not have. The secret of contentment is found in Christ and Christ alone.

Listen to me, until Christ is all you have, you'll never recognize that Christ is all you need. You want to find the power of contentment. You let everything else be stripped away. And then you cling to the Savior. You cling to the Son of God and you recognize that his presence is real, that he offers a peace that goes beyond our human ability to comprehend, that he is our rock, he is our sustainer, he is our redeemer, he is the peace that covers our minds, he is our assurance, he is everything that we need. You can search and search and search and get all the likes you want, get all the approval from people you want. want. All the material things you want and know and love as many people as you can find.

But until you experience the goodness of Christ, you will always be dissatisfied. You will always be longing for something more because within you is a Christ-shaped void. You are born for eternity and there is a longing for something more than this world has to offer. until you let Christ be all that you need, you will always battle with the enemy of discontentment. Envy will rule in your heart. I'll tell you the secret of being content, Paul says. Hey, I can have a lot.

I can be in a Roman prison. But by Christ, I can do everything he calls me to do. That's the secret of being content. So what I want to do today is I want to talk about two things that we absolutely and completely need Christ's strength to do. two things that will help us to overcome this sin of envy. Through Christ's strength, number one, we will kill comparisons. Through the strength of Christ, we will stop comparing.

Paul said this, 2 Corinthians 10, 12. He said, we do not dare. We're not going to get close to this to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, They are not wise. Andy Stanley says there is no win in comparisons.

We're going to kill comparisons. It's not wise. We're not going to do it. In fact, we're going to be tempted, but we're not going to do it. I remember the first time that I got crushed by comparisons. I was in junior high, and for a week I was the king of the world. I got the first motorized vehicle of any kid in my junior high. I had my very own moped.

I was the king. It wasn't really a full-blown moped. It was kind of like a bicycle with a motor because it had a governor that wouldn't let it go above 25 miles an hour downhill

but it didn't have enough power to always go uphill so it also had pedals. So I was like Nacho Libre. You know, and then if we were going up a hill and it wasn't enough power,

and I'm peddling my way up the hill. But Tiffany, who lived around the corner, she thought it was the coolest thing ever. So I had, ride my little moped with my blue helmet over to Tiffany's house. I had a matching blue helmet. I'd ring her doorbell.

She'd get on the back. She'd hold me around the waist. And her hair would fly out the back thing. And I was the king of the world. Until Brian Marquart, I still remember his name. And I hope he's listening to this today. Until Brian Marquart got a motorcycle. I rang Tiffany's doorbell.

She said, I'm not riding with you today. I'm like, why not? She said, come riding with Brian. But I thought, you know, hair, blue helmet. She's like, no. I said, you're right, no. I never will forget. Tiffany looked at me and she said, I'm so sorry.

But you're Richie Cunningham and I want the Fons. Hashtag hurt so bad. Three years of counseling, I'm still dealing with that. Some of you, you don't like me. You criticize me. Look, if you know that's in my past, you've got to have some mercy for me because I'm overcoming some significant obstacles. Some of you don't even know who Richie Cunningham of the Foneman,

is hashtag don't worry about it. It's okay. I almost broke one of the rules. If you're new to hashtagging, don't make your hashtags really long. Hashtag we went to the zoo and saw the lions and tigers and bears and got popcorn and it was so much fun. Then we came home. This hashtag's getting really long, so I better stop. That's not how you do them. How many of you know somebody like that? You know somebody like that? Those of you that don't, hashtag it might be you. Okay, so anyway, I'm sorry, we're going to kill comparisons. Why? Why?

James 3, 14 and 16 says this. I want you to see how dangerous this is. If you harbor bitter envy, okay, listen to me, those of you who are envious, watch what this does. If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. James has been a bit sarcastic. such wisdom, in quotes, such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but what is it? Let's say it

loud, what is it? It is earthly, it is what? It is unspiritual. What is it is demonic? Envy is demonic. It is unspiritual. It is not from heaven. It is earthly and demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice. We're going to kill comparisons because it is demonic. This is one of the top ten commandments. Thou shalt not come. It's not just unhealthy. It is sinful in the eyes of God. Therefore, we're going to kill and crush comparisons. Now, I don't know how practically this will play out in your life. Some of you, you may need to take a social media break because this is feeding the sin of envy. I do this occasionally for multitude of reasons. I'll just for six months, six weeks or so, I get off of social media because I don't like to be addicted to it.

And I just, I do that for just a couple times a year just because it's helpful to me. You may need to do so. You might need to hide the feed of certain people that trigger the sin of envy in your life. Let's take it beyond social media. You may need to stop ordering certain catalogs that come to your home, cancel the subscriptions when you're always wanting something more, or delete shopping apps on your phone that's, you know, or stop watching Home and Garden TV because all you can do is sin whenever you're watching someone else's nice house and looking at you're a pathetic little shack, you know.

Or not go to the boat show or the car show or the hunting show or whatever the show. We're going to kill comparisons. Why? Because this envy, it's demonic. Every evil practice comes from within this lust and longing for something more. And not only are we going to kill comparisons in this. this way, but I also find that celebrating the successes of others really purifies my heart, that when someone else is blessed in a way that I wanted to be blessed, whenever I learned to

celebrate with them, it purifies the intentions of my heart. Someone else gets the job you wanted, and you're like, you know what? God must have had a reason to bless them, and with everything in me, I thank God for his blessings in their life. Someone else gets the thing that I've always wanted. God, I thank you so much that your hand of blessing is on them. God, continue to bless them. It purifies your motives. I wish I was going on vacation and my friend is, you know, skydiving off a volcano in Iceland. And, you know, thank you, God, that they're having a good time. And this is a big blessing to them. I found that in my own heart, when I can't celebrate for others, I actually think I'm limiting what God wants to do in my life. I really do. I give you just one

example. Over the course of our church, almost a little over 18 years now, we've been blessed that every year we've seen the people were able to reach expand, reach more people. There were two seasons when we were not growing. And both times, looking back on it, I recognized that there was significant sin in my own heart. One of the seasons, we just weren't reaching new people and we were actually declining some. And I used to drive between campuses and preach back then, was going by this little small church that was obviously struggling. There were like eight cars and their parking lot. And I prayed for them, but it was kind of a prideful prayer. It was like, God bless this little church, help them. And in my mind, I was thinking, I'm so glad I'm not

that church, you know, and it was almost like this pride, like, you know, we've got a lot more than eight cars. And I really felt like God spoke to me. And I'm real careful when I say this, because I've never heard the audible voice of God. So I don't know. It just seemed like it was God speaking to me, and I felt like this voice in presence said, would you really be happy if I blessed them and blessed them more than I was blessing you? And I thought, my answer wasn't really good. My answer, nope, I wouldn't be happy. Nope, bless them a lot, but not nearly as much as you're blessing me. And I recognized at that point that my heart was very impure, because it wasn't about building God's kingdom. At that point, it was more about building my own kingdom. And that's a very

dangerous place for a pastor to be. And so I deeply repented and said, God, I really want to be at the place where I want you to bless other churches more than your blessing ours. And when I could get to that place where it really was more about the kingdom, then suddenly God started to bless us with growth again. I can't prove this, and this isn't in the Bible, and this may or may not be true. But in my own heart, I live as if it would be true. Perhaps the reason why God is not blessing you with something you want is because you're not celebrating God's blessings in someone else's life. I want to be careful and celebrate his blessings in someone else's life. I never want it to be about me.

And if you're not getting what you want, it could be because your heart is not right. We're going to kill comparisons and celebrate God's blessings in other people's lives. The second thing we're going to do, if you're taking notes, first we're going to kill comparisons. And then we're going to cultivate gratitude. in our own lives. We're going to cultivate gratitude. In fact, someone defined envy this way. I think you might jot this down. They defined envy as this. Envy is resenting God's goodness

in other people's lives and ignoring God's goodness in your own life. That's pretty powerful. Envy is resenting God's goodness in someone else's life and it's ignoring his goodness in our own life. So we're going to cultivate gratitude. In fact, Proverbs 1515, this is such a powerful verse to me. It says this, for the despondent every day brings trouble. For the despondent, every day brings trouble. Some of you, you know people like this. Some of you, you are people like this.

Oh, it's a bad day. It's going to be, oh, it's going to rain today. Oh, it's going to be a horrible day. Oh, the economy is still struggling today. Oh, I'm so upset. Oh, my kids are always brats today. Oh, my heart never really starts. You know, for the despondent, every single day brings trouble.

But for the happy heart, life is a continual feast. For the happy heart, who might have the same day as the despondent person, the happy heart sees the blessings of it. The happy heart is always ready to see God's goodness. You see, if you want to look for bad in this world, you can find it. but if you want to look to see God working, let me tell you can find it. If you look for the blessings of God, you can see it. For the happy heart, it's a continual feast.

In fact, of everything about my dad that I admire, the number one thing I admire is his perspective on life. Every time I talk to dad, how's it going? Son, life is good. Like, how's it going, dad? Life is good. For years it used to annoy me because I thought he's just like saying that's what he says. but the reality is that's what he believes. It's in his heart.

He was battling bronchitis for two weeks. Dad, how are you doing? Life is good. Like, doesn't sound good, dad. He's like, it is good. And then he told me, I've told you this before, he can only talk in like baseball language. And it's the only way he knows how to communicate.

He says, son, you know I had a stroke. I'm living in extra innings right now, son. Life is good. I like that. For the happy, heart, life is a continual feast. It's all about perspective. I'm living in extra inning son. I've got extra time. Life is good. In fact, Solomon, who was the richest man of his time, some people would believe like dollar for dollar the richest man of all time. He said this,

Ecclesiastity 6.9. He said, enjoy, say it aloud, all of you, enjoy what you have. You guys in New York, come on, help me out. Give me some love. Enjoy. Enjoy. what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. You want to have a continual party? Enjoy what God has given you instead of longing for what you don't have. Be thankful for what God has given you instead of looking at someone's post on Instagram. Oh, I wish I had their life. They're longing for your life in ways you don't even know about it as well.

Enjoy what you do have rather than longing for what you do not have. So the next time you're tempted to say, I hate my stupid car. Instead, say, I thank God that I have a car that runs. That puts me in the top 5% or so of the wealthiest people in this world. I thank God that I have a car. I wish I had a better house. No, I thank God. I've got a roof over my head, an indoor plumbing that works.

You kind of laugh. Go and see how half the world does not have that. It's a significant blessing from God, and we are so thankful we have it. Oh, my life is so crazy. I'm so busy. Life is so crazy. I'm so busy. How you do?

I'm busy. I'm busy. I'm busy. Oh, life is so crazy. I'm so thankful that I've got a family and children that are involved in activities and healthy and friends and a community to contribute to. I thank God that I've got things to do and places to be and people to bless. I thank God that I've got a significant life that keeps me.

busy doing significant things to be a blessing to other people. Some people say, well, our church is getting too big. When are we going to stop planting those campuses? Don't we have enough campuses already? I tried to get in. It was already too full. I couldn't even get in the parking lot and the church was full and there wasn't even room for me. Aren't we too big? I thank God that every single week we're seeing people born into the kingdom of God. That we're seeing lost being found. that we're seeing marriages being safe, that we're seeing lives be transformed. Oh, the music's too loud and the people are too young. I thank God that there are young people excited about being in the house of God.

When churches are struggling to reach the next generation, and our front rows are full of young adults with passion and fire for the things of the kingdom of God. Let me just go off on this for a second since you got me on this subject. As long as there is one lost person out there, our church has never, ever, ever, ever too big. I thank God that people are coming to know Christ. And I am not going to bow down to the demonic curse of envy and comparisons. Because God is always good, and he has been better to me through his son, Jesus, than anything I could ever imagine. When my life is good, I thank God for his blessings.

When my life is not what I would want it to be, I thank God for his goodness, that he's working in all things. to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Therefore, we will kill comparisons because it's unearthly, it's earthly, unspiritual, it's demonic. We will celebrate the blessings of others and rejoice with those who rejoice.

And we will cultivate gratitude, worshiping our God because he is worthy of our praise, because we have learned the secret of being content, whether living in plenty or whether living in want. And the secret is I can do all things through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gives me strength. And because He is all I need, I will pursue Him with all my heart. And in Him, I will find true joy and true contentment

because He is life and He truly satisfies. eyes. Our Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would seal this message in our hearts, that we would be a church full of people longing to know you to seek you intimately, to find joy and strength and contentment in your son, Jesus, that we would be changed, God, because we've been in your presence. All of our churches, as you take a moment and reflect on God's word. Those of you who would say, yeah, I can see it, you know, social media and technology, it does, it causes me to envy and to live often in discontentment. Those of you say, I'm not even on social media, but man, I'm there with you.

I see it. I'm comparing, and often I feel very dissatisfied. I want to take this before God today and ask His Holy Spirit to bring a settledness in my soul that I'm going to enjoy what I have instead of longing for what I don't have. I'm going to have a happy heart, a continual party, enjoying the goodness and God, seeing God's blessings all around me. God, forgive us of this sin and help us to be continued. in your son, Jesus. If this is a struggle for you and you want to take it before Jesus today,

would you lift your hands right now? Just all of our churches, be honest, be honest. Put them back down. There are more of you. Listen to me at our video campuses right now. You think I don't know what's going on. Listen, God knows, and so do I. It's weird like that.

I don't know how, but I'm going to ask you again, if this is a real issue and you want to take it before God, lift your hands high right now all over the place. Thank you so much. Father, I thank you for people who are sincere before you. God, I ask that your Holy Spirit would do a healing work in our hearts. God, as it's so easy in this world, in fact, it's just thrown into our faces, the temptation to compare. God, forgive us for resenting your blessings in other people's lives

and ignoring your goodness and our own. God, help us to rejoice in you and your goodness, in your presence, in your power, and your son, that we have salvation that we do not deserve, that your presence sustains us. God, even if we're, we lose everything, we thank you that when Christ is all that we have, we truly realize that he is all that we need. May we pursue him above all else, seeking him first and your kingdom, and then knowing that in your time and in your way, you'll add everything else that matters into our lives. But God, all we want to do is seek you. Bring healing in our hearts, we pray. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, nobody looking around right now.

You may listen to this and think, okay, yeah, that kind of sounds good, religious little stuff and all, but I still want all that other stuff. I'm longing for something more. Let me tell you what. If that's you, go for it. Go for it. I dare you. Pursue all the money you can make. Go for it.

Pursue all the experiences you can have. Go for it. Pursue every earthly human relationship you can have. And you get all you want. And let me tell you what's going to happen. You're still going to want more. Why? because there are not enough things on this earth to fill the spiritual void that you have.

There is no physical thing that can fill the spiritual emptiness in your heart. There is a Christ-shaped void. You are born for eternity, and you know it. You know there is more because there is not enough stuff on this earth to satisfy you. Our sin nature drives us toward this. but there is a spiritual nature that calls us toward the things of God. Because in his love, he sent his son Jesus, who was without sin, to be the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

He died and he rose again so that any of us who calls on his name would be saved, saved from what? Save from a Christless eternity in a very real place the Bible calls hell, but also saved from an empty life of living for things that do. not matter. He wants you to have life and life more abundantly and is only found through his son, Jesus. And all of our churches, those of you who recognize, I have a spiritual void. Today I turn from my sins. I trust Christ. I surrender my life completely to him. By faith today, I give my life to Christ. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now, all over the

place and say, yes, that's my prayer. Right back over there on this side, God bless you and back here as well, here in this section. Others of you who say, yes, me too. Right back over here, I call on him over in this section right over here. God bless you guys. Others of you today say yes, I surrender to him. By faith I give my life to Christ. Church online, you click right below me and we're all going to pray together. Everybody praying aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, today by faith, I turn to you and ask you to be enough, enough to forgive me of my sins, to make me brand new. I believe Jesus died for me and he rose again

so I could live for you fill me with your spirit so I could know you so I could serve you and so I could follow you today my life is not my own I give it to you thank you for new life

in Jesus name I pray Life Church would you worship big thank God today welcome those born into his family have a continual party of life Thank you twice.