Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Struggles, Part 2: Relationships

Episode Date: September 13, 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.

Well, it's great to have all of you with us today for part two of a five-part message series called hashtag struggles. We're talking about following Jesus in a selfie-centered world. If you missed last week, we talked about the big problem that we have, the more that we compare with others, the less content we are. Next week is, honestly, part three and part five, I think are my two favorite messages in this whole series. we're going to talk about authenticity because the reality that we have is in this social media-driven world. We are very tempted to become very filtered in what we show the rest of the world. We filter our pictures. We edit perfectly our little post to say exactly what we want it to say and show you the parts of our life we want you to see.

And the more filtered that we become, the more difficult it is to be authentic. And I believe next week's message is going to speak to people in a very very important. very powerful way. Today what I want to do is I want to talk about intimacy in relationships, because we all know that social media and technology, there are so many benefits. We completely embrace it as a church. In fact, we're the creators of the U-Version Bible app. We couldn't believe any more in leveraging technology to spread the gospel and to connect with other people. I love so many different forms of social media and the advantages of technology. In fact, at 822 on Sunday night a week ago, I got a text from my daughter, Katie.

The reason I remember it was 822 because I saved it, it meant so much to me. Five words, my 20-year-old daughter said, I'm really proud of you. And I got that, and I'm telling you, like, hashtag I'm happy, hashtag I'm in love, hashtag, life is great. We can do so much to minister to other people through technology and social media. incredible. But that being said, I'm about to tell you that if you do too much of it and are consumed with it, it can actually hurt your relationships and rob you from that which God values most. We love it, but we have to manage it. And so today I want to talk to you about intimacy in relationships.

And I hope you'll hear everything that we talk about through the lens of the words of Jesus in John chapter 13. Let me give you the context of these verses, and then I want you to listen to what we talk about through the lens of these words of Jesus. Now, Jesus had just washed the disciples' feet, and I cannot tell you what a stunning, self-sacrificing, humble move this was

for the Son of God to kneel down and do what was considered the most low and humiliating task to wash the feet of the disciples. He just showed love. And then he said this to them. He said, a new command I give you, and what is this command? All of our churches, let's all say it together.

A new command I give you love one another. He said, as I have loved you, so you must what? All of you, come on, do better than this. You got to work with me today. You must what? You must love one another. By this, Jesus said. Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you will.

what, if you love one another. What I love about this is not just what he said, but also what he didn't say. Notice he said, they will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. What he didn't say is they will know you're my disciples if you have perfect theology. Good theology is important, but he didn't say that's how the world is going to know that you follow me. He didn't say, they will know that you are my disciples if you're always in church. It's a good thing to be in church, but that's not what defines if they will know you follow me. He didn't say they will know you are my disciples if you have a life church bumper sticker on the back of your car, which quite honestly, some of you probably should not because they're going to question if you are disciples by the way you drive your car, right?

They're going to know that we are disciples by the way we love and treat one another with the sacrificial love of Jesus. inside of our hearts. They will know that we are disciples by how we love one another. I want you to listen to the message through this lens, and I want to kind of ask a question. I am pretty obsessed with this subject. The big question is, how is technology changing relationships? How is technology impacting and changing relationships? We know that it's helping in a lot of different ways. There are probably some unintended negative consequences for technology and relationships. And we could talk about literally hundreds of different ways.

It's changing things, but I want to raise three big issues that really will impact our talk today. How is technology changing relationships? The first thing if you're taking notes is the term friend is evolving. The term friend is evolving. For example, a friend used to mean somebody that you did life with. We were together doing life. Now, a friend can be somebody that you've never met in person that follows what you say on Facebook. And so the term friend is evolving.

For example, the average American Facebook user has 328 Facebook friends. But the average American says they only have two close friends, which is down from six two decades ago. And yet 25% of Americans say they have zero close friends. close friends. So the tension is real. You may have 328 Facebook friends, but say you've got no real and close friends. And so we can argue all day long, we've got lots of online interactivity, and yet we may have very limited personal intimacy. The term friend is evolving. The second thing, if you're taking notes, and this is really interesting to me, is that we're becoming addicted to immediate affirmation.

We're becoming addicted to immediate affirmation. In other words, if I'm feeling a little bit lonely and I just want a little affirmation, I can, I'm going to just take a selfie real quick here. Hang on, I'm going to do this. Okay. I'm going to do a better one. Hang on.

Oh, yeah. Now, I could immediately, just right now, upload this to Instagram, and if I came back a minute later, I would have some likes. I may even have a comment, oh, Pastor Craig, you look so good. Like that shirt, where'd you get that? You know, you're rocking a new hairstyle or whatever someone might say.

I could get some immediate feedback. And what's happening is we're becoming addicted to this immediate feedback. In fact, scientists will tell you that it releases a chemical in our brain called dopamine, and we are becoming so addicted to that. What did they say? Did they like it? Who liked it? How many people liked it?

Why didn't she like it? She never likes my pictures. I'm not going to like her. anymore and we are addicted to this immediate feedback, okay? And what this is doing is it is meeting a short-term need, but we are deferring a longer term and deeper need. In fact, sociologists now have phrased what they call deferred loneliness. We feel lonely, so we post something. We say something. We get immediate feedback, and it meets a short-term need, but we are deferring a longing for intimacy into the future and the loneliness we feel we are deferring to another time. We are living

for likes and we're longing for love. We're hooked on this instant gratification and it's changing the way we do relationships. How is technology changing relationships? The term friend is evolving. We're becoming addicted to immediate affirmation. And number three, perhaps most important, is we have the power to do friendship on our own terms. We now have the power to do friendship on our own terms. In other words, if Richard text me, I have the choice to read his text, respond to it, not respond to it, get to it later, I am in control of what I do or not do how I respond to his text. If Sam posts a picture on Instagram, I have the power to determine, is it likeworthy or not? Is it worth a double tap of my fingers? Or do I scroll right on

buy another stupid cat picture that I'm so sick of him posting all day long. In fact, if he posts another cat picture, I may just unfollow him because I am total and complete control of this friendship. I manage it from a distance. I will show you what part of me I want you to see. I will tell you what I want to tell you. And if I don't want to respond, I'm not going to respond. And if you post too many pictures of your product or too many duck face selfies, I will and follow you because I am in control of this friendship. Suddenly we wake up and the terms of friendship have started to change. Which really interesting to me is I meet a couple times a year with some of the best

of the best of the young leaders from our church. And I always do this one. I want to invest in the next generation too, quite honestly. I just want to learn from them. What are you thinking? What's it like to follow Jesus as a 22-year-old or an 18-year-old or whatever? And the last time I met with them, we talked for a long time about social media and relationships. And one person said this, I wrote it down.

He said, the more I use social media, the more I crave personal interaction. And I asked the group, is this true for you? And they're like, absolutely. Everybody there said it's true. And then another person said, I feel more connected than ever before. And yet I feel more alone. Again, I ask them, do you find this to be true? Yes.

and there was almost like this out of control. All I know to do is go click, click, click, click, scroll, and I'm wanting something more, but I don't have the discipline to stop this to engage in what I know I really want, and I don't know how to get from here to there. I want to talk today about how do we get from here to there. And I want to start with Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25.

The author of Hebrews said this. He said, let us think of ways, I love this, to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Wouldn't it be amazing to get together with other followers of Jesus and say, hey, how can we be so aggressive in the way we show love that people are like, hey, they must be a Christian. Have you seen the way they love one another? He goes on to say this,

and let us not neglect our commenting on one another's posts. Oh, wait, wait, wait, I'm sorry. I totally messed that up. He said, and let us not neglect our what? Say it with me. He said, and let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another as the day draws near. But us not neglect our meeting together. Some of us need to rediscover the power of practicing presence, of being together with other people. In fact, Jesus said this. He said, wherever two or three gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Whenever we come together

with other believers in the name of Jesus, we experience the very real presence of Christ in a supernatural way. Now, does that mean that we cannot experience his presence alone? Absolutely not. We can. But there is something special, something powerful. When we come to, we come to, together with other believers and seek God in prayer. When you join hands with others and your faith connects and you petition the throne room of God, you experience the power and presence of God in a very real way. There's something that happens when we collectively worship our God

and lift up holy hands to him with other believers and experience his presence in this way. There's something that happens. When you open up God's word as, believers have done for centuries, and you read his word aloud together with other believers. There's power in presence. Think about it this way. God didn't shout his love from heaven.

What did he do? He showed his love on earth. He stripped himself of all heavenly glory and became one of us. God became flesh in the person of Jesus. In fact, Jesus's name is Emmanuel. God with us. God became one of us in the person of Jesus. And what did he do?

He lived with us. He loved those that others rejected. He poured his heart into those the religious community said, were not worthy. He ate with, dined with, fellowship with tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes. God didn't shout his love from heaven. He showed his love on earth. There's something about presence that is so powerful,

and yet so many of us settle for something less. So what I want to do today is I want to get really practical, just as practical as I can be, and give you two thoughts that are almost offensively simple, but yet so necessary for our culture today. And if you will apply these, I promise you, I promise you that the Holy Spirit will enter into your relationships and they will be far more than they are today. Two thoughts if you're taking notes.

The first thing is I want to encourage you to be present, to be present with one another. In fact, let's just do this. Everybody repeat after me. I will love people. All of our churches, you all in Florida, I need some love from you. Come on, I will love people. Face to face. Not just thumbs to thumbs.

Come on now, say it like you mean that I will love people. Face to face, not just thumbs to thumbs. Hey, the good news is if you're married, you can also love them belly button to belly button, but only if you're married. And that's another sermon, but it is a good one, and I would love to preach it today. But I will hold off if you say amen. Amen. I will love people face to face, not just thumbs to thumbs. Paul said this in Romans 12, 9.

He said, don't just pretend to love others. Let's not let it just stay at the shallow level, but what are we going to do? Scripture says, really love them. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Love people, really love them, be present in their lives. For example, let me do just a little exercise for you. Let's suppose you've got a friend or a family member that's hurting right now.

They just got bad news, bad medical news. They may not get in the school they wanted to go into. They might be losing their scholarship. Their girlfriend broke up with them. They found out bad news about their husband, whatever the case is. What is an acceptable way to show love? Acceptable way that most of us would do in our generation today is pound down a text. Hey, just thinking about you.

Okay, if you're going to text me, don't think about me. Pray for me. I don't understand that whole I'm thinking about you thing. What are you doing? Thinking about you? Well, that helped a lot. So, you know, but anyway, thinking about you, praying for you. That is an acceptable way.

Let's take it up a notch because we are followers of Jesus, and we want them to know us by our love. There is another thing that we can do this with this. Some of you don't even really remember, but this is not just something you type on. What else can you do? You can also talk on it, right? And so if you look in your context, you can speed dial someone, and guess what? You can talk to them and ask them, hey, how are you doing?

And you can listen to the tone and their voice. And you can not just pray for them, but you can pray with them over the phone. And then you can ask them some questions, and the conversation I promise you can go places that it will not go on text when you hear. tone of voice and you invest that kind of time with them. And let's just get crazy and say you're really going to take it up a level. We don't just text, we don't just call, but what's another thing we could do to show love? We could go see them, right? We could get in our car, we'd get in our scooter, get on our moped, you know, go across town, whatever the case would be, and we could

sit down with them face to face and listen to them and ask some questions. Have a cup of coffee with them, have some tea with them. Put your hand on their shoulder or hold hands and pray with them. If they're crying, man, you just like wrap an arm around, hold them, you know, put you if you're a guy, punch him, cheer him up, flat-handed bottom punch, never cuffed, you know, whatever it would be. You know, you're there in it with them and there's something powerful about being there. There's something powerful about presence. In fact, I learned this very, in a real dramatic way, when I was 28 years of age, we had just started Life Church, and at the time, my oldest daughter, Katie, she was about three or so.

And there was this tragic death in the church. A little three-year-old had a horrible death. And so I went to do kind of the pastoral visit. And I was really young, nervous. I was praying like, God, help me to do this right. Don't give me words to say. Don't let me mess up. I walked in.

I never will forget. The dad, who was about my age, was crying about his daughter, who was exactly my age. and I went up to him, I couldn't even get words out, and I just started crying. He was crying, I was crying. It was ugly cry, you know, snot, slobbers, you know, all that kind of stuff. And his wife came in and she was crying, and we just sat there for, I don't know how long, and we just cried.

That's all I could do, man. You know, I had a daughter at that age, and I just could just, I could imagine. And at the end of it, I thought to myself, like, I got to do something pastoral, I'll pray some prayer. And I'm telling you it was the most pathetic, faithless, you know, kind of like, God, you know, help them, amen. And I went out to my car. I felt so small and insignificant and like the biggest spiritual failure.

Like, I didn't say anything. My prayer was pathetic. You know, here they are in their greatest time of need. And I just screwed that thing up like nobody's business. Well, a couple days later, I got the nicest note from this family. And it said something along the lines of when you walked into the room, we just felt like God's love walked in with you. And they kind of went on for a while about that.

And then they said, we'll forget, they said, every word you said was just perfect. I didn't say a word. I mean, God, I didn't say a word. And it was all perfect. And what I realized is that my presence said more than any words could say. Presence alone.

Presence alone. There's something powerful about that. And, you know, back then we couldn't text, but had I been able to text, and I'd said the perfect thing, the perfect text would not have meant nearly as much as presence. There's power and presence. I remember a couple years ago, physically I was just so drained and was having a hard time breathing, and the weight of the ministry was just too much. And so Amy, like, texted our small group, pray for Craig.

he's having anxiety and such. And, man, within like five minutes, I got texts, we're praying for you, praying for you, another text, praying for you, and that all meant so much. But about the fourth or fifth text was from a couple that said, we'll be over to your house in 15 minutes. You can't say no, we're coming over to pray with you. I'm telling you what, everyone who prayed for me meant something. But when this couple came over and we're at my door in 15 minutes and joined hands and prayed

with me, there was something. powerful about praying with, not just someone praying for, but praying with. I don't know what it is, but God is a relational God, and he created us to love him and to love one another. And we can love each other from a distance with technology, but we can do so much more when we're face to face. So I don't know what this would mean to you, but I want you to really think about It might mean that you, you know, ask somebody to lunch, that you would normally just check on and say, hey, let's do lunch sometime, but you actually do it, and he sit across from someone, and you just let the conversation go, and you just listen and you pray and you laugh, and you tell stories, and you love them.

It might mean you do something crazy. In our society today, we wall people out. You've made it when you're in a gated community. We live to keep people out. Maybe you'll be more like Christ, and you'll let people in. You'll invite them into your home. and you'll make dinner for them, and if you can't, you'll order take out, but you'll sit across a table with someone, and there is something holy about breaking bread together with other people.

It might be you invest in someone who's younger. It might be you invite someone that you know nobody's going to invite. Some of you right now, you're longing for something more spiritually, and I just need to tell you what you're missing. You are missing the joy and the blessing of Christian community, of opening up God's word with other people and doing life together and encouraging one another. And does it get messy? Heck, yes, it gets messy.

It does. You can control it and keep it clean from a distance, but the risk is worth the reward when you open up your hearts. We call it a life group. When we do life together because life is better together. I don't know how this will apply to you, but I really pray that if the Spirit of God is speaking to you, that you will intentionally take a step forward

and be present with those around you. Number one, be present. Number two, if you're taking notes, I want to encourage you, be engaged, be engaged. Don't just be physically present, but be emotionally, completely engaged and present. In fact, Peter said this. He said, most important of all, First Peter, 4-8, continue to show what, let's all say it aloud, continue to show deep love for one another, a deep spiritual engagement where we're all in, where the person in the room is the most important one

to us. Think about this. I guarantee you. All of you have seen this and probably all of you have done it. Go to a restaurant today, look around, and you will see a family of four or five all sitting there for a nice meal together. And what are they doing? All of them. Okay? The older ones are doing this? The younger ones are doing this. Right? That's what they're doing. They're all doing it. And you've been there before. I've seen it at my house. My teenage daughters, they invite their friends over and they're so excited and all these teenage girls sit around on the sofa and what do they do? They do this. They are alone together.

That's what they do. Parents, moms, you've done this. Your kids begging for your children. Mama, mama, mama, look at my drawing. Mama, mama, you're busy. What are you doing? You're searching on Pinterest for mermaid yoga for beginners thinking this is going to change your life and they are begging for your attention to be engaged.

Think about how incredibly rude it would be. If we're out having coffee and we're engaged in a conversation, and you're pouring your heart out to me, and I reach into my backpack, and I pull out a book. Go to my place. I'm on page 32, and I read two pages of my book. And then I put it back down and say, okay, keep going. Like, what's your problem?

And then you're back into it and you're talking to me, and listen to you, and then I reach down and I pull out my to-do list. Got to get butter. Got to call the repair person on the air conditioner. Got to get the oil changed on my car. Then I put it back down. Keep going. Keep going.

And you just pick back up. And then about 10 minutes into it, I'm just like, yeah? Then I walk off. And I go up to someone else, like, hey, what's going on? Yeah, glad to see you here. Man, thanks. Hey, were you at church last week? we'll make, God is good all the time, all the time, God's good,

and then I come back and sit down with you. He'd be like, who is this stupid guy? Right? But what do we do? What do we do? We're face to face with someone that matters to us, and the whole time we're doing this. Be engaged.

Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Every time this thing buzzes, whist, churps, beeps, there's something in me that's going, who said something? What is it? What do I need to know? In fact, there's a new word that just hit the dictionary called FOMO, F-O-M-O, and it stands for fear of missing out. And there's a generation that are just, there's, what am I going to miss? What am I going to miss? What am I going to miss? I might miss someone's funny cat picture. I might miss someone saying, oh, girl, you look so gorge, which doesn't mean fat. It means gorgeous.

Hashtag cool lingo. I may miss someone liking my picture. Did they like it? Did they like it? Listen to me. At the end of your life, it's not going to matter how many likes you got. Listen to me. At the end of your life, you're not going to be sitting around going,

if I had only gotten three more, I would have had a clean 100 that time. If I had 100 triple-digit lives, oh, life would be so good. It is not going to matter how many likes you got, but it's all going to be about how much love you showed. They're going to know that you are following. of Jesus, by the way you love one another. Your children are begging for your attention. Parents, they're begging for your attention. They're acting out trying to get your attention. And some of you just say, they're doing the same thing. Yes, maybe they are. But it's your job as parents

to engage them in such a life where there is something more meaningful than looking at a screen and clicking on a picture and engaging in real life. Fear of missing out, fear of missing out, Fear of missing out. Let me tell you what. You may miss out on what someone says here, but what you really should be afraid of is missing out on the person in front of you. That's what you're missing out on. You're missing out some of you on your children growing up.

They're right there, but you get your face in a screen. You should really be afraid of missing out on what matters most. So I don't know how you apply this. But maybe it's time for some rules. Phone goes down at 10 o'clock at night. Phone goes on the docking station. During dinner time, face down, nobody picks it up. Life group, face down.

Listen to me, if you're in bed with your spouse and you're both on your phones, and you're tempted to text her and ask her if she's in the mood, and the reason we laugh is because it is this close to the truth. She responds, hashtag headache, and then you're done. First John 318, help me out here. Dear children, let us not merely what, somebody help me out. Let us not merely say, that we love each other.

Let us do what? Let us show the truth by our actions. Don't just pray for them, pray with them. Don't just like what they post, like who they are, get involved in their lives. This was the greatest weapon of the first century followers of Jesus. They were so persecuted by the outside force that they loved each other with this radical unifying love.

And if anyone had a need, you know what they would do? They would take their own possessions They would sell it, take the money, and use it to meet the need of the person in their community who was in need. In fact, Scripture says they were so generous and so loving that there were no needy persons among them. And the skeptical world looked on. They're like, I'm not so sure about that whole Jesus being raised from the dead. I'm not sure I believe what they believe, but I want what they have. They love each other and they care for each other.

And Jesus said it this way. They will know that you are my disciples by the way you love one another. They will not know that you are disciples by how many followers you have, or how many likes you get, or how fast you are to respond to email. They will know and sense your love when you get involved in their lives, and you care for them where they are, and you open up your heart and you do life with them. And then they will see something in you that they really want.

and when they ask you what it is, you can say, I am on a mission from a God who gave his son for me to forgive me of my sins, and I found freedom and life in that. And that's why I show this kind of love to you. The reason why I preach this with such passion is because I am sick of my inability to control this. I refuse to be mastered by anything. I will not live my life longing for likes the whole time I'm longing for more love.

I refuse to be a slave to a screen. I'm going to be a lover of people. And yes, I will leverage technology all day long. I will use it to be a blessing to others, but I will not let it replace the intimacy and the power of face-to-face relationships. Because when God showed us his love, he didn't shout it from heaven.

He showed it on earth. God became flesh in the person of Jesus, God with us. Father, I pray that in your presence, that your Holy Spirit would do a work in our church, that the world would know that we are disciples of Jesus by the way we love one another. All of our churches, as you take a moment and pray, many of you, you're going to recognize this is a problem. It may be a very big problem for you. Certainly, it is a problem for somebody that's close to you. And if you recognize that this is impacting relationships, sometimes it's positive, but oftentimes it's negative.

And you want God to have free reign to bring adjustments in your life. You want something better. You want to enjoy the blessings of social media and technology, but you never want it to replace the blessings of face-to-face intimacy. You're honest and recognize this is an issue. God help me to manage it wisely. settle for less than what is your best. If that's you today, would you be really, really honest? Let's not just hear this and move on, but let's be doers of what God is showing us.

If you're really honest and say, I want his help, would you lift up your hands right now? Just all over the place. All of our churches lift up your hands and say, this is an issue for us. God, I thank you for those who are open to what you're saying. I pray, God, that we would genuinely have a fear of missing out, not what someone says online, but a fear of missing out on what matters to you most and what should matter to us most. God, give us wisdom, as we discuss with our family, not out of anger or a judgmental heart, but even compassion.

God, I never want my life to be so empty. I'm sucked into things that would never fill it. I want my life to be full of what matters most. God, give us wisdom as we discuss. Give us love and grace as there are conversations between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between friends. God, for those that are lacking a true, genuine spirit-filled community, I pray that this moment you would nudge their hearts to take that step and say, no more.

Life is better together. I need other believers together. I want to be in a community where we truly open up, show our love to one another. We're known by the way we show love. God, as followers of Jesus, I pray that we would be moved to be engaged in the lives of people, not just online, but deeply engaged in their lives. And the world will look on and say, wow, Wow, those must be some of those Jesus people.

I know it because of the way they love. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, why is it that we're drawn into things that don't matter so much? The reality is we're looking for something. We're looking for something. We've got to void in our life. Maybe more of this will satisfy. Maybe more of this will fill the emptiness.

The problem is you can have more and more and more. You can have an unlimited amount of that stuff, and it will never fill the void. Why? because you were not created by God for that stuff. You were created by God for God. The challenge is we do live in a selfie-centered world. The reason we're so self-centered is because we are sinners by nature.

We want what's best for us. God created us, though, for what's best for him. He created us to bring glory to him, to live for him. Our selfish nature wants us to live for us. And suddenly we feel distant from God because of all we've done wrong. The beauty is that God became one of us. In the person of his son, Jesus, who was without sin and became sin for us on the cross, died and rose again so that anyone, and that includes you,

who calls on his name, would be saved. Every sin you've ever committed would be washed away, and you would be brand new. You're searching and longing for something. Let me tell you what it is. You are searching and longing for a relationship with God through Christ. Nothing else will satisfy. Many of you, that's why you're here today, and you sense it. You know there's more.

Today, by faith, it's time to call out on him and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. I want you in my life. You are becoming my Lord. Today, I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Would you lift your hands high right now all over the place? Say, yes, that's my prayer. I need His grace.

Right back over here, right over here as well, both of you right here, right up here. God bless you, both of you guys, right here. Praise God for you. Others of you. Right back toward the back. Over here in this section, say yes. Right back over here, I surrender to him. Church Online, you click right below me.

others of you today who call on his name and say, yes, by faith, I surrender to him. Would you all pray together? We are family, and no one prays alone. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins. Make me brand new. And Jesus be the Savior and the Lord of my life. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you, serve you, and follow you. My life is not my own. Today I give it to you. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Would you all worship big today?

All of our churches give God glory. Welcome those born into God's family today.