Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Watch Where You Sit, Part 1: Watch Where You Sit

Episode Date: March 10, 2019

In your relationships, your family, and even in your heart, where you sit might matter more than you realize. If you want to land in the right spots, you’re going to need to Watch Where You Sit. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world thanks to what God is doing at Church online. If you ever have any questions or you want to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.church. We'd love for you to stay connected throughout your weekend, everywhere you go with the Life Church app. It's free and available wherever you download your apps from. With that said, let's go to this week's message.

Hey, welcome today to all of our Life Church locations. I've got amazing news for you today. we've got a fantastic guest speaker. One of the things I love to do is introduce you to speakers that you may not yet know so you can enjoy their content, be ministered to, and grow in your faith today. It's my honor to introduce to you one of my very, very good friends. He's the pastor of Victory Church, a strong multi-site church. And this guy has an earned doctorate.

He's also the president of King's University, an amazing Christian university in the Dallas area. honor to introduce this guide to you today. You're going to love them. I love me. He's a great man of God. Would you please help me welcome Dr. and Pastor John Chastine? What is going on? Life Church? What an amazing honor to be here. I want to just take a quick second and greet every single life church campus, Omaha, Wichita, Wellington, Albany. There's no way I can name all 32 of you. But I want to just say welcome every single network church, every single person watching online. it is such an honor to be with you. Pastor Craig has been my pastor for several years. Again, my name is John Chastine. And I want to just start by quickly showing you a picture of my family.

Okay, so they're going to put up a picture of my family. Let me tell you the reason I'm showing you the picture of my family, my amazing wife. We've been married almost 18 years. My two kids, Corey and Jace, 11 and 8. And the reason I'm showing you this is because I want to let you know how connected we really are because we're family. The reason being of that because is my family attended. Life Church for many, many years. In fact, about eight years, we attended Northwest Campus. Come on, Northwest Campus, make some noise. We attended Northwest. We used to go over to the Edmond campus. We used to attend the Oklahoma City campus. Some of you remember this, when it was like a tent building. Remember this? When it was like a tent, we used to go to day three. And what I want you to

know is that any fruit that we're experiencing in our ministry and in our family, many of those seeds were sewn in this church. And we just want to say, we love this church, we honor this church, we are so excited. And so a lot of it's come full circle. So I used to sit, you know, on the back row. I was a greeter at Life Church. And then I became a senior pastor. And then your pastor took me under his wing. And what I want you to know is that your senior pastor doesn't just pastor you. He loves the body of Christ, capital C. This dude is pastoring other churches, other leaders all over the globe. And I just want to say, I honor you, I love you, Life Church. You guys are amazing. And this is what I want to do. I kind of have a dual purpose in this and you'll see what it is

in a minute. But I want to give you a chance to honor your church. Every pastor, every campus pastor, maybe you're at Wellington, maybe you're at Wichita, maybe you're in Tulsa, maybe you're in South OKC. I want to give you a chance to honor your campus pastor, to honor your kids pastor, to honor Pastor Craig and Pastor Amy and all of the DLT. Pastor Bobby and Pastor Sam and Pastor Jerry, all of these amazing people that make this place tick. I don't know if you realize how amazing this place is. I want to give you a chance. Come on, I know you just got situated. I know your tushy. You just got settled in. But would you do me a favor? Come on, can we just honor this house? Can every campus stand to your feet and honor? Come on. Do it like you mean it.

We love life church. We honor this place. Amen. Amen. Now, stay standing. Every campus. Every campus. All right. Come on, the clock's ticking. I got to preach. Stay standing. We're going to burn some calories for Jesus, okay? So just stay standing for just a minute because we're going to stand in the honor of reading God's word. Isn't that awesome? That we stand as we honor God's word. I'm going to take you to the text that I want to speak out of today. I get a great word that I think is going to encourage you. So go with me to Matthew 28, verse 1. It says, after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, poor the other Mary. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid. For I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified and he is not here. He has risen. Just as he said. come and see the place where he lay. Now, it seems like I'm setting you up for an Easter sermon. I'm not.

That's coming later. You'll never guess the three words I'm going to pull out of this text to preach to you today. Go back to verse two. Verse two says, there was a violent earthquake for the angel the Lord came and set, and came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone, and watch these next three words. Set on it. What?

Like if I'm writing this story and I'm picturing the angel, I think the angel's going to come down like in some majestic. He's going to stand with authority. He's going to dab or he's going to do something. Like something majestic, something powerful. And this angel sits down. He sat on it. And so what I want to present to you today is that maybe this angel is preaching. One of the greatest sermons we can ever hear without saying a single word.

did not say one single word, but through a posture of a place of sitting tells us something. And so what I want to present to you today, the title of my sermon, then I promise we'll let you sit down. The title of my sermon is simply this. Watch where you sit. Watch where you sit. Let's pray and we'll sit down. Father, thank you for your presence. Every person that's here in this location or every single campus or every network church or maybe watching on YouTube or listening to a podcast, in this moment we're centering.

We're recalibrating our minds and all the distractions are going away. And what we're asking and we're giving you permission to do, God, is to speak to us, encourage us. God, we're even bold enough to say, convict us. Move us closer to you. We thank you for it. And we thank you for your presence that's here with us in Jesus' name. And everybody said, hey, high five somebody on your way down. High five a couple of people.

While you're doing that, let me just greet all of you watching on YouTube, all of you listening on podcasts. Maybe you're listening to this or watching this three years from now. Thank you for taking time out of your day to be with us here at Life Church. It's such an honor to be with you. So let me ask you this question to start. How did you pick your seat today? Right now. Because there's some people that don't really think about it.

They just kind of come in and plop down wherever. But there's some of us that are really strategic. Like, we need a space between our seats, for one. to a movie theater, what are you going to do? You don't ever, listen, please don't ever sit right next to somebody. That's weird. And if you walk into a movie theater and somebody has their feet up on the chairs in front of them, that means you don't sit right there. Go somewhere else. But maybe you have kids and you've got to be strategic, man. We've got to get close to the front. We've got to get close to an exit because this kid may scream at any minute. I'm not going to sit

on the front row because I don't want to get spit on by the preacher. You guys are in the danger zone, splash zone, but we're strategic sometimes. And we think through this process of where we want to sit and what we're doing, because this is why, it's because where you sit matters. And I hope you're beginning to see that I'm not really talking about your tushies anymore. I'm more talking about point number one, if you're taking notes, I'm more interested in where your soul sits. And this is what I think part of this message that this angel,

is presenting to us without a single word. He's presenting this idea to us that it matters where we sit. It matters. You know what your soul is, right? Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Your mind, your will, and your emotions. And really, there's only a couple of things that matter when it comes to sitting down is, you know, the reason you set, you were tired, whatever the case may be,

and the place in which you set. And I started doing this little study in scripture, and I started going through the Bible, and I started studying all of the places where the Bible says it says that someone sat down. And there's a lot of them. There's a lot of places it says in Jesus sat down. And God is seated on his throne. And Jonah sat under, you see all of these aspects and these perspectives. And what I begin to notice is that not every time that it says that someone sat down is significant.

But in my perspective, and every time I looked in scripture, every time it, told me the place that they set, it meant something. It was symbolic. Let me show you an example of this in 1st Kings chapter 19, verse 3. It says Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life. And when he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. Now watch this, watch this. He came to a broombush. He sat down under it and prayed that he might die. Now, what I want to point out of this is that it wasn't just him physically that set down. His soul set down there. His soul set under this broom bush, so much so that he was suicidal. So it wasn't just his tushy that took a seat. It was his every being set down under the

broo brush. And this is what's cool about the Bible. The Bible's way deeper, way cooler than we we think it is. Because in this text, the broombush means something. If you'll read the Bible sometimes and ask yourself, wonder what the broombush means, or I wonder what this means. There's a story in and of itself in that. So the significance of the broombush, the broombush is also known as a juniper tree. And this broombush, this juniper tree, was indigenous to this area. And there's a couple of very interesting things about the broombush that I just want to point out to you before we go on, because I'm trying to show you, I'm trying to pour a

foundation here to let you know that where you sit matters. And so Elijah went and sat down under a broombush. There's three interesting things about broombushes. is the first one is this. The broom bush grows in a dry place, in a desert region. And this should be something that speaks to us, because if you're ever in a dry place, watch where you sit.

If you're ever sitting in a place where it's dry and weary and desertous, we need to check our souls to say, is this really where I should be sitting? Shouldn't I try to find something far more fruitful to sit in? Don't sit in the dry place. The other thing that's interesting about a broombush is that a broombush produces a bitter root. Now, this bitter root was edible, and from time to time, people would eat the root of the broombush. But it was only under desperate situations.

You would not just think to yourself, man, I am craving some broombush right now. No, but if you were poor, if you were struggling, if you didn't have anywhere else to turn, you would eat the root of the broombush. And if you don't believe me, I just want to show you real quickly in Job chapter 30, verse 3. Let me reference this. It says, they are gout, they are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground and desolate wasteland. Watch verse 4. They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees.

And if we're not careful, if we allow ourselves to sit in places that we should not sit, we will begin to feed on the root of bitterness. If we allow ourselves to sit under the broombush of unforgiveness, you know what you will eat from, right? Bitterness. And sometimes we got to watch where we sit. The third thing that's interesting about the broombush is that their twigs were actually used for binding. They would pull off the twigs and they could bind up things. And isn't it ironic?

Isn't it interesting? Isn't it symbolic that Elijah was suicidal and ran to a dry place? and set down under that from which bitter roots come from, and he was bound. He had become bound. And this is interesting. So basically what I'm trying to tell you, what I'm trying to reiterate in this, is we have to watch where we sit. Elijah had ran to a place that he should not have gone, to a source in which he should not have partaken, and he was bound by it. And we've got to watch our souls and make sure that our souls aren't sitting in places that they shouldn't.

be. Now let's compare something, just something real subtle, something real subtle, but something significant. So go back to verse four. It says he came to a broombush, set down, watch this. He sat under it and prayed that he might die. Now let's go back to the story of the angel and see this real subtle change, subtle but significant. In verse 2 of Matthew 28, it says there was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb. He rolled back the stone and set on it. See the difference. One set under it,

one set on it. Now, the interesting thing about this, you know what the Greek word for sit under it is? Sit under it. But I do want to show you the Greek word for on. The angel set on the stone. Now, the Greek word for on means this. It means above, beyond more than.

Okay, now let me kind of wrap this up and kind of tell you where I'm trying to get at with this angel. Like I said a while ago, this angel could have done anything. He could have just strolled up in there like a boss. He could have hovered over the stone. He could have stood. He could have done a lot of things. But for some reason, this angel said on it. Now, think about what he said on.

There's something symbolic about even what he said on. He set on the very thing that the devil tried to use to stop Jesus. It made a statement. So I'm kind of weird. I have these weird visuals in my mind. And when I play this part out in my mind, like, I see this angel. Check this out. I see this angel.

You got to do stuff like this sometimes while you're reading the scriptures. I kind of picture this angel posted up kind of like this. Mary and the other Mary come around the corner and he's like, like his best Joey Tribioni. How you doing? Like he's like posted up there like a boss, man. Like he is sitting on it. And what I think he's saying to them without saying a word,

he says, do you notice what I'm sitting on? Now, I want to ask you the question. What has the enemy tried to roll in front of you? What circumstance are you facing? What issue are you facing? what financial struggle, what relational issue, what is it that the devil is trying with everything he's got to roll in front of you? And we get to make this decision. I love this idea. We get to make the decision that we can either sit under our circumstances or we can sit on them,

but you can't do both. You can't do both. We get to make this choice. So what was meant to bring defeat, get this, what was meant to bring defeat became a seat. What the devil tried to stop Jesus with became the very thing the angels set up on top of and was like, see that? You see what I'm sitting on? And we have this, we have this option, we have this opportunity. And this is just real quick, I want you to know, one side note real quick in my notes, one real quick side note, where you choose to sit doesn't just impact you. It impacts everyone around you. Let me show you just real quick. I'm kind of just going on these little sidetracks because I want to drive home a point. Watch what this says in Second Kings chapter 10, verse 30. It says, the Lord said to Jehu,

because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do. Watch this. This is very important. Your descendants, will sit on the throne of Israel for four generations. Because of the decisions you made, people are going to come four generations after you. Because you decided to sit on top of addiction and not under it, your great-grandkids are going to be impacted by that. So because you made the decision to tithe, two generations beneath you are going to be in. Because you made the decision to be debt-free, your kids will be different. because you decided to sit on it and not under it.

We have this choice. We have this amazing opportunity. And then we're like, well, man, John, that'll preach. But how do I do that? How do I do that? I want to give you the perfect example of somebody who did this that we can learn from. His name is Jesus. If you haven't met him yet, you should.

He's a great guy. Watch what this says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. It says, and let us run with perseverance, the race. marked out for us. How do we do that? Verse two. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. The pioneer and perfector of faith. And this is how Jesus did it. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Now, I want to point out to you, sometimes we just think Jesus was this great guy, and he like wanted to go to the cross. And it wasn't that hard for him because he's God after all. He did not want to go to the cross. He despised the cross.

but he was able to endure the cross for the joy set before him. He was able to look past the cross at the joy that was on the other side of the cross. And he even had a choice in where to sit. And he battled through this in the Garden of Githsemini. Some people say the battle was won on Galgotha. I agree with you. But he made the choice in Gassimini. He said, I refuse to sit under this.

I'm going to sit on it. And it goes on in this verse to say, it says this, and he set down at the right hand of the throne of God. That's where our king is seated in case you didn't know. He has taken a seat too, and it's at the right hand of God. This is who we serve. And so we got to practice this. On our drive home from work, when we're exhausted, when we're frustrated, when we're angry at our boss, before we walk through the door, to our families, I'm making the choice that I'm going to sit on it.

I'm not going to sit under it. I'm not going to take this home with me. I'm going to sit on it. I'm making the choice. So we're talking about we get to choose. We get to choose. So let's talk about this for a second. Let's talk about saving seats.

Saving seats. How many of you enjoy saving seats for people? Anyone love saving seats? Nobody. I can't stand saving seats. I'll be at the movie theater and my friend will text me, hey, I'm running a little late, save me a seat. I'm like, I'm sorry, bro, you should have, I'm sorry, I'm not saving you a seat. I'm not doing it.

Because this is why. The movie will start, it gets dark, somebody will come creeping down the aisle, excuse me, stepping on my toes. Like, I'm six, seven, I wear size 14s. Somebody's stepping on my feet, okay? Somebody's creeping down the aisle. And then I got to pull a Forrest Gump. And I got to look at them and say, so he's taken. Can't sit here.

Like, y'all with me, remember that? This Forrest Gump, seats taken, sorry. And I got to be the guy in the theater saying, seats taken. Can't sit here. Come on, say this with me. Every campus say, seats taken. Guys, I'm on stage doing this with a microphone. Do it with the accent.

Seats taken. That's awesome. I didn't know if you'd actually do it or not, but you did. I love this church. Now, in psychology, I'm no psychology. In psychology, they call this the seat of emotions. This term was coined in 1954 called the seat of emotions. There's actually, did you know that you have three brains?

Some of you're like, I'm not sure my spouse has one, but I'll take your word for it. You actually have three aspects of your brain. The first one is the survival brain. Now, this is the part that doesn't take a lot of thinking. You're breathing, aren't you? Congratulations. Your survival brain is intact. The second one is the logical brain.

And some of you're like, well, my husband doesn't have that one either yet. The logical brain, this is where we get our executive skills. And in my studies, just to all the parents, just a big sigh of relief, the executive skills don't kick in until your mid-20s. And I'm like, good, my children aren't slow. Awesome. But the one I want to talk to you about is the third one, it's the emotional brain. that you actually have an aspect of your brain that decides where your emotions are going to take a seat.

It's psychological. It's physical. That our brain literally is in a battle all the time. Do I punch that guy in the face or do I sit quietly? Like these emotions, these decisions that our brains are making all the time. It's called the seat of emotions. And this is what I like. I like when modern science comes to conclusions about what the Bible has been saying for thousands of years.

Watch this in Philippians chapter 4 verse 6. It says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all of them. And watch, watch this. We'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. it's up to us we get to decide where our emotions where our souls where our thoughts where our minds are going to take a seat we get to decide this this is why paul said in second quintin's chapter 10 he says take every thought captive and make it obedient to christ because you've got to get a hold of your

seat of emotions i got to get a hold of those thoughts and so this is what we have to begin to discipline ourselves when when you're sitting there and fear comes creeping down the aisle, you have to say, I'm sorry, seats taken. You can't sit here. This seat is reserved for peace. I'm sorry, seats taken. When anxiety comes down the row, when self-pity comes creeping down the row, I'm sorry, this seat's saved. Only joy can sit here. You don't get to sit here. Seats taken. You can use it. the same accent if you want to. If you want to tell fear, sites taken, can it sit here? You can't sit here. You can do that too. We have to save those seats. These are seats that we get to save.

And the angels showed up to show us how to do this, to let us know that there is a rightful seat. So we're going to be mindful of where our soul sits. Second thing is we are going to be aware. we're going to focus in, we're going to be saving seats for the right emotion. I'm sorry, seats taken. The third thing, and the best news I came to tell you today is that a seat has been saved for you. A seat has been saved for you. Now, I don't like saving seats for other people, but I love it when people save me seats. I love it when people save me seats. Because I don't have to be early. I don't have to be on time. It's happened to me not too long ago.

Your pastor, Pastor Craig, invited me to go to this big conference that he was speaking at. And he's like, I'll have seats for you. I'm like, awesome. Okay. Yeah, great. So I get there, and I don't know where the seats are. I have no idea. So I come down to the front, ask the usher, hey, I'm kind of a big deal.

I'm with, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I just said, I think there's seats safe for me. He goes, oh, yeah, the reserve seating is back over there. And I'm talking like it was by the balcony. And I go back in there and sit down. I'm like, this don't seem right.

I thought Craig loved me. I thought. And I'm finally, I'm like, this can't be right. I'm going back up there. I walk down to the front. I go to a different usher, one that knew what they were talking about. I walked up to him. I said, hey, Pastor Craig invited me to this event.

And he said he was going to have seats safe for me. I don't know where they are. We just tell me where to sit down. And we were sitting, we were standing right here down. down by the stage. This was a big event, massive event. She goes, oh, yes, sir, Mr. Chastin, your seat's right here and pointed dead center,

front row. And I'm like, I want to cry. But I'm like, of course they are, sure. I sit down. And I'm sitting there. And I watch people start coming in and sitting by me. And I'm thinking, I'm in the wrong place. This can't be right.

This can't be my seat. I don't belong here. There's no way that I should be seated here. This doesn't make sense. But then it hit me. But I know the guy. I know the main speaker. And this is what I want to tell you about,

about these seats that I had. I didn't pay for these seats. Not a dime. I did not deserve to be in these seats. I had not earned the right. I had no name. I had no influence. I had no right to be sitting.

in the seat, but because I was friends with the speaker, a seat was saved for me. And this is what I need us to, come on, every location, everybody watching this, if I come for one reason and one reason only, I came to, to grab some of you and just shake you, if I could, to say, there has been a seat saved for you. It's saved. And listen, don't feel bad. Because you didn't pay for it. And to be honest with you, you couldn't afford it even if you had.

That you owed a debt that you could not pay. And he paid a debt. He paid it. He paid it. That he did not owe. And you're right. We don't belong there. You're 100% right.

Our sins. Our shame. My mistakes. I mess up tomorrow. I'll mess up again. I'll mess up again. but for some reason the righteousness of Christ demands and invites and begs us to come to the front lines and to be seated in our rightful place.

Now, I don't want to just say this out of my emotion. I want to point to scripture. I want to point you back to truth. So watch what it says. You need to capture this. Some of you need to put this on the dashboard of your car. Some of you need to make this on the mirror of your bathroom. And because in Ephesians 2 verse 6, it says, and God raised us up with Christ.

Watch this. and seated us with him, with him in heavenly places. Me? Seated with Christ? Are you kidding me? Me? It says the same thing. If you don't believe me in Revelation chapter 3 verse 21.

It says to the one who is victorious, I will give the right, watch this, to sit with me on my throne. There has been a seat save for you. I went to this other event not too long ago with my family. It was like a musical play. I was suffering through it for my kids. We got pretty good seats. I go down and I sit down. You know, we're 10 rows back or so, and I'm 6'7,

so I've always got an aisle seat, promise you. And this guy comes up to me, taps me on the shoulder. And I just preached all day. This was a Sunday afternoon. Task me, sir, I think you're in my seats. And I want to stand up and say, what? Oh, I'm a pastor.

Never mind. Yes, sir. No, he tasked me and he says, I think you're in my seats. And I said, no, man, this is my seat. And you always said to me, check your ticket. Check your ticket. I was like, okay, man, I'll check my ticket. Check my ticket.

And sure enough, I was in the wrong seat. Turns out, I was supposed to be seated about four rows in front of that. So I'm like, I was just checking to see if you're paying attention, man. You know? And this is what I think the Holy Spirit. wants to say to some of us tonight. And this weekend at this amazing church, the Holy Spirit wants to come to every single one of you

and say, will you please, please check your ticket? Check your ticket. I have already paid full price. I've paid full price for you to have this ticket. And some of you have been on the back lines of church. And listen, this would be your cue. It's time to lead a life group. It's time to join a life group.

Some of you, you've been on the back row, not metaphorically, you've been on the back row for too long. It's time to check your seat and come to the front and begin to trust God with your tithe. For some of you, it's time to become a contributor and not a consumer. For every one of us, and I don't care if you've been a Christian for 40 years, there's another level that God is calling you to. And what he would say to you is, would you stand up in full authority? So with your head bowed, heads bowed and your eyes closed in every campus, if you're at any campus, if you say, John, that's me. man, I need to recommit. I need to pony up. I need to check my ticket and get back to where God has called me. This is not a call to Christ. I'm saying if you've been living for Christ and

you've been serving God for one year, 30 years, 100 years, you say, that's challenging me. That's challenging. Raise your hand. I want to pray for you. Just shoot your hand up all over. Every single campus, hands going up. Let me pray for you, Father. Give us the confidence. Your word says that we can boldly enter into your presence. Thank you. We say, thank you for paying the price. Thank you for stamping our ticket. Thank you, Jesus, for saving us a seat. Without you, we are nothing. Forgive us for allowing shame and regret and unforgiveness and all of the mistakes that we make on this earth from keeping us on the back row for all the things. God, there are people in this room who need to start businesses.

There are people in this room who need to go into full-time ministry. There are people in every single location, at every single campus, that need to start a nonprofit. And you've been feeling this burning in you, but you think I'm not worthy, I'm not good enough, I'm not, check your ticket. Check your ticket. At every single campus, at every network church,

and here in this room, I want to invite those of you who are not in relationship with Jesus. And I'm not talking about religion. I'm not talking about religion. Maybe you were baptized when you were six months old and somebody splashed water on you. And if somebody asked you, are you a Christian? Yeah, I'm a Christian.

I'm not saying that. I'm not talking about that. I'm asking you, are you in a relationship with Jesus? Do you know Jesus? Are you in relationship with him? I'm inviting you to take a seat in a place that you did not pay for. You cannot earn it.

You did nothing to deserve it. You can move past your shame. You can move past your sin. You can move past your doubt. You can move past every single thing and every single hindrance that has kept you from moving forward into Christ's loving arms. Today is your day. And I want to invite you right now at every single location. Lift your hands high right now.

All over the room. Hands going up all over the room. All over the room at every campus. This is what I want to do. I want to pray with you. I want to pray with you. Every campus, join in prayer with me right now. Everybody say this prayer with me.

Say, Father God. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for me. Jesus, thank you for paying the ultimate price for me. Today, I am yours. Today, I take my rightful seat. I accept you as my Lord. I believe that you died on a cross and rose on the third day for me. I'm a new creation

in Jesus' name. Amen. Can we celebrate this, you guys? And that's awesome. As a church, it's our honor to play a small part in all that God is doing in and through your life. And we would love to continue with you on that journey. To find out what your next steps could be in your relationship with Christ, all you have to do is go to life.com church slash next.

You know, here at Life Church, it's our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That statement drives everything we, do as a church, all because we know and we believe whoever finds God finds life.