Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Winning the War in Your Mind

Episode Date: February 14, 2021

We’ve all tried to think our way out of bad habits and unhealthy thought patterns, only to find ourselves stuck with an out-of-control mind and off-track daily life. But God has something better for your life than your old ways of thinking. It’s time to decide to change your thinking so God can change your life. Learn more about Winning the War in Your Mind: https://www.life.church/media/winning-the-war-in-your-mind/Start The Grudge Bible Plan: www.go2.lc/warWE’RE OPENTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here we go again. Another sermon, and I never feel ready. You'd think after 25 years, I'd feel confident, but I'm always nervous, always insecure. I know God's word is powerful. I feel so weak. Pathetic is more accurate. No matter how much I work, no matter how hard I try,

I just never feel like I have what it takes. Okay, Groshelle. game on smile don't suck let's roll so i'm curious does anyone else have an ongoing war in your mind i don't know about you but so often i battle in my mind between thoughts of faith and thoughts of fear I so often want to trust God, and yet I also want to control. Maybe you're like this. Maybe you can walk in one moment, and you feel full of spiritual confidence that God is with you, and he's for you, and he's called you, and the next moment you have this crippling insecurity

that paralyzes you and holds you back. What I've discovered is that the mind is a battlefield. And most of life's battles are won or lost in your minds. The more I've studied scripture and the more I've even looked at what neuroscience would say, most of life's battles are won or lost in the minds. The good news is, who's ready for some good news, the good news is that God's word is power. not just to help you, but to transform and to renew your mind with truth.

And because His Word is powerful, I would love it if you would today at all of our Life Church locations. If you're watching in your kitchen, you could even stand to your feet in honor of the reading of God's Word. Today we're going to be looking from 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And over the next few weeks, we're going to try to get into the mind of the Apostle. Paul. It's interesting to look at him. Have you ever heard of the ultimate warrior before? In many ways, Paul was what I'd call the ultimate thought warrior. When you look at his life, you'll notice early on, we see him become a follower of Jesus. And then we watch as Jesus renews his mind over time. Romans 7, we looked at that a couple of weeks ago. And you see the

battle in his mind. He says, the things that I want to do, I don't do. You can probably relate. He says, the things I don't want to do, I end up doing the things I want to do I can't seem to do. And he almost sounds crazy with the thoughts in his mind. We're going to watch him progress throughout his life and ministry as he learns to wage war against the lies that attack his mind. We're going to see him capture wrong thoughts and replace them with truth and win the war in his mind.

This is what the apostle Paul says. He says, for though we live in the world, We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power. The Greek word translated as powers to the word dunimus. It means the explosive, miraculous power of God. We get our word dynamite from this.

The weapons that we fight with, they have divine power to demolish, to destroy strongholds. Now, you may not use the word, stronghold in your everyday life. What is a stronghold? It comes from the Greek word Akiroma, and it's a military stronghold. It was like a fortress that was often built in the middle of a city. This fortress could be surrounded by a wall that would literally be 20 feet deep. And it's where the military officials might be kept during battle to keep them safe

or where prisoners were kept to guard them from the enemy attacking. The devil, our spiritual enemy, wants to attack your mind and create strongholds of deception. So you believe something that's untrue and takes you away from God's healing and calling for your life. What does the devil do? The devil tries to shape your thinking. One lie at a time

until you're a prisoner of deception. What does the devil tell you? You can't trust people. You'll never succeed. You're always going to be broke. You're never going to have a good marriage. God doesn't hear your prayers. God doesn't care about you.

You're never going to make a difference. You're never going to amount to anything. How do we do battle in our mind? Well, Scripture tells us this, that we demolish arguments. and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And what do we do? With God's help, we take captive every thought,

and we make it obedient to Christ. The title of today's message is winning the war in your mind. Would you pray with me? Father, we ask that by the power of your living word, You would renew our minds with truth. Set us free, God, from believing the lies that rob us from joy, peace, and calling. And God, may your truth set us free. We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, amen, amen, amen. You look at somebody next to you, air five of them and say, get your mind right. Just tell you, get your mind right. Put that in the chat. I'm getting my mind right. Type it in the chat. I'm getting my mind right. Today we are launching into a new message series.

And the message series is the same title as my new book, Winning the War in Your Mind, Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. And this book and this message is incredibly personal to me because I've been on, honestly, a several-year journey asking God, begging God, pleading with God to renew my mind And by the power of his word, I've made so much progress that I thank God for. And I want to share with you through God's word, the journey that he's taking me on. And as I've studied the mind, both in scripture and just through science, what I've discovered is this,

that our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. Our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. What we tend to think comes out in our life in both science and science and, in scripture agree. In fact, I've done a lot of research on cognitive behavior psychology, which shows that a lot of problems are actually related to wrong thought processes, some relational challenges, some eating disorders, addictions, some forms of anxiety are actually a direct result of toxic thinking. That's what science says. God's word is true, and it says it this way. Provence 23-7 says, for as he thinks in his heart, as a person thinks, so is he.

What do we know? That the life we have so often is a reflection of the thoughts that we think. What we think determines who we become. In other words, if you tend to think, I can't do something, I'll never be able to do something. I don't have what it takes. If you think you can't, you probably won't. If you think you can by the grace of God, God, you probably will. If you dwell on your problems, the world is bad, this getting worse, your problems are going to overwhelm you. But instead, if you look for some solutions, if you believe you can have faith, you'll find

some solutions and you'll see faith arise. If you always feel like you're a victim, you will likely become a victim. If instead you believe that you can overcome by the power of Christ within you, you can overcome. In so many cases, the life we have is a reflection of the thoughts we think. And what I want to do today is I want to encourage you for a moment just to stop and think about what you think about. We're going to pause and just kind of go through our minds, and I'm going to encourage you to do what I call a thought audit. We're going to audit our thoughts and think about what we think about. and I'm going to show you three different categories

to try to determine where you actually would fall on this list. The first scale I want to look at is contrasting your mindset. Are you characterized by worried thoughts, panic, anxiety, fear, or would you say that your thoughts are typically characterized by being full of peace? We'll start on the left side. Do you tend to wake up and have your mind drift toward fear? what could go wrong. I'm worried about my kids. I'm worried about my health. I'm worried about the

economy. I'm worried about the state of the world and the direction that our world is heading and our country's out of control. Do you find yourself more typified and characterized your mind by worried thoughts or even if things are bad and complicated? Do you find yourself casting your cares upon God and recognizing there is a peace that goes beyond all human ability to understand? and you sense his presence and his goodness and his spirit with you, even when things aren't the way you want? What would you say if you're auditing your thoughts? Are you more characterized by worry or by peaceful thoughts?

A second category would be this. Do your thoughts drift toward the negative or do they drift toward the positive? Do you wake up and find yourself like negative and critical of people and assuming the worst instead of believing the best? do you look at your day and say, oh, it's going to be hard, and it's going to be bad, and times are tough, and I'm always so busy, and there's not enough of me to go around, and the world's going to hell on a ham basket? Or do you wake up with positive faith?

And again, even if things are difficult, you say, you know what, Christ is with me. He helps me overcome, and things may be difficult in the world, but I'm thankful for a God who is working in all things to bring about good to those who are called according to his purpose. What would typify your thoughts? Let's look at a third category and ask yourself, when it comes to what you think about, are your thoughts more worldly

toward the things of this world, that which is temporary, or do they drift toward that which lasts forever? Your thoughts may be more worldly where you're just consumed with what you have and what you wear and what you look like, and who liked your post, and how many followers you have

and about what everybody thinks about you or they drift toward more eternal, which is God has given you a life to steward and spiritual gifts to use. And what you have is actually to be invested and given to make a difference in the lives of the people around you. So when everything else burns away,

your life will count eternally. What would you say characterizes your thoughts? What we think about matters more than you can imagine. What comes into your mind comes out in your life. No matter what you do or what you have or who you know or what you buy or where you live or where you travel. You cannot have a positive life when you have a negative mind. Why? Because your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

the question I want you to ask yourself is this. If your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts, are you excited about the direction your thoughts are taking you? I asked myself that very question several years ago, and my answer was, no. If my thoughts are directing my life and I look specifically at my thoughts, I did not like the direction they were taking me in. They were consumed with negativity and fear and self-doubt.

And my inner dialogue would often be discouraging and talking myself down over and over again. So, several years ago, and through this period, my number one top personal spiritual priority was to invite God to renew my mind with truth. And I've been on a passion for it, so much so that I got consumed with it and had to get it out in the form of a book, hopefully to help other people the way God's word has been helping me.

God, I need your help to renew my mind, to replace all the lies that replay in my mind with your spiritual truth. And so over the next few weeks, we're going to go on a journey. And we're going to look at the Apostle Paul and we're going to ask God to renew our minds with truth. And today we're going to lay a foundation that will build upon in the weeks to come. So we can win the war in our mind and change our thinking

so God can change our life. Are you ready for it? If you're ready, say I'm ready. Are you ready? Type it in the chat if you want to, I'm ready. Two foundational thoughts that we're going to build upon. The first one is this. What I want to do is just encourage you

to identify the biggest stronghold that's holding you back. Remember the stronghold? You're a prisoner locked by. a lie, what is the biggest mental stronghold that's holding you back? You might think over and over again, I'm not good enough, or my past is too bad for God to use me, or I can't trust the people around me, or I'm always going to battle with my weight, or I'm never going to be good with money, or I can never be close to God, or I'll never be in a job that is fulfilling and something that I love, or all of my relationships are always going to be break down.

I only date psychos, whatever it is, okay? If you find yourself identifying your negative thoughts, what I want you to do is embrace the reality that your negative thoughts, they are changing the chemical makeup of your brain. The reason is because every thought creates a neurochemical change in your body. when you think a positive thought, you get a surge of rewarding neurotransmitters releasing a very legal and exciting drug called dopamine. It's legal and it's powerful.

And every time your brain drops some dopamine, you get this hit, this buzz, this thrill. Someone you like and respect comments on your latest Instagram post. You get some dopamine. Okay, someone says, oh girl, your hair looks so good. Dopamine. Amy texts me and says, thinking about you, come home soon. Dopamine, okay?

It's that positive surge of release in your brain. And what's so interesting is, the more often you think a thought, science tells us it's easier to think that thought again. Once you think a thought, you're creating neural pathways in your brain. And literally we have billions of neural pathways in our brain. The more often we think that thought,

the more the connection is there. And it's easier to think that thought again. And before long, whatever we have been thinking becomes our default fault. Stronghold. If you believe a lie for long enough, you start to be impacted as if that, lie were true. You get stuck in a rut. Imagine this. If I walked out in my front yard and I walked across the

lawn for a hundred days straight. If I walked across that, what would I do? I would create a path in my yard. In my mind, if for a hundred days straight, I think on a lie. I start to believe the lie and I create a neural pathway through my brain. With God's help, what we're going to do is renew our minds. We're going to stay off that old path. And if I stay off that path for a hundred days, what happens? The grass grows back. There's more resistance. It's not as easy to walk. And I forge a new pathway in my brain toward the truth. And the truth ultimately sets me free. This is science and it's godly because God created science. Romans 12. to Paul said it this way. He said, don't be conformed to the patterns of this world.

We could be, say this way, don't be conformed to the wrong ways to thinking. He said, but be transformed how? By the renewing of your mind. We're staying off the destructive negative paths and we're creating new paths of truth. I don't know how this will play out in your life, but maybe your path is this. It's a frustrating day at work and you come home and it's been crazy at home because it's always crazy when you homeschool. It's a spiritual principal and all of you are homeschooling or to some degree of that. And you walk in and your old path says, yell at your spouse. And what you do is you stay off that path. You capture that thought and you might count to three or 10 or 110 in your case. And you say a prayer and instead you walk a different road and you come up

say, I'm sorry, it's been a difficult day, and you hug and you change the tone by changing the path. Or maybe you feel bad about yourself. And so when you feel bad about yourself, there's a very direct path to the freezer and you eat ice cream when you feel bad. And then you feel worse because you ate the whole thing. What you're going to do is create a new path. Instead of walking to the freezer, you walk to the front yard and you take a little walk and you exercise. And when you exercise, you get some dopamine and some adrenaline and you feel better about yourself and you create a new path. When you're bored, what do you do? You pick up your phone, you look at Instagram, you scroll through at all your friends, and you hate them.

Because their life seems better than yours. And you're not there. Why weren't you there? And you feel like a loser. And so what you might do is create a new path. You open up the U version Bible app and you put something different in your brain that renews your mind. To think in a different way, we're going to forge a new path in our brain because the more you walk that path, the easier it becomes to travel and the more you stay off. The old one, the more it weakens. And it's harder to think those same thoughts again. Here's your assignment. Identify the biggest stronghold that's holding you back. Just one. Just one. We're not going to attack all 73. What we're going to do is we're going to start with one. What is it for you? You might battle with

identity and you might feel like I'm just not lovable. That's your one. Or you might wrongly believe because you've said it for thousands of days. I'll just never be good enough. or I don't deserve anything good, or I'll always be broke. There's the haves and the have-nots, and I'm just a have-nots, okay? You feel helpless, hopeless, worthless, like life is pointless.

Identify that one stronghold, name it, because you cannot defeat what you don't define. Identify that biggest stronghold, and then the second part of your assignment is this. name the truth that demolishes that stronghold. Name the truth that demolishes that stronghold. Why does the truth matter? Jesus said this.

Jesus said, you'll know the truth, John 832. He said, you'll know the truth. What does the truth do? The truth, it sets you free. The lie puts you into spiritual bondage. And some of you, you're living a life based on a lie. And you'll know the truth

and the truth will set you free. I'll illustrate it with one of my favorite stories from the history of our church staff family. I'll show you an old photograph. This is, these are the directional leaders of our church that have been together for years. This is an old photograph. Back when we had style, we're not as stylish today,

but you've got on the left, Pastor Jerry Hurley, who's been with me for about 23 years, Pastor Bobby. created the U Virgin Bible app over 20 years. There's me, there's Pastor Sam over 20 years. It was over all the campus. There's a Pastor Kevin. Pastor Kevin didn't get the memo of how you're supposed to hold your hands on that day.

He was always a little rebellious. Kevin was with us for 20 years before retiring. We used to play a game years ago called Capture the Flag. And it was a violent game. We had lots of injuries and such. So we had to come up with some rules for safety. rules was you couldn't go attack an enemy's flag until 8 a.m. because, you know, it just wasn't fair. And so one day I came into our offices about 7 a.m. And my spiritual spidey senses

told me something was amiss. And it was capture the flag gaming. And so I just thought, I'm going to go, it's weirdest thing. I'm going to go look in the closet. And that's what I did. I opened up the closet and sure enough, Pastor Kevin had been waiting in the closet, who knows, since 4 a.m., waiting for the 8 o'clock bell to sound so he could go and capture my flag. And so I thought, well, God prompted me to lock you in here all day long and immediately just slam the door and put my foot up against the door and grabbed an office chair and slammed it under the door to make him pay because you reap what you sow and there are spiritual consequences. And God is the one who brings justice. He just chose me to bring justice on that day.

So I tried to lock him in, but the chair didn't fit. So in love and war, everything is fair. So I just lied and confessed my sin to God and God forgave my sin. And I said, Kevin, you're locked in by a chair. It wasn't true. The chair didn't fit. But I just said, but I was. I told him with all pastoral confidence, you're locked in and you'll spend the day locked in this closet. God is my witness. Pastor Kevin never tried to open the door. He just started whining. Let me out.

This isn't there. And I sat there and laughed for seven to open the door. Eight o'clock came around. I had a premarital counseling appointment. I was sitting in my desk while Kevin was in an unlocked door. And 20 minutes or so later, God is my witness, I heard something in the ceiling tile above me. Pastor Kevin had scaled the shelves in the closet,

gotten up in the ceiling tile, and was trying to make his escape because he believed a lie that an unlocked door, held in prisoner. Some of you right now do not have what God wants you to have and are not living the life that God wants you to live because you're stuck behind an unlocked door and you will know the truth

that Jesus has set you free. Scripture says this, and I want to look at it again. This is what the Apostle Paul says. whatever that stronghold is that's holding you prisoner in your mind. What do we do? We demolish it. We demolish arguments in every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And here's what we do. We take captive. We are not prisoner to our thoughts. We take our thoughts captive and we make them obedient to Christ. We take our thoughts captive. Whatever it is, we take it captive. In fact, the Greek term that's translated as take captive. It's a term that means to attack

with a sword or with a spear. And I love this. When you talk about the weapons we fight with or not the weapons of this world, Ephesion 6 tells us that we have spiritual armor. What do we have? We have the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of the faith, the belt of truth, the shoes prepared with the gospel of the readiness of peace. All of those are defensive weapons. We have one offensive weapon, and you know what the weapon of offense is? It is the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. It is the Word of God that sets us free.

It's His powerful living Word of God that is sharper than any double-edged sword, and it cuts away the lies of the enemy. we let God's word take captive any lies that have held as hostage. What's your stronghold? What's the dominant lie that your spiritual enemy has tried to use to destroy your faith, kill your relationships, robbed you of the intimacy that God wants you to have with him? What's your stronghold?

Mine, the one I've been attacking with God's word, is the one that's haunted me since I was a little kid. The lie that I've always believed is that I am never enough. I'm never enough. I'll never preach a good enough sermon. I'll never be righteous enough to lead the church. if I give my best to the church, I fail aiming and my six kids and 43 grandkids

or however many we have now, I can't treat, you know, or if I bring my best at home, then I fail in leading the church that God has entrusted me. I can't live up to your expectation. No way. I mean, I can't meet with everybody and I can't deliver and I can't get it all done. I am not enough.

And the challenge with that line, is that there is some truth in it. I mean, there's some truth, which makes it easy to believe. Because of my sinfulness and because of my limitations, there's a lot of me that never will be enough. But thankfully, I don't have to rely only on what's inside of me. But there is a power greater than me that absolutely and completely is more than enough.

So here's my truth. and it's from the Word of God. 2 Peter 1 3 says that God's divine power, His divine power, has given us everything we need for a godly life. I'm going to personalize it. God's divine power has given me everything I need to do.

He's given me the time to do what he's called me to do. He's given me the strength to do what he's called me to do. When I'm weak, his strength is made perfect in me. I've got the same spirit that raised Christ, from the dead dwelling inside of me. His living word does a work that I cannot do. His power is there for me when I don't have what it takes. He has given me everything I need for life and godliness.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. What's the driving lie that has held you back? And what's the truth that will set you free? Maybe you think I can't get it all done. I never can get it all done. And your truth is, I can do all things. Through my Savior Jesus Christ, who gives me strength when I'm weak,

he makes me strong. Maybe you feel like I'm never going to be attractive enough. I don't like the way I look. No, no, no, you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the grace of God. He's given you gifts to make a difference in this world. Maybe you feel like I'm always going to be miserable. I'm always going to be depressed.

No, the joy of the Lord is your strength. The moment the lie tells you, you're going to always be alone, no, my God is with me, he's never going to leave me, he's never going to forsay me. Oh, but you're just nothing but a victim. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, God's word tells me, I am an overcomer by the blood of the lamb

and by the words of my testimony. I'm not who others say that I am. I'm not even who the lies in my own mind say that I am. I am who God says that I am, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Your life in so many ways is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. What comes into your mind comes out in your life. You cannot have a positive, faith-filled life when you have a negative fear-filled mind. So what are we going to do?

We're going to capture those lies. Name it. We're going to replace it with truth. And by the power of God, you will not stay locked in a prison when Jesus holds the key that sets you free. And you will know the truth. And truth isn't just a concept, truth is a person. His name is Jesus, he'll set you free.

So Father today, we ask that by the power of your word, you would renew our minds with truth. At all of our churches, or those of you watching online who say, I need God's help. There's a war going on in my mind. I want to name that one stronghold, and I want God's truth to set me free.

If that's you, would you just lift up your hand? You can type it in the chat. I need his truth. Just type in the chat. I need his truth. Father, I pray right now that you would begin a work of renewing our minds. And God, in the same way,

that it may take years and years to have a lie ingrained in our neural pathways, we recognize it may take some time for you to renew our minds. God, give us the faith to walk this journey with you, to stay off the old paths of lies and destruction, and God create a new path of truth. Renew our minds. God, I pray that over the next few weeks, as we look at your word and as we discuss in small groups and our life groups that you would use your body and use your word to help renew our minds. God change our thinking and change our lives. As you keep praying today at all of our churches or maybe you're watching online, there's some of you that perhaps the biggest lie that's impacting you right now is a distorted view of who God is. Maybe for

years, you've had a wrong view of God, you thought he's angry at you, he's mad at you. He could never love you after what you've done. You're just used up goods. You've been too bad. Let me try to help you replace those lies with truth. Let me tell you about who God is and how he sees you. Our God is a loving heavenly father and he loves you more than you could ever imagine. even if you've done some really shameful things, there's nothing that you could do that would make God love you any less, or even if you're trying your best to be perfect, there's nothing you could do to make God love you even more.

He simply loves you. And he loves you so much that he became like you in the person of his son, Jesus. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the son of God. Jesus was perfect in every way. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth. Jesus is the truth.

If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. Jesus, I'm around sinners. Really pathetic people. And he loved them. And he gave his life as the perfect gift, the innocent sacrifice. And God raised him from the dead so that all of our sins could be forgiven. That's how much God loves you. That's how much God loves you, no matter what you've done.

He loves you. And he wants you to know that love. At all of our churches, or those of you watching online, there are some of you felt distant from God. And today, guess what? You're creating a new path. It's directly to God. It's one prayer that opens up heaven and gives you access to a relationship with God.

It's turning, it's getting off that old path, that old sinful path, and we're going to turn toward Jesus and surrender our life to him. And when you do, God will hear this prayer. He'll forgive every sin you've ever committed. He's going to open up. up heaven and show you his love. And you'll be completely new today at all of our churches. Those of you online who say, yeah, I wanna get off that old path.

I need his love, I need his forgiveness, I want his grace. Today I'm repenting of my sinfulness. I'm turning toward Jesus and by faith, I'm giving it all to him. Those who say yes, I want his forgiveness. Today I surrender my life to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now all over the place and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender my life to you.

As we've got hands going up at all of our different churches, those of you online, just type in the chat, I'm giving my life to Jesus, I'm giving my life to Jesus, and I would love it if all of you would pray with those around you. Just pray a loud, pray Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus save me, make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit and fill my mind with truth.

Renew my mind. so I can follow you and live for you. And all I do, my life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Could somebody celebrate big,

welcome those born into God's family today.