Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - You’re Not the Only One Wondering This | Asking for a Friend: Part 3

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

Some questions have lived in the back of your mind for a long time: What happens when we die? How do I know if I'm saved? What does the Bible say about lust? In this message, we're getting the answers from God's Word. NEXT STEPSHave you made the decision to follow Jesus? You might be wondering what’s next for you. We want to help! Check out these resources to ​​discover what saying yes to Jesus means: https://go2.lc/podcastcommittochristABOUT THIS MESSAGEWhat do we do with the questions we're too afraid to ask out loud? These days, it often feels safer to type them into a screen than say them to a person. But your questions deserve more than an algorithm's best guess. In our new series, Asking for a Friend, we’ll bring our hardest and most personal questions into the light and discover the truth and grace that can only be found in God’s Word.Find more answers to big questions: https://finds.life.church/topics/big-questions/ ABOUT 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/download  FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/life.church Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.church TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@life.church  CONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIG GROESCHELYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/craiggroeschel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschel Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschel TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschelLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35447748/   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 you today. We are in a message series called Asking for a Friend. And I want to say to so many of you, thank you for your questions. Over 4,000 questions came in. Some of them very, very personal. Some of them were very painful. A lot of them were challenging, and we're going directly to God's word to answer them. And so if you're new with us for this message series, kind of the ground rules, how we're going to answer them. I'm not going to answer them based on just what's expected or what's popular or what culture is going to teach. What we're going to do is we're going to look at the Bible. And whenever the Bible speaks clearly, we're going to believe what it says, and we're going to apply it in our lives. And all God's people said, amen. Online, you can say

amen as well. We're going to apply it even if it's different than what we think or what we feel or what we want. But the Bible doesn't speak to every situation directly. And so if the Bible doesn't speak directly to something, we're going to look for other principles, and then we're going to try to apply them with wisdom. Now, what we're going to do is we're going to hold our views with humility and not arrogance or judgment. Some answers you might disagree with, and as Christians, we can agree on the essentials and disagree with some of the other things. We can agree or disagree without dividing. Again, you can say amen. Because you don't want to be, that person at Thanksgiving that everybody avoids. You know that person. Raise your hand if you know

that person. Raise your hand high if you know that person. If your hand's not up in the air right now, you might be that person. We don't want to be that person, right? Let's talk about where we've been and where we're going. We've already covered some culturally interesting questions. We've talked about living together. We've talked about same-sex attraction. We've talked about anxiety. We've talked a little bit about parenting. We've talked about women in ministry. We've talked about why do bad things happen to good people. Next week, I'll give you a little clue. We are going to talk about abortion. We're going to talk about overcoming sexual sin. We might talk about politics in church. We'll talk about distinguishing God's voice from your own thoughts and we'll do more next week.

ready for this week. If you're ready, say I'm ready. Are you ready? Type in the comment section. I'm ready. Let's dive in. The first question came from anonymous. There was no name, no campus, nothing. And the question was, what does the Bible say about masturbation? Asking for a friend. That's what they said, asking for a friend. I thought that was funny. Asking for a friend. Now, what is? What is? What is? What is? You're going to be. Asking for a friend. Now, What does the Bible say about masturbation? Why as well make sure you're paying attention? We'll go straight there.

Now, I had some really good jokes, really funny jokes. And I sought wise counsel and Amy told me I can't tell you any jokes. So any jokes that happen are accidental. If I accidentally say something that has a double meaning, don't be a fourth grade boy, let's try to be adults. Can we be adults? We're going to talk about this. So the question is, what does the Bible say about masturbation?

It does not say that you'll go blue. They told me that when I was a kid, and we didn't read the Bible, so I just believed it. It does not say that. But that's the right way to ask the question, what does the Bible say about masturbation? Not what do we think about it or what do others teach about it, but what does the Bible say? Now, what does the Bible say about masturbation? The answer is, doesn't speak directly to it. And some of you may say, but Pastor Craig, what about Onan in Genesis 38, who spilled his seed?

that's what the Bible says. I'm not making that up. And wise counsel has told me not to tell you specifically what it means to spill your seat. That was Amy again. But what I will tell you is that that's not talking about masturbation. That's actually Onan not fulfilling his responsibility to Tamar. The Bible does not speak directly to masturbation. So we're not going to say something the Bible doesn't say.

It doesn't speak directly to it. But the Bible does say a lot about sex. and lust and purity and holiness and self-control and honoring God with our bodies. So what we're going to do is we're going to look at what the Bible says about other things, and then we're going to apply these principles, hopefully with wisdom, into our lives. What does the Bible say about some of these other subjects? We'll start with Jesus. In Matthew 528, Jesus said, but I tell you that if anyone looks lustfully at a woman,

he's already committed adultery with her in his heart. So we know that if lust is involved, that's obviously completely sinful. Paul said this in 1st Corinthians 619. He said, you are not your own. In other words, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are bought at a price. Jesus shed his blood to pay for the forgiveness of sin. So if you're a follower of Jesus, he says, therefore, because of what Jesus did for you, honor God with your bodies.

Paul also said this in 1st Corinthians 612. He said, I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, again, you say, but he says, I will not be mastered or I will not be controlled by anything. So as we talk about this subject, it's worth knowing that faithful Christians disagree about the act itself. Some people, People believe that the act of masturbation falls outside of God's intended purposes, so therefore it's always wrong. Other people say, well, it's not necessarily sinful if you're not lusting or fantasizing. Other people say, fair game.

You can do whatever you want as long as you know, it's just whatever. I don't know what they say, but that's what they say. Okay, so I'm being really careful. I was going to say a couple things there, but they're double meanings. and so I know I'm going to say something that's going to be embarrassing, but I'm going to try not to. So I know really strong Christians, people that I admire and that I respect, that come to different conclusions than what I have on this subject. So I'm going to tell you how I get to where I get.

I'm going to ask three questions based on the principles that we just read in God's Word. And these questions are meant to help us not just ask, like, is this permissible? but instead to ask, is this drawing me closer to God and who God made me to be? So let me give you the question. The first question I'll ask you is this. Is lust involved? Is lust involved? If you're looking at porn or fantasizing your mind or lusting, Jesus spoke directly to that.

That's sinful. He also said, very dramatic, but he said if your right eye caused you to sin, gouged it out. If your hand caused you to sin, cut it off. So if you come to your life group this week and you see a one-arm cyclops, just know that they're taking God's words seriously. Now, was Jesus literal? I don't think he was. But what he's saying is you don't want to lust, do whatever it takes,

to separate yourself from the sin of lust because it's heartbreaking to God, devalue into people, and is not holy before God. So ask yourself, is lust involved? If it is, then obviously you stay away from this. ask yourself, is this controlling you? Is it controlling you? I'm not saying, like, is this a strong desire? Or I'm not asking, like, did you try to stop and you, and then you couldn't? I'm asking, is this becoming compulsive? Is it interfering with your relationship with God and people and responsibilities? Paul said, I'm not going to be controlled. I'm not going to be mastered by anything.

Third question, one is lust involved? Is it controlling you? Third question, is it leading me toward holiness or away from it. And again, we're not talking about perfection. We're talking about direction. Which direction is this moving you? Is it moving you toward God and holiness? Or is it moving you toward the lust of the flesh and the desires of your sinful nature? Very important questions. So I'm going to tell you the standard that I hold for myself personally, and then I'm going to tell you kind of my philosophy of ministering to people pastorally. Personally, I hold myself to the higher standard on this particular subject. When I'm pasturing people that are asking about it, I actually try to determine what this specific person needs because everybody's a little bit different. I ask,

am I going to focus more on the truth end of this, or do I need in this particular case to talk a little bit about grace. Always both, always truth and grace, but what does this particular person need? For example, if someone is rationalizing lust and has no standard whatsoever and is obviously giving in to the desires of the flesh with no sense of desire to please God, I'm going to lead very clearly with truth and say, don't justify what God wants to change. Don't justify it. And I would just say, like to any of you, if you know right now you feel a little bit convicted and you know, you've been looking at something you shouldn't be looking at and you're at a place where you're being controlled by something. I'm going to tell you healing can start today. And if you haven't found it,

that means you need to do something different. What do we do? Very simply, we confess to God for forgiveness. Confess your sins to him. He's faithful and just to forgive your sins. We confess to people for healing. James said, confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed. What I found is, as awkward as it is, talking to another, if you're a man to another man, if you're a woman to another woman about this issue, praying for one another, holding each other accountable. There's often healing that takes place in community as we confess our sins to one another. So if there's someone that's rationalizing it, I'm going to raise the standard and start with truth. If there's someone on the other hand

who like genuinely is trying to please God in pursuing holiness and still struggles or fall short in this area from time to time and they're living under horrible condemnation, I've talked to people that said, I can't serve Jesus, I'll never get married, I'm horrible, I can't, God can't use me, God doesn't love me or whatever. I'm going to remind that person of grace because God's grace is more powerful than your shame. I'm going to take that person who thinks I'm ruined and I'm nothing and I'm nobody and God won't love me and I'm going to remind them of Romans 2-4 that says, don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin.

Watch this. Not God's anger, but God's kindness. His kindness turns us from sin. His kindness doesn't excuse sin, but it turns us away from sin. So whatever you're struggling with, if it's this, if it's another temptation, if it's another sin,

don't run from God, run to God because His grace doesn't just cover you, but His grace changes you and makes you new. Thank you for a couple of people clapping to an answer on masturbation in church. We just did that. Let's move on. We had multiple people ask about tithing. We had someone from Life Church, Yukon.

We had someone from Omaha, Nebraska. We had someone from Life Church, East Kansas City. Different versions of the same question, but basically they were asking, why should Christians tithe if tithing was a part of the Old Testament and based on agriculture? I think that's a good, fair, and important question. Let's talk about it. The tithe in the Old Testament was generally agricultural in nature. They would give grain or they would give wine or livestock as an act of worship to God.

And this was all part of the Old Testament law. Now, with some people don't realize is that the tithe actually predated the law. Remember, Abraham gave a tenth of what he had. That's a tithe. Hundreds of years before Moses ever received the law. So in many ways, the bigger question is this, why does God care about what we do with our money? What's you looking for?

Because the principle of the tithe was always bigger than agriculture or money. It's always been about trust. It's about who comes first. It's about what do you worship? It's about who is your source. So let's look at what Jesus says about some things and apply principles from God's word. Matthew chapter 6, 21. Jesus said this. Jesus said, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If our treasure is in this world and the things of this world, our heart will be there as well if we send our treasures to heaven, our heart drift toward the things of God. Jesus said this, Matthew 624, no one can serve two masters. Either you'll hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to one and despise the other,

and he says very directly, you cannot serve both God and money. He could have said you can't serve God and a lot of things could have been there, but he actually chose money. And why was he focusing on money. Why should we not serve money? Because money is a false God. Money, when you think about it, money promises what only God can provide. Think about it. What does culture teach you? Well, if you have enough money, you'll be secure. If you have enough money, you'll be happy. If you have enough money, you'll have peace. But only God can provide those things. the spirit of mamum tends to take our heart toward the things of this world. And so every time you tithe, you take the first 10% of what God trust to you, and you give it back to him.

Technically, you don't even give it, you return it because the Bible says it's not ours. To return the tithe to him, every time you return the tithe, in a way, it's breaking the grip of money on your life. What you're doing is you're deciding I'm not trusting in money, but I'm putting my trust in God who provides for all my needs. He is my source. He is my provider. He is the one that I worship. I worship him by putting this first.

So someone would ask sincerely, well, do New Testament Christians have to give 10%? And again, Christians debate this and they disagree. For me, again, this is my take. I look to the words of Jesus in Matthew 23, verse 23, when Jesus said this. to the Pharisees, you should tithe. It's read in your Bible. He said, you should tithe. But do not neglect the more important things. In other words, the Pharisees, they were going, we tithe the tenth

of our dill, mint, and cumin. And Jesus said, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah, you should do that, but do the more important things. Like literally, we just assume that. But don't forget to be kind and show justice and mercy. Yes, you should tithe, but be involved in doing the things, other things that are pleasing to God in the way that you treat people. So my personal conviction is that tithing predated the law, and so it's not just some Old Testament rule that just timed out and expired. Secondly, Jesus affirmed the tithe in the New Testament. So for me, when God says to test him in this, and I've tested him in this, and he's proved himself faithful, it is a very sincere, serious act worship, the tithe is a starting point for me, not a finishing line. And so I'm not going to ask,

what's the least I can give and still be obedient? What's the least I can do and have God okay with it? I'm going to say, how generous can I be to serve God, to serve people, and to honor the one that gave it all to me. That's my tape on tithing. Let's deal with another one. We had several people. We had Kristen from Life Church Edmund, my home campus. We had Alicia from Life Church, jinx, and we had Jason from Light Church Derby ask some version of the question, what happens to us when we die? Personal to us this week. On Thursday of this week, we lost someone in our family. And so maybe when you're asking that, you're wondering about what happened to someone that you lost and loved. Or maybe for you, you're thinking about, like, what happens to me when I die?

Should I be afraid? And let me just tell you up front, I cannot completely answer this. question is six minutes or less. I did do a whole message series on this called one minute after we die. We talked about heaven, a whole message on hell. We talked about the judgments. There's the judgment seat of Christ, the Bama seat for believers. There's a great white throne judgment for non-believers. And so we talk about all that. What I'm going to do is answer very briefly, if you are in Christ, if you are a believer, what happens to you after you die? The Bible doesn't tell us everything, but it does give us a lot of hope. Let's look at the words of Jesus. He said in John 1125, he said, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live

even though they die. Paul showed us in 2nd Corinthians 5.8, essentially if you belong to Jesus, death isn't the end. He said, we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home. with the Lord. You may remember the two thieves on the cross. Jesus was hanging there, and one of the thieves looked at Jesus and said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus looked on at the man

who did nothing to deserve salvation, but his repentance heart, Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Not someday, but today. In other words, when you breathe your last breath here, the next moment you're with Jesus. So Paul calls it being home with the Lord. Jesus called it paradise.

We call it heaven. Whatever you call it, death is not the end. When Jesus returns, those who are in Christ, your dead bodies, you'll be with the Lord, your dead bodies are resurrected, which is going to be really amazing if you're by a cemetery. Whoa, just saw that. And then they're not going to be like disembodied spirits.

You're not going to be like naked baby angel, ball playing the harp on a cloud. No, Paul says this. Paul says of those who are raised again. He says in 1st Corinthians 15, it is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die. They're buried.

But they will be raised to live forever. He says they're buried as natural human bodies, but they'll be raised as spiritual bodies. And ultimately, Revelation 21 teaches us that God will make a new heaven and a new earth, and God will dwell with this people. You can praise God for that if you want to any time at all of our churches. I hope that you do. And so if you are in Christ, when you die, you'll be with Jesus. When Jesus returns and the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will be raised again, and he will wipe away every tear.

He'll make all wrong things right. Everything will be new, and you'll be in the presence of the Lord forever. Let's deal with another question. We had people from Springfield, from McKinney, Texas, from East Kansas City, and from Life Church, Albany, New York, ask about marriage. And essentially, there were different versions of the question, what do I do if I don't love my spouse anymore? And let me just pause and slow it down and say, I prayed for every single one that asked that question. And if you're in a situation like that, I'm praying for you.

Because we have unmet expectations sometimes. Half of you thought you're going to get married and watch rom-coms and get flowers once a week. Right? And the other half thought you're going to have sex twice a day and three times on Saturday. Right? And everybody's disappointed. Right? You guys, you're not. Okay, good. Congratulations. Yeah. So if you're struggling in your marriage, you're not alone, and I promise you, it does not mean that your marriage is over. So let's talk about it. Feelings are real, but feelings change. And I guarantee you, you don't feel exactly the way you did on the first day you got married. And so you won't feel exactly as you do later in the way that you. feel today. So because we know that, the principle is this, don't make a permanent decision based on

a temporary feeling. When you promise to God that you would be one flesh before him, our God is with you. Our God is good. And his way of healing relationships is very different than culture's advice. Culture is dumb when it comes to relationship. Culture tells you like you fall in love. You just, you know, you just fall in love. That's dumb. You don't. fall in love. You actually choose love. And the Bible tells us that love is so much more than just a feeling. To take 1st Corinthians 13, like love is patient, love is kind, it's not self-seeking. It keeps no records of wrong. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Notice most of what love is is not a feeling.

Most of it is how we choose to treat someone. And that's why so often you don't feel your way into loving actions. Instead, you act your way toward loving feelings. You start with the right actions, and then the feelings will often follow. So I would just say like this, don't wait until you feel like being loving. Like talk again. Date again. Apologize again.

Repent of sins. Own it. Pray together now, like today. But I don't feel like it. I don't care how you feel. Do it. It's really hard for the devil to fight against a praying couple. Start doing the things that you did when your love was strong.

Get help. Ask a campus pastor. Get counseling before your marriage feels like it's beyond repair. And just hear me clearly, I'm not talking about abuse. Like if you're in danger, you're unsafe, get help. And so I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the marriage where life got hard and your feelings started to fade. And the questions in your mindset matters so much.

Instead of just asking, like, do I still feel tingly around them? Do I still love them? Maybe ask, what would love require of me today? What would love require me today? And I'll tell you right now, with God's help, his power, there is no marriage. God can't restore when two people are surrendered to him and to each other. If you'll both surrender to him with his help and his power, he can heal and restore any marriage when two people are surrendered to him. From Rogers, Arkansas, you know that's true.

From Rogers, Arkansas, someone asked, how do I know if I'm really saved? Really good question. How do I know if I'm really right with God? And I can imagine some of you would say, like, yeah, you do believe in Jesus, but you still sin. You still fall short. You still doubt. Or sometimes you feel like you're really close to God. And then other times, like, where is God?

You feel nothing. or for some of you it may be that you did something you shouldn't done, said something you shouldn't have said, you know that secret about yourself that nobody else knows, and you wonder, what if I think that I'm saved and I'm really not? To answer this question, we're not going to answer it with our feelings. What we're going to do again is we're going to answer with God's word. And this is what God's word said in Romans 10, 9. If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Notice, the Bible doesn't say if you never

doubt, if you never struggle, or if you always feel close to God, but if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart, you will be saved. Ephesians 2 8, Paul said this. This was the verse that brought me to Christ, for it is by grace, God's unmerited favor by his grace you've been saved through faith, it is the gift of God not by works. In other words, you're never saved because you're good enough. You're never saved because you're holy enough. You're only saved because Jesus was good enough. He was perfect. He was without sin. He shed his blood. The Lamb of God, the innocent one, died in your place. So when God looks at you, he doesn't see your sin. He sees his son. You're declared righteous because.

Just like when the prodigal son came home, smelling filthy because he'd been living in sin. The father put the robe over him. When the father looked at him, he saw the robe. You have the robes of righteousness of Jesus. You are in Christ. When God looks at you, he sees his sinless son. So does that mean like, I can pray the prayer.

Jesus say me, and then do whatever I want. Let's party. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. no, no, no, no. Romans 6.1, Paul asked the question, should we go on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not, he said. Since we've died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? In other words, when you're new in Christ, he changes the desires of your heart. You're not wanting the things of the flesh, but you're wanting the things of the spirit because you've been changed by the spirit of God. Here's what's going to happen. You give your

life to Christ. You become new. And your spiritual enemy attacks you. And he attacks you more when you're serving Jesus. And then maybe he tempts you and you give in and you mess up. And the devil are going to try to tell you, you're not saved anymore. You are what you did. You're bad. You're no good. God doesn't love you. You're not saved. The devil is a liar. The devil is a liar. If you've turned from your sin and put your trust in Jesus, stop. Trusting in your feelings. Trust in the promises of God. Here's what God's word says.

Paul said this, he said this. He said, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor anything else, in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. The best news you can imagine, nothing,

not your doubts and not your doubts, not your struggles and not your worst day and not your past and not even death can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So let's settle some things today. We've covered a lot of grounds. And I didn't say anything dumb in that one question. We all got through it. If there's some area of your life that you recognize, maybe you're settling for less than what we call wholehearted devotion to God. Let's talk to God about it. If it's sexually, you're maybe asking like, what can I get away with?

Instead of how can I honor him with sexual integrity and purity. Financially, if you're saying like, what's the least that I can do? Instead of, God, how generous can I be? Or maybe it's relationally, you're asking like, what do I feel? instead of what does God's word and love require me. Maybe like spiritually you're just going through the motions and you've been settling for less. God actually has so much more for you.

Do not buy into the spirit of this world that lures you away from the kingdom of God. There's more in you. God wants to work in you. God wants to work through you. So with every head up and every eye opened, If you're tired to settle him for less and know God has more for you, would you lift up your hands right now?

Lift them up around the room. Praise God for you online. You can type in the comment section. I know God has more from me. You can leave your hand up as an act of worship if you're comfortable. And we're going to pray. I'm going to pray with my eyes open. Jesus said, watch and pray.

So I'm watching and praying. Anytime you're driving, do that. Watch and pray. Don't close your eyes. So we're going to pray. Heavenly Father, do a work in us. any area that we need to surrender, God, we surrender to you. If we've been compromising sexually, God, convict us and lead us away from the flesh into holiness before you. God, if we've fallen in

love with the things of this world, more than the things of your kingdom, God convict us. May our treasure be in heaven. May our heart follow God. God, if our in relationally, if we're following feelings instead of being empowered by your spirit and living the fruits of the spirit, loved by peace, patience, kind, is good, and gentle, it's faithful and self-control. God, help us not to be led by what we feel, but be led by your spirit. God, if we find ourselves not knowing where we stand with you, would you draw us by your spirit, your loving kindness, your grace that turns us from sin.

God, any area of our lives where we're not fully serving you, would you speak to us and draw us close? We repent, God, of any sin. We receive your unlimited mercy and ask for your spirit. spirit to draw us to Jesus and make us like him. We pray this in Jesus' name. If you agree, say Amen. All right, campus pastors, we're going to do something different today. If you guys will just stay with me until I hand you off. So stay with me longer than normal. Some of you are not sure where you stand with God. I could ask you this. My friend, Pastor JP, says, on a scale of 1 to 10,

where do you stand with God? If you died today, how certain are you that you would go to heaven? 1 to 10. Pick your number right now. 1 to 10. 10, you know you're going to heaven. 1. You know you're not.

5? You hope you are. 7, you're pretty sure. If your number is between 4 and 7, raise your hand right now. Raise your hand. Raise it up right now. If your number is below 4, raise your hand.

If your number is above a 7, raise your hand. If your number today is anything but 10, and you're not sure where you stand. Let's just talk about it. Why does it matter? The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, that we've all sinned.

We all actually deserve death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus and our Lord. How do you qualify for heaven? Though the Bible is clear, it's not by works. It's by the grace of God you're saved through faith. So how are we saved? Well, if you confess with your mouth,

Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. God raised them of the dead. The Bible says, not you might be, but you will be saved. You can know that you're saved and heaven bound. Now, when you confess Jesus, he says this. If you confess me publicly, I'll confess to you before my father. But if you're ashamed of me, he says, I'm not going to confess to you before my father. So if you're not sure today, what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask you to be sure,

to just confess publicly. I believe Jesus is the Lord of my life. And we're going to pray that together. And I'm going to let you do it in front of everybody. And you say, well, what if they think something funny me? ain't nobody going to think of something funny of you. They're just going to cheer and may cry and may high-five you, may hug you, may buy your dinner, who knows, okay?

Because they're just going to be so excited because there are people who've been changed and none of us deserve salvation. And then your campus pastor is going to talk to you about getting baptized, and you will get baptized next month, because we're going to stand publicly and declare that our sins have been forgiven. And we're going to go into a watery, like put you under water that symbolizes that your sins are washed away. If you've been really sinful, we'll leave you down,

a little bit longer, and then you'll be raised to celebrate new life in Christ. So you're going to publicly declare your faith in Jesus today. And then next month, you're going to be baptized and bring all your friends. If you are unsure, you don't know, you don't have to leave today, unsure. If you call on his name and believe that Jesus is Lord, confess his lordship, and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be safe. So in front of God and everybody because you don't care what they think. You only care what God thinks. If you find yourself not quite sure. And you want to know that you're safe. You will never be good enough. You'll never be holy enough. It's only by the grace of God. So today in all of our churches,

those who say, yes, that's me. I want to give my life to Jesus. I know I'm not good enough. I turn from my sins. I turn toward Jesus with everybody looking, I don't care. Today, I confess him as Lord and Savior at the count of three. Raise your hand. One, he loves you. Two, you're here today because he brought you here for this moment. Three, you're ready to say, raise your hand and say yes. Up high, right there. Praise God for you. Others say yes, Jesus, right there.

Back up there. Raise your hand in front of everybody. Everybody say yes. Right back over here. Praise God for you. Others say yes, Jesus. In front of everybody, right back there and over there. Jesus, be the Lord of my life.

Others today, right back there. Oh, come on. Right back over here. Jesus, I surrender to you. Be the Lord of my life. Online type in the comment sections. Campus pastors, you take you. it over now. Right now campus pastors, leave them in prayer. Pastor Sam, I need you to come.

Lead your campus in prayer. Pastor Sam, run. I need you to lead your campus in prayer. Don't leave me hanging. Pastor Sam, go. Let's go. Come on. Listen, why don't you just repeat this prayer with me? Everyone in the room, help me support them by praying together. Say Heavenly Father, I give you my life. I surrender my heart. Today I declare Jesus as my Lord and my Savior. I am forgiven. Of all my sins made new in Christ. Thank you for forgiveness and thank you for new life. Fill me with your spirit so I can share your love with everyone around me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Come on somebody shout. Come on somebody celebrate. Every person giving their life to Jesus today.