Fierce | Future Family

Fear is loud, but it doesn’t get the final say over your home. We share a straight-talking, hope-filled path to lead your family with courage—fierce for what matters, not fake for appearances. From Romans 2–3, we unpack why none of us earns righteousness, how grace makes us new, and what a real, practiced faith looks like when the pressure is on.

We start by naming the noise: headlines and feeds that monetize panic. Then we flip the script with “faith over fear,” not as a catchphrase but as a rhythm—prayer over worry, presence over avoidance, service over cynicism. You’ll hear practical steps to fight for your family instead of with your family: blessing your home with Scripture, shutting down cutting talk, apologizing quickly, and choosing repair over retreat. If you’ve ever felt stuck repeating the same conflict year after year, we talk about breaking that loop with community, mentoring, and simple habits that nudge growth forward.

We also confront the difference between cultural “niceness” and biblical righteousness. Good people aren’t made right by effort; grace through Jesus is the only ground that holds. That truth frees us to drop the plastic, confess without shame, and normalize the altar—a daily return to God’s presence for wisdom, unity, and strength. Along the way, we press into “no fake faith, no fake family, no fake friends,” urging you to anchor your closest relationships with believers who help you pray first, speak life, and do the Word, not just hear it.

If you’re ready to replace panic with purpose and performance with authenticity, this conversation will give you language, tools, and courage to start today. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review telling us the one faith practice you’re putting into action this week.

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Transcript

Faith Over Fear For Families

Jason Brown 0:00

The future of your family is written in the Word of God. We say amen to that. Today we're talking about this concept of being fierce for your family. Fierce for your family. I'm going to ask you to open your Bible, your tablet, your phone this morning and be looking at Romans 3 and be jumping between Romans 2 and 3 today and taking a look at what the Word of God says to us. Lord, we just pray over your word today, Holy Spirit, that you would breathe upon it. It would be illuminated in our hearts and lives. Lord, it would become a remah and transformative, Lord, as we look to be more like your character. We pray this name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, this concept of fierce is one where we want to be those that are aggressive after the things that we're doing. And so to be fierce after the things of God is not to go and pick a fight, but it's to be those that are fighting spiritually against the darkness. It talks about that we are not battling against flesh and blood, that we are fighting against principalities and powers and rulers in the dark world. And so that's what we are doing is fighting fiercely for our family. We are those who are praying on their behalf, praying over them and teaching our children, our grandchildren, and modeling to them what it means to live for Jesus. Now, if you're anything like me, that your whole feed of all of your social media and everything on the news pretty much just promotes fear. And it promotes fear at every turn. And if you're not afraid, just wait five minutes. They'll try to scare you with something else. And so, you know, it's a motivation with fear. And as parents and grandparents, you know, a lot of our thought about our family is to protect them. And we can we can be people who actually fall into fear, and it starts to be a motivator for us. Whereas if we live in fear, we're going to shrink back from what God called us to do. So we can't be people that are operating in fear. Now, there's lots of reasons why you'd be fearful. You know, like you, all of the things I see is a whole bunch of redacted emails talking about crazy people doing crazy heinous things, talking about people who have got away with things and have been doing all sorts of things and abusing others and are accused of even more. And as you take the snapshots of people that are in those realms, it feels like people are getting away with terrible, terrible things. In fact, it's even tied that they are doing things that are now actually worshiping ancient gods like Moloch and Baal, which I thought was a thing we would read in the Old Testament. But these people are actively worshiping these gods. They are doing mock sacrifices of people and children, and in some reports, not mock sacrifices, and doing all these things, and these things are evil. And they're evil because they're worshiping this ancient God, which didn't create anything. This ancient God is represented as a fallen creation, a fallen angel that wants to get praise instead of the creator God. This God is a fake. And since that God is a fake, it means that everyone that's worshiping and living in the way of those gods is living a fake existence. They're living for fake things with fake power because that power doesn't last. Why do we know we have the book in the end of the book? We win. We win because we're aligned with Jesus Christ. And it's not us winning, it's Him winning, and we get to win on His side. And so it says in the end that that's exactly what happens. And so whenever we see these people that are worshiping things and drinking blood and doing all these crazy things, do not be afraid because they are worshiping a fake God which cannot have effect over you because you belong to the most high God. You're a child of God. So we don't motivate out of fear. We're not gonna live in a place of fear. I'm not gonna be motivated by this, you know, the sky is falling, and oh, what if UFOs show up and what if that Amazon drone crashes into me? No, no, no. Friends, we're not gonna live in fear. We're not gonna do it. They're not gonna keep us from coming to church. They're not gonna keep you from going to life group, they're not gonna keep you from these things. Why? Because we are not motivated by fear, we're motivated by faith. Faith over fear. Say it with me. Faith over fear. We are called to be those that live by faith, with faith in God and what he's doing in and through us. We're called to be those that have the character of Christ. We've been talking about it a lot. And if we're not going to be fake, that means that we need to have the character of Christ who is genuine. He is the truth. What does it talk about in the beginning of the word? It says the word was he was in the beginning, the word is with God, the word was God. He is truth, he is light, there is no other. It is only found in Jesus Christ. And since that's how it is, then that means that he is true. He is true. And so we need to be those that are living true as well. We need to be those that when we understand who God is in our life, that once we make him the Lord of our life, that we are fiercely loyal to God. We're fiercely loyal to God. That we're not finicky, we're not kind of on the side, kind of worshiping other stuff. No, no, no. No, no. We're fiercely loyal to God. We're living for God and the characteristics of God. We're not fake in how we are, but instead we are real people who are living a real journey after God. None of us get to act like we've made it, none of us get to act like we're holier than thou or pious or any of this other stuff. Why? Because we are a work in progress. And to be real means that we can't act like we have it all put together. And I can tell you, as a kid who grew up in church and sometimes wasn't doing what my parents told me to do, meant that I knew how to play church and act like I was on the weekend in front of church people. And I also saw the ones that were doing what I was doing, because a person that's a faker can recognize another faker. And that means that between us, we tried to cover like we were trying to do something, but for what reason? We're not fooling anybody because they know what is authentic. And an authentic person is living the characteristics of God, not trying to act holy. They are living what God's character is. Friends, I don't want you to be accused of being a fake Christ follower. I want you to be the real thing. I don't want you to live with a fake plasticity of your Christianity. I want you to be real in your heart after God. And so many of so many times I would want to respond to the altar call, but I would be so locked in fear about what other people might think about me if I went forward. Friends, let me tell you this. If you're worried about that, friends, you don't need to be worried because every one of us needs more of God every single day. Every single one of us, all the pastors on staff, every leader that's here could be here at the altar, every single service. Let's normalize coming to the altar after the things of God. You don't have to worry about someone else passing judgment on you. Guess what? They don't have their act together either. How do I know? They're passing judgment on you. So they are being as fake as fake can be, so don't worry about fakers. Let's be real and authentic. Let's be fierce after the things of God. That calls us to be obedient and have mercy and give sacrifice and be those who forgive. We want to be fierce, not fake. Say it with me. Fierce, not fake. That's what it means for us to be those. We want to have a future and a family after Jesus. Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Jay, and we're glad that we have this opportunity to worship together at Cornerstone today. It is a blessing to be here. And Celeste and I have such a great opportunity of leading this community of faith, and we're thankful for it. We realize that none of us is perfect. All of us are on that journey following Jesus. So we use this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples because that's how we view ourselves as people that are following Jesus. None of us have arrived, all of us are still in process, all of us want to go where he's leading us to go. We want to what? Be more like Jesus. And people ask me, like, Jay, why do you say this spiel every single week? Why do you do that? And why do you show that picture of people walking with Jesus? And I can tell you, friends, because that's who we are. And if you don't know what you're about and what you value, you'll never know where you're supposed to go. So you have to start where you are and understand what the focus is for your life. And we've been talking about that. We want to be more like Jesus. Why? Because we want to love God, we want to make disciples, we want to reach the world. We want to have an impact that means something. And that means that we need to be intentional. It means we need to be those that connect. We need to grow. We need to serve in our life after Christ. It means that's why we do life groups the way we do throughout the week, throughout the city. And today you can still sign up for one. You can still get involved. Let me encourage you to do so because that's what it means to really build friendship. It's away from just this venue here in a gathering we have on the weekend. We want to get involved in small groups. We want to connect with each other around something we're doing. We want to be those that build real friendship to live successfully after God. Amen. So as we look to this, we understand what we've been talking about in this concept of future family and speaking about what our focus is after God. Now, if we're those who are living with focus, then we need to be those that are directed in what he has us to do. Deuteronomy 6 says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. That means that you give everything to God. Say everything, everything to God, that it's already his, it already belongs to him. So as we are trusted as stewards, it means those who look after it, then we are trusted to be those that give back to him everything he's given to us and see that he will use it for his glory. We talked about a few weeks ago the friction that happens in our family and how often the Lord will use that to sharpen us up. In Proverbs 27, it says, iron sharpens iron. And what we realize is that we're not fighting each other, we're fighting for each other going the same direction. That means that we are on the same team. Say it with me. Same team. And that's what we talked about is how we are fighting for each other in the direction our family is going, in the focus after God. Now we want to be those that build on a foundation that is rooted in the characteristics of God and about what he says to us, which means we're built on love. It says in 1 John 4, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves God has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not know love does not know God, because God is love. And so we're called to be those that are built on love. Say it with me. Built on love. Today we're talking about that very thing of being fierce after the things of God, after the character of God. And in that scripture, we'll read it again here in Romans 3. It says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And so as we go to look at what it means to have a future family, today we're talking about the concept of fierce and how we don't want to be fake. Now, fake, so much in our world has become fake. We know it because AI is everywhere. So you can't believe any video you see on the internet. And they've been doing lots of these things. There's a pretty good example of it this weekend. They're using a throwback with Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift and Han sitting here on this amazing car. And they started to do all these replacements of his car, his vehicle transportation, like this one, a burrow. So if he was in the hill country of Colombia, this would be a good mode of transportation. Maybe he needs to be on his John Deere tractor. Maybe he needs to be out here, you know, doing that. Maybe he's running the cart at the mall that all the kids go on. Or maybe it's not him at all. It's actually Doc Brown and the DeLorean that was actually in it. But what we know about all these is that it's fake, right? It's not the real one. It's not the genuine article. And so, since that's fake, we need to understand spiritually that each one of these things that are fake is it reminds me of how people want to worship God. See, they want to replace the real, the real narrative, the real thing that's there. They want to replace it with their own version of what they want to do. And they want to come to God however they want to come to him. And so that's why they treat Jesus like Buddy Christ here, that he's a little plastic tchotke figurine that sits on your dashboard and is like a bobblehead. Friends, that is not who Jesus is to us. Now, I understand what they're trying to do here and be encouragement and stuff, but Jesus is not encapsulated as something plastic you put in your pocket. He's not just one part of our heart. It's not a plastic Jesus because he's all smooth and shiny and smiles. No, Jesus came and he was real here on earth. It says that he came and he lived his life, a sinless life, and became the sacrifice for us all. He was fierce in his love of us because he abandoned heaven and all of glory to come down in a way that we could understand. He lived as the sacrifice for all people. He was the Lamb of God. It says that he took on all the sin of the world, my brokenness, your brokenness, and he paid for it upon the cross. It said that he went and ascended into death and into hell. And as he did, hell could not keep him. So he overcame death, hell, and the grave, and he rose again. And so he is alive and his breathing was teaching his disciples and then ascended back to the Father, to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father. And it says that he is coming back to us. That's what I was talking about, is that we are already victorious because Jesus is our soon and coming King. Friends, when he comes back, it's not going to be the Lamb of God that came in on the donkey. No, this is going to be the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords that's riding on the clouds. He is going to conquer everything. Nothing can stand against him. He is holy. He is the creator God. And though many will try, they will all fall at his feet because of who he is as the Prince of Peace and the real and rightful Christ of all of our lives, the salvation, the Messiah, the only one that is in Jesus. It says that his armies will rule and reign and come out of heaven. Friends, they are declaring who he is. He is the King of kings. There is no leader that will be above him. There will be none that can stand before him. He is the Lord of Lords. He deserves all respect in a true and honest Lord of our lives, that we can be those that are fierce after the things of God. Friends, that's what we're called to be those that are fierce for your family. We're called to be those that are fierce for your family, that you fight for your family, in your family, for the values that God has given you. That you don't just push them back and just don't fake your way through it. No, we're not gonna do that. Now we're not gonna act fake in our family. We're gonna fight for the things of God. We're not gonna let cutting down happen in our family. We're not gonna let these bad attitudes rule how our family dynamic goes. No, we have a focus to be after God, a foundation of who Christ is, and guess what? We are gonna be fierce after the things of God. It means we're gonna pray, we're gonna be those that are not fake in how we interact with each other. We're gonna be genuine when we make a mistake. We're gonna ask for forgiveness. We're gonna be those that take the step towards the other person. Why? Because that's what Christ calls us to do. Fierce, not fake. Say it with me. Fierce, not fake. So as we look to the future family concepts, we're looking here to the scripture again, this time in Romans 2. Picks up in verse 12, and it says, For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. In verse 13, it says, For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Now, this is interesting because it talks about how we have the law. The Lord gave us the law. It's in the Old Testament, it's what the Jews read and believe, it's their history, it's what we as Christ followers who have accepted Jesus as the Messiah. We see him as fulfilling all the law and all that has been taught to us. Now, the law was a guiding set of principles and laws, rules, regulations that people were called to. And all of us have broken them. Every single one of us. Because it wasn't just about your actions, it's also about your heart after God. And so Jesus comes and he challenges the Pharisees, the rulers, the Sadducees in his day, and he says, You think you're holy, you think you're pious, you are not, because your heart is not after God. Friends, we're called to be the same, people with a heart after God. And what we realize is that all of us are gonna have issues in the family. All of us are gonna have it. Why? Because we're broken people, and that means that we're gonna be hurt people and hurt people, hurt people. And we know that from the very first moment that it says in Scripture that Adam and Eve were there in the garden together, that the Lord said, Listen, I give you everything here, just don't go and eat of this tree. It's the knowledge of good and evil. Why? Because it un you'll understand that there is a real evil in the world, and by doing so you'll fall into it. And so as they went and they sinned against God, that was their choice to sin against him. It starts this brokenness in each one of us, where now we have the knowledge of what it means to sin against God. And we choose actively, many of us, to go against what he's called us to do. And it's a challenge because we don't have to teach our kids that they can know it from the time they're little, right? Like where they want what they want, and they naturally will fight for that. So you're napping and you're sleeping, and your baby will be like, I need a snack. And you're like, What? What why are you hitting me? Stop hitting me. And have to teach them that. Now they don't mean it, they're innocent, they don't mean it. They mean it a little bit later and they get to junior high. And they really mean it. They're doing it, they're like, ah, you're like, oh. We have to teach them. We have to train them up in the way of God, and that's what I mean being fierce for the things of God is not that you're fierce toward your children or fierce toward your spouse. No, I mean you are fiercely devoted to the things of God and being the one that is consistent in forgiving and loving and showing the character of Christ. That we are those that, as the scripture says, it says, it's not those that just hear the word, it's those that do what the word calls us to do. So you have if you have issues in your family, and all of us have issues in our family, then do something about the issues. Now you can't make someone else do what you want them to do. That's not how it works. So we are responsible with our actions for our family. And so we get to be the light and the darkness, we get to have consistency when other people are flaky or faky or whatever they're doing. Whenever they are saying venomous things, we get to be the ones that cut it off and not repeat it. We get to people that are speak life and not death and are encouraged and not slap down. We get to people that get to be the people that model what it means to care for other people and go the extra mile and do all the things that Christ has called us to do. Even when our family is not because we get to do something. Because we get to decide not to be fake, but to be fierce after the things of God. That we're not going to be stuck in being fake because that's not who we are. We're not going to be a fake person that whenever someone asks me about everything that's going on, that we act out it's perfect. No, we can say, Man, I'm trusting God, I'm walking this out. We can be genuine in who we are. We don't want to be fake Christ followers, friends, because that's not who Jesus is. Jesus is not fake. Jesus is authentic. So we too are called to be those who are authentic. That we understand that we are in the mess, but Jesus can help solve this mess and walk with us through the darkest part of our life. So we should be fiercely connected and loyal and devoted to him. Now, uh this uh two weeks ago was the five-year anniversary of Celeste and I stepping into leadership here at Cornerstone. And it's been a blessing to be here these five years, having been seven years off the ministry off the mission field and having been over 20 years in ministry. Actually, it's technically like my 22, 23 year. And in doing so, I was reflecting on this recently, thinking about it. And you know, I was reflecting on it and I was saying to the Lord, Lord, I I really hope that the way you viewed my journey is that it's been 20 years of focus on you. That's 20 years of progression that I haven't had to go and do what I'm afraid. What happens so often is that we don't have 20 years of experience. We have 21 years of repeating our same issues. About going around the mountain 20 times instead of going and doing what God has called us to do past the mountain. Instead of being those that keep on repeating the same brokenness and the same mentality, the same aggravation, the same attitudes, that we in fact embrace the change of what Christ wants to do in us. And I could tell you that as I start to boil down all my attitudes and my actions over these 20 plus years, I'm saying, Lord, I understand where I didn't do that all the time. And where you had to sometimes bring me back around that lesson again because I wouldn't listen the first time. Or you had to adjust my attitude again. And I love when when God does it by his spirit nudgingly, right? He wants to challenge your attitude nudgingly. And then when he doesn't, when you don't listen to him nudgingly, he's like, You ready? You gonna change your attitude? You're like, I don't know. I don't want to. He's like, Cool. How about now? He's not the one smacking you, but he'll allow things in your life to smack you so you have an attitude change. He's like, Oh, you're allowing that to be God of your life? I thought you were gonna be devoted to me. You're like, Well, I want to do this thing. He's like, How's it going? You doing okay? What's he doing? He's not smacking you, he's just moving out of the way, letting your decisions smack you. None of this is relevant to you guys. I'm glad. It's just me. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We don't want to be 20 years on repeat, friends. We want to be fierce, not fake. Fierce, not fake. Say it with me. Fierce, not fake. We look back here to the scripture, and it starts to speak to us out of Romans 3. It says, as it is written, none is righteous, no not one. It continues. It says, No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Friends, in our own trying to be righteous, we cannot become righteous because we are naturally broken people. And so our trying to be righteous is futile because we are fake in our approach to be righteous. It says we have no righteousness. Now, I have lots of people who say, Well, Pastor, I'm a good person. I'm a good person. And I was like, you know, that's great. But a good person does not make you righteous. A good person does not make you righteous. And what I mean by that is that there I have lots of friends who believe in other systems or don't believe at all. And they are good people. They're nice people, they're good neighbors, they're a good friend, they'll help you out, but they don't believe, and therefore they are not righteous. And neither am I, and neither are you. Except for Jesus is righteous, and I've embraced what Jesus has done for me, and therefore, before the Father, as I go into eternity, he doesn't look at my mess and my brokenness. He has forgiven me, made me new. He sees Jesus' righteousness off of my life and your life as you embrace Jesus. And so we're no longer fake. We get to be genuine before God because he sees Jesus as we embrace Jesus. And so all these other elements, all these things we're chasing to be righteous and trying to do these pillars or trying to do these things and earn our way into God's good graces. It is for not, friends. It is a fake ambition. Let me help you understand that if it were not for Jesus, we would all be for lost. It is only through him and his work for us that we are finding we are found in right standing with the Father. Because a holy God has to have a holy sacrifice. And so nothing on earth or these other fake gods can get you to the holy God Creator except for his sacrifice for us, which is found alone in Jesus Christ. In Scripture it says this in Romans 3, verse 20, for by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes through knowledge of sin. We know that when as we read the word, as we read the law that's there, that we fall short. We know that by trying our best, it's not enough. It will be a fake approach to the holy God. So, friends, we can't be fake. We have to do it the way he's called us to do. The scripture we've read so far already says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Friends, I am so thankful for the grace of God. The grace of God means that you get something you didn't deserve. And in this positive sense, he is given by his grace to us. He has given us our freedom, he has given us our forgiveness, he has given us all these things. He has worked on our behalf. It's through the redemption that we find the grace extended to us. It continues in verse 25. It says, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, meaning Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, doing the covering of our sin, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his defined forbearance, he passed over our former sins. What does that mean? It means that we are people that the only reason we can be those who are included as righteous is because we have faith in Jesus. That is the reason. Because we have faith in him, and because of that, we have embraced that faith in Christ. We are forgiven of our sins. That means that not just like, you know, he passes, as it says here, it's not just passing, he also makes us a new creation, it says in other places. It says he separates our sin from us as the East is from the West. He is a God who makes us a new creation and makes us clean. Friends, it's only by his work for us that we can be those that are seen as righteous. It's only through Christ Jesus that we are forgiven and that we can walk in his strength. Today, as we look at what it means to have a future family, a couple things just as a as a to bring it home for us today. We want to be those who are fierce for your family, fierce for your family. And we do this first. Our family is one that's gonna have faith over fear. Someone say amen to that. We're gonna have faith over fear. We're not gonna be fearful. We're gonna be those that walk and operate in faith in Jesus. We're gonna be those that are bold and courageous, like he talked to Joshua about being, that we are those that walk these things out. That also means that we're gonna be those that have no fake faith. That we're gonna be genuine in our faith after God. No fake faith. It doesn't mean we're gonna put on a plastic face. No, we're gonna be genuine in our heart after God. That means that also in our ethic, in our focus of our family, no fake family. We're not gonna fake it. No, what we're gonna do is genuine in the way we treat each other, genuine in the way we care for each other in those steps of Jesus Christ. And since God gives us our family, but we pick our friends, then we also want to say, no fake friends. No fake friends. That means in your life, I want to encourage you to go and find a Christian brother or sister that will walk alongside you and be an encouragement to your life. That your best friends can't be just people who are lost and not following Jesus. Why? Because they'll have impact on your life and pull you away from the path of Christ. Now, you definitely should be friends with them. Why? Because we want them to know Jesus and you to be light in their life. But that means you need to be walking in community for the strength of what it means to have no fake friends, that you are a genuine friend and you don't allow fake friends to have impact over your life. Friends, we are those that are fighting for our family. We are fighting for the future of what God wants to do in us. So we are going to be those that are fierce, not fake, and we're going to live with passion for Jesus. Today is an opportunity to respond to this message of God's love for us. Maybe you're here and you never said yes to Jesus. Today's your opportunity to do so. You have to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus? See, for us, as I've already talked about, we are those who have said, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. Lord, and I invite you into my heart and life. Lord, I ask you to forgive me. Lord, I ask you to make me a new creation. I want to live for you. And whenever we've made that decision, friends, that is what it really means to be those that aren't fake, is because we're living after a real God who has a real relationship with us. And it's because of the cross that this is even possible. Jesus, he lived that sinless life and he took, at the cross, he took on all of our sin and all of our mistakes for all people, for all mankind. And in doing so, he loved us enough that he would come and he would take our mistakes and our brokenness and all the things that we've done to hurt his heart. He took that on himself. And as he died, so that sin was paid for and it is dead as well. But friends, Jesus is not dead, he is alive. And since he raised back to life, then we can have an active relationship with the living God. We can invite him into our heart and life. We can dialogue with him. It says it says, abide, rest, remain in God, in our relationship with him. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the church at Rome and says this, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. We've already had people today make that commitment to Christ. We encourage you, do not miss out. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. Make the decision today to belong to Jesus. I'm going to ask everyone if they would. They stand at their feet that are here in the room, bow your heads as Christians are praying. Friends that are online, take a pause from whatever you're doing for just a moment to open your heart to what God wants to do and enter your life in your situation. Friends, maybe you're here under the sound of my voice, and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. Today is your opportunity to do so. Just make that commitment. Say, Jesus, I want to invite you into my heart. Ask you to forgive me. Lord, I want to live with you as the King of my heart, the Lord of Lords, that you would guide and direct me. Or maybe in the past you've made a decision like this, but then you've walked away from living for Christ and you've been fake in your walk after him. Friends, don't be fake any longer. Make a commitment back to Jesus. Live fiercely after him. Heads are bowed here in the room. If that's you, and you'd say, Pastor, that's me. I just want to be included in this prayer today as I make a commitment back to Jesus. If that's you, you just want to raise your hand right where you're at. That you're making a commitment to Jesus. You're inviting him into your heart and life today. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, as people making decisions after Christ today. Thank you, Lord. We see people that are recommitting their life to Christ, making decisions after Jesus. We see the hands that are there, hands in the balcony as well. Thank you, Lord. I'm gonna ask us if everyone would if they'd pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Friends, do rejoice with those, make a decision for God today. Praise God. Several people in this service raising their hands. Invite Christ into their heart and life. Hey, take a moment, take a snapshot of his QR code, follow it. We want to put the materials into your hands so you can be successful in living after Jesus. Today, as we come to this altar, it's an opportunity for each one of us just to draw near to God, to have more of his power, more of his presence in our life for whatever we're going through, that we would be those that normalize the altar in coming to Jesus and having that time with Christ. And so that we walk forward in him and that we draw near to him, asking to pour his spirit out on us. We're going to pray and I'm opening this altar to us. Lord, we thank you so much for your word today. Lord, we thank you how you challenge us in speaking to us about those who follow after you. And Lord, that we would be those with a focus of what you've called us to be, a foundation built on you, or living for you, not fake, but Lord, fierce after the things of God. Lord, as we come to this altar, we ask for your impartation. Lord, we ask for wisdom and blessing, guidance, unity, healing, Lord, for you are a God who meets every need. We pray this name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Celeste Brown 36:09

As you head out today, you will see that there is a fundraiser outside. Um it's an amazing lunch. Supports missions. We have a team going out and some individuals that are headed overseas on some trips this year. And so we want to support them. Um Angus has worked really hard yesterday. So there's pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches and some sides. Um yeah, you're gonna want to line up. Um but it's just gonna be a blessing to all of those who are headed out this year.

Jason Brown 36:35

Amen. Before we go, we want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Or make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, or lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. Pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much, Eric Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.