Partnership In The Gospel

We begin our series through the book of Philippians.  As we read Philippians 1:1-11 we see Paul define his relationship with the Philippi different than in any other epistle. 

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SPEAKER_01 0:16

What a great day to be in the house of the Lord, amen. Aren't you so glad you woke up to come to church today? You know, I am here because God is good. I think that's something you have to declare every day. You know, because there are days, there are days where I roll out of bed. I'm like, oh, not so good today. And it has nothing to do with God, has everything to do with my attitude. And so I have to choose. I have to choose to say, God, you are good, despite any pain, despite any trial, despite any differences I might have with others. God's good. Okay. Every Sunday we ask, who loves the word of God? Who loves the word of God? I want to tell you something. This is life-giving. Every spoken word from the mouth of God intended for us, written in Scripture, the Lord could cease to actively speak today, but we have everything we need. Now here's the thing: God's still speaking. He speaks all the time if you open up your heart to it, if you listen. But I'm telling you, everything that you need is right here. Everything you need. And so we are getting ready to start a series in Philippians. And I encourage you to turn there. We're going to be reading from some other scriptures before we start, but I want to give you some background into Philippians as we prepare our hearts for what God's going to speak in this series. But I want the in the background, you know, the city in 42 BC, there was the Battle of Philippi, and Rome won. So all of a sudden, their city went from not being under the Roman Empire to they are part of Rome. They are a Roman colony, and the town was in a Asia Minor, which is now modern day Turkey. And so here they are. They're now considered Roman citizens, treated as if they were standing on Italian soil. Right? So they have all the tax privileges. They have Roman law. They have Roman magistrates. They have Roman pride. They have all of that. And so they had elite Roman citizens, they had veterans, and they knew being Roman was special. There's certain privileges that came with being Roman. And it could carry a similar weight to what it means to be a U.S. citizen. You know, I travel all over the world and I have learned the value in traveling as a U.S. citizen. And I have lots of friends that they're citizens of other countries. And what I have found out is if they can just obtain that US visa for many other people in other countries, it opens the door for them to go so many other places. So if they can just obtain that US visa, all of a sudden it's easier for them to go elsewhere. And you know, that Roman status, it could stop a beating, it could, it could declare a move needed for Caesar. And you know, Paul had to experience that. And so Paul has to address some issues here, but they're not bad issues with the church because Paul finds out that even though he has great citizenship in Rome, he finds himself being beaten in a Roman city. Now they didn't know he was Roman at the time. And so before we get to our main text, I want to give you the background in Paul's ministry in Rome on his second missionary journey, and that's in Acts chapter 16. And Paul, he's on this journey, and on the journey at the very beginning of it, he meets this young man named Timothy. You guys have heard of Timothy before, right? He meets this young man named Timothy, and so Timothy is going to accompany him in Silas. And what we learned by the text is that Luke, the author of Acts, was also accompanying them. And I want you to listen to Acts chapter 16, verses 11 through 15. It says, We boarded a boat at Tros and sailed straight across the island to Samathrus. And the next day we landed at Neapolis. Now, aren't you glad these aren't modern-day city names? Sounds like being from Wisconsin a little bit, but you know, let's keep going. From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony, and we stayed there several days. On the Sabbath, we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who gathered there. One of them was Lydia from Theatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth who worshiped God. She listened to us. The Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying. She and her household were baptized and she asked us to be her guests. If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord, she said, Come and stay at my home. And she urged us until we agreed. You know, it was there that the church of Philippi was birthed, and it was also there that Paul and Silas were arrested. And what we read is they were stripped of their clothes, they were severely beaten for sharing the gospel. But here's the thing the Lord provided a miraculous event within that jail. I can only, I can only try and picture it in my mind where Paul and Silas are there, they're in chains, they don't know when they're going to be released, they were just severely beaten. And they begin to sing hymns of praise. And throughout that entire jail, God's presence could be felt. And next thing you know, in the midst of their singing, in the midst of their declaring, God is good, in the middle of my situation, there was a great earthquake. And everything just started shaking. And next thing you know, the shackles of all the prisoners fell off.

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The doors busted open. An open door for every prisoner to escape.

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The jailer, certain that all of them escaped, thought to his mind, I can only do one thing. And he's getting ready to kill himself. Just about as he's ready, Paul shouts out, Stop! Everyone is still here. It was there they found out he was a Roman citizen, immediately releasing him and let him go back, and he went back to the household of Lydia. And I can only imagine how long they stayed and how much they shared the gospel, but but in the time that they met Lydia, but Paul stays connected with these people. And he writes this letter to this church about 10 years later, when he's on house arrest in Rome. And so that's where we begin. Philippians chapter 1, verses 1 through 11. Again, I ask who loves the word of God. So here's the thing: in your seats in front of you, there are Bibles if you don't have one. And what I encourage you to do, I encourage you to grab one of those Bibles if you don't have one. If you don't have one at home, particularly. And I want you to find a pen. I want you to write your name inside the front cover. That's your Bible. I would love for you to take it home. And so we're going to read Philippians chapter 1, verses 1 through 11. I'm encouraging you invest in Bibles. Invest in them. It's on your phone, that can be a distraction because you get notifications. Paper Bible where it's at. All right, let's read. Philippians chapter 1, starting at verse 1. This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I'm writing to all of God's holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and the deacons. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my request for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. Everyone in here say, partners. That's an important word this morning. And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about you all. For you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God. In fact, in the ESV, it uses the word partakers. You're partakers in the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the good news. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your love will overflow more and more and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day Christ returns. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation, the righteous character produced in your life by Christ Jesus, for this will bring much glory and praise to God. Who says amen? Lord, take your word, sear it to our heart. And God, I pray as I have prepared a lot for this message, my preparation means nothing without your spirit speaking. So, God, I pray if you just use one word that I say today to trigger transformation in the lives of people here. Glory be to God. I thank you in Jesus' name and everyone's son. Amen, amen. In Paul's greetings, he always introduces himself. Every letter you read of Paul's, he introduces himself. And in Romans, he calls himself a slave and an apostle. In Galatians and first and second Corinthians, in Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Timothy, he refers to himself as an apostle. In Philemon, he refers to himself as a prisoner. In Philippians, he refers to him and Timothy as servants. You know, this word servant, it's more than just being enslaved to something. In fact, it was the it's the Greek word doulos, and doulos, what it means to be a bond servant. It means I feel bonded to this thing. I'm tied to it, I'm indebted to it. And and I can't let go of it. And in his greeting, I absolutely love this that he describes the church in Philippi in a way he describes no other church he was connected to. It doesn't appear in any other letter in the description of this church.

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He calls them partners.

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You know, he mentions you you guys are partners in the gospel, and that's you are choosing to be joined together with me in the same grace. Our hearts are bonded together. We share this cost and the stake in the work of defending and confirming the gospel. Here is the thing that we are fighting against, church, this prevailing thought that the moment we give our lives to Christ, then everything in our lives is on this trajectory where nothing can come against us. We're never gonna suffer any trials, we're not gonna have any hardships, it is just gonna be smooth sailing with Jesus. Let's look at the life of Paul, shall we? And as we talk today, I want you to take note that partnership is a shared stake. It is a shared stake. I want us to read verse five again. Paul says, For you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And Paul, he's describing this relationship that he has with them. And here's the thing with him calling them partners, that's a big deal, and it shouldn't go unnoticed. Because it wasn't just him saying, You guys are such a nice church, you think of me. We had a great time while we were there. I loved ministering with you. That's that's not what Paul is saying at all. In fact, the word that Paul uses here is koinonia, and that it the Romans understood that word very well, and it meant a shared stake, and so it symbolized maybe a business partnership or the civic association. And basically, what Paul is saying here I know you guys are partners because you have skin in the game. You have sacrificed for this, you have put something in to join me. You haven't just admired me from afar, you haven't cheered, just cheered for me, you haven't just sat there with all your knowledge and just clapped for me. You didn't do that. Paul's saying our relationship means more. We are linking up with you. So they showed their stake. You know, Lydia opened up her home the day she believed. The church was born in her home, and when Paul moved on, they didn't move on from him. You know, they they sent help with to him, they they sent him money, they supported him, and they they they sent they sent help in Thessalonica more than once, and again when he was in corn, no other church did that at the start. No other church. They were not rich. Come on, sunshine, amen. Like, listen, we should be able to relate to this a little bit, okay? They they were not rich in the Macedonian churches. They gave out severe tri that they they went through severe trial and deep poverty, but yet they still just gave away. They choose to continue to give away, and their faith was greater than their present circumstances because they chose to trust in the Lord. And here's probably the most important thing. They didn't just give Paul lip service. And so, for us as believers in the body of Christ, we need to ask ourselves: when is it time that we put our share in? When do we actually have have a stake in this? When do we have buy-in? Because Paul didn't call any other church a partner, and so he is associating them with a very special title, and I can only imagine the people who Paul throughout his three missionary journeys, right? He he's he had three missionary journeys. The guy went all over the place, and he probably heard things like we are with you, or I feel so compelled to help you. I feel like joining you, and and I'd love to be able to do what you do. And but here's the thing: this is what always happens in these situations. But if I was just of good help, I'd join you, or good health, I should say. If I didn't have this job, if I didn't have all these responsibilities, if I just learned more about the gospel, then I would be ready. And so many have this barrier in their lives where we say, I want to live for Christ, but and then our lives don't change, it just stays the same, it looks exactly the same. And in Matthew 21, Jesus gives this parable and it's it's an allegory of the work of the kingdom of God, and he tells this story about a father and two sons. And I want us to read this. It's Matthew 21, 28 through 32, and it's going to be up on the screen behind me. Says, but what do you think about this? Jesus goes on to tell the story. A man with two sons told the older boy, son, go out and work in the vineyard today. The son answered, No, I won't go. Fathers, who can relate to this? But later he changed his mind and he went anyway. Then the father told the other son, You go, he said, Yes, sir, I will. But he didn't go. Which of the two obeyed his father? They replied, the first. Then Jesus explained his meaning. I tell you the truth, corrupts corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn't believe him. While tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins. Here is the deal with us and how we can relate to all of this. There is a point in your walk with God when you decide, is this true belief or is it a defined walk? And and you know, it might be a hard decision, and it might be one of those things you hear what God is saying in his word, and you're like, He says what you need to do, and you're like, God, I can't. But then you're like, but I need to. I need to. I need to get in that vineyard. And the reality is there's there's more people that what they say. God, yes, yes, I will. I absolutely will. I am all in. I'm gonna go into the vineyard, I'm gonna work, I'm gonna grab the harvest, I'm gonna do everything you are asking me to do.

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Then nothing happens. I don't do anything. God tells us the way we must live.

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And church, we must live it. We must live it. God tells us how we need to go, like the way we need to go. And I I know that once you discover the presence of God and begin to understand who God is, everything in your life should compel you to say, God says I need to go, and I must go. I have to do it. We can't just sit and say, God, you know, like the let me align things in my life first. Like, I I need I I would prefer God if my desires aligned with your desires. That'd be really important. Or God, it would be really nice if you just took care of my job and everything in it first. And I I built up enough money in my bank account that I could live nice and free and just be Lord, if I won the lottery, then I'm all in because then I can just quit my job. I can do everything I need to do. Lord, you know, my relationships, it were not in a good place right now. So If you could give me time in my relationship, then maybe when everything is perfect, I'll be ready. When Jesus said, pick up your cross and follow me daily, he is not saying, at your earliest convenience. You see, anyone can partner in the work, especially when it appears successful. It's like, you know what? I want to link up with that thing because man, that guy is doing things. So many people are following him. So many people are coming to Christ. You know what? There's money involved. They never go a day without food. Everything is perfect. Not Paul's ministry. That dude was thrown in jail so many times. You really want to understand everything Paul went through? Read 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and 12. And then you start to get an idea of everything Paul went through because everyone questioned whether or not he was a qualified apostle because of his suffering. And so there were so many people that doubted whether he was doing a good work or not. Isn't that amazing? So many 2,000 years later, we're sitting here and you're like, are you serious? Paul, he wrote over half the New Testament. This guy has impacted more lives than anyone could possibly fathom. And yet everyone questioned him. No one viewed his ministry as a success, but yet this church said, We're with you. And the risk didn't cancel it. Because God began to do a work in them. And Paul notes that in verse 6. It says, and I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. And guys, I want you to embrace serving Christ comes with inherent risk. It comes with risk. And as the days grow shorter and the return of Jesus Christ nears, it we expect it, we anticipate is going to get worse and worse and worse. It's going to be harder for us to serve Christ because it even says in the last days, you know, believers in Jesus will be beheaded for their faith. Can you accept the inherent risks that come with that? Saying I'm a follower of Christ. This church all started with just a meeting a woman at a riverbank, gathering water, and their relationship with the church is still intact through beatings, poverty, distance. And Paul is recognizing something special in this relationship. You haven't given up on me, you haven't lost faith in the Lord. Glory be to God. And so he writes, I am confident that God, who began that good work within you, isn't going to stop until that day. You're going to be able to endure till the end. Don't quit. Don't give up. When everything around you seems so difficult, so hard, don't take your eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and embrace this. In fact, I I love what it says in verse 7 because it's it's about a shared grace. That this is a part of the grace of God, and we're going to get to that in a moment. Because when people choose, when you choose to put your hand or your everyday life's plans into the hands of God, I want you to know He finishes what he begins. And so the work that he has done inside of you isn't a mistake. And so no matter what you're going through in life, you need to lean in, lean into God and say, God, I need you in this time. And God is going to make his presence known through each and every difficulty. And here's the thing: we associate difficulties so often with just hardships in our life, right? But but the thing is, when we are living for Jesus Christ, people are going to come against us because of what we believe. Are you hearing me? People are going to turn from you, family, people that you love, neighbors, co-workers, anyone you can think of, because the gospel on its face is offensive. And then there comes this point in our faith journey where we need to embrace that this path that we're on, that this faith journey we're on, doesn't guarantee us an easy life. It's going to be difficult. So so many like the thought of God, you are going to meet my every earthly need and want. If many prayed honestly in this room, they'd say, Lord, take my life, make it as comfortable as possible. I just want to be comfortable. Until the day you call me home. And in fact, God, the way I want to die is peacefully in my sleep. Let me just, let me just go like that. Those are the kinds of prayers that we pray. That's the way we want to live. But here's the thing: your earthly comfort brings no honor to God or his kingdom. It doesn't. If God is going to make himself known to you and others around you, he is going to show himself more powerful through your circumstances. Keep your eyes on him. Scripture has shown us time and time again that's in the trial where God shows himself strong. It's in those difficult moments. Paul and Silas, they're they're in Philippi, and I can only imagine when they were singing praises to God, and there's this massive earthquake, the chains fall off, and Silas might just be thinking in this moment, God, could you have possibly done that before we got beaten? That's not the way God worked. And so, God, He's just calling you to go forth. He's asking you to follow His calling and just trust and know. You know, God's got this under control. I don't need to weigh the risks. Because the reward outweighs it. The reward outweighs it each and every time.

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And so what this means is your faith is going to require you to leave your seat, to leave your couch, to leave your home.

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Jesus illustrates this in his parable in Luke 14 by saying, Go to the highways and byways. Compel people to come into my kingdom. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus is sending out the disciples to go and minister in their eagerness and readiness to go. Jesus leaves them with this. I want you to think about this. The way Jesus built the Bible, yeah, we're gonna go out, we're gonna save the world. And this was Christ's parting words to them before they went out. Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves, but beware, for you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, notice it doesn't say if. Listen to verse 7. It says, so it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the good news. You know, I touched on it when I opened that the word the ESV uses here, and it's it's most closely related to the word that we talked about earlier in verse 5, partners is the word partakers. He says, You are partakers with me of grace. This is what it says in the ESV. Paul says, It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. And so there's this word shift that Paul does from verse 5 to verse 7. He uses that word koinonia, and then he shifts to sequinios. And that's basically saying, you are a partner, you are a co-sharer with me, you have a stake in this. You've joined me in the battlefield, and it's come at cost. Here's their evidence of being a co-sharer. I want you to hear some of these things. These are important. First off, they chose the association with Paul. They chose it. Them, as Roman citizens, they were afforded every opportunity to live in a peaceful world, not have people come against them. And the the reality is that the spread of the gospel message was a threat to Roman culture. And so whether it was honor, rank, or loyalty to Caesar, they chose Paul instead. You know, Paul being a chained preacher of another Lord than the God that the Romans served. They chose to send money to that man, and they even sent one of their own to stand with him. That was their public identification. We choose to stand with him. Here's the thing: a safe church distances itself from a prisoner. This church tied their name to it. Said, that's our guy. The other way that there was evidence, they they sent a man, not just not just their gift, not just their money, they sent a man named Epaphroditus. And it's in verse, it's verse 7 summed up in a man's body, because Paul calls him brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier. He's giving him foxhole titles of what we read in chapter 2, verse 25. They sent a man, and here's the thing: he carried their gift into the cell with him. It wasn't an intent to say, hey, we're bringing you out of there. It was we're coming there and we are sitting with you. This man, in fact, he got sick on the way and he nearly died for the work of Christ. He was risking his life to complete what was lacking in their service to Paul. That's in chapter 2, verses 27 through 30. And here's what was lacking, and I don't want us to lose this. The Lord revealed this to me yesterday. I've been studying this word all week, and it took till yesterday. This is the importance of reading God's word every day, church. Took till yesterday that God spoke this into my life. What had been lacking was their presence. The gifts are great. Prayers keep them coming. But when you have people laying their lives on the line for the gospel of Jesus Christ, it can be so lonely. And you want to know there are people that are in it, not just in word, but in deed. And in true deed, is for that person to say, I choose to set all my personal preferences, all my desires aside. I choose to set that all aside to say, I am fully in for gospel's sake. And I am willing to sacrifice my life for the sake of the gospel. And so that man went out, not knowing what he'd expect. And it nearly cost him his life.

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Here's the thing. The equity they had in it was the man that they sent.

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The congregation had people join him not just in places of honor, but in places of shame. And I want you to embrace that the Lord Jesus Christ is calling us as the body of believers to step out regardless of the cost. You know what? At some point, here's the thing. You're gonna have to get your hands dirty. At some point, you're gonna have to say, I choose to go on the battlefield. At some point, you're like, man, that relationship, if that person finds out, you know what? They need to know. The cost is too great for them not to know. They need to know. And it's choosing to say, I am going, and every insecurity I have, everything that I feel is a risk in my life, it doesn't matter anymore. The the what Jesus Christ paid for us on the cross was way too great for me to consider. Well, maybe I'm gonna get my feelings hurt, maybe I'm gonna be rejected. You know what? The son of man was rejected by the equivalent of the church. The son of man was rejected by the church. God sent his son for those same people that rejected him. And now what I am doing, I'm choosing to identify my life with Jesus and say, that is who I follow, that is who I serve, and I do not care about the cost. I care about the cost in not doing it. That's the work. That's the defense of what we believe. That's that confirmation of the gospel where people are looking at your lives and they see the change and they're saying, that change, that change is not who you used to be. And you can say, absolutely, the Lord Jesus Christ has changed me. You know, Paul later in the chapter, he tells the church, for if you've been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege of suffering for him. Think about that. Suffering for Jesus is a privilege. We should consider it an honor. And to say, what he has done for my life, I can never repay. But I, Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, I am bonded to him for the rest of my life. And you, you are partners in that. You are you are partakers in that. You have proven your faith by your actions and followed out after that. Even in all the difficulty, Paul is seeing the watermarks of grace all over his life and their lives. Mom, if you could come just play a little bit on the keyboard. You and I, here's what we got to do as we close. We have to choose whether or not we're a partner. We have to choose it. See, here's the thing about the the realm of the church and just our lives in general is that we like to throw our opinion out there. We like to tell people what they ought to be doing, but we seldom, we seldom enter into that arena ourselves. I'm a sports fan. Got any NFL fans in the room? There is nothing I love more on a Monday after I put in all my hard work that I go home, I turn on sports radio, and I listen to fans complain about the Chicago Bears. That's what I do. And so I'm listening to these guys, and these these fans are calling in, and they're like, man, we stink, we need to get a better defense, we need a better defensive line. Like all these things that they say, we, we, we, and the host on the other end is a retired NFL player, and he's like, What's this we stuff? He's like, if you're gonna keep saying we, buckle up that chin strap and get on the field. There's no we that should be on your mouth. You're not a part of that. And so uh immediately, what we need to accept that if we're in true partnership, if we've got a shared stake in this, it's not cheering from the stands. It's not saying, hey, I'll be a part of it when everything's good. It's a shared stake that survives a prison cell. It's that shared stake that says, I choose to willingly tie my name to the prisoner that is suffering for the gospel of Jesus. It's choosing to send someone into hardship who almost doesn't come back. Think about why does Paul say, I have you in my heart? I have you in my heart because their partnership was proven in the suffering. And so, church, here's the thing like like we we read this and we think, God, I guess this is my lot in life. Here's the thing, only God identifies that in us. It might not be this story, it might be one similar, it might be different, but what we are choosing to do. Is associate ourselves with the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter the cost. And we decide that this is a privilege of his abounding grace, that I have the freedom to be bonded to him as a servant. And I won't let that go. And so what we have to decide is we are going to choose to shed every worldly desire, everything we have that is keeping us from fully embracing what the gospel really has for us. If you want that freedom in Christ, it's deciding. I am his bond servant. And I choose to be a partner in the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter the cost. Going back to that statement I said earlier, genuine faith doesn't worry about the risk of rejection from people because it's outweighed by the risk of rejection before Jesus Christ. I want you to bow your heads. Just you and God. And depending on that answer, what you have to decide. What's more important? My salvation? Or this world is decaying. And you have to allow the Holy Spirit to work and you have to choose to release the things of the world and say it really doesn't matter anymore. But at some point, you can't give lip service to this anymore. You have to make that action step. And if you feel you haven't measured up, you haven't met the expectations of maybe even others, whatever it is. You know, I'm in that camp too. There have been so many times I'm like, Lord, I failed you. But you know what? A heart that repents and demonstrates a new path is one that can honor God. And so if you say, Pastor, you know, I feel the pull of the Holy Spirit, and I need to actively choose to be a partner in this. I felt the command of the Lord and I need to follow it. If that's you, and you want to put your life on a new path today, I just ask you to stand where you're at. If that's you. Guys, this is important. This is a big step, but it's step one. It's step one. Step two is listening to the Lord and hearing him speak. Step three is being obedient to it. And that's where we can so easily get tripped up. And what we just determine in our heart right now is Lord, I'm choosing you every day. I have you by my side. I don't need anything else. And I'm going to enter into that arena. I'm going to enter that battlefield. I'm going to enter that workplace. I am going to enter into my neighborhood wherever it is, fill in the blank. But this time, Lord, you are with me. And I'm going to be obedient to what you're asking me to do. And so just where you're at, if you just stand and raise your hands to the Lord. Lord, to truly be in service to you. It starts at surrendering, surrendering my desire. Lord, surrendering all the things that hold me back from being in right relationship with you. And God embracing the things that you have accomplished for me through your Son Jesus Christ. Lord, something that I can never repay. But Lord, I want a shared stake in this. That no matter what I face, Father, I declare that you're Lord of my life. And I choose to take on like clothing Jesus Christ each and every day. That I am going to follow out after the plan you have for me. Lord, I'm declaring that over all these people that are standing here today. And God, I can only imagine the special call you have on each and every one of them. That God, only you can speak. Lord, you will reveal it. And I am just believing that you are going to raise up leaders, godly men and women who say, I choose to follow the path of Jesus Christ no matter what the cost is. God, may we walk in faith and obedience, and may it confound a world and compel people to come into your kingdom. Lord, I thank you and I praise you. And God, you are so good. Lord, this is step one. Help them get to step two. Help them get to step three. Lord, may your Holy Spirit not allow them to let go so easily. May they feel your conviction and presence in their life. May they be thankful for it, Father. I thank you in Jesus' name. And all God's people said,