WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Welcome to the Awakening Church Podcast. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.599 We exist to awaken this generation to a new life in Christ. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.039 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.399 To find out more, go to Awakeningchurch.com. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:26.320 Today we're launching a brand new series, and it's really a new season for us as a church. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.240 It feels like for a lot of people, we've just been drifting through this season. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:45.359 And if that's where you're at, maybe that's where you're feeling. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:56.640 Maybe you're needing something to kick start your relationship with Jesus, something to bring guidance and direction to help you grow in this really emotionally disorienting time. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.759 Well, we've prepared some things that are really special for you. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.359 This booklet we believe is a companion with this series. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:05.040 Our groups are going through it. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:10.879 It's to help you dive in, dig in deeper, and grow in your relationship with Jesus. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.159 We have a pickup party happening later today. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:16.159 You'll get more information about it. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:18.560 Pick this up, dive in with us. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:22.640 Can't wait to go on the journey with you. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:33.680 Now, um it just feels like, it just feels like this is perhaps the most polarizing time in history. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.359 I know it probably isn't, but it really feels that way. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:39.040 Our nation is divided. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:48.319 Our nation is divided politically, our nation is divided uh racially, our nation is divided ethically and even philosophically. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:57.599 And it just feels like, you know, what what you stand for, what you don't stand for, what you say and what you don't say can and will be used against you. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:03.840 It just that we have a country and a culture that's just shouting at one another, right? 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:09.280 It's just this shouting match, and nobody's listening to one another at all. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.199 And sadly. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:18.000 Sadly, the church doesn't look any different. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.639 The church just seems to be responding in like manner. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:29.439 You know, the church is actually intended to bring about the renewal of our cities and our culture. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:36.080 And if I'm honest, it kind of looks like we're more a reflection of our culture. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:48.960 Like, what does it look like really for the church to be that renewing agent in this divisive time rather than merely a reflection of our cultural moment? 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:54.080 You know, Jesus said something that was really significant and profound. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:01.759 Is on the night he was to be betrayed, he's sitting with his disciples, and he says this. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.639 He says, A new command I give you. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:06.800 Love one another. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:12.080 In the same way that I've loved you, you are to love one another. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.639 And then he says this, and it's so amazing. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:24.719 By this very thing, by your love for one another, the entire world will know you are my disciples. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:26.000 Here's what Jesus is saying. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:34.639 He's saying that the calling card of a follower of Jesus is to be how well we love each other. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.800 Now, here's the problem. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:38.560 Here's the question. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:47.759 Here's the thing that you and I, I think, are confronted with is how do you love someone who votes differently than you? 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:54.000 How do you love someone who posts differently than you? 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:58.319 How do you love someone who quarantines differently than you? 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:06.000 How do you love someone who you just really see life completely different? 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:23.680 Now, what's fascinating and often overlooked is the early church was this incredibly diverse, I mean socially, economically different, ethically, or not ethically, but um ethnically different. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:27.839 They they were this incredibly diverse group of people. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:45.199 And and in fact, uh Scott McKnight says it this way: that the early church was a fellowship of difference and unlikes, that that they had nothing in common. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:52.720 In fact, the first followers of Jesus, the 12 disciples, it looked like they had nothing in common. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:59.920 I want you to imagine that picture of Jesus saying that command and and know who he's actually talking to. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:06.319 See, he looks into the eyes of Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:19.920 Simon the zealot, before being a disciple of Jesus, was part of this revolutionary uh group that was uh seeking to overthrow the oppressive Roman government. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:23.600 They did it in subversive and tactical military ways. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:40.720 I mean, they would they would pull off assassinations and incite riots and upheavals, and and he's a part of this type of group that, you know, depending on where you came from and where you stood, one thought, you know, is a revolutionary, another side would call him a terrorist. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:51.199 And then you have Matthew the tax collector, who he he traded in his people for the comfort that Rome had to offer. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.759 I mean, nobody liked him. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:00.800 He was a corroborator with the Roman government, and he unjustly made money off people. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:06.079 And some would argue maybe both of them shouldn't even be invited. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:07.759 And Jesus invites both of them. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.360 Polar opposites had nothing in common. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:24.560 And then if you scan the room, you see James and John, they're brothers, and it seems like these brothers maybe had an anger issue because Jesus called them the sons of Zebedee or the Sons of Thunder. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:34.480 And it's just like, you know, these are fishermen, these are blue-collar workers, these are salty people and intense and passionate. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:45.759 And then probably next to James and John, and these passionate, maybe even angry at times, disciples, was Thomas. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.319 Didymus, he's a twin. 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.920 And we know him as doubting Thomas. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:07:00.160 And the only recorded words that we have of Thomas is actually in John, one of the sons of Zebedee's gospel. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:05.360 And if you just look at it and you can tell their personalities did not like match or mix at all. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:10.720 And anything you see of Thomas is maybe he's not doubting Thomas, he's more Debbie Downer Thomas. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:12.160 He's a negative Nelly. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:18.160 Everything you hear, almost every quote of Thomas, is a negative word outside of his mouth. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.800 And this is who Jesus is saying a new command I give you. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:24.720 Love one another. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:26.639 But it's even worse than that. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:29.519 It's not just that they're just so different. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:35.199 Right before that moment, Luke gives us this insight. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:48.160 Right before he gives that command, right after they just had what would now be called the Last Supper, Jesus had washed their feet, he had instituted communion, they get into an argument. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:56.800 The disciples are arguing at the table, looking around and arguing, who is the greatest among them? 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:05.600 And then Jesus says, A new command I give you love one another. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:07.519 And question. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:32.799 The question for you and me is how did this deeply divided group of different experience this unity that turned into an irresistible community that completely reshaped the world as we know it. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:40.399 Well, the apostle Paul actually tells us what happened in the book of uh Corinthians. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.440 It's, you know, he's talking to this church in Corinth. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:51.440 But before I tell you about that, I want to give you a little background on Paul because uh Paul wasn't at the table. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:53.200 Uh, he wasn't a part of that argument. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:56.080 He wasn't even on the team of Jesus at this moment. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.159 He was on the team of the Pharisees. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:04.559 And if you read the Gospels, you'll know that the Pharisees were the chief antagonist of Jesus. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:11.279 And at the end of Jesus' life, they were the ones seeking to kill him and were successful. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:17.679 Now, Paul was this incredibly highly educated, uh, brilliant mind, zealous. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:25.679 I mean, he was he was good after it, um you know, incredibly judgmental guy. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:34.159 And he had a passion to stomp out any followers of Jesus. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:42.960 In fact, he presided over the the murder of Stephen, the first person who was martyred for their faith in Christ. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:52.720 He he gave his vote of approval and then sought to go and find others who followed Jesus and put them in prison and persecute them. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:57.279 And he got it, and he began to persecute the church. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:08.559 Now, Paul on one of his journeys to Damascus began to uh on his way to persecute and find Christians and imprison them there. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:10.720 He literally got knocked off his horse. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:17.919 He got knocked off his horse, he had an encounter with the risen Savior, and his life was changed. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:28.240 And the person who was persecuting followers of Jesus then became the chief evangelist for the way of Jesus. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:32.720 And Paul, now the apostle. 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.919 Paul, who was one of the enemies of the disciples, this is what's so powerful about the gospel. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:46.720 Paul, one of the enemies and arch rival, now is one of the greatest evangelists of the community. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:51.360 And he tells us what changed with this group. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:58.159 And if you got your Bible, would you open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 15? 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:08.080 And Paul is going to tell us the event that shaped and brought unity to the followers of Jesus. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:15.519 He says this in verse 3 for what I received I pass on to you as of first importance. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:21.039 This is the most important thing I can pass on to you right now. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:21.679 What? 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:34.559 That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas or Peter, and then to the twelve. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:46.000 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:57.600 Then he appeared to James, and then all to all the apostles, and then last of all, he appeared to me on that road to Damascus as to one abnormally born. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:06.320 What happened that brought this incredible unity with a bunch of difference and unlikes? 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:24.240 Those followers watched their rabbi and their master beaten, clogged, ridiculed, mocked, tortured, and hung on a cross to die. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:30.720 And in their world, all that they gave their life for the last three years, it ended. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:34.480 All hope was gone. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.039 And they saw him buried. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:39.759 And that was final. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:43.840 And then it wasn't. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:50.879 And three days later, Jesus rose from the grave and he showed up. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:54.559 And it wasn't just like one person saw him, it was one like over here, or I had a dream. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:06.080 It was no, he physically showed up, and over 500 people saw him in the place where he was crucified, in the city where he was crucified, he was risen and showed up. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:11.919 The resurrection of Jesus changed everything. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:26.639 And from that point on, for those disciples and the flowers ever since, it was no longer my way or even their way. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:33.600 It was Jesus have your way in me. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:48.240 It was the resurrection that took a bunch of self-centered people and caused them to deny themselves, to pick up their cross, and follow him. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:14:03.120 This fellowship of difference banded together in unity under the unwavering belief in the risen Savior as Jesus their Lord. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:10.960 And so how do we, how do we return to that irresistible movement of fellowships of difference? 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:24.559 Well, we must once more return to an unwavering belief in Jesus, our Savior, our Lord. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:32.799 Well, I think the question is, what exactly did those first disciples really believe? 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.840 And that's what we're going to spend the next few weeks talking about. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:56.799 And to help guide us on that journey, we're going to dive in to the Apostles' Creed to help us unpack and understand what is the thing for us as followers of Jesus today in this moment of history to be agents of renewal instead of a reflection of culture. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.919 How are we going to lean in? 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:10.879 It's going to get us really clear on this is what it means to be a follower of Jesus and to bring healing and hope to the world around us. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:15.519 Well, what is then the Apostles' Creed? 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.080 Well, the word creed is from the Latin credo. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.639 It just means I believe or I put my confidence on or I rely upon. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:35.200 And the Apostles' Creed is the earliest confession of faith that we have, of what the first followers of Jesus believed. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:42.320 We find its first formulation actually in what's known as the Old Roman Creed. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.000 It was a baptismal confession. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:48.559 It's what believers, when they would step into the waters of baptism, would recite. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.039 I believe in Jesus his son. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:59.360 And they would have this confession of faith as they would proclaim it. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:06.000 And it was used as a teaching tool for those who are new to the faith or just learning about Jesus is this is what it means. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.480 This is what's uniting and drawing us together. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:14.559 And this is why the creed is important. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:23.360 It actually outlines the very essentials of what it means to be a Jesus follower. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:33.679 This is what all Christians over the course of all time have and across all cultures have always believed and united us. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:42.080 Whether we're on one side of the world or not, we have this in common that Jesus is our Savior and Lord. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:50.000 And then it also allows us to join into the deeply rooted faith that we have as believers. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:17:06.240 That we're not caught up in the swaying cultural moment, but we have a rootedness joining in with the voices of those throughout centuries who have declared and lived out this hope and life. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:12.160 And so, how do we hold this creed? 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:19.200 Saint Augustine of Hippo, he uh was an early church father from northern Africa. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:20.880 He had this line. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:23.839 He said, In essentials, we have unity. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:29.599 In non-essentials, we have liberty, and in all things, we have charity. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:35.359 And I think that's the thing for us as followers of believing followers of Jesus. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:38.720 Is is in essentials, we have unity. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:46.559 When it comes to this creed, these are the things that all Christians hold together and affirm. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:51.359 And non-essentials and things uh that aren't a part of this creed. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:59.359 There's liberty, and we can we can agree to disagree on things and and hold one another uh in uh compassion. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:06.319 And in all things, in everything, we have charity or love. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:11.200 The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 talks about that. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:19.359 And he says, if I have the gift of tongues of an angel, but I don't have love, I'm just a clanging symbol. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:31.039 If I can fathom all, you know, knowledge and uh prophecy and but I don't have love, it amounts to nothing. 00:18:32.640 --> 00:19:04.960 You see, at the heart of it is for us then to be a people who are defined, as Jesus said, in that moment all the way back with his disciples, to be known by love because we follow a Savior who out of love sacrificially gave his life for you, for me, and for the whole world. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:10.160 Now let's return to those first followers. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:26.000 Those fellowship of difference that were banded together in unity around the belief of a risen savior. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:32.319 You know, the first word in the creed is credo, right? 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:33.839 I believe. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:39.920 And the question for you, the question for me, what do you believe? 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:41.359 Really? 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:46.960 What are you placing your confidence on? 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.200 What are you relying upon? 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:58.400 You know, it's here in um Castle Rock where I first learned to rock climb. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:19:59.759 I was a junior hire. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:11.279 Um, and my junior high leader took me and I think a couple other guys out, and uh we we showed up and I'd never gone before, and he began to tell me about this rope. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.599 Well, it wasn't this rope, but a rope like this. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.319 He said, Ryan, this is a rock climbing rope. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:18.880 It's a dynamic rock climbing rope. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:27.279 In fact, it's built in such a way that it it will hold a car's weight, so you don't have to worry about it holding your weight. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:31.279 In fact, it's it's dynamic, meaning that it has some stretch and gift to it. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:35.279 So if you fall, it'll absorb that impact to protect you. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:50.960 And then then he went to talk through the harness and the um the carabiner, and and like, you know, this is a locking carabiner, so you it you can't get out of it unless you twist it a certain way, and in fact, I can't even remember how to twist it anymore. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:52.640 There we go. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:56.000 You're safe, you can trust it. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:02.480 He taught me how to tie a figure eight knot and how to belay. 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:13.200 And I learned a lot about climbing that day, and a lot about the rope. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:27.519 But something happened when all of a sudden he set me out on the edge of one of those big rocks and cliffs, and I mean I don't know how far it was, but it felt like it was really, really far. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:31.519 And he said, I just want you to lean back. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:34.880 Like, no, no, no, I don't, I don't want to lean back. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:35.519 No, no, no. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.359 You just have to lean back, you have to trust the rope and lean back. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:41.200 Do you believe this can hold a car? 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.480 Yeah, I believe it can hold a car. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.440 Okay, so you have to lean back. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:53.680 And I remember that first time leaning back, I was like, Oh my goodness, what did I get myself into? 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:56.880 And then I leaned back. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:12.640 You see, it's not enough, or it's a little different, I guess, is a better way to say it, to intellectually know that this rope can hold me. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.799 I can understand all the facts and knowledge about it. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:23.119 And I can say I believe, I believe this rope will hold me. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:31.920 It is a radically different thing to strap it onto a harness and lean back and place the weight of your life on it. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:40.799 See, in our day, we we've turned belief into just kind of an intellectual thing. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.359 I intellectually understand Jesus came and died for me. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:54.319 I intellectually believe that, but you haven't actually placed the weight of your life on Jesus. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.880 You haven't relied all on him. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:22:59.599 And that is the difference. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:00.640 I love how C.S. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.480 Lewis said it. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:14.240 He said, you never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:21.359 It's easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you're merely using it to cord up a box. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:25.359 But suppose you had to hang by the rope over a precipice. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:31.599 Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it? 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:34.960 See, could it be? 00:23:37.200 --> 00:24:00.960 Could it be that what you need, what I need in this moment, is to put the full weight of your life in the author of life, the one who defeated death and the grave and is alive, victorious now. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:13.119 So what does it look like to put the full weight of your life? 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.960 Trust your confidence in Jesus. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:26.480 It's the invitation that the Apostle Paul gave to the church in Rome. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:35.920 It's where he said, if you declare with your mouth, you confess that Jesus is Lord, that means he's master. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:40.400 It means, God, you get to call the shots. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:51.920 And see, what united the early church because of the resurrection is then everything Jesus said about life and how to do life, they said, we're gonna do it your way, not my way. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:57.039 They said, okay, we're just simply gonna follow exactly what you say. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:58.000 Well, what did he say? 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:02.559 He said, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:13.599 He said that that if somebody forces you to go unjustly a mile and carry their load, happily go the second mile. 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:15.680 He said, you know what? 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:22.720 If someone insults you and slaps you on your face, turn the other cheek. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:28.480 Don't be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:32.720 This is what Jesus said. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:42.400 And trust your life, your way of life, all of you, in the way that I've called you to do life. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:44.720 It's to not deny yourself. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:47.599 Pick up your cross and follow him. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.000 And this is what Paul is saying. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:56.880 To confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and then to believe in your heart. 00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:59.680 That's not this ooey-gooey where she. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:10.640 This is to place the whole confidence of your life in his hand, that God raised him from the grave. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:23.440 He says, He says that if you confess, you will be saved, you will be justified, you'll experience new life. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:27.839 And that is what our world needs and chances are. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:31.200 And this season, it's what you need. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:45.200 And if that's where you're at, I just want to give you an opportunity to say, okay, I want to join in the anthem of the first followers and say, I believe. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:54.960 I'm placing the full weight of my life in your hands, Jesus, because you rose from the grave. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:59.839 And if that's where you're at, just very simply after me, would you just pray? 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:05.359 Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:11.519 I believe you came for me and you died for me and you rose again for the grave. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:20.160 And today I place the full weight of my life in your hands. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:25.039 Would you come into my life and make me new? 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:29.759 Today, you get to call the shots. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.119 I'm going to follow in your ways. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:35.359 Thank you for loving me. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:37.279 Thank you for saving me. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:39.359 Thank you for forgiving me. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:42.880 And thank you for new life in this moment. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:44.640 In Jesus' name. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:46.319 Amen.