Sometimes People Suck | Week 1

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Matthew 16:22

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:23

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

1. Your calling 
 makes things clear.

The loudest voice
 in your life will often determine your direction
.

2. It’s Deeper
 than you think.

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:23

3. Know when to draw a Line 
 in the Sand.
.

The relationships you have are a combination of what you’ve created
 and what you’ve allowed.
. 

If you don’t like what you have,  change what you expect
 and what you accept

People don’t respond to what you say 
,  but what you enforce

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Kickoff

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, band, thank you so much. You guys are awesome. I'm gonna let them make their way, and we're gonna dive right into a brand new series today. So tell your neighbor, get ready. Get ready, it's coming. Uh pull out your notes. We are a note-taking church. I just I don't have a lot of time to greet you, but I am so thrilled that you're here. If you're new, maybe your first time was around Easter, then uh it means the world to us that you're with us today and those who are online. And um it means so much to us that I'm like every week I'm just blown away that we get to do this every week that we get to serve God together, worship God together, open up the Bible and study and show ourselves approved. I'm so proud of you guys that graduated the TVI group today. Looking forward to so many great things coming. And uh today, sometimes people suck. Doesn't feel like a good transition from where we've been to where we're going, but here we are. Anyway, I think uh this is such a powerful thing we need to talk about today. Um it is one thing to know that God is good, it's one thing to know that God loves us so much and um that he wants us to love people. However, there's a is a little bit of a disconnect sometimes when you realize, okay, God loves me, he wants me to love people, and then all of a sudden it you realize, but some people are just so hard to love. Some people are are very difficult to love. In fact, we all have people in our lives where we feel like they just suck the life out of me to be around them. God, how can I love them? How can I pour love on them or even share my, how can I even share a room with them? Because it feels like it's draining me and killing me to be around them. And that's the truth, though. That's reality that we live in. And um, in fact, some people online, and we tried to mitigate some of the messages that came in, just so disliked the title of this message. They've never been to our church, they don't know. I don't know them, but they wanted to just let it be known that they hated it. They hated, and I thought, you're probably the one that this series is about. But I didn't say that to them. I just, you know, over the next six weeks or so, including Mother's Day, somebody asked me how that's gonna go. How are we gonna do this series over Mother's Day? I'll just let you figure it out when we get there. We're gonna talk about um people that are controlling, uh bullies, people who are manipulative, people who are overly needy and continue to take and take and take from us, the hypocritical people in our lives, or just the critical, those who are just critical, um, the immature people in our lives. And um I think what happens is in even me saying that and trying to give a breakdown of what this series is about, you're probably thinking, I know exactly who needs to hear this. And I think what's gonna happen, I hope what happens is not only does God give us a clear vision of how do we love the unlovable people in our lives in a biblical way, in a godly way, in a way that follows Jesus and emulates the way he loves us, but also I think some of you, the Holy Spirit,'s gonna flip the script on you and say, uh-uh, plot twist, it's you. You're the one that needs the help. You're the one that's been controlling and bullying and uh hypocritical. That might happen just a little bit, but I do know this that God can lead us and God can help us make hard decisions and take strong steps of faith. And so whether you've been in the whether you're in the room and you've been hurt by someone who uh maybe has an abusive personality or someone who is manipulative or you would absolutely call them a bully today, we're gonna unpack that. No matter what that person looks like, and throughout the message today, I think that there will be people who just there, maybe their name or the interaction or the relationship that you have them will it'll come to your mind. Maybe the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, maybe it's um just a memory of a of a conversation that you had or a uh at work. Maybe it's a big person or a small person or uh a boss or an employee or a family member, maybe it's a husband or a wife or a police officer, someone in an authority position. It could be any of the people in our lives. There's not one that fits all. In fact, maybe it's not even adult, it could just be a two-year-old that likes to boss you around and tell you how you're gonna live. And what snacks you're gonna give up, and what time they're gonna take a nap or not take a nap, because that's how two-year-olds are, right? In fact, a two-year-old will do exactly what you told them not to. They'll tell you, they'll they'll they'll just look at you right in the eye and keep doing what they want to do. Sometimes two-year-olds are the biggest bullies. People who are manipulative and controlling, they take and they they're never satisfied with our yielding to their will for our lives. I want to start just remind you that we kicked off this year with one word. Does anybody remember what that word is? Bold. And so our scripture, Deuteronomy 31, gives us uh a perfect um directive for being bold, being strong, being courageous. He says, do not be afraid or terrified because of whom? Them. Because maybe it's because of the bullies, maybe it's because of the people who are challenging to love. For the Lord your God goes with you, he'll never leave you nor forsake you. And I believe that he's given us everything that we need to love people the way he loves us. So, really quickly, we're gonna kind of unpack this. I'm gonna give you some tools. I think this is a super practical message on how do we love people that are unlovable and deal with people who are sometimes um they just suck. They hard, they're hard to love. It creates this pain or this hurt that we carry around because this person is in our life. And I think that there is better. Somebody say there's better on the other side. But it's gonna require that you're you're bold because there are two ways, there are two things, two tools, two weapons that bullies and controllers like to use or that they tend to use, and that is threats and guilt. Maybe they say things like, I'm gonna break up with you if you don't do what I want. I'm gonna leave. And then we get this threat of abandonment, or um, maybe it's a boss that scares you,

How Threats And Guilt Control

SPEAKER_01 6:34

or it's somebody that is threatening to lower your pay, or get you, you feel like you'll be put out, and everything that you've worked for, and all the like all of those thoughts start to just roll through our mind when we're dealing with this one person, and now we have our future on the line, or our comfort on the line because this person is threatening us, or the guilty side is the often it's family members, it's people that it could even be a grandparent or a parent that says, Why don't you ever visit me? Don't you care about me? Don't you love me? If you loved me, you would do this. Sometimes it's a boyfriend or a girlfriend that says, If you loved me, you would do something that you don't want to do. After all I've done for you. I thought we were friends. Or you call yourself a Christian, and now you've got the guilt of wait, I you're questioning now. And so I want us to look really quickly. I'm gonna dive us, I'm gonna point to a scripture, point to a verse in Matthew chapter 16 where Jesus actually has an encounter with a bully. Believe it or not, this is someone that you may not recognize as a bully, but when you start to look at their life and all the things that when Peter pulls out a knife because they come to arrest Jesus and he cuts off the guy's ear, that should be an indicator for you that Peter is a bully. Peter has his own plans, and

Jesus Faces Pressure From Peter

SPEAKER_01 7:55

nobody else's plans matter to him in those moments. So we're gonna look at Matthew chapter 16, verse 22. Jesus is telling the disciples, this is God's plan, this is the direction that I have to go into. And he says that I have to go into some tough times. It's gonna be difficult. In fact, we see Jesus doesn't want to do this at all. In fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is praying, God, if you would please take this cup from me, but ultimately your will, not mine. Ultimately, there's a choice between God's plan and my plan, and I choose your plan, God. And so watch what happens when Jesus tells them, I'm gonna have to die, but then it's gonna be okay. And the automatic Peter cannot, he's not gonna listen to it. Peter took him aside. I will say that's at least one thing that Peter did. He took him aside and just didn't complain in front of everybody and bully Jesus. But it's it's crazy to think that Peter would actually bully Jesus and says that he began to rebuke him. Imagine that. He says, Never, Lord, this shall never happen to you. Over my dead body, I would never let this happen to you. I won't let them arrest you, I won't let them hurt you. And watch what Jesus' response was. He says to Peter, get behind me, Satan. Now, I know there's probably some people in your life that you felt like were Satan, but actually calling them, you are a stumbling block to me. I think this is an allusion to the fact that Jesus did, Jesus actually agreed a little bit with Peter. Like, I don't want to do this either, but you're agreeing with me. He says, You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. And then in verse 24, then Jesus says to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciples must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. So I'm gonna show you three important things, and we're gonna, I'm just gonna give them to you right away. That you have to be settled. The first is this the first is this that your calling makes things clear. You need to know what you're called to do so that you can be able to say no to the things that you're not called to do. Knowing my destination makes clear not only

Calling Clarifies Your No

SPEAKER_01 10:17

where I'm going, but where I'm not going. If I've got GPS on my phone, and while I'm driving and it says go straight through this red light, I know that I'm not taking a left, right? And then when someone else comes along and says, hey man, we should take a left here, um I I'm actually going straight. How can I turn left? There are there are plenty of options in life. If I if I'm on a diet, if I know that I'm gonna be eating healthy, and then all of a sudden an option comes along. Hey, let's go to Krispy Kreme. No matter how tempting that is, now I have two options eat healthy or go to Krispy Kreme. I will have to think about it for a little while before I choose, but ultimately I know I'm not going to Krispy Kreme. We got a bad influence right here. A bully. This message is about you, Pastor Jason. Tempting me to go to Krispy Kreme. Because if I say yes and I uh abandon my diet, then I'm gonna have to be in extra prayer and extra stretchy pants. Here's a bigger problem. If I'm driving and I have GPS, I don't know about you, this has happened to me where I have more than I I have not only my Apple Maps, but also have Google Maps on my phone, and sometimes I check both. And then sometimes I leave both on and they're both telling me where to go. And sometimes one app is telling me to go to one location, and the other app is telling me to go to another location, and I get confused in the moment and I make a wrong turn. It happens, and sometimes this is crazy. I think at least one time it's happened that I have not only two apps going, but also I have Angela's phone going, and she has her own because she doesn't always trust where we're going. Or she's trying to help me, which is sometimes even worse. I've got enough going on over here. I've got two apps telling me where to go. Here's the problem the loudest voice in your life will often determine your direction. And if you've got multiple voices coming in, whether it's someone that you trust, like Jesus was with Peter, there he was his disciple, he's on the team, and you've got someone that you think loves you and cares about you, and we all got the same plan, and all of a sudden Peter says, No, I'm not gonna let this happen. You gotta know where you're going. And Jesus knows where he's going. Even though he doesn't want to go there, he knows he has to because that's why he's here. And your calling, uh, I think a lot of times people wrestle with the idea of calling because you think, oh, the person on the stage, the person, the pastor, the people who went to TBI, they have a calling. They're supposed to be ordained, they're like ministers, like special. No, no, no, no, hold on. I believe that every person on this planet has been made for a purpose. And so when I'm saying calling, I just mean that God has a plan for you. And that plan has details. It's not just, hey, maybe God has like this big plan and you'll never know what it is. No, if you ask him what it is, he'll tell you. It's not hard to figure out. In fact, I think for most of us, even in this room, the plan's probably very close to similar details, although there may be details off here and there. And um, when you get to certain places, you got to take a detour, and I got this in my life, and so we're not, it's it's not a cookie-cutter thing, but for most of us, he wants us to know him. That's I absolutely believe that that is one of the first steps on God's plan for all of us to know him and to find freedom and to discover purpose and then to make a difference with your life. That's why we're all kind of taking steps together, even though there are many steps that you'll need to take. Defining that calling is so important. And mine, my my you might think, oh, he's called to be uh a pastor because he's the pastor of the church. No, it's it's actually, I think, a little simpler than that. My first calling is to my family, to my wife, to my marriage, to make sure that she's taken care of, to make sure that she is loved the way that Jesus loves the church. To lead my children to God, make sure that they have a firm foundation in their faith and that they're going somewhere long after I'm here, after I'm gone, and then to shepherd the flock. That's an uh an illustration of what we are as the body of Christ. Can I say this? God's plan for you is the plan. This is the thing you were made for. It's the thing that you are specifically designed and gifted and purposed for in life, but there are many, many, many, many other options. And I think often we get we can get caught up in the complication of life. I got a lot going on right now, Pastor. I got this and this and this and this and this. Well, hold on. Which brings me to my second point. After you start to figure out and establish what um what calling looks like, number two, it's simpler than you think. It's not the complication of, okay, well, I got I got this going on, and this and this, and I got 50 things that I gotta figure out. Wait a second, hold on. There's God's plan, and even though there may be this person's plan and this person's plan and this idea, and

Keep God’s Plan Simple

SPEAKER_01 15:53

what your boss wants you to do, and what your kids want you to do, what your grandparents want you to do, and what the school wants, like all ultimately what it boils down to is that there's God's plan, and then there's all the others. And I think when Jesus is calling uh Peter Satan, he's not saying that, hey, you are physically Satan. He's saying that, wait, there's God's plan, and then there's all these other plans that it's almost like Satan. Satan doesn't have to give you like God's plan and then Satan's plan, he just needs you to not do God's plan. So any plan that gets you away from or distracts you from God's plan is Satan's plan. His goal is just to distract you and to lie to you. Say, no, no, no, no, that's not the plan. This is the plan. And so Jesus says, get behind me in verse 23, get behind me, Satan, you're a stumbling block for me. And here's where we got like the God's plan versus the other plans. He says, You don't have in mind the concerns of God or God's plan, but merely human concerns. You in other words, you don't understand God's plan. And it's crazy to think that after three years of walking with Jesus, Peter still doesn't get it. But that gives a lot of hope for us. Hey, he actually walked with Jesus and still he he he misses it. But the question is, is Peter how bad is Peter for missing it and not understanding it and having been with Jesus? If he can't get it, I can't get it. That's wait, I think we get it. We we get it sometimes and then we miss it sometimes. The key is getting back on track. The key is resubmitting my life, resurrendering my life. Okay, I messed up and now I gotta get it back in order. Because I think that's what Peter does. Because just moments before, I don't think Peter's evil, I don't think Peter's a bad guy, I don't think Peter is actually Satan. I think what happens um just five minutes before this, or just moments before this, uh, Jesus tells Peter, you are the rock. Almost like Jesus. Check mark, Jesus is giving him an A plus. Peter, you did awesome. Who told you that I was the Messiah? Must have been God that told you, must have been the Holy Spirit that told you, A plus, Peter, you did awesome. And then five minutes later, here he comes, you're Satan. And Peter's probably thinking, that escalated so quickly. How did I go from you are my rock to you are Satan? I can I can't get this. I can't do anything right. But that's human nature, that's that that is our existence. It proves that it's possible for someone to be so right and then so wrong. And there are people in our lives that they're they're close, we love them. They're we I that I can't throw you away with bad decisions, or when you bully me, or when you try to distract me from God's plan for my life, I have to figure out how to love you through it, just like Jesus did. Ultimately, he wasn't wasn't evil, he wasn't um, he wasn't a bad guy, he just did not understand that God's plan was in action. And I think that's a big that's a big perspective change to to stop putting people in categories of uh friend, enemy, frenemy, family, evil person, right? And start to realize that there's people that just don't understand God's plan for me. There's people that just cannot comprehend that God loves us the way that I'm beginning to understand how God's love looks. For Jesus to have that perspective that sure he calls him Satan, but then he just says, You just don't understand. It's almost uh it's it's looking back, it's reminiscent, or it's like uh foreshadowing of Jesus on the cross saying, Father, forgive them, for they don't they don't understand what they're doing. And so of course he bears with Peter, like he bears with with us when we make mistakes. But how can I be, how can I have that kind of love where someone continues to bully and pressure? I have to realize they just don't understand. But I can't let the fact that they don't understand change God's plan for me or undermine God's plan for me because I'm not going, I'm not going to compromise God's will for my life because you don't understand, unfortunately. And that brings us to number three is you act there comes a point in time where all of the understanding and all of the comprehending, and I gotta, I gotta get my plan, my my purpose settled, my calling settled, and just simplify things, there comes a point where you actually have to draw a line in the sand, and this I think is where it requires boldness,

Draw A Real Line

SPEAKER_01 21:02

because this is where action is required. This is where you're gonna have to step out and say something to realign the relationship. What if Jesus was a people pleaser? Instead of him saying, hey, get behind me. I I have a purpose that I have to fulfill. Instead of that, what if he just said, uh, you know what, Peter? I've actually been thinking about this a whole lot, and I think you're right. I really don't want to go to the cross, I don't want to be beaten, I don't want to die. I th I if if let's figure out another plan. I like that. What if he said that? No, he he did he wasn't um satisfied to compromise God's plan for him or to trade God's plan for Peter's plan or his own plan. Jesus would never betray God's plan. He was set on it, he was settled on it, he went off. Into the wilderness to pray about it and realign himself with it over and over and over. And I think that he was willing to draw a line. Here's the question: Are you willing to draw a line? Because I think what happens most of the time is we think we've drawn a line and we haven't drawn a line, we've drawn a suggestion in the sand. And when people step over the suggestion and just do what they want, we're like, how dare they? How could they do this to me? I was very clear. I told them 50 times that I did not want them to do this, and yet they did it anyway, and we're appalled. Our suggestions don't have any consequences. That's like if you tell a two-year-old, hey, don't do that, and they do it anyway, and there's no consequences, and then the next time they do it, you say, Don't do that. And they do it again. What have we done? Actually, we did the opposite of what we said. We just taught them that they can do anything they want, even if I tell them don't. And that's exactly what we're doing with people when there are no consequences and there's no actual boundary, there's just suggestions. We just taught people how to treat us. We've given our bullies permission to be bullies. And listen, I'm not saying this is easy. I'm saying it's simple. And simple is different than easy because it's not if it was easy, then it wouldn't take boldness and you wouldn't need help. And we would all just do what we were meant to do. It's very hard. It's difficult to stand up and say, okay, I know I made for purpose, and I'm gonna live for that purpose, and nothing's gonna stop me. That's very difficult. I got a couple things I want to show you as we wrap this up. And here's the first part that the relationships you have are a combination of what you've created and what you've allowed. A combination of what you have created, every one of us, every business, every family, every financial budget, every organization, every church, every group of people is perfectly designed for the result they're getting. Meaning,

Change What You Accept

SPEAKER_01 24:22

if you're not if you're not getting the result you wanted, you have to change the design a little bit. It's not what you planned for, it's what you executed. So if I'm in a relationship that I've created this, or I I created it one way and then let it drift into some things and allowed some things to happen, and now I'm unhappy with the results, some change, some changes are necessary, and that's what Peter, that's what Peter and Jesus are dealing with. Jesus establishes a relationship, and then all of a sudden Peter tries to cross a boundary, and Jesus says, Oh, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that. I love you, but I'm not gonna allow you to speak to me that way. That's a really difficult conversation if you've done it the other way, where you've just let it happen. Because what happens if you say that to someone, and I'm just giving you the words, they're like magic words. They're not gonna like it, you're not gonna like it, but there's something powerful on the other side of it when you say, This is difficult for me, and I love you so much, but I'm not gonna allow you to take advantage of me anymore. I'm not gonna allow you to change what God's plan for me is. I'm not gonna compromise what I believe I'm supposed to be doing so that I can do what you want me to do. That's so hard to do. But on the other side of it, what do we get? We get something so powerful, and it takes boldness to step into that. And I can also tell you that this could be a spouse, this could be a sibling, a boss, coworkers, friends. It could also, unfortunately, it happens in church too. So at 20 years old or so, I grew up in church all my life, and I I know going into a church, you guys may not believe this because I don't see a lot of this happening at Relate, but it does happen. Believe it or not, church people they like group up and they create clicks and circles, and sometimes it's hard to get into those groups. Especially if you're coming into a uh a situation where you don't know anybody and you're like, oh man, how do I become a part of that? It looks amazing. They're like meeting and doing things, and I want that, and then it's almost like I will say things and compromise and I'll be who they want me to be. And unfortunately, sometimes that takes us out of God's will because we want to earn approval. But at a certain point, like me, at 20 years old, I had to decide I'm not gonna do what my friends are doing, I'm gonna do what God wants me to do. I'm not gonna do what the next guy down the street tells me, I'm gonna do what God wants me to do, and nothing's gonna stop me if I can help it. So here's the here's the solution to readjusting the relationships that you've created and that you've allowed. If you don't like what you have, write this down. Change what you expect and what you accept. I'm not gonna accept this type of behavior from you. I expect more from you. I I need for this relationship to change dynamics because I love you too much to let us stay here. Jesus loves Peter and he draws a line, and Peter submits. He says, I'm not letting you take me away from God's plan. I know this is difficult, but I love you. And I will not tolerate this. You know, I've met with a lot of parents of let's say toddlers, two years old, two-year-olds. And two-year-olds are like the worst at this because like we talked about, they just have their own plans going and they don't care about you. In fact, if a if a two-year-old, if a two-year-old is left to their own devices, then all they would, if they can talk, they probably can, they'd just walk up to you and say, I'm the parent now. I decide when the snacks, I decide when the nap time happens, I decide where we go. We got some two-year-old parents right up here on the. I feel like we have a small group getting ready to start right here. Parents of two-year-olds. And maybe we need, maybe you need someone to help you have some backup. Angela and I have stood with a lot of young parents in trying to establish boundaries. We have resources for, there's a book called Boundaries with Kids. A great resource for for understanding that every boundary needs a consequence to establish the boundaries. And if there's someone in your life that needs this, here's here's the promise. The promise is that it's hard to set a boundary, but on the other side of the boundary, there's freedom. So much more freedom in the relationship, not just for you, but for them also. There's strength and freedom in it. So I'll close with this this thought. And this week, um my daughter is right somewhere second, third row, right here, second row. Her and Jackson uh got a new dog this last week. And so we've been talking about training puppies. How many of you guys have ever had a puppy? That's probably most of us. We so you under you know what happens with a puppy when

Puppy Training And Relationship Health

SPEAKER_01 29:43

you uh uh how old is your puppy, Jackson? Two months old. So a two-month-old puppy has to be trained to do some things, right? And he's already like 50 pounds or something. He's big already, a Pyrenees, beautiful little dog, but listen, I don't care how nice looking they are, I don't care how much you love them, if you don't train a puppy, they just decide I'm gonna sleep here and I'm gonna go to the bathroom right here. I'm gonna go to the bathroom wherever I like, whenever I like. And so there has to be some training of no, no, no, no. You sleep here, you sleep at this time, we get up at this time, and then we go outside and go to the bathroom, and you go, that's where you go to the bathroom. Otherwise, things get really messy. And how powerful it is it is it when you go through the hard few weeks of of training and consistently drawing a line and saying, no, no, no, no, that's not how we behave, we don't do that. And there has to be some consequences of no, nope, nope, nope, nope, we don't do that. We we do this, and over and over and over, we have to every time the boundary is tested, we have to re-establish it. But on the other side of that training, there's a lifetime of freedom and a lifetime of joy because things are functioning the way that they're supposed to, and they're functioning in a healthy way. That's what we need. We need healthy relationships, healthy and high impact relationships. But you can't have high impact, and you can't have healthy if you've got unhealthy and toxic, and if you're allowing things to be a certain way. So here's my challenge to you: be bold enough to tell someone you love them, but you're not gonna allow this to happen, and that you're gonna establish boundaries, whether it's with someone in your family or someone near and dear to you. And finally, Jesus says this, and I'll close with this verse, and that's verse 24. Jesus says to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves,

Bold Love And A Clear Boundary

SPEAKER_01 32:00

take up their cross, and follow me. I want us to close with a moment of worship where you decide where your calling is and where you're going to plant your feet and decide to follow God's plan for your life because I promise He has one. And it's amazing. And on the other side of the decisions, and on the other side of the boundaries that are drawn, is freedom and health. And all the things and all the promises coming to life that God has designed and destined for you. Would you stand up on your feet and we're gonna worship for just a moment and then we're gonna come back together and pray in this mist, this worship.

Worship Response And Commitment

SPEAKER_01 35:00

So ultimately, when Jesus tells the disciples that if you want to follow me, you have to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. It is the same for all of us. God has an incredible plan for us, and following Jesus is simply choosing God's

Choose God’s Plan Daily

SPEAKER_01 35:27

plan over and over and over again, because we're presented with other options every day. Things that seem more shiny, things that seem like they'll feel better, or temporarily they may. But I want to invite you today, if you've never decided to follow Jesus, then let today be the day. The day that you surrender your life to him, not to a church or join a church, or I want to see you follow Jesus because only He can make your life what it was meant to be. Only He can save us,

Invitation To Follow Jesus

SPEAKER_01 36:14

and only He can do what He can do. So I would invite you right where you are to say that prayer with me. I won't embarrass you or call you up or anything. Would you just bow your head right where you are and repeat these words and let's say this prayer together? Would you say this out loud? God, today I give you my life. I choose to follow you. I choose to follow your plan and not my plan, and not anyone else's plan. So today I deny myself. I ask you to forgive me of my sin. Forgive me for doing things my way. And from this day forward, I choose to follow you with all of my heart, all of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's put our hands together. I love you guys, and I'm excited about what God's doing. I'm looking forward to seeing you on First Wednesday and getting baptized, watching all the incredible things happen. We'll see you next week. God bless you.