Untitled Sermon (9)

Stand Strong

Series: Stand

Daniel 6

Well, could I get a little help from our 19 LifeChurch locations, and our 150 or so network church locations, as we welcome our twentieth location, new family members, in Wichita, Kansas? We are blessed to have you with us, and excited to see what God is going to do, in Wichita, and beyond.

You are joining us in the third week of a five-part message series called Stand. We’re looking at five different stories from the Book of Daniel. If you have your Bibles with you, or want to follow along on your YouVersion app, we’ll be in Daniel chapter 6 today.

Week number one, we talked about standing out when God calls us to be different. Last week we talked about standing up for that which is right and true. Next week, I’ll just be honest, I believe is my favorite message of the whole five different ones. We’re going to talk about standing in faith, and believing God in prayer. This message, for whatever reason, hits me in a very emotional way, and I cannot wait to share it with you next week.

Today what I want to do is talk about standing strong, and we’re going to look at a story – If any of you grew up in Sunday school, and they did the little felt board things, you would have seen Daniel in the lions’ den. There’s Noah’s ark; there’s Daniel in the lions’ den – all the classic stories.

One of the challenges with this story is, a lot of times we tell it almost in, like, a kid-like version. Daniel’s a handsome young man, and there’s these lions, that almost look like kittens, that kind of cuddle up to him, and he’s using them as a pillow. The reality is, it was nothing like this, at all.

First of all, Daniel, at this point in our story, he’s somewhere in his eighties or so, and so he’s been walking with God, now, for eight decades. So, he’s an older man, and the lions do not look like kittens. I just need to say that. I’ve got total respect for lions, nothing but – I don’t like cats, but I’ve got respect for lions. Different creature …

Part of the reason is, my video guy – Maddog is what we call him – we actually saw a mountain lion in the loose, out where I live. I kind of live in the middle of nowhere. People dispute our claims. I have a witness. When we get to heaven, we’ll tell you it was a real freaking mountain lion. And when they’re not in a cage, or you’re not in a cage, or there’s no cage anywhere near, it’s really scary.

I saw two bobcats. They’re little. They’re scary, too. One time, one saw me; he ran the other way. I ran in my house. I didn’t come out until Tuesday, that’s how scary they are. And they’re just really freaky.

One time I was actually at the end of my driveway. We live in the middle of, just, woods. We have a long driveway. I was working until late in the evening, and it got dark. And so, I was walking back down my driveway, and I heard something big in the woods. Could have been a deer, could have been a mountain lion, could have been a really large armadillo – I don’t know what it was.

But I was so afraid, I went back down to the end of my driveway, to the street, and I called Pastor Kevin Penry, who lives about a mile away, asked him to come pick me up, and drive me down my driveway. That’s how much I respect mountain lions.

Now, don’t judge me. If you said as many bad things about the cat species, and there could be a big one in your neighborhood, you’d show some respect, too, okay?

So, anyway, we’ve got Daniel in the lions’ den, a well-known story. What I want to do is bring a little context to it, and we’re going to talk about, how do we stand strong in the middle of severe opposition. So, let me give you a little bit of the history.

Daniel chapter 6, we’re going to see that Daniel is actually serving under a different king. We’ve been talking about Nebuchadnezzar . He’s actually serving under King Darius, which is the third king that he’s served under, in his 80 or so years of living.

What’s interesting about King Darius is, history records him as an administrative genius, an administrative genius. In fact, as soon as he started ruling the kingdom, he came in and reorganized everything, and he set up 120 – they’re known as “satraps.” Basically, that’s kind of a cool word, which means a “kingdom protector.”

Then, he put three administrators over the one hundred and twenty, and Daniel was actually one of those three. Their job would be to protect against rebellion, to levy the taxes, and to guard the financial affairs of the nation. Basically, they were going to balance the national checkbook. Wouldn’t that be nice? Did I just say that? I can’t believe it came out, but it did. So, anyway, it just – that would be an interesting thing to do.

And so, in Daniel chapter 6, verse 1 through 3 – I’ll read you this, and it basically tells you kind of what I just told you. Verse 1: “1 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps” – or the kingdom protectors – “[they] were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss.” Their job’s to protect the kingdom. Verse 3: “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to [put] him [in charge] over the whole kingdom.”

All throughout Daniel’s life, we see him standing out, serving with an excellent spirit, always going the extra mile. The king looks on and says, “Daniel is head and shoulders above anyone else serving in my kingdom. I want to put him in charge. He’ll be second only to me.”

Sounds like a great day, doesn’t it? It’s like Daniel got promoted. He’s still serving his God. He can be a great witness.

But the reality is, what looks like a promotion from the outside, actually introduces a lot of trouble from the inside. The other two administrators, they get jealous, and they kind of go Hunger Games on him and say, “We’re going to take this guy out, and falsely accuse him, and just get him out of the picture so that we could have this role. We’re jealous. We’re going to take him down.”

And in that spirit, as they go after him, we’re going to watch Daniel stand strong, with supernatural strength that can only come in a long-term, developed, faith relationship with the living God. And so, from Daniel chapter 6, what I want to do is show you three truths to help you stand strong.

If you’re taking notes, the first of these truths to help you stand strong is this. It’s not fun, but it is true. Number one, when God raises you up, expect people to tear you down. When God promotes you, and raises you up, expect people to tear you down.

I don’t know how this might come true in your life, but let’s say you receive a promotion. A lot of times, the people that you think would be most excited for you are the most jealous or most critical of you.

Or maybe some of you, you’re getting really excited about your faith in Jesus, and other people make fun of you. And there may be, even, some Christian who are like, “Well, one day you’re going to settle down and be a miserable Christian, like me.” You know, you can’t be that excited.

Or maybe God speaks to you, very clearly, about something more controversial, and you’re going to downsize, and get out of debt, or you’re going to be a stay-at-home parent, when you could make money, but you want to invest in your kids, or you’re going to home educate, or something that’s culturally unpopular. And you’re doing what God called you to do, and yet, people criticize. You are raised up, and people tear you down.

In Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, this is known as the “poppy syndrome.” Whenever a poppy plant grows tall, others come and chop it off at the bottom. Whenever someone rises up, people often take shots at those who are more successful.

In the United States, we often call it the “crab syndrome,” because if you put crabs inside of a bucket, and one little, brave crab says, “I’m not staying in this bucket,” and the crab decides to escape, the rest of the crabs will reach up and pull – actually, they do it like this … You know, this is the crab signal. They reach up and pull him back down, and say, basically, “If I can’t be free, you can’t be free.” When God raises you up, expect people to tear you down.

And we see this story played out exactly like this in Daniel 6:4 and 5: “4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs.” In other words, “If we can find some dirt in his closet, we can run political ads, and then he won’t get elected to office.”

“4 … But they were unable to do so.” This is amazing, to me. “4 … They could find no corruption in him” – why? – “because he was trustworthy … [he was] neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally” – verse 5 – “these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’” “We tried to dig up some dirt on him, but this guy has so faithfully served his God, we can’t find anything to use against him, unless it has to do with his relationship with God.” And so, they devise a plot to attack him.

Now, here’s one of the problems, I believe, in what I kind of call “Western Christianity.” So often, people believe, Hey, if I’m serving God, then I shouldn’t face any opposition. I mean, I’m trying to do what God wants me to do, so I shouldn’t have people coming against me. I shouldn’t ever face a hard time.

And the reality is, that is just not true, because we battle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities of this dark world. And whenever we’re moving the Kingdom forward, we can always expect resistance from the Prince of Darkness. And oftentimes, the Prince of Darkness works through people, even well meaning people.

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again. If you are not ready to face opposition for your obedience to God, you are not ready to be used by God. Let me say it again, because this is so important. If you are not ready to face opposition for your obedience to God, you are not ready to be used by God.

That’s why I never worry, whenever I have opposition. People are always like, “Craig, how do you handle the opposition?” I don’t freak out when there’s opposition. I worry when there is none, because when I’m doing something for the glory of God, there always will be opposition.

Daniel is standing out. He’s standing up. He’s standing strong. And sure enough, there’s opposition against him, as some of you may be experiencing, even now. The other two administrators, they’re like, “We’ve got to stop him.” And so, what do they do?

If you read the story, basically, they went and they buttered up the king. I don’t know how they buttered up the king, what they said, like, “Gee, King, are you bulking up? Your robe is looking tight fitting. Are you eating – Oh, did you get some new KD sandals? Those kicks look really cool on you. You’re looking good!” I don’t know how they buttered up the king, but they went to him, and they said, “Hey, King, how about this – how about you issue a law, a decree, that over the next 30 days, no one can pray to any god except you, King, and if they pray to another God, then they will be thrown into the lions’ den?”

And the king, Darius, was much like many kings. They were very vulnerable to pride, and often tried to deify themselves. Even though they knew they weren’t a god, they loved to be treated as a god. And so, King Darius said, “Okay, fair enough. If anybody prays to any other god but me, for the next 30 days, they will be lions’ lunch,” and that would be the rule.

This created a bit of a problem for Daniel, because the other administrators knew Daniel was a great man of prayer. It’s interesting. I wonder, if someone made a law like that today, I wonder how many people would worry about you, because you’re known as a person of prayer? They knew this would create a problem for Daniel because he was so faithful in his prayer.

Now, you have to understand, when we hear this, we think of, you know, cute little lions, and Daniel looking good, and the lions’ den, and – He had no idea that God would rescue him. He simply had to make a decision, and I see he had three options.

The first option would be to stop praying, right? He’s 80 years old. It’d have been real easy to say, “God, I’ve been doing this for 80 years. We can all take a month off and agree that’s cool, right? You’re going to understand, I’m much more effective here than I am dead, so I’ll just do this for a month, and then we’ll be back together. You’ll understand.”

The second thing he could have done is, quite honestly, what I probably would have done. I’d have faked it. I’d have just prayed silently. I mean, I’m just being honest. I’m thinking, I’m just not going to pray out loud. I’m just going to pray silently. “What are you doing, Craig?” “Not a thing. I’m just sitting here thinking.” “Are you praying?” “Nope! Nope. Nope. Not praying at all. Not praying at all.” I think that’s what I would have done.

Or the third thing that he could have done is kept praying publicly, praying aloud, and risked death. And that’s what he was willing to do, because his faith in God was so strong.

Now, I’m asking the question: What in the world built that kind of audacious faith? How did he have such deep faith in God that he was willing to stand strong in the face of possible death?

And that leads us to the second thought that will encourage you to stand strong, and that is this: Kneeling to pray is what gives you the strength to stand. Kneeling to pray is what gives you the strength to stand.

Verse 10 is so powerful: “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published” – what did he do? – “he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day” – let’s all say it aloud. What did he do, all of our churches? – “Three times a day he got down on his knees” – and what did he do? – “and [he] prayed , giving thanks to his God, just as” – what? Say it aloud – “just as he had done before.” “Three times a day he got down on his knees and [he] prayed … just as he had done before.”

You see, our first response to trials should never be to panic, but always to pray. Our first response should never be to panic, but always to pray. But you see, even our language gives away just how little we value the privilege of prayer.

Think about it. Oh, we’ll do everything we can. Oh, we’re going to manipulate. Oh, we’re going to try to control this. And when we’ve done everything within our power, our language gives us away, when we say, “Well, all we can do now is pray. I mean, all we have left is prayer. I mean, I’ve done everything I know to do. Now, the only thing left we can do is pray.”

And God’s probably sitting up in heaven, going, “Well, you’re up a crick without a paddle, now that it’s down to Me.” That’s my Southern version of God, for all you Southerners. “I mean, you’re in big trouble now, because all you have is Me left to call on.”

No, all we can do is pray. What we need to do is say, “We can pray! We can come before the throne room of God. We’ve got access to the very Creator and Sustainer of the universe. We have an audience with the God who cares about the intimate needs in our life. We can petition the God of the universe. He hears the cries of those who humble themselves before Him. We can pray! We can talk to God. He hears us. He delights to move on our behalf, because He so loves us. We can pray.” Never, “All we can do

now …” No, “We can pray.”

And notice, Daniel didn’t announce his prayers to make a public show. He just did what he’s always done. You see, Jesus hated the hypocritical public prayer: “Look at me, I’m a Pharisee – long, Pharisee prayers on the street corner, so you will all know just how much I love God.”

Daniel didn’t announce it, just like he didn’t publicly say, “Hey, I’m not eating the food.” He just quietly, by faith, did what he always did. He didn’t open up the window and go, “Oh, I’m not going to listen to King Darius. I’m going to seek the God of heaven - #I’mSoSpiritual.” You know, he didn’t do that, at all. It was just this deep and reverent prayer, as he had always done, as he had done before.

I’m absolutely and completely convinced that so much of the success of Daniel’s life was based on predecisions. He predecided – week number one – not to defile himself with food that was set aside for idols. He, somewhere in his life, probably decades before this moment in his eighties, made a decision, I seek God in prayer, three times a day. He predecided, long before this threat, that, I am a child of God. Therefore, I will seek Him. Not just once a day – I need Him three times a day. I need to start the day, I need some of God in the middle of the day, and I need to wrap up my day with God, because He has been that good to me, and I need to know Him. I need to hear His voice. I need to be walking by His Spirit. I need His ongoing strength. I want to have the intimacy of continual communion with God. Therefore, three times a day …

I don’t know about you, but if you haven’t predecided your plan to get to know God, chances are, you’re not going to get to know God. Think about it. If you don’t have a predetermined plan … Listen, if you have no plan, you’re planning to fail. If there is no predetermined plan of how you want to grow in intimacy with God, I can almost guarantee you, you are not growing in intimacy with God.

For me, it’s first thing in the morning. It’s Bible app open. It’s my plan. It’s calling on God in prayer. It’s saying, every day, “God, these are Your eyes. Help them to see the needs that You want me to meet. This is my mind. Help me to think the thoughts you want me to think. These are Your hands, God. You lead them to do what You want them to do. These are Your feet, God. Help Your feet to lead me into Your perfect will. Holy Spirit, speak to me. You have permission to interrupt me. God, would You guide me into wherever You want me to go? God, give me efficiency today, and wisdom to make the decisions that would bring glory to You, to shepherd my family closer to You, and to lead my church closer to You.” Every single day – I would not start a day without that intimacy with God. If you do not have a predetermined plan to grow more intimate with God, chances are, you are not going to do it.

Notice, also, how he prayed. I love this. He knelt before God in prayer. How did he have the strength to stand strong? He could stand before men because he had knelt before God. Oh, I like my preaching so much, I may listen to this during the week! He was able to stand before people because he had knelt before the presence of God.

Listen to me, if you’ve never knelt before God in prayer, man, you’re missing one of the most powerful postures of humility and surrender. You see, I believe posture matters, so much. It’s really hard for me to worship God like this … It really is. It’s really hard for me not to worship God, when I start to do this, when I’m opened up to Him.

You see, when I kneel down – and oftentimes, you just think of a little kid, kneeling down by the bed. Listen, when you kneel down, there’s a sense of reverence, of humility, of dependence. There’s times when kneeling, for me, is not enough. I like to get down on my face. I like to suck carpet. You know, just get down on your face – And I want to get so low, because I want God to know, in my heart, He is so high. And I just call on Him, and just listen to Him, and depend on Him, and hear from Him. Daniel had predetermined, somewhere long ago, that he was going to seek God in prayer.

Listen, when life gives you something that knocks you down, you simply seek God in prayer. When life gives you more than you can stand, you kneel before Him in prayer, and He will give you the strength to stand.

Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve heard a lot of people saying that this series is stirring you. At some point, if you’re a follower of Christ, you’re going to take a stand. You’re going to take some kind of courageous stand. And it could be against some big world issue. It could be, you take a stand in your neighborhood. It could be something like, your kid doesn’t play in a certain soccer league because there are too many games away from church, and that’s going to be a priority to you. It could be that you break up with your boyfriend because he’s pushing you to do things that would be displeasing to God, and break your heart of purity before God. It could be that you don’t do a business deal because it lacks integrity, and you’re going to trust God with this.

And in your mind, what’s going to go on is, Well, what happens if my kid doesn’t play college soccer one day, because he wasn’t in the better league? Or, What happens if I don’t get a new boyfriend? Or, What happens if I get overlooked, and don’t get a promotion, or end up losing my job, because I wouldn’t do the deal?

And what I wish I could tell you is that it’s always going to work out, just the way you want it, but I cannot tell you that, at all. Daniel would have asked, Well, what if the lions eat me, and God doesn’t rescue me? Fair question, because there are plenty of other people in the Bible that had the same amount of faith Daniel had and, for whatever reason, God didn’t rescue them.

You see, we’re not talking about a Disney movie. This is real life, with a sovereign God, whose ways are higher than our ways. His understanding is higher than our understanding. He will often do things that don’t make sense to us. So, I cannot promise you, if you take a stand, that you’re not going to face consequences, that something’s not going to go against you, that people aren’t going to resist you, that you’re not going to be left out, or overlooked, or end up hurting, and maybe feeling worse off.

The only promise I can make you is this. If you’re taking notes, number three: When you do what’s right, you can always trust God with the results. When you do what’s right, you can always trust God with the results.

See, here’s the part that’s so difficult for us to understand. Daniel didn’t know the end of the story when he was in the middle of the story. He didn’t know he’d be a Sunday school lesson, for centuries to come. He had no idea, none whatsoever, that it would end the way he wanted it to end. All he knew was that, for 80 years, God had been faithful to him. For 80 years, God had always been faithful to him.

So, no matter what, Dan the man would be faithful to his God. That’s it. Period. No negotiation. No if, ands, no buts, no “but what ifs,” “but how come,” and, “This doesn’t seem fair.” “God had been faithful to me, therefore I will be faithful to Him. If He saves me, I’ll trust Him. If He doesn’t save me, I will trust Him.”

So, King Darius is devastated. Why? He liked Daniel. Everybody looked at Daniel with favor, except for those who were jealous of him. The king is mad because he was tricked. Two of his top three right-hand men deceived him, so he feels very, very betrayed. He tries to get out of it, but he can’t do it, because he’d given his word. So, he doesn’t eat, doesn’t receive any entertainment. He’s devastated, goes to his palace, and just fasts and prays for Daniel, who’s put into the lions’ den.

Now, we don’t know what happens down there. All we know is what doesn’t happen in the lions’ den. We don’t know if Daniel just got down there and was, like, worshiping God. We don’t know if he was afraid. You know, he was a human being. He might have been over in the corner like … And he might have wet himself. That’s what I would have done. We don’t know. He might have been acting like a dog, like, [barking], trying to scare them. We have no idea. He might have put his head on the – you know, “Here, kitty, kitty,” and taken a little nap. We have no idea.

All we know is that, by the power of God, God shut the mouths of the lions. I believe, with all my heart, this is a literal story that reflects the goodness and the power of God in Daniel’s life.

And in the morning, the first thing King Darius does is, he gets up and runs over there, and he says, “Daniel! Daniel! Daniel! Are you okay? Has your God” – and I love the phrase; you can read it in the Bible – “whom you continually serve – has your God, whom you continually serve … I’ve watched you, and I’ve known you, and you’ve always served Him – Has your God, whom you continually serve, rescued you from the pit of the lions?”

In verse 22, Daniel says:

22 ‘My God sent His angel, and He shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.’ 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him –

Why? “Because he had trusted in his God.” “Because he had trusted in his God.” “Because he had trusted in his God.” When you do what’s right, you’re going to always trust God with the results.

But there were two guys who didn’t do what was right, and the king called them in and said, “Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, you’re going in the lions’ den.” And the angel was tired from working all night, and did not protect those guys. And the king issued a decree that everyone in the kingdom should fear the God of Daniel. Because in Daniel’s faithfulness to God, God was faithful to him. And even if God had chosen not to close the mouths of the lions, Daniel still would have said, “My God has always been faithful to me.”

So, if you’re facing some sort of opposition – and I know so many people are – remember, when God raises you up, people will try to tear you down. It’s part of it. You’ve just got to deal with it. You’re going to be a great leader, you’re going to do anything, that’s part of it. Quit whining; suck it up. That’s the way it goes. That’s just a part of life.

Don’t worry – listen to me – if you’re facing opposition for your obedience to God, worry if you’re not facing opposition, because that probably means you’re not doing a whole lot, at all. When God raises you up, people will tear you down. Kneeling to pray gives you the strength to stand. If you haven’t predetermined how you’re going to grow in your intimacy with God, chances are pretty good, you’re not really going to grow closer to God.

Some of you, I hope that you’re under massive conviction right now that you need to set aside time to seek the God of heaven, to make an intimate search for Him one of the top priorities in your life. Because when you do what is right, you can always trust God with the results.

We battle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities of this dark world. We stand firm in the faith, and we put on the full armor of God – the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the belt of truth. Our shoes are prepared with the Gospel, the readiness, the peace of our good God. And we will stand firm, no matter what – stand firm in the faith.

And when we’ve done everything else, what will we do? We will stand because our God has been faithful to us, through Jesus, and we will always be faithful to Him.

Our Father, I pray that Your Word and Your Spirit would give strength to Your Church, that we would be encouraged to obey You, even when it doesn’t make sense, to stand strong in the face of opposition. I pray, God, that we would be built in our faith, that when we kneel before You, You give us the strength to stand up to all the trials of this world.

All of our churches, as you’re praying today, I just want to ask a broad question, and then I want to pray for a specific work in your hearts. When God raises you up, you prepare for people to tear you down. When you kneel before God, He’ll give you the strength to stand. When you do what is right, you can always trust God with the results. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, those of you who are believers today, and God is ministering to you, and strengthening your faith about one of these areas, I want to pray a specific prayer just for you.

If that’s you, and you say, “Yeah, God is really showing me something. He’s ministering to my heart, and I want to receive it deep in my spirit,” would you lift up your hands right now? All of our churches, I hope there’s a bunch of you. Lift up your hands.

God, I thank You for those that You’re speaking to today. God, I pray every week You’d speak to everybody. If You’re not speaking to some, I pray their hearts would even be more open, that they would search your Word, and hear what You want to say. I believe, God, every time we come into Your presence, You want to speak to us. So, God, for those who are open and hearing from You today, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would drive these truths even deeper.

God, for those who are in the middle of opposition with people, God, I pray that You would give us strength to live for an audience of one, not to fear or worry when we face opposition, but to trust that even as Jesus was opposed, God, we would be, as well, when we faithfully serve You. God, I pray especially today for those who are up against a battle, that in faith, they can pray. They can pray for a miracle. They have the right, because of what Jesus did for us, to go boldly before the throne of grace, and make petitions in Your presence, God. We thank You that You let us come and have an audience with You. God, we never just pray as a last resort. We are people of prayer.

I pray, God, for some today, they would make a predetermined decision, deciding today what they will do to continually seek You, that others would say, “Has that God who you continually served heard your prayer?”

God, for those who may take a stand against what others would consider normal, I pray, oh God, that we would put our faith in You, to trust You with the results, whether they be what we want, or maybe even something different that You want. When we do what’s right, God, we know we can absolutely trust You, because You are that good. Holy Spirit, speak to Your Church today, to strengthen us, to follow You and serve You in every single way.

As you keep praying today, at all of our different churches, some of you right now, as we talk about taking a stand for the things of God, you’re going to recognize that you may have never taken a stand for God before, at all. The reality is, you may recognize you’re not serving Him, you don’t know Him, you’re not following Him.

You may be facing some kind of trial right now. I honestly believe – and I can’t prove this, but I honestly believe that sometimes God will let us face a trial so that we have nowhere else to go but to Him, to look to Him, to call on Him.

Some of you may recognize you’ve done some really bad things. You feel unworthy to come before God. Welcome to the club. We’ve all done it. We’ve all sinned against a holy God. We all feel unworthy. If you don’t feel bad for your sin, there’s a whole ‘nother issue that you need to deal with. You feel like you’ve done so much, how could God ever love you?

The good news is, He loves you. There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more. There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you less. He loves you because He is love. He is love, and He showed you that He’s love, when He became one of us, in the Person of His Son, Jesus, who was without sin, died and rose again, so that anyone who calls on His name would be saved, would be forgiven, would be transformed.

There are those of you that are here today, at all of our churches, you recognize you have a need for God. God brought you here for this specific moment, and it’s time just to say, “I’m turning from my sin. I’m turning toward You. I surrender my life completely to You. I’m going to trust You. I’m coming to You just as I am. I’m giving my life to You. I’m going to trust You, Jesus, to forgive me, and wholly and completely surrender. Today, by faith, I give my life to You.”

At all of our churches, those of you who’d say, “That’s me,” you’re here because God wanted you here. This is your moment to surrender to Him. At all of our churches, you say, “Yes, I call on Jesus. I give my life to Him” – that’s your prayer, would you lift your hands high right now? Just all over the room, just lift them up and say, “Yes, that’s my prayer.”

Right back over here – praise God for you. Right back over here, as well … Over here in this section – God bless you. Right over here on this side … Church Online, you click right below me. Others of you who say “yes …” Right over here on this side – praise God for you. Others call on Him and say, “Yes, I surrender, Jesus. I give You my life.”

Would you all pray today, at all of our churches? Just pray aloud. Nobody prays alone. Pray, “Heavenly Father, by faith, I come to You, asking You to forgive me, to make me new. I believe Jesus is Your Son, who gave His life so I could be forgiven and experience Your life. Today I trust Him as my Savior, and as my Lord. My life does not belong to me. I give it to You. Thank You for new life. Now, You have mine. In Jesus’ name I pray.”

Would you all worship big, welcome those born into God’s family today?