Fueling the Great Commission Engine

Big Idea: This entire process of reaching the One is contingent on the Holy Spirit. We can plan accordingly, we can recognize the barriers people face coming to faith, the barriers we face in engaging in the mission of Jesus, we can put it all together with a really good looking model that really is biblical, and we can even know and be transformed by the power of the message of hope we have been given to proclaim to the world and yet still experience a gap. We can do all of those things correctly and strive with every bit of effort we have and still fail to successfully see people come to faith in Jesus… the final piece needed to be able to successfully engage in the mission of Jesus is God’s Spirit working in us and through us. How does God’s Spirit do this and what did Jesus promise His followers as they engaged in the mission?

Do nailed it bit and show a few pictures.

Culminate that conversation by leading here: All of the ingredients were there…they probably didn’t taste too different but there is no denying that there was something critical missing from the equation that kept it from being a success.

Now…why do I show you these?

This is our final sermon in our ‘For the One’ series. We have essentially spread two conversations out over six weeks. Let me explain...

1. The one + faith as a journey + barrier + barriers to engaging + great commission engine = the vehicle. We started the series with five different conversations detailing our job as the church. We summed up all the parts in our mission statement to lay a very practical foundation for how we are going to engage in the mission or Jesus here at the Outpost.

2. The sixth week was an overview of the message of hope that we are to carry into the world.

Think of it this way: The first five weeks of this series we spent building a vehicle. That is what the church is…its a vehicle. And just to show you how not creative I truly am, when we put the entire vehicle together two weeks ago we called it the Great Commission Engine. Keeping with that analogy then, last week we talked about the message of hope that our vehicle is meant to deliver. That is the purpose of the church. We don’t carry the message into the world by knocking on doors or handing out tracts or yelling at people on the street corner…that was the 1970’s model but it doesn’t work anymore. Now, the vehicle we use (and the one that should have always been used for that matter) is relationships, caring for others, serving others, it is realizing where they are on their journey and helping them through the barriers to following Jesus they are stuck at, it is realizing the barriers that keep us from engaging in the mission, and finally it is by inviting people into the Kingdom of God.

That is a good process. That is an effective vehicle that can actually reach people and I believe we also did a pretty good job unpacking the message of hope we are supposed to be delivering as well. We did that last week for anyone who missed it.

What has been really really exciting throughout the course of this series has been watching you guys begin to actually do this stuff! It has already been incredible what you have done. Here are just a few examples:

Our destination crew (the young adult/college age folks) have started a Financial Peace university class and have been incredibly intentional with inviting new people into that. Not only that but they’ve been out hiking and doing stuff and have been very intentional with reaching out to people who were not already a part of that.

Our Refuge Student ministry team has been crushing it! They have hosted a couple of events over the past two weeks. One was a paint night and the other was an end of school nerf night party. Between those events we have had over fifty students here at the church. Here is what is particularly exciting about that…only about ten of those were students already connected to the outpost. The rest had never attended anything here at the outpost and a significant number of those students were their one’s they had invited in.

Our ladies are absolutely crushing it right now! They have planned to continue meeting all throughout the summer months but have planned to do it outside of these four walls here with events that will allow them to build relationships with people not already connected to the outpost.

I have also heard a dozen or more stories over the past couple of weeks of individuals engaging their neighborhoods, grandchildren’s sports teams, co-workers, exercise groups, and even complete strangers with Gospel Intentionality. And please keep up the good work and keep pressing forward with that intentionality.

These things are just the beginning too. We have a summer jam packed full of events that will allow us to engage our city and neighborhoods with intentionality.

Here is the deal though…We still have one missing piece left to talk about that makes this whole entire process work. It is so integral in fact, that if it isn’t the center of our focus, the entire process falls apart. No matter how good our events are, how successful we are at building relationships with our one’s, or how intentional you as individuals are at engaging in the mission of Jesus, none of it will work if we don’t have this final piece.

To explain what I mean, let’s just use the practical example of our Nerf night since it is fresh on our minds.

For those of you who don’t know…explain the event...

Here is where the whole nailed it bit comes in. As great as that event was and it was really great, it still has the potential of being a nailed it. Let me explain. If our mission is to help those students take their next step of faith, is putting on a Nerf war the end of our engagement with those students? NO but it is a great beginning. Have we helped them take their next step of faith or have we just given them something fun to do? Don’t hear me wrong in this…that Nerf night was absolutely critical to the process of building relationships that will help us begin to walk with them on their journey of faith...but alone, it was not effective at helping those students take their next step. Would we have ever got the chance to connect with those students and begin building a relationship with them had we not held that event? Nope! But, the event was basically a nailed it, if it doesn’t lead to deeper relationships where we can actually begin to really know them, where they are at on their journey and how to help them over whatever barrier they may be stuck at. It is the same with our women’s group, your individual mission field, and all of our events we have planned the rest of the summer.

Let me just clarify. The Nerf Night was perfect! We didn’t have some agenda or ulterior motive in doing that…we genuinely just wanted to do something to help our students and their friends have a night to just unwind and have some fun together. It gave us a chance to connect with a lot of kids who may have zero background in church too. It was everything we’ve been talking about in this series and I am so proud of the team who came together to make it happen. All of the ingredients were there, but as we saw with the nailed it pictures…just having all the right ingredients…even put together in the right order isn’t enough. There is still a gap between that event and truly carrying out the mission of Jesus in our student ministry.

It is like we have this amazing vehicle (this outpost supercar) and we have the message of hope all loaded up and ready to go but what I am telling you this morning, is that there is still something missing.

And here is both the good and the bad news…we have done all we can. That final missing piece is the gas in the engine that powers the vehicle and I want to end our series talking about the power in us that makes this whole process work. I want to talk about the power in each one of us the power in our church to actually help people come to know Jesus as they walk through their own journeys of faith.

is a lot like growing a garden…we can prepare the soil, provide adequate food and water, and keep the weeds out but actually growing a plant is totally beyond our control. Keeping with that analogy, we can do everything right as we engage in the mission of Jesus and still be ineffective in that mission if this one thing isn’t a part of our process.

If you have your Bibles open up to Acts chapter 1 and we will begin reading about the thing that takes all of our efforts, all of our ladies events, all of our movie nights in the park, all the ways you serve and love your neighbors and friends and coworkers and actually helps us to make disciples.

Acts 1:4 NASB95

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;

Explain…

… that the apostles had just spent three and a half years walking with Jesus, watching his ministry and how Jesus engaged in the mission. Jesus had even given them power to heal the sick and the dead and cast out demons and perform all sorts of other miracles. Jesus had sent them out two by two in order to teach them how to engage in the mission effectively. And when they came back in Jesus gave them corrections and pointers for how to do it more effectively.

But now Jesus was leaving them. And with the benefit of hindsight, we know that this was Jesus’ plan all along. It was for them to continue carrying out the mission of delivering the message of hope into the world.

Here is the deal though...You would think if there was any group in the history of the world perfectly equipped and capable of carrying out that mission, it would be the people who literally learned from Jesus. And yet, his immediate instructions for this group wasn’t to hit the ground running. It wasn’t to hurry up and leverage the fact that Jesus’ resurrection was fresh on the minds of everyone in Jerusalem. Jesus’ instructions were for this missionary all-star team to go sit and wait.

Why?!? It’s for this reason we have been talking about. Jesus knew that all the best strategies in the world, even the fact that His disciples could literally raise people from the dead were not enough to effectively carry out the mission with any measure of success. It would’ve been a ‘nailed it’ scenario without this missing piece…the same piece that we need if we are going to effectively carry out the mission of Jesus.

I won’t draw it out for effect any longer though, so here are Jesus’ final words to his disciples:

Acts 1:7–8 NASB95

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Do the apple seed thing…

It isn’t our strategy that will allow us to make disciples. It isn’t a well-polished sermon. It isn’t an engaging Sunday experience. It isn’t a healthy small-groups culture. It isn’t name recognition in our town. It isn’t all of the acts of service and love we will pour over our city. It isn’t Nerf nights or ladies nights and it isn’t summer movie nights in the park.

The power that fuels the great commission engine and actually makes disciples is the power of God’s Spirit living in us. So, I don’t know what sort of faith tradition you grew up in or even if you grew up with any sort of faith background but whatever the soil was that you were brought up in (if it was anything like mine) probably had a weird relationship with God’s Spirit.

Maybe you have always referred to Him (and just to clarify the Spirit is a person not an it) as the Holy Ghost…that one has always struck me as fairly strange. Maybe its just the whole idea of Ghost. Maybe you grew up in a tradition where people would get slain in the spirit…or maybe you grew up in a tradition who laughed at the churches who believed that sort of thing.

Maybe your tradition was a lot like mine and out of a fear of delving into uncertain waters or giving themselves over to some radical view of God’s Spirit, they just never even touched the subject. Ya’ll I grew up with a VERY anemic view of the Holy Spirit.

Whatever your tradition was, I want you to know that God’s Spirit is the vitally necessary piece…the fuel if you will…that makes the entire Great Commission engine work. And without it, all of our efforts, all of our events, all of our small groups, all of our Sunday services are in vain. So this morning we are going to look at three ways God’s Spirit is vital to making disciples.

As a side note, this is definitely not at all a comprehensive pneumatology (study of God’s Spirit) but is directed just at how God’s Spirit enables the church to carry out the mission of Jesus.

First, God’s Spirit TEACHES AND REMINDS

John 14:22–25 NASB95

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.

Jesus had just finished the last supper with his apostles and was currently walking with them through the Kidron valley to the garden of Gethsemane where he is about to be betrayed. In this short, twenty minute walk across the valley, Jesus is giving His disciples some final instructions and He has just disclosed that he is about to leave them. Jesus has also just told His disciples that because He has disclosed himself (who he really was and how He had come to rescue the world) they would be saved. And immediately Judas puts two and two together and says…well…if it is only those who come to know you whom you have disclosed yourself to and you are about to leave then where does that leave the rest of the world…that isn’t much of a rescue mission because there are only like twelve of us.

And then Jesus confirms this line of thinking from Judas. Now, if we just stopped right there… then there wouldn’t be any hope for anyone who didn’t see Jesus with their own eyes but then comes the most beautiful word in the entire chapter…BUT

John 14:26 NASB95

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

The hope of this verse is that for those who know Jesus and have heard His words, his message of good news, and have experienced the freedom and hope found when we allow Him to rule our lives, have all they need to carry out the mission of Jesus. The good news of this is that you don’t have to be a pastor or Bible scholar to be able to share the message of hope that God designed you to share with others.

I can’t tell you how many times I have sat down to council with someone or to share the Gospel with someone and then afterwards wondered…like…where in the heck did those words come from. I guess I knew that stuff but I honestly I am not clever nor smart enough to be able to share what I just shared with that person. Have you ever felt that before?

You probably don’t remember but a few weeks back when we were talking about how to help people over the barriers they have in coming to faith, we got to the very last one and it was how to lead people actually choose Jesus. I told you that you would know. I also told you that that was not a cop out but that I would explain what that meant in more detail later. Well here you go…you will know. There is something amazing that happens in those incredibly high-stakes situations where we are needing to share the truth of Jesus with someone seeking to know that truth. God doesn’t just leave it up to chance. The promise in this verse is that God’s Spirit will work through you to say and do exactly what is needed. You and I don’t know people’s hearts and minds. Only God knows that and the promise here is that God will do the work that we are simply incapable of doing on our own. But that isn’t all...

From a story in Acts chapter ten, we know that this special revelation doesn’t just stop with the Spirit revealing things we already know about the Bible. We get this story about how the Spirit of God is working in both Peter and the Roman Centurion Cornelius’ life to bring them together.

Briefly explain…VERY BRIEFLY!

From this, we know that God’s Spirit also works to reveal things about other people and is actively working to connect us with opportunities to have meaningful Gospel Encounters with other people.

How about this one…A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my recliner, working on some schoolwork one evening and out of nowhere a friend of mine (who I had not seen or talked to in months) just popped into my mind. I was like right in the middle of some deep research and this wasn’t just an ADHD flare up…it was something else. If you know me, you know I’m not a hooky spooky guy that is ready to assign some greater spiritual meaning to every little thing that happens in my mind. BUT...I honestly couldn’t shake the thought of him and had this like distinct feeling like I should reach out to him and ya’ll...it wouldn’t go away. I didn’t do it though. The very next day, however, I get a text message from the guy only to find out that he was in a really rough place with his wife, his job, and some serious spiritual issues going on. In fact the night before was a really bad night dark night of the soul…that with hindsight could have been really helped by someone reaching out to let them know they were there thinking and praying for them and willing to listen. I can tell you, without a doubt and without feeling at all pretentious about this statement that God wanted to comfort this man and He wanted to use my friendship to do that…

Have you ever been there? What could have happened if I would have reached out to my friend in the middle of his really vulnerable moment of need? Besides that, how would that have strengthened and grown my own faith in the process.

How many opportunities have we missed out on? How many people have we failed to connect with where God was wanting to use us as His agent of redemption and yet we didn’t follow the Spirit’s guidance? I could tell you story after story after story about this and what’s wild…there is no other reasonable explanation other than God’s Spirit trying to work in and through me.

But...Did you notice that there is a caveat to this? It is that He will bring to remembrance all that Jesus has said to us. We have to be listening for this voice. We have to be living where the noise in our life is quiet enough that this voice can speak. We have to live with a level of submission and humility that we will act when we hear Him speaking. And yet, we are often so pre-occupied with other things.

Man the enemy doesn’t have to kill us or drag us into some big sin to render us ineffective…he just has to distract us with other voices or better yet he will just hand us a pacifier to busy our mind. That cell phone rarely if ever moves more than six feet out of our sight. Netflix is always there ready to just sh sh shush us like a pacifier as it lulls us into a trance where this voice is completely lost in the noise.

Man I could camp out on that one like all day but we’ve got to move on.

Second, God’s Spirit Convicts of Sin

John 16:7–8 NASB95

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

Ya’ll can I just tell you that we believe some crazy stuff. For real…have you ever thought about what it is we believe in…like objectively? A cosmic, eternal, all-knowing being created the universe and everything in it in and made humans as the pinnacle of his creation so that we could have a loving relationship with him. We have sinned and broken that relationship though…and if an itinerant Jewish carpenter turned rabbi who claimed to be God in the flesh didn’t die we would be forever lost. What’s more…the entire system is contingent on the miraculous resurrection from the grave of this Jewish rabbi/son of God. And somehow this is the message that is supposed to save the world.

Let me just tell you…I don’t care how eloquently you package that, it is so radically and unfathomably unbelievable it isn’t even funny. And yet, I can’t tell you how I know that to be true. I can’t tell you how I came to be aware of my sin. I can only tell you that I know it is true and I have experienced the freedom and joy and peace that Jesus promised would come to those who follow Him and believe this message. There is nothing short of a miracle that could get someone to believe this message. There is nothing short of a miracle that could make people realize they are broken and sinful and in need of a savior.

This is the gap. This is the gap between our efforts and us being faithful to carry out the mission of Jesus and people ACTUALLY believing it. This is the gap that Jesus knew had to be bridged if his first followers (you know those eleven guys he sidelined before he ascended into heaven) were going to be successful. YA’LL THOSE GUYS HE SIDELINED IN JERUSALEM COULD RAISE PEOPLE FROM THE DEAD!!! Can you do that? Yeah I didn’t think so…but they could and Jesus said hu uh…those miracles aren’t enough…you need something more. You need my Spirit working in you and through you and in the lives of those you are taking the message of hope to if they are ever to believe it.

And so they waited. Acts chapter two comes and Peter…an uneducated and unskilled public speaker stands up and delivers what most of you in this room would consider a fairly underwhelming sermon (in fact…he gets accused of day drinking at the end of it) and yet through the power of the Holy Spirit 3,000 people end up giving their life to Jesus.

Ya’ll look at me right here in my eyes for this next part...

It…is…not…your…job…to…convict…the…world…of…sin.

Do you know how many people have been hurt by and have walked away from their journey of faith because Christians and churches have taken up a job that is not theirs to do. When we take up the mantle of sin convicting we inevitably use the tools of guilt and shame to do that. Do you know why that is? Because it is the only thing we have to offer…it is all we can actually create in people. Only God’s Spirit is capable of offering grace and forgiveness to convict people of their sin in a way that leads to repentance and reconciliation.

I am not saying that we allow sin to continue unchecked inside the church…that’s another sermon for another day. I am saying, however, that raising the cardboard sign that says all gay people are going to hell only serves as a barrier to turn people away from faith. Do you think they don’t know that that lifestyle is incompatible with the theistic worldview of Christianity? They know. Trust me.

You want proof?!? Look at Jesus in John chapter eight with the woman caught in adultery. Jewish law said she could be stoned to death and her accusers had made very sure she knew that as they drug her before Jesus to get his response. You know the only person there who could have rightfully levied guilt and shame on her and stoned her was Jesus but what does he do? He offers grace and forgiveness to her and in this gesture she apparently repents of her sin and THEN Jesus tells her to go and sin no more. Ya’ll not even Jesus acted the way that some Christians and churches do and he was the only person who ever walked this earth with the right to use the tools of guilt and shame to convict people of their sin. Do you know who he reserved that right for…the religious crowd…but again…that’s another sermon for another day.

This is a gap that we simply cannot close no matter how eloquently we try to share the the message of hope in Jesus. No matter how hard we try to convince people of their sin or soften the language around their sin, we cannot…and I repeat…CANNOT convict them of their sin and lead them to follow Jesus. That is the job of God’s Spirit. Now, it isn’t that He might not use our words or our example but what is evident from this is that we have to follow His lead in this area. And because the first premise (God’s Spirit teaches and bring wisdom and revelation) is true…if you are actually listening to and following His guidance…you’ll know how to proceed here.

Let’s finish out with this final thing here...

Third, God’s Spirit Gifts Believers Uniquely to Engage in the Mission of Jesus

1 Peter 4:10 says:

1 Peter 4:10 NASB95

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

And 1 Cor 12:7-11 says

1 Corinthians 12:7–11 NASB95

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Romans 12:6-8 says:

Romans 12:6–8 NASB95

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

I think you get the idea:

Here is the deal…I don’t have time to get into the whole miraculous manifestations of the Spirit here…with the miracles and healings, and tongues and what exactly is going on with all of that. Another sermon for another day.

What we do have time to take from this, however, is the diversity of all of the different things that the Spirit gives each follower of Jesus to carry out the mission.

You are uniquely made. You have been given unique talents and giftings to carry out the mission of Jesus that fit perfectly within the needs of this church…look right up here at me...we will never be as effective as we could be if every person isn’t engaged in the mission together using their unique gifts.

Ya’ll I can teach. I don’t say that to brag on myself…I say that to tell you that if you knew how my mind functions on a daily basis you would know what a miracle it is that I can even get up on this stage week in and week out and share something out of the Bible with you. I have not always been this way. I haven’t always had the desire or gifting to do this.

But here is the deal…what if we all were teachers/speakers? Where would that leave us? Thankfully that isn’t the case. God knows that doesn’t need to be the place. Think about it like a body…that’s the language the Bible uses when talking about this subject…what if all we had were livers. Where your heart was supposed to be…a liver. Where your lungs were supposed to be livers…and so on. How well would that body function?

We’ve got someone in our church who has the gifting of administration. Listen…you DO NOT want me touching our finances…be glad that isn’t the case…my wife can attest to that. We couldn’t continue the work if it weren’t for her making sure we were financially able to continue it.

Some of you have an amazing gifting of hospitality that God wants to use to open up spaces where people can feel comfortable coming in and opening up their hearts as they engage in discipleship relationships and if it weren’t for your hospitality leading the way, it wouldn’t happen.

Some of you are gifted with prayer…so pray and lead us fervently in prayer.

Some of you are gifted with wisdom…we need your wisdom as we continue to grow so that we can lead well.

Some of you are gifted musically…we need you shepherding our hearts into worship every single week from this stage.

There is a story in the book of exodus about these two guys named Bezalel and Aholiab…do you know how God’s Spirit had gifted them? Arts and crafts…ya’ll I am not even joking. The worship of God wouldn’t have happened had they not used their artistry and craftsmanship for the kingdom of God. Go ahead…stick them hands up…who are my artsy crafty folks in the crowd? Maybe that’s sewing, woodwork, electrician, plumber, whatever. We couldn’t carry out the mission of Jesus if it weren’t for you…and what’s more, those gifts aren’t just to be used here in the church.

Those few things I rattled off don’t even begin to scratch the surface of what God’s Spirit has put in the people of the Outpost to be used to carry out the mission of Jesus.

And so my question is...

What are you doing with what God has given you?

I know for a fact that if you are here at the outpost, it isn’t an accident. You are like a vital organ that we need to survive. God’s Spirit has given you something that is absolutely indispensable for our survival and for the carrying out of the mission of Jesus. And here is the deal…don’t be mistaken…there are no ‘more important gifts.’ Don’t think that because someone is standing on this stage, that what they have to offer is even a fraction more important than what you have to offer.

What are you doing with that gift?

And so…where does this leave us? I just want to be honest with you…there really isn’t any neat and tidy way to wrap this up. Other than we just need God’s Spirit working in us and in the lives of those we are sharing the message of good news with to do something that we are incapable of doing. We have no power to access the sort of other-worldly wisdom that God’s Spirit can open to us. We have no power to convict people of their sin or convince them of the authenticity of the message of Jesus. We have no power to even engage in this mission if it weren’t for God’s Spirit giving us the ability to.

And there is no magical formula for unlocking this power. God’s Spirit is a lot like the wind…it blows wherever it wills. God is at work and his Spirit is moving in people and working in their lives to draw them to himself. And honestly, it is not often the people we first assume. God’s Spirit brings people to repentance and to faith in Jesus in some amazing ways and through all sorts of circumstances and our job is to simply be sensitive to the Spirit’s Leading and be obedient when we hear His voice.

We can put ourselves in a position to be used by God’s Spirit in one way though…through prayer…and i think this is how we need to wrap this whole ‘for the one’ thing up.

We can come to Him in prayer and express our need for the Spirit’s power in our life and in our church if we are to carry out the mission of Jesus.

We can come in repentance as we turn back to God from any of the sin and any of the noise that we have allowed to drown out His voice.

And finally, we can commit to stewarding the gifts that the Spirit has given each of us as followers of Jesus in service of reaching the One.

And so, I am going to lead us in a time of prayer over these three different areas. I don’t know where you came in here at today. Perhaps, this is a topic you have always steered clear of in your faith. Man I can’t express how critical it is for each one of us and for our church to live under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Maybe you just need to stay seated while the music plays and while I lead us and just work through some of the noise and distractions that may be keeping you from hearing the Spirit’s voice. Maybe you know how you have been gifted for service and yet you have not been a faithful steward of that and so maybe you just need to say YES to the Spirit this morning and commit to following through with using that gift.

Perhaps, though, you have never experienced this power before in your life. Maybe you know that God is pursuing you this morning and maybe he has been for a while. Maybe you just need to say yes to God’s Spirit this morning as well but a different yes. Maybe your yes is to following Jesus for the very first time. If that is the case, it is as simple as asking for forgiveness for all the ways you have tried to run your own life and committing to follow Jesus with your entire being. No fancy words. No magic prayer…just God forgive me and I choose to follow you.

Let’s pray...