Your Story Isn't Over | Come Alive

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Join us as Gabe Kolstad brings us a special Easter message about how Your Story Isn't Over.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Happy Easter, everybody. I hope you're doing well. Yeah, you guys, uh it's great to be here with you. Uh, I do want you to pray for Barbara. One of our volunteers was uh was on the way to serve here for church and um her car broke down. So she had to call an Uber, and um, so the Uber guy that showed up was seemed really nervous. She said he seemed really nervous. So she's driving and he's like, takes a wrong turn. So she's thinking, oh no, we're we're not gonna make it. And so, like, the thing she could think of to do is she reached up to to tap him on the shoulder. He screams uh like top of his lungs, jerks the wheel to the right, slams on the brakes, he's over the side of the road, breathing in and out real heavy, and he says, I'm so sorry, Barbara. This is my first day driving as an Uber driver. I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years. Get it? She reaches up and tells. Okay, Barbara's not real. I made that up. Okay, that's not real. But I will say this. I wanted to start out by helping us to imagine what it would be like if you were expecting death and instead you discovered life. And that's what Barbara in that fake story experienced. And uh that I guess the Uber driver did, but I want, I wanted today, I want to get to that place. What we're talking about today is that somebody that everybody thought was gonna be dead is alive. That changes everything. The title of today's message for Easter is Your Story's Not Over. I mean, Jesus Christ is alive. That changes everything. And I want to show you in the next few minutes how that could change not just your eternity, that's so important. I think it's the most important thing. Eternity lasts forever. And if you're not sure about your eternity, we're gonna deal with that today. But I also want you to understand that because Jesus is alive, your tomorrow, your today, your tomorrow, your this week, your next week can be better. And we're gonna talk about specifically how. I want you to grab your message notes out of the program that we put in your hand when you walked in the door, or you can use the tap connect system. There's notes that way too. And uh the the notes have scriptures on them. You can follow along, you can take notes and write things in if you'd like to do that. At the back, though, there's a thing that says for discussion. And I just want you to know that through this series called Come Alive, every week we're gonna be putting these discussion questions and these scriptures here. And maybe you want to take a deep dive. You could do that with your family around these questions at the table, you could gather some neighbors together, you could launch a new group this way. There's actually a kit in the lobby for you if you would like to launch a new group that way, and we would encourage you to do that. So uh just wanted you to know that that was there. But we're gonna be talking about your story's not over. And and and we all know what it's like, what it feels like for a story to feel like it's over. You know, maybe it's your financial story. Maybe you've been at that place where you feel like your financial story is over. Or maybe it's a it's it's a relationship, and you know, maybe you had a relationship going, you thought it was going somewhere, and then all of a sudden you feel like it's over. It could be your health. We know we so many of us have either had experiences or loved ones that have had experience where they felt like their health was over, or career is over, or a dream is over. We all know what it feels like for it to be the end of something. And what we see in Scripture, though, with the account of Jesus' resurrection in John chapter 20 and 21, which is where we're gonna spend some time the next few minutes, is we see that it's not over. And where we really see this is with Mary in the beginning. I want you to see in John chapter 20, uh, verse 1. Here's where we're gonna start. It starts like this: it says, early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. Just to explain a little bit of backstory on this, Mary Magdalene was one of the followers of Jesus. She had actually been one of the closest followers of Jesus, and she really, really sacrificed in order to follow him, gave sort of everything up. She had had a horrible past, and she took a whole new approach to life. And and so she was really, really devastated, obviously, when Jesus was crucified. And as she wanted to express loyalty to Jesus, she went to the tomb to show honor, and what she discovered was that he wasn't there. So she was devastated even more so. She found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. Now, part of this picture is that she met a couple people in the in the garden. This tomb was in a garden in Jerusalem, meets a couple of people there. Two of them were actually angels, and she didn't recognize that at the first. The third was a gardener, she thought, who she was asking questions, like, hey, you know, do you know where they put them? You know, she's having these conversations and she's she's distraught. And then one thing changes it all, is when she realizes that the guy she thought was the gardener is Jesus Christ Himself, and he calls her by name. He says, Mary. Changes everything for her. She suddenly realizes that it's not over. And and I hope you and I can realize that about our situation today, because when Jesus calls your name, what felt like it was over, it's not over. And it could be the brand new beginning that we've all been waiting for. So look at this phrase at the top of your notes. If Jesus walked out of the grave, your story isn't over. You're gonna hear me say that a few times. If Jesus walked out of the grave, your story isn't over. And I think there's a lot of places in life where we need to we need to know that. We need to really feel that and embrace that and believe that. And the first one is this you can write this down in your notes, is when it feels like you've lost it all. So put that in your notes if you're taking notes. When you feel like you you've lost it all, that's when you need to remember Jesus is alive. He stepped out of the grave. And if he walked out of the grave, then my story's not over, even if you feel like you've lost it all. Mary for sure felt like she had lost it all. She had given her whole life, staked her reputation. I'm sure all of her resources were invested in this journey that she was on with Jesus, as she had now even begun sharing about Jesus herself, and then he's crucified. And so now all of those hopes were dashed, and she thought she lost it all. And in John chapter 20, verse 13, what we hear here is that the angels were at the angels that were there at the tomb were asking her a question, Why are you crying? They asked her. And in verse 13, it says, Because they've taken away my Lord, she replied, and I don't know where they've put him. What she was looking for is what many of us would be looking for was that physical comfort of going, okay, there's closure, and I know where his body is, and I can honor him in his death. She was looking for that closure. She technically came looking for death. For loss. But she found life. And verse 16 is where Jesus spoke her name, Mary, Jesus said. Changed everything. I mean, because the God of the universe, Jesus, he came to earth as a baby. He lived 33 years sinlessly, he he was brutally tortured and murdered on our behalf. He gave his life for us. He was buried in a grave and he rose from the dead, and now the living Jesus was talking to her by name in a voice that she recognized.

unknown 7:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Changed everything for her. And it can change everything for you. She was expecting loss, but she found life. There's a guy that I met not long ago named Lance. And Lance grew up in a very difficult situation. In fact, he lost his dad when he was a young boy. And by the way, Barbara was fake, okay? Lance is real. Okay, give Barbara fake, Lance real. Lance is a real person. This really happened, okay? Lance grew up, lost his father, goes into this downward spiral, gets addicted to drugs. He's really, really struggling. I mean, he he was in a bad, bad situation. In fact, he owed a drug dealer a bunch of money, and this guy was coming to collect, and he knew he was gonna get hurt. So the guy shows up, it was not good. But this drug dealer tells Lance, he says, for some reason, God told me not this one. Not to hurt you because he has a plan for your life. I mean, imagine a drug dealer comes to you saying, God told me not to hurt you because he has a plan for your life. I think you'd listen. And Lance listened. Guy's like, I'm not gonna take your life, but I am gonna take your car. And so he did. So Lance is stranded, no car, ends up going to this place eventually called City Team in Portland. It's a place where he could find recovery and you can find Jesus and you can find skills and you can get back on your feet. And that's exactly what Lance did. He got he got clean, he he found his relationship with the Lord, and he actually started growing in leadership. In fact, Lance took over City Team. Here's a picture of Lance right here. This is Lance leading City Team. If you don't know what City Team is, they're opening a 20-some thousand square foot, 110-bed facility on the east side now. They're expanding, doing incredible things. Lance has been connecting with city leaders all over me. It's amazing to see somebody go like from zero to hero, literally, in this situation. Lance actually reached out to that drug dealer and said, Hey, I want you to know I'm not mad at you. What you did actually changed my life. The drug dealer has come to faith in Jesus. The drug dealer is now on a mission serving Jesus and sharing the love of God with people. And I just want you to know that. That's not a fake story, that's a real story. Lance is a real person. God can do this stuff. When you think that you've lost everything, he can turn it all back into life. He might just be getting started when you think it's over. So if you've experienced a great deal of loss in your life, maybe recently, I want you to remember if Jesus walked out of the grave, your story isn't over. He could just be getting started. He can build on that. He can build on the ashes of that. And you can experience a whole new life. And all the joy and all the fulfillment that you've always longed for is still there. He can still bring it to you. Second thing, second place in life is when fear takes over. When fear takes over. I get this. I feel it all the time. Fear, for me, uh, I don't know if it's I don't know if it's a personality thing. I don't know if it's a circumstance thing. I don't know what it is, but fear has been a constant companion for me. And on the one hand, I have a lot of faith in the Lord. I really do have a lot of faith in the Lord. I believe, I believe God can do anything. It's me that I'm worried about, you know, like I look at my life and my capabilities, and I look at my limitations, and you know, and and and then these challenges come in our lives. And maybe, like me, you face fear. Well, the disciples for sure did. Same day that Mary discovers the empty tomb and then realizes it's empty because Jesus has risen from the dead, same day the disciples locked themselves in a room to hide from the Jewish leaders. John chapter 20, verse 19, it says this. It says, That Sunday evening, again, same day, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them. Peace be with you, he said. Now, if you read that fast, you might forget that the door was locked. And Jesus shows up in the room. How did he do that? Well, he apparently just goes through walls when he wants to. I mean, he shows up in the room, and they were afraid. Why? Because, you know, Jesus just got murdered for what his message was. They were also teaching the same message. Logic, you know, two plus two equals four. They're like, we're next. Lock the door. And so they were hiding from their mission. They were hiding from the message. They were hiding from fear of other people. And I have been there and I have done that for sure. I mean, fear, I think, makes you sit out. Kind of stay back. You know, hold back when you're supposed to stand up. When you're supposed to go for it, instead, you play it safe. And I get that. And again, I've I feel that a lot of times. Something that I found fascinating, in fact, Pastor Stephen Rady shared this with me this weekend as we were getting ready for our weekend. He did a sunrise service this morning way early out at a graveyard near Washington Square, and there was a whole bunch of people out early in the morning, and he had shared with me something that he came across for his message, and it was this. He goes, You know, I discovered something about the stone being rolled away. I discovered that because Jesus went through the wall to get into the room where the disciples were, guess what? The stone being rolled away didn't happen so he could get out of the grave. He could have just gone right through the stone, right? You know why the stone was rolled away? It was for us. It was for us to go, whoa, the stone was rolled away. It was for Mary, it was for the disciples, it was for us to believe. And so when Jesus shows up in a powerful way, he's doing that so that we can believe. That's what he did for the disciples. So fear for me has been a big thing. And I have fear a lot. I have fear of big challenges. Um I have I have fear so much that uh this is what I put on my arm as a reminder. It says unafraid. And this is based on Joshua 1.9, which says in the Old Testament, don't be afraid or discouraged, because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And it reminds me of this that if Jesus shows up, it's gonna be okay. I mean, those disciples didn't have to worry because, like, if they were gonna be killed, Jesus said, You're also gonna be raised back to life. You know, there's literally nothing to lose then, right? I mean, there's no no no reason to fear. And yet, for me, sometimes things get challenging and I start to fear. Let me let me share, I want to ask you for prayer on something because I'm dealing with it right now. Uh, and here's my fear that I've been dealing with. And it has to, it's a very good thing. It's just that there's fear attached to it. Here's the very good thing. The very good thing is that we uh as a church, we've been growing over the last couple years, and that's been absolutely fantastic. And it's been absolutely terrifying at the same time. Because with growth comes more responsibility, and with growth comes more decisions, and with growth comes more expenses and opportunities and all and the consequences, and and so you you can you can look at it one of two ways, and sometimes my flesh looks at it and goes, like, time to worry, you know, let's lock the doors, let's, and and so I I've been asking the question along with our team and our board, you know, what what do we do? Because a couple years ago, I mean, we've we've ness we've almost doubled in in the last couple of years as a church, which has been fantastic. I love it. A couple years ago, we were running two Sunday morning services. We added one, so we're doing three Sunday morning services. Then we shifted the times to try to wiggle a little more room in there. Then we added a Saturday night service. Now we're doing seven Easter services. And it's fantastic, but it begs the question that everybody keeps asking me do you think we need a bigger box? And so this question's been coming up, and we decided a long time ago that we would wait on the Lord for this. We decided a long time ago that we were committed to this community and we didn't want to leave the neighborhood. And so, as we've waited, there's been an opportunity that's come up. And it's uh a space that's much larger than this, but it's also quite nearby. And I wanted to ask you to pray into this with me so that we can go. You know what would be scary is to do this without the Lord, right? Would be stupid, actually, too. Um what would be peaceful is is for for the Lord to step into the midst of us and lead us into it. That's what I want to see happen. And so I want to announce to you that next Sunday at 4 p.m., we're gonna do a prayer walk through a space that's really nearby here. And I want to invite you to be there if you if that's if the Lord is pulling you toward that. Um so I made up a rhyme. It goes 4 o'clock, say it with me, 4 o'clock, prayer walk. Okay, 4 o'clock prayer walk next Sunday, if you wanna if you want to go check it out. But we're gonna pray together that the Lord would lead us in this because if this is an opportunity he wants us to step into, we have nothing to be afraid of. Um and and if it's not, we want him to shut the door, right? We we want to go like keep us away from things that you're not in. If you're as there's a song that says, if you're not going there, I don't want to be a part of it. And so this is the this is the place where we get comfort, we get peace, we get strength, is when he's in our midst. And um, I want to encourage you to pray with me for that. Fear locks doors, Jesus walks right through them. Here's the third place where we all need to know that he's alive, and that is when you need proof. When you need proof, like evidence. Because maybe you're experiencing doubt. And so you're looking for some reassurance in life. And when you need that reassurance is when we need to remember that he walked out of the grave. And so our story's not over. And and I and there's so many places in life where we get this need for reassurance, for some evidence, for some proof. You know who struggled with this that day of the resurrection was Thomas. That day, that week, he was struggling. Thomas, does anybody know in the Bible Thomas' nickname?

unknown 18:24

Doubting Thomas.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Doubting Thomas, all right. This is the sixth Easter service in a row. Everyone knows Thomas's nickname. Uh it's like uh doubting Thomas, you know, is his nickname. Because if you read the Bible, you realize he doubted and he needed. He said to Jesus, he goes, I won't believe that, or he said to the disciples, I won't believe that Jesus rose from the dead unless I see the scars and put my hand in the wound in his side. This is where the soldiers shoved the spear and out came water and blood, which was a medically backed sign that his heart had exploded and he was indeed physically dead. Thomas is like, I want to see. And so he was a doubter in that sense. But I'll be honest with you, I think Thomas gets a bad rap because he wasn't there at the meeting when Jesus came through the wall. He didn't get to experience that. And it might be like some of you that go, like, yeah, good for all of you who have all this faith experience, you know. Maybe you'd say, I didn't grow up around this stuff, so this is all brand new to me. So it's kind of, I need a little bit of evidence here. I think of my own my own story is that I had grandparents that prayed for me every single day of my life, and they told me. This is incredibly encouraging for me. But some of you might say, I didn't have that. No, nobody was praying for me when I was growing up. You know, my my parents, I would catch my parents reading their Bibles early in the morning. Come downstairs and mom and dad, they're reading their Bible. Some of you would be like, I did not catch my parents doing that. And you so you feel a little bit like you're coming late to the game. I think Thomas can relate. And what I love is how Jesus treats people who feel this way. In John chapter 20, verse 27, it says, Then he, Jesus, said to Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer, but believe. He doesn't shame Thomas, he doesn't cancel him, he doesn't put him on the back burner, he shows up and he accommodates Thomas' questions. And I want to challenge you to ask your hard questions, to express your doubts. I don't think doubt is the enemy. I think unexplored doubt is a problem because it will resurface at some point in life. For you to pretend like you don't have any doubts, I would say that's just shallow faith, then. If you have doubts, here's the thing: there's evidence, there's great evidence. I'm one of those people, I like to find the answers. I go looking. I want to know. I'm I might be a little Thomasy in that way. I want to know. Well, how do we know that Jesus rose from the dead? Okay, we read a book called the Bible that says Jesus rose from the dead. Is there anything else? Well, there is. It's called eyewitness accounts, and there's so many eyewitness accounts that are even that even go beyond the scope of scripture of people that saw Jesus alive after he was crucified. Technically, Paul says 515 of them. And then you've got historical accounts, people like Josephus, the historian, who would say, look, this is what we know. And then you've got the disciples who would who would say our lives were radically transformed by the power of Jesus after he rose from the grave. They actually went about their mission knowing that they were going to be killed for their faith, and they did it anyways. And as Lee Strobel, the amazing apologist, wrote in The Case for Easter uh no one would willingly die for a lie. And yet they they they died for the truth. And there's so many of those things. I think the best evidence. That I've ever heard, I heard from Luis Palau. He was a really well-known evangelist. He passed away a couple years ago. I got to spend a little bit of time with him, and it was a treasure. And he told us one time in a group, he said, You know how I know Jesus is alive? He said, It's because he's answering my prayers and he's changing my life. And I think that's the best evidence we could have. To go, you know what? My life has changed because of Jesus. And so I can bring that reality into every area of my life that he is alive. And so when you need proof, I want to encourage you to go looking for it. We did a series last year called Modern Day Miracles. How many of you guys were here when we did Modern Day Miracles? Some of you were here. And uh it was so much fun. We we talked about miracles and evidence for miracles. We looked at the Bible, we looked around us. We even made a miracle wall where we took these exact little tags and people filled them out and said, Here's a miracle that I've experienced in my life. And we would write them down, and there was a whole wall on it, it's a neon sign that said, You're a miracle. It was a lot of fun. One of them was from Kelly, and she said, My granddaughter was born with a very rare brain disorder. She was expected to live only two to three years. She just turned 15 in February. This was last year, now she's 16. Said, attended her first night to shine prom. It's a miracle that she's still here. She's shown our whole family how to love unconditionally. That's a miracle. This girl is here with a purpose and living it out. That's a miracle. I wonder sometimes if we doubt, because we are paying so much attention to the voices around us, and so little attention to what God is actually doing in us. And could it be that if we all started looking back, we'd go, oh, actually, there's a miracle, and there's a miracle, and thank you, God, there's another miracle, and there's a little more evidence, and okay, I think, all right, I'm starting to get the picture. You're alive, Jesus, and you can work in my life, and my story isn't over. Thomas's response when he saw what Jesus showed him was very simple. He said, My Lord and my God. His tune changed instantly because he goes, Oh, it's you. You're alive. Everything changes when you realize Jesus is alive. And the fourth area in life, I think we need to know this, and I think this one's probably the most we need the most, is when when you've blown it. When you've blown it. When I've blown it. And I don't need to ask for you to raise hands if you've ever blown it. I mean, I this is universal, right? We've all failed. Nobody in scripture knows failure better than Peter, the apostle. Peter, like the really important historical figure, if you've ever been to Rome, St. Peter's, I mean, he's kind of a big deal. But he's also one of the most colossal failures in history. And when you look at what happened when he denied Jesus three times, that night that Jesus was betrayed, they were in the upper room, Peter was there. They went on a walk, Jesus gets arrested and pulled aside, starts being questioned, and then starts being beaten. Peter is sitting in a courtyard at a charcoal fire just outside the building, and people are coming up and asking him, Hey, aren't you the guy, the Galilean, that goes with Jesus? And he's like, No, not me. And Peter is like denying Jesus. He just told Jesus there's no way I would deny you, and now he's doing it. Second time. You know, he gets a second chance. Somebody's like, oh, you were you were just with Jesus earlier, weren't you? And he's like, you got the wrong guy. Okay, third chance. Come on, Peter, you can do it. Hey, aren't you one of Jesus' followers? And Peter's like, mm-mm. Never heard of the guy. The rooster crows. And you know the feeling.

unknown 26:32

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

I can't believe I just did this. I can't believe I just did this. It's the self-loathing, it's the regret, it's the instantaneous remorse. And Peter was filled with it. So much so that he leaves the disciple business, goes back to fishing. He's like, let me go back to what I know. And we we're tempt we're tempted to do that, right? When we fail, we're like, let me just, let me just shut out everybody and everything that that reminds me of all of this. I'm gonna go back to what's familiar. So he goes out on the lake with the boys, he's fishing. They'd been there overnight. Some guy from the shore sees them and calls out, hey, have you guys caught anything? And they're like, No, we've been here all night, haven't caught a single thing. The guy from the shore says, Hey, try the net on the other side of the boat. I can only imagine the conversation in the boat at that time. Like, who's this? Come on, you don't know what you're talking about. Okay, let's give it a try. And so they they do it, and the net instantly fills up with all these big fish, and they and it says 253 large fish. For some reason, the number's in the Bible. Pull on, like then they find out, oh, that's Jesus. He's made them breakfast on a rock. Melissa and I got a chance a couple years ago to go to the exact spot, right on the Sea of Galilee, just on the shore. The rock that they say Jesus made breakfast at over a charcoal fire. And a charcoal fire, Peter is standing at this place, and Jesus is asking him three times now. Peter, do you love me? He denied Jesus three times. Now Jesus is like, hey, three times, I'm gonna ask you this question. Not to shame him, to restore him. He asked him, Peter, do you love me? He smells the smoke from the fire. What do you think he transports back to? His biggest failure. Smells can do that, right? So Jesus goes, Do you love me? But Jesus asked the question, do you agape me? That's the word, the Greek word for love that Jesus used. Do you agape me? Which means, do you love me in a self-sacrificing, unconditional way? That had to hurt, right? For Jesus to ask Peter that question, because he would just instantly go, obviously not. Jesus asked him again, do you love me? I mean, come on, twist the knife. And then a third time, it says in John 21, verse 17, it says, A third time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. And then Jesus said, Feed my sheep. And I find it fascinating that Jesus changed the word that he used that third time. He didn't ask, Do you agape me? Peter, do you unconditionally in a self-sacrificing? He didn't ask that question. He he didn't ask agape. He asked something called philet. Oh, that's a different kind of love. It's brotherly love. It's the kind of love Peter could give. That's fascinating to me. That Jesus will receive the kind of love that we can give. And not only that, that he goes, I want you back in my family. You've never left my family, and I want you back in your calling. I want you back on my team. Peter, feed my sheep. You're back in the disciple business. I want you out there serving. Sometimes we look at ourselves like, oh, I'm so disqualified. I mean, look at Peter. Are you sure your mission is over? Have you walked away from your mission because you made a mistake? I think Jesus would say, get back in here and feed my sheep, get back to work. I got stuff for you to do in this world. Because if Jesus walked out of the grave, your story's not over. And I don't know if today, if you're here and you're struggling maybe with, like Mary, loss. Or maybe like the disciples, fear. Maybe like Thomas, doubt. Maybe like Peter, failure. But whatever your struggle is, I can tell you, and I've experienced that if Jesus walked out of the grave, your story's not over. And you can reach out today for that new life that He not only brings, but who He is. He is life. I would love to pray with you. Would you bow your heads with me right now? Let's ask the Lord, maybe you're waiting for Him to show up for you in a way where you're like, I know you're real. I know you're real. And I'm ready. So, Lord, we reach out to you right now for this new life. We thank you for your resurrection. I pray that you would give us the faith to believe again that you are alive. I pray for newness in our relationships. I pray for new life in our finances. I pray for new life in our health. Lord, I pray for new life in our dreams and in our jobs, in our communities, in our mission. Lord, we thank you for that, in our faith. And Lord, I pray for those who are here with us today online and in this room who are needing you in their life. Maybe you've never actually crossed that line of faith. You couldn't actually answer the question, do you know that your sins have been forgiven by God? You couldn't honestly answer, do you know that he's with you wherever you go? Do you know he's given you his spirit? You couldn't answer the question, do you know he's preparing a home for you when you die? Do you know that you'll be with him forever? But you know, he says, you can know. He says, if anyone receives me, I'm gonna give them the power to become the children of God and everything that comes with it. And that's his new life. And so if you're here today and you're ready to receive that gift of eternal life, that gift of the resurrected Jesus, that gift of forgiveness and of his promises and his presence, I want to invite you to do that very, very simply. There's no magic in it. He says it's an attitude, it's a repentance, it's coming to the end of yourself and inviting him to be your leader and your forgiver. And you can simply do that today by uttering your own words to God in your heart and mind. If you're not sure what to say, I'm gonna give you some words right now. You can tell him this in your heart and mind with your heads bowed and your eyes closed. Tell him this, Jesus, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me. I believe in you, your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection. Forgive me of my sins, fill me with your Holy Spirit, lead me, and teach me to follow you. And I ask it in Jesus' name.