Alive for the First Time | Come Alive

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Join us as Gabe Kolstad brings us a message about being Alive for the First Time.

#heaven #comealive #yourstory #Jesus #fullservice #fullchurchservice #christian #sermon #worship #westside #church #2026sermon #churchonline #gabekolstad

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome to science class at Westside Community Church. I can watch that stuff all day long. I don't know about you. Actually, I know you can't because I was watching you while you were watching that, and you were like, the guy over here had a bucket of popcorn out. I was like, where'd you get that from? That was fun stuff. Here's what we're talking about today. It's new life. We're talking about new life. We're talking about being alive for the first time. This is what happens in the life of somebody who meets Jesus. And how it works can feel like a mystery. So today we're gonna demystify it a little bit by just looking at what does Scripture say about new life. I do want you to know that the world right now, we have to be aware that the world right now is fixated on brokenness and pain. Fixated. It's everywhere. And it's it's real. It's not that we should deny that there's issues going on in the world. It's not that we should turn a blind eye to it. It's not that we should not help. It's that we shouldn't be fixated on brokenness and pain when what Jesus is shining the light on all the time is new life. And he wants that to come out of us. And in many ways, the more new life that comes out of us, the less brokenness and pain there is in the world. And that's a that's an amazing opportunity for all of us. So today, as we talk about alive for the first time, I want you to grab your message notes out. And if you didn't already do that, and if you're with us online, there's notes for you two right there. And the Tap Connect link is in the chat. We hope that everybody will follow along today. And as we talk about new life, I just want to I want to start by saying last weekend was Easter. Was anybody here for Easter services? Great, it was great. Some of you are like, I like this week better, there's parking spaces, right? Um and it was so much fun. I mean, it was really a momentous occasion for our church. Seven services. In fact, I was a little sad uh after it was over because then I was all week long like, oh, we only get to do four services this weekend. This feels like too easy. I don't know. Anyways, um, but it was so much fun. So many new people said hello, came, and were part of our services. I just I think the thing I love the most is all those new connections and interactions. We saw families connecting, so many new families. Just it was all in all, what a wonderful time. And probably at the at the height of all of it was that we knew new people were stepping into new life. That was exciting. Gave away tons and tons of Bibles last week, whole bunch of people, a whole swarm of people said yes to Jesus as part of their Easter experience. How cool is that? If that's you, you know what you get to look back on forever? You came to life on the weekend, we were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. That's pretty special. And so we welcome you. We are excited for you. And today we're gonna talk about how this applies to all of us New Life. Jesus said this in John 12, 24 about new life. He said, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives. Jesus talks about a seed and how important it is that the seed has to die before it becomes new, before it produces new life. And so today we're gonna talk about the reality. What does this all look like? Because here's the thing I think that a lot of people look at the prospect of following Jesus and it's a little confusing. And so what they do is they think, well, it's just me, me 2.0. It's like I'm just gonna become a better version of myself. And so I'm gonna work at becoming a better version of myself. But the but the sad reality is that dead things don't get better. They have to be resurrected. That's what Jesus is up to in our lives. I want to say a phrase, and I hope you'll remember it, because I'm gonna try to say it a few times when we're together today. It goes like this you don't achieve the new life. You don't achieve the new life. You receive it and then you live it out. You you don't achieve the new life. You can't achieve this new life. It's not possible. It's too much, it's too expensive, it's too hard, it's too, it's it's it's beyond us. But you receive it as a free gift, and then you live it out. And so Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 17, this at the top of your notes, it says, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. Anyone in here become a new person in Christ before, huh? Anybody? Yeah, I mean, like you're going, yeah, that's me, that's me, that's me. Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun. Now, I realize when you look at that, you might go, well, I mean, there is still a little old life left in me. Sometimes it creeps back up, right? And it's true. It's true that we walk in kind of this duality in a way where we recognize that there is this old life, old self, the New Testament would call it the old nature, and at the same time, this new nature in you at once. And don't you think that the ultimate victory is that the new life eclipses the old life? The new nature eclipses the old nature, takes it over. And I think that's what God's up to in our lives as He helps us to be new over and over and over again and more and more and more and more. Um, there's a way we celebrate this at Westside. It's called baptism. I love it. Baptism is so much fun. Here's a picture of baptism we did recently. Uh, this is one that I really enjoyed watching. In fact, in my spare time, I watched two things. I watch videos of seeds being, you know, growing, and then I watch baptism videos from Westside. I love it. It's so much, I seriously love to watch baptism videos from Westside. I'll just be on there, you know, looking at what's going on. And I was watching this one, and it just caught me because, for one, when this mother came up out of the water, she's like, you know, she you see this emotional, like, she so feels what's happening in that moment because baptism is a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus, and it's us then identifying with that death, burial, and resurrection, the new life. Then I see her daughter come in and I'm like, oh, go, mom, how cool. She's baptizing her daughter. And then another daughter comes in, and I'm like, oh, this is like the best day ever, obviously, because there's new life all over the place. And I think that's something that we not only celebrate, but is something that we all want in our own lives. So let's talk about it. Four phases of new life. If you're not sure how this is supposed to work, I want to walk you through what the Bible actually says about it. And in Romans chapter 8, which is not in your notes, the apostle Paul just says that Jesus is, because of his death, his burial, and the resurrection, he said, He's the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Meaning, he's calling us brothers and sisters, that he's the firstborn. So he's going, I've come to life, and now I'm gonna bring you to life. And he said, I'm the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Then in Ephesians chapter 2, the apostle Paul writes these ten verses, Ephesians 2, 1 to 10. We're gonna unpack that today. He writes this passage from prison in Rome because he was arrested for sharing the good news, and he's talking to the group of Christians at a city called Ephesus in this book of Ephesians, this letter to the Ephesians. And it's really broken down into parts. I just want you to understand what he's saying. Ephesians is six chapters. The first three are theological, so they're foundational belief type teaching. The second, the chapters four, five, and six, the second half is about practical stuff. Like, so it's what do you believe and how do you live it out? What do you believe and how do you live it out? We're gonna look at the first part, what do you believe? Because this, if you will believe what he says here today, what Jesus says to us, what Paul says to us, what the scripture says to us, if you will believe this, your life will never be the same. Never. I mean, if you receive this, it all changes starting today. So I want you to see that and I want you to walk through it with me. So four phases of new life. Number one, write this down in your notes. Dead. Dead, D-E-A-D, dead. Isn't that exciting? First phase of new life, woo! Dead. Because obviously it has to start there, right? And that's what scripture is teaching us so, so, so clearly. Just like Jesus died before he came to life. Just like he said the wheat has to fall on the ground and die. You know, think about it. A seed, if it's dry in a jar on a shelf, what's gonna happen to that seed? Absolutely nothing. It has to fall into the ground. Why? Because in the ground, the husk around the seed decomposes, and the soil begins to interact with it, and the water and the life starts coming out of it. And this is the same thing, like we have to experience, we have to acknowledge and experience that death before there can be new life. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1, it says this says, Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. So last weekend, when all those people were saying, I believe in Jesus, they were acknowledging I'm I'm dead to God because of my disobedience and my many sins. And I've been there, oh my goodness. And anyone who would call themselves a Christian who's believed in Jesus Christ, we all had to go back to that place of humility and of honesty and go, yeah, dead. But I think it's hard to comprehend. What are we talking about? This week I had a meeting, I had a bunch of meetings. This has been a very busy week. I'm gonna tell you why in a little bit, but there's stuff going on at the church that's very exciting. It's been a very, very busy time. We had seven services and then right into whoosh, you know, whirlwind of stuff. So I had a meeting on Wednesday, pre-scheduled as a lunch meeting, uh downtown Portland with a group that I'm leading, and I was supposed to be there, and so I went, it was from 11:30 to 1.30. And I realized that I needed to have another meeting at one, and uh, it was gonna last an hour. So, you know, I had to shrink that. I was like, hey, I can only stay till 12.55 at the lunch meeting, and then I'm gonna park my car really close to the restaurant because I gotta run out to the car and get on a Zoom meeting that lasts for an hour. And I was like, I can make that happen. Anybody ever done that kind of stuff? You're like rearranging, trying to make it all happen, right? So I so I leave the restaurant like three minutes late. Now I've got only two minutes to get to my car before the meeting starts, and I was kind of stressed out about it. And I so I I but I get there, I get in the car, I put the phone on the dash, you know. I've just got my phone with me, and I'm doing a zoom call, and I got a little tablet, so I'm taking notes. And it was all fine. It was all fine and good. It was sunny outside, had the windows down until the garbage truck pulled up right next to me. It was so loud. But uh, so I roll up the window, I'm still having a good meeting, and then out of nowhere, my phone dies. And this is a very important meeting, and my phone dies. And I look at my phone and I'm like, what is going on? And it's and the phone basically said, I'm too hot, won't work anymore. See you later. You know, it's like meeting adjourned, you know, done. And so I'm like, oh my gosh, I touched my phone, it is blistering hot, you know? So I'm like, what do I do? I stick my phone out the window, I'm just like, you know, trying to cool it off, doing this, you know. I'm like, let's gotta get this meeting back out of it. It took five minutes of doing that for my phone to wake back up, you know. So here's what happens: when the phone dies, the connection is gone, right? This is what happened in your spiritual life. When we sinned, connection gone. And what God has to do in order for that to be back is he has to raise us up from the dead. Literally make our spirits alive again. Another way to look at this, and I think this is so important, I'm gonna spend a little time on it. So I got something back here I want you to see. This, anybody know what this is? Palm brand. I'm obviously two weeks late. Uh, if you're following the calendar, Palm Sunday was two weeks ago. I was supposed to bring this, but anyways, Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the people waved this at Jesus, right? But this is actually from my own front yard. We have a palm tree at our house because in February um we need to be reminded that life is not over when the sun is gone and the rain is here, and we have the palm tree, and her name is Jamaica. Jamaica's about this tall now. And so I took a branch from Jamaica and I wanted to ask you a question. Because Jamaica's awesome, and she gladly gave me a branch today. Here's the question, trivia question. How long do you think this branch will live now? How long? How long will this be alive? A week, we got a week, two days, somebody said, We got a we got a smart, we got a botanist in the room. It died when I cut it. It's dead now. There's no life coming into this. So here's the problem. It looks alive. It's just dead. Give it another day, you'll you'll notice, right? Right now it looks fine. The issue is this palm frond really represents some of you in the room today and online is you look fine. But inside you're dead. There's no life there. You're not connected to your creator. There's no life flowing into you. And the only way to solve that is to recognize that you're dead so that Jesus can give you life again. So we're going to talk about how we do that today. And I just want to encourage you that there's better news. It says in Colossians 3:3, for you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. That leads us to point number two in your notes. It's a much easier word to write down. It's raised. It's good news, raised. Four stages to new life. First, dead. You have to acknowledge you were dead because of your trespasses and your many sins, and now you are raised. If you're a follower of Jesus, if you've received his grace, if you've said yes to his love in your life, then you are raised up. You are alive now. And he rose as the pattern of what would happen to you. It says in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 and 5. It says, But God is so rich in mercy that he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when Christ raised from the dead. Then he goes, It is only by God's grace that you've been saved. Just to remind us, you've been raised, but it was all on his ticket. It was all on his ticket. And it's so powerful to realize that and to recognize that he's at work. Now, if you are raised, then how did that happen? The Bible says in Ephesians 1 that God raised us up with the same power that raised Christ from the dead, and he put that inside of us. So I often think to myself, like when I was a teenager, I used to have, from time to time I would have fast cars, and from time to time I would try to race people at stoplights. Anyone bold enough to admit you've also done that before? Okay, great. Yeah, I just saw you do that last week, right there. Yeah. Yeah. That was because we were racing, right? Last week. Okay. Anyways, but you know, sometimes you don't know how fast a car is that's coming up next to you. You might have a fast car, but the night the other car might be a sleeper or a Tesla. You know, and you're like, oh, I didn't realize, you know, this one makes all the noise, that one is fast, right? So do you know, listen, do you know what's under the hood in your life? You have any idea how much power you have to overcome temptation, to do the right thing, to stay faithful. Do you have any idea how much power you have? I'll tell you how much you have. All the power. Because the same amount of power that Jesus Christ had that he used to raise his life from the dead, he told us is now deposited in us when we're raised from the dead. And that's a lot of power, isn't it? In a way, I think God intends to take away our excuses here. To go, it's not because you don't have power. There might be lots of other reasons why you feel stuck. There might be lots of other reasons why you're, you know, you're overcome right now. It's not because you don't have access to his power. If you're a follower of Jesus, it's all been given to you. How do you tap into it? That's a whole nother question, right? That maybe that takes another series for us to talk about. But the cool thing is that it's available. Now I want to ask you a question a couple of times today, but I have a verse I want you to see. And it's a verse that sometimes we read before baptism. It says, For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism, and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we've been united with him in his death, we'll also be raised to life as he was. This is Romans chapter 6. And so we've been given this resurrection life. And my question for you here is what's your next move? If you're a follower of Jesus, what's your next move? We ask that all the time. Here's the graphic, JCM. This is the graphic that helps us to know. Um, how do we grow? We we grow through three big moves. One is into the mountain of Jesus. We call it the mountain of Jesus, like we're mountain climbing. Jesus. It's that relationship. It's it's acknowledging I was dead and now I've been raised up. And I'm believing that in faith, and that's how he gives us his new life. And my question is, what's your next move? If you're if you're there, what how do you move forward? How do you start to tap into some of this power? I want you to know that at the end of this message, I'll be praying a prayer to lead you to Jesus. If you're ready. If you've never said yes to Jesus, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you some words, I'm gonna invite you to say yes to Jesus. And then I'm gonna invite you to get a Bible after church. Because to me, this is like how this starts is you start putting God's word in your heart, you start devouring it, you start walking with Jesus, and we want to help you do that. Because that's your next move, is to is to really appropriate this, to go like I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna put this into my life. This isn't just gonna be something I believe in, this is gonna be something that I experience and I live. And that I believe is what God intends for us to do when He says, I've raised you up. Number three in your notes, you ready for this? Is seated, seated, seated S-E-A-T-E-D. Um, when you think about this one, I want you to think about what the Bible says that you once you were far away, now you've been brought near. You've been seated. And there's this killer parallel in Ephesians one and two. In fact, I'm so fascinated with the Bible. I think it is so amazing, the Bible. Because Ephesians chapter one talks about Jesus. It says he was dead, he was raised, and he was seated. And then Ephesians chapter two says, You were dead, you were raised, and you were seated with Christ. So cool. What a parallel. If I want to identify with anybody in the entire universe, it's Jesus. I was dead, I was raised, and I've been seated. You were dead, you were raised, you've been seated with Christ in the heavenly places. That's what Ephesians 2, 6 says. Look what it says. It says, For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms, just because we are united with Christ Jesus. Wow. You've been seated with Jesus if you believe. In other words, positionally speaking, your status is that you are seated with Jesus Christ. Now, the significance of seated is important to know. Here's what it means that when Jesus sat down, what we know, and scripture even says, is because he had completed the work of redemption. He said, It is finished, right? He died on the cross, he was buried, he rose again, he ascended to the Father, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God because his work of redemption was done. Hebrews says, There's no more sacrifice left for sin. Nothing else has to be paid for you to be redeemed. So Jesus sat down. And then we receive that amazing gift of salvation and the resurrection of our spirit, new life on the inside, and he goes, Come, come sit down with me. As though there's nothing to work for. Work is done. He's going, You have a seat. I look at it like this. I think of it as a table, a big giant table. And I, you know, you go to those fancy dinners and they have the little name cards, like and they they've written your name on it, maybe with calligraphy. And you feel so special because you're like, oh wow, they thought of me. Or if you don't see your name, you're panicked, you're looking around, like, oh my gosh, I'm not supposed to be here. How did I get in the room? I don't know. I gotta go. No, Jesus is gonna go, look, look, right next to me. You I put your name right here. Sit down. You're not working for your relationship with me. You're seated. It's secure, it's solid. It doesn't depend on your actions, it doesn't depend on whether you're perfect or not, because he's perfect. He bought that. You believed in it, you received it. It's done. The deal is sealed. You're seated next to him. And that is a beautiful, I think, place to live from. There was recently a dinner thrown in the city of Portland on the streets, and I found this fascinating because it was thrown by a group that wanted to sort of equalize a neighborhood. So what they did, here's a picture, is they they pulled the whole community together. I think this is so beautiful. Everyone in one spot, homeless and housed together. And they just had dinner and they said we wanted to just experience community with people that are very diverse, but we wanted to help people understand we're really all on the same level playing field. So they're sitting there and they're all eating the same food. I watched the news story, it's like I can't even tell who's too. Like, I have no idea. Who's homeless and who's not homeless? And indeed, that's the point, right? To go, oh no, we're all one in Jesus. Isn't that beautiful? And he's going, Sit at my table. This is for you. And you belong here. I think that's so, so, so important. C.S. Lewis said, The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God. The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God. That's a good one. If I was taking notes right now, I would have scribbled that baby down right now. The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God. That's really powerful. He did that for you. And my question for you is what's your next move? If you know that you've been purchased and redeemed and resurrected and you have new life and God's in you, what is your next move? It's the second mountain, it's the community mountain. It's going, okay, now what? Now what is you're part of something. To be seated at the table doesn't just mean you have a relationship with God, it means you have a relationship with other people. And that is so powerful. And yet some of us live like we have to do it all by ourselves. And that is so difficult, right? Where do you get the strength sometimes? You know, I mean, sometimes you just need someone who's checking in on you. Sometimes you just know you need to know that you're gonna show up somewhere and somebody's gonna know you. You know, I celebrate, I celebrate what happened last weekend. 1,877 people walked through our doors. Amazing. It was awesome. I mean, it was so awesome. So awesome. But that is not community. That is not community. You can't know 1,876 other people. I don't. You can worship together, we can inspire each other, but doing life together, that takes a much smaller circle. And so we have to lean in, we have to get to know people, we have to put ourselves out there, we have to go. I gotta be a part of a group. I need to be in my crew, I need to find a crew. Everybody needs a crew because your crew is what's gonna keep you going when times get tough. Gonna keep you going, gonna keep you growing. And so I want to invite you to that lunch we're doing today. If you're not, if you haven't made that step, here's how you can do it. Show up at the lunch today. We're gonna teach you how, we're gonna help you do it. We're gonna literally hold your hand and connect you to community today. And so I hope that you'll do that. Here's the fourth one in your notes. Sent. I love this one. Sent. We're dead, we're raised, we're seated, we're sent. This is how new life happens. Some of you are too logical, and you're like, hold on, why did he make us sit down just to send us out, right? Okay, I don't know. It's just how he does it, right? He wants us to make sure we know that we belong, we're seated at the table, and it's like, all right, now, now, now, now go from here and and be on mission. Go from here and live out the gospel. Go from here and live out this new life. Don't just, you know, as Jesus said, don't put it under a bushel or don't hide it under a cover. He's like, no, no, this is you're the light of the world. Go shine that light. God, by the way, is a sender. He's a sender. If you look at scripture, he sent Israel, he sent the prophets, he sent Jesus, and Jesus sent us. He said, as the Father has sent me, so I'm sending you. The scripture says, You are ambassadors for Christ. As though God is making his appeal through you. It literally says that in 2 Corinthians 5, as though God is making his appeal through you, we beg you to come back to God. That's what Scripture says. That's our role, to be that sent one. In fact, the word apostle from the New Testament literally means sent one. That's the way that the church was created to be. And I think Paul takes it here in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. One of my favorite verses of the whole Bible is it says this. It says, For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. He planned all this stuff and it says, We're God's masterpiece. Would you turn to the neighbor next to you and say, You're a masterpiece? Do that real quick right now. You're a masterpiece. You're a masterpiece. Yeah. That's so good to know, right? You are a masterpiece. And what does it mean to be a masterpiece? Well, God says this literally in the Bible. The word for masterpiece is the Greek word poema. Does that ring a bell? Poem. You think, oh, I'm I'm a project God's working on, and boy, do I have a long way to go. You think, oh, he must be so sick of this. God, I'm so sorry. I did the same thing again. Will you forgive me? Is there where, like, could you change? Could you, God, could you change like this equal impulse that I have going on, and I can't seem to shake it. Would you? Is it okay if I come to you with that? And you're like, kind of sometimes do you feel like you're on thin ice? Anybody else in this room feel like you're on thin ice sometimes? You know, like, oh my gosh, I'm so like, wow. Dense. You go, I'm a project. And he goes, You're not a project. He's going, you're my poem. You are my work of art. You are my beautiful masterpiece. He's looking at every word, every stroke of the pen, going, it's it's it's so beautiful. The story that I'm writing in your life, it's a masterpiece created by God. And he says, why? Why did he do that? He said, He has created us anew in Christ. There's a word here that says, so, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. In other words, you're sent. He wants you to be a light. He wants you to share the resurrected life that he's given you. He wants that to flow now out of you. And when we do that, I think he's so pleased. When I was uh growing up, my mom, super crafty. My mom was super crafty. I mean, she still is. She makes stuff, I don't even know how she does it. But I have a little bit of PTSD when I go into like Hobby Lobby. Because I remember, because my mom, there was always like glue guns. I don't know what, glue guns all over the house when I was growing up, everywhere. And sometimes if I saw one plugged in, you know, what do you think a boy is gonna do with a plugged-in glue gun, right? I'm gonna burn myself, right? I'm gonna squeeze the glue out and it's gonna get on my hands and it's and then it's gonna burn. And I had blissed, you know, this is me. I'm just I just did that when I was a kid. So I got so I'm not a crafty person. I don't do that stuff. Um so I have a hard time imagining God, you know, calling me a masterpiece and what would it look like if I was trying? But the good news is not me. I'm not, I would be the most convoluted crafter of myself. And you too. Haven't we tried? Haven't we tried? You got the glue gun, you there's glue and mess everywhere, and tape, and all you've just tried to, and God's like, can I can I take this over? Can I take this over? Because I got a masterpiece in mind. And when He when He gets to work on you, he goes, You're not a mess I'm trying to fix. You're a masterpiece that I'm creating and it's new life. You know what the most valuable work of art in the world is? Does anybody know? The most valuable work of art, it's the Mona Lisa, the Mona Lisa. It's in the Louvre in Paris. If you've ever been there to look at it, you know there's this giant line, huge, like get into the Mona Lisa room, such a long line, and you're lined up there with all this anticipation. We're finally gonna see the Mona Lisa. And I had an image in my mind of what it was gonna be like when we peeked our head in that door, and I thought that the angels were gonna be singing and the light from heaven was gonna be shining on this piece, right? There was a light shining on it. There were no angels. Um but I remember looking in there and I'm like, where is it? Looking around, like, where's the Mona Lisa? And somebody points and it's like right there. And I'm like, that's the Mona Lisa? This small, it's small. It's it's it's amazing, but it's very small. And in my mind, I'm like, well, okay, did you know in 1962 there was a$100 million insurance policy taking out on the Mona Lisa, which is now worth about a billion dollars. That same insurance, I mean that's how much insurance is on the Mona Lisa. Crazy. Because it's the most valuable work of art in the world. Why? It's the creator. It's the creator. The creator that decided to make you a masterpiece. That's where the value comes from. You're not dependent on your own abilities. Your your worth has already been determined. It's identity, not activity, that determines your worth. You are a masterpiece because God, the God of the universe, created you. The only other place in the Bible the word poema comes up is in Romans chapter 1, when it's describing God's handiwork in creation, in the creation of the universe, in the creation of the world. So you look at like the Grand Canyon and you're like, wow. And you look at yourself and you're disappointed. But God looks at the Grand Canyon and he goes, eh, and he looks at you and he goes, Oh.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

My poem. My special, unique, precious poem. That's you.

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So what's your next move? How do you live out? How do you be sent on mission? That's the third mountain mission. To know that you are called to live the light of God. How do we help you do that? I want to encourage you and challenge you to wrestle with this, to find your calling, to find your mission, to live it out. It's never gonna be perfect. You're gonna you're gonna take this one step at a time, but God has something for you that's very special. And I want to challenge you and encourage you and help you to take it. In fact, I want to ask you to bow your heads with me right now as we consider what's God want each one of us to do next. What is your next step? Father, we thank you so much that you're in this room, that um you're with us. Thank you that you've been working on our lives since before you made the Grand Canyon, or before you thought of the world, or before you you put the seas in motion. You you you you thought of us. And Lord, I pray that we would receive this great love, that we'd stop trying to become what you already made us to be, and that we could start living it out. I gotta tell you, according to the passage we've been looking at today, there's only two spiritual conditions in this room. Dead or alive? Which one are you? Which one are you? Some of you, if you're honest, you're still dead spiritually. You've been around church, you try to do better, but you've never actually been made alive by Jesus. And today's not about you trying harder, it's it's about you receiving that life. Other others here, you're here and you're alive in Christ, but you're not living like it. Nobody would know that you've got the resurrected power of Jesus in your life. And so it's time. It's time to own it, it's time to receive it, it's time to fully live it out. Now, listen, if you're here today and you're ready to receive the life of Christ, I want to ask you, I want to ask you to be bold. I want to ask you to be bold. I want to ask you, like so many people did last weekend, to go, you know what, it's time. I'm gonna move into this, I'm gonna receive this grace. And so I want to say a prayer with you to allow you to say some words back to God in your own mind and heart. And they go like this. If you're online with us or you're in person, it says, 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 spirit, lead me and teach me to follow you. And I ask it in Jesus' name.