Fishing at noon

to be a follower of Jesus Christ? Not just a Christian, but a follower of Jesus Christ. Because you realize those two terms are different, right? I

guess there's probably been moments in your life where you've said to somebody, hey, are you a Christian? And chances are they went, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a Christian. So when they said that to you, when they said, yes, I'm a Christian, what did they actually say?

Because you've met people who you've asked are you a Christian and the truth is they haven't even made it to the cross yet. They're still on the wrong side of belief and what they're saying when they say they're a Christian is I'm not a pagan. I go to church on Easter, So I'm a Christian. You've met people who barely

made it to the other side of the cross. And yet they have brought so much of their former life. I mean there's so many bad habits, so many misbehaviors that you almost want to say to them, hey look, look, look, look, I know you're a Christian, could you just not tell anybody

till you grow up a little bit more and get a little further in your walk?

Then there's Christians who are what we call selective believers. You know, they're the Christians who pick and choose which parts of Jesus they want to obey and which parts they want to follow and which parts you know just are a little too uncomfortable and they don't want to do that part.

And then there are Christians who you would say hey you know what, they're just all in. I mean if Jesus says it, if scripture talks about it, they're just in to do it. So when somebody says to you hey I'm a Christian, what did they actually say? Maybe a better question is are you a follower

of Jesus Christ? Because if somebody affirms that, if someone says oh no no no I am a follower of Jesus Christ they've actually told you something. What they've told you is hey there is a direction to my life. See I have fixed my eyes on Jesus and I'm headed that way which means there's movement in my life. I'm not telling you that I'm perfect, I'm not telling you I've gotten it, but I can tell you where I'm headed.

And when someone says I'm a follower of Jesus Christ what they've told you is hey my heart, my goal is to be like Jesus. See someday there's gonna be a whole lot more Jesus on me than there is me on me. So maybe, maybe a better question is, are you a follower of Jesus Christ?

I just wanted to spend some time in Scripture today because there's an amazing, amazing story about a guy who starts off outside of the kingdom. I mean he starts off as a skeptic. He's not sure he believes any of it. And in one day he's gonna move all the way to being a follower

of Jesus Christ. All the way in, go for broke, follower of Jesus Christ. And it happens because Jesus invites him to go fishing in the middle of the day. Here we go, grab your Bibles and we're gonna unpack his story together.

It's Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. Now if you're not familiar, if you just simply go to the back of your Bible, start working to the left, you're gonna find

this book of Luke. It's part of four books that we call the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, which are the stories about the teachings and the actions of Jesus. Luke chapter five. Let me set this up for just a moment. So the story's gonna unfold, it's about a guy by the name of Simon who actually,

we're gonna find out later, is actually Peter. Jesus is gonna rename him later. He's gonna say your name is Peter and upon this rock I'm gonna build my church. But at this point he's not even a follower of Jesus yet. He's a fisherman and he has spent the night out fishing. And on this particular night it hasn't gone well,

he hasn't caught a single fish. Now he's back on shore, he's cleaning his nets. And it just so happens that an itinerant preacher decides to give a sermon right next to his boat. Now here's what gotta understand, Peter is not part of the congregation. He did not show up on purpose. The reality is he's simply eavesdropping

on this conversation that Jesus is having with his followers about the kingdom. Here we go. Luke chapter five starting in verse one.

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake Of Gennesaret, now here's what you need to know, the Lake Of Gennesaret is the Sea Of Galilee. If you're a Roman you call it the Lake Of Gennesaret, if you're a Jew you call it the Sea Of Galilee. Same body of water, okay?

So one day Jesus was standing by the Lake Of Gennesaret and the people were crowding around him and they were listening to the word of God. That's how this begins for Peter. He's not in. He's simply listening. He's got questions. The truth is he's skeptical. He doesn't for a moment believe this stuff yet,

okay? And here's what you need to know and this is why this is important. Because I guarantee you that there are some of us in the room right now and that would absolutely describe you. You'd say you know I just gotta be honest, I'm not sure I'm ready to swallow this thing hook line and sinker. I've still got questions.

There's things about this Jesus person that I just gotta be honest are still hard for me to believe and here's what you need to hear. It's okay. It's okay to come to this and say I don't know that I buy any of it. I have to get some things figured out before I could ever move forward with this.

Because here's the deal, if this Jesus is really who we say he is, if he is honestly what the Bible declares him to be, then your questions getting answered are only gonna move you further and further toward the truth. So ask away, challenge all you want. Jesus was never intimidated by your questions and neither are we.

It's okay to be skeptical. And the truth is every person in this room at one point was exactly where you're at. We were going wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, of God? Son of God? And then we looked and we said you know what, he knows things. He knows things that nobody has business knowing. He does things.

He's raising the dead, he's healing lepers, he's walking on water, and I'm just telling you, maybe, I mean I don't know that I'm convinced yet, but maybe it's reasonable that He was the Son of God. Scripture is inspired. Scripture is 100% true even though it was written by the hands of men.

And then you look at prophecy and you go, you realize there are things that Scripture predicts thousands of years before they ever happened and then they come true. Anybody know how many of Nostradamus' predictions come true? We make a big deal about those. 9%. And yet at scripture it's a 100%. And all of sudden you go,

Scripture, Word of God. Maybe, maybe, and you lean in. And here's what you just need to know if you're in this project and you're doing I can't get you to 100%. You won't get to 100%. You'll get to about 80%. You'll get, as you ask your questions, as your questions get in, you'll go, you know, maybe

it's more reasonable to believe this than it's reasonable not to believe it. But when you get to that, you'll still have to step in by faith. This is why scripture says by faith. Think about it this way.

I can describe to you all day long why an airplane flies. See, can tell you, hey, it's the curvature of the wing and as the air flows over the top of the wing, it takes longer for the air to travel to the back of the wing than it does to go underneath the flat side of the wing, and because it takes longer, that creates a vacuum and that causes lift for an airplane, and thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds go flying in the air. I could explain that to you.

You could go out in an airport and watch airplanes take off and after a couple hours go, know, I didn't see a single one crash. But the truth is, it's still going to take faith for you to walk down that ramp and sit in one yourself.

And I'm just telling you that's exactly what this journey is. It's okay to be skeptical. It's okay to process. But you will only get mostly there. And then you will have to step in by faith. It is okay. Here is what is not okay.

Once you figure out Jesus, it's not okay to then come back to every one of the things that Jesus begins to teach you and the things that the Bible reveals and to have that same level of skepticism. To say you know, just don't know and I'm not sure I'm gonna do it and I'm not.

To sit here and go you know hey the truth is I mean that's hard. That's hard. And do realize how inconvenient that is for my schedule? I mean if I was actually to obey that part of scripture, if I was to do what Jesus, I mean that's just horribly inconvenient. And what would people say?

If I actually obeyed that, if I did that, if I lived my life that way, what would people say about me? And I'm just telling you, that just feels so sacrificial on my life. And then finally you get there and you go, okay, I'll go to church. And then the next issue comes up and you start at zero again.

Oh, are you kidding? You know how hard that is? Oh man, know, I've already got my schedule. You want me to read my Bible, what? And guys I'm just telling you, if every time you encounter scripture and you have to reset your argument with God and start at zero and wrestle every one of these issues through,

you are not a follower of Jesus Christ. You're a follower of yourself. The reality at the end of the day is you're not committed to becoming like him, you're committed to becoming like your own plan. And you want more of Jesus on you when you're done than you want, you want more of you on you than you want Jesus on you

when you're done. I'm a nine year old boy and my parents marriage implodes. And I'm just telling you that everything that I thought I knew about a Christian home and about God's faithfulness all comes caving in. And I'm just gonna tell you as a nine year old boy, I am floundering.

Along comes uncle Marty. Now my uncle Marty was a man's man. He was the type of guy that would walk into a room and other men set up straighter. He was the kind of guy when he opened his mouth, men leaned in to listen.

The interesting thing is is that he didn't necessarily do that many great things. He owned a lawn mowing service

which means that every single dollar he earned, he earned it honest and he earned it by the sweat of his brow. And he would invite me to come over on weekends and then I would live with him in the summer and he would take me out mowing lawns in a 100 degree weather, 110 degree weather, 120 degree weather in Arizona.

But I remember a nine year old's heart that said, I wanna be a man like my uncle Marty. And I can remember moments when uncle Marty would be talking to another guy and he'd lean up against the car. Because you understand men don't have serious discussions eye to eye. Right? We do it side by side.

And I remember a nine year old boy leaning against the car. I can remember us going out and hunting and we'd come back into the campfire. Uncle Marty would hold his rifle sling across his shoulder and nine year old boy would hold his rifle slung across his shoulder. Because I wanted to be like Uncle Marty. I was a follower

of Uncle Marty. And not because I was literally putting every one of my footsteps where he had stepped, but I'll tell you what I was doing, I was putting my heart there.

Guys, I'm just telling you, somewhere you've got to decide who you want to grow up to be. Somewhere you've got to decide where you're putting your heart and every single thing that Jesus asked you to do can't be an argument anymore or you're not actually a follower.

Peter's life is about to change. Here we go back to the passage verse two.

He, speaking of Jesus, saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, who's later gonna be called Peter, and he asked him to put out a little from the shore, then he sat down and talked to people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master,

now here's, woah, woah, woah, woah. You and I hear that and we go, wow, woah, woah. How did he go from skeptic all the way to the point he's calling Jesus Master? Because I'm just telling you, there is nobody I'm gonna call Master And that's very western culture of you. What you need to know is that in an oriental culture

he's not doing anything that has to do with respect or reverence. This is simple politeness. This would be like if you took the clock back twenty, thirty years ago in America and if you said sir or if you said ma'am. If you roll it up to today, this is dude. That's all it is. It has nothing to do with respect, it's just

socially correct, okay.

Simon answered, sir we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything but because you say so I will let down the nets. Now guys, guys, guys, guys, this is not an ordinary fishing trip. This is a remarkable request. Here's why, you ready for this? Because what Jesus has just asked

Peter to do is really, really, really dumb. And you go, what? No, no, no. Everybody knows you don't fish in the middle of the day. Matter of fact, if you fish on the Sea Of Galilee,

you always fish at night. Here's why. Sun comes out during the day, it heats the surface of the water, the fish are uncomfortable, they all go deep. Evening comes, the water cools, the fish come to the surface and now they begin to feed.

Every fisherman knows that. That's why Peter's been fishing all night. Every net on his boat is a shallow water net. And now Jesus is saying let's go fishing at noon. This is just a horrifyingly dumb request. There is no possibility in the mind of Peter that this has a positive outcome.

Everything he knows says this is a bad decision.

Let alone that it's a humiliating decision. You need to know Peter's boat is not the only boat on the shore. Every other fisherman has pulled in along this shoreline. Jesus just happened to be speaking next to Peter's boat but all the rest of the fishermen are right there. If Peter pulls back out to fish in the middle of the day it is humiliating because every other fisherman is gonna go man that Peter guy.

He must be really, really, really desperate to be fishing. Not only is it a bad idea to be fishing in the middle of the day, it's also sacrificial.

Remember what Peter's been doing. He's been cleaning his nets. He's already been on the water seven, eight, nine hours at night. He now came in. He's been working several hours at cleaning his net. He's been pulling little bits of seaweed out. He's been pulling empty Budweiser bottles out. He's been doing his thing with the nets and now Jesus says let's go out and fish again. If he drops his nets in even one time, he's gotta start the cleaning process over again. This feels sacrificial.

Here's why this is a big deal. Because on every moment that Jesus asks you to follow him, it will feel rather stupid and sacrificial. This is how it always feels, ready? It always feels like he's asking us to fish in the middle of the day.

See you'll come to this moment with your marriage and Jesus will say look here's the deal, I need you to go all in and you go wait no no no no no no no you don't understand.

I'm already giving, I'm giving more than my, I'm giving miles, I've gone so far in this marriage and my spouse is holding, my spouse is only doing like 20% and if I push in even further,

I'm just telling you, you don't know my husband, you don't understand my wife, chances are they're actually gonna pull back and just let me carry even more load. Jesus, I'm just telling you, there's no part of this that feels like it's gonna work out and it feels highly sacrificial. This is the moment that Jesus says tithe.

Okay, alright. Dumb idea. Dumb, I'm gonna give away 10% of my income for no good reason. I mean I'm just gonna give it away. And Jesus, look, look, here's what you don't understand Jesus. I'm making it, but that's what I'm doing. I'm making it. And if I were to start

channeling, are you kidding me? Channeling 10% of my income into the church. I mean that just doesn't, there's no part of this that makes sense for me and here's what you need to know, this would be sacrificial. I might have to drop my premium channels on cable. My unlimited plan might become limited.

And gee, just, look, look, no, no. Guys, here's why you've got to get this. Because every single time that Jesus asks you to follow him, it's gonna feel like fishing in the middle of the afternoon. It's gonna feel like he's asking you to do something that does not make sense. It doesn't add up and it's gonna feel risky.

And here's what you need to know. If you wait, if you wait till you go, oh, I understand how that works. Oh, I can see clearly what that means. And you know what? It doesn't cost me anything. If you wait till it makes sense and doesn't cost, you will never never never never never follow Jesus.

You will end up stuck where you are right now for the rest of your life. Because following Jesus always feels like fishy in the middle of the day. You get that this request is especially hard for Peter. Think about this a minute. Jesus is giving a fisherman fishing instructions.

I mean if you're Peter, can't you just imagine in his mind he's going okay Jesus, clearly a carpenter. You apparently have never fished, right? I mean this is just, it's a little bit absurd. No, no, no, no.

And think about this for a minute. If you're Peter, don't you say, look Jesus, Jesus, look. I know, I know, I know, I know. I know that last night didn't go so well. I know that, I know that. But overall,

overall this fishing thing is working for me. Matter of fact, I started fishing at five. My dad would take me out in the boat. I'm a darn, I may be the best fisherman along the beach.

And I'm just telling you, I've got a home and a mortgage, I've got kids I'm raising, I'm clothing my kids, I just paid off the boat. I'm telling you I know how to fish and it's working okay for me. Why would I take fishing instructions when what I'm already doing works?

It's really, really hard to follow Jesus when it feels like what I'm doing on my own strength is working. Because isn't that true? See you would say hey you know Jesus, I know I know

know my marriage isn't biblical. I know I'm not you know doing the things, but here's what I'm just telling you. We've fought it out, we've argued it out, and we've staked our territory and right now it's working. Why would I screw that up being biblical? Hey Jesus, no, no, no, no, no, I'm just telling you

my schedule, my schedule works.

Now when you start talking about this whole come and serve and use my spiritual gifts and do, no, no, no, no, no, no. But I'm telling you, I figured out how to get to work, I figured out how to take care of my family, I figured out how to take vacation every once in a while and I'm just, look, look, look, it's working for me. Why would I screw that up?

Hey Jesus, wait, wait, wait, wait, My anger, I know, I know, I know it's not, I'm just telling you my anger works. I've got the right people scared. Why why would I screw that up? Jesus. I know, I know I'm dating a guy who doesn't know my Jesus.

But here's the deal, he's actually kinder to me than the Christian guys I've dated. And he treats me well and I've actually got him starting to come to church and last Sunday, last Sunday he didn't fall asleep. So why would I break up with him? I'm telling you Jesus, it's working for me.

And isn't it true guys, let's just be Isn't it true that it's really, really, really, really, really hard to follow Jesus when he's intruding into a part of our lives that we know probably isn't surrendered in the way but it's working? See, the opposite's true. If we screw it up, it's really easy to give it to Jesus.

Oh God, my marriage is really, really bad and she's getting ready to divorce me. Here, you can have my marriage. Oh, my kids are so messed up. Here, have my kids. I just lost my job. Oh, you can have my finances, God. It's really easy to give things to God when you've messed them up.

It's really, really, really, really, really hard to talk about fishing in the middle of the day when you think you're a good fisherman. But here's my question, if you're telling me that the only area of your life that you're gonna follow Jesus are the parts of your life that implode and then you give them to God.

And if God wants every part of your life, then how many parts of your life would God have to implode so that you could be a follower?

And is that really how you wanna live your Christian life?

Did you catch the moment? Did you catch the moment when everything changed for Peter? Go back in the passage with me to verse five again.

Simon answered, sir, we've worked really hard all night and we haven't caught anything. But because you say so,

I'll let down the nets. You get what Peter's saying in this moment? He's saying, look, if anybody else was asking,

I wouldn't do it. I mean, if any one of these other fishermen came up and said, Hey.

But I'm just telling you, Jesus, I've sat here and I listened and something, something, something grabbed my heart and Jesus, I'm just telling you, if anybody else asks me,

but because it's you,

okay?

My wife and I have completely different views of vacations. My view of a vacation, take me out, sit me on a porch, let me look out at the water. I don't want to go in the water, let me look at the water. Read a good book. Great vacation. My wife's view of a vacation, skydiving.

Completely opposite views. So a couple years back we end up in Hawaii and next thing I know my wife comes to me and says hey Lynn we're gonna go zip lining. You know what zip lining is? Okay.

Zip lining is a bad idea repeated 10 times. That's zip lining, okay? That's what zip lining is. So for those of you that don't know, you stand on a perfectly good platform, a perfectly good platform. And then there is a cable of minute dimensions going across a canyon, canyon, which is code for death, death. And

the idea is you take this little pulley and you put it on the cable and then you put your entire life

to the, and this is supposed to be fun, fun. So I say to the guy who's running, they go, you couldn't have made it a thicker cable? And he goes, Lin, Lin, Lin, Lin, Lin. That cable would hold a small tank. And I said,

second question, when's the last time it failed? Because here's what I'm thinking, if it's been recently, I'm concerned about that. If it's been a long time ago, maybe it's due. So either way I have questions. The guy says to me Lin, look, look,

of people, thousands of people have gone across this, nobody's been hurt, it has never failed, matter of fact I'll go first and he hops on the line. Can

I leave now? You ready for one in my mind? I had to come to a point where I said, he's the guide, he's done this a bazillion times. I'm not sure I've got 100% confidence but he's telling me I'm going to be okay.

And I, off, and I begin to scream like a six year old little girl. But

I make it to the other side, right? Because he said so. And I'm just telling you guys, I care. I don't care how you move forward. I don't care if you just lean your toes off. I don't care if when you finally go you sound like a little girl. I don't care. There just has to come a moment in your walk with Jesus where you say,

this doesn't make sense to me and it's terrifying. I don't understand how this works and if anybody else was asking me Jesus, I wouldn't do it.

But because you asked,

It's what makes a follower.

Back to the passage.

Verse six, and when he had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break so that they signaled their partners in the other boat to come in to help them and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Guys,

all of a sudden, all of a sudden because they did the thing that Jesus asked, boats begin to sink, nets begin to break. But let me ask you a question. What if Simon had delayed? What if Peter had said look, look, look Jesus, here's the deal.

You heard that I didn't catch anything last night, right? Which means I gotta go do my second job. I gotta do Peter's net repair service. And the reality is, you know, it's busy season right now so here, if you come back in six months

I might be able to fit you in and we could try this crazy fishing in the middle of the afternoon but right now I'm just telling you this is a horribly, what if Peter had put Jesus off for six months? Guys think about this. This is bigger than boats and fish.

This is a moment that transforms Peter from being a fisherman to being a world changer. He discovers in this moment of following the plan that God has for his life. But let me ask you this, if he had put Jesus off, would his life have turned out the same?

See this is this is the little gal who goes, hey Jesus, look here, I'm I'm just gonna date this guy and and then you marry him, and he doesn't know you're Jesus.

Does your life turn out the same?

Do you what Jesus really had planned? This is when you hear the pastor talking about serving and you go look, it's comfortable, it's not convenient. I'll tell you what, maybe in six or seven years I'll serve. I'll get involved in youth group, I'll you know get involved in lives.

Does your life have the same impact if you put off serving for seven more years? When Peter did so.

So when he had done so and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break so they signaled to their partners and the other boats to come to them and to come and fill both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at his knees and he said go away from me Lord.

Notice title change. It's no longer sir. It's no longer dude. Lord. And suddenly Peter says you know what I think this is about more than fishing. I think this is about him being God and me not.

He says Lord I'm a sinful man. Jesus look you don't know, you don't You don't know what I surfed on the internet last night. Jesus you don't get what my language is like when the pastor's not in the boat.

Jesus you don't understand all the gossipy and horrible degrading things I said because it made me feel better to run that other person down. Jesus you don't understand how dark.

For he and all of his companions were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who by the way end up becoming disciples of Jesus too. This was a big fishing trip.

And Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid, from now on you'll fish for people. So they pulled up their boats to the shore, left everything and next word. So

glad you're listening. Okay, that's so encouraging. Alright, we'll try it one more time. They left everything and they. Followers of Jesus. Followers of Jesus. Because you can't go fishing with Jesus in the afternoon and not be changed.

How many of you admit that the first time you go to a mechanic you're usually skeptical?

First time I go to a mechanic I got questions. Alright the rest of you have problems. You need to be more aware. Alright let explain to you. You take me to a mechanic, I've never gone to that mechanic before, I've got questions. I got questions like okay, so you're telling me this is the part that's broken. Yes, that's the part that's broken. You're telling me that if I fix this part my car's gonna run right. Yes, if you fix that part your car is gonna run right.

Can you tell me now how much it's gonna cost? Yes, I'll give you a firm price on what it's gonna cost. When you're done will you return to me the broken parts? Yes, I will return to you the broken parts. I have all those questions for a mechanic. Now you go to the mechanic and when you come back, it actually

costs less than he told you and your car is running perfectly. And in that moment you drive away out of the mechanic shop and you go you know what, that guy knew what he was talking about. Now you go back to the mechanic and you say hey there's something going on with my transmission, it's kinda got this chuggy, slipping

thing and I need you to take a look at it. He calls you up two hours later and says, hey, it's actually not your transmission. It's actually this thing on the outside. It's a modulator that kind of regulates things. $90 part. You hang up the phone and you go, wow. He could have told me it was my transmission.

He could have fixed the $90 modulator, handed me the broken parts from someone else's transmission. I would have paid him thousands of dollars. I would have never known. That dude is honest.

You go back to him again. He says, hey you know I ran a diagnostic on this thing and it showed a couple things. We're on the verge of failure. Here's my advice though. You just never know. Some of these things may last three days. It may last you a year. I say just keep going till it actually wears out before you replace it. And you leave there saying

he actually talked me into not spending money with him. Now you go back and he says it's the transmission this time. It's the transmission. And based on, you ready? Based on his past honesty, his past integrity, the fact that he's looked out for your best on every occasion, you suddenly now in this moment go, okay,

if it's the transmission, I guess it's the transmission. If any other mechanic had told me it was a transmission, I'd be getting a second opinion right now. But because it's you and because you say so, Let's fix the transmission.

Tell me that you trust Jesus as much as the mechanic. Tell me that based on his goodness and kindness and faithfulness and truth to you that when he says so, your answer is Jesus, if anybody else asked, I wouldn't do it. But because it's you,

let's go fishing in the middle of the day. Let's do the thing that's hard and expensive because it's you.

There's a big difference between being a Christian and being a follower. Tell me that you're a follower of Jesus Christ, not just a Christian. Let's bow our heads. Here's what I'm gonna ask. There's some of us in the room that if we were completely honest we'd say you know what, I've done a little bit too much wrestling. I've

asked Jesus to kind of work me through and convince me a little too often in my life.

I'm done just being a Christian. I need to be a follower. I need to give Jesus permission to invite me to do things that I don't totally understand and to be willing to take risks and sacrifices that feel intimidating. And in that moment, when he says break up with the boyfriend or begin to give or work on your anger,

my answer needs to be, Jesus, if anybody else were asking,

but because it's you, because you say so, I'm in. I'm a follower of you.

And if that's where you're at today, if that's what God's doing in your life, then I'm I'm just gonna ask with everyone's head bowed, everyone's eyes closed, just you, me, and God. If you just say, hey, you know what, Lynn? I I just wanna declare today, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Then I'm just gonna ask you to raise your hand right your at, go man, I am a follower. That's my, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.

Okay, all over this room. Anybody else? Alright, Jesus you see the hands and the truth is what we just did is we just invited you to come to that moment that we've been hesitating, that moment when we've resisted and we promised you that this time the answer was different. This time the answer is because you asked, I'm in. God,

make us more than just Christians. Make us followers of you. And this we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

In Christ alone, my hope is found. And he is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace? When fears are still, when striving sees my comforter, my all in all. Here in the love of Christ, I stand

in life, no fear in death. And this is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath. And Jesus commands my destiny.

We lift this up, and we declare it till he returns or calls me home. Till he returns or calls me home. And here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. And here in the power of Christ, we stand.

Amen, church. It's because of who he is. He is so faithful and so good. And if today you made a decision to say, Jesus,

wherever you call me, I will follow. I wanna be close to you wherever you lead. Then I encourage you, let us come alongside of you. Let us be a help to guide you maybe to your next step. And so if you made that decision, I encourage you, go out to the lobby. There's a section out there called the link in the back corner, and there's a team of people who would love to to come alongside of you, encourage you, and, guide you to what maybe that next next step could look like so we could come alongside as a church and help you in that.

But if you need someone just to pray with you, we have a team of people who would be up front here, would love to pray with you, encourage your heart. But as we go into this week, may we all be followers of Christ and bring him glory. Amen?