Want to take a moment before we dive into the Word as well and
want to honor our lead pastors, Pastor Matt and Sarah Keller.
Pastors, we love you so much. Yeah, we're so thankful for the
way that you pastor and the way that you lead us, the way that
you pray, you fast, and you seek God for us.
Thank you for the way that you sacrifice and endure difficult
things for us. We love you and we honor you
today. Come on, Can you share some love
with our pastors as well? For those of us if we have not
had a chance to meet, my name is Dan Stauffer.
I served as one of our pastors on staff here on our executive
leadership team as well as a part of our teaching team.
And just honored to be able to share the Word today.
Excited to be in this series that we're in right now that
will lead us all the way up to Easter.
It's called Jesus the one and only.
He is the one and only. Last week, Pastor Matt opened us
up with this message talking about how Jesus is the Son, He
is the shepherd, and he is the Savior.
And today we're going to be learning and discovering how to
build our lives on Jesus the rock.
Come on, turn to the person next to you and say Jesus is the
rock. Turn to the other person that
you rode with, but you're still ignoring and ask him this
question. Can you smell what that?
Never mind. No, you can't.
I had to. I had to try.
Can you smell the rock? It's cooking.
Hey, Jesus is the rock and he's the rock that we are to build
our lives on. Now, I don't know if you've
built anything lately. If you've had to assemble
something that you ordered, you open up the box and there's all
the parts and all the pieces. And, and I actually used to work
at a Scandinavian furniture store as a general manager for
that wall. Our family, my wife is on the
front row. We planted a church in 2008.
We've been married for almost 31 years.
Everybody come on. Yeah.
And I, I remember, you know, working at the furniture store
and I'd help assemble things and, and learn so much that I
didn't need the directions, the instructions.
I figured out the systems and we would just assemble things
quickly. But recently, just actually a
couple years ago, we decided we were going to remodel our
primary bathroom. And I had this dream, this dream
of these cabinets that were a natural walnut, walnut finish on
the front, the drawer fronts, just beautiful.
And I ordered them from IKEA. And I know what you're thinking.
Dream bathroom IKEA I, I get it, I get it, I get it.
But they're, they're actually the drawer fronts are actually
made in Italy. And I was so excited to get them
and just to save a little bit of money, I decided I'm going to
assemble them myself. I know how to do this.
I did this for years, right? So I assembled the cabinets, but
I, I hired a professional cabinet installation team to
come in, put them along the wall, get them level, get them
all set so that I could have the countertop company come in and
place a countertop. So these guys are in there,
they're getting everything lined up and let to go, and they came
and found me in the garage. I was working on something else
and they asked me a question that kind of stopped me in my
tracks. They asked was your plan for the
drawer fronts to go under the countertop when they close or to
land flush with the top of the counter top.
And I'm like, well, under. And they're like, well, it won't
work. I know.
Hey, right now I'm getting a little bit frustrated and I'm a
little concerned. And so I decided they're from
IKEA. There is an instruction manual,
but I knew all of the parts, but maybe I should open it up.
And when I opened it up, there's there's no words.
If you, if you've ever said there's no words, there's no
written words. There's just a picture of a guy
and I have his picture. He's right here.
Like there's just this guy. I mean, I mean, he seems happy,
right? And I looked at the picture of
him and I and I remember what I looked like and I feel like I'm
way more competent than this guy right here, right?
He doesn't seem frustrated at all until I turn to the next
page and there's another picture of him and it's definitely
revealed me. This is me.
Like that's me. I need some help.
The, the one of the professional, again, quote
professional cabinet installers actually suggested one of their
suggestions was to cut the top inch off of the tror front so
that it would land underneath. And I put a time out.
I said, I don't think that's what we're supposed to do.
Let's dig a little bit deeper into these instructions.
But I, I discovered something that day that I think actually
aligns with God's word in this message for us.
We can build our lives on our own experiences, our own
expertise of what we know, or we can make a decision that we're
going to actually build our lives on the rock, on Jesus
Christ and his word. And I know that's what God's
heart is for us. So our key verse, our key text
is from Matthew chapter 16. This is the the key verse for
our series that says when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, what are people saying
about me? Who do they say that I, the Son
of man AM? So they said, some say John the
Baptist, others are saying that Elijah or, or or Jeremiah or one
of the prophets. And then Jesus said to them, but
who do you say that I am? So Simon Peter answered and
said, you are the Christ, which means the Messiah, which means
the anointed one in his anointing.
You are the one that all of these other guys that the people
are saying that you might be, You're the one that they
actually were speaking about, that prophesied about.
You're the Christ, the Son of the living God, Peter said.
And Jesus answered and said to him, You're blessed, Simon, son
of Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my
Father who's in heaven, and I say to you that you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it. You see, our Heavenly Father has
a powerful revelation for us that if we would build our lives
on him that we will not be moved by the storms, by the pressures,
or by the trials of life. So for the next few moments
we're going to talk about how to build our lives on the rock.
Would you pray together with me? Heavenly Father, in Jesus name,
we invite you into this moment. God, that you would speak to us
and that you would have your way.
God, may we have spiritual eyes to see today, spiritual ears to
hear. God, may our hearts be open to
what you have for us and they everyone of us, whether we're in
this room or at any of our locations or online.
God, may we be open up and changed for eternity because of
you. In Jesus name, we pray.
If you agree with that, would you say Amen?
Amen. See Jesus, he is the rock that
we are to build our lives on. I want to go back to that that
statement that he made when he looked at Simon Peter, Simon,
son of Jonah, he said flesh and blood hasn't revealed this to
you, but my father who is in heaven.
And then he looks at him right? And he says, but you are Peter.
Now when I, when I went and looked that up, I actually
discovered that when Jesus looked at him and said, you are
Peter, he changed his name because his name was Simon, some
son of Jonah, right? He said, but you are Peter now
in the original language, when he was when this was translated,
it was the actual word Petros. It's a Greek word and it means a
piece of the rock that you are Petros.
You're a piece of the rock. You're a part of me, so you are
a piece of the rock. And on this rock I will build my
church. So the next rock, so you are
Petros. But on this rock, when I look
that up, it's actually the Greek word Petra, and it actually
means a massive living rock. So really what this what when
Jesus looked at him, it wasn't saying that on Peter the church
would be built, but he was saying you are a piece of the
rock. You have a part of me, but in
parentheses in the original language if we were to do a
literal translation. And I also say to you that you
are Peter Petros. But on this one rock, this one
Petra, this massive living rock, the revelation that you just
shared that I'm the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living
God. I will build my church on that
revelation and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it. So Jesus wasn't saying that
Peter was the rock that the church was to be built on, but
that the church is to be built on the rock of Revelation.
That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
That Jesus is the Savior of the world, That God so loved the
world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever would
believe in him would not perish, but would have everlasting life.
He is Jesus is the rock. Let me let me show you that
Jesus is the rock in another verse.
It's First Corinthians chapter 10, verses 3 and four.
So the apostle Paul here is writing to the church in Corinth
and he's explaining to them kind of helping them to see when the
children of Israel came out of Egypt, as they were going
through, God was providing for them.
Look what he says. They all ate the same spiritual
food and drank the same spiritual drink for they drank
from the spiritual rock that accompanied them.
And say this with me, that rock was that rock was Jesus is the
rock. He's the rock that we are to
build our lives on. And Hades or hell, the enemy and
his darkness have no power over us.
When we build our lives on Jesus the rock.
That doesn't mean that storms won't come.
It just means when the storms do come, you are so founded and
established on the rock of who Jesus is, the revelation that he
is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that though there's
wind, though there's rain, though there's trouble, you
shall not be moved in Jesus name.
So this this begs the question then how do, how do we build our
lives on the rock? How do we do that?
Well, I want to take a look at another passage of Scripture.
This is in Luke chapter 6 and Jesus is engaging with another
group of people, very similar interaction where he's talking
to them about how people are, what they're calling him, what
how people are saying who he is. And so in Luke chapter 6 verse
46, it says this. He says, why don't you call me
Lord, Lord? Why don't you call me Lord and
do not do what I say. To call Jesus Lord means that
you are over my life. You are the Lord of my life,
which means whatever your directive is, I am to follow
that directive. I am to obey.
He says you're calling me Lord, Lord, but you're not doing what
I say. As for everyone who comes to me,
hears my words and puts them into practice, I'm going to show
you what that person is like. So he says three things there
comes to me, here's my words, puts them into practice.
And when we do that, something happens in our lives.
Look what he says. They are like the ones that do
that. They are like a man building a
house who dug down deep, laid the foundation on the rock, and
when a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not
shake it because it was well built.
I don't know about you, but when people look at my life as a
follower of Jesus, I want them to describe my spiritual life as
one that is well built on the rock.
Jesus Christ that have built my life.
I've built my family's life. I've built all that we pursue
what we do, how we think, how, what our lives that it would
just say, well built, well done. Thou good and faithful servant.
You have followed after Jesus. You've built your life on the
rock. So for the next few moments, I
want to share 3 directives from Jesus of how to build our lives
on the rock. So, and I'd love for you to take
notes. There's no cards in the seat in
front of you. Whatever location that you're
at, you could take notes with us.
But the first directive is this is that number one, to build our
lives on Jesus the rock #1 come to Jesus.
Now I know that that seems simple, but to truly build our
lives on Jesus, it's not about just coming to church and we're
grateful you're here. We're grateful you're at one of
our locations. If you're online right now,
we're so grateful you are. But it's more our, our lives
will still be shaken just because we come to church, just
because we go through a, a religious motion or action.
Maybe you're, you're listening to messages, maybe you're even
reading your Bible, but you're, you're not truly building your
life on Jesus, the rock. You've not truly come to him
first. You're just doing activity,
spiritual activity. Then your life is not actually
on the foundation of the rock of Jesus.
We have to come to Jesus like Peter did, to have a revelation
from God the Father that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God, that every one of us wherever, wherever you are right
now, that if Jesus was to ask you, who do you say that I am?
What would you, what would your answer be?
Would your answer be? I'm not sure.
Let me go. Let me find out what people are
saying about you. Would your, would your answer be
that? Well, I, I, I, I think you're,
you're God, I, I, but I'm not sure.
Who do you say that Jesus is? Is he just a good teacher?
Is he just a historical figure? Your determination of who Jesus
is determines whether or not you can come to him.
Coming to him as Savior, as like Peter did.
You are the Christ, you are the Messiah, you are the Son of the
living God. You are the Savior of the world.
Coming to Jesus means that I recognize that I am sin
separates me from you and I no longer want to be separated.
Coming to Jesus means that I recognize that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
It says in Romans. It also says that the wages of
the payment for our sin, the wages of sin is death, which is
he's talking about a spiritual death.
Spiritual death is separation from God.
Our sin separates us from God. So to come to Jesus means I'm
recognizing that I'm a Sinner. I have sinned and my sin
separates me from God, but I no longer want to be separated
because of what Jesus did for me on the cross.
Because Jesus didn't just carry our sin on the cross, He was
made our sin on the cross. In a moment, He became our sin.
Everything that you and I have ever done, every human being
that's ever lived on this planet or will come after us, have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Jesus became our sin on the cross, and when He became our
sin, the payment for sin is separation from God.
That's why on the cross, when he was nailed on the cross, he
said, my God, my God, he said, Eloi, Eloi llama Shabaksan, I,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
It's the very reason that when Jesus was in the Garden of
Gethsemane, the night in which He was betrayed, before He went
on trial, before He was tortured, before He was
crucified, He was praying and sweating drops of blood, not so
much out of the fear and the expectation of the physical
torment, but He knew what would happen even when He became our
sin. He would be separated from His
loving Heavenly Father. And can I tell you today, church
family, He did that for you and He did it for me.
He was made our sin. He became our sin. 2nd
Corinthians 517 says He who knew no sin became our sin so that
you and I could be made His righteousness.
It was a substitutionary act on the cross.
And when we build our lives on the rock Jesus, it means that
I'm taking a step toward him. I'm coming to Jesus as the
Savior of the world, the Son of the living God whose life was
sacrificed for my sin. And if you have never prayed a
prayer or said yes to a relationship with Jesus, I want
you to know the Bible says that today is the day of salvation
and Jesus is waiting for you to come to Him so that He can save
you from your sin, wash you clean, make you new, and you
will never be the same again. Come on, those of you that have
experienced that you know. But if you have surrendered your
life to Jesus, Jesus still wants you to come to him.
Not necessarily just as Savior, but He wants us to come to Him
as Lord, Savior and Lord. You see, you can have Jesus as
the Savior, Sir. You've received him as as the
Savior, washed you clean of all of your sin, but he wants to be
the Lord of your life. That's why Jesus, when he's
talking to them, he said, you're saying Lord, Lord, but you don't
do what I say. You're not following after me.
Is it possible for those of us that have surrendered our lives
to Jesus Christ that there are areas of our life right now that
Jesus is still not the Lord of our life?
And I think as a follower of Jesus, our church exists.
We exist to lead people to become fully engaged followers
of Jesus. When we say fully engaged, we're
talking that Jesus is the Lord of every area of your life.
Jesus, you're Lord of my time. You're Lord of my talents and my
gifts. You're Lord of my eyes of what I
watch. You're Lord of my ears of what I
hear. You're Lord of my finances, of
what I do with money. God, you're the Lord of how how
my attitudes, of my heart. You're the Lord of the words
that come out of my mouth. You're the Lord of the way that
I drive. Dear Lord, help now that's the
one for me. God help me be the Lord of the
way I drive. Please help me Jesus name.
But we have to come to Jesus if He's going to be the rock of our
life. Number one, you got to come to
Jesus #2 write this down, a second directive from Jesus the
rock as you have to hear His words.
We have to hear His words and not just physically hear His
words. We have to get His word in our
heart, deep down in our heart. I love how David, King David, he
would write these Psalms and we have a whole book of Psalms in
Psalm 119. He's going on and on about God's
Word. He uses different phrases.
If one talks about God's law, talks about God's commandments,
God talks about God's precepts, talks about God's statutes,
talks about God's Word, and he continues to talk about how
powerful your word is. Every single verse in that
chapter, and it's one of the longer chapters, he talks about
the word and the statutes and the precepts and the principles
and and that I'm to build my life on.
And then in verse 105 of Psalm 1/19, he says your word, God is
a lamp to my feet and it is a light to my path.
God, your word is a lamp to my feet and it is a light to my
path. Now David is not saying God, I'm
walking my own path. I'm going the direction that I
want to go and that your word helps to give it light so I can
see that's not what he's saying. He's saying God, your word
lights up where my feet are right now and makes it clear the
direction that you want my feet to go.
And because your word is so true, your word is so pure, your
word is so holy. Your word is gives me strength.
Your word is wisdom and understanding.
It's counseling might, it's knowledge and the fear of the.
That's what your word is, God. So I'm asking for your word to
light my feet and light my path, and I'll step wherever the light
directs me to step. That's what His word will do.
We have to hear His words, and again, not, not just physically,
we have to hear His words speaking to our own heart,
bringing correction wherever He wants to correct, bringing
direction however He wants to guide us.
We're making the decision God, your word is what I want to
light my life and as a follower of Jesus, when we allow God's
word to to truly just penetrate our heart, it becomes the rock
of our life. That's why one of the things
that we do here is is we we provide a soap guide so that as
a church, we're able to read a chapter together as a church
family, every one of us reading the same chapter.
Right now we're in the book of Jonah in the Old Testament.
If you have never read your Bible, this is a great time to
read it. This story is crazy, what God
does with Jonah. But we, we read a chapter a day
and we listed out exactly where it's out.
We've got QR codes on here so you can scan it and it'll take
you to the Bible project and give you a little bit more
understanding of actually the book itself and the author so
that you can grow even more in it.
But we find that one verse within that chapter and we write
that verse out. We, it's soap because it stands
for Scripture. So I'm writing the verse out,
the one verse that stands out to me.
The O is, is what I'm observing in the story in that one verse,
the A is application. I'm I'm literally in my journal.
I'm writing out how am I going to apply this verse to my life
today? And then P stands for prayer.
These are online. You can go to
nextlevelchurch.com. You can find it in the next
steps section on the website, a digital soap guide as well.
But you have we have to hear his word.
If our lives are going to be built on the rock Jesus, then we
need to know what Jesus is saying about our lives.
And so this is a powerful thing. He, David, goes on.
He also said this in verse 11. That same chapter, Psalm 1/19.
He said, I've hidden your word in my heart.
And because I've hid your word in my heart, I might not sin
against you, God, because Your word is in my heart when I'm
tempted, when there's opportunities to get off course,
when there's tempted, A temptation to look a different
direction than where Your light is guiding me.
Your Word's so hidden in my heart, it will help protect me
from the temptations of life and the sin that would be at the
door trying to stop me and prevent me from doing what
You've called me to do. So if we're going to build our
lives on the rock of Jesus, we have to come to Him, surrender
our lives to Him as our Savior and our Lord.
We have to hear His word. Let His word become the
foundation for our lives. And then #3 #3 you got to do
what He says. It's one thing to come to Jesus
and recognize that my sin separates me from God and I no
longer want to be separated. Some of us, you know, it's, it's
been described as fire insurance, that if hell is real,
you don't want to. And hell is a lake of fire.
It's a it is a literal place that we see in Scripture and,
and if that's real, I don't want to go there.
So I'm, I'm going to make Jesus my savior just in case that hell
thing is real. I don't want to go there, right?
Fire insurance. It's like, I don't want to go
there. And that's where we stop.
But we have to build our lives on the rock.
He's the Savior of my life, but he's also the Lord of my life.
I'm coming to Jesus. I'm hearing this word, not just
physically, but I'm allowing his word to get deep in my heart.
And the way that we do that is, is through, you know, observing
what's in it, of figuring out, praying out how to apply it to
our lives. And then #3 was we do what it
says. So Jesus here back in Luke
chapter 6, he's having this conversation with these guys and
saying, you're saying Lord, Lord, but you're, you're not
doing what I say. Verse 49, he says, but the one
who hears my words, because he told the story, right?
He talked about the, the guy who built his house, dug deep, laid
the foundation, and that house was well built.
It was able to deal and and endure outlast the storms of
life. But he says, but the one who
hears my words but does not put them into practice is like a man
who built his house on the ground.
Matthew, when he was recording this, wrote it out that Jesus
said sand, build his house on the sand.
I actually think that Jesus was standing in a place where he was
actually able to point to two different houses.
Just the way that it's written, the way that he talked about it,
it's as if he's pointing to a house, this house right here.
When they built this house, they took a little bit more time.
They got down to the rock, dug through the ground, got to the
rock, laid the foundation. We have to do that here in Fort
Myers because everything is sand everywhere we go.
So if we just build our houses just on the ground, this looks
like a good piece of ground. This looks good.
That house looks good there. Or why don't we just put our
house here? We do you know what they did to
make sure that that house stood the test of time and storms of
life? They dug deep.
So Jesus saying you can, you can build a house, but if you're
just putting it on the ground without a foundation, the moment
the torrent, because look how he says the moment the torrent
struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete
again. See, can you picture Jesus
pointing at one house that was well built, pointing out another
house that's destroyed and just laying on the side on the beach
or on the ground. He's saying this house they dug
deep, this house, they just, they didn't do that.
And here's what he says. He says they, they heard it, but
not doing it. Whoever, I'm sorry I got lost
here in my notes. The moment the torrent struck
that house it collapsed and it's destruction was complete.
And then James writes it this way.
James chapter one verse 22. James is the half brother of
Jesus and he says this. Do not merely listen to the
word. When we just hear it in our
physical ear and we don't do what it says, we actually our
self deceived. We deceive ourselves.
No one's deceiving us. We're deceiving ourselves.
I'm hearing God's word, but I'm not acting on it.
I'm, I'm hearing what my pastors are saying, but I'm as they're
sharing God's word, but I'm not acting on it.
I'm, I'm reading the soap and I'm, I'm, I'm finding the one
verse and I'm, I'm writing out how I'm to apply it to my life.
But then I just close my Bible and I close my journal and I go
on with my day and I'm actually not applying it.
Then this is what happens. I'm self deceived.
So then James says this. He says do what it says, do what
it says, Whoever looks intently into the perfect law, God's word
that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they
heard, but doing it. James uses the same phrase next
that Jesus used with Peter. What did he say to Peter?
When Peter said you're the Christ, the Son of the living
God, and build my life on you? He said, blessed are you, Simon,
son of Jonah. James says the same thing that
happens for us when we build our lives on God's word and we're
not forgetting what he says, but we do it.
They will be blessed in what they do.
Can you put that verse back up one more time, that James verse?
They will be blessed. There's a blessing for us when
we build our lives on the rock, when Jesus is our Savior, when
he's our Lord, we come to him. We hear His word, we let it get
deep in our heart. We let it guide our lives.
Whatever your word says, God that I will.
In other words, Jesus, you are the rock that I'm building my
life on. You're the rock.
That day in my garage when the cabinet installers gave me that
suggestion of cutting the top lip of my cabinets off, I could
have done that. I could have done that.
I've I'm an experienced builder, the furniture, I know and I
could have done that. I'm experienced in life.
I've done it this way before. I can figure things out.
We'll we'll make it work. But something said, double click
on that, open up. There's not words in IKEA
instruction books, but there is a phone number.
Thank God there's a phone number.
Thank God they answer. When I called them, they walked
me through. They said, well, where are you
in the instructions? I'm like, well, I'm just, I'm at
the cabinet, the drawer furnace relations.
They said, Sir, there's three different ways that you can
install the the drawer fronts. I'm like three-way to make it
easy. Thank you three ways.
So they said, So what you're wanting to do is you're wanting
to go to this page here and you're going to just shift
everything down just this like all of the holes are there and
that like they were right. If we build our lives on our own
ideas on our own experience, on our own expertise, we will
always find ourselves shortcutting and find things
will not be established. They won't be strong, but when
we build our lives on Jesus the rock, everything is established,
firmly founded so that when the storms of life come, we will not
be moved. I want to pray for us today and
I want to give us an opportunity.
Wherever you are, whether in this room here at our Fort Myers
location or you're at one of our locations, Cape Coral, downtown
or East, or you're online, I want to pray for us.
And I would love just in the sanctity of this moment for you
to just bow your head, close your eyes so that you're not
distracted looking around, just between you and Jesus right now.
If you have never said yes to a personal relationship with
Jesus, I want to lead you in a prayer.
I'm not going to embarrass you. I'm not going to have you stand
up. Are the location pastors at your
location? They're not going to have you
come forward, but simply right where you are in this moment.
If you would say, Pastor Dan, I recognize that I'm a Sinner and
that my sin is separating me from God, but I no longer want
to be separated. And you would say that you want
to receive Jesus's sacrifice for your life so that your sins can
be washed away, removed as far as the east is from the West
that you want to make Jesus your Savior and your Lord today I
want to pray for you. And on the count of three, if
you would say include me in that prayer, I want you to just slip
your hand up. Whatever location you're at, you
slip your hand up. If you're online, you can let
them know in that chat. I'm saying yes to Jesus.
I want to pray that prayer. Include me in that.
On the count of three, wherever you are, I want you to raise
your hand. And all you're saying is pray
for me. I want to receive Jesus as my
Lord and Savior On the count of 3123, slip your hand up.
Slip your hand up. Thank you, yes, today's my day.
Today is the day of salvation. Jesus, be the Lord of my life.
Everybody, wherever room you're in, I would love for you to join
with all of us, those that raised their hand and pray this
prayer together. Would you say it out loud with
me? Would you say, Heavenly Father,
thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending your Son
Jesus to die in the cross for me.
Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, that you pay the
price for my sin, that you died for me and you rose again for
me. I ask you to come into my heart,
wash me clean of all my sin and make me new today.
Now say this boldly. I commit from this day forward
that I will follow after you all the days of my life.
Thank you for loving me and thank you for saving me in Jesus
name, Amen. Just a moment, our location
pastors are going to come out at all of our locations.
They're going to give you very clear next step.
We've got a Bible that we want to get in your hands.
I really encourage you make sure you do what the location pastors
are directing you to do so you can get that Bible.
We can walk with you on this journey of Jesus becoming not
just your Savior, but your Lord. And for the rest of us right now
that have prayed that prayer before, maybe you've it's been a
long time since you've been in church.
Maybe you've used to follow God and he was the rock of your
life. But at some point you stepped
off the rock, stepped off the foundation of Jesus.
I want to pray for us in this room today that wherever you are
on your spiritual journey, whether you have been faithfully
following Jesus all your life or there's been ups and downs.
Maybe you're in the midst of a struggle right now on a storm
and you're you're struggling to keep your feet surely
established on Jesus the rock. I want to pray for us and I want
to pray that you would make a shift, that each of us would
make a shift even just slightly in our heart to say, Jesus,
you've been my savior and I've allowed you to be Lord of some
of these areas, but I've not allowed you to be Lord of all of
these areas. I think in this moment, right
now, Jesus wants to become Lord of every area of our lives.
Can I pray for us right now? Father, in Jesus name, You know
where each of us are at. You know the areas of our life
where you are not truly Lord God, we ask that you would just
knock on that area of our heart. Would you lead us to that place?
God, I pray that you would guide us to a place of repentance, of
confessing of our sin, of true surrender to You as not just
Savior, but Lord, Lord of our bodies, Lord of our thought
life, Lord of our finances, Lord of our time, Lord of our
talents, God, we call you, Lord of all God, thank you for saving
us. Thank you for the freedom that
we have in you. We surrender our lives to you
afresh. In Jesus name we pray.
If you agree with that prayer, would you say Amen?
Come on, can you celebrate God together with me?