Say the Word

Hey, welcome to Revere Church. We are so glad that you're joining us today. Whether this is your first time or this is your home and your community, we're so glad that you're here. There's a few ways that you can get plugged in and get connected and help make this house feel like a home. Whether you want to join a community group or a serve team or maybe you're ready to take your next steps in your faith and get baptized, there's a link below that you can click to find out more information. We're also a community that believes in giving back to God what belongs to him through tithes and offerings, we are able to support our local and global communities. And if you have a heart that wants to partner with God with what he is doing in and through this house, there's also a link that you can click down below. Service is about to start. We hope you enjoy. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah ♪ ♪ My, my, my ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah ♪ Welcome to Revere. Whoa, what a Sunday we are having. Listen, if it is your first time, welcome to the crazy. We like to have a little praise party up in here. My name is Bianca. I'm one of the pastors here.

And when we opened up the doors of Revere Church in January, I said, Lord, you're gonna do something very special in this community. And I am excited that you're here because though this is a new space, maybe you are a new face or a familiar friend of this community. Let me let you know a little bit about this community of great faith. And yes, you're gonna sit down in a second, but we're gonna pray together and we're gonna stand. But I need you to know a little bit about Revere. We are a community of people that when adversity comes our way, we do not run away. We do not cower and we do not quit. We are mighty by the strength empowered by a good God. And we are a people who believe that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. We are people that have seen God move then and believe that he will move again. So on a new day like this, let me let you know I'm not gonna do anything new. I am simply following in the footsteps of the great men and women who have come before me. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, I stand before you like Queen Esther and I represent my people. I stand before you like King David, who is a worshiper and a warrior. I stand before you like Deborah

and I prophesy victory to your future. I stand before you like Nehemiah with one hand on the wall and one here about to shake somebody. I come before you to dispense the word of God and what we are doing here is nothing new. We are following in the footsteps of faith. And in a second, we are going to take a look at God's word, but I want us to pray together as a community and set the atmosphere so that our hearts could be open to receive the word that God has given us. So will you do me a favor? Will your faith add to my faith? And can we just invite God's presence into this space yet again? God, we ask that you open up our hearts and you open up our minds and that you do what only you can do in this moment. We honor you, we love you, we praise you, we thank you in Jesus' mighty name. Amen and amen. Love it. Before you are seated, turn to your neighbor and introduce yourself. For our online family, put in the chat box where you are tuning in from. Though you might not be in Orange County, aka the promised land, you are part of this community and we wanna know where you are from. Well, two things I'm very excited about.

Number one, if you were with us at our previous venue, we didn't have lights on the ceiling so y'all couldn't bring your Bibles. That's what you told me. I don't wanna bring my Bible because I can't read it. Well, can we clap to God that we have some lights? And I expect all of you to bring your Bibles next week. Oh, you got them, you got your word, that's right. Also, I promise you great AC. But y'all were praising too hard because it is hotter than Hades up in here. If you think hell is hot, baby, you turn or burn right now. This is a good moment for a confession. You're gonna say, Lord, I don't wanna spend life in hell so maybe this heat is gonna be good for the room. Well, do me a favor, turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter eight. Matthew chapter eight, if you're new to church, Matthew is about dead center in the Bible, right in the middle of the Bible. It's the first book of the New Testament. And here we are chronicling the life in times of not just Jesus, but those that enacted and interacted with Jesus. Matthew eight, verse five says this. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralyzed,

suffering terribly. Jesus said. to him, shall I come and heal him? The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. Just say the word, just say the word, just say the word and my servant will be healed. We are gonna unpack this passage, but I'm really honing in on this phrase, say the word, because it is a phrase that has been tattooed on the forefront of my mind. Now listen, I am somebody that likes to go through a passage and unpack it in a series so that we really understand it. So for example, next week we're starting a new series called Suited Up and we're gonna go through Ephesians six on the armor of God, because many people are out here trying to wage a battle naked, they need the full armor of God, you know what I'm saying? So we're gonna take some weeks and we're gonna unpack that, but today I want, if you will do me the favor, will you jump into my heart as I just share on this first week in this temporary building, what I see for this community. I love that this man took Jesus at his word and the statement is powerful because he recognized the one who had the power. For the note takers in this space, I want you to jot down the title, take you at your word.

Do you know people that when they speak, they have power? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Now, little example, I was raised by two amazing parents. I was also raised by a five foot nothing Puerto Rican mom. And I know this is Orange County and many people believe in gentle parenting and time out, sit in the corner, Johnny. My mom was the original mofo, that's the mess around and find out mom, okay? My mother was so savage, she actually kept a wooden paddle in her purse if her children acted up, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-huh. Some people are offended, offense is a choice. I actually needed to get beat because she beat Satan out of me. So I'm not here to throw shade, I'm here to honor my mother who is on the second row, thank you. Love you, mama, love you. She's a pastor's wife and has been for over 40 years and people know her as Sister Millie, she's so sweet. But let me tell you, she's sweet until she's sour, okay? But across a crowded sanctuary at church, my sisters and my brother and I would be acting like dang fools and my mom would just look at us. She didn't even have to say a word. My mama could just look and then my soul is arrested. But I knew it was real bad when mom said, just wait till your father gets home. Not because, exactly, uh-huh, uh-huh. Not because I feared that he would hurt me but he had the ability to change the direction of my life.

Whether I could hang out with my friends, whether I got money, whether I could borrow the car. See, I recognized in our household who had the authority. Now we meet a man who had seemingly, as scripture points out, most likely never met Jesus in person but he's clearly heard about him. Look at verse five again. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, in Hebrew it's kefer nechum, kefer nechum. Kefer means village, nechum means comfort. Jesus walks into a village of comfort and there's a centurion came to him asking for help. This verse might not mean anything to you but when you read the verse and you see the word centurion, you should pause because for the original Jewish audience, they would have read this and be like, I'm sorry, what? A centurion, why? Because a centurion was a Roman soldier. Centuri means 100, centurion mean that they were responsible for 100 people under their authority. Does that make sense? But see, let's talk about cultural context because during this time, Israel was under Roman rule and it was the Romans who came in and began telling the Jewish people that they were the ones running the land. Not only that, they also taxed the Jews.

I don't know about you but I would feel a way if someone came into my house, told me that they were in charge and then I had to pay them a tax. How about you? Okay, well, this is a real saved audience because I would feel a way. There is clear animosity between the Jews and the Romans and so the fact that Jesus stops to meet a need for an outsider and an oppressor to his people tells us something. Now, we are told this detail in Luke chapter seven. This same story is told in two different gospels. Luke includes a detail that he was beloved by the Jews. Why is that? Because he respected the Jews and he was a man of wealth who helped fund a synagogue, a temple, a place of worship. So Jews advocate for him and they're like, oy vey, Jesus, this is a guy, he really loves our people. He helped us build a temple. And Jesus is like, okay, all right, let's. Should I go and heal him? So this esteemed, this powerful, this political character came before Jesus because he had a need. Look at verse six. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home, paralyzed, suffering terribly. The word servant is interesting here because it's the same word that is used in John chapter four and it is listed as son.

Now it doesn't mean that the servant is his son. It means that the servant is like a son. It's like a coworker, an employee, who this man genuinely loves and his loved one is suffering. And though this narrative was written thousands of years ago, pain is one of those things that is timeless. No matter how much money you have, you can't pay pain away. No matter how much power you have, you cannot control a perfect life. No matter how much pomp and prestige and circumstances that you walk in and that you even legitimately possess, you cannot prepare for the blows of life that are meant to take you out. And that's where we find this man in the pages of history. But maybe that's where you find yourself in this room today. It doesn't matter how much wealth that you have amassed or accumulated, you can't fix your broken heart. It doesn't matter how much education you have, you can't heal your sick loved one. It doesn't matter how much therapy you've paid for, it can't fix your broken relationship. You are at the point where you are so desperate that you, like the centurion, have no other place to go except to Jesus. And so what I want to do is just pause and look at this man. What does he do when he doesn't know what to do? This Roman man, an outsider, was so vexed, was so desperate that he went to appeal to Jesus. See, he had heard about Jesus, this man named Jesus who had healed the lame and the blind and the maim

and the deaf could hear and the blind could see and the dead could live. And he heard the reputation about this man named Jesus. So he made his way to Jesus. And if you resonate with that man, let me affirm you today because you made it to revere. You made it to a place where you were so desperate, I don't know where else to go except for the house of God. Now listen, you might not be able to see or touch Jesus right now, but let me let you know that he cares for you, that he sees you, that he hears you and he will stop his day to tend to you like he did to the centurion. Look at verse seven. Jesus said to him, shall I come and heal him? Now this verse might seem innocuous, it might seem inconsequential, it might seem insignificant, but look at the confidence of Jesus. He did not say, well, let me go and assess the situation to see if I can heal him like a doctor would. He didn't say, oh, well, he's not a Jew, so I'm not gonna heal him like a racist would. He doesn't go and say, oh, I'm inconvenienced, I don't have time, like maybe we would. Jesus is confident of his ability to heal. And we are told, this detail is not here in Matthew's gospel account, but in Luke, we are told that Jesus is on his way to the centurion's house and he's stopped.

He's stopped by the centurion's servants. And then this is the conversation, look at verse eight. The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Romans were the rulers of the time. This man had power, this man had authority, this man had money, this man had everything that every man and woman in the society would want, and yet he had enough knowledge to know, I'm in the presence of greatness. Jesus, your reputation precedes you, you are powerful. You will enter into my house and be unclean because I am a Gentile. And I wanna pause for a second. He had enough wherewithal to know Hebrew culture that if a good rabbi, a good teacher like Jesus would enter into the house of a Gentile, a non-Jew, he would be ceremoniously unclean. So he's like, yo, you don't even have to go through the steps of being unclean, just, and this is the crux, this is the crux, this is the crux, but just say the word. And my servant will be healed. Verse nine, for I myself am a man of authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go, and he goes. I tell that one, come, and he comes. I say to my servant, do this, and he does it. So there's two things I want you to learn. I want you to write down, and I want you to commit

to memory this week. I'm gonna be bold about my homework assignment. It's very simple. I want you to write down, say the word. I want you to write down, he has authority. And we're gonna say this out loud. I want you to repeat after me. Say, say the word, he has authority. Say the word, he has authority. You might not feel the impact of this phrase or word, but the power is in you. The word, the power, is who said it. So let's talk about this venue, this amazing venue that we pay money to be in. We are in a contract to get here at 4.30 AM and to have the facility until 3.30 PM. We have bins here in this facility, on this facility. We have locked containers. We have all of our decor and kids area locked in the back. We have keys to the lock on that. I mean, we have this space. But you know who has the power? A man named Adrian, who is the custodian to this venue. It don't matter if 2,000 people bust up into this place, he has the key to open the gate. You know what I'm saying? So let's all recognize the one with authority is a man named Adrian. The centurion was the only one with the eyes to see the one who had real authority.

The centurion says, hey, oh, I know how this thing works. You don't even have to come to my house to say the word, and it will happen. He understood the power of Jesus to unlock the impossible. But most of us live in the opposite way. We wait for visible evidence before we allow ourself to believe. So we say things like, I'll believe it when I see it. But faith flips that on its head. Faith says, I'll see it when I believe it. I'll see it when I believe it. You have to see it first. The difference is massive, because your inner conviction from what the word of God says sets the tone for your outer reality. Your inner conviction, if determined by the word of God, sets your outer reality. When the centurion approached Jesus, he wasn't looking for reassurance from a physical touch or a sign or, please, come put your hand on my head. Go to my living room. Sit on my couch. And then this will happen. He already made up his mind that Jesus' word was enough. Faith rests on the certainty of the source, not the clarity of the evidence. Who is your source? Where are you getting your faith from? Are you getting your faith from your bank account?

Are you getting your faith from your spouse? Are you getting your faith from your six-pack or the amazing body that you worked so hard? What are you believing in? Who are you under the authority of? The centurion's faith didn't need proof. He had a promise. And the promise from the right source is more powerful than any proof that any natural world can give you. You don't need to see how it will work. You just have to know who is working it out. The centurion told Jesus, just say the word. So repeat this after me. Say the word. He has authority. Say the word. He has authority. As we are leading this community, my prayer from day one has literally been, Lord, say the word. Say the word. Whatever city, whatever building, whatever zip code, we'll go. We are an obedient people. And whatever door you want to open for us, God, open it up. Because I know that I am under the authority of God. I do not have the spoken word. I have never been woken up out of a dream and I'm hearing the booming voice of God,

Bianca, it is I. I've never had that. But you know what I have? I have the capital W-O-R-D. I got the word of God. I have not heard the spoken word. I have the written word of God that will speak to me. And in months leading up to the launch of Revere, I'm gonna be honest, we were planning, we were praying, we were preparing for the launch of Revere. And me, me, I'm gonna tell myself, I'm gonna tell the truth, the shame of the devil. Up until the day of launch, I kept on praying, God, if this is not of you, I don't want it. If you are not here and I am not the one to lead this community, pull the plug. I'm not gonna be offended, God. If I am here just to take care of the baby so someone else can tend to it, that's good with me. Because I would rather obey than be in a position of power and authority. I am obedient. And what I consistently saw was through the word of God, I started getting confirmation. Not one verse, not two verse, I got four verses that really felt like seeds of faith in my heart. And that wasn't it. God is gracious. He began to send pastors and leaders who began to encourage me and say,

we are with you, Bianca, we're here to support you. And they even helped fund what we needed to build so that we could sustain. But that's not it. In addition to the written word of God, His confirmation, and the blessing and the covering of pastors and an elder board, God is so good because He didn't just send people from the outside. We have servant leaders here in this community that make this house a home. The servant leader. They volunteer their time and their energy and their efforts because they too can see what I see They're believing in a big God to do mighty things in their life and across the globe I am so proud of our servant leaders if I'm honest with you Friday We came and we we wanted to walk the venue and set up I got here at around 3 30 But people had been here since 9 a.m. The rest of our serve team fought traffic and a Friday night And they're on the freeway, and it's blazing hot It was 97 degrees and we have 70 liters outside in the blazing heat Pulling out cards from our storage containers to set up and practice and time How long it would take to set up for church? I Left around 730 I had to work on my sermon I had to do a couple other things and as I was driving down the street I was I had a lump in my throat and I felt so Once again reminded this isn't out of a selfish ambition This is people who are taking God at his word that he will use his church as a vehicle to usher in a move of God This morning I pulled up at 530 But there were people that had got here at 430 415 to set up I met Kyle who has been part of our community for one week and there is Kyle at 5 a.m. I said, how did you get here, bro? He's like I came on you got your guys's last week

I had to use the bathroom and then pastor Caesar asked me if I wanted to serve. I love this place Kyle can see Kyle can see what other people maybe can't see the centurion said I Too am a man of authority Let's let's parse out scripture. What is he saying? I am like you and under authority Authority is a concept many people misunderstand because they confuse it with control Authority is not about force. It's about rightful power It's about position Legitimacy and the ability to speak a word that carries undeniable weight That is authority and the centurion recognized something that most of the crowd around Jesus missed He saw that Jesus operated under divine authority And he knew that Jesus's authority flew from the highest power now if you want to cross Reference this in John Jesus says I come to do my father's business. I'm under the authority of my daddy So Jesus is under authority the centurions like a yo, he's under the authority of divine power He didn't just see Jesus as a healer or a teacher He saw him with one that had absolute command over the physical and spiritual realms he knew that if a Human officers orders could move men into action then the words of the Son of God could move sickness out of a body and Most people are looking for Jesus's physical presence to come in and touch them and Heal the sick and lay hands But the centurion bypassed all of that because he understood that authority doesn't require proximity It only requires recognition That authority doesn't require Proximity it only requires Recognition he knew that the power of Jesus's word could travel any distance pierce any obstacle and accomplish any purpose without delay That's why he told Jesus you don't even need to come to my house He wasn't being humble for humility's sake He is being precise in his understanding of authority when you recognize true authority in your life. You will stop

Negotiating with fear and doubt. I know who I serve I know what God says about what God can do See, there's a huge difference between someone's ability and submitting to their authority Many people believe that Jesus could heal but the centurion submitted to the truth that Jesus had the ultimate right to command Healing and I think that's why a lot of people are missing breakthrough They agree that God is powerful, but they failed to submit to the authority in practice You believe God is able but you won't live under authority under him. I want Jesus. Look, I'm at church Look, I brought my Bible. Look I'm taking notes Look, I reposted a story that had a Bible verse on it but you still want to be under the authority of Weed you want to have the authority of God and the power of God But you still want to be under the authority of your power that you possess with a big bank account You want to be under the authority of God? But you are also under the authority to the soul tie that you have with that hookup that you know You shouldn't be with but they're taking your life like a vampire. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What authority are you under submission? means you no longer place your opinion, your timing, and your ability as the authority. It means you stop trying to bring God down to your level and reasoning, and instead elevate your trust to his level of sovereignty. When the centurion said, just say the word and my servant will be healed, he wasn't throwing out a hopeful request. He was issuing a statement grounded in absolute confidence. Most people approach faith kind of like a gamble. You know, like we're hedging our bets to protect ourselves from being disappointed. Like, oh God, if you can, maybe you will. I think maybe, I'm hopeful, because they wanna root their experience in their reality.

But in reality, they are diluting the power of their own confession. Faith doesn't secretly slip in. Faith boldly goes through a door, closes it, locks it, and throws the key out the window. I'm gonna stay here until my good God tells me what is next. The centurion's words weren't testing the water, they were sealing the matter. His faith had already decided that the results of the healing were going to be visible. Small faith will only reach for small outcomes. But great faith stretches beyond what is possible and lays hold of what other people say is unreachable. The centurion's request was bold because he didn't ask for what was conventional or what was expected. No, no, no, no. Most people want Jesus to come in, lay hands, get the physical touch for the miracle. That's how they defined what was limited in their level of what was possible. But the centurion shattered boundaries, and he believed that even without physical contact, that Jesus could heal. I'll be honest with you. We knew that we had to get out of our previous building 22 months ago, and for 22 months, we were believing for a building. Not just believing, I mean, we were saving, we raised funds. I think right now we're about 187 venues

around every city in the county of Orange. There's 32 cities in Orange County. Did you know that? I know that, because we looked at all of them, okay? And it feels like it's been one closed door after the other. It left my head, I left by kind of scratching my head, like, God, you're with us, and I took you at your word. This isn't my idea. This isn't my church. These are your sheep. I'm taking you at your word, and I'm really confused, because now we're going to set up and tear down, and if I'm honest with you, it kind of felt like a step back. It's like going from a house to an Airbnb. It's like going from a car to Uber. You just, what are you doing? Like, it'll work, but it's not yours. And I said, and multiple people have said, I'm not this holy, holy people in this community, have said, what if the Lord is just pulling away all the things that you think you need for a move of God? What if what you have been praying for and saving for, God wants to blow out of the water? And so my prayer has changed from, Lord, find us a great building that we could rent, and we could renovate and have a long-term lease, and now I'm just like, pfft. At this point, God, give us a free building.

Free 99, all right? If it ain't free, it's not for me. You're looking for faith? I got faith for you, God, and it's going to be awesome. With an AC that's at 60, all right? Because I am sweating like an inappropriate woman at church in this silk dress. The measure of your faith is reflected by the boldness of your request. I want heaven to look at earth and say, this crazy brown girl's got the most insane faith. She's out here in the most expensive zip code, in the most expensive county, asking for free. That's right, that's my God. If you only ask for what you think could be done in natural means, you will never see the fullness of what God can do in supernatural means. When you dare to believe for what goes beyond human ability, you will create space for heaven to show up and show off. The centurion's request was essentially saying, I don't need you to work within my limits. I trust you to work within your limits. That's the kind of faith that moves mountains and opens closed doors and shifts entire circumstances. Our faith grows in direct proportion to the size of the vision that we hold in our hearts. And if your vision is small, then your faith will remain small, because faith is always activated by the word spoken by God.

We don't move on our actions. We move on what the Word of God says. The centurion went to Jesus with such big faith. And my prayer is that people would look at our community and say, they're warriors, they're centurions, they're outsiders, and yet have so much faith that it will amaze heaven. Faith in its highest form is not simply about avoiding failure, making life a little better. It is about transforming situations that bear the undeniable mark of divine intervention. It's about asking and believing for outcomes so great that there is no explanation other than God did it. I want people to look at our community and say, there is no other way that that happened except God did it. There is no other way that he moved in their midst except God did it. And it's that kind of faith that doesn't just survive. When life feels impossible, it thrives because we know that impossible is where God does some of his greatest work. Look at verse 10. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Oh, that we would be a community that would amaze heaven. He was amazed and said to those following him, truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. May we be a community of great faith, not just as a church community, but for you and you and you and you.

What are you believing God to do that only he can do? That's the faith I'm talking about. In verse 11 and 12, we don't have time to go through it, but Jesus actually reprimands the religious people for their lack of faith. So I want us to be, if I could say this in a holy way, as wretched and as ratchet as a centurion might've been considered with a great faith that amazes Jesus. So let me give you the principle and then break it down further because it is this principle that will give you access to the miraculous. You cannot exercise legitimate authority over what you're supposed to be over. The thing that you're supposed to be over cannot go under because you are not submitted under what God has for you. If you are not, you cannot ask God to put you over the things that you feel are over you. How do you get over instead of feeling under? Submit yourself to the authority of Jesus. You cannot have authority until you are submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And because most of us don't understand this theological principle of authority, many prayers don't go answered. Victory is not achieved. Power does not get recognized. And what my heart and my hope is is that we don't pray out of alignment.

Instead of saying, oh, it's your will, we say it's my will and bless it. No, no, no, no, no. It's your will be done on heaven as it is, on earth as it is in heaven. If you are unwilling to come under the legitimate authority of God that God places over you, then you will not get over what is underneath you. And when we recognize God's authority, when we take him at his word, it makes him marvel. I want God to look at Revere in this community and I want him to gasp at our faith. Ah, they believed for such big things. I'm gonna show up, I'm gonna show off because they took me at my word. Look at verse 13 in closing. Then Jesus said to the centurion, go, let it be done just as you believed it would, just as you believed it would, just as you believed it would. What are you believing God for? I want us to be people that believe God and take him at his word and his servant was healed at that moment, at that moment. Oh, that we would be a people that believed God for big, bold, mighty things. Now in the way that that, for that one golf clap, thank you, Orange County, I appreciate it, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Why do we clap?

You're not clapping for me, you're clapping because we are saying amen. That's my God, I will take him at his word. Just say the word, just say the word, say the word. And I believe, say the word, he has authority. If you're here today and maybe you're like the centurion who you never encountered God but you are listening to this message and you're beginning to believe in this man named Jesus. As we do every time that we gather, we like to create space for people to openly choose Jesus as their Lord and savior. So if you're here today and you've never said yes to Jesus, in a second, I'm gonna invite you to make a bold declaration. Maybe you're here today and at one point you were walking with the Lord, but you have since, you've turned, you are living a life of sin, you have made horrible decisions, you feel far from God, you feel lost and you don't know what to do, and you know it's rooted in the fact that you've walked away from God at one point knowing Him, and you want to come back. Today is an invitation to repent. So I'm going to invite those that are here in this room, will you bow your head to create a sacred space because what I'm about to invite people to do requires a sense of boldness much like the centurion, a deep sense of faith in believing that God is who He says He is and He could do what He says that He can do. So if you're here today, in a second I'm going to count to three and I'm going to invite you to make a bold decision and declaration. But one, by you making this decision you are saying, I want Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Two, by making this bold declaration and decision you are saying that my mistakes and my failures, what the Bible refers to as sin, could be washed away and forgiven because that's what the Word of God says.

And then what Romans 10 says, that the same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave will be given to me as a gift of Jesus' Spirit. If that is you and you are saying yes to Jesus for the first time or you're coming back to faith, I'm going to invite you on the count of three to stand to your feet. One, two, three. If that is you, are you willing to take a stand for Jesus? God bless you, man of God. God bless you, man of God. Yeah. Why are your eyes open? You're supposed to be praying. Close your eyes. It's hard to make a decision like this. If you are a Christian, I want you to pray because the bells in hell are going off because men like this are making critical decisions. Everyone else, if that is you, will you stand to your feet before we close out? In a service of this size, the Spirit of God has come as a gift for you. We stand with you and we declare that God's purposes and plans will prevail because of this decision. To let this man know that he is not alone in this decision, we together as a family are going to boldly pray this prayer of faith. Church, will you repeat after me for my brother that is standing to his feet, even online, you can put a hand emoji in the chat box if you are saying yes to Jesus. Church, repeat after me. Can we say Jesus, forgive me of my sins. Today I choose you as my Lord and Savior. Cleanse my heart. Cleanse my mind. Cleanse my conscience. Fill me with your Spirit to do what I cannot do.

In Jesus' name, amen. Let's thank God for salvation that is received in faith. I want us to stand to our feet. Hey, it's not too late to say yes to Jesus. Our ministry outside, New Believers, has a Bible for you, but right now, Church, I don't want you to leave. I want you to boldly declare what a God that we serve. He is above all and under nothing. He takes our pain and our shame and our trauma and he replaces it with peace and love and joy. We came today, opened his word, and he spoke to us. From a place and a posture of great faith, will you, if you feel comfortable, raise your hand in bold declaration and say, I'm under the authority of God. I'm submitted to an amazing God and I worship God with my entire heart, with my entire mind. Church, the lyrics are on the screen. Can you begin to sing, what a God, what a God. Yes, Church, may we fill this house with your praise, God. We honor you. We thank you. We will revere you until kingdom come, in Jesus' name, amen.