(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

We want to encourage everybody that comes here every single weekend to just be renewed in their thought processes and how God wants to use them to impact the world around them and do great and mighty things.

And today we want to do that by looking at a prayer found in your Bible in the book of Ephesians.

So if you brought your Bible, open it up to the New Testament to the letter that the Apostle Paul wrote the church at Ephesus.

That's known as the book of Ephesians in our Bible.

And he had started this church a few years prior.

They were a young church made up of Jewish people.

And then also many people who weren't Jewish in that world, the Gentiles, a lot of Greek people, and they had come together.

It was a diverse group of people.

And Paul wanted to remind them that in their diversity, God wanted to unify.

Everybody say unify.

Unify them for a common purpose.

And really much hasn't changed today.

God wants us to know who Christ Jesus is and experience that relationship that we find in Christ Jesus, and then unify with a church family, a body, and live out our purpose.

God is going to do what he's going to do in the world, according to the scriptures, through the local church, through a group of people collectively gathered together, redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

And they come together with their various gifts and talents, put them together, and shine the light of Christ in the world.

Eventually, community after community, city after city, state after state, country after country, will be impacted by this good news of a resurrected Jesus through the local church.

Guess what?

And then all of these bad things we experience in life will be put away in the abyss, and we will live with King Jesus forever and ever and ever.

Come on, church.

Yeah.

But what we're going to look at today is a prayer found in Ephesians chapter three.

It begins with verse 16 and runs through verse 20 that the writer here writes to the church at Ephesus.

This prairie jots it down, and it just really reminds them of who they are in Christ, and then it reminds them to live out their purpose.

Just for context purposes, I want you to know, if you go read the entire letter of Ephesus or Ephesians that was written to Ephesus, the first three chapters in our Bible is basically reminding them of who Christ Jesus is and how God has made them, no matter who they are, a part of his family.

Come on.

And then the last three chapters is basically how to live that out practically in the world, how to live out this newfound faith in the world.

And so he basically tells them who they are in Christ again, and then he says, hey, be a purpose living people, live out your purpose, talk with purpose, relate with a purpose, and share this good news of who Jesus is.

And he lets them know that if they do this, they'll have a rich and satisfying life, a fulfilled life, a life that brings satisfaction.

I don't know if you've heard many people say, you know what, I just am not satisfied.

You ever heard that before?

I just don't feel fulfilled with my life.

I mean, I got a family, I got kids, I've got, you know, a wife, a husband, a significant other.

I've got, you know, I got a job, but I just don't feel fulfilled.

I've heard people state that before.

And really what they're trying to do is find fulfillment in what they do instead of who they are.

And again, if you're striving to find fulfillment in what you do, and instead of who God says you are, practically you'll never be fulfilled.

And so today I want you to know who you are.

I want you to know who your creator says you are.

And then what I want you to do is live out who he says you're to be in the earth.

And whenever you do that, you'll have a sense of fulfillment.

You'll have a sense of purpose.

You'll have a sense of, you know what, no matter what the circumstance is, no matter what I'm facing in life, I have satisfaction.

I have a purpose.

I'm fulfilled.

See, if we let the circumstances define us instead of God define us, then we'll always kind of be lost.

I mean, you know, well-meaning people do that all the time.

Well, you know, I had this happen in my life this week.

It's a terrible circumstance.

And because that circumstance entered into my life, now this is who I am.

This is my identity.

This is what I put on Instagram.

Come on.

This is what I Facebook everybody.

Come on.

Because my circumstances are telling me who I am.

But again, the circumstances may not change.

But if you can know who you are in the circumstances, then you can be fulfilled amongst the circumstances.

The enemy wants you to believe that you are the circumstances.

The enemy wants you to believe you are what is happening to you instead of who God says that you are.

Jesus said it this way when he was walking the face of this planet before he went to the cross.

He says the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy in John 10, 10.

He says, but I have come to give you a rich and satisfying life, a full life, a life that overflows.

Jesus is basically saying, listen, the enemy will use the things in life, the circumstances and challenges to destroy your life, to steal your life, to take your life away.

He says, but understand why I have come.

I've come so that you can have a rich and satisfying life.

So you can have a connection to the God of the universe, experience who he is and begin to let him define who you are in the circumstances.

You know, me personally, I have some pretty horrific circumstances going on in my own life, but the reality of it is I don't constantly let the circumstances define who I am.

I try to renew my mind daily.

I try to pick up my cross daily and keep bearing and moving forward with the circumstances and reminding myself of who God says I am in the circumstances.

And my prayer for every single person, every single family here today is this word comes from the Lord out of the book of Ephesus.

You don't let, you know what, your skin color define who you are.

You don't let what nation you belong to define who you are.

You don't let what is happening to you define who you are.

Come on.

You don't let sickness define who you are.

You don't let even physical death define who you are.

You don't let the bad relationship define who you are.

You don't let the good relationship define who you are, but you let God and his love define who you are.

And no matter which way life brings things to you, you can keep moving forward with the goodness of God.

Come on.

So today, let's look at how this is.

You got to refine, redefine who you are on a continual basis.

You know, getting saved isn't just, you're saved from the penalty of your sin.

But let me tell you something, the power of sin is a real thing.

And it will hold you hostage.

Even though you're saved from the penalty of sin by the blood of Jesus, many people are held hostage today because sin has power over them still.

So today we're going to learn, you know what, that no, no, no, God gives you a power, come on, to operate in that will overcome the power of sin so you can have a rich and satisfying life.

Ephesians chapter three, we'll begin with verse 16.

If you got your Bible with you, if not, it'll be on the screen.

Paul says this, I pray to the church at Ephesus, I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit.

Paul says, I got a prayer for you that God has unlimited resources, come on.

Why do you keep letting the enemy tell you God's limited in his resources?

Because the Bible says he has unlimited resources.

He has unlimited power.

Though the sickness may say it has power, God has unlimited power that can begin to get in your heart and mind to help you overcome no matter what the sickness says.

Listen to what this says, then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.

He says, your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.

And may you have the power to understand as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Verse 19 says, may you experience, everybody say experience, the love, the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.

He says, I need you to experience it.

He says, now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever.

Amen.

Now, this isn't some word from God about the power of positive thinking.

That's not what this is about.

This is a word from God about the power of God that resides in you so that he can work through you.

And again, but what we have to do is let the power of God and his love transform our thinking.

Slap your neighbor and say, how are you thinking today?

Come on.

How we're thinking about our approach to life.

Because he says, you know what?

When you think properly about the truth of what life is, the love of God and what Christ came to do and the power of God that lives in you, that works through you, whenever you can begin to renew your mind.

And oftentimes I have to do that daily.

Come on.

When you renew your mind, I don't just become a seasoned Christian and not have to renew my mind.

Because I can tell you right now, the enemy don't stop playing games with you.

And the enemy don't stop playing games with me.

And he wants to kill, steal and destroy and take all of life purpose away from me.

But God came to give me a rich and satisfying life.

Jesus came to save me from my sin and also to deposit his spirit in me so I could have power over sin and move forward in spite of the circumstances in the world.

So again, let's look back at the passage because see, a lot of us are not satisfied.

A lot of us are not fulfilled.

A lot of us are not resting in the love of Christ.

And though it's, as the text says here, it's too great to fully understand.

He says, I want you to experience it and I want to take you back basically to who Christ Jesus is and your first love.

Some of you have been on the Christian journey for a long time, but you've forgotten, as the book of Revelation says, your first love.

And it's why you're not experiencing satisfaction in life, because you're trying to get satisfaction from the experiences of life instead of the experience of knowing who Christ is and his love.

So if we're truly going to have satisfaction, the first thing I wrote down is I have to experience the love of Christ and the work of Christ.

How do I do that?

I'm constantly reminding myself of who he is.

I realize what Christ has done for me.

I realized that at a point in time in history, back in 1998, I realized that Christ Jesus showed me mercy, that he gave his life on a cross and he paid for all of my sin, missing the mark of God's glorious standard, my past, my present, and my future.

I realized that in a point in time and I received his great mercy for spreading out his arms on a cross and God did not give me what I deserved, eternal separation from him.

But God, in his love and in his mercy, sent his one and only son to a cross, not only for me, but for all of humanity at a point in time in history to show the world how great his mighty love is, how powerful his love is.

In one place in our Bible, in the book of Romans, it says, while you were yet sinners, Jesus came and gave his life on a cross.

In spite of your sin and my sin, Jesus loves us anyway.

Other words, God isn't defined by the circumstances.

God isn't defined by what you do or what I do.

God's love is greater than any of those things.

And he showed it on a cross through Jesus and shedding his blood, and three days later, resurrecting from the grave.

And I have to realize, come on, I have to realize God showed mercy to me.

And then I can begin to operate in his power, in his unmerited favor, in his grace.

And God graces us in such a powerful, a powerful way.

He didn't give us what we do deserve.

Actually, he gave us more than we would ever deserve.

And again, what happens in life is oftentimes we're like, okay, God, thank you for the mercy.

But, but we don't, we don't keep walking in that every single day.

And I need you to know, you will never, ever be satisfied until you are experiencing the love that comes from God.

And some of us are like, well, God can't love me because I'm too far gone, or I did this, or I did that, or they did this, I did that.

And you know, well, she didn't love me.

So God must not love me.

And I'm here to redefine that for you today, because according to the scripture, according to God's word, the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, whoever would believe, I don't care who it is, what background you come from, what you did, or where you, whoever would believe, would not perish, would not waste away, but would have eternal life with a God who loves the world so much he would come to us.

Come on.

And my friends, this is the good news.

This is the gospel.

God loves you in spite of the circumstances.

God loves me in spite of the circumstances, and God don't give his good gifts based on circumstances.

God gives his good gift based on who he is.

The Bible says God is love, but my friends, some of you are not experiencing the God of the universe because you're thinking God loves based on what you do, and you're missing it, and you're not being satisfied because you haven't received or you haven't truly experienced the love of God.

It's not just a mental gymnastic you do and you say, I believe.

No, it's a heart transformation.

And God, you love me anyway, in spite of my lostness, in spite of my cowardness, in spite of my waywardness, in spite of my goodness, in spite of my badness.

God, you love me and I experience it.

Come on.

Paul says, if you're going to find satisfaction, you better, you better root yourself down in this love.

Look what he says.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.

And then you will what?

Be made complete with all the fullness of life and the power that comes from God.

So here's what I wrote down.

Experiencing the unconditional love of God opens the door for me to operate in the unmerited favor of God.

So again, receiving the unconditional love of God, he's so merciful, opens the door for me to operate in the grace of God or the unmerited favor of God.

But some of us are not operating in the unmerited favor of God because we don't believe God is merciful enough to save us based on who he is.

We think it's based on what we're doing.

And the enemy wants you to keep on living life that way.

But you know what?

You can try harder.

You can do more.

And look, I would consider myself kind of a seasoned Christian now.

I've been a Christian since 1998.

And I've been going on the journey.

But can I tell you something?

The enemy gets in my head just like he gets in your head.

And he'll tell me, no, no, no, it's based on how you're performing today.

Let me pull you back a little bit.

And I have to say, no, no, no, it's not on what I did, what I did right or what I did wrong.

You're a liar.

You're a liar, enemy.

I'm experiencing God because he first loved me.

Come on.

Because he chose to give his life on a cross so that I could have a connection to him.

I put my faith in the blood of a resurrected Jesus and him alone.

I don't put my faith in myself.

I don't put my faith in what I do.

I don't put my faith in what you do.

I don't put my faith in the relational challenge that happened last week, last month, three years ago.

I don't put my faith in the sickness.

I don't put my faith in none of that stuff.

I put my faith in a resurrected Jesus.

And I experienced the love of Christ.

If I leave this earth today, I don't put my faith.

As Paul said, oh, death, where's your sting?

He wasn't saying death don't sting.

He's just like when death comes, I still experienced the love of God.

I keep moving forward.

He didn't say sickness ain't going to hit your body.

Come on somebody.

But when it comes, when it comes, that don't define me.

The love of Christ defines me in all circumstances, in all situation.

And it ain't based on my external health.

It's based on an internal love relationship that I have with a savior.

His name is Jesus.

Come on.

And he come from heaven to earth to save me in spite of what is happening to me.

And see, you can begin to walk in satisfaction when you know that God loves you anyway, in spite of who you are.

And a lot of us are still not experiencing God because we're listening to the voice of the enemy.

It's how you look.

It's the group you belong to.

It's what you do.

It's because you're a man.

You're because you're a woman.

No, no, no.

The love of God is for everybody and anybody who ever would believe.

I don't care how you were raised.

I don't care what kind of religion you were raised in.

The love of Christ is there and it's exposed for the world to receive and see.

But until you do that, you will never ever fully experience, you know what, the life the way God wants you to experience because it's impossible until we have our faith in a risen Savior for the power of God to come live in us and work through us.

The Bible says that, you know what, basically it's the love of Christ and experiencing that that begins this journey of satisfaction.

I wrote this down in my journal yesterday.

I said, you know, Jesus's love is a powerful thing because Jesus's love gives me a testimony and a hope.

And because of that testimony and that hope that, you know what, one day I'm going to live with Him forever and ever and ever in spite of what's going on in my life.

Because of that testimony and that hope, now I can operate in God's power and it can come alive and begin to work through me.

Because my hope is higher than my circumstance.

See, a lot of you have hope in the wrong thing.

It's in the circumstances.

A lot of us continually go back to the circumstances and again, hope is a good thing as long as hope is in the right thing.

And hope is looking forward to something that has not yet happened.

Come on.

And again, it's taking your faith and putting it in hope that's higher than the circumstance.

But again, if your hope is in the relationship, if your hope is in the job, if your hope is in what you do, if your hope is in your kids to grow up to be this or to be that, what happens is hope begins to get taken away because I need to, I like to say it, I need to get my hopes up.

And my hopes need to be in the love of Christ and what he's done for me.

And again, now I can go on the journey, but what do I really believe about God's word?

I do believe that his power is limitless because the scriptures say God is all powerful, all knowing everywhere at one time.

And God is not limited in what he can do.

He is not limited in how he can accomplish things.

And my little finite mind can't quite understand it all.

But if I'm gonna truly be satisfied, it starts with experiencing the love of God.

And my first question for everybody in this room today, have you truly experienced that?

And do you keep going back to that experience and reminding yourself that you didn't deserve it anyway?

God is merciful.

True satisfaction comes from experiencing Christ and knowing the work of Christ, but it also comes from when we know what God's power is doing through us.

This is significant.

And Paul defines what God's power is doing through us here in Ephesians chapter three, verses 10 and 11.

He says, God's purpose in all of this, bringing people from different backgrounds.

In this particular context, it was a Jewish group of people and it was a Gentile.

It was a lot of citizens of Rome and all that kind of stuff.

And he was bringing them into one group.

He says, God's purpose in bringing these people together under the authority of Christ was to use the church.

Come on.

Use people from diverse backgrounds to use the church, people that are called collectively together to what?

He says, to display his wisdom in its rich variety, not to your neighbor, not to your kids.

Bible calls us to be a witness to our neighbors and kids and our culture, but look what it says.

To display his wisdom in its rich variety to the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

The Bible says this was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus.

So we have to know what God's power is doing through us.

And literally the text here tells us it's God putting us on display.

Do you realize that you're a display for your creator?

God puts you on display when he calls you out of darkness and puts you into wonderful light by you receiving the love of Christ and what he did on that cross and his resurrection.

God says, now, you know what?

You're my grace trophy, you're my display.

And he says, you're my display when you come in unity with another group of people that have been called out of darkness into the wonderful light and you become a part of my church.

Now y'all become a display.

And so we as a church are a display for God, but not only to our community and our neighborhood and send some invite cards to somebody comes to church.

The Bible here says it's to the authorities in the unseen places.

So I like to think of it this way, is I love to be a display and Christ-like in front of some people.

And when I'm in relationships, because hopefully what's in me is gonna bleed away from me and it's gonna touch somebody's life and they're gonna be drawn to God and receive that love in their own life.

But I mess up a lot of times.

And I love for people to see what Christ is doing in me and doing through me.

That's what we call fruit, come on.

So you gotta root yourself in Christ, the passage says, and then you gotta produce fruit with your life.

But if I'm only being on display for other people, I'm missing God's purpose in bringing me into the church family and putting me together with people who aren't like me.

The Bible says, this is to show the unseen world, his wisdom and its rich variety of how powerful he is.

So again, I wrote it down this way, I gotta realize I'm on display.

And so what God does is he plucks us out of wherever we are, puts us together with other people, but he's doing it to put us on display to show his wisdom and his power, how he can take people from different backgrounds and he can do miraculous things in their life.

And no matter what's going on in the circumstances that come their way, now they become a display to the unseen powers and principalities that we will still show allegiance to King Jesus in spite of the circumstances.

In spite of the circumstances.

So in my private spaces and places of life, I'm on display.

Not just in my public places.

And so when my thinking gets stinking, come on, and it does, I gotta remember that, you know what?

God knows the circumstance.

God knows the challenges I would face before I was ever put together in my mother's womb.

God knows all the different things in my life about me.

And I have to realize when he brought me out of darkness into the wonderful light, the whole purpose was to put me on display and not let the circumstances, the temptations, and the powers of this earth, you know what?

Take over me, but show his power at work in me and through me to those principalities and powers in the unseen realm.

So literally, you know, again, me personally, I've had some challenges over the last, let's call it three years.

I've had a few surgeries, a lot of health issues, and all of those kinds of things.

And when I wake up a lot of times, those things want to define me.

In other words, there's sometimes my body hurts so bad, I don't even want to get out of bed.

And those things can define me.

And then what the enemy does is he says, I want to kill, steal, and destroy your purpose in this planet.

And so I want you to get focused on that.

And I want to begin to take you in a downward spiral.

I want you to move into this depression.

I want you to move into this thought process.

This is who you are.

No, no, no.

And again, you know, it's not that I don't hurt.

It's not that I don't feel pain.

It's not that I don't have a cross to bear.

Come on, somebody.

All of us got a cross to bear, but I got to make my decision and say this.

You know what?

The love of Christ, in spite of the circumstance, in spite of what's happening to my body, in spite of how bad I hurt, the love of Christ is still real.

And the circumstance don't define who I am.

He defines who I am.

Come on, somebody.

And in spite of all that, I'm still gonna hang on to faith.

Come on, faith in who Jesus is.

In spite of what's going on.

And my friend, it's a challenge.

I personally face it daily.

And the reality of it is this.

You know, we open up this altar every single weekend.

Why don't we get together?

And it is so people can be saved and hear about the good news of Jesus and put their faith in a resurrected Jesus and become a part of God's family.

But if you're a part of God's family, you got to get together every single week to encourage one another, to build one another up.

Don't forsake your meeting together.

And again, it's about building us up in the faith of who Jesus really is in spite of the circumstances.

We open this altar up.

Some of us, you know what?

We've been saved for a long time, but we need to come down here when we open this altar up at the end of the service and renew our mind and say, God, God, I need you in the circumstances.

I need to renew my mind.

I'm not so big that the enemy don't ever come against me.

My friend, the enemy is coming at you to kill, steal and destroy a relationship that you have with the God of the universe and take your purpose in life away.

And what he wants to do is he wants to take that away.

But God says, no, the enemy, evil has its time.

Evil has its place.

Evil has some power in this earth, but I'm still an all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere at one time God, and I can come in the domain of the evil one.

I can touch somebody's heart.

They will give allegiance to me in spite of the circumstances, in spite of the challenges, in spite of the relationship.

They will continually give me allegiance.

And you know what?

One day, I'm gonna come back to their full rescue, and their hope is in that, not the circumstances.

Come on, somebody.

And again, it's difficult sometimes, but we have to realize that we're a display for God, and not just to other people.

We're a display to a big audience, and it really matters.

I wrote this in my journal several years ago.

Three things happen when I go on display for God.

Number one is this, heaven applauses.

When I go on display for God, in spite of the circumstances, in spite of the challenges, in spite of the relational breakups, the Bible says this in Luke chapter 15, verse 10, there's joy in the presence of God's angels when one sinner repents.

So the Bible says heaven applauses when one person goes on display.

When one person and all of these people, all the people in life make a decision to say, Jesus, I'm saying yes to you and no to the enemy.

I'm saying yes to your resurrection and no to everything else.

And I'm repenting of my sin and I'm trusting you.

The Bible says that the heavens are like a big stadium and heaven applauses.

The next thing I wrote down, the second thing when I go on display is hell trembles.

Listen to what the scripture says in Matthew 16, verse 18.

He says to Peter, which means rock, upon this rock, I will build my church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

When God reaches down and touches you with the love of Christ and you experience that love and you begin to walk in purpose and you belong to the local church using your gifts, talents and resources to help keep people from being held bondage and held captivity, the gates of hell can't prevail against a church that keeps the right focus in what it's doing and it trembles.

Then I wrote down this, the world changes.

Bible says in Matthew 5, verse 14, you are the light of the world.

And so I'm not only a display to my neighbor, which is a good thing.

We invite you to invite your neighbors.

We invite you to invite your friends, invite you to invite people who are dissatisfied and lost and wandering around.

But again, you have to understand, my friends, if you're really gonna live out purpose, your purpose is more than just being a display to the next person.

You're being a display for God in a grander scheme.

The enemy looks at you and say, how in the world, how in the world can he, in all of his brokenness, and they in this sickness and pain, how can they continue to worship God and believe in God?

And has it ever occurred to you that we all have a cross to bear?

But the reality of it is, is Jesus had a cross to bear to.

And the Bible didn't say he went to that cross without pain.

He went to that cross to suffer for the sin of humanity and to die and show his great love for humanity.

There was a purpose in his pain.

And understand that no pain you're going through right now will be done unpurposeful if you begin to really understand the love of God and what he's ultimately accomplishing through your pain.

And as you give allegiance, again, the Bible says that the enemy has right now, he has dominion over the air.

He can still attempt people to fall short of God's glorious standard.

He can still come into your life and wreck your relationships.

But in spite of all that, you keep hanging on to the love of God and not the circumstances of what are happening.

And you keep trusting God loves me anyway, and he has a purpose in all of this.

And I gotta keep walking in spite of the challenges.

It's realizing that I'm playing to such more, much more of an audience than just, just, you know, the God who loves me.

No, I'm playing to a big audience.

And it's the powers and the principalities in the heavenly places.

And I wrote down this, I gotta embrace that I'm playing to a big audience, and I've gotta embrace too that God loves variety and we can be ourselves.

Other words, God don't make spiritual clones.

God gives spiritual gifts so a variety of people can come together and begin to shine the light of who Christ is in their life together.

Bible calls us a masterpiece.

We're created anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good works that God created for us to do before the foundations of the world.

God is somehow, some way in his master plan taking us from different backgrounds and different circumstances and different challenges and putting us together to keep moving forward by faith and shining the light of Christ in spite of the circumstances.

You know, and again, the Bible says this in Psalm 139 verses 13 and 14.

And I oftentimes remind myself of this because the enemy says, no, no, no, you're a product of what you see.

You're a product of this failing physical body.

I mean, again, maybe you don't feel this, but you're getting older.

Again, it's not a superficial thing to, you know, it's not power of positive thinking.

No, I'm not.

But it is the power of saying, you know what?

In spite of me getting older, God's love for me hasn't changed.

And he has a purpose and a plan for my life this year, just like he had last year.

And it says this in Psalm 139, you made all the delicate inner parts of my body and you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

Your workmanship is marvelous, how well I know it.

And so I got a belief with all of my heart that the moment God began to design me and knit me together in my mother's womb, he knew exactly what his purpose for my life was from the very beginning.

And I have had circumstances, I know you have, we come from a variety of circumstances, but I've had circumstance after circumstance after circumstance happened in my life.

And eventually, you know what?

If I live long enough before and Jesus don't come back, eventually I'm going to clock out of this life.

Death is going to take this body.

It's a reality.

But how can somebody like the apostle Paul write in a letter and say, oh, death, where is your stink?

Because his faith ain't in his body.

His faith is in the God of the universe who loves him.

And he believes what God says and the hope that is found in Christ Jesus that ultimately he will get a new body in the heavens.

Come on, somebody.

And he's trusting that he's going to live with Jesus forever and ever and ever so he can have a rich and satisfying life in spite of the circumstances of life.

So what am I really trying to drive home today?

Stop letting the circumstances that surround you define you.

Let God define you.

Walk in it.

Encourage each other to walk in it.

Renew your mind daily because God is who he says he is.

The circumstances don't define who you are.

Stop letting that define who you are and let God say who you are, but you gotta come to him daily.

It's not a one-time thing.

Yes, Jesus' salvation was enough.

What he did on that cross, he forgives the penalty of sin.

It was enough for all humanity, for all time.

It was enough, come on.

Salvation by Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus alone.

But Jesus died for the penalty of sin, but the spirit comes to live in you to give you power over sin, and you can't have power over sin unless you get a fresh feeling of the spirit inside of your soul each and every day.

If not, you'll deplete yourself and believe the circumstances, and the enemy will kill, steal, and destroy your life.

So again, we're gonna open up this altar in a few minutes.

And some say, well, I checked my box off today, and I went to church.

But did you get renewed?

So we'll open up the altar.

Some people are gonna give their life to Christ over at the crosses.

There'll be people there to pray with them, and that's awesome.

That would be their salvation moment.

But can I tell you something?

That's just the start.

And there's others in here walking with Christ for years.

But you're depleted, you're worn out, you're tired.

The circumstances keep defining who you are.

The altar's open for you, too.

That's why we come in here every single week.

I need, I need some God every, I need God daily.

I need to surrender daily.

I need to give up my way of thinking daily.

I need to keep trusting Jesus daily.

And so when we get together, my friends, it's to inspire faith to keep going, to keep trusting, to keep believing, and keep reaching out to the world around us so they can know the love of Christ.

But again, I don't invite you just to come to church to hear a message.

I invite you to come to church.

You can hear a message, you can go listen to it on a podcast somewhere.

I invite you to come to church to experience the love of Christ and to get together as His people.

Remembering the power of Christ that lives in us and get on mission together to change the world.

And my friends, you know, all of us have a choice.

We can participate or we can say, you know, no, I got it.

But the question is, do you truly have a rich and satisfying and overflowing life?

Because today Jesus can give it to you.

If you'll lay your heart before Him, let me pray for you.

God, I pray for those who haven't believed in Christ yet.

God, some of them heard the message over and over again, but God, they keep on trying.

Jesus, you never called them to try hard, you just called them to surrender their heart to you and the gift that you gave through shedding your blood on that cross so they could be forgiven of their sin and have a connection to you.

My friend, if that describes who you are right now, just say, God, I repent of my sin and I trust Christ.

I want that relationship today.

In just a moment, we give this altar call, get up out of your seat or step towards the crosses and say, today I surrender my life to Jesus.

Not to embarrass you or anything like that, it's just a mark where you say, you know what?

I'm making a note that today is the day of my salvation.

So Jesus, thank you for your blood and thank you for those who received that new today and began to be forgiven of the penalty of sin.

God, there's other stuff that's been walking in this room with Jesus for a long time, but God, we continue to let the circumstances of life define our faith instead of letting the God of the universe who lives in us and works through us define our faith.

And God, I believe that there's many of us who need to repent today of not letting your power go to work in us and through us.

And God, we just need to surrender back up and remind ourself today of who you are.

God, we need to hit our knees at this altar today and we need to trust you.

And God, I don't know what you're gonna do.

Maybe people are gonna kneel in their seat today.

Maybe there's gonna be 100 people that come to the altar.

Maybe there's gonna be one.

But God, I know by the power of your Holy Spirit, you're working in men, women, boys, and girls life all over this room.

And I pray right now, as we sing this next song, that we worship you, Jesus, and we surrender back up to you again.

It's in Jesus' name, I pray.