Fighting The Right Battles

Hey church family. I’m so blessed to be with you all today. Are we gonna be able to get that sermon that was prepped for five hours one day? I would love to hear that. I got the pleasure and privilege to meet so many of you earlier, but if we’ve never met before I wanna introduce myself. My name is Hosanna Wong. Some of you are familiar with the name Hosanna. If you were raised in church, you might have been growing up singing songs like Hosanna in the Highest. So you might hear that someone’s here today named Hosanna Wong and think, okay, Hosanna Wong, maybe like a Chinese worship leader is here to sing some tunes. Something between Lauren Dagel and Mulan is about to happen right now. That’s not what’s gonna happen right now. I didn’t grow up singing, but I did grow up on the streets of San Francisco.

If any of you’re football fans, you heard that and you’re like, oh, that poor girl. Thank you. We appreciate your condolences. The earth is healing. We appreciate your prayers and thoughts at this time. I grew up on the streets of San Francisco. My dad battled a heroin addiction for 15 years. He fought in a gang. He had bullet holes alongside his calves from the last time he ran from the police from the last time he robbed some place and someone introduced him to Jesus. And Jesus changed his whole life. And my dad ended up starting an outreach to our friends, living without homes and battling with addiction on the streets of San Francisco. And that’s where I grew up. We had outdoor services with our friends every week. People brought their alcohol bottles, people brought their dirty needles. And that’s how I learned church.

I learned later in life when other people said they were also raised in church, who we were not talking about the exact same thing. But that’s where I learned that Jesus could save anyone’s soul and redeem anyone’s story and would use anyone who would say yes. And that is why I love this church family so much. Just real people who wanna know God for real and love people for real. So would you just join me in thanking and honoring your pastor, pastor Kurt, and the whole team, the staff, the volunteers, everyone and the kids, everyone that makes this happen. Thank you. Thank you for what you do. I am so thrilled to be your Chinese sister from San Francisco. So I’m, I’m glad to be part of the family today. I wanna talk about the battles that you and I are fighting, the battles that you’re fighting, that perhaps nobody else even knows, that you’re fighting the battles that you’re fighting, that perhaps you’ve been fighting for a long time and you’re tired and exhausted, or perhaps they are new battles.

Battles you never imagined you would have to fight. I think I’ve always been a fighter. I think it might be because of how I was raised, the things I saw on the streets growing up. I saw things I was too young to see. I lost things I wasn’t supposed to lose. But I think even if you and I had a different upbringing or a different childhood, I think you might be able to relate to experiencing loss. Things you weren’t meant to lose, seeing things you weren’t supposed to see, overcoming things because things were taken from you or something happened to you or someone that you loved. Many of us might say, yes, life experiences have made me a fighter. We wanna fight for the people we love. We wanna fight against injustice. We wanna fight against the things that hurt people or hold people back.

We wanna fight for the underdogs. We wanna fight for those that other people overlook. Many of us can say yes. I can think of some times in my life where life experiences have made me a fighter. This side of myself came out in somewhat of a silly way. When I was 19 years old, I was off to college about seven hours away from my hometown, but I drove into my hometown San Francisco to take my baby brother Elijah out to dinner. And the whole reason why I was even in town on this particular day is because one year before our dad, our hero who led all those friends of ours on the streets to Jesus, he got cancer and he had just passed away. And I promised my dad that I would look out for Elijah. Elijah had not given his life to Jesus yet.

And I promised my dad that I would spend the rest of my life fighting for Elijah. And this particular day was Elijah’s 13th birthday. So I was coming into town to take him and a bunch of his friends out to dinner. So he knew that he was seen and known and loved. Well, we had about an hour before it was time for dinner. So we’re walking around my old hood trying to find something to do when I see a sign that says $5 haircuts. And I thought this sounds like a good idea and it was not. I should also mention that at the time I had bright red hair clearly because I was going through a breakup. Ladies, can you attest, this is what you do when you go through a breakup. You either dye your hair or you get bangs.

You’re laughing because you know I don’t make the rules. So I walked in with bright red hair and then I walked out with a bright red mullet, not the cute kind. I said, Elijah, this is now an emergency. Get into the car. We’re wearing a Sally Beauty supply store right now to gimme some hair extensions fast. So we drive to the store, we’re jogging to the front door when a man starts walking towards us, a man saying some mean words about my appearance, some nasty words, some words that perhaps my baby brother had not heard before. And by the way, I might have been like half saved at this point in my life too. Okay, now we’re having a breakup, a bad hair day. It was not the ideal time for this man to come into our lives for the fighter side to come out in me.

And so this is what I did instinctively. I turned to him and I said, what’d you say about me? Get closer and say it to my face. And he did, which was not my plan. So now he’s walking towards me saying meaner words, louder words. I’m walking towards him. And I’m excited because I know some mean words too. I’m like forming a speech in my mind of how I’m gonna tear him down too. So we’re getting close to each other. We get face to face. And I say this to him, I’m so excited. I have a whole speech. And I say to him, you don’t know me. You don’t know one thing about me. I, and in that moment, I looked to my side, I saw my baby brother mortified. And in that moment I remembered what I was actually in town for. I remembered the battle.

I was actually there to fight. But now I’m kind of in a sticky situation because I just told this man, I’m gonna tell you who I am. And I’m just thinking like, oh man, my dad would want me to make this some kind of teaching moment. Like, how can I make this about God? Where are those ww JD bracelets when you need them? And so I’m looking at him, I’m looking at my brother, and this was my best pivot in the moment. I’m mid screaming at this, man, you don’t know one thing about me. I, I see Elijah pivot the plan. What would Jesus do? I I’m a child of God. That’s right. That’s right. Walk away. Walk away. And let me tell you, he did walk away because I am pretty sure that was the scariest thing I could have said to this man.

I just imagined him jogging to the bus.like, man, this hood is getting crazier. Little girl shouting about, God, get me outta here. But I had somewhere to be. I had to take my baby brother out to dinner and I needed some hair extensions real fast. Some of us are fighters. Some of you’re hearing that story. You’re thinking, Hosanna, you should have been bold. You should have told that man off and you would be some dangerous friends for me to have. I don’t know. It’s because I was raised in the hood or raised in the nineties, but I’ve got some Jenny from the block in me. I mean, none of you throwing off your earrings and saying, girl, any parking lot, let’s go.

I had the opportunity to turn my back on my little brother and the battle I was actually there to fight and choose instead to fight against this man. Let me tell you something. Some of us are fighters and that is a good thing because there are battles that you have been called to fight. But we don’t wanna be people who are out there boldly fighting the wrong battles. And the enemy of your soul hopes that you are too distracted fighting lesser battles, that you don’t have the time or the energy to be the sister, to be the brother, to be the father, to be the mother, to be the coach, to be the leader, to be the voice of encouragement, to be the light in your workplace or the light at your school to be the woman or man you’ve been called to be the enemy of your soul.

Hopes that you don’t have the time or the energy to fight the battles you’ve actually been called to fight. But instead, you and I can choose today to say, I’m going to reclaim my focus because yes, I am a fighter. I don’t want the enemy to have any victory over my time or my energy. I only want to fight the battles I’ve been called to fight. I wanna unpack for you a story that I grew up reading that I grew up hearing about. But it wasn’t until this past season of my life when I saw something in it that I used to miss. It’s the story of David and Goliath. Do you know it? It’s a good one, right? ESPN knows this story. If you’re a fellow sports fan, they’ll say this. Sometimes they’ll say, oh, there’s a story of an underdog team, a David team taking down a Goliath, a powerhouse team.

We know this story, we love it. It’s a good one. But did you know that before David walked onto the battlefield, he was called to fight on, he was stopped and he had an opportunity to fight a lesser battle. I wanna unpack for you this story and show how David had the opportunity to be distracted by a lesser battle and how you and I too can at times be distracted by the wrong battles. But we don’t have to. Let’s go back to this moment in time really quick. Here’s the scene. We’re at war. We’ve been at war for a long time. It’s a whole thing. We have the good guys. The Israelites are God’s people. We want them to win. We have the bad guys, the Philistines, we want them to lose. Dave is not even a soldier. His brothers are. His dad says, go to the battlefield and bring your brother some food.

So he comes with all this food to the battlefield, and then he realizes that nobody is fighting. So he has some reasonable questions. Why is nobody fighting? Who’s gonna fight? Who’s gonna take down the threat to God’s people? I’ll take down Goliath. What’s the reward for someone to taking down Goliath? And before David went onto the battlefield, he was called to fight before he went to fight Goliath, he was stopped by his brother Iab and his brother has some mean words for David, some nasty words, some words that perhaps David had not heard before. And I wanna unpack for you how the words that IEB said to David had the potential to distract him. And how if we’re not careful, we can get distracted too. So I’m gonna unpack what Ieb said to him. David’s on his way to fight Goliath. We’re in one Samuel 1728 and his brother says this, why have you come down here? Who is watching your tiny flock in the wilderness? I am your brother and I know you. You’re arrogant and your heart is evil. You’ve come to watch the battle as if it were just entertainment.

I propose that within Ilya’s demeaning declaration to David, there are four lies. Four lies that Ilya is saying to David that had the potential to discourage him and distract him from the battle he was called to fight. We’re gonna unpack these four lies together. If you want to take notes, you can do so on our church app. If you don’t have the app, you can just take a picture of the QR code on the seat right in front of you and it’ll bring you to the app. ’cause I wanna unpack these four lies that ILI is saying to you. And I wonder as we unpack them, if you’ve ever heard these lies in your life too, I just want you to know from up top, I have heard and believed and been distracted by each and every one of these lies at some point in my life.

And they have acted like a ceiling over my life keeping me from living the full life God has called me to live. So as we unpack them, I wonder if perhaps there is one that you’ve been told as well. The first lie that IEB says to David is that you are not enough. IEB says to David, why have you come down here? He’s saying, who do you think you are? That you and your insignificant self can come and fight the battle that only significant people are called to fight on? You are not enough. Who told you you were good enough? Who told you you were worthy, who told you your life can make an impact? Who told you you could do something valuable? You are not enough. Have you ever heard the lie that you are not enough or your life is not as important as other people’s lives?

I’ve heard this lie and believed this lie most of my life. ’cause I believed my family was not enough. My dad’s background was different than most of my friends’ parents’ backgrounds. I believed that our church was not enough. Our outreach to our friends living on the streets wasn’t like my friends’ churches. And even in other spaces with Christian communities, I constantly felt like I just couldn’t fit in. I always felt like I wasn’t churchy enough for my church friends and I was too churchy for my unchurched friends and I was constantly trying to figure out where I could be enough. Where can the real me actually fit in? I was the only Chinese girl in my class. My family had less money than everyone else at my school. And so I was constantly believing the lie that I was not as important as other people.

So I kept trying to change my story, change how I looked, change where my family was from constantly thinking that I must have to shapeshift myself in order to fit into some kind of mold in order to be loved and valued and accepted or to do anything of value. Have you ever heard the lie that you’re not enough? Like you have to water down your details? Like you can’t tell people your real background, like you can’t tell people your real questions, like you don’t really fully fit in anywhere, so you’re changing a bit about yourself everywhere. Have you

Ever heard the lie

That you are not enough?

I want you

To know, and I wish

I would’ve known years ago,

The

Enemy of your soul hopes

That you believe

The lie

That your life is not as important as other people’s lives because the enemy knows who you really are.

He knows the

Truth about your life and the truth about your value. So he’s on this whole mission to make sure you don’t find out too because he knows that what you think about yourself determines how you live. And he knows that if you discovered that truth that you are loved by God and chosen by God and created with the purpose and safe in the hands of God, he knows if you discovered who you really were, you would start living like who you really are. And the enemy’s greatest threat is children of God, knowing who we are and living like it. If you’ve ever believed that you’re not enough,

I want you to know you’re not crazy. You’ve been told lies your whole life.

I want you to

Know the truth. You are more than you’ve been told. It is actually your

Background and where you’re from and what you’ve overcome. It’s actually your lens of the world and your exact details that God wants to use exactly where

You are. Have you ever heard the lie that you’re not enough?

The second thing that IAB says to David is this. He says, you are not doing

Enough.

The second thing IAB says to David is who is watching your tiny flock in the wilderness?

He’s

Teasing David. He’s saying, how’s that small thing that that you’re doing at home and at work that nobody sees and nobody cares about while we’re all doing the important stuff that everybody sees and everybody’s talking about? How’s that small thing you’re doing that’s less than the thing that I’m doing here? IEB is teasing David, wanting him to think that he’s not doing enough because he’s not doing what IAB is doing. Some of us are believing this lie. The enemy of our souls wants us to believe the lie that even though we’re doing all that we can in our families and all we can in our marriages and all we can for our parents and our kids in our communities and our friends and our own souls, the enemy of our souls wants us to believe the lie that we’re not doing enough

So that we hurt ourselves trying to prove ourselves.

And I want you

To know the truth.

You don’t need

The applause of man to have the approval of God when you are faithful

In the places and spaces God

Has put you. Nobody else needs to see it. God sees it. Keep being faithful. The

Third thing that IEB says to David is, I am your brother so I know you.

This is

The third lie. This is the lie that someone else can define

You.

Have you ever had someone say to you, man, I know the real you ’cause I went to high school with you. Amen. I pray every Sunday that no one from my high school shows up to my church. Or have you ever heard someone say, man, don’t talk to me about this God stuff or this church stuff. I know how you used to live. I used to lend you money. I used to pick you up from off the floor. This is all a facade. This is all fake. You’re a fraud. Some of us have iliums in our lives, people who take the power from us and talk down to us and tell us our value, but some of us don’t have IEBs who took the power. Some of us have given it away and we give the power away when we obsess about what other people think about us, when we’re constantly thinking about and worrying about what other people are saying about us.

And we have to stop going to other people to tell us who we are, who have no idea who they are, we have to stop trying to prove ourselves to people or impress other people. People will have no power to define us. The truth is that no one has the power to define you, but the one who created you. And then this is the fourth thing that IAB says to David. This one’s a little bit different. This lies a little bit different. He says to him, I am your brother. And then he says, you’re arrogant. Your heart is evil. You’ve come to watch the battle as if it were just entertainment. Here IAB is giving a list of things that David has done wrong and it’d be easy to say, well, that’s a lie too. David has never done anything wrong. David is perfect, but that’s not true.

And David will prove throughout his life that he’s not perfect. But in this specific story, David is a teenager. So I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that perhaps his brother who grew up with him, perhaps his brother who was raised in the same home as him, has seen David have perhaps some arrogant moments. Maybe he has seen David do things to irritate his brothers. It’s possible that IAB is telling the truth. David has done all of these things. The lie is not that David had ever done anything wrong. The lie was that because of something David once did before this moment, it disqualified him from being used by God in this moment. And this is the fourth lie. This is the lie that your past disqualifies you. The enemy of your soul wants you to believe the lie. That because of something you did in the past, it forever disqualifies you from being used by God in the future.

And this list of things that you’ve done wrong, it may be true, there may have been some better choices you could have made. That is half the truth. The full truth is that because of a choice that Jesus once made to come and be with us, to die for us to die for our sins. And forgive us once we give our lives to Jesus for real, and we surrender that thing to Jesus for real. He covers us and he forgives us. And now we’re no longer defined by that thing we did. Now we’re defined by what Jesus did for us. But here’s the truth about what’s happening in this room and some of our lives. Some of us are living in guilt because of something we did years ago. And some of us are living in shame because of something we said years ago. And some of us are spending a lot of our time and energy thinking about the things we wish we would’ve said and the things we wish we wouldn’t have done.

That project we invested all this money into that didn’t work out the way we wanted that person, we said that thing to that we know we can’t take back. For some of us, we are being held back by guilt that we don’t have to anymore. And we’re being held back by shame when we don’t have to anymore. And for some of us, it is time to surrender that thing that we did to the feet of Jesus, turn away from that thing and receive God’s grace and start to live as they healed and whole and forgiven children of God that we really are. Have you ever heard the lie that you’re not enough, you’re not doing enough, someone else can define you or your past disqualifies you? Have you ever been held back by any of these lies? David heard all of these lies. And then this was David’s response. I want you to know it was so much holier than Hosanna from the block screaming at a stranger at a Sally beauty store parking lot. Praise the Lord, the word of God. Here’s David’s response to his brother. Now what have I done? Said David. Can’t I even speak? He then turned away.

We know how this story goes. ESPN knows how this story goes. David goes to the king, he says, put me in. Coach King puts him in. He goes to the battlefield and he takes that threat to God’s people down. Friends, it is a good thing that David did not stop to fight his brother. It is a good thing that David did not turn his back on the battlefield. He was called to fight on and say, instead, I’m gonna fight you. Ilya. You hurt my feelings. You hurt my ego. Everyone heard what you said about me. It’s a good thing David didn’t try to spend his

Life proving himself to iab. We need to stop comparing ourselves to other people. If we continue to do that,

We might start to believe

The lie that we have

To do

Everything and then we might miss the specific thing that God has called us to do. It is a good thing that David did not stop to fight his brother. This is how the enemy loves

To

Do it. Sometimes

He loves to put brother against brother

And sister against sister

And Christ follower against Christ follower. So we are too busy fighting each other that we don’t have the time or the energy to fight the battles. God has actually called

Us to fight.

But there are real giants

In our world.

There’s giants in

Our own homes,

There’s people in our own real lives that still

Don’t know how much God loves them. There’s giants in our own families.

There’s people we’ve prayed for for years. There’s battles. We’ve been fighting for years. There’s giants of anxiety, giants of fear, giants of heartbreak, giants of

Loneliness

Who will take the real giants

Down. It won’t be those of us who are distracted fighting lesser battles. But instead, you and I can choose today to say I want to reclaim my focus. I don’t want the enemy to have any power over my focus, my time or my energy. I only wanna fight the battles God has called me to fight. And if that’s you today, if you are here and you’re saying I’m in, I only wanna fight the battles. God has called me to fight. But how do I know which ones those are? That is a good question, the right question. Here’s how you will know not how you will know what somebody else is called to do. Not how you’ll know what your pastor is called to do or what your spouse is called to do or what I’m called to do. But this is how you will know what you are called to do. You will know what battles to fight when you first and foremost fight to spend real time with God. Make finding time to spend real time with God the most important fight of your life. I’m aware that this might sound simple, but in our actual lives, this is not simple. Everything in our

World

And everything in your specific world is fighting against you, having real time with God.

It is almost as if the enemy of our souls knows that he can discourage us, that he can distract us, that he can make us too busy, where we are not fighting the most important fight of our lives, the fight that would help us know who we are and know how to live the enemy of your soul hopes that you are too distracted, that you’re not fighting to spend time in God’s word. We just finished an amazing series called the Bible where we talked about the story of the Bible and the power of the Bible, the revelation of the Bible. You will also discover who you are when you fight for to spend time in God’s word, but the enemy of your soul doesn’t want you to fight, to spend time to actually really engage in God’s word because he knows. Then you would discover what your creator says about you.

And when you know who you are, it changes how you live. The enemy of your soul hopes that you are too distracted, that you don’t fight to spend time to pray because he knows that when you have a one-on-one real conversation with your creator, God starts to direct your thoughts and then he starts to direct your desires. And then he starts to direct your steps and then he starts to refresh your soul. Of course, the enemy of your soul doesn’t want you to have have any time to spend time in prayer. The enemy of your soul hopes you’re too distracted, that you don’t fight to spend time to rest. The enemy hopes that you believe the lie that some of us have heard our whole lives, that you have to do more or produce more or carry more or hustle harder or impress more people in order to be loved and valuable and have a purpose.

But God commanded rest. And then Jesus exemplified rest because he wanted us to know that we are already loved even before we do one thing. The enemy of your soul hopes that you are too distracted, that you don’t fight to spend time in real community. And look, we’re doing that today. We’re spending real time in a real community. Some of us aren’t here because we felt like it. Some of us had a really hard week. Some of us aren’t here because it was convenient. Some of you drove for hours to be here. But we’re here because we made a choice to have a real relationship with God and to do the things that Jesus has called us to do. And the enemy of our souls knows that we were made for real community. So when we’re in real community with other believers, we become more of who we really are.

And then we start hearing from God and then we start doing the things God’s called us to do. Of course, the enemy of our souls doesn’t want us to fight for that. The enemy of our souls hopes that we are too busy, too discouraged and too distracted that we don’t make time for the most important fight of our lives. And here’s the truth. Sometimes the battles that can distract us are negative voices, negative things, but sometimes they are good battles. Battles that we think might make sense for us to fight. And before we close this service, I just wanna share with you a story of how Jesus knew what battles to fight when Jesus was on earth living, showing us also how to one day live, Jesus had an opportunity to fight a lot of different battles. And I just wanna share with you this one story.

When Jesus was walking with his friends and he’s being Jesus doing Jesus things, he’s healing people. And then all of these people had ideas of where he should go next, what battles he should fight next. You should fight the battles in this city. They need you there. You should fight the battle in this city. People need help there. You should fight the battle in this city. And Jesus had all these options of which battle to fight next. And this is what Jesus did. We are in Mark one very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him. And when they found him, they exclaimed. Everyone is looking for you. And Jesus replied, let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages so I can preach there also.

This is why I have come. Jesus knew what battles to fight because he first fought to spend real time with God. And he was giving us an example how we too can fight to spend time with God and not go be directed by other people’s opinions, but we can go and be directed by God. I want you to know what I wish I would’ve known a lot earlier. Your relationship with Jesus doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s relationship with Jesus. It just has to be real and honest. A one-on-one ongoing conversational relationship is what Jesus wants to have with you in this story. Jesus woke up in the morning because that’s when he could find time to do it. There’s other stories of Jesus finding time in the afternoon. There’s other stories of Jesus finding time in the late night. There is a way for you and your schedule and your personality to really engage with God.

The fight for your life might look like fighting for your schedule, your real schedule, your real life. So following Jesus or encountering God is not something over our heads, hypothetical and spiritual. But no, it’s real and tangible for you, for you to look at your real schedule, not the schedule you had 10 years ago, not the one you hope to have soon, hopefully in a year or two, but your real life to look at your month and say, how am I real life? Am I going to fight to spend real time with God? How am I gonna engage in his word? Okay, maybe it’s Monday this week, maybe it’s Wednesday. How am I gonna make sure I spend time and pray? Okay, maybe this day it’s these two days and then this day. How am I gonna fight to spend time to rest this week?

It’s this day, this week I can’t. So maybe this day, how am I gonna fight to spend real time in real community? Okay, here and here in your real life with your real schedule. How will you fight to spend time with God? Because the truth, you will know who you really are when you spend real time with the one who knows you the best. I wanna share with you about a time in our lives when this was very real for us. My husband and I celebrate 10 years married this year. And oh, thank you. Yes, praise the Lord. I’ll receive that. Thanks. It has truly been the best 10 years of his life. He’s so blessed. I’ll let you, I’ll let him know you laughed.

But this season was a season that perhaps some of you can relate to. It was a season of immense loss, financially, physically, relationally. The people we thought would stay, didn’t the people we thought would defend us didn’t. I felt a lot of shame. I started believing all of these lies about myself. And then I started living to prove myself to other people. And I started fighting all of these battles. And my husband would tell you I was not the woman he married. I wasn’t myself anymore. And the fight for my life came by fighting for my schedule. It wasn’t public, it wasn’t cute, it was private alone on our hemi down couch in our apartment. But I had to look at my real life and say, how am I gonna fight to spend real time and pray? How am I gonna fight to spend real time to rest?

How am I gonna fight to spend real time in community? How am I gonna get real with people? And then I started to fight, to spend time in God’s word to know what God actually said about me. God has some other names for us. God calls us other things than the things that we’ve been told by other people. And I want you to know that you deserve to stop seeing yourself through the broken lens of other people. When you start seeing yourself through the lens of God, you’ll discover who you really are and who you’ve always been. I’ve started memorizing names at God called me, trying to make God’s voice the loudest voice in my life. And I wanna tell you what I learned in that season. I wanna remind you who you really are. If you’ve ever been told that you’re not enough, that you’re not doing enough, that someone else can define you or that your past disqualifies you, I want you to know what your creator says about you.

John 1515, he calls you his friend, one Thessalonians one, four, he calls you chosen Ephesians two 10. He calls you his masterpiece. He calls you his art. He calls you handmade. He calls you purpose and fashion for good things. One Corinthians six 19, he calls your body at temple, he calls it the residents of the Holy Spirit. Acts one eight, he calls you his messenger to the world. Galatians 3 26, he calls you his child, Romans five, eight. He calls you greatly loved John 8 36, he calls you free. Free indeed, two Corinthians five 17. He calls you brand new. And it’s amazing how different these names are from the names some of us are used to listening to. I wanna encourage you today in your real life with your real schedule to fight, to spend real time with the one who knows you the best. Because when you know who you are, it changes how you live and it changes the battles that you fight.

I wanna pray for two groups of people today. I wanna pray for a group of people who says, today I want a new life. I’ve never really made the choice to give my life to Jesus for real. And I want to do that today. I want a new life with Jesus. And I wanna pray for a second group of people who says, I want a new focus. I don’t wanna be distracted by lesser battles or discouraged by lesser voices. I only wanna fight the battles. God has called me to fight. I’m here today and I’m leaving with a new focus. I wanna pray for both of those people. And so here’s what we’re gonna do. If you are here today, in a moment, in a moment, I’m gonna ask that if you are here today and you want a new life, you wanna give your life to Jesus today, in a moment, I’m gonna ask you to raise your hand.

And then I’m gonna ask you to keep it raised because then I’m gonna ask everyone who says, I want a new focus to add on with their hands as well. And then all of our hands will be raised. Those of us who are saying that prayer and then I’m gonna lead you in a prayer, you’re gonna repeat after me. I’m gonna lead you in a prayer. That’s a prayer to give your life to Jesus. If you’ve never given your life to Jesus before, all you have to do is mean it and say it out loud. I’m gonna lead you in that prayer. But you’re not gonna be praying alone. I’m gonna ask everyone else in the room who’s already given your life to Jesus, we’re gonna add on to their faith. We’re gonna say it out loud with them as we’re praying for a new focus.

So if you are here today and you’re saying, I don’t wanna wait any longer. I’m ready for a new life. I wanna give my life to Jesus. On the count of three, would you just shoot your hand up in the air and keep it raised on the count of 3, 1, 2, 3 hands in the air. If you’re saying, I want a new life, I see you, sir, in the back, I see you family in the back. I see you, sir. I see you family in the back. I see you keep your hands raised. You’re saying, I want a new life. Keep your hands raised. And now everyone who’s saying today, I want a new focus, would you add on to their hands in the name of Jesus? Add on your hands. If you’re saying, I want a new focus, and everyone in the room who’s giving your life to Jesus, and

Everyone who already has repeat after me, say, Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you died and rose again, you are my savior. I turn away from my sin. I turn away from my shame. I want a new life. I want a new focus. In the name of Jesus, amen and amen. I love you, church family. I’ll see you soon.