Matt Chandler - Submission as Witness

if you have your bibles go ahead and grab those this will be our passage so last week uh during the nine my family and I sat right here where we tend to sit and uh brother morse was throwing the strikes and I was wondering if I would get to do this again here and if I would show up on monday and they were like actually you’re the new student guy and uh which I would love but they they let me keep my my my job hey I i don’t know if you didn’t get to listen uh to michael sermon from last week you need to go listen to that he just did an exceptional job uh with the passage um and and shaping that in a way that we could understand it and apply it yeah and and it struck me um you know there’s there’s a thousand ways god shows us his kindness all the time and for this congregation to have that kind of elder a man who has been faithfully in love with his wife for decades who’s raised his children who is loving grandbabies who has planted a church who can faithfully unpack the word of god in a room of 14 1500 people that’s a real gift of god’s grace not to mention the fact that he loves this church he loves you he works a full-time job and then him and miss deb who like I just want to come to my house and read the bible to me like love you and they love me and they love this place and what a gift that’s one couple of a lot of men and their wives who work 50 hour weeks work sometimes 60 hour weeks and then whatever they’ve got left they pour into this place for our maturity and the glory of god they’re a real gift of god’s grace I don’t want to I don’t want to just press on and not acknowledge that was incredible that that was incredible and so thank you brother for your love for this church for your love for me for your faithfulness to the word of god miss deb first lady all right oh I just got the look let me do this last year um I i was in a class in glen arden maryland it’s right outside of washington the okay right out of wash right outside of washington dc I didn’t have a lot going on so I was like I should get a degree and and so I’m in this class on culture uh and theology like how to think theologically about uh culture in general and david brooks um who uh like I started reading years ago and he was one of those guys that if you don’t know david brooks is he’s kind of a public intellect he is an op-ed writer for the new york times a brilliant mind he was one of those guys early on that I could just I’d read his stuff and I was like oh my gosh he’s so close he’s so close and yet so far and I just found myself praying for him anybody got somebody famous you’re like lord save that one anybody do that yeah I’ve got other people on that list I’m not sharing it but uh brooks I was just like god would you save david brooks would you save him and then uh a few years ago now there started to be rumors that he’d actually given his life to christ he hadn’t said anything publicly you could tell there was a bit of a shift in his writing uh and so I’m in this class and and david brooks is teaching and uh and he’s he’s talking about um faithfully engaging culture with the gospel so at that point I’m like well obviously he’s given his life to christ right you’re not talking about engaging the culture with the gospel if you don’t believe the gospel and he gave my little cohort of about 15 guys an opportunity to ask questions and so I’m nerding out man I don’t know who that would be for you but I mean this is somebody like who intellectually I respect he’s a brilliant thinker he’s not a perfect man because there aren’t any of those and I’m listen and he gave us a chance to ask questions and here’s my thing I want to know the story I want to know how it happened so that stuff geeks me out uh and so I just got to ask hey can you tell me I mean you you grew up jewish you’ve heard all the arguments you can you tell us what happened like what what led to you finally saying yes and surrendering to jesus and and so he he kind of just shared his background grew up jewish he had heard all the arguments he had christian friends that had talked with him he had read through the new testament he had kind of done some of the presuppositional apologetic stuff um and and yet here here’s this and this sentence when he turned it I think I’ll it’ll haunt me the rest of my life it’ll just get stuck in my heart he said this when I saw the beauty in the life of my christian friends I knew there was something there so where having a working knowledge of the old testament and the covenant promises and reading through the new testament and looking through presuppositional apologetics didn’t break his heart open to belief beauty did and watching beauty unfold this is his testimony in the lives of his christian friends was the thing that the spirit used to ignite all that other stuff so so how did as he writes now beautifully about the old testament covenants about the gospel of jesus as he mentions those things how did those things catch on fire not by knowing those things but by seeing beauty and beauty used by the spirit to ignite all that kindling so that david brooks worships jesus with you and I and so last week uh brother morris just from the text said hey keep on maturing you remember that keep on maturing I wrote them down keep on being built up keep on speaking up and any yes and and amen to all of that and as we consider what it’s like to live in this moment as the people of god peter moves from that admonition to beauty and boldness how are you and I to live in this moment how is the people of god to live in any given moment regardless of the weather how are we to live lives of beauty and lives of boldness there’s my outline all right let’s look at the passage together starting in verse 11. beloved I love that I just love that he started he’s like hey guys I love you listen up listen I love you I know what I’m saying is difficult I know the season that you’re in is hard I know you’re experiencing a great deal of hardships beloved I am with you I love you I’m not away I’m in this with you beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and glorify god on the day of visitation so so he’s talking about in this moment we’re going to do a quick dive into this he’s talking about in that moment works over words lives over proclamation did you see it that that’s what he’s done here and that’s huge for you and I to grasp you and I live in a country by the grace of god that values somewhat protects and and allows for free speech praise god we should protect that as best we can defend that the best we can take advantage of that the best we can but peter here is saying even if you lose it the gospel will move forward even if you lose it the gospel cannot be stopped why because the beauty of your lives because the way that we live according to god’s moral law reflects something beautiful and compelling that draws in even as it repels that draws in even as it repels the book of proverbs says there are wise people there are simple people and there are evil people and where you live the moral law of god the wise commend it the simple see it and are drawn into it and the evil will attack it you with me all right so here he’s saying even if you don’t have words you have your life and the way you do life the beauty of god’s moral law as you live it out men and women will see and will be drawn to or repelled by now now here’s I’m going to spend a lot of time on this little section because I feel like I say it all the time but I probably will continue to say it all the time just for the purpose of time in this sermon just a quick hit the moral law of god is all about god’s glory and your joy god is not after look at me you’re begrudging submission to misery how would god be glorified in that he wouldn’t be so so the framework of god’s moral law is actually ultimately about your delight regardless of what your compulsions are regard god is after beauty that compels order that draws in flourishing not floundering that people can look at and go there is a god right and and he’s asking us into it like listen to this this is psalm 19 7-10 the law of the lord is perfect reviving the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise the simple the precepts of the lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever the rules of the lord are true and righteous all together more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the drippings of honeycombs like who talks about rules and laws and boundaries that way in our day these laws are amazing these commands that I have to submit oh god that’s like honey like sweet honeycomb give me some more of that other psalms he’s like I’m thinking about him when I lay in bed at night like how good are the laws of the lord like when you’re in them you’re literally like laying in bed at night going dang that’s good I am warm and going to sleep well man ever since we talked through revelation I have just been like anything about how the early church functioned my eyes immediately drawn to it and and I i want to pull from it so we can marvel at what it means to be the people of god in a given climate and and so I’m going to read a lengthy quote I apologize for the length uh but it’s just that good that in 150 a.d there’s your date the epistle of diagnosis was written I’m sure all of you have read it’s on your shelf but um here’s what he says again rome is trying to make sense of what’s happening like it just the the spread of christianity’s jostled them they’re not quite sure uh what to make of it at one by 150 a.d they’re slaughtering us wholesale now listen to this for the christians are distinguished from other men neither by country nor language nor the customs which they observe for they neither inhabit cities of their own nor employ a peculiar form of a particular form of speech nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity the course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men nor do they like some proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrine now let me tell you what he’s just saying he just said this is brand new wherever we go there they are there’s not christian cities there’s not a christian language there’s not a christian way of dressing there’s not a he’s saying man wherever we go there they are they haven’t formed their own cities they’re in every city they haven’t formed their own language they speak the languages of the earth they are everywhere and that sounds normal to you and I in 2022 in dallas texas that hadn’t been done before religions were in certain areas given over to certain cities certain languages certain practices and they’re going not this group this group is everywhere and they look just like everyone else except they proclaim that there’s nothing human about what they are and what they’re doing right now let’s keep going I feel like I got more excited about that than you did it’s fine it’s fine you’re fine but inhabiting greek as well as barbarian cities according as the lot of each of them has determined and following the customs of natives in respect to clothing food and the rest of their ordinary conduct they display to us their wonderful and confessively striking method of life so here’s their method of life they dwell in their own countries but simply as sojourners as citizens they share in all things with others generous and yet endure all things as if foreigners every foreign land is to them as their native country and every land of their birth as a land of strangers they marry as do all others they begin children beget children but they do not destroy their offspring they have a common table but not a common bed they are in their flesh but they do not live after their flesh they pass their days on earth but they are citizens of heaven the upside down kingdom they obey the prescribed laws and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives they love all men and are persecuted by all they are unknown and condemned they are put to death and restored to life they are poor yet make many rich they are in lack of all things and yet abound in all they are dishonored and yet in their very dishonor they are glorified they are evil spoke they are evil spoken of and they are evil spoken of and yet justified they are reviled and they bless they are insulted and they repay the insult with honor they do good yet they are punished as evildoers when punished they rejoice as if quickened into life they are assailed by the jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the greeks yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred do you see the picture of moral beauty do you see their love for life their their biblical ethic of sexuality do you see their radical generosity with time and money do you see the the moral beauty of god being displayed through the children of god see that this text talks a lot about your flesh and and putting your flesh to death and and I think we cover that almost every week but but here’s here’s the question I have for you do you love goodness do you love beauty see if we’re going to embody this if we’re going to live this out you and I will have to care deeply about goodness and beauty we will want lives marked by goodness a display of goodness in our lives so I let me let’s just let me ask a couple questions in your marriage or in your singleness are you displaying the goodness of covenant keeping joy right this is goodness covenant keeping joy remember when I said the commands of god are about your joy you find me an 80-year-old man with a bunch of grandkids who’s hung in there with the wife of his youth through thick and thin because everybody has thick or thin you think that 80 year old man has regrets he’s going to I wish when we were going through that rough patch we’re in our 30s I’d have punted her and got a new one no doesn’t he feel doesn’t he feel the joy of covenant keeping love and does not the display of his life becomes something that’s beautiful that we would all desire and long for not momentary happiness and pleasure the long game this is what covenant keeping love is all about this is the moral beauty of god’s commands and loss in your parenting or in your friendships are you telling stories of home in the unseen realm last night we got to gather lauren and I did with our closest friends we’ve had this dinner for 13 straight years last night was it bleecker was there he brought his guitar uh and we worshipped and laughed and told some inappropriate jokes and we just marveled at the fact that we’re not from here we’re just not from here this just didn’t home so last year was hard in some ways you know why because I ain’t from here this coming year will be difficult in some spaces it’s all right because so do you do you tell stories of home do you remind yourself your friend group your few remember what I said a couple weeks ago find your people find your crew like do you remind each other that this isn’t home yeah that that’s that that you’re gonna display beauty when you’re going to be a lot more unshakeable unflappable in in this world if you’re like yeah of course I don’t understand this I’m not from here it’s a weird cultural thing that this group’s doing that’s not what we do with your money and your time are you living like there’s something bigger than you with your money and your time are you living like there’s something bigger than you right now let me let me stop let’s let’s do this because I know I’ve said some things here let’s let’s make some eye contact I wish we could just sit on a couch and have something to drink the good news of the gospel is that if your life is shattered and there’s not much beauty there at all jesus redeems and puts it back together in a way that’s more beautiful than it was to begin with right the the christian message isn’t oh you’ve already been divorced shame on you we’ve got to sow thumb on your no the the message of the gospel is jesus will step into that mess and put you back together in ways that are more beautiful than you can fathom you threw some addiction through some compulsion through some stupidity make a mess of your life I got good news for you today the good news is redemption the good news is you haven’t out sinned the grace of jesus the good news is that god has made a way to put that thing back together in ways that ultimately you’ll marvel in fact let me give you let me give you some testimonial courage now how many of you in here would say there was a season of my life where because of my own foolishness or maybe some ex you know some other kind of situations there was hardly any beauty it was all brokenness I was desperate and in despair and yet christ came in and he has put things back together in a way that I marvel at how many of you would say I was busted up all right so now keep your hands up now keep your hands up now so if you don’t believe this you don’t know I want you to look around because what you’re looking at you’re looking at some divorce you’re looking some addiction you’re looking at some wicked perversion you’re looking at some nastiness and I my gosh nobody nobody’s gotten hit by that lightning I see some hands going down is that like you I hit your I said what you struggled with you go pervert that was me all right like is that what happened go ahead and put your hands down listen this is redemption this is the message of the gospel this is when we submit to that we we begin to submit to the moral law of god we begin to look beautiful so I’m asking you do you love goodness do you love goodness enough to get help when the marriage feels over listen I’ve never lied to you guys my bride’s right there seven years of awful some of you are new you haven’t heard me talk about I mean like laying in bed at night oh my gosh it’s the rest of my life awful and if you’re wondering what lauren thought somebody even said this one when did she get to share hers like I don’t know um but I can tell you like she was laying in bed at night and not thinking all my childhood dreams have come true like we both felt stuck we both had gone to some council we built it it just felt like it couldn’t get better and and yet we leaned into the covenant we trusted that god would make a way seven years is forever right and and yet now oh my gosh now like how good is he it can be redeemed it can be put back together don’t don’t you give up there’s beauty in the lives of the saints do you love goodness so we live lives of beauty here is the second one we live in boldness but kingdom boldness it’s a little bit different than human boldness let’s read about it verse 13. I’m going to try to make a real complex thing simple be subject for the lord’s sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good for this is the will of god that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil but living as servants of god honor everyone love the brotherhood fear god honor the emperor now but follow me because I’m we’re about to clash with modern culture you want to be bold be submissive what you want to stick it to the man submit wait what let’s chat kingdom economics are a bit different jesus comes in matthew 4 preaching that the kingdom of god is at hand and then he kicks off what the people of god would look like in the beatitudes you know the beatitudes aren’t like he’s not showing up looking for those people but he’s shown up to create those kind of people you know that right and what does he say kingdom people would look like blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs and theirs alone is the kingdom of god blessed are those who mourn for theirs and are they and they alone will be comforted blessed are the meek blood what blessed are you when you’re persecuted huh this is an upside down reality that if you want to wage war you take yourself out of using the weapons of warfare and you live lives of beauty and submission in a way that undermines the whole system now it might be I’d be good here to talk about this I’m not talking about powerlessness and I’m not talking about weakness and I’m not talking about being blind and indiscriminate like jesus that jesus ain’t having that jesus preached boldly he healed he called people to repentance he was not afraid to speak truth to power in fact I’ve always loved john 19 11. where pilate’s kind of bowing up on jesus or you use it and here’s what jesus says to him you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above now that doesn’t sound like weakness right where pilate’s like and he’s like please you wouldn’t even be able to do any of this except my father’s letting you I mean I could end this in a second listen you better be glad I’m obedient to the father I’ll blow this whole thing up right what is that it’s meekness make this is power under control so we’re not doormats that’s not when I’m talking about submission I’m not talking about being doormats let me give you this definition submission is the right response of people to the commands of god it’s willingly setting aside your desires or needs to honor the desires or needs of another to be a christian is to die to yourself for the good of another so let’s look at our passage and talk about the government and I know they’re listening so if they come and get me let’s just all go together be subject for the lord’s sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good for this is the will of god that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people let me try to make something complex simple you and I as christians are to be the best citizens we can possibly be to obey the law of the land as faithfully as we can to be a picture an example of a great citizen and patriot of our country that does not mean that we do whatever our government says is good and right let’s talk about that especially if that government sets itself up against the god of the universe and is acting in tyrannical ways let me give you some examples from history william wilbeforce resisted the slave economy in britain and used his money energy and time to see it overthrown harriet tubman subversively worked the underground railroad breaking dozens of laws to do what was right in the sight of god dietrich bonhoeffer gave his life trying to save the millions suffering under hitler’s eugenics program martin luther king jr set up peaceful protests sit-ins all in defiance of tyranny I’m not saying the christian’s role against a government that is godless is to win necessary peacefully protest and be the voice of the prophetic voice of god in a generation got a little quiet and awkward in here didn’t it no you don’t have to do that deb I’m just saying let’s just embrace that awkwardness and in one hand here he’s saying hey submit as best you can as long as you can they’ll come a day where you can’t and if that day comes you need to be ready to live lives of beauty and the boldness to say this is out of step and live in the kind of way that shows the moral vision of god is more beautiful than the tyrannical wickedness of man historically across the ages christians have tried to hold the moral high ground we haven’t always done it exceptionally well but we’ve rigorously pursued the truth we’ve offered an essential witness we’ve provided a prophetic voice and we’ve mobilized resistance to the evil threatening to overwhelm god’s design of human flourishing this is the role of the church as salt and light we’re the best citizens we can possibly be until the laws of the land and the edicts of the empire can no longer be followed by us and our response in that moment is not to take up arms but to resist a day may or may not come for us but the word of god is clear to you and I for now you and I our battle plan be the best citizenship be the best citizens ever make it when we get accused of uh being homophobic or uh being you know backwards and they make our lives look so beautiful that they’re exposed for their ignorant foolishness right to love people so well to be so generous to open up our homes so frequently to wring our lives out for the good of human flourishing so consistently that they’re exposed in their foolishness when they make crazy accusations right like even even diagnitis he’s just like there’s nothing there like everybody hates them but they they can’t even say why they hate them it’s like we don’t like them why not I don’t know because they don’t throw away their unwanted babies in the trash can because they won’t share their wedding bed because they they give to the poor they they challenge power that’s corrupted they I just don’t they’re not going along with what we want to see happen and we can’t have that do you see it’s submission but but it’s not doormat weakness and powerlessness it’s prophetic living and prophetic acting now this morning um I i received well I got to see a picture uh the church that we work with in japan which by the way is one less than one percent christian uh so it’s basically an unreached people group um our little church that we helped plant there and that we fund um uh an indigenous japanese man came gave his life to christ just a little bit ago he’s been disciple he’s preaching his first sermon uh today at seed church which how cool is that um but and then man a guy that we got to trevor got to share the gospel with uh in a in a country I won’t name um and and they you know they went back and forth in a while that he just got baptized so all over the world the kingdom is pressing in all over the world god’s doing work but but here’s the the reason I brought up japan in particular is I first heard this from kent my wife uses it a lot when she teaches is in the traditional japanese the traditional japanese tea ceremony they they use a specific bowl to mix up the matcha and and that bowl actually becomes a family heirloom that’s handed down from generation to generation I don’t know if it still exists but like lauren and I receive like her grandmother’s china I don’t know if that’s still happening uh it’s not happening on my side of things um but but maybe if that china survives us and our kids we’ll we’ll hand out like a cup and so it’s all breaking pretty quick but um but but what happens in in japan when that bowl breaks I mean you’re talking this is a big deal you’re talking a generational line when that bowl breaks um they they would put the bowl back together and and there there became this group of artists that that produced um that this art form called kinsugi and what kenzugi is is they take the broken pieces of the bowl for a family and they’ll put it back together and lacquer it and then these artists started like filling in the cracks with like gold or platinum or silver and what ends up happening is this bowl actually becomes more valuable than it was before it was broken and this is a picture of you and I that this is when I’m talking about a life of beauty when I’m talking about a life of submission this is what I’m talking about I’m talking about you being put back together I’m talking about us in our submission first and foremost to christ helps those cracks be filled with gold helps those broken pieces be filled with platinum and silver and become something stunningly beautiful and so this this sermon sets up three weeks on submission pray for me right you want to talk about an idea that’s fallen out of fashion submission rules obey what but but here it is like here’s here’s what I want to do I want to give you the invitation that jesus wants to extend you I’m just the mouthpiece come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest like you feel like your life’s fallen and shattered to pieces well man I’m glad you’re here because I’ve got I’m glad you’re watching I’ve got good news this is what jesus does like those broken people don’t be defined by that fall off the shelf and don’t be defined by somebody’s slippery hands having you crash all over the ground and bust into a billion pieces he can put you back together that’s what he does you already saw everybody’s hands like six 700 hands in here said this is where I was gosh I didn’t think there was any way out and they’re they’re put back together now the truth is you get to know us you’ll see the back of the bowl still busted I mean we’re not all the way put back together yet don’t put us up too high the best christians you know are still getting filled in and lacquered up don’t be too hard on them we won’t be too hard on you you’re seeing just the front of the bowl it looks pretty good he who began the good work is going to be faithful to completing he done with me you see something awful you just pray because he’s still working and and so here’s what I want to do this week in the next couple I just want to invite you into all this I just want to invite you in so here’s what I know I think some of you by the grace of god here look at it by the grace of god I’m saying every word deliberately by the grace of god you are waking up to how terrible of a god you are you’re you’re kind of coming into that age where you’re like man I’ve made a flippin mess of my life you can feel it you can feel your little bowl and your soul can’t hold jack squad I can’t hold no water can’t hold anything that satisfy you more than a second just like just like a like one of those strainers you just can’t hold anything and you just shattered man exhaust just broken then and I’m telling you that shattering is due first and foremost to your rebellion against your creator what sin is in its essence is you deciding you’re a better god than god and refusing to submit to him in any way and so much of your brokenness I’m not saying all your brokenness because some of you somebody else carrying you that shattered you everywhere and then because of that shattering you’ve made some other decisions that have shattered yourself even more but I’m saying even if all you’re left with is powder he can put you back together it’s going to take some time but that’s what the communion of saints are for patience with one another grace towards one another acknowledging man we we’re in different places on this but god’s at work in all of us so jesus says to the crowd come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest not much beauty in your life right now no real submission you’ve been hanging out here for a while but just like I don’t know I’ve got a problem with this I don’t know what to do with this passage why do christians believe this why and you’re just and you’re just stubborn I get it on the back end of redemption being stubborn actually helps with some things pre-redemption it just keeps you out of the life god has for you keeps you out of beauty and flourishing and joy and so I want to invite you into that you have not outside you have not outrun him you’re here today so that you could hear you that that brokenness you’re feeling that god made a mess of things that you’re feeling that’s god’s grace not everybody your your conscience hasn’t been seared you feeling like your life is cruddy is god’s grace to you you feeling like you’ve gone too far listen that’s god’s grace you hating that part of your shirt that’s god’s grace that’s a pull from the holy spirit kind of drawing you into salvation you don’t have a seared conscience that’s good news so I just get to buy the grip be his mouthpiece today and say he can put you back together but you got to submit you can’t do life your way you got to come under his lordship and go I don’t want to carry all this anymore tell me what to do I’ll do what you tell me to do I i don’t know that I’m going to be good at it at first I’m going to be a a toddler not knowing how to walk but if you’ll tell me I’m coming I’m saying yes I’m going to die to myself and I’m all in on you jesus and listen I this is why you’re here this is why you’re watching that you’re over and sweet one singing you’re at a home you’re on a couch you’re listening to this six months from now this is what’s going on I’ll put you back together I’ll make you beautiful I’ll lead you I know you don’t have to carry all that I know it’s scary come here I know you’re exhausted come here I get it I know you can’t go much longer just get up here I got you if you’ll stop trying to rule and reign the universe I will for you but as long as you try I’m gonna let you try how much more are you going to bear that you don’t have to bear and in all honesty that’s what we’re celebrating in baptism you know that’s what we’re doing in baptism right we’re saying I’m going to die to myself so somebody gets in the water we plug up their nose because you don’t want that and then you’re just like hey are you giving are you saying yes to jesus christ and they’re like I am and then they’ll say it’s my privilege then to baptize you in the name of the father son holy spirit and then they don’t keep them down there it’s not literal death right it’s representing hey I’m dying to myself I’m saying I am no longer god and then we pull them out to what walk in the newness of life which is what I am now submitted to jesus my bowl is being put back together gold is being filled into the cracks and we leave here with the hope and we do it publicly so the saints can go we’re with you now right because no one’s remember three weeks ago when I said find your people nobody’s designed to walk this thing by themselves gosh you won’t make it in any season much less this one you need somebody on your right somebody on your left somebody behind you somebody fighting in front of you right so that that’s oh okay you’re making a public declaration I’m in it well then I’m like well gosh let’s get around let’s go well my bowl’s too broken did you see the hands earlier and I’ve been here 20 years you ain’t too broken some felons in this room and I ain’t lying I’m not kidding y’all just keep yourself close to me so let’s do this why don’t you bow your heads close your eyes for me let me ask just you and me you feel like gosh I’m if I’m honest man I just feel like my my life’s that shattered bowl man I i don’t I’ve done it to myself in some ways some others have played into it but man I have just tried to live my life like I’m god and I’m waking up to just how much of a mess it is and I i want to acknowledge that that I’ve made that mess and I want to ask jesus to begin the work of putting it back together filling those cracks with gold and silver and platinum if that’s you this morning and you would say man I have not fully said yes I have made a mess of my life by my own choosing to lead and live my life like I want to by not surrendering to his lordship and choosing that I would be a better god than he is and I want to do that I want to repent of that I want to give my life to jesus and I want to begin to live and be put back together by his grace and his lordship if that you would just raise your hand in this room I need to be put back together but you don’t you dare be ashamed or god I love you if you knew how much I pleaded that god would shine light into your heart this morning praise god how many of you would say I have never gonna put your hands on how many would say I have never fully submitted to jesus as lord because I had this concern right I was stubborn in this area I’ve dug in my heels or I want things my way and the spirit this morning’s prayer I want to stop that I want to just surrender I’ve still got questions I’m going to ask those questions but I want to surrender to his lordship if that’s you this morning like I want to say yes to his lordship in my life would you just raise your hand and say I want to do that today okay praise god here’s what I’m gonna do I’m gonna pray for us and then we’re gonna sing and if you raise your hand in in either of those spaces there are men and women in the back of the room I would love for you to just get up the second I say amen and we stand and go they’re there to pray with you to encourage you we’d love to baptize you today listen we got a shirt for you some shorts a towel and we would just freak out in this place to celebrate the new life that god’s given you in christ this place celebrates bowls being put back together and so I’m going to pray for us and I’m asking the holy spirit to give you courage like how crazy that you showed up today huh thousand reasons not to come today and here you are a thousand reasons not to tune in and you did what does it look like now to melt into the goodness of the rain and rule of jesus and to relinquish being the god of your own life father I bless these men and women in the name of jesus we thank you for your grace thank you for salvation I ask even now so many hands when I just pray courage for them now I know the enemy’s in their ear right now nah you don’t need to do that we don’t I just pray against that I just rebuke that in the name of jesus ask for courage that that life new life might be given already in this room happening already at home happening we trust and believe help us for your beautiful name I pray amen