Gateway Church's Podcast
Discipled
Special guest Stovall Weems continues the 20/20 series with a word on discipleship. Discipleship means moving forward in the things of God by practicing His presence.
- Today we have a very special privilege. Pastor Stovall Weems is here this weekend to be speaking. Pastor Robert is actually at his church in Jacksonville, Florida. Pastor Stovall is the senior pastor of Celebration Church. It is a multi-campus church. They've got campuses all over the country, but also they have other campuses around the world. Over 10,000 people call Celebration Church home. He's also the author of the book Awakening. I know many of you have read the book or are presently reading it. Here's how I know we've sold out of it now three times here at Gateway Church. So that lets you know it is an incredible book. We're gonna get some more in. If you don't have it or you haven't read it yet, make sure you grab that. Pastor Stovall also, he is married, his wife Carrie. They have three children that they are immensely proud of, one son and two daughters. And I want you to give him a very, very warm Gateway Church welcome. Would you welcome Pastor Stovall Weems. (congregation applauding) - Thanks, thanks Preston, thanks man. Oh great, thanks. Thanks so much, you guys can be seated, thank you. Thank you, oh it's such an honor, such a privilege to be here at Gateway. Well, you know, you guys have such phenomenal leadership here at Gateway and I wanna let you know that I respect and admire your pastor so much. Pastor Robert, listen, he is just phenomenal. He loves God, he loves people. He and Debbie have been such inspirations to Carrie and I, and I wanna let you guys know that you are under the best leadership right here at Gateway where you can grow in your place and be everything that God has called you to be. Would you give your pastors, Pastor Robert and Debbie, and all the leadership here at Gateway, a big, big hand right now. (congregation applauding) Phenomenal. Phenomenal, phenomenal people. And look what God has done. I mean, can you, look, this is not a building. This is a house of worship. What a testimony to, I mean, this is like six flags over Jesus, you know what I'm saying? (congregation laughing) That's what people are talking about out there when they say, yeah, I'm going to Dallas to go to six flags, they're like, you mean Gateway or that, you know, that other thing over there. But look what God has done. You are planted in a great house and you know, your best days are yet ahead and God's doing great things. I just encourage you to keep moving forward in the things of God and the purposes of God. Here at Gateway, get plugged in, connect on a Saturday. There is a membership class, the vision class, and of course, freedom ministries and your groups. So many things going on here, I really encourage you to plug in so that you can move forward in everything that God has for your life. Just a little bit about me. I was kind of one of those wild kids, you know, and I went to college at LSU, don't hold that against me. I got booed in the Saturday night service. So I'm only kidding, it wasn't a boo, just some cautious concerns. But actually, when I went to LSU, I made a couple of really good choices when I went to LSU. The first choice I made was I chose to join the wildest fraternity on campus. It was a great decision. Then what I did, I compounded that good decision with another really good decision. I chose to work at the wildest bar on campus. And seriously, I had big dreams. I had goals for my life. I had aspirations. I was a bouncer and I aspired to be a bartender. (audience laughs) You know, I was back in the late '80s, early '90s. You know, Tom Cruise, cocktail, gonna be one of those guys. (audience laughs) But I'm so glad that God had another plan for my life. Can you say amen to that? You know, and we're... (audience applauds) We're in a series here at Gateway called 2020 God's Vision for Your Life. And I'm so glad that I responded to God's vision for my life. I'm so glad that so many of you have responded to God's vision for your life. And we're talking about that vision where we get saved, we get healed, we get set free, we get discipled, we get equipped, we get empowered. And then we serve. And so I just really encourage you to take in all during this series because it is so powerful when you get ahold of God's vision for your life. And I wanna talk to you about the fourth thing today. I wanna talk to you about discipleship. So if you have your Bibles, I want you to go to Genesis chapter eight, Genesis chapter eight. You know, there's so many things that we could say about discipleship, discipleship being a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ. And I think one of the most powerful principles that Jesus said about discipleship or what being a disciple means is when he said follow me. Two simple words, follow me. You know, as disciples, we never arrive where we can say, okay, I'm completely discipled. But being discipled is a process. We go from glory to glory. God always has new things for you. How many of you are excited about the new things that God has for you in 2011? It's gonna be a great year. I believe that it can be your best year ever. Seriously, I know, you know, we hear that all the time. It's gonna be the best year. It's gonna be a great year. But the truth is it will be your best year ever if it's your best year spiritually. If it's your best year spiritually, no matter what happens on the outside, it will be your best year ever. And part of being a disciple is making that commitment. I'm gonna keep following Jesus. I'm gonna keep moving forward in the things of God. We're gonna take a look, actually at an Old Testament character here, we're gonna look at the life of Noah. And he gives us a great example of what it means to move forward in the things of God. So I'm gonna begin reading here in chapter eight, verse six. It says, so it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. How many of you know, this was a great day for Noah. Being cooped out with all those animals, no AC, no ventilation, man. I mean, Noah is opening the window, he is fired up. It's a great day for Noah. So he opens the window, verse seven. It says, then he sent out a raven which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. But the, I'm sorry, verse eight, it says, he also sent out from himself a dove to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the soul of her foot and she returned into the ark to him for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and drew her into the ark himself. And he waited yet another seven days and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. I've entitled this message, discipled moving forward in the things of God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, Lord, I ask for an open heaven over gateway, over all of our locations. God, we wanna hear from you and we thank you that you are here speaking to us. You're gonna speak to our hearts and how to move forward in the things of God in 2011. So truly this can be our best year ever in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen and amen. Let me give you a few facts here about this story where Noah is in his life and about the ark. First of all, very just powerful, powerful illustration of scripture in the word of God. Earlier in chapter eight, the Bible says that the ark came to rest on the top of Mount Ararat on the 17th day of the seventh month. Now let me tell you why that is significant because in Exodus chapter 12, you can read about this in verses one through five, God changes the seventh month to the first month when he establishes the Hebrew religious calendar because that is when he delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land. On the 14th day of the first month in the Hebrew religious calendar, remember that's formerly the seventh month that we see right here, that's the Passover. That's when they celebrate the Passover, we know that was the day that Jesus was crucified as our Passover lamb. What happened three days after Jesus was crucified on the 17th, Jesus rose from the dead. So the same, the date so to speak, that date is a type and shadow of the ark coming to rest, the ark represents salvation. That is a type and shadow, it's the actual, the same date that Jesus rose from the grave. Come on, when you trust in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I'm telling you there will be rest for your life. Can you give God a good hand in that? Is that unbelievable that the ark? The ark comes to rest on the same date in the Hebrew calendar that Jesus rose from the dead and rested at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. We serve a great God. But anyway, this story here, you know, we're taking a snapshot of this story right here, but this ordeal for Noah, can you believe this? From the time that he loaded the animals on the ark until the time Noah stepped off of the ark, this ordeal was 377 days. That is like a nightmare cruise, you know what I'm saying? 377 days, the ark was incredible, 97,000 square feet, three stories high, there's about 17,600 species of animals, scholars tell us that there was plenty of room for all those species to fit on the ark. In fact, if they were young when God brought them in, you know, there's about twice, there's plenty of room. You could have fit double on this ark. So just incredible, incredible story. But here's Noah at this point in the story. Man, he's, you know, he found grace in the eyes of God and he was righteous and of course, the ark represents salvation and he's so grateful and thankful that God has saved him. He's so grateful and thankful that God is delivered him from the judgment. But now Noah is at the point where he is ready for his life to move forward. And I find that that's a lot about how we are as believers. You know, man, we're thankful for our salvation. We're thankful for the grace of God. We're thankful that God has saved us, that God has healed us. But man, we want to move forward in the purposes of God. We're ready to really take hold of all that God has for us. We're ready to be everything that God has called us to be. We're ready to experience God at the next level. Come on, how many of you are ready of that for 2011? Man, you're ready to move forward. (congregation applauding) So here's, Noah, man, he's ready to move forward. All right, the rain stopped. Here we go, I'm ready to move forward. And what he does is he takes two birds. And the first bird that he throws out the Bible tells us is a raven. So Noah throws out this raven and this raven just goes to and fro back and forth, just out there flying around everywhere. It's the same language that the Bible uses in the book of Job where it talks about that Satan has been going to and fro across the earth. You see, the raven represents our flesh. The raven represents those things that we are trusting to move our life forward that are not God or God's plan. The raven represents those things that we have been relying on in our own strength to try to move us forward. But I don't know if you're like me. I found every time I've relied on a raven, those ravens are unreliable. They are unstable, they're crazy, man. They're too and fro, they're back and forth. Noah realized, man, if I mess around with this raven, he's gonna get me in trouble. How many of you, you've had some ravens get you in trouble in your life? So then Noah throws out the dove. The dove goes out and then the dove, you know, obviously looks around and the dove comes back to Noah and we know that the dove represents in scripture what? Almost every time, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. It is baptism, the dove is always a symbol of the Holy Spirit and so here comes the dove, but it's interesting, the dove just doesn't come back and land on the ark. In other words, the dove doesn't really have a habitation or a place to land, it's not gonna force its way in and so Noah realizes this and he's like, man, this dove, okay, I can rely on this dove. This dove is gonna help me move forward. This dove is gonna bring me where I need to be and so what he does is he gets aggressive and the Bible paints this picture that he gets out there on the ark, he reaches out, he stretches out, come on, what did Preston talk about? Sometimes we have to stretch into the things that God has for us, he stretches out, he lifts us in and he actually creates a space for the dove to land. See, God needs space to land in your life. God will not force his way in. If you wanna move forward into things that God has for your life, you're gonna have to create some space for God because God is a filler, he's not a forcer. God is a filler, he's not a forcer. The earth was created for man to fill but man was created for God to fill and as the dove's coming in, the dove's not gonna land somewhere on the ark, the dove's like, Noah, I need you. If you want to move forward, I need for you yourself to create some space so I can land. So he reaches out, he stretches, it's a sign of surrender and he creates a space for the dove representing the Holy Spirit to really come into his life, he pulls her in. I wanna ask you, are you really passionate? Are you proactive about really pulling the spirit of God into your life? 'Cause that's how you're gonna move forward. Have we created the space for God to land? You know, a lot of people think, you know, well, we'll stove all of, you know, come to church here every now and then here at Gateway. Man, it's great worship and it's great building. I just know, you know, if God's gonna do a miracle in my life, well, it's just gonna happen. If God wants to bless me, you know, he's sovereign, he'll just do it. God'll just, you know, he'll just, I'm here. Listen, God does not respond to need, God responds to faith and God meets our needs through our faith and if you are gonna really experience everything that God has for, you've gotta get proactive and I'm talking about really create some space for God to land in your life. It was so important, so, you know, you notice how Noah, when he was ready for his life to move forward, he didn't get out there and was like, okay, which way is the wind blowing? Now, where's that piece of land? Where's that next mountain? Let me try to figure this all out. God was like, no, look Noah, if you wanna move forward, you just gotta create some space for me to land and that is exactly how it is in our lives. We spend so much of our time trying to figure out how am I gonna get out of this mess? How am I gonna solve this problem? Life throws us a curve ball. This thing's going on with our kids, this thing's going on with our family, this thing's happening in our business and we try to connect all the dots, we start throwing out ravens to try to fix our own problems. Listen, we don't have the capacity to figure everything out. You're trying to connect three dots, there's like a zillion dots in God's eternal scheme. Only God can figure everything out. He's gonna work all things according to his purpose. He's gonna work all things for his good. You're not created to figure everything out. You were created for worship and trust and I'm telling you, if you want your life to move forward in 2011, all God is asking you to do is just create some space for me to come in there and land. What happened at the beginning of our world? God wanted to create the world. What did he need? He needed space. He needed an earth that was without form and void. Clear space and the spirit of God hovered above the waters. What does the water represents? The word of God. You bring the word of God into your life, you create some space for God to land. The spirit of God's gonna come in there, you're gonna see creation, you're gonna see life, you're gonna see light, you're gonna see movement. Jesus on the cross, you know what the cross was? The cross was just a space. Christ needed a space to die for our sins. So in your life, the first principle of discipleship is all right, you know, we talk about getting in the word. Well, have you created space for that to happen? You're gonna do that in the morning, you're gonna do that. And where's the space you've created? Well, well, you need to pray. Well, where's the space that you've created for prayer? God is a filler, he's not a forcer. Every person that got a breakthrough that their lives moved forward in the New Testament, you always see, it didn't just happen, but remember the woman with the issue of blood? What you have to do, there was no space she had to press through the crowd, she had to make some space to get in there to be with Jesus. When we give our tithe, imagine your financial portfolio, it's 100%. So when you tithe, you're taking that 10% hole, you're creating a space for God to fill. God's a filler, he's not a forcer, and whatever God fills, he multiplies. Come on, can you give God a hand? We're gonna create some space. We're gonna create some space. So here's what Noah does, he's like, all right, man, I'm creating a space and he reaches out there in worship and it's like, he stretches his hand out, it's like he's surrendering again to God. And I know you may think, well, wait, Noah, he already surrendered, right? He was already saved and he already had the grace of God. And that's a lot of, we think that the same thing as believers, you know, when we think about surrendering to God, we think, well, you know, I got saved 10 years ago and I got filled with the Holy Spirit eight years ago. But if you're a disciple, surrender, it is a daily act. It is a daily practice. Noah was surrendering to God afresh so that his life could move forward. You see, it's the grace of God that keeps us, but it's obedience that moves us forward. Noah was kept by the grace of God and that's great. We're all kept by the grace of God and your life can keep going to and fro and you can keep coming to church every now and then. Get away, am I being to, I'm trying not to be too direct to you, but come on, we're talking about being a disciple. We're talking about moving forward in the things of God. The grace of God keeps us, but it's obedience that moves us forward so Noah's like, all right, man, and he surrenders afresh, that sign of reaching his hand. He's surrenders afresh to God. You know, that's what Jesus taught us to do in the first line of the Our Father Prayer. In the first line of the Our Father Prayer, Jesus taught us how to surrender. He said, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You break that down, first of all, our Father, here's what I do every single morning. I get up, I surrender my life to God. I say, my Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. My Father, that focuses on the goodness of God. Lord, I thank you that you are my Father. Lord, I thank you that you love me. God, I am your child, I am your son. Lord, I thank you that not just my past sins are forgiven, but my past, present, and future sins are forgiven. I thank you for eternal life. I thank you that I'm saved. I thank you that you love me. Come on, can you thank God for his goodness in your life? That's what the grace of God is. The grace of God is the practical outworking of the goodness of God in your life. The next thing I focus on, our Father, who is in heaven. Lord, I thank you that you're in heaven. God, nothing is too hard for you. Nothing is impossible for you. God, I thank you that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I thank you, God, that you're gonna work all things according to your purpose, for those who love you. God, I thank you that you have all power, you have all authority. Lord, I might be freaked out about this situation, but you're not freaked out about this situation. The very hairs on my head are numbered. My days were marked out before you, God, you are in control, you have all power, you created the universe, you have all authority, God, you are in control, and I trust you today because you're a great God. You're a good God, you're a great God. But also, Lord, hallowed be thy name. Hallowed, sanctified, set apart, glorified be thy name. Lord, above all things, I wanna live for your glory. God, I mark this day for the glory of God, whether things go my way or not, Lord, it's all about your glory. If I have to suffer, help me to suffer well. Help me to live for you today is not about Stovall, it is about Jesus, it is about your glory, God, and above everything else. Let me glorify you so that I can have a testimony. The goodness, the greatness, and the glory of God. The very thing Jesus taught us to pray every day was to put into practice the act of surrender. And then right after that, you know what I do? I pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're not filled one time, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. That command, it's a regular thing. I say, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. You know why? Because most of the things that I pray for, I find would be solved if I would just be filled with the Holy Spirit. And most of the things that we pray for, we wouldn't pray for if we'd just be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're praying to get over this, forgive this person, or we'll love as a fruit of the Holy Spirit if you're walking in love, those things are solved. We're burned out, we're, you know, we're freaked out, or whatever, we're stressed out, we're worried. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We're fatigued, we're exhausted, joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength and joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we would just get filled with the Holy Spirit, come on, man, every single day, I'm telling you so much of what we worry about. We wouldn't even be thinking about if we'd just get filled with the Holy Spirit. Let's create some space for God. Like never before, in 2011, so that we can be the disciples that God's called us to be. And when you create that space, in God's moving in your life, that gives you the confidence to believe God, to have faith, to trust Him in difficult situations. You know, way back when, before we started the church, Kerry and I would lead mission teams to South America. And one of the places we love to go was Peru. And we go down in the jungles of Peru and in the Andes Mountains down there. And it was just an incredible time. And one time we were leading this team, it was a pretty big team, about 20 people. And if you've ever been down to Peru, the weather situation there is very volatile because you have these high Andes Mountains and then you have the hot jungle and then you have the Pacific Ocean. And it's several times a year, that combination of weather, it makes these real low-lying clouds and this real dense fog, especially in the mountain regions. And so when you're flying into these mountain villages, it can make for a real nerve-wracking flight. Because you're coming in, there's supposed to be a place to land down there beneath these clouds. But because the clouds are so low, you're already below the mountain peak. So it's like you're inside the mountains, but you're still above the clouds. And so it can just be terrifying nerve-wracking 'cause you can't see a clear space to land down there. And we were leading this team down there and it was a great team, but there was this one guy on our team and he was just kind of one of these zealot guys and he was like, "Man, I want to die for Jesus." And it was still where there were some danger down improves a long time ago with the shining path. He's like, "Man, I'm telling these terrorists to repent." And man, I'm ready to give my life, just give me a machete, I'm ready to take on the witch doctors and you know what I'm saying? Every place you go to, he's preaching in the restaurants. I mean, great guy, just real zealous like that, not a lot of wisdom. (congregation laughing) So anyway, soon when we're going in for this landing, underneath the mountains, but above the dense clouds, and I mean, I guess there's a runway down there somewhere. So we go in there, and man, as soon as we hit those clouds, whoosh, nosedive, or at least it felt like it. (congregation laughing) So the plane is going down, it's going down and carrying on. We're like, "Oh, Jesus." I'm like, I can't believe it's over. I'm only like 26. (congregation laughing) We're like, "Oh, Jesus and these girls on the team "are sitting behind us." And they're like, "Oh, Jesus, oh, no, no." And then right behind that is the guys. And I kind of look back in that guy, that zealot guy on the team, he stands up like the plane's going down and he stands up like as he goes, (groaning) (congregation laughing) Like he's gonna say something. So you know what I'm thinking, probably the same thing you're thinking. I'm like, this guy's gonna preach to everybody. This guy's gonna tell everybody they better repent. They're going to hell. The plane's going down. You know, this guy's been living for this moment. You know, die for Jesus. Preach while the plane's going down. So it's going down. He stands up and he goes, (groaning) (singing) Blankety blank, blank, blank, blank. (congregation laughing) Standing up, just on the seat going, (groaning) Blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, beep, beep. (congregation laughing) I'm being like, serious cussing, man. (congregation laughing) And then the plane leveled out. (congregation laughing) He was so embarrassed. (congregation laughing) Soon away, you know, when the plane landed, I pulled him aside privately and I just said, listen. The next time if the plane's going down and you feel led to stand up and cuss everybody out, can you just say something about Jesus at the very end in case some people need to get saved? No, I'm sorry. But you know what? That's just like a lot of us. When we can't see a clear space or when we haven't created a clear place for God to, God's with us, He's there. But when we haven't created that space for God in our lives, when the turbulence of life hits, we freak out instead of trusting God in the trial or trusting God in the crisis. So we can bring a testimony to Jesus. Come on, we're gonna create some space this year. God's a filler, He's not a forcer. And every trial that we have to go through, we're gonna bring a testimony to Jesus and God's gonna move our lives forward. Can you give Him a hand for that, huh? (congregation applauds) So Noah, so Noah, so what he does is he surrenders and then the next thing he does, he doesn't deal with the raven anymore. He says, "I'm surrendering to you, Dove." You've got some major benefits. You're gonna help me move forward. You know, you're coming back to me and all this, that raven, that raven is crazy. That raven is too and fro. So you see, the next time that Noah sends a bird out, he doesn't send out both of them or another raven. He exclusively deals with the Dove. And that's the next thing if our lives are gonna move forward, we've gotta stop messing around with those ravens. We gotta stop messing around with those things. Come on, all of us have some ravens. Those things that we think are gonna move us forward, but you know they're not God. And every time it causes hurt, pain, craziness, frustration, that's what happens when we trust in our flesh, man. That's what happens to our lives. They end up like that raven. They're never moving forward. They're just too and fro. They're back and forth. They're back and forth. You try to get excited for God, and then you're back to the altar, and then you're back in the same mess that you were in, then your life's just kind of like a mad, mad man, and then you've been mad, mad, and you're just mad, and you jerk up and you're just mad, mad, mad. Instead of moving forward. And what we do with those ravens, even though we've sent out a thousand of these ravens, and here's what a lot of Christians do, it's not that we don't send out the Dove, we send out the Dove, we just don't get rid of the raven. We keep a few ravens around. I mean, I'm following God, but come on, God, I've been praying about this thing, and there's been no answer. I mean, I've prayed about this thing for like three days. (congregation laughing) So we throw out the raven, and even though that raven has heard us a thousand times before, somehow we think on the thousand and first time, it's gonna be different. This is the time that the raven's gonna act like the Dove. Listen, that witch's flesh is flesh. That witch's spirit is spirit. A raven is a raven. A Dove is a Dove. Come on, will you trust in the Dove this year, will you get rid of those ravens in your life and exclusively go with the Dove so that God can move you forward? Can you give him a hand for that? (congregation applauding) And here's what happens. And here's what happens. The last thing that happens, so Noah creates a space. He puts into practice the act of surrender. He gets those ravens out. He only deals exclusively with the Dove. And now the Dove moves his life forward. And the Bible says that the Dove brings back part of an olive branch. What does the olive branch represent? Peace. Jesus was God's olive branch to man. Jesus was our peace offering. What did Jesus say about the Holy Spirit? He's gonna take from what's mine and he's gonna show it to you. He won't testify of himself. Here comes the Dove bringing a revelation of the Prince of Peace. Here comes the Dove bringing Jesus to Noah and at the same time that gives Noah direction on where to go and that his life is gonna move forward. So you talk about vision for our life. You know what vision? God wants to give you. He wants to give you a vision of Jesus. He wants to give you a revelation of Jesus. You need to be saved Jesus is your salvation. Jesus is the great I am. That means he is whatever you need in any situation. What we need, we need a revelation of Jesus. Listen, you need to be saved. Jesus is your salvation. You need to be healed. Jesus is your healer. You need to be free. Jesus is your freedom. You need to be discipled to know Christ is to be discipled. You need to be equipped. Jesus is your quipper. You need to be empowered. Jesus knows exactly how to empower you for whatever situation you're in, for whatever problem you're facing, for whatever trial you have. You need wisdom. Jesus is your wisdom. You need direction. Jesus is your direction. Jesus is who gives us the heart to serve. Jesus is our 2020. Jesus is our vision. When you have Christ, you have it all. We just need to experience it more than ever in 2011. (congregation cheering) Come on, Gateway, let's experience Jesus more in 2011 than ever before. Let's create more space for God. Let's get rid of those ravens. Let's put into practice the act of surrender. Get filled with the Holy Spirit every single day. You'll know a deeper knowledge of Jesus. Your life will move forward and you will be the disciple that God's called you to be. Stand to your feet. Come on, let's give God a hand. Let me pray for you right now. Thank you, God. Remember, it's the grace of God that keeps you, but it's obedience that moves you forward. That's what Noah figured out. The grace of God kept him, but he was gonna have to get proactive in creating space for God and surrendering and getting rid of the ravens. The grace of God keeps you. It's obedience that moves you forward. That is the mark of a disciple. Moving forward into things of God. Bow your heads. How many of you say Stovall, man? I'm just ready to put into practice the act of surrender. This year in 2011, I'm gonna get the ravens out of my life. Come on, there's been things you've been trusting in. They've hurt you. They're not God. Raise those hands high. Hands up all over the place. Father, you see all the hands raised right now. God, I thank you that we are surrendering to you, Jesus. Come on, whatever you need from Jesus. He is your salvation. He's your healer. Just receive him right now. God, we surrender our lives to you afresh. And Lord, we thank you that you're gonna move our lives forward. We get rid of those ravens. We trust solely in you and in your plan for our life. In Jesus' name and everybody said, amen and amen. Gateway Church, thank you so much for having me. It was a tremendous honor. (cheers and applause)