 Open up to the Gospel of John, the fourth Gospel in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and... Okay, we are starting a series called the Gospel of John. That's pretty creative, right? But we just decided we don't have to add much to it because the Gospel of John, I believe, is just such a powerful reflection and portrayal of the life of Jesus. So we're starting this weekend and we're gonna begin in chapter one, beginning in verse number one of the Gospel of John and we're gonna read the prologue, the first 18 verses together. So I want you to listen, it's gonna come up on the screen, you can follow along in your own Bible. It says this, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world and he was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said that he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side, he has made him known. The gospel of John just by way of introduction to you is the last of the four gospels in the Bible to be written and it was written by John who's oftentimes called John the beloved or the disciple whom Jesus loved as we work our way through the gospel of John, you will oftentimes see that statement made, the disciple whom Jesus loved. And that's John, that's the one that at the end of the gospel, little spoiler alert, you'll see reclining against Jesus' chest at the last supper and asking Jesus' insight into what's going on. He had a very special place in the heart of our Lord. Jesus loved all the disciples, but there were three that were closest to him, Peter, James and John. And of the three, the one that seemed to have the closest friendship and intimate relationship with Jesus was John. And John is the writer of this gospel, probably written about 90 AD when it was finished, most likely started in somewhere around 70 AD. So over the course of 20 years, John who's probably one of the younger disciples recounted with the help of the Holy Spirit all that Jesus taught and all that Jesus did so that he could write the gospel account. Now, the gospel of John is different than what are oftentimes referred to as the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke are synoptic gospels, which means they cover a lot of the same material with a little bit of nuance in every one of the gospels, a little bit of variety, but pretty much they're running along the same track. John writes differently. John presents us with a gospel that starts out at the very beginning of creation. You might have noticed those words, his very first verses in the beginning. How many of that sounds familiar to you? You know, almost everybody has read those words in the Bible. If you've ever started a Bible reading plan, hopefully you've gotten through verse number one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John plays off of that and he starts with those very same words, except he says in the beginning was the word, the logos, which means the full expression, the message, the revealing of the character and the nature of someone. That's what that word logos means. It means word, but when you speak and you express something about who you are, that's what it means, the logos. And the word is Jesus. It says in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. And right from the very beginning, John begins to tell us some things about Jesus. He begins to tell us number one, that Jesus is eternal. He was there already in the very beginning. Before there was anything, Jesus the word was there. He tells us that he's equal with God because he says he was with God and he was God. And so there are groups out there who will say, well, Jesus is more than an angel, but less than God. Well, it couldn't be any further from the truth because right here in the very beginning, one who is closer to Jesus than anyone, John, states that he wasn't just with God in the beginning, he was God. And it also says that he was creator. So it says that everything that was made by him and through him and that nothing was made except that which was made by him. Think about that. Everything that exists in the cosmos, every planet, every star, every comet, every ray of light, every molecule, every blade of grass, every cloud, every bird, everything that exists because Jesus the word called it into being. Go back to Genesis chapter one. Genesis one says, when God created, the way that God created was it says, he said, let there be light. You can see the Trinity at work in creation itself. Genesis one says, God created and the way he created was through his word. That's Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the eternal logos or the word. And then it says that the Holy Spirit was brooding over the face of the earth. So you've got Father, Son and Holy Spirit, triune God working together as everything comes into being. Jesus is there, he's eternal, he's God, he's creator. And it says he's also the giver of life. He's also the giver of life. In him was the true light that comes into the world and in the world he gives life to all those who believe in him, to all those who receive him, he gives life. So this is Jesus at the very beginning before there even was the beginning. This is where John starts. Matthew and Luke start at the nativity, they start at the conception, they start with Mary. Mark in his gospel starts with Jesus' ministry, 30 years in, but not John. John goes all the way back to the beginning before there was light, when there was just darkness, before anything was created, when there was just God and he says, Jesus is God, Jesus was there and everything that exists and everything that we know came from him. Whew, that's powerful. But what we see in John chapter one as we work our way through it is we're going to see today that John chapter one shows us the stairway from heaven. It shows us five steps that Jesus took from heaven into history. Five steps that Jesus took as he begins his earthly ministry that began in eternity past when he was with the Father and with the Holy Spirit and he was the Creator and co-partnering with the Father and the Holy Spirit in God's massive, mysterious, mind-bending eternal purpose that even to this day you and I are still staggered at as we read the Bible. The Bible is not just a practical book. I don't know if you've figured that out. There's some very impractical things. There's some powerful things that are just unfathomable in Romans, Paul says it's the unfathomable riches of Christ which means you can't measure it. You can't fathom it. You can't grasp it. The Bible's replete with that. Jesus coming to earth was a massive step of him leaving the splendor of glory and descending down the staircase of heaven into history, into our reality in order to redeem us and to reveal the Father to us. Because that's what a Logos is. A Logos is a revelation. You know, oftentimes when we talk about the character of a person, you can find out what's really important in who somebody is by their words, by their words and then their actions that back up those words. What we see in Jesus is that as he becomes the word incarnate in the flesh, he reveals to us who God is, who he really is. He is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. And so all throughout the book of John, we're gonna see this unique relationship in a way that the other gospel writers don't necessarily demonstrate to us. A relationship between Jesus the Son in the flesh and God the Father in the heavens as they partner together to bring about his eternal purposes, the redemption of mankind. It's gonna be powerful as we work through it. And what you're gonna recognize is we're not gonna cover every verse through John, but John is written on two foundation stones. John is written, first of all, on seven signs that Jesus performs to prove who he says he is. There's seven signs. Now, at the end of the book of John, John says something very interesting. He says, if everything that Jesus said and did were to be recorded in a book, there wouldn't be enough volumes in the whole world. I mean, no, that's a lot. He says, I'm not recording everything for you, but I'm gonna record seven signs that Jesus did that more than anything else proved that he is the Messiah. And not only seven signs, but there are seven I am statements where Jesus says this is who I am. And what we'll find out is that's the whole point of the Gospels. I'm gonna give you the end before we even start the beginning this morning. And here's the end. This is why the Gospel of John was written. John says it in John chapter 20, verse 31. He says, but these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. This is why John wrote it. The whole Gospel was so that you and I would believe that he is the Son of God, that he is the Messiah, and so that it would lead us to not just experience salvation and eternal life, but a different kind of life, a following Jesus. Because after all, that's what Jesus calls us to do, to be his disciples. So we're gonna work our way through the Gospel of John, and we're gonna see seven IM statements that Jesus claims about himself, and then we're gonna study seven signs that Jesus does that validate and prove ultimately that he truly is the Son of God. But this morning, I wanna work our way through John chapter one as by way of introduction and show you something that maybe you've never seen as you've read through the Bible before, what I call the stairway of heaven. The stairway of heaven. Verse number one, we begin by seeing Jesus dwelling in eternity past with the Father and the Son. So we see eternity past. This is where he's dwelt forever and ever and ever, fully God in perfect communion and relationship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. People oftentimes ask, it's like, was God lonely before there was a planet, before there were angels and before he created mankind? The answer's no, he had perfect fellowship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From eternity past, little kids oftentimes will ask the question, it's always cute when they do. Who made God? If God made everything, who made God? And how many know the answer? Nobody made God. God is God. He's holy. He's not like us. He's the uncreated creator. He's the prime cause. And it's hard for us to fathom that because in our world, we live in the middle of verse two, which is that he made everything. But there was a time when there was just God. And out of that perfect loving relationship, God created everything. But out of eternity, in God's eternal purpose, in which God the Father said, Son, you're going to step into history and marry heaven and earth together, God and man together. And you are going to pay for the sins of the world and redeem fallen mankind back to me. The first step that Jesus took out of heaven was the incarnation. And you might say, well, that's a big word. What does that mean? That means God took on flesh. Verse number 14, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. I want you to think just for a moment about the miracle of the incarnation. We talk about this every year at Christmas or Advent season, because that's when we remember that God mysteriously joined himself to humanity. How does he do that? Philippians chapter two talks a little bit about it. It says that speaking of Jesus, it says he took on the form of a servant and he came in the likeness of men. He didn't consider equality with God, something to be grasped a hold of to be held tightly, but it says he emptied himself or he let for a period of time certain divine attributes that as God he only had when he was in the heavens, he let them go so that he could enter into human history and identify with us in our humanity. That's the first step that he takes. This was, by the way, always God's plan. In Genesis 315, God said to the serpent after the fall, he says, your seed will bruise the heel, but her seed, the seed of the woman, will crush your head. That was a prophetic indicator that there was going to come a redeemer. Now, the Old Testament prophets had no idea that that redeemer was actually going to be God himself. Think about that. God, creator, who made all that exists in creation leaves eternity to enter history, to enter history. And to climb down the stairway from heaven and eternity down into history. And he did it to redeem us. How many remember a couple of years ago when several boys, I think it was in Thailand, went down into a shaft, which they had done often and they got trapped down into that shaft. They ended up being in that shaft, in that underwater cavern for almost two weeks. And when they got trapped in that cavern, they had done this many times. They had ridden their bikes to this place. They had thrown their bikes aside and they felt like they would go down and be there for just about an hour. That's what they normally have done. But on this particular occasion, they went in and there was a change. I think some water got into one of the caverns where they could not get back out. And after a period of time, when the parents began to recognize the kids weren't coming back, they went looking for them and they discovered that they were in this cavern. And it was heroes who risked their life. Who, I mean, it was really against all odds, climbed down into that cavern with those boys and one by one led them back out to safety. Now, when we all saw that story, we were captivated by it because we saw how vulnerable, we saw how helpless and how tragic an end this looked like it was going to be. They could not help themselves. They were stuck in this cavern. But then we saw the heroics of these individuals who went in and risked everything to bring them out one by one. And we call them heroes and rightly so. And today, many of those boys, in fact, I think all of those boys still are living today and they're living their lives today because there were some who were willing to risk it all by going to where they were, leaving safety, leaving security in order to rescue them. Well, I will tell you, there's no greater rescue story than the story of God being willing to leave eternity and to step into history and to come as a baby, being carried by a woman in her womb and then to be delivered as a child and laid in a manger and then to grow and to develop and come into an awareness of his divine identity and to then the Bible says that he learned obedience through the things that Jesus suffered. And then at the age of 30, he began his earthly ministry, but it all starts with him being willing to come as a man. Now you and I, who are human beings, we're like if we look at the whole created order, being a human is probably top of the food chain. I mean, it's a pretty good gig. If you compare ant with human, I'll take human all day long. Anybody agree with me on that? Unless you're swimming in the ocean and there's a great white shark, it's like, I might feel like I'm outnumbered there. But I mean, it's a pretty good gig to be a human unless you're God. And then all of a sudden, when you compare the infiniteness, the splendor, the worship, the glory and to give all of that and for Jesus to stand up from his throne and to lay aside the robe of his splendor and majesty, to walk through the crowd of angels across the glassy sea of heaven and to step onto the staircase of redemption and to begin to descend from heaven into the fallen, broken, sin-ridden, demonically possessed reality of history was all for love. This was the beginning of his descent. The second step of this is found in verse number 19. And this is God raising up a forerunner. So God raises up John the Baptist, who is the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 40. Behold, one, a voice crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way, prepare the way for the Lord. This is God's divine plan. He raises up John the Baptist, who, by the way, is a relative of Jesus. He is his cousin, but he's been raised out in the wilderness, the Judean wilderness, and he's lived on wild honey and grasshoppers, and he's wearing camel skin and a leather belt. This guy is a wild child. But for years, probably almost 30 years, while Jesus is growing in his obedience, and understanding of what it means to be the Son of God and human flesh, John the Baptist is being prepared as a forerunner voice raised up, knowing that he is Isaiah chapter 40, and there's gonna come a moment when the Father is gonna prompt him. It's time for you to go out and to announce to Israel that my son is coming. God is releasing the Messiah. That had to be an incredible moment. Now, I've loved the chosen. Has anybody in here at any of our locations seen the chosen? I really love it, and I love the episode where Jesus and John the Baptist meet. But here's, I will tell you that they got it wrong, because John the Baptist did not know who Jesus was. You read it right here. It says in chapter one, verse number 33, John the Baptist said, I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is the one that baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist was his relative, but they didn't know each other. It's not like in the chosen, they're like, hey, they're all buddies, we've been planning this for years. That did not happen. I'm sorry, I might have just burst some of your chosen bubbles right there, but the Bible's better than the chosen. And the Bible says that John the Baptist, all he knew was God said to him, when you see the Holy Spirit descend upon one and remain on him, he is the one. And so here he is. He's the forerunner. God raised him up, said, go, announce to Israel that God's plan of redemption is enacted. It's initiated and start baptizing for repentance because he knew that as soon as he started baptizing, the third step on the stairway from heaven into history would take place, which was Jesus's manifestation. Jesus's manifestation to Israel. It required, Jesus could not step forward into his messianic office until the forerunner came, but as soon as he came, in verse number 29, look over here in verse number 29, it says the next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. This is the third step of Jesus descending out of eternity into history and stepping into ministry. He needed John the Baptist to come on the scene. As soon as John the Baptist shows up, Jesus begins to walk along the shores of the Jordan River and he's waiting for John the Baptist to go, I see the Holy Spirit, you're the one. And then Jesus is baptized. Has anybody ever wondered why Jesus needed to be baptized? I mean, if we think about baptism is the washing away of sins, the remission of sins, why was Jesus, who's the Lamb of God, needed to be baptized? Because every priest who served the Lord in the temple had to at least be 30 years old, Jesus was 30. And before he served, he had to be consecrated with water as a way of sanctifying himself for the service of the Lord. And then he would be anointed with oil. Jesus is 30, he steps into the waters of baptism and he receives what's called a mikvah or a washing, a cleansing. And then instead of being anointed with oil by the high priest, he is anointed by the Holy Spirit from heaven. And John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God. You see, we just celebrate a Passover. A Passover lamb had to be brought into Jerusalem or into a home to be observed for a period of time to make sure that they were spotless and met the qualifications to redeem and to be placed over the doorposts of the home so that the death spirit would cross over and pass over their home. John the Baptist, by the way, is of a priestly line. His father is Zachariah, he's a prophet, he's a priest. And so he has the right to declare a lamb, a Passover lamb, spotless and ready to be utilized. And so it takes John the Baptist to not just initiate as a forerunner, but to also identify his manifestation. Now the four step of Jesus descent down the staircase of Splendor, we see in verse number 35 and 39, which is calling disciples. So he leaves eternity, he's born into flesh, God raises up a forerunner, he's manifest Israel, and then he begins to call disciples to himself. Look at verse number 35. In verse number 35, it says the next day, again, John was standing with his two disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and he said, behold the lamb of God. Then two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? And Jesus said to them, come and see. You can see a little gleam in Jesus' eye, can't you? Come and see. It's kind of like that moment in the matrix where Neo's like in the program, he's like ready to fight against, I can't remember what the guy's name is, Morpheus. And Morpheus looks at him and goes, I can just see Jesus looking at the disciples gone, come and see. You have no idea. You can take the blue pill and go back to sleep and wake up in your fantasy land or take the red pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. How many know those disciples had no idea on that day that decision where that was gonna take them? They had no idea. It would take them to the ends of the earth. They didn't have any idea that they were stepping into God's eternal purpose. This was just a day and he was just a teacher and this was just a baptismal service. But that first step in following Jesus at his invitation to come and see changed everything. Not just for them, but it changed everything for all of history. The call to discipleship, listen. The answer to the call of discipleship seems in a moment to just be a decision. But what we often don't realize is it actually is setting a direction. It's not just a decision, it sets a direction. A direction where we're partnering to God in his redemptive purposes in the earth. And then the fifth and the final step is Jesus starting his ministry. He says in chapter one in verse number 43, it says, in the next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee and he found Philip and he said to him, follow me. And this is where everything begins. Ministry-wise. He sees in verse number 46, Nathaniel, and he says, you know, Nathaniel is being invited by Philip, Philip, or Nathaniel says, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. He's just repeating Jesus. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming and he said to him, be old and Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said, how do you know me? And Jesus said before Philip called you, when you're under the fig tree, I saw you, rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel. Jesus said, because I saw you and you believe, oh, you're gonna see greater things than that. Now look at verse number 51. This is the key to the whole thing. Truly, truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. This is the whole key to the whole chapter. How many feel like that statement that Jesus made? You will see angels ascending and descending upon the son of man. How many, does that sound familiar to anybody? There's a story in Genesis chapter 28 of a man named Jacob in a place called Bethel where he has a vision and he sees a ladder between heaven and earth. You guys remember this story? Jacob's ladder. It really, a ladder is a terrible translation. It really is talking about a staircase. It's a staircase. It's a way to elevate. And on this staircase or this ladder, he sees angels ascending and descending. In other words, kingdom business is being done on the earth, God is at work, and Jacob, who represents Israel, has this vision and when he sees this, here's a statement. He says this in verse number 16 and 17. He said, how awesome is this place? Now catch this. Then he says this, God is in this place and I did not know it. God is in this place and I did not know it. That's the story Jesus is referencing right here. As he's beginning his ministry in verse number 51, he says, oh, you think this is something, you're about to see the stairway of heaven on full display. Angels ascending and descending, except this time, you're not gonna see them just on a staircase. You're gonna see them on the Son of God. Now, why is that important? It's because in this particular situation, we don't need to see a ladder as a means to somehow engage and interact with God any longer because now we have a ladder, we have a staircase. His name is Jesus. He is the one who's descended down the staircase of heaven to us. What John chapter one is revealing is so much bigger about who Jesus is, about who God is than he's eternal, that he's equal with God, that he's creator, that he's the giver of life, that he's been made human, and that he's even stepped outside of eternity. When we look at all five of these steps, think about this. Step number one is that he left eternity to enter into history. Step number two is he incarnated deity into humanity. Step number three is he forfeited expediency for destiny. Step number four is he surrendered entitlement for humility. And step number five is he called disciples to multiply his ministry. As we look at Jesus descending down these stairways and stepping into ministry in the gospel of John, here's what it tells us most about God. Is God is the great pursuer. God is the great pursuer. What do you mean by that? It means God did not send an angel until you and I, how to build a ladder to get to him. He built a staircase so that he could climb down out of eternity to come and to pursue us. This is what Jesus does. You see in religion, man builds a ladder and we say God's here, terrible picture, man's down here. And we build a ladder called religion with checklist of things that we have to do to get to God. When Jacob has his vision of Jacob's ladder, do you know who was standing at the top? Go and read it today, verse number 12 of Genesis 12, it says, and the Lord was at the top of the ladder. Religion says, hey, we're gonna build a ladder and when we do good enough, when we become enlightened enough, when our righteousness is greater than our wickedness, when we become wise enough, we're gonna climb the ladder and get to God. And it's all based on our merit. That's religion. But John chapter one reveals this about God and I'm gonna use a ladder motif. God knows that there's no way that we can ever get to him. There's no way. You will never be able to build a ladder tall enough, strong enough. You will never be able to merit enough to climb the ladder, to get to God, which leaves us hopeless and dead. But God in his rich mercy, God in his heart's desire and his pursuit of relationship with us has his own ladder. He's at the top and he chooses to come down to us, to walk down the golden, glorious, splendorous stairway of heaven into our world. To redeem us. Listen to what it says, John chapter one. You're gonna hear it again, but now hear it through what we just discovered. And it says, verse number 16, for from his fullness, we have received grace upon grace, for the law was given through Moses, religion, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace, religion is all about merit. Relationship is all about grace and truth. Thank God, Jesus tells us the truth. But thank God that when he does, he offers grace. Grace is unmerited favor. This is the stairway of heaven. And where we find ourselves at the end of John one is Jesus standing, not in the courts of heaven, but standing in human flesh on the earth to accomplish his father's will. And to make a beeline for the cross and in his wake to reveal who God is. Oh, how glorious, oh, how wonderful and my soul will ever sing. What a beautiful God. Would you stand with me wherever you're at this morning? Amazing love, amazing grace, that you my King would die for me. I mean, we think about all the words to all of these songs and all of these scriptures and it's real. This is the God who pursues. This is the God who comes for us. And you know, when Jesus called his first disciples, he found them not in perfect, spotless, enlightened condition. He didn't look at them and go, oh, you got it together and you got it together and you got it together. Hey, follow me. No, he found tax collectors, fishermen, zealots, even thieves. And when they looked in his direction and recognized this, there's something about, he is the Son of God. Here's what Jesus' invitation was. Come and see, come and follow me. And in the process of following him, they were changed. This is the promise that we have in Jesus. To as many as you have in Jesus as you have in Jesus, this is the promise that we have in Jesus. To as many as received him, as many as said yes to his invitation, Jesus gave the ability to become sons of God. To as many as received him. I wonder this morning, have you received him? I'm not talking about have you believed him? Belief is important, but have you received him? Have you said Jesus, Son of God? One sent by the Father to seek me out, to save me. Because you knew I would never be able to save myself. You knew I could never deal with my own sins on my own. You knew I'm a wreck. You knew I'd make a mess of things. There's no way in the world I could ever get to you, but God, you so love me that you sent your son for me. And today, wherever you're at, I believe that the words of Jesus are echoing across the span of 2,000 years. Of him saying, follow me, come and see. You see, you today can receive eternal life through Jesus. He came for you. It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, how far you've gone. Doesn't matter what anybody else has said about you. Jesus came not for the put together, but he came for the broken. And if today you do not have peace in your heart, you don't know what it is to have your sins forgiven, you want a relationship with God, the Father, not just a religion of check, checklists of things to do, but the God who made you, the God who knows you, the God who formed you is also the God who loves you and has paid the ultimate price to redeem you back to himself. Will you respond to him? Would you bow your heads with me all over the rim? Wherever you're at, even online. Today, I want to give you an invitation just like Jesus gave. Here's the invitation. Come and see, come and follow me. Receive me and I will give you eternal life. If today, as you're listening to me, you know in your heart of hearts that you are not right with God, your sins burden is heavy, your shame has been a cloak, and your pride of trying to do it on your own has failed you. But today you're ready to surrender and say, Jesus, I believe you came for me. I believe you died to pay my sin's price. And I believe you so loved me that you left eternity to come into pursuing. Today, I surrender all to you, save me. I want to be a child of God. I want to be forgiven. I want to have eternal life today. But you're not sure that you're right with God or maybe you're positive that you're far from God. And today's the day for you to repent, say, God, I'm sorry, forgive me, Jesus, I receive you today. If that's you, I want to lead you in a prayer, but I want you first to indicate that by just raising your hand wherever you are. Say, pray for me today. I want to get right with God. I want to make Jesus the Lord of my life. Raise it high so I can see it. And we're going to pray together in a moment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I see it all the way to my left. I see your hand. Who else? I'm looking across the room, all the way in the back, sir, I see your hand. Who else today would say, Jesus, save me? Thank you, you can put your hands down. Everybody, I'm gonna lead those who just raised their hands in a prayer of confession of Jesus's Lord. They're about to start their journey as Christ followers, but I want all of us to join in this prayer and repeat it with them, because we're all still following Jesus, amen? Let's all pray this prayer together. Heavenly Father, I come in Jesus' name, and I'm so grateful that you pursued me, that you sent Jesus for me. And today, I receive Jesus. And I ask you to give me a new heart to forgive all of my sins, to wash me clean, and to fill me with eternal life. I repent today of my sin, my rebellion, and my pride, and I surrender completely to you. Jesus, today, you are Lord of my life. You are Savior of my soul, and I will follow you. Thank you for loving me, and coming for me, and saving me, in Jesus' name, amen, and amen, amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, you just began a brand new life in Christ that will never end. Heaven is your home, God is your father, the church is your family, the spirit is your down payment, and the word of God is your promises. And we're in this with you.