 It's good to see everybody. We wanna welcome those who are in the house. Come on, let's put our hands together. It's good to be in church. And we're gonna clap one more time. Let's clap for all the watch parties and radiant members that are joining us online. We love you guys. So whether you are on YouTube, Facebook live, radiant.church, we are so glad that you are with us. This is a little weird for me. This is like in baseball terms, live pitching. When you've been batting all off season and the batting cages and all of a sudden there's live pitching. I haven't seen you guys in months, but it's awesome to actually look out and see some radiant faces today. And I wanna invite you on this 4th of July weekend, if you have your Bible to open it up to the book of James, James chapter one. We are beginning a brand new series this weekend in honor of our Independence Day celebration. And we're calling it revolutionary faith. We are going to spend the next several weeks looking and studying through the book of James. You might say, well, why James? Well, let me just tell you some things about the book of James. Number one, the book of James is probably the oldest book in your New Testament. Probably the first New Testament book written is written by a man named James. Obviously it's his namesake, but James was the half brother of Jesus and also the full brother of Jude one of the last books in the Bible. Can you imagine being the half brother of Jesus growing up in the same house as Jesus? And every time you do something you're wrong, your mom, Mary says, why can't you be more like your brother, Jesus? That's cause he's God mom and that's gonna be an issue. What we know is that James and Jude and the other siblings of Jesus did not believe in Jesus until after his resurrection from the dead. After his resurrection, Paul tells them first Corinthians that he appeared to his brothers and they believed and we know that they were there with Mary in the upper room on the day of Pentecost and James became a significant leader in the church at Jerusalem. And we know that X chapter two, the church exploded right from the very beginning. It was like an atomic reaction where the church went from zero to 3000 on day one. And so the book of James was written by Pastor James, half brother of Jesus, as the church was exploding in a revolutionary way. Christianity was a revolution that took place in the midst of political and cultural turmoil. I don't know if you've noticed recently but we've had some challenges in our culture. Things have shaken things up over the last three months in America, an American culture and really around the world. And sometimes we can step back and we can think, well, it would be easy to be a follower of Jesus if I lived in the first century right around the time of the book of Acts, Acts chapter two, you read that and you say the spirit of God was poured out and signs and wonders were happening and angelic visitations and people getting delivered from prison. If I lived in a time like that, I could follow Jesus. But let me tell you something about that time. They were under military occupation from Rome. Christians were being persecuted. They had fighting going on in the church between Jews and Gentiles. They were arguing over budgets. People were literally being beheaded. People lied on their offering envelopes and were struck dead by the Holy spirit and buried at the same time. All of this was happening in the book of Acts. It was turmoil. And I believe that it's completely appropriate for the day that we are living in for us to look at this vintage book, this oldest New Testament book that shows us how the church had to grapple with revolutionary issues right from the very beginning because Christianity was revolutionary. A definition of a revolution is a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. Well, for the first believers, they were overthrowing and they were cashing in their old system of religious obligation in exchange for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And James writes his book, his letter to Christians to help them grapple with the revolution, the greatest revolution that was going to take place in their lives. It was the revolution of their heart because there had to be a transformation and a change of government that took place on the inside of them before they could affect the world that was outside of them. You know, there was a song and we're gonna look here in James chapter one and read 18 verses. But there was a song that took place during another revolution, the 1960s. Some of you remember it. It was called the counterculture revolution. This struggling little band called the Beatles wrote a song called So You Say You Want a Revolution. And the song says it like this. You say you want a revolution. Well, you know, we all want to change the world. You say you want a revolution or you say you've got a real solution. Well, you know, we'd all like to see the plan. You know, everybody talks about changing the world. Everybody talks and if you don't believe me, just look on Facebook. Everybody's got a plan for how the world would be a better place. If somebody would just pay attention to my Facebook posts, it would change the world. How many know somebody like that? Don't raise your hand and don't point at them and don't share this link with them right now. But everybody thinks they have a plan. Everybody thinks that the world should change. But the last thing that we think needs to change is actually us. It's always that person needs to change or that group needs to change or that nation needs to change or this system needs to change. And maybe there are some things that need to change. But do you know where change has to begin? It has to change in us. So let's look here at James chapter one, verse number one, it says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Count it all, joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness or endurance or patience. And let steadfastness, patience, endurance have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For this person will not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exultation and the rich in his humiliation because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with the scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits, first wild. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived my brothers, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of life with whom there is no variation and shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Dallas Willard in his book, The Renovation of the Heart when talking about this revolution, this need of change and how it reflects our true relationship with God says it like this. He says, the revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continually a revolution of the human heart or spirit. He is a revolution of character which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing relationship with God through Jesus Christ and to one another. Beloved listen, following Jesus is not just a set of rules and beliefs that we aspire to. It's not just a concept of a creator and a hope that someday we're gonna go to heaven when we die and this life is over. Following Jesus is actually a revolution. It's a revolution of our heart and as soon as we embark on that, as soon as we recognize the need for that change, as soon as we decide we're gonna overthrow the system of the flesh, the system of sin, the system that is broken all around us, the government where we sit on the throne and rule our own lives and we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, we're overthrowing one government and we're erecting a throne and inviting Jesus to be the Lord of all on the new throne, on the new heart that we have. As soon as we begin to do that, we are gonna come into conflict. We're gonna come into conflict because there is an enemy that we are revolting against but it's not an enemy out there. It's an enemy right here. Everybody take your index finger, even at home, just take your index finger and point it at yourself. This is where the enemy is. The enemy is in our heart. It's the old man, it's the flesh, it's the person that Paul says is buried with Christ but yeah, how many know even though you come to Christ and you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away, how many know that that old man likes to hang on and show up every once in a while? Anybody relate to that? The old man, his old thoughts, his own desires, the vulnerability towards temptation still emerges. You know, on this weekend, as Americans we are celebrating the 4th of July which is our declaration of independence as a nation. When we revolted against tyranny against England and now, you know, in America, how do we celebrate things? We blow things up, that's what we do. They just said that fireworks, sales in America have increased by 106% this year over last year. It's because everybody's been on lockdown and they're all mad and angry and just wanna blow something up. It's just like, I wanna buy something that just makes a lot of noise, makes a lot of smoke and I wanna light it and watch it and feel better about myself. But you know, 244 years ago, we declared independence from England, one of our founding fathers. His name was Samuel Adams. Some of you know him just because of the beer but that's not what he's most famous for. He wrote about the revolution. He said, a general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of a common enemy. While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued. But when once they lose their virtue, then we'll be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. What was Samuel Adams saying? He was like, look, the real issue is will we be virtuous people? And that was a, you know, a couple of hundred years ago when the statement was made about being virtuous, what they were talking about was about being godly. When we have a relationship with God, when we put God first, then that affects the government of our heart and the trajectory of our life and on an individual level and also on a national level, basically he's saying there's nothing that can stop a nation that chooses to put God first starting in each of us individually and making Jesus Lord of our lives. But as soon as we get rid of that, as soon as we lose that center, then what begins to happen is we become very vulnerable to intruders outside and internal. Because what Samuel Adams knew is what James knew 2,000 years ago when he saw the revolution of the church and he was trying to pastor people coming out of Judaism into now following the true and the living Messiah, Jesus. He understood that if it's only about giving you a list of rules and regulations, then nothing has changed on the inside. Dallas Willard said it best, the revolution of Jesus is a revolution of the heart. Christianity is a revolution of the soul. It's a revolution of an underdeveloped spirit and an unsubdued soul. This is what James means when he's talking about going through trials. He says, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Many gives us this process in steadfastness or the Christian Standard Bible says, mature, complete, lacking nothing. That's the end result. God wants us to get us to a place of mature and complete and lacking nothing. And the way that it gets us there is we go through tests, we go through trials. And when you're in the midst of a test or trial, he tells us, count it joy. How many know that's a lot easier written than done? I mean, when we go through tests, oftentimes the worst of us and the best of us rises to the surface. The best of us rises to the surface because we meet the challenge, but we're also confronted with the things that need to be overthrown in our hearts. Our attitudes, our mentalities, our staying power or what he calls steadfastness. This is stuff that is real life. And I don't know if anybody's been through anything in the last couple of months, but it's easy to see the best of us and the worst of us that shows up when pressure is applied. And when that happens, we can become discouraged and say, well, what's wrong with me? Why am I responding this way? We can become oblivious and just self-justify and say, well, this is the way I am and I'm right and you ought to acknowledge it. Or we can do, here's the most important thing that we can do when we find ourselves in a trial. Stop and ask the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, what's going on? Why, what are you trying to say to me? It doesn't mean that everything in our life is something that God orchestrated to teach us a lesson. It's not like, oh, wax on, wax off, snatch pebble from hand, grass up, you will be just, that's not what God's, but God will use everything. The Bible says in Romans eight that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. That means God may not cause everything, but God uses everything and if we'll stop and say, God, right now, what are you trying to say to me? What are you trying to show to me? What are you trying to bring a revolution to? A change, an overthrow? Because here's what I want you to know, that there in every one of our lives is this tug of war that's going on. Anybody remember field day from high school? Or from not high school, elementary school? Anybody have field day? That was my favorite day of the year. Fourth, fifth grade field day is the lat, typically it was the last day of the school year. And you know, you, our school day would set up, you know, chalk lines on the grass so that you could have your 50 yard dash and hurdles. We put hockey sticks over orange cones and those were hurdles and you had the long jump and the soft ball throw. Trying to think of some of the other events that we had. Oh, we had relays where you'd go back and forth in the lanes and then there was the tug of war. And it was in our school, I went to Bowen Elementary in Kentwood, Michigan and they would take one class of boys versus another class of boys and they had, we had this huge rope is about this thick. And you'd stand on each side and they had a cone and a flag, you know, tied onto the rope. And it was, this was bragging rights, the tug of war. And you'd always put, you know, the big kid on the back and tied around his waist. It's like, you're the anchor buddy, hold tight. And then we'd pull, pull, pull and go for it. And whoever won the tug of war, it was, that was bragging rights. And it would go back and forth, back and forth. Whoever, it typically whoever had the most endurance was the one who won. Who could hang on because you would go back and forth. You ever done a tug of war and experienced that? It's like back and then it goes this way a little bit and then back and then eventually one team just gets tired and they just let go of the rope and the whole other team just falls. And it's like, you can have the bragging rights, I'm done, but I wanna watch you fall. I want you to know this, that in your process and what James is writing to us about counting it as joy when we find ourselves in these tests is all about winning the tug of war, letting God win the tug of war. Because I want you to know that you are in one, whether you know it or not. If you're a follower of Jesus, you are constantly in a battle royale, a tug of war. And if you don't experience that tug, if you don't feel that tension that's going on in you, it may be that all you have is a form of religion because in a form of religion, just believing in existence of something, you're not gonna feel the pull from the other side. Why? There's no need. But if you have a living, thriving relationship with God and God is winning and bringing about change and transformation in your life, you are gonna find yourself in this place of tension and tug of war. And it's a tug of war between, listen, testing and tempting. Testing and tempting. What's the difference? Well, God tests, but the devil tempts. God tests, count it all joy, brothers. Because the testing of your faith. Come on, God, why do we gotta go through another test? Because God's outcome is that you will be perfect, complete and lacking nothing. God wants to bring you to a place of maturity. Well, how does he do that? Testing. But that's not how the devil operates. How the devil operates is different. Look over here at verse number 14. But each person is tempted, is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin. And sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Look at verse 16. Do not be deceived. Greatest danger in serving Jesus is that we become deceived. Because when you're deceived, when the enemy has deceived you, you can believe that you're okay. You can believe that you're doing better than most. You can buy into the lie that nothing needs to change. And you actually miss out on the joy, the inheritance, the closeness that God wants you to have, the destiny he wants you to fulfill, the community he wants you to experience. Because we refuse to recognize that we've got to let Jesus win the tug of war. You see the difference maker, you know when you do a tug of war, you got two equal teams and then all of a sudden one guy, you know the biggest kid in the class, he walks up and goes, hey, who's team am I on? Everybody's like, get on our team. He gets on your team and it's like, you win the match and it's all over. Here's what happens when you're in a tug of war. The flesh and your spirit, temptation and testing. Jesus walks up and says, who's team am I on? If you'll wave your hand and say, on my team, I surrender Jesus, jump on my team. All of a sudden he just goes, boom. And the devil and all of his cronies and all the temptation just go falling on the ground and you become victorious. That's what we want. We want to be perfect, complete and lacking nothing. Who's the deciding vote? You. One pulls on your faith, the other pulls on your flesh. Let's look at that, verse number two. So how is it that we can count it all joy when we fall into or meet trials of various kinds? For you know that the testing of your faith produces patience, but I don't know about you, but when you go through some difficult things, it doesn't feel joyful. It's not like, yes, this is hard. Woo, I'm fired up. I'm in turmoil. This is a battle, it's a temptation. Man, I'm being challenged. Yes, there might be like one or two people on the planet like that, but most of us aren't like that. It's like, man, my marriage is really going through it. Ah, joy. I just got a pink slip from work. Woo. I'm looking in the mirror and I keep dealing with the same issues over and over and I'm losing, yes, victory. Most of us, that's not it. Where, what is James thinking when he's saying, count it all joy? When? When you find yourself in the test. You see joy actually, if you look at it, joy is not in the difficulty. That's not where he tells you to find joy. Tells you to find joy in the outcome. What does that require you to do? It means you gotta look out on the horizon. You gotta keep your eyes out on the horizon, on the future. In our case, you gotta keep your eyes on Jesus. As it says in Hebrews chapter 12, it says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. When you're running, you have to keep your eyes on the course, on the finish line. Looking unto Jesus, the founder or the author and the finisher, perfecter of our faith. Look at this, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. So Jesus, he's our finish line. When you're out at sea, if you want to keep yourself from becoming seasick, you have to find the horizon and keep your eyes on the horizon. Because if you look down at the waves and the movement and the boat rocking back and forth, you'll become sick very quickly because it throws off your equilibrium in your ear and your body responds by becoming sick. How do you change that? Lift up your eyes, look at the horizons. How do you find joy in the middle of a test? Because tests, by the way, listen, tests are not God punishing you. Tests are God perfecting you. When you find yourself in a test, it's not because you did something wrong, it's actually because God is doing something right. It's because he wants you to be perfect, mature, and complete, and there is a process to progress. What does he say, keep your eyes on Jesus? What about Jesus, his example, who endured the cross? Man, I'll tell you this, I know this. Nothing I've ever gone through comes anywhere close to the cross. It doesn't come anywhere close to the cross. Now we might think that we've been through some difficult things and some things that we've been through are more challenging than others. I'm not trying to diminish the things that we've gone through or maybe that you've gone through. I mean, there are some things that are extremely painful, but there's nothing that we've gone through in our testing that Jesus hasn't also gone through. We don't have a high priest who does not sympathize with our infirmities or our weaknesses. We have a high priest who's been through everything that we've been through. You wanna talk about being betrayed? Jesus has been betrayed. Physical pain? Jesus has been beaten, crucified. You wanna talk about humiliation? Jesus was humiliated. False accusations? Yes, he experienced all of that. Separation from God? Yes, he experienced that. Nature actually rejected the idea that the Son of God would be turned away from by the Father at the moment that our sin was put on him. You say, well, God can't possibly understand what the burden of the sin that I carry is. No, he understands it because Jesus took it. He took all of our sin on him. Imagine taking 10 billion human sin all at once on yourself. Jesus took it. But it says, well, he was on the cross. He endured the cross. What for? For the joy that was set before him. Despising the shame. What's the joy for Jesus? He knew what the outcome would be of the test he was going through right now. He knew, you know what? I'm going through this. So that billions of lost men and women throughout history will be reconciled to the Father and to me. I'm doing this to please the heart of my Father. Looking unto Jesus. So when we go through things, count it all joy. How do we count it all joy? Highs on the horizon going, God's up to something. This is gonna hurt. This is gonna be painful. This is gonna, I'm gonna have to confront some issues. I may, in this process, I'm probably gonna have some good moments and some bad moments, but I'm trusting God in the process because I believe that the outcome is not my destruction. Listen to me, God's point in the test. The thing that differentiates temptation from testing is testing brings greater life, tempting unto sin produces greater death. And when we find ourselves in a test, it's like, God, I can't see where this is. It's like running a race. I can't see the finish line on mile 15 of a marathon. But I know where you're leading me. I can see the lanes. I can see the banners. I can hear the cheering. And we're surrounded saints by such a great cloud of witnesses that are cheering us on, that have gone before us and we're cheered on by the angels in heaven. And we can keep our eyes on Jesus and he's saying, come on, come on, endurance, endurance, steadfastness. Don't quit. Don't let go of the rope. And we can do that with joy. I'm not talking about happiness. There's a difference between joy and happiness. Joy is a permanent eternal state of being. Happiness is fleeting. We can count it joyful because we know God's kind intentions. Testing is a pathway to progress. That's part of the process. Next week, we're gonna be talking about the process of temptation because this is where the rubber hits the road. Once you can differentiate tests from temptation, you can figure out, you can allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into victory and not always get stuck in the traps. But testing, the reason why we can be joyful about it is because it's God's pathway to progress. It's the normal way of life for Jesus' followers. Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter four, verse 12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trials when it comes upon you, listen, to test you. To test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Don't think it's strange. I've had people literally come on and go, Pastor, I'm not sure I'm saved. I'm like, well, tell me why you think that? I mean, have you asked Jesus in your heart? Have you repented of your sins? Yeah, I've done that, but I'm not sure I'm saved. I think something's wrong with the prayer I prayed. Really, why do you think that? Because the devil's attacking me. Or they'll say, because man, life's hard. I'm going through some hard stuff right now. And you know what? I feel like if God really loved me and I was saved, I wouldn't be going through this stuff. No, that's actually evidence that you are saved. So rejoice, be glad, put your trust in the Lord. The world's going to give you some trouble. On that you can rely, my friend. Come on, Caleb Culver, who wrote that song. This world's going to come with some trouble. There's going to be some tests. The test is God's pathway to progress. Testing, listen, is meant to perfect you. Temptation is meant to destroy you, to snare you. Look at what it says, when temptation comes, you're lured and enticed by your own desires. Then when that desire has conceived, notice the birth language? It gives birth to sin and sin when it's fully grown brings forth death. See a coach, a coach when he's been assigned to an athlete will push that athlete to the edge of what the athlete thinks he can do, it's possible. Come on, do it one more time, one more time, one more time. I need you to do it like this. Oh, you're done, get on the line. Another sprint, I can't do it anymore. I'm going to throw up, good. Just don't throw up on my side of the line. Throw up when you get to the finish line. Oh, I can't do any more reps in the weight room. Come on, just one more, just one more, just one more. There's no way I can break this time limit. Oh, we're going to do it. We're going to get in the weight room and then a month later we're going to come back around. What does the coach do? He pushes the athlete to bring what is on the inside of him out that he doesn't even believe himself is there. This is what God does in us saints. If you, this is not a self help, this is not self glorification, but God designed you to be an overcomer, to be victorious, to fulfill your destiny. You were put here on earth for a purpose, not to be overcome, but to overcome. You were created to be more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. You were called to walk in step with God. There is so much more potential because the Holy Spirit dwells on the inside of us. The very spirit of God that hovered over the face of the earth that called mountains out of the ocean, that stretched out the heavens at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light is the same Holy Spirit that lives in you. If we could just surrender and get out of the Holy Spirit's way, if we could just say yes to the Holy Spirit, to God, to his word, if we could just avoid being deceived because deception is pulling on your flesh. And you know until Jesus comes, you're walking around as a born again child of God who is created by God on purpose. But you also have the residue of the old man, this flesh nature that hangs on and the enemy tries to use against you to limit you, to deceive you, to ensnare you, trap you. Because when you're trapped, you're not walking in the freedom that Jesus paid for. Galatians chapter five says it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. You know what a revolution is for? It's to overthrow tyranny and to bring about freedom. That's why we're blowing stuff up this weekend. That's why we're gonna go home and eat a burger, a brat, and ribs. That's why we're gonna eat beans until we can't eat beans no more. And that's why we're gonna watch things blow up in the sky and we're gonna sing the Star Spangled Banner and it's gonna, we're doing that because freedom. We can celebrate because of freedom. The reason why Jesus wants to bring about a revolution of our hearts, to where we let Jesus win. That we go through the process of testing and refining so that we're perfect, complete, and lacking nothing is so that we're walking in all of the freedom that Jesus has for us. Not snared and entrapped like some caged animal by wrong thinking, wrong belief systems, limiting concepts, trapped by our sin and snared by our temptation, burned down with shame and guilt and lies of the enemy that we just walk around going, nothing's changed in my life. Where's the victory in my life? Shameful, we don't wanna be honest. We don't wanna be transparent with anybody because we're ashamed of what we've been through and the enemy just lasts because the enemy can see the potential in the spirit of how God has created you and then He also sees you in the cage, trapped in and snared. Do you know that elephants are massive animals? And when they circuses, unfortunately, when they get a baby elephant, they'll tie a rope around its ankle, put it on a stake, a big old steel stake so that that elephant will try and get away, try and walk away, but every time he goes away, that chain or that shackle or that rope, whatever's holding him will tighten around his and he begins to realize pretty quickly that this is his limitation and that he can't be free. Now the elephant will grow four or five times size and weight as it was when it was a baby, but because he's come to terms with the fact that he's never gonna be free, a trainer can replace that rope or that chain with a piece of twine and every time the elephant walks to the limit and the length of that rope, he'll feel the tug. He has the strength to snap it without even thinking, but because he's believed this is his limit, he never will. I wonder how many believers have believed the lie that when you go through difficulties, it's God's penalty, it's God's punishment. I wonder how many Christians believe the lie that they will never be free. I wonder how many of us have allowed a leash to be put on us. And because we don't have the spiritual stamina, the steadfastness, we've not allowed God to take us through the pathway of testing and bring us into perfect, complete and lacking nothing. And so we have no joy. Today, God wants to move us from deception to revelation. That I don't have to allow sin. I don't have to allow the flesh. I don't have to allow the devil any longer to rule and reign over me. I can be set free in Jesus. Rejoice in that. I wanna invite everybody, if you would, stand up with me as we pray. And if you're joining us online, would you just wherever you're at, would you just join us in prayer as well? You bow your heads with me wherever you're at. Heavenly Father, today we thank you. We do rejoice that in Jesus, a revolution has taken place. Because of Jesus, the tyranny of sin, hell, and the devil has been overthrown by the resurrected King and Lord. And today I'm asking you, Father, would you release hope into our hearts and into our lives in this moment? Lord, would you release faith? Faith, your word says, if anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask of God who gives liberally. Lord, today I'm praying for a download of wisdom. In this moment, a download of revelation knowledge in this moment for those of us who find ourselves in a test, for those of us today who may be watching or even present in a on location service. And we've never allowed Jesus to win the battle for our heart. We've never waved the white flag of surrender and said, Jesus, I surrender all. You are Lord, I need you to save me. And I surrender, here's my sword of authority, here's my sin, here's my shame, here's my, here's everything. I lay it at your feet, Jesus. And I surrender, forgive me, come into my heart, save me, refine me, sit on the throne of my heart and be the King and the Lord of my life. Today, wherever you're at, if you're within the sound of my voice and you know in your heart of hearts that you need to get right with God. Today, you need to let Jesus win the tug of war. Stop fighting them, stop trying to pull it in your own strength, stop trying to defeat the enemy, stop trying to just be a better person. You need to surrender and say, Jesus, come into my heart. I repent, I'm sorry for my sin, I surrender it all, come into my heart. I wanna be saved, I want the revolution to begin in me today. And it begins with making you Lord of all Jesus. Wherever you're at right now, in this room at Portage Online, you say, I know I need to get right with God. Include me in the prayer, you're gonna pray, Pastor Lee, to make Jesus Lord of my life. If that's you, I just want you to raise your hand right where you're at. Just indicate that, just say that's me. Say, Jesus, today I need you, come into my life. I want everyone to pray this prayer. If you're at home, I want you to pray this with those who are praying up for the first time. If you're in this service, I want you to pray it out loud with me. Let's invite Jesus in. Say, Heavenly Father, come in Jesus' name and I surrender all. I make you Lord of all Jesus. You've won the battle. I repent of my sin. I give it all to you and I ask you to come into my heart and be my Lord and my savior. I turn my back on my past and turning my back on my sin. And from this day forward, I declare Jesus Christ is King of my life. I'm a child of God. I'm washed, I'm cleansed and I am in process because I am more than an overcomer through Jesus who saved me. Thank you for loving me, God and dying on the cross for me so that I could live forever with you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.