Slaying Giants | Cornerstone Church | Michael Carlton

ever. Normally when you go preach at churches, you know, you kinda have your your sermons you just kinda travel with And they asked me, hey, will you preach on David and Goliath? I said, alright, I'll preach on it. So I'm giving you a custom curated message, alright? This ain't a message I go preach at other churches. This is just for the cornerstone family.

And I'm gonna teach you some things today. Listen to me, we can have these Sunday school lessons, which are great, but I wanna teach you the meat of how we walk in victory in our lives. And let me give you a little forefront knowledge. I'm a holler back preacher.

Alright? So holler back at your boy, alright? You can hit me with an amen. You can hit me with a mhmm. Alright? You can hit me with that's good. And if you feel real soulful, can go, Jesus. Alright? You can hit me with one of those, alright? But

a lot of times when we hear David and Goliath, we we remember like the eighties and nineties, if you grew up at church, you went to Sunday school, you remember those green felt, right? Blue felt boards and you have the little, the big giant and the David with the the sling and we just think it's a cool battle.

We don't understand the significance and the importance of this entire event. If you actually look, I got a map. Throw this map up here. You'll see where the battle's taking place. You see where it says to Gibeah? That's actually where the throne's at, where King Saul's living. If the Israelites lose this battle,

all of Israel is then open, will be defeated. This battle's not just like a big significant thing, gotta kill a giant. Literally, the freedom of Israel is on the line based on the choices they make in this moment. And I'm gonna tell you something, and this might sound a little extreme because it is.

Listen to me. Your giants, your Goliaths, the things that you're going through are more significant to your soul than what you understand.

And you can settle for them, you can make excuses for them, you could justify them, but you don't understand it's opening up some things in your life that could really be pivotal in your life. So we wanna walk in the freedom that is found in Jesus and we wanna tell those Goliaths, those situations

to go back to where they came from. Because we're not walking in the slavery of our sin and we're not walking in the slavery of our betrayal. We're walking in the freedom that is only found in Jesus because Jesus says, I've come to give you a rich and satisfying life. Amen?

So let's break down this story. We're gonna read a big chunk of scriptures right now, but it's in first Samuel. We'll start in chapter 17 verse four. Watch it. Then Goliath,

a Philistine champion from Gath came out of the Philistine rakes to face the forces of Israel. He's over nine feet tall, wore a bronze helmet, bronze coat of mail, weighed a hundred and twenty five pounds.

He also wore bronze leg armor, carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was heavy and thick as a weaver's beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield. Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across the Israelites.

Why are you all coming out to fight? He called. I am the Philistine champion, but you're only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me. And if he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves. I defy the armies of Israel today.

Send me a man who will fight me. When Saul when Saul and the Israelites heard this, watch this, they were terrified and deeply shaken. That's us. How many of us are going through something that seems monumental in our life, but we don't think there's any way out of it?

We all have these moments where we have Goliaths in our lives. We might not call them Goliaths, but we know it's this deep, pivotal thing. It could be the fact that you've went through some abuse in your past, maybe from a parent, maybe from another authority figure,

maybe the way other people have treated you, and you keep carrying that into your everyday life and you keep bringing all of this mess into every marriage, every relationship, every friendship, and you just feel like, why can't I get over this pain? It could be the fact that you may be drowning financially

and you think there's no way out, no hope. Could be addiction that keeps calling your name every single moment or all throughout the day.

It could be the fact that your marriage is hanging on by a thread or someone you loved, like a family member, has betrayed you or hurt you. We have these moments in our life where we go through things in our life. The problem is we accept them as our normal. We accept them as our reality.

Too many of us believe the lie we'll always be what we've always been. There's no hope for our future. Too many of us believe the lie that the only benefit of being a follower of Jesus is to get to heaven. And so what do we do? We limp our way there.

We literally grit our teeth and we survive this world instead of thriving like the victorious conquerors we were called and created to be. And this is exactly what's going on with the Israelites.

The bible says for forty days, they would get dressed in their armor, they would go out to the battle lines, they would beat on their shields and yell, war cries, and never once did they ever intend to actually fight. They got dressed up, went through the motions, and didn't actually intend to do anything about it.

How many of us, we dress ourselves up when our Christian smiles, we go through our Christian routines, we come to church when we need to, but we have no intention of actually battling the Goliaths in our life and seeing them slaying the way God has called us to slay them. We're gonna shift that today.

We're gonna walk in the freedom today. And if you get anything today, want you understand this one point. If you write anything down, take any notes down, I want you to understand this. Your Goliath does not have the ability to define your future. However, your response to that Goliath does.

Your Goliath does not have the authority over your life unless you give him authority. Unless you give that situation, unless you give that pain, unless you give that sin, unless you give that heartache authority in your life, that's the only time it has the ability to shape something in your life.

And so we're gonna learn from David how do we defeat those painful moments in our lives. And the very first thing David teaches us, and I want you to get this in your heart and mind, you gotta recognize

the lies of your Goliath. They scream lies to you and you gotta recognize it. Watch what it says in Samuel seventeen three, 23. As he was talking with him, so as David was talking with the other army of Israel, Goliath,

the Philistine champion from Gath came out of the Philistine ranks. David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. But I love, watch this. Watch what David's response is. Who is this pagan Philistine that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God? I love that swagger. Yeah.

Who is this person that's allowed? Who gave them permission? Who allowed them to speak their lies? Who allowed them to speak fear? Who allowed them to speak defeat? And I think that's exactly what God is wanting to waken inside of us. When you start hearing the lies that you're weak and full of fear, no.

Who gave those lies permission to talk? Because I know the bible says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self discipline. Come on. When you hear those lies that you're a disgusting sinner and you'll never be changed,

no. Who gave those lies authority talk? Because the word of God says, yet God with his undeserved kindness declares we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus. He freed us from the penalty of our sins.

When you hear this lie, you're an addict and you will be forever and nothing could change. No. Who gave that lie permission? Because Jesus' very word says, so if the son sets you free, you're truly free indeed. Come on somebody. When you hear these lies, you're a nobody. You're worthless.

Nobody wants you. No. Who gave those lies permission to speak into your life? Cause the word of God says even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy without fault in his eyes. When you hear the words, you're not good at anything. You'll always be a failure. You'll always be a loser.

No. Because we know the word of God says we are God's masterpiece created new in Christ Jesus for we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. When you hear the lies, you'll always have a stressful life. We know the word of God says you'll experience God's peace which exceeds anything that you can understand. His peace will guard your heart and mind as you live in Christ Jesus.

When you hear the lies, your needs will never be met and you'll always struggle and suffer. Know who gave those lies permission to speak into your heart and mind because we know God will meet your needs according to his riches, not your riches and glory. Come on somebody.

And this is what you gotta learn. You gotta choose. You gotta pick one. Either Goliath is a liar or God is the liar. It is not both. So either you believe the hype of your pain and the hype of your circumstances

and the hype of what you're going through or you believe that God's word is living and active, that God is not a man that he shall lie, that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that he's the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, that Jesus Christ is our lord, savior,

messiah, king, who died of physical death, rose a spiritual resurrection,

and physically rose from the grave, ascended into the heavenly thrones, sits at the place of honor, holds all authority in heaven on earth, drapes us in his righteousness. We become sons and daughters of the most high God. We share heir to the God's glory and co heirs with Christ. We walk and reign in the authority that's found in Jesus. You either believe that

or you believe your problems are always gonna beat you. What does the bible say? If you want God to transform your life, what do you gotta have? Change the way you think. You get your mind right, you get your life right. So you gotta recognize, are you gonna believe the lies

or are you gonna believe the power and promises of God? The second thing David teaches is very important.

Stewardship in the small things gives us the strength in the big things. This is where most of us miss this. This is where most of us never find success. Why most of us never find growth because we want instant results and we don't recognize growth happens through stewardship of your daily opportunities.

We're called to take this thing one day at a time. Grow one day at a time. We're not called to be time travelers. We're called to live in the present and steward our present. David understood this. Let's jump back into the scriptures.

David's talking to Saul about getting ready to go fight Goliath. Watch this. He says, don't worry about this Philistine, David told Saul. I'll go fight him. Don't be ridiculous, Saul replied. There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win. You're only a boy.

Historians believe David's around 15, 16 years old, okay? He's a young dude, okay? He's been a man of war since his youth, but David persisted.

I've been taking care of my father's sheep and goats. When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. And if the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. Come on.

Come on. He grabs a lion by the mouth and beats it to death. Most grown men are scared of spiders. This 15 year old boy's fighting lions, right? You ever seen a grown man, fighting

lions goes on to say, if the animal turns him out, club it to death. I've done this both to lions and bears, and I'll do this to the pagan Philistine too, for he's defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine. Saul finally consented and said, all right, go. May the Lord be with you. Doesn't that seem encouraging?

See, David understood something though. David understood character is formed when you're faithful and no one's watching. David was faithful when there wasn't a lot on the line. No one would've faulted him when a lion or a bear comes and he steps aside.

Nobody would've thought that was crazy not to get mauled by a lion or a bear. But David understood I am who I am when no one else is watching me, not only when I stand for public spectacles to all that can see.

See, that's where true character and integrity is formed. And this is why David ends up becoming king because what did the bible say? God does not judge by the outward appearance, but he judges by the content of our heart. That God's trying to teach you what you do in your present life

will catapult you to greater heights in your future. But what you also do in your present life when you squander your opportunities will hinder your victories in your future. You gotta steward

where God's taken you. It's why I love the beautiful scripture that none of us wanna live, but it's the most powerful thing. Zechariah says, don't despise the small beginnings for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.

That's not the way we think. We don't like small beginnings. We don't like daily disciplines. We don't like daily work. You know what we want? We want instant success immediately. We want it to happen instantly.

We want everything to happen, work in our way, in our favor, but what we don't understand is when you don't steward your day, you don't get victory for your tomorrow. If you squander your today, it will compound into your tomorrow.

And this is why Jesus tells us, don't worry about tomorrow. Why? Because today's got enough problems of its own. What you doing in your day? It's why Jesus teaches the people to pray in the Lord's prayer. What'd say? Give us today our daily bread. Because every day we can get a little bit better,

and every day when you build into the rhythms of spiritual rhythms in your life, it starts growing you. The same way when you go to the gym, you don't just go one time and come out with six pack abs. Even though how many times to guys, we're a little delusional.

We start flexing in the mirror like it did something. Right? What do you need? You need consistency that will build the progress in your life.

That's the same way it works in our spiritual lives. This is what you gotta understand. I'm trying to teach you something that's so profoundly important that most of us miss. If you're taking notes, write this down. As you dwell on your daily victories, you start gearing your mind to repeat those actions.

So when you start becoming intentional with your days, you start seeing progress in your days, it starts building in your soul this ability to form a habit that starts becoming natural day in and day out in your life. You gotta steward your opportunities.

So if you're struggling in your marriage, you you know what we like to do with our marriages? We like to bring up all of the junk from the past into our present. We got the Rolodex of all the things you said, did, heard, whatever happened, right? And we started bringing it into our present like it's a big burdensome

backpack we've been carrying around in our life. That's not how you steward your day. You know what you start doing? What's my responsibility today for my wife, for my husband? You know what? Today, I'm gonna be filled with grace. Today, I'm gonna be filled with kindness. Today, I'm gonna serve my spouse. Today,

I'm gonna be more of a listener than I'm going to be a defender of my opinions. God, today,

I'm gonna get enough strength and enough wisdom and enough love and enough grace. And I'm gonna promise you something. You start doing that every single day. You start seeing the progressive growth in your marriage. You start seeing the healing in your marriage. When you quit waiting on the other one to respond and you start responding yourself. You could do this in your finances. You could do this in your health. You could do this in your career. You could do this in your school and you could definitely do this in your spiritual life. You steward

your days. But the problem is, and this is the greatest problem that we found in the church, we forgot what worship really is. We think to worship is what we just did here on the stage right before our message is spoken. That's a facet of worship. That's not worship is.

Worship is what do you do in the secret moments when no one else is watching? When you have this vice, these cravings in your flesh and you want to give in to them, and every part of you wants to give in, but you stop

and you say, no, I'm not a slave to my flesh. I'm not a slave to my emotions. And you start praying to your God for his strength, that's worship. Come on. When someone hurt you

and wronged you and every part of your flesh wants them to get a taste of their own medicine and feel what you felt and you want them to feel the pain you feel and get justice,

but you say no and you start praying for them and you start praying blessings over them and you release forgiveness in the name of Jesus. That's worship. Worship shapes us in the secret moments of our life that causes us to grow into the public moments that will transform everything in our lives.

But it's only when you stop and recognize, I have a responsibility for my day. I have a responsibility to treasure this moment. I love what David says. David says, Lord, remind me how brief my time on this earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered. How fleeting my life is.

You've made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire life is just a moment to you. At best, each of us is but a breath. See, a lot of times we look at death like it's morbid. Death is not morbid. You know what death is? It's inspirational. Why is it inspirational? Two reasons. Number one,

we are not bodies with a soul, we're souls with a body. We are eternal beings. Our life does not end when our heart stops, it just begins. And it is a beautiful privilege that we get to be with our Lord and savior for all eternity. But listen to me. The second reason why this is important and why death matters

is because every moment matters in life and we don't have the privilege of squandering it. You're not guaranteed tomorrow but you are guaranteed right now.

You're not guaranteed next week but you are guaranteed right now. You treasure the people in your life. You treasure the relationship with God in your life. You steward every day like it matters.

You live your life like every single day is worth a billion dollars because that's what it is. Why would we trade our life away for things that won't matter tomorrow when we have the opportunity to treasure this life today?

We steward it. We work towards it, and we allow ourselves to understand quick fixes don't solve anything but leave us in hopeless states. You're struggling right now in your finances

and you think the only way to get out is if you get a raise or a promotion or you win the lottery? Instead of learning how to daily steward what you've given, put your finances first in the eyes of God. Allow your God to create. That's how you get to victory. You want a better career in your life and you're complaining why you're not getting promoted or why you're not getting that career of your dreams? Maybe it's because you're not stewarding your opportunity today

to develop your character and develop your skills and develop your strength so that all of a sudden you're naturally the person they want to promote because you're ready and waiting.

You think the only way you'll spiritually grow is if you get an instant miracle that solves your problems and all those circumstances go away. Instead of realizing God gives us peace in the middle of storms, strength in the middle of battle, wisdom in the middle of darkness. He gives us light that consumes everything around us and we can walk not in a perfect world, but in an imperfect world with a perfect father that gives us strength.

You gotta steward what you are. Jesus' very word says, if you're faithful in the little things, you'll be faithful in the largers. But watch this, if you're dishonest in the little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

If you can't steward your day, what makes you think God's gonna give you a blessing for tomorrow? So many Christians, we complain about the harvest we're reaping. We never look at the seeds that we're sowing.

You don't like the harvest you're getting, maybe stop complaining about the harvest and start looking at the seeds.

What are you planting into your life? What are you stewarding in your life? What are you sowing into your life? God wants to bless you, but God will never force blessings in your life. He always blesses the stewards, but he's waiting for you to respond with the decisions you're called and created to respond with.

You've gotta steward that. Third thing that David teaches us,

you can't be sustained off of someone else's anointing. You

cannot live someone else's life, but you can a 100% can live the life that God called you. Let's jump back into the story. Then Saul gave David his own armor, bronze helmet, coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over, took a step or two to see what it was like, for he'd never worn such a thing.

I can't go in these, he protested. I'm not used to them. So David took them off. Now on paper, this seems like a good idea, right? Like this is Saul, he's the king. You know Saul got the best armor, best shield, best swords. Not only that, supplies were limited.

They were oppressed by the Philistines, so much so they weren't even allowed to have blacksmiths in their nation. If they had to sharpen their farm tools, they'd have to go to the Philistine blacksmith for them to sharpen them.

Two chapters earlier, Saul's very son, the king Saul's very son had an armor bearer going to battle. They only had one sword between the two of them. They had to wait for somebody to die to pick up their sword to fight with. So supplies were limited And on paper,

this looks like the right call, right? Take Saul's, emulate Saul. Saul's the king and supposedly Saul's supposed to be a great warrior, a great man of battle. But David understands just like we should understand. Saul's definitely not the type of person you wanna emulate in your life.

You think Saul's this great fighter and this great warrior, but he's hiding in a tent and refuses to go out fight Goliath himself. He'd rather someone else do the dirty work for him. And that's been his MO from day one.

Whenever Saul was anointed to be king, watch what happens in this moment. And finally, Saul son of Kish was chosen among them to be king. But when they looked for him and he had disappeared, they asked the Lord, where is he? And the Lord replied, he's hiding among the baggage.

This is supposed to be the great warrior king. He's hiding from his responsibility. He has this insecurity. He cares more about what people say than what God says. He never sees who God called him to be, so he craves and craves the affection and the attention and the acceptance of other people.

Later on, Saul's supposed to lead the people in battle and they're supposed to conquer a great nation. And the bible says, the Lord says, do not go to battle until the prophet comes and makes sacrifices for you. The problem is the prophet's taking a little too long. Men are getting laziness.

Saul again cares more about what people say than what God says. Watch how he responds. Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal. As men were trembling with fear, Saul waited for seven days for Samuel. Samuel instructed him earlier, but Samuel didn't come. Saul realized his troops were rapidly slipping away, he demanded,

bring me the burnt offerings, pewter offering, and he sacrificed the burnt offerings himself. This was a no no. But he cared more about making the people happy than making God happy. And then whenever the prophet Samuel comes

up to him and oppresses him on this issue, he justifies his sin and he starts blaming other people. Watch what he says here. Just as Saul finished the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him, welcome him. But Samuel said, what is this you have done?

Saul replied, I saw my men scatter me from you, and watch this, and you didn't arrive when you said you would. And the Philistines are at the Mammash ready for battle. What did he do? You didn't do what you said you do. How many times do we blame the sin in our life on someone else? Well,

if you didn't do that, I wouldn't have. You get in a fight with your spouse. How many times have you said this and you're like, well, I only reacted that way because you did this and this and this.

Listen to me. No one else's sin is an excuse for you to sin. The only person we can take responsibility for in this world is ourselves. You can't live someone else's life for them. You can't control someone else's life for them. Listen to me, control is an illusion. You can't control the government.

You can't control the economy. You can't control what happens in global world. You can't control what happens in your workplace,

and you definitely can't control other people. The only thing you have the ability to control in your life is yourself, and you gotta understand this. You cannot get your external in order when your internal is all out of order.

So many times we want everything out here to change. This doesn't change until this in here changes.

God doesn't work from the outside in. He works from the inside out. And the only thing we can steward is are we stewarding our souls well? Are we stewarding our responsibilities well? Are we managing what we do on the inside? Paul says in Galatians, watch this, pay careful attention to your own work

for you Then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else for we are each responsible for our own conduct. The only thing you're responsible for is yourself. How you respond to situations.

How you grow in your spiritual life. How you work as though you're working for the Lord. We've gotta start taking response for yourself. You cannot live off the anointing of someone else. Yes, as pastors, we wanna encourage you. And yes, we wanna give you God some meat. But none of this works unless you apply it to your life. None of this works unless you take the seeds that are planted and you start nurturing them and watering. None of this works unless you make your mornings a priority with your God and you spend time with your God. None of this works unless you let the word of God, the bible, be your daily bread to nurture your soul. None of this works unless you surround yourself with godly people because show me your friends and I'll show you your future. None of this works unless you quit being someone that hoards the spiritual blessings and you start serving the body of Christ, Jesus' bride, the church. None of this works unless you become a mouthpiece of the gospel to a lost nation because time is not on our side. We have to understand

there is a real reality of eternity and we've gotta be the ambassadors of Jesus. We gotta be the city on a hill. We gotta be the mouthpiece of our God. We gotta be the hands and feet of Jesus because there's a world that's hurting and the only answer is Jesus. And it's our responsibility.

And you've got to understand a growing relationship with Jesus is intentional, not accidental. It's intentional. You don't stumble into spiritual growth. You make intentional decisions to have spiritual rhythms your life. And listen to me, the spiritual rhythms don't change your life, but they expose you to Jesus who does.

And we want to do everything we can to posture ourselves to get closer to our Jesus. Alright, let me land the plane with this last point. You don't compare your Goliath to yourself, but you compare him to your God.

Let's jump right back into David. David's talking to Goliath. Now David replied to the Philistine, you come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of the heaven's armies and the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.

Today, guess what? Who will? The Lord will conquer you. And I'll kill you and cut off your head. I like how he throws that one in there.

I'm a cut off your head, then I'll give you dead bodies to the men, to the birds, and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with the sword and spear. This is the Lord's battle and he will give you to us.

I'm gonna be honest with you. Listen to me. Living the Christian life is not just hard, it's impossible. It is impossible to live the life God called you to live with your own strength and your own willpower and just to grit yourself through, but it becomes a reality when you are filled with the love of God

and the presence of God. It changes everything. God's not calling you to be the miracle worker of your life. He's calling you to trust the miracle worker in your life. God's not calling you to be the savior of your life. He's calling you to trust the savior of your life. Paul said so beautifully,

the spirit of God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, where does he live? Lives in you. And just as God raised Christ from the dead, the bible says he will give life to your mortal bodies by his same spirit where? Living within you.

The closer we get to God, the more we get filled with his love. The closer we get to God, the more he transforms our life. The writer of Hebrews so beautifully said it like this. It says, let us strip off the weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this, how? By keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. And when you're going through something in your life, ask yourself, where am I looking? Where am I looking?

Do I look at my Goliath every single time or do I look at my Jesus? When you're going through a moment when you gotta make a big decision, ask yourself, where am I looking? Am I looking for my decision or am I looking for the wisdom giver?

When you're going through something in your marriage and you feel like there's no hope, are you looking at your spouse with a threat hanging on? Are you looking at your Jesus who restores all things like a triple braided cord that cannot be broken? Where do you look when you're going to battle?

The Bible says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. We make the greatest decisions when we walk in fear of the Lord. You may say, what is the fear of the Lord? I used to think it meant be scared of God. He's so all powerful and consuming. It's it's overwhelming,

But I shifted many years ago when I started understanding what it meant. I remember when I was like 11 or 12 years old, my dad was taking me deer hunting and we got nothing.

All deer season, nothing. It's one of the last days my dad says, you know, we're gonna stay late. We're gonna wait till right before sunset, see if we see anything. And I was set up at one deer stand and my dad was off at another location

and everything was fine. You know, I have my gun, I'm ready for the deer, nothing comes, But then something starts happening. The sun starts setting. It starts getting dark. All of a sudden, start getting real scared. I'm a little 11, 12 year old boy. I start hearing noises.

I got a gun in my hand, but I don't feel safe at all. Next thing I know, can't see anything. My mind's racing. Where's my dad? Where's my dad? Where's my dad? I start screaming, dad, dad, where are you? Nothing. Pitch black. Noises everywhere. I'm getting so scared. Tears start forming. Dad, dad.

Minutes go by, I'm crying out for my dad. And then all of a sudden I hear, Michael, I'm here. And immediately my fear went away. You know what didn't change? I was still in the woods. You know what didn't change? It was still dark outside. You know what didn't change? All those noises were still being made.

You know what didn't change? The gun never made me safe. The only thing that changed is my daddy came into the picture. My father was there. And I'm gonna tell you right now, the fear of the Lord is the fear of going through life without your father. Without God the father, the purest father in the world.

I'm a tell you right now, he's the only one that will love you the way you truly need to be loved. The greatest thing every single one of our souls crave is the one that we cannot earn or lose, and it's the words that God speaks over us. You are mine. You're mine.

And nothing can separate you from the love of God. Does it mean that God doesn't love you if you go through trials and calamity and pain and hurt and situations? No. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Life can't,

death can't, angels can't, demons can't, nothing in the heavens or the hells or anything on this earth can separate us from the love of God, and there's no one in this world that can love you like that. Even the people you think love you with everything in you can have the ability to fail you, but your God never will.

But listen to me, you'll never experience that love unless you've experienced his forgiveness. Because there's no way to know what a true unconditional love feels unless you understand what unconditional forgiveness feels like. And there's some people in this room right now,

you've never accepted Jesus as forgiveness in your life. Maybe you're in this room right now, you've never had a relationship with Jesus. All this is new to you, but you feel something stirring in your soul. You want the Jesus that loves you. You want the freedom that's only found in him.

Or maybe you're in this room right now, and you used to have a relationship with Jesus, but like the prodigal son, you walked away. And you know right now you're not living the life that God called and created you to live, and it's time to come back home. You may say, how do you accept Jesus in your life? It's easy.

The bible says you gotta do two things. You confess and you believe. You confess with your mouth, Jesus, I've made mistakes. I've got sin in my life, and I need you to forgive me with the blood that will make me clean. But this isn't just a confession of Jesus. I'm sorry.

Get me to heaven. I need that get out of hell free card. This is a repentant response saying, I'm going all in with you. I'm not going back to my old choices. I'm not going back to my old life. I'm not going back to who I was. I understand.

I'm a new creation. The old is gone. The new is here. Rip the plastic off the seats. Brand spanking new. I'm not going back. And then you gotta believe.

You gotta believe Jesus is who he says he is. He's not rotting in a grave somewhere. He's the resurrected king sitting at the right hand of God. And when you pray, better believe he responds. You might say that sounds too easy. Good. Grace was never meant to be hard. It was just meant to be chosen.

Your God's already chosen you. You just gotta choose him.

So I'm asking everybody in this room, bow your heads. No looking around. Please no moving around. The most important thing we do. Take your hand and place it over your heart, symbol of your soul. And we're gonna pray this prayer together as a family. So I want everybody in this room to repeat after me.

But if you're in here and you need to receive Jesus for the first time or recommitted, these are not words we're reciting. They're prayers that falling on the ears of your God. Know that. Repeat after me. Dear Jesus, I believe you died on the cross. I believe you rose from the grave. I believe your blood

washes away all my sins. Come be a part of my life. I am forgiven. I am chosen. I matter, and I give my life to you. Holy Spirit move right now in the name of Jesus. Every head bowed. Nobody looking around. If you made the commitment today for the first time

or you've recommitted your life to Jesus, I'm gonna ask you something very bold and brave. On the count of three, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hands. And I want you to understand something. You might go, why do want me to this? Because this is the greatest decision you ever made, and I'm ready to celebrate and rejoice

with you. So on the count of three, hands all over this place, raise one. Don't be afraid. Two. We gonna celebrate. Three. Get your hands up right now. I your see your hands. I see your hands. I see your hands. I your hands.

I see your hands. I see your hands. I see your hands. I see your hands. I your hands. I see your hands. I I your hands. I your hands. I see your see your hands. Come on church. We got family in the building. Okay. But I'm not done. I'm ready for some bold, courageous

warriors to have the courage like David and take the greatest steps and walk of your life. Because the Bible understands we are not just heaven bound. We're heaven bound with a full purpose, the full image, the full identity,

the full freedom that is found in Jesus, and that is a journey of growth. And there's a team of people here at Cornerstone that wants to see you become all that God called and created you to be and help equip you with resources

and free gifts of Bibles and plans to help you grow. But listen to me, they can't connect with you if you don't connect with them.

So I'm gonna ask something so crazy and bold, and we as a church are gonna celebrate this moment like nobody's business. I'm a count to three. And if you raise your hand, I'm a ask you to stand to your feet, and I'm a ask you to go to the lobby to the life sign. There's pastors out there waiting for you that want to go on this journey with you. But listen to me, we're not doing this alone. If you're sitting next to someone that raised their hand, we're the body of Christ, the family of Christ. I want you to look at them and says, I'm going with you. We're growing together.

We're going together. So on the count of three, I wanna see you standing to your feet. One, Cornerstone, we gonna celebrate. Two. Come on. We got some bold people. Three. Get on your feet. Come on. Come on. Celebrate. Celebrate. Celebrate. Walk right out to that lobby to the live side. Celebrate. Celebrate.

Come on. We got both family. If you stood, you could walk to that lobby to the life sign right out there. Come on. Celebrate them all coming down. Come on, Cornerstone. Heaven got bigger. We got family in the building. Cornerstone, I love you.

We gonna have a prayer team up front. You need prayer about anything? I would love to hug your neck and shake your hand out in the lobby. Till next time. Pray God's peace.