Has God's Word Failed (Romans 9) (Week 5)

Good morning, Vintage Church. How are you? You guys doing alright? Man, for those of you who may be joining us for the first time or the first time in a while, my name's Steven, and I'm one of the pastors here. You were here on a very, very special, week. You know, in our our series grace and glory, we're actually making a pivot this week where when we talk about grace and glory, we obviously think about Christ. We think about his his coming. We think about all the things that are wrapped up in our faith. And what I wanna do for the next few moments, really the next three weeks, we're going to pivot and and it's gonna be around this idea. Listen, the Jewish people are involved in this as well. The apostle Paul in Romans nine all the way through 13 lays out the theology, right, that actually that actually backs up what Jesus himself said, salvation is of the Jews. And so what we're gonna do over the next few weeks, we're gonna really pivot. I think this is really important because we have so I I really it is the spirit of antichrist. You know, I oftentimes will ask people, you know, people say this all the time. You know, Jesus was a Jew. I love to interrupt them and say, actually, Jesus is a Jew. All of his disciples were Jewish. All of the converts came out of Judaism, and God still has a plan for the Jewish nation of Israel. So we're gonna be digging into some of that in this series, but it's important. We're talking about grace and glory. Guess what? It's not just you. When I say you, I mean us Gentiles. It's not just us, but it came to us through the plan of God. And so we're gonna dig deep into that. I will let you know we have an actual, discipleship course coming out called Covenant in Kingdom. We're gonna actually dig into some of the eschatology and some of the the the deeper theology to this idea. But we're gonna we're gonna go there today. And so I also, again, just wanna welcome everybody. We have so many things going on in the church. Have you noticed that? I don't even know what to talk about. There's just so many things happening. I will tell you of all the things we have going on this next weekend, our Forge Conference kicks off. And can I tell you, we have world class speakers? Guys, I'm gonna tell you from Doctor. David Landrum, he's gonna talk about what in the world happened in The UK and how we can avoid everything that's happening over there all the way through. My friend and pastor Rob McCoy is gonna come and really exhort our men. My best friend, Stevie Smothermon, is gonna be here and I'm gonna tell you guys he is so good at just talking about how to take control of your mind and making sure you channel it into the things God has for you. There's all kinds of things. Chad Robicheaux is gonna be here. He's a great friend as well and so I want to encourage you, if you haven't signed up, make sure that you sign up. We want to make sure we pack out that conference. I really, really believe you're gonna be blessed. We also have a church leadership college interest meeting tonight. And I wanna encourage you if it maybe you've been, you know, looking at going deeper in your faith. We have couple years in the college this year. We revamped everything. It's gonna be absolutely incredible. This is gonna be our third class. We have a first year which is all about Christian discipleship and theology. Even if you're not called to ministry, you are called to minister. Did you know that? As a believer, we're all ministers of the gospel of reconciliation. And so that's a great year just to sharpen your saw and and and get better, there. Then we also have a second year. We're gonna be inviting our first year students into a second year, which is really gonna be practical ministry. And so as we get into this, Romans again nine through really 11, I think I said 13, Romans nine through 11. These next three chapters are not a detour in our conversation about grace and glory in our study of Romans. Actually, it's the foundation under which everything Paul just promised us in chapter six through eight. If God broke his word to Israel, then his word to you is nothing. I remember not too long ago, I was in DC and I was doing an advocacy trip with a bunch of other pastors and Jewish rabbis. And I'll never forget, I sit down in one of these meetings and one of these Jewish rabbis look at me, and they look at me and they say, pastor, you're a Christian. Why in the world do you care so much about Israel? And, you know, there's lots of things I could have said. By the way, we're gonna learn lots of things today and over the next few weeks that really laid the theological foundation for why every believer is called to do that. But just simply, I looked at him and I said, well, here's the thing, sir. If God doesn't keep his promise to you, what as a Christian makes me believe he's gonna keep his promise to me? Can I just tell you, church, this topic is really as simple as that? It cuts through all of the noise, and let me tell you there are lots there's lots and lots of noise in culture today and it focuses on what matters most. Here's the big idea for our message today. God's word never fails. He always completes what he started. Now it's not always in one generation. As a matter of fact, this book is a multi generational book. God always ends something as he began it. You know why? Because he never fails. The Bible says about itself that all these things we care about, all of these things we're focused on are gonna pass away, but the only thing that remains, the surest thing, the absolute truth is the word of God. Not one comma, not one semicolon, not one dot or word is going to pass away. The God who keeps every promise to his people keeps every promise to you and me. Now we're gonna read through portions of Romans chapter nine and it's a bit of a long reading. What I'm gonna do today is I'm gonna read through this passage. Now it is theologically deep. I've been praying all week about it because you have to know it. And for far too long, pastors have watered down the tough stuff in scripture. Okay? We don't do that here. I don't infantilize you. You are a believer with the same Holy Spirit in you as this pastor has in him. You can understand and get the mind of God on what's going on in our culture. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read through this rather large portion of scripture and then I'm gonna give you a seven point message in about twenty five minutes. Okay? Some of you are thinking, pastor, you talk too fast. It's too much. To which case I would say stop thinking so lowly of yourself. Okay? The Holy Spirit listen, your spirit will catch on to things. God will show you something about your own life, but also help you frame everything that you're seeing in our culture. Romans chapter nine verse one, with Christ as my witness, I love this, Christ is my witness, boy, if you don't clean your room. Come on. He's opening up saying this is not just my words to the church at Rome. Christ himself is my witness. I speak with utter truthfulness. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. They are the people of Israel chosen to be God's adopted children. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. Couple things here. He made covenants with them, not just one. When we talk about support for the Jewish people, when we talked about the restoration of the Jewish people, we're looking at two covenants, the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant, God swore with himself. He put Abraham asleep. It did not depend on him. It was 100% God. That's the promise we're talking about. Now the apostle Paul is is talking about both of these covenants kinda simultaneously because most of these people would have been familiar with it. He goes on to say, for my people they they are the people of Israel chosen by God, adopted children. He made covenants with them, not just one, and gave them his law. Well then, has God failed to fulfill his purpose to Israel? Has God replaced Israel with us? He goes on to say, no. For not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God's people, to which case I would say not every single person has a fish on their car and wears a Jesus t shirt is actually a follower of Christ. This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes. He calls people, but not according to their good or bad works. And everyone in here said amen. Thank you, Lord. In the words of the scriptures, I love Jacob, but I rejected Esau. And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles. Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God's standards, they were just leave living hedonistically, doing whatever they wanted, making themselves God. They were made right with God, and it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law never succeeded. Now when he says by keeping the law, that's the second covenant where God said, you keep my 10 commandments, it will go well with you. You don't and it won't. It's not he's not talking about the Abrahamic covenant. Remember he said covenants, right? That's very important when we get into Romans nine through 11. But the people of Israel again who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law and never succeeded, they stumbled over the great rock in their path. Paul takes one chapter to answer one question. He starts actually in tears, and he's defending God's faithfulness from Israel's own story. He reframes what it means to be chosen and lands on the one thing the whole nation tripped over. I'm gonna walk through that in order. Notice where Paul begins. Before Paul defends God, he grieves over the people who walked away. I can relate to Paul in this way. I grieve. We speak the truth in this church week in and week out. By the way, these are the words of life. It may not always be easy to hear, but it is faithful. If you put it into your life, your life will be better. Not just in a new heaven and new earth, but right now, some of you you're in here and you're like, you're hearing things. We're talking about generosity and and serving the next generation and all these things. And you're sitting there with your arms crossed. I just want more money. That that's a problem. It grieves me. It doesn't grieve me because God's not gonna be faithful. I know he's gonna take care of all that. I know we're gonna have everything that we need. We always have. He's God. The Bible says he owns a cabin on a thousand hills. I don't know what that is, but it sounds rich. I'm not worried about that. It grieves me that people don't experience what it's like to be blessed in the church. Blessing is not just consuming and hanging on to what you have. It's freely offering to the kingdom. The one who provided everything to you back to him. Your life is better. And by the way, it's not just financially. It's in every way. In every way, it's better. It's unbelievable. The relationships. By the way, there are two kinds of people. There are generous people and there are people that on that journey. And the generous people know what I'm talking about. I've noticed this. Every time I've given more, I've never had less, not for the kingdom. For although it leaves my hand, it never leaves my life. It always comes back around and is a blessing. By the way, it's not always in monetary ways. Although that's a promise. It's in my relationships. It's in the the the things that the Lord orchestrates around me to further his kingdom. I get to be a part of that. You know, God doesn't need me and he doesn't need you. I love that. He wants me. I think about that when I think about me and Kyla. I'm like, she doesn't need me. She's amazing. She doesn't need me. She'd be fine without me. She wants me. She desires me. It's true. She's gonna be here next service. Just watch how we relate to each other. It's how it is. I don't get it. God blinded her eyes, continues to. I don't understand it any more than I understand why in the world God wants to use a broken person like me to fulfill his kingdom, but that's who he is. You'll never discover what it means to fully be in Christ until you roll up your sleeves and you get after it for his kingdom. It's just how it is. That doesn't save you, but somehow gives you this incredible meaning. But I wanna pay attention here. Listen. He grieves over the people who walked away. Romans nine two through four. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed if it would save them. That is an astounding statement. They are the people of Israel chosen to be God's adopted children. God revealed glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. This is the same man who just wrote that nothing could separate us from the love of God. Now he says that he'd hand back his own salvation. If it would save his people. That's a brother weeping over his family. Let's not pass through this and jump into all the, well, technically this word means this. And this word means that he sets the whole predicate. Whatever cold ideas you've heard attached to Romans nine, it opens with a brother grieving. And look at what all Israel had, the covenants, the law, the promises, the patriarchs, the Messiah through their own bloodline. No people had more advantage, and yet still in that generation missed him. If the people with every promise in the world could walk away, then no promise God ever made is safe. That's the question Paul has to answer, and he answers it head on. The answer is sharper than you'd expect. God's word has not failed, but his covenant was misunderstood. Romans nine six. Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No. For not all who are born to the nation of Israel are truly members of God's people. This means that Abraham here we go. Now he's going back to the Abrahamic covenant. This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham's children. There have always been two Israels living inside the one. Israel by birth certificate and Israel by promise. It was never actually about them. Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac, but the promise ran through Isaac. The line was always carried by God's call, not just by genetics. So in most of the nation rejects the Messiah, God didn't break his word. People heard chosen people and read automatic. He never promised that being born in the right family saves you. Any more than being born in the Christian family saves you. By the way, you have to have your own faith. Your parents' faith, your wife's faith men, come on, won't save you. It's deeply personal. He promised to keep faith with the children of promise. And by the way, he has from generation to generation. Statistically, statistics. You just take the statistical probability that those people still exist when all others have come and gone. It's absolutely a miracle. Only God's hand. Only God's hand makes that so. God's word didn't fail. People just assume it guaranteed something it never promised. Let's look at what the covenant does and doesn't do. The cup the covenant calls Israel to a purpose, but it's not a verdict about who goes to heaven. The covenant calls them to a purpose. You know, to be a light on the hill. By the way, that's an old testament promise. It was theirs. Romans nine ten. The son of our ancestor, Isaac, When he married Rebecca, he gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she receives a message from God. The message says that God chooses people according to his own purposes. He calls people, but not according to their good or bad works. So she was told, your older son will serve your younger son. In the words of the scripture, I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau. Now we covered a lot of this in the story of scripture. For some of you just jumping in, you're thinking David, Esau, Jacob. I mean, what's going on? People take Jacob, I loved Esau rejected and they turn it into God deciding before you were born whether you'll spend eternity in heaven or hell. But look at what Paul is quoting. The older will serve the younger, comes from Genesis, spoken over two babies before they've done anything. And it's already and it's already about two nations, not two souls. The line about loving Jacob and rejected Esau comes from Malachi written a thousand years after Jacob and Esau had died. Listen to what the prophet is is actually talking about. Malachi chapter one verse two. I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother Esau and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals. Esau's descendants in Edom may say, we have been shattered, but we rebuild the ruins. But the Lord of Heaven's army replies, they may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Notice what Malachi is saying here. He's speaking of Jacob as the ancestor of a people group. He's speaking about Esau's descendants. He's describing the people groups that both of these men represented. When he discusses loving and rejecting Jacob and Esau, he's describing the purpose he used the people groups to accomplish. You know God does that? He does. God is choosing a people to carry a job, not sorting individuals for heaven or hell. That's what the biblical idea of choosing or election means here. Chosen for a mission, not handed a private ticket to salvation while everyone else gets shot out. That's the context here. God didn't choose Israel so the rest of the world would be shut out. He chose Israel so the rest of the world could be let in. That's actually why he chose him. Then Paul names the objection out loud, and I know you're gonna hear it online with certain podcasters. God does not owe anyone mercy. He gives it freely. Can you say it again? God does not owe you and me anything. For that first covenant, Abraham was asleep, but we know through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. Romans nine fourteen. Are we saying then that God was unfair? Of course not. For God said to Moses, I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. So it is God, everyone say God, who decides to show mercy. We can either choose it nor work it. Mercy you can demand isn't mercy anymore. If God owes it to you, it stops being grace and becomes wages. This is what the Jewish people in Jesus's time and many today, they miss. So when Paul says God shows mercy to whom he chooses, that's not him being stingy. It's the only way mercy can exist at all because we're all fallen. Now what about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in verses seventeen and eighteen? I wanna talk about this. Romans nine seventeen. For the scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the Earth. So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others, so they refuse to listen. Now, when we read the Exodus story, it's painfully clear that Pharaoh hardened his own heart again and again, long before the text ever said God hardened it. The first five plagues, it says, Pharaoh hardened his heart. The second five, it says, God hardened his heart. This is a tyrant already choosing to crush God's people, and God uses the rebellion to set his own people free. By the way, this is the theology behind Romans eight twenty eight. God uses all. Everyone say all. All things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his name. The hardening is God's handing a proud man over to the path he already chose. And I'm gonna just say this. You keep coming to church, you keep listening to God's word, you never surrender your life, you never make him the Lord of your life, at some point, you're not gonna your heart's gonna be bent in one direction, and God's gonna give you over. We covered this in Romans chapter one, did we not? This is an order. It's the same thing Paul said in chapter one. God gives people over to what they already wanted. Have you ever thought about this? Think about this. Heaven and hell. We we say things like God sends people to hell. That's not true. Hell wasn't even made for people. However, there'll be people there. God doesn't send anyone to hell. I want you to imagine there'll be nobody in hell that doesn't wanna be there. Sure. They'll be cursing God. They'll be mad at the pain, at the separation, but not one moment will they think to ask forgiveness, to plead the mercy. We we wonder, man, they're gonna be there like ten days and then they're gonna be like, it's really hard or it's dark or it's cold or whatever. And they're gonna cry out to God. What a mean God not to let him out. That won't even occur to them. Because there comes there becomes something in your life when you continually reject the truth. The Bible says God gives you over to a depraved mind. In other words, God gives you your free will. And he just allows you to go on on the path you've already chosen. Some of you in here thinking, man, I'm gonna sow my wild oats before I get right with God. You do so at your peril. There's no guarantee. You could end up with a hard heart just like pharaoh on the backside of the plagues. You think God won't use it? Oh, God will use it. Because God's faithful to those who remain. This is important. So who are you? It's a powerful picture. Paul picks up an old prophet's picture here. There is a God, and you're not him. There's a God and you're not him. The way Paul describes this is God is a potter in your life and mine as the clay. Romans nine twenty. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? But we do. Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, why have you made me like this? When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have the right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another for throwing garbage out? We shouldn't read this like God treating people as disposable to use and to card. We know that that's not true. We're made in his image. But Paul pulls this image straight out of Isaiah and Jeremiah, where the potter is God patiently reworking rebellious Israel. There are two stages to potter. I want you to pay attention. There's the wheel where the clay is still soft and being shaped. And then there's the kiln where the pot is fired, finished, and can only be kept or shattered. Israel's rebellion is the clay still spinning on the wheel. God's reshaping his people is not God scrapping them. It's God refusing to give up on them. Romans nine twenty two says it this way. In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, by the way, he is completely just. He sees the beginning from the end. Beginning from the end. He is very patient with those whom his anger falls, who were destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brier on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. The point of emphasis here is that God is patient even with those who are repeatedly choosing their own destruction, and I'm grateful for that. Before I came to Christ, I was that repeatedly turning away from God. Think about your life before Christ. Aren't you glad that he's patient even though we're not always that smart? His patience and his mercy are real, and that's the focal point of the entire passage. God didn't make people for hell. God made people for redemption. And yet, even in spite of all he's done, many people continue to choose themselves and ultimately choose to be separate with God forever, which makes the next part of this passage make way more sense. Now the door swings open wider than anyone in Israel expected. God is building one. Everyone say one. One people. But the remnant proves he never quit. Romans nine twenty four. And we were among those whom he selected both from Jews and from Gentiles. Concerning the Gentiles, God say says in the prophecy of Hosea, those who were not my people, I will call my people, and I will love those whom I did not love before. This is the payoff of the Tower Of Babel story. God scattered the nations, then set out to win them back, and here they come. That was the plan in choosing Israel from the start. Romans nine twenty sit seven. And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. Now a remnant is not proof God failed. It's proof that he didn't. Elijah thought he was the last one. You remember that story running from Jezebel? I'm the last one. God had to remind him, actually, there's 7,000 others, buddy. You're not the only I feel like that sometimes. I'm the only one teaching this. And I get around other pastors and I'm like, no. I'm not. God's good. Wow. And now look at the one thing the whole nation tripped over. Israel stumbled over the one thing that could save them, and so can we. And so can we. Romans nine thirty, even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God's standard, they were made right with God. And it was by faith. Someone say faith. Faith that this took place. But the people of Israel who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. The irony here that the apostle Paul has been driving forward is the Gentiles who weren't even chasing God ended up right with him. Israel, who chased righteousness harder than anyone, missed him. How? They went after it by works instead of trust and faith. They tried to earn what could only be received, and they tripped over the very stone laid down, which is Christ himself. The reality is the cross offends the self made person because it says all your effort and performance, religious scorekeeping cannot put you right with God. Church salvation only comes one way, by trusting Jesus. This is the same for the Jew and the Gentile. But then, the apostle Paul, as we close, he gives a warning. You can be the most religious person in this room and still trip over grace, trying to earn what only faith can receive. Romans nine thirty three. God warned them of this. God warned them of this in the scriptures when he said, I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall, but anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. The same stone that trips the self righteous holds up everyone who trusts in him. Stop trying to earn the thing he's trying to give. For three chapters, Paul told you and me what grace produces in us. Jesus died and he rose. You died and rose. The spirit is winning the war with sin in your life through the process of sanctification. There's no condemnation for those who are found in Christ, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Now he shows you the God behind all of it, and that God has never once broken his word, even to a people who broke faith with him. He kept covenant with Israel through their unbelief, and he keeps covenant with you. Grace produces a new life, and the same God who started that good work in you is faithful and true to finish it. We're gonna talk specifically looking into the future where we go from here. But I find this interesting while we're caught up in these conversations about covenant, these conversations about theology. It's It's interesting while we're pointing our fingers at other people. You know what the word of God always does? At least he does this for me. He reminds me there are three fingers pointing right back at me. Church, we're gonna learn. We're gonna dig deep. But we can never forget that everything you and I have and we live under is by the grace of the one who paid it when we were the least deserving. That's what allows you to come to him to begin with, but it's also what allows him through his spirit to grow you every single day after. Let me pray for you. God, I thank you so much for the power of your word. Thank you father for what you're doing in our church. You're so good. Your promises never fail. You always end like you began. I thank you father for the covenant given to Abraham, that his offspring, Father, would produce the life you and I get to live today. I thank you, Lord, that there was nothing he had to do for that, for you put him to sleep and you made a covenant with yourself. I thank you for your grace, your love. I pray, God, for every believer in here that they would continue to walk in it. That followed the same thing that led them to the foot of the cross is the same thing that allows them to grow and to overcome sin and death. Father, I also pray for anybody in here who doesn't know you. I pray, Lord, they wouldn't allow Christ to be the stumbling block, but, Father, they would put their faith in him. They would hand him their life, and he would hand it back so much better. As heads are bowed, eyes are closed, no one looking around for just a few moments. This is something we do in every service every single time is we provide a place and a space for people who are far from God to draw near to him. Maybe you're in here today and you're far from God. Listen. I don't have to bible thump you. I don't have to embarrass you, call you out. The reality is is you know. And although you may try to hide from the people around you, God sees you exactly where you are. Maybe at one point you followed Christ, but you never really gave him complete lordship. You kinda put him on as a t shirt or a jacket, but you never really gave him every part of your life. We say this often here because the word's so clear. Jesus is either the lord of everything or he's lord of nothing. Today, you see, if you're far from God, you need to come back. You need to recommit. You need to surrender your life into the hands of the only one, the only one that can make life giving use of it. Maybe you're in here today and because of your own pride, your life's been in your hands, you've never surrendered your life to anyone, least of all, the creator. I can save you so much pain. You'll never be all that you were created to be apart from a relationship with the one who made you, and you cannot get to Him apart from the person of Jesus Christ because you're not good enough. We all know this. We all know that we fall short. We all know that we don't measure up. And God sent Jesus to be the only one who measured up, that he would die after living a sinless life. He would succeed in conquering and overcoming sin in every way you and I don't. He would be the sacrifice for the sins of all human beings, past, present, and future, but he wouldn't stay in that grave, and all those who would follow him would also resurrect with him. Yes. To a new heaven and new earth in the future, but to a new life here and now, that they would be born again, not of flesh and blood, but of spirit, that they would now be able to connect with their creator, that they would be able to boldly approach the throne of grace. As heads are bowed, eyes are closed in a moment, I'm gonna pray for anyone in here who's far from God, who wants to make a decision to draw near to him. And if you're in here, you say, pastor, that's me, and you want me to include you in that prayer, would you be so bold as to raise your hand and acknowledge that? Is there anybody in here like that? That's me. I'm far from God. I wanna get around. I see you. I see you. Thank you. I see you there. In a moment, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. It's really an act of free will. And I'm gonna ask you to repeat these words after me from Romans chapter 10 verses nine and ten. And and as you repeat these words, I want you to say them loud enough where you can hear your own voice and allow them to be an expression of why you raised your hand. God's not a bully. He's not a tyrant. He's not a dictator. The greatest gift he gave you was the ability to choose him. This is your act of free will. As a matter of fact, you're surrounded by believers whose faith has started or restarted in the same place. Absolute surrender, declaring lordship. And I'm gonna ask the church, I'm gonna ask you to pray this not loud enough where you can hear your own voice, but louder so as to encourage the faith of those who are praying this for the first time, for the first time in a long time. Church, we believe in what they're doing. Let's all pray, Jesus, thank you for coming to this earth, for living a perfect life. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. I believe that you are good, and I believe you're God. I believe on the third day, after you were killed on the cross, I believe you rose from the dead. I believe you defeated death once and for all to give me life, once and for all. And so today, of my own free will, I choose to make you my Lord, my savior, and my king. Lead me and guide me. Show me what's next. It's in your name that I pray. And everybody said, amen. Amen. Come on, church. Let's put our hands together for everyone who did that. It is the best decision you will ever make.