Welcome, church. If you're new here, I'm sorry, not sorry, but we're excited today. We get excited for what our God does in people's lives. So we're happy to have you.
And I don't want to waste any more time. I want to let God be the light of this, what he's done in someone that's so special to me. We had many talks back and forth and questions asked back and forth. It was just so fun to watch or transform.
So, Michaela, if you will join me and where's Miss Autumn at? Hey, guys, that ain't going to do it. I need you to stand up and give a hand clap for Michaela Lafferty. Get up here.
Alright, I'm going to let you do your thing. The graduates leave in the stage. Never had that happen before. Here, you want some first?
No, I've already been crying. It's alright. I'm going to try to hold it together. Good luck.
Michaela, it's been a long nine months and I know how long nine months can seem, especially when you're in it, day in, day out. But you did it and you pushed through. And not only did you push through, you gave it all that you had and you received what God had for you. And as I was thinking about graduation, restoration, I'm sorry.
Restoration is something that just kept coming and coming and coming because restoration is your life, sister. Your mom is sitting right there supporting you and so proud of you. You got your family watching online. Your building relationships that you thought were lost forever.
And they're not because he is good and he loves you and he loves your family and he loves restoration. So, I'm shaking, sorry. So, the first scripture I have for you is Joel 2 25. I will restore to you the years that the Swarming Locus has eaten.
So, from your choices, from other people's choices and just what life throws at you, your whole life, he's restoring it. And he will continue to restore it from today. When you first got here, you were scared, you didn't even know why he was here, you was mad, mad at the world. But I watch God soften your heart, fill you with love, allow you to spread love and joy and laughter, and bring a smile to your beautiful face.
And I have one more scripture before you share your testimony that I want you to leave with and stand on. And it comes out of Isaiah 26 and it's verses 3 and 4 and it's from the Passion Translation because you know that's my favorite. Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those who imaginations are consumed with you. They confidently trust in you.
And yes, trust in the Lord, Yahweh, forever and ever. For Yahweh, the Lord God is your rock of ages. You keep your thoughts fixed on him. You keep your heart posture towards him.
It doesn't matter what this world throws at you or what life tries to tear you down. You will have peace, you will have everlasting peace and you will accomplish everything that you go for. I'm so proud of you. Dang, I haven't done my testimony yet.
Keep matching the applause after it. Whoo! Oh man. I was more nervous now now.
I'm just like, let's get this over with. Alright, so I have my testimony. I titled it. Professor's daughter up in here.
But then, the now and the wow. I mean, it sums me up. It sums me up, right? There's my testimony.
My life. My life today is filled with hope. It's filled with possibility. My smile.
My laughter. My overall perspective is literally the opposite of the person I came in here. I arrived here feeling like I lost all hope, even struggling with suicidal thoughts. There were strongholds known and unknown that I needed to go out to tear down.
My identity was rooted from a little girl as a victim. From being bullied, beaten, betrayed. It's flat out, abandoned, or ignored altogether. I was a victim of life.
While my choices and circumstances and even my own mindset and misery. Easter 2010, my son's father, Odine. My first love. My best friend and my partner at crime.
Somehow through the survivor's guilt and the broken heart I pushed on for myself. For my son. For my next several years, I walked away from a car accident after a total car. I mean, it was a lot.
I got bubble wrap for a birthday one year. It was a lot. I know, right? I told you, you don't know what you're going to get until you put me on stage for other people.
I had two different spinal surgeries. I broke in both hands. I went through a lot. Somehow I walked away from them all.
I got back up. Time. Time again. I got back up.
After five different attempts, I graduated as a registered nurse. I was a survivor. I was going to survive. But that means all I was expecting and waiting for the worst.
It came. It came. A lot of it I ended up creating without even realizing it. But the ways that I coped, trying to get through this all buried over the years.
From food to drugs to people, everything in between. Filling that available void. My appetite was insatiable. After an on and off again relationship, fueled by less than jealousy and possessiveness.
Excuse me. The toxicity. It all broke me. And I sat in that.
I had no hope to be had. But God. Woo. God moved through a person.
He moved through my brother. I was sick and tired of being sick. I was sick and tired of being sick. I was sick and tired of being sick.
I was sick and tired of being sick. I was sick and tired of being sick. I wasn't just doing this to myself. I was doing this to my baby, my son, my everything.
Something finally clicked. I knew we both deserved more than just surviving. When I arrived here at a psychotic pain. I was on blood pressure and psychiatric medicine.
Mentally I was in pieces. Spiritually I was just bitter. I was church hurt. I believed it all on God.
I was being here at illness after illness. And illness. I didn't know it was illness. I didn't know it was illness.
I didn't know it was illness. I didn't know it was illness. I mean, I ended up on more medicines. I was sick.
And everyone was like, man, you haven't left. You haven't left. You haven't left. You haven't left.
You haven't left. You haven't left. I was like, no, it made me want to eat in anymore. I now off all of this meds.
I lost 40 pounds. I was wondering when I was actually going to do that, when I was doing that off here. You can't practice that. I mean, better than I ever have.
But my son, the apple of my eye my baby. He's on a football team now. He's physically fit. He's in honor's classes.
And he's talking about going to college. My son is turning into a young man. He's not only now got his uncle. My father, my father figure, my brother, he has something he didn't have before.
He has my son. Man, you're so lucky. We all grown. We all grown in all of our relationships.
My mom, hello you mom. She was one of the two people that were here. My mom and my dad, both same room, no crisis, no death, no nothing. And they were here to celebrate me getting baptized.
Right after Sean's birthday actually, so it was awesome. Happy birthday to you. I quoted one of my life verses, Philippians 4, 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I said, you forgot me too. But I don't have just one life verse. I have two. I want another one that really has spoken to me.
Through all this restoration, it's Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6. First, I had to trust God. I mean, I have all this intellect, but I couldn't lean on my understanding. Nope, got me here.
Then I had to submit. Woo, man, that took the longest. I'm not going to lie. Still submitting.
Still submitting. And I always thought that was it with that verse. But in the last few weeks, there was a fourth part. He's going to direct my path.
Dang, God. But God. So I used to be a want to be a achiever. And now I'm an overcomer.
So who is my daddy now? Who he says I am? So who am I? I'm Michael Lynn Lafferty.
I am loved. I am wanted. I am forgiven. Woo, man.
Can you believe that? I am worthy. I'm worthy. Thanks, Steve.
I was going to get her sooner or later. So God, he moved. I moved. I'm moving again.
So he's going to be moving me through me and all around me. And that's it. That's all. So, Michaela, it is my honor to give you your certificate of completion given to Michaela Library for successfully completing the Cumberland Women's Hope Home Program on the 28th of April 2024.
Hold on, we're not done yet. Now I'm going to do that last. This is just a few things that is from all of us sitting here. And we just want to tell you how proud of you we are and we love you so much.
Hold on, we're not done yet. And I can officially say you are the one. Don't go nowhere. Oh, yeah.
And we all. Hey, Mom, I just want to say how proud of you I am going through all this and how excited I am to see you out here. And even though it seems so far away, it is so much closer than it was before. And I am really, really glad and happy that we've made this change in our lives and it's only going for the better.
And I know how hard it's been to give up our entire lives to improve it. But nothing good comes easily. We found out the hard way. And I just wanted to say thank you and I love you and miss you.
Come on and on. If I can get the women's home, the women that are in the home currently right now, don't come up here. Come on, come on, come on, come on. You guys come all the way up.
We're just going to pray over. If you will, we just got your hands out through her. You go ahead. I'll hold it for you.
I thought I was done. Father God, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for this life that stands here with us today. We thank you for moving not only on her behalf, but her family's behalf.
God, we thank you that you saved her. You healed her and you set her free in Jesus name. Father, I thank you so much that she is going to do amazing things in your name. God, you're preparing away for her.
Lord, you're going to protect her. You're going to lead her and you're going to guide her every step of the way. Father, right now we just ask that you continue to fill her up with more of you, less of herself, and just give her sound wisdom and sound knowledge and what to do next, God. We just thank you so much for pouring your love out on her and we thank you that you are going to utilize her as a worthy vessel for your kingdom.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's give her one last hand, y'all.
Oh, man. What's that? Powerful shirt. Amen.
Listen, it's not over yet. So, we got, I got one more thing I want to do. If you'll come join me real quick. So obviously, most of you know there's a transition happening and I want to honor you.
I want to tell you like Brendan, you got to come all the way up. And Whitney has officially started as our women's home director, y'all. Let's give her a hand. We're so excited for her and this next chapter.
It's going to be great. I'm so excited for you and can't wait to start this journey with you. I'm excited to see how I'm going to grow in the women's home, grow our church, everybody in it. So, guys, one more time.
Let's honor Whitney. Let's give her a hand. And I'm going to put Miss Kristen and my wife on the spot so we can pray over her real quick. That can hear me, right?
Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you. We thank you for Whitney. We thank you for her willingness to do whatever you call her to do. We thank you for that.
You have called her today and in the future to be our women's home leader. We just thank you for placing every work inside her that she will be able to minister to her full ability with you through you, Jesus, to other women in the community and around the United States. We just thank you for Whitney and just bless her in Jesus' name. You don't turn me on?
Lord, I just thank you for Whitney, Lord. I lift her up to you. May you strengthen her and just give her a wisdom more than only you can provide, Lord. I pray that the women's home just fills with women, Lord, that she can disciple in every single way, Lord.
And may your heart just shine through her, Lord, and may you just guide her path, Lord, may you guide her in difficult times, God. We just thank you, Lord, for giving her a new heart and a new path to follow. I just lift my sister up in Christ, Lord. We just thank you and praise you in Jesus' name.
Amen. First, give her one more hand. Thank you, ladies. Listen, guys, you are not going to want to miss next week.
We don't have enough time to show honor for autumn and just the job that she's done here, her heart to serve. We need more time to do that. Please come back next week because we want to give her the honor that she deserves. We're excited about that.
Amen. Oh, right. I don't know how I'm going to land this plane in. Yeah, that'll be a miracle, Fred said.
All right. I got 20 minutes, my wife said, all right. Well, we're going to rock and roll. So obviously, we've been in increase.
Now go back. Thank you. We've been in increase. And if you were here last week, just two weeks ago, a little recap was I started a message that I called the call.
I really started to put it on my heart. I'm a sports fan like I was telling you and the NFL draft was just, you know, it was all coming to me because that's how he speaks to me. He asked me to you guys in unique ways. Yeah, he speaks to me through sports.
So sorry. But the increase of the call that God gives, he, the first was an invitation to believe the call to believe. And then we saw that the call increased as it went on, right? He said, I will make you and now you will fish for men.
So today I want to, it's interesting. You guys might get tired of this verse because as we were discussing this morning, Fred's like, that's where I'm preaching that next week. So I'm like, hey, it's all right. He's going to be in the first part.
I'm going to skim through that and get to the second, but I want to talk about if you have your Bible, go to second Peter and we're going to be in chapter one. And while you're getting there, I want to talk about confirm the call, confirming the call. And this is going to be great. I'm super excited about it because we, uh, there's, there's things that, that there's an effort that's put in.
I'll go this side. Oh, I don't know if it's wrong over there. There's an effort that's put in right to this thing that actually can confirm where we're at, where our relationship with price is at. Amen.
Amen. All right. So second Peter, just a little backdrop. Super quick.
Uh, this is going to blow your mind, but it's probably the same audience that he wrote to the first Peter, um, which in context was Christians that were scattered by a persecution. Um, so the gist of the letter itself is to encourage Christian to live out the purpose of their lives in Christ. You hear what I said? Live out their purpose.
So this is the man that we, we heard about last week that when he saw everything, it changed right? Y'all are looking up there. It's not up there. I'm getting to, I'm getting to that fun.
And then he goes on to, to warn readers to be aware of teachers who claim to be believers, but percent a false version of Christianity. And Peter calls on all Christians to watch and wait for the return of the Lord. Amen. So I don't know how much we're going to get into this.
We're going to go ahead and jump in. So the first thing I'm going to probably land on is verse 10 and I'm going to read the amplified version. It says, therefore believers be all the more diligent, everybody say diligent, to make certain about his calling, and choosing you. Hey, Jen, be certain about his calling, and choosing you.
You know, he shows you? I hope by the time that we leave here today, church that you understand that you have been chosen, and that when we understand that we've been chosen, church, when we understand that we've been chosen and we desire to make certain of that, it says be sure that your behavior reflects and confirms your relationship with God. For by doing these things actively developing these virtues, you will never stumble. Okay, where are you at?
By actively, you already saying? By actively developing these virtues, things you've already started to learn. I continue to learn now. To keeping them active, it says you will never stumble in your spiritual growth and will live a life that leads others away from sin.
Wow, church. So not only does you won't stumble, but it'll lead others around you. Isn't he a good God this morning church? All right, Father, we thank you for your word.
We honor you, God. We thank you that you give us everything that we need, Father, everything. You didn't leave anything out. We gave us everything, and we thank you for that.
And we give you all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, Jesus name, Amen. All right, so we're going to run through this real quick. I'm going to read through it, and then I'm going to make a few points down through it as we try to wrap this thing up. The starting of verse three, it says, the five power has given us everything.
Church say everything. What else do you need? All right, you can't, because he gave you everything. We need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises. How many of you know that he's given us his promises? All right, I got two, Amen. How many of you know that he's given us his promises?
Listen, if you don't know, you must not be reading your Bible. He says, so that through them, you may participate in a divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. I'm not, I don't have enough time to stop there. I know my friend is going to bring that home next week for this very reason.
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge. So we struggle to say that with say let me self control. Okay, I knew that with my wife got real bit of it says to self control perseverance and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, mutual affection and to mutual affection of my favorite thing in this whole world, love. Don't worry.
I know you guys are like, please don't go back to any of those. I'm definitely going to be. So it says, for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure and increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is near sighted and blind forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Does that sound familiar? About to say if you guys are about to say no, pastor is going to ask you where you guys were at a couple of weeks ago. First then, therefore my brothers and sisters make every effort to confirm your calling in election for if you do these things, you will never stumble and you will receive a rich welcome into the internal kingdom of our Lord and save your Jesus Christ. Thank you father.
So I will always remind you of these things even though you already know them and are firmly established in the truth you have now. And the church says, Amen. All right, church, my first point, knowing him, I'm just going to go ahead and say I personally believe this is the most important point that the knowledge of who he is, knowing him is everything. It will forever be your everything.
You will forever continue to grow and learn more of who he is and the more knowledge you have of him, all of that stuff follows. Amen. I hope you hear this today, the knowledge of who he is, spending time with him. The key point here is the relationship with the father and to have a relationship you got to know him.
So this is where this all starts is knowing him. It says, everything that goes into a life of pleasing God, I'm reading back over this but this is in the message translation. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to you by getting to know personally and intimately the one who invited us to God. If you guys here are you following me?
It says, given to us by getting to know personally and intimately the one who invited us to God. That to me is like you have to start there. Nothing else matters. If you don't start there and want to know him personally and intimately, you can't get any more knowledge.
It'll stay at just a acknowledgement of, oh yeah, I've heard of him, but if you don't know him, it won't take you deeper into who he really is, the purpose that he has for you, all of who he is. You can't get all of who he is with just a part-time, a part-time long-distance relationship. There you go. You can't, right?
You know a little baby, you have no idea what he's doing. You have no idea what he did. If you don't know, if you've got to put those two together, it really grasps a hold of it to understand who he is and that relationship is key. That relationship is key.
That having that relationship with him is everything. It'll forever be everything. Remember in John where he's saying, what about this guy? And Jesus looks at him and he says, what's it to you if I keep him alive to my return?
That's one of my favorite like mic drops of like, you follow me, he says. You stay focused on me. So that right there to me is everything. That's the relationship right there.
It matters so much about what you do with your relationship with Christ. I don't have time. I want to touch on a little more of that because I feel like so many of us are losing our faith in our relationship with God based on other people or what they do or how they serve or don't serve. I'm just like, how is that possible?
Because it's a personal relationship. You can't make me lose my faith. I think I said just before I love all of you in here, but if you walk away and still want to stand because I know what he's done in my life, we have to build on that. Know who he is.
Who he is. It doesn't move. Once you know. It says the best invitation we ever received.
Have you all had a good invitation somewhere? Right. You're just like, what? Right?
Think of the best thing you want to do the most in life or what would you be so excited for? You've got an invitation for it. How excited would you be? Well, this one is like, that one's on the ground.
This one is all the way at the top of the Empire State Building. It says it's the best invitation you've ever received. I feel like we get it sometimes. I'll check my schedule.
Are you kidding me? To a back flip right now. The best invitation you've ever received. We were also given absolute, terrific promises to pass on to you, your tickets to participate in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.
Did you hear what he said there? You had to do something. You had to do it. It said once you turned your back to that.
Right? She said, ooh. It says promises to pass on to you. This is the important part of what I was saying earlier to read in your words and know what those promises were.
You have to understand it in this letter. They didn't have a new testament. All Old Testament. If you don't know the promises that were given, the promises for provision, protection, all of these things, if you don't understand that and you don't know what the promises are, what do you have to hold on to?
There's got to be something that you've got to know the promises. You've got to understand them. You know what else we have that we get to hold on to? Has anyone ever spoke over your life?
Anybody in here ever shared a word, a prophetic word over your life? Like we get to hold on to that. There's a prophetic promises that we have over our life that we get to grab a hold of. Like, that's so exciting.
God, I don't want to spend time there. I got to keep moving. All right. Second point.
I feel like I'm challenged. Like Fred said, I ain't going to land this plane. Second point. Growing.
Quality. Oh, and I am sorry, y'all, but God highlighted two of these qualities for me and based off on the reading, y'all didn't like the fun. Ooh. So I'm going to start first by going to read this.
So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given. You hear that? Don't lose a minute on building on what you've been given. Complimenting your basic faith.
You have a basic faith, right? With good character. Spiritual understanding. Good character.
Spiritual understanding. Alert discipline. No, like that. See, it's just worded effort.
You still didn't like it. It says passionate patience. Ooh. Do it here doesn't have any patience.
Thank you for being honest. I know I have patience. I have a different wonder, warm friendliness and generous love. Each dimension fitting into and developing the other.
So how many of you know you can't just have one? It all comes together. It says if you like this one and don't like this one, guess what? You better learn to like this one because you need all of them and they are going to develop each other and work together to make this ultimate impact of the qualities we should have if we're serving God and we're desiring to put the effort in to become more like who He's created us to be and less like who we just want to be, we have to desire to put the effort in all of them.
And listen, I don't know which one is highlighting to you. This one's highlighting to me and I'll tell you what guys, I think self-control is at the core. Hear me when I say this, I think it is at the core of all of us. It's at the core that really what makes us powerful people.
I so believe that. Because if you don't have self-control, you don't have nothing. You don't have self-control. What do you have?
And you can't, you know what I love about self-control? Man, that's something like studying this and reading this book. I really love a lot about it because guess what? You can't fake self-control.
You either got it or you don't have it. It's not like a half, like, oh yeah, I'm good, like three days a week, but at least you are not very good at it. It's like, well then you don't have self-control. And I'm not saying you can't be working on it, but I'm telling you, self-control is a big thing.
So it says with these qualities, say these qualities, I want you all to get this, these qualities. Active and growing in your life. No grass will grow under your feet. No day will pass without this reward as you mature in your experience of our master Jesus.
These qualities are carried by our master Jesus. It has to be growing them. We're going to experience them more. Did you hear what that just said?
I don't know about you, but I want all of them. Bring them all to me because I want to experience my master. The one that we just got to sit here and listen to a testimony of bringing someone out of this, but did you all hear it though? When he doesn't, he doesn't just bring you out, it said he restored his relationship with his mother and his father, her father.
You see that video of her son? I'm telling you all, he just, it's a fool. It's a, it's a, it's an all around thing. He doesn't just hit one area.
He's not a, he's not a one trick pony. He says, I'm going to do it all. And I'm telling you the power of our testimony, the impact people. It reveals who he is.
That's how we get glimpse of who he really is. Here on earth as we're walking, living, doing all this. And as we live these qualities out, we are experiencing him more than others around us or seeing who he truly is. And there is nothing better than that.
And it says, oh, there's something right down here. And it says, without these qualities, you can't see what's right before you. Oblivious, that your old simple life has been wiped off the book. Phew, my God.
So knowledge of Christ, knowledge of Christ, when able us to display God's character effectively. Here with us at church, you follow me? Knowledge of Christ. Come on.
Self-control is a major P in our walk. Self-control enables us to make good choices. You can only have self-control if you have said yes to something. Without a commitment, there can be no self-control.
If you can't say yes and have a goal, you'll never be able to say no to anything that will never reach your goal. Without these qualities, we simply are forgetting our true identity and fall into old behavior. Y'all got a bonus today. I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to delete that out of there. That was my personal notes. But listen, y'all, this self-control thing, it's no joke. It's so real.
I'm going to read this real quick to you in this part of this book. It's that self-control is at the core of being a powerful person. Self-control means that you can tell yourself what you can do and you can make yourself do it. This is going to be a little challenging if you don't realize that you play a part in some of this and that we're not going to do the super critical thing.
You play a part. You make yourself do it. It sounds simple enough, but telling yourself what to do in a bay and yourself can be quite an accomplishment. For most of us, it's a good day when we obey ourselves.
In order for us to practice self-control, we must have a goal. You hear what I'm saying? You follow me? We must have a goal.
We must have something we are saying yes to, which necessarily comes with the things that we must say no to. We use self-control to maneuver ourselves towards this goal must be entirely our own. The minute another person is choosing and managing our goals for us, we have self-control behind. If you didn't know, self-control affects our relationship.
Self-control affects every part of our lives. I love what it says. It says we have to say yes to something. We have to have something that we've said yes to.
I don't know. Have you said yes to God? If you've said yes to God, then you should want to follow the things of God. And maybe you've just never made that choice.
Maybe you've never said yes or no. And then you wonder why it's so frustrating because you haven't given yourself a goal that's saying yes, God. I'm choosing you. But if I say yes and never know, then what happened?
You don't have nothing. Yeah, let me give you an example. You're not getting what I'm saying. So, I'm going to bring you all into the Mongol household for a minute.
Yeah, I'm told to tread lightly. All right, y'all. I'm sorry. These are oatmeal cream paws.
I mean, I'm sorry. This is manna from heaven to my wife. And let me tell you something. These were about two day.
Context is everything. These are about two day. You'll hear that? Full.
I don't hear the ocean. Do y'all hear? Listen, nothing. So, she said yes to something.
I heard that. I heard that. I know. You just changed the sheets.
No. Listen. So it looks like she said yes to something. It has no self-control to say no to something.
That's what self-control looks like in our household. And I thought I was being muted for a second. So we got a full box here, y'all. Can't just have one.
Listen, she will smack a whole box in two seconds. It's impressive. I'll go in and get in. Here's my other favorite thing.
Here's what my family does now. This box will be in the cabinet looking like a full box. And I'll be like, like, it's just me. You know what I mean?
Oh, my goodness gracious. It's self-control. Self-control is everything, y'all. We can say yes to something.
But we have to be able to say no. There has to be that for you to be able to have self-control. And if you read earlier, he said we have everything. Everything we need.
Everything we need. But if we can't say no, if we haven't made our minds up and said yes and we have a goal, then we ultimately don't have nothing to say no to. And that's what continues to come in. It continues to get us and grab us and pull us back and forth.
And it's just a challenge. Sorry, that's going to be way off. I was going somewhere else. But that was my self-control.
Next slide, please. If you guys are reading this, Paul writes this to Titus in chapter 2, verse 11 and 12, it says, for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say what? I didn't hear my wife.
It teaches us to say what? To ungodliness and worldly passion, worldly oatmeal cream pies. And to live self-control. Did you hear it?
Self-control. Upright, godly lives in this present age. I got one more point. Are you okay?
Can I get through it? Self-control is key. Amen? I have one more point.
I'm sorry. This is what I was going to say to go over laughing. Like I think about this. What I say yes to you.
What I say no to you. Do you think it has anything to do with what I eat? No pun intended. Like if I'm eating his word, if I'm in his word and I'm eating his word, what do you think I'm going to become more like?
Right? I made that commitment. I'm chasing after him. I'm eating his word.
I'm going to look more like him. Because that's what I'm saying yes to him. That's what I'm eating. Guess what?
If I'm not eating his word in this world has all these other things, then what do you think is happening? Because this is so simple, but this is so real. If we would learn that understanding our control of our choices that we make and that we see in his word as life, as everything. Like I said before, everything.
And that's what I'm eating day after day after day after day. I'm going to start looking more like that. And you already know if I start eating oatmeal cream pies every day, I ain't going there. Listen, but they ain't healthy for you.
Amen? So we're still in our step challenge. Here, beautiful as all get out. But do you see what I'm saying?
Like it matters what we eat. It matters what we say yes to. So my last point, do it now. Confirm the call.
It's so funny. I was just kind of skimming through this morning. I don't know if I've ever heard Arnold Schwarzenegger do it now. That's what just kept coming up as I'm reading over.
Sorry, I laugh a lot, y'all. You got to understand to know. But remember how this is what connected it with me with God. But remember how in the last message when I was talking about the end, he said, from now on.
And this time he says, but this Peter, right? Jesus said that to Peter. Now Peter is saying this in the letter that he's writing. He says, do it now.
The heading of this in the message translation says, don't put it off. Don't put it off. I almost said, pepap. So verse 10, 11, it says, so friend, confirm God's invitation to you, his choice of you.
First, say it with me. Don't put it off. Do it now. Don't put it off.
Do it now. Do this and you'll have your life on a firm footing. Christ says, my firm foundation. Y'all sang it real good in worship.
But this says, listen, life on a firm footing, the streets paved in a way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our master and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Pave wide open to eternal life. You found over here a recent. Pave wide open to eternal life.
If that doesn't make you excited, church. I don't know what's going to and he's given us simple directions on how to follow them possessed these qualities for them to grow mature and to get there. Wow. Oh my goodness.
Y'all have weird ways of throwing excitement. So these qualities show you're certain of your salvation and calling. When you're certain of your calling, you live it out with confidence. You hear what I said, church?
It's more than just talking about it. It's becoming it. If you profess salvation, but never growing your walk with God, you will suffer a lack of assurance. I'm not just questioning if you're really saving on me.
So my next slide, to be honest with me today, has that been you? I know if I can be honest, that was me for many years on my walk. It was, I think I am or I would act like I am. I'm excited.
You know what I mean? Like there was always that question kind of inside. Like some days I really felt like I wasn't. I never had that confidence to be able to step out, take a risk and live it out because I didn't just know, right?
I didn't fully know. But when that started to shift and I started to chase after God and I said yes to something, I said a goal and I chased after it. These things just started to become real in my life. The confidence began to just grow and grow and grow and grow and not in myself and him because of what he was doing.
And it was just so incredible. It was so incredible. Wait, you want to go ahead and come up? Thank you for hanging in with me.
I think I did a good job. I'm only five minutes over. I want to read this in first John 513. If you didn't know, first John's are some of them, they're my favorite books in the bottle.
They're a lot of love in first John's and that's what I'm all about. It says, this is what it says in the Master's translation, the reality, not the illusion. Starting in verse 13, it says, my purpose in writing is simply this, that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in this present.
Read it with me, Church. Free. How bold and free we then become in this present. Freely ask according to his will.
Sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours. Church, there's such a difference in being confident in who your talk is. Confident in the Father and who he is.
I'm going to take it all the way back to the first point of knowing him. If you don't know him, you can't be confident in it. You don't know that you can ask him anything. I know that he's a good God.
If you're not grounded in that church, then it's going to be challenging. You're going to walk and sometimes you're like, I don't know. But I'm telling you when you know, even when it's hard, you can still walk. Did you hear what I said?
It said when you know in that self-control, you can choose to say, yes, God. Yes, God. I don't care what it looks like. Yes, I trust you.
Yes, I know your promises. And what you spoke over my life, what you're going to do, what you can do. There is not a question. I know.
And I don't let you be able to sing it no matter what it brings. Okay, no matter what it brings. Like everything, everyone spoke every day no matter what it brings. Yes, it's everything.
You'll be able to sing no. That's not of him. I want what is of him. I want to possess the quality of my father.
That's what matters most. In church, like you just saw this morning, we got the greatest. I'm telling you this was lined up so well. We become living testimonies of the power of God to change lives.
And you got to witness that today. Will you stand with me, church? No, I'm running around. My whole body looks pretty good right now.