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Red Rocks Church. How you feel? You guys gonna help me get rowdy in here today? Hey, will you help me say hi to everybody? What's up? All the other Denver locations, we love you. Austin, Texas. Brussels, Belgium. Men and women at our correctional facilities, we love you so much. Hey, if you're visiting for the first time, I like to say up top. We're just a bunch of imperfect, messed up, broke, broken people in here, but we love to get together like this and pursue a perfect God. And so no matter what you got going on, no matter what has happened in the past or what you're dealing with today, our goal from the bottom of our hearts, our goal is that you would come in here and feel loved and welcomed and valued. And we've been praying for you. So welcome home. Welcome to Red Rocks Church. High five. Somebody have a seat. We'll get this party. We're starting a brand new teaching series today called Kiss the Fire. And thank you for the one person excited about that. I've been telling you for a while that this was coming, and so it's finally here. And so this one's really special for me because as we dive into God's word over the next few weeks, we're going to use this book that I just wrote as kind of a conversation starter. And it's. It's called kiss the fire 7 Ways to get back up when you want to give up. And I'm very excited. And are you guys excited? Is anyone just. Just checking. Now, the only I have one like thing that messes with me when we do this, because we did this a few years back with attacking anxiety, is that somebody might be new to the church or just checking this thing out. And so you come in on a week like this and you go, oh, pastor wrote a book. Now we're all going to talk about it. Okay, I see how that works. He must think he's all that. And if that's you, I just want you to know I think a lot of things about myself. And being all that is not one of them, I promise. My wife helps me. My wife helps me with that. When I. When I signed my very first book contract with a publisher years ago to write a book, I came home and I told her, obviously, and I'm like, hey, I'm gonna do this thing. And signed a contract today. And she goes, huh? She goes, well, are you gonna write how you talk or are you gonna try to sound smart? She said that, Church, she's not wrong. In fact, this thing wouldn't even be possible if it weren't for the unbelievable Ryan Wekenman. Ryan, thank you so much. I love you, brother. I. The words to this, and he typed them and made them beautiful and made it sound like I understand how the English language works. So, Ryan, thank you for that. I am excited. It's not because I'm excited to be an author, though. I'm gonna be honest with you. Put me on a polygraph test. I could care less about being an author. I'm not excited about this series because my name's on that thing either. I care about being your pastor. That's what I care about. And I have just been through some. Some difficult things in life and. But I've also gotten to experience the miraculous power of God, allowing me to have peace and joy and purpose and walk in my calling while going through difficult things. And that's what I want for you. I just. And Jesus told us, right, like, in this world, you're gonna have trouble. But then he said, but take heart. Cause I've overcome the world. But he said, until heaven, because we're broken people in a broken world. We're going to go through hard things. And so if you're not now, you probably will at some point. And potentially, the people you love, not potentially, they will as well. And I just know what it's like to go through hard things. And in the back of my head sometimes go, man, I think I just want to give up. I know what that feels like. I know what it feels like to go out. I don't want to pursue my calling that God has for me anymore. I just want to give up. I don't want to trust God. Look around. Why would I trust God? Like, I know that feeling. I know what it feels like to sometimes want to give up on life altogether, going through hard things. And I just don't ever want that for you. I want you to know that you can trust God, that there's no person he can't change, no situation he can't get involved in, no miracle he can't do. And I just don't want you to ever give up on trusting God. And. And my hope is, is that this in some way will help you just turn back to God and His word and let him do what only he can do in your life. So we. We are making these available out in our lobbies. And this is kind of cool for the rest of the world. This doesn't come out till October 14, but Thomas Nelson sent us some limited edition first Sneaky. I don't even know if they're quite legal yet, copies, and so you can get one out in the lobby. But I do want to, just because I also know how our minds think. I know what I'd be thinking. Just so you know, we don't get those for free, even though I wrote it. Well, Ryan wrote it. But whatever. We pay for those so that we can get them to you. And generally we give so many away that we lose money on that. But if there are proceeds from any of these sales out in the lobbies, I want you to know that that's all going to our correctional facilities ministries. Men and women at our correctional facilities, we love you. We believe in you. Don't you dare give up. God still plan for you. And you are family. And last thing I'll say is if you right now, you go, man, we're going through it like I am really struggling or someone I love is really struggling, and I think this could help. But if I'm totally honest, man, I can't afford to buy a book right now. You go tell them in the lobby. Sean said I can have a free copy and I'll fight them for you. Okay? And so I don't want that to ever be a thing. Anyone like a free copy, since I'm standing here holding one. I heard an I do. You said it loudest. You said it loudest. What's your name? Susie. Come on, give it up for Susie. All right, you ready? You ready to kiss the fire? I could summarize this teaching series, really, in one verse, but I love you so much. I'm gonna give you three to summarize this whole deal in three verses. Jeremiah 29:11. Here's where we're going for the next few weeks. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. God says, you might not understand what's going on in your life right now. You may have no clue. To you, it may look real bleak. But God says, I just want you to know that I am God and I have a plan for your life. And don't you dare give up. First Timothy 6:12. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. Paul's telling his protege, Timothy, God does have plans for you. He does have a calling for you. But if you're going to ever actually experience it, there's going to be times when you're going to have to fight through some stuff to go Take hold of that calling I have for you. But you can do that. He said it's a good fight. And, and notice he said the fight is fight the fight of faith. That's what we're talking about in this series. Because what happens a lot of times in here and in here, when we go through really tough things, the fight we're fighting is for our faith. Oftentimes. Can I still trust God? Because, I mean, look around. Will I still praise God? Will I still pursue God? Will I stay in church? Will I stay in His Word? Will I stay in community? Will I keep putting my hopes and dreams and life into his hands? Or do I look around and go, nah, that's the fight? Paul says, timothy, don't lose that fight. Don't give up on your God. Don't stop trusting him and praising him and pursuing Him. Fight the fight of faith. Because one of these days you will be able to look back and you're gonna be really glad you did. Fight the fight of faith, because that's what allows you to take hold of the calling that he has for you. In Galatians 6, 9 says this. Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest. And I want you to read these last 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 words with me. For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Let's say that again. We will reap a harvest if we do not give up. That's what this whole thing's about. 7 Ways to get back up when everything inside of us wants to give up. And that's what we're talking about. And that is what I've been praying already. That is going to be so many of your stories right now. I'm praying that that's going to be me and my family story right now, that we'll look back at some things in 20, 25 and go, yeah, we went through some really hard things, and if we're honest, we didn't even know if we were going to get through them. But we didn't give up. We kept trusting God. We fought to hold on to our faith. And thank God we didn't give up. Because look what he did in between there and here. That's going to be your story. So if you're taking notes, the title of today's talk is don't yout Dare Give Up. Tell your neighbor right now say, don't you dare give up. Tell your second choice. I'm sorry for choosing you second but don't you dare give up. My executive assistant. Her name is Kristen, and she's always threatened that if I ever ask her to step on stage, she will quit. She often threatens me that she's going to quit if I ever mention her name. But she hasn't yet, so let's go for it. We were talking one day. We're just making small talk, and I said, so, you got any plans this weekend? Which is kind of a dumb question to ask people who work at a church, because I kind of know where you're going to be all weekend. So what I really meant was, got any plans Saturday afternoon? And just kind of out of the blue, she goes, yeah, I'm just gonna run a marathon. I went, what? I didn't even know you ran. You just run to run? Like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why would you run to run? I had to run for sports growing up. I don't run to run. But I was actually really shocked. I was like, wow, I didn't know you were that good at running. That's incredible. And she. She said something so profound. She goes. She goes, well, I'm really not that good at running. I'm like, well, about to run a marathon or half marathon or whatever you're about to do. And she goes, well, I'm not really that strong. I'm not really that fast. She goes, I'm just really good at not quitting. Red Rocks Church. That's where we're going in this series. That's what I want for every single one of us. I want us to get really good at not quitting, at not giving up on our God. Amen. All right. I called a friend when I finally decided. I was talking with my agent who does book stuff, and the publisher, and they said, hey, you want to write another book? This was a couple years ago. And I said, no, I do not. And some things happened. Felt like God spoke to me. One day, I talked to my wife, and we both felt like God told us, look, if you'll just be real honest about hard things that you go through, if you'll be real honest about even the things that made you want to quit. But then if you'll tell people what I've done in your life in the meantime, I'll use that to go change somebody's life. And so we called back the agent, we said, we'll do it. And I told him, I said, hey, I got a title, too. I said. I said, check this out. Kiss the Fire. And he goes, ooh. Then he goes, what's that mean? Same question you've been asking. I'm gonna try to explain that as we go through today's talk about three, three and a half, some. A little over three years ago, I was with my small group, if you're outside of Colorado, watching this message. We have this body of water. Excuse me. Nearby. It's very similar to, like, the Pacific Ocean. It's called the Chatfield Reservoir. And so my small group, we were at the Chatfield Reservoir, and we were wake surfing. Well, they were wake surfing. I was falling off of a wakeboard, and one of the times I fell off, I tore my bicep. And so I had to go. I had to have surgery and wore a brace for six weeks. And then I was doing the physical therapy afterwards, and my left arm was, like, shaking just a little bit. And so the girl that was the physical therapist, she was like, that's no big deal. It's just atrophy. You've been in a brace for six weeks. It's normal. It's like, oh, cool. Well, about a month or two later, it was still kind of doing the same thing. And so one day, out of the blue, she's just. You know, we're doing, like, wrist curls or something, and she's like, you might want to see a neurologist. And I went, well, that's weird. What's a neurologist got to do with a torn bicep? And so I did. I went to see a neurologist, and he started using all these big words and things I didn't really understand. And to be honest, I wasn't fully listening because. And, come on, you've done this, too. I didn't really need him to tell me what was going on, because I googled it. I mean, I'm not trying to brag, Doc. You ever do that? You ever go into your doctor and you're like, this is what's going on. And then he or she goes, let me tell you. And you go, mmm. I'm not trying to pull rank here, but I googled it. That's what I. I knew in my mind what was going on. I had hurt my neck years before lifting weights, and so every now and then, I would have to get, like, some injections in the back of my neck because it would cause me to have, like, a pinched nerve, and it would affect my. My left arm. And so I kind of knew. But I'm like, I'll. You know, I'll go do the scans and Whatever he wants. So I went and did the scans, came back, and me and Jill are sitting there and. And I'm 100% ready for him to tell me, you and Google got me. You have a pinched nerve. And he goes, hey, man, I'm really sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you don't have a pinched nerve. You have an incurable brain disease, and your life's going to change. And I'll be honest with you, Church, I didn't really know what to say. Jill just grabbed my hand, and I was just kind of in shock. And I remember I said, like, I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't make sense of the words he was saying. I'm like, no, no, that's not me. You know how you have a million thoughts that you can kind of shuffle through in super short amount of time? And I just start thinking things like, no, he can't be right. Like, I stay really healthy. I'm in good shape. I just had a physical. I'm doing good. Like, I tell people about Jesus for a living. Like, I pray for people whose lives get changed in doctor's appointments. I'm not one of those people. Like, these are all the things I'm thinking. And I said, well, I don't understand what you're saying. I said, what's best case scenario? And he goes, that we find lung cancer. Now, my aunt died of lung cancer, so I know how bad that can be. And I'm like, what? What are you talking about? He goes, well, if it was something like that, at least it could explain some of the symptoms, and that's something that we could go fight. He said, but what you have, there's. There's no cure. And I said, well, what's worst case scenario? And he goes, well, most people wouldn't get something like this till way later in life. And. And so we don't know how fast it'll go, but we know where it ends. And I said, just tell me. And he goes, that your wife will feed you and change you. And, man, I was just. We were both just like. We didn't even know what to say. We went out in the parking lot of this hospital and we sat in the car. And if you know me, I cried. And I just remember telling Jill, I'm like, babe, I'm so sorry, because you don't deserve this. I don't know what kind of. I don't know what kind of husband I'm going to be. Like, we've always talked about, like, we'll retire someday and travel. I don't know if I'll be able to do that. I don't know what kind of dad I'm going to be to the boys. Just scared. She goes, I know. She reaches in the backseat, she grabs her Bible and she just starts reading a passage. I said, what are you doing? She looked at me and she goes, I'm not scared and I'm not going anywhere. And it sounds like we need a miracle. And so I'm going to start praying for one. That's what it looks like to kiss the fire. Church I We had drove separately, so I went and got in my truck. I didn't even know where to go. I was just driving, crying, yelling things at God that I won't repeat here today. And ironically, we were doing one of those 21 day fasts as a church and I drove straight to a gas station and bought a box of Krispy Kremes. It's real. I was like, this fast is over. I went to my house and I just spiraled. And I'm not proud of these thoughts or feelings, but I want to share them and be honest with you about them because I want some of you to know that you're not the only one. I went to my back porch and man, my thoughts got real dark, real twisted real quick. I started thinking things like, forget you, God. I don't want anything to do with you. That's how you treat your kids. You let this happen to me. I dedicate my life to telling people about you. This is going to be my story. I don't want to go to church. I don't want to talk to church people. I didn't answer my phone. I didn't take texts. I didn't want one more person to send one more verse telling me it was going to be okay. Nothing in my heart, like I don't even know if I want to live anymore. I quit on everything. That's how I felt. And I wasn't answering any texts or any calls. And then my phone rang and I looked down and I saw it was coach Mark Montoya. And he's one of my best friends and he runs a UFC fight team here in town. And he's one of the baddest men I know and I'm scared of him. So I answered the phone and he said, hey, you know, Jill texted some of the wives and asked them to pray and what's going on? And so I told him. And I'm just bawling, I'm just falling apart and told him everything and how scared I was and how mad I was. And he just got quiet for a second. And then he goes, well, we're going to kiss this fire and walk away whistling. I said, coach, that sounds really cool. I don't know what that means. And he goes, I'm not saying it's not going to be hot. I'm not saying it won't burn from time to time. I'm saying, you're not going to run from this. This isn't going to steal your peace. This isn't going to steal your joy. This isn't going to change your calling. You're going to go through this. You're going to be stronger on the other side, and I'll be with you every single step of the way. And then he said it again. He said, we're going to kiss this fire and walk away whistling. And look, I don't know what you might be going through today, but I know that we're broken people in a broken world, which means a whole bunch of us right now are dealing with some pretty tough stuff. And if you're not now, you probably will be at some point. Maybe for you, it's finances have just been overwhelming. You don't see a way out. Maybe it's a marriage. You don't see how it can work. Maybe it's a dream in your heart. You feel like, how am I at this stage of life dealing with this? And my dreams are over there. And I don't think that's ever going to happen. Maybe for you it is a diagnosis or somebody that you love or maybe you've been through a death or a sickness or a tragedy. Something has happened in life and your heart just feels broken and you just feel like heavy and hopeless and scared, mad, afraid. I want to tell you the same thing that my friend told me. This is not going to take your peace. This is not going to take your joy. This is not going to take your calling. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You will get through this. You'll be stronger on the other side. And we, as a church family, we're not going anywhere. And we'll go with you every single step of the way. If you'll let us, we can get through this stuff together. Church, we'll lock arms. We'll fight for each other. We'll fight with each other while we wait on the great physician to do the miracles that he still does today. Although that got me really excited. And that phrase, kiss the Fire kind of became this mantra for me on a daily basis. When things got real hard and in my mind I wanted to quit, I'd go, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not giving up on God today. I'm not going to listen to the lies of Satan. I'm not going to let my circumstance tell me whether or not I can trust my God. I'm not going to let my own thoughts and feelings tell me whether or not I can trust my. My God. I decided in my heart a long time ago, I'm all in, come hell or high water, I'm not going anywhere. I can praise my God through all kinds of stuff. I can pursue my God in the middle of all kinds of stuff. And I'm not walking. And that's the resolve I want to help you start to get. I want you to understand that God put a fighter spirit on the inside of you. He said, I didn't give you a spirit of fear. I gave you a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. He said, greater is he that is within us. And that's what happens when we put our faith in Jesus. His spirit starts to reside in us. He said, that spirit's greater than anything this world can throw at you. And see, I might walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but I will fear no evil for one reason. Because he's with me and he's with you and he's with us. The reason I'm excited about this series, the reason I'm excited about the book is because although I was, I had resolved in my heart. I'm gonna kiss this fire. I'm not running. I didn't know how. I needed some handles. I needed some practical things to do when my soul was heavy and wanted to give up. And that's why I'm excited about this series, and that's why I'm excited about the book. And I do think it's going to help you. And like I said, if you need one and can't afford it, you tell them I got you. If you're taking notes, don't you dare give up. I'm going to give you a few reasons, few handles to hold onto today. Number one, because God still does miracles. That's what my wife was reminding me about the day I got that diagnosis. Psalm 77:14 says this. You are the God who performs miracles. You display your power among your people. Matthew 19:26, the words of Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, I know, I know this is hard. I know You've been struggling. I know you don't see a way out. With man, this is impossible. But with God all things are possible. Jesus said, don't you forget it. I'm with you, I'm working. You don't have to see it, you don't have to understand it. Just get in my word and stand on my promises. Let my promises supersede your emotions today. I'm with you, I'm working. And I'm still in the miracle working business. And if this is your church, you know our verse this year. Ephesians 3:20. Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask, think or imagine according to his power, that's at work in our lives. That's what we do on the days when everything feels too heavy and we don't feel like we can get out of bed and we want to give up and we don't want to trust God and we don't want to pursue our dreams and we don't want to. We don't have the energy to hold on to hope. We don't. We just hold onto his promises. We hold onto His Word and we go, no, I'm not walking away today. I don't know what's going on, but I do know that the God of more is with me and working and he won't let me down. That's what we hold onto. Don't you dare give up, because God still has a plan. God doesn't do accidents. By the way, if you're listening to this or watching this, God knows everything that's going on. He knows what you've been through. He knows what you're feeling and dealing with. And more importantly, he knows where he wants to take you. And he says, jesus says to you today, don't you dare give up. I know it seems impossible. Nothing's impossible with me. I still do miracles. Don't you dare give up. I still have a plan. I met somebody at this location last night who had that verse tattooed across his arm. It was like his whole forearm said Jeremiah 29:11. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. We get it in tattoos. We got it on coffee mugs. Very few of us actually knows the context of what was happening when God said it, though. And that was me for a long time. I just like saying it. Just sounds good. I like to know that you got a plan. The context though, is Crazy. The nation of Israel had been taken captive, taken into exile by the Babylonians. And that means all kinds of God's kids were. Their friends and family members had been hurt or murdered or taken as slaves or they were taken as slaves. Nothing was going right. All the dreams are falling apart for all of them. They got life shattering news at the same time. And God says, listen, this is what he says to us today. Church. I know it. He says, I see you. And I know, I know that right now it's broken people in a broken world. It's why I'm gonna send my son Jesus. And for us, it's now why he did send his son Jesus. And he said on those days when everything in you says, I just want to give up, he said, you just hold on to the fact that I'm with you, I'm working, and I have a plan for your life. You don't need to know it. You just hold on to the fact that I know it and I'm working on it. And so don't you dare give up today. Don't give up, because God still does miracles. Don't you dare give up because God still has a plan. And don't you dare give up because there's more purpose in this pain than you could ever imagine. Genesis 50:20 says, yeah, the enemy. Yeah, yeah, you tried, you tried to harm me, you tried to hurt me, but this is what God does. I'll take that and I'll flip it and I'll turn it around and I'll use it for good, and it'll end up causing many people to get saved. Verse we read a couple weeks ago, it's in Second Corinthians 1, verse 3. He says, when you're hurting, you come to me and I'll comfort you. And then you're going to turn around and you're going to go comfort others with that same comfort that I comforted you with. I'm going to get you through this pain. You're going to turn around, you're going to share your pain with someone else, but you're not just going to share pain. You're also going to be able to share what I did in your life in the middle of pain. And that testimony is now going to change somebody else's life. There's going to be more purpose in this pain than you could ever imagine. Don't you dare give up. I was reminded of that about a month ago, and honestly, last night, about a month ago, I was sitting on my back porch and I don't read many messages on social media. So if you guys have sent me messages and you're like, he just ignores me. I just don't read them. Sorry. It's not personal that social media. We have an amazing team of people that helps me look like I'm great at social media. I read too many comments. I feel like I'm sitting in the middle of a dumpster fire. So I don't go there very often, but I did and I read. I got a message from a guy named Leon and he actually gave me permission to share this story. And his message was, something happened in his life three years ago. And so I was trying to remember back, okay, what was going on and how did that. And then all of a sudden it registered. It's like, oh, wait, if this is your church, you'll know this. But in 2019, I left for a while. I had to stop working for several months because I started having really bad panic attacks and I couldn't figure out why. And like, multiple panic attacks a day, I couldn't function. Ended up checking myself into an inpatient anti anxiety treatment center. What's interesting about this diagnosis I just got a few years ago is they said it probably started around 2019, and they said that's probably why you started having panic attacks, because your brain started degenerating and not producing enough dopamine. And it probably is what started the panic attacks in 2019. Well, I didn't know that, obviously. All I knew was, is I was having uncontrollable panic attacks. And I was embarrassed because I'm thinking, man, I'm. I'm a pastor. Like, I'm supposed to be better than this, aren't I? I talk about a Jesus who can provide peace and joy and hope. Then why so many times a week do I not have those things? I thought maybe I'm. Maybe I'm a hypocrite. Maybe I shouldn't be a pastor. It took a lot of counseling for people to help me understand that God only uses broken people, because what other kinds are there? But when I came back, I was really nervous. I didn't know, I don't know, like, what's allowed. I am a pastor. How much of my screwed up life can I share with you? I don't know the rules. And some pastors had told me, hey, man, be careful how much you tell the church when you come back. Like, you don't want them to lose faith in you. That's what one pastor said. But then I realized, like, I've Never hoped for you to have faith in me. I've hoped for you to have faith in God. I'm with you. I'm the. I'm imperfect and broken with you. And so I came back and I did what I couldn't. I couldn't even believe I was doing. I told the church everything. I stood on this stage, January 2020, and I told the church everything. I told about my anxiety, my depression, my panic attacks. I told about the days when I wanted to take my own life, everything. And we started talking about anxiety. Because what I found is the more I was honest about it, the more people were like, oh, my gosh, thank you. I thought I was the only one. I thought the church would, like, crumble. When I told everybody how screwed up I was, I think it doubled because it's just people going, oh, wait, you mean I can actually come to church and be real? I could come here and be broken? Yeah. Guys, this is a hospital, not a courtroom. This is where we come and go. God, I'm hurting, and I need the great physician. I need you. Anyways, my point is, I had no idea what God was going to do through all that. Okay, so now we're talking about anxiety three years ago because of all that. And here's what the. The letter, the DM I got picks up. Read this. About a month ago, I think. Dear Pastor Sean, it's been almost three years since I attended a service when you spoke on anxiety. It was at. It was a very difficult time for me where I would have multiple anxiety attacks in a day. And there was not a single day I did not wake up feeling anxious. Anxiety had separated me so far away from God. I had so much shame coming to God. I didn't want to ask him for help. I was living with so much fear and darkness. There were so many times I wanted to just die and thinking the world would be better without me. Let me just stop for a second if that's you. God doesn't do accidents or coincidences. This world will not be better without you. That is a lie from the pit of hell. Nobody will be better off without you. God will get you through this. Don't you dare give up. He still does miracles. He still has a plan for you. And one of these days, you're gonna turn around and share this testimony, and it's gonna change somebody else's life. Don't you dare give up. I'll give you the Cliff Notes, and then I'll finish reading that. He said that he got real suicidal and he had decided he was going to take his own life. And then he came here to this location, the Littleton campus, and he said. He sat in the parking lot and cried. He said, okay, God, before I take my life, I'm going to give you one more shot. If you're real, I need help. And he said, I came in here and I heard you guys talking about anxiety. And he said, God changed my life. He said, I'll give it one last try. God's love is so great. God let me hear a message about anxiety. And I walked out with so much more confidence and courage and faith. I cannot thank you in Red Rocks Church enough. It's been three years now, and now I'm serving at a local church as a small group leader and a worship leader, where I get to stand up with faith and courage and testify what God has done in my life. I think only God can do this. Praise him. You want to hear something crazy? Last night, I was in the lobby, and a guy came up to me. A couple comes up to me, and the girl's crying, and she goes, hey, I want you to meet someone. And will you guys put that picture up from last night if you have it? That's Leon. That's who sent me the dm. He was here last night, and I'm telling you, we hugged and cried like school girls out in that lobby last night. And he just said, I can't believe what God has done in my life. He said, I can't believe the purpose I now have. He said, I now stand on a stage and tell people about how good God is. And I didn't even think I was going to be able to live church. That's gonna be your story. Don't you dare give up. God wants you to know that today. He says, I'm with you, and I'm working, and I got a plan, and I still do miracles. And I will take this pain that you're feeling, and I will turn it into purpose if you'll just hold on. Stay close to me. Get your butt in church. Get your butt in the Word. Get in some Christian community. Let some people fight with you and for you. You can't isolate. When you feel like giving up, you got to run to God and run to the people who are also running to God and let them lock arms with you, fight with you. We're not giving up. We're not going anywhere. And if you'll let us, we'll be with you every single step of the way until you see God's power. Show up in Jesus name. That's going to be your story. Would you stand up with me? Let's pray. God, I thank you that you're with us. I thank you that you're working. I thank you that you have a plan, even when we don't know what that plan is. God, I pray for every single person right now who's going through something difficult, and somewhere in the back of their mind, that thought's been sneaking in. Maybe I should just give up. In fact, with everyone's heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to ask two questions. I just want to let you respond to what God might be doing in your life today. And I want to pray for you. If you're here or in any other of our buildings watching or listening to this, wherever you're at, and you say, you know what, it's either me or someone I love. But. But, man, there is a real struggle going on, and we need God to get involved and we need his miraculous power to show up and do things that we can't do on our own. If that's you, will you just raise your hand? I'm just gonna say a prayer with you. Yeah, a whole bunch of us. The second question is this. Maybe you had no idea why you were watching or listening or showing up to a service today, but God did. And you can feel something going on in your heart right now. Can't quite explain what it is. I've had that feeling. I know what that's like. It's the God of the universe trying to draw you into a relationship with. With him. He sent his son to die on a cross to pay the price for our sins so that today we could say, would you just forgive me? I want to put my faith in you. And we get our sins forgiven. We get his spirit to begin living in our life and walking with us through difficulties. And then we get heaven forever. And today you just realize, you know what I need that I want that today. I want to ask him to forgive me of my sins. Today. I want to say yes to. To Jesus. If that's you, raise your hand. I'm just gonna say a prayer for you as well. Praise God. Praise God. I see you there. I see you there. Yeah, I see you there. I see you there, God. Thank you. You knew exactly why we needed to be a part of this today. You know what we're in the middle of. You know what we're facing. You know what our loved ones are facing. And, God, I pray right now for your miraculous power from heaven to get involved in our situations. We need your. We need your grace. We need your strength. We need your mercy. We need your miraculous power. We need you, God. And God, I thank you for the eternal lives that are being changed right now. I thank you for the people that are crossing over, as your word says, from death to life right now. I thank you that heaven's being made more crowded right now. And God, as we begin to worship you and. And as we begin to declare that we're not giving up because our God's with us, because our Lord is with us as we declare this, I pray God, that it would feel like weights start to come off of our shoulders. That your supernatural peace would start to flood into our hearts and our minds. That faith would start to flood into our hearts and our minds. That we would feel and experience your presence in a real and authentic way. And that that fighter spirit that you put on the inside of us, God, I pray that you would. You would help us to tap into that today in a brand new way. And to walk out of here knowing, I don't know how this is going to work out. But I know God's got me. I know he's got a plan. I know he does miracles. I know he's walking with me. So yes I can, in Jesus name. And everybody said amen. Red Rocks church. I love you so much. Let's worship.