FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Sacrifice Over Self | Matthew 21:1-11
The profound distinction between human passion and the passion of Jesus reveals a transformative truth about love and sacrifice. While our passions often center on self-gratification—whether through food, sports, family, or achievements—Christ's passion demonstrates the ultimate act of enduring suffering for others.
Through the lens of Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we discover the three fundamental aspects of His passion that can revolutionize our understanding of faith. First, Christ's passion loves you unconditionally, not based on performance but on grace. When we truly grasp this love, our natural response is to live for Jesus daily out of gratitude rather than obligation.
Second, the passion of Jesus forgives completely. We all experience a spiritual cycle of repentance, forgiveness, faithfulness, temptation, and sometimes failure. Yet Christ's passion offers continual forgiveness that frees us from dwelling in shame and empowers us to pursue God's calling without being paralyzed by past mistakes.
Third, Christ's passion saves definitively. Like Jessica who was rescued from a deep well after 60 hours with no way to save herself, we are all trapped in sin with no escape plan of our own. Jesus's sacrifice offers the only path to freedom—drawing us "up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog" to set our feet upon solid ground.
As Easter approaches, these truths invite us to surrender our lives completely. Christ isn't interested in our perfection—He's interested in our hearts. He calls us to relationship rather than performance, offering love, forgiveness, and salvation to anyone willing to receive it. What are you passionate about today, and is it leading you toward self-gratification or surrender to the One whose passion can truly transform your life?
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So in 2017, my wife and I, we were celebrating our fifth year anniversary and so I had, you know, an amazing thought to say hey, babe, why don't we go celebrate somewhere fun? So we went to Orlando, the place of magic. So we went to Orlando Studios and then we went to Disney there should be a picture up there of us Ah, look at that. Yes, the smiles. So we were there at Animal Kingdom and then we went to Epcot. At Epcot, they had the food festival, in which, if you haven't been there before, at Epcot, there's like different countries from around the world and you can go to these different countries and eat your face off. So we went and I was eating lobster rolls I mean, you name it I was throwing down and then, slowly and surely, you know, just in all the hype, you know, like the adrenaline and it kind of weighed down and I was like, ooh, I am not feeling good. Hey, babe, babe, babe, I just, I don't know what it is, but I'm just not feeling good, hey. But then I saw they had creme brulee Come on somebody. And it was oh, yeah, yeah, and it was good. Look at the top, it's like all burnt, like a little crisp. So it was all crispy and nice, that creme brulee, and so I still got some, and then I ate it. Matter of fact, I devoured it. And then I went to my wife and I just said, oh, I really don't feel good. You know, I'm kind of slowing down, I'm gonna stagger a little bit. And I'm like, babe, I just I think we should go to like the medical center, like do they have one? Is there like a first aid here at Disney? And so I'm, you know, I'm kind of contemplating what to do. And then that's when it happened. There was a light. There was a bright light that I saw and it was angelic voices, and oh, and there was a sign. And the sign read Hawaiian cheesecake, $5 a slice. And so I told my wife I was like, babe, I gotta get me some. And so I go and I eat the Hawaiian cheesecake and as I'm, I'm just, you know, I can feel it kind of slowing down, going down my throat. I'm like, oh, okay, I really don't feel good. We ended up taking me to the first aid and from there I'm in there, I'm just moaning and groaning, I'm oh, oh, oh. I know I'm glad there is no video evidence of this at all, but I'm like, oh, and then I actually got so bad that I had to take an ambulance and ended up in the hospital. Yeah, so, which is so fun? What a wonderful, wonderful anniversary trip for my wife.
Speaker 1:Now you see, I was passionate. I was extremely passionate about food, but the thing is, is that my passion was selfish, it was all about me. So I ask you today, what are you passionate about? Maybe it's your family. You're passionate about your spouse, or maybe your kids or grandkids or friends. Maybe it's food, like me. Maybe you're passionate about desserts and cakes and cookies and pies or steaks or salads whoever that is, this is a safe space. And cakes and cookies and pies or steaks or salads whoever that is, this is a safe space.
Speaker 1:Maybe you are passionate about exercise. Maybe you know your regiment. Day in, day out, you're checking your macros and things are good. You're passionate about exercise. Or maybe it's sports S-E-C. Football. Oh, there it is, yeah, mm-hmm, there it is. Maybe it's basketball. Or maybe it's sports S-E-C. Football. There it is, yeah, mm-hmm, there it is. Maybe it's basketball. Or maybe it's golf, and you just loved, enjoyed watching the Masters, and maybe you got to go and travel to the Masters. Maybe it's vacations. Maybe you like Orlando, just like the story I told, or maybe it's the beach or the mountains.
Speaker 1:What are you passionate about? Or maybe it's money, maybe you just want more money. Well, the truth is is that everyone is passionate about something, but what happens when your passion becomes your pain? The series we're in right now is called the Passion of Jesus. God has placed this on Pastor Chip's heart and even as we go into Good Friday and Easter Sunday, let's be clear about one thing when we're talking about passion and whether it's cookies or exercise or money, there's a very different type of passion that we're talking about. It's really like this love and deep emotion for something. I am passionate about traveling but when we are talking about the passion of Jesus, we're talking about passion in a different way, because the passion of Jesus is about enduring and suffering. Enduring and suffering. So like when I talk about me at Disney and I'm just eating my face off, like, yeah, like I was super passionate. Now, I was enduring and suffering, but it was all for me. I was gratifying myself. But there's a difference about this.
Speaker 1:Jesus, philippians, chapter two, verse eight, says this and, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The triumphal entry is the focus of this morning, of Jesus going into Jerusalem On a donkey. Jesus knows what's ahead and yet still goes through. Oswald Chambers says this the cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and Jesus absorbed it all. Jesus absorbed it all.
Speaker 1:So the question I ask you this morning is this Are you more passionate about Jesus or yourself? Now, I know sometimes you wanna be like man. I'm more passionate about Jesus, woo, and then very. You know, in our humanity, in our sinful nature, we do get passionate about things that we want. The passion of humanity is self, but the passion of Jesus is sacrifice, the things you are passionate about. It's not bad, it's not a bad thing. I'm not saying you should not be passionate about SEC football meh, that's not what we're saying. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what the Bible what we're talking about. But it is to say that there is a very clear difference of us as people, as flawed humans, and this man who came on the donkey. There was something about him. There's a reason why Jesus did this.
Speaker 1:Now, why does this matter? Why does this matter? We're talking about passion. Well, what's the point? Listen, if you don't get this, then you will live a life void of love, forgiveness or salvation. If you don't understand the love that Jesus has for you, if you don't understand the forgiveness that's available to you and if you don't accept the free gift of salvation that he bled for you, let's pray, father. God, we thank you for your word, god, I ask, Lord, that you just open our hearts to receive what you have for us today. God, help me, lord, to speak clear. God, we thank you for your love. God, we thank you for the passion of Jesus. So, in Jesus' name, we pray amen.
Speaker 1:So, as we start off, we're talking about the triumphal entry. As I talked about, it's about Jesus going into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the bottom line is the triumphant entry wasn't just a celebration, it was a parade. But it wasn't just a celebration, it was a declaration. Jesus is putting on display who he is and what he is about. There are people surrounding him and they are worshiping him, and not once did Jesus condemn them for worshiping him and not once did Jesus condemn them for worshiping him. So, with the passion of Jesus, there's three things that you need to know about the enduring of Christ, the suffering of Christ. Number one is this the passion of Jesus loves you. Everybody say love, loves. The passion of Jesus loves you. Everybody say love, loves. The passion of Jesus loves you.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 21, verse one through five says this Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her and tie them and bring them to me. Now, if anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. So if anyone has a problem with it, jesus is saying tell him, tell him, it's for me and it reminds me of you know those movies in the 90s? I mean they kind of really don't do them now, but there's like this cop and he's like chasing the bad guy and he's using, you know driving this beat-up car and then you know totals the car and the cop runs out and he's looking for a car right, and then there's like somebody like and the cop jumps in front of them like stop, fbi, get out of the car, and usually in the movies they get out and then the cop takes the car and he just speeds off. Now, I haven't seen that happen in real life, but I have seen it in the movies. But nevertheless, the reason why is they understand the authority of the badge, they understand who the person is and what he represents. And in that same way, jesus is saying if anyone has a problem, if they have a problem, tell them that the Lord needs it Verse 4.
Speaker 1:This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying this Say to the daughter of Zion behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. So there are a couple things just happening within these first couple verses, and the first thing is this the act was intentional and prophetic. You see, the prophecy that they're talking about is from Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9. You have this promise of a king who's coming, the daughters of Zion. Zion was a poetic name for Jerusalem, so it's talking about the people of Jerusalem, and the triumphal entry was Jesus going into Jerusalem. So the first part is talking about the king coming. The second part talks about. How is that king coming?
Speaker 1:It says humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of the beast of burden. So Jesus could have came in on a horse. He could have came in with swords, guns blazing. Everybody listen up. The people thought that hey, because they were already being ruled by Rome, they're going. Hey, this king's gonna come and take over. That wasn't the case. Jesus came on a donkey. It says a foal, a beast of burden. And I mean that's what donkeys do? They just hold a weight. They hold a heavy weight. Isn't it interesting that a donkey holds a heavy weight? And yet the burden that Christ bared for you and for me, the sins of humanity. He came humbly. Jesus is saying this. He's saying I am the Messiah.
Speaker 1:Bible scholar and professor Charles Feinberg says it this way the world's peace depends upon a savior and his salvation Peace. You see, the problem with sin is you cannot be in sin and have peace at the same time. Doesn't mix. Humanity can't save themselves, you cannot save yourself. Only Christ can do that, and then you have peace. Now, why would Jesus do this? Why, well, because he loves you. Because he loves you. Romans, chapter five, verse eight, says this but God shows his love for us that while we were still amazing hold on that. All doesn't say that, does it. While we were still awesome, while we were still rich, perfect, no, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. So what do you do when you understand that the passion of Jesus loves you? Well, you live for Jesus daily.
Speaker 1:When I was in third grade, my parents divorced and I lived with my mom and my sister and we lived in a trailer park for a couple years. Then we moved to Charlotte, north Carolina. From there I went to about four different high schools. It was a lot and I honestly hated being home. My mom was dating someone at the time and I just couldn't stand being home. I was doing very poorly in school. I was having problems with my eyes. I was partially blind in my left eye then. I'm completely blind in my left eye now, but I was having these vision problems, didn't wanna be home. School's going terrible, moved a lot and I'm just like I just don't wanna be at home. So I would go skateboarding. It was the only time to where I felt alive, because I wasn't home and I wasn't at school and I didn't have to deal with anything. It was like I was running away from my problems. I don't know if you've ever done that, but lo and behold, I'm skateboarding in a church parking lot and this guy comes out and he's like hey, hey, kid, hey, hey, hey, I didn't do it like that. But he was like hey, you can't skateboard here.
Speaker 1:And my mom always taught me to be respectful and so I said yes, sir. Then he asked me. He said well, what are you doing this Sunday? Again, my mother taught me to be respectful Nothing. He's like you want to come to church? I'm like, okay, and so then I go, and then I go to church, church, and they had youth that Sunday night.
Speaker 1:So then I went to Sunday night and I was walking across with the youth pastor at the time walking across the street, and I asked him because, again, just this home life, it was awful, I just wanted to escape. And I asked him. I said how can I be the man of the house? You know this 15 year old punk. How can I be the man of the house? And then he asked me a question. He said James, I have a question for you. If you died today, how do you know you'd go to heaven? And I'm like she gonna ask me like I don't know. Listen, you need to be good, you need to read your Bible and go to church and pray. And it was at that moment to where he lovingly expressed and explained the gospel of Jesus Christ to me. And once I heard the gospel, he said now James, some people, it takes them time. And I was like, no, I wanna do this right here, right now. And that's when I gave my life to the Lord, I surrendered Galatians.
Speaker 1:Chapter two, verse 20, says this I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So when we talk about living for Jesus daily, it's when you understand that the passion of Jesus loves you. He endured for you, he suffered for you. That's because he loves you. When you love your wife, you live for your wife. When you love your husband, you live for your husband. When you love your kids, you live for your kids. And when you love Jesus, you live for Him, amen. So the passion of Jesus loves you.
Speaker 1:Number two the passion of Jesus forgives you, verse six the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put them their cloaks and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road. Now there's this really interesting thing because, as they're putting their cloaks and they're cutting the trees, it's this act of worship the people laid down their cloaks and branches. It's a sign of royalty. These people, they're going. We believe you are the Christ, we believe you are the Messiah. Let me worship you. Let me worship you.
Speaker 1:But there's this thing we're talking about the passion of Jesus forgives and these people are worshiping Jesus and Jesus goes into Jerusalem like he knows there's something that he knows. He knows that the people that are worshiping him, that things are gonna change. The same city that celebrated him would soon betray him. You see, there's this cycle of following Jesus. There's this thing that we're like you're on fire for the Lord and you wanna do what Jesus asks you to do, and then things just kinda unravel. So the cycle is this you start with repent, you acknowledge and you turn away from the sin. All right, then Jesus forgives, you receive grace and forgiveness. You're going. Jesus, please forgive me for my sins. Next thing, you know you're living for Jesus, you're on fire. You're inviting everybody to church. You're reading that Bible. You're doing what you need to do. Woo, things are great. People ask how you doing. You're inviting everybody to church. You're reading that Bible. You're doing what you need to do. Woo, things are great. People ask how you doing.
Speaker 1:You say blessed and highly favored, but soon, at some point in your life, at some point in your walk, you're tempted, face spiritual challenges, you are tempted to sin, and sometimes you overcome that sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. But then sometimes, after you're tempted, you fall into sin, you stray from the path and you miss the mark. But we're talking about the cycle. So guess what? You fall into sin, you stray from the path and you miss the mark. But we're talking about the cycle. So guess what? It repeats itself. Oh, my goodness, look, you repent, jesus forgives, you live for Jesus. Woo, blessed, highly favored. Oh, then you're tempted and then you fall into sin. But then it repeats itself again and again and again.
Speaker 1:The reason why this is important is because you need to understand.
Speaker 1:It's not where you are in the cycle right now.
Speaker 1:This isn't about where you are.
Speaker 1:This is about who Jesus is, because when you think, man, I'm over here. You're already thinking about yourself. It doesn't. It's not about you, it's about the passion of Jesus, the enduring and the suffering that he did for you. Why? Because he loves you and because he forgives you. Only Jesus can cleanse your sin.
Speaker 1:Jesus knew that these people would betray him.
Speaker 1:These people worshiping him, they lay their cloaks down, they cut off the branches. These people worshiping him, they lay their cloaks down, they cut off the branches and then soon some will deny him. And in that same way for you, as you're on fire for the Lord, and then you fall. Jesus still forgives you Because when you miss the mark, when you fall, when you sin, repent. Everybody say repent Now, this isn't one of them. Turn or burn like. You need to repent. That's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is when you fall, because you will. Why? Because there is a difference between humanity and Jesus. There's a difference between your passion and the passion of Jesus. Everybody fails. Don't stay in your shame, get up. Get up, because the longer you dwell in your shame, the longer you dwell in oh, I shouldn't have done that, oh, so, and so the longer you dwell in your shame, the longer you dwell in. Oh, I shouldn't have done that. Oh, the longer you dwell in that, the less time you have to do what God's calling you to do, the less people you are going to reach, the less gifts you are going to use. The passion of Jesus forgives you. Confess and repent. The passion of Jesus forgives you. Confess and repent. 1 John 1, verse nine says this If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You have to understand that, as Jesus is going into Jerusalem, he already knows, he knows that the cross is coming, and yet there are people surrounding him worshiping him. The passion of Jesus loves you. The passion of Jesus forgives you. And then, number three the passion of Jesus loves you. The passion of Jesus forgives you. And then, number three the passion of Jesus saves you. Verse nine and the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying who is this? Ooh, stirred up. Ooh, sound like some drama. Ooh, does anybody like a good drama? Ooh, drama and the crowd said this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Now, here's the thing is that the people cried out and Jesus answered. They're crying out to Jesus as a savior, they're crying out to him as the Messiah, and Jesus was there. He showed up. He was on the scene because we serve a personal God. We serve a God who loves you, a God who knows you, a God who has plans for you, and sometimes it may feel like God is so far away. Sometimes it may feel like God. Why are you not changing the situation, god? I'm praying, I believe, but I don't see anything changing. Now, when they say Hosanna, it's coming from Psalm chapter 118, verses 25 and 26. It says this save us. We pray, oh Lord. Oh Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. You see, this word, hosanna, it kind of has these two meanings. One is a plea for salvation like Lord, save us, god, help us. But then you have Lord, thank you for bringing a deliverer. These people are crying out and God answered. Jesus didn't shy away from this public declaration. Jesus is saying I am the Son of God. I am the Messiah. I can forgive your sins. But we have an issue because the whole town was stirred up. Somebody say stirred up. So even with these miracles, even with all the things Christ had done before, even with him loving and serving and bringing people back from the dead, feeding people, all of these things some believed and some questioned. And that may be where you are in your life. You believe that God's gonna provide, even if it's not the way you want it, even if it's not the way you want it. And then some of us are maybe getting frustrated. All right, lord, god, I've been faithful. This isn't changing. It's getting worse. Where are you, lord? Save me. You have a choice. You have a choice to either serve God when things are good and then doubt him when things are bad, or serve God no matter what your circumstances are. I can't tell you how many times I've prayed to God to heal my eye, year after year after year, day after day. And has God done it yet? No, but is God still good? Yes, he is good. And I'm telling you as a kid who parents divorced in the third grade, growing up in a trailer park God is good. Now there is a rabbi. His name's Rabbi Kushner, and with Rabbi Kushner he had a young son. And his young son was sick and time after time after time, the rabbi, he would pray to God to heal his son. God heal my son. God heal my son. God heal my son. God heal my son. God heal my son. God heal my son. And sadly, his son didn't get better. His son unfortunately passed away. Now the rabbi went from God is good, god is all-knowing, god is all-powerful. But then, once his young son passed away, he started to teach people and talk about how God is good. But God is not all powerful. He is public about his change in beliefs. This isn't new. We're talking about the triumphal entry. We're talking about Jesus fulfilling a prophecy from hundreds of years before it happened. And even when Jesus goes in to the town, some are believing and some are questioning. Some are believing and some are questioning. But here's the truth is Jesus saved others and he can save you too. So what do you do with that? What do you do when you understand that the passion of Jesus saves you? Well, you ask for forgiveness and follow him. You recognize that you are a sinner and that your passion is selfish. Now, this is not a oh man. Pastor James is coming up here and just tearing us up. This is like this is saying that Jesus knew these people would sin and he loved them so much that he still went to the cross. Jesus knows your shortcomings and he loves you so much that he still went to the cross. Jesus knows your shortcomings and he loves you so much that he went to the cross. Because you are never too far gone. You're never too far gone. I don't know what doubts you're dealing with, or maybe what addictions you're dealing with. Maybe you're on the brink of divorce. Maybe you are just drowning in debt. Maybe you are depressed, suffering in loneliness, maybe you have no family, you feel like a failure, and maybe you have this illness that you've prayed for time and time and time again, but it seems like better is never coming. The truth is, you are never too far from God. You're never too gone to be saved. So what do you do when you ask for forgiveness and you follow Jesus? Is you become a living sacrifice? Romans, chapter 12, one says this I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship, a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice, it's not saying you stay stuck in your sin because you aren't perfect. It's recognizing that the only way you can become a living sacrifice is by surrendering your life to Jesus daily. Why? Because the passion of humanity is self. We're selfish. We are selfish. Have you ever heard of the bystander effect? The bystander effect, basically, is it's an effect to where there's a large group of people like this and if a person like this is scientifically proven, if a person falls down, let's say I fall down, I'm gonna back up a little bit. Let's say I fall down on the stage. The bystander effect says nobody is gonna get up to help, because when you get up to help you exit the safe zone of everybody else. You feel safe. And if you leave that safe zone to go and help somebody, then you are alone. The bystander effect. But aren't you thankful that we serve a God that is over science, because Jesus has called you to serve, not to stand by. So here's the application for today Three things, as we talked about the passion of Jesus loving you, forgiving you and saving you. What do you do with the passion of Jesus, with the suffering of Christ, with him, enduring the pain for you. Number one you live for Jesus daily. You are going to fall short. Christ did not call you to perfection, any perfectionists in the room. He calls you to relationship. So, number two when you miss the mark, it's not if it's a when, when you miss the mark, you're gonna yell at your spouse, you're gonna do something silly, you're gonna do something you go. Why did I do that? How did I do that? Again, god, help me. When you miss the mark, repent, turn away from it, get up and go. And then, number three, ask for forgiveness and follow him. Christ is not interested in your perfection, he's interested in your heart, in all areas of your life. Now, why does this matter? Why does this matter about you know, living for Jesus daily and when you miss the mark, repent and ask for forgiveness and felt like, why does all this matter? Well, the truth is, if you don't get this, you will stay trapped in sin, with no way out. In 1987, there was a little girl and she was out playing in the yard. Her name was Jessica. Normal day, things were great, and then suddenly, little Jessica fell into a well. Now, the well was 22 feet deep. As her parents were kind of wondering where Jessica was. It took a while, like man, where is Jessica? To their horror, they found out that she was in the well and this became national news. Rescue men and crew were out there trying to drill through the rock to get to jessica. The father said later in an interview that they were able to put a microphone down the well so the father could hear his daughter's voice. And he, he said once he heard Jessica's voice. He said once I heard her voice, I threw my hands up. I said God, I can't take this. So the crew continued to work, and work, and work and they finally got her, not after six hours or 12 hours, not after 24 hours. After 60 hours of no food, no water, jessica was rescued and we have a picture of when this happened in 1987. And just think about God when he hears your voice, when you cry out to him. The difference is God doesn't throw his hands up and say I can't take this. God says come to me, lay it down, surrender, because the truth is, you are like Jessica, I am like Jessica, we. You are like Jessica, I am like Jessica, we are all like Jessica. We are all trapped in sin, tangled up with no way out. Years later, there was an interview, jessica. This was about 37 years later. This was actually a couple of years later there was an interview Jessica this was about 37 years later. This was actually a couple of years ago where she was interviewed and she went back to the well that she fell in. And this is what she said, jessica, who is now a wife, she's now a mom and she is a Christian. She said this it could have taken my life, but it didn't. I had God on my side that day. This is a beautiful picture of the gospel, because there is nothing you can do. There's no good works you can do. There's no money that can do it. There's no perfect attendance. There's no reading your Bible every single day that will save you. There's no perfect attendance. There's no reading your Bible every single day that will save you. It's only Jesus. This is what David said in the book of Psalm. He said this he drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet up on a rock, making my steps secure. Now, a miry bog is like a swamp. It's this muddy, clay-like water. It's just nasty, it's gush, it's slush, but Jesus will set you free because the passion of Jesus loves you, the passion of Jesus forgives you and the passion of Jesus saves you. Please close your eyes and bow your heads. And if you are in here this morning and you have already given your life to Jesus, you've already placed your faith in him, but yet there's still some areas of your life where you are struggling and you haven't surrendered. The situation isn't changing, but you can feel your heart changing. It may begin to become bitter. You're going. God, move, save me. I wanna invite you to surrender to Jesus. If you've already given your life to Christ, then I want you to pray with me. Father, god, we thank you for your love. God, we thank you for your forgiveness. God, we thank you for your love. God, we thank you for your forgiveness. God, we thank you for the passion of Jesus. But, lord, right now, for any believer in here, god that has an area of their life, god that we're just holding on so tight, god, can you give them peace that surpasses all understanding? God, help them to let go. God, help them to turn away. God, help them to turn away. God, help them to ask for forgiveness and to get up and to move forward. And maybe you're in here and you can't say that prayer because you haven't given your life to Jesus, you haven't asked him to be the Lord of your life. You've tried things your way and it's not working. Maybe you've been questioning, but today is the day to believe. So if you're in here and you want to surrender your life to Jesus, then all you need to do is you need to just you'll repeat after me. I'll guide you in the prayer. But the Bible says to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him up from the dead and you will be saved. So if that's you this morning, you wanna give your life to the Lord, you wanna surrender to him, then just repeat after me. You can say it in your heart. You just say dear Jesus, I believe in you. Thank you for dying for my sins. I believe that you rose from the dead. Be the Lord of my life, help me to live for you, help me to love like you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, all right, put your hands together for anybody who gave their life to the Lord. Listen, the passion of Jesus is all about love, forgiveness and salvation. So, whatever you're dealing with, surrender it to him today. So I want everybody to stand up as we are gonna continue to worship Jesus this morning and, as we get closer to Easter, remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for you as we can worship him. We wanna say thank you for being with us and I pray that this morning that whatever you're dealing with, whatever stronghold, is released today in Jesus' name.