This is MY Testimony!

Said, "Amen. " You can be seated. Yeah, give God a hand, clap of praise, let's go. I think, I think he's deserving, amen?

Somebody, amen. He's good.

He, he sent his Son down on the cross for our sins. While we were disobedient to Him, He still died for us. And when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we, we, we're saved. That's, that's deserving of praise.

And by praise, I don't mean just, "Yeah, that's cool, thanks Jesus. " Now, by, when I, when I say praise, I mean it's worthy of our entire life.

And so, if there's anything that I can do continually as, as I lead this church, is to communicate our vision, which is to help people find peace and develop purpose, which are normal pursuits, but the way that we do it well is by revolving everything around Jesus, which is a supernatural pursuit. And one of the ways we do that is by opening God's Word and talking, talking about it. And I don't want to call this a series, because this is what I want to do in between series. We're going to start a series on August 4th, when hopefully you invite all of your friends to come hang out at church for the first time.

I need you to know this: people are much more willing — they're about to send their kids back to school, and they've been stressed out buying all the stuff for schools, and sports are about to start, and then you're going to invite them to church, and you think that it, it stress them out, but actually they're trying to find rhythm when they come into the fall.

And one of the biggest reasons we fall out of rhythm is because we don't prioritize with Jesus at the center. I think there are a lot of people trying to search for peace, but they're not going to find it until they find Jesus. All they're striving is pointless without Jesus. So you're going to invite your friend, hopefully, to August 4th for the Back to School Bash.

It'll be fun, but I think they'll be filled.

And so, so just kind of shake your head with me if you heard it — you know, invite. No, nobody other than you guys? Hey, shake your head with me if you heard it, going to invite some friends? Still nobody?

Hey, we'll work on it, we'll figure it out.

Maybe God's Word would inspire you to — if you shake your head, maybe you'll, you'll shake their hand and invite them to church with a thing. Anyways, I'm trying to be too creative up here, . In between these series, though, I want us to go directly from God's Word. And during these times where we do what I call, what we call, expository preaching — meaning we expose the text —, things are going to happen throughout the week, and I, I don't change what I'm going to preach based on what happens during the week.

And I don't know if you've been alive this week, but stuff happened this week.

And what's interesting is I didn't change the text, but the text still applies. So I'm going to be in John chapter 2, or chapter 1, starting in verse 19, and I'm going to go and read it for you all. I'll give you some context on how this builds into it, but let me read it first, because I believe the Word of God will speak directly to you even if you don't fully understand what it means. Verse 19: "Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, 'I am not the Messiah. ' They asked him, 'Then who are you?

Are you Elijah? ' He said, 'I am not. ' 'Are you the Prophet? ' He answered, 'No.

' Finally they said, 'Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? ' John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet" — meaning he's quoting Scripture, this is also in Malachi chapter 3 — "'I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, "Make straight the way for the Lord.

"' Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, 'Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet? ' He says, 'I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. ' This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day John saw Jesus, our Lord and Savior, coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

This is the one I meant when I said, "A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. "' Remember, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 'I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. ' Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, "The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize — not with water, with the Holy Spirit. "' John says this: 'I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One. '"

I love that passage because it talks about John — look at your neighbor, say, "This is about John the Baptist. " I know that's too long for some of you, "About John the — " it's about John the Baptist. It's about John the Baptist. I want to be very clear, it's about John the Baptist, the Scripture from Malachi 3 and the Scripture from Isaiah that he quotes — it's, it's about John the Baptist.

And as I was reading through it, I was thinking about all of the theological things that we talk about. If you don't know what theology is — theology is belief in God, right? Like your belief, or your understanding, or the study of God, theology. So when I talk about theological principles, that's what I'm talking about.

When I study the Bible, I get excited about some of these theological principles.

And here's what we know about John the Baptist: John the Baptist was a prophet who came to Israel in the same time as Jesus, who gathered a following, and he baptized that following in the Jordan River. That baptism was for the repentance of sin. Repentance, literally meaning, you're living one way and you about-face, you turn around. He's saying, "Turn from your wicked way, be baptized, " and he's baptizing with water.

Now, this baptism, is not the same baptism that we talk about, because it's before Jesus.

And so John is baptizing, he's proclaiming — Malachi 3 and Isaiah say — he is making straight the way of the Lord. He is what we would call the forerunner. The forerunner, you might call him the icebreaker. I think that would be a good translation too.

An icebreaker is a small ship that goes before a big ship that breaks the ice a little bit so that the big ship can get through the ice.

This is who John the Baptist was. He is tilling the soil. He is the forerunner, the icebreaker, the person to come before Jesus to make straight paths so that people are ready when Jesus is revealed. This text is about John the Baptist, but when I read it, when I looked at what he said in response to the questions about who he was, the Lord spoke to me — and I don't mean in an audible voice, I don't mean some weird way that only pastors receive Revelation and none of you people, you normies, can do it, right?

Because I'm normal too, I'm just some dude up here, right?

And John the Baptist was called by Jesus the greatest man to live. He said there's no one greater than John the Baptist. But then he says something else when he's doing his teaching. He says, "But even the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist.

" So what is he saying? He's saying John the Baptist was a great man.

This text, it's about him, but when I looked at John the Baptist's response, when I compare that systematically with what Jesus says, when I look at all the Scriptures and understand how the prophets write and the way that we should interpret prophecy, here's what I also recognize: not only is this John's testimony — this is my sermon title — this is my testimony. This is my testimony. This isn't — it's about John, but look at your neighbor again and say, "This is also my testimony. " I think I'm giving you too long of sentences to be able to participate.

Look at your other neighbor, say, "It's mine. " Oh, man, a bunch of seagulls from Finding Nemo in this place today, I love it. I love this testimony of John the Baptist because I find it to be true in my own life.

And when Jerusalem — the, the kind of powers that be, the capital city in, in Judea at the time — when they send people to where he is, in Bethany, across the river Jordan, where he's doing ministry, and ask him, "Who are you? " He says, "I am not the Messiah. " I think this would be a helpful first point for everybody else: I am not the Messiah. I — it's not up here, so I'm just going to say it's my first point, guys — I am not the Messiah.

It's going to go up here in a second, cool? Okay, is anyone back there? Cool.

I am not the Messiah. I am not the one. I, I maybe I was trying to be clever, because I heard somebody say, "I'm not the one, ", but the reality is, you're not. And my name is Matthew.

Anyone know, in Hebrew, what Matthew means?

My wife does. Hannae, Hannae, you back there? Hey, what's Matthew mean? "Gift of God.

" Amen, somebody, woo, amen. I've lived my life, in my name's sake, a gift of God to, to creation.

I know you're not named Matthew, but it's the same. I know you're not as cocky about it as me. I always tell people, I'm like average level narcissistic, average, average level, maybe above average, maybe I'm way worse than actually everybody else in creation, because you got to be a little bit narcissistic to stand up here in front of people, give your opinions on God's Word, and hope He doesn't strike you down, you know? You got to be a little, little narcissistic to stand up here and do what I do.

But at the same time, I think we all struggle with a little bit of narcissism and believing that we are way more important than we are.

Now, I, I, I don't want you to misunderstand me — you are important, according to God. You are the pinnacle of His creation, according to God. You were the apple of His eye, according to God. When He created each one of you, knew every hair on your head, fashioned you in your mother's womb, He looked at you and He said, "It's good.

" So, so, so you really are pretty cool, like, in God's eyes, you are pretty cool. However, the way that we operate in life, God did not intend us to walk around, thinking this: "I'm good, I'm awesome, this is amazing. " We did not, get a calling from God to walk around thinking, in our, in our own minds, only about ourselves.

But often we operate as if we are the center of the universe. And John gives us a lot of good clarity here. When they ask him — and if I'm John, I've — I've acquired this following of people, that's hard to do 'cause you're preaching something different, I've been baptizing these people in water, my mom's told me the stories that we can find in the Book of Luke about what happened when I was in her womb, that I leapt at the sound, or when I heard about Jesus. I have this whole calling that my parents knew about before I was born, and I'm going to be a big deal one day, "Mama and Daddy, I am called" — he could have had that perspective, because even Jesus says he was the greatest man.

But when they ask him, "Who are you? " He says, "I'm not the Messiah, I'm not the one. " And I think that would be a helpful posture for each of us.

Not only does it take us out of this space where we're being narcissistic, or, or like me, right, the God's gift to the world — not, not only doesn't get us out of that, but it also helps us be redeemed from some of the anxieties and fears and comparisons that, that live in our brains. Because when you recognize you are not the be-all-end-all of creation, you were not the be-all-end-all of this community, you were not the be-all-end-all of all the things that happen in your family, you recognize that you can actually, like, since it's not me — I'm not the one. I'm not the one who can save souls. I'm not the one who can enact life change.

I'm not the one who can make my kids go upright.

I get to play a part, but I can't make my kid operate a certain way when he's 23 years old. I can't make the world turn. I can't make the universe adjust. I can't change somebody else's mind.

It takes God in me and through me to accompl I think that awareness that he has would be helpful for us to take into our own life.

I don't know about you, but it's really helpful for me. And I like to be honest up here with you guys — not so you would judge me and leave the church and go somewhere where somebody else has this humility that is far beyond mine. I say it so that it would help you, wherever you are in life. There are things in your everyday that you tend to revolve around your own hopes, dreams, ambitions, or around yourself, and you have not given them to God.

You wonder why you're anxious.

It's because when something comes in from the future, maybe from the past, and I think, "I've got to fix this, I got to fix it. " I mean, yesterday, yesterday when I got the news, I went right on to X, which formerly Twitter, and I'm like, "What happened? What happened in our country? " Because me hopping on X is going to solve the problem.

I've got to figure this out. I'm going to find — I'm going to do research, I'm going to research, I'm going to find out who did it, I'm going to do all this other stuff, and I'm going to see. I didn't do all that, but I could have.

But it's just — it's just when something around me happens, and I know that's kind of comical, 'cause I have nothing to do necessarily with what happened over in Pennsylvania yesterday. But in my own life, in this community, there's a level where I have a messiah complex, where I think I am God's gift to humanity, and when I'm in the room, I add all of this crazy value; when I'm out of the room, there must be chaos ensuing because I'm not there. And I know you don't say that out loud, but you operate — husbands, when you come home from work, "What happened here today? I should have been here.

" Or, "I must — I wish I had done this. I wish you guys could figure it out on your own, but I need to be here to protect.

I need to be the superhero. " And I'm not talking mess about you — it is this mindset that revolves itself around ourselves rather than recognizing: I'm not the one, I am not the Messiah, the world does not revolve around me. But we live in a culture that allows it, that pushes it. "Hey, you just got to believe hard enough in that and you can manifest it.

Just, just, just be positive and manifest that in your life. You're going to manifest your next million.

You're going to manifest yourself into an entrepreneur. You're going to manifest yourself into being a good parent. You're going to manifest, manifest, manifest, manifest. " And I'm not just trying to talk trash about that — there's a level where positivity actually becomes a positive self-fulfilling prophecy, there's a level where negativity can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But the idea that we can manufacture or manifest something that is supernatural is comical, is not realistic. This is not how the world works, and we've got to recognize that it's not me who is God.

It's not me who manifests anything spiritual or above materialistic things — it is God who has the power to do so. I am not the one. John the Baptist gets it. They come to him, and he could have responded with the most pride ever — "I am the best human being that's ever existed.

" Jesus is going to say that a couple months from now — "Just you wait, I'm the best. " But he said, "Ah, that's not me, I'm not the Messiah, that's not my role. I'm not Elijah, no, that's not my role. " He knows what he's not.

I think it might help for you to leave this place and recognize what you are not. You are not who gives a peace that surpasses all understanding, but you trying to control your life in a way that you're going to actually obtain peace — all that striving is going to leave you frustrated, because you will not get peace by striving, you get peace by trusting Jesus. You don't get out of your past by just simply assessing it and talking to your counselor — though you should, though you should, I don't want to negate that — but ultimately you're able to get out of your past when you recognize that he works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. And since I'm loved by God, he's going to take the pain of my past and produce something that is great with it, right?

This is a relationship with God, who has all power and authority, that is what can give us peace and remove some of the difficulties we struggle with.

It is him, not me. I am not the one, and neither are you. You think you got to solve every problem in your life, and there's some problems you need to be very diligent about trying to fix or to solve, but man, when did you ever add a day to your life by worrying? Jesus tells us to give it to him, because he is the one.

He says, "Come, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. " He's not just talking about a nap today, guys — he's talking about your souls.

You are not the one, and it's only when you lean into the One, the Messiah, the prophet that they would expect, that you receive peace for your souls. But it's not just about what you're not — I'm not trying to make you feel terrible about yourself. You are the apple of God's eye, but you are not God's gift to humanity in yourself — that is Christ Jesus, that is the grace that we have received, it's not you. Though I'm grateful for you — God brought you here today on purpose, and he wants to use you.

So if you're not the Messiah, what are you?

If John's not the Messiah, who is he? And here's what he says when he quotes — he says, "I am a voice, " or to quote correctly, "I am the voice of one crying, " or calling, "in the wilderness, make straight the way for the Lord."

Now, the way the prophets would write is they would write to something that was happening in time. So when Isaiah writes this prophecy of one crying in the wilderness, "make straight the way of the Lord" — this is high-level theology, I need you to lean in here, okay — when he writes that, he's writing to a specific scenario that exists in their time, but he's also writing forth, or forward, for a person or a group of people who would fulfill that very same prophecy. That's why Malachi uses it in his context. So when we quote Scripture — when John quotes this Scripture, he's saying, "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness.

" Now, when we look back on John the Baptist, we're like, "No, no, no, bro, you were the voice, you're the guy, you were the forerunner for Jesus, you are the coolest dude that ever lived other than Jesus, " according to Jesus's own words — you were the guy.

But what he's quoting this, he says, "Hey, I'm not the Messiah, I'm not Elijah, I'm not the prophet who you guys expect to come, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness."

And I know that he — he's pretty chill about this because of what he says before. They ask him — I don't know why I keep leaning on this, it's 'cause it's here, I'm going to move this — they ask him, "Are you any of these guys? " And he says, "No. " And they're like, "Who are you?

Why do you baptize? Like, why do you baptize? " He says this, he says, "I baptize in water, but there's one who's going to come after me that their sandal — I'm not worthy of untying. " Right, I'm not — I'm not good enough to stoop down low and untie his dirty sandal from walking in the dirt all day.

This dude's that legit.

This is how much John is aware of who he is. And they say, "Why do you baptize? " He's like, "I baptize in water. " The Greek word for baptize is "baptizo" — I baptize, right, "baptizo, baptizo.

" In the ancient world, this is not a huge theological word. We say "baptizing, " we're like, "Oh my gosh, that's spiritual in nature. " Here's what John says — and I think it is spiritual in nature — but John the Baptist says, "I dip. I dip people in water.

" Like, he is lowkey talking about his calling. He's saying, "Yo, I dip people in water, but there's one who comes after me — he's going to dip them with the Holy Spirit.

He's going to get them going in ways that they've never gotten going before. He's going to give them peace that surpasses all understanding. He's going to help them, by the power of His Spirit, connect to God the Father. He's going to do way — I'm just diving them in water, guys.

Like, you keep asking me about Elijah, the prophet, the Messiah — I'm just a dude, I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness.

I am dipping people in water to make straight the way of the Lord."

And when I realized what he was saying, it helped me reapply this passage — not just to John, though he's the guy — but when I look at Isaiah, Malachi, in this passage, I recognize that I'm a voice. So I'm not the Messiah, that's not me, I'm not the one, but I am a voice. Look at your neighbor, please, say it this time: "I'm a voice. " I'm a voice.

Yeah, thank you. I'm a voice.

I'm begging you today, please participate in this stuff — I am a voice, I'm not the Messiah, but I am a voice. John the Baptist is simply saying, "Hey guys, I'm not this big deal you think I am, just 'cause all these guys are following me. I'm preparing the way for someone who's way cooler than me. I'm just a voice.

I'm a guy who eats locust and honey on the side of the Jordan River, and I'm dipping people in water, and I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness — hey, turn it around, because the Lord is coming. " He is — he is downplaying, essentially, what he's doing.

I think John's amazing, but he's kind of downplaying his role, and I think that's helpful, because I think sometimes we make calling too big of a deal. And I want to be very clear — calling is a big deal. God has called you to live in such a way where you're following Jesus. Calling is a big deal.

But I think sometimes we lift it up so high that we stay down here, we keep looking at this future calling, but our lives never get to the place where we're implementing our calling because we look at it like it's such a big deal.

I want you to know: hey, it's not your job to save the world — that's what Jesus did. It's not your job to change people's hearts — that's what Jesus does. It's not your job to judge people and convict them of sin — that's Jesus's job, that's the Holy Spirit's job. It's not your job to do so many things that you feel guilty about.

It's not your job to solve the world's problems — that's Jesus.

My job is to be a voice, man. I love that John downplayed it, because it helps me understand that my job as a pastor is not to save you. If I screw up, I feel bad about it, I really do. The idea that I communicate something incorrectly to you and you guys go in the wrong direction — that scares me to death.

It makes me prepare more, it makes me get ready.

But in the end, every single time — when I don't know what I'm going to say, or I can't figure out how to say it right, or when I'm scared that I'm going to connect with one person over another person and I'm going to leave them out because they haven't been to church in a long time — every time I start freaking out about that, there's something that God gives me Revelation about: "Matt, you're not the one, so trust me and just be a voice. " You are not the be-all end-all, and that's not a bad thing — that should relax you, so that you can start leaning into God's calling to simply be a voice of one crying in the midst of this wilderness, this culture that is far from God — to be a voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Hey, turn toward the Lord, trust in Jesus, make straight your path, get rid of this anxiety by trusting in Jesus, make straight the way of the Lord. " It is simple, our calling. And when Jesus leaves his disciples, he says, "Make disciples, go therefore unto all nations, making disciples, dipping them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

" It's in — it's in God's name, Jesus's name, the Holy Spirit — Father, Son, Holy Spirit — that when you dip them, God, God, God has done something in their spirit, and when you dip them, you get to see that revealed in front of people. Your job is not to save, your job is to be a voice. That's my job. And so when you come here, if I screw up — and I will screw up — that is me not being the voice necessarily that God's called me to be.

And so when I look at John the Baptist, I see a person who has downplayed it so that I can look at it and be like, "Okay, yes, this was John's calling, to prepare the way of the Lord. " But maybe my calling is very similar. Maybe this is my testimony, that God saved me, that I have seen God do a work in other people's lives, and now my job is not to be their savior, is to point to the Savior. My job is to not be stressed out constantly, it's to give things to — My Creator.

This is why in chapter 1, verse 29—verse 29, we'll toss that up—says, what we see John do with his recognition, his awareness of his own calling. Says, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look!

Look! The Lamb of God! '" Man, we do so well if instead of trying to draw people to ourselves, our own preferences and stuff like that, we just, "Hey, look, look, look, look, look, Lamb of God. " Right?

He's not, he's not bringing them to himself. He says, "Look, that, that, that's who I was talking about. Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is the one I meant when I said a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

So John is recognizing, "My job is to baptize in water. My job is to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. My job is to do what God called me to do so that when he shows up, people are ready for the Lord. " He is a voice.

Your voice can say, "Look!

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes the, the sin of the world. " But in the negative, your voice and my voice can also do the opposite. And I think, I think a lot of times we in the church, we do the opposite, where we talk about Jesus, but our, but our voice is confusing because of all the other messages we're spewing out. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians.

He says, as you go about, he says, operate as the fragrant aroma of Christ Jesus. What he's saying is wherever you go, your job is to usher in something that is fragrant.

I'm going to rhyme it, I got to rhyme it, I got to rhyme it, guys, cuz it just came to me. But I think a lot of times we're offering stuff that's, you know what I'm going to say, flagrant. I was impressed with myself, it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. We're offering stuff that is the opposite of smelling good.

It, like, across the street, half the time when we're spewing stuff out on Facebook, Instagram, and all this other stuff.

God has given us a job. Our job is to recognize we are not him, to lean into him, to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. We, we are saved when we do that. Our job is then to take that message and be a mouthpiece, or a voice, not the Savior.

But often we take this message, and when we utilize our voice, we're spewing out things that are hateful, are judgmental, are not helpful.

But Paul, the Lord through Paul, encourages us to be the fragrant aroma. John has done such a great job at being the voice such that many of his disciples began following Jesus, and we'll talk about that next week. Some of his disciples starting to follow Jesus, and John had been such a consistent and clear voice, or a—I'm going to use this word—witness to who Jesus was going to be, that as soon as he said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, " his disciples looked, and they saw. And here's what he says: "Then John gave this testimony: I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. ' I have seen, and I testify that this is God's chosen one. "

Our role is not to be the Messiah.

Our role is to speak to others about the Messiah. And I know, to many people in this room, you're thinking, "Hey, I came here to church, I'm not a Christian, I've not becoming to church, this message must be for the other groups of people in this room. " Here, here's the damage. The damage is we have been so, like, not we as a church, hopefully, right, but big church, like big picture, universally, in general, Christendom, we have been so confusing in our language.

And what, what God wants for us is to be the voice he's called us to be, one who encourages people to look in the direction of the only Messiah, the one who can save us. But we're not, not encouraging people to look, and so that's why there's so much confusion.

That's why every other day we got a comment talking about how hypocritical churches are. That's why every couple of weeks I get an email from somebody who's like, "Are you guys different than other churches? " That's why when I just scroll through and I see what's happening in the rest of the country, I see people who could be leaning on their Messiah want nothing to do with him. And if we, as a church, church here in our part, our small part of the valley, could just get this mission, that we're, we're not the Messiah, but we are a voice, and we need to utilize that voice to lift people up, not to tear them down, to point them to Jesus, not to point them to ourselves, to be humble, not cocky.

If we just recognize that, I think Buckeye would look different a couple years from now. I think the West Valley would look different a couple years from now.

We see in the area around the Jordan, when Jesus came, the dove came and it rested on him, and John looked at that and he's like, "Hey, that's the guy I told you about. " And when you see the work of God in your life, you're going to be able to say to others, "I have seen and I testify about the things that Jesus did. " And so, to those of you who came in here and you don't follow Jesus, this is new to you, I want you to know what this says, I believe with my whole heart. I want you to know my story.

I remember when I was 15 years old—and, I know, 15 years old, like, I could say I hit rock bottom, but you guys would all know I was just 15, I was just figuring out high school, you know what I'm saying—, but for me, at the time, I was going in the opposite direction of my Creator. Now, it wasn't like crazy rock bottom for me. It was the language I was utilizing, it was the people I would spend time with, it was the stuff that I would do with members of the opposite sex, it was, the music that I would listen to, the way that I treated my parents.

It was all those normal teenage things. But for me, the head space was what really got me. It was the insecurity, the comparison, this complete lack of peace when in my life I should have had peace because nothing crazy was happening, but I didn't have it 'cuz I didn't know Jesus. But then, when I'm sitting here with this group of people, 'cuz my mom forced me to go to church, I'm sitting there and these people keep talking about the Lord, they keep talking about how Jesus radically changed their mindset and all this other weird, frilly, supernatural stuff, that I'm sitting here as a basic dude listening and, like, I don't know about all that.

But then they kept talking about it and kept talking about it, and though I didn't hit rock bottom in my life, I was at this place where I was like, "I'm tired of this. " So I said, "Who knows, perhaps God might do something on the other end of obedience. " And so I decided to trust in Jesus.

And my testimony is simple, I can't give you all the details. John himself even says, "I didn't know him, I just spoke about what, what they, what I was told is what he says. " It doesn't even tell him, he doesn't even say who told him. What he says: all I know is what I was told, I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, "The man on whom you see this, he's going to baptize with the Holy Spirit.

I've seen, and I testify that this is God's chosen one. " It wasn't some weird scientific diet tribe. It was, "Hey, look, that's the guy. " "Oh, dove resting, that's the guy.

" And I want to tell you, from my own experience, that's the guy.

And there are people in this room who have recognized that Jesus is their Savior, that what the world offers is not beneficial, and that this life filled with insecurities and narcissism and being God's gift to creation, but feeling constantly frustrated about how you failed and this and this and this and this, and then wondering about how you're perceived in every conversation, that, like, that life is not fun at all. And when they encountered Jesus, something happened that they couldn't really comprehend. They received that peace that surpasses all understanding, their heart feels guarded in Christ Jesus. I can't give you all the explanation, but I can say what I've seen and testify to the grace of God in my life, and others can do the same.

And so I want to encourage those in here who have never trusted in Jesus, consider what it looks like to take a chance on Christ, to hear that testimony that's super vague, that doesn't have as much detail as you would probably prefer, and take a step in obedience even when you don't know the outcome.

I was talking to someone this morning who decided to trust God in the area of their finances, and they were telling me the same thing, they were like, "I don't know, something about taking a step in faith before you know whether it's going to be the right step, there's something beneficial to it."

And so I want to encourage you, what would it look like for you to consider putting Jesus at the center of your life and seeing if the hype is for real? I don't know, I don't know, I just so desperately want you to know Jesus. I want you to know that you're not the center. I want you to know that when he's at the center, benefits occur.

I want you to know that when you put Jesus at the center, he's going to utilize your voice in ways that you would never imagine.

I mean, I hear story after story after story of how God shifts all of these things, and it's so, like, I feel so powerless up here trying to communicate to you something that I've simply seen in my own life, and I've seen in the lives of others, but not being able to fully describe it to you. But I'm not the guy, I'm just a voice. So if you would listen to his voice and consider trusting in Jesus right now, I want to give you that opportunity. So if everybody would bow their heads and close their eyes, we're going to pray a prayer right now.

It's not a magical prayer, it's a prayer of you talking to God, having heard his voice.

And we're all going to pray it together, out loud, for the benefit of those who are praying it for the first time. You'll say:

"God, I believe"—repeat that—"Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe he died on the cross. I believe he rose from the grave. Father, forgive me of my sin.

Father, make me a new creation. Make me a new creation. Help me follow you, and I'll keep doing it for the rest of my life. "

God, we thank you for this moment. We pray these things in Jesus's name. And all God's people said—hey, let's celebrate those who trusted in Jesus for the first time.