Golden Rule Relationships

Oh, anybody excited to be in church today? Come on, make some noise. Every location. I am so honored to be with you. I want to officially welcome all of those locations across Alabama and Georgia. Anyone joining us online or on demand, so grateful you can be a part of this moment. And of course, the men and women of the Alabama Correctional Facilities, all 28 facilities, you're part of our church family. And now one facility over in Georgia, more to come there. One more time, Highlands, let's put our hands together. Never miss a chance to welcome our church family.

And so glad that you are here, especially if you're with us for the very first time. Welcome. We're in week two of a series called Seek First. Everybody say seek first. And so if you missed last week, you just, you got to go back and watch it. Last week was very foundational for the whole series and really for our entire year. But if y 'all are okay with it today, I'm just going to jump straight into the word of God. Y 'all okay with that? So if you have your app, go ahead and open it up. I do. There's a lot I want to cover and really believe God wants to do something significant today.

Our theme for the entire year comes out of Matthew chapter six, verse 33. It'll be our theme verse. I'll share it in just a moment. And that's what the foundation, I really unpacked that verse last week was the foundation I just mentioned. But where we're going all year long is we're going to continue to build on this foundation. And the verse that God has given us as a church, as a rally cry is that Matthew 6, 33. I want us to read it together. They'll put it on the screens as well, but it's, it's a powerful verse from the middle of the Sermon on the Mount that says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

And all these things will be given you as well. And this verse is so powerful because it really is. And we're going to get into this today in a specific area, but it as itself stands as a divine reordering of the world. Basically what Jesus is inviting us to is this, that there's an abundant life that God has for us. I mean, all the blessings you read about in the Bible, everything that God has in his heart for us to experience. If there was, imagine a doorway here, all that's over there. How do we get from where we are to where God wants us? To be Matthew 6, 33 gives us the key. And that is to seek first his kingdom.

Can I get an amen? His righteousness, and then allow God to take care of the rest. And so that was the foundation last week. That's where we're going all year long. And this week, as I promised, I want to get very practical with this and some different areas of our life. And so for the rest of the series, these areas actually come from a survey. How many of y 'all love a good survey? I love a good survey. How many of you, your favorite game show is Family Feud? Okay. A bunch of y 'all love that game show. And so we did a survey. I don't even know if it was a hundred people, but it's from people here at Highlands.

And the number one areas are the biggest areas that you would love to see God move in, in your life, in a real way in 2026. Number one was walk with God. I love seeing that. And really, honestly, the best way to lean into that is not really what even is happening here on Sunday, but all month long in 21 days, God's moving in a powerful way. We'll talk more about that in a minute. Relationships, we're going to go there today. Next week, finances, personal growth and purpose. And then I love that physical health made the list. We're actually going to teach on that later on. This year, God has a great plan, even for our physical, our spiritual body.

We know that our spiritual self, but our physical body as well. And here, here's the big deal church in all those areas. And honestly, in every area of our life, here's the promise from C .S. Lewis. He just puts it so well. If we will put first things first, we'll get second things thrown in. But if we put second things first, we lose both first and second things. So here's kind of the, the, the whole series in a statement. When God is first, everything else, everything else finds its proper place. Can I get an amen today? So as I mentioned, I want to start with the relationships today and kind of getting practical in this series.

And we're going to do a full relationship series in the month of February called Loveology. And then we'll get into marriage and parenting and some specifics. But today I want to preach a message from God's word for all relationships. And I come to church today with some good news. That's a good thing, by the way. Anybody excited that we come to church and get good news? Because there's bad news everywhere else. So if you came today looking for good news, you're going to find it. Number one, God is a relational God. And I am so grateful for this. That our God is not a God who stays at a distance and, you know, just says, all right, y 'all figure it out.

Enjoy planet earth. Our God gets up close and personal and what he wants more than anything is a relationship with us. Praise God that our God's a relational God. And secondly, and especially if you're new, you just got to know this. We are a relational church. Come on Highlands. We love some Highlands. We love the family of God

And we just, the people of God at Highlands. I'm just so grateful that our church is relational, that Pastor Chris built it on that principle. That's what we showed you in that video today. All month long, we're showing different values of our church as we move towards our 25th anniversary, which by the way, mark your calendar, February 1st. You do not want to miss church. It's going to be incredible. We're going to celebrate 25 years, but we have these core values here at Highlands. Last week, we talked about the value of prayer. This week in that video, the value of relationships. It's not just something we say, come on Highlands, we live this out. And you know, specifically you heard in the video, the framework of that, we call it small groups, but that's just the way we describe getting together and growing together in God.

If you've never been a part of a small group, you're going to have a chance later on this month. And if you've never led one, I really want to encourage anyone who's never led one, campus pastors will share times, but all month long we can get trained because I believe this is going to be an incredibly important small group semester. But small groups truly are like that. And I want to encourage you to do that. I want to small groups are life -changing. In fact, if your life's been impacted by a small group at Highlands, wave at me right now. Come on. Praise God. Look around the room. There it is right there. God is a relational God.

We're a relational church. And number three, relationships are the key to God's design for our lives. They're part of that experience. He wants us to have that abundant life experience. And this is a quote that Pastor Chris has shared many times over the years. I want to share it today. You know, we are all the sum total of our relationships. No one can name me the last they've heard. It's true. But everyone can name 10 people who've impacted their life, good or bad. Our lives are shaped by relationships. Isn't that true, everybody? Man, it's so true for good or for bad. This is one of my favorite quotes. I preached it as a youth pastor.

Now I'm preaching it to my kids as a parent. Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. Isn't that true, everybody? It's so true. Relationships are massive. And just to kind of lean into this moment, I was even thinking this week, you know, how did I end up on this platform? Let me, let me be very honest and upfront with you. It is only by number one, the grace of God. I don't deserve to be here in any way, shape or form called by God. I mean, all of us would agree with that, right? We've all disqualified ourselves. We've all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Thank God for his grace. That's first and foremost, God's grace.

But I can tell you, secondly, I am definitely not up here because of a talent or ability. I am on this platform today because of a lot of great people in my life who lifted me beyond what I would have ever done on my own. And I was just thinking of a few stories, thinking back to how I even got to Birmingham, Alabama. Here's how I got to Birmingham, Alabama. I got to Birmingham, Alabama because a UAB football coach came to my high school recruiting. Now he was not looking for me. You may, you may look at me and think your boy Mark was a quarterback or a strapping tight end. I was actually a long snapper.

Most of y 'all don't even know what that is. I would act it out, but I would probably rip my pants on stage. So I'm not going to do that. But they don't really recruit long snappers. And honestly, I did not grow up a UAB coach. And none of y 'all did either. That's okay too. I will not offend it. But I get a phone call from my coach. He says, come to the gym. Coach Pat Sullivan, who was already a hero of mine, Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn. Coach Pat Sullivan, who coaches at UAB, is here. He's been looking at some of our other players and he heard we have a long snapper. I want you to come meet him.

I walk in the office and Coach Sullivan looks at me and I'd never considered UAB. And he goes, hey, come to Birmingham, visit campus, come and see me. And the rest is history. I got to Birmingham. How did I get to Church of the Highlands? I got to the Church of the Highlands because of my college roommate. I mean, show me your friends. I'll show you your future. Hey, everybody, your college roommate, adults, older adults will agree with this. It is massive who you choose to live with in college. And my roommate was really, well, he wasn't even just a roommate. He was like a second set of parents. One of the loudest, his name's Thomas.

He's still part of our church today. One of my best friends, like ride or die for life friends. Y 'all, every single morning, Thomas in college would come busting in my door. He woke up super early. And the first thing out of his mouth was, it's a great day to be a Blazer.

It was way too much, way too early. And then he almost always had already cooked me breakfast. It's true. And he would say, get in your word and we're going to get to church. And it's through him that I got to Church of the Highlands. I was thinking, yeah, praise God for Thomas.

And I was thinking about even my call to ministry. So many people have been a part of that call, my youth pastor, my parents, others. But man, I got to honor one specifically, and that is the campus pastor here at Grants Mill, Pastor Blake Lindsey. Come on, all of Highlands, but especially Grants Mill. I love you.

This guy, now this is like, this is like, you know, 1997, Blake, you know, imagine blonde highlights and Oakley glasses. I'll get back to that in a minute. But anyway, so I hear this guy preaching seven, I'm 17. He's preaching a message at a youth revival in Ashland, Alabama called True Love Waits. And it was a massive message, impacted my life in a huge way. We became friends. He was the first, I felt a call to ministry, but he was the first person that I really looked up to and got close to that was living it out. And we just began to do ministry together. Y 'all, we hit the Alabama circuit, the trifecta, Chaco Springs.

Springville Camp and Conference Center and Laguna Beach Christian Resort. Can I get an amen? It's like the Baptist and the Pentecostals and the Laguna is for all of us. So anyway, and then Blake and I got really, really close and his edification of my life is one of the reasons I'm here. And I promised you that I would come back to those blonde highlights. There you go.

That's Pastor Blake right there at the bottom. That's me up top. And then actually my, we, Jill and I were just dating there. She's there in the middle of then Blake's life, wife, Lindsay. I think that was around. 2002. Let's take that picture off and never see it again.

And Blake and I, and another friend of ours, Alan began to hang out and we began to come to Highlands and we had a dream in our heart. Kind of funny to say this. I've never really shared this. Our first dream for ministry was to plant a church in Auburn of all places. So we, we wanted to meet with Pastor Chris to talk about it and wanted to plant through the arc. And so we, we get together, the three of us, y 'all, it probably took us three hours to write this email to Pastor Chris. We were so nervous. We send it. He meets with us at fish market on highway two 80 right now during the middle of October.

And we're like, I'll go there. Don't tempt me. And, and we meet with him and we say, Hey, we have this dream to plant a church in Auburn. He says, well, I got, I got another idea. Pastor Chris always has a lot of vision. He says, instead of doing that, why don't you come and join my team? Cause I'm going to put a campus in Auburn and all that conviction we had to plant went away. And 25 years later, the rest is history. Come on. Can we give God praise for his kingdom and relationships?

God's relational God. And it's huge. So no surprise that relationships are constantly being attacked. Honestly, if you want to look at the bullseye of the enemy in our life in churches, the enemy's doing anything he can to attack the area of relationships. And we see it all the way back in the garden. The first attack of the enemy was between us and our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. And here we are thousands of years later, and the enemy is still attacking right now in America. Y 'all know the stats. Loneliness is an all time high. I just read one recently that says that only 13 % of American adults have a close intimate friendship with another person.

And let that sink in for a moment. Of course, we know all that loneliness is just impacting mental health in a huge way. And we see all the division in our society. What is going on? All right. I want to dig into this for a few minutes. This is a huge topic. I'm here to fight today for relationships. Come on, somebody. I'm here to fight for relationships today. So if we're going to know how to behave, we have to always know first what we believe. So I want to stay there what we believe for a moment. Number one, get this in our heart. God designed us to be in relationship. You just need to know this.

You are not, if you're out there in that room, you're not you're not lonely in this stat right now. You are not designed to be alone. God designed you for relationships. Genesis 1 26. Then God said, let us make man in our own image after our own likeness. God designed us because he had relationship in his heart, but not just with him. Genesis 2 18. Then the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. God designed us for relationship. But number two, sin fractured relationships.

And of course, we would love to avoid the topic of sin. It's never comfortable in church or anywhere else to talk much about it. But we got to stand here today on the reality of what sin does, church, in every area. But we're talking about relationships today. Sin always brings death. Anything it touches, it brings death and destruction. Romans 5 12. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, in this way, death came to all people because all sinned. Sin impacts everything, including relationships. And here's, here's, here's, here's the big idea of how it impacted relationships and how it continues to, is it turns us into a focus on me.

Tim Keller said it this way, sin, instead of, instead of love being towards God and towards others, sin turns love inward towards ourself. And it leaves us self -centered, self -sufficient, self -protecting, self -promoting. And with self at the center, write it down, all attempts for healthy relationships will ultimately fail. And we need to let that sink in for a moment.

Because when sin and self are at the center, they become the source. And God no longer, God's no longer the source. Ourself is the source. And that will always lead to dysfunction. If you think about every key dysfunction of any relationship in our life, I can think about it in my own life. It all starts when self becomes the source. And I'm not going to ask for it out loud, but come on in your heart. We all can agree. Amen to that. That's the issue. So that's, that's what we believe. Now I got some good news. I said earlier, some good news. I'm going to double good news. Hey, we're going to double good news.

We're going to double good news. We're going to get triple good news today. You came to church on the right day, on the right day, because guess what? We talked about it earlier. Jesus shows us a better way. There is something, come on church, on the other, there's an abundant life. There's a different way to live. There's a divine reordering that if we'll trust God and live relationships his way, no matter what they look right right now, there can be redemption, healing, and his health, the abundant life of God over relationships. But to do this, it's, I just got to warn you in advance, the better way is pretty radical.

It's different. I mean, come on, normal is not working. We need something different. And this is radical. In fact, it's so radical. I need at least three amens on the front row. I got the Hargraves and the Bennetts. That's enough. That's four amens right there. Y 'all ready for this? We got to link into a key verse. If we're going to live relationships God's way, and it's called, you can write this down, the greatest commandment. I want to start here and just hang here for a moment. This is all throughout the Bible, but a beautiful place to see in a section of scripture, a passage, this divine reordering, this different way that God has for us to live.

Matthew chapter 22, the greatest commandment. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment of the law? Jesus replies, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. This is massive. I want to slow down for just a moment. Dig into the greatest commandment. That first section of scripture, or that passage, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is just another example in God's word of what we read earlier in Matthew chapter six.

Jesus is telling us again and again and again, if you want what I have, it's going to take a spirit of repentance. This way is not working. You first have to turn towards me, and come on church, not 99%. If you want what's on the other side of this door, it is a free gift. But you're going to have to trust me, not just as savior, but as Lord. We love, and we need to always celebrate that Jesus is our savior. I know, and I would just love to hear some noise out there at Church of the Highlands, that we are grateful for the grace and the mercy of our God. Come on, praise God.

Come on. We can never get over his grace and his mercy and his love that he saved us from our sins, something we could never do ourselves. But he's not just our savior, he is also our Lord, which means when we give him our life, he gets to call the shots. Love the Lord your God first, not 99 .9%, but with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. And I'm telling you right now in the American church, God is doing a work of Lordship. And we're going to be all a part of it here at Highlands, because he's savior and he's Lord. So love the Lord your God. Now the Jewish people who would have been hearing this would have been very familiar.

That was actually a prayer that they prayed every single day. The love your Lord, your God part. But then Jesus goes radical. He adds this next part. He goes secondly, and this second is not ranked less. Jesus is actually saying, what I'm about to tell you is inseparable from the first part.

It's not lower in rank. It's inseparable. And again, this would have been shocking. He begins to tell them, you cannot truly love God without loving people. And you cannot rightly love people without loving God. Because that love that he's talking about here is inseparable from the first part. And he begins to tell them, you cannot truly love from the first part. And he begins to tell them, you cannot truly love people without loving God without loving God. Because that love that he's talking about here is an without loving God without loving God. Because that love that he's talking about here is an agape love, the unconditional love that we all love to receive from God.

Jesus says, I'm calling you to not only receive it yourself, but then to give it to who? The world around you, which he calls my neighbor. To love God and to love people. And who is our neighbor? It's a question that's even asked in the book of Luke. In scripture, our neighbor is anyone God places near you and gives us the opportunity to love regardless of similarity, regardless of comfort, regardless of convenience. And Jesus even goes as far as to say this, to even love our enemies.

I told you it's a radical teaching. It's a divine reordering, but it opens the door to the abundant life of God in this area of relationships. Now, if Jesus was like a drop the mic God, this would be a really frustrating. Aren't y 'all thankful Jesus doesn't just drop the mic and walk off? Because we're all, I think we're all in. I feel that right actually right now in the room. I feel that we're all like, yes, I need something better. I recognize that. And I believe God has something better. Thank God he doesn't just say, figure it out. Good luck. I gave you, you know, the breadcrumbs. He actually practically gives us a second passage that lets us live this out.

And again, this is where it's going to get so practical. And for this entire series, we're going to base these messages out of the Sermon on the Mount. The greatest relationship principle ever taught. It applies to every relationship from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus teaches what we call the golden rule. And I'm not talking about the barbecue place. It's like 1 .2 miles away from here, fish market and gold rule in the middle of a fast. But anyway, we're talking about, of course, that beautiful passage of scripture, Matthew 7, 12. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets. I want us to read it out loud, every location on the count of three, one, two, three.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets. Let's dig into this church. This is the divine reordering that gives us access to his abundant life. Number one, write it down. Let's get real practical here. We have to first, get this out, seek to understand others. All of us have a decision. This decision is not forced on us, but I believe we're here today at church wanting something better in relationships. That's what the survey says. And that decision is ultimately empathy. Now, I want to be really clear. I know and understand right now all the cultural arguments on empathy, but biblical empathy, I want to be really crystal clear with this, never affirms sin or sinful lifestyles.

Can I get an amen? But biblical empathy, is something that Jesus not only teaches, and this is what's important, it is something that he models and calls us to as well. Hebrews 4 .15, for we do not have a high priest who's unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin. So Jesus put himself in our situation, but he never crossed that line into sin. He stayed who he was. He was the standard, but now he can identify with us because he put himself in our situation. And so, I want to read this to you. In our shoes, biblical empathy is not agreement or endorsement.

It is the intentional choice, this is it church, to seek to understand a person's needs, perspectives, fears, and vulnerabilities. And if we don't have this in our life, there is no hope to living this divine reorderman of God in relationships. So how do we practically activate empathy? It's one word, and the word is pause. Everybody say pause. And I wrote down a list here. I'm going to go through these quickly, but I need you to know these are on the app. And if you want to take a picture, you can. But this is what pausing looks like in God's word and why it's so important. We pause because listening precedes wisdom. We pause because anger clouds judgment.

We pause because everyone carries unseen weight. We pause, come on somebody, because we remember our own need for grace. That's why we pause. We pause because forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. We pause because people are not problems to solve. We pause because words are more powerful than we realize. And because we're called, just like Jesus was, to be full of grace, and truth. Look at me, church. Jesus is saying there's a better way. And it starts when we seek to understand how can we do that. We just pause. Is this easy?

No, I got like three no's over there, but we're all thinking it. No, it's not easy. I mean, thinking about in my own life and Jill and I in our marriage, we have an amazing marriage, but our marriage is just like all of your marriages. We all have our moments and our struggles. And Jill and I, I played football at UAB, long snapper. Jill was like the star of the... We're both super competitive. And that extends to any time that we're strongly disagreeing with each other. We can be in passionate, strong disagreements. Now we have really healthy boundaries around this, but come on, sometimes you just got to work it out. Can I get an amen?

And we have the tendency at times to be competitive in that moment. And listen, the only time I want to pause is when I'm pausing to reload. That's real. The only time I pause is like, oh, I'm coming back because I want to prove that I'm right. But I have found this true in our marriage and every relationship. I've found this true in our marriage and every relationship. If I will just pull back for a moment. And actually in that moment, instead of reloading, seek to understand. God gives me the grace and the wisdom and the ability to identify where she is and actually start having the real conversation that is needed. Here's the golden rule principle.

We seek to understand others the way we want to be understood ourselves. And if you're wondering if this is important, I'll give Dietrich Bonhoeffer the last word on this point. Those who can no longer listen to their brother will soon no longer be listening to God. That's strong. Here's number two. We've got to step into action. The most revolutionary thing that Jesus calls us to, it's not waiting. Others have taught waiting. What I'm about to share with you is the most radical part of this teaching. And it's something that Jesus, the wisdom that Jesus brought literally from heaven to earth in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus calls us not just to pause and to seek to understand.

He calls us to go beyond that. And from instead of being reactive, like we want to do in our own ability to go from reactive to proactive. Luke six says this, but to you who are listening, I say, love your enemies, but don't just love them from a distance. Activate, take initiative, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Jesus takes us church in relationships from don't harm them to actively seek their good. At this point, we're all like, Jesus, you have us in a headlock. Give us a break. We're calling uncle.

It's hard to imagine living this out except for one fact, church. This is exactly what God did for us. How could he preach this? Because he did it for us. Romans five, eight, but God shows his love for us in this while we were still sinners. He did not wait for us to repent while I was still a sinner. Christ died for me. So we pause to seek to understand. And then church, we take initiative. And again, I got another list for us today. This will be on the app as well. Instead of, waiting for an apology, we apologize first. Instead of pointing out what's wrong, we name what we appreciate. Instead of assuming the worst, we just start to ask questions.

Instead of waiting to be included, we include others. Instead of ghosting after attention, we pursue clarity. Instead of waiting to be served, we serve. Instead of joining gossip, we shut it down. Instead of reacting publicly, this would change our society right now. We respond privately. Instead of assuming they know we care, we say it because we're not being reactive anymore. We're being proactive. We're living in the abundant life of God, the divine reordering of relationships. Here's our great, our golden rule connect. We treat people how we would want to be treated. And here it is church. And we go first.

And I've had, I had advanced warning on this message. I've been living in it, man. God's moved. I can't even begin to describe how the scripture the last couple of weeks has impacted my life. And it immediately led me to thinking about the who that this was for in my life. And I have my own list. And I would just encourage this. I want to lean in right now. All of us have our own list of relationships right now where we can seek to understand. But I'm really believing with all of my heart. Many of us already have kind of leaned in a little bit, but we still haven't activated. We still haven't taken the initiative.

Church, this is the week in that marriage and that sibling relationship and that friendship with that neighbor down the street, with our coworker, our classmates. I guarantee we, we likely already know it. And if we don't, if we ask the Holy spirit, he'll be faithful to point out those people. So we just have to take the initiative. And if we don't, if we don't take the initiative, if we don't, if we don't take the initiative, here's number three, we just got to stick with it.

Seek to understand. We got to, it all, it all starts there where we seek to understand. We take that initiative. And the number three, in fact, if there, if there was a prescription bottle from, from the pharmacist of heaven on this podium right now, and it said the golden rule, it would just say this, this is we, the directions repeat as necessary.

Just continue to live out those first two principles. Matthew 18, Peter came to Jesus and asked Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me up to seven times? Now, Peter kind of like Peter always is doing in scripture. He's looking for a pat on the back because Jewish law said three times was enough. Peter's like, I'll go beyond that to seven, twice that plus one. He's expecting a pat on the back. Jesus pats him on the head. He's like, I don't know, Peter, you're way, you're way short. I tell you not seven times, but 70 times seven. We just stick with it. Will the golden rule immediately impact every relationship?

I'm full of faith that it will, but chances are there's a journey in front of us, but you need to feel a real, I'm praying for a release of weight here today in our church, because our job is not to try to control what comes next. Our job is to live out the truth of God and to trust him with the results of his word. I'm just going to seek to understand. I'm going to take that initiative. And here's the golden rule connection here. We align our lives with God's kingdom and righteousness, and we trust him with the outcomes. We can release control. And to God's hands, exactly where it needs to be in every relationship.

So to live this out can feel daunting. So I'm really excited. I get to share this last point, and we're going to pray together here in this moment. For any of this to work, we're going to need to stay dependent on God's power. This is, this is the leg up. This is what makes this different. This is why this isn't a self -help message today. We cannot do this on our own. Can I get an amen? We need his help, but the good news on top of good news, I told you three good news. His power is available because Jesus doesn't just teach the golden rule. Jesus became the golden rule. He did not treat us as we deserve.

So because he went to that cross, he went to that grave and he came out of that grave. We now have access to his spirit. Romans 8, 11. I shared it last week. The same power that raised Christ out of the dead is available to you in your marriage, in your friendship, with that coworker. It's available. We don't have to live with natural power. We have resurrection power. Let me give you a verse I believe can be just a foundational verse for every relationship in your life. As you walk out of these doors to live this out, Zechariah 4, 6, it will not be by might or by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

We can walk, all of us can walk out of here dependent on the Holy Spirit to do what only he can. We can't do this on our own, but God can. He can move us. The power of the Holy Spirit, moves us from that fixation on self, that inward turning of love, the warped dysfunction that sin brings. Through his grace and through his mercy and through his power, we can move from a fixation on self to the fruit of the Holy Spirit. What does his power look like when it goes to work? It looks like this, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control. Oh, come on church. And against such things, no weapon of the enemy can prevail.

No demonic attack can prevail. God's power is stronger. No relationship is beyond repair because we have the power of God that can go to work. So here's where I'm going to pray in a second and we're going to have a chance to respond. But I want to throw a challenge out because this area of relationships and everything we've talked about today is so massive. So we're in 21 days of prayer. Today's day eight, tomorrow morning at 6 a .m., 7 a .m. in our Eastern time zone campuses. We're going to have a prayer service and the Holy Spirit really put on our hearts to take this beyond a Sunday message to something we're going to live out together all week long as a church.

All week long at prayer, we're going to focus on cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, cultivating the power of God for relationships and honestly for every area of our life. Do whatever you can to be in the room tomorrow morning, 6 a .m., 7 a .m. or to join us online. And listen, it's not going to be by our strength, but by his Spirit that God does a work. And I'm believing with all of my heart. I want you to agree with me. In faith today that 2026 is going to be the best relational year of our lives. Amen, everybody. Let's give God praise.

And I want to pray for us. If you can, bow your heads and close your eyes at every location. And the message is over, but the moment isn't. This is always a chance for us to let the seeds of the word of God take root in our life. So no distractions. Just allow every head's bowed, every eyes closed. Just allow this to be a holy moment. You know, the book of 1 John says that we love because he first loved us. And I have it in my heart today. I'm going to pray a couple of prayers, but this first prayer is to pray for all of us to experience the love of God, but specifically today for those who've never experienced or received his love.

There is no ability, there's no capacity for us to love others and to live out what we've heard today without first having received the love of God. We talk about salvation, you know, getting saved, different ways to frame it. At the end of the day, salvation is all about receiving the love of God into our hearts. And when his love penetrates our heart, when we begin that relationship with him, it changes everything. And it's from that position that then we're able to love others and to experience that abundant life we've been talking about. I can't end today without giving anyone who doesn't have that a chance to respond. Not going to call you up front, not going to embarrass you in any way.

If that is you, you already know, just pray this prayer in your heart. Jesus, today I give you my life. I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins. I declare today that you are, my Lord, and you are my Savior. I belong to you. Come live inside of me and make me brand new and fill me with your Holy Spirit so I have the power to live out my life for you. God, thank you for those who just prayed that prayer. The old has gone, the new has come. They're a new creation in you. They belong to you and will spend eternity with you. Final prayer of the day for all of you.

Amen. God, thank you for the abundant life that you offer us. And God, I'm praying over every relationship that as we choose your way, there will be healing, there will be freedom, there will be restoration, that every attack of the enemy truly is broken. And that 2026 over every single person in the sound of my voice will be a year where relationships are changed forever in Jesus' name. We know we can't do it, so we need your power. We're going to receive his power right now. God, we receive and ask for the power of your Holy Spirit and we give you all the glory for it. In Jesus' name, everybody said amen. Can you join me in giving God praise today for all that he has done?