Increasing My Impact

Alright now I want to ask you three important questions. And I want you to answer yes or no just quietly in your mind. Okay, you don't have to shout it out. You can just go. Yeah, I'd agree with that. Okay ready. Here's the first question. I want to make an impact for good in my life. Yes or no? Second question. You can say it silently in your mind. And by the way, next weekend's Easter, don't miss that announcement. Okay, secondly, I would like to be well respected by others. Yes, and then third, when I get to the end of my life, I'd like people to say that I made a difference. Yes or no? You know what? I bet every single one of us would answer yes to all three of these questions. Show of hands, how many of you would say yes to all three of these questions? You definitely want to do this. I would say this is not only we say yes to this, this is the dream of most people that at the end of your life, it will turn out that you've not just taken up space on this planet, but you actually did something with your life that made a difference, right? We all want to do this. But how do you do that?

Well, I want you to grab your message notes that look like this. The art of living well is what we call our series in the book of Proverbs, which is a book of the Bible. And I got to tell you today about something that's really been on my mind lately. Within the span of just a few weeks recently, probably three weeks, I personally officiated at the memorial services, the funerals for three different people. A lot of us were involved in the memorial services for officers Baker and Butler, and there were several of the memorials here at the church that I attended or that I sent families condolences for. I spent time with families just this last week, a couple of different families who in the church you've just lost people. Somehow, it seems like the last several weeks, there's just been a lot of that around here.

And I got to tell you something. You can't have that much exposure to memorial services without it affecting you. And not to be too morbid here, but I heard person after person at these memorial services talking about the deceased. And at about the third memorial, I found myself thinking, you know one day they're going to be talking about me, and one day they're going to be talking about you. And so what are they going to say? What kind of legacy are you leaving right now? We don't think a lot about this, and I know how it is. Life gets so busy. Our life has just been crazy the last week. It feels like it's so full of grocery lists and laundry and stuff around the house to fix and to-do lists at work and homework if you're at school, and all of that leaving a legacy stuff all seems so far away.

But today I think it would be so good for all of us here at church today to think about it, to kind of poke our head above the rising tide for just a few minutes and think long range. So let's talk today about making an impact, increasing my impact as a human being here on planet earth. How do I leave a legacy that's going to outlive me? How do I really make a difference on this planet? How do I make an impact? Now, you know what our culture's standard answer to this is, don't you? How do you make an impact in this world? Well, you get rich and you get famous, right? That's how our culture would respond.

Well, I was reading this last week about this woman, her name is Fanny Ellsler. Fanny Ellsler, she was the biggest celebrity of the mid-1800s, a superstar. In fact, she was probably the first modern superstar of Western culture. She toured the U.S. in the mid-1800s. Her tour lasted two years, and she inspired what one writer called Ellsler Mania. In fact, this was probably the first instance of the word mania ever used in conjunction with a celebrity, long before Beatlemania a hundred years before that. She inspired Ellsler Mania everywhere she went. As a dancer and a singer, she drew hordes of admirers. They literally rioted outside her hotel in New York, and this is an engraving of that instance when people just went crazy and rioted. They were so nuts about her, they actually mobbed her carriage in Baltimore. Check this out, Congress was actually adjourned so that lawmakers could attend her performances. Songs were written about her. She married a European prince and became a baroness and got even more famous.

Now, anyone here ever heard of her? Fanny Ellsler? Her name has been lost to history, and she was the most famous and one of the most rich human beings on the planet. And what's that tell you? Riches and fame do not make a lasting impact. In fact, I would challenge almost anybody here to name all the winners of American Idol. I mean, they were the most famous people, you know, in culture just a few years ago. Anybody remember Lee DeWyze? You know, he won the whole thing a couple of years back. Riches and fame are not the way to make an impact. So what is the best way to have a positive lasting impact with my life? Well, look at Proverbs 22:1: a good reputation is a better choice than riches. Esteem is more valuable than money.

Now what's that mean? Reputation, a good name, is a major theme of the book of Proverbs. Now in our society, reputation has come to mean image, you know, but in the Bible, a good reputation is built on character, not image. Character is what you are in the dark. Character is what you really are. Image is what people think you are, and character is how you end up making an impact for good on the world. You know, in all these funerals and memorial services that I've done the last few weeks, you know what? No one ever talked about how much money the deceased made, not one time. No one ever even talked about how famous or not famous the deceased was. If anything good was said, every single time they talked not about their achievements, not about their riches, not about their fame, but about one concept, one word: character. Reputation. Heart.

You say, well, that's maybe just because these people weren't really rich and famous. If they were, maybe they would have talked about it. Well, let me ask you this. What do people remember about even world leaders? Their character. Think about it. Do they call Abraham Lincoln brilliant Abe? Do they call Abraham Lincoln highly accomplished Abe? No, what do they call him? Honest Abe. It's character that lasts. What kind of character? Well, the book of Proverbs in the Bible is very clear about it. There are four characteristics of people who make an impact in your life. And in fact, if you ever go to a memorial service and you boil down all the good things that people remember about the deceased at funerals, everything they say that's good always boils down to one of these four things.

I'd say it almost doesn't matter exactly what you do for a living. You could be a contractor. You could be a scientist. You could be an athlete. You could be a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home dad. You could be a businessman. You could be a student. It almost doesn't matter exactly what you do for a living. If you build these four characteristics into your life, you will have impact that outlives you. And I got to say, I have always got to give people credit because I've leaned so much wisdom from messages and Proverbs by Tim Keller in New York, Rick Warren down in Los Angeles, Mark Driscoll up in Seattle. And I've taken a lot of their thoughts and some other observations that I've just made in the last few weeks at these memorial services and kind of mixed them all up and put them into this service. But here's the four characteristics of real world changers.

Number one: speak with integrity. Speak with integrity. This is a major theme of Proverbs. The Bible says in Proverbs 17:7: arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool; how much worse lying lips to a ruler. The Good News Translation paraphrases it this way: respected people do not tell lies. Now I know that most of us here in this room right now are looking at this going, well, this doesn't apply to me because I'm not a liar, you know. Now one of us here in this room would say, yeah, I need to hear this because I lie every day. But look at this before you speak too fast. Proverbs 25:14 says speaking with integrity includes keeping my promises. I love this verse. It's so evocative. Look at this: like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give.

Are you a cloud without rain? You ever make promises or implications that you don't follow through on? I do this all the time, and actually so do you if you think about it. Here's a list of some common unkept promises: I'll get on that right away. I'll see to that myself. How about this one? I'll return this as soon as I'm done. I'm guilty of not following through on that. Anybody else guilty of not following through on that one? How about this one? I'll pay you back as soon as I get the money. What about this? I'll be home at 6 p.m. sharp, sweetheart. I'll start my diet tomorrow. I'll pray for you every day. Speaking with integrity involves more than just honesty; it involves dependability, and this is huge.

I remember talking to a guy whose dad was a pastor, and this guy doesn't go to church anywhere anymore. And to explain why, he told the story. He said dad used to promise me all kinds of things, especially that we would go fishing because he knew fishing was like my favorite all-time thing to do. But when the time came for the day, he always had some kind of church emergency or meeting or study time. One day though, he felt really bad about this, and he said, son, I'll make it up to you. We will go fishing to your favorite fishing spot this Saturday morning. What do you think about that? You promised, dad? I promise. Alright, he told me, Renee, I woke up at 5 in the morning, and I snuck into the garage and I got the tackle box and the rod and reel, and I took them into my bedroom. He said I got all dressed up, and I put on my little fishing hat, and he said I sat on my bed with the tackle box on the rod and reel and the fishing hat on, smiling, looking at the door so I would be ready when dad came in to wake me up at 6 because I was really hard to get up as a little kid. So I was going to surprise him.

He was going to come in, turn on the light, and I'd say, I'm ready, dad. Let's go. And he's a true story. He said I was sitting there on the bed, and he said I heard my dad's footsteps coming down the hall and go past my bedroom door, and I heard the garage door open and close and his car start as my pastor father left for an early Saturday morning men's Bible study, totally forgetting about his promise to me. He said that broken promise broke my faith. I bet he didn't share that at the memorial service. Speak with integrity. Keep your promises, and it doesn't just benefit others. Notice the results of integrity: Proverbs 10:9: the person of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out. Now this verse says the man of integrity walks securely. Why? When you have integrity, you don't have to have a good memory because you don't have to remember all the lies you told people so that you can cover them up.

A friend of mine has a friend, this is somebody from a different church, a different town, and this friend cheated on his wife. And then he told lies to cover up, and he actually had to start writing down a list of his lies so that he wouldn't forget them. And he would review this list of lies just to make sure that everything that he told his wife kind of matched up with all these lies. He got up to, again, true story, he got up to 300 lies on this list, and then his wife found the list. The good news is they're still together, and their marriage is better than ever after lots of prayer and counseling. But integrity produces stability because it gives you so much confidence in life. You don't have to remember your lies.

So I want you to evaluate yourself for a minute on this one. Do you lie? Do you falsify? Do you mislead? Just in your own heart, your own mind right now, examine yourself. Am I a person of integrity with my spouse? With my kids, if you got kids? With my friends? How honest am I about my sins, about my weaknesses? Speak with integrity. And then second, to have a lasting impact, serve with intensity. Serve with intent. Now, what do I mean by this? Find some way that you can serve others and do it with intensity, enthusiasm, not drudgery. Whatever you do, God put you there. Whatever you do right now, whether you're a student, whether you're a stay-at-home parent, whatever job you're in, God put you there for the time being, so do it with all your heart for as long as you're there. Proverbs 14:22: you will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good.

I want to ask a question to those of you who are maybe longtime Santa Cruz residents, and this goes back several years. How many of you remember Warehouse Records when it was on 41st Avenue? Anybody remember the old Warehouse Record Store? Go back way back in the day, right? Well, I want to tell you about what I think is the best employee, certainly the most well-known employee that Warehouse Records ever had, and it was a gentleman who had Down syndrome. But every single time you would walk in the door of Warehouse Records, some of you are nodding in recognition of you know what I'm going to say. Every time you would walk in the door of Warehouse Records, wherever he was in the store, he would raise his hand up and he would greet you with a loud, "How you doing? Hey, how you doing?" And then he'd walk over to you, see how can I help you? And he's, oh, I'm looking for this, I'm looking for that, and he would take you actually over to the thing that you were looking for. He wouldn't be like, you know, talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend while he was chewing gum like the other employees, no offense, but he'd take you right over to what you were looking for. He knew where everything was.

Well, when this gentleman got into his 50s, his health really deteriorated like a lot of people with Down syndrome. He died, you know, young. And when it became obvious that his health wasn't so good anymore, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the local newspaper, did a full-page feature on him. It was on the cover of the Bay Living section and had a color picture of him, and the whole first page of that section was about him and how much people loved him, and the headline was, "How you doing?" This guy became a local legend. Why? Because he served with intensity. Now here's the problem for most Christians. I know it's this: we want to be servants of God; we just don't want to be servants of anybody else, you know? We don't mind serving God, saying I'm God's servant. That's an honor. It's like noble to serve God, but serve other people? And that is humbling.

So let me ask you this, kind of take this little test. Rick Warren says, how do you know you have a servant's heart? Everybody likes to say I've got a servant's heart. How do you know you've got a servant's heart? Well, how do you react when other people treat you like a servant? So we all want to serve God, but we don't want to serve other people. The fact is you cannot serve God without serving people. But if you do seek good for others, if you're the servant of all, then you're going to be exalted. The Bible says he who seeks good finds goodwill. So examine yourself on this point. How are you at serving? Because it's part of the character that makes an impact. Do you do your job or your schoolwork always just in drudgery or with intense enthusiasm? I mean, everybody's got their moments, but are you what's typical of you? Are you always saying I gotta do this or what's in it for me, or are you serving? People can really tell the difference.

And then number three: share with generosity. Share with generosity. It is just the truth. People who make an impact with their lives are generous people. Proverbs 11:25: a generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. You know, it sounds like a paradox, but it says the more you give away, the more you get. Sometimes we think, but if I give something away, then I'm losing it. Somehow or another, it all works out, sort of like giving blood. You give it away, but then God restores it in your life. Look at this verse: a generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. And then let me skip over to the Psalms for a verse on this: Psalms 112:9: he who gives generously to the needy and shows kindness will be powerful and respected. I want you to circle a couple of words here: circle the words powerful and respected. If you want to be powerful, if you want to be respected in your life, share with generosity.

You know, this week I've been like obsessed with the life story of Andrew Carnegie. What a fascinating character this guy was. When he died, they actually found a slip of paper that he kept in his desk. He used to write himself memos all the time, and he kept this one in his desk for decades. He wrote it when he was in his early 30s, and this is what it said: I proposed to spend the next third of my life making all the money I can and to spend the last third giving it all away. And that's exactly what he did. It's really a fascinating story. He started with nothing. His family were Irish immigrants. They shared a one-bedroom house with another family, a one-bedroom house with another family. They slept in shifts so that they could—that's all the rent that they could possibly afford. He literally was penniless, and then when he sold U.S. Steel in 1901 for half a billion dollars in 1901 dollars, he said, alright, I'm done. I'm going to just spend the rest of my life giving it all away: the Carnegie Institute, the Carnegie Endowment, Carnegie Mellon University. He literally gave it all away, and whatever he hadn't given away yet in his life, he gave away in his will.

Now Carnegie was not a perfect guy; nobody is. But here's my point: there were plenty of his contemporaries, very rich men, who are today simply not remembered. But he is. Why? Ironically, it's because he gave everything away. I mean, they don't build statues and monuments to takers; they build them for givers. They don't go, we would like to build a statue to the most greedy man ever. No, they build statues to the people who give. So be generous. And you know, I would say also be generous with your praise. Be generous with your smiles. Be generous with your encouragement. Be generous with your love. I love this verse: Proverbs 17:22: a joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

I got to tell you, there were so many of these memorial services. They were all so touching, but it was a genuine pleasure to do the memorial service just a few weeks ago for Irene Rose McCarty. Irene, many of you know her; she was a fixture here at Twin Lakes Church. She passed away when she was 93 years old. She'd been inviting everybody to her 94th birthday, and she was so full of life, so funny, so vivacious. Every single time I saw her out here in the lobby, she had a positive word for me, like every single time. And she had a tough life. I mean, she was an orphan. She moved here to California all by herself when she was a teenager. She had a hardscrabble life, but she just determined early on, I'm just going to spread joy wherever I go. Her kids, like Linda Mitchell, who many of you know here, told me that there was always singing and dancing around the dinner table.

If you were lucky enough to get her Christmas letters, they were always full of her very funny observations on life. She could have been a comedian. When she was 93 years old, very funny, cheerful person. But it wasn't just her personality; she determined to be like this, and she was positive and witty to the last. Linda told me that the day before Irene passed away, she was laying in a room over here at Dominican Hospital, and the doors opened. Irene had been a widow for many years, and Irene is laying there dying, and Linda said a very old man walked by the door with his walker, just at an excruciatingly slow pace, and Irene watched him go past. And then as he left her sight, Irene looked up to Linda and said, you know, I think I could catch him. You know, see, she's still making you laugh a month after she died. That's just who she was, right?

But the next day, as she's dying there, she's surrounded by four generations, four generations of her family members, and she says, you know what? I'd like some private time before I go to be with God with each one of you. I mean, just think, man, I want to go like this. And she literally spent private time, just 30 seconds, 60 seconds with each one of her siblings, kids, grandkids, and great-grands. And she cupped their faces in her hands, and she spoke a blessing to them, and she prayed for them. Man, isn't that awesome? You know, you and I will never be able to determine the circumstances of how we die, but you can decide what kind of legacy you want to leave. So examine yourself. What kind of giver am I? Are you stingy with your smiles, with your time, with your money, with your effort, with your praise, or do you just love to overflow? Because this is what makes an impact.

You speak with integrity, you serve with intensity, you share generously, and finally, succeed with humility. Succeed with humility. Watch out for pride. Now we're going to do a whole message on pride later in the Proverbs series, which we'll pick up again after Easter. But look at Proverbs 29:23: a man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor. A man's pride brings him low. Some audience participation, just a quick vote here. Show of hands right now. How many people here would agree that success can ruin people? Theoretically, success can ruin. Can I see a show of hands? Alright, now think about this. How many people would say that you have seen this happen either in the media or a personal friend that you've actually seen an example of success ruining people? Can I see a show of hands? Alright, how many people believe that success would ruin you? Yeah, nobody's hands go up. See, this is what I'm talking about. Beware of pride.

Now how can you spot a humble person? Very interesting verse. Man, I love this verse: Proverbs 27:21: the crucible for silver—in other words, that's how silver is refined—and the furnace for gold. But a man is tested by the praise he receives. Yet, every time you're complimented, think this is a test. Like somebody said, praise is like gum; you ought to enjoy it, but never swallow it. I like that. So let me ask you, how do you handle praise? People come up to you and praise you about something. Does it puff you up, or do you think to yourself, well, God gave me my strengths, so whatever is one of my strengths, I'm just going to kind of reflect the praise to God because he gave them to me? See, humility is not going around going, I'm stupid, you know, I stink. That's not humility. God doesn't want you to think that way of yourself. He made you. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses, you know, knowing that I know I'm far from perfect. I know what my weaknesses are, and I want, by the grace of God, I want to work on them. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses, but also realizing God's giving you your strengths, so you give him all the praise.

So evaluate yourself on this. Ask yourself, do I secretly feel better than other people? Or am I succeeding with humility? Now, this is the slipperiest one because the minute you say, wow, I am being really humble right now, you're not. You know, proud of your humility. I'm like the homeless guy in this room right now, probably, you know. Watch out. So you want to make an impact with your life? It comes from character. Character is really the theme of the book of Proverbs. You know, we're doing this long series in Proverbs, which I'm just obsessed with right now. What a great book of the Bible, so practical. But you know, it seems like it's about a thousand different topics: anger, gossip, whatever. It's not; it's all about one topic: character.

Now I started by talking about how the thing that haunts me after doing all these memorials is what am I going to be remembered for? Well, what will you be remembered for? Just do some personal reflection. Dads, moms, grandparents, friends that are here, what are your kids or your friends or your grandkids going to remember you for? What are they going to remember about you? That you watched TV more than anything else when you were home? Dad sure loved Brady Bunch reruns. You know, is that what they're going to remember? Are they going to remember that you were never really content with life? Are they going to remember that you never had time for fun? Are they going to remember that you nagged them all the time or that you were a worrywart? Wouldn't it be great if when you died, they could say, man, I was so blessed to know him. I was—I felt blessed to know her. He was a great spiritual example. She enriched my life.

You can have that legacy through these four skills, but then this raises the million-dollar question before we close this morning, and that's how do I do that? How do I get these? I want these. How do I develop or lose character? Well, I was reading this week about the Titanic. Since its wreck has been discovered, scientists have tried to figure out how did this ship sink exactly? Because they actually know it hit an iceberg, and that had something to do with it. But they really didn't know why it sank. You know, in the movies, they always show this massive iceberg that's looming over the ship, and there's a crash and creaking, and everybody wakes up, and there's explosions. The ship immediately tilts, and everybody rushes out, and they see the ice falling onto the deck. Actually, that is just to show the special effects guys' craft. It did not happen that way. Of all the survivors, only one person was an eyewitness of the iceberg. Only one. And he said it looked like a small sailboat.

The survivors who had the wits about them said that they looked at the ship as it sank, looking for damage, and they couldn't see any damage. To them, it looked like the whole Titanic was completely intact as it went down. So it was a big mystery why it sank. Well, scientists have sent subs to the submerged wreck to find out, and they didn't see any damage. They figured the damage must be under the silt of the ocean floor. And so using subs with radar, they were actually able to penetrate the silt and find out what the actual damage was, and it surprised everybody because instead of a huge gash, they found six narrow slits that would have been below the waterline, impossible to ever see. And not one of those slits is wider than a man's hand. Apparently, a small iceberg hit the steel and popped it six times, making six little gashes at just the right spots.

Listen, small damage below the waterline, invisible to most, can sink a mighty ship. And that's exactly how you and I lose our character. You know, we think it's going to be a massive mountain that we see coming that we can steer to avoid, but it'll be tiny compromises punching little holes below the waterline that nobody else sees. And enough small compromises behind closed doors, invisible to most, can ultimately sink your life. I'm saying character is determined by the choices you make on a daily basis. How do I develop or lose character? Daily choices. You choose to read or choose to watch things that are ennobling, that inspire, that challenge, and your character grows incrementally. Or you choose to do or watch or listen to or read things that debase you, things that bring out fear or lust or greed or envy or pride or anger in you, and your character gets damaged. Maybe just by a hairline fracture, but it can lead to fatal compromise.

And then there's a second key component of character: it's who you hang out with, right? You start to resemble your closest friends. Adults can see this in teenagers, right? It doesn't say what they—it doesn't matter what they believe; they start to look like whoever they hang out with, right? Same exact thing with you and me. Long-term friendships mold your character. Now, if this is true, wouldn't it be awesome if you could hang out on a daily basis with a friend who is the perfect example of all four of these character qualities? You were just around them every day; you would start to change. Being around somebody like this, and you would start to reflect this kind of character to other people and change them too, right? Well, guess what? You can hang out with somebody like this because the perfect picture of this kind of character is Jesus Christ.

I mean, talk about integrity, serving, generosity, humility. That's a description of Christ. On Palm Sunday, the people wanted to make him their political king, but then Jesus spoke with costly integrity about their real problem. He served with intensity as he washed the feet of the disciples. He shared his blood with generosity for all, and because he succeeded with such humility, he was exalted by God and glorified and raised from the dead and worshipped. And now you can have a relationship with this amazing person that changes you from the inside out. It's not about trying harder; it's about knowing him. You know, I talked about Irene McCarty. This was the secret to her character. The day she died, her daughter Linda told me that every once in a while, she would look up at the foot of her bed at Dominican, and she would see someone that apparently nobody else would see. And Linda said her face would light up like an excited little girl, and she would say, well, hi Jesus! Hi Jesus!

And then she began to sing that old Sunday school song, "Jesus loves me." And she smiled, and tears came down her face as she said, "Jesus loves me, this I know." And then one by one, these four generations of her family that were packed into that hospital room began to sing it with her, and then she died. And their last memory of her is going to be singing "Jesus loves me" with her. And I'm so glad because that is the key to being a person like Irene McCarty. Listen, like I said, you cannot determine the circumstances of your last moment, but you can decide here and now today on the kind of legacy you want to leave. And it starts when you know, like Irene did, that Jesus loves you, that the God of the universe sent somebody to this earth because he loves you that much. And then you think, I want to follow him with everything I got for the rest of my life. That will start to mold you, even subconsciously, into somebody with this kind of character because you are following Christ.

Jesus, of whom the Bible says, being in very nature God, he did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. And therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Can I hear an Amen from the church today? That's the Jesus that we serve, and that's the Jesus that we want to pray to right now. Would you bow your heads in a word of prayer with me?

Heavenly Father, God, help us, every one of us in this room, to know Jesus loves me. No matter what my performance, no matter if my boss loves me or hates me or my friends love me or hate me, Jesus loves me. And help that to give me the kind of confidence to develop this rock-solid, humble servant heart character. And God, if all 3,500 people who came here determined this is the kind of legacy I want to leave, how Santa Cruz County and the world would be changed. God, make this church that kind of a place that's just a beacon of people who have this kind of humble character.

Now with everybody's head still bowed and every eye still closed, it's Palm Sunday. This is it. This is a major day in the Christian calendar. And I want to give you an opportunity to do something. Maybe you've been coming here to Twin Lakes Church for a while, maybe a few weeks, maybe months, maybe years. And something's been building up inside of you, and it's the desire to say to Jesus definitively, I want to be a follower of yours. Maybe you've been coming, kind of checking it out, but this morning you feel like I want to step across the line and follow Christ and develop this kind of character in my heart. I'd invite you to just kind of settle the issue right now and silently in your heart, pray a prayer like this as I lead you. Say something like, dear Jesus, I don't understand exactly what this means to make you my Lord and Savior and to be your disciple. I have a feeling nobody really knows exactly what that means, exactly what the implications are in their lives when they make that decision, but I know that's what I want. And so today, Jesus, I say to you, yes. I want to follow you, Jesus. I want to develop this kind of character in my life, and I want to do it by following you. I want to make you my Lord and my Savior.

Now some people here made that decision years ago, and they're just now coming back to you. This isn't about church membership. This isn't about identifying yourself as some denomination. This is about following Jesus. And so if that's you, if you feel like you need to make that recommitment or re-surrender, you can say, Jesus, I've been following my own way, but today, Palm Sunday 2013, I want to lift my hands and say, Jesus, you are God. You are Lord. You are my Savior, and I want to recommit my life to you.

Now with, again, every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to do something that we don't do every week here, but I want to do it at strategic times for those of you who are making that first-time commitment or recommitment so that I can pray for you. I want you to be able to remember I stepped across the line of commitment on Palm Sunday in '13. And so if you prayed that prayer of commitment or recommitment, would you just slip up your hands as everybody else still has their eyes closed? Lots of hands going up. Thank you so much. God, you see these hands going up. I just pray that you would bless all these people who've made that commitment or recommitment and that you would help them know to the core of their soul today that you love them and accept them and lavish your grace upon them and help them to follow you with all their hearts. And we pray this in Jesus' name.