Empowered by the Spirit: Living as God's Representative
[Thrive in 25 - Week IV]
Pastor Clay NeSmith | Jan. 19, 2025
(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)
We're a church that's very excited about the future return of Jesus.
Come on, somebody.
Let's give him some praise in this place today.
He's already come once as a suffering servant, but he will return again as the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
Come on, somebody.
He is the great I Am.
He is the great I Am.
And I wanna encourage you today as him being the Lord of your life, how to operate in a world that is absolutely gone crazy.
And again, I do believe that God puts us in this world to bring order into chaos.
Come on, somebody.
To begin to be his representatives in a world that's chaotic.
I do believe that God has put you here to bring order in to chaos.
If you have your Bibles with you today, I'm gonna invite you to open it up to Acts chapter one.
Acts chapter one.
We're gonna start with verse three there in Acts chapter one today.
So I'm gonna give you a second to open your Bible up, but I do wanna remind you today that you are a representative of the Lord himself.
The Bible says in the book of Genesis in chapter one, that God created human beings in his image, in his likeness.
He created them both male and female.
And he created us for a purpose.
And maybe a little better translation of that verse there in Genesis one verse 26 would be, not so much that God created us in his image, but that God created us as his image here in the earth.
However, the wheels came off in Genesis three and human beings have missed the mark of God's glorious standard for their life ever since.
But I wanna talk to you today about being the image of God today a little bit and what that really means here in 2025.
Because it looks a little bit different than it did whenever they wrote about that in Genesis one, but I do believe that the purpose for humanity has not shifted, it has not changed.
We serve a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
And I want you to know if you're a human being, you are not created by accident.
And nothing in your life can thwart God's plan for your life and you can be God's representative in this world if you'll set your mind on who God says that you are.
But it's very, very important to not get confused by all the other voices around you and hear the voice of the Almighty.
Hear the voice of your creator.
God has given us something called the Bible, the word to speak into our lives so that we can really know who we are and begin to operate in who he says that we are in this earth.
Again, if you have your Bibles, I wanna share with you a passage right after the resurrection of Jesus.
And it's in Acts chapter one, as the early church began, the Bible says this in verse three.
It says, during the 40 days after he suffered and died, he had already been nailed to a cross.
He had already died, but now he's resurrected.
It's a new day.
It's a different time period.
So it says, during the 40 days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, those who he had spoken to before he had died.
And he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive, that death didn't defeat him.
He was no longer in the grave.
All the brutality that was brought on him on that cross didn't hold him back from fulfilling the purpose of why he came to earth.
The Bible says he proved to them that he's alive.
How many of you know today that Jesus is alive?
Come on.
And the Bible says, and then he continues, and he talks to them about the kingdom of God.
Very important.
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the father sends you the gift he promised.
Yes, Jesus is a gift, salvation is a gift, but God promises all of those who have trusted the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus, another gift.
And how you interact with this gift really determines how well you will operate as his representative.
He says, I wanna remind you of the gift that God had promised, as I told you before.
Jesus had talked about this gift in John 14, 15, 16, before he went to the cross, before he suffered, before he died.
Now it's after he died and says, hey, I wanna remind you about the gift I talked to you about back in the day.
He says, John baptized with water, but in just a few days, he tells these disciples, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
That's the gift, the Holy Spirit.
He says, John immersed people in water.
He says, but I'm going to immerse you in the Holy Spirit, the Pneuma of God, the Spirit of God, the living God.
He says, so when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?
And he replied, well, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.
But in the meantime, he says, when that gift comes, you'll receive power, by say power.
So this gift, the Holy Spirit, is to give you power as a representative of God.
But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses.
What is power of God supposed to help each and every one of us do?
Be what?
A witness, right?
A witness, a testimony, a representative of who God is.
You'll be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
After saying this, the Bible says he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, they could no longer see him.
As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them, men of Galilee, they said.
Why are you standing here staring into heaven?
Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.
And so, these two white men in robes, they remind these guys that, you know what, Jesus has ascended, he's gone.
But he will return, but in the meantime, understand God has sent you a gift, the Holy Spirit, for you to be empowered, everybody say empowered.
To be who God has designed you to be in this earth, to be a representative in this earth of who he's designed you to be.
And 10 days later, at this festival at Pentecost, the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes upon the people and fills the people, look what it says.
It says on the day of Pentecost, all the believers, this is after Jesus had spoke to them, it says all the believers were meeting together in one place and suddenly there was a sound from heaven like a roaring and mighty windstorm and it filled the house where they were sitting.
And then what looked like flames of tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.
And everyone present, everyone present, all the believers present, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit who gave them this ability, the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
Gave them the ability to do something they had never done before.
Gave them the supernatural ability to speak in other languages like they had never done before so that the people who had gathered at Pentecost from all over the world could understand the message of who Christ is in sending or dying for people's sin on a cross and sending the Holy Spirit to empower people to be these witnesses all over the world.
And I would argue the fact today that God gives each and every one of us an ability to do something we've never done before to be his representatives in this earth to declare who Jesus is out of our life.
And again, it might not be the ability to speak in another language, but the Bible says that God gives believers special abilities, special abilities to do what?
To join up, to gather, to do what?
To represent him in the world so that the earth may know who he is so the world would know who he is.
And my friend, there is so much more than coming to Christ for the forgiveness of your sin and being saved and reserving a place in eternity.
No, no, no, the Bible says that no, what happens is when we come to Christ, you know what, it does reserve our eternity, but it gives us the ability to fulfill the purpose of why we're created and put in this earth and do something great and mighty and for the name of God, for his name's sake, and to be the representatives, be images of him in this earth.
It's an amazing, amazing opportunity.
And you know, the Bible says this in Romans chapter eight, verse 11.
It says, the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, speaking to believers, lives in you.
God lives in you.
And just as God raised Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by the same spirit living within you.
So he's given life, the purpose of life, to your mortal body so that you can do what God has designed you to do in this earth.
First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 19 says this.
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.
So if you believed in who Jesus is, the death, burial, resurrection, and the ascension of Christ, and that God sent this other gift, the Holy Spirit, to live in you, then the Bible says you are not to stifle this spirit.
I wonder how many of us are stifling the spirit of the living God in our life.
In other words, not operating in who he's designed us to be.
Not taking on this special ability he has given us, and not being his representative in this earth, and bringing the good news of who God is, and the goodness of God, and the power of the living God, and the majesty of the living God, and being an image-bearer in this earth of who he is.
I wonder how many of us are stifling the work of God.
I'm gonna invite you today to begin to listen about the function of the Holy Spirit in your life.
And the third person in the Trinity, why that gift was sent by Jesus and poured out into this earth.
And my hopes and prayer is that it's gonna encourage you today to not stifle or not to just sit back, but to step in to who God's designed you to be.
My friend, the world is waiting on you to step up to the plate and be this representative.
The world is waiting on us to come together and be this representative of God, this image of God in the world.
God created us as his image, in his likeness, and he put us in this earth, both male and female to be representatives.
And as a representative, we're to be in relationship with our creator.
We're to be in partnership with other people, and we're to be in leadership, leading this world in who our great God is and governing this earth, not lording over this earth, you know what, not beating down this earth, leading this earth, supplying for this earth, stewarding this earth, being who God has called us to be in this earth.
We are the image of the living God right here on earth today, tomorrow, and forever.
Come on, somebody, you are created human.
You're not gonna change that because it's who God designed you to be.
He designed you to be a human being.
And again, so many of us are not being human and being the image bearer of our great God, the representative of our great God.
And God wants us to step up in the whole reason he fills you with the Holy Spirit of God, the power of God, so that you can step up and be who God's designed you to be.
So let's look at what it means to operate by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You don't have to operate by anything else but God's power that lives in you.
Other words, this isn't self-manufactured.
This is God speaking into me as a human being, as a male human being, and being exactly who He's designed me to be in this earth.
And my friends, I promise you, His word will speak to you, whether you're male or female, in the same exact way, if you will listen up to what God says through the power of His Spirit.
He will elevate you to be all He's designed you to be.
No question in my mind.
He put you here to be a representative.
We'll talk a little bit more about that in the coming weeks, but it's very, very important to understand that you were created as the image of God in this earth.
Operating by the Holy Spirit, I have to know some things about the Holy Spirit, and I have to know that He is an advocate.
Anybody ever had an advocate for you?
We have groups that have advocates all the time, right?
They chant for them.
They speak on their behalf.
Come on.
They elevate the cause.
Come on.
They do all kinds of things.
They're advocates, advocates, advocates.
Sometimes it's wrong.
Sometimes it's right.
But the Bible says that the spirit of the living God is your advocate and my advocate to become everything we're designed to be.
Look what it says in John chapter 16, verse seven.
Jesus says, best I go away.
He says, because if I don't, the advocate won't come.
He says, if I do go away, then I will send him to you.
He was speaking to those early apostles in John 16.
But understand, this advocate, this Holy Spirit that God sent at a Pentecost to give them that special ability is the same one he sends to you in operating in your special ability.
He's an advocate.
He's for you and he's for his purpose in you and through you.
And so if God gives you a special ability, a special gift, understand first and foremost, it belongs to his family.
And that gift belongs to his church.
His family is made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
And God gives you a special gift to operate in the family.
And he wants you to be all he's designed you to be in the family.
He's an advocate of you becoming all he's designed you to be in the family.
He is for you, he is not against you.
He is in your corner.
He is cheering you on in this fight of faith.
And he's saying, you will continue to win round after round if you will fight the fight of faith with the gift I put in you and you partner with other people and you do it together.
I am for you, I am not against you.
Come on, somebody.
You ever seen a boxer with an advocate in his corner?
Remember old Rocky?
He had a advocate, didn't he?
Mickey.
Oh man, Mickey was in Rocky's corner and he was, Rocky was getting the snot beat out of him.
Staggering all around and old man Mickey is in the corner being Rocky's advocate.
You can do it, Rocky.
You can do it, Rocky.
You can do it, Rocky.
Understand the Holy Spirit is your Mickey.
He is in your corner.
You may be staggering around.
Come on, somebody.
You may be getting your blood, your nose bloodied a little bit.
You may be getting punched in the face, but you listen to your advocate.
You're gonna get through it.
We're gonna get through it.
It's not over.
See, in some rounds of life, I wanna quit.
I wanna give up.
I wanna pull over to the side.
I wanna throw in the towel, but I got an advocate.
He's the Holy Spirit.
He lives in me.
He's for me.
He's not against me.
And he reminds me the fight's not over.
It's not over until he says it's over.
Some things may be coming at you to tell you it's over, but the function of the Holy Spirit in your life, first and foremost, is to begin to help you understand that God wants you to succeed.
He wants you to do amazing things in your life.
He is in your corner, and he wants to encourage you to become all he's designed you to be.
That word advocate there is a word that can mean to encourage, to comfort, to counsel, and understand if you'll learn to commune with God, be in this relationship with God.
You're created to be in relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit will counsel you, will tell you.
You know what, whenever, when you're going through difficult moments, I'm here, it's not over.
We got another round to fight.
There's more to come to all of this.
You're a winner in the end.
You're gonna make it.
Don't you pull over.
Don't you pull over to the side.
Don't you quit.
Don't you throw in the towel.
No, this is a function of the spirit of the living God in the life of a believer.
He's an advocate, but more so than an advocate, the Bible goes on to say there in John 16, verse 13, that he's also a guide.
Look what it says, John 13, or John 16, verse 13, it says, when the spirit of truth comes, Jesus speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not lead you astray, my friends.
He does not make mistakes.
He knows the truth, and he will lead you into all truth if you will submit your life and follow the guide.
He'll lead us into all truth.
He'll help us together become who God has designed us to be and lead us into all truth if we'll listen to him and be about his business in this world, being human, being who he's designed us to be, being image bearers.
A guide, a guide's an important thing.
The word of God can be a guide.
It's alive.
It has application for your life.
It can tell you, it doesn't tell you, you know, every detail about life.
It doesn't tell you if Adam had a navel or not, okay?
But it will guide you and he, the Holy Spirit, will guide you into all truth when you read the word, if you'll submit yourself to his authority and be about his business and his plan.
God's for you, he's not against you.
He wants to use you in a great and powerful way.
He wants to do great and mighty things in you and through you, and he will guide you into all truth.
A guide, it's kind of like read the instruction book and do what it says.
It may not make sense.
I mean, some of you have put Christmas toys together, right?
It don't always make sense.
Why do they put this long screw in here?
Why are they telling me to put it in this thing right here at this particular stage in the game?
Well, the guide says, do it, do it.
Because what you're gonna do is you're gonna get to the end and figure out what that long screw was.
Oh, shoot, I should have put it in there to begin with.
I gotta take it all apart.
And it's giving you clear instruction on what to do, when to do, and how to do it.
But you gotta pay attention to the guide.
How many of us try to do life, we go to the, wait a minute, we go to the guide after the fact.
See, this is the challenge.
This is why you got so many hiccups in your life.
This is why so many things are seeming so difficult is because you're trying to go to the guide after the fact, instead of commune with him before the fact, and step into who he's designed you to be.
And again, sometimes we're trying to do this life on our own, trying to make sense of it by ourself.
And I'm inviting you today to know that the Holy Spirit of God is for you.
He is not against you.
And he will guide you into all truth if you will submit yourself to his authority and begin to let him speak into your heart and your life.
It's not all he is, the Holy Spirit of God, the one who feels your life.
So you and I can be a representative in this earth, not as an individual, but as a people.
So see, this is where we get off track sometimes.
We try to make all of God about all of me.
And God is for me, but he's for you too.
And he's for the next person down the road too.
And he's for the person that he created as his image across the world too.
He's for all of us coming together in companionship, in partnership and representing him together in this world.
And he, the helper, the Holy Spirit will come alongside of each and every one of us and help us do that.
It will invite him in and let him come and be a warrior in our life to be who he's designed to be.
The Bible says he's a teacher.
Everybody say a teacher.
This is the Holy Spirit of God.
The one who fell on those people at Pentecost and filled those early apostles at Pentecost to give them the special ability to do what they needed to do in order to communicate the message to people from all over the world at Pentecost.
The Bible says that he is a teacher.
Look what it says, John 14, verse 26.
When the father sends the advocate as my representative, Jesus says, that is the Holy Spirit going ahead and telling you who the advocate is again.
He says, he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
You wanna help your memory about who God says you are?
First of all, know who he says you are and then go to the teacher over and over so he can remind you of who you are.
God did not make a mistake.
I don't care if the accident happened.
God didn't make a mistake.
And God has a future, he has a purpose and he has a plan.
And the reality of it is the enemy will tell you that the accident thwarted all of God's plan for all of humanity down through the ages.
No, God's ways are higher than my ways.
His ways are higher than your ways.
He knows what the end looks like and he ain't made a mistake from day one.
Come on, somebody, you are the living image of God.
Stop letting something else tell you who you are and listen to the voice of the teacher.
See, a great teacher is found in the person of Christ.
He's a savior, but he's a teacher.
Matter of fact, the people around him called him rabbi.
But great teachers don't just give you information.
The rabbi didn't just give information, he gave opportunity.
See, that's what great teachers do.
I never really cared for a teacher that just gave me information, for me to regurgitate the information.
Two plus two equals six.
No, I'm just teasing, see?
Just seeing if you were paying attention.
Come on, somebody.
But the reality of it is, is information comes to you for a purpose, and Jesus will give you information.
He gave information through miracles.
He gave all kinds of information.
But then what he did is, he didn't only give information, he allowed those apostles, apostles, it would illustrate some things that he was teaching, then he would allow those apostles to begin to step into the opportunity and go and try some things with the power of God in their life also.
Remember, Jesus once, he sent out a group of people to cast out demons and do all kinds of things, but they couldn't do it.
And they came back and they began to talk to Jesus about why they couldn't do these particular things.
And Jesus began to dialogue with them and bring correction to their lives so that the next time they go out, they could possibly do it.
But see, this is what a great teacher does.
A great teacher gives you the information, then they illustrate the information, and then they give you the opportunity to use the information, to apply the information, come on.
And then whenever you miss, they circle back around and tell you what you did wrong so that you don't keep missing and not do things right.
But most of the time, when the teacher comes in the correction mode, it says, hey, that wasn't right, you missed.
Oh, you hurt my feelings.
Think about this, do you really believe that the coach is for you or you believe he's against you?
Do you believe that God is for you or do you believe that he's against you?
Because I can tell you the God that's for me is constantly correcting me in what I got wrong so that I can get it right and step into the fullness of who he says I am.
Jesus is way too good to just tell you you've missed the mark of God's glorious standard.
He's a good teacher and he'll tell you how to hit the mark of God's glorious standard to stop sinning in your life if you will listen to him.
And he gives you the opportunity to miss and then get back up and swing the club again.
This is the beauty of our great God.
He don't tell you to keep on missing, he's told you how to get it right.
But if you do miss, he loves you anyway.
You steal his boy, you steal his girl.
You know, I have a biological son, cold in case you don't know who he is.
He's down in Charleston.
He's missed a lot.
A long life's journey.
But the reality of it is, he's my son.
And there ain't nothing that can change that.
He's always gonna be my son.
I'm always gonna be for him.
I'm never gonna be against him.
I'm always gonna be in his corner.
I'm always gonna try to teach him.
I'm always gonna try to correct him.
I'm always gonna try to get it right.
I'm always gonna say you can get back up and you can do it.
Understand this is who you are to the living God, your son.
And if you messed up, listen to the teacher, watch what he illustrated, look at Christ like, WWJD, what would Jesus do?
Look at the teacher, get back up, take the correction and apply it to your life and see what God can do.
Which leads me to the next point.
Is the Holy Spirit of God?
He's not only a teacher, he's not only an advocate, he's not only a God, but he's an affirmer.
He's a good God.
Listen to what the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 16.
It says for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.
See a lot of us don't have affirmation in our life.
Affirmation is so important in your life.
To have an affirming hand on you and know that you belong.
And I want you to know today that you know what?
You may not have been affirmed by any human being in all of your life, but there's a God who will affirm you as his child.
If you will begin to trust him as your father.
He is not some father that sits far off and don't care about the details of your life.
He is a father that cares about every detail of your life.
And he will put his hand on your head no matter what age you are.
And he will affirm you as his child, as his children, as his boy, as his girl, if you will allow him to do it.
Psychologists tell us that affirmation from a father in this earth is vital many times to people's well-being.
A father who affirms, that's my boy, that's my girl, no matter what she does, what he does, I affirm them.
They are mine and my hand is on them.
I am not against them, I may spank their butt, but I will always be there for them and I affirm them as my child.
I know sometimes that's hard for many of us to receive in this world because we might not have gotten that from another person as a human being.
But what I'm desperately inviting you to do is let the One who created you affirm you.
It will change everything.
You don't have to live without.
You have a Father in heaven who knows all your needs.
And He invites you to be a part of His family and do great and mighty things with your life.
And my Bible says that God is so good through the Holy Spirit that He affirms me to do every good work that I'm created to do.
Rest in that.
Sometimes what's on the receiving end of what I say may not get accolades.
But at the end of the day, when I wrestle with what the Spirit of the Living God says through me as a spokesperson of God, and I say it, I can go beat myself up because I'm looking for affirmation from maybe the hand clap or the frown or the person who got up and walked out and all of these kind of things.
I'm looking for those affirmations sometimes and I'll get discouraged.
But when I go away and I say, God, I did the best of what I could do with what you put in my heart today to speak, you know, and he affirms me, you know what it does?
And again, I'm not saying this in a negative way, but I'm saying it gives me the courage in spite of people's response to get back up and do it again because he's totally affirming me.
And this is what I called you to do.
My friend, I don't care what your occupation is.
I don't care what your age is.
I don't care what position you were in.
You can operate in the fullness of that if you get your affirmation from your heavenly father, the Holy Spirit of God.
He is an advocate.
He is a guide.
He is a teacher.
He is an affirmer.
And I got one last thing I want to share with you.
He's a good gift giver.
Look what it says in first Corinthians chapter 12, verses four through seven says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, the same spirit is the source of them all.
It says there are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.
God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other so we can become these representatives so we can partner up with each other and begin to reveal God to the world.
I believe with my whole heart that God's been inviting us into this game for a long time, but he has now spoken to the heart of Valorous Church in this day, in this age, and in this time in 2025 and says it is time for the church to come together.
Come on somebody, to come together.
I'm speaking to you.
Bring your gift together.
Bring your ability together.
Bring who God says you are together.
Come on somebody, bring who God designed you to be.
Hey, hey lady, God created you as a female.
Hey man, God created you as a male.
Bring all of you to the table and let's watch the power of the Holy Spirit put a special gift in you.
Learn to operate in that gift, no matter where you are, whether you're in the church house on Sunday or you're in the school house on Monday.
Come on, no matter where you are, learn to operate in the gift.
Put the gift together.
Partner with other people.
Be in the right relationship and let's lead the world into victory.
Come on somebody.
Let's strive.
Let's strive in 25.
It may be what you've always been looking for.
Maybe you just haven't fully give yourself to the work of the Lord.
Maybe you've been hurt on the journey somewhere.
It's time to get over it.
Slap your neighbor and say, it's time to get over it.
Tell your other neighbor, we got work to do.
See, this is what happens when the Father affirms you, when the Father gives you the gift, when the Father tells you who you are.
We're not, yeah, iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another, and we're in this together, and we're going to have all kinds of challenges, but a great team for God can do great and mighty things.
And the Bible says we're to bring victory into this world.
We're to bring leadership into this world.
We're here to govern the earth.
We're to help things succeed.
We're to make things better.
We're to begin to steward all around us, take care of things around us, care about what God created, and be these leaders in the world.
My friend, there's a lot of people that are walking in darkness, but God calls them to walk in the light.
And let's be that church that thrives in 25.
Let's let the power of the Holy Spirit work in our abilities and work us together to do great and mighty things.
And let's see what God can do.
Let me pray for you today.
God, I thank you so much for the ability that you've given each and every one of us.
God, my prayer is really that we would first and foremost get our affirmation from you.
God, know who you called us to be.
And God, would we have the boldness to link up and have companionship with other people to display this together, to work together in the rich variety of how you've given these gifts.
And may we be your representatives in the earth.
Jesus, there's one here today that hasn't received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
God, I pray first and foremost that they would step in to that relationship only found in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as he came to pay the penalty of sin.
My friend, the Holy Spirit can be working all around you, but in order for him to come live in you and become this advocate, this guide, this teacher, this one to coach you into all greatness, my friend, you have to submit your life to the Lordship of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit's at work in this world.
He's pushing people towards the fullness of the cross of Christ and what that means, towards the resurrection and what that means.
And maybe you're in here today and you really don't have this connection to God.
I want you to know that connection simply begins through believing who Jesus is in your life.
The Bible says it is by grace through our faith that we are salvaged.
And no matter how old you are, how young you are, that cross that Jesus died on on Calvary is an invitation to you to know how great and vast God's love is.
And if you've never put your faith in that Jesus and you're not operating in the fullness of who He says you can be, I invite you today to put faith in Christ.
Just say, God, today, I trust Jesus as my Savior.
I recognize I'm a sinner and I need a Savior in my life.
God, I put my faith in Him today.
And I believe that He came to rescue me from my sin and pay the penalty of my sin so I can live in right relationship with You.
And I want to do that from this day forward.
For all of us who have stepped into the family of God, I'm going to challenge you.
Discover your ability.
Listen to the Holy Spirit of God and become all God's designed you to be.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.