We were singing that song earlier, and every time we sing it, it always messes me up. Talking about the goodness of God. Singing things like, "All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good. And with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God."

It's crazy, because sometimes we go through things in our lives, and in the moment we're going through them, we wouldn't call that thing good. I think about when Paige and I went through our miscarriage. In that moment, I don't know if I would have looked at that and said, "Man, this just feels good." But what's crazy is looking back, I see that God can take a situation like that, one that does not look good and is not good, and He has the ability to turn it for good.

How many of you have seen that in your life? You were walking through something. You lost that relationship. Maybe you lost that job. You lost that dream. And at the time you were like, "There is no way God can make something good out of this." But when you look back, you realize, "Oh no, wait. You have always been faithful. You have always been good."

You start to see what Romans 8:28 says: in all things. Not some things. In all things, God is able to work it together for good. He doesn't call it good. He just says, "I can make it good. I can work it together for the good of those who love Me, who have been called according to My purpose." So we get to a place where it's like, maybe God isn't going to change the situation I'm in, because maybe He's trying to change something in me. In that moment, He's trying to bring goodness out of me.

So I just wonder. Sometimes someone asks, "How are you doing?" and we say, "Good." And if everything isn't perfect, we say, "Not good." Could we get to a place where we say, "No, no, no. I can call this good in advance"? Because even though it doesn't look the way I think it should look, God still has the ability, He has the power, to take something that is not good and make it good. We serve an incredible God.

What happened when Moses asked to see God's glory?

I'm excited for today. If you haven't figured it out, we're talking about goodness, the goodness of God. I want to read a scripture with you real quick, and then we'll grab our seats. It's found in Exodus 33. We're in a series about the fruit of the Spirit, and the reason we're doing this series is that the life of a Christian needs to be a life marked by His fruit, the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us. And as we were looking at goodness, I was like, "This is the best scripture to set us up."

In Exodus 33, the nation of Israel is in turmoil. They've gone through the Red Sea. They've been delivered out of Egypt. Moses went up Mount Sinai and got the Ten Commandments. He came down, and they were worshiping a golden calf. He broke the tablets, because the covenant was broken. And then he goes back up the mountain, and God says to him, "Can you just go to the Promised Land? I'm not going to go with you, because I might destroy these rebellious people." He's like, "You just go ahead. I'll send an angel ahead of you. You'll get there. You'll get the thing I promised. But My presence isn't going to go with you."

And Moses says to God, "God, please go with us." Exodus 33:16: "What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" Your presence among us sets your people apart. And that challenged me so much, because I wonder: when I go into situations, are people like, "Oh, Brad is set apart. Why is he set apart?" Because he carries God's presence with him. Do we carry God's presence? Are we actually showing the fruit God calls us to show?

So God says, "Okay, Moses, I know you by name. Because you have asked, I will go with you." And then I love this. Verse 18. Moses is like, "Okay, great, God, You're going to go with me." And he says, "Now show me your glory." God, show me the fullness of who You are. Show me.

And God responds: "And the Lord said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.'" Oh, you want to see God in His full glory? Take a look at His goodness. He's like, "Oh, you asked for My glory. Great. Here comes My goodness. My goodness is going to pass by you." And He continues: "and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence... But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." We can't see the fullness of who God is. It is greater than we could ever imagine.

So He says, "When my glory passes by," and now God is calling His goodness His glory, "I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

We're saying, "God, I want to see Your glory." And God is saying, "Great. You want to see My glory? I'm about to show you My goodness. And because you have now seen it, you can now reflect it. Because you've seen it, you can show it." He puts it on display for us so that we can put it on display for others.

So Lord, I just want to thank You that You're so good, God, and You are so good at being God. Lord, I pray that You'll move today, that You'll speak, that You'll show us Your goodness in a miraculous way, so that we can show goodness to others. We love You. We praise You. In Jesus' name. And everybody said amen.

What is the fruit of the Spirit?

You can go ahead and grab your seats. Are you excited to learn about goodness today? We want to see His goodness. We're going through a series called Life by the Spirit, and we're talking through the fruit of the Spirit. This is our values series as a church. Here's why. A big thing for us when it came to the fruit of the Spirit is that we didn't want to make up a set of values. We were like, "Okay, we're called Spirit Church. So if we're going to have any values, we're going to make God's values our values. And if His values are the fruit of the Spirit, that's going to be our values." We decided that from the beginning.

Our theme verse for the series is Galatians 5:22: "But the fruit of the Spirit is." In other words, the result of having the Holy Spirit in your life is this: love. Say "love." The way we say it at Spirit is this: love is our motivation. Then joy. We say joy is our attitude. Peace is our posture. We say patience is our practice, because you know you've got to practice patience. You don't just get patience. You've got to go get it. It takes some time. Kindness we talked about last week: kindness is our way. And the way we say goodness is this: goodness is our pursuit. It's something we need to pursue.

It continues: faithfulness, which we'll talk about next week. Gentleness, and then self-control. You'd better be here for self-control. It's going to be great. I'm so excited. Week nine, it's coming.

It says, "Against such things there is no law." What does that mean? There's no limit. There were never any laws written against these things. In the Old Testament they would follow the law, and what God is saying in this moment is that there has never been a law written against this. Which means that if you're ever wondering what to do in a decision or a situation, the best thing you can do is lead with the values of the fruit of the Spirit.

You're like, "I don't know God's will for this situation." God's will is what love does. God's will is what joy does. So if you're like, "I don't know what to do," great. What you need to do is love and joy and peace. And if you handle situations with those values, you will always be in alignment with God's will.

Why do Christians need fruit?

So often we're like, "Okay, why do we need fruit as Christians?" There are a couple of reasons.

The first reason is this: fruit is evidence. It's the evidence that we actually belong to God. If there's an orange tree, what kind of fruit are you going to expect? Oranges. And if you go to an orange tree and there are no oranges, it might not be an orange tree. It might be a confused thorn tree. We're like, "I'm a Christian." But when I look at you, there's no evidence that you're a Christian. If someone says they're a Christian, and over time there is no fruit, it's proof that over time there is no relationship. Fruit is the evidence that we follow God. That's what the Bible says in Matthew 7:16: "By their fruit you will recognize them." So number one, fruit is evidence.

Number two, fruit is an indicator. When you look at a tree, its fruit indicates how healthy that tree is. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit actually shows whether you're getting your Christianity right. Because sometimes a tree can look good from far, but it's far from good. You bite into that apple, and inside it's rotten. Sometimes someone can do a good action, but then you realize that underneath that good action was manipulation. It looked good from far, but it was far from good. Fruit is an indicator of how healthy the tree is. And the deeper the root, the better the fruit. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 12:33: "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit."

Fruit is also a sign of your maturity. When you plant a brand-new tree, you don't expect it to have all this fruit. But over time you do expect that. It's a sign of maturity. When we get saved, we are regenerated. In a moment we are justified. God gives us a new heart. But then we go on this process of sanctification, which means that if there are parts of our lives that don't look like God, maturity is letting the Holy Spirit prune those things so we can bear more fruit.

In South Africa we have these avocado trees. How do we say it here? Avocado. However you say it, I'm going to change it every time. I would see these avocado trees, and they were five stories high, with all this fruit and the branches just weighing down. That's a mature Christian. You're like, "Oh my gosh, it's so miraculous the way they're just bearing fruit." It's a sign of our maturity. The more we prune, the more we're going to be able to bear fruit.

Our mission here at Spirit is this: we lead people to fully follow Jesus. Not follow Him. Fully follow Him. Because there are some areas in our lives where we're following Jesus, but we're like, "Ah, not that part." And Jesus is like, "No, no, no." We're going to fully follow Him. In every single place in our lives we're going to say, "Okay, God, I surrender, and I give everything to You."

The Holy Spirit has to come. Why? Because you can't learn fruit. You cannot fake fruit. You cannot force fruit. The Holy Spirit has to come. You can't will this. It's not outer willpower. It's inner transformation. So today what we're working on is God working goodness in us. Say "goodness."

Can people tell you've been with Jesus?

The challenge is that so often we can know about God, but we don't know God. There are a lot of people who say, "I'm a Christian. I go to church. I check the box." Now, I love that you're in church. There are so many promises in the Bible that cannot be fulfilled unless you're in a church. You want freedom? The Bible says freedom comes when we confess our sins to one another. You want to know your purpose? Your purpose is discovered in the body of Christ. So I love that you're here. The challenge is when we get to a place where we can list all the times we served God publicly in church, but we can't list all the times we were with Him privately.

So it comes to the point where I need to ask this: can people smell that you've been with Jesus? Do you look like you've actually been with Jesus? You can know Scripture and bash people over the head with it. But is there a fragrance?

Apparently I wear a lot of cologne. People are laughing because they know that's the case. Yeah, I wear a lot of cologne. The first time I heard about it, someone came up to me and said, "You smell nice." And I was like, "Oh, thank you. Never too much of a good thing." Yes, there is. When it comes to cologne, there's definitely too much of a good thing. So at first I was like, "Oh, I smell nice." And then eventually someone came up to me and said, "Were you in the conference room?" And I'm like, "Yeah, an hour ago. Why?" And they were like, "I can smell you." They could smell that I had been in the conference room. Get this: my scent was evidence of my presence.

When I go and hug Paige, she's like, "Oh no." And I'm like, "Why? You're supposed to love me. You're my wife." And she goes, "No, now I smell like you." The scent was evidence of closeness.

Can people smell that you've been with Jesus? The scent is evidence of His presence. You've been in the secret place. And now when you go somewhere, people are like, "Oh my gosh, wherever Brad goes, goodness pops up. Righteousness pops up. Integrity pops up." Are we in a place where people can tell? Because we don't just carry His name. We carry His presence. We don't just carry His name. We carry His fragrance.

Acts 4:13, talking about Peter and John: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." Can people take note that you have been with Jesus, because you're carrying the fragrance of who He is?

That's exactly what happened to Moses. He has this encounter with God, and Exodus 34:29 says, "When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord." People couldn't even look at him, and he had to put on a veil because he was so radiant. My question is this: are we radiating who God is in every situation? God has placed you in the situations you're in so that you can radiate His goodness.

How do we recognize, receive, and reflect God's goodness?

So there are a couple of things we have to understand. Moses got to a place where he had to recognize God's goodness. He had to receive it. And only then could he reflect it.

1. Recognize God's goodness

So we have to understand how to recognize God's goodness. If you're taking notes, that's the first point. I want us to be able to recognize God's goodness in our lives, because so often His goodness is everywhere, but we won't call good what He calls good. We just want everything to go perfectly. But if you've been a believer for a long time, you're a mature avocado tree. You have seen that God has the ability to take the things in our lives that are messed up and make them right.

And if you're a mature Christian, if you've been a Christian for a long time, I know it, because all I have to say is this: "God is good." "All the time." "And all the time." "God is good." If you're new here, you're like, "What just happened?" That's called a call and response. But those of us who have gone to church have realized over time that even though things look like they are bad, God is good, all the time. Everyone, join in: all the time, God is good. He's good.

What does goodness mean in the Bible?

The challenge is that we look to the world for its definition of what good is. So we call things good that God doesn't call good.

Chick-fil-A waffle fries. We don't even call those good. We call those great. I walk out of church on a Sunday and I'm like, "Why are you honoring the Sabbath? Come on." No, I'm joking. I love Chick-fil-A. But I just want some Chick-fil-A fries. Can we call them good? Okay.

We call music good. Country music, bad. No, I'm joking. I'm joking. You're going to tackle me. Honestly, when I was in South Africa, I would see the Grammys and the country music awards, and I always used to think it was a participation award. I was like, "Do people actually listen to it?" No one listens to it in South Africa. But I came to America, got on a lake with a Coke Zero on July 4th, country music in the background, and I got it. Okay, now I call it good. I love people singing about boats and cars and all those things. It's amazing.

We'll call Chick-fil-A good. We'll call music good. Nectar of the gods. If you're here and you're like, "Starbucks," I have news: you do not like coffee. You like dessert. That's what you love. But we'll call that good. Or husbands, you'd better back me up: when your wife goes to Target and spends under $100, that's not only good. That's divine intervention. You're like, "This is amazing." We call all these things good.

And that's the challenge, because when we start looking at what God says is good, we don't understand it. The word for goodness in Galatians is actually only used four times in the New Testament. And what's crazy is that the word doesn't exist in the culture. God said, "Oh no, no, no. You don't know what good is. So I'm actually going to create My own word, and I get to define what goodness is. The world can't define it."

In the Greek it's agathosune, and it means moral goodness, integrity, uprightness of heart and life. I love that definition so much I can't even stand it. Uprightness of heart and life. You can't have an upright life until you have an upright heart. God wants to change your heart, and as He changes your heart, all of a sudden you can have an upright life.

Uprightness of heart and life. What does that mean? It means there are going to be times in your life when the devil knocks things down. Yes, that thing may have been knocked down by the enemy, but the righteousness of God, the goodness of God, can take the things that were knocked down and make them upright. That's what it means. Goodness is looking at the situations in our lives and saying, "Yes, this thing has been knocked down, but in this moment we're going to make it upright. I'm going to function with integrity. I'm going to function with righteousness." That's what goodness is.

Which is why, when something like Hurricane Melissa happens and knocks out so much of Jamaica and the Caribbean, what do you see when a hurricane comes through? A bunch of things knocked down. So we partner with people like Convoy of Hope so that we can go into a situation where the enemy has knocked things down and make it upright.

What are the areas in your life that are down, but God is calling you to make upright? What are the areas personally where God is saying, "I want to help you make this upright"? What are the places in your work, in your family, in your marriage, in your relationship with your kids, where you're like, "It has been knocked down"? And God is saying, "If you just come to Me, I'm going to help you make them upright." That's what goodness is.

But God doesn't only do good. He's the definition of good. Psalm 119:68 says, "You are good, and what you do is good." It's not only that what He does is good. Who He is, is good.

So He says to Moses, "I'm going to let My goodness pass in front of you." And then He describes it in Exodus 34:6: "And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger.'" What does that mean? Patient. You'll see the connection to the fruit of the Spirit. "Abounding in love and faithfulness." We'll talk about faithfulness next week. "Maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." But He's also righteous, because He says, "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished."

And He talks about the sin we commit being felt to the third and fourth generation. You might be like, "That sounds so unfair." No, no, no. In those times everyone lived in the same household. So what He's saying is that when we sin, everyone is going to feel it. It gets passed down to the third and fourth generation. But again, we have to remember that He says He maintains His love to thousands. God is good, which means He is loving, and it also means He is just.

If God is good, why do bad things happen?

As a youth pastor, a question I got asked almost more than anything else was, "If God is such a good God, why do bad things happen?" I remember listening to the late, great Voddie Baucham answer this question. He was teaching at a seminary, and someone came up to him and asked, "If God is a good God, why do bad things happen?" And he said, "I will not answer your question until you ask it correctly." The guy was like, "It's my question. You can't tell me how to ask my question." He said, "No, no, no. I will not answer your question until you ask it correctly." So the guy said, "Okay, how do I ask it correctly?" And he said, "This is how you ask that question: how did a God who is so mighty and powerful, who is the definition of good, who knew what I thought and said and dreamed last night, not kill me in my sleep last night?" How can we be under such a righteous God, and He actually puts up with us? If we understand that, we get the issue.

Why is there evil in the world? Because there is sin in the world. We're looking at things that are sin, and we're blaming God. But God created a world that was perfect, and as people we chose sin. Does that make sense? And we're judging God, saying, "When is God going to fix it?" We're in the middle of the story. This isn't the end of the story.

There will come a point, it says in Revelation 21, where God creates a new Eden. We have the Garden of Eden, people reject God, and there are two lines: people who choose God and people who don't. And there's a bunch of bad stuff happening. At the end, Jesus comes. There are people who choose Him and people who don't. And at the end, God makes it right again, in a new Eden. I actually want to read it to you.

Revelation 21:1–4: "Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away," the one we're in right now, "and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'"

We have to understand that we are still in between two gardens, and in the end God has the ability to make things right. So even when we see evil in the world, we have to remember: God's not done. In the end He will judge, and those who are with Him will be with Him forever. We have to recognize His goodness, that even in the worst of situations, He can still redeem. He can still restore.

2. Receive God's goodness

Once we recognize that He is good, and we allow what He defines as good to be good, we can actually start to receive it. There are a couple of ways we're able to receive His goodness. If you're taking notes, write this down.

The first one is salvation. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Moses gets to a place of repentance. And when we repent and say, "God, forgive me," we get to see His goodness. Exodus 34:8–9: "Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 'Lord,' he said, 'if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.'" Through repentance, we get to receive God's goodness.

Are God's commands restrictive?

Not only that, we get to receive God's goodness through His Word. We often think, "The Bible is so restrictive." It's not. The Bible isn't trying to restrict you. It's not trying to limit you. It's trying to give you life. Psalm 119:45 says, "I will walk about in freedom." How many of you want to walk in freedom? We all want to walk in freedom in our lives. But watch what it takes: "I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts."

So the Bible says not to be unequally yoked with someone if you're in a relationship, and we're like, "It's trying to restrict us." No, it's trying to free you, because two people going in opposite directions does not end well. The Bible talks about not playing with sexual intimacy outside of marriage, and we say, "It's trying to restrict me." No, no, no. It's trying to save you from a whole lot of heartache and to show you what true intimacy is. It's a covenant. The Bible has never tried to limit you. It's trying to give you life, and those who follow it eat of its fruit.

The Bible says in Psalm 19:7–11: "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple." Just follow His commandments and you will be wise. "The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward."

We receive His goodness through salvation. We receive it through His Word. We also receive it through relationships. There are a couple of relationships I think everyone needs to have in their life.

The first is a relationship with your church. If you don't have a church, get in a church. I think this is a pretty great one. But if you don't love this church, I will help you find another church. I just care that you're in church. Go through Growth Track. It happens after the first service. Be plugged in somewhere.

Not only do you need a relationship with the church, you need a relationship with God's people. Get in a small group. You're like, "You haven't launched small groups yet." Yes, they're coming in January, but you can still get in a group. Our young adults gathered Friday night, 62 of them. They were like, "We just want to do life together." And the Bible says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." The second you're in relationship, all of a sudden someone says to you, "Man, Brad, that doesn't look like God." And all of a sudden pruning happens, and now goodness can come out. You've got to get into relationships.

Not only that, and I think this is most important, you need your relationship with God. Get into the Word. Fifteen minutes: five minutes in prayer, five minutes in the Word, five minutes in worship. Go scriptural before you go digital. "Brad, I don't have time." Wake up 15 minutes earlier. You've got time.

A relationship with God, a relationship with our friends and our small group, a relationship with our church, and even a relationship with the team. If you're not on the Dream Team here, hop on the Dream Team. Say you're serving in kids. If you're passionate about serving in kids, great. If you're not passionate about serving in kids, please don't serve in kids. But say you're serving in kids and some two-year-old is impatient. Maybe my son. He doesn't have the fruit of the Spirit yet. We're trying to teach him. And someone says, "Hey, we don't respond that way." What happens in that moment? Pruning. And then goodness can pop out. God is able to refine us through our relationships with other people.

It happens through salvation. It happens through His Word. It happens through the relationships we experience. But I think one of the most powerful ways we receive God's goodness is through the Holy Spirit, who changes us. Ezekiel 36:26–27 says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone," that religiosity, "and give you a heart of flesh," tender and soft. "And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees." What does that mean? When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, you don't have to anymore. You want to. When the Holy Spirit's in your life, you're like, "Man, I just want to follow Your Word because of how powerful it is." Don't we want that? Holy Spirit, help us.

Three prayers to grow in goodness

There are three prayers I want you to pray this week as you allow the Holy Spirit to bring about this goodness.

The first is this: "Holy Spirit, show me." And be careful, because when you pray it, He will. The Bible says in Psalm 139:23–24, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I always say, "Father, show me. Show me my heart. Test me. Reveal." And He does.

The second prayer you need to pray is, "Holy Spirit, change me. Prune that thing off. The places in my life that have been knocked down, where I'm not stepping into goodness, can You change me? Can You change my heart so that I would want to bring those things upright?" 2 Corinthians 3:17–18 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory." He is changing us from one degree of glory to another. That's why we say there is more. There is always more for you.

The final prayer we need to pray is this: "Holy Spirit, fill me." As He prunes things, as He takes things out, we say, "Holy Spirit, continue to fill me anew with Your presence." Ephesians 5:18: "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." The Holy Spirit wants to live inside of you, so that we can walk in the holiness God has called us to walk in.

3. Reflect God's goodness

So we recognize God's goodness. We receive His goodness. And then the final thing is that we get to reflect it. Once we know that He's making things upright, we get to step into situations where stuff has been broken down, where relationships have been broken down, where the devil has wreaked havoc, and we're able to make it upright.

When you pass through your work, do people know you've been there because stuff has been knocked down? Or do they know you've been there because things have been brought back up again? That's what goodness is. We take things that have fallen down, people who have fallen down, relationships that have fallen down, people who are broken, and we show them. We reflect the goodness of God by making it right again. That's what God calls us to do. That's what happened to Moses as he radiated the light.

Matthew 5:16: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify..." Brad. Nope. Glorify who? "Your Father in heaven." In that way, we are image bearers of God. What does that mean? It means that wherever you go, you represent who God is. You're an ambassador. Do you know what ambassadors do? They represent someone higher than themselves. So when you step into a place, someone should say, "Oh my gosh, I see Jesus, because I see the Jesus inside of you." That's what it means to be an ambassador.

Which means that wherever you work, you might be like, "Why am I here? Why am I called here?" Because you are an agent of the goodness of God in that situation. In everything we do, we represent Him, so that we can go into that place, into the things that are dead, that are broken, that have no life, and speak life.

It's like the moon. The moon has no light of its own. The light we see is a reflection of the sun. In the same way, the light of Jesus, the Son of God, should be shining upon us. And like the moon, my entire job is to reflect. But I'm a bad reflection when there's impurity in me. So we say, "Holy Spirit, show me. Holy Spirit, change me. Holy Spirit, fill me," so that I can reflect who He is. And all God's people said amen.

Well done, good and faithful servant

I'd love to pray for every single person in this room. We do all of this so that one day we can stand before God and He can say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Not great. Not popular. "Good and faithful servant." We are to reflect the goodness of God in all that we do.

So Father, I want to pray for every single person who's here. Lord, whatever they're walking through in their lives, Holy Spirit, I want to pray for every area that has been knocked down. God, through Your righteousness, through Your uprightness, through Your goodness, I pray that You will lift those things back up. Lord, marriages that are broken, bring restoration. Sickness, Lord, bring healing. Relational tension, Lord, can You make those things right again? And more than that, God, as we receive Your goodness, may we be agents of Your goodness. May we be a beautiful reflection of who You are. Holy Spirit, we cannot do it without You. So we pray that You will show us, that You will change us, and that You will fill us. Lord, we love You.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, maybe some of you are here today and you're a million miles away from God, and you know it, and you're feeling it. You're like, "Oh my gosh, I'm far from Him. I don't know Him. I'm not following Him." And you want to change that today. The gospel is simple. It says every single one of us has messed up. But God sent His Son, Jesus, so that if we just believe in Him and declare that He was raised from the dead, we can have life. If you're here today and you've never started to follow Jesus, I want to give you that opportunity. I'm going to count to three. No one's looking around. If that's you, I just want you to lift up your hand and say, "Hey, Brad, that's me." Here we go. One, two, three. If that's you, thank you. I see that hand. Thank you. You can just slip it up and put it back down. Incredible.

I just want you to pray this prayer after me. Just say, "Dear Jesus, I believe that You're the Son of God and the Savior of the world. I believe You came to this earth, You died on a cross, and You were raised so that I may have life. And right now, Father, I make You my Lord. I make You my Savior. I surrender myself to You. Change me. Show me. I will serve You all the days of my life. In Jesus' name."

Church, could you do me a favor? Could you put your hands together?