Don't Follow Your Heart

Every year we are every week we will be in some kind of series where , basically , we're going to be talking about a certain subject for maybe three , four weeks at a time , and so the series that we're going to be in this week and for the next few weeks is called In my Feelings , so you can write that down , remember that In my Feelings is kind of the

area of subject that we are going to be talking about for the next few weeks and as we step into this new year . Is everybody in school ? Anybody not in school yet ? Derek , put your hand down , you're not even going to college . All right , a couple of people not in school yet , that's okay . Ah-ha , I'm just kidding .

I didn't go to college either , so it's all right . It's all right . So many of you are back to school today , last week , two weeks ago maybe you're going to school soon , but , as we know , a school year brings on a lot of challenges , right ?

A lot of homework , a lot of stress , a lot of difficulty , a lot of things that we don't want to deal with in our life , and I think we have a lot of feelings about school . Right , we have a lot of feelings about life , and I think this new year is going to bring a lot of challenges . It's going to bring a lot of emotions .

Maybe some of you , you've changed grades this year . Anybody in a new grade ? Obviously everybody is Anybody in junior high to high school , junior high to high school , so a lot of junior highers . You just went to high school . That's a big change , right ? Huge change . And so we got a lot of changes .

We got a lot of things that you guys are navigating and walking through this year , and I'm believing that this year God is going to do something amazing , right , I'm believing God is going to speak to you this year . Maybe you have no idea what this church thing is about . Maybe you have no idea what I'm going to even talk about today .

You're like who's Jesus ? I don't know , maybe that's you . That's okay . This church , we love not to judge people , because we're not called to judge people , and so we're here to walk along with you in this journey .

But tonight I want to talk to you about a certain subject and I want you to write this down , and it's going to be backwards from probably what you've heard before . I want you to write this down if you're taking notes Don't follow your heart . Anybody ever heard ? Follow your heart . Anybody ever tell you that ? Hey , follow your heart ? Anybody ever hear that ?

Nobody , I'm speaking to a dead crowd tonight , is that ? No one's heard that ? Okay , thank you , you can respond . Don't feel like you can't . If I ask a question , you all can respond . Okay , you don't got to be quiet , okay ? Anybody ever heard Don't follow your heart . Anybody heard that ? Yes , okay , so the world tells us follow your heart .

But tonight I want to talk about the opposite . Don't follow your heart . Anybody in here . Impulse buyers . You just buy anything . You see that's what an impulse buyer is . You go to the store and you're like I want that , I want that , I want that , I want that . I don't even have money for that , but I'm going to buy it anyway .

Anybody in this room do that . Okay , I'm not by myself . When I was like 12 years old , this is what I did . I don't know if any of you are old enough for this . Some of you might be . Anybody ever heard of a PSP ? Okay , couple people , couple Anybody in this room own a PSP in their life , exactly Like there's a few people .

Okay , they were not very popular for a long time . A PSP was basically just like a little handheld gaming device . All right , they were really popular back when I was a kid and I wanted one so bad . Okay , wanted one so bad . I did everything in my power . I was like 12 years old .

I was like Mom , I need to have one of these and I need to have it right now . Okay , and my mom is this type of person that she'll look to me and you probably have some parents like this that will look at you and go do you really need that ? Though ? Anybody ever heard that before ? Like your mom and dad , like do you really need that ?

Should we buy it ? Why don't we just sleep on it ? Anybody ever heard that we should just sleep on it ? Heard that too many times in my life . And so my mom was like just encourage me . No , just wait , Just wait , you don't need it . I was like , mom , I need this right now and we need to go to the store right now and get it . So we went .

My mom blessed me . She's like , hey , we'll go buy it . I bought it . She didn't buy it for me , but I went , we got it , we bought it . I had it . I had it for about a week and I was like this is the dumbest thing I've ever had in my life Paid probably like a couple hundred bucks for it . I'm like this is the dumbest thing .

Anybody ever buy something , regret it immediately like late , yeah , regretted it , hated it . I was like this is so stupid . So then I was like I'm going to sell it . Obviously I didn't sell it and get my money back , so I literally lost probably like 50 , 60 bucks on it Lost my money . I was like it was the worst decision I ever made .

Did that when I was 12 . This is still a thing today because not only like maybe two months ago , anybody in here own a Nintendo Switch , anybody have one . They're kind of fun , right , they're fun . It was kind of cool . I , about a couple months ago , I told my wife I was like , hey , I think it would be really cool if we got a Nintendo Switch .

And if you know anything about my wife , she doesn't like video games . Okay , she , she , she hurt in somebody else , I don't remember who , oh , taylor , her assistant , we were talking and they're . They both asked me they're like what's the point in video games ? Anybody play video games in here . Okay , a lot of you , thank you . We know what the point is .

Right , we get it All right . It's fun , it's entertainment . And listen , I'll say this , this is totally off subject . But then my wife , my wife and her friend Taylor , they love to just sit on their phones . That's what they do for their free time . So then I turned around and I asked them I was like why do you sit on your phone for hours and hours ?

Why do we sit on our phone ? Why do you sit on your phones for hours and hours ? Because it's fun . Right , it's fun . So I like playing video games , because it's fun . So I told her I was like we should get a Nintendo Switch . And she's like go for it if you want to . So we went to Target one day .

I left her in the closed section , I went to the video game section , bought a Nintendo Switch , had it for about two weeks . I played on that thing probably three times in two weeks . Okay , did Sam just laugh ? I heard that . Two weeks , I played on that thing .

I went to my wife two weeks , three weeks later and I was like hey , I think I'm gonna return our Nintendo Switch . And she's like are you kidding me right now ? We just spent $400 on the Nintendo Switch and you're gonna return it . I was like , yes , I'm gonna return it and I'm actually gonna return it and I'm gonna use that money to buy PlayStation 5 .

And that's what I did . I spent $400 on a PlayStation 5 and said haven't regretted that decision yet . Anyway , that's beside the point . But my wife , she was so mad at me . She's like why did we even do this ? We shouldn't have bought it . I was like we got our money back . Babe , little does she know . Don't tell her this . I know somebody will .

We lost about like $60 , because I bought the Mario game on there and you can't get that back . So lost $60, . It's okay , you can tell her if you want to . It's fine , it's okay , she will be mad , it's okay Anyway . But I love to impulse buy things and you can relate with me . All right , you get money in your pocket from your paycheck .

You get that first paycheck from your job . Man , you just wanna spend that money , right ? You wanna spend it . And see , I love to impulse buy and see that comes from my heart . See , our hearts are leading us to do certain things , to go certain places , to look at certain things , our hearts . They lead us to the new , best thing .

Anytime Apple releases something , I gotta have it . All right , I don't like I don't use iPads , but anytime they release a new iPad , I'm like I need the new iPad . It's like $600 , I need it , I gotta have it . But I'm just like I don't need a new iPad because I don't use it , so why would I buy it ?

But I'm like I wanna buy these things , I gotta have it . And my heart ? It leads me to things that I shouldn't buy . It leads me to things that I don't need . See our hearts do this all the time . All the time our hearts are leading us to do things that we shouldn't buy . It's leading us to things that we shouldn't be a part of .

It tells us to do things and see the world . Like I said , it will tell you hey , follow your heart . You'll probably hear that in your lifetime . Follow your heart , do what your heart is telling you to do , go where your heart is telling you to do . But see , you know what God says about our hearts .

I wanna give you a scripture verse and you can write this down if you want to , or take a picture on the screen . Jeremiah 17 , nine says this the heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful . A puzzle that no one can figure out . The Bible tells us . God is telling us that our hearts are hopelessly dark and deceitful .

I love definitions , so I wanna give you a definition . The definition of deceitful is this misleading others ? Can I tell you your hearts are gonna mislead you all the time . All the time your hearts are gonna mislead you and my heart mislead me to buy all these different things that I didn't need .

I wasted money on certain things that I didn't want or didn't need actually to have . And see , it's easy to see when somebody else is in this situation . How many of you in here have a friend who is dating somebody and you know that they should not be dating that person . Anybody have that ?

Oh yeah , okay , you know that friend should not be dating the boy . That friend should not be dating the girl . Like you just know it's a bad relationship , right ? You're like it's gonna be a dead end anyway . Why are we even entertaining the idea of that relationship , right ? So many of you raised your hands .

But see , you can see that that relationship is not good . You can see it from a mile away . You're like girl , that guy is bad for you , boy , she a hoe , whatever , like I'm just kidding , I'm joking , I'm joking , I'm joking , I'm joking . I know y'all are saying it , calm down . I'm just trying to be in with the youth .

I'm just kidding , acting like y'all ain't saying it . We're in church , shh , that stays in this room . I'm just kidding Shh . All right , I'll just see if you're paying attention . Y'all are paying attention . Good , I like it . But we know that relationship is not good , right ? But see , can I tell you the person that's in that relationship ? They can't see it .

I'm sure you've gone up to them and you've told them hey , why are you dating this person ? And they probably get mad at you , right ? They ever get mad at you . They ever tell you to back off , get out of your business . This is my business , not your business .

They can't see it because their heart is so misleading them that they can't even see that they're in a toxic relationship . They can't see it because our hearts are constantly lying to us . Our hearts are wicked . The definition of wicked says evil or morally wrong , so our hearts are leading us into things that we should not be doing .

Our hearts are constantly lying to us . Our hearts are leading us to evil things . Our hearts are leading us to do wrong things . I want to give you a story and this is about to get real serious for a minute . When I lived in Arizona , my parents worked at a children's home . It was a children's home for not people , not kids without parents or adults .

It was a children's home for kids who didn't have a stable home environment , and so basically whoever was in charge of them would take them to this children's home , and people like my parents would watch them until their home got better . So my parents worked at this facility .

It worked at this place and my parents were in charge of 10 boys plus me and my sister . That's a big household , and so one day I was hanging out with a bunch of us guys that lived in this house and one of these other kids who was about 11 , 12 years old , who I found super annoying . Back then I was probably about maybe 15 , 16 , 17 .

I found this kid super annoying . Anybody know a 11-year-old ? That's just really annoying . Yeah , ok , we can relate . We're relating tonight . This 11-year-old at the time , his name was Justin . I'm going to tell the same story . His name was Justin . I remembered it , his name was Justin and this kid was super annoying Me and my buddies . We hated .

I shouldn't say hey , but we disliked him . Back then we hated him . Now I'm just going to say dislike . And he was always annoying , as annoying as an 11-year-old can be .

So we were hanging outside by a tree one day , outside in the Arizona heat , and this kid came walking up to us just being annoying . He just makes annoying sounds , just says things that are just annoying , just did annoying things that 11-year-olds will do . And he walks up to us and he just does this . He makes us mad . He is saying things to us .

We're making fun of him . He's making fun of us . He's getting on our nerves . Finally , he walks away . I think we said something to him that made him mad or whatever . He walks away and back then if you didn't know me back then or you've never heard me say this I was not the nicest kid when I was your age .

I said things and did things to other people . That I regret and this is one of those moments is that I'm standing by this tree and this kid's walking into the house . He's about maybe where my table is right now . He's walking into the house and down by my feet was this rubber ball that we had been playing with . So I pick up this rubber ball .

I'm like this kid's going to get what he deserves . So I take this rubber ball and me never playing baseball , but I could have been a pitcher back in the day . I'm just going to say it Took this ball and I just whipped it right at his back . Rubber ball , it was not like soft , it was not like a rubber ball .

I mean , it was not like a soft , it was a hard ball that would have hurt . Ok , whipped it at his back . He just whipped it in pain , started crying at the top of his lungs and I heard him so bad , went inside . He probably told me I probably got in trouble .

I don't remember , but I remember this story because this kid was so annoying that my heart was leading me to do something that I shouldn't have done . It led me to treat somebody the way they didn't deserve to be treated and I look back on that story and I will remember that for forever .

I will regret that moment for forever and you're probably thinking that's not that bad and I've done worse . I've done worse than that too . I've done a lot of things that were much worse than that , but I made somebody feel a certain way that I shouldn't have made them feel , and it was because my heart took me in that direction .

And I want to talk about something tonight because I think this is going to be a big thing in this generation that you guys are dealing with , and I want to talk about something that's very serious , and it's the topic of bullies and being bullied . I'm sure a lot of you in this room have either A been bullied or B are the bullied .

And I want you to listen to me for a second , because we are not called to bully , and here's what I want to say straight off forward , just right off the bat it is wrong to bully somebody . I saw a video about a couple weeks ago of this girl you might have saw it .

It was on TikTok this bigger , stronger girl and this tinier girl in the locker room and this girl that was bigger was beating this girl up on video , was making fun of her , literally .

She was just trying to leave and the bigger girl turned around as she turned towards her , knocked her straight in the head and she fell straight on her back , and if you laughed at that , check your heart , because that is so messed up .

I've seen too many videos where too many kids that maybe don't look like you , act like you , talk like you , maybe aren't as popular as you , are getting bullied and it's not funny .

And I think this is such a big thing and I'm not trying to come down on anybody , but I'm trying to make an awareness , at least with the 106 kids that are in this room , to make an awareness that if you are somebody who is doing these things , to knock it off , because I just want to be straight , honest with you it's not funny .

And I'll tell you even something a little bit deeper you are going to remember those moments for the rest of your life and when you get older and you get to my age , can I tell you you're actually going to regret those moments . We talked about this story in the youth podcast .

If you've never listened to it , this podcast is going to come out and I shared this in episode four or five and I said I regret that moment since it happened and I will remember that moment for forever .

And this idea of bullying and treating people the way that they don't deserve to be treated is unacceptable . And here's a scripture verse for you . It's not going to be on the screen , but it says in the Bible treat others the way you want to be treated . How many of you here want to get bullied ? That's what I thought . That's what I thought .

Nobody in this room wants to get bullied . But it's so easy to just say you know , I'm going to make fun of that kid today . That kid's wearing an outfit that I would never wear . He's wearing what kind of shoes ? Oh , bro , I'm going to roast him . He's got a receding hairline .

Ok , I'm going to roast the crap out of him and make him feel terrible about his life . Here's what I want to say .

Our hearts lead us to say things and do things that we shouldn't do , and every day , when you go to school , your heart is going to lead you to say things and do things that you shouldn't do , and you need to check your heart , check your heart , and I want to say if anybody in this room ever , ever , is bullied in this building , if you're bullied in

general , tell me . If you're ever bullied in this building , you best come find me or our leaders , because the thing I will not stand for in this building is other students making fun of other students . You can joke , have fun , I'm all for that , but we're not going to bully in this building . So if you get bullied in this building , come find me .

We'll handle it straight away . I'll deal with it . It won't be a problem because we're not gonna be a church that does that . And that's why I wanna talk about this , because I wanna make an awareness . And if you are getting bullied at school , tell somebody .

We like to think it's so easy just to hide in the shadows and to remove ourselves and say you know , it doesn't matter , it's gonna go away , it's gonna be fine . But no , tell somebody because it does not need to keep happening . And I regret those moments .

I wish I could take them back , but our heart is continuously leading us to things that shouldn't lead us . And I wanna share with you my life verse that I just one of my favorite verses . I guess I should say it's Proverbs 3 , 5 through 7 . And it says this trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding .

In all your ways , acknowledge him and he will make straight your path . Be not wise in your own eyes . Fear the Lord and turn away from evil . See , I love this scripture verse because it says we are to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts . It doesn't say trust in your own heart , no , it says trust in the Lord with all of your heart .

So trust in him with your heart , in your heart . Trust the Lord to do what he says he's gonna do . Trust in him to do what you maybe don't even think he's gonna do , but trust in the Lord with all of your heart . We are to lean on God's understanding .

Can I tell you , your understanding , my understanding , any adult's understanding , our understanding and in general as human beings , no matter how old you get , is going to lead us in directions that we should not go . But it says to lean on God's understanding because God knows what's best for you .

He knows what you need , he knows what you're gonna do , he knows exactly who you are , what your needs are and he wants to give you everything . See , everything you do everywhere you go , should be what God has for you . You should not be finding yourself in situations that you know you shouldn't be in .

You should not be talking , maybe , to a girl or a guy that your friends are telling you hey , don't talk to her , she's not good for you , don't date her , don't date him . You should listen to those people because they're looking out for you . Can I encourage you with this , and this might shock some of you Don't follow your feelings .

Don't follow your feelings . Feelings are not always a reliable indicator of truth or reality . We will get caught up in our feelings all the time . We're in my feelings , I'm in my feelings . Feelings are not facts . See the Word of God , the Bible .

If you've never had a Bible in your hand before I know maybe some of you are new in here and you've never had a Bible I'll get you a Bible after this . We've got plenty of them . The Bible is what truth is , and if you have feelings about something , you need to see if it's correct .

I'll give you a quick example , because I think when we talk about feelings , we think of dating . I told this story many times . When me and my wife started dating , I didn't just go up to her and just ask her out right away . I actually waited for about four weeks a month before I even said anything to her about dating her . Why ?

Because I wanted to pray about it . I had these feelings towards her and I was like I need to make sure that these are legit , because I'm not just going to date anybody . I was at the age . I was like 21 , 22 , I don't know how old I was .

I was at the age where I was just like I'm looking to get married , like I'm not looking just to have a fling and just to date somebody , just to date somebody , like I'm going to marry a girl and I'm not going to just date to date . I'm like I need to know if these feelings are right . So I prayed about it . I went to God's word , I waited .

Can I tell you God answered . He confirmed those feelings . He said yeah , that's what's up , go for it , go hang out with her , go on a date . We did , and now we're married . Okay , that's a legit example . God will answer your feelings . He will confirm your feelings . Or can I tell you , he'll deny them or you'll say that's not true .

Nope , you're right , your friends are right . You shouldn't date that person . Nope , you shouldn't . You should definitely not go hang out with that person . And can I tell you this there's a lot of new believers in this room . There's a lot of people who maybe don't understand how this all works .

Can I tell you this when you invite God into your heart , there's a thing called the Holy Spirit . He's beautiful , great guy .

He comes into your life and the Holy Spirit is that little voice in the back of your head , way back here , that when you're about to do something stupid , when you're about to date a girl or date a guy that your friends have told you not to , it's that little voice in the back of your head that says , hey , I would not go hang out with those people

tonight , it's not going to end well , you probably shouldn't do it . The Holy Spirit will speak into your life and tell you that's not what you should do right now .

And when you hear that voice in the back of your head , you should listen to that voice , because that voice is trying to tell you that your feelings , the emotions that you're about to walk into , the idea that you're about to walk into , is not a good idea .

There's a scripture verse in Matthew 16 , 24 through 25 that says this that Jesus , he told his disciples if anyone would come after me , let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me , for whoever would save his life will lose it . But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it .

Can I tell you , if you choose to live your own life and do whatever you want to do you can , by the way , which we have free will , so go for it , do it .

But can I tell you , this scripture verse tells us if we would rather save our life and do what we want to do and live how we want to live , can I tell you you're actually going to lose your life . It sounds so backwards because it's like man , I want to do what I want to do . Ain't nobody going to tell me how to live my life ?

Ain't nobody going to tell me what to do ? You're right , but God has so much better in store for you than whatever you think you want for your life . Can I just tell you that Whatever you think in your life that you want , can I tell you it might be right , but God has something so much better .

If you lean into him , if you would lean into him and trust him , he's going to give you so much more than if you just did it your own way . See , we are called to deny ourselves and we're called to follow Jesus . Some of you in this space .

You may be new for the first time , or maybe you have been coming to church for a while and you've never thought of this idea of following Jesus . Maybe you've never gone with it , you've never gone through it , and that's okay . But can I tell you , following Jesus is probably one of the best decisions that you'll ever make in your entire life .

There's a Scripture version Jeremiah 17.10 . In Jeremiah 17.10 it says this but I , god , search the heart and examine the mind . I get to the heart of the human . I get to the root of the things . I treat them as they really are , not as they pretend to be . I want to lean on that last part , right there . Not as they pretend to be .

I think we have a young generation right now that is pretending to be somebody that they're not , because they want to fit in with the society around them . And every day you go to school and every day you hang out with people that maybe don't follow Jesus , and every day you're surrounded by language that isn't right .

You're surrounded by vaping , smoking , drugs , drinking . You're surrounded by all of this . And every day you're in this environment .

And these environments , yeah , they're cool , yeah , they're awesome , but these environments are probably not where you should be , but you're pretending to be in this environment and hang out with these people and do these things , because if you didn't do them , if you didn't go to that place , if you didn't go to that party , if you didn't go to that friend's house

, if you didn't do that at school , you would be looked down upon and you would actually probably be the subject of being bullied . And we live in a society where not only do you students do this , but adults do it too . We have to pretend to be somebody that we're not , and see some of you in here . You have been following your heart for too long .

You have been following your heart for too long , and some of you have been pretending to be somebody else just because you want to fit in . Can I tell you , the biggest hoax in your generation is this idea of fitting in . You don't need to fit into anything . The only thing you need to fit into is who God is calling you to be .

Where God is calling you to go , who God is calling you to hang out with your feelings will tell you something different . That's why you're in your feelings . We're always in our feelings . But God is asking you are you willing to go away from your feelings and are you willing to do something a little different from me ? Are you willing to stand out for me ?

Are you willing to be different from me ? Are you willing to stop pretending to be somebody that you're not for me ? See , it's time to allow God to search your heart , as you can say , and at this time you're probably wondering why are there slow keys behind them right now ?

Maybe you know , maybe you don't , but I believe that in this space , right now is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak to some of you , and I actually think he already is speaking , and you've already heard that small voice in the back of your head that's been telling you man , yeah , you need to .

Maybe you need to change some of the things you've been doing . Maybe you need to rethink some choices that you have going on , and there's some of you that probably need to allow God to just examine your heart , and you're probably like what does that even mean ?

And what that means is , in a moment like this , what we're about to do is the team is going to actually play us two more songs , and these songs aren't going to be as hype as the first one , but they're songs that are designed to speak into your heart . And what we're going to do in a second is we're going to have everybody stand up now , right now .

But I'm going to have everybody stand up and we're just going to worship . And what does that mean ? What do you mean by worship , josh ? What do I mean ? I mean we're going to quiet the distractions around us , and maybe you don't know what worshiping is , but worshiping is our expression to God . It's saying God , I need you .

I don't know how to live this life . I don't know how to do this . I don't know where to go . God , man , god , you're right , I've been in my feelings for too long . God , I've been making some wrong choices and I need to change those choices . I need to readjust how I'm living my life .

And it's coming to Him during worship and just saying God , I need you . Maybe there's some of you in here . God has been speaking to you and you're here for the first time and you've never experienced a church experience like this . You've never been in church , you've never been in youth group and you're like , bro , what the heck is going on right now ?

This dude just talked for 30 minutes . I have no idea what's going on , but maybe you're feeling something , maybe you're experiencing something , maybe you're walking through something and I believe God wants to speak to you .

So , for the last 10 minutes before we go into our small groups , I'm going to invite all the leaders If you're a leader in this room sitting down just so you can get up , come to the front right here on the sides , our leaders we have amazing leaders this year that have signed up to just be a part of this and what God is doing , and so at this time ,

I just want all of y'all to stand up where you're at , just stand up where you're sitting , but real quick . I'll talk , and just here's what I need . This is the big room , all right , and in this space , right here , right now , what we're going to do is we're going to lead .

This team is going to lead us in a couple songs , and if you , at any part of this message , have felt like God was speaking to you and you're just like man , I need A somebody to pray with me . There's these beautiful leaders up here who would love to pray for you .

You can come up to them and you can tell them hey , this is what I'm walking through , or you can come up to them and just be like I need prayer . You don't got to tell them what's going on if you don't want to .

But can I say this every single one of you in this room right now and this is not a guilt trip , I'm not trying to force you to do anything , but I know every single student in this space right here , right now , you have something that is in your life that you need to deal with , something from your past , something from your present , something from , maybe ,

the future that's coming . But we all have something that we need to just bring to God and say you know what , god , I need to let go of this . God , I've been bullied . I need to let go of that . God . I got too much depression . I need to give it to you , god . My anxiety is through the roof . God , my stress is through the roof . God .

I've been sexually abused in my past and I don't know how to deal with that . Whatever it is is a chance and opportunity for you to come to one of these amazing leaders and say you know what ? Here's what I'm walking through and here's what I need to pray with .

You want to know what's going to happen in that time Is that these leaders are going to walk through you with it . They're going to pray over you . They're going to speak life into you . Not only will they speak life into you . Can I tell you what God is going to be speak into them to speak to you , and what you need to hear ?

Second thing I want to happen is , if you don't want to come up for prayer , that's fine . In your seat , in your space , you can worship . What does worship look like ? It looks like reading the lyrics on the screen . It looks like maybe you're going to sit down and you're just going to pray yourself and whatever it is you're walking through .

Maybe it's finding a different seat in this room somewhere and going and isolating yourself from your friends and saying you know what ? I need to just be quiet for a second . I need to let the music speak to me . I need to let God speak to me , whatever it is , but this time is sacred .

So if you're next to somebody that's going to distract you , walk away . If you're going to be that person that's going to distract somebody , sit down and just don't do it , because that's not what this time is for .

We're going to give you plenty of time at the end to do it , but , as this team leads us , allow God to speak to you , because if you allow him to speak to you , he will begin to change you . But you can only allow that to happen if you choose to make the choice . So , lord , I thank you for tonight .

I thank you for this next moment that we're about to walk into , lord , and I pray that you would just begin to speak to every student that is in this room , god , that you would begin to speak to every person that is walking through something .

Lord , I ask that you would just begin to challenge them , you begin to stir their hearts to get prayer , that you would stir their hearts to just let it all out , god , to give it to you , to surrender it to you , and say God , have your way . God , I'm leaning on your understanding . God , I'm leaning on your heart . I don't want to do it my own anymore .

I don't want to go my own way anymore , god . I need you to lead me . Lord , I know there are students in here that are struggling , and so I pray over them and allow this moment , lord , to just speak to us .

Allow this moment just to speak to every person in this room , lord , and just have your way in this space , lord , and do what only you can do , and in Jesus' name we say Amen .