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He's a traveling speaker and he came to Thrive and for those students that went to Thrive , you didn't get to hear this message that he gave to our leaders . But we sat down with him at lunch on Saturday for Thrive and he broke down this passage in John , chapter 21 . And I'm going to kind of steal some of the things he's stolen .

So if I say anything tonight , it's kind of based off of what he had talked about , but some of this is what God has shown me over the last few days , based around this scripture verse . And so turn to your Bible . Or , if you don't have the Bible app , I want you to get the Bible app . You can download it real quick .

But John , chapter 21 is where we're going to be at all right , and so we're going to . I'm going to give you a little backstory here . Give me the whipped cream bottle . Come on , it's already out , so just give it to me . Thank you , all right , lean in with me . Backstory of John . Chapter 21 is Jesus has just died , all right , jesus died on the cross .

He has risen again and he has been going around and visiting all of the disciples . All right , so Jesus had just died , okay , like this dude was dead for three days , and now he has just risen from the dead and he is going around visiting the disciples .

And in this passage , what we're going to read here , we're going to break down , is he visits the disciples again for the second time . All right , so he had already gone to him the first time . This is the second time he's going to these guys in this chapter , and so we're going to start by reading John 21 , 1-3, .

And it says this After this , jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the sea of Tiberius . And he revealed himself in this way Simon Peter , thomas , nathaniel of Cana , in Galilee , the son of Zebedee , and two others his disciples were together . Simon Peter said to them I am going fishing . They said to him we will go with you .

They went out , got into the boat , but that night they had caught nothing . So we're going to break this up in sections , all right . So this is the first section we're going to talk about in just a minute . Just leave that scripture up there the whole time , unless I got another slide .

But in this section we see that Peter is hanging out with some of his disciples , and one of the things that this guy that was talking to us at Thrive kind of opened my eyes up to is that Peter , he decided to go back to what he was used to . Now , what do I mean by that ?

If you don't know who Peter is , peter was a dude , that he was a fisherman . That was his job . Like , my job is to be the student pastor at Riverside Community Church . His job was a fisherman . His job is to go out to sea , catch fish and then go and sell them to make money . So that's what Peter was used to .

But see , peter wasn't a fisherman anymore when Jesus came onto the scene , because when Jesus came onto the scene , jesus had called him away from that job . He said you're going to be a fisher , a man , and we'll see that in Mark 1 , 16th through 18th . You'll see this up on the screen as well , and it says passing alongside the Sea of Galilee .

He saw Simon , jesus this is Jesus going to Simon , peter and Andrew , the brother of Simon , casting a net into the sea . For they were fishermen . And Jesus said to them follow me and I will make you fishers of men . And immediately they left their nets and followed him . So now we see Peter .

He has been told to leave , right , jesus has said hey , follow me , you're going to do what I ask you to do . You're going to be my servant , you're going to be my disciple and you're going to go with me to be fishers of men , which means you're going to go and teach people about God .

You're going to go and teach people about who I am and what they can be in your life . So Jesus had called Simon , he had called the disciples to be fishers of men , not to be actual fishermen . But see , in the story I found it interesting when this guy was talking at Thrive is that Peter was actually probably scared .

See , peter went back to what he was used to Because , see , after Jesus had risen , after Jesus was alive , and he was teaching them and he was with them , and Jesus then dies , rose again . Peter didn't know what to do with himself . Peter didn't know where to go . He didn't know how to live .

I think Peter was actually scared Because , if you don't know , something else about Peter's story is that when Jesus was actually going to be crucified , that's what Peter did .

Peter denied Jesus three times , on three separate occasions , somebody would come up to Peter as Jesus was being crucified , as Jesus was getting ready to go to trial , three people came up to him and said hey , do you know this man ? And three times Peter denied him , denied them and said I don't know who he is .

So Peter has just denied the one person that he loved . Right , pretend like it's your parents or your guardian or your grandparents saying they don't know you , say something happened to you and you're going to go to jail for life . And if your parents acknowledge that they know you , you won't go to jail . And they didn't acknowledge you .

Peter left Jesus hanging , left him alone in this moment , and I think when Peter realized that Jesus died and he didn't acknowledge who he was , I think Peter was scared . I think Peter was scared of what was going to happen . I think Peter was scared because he didn't know where he was going to go . I didn't think Peter knew what was going to happen .

Peter probably also didn't think that Jesus even loved him anymore , right ? Peter didn't think that he was worthy to be around Jesus . He didn't think he was worthy to be in Jesus' presence . He didn't think that he could probably be used by Jesus anymore because of what he did to him .

I don't know about you , but if I denied Jesus three times , I would probably think the dude didn't want anything to do with me anymore . So what did Peter do ? He went back . He went back to his original job . He went back to what he was used to . He went back to what he was comfortable with .

And see , I feel like there's some of us in this room , some of you students that are in this room , and maybe even post-thrive , post-thrive you were on high for Jesus and maybe you can't relate because you weren't at Thrive , but maybe you've had moments in here in this room where you're on fire for Jesus man , you come up for prayer and God speaks to you

and he challenges you and you have this moment where you're on high for Jesus and for those of us that went to Thrive , we come back and we come back home and we're back into our regular life . We're back to everything that is going on . And see , I feel like there's some of us in here who we have gone back to the situation that we should not be in .

See Peter , he went back to being a fisherman , he went back to what he was comfortable with , and I feel like there's some of us who we keep going back to the very thing that Jesus has asked us to leave , and I feel like some of you that went to Thrive you know exactly what I'm talking about .

I think some of you in general you know what I'm talking about , because we talk a lot about how we should be living our life for Jesus in this room and how we should ditch all the other things . We talk a lot about the garbage that we carry from our past and all the stuff that we know we shouldn't be entertaining , but we don't .

Hey , ty , do you need to be separated or do you want to come up here and talk for me ? Because I just keep seeing you talking and talking , and talking and talking Okay , I don't want to see it happen and moving you . That's how serious I am . For everybody else that wants to talk , okay , we're not talking right now .

Okay , but he went back to what he was used to . And I think a lot of us in here , we keep going back to what we're used to . We keep going back to the very thing that we know we shouldn't be going back to .

And for those of us that went to Thrive , I really want to challenge you with this , because I think a lot of us we were on high for Jesus for a week , for a weekend , for 24 hours , but then we came back home and life hit us in the face . The very thing at Thrive conference that we wanted to get rid of and that we weren't going to chase anymore .

We're now back and we're chasing it again . And a lot of us we come back to the things because it's comfortable . We come back to these things because it's easy .

And Peter knew how to fish , he knew how to be a fisherman , he knew how to follow Jesus , he knew how to serve Jesus in that way , but he knew that he just went back and see , we come to these high moments where we aren't fire for Jesus , but then we go back to the very situation that God is calling us out of .

See , god has asked some of you , either at Thrive or maybe in the past Wednesday nights . He's asked you to step out of that situation . He's asked you to step away from those things . He's asked you to step away from that friend group . He's asked you to step away from those words .

He's asked you to step away from those things that you're doing , that you know you shouldn't be doing , and he's asked you to step into what he wants you to do . But so many of us , I think you're scared to do that because it's comfortable . It's comfortable in that situation . But see , peter went back . See , god does not call us to be comfortable .

I want you to write that down if you're taking notes , peter , god does not call us to be comfortable . He does not call you to be comfortable . He wants us to be uncomfortable , because that means we are serving him . If we're comfortable in what we're doing , we're not living the life that God has called us to live .

And so can I say this Also if it's comfortable , it's probably not going to be good for you . If it's too comfortable , if it's too easy , can I say God's probably not in it , god's probably not working in it .

I want to keep reading in the scripture . Verse 4 through 6 is where we're going to read next . Jesus as day was breaking , jesus stood on the shore , and yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus . So remember the disciples . They're Peter and the disciples . They're off in the lake , they're fishing , and this is Jesus walking on the shore .

And the disciples did not know that it was Jesus . And Jesus said to them children , do you have any fish ? They answered him no , he said to them Cast on the other , cast on the right side of the boat , he said , and you will find some . So they cast it , and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of the fish , see .

So , peter , he went back to what he was used to and he brought all the disciples with them , and that night , as they were fishing , they were not able to hold all the fish that they caught , but before that they weren't able to catch anything . They couldn't do it . They couldn't catch anything to save their life . And think about it .

These are professional fishermen . This was their job . They knew where to go , they knew where the hotspots were , they knew how to fish . It's not like these guys were fishing for the very first time . They knew what to do and they could catch nothing . See , peter and the disciples .

They went back to something that God did not have their hand on , that God did not have his hand on . God did not ask them to go back . God did not say , hey , go back and be fishermen and catch fish and sell them . He did not ask them to go back . So God's hand was not on that . God's hand was not on that situation .

He was not blessing them to do that . See , god will not bless what he does not approve , and I think a lot of you . You are living a life that God does not approve of . You are going back to stuff that God has not approved .

You're going to things in your life that God has said yo , I need you to leave that , I need you to get rid of it , because my hand is not on that . My hand is not upon you when it is that , when you are there and hanging out with those friends . My hand is not upon you when you are saying those things .

My hand is not upon you when you are doing these things . God does not call us to go back . See , god will not bless what he does not approve , and he did not approve Simon and Peter to go back and the disciples to go back and fish . He did not approve of that . So when they were fishing by themselves , without Jesus , they caught nothing .

They caught nothing . But then Jesus shows up on the scene . Right , jesus shows up , he's walking on the shoreline and he sees them fishing and he calls out to them and says hey , have you guys caught anything ? They said no , and so Jesus is then now putting his hand on it .

He's saying all right , since you haven't caught anything , I want you to throw it on the other side . Throw it on the other side of the boat and now see what happens . So Jesus now puts his hand on that and he says hey , all right , here's what we're going to do . I'm going to let you fish . Now put it on the other side .

And when they do that , man , they just caught so many fish We'll get to that in a minute on how many they caught but they were able to catch so many fish . And if you think about it , the boats back then they're not like , they're like cruise ships and you had to go to like Mars to get to the other side .

They literally had to step two feet and throw a net Like it was not like a different part of the ocean . It was literally two feet across on the other side , and that's where they caught all the fish . But it's only because Jesus had then blessed that situation . Jesus had put his hand on it . See , jesus , when Jesus is in it , you will be blessed .

When Jesus' hand is on your life , you will be blessed , see . I want to keep reading in this because it gets even better as we keep reading . So the disciples have just caught all this fish . The disciples , whom Jesus loved , therefore said to Peter is this the Lord ?

So the disciples are having this conversation with each other , they're talking amongst each other and they're like man , is this Jesus ? Is this him ? And we keep reading . And it says when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord , he put on his outer garment , for he was stripped for work , and he threw himself into the sea .

The other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish , for they were not far from the land , but about 100 yards off . We keep reading in verse 9 , it says when they got out on the land , they saw a charcoal fireplace . When the fish laid out on it and bred , jesus said to them bring some of the fish that you have just caught .

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish 153 of them , that's how many . They caught 153 fish and although there were so many , the net was not torn . Jesus said to them come and have breakfast Now . None of the disciples dared ask him who are you ? They knew it was the Lord .

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them , and so , with the fish , this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples , after he was raised from the dead . See , I want you to remember that Peter denied Jesus three times . Do not forget that . That is a key part in this story , that Jesus , he denied Jesus three times .

When Jesus needed him , he denied him three times . And I love what it says in the scripture verse and I circled it in my Bible . So if you got your Bible , maybe circle this phrase because I love it . It said Peter threw himself into the sea . Threw himself . I don't know about you all , have you ever jumped off a boat before ?

But like that's what Peter did , like he was on the boat and he was like that's Jesus , I'm getting to him . And he just jumped . He could have easily like it's kind of funny because it seems like they all got there at the same time anyway Like he could have easily stayed in the boat , but his passion for Jesus showed in this moment .

He jumped out of the boat , he threw himself out of the boat . And see , I love this story because , despite Peter's failures right , despite what Peter had done , despite the things that he said and how he denied Jesus three times , despite all of those mistakes , everything that he did , he still ran back to Jesus , he still ran to him .

He still jumped out of the boat with all of his clothes on and got to Jesus . See , I love that scripture verse , that he ran to Jesus , that he ran to him . And we keep reading . I love this conversation between Jesus and Peter . When they had finished breakfast , jesus said to Simon Peter Simon , son of John , do you love me more than these ?

He said to him yes , lord , you know that I love you . Jesus said to him again feed my lambs . He said to him a second time Simon , son of John , do you love me ? He said to him yes , lord , you know that I love you . He said to him tend my sheep . He said to him a third time Simon , son of John , do you love me ?

Peter was grieved because he has said to him the third time do you love me ? And he said to him Lord , you know everything , you know that I love you . Jesus said to him feed my sheep .

Truly , truly , I say to you , when you were young , you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted to , but when you were old , you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go . So we continue in this story and we can learn a lot about Jesus here .

We can learn a lot about who Jesus is , and I always tell us here at this youth group we can call ourselves Christians , but our job is to not be a Christian . Our job is to follow Jesus . Our job is to be Jesus followers . And what does that mean ?

We are going to follow what Jesus did , and we can learn a lot about Jesus in the scripture verse and how we should live our life . See , jesus , he never got mad at Peter .

I don't know if you noticed that he never got mad at Peter for what he did , and I don't know about you , but if you had a friend in your life that denied you three times or threw you under the bus or , as we can say , snitched on you . Let's put it that way snitched on you . I'm sure we would hate that person . We'd be so mad at that friend .

We wouldn't have anything to do with them . They got us in trouble . They got mad at us . They threw us under the bus . I don't want to have anything to do with them . Jesus , in this moment , never got mad at Peter for what he did . He never got upset at Peter . He never yelled at Peter . He was never frustrated with Peter . Jesus loved Peter .

See , in this moment , he had breakfast with Peter . That was the first thing that he did . Is , when they got to the shore , jesus had breakfast prepared and ready to go for him . He didn't ask him hey , why did you deny me three times ? He didn't ask him hey , why did you do that ? He didn't say why don't you really love me ?

Why don't you really care about me ? He didn't ask nothing . He never corrected Peter . He never did anything . He didn't tell Peter to never do it again . Jesus , he sat with Peter and loved him , despite his mistakes and failures . He sat with him despite the mistakes that he made , despite how he denied Jesus three times .

Can I encourage you with this and some of you need to write this down or take a picture of it Jesus loves you despite your mistakes and failures . Jesus loves you despite your mistakes and despite your failures , and this story is a true definition of how Jesus loves us for who we are , a true definition of how Jesus just wants a relationship with you .

He just wants you to be with Him . He just wants you to love Him . He just wants you to be in this room . He just wants you to have a relationship with Him . And Jesus loves you despite your mistakes and failures . Can I say Jesus is not mad at you . He is not mad at you . He is .

He's probably forgotten all about the things that you did and could care less . He just wants a relationship with you . And in fact it's actually interesting because Jesus is not mad at you , he's madly in love with you . I think you need to switch the vocabulary on that . We like to think that Jesus is mad at me . Oh , god's mad at me because I did this .

You know the number of times I've heard people say I can't go to church because I did so-and-so . I can't go to church because I did this and I did that , so I'm not welcomed there . Can I say that is the biggest garbage I've ever heard on the planet earth .

Jesus is not mad at you , he's madly in love with you and he wants you to be in a relationship with Him . He wants you to surround yourself with Him . See , the best thing about Jesus is he doesn't just say that he loves you , he actually lives it out , he lives it .

If you read anything in the New Testament Matthew , mark , luke and John you will see how Jesus doesn't just say what he says , he actually says does what he says . Today , in this day and age , it's actually hard to find people that do what they say . It's easy to say something .

It's easy to say , oh , I'm gonna be this person , oh , I'm gonna be nice to somebody , but if you can't do it , then your words mean nothing . But Jesus was a person that , if he said it , he's gonna do it . And Jesus says that I love you . Jesus says that he cares about you . Jesus says that he wants to be with you .

And I want to make a little side note to what I just said , because it's not about saying the right things , it's about living it out every day and I want some of you to get that Because you can act perfect . But if you're not living perfect and listen , none of us are perfect but we like to act perfect all the time .

We like to act like we have everything together . We'd like to act like we can say all the right words . We like to act like everything's alright . We like to act like everything's perfect in sunshine and roses and beautiful and rainbows and whatever . But if we get down to it , we're actually not living the right way .

So I want to encourage you with that don't say something , don't say certain things just to make people like you Don't say the right thing in front of the right person . Actually live it out . Live it out and how God wants you to live it out , because Jesus lives out what he says , he does what he says . He goes where he says he's gonna go .

He hugs people that he wants to hug . He heals people that want it . He wants to heal , and Jesus will do whatever he wants to do , but he will actually do it if he says it , see , and he wants to show you how much he actually loves you . He wants to show you how much that he loves you .

But see , like Peter , you got to get out of the boat and I think a lot of us in this space , if you're honest with yourself , you're stuck in the boat . See , peter jumped out of the boat , launched himself out of the boat , threw himself into the sea .

He didn't care how it looked , he didn't care what people said , he didn't care who was looking , he didn't care if his clothes were all wet , he didn't care if he made the biggest fool of himself ever . He threw himself into the sea . See , he made himself uncomfortable for Jesus . He made himself uncomfortable for Jesus . I don't know about you , but I .

The last thing I ever want to do is get into a pause fully clothed and then get out of the pool and then not change . Could you imagine , peter , how long he sat in wet clothes ? That's disgusting . All right Says they had breakfast and then , on top of it , after they'd finished breakfast , jesus and Peter had a conversation .

So Peter was soaking wet for who knows how long for Jesus , fully clothed . See , peter got uncomfortable for Jesus . And see , I want to challenge a lot of you in this space tonight to get uncomfortable for Jesus . I'm tired of a generation that we come to church but then we don't act like we go to church . We're over it , I'm done with it .

I'm gonna teach y'all how to follow Jesus with a heart full of passion and love . And Some of you , it's time to get out of the boat . It's time to get uncomfortable for Jesus . It's time to stop playing the game . It's not . It's time to start . It's time to take off the mask . We just had that series mask where we we pretended to be who we weren't .

It's time to do all that stuff and it's time to get uncomfortable for Jesus . For some of you , it's time to just step out . It's one step after another . For some of you , it's time to just follow Jesus , despite what everybody else thinks .

I think for a lot of us , when it comes to school , when it comes to life , when it comes to our friend groups , we get so peer pressured into acting like we don't know who Jesus is , because if we said we knew Jesus , they would make fun of us . So you're at school Living one life and then you're here living another life , acting like you know Jesus .

Can I tell you Jesus doesn't like that . I'm just gonna be straight up , honest with you . He doesn't want you to come to church , act like you like him , and then go to school and act like you don't like him . You're being Peter . You're being Peter and denying Jesus when you go to your school . It's time to just start following Jesus .

Despite what everybody thinks , maybe for some of you it's time to start that Bible study at school . Can I tell you this ? I'll be real honest with you . God has put it on my heart and he has had this on my heart for a while that I want to actually have a Bible study in some of y'all schools .

I don't know in this , in this room , this size , if God has maybe spoken to you about that , but I believe that somebody in this circle , in this building , you , have had the idea of starting a Bible study at your school . Here's what I'll tell you you want to do .

If you have had this thought , you need to come talk to me , because the first thing we'll do I already have it planned on and how we'll do it If you get permission from your school , we'll show up . I'll buy pizza for whoever shows up every time you want to do it and we'll hang out . We can do a little Bible study together .

I can preach if you want me to preach . You can preach if you want to preach , I don't care , we can just hang out and have a good time . Whatever you want to do , I'll go to seven schools a week if I have to , I don't care like we'll make it happen because you want to know what's gonna happen .

If we do that , you'll step out , show me people how serious you are for Jesus . Can I tell you I know a guy who lives in LA . He leads a youth group out in LA and he does this every single week and I see it every single time over the span of like a couple months now . Every single week he does it . He gets more and more people to show up .

Can I tell you he had a hundred and like eight people show up the last time . They had it at their school in LA . A hundred and eight people do . They all come to his youth group . No , but because of one person saying , hey , I want to start a Bible study at my school , a hundred and eight people are showing up every single week To that Bible study .

I know it's possible and I know God will move . I'm gonna move on that , but somebody God has asked you to do that and you haven't done it yet . So come talk to me after this . It's also baby . For some of you , it's just time to . It's time to start reading your Bible and it's time to start learning more about Jesus .

Maybe you're like me and you know nothing about Jesus . Yes , the youth pastor just said he knows nothing about Jesus . Can I tell you there's so much to know about Jesus . I don't know a single thing Really about who he is . If we get down to it , the percentage I pray no 1% of who Jesus is .

So some of you , maybe you just need to pick up your Bible and you just start reading it . You just need to figure out who Jesus is . Matthew , mark , luke and John start reading . We just read . We just read John 21 . You just read a whole chapter tonight with me , not the whole thing .

We got like a few more things to go , but for some of you maybe it's just start reading your Bible . Maybe for some of you , it's time to just immerse yourself in worship every time you're here . I joke from the back about how y'all don't get hype and how you don't get into it , but I'm serious when it comes down to worshiping Jesus .

Jesus does not ask us to come into this room and worship him , and when the song's playing , we're just no . Jesus wants you to get into it . Jesus wants you to lay down your life for him . When it comes to worshiping him , he just wants you to say man , I need you .

You think when I'm worshiping on a Sunday If you ever see me worshiping on a Sunday , when I'm not doing it because I want to look cool , it actually looks stupid because I'm crying half the time and I'm just doing it because I just love Jesus . I'm just doing . My life may not be perfect , but I'm doing it anyway because I love Jesus .

I Throw my hands up because I love Jesus . I come up and get prayer because I love Jesus and I just want a better life and I just want to serve him every single day . Maybe for some of you , it's time to lead your friends instead of following your friends .

I've talked a lot about pre-pressure over the last few weeks and I think for a lot of us , we get caught up in this peer pressure culture and it's so much easier For you to follow than it is for you to lead .

Can I tell you this as believers , as followers of Jesus you hold in your hands every single day because I tell you every Wednesday and you hear it every Sunday , if you're here , about how , who , about how much Jesus loves you and about who Jesus is in your life . So you hold the keys for somebody else To find freedom from all their pain and suffering .

You hold the keys For somebody to find freedom from an addiction they're facing . But because you're so caught up in the idea of following what the crowd is doing and following what everybody else is doing , you're missing the opportunity to then lead . And I think , for whoever wants to open up that Bible study at your school , that's your problem .

That's what you're . You're getting stuck on . But what are my friends gonna think ? What are my friends gonna do if I do this ? They're probably gonna make fun of me . They're probably not gonna show up . Can I just be honest with you ? If those are , if that's what your friends are thinking , you have terrible friends .

I'm just gonna be real honest with you , because your friends then don't support what you believe in . See , your friends don't gotta follow Jesus , but they gotta support what you believe in .

So , if you start that Bible study , if you follow Jesus , if you , if you be a follower instead of if you be a leader instead of a follower , and your friends ditch you and peace out and sorry , I don't like you anymore .

Can I tell you you have the worst friends Because they're not true friends , they're not the friends you should be hanging out with and if they can't support what you believe in . So tonight I want God to challenge you and for a lot of you , it's just time to take that step . It's to take that step . Maybe that's the title of the message tonight .

I didn't give you one . It's time to take a step . That's your step . What's your next step in following Jesus ? Can I tell you , no matter how old you get , no matter how far along in this journey you go , there will always be a next step . Ask any adult in this room . Following Jesus , you never get to an end result until you meet Him in heaven .

There's always a next step . There's always one more thing to get by . There's always one more thing to go through . There's always another trial to hit . There's always more questions that you ask than you think you get answers to . There's always another step . I want to ask you tonight and I want you to think about this after you leave . What's my next step ?

Because I want to encourage you . If you're not willing to take another step in your relationship with Jesus , you're doing yourself a disfavor . And so tonight we're going to worship and I'm going to give you that opportunity .

But I want to go to this last part , where we read in the Scripture verse Jesus asked Simon three questions , simon Peter , he asked him three questions and it was the same question over and over again . And Jesus asked him Simon , son of John , do you love me ? And he said yes , lord , you know that I love you .

And then Jesus always answered with this then feed my lambs . And at the end , the final time that he asked them , do you love me ? He said Lord , you know everything , you know that I love you . Jesus said to him feed my sheep . And at the very end it reads this After saying this , he said to him follow me , follow me .

So Jesus told him two things . One I need you to serve my people , so for you , that's , your friends . You were called to serve your friends , you were called to lead your friends . And then the second thing if you love me , then follow me . If you love Jesus , you're going to follow him .

If you truly tell me and say to your leaders that you love Jesus , then you'll follow him . I just want everybody to stand right where you're at . If you're a leader in the room , if you could just come up to the front . We're going to do the same thing we do every single week . Y'all aren't strangers to this . Unless it's your first time here .

Our leaders are going to be up here at the front and if you find , in this moment , you just want prayer , you want somebody to encourage you , you want guidance in some area of your life , our leaders are up here at the front . They would love to pray for you . But I want to challenge you . You need to pray for yourself . What is my next step ?

What's my next step ? What am I going to do ? How am I going to advance my relationship with Jesus ? How am I going to get better ? How am I going to go deeper ? So if you want to take this moment seriously , take it seriously . If you don't I say it every week do not distract somebody else from hearing from Jesus .

Don't be the enemy in this moment from keeping somebody from hearing from Jesus . This is a safe place , lord . We just thank you for tonight , father . We just thank you for what it is that you're doing in this space and , lord , we thank you for how much you love us .

Despite our failures , despite our mistakes , despite the things that we've said , despite the things that we've done , despite the places we've gone , despite the things that we've seen and looked at , lord , you love us anyway .

And so , lord , I just ask that tonight that you would just begin to open our hearts , you'd begin to do some surgery on the inside of us , lord , and I pray that you'd begin to show every student that is in here , under the sound of my voice , what their next step is . Where are they going to go , god ? Where should they go ?

How should they lead instead of follow ? What should they start to do in their schools ? How should they start that Bible study , god , whatever it is ? What is their next step , lord , and I pray tonight you begin to show them what that is .

I pray you begin to guide them , lord , and in this moment , right now , I just ask that you would speak to us as we worship you and as we hear from you . God , we give you all the praise and we give you all the glory . Everybody said .