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Listen to the latest message from GodSquad Church, where gamers all over the world are learning to win together in Christ.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to God Squad Church. If you guys don't know who I am, my name is Pastor Boz. I am the, community care pastor here at God Squad Church. I hope you guys are having an absolutely amazing day so far today.
Speaker 1:And, hey, there's 2 things that I wanted to talk about real quick before we jump to the sermon. First thing I wanted to say is today is March 23rd. Okay? Now many of you might not know the significance of March for God Squad Church, but we might not be doing a big blowout, big time thing for for our anniversary. But God Squad Church actually started not on March 23rd, but March 24th, 8 years ago.
Speaker 1:Tomorrow will be the 8th year the 8 year anniversary of God's squad church, which is to me, it's it's surreal, to be completely honest. Like, let let put some hearts in the chat for those people that made it possible that we could get to 8 years of being in a church. The reason why I say it's surreal is because, man, I I remember just sitting around, you know, or I would say around a table, but we weren't around a table. We were online. Right?
Speaker 1:We're an online church. We had people who were who we had people who were across the entire nation. We had we had 12 individuals basically across the entire nation. And we had so many things working against us. We had people working against us.
Speaker 1:When I say denominations working against us, what I mean is by their laws to be able to have a board, you have to be in the same room to be able to vote on things. You couldn't have people that were not present in the same physical room, because we were really first of our kind. We were the 1st gamer church. Right? We launched something that was on the Internet, which is something that was really unheard of at the time.
Speaker 1:So we had many people who believed that we weren't a real church, believed that we couldn't do what we're gonna do, believe that people wouldn't actually be changed through what what God can do through the Internet. But God proved all those people, all those naysayers wrong that 8 years later, I praise God that we continue to move forward, that lives are being changed. And it's just for me, I don't know. It's it's it's amazing. Because I just remember sitting around the table, and we had craziest conversations, talking about land centers, and talking about this, and talking about that, and talking about how are we gonna deal with trolls?
Speaker 1:How are we we talk about all the things for many, many weeks and lots of challenges that we went through as this church got up and running and and still challenges that we face today. But, but I I I just praise God that we are still here because this community is absolutely amazing. I might be a little biased, be be a little bit biased, but we we have the best community on the planet. Can I get an amen in the chat? That's right.
Speaker 1:We are way makers. And so but the other thing that I want to talk about, apart from the 8 year anniversary, which is absolutely awesome, is today we are gonna be celebrating Palm Sunday. Yes. I know it's Saturday. It's it's our Palm Saturday service, but we're gonna be celebrating Palm Sunday.
Speaker 1:That's that's what we're gonna be talking about anyways. And so put those palm branches in the chat. If you have if you're subbed, you can put a palm branch in there. If you're not subbed, then you've watched for a little bit. Hey, you can you can unlock it.
Speaker 1:I'm sure I'm sure there's an unlock emo in there still. But but the palm branches in chat because listen, it's palm Sunday. We gotta wave those palm branches around. Right? So today, I entitled this sermon, get in the backpack.
Speaker 1:Get in the backpack. And now many, many gamers there that you guys probably know exactly what that means when I say it. Okay? Listen. I have I have a group of friends that I met online about I want to say about 10 years ago, and I played with games with them every single day.
Speaker 1:And when I say every single day, I mean it was every night we'd get home from work and we would get online and we would play video games. We did this for about 6 years straight. We did this for about 6 years straight. And, we were playing Call of Duty at the time, because that was really the big thing. Right?
Speaker 1:And that's where we met was on Call of Duty. So we played Call of Duty for many, many years together. And though we don't play together every single day anymore, we play very rarely to be completely honest with each other. We we still do keep in touch with each other. We're all NFL fans, and we still we still game together from time to time.
Speaker 1:It was just only, about a month ago. We played some Overwatch 2 together. But the reason why I mentioned these friends that I have is because both of them, they were fairly good at video games, to be complete honest. They're they were better than me. You know, they're 10 years younger.
Speaker 1:Their are they're a little bit better than my reflexes. But specifically, when I'm talking about that they were fairly good at video games, they were fairly good at Call of Duty specifically. Like I said, we played Black Ops 2 together. We went into Ghost together. We played Black Ops 3 together.
Speaker 1:I think we even played what was that one? Advanced warfare for we played that for, like, a week, and then we went back to the game that was before it because we didn't really like the game. But one of my friends and maybe you've heard this before with people that you play. Maybe you've said it before. You know, they would say something along the lines of get in my backpack, or they would say something like my back is hurting after that game.
Speaker 1:I remember specifically one time my buddy Nathan, he had the most insane game. And right after the game, he was like, guys, I think I gotta get off. And I was like, yo, what what's go what's going on? Like, are you okay? He was like, man, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm I'm really hurting right now. I was, like, are you okay? Like, I was concerned for him. He was, like, my back is hurting bad. And then immediately, I knew exactly who he was saying.
Speaker 1:Right? He was saying that he carried us all the way to victory. So what what does get in the backpack mean, or what does it mean when somebody says that my back is hurt hurting? Essentially, this the the team is not the reason why you won. You aren't the reason why your team won the game.
Speaker 1:The reason why you won is because that specific person that said those that line of getting my backpack, he single handedly destroyed the other team. He's single it it didn't matter what you did. It didn't matter what anybody else on the team that he was going to win that game no matter what because he was that good. Whether it be objective time, maybe his KDR has killed death ratio was extremely high. Maybe the heels that he had was out of this world.
Speaker 1:Right? Whatever it may be, they carried you to victory. And I only have very few video games where I was able to actually say this in any way, shape, or form, or be being able to say something like, get in my backpack or my back hurts or something. And honestly, it's probably only been a very few times overall at that. I'm not very used to saying something like that because I'm just I'm not that good at those types of video games.
Speaker 1:That's not who I am. That's completely okay. My my reaction time is a little bit slow. Okay? I'm going on 37 this year.
Speaker 1:Your reaction time, it's not getting any quicker. It's only getting slower. So I just have to hope that I'm I'm doing things right at the time. Anyways, the thing is, in real life, though, I believe that we need to get in Jesus' backpack to gain 3 specific things that we're gonna talk about today. And so I wanted to start by jumping into the text that we're gonna be reading through the main text, and it comes from John, my favorite book of the Bible.
Speaker 1:I love the book of John. It's one of the 4 gospels. I just think it's written. It's written differently. It's just got so much of a more spiritual aspect to it.
Speaker 1:I really love the book of John. So we're gonna jump into book of John today, chapter 12 verses 12 through 19. And it says this, the next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him. Kind of a weird thing to take, to be completely honest when you think about it. They kept shouting, Hosanna.
Speaker 1:Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written. Do not be afraid, daughter Zion. Look. Your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.
Speaker 1:His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered the that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify. This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign. Then the Pharisees said to one another, you see?
Speaker 1:You've accomplished nothing. Look. The world has gone after him. I feel like God is leading me to talk about things that Jesus carried with him at the beginning of what we call Passion Week. Just like we sometimes need to be carried in a game, Jesus carried some things, and he also carries us as well.
Speaker 1:And today, I wanna talk about 3 things that Jesus brought with him as he rode into Jerusalem. So the first thing that we're gonna talk about is that Jesus carried peace into Jerusalem, that Jesus carried peace. So the first thing, we're gonna look at how Jesus actually entered into Jerusalem. Verse 15, it says that Jesus entered out of donkey's colt. This is very significant.
Speaker 1:As a kid, I didn't really understand the cult. I didn't really understand it fully because, like, I was a kid. It just it it it was almost like I felt like the teachers, they just made it into a kid's story. But it's really significant that Jesus came in on a donkey's colt, because he could have ridden into Jerusalem on anything. He could have walked into Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:He could've ridden in on anything, but he specifically chose a young donkey. You see, this fulfilled the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 that was written over 500 years before Jesus was even born. And so the the reason he wrote in on something is because this signifies that he is a king. When somebody was riding on something, essentially, this the, kings would commonly ride on something to distinguish themselves between themselves as a king and the commoners or the rest of the people that were in the area at the time. But most kings, they wouldn't they wouldn't ride in on a donkey.
Speaker 1:They would ride in on a horse. Yet Jesus chose a young donkey, And not just any young donkey, it was one that had never been ridden on before. If Jesus had ridden in on a horse, this would have signified something that was completely different than what we see on Palm Sunday. A horse was used to signify a king. Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay. We got we got a king that comes in majesty and power. Jesus is a king, and he's coming in majesty and power, but horses were beasts of war. When a king rides into battle, it's on a horse. Many of you have probably seen the Lord of the Rings before, you know, the whole entire series.
Speaker 1:When people are riding into battle, what are they normally riding on? They're normally riding on a horse. You see Aragorn doing it. You see Gandalf doing it. You see Theoden doing it.
Speaker 1:I think you what what is it? You even see Sam doing it even though he's, like, he's on the back of a horse because the girls are he's on front of the horse because the girl brought him. Anyways, apart from all of that, they're riding in on horses because horses are beasts of war. You didn't see a bunch of them riding in a little young donkeys. That would have been a little bit weird.
Speaker 1:It would have sounded a little bit weird too. Would have would have been made for a very good book or for a very good movie. The Jews, though, they were waiting for this type of king. They were waiting for their king to ride into Jerusalem on a horse. They were waiting for a leader who would raise up an army, who would bring about the destruction of the Romans and the rise of the Jews.
Speaker 1:They were hoping for a king that would end the oppression of the Roman Empire and the severe grip that it had on their nation. Yet, Jesus still didn't ride in on a horse. He rode in on a donkey. Jesus' mission was not to conquer Rome. Jesus' mission, it wasn't even to to to deliver peace to the Jews.
Speaker 1:The Jews hoped that this was his mission, and they hoped that this is what he had come to do. But Jesus came to bring peace between sinful man and God. That's why he was carried in on a young donkey. It signified peace. It signified humility.
Speaker 1:It wasn't war. It wasn't something, like, where he was just gonna raise up an army. Like I said, that's not what he came to do. He came to bring peace between sinful man and God. And when I think about this in the in the mindset of the Jews, I often wonder if instead of God overcoming things in my life and the things that are oppressing me.
Speaker 1:Right? Finances, health, family issues, job problems, other challenges that we all face on a daily basis. Instead of those things, I think what he wants from from me is to understand that the peace that he can he the peace that he brings into my life through him, it comes because he brought me into a relationship with God the father. My peace doesn't come from the solutions to problems that I have in my life. The peace doesn't come from those things.
Speaker 1:It comes from the fact that I have a relationship with God the father. I believe that's what Jesus brings into our lives. And don't get me wrong. I know for a fact that God can overcome these things in our lives. He can overcome this the the problems.
Speaker 1:He can bring those solutions, and we're gonna actually talk about that in just a minute. But it isn't necessarily the solution that he wants from from you at least in the moment. I want you to listen to this. I truly believe this, and I think it's important. I believe that God cares more about your relationship with him rather than the solution to a trial or challenge that you are in right now.
Speaker 1:Let me say that one more time. I truly believe that God cares more about your relationship with him rather than the solution or a trial or challenge that you're going through right now in your life. And that might be hard to hear, but I truly believe that. And I think that when we get to that mindset, when we start to care more about our relationship with God rather than the end of the storm that we're going through in our lives and the problems that we're going through in the trial and the fire, we say all these things. We want them to end.
Speaker 1:If we're caring more about our relationship with God rather than I'm a solution to those things, the end of that storm, I think that will bring peace into your life today. I really believe that will bring peace into your life. So when Jesus rode in on a donkey, he didn't just carry peace with him, though. And I thank God for this because Jesus also carried victory when he was coming into Jerusalem, that Jesus carried victory. Who here remembers put a 7 in chat if you guys remember being a part of a Palm Sunday service at church growing up?
Speaker 1:Okay. I I remember Palm Sunday services. Right? And growing up, I didn't I didn't really understand Palm Sunday. I'll be completely honest.
Speaker 1:I would walk in the church. I'd you know, my my 8 year old self, I'd be excited. Right? Easter's coming. Jelly beans, bunnies.
Speaker 1:You know. Let me tell you something. Those those Reese's peanut butter eggs, listen. Listen. I I know I know that the ones that come out during football season, they're they're not shaped like footballs.
Speaker 1:They're shaped like ice. They just repackage them because they weren't they didn't sell it off. But those things, glorious. Okay? They're better than the Reese's peanut butter cups.
Speaker 1:Okay? Can I get an amen in the chat? We all know that those things are better. But I didn't understand Palm Sunday as a kid fully. We'd walk into church.
Speaker 1:I'd be given my little palm leaf. I'd be excited because I'm waving around my little palm leaf. You'd occasionally see the person on your right tickle the back of the neck of the person that's in front of them because that's what people did with their palm leaf. I come on. We we all did it.
Speaker 1:A person on your left, maybe they they all of a sudden out of nowhere, they had these this amazing origami skill, and they could take your leaf and their own leaf, and they can make it into a cross. And whether I just forgot as a kid or I wasn't fully listening while growing up, I never really understood the palm branch. It was fun to go into church and to sing in the way of your palm branch around. It was fun to do those things, but I didn't really understand the significance of a palm branch. Like, I lived in Connecticut.
Speaker 1:We don't have palm trees. Where did they even get these palm these palm leaves anyways? Right? I didn't know they were ordering them. But it made sense to me that when Jesus comes back again, that trumps are gonna sound.
Speaker 1:But when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, what was the significance of a palm branch? What was the significance of people waving the palm branches? I didn't get it, but the prom the palm branch in that day and age, it was a symbol for victory. It was a symbol for victory. The people who witnessed this event, they would they would cut off branches from the palm trees, and they would weigh them, and they would lay them on the ground as Jesus is entering into the city.
Speaker 1:And they did this because they believed that he was about to bring victory, that he was about to bring triumph for the Jews. And as I said, you know, as I said a little bit before, this is actually true. This is true, but in a different way that they were actually expecting at the time. We're gonna talk about the ultimate that Jesus carried in Jerusalem in a little in in just a moment, but, first, I truly believe that Jesus did come to bring victory in our struggles as well. What are you going through today?
Speaker 1:Like, really think about what are some of the struggles that you specifically are going through today. I want to encourage you to trust in God for victory in all of your struggles. I believe that Jesus can bring victory in your family. I believe that he can bring victory into your marriage. No matter where your marriage is at right now, it might be hanging on by a thread.
Speaker 1:There might be things that you have said to your spouse recently that you're like, I'd something's telling me to say is Jesus can bring victory to your marriage. Okay? So many people, they think that this is the end. There's no possible way that we can possibly get through this. Jesus can bring victory though because through through Christ, all things are made possible.
Speaker 1:Okay? So Jesus can bring victory to your marriage. He can bring victory to your family. He could be bring mending into those things. If you have depression, Jesus can bring victory in your depression.
Speaker 1:If you have anxiety, Jesus can bring bring victory into the the the the area of your life that is struggling with anxiety. He brings victory in health. He can bring victory into loved people that are in your life that are struggling with health issues. He brings victory into your job. He can bring victory into everything.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the victory that we receive though, it isn't exactly how we expect. And honestly, sometimes it's not even exactly truly what we wanted in the first place. But I wanna promise you this. Jesus, he doesn't lose any battle. There's not one battle that Jesus has ever lost.
Speaker 1:He is complete he is undefeated. He doesn't lose any battle. He only knows victory. And when he is fighting for you and he is fighting with you, you can have victory through all of the trials and through all of the challenges that you face every single day. The victory that you get or that you have, it might not look like what you want.
Speaker 1:I've had many times where Jesus brought victory in my life. And, honestly, during the moment that he was bringing the victory, I was like, why did you go about it this way? It doesn't make any sense. And every single time he does that, I'll be completely honest. Later on in my life, I look back on it, and I wouldn't change a thing.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't change a thing. Somehow it helped me to grow. Somehow, it helped me to learn. Somehow, it helped me to lean on him just a little bit more, but might not look exactly like you want. Maybe you expected the victory.
Speaker 1:It would look like that you were the one that made a difference. Maybe it it maybe maybe it looked like there's somebody else would make a difference in their life. But many times, we just need to trust in Jesus. We need to get in his backpack. Okay?
Speaker 1:His back doesn't hurt when we get in his backpack, and he can carry you to victory in the way that he sees fit. It might not be what you look what it looked like for you. It might not be exactly how you saw it or how you wanted it in the 1st place, but Jesus, get in his backpack, because he can bring that victory into your life. And with all of that being said, the victory that Jesus was carrying with him, though, it wasn't the victory that the Jews expected. Like I said, sometimes the victory that we get in our lives is not what we expected, but it's the thing that we needed.
Speaker 1:Like like I was honestly, in many ways, I think what the Jews expected, it wasn't what they wanted. It wasn't even what they knew they needed in that time. Jesus was carrying the ultimate victory, which leads us to our final point today that Jesus carried salvation. Jesus carried salvation. So we talked about the donkey and how it represented peace and not war.
Speaker 1:We talked about the palm branches and how it this is a symbol of victory and triumph. But less than a week from this Sunday that we're talking about right now, Jesus would be carrying the cross. The cross symbolizes the suffering and the pain that Jesus would endure for us so that we could have salvation through him, through his death and resurrection. I always found it interesting, though. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, these verses say that the people were shouting, Hosanna.
Speaker 1:They they were calling Jesus the king of Israel, and the word Hosanna over time has kinda gotten confused. It's gotten jumbled. And even in the Webster's dictionary, it doesn't even have the right definition for it because I looked it up this past week. I just wanted to see what the Webster's dictionary said the Webster's dictionary. It's great for certain things, but when you start talking about words that were that are used in the Bible like joy and and Hosanna and things like that, it gets it completely wrong.
Speaker 1:Because the Webster's dictionary says that this is an expression of adoration and that's an expression of praise or that's an expression of joy. And while that is true to an extent, this is not the real definition of Hosanna and why the people were shouting it in the first place. They weren't just praising Jesus. They weren't just showing adoration for him. Yes, they were doing that.
Speaker 1:But Hosanna and it's a literal literal meaning. It's it is literally, I beg you I beg you to save us. Please deliver us. This is what they were shouting to Jesus as he's riding into Jerusalem. Please deliver us.
Speaker 1:Save us from what we are going through right now. Hosanna was a plea for salvation. Little did they know, though, that though they were expressing the right word for it, it was for something that they didn't completely comprehend. They were still awaiting for Jesus to end the oppression against the Romans. They didn't know that he had come not to save them from this oppression, but to save them from their sinful ways and their sinful desires and and the things that they already had staying on their heart because they could no longer be living under the law because if they did, they wouldn't be able they they wouldn't be able to get they wouldn't be able to make it.
Speaker 1:They wouldn't be able to make it. Jesus came for a completely different reason. And not only that, but it wasn't just for the Jews. It would be for everyone. The thing that I found interesting though was that the same voices that were exclaiming, Hosanna.
Speaker 1:They kept shouting that he was the king of Israel, that he was the son of David, that he came in the name of the Lord, these same voices, less than a week later, would be shouting, crucify him. Crucify him. Sometimes I look at this and I and I read these verses, and I'm like, how how could you go from this place? And then less than a week later, be in this area of your life. Like, what what happened during this week?
Speaker 1:And, obviously, there's peer pressure. There's other thing. But it's just it it just didn't make sense to me. It was hard for me to believe something like that. But when I see something that's hard to believe in the in the Bible, where I see changes in lives, I try to look at my own life and start to analyze my own life in this way.
Speaker 1:I may not have been the one that was there shouting, Hosanna. Right? I was I wasn't there shouting, Hosanna. I wasn't the one that was there shouting, crucify him. But I do know that sometimes my life seems like that, and it acts like that as well.
Speaker 1:When things are going well, things are going my way. I'm right there with them. Being like the one shouting, Hosanna and praising his name. Thank you God for who you are. You have brought so many blessings to my life.
Speaker 1:You have done this. You have done that. And, man, there's just I can't I don't have enough time to thank you for all the blessings that are going on, but I would be lying to you if I said that in all of my struggles as well that I was saying the same exact thing. Many times when life has hit me hard and it's knocked me down. I'm sitting there asking God where he is where were you, God, during this whole entire situation that I was going through?
Speaker 1:Why haven't you stepped in? Why haven't you intervened in this situation? I remember specifically years ago. Me I I you know, me and my wife, we we were having so many health issues that were going on back in 2016 through, like, 2019. I remember driving home from work sometimes.
Speaker 1:I had a 25 minute drive home, and I would be sitting crying my eyes out behind my steering wheel, trying to figure out where God was in the situation, yelling at him, being like, I don't understand what it is. I'm trying to do my best to serve you, but where have you been in this situation? I was in so much pain. Why haven't you carried me through this? But every single time every single time that I went through this and still even sometimes going through it today and wondering where God is in a situation, he proved time and time and time again that he is working in this situation.
Speaker 1:He is protecting me. He's helping me to grow, and he reminds me that there is salvation that he has given to me even though I don't deserve it. Something that I think we're all still learning in our lives, even though it's difficult at times, is to remember these things. At first, we can have peace in every situation because Jesus brings peace into the chaos of our lives through the relationship that we have with him. The second thing we need to remember is that we have victory in our situations through him, even if that victory doesn't look exactly the way that we want it to.
Speaker 1:And then finally, we have ultimate victory through the salvation that he has given to us through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. We have to remember that we cannot achieve these things without Him, though. We have to be carried by him. We have to get in his backpack. And so no matter where you are in life right now or what your challenges are, I can assure you of one thing.
Speaker 1:If God has solved all of your problems, if if and all the trials that you're going through right now, you would still not be fulfilled. If your finances were absolutely perfect and there is no bills and no debt that you had to pay, if your marriage was absolutely perfect, if your relationships were absolutely perfect, if your family was perfect, if your job was in the perfect place, you would still not have joy in your life. The ultimate victory that Jesus carried with him and carried for us is salvation through him. When that is our focus above all the all the other things in this life, all the things that we go through, our joy can be made complete. And so I wanna challenge you today.
Speaker 1:I want to challenge you to walk in the joy knowing that Jesus Christ has brought salvation into your life. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, you are so good. You are so good to us. I know for a fact that we don't deserve the grace and mercy that you've brought into our lives.
Speaker 1:We don't deserve the fact that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us, but you did it anyways. You thought that I was worth it. You thought that we were worth it. And I thank you, God, that you love us that much. I thank you that you have brought peace into our lives.
Speaker 1:I thank you that you do bring victory, even though it might not be in the way that we expect. And I thank you once again for that salvation that you've brought into our lives. And so father, as we continue to go throughout this week, as we enter into Passion Week, and we're going towards Good Friday, and we're going towards Easter. Father, I pray that we think about those things, that we would celebrate those things, but that we'd truly just be diving into a deeper and deeper relationship with you. Remembering that you have brought peace into our lives, that even if yes, the things in our lives don't look exactly the way that we want it to right now, that you can change things, that you continually are changing things in our lives for the better.
Speaker 1:Let us focus on you. Let us trust in you that you can do all things no matter what. No matter where we are, no matter what the situation is, that you can mend, that you can heal, and that you can bring peace and victory to those situations. God, I thank you. And I pray for those people today that maybe have chains hindering them right now.
Speaker 1:That maybe they feel like there's things that just things are not going right in our lives. God, I pray that you'd break those chains. I pray that you would help them along right now. I pray that you place them in your caring hands, that they would be able to be in your presence and to receive that peace that you have given to us. There is the peace that surpasses all understanding that your word tells us about.
Speaker 1:And so, lord, I pray that we would receive that today. And let us continue to trust in you and to lean on your strength. We give you all the praise. We give you all the glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray.
Speaker 2:Amen. Thank you so much, Vaz, for that Plum Saturday, service and that message. Incredible. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. All the emails in the chat again because we just love that, you know. I don't know how many of you came in not knowing what the palm branch represented, but kind of knowing of it and now learning what it is, is pretty amazing. And so I just want to say if any of you here don't know God but you want to learn more, if you officially want to follow Jesus and dedicate your life to him and you think, man, this this has gotta be true, I give you the opportunity to do that right now, to just pray to him and accept him, and then if you want, put it in chat and we will celebrate with you because again, this is the biggest decision you could ever make in your entire life and we want to celebrate with you. And Yeah, I've definitely been learning who is God when yeah.
Speaker 2:He he doesn't really help you in your situation, even though he has the power to do so, and he just cares about love, you know. But then I think of how many people in my life that I love and love me, but they don't help with my situations, but we still love each other, you know? So truly understanding love is not as easy as it seems. So yeah, I thank you very much for for this message. It's really good.
Speaker 2:And there you have it. That's the start of the Easter story. Come back next week for the rest of Easter story because Easter is where the big celebration is where we learn how God responds, basically. Jesus responds from his death which is incredible so I want to Remind you guys if you were here earlier if you weren't we want to encourage you guys to be inviting people to Easter. So we have an Easter invite that I made a little graphic that you can share with people to invite them to GSE's, Easter service.
Speaker 2:And so I encourage you to go to our our website, godsquadchurch.com/easter. That's where the invite is. At the very bottom of the page, you'll see the graphic that I made. Just right click, save as, and share it with your family, your friends, your streams, your Discord, anywhere and everywhere because we want to share that good news of Jesus and what he truly represents. So please please please, if you have time just do it now.
Speaker 2:Don't put it as a to do list to do later, just do it now. Invite someone. And then I also want to let you guys know, if you are like, okay, I wanna learn more about God, this Jesus thing, but what do I do next? We have some next steps for you. So no matter where you are at in your faith, whether you're questioning, whether you're a new believer, whether you've been a believer for a while, or you have might have questions, you can always connect with us.
Speaker 2:So exclamation point connect in the chat for a form you can fill out to connect with us so that we can directly talk to you and answer any questions you might have. We also have water baptisms, which we believe Jesus called us to do as a step in our faith where where we say, alright. I'm ready. I'm just ready to share the world share with the world that I am dedicating my life to Jesus. And so water baptism is just a representation of you standing, getting dug into water, and coming up a new person, a new life, and we would love to be able to to baptize you.
Speaker 2:So if you're interested in that, put exclamation point baptism in the chat, and then there will be a sign up form. There's also a class to kind of teach you a little bit more about what baptism is. And then, another thing we encourage you guys to do is we have a class called XP path and it does 2 things. 1, it helps you connect with the church and become a partner with the church. If you were like, I'm all in it.
Speaker 2:This is my church home. I love this place. Sign up for this class and you can become a partner. And then 2, it also helps with our, core value, which is discover your purpose, so that class can also help you with that. So exclamation point XP path in the chat to sign up for that, or even if you're just interested, sign up for it, and we'll reach out to you with a little bit more details.
Speaker 2:You can also find details of all of this in our discord as a whale. Alright. And with that, we are going to enter a time of offering and giving, and this is a time where we worship God, not with music, but with our giving and with our finances. And the only reason we can do this is because of you guys and your giving to make this place, God Squad Church, possible. Okay?
Speaker 2:So if you would love to donate, to make sure that we can continue to do what we can do, then you can do a couple of things. As it explains at the bottom of the screen, you can either go to the panel below, you can go to our website, godsquadchurch.com, or you can text this number, 84321, any amount, and it will start telling you what to do. So those are the best ways to give. You can either just give a one time gift any amount. We know it's a sacrifice, and we appreciate anything.
Speaker 2:You can also set up reoccurring giving if that is something that you are interested in doing. But we do believe that this is a way where we can sacrifice for God and show him, like, hey, we are invested in your kingdom, and we want your kingdom to come. So, yes. And then thank you thank you thank you so much for all of you who have already given. We know that takes some sacrifice.
Speaker 2:We know it's not normal to just give money away. You worked hard for that, you know? But you are different because God has touched your heart. So thank you so much for your giving because once again, we could not do this without you.