wow wow wow wow good morning Champion Center
anybody thankful anybody thankful to live in the United States of America today
we’re celebrating America today I want to welcome all of our locations we welcome you in Yakima we welcome you in
Dupont we welcome you in Bellevue we welcome all of you on line and we welcome you right here in Tacoma welcome
to celebrate America
and we are so glad that you are here today and we have a very special treat for you this morning and I know that
we’ve announced it and even in this service you know who our guests are but what we’re going to do is before I have
them come today and have a time of sharing with them and hearing one of the most riveting and Powerful stories
having to do with sacrifice and commitment to our nation I’m going to first of all
have you take a look at the screens over the next few moments and then we’re going to talk to them and I just invite
you today to say this with me right now stay with me my heart’s open and my mind’s ready
make us better God today in Jesus name amen have a look at the screens you may
be seated Scotty thanks Sir Ken farmer lady Daryl
farmer how you doing good sir good good how’s everything going you guys are treating me well that’s
good to hear I’m sure that Scotty went through many dark moments but I’m also sure that he can see right
now and so God gave him his vision of purpose again
maybe not the physical vision but probably a vision that’s more important because there are many people
who can see who do not know purpose Scotty can see his purpose
and with that let me ask I think uh brother Neal is uh is up here from the Q
course is going to read the citations attention doors
the president of the United States of America has awarded the Purple Heart
established by General George Washington Newburgh New York August 7 1782.
first lieutenant Scotty Michael Smiley United States Army wounds received in action the 6th April
2005 given under my hand the city of Washington this day 11th of April 20.
I mean it’s no lie that we all struggle it’s no lie that this world is full of negative things
I feel like people are wanting something more for themselves for this country for this
world and maybe in some small way Scotty is a beacon of light Scotty is a
way that they can see goodness out of suffering
thank you that’s what it began to mean to me is we don’t give up on life we don’t give up on what struggles or
trials may be facing us
when God meets us and says good job good and faithful servant your race is complete
here he comes everybody completely fly
foreign
church family will you help me right now welcome Scotty Tiffany smiley
thank you
thank you
you may be seated wow what a great great privilege
it is for us to have you here today thank you thank you for being here and I’ve anticipated this I think I probably
called you about six months ago and that it wasn’t like yesterday so we really anticipated having you here
and so thankful that you can be here so welcome it’s I’m excited to talk to both of you talk about your story and share a
little bit today so first of all just if you want to greet everybody feel free to do that and I’ll get started with
it’s an honor to be here today just to share a little bit about our lives our story for the most importantly our spiritual growth and our relationship
with Jesus Christ and what struggles and trials that we’ve gone through uh is nothing compared to
what he’s given and and what we are celebrating here on Tuesday uh the independence of our great country so
again it’s an honor to be here today
so uh Tiffany I want to just tell you that I originally invited Scotty to come and as he and I were talking a week or
so ago we he kept integrating well Tiffany’s part of the story and in other words
Tiffany was here and Tiffany was there when that Tiffany got that phone call and so finally I got the courage up like I wanted I wanted this but I just didn’t
know um you know I didn’t know I know you recently ran for Senate and I I just wasn’t going
to impose
so I wasn’t gonna I wasn’t gonna impose on that and and but I I uh I finally just said Scotty would it be okay
we’re very much so a team um in everything that we do even the senate race we were a team and
um for us it feels so good to be in Washington State with a bunch of believers
who knows no freedom is not free please and Christ did everything for us it’s
why we can live in joy and freedom so for us this is such a blessing to be here with all of you
thank you so good to have you so let me um let me first of all just say today’s
story is in a book called hope unseen and I think we have a Graphic of it I I had one in my bag and if if we don’t
have a Graphic maybe some of my team will get me that book today but that’s the story we’re going to
review and I want to make you aware of the fact that this is captured we we only have a few minutes but the story is
captured in this book let’s just start with where you guys are from where you grew up a little bit of your background
in terms of family and so forth yeah say you know for some the good Lord put me in Washington state I was born and raised
here I love this state I will always stay and fight for this state and the amazing people here so born and raised in Washington state I was a farm girl
and in junior high I was bussed into the big city school the Middle School it was very scary and
um you know people were mean and there were like little gangs and all of this was so new to me and I was just this little scrawny farm girl who didn’t wear
any makeup and didn’t you know knew how to take care of my animals and that was about it except there was this one boy who was
really really nice and in fact I drew a heart around his photo in our sixth grade yearbook and I
wrote future plans I I didn’t stand a chance
and his name was Scotty smiley so we were friends through Junior High
and then started dating our senior year of high school so we’ve known each other a very very long time
and I tease him I said I was drawn to his excellence and his dedication and his love of the Lord and he says it
wasn’t my good looks I fought for everything I had and growing up in a large family moving to Pasco Washington where we both are from
I was scared but just the friendships obviously in a Christian family always settled on you know what my plans are
what my Futures were and obviously when you have such an amazing beautiful woman who godly woman I definitely had to
chase her and I think it was the years of maturity facial hair and muscles that finally enabled her to say yes
that’s awesome so you met in high school Junior higher Junior High okay I learned through the
book Scotty that you attended some of the highest regarded military schools in our nation and
um you attended West Point you attended Duke how did that happen from Pasco Washington yeah I always
set my goals high in whether I could achieve them or not I shot for the moon and you know once high school was coming
to a close I knew I wanted to be a leader I knew I had certain leadership skills I worked on them and I wanted to be the best person I was and so one of
the schools I applied to was the military academy my older brother was there I just knew it was it was the right thing for me to do of course
dating my high school sweetheart we knew we appreciate each other we didn’t know what our future would be but
we knew if we stayed strong together wrote each other constantly emails so on and so forth uh there would be a future and what’s cool to say is only two
percent of those who go to the academy uh dating someone exit with that same person so we’re proud to be a part of
that group wow wow and I I will say for me it was like I
just wanted off the farm you know when I saw Scotty like Scotty I was a road out I guess
Scotty’s going places and um you know I just wanted to be a nurse I was the first in my family to graduate with a bachelor’s of science it was a
really big deal and and truly you know when Scotty graduated from West Point
um he’s a strong army officer you know infantry Ranger combat scuba diver headed for Rangers
um and I was a nurse and our my new last name was Smiley it was the picture of the American dream
you know our future was ahead of us and it was bright and it was beautiful and I thought this is everything that I’ve always wanted
so beautiful story uh Junior High couple meets and instead of uh inheriting the
farm land and milking cows or whatever uh boy and girl have dreams and boy and
girl are living outside of Pasco Washington and you’re pursuing that dream and then on April the 6th I
believe it is 2005. your lives were changed forever
and you were at the time of that you were in two different parts
of the world and I’d like you to just share with us what happened yeah so be newly married station of Fort Lewis
Washington uh deployed yeah go Army received a platoon 45 man we were
Striker Batoon eight wheeled Vehicles deployed to missoul Iraq for a one-year tour as operation Iraqi Freedom three
obviously while I was at the military academy the Twin Towers were struck the Pentagon Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and right
prior to graduation we were now at war in Iraq so my ideas of what my future was drastically changed but now newly
married I have to kiss her goodbye as we deploy to Iraq again we’re rebuilding the country uh but every day insurgents
would attack us six of my men were seriously injured had to redeploy uh April uh sorry December 20th my commander Bill jakeman Jr was killed in
a mess hall bombing along with 21 other men and women when someone just walked in and blew himself up so what I saw and
what I felt every day was was beyond tragic but on April 6 of 2005 intelligence said there was a suicide Car Bomb I wanted to say it’s well
that’s a needle in a haystack which that truly is in a city of over 2 million people as my new Commander told me we had in
Intelligence on the ground where the insurgents were telling people to move he said stay off the main highways and so I made my way there standing in the
hatch had bulletproof helmet on bullproof classes uh you know fast protector metal all the way up to my
chest I felt protected and I saw a suspicious vehicle silver opal a single man in the driver’s
seat his head was buzzed face was Buzz gray shirt collared shirt down to his wrist um
but again the back of the car was lower than the front and given the Rules of Engagement that we had you couldn’t just shoot someone because you’re scared yeah
she had to see that they had a weapon had hurt someone so I made a decision to pull my Striker vehicle about 30 yards
I’m facing East he’s facing west on the same road he’s about at my 10 11 o’clock a little bit in front of me no median in
between US just cement and I yell at him to get out of his vehicle uh he looks over his left shoulder at me
pulls his hands off the steering wheel shakes his head no whether I know what he I’m saying when you have a bunch of guns pointing at you
you you know we’re talking to you I yell at him again he raised his hands off the steering wheel shake his head no
then let his foot off the brake that’s when I raised my M4 rifle to my shoulder fired around then boom my world went
black um yeah in short about two hours after this
incident I received a phone call that forever changed our life together you know Scotty’s
in the moment Scotty’s life blew up physical life blew up into a million pieces but I always say that was the day our whole world
blew up into a million pieces that so-called American Dream shattered
and I I was awoken out of bed at about 4 a.m in the morning by a phone call and I
was so excited because Scotty would always call at random time so I always had my phone on me and I excitedly you
know got up and I had a nursing shift in a few hours I was like oh this is awesome I get to talk to him you know before I head into my day
and when I answered the phone it was someone else’s voice on the other end of the line and it was Scotty’s Commander who’s like
I mean he is GI Joe one of the strongest leaders that we have in this country you think goodness he’s still serving our
country and leading um but through broken tears this man started sobbing
and he said I’m so sorry that’s all we could say I’m so sorry um and he said Scotty’s been struck by
this suicide Car Bomb he said he’s flatlined several times he goes I don’t know if he’s going to make it
but he said hopefully someone calls you from balad Iraq the combat support Hospital and he hung up the phone
and there’s nothing you can do but pray
I couldn’t go see him I couldn’t talk to him um he was miles and miles away and it
warned Warren Country but I just began calling anyone I could think of to pray and within a few hours there were
actually people all over the world praying for Scotty um
the second phone call I made is I called my doctors and I said I’m not coming in to work anymore I’m resigning and I
bought a one-way ticket to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to be there whenever Scotty arrived whether he arrived dead
or he arrived alive I was going to be there and
you know even the videos Scotty we still get emotional and this isn’t it we’ve obviously have joy and and hope
but I I share this emotional part because it’s real and it’s life and it’s hard
and you know it changed us but for the good so to remember it I I can remember the pain
but you know what else we remember the peace wow the strength that God gave
us in those moments you know sometimes now I think I’m so strong and and what a fool because I look back at those
moments and I think I was so weak but yet I was so strong
approximately four days past I woke up in Walter Reed Army Medical Center uh later being told what had happened the
man had blown himself up Sydney shrapnel through both of my eyes traumatic brain injury partially paralyzed the rights temporarily the
right side of my body metal went through my right eye in which the doctors tried to you know save my site on the next day
he said you know doctor came in and said I’m sorry but you’ll never be able to see again and and that’s when like Tiffany said the American dream our
future our plans crushed decimated blown up into a million pieces
and for me I was angry I was mad I was depressed
and the number one person that I was mad at was God
I read my Bible almost every day in Iraq I’d pray with my men I’d kneel before every mission that we did
I do Bible studies with my friends I was the atypical perfect Christian I did everything that I was supposed to
much like Jesus said to his disciples the Pharisee checks all the blocks and he says Ah Beyond I belong on the right hand side of God and then the tax
collector said I don’t deserve any of this and Jesus said who do you think God will have more grace on I unfortunately was
that Pharisee angry at God that he allowed something so disastrous to happen to me and it wasn’t if it wasn’t for my
beautiful bride Tiffany who spoke truth hope and life every single day saying Scotty you’re going to write a book someday and I’d say you don’t know what
F’s my instructor gave to me at West Point in English you’re gonna be a public speaker what’s a blind person going to tell anyone in
public no one want to even look no one even wants to look at me you’re going to be a teacher I can’t even brush my own teeth how am I
going to teach anyone there’s that hope truth in life and it wasn’t until a little boy Andrew Harris who I taught
Sunday school I said no to Toby Keith no to Gary Sinise the actor I didn’t want their sympathy but Timmy said this
little boy Andrew Harris wants to come and say hi I just began to cry that this little boy still looked up to me that I knew God did have a purpose
but I had to believe um so good
so good in in Romans chapter 8 he says for I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that shall be revealed in you so good but it was my attitude and it was forgiveness that I had to forgive the man who blew
himself up taking his own life for an evil cause taking my eyesight blowing my life in a million pieces my wife’s my
our family’s friends I also had to forgive myself for the choices that I made but most importantly it wasn’t until I
asked God for his forgiveness and asked him back into my heart that my recovery finally began
wow wow so good so Tiffany I know that there was a point
where uh and you guys talk about it in the book where you there was something you feared more than the fact that he would not see
again and Scotty’s just touched on a little bit but I wanted to hear you in terms of how you were how you were dealing with
that trying to grasp the fact that Scotty was losing or had lost his faith
I’ll never forget that day when I walked into Scotty’s hospital room you know during this time in our life God gave me
an extra amount of energy and peace and joy and honestly every morning I would wake up and I’d just say God what do you want me to go in and say and he would
say tell him he’s going to be a speaker tell him he’s going to be a teacher tell him he’s going to write a book you know tell him all these things and Scotty at
West Point he was known as the oak that was his nickname he was solid he was grounded he wasn’t like an oak tree
and I walked into Scotty’s room with his his West Point buddies this day and it was actually right before his Purple
Heart ceremony that you guys saw just before we came on stage and his friend Edward Graham said Scotty why don’t you why don’t you just say a
quick little prayer and Scotty said no I I don’t think I know God
and the room went silent and in that moment in my spirit immediately you know because we
had been praying Lord restore his eye he was he still had an eye surgery although there was really nothing they could do
we were just praying like any a little bit of sight is better than no sight at all like me you know praying for this eyesight
and in that moment it hit me like I’m not praying for his eyesight
I’m praying for his heart that God would make him whole and that doesn’t mean eyesight that means your heart your soul
who you are that God would give back to Scotty tenfold what he had given him before when everyone called him the oak
that he would get that back tenfold so I started praying for his heart and not his physical healing even though
he needed a lot of physical healing his heart needed to heal and that was the moment that I was like you know I’m okay
if he’s blind I am complete if he loves the Lord and he is back and tenfold and comes back as the oak I don’t care that
he’s blind you know what what I find at pastoring
30 however many years I I’ve seen a lot of people go through a lot of things as well as going through a lot of things in our own life
and our family but the one thing that really resonates with me about that is that there you know it’s it’s one thing
to go through things but sometimes you you just get stuck in the wrong prayer
and you get stuck with the idea that you know I you know I’m praying for example I’m praying for my marriage to be
restored now we all want marriage to be healed and restored but sometimes we have to move on from that and say I want
God to be glorified in my life and and I want to honor God and so it’s like we get stuck you know
we have an injury or we have a um you know something unfortunate we lose a job well I want I want my job I want my job back I want and we just you
know that’s okay to pray it for a season but then there’s a point that you’re describing that is so beautiful and it
is really it is really the epitome of the the Christian faith and that isn’t it that
is Jesus in the garden when he said I wish this cup would pass from me but not my will
yours be done if a cross is in my life if a cross is in my life give me the
strength to bear it yes and so uh there was there was a day when some
paperwork was pushed in front of you and what was that about
that day and where was Scotty when this was going on and how did you feel sorry to load up the question but I’m just I I
want to make sure I line it up and let you go how did you both feel about that decision that you’re making
so at that time you know I was 23 years old I had resigned from my nursing job I had a car payment I had students
and doctors were coming at me and saying um we’re going to have to start looking for long-term care facilities for your
husband like pretty much he’s you know worthless physically and we’re just going to move him over here to the VA
but that’s not what God told me and so every that’s why I I open too which
is sharing how weak I I was in that moment like if you saw me I would I was I looked really weak I had a hard time
eating I wasn’t sleeping well um but I had the Holy Spirit hmm
that strength in the vision that God had something so much better than what we could see in front of us in that moment
I just knew with all of my heart with all of my soul with all of my being that God had a bigger plan I just had to
walk it out I had to walk it out on the hard days I had to walk it in and keep speaking truth hope and life so when I was brought into the room with
military officials VA officials I mean top brass rank I mean very powerful people within our
government I had power of attorney so um they knew they could come to me and Scotty was still recovering and to
some degree he was in and out of Consciousness they had just pulled him out of a induced coma you know so he wasn’t fully coherent completely
so they just brought me I was by myself 23 years old little farm girl from Pasco Washington um and they said Mrs Smiley sign right
here on the dotted line and we will begin your husband’s military retirement we’ll transfer him into the VA long-term
care facilities and I go excuse me you know I I had a lot of questions and it was truly in that moment that I realized
maybe this is why I became a nurse yeah um yeah
I wasn’t intimidated by the medical system in fact I was an educated trained Advocate I knew exactly how to fight for
my patients um and this time I just had one patient but I knew exactly what to do so I had a lot of questions they couldn’t answer my
questions and I said well if he wants to serve he will still serve and they were like Mrs Smiley they looked at me like
you are incredibly crazy they said let us remind you
your husband has no eyes he will never see again there has never been someone to serve on
active duty blind so you need to sign the paperwork and they pushed it in front of me a little bit further
and I looked at them a second time again the strength in me people always ask me oh you’re so strong in that moment how were you so strong I would have signed
that paperwork I was strong because I had me and the Holy Spirit
wow that said do not sign that paperwork so there was no question I said I’m not
signing it and I knew they couldn’t make me my letter later went into Scotty’s room and kind of told him and he said you said what to them
like in the military I follow the rules he’s like you said what to those
generals and but it gave me time it gave me time to build a team who believed in the vision for something
better for Scotty you know the people in that room no fault to them they didn’t have the same vision that
God had given me so good
so I put it in a drawer and actually never seen it to this day gave Scotty and I time to build a team and then I knew I needed to help him recover so I
would like break him out of the hospital and say like we’re gonna walk around this track around Walter Reed and he was like okay you know I’m holding him and
we would do a half lap and then some days turned into a full lap and you know slowly but surely it was like one foot in front of the other I’d usually take a
three to four hour nap after that laugh so would you uh Scotty
that began though a an active duty you you became the first blind
active duty army officer am I correct yes
what
thank you thank you all thank you so much thank you thank you all
it was truly what does that look like can you tell me what you did like what were you doing it’s it’s literally a team a woman who
loved me beyond all measure um there’s times she says you know I love you but I really don’t like you right now uh and the great thing for me
I still had to hold her hold her elbow so she couldn’t go far but as having a team and Men military men and women uh that found out there is
a caveats in the Army Medical manual that said you can still continue on active duty um and so for me it was awesome to make
that decision from Fort Lewis to Fort Monroe Virginia traveling the nation talking to basic training AIT additional
instruction uh just giving them advice on what I had learned and when that came down that I was approved to continue on
after you still stayed in infantryman it was just not just an amazing time for us but an amazing movement in military
history that fantastic yes that we could continue to
serve our country that has given us so much that I can continue to give back and you know from there uh still instrument they never gave me a rifle
I’ll find out someday why they didn’t uh but knew the amazing military men and
women who taught me at the Academy and so I asked you know is that something I could do I hadn’t been to the career course which officers have to do hadn’t
had a company command another prerequisite uh and the dean of the military academy said yes I think it’d be great just go get a masters
um I was like okay so me and my mind Duke would it have on the military academy nothing but again you’re in
statistics class and if all of you want to close your eyes really quick everyone’s eyes closed as you can see here up on the board when you have this
equation move this side I realize Scotty you can’t quite do
everything on your own and again petitioning Duke Tiffany writing you know she should have her own masters with how much work she had to do in
assistance but it was not until I really had men and women assist me in math heavy courses Financial Accounting
statistics economics that I was able to graduate and upon graduation Tiffany said you know Scotty they’re probably going to have you be the graduation
speaker and I was like yeah right no one even knows who I am well guess what happens
Scotty we want you to be our graduation speaker and it was just it was not an account of what I had done but it was the count of the team the men and women
but most of all God who encouraged us walked by our side and let us reach the impossible
so amazing yeah I was just going to say that’s you know being the first blind active duty officer in the military Scotty kind of
touched on it you know we were the only ones like we would be walking down the street and I didn’t come from a military family I didn’t know anything about the
military and you know people would say like you know Scotty was supposed to salute and they would yell at him sometimes or you know I would respond
sorry I didn’t see you as I’m looking in their face oh
so we just had to chart our own path but as we went God gave us more and more strength because you know that cord of
God it was God and me and Scotty and and it was this bond that just couldn’t be broken and
we I was you know it’s like we do believe we can do impossible things because when God chose you truly just a little bit of faith and some hard work
you can do anything I think as humans we hold ourselves back so good
and and we had to walk that out I mean there were days you wonder like oh are we doing the right thing do we belong here
um but when that court is strong and that faith is strong yes yes you belong where you’re at it might not be easier
you might get side eyes from people or people might be saying things behind your back but if you know where God has
you walk in that confidence in that truth even if you are blind in the military yeah yeah yes
so I want to uh I wish I could talk to you guys another hour uh we gotta Land This Plane
I want to say I want to say a couple things and first of all I want to just
say that Scotty in getting to know you a little bit um you’ve inspired me
thank you and thank you your life is an inspiration not only to me but to many and I don’t know just for the sake of
the men in the room today we’ve we’ve hit a time in our world where
masculinity is under siege and masculinity is uh is put down and one of
the reasons that I feel just you know really drawn to today to elevate your story is because
you are you are a man’s man you are a really strong you are an Iron Man
and
and you know there I’ve seen guys with big muscles that had had that were weak
and honestly looking at you and I hope I don’t embarrass you but uh just even looking at you today and
being around you you are you are a strong man physically you are a strong man spiritually
you are you are a handsome man being on the stage with you today yeah
I’ll affirm you I’ll affirm you you ever need that I’ll burn you real quick one real quick or something
funny popped in my head I was on an airplane flying cross country a few years ago and a lady next to me was
ordering drinks and she just come from another country and she warned me that she would be probably drinking a little too much and she drank drank drank drank
drank and then and then she started like flirting with me and wanting wanting to take me home and all
of that and so so bad things happen when you drink too much I’m just saying that so so I get to
my hotel on the east side of Canada that night and I called my wife and I just had to kind of slip it in and say Hey
you know lady was flirting with me and I you know I I still got it I still got it yeah
I got it I love it you know my wife said she said honey she was drunk
she still loves you but sometimes we have we may have to you know affirm one another so
I just want to remind you that um today or I want to just tell you that like I’m really grateful your your new
friends to us and uh thank you so much
thank you you are you are absolutely in my mind you are you you are the uh the epitome of
strength that manhood is all about not just because you served your country because that was a really great start and not just because you
uh had faith in God that was a great second thing but because you literally have pushed forward
uh and and without that we wouldn’t have the benefit of sitting here today and
hearing your story you push through obstacles you push through adversity and I just hope people today men and women
alike I hope people today understand that a lot of times we want the payoff and we want the benefit and we want to
be known or we want to be famous or we want to have our you know certain things we’re aspiring to but nothing great ever
happens in your life God can’t use you until you’re willing to push through adversity and push through obstacles to
be here today so and I learned to love the Lord with all your mind all your heart and all your soul and at a very young age I believed what in John
chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in will not perish but will have
everlasting life for God did not send his son in this world to condemn it but to save from all unrighteousness it’s that belief that gives me the strength
to be who I am love the Mason wife that I have and love God
and as we celebrate here on Tuesday this Fourth of July loving God with all our heart all our
mind and all our soul that’s what this country has to do and when this country does do that
when this country does do that God in return will love us and so for us it’s
my call to you all to continue to love God continue to live righteously in what he calls us to do and to support our
country our city our state because we truly live in a best country here on Earth wow okay
um church family I’m going to ask everybody at every location if you would just to stay where you are don’t anybody leave
in the last few moments I I took a little bit more time and I’m glad I was able to today because we had
at our other locations we had some multiple services that we normally have to get out of the way on one service but
actually I remembered that for summer schedule we only have one service at every location so we’ve had a little bit
of fun free time just you know five ten minutes extra here today but I’m going to ask you not to leave yet but I want
you if you would to thank the smilers with me one more time for being here today
thank you thank you all thank you so much thank you thank you all thank you
God bless you all thank you so much thank you thank you guys
thank you guys thank you so much foreign
I love that we have a church where people can just yell like uh like so fun I guarantee you the Smileys will tell me
later how much they enjoyed it as well and I’m just saying that because thank you church for being the incredible
life-giving congregation and people that you are and we’ve got a few more minutes we’ve actually have something we’re
excited to share with you uh in a moment but first things first I would like to take this moment right
now and I would like to just say that our Pledge of Allegiance was written
with the words one nation under God and
and you know not everyone wants those words there because not everyone wants those words
to be their story or wants those words to be or wants that life of Living
under God and we’ve watched what’s happening in a nation whenever a nation starts to drift away
from the authority of God and the ways of God and the sovereignty of God and it’s easy to see what what happens when
people drift G.K Chesterton said this he said when people choose to not believe in God it
doesn’t mean that they believe in nothing it means that they will believe in anything and that’s exactly what’s happened
and we can’t control what happens in our nation
sir ma’am family couple young person hear me today when I say this we can’t
control what happens in our school we can’t control me we can stand up and we can be strong but at the end of the day we can’t control what our peers do we
can’t control what people do around us in our neighborhood but we can decide to live our own lives
under God’s ways and God’s plan
and and we can decide to be one person under God one person under God
we all want one nation under God but we can’t necessarily dictate what others do Joshua said one day he said as for me
and my house we’re going to serve the Lord
and when we do our lives show the fruit of that decision when we do our lives show that life is
better family is better marriage is better you get through things in life that otherwise you wouldn’t get through
if it were not for the commitment to be that one person under God
and with heads bowed and eyes closed I want to take a moment right now and invite you if you’re in any of our rooms today any of our spaces today anyone and
who is a part of this service and you say pastor Kevin I want a new beginning serving God I want to come under God’s Authority in my life I want to come
under God’s will in my life I want to follow Christ I want to I want to build my life on his word
if that’s you today I want to invite you wherever you are to bully swiftly raise your hand up in the air and and just
without hesitation just put your hand up and say that’s me I want to I want to serve the Lord I see Hands going up here in this room and I’m believing in every
room today as people are saying I want to I want to honor God I want to trust God I haven’t been trusting God I’ve been going through some things and I’ve
I’ve gotten away from trusting God but if if today that’s you and you say I want to I want to change that right now just raise the hand high in the air
we’re going to pray with you this prayer good good God bless you prayer hands are raised all around let’s all say this together say Lord Jesus welcome to my world
forgive me of all my sin and come into my life change me
make me that person that you’ve called me to be and I boldly declare
I’ll never be the same again in Jesus name everybody shot a great big amen amen
amen okay pastors are coming every location
it’s called hope unseen God bless you go Pastor Nicole a few moments