The Empty Promise of Self-Reliance

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I will build my church.
[00:00:03] Not just a building, not just a Sunday routine, but a people, alive, united, and on a mission.
[00:00:16] We worship together, lifting our voices and our hearts to God.
[00:00:23] We share life, celebrating, supporting, and encouraging one another.
[00:00:29] We grow,
[00:00:30] Learning to follow Jesus and letting his word transform us.
[00:00:35] We serve, using our gifts to make a difference in the lives around us.
[00:00:45] We go, taking the good news of Jesus beyond these walls.
[00:00:49] We pray, because everything begins with God.
[00:00:56] This is more than a place.
[00:01:00] This is more than a Sunday.
[00:01:06] This is my church.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Tardis, almost.
[00:01:35] Buenos dias, soon to be Tardis, right?
[00:01:38] At any rate, I am glad to be here.
[00:01:42] Hope you are.
[00:01:43] And I was looking at one of those items on the video a moment ago where it was talking about the Young Adult Collective this Friday night.
[00:01:53] And we are pumped, aren't we?
[00:01:55] Well, we are just so excited because on Friday night, the young adults are gathering here.
[00:02:02] They've got their own worship, their own teaching.
[00:02:05] In fact, I think for this first one, Pastor Jordan is going to be
[00:02:08] Preaching the Word.
[00:02:09] It's going to be off the chain or off the hook or off something, isn't it, Jordan?
[00:02:13] It's going to be amazing.
[00:02:14] And we just can't wait.
[00:02:16] If you are a young adult age 18 to 27, or if you know a young adult in that age span, encourage them to come.
[00:02:25] If you're an old guy like me, just pray, okay?
[00:02:28] Just pray.
[00:02:29] God's moving.
[00:02:30] Have you noticed that God is stirring the heart of young adults?
[00:02:33] Really, I think we're seeing this all over the country, but we're seeing it here today.
[00:02:36] At Lake City in an amazing way.
[00:02:40] And one of the reasons I'm so excited about that move is because I believe there is an energy, there's a potential with this age group of people that can absolutely change the world.
[00:02:54] So I can't wait to see what God's going to do.
[00:02:56] Friday night's going to be such an amazing thing.
[00:03:00] Well, are you guys ready for the Word?
[00:03:02] Okay, I'm really passionate about the message this morning, and I hope the Lord will just give me the energy to share this message with the passion that I feel on the inside.
[00:03:17] So would you guys just pray with me?
[00:03:19] Father, in the next few minutes we...
[00:03:21] Turn our attention to what you have to say to us through your word.
[00:03:25] Lord, I just simply ask that you would cause the word to be alive in our hearts and our minds.
[00:03:31] Lord, help it to be more than just another message, but Lord, would you give us a challenge that would move us to action.
[00:03:38] And Lord, we just thank you for...
[00:03:43] For setting a light under us that would change some things, not just for us, for others that are in our sphere of relationship.
[00:03:52] Lord, I pray all this and I thank you for it in the mighty and the powerful name of Jesus.
[00:03:56] And everybody said, Amen.
[00:03:58] Hallelujah.
[00:03:59] Thank you.
[00:04:00] Thank you for the yo's.
[00:04:01] I always love to hear those yo's.
[00:04:03] We're still in the series and we're going to be in it a little bit longer called My Church.
[00:04:09] Taken from the words of Jesus when he said in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church.
[00:04:14] And then he goes on to say, not even the power of death will destroy my church.
[00:04:20] As we've seen in this study, Christ is building his church and he calls it, specifically he calls it my church because he's very intentional about the purposes of my church.
[00:04:33] So far we've talked about the purposes of worship, of fellowship, of discipleship, and of serving others.
[00:04:42] Today I want to talk with you about proclaiming the good news.
[00:04:47] Proclaiming the good news.
[00:04:49] This is so important.
[00:04:51] Proclaiming the Good News.
[00:04:53] Speaking about one of the main purposes of His church, Jesus told His disciples in Mark 16, 15, He said, Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to all creation, to every creature.
[00:05:08] Some of the versions say, Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
[00:05:12] This passage is what we know as the Great Commission.
[00:05:17] The term commission refers to an assignment or a mission, a duty, really.
[00:05:25] After His resurrection and just before He ascended back into heaven, Jesus gave His church this commission, this assignment.
[00:05:33] This duty to tell the world the good news that He died on the cross for their sins, to pay the penalty for their sins, and that if they would put their faith in Christ, they would be forgiven and they would be eternally saved.
[00:05:48] How many of you think that's good news?
[00:05:50] Come on, y'all, that is very good news!
[00:05:53] Yes!
[00:05:54] And that is the best news that the world has ever heard.
[00:05:59] It's just amazing.
[00:06:01] So as members of Christ's church, our assignment, our mission, really our duty is to go into our world of relationships and proclaim
[00:06:13] This good news.
[00:06:15] Paul the Apostle speaks of this in Romans 10, 14 when he asks, how can they, speaking about unbelievers, how can they call on someone if they haven't trusted in him?
[00:06:25] And how can they trust in someone if they haven't heard about him?
[00:06:30] And how can they hear about someone if no one is proclaiming him?
[00:06:35] Then he goes on to say, how beautiful are the feet of those announcing good news about good things.
[00:06:41] I can remember as a child, I loved to hear good news and I loved sharing good news so much that if there was a good news that was supposed to be a secret, I had a hard time holding that secret.
[00:06:56] Anybody else like that?
[00:06:58] You had a hard time...
[00:06:59] Keeping Good News a Secret.
[00:07:01] Lisa, you know what I'm talking about.
[00:07:04] As an adult, I still love to share good news.
[00:07:07] Sometimes I have a hard time holding it.
[00:07:09] If you're pregnant and don't want everybody else to know about it, maybe you shouldn't tell me.
[00:07:13] I don't know.
[00:07:13] I'm just saying.
[00:07:16] But as Christians, we have the best news the world has ever, ever heard.
[00:07:23] We should love to share the good news of Jesus.
[00:07:27] In fact, it should be uncontainable.
[00:07:30] It just oozes out of us.
[00:07:33] We can't help it.
[00:07:34] And yet, some studies show us that 95% of Christians have never actually led someone to Christ.
[00:07:42] And when I hear that, I want to know why.
[00:07:45] And I've come up with what I would suggest are four hindrances to proclaiming the Good News.
[00:07:50] I'm sure there are more, but just four today.
[00:07:53] And they're in your notes.
[00:07:54] Number one, the first hindrance to proclaiming the Good News is negligence.
[00:08:01] Simply put, many Christians have never wholeheartedly embraced the Great Commission.
[00:08:06] For some, the command of Jesus to go and proclaim the Good News has largely been seen as an option.
[00:08:15] But for the true Christ followers, it's not an option.
[00:08:19] It is a command, a command that we embrace, a command that we fulfill.
[00:08:26] And so I've got to ask you, have you embraced the Great Commission?
[00:08:30] Have you embraced the mission of Jesus?
[00:08:34] that He gave to you and to me and to every one of us to proclaim the Good News.
[00:08:39] If not, my prayer is that today, today, you'll make the decision to embrace the Great Commission and proclaim the Good News of Christ.
[00:08:50] Number two, the second hindrance to proclaiming the Good News is confusion.
[00:08:56] Confusion about what it means to preach the Good News.
[00:09:01] And some of the version says that we are to preach the Good News.
[00:09:07] I remember as a kid I would read those passages in my King James Version where it talked about preaching the Gospel.
[00:09:15] And my mental image was that of someone standing in front of a crowd.
[00:09:20] and talking loudly maybe even yelling and the thought of me doing that just scared me spitless maybe it scares you too I think it does a lot of us but the reality is that proclaiming the good news for most of us has nothing to do with a crowd of people nothing to do with yelling it has to do with a single person sharing what God has done for you with
[00:09:46] A friend, someone that you know, someone that is in your sphere of relationship.
[00:09:51] And that's why Paul writes these words found in Philemon 1 verse number 6.
[00:09:56] He says, I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith.
[00:10:01] No, you don't have to stand up in front of a big crowd.
[00:10:05] No, you don't have to preach in a loud voice like that.
[00:10:09] You just need to share what God has done in your life with somebody else.
[00:10:15] Another point of confusion for some people is that they feel responsible to save someone.
[00:10:22] News flash!
[00:10:24] You can't save anybody.
[00:10:25] Neither can I.
[00:10:26] None of us can and God doesn't ask us to try.
[00:10:29] That's His job.
[00:10:32] Our job is simply to lead them toward Christ by sharing our faith, sometimes verbal, it's done verbally, sometimes it's just through the life that we live that is so filled with God and the fruit of the Spirit that it just oozes out of us and other people see it and they say, hey, I want that.
[00:10:50] Whatever that is, I want that.
[00:10:52] I want some of that.
[00:10:56] And so there's some confusion.
[00:10:57] A third hindrance to proclaiming the good news is fear.
[00:11:01] Fear of not knowing the right words to say.
[00:11:05] But mostly the fear of what other people might think.
[00:11:10] And if we're honest, most of us, we want to be liked.
[00:11:15] How many of y'all like to be liked?
[00:11:16] Turn to your neighbor and say, I like to be liked.
[00:11:22] Now turn to your neighbor and say, I like you.
[00:11:26] Oh, you see, you enjoyed that one the most.
[00:11:30] We like to be liked.
[00:11:34] And the problem is that sometimes we just, we're so concerned that we're going to be rejected, maybe even just embarrassed, it becomes a huge hindrance.
[00:11:45] But it might help us if we remind ourselves that we are
[00:11:51] Just the bait to draw people to Jesus.
[00:11:54] The B-A-I-T.
[00:11:55] The bait to draw people to Jesus.
[00:11:57] And all of us can do it.
[00:11:59] It reminds me of a few years ago, Diane and I had a few wild horses on our farm.
[00:12:06] And they weren't literally wild, but they were rogue.
[00:12:10] They would run from us, and they wanted nothing to do with us.
[00:12:15] But I found the magic key.
[00:12:16] You know what it was?
[00:12:17] It's called sweet feed.
[00:12:18] You're right, Dale.
[00:12:20] Sweet feed.
[00:12:20] And I would go out there with sweet feed in a bucket, and boom, instantly, they came right to me.
[00:12:26] You know what?
[00:12:27] God uses you and the sweet feet of God's nature in your life to draw people to you as you follow Christ.
[00:12:36] I just, to me, I see that picture really clearly.
[00:12:39] Maybe you have to grow up on a farm.
[00:12:40] I don't know.
[00:12:41] But I see that you and your life overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit is the sweet feet.
[00:12:46] It's drawing people to Christ.
[00:12:49] Paul told us in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that some proclaimers of the good news will plant the seed, some proclaimers of the good news will water the seed, but it's God who will grow the seed.
[00:13:05] God gives the increase.
[00:13:07] In other words, just because you don't see that person come to Christ doesn't mean that God hasn't used you to attract them in their journey toward Christ.
[00:13:17] And as we pray and as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us in our interactions with people, we'll be able to declare boldly with the Apostle Paul when he says in Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
[00:13:38] Folks, we must not allow fear to prevent us from proclaiming the good news to others.
[00:13:47] The fourth hindrance to proclaiming the good news is unbelief.
[00:13:52] Not believing that God can save that person who is far from God.
[00:13:58] If you read the New Testament, you'll see that God seems to specialize in tough cases.
[00:14:04] Paul was a tough case, wasn't he?
[00:14:07] Oh, yes, he was.
[00:14:08] He hated Christ.
[00:14:12] Paul hated Christians.
[00:14:13] He murdered Christians.
[00:14:16] And it says in 1 Timothy 1.15, Paul says this.
[00:14:19] He says, he makes this confession.
[00:14:22] He says, Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.
[00:14:28] But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
[00:14:45] Even the worst of sinners can have a Damascus Road experience.
[00:14:51] I mean, even the worst of sinners can be had by Christ.
[00:14:56] He can get a hold of them.
[00:14:57] And God used Saul's Damascus Road experience as an example that no one is so bad that Christ can't get a hold of them and change them.
[00:15:10] No one is so lost that God can't get a hold of them and change their life.
[00:15:17] No one is so totally bad that God can't touch them and change them, turn their life around.
[00:15:28] I love that.
[00:15:30] But the problem is that some of us, we have a list called the least likely to be saved list.
[00:15:37] In our minds, mentally, we list the tough cases in our sphere of relationships.
[00:15:43] Maybe people like your brother-in-law.
[00:15:45] Does anybody have a brother-in-law that needs Jesus?
[00:15:47] Don't raise your hand.
[00:15:48] Maybe it's your boss.
[00:15:49] Maybe it's your ex-husband.
[00:15:51] Maybe it's your super-liberal
[00:15:54] Co-worker.
[00:15:55] Maybe it's your drug-using, tatted-up, far-from-God crazy friend.
[00:16:01] But Paul says, in essence, he says, God saved me as proof that God can save anybody.
[00:16:09] God can save anybody as long as you don't allow your unbelief to prevent you from proclaiming the good news.
[00:16:18] Negligence, Fear, Confusion, Unbelief.
[00:16:21] All these things can hinder us from proclaiming the Good News.
[00:16:25] But for most of us, I think the biggest hindrance is the challenge, How?
[00:16:33] How can I effectively share my faith?
[00:16:38] The fact is that there are a lot of different approaches that you can take in sharing the good news with someone.
[00:16:44] But there is a two-word approach that I have found to be natural and easy and effective.
[00:16:55] And so I'd like to share with you the two-word approach.
[00:16:57] And these are the two words.
[00:16:59] The first word is invest.
[00:17:00] Everybody say invest.
[00:17:03] The second word is invite.
[00:17:05] Everybody say invite.
[00:17:07] That's it.
[00:17:08] And it goes like this.
[00:17:09] Number one, invest.
[00:17:12] Invest your time, invest your talent, invest your treasure in someone in your sphere of relationships that needs to know the good news.
[00:17:23] Invest in them.
[00:17:25] Jesus gave us this approach, and there are several places where we see this, where He shows us how we can win the ear and win the heart of people in our life that really need to be led toward Christ.
[00:17:39] And he says in Luke 6.35, he says, If you want to be extraordinary, love your enemies.
[00:17:45] Do good without restraint.
[00:17:50] Now, I hope that none of the unbelievers in your life are considered to be enemies.
[00:17:55] But the principle is this, invest in a person.
[00:17:59] and by doing so you may win their their ears so that they'll listen to you may win their heart so that they'll open their heart to to what you're trying to share with them when i was a young adult 100 years ago living in orlando florida
[00:18:18] Some of my Christian friends would join me on Friday nights, and we would go to this park in central Florida.
[00:18:25] Some of you may have heard of it.
[00:18:26] It's called Lake Eola.
[00:18:28] It's an iconic park with a lake and a large lighted fountain right in the middle of the lake.
[00:18:34] And every night, but especially on Friday nights,
[00:18:37] There were hundreds of people that would gather and walk around Lake Eola.
[00:18:41] It was just kind of a place to mill around.
[00:18:43] And some people came to smoke dope.
[00:18:45] Some came to carouse.
[00:18:47] We came because we wanted to be soul winners.
[00:18:52] We were on a mission to go soul winning.
[00:18:55] Have you heard that term, soul winning?
[00:18:58] And so we were there to win souls for Christ.
[00:19:01] And we would go up to random strangers and we would kind of
[00:19:06] And then we would stuff a tract in their face.
[00:19:10] Chick tracts were favorites in those days.
[00:19:12] And then if they received the tract, then we would try to pray a salvation prayer with that person.
[00:19:22] Wow!
[00:19:24] It was exciting!
[00:19:25] But it wasn't very effective.
[00:19:29] One Friday night I found a group of hippies.
[00:19:32] I gathered all of them.
[00:19:33] There was actually two or three dogs with them.
[00:19:35] I gathered them all, put them in my cool Christian van, and I took them to our youth meeting that night.
[00:19:40] The only problem was they didn't get saved.
[00:19:45] They got stoned in the middle of the meeting.
[00:19:49] True story.
[00:19:51] Since then, I've seen studies showing that approximately 90% of people who come to Christ are led to Him by friends and family members, not by random strangers.
[00:20:08] And here's why.
[00:20:08] A person's faith is one of the most personal topics that you can ever talk to a person about.
[00:20:15] And in most cases, you have to earn the right to talk about it by the credibility of your life and by the investment of your love into that person.
[00:20:24] No wonder hit-and-run soul-winning isn't that effective.
[00:20:30] It might make you feel more spiritual as you blow the smoke off your gospel gun.
[00:20:36] But all too often, he'll never see that person again.
[00:20:40] And so, when the rich young ruler came to Jesus, Jesus didn't see him as a potential convert.
[00:20:52] As another notch in his gospel gun belt, no, Jesus saw him as a person that he loved.
[00:20:59] So much so that in Mark 10.21 it says, Jesus looked at him and loved him.
[00:21:06] Oh, I like that.
[00:21:08] Jesus looked at him and loved him.
[00:21:11] See, people need to know that you love them before you try to convert them.
[00:21:22] Let me just say it again because this is so, so, so, so important.
[00:21:26] I have seen, you have seen, we've all seen Christians who are just dadgummit, they're just annoying.
[00:21:32] They're abrasive and they approach people and they can be aggressive and they can be loud like that.
[00:21:38] And nobody wants to receive that.
[00:21:41] I mean, it's just...
[00:21:45] So let me just say it one more time.
[00:21:47] People need to know that you love them before you try to convert them.
[00:21:53] And you do that by investing in them, by giving of your time, your talent, your treasure.
[00:22:00] That might look like you feeding their dog when they go out of town.
[00:22:03] That might look like you giving their kids a ride to school.
[00:22:07] Look like you helping them with some kind of a project around the house.
[00:22:10] It could look like you contributing to a financial need or consoling them and praying with them when they're in a tough spot.
[00:22:18] But by investing in them, you build this bridge of trust and friendship that earns you the right to share the good news of Jesus with them.
[00:22:29] Invest in them.
[00:22:32] Invest in them.
[00:22:35] Number two, the second word in the two-word approach is invite.
[00:22:40] Invite.
[00:22:41] Yep, that's it.
[00:22:41] Simply invite.
[00:22:43] Just invite them to something where they can learn more about Jesus.
[00:22:47] It might be a chili cook-off that's happening in a couple of weeks.
[00:22:53] Yeah, invite all your friends.
[00:22:54] Invite your boss.
[00:22:55] Daniel, I'm going to be there.
[00:22:59] Maybe it's inviting someone to a Christian concert.
[00:23:02] Someone told me after one of the services this morning, they invited a friend that was far away from God to a Christian concert last week, and at that concert, God really used it to soften their heart.
[00:23:13] I'm telling you, just invite them to something.
[00:23:16] Maybe it's Sunday morning here at Lake City Church, or maybe invite them to dinner at your home, but invite them.
[00:23:22] This is really simple.
[00:23:26] And here it is, if you invite them, and let me back up, if you invest in them, and you invite them, they will come.
[00:23:36] And God will open their heart.
[00:23:40] and God can change them.
[00:23:43] Over the years, I've employed this invest and invite approach so many times.
[00:23:48] I'm already over my time.
[00:23:51] I don't have time to tell you.
[00:23:52] There's so many examples that I could share, but it's so simple.
[00:23:57] Let me just tell you this.
[00:23:59] Right now, there's a group of guys that I'm working with.
[00:24:02] They're not Christian guys by a long shot.
[00:24:04] In fact, they're kind of rough around the edges.
[00:24:06] They use language that we don't use in church.
[00:24:09] At least I don't.
[00:24:10] Maybe some of you do.
[00:24:12] But you know what I'm talking about.
[00:24:13] They're kind of rough around the edges.
[00:24:15] But I've been investing in these guys.
[00:24:17] I call them my friends.
[00:24:19] I'm investing.
[00:24:20] And now I'm inviting them.
[00:24:23] And guess what?
[00:24:24] They're coming.
[00:24:25] They're coming.
[00:24:26] What I'm telling you is this works.
[00:24:30] This works.
[00:24:30] You don't have to be a walking encyclopedia of the Bible to reach people to proclaim the good news of Christ.
[00:24:39] Just love them.
[00:24:41] Just invest in them.
[00:24:44] invite them it reminds me of the invitation that the Lord gave to Andrew who would become his disciple and apostle you read about it in John chapter 1 in John 1 39 Jesus simply said to Andrew he said come and see that was his invite come and see and Andrew accepted the invite and it changed him
[00:25:10] Then in verse 41 it says that the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Peter and he gave him the same invite come and see and Peter came and he too was changed since then billions of people have accepted an invite where they could come to learn more about Jesus and they have been changed
[00:25:33] And the fact is that people all around you right now, they're waiting for your invitation.
[00:25:39] They're people in your family, they're people in your neighborhood, they're people in your class, they're people in your hunting club, people in your office, people all around you.
[00:25:50] The question is, will you love them enough to invest in them?
[00:25:54] Will you love them enough to invite them?
[00:25:58] Jesus said, my church is commissioned to proclaim the good news.
[00:26:04] Are you proclaiming the good news?
[00:26:09] Let's pray together.
[00:26:10] Father, Lord, we receive this solemn commission today.
[00:26:15] Lord, help us to embrace it, I pray in Jesus' name.
[00:26:21] Would you go ahead and stand together with me?
[00:26:23] Let's just stand in the presence of the Lord with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.
[00:26:29] I want to pray for everybody this morning who says, yes, I'll embrace the commission of Jesus to proclaim the good news.
[00:26:37] If that's you, would you just raise your hand with mine and say, yeah, I want to proclaim the good news.
[00:26:43] Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you all over the place.
[00:26:46] My prayer is that every Christ follower would embrace
[00:26:52] This commission.
[00:26:53] Actually, it's not my prayer.
[00:26:55] It's the prayer of Jesus.
[00:26:57] It's the command of Jesus.
[00:26:58] If that's you, and you say, yeah, I'm going to embrace the command of Jesus to proclaim the good news, would you lift your hand with the rest of ours?
[00:27:06] Because I want to pray.
[00:27:08] I'm praying that God will help each one of us become proclaimers of the good news.
[00:27:13] That God would make us as a church to be proclaimers.
[00:27:16] Father, you see our hands.
[00:27:18] God, I pray that in the days, the weeks, months, and years to come, Lord, that we would be gripped with this mission, with this assignment, this divine assignment that you have given to us to proclaim the good news to those in our sphere of relationships.
[00:27:35] And Lord, I pray that you would give us wisdom.
[00:27:37] I pray that you would give us words.
[00:27:39] And Lord, I also pray that you would give us deeds that reflect the fruit of the Spirit so that people would be attracted like that bucket of sweet feed.
[00:27:49] People would be attracted to us as we move to Jesus.
[00:27:52] They would move toward Jesus with us.
[00:27:55] God, I pray that not only individually, but as a church, help us to just reach people to proclaim your good news and that many lives
[00:28:04] Many families would be touched and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:28:10] Lord, I say thank you for doing that in Jesus' name.
[00:28:14] You can go ahead and take your hand down while our heads are still bowed and our eyes are closed.
[00:28:20] Christians are praying real hard.
[00:28:22] I want to pray one more prayer.
[00:28:24] I want to pray for those who may be here this morning.
[00:28:26] You're not really sure about your relationship with God.
[00:28:31] The question I always ask is the simple question, if you were to die today, do you know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you're ready to stand before God?
[00:28:42] Because if you're not sure, I want to pray for you and others with you that because I don't want you to leave, God doesn't want you to leave this place today without knowing 100% that you're ready to stand before God.
[00:28:59] So while Christians are praying, if you say, I'm not sure, but I want to be absolutely certain of my relationship with God, would you just lift up your hand?
[00:29:08] Lift it up right now and allow me to pray for you along with others.
[00:29:12] God bless you.
[00:29:13] Others, just lift it up.
[00:29:14] Just say, yeah, please pray for me.
[00:29:17] I want to be absolutely certain of my relationship to Jesus.
[00:29:20] Lift it up.
[00:29:22] God bless you.
[00:29:26] Others?
[00:29:29] Love to pray for you.
[00:29:30] Don't walk out of here today without knowing 100% that Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord.
[00:29:38] Anybody else want to get in on the prayer?
[00:29:41] Just lift up your hand.
[00:29:45] All right, Father, thank you for these that have responded, and I pray that you would give them the assurance of their salvation.
[00:29:53] I'm going to pray a simple prayer in just a moment, and I'm going to ask everyone in the room to repeat the prayer after me.
[00:30:00] If you raised your hand, you pray this prayer, pray it from your heart.
[00:30:04] Maybe you didn't raise your hand, but you're not really sure where you stand with God.
[00:30:09] I want to invite you to pray this prayer with the rest of us, because God will hear you.
[00:30:15] So let's say this together.
[00:30:17] Say, God, I know that you love me because you sent your son Jesus.
[00:30:25] And he died on the cross for my sins.
[00:30:30] Today I repent of my sins.
[00:30:34] I ask Jesus to be my Savior and my Lord.
[00:30:36] And from today on, I'm going to live for him.
[00:30:42] In Jesus' name.
[00:30:46] Amen.
[00:30:47] Amen.
[00:30:47] Come on, y'all.
[00:30:48] Let's give God praise.
[00:30:50] Let's give God honor and glory.
[00:30:53] Lord, we just say thank you.
[00:30:55] Thank you, Lord Jesus.
[00:30:57] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:30:59] If you prayed that prayer, I'm so proud of you.
[00:31:02] And I want to ask you to do one more thing in just a few minutes when the service is over.
[00:31:06] I want to ask you to go out into the lobby.
[00:31:09] We have a big sign out there.
[00:31:10] It says, I said yes to Jesus.
[00:31:13] And some of our leaders will be back there.
[00:31:15] There are a couple of things I want to give you.
[00:31:16] First, there's some literature that will explain how you can grow in your walk with Christ.
[00:31:22] And then there's a Bible, a special version,
[00:31:24] The Bible that I want to give to you because it'll help you understand what God is saying so make sure you go back there and receive those materials it will definitely help you in the meanwhile just know that I'm proud of you I'm praying for you God's got a great future for you and I can't wait to see what God does in your life and in your future
[00:31:47] Maybe you're here today and this is your first time at Lake City Church.
[00:31:51] If so, welcome.
[00:31:53] So glad you're here.
[00:31:54] Hope you'll come back.
[00:31:56] But one of the things we do every Sunday morning is we share together the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion.
[00:32:03] When we share in communion, I like to put it this way, it's a celebration.
[00:32:07] It's a celebration of the fact that God the Father loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus.
[00:32:13] And Jesus loved us so much that He gave Himself as a sacrifice for us.
[00:32:19] The Bible says that without the shedding of His blood, there could be no forgiveness of our sins.
[00:32:24] But Jesus loved us so much He died on the cross for our sins and we celebrate that.
[00:32:30] So Father, in the next few moments as we prepare our hearts to receive the emblems, that little cracker that reminds us of the body of Jesus that was bruised and broken, that little cup of juice that reminds us of the blood that Jesus spilled for us on Calvary's cross.
[00:32:49] Lord, may we just be reminded afresh and anew that
[00:32:54] That sacrifice gave to us total and complete forgiveness of every sin in our life.
[00:33:03] Lord, for those who have been struggling to wrap their brain around the fact that they are forgiven, Lord, I pray that today as they receive these emblems that they would grasp once and for all the great forgiveness of their sins.
[00:33:18] May every one of us walk in total liberty and victory because our sins have forgiven.
[00:33:24] and we say thank you for it in Jesus name.
[00:33:28] Amen.
[00:33:30] Amen.