Come on, come on. Let's just win. I just want to encourage you. I know maybe you came in and you had to use an umbrella. But let me ask you, since you are in this sanctuary right now, feeling the presence of the Lord, let that umbrella of your flesh or your pride, whatever that is, let it down. Just bask in the presence of God and the Holy Spirit. Right now, just for the next few moments, as they sing this again, God, I am in your presence. Draw a circle around yourself like you are the only one in this building, you and God.
And for the next few moments, as they sing this, come on. Let the Holy Spirit just speak to your heart. Come on, all over this building. Jesus. Thank you, God. Hallelujah. If you're glad for the presence of the Lord, would you just give him your best praise today? Come on. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God. What a joy it is to be in the house of the Lord and to feel the presence of God.
And I'm so glad for all of you that have come, all of our guests and all of our friends that are here to worship the Lord with us this morning in spirit and in truth. And you look good today. Before you're seated, I want you to shake hands with at least 92 people. Okay, maybe that's a stretch. Several people that are around you, introduce yourself if you don't know them and say, "I'm glad you're in church today." Come on, tell them, everybody. Thank you for coming to church today.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Good, good, good. Good, good, good. Thank you, Lord. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Well, isn't the Lord good today? Man, you look good. Everybody just looks so good. It's raining on the outside, but that's okay. We wanted to rain the presence of the Lord on the inside, the latter rain of his presence and certainly of his power.
And he said that his presence would be greater in the latter. Thank God for everything he has done before. I'm glad for everything that God has done, every time he has touched us and blessed us, ministered to us. But I appreciate what he's going to do today and what he's going to do in the future. And I know he's going to do that. But it's good to see you. It really is. And glad that you are here.
Just give a shout out to the crappie tournament winners, Joe and Jenny over here, Fisher. And, man, to all of you who participated in this crappie tournament, remember your tithe. I just want you to be blessed in the future. That's all. I just want you to be blessed in the future. So, anyway, we're so glad that you had a good time.
And let me, before I get into this, let me be just a little pastoral, if I may. Can I just encourage you, if you serve here at Solid Rock in any capacity, it's called the dream team. These are dream team members that we have. And we're so glad that you are here. You are part and you help us, you help make this church what it is. And we are just excited that you are part of it.
But let me encourage you, be faithful to your position. And be faithful to the team that you serve on. Because there's nothing that's more discouraging than depending on somebody and they call at the last minute or they don't call and they don't even show up or they show up late or whatever. That's not doing the work of God. Can I be real honest? With excellence. With excellence.
And you have to, you know, you have to begin to do the work of God with excellence. So, we want you to be a part. And we appreciate you so much. But the Bible says about unfaithfulness, you ready? It says about unfaithfulness, it's like a foot out of joint or, you know, a busted ankle. And like a broken tooth. That's what the Bible says about unfaithfulness. You know? Like a foot out of joint. How? You know how painful that it is to try to walk on that. Or a busted tooth. And, you know, that nerve is exposed. And every time you breathe in air, it's a new experience. And pain.
Anybody know what I'm talking about? Huh? And so, be faithful. Just be faithful and committed. Because I want to tell you something. And I want you to get this. And I appreciate all of our online people, our online church and all of our online guests. God bless you for watching today. And we appreciate you so much.
But let me encourage you. Let me tell you. Jesus is coming soon. I'm just telling you. I'm telling you. Everything we are seeing, we are praying for the peace of Jerusalem and the peace of Israel. And I would encourage you every day to do that. The Bible says he will bless them that bless you, Israel. And he will curse them that curse you. And there's a lot of cursing going on in America. And we've been one of the strongest allies with him, with Israel.
And there's a lot of things that's happening and chanting death to Israel and all of these type of things. God will only let that go so far. And so, look up. Don't be discouraged. Don't be down. Look up. The Bible says when you see these things come to pass, lift up your head because your redemption is drawing nigh. And the Lord is coming to get his church. And we want to get everybody into the kingdom of God that we possibly can while we have the time.
Well, somebody shout me one good amen right there. Praise God. All right. We have been in a series which is called The Imperfect Family. How many knows your family's not perfect? I just love to see the hands. Sometimes hands don't go up. And I thought, what is wrong with these people? The Imperfect Family.
And I just want to read this passage of Scripture to you. It's really not my base Scripture. But we're going to talk about something very special, specific today. John chapter 8 and verse 31. The Bible says, "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'"
Now, we are quick to pull verse 32. You're going to know the truth, and the truth is going to set you free. But did you notice in the first verse where he says, "If you abide in my word"? If you are faithful to my teachings. If you are faithful to my teachings. And what the New Living Translation says. If we are faithful to what God has given to us, then we are going to be blessed.
And who the Son makes free. Certainly, we know that we are free because of the word of God. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word. And so we learn the word. And we want faith to be able to operate and certainly to be free as we put our trust and confidence in God.
All right. We're going to talk today about communication. Communication is important. I mean, it's significant as we live out our lives here on this terra firma. And what we have been trying to do, endeavoring to do with this series of lessons concerning the imperfect family is we want to restore your family.
And we want to restore the relationships in your family. And we also want to restore love. You know, we want to restore love in your family by communication. And that's very important. That's what we're going to talk about today. Communication.
Father, add your blessings under the reading of the word. And let your purpose and your will be done in the name of Jesus Christ. And everybody shouted, Amen.
Now, what is the key that would cause any marriage or any family to develop anointed relationships? What is that key? I think another question is what is vital for us to have communion with God? If we're going to have communion with God, what do we have to have? Communication. We have to have communication.
Communication is the key to every successful relationship. It is absolutely the key. A family has in it several different types of relationship. Husband and wife. Father and daughter. Father and son. Mother and daughter. Mother and son. Siblings. There are a number of relationships. And to not know how to be successful in relationship is not to know how to be successful in your own family as a whole.
If there's no communication there. And communication not only affects your family, but every relationship you're ever going to have. In your business or in your workplace. Or in your neighborhood. Whatever that it is. And no matter how old that you are. Whether you are married. Whether you are divorced. Whether you are single. It doesn't matter. It's going to affect every part of your life. Communication.
And it's important that we see this. Communication is the key. Can I say it one more time? To anointed family living. It is absolutely the key. Right there. Now I want to read James chapter 1 and verse 19. Are you ready? Here's how the Bible reads. "Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person." Everybody say every person. "Every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger."
Man, that's a great passage of scripture. You know God had a reason for putting that in the book. There's a reason. He doesn't do things by accident. And we know that the scripture even tells us that this is a condensed book. It's a condensed book. Because if everything had been written that Jesus did or that Jesus spoke, you know the world cannot contain the books, is what it actually says.
And so we understand the significance of every scripture that's in the book. So God had a reason for putting this in the Bible. He really did. And we have to understand about, you know, all of these elements, certainly of being quick to listen and slow to speak.
Now Jodell, my wife sitting over here says, "I only have two faults. Not listening. And I can't remember what the other one was." I struggle sometimes with that. But anyway, God has a reason. And if you'll be honest with yourself, if you really will, if you've been a Christ follower for a while and serving the Lord, you know you will admit that you haven't paid a whole lot of attention to this particular passage of scripture.
And the only time that you do encounter it is when somebody's talking too much. That's when you say, "Hey, let me show you James chapter 1 and verse 19." When somebody talks all the time. You ever been around somebody that talks all the time? I mean 120 words a minute, with a gust up to 140.
Anybody know what I'm talking about? I mean absolutely talk. And the only reason that you use this scripture then is because it benefits you. And that's the way we use a lot of scriptures. But there's a whole lot of scope of relationship that God is setting around this particular passage of scripture that we are to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
Look at Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 13. It says if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and his shame. I love the way that, you know, the Good News Translation puts it. Because it goes scorched earth. Listen to this. "Listen before you answer. If you don't, you're being stupid and insulting."
Boy, I'm telling you. That pulled the band-aid off, didn't it? I mean right there. I mean it put it out there. So here's what we have to look at as we understand this. What God is saying is stop talking and start listening. Stop talking and start listening.
Do we know what communication is? I mean do we really know what communication is all about? Communication is impartation. It means that we impart thoughts. It means that we impart opinions and information through words or through action. And I know that there is non-verbal communication. I did it with Logan this morning. Whenever I came in, he was on the other side of the building. I looked at him and went. I was looking at him. I was making communications.
I know about non-verbal communication. Men, husbands, have you ever got the look? Come on. My wife comes in. And I'm telling you, that stare comes in. It could freeze water. It really could. She comes in. And it's just, I mean, she just looks at me. It's the look. And sometimes action speaks louder than words. And I get that.
But it has to be successfully received or it has not been a successful communication. There has to be something that's coming back and forth. Communication is a two-way street. Everybody has to understand. There's both parts that are significant and that should be looked at.
And in communication, there is somebody speaking or imparting what he desires the other party to hear. And the other party has to be there to listen. And we have decided though in this society that communication just requires good speaking skills. And I'm telling you right now, that's not true. That is not true.
Because you have to be willing to listen. And even though that I was talking, I'm thinking about right now. Because people say today, "Well, they were a good communicator. That preacher was a good communicator." Well, that sends out, you know, really, really good. But even though I was talking, was I successful in wanting to impart and for you to hear what I was saying?
And you don't be able to have that conversation. I'm reminded of the elderly couple that was driving through California on vacation. They stopped in a little town. You know, and the town was spelled M-O-J-A-V-E. Now it's Mojave is how it's pronounced.
And they were in a fast food restaurant. And they were in there. And they were arguing how the town was pronounced, the name of the town. Because neither one of them had ever been there before. And as they were there, they were arguing back and forth. And finally, the man calls over the little girl that was working there at the fast food restaurant. She was cleaning up tables.
He said, "I want you to tell my wife very slowly where we are." She looked at his wife and said, "Burger King." Sometimes we just don't. Come on. Sometimes we don't just communicate.
Dale Carnegie wrote a book and said, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." You know what Dale Carnegie said? He said, "To become a good conversationalist, you first must become a good listener." That means that you're going to listen.
Now, there's a danger that we talk too much. I did a series here a number of years ago. And the series was called "Danger: Tongue at Work." And you know, sometimes we talk too much. Am I going to give me a good amen right there? Sometimes we talk too much.
And if God were to talk to us about our communication with others, he probably would say, "Just learn to keep your tater trap shut. Shut your pie hole, Rick." Whoo. Glory to God. Keep them coming though if they're coming to me, Rick. Keep them coming.
Okay. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 19. He said, "When words are many, transgression is not lacking. But whoever restrains his lips is prudent." Is prudent. Listen. At the Good News Translation, "The more you talk, the more likely you are to sin. If you are wise, just keep quiet." Just keep quiet.
These are great passages of scripture. And when we are talking, we cannot be listening. And have you ever noticed that in the creative genius of God that God created us with two ears and one mouth? Or perhaps that's a clue that we ought to be listening twice as much as we are talking. Listening and understanding.
But here's the problem with the scripture that I read in James chapter 1 and verse 19. Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. We reverse the order. We think that's the way that it should be. We pay no attention to the scripture. And we are quick to speak and we are slow to listen.
Which means we are slow to understand. And we want to say what we want to say. And, you know, impart what we want to say. And we are impatient when others want to express their point of views. Like their point of view doesn't matter. Like what they're saying is not significant.
So, we struggle with that. But I can tell you there's no behavior on our part that is more self-centered than the demand to speak and the refusal to listen. Not to take time to listen. No behavior. And this behavior is the root cause of most interpersonal conflict that people have in their life.
So, we have to back up and take a look at this. And we have no idea what somebody needs because we haven't taken the time to listen. And we think our opinion and our thoughts on the subject is all that matters.
You know, there's a lot of time in marriage counseling through the years that when they've come in with the marriages in trouble. And I mean they are at one another. I set them down. I said, "I'm going to give your wife the opportunity to speak first." And she's going to speak and you're not going to say a word.
Then I say, "Now your husband's going to speak and you are not going to say a word." Now there's some of that verbal, you know, nonverbal speaking that goes on. Or I mean all of that goes on. I get that. But it helps to kind of lay out some guidelines here.
And, you know, I've had them say, honestly, I've had them say, "This is the first time since our marriage has been in trouble that you've heard what I said." This is the first time that you've paid attention to what I said. And she always gets upset. He says, "And never lets me explain."
Failure to listen to one another. Failure to take the time. And when we listen, we learn. We really do. I never knew you felt that way. You know, I've been trying to tell you for years. I never knew you felt that way.
And when we are talking, we are learning nothing about one another. And I've had this come out of people's mouth. "Well, I know her like a book." And "I know him like a book." Here's the problem. You've never taken time to read the book. You've never taken time to find out what's in the book.
I promise if you'll find out what's in the book, things are going to be good on the ranch. Hallelujah. Conflict and prejudice and bigotry is a byproduct of lack of knowledge of others because we don't take time to listen. Because we don't want to listen.
And we have to force ourselves to become better listeners. To stop less talking must always be coupled with better listening. And when we listen, we love. That's the message that comes across. Whether it's your husband, whether it's your wife, whether it's your children.
When a wife feels that her husband is listening to her, she relates that to love. And when she feels like she is not being listened to, she relates that to the lack of love. And that's a carryover. You know, when we listen, we love. And that can certainly carry over into our children.
I'm going to talk with you. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you. The love in your life makes you happy. One of the most comforting thoughts about God is that he always listens. Isaiah 59:1. He is willing to listen to us when nobody else will. I mean when nobody else will.
Psalms 34 and verse 15. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ear towards their cry. He hears us. He may not answer right away. And there's a purpose and a reason because his ways are higher than our ways. Am I right about that? Doesn't he see things that we're never going to see? Am I right about that?
And so he may not answer right away. And his answer may come in a different form than what we want. But look, God knows where we are. And God loves us because he pays attention to us. And he ministers to us. And you can't say that paying attention doesn't somehow relate to love because it certainly does.
And God not only allows us to talk to him, but he urges us to do so. He wants to communicate with us. He wants us, you know, to talk to him. And I can tell you for myself that it's a great satisfaction in knowing that we can speak to him. And knowing God is going to hear what we are saying.
I think we ought to thank God for that. Come on. Can we thank God for that? Hallelujah. Yes. There are certain phrases, I'm afraid, in Christian circles that have no meaning anymore. And we throw them around just loosely. I mean, words like, "I love you." "I love you." We say it. We say it. But do we really mean it?
I mean, I can say, "I love Kentucky Fried Chicken." And I do. You know? But it's not the same way that I say, "I love you" if I mean it for somebody else. And that's communication. And it's significant that we do that. Or "I'm praying for you." We throw that around too.
Listen, I'm going to be praying for you. We never pray for them. We tell them that. Stop lying. If you're not going to pray for them, stop lying. Just stop saying anything. But if you say you're going to pray for them, take time to pray. Am I all right right here? Am I doing okay right here?
No, take time to certainly pray for them. Because there is no more powerful way to demonstrate our love for one another than by being quick to listen and slow to speak. Everybody say it with me. Quick to listen. Slow to speak.
Now, we're going to say that one more time for those of you that kind of give me the Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Remember? Huh? Let's try it one more time. Quick to listen. Slow to speak.
Oh, you guys are good today. You're good today. And I appreciate it so very much. Praise God. Husbands, you have to take time, you know, without being so concerned that what she is saying is not important.
And I've seen a lot of husbands like that. What she's saying, well, it's just not that important. She has to understand what I have to say is what they've told me. She has to understand what I have to say. And when she understands, then she won't have to say what she has to say.
Hey, tell me how that works out for you, really, honestly. How's that working out for you? Listen without trying to get your part in. Just listen. You have to understand, well, you know, they have to understand where I'm coming from.
Then we say, "You understand what I said, don't you? You understand where I'm coming from. You understand what I just said." After these kind of confrontations, maybe it happens in the morning, you know, wives and husbands both alike have the tendency to close down. Just shut down. Just stop talking whatsoever.
You come home from work and she's standing at the kitchen. You talk to her and she's, you know, not very cordial. There's no communication. You say, "Well, what's wrong with you? What's your problem?" And she looks at you and says, "Well, maybe you ought to tell me since you know so much what's wrong with me. Why don't you tell me what my problem is?"
And a wife must give the husband the chance to express his point. And the husband has to listen to the wife. Well, you know what? You know, and the wife, when she listens to the husband without accusing him and getting emotional about it, I know you are emotional. You're a woman and God created you like that. I mean, that's the way that you are.
And thank God for it. We praise God for that. And, you know, as we see this, this all just dovetails in because we are an imperfect family, you know, and the relationship between husband and wife and the communication has to carry over to the children.
And a child deserves the right to be heard by his wife. It's not just the parents and the children are the parents, but also the parents themselves. But a lot of times we don't do that because they come to us with a problem. You know, they really do.
You have to be careful how you handle your grade school children and your middle school children and your teenagers. You have to be careful how you handle them. Then they come in and say, "Well, me and Susie broke up." Now that may not mean a whole lot to you and you may not even know that they were going together.
So, you know, but don't belittle them and don't just condemn them. Your insensitivity is going to put them in a position where they'll say, "Well, my parents are not going to listen to me anyway. Why should I tell them anything? They don't care. They don't care what I'm going through because they don't see what I'm going through as important as what they're going through."
And I've heard dads say, and moms, I've heard them say, "Well, you know, your problem's not that bad. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, I'm working every day trying to put food on the table and a roof over our head and take care of all of our bills. What you're going through is not that big."
And I've heard them make those type of statements right there. Parents, don't do that. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, don't do that. Don't do it. Don't do it. You've got to take time and realize how significant and important that it is that you interact with your kids.
Talk with them. You know, when your child comes home from grade school and says, "They made fun of me today. They said I was fat. They said my hair wasn't good. And they made fun of my clothes." What you have to do is hit the pause button right there. You've got to stop right there and not think that, "Well, it's not that big of a deal." Yes, it is a big deal.
And it's important unto them. And it's a serious problem to them. And if you belittle that problem with that boy or that girl, you'll have a, you know, you'll have to deal with somebody who closes down and won't share anything with you. They'll absolutely just shut it down.
If communication is a matter of listening according to the Bible, I want to learn how to listen. I want to take time, you know, to learn how to listen. If communication is that significant, that's why that we must listen in the right way and we have to listen with the right attitude.
Have the right attitude. If you're going to listen, listen in the right way. Because listening speaks volumes about hearing. Didn't Jesus say that in Matthew chapter 11 verse 15? "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." If you have ears, you should be hearing and you have to take the time, you know, to just listen.
It's called the art of listening. I'm reminded of the story of the elderly couple that was sitting on the front porch of the nursing home they were in. And she reaches over and touches his hand and says, "I'm proud of you." He jumps up, looks at her and says, "Well, I'm tired of you too." Storms off.
Sometimes that's the way communication is. We don't listen. We don't listen. And I know some of that could be hearing loss. I'm going this Thursday. I'm going this Thursday. Look, folks, I'm just going to get this out of here because I don't want people laughing and I'm not going to take pictures of me with these new hearing aids that I'm going to get on Thursday. I'm getting hearing aids so I can hear.
What? What'd you say? Sorry. Anyway, it's about listening. It really is. It's done intentionally and it's done on purpose and a conscious effort to hear. Plan it. You know what I do with my wife? I take time to plan, to listen to what she's saying and it's not an accident. It's an act of the will.
Plan times of listening. Husbands should take the lead in this intentional listening. You ought to take time. You ought to ask the question, "How's your day today? What did you go through today? You know, what's happening to you? What's your opinion on this? What is your..." Because I value your ideas and I value your thoughts. What's your ideas on this?
You know, and do it that way. And what you're saying is, "Baby, I'm listening." Look, you increase their confidence to the point that they're saying that, you know, what you're saying to them is important, that what they're speaking back to you is important and significant. And it has to be done intentionally. It really does.
Without distraction, with good eye contact. Now I know, I know personalities sometimes deal with these areas. But, you know, there's just time things happen. I was watching the Final Four game between, for the women's NCAA basketball tournament and I was watching Yukon and I won. It was a close game and there was only a couple of minutes left and I was intense watching that game because I was watching the women's NCAA basketball tournament and I was watching the Caitlin Clark fan.
And I was watching, you know, and just involved. My wife comes in because she got a text and sat down on the arm of the recliner and begins to read me this text, a long text. I'm not talking about two or three sentences. I'm talking about a long text. And here I am and it's the last just couple of minutes of the game and it's back and forth, back and forth and I'm trying to watch.
I'm being very transparent here. I wasn't a very good listener. I wasn't. I wasn't a very good listener. I was just kind of, you know, and I'm sorry, honey. Sorry I did that to you, but your timing was horrible. Sorry about that. It's like you're watching the Chiefs play and they're down three points in the fourth quarter and they've got the ball. There's only a minute and a half left and they're driving and you're watching.
Your wife comes in, puts her arm around you and says, "Do you love me? Why will you tell me why you love me? Will you share with me why?" And you say, "You know, can we talk about this later?" You know how she reads that rejection. She reads that rejection. Thank God for the smart TV. He's got that button in the middle. Stop right where you're at.
But still, the timing needs to be better. All right. You know, rejection. Then later that night when you slip into bed, you put your arms around her and you kiss her on the shoulder and you snuggle to her and she just wheels around and looks at you and she reminds you that you love the Chiefs more than you love her.
And she says, "If you want attention, why don't you go call Patrick Mahomes?" What are you saying? I'm saying that attention translates into love. And when you fail to do that, you are saying, "You know what? I am attending to is more important than you." What I'm attending to is more important to you.
So look at your choices and realize what you are communicating with your choices. Now newlyweds, I get this. I don't know what it is about that married couples. You know, when you were dating, you just hung on every word that he said and every word that she said and you just smiled and made eye contact.
Then what happens to us after a few years? You know, well, if you don't know I love her, then you know, I don't know. Yeah, I hear you. Listening should be done with understanding. Listen, I don't care how long you've been married. Listening should be done, listen with an open heart and don't filter things through your defense system.
Well, I'm this way because my family. No, that's not going to fly. I'm going to tell you that that is not going to fly. Skillful listening is perceiving that they were trying, what they were understanding, what they were trying to say to you and giving that.
An engaged listener will take the facts under consideration. That's what they do. That's why it's so important. If we are going to have the anointing of God for our lives and for our families and the significance of communication, then I'm just telling you right now we have to communicate with those we are around.
Every relationship, husbands and wives and, you know, and children and relationships in our family, at work, in our associates, in our neighborhood, relationship. Take time to listen. I tell our staff all the time, don't walk through the church so fast. Slow down. Make eye contact with people.
You can tell a lot, and you can see a lot, and you can have the opportunity to minister to them and to listen. And if you're going to listen, be there. Be there. You know, I should have been there. I should have been there for my wife when she wanted to come and share that text with me, and I should have been there. I really should have.
I'm confessing. I'm confessing. I should have been there. But again, her timing was terrible. But if you're going to talk to somebody, be there. Look them in the eye. Be there. Don't feel awkward about it. Be there. And listen.
And if you listen, you're going to learn a lot. We learn a lot about cultures and things because we take time to listen about what they're doing and what they're going through. Amen? Praise God. Are you glad that we can communicate? Anybody glad about that? Praise God.
Come on. Praise God. I want you to look at the people that's on either side of you and say, "I'm going to listen from now on." Tell them that, will you? Praise God. Praise God. You know why? I am here. Do you know why I'm standing up here talking to you today? Do you know why that you are here?
The majority of you probably, I should say, is because there was a time that God spoke to you and you listened. You absolutely listened. 1970, two weeks before Easter, I was a sinner. I was lost. I was doing so much junk, so many things. And God spoke to me that night, that little church. You've heard me tell the story before. He spoke to me that night.
And you know what I did? I listened. Didn't tune him out. Didn't shut him off. I listened. Because I listened, the presence of the Holy Spirit came upon me and God spoke to me. And my heart said, "I love you. I love you." That's what he said. And he told me, he said, "I gave my son for you." And I heard it.
Because I heard it that night, I give my heart and life to Jesus Christ. I've been serving him ever since. I've been living for God ever since. And every one of you who are out there could say the very same, that have a relationship with Christ.
But if you are here, you don't know God. You've never invited him into your heart. You've never asked him to become a part of your life, to become the Lord of your life. Then you don't know what that is. But I promise you this, because God would that none should perish. He's talking to you today.
He started talking to you the moment that you got up and said, "I'm going to go to church." Or somebody invited you, or you drove by, or you seen us online, whatever that it was. God starts speaking to you. And he's been speaking to you all the time through the worship, through our prayers, through everything that's been going on today.
So I want you to listen to him. I want you to bow your heads, eyes closed for just a moment. No one looking around. And Christians, please help me pray. If you're in this building and you're ready, you're ready. You've been listening. You've been listening to God. He's been speaking to you. You're ready to say, "I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. I want to receive Christ as my personal Savior."
Or maybe you're here and you say, "I've got away from God. I used to serve him years ago, but I want to come back to God." Whoever I'm talking to today, here's what I want you to do all over this building. Heads bowed, eyes closed. We want you to have some type of a buy-in. If this is you, would you raise your hand real quick? Put it up real high and say, "Please pray for me."
Thank you. Thank you. Somebody else. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. God love you. Somebody else over on the left side. Did I miss somebody? Thank you. Thank you back in the back. God love you. God bless you, sweetheart. Thank you so much.
Praise God. There was a lot of hands that went up in this building. I'm so excited about that. I'm excited about the presence of the Lord. And I want everybody to stand with me, please. I'm going to call our altar team and we're going to give you some instructions on our altar team in just a moment.
But if you raised your hand, I want you to pray with me and everybody in this building is going to pray to affirm what you are doing right now and the faith that you are exercising to receive Christ. Okay. Are you ready? Bow your heads with me. Everybody, let's pray.
Dear Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I know I'm a sinner in need of a savior. I believe that Jesus is the son of God. I believe he died for me. And right now by faith, I receive him, ask him to come into my heart and to forgive me of my sins. And by faith, because I prayed this prayer, I know I'm a child of God in Jesus' name.
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on Apr 28, 2024
