How we doing this morning? You doing well? The rumor is last service is the best service. And so hopefully you do not disappoint that reputation that you have been given.
How many of you are grateful for your leadership and your pastors here at Community? Just love the Whitlow family, the whole family. And I know Sister Jerry's here on the front row and just her legacy and Jill and Pastor Charlie. Just I'm grateful for friends and for mentors and people that have plowed the ground ahead of Action Church.
And it's churches like yours and schools like yours that are really making a difference in this community, but also making a difference in Central Florida. So thank you. If you're a member here, if you serve, if you give here, your impact is going far beyond just this community. And it's blessing us in Central Florida as well.
So one more time, let's give it up for your leadership and your pastors here. You can stop playing keys because, you know, keys are a thank God moment. If he keeps playing keys, I'm going to start preaching. I'm going to forget my intro. I'm going to forget all my funny jokes that I got. And they are funny. I was in first service. So if you don't laugh at them, you're clearly the problem.
But the keys are a thank God moment. Because when a preacher is preaching at the end of a message, if you're new to church, the keys come out towards the end. And it's either thank God this is going to be really, really good and powerful, or thank God this is over. And I'm hoping it's the first one this morning.
I have my wife, Gabby, here. My boys are back at Central Florida with the grandparents. But excited to be here and share a word with you this morning from 2 Kings chapter 4. Before we get there, I kind of want to give you a theme.
Thought before we get into this amazing miracle that we see in 2 Kings chapter 4. In Ephesians 3:20, you know this verse. You've read this verse. You probably memorized this verse. I want to talk to you about faith today. I want to talk to you about what do we do when we need God to show up in the miraculous? What do we do when we are at the end of ourselves, when we need a miracle?
I think that miracle, from our perspective, requires some faith. And what type of faith are we going to have? Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
I love that you read scripture here. It threw me off first service. I just love, I was like, they're reading scripture with me. I am from Alabama, and we don't read so good. I thought they were helping me first service.
You know, I'm from Alabama, and I said this last night at the Vision dinner. But we're just really grateful for Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, the dumbest state in the country. Seriously, y'all were reading with me first service, and I was like, am I not doing a good job?
A measurably more type of faith. You know, some of us have walked in here this morning, and we don't have a faith journey at all. You've never given your life to Jesus. You've never trusted him with your salvation, surrender control of your life. Others of us have settled for a measurable faith, a faith that we can understand, a faith that we can strategize, a faith that we can calculate.
And I want to submit to you this morning that it's going to require an immeasurable type of faith, an immeasurably more type of faith to walk into all that God has for you. I got kind of a silly illustration I want to give you to compare immeasurably more type faith.
I'm not making a political statement this morning, but there are two groups of people in this room, male and female. And males, we kind of operate with measurable faith. Females with immeasurably more faith. Why do I say that? Because there's a new thing called girl math.
Anybody ever heard of girl math? That is the immeasurably more type of faith that I'm trying to teach you about today. Gabby and I were on a trip to New York City, her favorite city in the world, for her birthday last January. And we were so excited. We had saved up and we're going.
And I'm much more of an experience gift giver. I would rather share a great experience, a trip, a great dinner, a restaurant than a gift. I'm always so much pressure. I don't like giving or receiving gifts. It's too much pressure. Like, what if you didn't get me? What if it's not my size? What if it's not my color? What if I already have it? I gotta lie to you and I'm a pastor and that presents a problem.
And so I like to do experiences. And so we're in New York City and we're there for just a couple of weeks. And I'm like, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. Three nights. And we have a plan. We're gonna do some shows and some great dinners, just the two of us.
And we get there first day and we've got a little bit of downtime between like our breakfast, brunch, and between dinner and shows. And she goes, well, let's just go do a little bit of shopping. And I was like, no, shopping? She's like, yeah, I mean, it's my birthday. I was like, no, your birthday was the trip. Like, surprise, happy birthday. There is no more.
She's operating with a measurably more type of faith. She's like, this trip was basically free. I was like, free? In what world? She's like, it was all on points. I was like, yeah, we already swiped the card for this. Come on, it's girl math.
It was 40% off. Come on, ladies, 40%. Still 60% leaving our bank account. Come on, the fifth one was free. We didn't need the first four. Girl math, a measurably more type of faith, just like Gabby believes our bank account has a measurably more than it does.
I want us to walk in a measurably more type of faith. I don't know if you find yourself in a season today or it's been in the past or will be in the future where you find yourself in need of a move of God, in need of God to move in your marriage or with your kids or in your finances or your calling or your purpose, your sin struggle or an addiction.
I don't know what it is, but I want to give you today some of the ingredients for the miracle. We got to have faith. Faith is the currency of the kingdom. Faith is what allows us to please God. The Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. It doesn't matter how good you are. It doesn't matter what you do, how many people you help. Without faith, without surrendering your life to the lordship of Jesus, without faith, we cannot please God.
We have to walk in faith. Do you find yourself in certain seasons where you need a little more faith? Like when we don't have enough, we need a little more faith. When we have a dream that's too big for us to accomplish on our own, we need a little bit more faith. When we have a church and a school that is growing and expanding like here at Virginia Academy and Community Church, we need a little more faith.
We need a miracle. We feel called to change the lives of every young person in this community, both in Virginia and in Central Florida. We need a little faith. We need God to show up in the miraculous. When the vision and the influence of our churches keep growing and growing, we need a little bit of faith. When tragedy strikes, when we are in a season of grief or loss, we need some faith.
Come on, just living in the world in 2024, we need a little bit of faith. What if you find yourself in that position today? I want to go to the Old Testament, 2 Kings chapter 4, verses 1 through 7. Starting in verse 1, it says, "One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out." That'll be very important in just a moment. Cried out. It's really the foundation of this journey.
"My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves."
"What can I do to help you?" Elisha asked. "Tell me, what do you have in the house?"
"Nothing at all except the flask of olive oil," she replied.
And Elisha said, "Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour the olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it's filled."
So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim.
"Bring me another jar," she said to one of her sons.
"There aren't any more," he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
Last one, verse 7. "When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, 'Now sell the olive oil, pay your debts, and your sons can live on what's left over.'"
I want to make sure we understand the context of the Old Testament versus the New Testament here before we go on this journey. This widow is in need. She's lost her husband. She's lost the breadwinner. She's lost the provider. They find ourselves in poverty here.
And she approaches Elisha, who is the prophet. He is the man of God. I need you to understand that it really symbolizes how you and I should approach our Father in heaven, our God. Because what happened in the New Testament, if you're new to church, Jesus, the second part of the Trinity, fully God, fully man, came to earth, lived perfect because we never could, died a sinner's death in our place, raised to new life, and he bridged the gap between a holy God and unholy people.
So now we don't go through rituals or traditions or the tabernacle. We don't go through a prophet or a man of God. We go straight to the source, straight to the Father because of Jesus. But what we see here in 2 Kings 4 is her going to get a word from God or the blessing of God or help from God. She did that in the Old Covenant through the man of God, Elisha.
That's where we see ourselves in the Old Covenant, the man of God, and our God, Jesus Christ, our God. So I want you to understand not only to give us our Father in heaven, but to give us the grace to Christ Jesus, we're going to go through this prayer.
Here we go. I want to ask you a question this morning. When's the last time you cried out to God in desperation? If you're like me, I've invited God in. Come on, I've included him in the process. Or maybe when I get to the very end of me, I will invite him in out of desperation.
But I want to suggest this morning that prayer is not a last resort, it's a first response. That one of the ingredients or recipes for a miracle in our life, for us to walk a life of faith, is to include God not at the end, but at the very beginning. At the very beginning, she cried out to God, a cry of desperation.
I want to make sure we understand as we invite God in and we start this faith journey, we start believing God for the miraculous, I need you to understand that your faith is a currency, it is a foundation, it is something that God needs to move on our behalf, but our faith does not obligate God to anything.
I want to make sure that we don't get in a formula that if you see these steps, if I do this, this, and this, A plus B is gonna equal C, that's a formula, that's not a relationship. That's a religious tradition, that's not a relationship. God's not looking for us to put things in a formula, he's looking for us to put our trust in him.
But when we believe God to show up, like we read here in 2 Kings 4, if he doesn't show up the way we want, how we want, when we want, that doesn't make him to be less powerful or less the God of our life, it just proves that we're not in control.
I just want to make sure we go on this faith journey this morning that we don't think that faith is a formula, faith is a foundation. So I want us to pray first, but I want us to exchange measurable prayers for immeasurable prayers.
Well, I want you to pray regardless. If you're not currently praying in whatever situation you find yourself in, I want you to start praying, but I want us to take a step from the safe, measurable prayers into immeasurably more type prayers.
Here's three measurable prayers that, again, are good, I just don't think they're God's best for us. Measurable prayers, "God, give me just enough." This sounds humble, this sounds respectful. God, don't give me too much, just give me just enough for me and for mine, just give me just enough resource and just enough time and just enough faith and just enough protection.
God, give me just enough. What about the second one? God, keep me and my family safe. Keep me and my family safe. Now, I want to be very clear that it's not bad for us to pray for the safety of our kids and our family, but oftentimes this keep me safe prayer is a keep me comfortable prayer.
And we want to separate from our lost and dying and hurting world and be safe. And God didn't call us to be safe. He called us to be effective. Now, I'm not saying as a parent that I don't pray over my kids' safety. What I'm saying is, God, don't shelter them in a life of comfort and safety. No, grow them into the men of God to be utilized for him.
Measurable prayers: "God, change my situation that I'm currently in. Change my situation." Here's the immeasurable prayers. God, bless me, not with just enough, but with abundance so that I can be a blessing to other people. Then I want you to give me prayer of Jabez-type prayers. God, give me more than enough so that I can bless others.
God, don't just keep me safe, but use me by any means necessary for others' benefit and for the glory of God. God, don't just change my situation, although that's not a bad prayer if you're going through a season, and I've been through these seasons of loss and grief and struggle. It's not bad for you to say, God, change my situation, but what if we had an immeasurable prayer, a higher level of prayer?
God, use whatever situation comes my way to change me and to make me more like you. The recipe for a miracle, the foundation of that is faith, and how we express that is crying out to God.
Here's verse two. Elisha responded, "What can I do to help?" What can I do to help? I know at Action Church, and I know that's a good thing. I know that's a good thing. I know that's a good thing. I know that's a good thing. At Community Church and at Virginia Academy, I know this will be the response from the pastors, from the elders, from the leaders here.
If you find yourself at a season of need and a season of lack, what can we do to help? I believe God's asking us today, what can he do to help? But look at this next phrase, and this isn't talked about enough. The prophet says, "What can I do to help?" But then he looks at the widow in the midst of her brokenness, in the midst of her pain, in the midst of her season of need, and he says, "What do you have already?"
What do you have already? God is there for you. This church is here for you, but I believe there are some ingredients to our faith journey, to a pursuit of the miraculous, that God is asking us, what do we already have in the house? She says, "Nothing at all," and oftentimes that's our response as well. I want to come back to that a little bit later.
Verse three, it says, "And Elisha said, borrow as many jars as you can from your friends and neighbors." This is practical for us. This is a reminder that we don't own the miracle. You and I are simply vessels on this earth to be filled with the oil of God, the presence of God, the spirit of God, and then to be utilized for others' benefit and for God's glory.
The jars were borrowed, why? So she and her sons could not take credit for the miracle because they didn't even own the vessel. The miracle was contained in. We need to make sure we understand when it comes to the gifts that God has given us through the Holy Spirit, that we don't own those gifts.
I know nobody's like that at Community Church, but I got some super safe people down in Orlando. I know you don't have anybody here that just gifted more than anybody else, and just been following Jesus longer and holier than everybody else, but we got some people that like to say, "I am this, I am a human being. I am a healer. I am a prophet. I am whatever it is. When I pray, miracles happen."
No, no, no, no. We are a borrowed vessel. God was here way before us. He'll be here way after us. I don't know why he chose to use us, but he did, but he's just borrowing this vessel for as long as I'm here. I do not own the anointing. I simply carry the anointing. I do not own the oil or the jar. I simply steward it well for others' benefit and for God's glory.
We're borrowed vessels. Verse 4, it says, "Shut the door behind you. Go into your house and shut the door behind you." I just want to be really practical and really simple here. God wants to do something in your private life before he does something through you in your public platform.
You got to go in. Before the oil was poured, before the miracle happened, they had to go in behind closed doors. I don't know what happened there, but maybe some more prayer, maybe some more trust, maybe some more development. God wants to develop something in us before he does something through us.
He does not want to give us more until he knows that he can trust us with more, and we see this family walking out their obedience to God. The next thing it says, "Take your flask and pour it into the jars."
I believe the miracles in our life will always require something from us, and I've read this story for years, and I missed it until a couple years ago. I thought, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
Some jars and a flask of oil, this olive oil would have been the most valuable thing that this widow had left in her life. It would have been a currency in that time. It would have been of extreme value in the market, an extreme value to her. The man of God, Elisha, did not ask her just to give what she had left over. He asked her to give everything that she had.
The recipe, the ingredient for the miracle was not just something on a shelf. It was literally the only thing of value she had left. And I believe God's going to ask us, require us to give him access to everything if we're going to be used in a life of faith and a life of the miraculous.
Two things I want to give you if you're taking notes. The first one is this, please write this down. Your level of sacrifice develops your faith. When God asks you, "What do you have?" Are you willing to give him access to it?
When God says, "What do you already have?" And if you're like me, you make a list of things that you can do without. God, you have, you can have access to my Sundays. You can have access to the Bible study once a week. I can't give you access to my business or to my marriage or to my kids.
What are we not giving God? God's not moving in the areas that we keep controlling. God can't pour out if we continue to hold on. And our level of sacrifice develops our faith. Are we willing to give all that we have to receive all that God has?
Your level of sacrifice develops your faith. Here's the next one. I want to camp out on this one just for a moment. It says your level of obedience demonstrates your faith.
Come on, the verse in the scripture in 2 Kings 4 is the widow, she did as she was told. She did as she was told. She was obedient. And the level of obedience demonstrates your faith.
Pastor, are you saying if I'm not obedient, I don't have faith? Yes. Yes. That's what submission and surrender is. That I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord and I give him complete control of my life.
Pastor, are you saying that I may not be saved if I'm not obedient? That's exactly what scripture is saying. That our level of obedience demonstrates. What we're doing on the outside demonstrates the inward change that God has put on the inside of us.
She did as she was told. Come on, in 2024, we do not like to be told what to do. Come on. We don't like obedience anymore. I started talking about obedience. You guys got quiet real quick. You're like, can we go back to the girl math thing? That was fun. Let's have some fun.
Obedience is not fun, but it is required. We don't love obedience in 2024. We love our opinions. Come on. We love, we love our opinions. God, we love them. It's why we're so stressed right now because we weren't meant to know how stupid people really were.
Just posting all of their opinions. We were not supposed to know. Ignorance of the world, and now we see it every single day, and that's why we're anxious because we realize we're surrounded by stupid.
Our obedience is required. Here's a question I ask our church all the time. In your life, in your situation, in your current struggle, in your belief, and in your pursuit of Jesus, does God have the right to be right in your life?
When you disagree, when you find something in scripture that you're like, ah. Do you align under him, or do you change him to align under you? And I would say one is a godly path and a path to faith, and one is actually a path apart from God.
If you don't give God the right to be right in your life, you become the God, little g, of your own life. Come on. We live in a generation that wants to have a mentor, but doesn't want to be mentored.
I love, I got podcasts. All the young people in my church, I got, they got 17 podcasts on how to be a mentor. I got 17 podcasts on how to be a better husband. They got 17 podcasts on how to build a business, but they don't go to work.
They want a mentor, but when the mentor doesn't tell them the thing that they want to hear, they go find another mentor. I've been telling our church lately, you don't want a mentor, you want a mirror. You just want somebody to tell you what you already think, to affirm who you already are.
No, this life of faith, this life of walking in the supernatural, seeing God move in a mighty way, comes on the other side of our sacrifice, and on the other side of our obedience. What do you have? What I have, Lord, is a life willing to sacrifice, and a life willing to be obedient.
She did as she was told. Let's keep reading together. It says, her sons were there, and her sons went and gathered the jars for her. I need you to know that our God is a team builder. This is the body of Christ. This is a team effort.
And so often we'll give credit to Elisha and he was the man of God and he brought the power of God through the presence of God. We give credit to the faith of the widow who gave everything, her flask of oil and gave her trust and cried out. But I want to make sure we don't miss that the miracle does not happen without the sweat of the sons.
That there are practical things that need to happen for God to move. I mean, just look at church every single Sunday here at Community Church. It's not just the pulpit. It's not just the platform. It's not just the worship leaders, which were amazing by the way.
No, no. It's the people that moved the cones when I drove in from the parking lot. It's the people holding your kids. You don't even like your kids and they're back there holding them right now and praying for them. Come on, find a kid's worker. Give them a hug. Give them $20. Maybe $100. I know some of your kids. They're working overtime down there.
No, without the sweat of the sons, the sons would never get the credit. And there's so many of you, look at me, there's so many of you here today that have been opening doors and praying for people, a part of the hope team, a part of the parking lot team, a part of the kids ministry, making a way for moms and dads to sit in this room.
And I need you to hear today from a pastor from the outside that the miracle of Community Church does not happen without the sweat of the sons, the sweat of the people, that nobody sees your effort. God is going to move. He's going to move.
But he chose to use people and there are people that are sacrificing and obedient. It's the sweat of the sons that's a key component to this miracle. The next phrase, it says that this jar or these jars, they were filled to the brim.
I just need to remind somebody today that's struggling with faith that has a little more month than money left, has a little bit of struggle going on in their life, that God is never a God of just enough. He's all-encompassing. He's always a God of more than enough.
That when you invite in, you say, God, I'm a borrowed vessel. I'm an empty jar. I'm removing all of me, less of me and more of you. He will fill you and he will fill you to the brim. There is no lack in the kingdom of God. There is no lack when you invite the presence of God in.
If you're lacking something in the vessel, maybe it's because you've got something in the way. It's not because God can't give you more. Maybe we are keeping him out all that he has filled, filled to the brim.
Let's go back to verse 2. It says, "My husband served you. Now a creditor has come." Verse 2, "What can I do to help? What do you have?" The widow says, "I have nothing at all."
I just want to remind you today, if you have a flask of oil, if you have access like you and I have to the Holy Spirit, that the answer is never I have nothing. The answer is I have access to everything I need, that God has given me everything I need to accomplish what he's calling me to accomplish.
It says they poured and they poured and they gathered and they gathered and at a certain point they said, "Get me another jar." And the son said, "There is no more jars." And it says, when the son said there was no more jars, the oil stopped flowing.
Notice that the oil didn't stop until the jars ran out. It's such a picture of the presence and the power of God. God never stops pouring out his anointing, his favor, his blessing. He is unlimited. He is infinite. He is all-powerful. He is never lacking any resource, any presence, any power.
The oil stopped flowing when the jars ran out. And that's my greatest fear leading our church is that God will stop moving because we didn't gather enough jars. God, he wants to reach Virginia. He wants to reach these students. He wants to reach Orlando way more than we do. He wants to serve and he wants to partner, but he needs more jars.
He has all the resource. He has all of the oil. Does he have enough jars? God is not going to keep pouring around jars because he never makes a mess and he never spills oil on the floor. That's when people get hurt.
We don't have a capacity issue in our local churches. We have a stewardship issue because we stopped gathering jars. Pastor, isn't this enough? I mean, look at this building. Look at the expansion. Look at our school. It's almost like a... Look at the church that's growing so much year over year. The salvations and the baptisms. Is this not enough?
If heaven and hell are reality, it can never be enough. Look at what God's done. What could he do if we kept gathering jars? What about in your life? You got a need? Or you have access to the oil of the Holy Spirit?
I think God's asking you maybe with your kids, maybe with your marriage, maybe with your struggle, maybe with the addiction, maybe whatever's going on in your life. Maybe he's asking you to gather some jars. God, he wants to pour out restoration. He wants to pour out forgiveness and he wants to pour out healing and freedom, but he needs some willing vessels to do it.
I want to close with this thought. What do you have? Nothing. I want to make sure we all have that. We understand that we don't have nothing. We have everything.
I don't know if you're like me. When I get in these seasons, I think the miracle's gonna come from the outside. I think God's gonna show up in a way that I never saw coming. Like, wow, I couldn't believe that person or that thing or whatever it is. And God can do that. God is a miracle-working God.
I still believe he's the same God that parted the Red Sea. He's the same God that fed the 5,000. He's the same God that raised Jesus from the dead. I firmly believe the same power that lives in you lives in me. The same power lives Jesus. That raised Jesus from the dead. I believe in all of that.
But oftentimes, what I've seen in leading our church is the miracle is not so much from the outside, it's from the inside. And I want to make sure you don't miss 2 Kings chapter 4, 1 through 7. This miracle, this woman who was about to be arrested, her sons were about to be slaves, she is redeemed, she's restored, she's filled to the brim, she's got all that she needs.
And every ingredient for the miracle was there the whole time. Everything that she needed, she needed. She needed a new perspective. She needed a new filter. She needed a little motivation to say, I'm going to do all that I can do. The most valuable thing that I have, God, I give you access to it.
Boys, we need to get some work because it's always going to require a little bit of sweat. And then we're going to trust and we are just going to be empty vessels being filled up with the power, the favor, and the presence of God. They were there the whole time.
Verse 7, where this passage closes is actually one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel in the Old Testament. It says, "Once they're full, take them, sell them, pay off your debts, and live on the rest."
That's what God did through his son, Jesus. He sent his son to come and to pay off our debts, but not just pay off our debts. We could have been called slaves or servants, but he calls us co-heirs with Jesus, sons and daughters.
He didn't just pay off our debts. He didn't just forgive you. His grace was not just to save you. It was to sustain you for the rest of your life. There's more than enough oil. The oil, the presence of God, saves us from our past, but also sets us free for our future and sustains us through every season.
We serve a God that pours out with more than enough that we can pay off. We pay off our past debts and then live in the fulfillment on the rest, for the rest of our life.
How do I do that? I wanna share very simply how. That is back to Romans 10, which I quoted earlier. That is surrendering your life to the lordship of Jesus. Jesus Christ is your savior, but before he can be your savior, he has to be your Lord.
We have to give him control. That word lordship in Romans 10 is important because that means he has authority. He has leadership over our life. And we, the Bible says, confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that he is Lord.
I want you to walk in immeasurable faith. I want you to walk in the miracles of God. But you can't walk in the miracles of God if you've not taken the first step into salvation. Acknowledging that you're a sinner, that you're a sinner, saved only by grace, and repenting from those sins.
I'd love to just share a prayer with you as we close today. And if that's you, I'd love for you to be included in that prayer as you give your life, you give your heart, you give everything to the leadership of Jesus today.
If you do me a favor, just for a couple of moments, if you would close your eyes, just bow your heads right where you are. I'd love to give you an opportunity. I've talked around it, but let me, let me say it again very clearly. The decision you're making is to become a disciple of Jesus.
Let me say it this way. This is not the last step. This is your first step. The Bible calls you to follow Jesus the rest of your life. But you can't become a disciple until you make a decision to surrender control. That's what I want to lead you in today.
A decision to say, I'm no longer going to be the leader or the controller of my life. I'm going to surrender, and I'm going to follow Jesus. Just like she cried out for help, maybe you're crying out for your eternity today.
Say, I need to make a change. For a few of you, it's for the first time ever, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now and pointing you to Jesus. This is your day of salvation. For others, it's a day of recommitment.
Come on, you heard this message, and you haven't trusted, you haven't believed, you haven't given God access to everything, and he brought you here today. Maybe it's a sign of a fresh start, a restart, or a recommitment.
If it's either of those two groups, first time, or first time maybe in a long time, I'd love to pray with you, just lead you in a short prayer. If that's you, you'll be included in that prayer. You say, today, today, Pastor Justin, I want to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I am surrendering control to him.
If that's you, would you raise your hand right where you are and say, I need Jesus to be Lord of my life. Today is my day of salvation. I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Got you right there, waving at me. So proud of you. Right here in the front. Yes, sir. See you. Beautiful little girl back in the aisle back there. Got you. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir.
Come on, you can put your hands down. If you raised your hand, just pray this in your heart, just silently right where you are as I pray it out loud. Say something like this. Say, God, I love you. And God, I thank you. I thank you for saving me.
I acknowledge that I'm a sinner in need of a savior. And I repent from those sins today. I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you are the Lord of my life. God, I love you. I thank you. I thank you for saving me. I thank you, Jesus, our Lord.
And God, I give you that place, complete and total control. Have your way in my life. And God, I pray for all of us. I pray this week that we would walk in a measurably more type of faith.
And we're going to cry out to you first. Our first response is to invite you in. God, we're going to give you access to everything. And we're going to trust you. We're going to obey. And as we work and do all that, we're going to trust you.
And as we work and do all that, we're going to believe that you're going to do what only you can do. You're going to bless it. You're going to multiply it. You're going to use whatever it is for our development, for others' benefit, and for ultimately your glory.
God, we love you. We praise you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said amen and amen.
on Nov 17, 2024
