We thank you, God, for your faithfulness. God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you, God, for you are the one in control of our lives.
Father, even as we were singing it, we will build our lives upon you, Lord. Lord, we will build upon you, Lord.
This morning, we're going to participate in communion. In just a minute, if you're watching online and you want to grab some elements real quick so that you can participate with us, but I want us to take a minute just in this atmosphere of worship.
If there's anything in our life that's unrepented, if there's anything in our life that's unsurrendered to God, come on right there where you are. Can you get right with him? Can we take a moment and say, God, I'm sorry. I repent. Can you surrender those things in your life that have been holding you down or keeping you away from him?
As we get ready to do what Jesus instructed and did at that last supper and said that as often as we would do it, we would remember him. And God, this morning, we remember. We remember the sacrifice of your son on the cross.
God, this morning, we remember, Lord, that he said that he would do it for us. He said that his body would be broken for us, that his blood would start the new covenant. And God, we thank you. We thank you, God.
For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
Let us all partake of the bread together.
In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."
Let us all partake. Let us all partake together.
Father, this morning, we thank you, God, for the new covenant. Not set upon by the blood of bulls and rams, but by the blood of your perfect son, Jesus, who took our place and paid the price for us.
Father, we thank you that we have access to you. God, we thank you this morning, for we walk in fullness of healing, God. Healing of our physical body, healing of our mind, healing of our emotions. God, you are healer.
Father, we thank you for the scripture tells us that by his stripes, we are healed. We thank you, God, for comfort, for you are the one that gives comfort, God. Going through circumstance or trial or loss, and God, you are with us and you bring comfort.
God, we thank you. We thank you this morning. We thank you, God, for your faithfulness. We thank you, God, for your mercy.
In Jesus' name. Come on, all around this room and in every online campus right now, just lift your hands right where you are and tell God thank you.
As we continue just worshiping him, just thank him. Thank you for the awakening coming upon your body, God. Father, we thank you for an awakening, Lord. Father, we awaken from that slumber to do what you've called us to do.
Father, to do all that you've asked of us to do, to go into the world and make disciples, God. Father, we ask you, God, that you awaken. And we thank you, God, for the work that you start. We know you finish and you perfect.
We thank you, God, for your faithfulness. We thank you, God, for your fullness. We thank you, God, for we know that you are in control. Lord, we tell you, awaken us. Awaken us in Jesus' mighty name. Amen and amen.
Come on. Give God a shout of praise this morning. Can you bless somebody this morning? Say good morning to the person to your left or to your right. It's awesome to see you. It's great to have you. Amen, amen.
God is good and God is faithful. And he will never, ever, ever let go of his people. Even as Damaris was ministering during the worship, he said that sometimes we feel perhaps abandoned or that God doesn't see us, but God sees us. Amen? And God is there.
And we just continue to call on him and wait on him. And no matter what takes place, God never, ever lets go. He'll never, ever let go. And he is faithful to the end. Amen? He is faithful. He is faithful. And he holds on to his people.
The book of Isaiah says he has us carved in the palm of his hand, sustaining and holding. And I just want to remind you of something that the Bible says. This is not something I said. I didn't make this up. This is from the word of the Lord.
Jesus said, "In the world you'll have tribulation, but have peace of overcoming." And things happen. We go through situations. We go through rough moments. We suffer loss. And so coming to Christ doesn't mean that everything will be perfect. It means we don't have to face it alone.
And hardships arise, but God is with us. And we're able to overcome. And what the enemy means to destroy us and to take us out, God has a way of turning it and using it in our favor. So we just trust in you, God. We trust in you.
And God, I can honestly say, at times I don't understand, but I still trust in you. You are still God. You're still on the throne. And we will honor you in Jesus' name.
Amen. It's so awesome to have you in the house this morning. And if you're watching online, online campus, we welcome you as well.
And Worship Without Walls, we exist to get people to a place where they will acknowledge, trust, and lean on God daily. That's our vision. That's our mission. That's our vision, our why. You're going to hear us say it over and over again.
And who's everyone? Everyone. Like, turn to somebody and say, "You're part of everyone. You're part of people, okay?" We want to get people. You are part of the people to a place where they will acknowledge, trust, and lean on God daily.
Sometimes we think we can do it on our own, right? You ever had your two-year-old moments, you know, with your two-year-old, three-year-old, five-year-old, six-year-old, ten-year-old, twelve-year-old? "I can do it!" And they get to that place of like, "Okay, I need some help."
Sometimes we think we can do it, but the reality is we need to acknowledge our Heavenly Father every single day. We spend time with Him in worship, we spend time with Him in the Word, and God always responds, amen?
We started a series last week that's titled "Room for Growth," and I said it last week. I'm going to be preaching to myself throughout this series, and there was a little statement that I said, and I want us to say it again this morning, but I have not attained it, and I have room for growth.
And I want you to say that with me this morning. You ready? One, two, three. "I have not attained it. I have room for growth."
We think sometimes, "Oh, because I've been a Christian X amount of time, I said I'm good." But the reality is that every single one of us has room for growth. We think sometimes, "Oh, because I've been a Christian X amount of time," has room to continue to grow. This guy right here has room to grow.
And an area that I want to talk about today in which I know I have room to grow, and many of us have room to grow, is the area of love. See, there's room for growth in the area of love. There's room to grow in that area of love.
And I want us to get into the word because sometimes we don't understand how important love is for our God. And go to Matthew chapter 22 to start off this morning. Matthew chapter 22.
It says in verse 34, when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"
And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
So if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. This is important for us to understand. Love is a commandment. We are commanded to love.
And according to the scripture that we just read, it's three pockets. First, we're commanded to love God. Then we're commanded to love people. And then we're commanded to love ourselves.
See, part of the situation is that people don't know how to love others because they don't know how to love themselves and they don't know how to receive the love of God and the forgiveness of God. And so we don't like something in us. And if I can't love me, I can't love someone else.
This story or this segment is also found in the book of Luke chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, it says that this lawyer, and by the way, a lawyer back then is not what we think of as a lawyer today, right? A lawyer was someone who interpreted the law of Moses, the Mosaic law.
And so this lawyer asked Jesus the question, and did you catch that he asked him a question in order to try to test him or trick him? He asked Jesus that same question. It's in Luke chapter 10. "What's the greatest commandment?"
And Jesus, knowing the guy was a lawyer, said, "Hey, what's your interpretation of it? How do you read it?" And the guy says the same thing Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus said, "You've done good. You've answered right." But then there's a phrase in there. It says that the lawyer asks him this question in order to justify himself. "Who's my neighbor?"
You know, we're so good at justifying ourselves. "Oh, I didn't do this because of..." "Oh, I did it because..." And can I tell you something? When you're trying to justify yourself, you probably weren't doing it the right way.
When you're having to justify yourself, when this guy's having to justify himself and saying, "Who's my neighbor?" it means the guy wasn't walking in the love he's supposed to walk in. And that's an area that I know I got to continue to grow in. Walking in love.
And by the way, the love that we're talking about here is the agape love, the unconditional love. God loves us unconditionally. But man, do we love with condition.
What does it mean to love with condition? You know, if you bring up something you did for the person, you didn't do it out of genuine love. It actually had a condition. Maybe not because you put it, but there was an expectation.
And when you have an expectation of what is going to be the result of doing something? What is the reality? There was a condition.
And look at Romans chapter 12. As you go start looking at Romans chapter 12, I'm just going to be honest, transparent. I told you last week. God was convicting me and I'm going to be preaching to myself.
I was reading this passage in Romans chapter 12 early in the beginning of this month or towards the end of last week. It was in part of the daily Bible reading. And I got to Romans chapter 12.
And Romans chapter 12, a lot of us quote it, right? Verses one and two, where it talks about do not be conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. But then you get to verse nine. And verse nine says this, "Let love be genuine. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine. I will repay,' says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, or for by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."
See, as you read your Bible, have you ever noticed that they put like a little phrase in front of a section, kind of like tells you what that section is going to be about? So here's what it says. A little Bible reading lesson or Bible reading thing for us to understand. The Bible was not written with chapters and verses. That was added on when the Bible was comprised and put together.
Okay. This was a letter from Paul to the Corinthian church. However, if you read with that little section, it's titled this, "Marks of the True Christian."
So I was sitting in my house at my desk doing my daily Bible reading. And I read this, and the Lord just kind of hit me. I didn't hear an audible voice, but I got that. You got to keep growing. Are these areas in your life developed to the place where they're supposed to be?
And love is to be genuine. Genuine. Another word for it is sincere. Sincere. When you look that up, what does it mean to be genuine? What does it mean to be sincere? It means to be authentic, to be real.
And there's a lot of us that we don't do things out of genuine motivation. We're not loving the way we're supposed to unconditionally. And the word hit me hard. Let your love be genuine.
You look up the word genuine and the word sincere. The word sincere comes, when you look at the etymology of the word, it comes from the Latin, meaning "sincera," or without wax.
And there's a lot of different stories, if you would, that have been passed down from generation to generation as to where does this word originator come from or what does it mean? One of the stories that you have... One of the stories that has been shared is that the Romans would build these pots. And they would tell people that the pots would be able to hold water or liquid. And the reason they could is because they would put a layer on the bottom of the pot of wax.
And so that would make it that water would not exit or leave. However, with time, the wax would wear off, melt away, and now that container would no longer be able to hold water. It would go through. So the people would look and say, "Hey, this is sincera, without wax."
Another story that comes along from that time period is that people would make, again, clay pots or vases. And if there was an imperfection, they would fill that imperfection with wax. And when it would dry, they would paint over it. And they would try to sell it off as an authentic, perfect piece.
However, when you got it and put it up to the light, you would see the cracks. And they would say, "Hey, I don't want this. I want one sincera. I want one that does not have a blemish, that does not have a problem."
And here's the reality. Our love has to be without wax. Our love has to be without blemish. Our love has to be genuine. Love for who? Number one, God. And we've got to love people.
Okay, I tell you, you also got to love you. Many times we have hardship loving God because we don't love us. We have hardship loving people because we don't love us.
And what I've experienced or encountered is many times we don't have love for us because we have not forgiven ourselves for faults or situations. We go back and replay things that happened in our lives 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago, childhood memories or memories with when our kids were little.
We go back and replay things that were children. And only if I had done this, I'd be in a different situation. You're not receiving God's love and forgiveness for you. And then you can't walk in the fullness of love.
Sometimes we think, "Well, it's got to be for everyone." But hey, yes, you've got to take care of you too. I mean, I said it last week. If you've ever been on an airplane, the first thing they tell you, right? You got the flight attendants come up and they're like, "Hey, if there's a sudden loss in cabin pressure, a little mask is going to come down. Put yours on first and then help the people around you."
Some of us are not walking in the fullness of genuine love because we haven't obeyed God in loving self. Our love's got to be genuine.
Aside from the fact that our love's got to be genuine, can I tell you another one? We've got to love even our enemies. This is not the word of David. Watch. Go to Matthew. Go back to Matthew. Go to Matthew chapter 6 and look at what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 43.
"You've heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'" So Jesus says, "You've heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."
I've got room to grow. See, I don't pray for some people sometimes that I should be praying for. Instead of praying for the one persecuting, I say to you, what did it say in Romans chapter 12? "Bless them and do not curse them."
Guys, I got room to grow. All right, am I? I'm preaching to myself. You can apply it too, but I'm preaching to myself. Am I truly and honestly praying for the person that hurt me? Am I truly and honestly praying for the person that hurt me?
Am I truly and honestly praying for the person that hurt me? for and trying to figure out how to show love to that person. As a matter of fact, Romans took it a step further. He said, "If your enemy's hungry, feed him." It's not what it said, but you got the point, right? If he's hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink.
On your way to work, buy him a Krispy Kreme donut. I said this earlier for a service. I like food, people. If you didn't know that about me, I like food.
And with my wife's injury, she can't drive, and I was driving her to work early in the morning. I had to go get my blood drawn, and so I was fasting. And I get down, and I park, and I grab her purse and her things, and I'm walking everything in, and we go into the building, and there was a box with a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts.
I looked, and I thought, "Do I reschedule my appointment? Will they really know if I ate it?" Let's get back to it. Guys, what are we doing with those? The Bible calls us to love. It commands us to love people.
There's a saying, I say, I'm going to be honest, my wife doesn't like it every time I say it. She tells me, "Why do you say that?" I'm going to say it anyways today. I'm not called to like everybody, but I'm called to love everybody.
We confuse those statements, right? We confuse it. I can love you even if I don't like you. I might not go watch a baseball game with you. Maybe we have different personalities. Maybe I like baseball and you like golf, or like both, but whatever.
The Bible doesn't tell me to like everybody. As a matter of fact, go back to Romans. Look at what it said. It says, "As long as it's your responsibility, live a peaceable life with everybody." You got to try. You got to try. You got to try. You got to try.
Some people don't. There's people that I reach out to, to try. Don't answer my calls and my text messages. I tried, God. And guess what? If they did call, I'm going to drop what I'm doing, and I'm going to do what I can and show love.
But I got room to grow. We think, "Well, but now they throw it back, right? Well, but I don't really like them, so am I being sincere if I try to show them love?" Grow, Pablo. Grow.
Grow and be able to love the person no matter what. Love the person. Help the person. Pray for the person. It's what the Bible said. Pray for them. Feed them. Help them.
Pastor, it's hard. Absolutely. I don't got it figured out. I got moments where it's like, "I don't want, but God, I don't want to, but I told you to, but I don't want to, but I told you to." Love them. Help them. Feed them. Take care of them. Pray for them.
Lord, help me love. Help me love. Because here's part of the situation that we need to understand. Our love is supposed to preach. Our love is supposed to preach.
Watch. I'm going to back it up with scripture. Go to Matthew, go to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. It's again, Jesus talking. I tell you guys all the time, it's okay to read books, but you got to read what Jesus says.
John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. Where'd you go? John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. Where'd you go, John? Here you are, John. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another."
Caveat, or sorry, not a caveat. Side note, Jesus loved Judas even though he knew Judas was going to betray him. All right. All right. Just as I have loved you, you're also to love one another.
And look at verse 35. "By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." You know, one of the issues that we're having in the world today is that the body of Christ doesn't love itself and love each other.
I can't tell you how many times I've encountered where somebody moves to a different place and they don't love each other. And I can't tell you how many times I've encountered where somebody moves to a different church that said, "I don't talk to them anymore."
Newsflash. There's not going to be a heaven for 3W Church and a different heaven for the church down the street and a different heaven for the church in the other corner. It's heaven.
And this thing that we don't talk to each other, we unfriend each other, we unfollow each other on social media and all these things because now they go to a different church, that is demonic. Because that's division and not love.
We're supposed to be the body of Christ. Watch. Love God, love people, love self. The body of Christ does not love itself many times.
And the people who are unsaved, you and I reach out to them. "Hey, come on, man. Jesus loves you. And I want you to come, come with me." It's like, "I don't want to go there. That place is full of hypocrites."
I want nothing to do. Why? Because what they're looking at seeing is like, he had a problem. I beat him down. I get scripture. And by the way, the word of God is directed to believers.
The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin. You get saved and you read the word of God and the Holy Spirit teaches you through the word of God. But what do we do? Many times as Christians, we find the verse and we go to the person who is unsaved, unrepentant, and we get the verse. "Look what it says. Look what it says."
And it's like, "That's not written to me. It's in a different language." You know how we reach them? Love them.
Now watch, watch. Love them does not mean that I go and tell you that whatever you're doing is okay. Love does not mean affirm. But we're called to love people. We're called to pray for people.
How many of you got room to grow? And to make matters worse, there's some unsaved people that are more genuine in the way that they love others than saved people. We got to fix that.
And it starts by acknowledging I can grow. It starts by looking and saying, "I'm going to start making the difference."
Oh, but what can I do? A lot. I've shared this story. I'm probably tired of hearing it. You've all heard this story. You've read it, but I'm going to say it again anyways.
The little kid that's out by the water and he goes out to the ocean and the whole entire seashore is full of starfish that had washed ashore. And this little kid is trying to go and grab the starfish and throw them in the water. And he's throwing them in the water. And there's like thousands of them.
And some cynical old person comes and looks at them and says, "What are you doing? You're wasting your time. There's no way you can get them all." And he's, "You're not making a difference."
And the kid says to that one, "I made a difference." And sometimes we lose the zeal that I talked about in Romans 12. We go through situations and we allow the cynicism to grow in us.
I've seen this before. Let's see if this change will last. Let's fill in the blank. But when we look and respond with love, no matter what, I'm going to love you no matter what.
The way that God has loved us, no matter what, man, if there was a movie about my life and every minute of the day and second of the hour, I'd look at it and be like, "Why, how, how do you still choose to love me? I suck, but he loves me anyways."
But then we turn around and put condition on who we show the same love to. That's not of God. What do we do? We love God. We love God. We love God. We love God. We love God. We love God. We love God.
We love God. We love God. We love God. We love God. We need to look and say, "I can grow in this area."
How do we grow in it? Guys, we spend time with God. You spend time with him. You know, everybody has a unique smell, right? Every house has a unique smell. You know what I'm talking about, right? I'm not saying bad smell, good smell, just everybody has a unique smell.
La Carreta has a unique smell. Leave La Carreta and you got to wash your clothes. Like, you know what, it's legit, you know what I'm talking about.
What smell are we giving off? Are we giving off the smell of God because we've been spending time with God? Or do we smell of the world because that's what we spend time with?
Who you and I spend time with is what we're going to smell like. And so how do we spend time with God? How do we smell like God? Guys, we worship, we pray, we read scripture.
People are probably tired of me hearing me say it, but I'm going to say it over and over again. We were called or supposed to read the Bible every day, read the word of God every day.
Oh, but I don't have time. We've got time for a lot of other things. Let's make time for God. Can I tell you something? When you give him the first of your day, he's able to accelerate all the other things.
The commandment was love him first. We're failing on that when we don't give him time. I know that hurt. It hurts me too.
I told you this came out of my daily Bible reading. I felt confronted by God saying, "Are you loving genuinely?" We're going to talk about it in the next couple of weeks. But the second sentence of that verse, "Abhor evil."
Some of y'all don't know what the word abhor means. Don't worry about it. I looked it up because I didn't know either. It means to hate.
But you know what many of us believers do? "Oh, it doesn't affect me. I can still watch it. Oh, that's their business. I'm just here." No, no, no. Hate evil. Don't tolerate it.
Guys, I got room to grow. And here's the challenge I have for you. And if you're watching online this morning, recognize as Paul wrote and said, "It's not that I've attained it, but I press on."
Worship team, as you come to the altar, where we can look and say, "I've got room to grow in my love. I've got room to grow in the way that I pursue God. I have room to grow in the way that I pray for people. I have room to grow in the way that I've reached the lost."
Got to make it where it's second nature. Do you and I, we need to understand something. There are people everywhere we go, we encounter people who don't know Jesus.
As a matter of fact, in this building, there's probably people who don't know Jesus. And we shouldn't be surprised by that. In this building, there's people who are hurting, and we shouldn't be surprised by that.
Let me tell you, last time I walked into Baptist Hospital, I was not surprised to see people walking around with IV poles, to hear coughing. I was not surprised. I was not surprised to hear an announcement that said, "Crash cart to such place," because I'm in a hospital.
And we got to understand that when we walk in here, we're patients. And God wants to heal us. He wants to restore us. He wants to deliver us.
Can we acknowledge and say, "We're sinners in need of saving." And we are Christians. We are Christians, if you've already asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, who still have room to grow.
And the area that I want us to be challenged with today is, is there room to grow in our love for God, for others, and for self?
Stand to our feet. With every head bowed, with every eye closed, every head bowed, every eye closed, I need to take a moment. I just said it. There's some of you in this building that perhaps don't know Jesus.
There's some of you in this building that perhaps don't know Jesus. And let's be very frank, sitting in a church does not make you a Christian. It's an encounter with God through the person of Jesus Christ, the one who loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to pay the price and take our place.
So today, if you've never made Jesus the Lord of your life, I've got great news for you. It's not hard. It is accepting the free gift. There's no catch. He loves you unconditionally.
So what does the Bible say? It says, "God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life."
And scripture also says that if you confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart, you shall be saved. So I ask you this question, have you made Jesus the Lord of your life?
And if today you can't answer with certainty, "I have," and you want to today make Jesus the Lord of your life, all I want you to do is say this prayer with me. Every head bowed, every eye closed. This is you and God, you and God.
And tell him right there, "God, I'm a sinner. And on my own, I can't get to you. But I believe Jesus is your son, that he came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross. I believe he rose from the grave and paid the price for my sin. So today, I ask Jesus, come and live in my heart. Write my name in the book of life. And from now on, God, I'm yours. And you are mine in Jesus."
Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you did that today for the first time, just right there where you are, just slip your hand into the sky. It's right there. This is just acknowledging you and God.
Tell somebody. Talk to me after service. Talk to my wife after service. Tell somebody, "Today I made Jesus the Lord of my life."
And now as we worship, this is what I challenge us to do. Pray and ask God, "Lord, help me love more. God, help."
And I would even challenge you to ask God, "Who are people in my life I need to be praying for?" Use this time and start praying for that co-worker that was talking bad about you.
Start praying for that person that hurt you or betrayed you. Start praying that they, you would receive God's forgiveness and encounter him. Pray for their salvation. Pray for their restoration. Pray for their healing. Pray for their deliverance.
Let's begin to practice loving like God loves. Our prayer is that we may be more like you. And God, I pray that you continue to bring us conviction of areas in our life where we have room to grow.
Father, I pray that we may stay humble, that we may understand we haven't attained it. God, I pray that we would stay zealous for you.
And Father, that we would always pursue to get closer to you, to be more like you. And Father, I pray that we walk in love.
Father, that we obey the command to love you, to love people, to love ourselves. Father, that we would pray for our enemies, that we would bless those who have cursed us.
Father, that we would feed them, take care of them, and show your love, God, agape, unconditional love, genuine love. To everyone that we encounter.
Father, especially so that the world would see you through us. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
Praise God. You can have a quick seat. Before we close, we're going to close in just about three or four minutes. Three or four minutes, not 34. Three or four minutes.
Yesterday, we were able to go to Dorothy M. Wallace Cope Center and serve and be a blessing to the school. We've got a short little video. It's about a minute long.
This is the delivery of all the grass and mulch and plants and things that we purchased to be able to donate and prepare at the school. That's a before picture. I mean, you can see the awnings or the roofs, how dirty and filthy they were.
The planters have been vacant and just empty there forever for years, it feels like. And so we had a team out there of like 34 people, I think is what I counted, that pulled out all the weeds, removed all the mulch, laid down sod, planted plants in the planters.
Look at the roof, guys. We cleaned all of those awnings of roofs, and it's going to look beautiful when those teachers walk in tomorrow. See all those bags of trash. And pressure cleaned. I mean, it was a huge, huge blessing and an awesome privilege to be able to be there and to serve and make an impact.
Thank you. Go ahead and turn off the video. So thank you for all of you that were there and took out time to be there in the hot. Let me tell you, it was hot.
And those bags were heavy. We were messing with our brother, Sergio. He usually comes to our first service, but Sergio's like an ox, right? And he was like preparing some of the garbage bags, like shoveling off the old mulch that we were going to throw away.
And I walk up to him and like literally, like, you know, those big outdoor bags, like he had filled it to the top. I was like, "Bro, like none of us can carry that, you know, like, like," and he's like, "Oh, my God."
And then he like throws it up. I was like, "Yeah," like we went to put it in the back of the pickup truck. It was like five of us trying to lift it and throw it in. But we were a little sore, but it was awesome. It was great to be able to do that and to serve.
And I want to say thank you. We are able to go in there and serve and provide financially, right? That's an investment. It's because of your generosity and because of your obedience in supporting the local church.
In our church here, one of our values is to serve. And it's funny because the principal, she's a believer. She was there. She walked out and she looked around. She was like, "Pastor David, how do you get so many people to come out?"
He's like, "Well, one of our values as a church is to serve." So if you call 3W Church home, it's because you have that. It's that value. And we get out there and serve the community.
And so Dorothy M. Wallace is a school for girls that are pregnant or had a baby. And it is a blessing because not only did we beautify it, but we get to go into that school almost every week.
Our church mans a little store at the school, which supplies diapers and clothes and different things that the girls might need. Or the babies might need. And we partner with the school to help them get better attendance.
And so what the school does is they give the girls what they call butterfly bucks. That is the school mascot, a butterfly, for going to school, for doing well on exams, for all these different things, and then they're able to go into the store which is always manned by one of our ladies from the church and they get to go and turn in their butterfly bucks for diapers if they need diapers for outfits for the baby or for themselves or these different things.
And we're able to purchase things and put them there because of you, so thank you for that.
So within the next few weeks, we're going to be restocking the new store. They gave us a new area that we went in this summer, we painted it, put shelving, it's ready to go so that we can just be a blessing to these girls and to the staff.
So thank you for being a blessing to our church so that we can be a blessing to others, amen?
We do want to remind you Tuesday mornings at 6 a.m. we have prayer service, so join us. Come on out. We open the sanctuary at 6 a.m. We spend time in prayer and worship, and we encourage you to come out and do that.
And last announcement before we pray for all the people that are watching this video, we're going to be doing a men's fantasy football starts in a couple of weeks. There's only three spots left last time I checked.
It's available for 12 guys. There's no cost. This is not for gambling or for any type of thing. This is strictly for fun. Once the season starts, last year's winner has to surrender the belt.
We have a big, like WWE type belt that the winner's name gets etched on every year and they get to keep the belt till the next season, so Tony's got to surrender the belt in a couple of weeks.
And we're going to be doing a prayer service at 6 a.m. We're going to be doing a prayer service and then we just have fun.
And it is strictly just for fellowship and camaraderie, so if you want to be a part of it, like I said, I believe there were three spots available last time I checked.
So school starts this week, and we want to bless and pray for every one of our students. So if all of the kids can come up to the front, all the kiddos come on up.
If you're a middle schooler and high schooler, you were sitting in the sanctuary, come on up to the front as well. We want to pray over you. If you are a college student and you're going back, you're starting, we want to pray over you, so come on up all you kiddos.
Let us pray. Nice haircut, AJ. You look ready for school, man. Love it. Look at that. Got that gel going and everything. Spiffy, amen?
All right, so let's go ahead and let's extend. Aaron, your student, bro, come on up. See, not call you out because you didn't come up.
So are you guys students? No, not a student, not a student. You are students, so I hear some people say some say yeah, well, we'll pray for you too, all right?
Lord, let's extend our hands towards all these young people. God, I thank you for every one of these young men and young women, God, regardless of where they are in their stage of life.
If they're in elementary, middle school, high school, college, postgraduate degrees, God, I thank you for their lives. Lord, as they step foot on their campuses, God, all around this city, Lord, we just pray for your protection.
We pray for you to direct them and guide them. Lord, we thank you for it's going to be a phenomenal school year for them. God, I thank you for you're the one watching over each and every one of them.
Father, not just in the academic side, I pray for their extracurriculars, Lord, for their athletics or competitions that they be a part of. God, I pray that you watch over them.
Lord, if any of them are starting in new schools this semester, God, that they will be able to make the right friends and the people that they need to be with, Lord.
As well, we not only pray for them, but we pray for every educator in this room. God, I pray for every... I thank you for every one of our teachers that they start this week.
We pray, Father, for you to guide them, direct them, that this will be a school year of impact and blessing. Lord, I thank you for you're the one that's watching over them and directing them.
Father, we pray your protection, Lord, in our city, God, especially with so many heinous, disgusting, horrible attacks that happen in schools all across our country.
God, we pray your protection upon our city. God, we pray for the schools in our city, Lord, we pray for your hand upon our city. God, we pray for the schools in our city of protection, Lord.
And Lord, we just ask you to have mercy, God. Lord, we thank you for your goodness and faithfulness. And Lord, we just declare a blessing upon each and every one of them.
And Lord, as we get ready to leave this building today, we thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness. We thank you, God, for we leave this building but not your presence.
And Lord, we thank you for throughout this week you're going to encourage us and remind us to love better. Father, we thank you for what it is that you're doing in our lives as we can recognize we each have room to grow and be more like you.
In Jesus' name, amen and amen. God bless you guys. Love you all.
on Dec 31, 2024
