Be Ready

All right, church, I want to introduce to you my friend Dan Curry.

He is our Area 9 Texas Baptist representative.

And more than that, he has become a friend to me over the last few years

from when I was working down at Southwestern Seminary.

And I think we golfed together at some point, and that was fun.

But I've gotten to see his heart for the Lord and for ministry,

and he's been a good advisor and voice in my ear,

and I'm very grateful for our relationship.

But he is our Area Representative for the Baptist General Convention of Texas

from Fort Worth, I think, all the way up to Wichita Falls.

And there's probably a lot of other area in there as well.

But he serves a lot of churches, a lot of pastors in that way,

and we're grateful for his service.

Got probably close to 50 years of ministerial experience,

and is a graduate of Wayland Baptist University.

He got his master's degree and doctorate from Southwestern Seminary

and served for about 24 years or so as the pastor of South Oaks Baptist Church

in Arlington, Texas.

He's currently an interim pastor for a church in Arlington,

and we're grateful for him taking this time to come up here

and be with us this morning.

So y'all open your Bibles and be ready to hear what the Lord has given Dan Curry for us.

Thank you, Sam, for the introduction.

And it is a joy to be here today, and it is a wonderful opportunity for me.

I have driven by this church so many times, or driven by Henrietta,

and thought about this church so many times through the years

because my family lived and my parents lived out in Kittiquay, Texas,

out near Esteline.

And if you're going that direction on 287, you know where Esteline is

because it is a speed trap.

And so everybody knows where that is.

But yes, I am the area rep for the Baptist General Convention of Texas,

and so that's a mouthful, okay?

And that being a mouthful, years ago we kind of shortened that to the BGCT.

All right?

Well, then other organizations began to have alphabet names, you know,

and we were going, maybe that's not a good idea anymore.

And so the last few years we have been branded,

we've branded our name as Texas Baptist.

And so that's who we are.

It is the Baptist General Convention of Texas,

but we go by the brand of Texas Baptist.

And you're a part of us as Texas Baptist.

In fact, churches all across this state,

over 5,000 of them make up Texas Baptist.

And you are a part of us through your cooperative program, Giving.

And this is budget time,

or you just passed your budget or sometime recently,

and many of you probably looked up there and said,

cooperative program giving.

When are we ever going to get the cooperative program paid off, you know?

Well, hopefully never, all right?

But anyway, that money is funneled through Texas Baptist,

and there it goes and does ministry and missions across the state

and across the world.

And so it is a great thing.

We're very thankful that you're a part of that.

And I just represent one aspect of that.

We have nine area reps.

We try to be, you know,

a representative for Texas Baptist

to the 5,000 churches that are part of us.

We also try to be a resource person for the pastors and staff

when they have a thought and going,

where can I turn for some advice,

or where can I turn for support?

Where can I turn for maybe some training

in something like evangelism

or something else in, you know, church growth or something?

And we have those resources for that.

And then my favorite part of my job is this.

I get to meet pastors

and be their friend

and be their encourager.

I like the idea of being their Barnabas,

to come alongside them and encourage them,

pray for them,

and when they need some support,

they know they can call me

and I can be their friend.

And so that's the part of the job that I like the most.

And I've got to be that with Sam

and I appreciate Sam, you know,

not only turning to me occasionally

and calling me

and being that kind of,

being able to minister to him in that way,

but he's also ministered to me

in my times of difficulty.

And so it is a mutual thing.

And so it's great to be here

and it's great to be a part of Texas Baptist.

And we're very thankful for your gifts

as to Texas Baptist.

And so enough about Texas Baptist.

Y'all didn't come here today

on this last Sunday of the year

to hear just about Texas Baptist.

I have hopefully a word from God for you today.

And so I hope that you will turn with me

in your Bible

or look it up on your device

or today

in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

We're going to be looking at a passage of Scripture there today.

Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

And we're going to begin in just a moment

in verse 13.

Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse 13.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

The text today,

talking about being ready,

is sort of one of my favorite texts.

But it has a little history.

I felt called to preach

when I was in junior high.

But when I turned about 15,

my dad,

who was a pastor of a church

out in West Texas,

at that time,

he was pastor at

First Baptist Church,

Ropesville,

which is just outside of Lubbock.

And dad came to me

and he says,

son,

do you think you're ready to preach?

I go,

whoa,

you know,

I just lost words.

I don't know that I am.

He says,

I think you ought to preach

this next Sunday

on Sunday night.

And he says,

so think about that for a day.

And I did.

And he says,

are you ready?

And I go,

well,

I don't know.

He says,

do you know what you want to preach on?

I go,

no,

I don't.

He says,

well,

let me give you an idea.

All right.

And so he chose this text for me.

I read the text.

He read the text to me

and I looked at it.

I read the text.

I started going over the text.

My dad had,

you know,

a library of books.

I started looking at all those things,

you know,

resources.

And because my dad said,

son,

this is a really rich for,

these are rich verses.

This is really good stuff.

There is lots of great stuff here.

And so I began to look for all that great stuff,

you know.

And so I studied all week long,

prepared,

had an outline,

had everything ready for Sunday night.

I had this passage of scripture and he says,

you know,

I was thinking of what my dad said.

This is really rich.

It's a lot,

got a lot of rich,

good stuff in it.

And I got up and I,

and I preached.

And it was the best seven minute sermon.

Anyone could ever have.

Well,

my dad was correct.

There's a lot of things in this passage of scripture.

And I hate to tell you this morning,

my sermon is going to last longer than seven minutes.

And we're not even going to get to it all today.

We're not going to get to everything in this text,

but it is really rich.

It is really good.

And it is a good way to start out a new year with thinking about being ready.

And so let's look at the text today.

Paul writes to the church at Rome and he says,

I do not want you to be unaware brothers that I have often intended to come to you,

but thus far have been prevented in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the Gentiles.

I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,

both to the wise and to the foolish.

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it,

the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written,

the just shall live by faith.

There is a lot to meet here.

A lot for us to chew on today.

And before we really get into all of what is in this text,

let's think about for a moment who wrote this text.

Who shares this with us?

Who is he sharing it to?

It is Paul,

the Apostle Paul.

If we remember,

the Apostle Paul was not always the Apostle Paul.

He was also known as Saul.

Remember?

Saul,

who was the Pharisee.

Saul,

who was the persecutor of those early Christians.

He was Saul,

who was there when Stephen was stoned,

and Saul kept all the garments while he egged those on

to throw those stones at Stephen and kill him.

It is this Saul who was assigned to go to Damascus

to destroy those who were a part of the movement called The Way.

Those who were followers of Jesus Christ.

That was his responsibility.

He was on his way to Damascus in Syria to do just that.

And on that road to Damascus,

he encountered the Lord in a large, bright light.

And his life was transformed.

He immediately recognized

that he needed Jesus Christ in his life.

And when he finally got to Damascus,

God sent someone to share with him

how he could have Jesus in his life.

And Jesus comes into Saul's life.

And we know some of the rest of the story.

He becomes the Apostle Paul.

He becomes the greatest missionary of the Gospel.

He, we look at our New Testament

and realize, you know,

as Paul writes to the churches

where he helped start and helped influence,

we find over half the New Testament

is accredited to the Apostle Paul writing to us.

So we find here, this is who writes this.

This is the person who is sharing with us today

this thing, if he says,

I was obligated to share the Gospel.

I had this obligation.

He had an obligation, I think,

partly because he looked back on his life

and he realized,

I tried to destroy the church.

Now I have this obligation

to make sure that Jesus Christ is known.

I have a debt to pay.

A debt to pay.

I want to tell you today,

if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

somewhere in your life,

someone shared with you how to come to know Jesus

and you have experienced that today in your life.

You have experienced his forgiveness.

You've experienced the freedom

that Jesus Christ has given.

you've experienced the full life

that Jesus Christ wants you to have in your life today.

Then you have also an obligation,

a debt to pay.

The question is,

are you ready?

I grew up in a time when,

as a kid,

that it was very important.

Anyway,

I joined Boy Scouts when I was 11 years old

and I've been a Boy Scout ever since.

I'm still a Scout at heart, okay?

I love the organization.

I'm not, you know,

I'm very supportive of the organization.

I know that they've made some weird decisions lately

and all those kind of things,

but the Boy Scout organization,

the Boy Scout things they taught

have really made an impact in my life.

And if you're a Scout

or know anything about Scouting,

you know that there's a motto

that goes with Scouting,

and it is,

be prepared.

Not a long motto,

just be prepared.

Be prepared.

And it is,

be prepared for everything

that might come your way.

Be prepared.

The question is,

are we prepared

when it comes to sharing the gospel,

this debt,

this obligation

we have as believers,

are we prepared

to do

what God wants us to do?

Well,

Paul, I think,

shares with us here

some hints

in how to be prepared,

okay?

The first

way that we can be prepared

is this.

We need

to be

proud

of the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

Now,

you know,

I use that term,

you know,

we are proud

of the gospel message.

But let's,

what is,

those are real

biblical terms,

churchy terms,

you know,

gospel.

We use it all the time.

Do you know

what it means?

What is the gospel?

The term,

gospel itself,

means good news.

Well,

okay,

so we're proud

of the good news.

Good news

implies that

there's bad news.

Okay?

Let's look at

the bad news first.

The bad news

is this.

The bad news

is this.

Found in Paul

writing here,

Paul's writing

in Romans,

he tells us

what the bad news

is.

The bad news

is that we're

all sinners.

Romans 3,

23,

for all have

sinned and fallen

short of the glory

of God.

That's bad news.

We're all sinners.

We all fall short

of what God

wants us to do

in our life.

All of us do that.

We fit that mold.

Let's don't get

high and mighty

because we go to

church every week.

We just really

need to realize

that we're all

sinners,

you know,

okay?

Now,

that's bad news

to some degree,

but we can look

around and go,

well,

everybody else

is a sinner.

Well,

Paul goes on

and he says

the wages of sin

is death.

Whoa.

Wages.

What we deserve,

what we should get

for our sin

is death.

Wow.

Well,

that verse goes on

and he says,

but the gift of God

is eternal life

through Jesus Christ.

There is bad news

there in that

because we're all

sinners,

we deserve death,

but he also tells us

there is,

there is some

relief here.

He says,

the gift of God

is eternal life

through Jesus Christ.

We don't have to die,

but it's through

Jesus Christ.

Now,

how is that possible?

Well,

Paul doesn't leave us

in the hole there.

He tells us in Romans 5,

8,

he says that Christ

died for us.

While we were yet

sinners,

Christ died for us.

While we were

undeserving,

he died

for us.

And then,

in Romans 9,

and 10,

and 11,

he tells us

the way that we can

receive this gift

of God,

of eternal life,

the way we can be

found,

forgiven,

and free in our life,

the way we can

experience full life

is to make a commitment

to Christ,

to follow Him.

Okay,

folks,

that's the gospel.

That's the gospel.

It is good news.

The good news is,

even though I'm a sinner,

Christ died for me.

I don't have to live

in that any longer.

I don't have to live

there any longer.

I can be forgiven.

I can have a full life,

an abundant life,

in Christ.

We need to be proud

of the gospel.

Are we proud

of the gospel?

We excited

about the gospel?

We excited

about the fact

that Jesus Christ

died on the cross

for us?

We excited

that He shed

His blood for us

on the cross?

Are we excited

about the fact

that we don't have

to die?

Are we excited

that He can give us

full life?

We need to be proud

of the gospel.

That's the first place

to be ready

in this new year.

Let's get excited

about the gospel.

But Paul doesn't

stop there.

He goes on

and he says

that we should also

understand the power

of the gospel.

For he says,

it, the gospel,

is the power

of God

for salvation.

It is the power

of God

for salvation

to everyone

who believes,

to the Jew first

and also to the Greek.

It is the power.

The Greek word

power there

is the word

dynamo,

dynamite,

dynamic.

You get the idea?

All those are

English words

that we've taken

from that Greek word

dynamo

and used,

but it is the ideal

of great power.

Exciting power.

Explosive power.

There is power

in the gospel.

Power.

Here's the,

the power comes

in the fact

that I can't change.

But you know what?

God can change me.

He can change me.

We enter,

we come to the end

of the year,

we begin a new year,

we begin to think

about resolutions

we make every year.

I, you know,

I don't know

where you are

in your resolutions

from last year.

Last year,

I, I began the year

and I had just

one resolution,

okay?

Uh, and that was,

I, I was resolved

to lose 20 pounds

during the year.

I resolved to do that.

Well, I, I'm just

going to tell you,

I'm just not very good

at that, okay?

I'm just not very good

at that, you know?

I, I am doing better

this year because,

you know, but, uh,

I will tell you,

I've had the same

resolution for about

10 years.

And I haven't got

there yet.

And the reason is,

not that it's impossible

to lose 20 pounds,

but me doing it

on my own,

eh, not real good

at that.

You know?

In fact, you know,

there was a couple

of years I got

to December the 1st

and I was going,

okay, how am I doing

with my goal

to lose 20 pounds?

And I would go,

whew, I only have

25 more to go.

You know?

You, you see,

we, we think

we can change our life.

And most of the time

we don't have the power

to even figure out

how to lose 20 pounds.

Much less get rid

of the sin,

the guilt

in our life.

Or to get rid of

all the temptations

that Satan throws our way,

pulls.

He knows our,

he knows every button

we have.

And he pushes those buttons.

We, we think

we can just

handle that on our own.

We can't.

We need the power

of the gospel.

We can look at just the,

the life of the apostle Paul

and see the power

of the gospel.

Paul,

the persecutor

of the,

of the early church.

Paul,

who was,

he was at that time

named Saul,

he was the persecutor

of that early church.

He was destroying

the church

and God,

what,

changed him.

He becomes the greatest

missionary of all times

and the writer

of over half

the New Testament.

How'd that happen?

It happened

by the power

of God.

When I moved

to Arlington

back in 1992,

my,

my daughter

who is very,

she's extrovert

to some degree.

She began to meet

all the girls

in the neighborhood

that were her age.

I mean,

every one of them.

Within about a week

or two,

you know,

we had three or four girls

coming to our house

all the time

from the neighborhood.

One of those girls,

the name was Rebecca

and Crystal found out,

figured out really quick

that Rebecca

didn't go to church

very often

and so she invited

Rebecca

to go to church

with us.

And so Rebecca

started going

to church with us

and on the way

to church,

occasionally I would

have to go,

Rebecca,

we don't say that

at church.

We don't say,

we don't use that word

and because Rebecca's

language was not

necessarily the greatest.

She had incorporated

some terms

that she had

probably heard

from her dad.

Okay?

Well,

you know,

I wanted to get to know

the parents of these girls

that Crystal

was bringing around

and so one day

I went over

and met Rebecca's dad.

He was out in the garage,

his garage.

He had a really nice garage.

I mean,

he had a really,

now he didn't park

his car in his garage

or his truck

but he parked

his Harley

in his garage.

He had a place

for his Harley.

He had this nice floor,

it had been painted,

he had a nice love seat

there in his garage,

he had a big screen TV,

he had a little wet bar

over here on the other side

and his Harley.

Okay?

And when I went over

to see him,

he was messing

with his Harley.

He had,

you know,

sort of a,

well it was a

t-shirt with the sleeves

cut off on it.

Alright?

And his shorts

and his sandals on

and he had tattoos

all over his arm,

on his legs,

everywhere.

Going,

oh wow.

So I met Bob.

You know,

I told him who it was.

It was kind of cold.

Like,

meeting ice.

Okay?

Just cold.

Everything just,

immediately after I told him

what I did,

there was just this block

just between me and him

and, you know,

and he just didn't say much.

You know,

on my walk back

from his house

to my house,

I was going,

you know,

okay,

I just don't even know

if God can fix this.

I don't know if God

can ever change Bob.

Just don't know.

Me of little faith.

Because,

within a month or two,

Rebecca got saved

at church camp.

And,

Rebecca

had to be baptized.

Wanted to be baptized.

So,

Bob came

to her baptism.

He came

to see her baptized.

That was the first time

he had been in church

in who knows how long.

And,

then,

every time the youth

did something,

you know,

Rebecca would give

a testimony or something.

He was there

on Sunday night.

He'd come.

And,

then he realized

on Sunday night

we were kind of casual

at the church.

Not,

well,

just not on Sunday night.

He just didn't know.

But,

on Sunday night

we were especially casual.

We were meeting

in a sanctuasium.

You know what a sanctuasium is?

A gematorium.

And,

and every Sunday night

we had to pick up

the chairs

and stack them

and all those kind of things.

And,

we had this saying,

you know,

at,

at South Oaks

we stack them

seven high.

All right?

And,

so,

we even had t-shirts made.

You know?

Said South Oaks

and on the back of them

it says we stack them

seven high.

And,

it was talking about

the chairs.

And,

and so,

Bob loved to come

because after church

nobody paid much attention

to him.

He'd be stacking chairs.

And,

then he'd sneak out.

Okay?

Well,

one

night

on Sunday night

I had noticed

there was a difference

in Bob.

And,

so he was coming

out the door

and I grabbed him.

I said,

Bob.

I just looked at him

and go,

when did you get saved?

And,

he looked at me

and he says,

preacher,

about three weeks ago

what you were preaching,

you know,

I was preaching

through Romans

and he's going,

he said,

I got to looking

at what you were preaching

and I went home

and I studied it some more

and I,

I just asked the Lord

to come into my life.

And I go,

well Bob,

I can see the difference

in your life.

And he goes,

well,

there's a true difference

in my life.

well,

I said,

Bob,

you need to be baptized.

Ah,

yeah,

I know.

But I'm an old man.

I wasn't that old.

But anyway,

he felt like,

I'm old.

I can't be,

I said,

Bob,

you need to be baptized.

You need to be able

to share with the world

that you've been,

been saved

and you do that

through baptism.

And so,

I baptized Bob

and,

and man,

you talk about somebody

who was excited

about being baptized.

He was excited.

Well,

long story short,

that's been about

25 years ago.

Bob is still very active

in South Oaks Baptist Church

in,

in Arlington.

He has been on the finance team

many,

many times

because he is just really good

at those kind of things.

He serves now

as the topper Sunday school teacher

and has been teaching

for about 15 years.

He is

a great man.

In fact,

this week,

he contacted me,

talked to me,

you know.

Now,

looking at him,

you go,

he's had another life.

See,

I gave up.

But you know what?

There is power

in the gospel.

There's people

in your life

right now.

There's people

here in this community

you've given up on.

But you know what?

God has not given up on them.

There is power

in the gospel.

Paul says

that power

of God,

it is the power

of God

for salvation.

Salvation

from sin.

Salvation

for eternal life.

Salvation.

salvation.

Then there's a third thing

that we also need to,

if we're going to be ready,

we need to be proud

of the gospel.

We need to understand

there is the power

of the gospel.

But there's a third thing.

We also need to understand

we need to live out

the gospel

in our life.

We need to live it out.

Paul writes it this way.

He says,

for it is the gospel

or the righteousness

of God

is revealed

from faith

for faith

as it is written.

The righteous

shall live

by faith.

See,

I grew up

in a Baptist church.

I know

about Baptists.

Okay?

We often,

not always,

not everyone,

but we often

have this tendency

as Baptists

and as believers

and all those

kind of things.

we think,

okay,

now that I'm saved,

I've got to live

by these rules.

All these rules.

Really?

Where do you find that?

It says here

we shall live by faith.

Faith?

We all have a list.

I'd say it.

Baptists are bad

about our list.

You know,

you can't drink,

you can't dance,

you know,

all the cants,

you can't do this,

you can't do that,

can't do all those

kind of things

because you do

all those kind of things

then you ain't a believer.

You can't do

all those kind of things.

We have lists.

We have all this

kind of stuff.

You know?

And,

we have to live by faith.

And what we've done is

we've traded away

the freedom

that we have in Christ

and we just put chains

on ourself.

We need to understand

that we need to live

by faith.

How did we get saved?

We get saved by our works?

No.

We did not get saved

by our works.

We didn't deserve anything.

We were sinners.

There's no way

we could save ourself.

But we think now

we have to live that way.

No,

you don't.

You live

in this freedom

that God has given to you.

Because here's the thing.

Here's what happens.

A person gets saved

and they think,

oh, now I've got Christ

in my life.

I've got God in my life.

And God begins

to transform that life.

He begins to change that life.

He does.

And then Satan comes along.

He tempts and he moves.

And the first thing you know,

a person has made a mistake.

They've sinned.

In their life.

And they're going,

okay, I'm not sure this works.

They've given up.

And now they feel guilty

because they've got

their sin in their life.

And they're going,

and what do I do about that?

I'm going,

they're going,

and Satan loves to use that.

They're going,

you can't talk about your faith.

You can't talk about the gospel.

You can't talk about that

because look at that sin

in your life.

because you feel guilty.

I don't know if you've ever noticed

small children,

when they do something wrong

and you get on to them,

they immediately stop looking at you.

Immediately they,

you know,

you get on to a two-year-old,

three-year-old,

you get on to them and say,

son,

you shouldn't be doing that.

They're not looking at you.

Why?

Because the relationship is broken

because they have sinned.

They have broken something.

They've broken the relationship.

And when we sin,

we break that relationship with God.

Now,

it doesn't mean we're not saved,

but that relationship is hindered.

Just like a child.

A child that disobeys their dad

is still a child.

Disobedient child.

How do they come back?

They come back the same way

through faith.

And when they have faith,

in what?

They have to have faith

that they are going to be saved,

that they're going to be forgiven.

And they come back and go,

hey,

yeah,

I blew it.

I messed up.

I messed up,

God.

Can you forgive me?

Well,

yes,

because when God died on the cross,

He not only forgave our sins in the past,

but in the present,

but all those in the future.

We're saved by faith,

friends.

And what Satan likes to do is going,

now you can't share the gospel.

You can't do that

because you've got this sin in your life.

No,

get rid of the sin.

See,

Satan wants to use it going,

don't share the faith.

Don't share the gospel.

Don't do that.

Don't do it

because you've got this sin in your life.

And really what God wants you to do is

get rid of the sin.

And how do you do that?

You just say,

God,

I've got this sin in my life.

Can you forgive me?

And what happens is,

even a child,

when they go,

Dad,

I'm sorry.

And the dad goes,

all of a sudden,

that's fine.

I'm going to forgive you.

I forgive you.

All of a sudden,

that child will stop looking down

and make eye contact with their father

because now that relationship is mended.

That's what it means to live by faith.

So my challenge for you today

is if we're going to be ready here

in this last challenge is this.

We need to get rid of the sins in our life,

lift up our eyes to Jesus Christ,

renew that relationship with God

so that we can complete the obligation,

the debt we have to share the gospel.

Are you ready?

I have a good pastor friend,

Sam Cliff,

and Cliff is a pastor

of the First Baptist Church in Cleburne.

And he's a pretty neat guy.

He's got a lot of energy.

He was a high school coach

and God called him to ministry.

Now he's a pastor of First Baptist Church in Cleburne.

But he's still got the energy

of a high school football coach

just buzzing around.

I just love to call him.

I go,

Hey Cliff,

you know,

I go,

How are you doing?

He goes,

I'm ready.

I mean,

he always says that.

I go,

Cliff,

how are you doing?

I'm ready.

I said,

Ready for what?

Ready for whatever God wants me to do.

I'm ready.

Wow,

I like that.

I like that kind of spirit.

That's the spirit we need.

That's the spirit

First Baptist Church Henrietta needs.

That's the spirit

the believers in this church need

to spread the gospel

in this community

in 2025.

We need to have that kind of spirit

that says,

You know,

I'm ready.

I'm ready.

I'm proud of the gospel.

The gospel has power

to change people's lives.

It has the power

to mend their lives.

It has the power

to give people full lives.

It has that power

to do that.

And Satan is not going

to keep me from doing it

because I am going

to continually live by faith

by trusting him.

Can you do that?

Let's be ready.

Some of you have been in church

as long as I have.

Maybe not as long as I have,

but 50 something years,

60 years,

70 years,

nearly 70 years,

Sam.

I've been in church.

There is this old song.

It's in the hymn book.

Ready.

Ready to go.

Ready to stay.

Ready my place to fill.

Ready for service,

lowly or great.

Ready to do his will.

Ready to suffer grief or pain.

Ready to stand the test.

Ready to stay at home

and send others

if he sees best.

Ready to speak.

Ready to think.

Ready with heart and mind.

Ready to stand

where he sees fit.

Ready his will to find.

Can you say,

today,

today,

today,

I'm ready.

Would that be,

could that be your motto

for this year?

In 2025,

could you say,

I mean,

the Boy Scouts,

it's,

I,

be prepared.

In this church,

in this time,

could you just say,

my motto is,

be ready.

Be ready.

And I'm going to be ready.

Let's stand with heads bowed,

all right?

Our Heavenly Father,

Lord,

you know the hearts

of those that are here.

And Lord,

those who need to respond

to your will today.

And Lord,

we give you this invitation.

We give you this time.

And give this,

this opportunity

for these to make a,

a decision

and to respond

to the gospel

and to respond

to the challenge

that they have been given.

And so,

Lord,

we ask that

as we give you

this invitation,

that your people

would respond

in obedience

to you.

In Jesus' name,

amen.

Sam is going to be

right here at the front

as we sing this time

and sing this song.

And this is the time

to respond.

I am a thorough believer,

in this,

that every time

that we hear

God's word,

he demands a response.

Now,

it doesn't mean

that you need to come down

every Sunday

and grab Sam's hand,

but maybe sometimes you do.

But you shouldn't leave

here today

without saying,

God,

this is how I'm going

to respond

to your word today.

So,

during this time,

as we sing together,

you think about

how you need to respond

to the challenge

of God's word

today.

All right, Sam.

Thank you.