When in Glory

Bibles, I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 22.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 22.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

Haven't you been blessed by this music this morning?

Wow, me and three other people have been blessed this morning by that music.

Haven't you been blessed?

Man, that's sweet.

It's been good stuff, I'm telling you.

It's great.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm going to tell y'all, one of my hope and prayers from preaching this sermon today,

well, you'll leave here and think, man, I need to practice for heaven.

I need to get ready for worship, you know, because I'm telling you, we're going to have a good time.

We've been talking about heaven for several weeks now, and we talked about what will be certain the minute we die,

what we'll know at least within 60 seconds of passing this life.

We've talked about that heaven is real, and it is immediate, and it is eternal, and it is beyond our imagination.

We've talked about what heaven has.

We've talked about some things heaven does not have.

We've talked about what will be like in heaven.

We have a lot of curiosities about heaven, and the Bible does not answer every curiosity that we have.

God didn't write the word of God just so we can have all our answers, all our questions answered.

He wrote it so we rely and trust in him.

However, it does answer several for us.

And in this series on the reality of eternity, we close out this morning a look at heaven,

and I want to share about us when we're in glory.

When in glory, we will serve.

That don't sound too glamorous, does it?

That's what you had intended.

Why?

Because we're not serving for reward or acceptance or for good impression.

When we get to heaven, we'll serve because we want to.

Have you ever served because you want to?

Have you ever done something for somebody just because you wanted to?

Not because you had to, not because you were forced to, just because you wanted to and enjoyed doing it.

Who will we serve?

We'll serve the Lord.

Revelation 22, 3 and 4 says this.

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,

and his servants will worship him.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Leave that up for just a moment because that word there in verse 3, the next to the last word that says worship,

is an interesting word.

It is a word that in its primary meaning means to the service of a hireling,

one who's been hired to do a job, the service that they do.

And it means to serve, or it means to minister to.

It means to pay homage to.

And then, of course, that rolls into worship.

And so sometimes translations say in this passage that we'll worship him.

And it's true because the reality is that we'll serve him.

And it's true that we will serve him as well as worship him.

And then it says, they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Somebody asked me recently when they were leaving worship about these names on the foreheads.

And so let's take a moment and talk about that.

I want you to think about this for a minute because you've heard this before.

In reality, in a couple of places.

Let me remind you of Deuteronomy chapter 5 through 8.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

It says this.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be upon your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children.

And you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise.

Listen to verse 8.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand.

And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Now, some believe that the last part of that verse 8.

Some believe that that is to be taken literally.

And they take these little leather boxes called phylacteries.

And they put small pieces of paper with the law written on them.

The Ten Commandments written on them.

And they place them in those boxes.

And they strap those boxes to their head before they pray.

They take the same kind of box and they put it upon the back of their hand.

And they wrap it around.

I was on a flight to Israel and saw an Orthodox Jew do this.

And he had to get the wrapping.

It had to be wrapped seven times.

He had to get the wrapping wrapped.

And he was wrapping his arm with this leather strap again and again to make sure that it was perfectly wrapped before that old boy got loose in prayer.

I'm telling you on that plane.

I wanted to go over and give him some requests.

You know what I mean?

Because he was serious about it.

He was serious about it.

Now, listen, folks.

You know that wearing things is not the answer.

Okay?

It's not.

What this passage speaks of is allowing the law of the Lord and the word of God to be on your minds.

Let it mark your thinking.

He mentions the hands.

Let it dictate what you do and why you do it and who you serve.

Let it dictate those things.

Take it to the heart of where it's at.

This passage also may remind you of another passage of the mark of the beast in Revelation.

Let's deal with that a minute.

Because in Revelation 13, it speaks of the beast of corrupt worship and the second beast of a corrupt government.

And it says that if people did not take the mark of the beast, which was his name or number on their right hand or forehead, they would not buy or sell anything because they didn't have the mark.

That passage is much debated.

And I don't want to get sidetracked, but I do want to camp for just a minute.

But I want to be clear about something.

Whether you think that is a tattoo of 666 or a barcode.

Years ago, some of you have lived here for a long time, you'll remember this.

We had a bilo.

And at bilo, we had a bilo card.

It was one of the first cards that I ever remember anybody had.

And somebody took the numbers off the back of the bilo card and found the square root.

And every bilo card, because the first half of the numbers were the same on all of them,

every one of them had a square root of 666 point something.

And that automatically meant that bilo was of the devil.

They've since went out of business.

But anyway.

They did.

I remember that coming out.

And I thought, well, can I go get milk or not?

Have I sold my soul to the devil if I buy a gallon of milk?

Whether you believe it's a tattoo of 666, a discount card, a barcode, a computer chip that is put in you.

None of those are the problem.

The problem for the condemned is that their mind is set on things that are not of God.

That's the problem.

And their hands are busy about matters that are not of God.

They've been marked by the beast by not surrendering and faithfully serving the Lord.

That's the problem.

That's the problem.

And for their and for your, it applies to all of us.

For our lack of surrender to the Lord, you will be marked for all of eternity.

That is more than a physical mark.

It is more than a mark of technology.

It is a state of mind.

It is a state of heart.

It is a state of life of wrongdoing.

Tattoos and computer chips don't condemn people, folks.

It don't.

Rejecting Christ is what condemns.

The unpardonable sin is to reject Christ and die without him.

Now, set all that to get back to Revelation 22 verse 4 when it says,

Revelation 22:4

Those serving the Lord have his name upon their foreheads.

Do you see where this is going?

In the book of Revelation, if you study the Old Testament, it will show you what the things it's talking about resemble and what it's talking about.

There is a connection between the two.

And he is saying, look back at what we've seen in the past and understand what it means now.

It means that they are marked by God for faithfully setting their hearts and minds on him and serving him in this life and for all of eternity.

We will serve.

Our minds and our hands will be fixated on serving the Lord.

Not only that, but when in glory, we'll worship.

We'll worship.

And that word I just told you is interchanged for service as well as worship.

But Christ will be our focus in glory.

Not each other.

Our focus will not be on each other.

But sometimes the emphasis that is put upon heaven is this great reunion that we'll have.

And scripture speaks of it.

It will be a great reunion.

And we'll see loved ones that have died in the Lord and they're there.

And we'll see folks who are in the Bible and we'll recognize them when we see them.

I get that from the transfiguration in Matthew 17.

We'll know who Moses is.

Even if he don't look like Charlton Heston, we'll know who he is.

How?

Because we'll have a knowledge that we don't have here.

God will show us those things.

But our focus won't be on each other.

As a matter of fact, Christ tells us that there will not be marriage in heaven.

So let's deal with that a minute.

Because we see this issue in Matthew 22 when the Sadducees and the Sadducees were a religious political group that did not believe in the resurrection.

And they were sad, you see.

Because they thought this was all there was.

And they were trying to poke fun at Jesus by giving him a brain teaser.

Don't mess with Jesus, okay?

Matthew 22, verse 23, it says this.

Matthew 22:23

The same day Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection.

And they asked him a question saying,

Teacher, Moses said if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

Now there were seven brothers among us.

The first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.

So to the second and the third down to the seventh.

After all, after them all, the woman died.

In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be?

For they all had her.

Now let me just get past the obvious first.

I mean the first question that I have to ask about this story is,

What kind of woman is it that appeases men to such a degree that seven of them die under her care?

When's the trend going to pick up?

I mean the third guy ought to have gotten nervous, you know.

But they just kept on.

How dumb is a bunch of brothers they are?

Just a distracting question.

Just trying to throw him off.

And Jesus don't put up with that.

He abruptly takes the mystery away.

And he says in verse 30,

For in the resurrection there will be neither Mary,

they neither marry nor are given in marriage,

but are like angels in heaven.

Now let me be clear about something.

Their effort was to make heaven so complicated that it didn't make sense.

Some people didn't believe.

And Jesus clearly states that our interests are going to be more focused on the throne of God than on each other.

And Christ says we will not be married, we will be like the angels.

Now don't take that out of context.

Okay?

What he means is angels aren't married.

And we're not going to be married.

He is not saying we'll be like angels.

In all our ways.

You're not angels now.

If you think you are, ask the person beside you.

Okay?

And you won't be then.

He does not mean that in every way that we'll be like angels.

That would be contrary to scripture quite honestly.

And don't believe that your loved one has now become an angel.

Please don't put that on social media.

Please don't do that.

That's not what scripture says.

Don't you dare say that some Christian who you loved has gone on to be your guardian angel.

You got God watching your back.

You don't need grandpa to watch after you.

He's got you.

Don't lower the level that Christians have reached.

We're king's kids.

We're made in the image of the creator.

And that's what he's saying.

Read the context.

He's saying that we will not be sexually intimate.

And we won't be worried about physical relationships when we get to heaven.

Angels are not sexual creatures.

We will not be in heaven either.

It does not mean that we won't love each other deeply and dearly.

More so than we ever have.

We love family deeply without sexual relations.

We love our church dearly without it.

We love the Lord Jesus dearly without it.

Physical intimacy does not make love, folks.

It is an earthly product of marital love.

Only in the bounds of marriage.

And outside of that, it's a sacrilege to God.

In heaven, the splendor of heaven, the presence of God will outshine any focus we have in this life.

I just want you to listen to Revelation 7, 9 through 17.

It expresses it wonderfully.

When it says,

After this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation,

from all the tribes and peoples and languages,

standing before the throne and before the Lamb,

clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands,

crying out with a loud voice,

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures,

and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

saying,

Amen!

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.

Amen!

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,

Who are these clothed in white robes?

And from where have they come?

And I said to him,

Sir, you know.

And he said to me,

These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore they are before the throne of God.

And they serve him day and night in his temple.

And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.

The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

For the Lord, excuse me, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.

And he'll guide them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Folks, the trouble and the tribulations of this life,

no matter how great they are,

are when they come,

will be over

and we will be worshiping at the feet of Jesus.

When in glory,

we'll be caught up.

Now that's a term

that is used in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

that speaks of the return of the Lord.

And if we still remain on the earth when the Lord returns,

we shall be caught up together

to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will ever be with the Lord.

However,

that is not what I meant

when I said we will be caught up.

I use that term instead to embrace

several things

that I want to share with you today.

I mean that we'll be caught up

with what's going on in heaven.

I mean we get caught up.

In other words,

the matters of the day,

the matters of this world

will not fill our day

and overwhelm our conscience.

Will we know what's going on on the earth?

We often tend to speak of our loved ones

as looking down on us,

as if there's some loft of sorts

in which the inhabitants of heaven

can peer off and see us.

It's probably not a loft,

but there's biblical evidence

that they know what's going on.

Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 says this,

Hebrews 12:1

therefore since we are surrounded

by such a great cloud of witnesses,

and this follows Hebrews 11,

which is the hall of fame of faith,

which are all these saints

who faithfully serve the Lord

and gone on to see him.

And because of what they've done

and because of who they are,

he follows it up by saying,

therefore since we are surrounded

by those,

that great cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight

and sin which clings so closely

and let us run with endurance

the race that is set before us.

What this picture draws,

and Paul was either an athlete

or a wannabe,

because he likes to use athletic terms,

and what he pictures here

is a stadium crowd

that is cheering us on

and rooting us on.

Notice what they're cheering us on to do.

They are cheering us on

to run the race of the Christian life

with tenacity,

letting no sin or distraction

entangle or run for Christ.

But do you know how they get

their greatest joy?

How they get their greatest joy

is in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Verse 3 through 10.

It says this about Jesus.

It says,

so he told them about this parable.

Now a parable is an earthly story

with a heavenly meaning.

That's an overused definition

of a parable, okay?

And he said this,

what man of you having a hundred sheep,

if he has lost one of them,

does not leave the 99 in open country

and go after the one that is lost

until he finds it?

And when he has found it,

he lays it on his shoulders

and rejoices.

And when he comes home,

he calls together his friends

and his neighbors saying to them,

rejoice with me

for I have found my sheep

that was lost.

Just so.

You can underline that

if you're an underliner.

I tell you there'll be more joy in heaven

over one sinner who repents

than over 99 righteous people

who need no repentance.

Now that last verse there

is not part of his parable.

He's sharing with you

what that parable actually means.

And then he goes on

to share another parable.

And he says,

or what woman having 10 silver coins

if she loses one coin

does not light a lamp

and sweep the house

and seek diligently

until she finds it?

And when she's found it,

she calls together her friends

and neighbors saying,

rejoice with me

for I found the coin

that I had lost.

Again,

just so.

I tell you,

there is joy.

Get this now.

There is joy

before the angels of God

over one sinner

who repents.

Leave that up for me

for a minute.

There is joy

before the angels of God

over one sinner

who repents.

Now he's using a parable

to describe a real atmosphere

and I want you to notice something.

It does not say

it is the angels rejoicing.

It's not what it says.

Read it again.

It says,

there is joy

before the angels of God

over one sinner

who repents.

So who's in the presence

of the angels?

The saints of God.

And what are they

rejoicing over?

When one is saved.

My friend,

if heaven

is celebrating

when one comes

to the Lord,

we ought to be livid

when somebody

comes to Christ.

When somebody's baptized,

we ought to cheer.

I don't mean that figuratively.

I think we ought

to celebrate it.

It's the best decision

they've ever made

in their life

to give their heart

and life to the Lord.

And when they're bold enough

to make that public

before others,

we ought to celebrate that.

When somebody comes down

this aisle

and says that she has

given her heart

and life to the Lord,

we ought to shout.

Why?

Because we know

of the victorious life

that they've entered into.

we don't know the half of it.

We don't know the half of it.

But those in heaven do.

Those in heaven

see it from a whole

different perspective.

They know the fullness

of salvation

so they rejoice even more.

They've seen the Lord Jesus.

They know what it's about.

They've experienced

eternal bliss.

Think about this.

If heaven sees all

are saved every day

across the world,

that is one big camp meeting.

I mean,

they're celebrating

when somebody gets saved

in any church

anywhere in the world

on Sunday.

They celebrate

when somebody quietly

gives their heart and life

to the Lord Jesus Christ

by their own bedside,

by themselves.

They celebrate

every time that is done.

they celebrate

those that never

come to Christ.

Do they see that?

Well, I don't know.

Because the Bible tells me

there's no crying

and mourning,

therefore they must see

it from a different perspective.

As a matter of fact,

a heavenly,

eternal perspective.

Now,

we can't imagine this,

but it's almost like

watching a replay

of a game

and knowing

that your team

is going to win the game.

Okay?

I went to a ball game yesterday.

And so I didn't get

to see other games.

And I was looking forward

to going home

and watching

Colorado and Oregon

before I checked my app.

And I didn't want to see

how that went down.

But it would have been

easy for me

to find out

what the final score

of a game is

and then go back

and watch that game

to see how that developed.

To see the whole deal.

You see,

the bad plays

aren't that big a deal

if you know

you're going to win the game.

I mean,

if you know how it all ends.

And therefore,

you're celebrating

the victory

because you know

you won

because the game's

already been played.

In reality,

in heaven,

they see it different, folks.

And they celebrate.

They cheer us on.

It's kind of like a parade.

Dawn and I celebrated

our 20th anniversary

a few years ago

by going to New York City.

A dream of hers,

a bucket list item,

had always been

to see the Macy's

Thanksgiving Parade.

And one thing

on my bucket list

every Thanksgiving

was always not to see

the Macy's

Thanksgiving Parade.

But she dreamed of that.

But I'll tell you

what I did want to do.

I wanted to go

to a renowned steakhouse

and eat a New York steak.

I did.

I wanted to do that.

So first,

on Thanksgiving Day,

we went to the parade.

We stood about

eight thick

with us in the middle

watching the floats come by.

It was a long

and it was a fun experience.

We anticipated

when Santa would come

and the parade would come

to its climactic conclusion.

And for a long time,

we could never see that.

I know what time

my reservation was.

I was checking my clock.

However, overhead,

there were helicopters.

I would imagine

they had cameras.

I would imagine

they used those cameras

for television.

And those in those helicopters

could see

the whole trek

of two and a half miles

that we had walked

the day before.

The night before,

we had went to Central Park

and watched them

blow up

those great floats.

Watched them

net them down

and weigh them down

so they didn't float away.

We had seen that

at the beginning.

And then right outside

our hotel room,

we had walked down the street

and saw the middle

of the parade

and watched as that went by.

But we could only see

as the individual floats

came by.

I tried to remember

the order they were in

from the night before

and watching those things

come by.

But those in that helicopter

could see the beginning

and they could see the end

and they could see it all.

I just saw a float

at a time.

They saw the whole thing.

That's the way life is.

Heaven sees

the whole thing.

We live one float

at a time.

We watch our event

a day at a time.

But heaven sees it

from a different perspective.

They see the glorious

climactic conclusion

to all of this.

Therefore, they celebrate.

They see the good things

and the bad

but they know how it ends.

They see what we don't.

But what about those?

Let me readdress this.

What about those

who don't go to heaven?

Do they know if loved ones

are missing from heaven?

Are they aware

of those not in heaven?

The Bible's clear

that there's no grief,

crying, or mourning in heaven.

That being the case,

what about those

that we know and love

that don't make it?

Well, I want you to hear

listen to this hard truth

because the Bible's

pretty clear about it.

In Psalm chapter 9,

Psalms 9 · chapter mention

Psalm 9,

excuse me,

it's not a chapter,

it's a psalm.

Psalm 9 verse 5,

Psalms 9:5

it says,

you have rebuked the nations.

You have made the wicked perish.

You have blotted out their name

forever and ever.

Psalm 69 verse 28,

Psalms 69:28

speaking of those

that do not have salvation said,

you have rebuked,

excuse me,

let them be blotted

out of the book of the living.

Let them not be enrolled

among the righteous.

Did you get that?

Let them be blotted out

of the book of living.

Now to me,

that brings a whole new meaning

of the Lamb's book of life

because I thought

it was the names

of those who made it

but in reality,

it's the name of those

who really experienced life

because those outside of Christ

never really experienced life.

Not the way Christ can give it.

it's like the walking dead folks

of sorts.

Until you know Christ,

you haven't really lived.

I want you to listen

to what Jesus said about Judas.

Jesus said this.

In Matthew 26 verse 24,

Matthew 26:24

he said,

it would have been better

for that man

if he had not been born.

Now did he say that

because Judas betrayed him?

No.

He said that because Judas,

although he hung out

with the church folk,

although he walked

along with Christ,

never knew the Lord Jesus personally.

He never surrendered

his life to the Lord

and he would have been better off

to have never been born

because the only true life

is eternal life in Christ.

Revelation 20 verse 15 says,

Revelation 20:15

and if anyone's name

was not found

in the book of life,

he was thrown

into the lake of fire.

In other words,

it's as if they never lived at all.

Now don't misunderstand me.

No, they were here.

But in heaven,

there will only be

a faded memory

because there's no real life.

There's no real existence

outside of Christ.

However, for those in Christ,

there's an eternal celebration

that never stops

until all are saved

that will and we're all in heaven.

Then we'll have

what is described

as the marriage feast.

They describe it that way

because the church,

those saints in the Lord Jesus

are considered

the bride of Christ.

They're described

as the bride of Christ

and Christ is the groom

and together around

the table of the Lord

will celebrate

we all come home.

Those in Christ Jesus.

I can hardly wait.

Do those in heaven

know what's happening on earth?

Yes, they do.

They know how God is working

and they rejoice in that.

Winning glory

will be rewarded.

Give me just a minute.

Let me finish this.

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:10–15

verse 10 through 15

says this.

According to the grace

of God given to me

like a skilled master builder

I laid a foundation

and someone else

is building upon it.

Let each one take care

how he builds upon it

for no one can lay

a foundation

other than that

which is laid

which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone

builds on a foundation

with gold, silver,

precious stones,

wood, hay, straw,

each one's work

will become manifest

for the day

will disclose it

because it will reveal

by fire

and the fire

will test what sort of work

each one has done.

If the work has anyone

has, if the work

that anyone has built

on the foundation

survives

he will receive a reward.

If anyone's work

is burned up

he'll suffer loss

though he himself

will be saved

only as through fire.

In other words

it's kind of like

the story of the little pigs.

Only the house of brick

withstood the winds

in the end

and the only thing

that really lasts

past this life

is what we do

for the Lord.

That's really it

and as Christians

we are building

our lives

but what is our

motivation in that?

Well listen

you can fool

some of the people

all of the time

and you can fool

all the people

some of the time

but you can't fool

the Lord

any other time

he knows your heart

and what is done

in accordance with

scripture

for the right reasons

to honor

and glorify the Lord

and not to worry

about glorifying

ourselves

that will shine

forth in eternity

and we shall

receive a reward

and the reward

is not based

on how great

the accomplishment is

it's based upon

our faithfulness

to his work

and to his service.

Now I'm not talking

about earning

your salvation

you can't earn

your salvation

period

you can't

we are saved

through Christ

only because

of what he's done

but after that point

we are to serve him

in the opportunities

that he gives us

in this life

and what we do

in service to him

with those opportunities

they'll be represented

they'll be responded

to in eternity.

Now there are

different levels

of rewards in heaven

because we all

serve him differently

but listen

what's cool about this

there'll be no pride

there'll be no envy

there'll be no jealousy

I heard it explained

like this

little boy had a dream

he wanted to be a bat boy

in the World Series

he dreamed of being

a bat boy

in the World Series

that was his ultimate dream

what a reward

to do that

and with that being

his dream

it brought

unmeasurable pleasure

to do such a task

however there's another

little boy

that dreamed of playing

center field

in the World Series

and he went on

to be able to play

center field

in the World Series

both them boys

are happy

just as happy

as they can be

the ball boy

never realized

he could have been

playing

he doesn't feel

slighted

in the least

because the levels

of reward are different

but the joy is equal

now I'm not telling you

there's baseball in heaven

there's not

but I'm saying this

everyone will be content

in their status

in heaven

because any reward

we receive

we'll just lay

at the feet of Jesus

we'll be rewarded

that might have been

my cue to quit

but I'm not

winning glory

this is it

listen quick

we will reign

we'll reign

Revelation 22 verse 5

Revelation 22:5

says a night

will be no more

don't need no light

of lamp or sun

for the Lord God

will be their light

and they will reign

forever and ever

that does not mean

that we'll lord over people

and it does not mean

that we'll

we'll be gods

it's not what it means

it means that we'll

celebrate victory

victory over every battle

that we faced

victory over every

physical sickness

over every spiritual

sickness

over every struggle

the battle will be over

we'll be champions

with the Lord

and we'll be celebrating

and we will reign

I know

that does not answer

all your questions

but don't be concerned

about the uncertainties

that you have

about eternity

tell you what you need

to be concerned about

is the state

of your heart

if the Lord Jesus

was to return today

are you going to

walk out that front door

and get hit by a car

and go on to eternity

have you ever come

to the point in your life

where you know

for certainty

you have eternal life

and you'll go to heaven

when you die

can you rest in that today

that's not a threat

it's just true

but you need to have

that nailed down

all of heaven

waits for you

eternal life

waits for you

right here

now today

because Christ said

I've come that you

might have life

and have it more abundantly

he's not talking

about heaven

he's talking about here

he'll give an uptick

to your life

that'll change you forever

if you're surrender

your life to Christ

but don't ever think

your affiliation

with this church

will take care of that

don't ever think

that some service

that you've done

for somebody else

will take care of that

don't ever think

that preaching

will take care of that

or teaching

will take care of that

or volunteering

will take care of that

no no no

the only thing

that takes care of that

is saying

there's nothing

I can do to earn it

and I need you

to forgive me

and to cleanse me

and to come into my life

and if that's never

happened to you

today's the day

of salvation

if you feel

a tugging in your heart

you didn't come up

with that

God gave that to you

because he's burdened

for you

and loves you

and the saints

of glory

are ready to celebrate

your salvation

maybe you're here

and you have done that

but you've never

acknowledged that publicly

you never tell anybody

to know that

Jesus by his example

and by his commission

told us to be baptized

and acknowledge

what we've done

a physical picture

of what happened

to us spiritually

you come take care of that

maybe God's drawing you

to this church

God's blessing us

in mighty ways

I'm thankful for that

and you want to be a part

of that and feel led

to be a part of that

you come

we'll guide you

in that process

maybe you just need

to do business with God

I don't know what it is

listen I'll be honest

with you folks

I struggled with this sermon

this week

because I knew

what time it'd be

when I was done

and I don't like

doing that to you

I didn't feel led

to take a thing out

so let's just give God

a couple more minutes

and respond to him

in obedience

I'll never ask you

to do anything

that God didn't tell you

to do

but when God

leads you to do something

don't you dare

stay there

and not do it

Lord Jesus

I love you

and I thank you

dear God

for this day

and for the opportunity

to serve you dear Lord

and for eternity

and we can celebrate

Lord speak to our hearts

and help us to have

the obedience to respond

in Jesus name

Amen

thank you

I love you

to hear

I love you

I love you

I love you

I love you

I love you