2021 Stimulus Plan

If you have your Bibles, I'll open them with me to 2 Kings. Oh wait, I forgot.

Never know whether to wear these things or not, do we?

I don't know if anybody else is like me. You're sick and tired of wearing a mask.

Anybody with me? Or are y'all just still asleep?

We gave you a service off. It's 1030. Come on, wake up.

It was a joke, by the way.

Anybody tired of wearing a mask? Looking forward to the day when we can just throw these things away and they'll be gone and we don't ever have to look at them again?

Not yet.

They're getting my punchline ahead of me there.

Well, here we are, the last Sunday, last Sunday of a year.

And I think most of us can certainly look forward to 2020 kind of slipping away into the history books and us moving forward.

You know, the last Sunday of any year, you know, brings a lot of emotions, a lot of different thoughts and processes in our minds.

We can look back upon the past year and we can think about all the things that we experienced, all the things that we went through, some good, some bad.

We can also look forward to a new year with great anticipation of the things that lie before us.

Maybe there's some nervousness or fear of things that are in the new year that we're unaware of, but maybe there's some great excitement.

This year, we have the excitement that the coronavirus can maybe be put behind us, whether it be through a vaccine or whether the Lord would bring it to an end.

But we can get back to some form of normalcy, whatever that might be.

I don't know that we'll ever get back to the way life ever was before, but hopefully we're going to get back to some form of normalcy in our lives.

But as we look forward in 2021, we can look forward with great anticipation of what the Lord will do and that we can walk into that future holding his hand and trusting him certainly to be with us.

But as we look back and we look at 2020 and we think of all that we've been through, do you realize a year ago, this Sunday, a year ago, we had never even heard coronavirus or COVID-19.

Most of us haven't, hadn't at that point in time.

And here we are a year later.

But we look back and I think Fred mentioned last Sunday, it wasn't all bad, was it?

There were some good things that took place in 2020.

One of the things that took place in my life is I had to learn how to use Zoom.

I had never heard of Zoom before that, I don't believe.

But all of a sudden now I had to learn to use Zoom and I used it with Sunday school classes.

But we also used it to do some training with individuals in Peru that we would not have been able to have done without actually traveling and going down there.

We're also getting ready to start another Bible study with Peruvians through Zoom and as well as train pastors in Peru.

And then just this week I got an invitation from a leader in Ecuador wanting us to train pastors in Ecuador.

And so some of those things would have never occurred without coronavirus and COVID-19 that we've been through.

Because I wouldn't have necessarily known how to have done that.

And they may not have asked.

They would have wanted us to come travel down there.

And we can't travel and do as much as we can do obviously over the internet and Zoom.

So there's been some good things, hasn't there?

But one of the best things I want to share with you now.

My best thing that happened to me this year.

My granddaughter was born.

Last Sunday morning at 2.55, Lori Harper Davis was born on December 20th of 2020.

Now I would put it in military time and say she was born at 2020, but she wasn't.

It was 2.55 in the morning.

But she's home, doing well.

I said my daughter has too easy a time with babies because the first night she was home she only got up once all night.

And I think Ashley even woke her up to feed her.

I'm like, what kind of babies do you have?

Because my grandson, he sleeps.

He'll go to bed at 8 or 9 o'clock at night and sleep until 10, 11 o'clock the next day.

I'm like, I told her, I said, you're not going to get that lucky with every baby.

This one will probably start getting up every two hours before long.

But as we look back on the year of 2020, there's been some good things that have happened.

Some bad, and we've all had challenges that we have faced.

It's been definitely a challenging year that we have dealt with.

And there's going to be some lasting effects upon us individually, maybe as a community, but definitely as a nation.

There's going to be financial impacts upon our nation for years and years to come.

There's going to be some maybe physical effects, mental, emotional, maybe some spiritual, educational impacts, and definitely political impacts to our nation from 2020 for a generation to come.

And there are times in our lives when circumstances arise that we have no power and no control over.

Circumstances that impact our lives that we didn't do anything to deserve those circumstances.

We didn't do anything to bring those circumstances upon ourselves.

We didn't act irrationally.

We didn't make bad decisions.

We didn't ask for these things to come into our lives, such as coronavirus.

We didn't ask for coronavirus.

And none of us in here did anything to bring about coronavirus as a worldwide pandemic.

But sometimes those things come into our lives and they present challenges in our lives that we have no control over that.

But at times when these circumstances of life occur such as this, it can bring about a sense of fear.

It can bring about a sense of desperation or even hopelessness in our hearts.

And we're left with asking questions such as, what do I do now?

How do I respond to this?

How do I take care of my family?

You know, how do I go on maybe when you've lost a loved one as a result?

And this is why this morning I want us to take a look at a poor widow found in 2 Kings who found herself in one of these moments when life circumstances were beyond her control.

The scripture passage is 2 Kings chapter 4 verses 1 through 7.

2 Kings 4:1–7

And the message of this poor widow is a practical message that answers the question that maybe all of us are asking in our lives, at least at some point in time or another,

is where is the power to meet the desperate needs of human life?

When we're put in the situation of circumstances of life that are bigger than us, beyond our control, where is that power for us to face those circumstances and definitely to face it representing the Lord and honoring God?

So let's look together at 2 Kings.

You can look at the scripture on the board.

2 Kings chapter 4 verses 1 through 7.

2 Kings 4:1–7

The wife of the prophet said,

Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.

Don't ask for just a few.

Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.

Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side.

She left him and afterwards shut the door behind her and her sons.

They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.

When all of the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one.

But he replied, there is not a jar left.

Then the oil stopped flowing.

She went and told the man of God and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts.

You and your sons can live on what is left.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we just come to you today.

And we acknowledge that we have been in circumstances and situations with this coronavirus and maybe others that are bigger than us.

And we turn to you, Lord, to work in our lives, work in our hearts, work in our minds, to help us, Lord, to have the power to face these circumstances and situations.

And not only to face these, but to face them with faith and to face them with trust and reliance upon you.

Lord, I pray that you speak to each and every one of us today through your word.

And I don't know who is here, maybe struggling even more than anyone else.

But I pray, Lord, that you speak your word and your truth to our hearts and help us, Lord, to draw nearer and closer to you.

And we thank you for this and praise you, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

As we can see in just reading these seven verses that the widow faced a severe and a very urgent crisis in her life.

Her husband, who had been a prophet, he has died.

And he has left her with a substantial debt that she is not able to pay.

Now, we don't know much about her husband.

We don't know.

And we don't know how he incurred such a debt.

But one thing we can probably assume is that he didn't incur this debt due to wild living or irresponsible behavior or making bad decisions in his life.

Because it's kind of clear here in Scripture that he was a prophet and he was a very godly man.

He was known by Elisha.

He was respected by Elisha.

By the way, Elisha is the prophet who replaced Elijah.

Elijah had been so close to God and so intimate with God that he is one of only two people that we read about in Scripture who never died.

Elijah was taken in a whirlwind to heaven to be with God.

He was that close to God.

Sometimes in our lives, as we pray, we should pray and ask God to help us to have that type of relationship with God.

That we would grow in that type of intimacy.

And that's going to mean spending a lot of time with God.

Spending time in His Word.

Spending time in prayer.

Spending time meditating upon the Word.

And to have that type of relationship with God would be amazing.

But before he was taken into heaven, he appointed Elisha to replace him.

Which, by the way, Elisha is my favorite prophet.

And some of you know why.

I know Mike knows why.

But I'm not going to go into that today.

But if you go back to 2 Kings chapter 2 and read chapter 2,

2 Kings 2 · chapter mention

it won't take you long to figure out why Elisha is my favorite prophet.

But this man that was this widow's husband,

you know, it's quite possibly that he was one of the 7,000 prophets

that God had told Elijah that he had kept for himself.

And that he had never bowed down to Baal.

Remember, Elijah was fleeing Jezebel.

And she was, or he was fearful that he was the only one left that was honoring God.

And God said, you know, I've kept 7,000 prophets to myself

that have kept themselves pure and they've never bowed to Baal.

We don't know this, but it's kind of possible

that he could have been one of those prophets

that remained pure and holy

even when Jezebel was trying to persecute them and kill them.

And perhaps this prophet incurred this type of debt

because of Jezebel and her persecution

against the prophets during that day and that time.

We really don't know how he incurred that debt.

But we do know that he has died

and he's left his wife with this debt.

Now, in that day and time,

a woman did not have the ability to go out and get a job

that would have provided the type of income

that she would have needed to be able to pay off this type of debt.

It was the general practice in that day and time

that when a man died and left his wife a widow,

that the sons, especially the oldest son,

it would be his responsibility to care for

and to take care of his mother.

But in this particular passage,

it becomes kind of obvious

that her sons must be too young to be able to do that.

They're not old enough to go out

and get the type of job that would provide for their mother

and pay off this debt.

They probably are of some age

that the creditors are getting ready to come

and take them and enslave them.

So they're probably old enough

that they could be of some benefit to a creditor.

But they're not old enough to take care of their mother

and to pay off this type of debt.

And so the creditor is now threatening

that he's going to come and he's going to take these two boys

and he's going to enslave them to work off this debt.

And that's the way things were done in this period of time

that when you owed a debt,

the creditor was in his full right to come and take them

and make them work for him to work off that debt.

He had every right to do that.

That was the general practice.

However, he didn't have the right to enslave them.

That was against the word of God for the Jews

to take another Jew and to put them in slavery.

God said that he had delivered Israel

from the bondage of slavery in Egypt

and they were not to take them away as a slave.

Look with me at Leviticus 25.

It'll be on the screen.

Leviticus 25 verses 39 through 40.

Leviticus 25:39–40

If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you

and sells himself to you,

do not make him work as a slave.

He is to be treated as a hired worker

or a temporary resident among you.

He is to work for you until the year of Jubilee.

So it's in the right for this creditor

to take the boys as a hired servant

or a worker to work that debt off.

But he was not to take them and treat them like slaves.

And the year of Jubilee came every 50 years.

And it was designed for, number one,

the earth and the land to rest,

but also for property to go back to rightful owners.

If they sold property,

then at the year of Jubilee,

it went back to the original owners of that.

As well as if you had sold yourself as a servant

or in bondage there,

at the year of Jubilee,

you were set free

and you'd have your freedom back.

And so these boys could be taken as a servant.

But they were looking forward.

They could be treated like a hired servant

until the debt was paid off

and then they would be set free.

Or they would work until the year of Jubilee,

which we don't know at this point

how soon that would be coming.

But they could work to the year of Jubilee

and then they would be set free as well.

But this is little consolation to a mother, isn't it?

Little consolation to a mother

who they're getting ready to take her two boys.

She's already lost her husband.

She's a widow trying to raise two boys

and now they're getting ready to take them.

We can almost sense.

We can almost feel the desperation

that she must be feeling.

Put yourself in that position.

If you're a parent,

you can put yourself in that position.

If you're a single parent,

you can really put yourself in that position

where your two children

are getting ready to be taken away from you

and made slaves.

You're probably more worried about them

being put in slavery and treated like a slave

than you are yourself.

But then you also must think how she felt

about being all alone at this point in time.

Her husband, her children,

everything has been stripped away from her

and taken away from her.

And all she has to her name at this point

is a little bit of olive oil.

She has nothing else.

She has no food.

She has no resources.

She has nothing

but a little bit of olive oil left in her house.

Olive oil could have been used for cooking.

We still do that today.

They could have also used it for heating.

Ironically, you could use the olive oil for cooking

but she didn't have anything to cook.

So this lady ends up doing the only thing

that she knows what to do.

And that is she turns to Elisha.

In a sense, she's turning to God.

But she's turning to God's prophet

and asking what she was to do

in this desperate situation

so that her sons wouldn't be taken from her.

And as simply as she could,

she explained to Elisha

exactly what was going on here.

that her husband,

who was a prophet with Elisha,

he had died and left her with this debt

and now her sons were about to be taken as slaves.

Now, instead of Elisha

doing a miracle right in front of her eyes

and providing for her,

he does something that is a tremendous lesson

for us today too

in helping people.

What did he do?

He didn't just provide for her

but he asked her,

what do you have in your house

that you can help yourself?

You know, what do you have there?

Well, she says,

I don't have anything

but a little bit of oil.

But, you know,

we're often confronted

in the world in which we live

with individuals that have a need, aren't we?

And we're often left wondering,

how do we help those?

As Christians,

we should have a heart

that we want to help people

that have needs

but we don't want to help them

in the wrong way either

that causes them

to enable them

to continue a lifestyle

of not taking care of themselves.

And so we learn a lesson here

of helping others

by helping them help themselves.

We help the Dream Center

through this church,

many others in the community

and this area help them

and that's their whole motto

is a hand up,

not a hand out

of helping individuals.

But that's another lesson

for another day.

But that's what Elisha's doing.

He asked her,

what do you have in your house

that you can help yourself?

And all she had

was a little bit of oil.

All she had

was a little bit of olive oil.

But one thing that we learn,

not only here in 2 Kings 4,

but throughout Scripture

over and over,

that even a little bit

when put in the hands of God

becomes a lot.

Even a little bit

put in the hands of God

is enough to meet our needs

and to provide for all

that we might have a need of.

Now Elisha was teaching her

ultimately to put her faith

and trust in God

and to trust Him

to meet those needs.

Not to put trust

in an individual.

No.

He didn't want her

putting her faith

and trust just in Elisha

even though he was a prophet.

He wanted her

to trust God

and to trust God

to meet her needs.

And he told her

to go out,

go to all your neighbors

and ask for as many

empty vessels

as you can find

and don't just ask for a few.

Ask for a lot.

Go everywhere you can

and get as many vessels

as you possibly can

and then bring them back

to your house.

It doesn't tell us

that she did that

but we know she did

because she's got the vessels

to fill up here in a moment.

But when she had gone out

and her sons helped her

gather all the vessels,

she probably asked every neighbor

she could possibly ask.

She goes back to her house,

she takes her two sons,

she goes into her house

and she closes the door

so that this is not

a big spectacle

for everybody to see.

Elisha,

she's doing exactly

what he had told her to do

because this was going

to be a miracle

that God was going to do

that was going to be

very private

between her and her sons

and God.

And we see Jesus do this

from time to time

in his ministry too

because they didn't want

to bring attention

and focus to her

or her family

but to bring the attention

to God

and to let this be

an experience

between her and God

to build her faith

in God

that God is able

to meet whatever needs

that she might have.

Now,

once inside her house

she began to pour

the little bit of oil

that she had

into the vessels

that she had gathered

until they all ran out.

Now,

we don't know

how much oil

she had.

It just said

she had a little bit.

Common sense

would tell us

that a little bit of oil

would not fill up

all these vessels.

It probably wouldn't

fill up even one of them

much less all of them.

And so,

common sense

tells us

that this is ridiculous

to even start doing

but over and over again

we see in Scripture

that God defies

common sense.

Over and over

in Scripture

God defies

common sense.

Common sense

would tell us

that a virgin

couldn't have a baby.

Common sense

would tell us

not to trust God

to meet our every need

but get out there

and do the best we can.

I grew up here

and pull yourself up

by your own bootstraps

and get out there

and get to work

and take care of yourself.

Common sense

would tell us

over and over

not to trust

in God

but to trust

in ourselves

and trust in the system

and trust the things

of this world

and get out there

and do it.

But over and over again

we see in the Bible

where God defies

common sense.

I mean,

He divided the Red Sea

where people walked

across on dry land.

He provided

for the children of Israel

food for 40 years.

Over and over again

God did amazing things.

It reminds me

of 1 Corinthians 1.27.

But God chose

the foolish things

of the world

to shame the wise.

God chose

the weak things

of the world

to shame the strong.

Over and over again

God calls us

to step out in faith

and to trust Him

and to believe Him

and not to believe

common sense.

And over and over again

our faith is put

to challenge.

Are we going to trust

God or not?

You know,

just this week

I was talking

to another Christian

and it was almost like

they were discouraging me

from doing things

that I felt like

God had opened

the door for.

I'll give you an example.

I was telling them

about the opportunities

that I was going to have

to train pastors

in Ecuador.

And I told them

this individual

you know,

we're getting ready

to start a Bible study

with individuals in Peru.

We're talking about

training pastors in Peru.

We've already done

three out of a

ten course curriculum

with the pastors in Peru.

We're looking at

doing the fourth lesson

or course.

It's a 60 hour course.

So if you did

two hours a week

you do the math

that's a 30 hour course

that we,

a 30 week course

that we would have

to meet with the Peruvians.

But then we'd also

have to do the same thing

with Ecuador

and go back

and start first.

So that'd be

three nights out of the week

that I'd be tied up

two hours each night

doing this.

And they're like,

well maybe you shouldn't

do that.

Maybe God's not God.

Maybe you shouldn't

try to help everybody.

Maybe it's just people

wanting your help

and I'm going,

oh my word.

I see it as doors

that God is opening

for this church

to be involved

in training pastors

you know,

in two countries

in South America

and who knows

where it'll go.

You know,

the person that called me

said,

he's been working

with pastors

in the mountains

of Ecuador

and he's been teaching

them about missions

but he needs somebody

that can help them

with more theology.

And he said

these are all pastors

in their 60s and 70s

and they've never

thought about

training up

the next generation

of pastors

behind them.

They've not,

that just doesn't

enter their mind.

And so they've done

very little if anything

to train up

pastors coming

behind them

to one day

take their place.

And I see it

as doors opening

that God can use us

you know,

because I've already

started talking

to people like

Paul Welch

who y'all know

is a retired pastor.

He's been down

with us once before

to help us

but to have him

help us do the training

as well as Paul's son

some of you may know

Michael is a pastor

over in Marietta

and pull in

some other pastors

to help us.

And I was thinking

man,

the impact

that

Piggins First Baptist

can have

literally

upon

churches

around the world

is amazing

of the things

that we can do.

But I had this

Christian that I was

talking to

almost discouraging me.

Like

don't do that.

You've probably

experienced that

in your life

as well

when individuals

try to discourage you

from trusting the Lord

and walking in faith

and allowing God

to use you

to do things

that are not possible

in and of yourself

you know

that defies

common sense.

But when this

widow

obeyed

Elisha's word

to essentially

trust God

then God

responded to her

and he took

that little bit

of oil

that she had

and began

to multiply

to the point

where she filled

up one vessel

after another.

Every time a vessel

was full

her sons would

set it aside

and put another

vessel there

and the oil

kept pouring

and kept pouring

and kept pouring

until every one

of those vessels

that she had

gathered

was full

and at that moment

the oil

stopped flowing

because God

responded

to her faith

and the faith

that she had

to go out

and the number

of vessels

that she was able

to gather

and the oil

flowed

until they were

all full.

If she had gathered

more vessels

I think that

oil would have

continued flowing

until those vessels

were also

full as well.

You see

there is no end

to God's resources.

There is no end

to God's resources

and He makes

those available

to His children.

God can meet

every one

of our needs.

God can meet

our needs

according to

our faith

and how we

trust in Him

and He will do

that in our lives

more than just

materially too

and I will talk

about that

in just a moment

but you know

not only was

the oil here

enough

to meet

this lady's debt

that she owed

her creditor

that was going

to keep her sons

now from being

taken into slavery

but now

she was also

able to live

on that.

Elisha tells her

to go sell the oil

take that money

pay off your creditor

and now you have

enough money

to live on.

We don't know

how long

maybe until her sons

were able to grow up

and then get jobs

and start working

and taking care

of her the way

they did in that

day and time.

But what we learn

from this story

in scripture

and by the way

this is not a parable

this is a true story

that really took place

and what we learn

from it is that

we can look to God

to meet our needs.

We can turn to God

to meet our needs

no matter what our

needs we're facing.

No matter what

challenges that we're

up against God's heart

is full of compassion

for his children

and when we turn

to him and have

faith and trust

in him and seek

him then he will

surely meet

those needs.

Jesus tells us

you know as a good

father what father

if a child asked

him for a loaf

of bread would

give him a snake.

You know a good

father gives their

children good gifts

and we can trust

God as our father

to take care of us

and to meet our

needs and to give

us the things

that we need.

We know that he

knows our needs

even more than we

know our needs.

He knows our needs

before we know

our needs and we

can trust that God

is going to take

care of us.

What are you facing

today?

What challenges

are you up against?

You know like I said

it doesn't have to be

material.

It doesn't have to be

financial.

God cares about each

of the needs.

It may be physical

needs in your life.

It may be a whole

host of things.

You know we may

have the need you

know the basic needs

of life you may be

facing and up against

and we can trust God

to meet those needs

but we may have

other needs that

we're facing as well

such as a need for

purpose.

A need for meaning.

The need for

significance.

The need for a

sense of fulfillment

and satisfaction.

The need for

conquering the trials

and the temptations

of life.

The need for either

health or the

strength to bear the

suffering, pain and

infirmities of life.

Whatever needs that

we're up against and

we're facing we know

that God can meet

those needs and he

can come to us and

provide for us in a

way that we could not

ever provide for

ourselves and no

resource in the world

could provide for us

but God can.

God has the power and

the desire to meet

our needs.

If you're like me a lot

of times we know God

can do something but

sometimes we get into

that place where we

wonder if God will do

that or wants to do

that.

What I want to tell

you today God loves

you and God wants to

meet your needs.

He wants to come to

you and provide the

things that you need

in your life.

The needs not

necessarily the wants

and the desires of

life but the needs

that we have in life

but can I also share

with you that there's a

requirement for God to

do that.

in Matthew 6 33 it

says seek first his

kingdom and his

righteousness and all

these things will be

given unto you.

What are these things

it says will be given

to you?

Well if you go back and

read Matthew chapter 6

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

you'll see he's telling

you don't worry about

what you're going to

eat.

Don't worry about what

you're going to wear.

Don't worry about where

you're going to live.

He's talking about

meeting the needs of

your life and I think

that even though that

chapter doesn't say it

but God meets other

needs in our lives as

well like I just

mentioned a need for

purpose a need for

significance a need for

meaning.

You know if we seek God

and live for God I want

to tell you right now

he's going to give you

purpose.

He's going to give you

meaning.

He's going to give you

significance in your life

that you would never

find anywhere else.

But God has to become

the priority in which

we are seeking in our

lives.

Seek ye first the

kingdom of God.

Don't worry about all

these other things.

God knows what we need.

He will provide what we

need in life if he

becomes the priority of

our life.

life.

Unfortunately most of us

have our needs met don't

we?

Most of our needs are

already met and so we're

not satisfied with just

having the needs of life.

We want beyond that and

that's where we fail to

trust God so often because

we want more.

We know God will provide

our needs but we want

more than that.

Can I tell you too

sometimes when we make God

our priority and we want

him more than we want

anything else and we're

seeking after him.

We're seeking to serve

him.

Our wants and our desires

will change and we will

want the things that God

wants and he will provide

that too.

You know one time when I was

in seminary it was my very

first semester in seminary

I had Gerald Borchard for

New Testament.

And I'll still remember and

hopefully I will never

forget a question he asked

us.

He said do you hunger for

God the way a hungry man

desires food?

Have you ever gone a day

without eating?

Have you ever gone a meal?

Do you know how hungry you

were and what would you do

to get some food to eat?

When I was a teenager and

in college my friends and

I used to go hunting a lot

we'd get up early on a

Saturday or maybe a

Christmas break and we'd

take off and where I

lived you could walk all

day long and not come to

the end of land.

And we would go and we

weren't smart enough to

think about taking food

with us or water or

anything else.

We'd just go walk and we'd

stay gone all day long.

And come back in after

dark.

A lot of times supper was

already over and gone and

all that's left are scraps.

But when you come in and you

haven't eaten all day long

you come in and you just

start grabbing whatever's

there and just pouring it

down because we haven't

had anything to eat.

You ever been that hungry?

You ever been that hungry for God?

Have you ever desired God so

much that He is your priority

and He's all you're focused on

and you're seeking Him and

you're living for Him and

you're studying His Word and

you're spending time with Him

because He becomes your

priority in life and then God

will meet all of your other

needs.

We don't have to spend time

worrying about all these

other things in life.

We don't have to worry about

politics.

We don't have to worry about

the coronavirus and vaccines

and all that kind of stuff.

Focus on the Lord.

Live for God.

Seek God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all

of your might.

And He knows our needs and He'll

provide those needs for us in a

way that we could never imagine.

You know, Ephesians 3.20, it

tells us that God will do far

more than we can ask for or we can

imagine.

You know, I have a pretty vivid

imagination and I can imagine a

lot of things God could do and I

can ask for a whole lot of things

too.

But Ephesians 3.20 says God can do

more than what we even ask for.

He can do more than we can even

imagine God will do in our lives

when we seek Him first and put Him

as the priority of our lives.

I hope that as we go into a new

year, 2021, that a relationship with

Jesus Christ, that intimate, personal

relationship like Elijah had, I hope

that becomes our goal, our desire, our

hunger and we take our eyes off of

all this other stuff going on and we

just focus on the Lord.

You know, the greatest need that

mankind has ever known is the need to

be forgiven of our sins and God has

provided that as well.

Christmas was just the beginning of

that story of Jesus coming into the

earth, Christmas that we just

celebrated.

That's just the beginning of the story

and we all know the rest of the story.

But God provided a way for our sins to

be forgiven and how we can have a

relationship with Him.

We can be reborn and we can be

children of God and we can look

forward to the future and we can look

forward to eternity.

Maybe today you've never asked Jesus

Christ to be your Lord and Savior.

Maybe today is that day unto salvation

when you want to confess you're a sinner

and ask Christ to forgive you of your sin

and to enter your life to be your Lord

and Savior.

We're going to have a moment when

Liddell comes and plays.

I just want to ask you to have an

attitude of prayer where you just pray

and ask God to be with you and speak

to you and respond during this time

however the Lord is leading you.