Acts: Caring For The Converted

It was good to see you all with us this morning, worshiping with us.

If you have your Bible, so you invite you to turn your copy

with me to the Book of Acts. So we've been as a church working

through the Book of Acts for some time, and I'm glad to share a

part of it this morning, Acts chapter nine. And we're going to start

in just a moment in verse twenty six, and we'll read through thirty one.

As have you ever been to a place. You went to a store

sometime, maybe in the mall, and and you walked in and immediately when

you came into that store, it may be in a different shop that you

normally don't stop at, maybe it was a different brand, But you ever

went into a store and immediately as you went into the store, you just

don't feel like you fit in. Maybe you the clothes that they're wearing,

or as clothes you didn't have on at the time, or maybe it was

a different class of clothes which you go in you just feel like you're out

of place. You ever went into a store and you feel like you're out

of place, and you go in and it just seems like nobody in the

store talks to you, it's like you're in a way you're not welcome.

I know I've encounter that at times. Have been into a store and maybe

had work clothes on and it was a very nice suit store and walked into

the store and it just like they didn't give me the time of day,

didn't feel like I didn't feel like I fit in, didn't feel like I

was welcome there. And sometimes we feel like you know, one thing I

always struggle with when that happens is it doesn't seem like it makes sense to

me, right, because in order for that store to survive, what do

they need where they need income? Right? And where did they need income

from? They need it from a customer, right? And as I walk

in the door, no matter what I look like, right, I am

a customer and I may be a paying customer, and really they have to

have me as a customer in order to survive. What the reality is not

only did sometimes do we not feel welcomed in stores that we go to at

them all wherever it may be, reality is a lot of times that's the

way it is in the church, not just shopping stores that sometimes don't treat

people like they're welcome in that place. Sometimes we as a church are not

good about at times making people feel welcome and making them feel at home when

they come to visit our church. You know, the reality is that as

God's Church, one of the most important things we do is was people come

in, that we make them feel a welcome part of God's Church. Because

this is not Bethesda, this is not our church, it's not my church.

It's not the elder's church or the deacons or the teacher's church. This

is God's Church. And so as we extend a hand or we welcome someone,

we're not just demonstrating Bethesda or me or one of the elders or deacons

whoever. We're actually or like on behalf ambassadors for Christ and his church.

It was so important how we care for people that come in. That's the

time of my sermon this morning, caring for the converted. You know,

the reality is, what if I told you today that the man that made

the greatest impact on Christianity, actually the man that probably led more people to

the Lord, was one who was not welcomed by the church, actually was

early on rejected by the church. What if I told you the very church

that rejected him or didn't welcome him. Was the greatest church that was ever

on the planet reality is. That's the story of Acts chapter nine. It's

the early church, it's the church in Jerusalem, it's the first church.

It is I would say, the greatest church. And yet there is can

I tell you today there is no perfect church. Even the earliest church I

think is the greatest church was not a perfect church and didn't ever always do

things right. And this morning I pray that as we look at this passage

scripture, we learned some things. Now, Paul here as we come to

Act chapter nine. We've been working through this book, and we've been Chapter

nine really focused on the conversion of Saul, who later would become Paul.

And Saul is one who persecuted the church, who was led the Helenus and

was part of the hellness who killed or executed Stephen. It is Saul who

was part of that. Is also Saul who was Scripture tells us was ravaging

the church, going house to house, dragging people out the homes and putting

them in prison. It was Sauw who got orders from the church in Jerusalem

to go to Damascus one hundred and thirty five miles away, get Christians out

of Damascus, bringing them back to Jerusalem and putting them in prison, and

hopefully have them killed. It was this Saul that, as he is on

his way to Damascus, met the Lord, saw the Lord, and was

radically converted. And as we come to chapter nine, it's Saul, I

really believe is follow It gives us a good demonstration of a new believer,

a new convert. And what does a new convert do? Can I tell

you the first steps of obedience? As I just mentioned earlier in the baptistm

the first step of obedience for every new believer or every new convert, it's

first baptism. Very first thing. If you're a new believer of your child

of God, just coming to Christ, the very first thing that God gashed

you to do, according to Matthew twenty eight, is me baptized. Count

to you. The second most important thing is our second step for a new

believer, it's joining a church. As I said to you, are said

to many others throughout his throughout ministry. The first step is baptism. The

second stat is church membership. And that's what Saul does. He seeks to

join the church in Damascus and here he seeks to join the church in Jerusalem.

You can imagine a new born baby. It cannot survive without family,

right, A new baby believer can't survive without a church family. Right,

a new believer, a new baby must have a family in order to grow,

in order to be healthy. So does a new baby believer need a

church family to be healthy spiritually and to grow spiritually. So the first step

of obedience is baptists. The second step of obedience for every believer is church

membership and to join the church to grow in spiritual health and just grow as

a believer. And that's what Saul does here. It's a new believer,

got saved on the road to Damascus. He decides he wants to join the

church. You imagine he was a part of that church. He knew of

the church in Jerusalem. He was the very one who persecuted the church.

And so he had heard, of course Peter. He had heard Peter preach.

He'd heard many of them preach. And he thinks, that is the

church that I need to be a part of in order to grow. And

as we come to chapter nine, we see Saul seeking to join the church,

but we see the church response to Saul. Can I tell you as

we walked through this passage this morning, I really believe you'll see there's two

groups of people in the church. Two groups of people this passage identifies to

us. Number one, there's are the critics. The critics are the people

who turn people away from God's Church. We're going to see that in the

passage this morning. And then the second group of people that we see in

the church are the encouragers. The critics turn people away from God's Church.

The encouragers of people who bring people into God's Church. I want to ask

you today, as we look at this passage scripture and we see the early

church handling of the greatest convert who made the greatest impact on Christianity, I

want to ask you today, as a believer, as a church member,

as a part of the body of Christ, what role do you play in

caring for the new believers? How do you care for them? Are you

critical of the new believers? Do you pushed them away at times? Or

are you in acourager who cares for them and leads them to health and to

growth. Let's stand un Let's read God's Word together, Acts Chapter nine,

starting in verse twenty six this morning, and Worlill read through verse thirty one.

It saysn't when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the

disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe

he was a disciple. The Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles

and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke

to him, and how in Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of

Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly

in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the hell

in Us. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers

learned this, they brought him down to Cessarea and then send him off to

Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and

was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in

the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It multiplied. Let's pray together, Lord,

we love you, God. We thank you Lord for this morning.

God, I thank you for those that You've brought here in person. No

menu who are watching online in on TV. This morning. Lord, there's

not one person that's in this room that's not here a part of your sovereign

plan. God, You've brought us here. You brought us here to hear

this passage of scripture. I believe that this morning, Say, Lord,

I pray that we as a body today would ask you to come and speak

to us. May you use the work of Holy Spirit to speak to our

hearts and God as your spirit gives utterance this morning, Lord, I pray

that you would that we would have ears to hear. Lord you. Lord,

you know today, Lord, what I've prepared. Lord, you know

the passage. I believe you've led us too. And Lord, I pray

you give me clarity speech, clarity of thought, clarity of delivery. Lord,

this morning that Lord, the people, your people might hear not me,

but would hear you. Lord. It's the Lord moveing this place.

Lord, we pray give us heart that are open. Lord of your word

your name. We pray, Amen, you may be seated. Want you

to see the first the first group. The first group was the critics and

those who are criticized, the new believers and new converts. And you see

this in Acts twenty six here saw Is has been in Damascus. We understand

through church history that he was in Damascus for roughly three years. And after

three years he comes into Jerusalem and he goes to to join the church.

Their scripture says, when he come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join.

To this end, if you will, why are they critical? First they're

critical? Is they're critical because critics criticize out of fear. Scripture says,

in this past of scripture, if you look with me in verse twenty six,

and when they come to Jerusalem they attempted to join disciples, they were

all afraid of him. We know through Acts chapter eight one through three that

Saul was the one who held the coats as they stone Stephen. He had

joined the hell in Us and they he had sought to to destroy Christianity,

destroy Christians. He was one of the ones who Scripture says, Nolly was

holding the coach as they killed Stephen the stone Stephen. Scripture would tell it

later and later on in verse three that Saul ravaged the church. His imagery

is he tore it to pieces. Scripture will tell us at verse three that

Saul would go house to house and he would drag women and men out of

their homes and put them in prison, that they would also be murdered.

Like Stephen, I mean, can you imagine this man saw you had been

a part of that church. It's some of your church members. You had

heard that Saul had went into their house. He had captured them, he

had drin drugged them out of their homes, he had taken them into prison.

That some of the very church members. Now now that Saul is trying

to join. So the Bible says that as they saw him coming, not

sure. Actually the only Chapter eight tells us that he ravaged the church,

He captured many of them and drugged them to prison. Chapter nine tells us

that after doing much of that to Jerusalem, that Christianity spread throughout all parts

of Judea and Jerusalem as Christians left, and many left the church in Jerusalem

were scattered upon the land to avoid the persecution that Paul was bringing. Paul

heard about this, or saw heard about this, and heard that some had

fled to Damascus. It was one hundred and thirty five miles and in sau

In Chapter nine tells us he left Damascus breathing threats. You ever heard people

talk in the community. What's the rumblings and what's being said on the street

where the talk was in Jerusalem? That Saul was continued to threaten Christians,

and his threats were that he desired that they would be executed, just like

Stephen. Now you imagine that man Saw was the one who drug many of

the Christians, who was breathing threats just three years ago, now is the

one who comes in the door of the church on the Sunday morning wants to

join the church. They're fearful of him, So Scripture says, many criticize

out of fear. You know, many times as church members, as people

come and join ours, our church, and we don't know their background,

or maybe we do know their background, we know what they've done in the

past and now come to our church, and maybe they look different than us,

maybe we've heard about their sketched past. And many times, the reason

why we are stand offish, the reason why we're not welcoming, the reason

why we don't accept them, is we're fearful. We're fearful of their past.

We're fearful of what they look like, feel for what they have done,

and therefore we hesitate. Fear allows us to criticize. They only criticize

not out of feel fear, but secondly, they criticize out of unbelief.

Scripture says in this first lookas is, he attempted to join disciples, and

they were all afraid of him. And this is what it says for they

did not believe he was a disciples. That's key here. It's not just

saying that they did not believe that he met the Lord in Damascus, or

they did not believe that he had preached. They didn't believe some of the

things they had heard. No, they did not believe that he was a

Christian. That's what that termines. They didn't believe he was changed. They

did not believe he was converted. You see, those critics criticize out of

fear, but they also criticize out of unbelief. Have you ever heard that?

I know, I've been a pastor for many years and I've heard many

times I've seen people come in to a church through churches i've served in see

God radically change them. And I've heard church member who has said many times,

well preach sure, I know what they say. I know they say

that they've met Jesus in their change but we'll see, we'll see, we'll

see, we'll see in the month that they're still coming to church. What

is that attitude? I don't really believe what God has done. I really

don't believe there's a change that's happened in them. Critics criticize out of fear,

but it's also criticized because they don't believe or they have unbelief that conversion

has actually taken place. But you see in this passage there are critics there

are in the church who push people away from the church or push people out

of church. But in this passage there's also another group here. It's actually

just one in this passage scripture, and this is the courager. Scripture says

in this passage scripture verse twenty seven. But Barnabas took him and brought him

to the Apostles. Barnabas, as we know as one of their early apostles,

is one of the twelve Apostles. His actually names means son of encouragement,

didn't that fitting? Scripture says that Barnabas, here's what happens. Scripture

says in verse twenty six that they were all afraid of him, all were

fearful all did not believe. There was one in the church who didn't,

and his name was Barnabas. He heard what happened. Scripture says that he

look at the imagery. Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.

You see critics criticize out of fear. Critics criticized out of unbelief. Encouragers

encouraged new converts. How they encourage First, encouragers intercede for new converts.

You see Barnabas sit back and say this is not this is well, I

guess we'll just see what it works out. No, Barnabas got involved.

He saw what God had done in Saul, and he saw what the church

had done, and Barnabas sought to get involved. He started to use his

position as an apostle to intercede on Saul's behalf. How do he intercede?

I think that's the second thing. He encouragers intercede for new converts. But

secondly, encouragers affirm the change in new converts. What was the problem.

The critics believed that he didn't really wasn't really a Christian, wasn't really believer.

Barnabas goes and gets Saul takes him to the apostles. Look get verse

twenty seven. Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And listen

what Barnabas declares. It's not solved. It's declaring this. It's Barnabaus who

declare. And listen what he says. How on the road he had seen

the Lord. Who's he here a Saul. Barnabas takes Saul, takes him

to the other apostles, who his friends. He said, Listen, Fellas,

listen, I'm telling you he's seen the Jesus, just like you and

I have seen Jesus. So has he seen Jesus. I love this because

in the passage, he says, just as you and I, Peter,

you have seen Jesus on the transfiguration, just in the same way Barnabas saw

him. But knowing this, has he seen Jesus like you and I have

seen Jesus. But I tell you, just as Jesus has changed you,

so has Jesus changed saw you? Remember, Peter, You're there fishing by

the boat, and Jesus called, and you left the nets. God tell

you Jesus called. Saw on the road of Damascus, and he left what

he used to do, and he is changed. And listen what the imagery

in the passage christ or Barnabas took him and brought him to apostles and declared

how on the road he had seen the Lord who expect to him, and

how on Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. You see,

all the church knew that Saul left the Jerusalem that day with orders in

his hands, headed to Damascus to persecute the Christians. Yet the word was

now that the persecutor who went to Damascus to persecute met Jesus on the road

of Damascus, and instead of persecuting the church in Damascus, he preached to

the church in Damascus. So here he says, listen, fellas, I'm

telling you he's seen Jesus like we've seen him. And just as Jesus changed

you, I'm telling you Jesus has changed him. What a beautiful imagery of

an encourager who intercedes when there is division, and allly intercedes but also affirms

what God has done. Can I tell you, as believers, it's so

important as a church body, as believers, when God begins working on the

lives of others in our church, or even in our school, or in

our student ministry, or in our primetime ministry or our children's ministry. Then

won't sit back with crossed arms and say well we'll see. No, We're

like Barnabus and come alongside and say listen, I believe God's doing the work.

Put our arm around that young believer and says, listen, I see

God changing you. I don't know about you. Sometimes I'm guilty of just

having a critical spirit as anybody else in here like that. Just last night

we were eating supper and we were fixing a dish. Brainy was fixing a

dish, one of Caroline's favorite dishes, and I normally fix it. I

was busy so wasn't able to do it. And so that night we sat

down for table when I fixed my plate, and I had some of that

pasta that she had made that I normally make, and I took my first

bite and the first thing I tasted it, and I was in my mind

comparing it the way I fix it, the way she fixed it. And

the first thing came out of my mind was did you do this? And

I thought as soon as I said it you know what, instead of telling

her and comparing hers to mine and being critical of hers the mine, you

know, the very first thing I should say is you know it's good.

Whether it's like me or not, or whether I saw the difference in it

or not. The main thing was that it was good, not why I

saw critical in it. I tell you that because many times, as believers

and family members of young believers, the very first thing many times we say

out of our mouth is something critical instead of what we see God doing in

that individual. Encouragers listen. Encouragers interceved, but encouragers affirm the change.

Thirdly, encouragers not only affirm, but couragers support the new converts. Scripture

says Barnabas took him and he brought him in, and he declared how on

the road he seen the Lord who had spoke to him and held damask you

to preach bold in the name of Jesus. There's a change that happened in

the church. And then now the church begins welcoming. Scripture tells us in

verse twenty eight that Saul begins preaching. Can you imagine that the one who

left Jerusalem to go persecute the Christians in Damascus is now standing in that same

church, where in the congregation as he's preaching, there are some that he

had put in prison just maybe years before, three years before, and now

they're allowing him to preach. Scripture says he's preaching in and out. Not

only is he preaching in and out, but verse twenty nine tells us that

he disputes against the Hellinus. You see, I want to encourage you as

the first step of every believer is baptism. The second step for every new

believer is church membership. The third step of obedience for every new believer is

service. Did you know that what is the call? If God? If

God saves you, you declare that through baptism, you should join the local

body of the church. The next step for every believer is to use the

gives some talents that God's given you to serve his church. And that's what

Saul does here. Right, he's baptized, he joins the church in Jerusalem,

and now he gets he gets involved, he gets serving. I want

you to see it. Encouragers support the service of new believers. They don't

say saw, I just tell you you got to sketch a pass and people

will look at you with slanting eyes, with all the things you've done bad

in the back. I tell you what, just be better if you find

another church and start out there. They allow him preach there, support him.

Imagine maybe his preacher style. Maybe he doesn't have the experiences of the

other apostles. I mean they walk with Jesus. He didn't walk with them.

So there's all kinds of different reasons and why they could have says you

know, Saw, I just think we should wait a little bit. No,

they don't. They encourage him and they support him in serving in the

early church. Can I tell you encouragers intercede, Encouragers affirm, but also

encourage your support new converts in serving and allowing them to serve. Can I

tell you one of the most discouraging things I've seen in ministry as a pastor,

as new believers beginning getting involved in church. They joined the church and

they want to serve in the church, and they start doing that, maybe

little things, serving in the kitchen and doing something else or whatever it may

be, and church members saying, well, that's not the way we do

it here. I know you mean, well, but that's just not the

way we do it. Here. I remember at church we were serving at

one time and in South Carolina, and we had some ladies who got saved

and got into church, and you know, being out of church for a

while, and they started getting in the church and they just you know,

they weren't teachers. They just wanted to start with a little small things and

they wanted to serve in the kitchen. So we had an event one time

and we're asked people to bring stuff to the church to serve in the kitchen,

and they brought drinks. They thought, hey, help out, we

got this big event. They need to bring drinks. I'll brain drinks.

And they went to the store and they bought the off brand, you know,

the off brand like Sam's Choice or whatever. And they brought the off

brand, just being good stewarts, you know what I'm saying. Where they

brought it, brought the off brand. And some ladies says, well,

we we don't do off brand at this church, only name brand here.

And I know you may do that at home, but we don't do that

here at our church. And I tell you, I know that sounds joking,

but I did happen, and I tell you it. It discouraged this

lady. All she was simply trying to do is just serve. But because

she wasn't doing it their way. Can I tell you, church family,

God's gonna call people here to serve, and they may do things a little

different than you, But as long as they're serving the Body of Christ,

that's all that matters. Whether they do it your way doesn't matter. The

only thing that matter is whether they're doing it God's way. Amen. I

tell you, Barnabas in the early Church supported the service of a new convert

in Saul. Scripture says, Lastly, encouragers not only support and no converts,

but lastly, encouragers protect new converts. Scripture says, in this passage,

scripture, and he spoke and disputed against the Heleness, but they were

seeking to killing the Hellness as I mentioned earlier, where actually the group that

Stephen was trying to reach for Christ. He's preaching to them, and that

day as he preaching, and by the way, he was a Helleness himself.

He's trying to convert them to Christ. And as he was preaching to

them, they got his preaching angered them, and they tore their clothes and

they stoned him. And Scripture says an Act chapter eight, that Saul was

there. He was holding their coats as they stoned him. So the hellness

were actually the very ones that Stephen was trying to reach, but also the

very ones that sau had joined to stone Stephen. You almost say, and

this is my imagination or my interpretation, that Saul is almost picking up the

ministry just where Stephen left off, just where he died preaching. When he

comes back to Jerusalem, he said, you know what, I was a

part of that, and I want to be a one who fixes and redeems

it. So he begins trying to very reach the very people that Stephen was

trying to reach. Scripture says that he's trying to preach them. Just as

they stole Stephen. Now they're trying to stone saw. The Scripture says in

this passage of Scripture, verse thirty, and listen to this. And when

the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Cesarea and send him off

the Tarsus. The brothers there is another term that choose in Scripture to describe

the entire church. It's interesting at the beginning of the passage of Scripture,

the early Church was pushing him out. They were fearful of him. Now

the early Church has upset with him, and now it's protecting him. Can

I tell you there's two groups in the church. There's critics criticize out of

fear, criticize out of unbelief, And there's courageers in the church who intercepd

who are firm, who support, who protect. Can I tell you,

if you're a believer here today, you're one of the two. Can I

tell you there's young believers in here who need some Barnabas, need some young

ladies who will come alongside them and say, hey, I see God doing

some work in you. Keep it up. You know, this church needs

some Barnabas who see some people serving that may be doing a little different,

coming along side of them and said, hey, thank you for serving the

Lord, thank you for serving his church. This church needs Barnabases because we

do not know today what church member God might bring that might radically change this

community in this world. So may we not be critics, but may we

be encouragers. You know, I remember I was a student pastor actually in

Brawley, and it was probably two thousand and three. I was in seminary.

I was student missionary part time, and that summer we took our kids

to camp, and we had a lot of kids that were in our church

who were seminary students. And there's one couple that had their niece came from

overseas and came to be a part of our youth camp that summer. Her

mom worked overseas, I think for maybe an old company, I can't remember,

but she worked internationally in this I think her her parents were separated,

so it was just her mom and her and she was always in boarding school,

so she actually never saw her mom. She lived away from her mom

overseas somewhere, so she had came home that summer to be with her aunt

and wanted to go to camp with us that summer. And as we went

to camp that week, we started learning your students, you're with them for

five days. You started to learn the students are with you. And I

started to learning that this little girl was lonely. You know, she lived

overseas, lived in a boarding school, really never saw her dad and really

never saw her mom. That week at camp started unfold. You could just

really see this girl struggling, struggling with loneliness, being all alone. That

one of the nights passed to a camp pastor, gave the gospel and gave

an ivitation and a lot like camp pastors do. He asked everybody to sit

down, and at the end, he says, if you've made a decision

for Christ, except she's just Christ, your Lord Tavior. He says,

I'm going to ask you to be bold today. And he said, I

just everybody's praying, he says, everybody's sitting. He says, if you've

done that today, he said, I want to ask you to stand And

I didn't know it. I just suddenly looked and that little girl had stood

up all by herself. You know, I remember just sitting there, you

know, praising the Lord for what God had done. But then I noticed

that the people in the youth crew who didn't know her started getting up one

by one and started coming up to her, putting her arms around her and

loving on her. I tell you something I'd never forgotten as long as for

many years now, it's been twenty years now since that's happened, is how

an impact Barnabas's can make for those who are young believers who feel like they're

standing all alone. Can I tell you today this church was radically changed.

Cause you imagine, just step back with me, what if Barnabas would have

never interceded. What if Barnabas wouldn't affirmed the Bible says. Did he attempted

to join the disciples but he was not allowed? Can I tell you maybe

if he would have done that, we were not seen Saul or Paul made

the impact that he did in the church, But because one encourage her was

faithful, it radically changed the church from a church that was fearful of him

to a church that accepted him and a church that protected him in a church

that then lived out in the Gospel. Can I tell you you just don't

know today you out there as believers, what your encouragement and how it can

make an impact on one individual and how that one individual could maybe just changed

the world. You know, I ask you as we close the day,

I wonder you know, reality is there's people here that's listening to this sermon

you're not a believer. The reality in the congregation this size or watching on

TV online, there's some of you that also have, like saw, have

been hurt by the church. And maybe the maybe reason that you've given up

on the church, have not been committed to the church as you should and

followed through some of those steps of a new believer. Is because you've been

hurt by the church. You felt like at times God's people have rejected you.

Can I tell you the good news is today? The good news is

that you're not alone? You know. Isaiah fifty three says this that he

was despised and rejected sorrows and acquainted with grief, as one from whom men

hid their faces. He was despised, and we esteem him not he was.

Surely he has borne our grief. He's carried our sorrows, and we

esteem him strict and s meant by God and afflict. That he was pierced

for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, and upon him the

chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds, we are healed. We

all, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own

way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Can I tell you today that just as you've been rejected, Can I tell

you if Jesus has been rejected. Jesus was rejected by God's people Jesus,

scripture said, was strickened and he rejected for you. Can I tell you

on that road called Damascus, Jesus came to Saul. Can I tell you

just as barn of Us came to Saul, just as Jesus came to Saul.

You who feel reject today, Jesus wants to come to you today.

Were you receiving Let's pray, Lord, we love you, We thank you

Lord, that you were despised and rejected for us. Lord, I pray

those today as Lord, they've heard your word. It's not mine. Lord,

you have spoken. I pray today that we would respond Lord to you.

Maybe it's come to this alter in praying. I pray that maybe some

in this room today, maybe during this invitation, needs to leave their seat

and go to someone in this room, but their arms around them encourage them.

Lord. Maybe today as they leave this place, they may need to

make a phone call or text message and encourage someone affirm what they see God

doing, and they'll maybe today there's some that say, you know what,

I've not been supporting others and them serving as I should, and I need

to be a better supporter. Lord. However, Lord, you lead us

today I pray that we respond or pray today to be those who say,

you know what I haven't followed in believers baptism. I need to take that

first step. Maybe today I need to take that second step at church membership

or the Lord. Maybe is the step that I've been missing, is serving

Lord, Lord, whatever you've called us to today, Lord today as you've

met us in this place, or may we receive your word today in your

name, we pray Amen Jesus to