”Getting Fresh Ankles” Pastor Jamey Houghton, February 21, 2026

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

this content with somebody else so they

can be blessed as well. We're so glad

that you can be a part of our online

church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

Happy Sabbath church family.

>> It's great to be here worshiping with

you. Uh happy Sabbath to everyone

watching online. Glad you are here as

well with us to worship.

There's a young man named Jeffrey.

Jeffrey loved the game of basketball.

His older brother was a very good

basketball player

and he was taller than his older

brother, which is every younger

brother's dream. I wished so bad I was

taller than my older brother, but God

saw fit to make us exactly the same,

probably for our own good.

And Jeffrey

wasn't short. He was 5'11.

but he wasn't super tall. And when the

coaches were looking at who was going to

be on the team at tryyouts, Jeffrey was

a little too short

and Jeffrey's name was pulled from the

from the list of people who were going

to be on varsity and he was cut and he

was devastated. He went home,

his mom greeted him at the door and

said, "Jeffrey, how did it go?" He said,

"Mom, I got cut. Didn't make the team."

and tears welled up in his eyes. She

knew how much this meant to him and she

got some tears and she held him and

hugged him and uh comforted him a little

bit.

But he had an opportunity to play on the

junior varsity team and so he took it

and started playing junior varsity.

He started playing very well.

The coaches started noticing that he was

a very good athlete. His scoring

consistently went up. he was scoring 15

20 points started scoring 30 points a

game and it got to where he was

regularly scoring over 40 points a game

which is a big deal in sports especially

in basketball 40 points a game and

people were starting to notice people

were starting to talk about Jeff play

how good he was doing

the varsity coaches came to watch him

and they saw the potential there for a

good basketball player that they had

missed earlier here

and they decided to give him a chance.

Potential is an interesting what is

potential? Potential is when somebody

sees that there is value in somebody and

gives them an opportunity.

They see something that maybe not

everybody else sees.

And the coaches saw Jeff play and

decided to give him a chance.

Even though he wasn't as big as they

wanted him to be, they brought him in at

5'11. Well, good thing for them. He hit

another growth spurt and grew four more

inches that year, putting him at 6'3.

His play kept on improving even in the

varsity on the varsity squad. And he

kept on growing as well, grew three more

inches, evening out at 6'6 now.

And in high school, he started to

dominate

the court.

Jeffrey would score on everybody.

But nobody knew Jeffrey by his middle

name of Jeffrey. Most people, well, his

parents probably called him Jeffrey when

he was in trouble. Most people usually

called him by his first name, which was

Michael.

And Michael started wearing the jersey

number 23 in high school and kept that

number for most of his career with a a

short brief period where he wore the

number 45.

But as Michael Jeffrey Jordan

kept on playing, more people noticed.

College scouts saw potential in this

young man.

Gave him an opportunity to play in

college.

And it was all because somebody at

Elmsley A. Laney High School in

Wilmington, North Carolina, noticed the

potential of a young Michael Jeffrey

Jordan that he was given the chance to

play basketball

and change the course of the National

Basketball Association and become one of

the most famous athletes the world has

ever seen.

And just for some clarification here

this morning, some people say LeBron

James is the best that's ever played the

game. Some people say Kobe Bryant's the

best that's ever played the game. I'm

going to clear this up for you this

morning.

Michael Jordan is by far the best that's

ever played the game

because somebody saw potential in a

young 5 foot1 Michael Jeffrey Jordan

and gave him a shot believed in him and

it changed his life and the life of many

people that he played with later on.

Today we're going to look at a story in

the Bible where Peter and John see

potential in somebody's life. Turn with

me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 6,

Acts 6 · chapter mention

excuse me, Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter

Acts 3 · chapter mention Acts 3 · chapter mention

3, we see Peter and John,

two of the disciples of Jesus, who are

spending some time together, about to go

to prayer. Now, these two individuals,

Peter and John,

these are changed men from when we are

introduced to them in the Gospels.

Peter most known unfortunately for his

old antics rather than his his recon

converted uh mission. Peter's mostly

known for being a little bit boisterous,

a little bit loud. He speaks before he

thinks sometimes in the gospels. He's a

little bit uh violent sometimes. We see

that he tried to take a swipe at

Malchus's head, got his ear instead.

Peter denies Jesus three times,

devastates him. He does it publicly.

Everybody knows about it. And yet

Jesus still sees potential in Peter even

though Peter messed up and messed up

bigger than maybe any of us have ever

messed up. Jesus still saw potential in

Peter and restores Peter by the edge of

the lakeside there. He says, "Peter,

feed my sheep." In front of all the

other disciples, he says, "Peter, feed

my sheep." He calls him back to

ministry.

And Peter now is a much more humble

version of the old Peter, a recon

converted Peter. Now John, John is is

described as the disciple that Jesus

loved. Now Jesus loved all the

disciples, but there seemed to be a

deeper connection between Jesus and John

than with the other disciples.

And if you want to read a very good

description of John, go to the book Acts

of the Apostles and go to the back of

the book. There's a chapter called John

the Beloved. And it is one of the best

chapters I've ever read in any of author

Ellen White's books. Fantastic,

inspiring. Check it out if you have a

chance this afternoon. In the back of

the book, Acts of the Apostles,

John was known as one of the sons of

thunder. He was a little rash himself.

In fact, uh he was ready to call down

fire from heaven on some people that he

disagreed with.

John

by meeting Jesus

had a change of heart.

Desire of Ages page 540 it says but

beneath all of this the divine teacher

talking about John discerned the ardent

sincere loving heart. Jesus rebuked this

self-seeking that he had had,

disappointed his ambitions,

tested his faith, but he revealed to him

that for which his soul longed, the

beauty of holiness, the transforming

power of love. Later on in Desire of

Ages, she says that he was younger than

the others, John, and said the Savior

loved all the 12, but John's was the

most receptive spirit.

So you have these two men who've both

been changed by their experience, their

their influence from Jesus in their walk

with him. And Jesus has commissioned

both of these men along with the rest of

the disciples

to tell the world

about his love and his grace

and his soon coming.

And in verse one, we see Peter and John

went up together to the temple at the

hour of prayer. Now, it's only been two

chapters since Jesus was taken to

heaven. Very recent. And as I was

reading this and thinking, two of Jesus'

close friends, now Jesus is in heaven,

what were their prayers like that close

to the ascension?

How did they pray? What was it they

prayed? How sincere were those prayers?

As if talking to a friend. He was their

friend. They're heading there. There in

verse two it says and a certain man lame

from his mother's womb carried there was

carried whom they laid daily at the gate

of the temple which is called beautiful

to ask alms from those who entered the

temple. So there was a man he had been

lame from birth. We see later in the

story it's his feet and his ankles.

He was born with a deformity. This man

has never walked. And as soon as I read

this again,

I thought to myself, boy, I can resonate

with ankle problems. Our house has had

ankle problems for the last seven months

or so between me and my son Josh. We

have boot casts everywhere. Uh we have

regular casts that we collected. Um

ankle braces everywhere. When I saw

this, I was like, ankle problems?

I can resonate not as much as this guy.

This guy couldn't walk his whole life,

but boy, I'm looking forward to some new

ankles someday.

some fresh ankles. You know, many of us

deal with physical pain and different

ailments and things. And the Bible says

when Jesus comes, he's going to make all

things new. How many of you are excited

about getting rid of some of your aches

and pains and getting some new body

parts? Some new knees, maybe some new

hips, a new back. I'm ready for some of

those new parts. And uh just like this

man gets new ankles and feet someday.

Whatever hurts on you is going to get

made brand new. And I'm looking forward

to that someday.

So here he is. He's brought to this gate

and as use the only use he has is to

beg. He can't get out and work. He can't

chip in to help out with his family

business, whatever that is. He's he's

resorted to begging and and they're

they're encouraged, the Jews of the time

encouraged to give charity and to help

out. So probably he got enough money to

survive on there from the goodwill of

the people walking by.

But you can see this man's heart

hurts in this story because when Peter

and John walk by, his head is down. He's

not even looking up.

As I read this story, I thought to

myself, I wonder if this guy knew who

Jesus was.

I think everybody who'd ever had an

ailment or a birth defect or a sickness

of any type, word had very likely spread

that Jesus was around and he was healing

people. had the power to heal people. I

bet you this guy had heard about Jesus,

but somehow he hadn't been able to make

it to the presence of Jesus. You

remember when Jesus was preaching and

teaching, the crowds were just so tight.

Remember at Peter's house, they couldn't

even get in the door. They were dropping

him through the roof. It wasn't easy to

get close to Jesus because of the crowds

or because maybe he couldn't just make

it that far. He couldn't walk.

But I think probably he had heard who

Jesus was and heard what he had done and

maybe held some hope in his heart. Maybe

if I can just see Jesus,

he can help me.

No doubt he had heard the news that

Jesus had been crucified.

And along with that probably went all of

his hope of ever being healed.

He hadn't heard about the resurrection,

I don't think, just probably the

crucifixion.

And there goes all of his hope. Thus,

his head is down.

He's lost hope.

It says he saw Peter from a distance.

They were about to go in the temple and

he asked for alms. What are alms? Alms

are it's charity of sort.

Asking for some monetary help.

I remember listening to this story when

I was a boy on um Uncle Dan and Aunt

Sue. Your story hour. Anybody ever

listen to your story hour

before iPads and laptops? That was our

road trip entertainment. And my parents

had all of the the cassette albums and

we would go through all those cassette

albums. And I remember listening to this

story when I was a kid. And in the

story, the voice actors on this t on

this tape as they would go through the

story, they would they would imitate

this guy and say, "Alms for the poor."

And then some and then he'd say, "Have

mercy. Alms for the poor, have mercy.

And and in my mind with my brother and I

had memorized these stories. We had

heard them so many times and u my mom

was in the grocery store with my brother

and I. I was she said I was like two and

Danny was like six

and we were in the grocery cart and uh

just sitting there and my mom had

forgotten something on the next aisle.

Left us in the grocery cart, walked

around to the next aisle to get whatever

was there. And apparently my brother and

I thought it'd be a great time to

reenact this scene.

And so we thought this is a great great

Bible story. And so my mom is over there

looking in the next aisle over and she

hears from the next aisle over alms for

the poor. And I echoed in have mercy.

And she's looking. She's like she comes

running back around and we said it nice

and loud apparently. And she came

sprinting around. Boy, boys, you can't

do that. But the story was fresh. We

knew the story.

He had to beg for money to get anything

so he could eat.

He sees Peter and John coming and says,

"Alms, alms for the poor."

And something changed with Peter and

John when they saw this man sitting

there. Many people were walking by for

sure.

Maybe they had even walked by this guy

before. But something is different when

they walk by him this time. And Peter

and John stop

and they look at him.

They pause.

You see, Jesus had taught them how to

see people.

Because when Jesus saw someone that was

suffering or someone who had been living

a life of sin that was miserable,

when he looked at them, he saw

potential.

He didn't see their situation as being

their label for who they were. He saw

potential

to be freed from whatever they were

suffering from. And he had taught this

to Peter and John and the disciples. And

as Peter and John are walking by, they

look at this man, this man with crippled

feet. He's begging in the dirt. And they

stop. And Peter looks at him and he sees

potential.

He sees a child of God.

And he stops.

The man is looking down, not even

looking up at him. He looks down. And

Peter says,

"Look at us.

Look at us."

I picture in my mind he looks up.

There's Peter. He looks over at John. He

looks back at Peter since Peter seems to

be the one interacting here. And he's

probably expecting some sort of a of a

donation of sorts. And he's thinking,

"Okay, good. Maybe I can eat tonight.

Someone has a heart and is going to give

me something. And he looks up expecting

something.

He had no idea when he woke up that

morning

how his life was about to change.

No idea.

He looks up into Peter's face. Peter

looks down into this man's face.

Their eyes lock.

says, "So he gave them his attention,

expecting to receive something from

them."

Then he gets a unique response from

Peter. And Peter says, "Silver and gold

I do not have, but what I do have, I

give to you." This man must have

thought, "Okay, he's not giving me

coins, but he says he's going to give me

something." Maybe a little bit of

confusion on his face, like, "I'm not

sure what you mean by that." Peter says,

'I don't have any gold or silver to give

you,

but what I do have,

I give to you. Now, this is a this is a

pretty bold move by Peter. And I imagine

that the Holy Spirit is whispering in

Peter's ear.

Peter,

go talk to this guy.

Sometimes God whispers in our ears and

lets us know when somebody needs a

little encouragement. It can be

sometimes scary

to approach someone or even to say,

"Hey, can I pray with you? You how how

are things going?" And to talk to

somebody and encourage them. That can be

a little bit scary of a thing. But

sometimes I believe God whispers in our

ears and says, "Go talk to this person."

We see illustrations of this in the

Bible. Then friends, today the whole

world is full of people who need a

little bit of encouragement and hope.

And if God whispers in your ear

to go encourage somebody,

he'll give you the words to say.

Peter says, "I don't have any gold or

silver, but what I do have, I give to

you."

He says, "In the name of Jesus Christ of

Nazareth." And when he says this, I

picture in my mind the man down on the

ground looking up at Peter. He hears,

"In the name of Jesus Christ of

Nazareth, I think a flicker of hope

sparks in his soul.

Jesus,

I had hoped to see Jesus."

He said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of

Nazareth."

And I think Peter had his undivided

attention at this point.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

he hears four words next that he never

thought he would hear.

Rise up and walk.

Imagine those words falling on his ears

and the shock in his mind as he hears

this. his whole his his whole day has

shifted and changed into this moment,

this very intense moment where this man

just came up and said, "Look at me. I

don't have anything to give you

monetarily, but what I do have, I'm

about to give you in the name of Jesus

Christ of Nazareth."

What? Rise up and walk.

And Peter next puts his hand out. This

man's serious.

He puts his hand out. He reaches down

for him.

The man takes his hand

and reaches towards Peter. Can you

imagine that grip?

That first grip as their hands touch and

they they grab that they grab each

other's hands like this.

And Peter, who I think was probably a

pretty strong guy, starts pulling.

Now, there had to have been a little bit

of terror for this man as well because

he's never stood before. His feet and

ankles are a mess.

And yet in faith,

because he believes in the power of the

name of Jesus Christ,

he takes Peter's hand

and starts to come up.

I wonder when it was that the people

around started to notice,

the people that had walked by this man

many times, the people maybe that had

donated to him.

Wonder what they thought when they saw

Peter put his hand down like that. What

is this guy doing?

And when the man reached back up and

grabbed Peter's hand.

Verse 7, it says, "He took him by the

hand, lifted him up, and immediately his

feet and ankle bones received strength."

I wonder what that feels like

to have the healing power of Jesus hit

you in your body wherever it hurts. and

you feel physical healing.

He felt it in his feet and ankles and he

knew probably on his way up, I can

stand.

Do you know what word it uses here

as he's lifting him up to describe his

feet and ankle bones being healed? It's

a long word. It says immediately.

It's an important word.

Recently, I think it was last week

maybe,

there was an article written

in the Pacific Union Recorder, one of

our Adventist publications,

and the author there suggested

that creation happened over a long

period of time, something that 7th Day

Adventists do not accept as far as

origins. We believe in the literal

creation week

that God through a series of six days

created everything and rested on the

seventh day Sabbath. So this is a bit of

a a conundrum of why this was even

published

because that's not what Seventh Day

Adventists believe

because God does not need long periods

of time to create things. When God's

power is at work, we see words like

immediately happen. It didn't take 5

years for this man's legs to be healed.

When Jesus healed people, it didn't take

millennia for them to be healed. It says

when Jesus' power is at work, things

happen immediately.

>> They don't happen over long periods of

time. That's not biblical.

And so, it's important for us with all

kinds of different messages around to be

to be aware of what the Bible says and

believe that.

I believe that when God speaks, things

happen immediately. Amen.

>> Not over long periods of time.

Here, this man feels the immediate

healing power of Jesus in his legs and

feet.

It says he received strength.

And if you had been there watching,

you would see the happiest man that

you've ever seen in your whole life.

It says he was leaping up, stood and

walked and entered the temple with them,

walking and leaping and praising God.

This guy was trying out his new feet and

ankles

and he probably had the strongest of

anyone around there. These are brand a

brand new pair.

Imagine how happy this guy was. And and

this is really kind of a funny verse

over in verse 11. It says, "Now as the

lame man who was healed held on to Peter

and John, all the people ran together

with them." He hangs on to these guys.

He's like, "I'm with them now. These are

my new best friends." Says he hung on to

these guys through the power of Jesus.

They changed his life because they saw

potential in this guy as a child of God

and worked together with the healing

power of Jesus. This man's life was

changed and he was healed. says he hung

on to these two men.

Peter and John saw potential in this

lame man.

They didn't see an outcast. They saw a

child of God. They saw someone who

needed hope and healing.

He needed Jesus.

And in the name of Jesus,

his life was changed.

Friend, I look at the application of

this story.

Some of us may be the person in the

dirt,

the person who's lost hope, the person

who can't even lift their head up

because things are so hard.

God sees every tear that falls. He knows

the pain and struggles that we go

through

and he's there to help. There's no

struggle we go through in life where God

is not right by our side helping us make

it. So many of those promises in the

Bible say that he will be right there

with his righteous right hand to lift

you up. Why is it he's lifting you up?

It's because you're falling. And God

knows that pain that you're going

through. And if you lean on God, you're

going to make it.

Some of us are in a different situation.

We're more along the lines of of Peter

and John where God has been working on

our heart and changing our heart and

growing us in different ways to where we

see people like Jesus saw people. We see

their potential. And this is part of all

of our calling

to see potential in people and to share

the hope that we have in Jesus with the

people that we come in contact with. As

Peter and John were walking there, they

didn't know this guy. They'd not met him

before.

He just looked like somebody that needed

Jesus. He needed some hope. Maybe it is

that God is calling you to be a little

more bold in your walk and in your

vision for a personal evangelism.

Maybe God is calling you to a more bold

existence in your walk with him

to be a shining light, a bold sh. It's I

get it. It's It's scary to talk to

people about God. What if they don't

want to hear from me? What if I say the

wrong thing? Friends, this world is full

of hopeless people looking for some sort

of a direction in life.

If you've had any relationship with

Jesus at all, if he's done anything for

you in your life, you have a story to

tell. You have hope to share.

This world is a mess.

people looking to all different kinds of

things for purpose

in their life.

Maybe it'll be that God uses you

to point them to Jesus and to give them

the same hope that you have.

That's why we're here.

That's why we're a part of a church like

this. We come together on Sabbath

morning for encouragement

to be lifted up by by friends that we

see here to study the Bible in Sabbath

school together to sing songs together.

Boy, that's one of the highlights of my

week.

Lift our voices and praise to God. Study

some scripture that gives us hope. But

we don't do all that just to hold it

into ourselves.

We learn.

We study so we can share with somebody

else.

The hope that we have in Jesus. That is

our purpose as Seventh Day Adventist

Christians

is to tell somebody about the hope that

we have in Jesus. That's the purpose of

our church to help fulfill the gospel

commission that God that Jesus gave us

when he went back to heaven.

There are a lot of different ways that

can happen. There are a lot of different

ministries in church. Personal

evangelism, I think, is one of my

favorite uh to encourage a church to to

study with somebody else, to get to know

people, to to just pause and ask people,

"How are you doing, a co-orker, the

person at the gas station,

whoever the Lord puts on your heart?"

Many years ago,

I got up to preach

at a different church where I was a

pastor. And I got up and in the back of

the church over on the left side, a

gentleman that I didn't recognize came

in with a big stuffed backpack on.

Not what you people usually bring into a

worship service. Big old backpack. And I

was like a little on edge because there

had been some stuff going on with

different uh you know, churches and

people coming in and causing disruptions

in church. And so I was I was a little

on edge and I kind of kept an eye on I

was like, "Okay, that's not usual." Um

great guy though. He sat throughout the

whole service. After the service was

done, I went and introduced myself and

uh he had been riding his bicycle with a

trailer behind his bicycle down Highway

83 where the church was and he saw a

bunch of cars in the church and decided

to pull in and see what was going on

there, take a break from his bike ride.

Pulled in, came in, sat down. So, we

were going to lunch at some church

members house. They invited him to go as

well. And it turned out that this guy

was on a bike ride from Denver, Colorado

to Waco, Texas.

Some 850 miles, something like that. Had

his whole little trailer behind his bike

and he was just going down these back

highways and going to make his way down

to Waco, Texas. So, we had a very nice

lunch. Really nice guy. All the people

that were at these at this house. Um, he

we had a great time together. He asked

us a couple questions about our church

questions about our church and said he

and said he had enjoyed the worship

had enjoyed the worship service and

service and whatnot. And I said to him,

whatnot. And I said to him, I said,

I said, 'Hey, I'd be happy to get you a

'Hey, I'd be happy to get you a bus

bus ticket down to Waco, Texas if that's

ticket down to Waco, Texas if that's

where you're going. Let please let me

help and get you a bus ticket if that's

where you're going. It's a long ways

from here to Waco, Texas. He said, "No,

I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

I'd like to ride my bike down to Texas."

We said, "Okay, well, can we load you up

with some food?" He asked us a couple with some food?" So, we loaded him up

with food in his little uh his little

carrier behind his bike,

said goodbye, and off he went on his

bike. And I thought, I'll never see this

guy again.

A couple of months later,

I get a message on the church Facebook

page and it says, "Hey, Pastor Jamie,

this is so and so. I was the guy that

stopped by your church with my bicycle

riding down to Waco, Texas." And I'm

like, "No way.

That's the same guy.

He's like, I made it to Waco. And I was

like, no way you made it to Waco. That's

so far to ride a bike. I was blown away.

He said, I really enjoyed your church

and getting to meet some of your church

members. I enjoyed it so much that when

I got to Waco, I looked up the Waco 7th

Day Adventist Church. I was like, this

is incredible. He said, "I'm currently

living in the garage upstairs apartment

of the head deacon at the Waco 7th

Adventist Church."

He's doing baptismal studies with me

and I'm going to be baptized into the

Waco 7th Adventist Church soon. Thanks

so much for your church's hospitality

and for introducing me to the 7th

Adventist Church. As far as I know, he's

still at the Waco 7th Adventist Church.

That's what we're here for, friends.

We are here as a body of Christian

believers

to point people to Jesus

and as many as we can. My Bible says in

Matthew 24:14, it says, "As soon as the

Matthew 24:14

gospel has gone to the whole world, then

the end will come." That includes as

soon as the gospel has gone to all

McDonald area, Udawak, Chattanooga,

Knoxville, wherever it is. As soon as

people have heard about Jesus, and

nobody can say, "Hey, I never heard

about it." No, it says as soon as the

gospel goes to the whole world, then

Jesus is going to come. I'm looking

forward to that day.

And there are still people, if we're not

in heaven now, there are still people

that need to hear about Jesus. And it

may be that God is calling you to tell

them.

So, I want to challenge you to pray a

bold prayer this Sabbath

and ask God to bring one person into

your life soon that you can share your

hope with in Jesus.

Just one for now. You can pray for more

later. Just one for now.

and ask God to bring somebody across

your path where you can tell them about

the hope that you have in Jesus and how

he's changed your life.

That's our purpose, friends.

God is calling every single one of us.

We are all part of the gospel commission

to prepare this hopeless world

and to give them hope in Jesus. There's

a song that's one of my favorites and

it's a song I need help from the men in

church today.

It's uh it's a song called Seeking the

Lost. And if you've been here before,

you you've probably participated in this

at some point once a quarter or so. I

like to sing this song. It's such a good

song. And uh there's great part for the

men and a great part echo for the women.

So um men, come on up here and join me

up on stage as we sing our closing song.

The message of this song, especially

verse two, is a great challenge for us.

It says, "Seeking the lost and pointing

to Jesus, souls that are weak and hearts

that are sore, leading them forth in

ways of salvation, showing the path to

life ever more." Let's stand together as

we sing our closing song, seeking the

lost. Father in heaven, Lord, help us to

see people like you see people with

potential. Lord, give us boldness as we

go throughout this week. Keep our eyes

open for people that we can see need

your hope. And Lord, give us the wisdom

to know how best to do that. Lord, we

are so looking forward to being with you

in heaven.

We're tired of this world. Lord,

we're looking forward to new parts. Like

this man in the Bible got new ankles.

There's many parts here that are sore.

And we're looking forward to new bodies,

God. We're looking forward to worshiping

with you on Sabbath.

We're looking forward to seeing loved

ones again that we miss. So, Father,

keep us faithful and God, use us in ways

that might surprise us. Give us

opportunities this week, God, to tell

somebody about the hope that we have in

you. Is my prayer in Jesus name. Amen.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church

for worship. Each month we reach between

25 and 30,000 people with gospel content

online. We're looking to expand our

audiovisisual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion and

reaching more people with the gospel

across the internet this next year. You

can go to mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audiovisisual department.

Thank you so much for considering making

this donation and the privilege is ours

to partner with you in making this a

bigger and more effective ministry here

at the McDonald Road 7th Adventist

Church. God bless each one of you and

thanks again for joining us here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church.