Ep. 056 Prepare for the Harvest -Updated

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be

your host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages

are a blessing to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. I am your host, Pastor

David Bickford. I'm up here living the dream in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, pursuing

the Great Commission as I go out there and tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ

and make a fool of myself for His sake playing the bass on the street. So if you see me around

town playing the bass, you'll know who I am now. I come up and talk to me. It was good.

I had some people come up and talk to me yesterday. It was a fun time. My hands were getting a

little bit numb by the time because we're getting closer and closer to winter up here.

In fact, I've been told that Larch Hills has snow already, so it's definitely getting there.

Pray for me. I have to go down to the coast this week, down to Vancouver. That means I

got to travel through the passes, so I'll be able to come back and give you a report

next week on how much snow I saw, if I remember. With that, I've got a message today called

Prepare for the Harvest. I've done one similar to this. It's this little bit of a revamp

of it, but I hope you enjoy it. If we're going to go ahead and jump in. The text is Matthew

9, 35 through 38. As we get into this, I want to consider first the book Ecclesiastes and

the idea of the critic and just the fact that we tend to be quite harshly critical of the

life. Before we get to our primary text, I want to quote Ecclesiastes 1, 2 where it says

vanity of vanities says the preacher, vanity of vanity. The critic that is in Ecclesiastes

or the presentation of the critic, this is one of the books of wisdom in the Word of

God. It's very interesting because we see this play that happens within Ecclesiastes.

It's a very important book because it shows us how we can really battle against the sadness

or the harshness of life in a very godly way in the sense that we can come and understand

that God knows that this is a battle to fight for faith. As we jump into this, I just want

to touch on this illustration I found. It's been reported that after the Dallas Cowboys

won their first Super Bowl, their first Super Bowl, legendary football coach Tom Landry

observed the overwhelming emotion and a few days among the players was how empty that

goal was. There must be something more. I've used that before as I said. This is a bit

of a revamping of a previous sermon, but I want to expand upon that idea with some personal

experiences today. You might have heard, you might remember that I was in the United States

Marine Corps and I remember the emotion, the elation of being up on top of the hill after

the crucible event in boot camp when our drill instructors would give us our Eagle, Globe

and Anchor, that EGA that is a symbol of the United States Marine Corps. It's what is on

our logo. It's the badge that we wear with quite a bit of honor. I remember when they

were giving that to us, there was just this flood of emotions. You see grown men crying

because all the labor, all the hardship from the three months of basic training and for

a lot of us, the months and months of preparation before we went to basic training has culminated

now in finally obtaining the title of a United States Marine. So you think that this would

carry us on for days and days and days and you know, but it is something that even amidst

the elation you feel, you come to this realization that what's next. You've accomplished this

goal but you're still very, very new in the Marine Corps and there's this reality that

kind of hits you as you get closer and closer to the time where you're going to go back

on boot leave and then have to come back for your next training cycle and you're still

going to be the new guy or a newb or you know, just I left basic training as a slick sleeve

private. What that means in the Marine Corps is you don't have any rank insignia because

you don't even rate a rank yet. You're a private, you know, without any designation. If you

have one chevron in the Marine Corps, that means you're a private first class and one

chevron with the crossed rifles. That's a Lance Corporal and one guy in our unit, he

was our honor guard. He got to leave basic training as a Lance Corporal which gave him

about a year to a year and a half leg up on all the rest of us, lowly slick sleeve privates.

So this portion of scripture and ecclesiasties, vanity of vanity says the preacher, vanity

of vanity is all vanity really does have some applicability to our day to day life because

we'll often times hit a goal only to have that goal be, you know, shown to be very lackluster

within a short time. Within like the world of sales and selling you work off of a monthly

bonus, a quarterly bonus or a yearly bonus depending on how the company is structured

and you might hit that target but then the next month comes by and now they've upped

your target and you have to do what you've done plus more. It can seem like a harsh game

if you allow it to control your mindset and that's what the critic is talking about in

Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 1 3 it says what do people gain from all their labors at which

they toil into the sun? So the Cowboys weren't the first to feel this kind of regret or loneliness

like I mentioned we feel this all the time with our own personal goals and satisfaction.

I remember when I got my bachelor's degree it was man I did this huge thing but within

weeks I was like I need to go back I need to get a master's I need to do something

else to differentiate myself because everybody has a bachelor's degree at least that's what

I thought. So the author of Ecclesiastes is reminding us of this ancient experience, this

desire to achieve a goal and then the reality that once achieved there's always something

more. In Ecclesiastes 1 14 it says I have seen all the things that are done under the

sun all of them are meaningless and chasing after the wind. So we see that he has a conflicted

soul as demonstrated by his way of his arguments and often within himself he's battling he's

arguing just like we do in our own personal lives and I believe that's the main reasons

why this is part of the canonized Bible is the reality that this is something God recognizes

as part of us in our creation and it's particularly acute when we're concerned with work. In Ecclesiastes

2 11 he writes yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to

achieve everything was meaningless a chasing after the wind nothing was gained under the

sun and later in Ecclesiastes 3 12 through 13 I know that there is nothing better for

people than to be happy and to do good while they live that each of them may eat and drink

and find satisfaction in all their toil this is the gift of God. See but that optimism

was short-lived because in Ecclesiastes 4 4 he says and I saw that all toil and all

achievement spring from one person's envy of another this too is meaningless and chasing

after wind is an interesting thought because there's an old movie about Gordon Gekko I've

never even actually seen it but it's about Wall Street I think it's called Wall Street

and it talks about how greed is good is the idea in that movie and it's an interesting

idea because that's what drives a lot of people in business to pursue bigger and better things

is the greed or the covetousness and even in our society today with the certain political

ideas of socialism where the idea of socialism is one of covetousness it is to desire what

others have in a desire in the bringing down of others so that you can be brought up it's

not a selfless idea it's an idea of covetousness at its core so I think it's an interesting

an interesting you know piece of wisdom that we pull from Ecclesiastes many people resonate

with this cycle of enthusiasm and despair regarding their own labor I've seen this

with with colleagues when I when working in sales where they'll have they're having a

tremendous year and it's ramping up and there's nothing you could say to them to destroy that

optimism only to see them on the next year when their target is much higher and they're

struggling to hit their target to be just down on the dumps and pessimistic and disappointed

and upset with their life and what the way that they've been treated I think it's an

interesting conundrum within the human heart that we battle with these ideas so often and

I think it's more important that we look to the Word of God to see how the Bible tells

us to deal with these ups and downs and peaks and valleys in our life and in our emotions

the Bible teaches us that God hears our troubles that he acknowledges them and that he is not

indifferent to the small frictions that loom large in our lives how do we apply these this

to our lives the phrase under the sun appears in the book 29 times and it's done in order

to reinforce the pointlessness of work with an image of the sun circling endlessly across

the sky while nothing ever changes or I can refer to how the world beyond the fall not

under the sun where work would be done in vain keep this keep this you know question

in mind as you read Ecclesiastes now let's look at our primary text now which is Matthew

35 to 38 the harvest is plentiful the laborers are few and Jesus went through all the cities

and the villages teaching and their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease and every affliction when he saw the crowds he had compassion for

them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd then he said

to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the labors are few therefore pray earnestly

to the lord of the harvest to send out labors into the harvest let's pray dear lord god

I pray that we won't allow the peaks and valleys of our life that we won't allow the elation

of our emotions and the pessimism of our downtrodden times to impact us in a way that we lose sight

of the harvest field help us lord to focus in on your will and the call to go out and

to see people save because of the grace that you freely extend to them in Jesus name we

pray amen the age we live in is an age of the critic you can't turn on the news right

now as we're approaching we just had elections here in British Columbia and there's elections

of fastly approaching in the United States you can't turn on any channel of tv or news

or podcast or anything without hearing about someone being critical of the situation we're

in and how how bad the other person is and how good they are and vice versa so we live

in this period of cynicism where everyone is focused on earthly gain and individual

truth we have all heard the phrase common sense is no longer common why is it that we

view the world so harshly today is the world any better or worse than it has in the past

and I know the answer that argument is no during times of of upheaval and travail like

in in in Israel there were periods where women were eating their children in order to survive

starvation what a horrendous and horrible thought that is in our day and age so no we're

not as bad as it was back then but we're fastly approaching periods of time where we could

be in situations that are just as is evil and wicked as they were back in the times

when Israel was falling to the Assyrians an argument can be made that we live in one of

the most peaceful times in history if you look at the decadent nature of the western

world you'd have to accept this is true that doesn't mean that we're righteous that doesn't

mean that we're holy in fact I think we're fastly going towards we're on a conveyor belt

that's just rocketing down towards a place of wickedness and I believe that to be undeniably

true that doesn't mean that we sit by and wait for this to happen that doesn't mean

that we can sit by in our pride and sin and and sit in our sin and and say well we're

not we're not as bad as others that's why we have the wisdom books of the Bible this

group of three books gives us the compendium of biblical wisdom of knowledge Proverbs tells

us that by doing right you will be blessed Ecclesiastes counters that play and with as

with the part of the cynic or the critic but ultimately the book agrees with the Proverbs

for a different reason life is fleeting so you should do right for the fear of the Lord

and then finally Job shows us a righteous man who is who is heavily tested and tempted

his story exemplifies the do's and don'ts when life doesn't go your way the critic first

and of all acknowledges the perspective of Proverbs by saying it is really good a really

good idea to learn wisdom and to live in fear the Lord he says that since he can't control

your life you should stop trying learn to hold things with an open hand because you

really only have control over one thing and that's your attitude at the present moment

stop worrying he says and choose to enjoy a good conversation with a friend or the sun

on your face or a good meal with people you care about but don't lose sight of the wisdom

of living for the Lord and living in fear of the Lord so that brings me my first point

which is in vision and with that I have an illustration this is called the right vision

and in the year 1870 the Methodist in Indiana were having their annual conference at a point

the president of the college where they were meeting said I think we live in a very exciting

age the presiding bishop said what do you see he asked what do you see the college president

responded I believe we are coming into a time of great invention I believe for example that

men will fly through the air like birds the bishop said this is hearsay the Bible says

that flight is reserved for the angels we will have no such talk here after the conference

the bishop whose name was Wright WRI GHT went home to his two small sons Wilbur and Orville

and you know what they did to their father's vision they were the obviously Wilbur and

Orville first to fly in Kitty Hawk North Carolina we have to be aware of cynical attitudes that

hold back miracles and I believe flight is a miracle I was an aircraft I was an air crewman

on CH 53 echoes it's a gigantic helicopter 70 feet 100 feet long 70 foot rotor arc tremendously

powerful piece of equipment six gearboxes three main engines and an auxiliary engine

what would that bishop of thought of that piece of mechanical magnificence if I can

say it he was oblivious he was cynical he was wrapped up in his own critical nature

as laborers we must envision the harvest field this isn't some metaphysical crap this isn't

some you know you'll believe it and and and see it kind of crap no this is just the reality

that it's vitally important that we see the needs around us and then we meet those needs

we must see what Jesus saw he saw sheep without a shepherd we must feel how Jesus felt he

had compassion on the multitude we must do what Jesus did he ministered to their needs

evangelism doesn't have to be organized by a church program but evangelism must be intentional

we must see people for what they are lost souls in need of a savior we must comprehend

the consequences of them dying without Jesus they are destined for the lake of fire we

must realize that we are to have the information that they need to be rescued from that fate

if we are going to reap a harvest of souls then we as a church as Christians as believers

as individuals we must envision that's their salvation we must envision the mission field

we must envision the message and we must envision the ministry the mission field which is in

the first part of Matthew 935 we read then Jesus went about all the cities in the villages

when we think about a mission field many times we want to think about something other than

where we're at and you know what if you feel called to be a missionary then what are you

still doing here you should be in the missions right that's if you're in our fellowship

listening this you're a couple in a church and you feel compelled to preach then you

should be sent out to preach obviously there's logistics involved but that's the whole point

is you shouldn't be sitting idly by you can be out there preaching on the street today

we like to think of places that are far away Nicaragua Uganda Ecuador all these kind of

places Africa Asia and that's the only place where the gospel mission field needs to be

but the first doesn't say that Jesus only went to foreign countries to minister in fact

he stayed in Israel or Judah Judea and he went about all the little cities and villages

so that means that here salmon arm is a mission field enter be as a mission field Armstrong

tap and sycamus these are all places we should be out there preaching the gospel of Jesus

Christ our jobs when it when capable so they're not getting fired I'm not calling you to to

be fired but there are ways where you can share your gospel by living a godly life when

you're at the bowling alley or in a grocery store you could definitely kick up a conversation

you'd be amazed how often you'll be able to share your message your your testimony and

that's a powerful powerful evangelistic tool where wherever you go it's a mission field

there's lost people everywhere and the church is built on individuals and we must begin

to envision we must look around to see the lost people and not just wait cynically and

do nothing we are allowing condemnation of hundreds maybe thousands of people in our

life because we're too afraid to envision their salvation we have to share the gospel

which brings me to the message in the second half of Matthew 935 we read teaching in their

synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom we find the latter part of this verse that

there always there was always a crowd near him looking for a miracle but the fact that

Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom that is much more important we know that Jesus

healed the sick he made the blind see the deaf to hear the mute to speak and the lame

to walk and we're Pentecostal we believe in the prayer to heal the sick we believe that

the blind can see the deaf can hear the mute can speak the lame to walk we believe that

we even know that people have been raised from the dead but those were only temporary

fixes at the time even when Jesus was doing it all of those people who received miracles

would still die and face eternity even those who were raised from the dead like Lazarus

would have to once again die a natural death but through the preaching of the gospel they

received a miracle that would last throughout eternity they received the miracle of salvation

and that is our message and that is what we're envisioning is the spreading of the gospel

of Jesus Christ for the sake of salvation through grace in his name alone there are

people today who are looking for miracles some are looking for a solution to their financial

problems some are in desperate need of a solution in their marital problems some are facing

terminal diagnosis are looking for healing and Jesus can solve every one of those issues

but it's of no benefit if being happy healthy wealthy in this life still leads you to dying

and going to hell some people are only looking for this crutch when they truly need a message

of this a miracle miraculous gospel of Jesus Christ in Romans 10 13 through 14 whoever

calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him in whom they

have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how

shall they hear without a preacher without a preacher without the gospel there's no

evangelism without the gospel there is no mission work without the gospel there is no

help for those in the mission field we must share the gospel in Romans 1 16 Paul said

that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes

so let us envision the mission field and share with them the message of the gospel of Jesus

Christ Jesus first shared the gospel but he also served them and performed those miracles

which brings us to the next part of the next area of envisionment the ministry this word

comes from the Greek word to serve as a slave and not to jump off on a tangent but the word

slave is a Roman for like what they considered slaves from Slavic lands it comes from the

Slavs just an interesting tidbit of history for you but anyway to serve as a slave so

throughout the New Testament ministry is seen as service to God and other people in his

name ministry involves more than just sharing it involves serving according to this passage

Jesus healed many sicknesses and diseases not only did he feel heal physical infirmities

he cast out demons as well on a couple occasions he fed thousands of people miraculously and

he did that to illustrate the importance of service Jesus Christ was the ultimate service

and mark 1045 for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give

his life as a ransom for many so this morning when I preached in service I preached about

the hardships that we might involve then if you're not catching my sermons I do those

I do live stream those on our Instagram page all those notes are in the show notes but

it was talking about the hardships that we come across in life and how we need to embrace

that if we're going to win for Jesus name because our Savior who came to earth he came

and he lived a hard life ultimately being crucified for our sins he lived a life of

hardness and service for us the entire life of our Savior was a life of service you remember

when he washed the feet of disciples that was a job for a common slave as well yet Jesus

humbled himself and served others may we never look at a job in the ministry and think that

it's below us service is vitally important in reaching others for Jesus Christ why because

serving others is the point and it points people to Jesus in Matthew 516 in the same

way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good your good works

and give glory to your father who is in heaven so on the job let your light shine so that

others may see your good works because they'll see that and if they know you're a Christian

because he said yeah I'm a Christian he goes in passing and conversation they're gonna

say why are you such a different Christian than what I see from others open door for

a testimony so then moving from vanity to purpose to joy we see in Ecclesiastes 12 13

through 14 the end of the matter all has been heard fear God and keep his commandments for

this is the whole duty of man for God will bring every deed into judgment with every

secret thing whether good or evil and this brings me to my next point which is empathize

a small boy went to the movies with his still smaller brother and after they seated themselves

asked can you see Willie nope was the reply well said the older brother just laugh when

I laugh how many of us act this way we're not interested in actually helping we might

ask a question that makes it sound like we want to help but oftentimes it's just we thought

we needed to ask the question and we're not actually going to do anything to help this

is what it you know what we see in our society today you know we see a lot of politicians

and I won't get political I know my wife doesn't like it if I get political yet you can call

me and I'm happy to tell you whatever you want to hear about my political leanings but

the reality is as politicians will oftentimes say I will work for you I will do this tell

me what you need and then when you tell them they don't do anything why is that because

they don't really empathize with your plight they're usually lofty and lifted off away

from it as laborers though we must empathize in Matthew 936 it says when we saw the crowds

he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a

shepherd the purpose of the critic in Ecclesiastes and tying it to this portion of Matthew is

to tie the emotion we all tend to feel at times when we deal with them head-on we can

all be cynical or despondent we can all make excuses to do little or nothing we tell ourselves

that it doesn't matter nobody cares or that there is always tomorrow but it's not always

tomorrow for everybody the difficulty is having and maintaining and acting with a mind of

God that is why the scripture is so important Jesus saw the multitudes he was intensely

moved with compassion or empathy because of their condition they were described as being

sheep with no shepherd this was this was a multitude of people who are utterly neglected

concerning the interests of their souls there was no shortage of people there was no shortage

of problems Jesus looked up upon their hurting faces and he had great compassion to their

situation today there is no shortage of people and there's no shortage of people with problems

it is not up to us to judge those people it is not up to us to condemn those people we

must realize that we were once as lost as they are now we must realize that God does

not measure in sin as we do and rather than looking at the people around us for their

sin it is time that we see them as Jesus sees them lost souls that need him our Lord a savior

the only way we will ever see a harvest of souls is if we come to a place of intense

burden and if we empathize with those lost souls we will not see a harvest of souls until

we finally grasp the fact that hell is real and people are going there we must realize

that we are the body of Christ we are his hands and his feet we need to start living

out what we say we believe to get ready for the harvest as laborers we must division we

must empathize and then finally evangelize a woman criticized DL Moody for his methods

of evangelism and attempting to win people to the Lord Moody replied I agree with you

I don't like the way I do it either tell me how do you do it the woman replied I don't

do it Moody retorted then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing

it as laborers we must evangelize and Matthew in our text Matthew 9 37 38 then he said to

his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly

to the Lord of the harvest and send out laborers into the harvest so at the crux of a cleaver

of Ecclesiastes we see the highlighting of the absurdities of life we're guided by the

words of the teacher or preacher we read everything is meaningless and in verses 1 to 2 of chapter

1 of Ecclesiastes says the words of the teacher son of David king in Jerusalem meaningless

meaningless says the teacher utterly meaningless everything is meaningless the word translated

as meaningless is the Hebrew word have L it translates into vapor or breath which in the

context of this book indicates the idea of something leading Ecclesiastes is simultaneously

a book about life and death extending beyond the emotional experience death is posed as

an inevitable part of life there are two sides of the same coin the book reflects on death

and how that should inform our time in life it is a book of optimism and pessimism it

is a book of both and this contrast to the great commission and the harvest field pushes

us to judge our own actions in the light in the blazing light of Jesus's words and his

call to us if we are to follow him he is a servant king and he calls us to be servants

as well evangelism is defined as the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ by publicly

preaching or personal witness so that means everybody can do it right publicly preaching

or personal witness how do you witness tell someone how you got saved and what it and

how that how big of a change that was in your life please notice that evangelism is necessary

work Jesus told his disciples the harvest is truly plentiful he says look guys there

are plenty of people out there who need to hear this message there are plenty of people

who need to be served this is like you know my life and sales as well look guys there's

lots of people who need to buy stuff you need to get out there and sell stuff so I don't

I don't say that lightly this is the reality there is a lot of people who need Jesus why

are we so afraid to share the gospel and I'm not throwing stones it's hard for me to you

come back you have to combat this idea of you know I don't know wanna I don't think

they're gonna respond well all this stuff but the reality is we don't have an excuse

it is a command it is a command from our King from our Lord because the harvest is truly

plentiful plentiful the mission field is ripe and ready to harvest Jesus wants these men

to know that there was a great work to be done he wants us to know that there's a great

work to be done there are many many more people in the field than there were in Jesus time

and these people are in great need one of the most interesting things right now with

demographics is there's I'm not exactly sure off the top of my head but there's like over

eight billion people on the planet but we're seeing a demographic demographic collapse

so there will be declining birth rates they're gonna be less people the global population

is expected to contract this should be seen as something that's terrifying if you're a

Christian believer because how many of those people are going to be gone and didn't get

the gospel preached to them they're in great need they're sheep without a shepherd these

people are on a path that leads to destruction they need to hear the word of God they need

the chance to accept the grace that comes at the feet of Jesus more than any other time

in history evangelism is the necessary work not only isn't necessary it's neglected it's

neglected we know that we're told that the harvest is plenty but the labors are few that's

a rebuke from our Lord Jesus makes it clear that not enough of us are doing the job people

need to be reached and I think that that's a call to the church that's a call to those

who believe in Jesus Christ when they read this and Matthew it should make you feel a

little lazy it should make you feel a little bit critical of what am I doing with my time

because people need to be reached for the sake of the gospel he declares that there

was a great problem that the labor is being too few in the field and that problem is even

more present today are you willing to do the work the tragedy of life and of the world

is not that men do not know God the tragedy is that knowing him they still insist on going

their own way that's a quote from William Barclay a powerful quote so in closing as

followers of Christ Jesus we have a lot to do and we have very little time to do it yeah

I'm fairly young still I like to think but I have my daughter would disagree 43 but that

means that there's fleeting time left to serve and to bring the gospel for this demands urgent

action the gospel is not only good news if it arrives to the last but it has to arrive

in time Ecclesiastes says that the wisdom has limits that the message of Proverbs is

this is how you should live your life the message of Ecclesiastes is a response saying

I did that and it didn't work there's a split for a lot of people in interpreting this book

is this a positive outlook on life or a negative one you can make a claim for both but regardless

Ecclesiastes has a message stop worrying about the future stop chasing after perfection be

content with where you are in life and follow God you can't you can't be a good witness

you can't be a good preacher you can't be whatever doesn't matter follow God do what

you can do ultimately Ecclesiastes shows us that everything is fleeting and much of life

is out of our control yet we are you know given this quiet invitation to do our best

in everything to be wise to find enjoyment in the small things even as Hevel is part

of our natural human experience even as we are a vapor we have a choice to choose and

embrace contentment in the present to release the anxious energies and worries that we have

about the future and trust in God so here's some questions for you to ponder when you're

listening do you see the potential harvest are you willing to do what it takes to work

in the field will you see what Jesus saw will you feel what Jesus felt will you do what

Jesus did well we here at the Potter's house church are we going to come together and envision

empathize and evangelize as a larger fellowship are we going to continue to envision empathize

and evangelize as a larger Christian body are we going to envision empathize and evangelize

when we do these things then we will be ready for the harvest so I want to leave you with

this prayer found Lord help us live out what we say we believe give us direction on where

you would go you would have us to go give us strength to do what you'd have us to do

help us to envision the ministry you have called us to help us to empathize with lost

and help us to evangelize the world starting right here in our homes in salmon arm or wherever

you are with your gospel help us to be ready for the harvest amen so if you could have

every about every eye closed as I just bring this to an end I want to give a quick invitation

that if this message is impacted you and you are not saved and this is for you I want you

to signify that with an uplift wherever you are because God sees and with that I want

you to if you if you raise your hand and you meant that I want you to repeat after me dear

Lord I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ and that he

died for my sins and I accept him as my Lord and my Savior and I repent of my sin in Jesus

name amen with that you have entered into the kingdom of God and you are saved now you

need to get out to church do not forsake the gathering of the bread and the Bible tells

us that there's a reason for that it's because iron sharpens iron so if you're in salmon

arm please come and join us we're a small church but I have a vision for God in this

town and beyond and I'd love for you to be a part of that you need to get into the word

get download the u-version app get a Bible go get a printed Bible if you need one call

me and start praying just cry out to God for those of us that are saved that have been

around for a while you need to be reading your Bible you need to be praying and you

need to be sharing your testimony so that people can receive the the good news of Jesus

Christ we don't get it up you know we don't get a gimme on this well this is something

that was the last commandment of our Lord and Savior the Great Commission so find ways

however small to start exercising that muscle and presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ

in in your life to your family to your friends to those you bump into so that Jesus Christ

can do the work of salvation through his grace so with that I want to thank you for listening

today I just pray that you have a great work great rest of your week and I can't wait for

you to come back and listen to me again next time God bless.