Ep. 027 Artificial Purpose

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

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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 Bigford and I will be your

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to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome back to the P.H.S.A. podcast. My name is David Bigford. I'm the pastor here

at the Potter's House Salmon Arm. The message I have for you today is Artificial Purpose

or the World's Search for a Purpose, a God-free purpose to be exact. The text we will be using

as a jumping off point will be Matthew 15, chapter 15 verses 12 through 14. When I was

putting this together I found this excerpt from John C. Maxwell from his book, Be a People

Person where it says, A person whose mind is polluted and whose vision is not clear

cannot understand or interpret behavior based on obedience to God. With that there was this

article that I came across in relation to Harvard's new chaplain. The title of the article

is Harvard's new chaplain is an atheist. It's by Ken Ham who we tend to know because he's

from the Answers in Genesis organization. This is from an article that goes back to

September 9, 2021. It's a little bit old but it's still an important illustration for us

to look at as we dive into this message of artificial purpose. This little excerpt says,

Harvard University has appointed a new chaplain who brings a fresh perspective to the role

as an atheist. The new chaplain, Greg Epstein, is now the president of the university's chaplains

overseeing more than 40 university chaplains from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and

other religious communities. The report says Epstein is perfect for the role because he

has no clear religious affinity. But is that true? So as we kind of use this as an idea

or as a foundation for the question about artificial purpose, we need to consider what

does it even mean to be a chaplain? Well, a chaplain is a noun that's used to describe

a member of the clergy attached to a chapel, a member of the clergy who conducts religious

services for an institution such as a prison or a hospital, a lay person who is appointed

to provide spiritual leadership and counseling to members of an institution such as a university.

So then you have to ask yourself, how can someone be a chaplain if they don't even believe

in the spirit? How can someone guided by secular humanism lead people that he believes are

deluded by faith in the supernatural? I can understand an atheist being appointed to the

chair of a philosophy department to be in a governing body who's going to oversee the

back and forth discussions between philosophy students and philosophy teachers where there

is no firm foundation or basis for belief in those systems. They all vary depending

on people's worldview. But to institute someone as a chaplain, where I use the definition

that talks about clergy, but you can ascribe the idea of a chaplain because in the military

we deal with chaplains quite a bit. You have Christian chaplains and even within that you

have chaplains who are Baptist and chaplains who are Catholic and chaplains who are Lutheran.

So you have all these different chaplains, but you also have chaplains who are Jewish

and chaplains who are Hindu and chaplains who are Buddhist. In the hierarchy of the

military or any kind of governmental structure, these people will govern how to best serve

the members of their organization within their faith. If a Hindu or a Buddhist is the leader

of these chaplain organizations, at least they have an understanding that the freedom

of religion is going to be espoused to all and you are going to allow or facilitate the

functions of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism within that governmental structure.

But it's an entirely interesting thing to think of someone who believes that all of

those ideas are wrong. The idea of even the spirit or supernatural powers are wrong. And

how that person is going to govern the hierarchy of faiths. So at the very top of the hierarchy

you're putting someone with arguably what they would say is no faith above all these

other faith groups. Now I would make the other argument that it takes far more faith to be

atheist than it does to believe in a creator. But let's not get off into the weeds too quickly

in the message today. So let's look at our scripture today as we jump off into this idea

on how can an atheist make his purpose, their goal of governing a body of believers in Christ

or believers in what we would consider other pagan gods. But how can that person who has

no understanding of faith govern the faith groups of Harvard? So in the text Matthew

15, 12 through 24 it says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the

Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? He answered, Every plant that my heavenly

father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone, they are blind guides. And

if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. So what is the world looking for?

We see Harvard make decisions like this and Harvard has been in the news quite a bit fairly

recently because of the things that had happened after the horrible attack on Israel on October

7th. But the world today and more specifically the Western world is looking for their next

movie. They are looking for the next movie blockbuster, the next revolution, trend, fad

or TikTok craze. Hopefully, if you've been up in the news in the United States, TikTok

being what it is might be banned in the US. So it's an interesting idea to ponder why

would they be trying to ban TikTok now? Whereas they've known about some of the issues of

TikTok from a geopolitical standpoint for as long as it's been instituted. But anyway,

again, don't want to get off the tin in the weeds too quickly. I apologize. It's probably

that I've had a little too much caffeine already this morning as I record this. So parents

and children alike are bombarded with entertainment beyond what is possible to digest. So with

this barrage of movies, music, video games, is it any wonder that our society is so jaded?

We have been lulled into a drug induced state that makes us susceptible to the most illogical

of beliefs. Many hide behind these beliefs because they give cover to the sinful desires

of our hearts and make us feel vindicated for living a life at odds with God. This might

seem trivial to some. Why should we worry about how people spend their free time? Why

does it matter if someone is an adrenaline junkie or a thrill seeker or the opposite,

a seeker of leisure? After all, it's not our place to judge, right? The real risk here

is that we are allowing the world to define what entertainment, leisure, or adventure

is to our children and our friends and our family. Instead of showing the world the adventure,

joy, peace, love, and purpose that we have found in Christ and God's word, we spend

our time talking about the culture of the world. We should spend more of our energy

on Christ's culture, and that is where the true excitement lives, true happiness, true

challenge, and yes, true danger resides in God's plan for our lives. Thrill seekers should

look at tales of Christian missionaries if they want to find thrilling tales of excitement.

Instead though, many are fleeing the presence of God seeking understanding in the vaguest

of ideologies and the darkest depths of their hearts. The emptiness they see in the world

drives them to the craziest places to try and fill the void of their souls. We've seen

the rise of skydiving and free climbing or rock climbing as adrenaline junkies go out

to try to find some way to excite themselves given the world that they live in today. Not

that there's anything wrong with being physically fit and active and doing adventurous things,

but we weren't put on the planet purely to just go about and do activities of either

leisure or activities of recreation. We were put on the planet so that we can spread the

gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's continue with our story from Ken Ham and the new Harvard

chaplain. It continues, yes, this man is acting as his God and his religion of atheism. Well,

it's not such an idea of no religious affinity is frankly a load of nonsense. This man is

an atheist. That's his religion, not some kind of neutral position. As Harvard is implying,

he has a belief system and a worldview. He believes all life is a result of naturalism.

He believes man determines his morality and his own purpose and meaning in life. It's

exactly what the devil tempted Adam and Eve with. You will be like God, Genesis 3 5. Yes,

this man is acting as his God in his religion of atheism. So when your starting point is

that humanity makes its own rules, you're in trouble. The question quickly leads you

to ask, well, which human is smart enough or evolved enough to set the standard? Who

can judge the actions of one atheist to another? The reality is there can be no judgment because

each individual makes his own morality. A deeper point of this is that if there is no

God, if there is no higher power to set the stage for morality, then morality is a word

with no meaning within the terms of atheism. Now, atheists will try to claim that no morality

is what society has come to understand because of evolutionary process of what's best for

the species. But that is quickly obliterated as an argument when you see the consistent

return to humanity, to violence and total destruction of their neighbors whenever given

the opportunity. Even when we look at the war waging in Russian Ukraine or the war that's

happening in Israel and Gaza, you see quickly how humanity doesn't do what's best for the

species. It only does what's best for the leaders of a certain group who can rally their

people into violence. Now, from an atheistic standpoint, though, you can even push this

idea a little bit further to say, well, whoever ends up winning that conflict gets to write

the history of what is moral in that given conflict. And that goes back to that old adage

about whoever wins the war gets to write the history. And that's true to a certain extent

unless there is a greater power than what we believe in Christianity with God and our

Savior Jesus Christ. Because then they set the morality. But on an atheistic view, whoever

has the most power purely does set the morality for that society. And Luke 6 39 through 40

it says, He also told them a parable, Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not

both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully

trained will be like his teacher. So as atheists teach atheists, then they continue on with

only being able to pass on the knowledge that they have obtained. But in they've only obtained

that from their their previous teacher. So if they're blind, because they have no they

have no guiding principles, and those guiding principles can be changed by each generation,

then they are like the blind leading the blind. So this brings me to my first point, which

is an entertainment coma. I want to first look at the state of entertainment or society.

And I want to think of all the wasted time that we have throughout our day. We can all

be guilty of this. So you think back on your day yesterday, or your your week last week,

you pick you've got your phone, and you're just clicking around on your phone. I mean,

I do this when I wake up. It's it's it's a horrible habit. But sometimes you know, I

wake up fairly early. So it's it I almost want the blue light off the off the phone

to help me wake up. But that's a poor excuse. But how many times do you look at it when

you wake up? How much stuff do you scroll through? How many texts or emails or or you

know, Instagram feeds do you go through? How many seconds do you spend watching YouTube

videos or TikTok? They actually say in the United States that for children for kids,

the average TikTok viewing time is eight hours a day, eight hours a day. So if you're in

the States and your kids watching TikTok, and they're like, I don't have time to do

that. Those chores you asked me to do will be like, well, let me see your screen time.

It might not be a popular response. But the reality is, is that that is the average currently

in the United States, eight hours of viewing time of just TikTok for kids in the States.

First Corinthians 735 says, I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint

upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

Now that scripture is primarily about marriage. But I think it's very interesting that we

we can we can take from the gospel we take from the scripture that when when God is putting

parameters around our lives, it's to help us to be ordered. It's to help us to be undivided

in our devotion to the Lord. As Christians were called to be undivided in our devotion

to the Lord. So that does mean that as we put our days together and recognition of the

salvation we've received from Jesus Christ and the sacrifice on the cross, we are putting

our day and we're ordering it according to our devotion to the Lord. So I'm very guilty

of this myself. Like I said, my son often tells me to get off my phone so that we can

we can talk. Mind you, he only usually says that when he's not allowed his phone. But

regardless, every time I hear him say that, it makes me feel a bit guilty for wasting

time that I should be spending with him in the present. And to that point, I've been

very excited. This is just a you know, something that that has been a tremendous blessing to

my life, even though it can be difficult at times. But my son has started waking up. I

get him up early at like six in the morning during the during the school week. And he's

been coming downstairs to where we have our gym equipment kind of set up. And he's been

exercising with me. And you know, I make you know, I make sure that we're able to have

that time to exercise and talk and stuff. And it's been a tremendous blessing, you know,

to my life to have that time with him as of late. And it's helped me to be routed in the

present, you know, with him. So this is just on the fringes, though some people go through

life tethered to their computers, their phones, or the tablets every second of the day. Now

we can we even have this new, you know, device that's come out the Apple goggles or vision

pros, I believe there is what they're called. And it's begin to, to, you know, it's being

marketed rather as this new era of spatial computing. It's they call themselves or they

advertise themselves as Apple vision pro seamlessly blends the digital content with your physical

space you navigate simply by using your eyes, hands and voice. So now you can do things

you love in ways never before possible. You've never seen everything like this before. So

the interesting thing with this is that I listened to a radio program, you know, from

the states called Armstrong Getty. And it's a it's a pretty interesting like news kind

of program. And Jack Armstrong is the is the one of the guys on the program. And he's had

the opportunity to demo these these vision pros. And he's an older guy, but he says,

you know, that this is such an amazing technology that he and he's not for this technology,

but he he admits that it's it's addictive. And so he's used it a little bit. And now,

you know, days later, he thinks, wow, man, it'd be nice to be able to get back into that

environment. It was so relaxing. It was so, you know, entertaining. And so even as a guy

who's in his 50s, he's like, he's like, wow, this is I can feel the draw of this artificial

world. The melding of virtual reality and reality is bringing people out of the real

world and putting them in this self induced entertainment coma. So why are we seeking

these artificial thrills? What's happening in our society that's causing us to turn inward?

And that's really what's happening. I know the argument with a lot of the online stuff

is that, oh, you can be more connected to you know, than ever before. And there is some

truth to that. You know, I've been able to be connected with my family who lives in Michigan,

you know, far more, you know, using chat stuff, you know, like Facebook and Messenger and

different different things than than I would be if I had to call them on a on an old rotary

phone and try to get ahold of them. You know, I'm obviously more connected. But but that's

not, you know, what we're using this stuff for. You know, mostly, we're mostly using

this stuff for just plain entertainment purposes. We're turning away from our friends and family.

We're turning away from the thrill of life and replacing it with this pablum that will

never be sufficient to fill, you know, the fill us with true joy and excitement, because

that can only come from the real world and from our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. So

let's continue with Ken Ham and this atheist chaplain. You know, while we do think or while

we do, you want to it's important to think, is there any hope, any joy, any excitement

in this view of reality? So how should we think about this about atheist chaplains?

What Jesus said describes a situation here. They are blind guides. And if the blind lead

the blind, both will fall into a pit. Matthew 15 14. Yes, this is the case of the blind

leading the blind. Harvard, once a Christian school, is now a leader and raising up generations

in atheist religion. That's a warning to all compromising schools like Calvin, Wheaton

and many others. Compromising God's word beginning in Genesis results in ruin. The fool says

in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who

does good. Psalm 14 one. This is an important point to make. I mean, Harvard being a Christian

school has left behind the foundation of what the school was designed to be. It was designed

to be a seminary to train up preachers and leaders of the colonies of the nation. But

yet now they have left behind their first love and now they even have put in charge

of what little remnant of faith is left in the school. They've put in charge of it someone

who would claim no faith, but in reality is just the leader of the larger, what I believe

to be one of the largest of global faiths, which is atheistic humanist religion. This

brings me to my next point, which is rebellion and revolution. In first Timothy one, chapter

one, verses three through seven, it says, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia,

remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,

nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promotes speculation rather

than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues

from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving

from these have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring to be a teacher of the law without

understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they are. They make

confident assertions. So when entertainment runs its course and despair and depression

fill the void, then rebellion and revolution are the next step. When we look at what's

happened with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and many other compromising schools, we begin

to see a clear picture. We see that when Christ is removed from our culture and our society,

it does not take long for the lights to dim. Our leaders lead us away from the light and

out into the darkness and chaos reign supreme. Harvard and Yale were both seminaries and

Princeton was started because of the mission drift that was already occurring within Harvard

and Yale. Three of the four founders were graduates from Yale, three of the four founders

of Princeton. The fourth is a graduate of Harvard. These four applied for a charter

after convincing and joining forces with three more graduates from Yale. Interestingly, the

four were all Christian pastors, Presbyterians who were disappointed by Yale and Harvard's

opposition to the Great Awakening. Like many of the oldest colleges, Princeton was founded

to train Christian ministers. I think it's interesting that it was the Great Awakening

that was the impetus for this. The fact that Yale and Harvard had been watered down enough

that they didn't see the tremendous thing that was happening in the Great Awakening

is what caused these other ministers to say, this amazing renewal of faith is happening

now. Yet, what we consider even today to be our stalwart universities of Yale and Harvard

couldn't see the power of God moving. It took these other ministers to break off. In fact,

92% of all colleges and universities founded before 1932 were originally Christian institutions.

Very few still are. Be that as it may, we also remember the motto of Princeton, which

is die, or die sub numine vigette, which is under the protection of God she flourishes.

So what can we glean from this historical trivia? One thing that we can see is the call of Christians

to hold to the standard and when the world shifts, we do not shift with it, but hold

fast to the word of God. That's what the Great Awakening really was. It wasn't this new Christianity.

No, it was always a call back to the scripture. Even Martin Luther's Reformation was a call

back to the scripture. It was getting rid of the things that culture and society have

put into the Bible and it was a movement back to the core scripture. Our world is in a state

of rebellion against God and we cannot stand by and let it happen, but how should we react

as Christians today? I tell you what we don't do. We don't put on our Apple vision pros

and watch the newest movie or play the newest game. No, instead of succumbing to the entertainment

coma, we stand with Christ. We look to the light of the world. Even though our institutions

fall and our culture pushes against the word of God, we remember that we are not the rebels.

We are the emissaries of the gospel. Our fight is not with the unsaved in the world. Our

enemy is not a flesh and blood. We fight against powers and principalities. The founders of

Princeton show us the way. We create new bastions for the gospel and for the next Great Awakening.

During the Jesus People movement, we saw an explosion of new churches that were really

focused on the gospel and spreading the message of Jesus Christ. This huge explosion of evangelism,

discipleship, church planting from churches such as ours with the Potter's House, the

door, Victory Chapels. Part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries was an outgrowth of

that Jesus People movement. When other churches were refusing to allow the hippies to come

into the churches, our fellowship and others were welcoming them in knowing that the gospel

of Jesus Christ had the power to change people's lives. People like Calvary Chapel, that awesome

movie about the Jesus revolution is titled Jesus Revolution, that shows us that it is

the message of Christ that can change people's lives and we have to allow for that next Great

Awakening. The world that we live in today is in rebellion. The world is trying to revolt

against God's will and we have to hold to the truth that we get from the gospel, the

truth of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Society tells us that we believers

are unscientific but you have to ask yourself what authority do they hold when making such

an accusation. I contend that true believers are the most logical, the most scientific,

and the most rational people around. Think of that stat from earlier in the message here.

92% of all colleges and universities founded before 1932 were originally Christian institutions.

In Jude 1, 17-23 it says, But you must remember, beloved, that the predictions of the apostles

of the Lord Jesus Christ they said to you in the last times there will be scoffers following

their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause division, worldly people devoid of the

Spirit, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in

the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in love of God, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus

Christ that leads to eternal life and to have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching

them out of the fire, to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained

by the flesh.

So when we think about this, when we think about how most of these colleges were founded,

were Christian prior to this, it's an interesting idea because again I do stand by my statement

that I believe that true Christians, Bible-believing Christians are the most logical people, rational

people around. I think that it's a very easy thing to understand that when you have a question

of morality there has to be a lawgiver who's actually giving you that understanding of

morality.

So then the question is to you, who will you follow? As we pick up in Jude 1, 24 it says,

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence

of his glory with great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time or before any age and now

and forever. Amen.

So this brings me to my final point which is the blind or the delivered. Some are willfully

blind and some have been delivered and now see. Paul the apostle had scales fall from

his eyes. He was trained by the Jewish worldview of the time. He was a respected leader. He

had power and prestige but when he came face to face with the risen Jesus, he was changed

forever. In Acts 9, 18 it says, And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and

he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized. Even during the time of Jesus, it

was critical to seek truth, to look for the fruit that is born by those in power and those

who claim authority. John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to gain confirmation

that he was the Messiah. In Luke 7, 18-23 it says, The disciples of John reported all

these things to him, and John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the

Lord saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And when the

men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you the one

who is to come, or shall we look for another? In that hour he healed many people of diseases

and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight, and he answered

them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind received sight, the lame

walk lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, the poor have good

news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

When we read the scriptures like this, I believe that it's a challenge. It's a challenge to

us. Many of us have seen miracles in our lives, but still act like we need more proof. The

world says they need proof of God's existence, but they're more than willing to follow blind

leaders that promise them the road to a political utopia or a technological utopia. Even though

all of history shows us the folly in those beliefs. It reminds me of the end of the last

book in Chronicles of Narnia. After the world has come to an end, there's a scene where

the dwarves, they believe that they are sitting in a dark, smelly barn with nothing but putrid

food for them to eat. The others that are there with them see a beautiful room with

a full banquet, but there's no convincing the dwarves that they are wrong and they have

decided to seek darkness and are blind to the light. But we all have that same choice.

In Matthew 15, 12-14 it says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the

Pharisees were offended when they heard you saying, or when they heard this saying, He

answered them, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not been planted will be uprooted.

Let them alone, they are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall

into the pit. That's our text from the earlier in the message and just as a reiteration,

you don't want to be like the dwarves sitting in the dark complaining about how everything

is horrible and everything is miserable and there is no God. You want to see the light.

In Hebrews 13, 7-9, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider

the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,

today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for

the heart to be strengthened by grace. When you think about that, when you think about

that idea of the dwarves sitting in the dark, everybody's trying to tell you today to look

towards the inner light that's in you. But we're told in the scripture that the human

heart is wicked and deceitful. So if all you're doing is turning in to try to find the morality

that's within you, don't you think that the morality within you is only going to be the

morality that's good for you? And that's not a standard that you can live on because then

the person next to you is going to have a different standard. And that's where we come

into this society that we live in today where it's all about relative truth and relative

understandings. You can't build a lasting society on such shaky ground. It's like building

on the sand. It's like building on the sand with the waves that come in every day when

the tide comes in every day. Every day the tides come in and it changes your foundation.

You need to build on the rock. You need to build on the rock of Christ. So in closing,

we have some tremendous leaders that we can look to. In the Bible, of course, we have

Jesus, the apostles, all of the Old Testament champions of faith. In our own lives, we have

those that we can look up to. We can see the fruit of their lives. We can see their faith.

We can strive to live a life full of real purpose, real excitement, and God-given purpose.

I have my pastor, the pastor of my mother church that sent us out, Pastor Dave Marks.

He's a humble servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, God has been able to use that

church and all the wonderful people in our church in Chilliwack to reach into not just

Canada but deep into Russia and a lot of the different Slavic countries like even Ukraine.

From those Russian works, we've been able to tap into Cuba and we've seen tremendous

things happen within the churches that we have in Cuba as well. This is just a small

fraction of what God has been able to do through our fellowship and through our head church

in Prescott, Arizona, and our late pastor, Pastor Mitchell. All the thousands of churches

we have worldwide now preaching the gospel. These are humble servants of Jesus Christ

and we can see real, visible fruit that comes in the way of lives that have come to Jesus

Christ. People have been saved from addictions to drugs and all sorts of things. That's the

kind of faith that we can strive to have. We can strive to live a life full of real

purpose and real excitement, God-given purpose. The world searches for these artificial things,

these artificial intelligences, or what I recently heard talked about is artificial

general intelligence. Artificial general intelligence is the terrifying idea of the AI, the artificial

intelligence, that gets to a point where it can know that it's learning and it can self-direct

what it wants to learn. We have artificial entertainment, artificial purpose in our world

today. It is all a form of rebellion against the truth of God's creation and Christ's

sacrifice. This search for artificial things is like the blind leading the blind. This

artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is going to lead us down this path of destruction.

Even the people creating it believe that. It all leads to the same pit and despair.

And that is why we must hold close to the truth of our faith and share the gospel with

the nations and with all the people. You don't need to jump out of a plane or go free climbing

to get a thrill or an adrenaline rush. When you live for God, you will have all the excitement

you can bear. You will also have peace and joy. You will be challenged, but it's worth

it. Jesus is worthy and the Christian life is the best roller coaster ride anyone can

take. So with that, if I could have every bit about every eye closed as I bring this

message to a conclusion with an invitation for those that are not saved. If this message

is spoken to you and you recognize that you don't know Jesus, maybe you've heard a little

bit about the gospel, but you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. Or maybe you've

walked away from your walk with Jesus. Maybe you're like those colleges that left their

first love behind. It's not too late. You can get your heart right. And if that's you,

you can signify that with an uplifted hand wherever you are, because God can see you.

And if you truly mean that in your heart, then I want you to repeat this quick prayer

after me. Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son

Jesus Christ and that he died for me on the cross. I repent of my sin. I turn away from

it. And I accept your, your son, Jesus as my savior. I give you all the praise and glory

in Jesus name. I thank you. Amen. It's not meant to be formulaic. And probably every

time I say that, you know, that prayer during on this podcast is slightly different because

the reality is all it is, is just like the thief on the cross. You're recognizing your

sin, you're repenting or you're turning away from it. And then you're accepting Jesus as

your savior. That's going to create something. It's going to cause something in your life.

The Bible tells us like creating an a new heart within you and you will be changed.

You it's a, your name is going to be, is now written in the lamb's book of life. And you

have something more to live for than yourself. How exciting is that to have something more

to live for than yourself. You have something to serve. And with that, I just want to thank

everybody listening to this message today. I pray that it's, it's, it's goes forth and

that it helps you. I also want to give one request that if the, if this did impact, if

this did help you, please like share and subscribe to this podcast so that we can get this out,

you know, to more and more people. We've had some good growth over the last couple of weeks.

And I want to continue to see more people come, you know, to Jesus Christ. And if I

can do, you know, if I can help in any way with that, you know, I would, I would love

to see this podcast grow in the next thing is if you did pray that prayer, you need to

lock into a church. So you need to start reading a Bible. You can get an app. It's free. You

need to start praying, which is just talking to God, prying out to God and then find a

Bible believing church. Now, if you're in salmon arm, I'd love for you to come and visit

with us. Our church is small, but we're going to do big things for God. We have, I have

a huge vision to see, you know, what, you know, Prescott's been able to do, what chill

X has been able to do to see us also venture out in discipleship and world evangelism.

If you, if you are in salmon arm, reach out, come to church with us. If not, we have 3,500

plus churches globally reach out and I'll get you in contact with a good Bible believe

in church, but find one lock in and serve, serve. And that's a big thing too. If you

really want to, you know, put some fuel on the fire for your life, don't just go to church

and sit there, but ask and say, Hey, how can I serve? How can I do more with that? I just

want to thank you again for listening to this message and I pray that you'd have a great

rest of your day. And I'm just going to kind of close in a quick prayer. Dear Lord God,

I pray this message would go forth and exponentially touch people's lives. It is only by your grace,

by your power that the, that your word will go and impact people's lives. Cause we know

in the scripture that you say that your word does not go and return void. And so we give

you all the praise and glory as we go from this place today, Lord God, in Jesus name,

we pray. Amen. Thank you again for listening. I can't wait for you to come back next time.