Ep. 015 PREPARE NOW TO GET RICH!

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 podcast. Again, my name is Pastor David Bickford. I am the

pastor here in Salmon Arm. The message I have prepared today is, prepare now to get rich.

The subheading would be, lay up treasures in heaven. As we get going and jump into this,

just a little bit about what the purpose of this podcast is. It is simply an outreach

tool, an evangelism tool. These are sermons that I have preached already in the church

and I basically just reformat them into this podcast. Eventually I will probably do video

for YouTube as well, but they are uploaded to YouTube in audio form as well. We are working

on getting a little bit better with the technology as time goes on.

Anyway, let's go ahead and jump in this day. The text that we are working from today is

Matthew 6 verses 19-24. If you are following along, you can go ahead and get there. It

Matthew 6:19–24

is Matthew 6, 19-24. At the time of recording this, we are getting close to Christmas. We

are about 10 days away from Christmas. I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas. It is

an awesome time of the year for us as Christians because we can share the gospel a lot more

freely. People are a little bit more open to it. If you are not doing that already,

that is part of the reason why you wish people Merry Christmas is to share your faith with

others. So don't be discouraged by people trying to push you off and say, oh no, no,

you have to say happy holidays because not everybody is a Christian. Well, that is the

whole point, isn't it? Isn't the whole point to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those

you come in contact with? What better to do that with than by saying, hey, Merry Christmas,

here is a whatever your favorite drink is, not alcohol, of course, but your favorite

holiday drink like an eggnog latte or peppermint mocha or a peppermint hot chocolate. You could

go up and say, hey, Merry Christmas, would you like a peppermint mocha? It is a very,

very powerful time. You are hearing more Christian music played openly because a lot of the Christmas

songs of the season are Christian in nature, of course. So let's use that to our advantage

for the evangelism of Jesus Christ and really just focus in on bringing the love of Jesus

Christ into the public square and not being deterred by the world telling us to keep that

silent and separate because we all know that they are not doing that with a lot of their

messages with a lot of their gospel that they're preaching, which is not from our Lord. So

let's just do that in a kind, caring, loving way. And again, Merry Christmas as we get

started with this message today.

So prepare now to get rich. So when I was reading this book, and I actually am still

reading it. I haven't finished it yet because I took a break, but it was a book about Andre

Augustine. And believe it or not, when I was a young, young man, I was, I was growing up

in Los Angeles and my dad was very into tennis when we lived down there. And I remember my

first pair of really good shoes were a pair of Andre Augustine shoes, Andre Augustine

being a very famous tennis player in the, uh, the nineties. And so anyway, on, on the

court tennis legend, Andre Augustine seemed to be unbeatable during his heyday in the

1990s and early 2000s. The superstar was very successful and earned tons of money. He is

currently worth $175 million. And at one point he was even ranked world's number one. But

in this, but in his 2009 book Augustine revealed that his life as a tennis superstar was one

that he hated. He says that despite his wealth and success playing the game interfered with

his personal relationships and he felt disconnected with his life. He then became very involved

in philanthropy and was especially interested in education. And he opened up the Andre Augustine

college prep Academy in 2001. And he has said that he finds that work far more fulfilling

than he did during his days as a tennis player. It's interesting how, you know, once you get

out of the limelight a little bit, we're out of the, you know, it's all about me and my success kind of realm.

And you start pouring back into others, how much more fulfilling that can be. And there's

a biblical principle with that, right? And so let's look at Matthew six, 19 through 24,

lay up the treasures in heaven and verse 19, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself

treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys a where thieves do not break

in and steal for where your treasure is there. Your heart will also be the eye is the lamp

of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your

eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if then the light in you is

darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters for either he will hate

the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money. So as we jump in, the first point I want to look at is watching

your desires, right? And so let's define what that means a little bit, you know, desire.

It's usually a verb used with an object and it's to wish or long for, to crave, to want,

to express a wish to obtain or ask a request. Other words that are similar to desire are

covet, fancy, solicit, aspiration, hunger, appetite, thirst. All right. Most of us want

more money. We want more stuff. I mean, people all the time that have tens of thousands of

dollars in toys. And what I mean by toys, I mean like big boy adult toys, like boats,

quads, campers. Oh my. And some of us like to have the newest technology as soon as it

comes out, the newest iPhone or the Samsung phone that comes out. You know, we, we want

to upgrade. In fact, I myself, you know, I I'm an apple guy. I have, you know, apple

computer. I have an iPhone. I have an older iPhone. It's an iPhone XR and I'm, I'm, I'm

saving up, you know, to get an iPhone, you know, 15, you know, pro and the other silliest

reason I want that is because finally, finally, even though I love apple, they're, they're

switching over to the C type connection instead of the lightning connection. So I will be

able to get rid of a bunch of useless cords because I'll be able to only have one charger

hanging around versus all the other chargers that, that I end up with. So I'm not immune

to wanting to have some of the newest technology, but I'm still rocking the iPhone XR right

now. So, uh, that's, that's, that's where I'm at, but yeah, we, we, we battle with this,

right? There's nothing wrong with stuff. There's nothing wrong with wanting, you know, a Tesla

or a giant truck and trailer. The issue always comes back to your desires. Why are you dry?

What, why are you driving your appetites and what, what direction are those? Are you allowing

those appetites to drive you? What are you feeding yourself? What does your diet look

like? You know, from a spiritual and emotional level. So let's think about that for a minute.

The more you eat some items, the more you crave them. You know, sugar and simple carbohydrate

foods are very appealing, but as you eat them, you tend not to be satisfied and crave them

more and more. And I've, I feel this, you know, quite a bit. So one of my vices, cause

I typically eat like a keto or like a fat adapted diet. I don't eat a lot of carbs,

but one of my vices is like, um, is mini wheats. Right? So, you know, frosted mini wheats and

I'll take a handful of those, you know, try to limit the amount I eat, but it's always

amazing. The, you know, you eat a little bit and then you want more. And so it's kind of

like the idea of, of the potato chip. Oh, you can't eat just one. There's something

about, you know, these, these either, you know, salty carbohydrate treats or these sugary

carbohydrate treats that it just drives you to want to eat more and more of it. Whereas

if you were eating, you know, a clean fat or a clean protein and you focused on that,

you would be fuller and more satiated because it's, it's actually a better food choice,

you know, in most cases. Whereas healthy foods, complex carbohydrates, even good proteins

in fat, they, like I said, they'll satiate your appetite and provide you with more energy

that you actually need. If you avoid the junk food, you can, you know, in time curb your

desire for them, but only if you remove them from your diet, if you, if you limit the amount

of influence they have in your diet. So if we turn our diet now to the soul, like the

soul or our diet for our soul, there's a well known quote that has been attributed to many

throughout the years, but the version I like best is from a guy, Frank Outlaw. And this,

this is a mantra, if you will, if something that resonates with, you know, it's something

that resonates with me. Uh, it calls us to judge our thought life and we're told to do

the same throughout the Bible. In fact, in Proverbs 4 23, it says, be careful what you

think because your thoughts run your life. So Proverbs 4 23, I want to emphasize this

before we get to the quote Proverbs 4 23, be careful what you think because your thoughts

run your life. So here's the quote. Watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your

words. They become actions. Watch your actions. They become habits. Watch your habits. They

become character. Watch your character or it becomes your destiny. And this is by Frank

Outlaw. He was the late president of a chain of grocery stores, buy low stores. Let's read

that one more time though. Or let's, you know, you listen to this, watch your thoughts. They

become words. Watch your words. They become actions. Watch your actions. They become habits.

Watch your habits. They become character and watch your character for becomes your destiny.

Part of why this quote is so moving to me is that it emphasizes the choice that we have.

We choose to cultivate certain thoughts. We allow the seeds of thought to be sown into

the soil of our hearts and out of that and out from that grows our actions. Those actions

multiply and multiply reaping a bountiful harvest that creates a strong habit. As habits

are re-sown with the same actions fed the same thoughts, we build out a fortress or

a silo that becomes our character. That tower that we are building from our thoughts and

our actions then habits has a character that becomes our destiny. So we're building our

resting place, if you will. That's what our destiny is. It's like our resting place. So

as we build upon, you know, our, our thoughts, our actions, our habits and our character

that we are building our resting place, which is our destiny. You can look at this in a

different way. Instead of building a beautiful and purposeful tower, it could be that you're

building a pit. So either you're building this, this tower that's your destiny, this,

this, uh, you know, pillar, uh, or, or landmark or altar in your life that is your destiny

and God, or you could be building yourself up a way, a gateway path into the pit. Right.

So you could think about it either way. Are you digging yourself into a deeper hole or

are you building yourself a resting place with the Lord on high?

In first Timothy six, three through 10, it says to be careful of false teachers and,

and true and fine true contentment. So let's read. If anyone teaches a different doctrine

and does not agree with the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ and teaching that accords

with godliness, he has puffed up and get seated and understanding nothing. He has an unhealthy

craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander,

and indecisive suspicions, constant friction among people who are depraved in the mind

and depraved truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain, but godliness with contentment

is great game for we brought nothing into the world and we could take nothing out of

the world. But if we have food and clothing with these things, we will be content. But

those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful

desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is at the root of all

kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith.

It pierced themselves with many pangs. So then what are we supposed to do? The scripture,

the word of God is always our lighthouse. It is our measuring stick by bathing in the

word of God regularly and praying for God's discernment. We can have faith that God will

direct us towards his path and his godly desires for our lives. In Christ we have hope. That

is why we preach the message of Christ to all who will listen.

This brings me to my next point, which is earthly riches. As we think of earthly riches,

again, keep in mind that our original text that we're working from, Matthew 6 19 is telling

us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth. So when I'm talking about building

your destiny, I'm not talking about earthly gain. I'm not even talking about salvation.

If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, then you are saved. If you've repented of

your sin and accepted him as Lord in faith, then you are saved and you will enter into

heaven. You will enter into the kingdom of God. But he does tell us to lay up treasures

in heaven where the moth and rust destroy. So that is as you become saved, you're going

to want to serve the Lord. You're going to be in alignment with him. That's basically

this desire from Jesus telling us that his desire for us is to work towards the kingdomly

things, to the heavenly things. He's telling us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven

because where we are working for, when we're laying up treasures in heaven, that's where

our heart will be. If we're laying up treasures on earth, that's where our heart will be.

Right? So let's keep that in mind that we are talking about spiritual treasures when

we're thinking about the things of God. So as we look at earthly riches, riches being

the abundance of invaluable possessions or wealth, there are many other ways of describing

riches, abundance, treasure, wealth, affluence, assets, fortune, gold, opulence, plenty, property,

resources, substance, worth, the opposite of course being lack or poverty or debt. And

some similar synonyms to this would be like carnal. When we talk about earthly riches,

we're talking about a carnality, temporal, terrestrial, or worldly. So there's a powerful

excerpt from the Lay of the Last Minstrel by Canto, or in Canto 6, sorry, by Sir Walter

Scott. And it goes a little something like this. It says, Breathe there the man with

soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land, whose heart

hath near within him burned, as home his footsteps he hath turned. From wandering on a foreign

strand if such there breathe go mark him well, for him no minstrel rapture swell. High though

his titles, proud his name, boundless his wealth, as wish can claim. Despite those titles,

power impel, the wretch concentrated all in self, and doubly dying shall go down, or actually

living shall forfeit, fair renown, and doubly dying shall go down, to the vile dust from

whence he sprung, unwept, unhonored, and unsung. So like the pleasures of sin, earthly riches

last only for a very short season. You know, if we're lucky in life, you'll live to your

seventies or your eighties, or by strength of will you make it into the hundreds. This

is why we're warned about fostering this covetousness relationship, or covetous relationship with

wealth, fame, and riches here on earth. Blessings is not the concern here. We can see from the

story of Job that God enjoys blessing his people. We can see that with the entire story

of Israel, there are blessings, they are a blessed people, and their propensity to turn

away from God didn't stop God from blessing them as a nation throughout their history,

and trying to call them back to him. The issue isn't having the riches, but rather hoarding

the riches, or the use of earthly gain for things outside of God's purpose. If you look

at the story of Solomon, he was the wisest of kings and the richest of kings, but it

was his foolishness in the end to show off his wealth and splendor in a way that was

unbefitting such a wise king that ended up causing problems for his ancestors down the

line. So again, we're called to be emissaries for this heavenly kingdom, but if we were

to be witnesses to the world for God, the creator, then what example are we setting?

If people look into our spending habits, what would they see? Is your spending, your savings,

your focus on the things of God or on the things of man? How do you go about gaining

wealth? Are you doing this in an ethically or moral way? So people on the outside are

looking at us as Christians, and they're judging us and trying to see, are they being ethical,

are they being responsible? This is not an idea of, oh, well, they're not giving the

charities that I like, or oh, they're not supporting things that I like. That's not

what I'm talking about, because we all know that there's going to be judgment from sinners

because we do not align with them spiritually, but we still have to work and ourselves and

be ethical. Proverbs 28, 6 says, better is the poor man who walks in his integrity than

a rich man who is crooked in all his ways. This speaks to that truth that we are called

to have integrity in the ways of God first. And then if blessing comes through that, then

great, but it is better to be the poor man and have integrity than to be the rich man

and be crooked.

And Luke 16, 19 through 31, we see this illustrated with the rich man in Lazarus. In verse 19,

there is a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every

day and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores, who desired to

be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked

his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by angels to Abraham's side. The rich

man also died and was buried and in Hades being tormented. He lifted up his eyes and

saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy

on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am

an anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that in your lifetime you

received your good things and Lazarus in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted

here and you are in anguish. And beside all this, between us and you, a great chasm has

been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able and none

may cross from there to us. And he said, then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's

house for I have five brothers so that they may warn them, so that he may warn them lest

they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the

prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to

them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the

prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. How prophetic.

I mean, obviously, you know, Jesus knew what was going to happen in this situation and

he's giving this this, uh, you know, a parable. But the reality is, is this is foreshadowing

to what to come and is foreshadowing for the time that we live in now where we do have

a risen Lord and people still choose not to believe. And Revelation 18, 16 through 17

says, alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet

adorned with gold and with jewels and with pearls for in a single hour, all this wealth

has been laid to waste. These scriptures highlight for us the frailty of earthly riches. Even

in the story of Job, we can see a picture of how quick our wealth and abundance can

be swept away. We see Job is a godly man being tested. Everything was taken away from Job,

his kids, his wealth, even his health. He was only left with his very judgmental friends

and an understandably bitter wife. Thank goodness Job remained a hedge of protection for his

wife. Even though Job was considered blessed and rich by man prior to these events, it

was not these riches that set him apart and why he can still be read and we can still

read about him today. Job was set apart because his actual riches were stored up in heaven.

He went through a tremendous trial, but in the end he was vindicated by and his blessings

were multiplied. But his true riches are still the riches that he received stored up in heaven.

Which brings me to my third and final point, which is heavenly riches. Synonyms for heavenly,

angelic, blissful, celestial, delectable, delicious, divine, glorious, holy, lovely,

supernatural, wonderful. These are the kind of riches that we're trying to store up in

heaven. The focus of our life being one that we are trying to go forward in and align with

the heavenly vision that we have received in Jesus Christ. As we move forward in that

heavenly vision, we're storing up the riches in heaven that Jesus Christ tells us to focus

in. Again in the text it says in verse 20, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven.

This is from our Lord, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not

break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart is. I emphasize again

that this is the works that come by the faith that you've already put into action. You've

already had faith, which you received salvation by grace of no work of your own. But because

now you have Jesus in your heart, your life starts to change and you become aligned with

him, now you have a desire to do the things of God, to work towards laying up these treasures

in heaven. That's what we're talking about here is the outflow that comes from salvation

by grace. We're not talking about works that lead to salvation. We're talking about works

that come from a changed life because of salvation. In Hebrews 13, 5, it says keep your life free

from the love of money and be content with what you have for he has said, I will never

leave you nor forsake you. This is something I battled with all the time. I'm a working

pastor. I'm a pastor full time, but I do have a full time job as well. What does that mean?

That means I have to in my day to day life remember that this is my calling is to preach

the gospel and to reach the lost. This is my focus to do that. I had to grow in my own

life into a place where I knew that I needed to have a job to help provide for my family,

but for a long time I was chasing after corporate goals. I'd had jobs that were going to potentially

lead me to higher responsibility, but they always required an amount of commitment that

was going to take me away from the things of God. They were always going to take me

away from my family to a certain extent. There's this corporate rat race idea of if you want

to make it in life, you need to sacrifice all of these things on the altar of whatever

corporation you're working for. It's a shame really because we're supposed to be looking

towards the heavenly things and oftentimes many people will do this. I came to a place

in my life where I had to understand that the benefits received from this corporate

race were going to be hugely detrimental to not just my family and my life here on earth,

but they were going to be detrimental to my spiritual life. I had to come to a place where

I literally was able to say, I'm giving you my life, Lord. I'm going to be content with

where I'm at. I'm going to be content with what I have. I'm going to do a good job with

the responsibilities I have, but I need to focus in on the things of God. When we look

at Andre Augustine, he says that despite his wealth of success playing the game interfered

with his personal relationships, he felt disconnected with his life. He then became very involved

with philanthropy and was especially interested in education. He started taking his eyes off

of himself, his success, and a lot of the success drive that he had came from his relationship

with his earthly father, the fact that his father desired for him to be this superstar

in tennis. He had these barriers that caused him to be very aloof in his own personal life

and it was very hard for him. But it wasn't until he was able to put that aside and start

serving others that he started finding fulfillment.

Why did Andre feel so unfulfilled despite his immense earthly success? As we read earlier

in 1 Timothy 6, 9, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare,

into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Discontentment

can drive people to desire riches when the root of their discontentment is that they

are not connecting to the Father. Even with Andre, we can see that in his heyday he had

issues with alcoholism. He was looking for love with all sorts of different women and

models and different things. He wasn't finding fulfillment in what he was doing so he was

looking for other things to fill this void in his heart. But here's a useful article

that expands upon this thought. Discontent is one of the most powerful shaping influences

in our society. Advertisers regularly attempt to dissuade us from the things we use every

day in order to sell us their products. Political parties thrive on discontent, stirring up

voters to covet things they do not have in order to elect a candidate who will take from

one group of people and give to another. Truly contentment is rare today. So think about

that though because this is not a new idea. This is one of the things that led to the

fall of Greece was in the democracies of Greece they were true straight democracies. The way

that political leaders would win their elections was they would take from one group usually

the richer minority group because everybody in Greece got one vote and they would take

from the more elite richer group and give to the poor group. As time goes on this process

would continue to happen until now. There is not an affluent richer group. Everybody

has a lot less of everything and it caused Greece to be ripe for being taken over. That

is with Alexander the Great and eventually their empire collapsed upon itself.

This is why there is so much advertising though to gaining riches, fame, and power is that

this idea of focusing in on the discontentment of others. When discontentment is the driving

force in a person's life all sorts of problems can result. Spouses can rush headlong into

extramarital affairs. Households can pile on loads of debt as they try to keep up the

lifestyle of their neighbors. Biblical truths can be distorted in an effort to make the

message easier to sell. Timothy faced some kind of doctrine elaborations resulting from

teachers who made monetary gain their chief end in life. The prosperity gospel is nothing

new and that is why Paul urges contentment with one's own estate in 1 Timothy 6, 6-8.

He expands upon this principle in today's passage reminding us that a desire to be rich

fueled by discontentment can create senseless desires and result in destruction. Note that

Paul does not say that those who are rich are the ones who succumb to temptation as

if having wealth is evil in itself. Many of the saints who lived during biblical area

were wealthy. For example in Genesis 13, Luke 8, 1-3 we can see this. So being rich itself

is not sinful. What Paul is warning us against is the desire for wealth. But even here he

is not cautioning against the desire to improve one's estate but the desire that makes money

and things to be the end all be all of life. The apostle is warning us not to be like the

rich fool who stores up possessions only for himself and never thinks about how he can

benefit others. As John Calvin explains, having luxuries is not to be condemned on its own

account but lusting after them is always sinful. Those who love money above all else will do

anything to get more of it. They will fall into a snare. We just read that in 1 Timothy

6, 9 which is the same word used in snare of the devil in 3, 7. People who worship gold

and silver will find their bank account will not help them escape the same fate reserved

for Satan. So as we close we need to look at the focus on heavenly riches. What does

that mean? We are called to build our house on the rock of Christ. The revelation of Jesus

the Messiah, the son of God. Our purpose then is to build our lives around that revelation.

Our focus should be on the great commission of spreading the gospel, spreading the word

of God, and seeing others saved by God's grace. As we move into the purpose that, as

we move into this purpose that's laid out for us in the Bible and focus our efforts

on God's will, then Jesus will be building our heavenly home and storing up our heavenly

riches. John 14, 1-3, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I

would not have told you, or would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself

that where I am you may also be. So in closing, watch your desires. As we read in Proverbs

423, be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life. Watch your thoughts,

they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become

habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character for it becomes your destiny.

And then remember, we're not trying to store up earthly riches. As we read in our text,

we're not laying up treasures here on earth because they can be eaten by the moth, destroyed

by rust, and thieves can come and steal them. In Revelation 18, we see again that it doesn't

matter how fine of clothes you're in, the city, the greatness of the city that you live

in, how many jewels and pearls and gold you have, because all this can be laid to waste

in just a single hour. And in the times we live in today, this is a very critical thing

for us to understand with everything that could be on the horizon, with all the wars

and rumors of wars, with all the tumultuous events that are happening in the economies

of the Western cities. As the Western nations are collapsing in on their own lack of integrity,

we need to remember that trusting in the riches that we have right now is foolish.

We need to be laying up our heavenly riches. We need to keep our mind and our heart and

our spirit focused on the things of God. Because that's what's going to help us to weather

these storms like Job did and to build for ourselves treasures in heaven. Every head

bowed, every eye closed. Of course, if you're driving, keep a 10 and 2, keep your eyes on

the road. But everybody else, I always like to take a quick minute to give an invitation.

As a Pentecostal church, we believe in the invitation and doing altar calls. And it doesn't

matter where you are because anything can become an altar if you're doing it with a

right heart. And what do I mean by that? It's simply we just give an invitation that if

this message has impacted you, if this message has spoken to you and you know you're not

right with Jesus Christ, you know you're not right with God right now, I want to give you

the opportunity to get right. I want to give you the opportunity to be saved. And what

does that mean? That just simply means that you're turning from your sinful life, you're

accepting Jesus as your Savior and faith. And then therefore you receive grace. It's

an invitation that's open for everybody. But you have to allow yourself to receive it.

It's nothing we do. You just have to open yourself to receive it. So if that's you,

it's as simple as this sinner's prayer, which is, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. And

you can repeat this 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 on the cross for my sins. I repent of my sins.

I turn away from them and I accept you Lord as my Savior. I ask you to enter into my heart

and be my Lord and Savior in my life. And I thank you for the grace that you bestowed

upon me in salvation that comes from that grace in Jesus name. Amen.

If you pray that prayer, I'd really appreciate it if you shot me a message, if you reached

out to me, I'd love to hear from you. And otherwise I just thank you for listening to

this message and I look forward to you coming back again. I just want to quickly close in

prayer. Dear Lord, I pray this message goes out from here and touches the nations of the

world. I hope that it reaches the lost to bring them to call them to Christ through

your Holy Spirit for nothing that I do can can bring people to salvation. But I pray

that the Holy Spirit would use this to bring people to you to the foot of the cross and

that they give their lives to you. I give you all the praise and glory and Jesus mighty

name. Amen. Thank you again and I can't wait for you to come back next time.