Sacred Wisdom in Action: King Solomon's Temple, Faithful Leadership, and the Vital Role of Service

Good morning, it's good to see everybody.

Special day today would lead up the ramp up to Thanksgiving, but also, as you've already heard, what Stan Sunday is all about.

This is something observed pretty much all across the country, by the way.

So, and I know some of you are already in that ministry and you're supporting the one that we have here, so I appreciate that very, very much.

How about turning your Bibles today to 1 Kings, chapter 8?

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

You know, since as far back as we can go, people have wanted to gather together for some reason, sometimes just to organize themselves.

As far as the civil government, sometimes they're looking for a God, and it's no different in Israel.

The issue was, through all the years of the nomadic, 40 years in the desert and the 400 years in Egypt, there was no place to gather, and even before that it was more of a loose group of tribes that just sort of had their own relationship with God, if they had a relationship with God.

And so along comes Solomon the king, and Solomon decides he's a new king.

He said you know, I need something to pull this nation together.

They've just lost the greatest leader in the history of this young country and a place to go together to meet with God officially would be, not that that's the most important thing, but a reason to go and meet with God, and so that's what today is all about in 1 Kings, chapter 8.

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

Solomon, in all of his wisdom, realizes this is going to be a necessary thing and also a good thing to do, that we all are the same way.

Today.

We need to gather, we need to be together.

A lot of you will be together, of course, thursday, with family members and all of it.

They'll be coming here.

You'll be traveling to do much of that very same thing.

The issue that we all struggle with is trust.

Can we trust a God that we cannot fully know and we cannot see, and who is not physically with his own hand right in front of us doing his acts right now?

We say we do, but can we fully trust him?

What if our worship is empty?

What if the one we believe in stops believing in us?

There's a lot of deep questions going on, and Solomon, in his day, led this group very well.

He decides to major on simply the promises of a great God to his people, because what he knew and you know this today, many of you God's just not a promise maker, he's a promise keeper.

Verse 15 that we looked at, we will look at, is exactly that.

But also let me add another counterpoint to that.

Also, god calls out people before he chooses places.

Now, he's sovereign and he already knows everything.

But if you notice all through the Scripture, he grabs Abraham, says start walking, start walking west, I'll tell you when to stop.

He grabs Moses and says go back to Egypt.

He is constantly moving people, if not physically, mentally, emotionally, vocationally, into where he has as far as a place for them.

He does his major work in places after he gets his people all set in that area.

So let's go to Lord in prayer.

We have a lot to be grateful for, don't we?

You know, the fact that he let us live another day is a big thing.

We're here, aren't we?

And we have the ability to come and worship and this is our gathering place and it ought to mean a lot, not because of the brick and mortar, not because of tradition those are great, those can be important but because of his presence here with us.

We are promised that as we meet right now, he's here and he's hearing and he's speaking.

So as he speaks to you in the course of the next several minutes.

My challenge to you and me is just first of all, be submissive, and if there is something to obey, just obey.

You'll never be sorry.

You did that.

So let's pray right now.

Father, we come to you with challenges, we come to you with doubts and uncertainties, but we want to be honest about that and we also want to be people who continue to progress as Christ's followers, not just Christ's believers, but we want to be on your journey and on your path.

So help us in the end, if there are next step decisions we need to make, to go ahead and do that today, by the leading of your spirit.

So we ask it in Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

All right, everybody.

At 1 Kings, chapter 8, good deal, good deal.

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

You look like you're awake today.

So, as I just said, a little bit of backdrop.

David has gone away.

David reigned for, I think, 40 years, 33 years.

Solomon is nowhis son has now been chosen to lead.

Solomon has the right heart for God.

He's admitting right out off the bow I'm just like man, I'm way too young for this, I'm overwhelmed for this.

God says I'll give you one thing.

What's the main thing you would like?

I'll give you anything you want, up to one thing.

And he says, well, I think I'd love some wisdom.

And of course God says, man, that's the right answer.

Not only am I going to give you a tremendous amount of wisdom, I'm going to give you all the riches and all the other stuff too.

And so what you're about to see on screen is exhibit A of that.

Can we put that?

It's kind of hard.

This is a rendition of what the Solomon's temple must have looked like when they finished it, and it's a huge expense.

You see those little specks on the concrete on the.

Those are people, and so that gives you a little bit of an idea of how huge it was.

The main temple was right in the middle.

There, the Holy of Holies is the part with the roof on it and everything.

The different courtyards Solomon's courtyard, it was called, was the column aid thing there on the left.

By today's terms, in today's economy, it is estimated that that would cost $3 billion to construct.

Now the stadium where the cowboys play was the stadium that I know of was the first projected.

This thing is going to cost $1 billion.

This would be double that.

It's unbelievably well done, well designed, well put together and there's gold everywhere, and that's one reason it's going to be that.

Well, solomon wasn't too discouraged by that price tag because if he lived today it would be estimated that he would be worth $2 trillion himself personally.

So he's not exactly folding up Reynolds wrap and putting it back in the drawer after he uses it to save it.

He's going to be all right.

First Thessalonians 524 in the message says that God is absolutely trustworthy and what he says he will do.

I love that he uses the word for oh, I'm sorry he uses the word dependable.

God is absolutely dependable, the word he uses for trust and what he says he will do it, and many of you know exactly that's been the case in your life, maybe not today, but it's coming.

So we're going to talk about some promises and how they transpire here because, as always, we're trying to figure out how we can live better as Christ followers during the week.

And it might be really, really important because let's just be real and honest before each other I know you're all looking forward to the family get-togethers for Thanksgiving here, but some of you are looking more forward to it than others and there may be that one person seems like there's always one person in the family that you're like shh man, I don't know.

I heard one thing where a guy called his daughter, his grown daughter, with her family one night and he says hey, sarah, I'm just checking in on you.

She says, well, dad, how things going, anything new?

And he said yeah, I just called you.

Really, I hate to tell you this, but I'm divorcing your mom.

She said what he said.

I just can't live with her any longer.

It's hopeless, useless.

I have tried, I have worked.

It's not working out.

It's not going to work out.

I've made my decision.

She says, dad, before you do anything, just hang on.

We'll be there next week.

We'll be there and we'll talk this thing through, we'll figure this out.

Well, okay, I guess he hangs up, turns to his wife, say hey, honey, the kids are coming home for Thanksgiving this week.

So the first promise that we need to be aware of is God's promises.

Many times are passed down to the next generation.

We see that all through the Old Testament, exactly so 14 through 16, let's read that, while the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and he blessed them.

He was blessing the rest way long time ago, in 700, no more like 900 BC.

That's what kings did in those days.

Verse 15,.

Then he said Praise.

Be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who, with his own hand, has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father, david.

Here's the next gen leader linking up with his father the promise given to him.

Verse 16,.

Since the day I brought my people, israel, out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my name, but to be there.

But I have chosen David to rule my people, israel.

All right, remember what we said just a few minutes ago he chooses people before he chooses places.

He says I didn't pick a place all these years, but I chose David to lead the way.

And now David, he had the vision.

So here's the deal.

David, as some of you know, he dreamed to build a temple.

He said man, I've got such a nice place, I've got this great palace and everything.

There's no permanent structure for God.

We're going to build one.

God intervenes and said You're not the man.

You're a tremendously talented guy, but you've got blood on your hands.

You've been fighting a lot of battles.

This needs to be somebody else I'll hand it over to your son.

Now, david, check this out.

David spends the rest of his life, it appears, designing it, putting his resources, his assets toward it.

He works as if he's going to build it, but when he finally dies, he turns over a project that is very doable to his son, solomon.

So although he wasn't the executor, oh, he saw it coming.

I think he saw it as clearly as in the graphic we just showed you there.

He just wasn't alive to see it.

So it takes perseverance.

You and I have to be in this mindset of knowing that some promises are not going to be actualized today.

Some of them, as in David's case, won't happen until after we are already gone.

David understood that, he accepted it, but he still worked just as hard, he still planned, he still gave just as much as if he would have been closing on that deal himself.

Genesis 17.7 says this I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after me.

That's God making a statement there that obviously we see played out here, and we see it today.

This church reaps the benefits of sacrifices and hard work for generation after generation before us.

126 years ago, a group of about 18, I think, or 20 people started Bible study, which ends up being a church with property, with a building.

And here we are today, and even in more recent times, whether it's pastors, staff ministers, whether it's lay leaders, some of you, some of you, we and the generation after us will reap the benefits of because you paid the price for that.

That's how it ought to work.

That's how it always has worked.

Nothing worth doing usually is easy.

You know how that works, and so we are reaping that.

So, talking about Thanksgiving, how are you going to prepare for that?

What do you mean?

What's the mentalwhat's the mindset?

As we talked about last week, going into Thanksgiving, is this going to be like the usual?

Let's get together and watch some football and eat a bunch of food and just enjoy being together.

There is nothing wrong with that.

But again, is there somebody in the next generation that you could take into a corner or out on the porch for about ten minutes and speak the voice of truth into them in a positive, meaningful, challenging way?

Some of you are sitting in this room because somebody did that for you and they had no clue how impactful that was, but it changed your life, in our world.

Our country is desperately in need of generational leaders coming after us who will undo some of the stuff that's been messed up.

But they also may need to be pioneers of a new course, and most people don't fully begin to believe until somebody they love and respect comes alongside of them, bang, and just speaks the truth.

I see in you Maybe you don't see yet, and I'm going to challenge you just to get involved in that.

That's what Stan Sunday is all about.

Those usually go to the unsuspecting people, those who get involved that you saw in the video.

Those never saw it coming, really, but the truth dawned on them and they took action.

God's always going to make good on His promises and he's always going to choose people before places.

So let's keep reading.

Okay, we're going to skip a verse or two.

Let's go to verse 19, because the next thing that God makes apparent here is this is always an interruption to our plans.

If you ever notice that God with me, at least, he's hardly ever come in and said let me just get alongside of you and tell you you're exactly on the right path here.

We're arm in arm, step in step.

I wouldn't change a thing.

I've never heard that, verse 19,.

Nevertheless, you are not the one to build a temple, but your Son, who is your own flesh and blood, is the one who will build a temple from His name.

Just, he's kind of reviewing what I just kind of gave you a little preview of and all like that.

Some people have called this a divine detour.

Have you ever had those A divine detour?

Or a brick wall and you bounce off of it and you get up, you shake yourself off and say what was going on there.

I thought I was like pretty clear on what my life was going to look like.

God is all about interrupting us because, as you remember, he's not all that concerned about our comfort level, is he?

He's concerned about obedience and faithfulness and once we get in line there we'll feel a lot better, maybe about the situation.

He chooses people and we just talked about that with Stan Sunday.

I don't know that I've ever run into I think it was true in our case too.

I don't know if I've ever run into anybody who adopted or fostered, who started out with that intention.

I was like man, I didn't see that coming, but the more I got revealed to me, the more I learned, the more I got educated.

I just knew I had to get involved with that.

It's an amazing, amazing thing.

A lot of blessings come disguised as disappointments, as roadblocks, as heartbreak, and some of you have had those.

How about that interview you went to and you thought I got it?

nailed, I got it locked down and you never hear again.

How about that engagement that fell through, absolutely shattered you?

Only two, fifteen years later, look back and say, thank you Lord.

Thank you Lord, for whatever reason.

We've all had those disappointments that were divine detours, not where I need you.

I need you to be over here, and so that's what I think he's talking about.

Also, paul was like that.

Paul spends after he meets Jesus.

He spends almost the rest of his life on the move.

He's all over the place.

He's covering thousands and thousands of miles in a day when transportation was tough and dangerous.

And there's even times he writes yeah, man, I want to go to Rome, I want to go to Rome, I want to go to Rome.

You never see any evidence of it that he's going to get to go to Rome until the last of the book of Acts, and that is when he's in chains as a prisoner.

There are other times that I'm going to go to, I'm going to go to this place, I'm going to go to that place.

And in the middle of the night I get one of those dreams or visions and the speaker would say, uh-uh, not for you, you're going to go to Macedonia.

And then he would realize later why that is.

We have to be open, and this comes back to can you find your joy after one of those days, after that setback that, by your definition, is like this is not good at all?

Can we have the resilience to get up the next morning and follow Christ and to believe in Him and to trust His path?

In the light of now that it's going in the new direction that it's going?

This is where prayer becomes so, so dynamic and so powerful.

We should be asking God the big prayers.

We should pray big, and I believe in that.

The mistakes I've made in prayer a lot of times, asking for things I think I ask too small.

He in the end will do what he wants to do.

But if we don't have this heart of belief that is strong enough to say, boy, that was a crash and burn yesterday.

My heart is broken, I'm angry, I'm disgusted, whatever that emotion is, give that to God too.

But today, today, I'm going to follow you, I'm going to do what I did yesterday and I'm going to do what you have told me to do.

In light of this, that's called perseverance and it's called a joy that is far beyond circumstantial type of joy and Paul.

Paul knew how to do that and many people do today too.

Third thing you ready.

These promises are usually always made in his name.

They're interruptions, they're there sometimes for the next generation, but they're in his name.

Let's read verse 17 through 20 real quick.

My father, david, had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

But the Lord said to my father, david, because it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well to have this in your heart.

Nevertheless, you are not the one to build a temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood.

I read that one.

Let's skip down to 20.

The Lord has kept the promises he made.

I have succeeded David, my father, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the father promised, and I have built the temple to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

When we pray in his name or we act in his name, all we're saying is by his presence and by his authority, and those are two invaluable components.

Without those, in this spiritual world that we live in, it's going to be impossible.

Matter of fact, colossians 3.17 says everything you do should be in his name.

I love that verse.

Do all that you do in his name.

And that's what Solomon is trying to do.

He's trusting God for something he's been given that his dad received.

His dad was the owner of it, but he has taken it on as his new project and he's working as hard as he can with that.

We've just said it involves interruptions because he's always going to pick a person and move him or her that could be in his study.

Experiencing God that some of you have taken recently or a while back calls them adjustments.

He doesn't say interruptions, but he says these are adjustments.

You know it's God, because you can't stay in the same place, figuratively or literally, and then you adjust to go there too, and I think he's exactly right there.

We all have to make those adjustments because in his name means that gives you access.

We can do good things in the human realm or we can do good things that he ordains in the spiritual realm.

That's what in his name really means.

That's why we pray in Jesus' name.

It means that's our access card, that's your entry, that's your key, if you will, that's your fob to get you in the door that I have opened for you by that.

His name is Jesus.

In our new covenant days, the name is Jesus Himself, because here's the good news Jesus, shortly before his crucifixion, says let me remind you, I have all authority on the earth and over the earth and under the earth, and you wouldn't have any if my father had not already given it to you.

And so we walk in a good place there when we call on His name, as long as we know we're doing His building bidding.

So how do you handle those interruptions?

How quickly do you recover and you change course and you go in another direction?

How well these days are you listening to the voice of truth?

We can't really speak it into other people until we've heard it ourselves.

Correct, and that might make this the most important thanksgiving you've had in quite a while.

We don't know the story of all of our relatives.

I've got several nieces and nephews.

They're all busy, they're all working, they're all building their careers, they're all doing good.

A couple of them, one of them, two of them are new parents and all like that.

I have no clue, but that's kind of my goal is to walk into a couple of their lives, this thanksgiving, and say, hey, I just noticed this.

I feel like I need to tell you this, I need to encourage you in this way.

I need you to lean into the things that are not seen more than the things that are seen, because you've got what it takes.

Speaking of got what it takes, christy Bear, would you come up and join me please?

Christy Bear is, as Rhonda said, the director of Dorchester County Department of Social Services, so let's welcome her.

And also a little secret you may not know her she attends here.

She comes to the second service, though, so she's one of us All right.

So, christy, how long have you been at Dorchester County?

I have been in Dorchester five years today actually.

Oh really, today is my anniversary in Dorchester.

I was previously in a different county for 11 years before that, but five years as the director.

Well, happy anniversary of five years, thank you.

So we've heard a little bit of the magnitude, of the scope of thousands in the state, and a hundred will be adopted tomorrow, praise the Lord.

There's a lot in our county, though, too, that comprise of those hundreds.

So tell us a little bit about, if we're not super informed.

When I say protective services by the Department of Social Services, what, basically?

What does your job entail?

Well, that's a hard question.

But we take calls of concerns about kids that maybe have been abused or neglected and we have a team of about 80 in Dorchester and we go out into those homes and see what's going on, assess the family, try to help the best.

We can work with our community partners to keep those kids safe.

Ideally kids can stay in the home, maybe with resources and other things.

Sometimes they do have to come out of the home.

Right now we have right at 60 kids in foster care in Dorchester County and just over 3,000 statewide children in foster care.

Yeah, so it sounds like your phone doesn't ring or your email does not get tagged, unless there's a problem.

That's right.

Unless there's bad news Every day, and so you're walking in the middle of tremendous brokenness.

Absolutely.

In the middle of all of that and I'm sure sometimes it seems like we take a step forward and we take two back.

Let's turn it futuristic.

What's a dream you have for your position?

I think the biggest dream would be to have our kids safe and a safe place to lay their head every night, ideally locally, so when kids have to leave their homes, that they can still be in the community, they can maybe still attend their church, they still get to see their friends and that trauma is reduced.

So I think that would really be the biggest dream would be having enough foster parents and community support to keep our kids safe right here in the little country.

So, if I hear you right, what if the day came when there were no kids that needed a home, at least temporarily or permanently?

They're in one somewhere.

That'd be pretty exciting.

Wouldn't it.

Yes, absolutely.

Wow, so also know this your job is one of the most challenging, you don't?

You don't do what you do for the high salary and the low stress.

Is that right?

That's right?

Not at all, no you don't go looking for that job as a good gig to do.

My parents definitely try to talk me out of it.

I can understand.

But so the logical question why do you do what you do?

Well, funny enough, I do think it's my parents fault.

I'm from a small town in Iowa and I have a huge extended family and you always help.

That's just kind of what you do as a big family, and I grew up helping and wanting to help and so this was a natural fit for me.

It's definitely not always easy, but when you can make a difference and see that difference, it makes the hard days better, and that's why I do it every day.

So would you say, this is a job or a calling?

Definitely a calling, absolutely.

If it's a calling, I'm not putting words in your mouth Because it's safe to say I really it's not.

Can I do it?

I cannot not do it.

That's right.

I have to do this.

Yeah, even on the hard days when you think maybe, maybe this isn't my calling, it doesn't take long to realize that it is, and pulled back and redirected, oftentimes here on Sundays.

Redirected.

Yeah, refocused.

So Chrissy's just kind of taught the lesson better than I did.

Remember Iowa, the other generation passed down the blessings to her.

She might not have seen it as a blessing, but they passed that down.

There's a little bit of interruptions along the way.

Absolutely All right, but we're going to go out in Jesus' name.

Can I pray for you real quick?

Absolutely, Lord.

Thank you for Chrissy and the hard work she puts in, but also her heart for you, her heart for other children that are not her own, that she feels that they are her own.

God, would you pave the way for her, open up the doors of personnel, resources, other assets?

More than anything, Lord, we need a whole group of foster parents, of adoptive parents, of family members to be raised up, to take these children into loving homes, not just holding places, but loving, developing homes, and we'll give you the glory now for what you do.

We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's thank Chrissy for her great job.

Great job, All right.

So the last thing we're going to learn about Solomon's adventure here with God is this whole project in the end is for his glory.

Let me skip over to Isaiah 48 for this.

The reason I say that.

He says that if you read the whole chapter, read chapter 4 and chapter after.

He says that very clearly.

But Isaiah speaks from the voice of God.

And then Isaiah 48, 11, he says for my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.

How can I let myself be defamed.

I will not yield my glory to another.

As some of you know, God's very protective about His glory, isn't he?

Yes, he admits it, I'm a jealous God.

I'm not up today for any rivals, for any competition.

I'll just back out of the way and I'll let you run to that and we'll see how that works out.

He's got to be preeminent, he has to be supreme.

And when we submit, that word in essence means when I'm submitting, I am fully dependent on you.

There is no other path.

I see, if I'm going to stay in this realm of being a Christ follower and try to have any kind of spiritual sensibilities rather than just live a completely secular life, we all have a primary purpose.

Now Solomon builds this temple.

By the way, it took seven years to build.

He builds it, they dedicate it.

God must have been glorified because while they're having what we would call the dedication service for that build, the ribbon cutting and the dedication service about halfway through they had to stop church.

You know why?

There was this smoke that invaded the whole area and it was so thick they couldn't do anything.

It was God, and in the Old Testament he many times would manifest himself by fire, by smoke, by clouds, and that day he moves in smoke and clouds and it was so thick they were like time out.

Let's just let him be God.

I love that.

Let's just let God be, because anything we do is pretty frail and futile.

I hope that none of you have gotten secretly to the place I mentioned at the very top, and that is I want to believe, but I don't think he believes in me.

That's not true.

God believes in your potential and your future and your opportunities, so much that he sent his own son to pay a terrible price so that you could know him, so that you could jump on board, so that you could serve him.

It's called the crucifixion and the resurrection.

This place belongs to God and Jesus is the head of it.

If we ever needed a reminder, matthew 16, 18 is that on this rock I will build my church.

He makes that very, very clear and in Ephesians 5, verse 10, we hear these words just find out what glorifies God.

Ephesians 5:10

He doesn't quite finish in English, finish that sentence, but he doesn't have to.

Does he?

Find out what glorifies God and do it and do it?

Will there be a price to pay?

I'm sure there will, but at the end of the day, if God is happy with you, then everything's okay in your world.

If you conquer the world, you cure cancer and you invent an automobile that takes no energy source whatsoever, to be locomot.

You can do all those amazing things, but at the end of the day you lay down he's not happy with you.

You've been a failure.

It's been a failure, and so we're training ourselves on how do we live with a spiritual mindset rather than a physical mindset, because we are a group of people today among very, very secular people, in a secular nation, in a secular world, and we can either join them or throw in the towel and just go inactive, or we can walk into that challenge.

I think I've been around long enough to know what your answer would be to that, so I just want to take this opportunity to thank you.

I appreciate you for being a group of people that love the Lord, that have embraced some challenges.

You've not gotten tangled up in things that could have.

Self-will and personal preferences are not at the forefront, and typically the way a church handles the new challenges and the changes to accommodate to what God's doing.

Those are key times.

Those are either breaking points for some or they're turning points, and you've used them as catalyst.

You've used them as a hey.

Here's how we can bless the Lord.

This is how we can glorify Him.

The world is made up of a lot of different people.

There's this small crust, there's a small percentage I don't know what it is, maybe five percent, maybe less.

I think there's a small percentage of people who not only do not fall apart and do not fear when what they see is setbacks and disappointments happen.

They adjust quickly, they reset their sales and, in light of that, they go to God and seek Him for the new direction.

There's others along with them that actually go looking for problems Because they believe as a problem solver.

The Spirit of God will be very active.

Their submission and their dependency on God will be even stronger.

Have you ever been to that point where you have to raise your hands and say Lord, I have nothing to offer here, I have no solution, I have no plan, I can't know this.

You take it, I'll follow you.

And that's where some of you are too, and glory be to God.

I love being in a church where the relationship with Jesus drives traditions, not vice versa.

Traditions are important.

We all have our habits and our behaviors and our rituals.

We all have our things that just feel most natural to us.

But that's not where God lives.

God gives us traditions to enhance worship, not to restrict worship, not to draw boundaries around where God wants to work.

So I'll tell you this there's more challenges coming.

God's always on the move.

We'll never stop adjusting.

We'll never stop, I hope, having to be on our knees saying I really don't have an answer to this, but I know you do.

Here's the other thing.

I know he's assembled you here.

He's given you talents and skills and spiritual gifts and you are giving of your resources and your time and your prayer energy.

You're giving that for the sake of Christ.

And if we all keep doing this together and we all see the goal ahead of us, as David did and then as Solomon did, some of us not going to make it to the grand opening, but there are many of you will and the only limitation to what God has for this church is us.

We don't want to be that limitation, do we?

We don't want to be the yes buts.

We want to be the ones that say I don't know how in the world that's going to work, but I'm in Y'all.

That's the safest place to be.

It is the scariest place to be too, but I, for one, would not want to spend the rest of my life in any other pursuit.

Here's the last good news I'll give you, and then I'll let you worship one more time.

His promises are always based on relationship.

If you have no relationship, just consider the promise void.

If you have, or you want, the relationship with Jesus, whew.

Everything is in play now.

Everything you read in here is applying to you, but we get to choose, I get to choose and you get to choose.

I ask at the very top what if we decided to start believing but he no longer believed in us?

That won't happen.

I will tell you.

What scares me at times is the question what if our best worship, what if our best shot at worship was insulting to Him?

As long as you're following Christ, that won't happen.

But if it ever becomes about me and you, we probably will.

So I just want to tell you I love you.

I'm pretty fired up, as you can tell, about the new year already, but y'all are going to be the leaders of it.

You will be the key components and you will be building something that your children and your grandchildren will benefit from.

I think that's the greatest calling.

Christi is doing things now that she won't see the fruit of, but some people after her will.

That's worth going to work for.

So why don't you stand, eddie?

You going to come up and lead us in one Love, to see you down here if we can celebrate a next step decision to join.

If you need prayer, we're here to help you pray.

Love for you to hang tight for the next five minutes, unless you just have to leave the room and feel free to come down and let us help you.

However, you can or see us at 10 afterwards.

Father, this is your kingdom.

You made that clear.

This is your church, this is your vision, this is your Word.

So I thank you for the days when you do speak the truth.

That's what separates us from folks that are really suffering today.

So, god, we just thank you for loving us enough to call us to Yourself.

We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.