The Book of Matthew • Matthew 9:35–10:4

Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most

recent sermons and more.

Thanks for listening, and be sure to add this show to your library if you'd like to automatically

receive new episodes each week.

Well, good morning, everybody.

I tell you what, it feels good to say good morning to a group of people and have the accent

that you just said it from come back at you, all right?

If you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to open it up to Matthew

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9.

If you're with us this morning and you did not answer in that accent, we're glad that you're

here as well.

We just outnumber you a little bit, and so, but we're glad to have you guys all with us.

If you don't have a Bible, I want to let you know that we do have some free ones that

are back in the back right here at our connections table.

We want every single person to have a copy of God's Word, and so if you do not have a copy

of God's Word, or if you want to be able to follow along, this is the translation that we

use on Sunday mornings.

If you want to follow along with that, please go back there and grab one.

This is our gift to you.

It does not cost you a penny.

I've had people ask me, I've got people at work that don't have a Bible and that want

a Bible.

If you want to grab one of those, please do.

We absolutely love to give away Bibles, so please make sure that you go back there and

grab one.

It is good to be back.

If you're visiting with us, I have been on sabbatical since the first of beginning of

June.

Some of y'all thought I was coming back in July, and we're looking forward to Josh or

Dave or Joel, but y'all are going to have to settle for me this morning, but it is good

to be back, and I want to thank you as a church in your kindness and your generosity for giving

this to me and my family.

The best way that I could describe our time together was special, and I appreciate it.

Here we go.

Didn't realize how much we needed it until we got into it, so thank you.

Thank you very much.

With that said, Matthew 9, let's start reading verse 35.

And Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming

the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction.

And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, for they were harassed and helpless like

sheep without a shepherd.

And he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Well, last week, during the last week of my sabbatical, I had the privilege, and I use that

word sincerely, I had the privilege to spend it with our high schoolers on a mission trip

to New York City.

And that's a little bit unconventional for sabbatical, but I assured our elders that I would be able

to rest and I would plan to make zero leadership decisions during that time.

And we were great, it was good that we were in great hands.

Joel did a wonderful job of leading our team, and Brent Hawkins did a wonderful job of working

out the logistics and leading us as well.

I want to tell you guys how proud you should be of your high schoolers.

Your youth group as a whole, and our youth group as a whole, shows that day in and day

out.

But these high schoolers, they served and they served well.

We had the privilege of being able to come alongside two different churches, Nueva Vida and La Palabra,

Hispanic churches in Queens, and do some much-needed renovations on their church.

We met the pastor of La Palabra, I met him for the first time, just to kind of give you

a glimpse of what church life looks like up there, especially for pastors, so that he can

afford to live, he lives an hour and a half away in Connecticut.

He drives an hour and a half into his church, he pastors and cares for them, after Sunday

morning service is over, you don't hear me complain anymore about my drive home, he drives

two hours away to go to the second church that he pastors, so that he can return to his house

in Connecticut, where he can afford to live.

He was very gracious and thankful and wanted me to thank you guys for your generosity and

how we served.

Pastor Walter, who many of you have met, who has been here with us, and his wife Veronica

from Nueva Vida, wanted me to also share with you how grateful he is and how he cherishes

our church's partnership with him and his church, and wanted me to also thank you again for being

able to send a team as we continually do to support the work that is there.

Well, parents, if you see your kids' pictures, I heard one of our adults say on the trip, they

were looking through our shared file of what we have of pictures, and there were lots of

pictures of touring around and very few pictures of us working.

And that's because as one of the adults says, that's because we were working the whole time.

Your high schoolers put in two 12-hour days of hard work and sweat and maybe even a little

bit of blood around there before we took our time to tour around New York City.

Now I'm going to tell you all what, New York City didn't know what they were getting when

Willow Ridge showed up.

When the best people in Lexington County showed up to tour around, we visited the Met.

Now I'm going to tell you, if you don't know what the Met is, I knew of the Mets, the baseball

team, I didn't know of the Met.

The Met, if you're not sure what it is, the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

And I'm just going to say, that place is classy.

It got a little bit more classy when we got there, right?

They've got a piece of art called the Madonna and Child.

I'm not going to try to pronounce the guy's name.

I did take art appreciation in college and got through it with a C, which stood for credit.

This one piece of art is valued at $50 million.

I made an offer, they rejected it.

I had my church credit card.

I figured, why not?

I'm just kidding.

All right.

Take that back.

Ignore that.

All right.

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Special time.

A great, great, like historic.

You see the skyline out in front of you.

You look to the right, you see the Empire State Building.

You look down the middle, you see the One World Trade Center.

You look to the left, you see the Statue of Liberty.

Absolutely beautiful.

I love visiting New York City.

This is my 10th trip that I've been able to go every single time on a mission trip.

I love visiting.

I love seeing the sights.

I love meeting the people.

I love serving with your youth and the youth workers who went.

But I think, personally, what I love the most about New York City is, at some point in time, multiple times a day, I don't know if this happened to everybody, but it happened to me.

Someone would ask this question to me.

Where are you from?

I don't know.

I don't think I have an accent.

They would disagree.

And I love being asked that question because being asked that question, where are you from, leads to this question as well.

Why are you here?

Why are you here?

And then from there, what we have the opportunity to do, what God's given me the opportunity to do, is then talk to people about Jesus.

Three different conversations that I had, and I think this is applicable for a passage of Scripture this morning.

I want to share about these conversations with you.

Right down the road from the church that we were working at was a little corner market.

I like to visit that corner market.

Let's just say they had empanadas that were fantastic, all right?

One day, we ate sub-sandwiches for the youth.

And it was evident that there was not going to be enough sub-sandwiches for the youth and the adults.

And I looked at Joel.

I said, don't sweat it, man.

I got a spot, all right?

So the youth ate Subway sandwiches.

We ate empanadas and all the things from the corner market.

But I'm in there, and there's a man who's there, and he's the owner of the store.

He had been there several days.

We had struck up several conversations.

An Indian man.

And so I asked questions to him.

Been there 26 years.

He said, I'm from India.

I'm from a region in the Northwest known as Punjab.

Do you know anything about India?

I said, absolutely.

Told him, I said, I haven't been to New York.

I've been to India.

And then what he asked me is, why in the world would you go to India?

And I said, oh, man.

I love the people.

And I love Jesus.

We got this opportunity to help bring the gospel of Jesus Christ there.

And this guy's not a believer.

And I said, in fact, there's a church right down the road from you.

Right here, man.

I want to tell people about Jesus, and that's why we're here.

Conversation number two, standing at the same store, waiting on my empanadas to be done.

And I hear a woman behind me say, excuse me, sir.

Are you from South Carolina?

Guess we stick out a little bit, right?

And I said, yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am, I am.

I said, have you ever been to South Carolina?

And she says, no, I've never been to South Carolina.

But my family is from a small town in South Carolina.

She said, I bet you've never heard of it.

I said, challenge me, right?

Challenge me.

She said, my whole family's from this small town.

They still live there.

It's called Beach Island, South Carolina.

Quick show of hands.

Quick show of hands.

How many of you can get to Beach Island without using your phone?

Right, right?

So y'all don't even know where this place is.

I said, oh, I know Beach Island.

I know Beach Island.

I said, in fact, when my wife, she's not from there.

But when we met, she lived in a town called Jackson, South Carolina.

And she said, I know Jackson.

And I said, I lived in a town called North Augusta.

She said, I've heard of that too.

And I said, Beach Island's right there in the middle.

And she said, well, what in the world are you doing up here from a town like that?

Why would you come from somewhere like South Carolina and places like Beach Island and come to Queens?

And it's all about Jesus.

Third conversation.

Third conversation.

This is tourist day.

We're coming off the Brooklyn Bridge.

My daughter's just bought a bootleg coach pocketbook.

It's real.

Coming off of it.

And there's food carts.

I love food carts.

I don't know if you can tell.

Love food carts.

All the food carts are there.

The group's there.

They're waiting on me.

We get there.

And kids are looking.

And there's vendors.

And I see this man standing there.

And he's got a table about this big.

And he's selling New York Knicks championship t-shirts.

Now, I don't know if you know this or not, but the Knicks just won the NBA title.

The Knicks have not won the NBA title since 1973.

Passionate, passionate fans that love their basketball.

I am not a New York Knicks fan.

By any way, shape, or form.

I'm a Boston Celtics fan.

And I love the Boston Celtics.

But something felt like it was pulling me toward this guy's table.

So, I walked up to him.

And he said, sir, would you like to buy a t-shirt?

And I thought, you know, let's have some fun.

So, I said, hey, man, you got any Celtics shirts?

And he looked at me.

He said, you have got to be kidding me.

Like, in the thickest Bronx accent that you could find.

Right?

And then I smiled and was like, this is going to go one of two ways.

And he smiled.

And usually, if you haven't been in a place like this, like, once they realize, like, you're not going to mind anything, they're done with you.

And I'm going to fault them for that, right?

Because they've got to make a living.

They've got to sell their t-shirts.

That's their job.

That's their livelihood.

And I'm a Celtics fan.

And I'm not buying what he's got.

And I said, how's business going?

How's business going?

And in that moment, it turned.

He said, I'm going to tell you, man, it's tough.

It's tough.

And then he began to talk to me about his problems.

And I want to share this because I think this matters in the context of it.

He then went into a rant or his frustration with politics.

Now, here's what I'm going to say.

As he spoke, as he talked personally, from person to person, we could not have differed more on politics.

But in that moment, politics was not what mattered.

I told him, as I listened to him, I said, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

And I said, can I pray for you and pray for your family and pray for your business?

Now, there's people passing by.

There's dollars passing by.

And two men, roughly about the same age, who didn't know each other, he said, absolutely.

And he reached out his hands.

We grabbed hands.

We prayed together.

He pulled me and gave me a hug.

Went our separate ways.

Now, I want to be careful.

I'm not telling you these three conversations so that you can go, oh, man, like, look at our pastor.

Look how good he is.

I mean, he goes to New York City, and he's looking to have conversations with people about Jesus.

I'm not telling you, I'm not telling you, I'm not telling you that to brag on myself.

On the flight, waiting for our flight back yesterday, here's the question that the Lord impressed on my heart that I'm seeking to answer.

What if I lived?

What if I lived?

This is the personal question for me.

What if I lived every day of my life?

Every moment.

Like, I'm on a mission trip in New York City.

What if I lived every moment of every day seeking an obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who's in me,

to live every single moment waiting for an opportunity for someone to simply ask questions like,

are you from South Carolina, and trying to see how I can leverage that into a conversation about Jesus?

That's what the Lord's convicting and working in my heart right now.

What if I lived every single day looking for how to take normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill conversations

and turn them into conversations about Jesus?

And what if you did that as well?

What if we took and we longed for the everyday moments

and looking at them and not trying to,

how can I leverage them for my agenda, for my schedule, for my time, for my needs, for my wants?

And ask God, how can I leverage them for you?

What if a trip to the grocery store was an opportunity to minister to the person at the checkout?

What if a trip to the DMV was an opportunity to talk and care for the person who sat beside us?

What if seeing the reclusive neighbor who lives beside us as an opportunity to share hope?

What if social media were to be a place where we focus on sharing the truth of the gospel and not the opinions of people?

What if we woke up every single day looking and asking how God might use us to bless others and tell people about Jesus?

I think when we get to the heart of Matthew 9, 35 through 38,

there's this plea.

As Jesus gathers with his disciples,

there's this intentional plea.

He's calling these disciples to do this.

You see, it's not just a bow struggle.

It's not just a you struggle.

It's an us struggle.

The problem isn't the field.

The problem is there's not workers going into the field.

You see, I believe that the reason why we gather,

the reason why we worship,

the reason why we have hope,

is not just,

the gospel is not simply the impact for our salvation.

It is.

It's the means by which we are saved.

No other message,

through no other person,

through no other means.

But for today,

it's our purpose.

It's our mission.

It's why Jesus saved you and me

and then didn't just call us home.

It's why he leaves us here.

So that we can take and carry the gospel.

If there was no purpose for you,

then he would have saved you and taken you.

Because I'm going to save you

and I'm going to call you

and I'm going to use you

and then when your purpose on here is done,

then I'm going to bring you.

The problem is,

so many of us,

and I find myself in this all too often,

are living a life that doesn't have the hope of eternity

impacting the moment of today.

Look back with me,

verses 35 and 36.

It says,

when Jesus went through all the cities and villages,

teaching their synagogues

and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease and every affliction.

And when he saw the crowds,

focus on verse 36.

When he saw the crowds,

he had compassion for them

because they were harassed

and helpless

like sheep

without a shepherd.

I believe that today

what Jesus wants to do

in my life and yours

is Jesus wants to challenge

how we see people.

Jesus wants to challenge

how we see people.

Jesus begins

by seeing the size

of the peoples.

It says that when he looked,

he saw the crowds.

He didn't speak specifically

into race

or to gender

or socioeconomic status.

Here, Jesus looked out

and he saw the crowds.

The Bible tells us

that Jesus has been traveling

through all the cities

and villages

and I believe

God's word

says what it says

for a purpose

and it's truthful

all the cities and villages.

So what does that mean?

What's been Jesus' journey?

The best guesstimate

we can get to today

is that during the time of Christ

that would have meant

that he would have traveled

to nearly 200 cities

and villages

with around 3 million people.

living in the region.

Folks, this world

is a big place

and it's filled

with a crowd

of many people,

many people

who need Jesus.

And Jesus' instrument

to carry the mission

and the message

of the gospel

are the men,

the women,

and children

who are gathered together

in churches

all across this world

who are believers

in Jesus Christ

who are filled

by his Holy Spirit

who will take

that message

here, there,

and everywhere.

And God's got a crowd

for you.

God may have a different crowd

for me

than the crowd

that God has for you,

but what if we truly believe

that God has placed us

where we live,

where we work,

where we play,

where he's sending us,

where he's calling us,

that God is a going God

who calls his people

to go

and where you go

that you don't carry

your agenda

but where you go

you carry the beauty

of the gospel.

It's a God-sized mission.

Only God can do it.

And in his sovereignty,

he does it through

his people.

God sees the size,

a God-shaped mission

of the crowd.

Not only do we need to see

the size of the crowd,

but we need to see

their suffering.

They are,

what the Bible tells us,

is harassed

and helpless.

I think it's important

to note

that the one

righteous judge

who all of creation

will stand before

in judgment,

that his response

to the crowd

is compassion.

It's compassion.

Folks,

we live in a world,

whether they know it

or not,

that is harassed

and helpless.

we live in a time

where self-help

is at our fingertips.

Where medication

can be received

from a call

and doctor.

Where counselors

can be seen

in person,

online,

or over the phone.

We have more

fixes

than at any point

in time

in human history.

Today,

a few years ago,

they did a study

of the best-selling topic

of books

in all of the bookstores.

And the number one

selling topic

was self-help.

Yet,

we live

in a culture,

we live

in a culture

where depression

and anxiety

are rampant.

rampant.

It crosses

from third world

into first world.

It knows

no difference

between languages.

It impacts men.

It impacts women.

Folks,

it impacts adults.

It impacts kids.

We live

in a world

that is harassed

and helpless.

People are struggling.

Health struggles,

relationship struggles,

financial struggles

run rampant.

Just seeing that

Jesus has been traveling

as he travels

from city to city,

from town to town,

from village to village,

he's healing people.

The physical healing.

But as much

as he could heal

in the physical

of what's there,

what runs

rampant

is the suffering.

And I'm sure

some of the suffering

was self-inflicted,

self-induced.

Some was due

to their circumstances.

But may we look

and see

what Jesus'

response is.

Folks,

it is

compassion.

walking around

New York City

and seeing

the people

lay down

on the roads.

Brent,

yeah,

Brent's here.

How many years ago

did you see that guy?

Five years ago.

Every time you go,

right?

He's right there.

Same place,

got his dog with him.

He's on that spot

in Times Square.

I don't know

what chemical

it is.

We could judge

or we could

be filled

with compassion.

I think it's

remarkable

that what we see

of Jesus

is compassion.

See people

the way that God

sees them.

See them

with compassion.

Remember this,

folks.

Proclaiming

the truth

of the gospel

is never

separated

from the

compassion

of the gospel.

Never.

It is never

separated

from it.

So we see

the size,

we see the suffering,

but we need

to see the separation.

Jesus says they're

like sheep

without a shepherd.

In my doctoral

class that I'm

taking this summer,

I had to read

a demographic

report

about Lexington

County.

Now,

I'm a nerd,

all right?

And so,

I'm not an intelligent

nerd,

I'm just a nerd.

And so,

I find these things

fascinating to read,

all right?

This demographic

report talked

about socioeconomics,

it talked

about gender,

family breakdown,

all in Lexington,

South Carolina.

It talked

about vocations,

you name it,

it had a study

on it.

In fact,

89%,

here's some things

that I think

were just neat,

I don't know,

this is just me,

entertain me,

go with me.

89% of Lexington

have internet connection,

right?

I think,

I thought it'd be

higher,

I don't know.

38% own a dog,

25% own a cat.

Dog people

were winning,

right?

But here's what

stout me the most.

Here's something,

it corrected me

on a lot of things

that I thought I knew,

but here's what

stout me the most.

It didn't,

for some reason,

give a religious

breakdown of the

different faiths

that people had,

but here's what

it did show,

that 37%,

37%

of people

in Lexington

see a need

see a need

for a form

of organized

religion

in their life.

That means

where we live,

63%

of the people

see no,

see no value

of organized

religion

in their life.

Now there are

things that we can

pick and choose

and parse

through that,

but here's what

it says to me.

A few years ago,

when I came to

Willow Ridge Church,

13 years ago,

13 years ago,

33%

of Lexington

County

would say

that they were

a follower

of Jesus.

now we take

all the other

religions

and we pour

into that number

and we only

increase

four percentage

points.

Here's what that

tells me.

People are

seeing

less

and less

of the need

of the desire

for any

form of faith

in their life.

Now let me tell you

this.

False faith

is just as bad

as no faith

because false

faith is no

faith.

But what that

tells me

is the people

of God

have an urgent

mission

and surrounding

us

is a growing

number

of men,

of women,

and children

who do not

know

Jesus.

And here's

the question

that we

must answer.

Not in

simple theological

agreement

but in your

heart of hearts

between you

and the Lord

does the fact

that our

community

surrounding us

is lost

and dying

and going

to hell

does it

matter to you?

does it

matter to you?

And if it

does

folks

what are you

doing about it?

You see

it's easy

for me

to say

that this

matters

but it's

hypocritical

of me

to say

that it

matters

but not

engage

into it.

Jesus

says pray

pray

that they

will go

that they

will go

that we

will go

because they're

sheep

without a

shepherd.

Look at

verse 37

and 38

then he

said to his

disciples

the harvest

is plentiful

but the

labors

are few

therefore

pray earnestly

to the Lord

of the harvest

to send out

laborers

into

his

harvest.

Folks

Jesus

doesn't

call us

to just

sit

and gather

in a room

and intellectually

agree about

this.

He calls

us

to pray

and to go

because the

work of God

is done by

the Spirit

of God

through the

people of

God.

Jesus

is sending

us.

Would you

for your

life pray

that God

would send

workers

and pray

that you

will respond

as a

worker

that is

being sent?

Matthew

28

go therefore

into all

nations

baptizing

them

in the name

of the

Father

the Son

and the

Holy

Spirit

in teaching

them

all that

I have

commanded

you.

The

great

command

the

great

commission

to go.

But you're

like man

but not

me.

Not

me.

I'm not

extroverted.

I'm not

knowledgeable

enough.

I don't

know enough

people.

I don't

have a

place.

I don't

have a

purpose.

There's

varsity

level people

who go

and do

this and

then there's

me.

I know

that's what

some of

you are

thinking

because

these

are

the

conversations

that I've

had when

people begin

to struggle

with applying

this and

living in a

sent

lifestyle of

living for

the purpose

of God

to go

right where

God has

placed you.

I agree

with it.

I agree

with it.

I agree

with it.

But within

me I don't

see the

qualities.

Within

me I don't

see the

characteristics.

Within

me I don't

see the

abilities.

So look at

chapter 10

with me real

quick.

Starting

verse 1

verse 1

and he

called to

him his

twelve

disciples

and gave

them

authority

over

unclean

spirits

to cast

them out

and heal

every disease

and every

affliction.

And the

name of

these twelve

apostles

are these.

First,

Simon who

is called

Peter

and Andrew

his brother

James

his son

is Zebedee

and John

his brother

Philip

and

Bartholomew

Thomas

and Matthew

the tax

collector

James

the son

of Alphaeus

and Thaddeus

Simon

the zealot

and Judas

Iscariot

who betrayed

him.

Here's what I

want to say

if Jesus

has saved

you

then Jesus

has called

you.

If Jesus

has saved

you,

Jesus

has called

you.

This is

a here

in our

text

oh man

this is

a hodgepodge

of people.

These are

not

seminary

professors.

These are

not people

who have

sat for

years

and studied

and been

trained

and who

are capable

in and of

themselves.

And so

if you're

sitting there

and you're

thinking man

Jesus

couldn't

use me

let me

share with

you

you just

read the

names

of those

who Jesus

is using

in this

moment.

Let me

share a few

things

about who

they are.

In this

group we

got blue

collar workers

small business

owners

fishermen

farmers

in this list

you're like

but Bo

my past

man

I know

God has

saved me

from it

but Bo

like if

I go

and share

with people

do you

know the

things that

I've done

and the

things that

they're

that they're

aware of

what we

tell you

like in

this group

is corrupt

government

officials

who everyone

knew were

corrupt

but God

had saved

them from

it.

They're

one of the

power of the

spirit power

of the

message.

Within

here

there's

an

individual

who's

a part

of an

underground

military

group

that's

looking

to

overthrow

the

government

and is

willing

to do

so

by means

of

assassination

if

required.

Jesus

says I'm

going to

call you

and I'm

going to

call you

and I'm

going to

call you

and I'm

going to

call you

and you're

not going

to do

this

through

your own

capabilities

you're

going to

do

this

through

my

power

and my

means

and I'm

going to

tell you

you don't

have to

go

and argue

the points

of scripture

you can

sit down

and say

let me

tell you

about

Jesus

Christ

to

save

me

does

it

matter

to

you

the

imagery

that

Jesus

gives

there's

a

field

there's

the

world

there's

a

harvest

there's

opportunity

waiting

the

issue

is not

is there

a location

the

issue

is not

is there

fruit

the

issue

is

but where

are the

laborers

you see

it's your

work

where

are the

laborers

at your

in your

neighborhood

where

are the

laborers

in your

school

where

are the

laborers

in your

home

where

are

the

laborers

and

my

prayer

is

for you

and for

me

today

we will

say

Lord

here we

are

here we

are

I don't

go on

mission

God

I

live

on

mission

for you

because

the harvest

is where

you have

me

I

ask the

band

they'll

come up

on stage

prayer

encouragers

we'll

move to

either side

of our

auditorium

if you're

here and

you're a

follower of

Jesus the

call is

to go

the call

is to

share

that's

the call

for your

life

but if

you're

here

today

and you

aren't

a

follower

of

Jesus

let me

share

with you

the hope

that we

know

number

one

if you're

here

and you're

not a

follower

of

Jesus

here's

the truth

of what

the Bible

teaches

us

about

our

condition

of

where

we've

been

that

our

sin

has

separated

us

from

God

the Bible

tells

us

that

all

have

sinned

all

have

sinned

and

fallen

short

of

the

glory

of

God

and

that

the

wages

of

that

sin

is

death

me

you

we

are

sinners

who

desperately

need

to be

saved

because

the Bible

also

teaches

us

that

not

only

have

we

sinned

that

there

is

nothing

there's

not a

single

thing

that

you

and I

can

do

in

and

of

ourselves

to

remove

that

sin

to

make

that

payment

the Bible

teaches

us

that

we

can't

fix

ourselves

and

if

the

message

of

scripture

ended

there

what a

sad

place

it

would

be

there'd

be

no

point

of

worship

there'd

be

no

point

of

us

gathering

there'd

be

no

hope

in

this

world

but

there

is

hope

and

the

hope

is

that

at

the

cross

Jesus

did

for

us

what

we

could

not

do

for

ourselves

Jesus

shed

his

blood

to

pay

for

your

sins

and

mine

and

that

through

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

we

receive

forgiveness

we

receive

eternal

life

we

receive

earthly

purpose

and so

if you're

here today

you may

still have

questions

you may

still have

wonderings

but I

would

challenge

you with

this

today

would

you place

your

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

as your

savior

would

you pray

with

me

Lord

we

thank

you

God

for

conversations

in

Queens

and

conversations

in

Lexington

God

we

thank

you

for

the

opportunities

that

you

give

us

every

single

day

or

to

live

on

purpose

and on

mission

because of

the gospel

of Jesus

Christ

God I

pray that

today

that we

would

leave

as a

people

confident

in our

hope

for

eternity

and

passionate

about

making

sure

that

others

know

who

Jesus

is

it's

really

a

conversation

of life

or death

it's

bigger

it's

heaven

or hell

God I

pray that

that would

matter

to us

it would

matter

to us

enough

to step

out of

our

comfort

it would

matter

enough

to ask

if we

could pray

for someone

if we

could invite

someone

if we

could share

with someone

if we

could be

compassionate

for someone

Lord I

pray for

anyone

here

who may

not know

Jesus

Christ

as their

Lord and

Savior

God I

pray that

they would

not leave

here

without

their

eternity

set

and

confidence

in

Jesus

Christ

it's in

his name

we pray

amen

that's it

for this

week's

message

be sure

to check

back next

week for

a new

episode

and in

the meantime

you can

visit us

online at

willowridgechurch.org

or by

searching for

Willow Ridge

Church on

Facebook

Instagram

and YouTube

thanks again

for listening

Thank you.