Destination Unknown

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Proceed to root.

Well, hey Gateway family, how are you doing?

Good to see everybody.

Well, wasn't that a great video?

I love testimonies like that.

When God invades a teenager's life, you know, that age group, that's the perfect time because there's enough maturity to really know what God's saying.

And then when they begin to hear from the Lord about their future, that's when lives are radically changed.

Sandy and I led a youth conference for 25 years, and those are some of the best memories that we have.

So YouthCon, our youth conference 2026 is coming up here in July.

I think it's around the 15th.

And uh, students, if you have not gotten registered for that, register today.

You can text the word youth to 71010 and get that process going.

Parents, get your students there.

I mean for a life change.

You heard Pastor Jelani say there is no junior Holy Spirit.

And so when the Holy Spirit begins to move on their life, yeah, I I happen to have met my wife at a youth conference.

Just say it.

Just say it.

And uh so, grandparents, you hey, listen, you can be involved too.

Sponsor these students.

And if you don't have any grandkids, sponsor somebody else's uh students to go.

All right, so that's coming up and uh this next next month.

That's exciting.

Well, I want to greet everyone watching online, all of our campuses as well, and I'm so so uh glad that you've chosen to join in with us.

We're gonna be finishing our series today on the road trip.

So, this being the conclusion of the road trip, you'd think that we'd finally have a destination, right?

I mean, let's park the car.

Of course, every time I see that that opener, I see that small car, I'm thinking that was one small family, because it took more than that to get us on vacation.

But, you know, you think, all right, we've got a destination in mind.

We're gonna we're going to finally get there.

But today I'm gonna be talking about the life of Abraham.

And one of the things the Lord said to Abraham when he took when he started his journey was, I'm going to send you to a place that you've never known.

He stepped out in faith.

So basically, I'm gonna be talking about a destination today, but it's destination unknown.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the word of God.

I ask today, Lord, that you would speak to us out of the scripture.

God, I pray today that you would impact our hearts and impact our lives.

And Lord, I pray more than anything else that we would not settle our life in the wrong place.

But God, we would press in to what you have for all of us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 8, the scripture says, By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.

Hebrews 11:8

He goes on to say, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

I love this layout in this passage.

I mean, you could just stay right here all day, but I love the fact that when Abraham obeyed God, he when he heard God, he obeyed God immediately.

I mean, how many times has it has the Lord had to work with us for weeks, if not months, maybe even, God forbid, years to get us to step out in obedience to that next thing that God has for us to do.

You know, Sandy and I love road trips.

Sometimes we'll plan an entire month just for a one-day trip.

But we love to take these one-day trips in Texas, and a lot of the trips we have done numerous times because it's something we we love to do.

We love to plan.

We actually bought a book on uh road trips in Texas.

But uh my dad, there was a different story.

He uh some would call it spontaneous.

I called it no planning, but hey, it was a vacation nonetheless.

I remember one year he said, Hey, let's go to Colorado, and it meant grab your stuff, we're going like right now.

And so he he uh he bought a new to us car.

You know what I'm talking about?

A 1975 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser.

Oh yeah.

Can I just say at age 15, it's impossible to look cool climbing into that?

It did have a really cool back seat, though.

The back seat faced outward, you know, so you could look at where you'd been.

Okay, that was fun.

But we we uh we broke down along the way.

And um, you know, like I said, there were no plans.

And so my brother and I, as we would come through these small towns, we'd start looking for the hotel.

We'd beg, we'd beg dad, please stop before it gets dark.

And we'd look for these hotels that had, I said hotels, I should say motel.

I don't know that I stayed in a hotel until after I got married.

I didn't know they existed, you know.

All the places I stayed, you pulled the car out in front of the door, but we looked for a swimming pool that had a diving board.

I mean, that was like a hit, you know.

We could find that was vacation.

I remember that week we stayed in some godforsaken town so the car could be fixed, but we had a diving board.

That's all I remember.

I'm not saying the car was old, but that's the exact model that Abraham and his family owned, okay?

Just say it.

I was thinking the other day, Oldsmobile.

You'd think you'd get a clue by the name, Old Mobile.

You know, oh never mind, never mind.

I love the fact that our life is a life of faith.

A life of faith basically is made up of steps of obedience, one after the other.

But what I love about this story of Abraham, it says when he was called, he obeyed.

When he was called, he went.

So therefore, when you're called, the next step is go, obey, do what you feel like.

You listen, I'd rather miss God by trying to obey God than to miss God by holding back.

I don't want a life full of regrets.

I can't tell you how many times I've said to myself, I won't do that again.

But I'm glad we stepped out and we tried to hear God and obey God.

But what does it mean to be called?

Abraham was called.

Being called is more than an occupation.

There's a difference between an occupation and a calling.

The word calling comes from a Latin word vocare, which is the same word we get the word vocal and the word vocation.

Isn't that interesting?

So an occupation is not the same as a vocation.

It basically means this to call out or to call up something in you.

For instance, if you have a calling, that means there's there's a desk, there is a destiny laying dormant inside of you.

And when God calls to you, there he calls up and out of you your calling.

And when it happens, your whole life will be redirected toward that burden and that passion that's in you.

All of you in this room have a calling.

Some of you will be in full-time ministry, some of you will be in full-time marketplace ministry, but all of us have a calling.

We're called to make an impact for Christ everywhere we go.

You're called.

But God seldom gives us all the details.

It requires faith.

Now, there's a difference between blind faith and biblical faith.

Blind faith is just launching out, hoping everything falls in place.

That's kind of the way my dad planned vacation.

Okay.

I don't like blind faith.

But biblical faith is different.

Biblical faith is based on a promise from God.

For instance, Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Basically, this: when you walk with God, you develop a relationship with God, and out of that relationship with God, God begins to communicate to you the best way that you hear what your future is.

And then there are steps of faith involved.

Sandy and I live by a passage, we we quote this all the time.

We basically live on making decisions based on the peace of God.

The scripture says, let the peace of God rule your heart.

So if we're thinking about something, an act of faith, a decision in faith, and we pray together, if we have peace, even though we don't have all of the details, we'll step out in faith because there's peace.

I believe Abraham understood that.

I believe Abraham walked with God because hearing God is all part of a relationship with God.

In Romans chapter 4, verse 3, the scripture says about Abraham.

Romans 4:3

Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

It wasn't like he heard God one time and said, I believe that.

No, it was a relationship.

So I want to take this relationship back to Abraham's original city, original town where he grew up.

It's a town called Ur.

In Acts chapter 7, starting in verse 2, Stephen was speaking here, and here's what he said.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He said, Brothers and fathers, listen to me.

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia.

That's where the city of Ur was.

So he spoke to Abraham in Mesopotamia, and the Bible says, before he lived in Haran.

That city of Haran is going to become important in a moment.

And here's what God said to him: Leave your country and your people.

And God said, And go to a land that I will show you.

Now, according to some of the early stories about Abraham, he knew he was headed to Canaan.

So it's not uh, you know, it's not a contradiction to scripture, but it'd be like me saying to you, we're going to Colorado.

I didn't say what city, and I didn't talk about all the things that would happen along the way.

So basically, he knew he was headed to a region, but he knew also he would have to go before he'd know.

He'd have to walk it out before the revelation would come along the way of all the details he needed to know.

Now, historians believe that because God spoke to Abram while he was still in Ur, that it was all wrapped up in the family uh saga that was going on.

For instance, Abraham's brother had passed away.

His name was Haran.

H-A-R-A-N.

Abram's dad, a man by the name of Tarah, was walking through grief because of the loss of his son.

And so Haran's son was Lot.

How many of you remember Abraham's nephew, Lot?

And so they all load up, and here's my thinking behind it.

Tarai was willing to go with Abraham because in his grief he didn't want to be left behind.

And it was the custom of that day for families to stick together.

And so they headed out from Ur to Canaan.

Now you've got to understand, Canaan was only 600 miles on the other side of the Syrian desert.

But to cross over from Ur to Canaan by crossing the Assyrian desert was absolute death.

A shortcut to kill you, basically.

So knowing that they couldn't go that way, they headed north up the trading path up the river Euphrates, and as they headed north, they landed in a city called Haran.

Now, where is Haran?

Glad you asked.

You know, we make statements like this about the Bible.

We say, in its original manuscript, we believe that the Bible is inerrant and infallible.

How many of you believe that?

I do, right?

Inerrant basically means there are no errors in it, and infallible means you can absolutely trust it.

So what we're saying is we trust this book.

And I not only trust the scriptures in this book, but I'm going to preach for just a minute out of the back, which is the maps.

I believe this book so much, I believe the maps, okay?

But where did they go?

Well, as they headed up, I have a map for you to look at here.

As they headed from Ur, which is in the lower right corner, they headed straight up the Euphrates River and they landed in a city called Haran.

Now, the interesting thing about Haran, that's the same name of Abram's brother.

Historians believe that that city was named as a memorial to his brother.

And the reason it was named there is that's where his dad Tarah ended up living.

And that's where they stayed.

Let me pick the story up here, if you don't mind.

In Genesis chapter 11, 31, it says, and when they came to Haran, they settled there.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

And then it goes on to say Terah lived 205 years and he died in Haran.

Now, let me tell you why this is not a good thing.

I understand they had to go.

But when it says they settled there, according to that map we just looked at, Haran is halfway to the promised land.

I want to say to us today, we cannot settle halfway.

Let me go back and say it this way again.

Every one of you has a promise in your life.

Every one of you has a destiny in your life.

Every one of us are on a journey.

We cannot settle halfway, especially when halfway commemorates or is in memory of your pain.

Some of us have settled.

Why would you want to settle in Haran?

The name Haran means parched, burnt land.

Why would you want to settle in a parched land when God's called you to a promised land?

Somebody needs to say amen right there.

I'm telling you, we can't settle halfway.

Abram and his dad and his whole family, they're walking through such a difficult season in their life.

Their brother and his son had passed away, and Huron then represented a place of grief and sorrow.

It was a place of pain.

I'll say to you this: we'll all have Hurons in our life.

We all have places of pain.

Some of us have different levels of pain.

Some pain takes longer to get through and to get over.

Some of you have lost children, and you can identify.

We've lost a granddaughter.

We can identify somewhat with the pain of losing someone that you love.

But I have to say to you, no matter what you've walked through, no matter the level of your pain, if you stay there, if you settle there, you will die there.

And that's not the plan of God for you.

From time to time, we're going to be tested, we're going to be pushed to the limit.

We're going to be tempted to quit.

We're going to be tempted to throw in the towel.

We're going to be tempted to find something else easier to do.

But when there's a calling on your life, when there's a purpose on your life, you cannot settle halfway.

You just can't do it.

Some point you've got to draw a line in the sand and you've got to say, pain will not stop the call of God on my life.

Several years ago, I was doing some mission work in Honduras, and I had this young girl on our team.

She was in her 20s.

Her name was Amy.

Amy had cystic fibrosis.

There was a lot of things that Amy couldn't do, but her parents let her go on that mission trip because she begged them.

She always wanted to be a missionary.

She always wanted to go to a foreign country and they let her go with us.

I remember that week vividly because I got to see an incredible miracle happen.

We were walking through a barrio, an old poor village, and there were kids running in the streets, and we kept noticing that there were these gang members, and they were watching us, and the local missionary told us, those are gang members.

They're policing the streets and they're making sure you don't get out of line.

About this time, a young girl walked up to us, and she was very young, I'm going to guess around 13, 14 years old, and she appeared to be pregnant.

And so we troubled, you know, we were all troubled by the circumstances, and we walked up, began to talk to her, found out she wasn't pregnant at all.

She had a tumor in her stomach.

As we began to share the gospel with her, Amy just said, Hey, we want to pray for your healing.

And Amy put her hand on that little girl's stomach, and we put our hand on top of Amy's.

And as Amy began to pray, that tumor disappeared.

We all were just shocked.

The little girl, listen, the little girl began to cry, we began to cry.

The gang members thought we did something to hurt her, so they just rushed in on us.

And as they found out what had just happened, they all started crying.

I'm talking these tough guys.

And that day, seven people gave their hearts to Christ because of Amy.

Are you listening?

Now let me go forward.

Amy got sick on that trip.

We had to put her in a hospital and get her on oxygen because of her cystic fibrosis.

One of the guys on the trip.

I mean, when I think about the details here, I think God knew one of the men on our trip was an American Airlines pilot.

And on our trip home, he said the pressure is going to be too hard on her lungs.

He made provision and called American Airlines, made provision so that the flight would fly at a lower altitude.

Who does that?

And they got oxygen on the plane, and we flew Amy home, and she got into the hospital here, and just a few weeks later she was improving enough.

They let her come to the church and give a testimony.

But after she gave the testimony, she went back to the hospital, and a few days later she passed.

That's pain.

That's pain I don't ever want to know.

But that daddy went back with me to Honduras that next year.

And we preached a crusade there in that city, and many came to Christ because of the Amy Pack Memorial Crusade.

But let me tell you the rest of the story.

Jim Pack's now 80 years old.

He's been back to Honduras 61 times because he wouldn't let his pain stop him halfway.

Is anybody listening to me?

You can't let your pain stop you halfway.

You've got to go on in the things of God.

Which brings me to the last point.

You can't let pain control you.

I'm gonna tell you, the Lord will meet you in that pain and heal you.

I'm not saying wait till you get completely healed before you step out.

I'm sure Abraham still carried the pain.

He stayed in Haran, by the way, for five years.

He was 70 when he got there, 75 when he left.

He died at 150.

You can't make these numbers up.

That was his halfway point.

But it's time to believe again.

It's time to dream again.

I don't know what you've been through, but I'm telling you, you have a divine appointment with the Holy Spirit today to lay down your pain.

Genesis chapter 12, starting in verse 1.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

It says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.

This is where he spoke to him when he was in Haran.

Now we know he spoke something to him in Mesopotamia there in Ur, but he speaks this again when he's in Haran, as if to say, I'm still true to my promise, Abram.

I still want you to finish what you started.

Let me read on.

Says, Go to the land that I will show you, verse 2.

I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.

And in all the families, or in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

Can I just give you a side note?

God said when you leave here, leave your family.

Lot somehow got on the trip.

I don't know if that was disobedience or what, but can I tell you when Lot jumps on the trip, there's going to be a lot of problems, okay?

And there was.

But on this word, Abram stepped out again, and this time he made it all the way to Canaan.

Now it wasn't without some setbacks.

For instance, when they got there, you'd think it'd be Disneyland.

You know, everything's paid for and you're going to have this great time, but no, when they got there, it was famine.

How many of you know your journey doesn't always look like you think it should?

How many of you know what you thought you'd do in high school and what you thought you'd do in college, what you thought you'd do 20 years ago, you're not doing today.

There are turns and challenges and changes, but God's promise and calling have never changed.

When he got to Canaan, there was a famine, so he detoured over to Egypt for a while.

While he was in Egypt, though, some things began to come out of his heart that needed to.

Sometimes under pressure, God begins to show us what's in our heart.

Sometimes we're shocked.

We're like, I didn't know I'd say that.

I didn't know I'd do that.

And the enemy tries to get you locked down so you never reach your destiny.

What began to happen was some things begin to come out of Abram's heart.

We know from the scriptures that he lied to Pharaoh to save his own skin and his wife.

But he lied to Pharaoh.

Another thing that happened, he tried to speed up God's promise about having a son.

So he had a son by his maidservant.

How many of you know that wasn't God's plan?

But how many of you know all of us have taken matters in our own hand from time to time?

But God Still didn't back off of the plan.

And all these things basically funneled down to a day when Abram was 99 years old.

I know people don't live quite that long these days.

At the same time, how many of us would have waited that long to the end of our life for the promise to happen?

And here's what I want to say to you.

Let me read it to you.

Genesis 17, verse 1.

Genesis 17:1

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God.

Walk before me and be blameless.

And I will make my covenant between me and you.

That right there is that is the turning point.

I'll explain in just a moment.

And I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.

And then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations.

Before the covenant, Abram's name meant exalted father.

After the covenant, God changed his name to Father of Many Nations.

Before the covenant, Abram made all kinds of selfish decisions.

After the covenant, Abram's attention turned to the nations and the promise of God to fulfill the original thing God told him to do.

So what happened?

What's this covenant thing?

Well, basically this.

When they would cut covenant, they would take sacrificial animals and basically cut them in half and separate them.

And then if I was going to cut a covenant with you, I would walk a figure eight through those pieces, and then you would walk a figure eight through those pieces.

We'd be bound together, blood brothers, blood sisters, that kind of a thing.

That's a covenant.

Today we have a covenant of marriage, and that's that's the two of us agreeing and bonding together.

But it happened different that day with Abram.

The Bible basically says that after Abram cut the pieces and separated them, a deep sleep came upon him, and I'm thinking that's so he couldn't mess it up.

How many of you know some of us guys just need naps every now and then, or we'll just mess it up?

But it says a deep sleep came upon Abram, and then it says God walked through the pieces.

God walked through the pieces for both himself and for Abram.

Basically, meaning this covenant is bound because I bound it.

It's not bound because of performance, meaning if you do something wrong, covenant broken.

No, God said, I'm forming this covenant.

Sounds a whole lot like the cross to me.

Jesus saying, I'll pay your penalty so that you can enter covenant with me and be born again.

It's a beautiful, beautiful picture.

But I got to thinking the other day, why did he put Abram in a deep sleep?

The first time you remember in Scripture someone went into a deep sleep was Adam.

And under that godly anesthetic or anesthesia, God took a rib from Adam and formed woman.

Deep sleep.

I'm thinking, deep sleep again, God's doing surgery on Abram.

Because this wasn't just about a name change, this was about a heart change.

Oh, and by the way, why did he change his name from Abram to Abraham?

Because God took part of his name and meshed it with Abram's name, and Yahweh now was Abraham.

Sarai, his wife, was now Sarah.

Took part of Yahweh, Sarah.

God said, I'm cutting covenant.

You're mine.

Such a beautiful picture.

But can I tell you that the only way the promise ever could happen was when Abram laid it all down and became one with God.

Therefore, the only way you and I will ever fulfill the call of God on our life is in covenant with Jesus, walking in obedience to Him.

When we stray, there's no way.

We've got to draw near.

And when we draw near and we walk in relationship, although sometimes we've got to walk in forgiveness and restoration and being rebuilt and being restored and being redeemed, we need all of it, all of that's relationship with God.

That's why religion will never work, it has to be relationship with God.

That's why performance will never work, it has to be relationship with God.

And by the way, when Abram became Abraham and he cut covenant, we were beneficiaries of that obedience.

Let me read it to you.

This is the last passage.

Galatians 3, verse 7.

Galatians 3:7

Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles.

That's us.

Now I know we have some Jewish people in the room.

I understand that.

But we're brothers and sisters through Christ now.

We got included.

When Abram saw the stars of the sky, and God said, I'm giving you children more than the stars of the sky.

When Abram saw the sands of the sea, and God said, I'm going to give you more children than the sands of the sea.

Abram was seeing us.

We were the ones being included.

Every nation can be saved through the power of the blood that started with Abram and now ends with Christ.

That's a beautiful covenant.

Let me read on.

It says, In you all the nations shall be blessed.

So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

And then verse 29 says, And if you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

You've heard the song?

Father Abraham.

How many sons?

How many sons?

How many of you know that?

As Father Abraham, help me out.

I am one of them, and so are you.

So let's just praise the Lord.

Right arm, left arm.

You remember that?

Come on.

That's talking about you.

That's talking about us.

Oh, what an incredible story.

You can't make this stuff up.

The journey was halfway.

Are you kidding me?

You can't make this stuff up.

I'm so grateful.

I declare over you right now there's a calling of God on your life.

You can't settle for halfway.

It's time to believe again.

It's time to take the next step of faith.

God will meet you there because he has a great purpose for your life.

On May the 26th, in the year 1700, Count Nicholas Zinzendorf was born in Dresden, Germany, into one of the wealthiest noble families in Europe.

He was a Count, which means he inherited wealth, land, influence, and a future in government.

He could have spent his life chasing power and prestige, but as a young man, he stood one day before a painting of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, and beneath the painting were these words This I have done for thee.

What hast thou done for me?

That question changed everything in his life.

He later said, I've loved Jesus for a long time, but I've never really done anything for him.

And from this day forward, I will do whatever he asked.

Instead of building a greater estate for himself, he opened his land to persecuted Christians from Moravia who were fleeing for their lives.

They formed a little village called Hernhut.

At first the people argued and struggled to get along.

But after months of prayer and repentance, the Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way in 1727.

And out of that revival came a prayer meeting that never stopped.

Someone was praying every hour of every day for more than 100 years.

Think about it: a 100-year unbroken prayer prayer chain.

That prayer meeting didn't stay in Germany.

It produced missionaries known as the Moravians who carried the gospel around the world, including to the American colonies and the Native American Indians.

Years later, a discouraged young preacher by the name of John Wesley met those Moravian believers.

Their peace, their faith, and their love for Christ changed him.

Wesley's own spiritual awakening helped ignite the Methodist revival, which became one of the great engines of the first and the second great awakening in America.

I'm telling you, if it hadn't been for all of this trail and the great awakenings in America, Christianity would not look like it looks right now in this country.

It all traces back to one man who simply said, Lord, everything I have belongs to you.

One act of obedience became a village.

One village became a prayer meeting.

One prayer meeting became a missionary movement.

One missionary movement helped spark revival on two continents.

And to this day, there's a prayer meeting 24-7 in Moravian Falls, North Carolina, because of one man's obedience.

I want to say something to you.

When Pastor Daniel got here, one of the first things he did in January was a 12 days, was 12 days of prayer and fasting.

I felt something shift in me during those 12 days.

Something new is going on in this place.

You see, we weren't called to just be a church that prays.

We were called to be a praying church.

That's different.

God's raising up something in this place, and every one of you has a calling to step into.

If you don't know the Lord, your next step is to step into salvation.

But if you know the Lord, then your next step is to step into the obedience of baptism.

But what after that?

Then step into getting discipled, step into getting spirit-filled, step into whatever it is.

Go on a mission trip.

Go somewhere.

Go across town and give some food to someone in need.

What is the next step?

Because as you step into it, then God begins to show you more of the future.

It's much like Psalms 119.

Thy word, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

You'll only see that far until you step.

And as you step and the lights begin to move, you begin to get your future just, your future just revealed because of your obedience.

God's speaking to you.

It's time to obey, whatever your next step is.

Would you bow your heads with me and close your eyes?

There's some of you in this room, I really, really want to help you with your next step.

When I was 16 years old, a pastor helped me.

That night as he was preaching the gospel and talking about how much Jesus loved us.

He asked a two a two-part question that I want to ask you.

But before I ask it, I want you to go with me to this mindset for just a moment.

Some of you have grown up in church, and because you've believed in God for a long, long time, you just believe that everything that you're experiencing right now must be salvation because you've believed in God a long, long time.

I've heard it said that Christians or those that are, should I say it this way, church members sometimes are the hardest ones to convince they're lost.

And at the age of 16, a church member, this is the question that was asked.

If you died right now, where would you go?

The second part of the question was if you're saved, how do you know?

I couldn't answer either one of those.

I was a church member, I was religious.

I'd actually been baptized, but I didn't know the Lord.

There's some of you in this room that fits you.

And I want to help you.

I want to pray with you.

I want to help you invite Jesus into your life to begin a relationship of faith.

If you'd say to me right now, Pastor Mark, if I died today, I don't know where I'd go.

But I want to settle this with the Lord.

I want to help you do that.

I'm going to lead you in a prayer.

I'm not going to embarrass you.

I'm just going to help you.

But I want to know who I'm praying with.

So if you'd say to me right now, Pastor Mark, that's me.

If I died right now, I don't know where I'd go.

I want to settle this with the Lord.

I want to know that I'm saved.

Would you just lift your hand all over this auditorium just quickly?

I just want to know who I'm leading in prayer.

I'm going to pray with every one of you as a group.

I see those hands, some in the balcony, across the middle, I see you.

I see you.

Over to my right and to your left.

I see you.

Anyone else before we pray?

Just say, I want to be part of this prayer.

I don't know if I died today where I'd go.

I don't know, and I want to.

All right, for the sake of those that raise their hand, you can put your hands down.

For the sake of those that raise their hand, let's pray this prayer out loud together.

Let's all help them invite Christ into their life.

Would you pray right now?

Would you just say, Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross.

Thank you for paying for my sins.

I ask you today to forgive me and to cleanse me.

I turn my heart toward you and I declare that you are my Savior.

I accept you as my Savior and Lord.

Come into my heart and save me and cleanse me and give me that assurance that I might know.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Can we thank the Lord for those that just prayed?

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.