An Encounter with Jesus: The End isn’t Always The End

All right, all right, that was premature. You don't know me yet,

so hang on to that. He might want to want you might want

that back at the end of the message. But hey, like Pastor Brandon

said, I've known him for many years now. I actually was on staff

here then Canyon Creek, and so it's great to see some familiar faces,

some old time friends. And it's an honor to be here with you this

morning. So Pastor Brandon and I are great leaders, they're great pastors,

but to me, they're also great friends. And like like he said,

we go way back. So our kids grew up in church. I actually

brought a picture of our kids. It's uh, Rachel. You'll see Rachel

and my son Bryce and my daughter Amy. And this is back when we

started together. So we were trying to figure out how old our kids were

when we got to start doing church together. This is when me and Pastor

Brandon were youth pastors. That was way way way back. You never see

that movie, Jesus Movie, The Jesus movie that was That was kind of

when we were doing this. But the thing about these three kids is it

hit me last week. All three of them are grown and married. I

got my first grandkid and a second grand kid on the way, and then

it's up to Jesus Rachel and her husband when they're gonna have a grand kid.

Butt. But it hit me also that these pastors kids grew up in

the church with parents who who got called to the ministry. And the real

miracle of the photo is all three of those kids still love Jesus and they

still love the Church. And that, for parents is worth celebrating. And

if you're a parent, you need to be encouraged. It is still possible

in twenty twenty four to raise a kid who loves Jesus, devotes their life

to Christ and follows them the follows Jesus for the rest of their life.

You can have a healthy connection to Jesus. Amen. It doesn't have to

be weird, it doesn't have to be off putting, but it will always

be life changing. And so we're in a series called Encounters with Jesus,

and I've listened to a couple of the messages and I mean this, and

I'm not just waxing eloquent kind of him because he's over there. But didn't

Pastor Morgan do a great job last week? He's over there he's over there.

Clap. I see you who aren't clapping over there, He's over there.

But in all honesty, though, over the past few weeks, you've

been encouraged and reminded that it just takes one moment with Jesus for everything to

change. And how many of you would raise your hand and say you've learned

at least one thing in the last several weeks. You've learned at least one

thing in the last several weeks. Yes, for those of you who didn't

raise your hand, I hope this weekends your week. I really do so.

Then when the next guy asks, your hand can go up to but

hey, we're gonna jump into a story in the Bible and two things I

hope for. I hope to tell the story and then and then make life

application to you and me. My prayer is that all of us leave here

encouraged and hopeful that our life with Jesus can only get better and improve and

mature and more permeate our life and change how we live. I would hope

that our time together, when we leave, we can all say, Hey,

the words that come out of my mouth are going to be more helpful.

I'm gonna be less critical and more life giving. I'm gonna be more

generous with my time and attention to other people around me. My prayer is

that as we gather together, this is the church gathered, and what I

love about the church it's we are gathered together, but so are millions of

others around the world today, and we're all gathering to worship Jesus. We're

opening the Word of God. But how many of you also would agree this

isn't just for entertainment what we're looking at in the Bible. It's not just

for information. It's for life transformation. So let's look at the story and

then let's apply it to our lives. How many you would agree with that.

Let's read the Bible, and then let's James one twenty two, and

then let's go do what it says. Let's read the Bible and then go

do what it says. If you have a Bible, mark chapter five,

you can flip to that, or you can flip your your your phone open

and go to mark chapter five. We're gonna look at a story in the

Bible that you may or may not be familiar with. It's about a guy.

His name is ja Iris. Ever say ja Iris, And it's in

this moment I'd like to look at the camera and think Pastor Brandon for assigning

me this one, because this one is more of one of the more obscure

stories. And the reason it's obscure is because it's butted up against a more

popular story. The story it's butted up against is the story of a woman

who had been bleeding for years and her disease was uncurable, and it got

so bad that her last resort was to touch the hem of Jesus's garment,

Remember that story. So she pushesus through and then Jesus feels the power leave

him and he goes who touched me? Well, this story, that story

is actually a story within this story of Jiris, and the story of Jiris

reminds us that with Jesus, in an instant, everything can change. See

Jeiris goes and talks to Jesus. But what you'll see in Mark chapter five,

it was also a one sided conversation. And I'm gonna unpack that in

a moment. Don't be discouraged. If your relationship with Jesus feels like you're

having a one sided conversation with God, it's okay. Well, like I

said, in an instant, everything can change. Pastor Morgan was sharing last

week about how, in an instant, his encounter with Jesus changed his life.

He was saved and it literally changed the trajectory of his entire life.

In an instant, your life can change, you say, Jesus, come

into my life. Give me of the sin that I've committed. I make

you the Lord and savior of all that I am. I devote my life

to you. How many of you know that in an instant your eternity was

changed, that you made Heaven your home. How many of you are excited

about Heaven most Christmas? Like I'm excited about heaven, just not today.

And that's good. I'm given the alternative. I would be so celebratory if

asked, Virgil, are you happy that you're going to heaven? You better

believe it. So in an instant, your your your marriage can change.

In an instant, the relationships you have with your kids can change. And

I love this. I love this series. And so you look at at

ja Iris, and you you tell the story about his encounter with Jesus,

and just to help you remind yourself this story, can I read a little

extra of the Bible this morning. Mark mark chapter five. You're gonna like

it because it's a story. Story time with ja Iris. Mark chapter five,

verse twenty two, and it says, then one of the synagogue rulers

named ja Iris came there to the synagogue to church. When he saw Jesus,

he fell at his feet and he pleaded with him. He pleaded earnestly

with him, and he said, Jesus, my little daughter is dying.

Please come and put your hands on her, so that she might be healed

and live. So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed

around him, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for

twelve years. Here's where I say time out. This is not on the

screen, it's not in the notes, it's not. But I'm gonna read

this section in the middle, verse twenty six about this woman who had been

bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of

many doctors, and she's spent all that she had. She drained her bank

account to see the finest doctors and the greatest physicians. How would you apply

that to twenty twenty four? It'd be like getting a diagnosis of cancer and

draining every dollar you had to go to the Seattle Cancer Carolians and seeing the

best doctors around and the best oncologists you could find, and then all of

them said, there is nothing more we can do for you. It said

he or she got worse Verse twenty seven. But when she heard about Jesus,

that's a whole sermon right there. She came up behind him in the

crowd, and she touched his cloak because she thought, if I just touch

his clothes, I will be healed immediately. Ever say immediately, like this

is crazy. Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that

she was free for I'm suffering. And then at once Jesus realized that the

power had gone out from him, and he turned around and he asked who

touched me? And then the disciples were with him and said, Jesus,

are you crazy? There's hundreds of thousands of people around you. What do

you mean? Who touched you? And then he repeated it in verse thirty

one, who touched me? And Jesus kept looking around because what the lady

did there? Just in that moment, the lady she broke the law.

She literally broke the law. She broke the levitical law that a bleeding woman

were to touch a priest. Furthermore, she was deemed unclean. She couldn't

touch or be touched by anyone. She was bleeding. She was unclean,

she was untouchable. She wasn't going to have spaw days with her girlfriends.

Her sickness isolated her. And some of you here today, your sickness and

your sin has isolated you. And the Bible tells you and I that Satan

is like a roaring lion, and he's going back and forth looking for whom

he can devour. And now, have you ever watched National Geographic during the

lion the lion scene? I love, I loved watching it when my kids

were little. Us parents, we know what's gonna happen, and so I

set it up for my kids. Hey, hey, aren't those ante look

cute? Oh? Look at those? Hey, Bryce, if you're a

good boy, I'll buy you one for Christmas. Oh look at how cute

that look? Look at the baby antelope like he's limping. Oh no,

there's a lion. And then I turn up the volume on the TV and

the kids are watching the TV, and the lion is just waiting and just

waiting and waiting, and then the lion pounces. And what's the number one

goal of the lion to isolate one from the herd. You need to understand

this. When your sin begins to isolate, you know that the enemy of

your soul is just readying himself to pounce. This lady was sick. She

was not having a normal existence in her community and in her society. And

she found Jesus and she broke the law by touching his cloak. And Jesus

was calling out who did it, and the Bible says, with fear and

trembling, she stepped out. She knew what she did was wrong, and

Jesus looked at her, and in verse thirty four used a term that he

only uses in this passage. He said to her daughter, which is so

endearing and kind, and in one word assured her that I am not angry

at you, not going to be in trouble. She could have got in

trouble. How Jesus could have got in trouble, and he probably would have

enjoyed it, because you would have made a scene about it. And he

said her daughter, did you remember the rest of daughter your faith has made

you well. Jesus was saying, it wasn't what I did, because I'm

going with jay Iris. This sick girl has an appointment. You didn't have

an appointment. Your faith has made you well. Now you go back to

the pastors that I got here. He wasn't that a great rabbit trail.

While Jesus was still speaking, said hey, hey, here's what happened.

And she touched me and her faith made well. As he's talking to the

crowd, some of ja Iris's friends came up to him and said this said

your daughter is dead, which as a dad myself, I can't imagine that

message parents the dreadful. In the middle of the night, something is wrong.

How many of you have ever had that moment where something is wrong?

The phone rings at one o'clock in the morning, you know something is wrong.

J Rus's buddies come and says, hey, buddy, hey, your

your daughter died. Goes on to say this, so stop bugging him,

stop bugging the teacher, leave him, leave Jesus alone. Why would they

say to Jesus, leave Jr. Leave Jesus alone. Because now again,

just as the woman who was bleeding was deemed unclean and untouchable by the priest,

the same indicator. Morgan made the same reference last last week about the

levitical law. The lovitical law also says you don't touch a dead body.

A priest is pure and clean and holy, he doesn't touch a dead body.

So j Rris is like, hey, there's no there's no further need

for you to come to my house. Do you know what Jesus said to

j Iris. Don't be afraid, just believe. For some of you here

this morning, the circumstance you're facing, don't be afraid, just believe.

Believe what that God's got it. God's got you. God sees what you're

going through. Do you believe that God sees what you're going through? Do

you believe that God heard what was said to you? Do you believe that

God was there when you were mistreated and God, Hey, don't worry,

just believe. And Jesus said, okay, now the crowd, you're done,

Peter, James, and John, let's go. The four of them

now go to jay Iris's house. And according to the scripture, when they

get there, Jesus saw a great commotion and people crying and wailing, loudly,

and Jesus went in and said, why all the commotion and wailing?

And I can't get into all of this, but they had hired professional,

professional mourners by then they're crying and they're wailing, and there's a huge scene.

Why is all the crying happening? And they're like, dude, you

heard right. She's dead. The twelve year old girl is dead. This

is where we as a society say, that's not fair. No parents should

ever have to bury their own kids. Say, man, it's the parent.

It's the parents who are buried by their kids. Twelve is too young.

And Jesus says this, well, she's not dead, guys, she's

just asleep. So you know those professional mourners who went from crying and wailing

in one second, they flipped the switch and then they started laughing at Jesus.

So you know what Jesus did. He put him out of the house.

He kicked him out. He kicked out those who didn't believe, He

kicked out those of little or no faith. He kicked him out. He

said, here's the only people going in is to me, Mom, Dad,

Peter, James, and John. Let's go into the room. They

go into this twelve year old daughter's room and she's lying there dead, and

Jesus took her by the hand and he uttered this phrase, talitha kuham,

which means little girl, I say to you, get up, and in

that instant, in that one encounter, the entire reality of this family mourning

the death of a daughter, mourning the death of a twelve year old in

one encounter with Jesus, the girl opened her eyes. She stood up,

began walking around, and Jesus said two things. Number one, don't tell

anybody what you just saw happen here, which is hilarious because there everybody was

there. And number two, give her something to eat, which I mean,

that's awesome. I like that. Guess what when we go to heaven.

You know what we're gonna do with heaven. We're gonna eat. You

know what, it's heaven, No calories, it's heaven. I'm like,

this is like the past golden coral bufet I've ever seen. And I'm starting

with the desserts. I mean, you know, I'm down there, guys,

and it's all work my way back. How many are with me?

Forget the salad, forget this Enough of the rubb enough salad. Come on,

we're in heaven, and so she give her something to eat. So

what do you learn about your life in my life from this story? How

manything? That's an amazing story? Number one? In your not grab grab

a pen. I'm gonna say this a few times. Write this down,

Write this down with Jesus. Not everything that appears to be dead is dead?

Who Not? Everything in your life that appears to be dead is dead.

You know what that means to you and me? You know the marriages

that are that are that are hanging on by a thread. Not every marriage

that's dead is dead. In my church, I had a couple who were

married for twenty years. He was in perpetual alcohol addiction. His wife left

him. You know what happened to Gary found Jesus. You know what Gary

did? At Christian Life Center, the church that I met. Gary comes

into my office as pastor. I want to start a ministry. I mean,

Gary, what's that? Well, I don't know if you've heard of

it. It's called Celebrate Recovery. And eight and a half years ago Gary

started Celebrate Recovery at CLC. That is one of the largest Celebrate recoveries on

the Peninsula. After Gary got his life right with God, he gave up

alcohol for the one hundred and ninety eighth time. But this time it stuck.

Guess what happened to Gary. He saw his wife. You know what.

His wife said, Hey, there's something, there's something different about you.

Gary. You're hot, you're cute. You know what, when you're

sober, I want to kiss you. You know what happened to Gary and

his wife? They fell back in love. You know what happened to Gary.

Gary got remarried after four years of divorce, thinking his marriage was dead.

With Jesus not, everything that is dead is dead. Number two,

Number two, with Jesus not, Everything that seems unfixable is unfixable. You

might be here this morning and like the woman who didn't have an appoint with

Jesus for year after year after year after year after year, things just didn't

seem to change. She exhausted every option, she exhausted every resource, but

year after year after year, nothing changed. How many of you would say,

it's point, you gotta give up. At some point you wring your

hands and you throw in the towel. But with Jesus not, everything that

seems unfixable is unfixable. And what seems like year after year after year to

you? Did you did you know that your time in God's time is different?

Did you know your did you know that your day and God's day is

not the same? What seems like year after you? Actually, here's what

the Bible says. And Second Peter, Second Peter, chapter three, verse

eight, writ write that down because I'm not I'm not lying. You can

go read this later, Second Peter three. But do not overlook this one

fact, ever, say one fact that with the Lord, one day is

as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. Your

twelve years to God is like one tenth of a second. You know what

I said? Write, write this down somewhere in your notes, right there

right. God is never in a hurry. Never. How many of you

ever get in a hurry with God? Raise your hand if you ever get

a hurry with a nice sight. I want to ground that a nice sight

like a you're eight of us, eight of us. We need to add

a week in this series. Online encounters with Jesus made me a truth teller.

That way, when the next guy asks, you, don't lie.

How many ever, I made a said a prayer to God and said,

God, I need this by noon. I need this by noon. I

know, God, it's eleven thirty. I know, but I got about

a half an hour. Lord, I need you to show up. But

with God, he is never in a hurry. And after twelve years you

give up. You know who hasn't given up. God hasn't given up.

You might give up. God is not bound by circumstance. God doesn't operate

within your parameter of reality. And with God, he is never in a

hurry. And it just takes one encounter or one touch from Jesus to change

everything. So you look at jay Iris, what do you learn from him?

Now? Number one? J Arris got close enough to Jesus to talk

to him. He struck up a conversation with Jesus. He got close to

Jesus. How close are you to Jesus right now this Memorial Day weekend?

How close are you to Jesus? He was talking to Jesus. He was

He went up and struck up a conversation. Some of you love that because

you all you do is talk. How many of you know somebody in your

life they're just a chatty cathy. You know somebody with a raise your hand.

No nice, you know what, chatty Cathy with your other hand.

Point at him, Just point at him, point them out, point them

out. We'll avoid him in the lobby. We ain't staying for third service.

I mean, come on, how many of you would say I'm more

of an introvert? Rais you? N you hate the fact that I'm asking

you introverts to raise your hand? Raise a pinky? Then how many of

you are mare where to each other? That's me in my that's me and

Angela. I'm I'm the quiet one, and uh she's a yeah, she's

she's an introvert. And I like to joke that with my wife that,

uh, this is how it works in life, that opposites attract, then

opposites attack. That's how that works in marriage. Is like, yeah,

what's so cute in the dating stage is now really annoying thirty years in And

that's kind of how it works. And so so what happens was was was

ja Iris was talking to Jesus, and ja Iris went and spoke to Jesus

and why is this so important? He went to Jesus, what do you

learn from this? Here's what you and I learned who you speak to speaks

more about you? I'd write that. You know what else I would write?

Now? Who you run to runs your life? Would you have a

problem? When you have a problem and you go and you talk to mom,

mom Ma, mo, mo, Mom, you won't believe what he

did? Again? You know who runs your life? Your mom? Does

you go when you complain to your friends, Hey, you'll never believe You'll

never believe it. You know who runs your life? Your friends run your

life. You're the introvert. You have a hard day and you death scroll

on social media? Do you know who runs your life? Social media runs

your life? As followers of Jesus, when life gets hard and you run

to Jesus, do you know who runs your life? Jesus runs your life.

Who you run to runs your life? Who you speak to speaks more

about you? I would say it this way. Most of our communication problem,

most of our problems are communication problems. And our biggest communication problem is

that we don't communicate with Jesus. And when you talk to Jesus, you

know what that's called. Talking to Jesus is called prayer. So you could

fact check me right now if you want. This is kind of but I

know my notes, we're coming into a boring part of the message, and

so while you lose interest, you can check this. Last night I was

looking this up. I thought, I just googled how on average how long

does a Christian pray every day? And I've read this stat before, but

last night was confirmed again. Do you know what the average is for a

Christian to pray every day? Five minutes a day? And you wonder why

God feels so far, You wonder why you don't see the hand of God

move five minutes a day. What if I were to tell you after church,

Jesus we're gonna hang out with you over lunch. He was gonna come

to lunch with you, the first thing I would encourage you to do would

be to pick up the bill if he did, and maybe not order alcohol.

I'm not saying it's not I'm just saying he's there if he really wants

it. The water, you know, the water, the water, it'll

change, it'll change. But if you were to hang with Jesus over lunch

today and you were able to ask him for one thing, I would I

do? I want, I really do. I wonder what you would ask

because in Luke chapter eleven, the disciples got to ask Jesus that very thing.

The disciples got to ask Jesus for one thing. And you know what

they asked him for. They said, Lord, teach us to pray.

They saw Jesus for years. They did say, Hey, Jesus, teach

us how to do miracles, teach us how to raise the dead. They

said, Jesus teach us to pray. And I think it was because they

saw, they saw the result of the power of prayer in Jesus's life.

Prayer moves the hand of God. Prayer changes things. You know what I

didn't say. I didn't say money changes things. This woman, who had

been bleeding for twelve years, spent every dollar she had. Jay Iris and

his wife, don't you think they drained the bank account and did everything they

could to save their twelve year old daughter's life. And she got to the

point where his twelve year old daughter literally was powerless to reach out for help

anymore. She was dying in bed. At some point, you resigned to

your situation. She resigned to her situation. The woman spent all she had.

You know who else was rich and died. His name was Steve Jobs.

Have you ever been to a point where you don't care how much money

you have in the bank. The problem is overwhelming. Prayer changes things,

which is why I've said this a thousand times. I'll say a thousand more

times as long as God allows me to lead the church I'm leading. I

say this over and over and over. My dream as a pastor is not

attendance and money and buildings. My dream as a pastor is that every adult

who comes to our church every reads their Bible and does their soap devotion every

day of their life. That's all I care about. Time, energy,

resources, and focus. Go on. You just read the Bible and pray.

How many of you would do? You? Believe me, if you

read your Bible and prayed every day, your life would change for the better.

You would. So ja IRUs is talking to God and he pled.

He pled with Jesus, come lay your hands on my daughter so she might

be healed and lived. And you know what, you know what Jesus said?

You know do you know what Jesus said to Jaras nothing say a word,

started walking, didn't say a word. And I encourage you here today,

if you've been praying and asking God for something for some time and you've

not heard from Jesus. You feel like you you feel like your prayers are

bouncing off the ceiling. What I want to encourage you is, this silence

doesn't mean that Jesus is still not on the way. Just because he didn't

say anything doesn't mean Jesus is not on his way to your house. Sometimes

he's waiting for you and I to respond. Are we gonna keep the faith

or are we gonna fold into our circumstance? Or are we gonna keep pleading

and keep praying and keep being faithful to God? And where? Here's what?

And where was Jesus going to ja Iris's house? Now let's change the

story on you. He's not coming to lunch with you. He's coming to

your house for lunch. How many of you would freak out if Jesus was

coming to your house right after this service, coming to your house for lunch.

Dishes still in the sink, closed, still on the floor in the

living room, are the kids' doors closed? Literally? What a personal response

from Jesus. I'm coming to your house. Jesus makes house calls. What

a personal response from Jesus. You know what you need to be encouraged with

Jesus wants a personal relationship with you. He wants to know you personally,

which is why you and I need to understand. If your only experience with

Jesus is at church, you don't have a personal experience with Jesus at all.

Your life will change more when you're reading the Bible on your back porch,

in your backyard, in your own house, on the way to church,

you're listening to last week's sermon by Pastor Morgan, and you're here,

going, boy, that's gonna be that so good. It's you and Jesus

alone. Your life will change more in your personal time with him than ever

ever any other setting. It's your daily quiet time with Jesus. So Jesus

is going to jay Iris's house, and on the way, this woman touches

him, and Jesus heals her and Jesus confirms her faith. And so when

Jesus now gets to the house of Jairis, he sees all of these mourners

crying and they're wailing, and goes, what are you crying? What's all

the commotion about? And they said the little girl is dead, and he

said she's not dead, she's just sleeping. And they laugh at Jesus,

and Jesus puts them out of the house. What I would say to you,

how do you apply this to your life? Is there are some people

who are not good for you. There are some people in your life who

are not good for you. And here's a sad reality. You know it.

You know they don't bring the best out of you. If you were

to divorce, your friends would say, hey, they had that coming.

Why didn't you leave them sooner? When Jesus stepped into this house, he

put out the faith lists. He took in Peter, James and John,

Mom and Dad, and Jesus and the dead little girl. There was seven

of them in the room. And he grabbed her hand and he said,

in Jesus' name, talitha Couham daughter, get up. And so ja Iris

had his faith in Jesus, and his faith in Jesus and his passionate love

for his daughter are on display. So what do we learn from j Rus

again? Write these down somewhere? Number one with Jesus, not every oh.

I already preached that one. Write that down again. That was good

lessons from a faith. Number One, the Bible teachers admit, admit you

have a problem too big to solve on your own. And what I say

about some of us just need to admit we need help. I say this

all the time. We church makes the biggest liars out of people. Every

Sunday you walk in the lobby, Hey, how's it going, and everybody

says this, fine, things are great, things are awesome, as you

literally thought all the way to church because one of you was not ready on

time. Again, I'm not going to have you how many? How many

of you wanted to come to first service, but you know somebody wasn't on

time. Oh, we'll go to a second. But we we we rarely

want to admit we have a problem, because admitting we have a problem requires

one thing that requires humility. Instead, we have an epidemic of pride.

Number two. Number two, we got to seek out Jesus for help.

Seek out Jesus for help. Have you have you met people who would rather

die in their sickness than get help. I have people in my church.

They've gotten they got divorced. I didn't even know they were fighting. He

moves out, she's alone, got the kids. Some people would rather die

in their sickness than get help. And then when you come to Jesus number

three. The Bible teaches then know that Jesus can change things. You know

what that's called faith. Woman, Your faith has made you well some of

you. You're waiting on God to move. But like in this story,

Jesus is waiting for you to make the move. He's waiting for you to

say, Hey, honey, we gotta go get some marriage counseling. Hey

we gotta go get some family therapy. Hey we've got to go to church

together. Hey, we just start reading the Bible together as a family every

night because we have a problem. And Jesus is waiting for you to make

the first move. And when you make a half of an inch of a

move, do you know what Jesus does. He moves mountains to meet you

more than halfway. And so you you admit, I got a problem.

I believe that Jesus can save me and change me. I know that g

Jesus can step into my situation and change things. See, you might be

one of the two. You're in a situation that you think is unfixable.

Remember with Jesus, nothing that seems unfixable is unfixable. You, like Gary

and the daughter, you might think something is dead. Nothing that's dead is

ever dead. With Jesus, have faith and have hope. One encounter with

Jesus can change everything. Amen, would you buy your head and let's pray

together. Heavenly Father, we love you, and today we come before you

and we ask you to meet us. Like I said, more than more

than halfway. Lord, I know there are those in this room this morning,

God who desperately need a touch and an encounter with you. God.

They're in a situation that either seems uncurable, unfixable, unmendable, unforgivable.

But God and encounter with You can change all of that. So God,

we give that to you. Today. We pray in Jesus's name that you

would step into those situations with everybody's head's bowed and eyes closed. If you're

here this morning and you know that the life you're living is not pleasing to

God, but today you want it to be. I want to give you

an opportunity to have an encounter with Jesus that'll save you for the rest of

your life. If you're here and you know that the life you're living is

not pleasing to God, but today you want it to be. You want

to give your life to him. You want to rededicate your life to Jesus.

If you're here and you want to give your life to God this morning,

would you put your hand up and down real quick. You know,

yes, you know the life you're living is not pleasing to God, but

you want it to be. Yes, all over this room, Church,

Let's be the church today. Yes, up and down, Thank you,

up and down, up and down. Let's all pray this out loud together.

Everybody repeat after me. Dear Jesus, come into my life. Forgive

me for the sin I've committed. I accept Jesus Christ as my personal's Lord

and Savior. Give me the strength to live for You for the rest of

my life. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen, and Father,

I pray for those who raise their hands God this morning, that you would

invade their life with your love. God, that you would change them for

the rest of eternity. God, that they would spend every day pursuing you

and looking to you and following you and learning about you. Father, I

pray that the Church of the Living God would breathe into them as well as

we worship together and learn together. Father, we thank you for those who

prayed that prayer, we celebrate with them today and we pray this in Jesus

name, and everybody said, Amen, let's celebrate with those