CHRONICLES OF A KING: Blessed Where You Are

Thank you so much for the celebration.

We hope it encourages you and today's message.

Hey Church, we want to thank you so much for allowing us to come into your home and we want to welcome you into our home.

I pray that Church at home so far has been a blessing for you and your family.

And I want to encourage you in this season to stay engaged, to stay encouraged, and to stay connected.

We have so many amazing resources and things that we want to place in your hands to encourage you and to strengthen you in this season.

One of the things that God has really placed on my heart has been this don't let this season go to waste.

I truly believe that we can see God turn this ashes into beauty as long as we stay connected.

No matter how much time has passed, God is not passing us by.

And our ability to stay connected in this season is more important than ever.

I truly do believe that.

And I'm excited, so much excited about what we're going to be speaking about this particular Sunday.

We're continuing in our Chronicles of the Kings series where we're going to be unpacking just the life, the legacy, and the ministry of Jesus.

And really, one of our theme scriptures that we're looking at in this season as we as we examine the life of Jesus is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

I want to read it to us so we can have some context as to everything that I believe that God's showing us in this season.

And it says this at verse number 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor, and has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and accept liberty to those who are oppressed to proclaim the years, the Lord's favor.

It's such a powerful thought, talking about the ministry, the mission statement of Jesus.

This is an actual echo of what is written in Isaiah chapter 61.

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

This is Jesus literally declaring that this is the reason that I came.

And you'll find some very familiar language in here.

And when you break down the ministry of Jesus, you see that everything that he set out to do are the primary people and the primary things that he did because that was his mission and that was his calling.

And I believe that we as a church, if we can align ourselves and care about the things that Jesus cared about, do the things that Jesus did, I believe that we can get the results that Jesus got.

So I'm excited about what today's message is going to be.

So if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of Mark, chapter six.

The Gospel of Mark, chapter six.

It's a very uh familiar passage of scripture.

I want to go ahead and put this on our radars that this is one of those miracles that's found in all four of the gospels.

So here's the best thing I think that we can do as we examine this text is take some time this week and look at this miracle in all four of the gospels.

Because while all the stories are fairly similar, there are some details that one may accentuate a little bit more than the other.

And I believe that as we speak today, we're going to try our best to tell the whole story of it.

But it's really important for you to take some time to examine what it says so you can get a really holistic view of those powerful moments that Jesus had with his disciples.

But starting here at verse number thirty, here's what the scripture says The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

And Jesus said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while.

For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure, not even to eat.

And then they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Now many saw them and recognized where they were going, and they ran on foot from their towns and got there ahead of them.

When they went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.

And when they grew late, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late.

Send them away to the surrounding countryside and to the villages to buy for themselves something to eat.

But he said to them, You give them something to eat.

And they said to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them to eat?

And he said to them, How many loaves do you have?

Go and see.

And they went and they found, and he said, We have five loaves and two fish.

And he commanded them, Sit them all down into groups on the green grass.

So they sat them down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.

He broke the loaves, gave them to the disciples, and set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all.

They all ate and were satisfied.

And they took up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of fish.

And those that ate were five thousand men.

This is such a powerful narrative, such a powerful text that really helps us to see the ability of God to multiply what little we have and to make sure that it's sufficient for all of our needs.

What I want to do is just spend some time looking and evaluating some key thoughts inside of this text that I think can be really encouraging for us.

If you're taking notes, and I really hope that you do, I want you to write this message title down.

You are blessed where you are.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for giving us an opportunity to engage your scripture in the context of our community and with our families.

So we invite you into our homes.

We invite you into our cars where we may be listening to this.

We invite you um into our rooms.

God, wherever we're engaging this word, Father, we invite you into it.

So, Lord, we pray for open eyes that we can see you.

We pray for open ears that we can hear you, and we pray for open hearts that we can receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

One of the things that I love about this passage of scripture is where it takes place.

We're going to talk about that in some detail in just a second, but I want us to recognize that it takes place in this desolate place.

And ideally, we wouldn't think that a miracle could take place in what we would refer to as a location that is defined as the wilderness, this place of isolation.

You wouldn't think that there's a blessing in the wilderness.

We're not geared to think that way.

You know, many of us we have the mentality that if I can just get to the finish line, then I'll get relief.

If I can just get to the finish line, then I can be blessed.

Here's a couple of um if-then scenarios that are just a part of our everyday life.

If I pay off my credit cards, then I am out of debt.

That makes logical sense.

We all understand that.

And even in scripture, we see that God does compel us to kind of have like this if-then moment in our life.

If I can do this, then God's going to do that.

However, there are times where I believe that we can have an unhealthy view on that and we can truly believe that if I can get to this location, then I will be blessed.

And we lose sight of the fact that the truth of the matter is you can be blessed exactly where you are.

I think it's important for us to stop believing that the miracles are only in the places of comfort, that sometimes the wilder is the wilderness can be a place where the miracle can take place, that the wilderness is a place where we've seen so many powerful things in scripture take place.

If we don't allow ourselves to shift and reorient our mentality and to build our faith even while we're in the wilderness, we'll stop believing God for some incredible things, even if we find ourselves in the desolate place.

Here's what I want you guys to write down.

You can be blessed where you are if you have surrender in your heart.

You can be blessed where you are if your heart is truly surrendered to God.

If you could be surrendered to where God has you, I truly believe that you can be blessed no matter where you may find yourself standing.

What I love about this passage of scripture is that we see this incredible miracle take place in an environment that is considered to be desolate, an environment that is defined as the wilderness.

Let me unpack a couple of things that helps us to kind of see how we got to where we are.

You see, Jesus is wrapping up his second year of ministry.

He's growing and followers, like he's trending now, like he's all over the place.

In his second year, as he's wrapping it up, going into his third year, he has so much momentum.

A lot of the people know his name.

Everywhere he goes, there's massive crowds that follow him.

But in this moment, Jesus has just learned about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist.

And his disciples have come back after being sent out and really being commissioned to be an expression and an extension of him and the surrounding villages.

So when they come back to Jesus, Jesus says to them, let's go to this desolate place and let us recharge, let us relax, let us get some rest in this season.

We've had so much output.

It's important for us to kind of create some space to disconnect for a season so that we can kind of recharge and get ourselves prepared.

But there's this thing that happens.

The Bible says that those crowds of people that were following Jesus, even those crowds of people that were impacted by his disciples, that they were following him.

And what the scripture tells us is that they saw where he was going and they ran by foot and got there ahead of him.

I want you to catch this.

That the Bible says that they all saw where Jesus was going and they ran by foot and they beat Jesus where he was supposed to be.

Here's what's so important is that they followed Jesus even to the desolate place.

That they were used to seeing Jesus when he was doing miracles in the village.

They were used to seeing Jesus doing miracles in the context of their communities.

But even when they saw that Jesus was moving to a desolate place, that did not prevent them from going off and following him to get their breakthrough and their miracle.

I think for many of us, it's it's easy for us to see God do some things in these moments in these environments where we feel very comfortable with it.

It's easy for us to really embrace the move of God when it happens in an environment that we just feel like this is a place that I feel comfortable in.

But when Jesus begins to move and lead us to a desolate place, are we willing to follow him there?

That's a challenge that some of us have.

But what the Bible says is that they pursued Jesus and because their desire for him was more strong than their desire for convenience.

That desolate place, that place of isolation.

Their desire for encountering God was stronger than their comfort of themselves.

They left their homes, they left their environments, they ran on foot.

And I think it's just an indication of the desperation of what it takes sometimes in order for us to have a mighty encounter with God.

They pursued him into the wilderness.

Now, for many of us, we would think of the wilderness as being this barren place, that that reproduction, that nothing good ever happens.

We see in scripture that even in the Exodus narrative, that the scapegoat was often released into the wilderness.

It was a place of death.

It was a place where the children of Israel would often believe that there was fear because that's where the sin lingered at.

So the wilderness was never typically viewed as a good place.

However, what we see in scripture is that in the wilderness is the place where a lot of miracles took place.

It's in the wilderness that God allowed the bitter waters of Marah to become sweet.

It's in the wilderness that we've seen that the water came from a rock.

It's in the wilderness that we saw manna rain down from heaven.

Here's what I want you to understand.

You may be in a wilderness season of your life, but it doesn't mean that God is not exactly where you are.

I truly believe that you can have a miracle where you are as long as you have surrender in your heart.

They see that they get out to this place of the wilderness, this place that would ideally be defined as desolate and removed from a place of comfort, but when they get out there, they actually see the miracle.

I truly believe this with all my heart that as long as we're pursuing God, goodness and mercy is going to continue to pursue us.

That if you can follow God even in your wilderness season, that you are going to experience miracles.

You are going to experience breakthroughs, you are going to experience revelation.

What we see here in this passage of scripture is that while they're out in this border in this location, that Jesus looks upon them.

He sees them while they're out in this desolate environment.

He sees them there.

I want you to know that Jesus sees you exactly where you are, that Jesus sees the discomfort that you're walking through.

He sees you.

He sees you in the season of struggle that you're walking through.

He sees you.

He sees you even in your moments of joy.

He sees you.

That the Bible declares that Jesus sees them exactly where they are.

And what it says is that he is moved with compassion.

He has compassion on them.

He sees them as people who are sheep without a shepherd.

They're lacking leadership, they're lacking structure, they're lacking provision, they're lacking, they're lacking just safety.

So Jesus is compelled to move into action.

I think some of us we feel as if we're wandering, believing that we're all off on our own, but I assure you that your shepherd sees you and that he's coming alongside you to encourage you and to strengthen you.

God is not too busy for his people.

God does not have so much going on that he doesn't see where you are and that he's not bringing resources to where you are.

The Bible says that Jesus sees them and he's moved with compassion and he begins to teach them many things.

He begins to bring healing to them, and then the day gets long.

It actually starts to get a little dark outside.

So his disciples, they come up to Jesus and they're like, okay, man, like it's it's getting late.

Now you have to understand their context.

They've just come back from the mission field.

They've done some amazing things in the name of Jesus.

They really have been authorized to be problem solvers, to acknowledge pain and suffering, and for them to be able to step back into this world where they were sharing their testimonies with Jesus.

So I can only imagine that as they see that it's getting late, they can see and hear that people are hungry, they step into Jesus' world to kind of like say, hey man, it's getting a little bit late.

Um it's probably a good idea if we just go ahead and send the people off into the surrounding villages, to the countryside, so they can get themselves something to eat and so they can get some rest.

But then Jesus has this response and he says to them, Don't send the people away, you feed them, you give them something to eat.

Did you see that?

That that instead of instead of them being sent away, Jesus was saying that why don't you do something about it?

You recognize a need, why are you dismissing it?

Isn't that the way that it can be with us sometimes?

That we have this ability, maybe it's because of our exposure, maybe it's because of our logic, that we can identify problems and immediately be trying to dismiss them so that they can find solutions and figuring out all on their own.

The text says they said, send them away so that they can get themselves something to eat.

But here's what Jesus knew.

Jesus knew that these people are my mission, that I came to preach the good news to the poor.

These were not wealthy people.

Jesus knew that if we send them away, they have nothing else.

So maybe instead of us identifying what the problem is and dismissing it, maybe God is calling us to be a part of the solution.

It's so easy for us to identify the problems and other people's lives and we can begin to dismiss it.

It's so easy for us to be riding down a road and see a person that's homeless on the street and our logic begins to kick in and we can then dismiss it.

It's so easy for us to look at people's struggles and begin to talk about how maybe it was self-inflicted and we can begin to dismiss it.

But I've never seen a prerequisite of a miracle of God coming after defining how a person got there.

What I have seen is every time that a problem shows up in the world of Jesus, he always steps in to resolve it.

Maybe the calling on our lives is not just to point problems out, but to recognize that God is calling us to be a part of the solution.

That Jesus is now telling them, I don't need you to use your logic to dismiss the people.

Why don't you use your gifts to begin to help them?

Jesus says to them, You give them something to eat.

Now, now again, they're not picking up the vibe right now.

So their response is like, Jesus, we don't, we don't have, I'm like, I'm not sure if you're keeping count, Jesus, but um I know that I know that right now we've counted 5,000 men.

But here's the thing scholars believe it's probably about four times as much.

Many have gone as far as saying that it's probably about 20 to 25,000 people out there.

So Jesus is is is making a statement of you give them something to eat, but they're looking at the fact that man, we don't have resources for that.

You're asking us to do something that we just don't have the capacity or the capability to do.

But Jesus says, You give you give them something to eat.

Jesus, I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but it's about 25,000 people out here.

Well, Jesus says, Well, what do you have?

Man, here's what we got.

We have two fish and five loaves.

And and Lord, I'm not sure how your math works, but that's not enough for us to be able to feed all these people.

Even after everything they've seen Jesus do, let's consider for a moment that Jesus is going into his third year of ministry.

So they've seen Jesus do some pretty incredible things, but even in spite of all that they've seen Jesus do, they still are not recognizing who he is.

Even in spite of all the miracles that Jesus has performed, they're still wrestling with whether or not he can perform a miracle in this instance.

Can you really manufacture something out of nowhere?

I believe that there's something to be said about that.

Where sometimes we're not recognizing who Jesus really is.

We're so good at taking inventory of what we don't have.

I don't have the time.

I don't have the money, I don't have the energy.

We're often looking at things from the filter of what the lack is instead of recognizing who we do have or the abundance is.

Jesus is helping them to understand you don't have to be so focused on what you don't have when you understand who you do have.

What do you have in your hand?

What do you have in your church?

You know, the Bible talks about if we can just surrender what we have in our hands, that that is the thing that God is able to use to perform some incredible miracles in the lives of the people.

What do you have in your hands?

See, I believe it's obedience that activates the miracles of God.

I love how when Jesus does his very first miracle, the Bible says how it was it was this vessels that were filled with water.

And he gives the, he gives the servants the instructions to take these vessels that are filled with water and to pour them into the cups.

There's no idea of knowing when the miracle took place.

We don't know if the miracle took place as they were pouring it.

We don't know if it took place before that.

There even is no indication that Jesus does this special prayer.

All we know is that Jesus instructs them to fill it up with water and then go and pour it out into the glasses.

And in that moment, the Bible declares that the water was now turned into wine.

Maybe instead of us being so logical and trying to figure out when is God going to move, what's the best time for God to move, maybe if we can just be obedient to the places that God tells us to go into, the miracle takes place while we're on the way.

We see in this passage of scripture that sometimes our logic can get into the way.

That sometimes the way that we think about things can get in the way, they didn't even recognize they were standing in the middle of a miracle.

And what I think can happen for some of us sometimes is that when we're looking at our deficit, we lose sight of who we have because we're thinking about what we don't have.

But what if we began to move with obedience, with an expectation that maybe, that maybe the miracle will take place if we can just continue to follow God?

I wrote this down.

I want you to put this in your spirit.

Sometimes our logic can paralyze a move of God because we don't move with God.

That God wants to do something so powerful in our lives, but our mind begins to kick in and it begins to shut down the activity of God because it doesn't line up with the way that we think in that way that we should do things.

See, Jesus instructs them to take what you have and to put it into my hands.

My mom used to always make the statement a little is a lot when you got Jesus.

That whatever you have, if you can put it into the hands of Jesus, that he is able to work miracles with it.

So he's able to take the two fish, he's able to take those five loaves, and he puts it into his hands, and he's able to do some miracles with it.

We see instances of scripture where things that are put into the hands of Jesus that they are now resurrected.

That when things are put into the hands of Jesus that they are healed.

Here's the thing about putting something into the hands of Jesus: it requires us to be close.

Don't allow yourself in this season, as you're looking at and taking inventory of where you are and what you have to begin to distance yourself from the very source that has the ability to take the little that you have and to multiply it into an abundance that is beyond all you can ask or think.

The scripture says that Jesus then instructs them to have all the people sit down in groups of 50, in groups of 100.

Now, as we earlier had stated, there's about 25,000 people out there.

You have 12 disciples that are the primary group.

Many believe that others that were activated in that discipleship group was there alongside of them, but there's there's about 12 disciples that are there, and now they have this incredible task of taking 25,000 people and getting them to sit down in groups of 50s and groups of 100s.

I can only imagine how chaotic that is.

Because if you're really thinking about it, I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of different ways we could have executed the plan and maybe got the results that maybe we felt would have worked a little bit better.

But Jesus instructs them, sit them down in groups of 50s and 100s.

Yeah, Lord, that's a great idea, but like they're hungry.

They don't they don't want to sit down.

Sit them down in groups of fifties and one hundreds.

In other words, it's time for them to take a seat.

It's time for them to get off of their feet.

It says for them to sit down and it indicates that it was green grass.

It sounds a lot like Psalm 23 when it says that he makes us lie down in green pastures.

Maybe, maybe the season of God making us sit down is to slow us down, to bring order out of our chaos, so that there's a place for the miracle of God to land in our lives.

I believe that there's moments in our lives where we're so busy that if God wanted to do something in our lives, we couldn't even recognize it if it was right in front of us.

But what we see in passages of scripture like this, there's this moment where he makes them to slow down so that they could be the recipient of the miracle that God wanted to manifest in their lives.

We see this moment where they're all seated and they're waiting for they're waiting for a move of God.

There's this moment where we see that as they're sitting there, they're they're they're probably anticipating, and then that Jesus makes this powerful blessing.

He he blesses the food.

He he looks to heaven and he commands this blessing.

I want us to look at the sequence here because they're sitting down.

That means that there's order, there's there's a place for everything to land.

He brings order to chaos.

But the scripture says that he looks to heaven, he speaks a blessing, and then he distributes to the people.

He looks to heaven, he speaks a blessing and distributes it to the people.

There's so many correlations of what's going on here in the fulfillment of scripture.

We see that in Exodus, that there's this moment while they're in the wilderness that manna came from heaven, Jesus declared that I am the bread of life.

We see that they're on a mountain, the very same idea of when Moses ascends up to a mountain to engage and interact with God.

They're on this mountain.

We even see this moment where a blessing is commanded, the very same thing that we declare every single day over our houses and families found in Numbers chapter 6.

Numbers 6 · chapter mention

What I'm believing is that if we truly want to get heaven's results, we got to start recognizing heaven's patterns.

That Jesus is bringing it all together in one passage of scripture and saying that we never can see a place where the truth exists.

Expires, that if we can begin to do what heaven does, then we can begin to get heaven's results.

That Jesus is looking to heaven.

And I believe what we're seeing is this moment where we're seeing on earth as it is in heaven.

But it's very difficult for earth to ever really begin to walk in heaven's power if earth is not looking to heaven as its source.

And I believe that what's seeing with Jesus is that he's looking to heaven, he's declaring a blessing and then he distributes it to the people.

I wonder if our posture was the same where we get the same results.

If we look to heaven, if we look to Jesus, that if we did what Jesus does, then maybe if we could watch what Jesus does, then maybe we can get Jesus' results.

If we can begin to look at him as our model, begin to speak the words that he spoke, begin to care about the things that he cares about, that maybe we could begin to get the results that he declared that we were going to have.

There is no expiration date on truth.

And what the Bible says is that there were so many leftovers that were there that they were able to accumulate 12 baskets full, that everyone was able to eat and they were satisfied.

That's a powerful thought to consider.

That we went from a season of not having enough to having more than enough.

That we went from a space of having little to having an abundance.

That we went from a space of wondering what we're going to do next to now wondering what we're going to do with all that we have left.

That we serve a God of abundance.

And it says that they were all satisfied.

Taste and see that the Lord is good, that God's ways are good, that the way that God has oriented our lives is good.

And if we can begin to model and emulate the way that God wants us to do things, I believe that we will find that our souls are satisfied, that our faith is satisfied, that our families are satisfied.

It says that they were satisfied.

I want to encourage you with this, friends.

Don't despise small beginnings.

I love how this small little contribution in the hands of Jesus was able to feed an abundance of people.

And what I truly believe is this that all of us have something that God has placed in our hands.

But here's what I truly believe is that if we could take what's in our hands and put it in Jesus' hands, we're going to see better results than we ever could do in our own strength.

A little is a lot when you got Jesus.

I have three simple points that I want to share with you as we close up.

Because I don't believe that this is a message that's really about giving, but I do believe it's a thought for us to consider when we have to process through surrender.

Here's the things that I believe that God is inviting us to surrender.

He's inviting us to surrender our comfort.

You see, the people that were pursuing after Jesus, they forsook their comfort.

They ran by foot.

The mode of transportation that probably wasn't the most convenient.

They left their comfort and leaving their homes and their villages because they were pursuing Jesus even while they were in a season of isolation.

They had to surrender their comfort.

Here's the other thing: surrender your possessions.

Here's what I truly, just what I truly believe.

If Jesus doesn't have it, then it has you.

Whatever God has given you, give it to Jesus.

If God has given you a morsel of faith, then give it to Jesus.

Your family, give it to Jesus.

Your resources, give it to Jesus.

I promise you, if you can take what you do have and put it into the hands of Jesus, you not only will see a supernatural blessing that comes with it, but you will also begin to recognize that as long as God has it, then it doesn't have me.

But I've often seen in those seasons of life where we're feeling a little bit stressed and challenged, that we don't give it to Jesus.

And then it begins to consume us.

We don't give our marriages to Jesus.

We don't give our thought processes to Jesus.

We don't surrender things to Jesus, and then we get consumed by the very things that if we gave it to Jesus, there could be an abundance of it.

Here's a third and final thing that I believe is important for us to surrender.

Surrender your will.

Surrender your strategy, surrender your way.

What the Bible says is that is after Jesus performs this miracle, is that they wanted to make him king by force.

They were trying to force him to become king.

And what the scripture tells us is that while they were trying to force him to become king, that Jesus had to slip away.

In other words, they were trying to force Jesus to fit into their ideology.

They were trying to force Jesus to fit into their box.

But what Jesus wants to make sure for all of us, let's not force Jesus to do things the way that we want him to do it.

How about we surrender our lives to him and follow the pattern that he has established for all of us?

I think it's really important that we surrender to who God is calling us to be instead of expecting God to surrender to who he is.

Instead of forcing Jesus to become king and function in a way that we want him to function, maybe we need to surrender our will to his.

I truly believe this church that we're in a season of some of us being stretched, some of us feeling uncomfortable.

But if we can truly continue to pursue Jesus even in these seasons, I think that we'll see an increase and a blessing beyond all that we can ask or think.

There's a passage of scripture that I want to close and read to us because I think it gives us perspective on what it looks like when God can bless us no matter where we are.

Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

Starting at verse number two, it says this And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

You shall be blessed in the city, you shall be blessed in the field, you shall be blessed from the fruit of your womb to the ground, to the fruit of your cattle, increase in your herds, the young flocks, blessed in your basket as you're needing dough, you shall be blessed in your coming, you shall be blessed in your going.

I want you to understand that what this passage is saying is that no matter where you are, you can be blessed.

You can truly have a blessing as long as you've surrendered your heart.

You can be blessed in the city, but you can be blessed in the field.

You can be blessed with your abundance, you can even be blessed in seasons of lack.

Let us stop believing that if I can get to the finish line that I can experience a blessing.

You can be blessed right now as long as you surrender your heart.

And I truly believe we want to create a space for you to do that.

So what I want to do now is I want to pray for us, and then our team members are gonna come, they're gonna lead you in a prayer that will lead you to your next steps.

But I believe that all of us as a family, let's pray.

God, I pray in the name of Jesus that we recognize that we can be blessed exactly where we are, that we can acknowledge that we can be blessed in a city, in a place of abundance, and where we're all together, but we can be blessed in the field, even in those desolate places.

So, Lord, it's my prayer that you continue to stir our hearts to for us to pursue you even in the wilderness, for us to pursue you even in moments of desolation, for us to surrender our will to you, God.

Not our will, but your will be done.

So, Father, I speak a blessing over our church, over our families, God.

And I pray for our radical pursuit of your truth in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you guys.

Well, hey church, we just heard an amazing message from Pastor Keith.

And I love one of the things that he said.

He said that miracles can even take place in the wilderness.

And here's the greatest miracle of all it's salvation.

And some of you right now, you may feel that tug on your heart saying, Man, I need to commit my life to Christ, or I need to recommit my life to Christ.

If that's you in this moment, then I want to ask that you would say this simple prayer with us.

It comes from Romans 10, 9, where the apostle Paul says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and we believe in our heart that he was raised from the dead, then we are saved.

So let's say this prayer together right now if you want to make this decision.

Dear God, thank you for your son Jesus.

I believe that he died on the cross and he rose again for me.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life.

Thank you for saving me.

Amen.

Amen.

If you just made the decision to follow Christ, maybe for the first time, or you're recommitting your life to him, we want to celebrate with you.

So if you could text the word decide to the number 25101, we want to come alongside of you and resource you for the journey.

Yeah, and then also right now, church, we're gonna take communion together as a family.

So if you need to pause this video and go and get your communion elements, that's totally fine.

But right now, we want to take communion and remember what Jesus Christ did for us.

And so on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and he broke it and he said, This is my body that was broken for you.

Take now in remembrance of me.

Let's take the bread together.

And in the same way, he took the cup that night and he said, This is the cup of the new covenant of my blood, which cleansed the sins of many.

And so, right now, church, we want to take this cup together and remember Jesus' blood, it cleansed our sins.

Let's take the cup together.

God, we thank you for your son Jesus.

God, we thank you for his body that was broken and was bruised for us, God.

We thank you, Lord, for his blood.

It cleanses us of all of our sin.

We could not do it on our own.

It was because of him, it was because of his grace.

And so, God, we ask that you would let us remember this daily.

God, we ask that when we wake up, God, we will remember what you did for us, how you saved us because of what your son Jesus Christ did on the cross.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, hey, church, don't forget we want to connect with you.

Thank you so much for joining us for Church at Home.

Um, if you have a prayer request or a praise report, we want to celebrate with you.

We want to pray with you.

And so again, you can text the word connect to the number 25101.

Also, don't forget to tag us on social media.

Uh, let people know that you're watching Church at Home.

Subscribe right here on our YouTube channel so you don't miss out on anything that we do.

But make sure that you let people know about what God is doing in your life and in the life of our church.

And don't forget, we don't want to just connect with you.

We want to care for you.

So if you have a need or you can meet a need, text the word care to the number 25101, and we can't wait to partner with you there.

Yeah, and right now, before we end service, we want to actually give you guys a way that you can be a witness, that you can be the church this week.

So stay tuned for this quick video.

Last Sunday we talked about not just being witnesses in the world, but being witnesses to the world.

Credo is a collection of coffee shops here in the Orlando area.

We've actually partnered with them for a couple years.

They provide our coffee for us on Sundays and at special events.

And right now we're at their Health Village location, and they are providing you with an opportunity to be a witness right here.

A$5 donation will go towards providing a cup of coffee for a healthcare worker currently serving on the front lines.

What we're asking you to do is go to our bio and click the link that sends you to Credo's website, and there you can provide a much-eated cup of coffee to a healthcare worker.

Jesus said that a cold cup of water in his name held significance, and we're believing that a hot cup of coffee can have a similar impact.

It's time to be the witness.

We love you, God bless you, and we hope to see you soon.

Well, we love you, church.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Remember that we are thinking about you, we are praying for you, and we want you to know that we love you so much, and we hope you have a great week, and we will see you next Sunday.

If you'd like more content like this, or you'd like to connect with us, go to celebrationorl.org.

We hope you join us next time.