Leaving a Legacy | Joshua 16:5-10 | Gabriel Guzman

Hello, family, how you guys doing tonight? Good good.

If you don't know who I am, my name is Gabriel.

I am the associate director of Family Ministries here at

Patriot Church. And so if you have any kids checked

in to Patriot Kids at some point, maybe you've seen

me over there or in Patriot Youth, I'm over there too,

And then sometimes maybe you've seen me here on stage

and sometimes I'm speaking over here on the Wednesday Night rotation,

and that's what I'm doing here tonight. I just want

to give honor to Pastor Adam and Ashley for just

entrusting me to speak up here.

I don't take it for granted.

I count it an honor to be able to get

into the word with you guys on Wednesday nights. I

also just want to take a moment and honor my

parents who are here. If you guys can stand up

really quick tonight, I just want.

To thank you guys. I wouldn't be here without them.

I wouldn't.

They've really helped me with my faith and helped shape

it and mold it, and they've just done so much

for me. And it's crazy, because tonight we're talking about

legacy and so they're here, and so it's a great thing,

and so I love them so much. If you have

your journals today, can you raise them up for me

so I can see who has their journals? Come on,

you guys, are faithful with your journals.

We love it. We love to see the journals.

We're in the Book of Joshua. We've been going through

the Book of Joshua. If this is your first time

here in the Old Testament, this book, and we're.

Working our way through right now.

We are in chapter sixteen, gonna finish what Pastor Herron

started last week. And so if you could do me

a favor, if you have your journals, or you have

your Bibles, or you just want to take a look

at the screens, we're gonna read a passage and then

we're gonna get right into it for tonight.

So if we can all stand.

For the reading of God's Word, we're just gonna read

one verse tonight, and it's kind of the crux of

the idea that I want to share tonight, which.

Is about legacy.

But we're gonna be in Joshua chapter sixteen. We're gonna

read verse ten. Verse ten says, however they did not

drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the

Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day,

but have been made to do forced labor.

You may be seated.

God would come before you right now, and we just

thank you, Lord for your word. We thank you for

everything we can learn from it.

God. I pray that I am emptying myself right now, Lord,

and you would speak through me.

Your people came to hear a word from you, Lord,

not from a man in Jesus name.

We pray a men Amen.

I want to talk about legacy tonight, and so what

comes to your mind when I say the word legacy?

What comes to your mind? Is it something that you get,

like a house that you're going to leave as a legacy,

a business?

Is it going to be money?

Is that what comes to your mind when you think

of the word legacy. Last time I spoke, I talked

about inheritance, and sometimes we can get inheritance and legacy

mixed up. You know, there's some overlap with inheritance legacy,

but there's a difference between inheritance and legacy. Inheritances is

a one to one, you know, I'll get. I get

an inheritance from my father or from my grandfather, and

that's it.

It's immediate.

It's being used right now, or you could lose it

right now, or you could sell it.

Right now, and it's just for right now.

It's it's usually a material possession, but legacy is a

little bit different. Some of those things can encompass a legacy,

but a legacy is more generational. A legacy can affect

not just your kids, but their kids' kids and their

kids kids, your great grandchildren, You're great great great grandchildren can.

Be affected by a legacy.

It's ongoing, and a lot of times it's mostly spiritual

or or something that's not material. Values are a legacy,

an example is a legacy.

You can put it like this.

Inheritance is what you leave two people. Legacy is what

you leave in people. Legacy is how our inheritance of

faith is passed on, remembered, and lived out by the

next generation. Billy Graham puts it like this, The greatest

legacy one can pass on to one's children and ground

children is not money or other material things, but rather

a legacy of character and faith. John Piper says it

like this, only what's done for Christ will last. Legacies

are written in lives, not monuments. These are both men

that are gonna leave an incredible and have left an

incredible legacy for the Christian community. People are Christians today

by the work that Billy Graham has done throughout the years,

and that is his legacy, his spiritual legacy. Yes, we

talked about everything we can inherit, and we do inherit

from God in our faith. But are you going to

pass that on? Are you going to finish the race

like Paul says and finish it? Well, that's what we're

talking about tonight. But before we get into the remaining

verses of chapter sixteen, I just want to give a

breakdown of the Book of Joshua. I stole it from

Pastor Heron. It's the same one that he had last week.

If you were here, but if you haven't been here

in a few weeks, or this is even your first time,

this is where we're at in the Book of Joshua,

and this is how the chapters break down. The first

five chapters of the book that Joshua talk about entering

the land. The people of Israel have crossed over rivers

and have scouted out the land that God promised them.

Chapter six through twelve is conquering the land. This is

all the battles, all the walls that are breaking down,

this is all the Kenaanit kings that are defeated. Chapters

thirteen to twenty two is now dividing the land that's

been conquered. And then chapters twenty three to twenty four

is Joshua's final exhortations, his final words.

So to speak to the people of Israel.

But we're in this section right now, thirteen to twenty two,

dividing the land. And this is not the most interesting

section on paper if you're just reading it through, like

you just want to do a read through the Book

of the Bible in a year, and you get to

this part and you're like.

Ooh, this is tough.

Some of these chapters are tough. That chapter fifteen is

really long. But Pastor Joel did a good job telling

us about boundaries. But that is a lot of verses

in those chapters just about places and what are these places?

And what are these areas and these rivers and these

cities and what's going on here? That's what's in this section.

But it's so Rich. I don't know how many of

you been blessed by all the talks about inheritance, about boundaries,

and tonight talking about legacy. But there's so much in

God's word and it really makes a think about this.

Scripture two Timothy, Chapter three, verses sixteen to seventeen. All

scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that

the man of God may be complete.

Equipped for every good work.

Not just some scripture is breathed out by God, but

all scripture. And so when we get to these sections

in the Bible, do we really believe that God wrote this,

that God gave us this, that we're able to read

these parts of the Bible and learn something that God

intended us to have it be profitable towards us. Well,

we're really answering that question. In this section, I want

to give a little more of a detailed breakdown of

where we're at in the dividing of the land. And

so if you're taking notes or you want to take

a picture of it, we're going to be trying to

be moving here. But here's the breakdown of those thirteen

to twenty two, and what tribes have gotten land so far?

What tribes have gotten land, what chapters did they get

land in?

And where are we at right now?

You see, we start in chapter thirteen east of the

Jordan River. The Jordan River kind of splits Israel down

the middle because there's certain tribes that are on one

side of it, and most of the tribes everybody else

is on the other side. And so in chapters thirteen

and fourteen, Rubin Gad and the half tribe of Manassa

got their inheritance. They got their land cut out on

the map, so to speak. And Manassa is so big

of a tribe that they have two sides because the

Jordan River is cutting in between them.

And we talked about that in chapter thirteen.

Chapters fifteen to nineteen is now everybody else on the

other side of the river. Chapter fifteen was Judah's inheritance,

and that's what Pastor Joel preached about boundaries. And Ephraim

is in chapter sixteen right here, and that's where we're at.

And then next week we're going to be in seventeen

talking about the other half of the tribe of Manassa.

But we're talking about Ephraim today, and that's where we're

at in chapter sixteen.

Chapter sixteen, and.

This whole section, this whole section is the first fruits

of a promise that God gave to Abraham. And so

if you're taking notes and you haven't written it down yet,

especially for this section, you want to write down.

Genesis twelve seven.

Genesis twelve seven, it says this, Then the Lord appeared

to Abram and said, to your offspring, I will give

this land. You see, Abram was in the land of

Canaan is what they called it at the time. And

God said, I'm gonna give you this land. And Abram

was just a sojourn and he was just from another

place altogether, with nothing, and God said, I'm gonna give

you and your offspring this land right here. And that

was hundreds of years ago, and now they finally get

to see that they serve a god who who.

Fulfills his promises.

He doesn't tell you one thing and does another, but

he is a god of his word. Let's talk about

e Fhraim as a tribe. Pastor Herron talked about a

little bit last week. But Ephraim was one of the

sons of Joseph. Joseph is one of the sons of

Jacob who's ultimately one of the sons of Abraham who

we read about just now in Genesis chapter twelve. Joseph,

if you're unfamiliar in Genesis, he was one of the

sons of Jacob. Jacob how a lot of sons, and

he showed Joseph a lot of favor, and Joseph went

through a lot of things in his life. He got

sold into slavery by his brothers. He ends up in Egypt,

and through God's favor, in God's miraculous work, he just

has so much favor in his life and he becomes

to the right hand of Pharaoh, and he ends up

saving the family that sold him into slavery because there

was a famine in the land of Canaan where they were,

and so he brings them over to Egypt to save

them from the famine, and so they're able to thrive

in Egypt, and then they make their way back over

to Israel. You see, Manassa is the other son, and

it's very interesting because Ephram is special compared to Manassa.

And Genesis chapter forty eight it talks about how Jacob

at the end of his life. They're in Egypt. They

got saved from the famine, and Jacob's about to die,

and so he wants to bless his sons and his

grandsons from a Manassa, and so.

Back in the day.

Usually in that Bible's time, the oldest son gets the

main inheritance, the main blessing from the patriarch or the

prominent father figure, the prominent man in the family. And

so Manassa is the older, and Ephraim is the younger.

And so we read this in Genesis chapter forty eight,

verses seventeen to twenty.

Versus says, when.

Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on

the head of Ephram, it displeased him.

That's not how it works.

And he took his father's hand to move it from

Ephram's hand to Manassa's head verse eighteen. And Joseph said

to his father, not this way, my father, since this

one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his

head verse nineteen. But his father refused and said, I know,

my son. I know he also shall become a people,

and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother

shall be greater than he and his offspring shall become

a multitude of nations Verse twenty. So he blessed them

that day, saying, by Israel will pronounce your blessing, saying,

God make you as Ephram and as Manassa. Thus he

put Ephraim before Manassa. You see, Ephram is such a

unique tribe. They have a lot of early prominent in Israel,

before David becomes king, before Judah has the kingly line.

There's some time here that we still have before that happens.

And so Ephram has a lot of prominence.

Why because they have this kind of prophecy surrounding them.

They have prominence over Manassa. Joshua is from this tribe.

So they have Joshua attached to this tribe, this great man,

this great general that's led them through all of these

battles and got them to this point.

And Shiloh is in Ephraim. What Shiloh.

Shiloh is a very important city that you guys are

gonna hear about in a few chapters, because that's where

the Ark of the Covenant is kept for many years.

The Ark of the Covenant literally at this time, has

the presence of God inside of it. This is how

the people of Israel worship God before a temple is made.

It's through the ark of the Covenant.

And the tabernacle, and they keep it in Shiloh, and

that's in the tribe of Ephraim, and they are the

center of worship for all of the tribes.

And so they have a lot of prominence.

And you'll kind of see in the next chapter they

almost have a little more.

They have some privilege.

On them too, because they're gonna end up asking for

more land. But that's for a different sermon, for a

different chapter.

But Ephram has a legacy.

Their legacy isn't just the land, even though that's a

part of it, and they could leave that for generations.

But their legacy is tied to Joseph, which is tied

to Abraham. But as we started in verse ten, their

legacy seems unclear on what they're actually leaving for the

next generation. What are they leaving for the next generation.

And that's what I want you to think about tonight.

What are you leaving for the next generation, Not of

kids necessarily, but what's the next gener erra of believers?

What are you leaving them with? What testimony are you

leaving them with. What of your faith are you leaving

them with? And so I only have two points tonight.

Clarity builds legacy, but compromise blurs legacy. Clarity builds legacy,

but compromise blurs legacy. Let's take a look at building

a legacy right now. In Joshua chapter sixteen, Versus five

to nine. Joshua Chapter sixteen, verses five to nine, Verse five,

the territory of the people of Ephraim but by their clans,

was as follows the boundary of their inheritance on the

east of the acheroth Adar as far as upper beth Huran,

and the boundary goes from there to the sea.

On the north is Micmathaf.

Then on the east the boundary turns around towards Tanaf

Shiloh and passes along beyond it on the east of

the Janoah verse seven. Then it goes down from the

Janoa to the Ataroth and to Nahara and touches Jericho,

ending at the Jordan. From Tapua, the boundary goes westward

from the Book of Kanna and ends at the sea.

Such is the inheritance of the tribe of the people

of ephram by their clans verse nine, together with the

towns that were set apart for the people of Ephram

within the inheritance of the Manassites.

All those towns with their villages. What, who where?

What's going on? It's okay, we're here. We have a map.

This is what we are talking about. Is that map.

What you just read in those verses is the map

which outlines the boundaries of their inheritance. It's right there

in the middle of Israel with all the other tribes.

They are kind of in the center of it, which

makes sense because that's where the tabernacle is going to

be kept for many many years. You see, God is

so clear, and Pastor Hearing talked about this last week.

God speaks with such clarity with the promises that he's

fulfilling to his people.

It's so clear that we can make that map based

off of it.

We didn't even get that map from the Lord. We

didn't get that map from the Book of Joshua. When

you open your Bible and it drops, we can make

it because of how clear God made it in his

word and how he fulfilled that promise. So he's so

clear with the land, which becomes a legacy of the tribe,

which is ultimately the legacy of Abraham. And so this

is how clear God is. He's not just clear like

we talked about last week. He's not just clear with Land.

He's also clear with you. He's clear with what he

desires from you. Spiritually, he's not. It's not blurry yet,

it's not blurry. It's very clear what God desires of,

how you should live your life, what you should care about,

what you shouldn't care about, what you should leave to

the next generation. Spiritually, God makes that clear. But Israel

a lot of times makes it muddy. They make it

seem like it's not that clear God, what you want

from us. Maybe you want this from us God, and

not that. We're going to fast forward into biblical history

a little bit to the book of Micah. And now

Micah is a prophet that God raises up in the

tribe of Judah. And God raises up these prophets to

speak against Israel when they've turned their back on him,

when they've stopped worshiping him. And so he raised up

these prophets to call them out. And Micah is one

of these prophets. And in Micah chapter six, it's almost

like a courtroom scene where God is bringing against Israel. Hey,

this is what you've done wrong. What do you have

to say for yourself?

You've turned your back on me, and I've done everything

for you. What do you have to say for yourself?

And so this is their response in Micah chapter six,

verse six, with what shall I come before the Lord

and bow myself before God on High? Shall I come

before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with

tens thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my

first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body

for the sin of my soul? Israel saying God, do

you just want us to You just want us to

sacrifice more?

That's all you want.

You want us to sacrifice and sacrifice. I can get

a younger go I can get a younger go, I

can get more goats.

How many ghosts do you want me to give you?

And I don't know if you've heard that about the

Old Testament before or about quote unquote the God of

the Old Testament so full of anger, so full of wrath,

and all he cares about is sacrifices. That's what Israel

is saying, right now, God, I can sacrifice more. Is

that what you want? And this is what Micah says

in verse eight. He has told you, oh man, what

is good? And what does the Lord require of you?

But to do.

Justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with

your God.

See, even in the.

Old Testament, God is very clear on what he desires

from us. He's very clear on what he desires from Israel.

Jesus puts it like this in Matthew twenty two.

It's the same thing. But Jesus puts it so clear.

And Matthew twenty two thirty four to forty says this.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silence and saducees,

they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked

him a question to test that's him, teacher, What is

the great commandment in the law. And he said to

them in verse thirty seven, you shall love the Lord

your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

and with all your mind. This is the great and

first commandment verse thirty nine. And the second is like it,

you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two.

Commandments depend all the law and the prophets, What does

God want from Israel?

What does he want from us? He wants us to

love Him and he wants us to love others.

That is the legacy we need to leave to the

next generation.

Love God and love others.

Everything else fits in there, everything else fits in there.

If we do those two things, that's what God wants

from Israel, and that's what he wants from us. It's

so clear, it's so clear, and it's in his word.

It's in his word. Just listen to this really quick.

Just listen to this from Psalm nineteen. The law of

the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of

the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts

of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment

of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear

of the Lord is clean and enduring forever. The rules

of the Lord are true and righteous. All together, God's

word is clear on what he desires from us and

what he desired from Israel. What he wanted from Ephraim

was to love him and to love others. And so

that is how clear you can set a legacy. Clarity

builds the legacy. Clarity is the foundation of the legacy,

but compromise is what can blur a legacy. And that's

what happens with Ephraim here and Joshua Chapter sixteen, verse ten. However,

they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer.

So the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim

to this day, everybody say, to this day, but have

been made to do forced labor. You see, there is

a compromise here that Ephram is making because God instructed

them to take the land. To take the land. Hey,

in chapter thirteen, Joshua saying, I'm too old. I need

you guys to finish the work a little bit. But

it's okay because God's giving you the victory. Let's look

back really quick at chapter thirteen and verse I believe

it's nine.

I believe it's nine.

I myself, verse six, I myself will drive them out

before the people of Israel. That's God's promise to them. Hey,

I'm gonna outline this land for you, but I'm gonna

do all the work. You just have to be obedient

and march out and do it. But I'm gonna do

all the work. Don't worry, you just have to be obedient.

But that's not what Ephram does. They have these Canaanites

that live in this city called Gezer, and they don't

kick them out, they don't take the stronghold. They actually

just make them do forced labor. They make them almost

into slaves. Is that Ephrem's legacy? Now, it's not land,

it's not obeying God. It's slave labor. That's the legacy

of Ephraim. Now, they were slaved for four hundred years

in Egypt, and so that's the legacy they're taking. They're

taking that, that legacy that they were slaved, and they're

gonna do that to somebody else. Now it's unclear what

it is.

I don't know if you guys have seen.

This picture before, but I'm gonna show everybody a picture

of Steve Harvey.

Right wait, wait, raise your hand.

If you've seen Steve Harvey before, you know what he

looks like. Look at that's Steve Harvey. Wait, that's not

Steve Harvey. Why does it look so weird?

What is Show us what that is? What is that?

Oh, it's a burger. It's a burger. That's so weird.

But it looked like see, wait, go back, go back. Wow,

Now make it clear again, make it clear.

Wow.

You see, that's what compromise will do to your legacy.

It's unre it looks like something else. It's not clear anymore.

You're supposed to have a legacy of loving God and

loving others. But with a little compromise, now it seems

like your legacy is tainted. Your legacy is different. Now

you have a legacy of of pornography. You have a

legacy of getting drunk. You have a legacy of adultery.

And that's what passing on. Compromise blurs legacy. And there's

consequences to compromise, their consequences to compromise.

Now Joseph's legacy seems tainted by Ephraim.

Now Abraham's legacy can seem tainted by e Fhram.

We're going to fast forward one more time into.

Biblical history a little bit, because this city of Gezer's

med mentioned a few more times, and up until this

point in First Kings, it's still controlled by the Canaanites,

and Ephram hasn't done anything with it. Still they're still

doing their forced labor thing. They're still not controlling it.

It's just kind of this weird situation where they just

have a city in the middle of their tribe that's

having other people in it. And in First Kings, chapter nine,

verse sixteen, it says this pharaoh, king of Egypt, had

gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire

and had killed the Canaanites who lived in that city,

and had given it as a dowry to his daughter,

Solomon's wife. And so it wasn't Ephraim that ultimately kicked

out the Canaanites from Gezer. It was a pharaoh, a

king of Egypt, and he did it just as a

gift to one of Solomon's wives.

So yeah, I mean it. Ultimately it did come back.

To Israel and they did have control, but it wasn't

Ephraim who did that.

It was the pharaoh.

God will make sure that what is left to the

next generation is what he wants to leave it, and

he these are gonna use you to do it, or

He's gonna rise somebody up to do it for you.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to

let compromise be the thing that's gonna make somebody else rise.

God's gonna rise somebody else to overcome my own compromise.

I'm not gonna let you leave a legacy of gossip.

I'm not gonna let you leave a legacy of slander

to the next generation. I'm gonna raise somebody up who

can overcome that and pass that on to somebody else

so that they can know how to get through that,

how they can get past these addictions, how they can

get past these these sinful pitfalls that we just find

ourselves in.

God's gonna raise somebody up. Why not us?

Why can't we be the ones to do it? All

it takes is obedience. I don't know if you were

here this past Sunday, but Pastor Adam had a powerful

message on how do you get at the heart of addictions?

How do you break the cycle? And it's this sabotage cycle.

If we can get it on the screens right there,

take a picture of it. If you weren't here on Sunday.

But it's a.

Powerful system to use to get past these compromises that

you've made.

Why are you making compromises? That's what this cycle is for,

to get at.

The heart, to get at the root of why you

have these compromises in your life, and we're.

Able to do this.

We're able to overcome these compromises because this was such

a fire line that Pastor Herron had last week, and

so I wrote it down.

We are not fighting for victory. We are fighting from victory.

That's why we're able to break a cycle of compromise.

That's why we're able to overcome our own compromises in

our lives, because we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting

from victory. John sixteen thirty three says, I have said

these things to you that in me you may have

peace in the world. Up you may have peace in

the world. You will have tribulation. But take heart, I

have overcome the world one Corinthians fifteen fifty seven. But

thanks be to God who gives us the victory. Everybody,

say victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ Ephesian six. Finally,

be strong in the Lord and in the strength of

his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that

you may be able to stand against the schemes of

the devil. James four to seven. Submit yourselves therefore to

God resists the devil.

And he will flee from you.

That's how much victory we have that the devil doesn't

just walk away from us. He flees from us because

of what Christ has done for us. Why the blood

that He has shed on the cross for us, We,

like the tribe of Ephraim, will all leave a spiritual

legacy to the next generation. God has showed us how

clear it should be and has given us the foundation

of what he wants that legacy.

To be for the next generation. But it's up to

us to obey.

Any compromise we make will just blur the legacy, it'll

blake it not clear. What are we leaving for the

next generation of believers. We're not just talking about kids

and grandkids here. We're talking about those kids that are

in Patriot kids right now.

What are we leaving for them?

The good news is that by the blood of Christ,

He's already given us the victory to overcome any compromises

that we've already made.

We just need to walk in obedience. We just need

to walk in obedience.

I don't know if you're in this place tonight and

you're hearing us talk about legacy, you're hearing us talk

about loving God and loving others, and you don't even

have a relationship with Jesus to begin with. That's a

great place to start the legacy is to have a

relationship with Jesus. If you're in the courtyard right now,

you can look at the building right by the led

wall and at the top above Patriot, it says, where

will you spend eternity? That is the most important question

you could ever have an answer to, Because I'm not

here to scare anybody. I'm just here to inform everyone

that at some point we all will die. And when

we close our eyes, we don't just cease to exist.

We don't just go into an eternal slumber. But when

we close our eyes in death, we will open them

in eternity. We will live forever and ever and ever

and ever and ever. And you either live forever in

the presence of Jesus, or you live forever not in

the presence of Jesus. You either live forever in his peace,

in his comfort, in his love.

Or you live forever without that.

There's this thing called sin in our lives that keeps

us from spending forever with Jesus. Those things that we

do wrong, those compromises we make in our lives. The

Bible says that the wages of sin is death. And

so that's why in the Old Testament they even have

all of those sacrifices. There's all these sacrifices in there

to atone for some of those sins. But they were

just pictures of an ultimate sacrifice that God himself would

have to make. God so will love the world that

he sent his son to die on the cross for

our sins, for your sins. He did that to pay

the price of us, keeping of us staying away from him.

He wants us to spend forever with him, and so

he sent Jesus to pay for that. And all we

have to do is acknowledge that Jesus did that for us,

Acknowledge his sacrifice on the cross, Acknowledge him as our

Lord and as our savior. It seems so simple because

it is. And the only thing that stands in the

way is really our pride. Don't let that stand in

the way today. Don't let that stand in the way

of you having an answer to the question where will

you spend eternity? Because I don't want you to go

home tonight and before you go to sleep not know

what's going to happen to you if you don't wake up.

I want you to be sure.

I want you to be without a shout of a doubt,

without a shadow of a doubt. You know where you're

going when you die. Where will you spend eternity? Do

you want to spend it with Jesus? Or do you

want to spend it without Jesus? In Patriot Kids, we

say it's as easy as a b C to have

a relationship with Jesus. You accept him into your heart,

you accept him as Lord and savior.

You believe that he died on the cross and.

Rose again for your sins, and you confess your sins.

You confess that God, I've made mistakes, I've made compromises,

but I thank you for forgiving me.

I thank you for dying on the cross for me.

And so if you're in this place today and you

haven't done that before, you haven't acknowledged that before, you

haven't acknowledged Jesus's sacrifice for your sins before. But you say,

you know what, I believe that. I believe that he

died on the cross. I believe that he's my savior.

We're all going to say a prayer together, and the

prayer isn't what saves you. The prayer isn't what gets

you that ticket into eternity. The prayer is just an

acknowledgment of something that you already believe in your heart.

And so let's all bow our heads and close our eyes.

You can repeat after me, say, dear Lord Jesus, I

accept you as.

My lord and as my savior.

I believe that you died on the cross and rose

again for me. I confess that I fall in short,

but I thank you for forgiving me and for dying

for me. I can't wait to spend eternity with you.

In Jesus' name. A men, amen.

Really quick, really quick. We don't want to we don't

want to embarrass you. But Jesus died on a cross,

unashamed for your sins. He died naked on a cross, beaten, marred,

and bruised in front of the whole world for your sins.

And so we just want to celebrate with you. If

you said that prayer tonight and you meant it from

your heart, and so on the counter three, I'm I'm

gonna ask you to raise your hand. If you said

that prayer and you meant it from your heart, We're

not gonna embarrass you when we want to celebrate with

you right now on the count of three, one, two, three,

raise your hand if you said that prayer. If you

said that prayer, you can go to Grow dot Faith.

That website's gonna.

Have a book where you can download.

It's a book written by our founding pastor, Pastor Diego,

and it just talks about what do you do now

that you're a Christian, now that you believe that Jesus

is your Lord and your savior.

What do you do now?

How do you walk out this Christian life? That book's

gonna give you all the answers and what to do next.

Amen.

Amen, Well, we're gonna pray together right now. We're all

gonna leave together right now. If you are in need

of any prayer today, If if we talked about legacy

today and you had some compromises in your life, maybe

you need to pray about those, Maybe you want to

talk to somebody about that. Are our prayer team and

our elders to be right here at the front of

the altar that we want to pray with you. We

want to believe God with you for anything that you

have going on in your life. If you're praying for something,

you need, a miracle, whatever it is, we're here to be.

That with you tonight. So after we pray, they'll be

right here at the front of the altar. Amen. Well,

let's all pray and then we can all be on

our way. Tonight.

God, we thank you so much for this service today. God,

we thank you that we were not here on accident,

but you destined us to be here tonight.

Lord.

We pray that whatever happened in our hearts tonight, God,

that it would continue on as we get home, that

it would continue on throughout our lives, and that we'd

be able to leave the legacy that you desire us

to have.

God, I pray that.

You empower everybody here to overcome those compromises that have

overcame them. God, I pray that we would all finish

our race well. Lord, in Jesus name, we pray.

Amen. Amen. We'll see you guys on Sunday.