Sermon
Rejoice, Anyways and Always || Pastor Nathan Mesa
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
Welcome to the Lesse Podcast. Here at Lesse we seek the loss, teach
-
the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by this
-
week's message. God. We just thank you for this time. We thank
-
you Father, that you have brought us to this moment. God. It's
-
not by accident. Everyone that is here God is here. Lord. So
-
we just ask you God now to be with us in this moment. Father.
-
I ask you God to guide my words. God. May I just
-
be a vessel unto you. Father. May your word come to life,
-
May it stir us, May it challenge us, and may it convict us.
-
God that we leave here different, Father, because that is the desire
-
of what we want your word to do, to sharpen us and to challenge
-
us, and ultimately to draw us closer to you, your precious son in
-
Jesus name. Amen. You know, for many of you, I have
-
two young boys in school, just got out just a couple of weeks ago,
-
and it was just at the beginning of the me the end of last
-
month that I was going to my son's recitals. It was their spring performances,
-
and so as we got ready to go, it was my youngest boy's
-
recital, and I was sitting there like most parents, and I was just
-
nodding my head and smiling as they went through one song after another song after
-
another song after another song. Can any parent relate like me? And I
-
was like, son, you better appreciate me sitting here right now listening through
-
all this. But in one of the songs, as I sat there,
-
I would not realize how much it would minister to me in that moment.
-
And I just want to share a short ten second clip of that with you
-
tonight. So that's my youngest Lorenzo and Daniels beautifully opened our worship set tonight
-
with that song when I shared with him what we're going to be taking a
-
look at tonight. That is a song that many of us grew up singing
-
within church, and it's a simple song that just says, today is the
-
day that the Lord has made. And as I sat there, it was
-
so simple and it brought memories back to when I learned it when I was
-
in children's church and when I was in a Bible school and VBS that we
-
just finished, and I began to reflect on the passage and say, this
-
is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad
-
in it. But if we're real and honest with one another, so often
-
it's hard for us to rejoice with everything that may be going on within our
-
life. Yet the word of God encourages us and reminds us that today is
-
the day that He has made, So let us rejoice. Do you have
-
your Bibles? I want you to turn with me to Psalms one eighteen.
-
This is where we're gonna park it tonight, and they're gonna put some of
-
the passages up on the screen with us. But before we do, I
-
think it's important for us to understand the context of Psalm one eighteen and what
-
we are about to dive into and discover together tonight. When we take a
-
look at Psalms one eighteen, it's located in a group of psalms called the
-
Halal Psalms. These psalms were memorized by every Jew and were sung at the
-
end of Passover meal. For the Israelites, it was all about coming into
-
the presence of God, coming into his temple, thanking him and praising God
-
for the great things that he has done. And it was all linked to
-
God delivering Israel from the hand of Egypt and bringing them to the Promised Land.
-
So as we read through Psalms eighteen, specifically in verse twenty four,
-
we have to realize that the Psalmists, the individual who wrote this, was
-
very much aware of what was taking place during this time and even to this
-
day. At this point when we would read the scripture together and let it
-
have the same meaning to us as it did back then, will you stand
-
with me as we read the passage of scripture together and honor God through the
-
Word of God. I'm not going to read the whole passage this evening,
-
but I encourage you to do so. It's not very long, and we're
-
going to break down components of it, but specifically, I just want to
-
read in verse twenty four together, and if you have your Bible, will
-
you read it with me tonight? Since it's just one verse. It says
-
in verse twenty four that this is the day that the Lord has made.
-
Let us rejoice and be glad in it, you may be seated rejoice.
-
Rejoice is defined as to feel or have a great joy, a delight,
-
to acknowledge and to praise publicly. This verse has a greater meaning than just
-
today. And we'll discover that in just a moment. But as we navigate
-
through this, and as we took a look at Psalms one eighteen, the
-
context is so important. The psalm is who we believed to be. David
-
was the individual who wrote Psalms one eighteen. And when we read verse twenty
-
four and think, oh, whoever wrote that they were having a great day.
-
If they were declaring that today is the day the Lord has made let
-
us rejoice, then probably everything was going right for them. They were walking
-
in a beautiful, perfect day within their life. But that was not the
-
case at all when it came to David. This was a time when David's
-
back was pushed up against the wall. He was in probably one of the
-
darkest seasons of his life as he was on the run running away from Saul
-
who wanted him killed. Talk about a low point. Talk about a season
-
where you're overwhelmed and your emotions are running high and you don't know what's going
-
to take place day after next. I don't know if someone's ever been there
-
before where you felt that you've been pushed up against the wall and in that
-
miss you're realizing, like today is not a moment for me to rejoice.
-
But yet, even all in knowing all this, David still pinned verse twenty
-
four that today is the day the Lord has made, and I'm going to
-
choose to rejoice. Why was David able to declare this despite what was happening
-
all around him, I believe simply because it was his perspective. It was
-
a choice that he chose to have in the midst of what he was going
-
through. And you and I family, I believe, have a choice to
-
take a look at how we rejoice. I've come across a lot of people
-
like probably you, and in their hardest seasons of their life, they still
-
chose to rejoice. How can someone who has cancer still have a smile on
-
their face and choose to rejoice. How can someone who just lost a job
-
still say it's gonna be okay and choose to still rejoice? How why when
-
we get around these people were like, hello, aren't you human? What
-
is it in you? What do you have that's different from me? And
-
the Psalmis understood something that greater than his sword, greater than his sling shot,
-
greater than his own strength, It was going to be his spirit that
-
was gonna carry him through. It was gonna be his decision to say,
-
I'm gonna choose to rejoice despite what I'm going through because I know the Lord
-
has been faithful, and I know the Lord will continue to be faithful within
-
my life. It was a declaration and a reminder to him. And so
-
when we choose to declare that today is the day the Lord has made,
-
it is a constant reminder to you and I that God has a purpose for
-
our today. Tonight, I want us to take a look at three simple
-
reasons, three reasons as to why we have the opportunity to rejoice today,
-
and how to strive not to worry about tomorrow, but be faithful in the
-
gift that you and I have been given in today. The first thing we
-
discover is that we can rejoice today because God is good, not sometimes,
-
not most of the time, but all the time. From the beginning to
-
the end of Psalms one eighteen, it says in verse one, give thanks
-
to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Right
-
from the beginning, the first verse of the text is a proclamation and outpouring
-
of the goodness of God within our life. The whole Psalm is framed from
-
beginning to end with the goodness of God. It is at the very core
-
and nature of who God is. It says in Genesis one thirty one,
-
and God saw everything that he made, and behold it was very good,
-
not just good. It says in Psalms one sixteen and verse five, How
-
King the Lord is, how good he is, so merciful, this God
-
of ours. To declare that God is good is not the same as when
-
we say in and out is good, or when we say that latest Marvel
-
movie was good. You see, at the core of those statements, it's
-
still what It's still a subjective, it's still my opinion. Even though we
-
know in and out is king. It's still subjective, okay. But when
-
we talk about the goodness of God, that is not subje jective. The
-
goodness of God is exactly who he is, at the very core of who
-
he is. There's a statement in church that goes, God is good and
-
all the time, why do you say that? Why do you say that?
-
Someone said, because he is. You're absolutely right. That is why
-
we are able to declare that, because we are an expressing an assurance of
-
who God is and the character of who God is within our life. Goodness
-
is at the core of who Jesus is. The goodness of Jesus, in
-
all his glory and all his nature, is the reason alone for us to
-
rejoice today. His goodness is love. We read this in Romans five eight.
-
But God shows his love for us that while we're still sinners, he
-
died for us. His goodness is a gift. In James one seventeen,
-
it says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. His goodness
-
is protection. In Nay Whom Won seven, it says the Lord is good,
-
a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge
-
in him. His goodness is salvation. In John three sixteen, it says
-
that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that we
-
might not perish but have everlasting life. You know, if you grew up
-
reading cartoons or reading comics at all, there's a cartoon called Dennis the Menace.
-
Has anyone heard of that before? And if you've ever read anything about
-
Dennis the menis Dennis is not a Let's just say that Dennis is not a
-
good kid, right, Dennis loves to get into trouble. Dennis loves to
-
get into mischief, and in this one particular comic expressed a time when Dennis
-
and his friend Joey would often go next door to Missus Wilson's house, and
-
this one time at Missus Wilson's house when they were visiting, they were getting
-
ready to go, and Missus Wilson said, Dennis, I have these freshly
-
baked cookies just for you, and he said thanks, Missus Wilson, and
-
him and Joey walked outside and on the porch, Joey said, Dennis,
-
I wonder what we did to deserve these cookies. And Dennis looked over at
-
Joey and said, Joey, Missus Wilson doesn't give us cookies because we're good.
-
Missus Wilson gives us cookies because she is good. The cookies came because
-
of the goodness of Missus Wilson. We do not deserve what God has blessed
-
us and bestowed upon us. We don't deserve the job we have. We
-
don't deserve the kids we have. We don't deserve the house we have.
-
We don't deserve to be able to go to dinner on a Friday day night.
-
That is not because we are good. It is because He is good,
-
and he desires to bless us, and he desires to pour out his
-
mercy and his grace and his favor and his blessing upon us. Why.
-
Because God is good, and God is good all the time. There was
-
purpose when He made today. You know, if you're like me when it
-
comes to electronics, there's nothing better than Apple. I'm sorry, Samsung users,
-
There's nothing better, you know why. I am confident. I am
-
confident in anything that I buy from Apple, whether it is a iMac my
-
iPhone, whether it's a headphones, anything I buy from Apple, I am
-
confident in who they are. I love the customer service, Paster Kenney,
-
I love the store, I love the design. I love how sleek it
-
is. I am confident in what they make. Some say the same about
-
Samsung, if that's your opinion. Some say the same about Mercedes Bins.
-
They only buy Mercedes Bins because they are confident in what they are buying and
-
know that what they make is truly going to be beneficial to them and it's
-
gonna last, and that it's gonna give them everything that they desire. Because
-
of the workmanship and the craftsmanship that goes in behind it. When it comes
-
to our life, family, there is nothing greater than anything that God created,
-
and there's nothing greater than you can do than God and better than God.
-
That when He makes something, he makes it with intentionality. That when
-
He created you, he created you with intentionality, That when He created you,
-
he created you with a workmanship in mind, that when He created today,
-
there was a purpose in today. And so if we understand that God
-
is good and that God created today with a purpose, and that God created
-
a day with a workmanship, then why wouldn't I rejoice for what God has
-
done within my life? God is good all the time. The next thing
-
we discover through Psalms one eighteen is that God is in control. God has
-
made today, God has planned today. God reigns over today. And David
-
knew this and Psalms one thirty nine a bit later when he says, your
-
eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in
-
your book before one of them can be. There is no surprise family,
-
when it comes to God. What may catch you off God, What may
-
be overwhelming to you tonight? What may be a surprise to you tomorrow is
-
not out of God's control, It is not out of the palm of His
-
hand. Part of rejoicing today in the midst of it all is understanding and
-
trusting that God is in control, that all things work together for the good.
-
That God doesn't want us to stress about our worries, and he desires
-
us to cast them and our cares upon him. Part of rejoicing is having
-
faith in the unknown, that we can rejoice in the midst if we don't
-
know what's going to happen. And that's okay, We're not meant to know
-
everything, But God does. I want us to take a look at the
-
two verses before we got to Psalms one twenty four. It says in verse
-
twenty two, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This
-
is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is
-
the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
-
it. Psalms one eighteen had a greater prophetic message than this day. This
-
day was referenced and this is the day that God has created, and this
-
is the day that we can rejoice in. But when we declare Psalms one
-
eighteen, and we specifically read verse twenty four. This day that is being
-
referenced is the day of deliverance and bondage of sin by the death of Jesus
-
Christ, and that he rose again for you and I. This is the
-
great and momentous day that the verse is referring to. It is the day
-
that God exalted Jesus, even though he was rejected by the chief priests,
-
and became the chief cornerstone within our faith. This day that the Lord has
-
made speaks to the greatest example of how God is in control because of what
-
happened. That day when Jesus died on the cross for us and became that
-
chief cornerstone, was the day that you and I were offered salvation. It
-
was the day that he brought deliverance upon the cross. You see, at
-
this time, Israel considered itself to be the stone that the world rejected.
-
Through the Jewish leaders and the builders, and the scribes, the priests,
-
the pharisees Israel, they all rejected Jesus, They all turned their back on
-
Jesus. They all saw no value in who he was. But God,
-
in his power and in his might in raising Jesus from the dead, exalted
-
him to be head of the Church and head of our lives. That is
-
why today is the day that the Lord has made his reason alone, that
-
we can rejoice and be glad in it. In nineteen forty, in the
-
state of Washington, just right outside of Seattle, in Tacoma, the city
-
had built a bridge that connected the city of Tacoma to Kitsap Peninsula. And
-
during this time, in nineteen forty, it was the third longest bridge in
-
the world, and so this was really a marvel at this time, and
-
so when the city unveiled it, it was all the greatest news because it
-
would connect two large areas between Tacoma, Washington, and this peninsula. But
-
unfortunately, four months after it was built, it collapsed, and it collapsed
-
tragically because as they built it, the builders thought that they could get away
-
with using cheap girders or steel, which eventually caused bridge to buckle and sway
-
and completely collapse. You see, family, in our life, we have
-
a choice on what we build our life and faith on. And if we
-
cheapen our life and cheapen our faith with things other than the Word of God,
-
and we put our hope, in our trust, in our family,
-
and in our spouse, and in our kids, and in our own understanding.
-
It will only be about a matter of time before we sway, we
-
buckle, and we collapse. But when we put our faith into the foundation
-
of Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, the only cornerstone that could keep us
-
together, the cornerstone that can hold us and keep us right along this journey
-
and along this path, then we are confident to know that God will always
-
be in control. And there is an assurance that you and I can have
-
today when we know Jesus in our life that even though the bridge may sway,
-
that life may sway, as long is built upon the foundation of Jesus
-
Christ, you and I are not going anywhere. Jesus will always remain the
-
staple and the cornerstone within our faith. But so many times again, if
-
we're being real, we miss out on the goodness of God because we get
-
lost so much in the day to day trying to control things on our own.
-
We try to take problems into our own hands. We try to be
-
our kids savior, we try to do everything at work, we try to
-
be everything to everyone. When God desires us to just pause and to be
-
still in the every day, and to rejoice in the small victories and to
-
be reminded that Satan is already defeated. The fact that you woke up today
-
and we're able to shower is a small victory. The fact that you got
-
to work safely is a small victory. The fact my little boy has a
-
fever and with a flu right now. But the small victory is is that
-
I continue to pray and confess healing over my son and he's still awake right
-
now in bed. He's still sick in fighting this, but the goodness of
-
God is that God still has a purpose for him in this moment, and
-
as a parent, I just want to surround and I want to love him.
-
We have to recognize and praise and rejoice the small victories within our life.
-
We still may be battling a lot of trauma from when we were younger,
-
but you may not be where you used to be twenty years ago,
-
and for that you need to rejoice for the small victory of what God may
-
have delivered you from. You still may be navigating through that trauma, but
-
guess what, You're not where you used to be. We have to rejoice
-
in today and know that God is in control. And lastly, our third
-
point we discover through Psalms one eighteen is that we rejoice because God is joy.
-
Each and every day we have a reason to be glad, whether we
-
may think we do or not. There is a reason for you to have
-
joy today. But so many people are chasing happiness and they get disappointed when
-
the circumstances change, or their feelings and emotions surround them and dictate what kind
-
of day they will have. But God desires us to enjoy each day that
-
he creates it. He doesn't want us to just endure it. He doesn't
-
want us to just push through and get over it. He wants us to
-
enjoy the joy that is in the day that He created. That if we
-
allow happiness to dictate our day, it will always change. You know why,
-
because happiness is fleeting. Happiness is dependent on circumstances that come into my
-
life. I got a promotion, I'm happy, I got laid off,
-
I'm sad. It's subjective to the circumstance that comes around us. I could
-
lose my happiness easy. When Chapot lays skims on the chicken, when I'm
-
ordering the bowl that can affect my mood like that. For some of you,
-
your happiness has changed. The moment someone cuts you off on the freeway
-
or gives you the little old middle finger, your happiness is completely gone.
-
But John fifteen eleven says, have I told you so that my joy may
-
be in you, that your joy may be complete? The happiness can change,
-
but joy can be complete through Jesus. True contentment is not found in
-
the circumstances that makes us happy. True contentment is found in the joy that
-
can only be found in the Lord. It is a joy that is a
-
deep seated confidence that God is in control, a confidence that from only a
-
relationship with Jesus. We don't arrive at joy. Joy is not a destination
-
that we're trying to get to. If I get in the car right now,
-
I know that I can get to San Diego in two hours and I
-
will have reached my destination. Joy is not a destination that we get to.
-
We are always evolving when it comes to joy within our life. We
-
are always developing joy within our life because joy comes within our faith and within
-
our walk. It is not a destination. The apostle Paul knew this,
-
as he wrote in Philippians four four. He said to the Church of philipp
-
I, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice.
-
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.
-
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication,
-
with thanksgiving. Let your requests be known to God. And the peace
-
of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.
-
In Christ Jesus, like David, Paul wrote this when he was in
-
horrible conditions. He was locked up in prison. His circumstances and his surroundings
-
were not perfect or ideal, ideal at all. Yet he encourages his own
-
spirit and us to rejoice in the Lord always. Paul encourages us to rejoice
-
in the Lord, even though what we're going through at all times, because
-
he knew that joy and rejoicing were connected to one another. His circumstances and
-
situations did not dictate his joy, but rather, his focus on Jesus dictated
-
his joy. I have this cylinder up here, and for the sake of
-
this illustration, I want this cylinder to represent our lives for a moment and
-
in our life. As we navigate through this journey of life, there will
-
be seasons, there will be circumstances, There will be things that we go
-
through that will naturally affect our happiness and our emotions. Perhaps when you were
-
younger, someone told you that you never were going to accomplish anything. Maybe
-
when you were younger, someone just said, give up on that dream,
-
that that won't ever happen. Go in a different direction. Perhaps you were
-
going through college and things just didn't work out and you ended up dropping out
-
and it wasn't the plan that you had originally thought. Perhaps you had a
-
miscarriage in your relationship that you weren't expecting. Perhaps you lost a job or
-
you lost a source of income. Maybe you just made some stupid decisions in
-
your life and it affected your happiness and your emotions. That's all of us,
-
if we're being real, and before we know it, our lives can
-
be so consumed and filled and dictated by the circumstances that we have gone through
-
that our life has been dependent on these traumas or these experiences that we have
-
gone through, that we are just living day to day being filled with these
-
things. The goodness of God, though, is that when we accept Jesus
-
into our life, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And as we
-
are filled with the Spirit of God, what begins to happen is we should
-
begin to see some changes within us. And in the beginning it may be
-
a little bit. We'll be able to see a little change. But it
-
feels good. I like what this feels like. I like knowing and following
-
Jesus. I like coming to church. I like finding community. And the
-
more that we spend time in the Spirit of God, the more that we
-
come to church, the more that we invite the presence of God into our
-
life. What begins to happen is what once filled us up, what once
-
consumed us, what's once dictated every emotion within our life now begins to what
-
overflowed. And for some we're completely healed of these things. For others,
-
we may have the memory of that lost child, We may have the memory
-
of that loved one that passed, and that's okay still. But here's the
-
thing. That memory remains at the surface because what has changed from the inside
-
is that we are now filled with the Spirit of God. And if we
-
know what the spirit of God does, then we know that one of the
-
fruits of the spirit is what joy. And when we spend time in the
-
presence of God, we can be so filled and consumed with joy within our
-
life that even though I may go through these circumstances, even though I may
-
go through these seasons within my life, I can still go through life with
-
joy because the Holy Spirit lives and dwells within me. So I ask you
-
in the beginning, how does someone that is walking through cancer still have joy?
-
How does someone that just lost a job say, it's gonna be all
-
right, kids, I still have the joy of the Lord. How can
-
I go to school from six am to twelve pm or six am to six
-
pm and still have joy because I know that I am walking in the purpose
-
that God is calling me. It's hard and I want to give up,
-
and I have kids, and I have a husband, and I got a
-
house to put together and hold. But I'm doing this and I'm still gonna
-
walk with joy. Why because I still spend time in the presence of God.
-
And as I spend time in the presence of God, I can continually
-
be filled up with the fruit to the Spirit. And one of the fruits
-
of the spirit is joy today. And so when we navigate this life.
-
I encourage us all that we find, and we pull and we lean on
-
the joy that is available to you. And I today that when we're walking
-
through, say a tough season within our life, and you may be in
-
a great season right now, but we know that this life is not perfect,
-
and we will all come to a season that is a little overwhelming.
-
We will all come to a season where we may lose a loved one.
-
We will all come to a season where we will have to navigate someone who
-
may be sick. And let it be an encouragement that not only you can
-
have joy, but they can have joy within their life today when they remain
-
close to the source. And the source is Jesus Christ. So how do
-
we rejoice without losing joy? Today? Very briefly, we can't get hung
-
up on the past. We have to trust that God has a plan for
-
our life. Number two, we can't worry about tomorrow. The Bible says
-
each day has enough troubles on its own. And thirdly, we can't miss
-
what God has for us today. We must be present in the gift of
-
today and seek His presence. The Word of God encourages us in Psalm sixteen,
-
that it is in his presence. There is a fullness of joy,
-
a fullness, a completeness that can happen when we are in his presence.
-
I find that too many people are focused on the past. They're grieving over
-
what they lost, what they could have have, what they should have done.
-
That it's stealing their joy in today, that they're allowing the enemy to
-
steal the gift of the day that they have right in front of them.
-
And if that's you, then I just encourage you to fight for your joy
-
today. That you fight and you remind Satan that he's defeated, that Jesus
-
has already won the victory. And through the Holy Spirit, you can have
-
a completeness and a fullness of a joy, and you are able to rejoice
-
and not just rejoice, but rejoice and be glad in it. If we
-
choose to rejoice when we're walking the perfect road, when life is going like
-
everything we wanted, Well, guess what, we're gonna be waiting a really,
-
really long time, and we're gonna be disappointed and we're gonna get discouraged.
-
But when we choose to look at today as the day the Lord has
-
made the gift that He has given us because of his goodness, because of
-
the gift of his salvation and the joy that can only be found in him.
-
Family, we can take his joy and we can begin to put it
-
into action by rejoicing. Joy is something that happens internally through the Holy Spirit,
-
and rejoicing is the outward expression from experiencing the inward joy that can only
-
come from Him. Let's pray, God, we thank you Father for your
-
word tonight. God. We thank you for your son Jesus. God that
-
without him, God, we would not only have salvation God, but we
-
wouldn't be able to navigate this life here on this earth God, with a
-
fullness of joy God, a joy that can only be found in You.
-
Father. So, Father, when we hear Psalms one eighteen and verse twenty
-
four, God that today is the day the Lord has made God. From
-
here on out, God, may our outlook and our perspective be different.
-
God, because today is not just an ordinary day. Today is not just
-
a day that we get to check off. God. But today is an
-
ordained day that You created with purpose and mind, Oh God. And so
-
even though God, we may navigate through sea sass of hardship God, circumstances
-
that are overwhelming. God, help us God to be able to rejoice in
-
the midst of it all. And we know that the rejoicing God is not
-
in vain, but it is because we can be so filled with the Spirit
-
of God within our life. Wather. I just pray God for anybody that
-
feels empty tonight, God, that you begin to fill them up God through
-
your word. That through the worship tonight God, and through the reading of
-
your word. God, I pray that in this moment God, they are
-
being filled up with the spirit of God, specifically with the fruit of joy
-
within their life. God. That when they walk out of here tonight,
-
God, I pray that their mouth God may have been a frown coming in,
-
but there is now a smile upon their face. God, because they
-
could look at today a little bit differently. They could look at what they're
-
going through a little bit differently. Oh God, because you are in the
-
mists and You, God, are good even when we don't deserve it.
-
God, you are so faithful. God. We thank you Father for your
-
presence in Jesus name. I'm going to ask everyone to just continue to bow
-
your heads for me for this moment, and we're going to leave here together
-
as a family. But I don't want to take for granted that everyone here
-
tonight has had the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ in their life and had the
-
opportunity to ask Jesus to come into their life as their personal Lord and savior.
-
And you may be going through life right now and you feel you're in
-
that valley, you feel you're in that pit, and you feel there's no
-
way out. And I want to tell you without apart from Jesus, there
-
really isn't a way out. But with Jesus, there is an assurance that
-
you can have today that God has a purpose for you, that God sent
-
his son Jesus to die for you and for me, that we can spend
-
eternity with him. There is a love that He gave to us through his
-
son Jesus. And so I'm going to ask you tonight, if you've never
-
accepted Jesus Christ into your life, then I invite you to say this prayer
-
with me. Tomorrow is not promised. This morning, we had a beautiful
-
homegoing service to one of the founders of this church. And here's the thing
-
I know about Mother Mackie. Mother. Mackie knew where she was going.
-
There was not a shadow of a doubt that she was going to heaven when
-
she would pass here on this earth, and that is exactly where she is
-
today, in the presence of Jesus. I want to ask you, do
-
you know without a shadow of a doubt that if you were to close your
-
eyes tonight and not wake up, would you land in the presence of God?
-
And would you be welcomed into Heaven to spend eternity with your Savior.
-
If you can't say that confly, then I invite you to say this prayer
-
with me. Jesus stretches his arms to you, and you might say,
-
pastor no, I've done some jacked up things. No, you don't know
-
what I did last night that he don't love me. I'm so messed up.
-
I'm telling you he loves you, and I'm telling you he died for
-
you as much as he did for me and anyone else in this building tonight.
-
So I'm gonna ask that you say this prayer with me. It's not
-
the prayer that saves you, but it's the positioning of your heart and the
-
belief and faith behind it. So I'm gonna ask you to repeat after me.
-
Dear Jesus, come into my life. I repent him my sins.
-
I ask you to cleanse me and to make me whole. I declare that
-
Jesus is Lord, and believe in my heart that God raise him from the
-
dead. And I am now saved. I am now a child of God
-
in Jesus name. Amen and Amen, Come on, family, Let's give
-
a hand for anyone not accepted Christ Tony. That is the greatest decision that
-
you could ever make. Chelsea's gonna come up here and she's gonna dismiss us.
-
She's gonna share some final announcements with us, and we pray. I
-
pray that you are blessed by the word of God tonight as much as a
-
minister to me the day my little boy sang the song. It reminded me
-
of the beauty and the pureness behind the scripture. And so my prayer for
-
you today is that we all find the joy that God who wants us all
-
to half. God bless family. We really hope you enjoyed the message,
-
and if you said yes to Jesus, we just want to say congratulations and
-
give you a free devotional to help you walk out your faith. Click the
-
link of the description or head over to grow dot Faith to download your devotional.
-
Oh and be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends.
-
Thanks for listening to Let's See Podcasts, and I hope you tune in again