Salvation

Anyway, Mark chapter 1, verse number 14.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

When you have it, just say amen, so I know you're there.

Thank you so much.

Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the gospel.

Notice this is Jesus' message.

What does he say?

The time is fulfilled.

God's timing has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near or at hand.

Repent ye and believe the gospel.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to open the Bible, the Word of God.

We thank you for the presence of the Holy Spirit that is in this place with us.

And we ask you, Lord, today, that you would anoint each heart, that you would anoint our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our heart to be receptive.

God, that you would anoint me, Lord, as a messenger today to preach the unadulterated word of God, that the hearers may be glad and receive it, rejoicing in it, Lord, and that we will be changed in any area that we need to be changed.

And we thank you for it.

We give you all the praise for this.

We ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Praise the Lord.

Well, the gospel we learned last week, the good news of the kingdom is Jesus delivering us, right?

But in this verse in Mark, the gospel is announcing the good news of the kingdom of God to men.

Well, Jesus is telling us that the kingdom of God is near.

And the message of the kingdom and the synoptic gospels and the book of Acts make at least 20 different references to preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

The Bible says in John chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, that John the Baptist began his ministry preaching, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

John 3:1

And what Jesus is speaking of, the kingdom, Jesus is speaking of the kingdom of heaven, coming to earth.

We pray that in the Lord's Prayer, Your kingdom come, your will be done.

And I always say it when I pray it at home in my life, in my family, on earth.

God, I want your kingdom in me.

And the kingdom of heaven has kingdom dynamics that become available to us or to anyone when we receive the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

And I want to talk to you about what repentance brings today.

And there are a lot of people that don't really have a deep understanding.

Maybe their understanding is a little bit shallow when it comes to repentance.

But if Jesus preached the message of repentance, then we, the church, must be aware that there are moments that we need to repent, right?

There are moments where we simply miss the mark.

I'm not saying that we get saved all over again.

How many believe that when God saves us, he saves us?

Amen.

We're not working to earn salvation today.

We are simply saved by grace and it's the faith that we put in Jesus Christ.

And that's not what I'm bringing this morning.

I'm just making us aware that as the church, there are going to be moments that the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will deal with us individually and corporately, that we say, God, we have missed the mark, and God, we want to turn back to you, right?

And I believe that when we do that, we are going to experience what the Word of God declares that we are to experience.

The very first thought that God gave me in this sermon this morning that repentance lays hold of freedom.

Repentance is how we lay hold of the freedom of God.

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of freedom.

I'm so grateful and glad that we don't serve a God who loads us down with things that we can't carry, but he loads us down with grace to carry whatever he asks us to carry.

Amen.

And so the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of freedom.

And repentance is the means that we lay hold of the freedom of God.

Do you know what sets you free this morning?

The Bible says the truth, the Son of God, is what sets us free.

John chapter 8, verses 32 and 36, Jesus said that you'll know the truth.

John 8:32

Anywhere in our life that we're not living in total freedom with God, it's because we're ignorance.

Now I'm not being cruel, but ignorance is simply you don't know the things that God has for you, right?

So when we understand the things that God has for us and we don't receive that, we're no longer ignorant of it.

We're apathetic towards it.

Amen.

And I know that repentance is a message that we don't hear very much today, but I believe that God wants to reintroduce us as individuals that there are moments in my life, I won't say about your life because only you know about you, but there are moments in my life where I simply am missing it, maybe by a little, a small margin, but how many know that if you're on a plane and you're one degree off course, the further you get, the further you go, the further you are off course.

And sin simply meant means that we miss the mark.

And so I want to remind you today that when we repent of anything, any sin, that we are opening the door for the freedom of God's kingdom to flood into our lives.

The Son of God sets us free.

And also in the Gospel of John, there was a woman who the Bible says who was caught in the very act of adultery, who was brought before Jesus as he taught, and thrown before him.

And the crowd accused her being guilty of adultery.

And Jesus did not deny the law.

Jesus did not deny that the law called her guilty if she was caught doing that.

Jesus simply said that he that who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.

And one by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they dropped their rocks, they turned, and they walked away.

Why?

Because the condemnation of their own sin had gripped their heart that they knew that they were not just to make a just judgment upon the woman.

And there are times when we see in our life that we're guilty and we have to have the same grace that this woman had, and it's through repentance, because Jesus said to this woman, Where are your accusers?

And she answered, Lord, I have none.

And then Jesus exclaimed, Woman, neither do I accuse you, neither do I condemn thee.

Go and sin no more.

What does that mean?

He's giving her an opportunity to repent.

He's giving her an opportunity to make a 180 degree and to change her lifestyle.

That is what God has called each person to do.

When we preach the gospel, the gospel is not a gospel that is condemning people.

The gospel is a gospel of grace that is reaching to the lost, saying, come to God and find freedom.

Come to the Lord and find that He can remove your sins, that He can heal your brokenness, that He can redeem your soul, and He can put you in the right place with God.

That is the message of the gospel.

But the message of the gospel cannot be received without someone first hearing that we're wrong.

We've missed God.

We need to repent where we need to repent.

And I believe the church at large, and when I speak of the church, I'm speaking of the church throughout the world.

In many instances, I don't hear very many messages on repentance.

And we accept people into the fellowship of the church who are not even born again because they've never come through the open door to God through repentance of their sin.

The Bible says it's an ABC of salvation.

It is admitting that you're a sinner, it's believing in Jesus Christ and confessing him as Lord and Savior of your life.

ABC, it doesn't get much simpler than that.

But the Holy Spirit is drawing us to the place of truth that we may receive truth.

I want to remind you today that when we repent, we lay hold of our freedom in Jesus Christ.

Grace was offered through repentance by turning away from that sin and refusing to live that life that was destroying her any longer.

Aren't you glad that God has saved you today?

Aren't you glad that you don't live the life that you used to live?

And there are moments in our life where we may fall short, and we simply do as we do when we worked outside with the bar of soap.

When we come in, we hop in that shower or bath and we take that bar of soap and we begin to apply it to our lives to wash the old filth and grid and grime off of our lives.

And when we fail in this life of a Christian life, we come to Jesus and we take the word of God and the Holy Spirit.

We begin to apply it to our lives and we say, Lord, you said that if I confess my sins, that He is faithful and just to forgive me of all my sins and to cleanse me of all my unrighteousness.

So, Lord, I'm coming to the one who can help me, deliver me, and restore me in my life.

That's the truth of the gospel.

The world doesn't need to know how bad they are.

I promise you, they already know how bad they are.

They need to know how good God is, and if they will turn to God, that God will receive them by their faith in Him, and He'll begin to do a sanctifying work in their lives.

Is anybody being sanctified here today?

Raise your hand.

I'm being sanctified.

You ask me tomorrow, I may not feel so sanctified, but I promise you, I am being sanctified through the truth of the gospel.

I want to encourage you today to believe what the Bible says about you.

Don't believe what you say about yourself or the world says about you.

Believe what the Word of God says about you.

Amen.

And I say that we're more than overcomers, we're more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

And when we fall, we will rise up again by the help of the Holy Spirit.

This freedom comes through repentance.

So don't be afraid to repent.

Don't load your life down with a lot of condemnation.

Romans 8 says, There is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

So if you walk in the flesh, you will have condemnation.

But if you walk in the spirit and you fall short, you simply repent.

And condemnation cannot come where the spirit is.

Amen.

Are y'all are y'all checking with me today?

Y'all with me today.

So repentance lays hold of freedom.

The truth keeps us from mixing another gospel with the gospel of the kingdom.

You realize that there are different gospels that are preached?

Paul warned us about this when he said, if any man preach any other gospel than I have preached, let him be accursed.

He says, Don't believe a foreign gospel.

You've got to have the gospel of the kingdom in your life to live an overcoming and a free life.

You can't have just any gospel because every gospel is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You say, well, are we a cult?

No, we're not a cult.

We've got 66 books here that tell us who God is, what he's done for us, and how to live a life that honors God.

66 books.

And in one of those letters, John writes that you don't need any man to teach you.

That doesn't mean that we don't fellowship and grow in grace, but he says the teacher I'm sending to you is the Holy Spirit.

And let me tell you what the Holy Spirit will do.

He will lead you into what?

All truth.

You can't have truth without repentance.

And repentance brings the truth of the gospel and the kingdom into our lives.

I'm so thankful for that.

But we are free indeed.

1 Timothy 1:15, 16, Paul writes to Timothy, he says, This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it that Christ came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them all.

1 Timothy 1:15

This is the New Living Translation, but he says, But God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst of sinners.

Hallelujah.

What is Paul saying?

He said, I had blown it.

I was religious.

I was treating the church as they were heretics.

I was putting them in prison.

I was taking them and killing people.

And I thought I was doing God a favor, but I was a sinner.

And he says, matter of fact, I consider myself the worst of sinners, but God had mercy on me.

And he said, I'm a prime example.

If you knew me before, you know that God can save anyone.

There's no case too far in debt that Christ cannot redeem their soul and restore their life.

Let that be the message of any Cumberland Presbyterian church, that there's no one so far in sin that God can't reach down and pull them out when they turn to God in repentance.

When they say, Lord, I am a sinner.

I'm in bondage.

I've got I got things I don't want in my life, but I can't free myself.

But when they call upon Jesus, when they say, I'm gonna, I'm making up my mind today.

I'm not gonna live the way I used to live.

I'm gonna choose Jesus.

All of a sudden, the grace of God and the kingdom of God is opened up to them.

Do you believe that today?

I have a friend that he's been seven years in ministry, and he was a pretty, I didn't know him before he got saved, but he said he by his own admission that he was a pretty prominent drug dealer in Grant Parish.

But you know, he grew up in a Christian home.

He said, every day I saw my mom and dad reading the Bible every morning in their home, and I would hear them praying for me.

But he said, I didn't want that.

But he said, that last time I got arrested, I sit in that police car and I said, I'm not getting arrested anymore.

This is my last time.

And he didn't realize that when he called upon Jesus, that Jesus had a plan for his life to bring him out of what he had been in, a 180-degree turn, and now he's a minister of the gospel, telling other people how God can set the worst of sinners free.

Never give up, never lose hope.

They may look that they're so far gone, they may have all the stigmas of people that we know.

We say, man, we can put them in a category, they're this, they're that.

But with God, nothing shall be impossible.

And I want to encourage you today, speak about repentance off.

Let people know that we have to, you don't have to, you don't have to promote your life before people, but there are gonna be times when people are gonna tell you something, you're gonna say, you know, I I had to repent over some things one time.

And let me tell you what God did for my life.

It opened up the truth.

Secondly, we'll get free indeed, right?

Secondly, repentance changes our attitude.

Oh, we're saying, Lord, help some people repent now.

Attitude adjustments is what people need, right?

Well, repentance will change our attitude.

Repentance is the attitude toward God.

Now I took this, I I've been reading up on the Cumberland Presbyterian Profession of Faith, so y'all know I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna honor that.

But here's what it says repentance is the attitude toward God wherein sinners fully resolve to forsake sin, trust in Christ, and live in grateful obedience to God.

That's everywhere.

That's not just this church, that is any church that preaches Jesus Christ.

It's an attitude toward God.

I mean, we nobody has a corner on this in the market.

This is turning to God and resolving to forsake my sin.

It means I'm not gonna live with one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the kingdom of the world, and to mingle a gospel that is not Christ's gospel.

I am going to fully commit to forsake my sin, trust in Christ, and live a grateful, obedient life to God.

And let me just encourage you today, that means determination, and it's gonna take some grit when you make that call.

Amen.

Is anybody in here can lay lift your hand and say, oh, it's been just a cakewalk?

It's so simple and easy.

Anybody can do it.

No, this is a this is soldiers in the house determined that I'm gonna fight the good fight of faith.

I I'm I'm gonna trust in God.

And when I trust in God, my attitude is not one that if everything goes well, then I'll serve God.

My attitude is that He's gonna be with me no matter what.

My attitude is I'm forsaking sin.

My attitude is I'm trusting in Christ, and I'm gonna live grateful of everything God's done for me.

Number one, he's removed the sin from my life and put me in his family, and I can't ever repay that.

Hallelujah.

And so we get free, and our attitudes begin to look more like Christians.

Have you ever been around a Christian that didn't look too much like a Christian?

Don't say amen too loud.

You ever been around someone that they said they were a Christian, but you thought, in what place are you a Christian?

I don't see much evidence, right?

We used to say, is there enough evidence to convict you if you were taken to court for being a Christian?

You know, and so we wonder sometimes if people are truly Christian.

Well, I don't know about that person, but my attitude, I want my attitude to reflect Jesus Christ.

That means that I'm gonna have to decrease that he may increase.

And when I do repent, that means he begins to change me.

And oh, I'm thankful for the places he has changed me.

And I say, Lord, don't stop there.

There's plenty more work to do.

Don't say amen, because I don't want y'all to make me feel bad.

But praise God, he's working on us, right?

And I'm I'm here to encourage you not to get down and to and to just beat yourself up, but to know that it's through making a turn that we get free.

It's through making a turn from where we were going to God that changes our attitude and helps us to live an overcoming life.

And in 1 John 5, 2 and 5, it says, by this we know the love of that we love the children of God.

When we love God and obey his commandments.

And for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

We don't merit salvation through repentance.

You can't repent enough to be saved.

Repentance is simply turning to God, but it's a it's a it's just a human exercise.

It means I turn from what I used to be, and I turned to say, God, I want to be like you.

How many thought that repentance was something that you did that it flipped the light switch on and everything changed?

Your repentance means your posture has changed.

We were enemies of God, but now we we want to be a friend of God.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I was opposed to the things of God, but I turned from that and said, I want the things of God.

That's repentance.

I changed because of the grace of God, and it's necessary to repent in order to partake of the saving grace and forgiveness of Jesus.

You can't, let me just put it lightly, you can't get anywhere with God without repentance.

We say we're waiting on God, God is waiting on us, and it's the easiest thing to do is say, God, I see where I was wrong, and I repent.

I've been talking about families that are struggling and going through brokenness.

You know that.

I'm gonna talk to talk to us just in corporately.

When husbands and wives get into a disagreement and we do at times, right?

Why is it difficult for for one to yield and say I'm sorry?

Or I was wrong.

How many remember happy days where the Fonds he couldn't say he was wrong?

We are all wrong in some times.

Have you ever been thought you were right and then found out later you were wrong?

We all miss it.

But when we go through things, I'm lost my train of thought when I said Ponzi.

Lord help me.

When we admit, I know where it was, as a family, as a as a relationship, I'm sorry, I love you.

I didn't mean to do that.

I missed it.

I was wrong.

What happens?

Freedom comes in.

Love covers a multitude of sin.

It begins to restore, maybe not all at once, but it's like oil that flows over it.

And that's what when we come to God, say, God, you've never been wrong.

I've been wrong.

You've never hurt me, God.

You never missed it.

I missed it.

I've hurt myself, God.

And I was wrong.

And all of a sudden that oil begins to flow.

See, we don't preach this and we miss it.

And I'm here to say that the love of God, the commandments of God, when we say, God, I haven't kept them, but Lord, I missed it and I'm turning around and saying, I want to keep your commandments, but I just struggle sometimes.

I get in my own way sometimes.

And God says, I recognize that if you're repentance, all of a sudden freedom begins to come and he begins to help us because it's his kingdom coming.

And I want to tell you this morning that we cannot serve God and idols.

We can't serve God partly.

And Jesus says, when you go into the world, preach the gospel to every creature.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

And all I'm saying today is that repentance is simply saying, I believe it.

I'm turning toward God.

And I'm in pursuit of the things of God.

And God, I want you to know it.

I admit I'm a sinner.

I believe in you, God, that you sent your son to seek and save the lost.

And Paul said, if he's the worst, God, I may be the second worst, but I believe if you save Paul, you can save me.

And then I confess, Lord, I will follow you.

I will serve you.

You're my Lord.

And Lord, if I fall down, I'm going to let you know I knew I fell down, and God, I'm going to repent, and I'm going to get back up and I'm going to keep going forward.

And God, I'm believing that my attitude is going to be one of victory.

Amen.

Let me just say this: if you've been living in defeat, you've lived there too long.

You're more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ.

Get back to that place where God's called us to be.

We'll get a new attitude.

Such faith includes trust and the truthfulness of God's promises as scripture, sorrow for sin, and determination to serve God.

And listen to this, and our neighbor.

Look at your neighbor and smile readily and say, I'm here for you.

I'm going to love you.

I'm going to help you.

I'm going to speak truth to you.

See, it's not just about us, it's about others.

There are people that are hurting who need God.

And you are the light of the world.

You're a city only hill.

Your testimony is if he did it for me, he can do it for you.

And so we get a new attitude.

Thirdly, repentance establishes our future.

In a world of uncertainty, when we wonder what tomorrow holds, can I tell you today, God's kingdom is a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

It is established.

It will not pass away.

And when we repent and turn to God, it establishes our future.

Proverbs 4, 18, 19.

You might want to jot the scripture down and look at it later.

This is the amplified version.

It says, the path of the just is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until it reaches its full strength and glory in the perfect day to be prepared.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness.

They do not know over what they stumble.

See the contrast?

The way of the just, those who have repented, is like the morning light.

Do you ever get up before morning?

I do all the time.

I can tell if it's morning or not, because my window right by my bed will let the light in if it's ramen dawn.

And a lot of times I look and I wake up, I say, Well, it's still dark.

But when I do get up and I go outside and it's about the dawn, all of a sudden you have to start to have light.

And it begins to be the first light.

But do you know that light is different than the light at noontime?

At noontime, the sun is in its full brilliance.

Everything is lit up.

God says this about those who repent in our future.

That light of Jesus Christ that's dawning on your life is going to get brighter and brighter and brighter until he comes to take us home to be with him.

He is going to keep showing us his glory.

He's going to keep showing us his liberation, freedom that he gives us in his kingdom, and we grow in righteousness with Jesus Christ.

Y'all still with me?

But the way of the wicked, the unrepentant, is like deep darkness.

If we ignore the things the Holy Spirit is speaking to us even after we're born again, do you know that it's like turning our back and saying, God, I don't want your way, I want my way.

And then what happens?

We turn away from the light and we walk back to where the darkness was and we start stumbling again.

And I believe today that God is saying in churches, people that are in churches, the simplest thing that I've asked you to do when I begin to preach is just to be open to what my word says and where you have not followed me to repent and follow me.

God does not save us and leave us to fend for ourselves.

Hallelujah to that.

He doesn't tell us to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

He tells us to trust in him and not lean to our own understanding.

To acknowledge him in all our ways and he'll direct our paths.

God is simply saying, be like a tree planted by the water, right?

Be planted by God.

Don't look for another source, and if you've tried other sources, you know that they haven't made you the better man or woman you should be.

Repent of that.

Say, Lord, I tried that.

I tried to be good in my own self, and Lord, I blew it.

Right?

You don't leave us powerless or ineffective.

How many have felt like the least of these at some time in your life?

Don't raise your hand.

Then you don't add anything.

Then you're just you're just taking up air, and you're just, but I'm telling you, when you repent, God establishes us in our future, and you make a difference as a Christian wherever you go.

And then finally, this light that's shining brighter and brighter is going to lead us into the day, the perfect day.

And how does it start?

It all starts through answering the call of our Savior to repent and believe the gospel.

That does not mean I've been saved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times.

But like that soap that I've had to exchange it for another bar of soap because that one bar of soap only lasts for so long.

Bibles and Bibles and scriptures and scriptures and prayer and tears and help of the Holy Spirit over the course of my life has been used and reused, and it will be used again because it is only by His grace that I've entered into this kingdom and I've experienced the goodness that all he has to provide for me.

I don't think we can preach a better message of hope today.

So we've got a lost and dying world that they're trying everything they can just to have a good life and to make it through with some sense of worth.

And the enemy's crawled on their back like a turtle on a shell, and they can't get him off.

And we say, if you'll come visit with us, maybe God can help you.

But what we really need to say, you know, God's calling us to recognize in our fallen human state, we're outside of the kingdom.

But the moment that we recognize that and we say, Lord, I'm a sinner.

God, I believe that you sent your son to seek and save the lost.

And Lord, I'm lost, and God, I I need you.

Then they can open that door and confess, Jesus, I believe you are the answer.

I follow you wherever you go.

And their life will begin to have the kingdom flow.

That doesn't mean that you won't have trouble.

Can I interject that?

Because you will have trouble.

You will have persecution, you will have all kinds of things, but let me tell you what you you will have peace and you will have help.

Because God will give you peace and all the resources that He has to help you in this life.

You'll never lack any good thing with God.

I'm not preaching to a bunch of sinners today.

I'm preaching to God's church and simply reminding us that as God's people, there is one time we repent for our sins, and then there are other times in our life we repent and say, God, I've been missing it.

And I'm not here to say you've been missing it.

Maybe this is all for me.

Maybe it's for us in the future.

But the Lord's calling us.

Not to be a mediocre church, but to be a glorious church.

Amen.

Have you ever had your favorite team and you just wanted to win half the season?

Huh?

Were you happy when your team got to the Super Bowl and they lost?

I mean, you said, well, we made it to the Super Bowl.

You wanted to go all the way.

You want them to win.

You want to be on the winning team.

You don't, with God, you are the winning team.

Why would you settle for anything less?

So that just simply means that when we when we're corrected, we repent, right?

When the Holy Spirit tells us you're wrong, you you admit it.

God, yeah, I admit it.

He chastens those that he loves.

God corrects us.

Have you ever been around someone that you could never correct?

They got mad.

We're not to be that way.

We're to take it as a when God corrects us or speaks and says, repent, God is saying, I'm growing you up.

You're going to be, you've got a bright future when you obey and move in the things of God.

I'm just here to reiterate that today.

Amen.

I'm not going to settle for the least that God has.

I'm going to settle for all that God has today.

And you know how I'm going to get there?

Through constantly staying abiding in Him.

And anytime I fail, I'm going to be quick to confess, God, I missed it.

And if I hurt you, and I know it, I'm going to come to you.

I'm going to say, I'm sorry.

Right?

I'm going to repent.

If I do it privately, if I say something privately, I'm going to repent privately.

Amen.

You don't talk, you don't tear somebody up in your house.

You're sitting there and you're talking to yourself.

You say blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I just hate their guts.

And then you then you go to them and you say, you know, the other day in my house, I just told you off and told you I hate them.

Now you got another problem, right?

If you sin privately, repent privately.

If you sin openly, repent openly and let God help you.

Has this been good?

God loves you.

God is calling us into a place of deeper waters.

We can't stay in the shallow end of the pool.

You know, Peter tried that.

And Jesus said, launch out into the deep.

The fish are out there.

And I believe God's saying it's time to go out a little bit deeper.

What we're gonna do is live a life that the light of God's word is shining brighter and brighter.

You know when you, I'm gonna close.

You know when you open your curtains in your house and everything you just clean was clean, and then you look and that light comes through, and those little dust particles, you see them.

Little fibers flipping in the air.

He's like, what is that?

Give it a little while.

It'll settle down on something, and you'll come back and you can run your finger over it.

It's it's stuff in the air that only God's light can shine and show us at times.

Not that we're ranked sinners, but that just God is not going to leave us where he found us.

He's making us into a perfect man.

Amen.

Is anybody changed?

I'm changed.

You're not where God found you, but he's not done yet.

Amen.

Stand with me this morning.

Praise the Lord.

These altars are open anytime you need prayer.

We want to pray with you and help you.

If you want to come privately, ask for prayer.

We will pray for you then.

But we're gonna close and ask the Lord to help us today.

Father, God, we thank you for the word of God.

We thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit that has been in this place.

And that, God, that you are worthy of all of our praise.

And God, today we ask you, Lord, to shine the word of God upon our hearts.

And Lord, we don't want to be outside of your perfect will.

We want your will to flow in our lives.

We want to be in the center of your will, God.

And so I ask you today, make us aware of anything we may need to repent of, anything we may need to do the first works over with again, as you said in your in Revelation.

But God, whatever it is, God, we want to be the people that you've called us to be.

And we thank you for this.

And we give you the praise.

In Jesus' name.

Pray this prayer with me.

Father God, any place in my heart that I've kept closed off willingly or unknowingly.

God, I ask you.

Come in.

Search me, O Lord, and know me.

Change what you want to change.

Breathe on me.

O breath of God.

I'll never be the same.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.