God's Plan for Marriage and Sex | Pastor John Mozingo

Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.

We're so glad you're here.

Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus.

We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.

Thank you guys so much for being here.

We really are uh uh just blessed to be your pastor.

And and and even in times, you know, sometimes it's hard being a pastor because yet you're the guy that has to say the hard things.

And today's one of those days.

Today's one of those days.

And uh, you know, we're in our third week of uh the series We Hold These Truths, and and I told you a couple weeks ago I I had planned on preaching this in November, um, but with what's what is on the table at this next election, I just felt like I need to preach this now.

You know, I need to preach this now.

Uh it's important that we understand what the Bible says about these topics.

And and I've said many times, you know, the church has a responsibility to speak up and show up when it comes to political issues, because most of the time they are not political issues, they are spiritual issues.

And so we have a responsibility to participate in that, and the Bible is not void of politics.

You know, every every Bible hero, men and women, stood up to kings and emperors and governors and pharaohs.

And and we need to we need to stand on the word of God and do the same thing.

We need to stand up and and make our voice heard when it comes to how this uh state and this country is governed and who governs it.

It's that important.

Um so today I'm gonna talk specifically about the second proposed amendment that is on the ballot.

I'm gonna tell you what the Bible has to say about it.

That amendment is what is now referred to as the uh Freedom of Marriage Act or Freedom of Mar Freedom of Marriage Amendment.

Um, but as it is proposed, there there is there may be freedom of who can get married, but there is bondage because it involves sin.

And that's just that's just the flat out truth.

Um so it's not offering freedom.

And and rather than going into tremendous detail about the uh amendment, the proposed amendment, I have this uh available for you at the connect table out in the lobby.

On one side, it lists the exact language that is on the ballot, and the red is explaining what what it actually means and what it opens the door to because the language I believe is intentionally confusing.

Um the other side is what the the the Constitution, the Virginia Constitution will look like when uh if this bill passes and an explanation of what may potentially happen.

And if if this amendment passes, it could open the door to uh just just because it removes the the terms man and woman from the Constitution when it concerning marriage, it removes all refer all reference to marriage from a biblical perspective.

Anything goes when you take out the the words man and woman and and and and it also affects the idea of mother and father.

Alright?

The second thing, by substituting the term gender with sex, it embeds in the Constitution, the Virginia Constitution, it embeds transgender ideology.

And and in other states, that has that has resulted in a threat to parental rights.

So this is important.

And then it offers no religious freedom protection to clergy or anyone that performs marriages.

Justice of the peace, whoever, anyone that performs marriage, it opens the door.

It does not say this in the amendment, but it opens the door to being penalized for refusing to do same-sex marriages.

So as a pastor, I will never do a same-sex marriage.

You know, I'm I'm gonna do marriages according to what the Bible says.

So I'll never do a same-sex marriage.

I will never do a marriage for a saved person and an unsaved person.

Because the Bible says you're not to be unequally yoked.

So I'm I'm gonna stand on that, and I could be penalized for that.

I could I could have fines put against me.

In worst case scenario, I could be, I could be uh imprisoned.

And that is happening in other countries.

So this is what the this is what these amendments open the door to.

The explanation is available to you, but it is important for the people of God to speak up and to show up in this election.

And and if you are not registered to vote, open the website, register to vote during this sermon.

You have my permission to ignore me and register to vote.

If you are busy on November 3rd, take advantage of early voting.

It's that important.

Because if the church doesn't show up and stand on the word of God, lots of other people will stand up, will show up and stand on what is contrary to the word of God.

So it's that important.

Um and and as I mentioned, uh Lenny mentioned it this morning, I mentioned it last week.

Today's subject matter is a little PG 13.

So, kids, if you're still in here, that's fine if your parents are okay with that.

Teenagers, young teenagers, you may walk out of here with some questions.

Okay?

You may walk out of here with some questions, and that's fine.

You're not supposed to know everything yet.

You know?

And God has given you a place to go to have those questions answered, and that's your parents.

Your parents first.

Okay?

It's not your teachers at school.

You may have great, wise teachers, but God gave you your parents to deal with that.

It's not counselors at school, it's not your friends, because your friends, your friends have the same questions you do.

They're not gonna have answers.

So you go to your parents, and parents, if you're not sure, if you're not sure uh of the answers, then you go to God's word.

That's your first place to go.

If you don't, if you don't understand what it's saying, I hope you do after today, but you go to God's word and you stand on the truth of God's word.

Because nobody has a better answer for the question of human sexuality than the one who created human sexuality, and he gave us a manual to guide us through that, and he has the answers.

So that is where that is where we need to go.

And the it starts in the book of Genesis.

The book of Genesis makes it very clear what God's intention is for marriage and sexual intimacy.

Look with me in Genesis 2, uh, verse 24 and 25.

It says this explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

So, second chapter of the book, God outlines this is the plan for marriage.

Here it is one man, one woman.

This is the plan for sexual intimacy, one man, one woman within the confines of marriage.

Jesus repeats this in Matthew 19.

He said, Haven't you read the scriptures?

Haven't you read Genesis 2?

Jesus replied, They record that from the beginning God made them male and female, and he said, This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.

So those two those two verses, three things jump out at me.

Three things jump out at me.

First, it was it was only a man and a woman can become one.

God never describes any other union that can become one, but man and woman and man and God when man gives his heart to Christ, it says they can become one on that level.

So that union is sacred.

Man and woman only can become one.

Secondly, they felt no shame.

I have, over the years, I have talked to so many people that have struggled with all sorts of sexual uh uh temptation and and and and sexual sin, and the one thing they all have in common is shame.

Shame.

You know, the verse we read from Genesis said that God put Adam and Eve in the garden and said they they were naked and they felt no shame.

The moment they felt shame is when they sinned.

It's sin that brings shame.

And sexual sin brings shame.

But intimacy between a man and woman, but between a husband and wife, there's no shame.

The third thing, it says that it was God's plan from the beginning.

That jumps out at me.

Second chapter of the first book of the Bible, God makes this clear.

Jesus repeats it in the first book of the Gospels.

It's very clear.

So next look at Hebrews 13.

This is this is an awesome verse.

It says, let marriage, uh Hebrews 13, 4, let marriage be held in honor among all, and let marriage, the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulteress.

God says this exclusively about marriage.

Only the marriage bed is undefiled.

That's the only one.

There are no other options.

Only the marriage bed is undefiled.

But there are people in our culture, even in our churches, that will say, well, that's you know, that's not the way it is now.

You know, we you know, we don't have we don't have exactly what the word of God was, you know, when God first said it.

It's been changed over time.

Some people will say it's been changed over time to oppress people.

Or it's just we we lost what God intended in the translation.

But that's not the case.

Because from the earliest manuscripts that we have until the newest manuscripts that we have, until the word of God that you're holding in your hand today, there is a 96% difference, or or or they are 96% the same.

So there's a 4% difference in the earliest translations to what we have now.

4% difference.

And those differences are punctuation, capital letters, substituting one word for another, though they mean the same thing.

Those are the discrepancies that we see.

None of them, none of them change the narrative of the word of God, and none of them change the doctrine of the word of God.

So what we're going to see in just a minute is still true today.

It has not changed, it has not been intentionally changed.

We are looking at the original intention of the Word of God.

So absolutely, because we know, we know the reliability of God's Word, we know that, yes, marriage was intended to be between a man and a woman.

We know that it's honored by God and that the marriage bed is undefiled.

We know that without question.

Now, we're gonna we're gonna this is the last chance.

We're gonna go PG 13 here.

Last chance to Baal, but we're gonna look at the book of Leviticus.

And Leviticus is a tough book to understand.

And like when people you know commit to reading through the Bible, you know, they start and they get in Genesis, and man, it's creation, and then then all the great stories, you know, Abraham and Isaac and and and uh Joseph and all those awesome stories.

Then you get to Exodus and all those amazing miracles.

You know, the Red Sea and the burning bush and the all the ten plagues, all that stuff, and you know, that's the kind of stuff that blockbuster movies are made out of.

Then you get to Leviticus, and you get to read about should I sacrifice a bull, a goat, or turtle dove?

And you read about skin conditions and how to dress like a priest, and and you get to that and you're like, what is this?

You know, what happened to all the exciting stories?

And you know, Spielberg's never gonna make a movie based on a Leviticus.

That's the kind of book it is.

And people that want to read through the Bible most often bail in the middle of Leviticus.

So it's a confusing and kind of tedious book.

But in the middle of Leviticus, God gives us the answer to the question of sexual intimacy.

So look look at Leviticus 18, verses 1 through 5.

Leviticus 18:1–5

It says, Then the Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to the people of Israel, I am the Lord your God.

He's emphasizing, this is my word.

It says, So do not act like the people in Egypt where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan where you are where I am taking you.

He said, Look, you lived in Egypt all those years, you saw horrible wicked things from the Egyptians who worshipped pagan gods.

And because they worshiped pagan gods, you saw them practice wickedness.

And you're going to see the same thing when I deliver you into the promised land.

The people that are there, you're gonna see the same thing.

Don't give in to it.

Look what he says.

You must not imitate their way of life, you must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God.

If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them.

I am the Lord.

Now, I'm gonna read the rest of the chapter.

And I'm gonna trip over a wire.

I'm gonna read the rest of the chapter to you.

And and we're gonna get we're gonna get very uncomfortable.

And it's not gonna be on the screen.

Um, if you want to follow along, it's Leviticus chapter 18.

Leviticus 18 · chapter mention

And I'm gonna begin in verse 6.

And it says this you must never have sexual relations with a close relative, for I am the Lord.

Do not violate your father by having sexual relations with your mother.

She's your mother.

You must not have sexual relations with her.

Do not have sexual relations with any of your father's wives, for this would violate your father.

Do not have sexual relationships with your sister or half-sister.

Whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born into your household or someone else's.

Do not have sexual relations with your granddaughter, whether she is your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, for this would violate yourself.

Do not have sexual relations with your stepsister, the daughter of any of your father's wives, for she is your sister.

Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister, for she is your father's close relative.

Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, for she is your mother's close relative.

Do not violate your uncle, your father's brother, by having sexual relations with his wife, for she is your aunt.

Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law.

She is your son's wife, so you must have you must not have sexual relations with her.

Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife, for this would violate your brother.

Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter, and do not take her granddaughter, whether her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, and have sexual relations with her.

They are close relatives, and this would be a wicked act.

While your wife is still living, do not marry her sister and have sexual relations with her, for they would be rivals.

Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurity.

Are we uncomfortable yet?

I am.

Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife.

Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to Molech.

Moloch was a pagan god, and the practice was to offer children as a sacrifice to him, and that involves sexual molestation.

For you must not bring shame to the name on the name of your God, I am the Lord.

Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, it is a detestable sin.

A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal, and a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it.

This is a perverse act.

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways.

Okay?

Very uncomfortable.

And it's uncomfortable because these are things we don't talk about.

You know?

Incest, pedophilia, bestiality.

We don't talk about these things because we know that they're wrong.

We know that they are not God's plan.

And the reality of it is that homosexuality is on this list because it's not part of God's plan.

It's not part of God's plan.

Look at the rest of verse 24.

It says, do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I'm driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways.

You are going into a land where this is practiced.

And the temptation is going to be to say, well, it's okay.

But God says, do not defile yourself.

And everything that is not within God's description of marriage and sexual intimacy, man, woman within the bounds of marriage is going to defile you.

That's God's plan.

Not that he wants you to be defiled, he has a purpose for that.

And the purpose is to demonstrate this is what the relationship between God and his church looks like.

That's God's purpose for marriage.

And his purpose for marriage, as we said last week, is to have kids and build a godly legacy, and teach those kids to have kids and build a godly legacy and fill the earth with people that know and love God.

That's God's plan.

And I wanted you to be uncomfortable for a minute because I wanted you to know that this is this this includes all of that.

And then Deuteronomy 22, 5 expounds on what God said in Leviticus and adds this a woman must not put on man's clothing, and a man must not wear women's clothing.

Anyone who does this is detestable in the sight of the Lord your God.

Couldn't be clearer.

God spells it right out.

And and and if you are struggling, listen, if you're struggling with this or any any sexual sin, I just I want you to know that that we're you're in the right place.

You're in the right place.

You know, no one is rejected for that.

You're in the right place, and and we want to be there for you to help you, to help you understand and know that our God is a God of mercy and love and and compassion.

We want you to know that.

We want you to meet that God.

And he's a God who forgives sin and he wants what's best for you.

He's got a plan for your life.

But the reality is that if you cannot, if you if you give in to sexual sin, you cannot be in the will of God.

That is the truth.

Look at 1 Thessalonians 4 3.

God's will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.

And we just heard that defined very clearly.

Stay away from all sexual sin.

It's that simple.

God's will for your life is that you are going to be holy.

And Paul says you cannot be holy if you are giving in to sexual sin.

And the next few verses in 1 Thessalonians kind of give us, give us the beginnings of a defense against sexual sin.

And what you can add to your life, you can practice these things and overcome sexual sin.

You can defeat those temptations.

Look at uh 1 Thessalonians 4, 4.

It says, then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion, like the pagans who do not know God and his way.

So the first thing is demonstrate self-control.

It says, each of you will control his own body.

Demonstrate self-control.

And what we do with self-control is we take self-control and we think, okay, I'm gonna take one area of my life and I'm gonna have self-control.

All right?

I'm gonna go on this diet and I'm gonna have self-control and I'm gonna stay on this diet until I lose the weight I want to.

Or I'm gonna get up 20 minutes every morning and I'm gonna have the self-control to get up 20 minutes every morning and spend an extra 20 minutes reading God's word and praying.

Or I'm gonna have self-control and I'm gonna open a container of Oreos and I'm only gonna eat one line, not two lines.

You know, whatever it is, you say I'm gonna have self-control over something.

And that's great, but the Bible says that self-control is a character trait.

It is a fruit of the Spirit.

And it's not that you need to have self-control in one area, it's that you need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and have self-control in all things.

That's what the Holy Spirit does.

Holy Spirit, uh, the self-control is not just about choosing something and saying, I'm gonna be better at this.

It's I'm gonna submit to the will of the Holy Spirit and I'm going to have self-control in all things.

And James, the book of James, gives us a practice exercise, so to speak, on how to develop better self-control.

Look at James 2, 2.

For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every way.

If you can control your tongue, you can control yourself in every way.

I think that's pretty amazing.

So think about it.

You know, controlling your tongue means that you're gonna stop a thought before it travels the three inches to come out your mouth.

You're gonna control that thought in that that quick of time.

That's faster than the speed of light.

Thought to mouth is fast.

And if you can learn to control what you're saying, you can control anything.

Because it's the same, you know, if it's control and action, it's the same brain function.

You're stopping a thought before it manifests itself.

So if you can do that with your words, that's amazing.

If if if you are, you know, if you're tempted to gossip about something and and you're looking at somebody and you say, Did you hear about you know, stopping that thought before it starts, that's that's an exercise in self control.

If you have a habit of of swearing and you can stop that before it comes out, and you can you can have you can have control over your mouth with that, that's practicing that kind of self control.

And if you can control what Comes out of your mouth, it's easier to control everything else about your life.

So practice that kind of self-control.

Next, pursue holiness.

It said each of you will control his body and live in holiness.

Live in holiness.

Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit and the result of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

And the Holy Spirit will always lead us two ways.

Well, m several ways, but two ways pertinent to right now.

He will lead us first always with the Word of God.

The Holy Spirit will always lead you with the Word of God.

He's going to speak your heart.

This is what God's Word is saying.

And you need to be a doer, not just a hearer, and do what the Word of God is saying.

He also leads with our emotions, you know?

He can lead you in your emotions.

He can break your heart over something.

He can make you fearful of something, a healthy fear of something.

He can make you happy, give you joy, can make you sad.

All of this, he can lead you in those emotions, but he will never, those emotions will never lead you to anything other than the word of God.

If your emotions lead you away from the word of God, that is not the Holy Spirit speaking to you.

You always know it's the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is leading you to the Word of God.

So you're married, you know, and you meet somebody and you kind of feel an attraction to them, that's a feeling.

But that's not the Holy Spirit leading you to that person.

Never.

And that's where you turn and walk away and say, I'm going to do what God's Word says.

If your emotions and feelings are leading you, if it's the Holy Spirit leading you through that, it's always going to be to the Word of God.

Third thing, honor God and others.

It said, live in holiness and honor.

Honor God and others.

Right?

To honor God means that you're going to put in first place in your life.

To honor others means that you're going to look at other people.

You're going to see other people the way God sees them.

And if you're giving in to sexual temptation and there is an object of your desires, you are not looking at that person the way God sees them.

You're not looking at them the same way God sees them.

In fact, you are inviting them to go the opposite direction.

You are inviting them to go down a sinful path, or they are inviting you.

You honor people by seeing them the way God sees them.

If you see them the way God sees them, you're going to want the best for them.

You're going to want them to know Jesus better, and knowing you, they're going to come one step closer to knowing who Jesus is.

That's how you honor others.

Okay?

Next thing.

Separate from worldly.

I'm sorry.

Run from sexual temptation.

My bad.

Run from sexual temptation.

So in everything else, Paul says stand and fight.

Resist the devil.

Stand against him.

If you resist the devil, he will flee from you, except for sexual temptation.

He says, run.

Run as fast as you can.

Get out of there.

Don't wait.

You're not strong enough, and there's too much at stake.

Run.

Second Timothy, Paul says this.

2 Timothy 2.22 says, run from anything that stimulates youthful lust.

Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.

Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

So when God tells you to run from sexual temptation, he's also telling you where to run.

You're going to run from sexual temptation.

If sexual temptation is right there or it's right here, you're going to run from it.

And you're going to run towards faithfulness.

You're going to run towards God.

And it also says you're going to run towards companionship to those who call the Lord, call on the Lord with pure hearts.

So you're going to run to God and the people of God if you're suffering from a sexual temptation.

That's why I say if that's if that's your if that's your battle every day, you're in the right place.

Because you're supposed to run to the people of God.

You're in the right place.

Final thing, number five, separate from worldly thoughts and practices.

Paul said, don't be like the pagans are.

Don't do what they're doing.

Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean it's right.

Just because the culture accepts it doesn't mean it's right.

And if you are giving in to sexual temptation and saying, well, it's what everybody else is doing, or everybody says it's okay, that doesn't matter.

God is the final authority on those things.

And that's what matters.

That you are following God and turning from the way the world thinks and the way the world operates.

You turn from those things.

And at verse uh 1 Thessalonians 4, 6 says, never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.

I love that the Bible calls, some of your translations say God is an avenger.

I kind of like that.

I'm an Avengers fan.

I think that's pretty cool.

He is the avenger.

Alright?

But but as cool as that sounds, it's kind of terrifying too.

Because it just said that God avenges all such sin.

That means there are consequences to making those choices.

There are consequences to giving in to sexual temptation.

There are consequences to choosing lifestyles that are contrary to God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy.

There are consequences.

Look at verse 7 and 8.

It says, God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.

Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not obeying, is not disobeying human teaching, but is rejecting God who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

God has called us to live holy lives.

You can't live a holy life and be engaged in sexual sin.

But think about that last statement.

It says you're not rejecting human teaching, you are rejecting God.

By giving in to sexual temptation, by choosing to live a lifestyle that is that is the opposite or different from God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy, by making those choices, you are rejecting God.

Now, that does not mean you are rejecting God's salvation.

You can be saved and make mistakes.

You can be saved and give into temptation.

Once you are saved, you don't lose that salvation.

What it does mean is that when you are rejecting God, you are rejecting God's God's working in your life.

You're rejecting God's word, you're rejecting God's plan for your life.

So when you give in to sexual temptation or you choose a lifestyle that is that is contrary to God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy, you're rejecting God.

So if you're married, you're married and you know you meet somebody at work or at the gym and you know they're just nice, you know, you just talk, casual talk, or whatever, and then it turns into you know just a friendly little flirting or whatever, you know?

And then that person makes their intentions known that they want this to be more than just flirting.

You have a choice.

Are you gonna reject them or are you going to reject God?

And when Paul says run from those things, you know, you should be running long before it turns into flirting.

You know, that that's what running looks like.

The first sign of that, you're running, you're setting up guardrails so that you don't even have the opportunity to get into those situations.

But you gotta make a choice.

You're gonna choose that person or God.

You can either reject the person that is making the advances at you, or you can choose God, or you can reject God.

If you're single, you go online, you meet somebody, they're very interesting, they're attractive, they show interest in you, you find out they you know they say they're a Christian, and then that person starts proposing that you do things that you know are against God's word.

You have a choice.

Are you gonna reject that person or are you gonna reject God?

Teenagers.

When you're at school, you know, when you start dating, I mean, the temptation is so real, and all these new feelings, you're like, oh, this is amazing, this is wonderful, whatever.

You know, you start feeling all that stuff, and then that that that girls, that boy starts crossing that line, or or guys, that girl starts crossing that line, or your friends are are telling you, hey, follow this desire as far as who you're gonna be in a relationship with.

When that happens, you have a choice.

Are you going to reject them or are you going to reject God?

You cannot be in the will of God and make those choices.

If you want to follow God and you want to be in the center of His will, 1 Thessalonians very clear, you need to reject sexual temptation.

And you need to run from it.

And running from it doesn't mean you get as close to it as you can, you know, you get to that place where you're flirting a little bit, you know, you're you are playing with fire if you get there.

You you stay as far away as you can.

And if you can't go to the gym and stay away from sexual sin, you need to stop going to the gym.

You know, if it's affecting your thought life, you need to stop going to the gym.

Or you need to find a gym that is whatever gender you are, and everybody in there is that gender.

You need to run away from sexual sin.

If you have friends that engage in that and there's a temptation for you to follow suit, you need to run away.

It's that simple.

If you are tempted to adopt a lifestyle that is contrary to God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy, you need to run from that.

You need to run from the people that are encouraging you to do that.

You need to run from the the object of your desires, whoever that may be.

You need to run from them because if you don't reject them, you're rejecting God, and there are consequences to pay for that.

And I'm saying all that not because I want to come down hard on anyone, I'm saying that because God has a better plan for your life.

You know, we read a minute ago that God will give you peace.

If you follow Him, you'll live in peace.

Let me have every head bowed and every eye closed.

God, thank you for this morning.

Lord, this this is a hard thing to talk about, and and and it affects everyone in some way.

It's a hard thing to talk about.

But God, you we we can talk about it because it's in your word.

Lord, it is it is it is part of your plan for our life.

Lord, you have told us very specifically what is acceptable and what not what is not acceptable.

And Lord, you have you have said, I will bless you if you choose my way.

There is a blessing for you.

You'll have a life of peace that passes understanding.

You'll you'll have you'll have friends that want the best for you, that encourage you.

If you run to people that are following God when you're tempted.

So, God, I pray that you would just move in the hearts of people today, whatever, whatever the temptation is, whatever the the choice that they have to make is, Lord, I pray that they would stand boldly and firmly on the Word of God and that they would make the right choice.

And God, if if this all if this all begins with them meeting Jesus for the first time, then praise God.

If if if you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, you know, you're here today, and and and maybe you've been in, maybe you've been in this service since we started almost four years ago.

Maybe you've been here with us the whole time.

Maybe it's your first time, maybe you come occasionally, but whatever it is, if you've never accepted Christ, and there could be people sitting here that are here every Sunday, faithful, faithful attenders, faithful members that have never accepted Christ.

I did that.

I sat I sat in church, I grew up in church, I was born on a Tuesday, I was in church on Sunday, and I heard the gospel, I knew the gospel, I could, I could share the gospel with somebody, but I didn't get saved until I was 16 years old.

You know, you might be sitting here today and you might be saying you may have put it off for whatever reason, but today's the day to accept Christ as your Savior if you've never done it.

And it's very simple.

You've heard me say it before.

It's a matter of just trusting in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for your salvation and trusting in his shed blood for the forgiveness of your sin, and you can talk to God and express that to him any way that you want as the Holy Spirit leads you.

Or if you struggle putting that into words, you can pray something like this and just say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus.

Thank you.

That I don't have to earn my way to heaven, I don't have to do anything to be good enough.

Lord, Jesus was enough.

What he did on the cross was enough.

So today I trust in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection for my salvation, and I trust in the shed blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin.

And today I choose to accept him as my Savior and follow him.

If you just prayed that, the Bible says that you have just entered into a relationship with Jesus, an eternal relationship with him.

Nothing can change it.

And Jesus wants nothing more for you to continue surrendering, surrender your life to him, grow to become more like him every day.

And as a church, we want to be here to help you.

We want to be here to help you do that.

So if you're here today and and you accepted Jesus this morning, if you just pray to receive Christ, would you lift your hand so I can pray for you?

All right, God, thank you for for those that have accepted you uh today, Lord, and and for everyone in here that that claims the name of Jesus.

Lord, help us to daily stand on your word.

Lord, give us the strength that it takes to follow the Holy Spirit.

Lord, help us to know when the Holy Spirit is leading us, Lord, and knowing that he's always leading us towards your word and toward obedience.

God, I pray that you would help help all of us to learn what it means to walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit and find self-control in that.

And Lord, I pray for anyone that accepted Christ today that you would just help them to grow, to become more like you and to know you uh in a very intimate way.

God, thank you for Family Church.

Thank you for for this amazing group of people.

Lord, I'm just so blessed to be their pastor.

And Lord, as we continue to worship you now, I pray that your name would be lifted up, Lord, that we would we would magnify your son together, Lord, in a way we've never done before.

Lord, knowing that we serve a loving, merciful, gracious God who wants a relationship with us.

I pray that we would, we would, we would make that clear by the way we worship you as we close out this service.

Lord, we love you.

Thank you for sending Jesus.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.

We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith.

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You can learn more about Family Church at myfamilychurch.com.

If you are in the area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.

We meet at Patriot High School 10504 at Front Drive.