A Been With Jesus Faith

Pastor Corey delivers his weekly message titled "A Been With Jesus Faith"

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Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 22. Would you stand with me in honor of the reading of God's word? We're not going to look at all of this passage. There's a lot to unpack here, but we're going to look at a few verses. But I want to read it all to you, and probably next week we'll do a second part to this. A Ben with Jesus faith. Acts chapter 4. Now, before we start reading in verse 1, you need to know the context of what was happening. There was a man who was brought next to a gate, a gate called beautiful. He was a lame man. And in those times, if you were handicapped in any way like that physically, I mean, they would drop you off at the beginning of the day. And your job all day was to beg for alms, to beg for anything to help keep you alive. And he would yell out, alms, please, can you help me with alms? And so here comes Peter and John. And they come across this man and they say to him, as he's begging, they say to him, Silver and gold have we not, but what we do have, we give to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rise up and walk. The man was immediately healed. He got up, jumping and leaping and praising God. But the greater healing that took place in the man's life was the spiritual healing that took place. Because, because he was crippled and handicapped, he was not allowed to worship in the temple. But because he was made whole physically, he was allowed to go in the temple, which represents the spiritual healing. And people marveled and praised God at what was going on. But because of that great miracle, it challenged the status quo of the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees and the Pharisees, these spirit, so-called Jewish spiritual leaders. They didn't like what was going on. As a matter of fact, that's the same group that tried Jesus and condemned him to death. They had to put a stop to what was going on. And so, chapter 4, verse 1, we pick up the story. The priest and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. Let me ask you this question. They were greatly disturbed. Let me just ask you this. And I bring some of these things up because they're not directly part of the message, but they're worth mentioning here. Why is it people who claim to be atheists, they don't believe in any God, are always offended when we talk about God? Why is it? That's kind of the same thing going on here. Why is it that in government people freak out and go crazy when somebody mentions God in a school? And that's kind of what was going on here. Boy, they didn't like what was happening. They seized in verse 3. They seized Peter and John. And because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed. So the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000. And so that's just the men. It's very possible that the believers were up to 15 to 20,000 when you count the women and children. Verse 5: the next day the rulers, the elders, and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas, the high priest, was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them. By what power, by what name did you do this? And Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which was which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. All right. I was gonna read through verse 22. Just hold on to that for next week. Let's just stop right here. I can't go any further. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. May it be said of us. Like that beautiful church in South Carolina. Today, spend time with Jesus. Help us to see what that kind of life is to look like. And I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And you may be seated. A bin with Jesus kind of faith. That's what I'd like to be known for. I don't know about you, my friend, but that's what I want to be known for. I don't want to be known to be a great preacher, which most of you know that's not true. You know, I would probably rather in all of that be known to be a loving pastor, but even more so, I would want to be known by my children and those that know me best, and then others who come in contact with me casually, that I'm a man that spends time with Jesus. And I don't know if that's really true about my life. Number one, people who spend time with Jesus are full of the Holy Spirit. They are full of the Holy Spirit. Now, it goes without saying here before we go any further that people who spend time with Jesus are people who have been saved and redeemed by Jesus. And we're going to talk about that next week, where he talks about the foundation and salvation is found in no one else. But when you become a Christian, things change in your life. Today we studied in Sunday school in the 9 o'clock hour about, you know, in my class, that those who are Christians put away all wickedness, the Bible says. And the only way that can happen if something happens internally within you. You know, the Bible tells a story of a house that was filled with demonic spirits, with demons. And that that, you know, if that house, they were talking about how, you know, or that person, not the house so much, but the person, a person was filled with demons and demonic spirits. And the parable was likened to a house that Jesus gave. And he said that if you come and you clean and sweep the house clean, and you don't put anything back in the house, the demons will come back many fold. And it's the same way spiritually, that what happens is, you know, within us when we don't receive Christ, we are belong, we belong to our father the devil, the Bible says. And he's a liar from the beginning. And that's what the Bible says. Jesus said to the Pharisees, he said, You are of your father, the devil. The religious leaders, he said that about. Because when you don't have Christ within you, you've got something else within you. But when you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. You are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. This building is not the temple of God. It is the house of God. It is built for the dedication of the worship of God. However, the Holy Spirit now lives within you. And you are free and you are new and you are different now. And I'll never forget. I got saved, and immediately my heart changed. I prayed one night in my bed, and I thought it was some magic formula you had to say, but I was truly repentant in my heart, and I said, God, just save me. I want you into my life. I don't know how to say it. And I was expecting Jesus to bust through the roof and jump on my bed with me and say, You belong to me now. It didn't happen. And I went to sleep. And I woke up the next morning, and I, to be honest with you, I can't remember if I woke up in a good mood because normally I woke up in a bad mood. And and I complained about making the bed because mama said you had to make the bed. And you know, and I was mean to my brother and things of that nature. I don't remember if I was nice to him that morning, but I do remember this. When I went to school that day as a senior in high school, and I got with my buddies, and we stood against the wall where we stood in the gauntlet that people would walk through, and we'd make fun of people, and we'd say all kinds of things. And I stood there, and all of a sudden, one of my buddies used a bad word, and for the first time in my life, that word cut in my heart, and it felt bad. I was like, ooh. And then all of a sudden, they were making fun of the girls walking by or catcalling and whatever. And I just I was embarrassed and I was like, oh my gosh, this is wrong. This was the next morning. Nobody told me I had to feel that way. It was the Holy Spirit within me. So the Bible says here in Ephesians, I mean in verse 8 of Acts chapter 4, when Peter and John were taken into custody, and the next day they were to give an account. Why are you doing this? To these, see, these religious leaders had him jailed. And in verse 8, it says, Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. When they asked, by what power or by what name did you do this? Peter full of the Holy Spirit. Do you remember who Peter was? You remember? Remember this guy? Now we remember, we remember Peter maybe for a lot of things. Maybe you remember him for the one who was in the boat. And he saw Jesus walking on the water. And he said, Hey Jesus, is that you? Yes, that's me. And Peter took off and he started walking on the water. And then he started looking around and began to sink, and he, Jesus saved me, and Jesus saved him. But don't ever forget that Peter's the one who denied him three times three times. Peter wasn't there at the crucifixion. John was. Peter wasn't. This is the same man. But Jesus entrusted in Peter. He said, you know, feed my lambs, feed my sheep before he ascended, after he resurrected from the dead and before he ascended. And he charged Peter with that. He said, Peter, upon the rock of this revelation of faith in me, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. So this was Peter, a fisherman, an ordinary man, as the Bible says. But God used him in extraordinary ways. And here, here he was answering the men who had Jesus put to death. And he was full of boldness and full of the Holy Spirit. Say, what's the opposite of being full of the Holy Spirit? I say being full of the unholy spirit. Look at what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18. This is what the Bible says here. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. But instead be filled with the Spirit. See, I believe this. I believe according to Scripture, the Bible says we have been all made to be baptized into one Spirit, into one body. The day we receive Christ, we get all of God that there is. The Bible says you are complete in Jesus. So the Bible says in Colossians. You don't need anything else to be made whole spiritually. So we're baptized in the Spirit, and it happens immediately. You get all of God that there is when you give your heart to Christ. But the Bible does talk about the filling of the Spirit, which is a command and it's a daily thing. So I have the Holy Spirit. See, the question is this. The question is this. Not how much of the Holy Spirit do you have, but does the Holy Spirit have a hold of you? And that's the filling of the Spirit when God's Spirit gets a hold of you. Peter was totally committed to that. And people who spend time with Jesus are full of the Holy Spirit of God. It's a filling, it's a dying to self and being filled with the Spirit. It's one of those, it's that mindset like I was just talking about just earlier. You know, I uh, coach, throw me my phone. I I got the picture on there. I um I sent this to my wife this week, and uh I'm sure it's on here, but I I don't know where to I don't want to mess up my notes here. No, not this one. Oh, here it is. Coffee. Coffee must contain brain cells. If you don't believe me, just talk to me some mornings before I have my coffee. I would even add coffee must have a chemical in it that makes you uh sociable. Because before I have my coffee in the morning, see, I'm not a morning person. You know, a lot of people think a morning person is someone that has trouble getting up in the morning. That's not the deal with me. I'm not a morning person in my own strength. I don't wake up happy, I wake up pretty upset. You say, huh? Think about it. You're sleeping and enjoying your life and resting, and nobody's messing with you, and you don't have to fulfill any responsibilities, and you're comfortable and you're warm, and if you got one of these awesome memory foam mattresses, man, it is the greatest thing that's ever been created on the face of the earth. And you're like, this is awesome! And all of a sudden your alarm goes off and says, You got to go adult now. And I'm like, No. I refuse. So before my feet hit the ground, I'm in a bad mood. And then I go to the mirror, and it's soon to be 55. I look and I go, What happened here? Oh my gosh. Now I gotta spend time trying to get this thing presentable for the world to see. And there's no amount of product that can fix it. See, that's how I am in my own strength. But when you're full of the Holy Spirit, you don't need coffee. Coffee's nice. We like it. Whatever it is for you in the morning. But when you are full of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your flesh, in spite of all of those things, in spite of your fleshly comfortability of what's going on in your life, and that alarm clock goes off and you wake up and you go, thank you, God, for waking me up. It's a new day, and you've got plans for me, and I know I might have trouble coming my way today, but you know in advance, and you will be with me, and God help me be a blessing today to other people. And let me start by blessing my wife today. Now I was being filled with the Spirit. So, people who spend time with Jesus are full of the Holy Spirit. That's what these guys were. Number two, people have been with Jesus who have that kind of faith, people who spend time with Jesus speak the truth. Do you realize what these guys told those guys? Speak the truth. First thing he says here in verse eight, or the end of verse eight, and then verse nine, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, in other words, we did something good, then know this. You and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed. Wow. Did he say anything there that was wrong? Nope. They sent us Jesus to death? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Yes. And then he quotes scripture to back it up, Old Testament scripture. He says, the stone you builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And then he says his salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Now, folks, I'm gonna say something, and if you think this is controversial, then you don't understand the gospel as a Christian. Jesus is the only way to heaven. There is no other way. And if I were to get up here and say anything different, I would be a false prophet to the true gospel. Well, what about this, and what about that, and what about, and what about, and we can do the what-ifs and the what-abouts and all of that, and on and on and on and on. I had a family member send me a uh uh private message a few weeks ago asking about the Jews in the Holocaust and the tragedy that and what happened to them, and and are they gonna be in heaven? And she said, please tell me that they're gonna be there. What kind of God, and and my my thing on that is as horrific as that was human suffering is not a free ticket to heaven. It's not and there are consequences to re to rejecting the rejection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They spoke the truth and they said salvation, there is salvation only in Jesus Christ. In other words, and he he told them when Peter preached on on the day of Pentecost, just a few chapters to the left here, all about history and Jewish history and how the Old Testament tied now to the new covenant and how Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and all of these things, and they were rejecting the chief cornerstone. I know it's not popular, and I know people think that, you know, well, my neighbor, you know, they're they're good people, so they're gonna go to heaven. And listen to me, listen, I I'm not judging their heart. All I'm saying is this, according to scripture, that if they are trusting something other than Jesus for their salvation, according to the word of God, they're gonna be sadly mistaken, horrifically mistaken. And so when you spend time with Jesus, you speak the truth. I was talking to a loved one a few weeks ago, and I have a loved one that calls me and asks me theological questions, but they're asking me these theological questions, and they're actually they're actually making a beeline to how that theology equates to their personal decisions in their life, which is smart, which is the way to do it. And when I said that, that person said to me, Well, I don't agree with you. And I said, You don't have to agree. Whether you agree or not doesn't make it less truth, truthful. And then I said it like this, and then I kind of had to retract. I said, You can believe what you want, but I'm right. And I said, Now, now hold on. I'm not right because I'm right, I'm right because I'm telling you what Scripture says. When the Bible says that a man shall reap what he sows, in other words, when he You know, I've heard people say this time and time again over the years. You know, you know, teenagers, they're just gonna plant a bunch of wild oats, they're smelling their wild oats, and I'm gonna pick them around. No, it's not. When they smell their wild oats right now and they plant it in the ground, and it gets watered, and fertilizer gets put on that, and whatever happens, and all of a sudden, one day a harvest of wild oats is coming up, and it's gonna come back to haunt you. And so we have to speak truth. We can't be afraid of speaking truth. People who are spend time with Jesus are not afraid to speak the truth. Now, the Bible says we speak it in love. I'll never forget a few years back, we had a teenager in our church. I was living an ungodly life. And we confronted that person. And that person was not allowed to participate in a leadership thing that was going on because of the way they were living. And the parent challenged me and the youth pastor and said this to us you don't love him, because if you loved him, you would let him do this. And I should have held my tongue, but my response was, Who are the ones that really love him? We love him enough to tell him the truth and hold him accountable to the real truth. The Bible says, love does not rejoice in sin, in iniquity, and you're rejoicing in his sin. Speak the truth. People who have been with Jesus, number three, or who spent time with Jesus, are courageous. Kind of goes along with the speaking of truth, but they're courageous. First part of verse 13, it says, When they saw the courage of Peter and John, they saw the courage. Put yourself back in time, if you will. We've Americanized history. And when I say history, when we think back to their circumstance, it's as though we bring our own understanding to their situation. Unless you were a ruler or a spiritual ruler, which was passed down through the families. If you notice, it says that, you know, Caiaphas and Annas, the high priest and all of them, and their and their priestly family. They were all there. It was kind of nepotism. They were in charge. And the common man and the peasant, he had nothing. He had no standing. He had no rights. He, you know, he was just trying to feed his family and stay alive. And for him, for these men to do what they did to these authorities and not bow down and quiver in fear is amazing courage, knowing that these people had life and death in their hands over these guys. And people who spend time with Jesus are courageous. You know, the Bible says that there was gonna there's gonna come a day when right is wrong and wrong is right. You know we're living in that day, right? Today, this nation and the world celebrates people who live in sin, and they call that courageous. It's a courageous stand. Our newly elected president has signed over 40 executive orders in the last two weeks. Two of them, I think, are I mean, a lot of them are bad in my opinion. Killing the Keystone pipeline, on and on. But that's that's another story. But I can tell you this. One of them was the funding of abortion, American taxpayer money all over the world. The taxes you and I pay go to killing children, precious souls in the womb. The second or second executive order that was signed was mandating that biological males can invade the bathrooms of biological females, and that those same biological males can compete in women-only sports. Do you realize, women, that if something isn't done about that, that you don't have a sport, you don't have sports anymore? Do you realize that? You realize that right now, and I I read this, and I so I don't don't quote me 100% on it, but it's something to the effect that right now there are several high school males that run faster times in track than some of the world record holder females. High schoolers. What woman is going to be recruited to go play women's basketball? Those fake women will be recruited. It doesn't take courage to go down that hole. It takes courage to say that's wrong. It takes courage to say, no, enough is enough. It takes courage for you in your schools to love those people, but to care enough about them to say, look, you're mentally ill. There's a problem with you. God made you this way. You don't have a choice in that. Your chromosomes don't change. The science has settled on that. I know what I just said is not popular, but I don't care. And I say that because we need people who are courageous. Hank Aaron, a great baseball player, home run king. He passed away this week. Again, if you didn't live through it, I was a kid and I remember my grandfather, I remember watching sitting in our living room the night that Hank Aaron hit that home run to break the babe roots home run record. I remember it. It was a big deal in our community. There wasn't much on TV, it was only like three channels, and I was the remote control. If dad or grandpa would say, get up and change the channel, I got up and turned it. But I'll never forget that night. And I moved to the Atlanta area a few years back and lived there and got to see a lot of Hank Aaron on television locally, and he was out in the community and about in that area, and you got to know a little bit about the man. But people don't realize that when that streak was going on and he was about ready to break it, the racism that came after that came after him, that came toward him, the death threats, the letters he got. And if you notice, if you ever watched the video, just look it up, Google it. You can Google it right now for all I care and watch it, just pay attention to what I'm saying. And and when he's running around those bases and he gets the second base, because he was told that if he went through with it at home in Atlanta and hit that home run, he was going to be shot on the field. He hits the home run, he's running around, and two white men come out of the crowd and run on the field. And Hank Aaron tells a story that he didn't know what they were coming to do. Of course, they were coming to celebrate with him. But he didn't know that. What Hank Aaron did was courageous, not so much hitting the home run, but the way he lived his life in those times. That was courageous. What Joe Clark did was courageous against the system. Standing tall, saying, This is how it's going to be. But not what some of these other people are doing today. That's not courageous. What our founding fathers did in this country to take a stand against imperialism. And I forget the ism I'm trying to say, but you know, having a king, the monarchy, that was courageous. What mamas and daddies today do in pouring values into their children, saying, love all people. You don't have to agree with all people to love them, and you don't have to like what they do, but you can treat them with dignity and respect. All peoples, it doesn't matter how they live, but love them and be a Christian. But you don't have to live that way. That's courageous. Number four, people who have been with Jesus, when you spend time with Jesus, it is evident to all. Verse 13. It says, and all who saw this were amazed. They were astonished that they took note that these men had been with Jesus. It was evident. We don't have to proclaim, hey, I spent time with Jesus.

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Look at me.

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No. You just go live your life, and it'll have an impression and an impact on other people. You don't even have to mention Jesus' name. Just go love them, go serve them. Go care for them. One last thing. Something I wanted to point out. It happens in verses one through four. There will always be people, number five here, there will always be people willing to hear and respond to the message if we are faithful to declare it. I know it's a wordy point here, but I couldn't say it any other way. There will always be people willing to hear and respond to the message if we are faithful to declare it. Verses one through four. The leaders were disturbed, but it says in verse four, but many who heard the message believed. So the number of men who believe grew to be about 5,000. It might be unpopular to preach what I preach today. It might be unpopular to say that Jesus is the only way, but there are always people whom God has made ready. You know why? Because there are people constantly praying. I talked with Miss Carolyn today. Her and I were talking about a personal situation. And she was telling me about somebody that she's been praying for, and that that it was a child in her family that she laid hands on and prayed over that God would use this child in an amazing way, and that child is not living a godly life right now, and she's holding on to that promise. And, you know, people will respond when they hear the truth because somebody in their life has been praying for them. You don't know what God's doing in somebody's heart and life. And so, therefore, don't be timid when it comes time to speak the truth. Because there will always be people willing to hear. Let me get real practical with you as parents. You ever feel that you raised your kids? For those of you maybe in my category, and you don't feel like they heard a single thing you said or digested a single thing that you gave them? You ever feel that way sometimes? I do. I looked at Penny one time and I said, Who are those people? Who are they? I know they have our DNA and they look like us. I know that. And I remembered them growing up in my home, but I don't know who they are. And if my children are watching right now, I'm sorry, that's how I feel sometimes. And you will feel that way too with yours one day. I remember my dad bringing my brother and I in for a talk after we had embarrassed him and the family and said, we don't know you. We raised you to be something else. Why are you doing this? And I'm like, I don't know. And it was because I was a sinner. I want to do my thing. But never give up. As a parent, keep preaching, speaking, living the truth. Love them through it, hold them accountable, discipline them, encourage, rebuke, whatever you got to do. Keep doing it, be faithful in season and out of season. Because there's gonna come a time. There will come a time when their hearts are ready to respond to the message. If we're faithful to declare it. 30-something-year-old, 40-something-year-old family, you know, husband and wife, got a family. Hadn't been to church their entire adult life much, but they were raised in church. And through some circumstance, maybe a friend invited them or something, or whatever, maybe something happened in their life, and they all of a sudden they're starting to be pulled back to their roots. And maybe they visit and come to church, and then I go and visit them. And all of a sudden, they're in a place where they're ready to receive the message. There will always be people willing to receive it. I know he won't be happy with me saying this, but I don't think he watches, so it doesn't matter. I'm his dad and he won't watch it, so anyway. Yesterday afternoon. You know you weren't gonna come to church and not hear a story about fishing, hunting, or football, right? Yesterday afternoon I was I went fishing. I got to the lake at noon. I'm fishing for for specks. We call them specks around here. They're crappie. Black crappie. Boy, they're easy to catch at times and then they're hard to catch at other times. It's like they they have a button. They turn on and they turn off. And I showed up and I put all 16 poles in the water. Yeah, I'm that guy. Turn my trolling motor on. That's how we troll for them. If you're gonna troll, why just put one or two hooks? Well, why not as many as the boat can hold? I got 16 without getting tangled too bad. I mean, you know, they tell you, you gotta have three masks on now, or why not fifteen? Anyway, so I'm trolling. My chances of catching something has gone up by 16fold. Well, I'm catching stuff all right. I'm catching grass, sticks. Three hours and fifteen minutes I catch nothing. It was designed by God. God calmed the wind, it got real calm. I got my phone out. I did not go to Facebook and I did not go to Twitter. What I did do was I opened up my Bible, my Bible app. I did like Brother Bill, I went electronic, man. I got my Bible out here, and I started reading. And God began to impress upon my heart as I was looking at his beautiful creation some things that I'd been praying about. And I sent this message to my son. I love you, son. And I'm proud of the son, the father, and the husband you are becoming. He ain't there yet, but he's getting there. Today, while I was in Sunday school, you can ask my Sunday school class, and I said something about my son. While I was saying that, I don't know if he could hear me or what, but he texted me. And he said, That means a lot to me. Thanks. He's listening. He's starting to get it. He's starting to look like something that I had something to do with, I think. Maybe, maybe he's getting it. And God reminded me through this that there will always be people willing to hear and respond to the message. It may not be in our time, it may not be like we want it, but at some point people are going to respond to the truth and they're going to dive completely in. Could be your children, it could be your friend, it could be your co-worker. What we have to do is we have to be faithful to declare it. And in doing so, that means that we have to spend time with Jesus so that we have his heart, we know his word, and we love people. John 3.16 tells us, for God so loved just the people he likes. No, that's not what it says. For God so loved the world that he gave his only, only one, unique, only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in him shall shall never perish, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Let's be faithful to declare it, to live it, and in order to do so, we've got to have the kind of faith that spends time with Jesus. I spent three hours and 15 minutes alone on a boat with Jesus yesterday. Now, at 3.15 I started catching. And I caught my limit. So not only did I get to spend time with Jesus, but now Jesus put fish on the other side of the boat. Just saying, and we're gonna have a fish fry for the church here in the near future. What kind of faith, man. A been with Jesus faith is very unique. It's strong, it's courageous. It's real, it's compassionate, it's truthful. You want to know how to make it through this crazy time? I don't care who you voted for one way or the other. I've lived long enough to to live half my life under presidents that I voted for and half my life under presidents that I didn't vote for. And you know what? While I agree and disagree, and while while I like and don't like, while I think things are harmful and some things are not harmful, I'll say this. It didn't help me one bit to live for how I was going to live my life based on pretty much what happened there. Because you know what? It doesn't matter if negative is happening. You know what? I see it as God allowing pressure to be placed on Christians and on the church to prove our faith, to test our faith. And it doesn't. We got to get this, y'all. Biblical prophecy has nothing to say about the United States of America. I'm just telling you. It has a lot to say about faithful people and Christians. And the Bible tells me that my citizenship is in heaven. So I love the country. I know people have died for freedom. I agree with that. I have some strong beliefs when it comes to those things. But ultimately, I want to take as many people as I can with me to heaven. And the only way that can happen is if I spend more time with Jesus, get his heart, his mind, become more like him, so that maybe my life can open up the door to other people having a chance to come to know Christ too. To receive the gift that I have. If it wasn't for those people who moved in next door to me when I was a teenager, I probably wouldn't be saved today. Probably would be dead and probably in the pits of hell today. But because of the love and the kindness of God, he sent some people to deliver a message to me. And it radically changed the course of my life and my eternity. Because those people, you could tell, my neighbors spent time with Jesus. Let's stand together, everybody. Let's pray together. You bow with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the truth. We pray for our brothers and sisters who struggle with these things. We pray for those who have taken hook, line, and sinker what the world has had to offer, thinking they can have that and Christianity too, and we know the two don't work together. They don't mix. I pray that that person who's here in that situation or who has been in that situation today would just fall on their knees before you and say, Lord, I'm so sorry. Would you please fill me with you? Help me to take my marching orders from you. I pray for that Christian who needs a shot in the arm spiritually. They need the flame fanned in their spiritual life once again. To get on with it and to start living for Christ and to spend time with Him, to be a Jesus man or a Jesus woman. Father, help us who are Christians to know that this message will become less and less popular in the world that we live in. But we don't serve man, we serve God. I pray for the person in this building that is just wondering, what are these crazy Christians talking about? What is this pastor? What's all this this pastor's talking about? I pray that they would look to you and find Christ to be their Savior today. And if that's you, all you have to do like I did, just call upon his name and say, Lord, save me and change me. I guarantee you he will do it. And you've got a family right here of believers that are willing to take you in and love you and help you develop as a newborn babe in Christ. We're gonna have what we call an invitation where we invite you to come to this altar to pray. Maybe you want to come see me for counseling or prayer. I'll be willing to do that with you. We have others that can talk with you. If it's something of a you know serious nature that's pretty deep, we can set up a time to talk with you in the near future. God's leading you to become part of this church. This is a time to do it. You let God lead you. It's our what we call our public invitation to respond to what Christ has spoken to us about. And we pray it all in Christ's name. Amen. As our team leads us in a song, you worship, you pray, you respond.