I Made a Vow | Pastor Earl McClellan

Some of the hardest seasons of life happen in seed form.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Your Bibles. Why don't you guys open up someplace? No, go first Samuel. Go first Samuel chapter one. It's gonna be a good day today. Excited. I got another note card, but it will not be an Adele song this week. That was that was only last week. 1 Samuel chapter 1. We can begin reading in verse number 9. If you didn't bring your Bible, we're gonna put the verses on the screen so you can follow along with us. 1 Samuel chapter 1, verse number 9. It says, Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's house. In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord weeping bitterly. In her deep anguish. Hannah prayed to the Lord weeping bitterly. I want to make this really, really clear, and I don't have time to get in all the backstory. If you have not been able to catch up with all the messages we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks, we've been in this first Samuel looking at Hannah's life, and uh and this woman has not been able to conceive uh for quite some time. It has been a struggle, it has been a battle. She has gone through a lot of emotions, and here she is in this moment after her rival has continued to provoke her and push her, and she's been bullied over and over and over again. She gets up from her meal, the Bible tells us, and she goes and she prays, and as she's praying, she is weeping bitterly. She is in deep anguish, is what the Bible says. Deep anguish. I want to make this clear for all of us. I do not know any Christian, any person who has any type of spiritual depth, anyone who has walked with the Lord for any significant amount of time who has not prayed and been in deep anguish. I don't know them. I've never met them. I don't know anyone that has walked with the Lord for any period of time and they've had to live in the tension of God, this is what I'm praying for, but this is the pain that I'm in right now. I don't know anybody. I just need to make sure you know and I know that you're not weird because you're navigating what you're navigating. You're not weird because you're in the tension. You might be weird just because you're weird, but it's not for this reason. It's not because God, I'm crying out to you and I'm asking you to do something and it's not working in my life. I feel like I'm in deep anguish right here. I feel like I'm I'm pushing through. I feel like I'm fighting. I feel like I'm struggling. I feel like I'm trying to figure things out. This is a part of the human Christian condition. You will be a Christ's follower and you will experience crushing, and those two things will be happening at the exact same time. I've seen too many people throwing the towel because they are in the deep anguish, and then they go, I'm not gonna pray to the Lord because I'm in the deep anguish. And I just say there's no better time for you to pray to the Lord than when you're in deep anguish. And it can be hard to pray to the Lord when you're in deep anguish, when you're like, God, you can fix this in a second, and you're not. That is a very real tension that you and I have to learn how to live in as followers of Jesus. Not only is Hannah experiencing this, it's something Jesus experienced. Go with me to Matthew, the gospel of Matthew. We'll go to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26, verse number 37. This is before Jesus is about to go to the cross, before he is about to be arrested. He's in the garden. Matthew chapter 26, verse number 37. It reads, He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be, look at these words, sorrowful and troubled. Verse 38. Then he said to them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. This is our Savior, this is the one who would reconcile us back to God. This is the one who would forgive us of all of our sins. This is the way, the truth, and the life. This is God incarnate, and God incarnate is experiencing this deep sorrow, this deep pain, this deep trouble. If Jesus would go through this and still pray, why would you think you and I aren't going to go through it? But I'm calling us to still pray in the midst of it. Go with me to Jeremiah. Come on, we're flipping all over the Bible here. Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 38. Jeremiah chapter 38. One of the major prophets of the Old Testament. Jeremiah chapter 38. I'm gonna start reading in verse number six. It says, so they took Jeremiah. Again, Jeremiah is doing God's will, going God's way, speaking on behalf of God, speaking God's truth to people. He's not living crazy, he's honoring God. So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Melchizedek, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern. It had no water in it, only mud. And Jeremiah sank down into the mud. I almost titled this message, Out the Mud. Here is Jeremiah navigating. I'm doing God's will, but I'm in a cistern in mud. One commentator I read said he thought the mud may have been up to Jeremiah's neck. I can't move my arms, I can't move my feet. All I can do is look up and pray. Can you get me out of this? Can you give me the breakthrough that I've been asking for? The math is not mathing. If I'm doing your will, why would I be in a mud pit like this? Verse number seven. Verse number seven. But Ebed Melech, a Kushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin gate, Ebed Melech went out of the palace. I'm in verse number eight now, and said to him, My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern where he will starve to death. Excuse me, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed Melech the Kushite, take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern, out of the mud before he dies. This Ebed Melech here, this name actually means Ebed and Melech means servant and king. So here is Jeremiah stuck in some mud up to his neck, crying out to God, trying to figure out what's happening. And then there is a servant king, just like we have, Jesus, who is working behind the scenes to put some things in order for Jeremiah. While Jeremiah is stuck, he thinks nothing is happening. But while he is waiting, Ibn Melech is working, and that's how it still happens today. When you are in your place of overwhelmed, man, God, what are you doing? Man, this is frustrating. Man, I don't understand what's happening. Why hasn't it fallen into line yet? Is it something I'm not doing that I need to do? Because if you just tell me what to do, I will do it. What why do I keep hitting my head up against the same obstacles and the same brick wall, time and time and time again? And while he is praying, Ibn Melik is working and he's getting some things together to get ready to pull him up out of the mud. I don't know how long it's gonna take, but I do know that God is working behind the scenes on your behalf. And even if, when you're a follower of Jesus, if you die in that cistern, when you go from this life into the next, there will be no mud up to your neck. You will be dancing on streets of gold in victory and in life. So whether it happens on this side of heaven or on the other side of heaven, we know that God is good, God is faithful, and God always comes through. Don't exchange, as one mentor in my life said, don't exchange what you don't know for what you do know. I don't know why this is happening, but I do know God is good. I don't know why I'm walking through all of this, but I do know He's faithful. Don't exchange those two things when you're in that cistern up to your neck in mud. Last week uh I showed y'all some flowers, and I got those same that same picture again. Um we were talking about seeds uh some last week, and and talking about you know what you hear. It's not just a sound, it's a seed. Well, in the whole built into seeds is these beautiful flowers that we see. These beautiful flowers that bring us life. And even if you're a tough dude and you walk in and you see a bunch of flowers, you're like, it's tough, it's tough. You know, it just it just brings life to a place, it brings beauty to a place. But before the flower is ever beautiful, a seed has to be buried. Okay? So for a few moments, I just want to talk through the process of what a seed goes through. In order for us to see something beautiful, something first has to be buried. So it's buried. Dirt, mud, silence, pressure, darkness. Some of you are like, yep, this is my life. Yep, check, check, bank account, yep, yep. Dirt, mud, silence. You you look at your life, you go, yep, relationally, yep, career-wise, yep, mental health, yep. I'm checking all the boxes, and you're thinking you're never gonna be anything beautiful, and I'm telling you, you're a seed. I'm telling you, this is part of the process. It's not a part of the process that we love, but it's part of the process. It goes in to the ground, and dirt and mud and pressure is part of the process. Now I know we want everything quick today. Give it to me fast, give it to me fast, give it to me fast. It don't work like that. If you want the thing that's beautiful, you and I have to be willing to go through the process. Man, it's tough. It's tough. And then you know what? The seed, the seed actually has to break its outer shell in order for what's on the inside of it to come out. The outer shell has to be broken. When I was praying about this, I wanted to talk to uh single people for just a second, okay? I know this is not a relationship talk, but this is this is just for you. I'll talk to the married people in a moment. But single people, um this seed that goes in the ground, if the outer shell does not break, the life within that seed does not come out. And I just submit to you that if you're not willing to let your outer shell be broken, then the life that God has in you and the nutrients he has for you will not be able to get to you because you're keeping yourself protected. Now, the great thing about being protected is you're protected. The bad thing about being protected is if you want a level of love and connection that you're actually dreaming about, then you have to be willing to crack the outer shell and be willing to be hurt to find that level of love. You don't get that level of love and that level of connection if you keep the outer shell in place. It's gotta break. I'm not blaming you for other relationships. You can talk through and work through, you know, go, you know, get on your knees, pray, go to your counselor therapist, you do all the stuff. But maybe some of us were asking for a deep love connection with somebody, but we're actually not willing to be hurt. And if you don't get to the place where you open up yourself enough where you're willing to be hurt, then you don't get that love that you're looking for. Now, there's you know, some single people they don't want to be married. Cool, you don't need to be married, you're you're whole without you know a ring on your finger. And you know, y'all like, whatever. I need to know how to be married. Cool. Now, also, let me talk to marriage people for a second. If you've been hurt in your marriage, if you've actually had uh some trust broken, words spoken that really negatively impacted you, like there was a secret or there was an argument and things just got way out of hand, and you have been hurt, you put that shell up because you're like, I don't want to get hurt, but your marriage is not gonna get to that next level of intimacy that you're wanting until you're willing to open up yourself enough again to be willing to be hurt again. We don't get to have the outer shell and the deep connection. You gotta be willing to crack that open. Alright, that's free. Okay, you all with me on that one? That was free. Now, now this seed's in the ground, outer shell cracks open, and then while it's in the ground, it actually starts to go down before it goes up. The roots go deep before it sprouts to the ground. This is where the the seed is getting its stability before it's getting its visibility. This is different than our day. Our day, we're like, let me get visible. I'll work on the stability later. And this is where you can't handle the light that gets on you and the pressure that gets on you because you don't have enough stability underneath the surface to be able to sustain where God is taking you. So instead of praying for popularity, pray for purity. Pray that something would go underneath the surface first, so that when popularity comes, if it comes, it doesn't shake you in your identity. It's not in the applause and in the comments of people. You are so satisfied that your roots are so deep in God that I can't be shaken. I don't need you to like me in order for me to like me. God has already approved me, and since he approved me, I'm strong and I'm secure in him. My roots went down. I worked on my character more than I worked on my charisma. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, yeah. I can I can close any deals, I can close any, I can close the deals. I hope you're great. I hope you are the best salesperson on the planet. Yes, I want that, but can I trust your word? Can your family trust your word? Do we know who you are at two o'clock in the morning? If you say you're on the business trip, what are you doing on the business trip? Are you coming back faithful and strong? Are you coming back lying and broken? I need to know that I can trust your character, not just your word, not just your charisma. So for every one of us, the seed goes down into the ground first. The roots go down first. Then it goes up. Down, then it goes up. Then it starts going up. Now it has to start working through the dirt, working through the mud, working through the pressure. Come on, I'm I'm explaining what's going on in some of our lives right now. You thought God was mad at you. No, no, no. This is a process. This is the process. Like, oh man, I didn't know this was. I wish somebody would have told me this was a process. We did tell you, you didn't want to listen. You were getting your information from reels and just scrolling, and you can't get depth in just 20 seconds. You don't get that in 20 seconds. You can't watch a reel and go, oh yeah, now I'm changed. No, yes, something can happen, but you gotta allow something deeper. It takes some time for that thing to marinate and that thing to grow on the inside of you. Can't scroll your way to this type of breakthrough. So now the seed is beginning to work its way through the dirt. And what the seed is doing is it's trying to find the light. It's trying to get to the light. Because once it gets there, now I got even more nutrients coming my way. The dirt actually provides some nutrients. The dirt actually gives the seed some of its nutrients. So actually, for some of us, the dirt is the very thing that is making you giving you the strength that you need to be who you are right now. So, though I don't like that we had to walk through dirt, I don't know if you would be as strong as you are right now had you not been buried in the first place. You actually needed to go through what you went through so that you can be who God is calling you to be in the future. So I know I don't like the dirt, but the dirt I kinda need the dirt because the dirt gave me that dog on the inside of me. The dirt reminded me that I'm not standing here. The dirt reminded me that this is not my forever home. The dirt reminded me that I'm supposed to be someplace else, that God put more in me than just standing here. How's helping me preach? How's helping me preach? Dude's 104 years old helping me preach. He's on 104 though, but he 80? 81 years old. 81 years old. He's a dog. He needed the dirt. He needed the dirt. Am I saying God sent the dirt, sent it, allowed it, whatever theology you want to use there? It came your way. It came my way. Dang, I wish it didn't. I wish it didn't. But if it didn't, you wouldn't be able to connect with people the way you can connect with people right now. You wouldn't understand the struggle that some people are walking through. It gave you an education that you could not get at Harvard or a business school. And shout out all those schools and get all the education you possibly can. I I want you to be as gifted and talented and sharp and as capable as possible. But some some education. It comes through the dirt. So now the seed is beginning to break through. Okay, it's moving towards the light. Slowly. Slowly. Slowly. Slowly. Man, I wish some stuff worked a lot faster than it did. Slowly. Slowly. So you gotta be okay with slow. You gotta be okay with slow. Everything can't be fast. Some stuff gotta be gotta be slow. When you're married, everything can't be fast. You gotta be able to dance with some slow jams, right? You gotta be able to just slow. Put your head right here, girl. Yeah. Slow. Slow. Everything can't be quick. Some stuff is slow. It's just slow. Slow. God's in the fast. Yeah, he does fast. He does. He does do fast. Salvation, man. Fast. Boom. Give your heart to Jesus. Jesus, I want to be forgiven of my sins. I want to turn from my own way. I want to go your way. Salvation, boom, fast. Sanctification slow. Slow. Why am I so struggling with this? Slow. Slow. But God's in it. So the seed starts moving slowly through the dirt. Slowly through the dirt. Then it breaks through.

unknown 23:00

Okay?

SPEAKER_01 23:01

It breaks through the dirt. That's my impersonation of a seed. It comes through. It comes through. Made it. Thought you had me, didn't you? Thought you had me, dirt. And sometimes when we get the breakthrough, we think, okay, now I'm done. No. Now that you got the breakthrough, now you have a whole nother set of problems to deal with that you did not have when you were in the dirt. You're praying for this breakthrough, and God's like, okay, I'm gonna give you the strength, you're gonna get it. Then you get it. And now you have to deal with things that you did not have to deal with when you were buried. When you were buried and somebody stepped on you, you didn't feel it. But now that you've broken through, somebody actually people can point you out and want to step on you on purpose because they see that your growth is intimidating them. So now you become a target for people when you were never a target before. It's a new set of problems. No, no, it's a good problem, but it's a good set, it's a new set of problems. Now I gotta deal with wind, I gotta deal with rain, I gotta deal with heat, I gotta deal with a change of temperature. I got a lot more to navigate and deal with. I got more going on here. Whenever God blesses you and gives you another opportunity, another level of strength, another level of influence, another level of capacity. Whenever that happens in your life, that's not the end. It's the beginning of a new season. And now you're learning new ways to trust God and new ways to depend on God. But you gotta keep moving towards the light. You gotta keep moving towards Jesus. You gotta keep moving towards the one who loves you and saves you. Now, the whole time that this seed is going through this, the seed had on the inside of it the whole time this potential. The whole time it was there. The whole time. God put this inside the seed from the very beginning. It's a picture of something that was in deep anguish and was crying out to the Lord. It's a picture of I was in the mud. But I didn't stay there. And you're a picture of that too. You're a picture of that too. Even those of you right now who you you don't even you're not even a follower of Jesus right now, I want you to know that God has been pursuing you your entire life. He's been after you your whole life. Your whole life. And you know, you're like, I'm still figuring out the church thing, the God thing. I'm not quite sure. You don't have to be sure, God's sure. He knows he knows he made you, and he fashioned you and formed you in your mother's woman. And he is on your side, drawing you closer to him. So the seed goes through all of this. Okay, I'm gonna keep on going here. Back to first Samuel, back to first Samuel. First Samuel chapter one. Okay. Now on in verse number 11. So she had prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And now in verse number 11, it says, and she made a vow, saying, Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me. And not forget your servant. Man, I appreciate this prayer. But give her a son. I'm begging of you, God. Give me a son. Then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head. When you're in those moments of extreme pressure, most of us have been here where we are in moments of pressure and then we start praying like, God, if you get me out of this, right? If you get me out of this one, Lord, I'm all follow you all the days of my life. I'll be in church every week, Lord. Every week. We ain't seeing you behind for six months. Glad you're here. Lord, Lord, if you you bless me with this house, God, if you bless me with this house, oh my goodness, I probably'm gonna open up this house and I'm gonna serve people. I'm gonna have a connect group in this house. This house is going to be. You ain't had no one over to your house since you moved in. I'm just trying to get things ready. It's been three years. How quickly we forget the promises that we make to God. And God is kind and gracious many times to even give us an answer to our prayer, knowing that we're gonna break it. I'll give it to you. But I know you're praying, asking God. I promise, I promise, I promise, I promise. But this woman, Hannah, does not make a promise. She makes a vow. It's different. Because in our day and age, promises, we break them. I promise, I'll be there, I promise. I'll be there at 10 o'clock. I promise, I'll be there at 10. It's 11:15. It doesn't carry the same weight. A vow in this day was holy. It meant something. It was like um I'll use this. Uh Eric and Gabby. Eric's our campus pastor here at our Dallas campus, and Eric is he's he's awesome. And uh he and his wife Gabby, they were moving into their first uh rental home when they first got married. So they'll lease a house, they move in, and Eric uh goes out of town real quick and he comes back, and when he comes back, uh Gabby has flea bites all over her. And Eric's like, man, are you are you okay? What's going on? She's like, Oh, there's fleas in the house, and uh Eric's in the house. Eric does not get any flea bites, only Gabby is getting the flea bites. So Eric's like, I don't think they're real. No, he didn't say that. He uh he was locked in with his wife, they found out their house is infested with fleas. They're leasing the house, they don't want to be there, but they were saying, I can't break my lease. And this is us. It can be the worst possible situation a person has ever been in. And we're like, I ain't breaking the lease, I ain't breaking the lease, I ain't breaking the lease. There is some lease demon or cop in our brain that we feel will attack us if we break the lease, we're like, oh, my life is gonna fall apart. I can't break the lease. And I'm glad we hold on to it so tight. I'm not breaking it, I'm not breaking it, I'm not breaking it, I'm not breaking it. Why are we so willing to break vows we make to the Lord and we're not willing to break a lease that we make with man? What is it that's happening here? Why the difference? She makes this vow. She says, No raise is gonna cut his head, it's a Nazirite vow that involved grapes and hair and dead corpses, and I won't get into all of that, but she's saying, Hey, this child will be dedicated to the Lord 110%. You will find this child in the house of God, it's a non-negotiable. You bless me, God, I'm giving them back to you. And then go with me to verse number 12. And she kept on praying to the Lord. Eli, who is the high priest, observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk. So she's in church and he's like, Hey, where were you last night? You're drunk. And he said to her, How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine. Verse 15, not so, my Lord, Hannah replied. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. And I pray that we are a church family. I love that we have so much joy. I love that about our church. Uh I tend to wake up and I'm actually happy. That's my disposition. God made me that way. Don't hate on me. God made me this way. Some of y'all wake up grumpy. What a terrible way to wake up. But God made me this way. So I'm a half, the the glass is half full kind of person for sure. But don't get it twisted that I'm not going to say, God, I'm gonna pour out my soul to the Lord. There are some times you have to pour out your soul to God, and the only language you have are your tears. That's all you have. Some snots that are flowing down, and you're like, God, I don't know what's going on here. And I'm sad, I'm frustrated, I can't believe I did that, I can't believe that was done to me. I'm confused, I'm not sure which way is up. Hannah here is giving us a picture. Hey, you can go there with God. Don't just pour out your soul on Instagram and not to the Lord. Don't just pour out your soul to your therapist and not to the Lord. Don't just pour out your soul to your connect group, but not to the Lord. You've got to be willing to say, Yeah, I'm not good today. It's a hard one. God's still good. I'm pouring out my soul to Him. And as she does this, and Eli and her have a conversation, like, hey, you're gonna get pregnant. Go down with me to verse number 20. 1 Samuel chapter 1, verse number 20 says, So in the course of time, Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, Because I asked the Lord for him. I love that little line in the course of time. In the course of time. I don't know how long your course of time is taking right now. I'm not sure. But it can take a while sometimes. When you're in that in the course of time, I ask myself the question, Earl, how long are you okay to be faithful? And I ask you the same question. How long are you okay waiting? Do you have some time frame with God? Something unwritten in your soul that you're saying, if God doesn't do it by this time, I'm out. I'm just so thankful that God did not say that to us. If you don't do it by this time, I'm out. Salvation gone, forgiveness gone, restoration gone. No, friends, get rid of your timelines. And you can ask God for one, but this is not some bartering chip. You and I are living our lives surrendered, saying, God, would you have your way in my life? God did bless her with a child, but it was in the course of time. And then in 1 Samuel chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, and this is where the card comes in. I'm gonna put this on the screen behind me. It's Hannah's prayer after she dedicates her child to the Lord. I'm reading it in the message version just because it kind of makes some things a little bit more clear. I'm bursting with God news. I'm walking on air. I'm laughing at my rivals, I'm dancing my salvation. Nothing and no one is holy like God, no rock mountain like our God. Don't dare talk pretentiously, not a word of boasting ever, for God knows what's going on. He takes the measure of everything that happens. The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces while the weak are infused with fresh strength. The well fed are begging in the streets for crust, while the hungry are getting second helpings. The barren woman has a house full of children, while the mother of many is bereft. God brings death and God brings life, brings down to the grave and raises up. God brings poverty and God brings wealth. He lowers, he also lifts up. He puts poor people on their feet again. He rekindles burned out lives with fresh hopes, restoring dignity and respect to their lives. A place in the sun for the very structures of earth are God's. He has laid out his operations on a firm foundation. He protectively cares for his faithful friends step by step, but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark. No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle. God's enemies will be blasted out of the sky, crashed in a heap, and burned. God will set things right all over the earth. He'll give strength to his king. He'll set his anointed on top of the world. That was a mother's prayer after God had provided a mirror. In this moment right now, actually, I'm going to invite up a mother at all of our locations. So, campus passes, I'll toss it over to you. I'm gonna invite up a mother, and I just thought on this Mother's Day, let's have a mother pray for us. Some of us have never had a mother's blessing spoken over us because our moms were in our life for whatever reason. Want you to know you're loved, and this can be your day today. You receive that mother's blessing. Maybe some of your moms didn't know how to pray. Today, you get to get a mother's blessing. All of us do me a favor, stand to your feet right now right now. I want to invite Christine Kugin up here to the platform who we love so very much. She's so special to us. Love she and her husband and her family deeply. Just praise a blessing over your whole life.

unknown 40:04

Praise you, God.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

You have parented us our entire lives. And at times we don't even know it. And we don't have to know it. Here we are. Okay. We are your kids. Every one of us here is your child. We're kingdom kids. Thank you for drawing us to this house, this healthy house where shepherds like Erlonega take care of us, where we hear messages of light, of freedom in you, Jesus. It's for everyone here. Everyone here is a daughter and a son of a king. Is your royal blood flowing through us that empowers us, keeps us, sustains us, fuels us? We are now down in the mud. I'm so grateful for messages like this. Because it's freedom for every one of us. Because of the blood. Your blood, Jesus, for every one of us. Thank you. Father, I plead the blood of Jesus over each one of us because your power does your scriptures that sets us free for us to receive. May every one of us receive. Choose you. You chose us first, but you give us a choice. May we all choose today as kingdom kids, walking in healing because of your blood. Thank you that we get to spend time with you. Thank you, God Almighty, you sent your son Jesus. That we could have friendship with you, we can have conversations with you because you hear us. You want us, you long for us, you delight in us, you make provisions for us. You say you stand at the door and knock, and if anybody would stop, you'd open this door. God help us to slow down to hear the door, to come in and have this amazing feast with you, to have all that we need for each and every day. And the greatest of things is that we get to just receive your love. Help us to receive God. We give you glory, we thank you for this abundant love that we each have today. And you've prepared even for tomorrow. We never lack anything in you, Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our dearest friend. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

So beautiful. Thank you so much for seeing. So beautiful. Hey, uh, we're just about to be dismissed in a moment, but before we are, I have the uh the most important part of our of our service for after giving God honor and praise and worship, opening his word, is an opportunity for people who don't yet know Jesus to give their hearts and their lives to Christ. So this is not our moment to leave or slip out because I don't want you interrupting someone else that might be experiencing an eternally significant moment in this life, in this moment. If you are already a follower of Jesus, it's your opportunity to pray. If you're not, I'm actually talking to you. If you've never surrendered your heart in your life to Christ, you never made him first, you never made him number one. I want to know today. Do you know that God is knocking on your heart, saying, son, daughter, it's time to come home? It's time for you to turn from your own way and to come my way. The Bible uses the word repent, means to turn. I know we use the word like repent. I guess it can be used like that, but it's hey, here's a chance. Come on back to me. Come on home. Change the way you're thinking, change the way you're living, and get on the path to following Jesus. So bow your heads if you wouldn't mind, friends, online in the room. If you have, you're under the sound of my voice and you have never given your heart in your life to Christ, you've never done it. Or there was a point in time you did, but you slipped away. And you're saying, I don't want to go my own way anymore. I want to go the way of Jesus. If that's you, you've never given your heart to Christ, or at one point in time you didn't, you slipped away. And today you're saying, I want to give my life to Christ. Today, right now. On the count of three, I want you to do something simple but something bold. I want you to throw your hand in the air and say, Yes, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. Ready? One, two, three. Just throw your hand up in the air. You're saying, Yep, that's me. That's me. I'm giving my heart and my life to Jesus today. Today's the day. Today's the day. This is awesome. Friends in the balcony on the floor, you're saying, yep, that's me. I'm giving my heart and my life to Christ. I'm gonna ask everyone to do me a favor, put your hand over your heart right now, if you would not mind. And I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me. Say, Dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I've made mistakes. And today, I give you my heart, I give you my life. Give me the power to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen.