[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, everybody.
I'm so glad that you made it to church. Welcome to High Ridge. If you don't know me, my name is Pastor Tim. If you like what you're hearing today, I'm the senior pastor. If you don't, I am just a guest speaker.
Open up your Bible anywhere you want to and I'll be by there in a minute. No, I'm. Revelation Chapter two is where we're going to spend some time. And as you're turning over to Revelation chapter two, I want to look right into that camera and just welcome all of our online friends from all around the world. We have people watching from Africa to Abilene. Welcome to the Berry family. Welcome to my grandma. Hi, Grandma. Everybody say, hi, Grandma.
So good to see each of you. Have people watching from England. G'day, mate. To you. We have people watching all the way from Liberty City. Like four minutes that way. Come on, just drive here. For the rest of us, we want to just welcome you with a big warm round of applause. Come on high Rich family, let's welcome them all in as they're tuning in all across the world. Welcome. We're glad that you're here. We're believing that God is going to speak something wonderful into your life as you focus your attention upon the authority of his Word. So Revelation Chapter two is where we're going to go. And as you're turning there, let me just tell you, hey, I am so, so very proud of you. We have had an incredible, incredible start to this year with our Discover services, with the prophetic words, with the healings that happened here. Come on, somebody. That was awesome. God is doing incredible miracles here. We have a lot of stories we're going to share with you. How the Lord just absolutely interrupted people's lives. That the Lord delivered people from some mess. The Lord gave people direction and wisdom and encouragement and breakthrough. There are good things coming because the power of God is here. I'm glad to be in a church that's alive. How about that? I'm glad that the power of God is here. It is. It's a difficult thing to do, church without the spirit of God. Let me just say People do it all the time, but I would not want to be in their shoes. I'm thankful that the Lord is with us. I'm thankful that His Spirit is here. That's a good, good, good place to be. So. Hey. Revelation Chapter two. We're going to continue on with our series called First Things First. Somebody say first things first?
First matter to God. It's important that we just start right there. Firsts matter to God. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God has a particular place for things that are. There's a reason why God says, I want the firstborn of every flock. I want the firstborn child. I want the first of your crops. I want the first of these things. It's a way to honor the Lord. So when God says first, it's important for us to take note of. What's that mean? What does it mean when God says first? And so we're ordering the rest of our year around what the Lord says. This should be a priority for you. This is what matters. If you call yourself a believer, as I do, it's important that you fall in love with the Lord. And as you fall in love with someone, you start to realize like there are things that matter deeply to this other person. If you've never known that, this might be the reason why your relationship might need some help. We got a group for you.
But at some point in a healthy relationship, your thoughts ought to consider, what do they like? What's important to them?
What do they like to eat? What do they like to watch? If it's all about you, perhaps your relationship is not quite as healthy as you think it is. But in our relationship with the Lord, it's important for us to say, lord, what's important to you? What matters to you? And firsts matter to God.
And so as we're looking at Revelation chapter 2, when we see the word first, I want you to take special notice of that word. Revelation chapter 2. The Lord is speaking a fantastic word to a particular church there in Ephesus, but he's also speaking words to us, and it's important that we pay attention. It says this in verse one to the angel of the church in Ephesus writes, these are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. Or in other words, this is Jesus.
He's the one.
And Jesus says this to the church, I know your deeds now. Don't read any negative connotation in them. There's nothing negative about that. This. This Is the Lord saying, I know what you've done, and it's a good thing. I recognize the things that you've had to endure. I recognize the things that you've done for the cause of Christ. He says, I know your deeds. I know your hard work. I know your perseverance. That ought to bring somebody some encouragement that's been walking through some tough times with the Lord. He said, I know your perseverance. I know it. I see it. I'm with you. The Lord says, I know this. You can't tolerate wicked people.
I know that you've tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and you have found them false.
You have persevered. You've endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. Those are very, very kind, encouraging words from the Lord to the church. He says, you're still going. You're doing great things. I see it, I know it, I recognize it. Yet he said, there's one thing we need to talk about. There's one thing we need to be clear about, one thing from the Lord to the church. And he gets very clear in this moment. We believe here that clarity is kindness, that sometimes the kindest thing that you can do is to be very clear with that one thing that's important to you. He said, there's one thing, one thing I hold against you. You have forsaken the love you had. At somebody, say the next word first.
He said, that love matters to me, that first love you've neglected, that you've lost your first love. Your Bible may say the love that you had at first. He says, consider how far you have fallen.
Recognize that the Lord is saying this in love to the church. He says, repent and do the things you did. At somebody, say the next word first.
And then he gives a warning. He says, if you don't do it, I'm gonna come down there. You remember those moments where dad says, I'm about to stop this car? I'm about to pull this thing over to the side of the road. I'm about to get back in the back seat with you. Remember those times we actually pulled over to the side of the road after a long family argument? We had a, you know, family of six, and my dad said, I'm coming back there. Whatever. And like, yeah, whatever. He actually pulled the car over.
And then I remember he climbed in the back seat, and we just kind of stared him, like, what is he doing in the back seat? What we didn't know is that he'd actually got pulled over by a police officer. And he was so nervous that when he went to get back in the car, he just climbed in the back seat and he's like looking for the steering wheel. And in his mind he was so nervous about being pulled over that he didn't realize he, he climbed in the back. We were just staring at him like, what did we do? We weren't even bad.
But he says, look, I'm gonna come down there and this is the warning. If you don't repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. That's not good. He's saying, this is important, but you also have this in your favor. He said, you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He's like, if you're willing to listen to this, if you're willing to hear, I'm going to speak something that you need to understand.
The Lord gets very clear with what he's saying to this amazing church in Ephesus. For those of us that have studied the different churches and you understand the founding of this amazing church, you know that this church had some extreme advantages. When we talk about the founding of a church, it could not have been founded on better principles than, than the Apostle Paul himself. That's kind of a big deal. When you look back at the founder of your church and like, it's Paul, perhaps you've heard of him, it's kind of a big deal. So Paul starts this church and at some point he turns it over to the first apostolic couple, to Priscilla and Aquila. That's a pretty good heritage. At some point history teaches us that they turn this over to Apollos, who was an incredible speaker. They teach him about the Holy Spirit and they said this guy could convince people that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. An incredible speaker. Then we know through history that at some point they turn it over to Timothy, Paul's protege. And Paul begins to encourage young Timothy to contend for the faith and to pastor this church well. And then at some point it finally gets turned over back to John, who is the last living disciple, the last one of the 12. All the rest have been killed off. But here's the thing about John. He couldn't die.
They take John and this is, hey, this is PG 13. They boil him in oil and he comes back a little bit chicken fried, but still as salty as ever. They could not kill him. So here he is at 90 years old. Like, what are you going to do with somebody that just won't die? So they put him on an island out by himself. Like, you just stay over here and stay out of our way. Stay over there. And Paul begins to write letters back to this church that he's pastoring and saying, look, you guys have done incredible things. You have an amazing heritage. Look at all the things that have been given to you as a church. And you've done so many things well, except for this one thing. And Jesus wants you to know how important this is to you and how important it is to him. The love that you had at first, what does that tell me today? What does that speak to me? What does that speak to us as a church? It tells me this, that having a great history gives us a false sense of security.
This is the same spirit that we see at work in East Texas because Great Grandma and them and Pop Pop was a pastor. And because we were raised in church, we have this false sense of security that everything's great between my relationship with the Lord and we have a tendency in that moment to start relying upon ourselves and our works and forget about the first love, just like the church in Ephesus did.
So how do we cultivate that first love? I want to talk today about cultivating a first love relationship. Relationship with the Lord. It's so critical that we do everything out of love and not out of duty. It's not just about duty. It's about delight. Learning how to delight in the Lord. Otherwise, he says, you've. You've done all these things and I see them, but you've forgotten about the love.
So when you think about first love, I don't know about you, but I can't help but think about, you know, that period of my life where things. Things got really, really awkward.
Because first love is always cringy.
Super cringe. Everything is just like. You look back on that part of your life. I don't want to even see pictures from about 12 to 14, like, Donnie, no, because so everything is so cringy. But the first time you see that crush and the first time that you get a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and some of you are like, I'm 64 and still waiting for that moment. We're gonna. We got a group for you. We're gonna help you.
But everything about that period of our life is cringy.
And being a youth pastor for years and working with the younger ones, it's like, you're gonna be fine. We can help you get through. You don't understand now I kind of do. I kind of. And there's so much that you're looking back and you're like, oh, did I really do that? Is that really what we did? I remember, you know, instead of passing notes, we wouldn't text back in the day. Today, they just text, text, text, text, text, text, back and forth, back and forth, lol, lmao, whatever it is. And they go back and forth. You're like, what is that? It's all about text. And you got to learn your acronym so you can kind of keep a good look at what your kids are doing.
But we would make those little triangle footballs. Remember those? You write a note to your person and fold it up into a little football and then pass it across. Do you like me? Check, yes, check, no, whatever.
And I remember those times where if you really wanted to get ungodly and worldly, you really want to push the envelope, then you'd walk around the mall and put your hand in each other's back pockets as you're walking.
If my parents had seen that, oh, they would have anointed me with enough oil to slide me in the next room.
They would have painted my back porch red. I'm just telling you, Unacceptable. So cringy.
Like, you've been on two dates and now he's your lock screen. Like, please. Oh, we have a song. Like, you don't have a song. You barely know that person. We see them at Youth every Wednesday night. That's not a relationship.
But it's so cringy. And it's easy for us to look at this and think about the love that you have at first, and to go like, oh, come on.
Because of the love that we had at first was cringy, was awkward, but I recognize that part of my life and think it was all, you know, butterflies and blushing.
But yet the Lord says there's something more to that. It's not. It's not about a feeling.
It's not about an emotion. It's about a choice. It's about a relationship that we're supposed to have with our Father. Here's three things that I want to make sure that you pick up from Revelation, chapter 2. Things that the Lord is showing us about what it means to cultivate a first love relationship. Here's the first of three. Number one. We can do a lot of things without love. We can have a lot of church without love. We can have a lot of things that we incorporate in our day that might be religious things, but not based on love. Why? Because that's what we were taught. You just do the things, just do the stuff.
And what happens is we develop an attitude of yeah, yeah, yeah. Christianity.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm supposed to be praying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That tithing thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm supposed to be doing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. Because that's what I was taught. And what happens is what starts this. Genuine love quickly becomes dead works.
Please hear me today. Let me step on your toes just a little bit, because this is what we see as working as the spirit of our area. This becomes dead works.
Everything that we do for Christ needs to start with a foundation of love.
He says this, I know your hard work. I know your perseverance. I know you've endured hardships. I don't even know that you hate the right things.
You hate what I hate. God said that's a good thing. At least you hate what I hate. You're not loving, but at least you hate the right things. I think most of us would say, let's just start with that, right? Let's just hate the things that God hates.
Let me make sure that you understand this. You can't build a healthy relationship on common hates. Come on.
Now, as I'm looking at the playoff picture, and since my beloved Cowboys have been eliminated, probably about week two, I had to decide, like, who am I gonna cheer for? Like, am I supposed to cheer for this? And it's really, really difficult for me to now cheer for the Commanders, but they were really good, and it was fun to watch them last week. And I find myself thinking, as an NFC guy that's always cheered for the Cowboys, how in the world could I ever allow myself to cheer for that team?
But then I recognize, like, the other alternative is to cheer for the Eagles, and I can't do that.
So we had. We had some Commander fans that were in our first service, like, yes, the Commander. Like, whatever, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
So I find myself cheering. I'm gonna be cheering for the Bills. Don't hate me. I'm cheering for the Bills. I know we got a lot of Kansas City Chiefs fans. I'm not praying for the Chiefs. They already have the rest. They don't need our prayers.
We could. We can build a friendship on the. On our common hates. Even if you're not a Cowboys fan, we're gonna get you saved. That's okay. But you can't build a healthy relationship on hate. And our relationship with the Lord can't just be that we Hate the things that God hates.
Everything we do has to be built on genuine love. Please hear me. Love.
What happens without that? Without genuine love, Christians become known more for what we're against than what we're for.
And this is our Americanized version of Christianity today. It's more about what we're against than what we're for. You still hearing me, everybody? This is so critical that we get this into our spirit. All of Christianity must be based on love, or things get really weird. Churches get really weird. Christians get really weird. Why? Because we've forgotten about the love that we have at first, and it's only about hating the things that God hates.
Here's what we know. Without genuine love, Christians become known for what they're against and not what we're for. Here's point number two. I want to share this with you. Number two. Love for Christ is a choice that we make every day.
It's not a feeling, it's a choice. A choice to be completely in love with the lover of our soul. So when Jesus is speaking to the church through John, he says, you've lost your first love.
And notice he doesn't say. He doesn't say you threw it away.
He doesn't say you rejected it. As a matter of fact, the original language says you abandoned it.
He says, you do all these things right, and in the process, you abandon the most important thing, your first love. He says, you walked off and left it.
You forgot about how important that is.
And I don't think that we can approach this Scripture and not recognize parts of ourselves that we easily get lost in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Christianity just do those things, and we forget how critical it is to really love every single day.
What do we do? We often exchange love for lists. Just give me the list of things to do, and I'll just do that. And that proves that I love the Lord because I did the list.
Revelation 2 would argue with that theology.
No, we do the list because we love the Lord. We do the list because it's out of devotion. It's out of delight, not out of duty. Not because I have to. I want to.
Don't exchange the love for a list.
First. John 4:19.
John writes, we love because he first loved us.
This is important because I think if we read scriptures like we're supposed to be loving people, we're supposed to be loving the world, we're supposed to be loving those that are far from relationship with Jesus, loving those that are lost, it's easy for us to say, look, I've Tried to love them, but they don't give anything back. They don't love in response. See, we have a tendency to love as long as the other party reciprocates.
But here's the good news. In First John 4, he says, no, we love because he first loved. God says, no, you don't love them and hope that they'll give you something in response. You love them because I love you.
We know this to be true, that our Father will not change. He is the epitome of love. He is love personified. He doesn't move, but we have a tendency to move. And it's out of a sense of duty to do our lists, to accomplish our things, to do the things that prove that we're a great Christian, that we're a good old boy, we're a good old girl, we're doing the right things. In the process, we lose the love.
Here's the third and final thing. I want to finish up with this. My relationship with Jesus. Here's the good news. Can burn hotter than ever.
It really can. And I want you to believe that, because otherwise this will just be another year of the same old, same old. This will be another year of you just getting by, doing the list of things, hoping and praying, believing that you're making a difference, believing that God must be pleased with my life because I did the things. How do I make sure that this is not just another year? My heart for you, my hope for you as your pastor, is that this year, this 20, 25, would be the single greatest year in your relationship with the Lord, in the history of all your years. This would be your year where you know him better, where you trust him, where you love him deeper than you ever thought that you could love him.
My relationship with Jesus, my first love relationship with him, can absolutely burn hotter than ever. The Lord gives us some clues of what that looks like. In Revelation, Chapter two, he gives us two words. He says, repent, and then remember.
Now, I don't know about you, but I don't like that word repent a lot.
I don't like that. I like a God that will just fix it for me because I'm your favorite and you love me. Just fix it, okay? Lord, I read your scripture. I understand it. Now you just do it. No, he says, consider how far you've fallen. Repent.
Remember. Remember the love that we had at first. And that's going to help you to start stoking the flame to something better than just doing a list.
Let's fall deeper in Love. The Lord says, my relationship with Jesus can burn hotter than ever. What does it, what does it really mean to repent? I think for some of us to repent means I'm going to say I'm sorry. But you know, scripturally, that really has very little to do with what you say.
That's an apology.
But an apology is only as good as what follows it. Real change, right?
So repent literally means to change your mind or change direction, means you're going this way. He says, you've forgotten your first love. You know, you know what? More than I'm sorry, I'm gonna change direction. I'm gonna remember. I'm gonna go back to my first love. Where are you at, Lord? I want you. Where, where are you at? I got out in front of you. I started relying on myself. I've fallen out of love. I've gotten to a sense of duty. I didn't even realize that. So, Lord, I turn from that. I want to head back to a white hot relationship with you. By repentance, by remembering where we started.
We know this for a fact, that love grows where it's nurtured.
And you have to be in proximity to be nurtured.
It takes a drawing near of each of us, a daily choice to get close to the Lord, to sit at his feet and say, lord, it's not about what I do today.
What do you want me to do? What can I do that's most pleasing to you? He says, repent, come back to me.
By the way, if you were repenting, if we're coming back to him, we don't have to worry about the second part of Revelations 2 that says, if you don't going to come down there.
But here's the good news. He says, if you don't come back to me, I'm going to come to you.
I'm thankful that I have a God that's willing to draw near because he loves me that much. Aren't you thankful for that?
Love grows where it's nurtured.
As I was studying and putting this message together this past week, I was John to a scripture that, I mean, I've read the Bible through so many, so many dozens of times. But there's one particular scripture. I thought, I've never seen that in this context, but Jeremiah chapter two, I want to share this with you. It's such a beautiful, powerful scripture and I think it's appropriate for us to finish with today. It says, this is God speaking to his people.
And God says, I remember the Devotion of your youth.
Take a moment, if you would, and remember with him. I remember the devotion of your youth. He said, how, as a bride you loved me.
And he said, you followed me.
You see, in Ephesians, chapter two, he said, you're getting out ahead of me. Jeremiah, he says, I want you to follow me.
Follow you through where? He says, says, through the wilderness.
But Lord, I'd rather have that. Psalm 23. Lead me beside still waters.
Lead me in paths of righteousness. Lead me along those beautiful, beautiful pastures. I. I like that part. Now he says, in the devotion of your youth, you would walk with me through absolute wilderness because you're devoted to me and you trusted me. We could walk through the hard times together.
He said, the devotion of your youth, where you loved me, you followed me through the wilderness. And I love this last part. He says, through a land not sown.
It's a land that has promise. It's a land that you have to be close to the Lord to see what he's seeing. You have to be able to see it through the eyes of faith, what it can be. It looks like a wilderness now. But I believe that, Lord, as I follow you and as we're walking together, that what is wilderness becomes a land of promise. And that land of promise begins to sprout and bloom and produce things that used to be just rocks and desert. Oh, it helps me to go back and look at my life, to repent and turn back to devotion of my youth and recognize that there were times in my life where I walked through absolute wilderness. And I realized in those moments how close I was to the Lord. I recognized that he was all that I needed. Why? Because he's all I had.
And I would venture a guess, if you've been following God for more than about five minutes, you can go back in your mind's eye and remember times in your life where God proved himself faithful. And you recognize in those moments how good, how faithful he was. It's in the dry times, the wilderness seasons, where you don't know what's coming next. Then God says, we're going to walk through a wilderness, through a land that is not yet sown.
And we're going to vision together. We're going to see what it can be through the eyes of faith. You're going to see how I see. You know, when we get out in front of God, we start rushing his timing. You're going to see wilderness and think, I don't want to stop here. This place doesn't have a Buc Ees, this place is not conducive for a person like me.
When you're walking with the Lord, you start seeing it as he sees it.
God says, that's part of the devotion that I want you to walk with. See things as I see them. It's a promised land a land flowing with milk and honey Lord, it looks like a desert not for long Walk with me, Lord My life looks like a wilderness not for long Walk with me, Lord this looks like pain not for long, walk with me.
So God links first love scripturally with devotion through the tough days.
That's where love becomes substance.
And honestly, we see this as a reflection in our marriages and our relationships. It's the times where you don't feel like you've got butterflies and you're not blushing, but it's time where life gets tough. That's where you find that the person that you've made a commitment to is in it for the long haul. It's those moments. Not the good days. It's the not so good ones.
You know, I often tell couples when we're counseling them, as they're getting ready to take that step, to walk before their family and friends and put rings on each other's fingers. We tell them, like the vows that you make on your wedding day.
Here's a great piece of advice. They're not for your wedding day.
Therefore, the times you don't feel like it, when you talk about to love and to cherish, to honor.
It's easy to love when you got a $12,000 dress on.
What about when you're wearing a hospital gown?
What about when there is no more money, when the friends are gone?
That's when love is real and God says, hey, return to me. Remember the devotion that we had in your youth when you would follow me through the wilderness and to a land that wasn't yet sown. There's promise, there's a blessing, there's the eyes of faith that we can see it together with.
Let the wilderness seasons of my life teach me to lean into Jesus and not to rely on myself.
And that's really the heart of what I want to leave you with today. How easy it is to trust in ourself and our good works. Because we've heard it, we've learned it, we've applied it, we've done it. You've been to the groups, you've been to the conferences. You've been to the knights of worship. You've been in the prophetic. You've seen this thing you see, you got a little understanding of Scripture, and at some point in your life, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been there. I know. I see it. Oh, cool. Yeah, that's great.
Remember the devotion you had at first, and your love for Jesus can burn hotter than ever. This can absolutely be the greatest year of your life.
Let your love for the Lord go back to a first love. Keep a soft heart, a devoted heart, and watch what God can do with your future. Watch what he can do with your children, with your grandchildren, with your finances, as we give what belongs to him first. Somebody say the word first with me first. It's a first love. Can we finish up right there? If you wouldn't mind, Go ahead and put your Bibles away.
Once you've done that, would you just bow your head and close your eyes? I want to give you a chance to maybe do what we've heard about in Scripture. Respond to the Holy Spirit, respond to His Word.
I think if I've done my job correctly today, that there are some of us that would say, pastor, I'm walking through a wilderness season right now. I'm having a hard time seeing things through the eyes of faith.
I need to see things as the Lord sees them. It looks bleak. It looks hard. It looks difficult.
But, my friend, I believe today, if you choose to lean into the Lord, press into him, talk to him, ask him for help, be devoted to him.
I believe the Lord will hear and begin to do things that you can't do on your best day. I'm just going to speak that prophetically over you right now. For those that are in a wilderness season, Father, be near, be an ever present help that your Word says that you are in the day of trouble for others in this place. If I've done my job correctly, you'd say, pastor, I've been in a dry place spiritually.
I'm doing all the things. I'm checking all the boxes. But I recognize that when Ephesus had an issue, I have an issue.
I've kind of gotten into a routine of just doing the things, and I've forgotten about the love.
I need that. My friend, today is a day to make a choice, to sit at the feet of Jesus and say, lord, I want you. More than anything else, I just want you.
And I believe the Lord is going to hear that, hear the cry of your heart and respond to repentance and to remembering. Let your mind go back, the devotion of your youth.
Let your heart be softened to what he says next.
So, Holy Spirit, Would you speak to us today? Would you soften our hearts? Would you open up your word and help this to become more than just words on a page, but a true canon event in our lives where we change direction and come back to you.
Let our dependence be upon you and you alone. In Jesus name.
Now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you're here today and you're saying, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really have a relationship with Jesus.
My friend, you may have been raised in church, you may have done all the things, but you've gotten away from God and you know it. God knows it.
You feel it. As a matter of fact, your heart might be beating a little bit faster right now because you know it's time to come home. My friend, if that's you today, I'm not going to embarrass you in any way. I would never do that.
But if you want a relationship with Jesus, I want to invite you to pray a prayer.
Let me help you the same way that somebody helped me one time.
Your relationship with Jesus starts with a prayer. So if that's you, pray this prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you want to. You can pray it with a whisper. It doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you believe it. Perhaps you're watching online. If you want to pray this prayer as well. Join us if you would, for relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer with me. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died, and I believe that you rose again so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sins.
Please forgive me.
I'm coming home.
I want to walk with you for the rest of my life.
So I give my life to you right now in Jesus name, with heads bowed and eyes closed. My friend, if that was you, I'm not going to embarrass you in any way. But if you pray that prayer with me, would you do me a favor? Would you look up at me from wherever you are and go ahead and slip up your hand? Say, that was me, Pastor. Good. That was me, Pastor. I did. I prayed that prayer with you today. Perhaps you're watching online. Type it in the chat. That was me. I prayed that prayer. I want you to know that if you're watching online, if you're in the room, there is a screen appearing behind me, and on the screen is a phone number. There's also a QR code. If you prayed that prayer, would you type the words I prayed into a text. Text me what's going to happen. I'm going to send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what to do next.
It's the greatest honor of my life to help people know Jesus. I'm so proud of you. Good for you, High Rich family. Go ahead, look up at me if you would, and let's stand to our feet together today. And as we prepare to end our service, I'm going to invite our elders and their wives forward to be available to pray for you about anything that you might need prayer for. We have some of our elders are taking the weekend off and enjoying some time away, so we're going to have maybe a couple of our staff members will be up here available to pray for you as well. But please don't leave this place. If you need prayer for any reason. We would love to pray for you. And as you're getting ready to cheer for your favorite football team, whoever that may be.
Where's my Chiefs fans? Where are you guys all at? Lord, right now we just pray that, oh Lord, if you love me, let the Bills win. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Or am I?
Let me pray for you. Bless you as we go. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Help them to follow closely with you. Help them to fall deeply, madly, passionately in love with you more and more every day in Jesus name and all of us said together. Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome week.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
