Learning to Lead: Lessons from Samuel

[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. Come on, give it up one time. For Jesus, for our Savior, for our king. God is already doing great things this morning and I am so glad that you're here. Welcome to church, everybody. Welcome to High Ridge Longview. I'm glad you made it. I'm glad you you got up. I'm even glad for those of you that are watching online. Come on, let's give them a big warm round of applause. Maybe you're sick today. We're going to be praying for you. Maybe you're watching from home or watching from work. If you've got to work today, maybe you're just being lazy or maybe you're cheating on your home church. We'll be your church girlfriend for today. We're glad, whatever your circumstances, we're glad that you're tuning in. We're glad that you're watching online. So let us know where you're watching from. We'd love to connect with you and see how you're doing, pray for you if you need it. Love for you to just comment and let us know what's going on in your life and then we'll for everybody else, grab your Bible if you would. We're going to spend some time Old Testament and New Testament. We're going to start off in Matthew chapter five and then move from there and we'll end in first Samuel, chapter 12. So Matthew five and one Samuel, chapter 12 is where the Lord's leading us this week. I want to say thank you so much for being a generous church. Thank you so much for being a serving church. You guys do amazing things. We were able this week to send a small team into a couple of of schools as they have started school this week. I see some of you parents have a massive weight off of you. You're like, thank God these kids have gone back to those schools. Well, you should be praying for your teachers, praying for those schools because they got to deal with your brats. Come on, somebody. So we sent a small team to pray for those at Foster Middle School at Judson's Team Academy. And we've been able to partner with other ministries, other churches to pray for some schools. We believe that God hears the prayers of his people. And there are spiritual attacks. There is oppression upon a lot of our education systems. And it's a big deal when God's people get together and pray. Is that right, everybody? Thank you for being a part of a, of a generous church that allows us to do that. A serving church that's willing to go and willing to. Just to pray. That's a big deal. So I'm so thankful to be, so thankful to be back with you this week. I was out last week. My wife and I celebrated our anniversary. Seventeen years of this woman putting up with me. Come on, somebody. They're clapping because they know how much you have to walk through to deal with. To deal with me. It's been a beautiful, beautiful marriage, beautiful, beautiful life, and so glad to be celebrating that with her. And so as we're turning there to, to Matthew Chapter five, I want to bring you something that I think is near and dear to my heart, something that I think our area really needs, especially Longview. Let's talk about learning to lead. Learning to lead today. I don't think many of us really see ourselves as leaders. Most people don't. Most people don't see themselves as leaders. And that's kind of the problem. We. We've seen so many bad examples of leadership, especially since 2020. It's almost as if there's a massive shift, there's a massive overturn, and leadership in every position has been called into question. And you see a lot of examples online of bad leadership, bad leadership in politics, bad leadership in religion. Come on, somebody. Bad religion, bad church, bad pastors. We've seen bad examples of leaders in Hollywood, bad examples of leadership on the Internet. It's everywhere. And so why would anyone even want to be in leadership? I get it. And most people don't see themselves as leaders. But God's word is very, very clear. When God speaks to his people in Matthew chapter five, he talks about what it means to lead. You are called to lead. I want to settle that issue with you in your spirit. It's not enough for us to say there's so many bad leaders. I don't want to follow anybody. And there's so much bad leadership. I don't ever want to step up. But God has called you to lead. Most people don't see themselves. They don't think of themselves leaders. But God's word would say something different. I think there's a couple of reasons why we don't think of ourselves as leaders. And the first is because you may not have the title of the boss Maybe you're, you know, you work at a company and you're like, well, I'm not the CEO, so I'm not the leader. And you don't think of yourselves in terms of a leader because you don't have the title or you don't have the letters, the initials after the end of your name, whatever it may be. You're not sitting in the corner office. And so I'm not the leader. I, I, I'm not in charge. I'm not the manager. I like to complain to the manager. I don't want to be the manager. Come on, somebody. Another reason is I think we undervalue how important, how critical our everyday influence really is. We don't see ourselves as being the ones in charge, nor do we want to be the ones in charge. But I want you to know that the spirit of God lives in those that call themselves children of God. And God has called you not to fit in, but to stand out. You are placed where you are in history. You are placed where you are in geography to make a difference where God has placed you. It's not a coincidence that God picked this period of time in history to put you there. It's not a coincidence that God has put you in this city. This city needs leadership. And God has placed you here to bring your flavor, to bring your influence, to bring the spirit of God into whatever sphere of influence that you have. Leadership is simply influence. That's all it is. Leadership is just influence. I wonder, are you a good leader or a bad leader? Are you a leader by default because somebody else stepped out? Are you following good examples of leadership? Some of us had great parents that were great leaders. Others like, that's not the kind of parents that I had. Some of us have been a part of great churches that had great leaders. And other of us, you've come here and you're like, have a hard time trusting. I've seen some bad leadership. I get it. I was a victim of bad leadership. This past, this past week, my wife and I were in Dallas to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to do some shopping and I walked into a new men's clothing store and the guy was showing me around. It's a brand new store that just opened and I was one of the first customers. He said, let me show you all the things that we have. I'm like, sure, take me on the tour. And I was, I was trusting his leadership. And so he leads me around and I accidentally stepped onto a rug that was not taped down or glued down. And the whole rug just shifted. I lost my balance, fell flat on my tailbone. And it's been a long week. So my team said, do you want to sit down? I'm like, no, I don't want to sit down. To preach, I don't want to sit down at all. We had to get on a plane to California and I've been sitting on a donut for a week. Let me just tell you, this has been a very tender week because I was led astray by some bad leadership. Like I get a bad leadership, I've been hurt. So my backside is black and blue and orange and purple and all the colors of the rainbow. It's been bad. So do not tell me, good game and slap me on the hind end. This is not the time. This is not the time. It's been a long week. That three and a half hour plane ride, sitting on a donut, just kind of hovering above the seat like, whoo, little turbulence. Some of you have been there. You ever broken your tailbone? Mm. My people feel me, you know, what I've had to walk through. Sometimes bad leadership will leave you on your tail, leave you bruised, leave you hurt. I get it. But I want you to see this. In Matthew, chapter 5, Jesus looks at his disciples and speaks not only to them, but to us today. And he says, you are the salt of the earth. You are called to make a difference. You are called to have influence. He says, you are the light of the world. I've placed you where you are to bring flavor. I've placed you where you are to bring your influence to bring light into a darkened world. You are salt. You are light. He says, I'm not going to take the. People don't take a lamp and they put it underneath the bowl. We don't do that. He said, what do we do? We put it on its stand and it gives light to everybody in the house. You have influence. You are called to lead. And when you settle that issue in your mind, things begin to take a turn for the better. You start seeing that there is a purpose for my life. There's a reason why God made me this way. There's a reason why my God put me here. There's a reason why God put me when he placed me. You know, the Bible is full of good leadership. It's also full of some really bad leadership. People that did it right, people that did it wrong. There's one man that did it perfectly from beginning to end, and his name is Jesus. And sometimes it's hard for us to to look at Jesus life and say, well, I can do what he did, because we don't feel like we're the immaculate son of God. Your mother may have told you that, but that may not be true. But there are some leaders that the Bible speaks very well of that didn't have a bad ending. You've seen that. You've seen a lot of leadership that starts well and ends really poorly. It's difficult today to find leaders that end well. But I want to focus today on a man named Samuel. And we see how God calls him from even before he was born and sets him at the perfect place in history to bring glory to God with his life. And I want you to see that there was not a whole lot that was special about Samuel, except for the fact that he started listening to the Lord and being obedient to what the Lord says. And when you think about your own leadership and the influence that God has called you to influence, keep that in mind. There doesn't have to be a lot special. That's. That. That's special about me for God to still use me. My question is, will I listen to him? Will I do what he says? And so what I want to do is I want to start with. With three points that I think are so important for us to recognize with great leadership. And then we'll finish up with some scripture at the end to kind of show you what happens at the end of Samuel's life as he's finishing a. So the first thing I want to show us, number one, about learning to lead, is that great leadership is defined by how we respond to conflict. Great leadership is defined by how we respond to conflict. Now, Samuel was brought onto the scene like a chess piece in the middle of a lot of conflict. There's a lot of things going on in his world, and God begins to define his leadership by how he brings Samuel into conflict. You know this to be true because in your lifetime and in my lifetime, we've seen great leadership that just kind of shows up at those crazy moments where you're like, wow, we needed this. For those of you that are millennials or about my age, you remember September 11th, when planes began to hit the World Trade center and there was nothing left but rubble, and people were freaked out as the world at war. Is this World War 3? Is this the end of it all? And I remember the following morning, as President Bush was standing on the rubble and people were yelling out things at him, and he says, I hear you. And pretty soon, the people that knock down these Buildings are going to hear us, too. And the world was like, yeah, come on. You see, until that moment, his presidency has kind of been defined as goofy. He's the guy that couldn't pronounce nuclear. He'd make jokes that he's kind of just a goofy president until that moment. In the middle of conflict, he stood up and said the right thing at the right time. And the world was like, we'll stand with you. Some of you are around when President Reagan looks directly into a camera and says, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. And the Cold War was over in just a matter of a few words that leadership was defined by conflict. Some of you remember the time when all of Europe was looking to Winston Churchill, and he says, we will never, ever, ever, ever give up. He says, we will fight to the last man against the Nazi regime, against Hitler and his forces. It doesn't matter. We will fight to protect our country. And the entire EU is just like, wow, yes, we will stand behind this leader. Now when the war was over, they're like, we don't want this guy anymore. He's crazy. We needed him in wartime. But now that it's peacetime, we're like, he needs to go away. But great leadership is defined by how we respond to conflict. So by the time Samuel comes onto the scene, you need to know the status of what was happening in Israel, what was happening in Judah. So they had been attacked by the Philistines. And normally when God's people were attacked by the Philistines, they would rise up in the power of the Lord and they would destroy their enemies. But this is not what happened. You see, they had turned to idols. They had turned to their sin. And now when the Philistines attacked them, it says 30,000 of their soldiers were killed. They had a huge military loss. That's a big deal for an army that was not used to losing. Some of you were alive when Vietnam was happening. We see what happened in our country. We're like, we're not used to losing. We're back to back World War champs, maybe get some until we weren't. This is where they find themselves as they've lost. And not only did the Philistines defeat the Israelites, but they took the Ark of the Covenant. The presence of God was gone. Can you imagine what would have happened in the hearts of the people if not only had they lost a military victory, but now the Ark, their trophy, the proof that God was with us, was gone. In those moments, they would have normally turned to Eli and to the spiritual leadership. But Eli and his family were corrupt. So we find the people in a place of great confusion and depression and anxiety. Are. Are we doomed? Is God still with us? Is everything over? And they start calling out for a king. Give us a king. We don't want to hear from the Lord anymore. Just give us a king. And this is the exact time that God begins to move Samuel onto the playing field. Samuel comes at a time right between the Judges of the Old Testament and the kings that they had demanded. And Samuel stands before the Lord. He says, God, they're asking for a king, and they need you. They don't need a king. They need to be led by you. And God speaks to Samuel, says, Samuel, don't worry. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. They want a king. They want to be like everybody else. They want to follow his leadership. I'm going to give it to them. That's what they want. They don't want to lead by following after the Lord. Come on, listen to me. Just tell us. Just tell us what to do. We'll do that. We don't want to be leaders. But that's not how God intended. He wanted his people to have a relationship with him, to be led by his spirit. He wanted his people to follow the cloud and the pillar of fire. He wanted to do things different, but the people would not. So great leadership is defined by how we respond to conflict. Why? Because crisis reveals character. Crisis reveals character. And this should reframe the way that we look at our hard days. This should reframe the way we look at our challenges. So instead of just praying, asking the Lord to deliver us from all these things, and that's totally appropriate to do, but instead start saying, lord, if you're not going to deliver me from this, can you show me what I'm supposed to learn through this? Could it be that you're developing something in my character? Could it be that this is an opportunity to lead instead of just pray for deliverance? We know this about our Father, that God allows difficulties to develop dependence, dependence upon him. And God had allowed these difficulties because the people had turned their backs on him, because these people were wandering far away from his truth and they were inviting idols back into Israel. So one of the first things that Samuel does in his leadership as he's taking over is to call people to repentance, to call people back to a relationship with the Lord. This shows us very clearly through God's word that comfort doesn't produce great leaders. Conflict does. Conflict Does. This is one of the reasons why we can look at God's word and start applying it to our marriage. And when people say, I need you to be leading in your marriage, that's more than just making a decision. It's saying, how do I respond to conflict? How do I treat my spouse? How do I treat my children? That's leadership. Am I doing it according to God's ways, or am I just doing it the way that my parents did it? Great leadership is defined by how we respond to conflict. Is there conflict in your family? Is there conflict on your job? Is there conflict in your marriage? How you respond to that is going to define your leadership. Could it be that those things are designed by God, given to you by God as opportunities, divine opportunities, to show our dependence upon him, to be willing to listen to what God has to say? Here's the second thing that I think is so important for us to see. Number two is that great leadership is attentive to God's voice. Great leadership is attentive to God's voice. So before we ever see Samuel as a leader, we find that it all starts with a mother, Samuel's mother, whose name was Hannah. We find her at the beginning of his story. She's sitting inside the temple of the Lord, and she's praying with all of her might, praying day after day after day because she's struggling with infertility. She's saying, God, I just want a baby. Is that too much to ask? And, lord, I know you've done it for other people. I see the stories of Sarah, and I see the stories of what happened when people called out to you and asked you for a miracle. And she asked God day after day after day for a baby. And she's asking so hard that at one moment, the priest comes by and says, are you drunk in God's house? What is wrong with you? This is not just like, dear Lord, please give me a child. This is like, for real prayer. He's like, yeah, I think this lady's drunk. And she said, I'm not drunk. I'm in mourning because I'm begging God for a miracle. And the priest says, you know what? The Lord's heard you. And this is the moment that Samuel is conceived inside of her. So she names him Samuel because Samuel in the Hebrew language means heard of God. She says, God, I cried out. I cried out. I cried out. I begged you, and you heard me. I love that we have a God that still hears me. God still hears. You heard me. She said, I'm Going to name him Samuel because you heard me, you heard my prayer. But here's the thing. It became more than just Samuel's name heard by God. It became kind of a marker of his destiny. Samuel was a man that God listened to him. Why? Because he listened to God. So she had told the Lord, Lord, if you ever give me a child, I'm going to give him back to you. He's going to serve you all the days of his life. He's not going to grow up and become some doctor or some attorney. He's not going to become anything else. He's going to work for you because you, you heard me. And the story is told that by the time he's five years old, she drops him off at the church and said, here you go. Now think about this. Maybe you've never thought about it, but she drops him off at the temple to serve a corrupt leader who had horrible sons. Can you imagine the trust that you would have to have in the Lord to give your children over to a corrupt religious system? Can you imagine that? But she says, I made a promise, God, you heard me. This is me fulfilling what I told you I would do. And little Samuel goes into the temple as a servant. He's sweeping the floors, he's helping with the sacrifices, he's opening doors as a five year old child called into leadership. The story is told that Samuel begins to hear the Lord at the age of five. And that's a big deal by the way, because I want to show you the scripture. In First Samuel, chapter three, it says the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under the priest Eli. And in those days, look at this. The word of the Lord was rare and there was not many visions. That's what, what a lot of people hearing what God had to say. Why? Because they refuse to listen. They're lost in their own idol worship. They're following after their own, their own flesh, their own desires. We want to be like everybody else. But God's speaking to a five year old boy that started to listen. The story is told that one night as, as little Samuel is sleeping, he hears a voice saying Samuel. And he gets up and he runs to Eli's room. He said, did you call me? Eli said, get back to bed. I told you, you're not getting any water, you're not going to the bathroom. Go back to bed. You ever had those conversations with a five year old? But I had, I just wanted to hug you, lay down. Of course he comes back in a few minutes. He said, I heard you Call me. Eli said, get back in bed. Stop. It's time to. It's sleepy time. Sleepy time. A third time happens. And Eli's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Just because I can't hear the Lord anymore doesn't mean he can't. And if I'm not calling him, maybe he's hearing what I wish I could hear. And he tells five year old Samuel, the next time you hear that voice calling your name, say, speak, Lord, your servant's listening. I love that. He tells him, tell the Lord you're his servant. You're here to serve him. So Samuel goes back and he lays down and God begins to speak to him after he says, speak, Lord, your servant's listening. I'm five years old, but just tell me. And he remembers. He stays up remembering exactly what God told him. And the next morning Eli says, you tell me everything that God told you. Don't hold back anything, don't try to make it up, don't try to church it up, just tell me exactly what God says. And Little Samuel at 5 years old said, you're not going to like ain't good. But Eli said, you know what? He's the Lord. He does what he wants. Samuel was heard by God because he listened to God. And so as God makes a leader out of someone that starts at the age of five, simply hearing him, we see this. And it's so prevalent, not just for Samuel's life, it's prevalent for us today. Notice this, that Samuel's first leadership training wasn't strategy or talent or charisma. It was learning to listen, learning to hear God. And it's the most important thing that we can teach you as Bible teachers, as churches, is not to hear what I'm saying, but for you to hear the Lord for yourself. That's my highest calling for you, that you would hear the Lord, that you would know what to do, that you would say just like Samuel did. Speak, Lord, your servants listening. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Here's what we know to be true. Here's what the Lord was speaking to me a couple of weeks ago, that I want to make sure I said it just like he told me to tell you. And that's simply this. God listens to those who listen to him. Samuel is proof, by the way. Samuel is a foreshadowing of Christ, Christ as our mediator between God and us. He's a model of integrity like Christ was. He's foreshadowing Christ. He's saying that God listens To those who are willing to listen to him, Those are willing to be obedient to his word, Those that are willing to take him seriously. And it doesn't matter how old you are. It matters, are you teachable? Are you willing to listen? Are you willing to say it just like the Lord told you? Learning to lead. Great leadership is defined by their ability to hear from the Lord and do what he says. Here's the third and final thing I want to share with you. At the end of Samuel's life, we see this, that great leadership leads with a clear conscience. There are tons of people in leadership. The question is, do you have a clear conscience? So we know that Israel leads God's people for a long time. He leads them to a time of repentance. He starts leading them into military victory. And it's one of the craziest things that you'll ever see about Samuel's life. There's a scripture that says Samuel's words never fell to the ground. Wow. That when he spoke, people are like listening. So when he comes to anoint David at the end of his life as a king, he said people in the town were trembling because Samuel walks into the town. That's great leadership. Why? Because he hears from God and he speaks on behalf of the Father. He has incredible influence. It started as a five year old listening to the Lord. They started even before that with a mother. That saying, God, I know that you hear me. I'm giving my children to you. Here's a woman using her influence to influence her children to serve the Lord for the rest of their life. At the end of his life, Samuel stands before the people and he says, God, they're begging for a king. They want to be like everybody else. They don't want your kind of leadership, Lord. They want their own kind of leadership that looks like everybody else's leadership. Samuel says, lord, this is not right. I'm grieved in my spirit. God says, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. They want a king. I'll give them a king. They don't want to lead, they don't want to follow after me. Okay? He anoints Samuel. Samuel anoints Saul as the very first king. I love this. As all of Israel gathers together, and now Samuel is at the end of his life and he stands up before the people. And of course, they're paying attention to every single word he says because they're trembling at his words. Here's what he says. Look at this. In 1st Samuel, chapter 12, Samuel said to all Israel. I have listened to everything you've said to me, and I have set a king over you. You wanted it. Now you got it. Now you have a king as your leader. Look at this. But as for me, I'm old and I'm gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. Here I stand. And this is what's so awesome. He says, testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Have I cheated any of you? Have I oppressed you? From whose hand have I ever accepted a bribe that made me shut my eyes, speaking of justice? Like, did you. Did you bring me a bribe and say, just. Just turn away. Don't. Don't say anything about, has anybody ever done that? He said, if I've done any of these things, I will make it right. Look at the people's response. You have not cheated or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from anyone's hand. And Samuel said to them, the Lord is witnessed against you. And also his anointed is witnessed this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. He is witness. They said, powerful. Samuel holds a public audit of his life. I've never seen a leader in the history of the world, in any recorded history that's ever done that. He says, I'm gonna speak to any of you. Have I done any of you wrong? Have I ever cheated you? Ever lied to you? Ever done anything that was against you? Have I oppressed you in any way? You tell me publicly. And he uses legal language. And every single person there said, no, you've been right. You're a good leader. Here's what we know, that a leader's legacy is not a title or achievement, but a life that can stand the test of God's scrutiny and people's memory. He gives the public a chance to call him out, and nobody could. Well, that's a leader that's finishing well. No one could. He reminds them of his track record. He reminds them of his integrity, and they verify it. This is a leader that's finishing well. May that be the case for every single person in this room, that your influence and the leadership that God has for you would carry on all the days of your life that you would finish well. You'd be like Paul that says, I finished my race. I've kept the faith. I've finished the course. I've done everything that God has asked me to do to the very last moment of my life. That's good leadership. There are good examples. There are people that have done it, and they all have the same thing in common. They're willing to listen to the Lord, have a clear conscience before him. You see, integrity is not only private righteousness, but it's public credibility. I think God is calling us as believers to be reminded that we are leaders, we are salt, we are light. We're not here to just exist. We're not just here to have a few kids, to collect a few toys before we pass on. You're called to use the time in history that God has given you, to use the time that you have left before he calls you home to make a difference where you are. Remember that for people like Samuel, who started with sleeping on the floor, with sweeping those same floors, with opening a door, with just helping. He didn't have a big title, but he could hear from the Lord. He kept a clear conscience between him and God, and he followed him all the days of his life. And we think about the life of Samuel. I cannot imagine him at the end of his life looking at the country and saying, you guys have lost it. After everything I've done for you, now you want a king. And then, of course, Saul begins to disobey, and he gets horribly attacked by demons because of his disobedience, and the country's just right back where he left. Can you imagine Samuel's disappointment? I can't imagine looking at your life's work and saying, it's all for nothing. Everything that I've done, Lord, like, why don't they listen? He says, here I am. I'm old and I'm gray. I set him up with the king, and I really had hoped that he would do good. He's messed it up. And I love. At the very end of his life, instead of God taking him home, God tells Samuel, feel your horn one more time. One more time. He said, I'm going to send you out to the backside of nowhere because there's another little boy just like you. He's playing songs of praise to me. His heart is fully attached to me. Samuel walks into the town and people are trembling because here's this old man one more time coming. They say, have you come in peace? Are you here in peace? He said, I'm just here to sacrifice to the Lord. They're like, bring him a cow, somebody. Let him sacrifice. Let him do whatever he wants. He tells Jesse, let me see your sons. And he marches them out, and they're tall and they're strong. They're good looking. He's like, wow, okay, Lord. I mean, surely one of these is the next king. God said, mm, mm, mm. Man looks at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. I'm looking at the heart. That's the king, that's David. And God says, I'm going to bring my own son through his lineage because his heart is completely mine. There's a next generation that's coming that needed the leadership of Samuel so that the David's could come onto the scene. Think about your life. Think about the conflict and the things that you may face. Think about the integrity, challenges and the hard moments. Sometimes it's easy for us to look at our life and say, Lord, it feels kind of pointless. Remind yourself there's another generation coming that are counting on you. They're counting on you to do what God is calling you to do. Your leadership matters. Let us be a people that are learning to lead. Amen. As we finish up right there, I want to give you an opportunity to maybe bow your head and close your eyes. And I think if I've done my job correctly today, there may be some things that we need to repent of, things that would keep us from having a clear conscience before the Lord, things that we need to turn from. So let me just ask you, would you invite the Holy Spirit to scrutinize your life for just a moment? Lord, are we good leaders or bad leaders? Are we indifferent leaders? Are we reluctant leaders? Lord, in order to be the great leaders that you called us to be, we need to have a clear conscience before you. So, Holy Spirit, we invite you in to search every part of our life, Lord, like David prayed. See if there be any wicked way in me, if there's anything that's wicked about my life, things that I've done and thought about, things I've looked at, conversations that I've had, the times I've spoken in anger, the times I've cheated or lied. Lord, we ask for forgiveness. We ask for your grace. We ask for your mercy all over this place. If there are things that the Holy Spirit is reminding you of that you know, parts of your life that are not right with God, I want to invite you right where you are to say yes to Jesus. I hear you, Lord. Please forgive me. Can you do that right now? Please forgive me, Lord. Father, I turn from those things. Give me the strength to walk before you with clean hands and with a pure heart, to lead my family, to lead on my job, to lead on my school, to lead as I follow you. Father, would you bless and strengthen and encourage my friends, help them to walk according to your word, be led by your spirit, to hear your voice and to respond to it all the days of their life, in Jesus name now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you came here today and you would say, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, man, I don't really have a relationship with the Lord. I'm new to this whole Jesus thing, but I recognize that I need something. I need Jesus. My friend, if you're here, and that's kind of what you're saying in your own heart, I want you to know that you're here for a reason. God led you here for this moment, and I'm not here to embarrass you in any way. I would never do that. But you don't need to leave this place, being far away from God. Let me help you for others. Still, maybe you're in this place today or even you're watching online and you would say, pastor, I am. I was raised in church. I used to do all the things, but I've gotten so far away from God. I've been running for a long time. I need to come home. My friend, you're watching this video because God brought you here. You're in this church today because God brought you here. He wants you to come home. If you could see it right now, God is reaching out his hand saying, come home, Come home. And if that's you today, if you want to respond to the call of the Lord upon your life, then I want to ask you to pray with me right where you are once again. I'm not here to embarrass you in any way, but I want to lead you in the same prayer that somebody led me in many years ago and it changed my life. If you want a relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer with me. As a matter of fact, all of us are going to pray it out loud together so you don't feel embarrassed in any way. But church, family, let's pray this together. Let's just say, jesus, Come on, say it like you mean it. Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God. I believe that you came and died, and I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life, so that I could have forgiveness, so that I could have grace. Will you please forgive me? And I'll give my life to you in Jesus name, with heads bowed and eyes closed all across this place, if you pray that prayer and you meant it. If you've been away From God. But you prayed that prayer. If you've never had a relationship with Jesus, but you say, pastor, I prayed that prayer with you with no one else looking around, can you just slip up your hand all across this place and say, that was me. I was praying with you? Yes. Yes, sir. I see you. Good. Yes, ma'. Am. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'. Am. I see you up there. Good for you. Yes, sir. I see you right here in the middle. Good for you. I want you to know, if you raised your hand, you can put your hand down. If you raised your hand, if that was you, I'm not gonna embarrass you in any way, but I want you to know this. There's a phone number that's gonna appear behind me on the screen. And just those of you that prayed that prayer, if you raised your hand, I wanna invite you to text me. Text the words I prayed to that number. And what's gonna happen when you do that is I'm gonna send you back the link to some things that will help you. It'll help you understand what just happened and what to do next. It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet Jesus. So that would be your favor to me. If you wouldn't mind, text that number and let me help you. High Ridge family, go ahead and look up at me if you would, and let's stand to our feet together 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. I think it would be a shame for you to come to church needing somebody to pray for you and. And then walk out without having to take that opportunity. These people will stay here and be available to pray with you about anything that you might need prayer for. Let me just remind you, it's free. We would love to pray for you. There's a couple of things coming up that I'm hoping that you'll. That you'll join us with. That is Unite Leadership 2025. We believe that God has called us to help increase the leadership in East Texas to help remind people that we are a light to the world. So Unite 2025 is coming. We have Taryn Wells coming into the Belcher Center. We've been bringing him in and going to be. It's going to be a beautiful night of God's people worshiping together and talking about what it means to lead right here in Longview, Texas. And so we want you to be a Part of that. So if you wouldn't mind, we're going to have some little flyers to remind you to help you. Help you get a ticket and get. Get your chance to sit in there and enjoy that night. It's going to be a beautiful thing. Also, we have a night of worship coming up. Come on, somebody. If you've never been a part of our night of worship, you have missed out. Let me just remind you of a couple of things. There are not enough seats for all of us to come to the church and worship together. And so we're gonna have to make do with what we have. Do not expect to get a seat at the night of worship. There's not enough. We have three services on Sunday morning. If you look around, there's not a whole lot of seats left. Okay? So you can imagine two other services trying to worship together. So can you just check your attitude at the door and say, I'm gonna stand the whole time? Let me just tell you, the night of worship is not about your comfort. It's about us worshiping, honoring the Lord. We're not here to worship you. We're here to worship him. Right? So we want you to be a part of that. It's going to be an amazing night. Also, groups registration is open right now, and so we want you to be a part of a group. All the fall groups that are coming, we want you to be a part of that. Those spots are going to fill up really, really quickly. There's not enough spots for all of us to be into groups. And I'm super sorry about that. But there are a lot of you that come. So we want you to know that. We'd love for you to be in a group, but you need to sign up now. There will not be spots if you wait. So that's all available on our app. And then also I'll let you know there are a few spots left in our first service and in our third service. If you're a little uncomfortable with how full this is getting, let me just tell you over the next couple of weeks, everybody's going back to school and these services are gonna get nuts. So think about, pray about perhaps coming up a little earlier. If you're an early bird, we got some coffee for you. Or sleep in, go to Denny's, get some breakfast, come to the 12 o' clock service. It's amazing. You're gonna love it. It's the exact same message, the exact same worship. There's a little. There's a few spots there. We could. We could fit you in. But second service is already extremely full and getting more full as we go. So unless you want to give me about $20 million to build another building, we got what we got. But I will take a check right now if you want to. No. I love you so much. Let me pray for you and bless you as you go. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Lord, would you put your hand all over their future and their destiny, help them to hear from you and be led by your spirit in Jesus name and all of us said together. Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome thank. [00:39:51] Speaker A: 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.