[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. One of the things that I despise the most about eating with people is when they serve charcuterie.
And I think.
I think I'm pronouncing that correctly. Forgive me if that's a cuss word. I'm not really sure. I don't know.
But I never understood the concept of charcuterie. I never understood why people like that. I know that it's, like, quaint, and I get it, but I don't understand how you could take ham, and if you slice it really thin, then it's prosciutto. Like, that makes no sense to me. Ham is ham.
And then as soon as people start digging in, they're like. They just become, like, cheese experts.
Oh, this is a really, like, earthy cheat. Like, just save the cheddar for me, weirdo. Like, I don't. I don't understand the concept. And if I. If I go in to drive, to try to grab a grape and I grab olive, you're gonna catch these hands. I. I didn't. I. Let's have. Let's have food. I don't. I don't understand. This is just an adult lunchable. This makes no sense to me whatsoever.
And so when I was. When I was reading a scripture about, you know, David fighting Goliath, one of the greatest scriptures in the Bible, it says that right before that, he's making a delivery of breads and cheeses and meats and stuff, you know, like, that's charcuterie. Or it could be the first pizza delivery in history. I might go with that.
I might go with that.
The supply run that he's making to his brothers, it says, leads him to a place where he finds his brothers who are fighting with the Israelite army, and they're met by a massive giant named Goliath. So many of you know the story David versus Goliath, one of the most awesome underdog stories of all time.
But the courage that David has in that moment to face Goliath doesn't just come from that day.
It comes from all the way back to the backside of nowhere, where he was just a shepherd boy watching some sheep.
And this is where those small moments, those small, faithful instances of him Watching sheep prepare him to step into what God has for him next.
Let me just remind you, David didn't have Goliath on his calendar.
Defeating Goliath was not on his vision board. Okay?
But when the spotlight hit him, he was dancing, he was ready. How, how is it that he, that he was able to find the courage and the confidence in that moment to go up against a nine foot tall behemoth of a man? How does that happen?
It's because God had a plan for his life. God had a vision for his life, A long term vision for his life. And let me just, let me just remind you of something. God has a long term vision for your life too. God has a plan for you. He has a hope for you. He has a future for you. God has his eye on you. And there's plans that you have for your life, for your marriage, for your family, for your career, for your future. And there's a plan that God has.
And learning how to tap into what God wants for my life is the best version of me.
So let me ask you a question.
Who do you want to be 10 years from now?
Where does, where does God see you ten years from now? If God chooses to let you live another 10 years, if you're still here, will you be struggling with the same things over and over and over again?
Will you be dealing with the same fears, the same worries, the same anxieties? Will you be dealing with the same issues, the same problems, just repeating the same patterns, the same mistakes? Or could it be that if I allow myself to start seeing me the way that God sees me, start making the choices that God has for me, that 10 years from now, it's not just where do I want to be, it's who God wants me to be.
Take a long view of your life.
Live today with tomorrow mind.
And so when David finally steps onto the world stage and changes the course of history by facing Goliath, everyone knows who he is in that moment. But no one knew who he was when he was just being faithful with a few sheep. And that's really where the story starts.
So David brings the charcuterie boards to his brothers. He, he makes that first pizza delivery and he notices that Goliath steps out and begins to taunt the children of Israel. We find this story in First Samuel, chapter 17. By the way, if you have a Bible, go ahead and open it up right there.
If you don't, don't worry about it. We'll put the words on the screen so you can follow along and David hears the voice of Goliath taunting the children of Israel and saying, come on, send somebody out to fight me. Is it any of you man enough to step on up?
Day after day, night after night, this happens.
And the Israelite army is cowering in fear.
David shows up and says, I'll do it.
Of course, his brothers get embarrassed, and they. They begin to. To push him down. Like, who do you think you are? Like, just go home. Go back to take care of those little sheep. Go back to doing what you're doing. Take your charcuterie and. And go somewhere else. We don't need all that.
But he says, is there not a cause?
Like, look what is happening here. What are you guys doing?
The courage that he has in that moment when everyone else is cowering in fear, when everybody else is freaking out, he says, I'm freaking in.
He stands before King Saul, and Saul says, what do you want? You're a young kid. What do you want?
He says, let me go out and fight him.
Saul says, you're out of your mind. Like, what are you doing?
As a matter of fact, the scripture records the conversation happening this way. Pick it up. In verse 32, David said to King Saul, don't let anybody lose heart on account of this Philistine you're serving. I'll go and fight him. I'm in.
Saul replied, you are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him. You're only a young man. And he's been a warrior from his youth. Now, there's no way that Saul knows that Goliath has been a warrior from his youth. We don't know that. He's. He's obviously making the giant out to be even bigger than what he actually is, because in his mind, this is an undefeated foe that knows everything about military strategy and history. And there's no one that can possibly face him in this moment. And when he looks at David, he doesn't just see someone full of courage. He begins to project his own fears onto young David. Your only boy.
You know, identity is a powerful thing.
The things that people speak over your life, the things that people tell you that you are and that you'll always be. It carries a lot of weight, especially when you're young and when you're impressionable.
You're only a boy. You're only a shepherd. You're just a kid. You don't know what you're talking about.
And this one.
Oh, he's.
He's been a warrior since the days of his youth.
So there Are things happening in King Saul's own mind, making things either bigger than they are and blowing things out of proportion or making them much smaller than what they actually are.
But David doesn't allow King Saul's identity to rest on him. You can look at me and see whatever you want, he says, but let me tell you my testimony. Let me tell you where God's brought me from. Let me tell you what God has done for me.
He says this.
Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, I struck it, I rescued the sheep from his mouth, and when it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, I struck it, and I killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God.
The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, good luck and God bless.
Good luck with it. And he. And he lets him go.
Of course, we know the rest of the story. David stands in front of this Philistine and takes one smooth stone, pops him upside of his head. Game over.
The children of Israel win a fantastic victory for the Lord that day. And his renown, his fame, just propels him to insane categories.
David makes a name for himself in that moment.
David eventually becomes the replacement for King Saul.
And God calls David a man after God's own heart. God says, I look at his heart and his heart is right, because long before I gave him the throne and gave him the kingdom, he was still being faithful with a few sheep.
That's really what I want to talk to you today about.
To take the long view of your life.
To think of the things that God could do with a submitted person like me and with you. With all your faults and failures and mistakes, with all of my false failures and mistakes, with all of your wins and your talents and your gifts and your abilities and. And all of my wins, talents, gifting, giftings and abilities, with all those things factored all the way in, what could God do with me if my life was submitted to him and I just did things the way that His Word shows they're supposed to be done.
Are there. Are there things that we can look at David's life and say, God, you. You set him up for such incredible success.
Are there things that. That My life needs to look a lot more like David's.
And I understand in the story with David versus Goliath that you're not David, I'm not David. I understand that David is a pre type of Christ. This is Old Testament Christ, because Christ was the only one that was able to defeat sin and death and hell in the grave.
In this story, we're actually kind of like the Israelite army cowering over there in fear. That's us. Right? I understand that. But for the sake of argument, just look at the life of David and what God did, how he raised him up.
Are there things that we can look at our life and say, lord,
[00:10:20] Speaker A: how
[00:10:20] Speaker B: could you use somebody like me? What could you do to maximize my potential? I could live fully for the glory of God and that the next 10 years of my life would not be my will, but your will, that you would increase, that I would decrease.
What would that look like? Take a moment, if you would, and just take a snapshot of the 10 year future version of you.
You're 10 years older, you're hopefully 10 years wiser.
You've definitely matured and aged like a fine wine. You're looking good.
What's the condition of your soul based on the decisions that you make today?
What's the condition of your marriage based on the decisions that you make today? How do your finances look based on the decisions that you make today?
Are you better off?
Are you worse off? Are you exactly the same?
There's some key principles that we can take from God's word and apply to our lives. And here's the first thing that we see in the life of David that all of us need to take another look at in order to take the long view of our life.
What matters to the Lord is number one, we have to be faithful with what you have.
Be faithful with what you have.
Now most of us would say, I'd like to be faithful with what I have. But what I'd really like to do is complain about what I don't have.
We always have a list of things that we don't have. And we hope and we pray that God would give us the things that we don't have. Certainly we have needs, we have wants, we have desires, we have dreams, we have aspirations. There's all kinds of things that we don't have. But God's word puts a strong emphasis on something that we don't think about a lot, the faithfulness of what God has already given you.
So David says, your servant has been keeping my father's sheep.
Now stop there for just a moment because that's not the greatest opening line on a resume for killing giants.
How are you going to kill this giant? Well, I take care of my dad's sheep.
What are you talking about?
Not the greatest opening line, but what he's telling us there is a subtle clue to something that is really critical and important to us. Look at me. They're not David's sheep.
And he's willing to risk his own life, his own health, his own safety for something that doesn't even belong to him. What does that show me? It shows me he's a good steward.
When you take the long view, look at your life. The success or the failure of who you will become is going to be based on your ability to hear the Lord and steward the resources that he's given you. Here's the question. Are you a good steward or a bad steward?
Remind yourself, nothing belongs to you. It all belongs to Him. He has entrusted you with what you currently have so that you can show your faithfulness.
He. He says, I've been keeping my father's sheep. They don't belong to me, but I'm willing to risk for the safety of things that I didn't own. He didn't say, notice this? He didn't say, we've got a lot of sheep and it.
It's okay to let the lion eat too.
Lions got to eat.
The bear can have one.
After all, they don't really belong to me. He's not going to miss it. We've got plenty. He doesn't say that.
He says, I'm a good steward of my father's resources.
Jesus echoes this thought in Luke, chapter 16, verse 10. I'll put this on the screen. It says, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with very much.
And here's what most of us want.
And we'll ask God for things like this. Lord, would you give me the desires of my heart so I can prove to you how faithful I am?
And God actually reverses that.
I want you to be faithful with what you do have, with what's in your hand, so that I can trust you with more.
God, if you'll let me win the lottery, I swear to God, I'll tithe God, if you give me this, I will do this, if you give me that. We always want to make deals with God, to trust you with these huge things. God, trust me. I swear I could be trusted. I'll do the right thing. And God's like, I do the opposite.
God is asking each of us to be faithful right here with what I do have. Be faithful in this marriage and honor the Lord in it. Be faithful with this paycheck and honor the Lord with it, because be faithful with this child.
Like, Lord, I'm going to kill him. Like, honor the Lord with what you have, and then we'll adopt a really good one.
Be faithful with the job you have. Are you honoring the Lord Monday through Friday?
Are you a good steward of your time, you good steward of the resources that God has given you? Be faithful right here. Honor the Lord with the little. Why? Because God sees what is done in secret and rewards in the open.
When you're able to prove yourself faithful with the little things that don't even belong to you, where you're finding contentment, Lord, in whatever season of life that you've given me, whatever you've blessed me with, I want to honor you with it. Even if I feel like I'm called for more, I can be trusted with more. Let me say it this way. Don't neglect what you have because it feels smaller than your calling.
Well, I'm a big deal.
I don't know how to say this, but I kill giants.
I have killed bears. I have killed lions. No, no, no.
He simply starts his resume with his stewardship.
Psalm 78 says this about David. God chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens and brought him to be the shepherd of his people. And David sheep shepherded them with integrity of heart and with skillful hands he led them. I want you to see David's life from the sheep pens to the kingdom. And there's expanding circles of stewardship.
God says, I can trust you with this. Let's move to this. I trust you with these sheep.
I'm going to move you to a lion. I trust you with that. I'm moving you to a bear. I'm moving you to Goliath. I'm moving you to King Saul. I'm moving you to the kingdom. At every stage. These are expanding circles of stewardship that God says, can I be? Can I, Can I trust you with what's next?
God just. God wasn't just preparing David for the throne, but he was preparing a throne for David at the exact same time. And, and he's using the, the faithful and the small things to create a man after God's own heart.
And he still does the exact same pattern in my life and your life. Can you be trusted with what you do have, Even if nobody else sees it?
The Bible consistently emphasizes Faithfulness over visibility.
I want people to see. I've got ideas.
I've got thoughts. I'm really talented. I'm really good.
The Bible emphasizes faithfulness long before visibility. Are you faithful with what you have?
Are you thankful for what you have? That's a good question to ask.
Here's the second thing that I want you to see. Number two, let small battles build big faith.
I'm astounded by the faith and the courage that David has to stand before Goliath because he's just like, what are y' all doing? Of course, let me go out and fight him.
I'll be back here by noon.
Don't eat all the grapes.
Don't eat all the earthy cheese.
I'm astounded by the courage. But honestly, that that courage didn't just appear in front of Goliath.
He says that started a long time ago.
So when. When David is standing before King Saul and talking about his resume, he. He tells him, this is. This is where I've come from. These are the things that I've learned, and these are the things that have prepared me for this moment.
And that's what convinces Saul to let him do it.
So one of my favorite movies growing up was.
Was a. Was kind of a chore because I was raised by parents that were over saved and everything that was on the screen was demonic. Anybody have oversaved? Parents not safe parents oversaved.
They're watching right now. Love you, mom and dad. You guys are awesome now.
But back in the day, every. Every movie had a demon.
And, you know, we're just a little bit of technology short from playing them all backwards to see what they're really saying, you know, But I loved when I finally got to watch Karate Kid. Anybody remember the old Karate Kid?
Fantastic movie. I love it. And I was so anxious to try the train the crane kick on my younger brother to see if it is true that no can defend. You know, Let me just make sure I give a clarifying statement. Please do not use the crane kick on your brother's heads. So I'm no longer liable for those statements I've just made.
I love that movie. And, and, and honestly, the best part of the movie is not when Daniel uses the, the big crane kick at the end of the movie to. To kick Johnny to win the Hill Valley tournament. Like, that's, that's not the. Sorry. Spoiler alert if you've never seen it.
Not demonic.
He does win at the end, but that's not the most important part of the Movie. The most important part of the movie comes about 30 minutes before, when Daniel has an emotional blowup with Mr. Miyagi, his karate teacher. That's the moment, that's the scene. And it's set up beautifully because he was accusing him of ripping him off.
He said, I have been working for you day and night, doing all these foolish chores. You're supposed to be teaching me kung fu. You're supposed to be teaching me karate. You're supposed to be teaching me self defense. You've taught me nothing. I've just been your slave.
He said, I've been sanding the floor, and I've been waxing your cars. I've been painting fences. Like, I've, I've worked myself to the bone. I'm sore, I'm tired. I've just, I've, I've, I've had it. I, I, I need to, to vent because you have not done your job.
I've been faithful to do what you asked of me, but you're not doing your part.
And the reason why that scene is so pivotal, because it speaks to the human condition inside of each of us, where we feel like, lord, if I'm doing the right things, why am I not getting the results that I want from you?
Then Mr. Miyagi, of course, tells him, you know, stand up, Daniel, son, look, I always look, I, you know. And then he, he says, you know, show me paint the fence, show me sand the floor. Show me wax on, wax off. And as he does the motions, Mr. Miyagi attacks him.
And he realizes, I've been learning all along.
I know a lot more than I think I do.
Pivotal scene where the light bulb comes on, and he recognized one simple fact, that he's learned a ton in the repetitive action of ordinary things.
When we submit to the authority of the Lord, when God begins to give us the ordinary small things throughout the day, over the course of time, over the long view, you're going to be shocked what you actually know, what you can walk through, what you can stand up against because of what he's shown you in the everyday. These small battles build big faith for this moment.
It's big faith. Now, if you don't know David, if you don't know his story, when he stands in front of King Saul and tells all about this stuff, and when he's talking to his brothers, all you would just see is a cocky kid. You see arrogance.
You see a kid with an inflated ego.
But notice what David doesn't say. He doesn't say, I killed a Lion, I killed a bear, therefore I'm amazing.
He doesn't say, I am a giant killer. I know I can do that. I've always known I could kill giants. I've always known that this was my. He doesn't say that.
He doesn't say, I'm gonna use the crane kick, no can defense. You know, like.
He doesn't say that.
What does he say?
Look at, look at verse 37. He said it was the.
Say it again.
The whole. Look at it. Say it again.
The Lord who rescued me.
Those five words are the most important five words you're going to hear today. If I. If. If you don't hear anything else that I say, remember those five words of scripture.
Was the Lord who rescued me? The Lord, the Lord who rescued me. Where does his courage come from? Well, he's cocky. He's arrogant. No, no, no, no, no. He's confident in the Lord, not in himself.
Let me just remind you what biblical courage looks like. Biblical courage is not confidence in what I've done. It's confidence in what I've seen God do. Come on, somebody. I have seen him come through in the past. I've seen him do miracles. I watched God do the impossible. But my confidence to stand up here and proclaim His Word does not come from anything that I am, but what I've seen God do. Where does your confidence come from? What does the long view of your life look like? If you can simply say, I put my confidence in God, have seen him come through before. I know he's going to do it again.
The miracles that we talk about don't just happen to somebody else. They've happened to me. They've happened to you. You have a track record. And those small battles can build big faith. When you stand in front of things that you just don't understand when what's happening, we get so overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. We get so overwhelmed by the moment. I don't understand. And we forget the times where God came through.
My confidence is not in me. My confidence is in what I've seen the Lord do time and time and time again. He did it with the lion, he did it with the bear. He's going to do it right now, right here.
That's where courage comes from. That's where confidence comes from. Where is your confidence today? Where's the confidence that you have for your future?
Where's the confidence that things are going to get better, that I can become more?
Where does my confidence lie? Is it in your strength and your ability to make money? Your ability to make your spouse do what you want to do? Is it in your ability to parent your children? Or could it be that we've missed the right resource all along?
It was the Lord who rescued me. It was the Lord who prepared me. It's the Lord who led me here to this moment.
And God has not lost his power today. God has never lost a battle. He's not going to have his first loss be with me.
We're in no danger, even if it feels like it.
Small battles build big faith. Take a moment in an inventory of your life and ask yourself, where have I seen God move?
Here's another thing to think about. By the way, did you thank him for it or did you just ask him for it? Did you pray about it or did you praise about it?
Because it's really not complete until you've told the Lord. Thank you.
I praise you for what you've already done.
Here's the final thing I want to share with you.
At some point, Number three, you have to step up, step up, step into the moment.
So Scripture tells us this.
In verse 16 of 1st Samuel 17, it says, for how many days, 40 days, every morning and every evening, Goliath would stand before the armies of the living God and say, I defy your God.
I defy your people.
None of you are willing to step up.
40 days, evening, morning. Now, if my math is correct, and it always is, that's 80 times these guys have to hear the the same speech. Almost six weeks of this guy over and over, taunting them, bullying them, saying the same thing in a repetitive manner. 40 days, twice a day.
I don't know about you, but that gets a little old.
And yet somehow when we look at the story, we see that the children of Israel are saying, it is what it is. We've just kind of, kind of gotten used to it.
Yeah, we don't like it, but nothing's really going to change.
And David's like, what are you talking about? Somebody go pop him in the mouth.
That's my boy.
Somebody swing.
As a matter of fact, when, when David finally steps down into the brook of the valley before he faces Goliath, it says he doesn't just pick up one stone, says he picks up five.
Later on in scripture, we find out Goliath's got four brothers. That's some serious courage. That's some serious stepping up. He said, I'm not just here for you. I'm taking out your whole bloodline. Today we wiping out generations.
So the courage to face one Giant, only part of the story.
He's willing to take on everybody.
You talk about step up.
There's a.
That's a huge step of faith.
You see, at some point, brother, at some point, sister, faithfulness and courage have to take a step.
Have to take a step. And for many of us, we're saying, God, God, you got me in this preparing season. God, you're preparing me. You're preparing me. And you don't realize he already has.
You have everything that you need. If you've got a testimony, if you've got some courage, if you've been faithful in this small, you are much more capable than what you allow yourself to believe, to face anything that life might throw at you.
God prepared me. I already have.
All you need is me.
At some point, you have to be willing to take a step of faith. At some point, it has to be more than just studying about it, talking about it, praying about it. You have to be willing to take an actual step. And this is what David does when he stands before King Saul when he leaves the charcuterie board behind and he says, I'll go and fight him. Saul says, you're just a boy, you don't know what you're talking about. Remind yourself, whose responsibility is it to face Goliath?
It's not David's, it's Saul's.
But he's nine foot tall. Remind yourself when God chose Saul to be the king, it says he stood head and shoulders above everybody else. So it's not like Saul's nobody.
Israel's first king was a physical specimen of a man.
Says, he's good looking, he's, he's imposing figure. He's the biggest and the best we got. It's his responsibility to go out there and face Goliath and fight on behalf of the people, to trust that the Lord is going to deliver the hands of this battle back over to Israel.
But there's no courage.
It's amazing that Saul has the position without the courage, but David has the courage without the position. Isn't that wild?
I don't have the job, but I'm going to step into it.
Here's another interesting note that it says Saul tries to get David to put on his armor.
And David's walking around like, this doesn't fit. Like I'm just a kid and you're like six, nine or six, seven.
Do you wonder if Saul was thinking, if this kid gets lucky and wins, maybe they'll think it was me.
Maybe the people will love me again. They won't see how much of a coward I am, I could find a way to take some credit for this battle.
Or maybe if this kid gets killed, they'll think it's me and I can just let some other adult come in here and adult this kingdom. You ever been in a situation so bad that you wish an adult would show up and take over, and then you realize, like, you're 49, you're the adult in the room?
And could those thoughts have been going through Saul's head?
But David was willing to do something that Saul would not do. He was willing to step up, to step into the moment, to recognize that what God has done in the past, he's going to do again.
And if no one else is willing to take a stand, if no one else is willing to take a step, if everyone else is thinking, it just is what it is. We have to just live with this and deal with this, no one else going to step up, I'll step up.
When the spotlight hits David's life, he's dancing, but it started on the backside of nowhere with sheep that didn't belong to him.
Willing to be faithful in the small things so that God could use him in an expanding circle of stewardship into much larger things. The same pattern is still true for me. It's still available for you.
If God can trust you with what you do have today, he can trust you with more.
More blessings or bigger battles.
Let's stay positive.
But the same is true for bigger battles.
Ten years from now, you'll be older. Hopefully you'll be wiser.
Hopefully you'll be closer to the Lord because you've been faithful with what God has given you today, right here, right now, you've let little battles build big faith because you were willing to step up into the moment. I'm challenging you this week. I want to encourage you to be the church this week, to be the hands and feet of Jesus this week. If there's an opportunity that comes along, I'm believing that you're going to step up into that moment and say, lord, I'm just going to. I'm going to be faithful with whatever this is. I'm going to help out here. If someone needs to be prayed for, that you would pray for them. If there's a situation that arises, you're like, I'll go. Here am I. Send me. I'm in. I'm willing. Step up and watch what God can do with someone that's led by the spirit and is faithful to step into the moments that God has already provided for you.
Step up. Be faithful with what God has given you. What's in your hands right here, right now, today. Here's what we know is that I can trust. What I'm walking through today is preparing me for even greater things tomorrow.
Get a longer view of your life. Get a bigger vision for your life.
This too shall pass.
But 10 years from now, I'm gonna be praising God for what he did with what I'm walking through today. Can you receive that? Everybody, I want to finish up right there. Go ahead and close your Bibles and put away your phones. I want to say very special thank you to all of you who are watching online and those that have been faithful to attendant. Many of you are sick. Many of you might be traveling or out of a job or stuck at home. I understand. I'm so thankful for all of you that are watching. So can we just take a moment, say thank you to all of our friends watching from online and around the world. We love you guys.
We appreciate you being here.
Let's take a moment and just thank the Lord for his word and ask the Holy Spirit if he would come and and show us what to do with what he's already taught us today. Would you bow your head?
Father, we thank you for your word, Lord. Your word is a lamp to our feet. It's a light to our path. Your Word gives wisdom.
Your word shows us exactly what to do. Everything we need is found right here.
It helps us to understand you better, to understand ourselves better.
Helps us to become more like you.
So, Father, I pray you take this word, bless it, use it in Jesus name.
Now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, maybe you came here today or maybe you're watching online, you'd say, pastor, I'm so far away from Jesus right now. I need to. I need to come home. I've been running from God. My friend, I'm so glad that you're here. I'm glad you're watching. I'm glad you're here in the room. I want to help you like somebody helped me one time. If you've been running from God, let's take a step towards him today.
There might be some others in this place you'd say, pastor, I've never had a relationship with Jesus.
I've never gotten saved. I don't know what that is. My friend, I'm so glad that you're here. And I would love to introduce you to Jesus.
I would love to show you the one that's paid for your sins that bled and died On a cross so you could have forgiveness, so you can have peace between you and God.
So with heads bowed and eyes closed, if that's you and you're ready to take that step, today, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And I'm not here to embarrass you or single you out in any way. I would never do that. But you need to pray this prayer. So to make it as easy as possible for you, all of us are going to pray this out loud together so that you can pray it with us and not feel singled out. So, saints, let's pray this out loud together. Here we go. Just say, 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 and forgiveness for my sins.
Will you please forgive me and I'll give you the rest of my life in Jesus name, with heads bowed and eyes closed, with no one else looking around, if you prayed that prayer and you meant that prayer and you say, pastor, that was me. Can I just see your hand all across this place? Would you lift it up nice and high and proud? That was me. I made that decision today. Good for you. Good for you. I see you.
You guys can put your hands down if you made that decision. There's something I want to ask if you wouldn't mind doing for me. On the screen behind me is a phone number that's going to appear. I want to ask you to text me. Text the words I prayed. And what I'm going to send you back is the link to some videos that I've made that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart, what to do next.
It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet Jesus.
I'm thankful for you and grateful for the decision that you just made. Good for you.
Hi, Range. Go ahead and look up at me, if you would. Let's stay seated for just a moment. Before we finish, I'm going to ask our elders and their wives to come forward to be available to pray with you about whatever it is that you might be walking through. We wanted to take a special moment today and just say, as elders, we would love to. To cover you, especially if you're struggling financially. We recognize that these are some incredibly tough times in the city of Longview. If you're doing well financially, first of all, thank the Lord because there are a lot of people that aren't. We've seen businesses shut down. We've seen restaurants start Closing down. We've seen many people start passing on their. Their.
Their losses in the forms of raising prices on other things. And you're not getting any more value. You're not getting any more stuff for. For something that now costs twice and three times as much. It's a big deal. And so we recognize that many people are hurting. And, and by the way, you have a home here.
And we would never, ever try to use that to manipulate you and say that you need to give more to our church. But we would tell you we understand people are making hard choices. Grocery prices, gas prices, the prices now to ship stuff, all of those things have gone through the roof. And it's a big deal. And lots of people are hurting.
So please don't look down on anybody else because they're struggling. We want to pray for you. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Also in those. In that. In this same period, we've had to make some really difficult decisions as a church because of this.
It's not easy.
We've had to reduce costs. We've had to make hard decisions with labor and with personnel, with cutting costs and cutting jobs. We had to do the same thing.
We get it.
I understand when times are tough, people stop going out to eat. They stop spending money on entertainment, and they stop charitable giving. I understand that. I get it. And I would never try to use that to manipulate you into giving more money in any way. I'm not here to do that. We don't pass offering buckets. We don't talk about money. We don't put guilt on people. We simply say, we understand. We get it, and we want to pray for you. And we ask, would you pray for us?
We're in this together.
So would you stand to your feet today?
Our elders are here. Their wives are here. We're willing to pray for you about any season, about whatever you might be walking through. No matter how tough it is, we believe. Look at me. God still does miracles.
We've had great reports this week of things that we thought were impossible that God has already done. Things that we've been praying about for years, decades. Even God did last night.
I've watched him heal cancer. I've watched him heal depression. I've watched him heal marriages. I've watched him do things where I had honestly given up a lot of hope.
And I've watched God do it. He is in no danger of quitting now.
And 10 years from now, we will look back on days like today and seasons like today and say, look what God did. Let me tell you about the story of God's faithfulness.
And as elders, we want to make ourselves available to pray for you. You're not struggling alone. Invite the Lord into your situation.
Let's pray about it together. This could be your moment where you step up and stop worrying about how embarrassed you're going to be that you needed prayer. Trust me, we all need it. Can I get an amen from somebody? Can I get a better amen than that?
We all need it.
So as we finish up today, I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to bless you and send you out with the best go cowboys that I can possibly muster up.
You prayed last week and look what happened.
God does miracles.
Father, I thank you for this day. I pray that you have blessed my friends with an incredible week, that they would be led by your spirit, that they'd be provided for it everywhere. You are Jehovah Jireh. You're my provider, you're my source, you're my resource. You are a good father. You provide and we trust you in this season for what you're doing. Father, I ask that you would keep my friends protected. Watch over them, bless their families, bless their marriages, bless their finances, bless their children, bless their jobs, help them to honor you and be the hands and feet of Jesus everywhere they go. In Jesus mighty name and all of us said together.
Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an amazing week.
[00:41:27] 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.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: If you want to be a part
[00:41:40] Speaker A: 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.
