[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. I'm so glad that you're here. Let's just take a moment. Welcome in all of our friends joining us online. Come on, family, let's welcome them in with a big warm round of applause. Hey, everybody.
Thank you for joining us. I think God's got something special to speak to you today, so grab your Bibles, if you would. First Peter, Chapter two is where we're going to spend all of our time. First Peter, Chapter two. And as we're turning there, I want to just say, I want to give a public apology to all the mothers who sent their daughters to Daddy Daughter dance. I want to publicly apologize for the sugar crash that happened when them baby girls got home. They had an awesome time.
It was beautiful. I wish you all could see it. We'll show you some video maybe next week. It was beautiful. Thank you all who helped to put that amazing event on. There's a lot of baby girls that are going to crash out right about 9 o' clock this morning and they need a nap. And that's our fault, 100%. They had an awesome time. It was great. Let me also just, just say that we are now six weeks away from Easter Sunday, Easter. And this year is flying by. This is now the 10th Easter, I believe, that we've been able to spend right here in Longview. And my wife and I, my family and I, we're so grateful. You guys are an amazing church family. And it has been an incredible, wonderful, beautiful experience spending all of these years with you. And this, this Easter, I think, will be no different. It's going to, it's going to be packed. There's a lot of people coming. We will be having five services this Easter. They will not all be on Sunday. So for the very first time, we're having to venture out into different days. So we have Saturday at 4:30 and 6, the day before Easter. And then, of course, Sunday we have 9, 10, 30 and 12. Now I want to, I want to just ask you if you'll pray about a couple things. If you just pray about it. I'm not asking you to commit. Just, just, just, just pray about it. Would you consider making that Saturday service, your service, as a sacrifice to Those who we believe are coming on Easter Sunday, that would be a big deal. Would you also consider inviting people? Statistics say if you invite them, they will come. So there are a lot of people that do not have a church home.
Not because they're not. They're there. There are no good church homes. They're just, they're. They haven't been invited. I want to ask you to invite people. Invite them now. If you're inviting people, no matter whichever service that they're coming to, let me just say you have full permission to go to any service you want to.
It's going to be beautiful. And at the end of every one of those services, when, when I say, bow your head and close your eyes and I ask for people to respond to that call of salvation, I give you full permission to peek. I want, I want you to see what happens when you start inviting people and they start responding to Jesus. And it is a beautiful thing. And there are some people that absolutely will need believers to invite them to church so that they can meet Jesus. It's a big deal. So would you consider inviting people to church? Would you consider Saturday services? That would be a big deal to us. Would you also consider serving? Many of you have been kicking the tires around here, saying, I think this might be my home. Church growth track is the next step for you. That happens every single Sunday during the third service, the 12 o' clock service. This is our version of membership class.
And so this is how we plug you into different ministries. We will say from the very beginning, we want you serving. It is God's plan for you.
Church was never supposed to be. Just come and hear a message. Come and hear some music. It's come and worship. And part of worship is serving. We believe that God has called you to give back. You need this. And so we're going to ask you at some point to move from consumers to contributors. You're here to minister to help reach the lost.
You're supposed to be a part of this. We want to invite you in to be a part of that. So there's some great ministries that obviously need more volunteers, and it's going to be beautiful when you decide to join them. And so growth track is happening. We got openings in children's ministry if you can pass a background check. If you love babies, they have a blast over there. Let me just say it's. It's a lot more fun in here.
So I want to bring a message today called When Trust Breaks. When trust Breaks. And so trust is a different word for my generation than it might be for many of your generation, if you're older or younger than me, specifically because of the people who raised me. And I love my mom and dad very much. They're watching today.
But something unique happened in American culture with those that were born in the 50s and the early 60s. And that's what happened in the 60s and 70s with the Vietnam War.
When the Vietnam War happened, what was the byproduct of that war was the loss of trust by the American people. Until that point, many, many people trusted and believed in the American government. I know it's strange to you to believe that there are a lot of people that used to trust and believe that the government was telling them the truth. That is not the case anymore. And that, I think, can be traced back to the Vietnam era, when people realize you're lying to me. And it was exposed for the first time on national television. And so when you've been raised by people that have. That have lost that kind of trust. They raised us to not trust nobody. And that's the kind of culture that I grew up in. And we also grew up on water hoses and neglect and the man in the van culture. Like, that's how I grew up. Like, we didn't trust nobody for nothing.
And then I had to learn, like, a little bit later on that there were people that I thought were my friends that I couldn't trust. And that was the very first time. Some of you'll know what I'm talking about. The first time your white friends invite you to go tubing with them on the lake.
Bunch of white people. You already know. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Oh, come. You're gonna love tubing. It's awesome. Get in this tube and just hang on and we're gonna pull you.
I.
I don't think it's funny to see how far you can skip a Mexican across the lake. That ain't.
That was not told to me. And I did not sign any legal.
And so I learned, like, you can't trust white people. That's what I learned.
Oh, wasn't that a blast? No. I'm gonna sue you.
I have trust issues, and I understand why. But when we're looking at the people that are. That. That are the recipients of this letter in First Peter, chapter two, not only are they people that had major trust issues, but they're also people that weren't trusted.
Now, I saw some statistics in a new study this week that talked about the categories of people that we most trust. And that trust has just drifted dramatically downward in almost every single category. There are only two people that it says Americans trust. Two categories of people. Did you know there's only two categories of people that Americans would say we still trust, and that's nurses and veterans.
Did you know that everybody else is, like, suspect?
You know, the people that have traditionally, like, trended downward farther and farther and farther. Police, politicians and preachers.
So not only am I an untrusting person, but now because of my profession and what God has called me to do, now I'm also not trusted.
I start from a negative deficit just from being a pastor. Now, don't feel too sorry for me. I don't trust nobody either. I get it. I understand.
I don't trust nobody.
Very first time that you thought you got a chocolate chip cookie turned out to be oatmeal raisin. That's when trust issues started for some of you. You understand? You get it.
And so the letter that Peter writes to a group of people, he says, I understand that what you're walking through has caused you to not. To not be able to trust very much.
And he's speaking to people that are, that are living underneath Roman rule, who is led by a man named, named Nero. If you've ever studied Roman history, Nero is no hero, baby. Nero is, is, is no bueno.
And the things that he does with Christians and things he blames Christians for are, are, are, are hard, are hard to even imagine.
And so Christians were, were now becoming separate from Judaism. So not only do the Jews not trust the new Christians, but now also they're living in a Roman culture that is becoming more and more suspicious of them. Nobody trusts us anymore.
So not only are they having a hard time trusting the people that are around them, they've also had a negative deficit of people actually trusting them as well.
Which is why it's so important, as we look at this letter that Peter writes to these amazing believers, it's so important for us to see that he gets us. He understands. Because now, as a believer, when you say, I am a Christian, that used to mean something.
That used to mean that I can be trusted. I believe in at least the golden rule.
But so many people have taken that label of Christian and used it to do horrible, despicable, illegal, immoral things that now the word Christian puts you at a negative deficit on the trust scale.
We live also in a time where many of us have had our trust broken by a host of things.
The people that you thought were heroes, the people that were celebrities, the people that you thought you could trust that had your vote, you've seen broken trust after broken trust after broken trust. And because we live in the age of the Internet, trust is something that, that is hard to come by because people are human. People make mistakes and crazy things get exposed, and it makes us more and more jaded.
When Paul writes. I'm sorry. When Peter writes this letter, he's speaking to a group of people very much like us.
They're walking through a culture that doesn't trust them and they're suspicious.
And I love how his incredible words bring them exactly how to respond. What is the Lord telling us to do in an age that is screaming at us to become more, more closed off and more, More jaded, more, More cynical, more critical?
What would, what would the Lord say to us?
And so as he writes this letter to them, I think it speaks to us 2,000 years later as well. Pick it up with me in First Peter, chapter two. I'm gonna pick it up in verse nine.
He says, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are.
Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, that they may see your good deeds and, and glorify God on the day that he visits us.
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority, whether to the emperor or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
For it is God's will that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover up for evil.
Show proper respect to everyone.
Love the family of believers. Fear God.
Honor the emperor.
Remind yourself that these are not easy words for these believers to hear because they want to hear.
You guys just lay low.
Everything's going to be fine. Jesus is going to come back. He's going to destroy all of Rome. They completely change the country. And you guys are going to be fine. You just, just, just hold it, hold it, hold it down for a little bit. That's not what he says.
He starts using words like submission.
Don't like that one.
He starts using words like honor.
He's.
He starts telling them, live out loud.
And so as we're looking at the words that Peter writes to these group of people that, that are having a hard time being trusted and having a hard time trusting anybody in the messed up world that they were forced to live in.
We also hear some fantastic things that are so applicable to us today as believers living in untrusting times. Here's the first or three things I want to give you. If you're a note taker, number one, write this down.
He reminds them to remember who you are.
So before he ever gives instructions, he gives identity.
Remember who you you are, he says. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You were called out of darkness to live in his beautiful light. He tells him, you are chosen. You are loved. He says, you're, you're my friends, your exiles.
He reminds them of who they are now. Of course, they're not literal immigrants, but they, but they feel like outsiders, very much like many of us today. The moment you decide I want to live for Christ, I want to do everything that His Word tells me to do. I want to honor the Lord by treating people this way and by living out the life of these scriptures. The moment you determine to do that, you're going to feel like an outsider. I don't belong.
Imagine if you would, what these people are having to walk through. Imagine if every business deal and every celebration, every party, every parade, all of those, along with religious experiences, all of them are set up to honor gods, which you no longer worship.
Every time somebody's having a birthday party, these are, they're sacrificing their food to idols and then serving it to the kids. And you're like, I can't do that.
I don't worship those gods anymore. Wouldn't you feel like an outsider if everything revolved around a culture that you've been pulled out of?
And it's easy in those moments to say, man, it would just be so much easier if I just didn't care if it wasn't that big of a deal.
It'd be so much easier if I could just, you know, have a little Sunday experience and then just live like Rome.
They felt like outsiders. And so it's so critical that Peter reminds them of who God says they are. Here's what we know is that when identity is unclear, people will chase acceptance wherever they can find it.
And it's such a natural human tendency for us to want to be accepted. We want to fit in. We want to have a group of people that understand us and know us. And he says, look, you don't get that luxury anymore.
Now, for those of us that grew up in the 90s, we did not grow up in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion. That was not a thing. Everyone is not equal. Absolutely not.
And you understood this in one place in high school particularly, and that was the cafeteria. You understood where you did not belong.
Some of you were raised in Christian school your whole life or you, you were raised up in a different time. I'm just telling you, in the 90s, there were tables.
And at every single table there's a different group of people that sat there. It was identity through exclusion.
You had the jock table full of protein and lots of milk. Give me your milk.
Then you had the nerd table with all their calculators out, getting really, really good at those calculators and giggling back and forth. And you're like, didn't they tell us that we had to learn how to use a calculator? Because you'll never have a calculator for the rest of your life in your pocket. That's the reason why I have trust issues right there. Because they lie to me.
I found out the truth. You don't need math at all.
Some of math teachers, it's God's word. Don't argue with me.
Then there was the drama kids. You didn't want to sit at that table.
I'm offending everybody. That's great.
Then you had the band kids, God bless them, the skater kids, Remember those? You had the goth kids looking like they're extras in the Crow movie. You remember that? You don't know.
And being raised in homeschool and in Christian schools all of my life. The very first time that I walked into that cafeteria, I realized very quickly, this is identity by exclusion. I don't belong here.
I don't fit in here. Where is my place?
I don't fit in with any of these people.
And most of that is because I was coming from a Pentecostal background. That was holiness. So I'm wearing long sleeve white shirts and a tie to high school.
You know where I fit in?
Being beat on by every person in that room.
Like when the drama kids are beating on you, you're like, are you serious?
Here's what's different. Peter reminds them of who they are.
He says, you, you are God's special possession. You were chosen. You, you were called out of darkness. He said, you're my friends.
You're. You're exiles. You might be strangers in a strange land, but God has a purpose for you. Remind yourself of who you are because that is Critical in the life of every believer.
I want you to think for a moment about your identity. And when you answer the question with anything more than who God says you are, you might be believing something about yourself that God's word says is not true.
It might be really good to challenge yourself to look at God's word and say, who does God's word say? That I am.
Take a moment and think about who you are.
Who am I?
And if the first word that pops into your mind is your occupation, you're gonna need some help.
You see, what you believe about yourself will determine how you respond to pressure, conflict, and temptation.
And if you see yourself as just as. As. As. As your.
As you're the old version of yourself, you're going to fight the same battle for the rest of your life.
I'm always going to be an addict. I'm always going to be broken. I'm always going to be hopeless. I'm always going to be broke. I'm always going to be this. Because this is who I am.
And we will chase acceptance. And when we find identity, whether it's good, bad, right, wrong, true, or untrue, when you find that, that will determine how you were, how you. How you respond to conflict, and how you. How you respond to pressure, how you respond to temptation.
Well, that's what I always do.
That's just who I am.
And Peter reminds them of who they are. Before he ever gives them instructions, he gives them identity. Why? Because identity shapes behavior.
If you don't know who God says you are, you're going to fill that gap with what people say. You're going to fill that gap with what you say about yourself.
So here's. Here's what we know. What you believe about yourself will determine how you respond to pressure, conflict, and temptation. What does God's word say that I am? Look at Ephesians, chapter two. We'll just give you this one. There's a ton of scriptures that says, for we are his workmanship.
His.
He made me. I didn't make me.
They didn't make me.
I don't get to determine what I am or who I am, and neither do you. He knows who I am. He calls me chosen. He calls me loved.
He calls me his people. He said, once you were not a people. Now you're my people.
We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do something. What is that? Good works which he prepared beforehand so that I would walk in them.
That means that there's a purpose for my life. There's a Plan for my life.
Here's the thing. When Jesus comes and begins to put together his disciples, he doesn't just put together a whole table full of jocks or whole table full of nerds.
Think about the people that Jesus chose. They were fishermen, they're business owners, they're tax collectors.
There's a zealot.
Later on, Jesus begins to add people that had been saved from a life of prostitution, and he calls them friends.
Jesus begins to eat meals with them. And by the way, in first century Judaism, when you eat a meal, that's like social inclusion. That would have been a big taboo thing. You don't eat with those people. What are you doing, Jesus? You belong over here at this table. He says, no, I have my own table.
And this is a group of people that Jesus says, it's not about who you are or who you aren't.
Jesus says, I chose you, and you belong here.
And I get to define who you are.
See, the gospel, it's such a beautiful thing. The gospel forms identity by adoption, not by exclusion.
I chose you.
So Peter reminds them, in a time where trust has been broken, when you have a hard time trusting people, you need to remember who you are.
Remind yourself who God says you are. He says, I chose you. I have a purpose for you. There's a life for you.
And I get to define what that life looks like because you belong to me.
Remember who you are. Here's the second key that we see that Peter reminds them. Number two, he tells them, fight the real battle.
Fight the real battle. This is so important to us today because we will look at all of these big exterior things that are going on in our world that you wake up to every single morning and find one more reason not to trust people.
All of these huge things that are happening just this week. And by the way, there'll be different things next week and different things two weeks from now. All of these things because of the miracle of the Internet that is available to you on your newsfeed, however you get your sources.
It all screams one thing, don't trust anybody. And there's all of these big issues that are happening in our world. And it's really easy for us to look at all of those things and to do exactly what these believers were doing, ignoring the condition of their own soul.
And Peter says, that's your real battle. Your real battle is not with them or with them or with them. Your real battle is not becoming a keyboard warrior to tell all the people the things that grind your gears.
He said, don't ignore the condition of your own soul. He said these things are sinful desires which wage war against your own soul.
He reminds them of who they are in Christ and he says, fight the real battle.
The battle is for the cleanliness of your soul before the Lord. It takes a lot for us to ignore the dumpster fires that are happening 247 around us and instead focus on the real battle that is happening inside of each of our own souls.
Let me just remind you of this. When your soul is clean, you've already won, and God begins to fight your battles for you, your battle is not with him and them and those and there and the shadow, this. And that's not your real battle.
Those are excuses.
Those are real convenient distractions from the work that God has called you to do.
It takes a lot of effort for us to say, lord, what do you want from me today? How can I please you today?
How can I keep my soul clean before you, Lord?
Let me just remind you your biggest battles in this life, it's not going to be with government. It's not going to be with conspiracies, it's not going to be with religion. It's not going to be for justice. It's not going to be for all the different things that are happening around you. There's plenty of those and there will always be plenty of those.
Wars and rumors of wars, that's signs of the end times. There's gonna be plenty. It takes no effort to find those. You're not special because you can find something else to be mad about, something else not to trust takes no effort. It's everywhere.
Your greatest battles will be with own, with within your own soul and with your own identity, with what's right here between your ears, with who you believe you are. Let me say it this way. When we know who we are in Christ, we don't need the world to validate us. And we don't have to fight every cultural battle to feel secure.
I know who I am, know who God's made me to be. I understand that my battle is to fight between what the Holy Spirit wants and my flesh.
And Peter says, fight the real battle here.
Remind yourself of the things that these people were up against. It's not an easy time for them to live. Well, this Bible, it doesn't understand the kind of things that we're seeing happen in our world. Yes, it does.
It's been much, much worse. Many, many times. Just not for you.
But the good news is the Bible speaks directly to what we're Walking through today.
And it says, hey, fight the real battle. Your battle is not against flesh and blood.
We wage the world against spiritualities, demonic forces.
That. That person sitting next to you is not your enemy.
Why did y' all start looking at people?
You're like. It's like you don't. Mmm, Pastor, you don't know him.
Like, he forgot to make the bed. Ease up. It'll be fine.
You're gonna be okay.
Fight the real battle.
Here's the third and final thing that I believe Peter would not just encourage them, but encourage us with today. Number three. Live open handed.
Live open handed. Here's what happens when trust is broken. When we find ourselves getting more cynical and more judgmental and more suspicious of everything happening in our world, which takes no effort, it's very, very easy for us to do. This is kind of the spirit that has gripped much of our, much of Christianity.
When we find ourselves living in that time, it's easy to get so judgy, so dark, so angry, so bitter.
Let me just, let me just remind you very quickly that when that, when that happens, we, we tend to withdraw.
We tend to isolate, we tend to step back and say, this is just too much. And that's the exact same issue that the Church was facing at the beginning.
So much political pressure, so many things happening in the world, so many things happening in Rome, so many things happening in the government, so many things happening within the church and, and religious systems.
And Peter says, uh, no, no, no, I'm going to offer you a better way.
And when he tells him, do good.
Shine.
Love the church.
Love God's people.
Live open handed.
Live out loud. Don't withdraw.
Hardened hearts start seeing people as enemies, not neighbors.
And the harder your heart becomes, the more that you'll start seeing people as an enemy. Here's the crazy thing. When Jesus comes, he speaks to people and he says, love them both.
Love your neighbor as yourself. He says, love your enemies and do good to those who use you. Do good to those who spitefully use you. Do to good.
Doing good does not mean pretending that everything is fine. It means refusing to let bitterness define your character. And this is what we see in our church today.
In the state of the American version of Christianity, bitterness has begun to define our character.
Peter says, hey, come on, man, you got a lot of things stacked against you, but if you're on the Lord's side, a million to one is not a fair fight.
Be on the Lord's side.
Don't let bitterness define your character.
Do good. Do good. To all represent Christ. Well, shine like the light that you're called to be.
A good and generous life is the antidote to cynicism and suspicion.
A good, generous life.
So he tells them, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake. Show proper respect to everybody.
Love the family of believers. Honor the emperor.
Those are hard words for them to hear as believers. Peter. Peter's writing that says, I want you to honor the Emperor. You don't understand.
Do you understand how wicked Nero is? Do you understand what he's doing to be? Yep. Honor him.
Let me just remind you this. He does not say, trust him.
Thank God.
He says, you honor him.
Let me show you something on the screen. Honor reflects who we are in Christ. It's not a statement about how great anybody else is, it's about who we are. It's part of identity.
Part of our identity is we're going to honor whether you deserve it or not. I don't have to trust anybody, but I'm going to honor. Why?
Because of how great Christ is and what he's done in me.
It's not a statement about how great anybody else is. So Peter's goal here as he's writing these words is to keep them engaged, keep them in the fight, keep them pushing forward, keep them becoming who Christ has called them to be. Not sitting back and saying, I just can't right now. The world's too much of a dark place. There's too much going on. No, our, our goal is not survival by withdrawal. It's witnessing through visible goodness.
I said, I want you to be the best citizens that this country has. I want you to be the best employees that your business has. Live out loud, do good, honor everybody. Honor them.
Live out loud.
He said, love the church, live lives of submission and honor. He said, that's going to change the world.
And I love, as he's speaking to this group of people who have been through so much, People who have had their trust broken, who find themselves battling being cynical and judgmental, battling becoming crusty before their time.
He speaks directly to us today.
For some of us that have, that have been alive long enough to get a little bit of gray in your beard, ladies included, we find that the older we get, it's a battle to not get more and more cynical and judgmental, isn't it?
And you start wearing, does a lot of damage to you physically and mentally.
It puts on a lot of years before your time. I remember going to my 30 year high school reunion, 30 years, my 30 year high school reunion, and thinking man, these people are a lot older than me.
They must have had rough lives.
You ever look at people that are your age and thinking, I'm not. I'm. I may be old. I'm not your old right.
That, that has a.
That's what tends to happen to us. When you keep allowing yourself to wake up every morning finding something to be angry at, when you wake up every morning finding something to be judgmental, to make yourself feel better and more morally righteous than what is happening in our world, let me just tell you, it takes no effort to find dumpster fires. They are everywhere.
That's normal.
It's the status of our world. Our world is an evil and wicked place. Let me just remind you very quickly. Please hear me. This isn't heaven.
It's coming, but this isn't it.
But in the meantime, we don't withdraw.
We don't become crusty. We're not getting old before our time. We're not living lives of isolation. Even when trust has been broken, Peter reminds us as he reminded them with two simple words. Do good.
Do good. I want to challenge you with that this week.
Allow the Holy Spirit to call you out of whatever funk you might be in, to call you out of judgmental spirits, to call you out of criticism, to call you out of being suspicious, to call you out of depression, to call you out of a life of anxiety, to call you out of conspiracies and say, lord, how can I do good today? How can I represent you well today? How can I live out loud and do such good for you and for your kingdom that it will silence the talk of ignorant and foolish people that don't understand what it means to live a life of a believer that truly honors the Lord.
Do good.
I want to challenge you with that this week to think and process and look for ways to allow the Holy Spirit to extend kindness. Man kindness turns down the volume on cynicism and a judgmental spirit. It just turns everything way down when you're simply kind.
It's universal.
And one of the fruits of the spirit, by the way, is kindness, not sarcasm, kindness.
And it takes much more of an effort for us to let the Holy Spirit speak through us and treat people with a gentle spirit.
To do good and remind yourself, this is what God has called me to do in a world that is hard to trust. Can you receive that? Everybody? I want to finish up right there, if that's okay, and give you a chance to maybe put your Bibles away and put down your phones. Let's have a Moment where you can just respond to the Lord and maybe just listen to him and see what he's saying to us today.
Would you bow your head and close your eyes and let me pray for you?
Father, I thank you that we still have a purpose, we have an identity. I thank you that you have called us, chosen and loved your special people. You've called us a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Once we were not a people. We are a people.
You've identified us as your own. We have a place at your table.
You've selected us. You've adopted us.
You've called us sons and daughters.
Let it delabel everything else that the world calls us.
Let it dethrone all the lies of the evil one that would say, you're only this and you're only that. You will always be this, you'll always be that.
Lord, let us remind ourselves who your word says that we are so that we can stand strong and love well, so that we can do good and represent you to a world that is cynical and judgmental, a world that's become hard, hardened and living far from you.
Help us, Lord, to live well, to do good, to be a blessing to you and to others.
And now with heads bowed and eyes closed, maybe you came here today and you'd say, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, I don't have a relationship with Jesus.
I know I need one.
I don't even know how to do that.
My friend, you're in the right place.
There might be some others in this room today that would say, pastor, I used to walk with God. I used to go to church. I used to do all the things, but I've gotten so far away from my relationship with God, I need to come home. My friend, you are right. You need to come home.
As a matter of fact, if you could see it right now, God himself is reaching down his hand to you and he's saying these two simple but profound words.
Come home, Come home.
Your father in heaven loves you very, very much.
I like to say, if God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. He wants you to come home.
You may say, how do I do that, Pastor? My friend, it starts with a prayer, and let me help you like somebody helped me one time by praying a simple prayer, a prayer of repentance, and a prayer where I asked Jesus to take over my life. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to give you a chance to do that. We're going to pray this prayer out loud. All of us are Going to say it out loud so you won't feel embarrassed or singled out in any way. But saints, let's pray this together. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died, and I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sin.
Would you please forgive me, save me, and I'll give you the rest of my life in Jesus name.
And with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you prayed that prayer, if you meant that prayer, if you're saying, pastor, I prayed that prayer, I meant it. I'm taking that step today. Can I just see those of you that prayed that prayer? Could you lift up your hands? All across this place. Got to see your hand. Good.
Yes, young man. Yes, ma'. Am. Yes. Good for you.
Good for you. You guys can put your hands down. For those of you that responded, I want you to know that there's a number appearing behind me on a screen.
If you're watching online, if you pray that prayer as well, there's a number appearing on your screen.
Would you please text me, Text the words I prayed to that number and I'll send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next.
I'm super proud of you. Thank you for doing that.
How rich family, go ahead and look up at me if you would. Then let's stand to our feet together. I want to remind you, if you're watching this online, if you have social media and you enjoy using your social media for something bigger than just promoting you, would you do us a huge favor? Would you consider sharing this message on any social media platform that you're watching this from? There are people all over this world that do not have a home church. There are people that need good quality, solid Bible teaching. And it's a big deal when you choose to use your social media to promote Christian and beautiful things, not just the same judgmental stuff that everybody else sees. Come on somebody.
And so would you consider sharing this message with your friends? It makes a big difference when you do that. I also want to remind you that Easter is coming up. So invite people, invite them all. And then if you're. If you're able to switch to a Saturday night service just for that weekend alone, we'll be back at normal noble times, noble days the following Sunday. But just for that evening, would you consider Saturday? And then I want to remind you that it's time to serve.
And so if you've if you've been wondering, is this your church? Home growth track is happening right after this service. It's happening in our youth building right across the street and we would love to get you plugged in. We would love to get you serving somewhere. It'd be good for you. And so let me just challenge you, let me push you move from becoming just another consumer to becoming a contributor and allow the Lord to use you. You were, you were created by Christ Jesus to do good works. And our job as a church is to help you to do the works God called you to do. Amen.
So I'm going to invite our elders and their wives before us to stand up in front of this platform and be available to pray for you about any request that you might have.
Then for everyone else, let me bless you and send you out here with my best prayer. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Help them to be led by your spirit, help them to walk in your ways, help them to represent you well as they do good in Jesus name and all of us said together, Amen. God bless you as you go. Have an awesome week.
[00:40:47] 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.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: If you want to be a part
[00:41:00] Speaker A: of our online community, connect with us through Facebook, 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.
