Are You Ready to Give an Answer? | Conspiracy of the Cross Week 4

I am so glad that you are here. I just got to tell you, as I prepared for our time, I pray that somebody came with some excitement. I pray that somebody came with some anticipation. I pray that somebody came hungry to get a word from God's words. Is that anybody here today? I know that's me. (congregation applauding) Gosh, I'm telling you, if we can see in the spiritual, there's a battle raging for what God wants to do in and through your life today. How God is moving right now, it's blowing my mind. He's moving in individuals' lives. He's moving in marriages and students and kids. He's moving in generations and neighborhoods. I'm just so honored to be a part. I pray that today we would get another measure of gratitude that we get to be a part of the kingdom of God. It's not something that we have to do. It's something we get to do. It's not an obligation. It is a celebration. Man, I'm loving the season that we're in as a church where we're going through the book of 1 Peter in a series we're calling "Conspiracy of the Cross." And we're going through it not just on the weekends together like this, but we're going through it in groups, where we can really dive in together. And if you haven't found a group yet,

those are people we just gather with in the same age and stage, and we read God's Word and we pray and sometimes we eat and we just spend some time together. So if you haven't found a group yet, there's gonna be a number on the screen for you to text, and we would love to help you get involved in a group, groups have been a massive part of my life ever since I grew up in FP students. And so I just wanna speak some of your life. You can read God's Word. You can understand God's Word and you can obey God's Word. But one of the most catalytic things you can do for that to be your reality is be in group. I'm in group every week, usually twice a week. I'm in group, you need it. So again, you can text that number, don't miss out on all that God has for you. Part of what I'm really enjoying about this time is the personal challenge from Peter. Again, we're walking through the book of 1 Peter and it's named after the author. Peter was one of Jesus's closest friends. Made if you grew up in church, you've heard the stories of like Peter walking on the water or Peter denying Jesus or Peter. He was the one that kind of led the church as it began. Like it's one of Jesus's closest friends. Actually, as we're studying 1 Peter,

even as I've read it a bunch of times and I'm seeing some death that Peter put in there that only a best friend of Jesus could put in there. It's about, hey, no matter where you are, if you're new to the faith or if you're new to faith promise, I know we've done this, but all together, across Tennessee and beyond, can we welcome our first time guests? We're so glad you're here. We love you, we love you. And hey, some of you guys are new even though you've been here for a couple of years 'cause you hadn't jumped in. Come on, there's more to you and there's more to us. Get on in here. We would love to have you at next steps or in group. And so, hey, I really believe these next few minutes in God's Word can change your life forever. We just have to prepare ourselves to receive what God has for us. Now, speaking to your life, now, this is about to be a little bit weird. Have you ever like said a word so many times that it starts to sound a little weird? Well, usually it's like spoon, spoon, spoon, spoon. Like there's just words of you saying a bunch. Well, I think about you a lot. I pray for you every day. Every day I think about you. Me and Rachel, we pray for you.

I think about you all the time. So sometimes I think about you so much, it gets a little bit weird. So whenever I was praying and preparing for our time, I started having this thought. If your spiritual life had a theme song, what would it be? Like if your life, how you live your life, your quiet time, your marriage, like students, you at work, I wonder what your theme song would be. I got a couple options. See if one, right? Let's do the first. So maybe it's like this. Maybe it's a little party. (upbeat music) Right? So you guys, just don't care. You're up. You're up, right? Maybe you're set. Maybe that's not, you're not feeling that. That's okay. That's okay. It's okay. Maybe this or maybe things aren't going as well. Maybe it sounds like something like this. Go ahead. (upbeat music) Little Britney. ♪ Baby, can't you stay here ♪

♪ I'm cold ♪ Nobody, okay. Okay. Maybe that maybe it's not it either. Some of you guys know it's you, but you're holding back. That's okay. That's okay. Maybe some of you guys feel a little bold, right? Or maybe your life's in the heart. Maybe it feels more like this. ♪ I came in like a wrecking ball ♪ Right? Maybe that's how you're feeling. That's okay. That's okay. Or maybe it's going well. Maybe you're feeling yourself. Maybe it feels more like this. ♪ All I do is win, win, win ♪ ♪ No matter what ♪ Keep it going. Keep it going. Keep it going. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) You listen to music like that. Oh my gosh, ah, ah! This is the only service you have to hold it that long. Yeah, okay.

Some of you guys are feeling lonely. Maybe you're life and you're walkin' more fields like this. ♪ All my mistakes ♪ If that's your unique group, you're your next steps, right? But hey, today, part of the reason this came up in my mind, it's a weird place up here. I think you're seeing it already. But as I was prayin' for the outcomes of today, I started hopin' get your spiritual soundtrack with something like this. (upbeat music) You know what I'm talkin' about? Now, some of you aren't too young. This is mission impossible, okay? Now, hey, the reason that I'm thinkin' this, that I'm feelin' this is 'cause God has put us on mission, but a lot of us feel like it is impossible, like we can't live it out, like we can't do it. But we're gonna learn today, not from Tom Cruise, from Peter, and from the Lord, that is absolutely is possible, that God has a winning life for you on mission. Let's take a moment and prepare our hearts in prayer. We pray with me. God, we love you so much. And we're just askin' right now, for you to do what only you can do. God, we prepared and God worship was unbelievable. So good.

But God, we need a deep change today. We need an inspiration today. We need a transformation today. And only you can give that. So Holy Spirit, have your way. You're welcome in this place to do what you know needs to be done 'cause we are gathered in your name. In your name we pray, in all God's people said, amen. Amen, hey, if you have your Bible and I hope you do, will you open it to first Peter chapter three. First Peter chapter three, even if you're new here. If you don't have your physical Bible, open your phone, open it up on the web, whatever it is. Go to first Peter chapter three. I want everybody to go there. This is gonna be so powerful. You are gonna fall more in love with God's word today and his mission today than ever before. I'm so excited for what God has for us. So we're gonna jump off where we left off last week, which is in first Peter chapter three, verses eight and nine. It'll be on the screen if you don't have it, but I really hope that you'll go there in some form of God's word in your hands. So in first Peter chapter three, verses eight and nine, it says this, finally, all of you, that's all of you, be like-minded, sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate, humble. Verse nine, do not repay evil with evil

or insult with insult. On the contrary, the opposite repay evil with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. Now this is a big deal. This is a big deal. It says all of us, not just pastors, not monks, not people who are spiritually weird. It says we should all be like-minded, sympathetic, loving, compassionate and humble. That's what God's word says. And can I just tell you originally, I had about 15 to 20 minutes of the sermon out of these two verses, but really the Spirit of God moved me to something else in preparation and prayer. And so really, 'cause these attributes are not the ones that we wake up longing for. We usually don't wake up long and be humble because our world is so prideful. We usually don't wake up longing to be like-minded because our world is so divided. We usually don't wake up wanting to be loving because there's so much hatred. If we're honest, these are not the attributes that we usually wake up longing for and looking for, but the Holy Spirit just gave me some freedom. I don't need to explain these attributes to you. You know 'em. You get 'em. Actually, you get 'em probably more than most

because our world is so opposite of 'em. Here's the word that the Holy Spirit gave to me when it said, hey, you can make this short 'cause here's what this part, what I want you to know. Our issue is not competence. Our issue is obedience. Our issue is not competence. It's not, I don't know what humility is. It is obedience that I would rather be prideful. And something I want you to see is it lays those out and then it says, don't repay evil with evil. Don't hurt those who hurt you. Be the opposite. And it says, first of all, to this you were called. So can I just tell you, the Lord said it, so we do it. If you've made Jesus the Savior and the King of your life, if he says it, it goes, bam, like there's no, like, appeal process, nothing like that. He said it, so it goes. But he's so gracious, he says, to this you were called, so that you might be, We all want blessing, but we don't want obedience. That's just not how it works. It's not how it works. The great prophet, Ronnie Coleman, who was a bodybuilder, this is a deep cut, he thereby wants muscles, nobody wants to lift his head. Heavy, blank weight, right? It's just how it is. We want the blessing, but we don't want the obedience.

But listen, can I just promise you something? I don't know where you are. I don't know what's happened to you. Can I tell you, God wants to bless you? God wants to bless you. And the reason that we obey is not because he's a dictator, but this obedience closes the distance and it brings us close to him. So this is huge, but our problem is not competence, our problem is obedience. So here's what I wanted to do. Here's what I feel the freedom to do today is I want to help us understand God's word at a greater level. See, Peter gives us this radical challenge in first Peter three, eight and nine. And then something odd happens in the Bible. He quotes two verses from Psalms 34. Now listen, I've been doing this with my men's Bible group on Saturday morning and it is changing the game. It's changed the game. So let me teach you how to study God's word real quick. This is what it looks like either in your paper Bible or on your phone. You see first Peter chapter three versus eight and nine when we just read. And then he quotes this song. So listen, anytime you read the New Testament and you see a quote, usually it's quoting the Old Testament. And here's what you do.

You go down to the bottom if you're using paper, right? Or on your phone, there'll be three little lines. You click it and this is from Psalms 34, 12 through 16. Now listen, I'm glad you're reading the Bible. But if you're reading that and you're not going to check out the quotation, you're leaving the stake on the plate. Listen, at my house, we don't leave stake on the plate. Not because we're not full because momma didn't raise no quitter, okay? So I eat that stake unless you're a vegetarian and then we have prayer people up front for you after for deliverance purposes. Now I'm just joking, kinda, right? So here, but here, let's do it together. I want you to feel the freedom and the power in God's word. So Peter challenges us with this is how you should look, this is how you should act. And then he says, check out Psalms 34. So then we roll over to Psalms 34. And when you go to a psalm, usually at the top, it talks about what was happening in the psalmist or the writer's life. So this is a psalm of David, the most famous king before Jesus in Israel. And it says this, this is a psalm or psalm, a writing of David when he pretended to be insane before a bimilek who drove him away and left. Now again, if you will read,

so if you look at the context of 1 Peter and you read the context and the chapter of verse 34, which I'll do here in a second, it's gonna bring so much life. But listen, you wanna go after it? You wanna go after it? 'Cause listen, you get what you want. You wanna lose weight, you lose weight. You wanna get the bonus, you get the bonus. Students, you wanna get the grades, you get there, we get what we want. Let's want more of God's work. So look, this is what happens. You can find pretty easily that this is referring to a chapter of 1 Samuel 21. Now in 1 Samuel 21, what has happened is David has been anointed king. Well, there's already a king in Israel named Saul. Saul does not like that God has anointed David as king. So Saul is trying, let's go ahead and put that over here. Saul is trying to kill David. So he's after him. David didn't ask to be king. God has anointed him king because Saul has walked away from God. Now Saul is trying to kill David because David has been chosen by God. So David has to run, which is what we see here. He pretended to be insane in their presence. While he was in their hands,

he acted like a mad man, making marks on the door of the gate and letting saliva roll down his beard. Listen, David is being chased by Saul. Saul was to kill him. He has to leave. He actually goes to gaff. If you wanna be a Bible nerd for a second, gaff is where goliath was from. David and goliath, goliath was from gaff. They would have known about David in gaff. So whenever David goes to gaff, he actually brings goliath's sword to defend himself. They recognize David. Again, all David is doing is trying to obey what God David has to act like a mad man. He has to act like a crazy person. Drool rolling down his beard, scratching out the door. He has to do that. Why in the world would Peter give us this challenge? Quote this moment in David's life, he's doing it because he's saying if David can live this out in his circumstances, a harder circumstances, circumstances that most of us find ourselves in, then we can do it too. In Psalm 34 it starts out by saying, I will bless the Lord all the time. And maybe you think, well it's easy to bless the Lord when things are easy, if things weren't easy for David. But he's still blessed the Lord. If David can do it, the same spirit that was in David.

There was in Jesus. There was in Peter. There was in Esther. In Esther is in us. He's saying that David feared the Lord more than he feared any enemy or any empire. And so instead of getting bitter, he believed better of God and from God. And you can too. And I can too. I don't know about you. Just whenever all these things get put together. He just gets me so excited. He's pumped me up for God's word. He's so gracious to give this to us. The Bible is so alive and so beautiful and so amazing. I pray that you would just get so into God's word. But can I tell you, just like what David found, just like what Peter found, just like what Jesus showed us. The better life, the blessings that God has for you are found on the other side of your obedience. Are you willing to obey whatever God has to say to you? Now the really the anchor for today, if you guys don't listen faster, we're not going to get through everything today. Okay? He's going to calm down and listen a little bit faster. The main verse that I want to talk about with you today, the main verse that I really believe God has for us is 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15. 1 Peter chapter 3, so same chapter verse 15.

Here's what it says. But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always, say always. Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asked you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. Now again, we can spend a lot of time here. And I really do pray the Holy Spirit would change our hearts and our minds as we spend a little bit of time in this one verse. But what I want to do is I want to go through really kind of word by word and let it change our hearts and our minds. First, just to give you some context on something, it says always be prepared to give an answer. To give an answer is the word apologia, which is where we get our word apologetics. Now, if you've never heard that word, apologetics usually refers to defending the faith, right? Defeating the faith against other religions or doubts or atheists or whatever that might be. But it helps us to understand the context in the word. Apologia, when Peter would have written it, it would have been a Roman word, and it was really more of a Roman judicial word. What that means is whenever you took the stand and you were telling what you saw happen, you were giving your apologia. You were giving your answer. Whenever you saw the crime, what was your apologia? What did you see? It is your answer to what you saw, to what you witnessed. So this right here, this apologia, apologetics, this is not for professional Christians.

One of the worst things the church has ever done throughout history is defending the faith, living the faith, professionalized instead of personalized. That's not who we are here. We are personalizing the mission and the ministry of winning your world. But listen, here's a great question that comes from this. Who should be able to give an answer? Who should be able to give an answer? Let me make it really clear. If Jesus is your savior, you should be able to give an answer. If Jesus is your savior, you should answer. So everybody who calls him savior should answer. Anyone who reveres him in Christ is what the verse said. Something else the verse says is always. It says always be prepared. Can I just encourage you right now? Pretty much all of us, in one, in maybe a small way or a huge way, need to reorient our life around giving an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus. That means when it's not convenient. That means the places you're insecure. That means whenever you don't know the answer, we should always. And it doesn't start with intellect. It starts with spiritual. It doesn't start with intelligence. It starts with transformation. That's what it's all about. Can we just be honest in the world we live in right now? Now, a lot of us are more ready for the apocalypse than for--

Some of us spend more time, you know, pickling cucumbers so we can survive in our bunkers with all of our AR-15s than knowing how to answer somebody that doesn't know Jesus. That's a problem, right? We should be, because the apocalypse might happen, the apology has happened, right? Let's not live in fantasy, let's live in reality that people need Jesus. It says, so it says that we should be prepared. It says always, and it says to everyone who asks, everyone means everyone. It means the people that you don't like. It means the people you don't like, and it means the people you don't understand. It means everybody. Listen, let me tell you what was talking about in my house. Let me ask you about your house first. Have you ever seen a Jehovah's Witness like in your neighborhood? Have you ever watched what happens in the neighborhood? The blinds all go down. All the lights go off. People are like breaking windows out, so it looks like it's homeless, they're letting their dogs out. They're like, just, whatever it takes for them to knock on my door, right? We do all that. Turn the lights off. Kids hide. Nobody move. We call it a possum in our house. Right? Nobody. You know what my wife does? My wife is at the door. Have you ever seen a kid whenever they hear the ice cream truck in their neighborhood? How they freak out, right?

It's happening. That's what Rachel's like whenever they're coming around our house. She's in the window. Just hoping they turn down our driveway. Why? Do you know why she's like that? Because she has an answer. Does she have all the answers? No. She has the answer. She's educated herself. She knows some answers to the theological inerrancies and some of the demonic twists that have been put on scripture for Jehovah's Witness and Mormon and Islam. She has some of that, but can I tell you the one answer that she does have? The one answer is that she was lost and now she's found. She's dead and now she's alive. She's broken and now she's restored. She was alone and now she has the Lord. That's the end that she has. You have that answer too. You have that answer. I'm not asking you to go and memorize every verse and know all the big glossary of apologetics. What about your answer? What about your answer? Can I ask you for your life? If you were to sit beside a Muslim, if you were to sit beside an atheist, now in our world, if you were to sit beside somebody who's never heard the name Jesus, what's going through your mind? If you think, I don't know, if you think, I wouldn't bring up Jesus, can I tell you? God has a different desire and desire for you.

Can we just catch me? I love you. I love you. A lot of us think I'm not going to bring up Jesus because I don't want to offend them. The reality is you don't want to offend you by making an awkward or not having the answer so you don't bring it up. It's not about them. If you really cared about them, you wouldn't be able to help but bring it up. I was on a plane. Imagine this. I'm no better than you. I was on a plane, sitting down, start talking to the guy beside me. Pretty quickly I find out he's an education. He's homosexual. Like we're having these conversations and he finds out pretty quickly because he asks the right question. I don't like to leave with what I do because it makes the conversation different. I don't feel like it's right to lie about it so I don't lie about it but if they ask, I'll tell them so he asks so I told him so it changed our conversation a little bit. But again, his issue is that homosexuality is a sin. I just stopped for a second because again, some of you got to get a little awkward. Just thinking about it. Whenever something comes up in the Bible that people don't agree with and you get mad about it, I just got to tell you a secret. See, you didn't write it. I didn't put in the Bible the homosexual as a sin so I don't have to get mad. I don't have to be offended. There's some things in the Bible that I don't like but he's my Lord and so we start talking and I can tell it's a little bit awkward but he's an education and hey, listen, I've got my way in on education so we're talking, he's a high school teacher, I'm like, hey,

guess what happened to me? My dad would have a two for one special and so if I got in trouble at school, I got in trouble all over again at home. I said, guess what? He did an eighth grade. When I was in eighth grade, I was acting up so my dad came to school with me and sat behind me all day and when the teacher would ask questions, my dad would raise his hand and say, Zack knows the answer, Zack didn't know the answer, none of them, none of them, right? No, this is crazy and we're just talking and I'm just... and say, "Your child is messing up." And my dad said, "You're wrong about my child." I'm gonna step on some toes here. You guys are fun to be beat up, theologically, but like, you know, parents. Taking your kid's side over adult, weird. I'm not saying it's stupid, but it's right beside it. I know we live in a crazy world and all that kind of stuff. So I've got him, now that I've talked about my dad, he's totally forgotten that Homosexuality is saying, "He's in, so we're talking, we're laughing, "we're horsing around." And then I just started asking, "Hey, 'cause we kind of "go back to it." I'm like, "Hey, where do you, how do you process "with all this stuff with parents and all that? "How do you figure, like, what's right and wrong? "Where do you get your values from?" And we would talk, it was a pretty quick flight,

we would talk, and then I would bring it back around. And, you know, 'cause again, we had a disagreement around, like, Homosexuality and some other stuff, and I was like, "Hey, where do you, personally, "kind of get your values from? "We would talk a little bit, and we would do that, "and we would talk." And then it came back around the third or fourth time when I asked a question a different way, he came around and said, "I don't really know "where I get my values from." I said, "Hey, there's some things in here, "they're hard for me." But it's the only place that I see to have values that transcend some nice feelings. And he didn't get saved that day. There's not the ending of that. But that one moved one step closer to believing Jesus. Just 'cause he heard some of my answers. And hey, they weren't perfect, they weren't great, right? You can feel 'em, right? But they were mine, and they weren't what I experienced. I gave the Lord my best in that conversation. I just, we just do that. And hey, I'm not trying to beat you up, I promise. I'm not trying to beat you up. I am wanting to challenge you. And so listen, here's something I'd like to give you. 'Cause the people who want it are gonna go get it. I've got up here 12 of my favorite resources,

12 of my favorite resources for you to arm yourself with answers. And when I say arm yourself, I use that word because it's the word used in 1 Peter 4. But we're not trying to win a point and lose a person. We'll post this on social, but you can take a picture. But here's what I did, here's what we did. You'll see some of them have a little book icon. 'Cause some of you guys like to read books. Some of you all haven't read a book since Cat in the Hat, okay? If that's you, don't go pick up confronting Christianity. That's not where you're at. But hey, can I talk to you, mama? That you're doom-scrolling on gentle parenting that makes you feel like a failure? Why don't instead of doom-scrolling, you do some discipleship-scrolling on mama bear apologetics? Hey, man of God, before you go headlong into the fact that who's the real UT and why no crap? Do we have any offense yesterday before you do that or before you go and watch Joe Rogue and the existential crisis of aliens and all this kind of. Why don't you pop over YouTube and watch some Frank and watch somebody defend the faith and there are good answers to the questions that the world is asking. There are good questions. Is there anywhere that you are facilitating your life and your time and your passion that gives you the answers? Again, we'll post this on social, but I wanna encourage you.

I pray you have a passion for God's Word. I pray you have a passion for prayer and that you would go here answers. This you would be able to do it. These are some great opportunities and we try to make sure they're where you're at. Books, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, whatever it might be, please, please. There's people that I know that don't know the Lord and I don't know that my answers are gonna be the one thing here. Maybe they're your apology. Maybe they're your answer. And are we living a life where we don't tell anybody? If Jesus is your savior, then we give an answer. And hey, it doesn't mean everything's gonna go right in verse 17 and 18 after verse 15. It says, hey, if you have heart, if heart things happen, it's okay. Do you know why it's okay? Because heart things happen to Jesus. The heart things happen to Jesus. But listen, in that verse, far apart from what we want, verse 15, it also says that people should ask about the hope that you have. For some of us, the brand of Christianity that we live with, the only question that people have is how do I not get it? That should not be our life. Can I just ask you right there where you're at? Are you more gossip or gospel? Are you more depressed or delivered?

Are you more of a whiner or a winner? Can I tell you, Sam, I've been in my life since I could remember. My brother's, best friends, mom passed away just a little bit ago. You're the whole family is at church today. Whole family is, they're broken hearted. She died too young. But they're worse when they're here and they're in God's presence and they're going after. Why? That's something that puts most people under the bed for months. Mad as the Lord. Don't understand why because they have a piece. This surpasses understanding, a joy that brings them strength or marriages. Our kids, how we talk, what we say, what we post. All these things should be light. Drawing people into the presence of the Lord that's inside of us. Is that what's happening in your life for a lot of us? The apologetic, the apology of the answer we need to start with is having some joy. I'm telling you, the person who said when they're asked, "How are you?" I'm amazing. That person looks different. Well, Zach, I don't really feel amazing. Every morning, are you stopping to say, "I'm saved by grace." That I've been given life. I'm born in America. I've been given these things that if I die today, I'm going to heaven and I'm on mission. Could you talk to yourself a little bit? Because I have bad days, too, but it doesn't take long. In the presence of the Lord for a lot of us, how blessed I am. And I can say, with integrity, I'm amazing.

Gary is just one more push. And you guys, I love you. Y'all did not listen near fast enough. We're anywhere close. But every week, I try to do like a "win your world" moment on what's happening within faith promise. And I want to show you this one, and the 21 is a prayer in August. We put cards up there, an F.P. kid filled out this prayer card. And we erase the names, but the first one says, "She doesn't believe in God." And the next one says, "She thinks she was born in the wrong body." I usually live up there for a minute. You can tell by the handwriting in the pictures, that's a little kid. When do you think she needs answers? It looks to me like she needs them right now. Where is she supposed to get them? She gets them from her mom, her dad, her brothers, her sister, her winning team members in F.P. kids. Man of God, that you know you're supposed to serve in kids ministry, but you're too busy, or you're too insecure. Woman of God that you know you're supposed to serve in the students, but you're not sure you have all the right answers, she's asking you. Give me some answers. Give me some apologia. What do I do? What do I say? And we can't let our insecurity or our fears

or hold us back from lifting up this little girl instead of her to win a world. We can't. The time is right now for us to fall over the Word of God, to fall over the prayer, to have answers, to love people, to pursue people. Maybe you've never received the answer that is, you guys tell you, I know you have questions in your life. Maybe your marriage is hard, or maybe you're sick, or you have a lot of questions. I have questions, I promise I have a lot of questions. But have you ever received the answer of your salvation? Where are you gonna spend eternity? Where is your hope found? 'Cause Jesus down the cross, and He paid for your sin, He rose from the grave to offer you eternal life. Have you ever received that answer? It's the answer that we most desperately need. And right now, if you will receive it, God wants to give you the answer, which is a relationship with Jesus. And I know you should have other questions, and that's okay, I still have questions. But we will answer those as we walk together. Do not let a future question keep you from the present answer that Jesus is offering you. Which is a relationship with Him. If you're ready to start a relationship with Jesus, we're gonna prayer, prayer all together as a family. And it's from Romans chapter 10 verse nine.

Anyone who will call in the name of the Lord will be saved. If you're ready to call in the name of the Lord, let's do that together. We bow your hand and close your eyes with me. Let's pray together, out loud, all together, say Jesus. I know I've sinned, but I know you can't. To pay for my sin, I die on the cross. I believe in my heart, and I confess with my mouth that you are my savior. We have still got eyes to close. Just you and the Lord right now, here to say, if you made that decision last year, raise your hand. I'm actually bold. Today's the day your life is never the same. Today you're put on mission. But if that's you I need you to be bold I'm gonna counter down what you shoot your hand up Okay, and we want to give you a little piece of paper something to go on by let's this moving you and the Lord first and foremost If you gave you a lot to cross the account there We should throw your hand up one you can do it to this is why you came to three go and raise your hand up Awesome. Awesome. If you gave your life to Christ. They're going to raise your hand up praise God be bold. I'm so proud of you Awesome raise the Lord Hey promise can we celebrate with the people that gave the life to Christ today? Come on praise the Lord awesome Hey, if you gave your life to Christ today, there's a number on the screen for you to text just take save to it Want to start a conversation help you take your next steps. Just help you walk It's just awesome and hey guys

We're about to enter into our time of response and guys sometimes we pack up and we get ready to go and this is a really special moment I believe the Lord wants to have with you that you need that I need In the next chapter in first Peter 4 7 Peter writes this the end of all things is near and gosh It really could be we live in a crazy world. It says therefore be alert and of sober mind So that you may pray so that you may pray. It doesn't say save It doesn't say try to do this or that it says pray. Can I ask you I feel really compelled by the Lord to ask you How's your prayer life? You're a time of the word your time and prayer. Those are the those are the engines for your answers It's the it's the power isn't our prayer And I got God's word values prayer so highly in first Peter 4 7 it says be alert and pray in first Peter 3 7 it says husbands on your wife or your prayers won't be answered Come on prayer matters. So in this time of response. Can I ask you to evaluate your prayer life? When's last time you grabbed your spouse to hate and pray? When's last time you made an altar and pray? Can I tell you man of God woman of God what your students and kids need they need to see on your knees praying? My daughter watching me is my favorite part of the day worship just got me right in my heart in the eight o'clock service I was worse from my my 12-year-old daughter and I was on my hands knees weeping before the Lord It's my proudest moment of today is worse from my daughter Unashamedly before the Lord your Family the people in your life need you to be a personal prayer a person with the word We take a moment and make a commitment If you'd help there's people up front that love to pray with you as we prepare to do whatever God has to say We you stand with me. Let me pray for you. We're gonna worship. We're gonna respond and we're gonna pray God, we love you so much Whatever you have to say today. We're gonna obey. We've all been confronted with your word and we're gonna answer We're gonna answer. We're not trying to be perfect But we want to make progress God you are God and whatever you have to say today We will obey your name and pray amen. Come on. Let's respond as Lord calls