It's Time To Wake Up and Obey | Robby Gallaty | Isaiah 52

for our church, really exciting day. I tell people, if you want to know for sure where Jesus is, you go and do what Jesus commanded you to do, and you could be certain Jesus is there. And one of the things Jesus promised is, when he was asked, "Where are you?" We don't know where you are. Jesus said when you gave me a cup of water, I was there. When you clothed me, I was there. When you went to the prison, I was there. When you fed me, I was there. And it could be a part of a church where we're actually going, where Jesus commanded us to go, and we're seeing God move in amazing ways. So thank you for your support in that. Thank you for making that possible. I want to welcome you to Long Hollow. If you're here in person at our Hendersonville campus or at our Gallatin campus, if you're joining us from the Pando app or incarcerated in one of our jails or prisons in Tennessee or driving in a car or in a living room, welcome you to our church. Today, I want to talk about the time we live in, and I think it's time for all of us to wake up and obey. When you're great, it's time for us to wake up and obey. How many people in here like to wake up early? Anybody? Nobody likes the sound of an alarm clock though, if we're honest with her.

(audience laughing) (phone ringing) You ever notice how that sounds? Some of you have PTSD, right? (audience laughing) You ever notice how that alarm never goes off at the right time? It's always when you're warm and comfortable in bed. How many people hit the snooze button this morning? Full honesty right here, okay, many of you in here. But here's the thing about an alarm. It's actually a gift to the person who has somewhere important to be. Without an alarm, you miss an opportunity. What we're gonna see today is, we're gonna hear God's alarm to the nation of Israel. And it just so happens that this text lands on missions Sunday and in the midst of our even greater initiative as we plan and trust God for the next 50 years of long holo. I believe God's gonna wake us up today in three areas. I'm gonna give you an insight of where we're going or an overview. God's gonna show you who you are today in him. Number two is God's gonna explain the task at hand before us. And number three, God's gonna show us the part we play individually. If you have a Bible, turn with me to Isaiah 52. We read through Isaiah this week and it just so happened by God's sovereign plan.

It's crazy, every week. I don't know how God does it. Maybe he knows what he's doing, right? All right, maybe he is sovereign. God is going to plan, God planned this passage for us on this day. Now, as you're turning to Isaiah 52, let me paint the backstory of what's happening in the text. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the Israelites here. The Israelites have been in Babylon for about 50 plus years. Put yourself in their shoes. They witnessed Jerusalem, many of them burn to the ground. The temple has been destroyed. The walls around the city are a pile of rubble. The people themselves, those who were alive back then, were marched through the desert east to Babylon to set up homes on the canals of the city. An entire generation, don't miss this, has grown up without seeing the city of Jerusalem. They have never witnessed the temple. They have never seen the power of God. They haven't had their sins forgiven. This is a nation of people who found themselves surrounded by, put yourself there. Massive ziggurats and false temples to Babylonian gods. That's the world they live in. The world's most powerful empire is on display and the unspoken message of Babylon is this.

Our gods have killed your gods and will prove it. Where's God, okay? Their hope has dried up. They believe God's abandoned them. So what did they do? They've stopped worshiping, they've stopped praying, they've stopped serving, they've stopped believing. And it's in the midst of this, Isaiah screams out, Isaiah 52 verse one. Wake up, not once, look at it. Wake up twice, put on your strength, Zion, the nation of Israel, put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city, for the uncircumcised and the clean will no longer enter it or you. Stand up, shake the dust off yourself. It's kind of a pep talk, supernatural pep talk here. Stand up, shake the dust off yourself, take your seed, Jerusalem, remove the bonds from your neck, captive daughter, Zion. I'm gonna give you the first of three progressions here. The first one is this, right off the gate, Isaiah is saying, you need to people of God, wake up to who you are. Now this is important, and when I learned this concept, it really helped change the narrative that's on replay in my head, particularly the critic and the judgmental voice in my head. I know you don't have that, but I've heard of people who... We all have that, right? So let me explain it to you, and let me unpack it for you. There are four influences on your life and mind, and there's only three of them of the four.

There's only one of them out of the four that are positive, right? Write them down. The devil influenced voice number one, the world and the flesh. The fourth one is the spirit. The first three, the devil, the world and the flesh are constantly preaching the same message. People say, "How do I know if this is God or the enemy?" The enemy always speaks in my mind and head, in my thought life, with the same dialect. He always speaks with the same accent. There's the accent. You're not good enough. You'll never amount to anything. You're worthless. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You heard that before? You're no good. You've been looked over. Work harder, man. Maybe somebody will like you. Strive. Be smarter. Lift yourself up. Produce more. Why? Because you are no good. That's the voice of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The voice of the spirit. Don't miss this. It is the only life-giving voice that we hear in the world today. So I want to give you a couple of ways to change your thinking. Four negative, one positive or four challenges, one uplifting.

Number one is this, write this down. We need to stop living with a victim mentality. Now, I'm not saying you're not the victim of something and you weren't the recipient of abuse or hurt. I'm not saying you minimize that. What I'm saying is that you need to change this victim mentality of a way of thinking. Here's the difference. The people in Israel looked at their situation as a victim and said, "Look at what Babylon has done to us." A victor says, "Look at the situation and let's see what God is about to do through this." You see the difference? You can acknowledge your pain and at the same time not allow it to write the last line of the story of your life, the present-day life, okay? Number two. We need to stop settling in Babylon, you could say America, the world we live in. I don't know if you know this, but the Bible says this world is not our home. We are citizens of what? Heaven. Friends, I'll miss this. The number one most seductive form of captivity today in the world, write it down. Comfort. Comfort. Because here's what happens. When you and I are comfortable today in this world, we stop longing like they did for the world of home. You stop longing to go back home to Jerusalem and you get settled in Babylon. Let me remind you, we aren't made for this world. God created us to be in this world, but not what? Of this world.

Number three. Stop letting, here's a big one, your circumstances from the past or present define your identity. Some of you are still crippled by a medical diagnosis or a disability or a past divorce or a present relationship or your bank account or your addiction or your past failure that is getting in the way of your calling for God. Friends, look at me. No one and nothing can change who you are and who you are in Christ Jesus. And nothing gets in the way of what God wants to do in your life today. Amen? Here's the fourth one, four negative, one positive, sorry. Stop listening to the wrong preacher. Stop listening, I'm not talking about physical preacher though, maybe if it's bad preaching you need to leave. But I'm talking about the preacher in the world, okay? Because here's the thing, if you don't, and if you get nothing else, this is the time to lock in, if you don't preach to yourself, somebody else will, why? Because the devil and the world and the flesh are constantly preaching right now on your commute to work, at the ball field, in your feed, in your head. They're constantly preaching an anti-Christ, anti-Gospel message to you, which is my challenge to all of us. We need to wake up and start preaching the gospel to ourselves every single day. So we're going to practice, okay? We're going to practice. Probably never done this before, you're like, "Oh, we're in church, I don't talk in church, this is your time to talk," given your past, okay? But I want to show you how this works. Now this is not an incantation where you just say a bunch of positive things. You know, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it people, I'm good, that's for the 90s kids. What does it go? I'm good enough.

I'm Stuart Smell. Anyway, sorry. That's not a good reference, by the way. But anyway. [BLANK_AUDIO] of who you are, it changes you. I want us to say this out loud. This is a great thing to say over and over. But let's just say these verses out loud. Say it with me. I have been, no, this is, we can do this together. Sorry, say it like you mean it actually. I have been chosen before the world began. I have been redeemed through Jesus' blood. I am God's workmanship for good works. I am a citizen of heaven. I am an heir of Christ. And I am a member of God's family. Who can argue with that, amen? Who can argue with that? Here's how it works. When the voice of the world says, you're not good enough, you respond with Romans 8.1, say it with me. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When the world starts to say, man, you need to try harder. You need to pull yourself up. You need to produce more. You respond with Ephesians 2, 8, 9. I've been saved, say it with me,

by grace through faith, not by works. When the devil says, you're defeated, you're no good. You respond to him with Romans 8.37. No, no, no. I am more than a what? Conqueror through Christ Jesus who loves me. Here's the line right at the house. You get nothing else. This is the line. Input changes outlook. And your outlook changes behavior or your life. Simple, profound. Input, what you put in, you can't control what happens to you, but you can control what you allow to affect you, okay? So what you allow in here changes your outlook. That's why I don't listen to a lot of cursing and gangster rap and all this stuff. Our rated movie, my voice always says, why can't we go to an R rated? I don't want to, I don't want that in my head. 'Cause once it gets in my head, I can't get it out. Because I'm guarding my mind and my heart and my ear from what comes in. 'Cause I know what goes in here comes out and it changes how I see the world, but it also changes how I live. Listen to me. The greatest sermon you will ever preach will never be on a stage.

And when Paul says, or as I said, preach or herald, he's not talking about preaching like this. He's talking about speaking the word of God. The greatest sermon you'll ever preach in your life is the one you preach to yourself every single day. Because here's why. Self-talk is a self-fulfilling prophecy. What do I mean? I tell my boys this all the time. Whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right either way. Whether you believe, I'm not talking about positive thing. I'm just talking about trusting. Whether you believe you can, believe you can't, you're right either way. You're defeated before you even start. Number two, not only do we wake up to who we are in God. Number two is we need to wake up to the task at hand. There is a task God has given us. Look at verse seven. Isaiah 52 verse seven, if you're there, say word. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald or the preacher who proclaims peace, who brings good news or brings news of good things. Who proclaims salvation? Who says to Zion, your God reigns, that's the good news. The voices of your watchmen on the wall, they lift up their voices shouting for joy together for every eye will see when the Lord returns to Zion. Now, most of us this morning received our news,

not from a paper back in the day. Most of us received our news from our Twitter feed or our Instagram account or Facebook or ESPN to check scores on our phone. Can I get an amen? So most of us get our news. But that's not how it always was. In fact, through history, the way news was distributed to the world was on the backside of someone's feet. The feet of a person took the news. So someone had to physically walk or run with the news. Now, this is where it started. In a previous century, it's a legend, but many people believe it was real. News traveled by foot and there was a man who was a Greek runner by the name of Fittapias. Fittapias was a runner who was in Marathon. Marathon was a city in Greece. And the Persians had invaded Marathon and they were on their way to Athens. The Greeks against insurmountable odds put up a fight and won surprisingly, pushed back the Persians, protected the land. And so this man Fittapias decides he was gonna run all the way to Athens before or after the army was defeated, which was, believe it or not, a 27. He runs all the way to Athens, nonstop. He gets to the end limping across to the people. He shouts out one Greek word, Nenai K. Kuman, which is the word, we have one, and then he collapses and dies.

True story, dies. And to this day-- many people don't know this-- we run a 26-mile marathon because of that. Who knew it? Now, Isaiah's a genius. Why? Isaiah uses a cultural idea from Greece, the Roman world, and he brings it in and spiritualizes it and says, listen, here's a man who brought good news of a war. Let me remind you, family of God, we have something way better. We have the news that our God, what, reigns. But Isaiah says something that caught me off guard and it should catch you off guard. Isaiah says, these feet are interesting. And the word he uses to describe these feet, pregnant the word I would use. What does he say? Beautiful. Those feet are beautiful. Now, today, that may fly. But back then, it didn't fly. Because back then, you walked everywhere. I don't know if you know this, but feet back then were dirty. They were smelly. They were calloused. They're pretty much dishonorable. You couldn't even reveal your feet in public. And after a 26-mile marathon run running through trails on mountains, the runner's feet were blistered from the travel.

But God looks down and he says, no, those feet right there are beautiful. Why? What makes the feet beautiful is what the feet carry with it. Those feet are beautiful because they carry the good news of the gospel. Now, you know this and you would say the same thing. Because every person in here is the beneficiary of someone who took feet to carry the gospel to us. And I'll prove it to you. How many would say, I heard the gospel from a parent? My mom and dad shared the gospel. A lot of us would say that. Think about this, the gospel came on the feet of a pastor, a Sunday school teacher, a VBS leader, a student pastor, a camp, a family member shared the gospel with you. A coach took the time to share the gospel. A teacher, a roommate in college who risk friendship to share the best news anybody could ever hear. It's always on the feet of a person. But the thing most people miss, and it's hiding in plain sight, I don't know if you caught this, those feet come on particular terrain. Did you catch this? It's a cool insight hiding. The feet come on the cliff or the edge over what? On a mountain, did you catch that? These feet come on a mountain. Now, why would he put that in there? I think what I say is showing us is this,

that any time the gospel is taken to the world, it's never easy. This is not smooth terrain. This is not even paths. This is not paved streets. This is not flat ground. The gospel is not taken on easy terrain. It's hard, it's difficult, it's treacherous. Study history. The gospel goes across oceans. The gospel travels across mountains. The gospel travels to prison walls and prison cells. The gospel goes across language barriers. It goes to baseball fields and apartment complexes and high school hallways. That's what happens. Friends, we have a privilege today of going to these mission agencies that are represented in our church. I think we have 50 plus of them here today from all over the country. These are missions partners we have believed in and affiliated with at Long Hollow. I want to encourage you to go talk to them. But one of the things they will say, whether they're a church plant, whether they're a ministry or a missions agency, they all have the same thing in common. You know what they would say? They would say to get to this point was not easy.

It was hard. The terrain was difficult. The road was less traveled. And I want you to encourage them before you leave. And I want to speak to those, if you're in a mission agency or you're part of a missions group or you're starting a ministry or a church plant, let me remind you, the path you have traveled up to this point has been tough. But the reward you're going to receive from Christ will be worth it, will be worth it. What makes the feet more beautiful is the road they traveled to get there on. The harder the road, the more beautiful the feet. Number three, which leads us to our part. Like we know the mission, we know who we are, now what is our part that we play in this process. Paul is going to take, again, this is why I said you can't make this up. Paul is going to take one passage from the Old Testament and he's going to pick that up and he's going to insert it and and salvation in the Bible. Romans 10. Paul's gonna pick up Isaiah 52 and he's gonna insert it in Romans 10. You're gonna love this, verse 13. Watch what Paul says. Go to Romans 10, 13. Paul says,

are we there? If not, just act like it. I'm playing. Look at the screen and say it. Amen, thank you, Justin. Okay, verse 13. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord might be saved, is that what I said? No, we'll be saved. How then can they call circle that word if they have not, in whom they've not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing circle that word about him? And how can they hear without a preacher circle that word? And how can they preach unless they are sent circle that word? As it is written, brace yourself, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news? Exact same verse. Now, what is Paul doing? Paul, you're gonna love this. Paul is giving us the unbreakable chain of salvation. That's what he's showing us, you're gonna love this. I'll tell you to underline some words. Notice how he starts. Well, let's go to the end. Paul says, people are sent. And after people sent, they preach. And after people preach, they what? They hear and then people who hear start to what? Believe and those who believe will call

and you can take it to the bank, everybody who calls upon the name of the Lord will be what? Save, you can take a picture of this if you want. But here's the thing I want you to focus in on. What part of this chain of salvation is breakable? Is it the promise at the end? No, because the Bible says every word, you know what that word everyone means? You're gonna love this in Greek. Guess what everyone means in Greek? Yeah, means everybody who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, okay? So that's not the first part. Is the promise of God at the end breakable? No, why? Everyone who calls is the power of God of the message breakable. No, what does the Bible say? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the what? By the word of Christ. Every link on God's side is unbreakable. The weakest link in that chain is your and my involvement. Feel the way to this. When you and I fail to obey the command of God to go and to speak the word of God to a lost world, we hinder the plan and the mission of God. How do I know that? Look at verse 15 in the text. Verse 15 says, "Unless they are sent." In the Greek, if you're taking notes right this down,

in the Greek that word is a passive verb, meaning no one sends themselves. No one says, I think I'll go to the, no. God is the agency to motivate his people to go out into the world. And this is why Jesus, when Jesus said, hey, you wanna see a revival in the country? You wanna see a revival in some other county? Wanna see a revival at Gallatin in the prison? You wanna see a revival at your prison? Listen, start praying this way, Matthew 937. You know this verse. You can summarize it earlier. The harvest is plentiful, but the what? The laborers are few. Therefore what? Pray to the Lord of the harvest to soften hearts. Is that what it says? Pray to the Lord of the harvest to give open ears. Is that what it said? No, no. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to pack your church out. Is that none? Pray to the Lord of the harvest to what? Send out workers in the harvest. So what Jesus is saying is, Jesus is saying we need to pray for more workers to be raised up and sent out. Friends, God is the one who sends the laborers into the field.

Now here's this, disappoint. No one can do it apart from the church or the people of God. Here's why I say this all the time. If you're a part of, and I don't have any ministry in mind, I'm not throwing stones or trying to grind an axe. Every ministry in the world, every nonprofit in the world needs to be connected to a local church, period, period. Why? Because you have to be sent out from the people of God to do the work of God. Why? Because the ministry, and I have a ministry, I started years ago, I don't lead it much anymore. Replicate, Vic leads it in his team, but it is connected to Long Hollow. The oversight, Byron, you remember, oversight is Long Hollow is looking at the ministry. Why? For accountability, for encouragement, for support, for help. So all these ministries that are here share in the same thing, they are sent out by the church. Now here's what you're thinking, God does the sending, and God does the saving. Then why do I need to go share? God's gonna do it anyway, right? That's a logical way to think. And the reason is, you're gonna love this.

This is how the summary of God and the free will of man or the Calvinism and our mini-andism argument come together, right? You ready for this? And if it doesn't make sense, join the club. But here's how it works. God has pre-planned, God has ordained, before the foundation of the world, who would accept him in eternity past, in eternity future, but he has planned that to happen when you and I, through our feet, go out and share the gospel by preaching verbally in the future, okay? So in the past, God has planned for people to come to faith in him on the means of our message of preaching. Does that make sense? So if you don't go, they don't hear. Here's the way to think of it. God does the sending, write this down. God does the saving. We do the sharing. We do the sharing. And I don't know about you. That is the most freeing thing in the world. Why? Because if I go out, let's say we go out today and we're gonna go Brandon and Mandrichus and Jeremy, we're gonna go out down to Nashville. We're gonna share the gospel. And our goal is we're not coming home

to a hundred people here at the gospel. And at the end of tonight, nobody shares the gospel. Nobody accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior. Is that a failure? No way. Remember, God does the saving. We do the sharing. Success, write this down. And evangelism is not in the saving. It's in the sharing. And here's what I know. And you can take this to the bank. I know God will not save everyone we share with. Amen? But he's gonna save none of the people we don't talk to. I know that for sure. So here's what I want you to do. I told my D group this past week. I said, every one of us, and I want to share this with all of us, every one of us in here has one person in our life right now that as soon as I'm gonna say this, their head, their face, their name's gonna come to mind. We have one person in our life who is far from God and who needs to hear about the goodness of God and what God's done in our life. Amen? All of us have one person. If you don't just think about it. I want us this week to go out. Now, I'm not saying you go up to them and say,

"Hey brother, listen, you know, if you died today, "would you go to heaven or hell "because hell's a bad place, "you're gonna burn for a crisp. "Okay, maybe but not, probably not." Here's the easiest way to do this, okay? You go to your friend and you say, "Hey Chris, did I ever tell you "what God has done in my life?" Hey, Bobby, you know what? God has been so good to me. Can I share with you what's happening? That's pretty easy to do, right? And then you leave it. Jesus came in my life and I didn't know I didn't trust you but he changed my mind and you trust the Lord. Here's my challenge to you, three challenges. Remember who you are, okay? As we close, remember who you are. You and I are not victims of Babylon. We're not able to have a pass an opt-on to the mission. Every person God calls, God sends somewhere. It's just the way it works. I say it this way. He made you different to make a difference. You are not allowed to opt-on to the mission. Number two is we know the task at hand. We all have been given a task. The good news came to you and to me on the back of blistered feet.

These were feet that crossed mountains and valleys and the message could reach us so that we can use it to reach other people. This is what I want you to think about. How many people would say today? Pastor Robbie, Long Hollow has been a blessing and Candy and I can say this as church members before I was the pastor when we visited here. How many people could say Long Hollow has been a blessing to me and my family personally, okay? How many people could say that? I think most of us can say that. Now watch this. Who needs that blessing in their life? If you had the greatest message in the world, why are you not sharing that? If truly Long Hollow in the church here in the ministry has affected you, why would you not? How much you gotta hate somebody not to share that with them, right? And so I want you to realize the gospel came to you. Here's the line, because it was heading to someone else. Think about that, the gospel came to you so that you could give it and share it with someone else. Number three, I want you to wake up to your part that God has for your life. Every person has a part. And when you don't play your part either actively or financially or physically or spiritually, we all suffer.

Remember, the unbreakable chain is God sends, God saves, we share. What that means is nobody is a spectator here. And the reality is, not everybody can go to the mission field. I get that, but everybody can participate in the mission. Here's how, three things, and we're almost done. Number one is this, you and I could pray for workers to be sent out. Would you commit this week for sure? Let's start praying for God to raise up. I pray so many, we were joking this morning, but not really. I said, I'm so excited about the Main Street campus, by the peninsula and reaching Hendersonville and Ellis and all those schools and community. I'm so excited about this. I pray we have so many people that want to go there 'cause they live there. We have to say, hey, would some people just say at Hendersonville 'cause we need? (chuckles) Joking, but not really. Like, no, I live there. The miss is too big. You mean all I have to do is have live worship and watch you on a screen, which is what you're doing now? Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. (chuckles) Gotcha all. Is that the only barrier between a lost?

I'll do it. Everybody can share the gospel where they live, work, and play. So, one, pray for God to raise up workers. Number two, ask God to give you the name of the person who needs to hear about Christ in your life right now. And number three, I want you to pray about providing financially for others to go. Everybody can't go to Haiti. Everybody can't go to the Dominican Republic. Everybody can't go to Africa or the Middle East. But everyone can give so that another person can go. Amen? And that is why, don't miss this. Our even greater initiative stops being a conversation about buildings and projects. Why? Because every dollar you and I invest, and we're gonna have the big response time of November 15th, every dollar we invest is empowering another pair of feet. Feet that will walk to the 52 schools in Sumner County to reach the 36,000 students, many of whom are our kids with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Feet that will walk into 12 prisons across Tennessee with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Feet that will go into the 26,000 inmates in jails all across our community with the gospel. Feet that will leave from here and go plant churches in America and around the world. Feet that will say, finally, I live in Gallatin

and drive 30 minutes to Intersville, I'm gonna stay where I live, work, and play to reach people with the gospel. Feet that are gonna go out to the main street and reach people there, friends, listen to me. We are not funding more square footage. We are funding more foot soldiers to take the gospel to the nation. That's what even greater is about. It's not about buildings. Our goal is not, listen to me, the goal is not to increase our seating capacity. The goal is to increase the seating capacity so we can increase the sending capacity. You see the difference? The more people, the greater the impact. And when you give, this is what happens. You stop watching the mission from the sidelines and the stands and you engage as a sender and the sender, every sender gets the share in the goers mission because we get to participate together. So here's what I want you to think about. The reason we do that is because you and I have no idea the impact the ministry of Long Hollow has on a person. Here's the way I'd say it. You have no idea who's sitting today in this service or watching online to this message right now. In fact, that was the case in January of 1850. There was a snowstorm that happened in England. It was so bad that this young 15 year old boy

couldn't make it to his normal church that he walked a couple of blocks down. So he stumbled into a primitive Methodist chapel. And this 15 year old boy got in there to this church. He looked around, it was a big church, but he said in this journal, there was maybe a dozen people there, a dozen. He said he waited for the preacher to get up. The man got up and apologized and he said, man, I'm not the preacher, the preacher couldn't make it today. I'm just a substitute. And believe it or not, of all the passages that he's going to preach on, like my mic, of all the passages he's going to preach on, he's going to preach on a passage. She's going to love this. From our reading this past week, Isaiah 45, can't make this up. One of the passages we read this week, Isaiah 45, 22. And the substitute said, I'm just going to preach on one verse. And the verse simply was this, turn to me and be saved all the earth. That's what he preached. And this 15 year old boy is sitting in the back, said after he said the line and started preaching, he stopped his sermon and he looked in the back and he said the preacher literally calls me out and says, young man, you look miserable. Look to Jesus. And that young boy said I was saved on the spot.

Do you know who that young man was? Charles Spurgeon. has ever heard. Here's why I say that story. We have no idea who's here today. In fact, I would say it this way. The people who built the church hundreds of years before had no idea the impact they would leave behind. The people who supported that church had no idea who was sitting in that pew that day. They were simply faithful to the task at hand. And God did the rest. Long hollow. This is what I want you to know. You and I have no idea the impact of the ministry of long hollow and what it does not only today but long after we're gone. Why? We don't know who's sitting here today. And I would say some of you would say, hey, that's me. I would even supposed to be here today. Somebody in here saying, man, somebody invited me on my friend drug me to church. My parents made me come to church. I didn't even want to be here today. I've been here in church for the first time in a long time or at this time and hadn't been for the decades since you've been back to church. Maybe you're watching the service today at our jail or Pando App or one of our prisons and you're like, man, my cellie made me come and I don't even know why I'm here but he made me come. Here's what I believe. There is no accident in God's economy. I believe nothing happens by accident.

You are here today because God knew before the foundation of the world you would be here to hear this sermon by this preacher on this occasion, period. And so I want to challenge you with the same word, God spoke to the heart of a 15-year-old boy, turn to me and be saved. I'm going to challenge you today. I know what you're thinking. I'm not ready to be saved. Let me clean my life up. Let me get some things right. Let me straighten things out. Let me fix the mess. That's how it works. You come when Jesus calls or you may not come at all. You come just as you are and let the great physician clean you up. And so with head bowed and eyes closed, I want you to just get along with the Lord for a moment as we close, if you're a Gallatin, head bowed, eyes closed just for a moment. If you're far from God and what I said resonated with you, I want you to simply with your eyes closed and your head bowed, say in the quietness of your own heart this line, this line. Lord Jesus, I'm yours, save me. Lord Jesus, I'm yours, save me. Quickly for time, if you prayed that prayer and you meant it, then you just cried out to the Lord. I want to pray over you in a moment. I'm not going to call you out. I'm not going to bring you forward. I just want to pray over you. I want you to acknowledge before God. Hey, that's me. God, see me.

Just me looking. Just raise your hand quickly. Pastor Robbie, pray for me. Cry that out to the Lord. Lift your hand high so I can see praise God. Anyone else just lifted high. Thank you, sister. Anyone else in the back. Praise God. Anyone in the balcony? Amen. Amen. If you're a believer in you, put your hands down. If you're a believer today and you know the Lord, here's the prayer I want you to pray. Jesus, I'm yours. Send me. It's not optional. Don't get the sit on the sidelines. Every person has been given a purpose. Father, we pray right now. On this mission Sunday that you would give us a clear direction on where you want us to go, what you want us to do. And as we go through the tables and spend time in the lobby and talking to people, you would put on our heart a mission, a plan. God, is it going to be easy? No way. Do we feel overwhelmed and not equipped and not ready? Of course we do. And if it was easy, everyone could do it. And I just pray, God, we don't get to heaven and say, I wish I could have or I wish I should

have. We would say, God, you know, I didn't do it perfectly, but I tried and trusted. And so I pray today, God, that you send us and save us for your glory in Jesus' name. And everyone said.