Still Haven’t Found What I Am Looking For

Come on, who's thankful for their mom? Such a great day, wanna look at the camera and say welcome to all those online with us today. Welcome especially to the men and women watching from a correctional facility via Pando. Calvary Church, can we give our best welcome to the men and women watching from a correctional facility? Love what God is doing behind bars and I love that you are with us today. If you didn't hear Mary, she did tell you that after service today for all of our moms and all of the ladies, there is a Bloom Bar. Make sure that you go and get your flowers after service. We love, love, love the moms here at Calvary Church. And then men, in case you forgot a card, I'm hooking you up today, I'm helping you out, okay? There's cards there so you can write a card for a mom or some meaningful person in your life, all right? And hey, just let me give you a reminder. Thank you so much for being a church that gives here at Calvary Church. We believe in the principle of tithing, so the first 10% belongs to the Lord, no strings attached, that a heart touched by God is obedient in the tithes. And I could probably share 13 different passages in scripture that talk about the tithe and why it's important for us, not just an Old Testament principle, but a principle for where we are today. And so we believe in tithing,

and then we have this other principle here at Calvary Church, this other fund that we call World Changers, and that's our missions giving initiative. And we break it down that we do 20% goes local mission, 70% goes global mission, and then the remainder, 10% goes to raising up more future Christian leaders to be called into ministry. And so Calvary Church, here's the goal, here's the vision that we're working towards. Giving away $750,000 this year to World Changers. How many believe that our church can touch the world and impact the world in a real way? And so I'm excited to tell you that our May World Changers project is that we wanna give $11,000 towards the Assemblies of God initiative called CALLED. CALLED is how they identify more young people and then call them into ministry. And so we're so thankful to give $11,000. That's our goal this month that we're gonna give. How many wanna see more worship leaders, more pastors, more missionaries raised up? Come on, in the next generation. That's what we're super, super passionate about here at Calvary Church. And then also, there's a church that's being planted in Camden, an Assemblies of God church, and we jumped on Calvary Church. We're gonna partner, our goal is to raise $15,000 this month

and then for the next three years, we actually wanna give them a total of $45,000 and we wanna give them $5,000 for our website. How many think that's a good worthy cause to get to see a life-giving, Bible-believing church in Camden? So as you continue to tithe and give to World Changers, we will meet our needs locally and globally. And then in case you missed it, don't miss May 27th. That's gonna be an amazing night of worship and prayer before we pause on our Wednesday nights. Notice I said Wednesday nights only. All the rest of our life groups will continue to meet as the semester unfolds for spring into summer. But our Wednesday night groups will pause for June, July, and August. And so please note, that's gonna be a special night. Worship, prayer, kids, youth, and adults, we're all coming together and we're gonna celebrate baptisms together. It's gonna be an amazing night. So mark your calendars. Evangelist Greg Hubbard will be with us as well. And so I'm so, so excited for that. All right. All of our church, let me get a little participation. How many would love to have your homes and your families be blessed? Come on and raise those hands up high today. Come on, raise them up high.

There's some of you that don't have your hands up. I'm guessing that means you want your household cursed. Okay. Of course you don't. We all wanna see our homes and our families blessed. But when we look at families today, let's be honest, the first word that probably does not come to mind looking at most families today is that their household is blessed, right? When we look at so many families today, rather than saying, oh, we're really blessed, all is well, more often what I hear is, wow, we're really struggling. That marriage is not what I thought it was going to be. Raising kids is more difficult than I thought it would. Or financially in this season, we are strapped. We are living paycheck to paycheck. And admittedly now there's a lot more temptations today than I would say in the past. There's challenges now. There's blended families, which is such a blessing, but you're also raising his kids or her kids and both exes are involved. And how many know that can be complicated, right? We see a record number of divorces today and that leaves single moms and single parents in the mix, which can be so difficult to be the only person, the primary caretaker of your kids, carrying all the load of finances and discipleship and discipline and raising your kids all by yourself. How many know that can be overwhelming?

And so what I wanna do for the next six weeks from Mother's Day to Father's Day, we just finished our series through the book of Song of Solomon, the naked truth. We talked about relationships for four weeks. Now for the next six weeks, Mother's Day to Father's Day, I wanna talk about the family. I wanna talk about the family. I wanna talk about a Christ-centered family. Come on, I wanna talk about what the Bible says concerning our family. I know what culture says concerning families. I wanna talk about what the Bible has to say concerning families. And so today we're gonna be in Matthew chapter five, which is one of Jesus's famous teachings regarding the Beatitudes. And we're gonna talk about how we can apply several of the Beatitudes to our household. If you were in the room today and you're saying, I'm just a student though, or I'm single, or I don't have a family yet, well, this is such a great time, I would say then, to take notes and to prepare for the blessing of a future household, all right? Today, Matthew chapter five, we're starting in verse six, and it's the first of the Beatitudes that we're gonna study in this series. It's where Jesus says these words. He says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst

for righteousness, for they will be, what? They will be? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be, come on, say that loud, for they will be filled. That word blessed in the Greek is the word makarios, and it means utterly happy, but not like the world happy. Like, oh, the blessedness of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Oh, the blessedness of those that do two things, they hunger and they thirst for righteousness. They have this hunger, they have this craving, they have this appetite for righteousness, for they will be filled. I'm really drawn to that word filled. It can be translated many different ways, but it's the word satisfied. Another translation says it this way. Happy are those who long to be just and good, for they will be completely satisfied. The NCV says it this way. Those who want to do right more than anything else are happy because God will fully satisfy them. And when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you'll be filled, and yet, let's just be honest today, so many households are not filled with that which matters most. So many households are not blessed because they're striving and searching for anything that will bring meaning.

It's not that they don't want God, it's just that the lifestyle of following Jesus, the lifestyle of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for right living, doing things the right way, according to the word of God, in a way that pleases God, is not always consistently displayed in their household. What is righteousness? I want to define it for you today. You might want to jot this down. Righteousness is two things. Number one, it's right standing with God. It's also right living on earth. Righteousness is two things. Righteousness is right standing with God, to be made right with God. Romans 1, 17 says it this way. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. It's a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it's written, the righteous shall live by faith. Romans 5, verse nine says it this way. And since we've been right in God's sight by the blood of Jesus Christ. Come on, is anyone thankful that the blood of Jesus Christ has saved you, delivered you, set you free once and for all? Come on, who's thankful that your sins, your debt, your shame, your condemnation, it's all been paid and laid up on Jesus once and for all.

You couldn't earn it, you don't deserve it. On your best day, your righteousness is like filthy rags in the presence of a holy God. So you've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. And certainly it says save us from God's condemnation. Verse 10, for since our friendship, in other words, it's showing now you've been made right with God. Because he's paid for your sin, you can now be called a friend of God. With God, it was restored by the death of his son. While we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son. So now we can rejoice in this wonderful new relationship with God, because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. So the first thing is this, you're made right with God by coming into relationship with him. But listen to me today, righteousness is not just right standing with God, it's also right living here on earth. Two things righteousness is. Number one, right standing with God, it's also right living here on earth. And I'll just tell you this, it's the best life in following Jesus. It's the best meal that you could ever have. This is important because some of you are here today and you're saying, well, I'm committed to Jesus. I'm at church with my mom on Mother's Day Sunday,

I'm committed to Jesus. Yeah, and I would just say so lovingly right back to you, yes, you might say you're committed to Jesus, but you're still living your own way. See, many of us want the life of Jesus, we just don't want the lifestyle of following Jesus. And so here's the question I wanna ask you today, over your household, over your home, over your children and your family, in your home today, what are you hungering for? Like what matters most to you? And some of you with integrity this morning, you could say my household, we're here to please the Lord, we exist for his glory. We're following Jesus with all of his heart. Some of you have your Sunday school answer right today and you'd say, I'm here to please God. But if I were to ask your kids, they would say many other things besides seeking first God and his kingdom. Here, let me say it to you this way, in the last seven days, just the last seven days, what were you characterized as pursuing? What were you hungering for? And if we're honest, there'd be so many different answers, but if we're honest, for some of us, we just say, I was just pursuing comfort. I was just pursuing. a lifestyle of just relaxing a little bit. It's been busy at work.

I've just been needing comfort. I've been needing time for myself. Others of you would say, you know what? It's just this career. I've just been focusing on promoting myself and getting more money and moving up in the company or influence or followers or recognition. For some of you, it's the win, whatever that would mean. Pursuing a bigger lifestyle, more money, nicer car. It could be that your child gets the best record card in all of the classes, the smartest student. It could be that your kid is the athlete of the year. And if we're really honest, most people in our culture today, if we're really honest about the priority, the focus of their life in the last seven days, we would probably say that we are pursuing something or many other things above God. We really were not pursuing hungering and thirsting for righteousness. So what do we do then when we're hungering for the wrong things? What do we do when we realize that we have an appetite for the things that do not satisfy and are not best for us? Well, the answer is this. We've got to change our appetites. We've got to change our appetites. For example, I'll illustrate it this way. At our church, how many of you love pizza? Come on, if you love pizza, raise your hands.

Oh, come on, I love pizza. I love pizza. I love pizza. I love all kinds of pizza. I probably love pizza more than you do. I like nice pizza. I also like cheap pizza, okay? I love New York City pizza, because y'all in Jersey, you don't know what real good pizza actually really is. I also love Papa John's pizza with garlic dipping sauce. Like, I'll eat it. I'll eat it all. I'll eat any topping. I even love pineapple and ham on my pizza. Come on, somebody. The only kind of pizza I won't ever eat is pizza with anchovies on it. Whoever came up with that concept of anchovies on their pizza, they need to be fired, okay? But many years ago, when I did my first Daniel fast, I believe I was 18 years old, and our church, much like the church that I was a part of, does a season of prayer and fasting every January, 21 days, and then we also do a week of prayer and fasting in September, and so during that season of prayer and fasting, I decided I was going to Daniel fast for the first time, which for those that don't know what Daniel fasting is,

that is just fruits and vegetables and legumes and nuts. It's whole grains. It's like no meats, no sweets, no bread, and that, in fact, meant that for 21 days, I was not eating pizza, my favorite food, which I was having multiple times at that time, a week as a high school student, and for 21 days, I was not eating pizza, and for the first day, all I craved was pizza, and the second day, all I craved was pizza, and the third day, all I craved was pizza, and week two, all that I craved was pizza. I could not wait for bread and meats and cheese and sauce. Like, all I wanted was pizza. Well, suddenly, we got to the end of the 21 days, day 19, day 20, day 21, and suddenly, I realized my appetite had changed. Suddenly, I was not craving pizza every time I sat down to eat. Day 21, the fast finished. It happened to be my sister's birthday that evening, so my family got pizza, pizza and red velvet cake for dessert, and what did I have that first night? I broke my fast, but I had a slice of pepperoni pizza, and I'm telling you, I took that first bite, and I thought that it would taste really good, but it didn't taste as good as I remembered. I ate the whole slice of pizza anyways. I think I went back for a second

just because I wanted to have pizza, and then after pizza, we had dessert. We had red velvet cake, and I ate that red velvet cake, and I'm telling you, I was sick the whole rest of the night. My stomach had hurt. Why? Because my appetite had changed over those 21 days. Here's the thing. If you really start pursuing God, if you really start seeking God, my Bible says you find him when you seek him with all of your heart. Suddenly, as you start this journey of walking with Jesus and following him and aligning yourself with the word of God, even if you can't understand or don't believe it all fully in your heart, but you start aligning yourself under the word of God, I'm telling you, you're gonna see the benefits of it in your life, and you're gonna see, as long as you seek him with all of your heart and soul and mind, and as you pursue following Jesus according to the word of God, you're gonna see all the junk food of this world, all of the cares of this world, which distracted you were just empty calories. They didn't really satisfy the Christ-shaped void in your hearts.

Now, why doesn't this happen more in our households? Why don't we see our homes fully blessed according to the word of God? And we'll start here. We'll start as we're talking for the next six weeks about building a house that lasts. Today's gonna be really granular, really practical. I'm just like a simple person. I'm just like a person, tell me what to do and I'll do it. Anyone else like that, right? I'm the people like, put the cookies on the bottom shelf, like make it easy for all of us to just understand something today. And so I just wanna tell you some things that work, and then some things that don't work if you're gonna establish a Christian household for your family. The first, let's talk about what doesn't work first. The first thing that does not work is legalistic Christianity. What will not work in your household is legalistic Christianity. The second thing that does not work is lukewarm Christianity. Legalistic Christianity and lukewarm Christianity. Legalistic Christianity and lukewarm Christianity. Let me give you some examples. What is legalistic Christianity?

That's where we reduce Christianity in our homes to a bunch of do's and don'ts. A bunch of can's and can't's. A bunch of should's and should not's. A bunch of ought's and ought not's. Don't do this, don't do that. And if you do this rule, you're a good Christian. And if you don't do this, you're a good Christian. And whatever you do, kids, don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew, and don't hang out with the kids that do. And if you do that all for the glory of God, you're a good Christian. It's the rules. Write this down, here's the problem. Rules without relationship leads to rebellion. Rules without relationship leads to rebellion. Have you ever seen that? Anyone that's ever grown up in church before, ever notice that the pastor's kids are the wild ones? That they're the worst behaved? Why, because maybe, just maybe, just maybe, I don't wanna speak for all pastors, but maybe, just maybe, just maybe, maybe they saw something portrayed in church, maybe they saw an image of how they were supposed to act that was not necessarily always modeled and displayed at home. Legalistic Christianity never works. The second thing that doesn't work

is this lukewarm Christianity. Lukewarm Christianity. What is that? That's when we believe in God, we just don't live as if He actually exists. It's called cultural Christianity. It's Christian in name only, but there's no real passion, there's no real love, there's no real affection for the things of God and the ways of God. Now, how do we know if we're a part of a lukewarm or complacent household? The answer is this, the answer is this. I can't judge, I can't know that answer. Only God can in your life, and only you can. But I would just give you today, for me, because again, I'm just speaking to me today, I'm just gonna preach for these next six weeks over my household, and I'll let you listen in, okay? I would just say for me, here would be some indicators, here would be some warning signs that I would look for to see if in my household that I'm responsible for as the leader of my household, if there were some things that were maybe missing that were indicators that I was becoming lukewarm. For example, if I can't tell you the last time that we ever prayed together as a family, besides just praying for our meal, rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub, yeah, God, amen. If I can't tell you the last time

that we ever prayed together as a family, that we were called on the God of heaven, I love that song that we just sang, the mighty name of Jesus that chains can break, that we believe for healing, or we believe for a loved one that was struggling, or we believe for lost sons and daughters to come back. If I can't tell you the last time that we ever prayed together as a family, I will be concerned that we're becoming spiritually lukewarm. If I never, ever say to my family, hey, today in my Bible and in your plan, here's what God spoke to me, here's the verse that I was reading today that just jumped on my heart, that just leapt out to me. Hey, here's something that I wrote down in my journal that God spoke to me in my quiet time. If I'm never doing that with my family, that's an indicator that I might becoming lukewarm. If I never, ever say to my family, hey, God has blessed me with so much. Oh, I know I don't have everything that I want, but God has blessed me so much, and I wanna be obedient to what he says and what his word says. A heart touched by God is obedient to the tithe. My first 10% belongs to the Lord. And kids, I want you to see that as well. I want you to start giving the missions and BGMC and Speed of the Light.

If I'm never talking about giving and never talking about serving ever in my household, I'd be concerned that my household was becoming lukewarm. Jesus said this in Revelation chapter three. He says, I'd rather you be hot or cold. If you're lukewarm, what do you do? He says, I will spit you out. Because that lifestyle doesn't work of just saying you're a Christian, but not doing the things of being a follower of Jesus. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. All right, so you know what doesn't work. Let me tell you what does work then. And I just wanna give you the main thought that will kind of drive the rest of the series. Again, today's a little bit more foundational in heart and message, but let me give you the main thought that's gonna drive the next couple of weeks of our series. So you gotta keep coming back because it's gonna build each week, all right? As a family, we've gotta determine we're not just a Christian family as defined by culture. Instead, come on somebody, we are a Christ-centered home. Come on, let's all say that out loud. Come on, say it like you mean it. Instead, we are a Christ-centered home. Come on now, say it like you actually mean it. Come on, say it like you actually believe as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord.

We are what? We are a Christ-centered. I love the way David explains this. This is Psalm 63. He says, you God are my God. He said, earnestly I seek you. He says, I thirst for you. He says, my whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water. You see this language that he's displaying is not just a, hey God, I'm coming to you when it's convenient for me. Hey God, I'll come to church once a month or twice a month and then I'll watch online when I feel like it. No, it's in every moment of every day, every bit of me longs for you. We're not just a Christian family in name. No, we're a Christ-centered household. I kind of reinterpreted this verse a little bit as if it was written for our household. Here's my edited version of this. It would go like this. You God are our God. Earnestly, we seek you. We as a family, we thirst for you. Our whole family does what? Our whole family longs for you. Come on, I want this for my household. Come on, how many want this for your household as well? All right, so how do we do this then, real practically?

All right, I'm jumping right to it today. Three things and then we'll close. How do we do this practically? I'll just say it as simply as I can. Again, just to put it before you, how do we do this as for me and my house? We serve the Lord. The first thing is this. If you're taking notes, and I sure hope you are. Number one, we're going to involve God in our daily conversations. We've gotta involve God in our daily conversations. When we're talking about anything, we're gonna involve God in our daily conversations. And as you start to apply this and start doing this in your household, it might feel weird to you at first, but you just gotta say, you know what? We're just gonna try it. We're just gonna start involving God in our daily conversations. You get in the car, you're driving your kids to school in the morning, and you see the sunrise that's happened. Instead of just saying, wow, that's a beautiful sunrise, say, wow, isn't our God amazing that he created all of this today? You do this in your marriage. When your spouse comes to you and says, I've got this issue and that issue

and this problem's stacking up, I don't know what we can do. What's the solution? And instead of you panicking and worrying and stressing and saying, I don't know what to do, I'm gonna try to fix it, you grab her hand and you say, you know what? We're gonna pray about this. We're gonna invoke the God of heaven and earth. We're gonna pray because prayer is our first response, not our last resort. Parents, I'm challenging you. Before the kids go off to school in the morning, grab them for five minutes and say, hey, here's a thought that God put in my heart. Now let's pray over this. Let's pray around this today. Lord, they're gonna be leaders, not followers at school. Lord, they're gonna make an impact in their community. God, they're not gonna be influenced by culture, but God, they're gonna stand firm for you. God, I pray for Christ-like relationships to be built in their life today. Pray and bless over your kids before they go off to school. This is Deuteronomy 6, six through seven. It says, these commands that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them today on your children. In other words, talk about them when you sit at home and when you're on the road and when you lie down

and when you get up. See, what I see from this verse is this. You've gotta involve God in your daily conversations. Second thing is this. If you wanna hunger and thirst for righteousness, and I'm just gonna say it and I'm gonna say it strong. I'm sorry if I offend you. I'm just gonna tell you the truth, okay? Because the Bible says honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. You've gotta, parents, make church non-negotiable. It's not an option in my household if we go to church or don't go to church. It's not an option, it's a decision. It's a decision. We're not deciding this week if we're gonna go to church or not go to church. We've already pre-decided we're going to church. We're going to church. And that's why I would just implore you and invite you to grab that card that's in your seat back and take that all-in challenge. Parents, what would it look like if you said, as for me and my household, we're gonna have a never-miss year. We're gonna attend church every single Sunday. We're gonna bring the kids every single Sunday. I'm telling you, you wanna bring your kids for our kids' ministry here at Calvary Church. We have graded curriculum. Parents, I'm challenging you.

Bring us your kids from six months all the way to 13 years old. And I'm telling you, our staff is excellent. They care about your kids. The program, the curriculum that we run is excellent. If you give us your kids from six months until 13 years old and you don't miss on Sundays, by the time they're 13 years old, they'll have a biblical worldview of the Bible. Come on, I don't want culture to give them a worldview. I want the Bible taught and instilled in my kids. And I've created four service options for you now. You have no excuse to miss church on a Sunday morning. Even if your kids have sports Sunday afternoon, you can still get to the 8 a.m. service. My parents, growing up, they wouldn't ever let us miss church. We went to church on vacation. We went to church when we were out of town visiting relatives, even if they didn't go to church. When I had a soccer tournament at 12 o'clock or 1.30 in the afternoon, they made us go to the local church in town 20 minutes away, not even our main church, for their 7.30 a.m. service because we had to go to church before we played sports. You gotta have this mindset that says, listen, church is not an option for us. This is what we're doing. Oh, but sports is so important to us. They're learning so many great things

in teamwork and camaraderie, and everybody gets a trophy. It's such a good thing for them. They gotta get to ballet. They gotta get to dance. They gotta get to play practice. Listen to me, there's a 0.03% chance your kid is gonna become a professional athlete. There's 100% chance they're gonna stand before the Lord and give account for their life. What do you want said over your kids? I want said, well done, good and faithful servant. I want said that they know Jesus and are following Jesus and are spending eternity. with him, and I've said it a hundred times already in these last two years, I'm going to say it a hundred more, I'm inviting you to go all in with God, that if we do something as a church, do it. If we worship and pray, lift your hands, worship and pray. We pray and fast in September, join us for a week of prayer and fasting. When we have that worship night, May 27th, with Greg Hubbard here and 20 plus people taking the next step in faith and water baptism, you get your kids, you get your youth, and you bring them here. Let's worship God. You step in the community in this season, you join a small group, you get real and accountable, and try it, and if it doesn't work at all, if you don't get one percent closer to God, come find me, and I'll help you find another church. Because I'm telling you, as you do the things of God, as you step into the things of God, you just taste and see that the Lord really is good, that he's the thing that satisfies you and your family. Ephesians 3, 17 says this, and I pray that you being rooted, what does rooted mean? Rooted in the house of the Lord, established in love, that you may have power, together

with all of the Lord's holy people in biblical community, to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ. I wish you could really know it, he says, that you might be filled with food that actually satisfies. And then number three is this, number three is this, lastly today, parents, you've got to show how seeking and receiving God is actually fun. That is fun. That is fun. You've got to show them, parents, that serving the Lord is actually fun. You've got to model it. If your kids don't see you serving in the church, they're not going to serve. If your kids don't see you at the altars at Wednesday night worship prayer seeking God, they're never going to do it. If they're not going to see you lift your hands and worship, they're not going to see the joy and the satisfaction of worshiping Jesus. And I honor my parents today, honor my mom on Mother's Day, honor my dad, they did not have the perfect marriage in any way, shape or form, but I honor my parents today to say they got that right in our household, that if there was a church event going, we were there. If the youth pastor or the children's pastor was calling on us to come serve, we were there and we were serving together as a family. And I'm telling you, that's when I started developing a love for the local church and serving. And I'm telling you, they instilled that principle of tithing and giving within us. And so I would just give, as I mowed lawns, I would just give $200, $300, $400 away to speed the light to missionaries. It was already ingrained in me. Why? They showed me the fun, that it's more blessed to give than receive. And every summer rolled around and New York, state of New York, kids camp and teen camp

was happening and they signed us up, all six kids up. They would sign them up and they'd pay hundreds of dollars for us to go to camp every summer. Why? Because we had fun at summer camp. And we not only had fun at summer camp and we not only played games, but we got in the presence of God that evening. And that's where I received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Things that have marked my life. Why? My parents showed me that it was fun to follow Jesus, that it was fulfilling in following Jesus. Joshua 24, 15, I've already said it, but I'm going to say it again. Choose for yourself this day, he says. Make a choice. Make a choice. Make a choice for your household. Make a choice today. You can keep living as a cultural Christian, or you can choose for your household today. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. Make a choice. Choose the way of the world, or choose Jesus's way. It's your choice. It's your choice. But as for me and my house, as the leader of my house, and as for me and my house as the leader of this church, we're going to serve the Lord. Amen? You receive it. You make that choice today. Father, God, we thank you for your grace and your mercy and your love, and we honor you today.

We bless you today. God, we pray that your spirit would lovingly convict our hearts. God, that we wouldn't blend in, but Lord, we'd live for you. God, we ask that just any spirit of legalism, any spirit of I just have to do this for the sake of doing this, Lord, that that would be broken right now. God, that any apathy, Lord, any lukewarm, any just thought that just says I'm just showing up because I have to. I don't really love God. My heart has lost its passion and purpose. Lord, God, we just break that, Lord, off of our church right now in Jesus's name. And I feel like there's people that are here today that you're in a decision point. Oh, you know Jesus. You've confessed Jesus as Lord, but you're in a decision point today where you really want to say, you know what? The Lord's speaking to me. The Lord's convicted me. The Lord's working my heart. For me and my household, we're going to serve the Lord. And the Lord might even just be speaking some things to you today. Choose the one thing that he's speaking to you right now and just say, God, I'm going to work on it this week. God, I'm working on it this week. God, may we see your goodness and your grace in our households. I pray a blessing over the family, the marriages, the households here at Calvary Church that we'd have strong, healthy marriages, that we have strong, healthy families, a blessing over every single mom that's here today, every single dad that's here today. God, that they train up their children in the way of the Lord so that when they're old, they won't depart from it. As you keep praying today, all of our church, every head still bowed, every eye still closed, there's some of you that this message is almost distancing for you, actually.

Like, bless the righteousness, Pastor Dan. I'm not even close to righteous. I'm completely unrighteous. I've got really good news, if you feel that way today. We're all grossly unrighteous in the sight of God. We're incapable of living righteousness on our own. The Bible says on your best day, righteousness. It's like poofy rags, filthy diapers in the presence of Holy God. You could never do it on your own. But the beauty of the gospel is this, that you're made righteous. You're made right with God, just as if you've never sinned by Jesus's work on the cross at Calvary. And today he's inviting you into this. Man, on this Mother's Day, 2026, what better decision could you make, children, for your mom than to follow Jesus? There's nothing that would make a mom more proud than to see her kids, her sons or daughters, follow Jesus. All of our, all of our church together bowed, every hit bowed online in a prison cell right now. I want to invite you into this. If that's you today, you can just lift your hand on the count of three. Ready? One, two, three. I need to make this decision to follow Jesus. Come on, fantastic. There's hands all over the room. Fantastic. Is it God's saving even right now in this moment? Come on, pray with me. Repeat after me. Say, Jesus, say, God, I need you right now. Say, God, be with me. Direct me. Order my steps. Say, I come to you today. I surrender my life to you. Forgive me of all of my sins. Make me new. And whatever you ask me to do, I'll live for you. Be the Lord of my life. In Jesus name we pray.