What Happens When You Really See God? | Pastor Derek Irvin

Well, good morning, my name is Derek Irvin, and I am the Marriage and Care Pastor across our campuses here at Northview. And this year, we have been studying each week a different biblical character. And it's been a lot of fun just learning different things about different ones. You know, there's some of them that we know a lot about. There's some of them that we don't know a lot about. I kind of think that today's character might be one of those that might be somewhere kind of in the middle. Today, we're going to be learning about the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. And what I think about Isaiah is, across our campuses, my guess is, is that Isaiah is one of those where it's like, I know I've heard of him. And I know that he's in the Bible, but I don't know that I know a lot about it. Now, if so, the reason that I think that that might be true is that we tend to remember and associate the different characters based on kind of those big moments. You know, for example, we have David killed a giant, or Jonah was swallowed by a fish. But Isaiah is different in that we tend to not remember Isaiah so much for what he did. We tend to remember Isaiah more so for what he said. And what's remarkable is here we are 3,000 years later, and we're still talking about the things that Isaiah said. You see, what impresses me about Isaiah, and what makes Isaiah memorable, is that he was simply faithful to deliver God's message. And as a result, his words are woven throughout the most important moments of the New Testament. He's quoted 85 times in the New Testament. Jesus quotes him. Paul, Peter, John, they all quote him. And Isaiah predicts and prophesies so many things about the coming Messiah. He predicts and prophesies the virgin birth, the ministry of Jesus. He foretells the cross, the resurrection, the second coming of Jesus. And he does it all 700 years before the time that Jesus was ever born. So today, I want us to really get to know the man, Isaiah.

And before we get to know him by going to the book of Isaiah, I would like for us to first meet him through the eyes of someone else. There's so much in Isaiah, so many things we can go to, but before we do that, I want us to see him through the eyes of someone that lived in the New Testament. Someone who was seeking God and someone who was really struggling to understand the meaning of Isaiah's words. And so let me set the stage for you, if I may. We've got a New Testament guy. He is traveling on a hot and dusty road that winds from Jerusalem to Gaza. And so what we know about him is that he is a government official, he's a eunuch, and he is the treasurer of the kingdom of Ethiopia. Now what this means is that he's influential, it means that he's well-educated, and he is really searching for God. I mean, he is really trying to figure it all out. And he's not just casually seeking, though. You see, he has just embarked on a journey that goes from Ethiopia all the way to Jerusalem. Look at this, it's a thousand miles, one way, in a chariot, all so he can go to the temple in Jerusalem. This guy is dedicated. But on the way home, I've got to believe that there's a part of him that feels a little let down, maybe even a little disappointed, because he's still in many ways, he has more questions than he has answers. And it's a reminder to all of us that so often, God meets us not after we have everything all figured out, but while we are still on the journey. Well, somewhere along the way, this man has acquired a scroll from the prophet Isaiah. And this is noteworthy because, you see, scrolls weren't just something you could just pick up wherever you wanted to. They were very expensive. They were transcribed by hand. Most people would never dream of being able to own a scroll, but he has one and he's reading

it from the chariot as he travels. And as he's reading it, he is not understanding what he's reading. And you've experienced this. You've had times where you've read a passage of scripture and you're like, I have no idea what I just read. Right? Well, that's kind of what he is experiencing as he reads this from Isaiah. So let me read to you what he is reading from the scroll. It says he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before the shearer. is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." So he's reading these words, but he doesn't get who these words are pointing to. Well, somewhere along this same time, God had prompted a man that we know as Philip the Evangelist. And I don't know exactly how it works, but I just kind of imagine God deploying Philip. He's like, we got a guy that needs help. Philip, I don't want you asking a lot of questions, I just want you to go down this desert road, look for a chariot, I'll tell you the rest. And Philip does, and he finds and sees the chariot, he jogs up to it, he hears the man reading from Isaiah, and he asks him, do you understand what you're reading? And the man says, how can I, unless someone explains it to me? And then the Ethiopian man asks a great question.

He says, who is the prophet talking about? Well, that is the only opening that Philip needed. The text says, then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? You see, God uses the words of Isaiah, the obedience of Philip as a catalyst that changes this man's eternity. And today, I want us to really uncover the backstory of the man whose words were written in that scroll, Isaiah. Like what made him the man that he was? Who was Isaiah? Well, Isaiah lived at a time that was about a halfway point between Moses and Jesus. He lived 700 years after the time of Moses and 700 years before the time of Jesus. Other things we know about Isaiah, he was married, he had at least two sons, and he was an Old Testament prophet. Now, I tend to have a kind of a thought, when I think of an Old Testament prophet, I sort of think of kind of a rugged, wild mountain man who is in the wilderness living on the fringes of society, but not so with Isaiah. You see, Isaiah was actually well-connected with ties to Judean royalty.

Both his cousin and his uncle were kings of Judah, and this meant that he had access to both the palace and the temple. He was an insider. Isaiah began his ministry when he was about 21 or so, and he lived into his early 80s. And scripture doesn't tell us this, but Jewish tradition says that he was martyred for his faith, that King Manasseh of Judah ordered his execution by being sawn in two. Now, as for the words that Isaiah wrote, the book of Isaiah, there've been a number of people who have referred to Isaiah as the fifth gospel. And what do they mean by that? Well, there are four gospels. There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and each of them are gospels because they are detailing the life and ministry of Jesus. Well, when people say Isaiah is almost like a fifth gospel, they're saying here in the Old Testament, he wrote so much about the coming Messiah that it's almost like having a gospel right in the Old Testament. So the style of writing of Isaiah, a lot of it's poetry. It has prophecy that's kind of mixed in. Admittedly, that means at times it can be difficult to understand, but I think a way that is kind of a helpful way to sort of organize and frame the book of Isaiah and not to make too much of this

because chapter headings were not in the original. They were added after the fact. But it's an interesting parallel in that there are 66 books in the Bible and there are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah deal with the themes of judgment and of the consequences of sin. And there are 39 books that make up the Old Testament which have a very similar theme. But then in Isaiah, there is a definite shift in the tone. The theme changes from one of judgment to one of hope, from one of a consequence of sin to that of a coming Messiah. And that parallels the 27 books of the New Testament. But if we're to really understand Isaiah, like if we wanna really get inside what it was that made him the man and the prophet that he was, we've gotta go to a milestone moment in his life when he had a one-on-one personal encounter with the living God. You see, what's true of Isaiah is what's true of us. When we have a personal encounter with God, it changes us. And the same was true with Isaiah. As I read this passage. to Scripture, I have a visual for you, because I want you to really try to imagine what it might have been like for Isaiah to experience what he experienced. In the year the King Uzziah died,

I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings, they covered their faces. With two, they covered their feet. And with two, they were flying. And they were calling to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory. At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me, I cried. I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. In my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it, he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, here am I. Send me. Wow. That is an epic scene. And one personal encounter that Isaiah has with the living God, and it changes him, and it informs his entire prophetic ministry.

But we can either give further context if we go to when this happened that will give us greater insight. The text said that this occurred in the year that King Uzziah died. And King Uzziah was one of a handful of good kings of Judah. And so what would oftentimes happen in ancient times is when there was a good king who would obey God, the people would enjoy a time of peace and prosperity. And when there was a bad king, well, the people would oftentimes pay the price. In the 345 years that Judah was a nation, they had 20 rulers. Over half of them were bad ones. But Uzziah was one of the good ones. And he had reigned 52 years, but this is the year that King Uzziah died. Now, just think about this for a moment. Many people who lived, who had only known the peace and prosperity of the reign of Uzziah, and now that King Uzziah has died, there is uncertainty in the land. Like, what would be next? What will come for us? Like, will things be OK? But it's in this time that Isaiah has a vision of the Lord seated on his throne. The Lord being seated on his throne is a picture of God is in control. And for any of us, especially when things feel out of control, it's an incredible comfort

to be reminded that God is in control. For any of us who are going through a time when it's a time of instability or uncertainty or fear about what might come next, if we were to personalize this to our own story, we might say that it was the year of my divorce. It was the year that I lost my job. But I was reminded that God is in control. The Lord is on his throne, high and exalted. When we're going through times of grief or sorrow or uncertainty about what the future may hold, I think of times when we've lost a loved one or received a diagnosis with an uncertain outcome. I even think of us as a church. We might say it was the year that we were searching for a new senior pastor. We didn't know exactly how it would go or what would come next. That we were reminded that the Lord is on his throne. You see, he knows what we don't know. And he sees what we do not see. And it's an incredible comfort to be reminded that regardless of our circumstances, that God is in control. See, the next thing that Isaiah sees in this vision is he sees a type of angel called a seraphim. And the word seraph in the Hebrew language means fire. So this is an angel that its name literally means seraphim. It literally means fiery one. burning ones and they have six wings and they are flying

around the throne of God and they are calling to each other and saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. In the Hebrew language, there's no punctuation. So if you wanna emphasize something, you don't do it with an exclamation mark, you repeat it. And to repeat something three times is kind of like the most, it's the superlative. And in all of the Bible, for the many different names that are given for God, the very many different attributes and qualities of God, the only one that is ever repeated three times is the holiness of God. If you were to ask me to try to describe or to explain the holiness of God, I could maybe talk about it or around it, but the truth is I don't get it. I mean, not like this. I mean, the God's honest truth is I don't get the holiness of God. I feel like the best I can get, or maybe even just start to get, is that the gap between my humanity and the holiness of God, it must be bigger than we think. You see, I see this in Isaiah's experience. He has been called to preach a message of judgment for the hope of repentance in these Judean people. And as he does in chapter five alone, six times, he says to them, woe to you. Woe to you who are perverting justice. It's like he's saying, wake up.

Woe to you who call good evil and who call evil good. And I feel like any of us, if we were to compare Isaiah to some of the things these people were doing, every single one of us would say, Isaiah is the good one and these people are the problem. Yet when Isaiah comes face to face to the holiness of God, his woe to you turns to woe is me for I am ruined. You see, in that moment, he realizes that the gap between his humanity and the holiness of God, it is bigger than we think. You see, I think most of us would much prefer to compare ourselves to other people, to each other, rather than to the holiness of God. See, if we could compare ourselves to other people, perhaps we could build a case. We would rather compare ourselves to other people and hope that maybe God will grade on a curve. You know, over the years as I've just engaged people at times in spiritual conversations, when it feels appropriate, I have sometimes asked the question, if you were to die tonight on a scale of one to 10, how certain are you that you would go to heaven? And as I've asked that question for people who are not sure, the answer that I most often hear back is a six out of 10. And so let's put that up on the screen. And honestly, I can appreciate six for an answer to that question.

And what I like about six is that it has some kind of built-in humility in it. You know, it's kind of like, hey, listen, I'm not saying I've done it all right. I'm not saying that I haven't made my fair share of mistakes. And, you know, it acknowledges that there's some people I really admire and look up to. You know, I think of my sweet old grandmother who taught Sunday school for 30 years. You know, there are people whose names I don't even know or saints from centuries past. In my own lifetime, I think of Mother Teresa or Billy Graham and I think, man, if anybody was gonna make it, they would. But you know what else I like about six as an answer to that question is it's not a false humility because there's also kind of a realistic element in it. And it's kind of like, okay, I'm not saying that I've done it all perfect, but objectively, if I consider how I've managed my life and I compare it to some of the other people I see out there, well, I mean, come on. Take a look at social media. You know, take a look at the news. There are people lying, stealing, embezzling, cheating. I mean, look at my workplace even. There are people who are just stepping all over each other and are in it only for themselves. I mean, in my own neighborhood, what, it's late August. There's a guy still setting off fireworks at midnight.

I mean, he's gotta be a bottom five guy, right? And wherever we might put ourselves on the continuum, I feel like the common sentiment is, I'm just gonna. try and do more good than bad and hope it all works out. But listen, here's the problem with that. The problem is, is we're comparing ourselves to the wrong thing. You see, we are comparing ourselves to each other rather than comparing ourselves to the holiness of God. And what Isaiah is trying to tell us is our single biggest problem is that the gap is bigger than you think. You see, instead of comparing ourselves to each other, we need to compare ourselves to the holiness of God. You see, every religion acknowledges that there's a gap. And every religion other than Christianity essentially says there is a gap and it is up to you to overcome the gap. And the way you overcome it is you be better, try harder, do more. You see, it's only Christianity that says there is a gap. And that gap is so profound that the only chance we have is if God himself were to do something about it. And that's actually what happens in Isaiah's vision. If I pick up and read again verse six, it says, then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And with it, he touched my mouth and said,

"'See, this has touched your lips. "'Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'" Something about the sacrifice in that altar made it possible for Isaiah to stand before a holy God. And this happens early in Isaiah's ministry, that God gives him a glimpse of what he will do. And over the course of Isaiah's life, God reveals more and more of how he will do it. And then many years later, Isaiah writes in a portion of scripture that we've come to know as Isaiah 53. He prophesies of a coming Messiah who would be a suffering servant. This portion of scripture, it actually begins with the last several verses of 52, and it goes through the 12 verses of 53. It is one of the most remarkable portions of scripture in the Bible. Of this portion of scripture, Martin Luther said, every Christian should memorize it. It is from this portion of scripture that the Ethiopian man read from the scroll of Isaiah, sitting on that chariot. And it's from this portion of scripture that Philip used to tell that man about Jesus. And so here today, I wanna do the same by explaining this scripture that Philip did with the Ethiopian man. You see, Isaiah has already established there's a gap between humanity and the holiness of God.

And now in this passage, he starts to tell us more of why the gap exists. It says in verse six of 53, we all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way. You see, the Bible calls that sin, and sin always has the effect of separating us from God. That separation creates the gap. The apostle Paul put it this way, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In Genesis one and two, God creates the heavens and the earth, and it is good, and we are in right relationship with God. And God tells Adam and Eve that I've made all of this for you. There's just one thing you must not do. You see, there is a tree in the middle of the garden called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You must not eat of that tree, or you will surely die. Well, of course, what do Adam and Eve do? The one thing God said not to do. They do it, and as a result, sin enters the world. And that sin just infects humanity from that point forward. We are separated from God because the penalty, the consequence, the punishment for sin is death, a spiritual separation, this gap that we've been talking about. And it creates a tension for God in that God is just and holy, and he must uphold the righteous requirements of the law.

And God is love, and he longs to be in relationship with man. In fact, the whole rest of the Bible from Genesis 3 on is God's relentless pursuit of mankind to restore connection with God that culminates in him sending his one and only son, Jesus Christ, to take on human flesh, live a perfect life, and to die on the cross for our sins. You see, our single biggest problem was there was a gap that we could do nothing about. And God's surprising solution is that Jesus Christ himself bridged that gap. And Isaiah, he prophesied that this will happen 700 years before the time that Jesus was born. See, Isaiah prophesied that a Messiah would come. who would bear our sins, who would take our sins on Himself. Let me read for you some of the verses from Isaiah 53, starting in verse four. It says, Surely He took up our pain and bore our sufferings, but He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. For He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. And because Jesus didn't just die,

but He rose from the dead, beating the power of sin in the grave, it goes on to say, He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Therefore, I will give Him a portion among the great. This passage of scripture speaks of the coming Messiah, who would be Jesus Christ. You know, it speaks so clearly of Jesus that for centuries, critics of the Bible would point to Isaiah 53 and say the reason that sounds so much like Jesus, a bunch of Christians added it after the fact to the original. And then in 1947, we discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. And among them, we found the Great Isaiah Scroll, almost completely intact. All 66 chapters of Isaiah on a 24-foot scroll that dated to 100 to 125 years before the time of Jesus. When I read Isaiah 53, I see Jesus. And it makes me wonder, I honestly wonder what someone would see who had never really heard it or was not familiar with it. You know, there's a part of me, it's like, do I see it just because I'm so familiar with it? And then I came across a video of a man who is a Messianic Jew, which just means that he's a Jewish man who has also believes in the New Testament and has accepted Jesus as his Messiah. And so he is doing man-on-the-street interviews in Israel.

He approaches a group of young Jewish men who only believe the Old Testament. He reads this passage of scripture, asks them what they think and engages with them. And I found it absolutely fascinating and I thought you might as well. So I wanted to show it to you. There's nothing like Israel. Ain't nothing like it. You guys speak Hebrew? Yeah. Really? So I'm gonna read some passages from scripture. Okay, I'm not gonna tell you what scripture it is. And I want you to see if you can tell me where you think it's coming from. All right. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds, we are healed. New Testament. New Testament. New Testament? I'm gonna say New Testament. Okay, and what makes you think it's from the New Testament? It said that God was, you're blaming God in that, right?

I can read it again if you want. Yeah, say the end part. Yeah. So he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds, we are healed. I feel like it's kind of talking about Jesus' sins, no? It sounds like it, doesn't it? It's like a scapegoat, like whatever, like it's trying. Like Jesus was, like we put our sins on him. That's what they say, right? So I feel like that's more of what it's coming to. Okay, anything else? In the Old Testament, it's like we take for our sins. We don't put it on someone else. We don't put it on Jesus, we take it for ourselves. Yeah, and what happens when you take the sin on yourself? So then you have once a year where you could do repentance and really try to see. Yom Kippur. Yeah, Yom Kippur, and to see if you could try to look back at yourself and self-grow from it and see how to be a better person from it, and then God will forgive you. Yeah, I like that attitude because I think we should all try to be good people, but we can only really be good if we go by God's standard. Because if we make up our own standard, you know, there are people who think that what Hamas is doing is good, you know what?

So wait, I'm gonna tell you guys where it's from. It's from the Old Testament. Yeah, it's from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 52 and 53. And so that's from the Old Testament. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. You know, as I watched that back a couple of times, there's something that one of the young men said that when I really latched onto it, honestly, it was like a gut punch to me. I don't know if you caught it. He said, speaking of his sin, he said, I don't put it on Jesus. We put it on ourselves. And the reason that it was a gut punch is he's right. If we don't put our sin on Jesus, we do take it on ourselves. on ourselves. But this passage of scripture, this Old Testament prophet, one of their major prophets from his Old Testament scripture, is trying to communicate to him is the only way to stand before the holiness of God is if the Messiah takes your sins on himself. You know, just something that sort of paints a picture of this. It was actually something that my wife came across on one of her social media reels. It caught her attention so much that she sent it out several weeks ago on our family text chain. And it was a pastor who was giving an illustration on a popular podcast. And she said as she listened to it the first time, it just brought a tear to her eye. And she had never heard it explained quite like this. And I think it just so speaks to what we're talking about right now that I wanted to share it with you. So here it is. It's a parable, an illustration. There was a king who lived a long time ago in a land far, far away. And this king was known as being one of the most just and one of the most loving kings who had ever lived. And for a long time, all was well. But then it was discovered that someone was stealing from the king's treasuries. Well, the king made an edict saying when it's discovered who's stealing from

the king's treasuries, the person found to be doing this will receive 10 lashes. But that did not detour the stealing. In fact, it continued. And so the king issued another edict. And he said when it's discovered who's stealing from the king's treasuries, the person found responsible received 20 lashes. Again, stealing continued 30 lashes until finally the king made a final edict saying when it's discovered who has been stealing from the king's treasuries, the person responsible will receive 40 lashes. And the problem was this meant an almost certain death sentence. Well, after so much time, it was discovered who had been stealing from the king's treasuries, and it was found to be none other than the king's daughter. Well, the whole kingdom wondered what the king would do. Would he uphold the justness and rightness of the law and administer the punishment? Or would he lovingly spare her and let her off the hook? The king thought long and hard about what he must do. But finally, he decided that the edict is just and the verdict must stand. And so the next day, the whole kingdom gathered as the daughter was brought forward and she was tied to the post and the back of her gown was ripped open. And the executioner raised the whip and just then the king yelled, stop. And the king got off of his throne. He took off his shirt and he put himself between his daughter and the executioner and he wrapped his body around hers and he looked up at the executioner and he said, now. Well, the executioner objected. He said, my king, I cannot deliver the blows without striking you. And the king said, I know. Do it. And with that, the king took the 40 lashes that were meant for his daughter and the king died in place of his daughter. And he did it in a way that the justice of the law was upheld and he lovingly provided a way for his daughter to be able to be spared and set free. You see, that is a picture of what Jesus did for us. And when we really get that what Jesus did on the cross was this unfathomable gift. And when we really get how massive the gap was that separated us from God and when we really get what it cost Jesus to bridge that gap. And on top of it all, we're saved by grace. Like there's nothing we bring to the table. It is a gift of God. Well, listen, a gift like that, it begs a response. I mean, when you realize what Jesus did for us, it just something in us just wells up and just has to say in us, yes, yes to God. I see this with the Ethiopian man. He starts out frustrated, trying to put the pieces together. But once the scriptures are explained to him and he realized who Jesus is, the same scriptures that we just spent time talking about, everything in his heart responds and says yes to God. You see, a bridge like this does us no good if we refuse to walk across it. But when we understand the gift of God requires a response.

everything in us is like, of course, of course I want to walk across it. Because a gift like that begs a response. I also see that the Ethiopian man, he responds by saying to Philip, look, there's water, is there any reason why I cannot be baptized? And in three weeks, we're going to have baptism services across all of our campuses. And I just want to say to you, if you've made a decision to follow Jesus, but you've not been baptized as an adult, I just want to encourage you to respond to God, to say yes. You see, scripturally, it is the very next thing that we are asked to do after following God. Gift like that, it begs a response. And finally, I see the same phenomenon in Isaiah's life, especially in this vision. He has a vision of a holy God, and in so doing, it uncovers himself, his humanity, and he sees the gap that's there. But God steps into that gap. He atones for Isaiah's sin. His guilt is taken away. And how does Isaiah respond? Verse eight, listen to this. Says, then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I said, here am I, send me. He doesn't even know the assignment yet. And his heart is like, yes, whatever it is, yes, I'm in. Everything in his heart wants to respond to whatever it is that God may ask. And he goes from woe is me to send me. You see, he has such a clear view of what the gift was that it just catapults him past all the things that distract us and get in our way. It catapults him past the feelings of fear or the desire of comfort, or what if I'm not adequate? You see, he is able to connect the dots. That if God was able to fill that gap, well, God then can equip me to do whatever it is he calls me to do. And I imagine across our campuses that there are those of us who need to respond to whatever it is that God may be asking us today. And if you would, I just want to close our time by creating just a little space, a little time to allow for that to happen. If you would bow your head and close your eyes. If you're here today and perhaps you've never really made a decision to truly follow Christ. I mean, maybe you've been around God and the church and Christianity and the Bible and all the things. Maybe you would say, I believe in God. But honestly, that's not the question that I'm asking. The question that I'm asking,

is there ever been a time in your life where you know that you know that you have said yes to God? That you have responded to God in a way that says, I get the gift and I want to respond with my life. If not, I want to lead us in a time here today where you know that if you wanted to do that, you could do that here right now. You see, if that's the desire of your heart, if you would just pray this silently in your heart. Lord, I recognize there's a gap that is so much bigger than me. And I recognize that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to bridge that gap. Lord, will you forgive my sins and come into my life? I want to follow you with my life. If that is the desire of your heart and you prayed it in the sincerity of your heart, Jesus Christ heard you, and you have moved from death to life, you will be in heaven with God. And on a scale of one to 10, it's a 10 out of 10, that you will be with him in glory. There are many of you here today who you have made that decision in your life to follow Jesus, but it's still true that there are those of you who need to respond to whatever it is that God may be asking you. And just in these remaining moments, I'm just gonna ask in the silence and quietness

of your heart, would you say to God, here am I, Lord, I'm present. Here am I, Lord, I am available. Here am I, Father, I am ready to hear you. and listen. And as you just sit here in this silence before a holy God, I want you to ask Him a question and I want you to pay attention to whatever comes to your mind. Like don't easily dismiss it, pay attention to what comes to your mind. I want you to ask God, what do you want me to know? And what do you want me to do? In the silence of your heart, God, what do you want me to know? What do you want me to do? For some of you, you knew the answer to that question before you asked it. Because it's the very thing that you've been wrestling with and struggling with and trying to lay down but not. And I just wonder if perhaps today something maybe perhaps has shifted in you to whereupon being reminded of the gift that your heart might be willing to respond with yes. If so, just pray this silently in your heart, I hear you God. The answer is yes. Here am I, send me Lord. I may not know how it's gonna work or how I'm gonna do it, but yes. Lord, we thank you for these holy moments. We thank you that you personally connect with us, Lord. You've not left us alone. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. I'll tell you what, when you have a moment like this, and I believe many of you had a moment where you heard from God in this moment, my encouragement to you is don't let this day pass before you tell somebody what happened. There's something that happens when we tell somebody else that just makes it a little more tangible. And pastorally, we would love to connect with you as well. One of the ways that we just functionally do this, a tool that we use so that we can connect with you pastorally, is if you would text the word yes to the number on the screen. And this is honestly, this is just anybody who's like, I had a moment where God spoke to me and I said yes to God. We would love to give you a call this week. One of our pastors would call you and simply ask, can you tell me what God was doing in your heart this week? And pray with you and encourage you. We want to be able to do that for you and with you as pastors.

Well, listen, thank you for being here today. Thank you for being open to God and having hearts that respond. Blessings to you. God bless.