Work Diligently
This message teaches that from the very beginning in Genesis, God created every person in His image and placed us in the garden to cultivate it and keep it, inviting us to be His fellow workers in whatever domain He has given us, whether we make a little or a lot. Pastor Jimmy Seibert shows that God’s sovereignty and our effort are not in competition. Like Paul, we are what we are by the grace of God, and that grace empowers us to work hard under God’s leadership. He calls us to be faithful and diligent in the work in front of us, to examine whether fear, lifestyle or the need to feel valuable is driving us to overwork, to reject laziness and get-rich-quick schemes, to order the gaps in our days with purpose and to embrace a biblical rhythm of work and rest. The goal is not wealth but contentment and rest in God, sowing faithfully for His glory and storing up treasure in heaven.
- All right, good morning, Antioch. How we doing? Okay, I hear y'all. I hear if you hear the sound of my voice, start making your way in. If I haven't met you yet, my name is Danielle Perez. I work here at staff and I serve in our young adult ministry. So fun. If this is your first time with us, or you've been with us a while here at Antioch, we love sharing that we have a passion for Jesus and his purposes in the earth. Amen. Oh, amen? Okay, I'm just making sure we're all awake here, okay? Just making sure. If that interests you or you wanna get connected, we have this room called the connect room out in the lobby to the left. We have pastors and leaders there to answer any questions you might have about how to walk with Jesus. Where can I serve or how can I get connected to a life group? These people are here to help you, okay? What room, again, are you gonna go to? Okay, I gotta hear a little bit louder. There it is. I just wanna, I just wanna make sure we're all awake here. And I would also encourage you, if as you're making your way in, the front here is full. So during worship, please come up.
We would love to see you worship and set the atmosphere and the tone for us entering in with worship and praise, okay? So it's that time in our time together, I'd invite you to stand up. I'd love for you to introduce yourself to your neighbor, to say your name, how long you've been going to Antioch, and what do you enjoy around here, okay? So rise and turn. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) Yes, Lord, we love you. We thank you that you are worthy of our worship. (gentle music) And bless your name this morning. (gentle music) Sing this with me. ♪ When the sun comes up, it's a new day dawning ♪ ♪ It's time to sing your song again ♪ ♪ Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me ♪ ♪ Let me be singing when the evening comes ♪ ♪ And bless the love of my soul ♪ ♪ The love of my soul ♪ ♪ When the ship is all we need ♪ ♪ And sing like never before ♪ ♪ And all my soul ♪ ♪ The wish of your only name ♪
♪ The rich in love in your soul to wake ♪ ♪ Your name is great in your heart is kind ♪ ♪ For all your goodness I will keep on singing ♪ ♪ Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find ♪ ♪ Bless the love of my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Worship this only name ♪ ♪ And sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm losing your heart ♪ ♪ And on that day when my strength is failing ♪ ♪ The end draws near and my time has gone ♪ ♪ Still my soul will sing your praise of ending ♪ ♪ 10,000 years and then forever ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Bless the world of my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Worship His only name ♪ ♪ You sing my never before ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Worship His only name ♪ ♪ Bless the world of my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Worship His only name ♪ ♪ You sing my never before ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Worship His only name ♪ ♪ I worship His only name ♪ ♪ Sing a shout of praise to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing to Him a new song ♪
♪ Sing to Him a song of thanksgiving ♪ ♪ Think of who He is, who He's been in your life ♪ ♪ Oh, we thank you Lord ♪ ♪ We enter into His gates with thanksgiving ♪ ♪ In His course with praise, let's enter in ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord, thank you for your goodness, ♪ ♪ For your mercy and your love that never ends ♪ ♪ Thank you God that you're close ♪ ♪ That you never leave, that you've been with us ♪ ♪ That you've carried us through every season ♪ ♪ Oh, we thank you Lord, let's sing this ♪ ♪ Let's God in the sanctuary ♪ ♪ Let's God in the fields of plenty ♪ ♪ Let's God in the darkest valley ♪ ♪ Every chance I get, I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Let's God in my enter empty ♪ ♪ Let's God in the praise that cost me ♪ ♪ Let's God in the blood He's watching ♪ ♪ Every chance I get, I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Let's God in the sanctuary ♪ ♪ Let's God in the fields of plenty ♪ ♪ Let's God in the darkest valley ♪ ♪ Every chance I get, I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Let's God in my enter empty ♪ ♪ Let's God in the praise that cost me ♪ ♪ Let's God in the blood He's watching ♪ ♪ Every chance I get ♪ ♪ I'll sing this in ♪ ♪ Let's God in the sanctuary ♪ ♪ Let's God in the fields of plenty ♪
♪ Let's God in the darkest valley ♪ ♪ Every chance I get, I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Let's God in my enter empty ♪ ♪ Let's God with the praise that cost me ♪ ♪ Let's God in the blood He's watching ♪ ♪ Every chance I get ♪ ♪ I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Every chance I get ♪ ♪ I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Let's do it all my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul lift up your voice ♪ ♪ Worship His home ♪ ♪ Meet them ♪ ♪ Your holy, Your holy ♪ ♪ Your life never before ♪ ♪ Your holy soul ♪ ♪ Our worship, Your holy name ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord of our soul ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Worship His holy name ♪ ♪ You'll sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Our worship, Your holy name ♪ ♪ Our worship, Your holy name ♪ ♪ Holy, worthy, holy ♪ Let's sing one more time. ♪ Bless the Lord on my soul ♪ ♪ On my soul ♪ ♪ Where should His holy name ♪ ♪ Your so holy Jesus ♪
♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ On my soul ♪ ♪ Where should His holy name ♪ ♪ Bless your name ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are the fulfillment ♪ ♪ Of every deepest longing ♪ ♪ Under each desire is a cry for you Lord ♪ ♪ Spirit of adoption ♪ ♪ Calling to the Father ♪ ♪ You're drawing us to where our souls belong right now ♪ ♪ Oh, so we sing, "Abba, Father, we want you ♪ ♪ We love you ♪ ♪ Abba, Father, we want you ♪ ♪ We love you ♪ ♪ Suffering in heartbreak ♪ ♪ Grief beyond description ♪ ♪ These shadows only prove there's light above ♪ ♪ Lord, hear your children cry ♪ ♪ This broken mirror and author ♪ ♪ How do you return and make things right ♪ ♪ Oh, we sing, "Abba, Father, we want you ♪ ♪ And we need you, Abba, Father ♪ ♪ We want you ♪ ♪ We need you cry out to him ♪ ♪ Abba, Father ♪ ♪ Yes, we do, Lord, we need you ♪ ♪ How we need you, Abba, Father ♪ ♪ We want you, oh, and we need you ♪
♪ You are Father ♪ ♪ Oh, and you're all we want ♪ ♪ I was made to worship you ♪ ♪ I was made for heaven ♪ ♪ We were made for heaven ♪ ♪ So pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ 'Til we desire you ♪ ♪ And only you ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ Come pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ 'Til we desire you ♪ ♪ And only you ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ 'Til we desire you ♪ ♪ And only you ♪ ♪ Pray your longing holy spirit ♪ ♪ Oh, 'til we desire you ♪ ♪ And only you ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ Oh, for you longing in us ♪ ♪ 'Til we desire you ♪ ♪ And only you ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ Pray your longing in us ♪ ♪ 'Til we desire you ♪ ♪ And only you ♪ ♪ Oh, for you would have the first place ♪ ♪ Oh, for you would have the first place ♪
♪ Oh, in our hearts ♪ ♪ In this house we pray Lord ♪ ♪ Come and have our affection ♪ ♪ Oh, our devotion ♪ Oh, you see, our blood Father, we want you We love you, our blood Father, we want you We love you, see it again, in our blood Father, just reach up to your Father this morning We want you, oh, we love you, our blood Father, oh, we want you We love you, we want you more than this world Or more than anything you are enough for us You are what satisfies us We know that you are the only thing that matters to set our hearts on heaven, set our hearts on our Father again this morning that we would give him the first place that he would have, first priority, first affection that the Lord would be the one that gets our best time, our best attention, the best of what we have, the best of who we are, even in this moment that you would have our hearts. And Lord, we just say we need you to help us, God, our hearts are weak or prone to wander, we feel it, Lord, you strengthen us and you draw us back to you this morning, God, wherever we have wandered off, we want to be brought back to that place of first love, that place of first love where you are everything to us, you are all that we are after, you are the one that we are longing for. Oh, you are the one we want, so put your longing, so put your longing in us, come put your longing in us till we desire, make this your prayer this morning, and only you put your longing in us put your longing in us till we desire, make this your hunger and thirst for righteousness Oh, come put your longing, we want to be filled with you, Lord, we desire, only you are ♪ Nothing wrong with you ♪ For Your longing in us Till we desire You And only You Come and have the first place Lord Come and have the first place in our hearts Oh, sing our Father We sing our blood
We cry out to You Oh, and we want You alone You are our Father We want Oh, crying out to You Oh, and we want You Our Father We want You We love You Our Father Father We want You We love You 'Cause You're all I want Oh, and You're all I've ever needed You're all I want Help me know You are near 'Cause You're all I want And You're all I've ever needed You're all I want Help me know You are near 'Cause You're all I want Oh, You're all I've ever needed You're all I want Help me know You are near Well, last time, you're all I want You're all I want 'Cause You're all I've ever needed You're all I want You're all I've ever needed You're all I've ever needed
You're all I've ever needed If you love a Lord today Just raise your hands up with me And say, "I love you, Lord" Say, "I love you for everything you do in my life" Say, "I love you, Lord" Say, "I love you, Lord" Oh, Your mercy never fails me Oh, my days I've been held in Your head From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head All I will see Of the goodness of God And all my life, You have been saved And all my life, You have been so, so good With every breath that I am made Oh, I will see Of the goodness of God And all my life, You have been saved You've darkest night You are close, I know what I do I know you as a father I know you as a friend And I have been in the darlin' years together And all my life you have been saved And all my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I had made For what we will see of the goodness of God Your goodness is running out, it's running out to me
Your goodness is running out, it's running out to me With my life laid down, so there's me now I give you everything Your goodness is running out, it's running out to me Your goodness is running out, it's running out to me Your goodness is running out, it's running out to me With my life laid down, so there's me now I give you everything Your goodness is running out, it's running out to me With every voice And all my life you have been saved Sing it out Your goodness is running out, it's running out And all my life you have been saved And all my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I had made For what we will see of the goodness of God Your goodness is running out Psalms 23 says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want He makes me light down in green pastures He leads me beside still waters He restores my soul And He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake Yet, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me He says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies And you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever" Yeah, give the Lord a clap right now, give him a shout
He leads us, He's leading us, He leads us He provides for us, He takes care of us He says, "And you, I'm going to overflow so that those around you Because surely goodness and mercy are following me all the days of my life Amen? I want to invite our ushers to come forward The Lord is our, Psalms 84 says, "The Lord is our son in shield And today we can experience the peace of God. You can look on the screen right here, there's some different ways you can give. Remember, this giving is all a place of trusting God. Say, "Lord, we trust you, we partner with you, Lord." Thank you for the joy and the opportunity to partner with you. Thank you for the seed that you give me to sow and the bread that you give me to eat. Hey, man, Lord, thank you for this, Lord. We bless your holy name, God. We partner with you today. And we say, "God, would you have your way in this, God?" And would you do a new work and a great work inside of us today as we offer freely, not sparingly, but joyfully. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, as these buckets are going around and they're being passed around, again. Today's the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it, amen? We're gonna be glad and rejoice and walk with God and grow in our relationship with Him and trusting Him. Hey, this week, this next 10 days is an opportunity to this nation.
We are going, it's gonna be an election time where we're gonna be praying. And today what we're doing is we're saying, "God, we wanna hear your voice, we wanna respond to you, Lord. "We don't wanna get drawn into the different crowds "or the voice is God and we don't wanna get rattled either." 'Cause the people of God, He says He is our foundation and we are on a solid ground, on a solid rock, which is Him. And so as a people, we are praying people. We are people who seek God's voice. And so right now I'm gonna bring up four prayer points on the screen right here. We're gonna turn and pray in just a second, but one, we're gonna pray that God would raise up leaders who would uphold His laws in His ways. Now this is the second one, it's huge. They're all huge, but the second one. That we would make every effort that is people would keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace and that God would move His people to vote, but that we would know that His kingdom will come and His will will be done right here in Waco in the state of Texas and around the USA, man. As the people of God, let's turn to somebody next to you right now and at least pray one of these points, okay? (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)
(gentle piano music) - Lord, we thank You for Your faithfulness, God, and remind it again today that You are our good shepherd, but that You are also the King of glory, the one who is strong and mighty, Lord. And thank You, Lord, that we do belong. It says in Daniel seven, that we belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken and cannot be destroyed. And so Lord, as the people of God today, God, we seek Your heart, we seek Your voice, we seek Your direction, and we seek Your wisdom, God. I pray, Lord, that our people, Lord, that we make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. And that God that You would raise up righteous leaders in this land, God who respond to Your voice and the leading of Your Spirit. And so we thank You for this house, thank You for this family here, right here in Waco, Texas, but our extended family all over the world, God who are seeking Your voice. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen. - Amen, don't you love Jason Ramos? (congregation cheering) - Man, I love the overwhelming ovation for Psalm 23. Good shout out for Psalm 23, praise God, wow. Well, hey, we are in a series called God will provide, everybody needs to declare that. Everybody say God will provide. Wow, that's a good word, good word all the time.
And there's three basic principles or four that we're working with. We have a little deal called living simply, working diligently, giving generously, committed to eternity. And then the Scripture says, and glory in Christ Jesus. God is committed to being your provider, 100%. But there is a journey that we all go on to adapt to His ways to find His provision, not only for our lives, but for an abundance for others. We're on the journey together. Now, actually, this is a great little phrase but what you're really interested is the stick men, right? If you've been with us, everybody loves this. Got the little guy, oh, I need good. All I can get, not enough, and everybody is doing me wrong. You don't want to be that person, right? You want to be number two. All right, glory to God, wherever I am. My portion is the Lord's. I surrender everything to Him. I trust Him with my life, my resources, so that then I can receive from God what He has and liberally give and distribute as He gives me grace, right? So here we go, are they do it with me? Urgh, get it all out, ah, get it all out, let it go. And then surrender, hallelujah, there we go, woo! And then receive it, thank you, oh, look at the, ah, that's good, but don't just stop there,
you just got yours now, let them get theirs. Oh, man, we are free, woo! Well, so many of you guys live this out and today we're gonna have the privilege of hearing a testimony from Laura, summer set, Laura come on up of an incredible lady that has done just that. Live simply, work does it and give generously and received abundantly and lived eternally. There you go. Hey, looking forward to what you have to share with us. Go ahead, I'll sit over here and listen to him. - Thanks, I am, yeah, I'm gonna kind of blitz through and get to the punchlines, but God is good all the time. - I've been around here forever. Years ago, got married, had a sweet daughter, Alyssa, whom I loved dearly, and got divorced. Things went south, went south-er, and yeah, had to do that and live as a single mom. And that made living simply all the more, no options. (laughs) No option but to live simply. And so in that, I would say foundational for me, all my Christian life has been to tithe. It's just, if God says you're blessed because you tithe, why would I not tithe? So tithe on number one, money into the savings account all the time so that the bigger chunks that I knew were coming, there was money to pay for them.
I had this spreadsheet that I kept for my savings account. - Now look at that, there we go, 2011 on the books. - Doesn't matter how much money, it just matters that you got it right out, look at there. - Because eventually, I'm gonna need a car and I wanna pay cash for it if I can. I know that quarterly taxes are coming as a business person, and that money is not gonna come just because it's due, it's gonna come because I put it in savings. And when the quarter comes, I transfer the money, I write the check, no worries. So I mean, I'll need to take a picture of that, it's a good little chart, all right. - So all the biggies in there, and then back then I used the cash envelope system for the little things so that, okay, this is the grocery fund. This is money for gifts. When my daughter has to go to a party, I can pull out 10 bucks by gift and it's set. And I just, I saved myself so much heartache and grief by keeping those little foxes under control. But then, there's always the stuff that comes up. Finances have always been a journey and a spot that God has used in my life to teach me that I can trust him with the deeper things of my heart. If he's gonna show up and provide for me financially, maybe I can let this heart go. Maybe he'll be careful with my heart,
which is my greatest treasure. Money doesn't matter, it's the heart. So anyway, moving along, we lived very simply. Our entertainment back in her elementary days was we breakfast out every week, two bucks for donuts. We went skating every week, two bucks for skating. Buy one get one admission. We had our skates and so it was full on a shoestring, and God was faithful to provide for us. Working diligently, I was office manager for a while for a dentist here in the church. I also sold pampered chef on the side and then I was getting my cake business going. [clears throat] Eventually, the cake business became full-time. And my daughter was right alongside working with me, helping where she could age appropriately. And we just put in the hours until the commitments are taken care of. - What's the name of the cake business? A shameless advertisement. - Sweetness desserts. - Sweetness desserts, that's where you need to go, all right. - Sweetness fans, yeah. - So anyway, and then there's giving generously, and that has always been a joy of my life. Because God's given to me, I wanna give back. And back when there was the tsunami in Sri Lanka, our church helped to restore a village. And a restoration village there,
we rebuilt all the homes in this small village, and it was so on my heart to be part of that. So not only did I give my tithe during that season to the church, I felt the Lord's prompting to give an extra 5% towards restoration village. And for that year, year and a half, until all the homes were built, 5% out the door. But I wanted to give more and didn't have the means. So I was like, Lord, the next wedding cake booking I get, that's going to restoration village. Little did I know that soon after that, someone would come up to me in church and hand me an envelope saying, hey, somebody wanted me to give this to you, they gave it to me, don't know what it is, put it in the Bible, forgot about it till later that day, opened it up, found a sweet note of encouragement and a thousand dollars cash. And I'm like, restoration village, here it goes. So it was just a joy to keep the money moving, and trust that the God that brought a thousand dollars out of nowhere is gonna meet my needs. And I got to sew into others. And so I'll take you into year 2022, getting the college dream for Alyssa, Alyssa was Baylor, but we realized humbly that financially, apart from a miracle, it was not possible. And so we put the Baylor dream aside. She went to MCC, we did the thing, it's 2022, my car is in the ground.
It's functioning, but no air. And if you're gonna deliver a wedding cake in the summer, you gotta have air. So I drove the sweat mobile, borrowed cars for wedding deliveries, and made it through, but we had some real needs. And the word of the Lord in this house for that year was ignite the boiler room, which was talking about intercession and prayer and just letting God refuel us so that we can fuel out. And then one little blip of a word that it was gonna be a year of Jubilee. It was mentioned maybe only one time from the front, but I took it personally. And so later that month, as I was waiting on the Lord, I just felt this whisper from the Holy Spirit, saying prepare for a jaw-dropping experience. And I'm like, okay, I'll prepare for a jaw-dropping experience, whatever that means. So the year rolls on in April, I get a call, or we get contacted by an extended family member who wanted to give $30,000 towards Alyssa's college education. So there's the living expenses for her and then some. In May, I'm part of the prophetic ministry in our church, which you should sign up for a ministry slot, if you haven't. - Oh, yes, yeah. - Just saying. And we were going as a team to minister at the staff retreat, and it was the day after a giving Sunday, and they were sharing testimonies from the front
of all that God had done. And Jimmy and Joe talking about this, and that and the other, and that at the very end, somebody had given $10,000 into the benevolence fund, and he looks at me sitting in the back and says, so Laura Summersett, you have $10,000 for that car you need. And I'm like, what? Literally, my jaw hit the ground because I came to give that night, and I wasn't expecting anything. And so there's $40,000 total. In June, we got the call from MCC that Alyssa had gotten this full tuition scholarship for her last two years to be able to go to Baylor. So I'd written the $500 acceptance check, yeah. For her to get in. And then I was like, God, let this be the last check I ever write to Baylor University. Yes, amen. First check, last check, and it was all paid and her living expenses. paid mostly cash for that, my first ever brand new car. And that was back in the COVID time where you could get a used car. Everybody was trading used cars, but they were weightless for a new car. And the one I got ended up being red, which I'm a pink girl, if you know me. Not a flashy red girl, but I felt like God said, every time you get in this car, you're gonna know my love for you.
This is my love gift for you is a red car. It's in the parking lot. So anyway, in September, I, you know, those Instagram giveaways, signed up for one and won it. And it was a five month transformational mine renewal course through igniting hope ministries with Steve and Wendy Backland. And God just used it to continue to get out the old defeating mindsets that I had in the lies I kept telling myself and put in new ones. And then later that month, you know, I being divorced, we had child support sometimes. We didn't a lot of times. And in September, I got a deposit into my bank account for over $40,000, all the back child support that I was owed all those years. - Wow. - So, yeah, yeah. So some total, it's over $200,000. Unexpectedly came in in the year 2022, God's year of Jubilee in my life. And he's just always been faithful. And always still is faithful. And that's a year of Jubilee. And the thing, one of those affirmations I spoke over myself from that transformational mine renewal class that the Lord gave me is that I am set for life because I know him. I am set for life.
I'm a billionaire in Christ. No one can steal the wealth that I have in Jesus. No one can touch it. It is mine. And the takeaway I have for you is that God can do anything anytime, anywhere. And he delights to do it for me. - Amen. (congregation applauding) - Awesome. Show that picture of the wedding. There's Alyssa, Chase, and there's Mom, incredible Alyssa and her husband. Love God, walking with God, honoring God. And I just want to say this for Laura as well. She leaned into Jesus, the church, stayed faithful, stayed honoring to God, her relationships. And you know that year of Jubilee said, "Man, I'd love to have a year of Jubilee." Well, then live simply, work diligently, give generously for 22 years. And it creates the soil for God to be able to work with whatever you have presented before him. Thank you, Laura, for living out the values of the kingdom. Love you. So that's what we're gonna talk about today, working diligently. Now, I want to introduce you to another friend of mine. Many of you guys know Bill Adams. They've got a picture of him as a runner at Baylor.
Bill was a dear friend. He went to be with the Lord about three months ago. But Bill was a walk-on runner at Baylor and eventually made the team. And through his perseverance and hard work, he became an all-American. He set the record in the 10,000 meters that stood for 21 years at Baylor. More than that, Bill's faithful to Jesus, faithful to share the word of God. He worked for athletes in action. And then he served as a missionary with us, always living off support, living simply, but committed to daily sowing the gospel and to everybody that he met. So Bill and I met together for about 10 years every week when we were in town together, just talking about the kingdoms, and stirring one another in the Lord, sharing the gospel together, et cetera. And during that time, I started running marathons and I needed somebody to help me figure this out. And so Bill, of course, the best coach in the world. And his whole deal was, Jimmy, most people don't get this, but you have to put hay in the barn to have what you need when you hit the wall. Now, I had not run a marathon yet when he first shared this with me. So he would line out, you gotta do so many miles before you run this marathon.
You have to prepare, 'cause he said, "You're gonna see," when it gets to between miles 18 and 22, that people start falling off, didn't prepare well to go through the wall when everything breaks down. So Bill taught me how to do hay in the barn and I got to mile 18 on my first one and exactly like he said people were falling to the right or left. I'm not moving fast but I'm moving. I still got hay in the barn just enough to get through the wall and that would be the case throughout the little running journey but more than anything what that would re-solidify in my mind is the biblical principle of you reap what you sow. You have to sow to the Spirit to reap from the Spirit. You have to sow into your provision in order to receive provision. Let me give you a couple of scriptures to get started. In all labor there's profit but mere talk leads only to poverty. Today's going to be a conviction day. You're just going to let the Word of God wash over you. 2 Corinthians 9, 6. Now this I say he who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. These are key scriptures. There's 100 or more scriptures around work and diligence throughout the Bible and I encourage you to Google this after our time this morning. But let me just paint the big picture. Start from the beginning as I often do. Genesis 1, here's how God created us and what he created us for. Genesis 1, 27, 28, God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 2, 15, then the Lord God took the man, put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. So here's the deal. Every one of you is alive today because God wanted you. You're made in the image of God born by the grace of God and you also have the grace and the ability to partner with God to fulfill his will and to provide for your family. There is a partnership that he created you for that he gets great glory from. It says he put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. Or another way to say that, God has given all of us a domain that we're to take dominion over in the name of Jesus so that the rule and reign of Jesus can be seen in that domain. Let me be practical. Wherever you work is a domain that God has given you to bring in the kingdom of God. And the way you work is whether God is glorified or not or glorified or not. So you have this domain. You have this place. If you're a mom, if you're a dad, that is your domain. God by his
word has given you what you need to partner with a minute. If you are a student, if you are a high school athlete, whatever you are, if you feel that God has led you there, you're now his partner to bring his glory in that. And the way that you live and the way that you act and the way that you work. And when you work with God and when you're diligent in that place of your domain, there is always more than enough for your heart and for the needs of those around you. Let me take another shot at this. When you are born again, you're born into the family of God. You are now a son or daughter of God. And the scripture says you are now God's partners, not just for provision, but to declare his name. Ephesians 2 10 says this, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that you should walk in them." So God has worked for you today, loving him, caring for others, being generous, providing for your family, whatever, praying for your needs. But it is a partnership and God has already set you up. He made you a worker. He put his spirit within you so you could do it. And then he gave you the opportunity to feel if you'll just open your eyes and let him lead you. I love another passage that reaffirms this 1 Corinthians 3, 6 through 9, "I planted a polished water, but God causes the growth." So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now, he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Right? You got it? If you sow, you receive reward. If you don't, there's nothing to receive. Okay, we're going to get there. Hey, hang with me, care, buddy. You said, "Hello, good morning. I just came to be encouraged." Here you go. You are. You're getting about to get really encouraged. "For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. We are God's fellow workers, every one of you is a partner with God for his glory and his purposes." All right, because I know this is still let me say it this way, I'll pull up this chair to make the illustration. So we often struggle, what's my part, what's God's part? In the theological terms, that could be the top line and bottom line of theology, it could be, what is the sovereignty of God? And what is the agency of man? What's my part?
What's God's part and how does that work? And we tend to lean, oh, it's all about sovereignty, I don't want to do anything. And then, man, I got to get up and do everything. And so let me give you an illustration. So there were two farmers and they had two fields, side by side, and they sat on the front porch at the end of the evenings and reflected on their day. One of the farmers had a field that looked really scrubby, it was overgrown, it had rocks and everything in it. The other farmer's field, he had been working hard to remove the rocks, remove the weeds, to get it set for planting and he had done the work and planted the seed. And they would sit on the porch and they would talk theology. And the one farmer would say, man, it's just the sovereignty of God. You're just way too uptight. You work way too hard, man. God's going to do it, you know? We don't have anything to do with it, it's just God. And so I'm just sitting here praying, rocking on the porch, having a great time. I'm super peaceful. I don't know why you're so uptight. The other guy's a little more tired, but he's sitting there and he's saying, hey, it was a good day's work. We got the field in, I got the rocks out.
We accomplished something today and I believe that there's going to be a harvest. And so, you know, the deal, then they're praying that rain comes, the rains come. And then the one guy, his crop, it's just a bumper crop, it's beautiful, it's amazing. The other guy, there's nothing. And when they come back to the porch, the guy said, man, I don't have much time today 'cause I got to get in and take in the harvest. And the other guy said, well, I'm still waiting for mine. Why are you so uptight? Well, you go out there and work, all just keep waiting. Well, what happens? The guy who waits is bankrupt. The one who works has a harvest, not just for himself and abundance for others. And I bet he was a real nice guy and share with the other guy that didn't believe you had to do anything. So, here's the deal. In sovereignty versus free will, instead of trying to pull down that concept for you to understand it, why don't we exalt both really high? God in his sovereignty has created you to be a co-worker with him. In his sovereignty, he said, if you sow you will reap. In his sovereignty, he's made us workers alongside of him,
not by our effort, but by the grace of God. And the beauty of that, then there's always enough when we partner with God. But if we lean too far on, it's just sovereignty, we end up empty and bankrupt. If we lean too much that it's just us, then we don't see the rain. We don't see the provision and that becomes a toil of bitterness instead of a toil of joy. You almost with me? Let's try another scripture. Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you'll call upon me, come and pray to me, I'll listen to you. When you seek me, you'll find me, when you search from you with all your heart, and I will be found by you declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations. So here we go everybody, does everybody believe? And if you don't, just at least theologically believe it, if you don't feel it, God has good plans for you. Anybody in agreement with that, raise your hand. God, all right, amen. So God has good plans for all of us. And then it says, but you then need to call on the Lord
and pray, and you gotta surrender everything to him. Why, so you can hear him rightly. It's not to get a good plan, God's already got a good plan. But you gotta surrender you, and you gotta lean into God, so that you can hear that plan, and then move in that plan, and it says you'll find God and his provisions for you. All right, we good? Somebody say amen, give me a little help. All right, okay, here we go. All right, so how are we gonna do this? How are we gonna find God's provision for us by working diligently, and what does that look like? So point one, we already said this. You gotta sow seed. Repeat scripture, Proverbs 14, 23. In all labor, everybody say all labor. There is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. So I told you guys the story. When Lauren and I first were married, we felt that God spoke to us to sell everything, move into the inner city, and start a little mission training school. Now, they didn't have any money for the training school, so we weren't hired, we weren't on the staff, we were doing it all volunteer. So what we had was all day Monday, we did evangelism in the neighborhoods, and Sunday, we served the church.
So all of these days, we had spiritual work to do that God had led us to do, but we were not being compensated for it. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturday afternoons, Laura and I, we mowed lawns. Well, I mowed lawns, she didn't mow lawns. We substitute taught, we worked eight to 10 hour days doing what we could. It provided about half of our needs, and the other half we were working diligently in that thing that we were called to. And we believe that God spoke to us. If you'll be diligent and you'll be faithful to what I've called you to do, all your needs will be provided for. We did not tell anyone our needs. That was our rule of thumb, because we were on a faith journey learning from God, but we never missed a bill payment, never missed a rent payment, always had food to eat, and we made it all the way through. And God built a testimony not of the dollars and cents, but a testimony of being faithful and trusting him with the outcome. Now, that's an extreme example to say this. So many times we are sitting around waiting for the perfect job, but not sowing into anything that allows God to provide for you.
So instead of waiting around the perfect job, get a job. And if nobody will give you a job, start volunteering, picking up trash, doing something and somebody will see you as a hard worker, and they'll want you to work for them. There is not a business owner in this room or online, or in this city that doesn't want a loyal, faithful, hardworking person, and there is a way for those people to find their provision through their work. All right, so you take what you have and you start sowing, and instead of getting fixated on this certain dollar amount, you say, God, take this sowing, take my file those in two fish and multiply it for our need. All right, second, there we do. We sow, second, we are faithful and diligent. The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced labor. We raised our kids on this whole proverb, and anybody can take it no matter what age you are. So here it is, read it again. The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced labor. All right, so here's how it works. When we raised our kids, we had little chore charts, and they got a nickel for each chore a long time ago, by the way, I'm sure it's up to a quarter. So they got a nickel for each chore, and at the end of seven days,
then they got their allowance based on what they did, and they were simple things. Make your bag, clean the room, take out the trash, just things that we asked them to do. Now, if they did it without being asked and with joy, then they got their nickel. If they didn't do it, and we had to ask them, or make them do it, if you will, they still had to do it, they just didn't get compensated for it, all right? We were training them theologically, by the way, and that God has asked us to do things that we need to do regardless, but his desires to reward us for those things. As we are faithful and diligent, there's at least the satisfaction of honoring God, but in the basics, there is then the provision for your life. So when it came to school work, our kids, whether they took them three hours to get through an assignment, or 30 minutes depending on their gift and grace, they had to do all of it so that they'd learn the principle of being diligent. So if you do all your work, then whatever the outcome is is fine, but I know that I sowed the seed educationally to be able to reap the reward, to be able to graduate, to be able to go to the next grade, eventually to go on to college
and to be able to be successful in life. So these diligent pieces are super key in everything else. One of the other things we did when our kids went on mission trips, we allowed them to send out a letter of support, but only if they paid for half of the trip. So we would have them work so that they contributed and so to it. So when they were asking others who also had worked hard to contribute, it was a partnership. A lot of y'all liked that one. You're like, yeah, I wonder if that was going on with somebody. Yeah, amen, right? So many things you guys, but we go to the bigger levels, whether you are wealthy, whether you're middle class, whether you're poor, whether you're single, whether you're married, whatever stage it retired, whatever stage of life you're in by sowing through work and being diligent, there's not only enough, but there's always more than enough. And maybe your diligence, if you're wealthy, is to find out how to be a good steward with what God's given, but maybe if you're in the other side of the coin, you can trust that if I am diligent All right, I put down here a note to the remote worker,
and self-directed worker. Wow, that's a new one, isn't it? Yeah, I never thought I'd have to have this part of the teaching, but here's the deal. There's a new reality, right? We're all hoping that I don't have to go into work, and I can be my own boss, if you will, or I can work remote, et cetera. It's a new phenomenon, but here's my experience. Not many people are good at ordering their days and working diligently when there's no external accountability. Mm, there's some man's out there, so here's the deal. If you are in that opportunity to work remotely, order your days. Be accountable to somebody and follow through with what it is that you have to do. And you say, well, I can make all my money in half a day. Man, praise God, everybody wishes that. But here's the point, if you do that, then what are you gonna do with the other half of the day? Find a way to volunteer, find a way to serve somebody, find a way to build something, be a worker, because in that is your covering, your protection, and your provision. So here's what I would say, if you're a remote worker, three things, do you have a system for how you work? What do you do in the gaps? Because most people drift, okay? So somebody will say, when people have too much money
and too much time, they always drift towards something sinful or something definitely not as useful. Now it's you don't even have to have money if you have too much time and a phone, you're gonna drift into spaces you don't need to deal with. So the question is, everybody say fill in the gaps, say fill in the gaps. When we have gaps, how are we filling them in? Do we have a system? Do we have an accountability? Because we wanna be diligent and faithful to Jesus first, or working on the Lord, to the people that we're accountable to, knowing that the provision is in our work. So what happens when we live these lives of faithful diligence and sowing, the scripture says that you will be prosperous, that means there'll be enough, and I believe enough plus the ability to share with others. Proverbs 14, 23, again, in all labor, everybody say all labor. There is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 10, 4, poor as he who works with the negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Rich does not mean I'm a billionaire, rich means there's enough for me and enough to share. And I believe this is God's heart for us. Proverbs 12, 11, he who tills his land,
will have plenty of bread, but he who pursues worthless things lacks sense. Another way, you're foolish if we don't till our lamb. Are we good? Are they all right? Am I getting under everybody's head? All right, that's good, that's a point. Word of God sets us free, so here's the deal. So what do we do if somebody's a workaholic and working too much, or why would we work too much? Here's what Proverbs 23 says, "Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone, for wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies towards the heavens." Now, here's the deal. I believe if you're diligent and faithful, there's certain people in the room that will be extremely wealthy. God will prosper you. That means you just get the beautiful opportunity to learn what it means to partner with God as a steward. You get to be a greater steward than you ever could have imagined. For most of us, it's our daily bread plus, but there's a satisfaction in it when we're not striving outside of the grace of God. So here are some pitfalls when you're seeking to get rich and it ends up being working too much.
When you are living out of fear or out of faith or out of greed instead of out of peace, we will strive for certain lifestyles that will put undue stress on us and the relationships around us. If you are a parent, if you have a family, man, we believe in hard work. It says work six days and to rest a full one. And we know that doesn't work out in a perfect rhythm, but let's just say this. We tell our full-time workers at Antioch, they have full-time exempt staff that 40 to 60 hours is your expectation. That means we're not doing any less than 40. And if you're over 60 consistently, we wanna talk and figure out a way to balance it out so that you can work in the rhythm. and everything else, you start pulling at the fabric of your own soul and it starts damaging people around you. You may get yours in the end, but somebody else lost theirs. The love they needed, the care they needed, the peace they needed, the help they needed. This has been my experience. Listen guys, I've been with billionaires literally. That's not just a flippant phrase to obviously homeless people who live on the street. And in the end, the bottom line is if you don't find that resolve of enough, you will break something in you or someone else along the way. And sometimes it is impossible to repair in this life. It says this in Proverbs 16, "Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice." Check it at the door, man. What in you needs to have a certain house, certain cars, certain clothes, certain status? What is that external thing driving you that literally is causing you to cheat, still live, fight, bite, work in every way you can? Because when you get there, it's never enough. So let's just help your early work. Be faithful, be diligent, but not to get something in this world that is so fleeting. Paul captured it best in this. He said,
"I am what I am by the grace of God. I know who I am. I'm good, whether I have a little or I whether I have a lot. I'm good. I'm content. I want to be clean, well groomed. I want to take care of what I have. I want to share with others." It's not a lifestyle, please, thing. I just want to be content in it. And he says, "I am what I am by the grace of God. His grace towards me to not purveying. He made me this way to create wealth. He made me this way just to be a diligent worker. He made me this way even in my leanness to learn how to be secure and content. I am what I am by the grace of God. His grace towards me to not purveying. But I labored more than all of you. I'm a hard worker in everything that God's given me to. I labored more than all of you, yet not I, but the grace of God within me." So you can't say, "I'm not a hard worker because I'm committed to rest." There's a lot of stuff out here these days about rest, but the rest is an internal peace with God, not the labor of hard work with God. That was deep. Somebody write that down and send it back to me. All right. So, but these days, I would say the majority of people are not working too hard. It might be too little. Another word for that would be laziness. All right, ready? Here's some encouragement. Second, Thessalonians 10, 3, excuse me, 10 through 13. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone is not willing to work, then he's not going to eat either. Whoa. That's kind of heavy, isn't it? So once again, find something for your hand to do that's meaningful, purposeful, God-honoring. Regardless of the compensation, be a faithful worker. And of course, I know that it matters to be able to take care of your family. But all right, just start working, just start sewing, just start being faithful. Learn how to be a partner with God in the workplace or in the kingdom of God, whatever God gives your hand to do. And it'll be enough. God will make sure that you're taken care of. For we hear that some of you are leading an undisciplined life doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. So some of you, Jokers, got a lot of time on social media telling me how to live my life. I'd like you to get a life and find a job. Just thought I'd say that. I mean, I had the opportunity. If you have that much time, find something meaningful to do with it like work. Okay, and serve other people. Now, such persons, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoa, he's pulling out Jesus. This isn't just about hard work. This is in the name of Jesus. Be faithful, be diligent. Because again, if you learn to work with your hands, if you learn to work for your daily bread, you'll learn to serve Jesus and his purpose in his kingdom. With joy, if you're generous in this
life, if you're a harbor, you'll be generous in all kingdom activity. But as for you, brother, do not grow weary in doing good. Okay, we good? A couple more thoughts here. What about this whole deal about I can get rich quick? Okay, I want to just, how about a scripture to go with that. We'll have plenty of bread, if you work. It's gonna be everything you need. But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense. So let me give you worthless things. The lottery, okay? If you're literally giving money away in hopes of getting money that you didn't earn. Okay, I'll just leave that thought. (audience laughing) Let's try gambling. Okay, so we already talked a little bit about this, but this is going, so let's give my little draft kings there. Okay, so you say, well, it's legal now and some of my sports heroes are encouraging it. Well, just because somebody worldly is encouraging you to do something ungodly, does that mean you ought to do it? Absolutely not. Marijuana is legal in most places. Does that mean now you're just gonna go get addicted to marijuana and everything else? Don't make your answer yes, by the way. The answer is no. All right, just like marijuana is a gateway drug, this is a gateway drug.
Now here's why I say that. Look at the little byline gambling problem, call 1-800-Gambler or 1-800-My-Reset or 1-800-Visit-Gambling-Help-Line-MA.org. Don't leave that up there. You guys, they know you're gonna get addicted. They put the recovery group at the bottom of the page. You say, no, I'm the outlier man, I'm not gonna get addicted. If the world knows you're gonna get addicted and the scripture speaks, I think, without they didn't have a gambling in here, but it speaks to foolishness, then don't be dumb, right? And don't leave somebody else there, you guys. You say, maybe I'm strong, you know, I'm dealing with my extra money, I'm having fun, but somebody else is gonna get really, really hurt. All right, here's another one on gambling just since we didn't make enough headway there. Polymarket, you can gamble on whether Jimmy Sauber's gonna go to the grocery store tomorrow and you can, they're now gambling on everything and it's kind of funny actually, it's kind of silly, sounds kind of fun until you get hooked, right? So here's what Polymarket Warren's about, let's get our little lightning. Trading is risky, 100% loss can incur. They're already telling you it's not gonna work. And you may win for a while, but that winning gets addictive
and then all of a sudden you lose, if they didn't make money off of you, they wouldn't offer it to you. All right, all right. (audience laughing) Okay, let's see, where else we wanna go? What do you do when you don't have to work? Hey, I got an inheritance, I made all of my money, rolled out stock deal, I'm doing great, I don't have to work anymore. Then you find a way to volunteer, meaningfully work unto the Lord, you find a way to serve others, you find a way for stewardship, you've been given an incredible privilege, not to do whatever you wanna do, you've become an incredible privilege to steward God's resources in a way that could be amazing for the glory of God. So everybody has called to be a worker until the day they die, not out of striving, not because of trying to prove anything or not because you have to toil, it is the right rhythm of God and that work maybe again is an incredible volunteer. There's so many things that people don't have money for that they have need for service towards. Come talk to us at the church, if you say, man, I got all this time, come on, we'll find something for you to do,
but here's the point, don't not be a worker in God's field, in the kingdom, in the natural. And just a word about this, for those who have extra and are investors and all that, here's my deal, I said it in the opening message a couple weeks ago, if you have extra invest, I am pro-investment, invest, make your money work, be a good steward, all that, but you do it with your extra, not with your family's daily bread. You do not leverage your family on what God has provided in your hopes of something working out that has no guarantee. It's called wisdom and it's called faithfulness. All right. Hey, yeah, come on, y'all like this, all right, great. (congregation applauding) Well, because you like it, I'm gonna pause. All right, so last couple of thoughts. What are we shooting for, you guys, in the end? whatever you do to give glory to God, work unto God, unto man to be hard workers, diligent, faithful, loyal, bring the dominion of God into every area of life for the glory of God and to train the next generation to do the same so there is bread in our house and food on our table and enough for others as well. Paul captured it this way, not that I speak from what, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I'm in, I know how to get along with humble means, I also know how to live in prosperity and in every circumstance I've learned the secret, the secret, it's a secret, you've got to dig for it, the secret I've learned from God in the Scriptures, I learned the secret of being filled and going hungry about having an abundance and suffering need, Proverbs 38 and 9, keep deception and lie as far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food that is
my portion that I may be full, that I may not be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord or that I not be in one and steal and profane the name of my God? God will provide, has provided and will continue to provide enough for his co-workers, his co-labourers who have found his ways over their own. Okay, one last story, the guys will come out, ban will come out. I started this story of Bill Adams, my buddy who was the runner and servant of the Lord and at his funeral three months ago in here, hundreds of people watching online and many of them said, Bill led me to the Lord, Bill helped me walk with God, I shared the gospel for the first time and I began to calculate it out, I realized that for our work in Russia there was a season where Bill would run sports camps every summer sharing the gospel and two thirds of our current leaders, 30 years later, all came to the Lord through Bill's sports camps. I talked to so many people who have shared the gospel with hundreds of people, maybe thousands, Bill had trained them, Bill had partnered with them, Bill has showed them and I realized that thousands of people are no Jesus because of Bill Adams' witness for Jesus. He lived simply, he worked diligently, he gave generously, really a person that very few people in the world really know or would even look at him and say, oh, there's somebody great in the world, but I guarantee you when he cut the tape on his last day in the presence of God, thousands of people cheered, you're here Bill, thank you, thank you for sowing to eternity with your life and your resources and your message in not just this earth. Why are we trying to learn how to work diligently so that we can be free to do the will of God and we can be a part of what he's doing and then when we come on our last day to the throne of grace, there will be a rich reward, it'll be rich, it'll be people's lives and you'll rejoice in the presence of God that you didn't live for yourself. You lived for the glory of the King. Amen. Let's stand together. If our prayer teams can come to the front quickly and up on the landing and I say this often, but I just want to say it again, this is the most important part of the message right here. This is it because what you do with the word that was so and will determine your life. Don't miss this response moment. So what I want to encourage you guys to do, you're welcome to start coming down for prayer at any time along the way. But I wanted to say every time we gather and that is not an exaggeration. Everybody has healed. A lady came up to me, the last service and said few services ago, I had degeneration, what is it called, degeneration, whatever that is, she had it. And we prayed
for her up here at the front. She went to the doctor last week. It totally is gone. No degeneration. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that beautiful? But every Sunday, there's a small thing or a large thing to have. Every Sunday somebody's oppression gets broken. Somebody gets hope. Somebody gets help. People come to Jesus. So if you have any need and you're moved at all by God to get prayer, just start coming. We want to pray for you. And we're privileged today to have Joe Ewan with us visiting and he has some words from God for us. He's been used by the Lord throughout the world and our lives prophetically and asked him to come share at this time. Thank you, Lord. You know, last service with some people came. I was looking at Jimmy's stick man today and realized there's maybe some people who can't open their hands in the way that they would want to be able to open their hands. And we are knowing that people with oil this morning. that sometimes because you know just the Lord was laying on my heart there are people here with all the injuries to your arm or your leg or your knee even your hip whatever it might be that stops you now from doing the particular job that you love doing and I believe it's a day of miracles yeah come on I believe God wants to heal and restore so if you have something like that that's gone on then just come forward there's also a word about headaches you know migraine headaches is often something that stops people from being able to fulfill their work and to to be free from those those kind of things and God wants to set you free today so let's believe God for a miracle there's someone up in the ball is there a elevator takes people up there yeah I guess it works I don't know it's okay I just believe that someone loves to sit in the ball and they get the elevator up there and because of mobility and I believe God wants to touch your life yeah we have people up there on the landing wave wave prayer team on the landing yeah okay there's people up there that wants to pray for you this morning so Father we release your grace today yeah we release your love today Lord and Father we want to thank you for your miracle working power let's agree for miracle working power this morning and let's engage in it together that God would move in and through our lives in Jesus name so the guys are gonna lead us in a worship song again you're either right there saying God what are you doing at me praying with a friend next to you you're coming down for prayer but engage these last moments and at the end I'm going to come up and pray for us to seal the work that God's taught you're loving voice I've heard a thousand times calling me out on the waves to the place where I can only stand my faith it's what I made for anyway I say yes
Lord I say yes Lord I say yes my life is your noise when you call me I'll come running I'll say yes my life is yours for there is no one else like you you want my heart when you rip that veil into but I hold nothing in these hands just your promise to be with me to the end Jesus leave me on again I say yes Lord I say yes my life is yours when you call me I'll come running I'll say yes my life is yours hey we want to do one last thing here if you're watching online our friends in prison watching on the pando app or anyone in this room if you don't know Jesus then this is your moment I'm going to say a simple prayer and then close us but everyone else who's still here could you just pray for somebody who doesn't know Jesus if you already know him just agree with him who doesn't know him would be drawn to him. If you need Jesus, pray this simple prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I need you. We need you, Jesus. I need you. Forgive me of my sense. I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe you rose from the dead. I believe Jesus, just pray with me that you made a way to the Father just for me. So I come, I come, Lord Jesus. I am yours, I am yours. I give you my life, I give you my sin, and I receive your love and power. Now Lord, I pray for every person calling on your name. You said whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I proclaim them power free from the power of sin and death because of the blood of Jesus and the finished work once and for all that you've done for them. Lord, we thank you today, O God.
We thank you that salvation has come to their heart to their house, to their home. And we honor you. Thank you, Jesus, for love. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for your presence. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Everybody said amen.
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