[0:00] Right before we jump right back into Luke chapter 24, I forgot that I mentioned that I was going to announce the next book that we'll go to on Sunday morning. And the next book that we will move to is the book of Titus.
[0:11] So we were going to take a trip to an island starting in the middle of September. We'll go to the Isle of Crete and we'll spend about six or seven weeks there. If you've been talking to me the last couple of weeks, you probably knew this is where we were going because I've already began to study it.
[0:23] And I'm really looking forward to our time. Today in our all-in volunteers meeting, when all of you are invited to attend in the Kids Wing at 415, we do this monthly. Well, this will be our first month we do it, inviting all those who like to get involved in different ministries and volunteering.
[0:37] We'll meet in there and I'll share with you some of the things that will be happening between now and the middle of September on Sunday mornings. All right, back in Luke chapter number 24, paying special attention to verse number 49, it says, And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.
[0:59] But tarry ye. I first started considering what that means. This week I get to go to Chile, South America. Normally you travel south to warm up. I'm going to travel far enough south that I get to cool down.
[1:12] It's going to be between 30 and 40 degrees. I'm going to be meeting outside, several churches coming together. I've really been looking forward to this. And I've been trying to pick up a few Spanish words along the way.
[1:23] And so I hope I get this one right. So I was looking at this word, tarry, because that's not a word we use very often, unless we're talking about tarry Gabriel or somebody. We don't use the word like this. I'm sure some of you would say it differently, but I would say every version of it the same way, all right?
[1:37] All my vowels sound alike. But tarry here, which means to wait or to stay, or kedaos. Kedaos? Kedaos?
[1:48] How's that sound, Andrew? That sound pretty good, kedaos? Andrew's so positive, that's why I ask him and not somebody else, all right? Which means to wait, or in Greek, the same word that would mean wait or stay.
[2:00] It's also be found to tell somebody to sit down. This is really significant, to sit down and to wait. The Great Commission, the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, after Jesus tells that to the disciples, take this to the nations, he tells them, stay, wait, and sit down.
[2:22] That ought to be surprising to you, as we consider the story and how it's been building, and it has a purpose. It's been a few months since I reminded the young people in this church that I was a great basketball player in high school.
[2:35] I know you don't believe it now, all right? And that's why I can't play softball. I'm built for basketball, all right? For playing basketball, I'll find another sport, all right? But at my last play in my high school year, at the last game at home, the basketball coach had me throw the ball out of bounds.
[2:51] I was the point guard. I went over to the side. I was dribbling the ball. I said, what do you want me to do? And he pointed to the rafters, and he said, throw the ball there. And I'm like, are you sure about this?
[3:02] And so that was my last play. I threw it into the rafters, and I sat down beside the coach. And as the game went on, he began to just talk to me about life and about listening and leading and all that.
[3:15] And he said, the greatest play that you're going to have is just to follow what the coach said. I'm thinking, that was not the greatest play I had in mind, all right? I wanted to go out with a bang. But it had a purpose.
[3:26] That sitting down had a purpose. And honestly, it meant more to me in the days to come than anything else that I could have done. That little conversation while the game was going on, while we sat down.
[3:38] Well, Jesus, unlike the coach, he certainly has a very clear purpose why he told all the disciples, I want you to take this message to the entire world. It's very important that the entire world goes.
[3:50] But you can't leave without something. It's that important. To go without it will lead to an empty, fruitless life that is filled with activity, but it will not bring the joy that is needed in your life.
[4:04] And so he says, wait. He says, sit down. And that's what happens. Verse 46. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, And thus it behoved Christ to suffer. It was needful for Christ to suffer.
[4:15] And the rise from the dead the third day, and repentance and remission of sins should be preached in the name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Repentance, remission, nations, all these should be words that are found often in our conversations, in the foyer, and in our homes, and in our lives.
[4:34] Repentance, remissions, and the nations, those things that Jesus said to his disciples. That first word, that remission of sins, this is a message that we all should desire.
[4:45] We should all want. It's built into us. Romans 2 tells us that by our conscience, we know that we are sinners, that we were born broken, that we're in need of reconciliation with our Creator.
[4:57] And so we have a desire for it. All people have a desire for it. It's our understanding, it's our job to help them understand where in which it will be found. It's that need for forgiveness.
[5:09] What did Jesus say, or what did John the Baptist say when he saw Jesus? In John 1.29, The next day, John saith, Jesus came unto them and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which, what? Taketh away.
[5:21] That's remission. Remission is the taking away of sin from us. And that's what is the message that we're preaching, is that that sin, that burden of sin and guilt and shame that you have, it can be taken away from you.
[5:33] As far as what? The east is from the west. That is a message that everybody desires. You ought to be in here today, and you ought to say, I know this message, and I came here today to rejoice in the fact that my sins have been taken to a cross, and Jesus Christ died for me, and I'm here to celebrate that with other saints, or you're in here today, and you desire that remission of sins.
[5:55] Our sins, they were personal. They were towards a perfect, an innocent, and a loving Savior. Often when you don't think of something being personal, you don't think that it's hurting anybody.
[6:08] It's just against the HOA. It's just against the government. It's just against some nebulous group that doesn't really exist. That's why people, they want you to know that you're hurting a person.
[6:20] In nature, they'll talk about Mother Nature. What's a sermon without embarrassing one of my children? Thatcher is the subject of the day. One of the first field trips, I went on with him at school. We were going around, and they were talking about littering, and they talked about how you need to take care of the environment, but they kept saying, you don't want to hurt Mother Nature.
[6:39] They kept saying, you don't want to hurt, you don't want to litter, because that's bad for Mother Nature. So when we got done with lunch, and we're all standing there with our trays, Thatcher says, where's your recycle bin?
[6:52] And they said, we don't have a recycle bin, where Thatcher begins to die laughing, and explaining to all of his friends why that was comical. And then they're looking at me, to get the kids to stop laughing, I'm like, I think it's pretty funny too, all right?
[7:04] How do you not have a recycle bin? After that three-hour sermon you just preached to us, about Mother Nature. But what's the reason there, is that if you just throw it out to the field, who really cares? But if you're hurting a person, they want you to know that it's personal.
[7:18] I want you to recognize today, that our sin, it's personal. It was against a loving Savior. And so we know that of Peter in the story, if you've been on this journey with us, Peter denied Christ, the one that he'd been following, that he loved, and he denied him, and he hadn't got to see him again.
[7:34] So when word came to him, that the tomb was empty, he runs. He gets outrun by his friend, we know. But when he gets there, maybe after he catches his breath, there was nothing that was keeping Peter out of that tomb, where he saw an empty tomb.
[7:49] And it says that he began to wonder. There was some hope that came into the story, because he says, am I going to have another chance to see Jesus? Am I going to receive forgiveness, for the way in which I had denied him?
[8:03] The Bible tells us, all the way back in Psalms, against thee and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. That's what David said. He didn't just sin against his family.
[8:14] He didn't just sin against the kingdom. He was sinning against a loving Savior. And when we sin, it's against Christ. But forgiveness is possible through him.
[8:26] He is the victim of our sin, but he is also the suffering Savior. Luke 24, 46. I've read it. It says, Thus it is written, that it behooved, or that it was needful for Christ, to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
[8:41] Your sins are charged to his account, and he hangs on a tree for your sins, though he was sinless. And this is what it means when we say that Jesus would bear our sins. Our sins, we were acquitted of our sins because of the resurrection.
[8:55] This is how it says in Romans 4, 25. And who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. And we have many wonderful songs where we celebrate this.
[9:06] When Jesus Christ arose from the dead, it showed that our sins have been paid for. 1 Corinthians 15. If the resurrection wouldn't have happened, we would still be in our sins.
[9:17] It would not have been taken away from us. You and I would have that today. Of all the things you have in here, how many of you have a very colorful calendar? You write out everything that you do, and if you didn't have it written down, after you do it, you write it down and check it.
[9:32] How many of you are like that? All right. A few of you expected to be like that. I don't think a few of you are being honest this morning. All right. And then all the things you have to do. I'll say this until the day I die.
[9:43] If you had not had the remission of your sins, that should be number one on your to-do list every day of your life. That's all you should ever worry about. It's all you should ever be concerned about is how do I get forgiveness of these sins.
[9:57] But today, I woke up with a colorful calendar, but I did not have on that calendar the fine remissions of sins. My sins have been taken away from me. And so we can sing, Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph over his foes.
[10:10] He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose. Hallelujah. Christ arose. We could sing it so many different ways. It's essential for you to understand your need of your forgiveness of sins.
[10:25] In Luke chapter number four, Jesus is going to quote a passage out of Isaiah 61 verse 1 where it says that, He came, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me for He has anointed me. He was saying that, He preached the gospel to the poor or to the meek, to those that recognize that they are broken, that they are poor.
[10:43] He was not just speaking of those that are economically poor. He was saying those that recognize their need of a Savior. Thomas Boston, a great Scottish pastor, once said, If people knew my heart, I wouldn't have four friends left in Scotland.
[11:00] He was a man simply being honest about his sins in his own heart. If people knew my heart, I would have zero friends in Scotland. I think I already have zero friends in Scotland. But I don't know how we came up with the number of four because if somebody knew my heart, I don't know that I would have four friends left in this city.
[11:17] I think if we're all honest in here and recognize that we were broken and that we were in need of a Savior, that Jesus Christ, we need him to die in our place and recognize that.
[11:29] That's not everybody's heart though. There could be, there's some among us here today listening or online that you don't believe that. That is not the message of the time.
[11:40] You see, the devil wants you to deny that you are a sinner. He wants you to take whatever you do and redefine it not as sin. The devil doesn't want to do that because he wants to help you with your self-esteem.
[11:51] He does it because he doesn't want you to see that you have a need for a Savior. 2 Corinthians 4 talks about it being blinded. Our minds are being blinded by the light of the glorious gospel.
[12:03] Today, hell is filled with people who think they should be in heaven, but heaven is filled with people who know they should be in hell. Every one of us in here today do not deserve that Jesus Christ would die for us.
[12:17] We were born sinners and then as we grew older, we became sinners by choice. And so today we should recognize that we are the poor, we are the meek, we are the broken that he came for.
[12:29] So there's remission of sins and we're so thankful for that. So that's part of the message to go and preach that there's forgiveness, that people need to hear that message. The second thing that we're told is the message of repentance.
[12:41] That's helping open people's eyes through their need that they have where they need forgiveness. Repentance is one of the most positive words in our Christian vocabulary.
[12:52] It refers to the turning from a destructive path and moving instead towards God's plan for our life. This is simple and it's short, but it's so wonderful. It's this.
[13:03] Hell is avoidable. And we say praise God. Hell is avoidable. This message of repentance, turning from the sins in which we love to a holy God that we are called to love.
[13:16] Christ didn't call on any of us to clean up our lives, but he was commanding us to lay down our lives and there's a world of difference. I just can't do anything with this. It is beyond my ability.
[13:28] And so we hear the day, we say we call people to repentance. We call to recognize that they are in need of forgiveness. And hell is not for the worst people, but it's for unrepentant people, the devil and his angels.
[13:41] So we lovingly preach the message that Christ would preach where he would say in Luke 13, 5, I tell you nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. When it said that Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve other people, Jesus served by preaching this message of repentance.
[13:58] Peter at the most famous sermon of his in Pentecost in Acts 2, 38, he says, repent and be baptized every one of you. Paul continuing in the book of Acts, towards the end of it, he calls Jews and Greeks towards repentance, towards God and faith, towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
[14:15] And if you and I do not preach this loving, necessary message of repentance, we're only left with one or two messages, which is this, try better next time or don't worry about it, which isn't only unloving, but it's damning.
[14:32] So we tell people, don't try harder. We don't say it doesn't matter. What we tell them is, you can come to Christ. You can receive forgiveness of your sins.
[14:43] We call people to repentance. We call them to see their need of a Savior. And we do this by living as people who recognize that we have been forgiven, by sharing our testimony, by telling them that they will come to the Father the same way which we have come, which is crying out and asking for forgiveness.
[15:01] Because repentance is God's only required response to sin. It's the only reasonable response. We must lovingly call this world to repentance. There will never be a peace between them and Christ if there is peace between them and their sin.
[15:20] People need to recognize that they have sinned against a loving Savior that is offering them forgiveness. And so this message of repentance and forgiveness is a message that we all have the responsibility of sharing.
[15:35] And that's what he tells his disciples at the end of the book of Luke before he will ascend up into heaven. Repentance or missions of sin should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning at Jerusalem.
[15:48] And they saw it clearly. And if you and I saw it clearly, then we would not have to be prodded. We would have to be restrained. This is a great moment. Their hearts would have been so fired up, they wouldn't be able to contain their joy if they understand in that moment the momentum and the desire for them to move forward.
[16:09] A man, Blaise Pascal, in 1654 is reading and taking some notes on this passage. And he had a place of just real biblical clarity. And when he came to this reading, he wrote down the word fire.
[16:22] And then below it he wrote these words, joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. And then beside it he wrote several times, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
[16:34] What a wonderful message. You need forgiveness? Forgiveness is available. That's the message we get to preach. You need forgiveness, but forgiveness is available.
[16:44] If you're not willing to tell the first part, then they'll never know the good news of the second part. But you do need forgiveness. But forgiveness is available. Ephesians 1.7, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
[17:01] The forgiveness of sins is available because of the riches of his grace. And so that's the message in which he gave them. That's the message that they were going to take to the ends of the earth.
[17:12] And the book of Acts, the next book is going to show them the challenges that they face inside of the church, the challenges that come from the outside, the challenges that come from the inside, and the message spread.
[17:23] And I trust that it's found its way to you at some point in your life. And somebody came and brought it and shared it with you. And now it's on every one of us to share this message with the world.
[17:34] You need forgiveness, and forgiveness is available. And so we get to this portion here where he tells them, but wait for the promise of the Father. If you'll look with me in Acts chapter number 1, I'll get there in a second.
[17:47] But on Thursday nights, we just started a series on the Trinity. Brother John taught last Thursday. He'll teach again this Thursday. And we're looking in the passages, we find where a triune God is active.
[17:59] And in this story we see, and behold, I send the promise, this is Jesus, the promise of the Father upon you, but you tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. Jesus said, the promise of the Father is coming.
[18:13] And then in Acts chapter number 1, look with me, in Acts 1-4 it says, And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith, you have heard of me.
[18:28] The same expression, the promise of the Father, at the end of Luke, and then found in the book of Acts, we find out what this is. It was Christ's purpose that the gospel should go out to all of the world, everyone in this city, and every city in this world, every little village, every little town of 500 that I'm from in Kentucky, the gospel found its way there, and the gospel moves forward.
[18:51] And so it's Christ's purpose, the Holy Spirit's power, that will make this possible. To see the world reach with the gospel is the work of God's Spirit through His church.
[19:02] And so Jesus' words to His disciples are, Go, but they were also to wait. Do not go without the Holy Spirit working through you. The Holy Spirit has sent us for a purpose.
[19:13] We did not receive, as a believer, at the time you accepted Jesus Christ, you were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that that is an earnest, some of you in real estate in here, that was the earnest payment that you were given, that we have received God into our lives.
[19:30] Not all of us were not born children of God, we were born enemies of the cross, but by putting, repenting, and putting our faith in Christ, we're now the children of God, and the Holy Spirit lives inside of me.
[19:41] And now the question that I have to ask daily is, am I willing to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit inside of me? I'm not asking for more. I've been filled with Him, but will I yield to Him in my life?
[19:53] Will I allow Him to lead and to guide me? And that Holy Spirit that indwells, and that parents in here, that we want to help our children understand the Holy Spirit's work in their lives and recognizing that He is the one that's bringing conviction of sin.
[20:08] He is the one that is leading them in the godliness. He is the one that's bringing in the remembrance. He's the one that we pray to as we read our Bible to help have understanding and help them to grow in that understanding.
[20:20] But we did not receive the Holy Spirit just so we all educate our kids adequately, or we think the same way, or we sing the same songs, or to be comfortable in the challenges that we have in life.
[20:32] That's the, in Acts chapter number one, we find that they have the wrong expectation. It says, And when they therefore were come together, they ask of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?
[20:43] So before Jesus ascends up into heaven, they ask some questions. And this is what they would say in modern language. They're saying, Are we going to have a big convention here in Jerusalem, Jesus? Are we going to have the best congregation that the religious world has ever seen?
[20:57] Are all the nations of the world going to come here now to Jerusalem? And He's going to say that you're going to be sent by the Spirit to proclaim the gospel to the nations.
[21:08] And that's what will bring glory to God. You might have heard this expression before. Have you dressed for the job that you want, not that the job that you have?
[21:18] You ever heard that before? Dressed for the job that you want, not the job that you have? Well, here's good news. You are already dressed for the job that you have and the job that you should want. Verse 49, And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.
[21:38] Another way it says in Acts 1, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. That promise of the Father that they were told to wait upon, that was an undoing, that was a dressing in of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit would come in and indwell them.
[21:54] And when that happened, now they were ready to take the message wherever He would lead them. I've really been looking forward to Chile. And one of the lessons that I get to teach is with a group of pastors.
[22:06] And it talks about how to make sure that your church stays engaged in the mission of the church. And one of the things that I wrote down, I'll share with you, is this. An understanding of the needs of the world, but a lack of understanding about who we are in Christ, will paralyze our church.
[22:25] An understanding of the needs of the world, but a lack of understanding about who we are in Christ, will paralyze the church. It could either be missionaries sharing with you about how there's so many millions of people in their country that have never heard the gospel, or Greg could come up here and talk to you about how there's a certain need in our community that's being neglected, or it's you turning on the news and watching about how crazy this world we live in.
[22:49] And if you spend time sitting there and listening to all that, it will only paralyze you until you realize that the Holy Spirit has indwelled you and can lead you through this world, can help navigate, can help give you words to say, can minister through you, that the God of heaven can minister to this broken world through you.
[23:14] I want to say that again because as simple as it is, I'm not sure that everyone in here truly believes that about themselves. You may believe that about another group of people and you say, hey, I'll pray for them and I'll get behind what they're doing.
[23:26] But I want you to know that if you've repented of your sins, received remission and forgiveness of your sins, that the God of heaven can and will work in and through your life.
[23:38] Isn't that wonderful? I don't know what you have planned, but I want to be part of that. And have we forgotten about this and this time of waiting and this, all right, I'm not going to say it again.
[23:49] Is that still good, Andrew? Kadaus? All right, Andrew still says it's good in Spanish. This time of waiting here, there was a time of waiting and then they were going to be witnesses of these things.
[24:00] I have a picture. I don't see Miss Yvonne here today, but this is Miss Yvonne down in Columbia. And the story that went with this was she helped this man get glasses and that's what she went down there to do, her and Brett and medical missions outreach.
[24:15] Maybe some of you donated glasses, but she just said that the man, he just kept reading the eye chart over and over again after he got his glasses because he was so excited about it. And Miss Yvonne just has a wonderful smile there.
[24:27] That joy of helping somebody see something, how wonderful that it is that we get to be part of that. The ability to sit down with somebody and help them remove the blind, off their eyes and to pray for them, for the Holy Spirit to work in your life to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to a person so that they can see the glorious gospel is the great treasure of this world.
[24:52] I don't know what it is that you're waiting for. I don't know what you're saving up for. I don't know what retirement plans you have. I don't know what kind of goals that you have for your kids, but if you would ever get to sit down with a person and when they come to an understanding of the gospel, you will see the greatest thing that's possible in this world.
[25:12] You will get a glimpse of heaven and that you can do that. Every one of you can do that and you have been dressed for the occasion. You have been called to give, been given that job.
[25:24] Carson went to, I took Carson to football practice the other day when I picked him up. I said, how was football practice? He said, well, it was great. We played basketball the whole time. I'm like, well, that's interesting. All right. And we played basketball the whole time and I don't know if the coach didn't want to get out of the equipment.
[25:40] I don't know what was going on but it's like, you know, we kind of run in basketball. You kind of run in football. It's kind of one and the same. I'm like, yeah, that sounds all well and good until you get run over by the other team who didn't have basketball practice.
[25:51] They played football during football practice but for now that's fine. All right. And so, what he did was he did something that was a mission adjacent. It was sport adjacent.
[26:04] It was kind of like football. I mean, it kind of had some similarities but it really wasn't football. You know, there's a reason that we call this a mission. Scripture tells us that we are to fellowship.
[26:16] Scripture tells us to teach doctrine and we want to do that the very best of our ability, the best that enabled by the Spirit that we can do for one another. The Scripture tells us how to worship and how to obey and how to be holy and how to serve and how to pray but they were never the goal.
[26:33] They were never the end. Our spiritual growth is not the end. It's not the goal. It's not the objective. All these things are merely means to a maturity and a spiritual integrity so that we can live a life that underguards the message of repentance and forgiveness that we preach.
[26:51] 2 Corinthians 4.15 My last verse I'll share with you. It says this, For all things for your sakes, for all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
[27:09] This word, redound, it speaks about a surge or a wave. The reason that we're meeting in here today, the reason that Sunday school teachers are teaching and life group teachers are teaching the way that we're growing in grace is that so that we will take this message, this truth and love and we will share it with the world that needs to be recalled to repentance and see remission of sins to bring honor and glory to God.
[27:37] We should live for this. So if we do all those things but we never proclaim the gospel, we have forfeited the purpose for which all other things exist.
[27:47] Can I encourage you in here and challenge you in here? If you're like me, you may say, my life is as busy as it's ever been. My life is as busy as it's ever been.
[28:00] But is it full? It's busy but is it full? Because instead of having spirit-led activity, instead of us surrendering and yielding to what the Holy Spirit would have in our lives and going out and ministering to other people and sharing the other, sharing the gospel with people, could it be like Carson's football team that we just found a lot of things that are mission-adjacent?
[28:25] There's just a busyness and that we try to replace living a life that is meaningful and led by the Spirit with a life that is just completely busy. And so if we, at the end of the day, we can say, well, I stayed busy all of the time and so I must be the best parent possible.
[28:42] I stayed busy all the time so I must be doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Could you stop and wait? Could you tarry and sit down for a moment and say, I want to move forward this week being led by the Spirit.
[28:56] I want the Holy Spirit to organize my life. I want the Holy Spirit to prioritize what is most important for my kids. What is it that they really need to see?
[29:07] What is it that I really should be reaching for to help them? And I would say in that, it would be opportunities for them to see the gospel being shared. It would be opportunities for them to see people that would be rejoicing around just like we saw with Yvonne, a person who once didn't have sight now is able to see for you to be working together and seeing that of the lives of other people because Satan is very glad for us to stay busy but are we going to be people that are led by the Spirit?
[29:37] And that's available to every one of us in here. Before I pray in here, I want to remind you, every one of you in here, Jesus Christ, He died for you. And if you came in here today with a burden of sin that hasn't been removed from you, has not been taken away from you, I can tell you that's available to you.
[29:55] Jesus Christ died for you and He loves you. You sinned personally against Him, but He died in your place. And today can be a day of salvation. Been here today, many of you came in as I did, coming in here wanting to celebrate this fact that I have found forgiveness in my sins.
[30:14] And you may have allocated this idea of mission to a certain group inside of this church or maybe not just to a certain group inside this church but to a certain version of you in the future. You say, when I get to this certain place in my life or in my career or in my spiritual maturity, but I want to tell you that evangelism and sharing the gospel is a part of your spiritual formation.
[30:36] That sharing the gospel keeps it center in your life. That sharing the gospel will cause you to study the Bible in a way that you've never studied it before. That in sharing the gospel it will protect you from those that want to take you in a wrong direction.
[30:49] Sharing the gospel is one of the greatest things that you can do for your spiritual formation. Dads and mothers in here, sharing the gospel and helping our kids do it is one of the greatest gifts that we can give them because it's a thing in this world that we recognize that unless the Spirit is working in and through us, there's no way that we can move forward.
[31:10] And so I encourage you today, would you consider your life is busy but is it full? And if it's going to be full then it's going to be led by the Spirit but that's available for every one of us.
[31:23] Heavenly Father, thank you for my time today with my brothers and sisters. Lord, I thank you for the conversations this week that have already happened, Lord, and I thank you for the conversations, Lord willing, that will happen in the coming, in the weeks to come.
[31:38] With every head bowed and every eye closed and believers, I want to encourage you as the musicians play, I want to encourage you with that simple question. Yes, your life is busy and it's busy with moral things, it's busy with Christian things, but are you really yielding your life to the Holy Spirit to lead you individually and as a family?
[32:00] Your life is busy but is it full? And that's available for us. So I just encourage you, stop, wait, and say, Father, I want my life to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit and that's possible today.
[32:17] Believers, continue to pray there in your seat if you'd like to come to the altar, most certainly do, but I want to talk to those in here today that have come and you don't know if there's remission of sin.
[32:28] The Holy Spirit works in your life as well and this is how the Holy Spirit will work. He brings conviction and He tells you that you have fallen short, that you just like the rest of us in here have not obtained salvation on your own.
[32:45] It's not possible. Every one of us in here needed a Savior. So I encourage you to come here today and don't look for a message to do better or to try harder but to lay your life down and become empty and become broken and receive the feeling that's available and all that emptiness and brokenness laid at the feet of Jesus and pray to Him and ask Him to forgive you.
[33:08] Heavenly Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters in here today, Lord, that they will live lives that are full and that are led. And Father, right now, I'm praying that those that are in here that are watching online that they would speak to You.
[33:22] They would recognize the absence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They would recognize the conviction that the Holy Spirit has brought into their life the day and with that, they would pray and they would crawl out to You today and ask for forgiveness of sins.
[33:39] If that's your story in here today, I would encourage you to stop by Next Steps table. Let us give you some resources to help you on your journey. Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your time, that You, Your presence among us.
[33:51] I thank You for the time that we have been given the focus on Your Word. Lord, I pray that You'll be with us, that we would be as the disciples, we would be a joyful bunch that would leave here with real intention, that would leave here being guided by the Spirit.
[34:08] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.