Bibles, I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 22.
Revelation chapter 22.
Haven't you been blessed by this music this morning?
Wow, me and three other people have been blessed this morning by that music.
Haven't you been blessed?
Man, that's sweet.
It's been good stuff, I'm telling you.
It's great.
Amen.
I'm going to tell y'all, one of my hope and prayers from preaching this sermon today,
well, you'll leave here and think, man, I need to practice for heaven.
I need to get ready for worship, you know, because I'm telling you, we're going to have a good time.
We've been talking about heaven for several weeks now, and we talked about what will be certain the minute we die,
what we'll know at least within 60 seconds of passing this life.
We've talked about that heaven is real, and it is immediate, and it is eternal, and it is beyond our imagination.
We've talked about what heaven has.
We've talked about some things heaven does not have.
We've talked about what will be like in heaven.
We have a lot of curiosities about heaven, and the Bible does not answer every curiosity that we have.
God didn't write the word of God just so we can have all our answers, all our questions answered.
He wrote it so we rely and trust in him.
However, it does answer several for us.
And in this series on the reality of eternity, we close out this morning a look at heaven,
and I want to share about us when we're in glory.
When in glory, we will serve.
That don't sound too glamorous, does it?
That's what you had intended.
Why?
Because we're not serving for reward or acceptance or for good impression.
When we get to heaven, we'll serve because we want to.
Have you ever served because you want to?
Have you ever done something for somebody just because you wanted to?
Not because you had to, not because you were forced to, just because you wanted to and enjoyed doing it.
Who will we serve?
We'll serve the Lord.
Revelation 22, 3 and 4 says this.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Leave that up for just a moment because that word there in verse 3, the next to the last word that says worship,
is an interesting word.
It is a word that in its primary meaning means to the service of a hireling,
one who's been hired to do a job, the service that they do.
And it means to serve, or it means to minister to.
It means to pay homage to.
And then, of course, that rolls into worship.
And so sometimes translations say in this passage that we'll worship him.
And it's true because the reality is that we'll serve him.
And it's true that we will serve him as well as worship him.
And then it says, they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Somebody asked me recently when they were leaving worship about these names on the foreheads.
And so let's take a moment and talk about that.
I want you to think about this for a minute because you've heard this before.
In reality, in a couple of places.
Let me remind you of Deuteronomy chapter 5 through 8.
It says this.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.
And these words that I command you today shall be upon your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children.
And you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise.
Listen to verse 8.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand.
And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Now, some believe that the last part of that verse 8.
Some believe that that is to be taken literally.
And they take these little leather boxes called phylacteries.
And they put small pieces of paper with the law written on them.
The Ten Commandments written on them.
And they place them in those boxes.
And they strap those boxes to their head before they pray.
They take the same kind of box and they put it upon the back of their hand.
And they wrap it around.
I was on a flight to Israel and saw an Orthodox Jew do this.
And he had to get the wrapping.
It had to be wrapped seven times.
He had to get the wrapping wrapped.
And he was wrapping his arm with this leather strap again and again to make sure that it was perfectly wrapped before that old boy got loose in prayer.
I'm telling you on that plane.
I wanted to go over and give him some requests.
You know what I mean?
Because he was serious about it.
He was serious about it.
Now, listen, folks.
You know that wearing things is not the answer.
Okay?
It's not.
What this passage speaks of is allowing the law of the Lord and the word of God to be on your minds.
Let it mark your thinking.
He mentions the hands.
Let it dictate what you do and why you do it and who you serve.
Let it dictate those things.
Take it to the heart of where it's at.
This passage also may remind you of another passage of the mark of the beast in Revelation.
Let's deal with that a minute.
Because in Revelation 13, it speaks of the beast of corrupt worship and the second beast of a corrupt government.
And it says that if people did not take the mark of the beast, which was his name or number on their right hand or forehead, they would not buy or sell anything because they didn't have the mark.
That passage is much debated.
And I don't want to get sidetracked, but I do want to camp for just a minute.
But I want to be clear about something.
Whether you think that is a tattoo of 666 or a barcode.
Years ago, some of you have lived here for a long time, you'll remember this.
We had a bilo.
And at bilo, we had a bilo card.
It was one of the first cards that I ever remember anybody had.
And somebody took the numbers off the back of the bilo card and found the square root.
And every bilo card, because the first half of the numbers were the same on all of them,
every one of them had a square root of 666 point something.
And that automatically meant that bilo was of the devil.
They've since went out of business.
But anyway.
They did.
I remember that coming out.
And I thought, well, can I go get milk or not?
Have I sold my soul to the devil if I buy a gallon of milk?
Whether you believe it's a tattoo of 666, a discount card, a barcode, a computer chip that is put in you.
None of those are the problem.
The problem for the condemned is that their mind is set on things that are not of God.
That's the problem.
And their hands are busy about matters that are not of God.
They've been marked by the beast by not surrendering and faithfully serving the Lord.
That's the problem.
And for their and for your, it applies to all of us.
For our lack of surrender to the Lord, you will be marked for all of eternity.
That is more than a physical mark.
It is more than a mark of technology.
It is a state of mind.
It is a state of heart.
It is a state of life of wrongdoing.
Tattoos and computer chips don't condemn people, folks.
It don't.
Rejecting Christ is what condemns.
The unpardonable sin is to reject Christ and die without him.
Now, set all that to get back to Revelation 22 verse 4 when it says,
Those serving the Lord have his name upon their foreheads.
Do you see where this is going?
In the book of Revelation, if you study the Old Testament, it will show you what the things it's talking about resemble and what it's talking about.
There is a connection between the two.
And he is saying, look back at what we've seen in the past and understand what it means now.
It means that they are marked by God for faithfully setting their hearts and minds on him and serving him in this life and for all of eternity.
We will serve.
Our minds and our hands will be fixated on serving the Lord.
Not only that, but when in glory, we'll worship.
We'll worship.
And that word I just told you is interchanged for service as well as worship.
But Christ will be our focus in glory.
Not each other.
Our focus will not be on each other.
But sometimes the emphasis that is put upon heaven is this great reunion that we'll have.
And scripture speaks of it.
It will be a great reunion.
And we'll see loved ones that have died in the Lord and they're there.
And we'll see folks who are in the Bible and we'll recognize them when we see them.
I get that from the transfiguration in Matthew 17.
We'll know who Moses is.
Even if he don't look like Charlton Heston, we'll know who he is.
How?
Because we'll have a knowledge that we don't have here.
God will show us those things.
But our focus won't be on each other.
As a matter of fact, Christ tells us that there will not be marriage in heaven.
So let's deal with that a minute.
Because we see this issue in Matthew 22 when the Sadducees and the Sadducees were a religious political group that did not believe in the resurrection.
And they were sad, you see.
Because they thought this was all there was.
And they were trying to poke fun at Jesus by giving him a brain teaser.
Don't mess with Jesus, okay?
Matthew 22, verse 23, it says this.
The same day Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection.
And they asked him a question saying,
Teacher, Moses said if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers among us.
The first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.
So to the second and the third down to the seventh.
After all, after them all, the woman died.
In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be?
For they all had her.
Now let me just get past the obvious first.
I mean the first question that I have to ask about this story is,
What kind of woman is it that appeases men to such a degree that seven of them die under her care?
When's the trend going to pick up?
I mean the third guy ought to have gotten nervous, you know.
But they just kept on.
How dumb is a bunch of brothers they are?
Just a distracting question.
Just trying to throw him off.
And Jesus don't put up with that.
He abruptly takes the mystery away.
And he says in verse 30,
For in the resurrection there will be neither Mary,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are like angels in heaven.
Now let me be clear about something.
Their effort was to make heaven so complicated that it didn't make sense.
Some people didn't believe.
And Jesus clearly states that our interests are going to be more focused on the throne of God than on each other.
And Christ says we will not be married, we will be like the angels.
Now don't take that out of context.
Okay?
What he means is angels aren't married.
And we're not going to be married.
He is not saying we'll be like angels.
In all our ways.
You're not angels now.
If you think you are, ask the person beside you.
Okay?
And you won't be then.
He does not mean that in every way that we'll be like angels.
That would be contrary to scripture quite honestly.
And don't believe that your loved one has now become an angel.
Please don't put that on social media.
Please don't do that.
That's not what scripture says.
Don't you dare say that some Christian who you loved has gone on to be your guardian angel.
You got God watching your back.
You don't need grandpa to watch after you.
He's got you.
Don't lower the level that Christians have reached.
We're king's kids.
We're made in the image of the creator.
And that's what he's saying.
Read the context.
He's saying that we will not be sexually intimate.
And we won't be worried about physical relationships when we get to heaven.
Angels are not sexual creatures.
We will not be in heaven either.
It does not mean that we won't love each other deeply and dearly.
More so than we ever have.
We love family deeply without sexual relations.
We love our church dearly without it.
We love the Lord Jesus dearly without it.
Physical intimacy does not make love, folks.
It is an earthly product of marital love.
Only in the bounds of marriage.
And outside of that, it's a sacrilege to God.
In heaven, the splendor of heaven, the presence of God will outshine any focus we have in this life.
I just want you to listen to Revelation 7, 9 through 17.
It expresses it wonderfully.
When it says,
After this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation,
from all the tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands,
crying out with a loud voice,
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures,
and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
saying,
Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.
Amen!
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,
Who are these clothed in white robes?
And from where have they come?
And I said to him,
Sir, you know.
And he said to me,
These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore they are before the throne of God.
And they serve him day and night in his temple.
And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.
The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lord, excuse me, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.
And he'll guide them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Folks, the trouble and the tribulations of this life,
no matter how great they are,
are when they come,
will be over
and we will be worshiping at the feet of Jesus.
When in glory,
we'll be caught up.
Now that's a term
that is used in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4
that speaks of the return of the Lord.
And if we still remain on the earth when the Lord returns,
we shall be caught up together
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will ever be with the Lord.
However,
that is not what I meant
when I said we will be caught up.
I use that term instead to embrace
several things
that I want to share with you today.
I mean that we'll be caught up
with what's going on in heaven.
I mean we get caught up.
In other words,
the matters of the day,
the matters of this world
will not fill our day
and overwhelm our conscience.
Will we know what's going on on the earth?
We often tend to speak of our loved ones
as looking down on us,
as if there's some loft of sorts
in which the inhabitants of heaven
can peer off and see us.
It's probably not a loft,
but there's biblical evidence
that they know what's going on.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 says this,
therefore since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses,
and this follows Hebrews 11,
which is the hall of fame of faith,
which are all these saints
who faithfully serve the Lord
and gone on to see him.
And because of what they've done
and because of who they are,
he follows it up by saying,
therefore since we are surrounded
by those,
that great cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight
and sin which clings so closely
and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us.
What this picture draws,
and Paul was either an athlete
or a wannabe,
because he likes to use athletic terms,
and what he pictures here
is a stadium crowd
that is cheering us on
and rooting us on.
Notice what they're cheering us on to do.
They are cheering us on
to run the race of the Christian life
with tenacity,
letting no sin or distraction
entangle or run for Christ.
But do you know how they get
their greatest joy?
How they get their greatest joy
is in Luke chapter 15.
Verse 3 through 10.
It says this about Jesus.
It says,
so he told them about this parable.
Now a parable is an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning.
That's an overused definition
of a parable, okay?
And he said this,
what man of you having a hundred sheep,
if he has lost one of them,
does not leave the 99 in open country
and go after the one that is lost
until he finds it?
And when he has found it,
he lays it on his shoulders
and rejoices.
And when he comes home,
he calls together his friends
and his neighbors saying to them,
rejoice with me
for I have found my sheep
that was lost.
Just so.
You can underline that
if you're an underliner.
I tell you there'll be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents
than over 99 righteous people
who need no repentance.
Now that last verse there
is not part of his parable.
He's sharing with you
what that parable actually means.
And then he goes on
to share another parable.
And he says,
or what woman having 10 silver coins
if she loses one coin
does not light a lamp
and sweep the house
and seek diligently
until she finds it?
And when she's found it,
she calls together her friends
and neighbors saying,
rejoice with me
for I found the coin
that I had lost.
Again,
just so.
I tell you,
there is joy.
Get this now.
There is joy
before the angels of God
over one sinner
who repents.
Leave that up for me
for a minute.
There is joy
before the angels of God
over one sinner
who repents.
Now he's using a parable
to describe a real atmosphere
and I want you to notice something.
It does not say
it is the angels rejoicing.
It's not what it says.
Read it again.
It says,
there is joy
before the angels of God
over one sinner
who repents.
So who's in the presence
of the angels?
The saints of God.
And what are they
rejoicing over?
When one is saved.
My friend,
if heaven
is celebrating
when one comes
to the Lord,
we ought to be livid
when somebody
comes to Christ.
When somebody's baptized,
we ought to cheer.
I don't mean that figuratively.
I think we ought
to celebrate it.
It's the best decision
they've ever made
in their life
to give their heart
and life to the Lord.
And when they're bold enough
to make that public
before others,
we ought to celebrate that.
When somebody comes down
this aisle
and says that she has
given her heart
and life to the Lord,
we ought to shout.
Why?
Because we know
of the victorious life
that they've entered into.
we don't know the half of it.
We don't know the half of it.
But those in heaven do.
Those in heaven
see it from a whole
different perspective.
They know the fullness
of salvation
so they rejoice even more.
They've seen the Lord Jesus.
They know what it's about.
They've experienced
eternal bliss.
Think about this.
If heaven sees all
are saved every day
across the world,
that is one big camp meeting.
I mean,
they're celebrating
when somebody gets saved
in any church
anywhere in the world
on Sunday.
They celebrate
when somebody quietly
gives their heart and life
to the Lord Jesus Christ
by their own bedside,
by themselves.
They celebrate
every time that is done.
they celebrate
those that never
come to Christ.
Do they see that?
Well, I don't know.
Because the Bible tells me
there's no crying
and mourning,
therefore they must see
it from a different perspective.
As a matter of fact,
a heavenly,
eternal perspective.
Now,
we can't imagine this,
but it's almost like
watching a replay
of a game
and knowing
that your team
is going to win the game.
Okay?
I went to a ball game yesterday.
And so I didn't get
to see other games.
And I was looking forward
to going home
and watching
Colorado and Oregon
before I checked my app.
And I didn't want to see
how that went down.
But it would have been
easy for me
to find out
what the final score
of a game is
and then go back
and watch that game
to see how that developed.
To see the whole deal.
You see,
the bad plays
aren't that big a deal
if you know
you're going to win the game.
I mean,
if you know how it all ends.
And therefore,
you're celebrating
the victory
because you know
you won
because the game's
already been played.
In reality,
in heaven,
they see it different, folks.
And they celebrate.
They cheer us on.
It's kind of like a parade.
Dawn and I celebrated
our 20th anniversary
a few years ago
by going to New York City.
A dream of hers,
a bucket list item,
had always been
to see the Macy's
Thanksgiving Parade.
And one thing
on my bucket list
every Thanksgiving
was always not to see
the Macy's
Thanksgiving Parade.
But she dreamed of that.
But I'll tell you
what I did want to do.
I wanted to go
to a renowned steakhouse
and eat a New York steak.
I did.
I wanted to do that.
So first,
on Thanksgiving Day,
we went to the parade.
We stood about
eight thick
with us in the middle
watching the floats come by.
It was a long
and it was a fun experience.
We anticipated
when Santa would come
and the parade would come
to its climactic conclusion.
And for a long time,
we could never see that.
I know what time
my reservation was.
I was checking my clock.
However, overhead,
there were helicopters.
I would imagine
they had cameras.
I would imagine
they used those cameras
for television.
And those in those helicopters
could see
the whole trek
of two and a half miles
that we had walked
the day before.
The night before,
we had went to Central Park
and watched them
blow up
those great floats.
Watched them
net them down
and weigh them down
so they didn't float away.
We had seen that
at the beginning.
And then right outside
our hotel room,
we had walked down the street
and saw the middle
of the parade
and watched as that went by.
But we could only see
as the individual floats
came by.
I tried to remember
the order they were in
from the night before
and watching those things
come by.
But those in that helicopter
could see the beginning
and they could see the end
and they could see it all.
I just saw a float
at a time.
They saw the whole thing.
That's the way life is.
Heaven sees
the whole thing.
We live one float
at a time.
We watch our event
a day at a time.
But heaven sees it
from a different perspective.
They see the glorious
climactic conclusion
to all of this.
Therefore, they celebrate.
They see the good things
and the bad
but they know how it ends.
They see what we don't.
But what about those?
Let me readdress this.
What about those
who don't go to heaven?
Do they know if loved ones
are missing from heaven?
Are they aware
of those not in heaven?
The Bible's clear
that there's no grief,
crying, or mourning in heaven.
That being the case,
what about those
that we know and love
that don't make it?
Well, I want you to hear
listen to this hard truth
because the Bible's
pretty clear about it.
In Psalm chapter 9,
Psalm 9,
excuse me,
it's not a chapter,
it's a psalm.
Psalm 9 verse 5,
it says,
you have rebuked the nations.
You have made the wicked perish.
You have blotted out their name
forever and ever.
Psalm 69 verse 28,
speaking of those
that do not have salvation said,
you have rebuked,
excuse me,
let them be blotted
out of the book of the living.
Let them not be enrolled
among the righteous.
Did you get that?
Let them be blotted out
of the book of living.
Now to me,
that brings a whole new meaning
of the Lamb's book of life
because I thought
it was the names
of those who made it
but in reality,
it's the name of those
who really experienced life
because those outside of Christ
never really experienced life.
Not the way Christ can give it.
it's like the walking dead folks
of sorts.
Until you know Christ,
you haven't really lived.
I want you to listen
to what Jesus said about Judas.
Jesus said this.
In Matthew 26 verse 24,
he said,
it would have been better
for that man
if he had not been born.
Now did he say that
because Judas betrayed him?
No.
He said that because Judas,
although he hung out
with the church folk,
although he walked
along with Christ,
never knew the Lord Jesus personally.
He never surrendered
his life to the Lord
and he would have been better off
to have never been born
because the only true life
is eternal life in Christ.
Revelation 20 verse 15 says,
and if anyone's name
was not found
in the book of life,
he was thrown
into the lake of fire.
In other words,
it's as if they never lived at all.
Now don't misunderstand me.
No, they were here.
But in heaven,
there will only be
a faded memory
because there's no real life.
There's no real existence
outside of Christ.
However, for those in Christ,
there's an eternal celebration
that never stops
until all are saved
that will and we're all in heaven.
Then we'll have
what is described
as the marriage feast.
They describe it that way
because the church,
those saints in the Lord Jesus
are considered
the bride of Christ.
They're described
as the bride of Christ
and Christ is the groom
and together around
the table of the Lord
will celebrate
we all come home.
Those in Christ Jesus.
I can hardly wait.
Do those in heaven
know what's happening on earth?
Yes, they do.
They know how God is working
and they rejoice in that.
Winning glory
will be rewarded.
Give me just a minute.
Let me finish this.
1 Corinthians 3
verse 10 through 15
says this.
According to the grace
of God given to me
like a skilled master builder
I laid a foundation
and someone else
is building upon it.
Let each one take care
how he builds upon it
for no one can lay
a foundation
other than that
which is laid
which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone
builds on a foundation
with gold, silver,
precious stones,
wood, hay, straw,
each one's work
will become manifest
for the day
will disclose it
because it will reveal
by fire
and the fire
will test what sort of work
each one has done.
If the work has anyone
has, if the work
that anyone has built
on the foundation
survives
he will receive a reward.
If anyone's work
is burned up
he'll suffer loss
though he himself
will be saved
only as through fire.
In other words
it's kind of like
the story of the little pigs.
Only the house of brick
withstood the winds
in the end
and the only thing
that really lasts
past this life
is what we do
for the Lord.
That's really it
and as Christians
we are building
our lives
but what is our
motivation in that?
Well listen
you can fool
some of the people
all of the time
and you can fool
all the people
some of the time
but you can't fool
the Lord
any other time
he knows your heart
and what is done
in accordance with
scripture
for the right reasons
to honor
and glorify the Lord
and not to worry
about glorifying
ourselves
that will shine
forth in eternity
and we shall
receive a reward
and the reward
is not based
on how great
the accomplishment is
it's based upon
our faithfulness
to his work
and to his service.
Now I'm not talking
about earning
your salvation
you can't earn
your salvation
period
you can't
we are saved
through Christ
only because
of what he's done
but after that point
we are to serve him
in the opportunities
that he gives us
in this life
and what we do
in service to him
with those opportunities
they'll be represented
they'll be responded
to in eternity.
Now there are
different levels
of rewards in heaven
because we all
serve him differently
but listen
what's cool about this
there'll be no pride
there'll be no envy
there'll be no jealousy
I heard it explained
like this
little boy had a dream
he wanted to be a bat boy
in the World Series
he dreamed of being
a bat boy
in the World Series
that was his ultimate dream
what a reward
to do that
and with that being
his dream
it brought
unmeasurable pleasure
to do such a task
however there's another
little boy
that dreamed of playing
center field
in the World Series
and he went on
to be able to play
center field
in the World Series
both them boys
are happy
just as happy
as they can be
the ball boy
never realized
he could have been
playing
he doesn't feel
slighted
in the least
because the levels
of reward are different
but the joy is equal
now I'm not telling you
there's baseball in heaven
there's not
but I'm saying this
everyone will be content
in their status
in heaven
because any reward
we receive
we'll just lay
at the feet of Jesus
we'll be rewarded
that might have been
my cue to quit
but I'm not
winning glory
this is it
listen quick
we will reign
we'll reign
Revelation 22 verse 5
says a night
will be no more
don't need no light
of lamp or sun
for the Lord God
will be their light
and they will reign
forever and ever
that does not mean
that we'll lord over people
and it does not mean
that we'll
we'll be gods
it's not what it means
it means that we'll
celebrate victory
victory over every battle
that we faced
victory over every
physical sickness
over every spiritual
sickness
over every struggle
the battle will be over
we'll be champions
with the Lord
and we'll be celebrating
and we will reign
I know
that does not answer
all your questions
but don't be concerned
about the uncertainties
that you have
about eternity
tell you what you need
to be concerned about
is the state
of your heart
if the Lord Jesus
was to return today
are you going to
walk out that front door
and get hit by a car
and go on to eternity
have you ever come
to the point in your life
where you know
for certainty
you have eternal life
and you'll go to heaven
when you die
can you rest in that today
that's not a threat
it's just true
but you need to have
that nailed down
all of heaven
waits for you
eternal life
waits for you
right here
now today
because Christ said
I've come that you
might have life
and have it more abundantly
he's not talking
about heaven
he's talking about here
he'll give an uptick
to your life
that'll change you forever
if you're surrender
your life to Christ
but don't ever think
your affiliation
with this church
will take care of that
don't ever think
that some service
that you've done
for somebody else
will take care of that
don't ever think
that preaching
will take care of that
or teaching
will take care of that
or volunteering
will take care of that
no no no
the only thing
that takes care of that
is saying
there's nothing
I can do to earn it
and I need you
to forgive me
and to cleanse me
and to come into my life
and if that's never
happened to you
today's the day
of salvation
if you feel
a tugging in your heart
you didn't come up
with that
God gave that to you
because he's burdened
for you
and loves you
and the saints
of glory
are ready to celebrate
your salvation
maybe you're here
and you have done that
but you've never
acknowledged that publicly
you never tell anybody
to know that
Jesus by his example
and by his commission
told us to be baptized
and acknowledge
what we've done
a physical picture
of what happened
to us spiritually
you come take care of that
maybe God's drawing you
to this church
God's blessing us
in mighty ways
I'm thankful for that
and you want to be a part
of that and feel led
to be a part of that
you come
we'll guide you
in that process
maybe you just need
to do business with God
I don't know what it is
listen I'll be honest
with you folks
I struggled with this sermon
this week
because I knew
what time it'd be
when I was done
and I don't like
doing that to you
I didn't feel led
to take a thing out
so let's just give God
a couple more minutes
and respond to him
in obedience
I'll never ask you
to do anything
that God didn't tell you
to do
but when God
leads you to do something
don't you dare
stay there
and not do it
Lord Jesus
I love you
and I thank you
dear God
for this day
and for the opportunity
to serve you dear Lord
and for eternity
and we can celebrate
Lord speak to our hearts
and help us to have
the obedience to respond
in Jesus name
Amen
thank you
I love you
to hear
I love you