We will go ahead and dismiss our children to children's church, age of kindergarten through second grade.
They'll meet you in the foyer and then lead you down to children's church.
We have a guest speaker with us this morning.
And instead of our usual sermon video, introduction video, I'm going to tell you just a little bit about our guest speaker.
His name is Phillip Nation.
He is a friend of mine, has been for the last few years.
And they stayed in our house last night because we have that guest bedroom on the side.
And they got our special wake-up call around 7 o'clock this morning when Finley, our big Irish wolfhound slash doodle,
decided to go open their door because he can do that.
And he's used to, you know, maybe my parents staying in there or something like that.
And they'll, you know, anyway, it just, that was not expected.
I apologize for that.
But fun nonetheless.
There you go.
So, but we had a great time of fellowship last night.
And Phillip is the publisher for Thomas Nelson Bibles.
He's a vice president with HarperCollins.
And he has been a church planner.
He's been a pastor.
He was an executive at Lifeway, the Southern Baptist publication arm for many years.
And he's had a lot of ministry experience.
He's going to bless you this morning.
So, Phillip, without any further ado, you come and share what God's laying in your heart.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate that.
Well, thank you, Sam.
All right.
So, let's make sure that this is, oh, there we are.
There we are.
Well, good morning, everybody.
I have my phone here for a reason.
And it is to start a timer.
But all of you know what it means when a Southern Baptist pastor starts a timer.
Nothing.
So, well, I want you to turn in your Bibles or turn on your Bibles,
depending upon what generation you're from,
and find your way over to the book of 1 Peter in the New Testament.
If you get to the book of Hebrews, you haven't gone far enough.
If you get to the book of Revelation, you've gone too far.
So, it's in between those two books of the New Testament.
And we're going to look at a passage in chapter 2 this morning,
specifically verses 4 through 10 in just a moment.
As I was thinking about getting ready for this passage to share this with you,
I thought about the idea of have you ever felt like you did not fit in?
You know, maybe you reach all the way back to childhood,
and you remember some moment on the playground where you felt like you didn't fit in,
or maybe it's been some social situation that it was like just super awkward.
Everybody else was, you know, cheering for one team, but you were a fan of another team.
Or there's any number of reasons for why you wouldn't feel like you fit in.
Well, as Peter, this early leader of the church, is writing to these believers in the Roman Empire,
this is very much the theme of his two letters,
is that we as a people don't feel like we fit in, and there's a good reason.
We don't. And that's a good reason.
It's a very positive thing for us to think about why it is that we don't fit in,
why there is a certain amount of earthly awkwardness to Christian faithfulness.
Because you are very much the old metaphor of the, you know,
you're the fish swimming against the current.
You are the person who is standing out because you're the peculiar one in the situation.
And that's okay.
The early church, they felt this.
They felt this culturally.
They felt this amongst their families oftentimes,
always socially, very often politically,
when it came to the empire, when it came to other religions,
when it came to just the business practices of the day.
They didn't feel like they fit in.
And that's a good thing.
And so Peter writes to them in this kind of manner.
In fact, if I can just ask you to look not at chapter 2 of 1 Peter,
but go ahead and look at chapter 1,
and see how it is that he opens up this passage,
opens up this letter.
He says,
Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion.
And then he names all of these other places.
I mean, he launches with this idea that we're all pilgrims in a foreign land.
And then the verse, I'm going to read in just a second verses 4 through 10.
But look there in chapter 2, verse 11, and he says,
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, essentially as people that are foreigners.
And you'll remember that the Apostle Paul, in some of his writings in the New Testament,
he tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ.
It is, you're not, you don't belong here any longer.
Your citizenship is with another kingdom.
You're from another place now.
You belong to something else and something greater.
And so, yes, we're going to feel like we're out of place.
And again, that's the good thing.
Because as the world continues to reject the Lord,
we can continue to shine the light of why they should come back in.
They should come into the kingdom.
So look with me, if you will, here in 1 Peter chapter 4.
I'm going to begin at verse 4, or chapter 2.
I'm going to begin at verse 4 and read through verse 10.
Coming to him as to a living stone.
The him there is referring to Jesus.
Coming to him as to a living stone.
Rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.
You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house.
A holy priesthood.
To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture.
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone.
Elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.
Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious.
But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected,
he's become the chief cornerstone.
And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed.
And then verse 9 is where I'm going to ask you to focus in in just a few moments.
And I want to try to give some greater explanation here to verse 9.
But you are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood.
A holy nation.
His own special people.
That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Who once were not a people, but are now the people of God.
Who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
What an incredible passage.
You know, I say that every time I preach.
Sam, you probably think the same thing.
You get finished reading a passage of scripture and you think in your mind.
And we as pastors, preachers, teachers, we say out loud.
What an incredible passage.
Those of you that are Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, you probably do the same thing.
You get to the end of every passage and you say, what an incredible passage.
Knowing that every passage you could read in scripture is incredible.
And so I think it is always appropriate after we've read the scripture.
Let's pause for a moment.
Let me guide us in just another moment of prayer and ask God to help us to hear clearly from his spirit.
As to what he wants to teach and to move in our hearts.
How he wants to move in each one of us today.
Pray with me.
Father, we come to you humbly.
Because we know that you don't have any rivals or equals on the earth or in heaven or in the spiritual realm.
That you alone are God.
You alone are worthy of praise and adoration and worship.
We pray that what we have already done this morning collectively as a people.
To study your word.
To sing your praises.
To hear the testimonies of how you are moving in our midst and in our city.
That you would bless us with a knowledge of who Christ is.
That you would allow us to hear clearly how the spirit wants us to respond to you this morning from your word.
And so God, I would pray that what we do not know you will teach us.
That what we're not ready for yet, that you'll equip us.
And how it is that we have not conformed our lives to Christ yet.
That you would mold us.
So that we would be obedient, holy followers of our Lord.
For it's in the name of Christ we pray.
Amen.
Peter in this passage describes this Christ that we follow.
And makes it very clear that the world, that many people are going to reject him.
And he leans back into the Old Testament.
Quoting from the Old Testament.
He uses this metaphor of a stone, of a chief cornerstone.
Now, I'm not a builder.
I'm not handy.
I am not mechanically inclined.
In fact, you would have to call me mechanically declined.
I am not a person who should be around power tools.
If you need something fixed at your house, you call me and I'll get you in touch with somebody who can help you.
But if you need to break something at your house, I'm your guy.
And so, like, this kind of imagery, sometimes I have to dig a little deeper to get to it.
But I got to it of understanding that in this old, ancient world, the idea of a key stone is critical for the construction of an entire building.
It is the one piece of foundation that they make sure is plumb, that they make sure is straight on all sides, that is going to set the foundation.
It's going to set the stage so that everything is level and everything is secure.
And without the key cornerstone, without that foundational stone, nothing else matters.
The structure is not going to happen.
And the same is true for us as an individual, as a believer.
And it's also true of us as congregations.
That if we don't have that key cornerstone of Christ as our foundational rock, nothing else matters.
If it's our religious fervor, doesn't matter.
If it's our traditions, doesn't matter.
If we're going to build it on our own faithfulness, doesn't matter.
Everything's going to get very shaky.
Everything is going to fall apart.
But if we will utilize Christ as that key cornerstone, and we keep going back to the idea of,
this is the stone that the rest of the world has rejected.
Therefore, look at how the world is falling apart.
Look at the shakiness.
Look at the unsettled nature of the world.
It's because they've not chosen Christ as the foundational cornerstone.
They're trying to build on all sorts of other things.
Financial security, moral superiority, immoral superiority.
They're trying to base it on their own wit, their own wisdom, their own decision making.
But boy, we've got to turn a mirror on ourselves as individuals and as groups and as congregations
of, well, what are we doing?
Are we ensuring day after day after day, year after year after year,
are we willing to come under, I'll just say, a ruthless kind of observation of our own lives?
That we would be willing to have that kind of assessment of what am I building my life on?
And you know what?
Oftentimes, there's a really easy way for you to go through that kind of assessment of your life,
and that is look at your bank account and your calendar.
And I don't just mean like a work calendar.
I mean, really think about what is it that I spend all of my resources on,
and what is it I spend all my time on?
And if you look through all of that and Christ is missing,
or Christ is so far removed from a priority,
then we're not building our lives on Christ as the cornerstone.
And Peter gives this great warning that the people,
not only is Jesus not their cornerstone,
but he has become an offense,
and he is something that they're just stumbling over.
And you and I need to come under that question of,
what is it that I'm building my life on?
But then he's able to pivot and say,
but you know what?
There is some really good news.
There is some really good news about the people that Peter is writing this letter to,
and I hope that you'll take comfort in this.
I hope that you'll find yourself in this.
If you don't find yourself in this,
that's what we want to be able to help you with today,
is to bring you to Christ,
the one who loves so dearly,
the one who cares so completely,
the one who has died in our place for our sins on the cross of Calvary,
is dead, is buried,
and is resurrected three days later,
so that you and I,
if we will just put our simple faith in him
and repent of our sins,
that he says,
I'll give you eternal life,
which he says in John chapter 17,
verse 3,
that eternal life is knowing him
and is knowing the God in heaven
and the one that he has sent.
And yes,
eternal life is also about gates of pearl
and streets of gold
and walls of precious jewels.
And yes,
you know,
each of us,
like the old hymn says,
I've got a mansion just over the hilltop
in that bright land
where I'll never grow old,
but there's so much more than just that destination.
Christ promises this relationship with us
if we will make him that chief cornerstone.
And so I want you to think about these descriptions
that Peter gives to us
as to whether or not your relationship with God
is relational or it's transactional.
Is it that you have decided,
I'm just going to be,
I'm going to do favors for God
and I'm expecting him to do favors for me.
I'm going to be a good guy,
and I'm going to expect him to do nice things to me.
I'm going to be nice to my neighbors.
I expect God to do good things for me.
Or have you come under a surrendering relationship with God
where you have said,
Jesus,
I'm yours.
Because that's what we're about to see explained
in 1 Peter chapter 2.
He gives to us four descriptions of who you and I are
if we come into a relationship with Jesus there in verse 9.
First he says,
but you are a chosen generation.
Some of your translations of scripture may say
you're a chosen race.
But you're a chosen generation.
There is this amazing call
that God puts out to us into the world
where he says,
if you will come to me,
I will make you mine.
I want to choose all of you.
I'm the one doing the calling.
I, from eternity past through eternity present,
God is calling out through the annals of history.
And he is calling in this moment.
He's calling you.
Maybe you responded to that call like me.
I responded to that call to become a believer when I was very young.
Some of you responded to that call when you were in adulthood.
Some as teenagers.
Some of you are still thinking about that call.
But just know that right now God is calling your neighbor
and your co-worker
and your cousin
and that guy down the street
that never keeps his lawn up
and that other gal down the street
that always shows off
because her lawn is immaculate
and nobody else's is.
He's calling all of us.
But he says,
You are this chosen generation
that you can join with him
and with the great chorus of the church
globally and locally
to be a showpiece of the grace of God.
It is such a mistake
for us to think that somehow
we would have figured out
this whole thing on our own.
This is a testimony of God's goodness.
Now, oftentimes I missed
when I would read the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
about what the highlight
of the beginning of the ministry of Jesus really was
because the very, chronologically,
the very first message that Jesus delivered
was the simple message,
repent for the kingdom of God is near.
And for so long,
I saw that and kind of shrugged up a little bit
because I wanted always God to be the God of grace,
the God of love,
the God that was the soft father in heaven
and not feeling like it was the hard-edged judge
of the universe in eternity.
But as I've grown up
and as I've matured
and as I've tried to read the whole of Scripture
and understand it,
I've come to this conviction
that when God makes this universal call to us
and He says, repent,
that that is the great kindness of God.
Think about what it is
that He is trying to call you out of,
the self-destruction
that we heap upon ourselves
that sin does to us,
the self-imposed damage
of our sinful choices
of what we do in the dark
and sometimes that we put on display
for the whole world to see
that I'm allowed to get angry
because I got a reason to be angry
or I'm allowed to be bitter
because I got a good reason to be bitter
or I'm allowed to fill in the blank
with whatever sinful behavior.
I'm allowed to be mad at this person
or to get back at that other person
or to act this way
and God is calling us.
He wants you to know He chose you
and He wants you
and He is calling for you to come out of that
so that He can make you one of His own.
You're a chosen generation.
Secondly, He doesn't just say,
okay, I just need you to get in the threshold of the door.
I just want you to kind of graduate from this life,
summa cum, skin of your teeth into heaven,
but instead, you're chosen.
But then secondly there in verse 9,
He says,
not only are you a chosen generation,
you're a royal priesthood.
Now that sounds insane.
Like, I got up this morning
and I saw myself in the mirror.
I don't feel like a member of the royal priesthood
of the kingdom of God very often.
Like, I know me.
Like, I know what I'm capable of.
And yet God says,
not only are you going to come into the family
as part of the chosen generation,
I'm going to make you a member of the royal family
and I'm going to make you
one of the people on the earth
that you get to serve
as bringing the offerings of praise
to the God of the universe,
that you're one of the people
who puts that on display
for all of the world to see,
that you're one of the people
that is the go-between
between heaven and earth,
but you are not just like a little minion,
but instead you're part of the royal family.
One of my favorite stories of the Old Testament.
is found,
it's almost like a footnote
in the story of King David.
King David became really close friends
with Jonathan,
the son of King Saul,
when David was still waiting to be king
and Saul was mad all the time
that God had removed his spirit
and that there was going to be another king
that was going to come behind him
because Saul had been immoral
and had not followed after the Lord.
And yet David, as a young man,
becomes really close friends
with Saul's son, Jonathan,
and one day they make a private promise
to one another.
They say,
if anything happens to the other one of us,
we'll take care of each other's families.
David says,
if anything happens to you, Jonathan,
I'll take care of your family.
Jonathan says,
David, if anything happens to you,
I'll take care of your family.
Well, you fast forward,
civil war breaks out.
Eventually, Saul is off the throne and gone.
Jonathan is killed in battle.
David becomes king.
And David sends one of his servants out
and he says,
go and find out if there's anybody left
of the house of Jonathan.
And they go and they do a search
and they discover there's one guy left
and his name is Mephibosheth.
Now, I went to seminary
so I could learn how to pronounce that.
His name is Mephibosheth.
And Mephibosheth,
when he was a baby,
during all of the civil war,
some soldiers came to attack the home
and a nursemaid picked up Mephibosheth
and went to run out of the house.
And when she did,
she dropped him
and it broke both of his legs
and he was a crippled man
for the rest of his life.
And so they bring Mephibosheth
now as a grown man
into the court of King David.
Mephibosheth is part of the family of Saul.
He's the grandson of Saul.
And so David says to him,
are you Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan,
the son of Saul?
And Mephibosheth's response is,
I am.
What does the king want
with a dead dog like me?
That's what he says,
a dead dog like me.
And King David says,
you're adopted,
you're a part of the royal family,
you will live in my house
and you will eat at the king's table
for the rest of your life.
And that's the picture
of what happens to you and I.
It doesn't matter
the condition of our life,
it doesn't matter
what the world has said about us,
you and I get adopted
into the royal family of God
where we get to be a showcase
of God's grace.
We're the people now
who get to display,
who get to sing,
who get to talk,
who get to witness,
who get to tell
about the goodness of God.
He says,
you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
and then he says,
you are a holy nation.
Holiness is a weird word.
In our modern parlance,
we often think about people
that are holy
as those who just make
really good moral decisions.
And I want to encourage you
that that is part of holiness.
But the biblical idea
built out from Genesis to Revelation
of what does it mean to be holy
is not just that you've made
morally superior decisions
to your neighbors
and your co-workers
and all of your friends,
but rather the biblical concept
of holiness
is that you have a life
that is set apart
for the will
and the ways of God.
Think about it that way.
Set apart
for the will
and the ways of God.
And so it does include
all of those ethical decisions
that you make,
but it's the idea
that we are now
a separate nation.
We are a group of people
unified
under the banner of Christ
where our lives
are set apart.
Now,
Sam,
in your very kind introduction,
talked about how I had been
previously.
I've been a pastor
and now I'm in a season of life
where I am a Bible publisher.
I mean,
that is a cool gig.
Can you imagine
waking up every day
that it's my job
to publish Bibles,
to get more Bibles
into the world?
That is so awesome.
But let me just tell you,
every day,
what I actually do
is swim in a sea
of Excel spreadsheets.
I do inventory management,
I do production meetings,
I talk to our marketing team.
Now,
I do get to do
the cool stuff of like,
hey,
let's come up
with a new typesetting,
let's come up
with a new study Bible edition,
let's figure out
how we can put
cross-references in
that'll help people
like navigate
through the scriptures.
I do get to do
that fun part,
but most of what I do
is I run a business unit
within a big publishing company.
And there are some days
that I feel very disjointed.
There are some days
that I get sideways,
and I feel disconnected.
There are some days
to put in a phrasing
of one of my very close friends,
his name's Michael,
that he's a great writer
and great thinker.
He talks about
how sometimes
we self-amputate
from the body of Christ,
how we decide
that we're gonna take
a step back
because we didn't like something,
we didn't like somebody,
because we got selfish,
because, you know,
I just don't wanna participate
right now,
I wanna go over here
and kinda stew
in my own juices
about something,
or I've chosen
a certain sin
that I just think
is more important
than my own spiritual growth
right now,
or I'm, you know,
or I just get lazy
or apathetic
about my spiritual life.
And here,
Peter is reminding us
as believers,
you,
God called you,
he adopted you
into the family
so that you could be
a part of this
royal priesthood,
and you're a holy nation.
Your life is gonna look
different from everybody else,
but not just your life.
I'm from Alabama,
so I would say
y'all's life,
so there'd be
two apostrophes,
Y apostrophe,
A-L apostrophe-S,
or Ewan's,
you know,
it's y'all of us
are now
a holy group of people.
And
I kid a little bit
when I say this,
but I kinda mean it too.
The city of Henrietta, Texas
ought to look at the family
of First Baptist Henrietta,
and there ought to be
a part of them
where they go,
those people are
a little different from us.
That ought to be
actually the case
where they say
those people are
a little bit different from us
because if you look
at the next
and the fourth description,
he says,
a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
his own special people.
There's some translations
that say
a peculiar people,
a people of his own possession.
When you take those
last two descriptions,
a holy nation,
and a people,
his own special people,
it is that,
yeah,
we're gonna stand out.
We're gonna be
a little bit different.
We're gonna love
when other people don't.
We're gonna show grace
when other people don't.
We're gonna stand up
for the truth
when other people don't.
We're gonna call you
to Christ
when other people say,
no, no, no,
you can continue
to be exactly who you are.
We are gonna be
a little bit different
and that's the good thing.
That is who we are
and there is a sense
at which we love
our rugged individualism.
We love being who we are.
This is how I was born.
This is how I was bred.
This is how I'm gonna be.
You know,
the preacher joke
that I heard growing up
as it was,
you know,
I was Southern Baptist born.
I was Southern Baptist bred
and when I die,
I'll be Southern Baptist dead.
You know,
and so that's some
of how we operate
no matter where it is
that whether it's your fan base
of whatever team you root for
or whatever it is
that is that,
you know,
the special thing in your life.
But he says
that you have been acquired.
That idea there
of his own special people,
the language behind that
is that you've actually
been acquired by Christ.
You've been acquired by God.
He made the payment
with his blood.
You are now his.
And how freeing is that?
That now you know
who you are.
Now you'll know
what to do.
I mean,
as a pastor,
maybe the most common question
that people ever came
to talk with me about
is,
Lord,
I've asked the Lord,
I've asked the Lord.
I don't know
what I'm supposed
to do next.
And I've learned
over the years
of traversing
that question
in my own life,
not perfect yet,
got a long way to go.
But if you want to know
what you're supposed
to do next,
figure out
who you are right now.
Know who you are
so that you'll know
what to do.
Because if you've decided
that you are your own man,
you are your own woman,
I will make my own decisions,
then you're going to be
going in a million
different directions.
But if you know
whose you are,
that Christ has acquired you
by the cost of blood,
that you are
a holy nation,
you're a group of people
set apart for the will
and the ways of God,
that you are
a royal priesthood,
you've been adopted
into the family of God,
that you are
a chosen generation
where God is the one
who called you
out of death
and into life,
then suddenly
knowing what to do next,
that becomes easy.
And we saw a testimony
of that this morning.
As I was watching
that video,
I had to ask
Pastor Sam for a pen
because Emberlin,
I don't know
who Emberlin is,
but Emberlin said,
and part of her testimony
that we saw in the video,
she had one of the longer ones,
so I couldn't write it all down,
so Emberlin,
if you're in here,
sorry about that.
But basically,
she said,
now I know
what to do with my life
so that when people ask me,
why are you so kind,
I can tell them
because I have the love of Jesus.
I mean,
one of your own GAs
put on display
exactly what this passage
is all about,
that why are you so kind?
Why is it that you're so calm?
Why can you be so steady
in the midst of all of this?
Why is it that you can
get along with everybody?
Why is it that you can set
your wants,
your wishes,
your preferences aside
so that we can serve Christ
in the community?
Why can you do that?
Easy.
Because I have the love of Jesus.
Because this passage ends
with saying
that
you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
his own special people,
so that
you can proclaim
the praises
of him
who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light
who once were not a people
but are now the people of God
who had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy.
Great theologian
from another generation
and another continent
once said,
there's no other church
than the church
sent into the world,
there's no other mission
than that of the church
of Christ.
In a generation
after him,
another theologian said,
you know what,
the church exists
by mission
just as fire
exists by burning.
I mean,
it is part and parcel
of who we are.
Without the mission
of Christ,
without knowing
who we are
and being out on mission,
we are not
the people of God.
It is moving
from the orange ping pong balls
to the white ones.
It is the prayer
for the lost neighbor.
It is the prayer
for the lost grandchild.
It is the prayer
for the wayward son of God.
It is the prayer
for the neighbor
who doesn't know
the gospel yet
or who knows it
but has rejected it.
It is,
I am chosen.
I am part of the priesthood.
I am part of the holy nation.
I am the people
of God's own possession
so that I can declare
the praises of the God
who calls us
out of darkness
and into his marvelous light.
And I want you
to be a part
of that great family of God.
And so today,
no matter how long
you've been a church,
attender,
member,
Sunday school attendee,
volunteer,
all of those things,
you can put all of that aside
if there's not been
a moment in time
in your life
where you have surrendered
your life to Christ,
you have repented
of your sins,
you have put your faith
in Jesus Christ,
the resurrected Lord
of all things,
today is the day
of your salvation.
But I also want to say
that if you've done that
and you have found
yourself hesitant,
you have found yourself
at a loss,
you have found yourself
as a I don't know
how to get to this person,
I love to share
the gospel with them,
I want you to call
upon the name
of the Lord today.
I want you to beg
the Spirit today
that He would give you
an entrance
into that person's life,
into that conversation,
that He would give you
boldness of heart
not to just go
and to bludgeon them
with the gospel,
but to be able
to lovingly enter
into the conversation
so that you can share
the gospel with a neighbor,
so that you can go
and love someone
who is unlovable,
so that you can go
and be a part
of the Spirit's work
here in your community,
and to respond
to the call of God,
so that you can be
a part of the
so that generation,
that God has made me
one of His
so that I can call
more people
to be one of His.
I want to pray for you,
and after I pray,
then Pastor Sam's
going to come
and close out the service,
but let me pray for you,
and you just,
let's bow our heads,
enter into a moment
of prayer,
and just come along
with me as I guide us
in this moment.
Father,
you are good,
you are so good to us,
and I pray that you
would forgive us
where we have faltered,
where we have fallen short,
where we have not been
your faithful stewards
of the gospel,
because it happens
to all of us,
and none of us
are immune,
but God,
this is a moment
where we want to,
once again,
come before you
and surrender.
So God,
I pray for the man,
the woman,
the teenager,
the kid in this
congregation today,
whether they're
in the room,
or out with the kids
in children's ministry.
Lord,
if there is one
here today
that has not yet
surrendered their life,
no matter how
baptistic they've been,
no matter how religious
they've been,
or how wayward
they've been,
God,
would you fulfill
your word
and come and heal
our rebelliousness,
and love us,
and make us your own?
God,
I pray that you
would help the one
who has not yet
surrendered to Christ,
that right now
in this moment,
they will call upon you
as Lord and Savior,
repent of their sin,
and say,
I trust in Christ
that he's risen
from the dead.
I pray that that
would be the case.
Allow them to hear
clearly from your spirit,
that they would respond
to you in faith
for their salvation.
And Lord,
for the many
members of this church
that are looking
for a way
to share their faith,
looking for a way
to be faithful
to you.
I pray
that they would
just lift that name
of that co-worker,
that family member,
that friend,
that neighbor
before you right now.
Friends,
let's just do that
right now.
Let's take those names
of the people
that we love so much,
that we know so closely.
Let's lift them
before the Father
in heaven.
God,
these friends of ours,
these people
in our families,
these people
at our workplaces,
would you give us
a way to share
the gospel with them?
Lord,
help us to be
on the long-term
journey of friendship
with them,
but God,
we want to see
them saved.
We want to see
an awakening spiritually.
We want to see
a revival
in our city.
God,
would you bring
that about?
Would you use us
in it?
God,
would you use me
in his life?
God,
would you use me
in her life?
God,
we know that you
love these friends
of ours so much
more than we can
fathom.
So will you make
us faithful
in your kingdom
and give us
understanding
and courage
to speak
when you open
the door?
Father,
we thank you
for your word.
We thank you
for your goodness.
Lord,
we're ready
to be on your
mission
continuously
day after day.
For it's in the name
of Christ we pray.
Amen.
Folks,
let's go ahead
and keep our seats.
We have just a minute
or two before we dismiss,
but before we do that,
would you go ahead
and bow your heads
with me
and remain in a moment
of prayer?
I'm going to ask
some follow-up questions
from what our speaker
was talking to us
about this morning.
I'm grateful for him
bringing the word.
You heard a very clear
call that reminds us
who we are in Christ.
And I'm going to ask
this question.
I don't for a moment
believe that everyone
in this room
has had that moment
of conversion,
that moment of giving
your heart to Jesus.
So I want to invite you
to do that today.
If that's you
and you say,
I need to make
today the day
that once and for all
I give my life
to Jesus.
We just had three boys
do it at camp.
We've had adults
do it this year.
We've had teenagers,
people of every age group
choose to make
the commitment
and say,
I'm giving my life
to Jesus.
If that's you this morning,
would you slip
your hand up right now?
You have privacy
in this room.
I'd like to see you
and like to pray for you.
Let me give you a moment.
How many of you would say
I have someone
on my mind right now?
Maybe while Phillip
was praying.
How many of you say
I have someone
on my mind right now
that I'm going to pray
for them
to give their lives
to Jesus
and I'm going to see
what God would have me
to do
to speak to them
and share the gospel.
Would you slip your hand
up real quick
all across the room?
Thank you.
I know many of those people
that are on your minds
right now are represented
in these ping pong balls.
We're praying for them.
We've seen two
turn to faith in Christ.
We've got reports.
There's another one.
God,
right now,
I just ask
that you would use
your people
in this room.
Give us boldness, God.
Give us opportunity
and give us boldness.
Give us clarity of mind.
Help us to do
the hard work
behind the scenes
of preparing,
of diving into the gospel,
making it
so real
and fresh
in our minds
that we can't help
but share it
when you give us
those chances.
And God,
work on the hearts
of those who need to hear.
Remind us who we are.
We are your chosen people.
We are your
peculiar,
special people.
But God,
you have us here
for this
high and holy purpose.
Help us to not miss it.
Thank you,
Thank you.