If you have your Bibles, I'll open them with me to 2 Kings. Oh wait, I forgot.
Never know whether to wear these things or not, do we?
I don't know if anybody else is like me. You're sick and tired of wearing a mask.
Anybody with me? Or are y'all just still asleep?
We gave you a service off. It's 1030. Come on, wake up.
It was a joke, by the way.
Anybody tired of wearing a mask? Looking forward to the day when we can just throw these things away and they'll be gone and we don't ever have to look at them again?
Not yet.
They're getting my punchline ahead of me there.
Well, here we are, the last Sunday, last Sunday of a year.
And I think most of us can certainly look forward to 2020 kind of slipping away into the history books and us moving forward.
You know, the last Sunday of any year, you know, brings a lot of emotions, a lot of different thoughts and processes in our minds.
We can look back upon the past year and we can think about all the things that we experienced, all the things that we went through, some good, some bad.
We can also look forward to a new year with great anticipation of the things that lie before us.
Maybe there's some nervousness or fear of things that are in the new year that we're unaware of, but maybe there's some great excitement.
This year, we have the excitement that the coronavirus can maybe be put behind us, whether it be through a vaccine or whether the Lord would bring it to an end.
But we can get back to some form of normalcy, whatever that might be.
I don't know that we'll ever get back to the way life ever was before, but hopefully we're going to get back to some form of normalcy in our lives.
But as we look forward in 2021, we can look forward with great anticipation of what the Lord will do and that we can walk into that future holding his hand and trusting him certainly to be with us.
But as we look back and we look at 2020 and we think of all that we've been through, do you realize a year ago, this Sunday, a year ago, we had never even heard coronavirus or COVID-19.
Most of us haven't, hadn't at that point in time.
And here we are a year later.
But we look back and I think Fred mentioned last Sunday, it wasn't all bad, was it?
There were some good things that took place in 2020.
One of the things that took place in my life is I had to learn how to use Zoom.
I had never heard of Zoom before that, I don't believe.
But all of a sudden now I had to learn to use Zoom and I used it with Sunday school classes.
But we also used it to do some training with individuals in Peru that we would not have been able to have done without actually traveling and going down there.
We're also getting ready to start another Bible study with Peruvians through Zoom and as well as train pastors in Peru.
And then just this week I got an invitation from a leader in Ecuador wanting us to train pastors in Ecuador.
And so some of those things would have never occurred without coronavirus and COVID-19 that we've been through.
Because I wouldn't have necessarily known how to have done that.
And they may not have asked.
They would have wanted us to come travel down there.
And we can't travel and do as much as we can do obviously over the internet and Zoom.
So there's been some good things, hasn't there?
But one of the best things I want to share with you now.
My best thing that happened to me this year.
My granddaughter was born.
Last Sunday morning at 2.55, Lori Harper Davis was born on December 20th of 2020.
Now I would put it in military time and say she was born at 2020, but she wasn't.
It was 2.55 in the morning.
But she's home, doing well.
I said my daughter has too easy a time with babies because the first night she was home she only got up once all night.
And I think Ashley even woke her up to feed her.
I'm like, what kind of babies do you have?
Because my grandson, he sleeps.
He'll go to bed at 8 or 9 o'clock at night and sleep until 10, 11 o'clock the next day.
I'm like, I told her, I said, you're not going to get that lucky with every baby.
This one will probably start getting up every two hours before long.
But as we look back on the year of 2020, there's been some good things that have happened.
Some bad, and we've all had challenges that we have faced.
It's been definitely a challenging year that we have dealt with.
And there's going to be some lasting effects upon us individually, maybe as a community, but definitely as a nation.
There's going to be financial impacts upon our nation for years and years to come.
There's going to be some maybe physical effects, mental, emotional, maybe some spiritual, educational impacts, and definitely political impacts to our nation from 2020 for a generation to come.
And there are times in our lives when circumstances arise that we have no power and no control over.
Circumstances that impact our lives that we didn't do anything to deserve those circumstances.
We didn't do anything to bring those circumstances upon ourselves.
We didn't act irrationally.
We didn't make bad decisions.
We didn't ask for these things to come into our lives, such as coronavirus.
We didn't ask for coronavirus.
And none of us in here did anything to bring about coronavirus as a worldwide pandemic.
But sometimes those things come into our lives and they present challenges in our lives that we have no control over that.
But at times when these circumstances of life occur such as this, it can bring about a sense of fear.
It can bring about a sense of desperation or even hopelessness in our hearts.
And we're left with asking questions such as, what do I do now?
How do I respond to this?
How do I take care of my family?
You know, how do I go on maybe when you've lost a loved one as a result?
And this is why this morning I want us to take a look at a poor widow found in 2 Kings who found herself in one of these moments when life circumstances were beyond her control.
The scripture passage is 2 Kings chapter 4 verses 1 through 7.
And the message of this poor widow is a practical message that answers the question that maybe all of us are asking in our lives, at least at some point in time or another,
is where is the power to meet the desperate needs of human life?
When we're put in the situation of circumstances of life that are bigger than us, beyond our control, where is that power for us to face those circumstances and definitely to face it representing the Lord and honoring God?
So let's look together at 2 Kings.
You can look at the scripture on the board.
2 Kings chapter 4 verses 1 through 7.
The wife of the prophet said,
Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
Don't ask for just a few.
Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.
Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side.
She left him and afterwards shut the door behind her and her sons.
They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
When all of the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one.
But he replied, there is not a jar left.
Then the oil stopped flowing.
She went and told the man of God and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts.
You and your sons can live on what is left.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Father, we just come to you today.
And we acknowledge that we have been in circumstances and situations with this coronavirus and maybe others that are bigger than us.
And we turn to you, Lord, to work in our lives, work in our hearts, work in our minds, to help us, Lord, to have the power to face these circumstances and situations.
And not only to face these, but to face them with faith and to face them with trust and reliance upon you.
Lord, I pray that you speak to each and every one of us today through your word.
And I don't know who is here, maybe struggling even more than anyone else.
But I pray, Lord, that you speak your word and your truth to our hearts and help us, Lord, to draw nearer and closer to you.
And we thank you for this and praise you, Father, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
As we can see in just reading these seven verses that the widow faced a severe and a very urgent crisis in her life.
Her husband, who had been a prophet, he has died.
And he has left her with a substantial debt that she is not able to pay.
Now, we don't know much about her husband.
We don't know.
And we don't know how he incurred such a debt.
But one thing we can probably assume is that he didn't incur this debt due to wild living or irresponsible behavior or making bad decisions in his life.
Because it's kind of clear here in Scripture that he was a prophet and he was a very godly man.
He was known by Elisha.
He was respected by Elisha.
By the way, Elisha is the prophet who replaced Elijah.
Elijah had been so close to God and so intimate with God that he is one of only two people that we read about in Scripture who never died.
Elijah was taken in a whirlwind to heaven to be with God.
He was that close to God.
Sometimes in our lives, as we pray, we should pray and ask God to help us to have that type of relationship with God.
That we would grow in that type of intimacy.
And that's going to mean spending a lot of time with God.
Spending time in His Word.
Spending time in prayer.
Spending time meditating upon the Word.
And to have that type of relationship with God would be amazing.
But before he was taken into heaven, he appointed Elisha to replace him.
Which, by the way, Elisha is my favorite prophet.
And some of you know why.
I know Mike knows why.
But I'm not going to go into that today.
But if you go back to 2 Kings chapter 2 and read chapter 2,
it won't take you long to figure out why Elisha is my favorite prophet.
But this man that was this widow's husband,
you know, it's quite possibly that he was one of the 7,000 prophets
that God had told Elijah that he had kept for himself.
And that he had never bowed down to Baal.
Remember, Elijah was fleeing Jezebel.
And she was, or he was fearful that he was the only one left that was honoring God.
And God said, you know, I've kept 7,000 prophets to myself
that have kept themselves pure and they've never bowed to Baal.
We don't know this, but it's kind of possible
that he could have been one of those prophets
that remained pure and holy
even when Jezebel was trying to persecute them and kill them.
And perhaps this prophet incurred this type of debt
because of Jezebel and her persecution
against the prophets during that day and that time.
We really don't know how he incurred that debt.
But we do know that he has died
and he's left his wife with this debt.
Now, in that day and time,
a woman did not have the ability to go out and get a job
that would have provided the type of income
that she would have needed to be able to pay off this type of debt.
It was the general practice in that day and time
that when a man died and left his wife a widow,
that the sons, especially the oldest son,
it would be his responsibility to care for
and to take care of his mother.
But in this particular passage,
it becomes kind of obvious
that her sons must be too young to be able to do that.
They're not old enough to go out
and get the type of job that would provide for their mother
and pay off this debt.
They probably are of some age
that the creditors are getting ready to come
and take them and enslave them.
So they're probably old enough
that they could be of some benefit to a creditor.
But they're not old enough to take care of their mother
and to pay off this type of debt.
And so the creditor is now threatening
that he's going to come and he's going to take these two boys
and he's going to enslave them to work off this debt.
And that's the way things were done in this period of time
that when you owed a debt,
the creditor was in his full right to come and take them
and make them work for him to work off that debt.
He had every right to do that.
That was the general practice.
However, he didn't have the right to enslave them.
That was against the word of God for the Jews
to take another Jew and to put them in slavery.
God said that he had delivered Israel
from the bondage of slavery in Egypt
and they were not to take them away as a slave.
Look with me at Leviticus 25.
It'll be on the screen.
Leviticus 25 verses 39 through 40.
If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you
and sells himself to you,
do not make him work as a slave.
He is to be treated as a hired worker
or a temporary resident among you.
He is to work for you until the year of Jubilee.
So it's in the right for this creditor
to take the boys as a hired servant
or a worker to work that debt off.
But he was not to take them and treat them like slaves.
And the year of Jubilee came every 50 years.
And it was designed for, number one,
the earth and the land to rest,
but also for property to go back to rightful owners.
If they sold property,
then at the year of Jubilee,
it went back to the original owners of that.
As well as if you had sold yourself as a servant
or in bondage there,
at the year of Jubilee,
you were set free
and you'd have your freedom back.
And so these boys could be taken as a servant.
But they were looking forward.
They could be treated like a hired servant
until the debt was paid off
and then they would be set free.
Or they would work until the year of Jubilee,
which we don't know at this point
how soon that would be coming.
But they could work to the year of Jubilee
and then they would be set free as well.
But this is little consolation to a mother, isn't it?
Little consolation to a mother
who they're getting ready to take her two boys.
She's already lost her husband.
She's a widow trying to raise two boys
and now they're getting ready to take them.
We can almost sense.
We can almost feel the desperation
that she must be feeling.
Put yourself in that position.
If you're a parent,
you can put yourself in that position.
If you're a single parent,
you can really put yourself in that position
where your two children
are getting ready to be taken away from you
and made slaves.
You're probably more worried about them
being put in slavery and treated like a slave
than you are yourself.
But then you also must think how she felt
about being all alone at this point in time.
Her husband, her children,
everything has been stripped away from her
and taken away from her.
And all she has to her name at this point
is a little bit of olive oil.
She has nothing else.
She has no food.
She has no resources.
She has nothing
but a little bit of olive oil left in her house.
Olive oil could have been used for cooking.
We still do that today.
They could have also used it for heating.
Ironically, you could use the olive oil for cooking
but she didn't have anything to cook.
So this lady ends up doing the only thing
that she knows what to do.
And that is she turns to Elisha.
In a sense, she's turning to God.
But she's turning to God's prophet
and asking what she was to do
in this desperate situation
so that her sons wouldn't be taken from her.
And as simply as she could,
she explained to Elisha
exactly what was going on here.
that her husband,
who was a prophet with Elisha,
he had died and left her with this debt
and now her sons were about to be taken as slaves.
Now, instead of Elisha
doing a miracle right in front of her eyes
and providing for her,
he does something that is a tremendous lesson
for us today too
in helping people.
What did he do?
He didn't just provide for her
but he asked her,
what do you have in your house
that you can help yourself?
You know, what do you have there?
Well, she says,
I don't have anything
but a little bit of oil.
But, you know,
we're often confronted
in the world in which we live
with individuals that have a need, aren't we?
And we're often left wondering,
how do we help those?
As Christians,
we should have a heart
that we want to help people
that have needs
but we don't want to help them
in the wrong way either
that causes them
to enable them
to continue a lifestyle
of not taking care of themselves.
And so we learn a lesson here
of helping others
by helping them help themselves.
We help the Dream Center
through this church,
many others in the community
and this area help them
and that's their whole motto
is a hand up,
not a hand out
of helping individuals.
But that's another lesson
for another day.
But that's what Elisha's doing.
He asked her,
what do you have in your house
that you can help yourself?
And all she had
was a little bit of oil.
All she had
was a little bit of olive oil.
But one thing that we learn,
not only here in 2 Kings 4,
but throughout Scripture
over and over,
that even a little bit
when put in the hands of God
becomes a lot.
Even a little bit
put in the hands of God
is enough to meet our needs
and to provide for all
that we might have a need of.
Now Elisha was teaching her
ultimately to put her faith
and trust in God
and to trust Him
to meet those needs.
Not to put trust
in an individual.
No.
He didn't want her
putting her faith
and trust just in Elisha
even though he was a prophet.
He wanted her
to trust God
and to trust God
to meet her needs.
And he told her
to go out,
go to all your neighbors
and ask for as many
empty vessels
as you can find
and don't just ask for a few.
Ask for a lot.
Go everywhere you can
and get as many vessels
as you possibly can
and then bring them back
to your house.
It doesn't tell us
that she did that
but we know she did
because she's got the vessels
to fill up here in a moment.
But when she had gone out
and her sons helped her
gather all the vessels,
she probably asked every neighbor
she could possibly ask.
She goes back to her house,
she takes her two sons,
she goes into her house
and she closes the door
so that this is not
a big spectacle
for everybody to see.
Elisha,
she's doing exactly
what he had told her to do
because this was going
to be a miracle
that God was going to do
that was going to be
very private
between her and her sons
and God.
And we see Jesus do this
from time to time
in his ministry too
because they didn't want
to bring attention
and focus to her
or her family
but to bring the attention
to God
and to let this be
an experience
between her and God
to build her faith
in God
that God is able
to meet whatever needs
that she might have.
Now,
once inside her house
she began to pour
the little bit of oil
that she had
into the vessels
that she had gathered
until they all ran out.
Now,
we don't know
how much oil
she had.
It just said
she had a little bit.
Common sense
would tell us
that a little bit of oil
would not fill up
all these vessels.
It probably wouldn't
fill up even one of them
much less all of them.
And so,
common sense
tells us
that this is ridiculous
to even start doing
but over and over again
we see in Scripture
that God defies
common sense.
Over and over
in Scripture
God defies
common sense.
Common sense
would tell us
that a virgin
couldn't have a baby.
Common sense
would tell us
not to trust God
to meet our every need
but get out there
and do the best we can.
I grew up here
and pull yourself up
by your own bootstraps
and get out there
and get to work
and take care of yourself.
Common sense
would tell us
over and over
not to trust
in God
but to trust
in ourselves
and trust in the system
and trust the things
of this world
and get out there
and do it.
But over and over again
we see in the Bible
where God defies
common sense.
I mean,
He divided the Red Sea
where people walked
across on dry land.
He provided
for the children of Israel
food for 40 years.
Over and over again
God did amazing things.
It reminds me
of 1 Corinthians 1.27.
But God chose
the foolish things
of the world
to shame the wise.
God chose
the weak things
of the world
to shame the strong.
Over and over again
God calls us
to step out in faith
and to trust Him
and to believe Him
and not to believe
common sense.
And over and over again
our faith is put
to challenge.
Are we going to trust
God or not?
You know,
just this week
I was talking
to another Christian
and it was almost like
they were discouraging me
from doing things
that I felt like
God had opened
the door for.
I'll give you an example.
I was telling them
about the opportunities
that I was going to have
to train pastors
in Ecuador.
And I told them
this individual
you know,
we're getting ready
to start a Bible study
with individuals in Peru.
We're talking about
training pastors in Peru.
We've already done
three out of a
ten course curriculum
with the pastors in Peru.
We're looking at
doing the fourth lesson
or course.
It's a 60 hour course.
So if you did
two hours a week
you do the math
that's a 30 hour course
that we,
a 30 week course
that we would have
to meet with the Peruvians.
But then we'd also
have to do the same thing
with Ecuador
and go back
and start first.
So that'd be
three nights out of the week
that I'd be tied up
two hours each night
doing this.
And they're like,
well maybe you shouldn't
do that.
Maybe God's not God.
Maybe you shouldn't
try to help everybody.
Maybe it's just people
wanting your help
and I'm going,
oh my word.
I see it as doors
that God is opening
for this church
to be involved
in training pastors
you know,
in two countries
in South America
and who knows
where it'll go.
You know,
the person that called me
said,
he's been working
with pastors
in the mountains
of Ecuador
and he's been teaching
them about missions
but he needs somebody
that can help them
with more theology.
And he said
these are all pastors
in their 60s and 70s
and they've never
thought about
training up
the next generation
of pastors
behind them.
They've not,
that just doesn't
enter their mind.
And so they've done
very little if anything
to train up
pastors coming
behind them
to one day
take their place.
And I see it
as doors opening
that God can use us
you know,
because I've already
started talking
to people like
Paul Welch
who y'all know
is a retired pastor.
He's been down
with us once before
to help us
but to have him
help us do the training
as well as Paul's son
some of you may know
Michael is a pastor
over in Marietta
and pull in
some other pastors
to help us.
And I was thinking
man,
the impact
that
Piggins First Baptist
can have
literally
upon
churches
around the world
is amazing
of the things
that we can do.
But I had this
Christian that I was
talking to
almost discouraging me.
Like
don't do that.
You've probably
experienced that
in your life
as well
when individuals
try to discourage you
from trusting the Lord
and walking in faith
and allowing God
to use you
to do things
that are not possible
in and of yourself
you know
that defies
common sense.
But when this
widow
obeyed
Elisha's word
to essentially
trust God
then God
responded to her
and he took
that little bit
of oil
that she had
and began
to multiply
to the point
where she filled
up one vessel
after another.
Every time a vessel
was full
her sons would
set it aside
and put another
vessel there
and the oil
kept pouring
and kept pouring
until every one
of those vessels
that she had
gathered
was full
and at that moment
the oil
stopped flowing
because God
responded
to her faith
and the faith
that she had
to go out
and the number
of vessels
that she was able
to gather
and the oil
flowed
until they were
all full.
If she had gathered
more vessels
I think that
oil would have
continued flowing
until those vessels
were also
full as well.
You see
there is no end
to God's resources.
There is no end
to God's resources
and He makes
those available
to His children.
God can meet
every one
of our needs.
God can meet
our needs
according to
our faith
and how we
trust in Him
and He will do
that in our lives
more than just
materially too
and I will talk
about that
in just a moment
but you know
not only was
the oil here
enough
to meet
this lady's debt
that she owed
her creditor
that was going
to keep her sons
now from being
taken into slavery
but now
she was also
able to live
on that.
Elisha tells her
to go sell the oil
take that money
pay off your creditor
and now you have
enough money
to live on.
We don't know
how long
maybe until her sons
were able to grow up
and then get jobs
and start working
and taking care
of her the way
they did in that
day and time.
But what we learn
from this story
in scripture
and by the way
this is not a parable
this is a true story
that really took place
and what we learn
from it is that
we can look to God
to meet our needs.
We can turn to God
to meet our needs
no matter what our
needs we're facing.
No matter what
challenges that we're
up against God's heart
is full of compassion
for his children
and when we turn
to him and have
faith and trust
in him and seek
him then he will
surely meet
those needs.
Jesus tells us
you know as a good
father what father
if a child asked
him for a loaf
of bread would
give him a snake.
You know a good
father gives their
children good gifts
and we can trust
God as our father
to take care of us
and to meet our
needs and to give
us the things
that we need.
We know that he
knows our needs
even more than we
know our needs.
He knows our needs
before we know
our needs and we
can trust that God
is going to take
care of us.
What are you facing
today?
What challenges
are you up against?
You know like I said
it doesn't have to be
material.
It doesn't have to be
financial.
God cares about each
of the needs.
It may be physical
needs in your life.
It may be a whole
host of things.
You know we may
have the need you
know the basic needs
of life you may be
facing and up against
and we can trust God
to meet those needs
but we may have
other needs that
we're facing as well
such as a need for
purpose.
A need for meaning.
The need for
significance.
The need for a
sense of fulfillment
and satisfaction.
The need for
conquering the trials
and the temptations
of life.
The need for either
health or the
strength to bear the
suffering, pain and
infirmities of life.
Whatever needs that
we're up against and
we're facing we know
that God can meet
those needs and he
can come to us and
provide for us in a
way that we could not
ever provide for
ourselves and no
resource in the world
could provide for us
but God can.
God has the power and
the desire to meet
our needs.
If you're like me a lot
of times we know God
can do something but
sometimes we get into
that place where we
wonder if God will do
that or wants to do
that.
What I want to tell
you today God loves
you and God wants to
meet your needs.
He wants to come to
you and provide the
things that you need
in your life.
The needs not
necessarily the wants
and the desires of
life but the needs
that we have in life
but can I also share
with you that there's a
requirement for God to
do that.
in Matthew 6 33 it
says seek first his
kingdom and his
righteousness and all
these things will be
given unto you.
What are these things
it says will be given
to you?
Well if you go back and
read Matthew chapter 6
you'll see he's telling
you don't worry about
what you're going to
eat.
Don't worry about what
you're going to wear.
Don't worry about where
you're going to live.
He's talking about
meeting the needs of
your life and I think
that even though that
chapter doesn't say it
but God meets other
needs in our lives as
well like I just
mentioned a need for
purpose a need for
significance a need for
meaning.
You know if we seek God
and live for God I want
to tell you right now
he's going to give you
purpose.
He's going to give you
meaning.
He's going to give you
significance in your life
that you would never
find anywhere else.
But God has to become
the priority in which
we are seeking in our
lives.
Seek ye first the
kingdom of God.
Don't worry about all
these other things.
God knows what we need.
He will provide what we
need in life if he
becomes the priority of
our life.
life.
Unfortunately most of us
have our needs met don't
we?
Most of our needs are
already met and so we're
not satisfied with just
having the needs of life.
We want beyond that and
that's where we fail to
trust God so often because
we want more.
We know God will provide
our needs but we want
more than that.
Can I tell you too
sometimes when we make God
our priority and we want
him more than we want
anything else and we're
seeking after him.
We're seeking to serve
him.
Our wants and our desires
will change and we will
want the things that God
wants and he will provide
that too.
You know one time when I was
in seminary it was my very
first semester in seminary
I had Gerald Borchard for
New Testament.
And I'll still remember and
hopefully I will never
forget a question he asked
us.
He said do you hunger for
God the way a hungry man
desires food?
Have you ever gone a day
without eating?
Have you ever gone a meal?
Do you know how hungry you
were and what would you do
to get some food to eat?
When I was a teenager and
in college my friends and
I used to go hunting a lot
we'd get up early on a
Saturday or maybe a
Christmas break and we'd
take off and where I
lived you could walk all
day long and not come to
the end of land.
And we would go and we
weren't smart enough to
think about taking food
with us or water or
anything else.
We'd just go walk and we'd
stay gone all day long.
And come back in after
dark.
A lot of times supper was
already over and gone and
all that's left are scraps.
But when you come in and you
haven't eaten all day long
you come in and you just
start grabbing whatever's
there and just pouring it
down because we haven't
had anything to eat.
You ever been that hungry?
You ever been that hungry for God?
Have you ever desired God so
much that He is your priority
and He's all you're focused on
and you're seeking Him and
you're living for Him and
you're studying His Word and
you're spending time with Him
because He becomes your
priority in life and then God
will meet all of your other
needs.
We don't have to spend time
worrying about all these
other things in life.
We don't have to worry about
politics.
We don't have to worry about
the coronavirus and vaccines
and all that kind of stuff.
Focus on the Lord.
Live for God.
Seek God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all
of your might.
And He knows our needs and He'll
provide those needs for us in a
way that we could never imagine.
You know, Ephesians 3.20, it
tells us that God will do far
more than we can ask for or we can
imagine.
You know, I have a pretty vivid
imagination and I can imagine a
lot of things God could do and I
can ask for a whole lot of things
too.
But Ephesians 3.20 says God can do
more than what we even ask for.
He can do more than we can even
imagine God will do in our lives
when we seek Him first and put Him
as the priority of our lives.
I hope that as we go into a new
year, 2021, that a relationship with
Jesus Christ, that intimate, personal
relationship like Elijah had, I hope
that becomes our goal, our desire, our
hunger and we take our eyes off of
all this other stuff going on and we
just focus on the Lord.
You know, the greatest need that
mankind has ever known is the need to
be forgiven of our sins and God has
provided that as well.
Christmas was just the beginning of
that story of Jesus coming into the
earth, Christmas that we just
celebrated.
That's just the beginning of the story
and we all know the rest of the story.
But God provided a way for our sins to
be forgiven and how we can have a
relationship with Him.
We can be reborn and we can be
children of God and we can look
forward to the future and we can look
forward to eternity.
Maybe today you've never asked Jesus
Christ to be your Lord and Savior.
Maybe today is that day unto salvation
when you want to confess you're a sinner
and ask Christ to forgive you of your sin
and to enter your life to be your Lord
and Savior.
We're going to have a moment when
Liddell comes and plays.
I just want to ask you to have an
attitude of prayer where you just pray
and ask God to be with you and speak
to you and respond during this time
however the Lord is leading you.