From the Great Commission in Matthew 28 until the great multitude in Revelation 7,
God invites us to join Him in the great pursuit.
In a world filled with diverse cultures, languages, and people,
we are unified in this mission, His mission.
Since 1845, IMB missionaries have embarked on a journey to share the gospel,
make disciples, and plant churches in places where Jesus is not yet known.
But the task is monumental.
Billions are still unreached, living without the hope and love of Christ.
In 2023, over 879,000 people heard the gospel, 141,000 people believed, and 116,000 were baptized.
Yet, so many more still wait for their chance to hear and believe.
Lostness is not just a statistic.
It's an eternal reality for billions of souls.
But amidst the challenges, there's hope.
The Great Pursuit is a faithful journey fueled by love, compassion,
and the unwavering belief in the transformative power of the gospel.
Stories of redemption, reconciliation, and restoration inspire us to press on.
Our vision is rooted in Revelation 7, verse 9.
A multitude from every corner of the world united in worshiping Jesus Christ.
You are called to play your part in this vision.
Whether you pray fervently, give generously, go boldly, or send faithfully,
your role is vital in the Great Pursuit.
Join us in solving the greatest problem in the world, lostness.
Together, we spread the message of hope and salvation to every nation, tribe, and tongue.
This is the Great Pursuit.
If you have your Bibles, I want to turn to Matthew 28.
Matthew 28, I'm going to be looking at a couple different places,
but that's where I'm going to start.
It is, as the song says, the most wonderful time of the year.
Whether you're ready or not, it's December.
And they say it's the most wonderful time of the year.
I say somewhat.
College football is almost over, so the most wonderful time of the year is leaving us.
But after yesterday, you can go.
But anyway.
However, this is one of those times.
We have a lot going on, and I want to encourage you to pay attention to the calendar in your bulletin
and make note of it on your personal calendar.
Next weekend, we have a wonderful opportunity.
Our choir and orchestra and drama team have been working together for Merry Christmas Pickens,
and it'll be a wonderful presentation of the gospel story.
It'll take place on Saturday night as well as both worship hours on Sunday morning.
And I want to encourage you not only to be here but to invite folks.
If they have their own church and can't come on Sunday here, then that's what Saturday's for,
is to allow folks and encourage folks to come and to be a part of that.
It's a great time together.
And then the Sunday preceding Christmas, December the 22nd,
please make note that we'll have our two worship hours.
We will not have life groups.
We'll not be meeting for those two hours for life groups,
but we will have our both worship hours on the 22nd.
There is no midweek because midweek is Christmas Day.
And then the 29th as well, we'll have one worship hour.
We'll all come together for one worship hour, one combined worship hour.
No life groups on the 29th, just one hour of worship together.
So please make note of that.
And we will not be meeting for midweek on January the 1st either.
Throughout all of that, however, we are focusing in on one of my favorites.
And that is the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for international missions.
And I will say that we have a task before us.
The national goal for the International Mission Board in this offering is $205 million.
And our church goal is $66,000.
Admittedly, we brought in more than that last year.
And this year's goal is our highest yet.
So if you're new to a Southern Baptist church and are not familiar with the Lottie Moon Christmas offering,
who is this lady and when are we going to pay her off?
That's what I've heard from children sometimes when they get done hearing somebody talk about Lottie Moon
and think, when are we ever going to pay that lady off?
Well, hopefully we won't.
Lottie Moon was a missionary in China at the turn of the 20th century.
And she had a tremendous burden to see folks come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
And she served faithfully.
The mission board ran out of money.
And they told the missionaries to come home, that they could not afford to keep them on the field.
She refused to come home.
She knew that God had called her there and would not come home.
And she grew so burdened for that that it affected her health.
As well, she deprived herself in order to give to others.
And she dealt with some malnutrition.
Her faith became, I mean, her health became poor.
And finally, she was forced, because she was going to die if she didn't, to get on a boat and start home.
And it was on that boat on the way home that she died.
Before she died, she started a special offering because of the great financial need that the International Mission Board had,
the Foreign Mission Board at that time, had.
And she started asking for churches to give a Christmas offering for International Missions.
And after she died, some years later, that offering was named after her, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.
Now, so why do we bother to spend so much money on International Missions?
I will tell you that if we reach our goal this year, if you combine that with our cooperative program giving
and the portion of our cooperative program giving, because when you give a tithe to this church,
a portion of that in 2024, 10% of that will go toward the cooperative program.
Of that that goes to the cooperative program, about a quarter of that goes directly to International Missions.
If you put all those formulas together, between us reaching our goal for Lottie Moon
and between our cooperative program giving that goes to International Missions,
we'll give over $100,000 to International Missions as a church.
Why in the world would we put that much money into that?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
Matthew 28, verse 18 says this,
And Jesus came and said to them,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,
and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
That is known as the Great Commission.
It is the last words that Jesus spoke before he ascended into heaven,
and those words say that he has empowered us
and sent us out to reach the world for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are to share Christ.
We are to make disciples by nurturing them in his word.
Now, our schedule changes about this time of year,
but if you typically look at a worship bulletin
and look at the schedule of the week,
you'll notice that on Sundays,
not only do we have corporate worship together,
but we also have life groups.
In addition to that, on Sunday evenings,
we have sessions for children and for youth,
as well as for adults.
You'll notice as well on Tuesday mornings
that we have Bible studies that take place across this campus.
On Wednesday morning, we have a Bible study on Wednesday evening.
We have opportunities for all ages as well.
All of those things are about making disciples.
Why do we meet on Sunday?
Why do we meet on Tuesday?
Why do we meet on Wednesday?
Why are we available throughout the week
and challenging you often to make disciples?
That means not only do we have the responsibility
to lead people to Christ
and be a part of Christ saving them,
but also we have a responsibility once they are saved
to grow them up in the Lord.
It's what we're called to do.
He also tells us to baptize.
To baptize, folks, is to lead people,
to take a private committal faith
and to make it public in a way that by Christ's commission
and by his example, he's told us to do.
Your faith, if it's in Christ, is not a private matter.
I want to be clear.
I've heard people say that before.
Well, my faith is a private matter.
Well, it's not a gospel faith then, friend,
because the reality is Jesus told us to tell.
He told us to go and to tell and to make disciples.
He told us to share our faith.
And so our faith is not a private matter.
We are to win the world of Christ.
He assures us that he will be with us all the way.
And I want you to notice something.
When it says making disciples,
it says make disciples of all nations.
Why are we always going places?
Or why should I go anywhere?
Because God's called us to go.
And so I want to challenge you as you look toward 2025,
go get your passport.
Let's go somewhere.
Let's do something for the Lord Jesus.
Let's get after it.
Because he guides us all the way,
and that's a big deal.
I want us to be a part.
I want us to influence the great multitude.
I hate the misuse of the book of Revelation so much.
The point of that book was to give a future hope
to a persecuted church in Asia Minor.
There were seven churches,
central locations where many, many small churches
met around those areas.
And John, while on the island of Patmos,
received a vision from the Lord
of a message that he was to share
to those seven groups of people.
He gives individual messages to those seven regions.
And then the rest of that book is to give them hope
in the midst of their circumstances.
The point of the book is to give them hope
by proclaiming not only a future victory by the Lord,
but sharing that God has already been victorious.
He is victorious.
And we will celebrate that around his throne.
It's going to be much better and more obvious in the future.
That's after it gets worse.
But I want you to notice something,
a beautiful scene in the book of Revelation.
I happen to love Revelation 1.
That's not our text for the day.
You don't have to look there.
But I'm just telling you, while I'm here,
I'm just going to camp out a minute.
Revelation 1 I absolutely love
because it's an amazing description of Christ
walking among the churches that were hurting.
He's addressing seven churches that are hurting.
And it says that Christ, and it's a powerful image of Christ,
is walking among the candlesticks.
The candlesticks represent the churches
that are to keep their flame lit
and are to light the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We're like a candlestick here in the midst of the darkness.
And he is walking among the candlesticks.
You know what that means?
That means that no matter how you're hurting,
no matter what's going on,
no matter what the world's doing around you,
the Lord Jesus loves this church
and is walking in the midst of us.
He is there with us, walking with us.
And then there's an amazing description of heaven at the end.
And there's a beautiful image of heaven in Revelation 7.
And when God allowed John to see a vision into heaven,
the scene is amazing.
And I want you to get this scene.
It's in Revelation 7, verse 9.
It says this,
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude
that no one could number from every nation,
from all tribes and people and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands,
and 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 worshipped God, saying,
Amen.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might
be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.
What a scene.
Can you imagine?
It says there that there will be people from all nations
and there will be more than we could count
from all tribes, all peoples, all languages
around the throne of God together.
Can you imagine that?
Well, I want to let you in on something.
Not only can we be a part of that through Christ Jesus,
we can influence that.
We can influence that.
The reality is that most people that die today
will not get there.
Most people that die today will not be in heaven.
There will be more than we can count
from around the world throughout all generations there,
but the reality is most will not be there.
And so I'm saying let's play a part
and let's make it bigger.
Let's make the crowd bigger.
We don't have the ability to save.
Don't misunderstand me.
We don't have that ability.
We have the ability to point people to a Christ
that will save, that wants to save them.
God has instructed us to share
and promised us that he would bless us
and Jesus saves eternally.
Yes, he can save them without us,
but why in the world should he?
Why would we want him to?
Don't you want to be a part of that cause?
Which leads to the great pursuit.
In Acts chapter 1 verse 8,
Jesus said,
but you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit's come upon you
and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria
and to the end of the earth.
Now Jesus ascended from Jerusalem.
So let's get the context of this passage.
He ascended from Jerusalem.
When he tells them
that they are to be witnesses in Jerusalem,
he means that they are to be witnesses
right where they are.
Folks,
we have a responsibility
to be witnesses
right where we are.
Your neighbor,
God may have strategically placed
that neighbor beside you
so that they can have a relationship with you
and can possibly hear the gospel.
You're not responsible
for their response.
You are responsible
that they have a personal invitation
to come to Christ.
In the middle of football yesterday,
I sent out a message
in anticipation of the day
to over 700 people
and said,
pray,
invite,
anticipate.
And the reason why I sent that
was because I believe
God's placed us here
in our Jerusalem
where we live
to make a difference
in the lives of people
that are around us.
He goes beyond that.
He speaks of Judea.
How does that relate to us?
That's the wider region.
That's the South Carolina for us.
That's the North America for us.
He goes on to talk about Samaria.
You may be familiar that
I didn't like people in Samaria.
It's the further reaches.
It's the people around the world.
It's the people that
you may not have a burden for.
It's the people that
you may not want to have much to do with.
The reality is
that we have a responsibility
to those that would go unnoticed
unless we respond
if we don't do our part.
So what is our part?
Well, for one,
it's to pray.
We have 3,600 missionaries
with the International Mission Board
on the field
serving throughout the world.
In September,
I flew to Richmond, Virginia
to go to what was called
an International Mission Board
Senders Summit.
They said they wanted to talk
about building a pipeline.
I didn't really know
what they were building
a pipeline to
and I wasn't really sure
what the conference was about.
But quite honestly,
the reason I went to the conference
is because it was held
at a training center
for the IMB missionaries.
When they are called
and commissioned to go,
they go to this training center
for six weeks to be trained.
And I wanted to smell it
and taste it a little bit
and see what we were talking about.
I'll go far reaches
for a sermon illustration.
And so I wanted to be a part of that.
But as well,
I wanted to be a part of
meeting some of my heroes,
which are missionaries,
those that God has called
to go to other places
to serve the world,
pick up their families
and move them to other places.
It was quite amazing
to be a part of that
because the week that I was there,
the few days,
it wasn't a week,
the few days that I was there,
they had more
international missionaries
on that campus
than they had had
in over a decade.
There were over 100 folks there
doing the training
before they went overseas
to serve the world.
Now, our conference
was not interacting
with missionaries.
I was interacting
with IMB personnel
and some churches
that play a major part
in helping new missionaries
go to the field
and they were sharing
their stories with us
and those type things.
But we were on the same campus
and we ate in the same cafeteria
as all those missionaries
and their families.
And so I always made a point
with every meal
to sit down
and sit with another missionary's family
to get to know them
and to meet them
and to find out
what their story is
and where they were going.
I met guys
that had just graduated,
were about to graduate
from college
that were going to serve
as what's called journeymen.
It's a two-year mission
overseas
where they were,
one of them
was going to be a trekker.
He was simply going
to take people hiking
and while he took them hiking,
share the gospel with them
and build relationships with them.
There were all kinds
of different aspects
that they would do
and it was fascinating
to see these
who had been touched
by the Lord
and called by the Lord
to go.
It was amazing to see.
It's a training center
that's on the countryside
outside of Richmond
on I think about 140 acres.
I might have just made
that figure up
but you know
most statistics
are made up on the spot anyway
but I was able
to spend time with them
and I learned
that the strategy
that we have
as Southern Baptists
to reach the world
is through eight
different strategic areas
called affinities.
One is Europe.
The second one
is North Africa
and the Middle East.
The third is
Sub-Saharan Africa.
The fourth is Central Asia.
The fifth is South Asia.
The sixth is the Pacific Rim.
Seven is the Americas
and I don't know
if you can see that or not
but when it says number eight
it's sitting over South America
but it's got a little asterisk beside it
and that asterisk speaks
of not just South America
but the rest of the world.
That's the deaf community.
One of our affinities
are the deaf community
throughout the world
and how desperately folks
need to know the Lord.
I want you to understand
how desperate the need is.
For instance,
the United Kingdom
which we have had
a missionary here
a couple of times
since I've been here
from England.
Kenny is over
a large number
of missionaries
in the UK
and I grew up with him.
He's a dear friend of mine
and because of his position
with the International Mission Board
he had the opportunity
to move to other parts
of the UK
and he has recently moved
to Ireland.
He had planned to move
earlier than this
to Ireland
to Dublin area
and there was a hold up
that kind of delayed
not only his move
but our participation
with his new ministry there
in Ireland
but in the UK
only 1.46% of people
are Christian
and have a personal relationship
professing relationship
with Christ
1.46%
in Russia
only 1 in 500 people
are Christian
and I got to thinking
about 1 in 500
how does that range?
So if you
if that was the case
in Pickens County
if only 1 in 500
knew the Lord
those in attendance
here today
between our two
worship hours
would almost double
the amount of believers
in our county
that would be the entirety
of those
that would be saved
in our county
on those kind of
representations
in other words
people need
the Lord
and we need to pray
for that to happen
now to give more
guided prayer
during this particular week
there is available
in a foyer
a little booklet
it looks just like this
on both those black tables
I put them out there myself
just right before
the first service
and it's the Week of Prayer
for International Missions
2024
Prayer Guide
and it'll give you
somebody to pray for
you can go online
and get more information
about them
but they give you
somebody to pray for
every day
starting today
through next Sunday
it's the Week of Prayer
for International Missions
today's guy
is named Moses
Moses grew up
in West Africa
and Moses was saved
while he was in West Africa
and God led him
to come to America
and become
a Bible college student
and he came over here
and went to Bible college
and he and his wife
also felt led
to go to seminary
and they went to seminary
and then God called them
back to Africa
and he serves in Senegal
actually he serves
in islands outside of Senegal
now I went to Guinea
in 2000 April of 2017
on a vision trip
it was a partnership
that the state of Mississippi had
and I lived there at the time
and I went over
and went to Guinea
and some of the missionaries
that I dealt with
there
because again
I tell you
they're my heroes now
I mean
there was a family
that moved from Arkansas
that I ate in their home
they had about four kids
and they moved from Arkansas
to the biggest city in Guinea
sent their kids
to a primarily French
speaking school
their kids did not speak French
and nobody spoke English
except them
they had a wall
around their house
with a gate
and on top of that wall
there were pieces of glass
that had been cemented
into the top
to keep people
from coming over
the top of that wall
and they were walking
their kids to school
it was an amazing sacrifice
that these folks
successful people
in Arkansas
picked up and left
and went
I'm telling you
because of the gospel
and because of what God's placed
upon their life
those are my heroes man
to be able to do that
and move your family
and all that stuff
I've never felt led
to do that
I prayed about that
and asked God
what would you have me do
and hey
y'all are it
but I mean
I've never felt led
to do that
but I'm telling you
the people who
are led to do that
they're my heroes man
I can't help but
bump elbows with them
and appreciate them
and one of the reasons
why I love to go
is to encourage them
to let them know
we love you
we care about you
we're praying for you
and if there's something
we can do to help you
please tell me
because these folks
will step up
when they need to step up
and let us know
what we can do
sometimes it's very simple things
and sometimes it's not
but it's a wonderful blessing
to do that
but those people
had served previously
in Senegal
and Senegal was like
the nice place to stay
versus Guinea
Guinea is not the nice place
to stay
I promise you
but anyway
so Senegal was a nicer area
it had presentable beaches
instead of trash
all over the beaches
and all that kind of stuff
well Moses went to Senegal
not the Moses of the Bible
the Moses of the missionary
that I'm talking about
Moses went to Senegal
and he serves in the islands
off of Senegal
Moses can't swim
and he's very afraid of water
and God in his sense of humor
called him
to be an island missionary
and so he put on a life jacket
got in a boat
and went over to an island
and showed the Jesus film
the Jesus film
is a film
that tells the story of Jesus
I think it's translated
in over a hundred languages
and he showed them
that movie
25 people
that movie
in their language
and 15 of them
got saved
in that session
when he first got there
and he's been ministering
to them
ever since
pray
for Moses
that God would work
and move
in his life
life
you know
what I found out
when I was in Guinea
was so many of them
animism is big over there
which is a cultic
kind of naturalistic
spiritual world
that they believe in
that is
that is demonic
quite honestly
but also
the Muslim faith
is very strong
there
and there are people
who have committed
their lives to Christ
but have yet to be baptized
because if they're baptized
they'll lose their job
they'll lose their family
they'll be completely ostracized
and so for somebody
to get baptized over there
and make a public confession
of faith
it is a life change
and so so many
of the people
that I met
along the way
were Christians
that were still struggling
with that whole deal
of what to do about that
because young people
give their heart and life
to the Lord Jesus
and if they get baptized
their family will disown them
they'll have nothing
and so they struggle with that
I was on a college campus
over there
meeting with
with the college students
and went
rode in
120 miles
over 8 hours
into the bush
and went into
a small village there
where people over there
need desperately
to hear the gospel
and I went over there
with a medical doctor
who treats folks
in a hospital
and by treating them
in a hospital
he also shares Christ
with them
Dr. Robert Pepper
wonderful
but anyway
God's doing wonderful
things over there
and he's doing it
through people like Moses
and we need to pray
for him
not only that
to pray
but we also need to go
it is my prayer
that God would call people
out of this congregation
to reach the world
for Christ
he's done it before
and I pray
he does it again
have you ever considered it
I mean let's think about this
have you ever even dared
to pray about it
it is the greatest pursuit
for the gospel
and I want you to get
a taste of it
we have put
purposely
put more money
for 2025
toward getting involved
in missions
and going on mission
than we've had previously
we have a team
that's going to Toronto
this summer
last summer
that team went
and did back
our Bible clubs
they plan to do something
very similar there as well
how about Peru
we've had an ongoing
relationship with Peru
for a long time
and Jeff Rafferty
and Jim Gilstrap
train pastors online
since COVID
they've done
Zoom calls online
where they'll meet
with as many
as 100 pastors
on a Friday night
late Friday night
teaching them doctrine
in order for them
to get training
that they can't get
otherwise
we support
a missionary
over there
that's going
into the jungles
he's native from there
but he's going
into the jungles
and sharing faith
and there's trips
that go
into the jungles there
we also are teaching children
and want to expand that
there's some light construction
that we're looking at doing
and so Jeff is already
in the planning stages
of planning a trip
to Peru
next year
what about Europe
Kenny has shared with me
my missionary in Ireland
has shared with me
that he'd love
for a small team
to come in September
and help in a church
that he is working in there
and supporting
to just get the word out
and to just be a help
on the ground
so we plan to do that
and what about
a community rebuild
we got communities
around us
ravaged by floods
we found out
after Helene came through
we didn't have to go
very far
to help people
rebuild their lives
and so
we have mission teams
that are planning
on going to
do a community rebuild
we don't have to go far
to be productive
in ministry
my question is
what would God
have you do
and are you even
open to do it
if he leads you
to do it
I just encourage you
to pray about it
encourage you to pray
what would God
have you do
and then prepare
yourself for it
as I told you earlier
go get a passport
be ready
in case God
leads you to go
go and
to share
however this time
I also ask you
to give
I ask you to give
10% of our
all undesignated money
that's given
to Pickens First
Baptist Church
in 2024
goes through
the cooperative program
more than half
of that money
stays in the state
of South Carolina
to provide support
for planning churches
and for raising up
missionaries
and supporting
our own county
RA camp
at Camp McCall
it supports that
however
when you give
to the cooperative
program
and when you give
your tithe
to First Baptist
you give the cooperative
program
a quarter of what
goes to the cooperative
program
goes directly
to international
missions
that total
that comes
from the cooperative
program
that goes
to international
missions
that nationwide
total
is about half
of what they need
the other half
of what they need
to keep personnel
on the field
comes from
the Lottie Moon
Christmas offering
and it takes
an average
of $77,000
to keep a missionary
on the field
now in some places
in the world
it's more expensive
than that
in some places
in the world
that's impoverished
it's a lot cheaper
than that
but on the average
what it takes
to keep a missionary
on the field
is $77,000
however
I promise you
that if we don't
support the Lottie Moon
Christmas offering
we will not have
the personnel
in place
in those
hard to reach areas
missionaries
will come home
and what we run into
is a real situation
in real time
now
missionaries
are retiring
and we need
part of that conference
that I went to
is to make sure
that we do
everything we can
to prepare
the next generation
to take their place
that we call
the called out
that we
support
the cooperative
program
to make our
seminaries strong
so that they get
the proper training
in order to go
so that we give
through the cooperative
program
to help
with international
missions
but also that we
give through Lottie Moon
because the difference
in giving to Lottie Moon
versus these other
things
is when you give
a dollar to Lottie Moon
that dollar
goes directly
to international
missions
it actually goes
to pay the salaries
of the missionaries
on the field
that's what it's for
they may raise
some support
for ministry
activities that they do
or special projects
along the way
and all that stuff
but they are guaranteed
through the Lottie Moon
Christmas offering
and through the cooperative
program
that they will be
covered if they'll go
and as missionaries
retire
we need to keep
to create
and keep pipeline
clear
to pipe missionaries
to the field
to keep them going
our goal this year
as a church
is $66,000
last year
our goal
was $1,000
less than that
but our goal
and I want you
to hear me this morning
but our goal
last year
was reached
during the month
of December
I went back
and looked
this week
to see
and we reached it
during the month
of December
my friend
that's the way
you do it
when God
puts a goal
before you
and we have
a responsibility
to fulfill it
and it's an aggressive
goal
but we get it done
as God allows us
to do
I think you ought
to set a goal
for the glory
of God
and then get it done
and as the little kid
said pay the lady
off
you know
get it done
and give faithfully
to Lottie Moon
now to be honest
with you
this church
has faithfully
given to Lottie Moon
for many many years
I'm thankful
that that is just
growing
quite honestly
and I feel sure
that we'll be faithful
to do that
there's envelopes
that look like this
with the blue
markings around them
you can pick one
of those up
as you leave
and always mark
that Lottie Moon
and you can give
that way
you can give online
you can give
any way
God leads you
to give
I encourage you
to give
to that
but more importantly
than all of that
while we try
to go throughout
the world
to share the gospel
my question is
do you
know the Lord
Jesus Christ
have you
ever surrendered
your life
to follow
the Lord Jesus
because I'm thankful
that the gospel
is
that if you confess
that you've done wrong
and that you're a sinner
that he'll meet you
where you are
and he'll forgive you
of your sins
and he'll come
into your life
and he'll save you
and change you
if you've never
given your heart
and life
to the Lord Jesus Christ
the greatest decision
you'll ever make
is to surrender
your life to Christ
maybe you've done that
and it's a private faith
you've done it privately
but you've never
done it publicly
you've never let
anybody else know
what God has done
in your life
I want to encourage you
to take that private faith
and be obedient to God
and make it public
the way we do that
by his example
and by his commission
is through baptism
baptism is a
public way
of confessing
what Christ
has done
in your life
privately
and if you've
never done that
I encourage you
to be obedient
to that
maybe God's leading
you to be a part
of Pickens First
Baptist Church
I'm thankful
we have several
guests here today
some of you
have been with us
for some time
and I'm thankful
for that
God's doing
a wonderful work
in Pickens First
Baptist Church
and if God's leading
you to be a part
of this church
you come
we'd love to guide
you in that process
but listen
I don't have a clue
what God's telling you
in your heart
and life
I just want you
to be obedient
you'll never be satisfied
until you follow
what his will is
for your life
and so you be obedient
if I can help
in that process
that's exactly
what this time
is for
stand together
if you will
I'm going to pray
and we're going to sing
Heavenly Father
I love you
and I thank you Lord
for your love for us
and I ask right now
that you will lead
and guide us
help us to simply
be obedient
as you speak
to our hearts
and lives
Father
in Jesus precious name
Amen