Sermon Transcript:

Wow, we are actually coming to the end of Galatians. There'll be one more sermon on December the 29th that will finish chapter six. But we have a lot to talk about this morning in chapter five in the end, and I'm titled this the Spirit led gospel. The reason I've done that is if you look at the text between verses 13 and 26

you'll notice some very, very familiar verses that we talk about, called the fruits of the Spirit, and it lists these nine attributes on how to be a spirit led person. But right before that, we like to skip over that there's how not to be a spirit led person. But you know me, when we preach the text, we preach all of the text, all of the gospel, all of the unity of what this entire letter, letter was meant for the people of God. And so we don't glance over things or skim over things. We tell it like it is, and we say, This is what God has in store for us. This is why this letter was written, and so we've been traveling this book, and we look at the spiritual life and the natural life, and He gives us explicit details on what that looks like. In this text,

we have to turn and we have to actually receive and make a decision on how we're going to live our lives. And really, that's really we follow our natural ways and we continue on our own path. We've decided that the spiritual life is not for us, but if we decide the spiritual life is for us, then we have to say, what does that actually look like? How do I apply that to my life? How do I walk in the Spirit?

The spiritual life is very misunderstood. You see, we try to figure out the spiritual life with our own ideas, with our own

way of thinking, and that actually falls short of what God has in store for us. You see, we've been fed all kinds of ideas, and we look em up on Google and Tiktok and Instagram and Facebook, and we think, Well, if it's out there, it must be true. Let me just remind you, human beings are inputting that information. So it's not all true. Google is not God. That's why it's spelled with a small g.

It's important I look up stuff as well, but you gotta look up reliable sources to make sure you're getting them. The most reliable source we have is the word of God. It has been proven time and time again. It's always on the top 10 bestseller New York Times Best Selling list. It outsells every book on the planet. It has and it always will. So you have it in within your you even now have it electronically. I'm preaching from an electronic device, you know, but it's better to have a personal Bible so that you can see for yourself. So here are a few things that God helps those who help themselves. Have you all heard that? Right?

This, of course, is not biblical. It's not in the Bible.

God is definitely not dealing with people because they help themselves.

God helps you anytime you need it, not because you're helping yourself. Do unto others as they do unto you, right? You know that one, right?

Well, that's the way we do it, though, right?

I'm confusing you now, huh?

That's not the actual statement. It's Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So you treat people how you would like to be treated. They call that the golden rule. Listen, we have twisted and changed the way doctrine is supposed to be taught, and we do it by the way we live our lives. See, we're taught this, but we actually do unto others how we are done, how they do unto us, right? We like revenge. We want to do it ourselves. We want to take care of it. If you believe in God, you know that he's going to play in every part of your life, and he's going to be in every place in your life, if you'll just let him. So we want to look at our text this morning. What does that look like? Pastor? I'm glad you asked. We're going to see what Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia. Stand with me as we read from God's word Galatians, chapter five, verses 13 through 26 This

will finish out our chapter. I'm going to read from the New International Version you read, or what, whatever version you'd like to read from. It'll be up on the screen as well.

It says, You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh rather serve one another humbly in love for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, love your neighbor as yourself, if you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh, the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is.

Contrary to the flesh, they're in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Isn't that good to know this morning, if we're led by the Spirit, we're not we're not conditioned by the law. And look at what he says in verse 19 and 20 and 21 the acts of the flesh are obvious. You can see them, sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not he doesn't hesitate, will not inherit the kingdom of God,

But the fruit of the Spirit is this, love, joy, peace or forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control against such things. There is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit, and let us not become seated conceited, provoking and envying each other. God, thank You that we have a way to see how we can live the spirit live life. And so this morning, God, as you speak to each one of us, be with us. Now in Christ's name, I pray amen. You may have a seat.

My first point is the reality of the spirit world. Now, if you didn't know this, that there is a spirit world out there, and we are constantly in conflict with it. Us, of us that are on the good side, the Jesus side. We're in conflict with those that are in on the opposite side, which is the evil side. And this spiritual warfare takes place in the heavenly realms. Do you believe that there is a spiritual war going on right now? If you don't know that, I'm here to tell you it's true. Now you go, Oh, come on, Pastor. No, I say, Come on. Come on, you. I know this. You know this firsthand. There's a spiritual conflict going on every moment of the life that we live. He said, I know this. At times it seems like there's nothing going on. There's no chaos, that the world here is peaceful. You know that's not true. The only way to know and operate in the spiritual world is to believe that Jesus Christ is the king of this universe. That's the only way to do it. When you believe that you can understand and you can know all the facets of what it takes to live in this spiritual world. In the heavenly realms, you see Ephesians one three says this, praise be to God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, you see, we see with Jesus's eyes from here on out, when we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He has blessed us. Who has blessed us? Who is it that blesses us? Not our wives, not our families, not our neighbors? It's God that blesses us. He's the one that bestows us on. How has he blessed us? Through his life, his through His death and through His resurrection on on planet earth, and He conquered death and sin all at once. Who is us? Who is the US that receives? It's those that have confessed and professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Apart from that, there is no winning in the spiritual battles that we face today. You are on your own. If you do not have Jesus living on the inside of you, you battle against your own flesh and blood and the other flesh and blood that's going on. You see, you cannot receive the spiritual blessings apart from Christ. Oh, you can try. You can go and hang out with the people that are blessed. You can say all the fancy statements that you want blessed and highly favored. That's who I am right now. That statement was meant for Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was favored in God's eye to give birth to the King of kings, you see, we cannot receive spiritual blessings apart from Christ. John 15 five explains it like this. These are Jesus's words, written and read, I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit apart from me. You can do what nothing.

So let's make sure we get the facts straight this morning. You can try on your own and do nothing, or you can receive Christ. You can rely on Christ, depend on Christ, and do everything. All the spiritual blessings are at your taking. They're there for you to take you. See, God can even bless the unbeliever. Those who don't even believe in Jesus are blessed. They get free reign. They could have a job, they could have a family. But the spiritual blessings, those are reserved for the believer. Those are reserved for us who believe. They're not for everybody

in this kind.

Text, it's God who is blessed, and since he is blessed, he's able to bless us. And the heavenly realms indicates that Paul's not referencing natural or material blessings. He's referencing spiritual blessings. In the heavenly realms is where Jesus is and where he reigns. He is triumphed over evil forces on our behalf. You see Ephesians 612 says this,

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That's where our real battle is. Is not making your boss happy or your spouse happy, the battle is really a spiritual battle, and we're not battling flesh and blood. We're battling the evil forces. You see, with every spiritual blessing, not just some of the blessings, but all of the blessings. And what are some of those blessings? Well, number one, when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you receive eternal life connected to God forever. Now if, if you receive nothing else, that would be the greatest gift that was ever given, and it is, but he even gives you even more immortality, you'll never die. You see, we physically are going to die, but spiritually we're never going to die as believers in Christ. You see, for the believer, it's like we just go to sleep and we wake up on the other side

on April the 15th, my mom closed her eyes for the last time on this side of heaven, and she opened her eyes in the presence of Christ. And that's what it is for the believer. No more natural world, but it's all about the spirit world. You see scriptural illumination. For those that are in Christ, you see people are always wondering, how do I understand the Bible? You got to have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. And I've said this a bunch of times. First John 227 says that the greatest teacher on the planet is the Holy Spirit. Do we need earthly teachers? Yes. Do we need pastors? Yes, but the one that can illuminate the scriptures and is the is the Holy Spirit through those that he uses godly discernment, some of the spiritual blessings that God gives us. Verse 13, he says, You Brother, my brothers and sisters are actually called to be free. Do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh, rather serve one another humbly in love. What a beautiful statement. Amen, sometimes, unfortunately, as Christians, we abuse our freedom in Christ. Amen. We do well.

Jesus will forgive me this one time, right? I'll just go ahead and go ahead and do it. We do it and we ask for forgiveness later. You see, Paul is advising against this behavior.

We claim to know Jesus, but our actions show otherwise. We claim we know Jesus, but our actions show otherwise. I'm not saying we don't sin. I'm not saying we don't fall short, but when we do,

let's get that straight. When we do, we have to respond in our spiritual self and say, I'm sorry, I'm remorseful. I hate what I've done, not I'm purposely going

It's okay. God will forgive me later, and you never actually ask for forgiveness. You just understand I'm going to be with Jesus forever. He doesn't mind. It's okay. Paul's advice in verse 13 is, instead of indulgence, we should serve each other in love. Isn't that hard to do? We live in a selfish world, don't we selfish ambition? You see, godly advice is the spirit led gospel of Jesus. How are we going to bestow the gospel and share the gospel of Christ? If Jesus is not living on side of it, we don't live by the Spirit. We're going to do it in our own flesh. Verse 14, he says, the entire law is summed up in one command, love your neighbor as yourself,

but you don't know my neighbor, Pastor, oh, I know your neighbor.

Well, you don't know my this or I know them. Trust me.

I know them. We all have them in our lives. The best thing we can do is love them,

kill them with kindness.

They'll hate you for it. You know

we're to love each other, because God loves us. That is Christianity. 101,

to show love for others because of the love God has for you. In January, we don't have dates down set, but my brother, George, that comes up here and jams on his guitar, is going to lead a new class called Christianity. 101, there are many of you who are new believers in Christ, trying to walk that faith. And how do I do that, Pastor, they're going to take you through the Basic Elements of the Christian faith. And so be looking for that coming up in January. And I admonish you, I advise you to do everything you too can do to get to that, especially if you've recently received Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Because you need to walk that walk, but you need to know how to do it.

So we're to love each other. Verse 15, if you bite and devour each other, watch out, you'll be destroyed by each other. Listen, everybody's different. We are not all created the same. We disagree. Can we just say that we disagree? We disagree on every we don't have to agree on everything, but that doesn't mean we have to be ugly about it. We can still get along. We can still love each other in verse 16. So because of all that he says, so I say this, walk in the Spirit, and he'll now make guilty of the desires of the flesh. That's how you do it. Paul tells us, in order to defeat our own personal ways, we live by the Spirit. So I'm asking you, imploring you, this morning, try a different way. You've already tried it your way. Let's try it God's way this morning. Amen, let's do that. Sounds simple enough walk by the Spirit. How do we do that? Not easy as it sounds right?

Unless daily you're attempting to take up your cross and walk with Him, to walk with Jesus's cross. Because this life is complicated. It's difficult, and sometimes people don't understand us. That's okay. The spiritual life is a battle with the carnal life. We fight each other. It's like, I want to do these things, but I'm supposed to do these things, and we give into the carnal too much. Verse 17 and 18 says, For the fleshly desires. The flesh. Desires what is contrary to the Spirit. The Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They're in conflict with each other. So not so they do whatever you want, so so that you're not to do whatever you want. But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. You see, we're in a constant battle with ourselves. Our humanness does not like our spiritual man inside of us, our spiritual woman inside of us, our humanness just doesn't like that person, because that person wants us to do the right thing and we're going No man, that's no fun. God's a joy killer. Man, party, party pooper. You know, he doesn't want us to have fun. That's not true at all. You can have a spirit led fun life. It is a lot of fun being a person of Christ, and I'll tell you this,

my family and I have enjoyed coming to Life Church. We've had a lot of fun here. You guys are a loving church, and I'm so thankful to be here for this in between time, I'm grateful for you. We've we don't have any problem of getting up in the morning coming to life church, because we know God's going to be moving he's going to be speaking to us, he's going to encourage us. And I'm so grateful for you guys. So we have to do

whatever God tells us to do. So I want to give you some tools to walk in the in the spirit. Okay? Ephesians, chapter six, verses 10 through 17. These are some of the first Bible lessons that we teach our children.

I think some adults really need to learn this lesson. Amen.

Look at what it says. Finally, this is Ephesians six, verses 10 through 17. Be strong in the Lord, in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God. We're talking about getting dressed spiritually so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, since we know all that's going on, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground. You may be able to stand. And after that, you've done everything to stand two times. He says, to put on the former full armor of God so that you could stand, so that you'd be able to stand. He says it twice. And then verse 14, stand firm then with the belt buckled around your waist the truth of the belt of truth, excuse me, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, and with your feet fitted, in addition to all the excuse me, in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which will extinguish, extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. He's noticed that you protect your mind, you protect your heart, you protect your standing, you you put up your shield, you put a spiritual shield around you to protect you from the evil one. And there's only one offensive weapon in those that are listed. He calls it the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The only offensive weapon we have is to speak the Word of God to those that are in opposition to us. Amen. That's how we do it. How are you doing in your spiritual battle? What's going on in your life, who's winning the battle in your life?

Secondly, my second point is what a spirit led life is not. This is what it this is what a spirit filled life doesn't look like. Okay, if you're wondering what it looks like.

So we have an example right here. Paul stops saying, says, stop acting like you don't know, okay, because you do, right? We all know verse 19. He says, it's pretty clear what the acts of flesh are. You don't have to wonder, if you're wondering, I'm going to give you a few examples of what he's list here in verses 19 through 21 it's not an exhaustive list. It's just some of the things. It's not all of them. One of the first things he mentions is sexual immorality.

I want to say this is loving and as firm as I can. Sex was created in a covenant relationship between a man and a woman for life underneath God's covenant, okay,

I know we don't live in that real world, but we're not talking about the material world. We're talking about the spirit world. We're talking about what is it that God teaches us? And from Genesis, from the very first when He created Adam and Eve, He created man and woman to be in a covenant relationship, underneath the umbrella of God for life. And he said, Go and procreate. Get us some more people so we can tell them about Jesus. That's what sex was created for. So he's talking about sexual immorality. Any kind of sex outside of that relationship is not of God. That

doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's just the same sin as any sin. The problem is, if you go to First Corinthians, chapter six, we don't have it up on the screen. Paul talks about that sin being more difficult than any other sin, because it's actually a sin against the Temple of your body, which is where the Holy Spirit resides. And so that's the difference between a covenant relationship under God and your own way of doing things. That's the spirit world versus the flesh. Flesh world. That doesn't mean it isn't forgivable. It's absolutely forgivable. If you're in a relationship that doesn't meet God's criteria, I say today, not tomorrow, but today. Get out.

Your partner, whoever you're with, will understand that you're talking about God's example And God's way of doing things you see, to be spiritual in this area, sex has to be sacred before God, until you give him the credit for what it is. We're afraid to talk about it today in church, because I know this thing's being recorded. I know people are going to watch it and go, Hi, I'm

just talking about the Word of God.

Listen, I'm the messenger. If you have a problem, take it up with him.

He'll still let you know how it is.

You see, you may be thinking, Come on, Pastor, this is old fashioned, and really, it's not a viable for today's lifestyle. I know this firsthand. I do weddings all the time. I do premarital counsel, where the couples are actually already engaging in sex before they get married, because they say, Well, we're going to get married anyway. Pastor,

really, where did you see that in the gospel?

You know what? How beautiful it would be to wait

when my wife and I were in seminary the first time in 2098 to oh one. We thought it was crazy, but it was true. We had couples that wouldn't even kiss until the day they said, I do

because they wanted it to be such a pure event, they wanted to make sure that it was everything that God intended it to be in their life. Now, some people are not saying you can't kiss whole hands or whatever,

but listen, put yourself in position to win in this area. You can. I treat everybody with mutual love and whatever circumstance they're in, I just tell them about how God loves them and no matter what they're going through, God gives you a way out. You see, I truly believe that the way people's hearts are and the way has allowed me for to allow God to be God, and for me to be his ambassador, because God has called us as children of God to be his ambassador. We represent God here on Earth. We represent Christ here on Earth. I know it does me no good to point fingers when it comes to sex, because it doesn't work. Sex is one of those distorted areas where people think they have a grasp of it. They think they have a handle of it. They said, I can just do what I want. I know that Jesus and God didn't want me to do that, but he didn't live in today. That was 2000 years ago when Jesus was here. He doesn't know anything about us really. And you want eternal life? Oh, we want that part of him, right? We have to give him all of our lives. So let's move on.

That's just one of the things. The other things listed are. They can all be listed under one banner. If you ask me, you look at that list, it's not an exhaustive list, but here's the here's where they can be listed under selfish ambition. You want what you want because you like it and you want to do it, all of them. You can list them all underneath just put selfish ambition as the banner you see. We want what gratifies ourselves, because we've been taught since we were this high, you can grow up and be whatever and do whatever you want, and we take that literally when it comes from those people leading us, right?

Right? We can do whatever we want.

We can be whoever we want.

Listen. We want to be what God wants us to be. We want to do what God wants us to do. Amen, we have to. So that's why Paul is pointing out this list, so we could know what a non spiritual life looks like.

Don't kill me. Okay, I'm, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just bringing what God's Word says. Amen,

you're responsible to answer to God about your life and about His Word. I'm not going to stand there before the Holy God that you're going to stand before. You're going to give an account for the life that you lived on your own.

I'm going to have my own stuff to worry about when I stand before God, I'm just thinking, Man, I better. I got stuff to straighten out too, because it may not be that area, but I got other areas that I everybody struggles with something, and we have to strip we have to straighten that out so that when we get before God, we can give it a an account for the life that we live. Paul, verse 21 gives us a stern warning. No one's exempt. If you're human, you are tending you have a tendency to be selfish. Paul says, if you're choosing to live like this, and I said choosing, I did say that in the end, you know what your destiny will be. He says the kingdom of God is unable to accommodate those who choose a lifestyle that goes against the very grain, and the very thing that God said not to do. And he says, You will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So if you think that you can say some magic words and pray, some magic prayer, and still live like you want to live, he says, That's impossible, because when the real Jesus comes into your life and the real Holy Spirit leads you, you won't want to do those things anymore, because you're wanting to please God and Him alone.

I didn't get any amens on that.

You see, he's given us, He's given you, and he's given me, he's given everyone a way out. There's a way out. There's a way out. Believe in Jesus and he'll set you free from that selfish lifestyle. That's how it works. That's the real message behind between the our in the whole gospel. According to Galatians, the standard is a standard of selflessness, not selfishness, it's selflessness.

Romans, 1410, through 12, says this. Romans, chapter 14, you then,

why do you judge your brother or sister, or why do you treat them with contempt? For we'll all stand before God's judgment seat, as it is written, as surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me, and every tongue will acknowledge God. So then each one of us will give an account of ourselves to God. So I didn't want you to just think that I was saying you're going to give an account. The Word of God says that you will stand before a holy God. In Second Corinthians five, seven through 10 says this, For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we're at home in the body, he's saying, whether you're here on earth or away from it, if you've gone to be with Jesus, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one of us may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. This is not the only places that it talks about. There's going to be a day of reckoning for all of us when we stand before a holy God.

Thank God we have Jesus to be our lawyer on our behalf, right? Because he's going to say, But wait a minute, I know what this guy. Know what Larry has done, but I'm here to testify that he is my son, that he's received me into his life, and he's made him his personal Lord and Savior. I have said that he's been forgiven for all of his sins. God, would you receive Him now he's going to be my advocate, my lawyer on that day. Isn't that a beautiful thing?

You have some work to do before you stand before the king of the universe. We all do. There's still time. It's not too late. Lastly, how do we live the spirit life we got through the bad stuff.

I always say, What good is it after a sermon, we should all ask this, so what?

Because if it doesn't apply or we can't do anything with it, as you just up there talking pastor, well, here it is, how to live. The spirit. Live life. Spirit, live life verses 22 to 26

love, joy, peace, patience or forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He says, against these things, there's no law.

Those who belong in Christ, Jesus have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step of the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and.

Being each other. Now we have the nuts and bolts on how to live, and this is the list. We got it there. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, easy, right, simple,

just do those things, and you got it right.

Love, everybody. Have joy all the time. Be at peace no matter what. Be patient, so easy to do, right? Be kind to all. Have a good heart all the time. Have faith, even when you think you can. Be gentle to people. And the easiest one of all is self control, right? Simple.

Just refrain from all the bad stuff that's out there, right?

I'm being facetious this morning. I know that it's difficult living the spirit filled life in God was never meant to be easy. And I think people think when they accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, that everything's going to get easy. It's going to get better, not easy. It's difficult. Was never meant discipline and a belief system that is a lifestyle of godliness is worth living for. I can tell you firsthand it's worth living for. We can only operate in the spiritual realm when we allow Jesus to be in control of our lives. He's the one that gives us everything we need, like joy and peace and patience and kindness and listen a guy like me, it took a long time for any of those fruits to show, to show themselves, because I, you guys know I where I grew up and what I did not give my life to Jesus. When I was 25 I had a lot of baggage to bring with me to the cross, but thank God we have Jesus, says, My friend Ken Freeman said, we have the greatest garbage collector that ever lived.

He's got this great big garbage bag hanging at the cross, and we get to put all of our garbage in there, and he receives it upon himself.

Man, it's a simple formula. Start putting in practice love God above all else. Put him number one in your life. Stop elevating your wife. Stop elevating your husband. Don't make the kids the CEO of your family. They're not in charge of your family. You are mom and dad. You hear me.

You are not the taxi cab ride driver for all everything they want to go to, let them do one thing at a time and make church a priority. You see, we we've decided church is not important anymore. In our families. I know you're here. I'm talking to the choir. It's important.

And when we let all these other things overrule they have practice and soccer and all kinds of things on Sundays now, where they never used to do that, it's not sacred anymore. You have to make it sacred in your family. You have to say, we're not going to do that. We're going to go get filled with the Spirit. Once you figure out how to love God, all the other spiritual attributes and virtues will start to come into focus. It's hard. God's love, we and you will produce love and joy and patience and so on. It's the only prescription I can write you this morning.

You need a prescription. I cannot give you a pill. I can give you the Word of God. You need a prescription. I can't tell you go exercise or go do that. I can give you the Word of God, because all of those things are temporary. The Word of God is permanent.

How about you today?

Are you able to say with certainty that you're living out this spiritual life?

It's a tough question, isn't it, think about it. Take an inventory. How are you living your life?

Do you live what you believe.

Do you do what you say, or do you say something and just not do it? So I want to ask you this morning, if that you'll give your life to Jesus this morning,

for the very first time, make him the priority in your life. Ask him, Jesus, take over my life. I've tried everything possible. I've done everything I can to make myself the priority in my life. Now it's time for me to turn myself over to my selflessness and give away my selfishness. And you do that by saying, Jesus, I believe in what you did, I ask you to come into my life. Holy Spirit reside in my heart and lead my life. And I'm gonna you're gonna be in a battle every day, and I get it. The battle is real. What do I listen to? What do I watch? Who do I let in my circle? How am I gonna do this? It's all right here. It's in the Word of God. He'll lead you and guide you now, if you've been saved, and you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if you were to die soon, I don't like to say today, because none of us think we're going to die today, but when you die, you know where you're going to spend an eternity with but maybe you've been far from God. Well, today's the day to reconnect with God and say, you know.

What I really want to get reconnected to God. Because even though I know for a fact I'm going to heaven, I believe that Jesus did die for me, I confess my sins to Him, I haven't really lived the Spirit led life. And so today, you can do that.

You can just come and kneel at this altar. Afterwards, we have some counselors over in the prayer room, and you can stop by there and just kind of ask us. Say, how do I do this? Where am I at? Or maybe the for the first time, you asked Jesus to be your life, your Lord and your Savior. It's as simple as saying, admitting that you're a sinner, believing that he did what he did, and confessing Him as your Lord. Say, Yes, I believe you Jesus. Okay, you come and you pray as we sing.

And maybe you're here today and you say, Man, God's got a special call in my life. God's called me to go and minister to a people group that I don't even know how to speak their language, but I know he's asking me to go. Or maybe you're here and God's calling you to a special place of ministry, you can come and bow before a king of the universe and ask him to make that clear and clarify your calling, whatever God is doing in your life. Now is the time to do business with God. We're going to sing. We're all going to stand. I'm going to say this word of prayer. Go and stand. I'm going to pray.

And as the music starts, don't be afraid. You come. And if you're, if you're afraid, to come, grab the hand of somebody next to you and say, Would you go with me? I got something to talk to God about, father. We thank you for this moment in time when we can have a spiritual decision, Lord, because there are spiritual battles going on right now, whether to stay, come, go, what to do, Lord, but I pray this morning, God, that you'll make it clear in each heart that if there are theirs here by the sound of my voice that have never responded to a gospel call to ask you to be their Lord and their and their Savior, today would be the day that they say yes. They would make that known publicly by coming because Jesus, you told us all those that confess Me publicly before My Father, I'll conf or before men, I'll confess them before my father. But of all those that don't want to confess me before men, I will not confess them before my Father. God, I pray this morning that we would confess you publicly in Jesus name, I pray Amen.