It's good to be in our final week of the Cross Sermon Series. Have you guys been enjoying this series, those of you who have been around? It's been really cool looking at how when people encounter the cross of Christ, their life is transformed. It does something to them. And I pray that as we've went through this series, and really what's cool about this for those of you who don't know, this series we've been going through as an Every Nation family globally, as we go through this, I pray that it ministers to you and you have...
have eyes to see how the cross of Christ wants to bring transformation in your own lives as well. This isn't just about the people we read about in our Bible, though it is, but it is also about what God wants to do in our lives, how he wants to change us, and how he wants to... to bring redemption and reconciliation in a world that desperately needs it through us. Amen.
And so the goal of a sermon, at least here at Grace City, is never to come get information to file away, but yeah, it's to come allow these words, this scripture to transform our hearts, renew our minds, so that the world around us will be different as we go into it. That is our heart. And so I pray that this series has done that for you.
Like I said, this is the final week of it. A little... spoiler for you guys. Next week, we have a guest who's going to be with us.
We know him here as Pastor Coach, but his name is Pastor Alfredo Canencia. He pastors at Pearlside Church in Hawaii. He oversees all of the small groups for their nine campuses, and he helps coach church plants and young churches around the globe. He is one of their main discipleship pastors.
He's been there since they started over 30 years ago. go, and we get the pleasure of having him out with us for a week every year or two, and this next week's going to be the week. So you don't want to miss out.
You'll know it's not me because he comes up to about here, and he's Filipino, but he brings the energy, probably even a little more than me, and so I'm excited for those of you who haven't met Pastor Coach to meet him. It's going to be a splendid time, and we look forward to that. But today we're going to wrap up this series.
And so what kind of is the angle today? Where are we headed with this? I find it helpful sometimes to start with a little bit of a question to frame our minds. hands give us a little direction.
And I want to ask you all in the room today, if you've ever felt like when you read this Bible and you engage in discipleship in Christian community, have you ever been one that feels like your past disqualifies you from your purpose? Have you ever felt that? Like, oh, this is good stuff, but I got a past.
Has anybody felt that? You're like, I just don't know if I can live this way because of what I have been or who I was or what I have done or what I still struggle with doing, even though I'm chasing after Jesus. Those things may still be there. If you answered that with a yes, let me just say me too.
Today, even Corey. was joking in our house this week when I talked about what this sermon's on. She's like, it's the Chris Zahner story.
And not 100% correlation, but this idea of maybe you've carried labels, maybe you've made mistakes, or there's regrets, and you hear these whispers in your head that just say you're too broken for God to use you. You missed your chance. That would have been great had you stopped last time, God.
tried to get a hold of your heart. Anybody hear that one? And it can just be so hard to wrestle with those things. But what if I told you that the very thing that you think disqualifies you actually sets the stage for God's greatest work in your life? The very thing that you're like, I don't know if I can do this.
I think I'm disqualified is actually what God, what sets the stage for him to do something amazing in your life and through your story. And today we're looking at a woman who this was her trajectory. Her story proves this, and it's the story of Mary Magdalene. She went from being literally tormented to being transformed. She went from being an outcast to an evangelist.
And her life is a living testimony that the cross redefines our past, and the resurrection reassigns our future. The cross redefines our past and the resurrection redefines our future. This won't be the first time you've heard this around here, but I need you to remember as we enter into this today that God doesn't call the qualified.
He qualifies the called. If you're sitting here today and you know God has called you, you don't have to worry about your resume. You don't have to worry about the degrees you have. You don't have to worry about your present qualifications that the earth would tell you or the world would tell you you have. If he's called you, he will qualify you.
qualify you. He will work those things out in your heart and your mind and your relationships along the way, should you just say yes. So, we're going to get into the scripture.
Today's a little different. There's going to be three sections of it. But I'm going to ask you to stand for the reading, if you're able, of our first chunk of scripture. It's going to be in Luke chapter 8, verses 1 through 3. It says this, Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him.
And also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, who was Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their means. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Go ahead and have a seat.
Father, I thank you for this word. I thank you for how you're going to unpack this in our hearts, how you're going to renew our minds, and how you are going to compel us to steps towards you through your word today. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would come down in this place, that you would open minds, open hearts to receive your word, and that we would leave changed, not because of some clever word or not because of some kind person, but because of how you reveal yourself through those things.
Would you meet us in this place? Would you change us? Would you draw us near to you?
We thank you that you are the hero of this story and ours, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. So the first point in this... is that your past is a setup, not a sentence.
And I'm not talking about grammar. That's not my thing. If you know me, that's not what I'm talking about. Think more like prison sentence.
Your past is not what has sentenced you to some future of depravity or separation. It is actually a setup. It's a setup.
We read here, Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. That sounds pretty dramatic. That sounds pretty torturous.
if you ask me. You see, Mary's story did not begin with the resurrection. It didn't start there. It began in brokenness. It began in torment.
It began in a place where the world around her was oppressing her. It was crushing her down. She was tormented. Seven demons, complete and total bondage.
And because of this, because of her circumstances and There's a lot of things we could extrapolate and assume about her situation. But what we do know is that because of her situation, she was written off. She was an outcast.
Many would not even care to gaze upon her or recognize her humanity because of her circumstances and her situation. She was considered by many to be a lost cause. Praise God that he reaches those who may be lost causes. that the world may see as, I don't know, that might be too far away.
Praise God that he reached me. But Jesus didn't see a case study in failure here. He didn't just be like, oh, see, this is what happens when you make bad decisions.
Don't do that. Like, that wasn't what he did. He saw a future in her, in her life that redemption could bring out of her story.
He saw a setup for something amazing, not a sentence into a lifestyle. of torment and an imprisonment. Some of you need to hear this.
Your past is not a prison sentence. It's a setup for your testimony. It's a setup for what God's going to do in your life.
You don't have to be stuck. God can work in whatever situation and circumstance you are going through. Well, I kind of contributed to this, Pastor Chris. Yeah, great. We all have, and he still can work in that.
That still doesn't disqualify you. Will you stop trying to disqualify yourself and receive the grace of God that wants to change your present circumstances into your testimony? Can we do that?
Whether it's addiction or betrayal or shame that you're carrying maybe because of something that was done to you or that you did to something else. Those things are not who you are. It's a backdrop for God's breakthrough.
It's a backdrop for his... breakthrough. So what do you do with this right now?
Like, this is where I'm at, Pastor Chris. I can't get unstuck from this. I just, I feel that shame.
I feel I'm disqualified. And yeah, it's great. You tell me I'm not, but how do I actually apply that? What do I do with those thoughts, with those feelings?
And the first thing I want to encourage you to do if you're in that step today is identify the lies that you've believed about your past. Identify them. Here's the thing about the enemy and how he works.
He's only got a few plays. He doesn't have this huge playbook to run all these different schemes. He's running the same things on humanity since Genesis. It's the same stuff over and over, maybe repackaged, maybe a different color of makeup, if you get what I'm saying. He may shapeshift it and make it look different, but it's the same plays.
And so when you can identify the way in which the enemy is trying to distract you, discourage you, steal joy, separate you from your identity in Christ, now you have formed how you're seeing the battlefield that you engage in. When you see them and you identify them, they're not changing all the time. They might look a little different.
They might have different names attached to them. One might happen on a web browser. One might happen on your phone.
One might happen through addiction and substance. One might happen through addiction and a certain type of relationship. But it's all addiction. It's all turning to things other than God to satisfy our souls. It's the same thing.
the world and the enemy will say, hey, look, isn't this nice and shiny? And it'll give you actually immediate gratification. Yeah, I know you say you love this Jesus guy, but if you've read your Bible, you see that we don't know when he's going to come back and fully redeem the earth. That revelation, you don't know when that actually happens, but this will give you pleasure now. And remember, he's a God of grace, so just do whatever you want and he'll give you grace.
Like, does anybody ever hear these narratives of attack and lies in your head? I hope it's not just me. He will try to convince you to minimize...
minimalize your decisions that bring you pleasure in a moment because, but God's gracious, right? Yes, he is. And please don't hear that God will not give you grace in that. But if you just continue to spit in the face of the king who gave his son to save you over and over again, like you're going to start to miss out on opportunities to walk in the fullness of what he has.
You're going to start to miss out. So identify those things, write them down, share them with your friends, and then you need to and need to get around people. also that will speak the truth of redemption over your life to those things. You don't just have to sit there and get battered and be like, oh, I know it's a lie, I know it's a lie, but I don't know what to do with it. No, say no.
Actually, here's who Christ says I am. In him, I'm a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. He gave his life for me while I was still a sinner, not after I earn it. I don't have to earn this.
It's a gift freely given. You start to speak those things over yourself and you get around other people. Look to the person to your left and right. You get around other people that can also speak truth over those lies.
That's why we need community. We need community. You are not your sin.
You are not your mistakes. You are redeemed if you have put your hope and faith in Jesus. If you have said, He's my Lord and Savior, I turn to Him, then you get to receive redemption, justification before the God that... created you and you get to walk out your life differently.
Those are the things that you need to speak over yourself and you need other people also speaking into. So that's the first thing. Your past is a setup. It's not a sentence.
You're not stuck there. Jesus. Jesus can and will work in the midst of it.
The second is this. The cross redefines your identity. The cross redefines your identity.
Mark chapter 15 verses 40 and 41 say this. There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, the younger and of Joseph and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to... to Jerusalem. He says, there were also women looking on from a distance among whom were Mary Magdalene.
Now, at this moment that we're reading this scripture, Jesus is on the cross. Mary is there watching her Savior die. I could only imagine the emotions that would be accompanied with that.
I can only imagine the fear that could creep in in that moment. But here's what's powerful. In this scripture...
that is obviously down the line from the previous one a bit. Her past is no longer the focus. It doesn't say, hey, you remember Mary, that one who had all those demons and was a sinner? It just says, no, and Mary Magdalene who was with Jesus. Her past is no longer the focus of her story.
That has been changed. No one is talking about her demons anymore. They're talking about her devotion. They're talking about her devotion. Because faithfulness is not about where you start.
It's about where you stand when things get hard. Praise God that my faithfulness is not decided upon where I started my journey. Where I first encountered Jesus and the depravity and the sin and the depression that I was in.
But it's defined by where I stand and who I stand for when things get hard. Has anybody in this room experienced things getting hard? I hear the scoffs of, yes!
Absolutely. Where do you stand when things get hard? I guess God isn't real or God can too use this as well. That's faithfulness. When others ran away, Mary stayed.
When others lost hope, she waited. That's discipleship. That's faithfulness.
That's devotion. We need to understand in our lives. that the cross redefines you from a failure to a follower.
When you encounter the cross, you're no longer defined as the failures of your past or even the failures that may come along from time to time, but that you get defined as a follower of Jesus because when you walk in the way of Jesus and he is in charge of your life, when he has saved you and he is the Lord that you follow, that is what defines you from that point forward. It's no longer, but I used to be. But this one time I, like, no, that's not who you are. That's not who you are. You're a follower of Jesus.
Imperfect, yes, we all are. But that's who you are. And faithfulness means staying when it's painful and trusting even when it doesn't make sense. I've been in a lot of conversations and in a lot of rooms where trusting him on paper and from a worldly sense didn't make sense.
It was really hard. I couldn't wrap my mind around what possibly could be going on and why on earth God would allow certain things to happen. And I believe that, one, he doesn't owe me answers for any of that.
I believe that some of them I'll probably get when I see him face to face. But at the end of the day, I don't need answers because I have him. When I experience him in my life, his redemption, his leadership, and even when I don't get my way. sometimes, I can look back and see it all the ways he's provided and all the ways he's shown up, and I allow those to be louder in my life than the things I don't currently understand.
The cross cancels your past, but faithfulness cements your future. It puts into concrete whose you are and where you are headed. That is secured through faithfulness.
work that Christ has done for you. The final scripture is in John chapter 20. It's going to be verses 11 through 18. And it says, but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stopped to look. into the tomb.
And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she didn't know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.
Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.
The final point here is the resurrection reassigns your mission. It reassigns your mission. She showed up at the tomb thinking that she was going to perform some burial rites and mourn and grieve and her mission got radically reassigned. Jesus said, Mary, and she turned to him and said, teacher in Aramaic, this is the first recorded post-resurrection appearance of Jesus.
And who does he show up to? Not Peter, not John, not any of the male disciples. He shows up to Mary Magdalene.
God could have chosen anyone to carry out this great announcement that he is risen. He could have chose anyone, but he didn't pick a priest. He didn't pick a scholar. He picked a woman who once had seven demons.
If that doesn't tell you how God flips the script, I don't know what does. If that doesn't tell you that in a culture where women's testimonies would not have been taken with the same value and weight as men's testimonies, that God values women in his church and what they have to say and what they have to contribute, I don't know what does. He showed up to Mary Magdalene. Praise God that he did. So what does that mean for us?
When Jesus calls your name, everything changes. Everything changes. He said, Mary.
She didn't even recognize him, and he called her name. It's like, teacher. Just imagine that.
What if... When we heard Jesus call our name, we responded with such anticipation and eagerness. Oh my goodness, it's you.
He's alive. He is well. He is speaking to me.
When he calls your name, everything changes. Because the resurrection isn't just about Jesus getting up. It's also about you stepping into your calling.
When he resurrected, yes, he overcame sin, death, Satan in the grave. Praise God for that. But he also ushered in a commission or a mission to his people.
His people stepped into a different calling. Jesus didn't just raise from the grave. He also brings us into a new purpose.
He brings us into a new purpose. I'm so grateful for that. He doesn't leave us where we were.
He doesn't count us. according to where we started. And his cross, his death, his resurrection gives us a new purpose.
It is defined by him. Not the world, not your past, not your fears, not your anxieties, but by him. So this last part here, we see something really interesting happen. And the words really stuck out to me.
Where in verse 17, he says, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say, Say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. We see a shift happen here in what Mary is called to do from going from her desire to cling to Jesus and Jesus commissioning her to go and do something. It's not about just like, oh, you're back. I just want to be with you. I'm never going to let you out of my sight kind of thing, right?
Like if I just went through the Passion Week and seeing my Savior hung on a cross and he's back, I'm like, here we go. We win, right? Like I'm not.
leaving your side. I'm here for whatever is about to happen. I don't want to miss a thing.
Yes, that is an Aerosmith song. I don't want to miss anything. I am there.
Some of you don't know who Aerosmith is. I'll stay off that rabbit trail. It can be really tempting to just cling to what's comfortable, can't it be?
When things are going really well and you're like, gosh, it just feels like the wind is at my back, there's no resistance, like when I put effort into work, it yields fruit, when I invest in relations, relationships, it bears fruit. It's like, oh, what could get any better? And it feels so good.
And we just want to stay in that place because it's really, really easy. Now, let me burst that bubble that I just inflated for you. When things are really, really easy and you're not experiencing resistance, it's probably because you're not engaged in preaching the gospel.
The devil wants you to cling. He wants you to be comfortable. If you are not moving forward the kingdom of God, if you're not engaged in mission, in his commission, if you're not engaged in that, he loves you just where you are. He's not going to mess with you.
There is something about it. experiencing a little bit of resistance at least. It's something about experiencing some need for breakthrough, some need for supernatural power, some need for God to show up and do something besides just what you have to bring to the situation that is an indicator. of his might, his power, and you following his direction.
There's something that it does and builds in us as well. Now, I'm not saying like, oh, you're in a comfortable season right now, go stir up some mess. Like, no.
Don't cause stuff, but have eyes to see. Am I experiencing this because I'm clinging to what's comfortable, or is God just giving me a little bit of a sabbatical, like a little rest, a little break? I just came out of a battle, I need a little... Or like, what is it?
And ask Him, and I believe He's gracious. and he will speak to that. You see, Mary wanted to cling to Jesus here.
How do we know that? Because he said, don't cling. Do we think that Jesus knows what's going on in our heart, what we want to do? Yes, is the great answer there. It's a great Sunday school answer.
Yes, absolutely. But he told her to what? To go.
He told her to go. Some of us love experiencing Jesus, and we love a great Sunday with worship and seeing all of our people, but we hesitate when Jesus says, now go and tell. We love to sing good songs. We love to engage with fellow believers.
But when he says, go and tell, go do something, go share this, even if it might cost you something socially, even if it might make for an awkward moment, still go and tell, that's when we like to hit the pause button. But the true mark of transformation isn't just how you worship, but also how you witness. It's not just about how you worship. It's about how you witness.
And I would argue that how we witness is a form of worship. It's a lifestyle lived saying yes to how he calls us to. Mary Magdalene didn't just hold on to Jesus.
She shared him. She shared him. She talked about him. And that's what...
what disciples do. So if the cross is going to transform our life, and we've seen many other ways throughout this series, would it transform our life that we also see it change how we share him, how we go and tell, how we... overcome by the power of his word and community, the lies that try to get us stuck where we once were, would the cross change that in us? Would it compel us to something greater than just where we are right now?
So my final thoughts, you could call these like, here's what Pastor Chris is asking me to consider doing, that's really long, this coming week. I like run-on sentences. I'm like the Apostle Paul in my grammar. It just keeps going, keeps going, keeps going. But the first is this.
Stop clinging to what's comfortable. Stop clinging to what's comfortable. The second is this.
Start stepping into your commission. Walk in what God has for you. Walk in the purpose that he gave his life for you to walk in.
And the third, go and tell your story. I believe that everybody in here, whether you recognize it yet or not, because I believe some of you, you're still like, I don't know about this Jesus thing. I'm just here because somebody offered me breakfast.
If I showed up, like, praise God for that breakfast. But right now you're here. And God wants you to know. that you're here on purpose, that he created you, set apart, and with a purpose. Should you put your faith in him, allow him to lead your life, allow him to save you from the sin and the ways of this world that keep you tied down.
If you will say yes to him, he has something new for you. The word tells us that old self dies and you put on the new self. It's like changing outfits, changing literally team uniforms.
Changing, I got a new uniform on now. I walk with a different team. My life has a different purpose. I run a different playbook.
I interact in a different way. I have a new identity as I go through the world. But go and tell that story of how he's doing that in you. We can get so angsty about, I don't have all the answers for everything I believe. Some of it's just faith.
Yeah, and it always will be because we're not God. We don't understand everything. That's okay that some of it is faith. But go tell what he has done in your life. Go tell how you have encountered and experienced him.
It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to have all the answers. Some of the best answers I believe I ever have to give somebody when they ask me a question and say, I don't know, can we go find that out together? And we will. walk with them to discover more of who Jesus is.
Don't let what you perceive as your shortcomings keep you from walking in your purpose. Just say yes, because I believe that your testimony is somebody else's turning point, so don't keep it to yourself. your testimony is what's going to actually flip the script on somebody else's life.
Flip it upside down from going away from God to turning to him. They're going to experience a whole other way of life if you will just share your testimony. team and come back up.
Remember what we see at the end here. Mary went and made an announcement that I have seen the Lord. I pray that each of us that have encountered Jesus, each of us that have experienced transformation and life change because of Jesus would simply go and do that.
I've seen the Lord. I used to be, like, I'll just use my story, we won't use theoreticals. When I was in college, I was so focused on trying to be approved of, to being accepted, that once I got hurt, couldn't play football anymore, I had to find another thing to be a part of. So, what's the next best thing besides a football team on the college campus?
Rush week. I went. I joined a fraternity.
I did that whole thing. Now I couldn't go hit people on the football field anymore, so I got really good at consuming way too much beer and doing that whole thing. And I was finding my identity in the social environments that I could engage in. I found my identity in the brotherhood that I was engaged in that really had nothing to do with Jesus.
I had my identity in things like... different activities that we would engage in. Like I was just searching for something to be a part of and something that would give me significance.
And I was proverbially chasing my tail, just never satisfied. I could never get what my heart desperately wanted. And then God revealed himself to me.
And I believe he does that differently in a lot of different people's lives. Sometimes there's somebody that's been walking with you. Maybe you got a praying grandma. Maybe you have parents that have been following Jesus. They're like, hey.
Listen up, you've been acting a fool for way too long, you need to know what Jesus has to say. For me, it didn't happen that way. I was the first Christian in my family. I literally encountered God's transforming power through the Bible opening to a page, God drawing me to a verse, and it forever changing my life.
It was out of a point of frustration and depression. Is it even worth me being around anymore? I'm more of a drain on my family than I am a blessing. It would probably be better if my life just ceased.
And out of frustration, I punch my dresser and the Bible falls off. I was like, oh, I didn't know that was there. Romans chapter 5. I look at verse 8. You'll hear this verse every month.
While we were sinners, Christ died for us. You see, I was just chasing some self-help program, something that could fix me so I could approach God. because that was the ideology I was raised up in. Get your act together so you can go to church. Get your life together so you can be religious.
And then I found this Jesus who gave his life so he could be in relationship with me and he could transform me, not me transform myself. And my life changed forever. It changed forever.
Now, what if I just said, oh, praise God, I got that, I'm good, and I ceased to share the stories of how I have seen the Lord? I believe there's people every time I share that that needed that encouragement. I've been people that I've shared that with, that they gave their life to Jesus because I didn't know that I didn't have to fix my life to come to him, that he actually wanted to walk with me in that.
Like, go and share. Go and tell. And everybody in here's story is different. Praise God. God, that means there's more people that we get to relate to.
But don't keep it to yourself. That's all I ask you. If you've encountered God and his goodness and he's changed your life, if you can say, I have seen the Lord, would you share that with at least one person this coming week? It's really easy to sit back in our chairs right now in our world and point at everything that's wrong, everything that's divisive, everything that's scary, everything that we don't understand, everything that we disagree with. It's really easy to do that.
I could spend all my working hours of the week and more doing that. But as a follower of Jesus, as a citizen of his kingdom, that's not the view we're supposed to take on the world. We're supposed to say, here's what I have received.
How do I overflow that? How do I share that? How do I see the world changed through Jesus's power, not through policy?
in media, in different perspectives that the world gives us. I believe the very things that we point fingers at and say, that's wrong, that's wrong, I don't like that, will actually change over time if we will just go and tell people, I have seen the Lord. Here's what he's done in my life and here's what he wants. he wants to do in your life.
That is actually the mechanism that Jesus will use to change our city, to change our campuses, to redeem our families, no matter how far away you think they are from you right now. I'm telling you, some of you need to hear that. No matter how far you think your families are from Jesus right now, he sees them, he hears your prayers, and they are not too far away. Keep praying.
Keep sharing. I don't want to be the weird person at Thanksgiving. Just do it. Just be the weird person, in Jesus' name.
I think it's way more weird to not share the best news humanity's ever known with somebody that desperately needs it. That's a whole other sermon. But anyway, I pray that you will each be encouraged, that you will take courage to go and tell.
of what you've seen, what you've experienced. If you're in this room today, I pray that, and you don't yet know Jesus, you haven't made a decision to follow him, I pray that something will have struck a chord with you and that you will make a decision to put your hope and your faith in the only God. only one who saves and that you would experience lifelong transformation in a vibrancy of life that the world tries to promise you and it can never satisfy. Will you experience that because of Jesus?
So Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that our past doesn't define our future. I thank you for your transformation.
I thank you for your mission. God, I pray that each person in this room this morning would encounter you and your presence in a whole new way. Right now, I pray against and rebuke every lie of the enemy that's trying to steal this moment, that's trying to whisper lies and deceit into ears and hearts, and bind it up and tell it to leave in the name of Jesus right now. God, would every heart be open to you? Would you speak exactly what each person needs to hear?
And would you cause each of us to make a decision to take one step closer to you here this morning? So we thank you, we praise you for your word, for your family, and this life you've given us. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Everybody said amen. Let's stand and close in worship.