CALLIN'

This week's message turns on a simple word: calling; and the theme centers on God’s persistent question to humanity, first voiced in Genesis 3: “Where are you?” The sermon frames 'a call' as an intentional summoning that expects a response and then sets the scene in the Garden of Eden. God’s command to Adam was clear, the serpent’s deception was targeted, and the result was tragic: broken fellowship, rising shame, and a reflex to hide. Yet even in judgment, the text shows pursuit. God initiates the conversation, not to discover information he lacks, but to bring accountability to light and invite honesty and restoration. We are urged to examine our own patterns in Adam’s excuses and to recognize the cost of sin on daily fellowship with God.

A major insight lands on the difference between relationship and fellowship. Once secured by grace, the relationship stands; unconfessed sin, however, clouds the fellowship. Psalm 139 highlights the futility of hiding from an all-knowing God who already sees the thoughts before they form. That means our evasions—fear, shame, blame—do not keep us safe; they keep us stuck with guilt and shame. We witness Adam’s cascade of excuses, stressing our need for divine help to admit wrong and ask for cleansing. Accountability with God is non-negotiable, and truth is the doorway back into fellowship.

Adam and Eve's disobedience does not end with God abandoning his image-bearers. Instead, we see garments of skin, a sign that a life was given to cover nakedness. The banishment from the garden, harsh as it reads, becomes protective love: cherubim guard the tree of life so humanity will not lock itself into eternal separation. This protection is paired with provision—covering now, promise later. A clear line to the cross is drawn, where Christ appears “once for all” to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The symmetry is striking: once God blocked a 'tree' to spare us from eternal death; now GOD calls us to the 'tree' (the cross) to grant us eternal life. 

Practical application flows from this revelation. When conviction pricks the conscience, the right move is not hiding but response. The Spirit’s nudge at 3 a.m., the unrest that won’t fade, the word that lands close—these are not random. They are invitations (calls) to confession, repair, and action. reconciles by his finished work.

As God beckons, each call becomes personal and present. The ABCs of response—admit, believe, confess—offer a simple path for those not yet reconciled. For believers, the call might be a hard conversation, a confession made, or a task finally embraced. Either way, the phone is symbolically ringing. God, who covered Adam and Eve, still clothes our shame today so the question is not whether he is calling.

The challenge is whether we will answer, step out from hiding, and walk toward the voice that knows us, names us, and makes us new—through the sacrificial love of His Son (Jesus), on our behalf.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Scripture Setup
• 2:10 Defining The Call
• 4:40 Genesis Context And Command
• 8:10 The Temptation And The Fall
• 12:00 God’s Question And Accountability
• 16:10 Stop Hiding: Psalm 139 Insight
• 20:00 Excuses Versus Confession
• 24:00 Law, Sin, And Consequences
• 28:00 Mercy: Covered And Guarded
• 32:00 Christ As The Covering
• 36:00 Answering God’s Call Today
• 40:00 Prayer Of Salvation
• 43:00 Resources And Projects
• 45:30 Closing Exhortation And Song

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

We thank you for joining our Words of Life broadcast or podcast, where our mission is making God known for extolling Jesus the Christ as the sole hope for the eternal souls of humanity. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's Words of Life message.

SPEAKER_02: 0:17

Hey there again to you, Words of Life listeners and viewers. This is Pastor Mark D. Ingram. And before we even get started, I try to stick to a certain routine before I get into the Word of God. And that being, I thank God for you. Because the truth of the matter is, you could have been listening to anybody else. You could have been watching anybody else. But if you are listening to this podcast or if you are watching the broadcast on our Roku channel, I just want to say thank you. We appreciate that you are listening to God's word, his words of life through this ministry. And me and my wife, we try not to ever forget to tell you that we are appreciative of your time to hear what thus saith the Lord through this ministry. I am going to ask that you turn in your Bibles to the very first book, the Book of Beginnings, Genesis. And we're going to go to chapter 3. Not much had living to do just because it's the first book of the Bible. So if you turn into Genesis, flip a few pages. I think our opening will be a couple of verses, eight and nine. And my version is the Berean Standard Bible, but it should sound somewhat the same, no matter the version that you are using. Here we go. Genesis chapter 3, verses 8 through 9 reads as follows. Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called out to the man, Where are you? Lord, we're asking right now that you touch our hearts. Help us, Holy Spirit, to receive from you and to be able to apply that that you would like for us to apply individually, Lord. We can't learn this on our own. It is your Holy Spirit that gives life. The flesh accomplishes nothing. And so before we get started, Lord, we just want to pray that your Spirit touches our hearts to receive and then apply going forth. We pray this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for doing what we've asked. Amen. Or it is so. The title that I'd like for us to consider for this text, Genesis chapter 3, verses 8 and 9. The title I want us to consider is simply one word, calling. Not calling. Calling. Hey, I'm calling you. Calling. My initial thoughts is Holy Spirit put upon my heart to preach this message. Initially, let's think about what a call is, because the purpose of any call is the initiator of the call is expecting a response. They are expecting engagement from the recipient of the call. We dial numbers on our cell phones, expecting the owner of the other telephone to respond to our call. I mean, even when undecided, sometimes my wife and I, where are we going for dinner? You know, we're undecided about our options for dinner. You know, my wife and I usually, you know, when we're conflicted about where we want to go, one of us will say, babe, you just make you make the call. In other words, choose, make a decision about the restaurant we're pulling up at. And so let's look at that word, calling or to call. If we were to define it in the sense or the context of this sermon, to call simply is to summon or to attract someone's attention for a response or a decision. Now, I want us to think in the context of a call. I want to interject this real quick. Because of God's great love for us, and he proved this by allowing Jesus to sacrifice his life for us, and he did so while we were still sinners, not while we were trying to get good or act good. He did it while we were still in our mess. Because of that love, God calls us unto himself with a personal invitation to draw closer to him every day before we leave this earth and enter eternity. Isaiah chapter 55, verses 6 and 7 warn us, they encourage us in this verse: seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that the Lord he may have compassion, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. And so, with my initial thoughts out of the way about the message calling, let's examine our scripture in context, better known as let's do an exegesis of the text. As we start out in the book of Genesis, and as God is creating the heavens and the earth, God gets to the point that man is up next. And so God blows his breath of life into Adam. And then God creates Eve from Adam's rib. God then gives specific instructions to Adam. Genesis chapter 2, verse 17, and the Lord God commanded him, Adam. God says to Adam, You may eat freely from every tree of the garden. Verse 17, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Verse 18, the Lord God also said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper. Let's skip down to verses 21 and verses 22 and 23. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the area with flesh. Verse 22, and from the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made a woman and brought her to him. Verse 23, and the man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman, for out of man she was taken. Verse 25, and the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed. And now we're getting to our opening text. We've arrived at chapter three. Let's read verse one, because here comes the deceptive, lying one, Satan. That's all he does. He arrives in the garden with one intent to twist, to deceive, and to manipulate what God had clearly said to Adam. There was no misunderstanding. Satan knows the word, so all he does is let me manipulate God's message, and he doesn't approach Adam, he approaches Eve. So Eve tries to have strength up front. Eve reiterates what God told Adam. God told us, don't eat from it, don't even touch it, or you will surely die. And so again, Satan enters to do what he does. He manipulates, he deceives, he lies, and he talks so much, he's so persuasive that he causes Eve to doubt what God told Adam. So Satan tells Eve, You will not surely die. The serpent tells Eve, God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. You will know good from evil. So Eve believes the lie. Verse 6 says, Eve took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, Adam, who was with her, and he ate it as well. And this devastating fall impacted Adam and Eve's fellowship with God at that moment. And it could have severed their relationship forever, but more on that a little bit later in the sermon. And so now this brings us full circle to our opening text where God arraigns or he calls out to Adam, not Eve. He calls out to Adam. Not because he doesn't know where Adam and Eve are, but he calls out to them to arraign. And when I say arraign, think arraignment to answer or to be held accountable for an action, i.e. uh suspect being arraigned, brought to arraignment before a judge. But remember what we mentioned within our in our introductory thoughts. The only reason someone makes a call, even now, is a response is anticipated. The person calling expects the recipient to respond by answering that call. And here's what I want us to understand as we begin to somewhat make our transition. God is no different. God loves us so that not only does he call unto us constantly, inviting us into a personal relationship with him, God also calls us for accountability. God could call us for acknowledgement, admitting our sinful actions. Something's not sitting right, it's infecting and impacting the fellowship. And the whole point of us causing, God calling us is more often than not, this causes us to realize on any given day, at any given moment, the impact that sin can have upon us daily. You know, God God doesn't call us just to be calling. You know, God doesn't call us because he's bored or lonely. When God calls, he expects a response from us. He expects action to be taken. Action is required on our end. When God calls, he expects us to answer, to approach him, to act upon whatever he has placed upon our hearts to address. And so now that we've completed our exegesis, let's transition from our exegesis in the garden to apply to our here and now. And what can we learn from today's text to apply to our daily walk in this life, hopefully in drawing closer to God before eternity? I want us to consider point number one to apply. When God calls, hiding is never an option. Again, when God calls, hiding should never be an option. Let's look at verse 8. Verse 8 says, The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Now, God knew where they were. So him asking, where are you? as he addressed Adam. The question was rhetorical in nature, and it was really meant for Adam and Eve to reflect upon the why they were hiding from him. You know, I want to I want to jump off task real quick. I want to use King David as an example because King David writes a song within the 139th Psalm. And within verse 2, King David says about God, because David is familiar with huge mess ups, too. He says, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. Verse 2, you know when I sit and when I rise, you understand my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down. You are aware of all my ways. Verse 4, even before word is on my tongue. King David writes in this song, the 139th Psalm. He closes in verse 4 and says, Even before word is on my tongue, you know about it, oh you know about it all, O Lord. And so I repeat, there is never a need to hide from God when we fail and we fall into sin. But guess what? More often than not, what we do is we run away from instead of running to God. Nope, don't want to pray today. That guilt, that condemnation. I know I shouldn't have said, I know I shouldn't have thought. I know, I just, Lord, you know, I just I don't even want to talk to you. We run away from God. The moment Eve ate, then gave to Adam to eat from the tree that God forbid, something in them, since they ate from the tree, the knowledge of good and evil, they knew they did something wrong. So they didn't come running to God to confess, they hid. But understand that God is well aware of every one of our faults and failures, our proclivities, weaknesses, and issues. So what God expects of us is accountability. And that's one of the reasons that God calls out to us, especially when something just is not right. Once we have secured a relationship with God, understand if we've truly secured Jesus, that relationship cannot be severed. But understand that fellowship can certainly be impacted. Because God cannot, he will not ever tolerate sin in his presence. So let us avoid hiding, okay? Let's answer that call. When God calls out to us, we know my spirit don't even sit right. It's up to us to take action. Accept the responsibility of addressing whatever needs to be dealt with, because accountability is required when talking to, i.e., praying or being in a relationship with our God. Here's application point number two that I'd like for us to consider. Our fall doesn't erase God calling out to us. Again, our fall does not erase God calling out to us. He doesn't throw us away. He doesn't throw the bathwater or he doesn't throw the baby out when we throw the bathwater out. We keep the baby, we just throw the dirty water out. God doesn't erase us from, I don't love them, no, I'm getting rid of them. No, God calling out to us our fall, it does not erase him calling out to us in love. Let's look at verse 8 and 9 again. Verse 8, as they, Adam and Eve, hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Verse 9 says, The Lord called out to the man, where are you? God calls out to Adam, not Eve, because Adam is being called a reign to account for what has transpired. Although Satan deceived and influenced Eve to disobey God. Yet God is arraigning Adam, not Eve, just as a suspect would be a reign before a judge. And so here's a mental note for us: accountability for sin, it is non-negotiable with God. But instead of replying to God with accountability, Adam replies to God with excuses. So here we go. Verse nine. God calls out to Adam, Where are you? Verse 10. Excuse number one. Okay, so now you're afraid. You heard his voice, and now you're afraid, but you've had fellowship with he's created you, but now you're afraid. Verse 10 again, excuse two. Because I was naked, I hid myself. Now, I'm not saying this this excuse number two is humorous or funny, because I was naked, I hid myself. But I'm chuckling because if you remember, right before chapter three, specifically in Genesis chapter two, verse 25, God informs us in his word, and the man and his wife, Adam and Eve, were both naked, but they were not ashamed. But now Adam says, I was naked, I'm ashamed. Adam makes an excuse and he tells God he hid because I'm naked, I'm ashamed, I'm gonna hide now. But they weren't ashamed when they were naked in Genesis 2 and 25. No, Adam hid because that's the way sin makes us feel when we miss the mark, especially if we're in relationship with the Lord. Our sins feel like they're just all out in the open for the world to see, but before God, they truly are. Hebrews 4 and 13 informs us nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Adam wasn't ashamed or hiding. Because he was naked. Adam was hiding because his sin was uncovered, and he was being called by God to account for his disobedience. God inquires in verse 11, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat? Adam at this point is still not accepting accountability. So here go excuses number three and four from Adam in verse 12. The woman whom you gave me. You gave me the woman, Lord, I wouldn't have ate it if you wouldn't have given her to me, created her, took her out of my reab, and you gave her to me. Here's excuse number four. You gave me, she gave, you gave me her. And excuse number four, she gave it to me. She gave me the fruit from the tree. What did you want me to do? So I ate it. That sounds like us. God, it was you who gave me the woman as my helper. You know, my wife, but again, excuse four, God, she's the one that believed the lie. I wasn't being talked to by Satan. She believed the lie, and then she gave it to me. So maybe you talked to her on it as a sidebar, and then she gave it to me, and I thought it was good. I hate it. Lack of accountability, lack of truth. But accountability and truth, God mandates those from us. Unconfessed sin breaks fellowship with God. Isaiah 64, chapter 6 encourages the necessity of us praying for God's power. Lord, please help me to confess my mess. Confess our mess to him. Because humanity, we are naturally bent toward sin ever since Adam's sinful mistake. Isaiah 64, I want to resume with verse. Let me go right before verse 5 first. You welcome those, we're in the book of Isaiah. You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. Surely you were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sin? Verse 6, that was verse 5. Each of us, humanity, each of us has become like something unclean. And all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Don't think dirty cleaning the car in the, I do believe in the Hebrew, filthy rags is used as an example of a used minstrel rag. Our righteous acts are like filthy rags in the Hebrew. We all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. Verse 7: No one calls on your name or strives to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. That's the book of Isaiah chapter 64, verses 5 through 7. Romans chapter 5, verses 11 through 13 contrast the death of humanity coming through one man, Adam, but our redemption also coming through one man that Jesus would, that God would send, his very own Son, Jesus. The verses say, starting with verse 11, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation to God. Verse 12, therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin to all of us, so also death. It was passed on to all men because all have sinned, all because of Adam. Verse 13, for sin was in the world before the law, before God gave the commandments and his expectations to humanity. Sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. So before the law was given by God, Adam and Eve, sin God didn't tolerate it. It was not excused. But ever since God gave the law, because Adam and Eve, humanity, bears the repercussions and the consequences of that sin to this day. But ever since God gave the law, his expectations to Moses for Israel and humanity regarding sin, there is now no excuse for anyone, especially since Calvary. So, God, although he calls Adam to accountability, watch what God does next. God again proves his everlasting love for us by what he does next for Adam and Eve. God asks Eve, What have you done? Eve immediately acknowledges the role she played in disobeying God, no excuses, and she informs God of that which he already knew. At least she took accountability. Verse 13, Eve replied, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Now we get to marvel at God's love for us with this following application point. Point number three. God calls or he invites us to accept his offer of covering our sins. God is still calling out to us, inviting us. I'm not throwing you away. I just want you to accept my offer. I've made a way for you to cover your sins and be reconciled to me. Let's go a little further in the book of Genesis, chapter 3. Let's skip down to verses 21 through 23. Verse 21 says, And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them. Verse 22. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Verse 23. Therefore the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Verse 24. I want to read one more verse. So he drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life. I want us to really imagine, try to imagine this because this is deep. God expelled, he drove Adam and Eve out of the garden by placing supernatural, powerful, angelic beings, cherubim, to guard the tree of life. Ezekiel chapter 10, Isaiah chapter 6, and Revelation chapter 4 refer to God's holiness and presence on earth always being protected by these powerful angels. And so, although Adam and Eve were evicted from the garden, they could still approach the borders without access to the tree of life. They could approach outside, like the holy place or the holiest uh outside, but the only thing that they were done, God did for them, it's a beautiful thing. He expelled them so they wouldn't even be tempted to make the same mistake. Let me touch from this tree of life, let me look at it, let me eat it, let me touch it. You might ask, why is that so important? But what does that have to do with me right now? Well, it shows the great mercy and the love God had for Adam, to Eve, and to us. God showed his unfathomable love for us by banishing Adam and Eve from the tree of life in the garden. Because if they made that same mistake, since they were now fully aware of good and evil, touch it, eat it again, they would be eternally separated from God. In humanity, we would be lost unto damnation and destruction, eternally separated from God because of the consequence of sin. Sin, death, they go together. Where there is sin, there must be a shedding of blood. So now let's backtrack to verse 21, because Genesis 3 and 21, the verse informs us the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and God clothed them. That's important because God did for Adam and Eve then, but he foreshadowed what Jesus would do for us today. God covered then and today, he continues to call out to humanity, wanting to cover our sins before he calls us to account, arranges us to account for our lives as we meet him after our earthly expiration dates for judgment. Maybe you're listening and you just don't believe any of this I'm talking about. But know this God don't lie, he does not lie. Touch the tree, touch it, or eat it, and you will surely die. And humanity has been dying ever since. But now is our chance for salvation, for reconciliation, redemption through his only Son, Jesus the Christ. Hebrews chapter 9, verses 26 through 28, the word of God says, Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Verse 27, just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, verse 28, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him. God has made a way for our sins to be covered. Just like he covered Adam and Eve, our sins can be covered, and we can be reconciled back to God. We have to be able to understand. We cannot escape this immutable, unchangeable fact. Sin has caused our physical, spiritual, and thus eternal demise. But it doesn't have to be our end. God in his mercy banishes Adam and Eve to guard the tree of life and protect humanity from eternal damnation and separation. Then he allows a part of himself to be killed sacrificially to reconcile us back to him by making our salvation and reconciliation possible only if we engage the tree of life, the cross that Jesus died upon. And just as he did for Adam and Eve, we now have an acceptable sacrificial covering for our nakedness, the nakedness our sins cause before God. We have a sacrificial covering now. Jesus. And he is humanity's tree of life. That's just that's stunning. That's beautiful. That's amazing because only God can bring such symmetry full circle generations apart. And it still resonates with the same consequence today. Because you touched the tree of life, then you ate of it. You now know the knowledge of good and evil. I am expelling you, get away from, I am putting you as far away from this as possible so that you don't make that same mistake. I'm gonna guard it with a whirling sword and an angel so that you can't touch it. I love you that much. And then here he comes full circle, and Jesus now draws us to the tree of life that he died upon, the cross. And God says, now touch this all you want to. Eat of this all you want to. This is your daily bread, my son. Touch it just like the woman touched the hem of his garment and she got here. You can touch it now. God is calling us to touch the cross. He's calling unto us through Jesus alone to cover and to reconcile us into his eternal presence. That's why no other religion can get you to or through to God safely, because it's religion. Religion requires you to do something. A relationship with God through Christ alone, that's why it's called Christianity, Christianity. There's nothing to do but just accept the gift, accept the covering. Every other religion, you have to do something. But nobody is greater, no religion is more powerful. Nobody can do what God done. He has every right to tell us how we better approach him. It is through Jesus alone. Because only Jesus can cover and reconcile us into God's holy presence. Backtracking at the start, our introductory thoughts, when God is calling, a response is expected. An accounting, an arraignment, accountability, action needs to be taken. We get one opportunity, we get one life to answer God's personal call through Jesus alone. So as we prepare to close, I want you to think of Jesus as, since God is calling, think of Jesus as the only phone carrier in the entire universe with the ability to connect and allow us to communicate with, to touch God's word, to understand it. There is no other connection. There is no other communication with God without choosing Jesus as our soul only and soul carrier to God. Understand that nobody seeks or naturally calls out to God. God must condescend and call us to Him. It is God's Spirit that does the drawing of any one of us to him. It's not the pastor, it's not me, it's not our abilities, it's not our talent, our gifts, our music, none of that. God alone calls a sinful heart to repentance. He just uses the foolishness of preaching to do so. Nobody can be inspired to come to the Father unless he has been called or drawn by God's Holy Spirit. The question right now, if you are watching this broadcast or listening to the podcast, are you willing to answer that call today? If you're watching this broadcast, if you're listening to the podcast, it is not by chance, luck, or coincidence. If you have not secured Jesus as God's ultimate gift of mercy, grace, and love for eternal salvation, security, and reconciliation to God, you must understand that God is calling you the very moment you are listening to this message. It's the only reason that you're listening to the podcast or watching the broadcast. Are you willing to answer that call today? Don't place God on hold. Don't silence his call. Don't take for granted God reaching out, calling you. Are you willing to answer God calling right now? Tomorrow isn't promised. Today is the day of salvation. Now, if you have accepted Jesus as your personal connection to God, with him being the only qualified one to connect us to God, maybe God is calling you to do something, to acknowledge something that just isn't sitting right for the fellowship to be restored. I know how God deals with me a lot. Them three o'clock in the morning tossing and you just can't go back to sleep. Yep, I guess I better get up. There's something you want to talk to me about. Let me get in your word. We're required to take some action, be proactive in something he has informed you to do that will serve others and bring him glory. You might already have a relationship with God through Jesus, but maybe everything that I just said fits you. But if you have never acknowledged your sinfulness with Jesus being the only covering for our sins that God will accept, this very moment is yours right now. And God is calling, waiting for your response. How does one answer God calling out to us, especially if we know we haven't made our eternal Jesus decision yet? Well, in prayer, we call this a simple prayer, the ABCs of salvation and reconciliation unto God through Jesus alone. And if you would just pray this simple prayer with me. Father God, in the name of Jesus, I acknowledge, A, or admit I'm a sinner. I'm lost. And my entire life, it just seems like I've been running. But today I heard your call. Pastor Mark, offering. He is offering because you have anointed him to offer Jesus as the only way to you. I'm going to admit right now, I'm going to accept that I'm a sinner and I need you, Lord. I am going to be, believe that Jesus. Died just for me, covering my sinfulness. Just like you covered Adam and Eve. Jesus did that for me at Calvary. I believe that. And I'm gonna close, Lord, with this prayer by see, confessing with my mouth that there is no other way to you. I'm going to confess that I belong to you through Jesus, and I know that your spirit will then empower me to grow in grace and then be able to share this same message with others that need it. It is in the name of Jesus we pray. If you prayed that prayer with me, heaven is rejoicing, and I am grateful for you. Now your job is to find a local church that preaches the same message. Jesus crucified on our behalf, but risen, coming back to get us so that you can grow, mature in your walk and relationship with our Father God through Jesus the Christ. Well, that does it for me. Another message in the book, the name of the sermon entitled Callin. Now, if you missed any part of today's message, if you want to go back and listen to the podcast, you want to download it, it is available. Uh digital retailers. If you want to watch the broadcast, that's on our Roku channel. Or you can catch either. I think the broadcast are on our website, uh, because that website is connected to our Roku channel. It is Words of Life with PastorMark.com. And we are also excited about a couple of projects uh that God graced us to be able to put out. Uh the book Navigating Life. It has hit digital retailers. It could be Amazon, Google Play, wherever you get uh your books, Barnes and Noble Press, Navigating Life uh gives us a roadmap in a sense. I think 21, 22 chapters uh heading towards why we interact with people and what the goal is on the way to heaven when we leave here. And one more project before my producer rushes me off. Uh, we have a music release project. It's a songwriting project that God allowed me to participate in. It is entitled One Way by MDI. That's just my uh full name middle initials, Mark Dion Ingram. And you can find that release anywhere Spotify, iHeart, uh, Google, iTunes. Uh look for that uh because I got to write about Jesus and about 22 to 24 different genres. And that was just a blessing to me. And with that said, as we close, we're gonna give you our song of the week. Uh, and it is entitled The Only One in the Room. I have a favor of you as you listen to this song. God is an intimate personal God, and although he is exalted, it does not mean he is detached from us. And so as God calls us for whatever he has to say to each one of us during our intimate prayer time with him, here's what I want you to do. I want you to imagine that God's attentiveness to you, to each one of us, that prayer alone time with him. I want you to imagine that when you, when I, when we're alone in our secret places, talking and listening to God about whatever, I want you to imagine that with a universe to oversee, God still calls out to you and to me personally. I want you to let that sink into your spirit and hopefully allow you to feel like you are the only one in God's room. You have his attention, his eyes are on you. He prioritizes you because you and I, we are that important too, and we are that loved by God. That's what I ask of you. So here's our song of the week, the only one in the room, and until next time, same pastor, but more importantly, salvation presented through faith in Jesus Christ alone, through words of life, God's word. Until next time, in God's grace, please be blessed. Love you all. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01: 45:00

I bring you my shame. No introduction, you know my name. You see every fall, you're aware of it all with nothing to hide. You invite me inside with the universe to oversee. You cut me. You whisper make me feel like it's crazy, if you do, if you hold, if we see this, no need to do this.