SPEAKER_00: Hi, this is Pastor Jonathan, and thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: In today's sermon, we begin a summer-long series that is a study of the book of James.
SPEAKER_00: We're calling it authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: And in week one, we look at the first step of the life cycle that leads to authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: The seed of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: As we consider James chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: A few weeks back on a Friday morning, I took the kids to school, dropped them off, and then I immediately came home.
SPEAKER_00: And when I got home, I gathered three tools from around our house.
SPEAKER_00: I got a hairdryer, a razor blade, and a suction cup.
SPEAKER_00: And then I promptly sat down at the kitchen table.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a really random assortment of tools, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: A hairdryer, a razor blade, and a suction cup.
SPEAKER_00: But I needed that random assortment of tools because I had a very uh specific project that I had promised Spencer I would complete on that day.
SPEAKER_00: Um I told him I would replace the screen on his iPad mini.
SPEAKER_00: Um he's still not quite sure how he first cracked that screen, but he used it for about a year and a half with um one crack and then many cracks all over the front of it.
SPEAKER_00: Um eventually the screen was in such a state of disrepair that it was completely unresponsive.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh one night he came into our bedroom and he asked, Can someone fix this screen?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yeah, we can we can fix it, but you're gonna pay for it.
SPEAKER_00: He remembers having that conversation, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's why we save our birthday money, it's why we save our allowance.
SPEAKER_00: And so he asked me how much um an iPad screen would cost, and I told Spencer, I don't know, but let me Google it and let's see what the Google answers.
SPEAKER_00: So I did a quick search, and uh I was surprised and he was really disappointed when we learned that um a new screen for his iPad was something like$200.
SPEAKER_00: And so I told him, okay, well, let's just calm down for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Let me keep searching.
SPEAKER_00: Let me see what else I can find on Google.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I can find a knockoff screen.
SPEAKER_00: I can find a cheaper version of the screen that we need so that we can uh repair your iPad.
SPEAKER_00: So I continued searching for a few more minutes.
SPEAKER_00: I went through a couple more pages of search results, and I said, Hey Spencer, guess what I found?
SPEAKER_00: I found a screen that's like less than half of that price.
SPEAKER_00: It's a knockoff, it's a cheaper version.
SPEAKER_00: Let's give that a try.
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Yes, let's do that.
SPEAKER_00: So I ordered the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and on that Friday morning, I finally unboxed the screen.
SPEAKER_00: I took it out of its packaging, it looked exactly as it was described on the website.
SPEAKER_00: And then I took out his iPad and I took out my hairdryer and I heated up the edges of the iPad.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever done this repair, you know.
SPEAKER_00: You're loosening all the adhesive on the back side of the screen, and then I took the section cup and I took that uh razor blade and I began to pry off the screen from that iPad.
SPEAKER_00: Then, with the help of a YouTube uh tutorial, uh, what would we do without YouTube?
SPEAKER_00: A man walked me through the step-by-step process of disconnecting the old screen and reconnecting the new screen.
SPEAKER_00: So the final step of that whole process was this: that I would take the new screen and I would set it inside of the rear casing of his iPad.
SPEAKER_00: And so I lined up the edges of that new screen with the edges of that uh rear casing, and I got it perfect just how I wanted it.
SPEAKER_00: I had my tape on the back of it, and I began to press down and apply pressure slowly, slowly, slowly, and then I hear a snap and a crackle and a pop.
SPEAKER_00: And I was not eating rice krispies.
SPEAKER_00: The new screen, that new knockoff screen, cracked underneath the pressure of my thumbs.
SPEAKER_00: Like I took off an old screen with many cracks, and then I put on a new screen, and within 30 seconds, I hadn't even turned the thing back on yet.
SPEAKER_00: It had a big, huge crack down one side.
SPEAKER_00: I should have known.
SPEAKER_00: There was a reason that knockoff screen costs so much less than an authentic Apple screen.
SPEAKER_00: Our culture's literally overrun with knockoff products like that screen.
SPEAKER_00: Cheaper products that at first glance look authentic, they look like the real thing, but upon closer inspection, you notice the differences.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a reason the man who's selling uh designer handbags out of his trunk, or he's selling Rolexes out of his uh jacket or Ray-bans out of his suitcase, there's a reason he can charge a fraction of retail.
SPEAKER_00: They're not real, they're knockoffs.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you inspect them, you can tell the difference.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, most of the time in life, choosing a knockoff isn't an issue of huge importance.
SPEAKER_00: I actually put a piece of packing tape over that crack on Spencer's uh new iPad screen, and then I put it in the most heavy-duty case you can buy on Amazon, and so far, so good, no more cracks.
SPEAKER_00: In that instance, and in other instances in life, um, you can be satisfied with a knockoff.
SPEAKER_00: A knockoff is good enough.
SPEAKER_00: But there are instances in life, areas in life when you can only be satisfied with the real thing, with an authentic version.
SPEAKER_00: And one of those areas of life just so happens to be faith.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, we need an authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: But all too often we settle, listen, we settle for cheap knockoffs.
SPEAKER_00: One of the cheap knockoffs that we settle for is the knockoff of uh right words.
SPEAKER_00: This is the knockoff that knows all of the answers.
SPEAKER_00: This knockoff faith, listen, it knows how to speak fluent Christianese.
SPEAKER_00: This person uh knows, listen, how to spell and define and use words like sanctification, juxfication, and propitiation in a sentence.
SPEAKER_00: And they can even use them in uh multiple sentences in the same paragraph and make a cogent argument.
SPEAKER_00: Or the person who knows all the right words, they have a Bible verse that they can share in every moment of life.
SPEAKER_00: But if the substance of your faith is nothing more than right words, it's a cheap knockoff.
SPEAKER_00: Listen actually to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that the person Jesus is describing knows the right words.
SPEAKER_00: They know the thing that must be said.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says it's nothing but a cheap knockoff.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's no obedience, there's no action.
SPEAKER_00: Another knockoff that we often choose is the right beliefs.
SPEAKER_00: This this knockoff says that faith is nothing more than principles.
SPEAKER_00: It's ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is an exercise of your intellect.
SPEAKER_00: Folks who prefer this knockoff of right beliefs, they often engage in debates online.
SPEAKER_00: They like to argue facts about the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe this person sometimes they like to sign up for every Bible study that they possibly can.
SPEAKER_00: They just want to learn and to know more.
SPEAKER_00: Faith, of course, does engage our intellect.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus teaches us to love God with our entire mind.
SPEAKER_00: But faith is more than brain power.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is more than ideas that you know.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what James says in James chapter 2, verses 19 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: You say you have faith, for you believe there is one God.
SPEAKER_00: Like you've got the right idea, the right belief.
SPEAKER_00: Good for you, James writes.
SPEAKER_00: Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
SPEAKER_00: How foolish! Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
SPEAKER_00: Good news, if that's the knockoff you choose, you're keeping really dangerous company.
SPEAKER_00: You're in the company of demons, according to James.
SPEAKER_00: If your faith is simply all the right beliefs that never overflow, that never lead to obedience or action.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the reason we choose these knockoffs is because as long as life is smooth sailing, they stand the test.
SPEAKER_00: They stand up.
SPEAKER_00: But on the moment, on the day you lose your job, on the day you lose your marriage, on the day you say goodbye to your spouse or to your best friend, or you don't make the team, or you don't get into the college you had dreamt of.
SPEAKER_00: That knockoff faith, it goes snap, crackle, and pop.
SPEAKER_00: A knockoff faith can never endure the ups and downs of this world.
SPEAKER_00: A knockoff faith, it leaves us anxious in the middle of a world that is filled with chaos.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe most importantly, a knockoff faith, a faith that is just the right words, that is just the right beliefs, it leaves us unable and incapable of impacting the world.
SPEAKER_00: Which is why you and I, we need the real thing.
SPEAKER_00: We need an authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're beginning a series studying the New Testament letter called James.
SPEAKER_00: And we're calling it authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I chose that title because it captures what I believe to be James' most unique and even most controversial contribution to the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to James chapter 2, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: James writes, but someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds.
SPEAKER_00: Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
SPEAKER_00: It was because of that statement and others like it, that the reformer Martin Luther made this statement that James didn't express the nature of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Martin Luther, at the school he taught, he felt so strongly about James that he wanted it removed from the curriculum of his school.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is an example of a man who got a lot of things right in life, but on this thing, this one thing, he got it absolutely wrong.
SPEAKER_00: The church needs James.
SPEAKER_00: We desperately need the book of James because James lets us know what authentic faith truly is.
SPEAKER_00: So what is it?
SPEAKER_00: How can we define it?
SPEAKER_00: According to James, this is what authentic faith is.
SPEAKER_00: Authentic faith is actionable.
SPEAKER_00: Authentic faith says that what I know to be true about God, what I say to be true about God, will overflow into actions.
SPEAKER_00: It's a faith that knows when and how to act no matter the circumstance of your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's a faith that gives you an abiding peace in the midst of chaos.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a faith that makes you capable of impact.
SPEAKER_00: Authentic faith is actionable.
SPEAKER_00: You, however, listen, don't wake up one morning and immediately possess authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: Authentic faith must be nurtured.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that has to grow up within a person.
SPEAKER_00: Authentic faith has a life cycle.
SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna be our focus for the first two weeks of this series: the life cycle of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about that life cycle in terms of four phases.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about the seed and the soil and the roots and the crown.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about those final three phases, the soil, the roots, and the crown next week.
SPEAKER_00: And today, we're just gonna focus on the first phase, the seed.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bibles, join me in James chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: And today I'm gonna do something really unusual for me and my preaching.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna read for you one verse.
SPEAKER_00: One verse.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, greetings.
SPEAKER_00: Hi.
SPEAKER_00: How you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Hope you're well.
SPEAKER_00: James, the author of this book, he is unlike any other author in the New Testament in one very unique way.
SPEAKER_00: James, the author of those words, and all the words in every chapter of this letter, is the half-brother of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So Mary and Joseph, after the virgin birth, they come together and they have biological children.
SPEAKER_00: And one of those biological children is the man who wrote these words.
SPEAKER_00: That means that some of James's earliest memories, listen, some of James's earliest memories are growing up with his Baba, his buddy, his big brother Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: How cool is that?
SPEAKER_00: He grew up in the same house as Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: James went to synagogue with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: James celebrated the Sabbath with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I have to imagine they're brothers, so maybe James wrestled with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And James, he played chase with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Growing up in the home of Mary and Joseph, when James sees Jesus, he sees one person, he sees his what?
SPEAKER_00: Older big brother.
SPEAKER_00: And I have to imagine that Jesus is the best big brother.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is kinder, he's gentler, he's more patient, and he's more forgiving than any of the other big brothers who live on their block.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe it's because James, when he looked at Jesus, he first saw his big brother.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the reason why James was so slow to put his faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have an older brother, but I do have an older sister.
SPEAKER_00: And as a kid, if you have an older sibling, you always look up to them, right?
SPEAKER_00: You watch the way that they make choices.
SPEAKER_00: Some of those choices you want to emulate, others you don't want to emulate.
SPEAKER_00: You found out how they got in trouble, and you decide that's not the best way to live your life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to get in trouble that way.
SPEAKER_00: But think about this.
SPEAKER_00: If your older sibling, the one who you admire, the one who you think is amazing, one day tells you that they are the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how great they are, no matter how amazing they might be.
SPEAKER_00: Like, look, man, we grew up in the same house, under the same roof.
SPEAKER_00: Mary and Joseph, like, they're our parents.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we're with them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you're a great guy, but you're not God.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 3, verse 21 tells us that one day the family of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine James is a part of that family of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They find Jesus while he's teaching and they want to pull him out of the mess he's gotten himself into.
SPEAKER_00: They can't believe the things that he's saying because they believe that Jesus is what?
SPEAKER_00: Out of his mind.
SPEAKER_00: He's not Jesus the Christ to his family.
SPEAKER_00: He's Jesus the crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Like he is saying things that don't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe, maybe James thought he was crazy until the very end.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you're saying lots of crazy things.
SPEAKER_00: That's why everybody's up in arms.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you're saying all sorts of crazy things.
SPEAKER_00: That's why your friends are betraying you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you're saying all sorts of crazy things.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're gonna go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But then something, listen, miraculous happens in the life of James.
SPEAKER_00: And he no longer sees his brother as Jesus the crazy, he sees his brother as Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: I read it earlier at the beginning of our time of worship today.
SPEAKER_00: It tells us that following the resurrection of Jesus, that Jesus makes an appearance to groups of people.
SPEAKER_00: But then in that list, and telling all the people that Jesus met, one of the specific names listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 is the name of James.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus appeared to James.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, the seed of authentic faith is sown.
SPEAKER_00: In that moment, James knows that Jesus isn't the son of Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: The seed of authentic faith for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, it is sown when we encounter the resurrected Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When we encounter him and we trust that he is who he says he is.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to instill in you messages of grace and forgiveness and God's love for you.
SPEAKER_00: For others of us, though, sowing that seed of faith, and maybe that's where you sit today, sowing that seed of faith, man, you are kicking and screaming when it comes to that.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, you finally came to the day that the Holy Spirit drug you kicking and screaming till you finally had to admit and say yes to Jesus, to admit that he is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's by virtue of Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb that we know that Jesus is not just, he is not the son of Joseph, he is the son of God, he is the savior of the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's by virtue of his ascension to heaven and his imminent return that he we know.
SPEAKER_00: No, he is the Lord and King of all creation.
SPEAKER_00: That is the seed of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: And it begins with this encounter like James had with his half-brother Jesus, have an encounter with the one who died at the hands of Rome and at the hands of Jewish leaders for the sins of the world, but in the power of the Holy Spirit was resurrected on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: That's the seed of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: And James wants that seed sown throughout those those tribes, those churches scattered throughout the ancient world.
SPEAKER_00: That's the seed of faith that James wants sown throughout churches in the modern world, all around the world.
SPEAKER_00: Because when that seed is sown, listen, that seed leads to a dramatic change in the life of a person.
SPEAKER_00: Just how dramatic could it be?
SPEAKER_00: Well, pay attention again to the um to the title that James ascribes to himself in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: He says that he is a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Around our house, Spencer thinks it's really funny to call me or to call Lauren or to call Evelyn by the name Bertram.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for those of you who don't have a subscription to Disney Plus, let me fill you in on the details.
SPEAKER_00: Bertram is Bertram Van Winkle.
SPEAKER_00: He is the butler on a Disney Channel show called Jesse.
SPEAKER_00: So Spencer, he calls us Bertram when he expects us and wants us to do a task for himself.
SPEAKER_00: So if he needs a snack, he calls on Bertram.
SPEAKER_00: If he uh needs uh his dirty clothes put away, he calls Bertram.
SPEAKER_00: If there's just anything he wants, turn on the television, whatever it might be, walk the dog, whatever it might be, he calls on Bertram.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, none of us want to be Spencer's servant, nor do we want to be his butler.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about I don't want to be the butler of a 12-year-old, do you?
SPEAKER_00: I only want to be Spencer's father.
SPEAKER_00: Lauren only wants to be Spencer's mother.
SPEAKER_00: Evelyn wants to be Spencer's sister.
SPEAKER_00: And something dramatic would have to occur to change and to alter that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: You know, as a boy, I don't think James ever imagined calling Jesus something other than brother.
SPEAKER_00: But then something dramatic occurred.
SPEAKER_00: A dramatic change that reoriented his entire life.
SPEAKER_00: His brother is now his master, and he is his servant.
SPEAKER_00: The reorientation of a life, the brother who now is the servant, reminds us, listen, that authentic faith, even from the very beginning, even from the moment the seed is sown, is actionable.
SPEAKER_00: Like that word servant is a title that describes action.
SPEAKER_00: It describes movement, it describes doing certain things in life.
SPEAKER_00: That word servant, James adopts it because it says this that he now lives in the world to act on behalf of his brother Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: James calls himself a servant of Jesus because he knows that his brother Jesus has a plan for his life and he will be his master.
SPEAKER_00: That his brother Jesus has things he wants him to do and actions he must perform.
SPEAKER_00: James says, I am a servant of my big brother, because this seed of authentic faith has been sown in my heart, and authentic faith is actionable.
SPEAKER_00: Last week, as I reflected on this verse, James 1, 1, I just sense the Holy Spirit inviting me to fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: To replace the name of James with the name Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00: Not because I'm the author of the book, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit was inviting me, and I think he's inviting you to fill in the blank because he wants you to sow the seed of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit wants you to see yourself first and foremost in the world as a what?
SPEAKER_00: Servant of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: To see our present and our future as God's great blank canvas on which God wants to draw this beautiful picture of what He wants to accomplish through you in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Can you fill in the blank?
SPEAKER_00: And if you're hesitant to fill in the blank, here's my worry and my question.
SPEAKER_00: If you're hesitant to fill in the blank with your name, then have you had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus where you've placed your faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we we want to put our faith in Jesus and we just see it as the words and the belief, and we don't make that next move to write our name in the blank and say, now Jesus, I'm here, I'm yours, I'm your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Not that you're gonna possess this full-fledged, authentic faith from day one.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that's gonna grow and has to be nurtured in your life.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, he he he meets with people so that there's a dramatic change in their life.
SPEAKER_00: For us, it's like James, it was he had to go from uh brother to master.
SPEAKER_00: For us, it's Jesus um is is a friend to our master, or Jesus is um a good teacher to the master, or Jesus is um just a nice guy and he becomes the master.
SPEAKER_00: But whatever it is, whatever that transition is, you are the servant.
SPEAKER_00: That's where authentic faith begins.
SPEAKER_00: To put your trust in Jesus Christ and realize that now and forever and all my days on this planet earth, I will serve him.
SPEAKER_00: And God wants to accomplish a purpose through me.
SPEAKER_00: He has a plan he wants to fulfill through me.
SPEAKER_00: Because why?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He was not the son of Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the son of God, he is the Savior of the world, he is the Lord and King over all creation, and now James is inviting his church, the church of Jesus, to possess an authentic faith that serves Jesus in every circumstance and on every day.
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn our hearts to God in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Where you're seated right now, would you just close your eyes and bow your head?
SPEAKER_00: And at first, let's just together take an inventory of our faith and just that means to ask the Holy Spirit to put your faith under a microscope.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see a knockoff or something that's authentic?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe even just consider the ways that that knockoff faith has failed you.
SPEAKER_00: It's cracked, it's popped, it's broken.
SPEAKER_00: And just dedicate your life now to possessing this authentic, actionable faith.
SPEAKER_00: Ask the Holy Spirit to nurture that sort of faith in your heart and soul today.
SPEAKER_00: We live by faith, not by sight.
SPEAKER_00: We make it our goal to please God, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
SPEAKER_00: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
SPEAKER_00: And now consider and be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever sown that seed?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Asked him to be your Lord and Savior, and offered yourself to him to be his servant.
SPEAKER_00: For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, forgive us when we settle for a faith that is less than a knockoff faith, a cheaper version of the faith that you call us to live into to possess.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us, God.
SPEAKER_00: And Holy Spirit, continue that work in our church and in individual lives so that we possess and see grow up within us this authentic, actionable faith, the faith that combines what I say and what I believe in my mind with what I do in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Something that's actionable, that makes an impact.
SPEAKER_00: God, this is the authentic faith we need.
SPEAKER_00: We know this is the faith you're calling us to receive.
SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray for that man or woman or boy or girl or teenager in this room, who's never sown that seed of faith in the first place, who's never put their trust in Jesus Christ, who's still serving themselves and is not a servant of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: And God, in your mercy, just speak to them in this hour.
SPEAKER_00: Show them the plans you have for them, the good works you prepared for them in advance.
SPEAKER_00: That they would have the strength, God, and the Holy Spirit to receive the free gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Authentic faith begins when we trust Jesus and we give our life to Jesus as his servant.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you are our master, you are our Savior, our Lord, and our King.
SPEAKER_00: We love you because you first loved us.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.