Valley View Church
Valley View Church
Proverbs 24:13-14 | How Do We Discern God's Will for the Future?
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Sunday Morning | July 27, 2025 | Colby Flowers | Louisville, KY
Student Pastor Colby Flowers continues our Proverbs series with this sermon titled "How Do We Discern God's Will for the Future?"
You can join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM for worship. We are located at 8911 3rd Street Road, Louisville KY 40272.
Hey church. How are we doing? Oh, we gotta do that again. Good morning church. How are we doing? It's good to be with you all this morning. We have so much to celebrate already in us in the service. And can we just give it up again for those who are baptized and just thank God for what he's doing? It's a privilege to be the student pastor here at Valley View Church. My name is Colby Flowers. And I'm delighted to serve with our students and our young adults. But from time to time, I get up here and say a few syllables. And so I'm thankful for the opportunity to share God's Word with you this morning. In fact, we took a little break hiatus from the Book of Proverbs, but now we're back in it to wrap it up this summer, we're going to be heading into another book of the Bible here in the fall, but we are finishing up our Book of Proverbs series. And today, as we started to, we're covering topics or ideas that we see as really important and fundamental that come from the book of Proverbs. And so today we're going to be talking about future decisions, making decisions, and how to discern, what that looks like. But last Sunday, I bravely took a group of our boys, students to kayak and canoe in Prospect, Kentucky. So we went up there. We rented some kayaks. And don't worry, I did take a couple leaders, would make sure that we had eyes on everybody. But, I don't know if you ever been to Fort Harrod's Creek. Or Harrod's Creek. I'm sorry. It's pretty cool place I've never been before, so I was going in, not having an expectation of what it looked like, how deep it was, or anything like that. And so as I'm getting the canoes rented, I asked the person who I was getting the kayaks from. You know, which way do I go? Because there is two ways I could go left. I could go right. So she explained to me, if you go right, you're going to go to the river. If you go left, that'll be, the creek and you'll see some cool places. In fact, she said, you will find a park on the left as you go down. And that's a good spot to stop. And then turn around and come back, because we're only allotted a certain amount of time. So we didn't want to go too far and then not have a time to get back. So I was like, all right, great. So before I finished talking with them, boys were already strapped in in their kayaks and they're going towards the river. Okay, I had to call out to them “boys, that way, left.” So they eventually they turned around. And then of course, if you know boys and I'm sure some of you do, they start paddling as hard as they can straight ahead. And it's kind of like this, paddle now, ask questions later type of thing. They just were paddling and they had no idea where they were going, and I didn't even know where they were going. So I took some concern to that, I had to get out in front of them. And, I don't have as much energy as them. But it took me a little bit, but I get up out in front of them to kind of help navigate as best I can, but then we come to a fork in the creek. She never mentioned anything about a fork, so I had to use my best judgment in that moment to discern where to go. So I'm looking. I'm seeing what's in front of me as best I can. Well, I said, all right, we're just going to stay right. Well, luckily it was a good decision as I'll get to in a second. So we stay, right. We keep on going to the creek. And we've already, at this point used up half of our time. So now we got to make a decision. Do we just keep going full head of steam and possibly not be able to get back in time? Or do we actually have to make a decision to stop and figure out where to go? Well, we find a limb that's hanging over the creek, and then we notice that there's little footholds and pieces of wood attached to the tree, and we notice a big old rope swing. This was our sign from God that we needed to stop here. So we stopped. The boys put their kayaks out on the side. One by one they're climbing up there and bravely jumping off. I say bravely. A couple of them took a little bit. They were a little scared, but all of our boys got on there, jumped off. In fact, one of them got on the rope swing and I swear I thought he was going to die when he let go of that rope. But he survived, I promise. No, everybody came back, okay. But it kind of reminded me and gave me this feeling of it's hard to make decisions in the unknown, is it not? Sometimes when we're facing a situation where we don't have all the facts, we don't have all the details. We can't see that far into the future unless you all know how to tell me, because I love I really benefit from that. But we we sometimes really struggle to make decisions for something that we don't know. We're unknown to it. And so the book of Proverbs helps us discern that process of making decisions. So here's what we're going to see. There's the question that I'm going to ask and answer this morning is how do we discern God's will for the future? How do you discern your will or God's will for your life, for the future? That is the immediate. That is the long term. How do I go about making these decisions when I don't have all the answers? The picture is unclear and I don't know what to do. The book of Proverbs certainly helps us, and I'm hopefully going to break down some misconceptions about how we can discern God's will. Because I sometimes I've gone about it the wrong way. My life is written with ways in which you're not supposed to go. So I'm going to hopefully share with you from God's Word the Book of Proverbs today. I believe the best way to make decisions in discerning God's will. Amen? So here's our main idea. Our big point that we're going to accomplish today. Okay, so to discern God's will for your life, your future decisions, we must receive God's wisdom. We must build and receive a godly character. And last but not least, we need to receive wise counsel. These three things the Book of Proverbs helps us underline. Also the book. The Bible as a whole also does the same thing. But this morning we're going to be running around the book of Proverbs a little bit. So if you've got the handout, that will be helpful. If you don't, the words will be up here just to help you. But we're going to be first in Proverbs chapter 24 verses 13 and 14. And this is God's Word this morning. And it says, my son, eat honey, for it is good. And the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul. If you find it, there will be a here's our word future and your hope will not be cut off. So in these two verses, the writer of Proverbs right here is comparing wisdom to honey Honey's good for you. Honey is sweet to the taste, and like honey, wisdom is for your soul. Wisdom to your soul is sweet. Wisdom to your soul is good. It benefits you. And not only that, the result. What the verse says is that you will have a future, a good future with hope. Wisdom helps you navigate the future so that you can make the best decisions for you, your family, your communities and so on. So understand here that biblical wisdom. It secures us a hopeful future. But here's why. Because it leads us on God's path. That's what biblical wisdom will always do for you. The wisdom that we find in the Bible will always lead you on God's path. And as we're going to see, it doesn't lead you on your path. This is so crucial when we talk about this whole idea of making decisions, because I am the foremost example of what not to do. I remember growing up and playing baseball my whole life in my one dream, my path, my will, my decision, my plan was I wanted to play baseball for the rest of my life at any cost until I started getting injured. Here comes God's plan. I had four shoulder injuries, ended up having surgery in college, did not. But eight months later I hurt my other shoulder to have surgery on that one. So two shoulder surgeries within a year. Then God was telling me, hey, baseball is too big in your life. You need to make a change. Instead, in that moment, God led me to the gospel I heard. I believed, I accepted Christ, and from there he slowly started drifting and changing my path to follow him into ministry. If I were to live and go after my own path, I assure you I wouldn't be here in front of you today. I don't know where I would be, but it was God's path through biblical wisdom and God working in my life that I'm here today. And I praise God every day for that. But here's the problem we sometimes get locked into our path, our plan, our decisions. You want me to share with you what the Book of Proverbs says about that?
Proverbs 19:21 - Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. You may have a lot of plans up here intellectually, logically, scheming, planning, even budgeting. Those things aren't bad. But if we are solely relying on what's up here, God will straighten your path out really quick. It is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. We can plan as much as we want, but ultimately it's what God wants that will happen.
Proverbs 16:1- the plans of the heart belong to a man, but the answer of the tongue is from
the Lord. Proverbs 16:1. So it's not just an intellectual planning, it's your desires. It's your emotions, it’s your feelings. I feel like I should go this way. I have this urge, this desire to go this way in life. But listen, it's really God who controls what happens in the tongue, in your life, in your body. It's his plan that will ultimately come to fruition. And we've got a decision. We either go with God or go against God.
It says here in Proverbs 16:9, the heart of man plans his ways way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Maybe some of you have come this morning and you feel like your steps are not established. Ground shaky beneath your feet. Things aren't working out the way that you want them to. Maybe that's a time to say, okay, God, am I walking in your path or my path? Have you established my steps or am I trying to establish my own steps? Even the song we sung today that I will build my life on God, the foundation under my feet that will never be shaken. Or you can choose your own foundations.
Last but not least, Proverbs 20:24-- A man's steps are from the Lord. How then can can man understand his way? This is interesting. If your steps in your life are actually God's will and God's path for your life, then how can we even understand them? It's very interesting. So my four year old likes to play board games. So one of the games we like to play a lot is Candyland. Anybody play Candyland? Anybody? It's a good it's a good game. It's solid. So premise of the game is you have your little game token, you're on the board and you flip a card and that gives you a color and that tells you what space to go to. But my daughter has the habit of flipping over that card, seeing that color, but then going to the color she wants to go to. And so I as a parent, I can easily say, okay, fine, you can go to the spot you want. It's not that big of a deal, but if you all know anything about me, I am a rule follower. If there is a rule in a game, it's being kept. So I don't care if you're 4 or 34, okay, the rule’s being kept. So I have to tell her. Honey, sweetie, darling, that's the wrong space. You need to go back. And sometimes she sells herself short. So I say you need to go forward. But it's sort of like this where we think we are to go to this space. But God wants us in another space. And sometimes he has to do the hard work of getting you there. And that hurts sometimes. Amen. My wife is full of it. When I thought I was in the space I needed to be, but God knew it would need to be different. His path and plane were different, so he has to move me. Friends, this is almost like saving God time in a way. I want to go where you are, God. I want to go on the space and path that you have for me. So. So listen to this point this morning. You're scheming and planning alone will only get you so far, because it is God's purposes and plans that are going to stand. It is God's plan and purpose, this cosmic purpose that he has for your life. You and I may be playing chat or checkers, but God's playing chess on a cosmic, eternal level. God sees things from beginning before there was nothing, and to the end when there will be nothing. God has all of this figured out and planned out and for us to say it's alright God, I got this. You're going to end up in a place that you don't want to be. First point for you this morning, if you want to discern God's will for the future, you must do this- delight in God's wisdom and plan for your life. You've probably heard it, heard it that it was said. Some of you have probably experienced it. But God's plan for your life is much better than your own plan. So we should take delight in God's plan for our life first, and his wisdom that he's given to us. We should trust in God's wisdom.
Proverbs 3:5 right? Y'all know the verse. We shouldn't be relying on our own understanding. This isn’t a life that we should be navigating on our own. But it is God's wisdom that will get you where you need to go. So as we consider this idea of how to discern God's will, the first thing is you have to go with God's wisdom in his plan first. Some of you this morning may be trying to go about it according to your plan, but maybe God has you here for a reason. This morning, folks. Maybe he has a has you here for a reason because he wants you to turn to his plan and not yours. But as we think about this too, the question begs to be asked, well, okay, Colby. It's good. You know, I want to discern God's will for the future. Well, why doesn't God just tell me exactly what I need to do? Why doesn’t he give me, like, a clear, exact answer of exactly how I'm supposed to live? Well, let me give you something here this morning, because I think we might know this, but sometimes we overlook it. But even in the Bible, God's word, God's wisdom is not always prescriptive, meaning God's Bible, God's word doesn't always give you exactly step by step how to do something, but what it does give you is principles to live by. That's the entire book of Proverbs. For instance, I'll give you an example. God commands us to work. It is a good thing to work, but God's not going to lay out in the Bible exactly where you need to go to get a job. Yes, God restricts us from certain things, like being a thief or being a prostitute, but God is not going to lay out, hey, you need to go into mechanical engineering. You need to go work at Big O Tires. You need to go work at chick fil A, although that's a good place to start with God's will. But. But God isn't always going to lay out exactly, perfectly step by step what you're supposed to do. But he gives us guiding principles. And there are times in Scripture where God gives a prescriptive, perfect, step on how to do that. Sure. But when we're talking about some things, how do I make a decision when God is not perfectly giving me every step and every clear answer? I'm glad you asked. Let's look at the book Proverbs, verse 11 or chapter 11, verse three. Look what this says. The integrity of the upright guides them. Notice what that says. The integrity of the upright guides them. What guides them, their integrity. Another word could be character. This word literally means perfect, complete, pure. It means something like your moral compass is perfect. So to have a moral integrity on the inside, it guides you how to live. Does that make sense? Other part. Other. The opposite end is also true, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. The word here for crookedness literally means someone who takes things and twists them to get what they want. A treacherous person is someone who looks at their life and wants to twist and turn moral, moral things good and bad so that they can get what they want and they can navigate how they want. You see that? This is what these verses mean, that your character on the inside matters. When you're making decisions, what's on the inside matters a lot. Look at this in Proverbs 12 verse five. The thoughts of the righteous are just. What does that mean? A just person has righteous thoughts on the inside. They think right righteously after God. But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. Those who are wicked have deceitful counsels and advice and directions. So if you can just see from these two verses alone, here's what this means. Our internal character will guide our decisions, actions and words. Meaning who you are internally will guide your actions, your choices, your words. Because I think sometimes what we do is let me fix the outside. Let me worry about making better decisions on the outside. When really we need to focus on what's going on in the inside, because that's what it comes from. Does that make sense? We need to fix the inside before we go to the outside. But there's also this idea, I think too as Christians, as we sometimes will pray this God, give me a sign, give me a sign, God, so that I know what I need to do. Put it on a billboard as I'm driving by and I see it --go here. Got it. That's where I'm going. Or God, give me this clear, obvious, big miraculous sign. Does God do that? Has he done that? Of course. How did God appear to Moses? In a burning bush. That's a pretty big sign, right? How did how did Jesus reveal himself to Paul? Jesus came down and literally stood in front of him in his blazing glory and blinded him. That's a pretty big sign. So does God do that? Of course he does. Is that what he normally does? No. I think sometimes we get into this, frame of thinking that if I just pray for a sign that God's going to give me this miraculous sign right here, right now, and he may. But often that's not how God operates. God intent actually operates through your internal character, your integrity. And he does that over external signs and miracles, because there's something about God's Word being pressed onto your heart that becomes powerful, because you may go down the street and look at a billboard and see something that you think is God, but it's actually not. Verse John four says, test the Spirit's test what you hear. Test what's on your heart to make sure it's from God. And friends, how do you test those things? God's word.
Look at this in Jeremiah 17:9-- The heart is deceitful above all things. Yikes. And not only that, and it's desperately sick. It's because of that. The question is asked who can understand their heart? Meaning your feelings, your emotions, your planning, your scheming. They aren't bad things, but they're not a God thing. Because they're desperately sick. You and I are are still dealing with the issue of sin in our practical life. It's still an issue as we walk because we're still going to struggle with it. But if I can say this this morning, your emotions can be a passenger to your decisions, but it can't be the driver. Your emotions are good, but they should not be the primary vehicle to get you to where you need to go. Your emotions are highly subjective and even signs and other things can be highly subjective. That's why they cannot be the driver, they only the passenger to your decisions. Does that make sense? So we've got to be careful. Can God use your your emotions and feelings to guide you in your life? Sure. But should that be the primary way you make decisions? No. Emotions and feelings are God given. Signs can bring a powerful means for God to work in your life, but God normally will work through your character. And here's the danger, friends.
Proverbs 16:25. If this doesn't scare you, I don’t know what will. There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way to death. Think about that. You may be on a path in your life right now that you think is right, but it's not. So the question you got to ask yourself, how do I know the decisions in the path of my life right now are good? Well, here's what I would say. What does your character on the inside in God's Word say? So if I could bring this to a point, your compass for making decisions, that is this internal compass of how you make decisions, it should come from the godly character that God is slowly impressing on you. Does that make sense? God is impressing on your heart, on your internal soul, his godly character, so that you can make wise decisions. That is your compass. It's your compass for making those decisions. Otherwise, we're working off of very subjective things. God delights in putting his character on your heart, friends, and he does it through the word. And we're going to get to that in just seconds. So here's my second point for us this morning to pursue a godly character or insight to discern God's will for your life. We need to pursue a godly character. Instead of worrying about all the external things, what if you started working on your heart and letting God do the heart work? What if you daily got in the word, spent time in prayer and let God shape you inside so that the decisions on the external, the outside don't make a lot more sense. Here's a beautiful quote from Tim Keller I couldn't say it any better than than him, and this point. Says the more we know God, ourselves, the human heart, the order of creation, the times and seasons, the more we will have the wisdom to good decisions, to make good decisions. Does that make sense? The more you know God, the more you know yourself, the more you know how creation is ordered. What is good and bad? The more you know the culture and the times, and the seasons, and how things work, you will make better decisions. And you know where those things are shown to you? God's word. So that's why we're so passionate about God's Word, about you. That's why I want more scripture mentioned in a sermon and on the screen that I say in my own words, because if it's not coming from God's Word, I'm giving you really bad advice friends. God's word has the answers for you. So the question is asked too, well, how do I pursue a godly character? How do I get it? Two ways, ready for this? Number one, I can't say it enough. It's through his word. Friends, this morning, if you want an answered the decisions you have to make in the future and even in the immediate begin the heart work right now in God's Word. God can turn your heart and give you wisdom and give you discernment more and any more than anything. Then in God's Word, get in the Word of God. And as I say, I'll get the Word of God in you. And here's a couple examples for cross references. I can spend a lot of time on this, but just just for our time this morning. Proverbs two verse six, for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth. That is, his word come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. And look what verse nine says. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity. Every good path you're praying right now. God, where do you want me to go? You want understanding? Get in God's Word and get it in you. It will equip you. It will strengthen you. It will transform your mind. It will put you in the place where God wants you, because it's working on your heart, and it's transforming you to be more like Jesus. It starts there. Number two, second way through godly habits. How does God build a godly character in you? It's through forming godly habits. Second Peter one is is a cross-reference. You can look at later. But look at this in second Timothy three. It's on the screen. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it. Paul spent a great deal of time teaching Timothy. Timothy had a mom and a grandmother who were faithful believers who taught him. So what Paul saying here is keep going. Build habits to grow and to learn. And as he says in another part of the book, fan into flame the gift of God. Keep going. Some of you, I think this morning, just need to reestablish good habits with your relationship with God. Look at this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is a great quote as well. Sow a thought and you reap an action. Sow an act and you reap a habit, sow a habit and you reap, as we talked about, a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. It starts with your thoughts. It starts with your desires. It starts with your day by day, giving God the room to mold you into being Christlike. And eventually you know where it ends up? In your destiny. So if I can put it this way, character is won or lost in the little things. Your character is being built each and every day. In fact, every decision you make is putting you on a path just for just for, just for fun. Think to yourself how many decisions does the average person make every day? And don't Google it. Don't you be cheating. I'm watching your hands. Think to yourself, maybe even say to the person, to your left and to your right, how many decisions does the average person make every single day? Go and tell them. Tell your neighbor. Go and tell your neighbor. Because I want to make sure we get some accountability on this, okay? And Pastor John can't say it because he's already he already knows. Or do you forget? Okay. All right, all right. You ready? 35,000 decisions every day. That is decisions you make habitually like it's decisions you make. And you don't even have to really think about them. Things that you make quickly. Like you're in the drive thru and you want to know if you want the number one or the number two, the decisions to how am I going to pay my bills, how am I going to disciple my kids? The decision to turn on the TV or get in God's word? Like we make up to an over 35,000 decisions a day. You know what that means. You have 35,000 opportunities to put yourself on a path. Do you hear me this morning, church? You have 35,000 opportunities to put yourself on a path either to Christlikeness or worldliness, to trusting your path or God's path. Every decision you make puts you somewhere, even the small ones. Which is why if you have godly habits formed in your life, which is a never ending process, you will make better decisions. Do you hear me church? Character is won or lost in the little things. This is so crucial for us to understand. It's not based off of big external signs. It's not based off our emotions. It's based off of God slowly pressing into you His character. So last third point I've got for it this morning. I want to give you a couple verses and wrap it up with some advice. But here. This I think, is sometimes overlooked.
So Proverbs 15:22. Here's a third way that we can discern God's will-- without counsel plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed. If you are trusting on your own personal, individual, intellectual counsel, plans often fail. I mean, it's small. Something going to YouTube to learn how to fix something is is adding counsel to your life. But when we bring other people's voices and wisdom and experiences into our life, we are a lot more likely to make wise decisions. Amen?
Proverbs 12:15-- The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. In other words, this is a hard headed person. That's what a fool is. They hear what is good, but then they do the opposite because they want to keep going in this direction. But wise people, they pause and listen to advice. They welcome advice, they seek for advice. And I can't tell you how many times we probably talked about this in the series in the book of Proverbs. But it's important definitely here when we're making decisions. So think to yourself, who are the people that I go to for advice? And if that list is less than three, look around. You have some godly people in this room. You have people I hope in your life groups. If you don't have a life group, that's what life groups are for. When you're concerned about your children's spiritual health, when you're concerned about how to make ends meet, when you're concerned about how to balance life, I can tell you where there's some answers. It's probably in the room that you could be sitting in as you're looking at God's Word. It's in your life groups, it's in your families, it's in your friends, those who are wise. And you got to be careful about that, too. You got to know who to get advice from. Here's my third and final point. If you want to discern God's will for the future, you need to seek wise counsel. Notice I didn't say seek counsel. There's plenty of counselors out there. Just go to TikTok. Go to YouTube. Go to my students. Don't don't do that. I'm just kidding. They're really smart. Sometimes. There are plenty of good, wise counselors in this church that want to pour into your life. So let me give you three pieces of advice. These are really practical pieces of advice for you this morning. Three pieces of advice. If you're struggling with this issue, as I have, I have had to grow in a lot of these areas. But I want to give me three pieces of advice. Okay. You ready? Everybody ready? Pray more than you plan. I think I spent more time trying to plan my life than pray to the God who who gave his life for me. I need to pray more than I try to scheme. So what if you prayed first then you planned? God help me understand this. Then help me make these decisions. Prayer is I didn't speak about it much in the message, but prayer is so crucial when making decisions. You should bathe your decisions in prayer, and we ought to always don't have time to make time for prayer, because life's hitting us really quickly and we have to make split second decisions. But for the most part, we can pray about those decisions that we have. So pray more than you plan. Second thing, consume God's Word more than your screens. We are in a epidemic today. I'm reading a book right now called Anxious Generation, and it details the destructive nature of phones and screens to our young people. But before I get to my young people, adults, we face that every day too. Your screen could be the death of you. Your screen can be the death of your relationship with Christ, to your family, to your marriage. How dare we say I'm going to plan my life and I'm going to keep on scrolling. But you know what? What if you formed a godly habit to put that phone and before you even picked it up in the morning, the first thing you did when you woke up, your knees hit the ground and you opened up God's word. And you looked and said, God help me navigate today the little and the big. Show me what you want from me in your word today, and I guarantee you he'll answer. Instead of the first thing you do when you get up in the morning. Check my notifications. Get in the word church. Third, listen to the Holy Spirit more than yourself. Scripture is clear do not quench the Holy Spirit. Don't operate in opposite direction of the Holy Spirit. Listen to the Holy Spirit in your life, and some of you are probably thinking how do I listen to the Holy Spirit? Great question. It’s by listening enough to God's Word, and then you listen to the Holy Spirit speaking in you. I've never heard the audible voice of God, but I hear the Holy Spirit daily, thankfully, because of God's Word. And here's something so true the Holy Spirit will never contradict the Bible. If you're listening to the Holy Spirit and it says, do this, you find it in God's Word. You shouldn't be doing that. That's not the Holy Spirit. If you're listening to the Holy Spirit and you confirm it with God's Word, you know who that is, Holy Spirit. So it's just another reason why you need to be in the word. You really can't listen fervently and honestly to the Holy Spirit unless you've got God's Word. So listen, friends, God's Word, the Holy Spirit in prayer will change the way that you make decisions, but it is the day by day push to become more like Christ. Here's your challenge this morning. Which of these things do you need to pursue harder? Which of these three do you need to pursue harder? God's wisdom, a godly character, or last but not least, wise counsel? Let's pray. Father, I'm up here today preaching about a topic and an and an issue that I don't have fully worked out that I stand before you as an imperfect man who needs your wisdom daily. God, I need your power to become a godly man. And I certainly need other wise believers, men and women of the faith to help me discern what's next. Without it, I am hopeless. But God, your wisdom is like honey that is sweet to my soul and will give me a future. And God, I pray this morning that we would be humble enough to say, God, I don't have my life figured out and I can't plan in my life, but today I'm coming to you. And even today, father, there may be people in this room who were living their own life and had never come to you for salvation. As we beautifully got to witness three young people who have given their life to Christ display it in baptism that today there might be someone who says, I've been walking my own path, but now I need to walk in God's path for my life. And the first place that begins, God, is to confess and believe in Jesus. Today I ask if there's someone in this room who has not confessed and believed that they today right now would do it, and that they would find someone before they leave to come and share it. God, I pray for everyone in this room that any decision that they have to make coming up big and small. God, the things that are scaring people, the things that keep us up at night, that you would give them wisdom, a godly character and wise counsel to take the next step. And we have a God who raised Jesus from the dead and you have the power to provide all that we need in our life. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.