Proclaim - King | Week 3

Wandering through the bustling streets of London and the colorful avenues of Thailand, I was struck by the palpable reverence for monarchy - a stark contrast to the often-casual regard for leadership back home. In our latest conversation, "Proclaim" we take a closer look at this phenomenon and reflect on the ultimate kingship that shapes our spiritual journey - that of Jesus. Venturing beyond the spectacle of royal weddings and yellow-garbed Mondays, we explore the significance of unwavering faith and what it means to stand firm in our convictions, as exemplified by the biblical account of three Hebrew children.

As someone who recited the Pledge of Allegiance with hand over heart, I understand the importance of devotion to one's country. But what does it mean to pledge allegiance to a higher power? We examine this question through the lens of Matthew 4:17 and the Shema, contemplating the theocratic rule where God's sovereignty eclipses earthly leadership. The discussion unveils the complexity of embodying Christ's teachings in a society that may not always embrace them, and the profound responsibility we hold as representatives of God's kingdom.

In the kingdom of God, faith and obedience unlock a transformative power akin to the growth of a mustard seed into a mighty tree. This episode delves into the teachings of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, underscoring that our actions must resonate with the divine authority we've been graced with. As we wrap up the conversation, we reflect on our collective mission at Cornerstone to foster a community grounded in service, spiritual growth, and the embodiment of love in all our endeavors. Join us as we embrace another Sunday of navigating life's challenges with the strength and support of our faith.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The kingdom of heaven. When we start thinking about the kingdom of heaven, we start thinking about the royalty of who God is for us, and it's a powerful imagery. It's a thought process that goes beyond what is in this realm. It goes so much beyond that. Now, a few years ago, celeste and I had an opportunity to go to the UK and to go to England, and when you start thinking about royalty, some of those images come to our mind right, the idea of something like castles that are there and maybe those kind of images, and one of the first opportunities we had to really spend time in London it was right before the Olympics in 2012. And it was a pretty crazy time, because you start thinking about this amazing, glistening new city, built with these skyscrapers and all the things that the city is now, but it's also the historical one there, with parliament and you seeing the tower with Big Ben and all those other images that would tie back to its heritage, the idea that it is actually a monarchy. There was a queen and now a king, and even during that time, you could see some of the regalness of all those different attributes and all those different things, and it was dressed up to impress everyone and it was freshly painted. There was, the flags were out everywhere. It was absolutely beautiful. It was amazing. So we got the very best version that you could ever get of London. In fact, we even got days of sunshine in England, which is unheard of. And I'll say this, it was kind of a shocking thing because later we would go back and it wouldn't be anything like this.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Our second adventure there was actually right before the royal wedding and in the same way it was dressed up, it was beautiful, they had everything lined up and it was getting prepared for their prince to get married and it was an amazing time. We had this amazing time as a family there, getting to kind of take in their awe of their king, their queen and all their royalty that were there and this is here on earth. Now we returned back to Paris where we were living, and a friend of ours she was a Brit married to a French guy and she has a tea party on the day of the wedding to honor the prince is getting married. Think about that. You love the royalty so much that you're holding a party for people you don't know personally to a wedding you weren't invited to, but that's how much she loved them, and now we were in for it. I mean, she had all the stuff decked out. We're like that's right, god saved the king, let's have a tea. It was amazing, and it was something so interesting to think about how they honored their royalty. You know, I was in Thailand this last year and getting to be there with our missionaries, highlighting them as we think about this year and the project that we're giving to, and Bangkok itself is this hyper new city with all these things being built up All around it, though, are these traditional forms and their king actually, you see, the royalty that's there and the policy has and that imagery you kind of the traditional Thai imagery you think of and their former king, and they loved him so much.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Our first trips to Thailand, everyone would honor the king. His picture was everywhere. It wasn't just on the money, it was more than that. It'd be in someone's taxi cab, it'd be in their shop window, and they love the king. In fact, on Mondays, they would wear yellow, and to honor the king cause that was the day he was born of the week was on Monday, so they'd honored the king by wearing yellow, and it was something that we were like wow, this is really different than how we hold our leaders in our hearts, and it was something that they regarded, so much so that it became something that was was something that came from within them. It wasn't that it was imposed on them, it was from within them.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Now, celeste and I, we got a chance to get out of the heat and so we caught a movie. So we went to the theater there and I'll tell you, this is way before we had reclining seats, way before we had anything like that, and they had all that stuff years ahead. And so we went into the theater and all these reclining chairs, and then lights were low, and then an attendant walks over and is like Monsieur, madame, what would you like? We're like can you just stand there and wait on me for a while, please? Thank you, just to take it in. No, I'm just joking. Now we would get some stuff and order some things in and they'd bring you a blanket. And we were like this is great. And we just got our snacks ready to go for the movie. And at that time then this announcement comes on the screen and everyone gets up out of their chair and stands up as they're playing a montage to the king.

Speaker 1: 4:22

They stand to honor the king. That's how much admiration they had for their king is that they would stand in a room he's not in, where someone that's not checking on you is there. They still stood to honor their king because that's their heart. That's their heart, and so that's something that was shocking to me and thinking about as an American, because the way we think about it, we don't hold our leaders in that regard. We would stand and honor them, we would do that, and I pray for our leaders. We do all those things, but we definitely wouldn't do anything like bow, and the reason is because we only bow for one king and that's king Jesus, and so we're thankful for our leaders. We pray for our leaders. We pray that they would have the wisdom from God, that they would know God personally, and that the people around them, if they lack wisdom, that others around them would have godly wisdom and guide them that direction. That's what we pray for them, but we're not gonna bow down to them, we're not gonna worship them.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Some years before, there was this story in the Old Testament about these three Hebrew children. The children of Israel have been stolen out of the Promised Land, and they've been taken by Babylon, taken by Assyria before that, and they were taken away and they were put into captivity in these other places. Now, the best and brightest, they rose to the top and they're there amongst the court. And so Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, they are there helping run things because God had anointed them and given them favor. And even though they were running things, there was this mandate that whenever the music plays, you have to bow down to the statue, the king, and worship. And they said no. I said, king, we honor you, we honor you as our king, but we only worship one and that is the Lord God. There is no other that we will worship, only him.

Speaker 1: 6:11

And since that was true, when the music played, they did not bow, they stood there and, as was promised to them, then there comes a judgment and they stoke the fire so hot that it killed the people trying to get near the fire to throw them in it. And they take these three leaders, these three anointed ones, these three ones that have favor, but because they wouldn't bow down to the culture, because they wouldn't bow down to the king, who's not their God, because they wouldn't do it, they throw them in the fire. This is what I love is that their true king, jesus, shows up in the middle of the flames, that they're not alone, not only not alone, they're not burnt up, their clothes aren't singed, they don't smell like smoke and they are walking around enjoying the sauna of the middle of the fire with Jesus. It was like Phoenix in summer. It's very warm, no, but what I love about that is that it shows us that he is with us in the middle of the fire, in the middle of the flame, in the middle of your circumstances, that he is for you, that he is for you. That you don't have to bow down to the culture, that you don't have to bow down to what this person says or that person says. That instead, you could stand for God and you could only bow down to him because he is the true God. That we'd be those that humble ourselves before him, because as we humble ourselves, he will lift us up. That we would have that kind of attitude that, since he is our king, since he is our Lord, then we would humble ourselves before him. That we would bow down and worship him alone. That we would be those that humble ourselves, because if we don't humble ourselves down. If we don't empty ourselves of all those things, then we will set up ourselves as the thing we're worshiping. Friends, let us not be those. Let us be those that humble ourselves, that worship the king, that give him honor, that give him glory. Would you say amen to that? Amen? We continue in this series called proclaim. We're talking about the things that Jesus came to do, all he came to set in motion. We are those who want to be honoring the king, the king of glory.

Speaker 1: 8:30

We pick up with this scripture here. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, it's the scripture for this theme in Luke 4, 16. And we pick up here. It starts talking about Jesus as he starts his ministry and what he does. It says and he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and, as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read in the scroll the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set out liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and all the eyes of the synagogue were fixed upon him and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled.

Speaker 1: 9:34

In your hearing, see, jesus came to proclaim the things he's set about to do, and so we're talking about these ideas of who Jesus is, and he talks about these things that he wants to do and bringing Liberty, and bringing freedom to be a healer God. All these different aspects We've been looking about. He, oh he is prophet, how he is priest, how he was king and he is Messiah. Each one of these roles, he encapsulates it and fulfills it. Today we're talking about Jesus as King and we start with this idea of the kingdom of heaven and Matthew 4, 17.

Speaker 1: 10:12

It says, from that time, jesus began to preach, saying repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Lord, we thank you for your word. We pray over it today. Holy Spirit, that you would breathe upon it and make it alive in us, or that you would change us with it, more into your image. We pray that we would be more like Jesus. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Speaker 1: 10:36

Now it's an idea. When we talk about things like kingdoms or things like power is idea of Allegiance. Now, I'm someone that, as I grew up in my era, they would have you do the pledge of allegiance every single morning at school, and so we would stand and, as someone who who was always brought up to honor the flag, we would stand up, put my hand on my heart and we'd say the pledge of allegiance Every single morning. And I was someone who always on, or that, even later, living in other countries, we still honor my country and still love my country. I would represent my country, even was it wasn't popular to do so, living abroad and represent it, can pray for my country because I love America. And it's the same idea that we would have in the put in the in the pledge of allegiance is that we would stand in front of the flag and we would pray, we would pray, we would say the pledge of allegiance, and it kind of got as we went on in school I actually started moving forward kind of in some of my Spanish, and it's still terrible today, but it's one of those things where we had to say all the things in our class in Spanish 3, we had to do all of it in Spanish and it was the first hour of the day, so we had to say the pledge of allegiance in Spanish too, and so we had to learn it. Yo prometo for the data of the bandera de Estados Unidos. America and K-Rububuca Kere present a one solo nation. Bajo Dios. Ponderosa, invisible to the target is the bar to those, and we did so much that it became wrote and it became something that you don't even think about what you're saying.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Here's the thing I want to challenge us all that in the very pledge to our country, which we honor and are thankful for, in the very thing that God gives us as a gift for freedom to worship Him, in that it says, in that pledge under God, that we would be those that live as Christ followers, as a representation of what it means to live for God in a culture that hates Him, that we would remember that God gave us this opportunity to live with freedom and to live as unto God, that we would be representative of Him there. Everywhere we've been in the world, everywhere I've lived, in different countries, every country I've traveled to, I've always honored that country and prayed for that country. That God would give them grace and he would give them instruction and he would give them guidance, that the people would flourish there. And I pray the same for our country. That God would guide us, that God would direct us, that His kingdom come, not our will, be done in this country. And the Lord help us.

Speaker 1: 13:09

In the same way that we say a pledge of allegiance, we also say a prayer of allegiance and that's something that we talked about a few weeks ago that the Israelites, the people of God, they would say this and it's carried on even to modern-day Judaism as they pray what's called the Shema as a prayer of allegiance to the Lord. It says it like this and I'll ask us all to read it together. It says here O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. It's a great prayer. Would you say amen to that? As this powerful prayer is being said, it's something that we're talking about. Our allegiance is more than what we would even pledge to our country. It's of our heart and our soul, in our mind, it's everything we are. We pledge to the king of the kingdom, which is God. We pledge that, first and foremost, that everything that we would belong to him, with all that, we are holding nothing back. See, that's what it is called a theocracy. It's when God is king. And as you think about an image of kingdom, you think about a crown and you think about what it means to rule and reign.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Whenever God liberated his people from Egypt and he did so miraculously and powerfully, by the hand that he put inside of Moses and Moses obeying God and being a vessel of God Moses was not the king. God was king. Moses was the leader. He's like the prophet of God, but God was king. And even as Moses went through the wilderness and led the people of Israel, even as he climbed up on the mountain to die, looking at the Promised Land and handed over the baton to Joshua. Joshua was still not king. Joshua was the general. Joshua became the great leader, but Joshua was not king. God was king.

Speaker 1: 15:05

And as they lived and God gave over the Promised Land to them, king after king around them fell to the hand of King Jesus that God was glorified, that God was lifted up, that he was king over his people. But they wouldn't stay connected. And as soon as they got all that had been promised to them, well, suddenly their hearts turned away from their king to other things. They began to worship this asherapole and this graven image and this thing and that, and the stone and the rock and the other thing, and they turned their heart away from God. And God brought people to correct them and encourage them back. He brought the prophets to guide them back to himself and told them to repent. He brought judges to correct and liberate them out and return them back to focusing on God. And for a season they would, and then they didn't and they would turn away from God.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Eventually they even asked God for a king. They cried out to the prophet in the day oh, give us a king, give us a king that we would be like the other people around us. They wanted to fit in with the culture. God, as king, was not enough for them, and he told them are you sure you want this? Because I don't think you know what you're asking for. And they're like oh no, give us a king, give us a king. And he did, and he gave him someone who looked like a king. He was tall and handsome and he had that imposing figure in Saul, and Saul becomes the first king, and in Saul, though.

Speaker 1: 16:30

The problem with Saul is, though, though he's anointed by God to do the job, his character did not fulfill what it meant to be a king, and he turned away from God and towards his own devices, and he demanded from them taxation. He demanded from them their sons to fight in his army. He demanded all these things, and God was like I told you that I was already your king, but it's too late because the king isn't given up the kingdom, so he has the power, and so God says okay, if this king is gonna turn away from me, I will no another who will become king after my own heart. And he looks and finds someone that's out currently in a field watching over their sheep a good shepherd and David. And David gets anointed by God, but before he does, he's out there singing to the Lord and playing his lyre it's like a moderate or ancient guitar and singing to God, worship under the stars that God created and talking about all the grandeur of who God is.

Speaker 1: 17:28

He was not just doing that. He was fighting off the wild beast with his own hands, with a sling and with the stick, and and he was someone to be dealt with. He had fierce courage and anger that was against anything that was unjust. And God takes this person and anoints them full of his spirit, and that person goes and falls. The giant that's the one who steps into being anointed as the next king, and though the plot would come and try to kill David and take the power away, that's not what ends up happening and God establishes the kingdom of David and he rules, having a heart after God, and in doing so it shows what it would be like for someone who honored God as king to be leading in a position of authority.

Speaker 1: 18:18

But even David himself slips up and messes up, and then his sons. They fight for the fight for the crown and they try to get there and eventually it falls to Solomon, who builds the temple and builds these great things and becomes this Pharaoh almost in his day. He becomes the symbol of the very thing that God had taken them from, and it's his sons and his grandsons. They start to fight and tear the kingdom apart and becomes two kingdoms, and they fight within themselves and against each other and against their neighbors, and it is broken. But see, there's this promise that, even though they might get carried off into into other things and there might be judge at a gagement, there will be some kind of savior that comes from David's lineage, that there will be a Messiah, a king to a rule forever.

Speaker 1: 19:10

And so Jesus comes to earth, and he comes in a way that they don't expect. It's not in the palace, it's not to Herod's court. He comes and he's laid in a manger, in a feeding trough, for all people is the bread of life. He becomes light in the darkness, as the word came to us today that we are called to reflect as well. And as he does, and he transforms everything around him, though all of us, as people, missed his arrival, with exception of a few. The heavens, the, erupted with praise of who he is, singing glory, singing that he is worthy of praise because of what he has come to do for us, to go and make a way for us to have relationship with a living God, to come the Messiah for us, the Holy One, the sacrifice, the fulfillment of Scripture for us, once and for all, to rectify everything that's been made wrong, to have a kingdom of heaven. And so, as Jesus comes to the earth, he sets in the way, he actually sets an example of what it means to live the kingdom of heaven here, full of the Spirit of God, to live for God as king and as he does. So, he gives us the example to do it. He doesn't just tell us what to do, he lives it out in front of us. He gives us the example one by one.

Speaker 1: 20:36

Today we'll look at a few places in Scripture so you can follow with me and looking at what he says to us. The first is in Luke 13, starting in verse 18. And it says he said therefore, what is the kingdom of God like and to what shall I compare it? It's like a grain of a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made its nests in its branches. He's talking about this mustard seed, this very tiny thing, and how by just using this little thing, this seed of faith, it will change everything if we put it into application. And so by having this little seed of faith, this mustard seed, and being obedient to God, then actually great things come out of it. And so he's saying this to his disciples, because there's a lot that he's asking from them to trust and to walk after, to obey, to live for God. And he said listen, if you'll just have a little bit of faith, a little bit of faith, then great things will happen, huge things will happen. It will transform everything. It will be dynamically different for you.

Speaker 1: 21:48

We talked about often in Pastor Rich's, talked about how this little tiny grain, this little thing, it becomes the currency within the kingdom of God, this thing of faith. And you can't do, you can't please God without faith. You have to trust him. Trusting him, you obey him and you follow after what he says. And obedience is better than sacrifice. So in order to obey, we have to have first faith, and so that little seed becomes something great. It becomes like these fields of mustard we see around us. It's this amazing thing that comes from something tiny. He said with the grain of mustard seed you can move the mountains. The motonia se moverà, it moves the mountains. And so it's one of these things that's transformative, if we'll only be obedient in the small things. So he gives us these things, he gives us other examples of being a good steward of it. And so we take our little thing and we invest it and we'll be obedient to God. We live for God and because of it he blesses it and uses it. But if we don't have faith and we just put it aside, then nothing comes of it. Friends, that we would be those full of faith, believing he is who he says he is.

Speaker 1: 23:00

The continues here in scripture and it starts to talk about this idea the kingdom of God, and what it is for the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with a love? In a spirit of gentleness? Apostle Paul is writing to Corinth, and Corinth, in its day, was this economic powerhouse, this city of culture and this city of import, and it was something so amazing. And people would come there and they believed all sorts of stuff. And as the early church was established there, they had to turn away from these other ways of thinking. They had to turn away and live for God. And in doing so, he's bringing a word of chastisement, a word of correction, saying listen, that you need to pay attention to what I'm telling you. If you don't pay attention, then there will be consequences for your actions. How do people know what I'm talking about? And I would much rather have the warm word, the nice encouraging reprimand, than the staff or the stick or the rod, anybody else.

Speaker 1: 24:03

You ever felt that one where you ignore God, the Holy Spirit's, telling you to do something? You're like nah, I'm not going to do that. He's like are you sure? You're like yeah, no, I'm going to do what I want. He's like okay, takes his hand off of you. And here comes the stick and you're like oh, I should have listened. This is why people should spank you kids, because then they know consequences. Should I say that? I'm saying it? I survived only because I was spanked as a child when I did stupid things. Because then they're like you know, I'm running towards the road. No, they give me a swat. And I'm like oh, why? They're like because the truck didn't run you over. I'm still here today. I got a swat, didn't run outside. You get on with it Better. You obey the encouragement of the Holy Spirit when he tells you Because this thing we live is one of power, not just words.

Speaker 1: 24:58

The word of God is in self, in power, and whenever we align ourselves with God, then it is powerful and it's something that we can trust in Him. What does it say in the word? It says that we are more than conquerors. Through Him, who loved us, we align ourselves with the power of God and powerful things happen on our behalf. It continues here in the word. It starts to talk about like this.

Speaker 1: 25:22

It says and he called the twelve together and he gave them power and authority over demons to cure diseases and sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. Think about that, that you are given this kind of authority, that you are given this kind of power, that God entrusts you with it. And he says listen, by my spirit, I want you to do dynamic things. Whenever you say yes to him and you place that little seed of faith, that little seed of trust, and you put it into his hands, then it becomes something greater than yourself. It grows into that mustard plant. It grows into the greater thing, the next thing, and that's what he's talking to you about. He says listen, if I put my spirit inside of you, which is what he did in the early church, it's what he does today If I do that inside of your life, then these same things will happen through your life for other people.

Speaker 1: 26:20

See, when I pray a prayer of faith to heal, it's not me that's healing anyone. I can't do it, I'm sorry, but what I can do is believe in the God that knit you together in your mother's womb and say God, you know. So I'm praying healing right now in the name of Jesus, and because I'm being obedient, I'm stepping into the power position to be obedient to what he wants to do. In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, we pray healing right now. I can pray for providence, I can pray for vision, I can pray for open doors, because it's God and I'm aligning myself with him.

Speaker 1: 26:54

That's why, whenever you have a spiritual attack that's happening in your life or in your family or something like that, you can take authority in the name of Jesus Christ, and you don't have to be weird about it. The idea is that you belong to the as a child of God. You belong to him. And he has said the word of God rests inside of you. My spirit has been given to you, the name of Jesus. I can take authority over the situation. And you can say I take authority in the name of Jesus Christ and I command any kind of plot of the enemy away from me in Jesus' name, because guess what? It's by his power and by his name that we have the authority, because we are ambassadors of God. And as we stand in that authority he's given it to us we're emissaries of the King, we're ambassadors for God, full of his power, full of his spirit To live, walking that thing out, representing him, honoring him when he's even not in the room, that he's always in the room. That we would be ambassadors for Christ.

Speaker 1: 28:00

Last thing, it says so also when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you this generation will not pass away until all of this has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. See, here's what we know, friends, is that he is coming back. He is coming back Just as the Lord went and ascended into the clouds after he had fulfilled everything on earth, just as he gave the Holy Spirit to the early church at the Pentecost, just as he guides you and he redeems you, he is coming back To rule and reign here on earth, and he's doing so because he is the only righteous one that can. We pray often, we pray every day for the peace in Jerusalem, knowing that the only peace will be found in Jesus Christ. And as people come together, understanding who God is and understanding Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of Scripture, the fulfillment of the Pentateuch, all those things coming together that he will rule and reign here. He is coming back.

Speaker 1: 29:06

So we need to pay attention to the things that are happening around us. Be ready, because these things are speeding up. We've seen signs. We've seen signs of times, and here's the thing it's escalating, it's getting faster. The fulfillment of these things. We don't know the day or the hour. What if, before the day is out, we're raptured back to himself? Or what if, before the day is out, it's just you that goes back to the Lord? Are you ready? Are you living as an ambassador of the King? Are you honoring the King? Friends, let's live in a way that we honor the King.

Speaker 1: 29:53

Today we have this opportunity to respond to this word. We do so understanding that this is exactly what he said he wants to do, that same scripture that we look to. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's annoyed at me. To proclaim good news to the poor. To proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind. To set out liberty to those who are oppressed. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. We ask you the question are you honoring the King? Let us be those that proclaim what he is doing and live out as examples to others around us. Amen.

Speaker 1: 30:30

Today we have this opportunity to embrace Christ, and it's that question that each one of us has to ask have you embraced Jesus? As we come to this altar, we do so intentionally, understanding that it is only by His hand, only by His grace and His doing that we can be saved. It's nothing that we can earn. I can't earn my way in to the grace of God. I can't do it. I'm not holy. I can't be a holy sacrifice for a holy God, but that's who Christ is.

Speaker 1: 31:00

Jesus came to live a sinless life and become that very person for us that we would experience that forgiveness because a sacrifice has been made on our behalf. And since that's true, then we look at the cross as a symbol not of punishment, but of one of forgiveness. The cross is a symbol of hope, and the cross is a symbol of where my past is dead and gone and it is no more. When we look to the symbol of the cross, it's transformative, because my freedom was found at the cross. Your sins, my sins, our mistakes are all paid for upon the cross once and for all. And so, by faith, we believe that Jesus is who he says he is and we accept the work that he did on that cross as the sacrifice for us all.

Speaker 1: 31:52

We say Jesus, I believe you are who you are. You say you are. I believe that you came as the Son of God and you lived this life as a sacrifice for us all. God, I want to invite you into my life, to give the controls over to you, to live as you, as my Lord, as my King, and I ask you to forgive me. I want to have a new life in you. When we do that, we're being intentional, to invite Him into our heart and life. It'll start a new relationship with Him. Paul also. Paul writes to the church at Rome and he says it like this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Speaker 1: 32:41

Friends, today is your day of salvation. It's your opportunity to ask Jesus in your heart and life. I'm going to ask, if you're here in the room, if you just stand right where you're at, just bow your head. If you're online, just prepare your heart for what God wants to do. I believe there are some here today, just like they were in the first service. They need to make a decision to invite Christ into their life. You know, if you're ready, his heads are bowed here. If you're here in the room and you're ready to make that decision to follow Jesus for you, just raise your hand right where you're at. Make a commitment to ask Christ into your life, into your heart. Maybe it's a recommitment saying Lord, I've been away from living for you. I want to recommit my life back to you. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Others making decision online as well. Thank you, lord.

Speaker 1: 33:31

It's a powerful prayer we pray. It's a simple one, though, and I'm going to ask everyone to pray it after me making a decision to follow Jesus. Let's pray it, lord. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. I pray Amen. Friends, we rejoice that you're making a decision to follow Jesus today. What a powerful thing. What a powerful thing.

Speaker 1: 34:20

As we come to this altar time, we do so intentionally, drawing near to him, that there would be nothing that separates us from God, that you would ask them to forgive you of anything that would separate you from him, and that you draw near to him.

Speaker 1: 34:32

Come to this altar, make an altar with God, asking him to empower you to live for him that you would honor the King. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you how you have spoken it to us, lord. Even your own words challenged us to live for you, lord, to what the kingdom of God is like and who you are is the King of the kingdom. Lord, we bow to no one else except for to you. So, lord, we honor you with all that we do and all that we are. God, lord, that we would live, lord, with the authority and power that you've given to us. Lord, full of the Holy Spirit of God, living out the message of the gospel, which is hope for all people. Lord, we pray, as we come to this altar you're empowered by your spirit. Lord, that we would be changed and transformed into you, to be more like Jesus. We pray this to the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Speaker 2: 35:20

We are so grateful that you joined us this morning, and I want to let you know that Easter is coming and so next Sunday it's Palm Sunday. Take an invite card, invite a friend, a family member, a neighbor. We would love to have them. We have a couple weeks of fun activities. We've got Palm Sunday next Sunday and then we have a good Friday service and we encourage everyone to come to that, and then, following that, will be our Easter celebration, and we have a lot to celebrate, so I want to encourage you to be there.

Speaker 1: 35:49

And then today is our annual business meeting for our members. We ask you to stay right after this meeting. We're going to have that for just a few moments. We have lunch provided for you. Before we go, I want to present this blessing over us tonight the Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. We'll lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. I'd even power us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, Amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.