Tyler Lynde: I have a devotional for you this morning.
Tyler Lynde: So it's not a full sermon, but it's a devotional.
Tyler Lynde: So if you could, let's just jump right into it.
Tyler Lynde: If you could turn to Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.
Tyler Lynde: And we'll get into that.
Tyler Lynde: We're in a sermon series right now called In Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And we're in the second half of it.
Tyler Lynde: The first half was about our identity in Christ, and the second half is about our purpose in Christ, who we are in Christ, and what he asks for us to do for him.
Tyler Lynde: And uh the last couple of weeks we've talked about the fact that believers in Jesus are called to live differently than the world.
Tyler Lynde: Have you been challenged in the choices that you made this week and the way that you've lived your life?
Tyler Lynde: Last week we saw a series of things that we're supposed to put off and put on.
Tyler Lynde: So let me just remind you of those.
Tyler Lynde: We're supposed to put off lying and put on truth, put off anger and put on peace, put off stealing and put on generosity, put off destructive words and put off, put on, I'm sorry, life-giving words.
Tyler Lynde: So in our passage today, the first word of it is therefore, and when there's therefore, it's to connect two thoughts.
Tyler Lynde: So it connects the thoughts that we just learned about in the last couple of weeks with this new thought in chapter 5, right?
Tyler Lynde: So let's read this couple of verses, Ephesians 5, 1 and 2.
Tyler Lynde: Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Tyler Lynde: Let us pray.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you that this is your word, and the entrance of your word brings life and light.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we pray that your word would land upon good soil this morning and that it would produce the fruit and the harvest that you desire for it to produce.
Tyler Lynde: I ask, Lord, that it would not just be words of my wisdom, but that it would be words that would come directly from you, empowered by your spirit to do the good work that only you can do in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: So have you ever said these words?
Tyler Lynde: You're acting like your father, or you sound like your mother.
Tyler Lynde: Most of the time when we say those things, is it a positive thing that we're talking about?
Tyler Lynde: Or does it tend towards the negative side of things?
Tyler Lynde: Usually towards the negative side of things.
Tyler Lynde: But why is that?
Tyler Lynde: Why is it that we focus on the negative side of that instead of the positive?
Tyler Lynde: Wouldn't it be better to highlight the positive things?
Tyler Lynde: Like when we catch somebody doing something good and we say, Oh, just like your just like your mother or just like your dad, right?
Tyler Lynde: Now, here may be one reason.
Tyler Lynde: Maybe it's because people are flawed, right?
Tyler Lynde: And the points in our lives where we felt unloved are places that we try to avoid.
Tyler Lynde: And so sometimes we highlight even, and and sometimes it's for good sake.
Tyler Lynde: Some of us grew up in homes where things were said and done that were very difficult.
Tyler Lynde: And so, because of that, we we try to avoid sort of repeating that, right?
Tyler Lynde: So let's let's look at, we're going to look today at the fact that believers in Jesus are members of a new family, and that the love of our Father and His Son is perfect in every way and worth emulating.
Tyler Lynde: So we're gonna move from the negative side of carrying forward or talking about the things that happened, and we're gonna move to the positive side, and that's what we're gonna focus on here this morning.
Tyler Lynde: So the first point is we should live like God.
Tyler Lynde: We should live like God.
Tyler Lynde: Our passage says, therefore be imitators of God.
Tyler Lynde: Wow, that sounds like a heavy task, right?
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know if you imitate God, it's not gonna be any problem for you to tell the truth.
Tyler Lynde: He is truth, right?
Tyler Lynde: It won't be any issue for you to be a peacemaker, because God is peace.
Tyler Lynde: You'll be able to speak, you'll be able to be generous because there's no one in the universe more generous than our Heavenly Father.
Tyler Lynde: And you'll be able to speak life-giving words because the very words of God spoke life into existence, right?
Tyler Lynde: And so if we emulate or imitate our Heavenly Father, we will exemplify his character and nature.
Tyler Lynde: We will live like him.
Tyler Lynde: We are called to be holy as he is holy.
Tyler Lynde: What does holy mean?
Tyler Lynde: It means to be set apart, it means to be set apart for something.
Tyler Lynde: We are set apart and we are holy, and we are to live holy lives just as he is holy.
Tyler Lynde: And in fact, humanity itself was made to bear God's image.
Tyler Lynde: Pastor Derek brought this to us uh a few months ago.
Tyler Lynde: He brought a sermon to us that really highlighted this, and I'll just kind of skim over that.
Tyler Lynde: God the Father and God the Son in eternity past decided that they wanted to expand their family.
Tyler Lynde: And so, how were they gonna do that?
Tyler Lynde: Well, the Holy Spirit was going to take their words and he was going to cause creation to come about, right?
Tyler Lynde: And God created, and we'll look at it, let's look at Genesis 1, 26 and 27.
Tyler Lynde: Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, in our what?
unknown: In our likeness.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, in our image and after our likeness.
Tyler Lynde: And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Tyler Lynde: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created Is God trying to get a point across here?
Tyler Lynde: Three times in the same passage, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them.
Tyler Lynde: We are made to talk like God, to think like God, and to act like God.
Tyler Lynde: That's the way that was God's original intent for humanity.
Tyler Lynde: We were to be imitators of God as his children, as his children.
Tyler Lynde: Now, how many of you know Adam and Eve enjoyed this reality in the garden?
Tyler Lynde: The Bible says that they walked and talked with God in the cool of the day.
Tyler Lynde: They spent time face to face with God, talking with them.
Tyler Lynde: Can you imagine the conversations that must have gone on?
Tyler Lynde: I would have loved to have been a part of that.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you know there will be a there's a restoration project at work and there will be a time and day, and I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but we will see things completely restored.
Tyler Lynde: Thank God.
Tyler Lynde: So this sweet fellowship that Adam and Eve had with God the Father was God's original intent.
Tyler Lynde: This is God's plan for his family.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know the story didn't end there?
Tyler Lynde: What happened next?
Tyler Lynde: Sin separated separated us from God.
Tyler Lynde: There was one family rule in the garden.
Tyler Lynde: What was it?
Tyler Lynde: You can eat from every tree in the garden, but do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if you eat of it, the day you eat of it, you will surely die.
Tyler Lynde: Satan tempted Adam and Eve and he convinced them of a lie.
Tyler Lynde: You know what the lie was?
Tyler Lynde: God doesn't really care about you.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, you can't even trust him.
Tyler Lynde: He's holding back on you.
Tyler Lynde: He doesn't actually love you, he's just acting like he loves you.
Tyler Lynde: Boy, does that sound familiar?
Tyler Lynde: Anybody ever dealt with not really believing that God loved them?
Tyler Lynde: That's what Satan was doing in the Garden of Eden.
Tyler Lynde: And with that great deception that they yielded to, everything that they had experienced began to go away.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know this the reality is he completely lied to them because they were already like God.
Tyler Lynde: He said to them, if you eat of the fruit, you'll be like God.
Tyler Lynde: And God doesn't want you, uh you know, you God is holding back on you.
Tyler Lynde: But they were already like him, they were already made in his image and likeness.
Tyler Lynde: Because of their sin, they were cast out of the garden, and more importantly, they were cast away from the presence of God.
Tyler Lynde: Imagine what that must have been like, how they must have felt the burden that they must have carried.
Tyler Lynde: And the result of their sin is that every single person ever born on this planet, except for one, Jesus, has been born dead in their sins and trespasses.
Tyler Lynde: All of us included, we have all been born dead.
Tyler Lynde: Instead of bearing the image of God as we were created to, we have bear, we have borne the image of a false father who is Satan, the God of this world.
Tyler Lynde: And if you say, Well, how is that fair?
Tyler Lynde: It's Adam and Eve's sin, not mine, but how many of you know we have followed in their footsteps?
Tyler Lynde: We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Tyler Lynde: And what we deserve for the sin that we have committed is to die and to eternally be separated from God.
Tyler Lynde: This is the truth.
Tyler Lynde: This is the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know it doesn't remain in that place?
Tyler Lynde: The story goes on, and by the way, when I say story, I mean true story.
Tyler Lynde: It goes on, and we learn that we can live loved.
Tyler Lynde: You see, Father God loves his children.
Tyler Lynde: It says, as beloved children, can you picture God loving you like a beloved child?
Tyler Lynde: Can you picture his heart being turned towards you?
Tyler Lynde: Can you picture him feeling the things that you feel?
Tyler Lynde: Can you picture him wanting to walk with you and talk with you and spend time with you?
Tyler Lynde: Can you picture, can you even imagine how great the Father's love is for you?
Tyler Lynde: You see, his father's heart could not stand to allow creation to be forever lost from being in relationship with him.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, at the very point that the curses were given out in the garden, God promised that there would be a seed that would come.
Tyler Lynde: And the serpent would attempt to strike the heel, but the seed would crush the head of Satan, as we know the serpent to be.
Tyler Lynde: And the seed is Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: See, if you had to define God in one word, what would it be?
Tyler Lynde: Love.
Tyler Lynde: If you really had to define God, if you had to narrow it down to one word, it would be love.
Tyler Lynde: Not just fluffy feelings, but love that cares enough to speak the truth.
Tyler Lynde: Love that corrects when correction is necessary, love that walks with somebody when they're grieving, love that never fails.
Tyler Lynde: That is who our God is.
Tyler Lynde: And I am so sorry if you have been taught or if you've learned about a different God than that, because that is the true and living God.
Tyler Lynde: He absolutely loves each and every one of his creation.
Tyler Lynde: That's who he is and that's what he does.
Tyler Lynde: What would it look like?
Tyler Lynde: Let me ask you a question.
Tyler Lynde: What would it look like for you to believe that he loved you?
Tyler Lynde: How would that change the way that you behave?
Tyler Lynde: Or would it?
Tyler Lynde: I think that it would.
Tyler Lynde: I think that it would change all of us.
Tyler Lynde: And I think that none of us can experience any kind of transformation or change in our lives before that reality hits us.
Tyler Lynde: The love of God.
Tyler Lynde: And how did he how far did he go to prove it?
Tyler Lynde: The scripture tells us Jesus loved us enough to die for us.
Tyler Lynde: It says Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Tyler Lynde: That's how much God loved us.
Tyler Lynde: He sacrificed his only begotten Son.
Tyler Lynde: He laid him on the altar of the cross so that he could say, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing, and it is finished.
Tyler Lynde: That's how much our Heavenly Father proves his great love for us.
Tyler Lynde: You see, Jesus took our sins upon himself, every sin that we've ever committed, every wrong thought that we've ever thought, every wrong deed that we've ever done, every wrong word that we've ever spoken, anything that is evil or that is wrong that we have, that has been a part of our psyche and our way of living, he took those things upon himself.
Tyler Lynde: And not only did he take our sins, but he took our guilt and our shame.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know that we no longer have to live ashamed lives?
Tyler Lynde: We no longer have to try to find fig leaves to hide behind.
Tyler Lynde: We no longer have to live as beaten-down people.
Tyler Lynde: Because we have not only been given his love, but we've also been given what?
Tyler Lynde: His approval.
Tyler Lynde: What great love our Father has for us.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was a willing party to these things.
Tyler Lynde: He stood in our place.
Tyler Lynde: God the Father was well pleased with Jesus' sacrifice because the end result was what?
Tyler Lynde: Reconciliation for the family.
Tyler Lynde: I know that many of you are praying for family relationships to be restored.
Tyler Lynde: You're praying for reconciliation.
Tyler Lynde: Let me tell you, that is the heart of God.
Tyler Lynde: And he proved it in so many ways by working as hard as he did to woo his own family back to himself.
Tyler Lynde: So, how do we acknowledge this?
Tyler Lynde: How do we participate in this great love?
Tyler Lynde: How do we understand this thing that Jesus did on the cross?
Tyler Lynde: Well, we are restored to right relationship with Father God when we repent of our sins, which means to change our mind, change our attitude, change our direction concerning who God is and who we are, to repent of our sins and to put our faith, hope, and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: That, my friends, is how we participate in the family restoration project that God started in well before the beginning of time.
Tyler Lynde: It was in his heart and in his mind that this is what was going to happen.
Tyler Lynde: I implore you, I beg of you, I plead with you, I ask you sincerely, will you please acknowledge Jesus, acknowledge who Jesus is?
Tyler Lynde: Not just the historical Jesus who was here and who lived in this life and all of the things that were accomplished, but Jesus, the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Tyler Lynde: Put your faith, hope, and trust in him today.
Tyler Lynde: In the Old Testament, it says, choose you this day who you will serve.
Tyler Lynde: And Joshua says of his family, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Dads in this room, I encourage you, speak up for your family, as for me and my family.
Tyler Lynde: And if there's not a dad in the picture, moms, stand up.
Tyler Lynde: And if parents aren't saved yet, grandparents, speak it out.
Tyler Lynde: Confess it, profess it, believe it.
Tyler Lynde: God desires to restore more of humanity, much more of humanity to Himself before Jesus returns.
Tyler Lynde: So if we have been transformed, if we have been changed, if we have been made new, if we are born again, if there's this new life that has begun, we saw the examples in the waters of baptism this morning.
Tyler Lynde: All of these people have one thing in common.
Tyler Lynde: Once they were lost, and now they are found.
Tyler Lynde: So how then should they live?
Tyler Lynde: How then should we live?
Tyler Lynde: We should emulate the family trait of love.
Tyler Lynde: It says in this passage that we should walk in love.
Tyler Lynde: Not put on love occasionally or experience love when we want to experience love.
Tyler Lynde: Walk in it.
Tyler Lynde: Wear it.
Tyler Lynde: Have it be a part of who you are.
Tyler Lynde: As part of God's new creation, that's what it says.
Tyler Lynde: When we are born again, we are a new creation.
Tyler Lynde: Just like Adam and Eve were the original creation, we've been made new.
Tyler Lynde: Even though we haven't experienced the entirety of that which we will when Jesus returns and restores everything to the way that it's supposed to be.
Tyler Lynde: In between now and then, we are made new.
Tyler Lynde: We are the new creation, and we are once again tasked with bearing the image of God.
Tyler Lynde: We are not God, but we are his children, and we should act like his family.
Tyler Lynde: It's my daughter.
Tyler Lynde: She's a sweetheart.
Tyler Lynde: But occasionally, when I call my wife, my daughter attempts to pretend like she's my wife on the phone.
Tyler Lynde: She picks up the phone and she will imitate and emulate her mother and attempt to uh to sound like her.
Tyler Lynde: And a few times, if I'm honest, I get real quiet when that happens because I'm like, Tyler, you need to get this right.
Tyler Lynde: So here's what goes through my head.
Tyler Lynde: Do I say something that only Amy would want to hear as a test?
Tyler Lynde: And I've never done that.
Tyler Lynde: Never done that.
Tyler Lynde: Won't do that.
Tyler Lynde: That's a temptation I've had.
Tyler Lynde: That's a temptation.
Tyler Lynde: But then I'll I'll I'll just say something off the ball or whatever.
Tyler Lynde: I can't even remember what I say, but I just I will distinguish.
Tyler Lynde: They her and Amy, in some ways, are very much alike.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, they can open each other's phones with the face recognition.
Tyler Lynde: So there's some some real similarities between the two of them.
Tyler Lynde: And I am so thankful that my daughter has learned so many wonderful things from her mother.
Tyler Lynde: She represents our family and her new family with her husband and children very, very well.
Tyler Lynde: Very, very well.
Tyler Lynde: And I love to catch her in doing that, but she's still don't don't tell her this when she gets back.
Tyler Lynde: She's still a stinker pot, right?
Tyler Lynde: No, nobody should do that.
Tyler Lynde: Anyway, it's fun.
Tyler Lynde: It's fun.
Tyler Lynde: So what a what a privilege it is for us in similar ways to represent Christ and our Heavenly Father in a fallen world.
Tyler Lynde: People should ask us, where did you learn this?
Tyler Lynde: How can you live with such joy in the middle of sorrow?
Tyler Lynde: How can you have peace that makes no sense?
Tyler Lynde: How in the world is it that you don't argue all the time with your other employees?
Tyler Lynde: What is it that's different about you?
Tyler Lynde: Well, I had a great breakfast and I'm just feeling good this morning.
Tyler Lynde: No, that's not the answer.
Tyler Lynde: The answer is I'm a part of a family.
Tyler Lynde: And this is the way the family lives.
Tyler Lynde: This is the way my family lives.
Tyler Lynde: The love that we have so graciously received from our Heavenly Father should motivate us to do what?
Tyler Lynde: To pass it on to others, regardless of their current state of deservedness.
Tyler Lynde: Isn't it interesting that we do want to we we do want to be like God in one way?
Tyler Lynde: We want to be the judge of everybody.
Tyler Lynde: That job is to him and to him alone.
Tyler Lynde: We're not to sit in judgment.
Tyler Lynde: We are to give love in whatever form that takes, regardless of how we feel the other person deserves it or not.
Tyler Lynde: The world will know us by our love for one another.
Tyler Lynde: It's not hard to live truth-filled lives, to be peacemakers, to live generously, and to speak life-giving words when we understand that we get a chance to honor our Heavenly Father and Jesus by walking in love as he walked in love for us.
Tyler Lynde: Now, I could go on and on this morning.
Tyler Lynde: We don't have the time to do that.
Tyler Lynde: But I wanted to read a passage to you.
Tyler Lynde: And as I do, I want you to really think about this.
Tyler Lynde: And I would ask you to meditate on this passage this week.
Tyler Lynde: What does meditate mean?
Tyler Lynde: It just means to mull it over and over, to think about it, to consider it, to ask the Lord, how can you teach me through this?
Tyler Lynde: What is it that you want to implement in my life concerning these truths?
Tyler Lynde: And it's found in the book of 1 John, chapter 4, starting in verse 7.
Tyler Lynde: Beloved, let us love one another.
Tyler Lynde: For love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Tyler Lynde: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Tyler Lynde: In this, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.
Tyler Lynde: In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his.
Tyler Lynde: Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Tyler Lynde: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Tyler Lynde: No one has ever seen God.
Tyler Lynde: If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Tyler Lynde: By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit.
Tyler Lynde: Want to know how we can love and live according to the way God lives?
Tyler Lynde: By the Spirit of God living on the inside of us.
Tyler Lynde: And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent his son to be the Savior of the world.
Tyler Lynde: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.
Tyler Lynde: So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
Tyler Lynde: God is love.
Tyler Lynde: And whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Tyler Lynde: By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.
Tyler Lynde: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
Tyler Lynde: For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Tyler Lynde: We love because he first loved us.
Tyler Lynde: If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.
Tyler Lynde: Wow.
Tyler Lynde: For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Tyler Lynde: And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brothers.
Tyler Lynde: Isn't it interesting that Jesus, when asked about the greatest commandment, summed it up with two simple sayings shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Tyler Lynde: That's what being a Christian looks like.
Tyler Lynde: That's what bearing the image of God as new creation, as his new creation and a part of his family, that's what it looks like.
Tyler Lynde: Are we ready to do it?
Tyler Lynde: Are we ready to ask the Holy Spirit to continue to help us to do this?
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: I'm gonna ask just quickly, if everybody just close your eyes where you're sitting, and I'm gonna ask a simple question.
Tyler Lynde: There's a lot of people here that I don't know.
Tyler Lynde: And so I'm just gonna ask you a simple question.
Tyler Lynde: You've heard the gospel of Jesus Christ this morning.
Tyler Lynde: And if the Holy Spirit is working in your heart and you realize that it's time for you to stop living according to the ways of this world, to stop living for yourself, and to turn your heart and mind and life over to Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: You've run out of road, and the road that you've been on is not the right road.
Tyler Lynde: And you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to put your faith in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not gonna embarrass you, but I ask that you would just raise your hands where you're sitting.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: I see the hands.
Tyler Lynde: Are there any others this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: In the back, I see in the back.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: I see here in the front.
Tyler Lynde: Yes.
Tyler Lynde: Anyone else?
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: Yes, I see.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: I'm going to pray a simple prayer.
Tyler Lynde: And you can pray your own words.
Tyler Lynde: You don't have to follow mine.
Tyler Lynde: I'm so thankful for what God's doing in this room right now.
Tyler Lynde: Spirit of God is working, and there are people here in this room that are acknowledging their need for a savior.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm telling you, all of heaven is rejoicing.
Tyler Lynde: And all of us who are already followers of Jesus Christ are eternally thankful for the decision that you're making right now.
Tyler Lynde: So you could pray your own words.
Tyler Lynde: There's no magic in the prayer itself.
Tyler Lynde: But I'm going to lead in a prayer.
Tyler Lynde: And if you want to, you can pray after me.
Tyler Lynde: And this is a time where you just pour out your heart to Him.
Tyler Lynde: God loves you.
Tyler Lynde: He loves you.
Tyler Lynde: He's not ashamed of you.
Tyler Lynde: He loves you.
Tyler Lynde: So if you would just say something like this God in heaven, I thank you for loving me.
Tyler Lynde: I realize that I have made a lot of mistakes.
Tyler Lynde: I have fallen short and I have sinned.
Tyler Lynde: And I ask that you would forgive me and cleanse me.
Tyler Lynde: I believe in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: That he came to this earth and lived a perfect life.
Tyler Lynde: That he took my sins on himself and that he was crucified and died.
Tyler Lynde: And that on the third day he rose again from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ this day.
Tyler Lynde: I ask that you would change me, lead me and guide me.
Tyler Lynde: Fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to walk after your ways.
Tyler Lynde: In Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: If you did that this morning, prayed your own prayer, followed after what I was praying.
Tyler Lynde: We want to walk with you.
Tyler Lynde: Or we would ask that you would find, if you're not from this area, that you would find a Bible-believing preaching church that's near you, and that you would attend there, and that you would, just like the people who were baptized this morning, allow others to walk with you in your faith journey and to help to disciple you.
Tyler Lynde: So there will be a prayer team that will be up here at the end of the service on the sites.
Tyler Lynde: And if you would come and just talk with them, they'd they'd like to just again pray with you, talk with you.
Tyler Lynde: We also have Bibles that we'd like to give to anybody who would like a Bible.
Tyler Lynde: We have new Bibles we'd like to give to you.
Tyler Lynde: And also we just want you to know that if you are in Knoxville, you're welcome here as a part of this church.
Tyler Lynde: And we would love to be a part of your story and to walk with you as God does the good work that only He can do in your life.
Tyler Lynde: Can we thank the Lord for what He's done this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: If we can all just in closing, if we can stand to our feet, I want to pray a prayer for us and then bless you.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, we will have prayer, a part of our 21 days of prayer and fasting that will start in 10 minutes after the service.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: But again, the prayer team will be here.
Tyler Lynde: Please come.
Tyler Lynde: Please come and let us continue this uh journey with you.
Tyler Lynde: So, Father, I thank you and praise you for each and every person that's here and those that are watching online.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you for the Spirit of God that lives on the inside of us as believers.
Tyler Lynde: We ask that you would help us to be changed, to be holy, to be sanctified, that you would give us the ability to speak truthful words, to be patient and generous, that we would uh that we would speak life-giving words.
Tyler Lynde: Help us to be like you, to represent you well in this world.
Tyler Lynde: Father, I also pray, Father, for those who haven't in a long time felt loved by you.
Tyler Lynde: We take authority over anything that would try to deceive them or keep them away from experiencing not just knowing your great love, but feeling your great love for them.
Tyler Lynde: We ask, Lord, that you would do that in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: We pray may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Tyler Lynde: May He cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Tyler Lynde: May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace in the mighty name of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.