Refuge Found: Mercy in the Mess | Pastor Bill Sizemore

🎧 Refuge Found – Where Mercy Meets the Mess
In this episode, Pastor Bill unpacks Joshua 20 and the powerful idea of God’s mercy in motion—through Christ, through His people, and through the vision of our future community center. If you’re searching for hope or feel stuck in your past, this message is for you.

🛡 Find your refuge in Jesus—and help others find theirs.

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Transcript

Well, good morning, church. I tell you what, Natalie showed up today. Amen. Natalie's a new addition to our praise and worship. And. And I tell you, this kind of being her debut Sunday, you know, what's really impressive to me is that I get to see her every Monday night as she comes over to the house and her and Kim and their group are discipling. And it's nice for me to know that the people that are up here in front of you are serious about Jesus. Amen. And Natalie is definitely one of those that she is trying her best like the rest of us, to serve the Lord, walk in the ways of the Lord, and I am just so glad that she's up here on the stage with us. Amen. And so just. Just cheer her on in her spiritual growth. And I think that that is absolutely amazing. I got to give a shout out to Jason, too, this morning. He was playing the guitar pretty, pretty swiftly today, wasn't he? It was amazing. So we got some good guys up here. I had a chance a few years back to walk through discipleship with Jason. And again, just the same thing. It's just a blessing to see people like that. Guys, listen. That's why we're here. We're here to serve the Lord Jesus Christ because he loves us, because he has saved us. Anybody give testimony to that today? Say, jesus has saved my soul. Amen. That's why we're here. As Aaron was saying a moment ago, not only did he die on a cross for us, but rose again from the dead. There's an old, old hymn that we used to sing. He lives, he lives Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way he lives, he lives Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives because he lives within my heart. If you don't know Jesus today, then I want you to understand why God brought you here. God brought you here so that you can meet the Savior. And so I'm going to do my best to represent. I'm going to do my best to get you to understand that. But at the end of the day, after all the fluff and after all the smoke has cleared, what you're going to find is that we want you to have a relationship with Jesus the way that we do. Because there is nothing greater in this world and there is no other purpose on this planet than to glorify the God who made us. And I'm excited about that. Listen, I don't know where you're at today, but as we continue our study in the book of Joshua, I just want to kind of open up by asking you a question. Have you ever felt the need to run? You ever felt the need to run, run from your past or from pressures or even from people that you don't. That don't understand you? Life can often feel like a chase with guilt and shame and fear right behind us. Man in Joshua chapter 20 is where we're going to be today. And as we look at Joshua chapter 20, it's going to talk about these cities of refuge that God is going to place in the middle of all of the different places. And I'm going to have to get you to understand these cities of refuge, because I think you're going to find that it's not only for the Old Testament and it's not only for the children of Israel that you have these places of the cities of refuge, but that it is a place where we can often take refuge if we need to. It's a place of mercy in the land of conquest. These were not cities of comfort, but cities of compassion. And I want you to think about that because, you know, sometimes we look at God and if we take a proper look at God, you're going to see God as a God of justice, right? For example, God, immediately, he starts this thing off with Adam and Eve. He says, the day that you eat of that fruit, you shall surely die, right? Is that because God's mean? No, because he created them without sin. He did not want sin to enter into this world. Because the wages of sin is death. And it's death every time something that we know something about, we don't have to look back at Adam and say, man, I can't believe he ate the fruit, right? Because that's something that we've experienced ourselves as we've sinned against God. And I stand here first one hand up of sinning against God, right? That makes all of us in the same boat, that we're just all in need of a Savior. And that Savior's name is Jesus. But in the midst of this penalty of death that God puts on Adam, and therefore all of the children of Adam, which we all are, the wages of sin is death. God says, you know what I'm going to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. I'm going to save you from your penalty by taking your death. So when Jesus comes, and at Christmas time, we always celebrate this wonderful immaculate conception that happens where you've got the virgin birth, where Jesus comes not from man, not from Adam. But the Holy Spirit overshadows Mary, and this wonderful baby is born. You shall call his name, Jesus. He's going to be coming from you as a son of God. And he grows up, never sinning the way that Adam did, never sinning the way that I have. And yet he lives a perfect life in front of the Lord, fulfilling all of the law and the prophets, and then says, here's what I'm going to do for you at age 33. I'm going to die in your place. I'm going to die in your place. And he takes my sin on the cross so that I can be resurrected with him and I can walk in a newness of life. I can basically start over. And listen, I don't know where you're at today. I don't know what's going on in your heart today, but this is the message of these cities of refuge is that God is a just God. And if he says that the wages of sin is death, it's death every time. But in the midst of that, because he is a loving God. And this is what I want you to understand. God always makes a way for grace and mercy in the midst of judgment. That's the God that we serve. And I want you to understand that this morning. I want you to understand, because you might be sitting there going, yeah, I can identify with sinner. I got no problems doing that. But listen, let me tell you something today. God has no problem with that either in this respect. Not that he wants you to continue to sin. He wants to free you from it. So instead of condemning you, Jesus himself said, I have not come into this world to condemn the world, for the world is condemned already. I don't know about you, but I didn't need anyone to tell me that I should be shameful before God. That comes pretty natural, doesn't it? What I needed is I needed Jesus to tell me that that's not why he came. And I think as a church, one of the things that we've got to really be careful of is that if we're going to walk in the ways of Jesus, that we're not coming to people to condemn people. We're coming to people so that they can understand the freedom that they could have in Christ. He says, I didn't come into the world to condemn the world, for the world is condemned already. But whosoever believes on the name of the Son of God can be saved. You say, well, is that all it takes? Because religion tells me that I got to do XYZ and I got to do all these things. Listen, let me tell you what Jesus says. Jesus says this, call on my name, make me the Lord of your life. Call out to me as Lord and I will save you. That's what he says. Now here's what I know. When you experience the forgiveness of the Lord, you will change. You'll want different. You'll want different. So Jesus isn't a get out of jail free card, right? It's not something where you come to Jesus, you say, hey, I just want to be forgiven of my sins. That's not what he says. He says, you come to me, you call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. The question is, what do you want this morning? What's in your heart this morning? As we talk about these cities of refuge here, in a moment, they reveal something deep about God's character. He's not only a God of justice, but he's also a God of refuge. You know, we step into this new season and the whole reason why I've been going through the book of Joshua is because I wanted to be crystal clear about why we're starting this community center. And for you guys that are new, we've got some brand new people in the building today. Listen, our property, our new property for the, for our new community center and church is right next door to Paulden County High School. So we've already got the land donated to us, 28 acres. Who knows what God is going to do with that? I've racked my brain, I've got about 15 acres full of stuff that I want to do and that we've talked about, but there's a whole lot left. And I don't know what God's going to do with it. So I'm excited about it. I'm excited to see what God's going to do. But if you're coming to GATE today, going well, you know, this is a set up, tear down church. Who knows where they're going to be? We know exactly where we're going to be. We're right there. Amen. So we're not moving and I'm excited about that. We'll be here as long as we need to be here. But we're building this community center and we're embracing this truth that God builds spaces of refuge through people of mercy. Let me say that again. God builds spaces of refuge through people of mercy. So let's talk about these cities of refuge. Now I'm not going to start in Joshua chapter 20. I'm going to get there in just a second. But let me give you just a little bit of background. And the things that I've discussed already is important because the wages of sin is death, right? So death has entered into the picture. But then something really happens in Genesis chapter four, where you have the first siblings, Cain and Abel. So it doesn't take long after they eat the fruit and they sin against God that they die in their body, soul and spirit. I'll have to explain that to you later. Right. But in that death, what you see is that death then begins to wreak havoc on those that are born of Adam. And so you've got Cain, the firstborn, Abel, his brother. And Cain rises up against Abel and kills his brother. And now we got murder. So we went from dying to killing very quickly in the scriptures. And as you look at that, one of the things that we see early on In Genesis chapter 9 is God says this. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. I'm not necessarily trying to get political this morning. I don't know where you stand on capital punishment and all those kinds of things. I'm just telling you what God said In Genesis chapter 9 from the beginning, right? When a man sheds another man's blood, when he commits murder, it's by the hands of man that his blood shall be shed. And here's the reason why. This is the thing that, that really hit me is that he says, because you were created in the image of God. Now, I want to stop here just for a moment, and I want you to look around. I want you to look around the auditorium. And as you look around, I want you to see people in a different way this morning. They bear the image of God. When God created man and woman, he created them in his own image and in his own likeness. So I think the important thing for you to understand when you're dealing with people and when you're talking to people, no matter who you're talking to, no matter whether they are saved or whether they are lost, here's what you need to know about every single person is that they are image bearers of God. God created them in his own likeness and in his own image. And we should respect that. Amen. You should respect that. You say, well, this person is not respecting me. Yeah, but you don't have to necessarily respect the way or the things that the person does. But you do need to respect the fact that they are made in the image of God. And it should cause you to think differently about that person. So God says, whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God. God made man in his own image. Exodus 21. He goes on, he says, whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, I'm going to translate that as an accident, right? Then I will appoint you for you a place to which you may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from the altar that he may die. So once he is judged for that, he says, you take him from the altar. What that means is that altar of judgment, right? The bema seat. You take him from that altar so that he can be put to death. Because the rule still stands that if you take a man's life, then by man shall your life be taken. But I want you to see the mercy of God that comes in numbers 35, as we kind of move forward in the Scriptures a little bit. The mercy of God is found in verse number nine. It says, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger. And the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. So in the midst of the cities that God has prepared for the people, he has set up cities of refuge. Now, there's one thing that I'm going to get you to understand. We'll talk about this a little bit later, but I want to just get you to understand that when the 12 tribes went into the land, they were all given parcels of land. Now, one of the things that I've done, you might notice, is I kind of ended up last week in Joshua chapter 14 with Caleb and the land that was allotted to Caleb because of his faithfulness. And then I've kind of skipped over from 14 to 20. And the reason why I did that is because it's talking about the different allotments that are given to the 12 tribes. Okay, feel free to go back and read that. I'm sure that there's some little nuggets in there that you can find. But all the 12 tribes were given a parcel of land except for one. And hear me on this. The only tribe that did not get a parcel of land was the Levites, the Levitical priesthood. God said this. Your portion is me. God gave them to himself. And the Levites were going to be the ones that in all of these areas were going to be running the temple, and they were going to be taking care of the temple and all those kinds of things. Now, the interesting thing is, is that the cities of refuge also were given to the Levites. And the Levites were going to be the ones to be that city of refuge. The priests of God would be those. Those agents of mercy. All right, so with that said, we go to Joshua chapter 20. I think I've given you enough history for you to understand the things that we're talking about when we enter into Joshua 20. Now, I want you to notice, just like when Joshua said all things that was told to Moses by the Lord, we have accomplished that was in Joshua chapter 11. And now you get to this place that we see that this is another thing that God had told to Moses that Joshua is going to accomplish. Then the Lord said to Joshua, say to the people of Israel, appoint the cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through Moses. He says, remember, don't forget these moments of refuge that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent and unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand in the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. And they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand. Now, what is this? What. What is this manslayer thing that's going on? Okay, so the manslayer would be the one that actually accidentally killed somebody. The avenger of blood would be the family member who's hacked off that he lost his family member and is now eligible to kill that individual because of Genesis chapter nine. But he says, no, what we're going to do is we're going to allow you to plead your case. Because not everything is on purpose. And there are accidents that happen, right? And sometimes, as the Bible says, he says, if God gives him over into your hand, meaning that we know that we serve a God that is sovereign and he knows when our time is up. Sometimes we don't know that, and there are accidents that happen and so forth. So going on in verse number five, it says, and the avenger of Blood pursues him. They shall not give up the manslayer into his hand because he struck his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past. Boy, we could preach a whole message on that, right? He didn't hate him in the past. And he shall remain in the city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment and until the death of him who is high priest at the time. And then the manslayer may return to his own town, in his own home, to the town from which he fled. Now, the interesting thing to me, and I don't really have this in my sermon, but for you Bible scholars, you might look at that a little bit closer there. When it talks about the priest, that he was to be in that city of refuge until the death of the priest. And once the priest dies, then he is free to go back to his home. I don't know about you, but it sounds like Hebrews to me. Where the Bible talks about the New Testament, that we have the freedom that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't start until our high priest dies. And the beginning of the New Testament is when the test door Jesus, dies. And then you're set free. Amen. I'll let you guys study that out. All right, so here's what I want you to understand. We're called to be more than builders. So people say, why do you want to build a building? Let me tell you something. The last thing that I want to do in my life is to build a building. I'm telling you right now, like you can ask him. I've been building a closet this last week. And if you ever want to see me frustrated, just have me start to tape and mud something, okay? Let me tell you right now, I can't stand it, right? And so building a building, to me, that does not sound like anything fun, but sometimes it's necessary, right? So we're to be more than builders of buildings. We're to become refuge bearers, as image bearers of God. We're to to be this place of refuge, just as those cities were safe places for ancient Israel. We believe that God is building three powerful places of refuge in our world today. And here's my three points that I'm going to give you today. Number one, the first refuge that you could ever have is Jesus Christ, the high priest himself. The second one, the refuge that you're going to find is other believers. And some of you understand what I'm talking about. If not, I'll get you to understand. And then the last one is Our refuge is in a place that we're going to build called the Community center for Dallas and the surrounding area. So let's get into point number one, our refuge in Christ. Here's what I want you to understand. Mercy has a name. Grace has a name. His name is Jesus. And as you think about Jesus and you think about him being our refuge, I couldn't help but think of Psalm 46, one that says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. So what we know is that if God comes back and he says, here's what I want you to do in the midst of your land, in the midst of the things that I have given to you, make sure that there are cities of refuge. There's going to be cities, six cities of refuge spread throughout, so that anytime that they're easy to and accessible to get to, that you don't have to run too far, because I'm going to spread them out all over the place so that you can find refuge. You know why? Because God is our refuge. So we got to start with Jesus. We got to start with Christ. Refuge. Mercy has name. I love Colossians 2:13. When it says, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive, together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses, I want you to think about that for a second. Because you might be sitting here today and you're like, man, I need a city of refuge. Like, I need a place to run to. Because, listen, I might even be guilty. It might not have been on accident. You see, what would happen in the Old Testament is if you came to the city gates of a refuge and you began to plead your case and you were guilty of murder, guess what? You didn't get to come in. That means the avenger of blood who's hunting you down continues to hunt. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a scary life to me. But let's go from the Old Testament and now let's go to the New Testament. Is that even when we were dead in our sins, when we were guilty is when God says, jesus says, you can come to me for refuge. Come on. Is that not a cool thing? Is that not a blessing from the Old Testament to the New Testament that now you can come to that city of refuge, you can come to the God of refuge even if you're guilty. And whenever you plead your case to God and you say, God, listen, I'm standing before your gates, not because I'm innocent, but because I'm guilty and I need your forgiveness, I need your protection. And God says to you, Jesus says to you, come on in, come on in. You see, because even while we were dead, in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with his legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to his cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them over shame by triumphing over them in him. Listen, there is an accuser of the brethren. There is one who is out for blood against you. But listen, his name is Satan and the devil, and he accuses the brethren day and night. But listen, Jesus says, no, here's what you need to understand. And the devil's saying, yeah, but that woman is guilty. That man is guilty. And Jesus says, you are right. But I have paid it all. I've taken it. Their debt has been paid. It is nailed to my cross. So you have nothing to accuse them of because the wages of sin is death. And I died in their place. I don't know about you, man, I'm about to get excited because that is what Jesus has done for us. You know, we got a whole community that doesn't understand what I just said. Like, they might know about religion, they might know about Christmas, they might even know about Easter, that these are times that you're supposed to go to church or whatever the case is. But do they really understand the love that God has for them? As God is trying to reach out to them and say, hey, listen, I know your plight. I know your state. And you can still come into the gates. If you'll just call me as Lord, you can come in. Christ is our city of refuge. He's where mercy meets us in the middle of our mess. Just like those fleeing the the avenger of blood. We come to Jesus not because of where that we're innocent, but because we are invited and you're invited today. You say, what does it take? Jesus said, whosoever will may come. I love this. In Matthew 11, these are the words of Christ in verse 28, says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You see, that's what our Savior says to us. Come to Me? Are you burdened down? You say you don't understand, Pastor, I'm guilty. No, I understand completely. That's why Jesus says to come. Not because you're innocent, but because you are guilty. He says to come. You know, we're moving forward in the building project and the campaign to do all the things that we need to do. But we must remind ourselves and others that the greatest foundation is Christ. There is no other cornerstone, Right? The Bible says that he is the chief cornerstone. Ephesians will tell us that we are bricks being fitly framed together to form a habitation of God. But there is one cornerstone, and his name is Jesus. Mercy has a name. I want you to think about that as we move on to this idea and keep thinking about that. God builds spaces of refuge through his people of mercy. The point number two that I want to bring is that our refuge is in believers. Mercy moves through us. I don't know about you, but once you get into Christ, you become that city of refuge. Now, let's talk about that. The city of refuge were given to the Levitical priests. And that's why I wanted to bring that up to you. Like this isn't. They weren't just spread out where people say, hey, I think I'm going to have a city of refuge. No, they were very specific. They were given not to the children of Israel, but they were given to the Levitical priesthood, who didn't have any other lands outside of the six cities of refuge that were given to them. Numbers 35, 6 explains this to us when it says, the cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them shall give 42 cities. And so that's what the. The Levitical priesthood had. They had these 42 cities plus the six cities of refuge. So who's running that thing? It's the priesthood. It's the priesthood. Now, here's what you've got to understand today about us is that we serve as the priesthood of the Lord today. We're not the Levitical priesthood. We're actually after the order of Melchizedek. That's a whole other sermon. But still we serve as priests today. Look what it says in First Peter, chapter two, verse number four. It says, as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. Christ, so what are these spiritual sacrifices? And maybe you have read that before and you're like, well, maybe my spiritual sacrifice is me tithing and giving my money to the Lord. Maybe my spiritual sacrifices is giving my talents to the Lord and using my abilities for the Lord. But listen, I think that what's being talked about here, when you look at the prediction priesthood and what sacrifices were all about, they were giving their sacrifices, spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ as a refuge place for him and a place of forgiveness. I wonder, are we that for people? Do we find ourselves as that city of refuge for someone as we're serving in this priesthood? Just as these cities were open to anyone who needed them, our relationships and our church community should be marked by mercy, grace and spiritual refuge. Are you hurting? Listen, this is what I would love to say to our community. Are you hurting? Come to Reliant. You know why? Because you will find a refuge for your soul. Come to the people. Listen, we don't care about no building. Not at this point, right? Come, Come here. Listen, when I'm asking you to invite people to come with you, let me tell you what I'm asking you to do. Invite them into the refuge. Invite them to find what they can't find anywhere else. Invite them into the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we're the agents of the refuge. We're the ones that are running the city. We're the ones that are running the house that God says, I want you to appoint these. Now what if you started to think, wait a minute. So we're a holy priesthood, building a spiritual house for the Lord. And God says, and I want one right there and I want one over here, and I want one over here, and I want one over there. Why? Because it's really easy get to any of those places. God forbid that we would have houses of refuge that God has established around our city where the people of that refuge say, I don't want you here. You see, what I think all Christianity should be is we should be one body in different places. There was one Levitical priesthood that was run in six different cities. We don't have to all be the same. Don't have to be all in the same location. We don't even have to sing the same songs. Amen. But I tell you what should be the same, is that every house of God should be a refuge for men. It should be a place that you can come and you can find the refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus paid it all. Amen. So what about you? Are you that person? Are you that one that's, that's looking at your neighbor going, hey, come. I will be your refuge. I am a royal priest. See, I think maybe some of you, for the very first time like you, you're just like, well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Like I'm that guy that barely snuck in the door because, you know, the priest said it was okay for me to come in for some reason. Listen, you don't understand that when you came to the Lord Jesus Christ, not only did he save you and enter in with you, but now he has made you a royal priesthood unto himself. You now have physician, you have the ability now to offer the refuge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, but that's exciting to me because I think there's a lot of people that need it. I think there's a lot of people that need it and they don't even have a clue that they do need it, right? But they're going to come and they're going to find this blessing and refuge with the Lord. So we got to ask ourselves, are we the refuge for others in our words, in our attitudes, in our ministries? You know, one of the things that I love and there are some ministries that have the word refuge in them, right? I love our never alone ministry. You know, Stephanie, for whatever reason, you. I've been talking about your ministry all week long this week, but it's been such a blessing because when people say, man, I need help, I say, hey, we've got something for that. We offer a refuge for that and people can come in and people can find help. And they, and I was telling somebody today, I'm so glad that our church isn't one of those churches that says, hey brother, Amen, I'm going to pray for you. And that's all we got. Is that enough now? God's enough. Amen. So I'm not trying to say that your prayers, by all means, be praying for people, but I also see that these cities of refuge were letting people in. People were coming in and they were finding the help that they needed, and they were finding whatever it is that they needed. And so we can say, not only does Jesus want you to enter in, but we have tools to help you in your refuge. We're here for you. And I think that's what it's got to be about. You know why? Because God builds spaces of refuge through people of mercy. That's what it's all about. So let me move on. To my point number three. Now this, this is going to be a pretty quick point because I want to talk for just a second about this idea of our community center. See, because our refuge in the community center is a physical place for spiritual purpose. So you say, well, why do we need a physical place? Well, the reason why is the same reason why you needed cities of refuge, right? You look at the Old Testament and you had these cities of refuge where people knew, if I need help, I know where to go. If I need a place to run, if I'm on the run, I know where I need to go, right? I can go there. You know what I would love to happen about Reliant is that when Paulding County, Dallas, Hiram, when an issue comes up and they need something, that they would come to us first because they know that Reliant is a place of help and we're going to be able to help them, right? So you need those cities of refuge. You need those places where people can say, if you need help, come here, come to this. And I would love, in all honesty, I'd love for that 28 acres to be a one stop shop where people can come and get whatever it is that they need. And we're going to talk about that as we go forward. Because in all honesty, I'm not sure exactly what all of that is, but God does. But God instructed them to prepare places before the crisis came. So he didn't say, when somebody has a need, when, when you have a manslayer who needs a place, then create a city. That's not what he said. He said, listen, here's what I want you to do. Getting ready for those that are going to need. I want you to prepare a place so that they know where to go. You hear me? You see, that's exactly what we're doing with the community center is it's almost like a prophetic act that we're doing. We're preparing a refuge for people we haven't even met yet. I don't know who's going to need this city of refuge. You say, does it really make a big difference if we have a building and if we have a sign out front that says that we're that place of refuge, come here to find help. Listen, I think that sometimes people are driving by and sometimes people come into our services and you say, well, what brought you here? And I saw the sign, I saw that you had prepared a place. Listen, one of the things that's so joyful to me is as I walk in here this morning, and even last week, because I came to help set up last week. I didn't come this time to help set up, although I did set up a little bit. But I came last week and I told the guys, I said, guys, thank you for all that you do. Because we have prepared a place for people to come and we are ready to receive. And guess what? There have been people the last couple of weeks, really, since we moved into this building that we don't even know, that we don't have any kind of relationship with. And all of a sudden, they showed up to the house of refuge and I got to tell them about the love of Jesus. Amen. See, that's what you got to understand of what we're doing. We're building it knowing that there's going to be people. There's going to be people that say, man, I need some help. And I would love for God to be speaking to individuals because I believe he does this. And he would say to them, go to my city of refuge. Go to Reliant. Reliant will help you. And as the people of God and as the priests of God, and not only those, but the recipients of that grace and love, we come and we say, listen, we've experienced it. We know that it's real. And God has that door open to you that you can come and find that help in your time of need. It'll be a place for single moms. It'll be a place for the struggling teen as we're right across the street from the right, right across from the high school, the grieving father, the isolated elder. You know, I was thinking about, I was thinking about that John and I were talking about the, the new houses that are right on the other side. It's 55 and plus that are right over there. What if God gives us a ministry to them? What if we're just there for our neighbors? I think it's going to be a beautiful thing. Let's go give, let's serve, let's pray. Like, this community center is not just for us. It's for the ones who are on the run and don't even know where to go. That might be you this morning. Listen, I got some great news for you. You don't have to wait on a building. You don't have to wait on a building. As a rock royal priest of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can offer you that refuge right now. You can come to know Jesus today. So how do I do that, Pastor? Like what? What does it take for me to do that? Do I, do I have to come down front? Do I have to listen? The Bible doesn't say anything about that. There is no altar call that you're going to find in the Bible. That's something that, that we have created. And I'm not even saying it's a bad thing necessarily for people to make a step and to come forward. Maybe you don't know how to pray, you don't know how to approach the Lord. Listen, we're going to have some people down here in the front that you can come up to them and say, I need this refuge. I need Jesus. I'm guilty, but I still want to enter in. And they will, they will lead you to the Savior. I don't have any problem with that. But you can be right where you're at and you could bow your head right now. You say, oh, Jesus, I need a refuge. I need a place today. I need an escape from the life that I have created. And I call upon you and I make you the Lord of my life. I give myself over to you. Would you save me? I'm telling you, according to the scriptures, Jesus says that he will save all of those who that call upon him. Listen, I'd like for you to stand with me, if you would, as you stand and we talk about just the conclusion of this message. And in Christ, we found a refuge in one another. We offer the refuge through our community center. We build a refuge. Listen, if you're one of the elders or elders wives, I want you guys to come down front today.