Hope Rises

Welcome to Community Life Church in Monmouth, Oregon!

📍 Service Location: Monmouth, OR  
📅 Sunday Gathering 4:30pm 


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We exist to be daily devoted followers of Jesus who bring people together to teach them the love and truth of Jesus through relationship. It's not about Sunday, it's about the everyday.

As a church we gather Sundays at 4:30, and share a meal together after our gatherings twice a month. We believe in community, and we believe in doing life together and we would love for you to join us.

We serve Monmouth, Independence, Dallas, and the surrounding areas in Oregon. We post weekly sermons and highlights to help you grow in your walk with Jesus.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well again, um just just honored to be here uh with you all today on this special Sunday and to share the word of the Lord with you. Um, after our gathering here, um, a wonderful uh full-blown Easter meal has been prepared downstairs. And I don't want to make you hungry too early, but I think there's like 40 pounds of ham down there. I think I heard about some potatoes and some homemade rolls. I mean, there's like amazing stuff downstairs. So I'm just gonna tell you right now, I'm inviting you all personally, come to the table tonight. It's downstairs, it's not weird. We're just gonna be family and have a good time and celebrate. That's really the heart of tonight. We want to celebrate that he has risen. We wanna, we want to, and we want to indulge a little because he has risen, right? And we are so thankful. Uh, just as Shane mentioned in his prayer earlier, right? It's not Good Friday because of what he had to walk through. It's a good Friday because he endured it for us, because we're redeemed, and now he has risen. So, all right. Well, today's message, I've titled it for um, I think you'll catch on pretty quick here, but um, hope rises. Hope rises. And I I'm excited to share the word of the Lord. I hope, I hope you had a chance to read along in the Bible reading plan and the fasting guide this week. Man, who who who would admit, I know we're not supposed to talk about fasting, but who would say, man, that was hard, right? Am I the only one? That was hard. You know, I thought I was like, oh man, I I got this, right? I got this, no problem. And then about halfway then, I'm like, I don't got this anymore. I don't got this, right? It was tough, right? But um, but I'm so thankful for the the scripture reading and the and the and the song lists that were in there and the prayers and the opportunity. So thank you for participating in that. But I want to, if you brought your Bible or you got your smart device and you want to open up that Bible app, you can go to Mark chapter 16, and we're gonna we're gonna look at this. And hopefully you've been you've been reading this this week, so it's familiar to you. Um, but let's um let's talk about a little bit about hope rises. Okay. So starting off, let me ask a question for you tonight. What is the gospel? What is the gospel, right? What's that? Joseph nailed it right there. It's the good news, but what's the good news? Salvation? The kingdom of God has come. What else? Our Savior, what else? Hope, yeah, I love it. Absolutely. It is hope. The good news, what else? Faith, opportunity, right? What's that? Love, absolutely, Shane. Thank you. Absolutely. So the good news really encompasses all that Jesus had come to accomplish and to do, right? And so, just kind of in a short survey or a short little note here, Jesus came at the will of the Father to be born of a woman, right? And then he lived a life preaching and teaching the kingdom of heaven, and he healed those who were sick and oppressed by the devil, and then he willingly laid down his life like a like a spotless lamb of God that he was, and he gave up his life for our redemption. But he did not stay in the grave. Three days later, he resurrected and he came out of that grave so that you and I could have hope. That's really, in essence, that's that when we talk about the gospel or the good news, that's what it's all about, right? And so hope rises because of the good news about Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not gonna rock your world today because I want us to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what the gospel is today. I want to make sure that we understand that the gospel isn't just for the spiritually lost, but the gospel is also for those that believe. Right? Did you catch that tonight? The gospel isn't only for those who are spiritually lost. Sometimes we think, well, we save those Sundays for when there's sinners around, right? Okay, no, no. The gospel is for everybody all the time. And I don't know about you, but the longer I serve Jesus, the longer I live for Jesus, what I have discovered is I need the gospel more and more all the time. I mean, 100% every day, right? And so I want to make sure that we get that point tonight. But let's go to our text, and as you're getting there to Mark 16, I just want to say, I don't know if you got a chance, but but Maggie Triplett's here today, and she's walking on her own. And man, that's a miracle, guys. That is just an awesome, amazing miracle. So we're so excited to see you, Maggie. I meant to say something last Sunday, but it's so good to see you. So glad you're here. She loves attention too, so that's good. All right. All right, Mark 16. Strong, independent woman. Yes. Okay. When the Sabbath was over, verse one, Mary, Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint him. Because remember, his death on the cross was very all of it happened very quickly. In fact, it was earlier on before his death that he was anointed with all that nard, that expensive nard, that perfume that was poured all over him. Many think that he would have still smelled like it because it was so much that was dumped all over him in days in advance. But now they're going back because they want to properly prepare the body. Okay? Just to give you a little perspective there. Uh verse two, very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise. They were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us? Right? Because I mean, these were very strong, independent women, but that stone was big, okay? So they needed a little bit of help here. Verse 4. Looking up, they noticed that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. But when they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. He says, Don't be alarmed, he told them. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth. He was crucified, he has risen, he is not here. See the place where they put him, but go tell his disciples and Peter, kind of a big deal, right? He is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there just as he has told you. Right? So this is this is such a beautiful picture, right? Can you imagine going out there? And I think sometimes we forget if you've gone through a hard time, you've lost a loved one, or you're just going through a season of depression or grief, sometimes you forget that it's hard to see. Right? And this is what happened, right? These disciples and these very special ladies, they'd been journeying with Jesus for over three years. And all of a sudden, this one that was teaching about the kingdom of God, that was raising the the dead back to life and the blind to see and the lame to walk, and teaching of all these things. He had the words of life, the bread of heaven. He was taken from them, and they were shook. And so they were, you can imagine their surprise and how hard it would be to respond in that moment to see the fact that the very tomb that Jesus had said that he would no longer be in was empty, right? So let's talk about the most obvious thing when we think about the gospel tonight. The first thing is this the gospel saves us. I know you're like, whoa, that's mind-blowing, right? But that's the truth, right? The gospel saves us. Do you remember when when Jesus told the disciples that he was gonna be handed over and that he was gonna die? And Peter said, No, no, not so. You're not, that's not gonna happen to you. And and and Jesus looked at Peter and he said, Get behind me, Satan. Do you guys remember that part of the story, right? Why? Because Jesus didn't come for self-pleasure. Jesus did not come to have a good time on earth. Like, hey, I man, I got out of heaven for a while. I'm gonna have a good time on earth. That's not why he came. Jesus came to fulfill the perfect will of the Father. And that and that perfect will of the Father was to redeem all mankind from their sins, to willingly lay down his life, right? So the so what we know about the truth of the gospel is that the gospel saves us. It saves us spiritually, it saves our souls, right? And in Romans 1:16, oh, I love what Paul says here. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? He says, I'm not ashamed of it, right? Because it is the power, I'm gonna better go back here. It is the power of God for salvation for who? Who believes, right? First to the Jew and also to the Greek. So again, what we understand is that is that the gospel, it saves us, right? So what are a couple things? We've been highlighting that over the last several weeks as we've been talking about the blood of Jesus. Well, it paid the price for us, right? Because sin, the wages of sin is death, right? So it paid the price for us, but it also, his life was given in exchange for ours, right? It was supposed to be ours, but it was his. We passed from death now to life because of Jesus. Our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Uh, we have hope and a future. Isn't that cool to think about? Hope and a future. Bottom line is, church, we're saved. We are saved because of what Jesus has done for us. And that, in its simplest form, is the good news for your co-workers, for your classmates, for your neighbors, for the for the person that you you're grumpy with at the grocery store, right? For the person that cut you off on the highway, right? For for the people that slighted you, whatever the situation is, I want you to understand something, church. The gospel saves, and it's the good news for everybody. And we have an opportunity to represent that, right? But here's where I often think that we stop right here. We're like, you know, I said yes to Jesus, I've made him my Lord and Savior, I'm just good to go, right? No, no, no, the gospel is so much more, it's so much more that we have to experience throughout our entire lives. So the second thing I want to talk to you about tonight is the gospel saves us from ourselves. I don't know about you guys, but I have learned as an almost 45-year-old, I'll just tell you all lamb, I don't care. I'm almost 45, right? And I will tell you, unfortunately, 45 years old, been serving Jesus for a long time. We've had some lumps and bumps along the way, but you know what I have learned, even after all these years, is the flesh wants what the flesh wants. And I've had to learn how to die to that flesh. I've had to learn to go daily to the cross so that I could die to self and so that I could follow after Jesus, right? So the gospel is continuing to save me from my own self. The gospel is saving you as well from yourself, right? See, you don't just say yes to Jesus and run out of church and you're like, man, I got I got the best policy that was on the market today. Let me tell you something about it. Uh, when I die, I get to go to heaven. Isn't that good news, right? No, you, the gospel is continually saving you day by day as you and I pursue an ongoing love relationship with Jesus Christ. Right? So the gospel saves us from ourselves. Let's go right back to the text tonight. Mark 16, verse 9. Early, oh man, they these guys like to get up early. Do you guys like getting up early? No? We're like usually most days 5 a.m., baby. 5 a.m., man. It's we don't want to miss out on what's happening in the world, right? All right, Mark's. Some of you guys are like 9 a.m., 10 a.m. Come on, you know. Uh Mark 16, 9 says, early on the first day of the week after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. Isn't this this is I think this is such a special note that the the scriptures left behind. That he appeared to Mary Magdalene. This is the woman he had driven seven seven demons out of. She went and reported to those who had been with him, and as they were mourning and weeping, see, they were still, they were so filled with grief. They were mourn mourning and weeping, right? But it says this, even though she said, I have seen the Lord, he is risen, he is risen indeed. They said this, yet when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it. Mark also tells us that after this he appeared in a different, different form to two of them walking on their way in the country. Luke talks about the road to Emmaus, right? And this is kind of a recount of that as well. And he says, And they went and reported it to the rest, and they didn't believe it either. Second time, man, they didn't believe it. After this, he appeared in a different form to two of them. Oh, I just read that part. Sorry. Verse 14. Later he appeared to the eleven themselves, and as they were reclining at the table, he rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen. So here we got three accounts just in the gospel of Mark alone, where the people that he had revealed himself to did not believe the good news of the gospel that he had been risen, that he had come out of that grave, right? Why? Because they were so full of grief and hurt and disappointment. I mean, remember Peter? Peter said, Lord, I will never deny you, even if it cost me my life. And then Jesus said, Well, this very day you're gonna deny me three times before the rooster crows. And he denied him three times. Can you imagine the grief and the bitterness and probably feeling like he needed unhe needed forgiveness, right? He was so distraught. And so all this is happening, right? And so I want to remind you something this that we need saving from our sin, but we also need saving from ourselves. The gospel isn't just a work of the spirit, it's a it's a work done in us to change the way that we live life. It is a work in our hearts, Rhonda, but it's got to work out in our heart to the point that it works out in our marriage, that it works out in how we conduct ourselves at work, that it works out in how we handle ourselves behind the wheel, still working on that. Works out how we do in the drive-thru at the, you know, in the grocery store line at the gas station and how we treat our kids and how we treat people around us, right? Our salvation has to get worked out. It's got to work out of us and into the people around us. We gotta be saved from ourselves. Oh man. So I just want to remind us that life is hard tonight. I want you to know if you've given your life to Jesus, I will not promise you that everything is gonna be rainbows and unicorns. It's gonna be hard. People are gonna pass, people will betray you, people will hurt you. Sometimes we even get friendly fire, and that's even worse, right? All those things happen. But I just want you to I want you to be reminded that Jesus, the gospel, has come to save us from ourselves. You know, years ago, I I've used this example before, but it it's just so prevalent to my wife and I, and I just want to share it again. But when we went through our first church plant and things didn't work out, it really hurt us. It was kind of like we felt like we had lost somebody because we'd poured out our hearts, we'd poured out our souls, we'd poured out our time and our energy and our resources. And when that didn't work out, it was like it was like it was like something had died inside of us. And and I want to tell you something, it's taken us a lot of years for God to reconcile and resurrect and restore what was lost back then. And so I just want you to see here that sometimes you may not realize it right now, but you're walking around with grief and disappointment and unforgiveness and offense and hurt in your life, and you have Jesus in your heart, but all this stuff is still there too. And you need saving from yourself. You need God to step in and to cleanse all that out so that you can live a redeemed and free life in Jesus. You gotta get saved from yourself. So the gospel is continuing to change us day by day. But not only that, but the gospel, I love this one. The gospel sustains us. Oh man, it sustains us, church. You know what? This week in fasting was so revealing. Oh my goodness, right? Going something as simple as food, right? You would think, okay, this isn't gonna be that big of a deal, but what do we do most days as people? We go to work so that we can make money, so that we can buy food, so that we can prepare food, so that we can eat food, so that we can enjoy food, right? We do all those things almost every single day of our lives, and then all of a sudden you take that away, the thing that God has designed to sustain us physically, you remove that, and what happens? I learned this week really quickly that I had to I had to be sustained by God. That in order to actually experience something beyond a fast of the body, meaning trying to lose weight and you know get all cut and look good and stuff, right? Beyond that, but to actually say no to my body and say yes to Jesus, that I had to learn how to how to allow him to sustain. And you did too. That was part of that journey that we walked through this week. And sustain is such a powerful word. I want to read a definition of it to hear tonight. It says to keep from falling, to bear, to uphold, to support. Church, I just want you to know something. Sometimes we can get disappointed when what we see happening in the church, but I want you to know something. God has not forsaken his church. I want you to know that God is the one who sustains his church. And I'm not just talking about community life church, I'm talking about the global church. I'm talking about every church that chooses to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He sustains them by his power and his greatness. So listen to this to support as a foundation sustains, the superstructure. I love that. The superstructure. God is like that superstructure. A beast sustains a load, a rope sustains a weight. Church, I want you to know something. The gospel can sustain you through the roughest times of your life. The gospel can sustain you through depression, the gospel can sustain you through anything that the enemy or this world or others will throw at you. The gospel can sustain your life. John 6 35 says, I am the bread of life. Oh, that's a that's a good word right there, church. Jesus told them, No one comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. Matthew 4, 4, he answered, It is written, man must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Isn't that good? I'm so encouraged tonight, church. All right, let's keep let's keep pressing on here. You doing okay? I know it's a it's weird. We went from being cold to being a little warm, and it's a little warm in here, but I don't know about you. I'd much rather have the sun in the sky. So I'm happy. All right. Some of you have been praying for rain. Shame on you. I'm just saying, shame. All right. Okay. The gospel, it saves us, saves us from ourselves, it sustains us, but the gospel also guides us. Isn't that a powerful word? The gospel is guiding us. Let's go right back to our text tonight here. Mark 16, 16. Whoever believes and is baptized will be what?

unknown 19:35

Saved.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Be what? I didn't hear you. What? Hey, there we go. But whoever does not believe will be condemned. Church, we got work to do. Did you hear that tonight? We got work to do. We can't settle for that, right? People have to make a choice, but we need to make sure that they're given an opportunity to make a choice, right? Verse 17, and these signs will accompany those who believe in my name. They will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up snakes. Don't worry, we're not gonna have a snake handling service. I promise. If they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will get well. You don't have it on the screen, but I'm gonna keep reading here for just a moment. So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven. And what, guess what? He sat down at the right hand of Almighty God, and they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by accompanying signs. That's that's the heart of what he's saying there. He says, I'm gonna, I'm gonna guide you. I'm gonna put my spirit in you, I'm gonna empower you. And as you go and obey what I've commanded you to do, guess what? I'm gonna back it up with signs and wonders. Church, God's not done with signs and wonders. God's not done backing up what he's asked us to do as the church. He will do as he's promised. He's faithful to do as he has promised. Now, I want to remind you tonight, because I know sometimes we read passages like this and we think, well, hey, pastor, calm down a little bit. I'm I'm not called to be a pastor. You are. Well, that might be true, but guess what? Guess what? We may not all be called to be pastors, but we are all called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the truth tonight. Maybe you thought, you know what, man, Lily was telling me, you know, working at McDonald's, she's like, guess what? At McDonald's, I don't have to share the gospel. No, she would never say that. Guess what? When she's when she's serving at McDonald's, she's serving gospel burgers, man. She's serving them up hot and fresh. And I'm telling you what, what an opportunity to share the love in Jesus Christ right where she's working every single day. Isn't that awesome to think about? Thank you, Lily, for participating with me. I appreciate that. All right. But the same good work, remember this. Remember this. The same good work that God is working in you, He wants to work in those. That you share the gospel with. Think about that. Think about that. That shit hit hard. Because I don't know about you, but before Jesus, I had, I mean, I have a lot of issues today, but I had a lot of issues before Jesus. I mean, a whole lot more issues before Jesus. And he just keeps working on me. And so when we see people out there, we need to understand that God wants to work in them too. And he will guide us in those conversations, guide us in those relationships. But let's get personal with it for just a moment because some of you are thinking, wait, what about me? He will guide you in the decisions of life if you will only ask and obey him. Do you know that, church? He will guide you in the decisions of life if you will only ask and obey him. My wife doesn't like it when I tell the story because she thought that I was unsure, but I just wanted God's confirmation. And the reality is, is when I knew, you know, when you're in that serious relationship, you know, and you're like, you got to buy the ring and you got to make that big step of faith and make it happen, make it, make it legit and all that stuff. And I would I knew it was serious business. You know, my parents, my parents have been married over 50 years now. Back then it was a little bit less than, but it was still a long time. And I knew that marriage was serious business. But you know what's so cool is I sought the Lord for a couple weeks. And as I sought the Lord, he confirmed in my heart. He spoke to me and confirmed and he led me. And she has been the greatest decision apart from Jesus Christ in my life. Why? Because the gospel was guiding me. Why? Because my wife has always pointed me back to Jesus. The moment he told us to have kids, guess what? Our prayer together is, Jesus, our desire is that our kids would always choose you. God is always working in us. Why? Because we've asked him about the relationship, right? So if you're here tonight and you're thinking, man, I need God's guidance in my future spouse, guess what? Ask him and obey him. See, sometimes the problem is we ask him, he tells us what to do, and we don't like the answer. But he will guide you. And if you'll respond to that, I promise you, you'll be blessed. Or how about this? Some of you might be out there thinking, man, I really, I just desire a house. I want to have a house. I want to have a home. We want to, we're, we don't want to be in this situation anymore. We want to do this. Start asking Jesus. Start praying about it. He cares about your well-being. You can ask him for those things. He'll give you, he'll lead you and guide you. I promise you. How about a career path? Some of you young people in the room, you're trying to figure out what's next after high school, what's next after middle school, what's next after grade school, what's next after all these things. And you're thinking, what do I do, God? Start asking him. The gospel will guide you if you'll just walk with him. How about this? Financial decisions. You know, I Carissa and I could, we could teach a seminar on bad financial decisions. But we are learning how to continue to ask God for guidance. And he's guiding us and helping us in our decision making. So whatever your calling in life is, we are all called to live and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Church, hope rises. Hope rises because the gospel is just not for the spiritually lost, but it's be for the believer as well. And we can rejoice in that salvation. We can rejoice in the fact that he's daily saving us from ourselves. We can rejoice in the fact that he is sustaining us. Some of you might be going through some real stuff. And I empathize with you because those are tough seasons. And in one of my toughest seasons, I remember having a crisis of faith, but God didn't leave me or forsake me. He walked me through it and helped me. He guided me back into his loving hands. So he'll sustain you and he will guide you. So this is what I like to do as we conclude our time. And before I, I'm going to invite the worship team here in just a moment, before the worship team comes, I want to I want to propose a couple questions to you today. This is something my wife and I were just feeling feeling really strongly about together as we were talking about the gospel, thinking about this time that we would get to share together today. But how do you need to respond to the gospel today? Some of you might be sitting here and you're like, man, I said yes to Jesus 40, 50, 60 years ago. I said yes to Jesus 20, 30 years ago. Or I said yes to Jesus five years ago or one year ago or six months ago, or you know, I've said yes to Jesus and praise God for that. But maybe you're sitting here today and you say, you know what? But man, I there's some things in my life. There's some things that are going on in my life, and I need the gospel today to save me from myself. Maybe that's something that you need to interact with today, right? How do you need to respond to the gospel today? What have you done with it? Because the gospel is not something. Remember the great story of the man, or there's there's a couple of great stories in the Bible, but I was thinking about we're called to be salt and light, right? You don't you don't bury, you don't bury a light, you put it up on the mantle so it can illuminate the entire room, right? So what do you what are you gonna do? What have you done with the gospel? Have you hidden it? Have you have you shared it? Have you have you been living it, right? So what what will you do with it today? This is Resurrection Sunday. We we can't leave the gospel, the good news that hope has risen. We can't leave that here in this moment. You know why? Because we know. And because we know we have an obligation as followers of Jesus Christ, right? That's the point. We're here to equip you to become disciples of Jesus so that you can become disciple makers in the world around you. That's that's that's the heartbeat here at community life. That's not that's our desire, right? Be daily devoted followers of Jesus. That's being a disciple. Being a disciple maker is joining people on their journey through life and faith. That's what it's all about, right? So we can't leave the gospel on a Sunday anymore. But the gospel goes with us. The gospel is alive inside of us. You know, I shared what I shared about Pastor Celso, not because not because there's something special about this building, because we all, those of us who belong to Jesus, we walked in with Jesus. But we were believing for an extra special moment with God where he saturated the whole space that we were in. Do you see the difference in that? It's just it's just desiring. It's like when he would enter into the temple in a greater way. It was just that was just that kind of a desire, right? So, how do you need to respond to the gospel today? I'm gonna I'm gonna invite everybody here to bow ahead and to close their eyes. Not that it's any more spiritual or ritual, but just simply for the fact that I want you to take this moment serious. And I know that we have kids and youth in the room, and and I know as kids and youth, sometimes you know you can't sit still more than like two seconds. But closing your eyes and bowing your head is a way for you to turn off distractions in the room. And I'm gonna ask you right now, don't be a distraction to your neighbor next to you. But how do you need to respond to the gospel today? So the first question I have is simple. If you simply say, I just need Jesus today, would you just lift a hand when nobody's heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Would you just lift a hand? If you just need Jesus today, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

I'm just gonna wait a moment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Thank you. Others in the room tonight, maybe what you're saying is you say, you know what, I I need some saving for myself. I I haven't been sharing that gospel. I haven't been living that gospel. I I've been hiding it and just enjoying it for myself and but but no longer. I I'm ready to take that step. I'm I'm ready to to go further in my faith. I'm ready to to live it and walk it and love Jesus every day at home and at work and at school and everywhere I go. And if that's you tonight and you're you need that saving from yourself, I just gonna invite you to lift a hand in the room tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Lots of you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Now this one hits a little a little harder to home here, but if you walked in the door tonight with grief, with hurt, with pain, maybe unforgiveness in your life.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Lift a hand tonight. Thank you. Oh wow. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And finally, tonight some of you got some decisions in your life.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Big decisions about your future. But I just want you to know that God's gonna guide you and He's gonna lead you.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

But if that's you tonight you need you just need to you just need to acknowledge that. You're like, Jesus, I if you'll speak to me, I'll obey whatever it is you say to me. I'll walk it out, Jesus. I'm ready to take that step of faith. If that's you tonight, I want you to lift a hand. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Thank you. So here's what we're gonna do. The Bible says that if you confess Jesus as Lord, in other words, if you speak from your mouth that Jesus is Lord, if you repent of your sins, in other words, if you turn away from your sins and you start moving towards God, the Bible says that you are gonna be saved, you're gonna be redeemed, the Spirit of the living God is gonna inhabit you as a temple and he's gonna begin changing your life from the inside out. The rest of you that prayed this or lifted your hand on those separate issues, as I pray in closing here, I want to invite you to talk to God on your own. I can only lead you to where you need to go, but you have to take the step of faith so that there can be healing and freedom and forgiveness and hope in your life. Pray with me tonight. Father, in the name of Jesus, I just thank you for this resurrection Sunday. God, I thank you that we are excited and we have hope because you rose from that grave. Father, in this room tonight, many have raised their hands, acknowledging, acknowledging their need for you in so many different ways. God, I pray for those who are making a decision right now to make you Lord. God, thank you that you are filling their heart, that they are a change, that they are a new creation in Christ, that their sins are being forgiven, that their names are being written in the Lamb's book of life, that they have a hope in a future. And God, I pray for those tonight in this room, God, that need saving from themselves. God, I pray, Lord, whatever they need to lay at the cross tonight, God, I just pray for breakthrough and change. God, I pray for those in the room that admitted they're dealing with hurt, they're dealing with grief, they're dealing with pain and unforgiveness. God, I pray as they begin to talk to you about that tonight, God, that no longer, that God, you would lift this season of depression, God, you would take away the shroud of heaviness, God, that you would remind them that hope has risen, that God, that you are alive, that God, you are doing a work inside of them, that you would rejuvenate them, that you would bring resurrection power inside of them and restore them from the inside out. And God, I thank you for the wisdom and the guidance that you are bringing to many in this room tonight. Lord, we've left the cat out of the bag. The gospel isn't a secret any longer. God, we want to live it. God, we want to talk it. God, we want to share it. So, God, I pray, give us the courage as you speak to us. Give us the courage to faithfully walk in obedience. Lead your church, shake your church, God. We want to see revival in monuments, God, we want to see revival in our homes. We want to see revival in this community, God. We want to see hearts and lives being touched and changed because you're shaking your church. Shake us, resurrect us back to life. God, thank you for what you're doing here tonight. Father, we love you, we honor you, and we just give you all the praise tonight. In Jesus' mighty name.