God is good. God is good. And as I was praying about this morning, I was really reminded of how we wrapped up our trip with Teresa's team down there.
They wanted to come out and have fellowship with us. That very last night, we rented this big house that most of us stayed in, Mike and Becca found another place so they could have a bit of their own space, but we had room to have everybody over there that last night, and they're so gracious, so sweet sharing. You know how much it meant for them, for us to come.
How many of you know that this is the first team that we've sent down since they became a faith alive church, so that was huge for them, that we're here.
This is happening. This is our family. And they were just, you know, sucking up everything we could pour into them, the love, the connection, and as they were sharing at the end, I could see the faces of our whole team, kind of looking at one another, because there was a very specific word that came out of Teresa's mouth as she was thanking us for coming, she was saying, Thank you for being the bridge that would make these connections possible. You know that hit all of us, I think, because if you've been around here for any time, you know that it's been prophesied over faith alive, that we would be a bridge and that we would connect people together. We would connect, make divine connections that allow people to get where they need to go. And I didn't really ever think of it in that context, but we are called to be a bridge, amen in so many areas of our life, and you know, I started to study this because I felt this so strong, and the Lord brought to my remembrance that that word, it was just a piercing word that went in my heart as she's thanking us. And then we prayed together that we have been a bridge for them, that God is calling us to be a bridge.
You're called to be that person, that place, that people, that fills in a literal gap that people couldn't get from point A to point B, if you weren't there, you stand in a place that was impossible or next to impossible, to get through if you weren't facilitating other people's journey, other people's walk.
And that goes for unbelievers, right, who have yet to know Christ, that you can be a bridge for those who have yet to meet God, to experience God, because we can extend our experience of God. We don't just live over in the Promised Land, thankful that we're saved, but we reach across into, you know, the world of the lost, the kingdom of darkness, to create a bridge that people can cross over to experience what we've experienced. I mean, that's just the DNA of discipleship. Jesus, as he in Matthew chapter 10, is equipping His disciples to go out and to preach into all these different communities. He tells them, Go preach the gospel, go heal the sick, go raise the dead as you have received freely. You have received now freely. Give. Be a bridge. Don't just receive, receive, receive. We all love to receive, receive, receive, and we are needy, right?
Am I the only needy one in the room?
Or do I have to ask your spouse if you're needy to get an honest answer? I'm sorry. I thought I'd get some glances out of that one. But we are also a bridge for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're a bridge for people who have yet to experience what we've experienced. We're a bridge for those who have yet to receive revelation that we have received. We are supposed to operate as a bridge for people.
And you know, I'm like, Thank You Lord. I feel this word burning in me that were to be a bridge. So I did the diligent thing, and I typed in Bridge to see, where is there bridge in the Bible? And do you care? Can anybody tell me your favorite bridge passage in the Bible?
Good. We don't have any liars in the room. There are no bridge passages in the Bible. So like, I'm like, Okay, I feel so strong about this message about bridge, but there's no literal bridges in the Bible. It's not even used as a metaphor in the Bible. But, you know, I asked my daughter last night I wanted to test her Bible knowledge. Yeah. And I'm like, I showed her that picture that we put up be the bridge.
And I'm like, This is what I'm speaking on tomorrow. What do you does the Bible talk about bridges? And she jumped right to, well, I can't think of any bridges in the Bible, but Jesus is like a bridge, right? And so she's already jumping to the next step. And it's so true, right? Jesus is the one who bridges Heaven and Earth for us.
Jesus is the one who makes a way where there is no way. And of course, I love history, and I'm thinking, okay, bridges are there no bridges? Well, for the most part, in ancient times, like until the Romans came around, and they're like building infrastructure and highways, they start building bridges. But before that, if you wanted to cross a river, you needed a boat, or you found a Ford. Okay, not a Ford Focus, not a Ford f1 50, not. I don't know if Ford makes boats. I don't think so. But you you know what a Ford is. It's a shallow part of the river, right? So either it's naturally a place where stones and stuff has settled and people can, you know, just kind of wade through safely and, you know, ride animals through without it getting too deep, or it's a place that's literally been kind of filled in to allow people to cross over. But how many of you know Fords really depend on the conditions to allow people to cross? You know, I think about our ferries here in Saskatchewan, how many of you have used our ferry system? A lot of us, right? Some of you are like, there are ferries in Saskatchewan? Yes, there are.
There's river crossings that our government decided it's cheaper to boat a boat and pay somebody to go do this every day, all day long. But how many of you know there's a part of the year where that doesn't work, where it gets too cold, all of the rest. So in other words, these things, they're not as foolproof as we would like them to be. There are places that maybe people can get where they're going, but the conditions need to be just right. But when you got a bridge in place, you can weather a lot more conditions, a lot more stuff can be going on. The bridge creates a permanent connection that no matter what's going on, there's storm, there's sunny weather, people can get from this side to that side safely. And I think some of the time, we're kind of expecting people to find their own way.
We're kind of expecting people to avail themselves of, you know, the shallow places, the Fords, the this and that, to get to where they're going. And we kind of look from across the river like, why don't they?
Don't they know it's better on this side of the river, and we're waiting for them to make that transition. And God is saying, Okay, it's great. You got here. Maybe it was a divine act of God that got you to the other side of the river. I can think of some pretty interesting crossings in the Bible. Amen.
God, I guess, didn't need bridges. He just opens seas and piles up the Jordan River and, okay, there you go. And thank God, some of us that is our testimony, we we could have never crossed from point A to point B, but God stepped down in supernatural power. He changed the existing conditions in a moment and said, you want to get over there now is your opportunity get moving. Thank you God that so many of us were supernaturally brought through like that. But then we shouldn't stand on the other side of the river now, looking across at everybody else. It's like, Well, God opened the river for me. Why doesn't he do it for you? We should look at the resources that we are now blessed with, the experiences that we have in God, the revelation that God has given to us, everything that we have freely received, and start to build bridges that people can cross over.
Are you with me this morning?
And as I said, Jesus, ultimately, is the bridge builder. He is the One Who closed the gap between heaven and earth. And look at what it says here in Ephesians, chapter two, talking about, you know, the word bridge. Again, it isn't in the Bible, but there's all sorts of words that talk about bridging distances in relationships between peoples, between groups. So when we look at words like reconciliation, that's a relational bridge, right? Where you had somebody standing on this side, somebody standing on this side, and there is a chasm between them that you cannot hope to just jump across.
There is something going on between us and God, for example, right? We're on this side, full of sin, full of shame, we're condemned, we're guilty. God is on this side. He is righteous, He is holy, He is good. And what does Jesus come and do? He makes a way. He is the only way the Bible says. He says, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. And no one comes to the Father, but through me, he is that bridge.
And what does he do? He reconciles us to God. So I'm in Ephesians chapter two, and I just love this whole passage.
And I hope you can pick up on the bridge imagery that at least is ministering to me as I look at it afresh, I look at it with new eyes. Ephesians, chapter two, verse 11, says, Therefore, remember that at one time, you Gentiles. I like the King James version of some of these things, because Gentiles that's so sanitized, Gentiles that doesn't feel so bad, even feels gentle.
It's like you you gentle people.
No, it's not Gentiles, you pagans. So I think we should sometimes insert that back in there to put a little bit of spice back to make it understand like whoa. You know, I wasn't just some other people group, pagans, separated from God, worshiping everything as Romans talks about people whose understanding is just corrupt and are worshiping all the wrong things. So pagans in the flesh called the Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. In other words, the Jew Gentile divide, right? Remember that you were at one time, separated from Christ, and this is what I'm talking about. We need to remember the gap that used to exist between us and God. We need to remember where we used to be and how impossible it was for us to change before we encountered Christ, because we can look at the world in condemnation. We can look at the news and our social media feed and be angry all day. That's what keeps your dopamine running, right? It's just another thing to get your adrenaline going, to keep you clicking, to keep you scrolling, break free of that. Start to remember what God has done for you, and begin to see what he can do for everyone else.
Because I'm not that special.
I mean, we're all Special to God, right, in one sense. But if he can do it for me, I know, and I believe that He is no respecter of persons, and he wants and he's willing to do it for everyone else, amen. I do not believe God has done anything for me that he doesn't want to do for everybody else.
There are no people that God does not want to save. There are no people that God does not want to restore. There is no one out there that God considers too lost of a cause that he doesn't want to forgive for this is impossible with men, right? But it is possible with God. God is the God of the impossible, no matter how far gone, no matter how messed up, no matter what it looks like. God is a God that wants to bring restoration. So we who have experienced God's forgiveness, who have experienced the power of God, who have experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit, who have seen healings happen, miracles happen. We need to remember that we were, at one time, separated from Christ.
We were alienated. That's talking about that gap, separated alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. In other words, we were not God's people.
How many of you know it's a great thing to now be the people of God, the people of God, not the individual that God loves in a special little bubble, all by myself. God is all about a people, and I'm so glad that we get to be part of a people, amen, but we used to be separated, alienated, for. From the commonwealth of Israel or the people of God. We were strangers to the covenants of promise. We had no hope without God in the world, no hope.
That's sounding like a gulf too far to bridge, right, just to cross. But now in Christ, there's, there's the big shift in what Paul is talking about.
It's, let's let it sink in where we used to be, but let's then remember what it looks like now, and it's because of Christ, because he spans the gap. He is the bridge. But now in Christ, Jesus, You who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Jesus, blood builds the bridge. Amen. He brings us near by the blood of the cross. In other words, this isn't just a Oh, never mind. It wasn't that big deal, after all.
No, the ultimate sacrifice had to be paid for us to now be brought near to God. This isn't cheap. This isn't easy, this isn't flippant. This isn't just, oh, I'm going to decide to forgive them one day, the price was paid for our sin, Gloria, Dios, alleluia. Does everybody think Spanish sounds better? Or is that just Mike? I think it's all the vowels in Spanish. They just keep things rolling nicely.
For he himself. Verse 14, he himself is our peace. And you know, as I was preparing for this, I was reminded of Matthew, chapter five, verse 10, in the Beatitudes, where it says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God, right? Because the Son of God is the great peacemaker, right? Who brings the reconciliation, who bridges the gap between God and mankind? So if he as the Son of God, the only begotten special Son of God is the peacemaker, the bridge builder. Then if we partner and we are peacemakers, we're reflecting who he is. We get to be like him, for he himself is our peace, who has made both one and broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility. I love this because Paul, and it's really kind of hard to unpack this all and that's, I mean, that's just true of our life in Christ. How many of you know we encounter Christ?
And in simple terms, it's like, all of a sudden the weight of the world gets lifted. My sins are forgiven. I'm lighter. You know, I can feel newness of life coming into me. I know I'm forgiven by God, but God's really doing much more than that in us. He's not just dealing with you individually. He's putting you into right relationship with everything he's making, all things new God begins to change how you relate to the world, how you relate to people. Your salvation isn't supposed to just end with reconciliation between you and God. It's supposed to set you up for reconciliation with others.
It's supposed to take the things that once made us, us and them and make us one in Christ amen.
And you know, we get to experience this. You know, as we as we go on trips like this, even, and we rub shoulders with brothers and sisters, they speak a different language, they have a different culture, they have a different way of doing things.
But you get worshiping together, and in Christ, you realize this is the same spirit. We are all one. I'm not just it's not just that I can enter boldly before the throne of grace and now worship God with freedom. It's now that I have been made part of a family that transcends culture and language. I belong to something amazing and Paul, of course, the big battle in his day was between Jews and Gentiles, US pagans, right?
Former pagans, okay? I hope there are no pagans today in the room, and if you are, it's your opportunity to get saved.
Probably not the best invitation line, probably not the best way to build a bridge. You.
Ah, so he himself is our peace.
He has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of two. So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.
Again, we're drawn near by the blood, and it's the cross that brings us through the cross that those of us who are afar off are brought near. And, you know, I remember, as we did evangelism back in the day, and we had different tracks and stuff, I always remember that illustration, anybody ever seen that where there's a cliff on this side, and that's man in his sin, and then there's the big chasm, right? And on this side is God and His Holiness. And what's the bridge that crosses the two the cross? And there's a lot of truth to that image, right? Jesus, through His death on the cross, through his blood, builds a bridge for us. He came and preached peace to those who were far off and to those who were near. For through him, we both have access, in one Spirit, to the Father. And I just want to point that out that there are some people that are way far off. They needed to be reconciled. They needed a bridge to be built for them, but there were others that were a lot nearer. There may be standing on the other side of the river looking for a way to get across.
They know that God's over there, and they like to get to God.
Other people, they're over here thinking they're having the time of their life, and they're ignorant and they're they need God just as much, but they're unaware. So he says that through Christ, both are drawn near, are brought over to God.
I say that because perhaps again, there are people that we think are okay, our good people are on the right track, if they have not had their sins forgiven by placing their faith, their trust in Jesus Christ, they can have their feet wet on the other side of the river, looking longingly to our side of the river, they are still lost. They need forgiveness. They need you know that nobody is saved outside of Jesus. Jesus didn't say, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
For most people, other people will find their way in. Somehow.
Jesus actually said, the others that find their way over, they're liars. They're robbers.
There's thieves. I am the door.
I am the only way. So we need to be building bridges for people, those who look like they're this close, but they need that dry way over, they need that way to access. And then we want to build a bridge even for those who are far away. And you gotta love how this passage ends here in verse 19, it says, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, not the aliens that Trump's talking about this these days.
I shouldn't say stuff like that, should I?
Everybody in the world's now like, ooh, don't get so wrapped up on everything that's going in the world and the deep mysteries of what could be happening behind closed doors. I want to know the deep mysteries that are happening behind closed doors on my knees before my Father.
Amen. Amen. Because when I because when I'm on my knees before my Father in the secret place, I am building a bridge through prayer. And you know, Jesus, he's no longer physically present on the earth. He lives at the right hand of the Father.
He's enthroned. He is ever making intercession for us. He's building bridges for people to come to the Father, Amen, and he taught us to pray what Our Father, Who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And in other words, when we get on our face before God, whether it's together on a Thursday night, together on a Sunday morning or alone as individuals in our prayer closets, we are building bridges, and I will.
Say this that you we can get wrapped up, and even as I'm preaching this message, we can talk about all the ways I can build bridges. Because, yes, your table can be a bridge for somebody Amen, a coffee can be a bridge for somebody being bold enough to actually speak up and say, Hey, would you like to come to church with me? I'll pick you up. I'll take you there. That can be a bridge for somebody, but if that's not undergirded by the prayer necessary to bring power to those actions, then those bridges are going to collapse. They're going to be ineffective, because we get the blueprints and we get the strength we need to really build spiritual bridges, in prayer, in intercession, in the presence of God. Because, you know, I think about a real life experience. I had one thing that I I love adventure, right? So I found it kind of exciting. But how many of you know adventure and excitement is only good when you've got the resources and tools to navigate out of situations? For a lot of people, what we might consider an adventure and exciting is just another hit and another disaster, right? And I can remember being in Guatemala and one of the most devastating storms that they had encountered, experienced in decades. I think, if I got my stories right, I was there for a few of these, but I think the worst one was Agatha in 2010 it was a tropical storm that rolled in, and I was traveling by that time, back and forth to El Salvador, a lot you can imagine why. Actually, if it's 2010 then we were already married, so we were traveling back and forth together. And just east of chicamalea, where we lived, there's a sizable river called Rios clavos and slave river. I don't know why it's called the slave River. Never figured that out, but it's a pretty high level bridge on the Pan American highway. So this is a major route for commerce, for everything, right? And so thank God I wasn't anywhere near the bridge when this happened, but when Agatha came, you know, bridges are designed to resist storms, and you know the river, if it's to rise up in its course, to withstand a certain amount of the erosion and things that happen. But obviously this bridge was either too old, not maintained well enough, or just simply, was not designed to withstand the sort of volume of water that was hitting it during this tropical storm that this massive bridge, hundreds of feet long, like something at least as big as the new North Bridge, completely collapsed, and This is like five minutes down the road on my route to El Salvador. Now, what do I do?
Right? And if I have my dates right, Ceci is traveling back and forth to finish her degree, actually, which was kind of a promise I made to my in laws when we got married. Like, let us get married before she has that degree, Mom and Dad, I'll make sure she finishes her degree and then the bridge washes out. Sorry, no, I gotta find a way.
But I say all of that because we need to make sure that the bridges we're building aren't just slapped together, that they aren't just okay. Here it is. It works for now, but that we get the design, we get the undergirding, we get that strength of spirit that we need in prayer to really bridge those gaps for people, you know, and there was a whole segment of the church that focused so entirely on building bridges to the world that they became more man conscious than they were God conscious. And we like to label those churches. And I'm not saying this to point judgment at anyone, but generally, we call them seeker sensitive churches.
We're all about building bridges. We're all about making church accessible. Yes, church, we want to be out there. We want to be making invitations. We want to be building bridges with our co workers, with our families. We want to be doing these things, but those bridges won't withstand the smallest storm if they're not built and designed in the place of prayer.
First, we cannot move forward.
We cannot build lasting bridges that truly engage with our families, that truly make a way that people can cross if we're not on our knees before the Lord Amen. So it says here, I'm getting excited, but verse 19, it says, so we are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens. And saints in the members of the household of God built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles.
Jesus Christ being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you are also being built together into a dwelling place for his spirit. We're being built into something, and yes, it's a dwelling place for God, for his spirits. And that must be central, or else, or else we'll be busy building bridges, and we might actually get people onto those bridges and they start going over, and they'll get to the other side, and we become disconnected to the very thing we're trying to get them over to. I completely forgotten about this story until right now. God bless Central American storms for illustrations, because there's another bridge right at the Guatemala El Salvador border, again on the route. We had fun at that border the other day, didn't we? Mike, you did some driving you had never done in your life. There are transport trailers piled up for miles and miles back, and it's like you shoot into the left lane to get past the transports. There's only one oncoming lane, then the transports start coming from the other side, and there's nowhere to pull back into the right side. So you pull into the left hand ditch and you keep driving.
That's what it's like at the border on the best of days. So but this bridge, it might have been the same storm, I can't remember now, but the bridge itself withstood the storm, but the river undermined the roadway leading up to it. So it's like on the El Salvador side, you could get up onto the bridge and go over and look at Guatemala, but now the river is flowing and it washed away the road coming to the bridge. Well, that's not very useful, is it? And that's what I'm saying, is like we need this dynamic that we're so rooted in who we are, in Christ, in the life of God, in the spirit of God, in prayer, that we have something that we can bring people to. We don't become, yes, we don't want to become. So God That sounds bad, become too God centered. You know that expression goes around. You're too heavenly minded. You're no earthly good.
There is some truth to that, but the flip side of that is okay, now we got to get to work and do the things that need to get done, and we lose sight of God, and all the power's gone, all the life's gone, and we're just like everybody else. We're so busy over here trying to win the world that we forget that we're also called to live in God, in the promise, in the spirit, in the life of God. We're called to build bridges, but we must remain anchored in God, in who he is, in who He has made us to be. So we're called yes to offer that invitation to be that extension of God's love and grace. Look at this just for a moment, where this brings it home for us as the church in Second Corinthians, chapter five, a well known passage, and we'll end here in it says in chapter five, and I'll just pick it up in verse 16. Before that, you know so much good stuff that it's talking about what Christ has done for us. But it says, From now on, therefore we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
How many new creations do we have in this room? Amen, you've had your sins forgiven, if you've placed your faith in Christ, we are new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All of this is from God, who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Don't you love that, that it's not just God creating a bridge. In Christ to you know, change us, transform us. He makes a way, and then he turns to us and he says, Now you be a bridge. I've built the bridge really, but I want. Wants you to now make access available. So I guess, to further the illustration, Christ is the bridge. We're just making new on ramps. We're just networking. We're making ways for people to get to Christ, because there is no other way.
So he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All of this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Say, I have the ministry of reconciliation. I am a bridge builder. That is in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. And here's another great word you might be like the ministry of reconciliation that sounds like a department of the government.
How do I you know the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministry of reconciliation? Well, this, I think, maybe, helps us to see it even more clearly. Verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.
Can you say I'm an ambassador?
Now, I won't ask you how well you're functioning as an ambassador. I just invite you to become alive to that revelation. Whether you like it or not, you represent the kingdom of God. You represent Christ. That's why you're called a Christian. It's not so that you have something to tick off on the next census that comes around. It's you are a reflection of Christ into the world. Ambassadors are supposed to be the embodiment of the nation that they represent, that when they go places, people are like, that's what it looks like to be a Canadian. That's what it looks like to be whatever nation that that Ambassador represents, right? So we need to represent him well, but an ambassador is sent into another nation to bring that relationship to play Amen. We live in the world, but we're not of the world. We come into the world as God's ambassadors. Again, I say it so that whatever you have freely received, you are to freely give everything that you have is a blessing from God. It's not really yours, and it's at his disposal as an ambassador to build a bridge for somebody else. Amen. He's a good father.
He looks after us. He's not asking you to die on the cross.
Jesus did that, but he is asking you to walk by faith. He is asking you to make yourself available to others and to represent him in the world. God is making his appeal through us, through you and me, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. In other words, when people encounter us, they should feel the draw to come near. They should feel the invitation. They should know that it's time to meet with God, to be forgiven.
Can I ask the band to come up as we conclude here? I Amen. Ours is the ministry of reconciliation.
We're bridge builders, we're ambassadors, but it is ultimately all because of what Christ has done in verse 21 for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, Christ amen, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Some of you know these passages so well that it's hard to even hear it fresh and new. Some of you have maybe never heard this. This is our lifeblood. It's our DNA. If you don't know these passages, or you're grown familiar to them, I encourage you go home and meditate this week on First Corinthians, chapter five, verse 17 through 21 this is who we are. This is what Christ has done for us. This is what we are called to. Can we stand to our feet today?
Thank you, Jesus. Jesus, thank You, Lord, God, Jesus.
God, we just lay our lives before you.
We're so grateful for all that Christ has done for us. We're grateful for the blood for the cross that makes a way. There is no other way. Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus, I just ask you to cause us to remember how lost we were without you, to remember Lord God that we were once your enemies. We were once lost. We were once not your people, but Lord God to see again with fresh eyes, how amazing, how wonderful it is that a way has been made to come to the Father and to enjoy your salvation, to enjoy your spirit, to Lord God, to inherit the promises that you have made. God, I pray that we, as your people today, would build bridges, that we would stand firm, rooted in the Spirit, in prayer, Lord God, in our identity that is in Christ, Jesus, but that we wouldn't be so content to simply live that life, but we would extend Lord God, that that plea, that cry, that invitation to the world, be reconciled. Be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to the one, the only one who can make you righteous, the only one who can forgive your sins, Lord Jesus.
Lord, use us to be bridges, yes of salvation. Lord, but bridges a blessing. Lord, that what we have freely received, and we have an abundance that we would pour out because you're a good father, and that's who we are as ambassadors. We're like our Father. Lord, we pour out goodness, we pour out blessing.
We reflect your nature.
God, make us a people that build bridges, and we pray right now that you would draw men to yourself, through us, through our prayers, through our efforts, through our services, through our hospitality, Come on church. Let's just intercede for a moment that it's not enough to just build the bridge. We need Christ. We need God to draw them, to bring them to himself, Lord God, we pray that those bridges would see feet walking on them. You built the bridge.
But Lord, we we cry out and we make on ramps and Lord God, we spend our life and all that you give us so that some may be saved. Lord Jesus, we pray for those who have yet to know Christ, who have yet to cross that bridge of salvation, who have yet to encounter the love of the Father in the name of Jesus, Lord God, use me. Use my house, use my resources. Use my prayers. Use this church, Lord, to bridge people to be a bridge for the kingdom of God, I'm going to pray for those who perhaps say, I see what you're Talking about, and I've been on the other side, standing and looking across, but I've never really given my life to Christ.
I've never really crossed that bridge. I've been trusting in myself. I've been waiting for the right moment. I just encourage you, and I say to you, this is the right moment. The bridge has been built. You don't have to wait for perfect conditions. Now is the moment to give your life to Christ. So Father, I just ask you to pray this with me, those who feel that this morning, Father, in the name of Jesus, you. I thank you for making a way through the sacrifice of Jesus, through the cross and through the blood. I believe that He died for my sin so that I can have new life, be a new creation be the righteousness of God in Christ, and I believe that He rose from the dead, and he lives forever, and I too will live with Him forever. I receive your free gift of eternal life in the name of Jesus, Lord, I pray, make all things new. All things new. Make us those bridges. I'm going to invite you to come forward today, to receive prayer, to just surrender to the Lord and say, Lord, I want to be a bridge. I want my life to allow others to receive life and blessing and everything that I have received. I want to freely put at your disposal, God. So I invite you to come and receive prayer and just yield before the Lord in that spirit. But also, I know there are many who have been dealing with sickness, dealing with different conditions, and we want to pray for you as well. So make sure you let the prayer warrior know.
I would encourage you. What we often do is invite those who want prayer for healing over to this side. So maybe those who are coming for just prayer in general, you can come over here and leave some space on this side if you need healing today, God is a healer. Amen. Amen.
Come on. Let's worship.