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Scripture tells us Psalm twenty seven, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me my heart shall not fear, though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble, he will conceal me under the cover of his tent, he will lift me high upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all round me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me, turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.

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Hey, in honor of Father's Day, I want to tell you a couple of what are called dad jokes. Okay. You guys already know what these are. Okay, alright. I was gonna give you a fair warning. These are super cheesy jokes, but you sound familiar, okay? Alright, here's the first dad joke. What did one flame say to its other flame friends when it fell in love? It said, I found my match. Alright, so that was a test of the room. That was pretty good. Not bad. Someone just got it over there. Alright, next one. One time this guy walked into a building and he had flame tattoos up both of his arms. What did the security guard say to that guy when he walked in the building? He said, Sir, in this building we do not allow firearms. Those are too easy. I could keep going, but we we gotta we got a Bible study to get to. Okay. Those are some dad jokes in honor of Father's Day, but in all seriousness, I do want to honor the dads and the grandfathers in the room. If you're a dad or a grandfather, if you would stand to your feet just for a couple seconds here, we want to honor the dads and the grandfathers who are in the room with us today. Thank you for your investment in your marriages and your kids and your grandkids. You guys can have a seat. We want to honor and celebrate you today. Well, hey, you probably noticed a theme running through those cheesy dad jokes, and that was the theme of fire. Because today, in all seriousness, we're talking about stoking your desire for God. Stoking the fire of your desire for God. That's the topic of today's message in today's Bible study. You know, I was listening recently to a preacher talk about the concept and the topic of doubt. This preacher was talking to a Christian man who was doubting his faith. And the preacher said to the man, I have three questions for you. The preacher asked the man a question. He said, Do you love God perfectly? And the man said, Well, of course not. I don't love God perfectly. The preacher said, Okay, no problem. Second question. Do you love God as much as you should, as much as you ought to? And the man who was doubting his faith, he started to get a little nervous because he said, Well, I don't really do that either. I don't always love God as much as I should. The preacher said, No problem. Last question. Do you love God at all? And the Christian man said, Well, yes, of course. I certainly don't love God perfectly, and I often don't love him as much as I should, but I definitely love him. And this preacher said, Exactly. The fact that you love God at all, the fact that you have any desire for God at all, is itself evidence of your salvation. It is a miracle that you would desire God at all. The lost and the regenerate in this world have not an ounce of love for God, not an ounce of desire for God. The fact that you have any love, any desire for God, is a miracle that the Lord has performed in your heart. Now here's the reality, church. We cannot spark the fire of our desire for God. That's something God must do in our hearts. But it is up to us to stoke our desire for God. Let me say that again. We are incapable as human beings of sparking our own desire for God. God has to do that in our hearts. But once he does, it's our duty and it's our task to stoke the fire of our desire for God in our hearts. How do we do that? Well, Psalm 27 has a lot to say about stoking your desire for God. And so if you haven't already, turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 27. Psalm 27, and I'll meet you there in just a moment. Well, today we are continuing our Songs of the Summer Sermon series, looking at a different psalm each Sunday in the summer months here in 2026. We've already looked together at Psalm 9, and then last week we looked at Psalm 15, and today we're looking at Psalm 27. Something that's interesting to me, and it's really nothing more than just interesting, is it seems like the superscriptions keep getting shorter. You might remember from two weeks ago in Psalm 9, the superscription was to the choir master, according to Muth Laban, a psalm of David. And then last week in Psalm 15, the superscription was a psalm of David. And today, when you look in your English Bibles at Psalm 27, the superscription simply says, of David. I don't think we can get much shorter. But even in those two words, we learn a great deal about the Psalm. This is yet another psalm written by King David. Not all 150 Psalms were written by King David, but the three we've studied so far, 9, 15, and 27, are written by King David, a biblical figure who you likely know well. Psalm 27 has 14 verses in it. We'll spend more time on some verses than others, but this entire passage has a lot to say for you today about stoking your desire for God. And so let's dig in. Church, if you're taking notes this morning, number one on your notes is this grow in God-centered confidence. If you want to stoke your desire for God, then you must grow in a confidence that is ultimately centered on Him. Look with me now in verses one through three of Psalm 27. In verse 1 of Psalm 27, David makes a real progression in your relationship with God. I want you to see this. In verse 1, he says that God should be your light, then God should be your salvation, then God should be your stronghold. If the Holy Spirit illuminates the truth of the gospel in your heart, and you choose to repent of your sins and believe in Jesus for your salvation, then God the Father becomes your stronghold all the days of your life. There's a very Trinitarian progression in your relationship with God right there in verse 1. It's powerful. Firstly, David says that God should be your light. Why does the Bible often use the image of light to talk about God? What does it represent? Whenever the Bible uses light as an image for God, it's really talking about the presence of God. God should be your light to the presence of God. How does that work? It's best to understand this by thinking about first the concept of darkness. Darkness is defined as the absence of light. You don't shine beams of darkness into a light-filled room. That doesn't make sense. Darkness is the absence of light. And so when light is present, darkness is absence. When light is absent, darkness is present. Darkness only has its existence as a derivative of light, as the absence of light. And so that's how we know that light, when talking about God, represents the very presence of God. Fast forwarding to the New Testament, in John chapter 8, verse 12, we find out that Jesus is the light. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. But 2,000 years ago, Jesus, the light of the world, he ascended back into heaven. And he left you and me here to be his hands and feet. And so now it's our job to carry the light of the gospel, the light of Christ into our communities and around the world. He left us with that task and with that duty. This is why, brothers and sisters, our vision at First Baptist Leesburg is to be a light to our community and a launching pad to the nations. Because we really believe that if we're going to illuminate the community around us with the truth of the gospel, then we need more gospel-centered Christians and more biblically faithful churches. We've got to make disciples and plant churches and then make more disciples and plant more churches if we're really going to illuminate this community with the truth of the gospel. And so if you're looking around maybe in your family and you notice pockets of darkness, and you think to yourself, man, uh someone should do something about that. It's you. God's calling you to be a light in your family. Maybe you're looking around your neighborhood and you see some pockets of darkness, some households in your neighborhood that are dark, and you think to yourself, someone should do something about that. It's you. God is calling you to be a light in your neighborhood. Maybe you look around at the local school system, our local government, local businesses, wherever you look around in our community, if you see a pocket of darkness and think to yourself, someone's got to do something about this, that someone is you. God is calling you, and he's calling this church to be a light to this community. And the only way that we as a church, as a whole, will illuminate the community is if the individual members of it, if you, my brothers and sisters, are a light to the pockets of darkness that you encounter. We are seeking to be a light to our community. You know, the last thing I want to say about light is I am so excited. My words cannot describe how excited I am for vacation Bible school tomorrow. The theme of VBS this year is Illumination Station. And I already know all the songs because my kids have been practicing them in my house all week for Illumination Station. Our goal is to guide the young hearts of these children toward the light of Christ this week. And I'm so excited because this is the first VBS in the history of Oxford campus, the first VBS in the history of this property. We are literally taking ground for Jesus this week. We have, I checked this morning, I checked our registration system this morning, and we have 32 trained and background-checked volunteers, and you can clap because it's also 32 children who are registered for vacation Bible school at Oxford campus. That's a one-to-one ratio, and that is amazing. That is the most children we've ever had on this property at one time, and we're gonna have them for 12 hours this week in a focused discipleship program. I could not be more excited. It's not too late to volunteer, it's not too late to register your kids. But hey, if you're if you're serving tomorrow, thank you. But I am asking all of you to get involved in VBS by praying. You'll hear some more at the end of our service about some prayer sheets that you can pick up in the lobby to pray for people. But we're gonna be a light to our community, and this week, Oxford campus is the illumination station. Okay? All right, commercial break over. Let's get back to let's get back to the verses here. Uh verse 2 of Psalm 27. A phrase that stands out to me in verse 2. David was concerned about some enemies who were seeking to assail him and uh eat his flesh, devour his flesh, he says. Now, David, he was not originally seeking to make a Christ connection, but here today with the New Testament in hand, I can't help but think of Jesus when I read Psalm 27, verse 2. Because in John chapter 6, verses 51 through 53, Jesus says, I am the bread, and whoever eats my flesh will live forever. Now, at face value, the words of Jesus in John 6 are a little strange. But Jesus is not calling us to literally eat his flesh, but he is saying that whenever you take of the Lord's Supper, and you symbolically eat the bread, and you symbolically eat my flesh, remember that my flesh, Jesus is saying, was destroyed and devoured for you, so that your flesh never will be. So David is worried about his flesh being devoured, but that's something we don't have to worry about. One day our flesh will be restored in the new heavens and the new earth. In verse three, now David says there's an army encamped around him, and he's at war. Kind of like in verse one, where David made a progression, he's making a progression again in verse three. Armies fight short, quick battles. Nations declare war. Here's the thing, brothers and sisters, when you became a Christian, you didn't step into a short, quick battle. You stepped into a war that's been going on for thousands and thousands of years. But the good news is we're fighting against a defeated enemy. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, that we're not fighting against mankind. We are indeed fighting against the rulers and the authorities and the powers of darkness, Paul says in Ephesians 6.12. We're in this war against darkness, but the good news is, when you fight that war with the light of Christ, you will prevail every time. David is concerned about the armies and the war that he's in. You should be not, you should not be concerned about that. You should instead be confident. You see that word confidence right there in verse 3. That's where point number one comes from. About having a God-centered confidence. Okay, church, number two on your notes is this. Number two, set your gaze on God. If you want to stoke your desire for God, then you must set your gaze on Him. Look with me now in verses four through six of Psalm 27. In verse 4, David says that he wants to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And when I read that phrase in Psalm 27, 4, I can't help but think of one of the most famous Psalms in the entire Old Testament, Psalm 23, which was also written by David. You likely know Psalm 23 as well. Verse 1 starts like this The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. But if you fast forward all the way to verse 6, the last verse in Psalm 23, David says, Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David's longing to dwell in God's house was a lifelong desire, and it was a theme of many Psalms that he wrote, including Psalm 27. I don't know about you, but uh I love my house on earth. Uh I love my house right down the street in Wildwood, Florida. We had about 40 of you in our house this past Wednesday for one of our summer community fellowships. We we love our house. But the day that I step foot into the house of the Lord and start dwelling there forever, I won't miss my house here on earth. I look forward to the day when I get to dwell in God's house forever with you. David goes on to tell us what we're gonna do in God's house forever. At the end of verse 4, he says that we will gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. That word gaze, it reminds me of one of my favorite hymns. There's a hymn that's titled, O Praise the Name. And in the third verse of that hymn, it says this He shall return in robes of white, the blazing sun shall pierce the nights, and I will rise among the saints, with, check this out, with my gaze transfixed on Jesus' face. On the last day we will rise and we will transfix our gaze upon the face of Christ, and our gaze will never divert from his face when we dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We will gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. There's a difference in art theory between beauty and quality, and we won't spend a ton of time on it, but I want to give you some food for thought. Just because something is high quality doesn't mean it's beautiful in its content. And just because something is low quality does not mean it's beautiful in its content. Beauty is related to the content and the truth of a piece of art, a movie or a song or a poem or a book. Quality is referring to its medium, how it's delivered. And sometimes high-quality things are ugly. Sometimes low quality things are beautiful. But as you think about beauty as a Christian, be sure that you separate the idea of beauty and quality and think critically about the art that you're consuming. But also, we need some more Christians in the arts. If we want to inspire the world and call them to be interested in the things of God with our art that we are producing, then we need some Christians who are producing art that's not only beautiful but is also high quality. But there's a difference between beauty and quality. David goes on in verse 5 to say that he wants to be hidden. He's asking God to hide him. This is really interesting. Later on in the New Testament, we learn exactly where God hides us. In Colossians chapter 3, verse 3, in Colossians 3:3, Paul says that we are hidden in Christ. We deserve the wrath of God. But we are hidden from the wrath of God in Christ. David asks to be hidden, and today we are hidden in Christ, from the wrath of God. In verse 6 of Psalm 27, David goes on to say that you should make a joyful noise, you should sing, and you should make melody in the good times and in the bad times. David is calling you to sing always. You see, here's the thing, church, singing, it is for the good times. At a birthday party, we sing happy birthday. At a sporting event, we sing the national anthem. At Christmas time, we sing Christmas carols. On road trips, we we sing fun road trip songs. But singing is also for, and perhaps most powerful, in the midst of bad times, in the midst of hard times. There are many biblical examples of this. I think of Job chapter 35, where Job is told to sing in the middle of the night, the night being an image for the darkness that he's experiencing, the physical suffering that he's going through. In Job 35, 10, he's instructed to sing in the midst of that. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, Jehosaphat is, he's leading the army of God into a battle, and on the front lines of the army are a bunch of musicians singing, and they win the battle. In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas are in prison and they start singing, and the prison doors blow open. On Thursday night, before Jesus was going to be crucified on Friday, he leads his disciples up to the Mount of Olives, but before they ascend the Mount of Olives, they sing a song. You see, no matter what you're going through, maybe you're going through physical suffering like Job. Maybe you're in the midst of a battle like Jehoshaphat. Maybe you feel trapped and imprisoned by something like Paul and Silas. Maybe you feel anxious about something you know is coming, like Jesus. Can I suggest that you sing? God calls us to make a joyful noise and to sing and make melody in the midst of it all. God designed singing and he designed music to influence our thinking and influence our spirits. And if you sing the right song at the right time, it could change your life. But if we want to stoke our desire for God, ultimately, number two, we have to set our gaze on God. Hey church, number three on your notes is this. Number three, receive God's acceptance. If you want to stoke your desire for God, the next thing you must do is receive God's acceptance. Look with me now in verses seven through ten of Psalm 27. In verse 7, David says, God, hear my cry as I cry out to you for answers. Notice that David says, When I cry in verse 7. There's nothing conditional about David's crying out to God. It's definitive. David doesn't say, if I cry out to you, then I expect you to be there. No, David says, when I cry out to you. God, I hope that you'll answer me. How often are we searching for answers about something in our life and we cry out to anyone and everyone except for God? How often are we searching for answers in our life and we cry out to our family? Or we cry out to our friends, or we cry out to our doctors or our lawyers, or we cry out to Google or ChatGPT. We cry out for answers to anyone and everyone except for God sometimes. But in Verse 7 of Psalm 27, David's first instinct when he needs answers about something in his life is to cry out to God. And I hope that'll be your first instinct as well. You see, here's something I want you to think about, church. Talking about it is not the same as praying about it. If there's an issue in your life, if you need an answer about something in your life, even though you've talked about it for hours, that is not the same as praying about it. Mulling it over is very different from giving it over to the Lord. Cry out to God when you need answers about something in your life. In verse 8, David says, I will seek you, O God, because you commanded me to seek you. All throughout the Old Testament, God commands his people to seek him. One such instance is Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 29. In Deuteronomy 4, 29, God says, Seek me and you will find me. That command was relevant for David in Psalm 27, and he obeyed it. Brothers and sisters, that command is relevant for you today, and you should obey it. Seek the Lord, and when you seek him, God promises that you will find him. In verse 9, David asks that God would stop hiding his face from him. David asks to see the face of God. It's a very similar request to that of Moses in Exodus chapter 33, isn't it? Moses asked to see the face of God. And God told Moses, I can't do that. Anyone who looks at my face will not live. But God showed his back to Moses. But now Moses is looking at the face of God. David didn't get to see the face of God, but now he is looking at the face of God. You and I, as believers in Jesus, we will not get to see God's face in this lifetime. But verse 8 says, if we continue to seek God's face our whole life, then verse 9, when we get to heaven, we will see his face finally and forever. David says, Don't hide your face from me anymore. And God says, You'll see it one day in heaven. In verse 10, David says that, My father and my mother have abandoned me, but God will always take me in. That's where point number three comes from, receiving God's acceptance. God will always take me in. Now, David says his father abandoned him. His father was Jesse, and it's kind of hard to imagine Jesse abandoning David. But whether David was talking about a literal experience that he had with Jesse abandoning him, or maybe he was just speaking hypothetically, the point about God still stands. God will always take David in, and God, your father in heaven, will always take you in. Hey, here on this, here on this Father's Day, holidays like this, people come into rooms like this with mixed emotions. Many of you, as we just celebrated some dads a few minutes ago, many of you in the room, you have been awesome dads and awesome grandfathers, and you deserve to be honored and celebrated. You are doing it right, or you have done it right. You're making it easy on your kids and your grandkids to understand the idea of God as their heavenly father. But I also know that for many of you in the room, you had a poor or non-existent relationship with your dad or one of your grandfathers. Or maybe some of you in the room, you made a big mistake as a dad. Or you made a big mistake as a grandfather. Can I encourage you from God's word this morning from Romans chapter 6? Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. And church, it is never too late to grant someone forgiveness, even if that person is no longer with us. Drop the bitterness. But also, church, it's never too late to ask someone for forgiveness. If you made a mistake with one of your kids or one of your grandkids, men, would you ask them for forgiveness today? That would be a Father's Day that would no one would ever forget if you reached out and asked somebody for forgiveness. But hey, today is Father's Day, and David tells us that no matter what our relationship is with our earthly fathers or grandfathers, no matter what our relationship is with our kids or our grandkids, God, our Father in heaven, will always take us in. If you want to stoke your desire for God, then you have to be his eager student. Look with me now in verses 11 and 12 of Psalm 27. In verse 11, David asks God, he says, God, teach me your ways and put me on a level path. I like how David does not ask God for some sort of cosmic show and tell uh experience. God, show me your ways so that I can be amazed, or tell me your ways so that I can be informed. No, David says in verse 11, teach me your ways so that I can obey. Teach me your ways so that I can repent and change. Teach me your ways, O God. And that should be our prayer here at Oxford Campus and all across First Baptist Leesburg. God, teach me your ways so that I can obey. I like how the English Standard Version, which is what I have here, talks about a level path. Other English translations might say smooth path or something like that. I like level path because here's what David is not asking for. David is not saying, God, put me on the easy path. No, David is saying, God, I'm on the difficult path. I'm on the narrow path. Would you help me not to lose my balance? Would you keep me level? The narrow path is a hard path to walk, but God, I need your help staying level, keeping my balance. And brothers and sisters, as you walk the narrow path, ask God to help you keep your balance. Ask God to help you stay level. In verse 12, David expresses some fear of false witnesses. A false witness being someone who makes an accusation about you that is incorrect, that is not true. This is why all throughout the Old Testament, God prohibits his people from taking action on the account of a single witness, on the account of one witness. Gather for yourself at least another witness, if not two or three more. But a single witness is insufficient. You see this in Leviticus chapter 19, verse 15, where God says that you should, that's Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15, where God says that you should not do anything on the account of a single witness, but have at least two, if not three witnesses. Here's what this should look like here at our church, here at Oxford campus. Brothers and sisters, when you hear something surprising about a Christian brother or sister, don't automatically believe it. Instead, uh receive it with a bit of skepticism and say, you know what, I know him or I know her. That doesn't sound right to me. Aim to hear the other side of the story. Aim to gather for yourself a second or a third witness. But let's be a bunch of people who give one another the benefit of the doubt, who believe the best about one another. When you think about false witnesses, let's be a campus and let's be a church that believes the best about each other and gives each other the benefit of the doubt. We should be an eager student of the Lord if we want to stoke our desire for Him. A last thing on your notes this morning, church, number five on your notes, is this remain on standby. If you want to stoke your desire for God, then you have to remain on standby. Look with me in verses 13 and 14 of Psalm 27. The last two verses in our Psalm, perhaps some of the most powerful. In verse 13, David says, I believe that one day I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. What does David mean by land of the living? I don't know about you, but I don't use the phrase land of the living in everyday conversation. I have a friend that lives in Lando Lakes, Florida, but I don't use the phrase land of the living very often. What does David mean by that phrase? I think David is referring to a future reality where we will be one day in the new heavens and the new earth. Here's why. In Revelation chapter 21, verse 4, John describes the new heavens and the new earth like this: There will be no more tears, no more crying, no more pain, and no more death. Because in the land of the living there's no death. If you think back to our 1 Peter series, in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3, Peter refers to Jesus as our living hope. Jesus rose again on the third day and he's alive today, but shortly after he was resurrected, a few weeks after he was resurrected, Jesus, our living hope, ascended back to the land of the living, where the living belong. You think about where we are right now, this earth currently is the land of the dead. There are approximately nine billion people physically alive on this planet. But there have been approximately 110 billion people who have already been born and died. There are approximately 12 times as many people who have died in the course of human history than are alive today. But that's just in the physical sense. If you think about it spiritually, I won't put a number on it, but of those 9 billion people who are physically alive today, the vast, vast majority of them are spiritually dead. They're the walking dead, walking this planet spiritually dead on the inside. So with all these people physically dead and buried in the ground today, and with all these people walking around spiritually dead, this is the land of the dead. But we look forward one day to spending forever in the land of the living, where we will look upon the goodness of God with full clarity. The blinders will finally come off, and we will see God for all that He is. We will one day see the goodness of God in the land of the living. What should we do in the meantime, though? That sounds great for the future, Pastor Gary, but what about right now? Well, the fact that your future in the land of the living is certain gives you hope right now. The fact that you know the pain will not last forever gives you hope right now. The fact that you know this life in this earth is as bad as it gets gives you hope right now. But what you what should you do in the meantime? David answers that question for us in verse 14. In verse 14, David says, Here in the land of the dead, wait for the Lord. Be strong and courageous, wait for the Lord. You see, Christian waiting, it's not passive. Christian waiting is not lazy and complacent. Christian waiting is active, it's disciplined, it's diligent. When Christians wait, we do some things. We we strengthen ourselves, we we work up our courage. David's calling us to wait by being strong and being courageous. You see, God is not calling us, check this out. God is not calling us to stand down. When you stand down, you lower your weapons and retreat. God is calling us to stand by, to be ready at a moment's notice. You know, a few weeks ago, uh Hannah and I were flying home from a quick anniversary trip and we were in Atlanta. We had a layover in Atlanta, and we were trying to make it to Orlando, and uh we were flying Delta, Atlanta is the hub for Delta, and so there's constantly flights going from Atlanta to Orlando. And we had a four-hour layover, and I said, uh, not if I can help it. And so we started going up to every Delta desk, jumping on standby for all these flights. And finally we found one that had two seats available, and we jumped on that plane, and we made it home two and a half hours early. We made it back to our family two and a half hours early and relieved the babysitters two and a half hours early. We were able to jump on standby because we didn't check a bag. We only had carry-ons, we were very agile. We didn't go stand in line for a burrito and a diet coke. We were standing by the gate with some granola bars and beef jerky. We were we were ready. And here's the thing about as a Christian, when when God calls you to be on standby, it might cost you something. You might have to minimize some of your worldly possessions so that you're a little more agile. You might have to make some sacrifices with your time or your energy or your money so that you're always ready at a moment's notice. But when God calls us to wait, Christian waiting is not passive, it's active. We wait, we are strong and courageous in our waiting. Remain on standby. Well, church, this morning we've talked all about what it looks like to stoke your desire for God. We originally said you cannot spark your own desire for God, but you are called to stoke it once God sparks it. How do you do that? Well, you grow in God-centered confidence, you set your gaze on the Lord, you receive God's acceptance, you sit as God's eager students, and then you remain on standby. Hey, but maybe you're here today and you're not a Christian. Can I tell you something? We're really, really glad that you're here. But maybe you're thinking to yourself, I need God to do for me what you just said. I need God to do for me what I cannot do for myself. I don't love God at all. I don't desire God at all, and I want Him to spark within my own heart a desire for Him. Hey, if that's you today, if you're if you're ready to become a Christian today, God is stirring something in your heart. And I want you to act on it right now. Let me tell you what's about to happen. In just a moment, I'm going to pray to close our time of Bible study and ask God's blessing on our time in his word today. And when I say amen, everyone in the room will stand and we'll sing one more song of worship. Many people will sing and pray from their seats. You'll see a lot of people come pray at the altar. The altar is open for anyone to pray about anything this morning. But as we sing, if you're ready to place your faith in Jesus and become a Christian today, myself and some other members of our team will be standing all across the front. And we'd love for you to walk forward and grab one of us. We'd love nothing more than to talk and pray with you about becoming a Christian today. Let's pray. Father in heaven, God, we love you and we praise you. God, we recognize that simply a desire for you, even if it's not perfect, even if it's not all that it should be, a simple desire for you in our hearts is a miracle and a gift from you. God, would you help us to leave this place and to stoke our desire for you this week? God, I pray for that person in the room who's not a Christian, who does not yet have a relationship with you through Jesus. Would you continue right now to give them clarity about their eternity, courage to walk forward? God, you started a good work in that person's life by bringing them here today. Would you complete it by helping them walk forward and place their faith in Christ? God, everything we've done today has been for you. We pray that it's all been honoring and glorifying to your name. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.