6/7/2026 Sunday morning service

6/7/2026 Sunday morning service

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 2:30

I got the joy of the Lord deep down inside of my soul, and I can hide it no more. I gotta praise him. I got the joy of the Lord deep down inside of my soul, and I can hide it no more. I gotta praise the one who wrote my chains and bought a free love. What else can I say but thank you? I'm so faithful that you stay alive, I could stay my hands on the hand of faith of fire, take it touch and stay alive, I could just catch it, just take us on my heart, I sang with all that I've done, tell the world who you are, I'm not afraid. Put a song in my heart, I sling with all that I've got, tell the world who you are, praise the one from my face and for a freedom. What else can I say but thank you? But you just that cut, just that faithful that you just take God. I'm so grateful that you stay my life like you stay too. So with my hands all up hard a fountain and a faith of fire, sing in a dancing, just you stay my life like you stay too. Praise the one who broke my change and both my freedom What else can I stay but thank you, Jesus? Just a faithful and you just take a cut. I'm so grateful that you save my life like you stay to him. With my hands off, I'll find out far. Sing in a dance and cut you save my life like you stay to him. Cause it just a go It's just a go It's just a goal. When the wind and the storm gets a little bit stronger, fear in my heart digs a little bit deeper. When my faith just stands, gets a little bit weaker. Where could I run to? Where could I go? Even when it feels like my world is shaking, even when I've had all that I can take, I know. You never let me go. Even when the waters won't stop rising, even when I'm caught in the dead of night, I know. No matter how it is, you're with me even now. The days up ahead look a little bit brighter. When the grip of the past holds a little bit tighter. Oh, I'm restored cause I'm yours, and I stand for giving. Even when it feels like my world is shaking. Even when I've had all that I can take. Oh no, you never let me go. Even when the waters won't stop rotting, even when I'm caught in the dead of night, I know, no matter how it is, you will be even there, and even in the middle of the struggle, even when it's hard to remember, you alone am I different swim. Standing on your promises, and I don't know that even in the thick of the battle, and even through the valley of the shadows, you alone might have been swim. Standing on your promises. So where could I run to? Where could I go? When I feel like the world is shaking, even when I've had all that I can take, I know. You never let me go. Even when the waters won't stop rising, even when I'm caught in the dead of night, I know. No matter how it ends, you're with me even then. You're with me, you're with me even then. No matter how it ends, you're with me even then. You are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You are Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You are here, touching everyone. I worship you, I worship you, you are here, healing every heart. I worship you, I worship you, you are Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, even when I don't see it you're working, even when I don't feel it you're working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you're working, even when I don't feel it you're working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you workin', even when I don't feel it you working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop you work, Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

You are Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are, even when I don't see it you working, even when I don't feel it you working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you working, even when I don't feel it you working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop We make miracle work skipper Light in the darkness, my God Light in the sweep We make miracle work skipper Light in the darkness, my God That is so in the Sugar That is so you That is so you that is so you take just a moment this morning Let's worship God this morning If you are comfortable with it, just close your eyes and think about Him because He is our way maker He's our miracle And even if we don't feel like He can't see it guarantee God is working, He's working behind the scenes, He's working to heal you, He's working to heal your family, It's working to heal your circumstances You've just got to reach out and accept that He gives you to go through this warning to go through that again And I want everyone to think about God, what He's done for you, and how He's carried you through And trust in Him that even in the circumstances that you're in right now, God is able and He is enough, He will carry you through Even when I don't see it you're working Even when I don't feel it you work You never stop, you never stop working You never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you're working, even when I don't feel it you're working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you're working, even when I don't feel it you're working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working Even when I don't see it you workin' Even when I don't feel it you work it You never stop working You never stop You never stop working Even when I don't see it you workin' Even when I don't feel it you work You never stop You never stop working You never stop You never promise you are Way maker Miracle worker Promise Keeper Light in the darkness My God That is who you are Way maker Miracle Worker Promise Keeper Light in the darkness My God That is who you are This morning I just feel led to open up the altars I feel like there's some problems going on in this place this morning It might be some problems relationship-wise, it might be health-wise, it might be uh family-wise, it could be financial, whatever it is, I'm gonna open up the altars this morning. And if you feel like you need prayer, I want you to come forward and someone will meet you here and pray for you in your circumstances this morning. We're gonna go through it again.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

Just let God lead you this you're working, even when I don't feel it you working, never stop, you never stop working, never stop, never stop working, even when I don't see it, you're working, even when I don't feel it, you're working, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it, you're working, even when I don't feel it, you workin', you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it you workin', even when I don't feel it you work it, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop working, even when I don't see it to work, even when I don't feel it to work, you never stop, you never stop working, you never stop, you never stop Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, I didn't the target, my God, that is who you are You are Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the target, my God, that is who you are That is who you are That is who you are That is who you see Don't wait for the feeling church I don't see it you work Even when I don't see it you work it never stop you never stop working Never stop you never stop working Even when I don't see it you work it Even when I don't feel it you work it You never stop you never stop working You never stop you never stop working

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Thank you, Hoku. Oh, much better.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

All right. So today we are starting a new sermon series. We're going into the book of Romans. And the Book of Romans is one of my favorite books because there's so much packed into the book of Romans. It goes through salvation. It tells you why we need Jesus. It tells you who Jesus is. And it tells you about your relationship. So write in chapter one of Romans. This is a letter. This is a letter that Paul helps us understand grace and salvation and faith and what it really means to follow Jesus. So we're going to look at Romans 1.16 here first. Romans 6, 1.16.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

And I took Hoku's iPad away from her.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

All right. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. First to the Jew and then to the Gentile. And I like it. It says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel. And then it goes on to say, because it is the power. And that's what I've been trying to reach you guys with over the past few weeks. The power of the Holy Spirit. Now we're going to transition into the power that you have through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, that's a bold statement, that first statement. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. And I am finding more and more today that the church is starting to water down its message to fit the world. Now the Bible tells us that as Christians, we are to be set apart. As Christians, it says that we are peculiar people, right? So take pride in your peculiarness, all right? We are a peculiar people. And what's happening is that the church is being discipled by the world instead of the world being discipled by the church. And more and more the church is starting to look like the world. And we've got to guard ourselves. We've got to constantly be on guard not to let that happen. Because what ends up happening is sin starts creeping in and we start not recognizing it. And we start falling deeper and deeper and deeper into sin. And we don't want to let that happen. So Paul says that the gospel is the power of God. It's not some information that we need to store, or it's not some uh good advice or or a self-help help message, but it's power. Everybody say that with me. Power. It's power. Power to save and change us, to heal us, to restore us, right? Power to make dead things come alive. And I almost asked to sing that this morning, but it has the power to make dead things come alive. And we have we look at dead things, we think about Jesus and he rose back to life, or Lazarus, and he rose back to life. But guys, dead things could be your spiritual walk with Jesus Christ right now. And the gospel has the power to bring that back to life. And that's my prayer for every single person in this room this morning is that wherever you are in your Christianity, that the power of the gospel will boost that up a level, and that you will come alive in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel has the power to break chains in our lives that's held us captive for years. I don't know what those chains might be. Those chains could be addiction, right? And it has the power to break those chains. Maybe it's depression. You can break those chains. Whatever it is in your life that seems to be a trouble area and hold you back. Maybe it's anger. Maybe you need to get rid of anger in your life. I have good news this morning because you are not stuck in that pattern forever, but God can break those chains that is holding your life down through the power of the gospel. The thing is, we have to plug in to the source of the power to make that happen. The power it can restore marriages, it can restore your purpose for living, and it can restore your hope. The gospel has the power to spiritually bring you back to life. So you're not the same person that you used to be. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 tells us, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. Have you ever heard old dogs can't learn new tricks? Right? That's not true. That's not true. Because once you become connected to the power of the gospel, once you receive Jesus Christ in your life, guess what? I don't care if you are five years old or 95 years old, you become a new creature. New. The old has passed away. You don't have to be bound by those old pressures, those old sins, that old way of living. You don't have to be burdened down by that anymore. And Paul was the perfect person to write this because Paul used to be Saul. And I don't know how many of you know the story of Paul and Saul, but Paul was Saul at the beginning. And hated Christians, killed Christians, went door to door, and pulled Christians out of their homes, men and women, and drug them out into the streets and put them in jail, killed them, stoned them to death. But Saul could not stand Christians. But then one day Paul, Saul, was walking down the road, and all of a sudden this bright light came and it blinded him. And he heard from the Lord that day. And the Lord told him to go and that he would get prayed for and that the scales would fall from his eyes. And instantly Saul saw the truth of Christianity and was plugged into the power and became Paul. And Paul was the greatest writer of the Bible. He wrote most of the New Testament. And he loved God and he spent the rest of his life. He was persecuted, he was shipwrecked, he was beaten, he was jailed. But he lived for Jesus Christ faithfully and was on fire. So if anybody can write about a transformation when you plug into the power of Jesus Christ, it is Paul. So we are hearing it not from somebody who had it made, but from somebody who actually lived the experience. In Acts 8, 3. It says, but Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Put them in prison. He hated the church. But thank God he was able by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change, and he became one of God's faithful servants. And you see, sometimes we do the same thing. We do pretend church. A lot of people play pretend church. And what does that look like? Well, we might know church culture. We know we come in, we know we sit, we know we do three songs, we know that we all greet each other and smile, we tell each other we're praying for each other, which that makes me wonder sometimes how many of us really mean that, right? You see a post on Facebook, and everybody puts praying, praying, praying, praying. How many of them really stop and do what they just said that they were doing? We know the church culture, we know how to go through the movements, but we don't truly surrender to the Lord. We just live a pretend life. How about worship songs? A lot of people know worship songs. I could probably spit out a few lines and y'all could spit out the next line to me. We know the songs, but how many of us truly know the word? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. We know the words, but do you really know that that is so rooted in the word that it can change your life? We know the church culture, we know the church songs, we know how to attend church. But when we get inside this sanctuary and we start going through the motions, do we really surrender to God? Or are we just going through the motions? Do we just go so we can check the box for the week? Did church, did worship. I might have even raised my hands this week. But do we really surrender our lives to God? We can learn to look spiritual on the outside while still struggling on the inside with God, fighting with God, wrestling with God over what parts of our life we're willing to give up and what parts of our life we're not. Well, I'm here to tell you this morning, God doesn't want you just on Sunday. He doesn't want you just on Sunday. He wants you on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday too. He don't just want the parts of you that are easy to give up. He wants those parts that are so hard that you want to hang on to, that you don't want to let go of. You say, what does that look like? One of my big problems is I like to control things. I do. I like to control my son's back here shaking his head, yeah. I like to control things. And when I start feeling out of control, I start getting anxious inside. Do you know how hard it is? Here's what I'll do, God. We got BBS coming up, and I want this to be a wonderful experience for all of the kids in the whole community. Please, God, help us with BBS. And then instantly I'm like, okay, what can I do to make sure it's BBS? What can I do to make sure? What can I do? I have a problem just sitting still and letting God tell me what I need to do because I feel like I have to drive the train. I have to be that is the hard part for me to surrender. But in order to be totally sold out to Jesus Christ, to be totally at his mercy, to be totally in his will, you've got to give everything, every single part of you, over to Jesus Christ. Yourself, your heart, your life, your family. That's a hard one to give over, is your family, because you want them to be where you want them and who you want them to be. You need to trust them to God. In Ezekiel 26 or 36, verses 26 and 27. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Be careful to keep my laws. That's another one. Anymore, the culture that we live in, the times that we live in, say, Jesus is love. We need to love like God loved. Well, I'll agree with that. We do. We need to love everybody. We need to love as God loved. We need to go out of our way to show love to everybody. I will agree with that. But they like to stop it there and say, accept them as they are. I do. But I don't expect them to stay that way. I don't expect them to stay that way. Because once you get truly sold out to Jesus Christ, once you truly start living as you should for Jesus Christ, this next part is so important. It says, follow my decrees and be careful to follow my laws. There is still a law, there is still a standard that Christians are expected to live by, and that is to be sin free. And you say, What's a sin? Read the Bible. There's a lot of things that's a sin. People like to poke and point at certain ones and say, oh, that person, and then they'll label the person. We shouldn't do that because every single person inside the walls of this sanctuary this morning is a sinner. And we need to be careful to follow the laws and the decrees of Jesus Christ. And thus saith the Lord, yes, we are to love. We're to love unconditionally. But you got to take that a little further. The woman that got caught in the act of adultery and they took them. And a lot of people like to say, Well, you without sin, you cast the first stone. Well, we won't because all of us have sin, so none of us will cast that first stone. However, you got to go on and read the rest of that story. Jesus looks at her and he says, Woman, where are thou accusers? And then he tells her, Go and what? Sin no more. There is a standard. We must follow the laws and the decrees of the Lord. We must. We must. We can't earn salvation. And that's why this study through Romans is going to matter so much. We are going to be looking at what it really looks like to be empowered by the grace that God shows towards us. How salvation will change us and how it will sustain us. How it will sustain us. Look at Romans 1:1. Very first verse in the book of Romans. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. Today when we write letters, we usually start with a greeting first, too. Hey, dude, I hope you're doing good. Hope you're doing fine, right? Hope this email finds you well.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Have you ever wrote those as your greeting when you start? But nobody's ever sitting there like, you know what?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

This email really did find me well today. You never think that. When you read those, hope this finds you well. You never ever stop and answer that question, right? You just kind of skip over it. Usually it finds you stressed out, running late, replying from your phone with 3% battery left because you haven't had time to charge it. Usually it doesn't find us well, does it? It's like, please just cut to what you want so that I don't have to read this whole email. Get to the point. Get to the point. Paul starts differently before he says hello or anything else. He basically says, Let me introduce myself. Let me tell you who I am. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. So he he just gets right to it. Paul could have introduced himself a lot of ways. He could have said, I'm Paul the church planter, right? He could have said, I'm Paul, the theologian. He could have said, I'm Paul the scholar, Paul the apostle. These are all names that he had achieved for himself. These are earthly names of respect and honor. But no, he says, I'm a servant of Jesus. That right from the very beginning of Romans tells us how we should be living our lives. We shouldn't be living our lives to attain a title of worship leader, a title of pastor, a title of women's ministry leader, a title of kids director. We should not be living our life to try to get a title on ourselves. We should first and foremost always live our lives as a servant of Jesus Christ. The rest is all world made. World made. Look at that pastor down at Lifeline. She's doing Operation Lifeline. And boy, look at that pastor down there. She is trying to push BBS. Boy, she she's just a go-getter. I don't live my life for that. What I live my life for is that I might decrease, that God might increase. My wish, my goal, and my desire is to fill this church, but not so people come to listen to me. It's so people come so Jesus Christ can use me as a vessel to reach out to you and you can enjoy heaven like I'm going to enjoy heaven. That is my desire. I want to be like Paul. I want to introduce myself as, hi, I'm Carla, a servant of Jesus Christ. A servant of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 tells us, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who's in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought with Christ. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. Honor God with your bodies. When you become a servant of Jesus Christ, that's exactly what you're supposed to be. And you're supposed to honor God with your bodies. You are supposed to do his work. You are no longer your own. But we as humans, we've kind of grown up in the empowered generation. And I'm sorry, you younger folks. But this world today thinks they're entitled. They do. They think they're entitled, they're entitled to attention, they're entitled to have everything that they want, not just everything they need. They get their feelings hurt so easy. Grow up. It's not about you, it's about Jesus Christ. And we've got to remember that when you become a servant of Jesus Christ, you are no longer your own. I don't want to grow this church so that everyone thinks, well, look at her. She started with seven and now she's up to 77. That's not it. I'm not my own. I want Jesus' name on it. She started with seven, but bless God, Jesus Christ has grown his congregation. And they're out doing works, they're out being servants for the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are spreading my word so that people are coming to me, that they're believing in me, and that they might have life and have life more. Abundantly. Look at Luke 9 23. It tells us whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves. Take up their cross daily and follow me. You have to deny yourselves. Being a Christian is not an easy thing. You have to deny yourself.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

You might want to go out and drink every weekend. You got to deny yourself.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

You might want to get the praise for being up on stage. It's not about you. You need to deny yourself. There's a lot of sin that comes when we don't deny ourselves and we go forth with our wishes and what we want and we dive right into it. But it is a habit that we have to get into. Deny yourself. Always deny yourself. Not Sunday only faith, daily faith. Paul he preached the gospel. He preached the gospel. But before he became one of the greatest voices for the church, he tried to stop the gospel. That's why his testimony matters so much because when Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, he's speaking at somebody whose life had been radically changed by the gospel. When you open Romans, Paul's basically putting his own life on the screen and saying, The gospel works. It works. Sometimes we hear the name of Paul and we immediately picture the after version. We do. But we forget that there was a before version. Kind of reminds us of social media now. Everybody puts the after picture. Everybody puts the after picture. They don't put the pick the before picture when the house was dirty and when their hair wasn't brushed, when their makeup wasn't on. They put the pretty filtered version up. That don't even look like a human anymore because it's been altered so much. They always put the after pictures up.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Guys, we got to stop doing that.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

We got to be real and deny ourselves. We've got to deny ourselves. In one moment, Jesus can change everything. Paul understood if people could see how far Jesus brought him, they would be able to understand just how powerful that the gospel really is. Acts 9, 3 through 5. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? He already knew. Who are you, Lord? Saul asked, I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He replied, I'm Jesus, the one you are persecuting. And one moment, face to face with Jesus, changed his life forever. Changed his life forever. Jesus breaks chains, he heals hearts, he restores families, he fills people with the Holy Spirit, and he turns messes into testimonies. He will turn your mess into a testimony. Happens all the time. I've seen it so many times. Only Jesus Christ in the power of the gospel is able to do that. The angry person can become full of peace. The addict finds freedom. The hopeless finds joy. And the broken discovers healing in the power of the gospel. If God can take a man like Saul and turn him into a man like Paul, imagine what he could do for you and I. Just imagine what he can do for some of us. Maybe not a bright light from heaven, like Saul experienced that blinded him. But there's a moment. There will be a moment, a blinding moment for you when you realize I need that grace. I need it. I've got to have that grace. I need forgiveness in my life. Everything is messing up. I have made a mess of everything. I need God in my life. I need Jesus. Romans 5 and 8 tells us, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now that means so much because you think while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, I need to accept him. But guys, what that's saying is while you were still at the worst of the worst of the worst that you could ever be, he still loved you so much and had so much hope that you would turn your life around and come to him that he died for you anyway. He went ahead and did it. And if you think about it, think of all the people that Christ, through his love, died so that he could save, but they die before they ever accept him and they go to hell. Can you imagine how that breaks his heart? I died for you. I died so that you'd have a way. And all you had to do was say, Lord, I accept that gift. But you were too stubborn to deny yourself and accept the gift, the free gift of salvation. So all that Jesus did for you is lost as you burn in the pits of hell. That's sad. That's sad. All because you refused to deny yourself and to pick up your cross daily. That's all he's asking you to do. And when you think about our lifespan, the average person, women is about 80 years old. Men, sorry guys, you don't live as long. Right? You're not built like us. Women, women do have longer lifespans, but I think it's because of the kind of work and stuff that men do. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Um that is just a vapor.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

That is a vapor compared to eternity. That's like and you're gone compared to eternity. Eternity's forever. But some people get so wrapped up in living their lives, their earthly lives, to the fullest, they think. They do everything, they have every sin you can imagine in their life. And they're like, I'm too young to sow my oat yet. When I get older, when I get older, I'll accept Jesus into my life. Like they have this perfect plan. But the best laid plan plans of man, maybe God says, tomorrow you die. And then what for? What for? You've not accepted Christ into your life. I'm sorry. You know where you're going. Why not take that vapor and live every moment for Jesus so that you get to your real home and you're able to live with him in peace for eternity. And that'll blow your mind. But one one day this week, I want you to sit sit down, start thinking about eternity. When does it end? We're so used to times it starts. It's like we start at 11 sometimes. We start at 11. About this time, I start losing you guys. And I can see it in your eyes. I can see when I lose you, but the human has short, like uh short attention spans. But but we are so time consuming that we look at it and say, well, she has about seven minutes left. Now she has about five minutes left. Now she has about three minutes left. Oh, ding ding ding, it's noon. She should be wrapping it up. That's how we think. But guys, eternity doesn't have an end. And we're just not used to that. We're not used to that concept. If you had sit and think about it sometime, you will live for eternity. Every person in this room, you might have an earthly death, but that's not the end. We all will live forever. Every single person in this room guaranteed you're gonna live forever.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

You'll never die. But where is it gonna be? Where is it gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 53:13

That's the big question. And you need to start preparing for that as early as possible because you never know what tomorrow holds, what tomorrow is gonna bring. First Timothy 1:15. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. That's what Paul thought. He said, I'm the worst sinner. We have people going around today, and I hear this all the time, but they're such a good person, God wouldn't send them to hell. They never drank in their life, they never cussed, they never smoked, they never robbed, they never stole, they didn't murder anybody. That's the perfect person they give every week in church, they do all kinds of mission work, they show up every Sunday, they raise their hands and worship. Guys, you can do all of that until you're blue in the face, but until you accept Jesus Christ into your heart as Lord and Savior, you're going to hell. It's plain and simple. Plain and simple. It's not about what you do, it's about who you know. It's about who you know. Do you know Jesus Christ? Does he live in your heart? Are you sold out for him? Do you want to be a servant of Jesus Christ? Deny yourself and pick up your cross daily. Daily. Let's look at Psalm 40 and 2. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

That's pretty cool, isn't it? If you've got mud and mire for a life today, that can change.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

Because Jesus Christ can lift you up out of that. Well, you still have to live with some of the consequences of the sins you've committed, yeah. You don't get out of the consequences. But the difference is you can walk through them with Jesus Christ now, and that puts a whole new perspective. A whole new perspective on what you are going through.

SPEAKER_00 55:33

Maybe not everybody knows your story.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

And you're saying this morning, but but Pastor Carla, you don't know what I'm going through. You don't know where I've been. You don't know how many times I hear that. You don't know how many times I hear that. But guys, we're all created in the image of God and we all go through the same things. It might just be titled different and different people involved. But we all go through tough times. How about the anxiety that God's brought you through? The addiction, the shame, the emptiness, the brokenness that God has already brought you through. That's because he loves you. But if you do not accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Savior, there will be a day when you're separated from God for eternity and he will no longer bring you through those things. I can't imagine living a day in my life separated from God. I couldn't make it. So many times a day. And that's when worship becomes personal. Worship stops being performance and starts being gratitude once we accept Jesus into our heart. Worship is no longer, well, I've got to stand up for these three songs. I'm tired. I don't know if I'm gonna make it through all three. He was beaten. He had nails to put through his hands and his feet, a spear stuck in his side, he hung on a cross strip, naked. And you can't stand there's a reason. Because you had a rough day yesterday. I get it. But overall, we need to deny ourselves and suck it up and be a servant of Jesus Christ. That's why Paul can boldly say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because the power of God brings salvation to everyone who believes. I'm not ashamed. Are you ashamed? Are you ashamed to live out your gospel, to live out Jesus Christ's transformance in your life? When people start talking about Jesus, do you shy away and you don't want to speak up? Because, oh, you might be the different one in the room. Or do you embrace that boldly and step out and say, I am a servant of Jesus Christ, and I'm not ashamed of the gospel? No amount of the church attendance can save you, or good works can save you. Trying harder can't save you. How many of you say, boy, it's Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 58:31

So start tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, I'm going on a diet. And then Tuesday you're going, all right, next month.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

Next Monday, I'm starting it for sure. Or I'm gonna start going to church. New life. I'm starting to church. And you come, and three months later, okay, now this Sunday, this Sunday, I'm really starting to church. Guys, we'll never get anywhere like that. Why? Because you trying harder doesn't work. Satan will always give you a reason not to follow through when you try to better yourself. He will always give you a reason. But here's what you need to start doing. Praise God, Jesus Christ, by his power and not my own. Come Sunday morning. Name of Jesus and go to church. Jesus help me. Jesus, remind me. Jesus, knock on my heart's door. Don't let me rest on Saturday so that I am constantly thinking about how I have to go to church on Sunday. Put me in church Sunday, God. Put me in church Wednesday, God. Give me a desire in my heart to work on Operation Lifeliner, to go out with the outreach team, to volunteer for Bible school. Let my every breathing second, God, be a servant for you. That's the lives that we should be living. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

You do what you do because of the grace of God. Guys, I like to sing.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

And I used to travel and sing. I travel quite a bit. I got to sing at the National Quartet Convention, Pennsylvania State Gospel Convention, and I've opened up groups like Old City and the Authors and I mean the truck wagon gang. I've been there. I've been there. But my thing was I was afraid to talk. I'd get up and sing, but I was afraid to talk. I had a radio program. It was on every Wednesday at one o'clock. And I would have to pre-tape it and take it to the radio station because I couldn't talk on the fly.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

I couldn't do it. I would freeze up. And now I'm a preacher. Tell me God don't work on the lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

When he has plans for you and you surrender to him, it will go forth.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

It will happen. It will happen.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:18

Matthew 11, 28 says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. He's calling out to you. He doesn't want you to go through life living depressed and anxiety-ridden and hating every moment and all the time thinking you're not good enough, and all the time thinking, well, I'll change come Monday. He wants to give you purpose in your life today. He wants you to live with purpose in your life tomorrow. He wants to give you a reason to get up on Tuesday. That's just who he is. Hebrews 13, 8 tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And if he can meet Paul on the road to Damascus and transform him into one of the greatest writers, one of the greatest servants for God that has ever lived, don't you think he can do that for you too? So the first part of Romans talks about salvation. And that's kind of what I've talked about this morning. And we'll dive into all of that deeper next week. But before you can really get it, you have to know Jesus. You have to accept the gift of Jesus into your heart and into your life. So that's what I'm going to do this morning is before we kick off any more in the Roman series starting next week, I'm going to give everybody that opportunity this morning. Now, if you have never ever accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal savior, maybe you went through the motions, but you really didn't. You really didn't accept him. I want you to think this morning about how your life's a vapor. And you need to go ahead and take care of that as soon as possible. Maybe you were a Christian and maybe you were on fire for God. But somewhere along the way, you stopped. Somewhere along the way, your fire went out. And now you wonder, how did I get myself where I am right now? Turn from it and turn back to God. And let's all rejoice together as you recommit your life to Jesus. And that's what I want this morning. We're gonna let Bean sing through a couple verses or something. If either of those of you, I want you to come to the front this morning and let us pray with you. Whether you're accepting Jesus for the first time or you're recommitting your life to it this morning. I want to make sure before we leave this building this morning that every single person in here is ready to be a servant of Jesus Christ. Father, I come to you this morning, and God, I ask that you begin to move in the parts of each and every person that's sitting in this place this morning. I pray that you would start to put a call on it right now, that you would start to work in it with your convicted power. That they will come forward, that they won't be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that they'll take that first step, God, knowing that you will help them take the rest. And I pray that you bring the prayer this morning. For those that need to recommit, I pray to say that give them strength, and give them the ability, God, to reach out and say, I am yours, Jesus, and I am ashamed of this morning. God bless each different person. Jesus' name. If either of those pitch the church says, if you give it your life, let's free right now. Remove the chain. Let's keep it as well. Amen. If all hearts are clear, then we'll go ahead and close out this morning. I thank each and every one of you for coming. Let me go through a couple of announcements first. And they have that up at Lifeline in Princeton. And all the churches in the state bring their people. We were going to take a van up there tonight so that people could go and experience a camp meeting because I think everybody should experience a camp meeting after. What do you say? A head gasket. So it's probably hot. So uh I I don't think we're going up, but I do want to let everyone know that that is available. We were also going to take a group up on Wednesday night to experience that. But like I said, our buses are open. If you guys are interested and want to go, I can tell you how to get there. Um and you can go and experience that up at our library church. Um we have, of course, youth at six uh this evening we have uh Tuesday night is our outreach. And if it's been rained out the past two weeks, we haven't been able to go, but we really like doing that. We get together, we go out in the community and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to be part of that, uh be here at six o'clock on Tuesday night. Wednesday night is our family night. We have men's group, we have women's group, we have youth group, and we have kids' group. There's a group for each and every person that's in this room today. And it's a time where you don't just sit and listen to someone preaching at you, you get to interact and learn about the Bible and talk and have discussion. Uh so I would encourage everybody to come out Wednesdays at six. Um, John is not here today because he had to work, so woo! Celebrate recovery on Friday night. Uh 5.30 is the free meal, 6.30 is the uh meeting up here, and they have like a lesson and devotions, and uh then they do breakout into small groups. And I think what they're doing now is they have a group that's about addiction and then a group that's about everything else. So that your group is more relevant.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:04

Um Bible school, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:14

We're coming upon Bible school. It's the week of the 22nd through the 26th. I've had some volunteers, but we still need some people for Bible school. Perfect way to practice what we talked about this morning and become a servant for Jesus. First of all, if you have kids, there is a sign-up page. I'm going to send that out to everybody. And sign your kids up. We'd like to get a count because we're going to be feeding them every night. Um I know Travis, he named Tuesday nights, and it's called Testament Taco Night. I thought that's kind of cute. Testament taco night. So I think we're serving like a walk and tacos and uh then of course some sort of a dessert for them and some drinks. Um we need help with snacks, we need help as aids. I think we have our teachers, but we might need some AIDS in some classes, depending on how many kids come. Um we want to be able to class them, uh, maybe help with the snacks, help with um uh games, music, help craft, um, whatever you think the talent is. I would really appreciate that guy to step forward and talk about that. Um I think that's it for right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:31

Um, so if with all that being said, Brian, will you dismiss us this morning?