4/19/2026 Sunday Morning Service

4/19/2026 Sunday Morning Service

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:59

What are you doing this morning? Blessed by the best, right? All right. God is good. Oh, that was terrible. Come on. God is good. There it is. And all the time. God is good. Alright. So we're going to dedicate this service to the Father, and then we're going to get rocking, okay? Sound good? Alright. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Lord, we thank you for everybody that is here. Lord, you see all the hearts, you see all the situations. Lord, and despite all of those things, they still showed up, but they're still here, and we're still going to posture our hearts to worship you truly, and to be fully known by you and to know you. And all of this day, how do we guide every distraction, every fear, every doubt, everything of the enemy that would try to come against this service would come against it as a body. And declare the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ in this house today. And we give you all the honor and glory and praise in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. I gotta praise the one promotion. Just that faithful that you've taken cut. I'm so faithful that you take my life. Put a song in my heart, I'll stick with all that I got. I'm gonna freeze the button Well much takes them off my freedom What else can I say but thank you? I'm so faithful that you stay alive, like you said, you would my hands up heart up and then a face top heart stay in the test and touch it, stay alive, like you said, you would touch it, just touch it, just take up just that up this morning one from much and for one cannot stay but thank you, just that's that faithful that you just had I'm so grateful that you stay alive, I just take you up with my head to five, I'll find a face of stay in the head, you touch it, take my life, I just take you up, just touch it, just a good second just a good job, it's just a good man. Is he good this morning? Who can grasp the wander of the cross? Where the Lamb of God laid down his life for us Oh church, you are an awesome God You are an awesome God Let's send it on eye Give us new life, open the gates of everyone You are an awesome God I save you at the perfect time at home Divinity revealed in God's own Son All creation stands in awe of what you've done Jesus Christ amend you help God with us Our God is with us, you are in awesome God You are not some God Ascended on life Gave us new life Open the gates of heaven life You are not some God Big Wonder God You are not some God You are wonderful Jesus Nothing can take me from your head Nothing can separate No power too great I'm standing firm in your right just head The life that you gave No one can take away Nothing can take me from your head Nothing can separate No power too great I'm standing firm in your right just dead The life that you gay Lift up a song Tell me on some God Lift up a song be it on some god Come on Lift up a song PS and on some god It's a god Lift up a song PS and on some god You are not some god You are not some god Guts to life open the gates of heaven wife You are not some god Let's go alike our God Victory one Take up the jump and take away the love You are not some God We love you, Jesus Is he awesome today or what? Man, y'all acting like you've been saved before. Y'all a bunch of Jesus freaks in here today. I love it. That's right, we got a reason to be Jesus freaks, you know what I'm saying? See, back in the day when I was in school, that was kind of an insult, and then we just kind of turned it around. We're like, yeah, we're Jesus freaks. You know what I mean? So if you're Jesus freaking here, let's make some noise.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Stretch stretch.

SPEAKER_05 11:35

Burning on I used to see in you How I love I can feel you all around me thinking Ere I'm breathing, holding on to what I'm feeling, savoring this or that healing My hands float up above me And you whisper you love me And I begin to fade into our secret place The music makes me sway The angel singing Say we are alone with you I am alone and they are two with you I'm alone I'm alone I can feel you all around me thick and me Ever breathing holding on to What I'm feeling save this Heart that's feeling I can feel you all around me, thickening me, Ear I'm breathing, holding on to What I'm feeling, say worringness, heart that's feeling like I see I'm alive, I'm alone I can feel you all around me, thick and anything, ever I'm breathing, holding on to what I'm feeling, savoringness, part that's healing, I can feel you all around me, picking, ever I'm breathing, holding on to what I'm feeling, savoringness, part that's healing, take my hand I give it to you, now you know me all I am never leave me, I believe you I believe, take my hand, I give it to you, now you know me all I am Sid you would never leave me, I believe you I believe, I can feel you all around me, thick and anything, everyone breathing, holding on to what I'm feeling, stay boring, heart that's healing, I can feel you all around me, thick and anything, ever I'm breathing, holding on to what I'm feeling, staboring this, heart that's healing so I guess.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

And the part of worship that a lot of people overlook that they don't think is um important is when we take up our ties and our offerings. But the Bible tells us that that is one of the greatest uh ways that you can worship, and that's by letting God know that you trust him enough with your finances to give to him. God loves a way. And we've been going through a time of learning how to worship, learning how to get in touch with God. Because as I looked out, I noticed that a lot of people were newer Christians or maybe Christians that were just coming back. And sometimes when you do that, it feels a little awkward to stand up in church or to raise your hands or to do anything like that. So I've been wanting to start at the foundation, and if you remember, our first foundation was the fact that God is one. And I told you everything else builds on the fact that God is one. And then we learned a little bit more about worship last week. Today we're going to learn about going through the motions. We're going from going through the motions to a lifestyle of worship. Because we don't want to just go through motions, all right? We want to have a lifestyle of worship. Um if you will, I I want to ask you to do me a favor. I should have done this before, but before I jump down into this, if this is your first time ever coming to this church, or if you came to the church and never filled one out. Some of you I don't have information on. There's connection cards behind the seats. I don't know if you see them or not. If you'll just fill those out, that gives me a way of knowing where you are. Spirit there. He's holding them up if anybody needs one. And just give me the information you want me to have. If you want me to have it. So all right, if you'll do that. And then secondly, we're live streaming on Carla Bragg on Facebook. Go there and share it. That's doing your part in getting the gospel out to more people that that usually aren't reached. So, impact to empowered. Um this morning, I watched you guys, and there was a different atmosphere in the church during praise and worship this morning. It was a good, different atmosphere in church this morning. I saw hands raised, I saw people getting excited about Jesus, and that's where we want to be. We want to be excited about Jesus. We get excited about so many things in our life, and when we do, we'll let out yells and we'll let out whoops and we clap and we dance. That's what you need to do for Jesus because Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to you. So we need to make sure that we're getting excited about Jesus right now. I'm gonna ask you a couple questions, and I don't want you to give me the church answer, okay? Because lots of us know the church answers to these questions. What I want you to do, and I don't want you to answer out loud, is I want you to think about these questions in your heart and give an honest answer to yourself, okay? So be honest with yourself, and you can keep it between you and God. Here's my first question What is the difference between going through the motions and actually meeting Jesus during the worship? Can you separate that in your mind? Can you separate what going through the motions looks like versus what actually worshiping and interacting with Jesus might look like? You can sing every word to a song we had fun. This morning, dear in praise and worship, you can sing every word to a song, but actually never, while you're doing that, connect the words of that song to your love and your faith in Jesus. That's possible. But we want to get beyond that. We can lift our hands out of habit, and we may even say amen from time to time, just because we heard everyone else saying it. And we can show up to church every single Sunday and we can still walk out those doors at the end just like we came in and not be unchanged. Going through the motions can look like worship, but it's not true worship. It's going through the motions on the outside. We want you to learn to worship so that it changes something on the inside. It changes something on the inside. Here's the second question that I want you to sit with for just a minute. If someone asked you to describe Jesus, now, not what he did, you know, don't say, well, he died on the cross. Don't give the church answer. If someone was to ask you to describe Jesus, what would you say? Saved your life. Saved your life. What are some other answers? What who is Jesus? Okay, everything? Lord and Savior? The only person that really knows you, and that's true. That's true. The only person that really knows you. Love. Just love. All knowing. Perfect peace. Perfect. All authority. Okay? These are some good answers. These are some good answers. Um now. I'm sure you were already doing this, but I was trying to dig what is Jesus to you? Truly, what is Jesus to you? Now, you can give me answers to this, but I want them to be honest answers that you live day to day. Don't give me the church answer. Uh yeah, he's love, and yeah, he's all-knowing, and he's perfect. But right now in your life, who is Jesus to you? A friend, a father, a healer, a traveling companion, Lord, a truth seeker. That's good. That's very good. A truth seeker. He wants truth. Amen. All right. So what I want you to understand this morning is that you cannot fully engage in worship with someone you don't know. You can't fully engage in worship with someone that you do not know. So if you do not know Jesus Christ personally in your life, how are you ever going to come in here and feel like you can worship him? You have to know him. So that's building on our foundation. God is one, and you have to get to know God before you can truly worship him. Because you can you can look at lots of times kids do this. My my daughter has a newborn. Well, he's he's five months old in a couple days. That's not newborn, but and when she comes and I am with her, he watches her. Sometimes I get so aggravated at that. I'll flip him around and he's because he wants to see her. The thing is, he knows her and he's drawn to her. She lives two and a half hours away from me, so he smiles at me every once in a while. But other than that, there's not that true bonded, everyday take care of him relationship, right? You need to get to know God so well that you search for him every day, all day long. Every day, all day long. Just like that five-month-old baby. You need to keep your eyes on your savior, on the one who made you, the one who loves you. And that needs to become a daily routine. So today we're gonna look at a story in the book of Acts. We're gonna be turning to Acts. If you have your Bibles turned there, if you don't, we'll have it on the screen. I gave Hokku better warning this time, so she won't be searching for me. So we're going to start in chapter 8, and we're gonna look at verse 26. That's where we're gonna start, and we're going to see what happens when God sets up a divine encounter. Sets up a divine encounter. And you think, why do I need to know about a divine encounter? Because God meant for you to be here today. God ordained you to be here today, or you wouldn't be here. And he has set up this divine encounter so that you can experience him like you've never experienced him before. But we're going to see what it takes to experience him. So, looking at chapter 8, beginning in verse 26. Now, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Go south to the road, the desert road, that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of the treasury of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home, he was sitting in a chariot reading the Bible. He opened it up to the book of Isaiah the prophet. That's where he was reading from. Now I'm going to stop right there for just a second. If you look at verse 28 with me, I don't want to rush past how this started, how this whole thing came about. In verse 28, it says. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out. I'm stopping there. How many times has God told you something? And you're like, but why? Why do you want me to do that? What's it going to benefit me? Tell me the purpose behind it. I don't want to look like a fool. Why are you asking me to do this? Philip wasn't like that. Philip had such a relationship with God that he knew if God was asking him to go somewhere, he better do it. And he didn't question why. I get so tickled sometimes at charity. She uh picks up our donations that we get every week. And she went one week and we got a whole bunch of something. And I can't even remember what it was. Oh, I remember what it was. We got a whole bunch of like rose petals and um Valentine decorations and wedding stuff. And I'm like, what are we gonna do with that? And she said, God's telling us somebody's about to get married, right? That's her attitude for everything that we get in. Let's save this because God's telling us that something related to this is coming. And I think I told y'all the story of the little red wagon back at Christmas time. Uh we were wanting to carry stuff to give out that was quite substantial and had um brochures in it about the church and things like that. And I said, Well, won't we throw it in that wagon? Because we have this huge wagon downstairs. And she said, and who is gonna drag that wagon through the parade? And I said, I know what we need. We need one of them little red rider wagons. You guys, the next week in the Walmart donations was a little red wider wagon. It was a wagon, little wagon. God knows what you need. God knows divine intervention. Trust him, just like Philip did. When he says, go, don't doubt it, do it. Don't doubt it, do it. All right, so he gave him specific directions to go south and take the desert road. Um, look at Philip. He's about to encounter an Ethiopian eunuch, and he didn't know it. Now, this man was significant in his status. He was in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia. And that's a powerful and respected position that this man had. Um, but here's what I want you to see. For all of the wealth that this man had and all of the influence that this man had, when he got in his chariot and traveled, he worshiped. He worshiped, he was hungry for God. He was hungry and he was searching for the truth. He was searching for the truth, and and something inside of him was reaching out towards God even before he fully understood who God was. And he had gone to the book of Isaiah. And can I tell you this morning that God is not just pursuing the broken and the lost and the desperate, although he does that, he's also pursuing the successful, the educated, the people who seem like they have it all together. Because lots of times that's just it. They seem like they have it all together. When really inside they need something. And here's the one thing that should absolutely wreck us in the best possible way. God didn't wait for this man to figure out that he needed him. He already had Philip on the way. He already had Philip on the way because God knew he was searching for answers. He knew he was searching for answers. He strategically, specifically, and intentionally sent Philip to intercept this man on his journey. And that's who our God is. He is a pursuing God. He pursues you. He pursues you. He's a God who can see your hunger. He knows your innermost being. You said at the beginning, he's the one who knows you perfectly better than anybody else. He knows you. So when you go to pray, that you don't have to use fancy words and you don't have to try to impress him. Just talk to him from the heart because he already knows what's there. You're not hiding anything from him. So God arranged this moment. This is a divine setup that God did. So we're going to keep reading now. We're going to start in verses 29 and go through 35. The Spirit told Philip, Go to that chariot and stay near it. Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Now, what cracks me up is this man was traveling. Can you imagine Philip running beside this chariot? Every time I hear that story, I just see him running right along beside that chariot. And he ran up and the man was reading Isaiah the prophet. And Philip said, Do you understand what you're reading? How can I, he said, unless someone guides me. So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of scripture that the eunuch was reading. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about? Himself or someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. Okay, so we're going to unpack that. I want you to notice something really important here. The man was reading the word. All right? The man was reading the word. He had made the journey to Jerusalem like they were supposed to, to worship like they were supposed to. But when you do it because that's what you're supposed to do, he was going through the motions. He was searching for the true God as he was on his way. He was doing all the right things. He was going to worship just like y'all come to church on Sundays, sometimes Wednesdays. He thought he was doing all the right things, and yet he was reading the words and didn't understand them. He was reading and didn't understand him. So Philip asked him, Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, How can I unless someone guides me? So that's another thing that you need to admire about this man. A lot of people would have said, Oh, yeah, I understand what I'm reading, because they don't want to look like they don't know. They don't want to look like uh someone that is uneducated or anything. He he could have said, Oh, sure, I understand, but he got real. He got real and he said, No, I don't. He didn't pretend, he did not perform by going through the motions, knowing what he should do. He did not say, Of course, I understand it. I'm the Queen's treasurer, I'm educated. He didn't say that. He got real. He said, I'm reading it, but I'm not getting it. I need help. Then this is actually a holy moment, guys, right there. Because the moment you're willing to say, I don't fully understand yet, and I need help, that's the moment that God can really begin to work in your life. When you decide that you're not winging it on your own education, winging it on your own understanding, when you say, God, I need help, that's when God can reach in and start working with you. That's when He can work with you. One of the most powerful prophetic passages of the Old Testament is Isaiah 53, and that's what this guy was reading. And I want you to understand that. The passage, it was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, describing in precise detail exactly what Jesus would go through on the cross. It talked about him being led like a lamb to the slaughter, silent before his accusers, life was taken from him. This is a picture of Jesus, and it's written centuries before Jesus walked the earth. And this man who's sitting in that chariot is reading these words and he's wondering, who is this? Who is this person that this scripture is talking about? I want to know this person. If he loves me so much that he would be led like a lamb to slaughter, if he loves me so much that he would be silent, even when they're yelling insults at him, oh, because he loves me that much. I want to know who this is. Tell me who it is. It stirs something inside him and it creates a hunger inside him, kind of like we need to, like when we were worshiping this morning. If you didn't understand it, and why are they getting so excited? Why are they raising their hands? It should stir something in you to if Jesus can do that in their lives and make them that happy, then maybe I need to know this man. Maybe I need to know who is this man? Who is this man that we're talking about? It creates a hunger, it draws people towards the truth before they even can tell you exactly how they're feeling. And God will always send the right person, the person you need to talk to you and to explain to you. And that's what he did with Philip. Here's another thing that I want you to know. Your questions are not a sign that your faith is weak. Please know that. Questions are not a sign that your faith is weak. Your questions are often the very thing that God will use to lead you into a deeper relationship with Him. When you start having questions, that's when God can start moving and working in your life and molding you into who He created you to be. He can move you and create you to be who He wants you to be. A hungry questioning heart is exactly the kind of heart that the Holy Spirit loves to feel. He loves to live there. Keep reading, even if you don't understand. Keep asking until you get the answers that you're looking for. And keep showing up. Keep showing up. Because the Spirit's already working on you. He is. He's leading you closer to Jesus, even if you can't see that that's where you're going yet. So here's the moment that changes everything. We come to the moment in verse 36 through 39. Okay, as they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, Look, here's water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down to the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again. But he went on his way rejoicing. Yes. So I want you to feel the pace here at this moment. They're traveling. And might I say, when Philip ran up to that chariot and the guy was reading in the book of Isaiah, Philip met him where he was and used what he was doing to witness to him. Witnessing does not mean that you go and try to change somebody all of a sudden. Witnessing doesn't mean that if Philip would have ran up and said, Well, I know you're interested right there, but wait a minute. Here's what a verse I'm more familiar with. Let's go over here and let's start here. And no, Philip met the man where he was in order to let God work through him to cause a change in this man's life. It's very important. I want all of you to know. I don't expect you to come in here and be perfect people. Never. I don't ever expect you to be perfect. I'm not a perfect person. We all have our battles, we all have our sins that we deal with. The thing is, we need to meet people where they are. We need to always be open and always be loving towards people. We love them and let God change them. Let God work on them, right? So he goes up here. I want you to feel this. They're traveling. Philip, he's been explaining Jesus using that verse in Isaiah. The man's hearing it, he's really hearing it, not just going through the motions. He's thinking about what Philip is saying. And then something inside of him happens. The word starts landing, the truth starts clicking, and the picture started coming together. And have any of you ever prayed for a really long time for someone to get the picture? When they do, isn't that a glorious moment? When you see that light snap with a oh, oh, I get it. That's a wonderful moment. And that shows that Jesus has broken through and that the picture has come together, and that they're understanding what's going on. And that's when true worship begins, is once you know who Jesus is, because he is somebody to you. So they pass by this body of water while they're traveling, and the man goes, Look, water. What can stand in the way of me being baptized? I mean, this man, he he jumped all in, didn't he? What can stand in the way of me being baptized? He had encountered Jesus through the word, through the spirit, and his immediate urgent and enthusiastic response was, I'm all in. I want to publicly declare this. I want to be baptized right now. Right now. He didn't say, Let me think about it. Let me write down the pros and the cons. See which one outweighs the others. See which one outweighs the others. He said, you know what? Because Jesus set that example, because Jesus was baptized by John, because Jesus said that this is how you show outwardly of the change inside. He said, I'm ready to do it. And there's some water. Let's go down, let's do it right now. He didn't even wait until he got back home. He didn't wait to do it in a church building. He didn't wait for the t-shirt. Didn't wait for the shirt. He said, There it is, and I want to do it now. That's called urgency, people. That's called urgency to get right with God. It creates hunger, a desire to respond, to surrender, and to say, I'm all in. So how does this pertain to me in worship? The Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing after Philip, was called away by God. See, God put him where he wanted him, and then he didn't need him there anymore. Eunuch never saw him again. What do you think his life looked like the next morning? And the morning after that. Do you think that once he had that encounter with Jesus, once he got so excited, oh, I gotta be baptized. I want to jump in that water right now. Let's do it. What do you think he did the next morning? And the next morning. And the next morning. He did change. He did. But along with that change, what happens is you start getting used to where you are. And all of a sudden you slip and now you're not as excited anymore. And then it's just a story that 20 years later you say, Oh, I remember back then I was really on fire for God that day. Because what happens is we let life take back over. So how can we keep the fire? How can we keep the enthusiasm? How can we do that so that that never dies? So that that doesn't die. And what happens is as you're as you're as you're you get used to the situation and you get used to the circumstances, you end up going through the motions instead of truly worshiping. He didn't have a church on every corner like we do in today's time. Just drop in at the local church. And he did not have a worship team that led him into being in the throne room of God. Every time he needed to connect, he couldn't just call up the worship team and say, All right, introduce me, usher me on into that throne room so I can praise. And you see, that's kind of like us at home. We I can't call Ben every time I want to go into God's throne room and say, Okay, Ben, sing to me. You can't, he said, I absolutely can't.

unknown 47:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

But you get my picture. We all can't just call up people and say, all right, usher me in. That is part of maturing. That is part of getting out of milk and getting into meat. You need to learn to worship God yourself. The praise team did a wonderful job this morning. You guys were reacting, you were shouting, amen. They did great. But when you get home, how do you get enthused about God? How do you do that when you get home? You have to learn to keep that excitement and that fire alive. He had to learn, like we have to learn, that worship is not a Sunday event, it's a daily lifestyle. One of the biggest struggles that new believers face is how do I keep this alive? Once I'm saved, how do I keep it alive? And we see it in churches all across the country. People get saved and they sit. I say this all the time. God did not save you for you to sit. Salvation was just the first step of your eternal journey. Y'all, yesterday we did Operation Lifeline. And when I first got here, it was me. You weren't here yet. It was me and Charity and Caseon and Hudson. And I turned around and looked at all that food and I thought, there ain't no way. We're not doing this. We can't do this. And your first instinct is to start grumbling inside. Where is everybody? God didn't save us to sit, he saved us to work, he saved us to reach the lost, he saved us to serve the poor and the needy. Where is everybody? You guys know by the time the food started at 10 o'clock, there were 25 people from this church there to help us with Operation Lifeline. They showed up. They didn't just get saved and sit, they showed up. I had youth there, I had mamas there, I had Donna and Justin there. You guys, we had a good day. It was a good day in the Lord. But that's how you keep your worship alive, is you keep serving God. You keep showing up, you keep doing things to keep your your your faith and and your excitement alive. So I'm going to give you three things that you can do on a regular basis. They're simple. Prayer, the word, and praise. Prayer, the word, and praise. The first is prayer. Prayer is simply talking to God, it's a conversation. The same way you would talk with someone that you're close to. The same way that you would talk to someone you're close to. You don't go at it like a lot of people think and go, thou greatest father of the earth. You don't do that, okay? You're just performing at that point, trying to impress. But rather, it looks kind of like Jazzy. I've had a hard week. And I have to admit to you, I've got angry two or three times. I've said some things that I probably shouldn't say, and I've upset some people, and I just really need your forgiveness for the things that I've done this week. And I'll just be honest with you, my heart sometimes just gets hard. And sometimes I just let the flesh take over, and before you know it, I'm just throwing words out there that people are mean and they see me as hateful. And can you help me with that this week? That's talking to God. That's how you talk to God, just like you would someone that you're close enough to to share your troubles with. That's being real and talking to God. Don't go to God out of a desire to perform, to check that box, but go to God and be real. Be real. He knows what you've done, he knows how you've acted. It's not a surprise to him. It's not like you're keeping it from him if you don't tell him. He wants you to open up and be vulnerable to him because when you do, when you admit that you have a problem, when you admit that you've done something, that's when he can start working. And healing, and making it better, and making you stronger as a Christian, so that maybe the next time you won't do that. But maybe you do. Then you go back again. Keep prayer going. Tell him what's on your heart. Tell him what you're afraid of. I've even told him before that I'm angry with him right now. That's okay. If that's what you're feeling, he knows you're angry anyway. And let him help you to understand what you're going through. And let him help you to soften up and feel his love and his embrace. Ask him questions. I don't understand why we're doing this. Can you help me to understand? But then you need to make sure that you don't say, help me understand, I love you, amen, and then go on about your business. You've got to linger there and let him talk back. Because it's not a conversation with God if it's one-sided. You have to listen to him talk back. All right? Have you ever met that one person that every time you try to talk, they don't let you get a word in edgewise, and when you're done, you feel like you ain't said nothing. Can you imagine? That's what he feels like. He's going, Carla, but Carla, wait a minute, but but because I've spent all my time praying and didn't let him answer me. You've got to be quiet and let him talk back. Make it a conversation. And here's the thing: you've got to do it daily. You need to do it daily. Every morning, even if it's just five minutes to begin with, open up that conversation with God. He does not need eloquence, as I've said, he needs honesty. Good morning, Lord. Thank you for letting me get up today. I'm about to go through my day, so please bless it and keep you on my mind. That's enough. You've talked to him this morning, and you keep doing that, and then it'll turn into 10 minutes and maybe 20 minutes. And before you know it, you'll find all day long while you're going through your day that you're talking to him. I went into the snack room here a while back and I got me a drink and I heard money drop. And I thought, well, I put in the right amount of money, and I looked and I got like all my money back. And I'm like, what do I do? Because those are ran by outside people. Who do you even go to? So what did I do? I thanked God for the dollar that he put back in my pocket that day. I mean, that's that's how he works. He blesses you. But here's the thing: we get so busy running through life that lots of times we don't even recognize the good that he does for us. We only go to him when we see the bad. We need to learn that we need to go to him when we see the good too. Thank you that I got up this morning. Thank you, Lord, that you're gonna place someone in my line today that I get to witness to. I'm gonna thank you for it already. And then thank him when it's done. Talk to him all the time. The second habit is the word. We saw in the Ethiopian story that the word of God was the vehicle that was used to help him encounter Jesus. And Philip explained Jesus by using the scripture, and that opened up the man's heart. So what you need to realize is that the word is actually alive. Okay? The word is alive. It says that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The word, even though it's in a book form, it's a living document, it's a living account, and Jesus will speak to you through the word. I have read the Bible from cover to cover, and there are still times where I can read a scripture I've read a hundred times, and all of a sudden something jumps out of the page at me when I read it on 101. It never stops. Why? Because Jesus was using that moment in that scripture at that time to say something to me. That's how he talks to you. It's through the word. So do not neglect keeping the word alive in your life. Hebrews 4 12 tells us, for the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing the soul and the spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart. It's not just an old book, it's God speaking directly to you. The third is praise. Praise is different from prayer. Praise is different from prayer. Prayer is a conversation. Praise is a declaration. Praise is a declaration. Emily this morning, she got up here and sang with the praise team. And while she was up here, Emily sings very well. Sings beautifully. And she was up here, and something in Emily, I could watch it, it like it fell off of her. And all of a sudden, she was at ease worshiping with you. She was at ease worshiping with you. So when it was over, I didn't have a conversation with her. I looked at her and said, Emily, that was great. You did a good job. Gosh, Emily, I could really feel that. These aren't words. I mean what I'm saying. That's praise. Okay. You need to learn the difference between prayer and praise because God created us for the praise. For the praise. Jesus inhabits what? The praises of his people. If you want to meet Jesus, if you want to feel him, the fastest way is to start praising him. Because he inhabits your praise. How do I praise him? Jesus, I love you. Thank you. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. You are awesome. I love to be in your presence. It's that simple. It's that simple. I told you about raising your hands. That's like a baby or a toddler will raise their hand for mama to pick them up. Or if you're getting held up, stick them up and you do. It's your surrender. That's why we raise our hands. We're surrendering to Jesus. I surrender my life to you. Here I am. Take control. That's praise. So this morning, Dan's gonna start playing for us. And I've got three things that I want to ask you. Number one, and I want you to be real this morning, all right? Three things I want to ask you, and I'm gonna have three sections up here. One, two, three. Sorry he woke you back up. The first question that I want to ask is if you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, you've never done it. But you feel something's nagging at you, that's God, that's the Holy Spirit, by the way. You feel that something is nagging at you, and you want to give your life to Jesus today. There's no judgment here. We rejoice with people that come to the Lord. If that's you, I want you to be bold and I want you to come stand over here. I want you to come stand over here. Now, my second question. If you have given your life to Jesus, but maybe you're now a got saved and sit type of person, you've let worship fade away into just an everyday run through the motions and perform type of thing. And you want to rededicate yourself to serving the Lord and keeping that worship alive in your heart again. I want you right here. And don't tarry. That's you. I want you right here. My third group, you've been saved, but you're wanting a deeper walk. And the eunuch said, look, there's water. Baptize me now. He was that excited. If you've never been baptized, or if you've been baptized, but now you're taking a deeper walk and a commitment today to do better in serving God, I want you right here. Don't tarry because God's waiting for you. God's waiting for you. I got one over here in my baptism corner. That's gonna happen within the next couple of weeks. Do I have any more in this corner with her? I know some of you have talked to me about it. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yes, hallelujah. I love you guys so much. So much. Now, prayer warriors, my worshipers. Come up and pray with these people and show them the true love of God. And if you're staying back at your seat, don't use this as a performance moment, use it as a prayer moment. And stretch your hands up here or don't, and pray for these people.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:08

So light and see that Christ did Christ. Things I want to say, that I have become a passion.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:37

If you're in my baptism group, I ask that you please stay up front and sit down there. I have a question after church to ask you. Just sit down on the front row or whatever. Here's what I'm gonna do. I've got youth over here and my youth leaders right here. And I just told him, you need to be with your kids. So he's gonna stop. And he's going over here with his guys and gals. I said, they're having a moment and they need you. Do you feel good this morning? Yes. Amen. Amen. All right. I've got a couple of announcements I want to make. We've got baptism coming up. All right. Can y'all make arrangements for two weeks from now? Two weeks from now? Okay. Two weeks from now, we'll be baptism here at the church. Uh that's my first one. Vacation Bible school, June 22nd. Through the 26th vacation Bible school. That's going to be 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. nightly. Why do I tell you this? Number one, I want you to spread the word. Number two, I want you to help. This will be a good chance to not get saved and sit. It'll be a good chance to come and spend a week with kids. Well, I can see the excitement in your faces. So it we did. We had a blast last year. So there you go. You come and and yes, Heather. It's June the 22nd through the 26th. 6 to 8 nightly. It was awesome. And we need all kinds of helpers. That don't mean you're going to come and throw it into a teacher position. I need people that can just watch the kids. I need people that can help serve the snacks. I need people that can help set up the sets. I mean, if you're talented or have a desire to do any of that, please see me or charity. Or Crystal. Okay. Sunday night youth at 6 p.m. Spread the word. They're on fire. And I want this community to know that we're here to serve their kids too. Spread the word about youth. Tuesday night is our outreach. We had seven this past Tuesday night show up, and we went to a coup we went to the park up here in Rich Creek and we went to a neighborhood. And we had so many this week we got to split up into teams and they each took different routes. And it was the cutest thing. I had ordered Tootsie Rolls to stuff in those eggs at Christmas. I mean, at Easter, gosh, I just said a lot in that sentence, didn't I? To stuff in those eggs at Easter. We were 650 candy short, so I ordered 700 Tootsie Rolls, and we didn't know what we was going to do with 700 Tootsie Rolls. They came in the week after Easter. So, right, what do you do with them? Of course, I know y'all would have loved them, but charity set and divided them into threes. Faith, hope, and love. And we put them inside these little baggies and we put on it, we love you. Come roll with us. Roll into church this Sunday. And we passed that out when we were out Tuesday night. So you know we every every idea you have helps. Wednesday night is our small group's night. We have a men's group led by Mark, a women's group led by Carson. You'll be here. You all yeah, they're faithful. Um, Charity and I do youth and kids downstairs. So make sure you come back Wednesday night for your midweek fill-up. And then Friday, celebrate is celebrate recovery. If you are trying to get rid of a habit, a hang up or a hurt, and a lot of people think that's just drugs or alcohol. That's not true. It could be grief, it could be pride, it could be anything that that is an obsession to you that might be a hurt habit or hang up. You're welcome on Friday night. 5 30 is a hot meal. 6 30 is the lesson in some group shares, small group shares. Am I missing anything? Marriage conference.

unknown 1:09:22

Next weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:24

Next weekend. There it is. Oh, can y'all read it? It's kind of stretched way out. Friday at 7, Saturday at 9 to 12, they are having a marriage conference at our mama church in Princeton. Yeah. At the main church in Princeton Lifeline. They're having a marriage conference. If you're interested, there is a QR code where you can sign up, and we will make sure. See a Lonnie or me. I wasn't gonna say John, but he's going, I have no idea about a QR code. See a Lani or me. Yeah, and we'll get you registered. Anything else? Pray for these kids. These kids are growing. These kids are growing. I have watched them. The first Sunday they were here, I was ready to tape them all to the wall. Okay? It could still be arranged, men said. But but but you gotta learn when when kids first start to church, they they need to learn how to act in church. New Year's Eve. Oh my goodness, yeah. I was ready to just start a shuttle bus and take them home. But but they're growing. They sit here now, they're getting active in praise and worship. That's because God's moving in their life. So keep praying for these kids, okay? All right. John? Yes, Vanessa. Okay, we'll do that in the back. Right after church, okay? John, if you'll dismiss us this morning,