SPEAKER_00: We are.
SPEAKER_00: We are the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Just got a group of people meeting over here to listen to a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: We are the possession of God.
SPEAKER_03: This podcast is the ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_03: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Ephraim Lopez.
SPEAKER_00: I thank Pastor Neil, the associate pastors, and the church board that gave me the privilege to come before you today and share the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I've been a pastor for the past 30 years in the New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts area.
SPEAKER_00: And we recently, me and my wife, we retired from the pastorate.
SPEAKER_00: And we decided to come to the warm weather, stay away from the cold.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that my daughter Joseph, which is here with me, she invited us to come and find a place in Texas.
SPEAKER_00: And my wife, so she's been she's with me also, my beautiful lady that has been my companion for the past 45 years.
SPEAKER_00: And on 1973, 1971, after returning from the uh Vietnam War, I went to Puerto Rico and uh a lady spoke to me about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought I knew God, but she made me uh a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: She said, uh every everyone will someday will have to be before the throne of God, including you.
SPEAKER_00: Regardless, whatever you want to believe, or you want to believe the Bible or the church, whatever, you on your own someday will be in the front of God and He will judge you for your actions.
SPEAKER_00: I pay no mind to it, it didn't bother me at all.
SPEAKER_00: But when I went home and I went to sleep, those words kept pounding on my head.
SPEAKER_00: Someday I have to face God.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I went on my knees and I said, Lord, and I think I was kind of drunk that day.
SPEAKER_00: Not sure.
SPEAKER_00: And I went on my knees and I said, Lord, if it's true what that crazy lady told me, that someday I will go before you, I would like you to come to my heart.
SPEAKER_00: And I made a very sincere uh prayer, and uh because my preoccupation was there are so many churches, so many denominations, so many groups, so many religions in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, if you really are what the lady told me, please come to my heart.
SPEAKER_00: And he came.
SPEAKER_00: Came to my heart.
SPEAKER_00: One day he came to my heart, and I understood how dirty I looked before the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I made a commitment.
SPEAKER_00: I uh got married with my wife, and we made a promise to go and preach the gospel of the Lord, whatever he'll send me.
SPEAKER_00: And he has sent us to Central America, South America, Caribbean, to Europe, to different places, and we enjoy going whatever the Lord has to do, and just tell the people about this wonderful Jesus that we serve.
SPEAKER_00: And uh today I would like to invite you to invite you uh to read from the Bible on 1 Timothy chapter 3, uh beginning on verse uh 14.
SPEAKER_00: And my message: we are, we are the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We're just not a group of people meeting over here to listen to a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: We are the possession of God, we are the children of God, we are the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: It it reads, although I hope to come to you soon.
SPEAKER_00: I am writing to you this instruction.
SPEAKER_00: So if I'm delayed, if I tarry, you will know how people have to conduct themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is created.
SPEAKER_00: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, was seen by the angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on the word, and taken up in glory.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the Christian church was born on Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: You know the Jewish uh holiday, they call it Passover, it's 50 days after the seventh week of uh uh of labor, and uh it was commemorating the freedom from Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Passover is.
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh Pentecost is it was when the Holy Spirit descended on the followers of Jesus as they gathered together in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: This gathering became the first Christian church.
SPEAKER_00: And until that day, because we serve a living God, the church goes on.
SPEAKER_00: The church continues.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want you to uh grab from my message today is that we are the church of the Lord, of the living God, and this church has to go on to the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to preach and we have to live according to what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: See, I'm giving you instructions.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul tells Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm giving you instructions how you should behave, how you should manner, how you should uh conduct yourself in the church, which is the house of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: Um we speak of Pentecost about the uh birth of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Pentecost is a vivid illustration uh of the truth that is found through Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: See, the church, what is the truth I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: The church is a community of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: We are God's people.
SPEAKER_00: The church is a community of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: We are here to fellowship, to worship, to learn, and also to fulfill the mission of the church, which which will be at the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: How can we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Using our God-given gifts to build the church and share the love, justice in Christ with the Word.
SPEAKER_00: To be called a church of Christ, we must we must Christ must be the center of our affections.
SPEAKER_00: See, Christ has to be living in us so we can uh call ourselves, I am part of the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: When it says that faith has to be firm as a rock, see, the faith has to be firm as a rock.
SPEAKER_00: Your beliefs have to be strong, have to be firm as a rock.
SPEAKER_00: Your foundation has to be strong.
SPEAKER_00: When uh Jesus asks his disciples, who do the people say I am?
SPEAKER_00: What are the people?
SPEAKER_00: What do they say?
SPEAKER_00: See, and they they respond different different uh answers.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said you're John the Baptist, somebody says you are Elijah, somebody says you're Jeremiah, another prophet.
SPEAKER_00: But he was concerned, not about what the people were saying.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to know their insight.
SPEAKER_00: Who do the people say I am?
SPEAKER_00: Now, what do you say I am?
SPEAKER_00: That is the foundation, that's the faith, that is the stronghold of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You are the Christ, the Son of God, or you are the Messiah, or you are the one sent from God.
SPEAKER_00: So he said, Blessed are you, Peter, Peter Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Because those words that you that you just said now, they didn't come from you.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't come from your mind or from your intellect.
SPEAKER_00: They came from the Spirit in heaven, my father, from my father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, And I'll say unto you, Peter, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of heaven would not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: He was not, he was not saying that over that rock, Peter, Peter means uh Petras or Piedra or Rock, but he wasn't saying that he was gonna build his church on a rock.
SPEAKER_00: He was saying that the Christian church, the church of a living God, has to be built upon the statement that only Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he's the only salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Upon upon this rock, I will I will build my church.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the true church recognizes the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: See, you have to recognize Jesus Christ as the only Savior, as the only Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: On Colossians 1.15, it says, and I'm using the King James Version for this for this verse, it says, Who Him, Christ, is the Son of God who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
SPEAKER_00: By him were all things created that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they are thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: So it is our responsibility that we uh learn to strengthen our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and also pass it over to the people around us.
SPEAKER_00: People need to know that Jesus Christ is the only uh salvation, is the only source of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: You know that you the church goes on.
SPEAKER_00: We are here because we are the church of a living God.
SPEAKER_00: Someone brought you the gospel, someone told you about the Lord Jesus, and the Lord opened your heart so you can believe.
SPEAKER_00: So we can we have to continue saying, uh telling this story to the people.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll say this because Peter made a strong declaration.
SPEAKER_00: You are you are the Christ, you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And uh Christ says, Upon this truth, I will build my church.
SPEAKER_00: But 300 years later, there was a uh a guy named uh Arius, the uh previsor of uh Alexandria, that he came with a with a with a belief that Christ was not the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And since 300 years after Christ, people still following the Arians' uh beliefs that Christ was only a man, just a man, just a prophet, just a good teacher, just somebody sent by God to do some kind of work.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible said, the Bible said that uh he is, he he taught, he told him that he was the son, the only begotten son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Um Paul writes to Timothy and he says, although I hope to come and see you soon, I am writing and giving you instructions in case I'm delayed, in case I tarry, so you will know what to do, so you know how to behave, how to manner, in, first of all, he calls the church in the house of God, God household.
SPEAKER_00: Then he says, the house of God, which is the truth, which is the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: See the the the building, the congregation, everything that that was there.
SPEAKER_00: See, he was talking about people, but he he's talking about the church.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is talking about the church, but he's not talking about the about the building.
SPEAKER_00: Although they were in a building, see, and and the building is called the church, he was talking to ourselves, to our minds, what we are.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You need to know how to behave, how to conduct in the house of in the church, which is the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and then he closes saying, the church is the pillar and found and foundation of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Column and pillar of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, according to this statement, the church has been the house of God since the first century.
SPEAKER_00: I am going to the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I I listen to people say, oh my, I just have church today.
SPEAKER_00: We are the church, but they just go to the church and and spend good time.
SPEAKER_00: I have good time in church today.
SPEAKER_00: See, we are the church.
SPEAKER_00: Uh according to what he said, the church of Christ has been the only church of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are not talking about, again, about the uh the building.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about a congregation of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: Those who believe in the spirit, I am, I am in the truth, I am in the faith, I am in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Uh right now, the church, the building is a place of worship.
SPEAKER_00: And uh you're honoring God by sitting here, you're honoring God, saying, God, here I am, I am present.
SPEAKER_00: I want to worship you, I want to sing to you, I want, I want that uh it it's written in heaven that I am here, Lord, as you said, that we should congregate together and listen and worship and do what is right.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but you you you guys are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: There are millions of people that on Sunday will gather and worship God in different languages and in different uh places.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we, the Southern Baptists, I've been I've been serving the Lord in the Southern Baptist for the past 30 years, and there are 47,000 congregations that are meeting today, different different hours of the day, in more than 100 languages to praise God and to do what and to remember what Paul told them: that this is the house of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: In in the book of Ezekiel, chapter uh 43, verse 7, Ezekiel has a vision where he sees the building, the temple, but he saw the glory of the Lord that came and filled the temple.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of the Lord is here, the living Jesus is here, the living God is here because he called this building and this people his church.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: When when when Solomon built the first temple, he himself had a question.
SPEAKER_00: He was a very wise man, he was uh a very intelligent people, and he used to write uh beautiful things and Psalms and all kinds of proverbs, but also he had a doubt.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, God is so great, God is so big.
SPEAKER_00: God is uh the the heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain him.
SPEAKER_00: So he said, Well, would this house that I'm gonna build will contain him?
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, will this is God is so big, so so so greatness, so grandeur, will God really come and dwell with us over here?
SPEAKER_00: I believe he does.
SPEAKER_00: I believe he does because when when when the son of David Solomon was praying, maybe on his mind, when he says, Will will will he will this temple that I built can hold him?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord answers to him and he says, He tells the the son of David, you pray, and I'll be listening.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we pray, and the Lord our God will answer our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: It's a big mystery, but you pray for whatever your need is, whatever your necessity is, and I'm sure that somehow the Lord our God will answer your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells, he tells uh Solomon, my eyes will be open, and my ears will be attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: When you pray, God listens.
SPEAKER_00: But when you pray in church, when you come to the temple and present your prayers, I'm not saying they have more power, but this is something that we should do more often.
SPEAKER_00: Uh making theology simple.
SPEAKER_00: I truly believe that the church is the house of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that God lives here.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that when you prepare this morning to come uh to the church, already God was uh making plans for you.
SPEAKER_00: And he was already uh at the door to receive you with a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I truly believe that when when when when Jesus Christ promised to build his church, he used the words for the kingdom and the church, and he put them all together.
SPEAKER_00: For him, the kingdom and the church is something that goes together.
SPEAKER_00: And when he says, and I also say unto you, Peter, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of heaven shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the church we serve.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we are.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that's what we what we are doing at this time.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: Um I remember when you read on on the the crucifixions of our Lord when he expired, when he died, the veil of the temple tore.
SPEAKER_00: So he opened, he opened a path, a way for men with a sinner men to go directly to the holy God.
SPEAKER_00: In a church, we need to know that the door, the ears, the doors, everything of our Lord is open to us.
SPEAKER_00: We can go directly to the Lord, and especially in the house of the Lord, said and said, Father, here I am, here I am, I want to be, I want to receive your blessing, and I want to be where the saints of the Lord Jesus Christ are.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when the Lord spoke to Peter, and he told him about uh what we are.
SPEAKER_00: Using the same words that Paul tells Timothy that the church that that the church or or the word of God is the foundation, the pillar of the church, this statement, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
SPEAKER_00: The foundation of the church, the foundation of our faith is believing what Jesus Christ tells, what the Bible tells that Jesus Christ is.
SPEAKER_00: Consequently, see, consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but we are fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.
SPEAKER_00: And when we talk the household, we're talking we are members of the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus Himself is the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_00: In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple by the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And in him, you are two being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives on the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm trying to say.
SPEAKER_00: The church has the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Because the church believes in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other way where you can find the truth.
SPEAKER_00: You may ask yourself, well, they're talking about the mystery of the cross, the mystery of Calvary, all those things that happen, and sometimes I don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: You may ask yourself, how can my mind and my spirit understand this mysteries of the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: I've been reading the Bible for 45 years and still have to work very hard on it.
SPEAKER_00: Every single day.
SPEAKER_00: One, two, three, four, five chapters, but I continuously have to continue reading because it's the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And some parts I don't understand, but I hope that as I read, and as God blesses me and anoint me with the Spirit, I can understand every word of God.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you say, What should I do?
SPEAKER_00: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you some advice.
SPEAKER_00: Call to me, says the Lord, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
SPEAKER_00: If you need to know God's mysteries, things related to the Lord, go to the Bible, pray to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I need to understand.
SPEAKER_00: And He will give you understanding of all this truth.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: These three statements are clear.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, the church is not a building, it's a congregation of people together by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are here for grace.
SPEAKER_00: We are here because God chose He chose us to be part of His kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: We are people bonding together by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the church is called the Church of the Living God because He promised that His presence will be whenever or wherever people meet in His name.
SPEAKER_00: And the third one, the third one, He it is the church.
SPEAKER_00: It is the column and the pillar of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let me see how can I explain, how can I explain this?
SPEAKER_00: There is a philosophical question.
SPEAKER_00: Where am I?
SPEAKER_00: Where am I going?
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: Where do I come from?
SPEAKER_00: Well, where I'm going, uh where I where am I, it tells you on the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: On one chapter 139 of the Psalms, God tells you where you come from.
SPEAKER_00: He, he, he says, He need me in the wound of my mother.
SPEAKER_00: Now, where am I going?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus also said, Let not your heart be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Believe in God, believe that also in me.
SPEAKER_00: In my father's house, there are many mansions.
SPEAKER_00: If I were not so, I wouldn't have told you.
SPEAKER_00: I am going to prepare a place for you, and I will come and receive you unto myself, so where I am, you also could be.
SPEAKER_00: I know where I'm going.
SPEAKER_00: In my my Spanish Bible, on verse uh 48, 14, it says, This wonderful God of ours will guide you far more beyond death.
SPEAKER_00: In the English version says, For this God of is our God forever and ever, and he will guide even us to the end.
SPEAKER_00: Hey?
SPEAKER_00: Now, God created men so men could seek him.
SPEAKER_00: The people has the power of God to understand God.
SPEAKER_00: Because you you were given his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Every human being has a spirit that God put in him, and through that spirit man can seek God.
SPEAKER_00: But they just they decide not to.
SPEAKER_00: So they go other ways.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh, when when the when the church of the living God understands why you're here, why God called you, then you worry about ministry and you worry about preaching the word, and you go out and tell the people all these beautiful things.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: It says in the Bible, on uh 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 7 and 8, that the mystery of the church, what we are, why we're here, why do we exist?
SPEAKER_00: Why did God make his church?
SPEAKER_00: And why does he lead on his church?
SPEAKER_00: That mystery was hidden from the wise people of that time, from the rulers of the world, from the rulers, because if they would have known that, they would never crucify the Lord of glory.
SPEAKER_00: If the people who knew that the church was bound to heaven, if the demons and Satan and all those uh things that we would not like to talk about it, if they would know the purpose of the church, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: And at the church also, God gave us pastors to guide us, to lead us, to correct us, to discipline us, and until that day when our time is up.
SPEAKER_00: So you got a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to him.
SPEAKER_00: You got pastors in the church, and they're here to help you out.
SPEAKER_00: They're here to clarify your doubts, to help you in whatever you need.
SPEAKER_00: I remember a couple of weeks back, pastor was praying for a lady, and Pastor Neil and he told the lady, uh, I want to be your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Let me be your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Come to the church and let me be your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I heard?
SPEAKER_00: I heard, you're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: You are entering the battlefield, and I will be with you, I'll be your backup, I'll take care of you six, I'll be there with you to fight this battle along with you.
SPEAKER_00: So let's almost finishing.
SPEAKER_00: Let me review what 1 Peter says, chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: It says, You are chosen people.
SPEAKER_00: You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
SPEAKER_00: You are God's special possessions.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason for that.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: Again, you are chosen people, royal priesthood.
SPEAKER_00: Holy nation, God's special possession.
SPEAKER_00: There is a powerful reason for that.
SPEAKER_00: For you to declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
SPEAKER_00: So He called you, and God is happy that you're here.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a commandment for those who are called.
SPEAKER_00: Go preach the word wherever you can to your family, to your friends, to your neighbor, to anybody in the work, people who come to you, at least, that maybe at least weekly you tell somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We were invited yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Uh somebody says, Go pray for my family down in Houston.
SPEAKER_00: So we drove to Houston to pray for a family.
SPEAKER_00: When we got there, they were having a party.
SPEAKER_00: They're having coronas and they're having uh a 70, a 70-pound pig.
SPEAKER_00: They were roasting it on a they were Cubans.
SPEAKER_00: They were roasting it on uh on the backyard.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we went to pray and said, ooh, this situation is kind of weird.
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to hear, they don't want to hear us.
SPEAKER_00: No, got open away, some suddenly they were called inside, left the bears aside, came into the house, we talked to them, we preached about Jesus, we invite them to receive the Lord Jesus, and there were about 15, 20 people there, and more than 10 of them were crying as we speak the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: You talk, you preach, the Holy Spirit does his part, and you fulfill the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to finish with this.
SPEAKER_00: What is the importance of the church?
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: You preach now, you worship God, you do whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to, but the Bible says that the believers of the true church today, the believers of the church of the living God will be the one standing in the throne of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: John says, after this, I look, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing there before the throne and before the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: They were wearing white robes and they were holding pearl branches in their hands.
SPEAKER_00: That's our future.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're going.
SPEAKER_00: That's the purpose of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: So keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_00: I would like you to stand for one minute.
SPEAKER_00: And just to remind you, God called you to his church.
SPEAKER_00: This is the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever there are two or three together in the name of Jesus, there is the Holy Spirit of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He's here.
SPEAKER_00: He knows you.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your needs, he knows your necessities, he knows your worries, he knows your emotions, he knows everything about you.
SPEAKER_00: Take time to relax and think I am in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you as we gather together as one to worship you.
SPEAKER_00: I ask you to bless everyone that came today to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We present ourselves to you, asking for wisdom and blessings for today and throughout this week.
SPEAKER_00: Let your word speak to us during this week and guide us to your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus Christ we ask.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Would you join with me as we sing a song of response?
SPEAKER_02: This is an old hymn called The Church's One Foundation.
SPEAKER_02: Let's raise our voices together and sing this in response to God's words.
SPEAKER_01: The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus creation by spirit and the word from heaven he came and taught her to be holy bright with his own blood he bought her and for her life he does.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Before our service concludes today, there's a few things we want you to be aware of.
SPEAKER_02: Uh the first being that if today's the day you worship through offering, uh, there's boxes by the doors.
SPEAKER_02: That's where you would do that.
SPEAKER_02: Uh also, if this if you're new, there is a card on the chair back in front of you that you could fill out and drop one of those boxes as well.
SPEAKER_02: Uh that way we can know you are here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh just by a show of hands, how many men are registered for the men's weekend?
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I think we can do better than that.
SPEAKER_02: So, men, after this service, I would love if you're not registered, head to the lobby, uh, sign up because today is the deadline.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so you'll hear that in a little bit, but we think it's worth repeating.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but because we think this one weekend uh out of the year is worth setting aside uh your time, uh, and because you'll you'll definitely spiritually benefit from it.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but let's look to the screens and we'll see our announcements this week.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_02: The student fall retreat is November 8th through 10th at Piney Woods Encampment.
SPEAKER_02: Registration is open online for students in grades 7 through 12.
SPEAKER_02: The price goes up on October 16th, so head to Grandparkway.org/slash students to save your spot.
SPEAKER_02: Men's weekend starts on Friday.
SPEAKER_02: The deadline to register is today, which you can do in the lobby or online.
SPEAKER_02: We'll see you on Friday at 7 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: in the warehouse.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new, be sure and check out our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: If you're on social media, you can find us there too.
SPEAKER_02: If you would like someone to pray with you or you have a question about anything you've heard today, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage after our service.
SPEAKER_00: God knows what you need.
SPEAKER_00: He knows if you have difficulty with the finances, if you have health issues, some emotional issues, anything that you may need from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible said that he listens to the prayer in his house of worship.
SPEAKER_00: He's here listening to you.
SPEAKER_00: He need he knows what you need.
SPEAKER_00: At this time, think for one minute and tell the Lord what you need, and he'll bless you during this week.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this people.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for all those who came to the house of the Lord, to the house of the living God, expecting to receive a blessing or just here because they want to worship you.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we ask you that you can see the desires of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ we pray and we ask.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.