Help Others Who Struggle

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word, providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. So, we are in a series called How to Live Through a Bad Day, and we're in part two of that series. And this series is based on the last statements of Jesus Christ on the cross. And what's interesting is, you know, obviously we also experience bad days.

It's no coincidence or nothing new, right? I mean, bad days happen. They come and go, and we deal with bad days all the time, and we expect them to come sooner or later. But the question is, how do we look to Jesus when we experience a bad day? Because Jesus actually experienced the worst day of all.

He was on the cross. He faced everything that could possibly be faced. He was actually wearing the sins of mankind, right? I mean, he wore everything. Yet, in the midst of his suffering and his pain on the cross, he was actually teaching us something.

He was sharing some statements with us. He was saying some things. If you look at the Gospels, all four counts of the Gospel, you're you will find these statements. You will find these statements of Jesus. Jesus actually on the cross is still trying to show us something about how we can live through circumstances as he lived through circumstances, especially on the cross.

So, last week, we looked at forgiveness. We looked at, how do we deal with forgiveness? You know, one of the, he said, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. And even as they were mocking him and abusing him and calling names and scorning him and doing all these things, the shame that he wore, he still looked down and, or looked up, rather, and saw the Father and asked the Father to forgive them for they have no clue what they're doing. And in Hebrews 12, I love how the message puts this.

It's one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible, and I've taught on it many times, and I'm kind of taking it a different direction. But I love how the message puts it. It says, keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in, and study how he did it. So, that's what we're doing. We're studying how he did it, because he never lost sight of where he was headed.

That exhilarating finish in and with God, he could put up with anything along the way, cross, shame, whatever, and now he's there in the place of honor, right alongside God. So, what are we doing? We're looking at Jesus, and last week, we learned about forgiveness. Let me ask you this. How many of you go through struggles?

Okay, pastor, that's a stupid question, right? I mean, everybody goes through struggles. We all have struggles, and sometimes they seem to be very unbearable, right? I mean, there's times where we feel like, is it ever going to end? Are we ever going to get past these days, these weeks?

They may be financial struggles, maybe some type of a job situation, a loss of a job. Maybe our kids drive us crazy, you know, and we're just trying to figure out how to navigate life with young kids or teenagers or whatever that might be. And the teenagers, you're frustrated because your parents are aggravating and don't understand you, right? I mean, that's how we react to our parents, right? And we're trying to figure out this thing called life, and God forbid, maybe some of you are even dealing with some tragedy in your life.

Maybe you lost somebody recently. Maybe you lost a father, a mother, maybe even a child. And sometimes the struggles and the hardships seem to go on forever, but then we step back, and we think about the things we go through. And a lot of times when we're going through the struggle, we think we're the only one in it, that nobody else understands what I'm going through, that I'm just dealing with this, nobody will ever relate. I'm going to handle it myself, I'm going to deal with it myself, because it's just impossible for anybody to even know the amount of pain I'm experiencing right now.

And that's how we react to struggles in life. But if we stop for a minute and we take a look around us, we might realize something, that there are others that go through similar struggles. In fact, some of them even go through greater struggles. And it's hard for us to see when we're dealing with those struggles. So let me ask you this.

What if you were that person that was going through a struggle, and you saw somebody else going through a similar struggle? What if you were that person that somebody needed to talk to when they were going through that thing that you're going through? What if there is purpose in your pain? What if there's purpose in your struggle? What if God has a reason behind that, behind your struggle?

So we're looking at the second statement on the cross, and we see this with Jesus. Jesus is going through a struggle. He's going through the ultimate struggle. It doesn't take rocket science to know that Jesus was on the cross. He was bearing the sin of mankind.

The Bible says he had all sin weighed upon his shoulders. It was on him. The Father had turned his back on him. He was here at the cross, and he was entering into the last moments of his life, and there were these two men, these two criminals that were sharing in his suffering. There was one on one side and one on the other.

In Luke 23, in the gospel of Luke, we see this. It says this, starting with verse 39. It says one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. So he was receiving insults from one of the guys who was going through this similar situation. He says, aren't you the cry?

Save yourself and us. But the other criminal rebuked him. He rebuked the other man. He said, don't you fear God? He said, since you are under the same sentence, we are punished justly for we are getting what we deserve.

The deeds that we have done, we deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. And then he said, just remember me, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom. So this man's crying out to him in the midst of the struggle. He says, remember me, Lord.

Remember me. And he says this, I tell you the truth. I tell you the truth. Today, you will be with me in paradise. Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Let's pray real quick. Father, we thank you for these words that you've left for us, God. That we can relate to them today. That you strengthen us today. Today, through your presence and through your almighty breath that we hear in Scripture.

Throughout Scripture, we can take these things. We can apply it to our lives. And you change us, God. So I'm praying, God, that you begin to change people today, even as we speak. As I speak, do not let these words coming out of my mouth be my own.

Be straight from you, God, Father. In your name. Amen. So what Jesus saw here was fellow strugglers. He saw some people going through the very same thing he was going through.

And instead of focusing on himself, which would have been easy to do. And I think most of us in here probably would not have even known what was going on around us. Rather than focusing on his struggles, he reaches out to this man that is crying out to him. And he says, today you will be with me in paradise. He gives him an answer to his struggle.

He gives him a solution to his issue, the ultimate solution to his problem. So how do we live through bad days? What is Christ trying to teach us through this particular statement, this event that we see on the cross? It's this one thing. Help others who are going through the same struggles.

Help others who are going through the same struggles. Instead of focusing on ourselves, we... can reach out to someone that is going through a similar experience. And what happens is something miraculous. It makes us better.

It actually helps us. There's a principle that works, that God shows us that we're getting ready to introduce you here in a second in Scripture. When you help others, it actually helps you. Because here's what it does. It does three things, if you're following your notes.

It distracts us from our own needs. It distracts us from our own needs. When we focus on others' needs, it causes us, believe it or not, to start forgetting our own. And when we're involved in helping others, when we're down in the dirt working with others, sometimes we look back and we're like, oh, wow, I had a problem too, right? On the other hand, when we don't, when we don't help others, we tend to isolate and withdraw.

We try to work out the problems ourselves. We go into that state where we think that nobody else is going through what we're going through. And we become a victim of our own demise as a result. I don't want to be around anybody. I'm not going to answer my phone calls.

I'm dealing with this struggle. I don't want other people to know about my struggles and this and that. And we think it's easier and it works better if we just kind of work it out on our own. And I don't know why we do that. Maybe human nature, but maybe it could be a result of where we live, maybe our culture.

But that's the tendency to be alone. And as a result, our struggles actually intensify. Because when we're alone, we start thinking about those things, right? We start questioning those things. We start digging deeper.

We start making up things in our heads that aren't necessarily true. In fact, I had a pretty tough Monday. I don't know why Monday was so tough for me. But I was dealing with a bit. Maybe it's just the pastor thing.

You know, we have this ongoing joke from pastors. You know, you're changing the world on Sunday and then you're ready to submit your resignation letter on Monday, you know, after church or after you're done with the Sunday mornings. And we kind of joke about that a lot. But I was having a tough Monday. It was a spiritual thing.

I'm like, man, I'm just not having a good day. I'm kind of in a funk. And I said, you know what? I'm going to call my pastor buddy and see how he's doing, you know, because he's just on my heart. And maybe he's going through something similar.

So I call him up and he doesn't answer. And then I call again and he doesn't answer. I'm like, what's going on with him, man? You know, I'm trying to reach out to him. Well, I see him on Thursday.

We had we had a I had a thing out of town with with with our network with a group of pastors. And and he was there. And I said, Brian, man, I tried to call you and I left you a message and this and that. He says, man, I was so depressed. I didn't want to answer the phone.

And I'm like, man, don't do that. You know, let's talk, man. Let's work. Let's talk about these things because we need each other because we're going through similar struggles. And a lot of people, your people aren't going to understand the struggles you're going through, like me, because we go through similar struggles.

Sometimes we can't even explain the struggles to other peoples that we go through, but we can have each other and we can we can build each other up. And it's amazing to me how when you reach out to other people that you connect with other people that are going through similar struggles or even going through a struggle altogether. It may not be very similar to yours, but it's amazing how it works and how it actually heals you. It distracts us from our own needs. It weakens those those needs and that we think we're dealing with, that they're really pulling us down.

Secondly, it helps us see the solution. It helps us see the solution. It's amazing how when we're dealing with our issues or let's just take marriage, for instance, since we just came out of a marriage series and and a relationship series. We talked a lot about arguments and and dealing with things and and all the stuff. When you're actually in the argument with your spouse or or in the argument with your other half or you're dealing with it, maybe a friendship or whatever, whatever is going on, whatever that conflict is, it's you're so blinded to what's actually happening when you're in it.

It's so weird how everything else clouds up around you when you're actually in it. But then when you start counseling others on the same situation, you're like, oh, yeah, well, it's obvious, man, you hadn't taken her out for a date in six months or you said this to her or you did this to him or and it is so apparent. And we become the best counselors in the world. We're like we're like, yeah, this is there's a solution to this. There's a solution to that.

And then we look at our own selves and we're like, oh, wait a minute, I could actually apply that to my situation. So when we actually help others and we start start looking at other situations, we're reaching out to others. It actually helps us come up with solutions. We're like, oh, well, that makes sense. Right.

Thirdly, it allows us to put everything in perspective, everything in perspective. When we start focusing on others, what else is going on around us and around the world and and the people that are experiencing things all the time? It really does start to put things in perspective because we tend to say, as I mentioned earlier, I'm the only one going through this and it always seems so much worse than it actually is. We have a way of elevating things to this intensity that, you know, even a small thing can be a big thing. Nobody understands me.

And that's that just isn't true. You know, you're not alone in this. Other people all over the world are going through similar situations. I encourage everybody in here to at some point take take a missions trip. I mean, it might be an international missions trip might be a national missions trip, but I would encourage you to go into poor areas.

Maybe maybe take a trip to Africa and see what a third world country really looks like and how people most of the world is actually living. I had an opportunity to go on several cross-cultural or international missions trips. And and one of the most impactful missions trips that I ever was a part of was Nairobi, Africa. I was able to go to Africa and spend a few weeks there. We put on a pastoral conference there and did a lot of different things and got to see the communities there.

And it's amazing when you put things in perspective of how beautiful we have it and how nobody else. I mean, like so many people in this world do not have a lot. They really don't. And I remember being at this conference and and we were we were, you know, had some classes going on teaching. And all these people, all these pastors and leaders were were traveling for hundreds of miles on foot to come to our little old silly conference.

You know, we felt like it was just kind of kind of cool to see that we're actually ministering to people and and they're coming in. And these people would some some of them hardly had anything. Some of them were barefooted. Some of them had minimal clothing and they had nothing. And these people love the Lord.

They were coming to learn. They wanted to. There were Bible classes that we were teaching. We were talking about how how to handle your marriages and things like that in a culture that really didn't understand how to how to appreciate each other. There are all these really cool things that were going on.

These people being ministered to. And me and my I was with my father on this mission trip. And he and this this man came up to him and had this little ball cap, look like a gas station or a quick mark ball cap, you know, like it'd been ironed on and had this flag of Kenya and and it was just kind of a wrinkly little hat. It didn't look like much to us. But this man was so proud.

He came up and he just had this big, big white smile on his face. And he was just I have a pastor, pastors, pastor. I got this gift for you. I got this gift for you. I want you to have it.

And we were just like, wow, you know, like we. And we realized that it probably, for that one hat, these people are so poor, that was a big gift for him to give. That was a huge gift. It probably took, you know, weeks wages for him to even purchase a hat to give to us. And from our perspective, it was just a gas station hat.

You know, I can buy this $5 on the corner on Virginia Beach at a Wawa or something like that, right? But to him, this was a big deal because these people have nothing. And we had an opportunity to go to some other places. There was this one place, it's probably one of the most impoverished places in the world, actually. It's called Kibera.

And it's located in this stretch of land. The land can't be more than maybe two or three square miles long. And 500,000 to a million people, some estimate, live kind of around in this area. And there's these shacks and there's these shanties. And the kids are playing in the garbage and they're digging in the garbage with the dogs trying to find food and trying to find things that they can take back to their homes.

And some of these places that were built were no bigger than an ice cooler or some of them were, you know, refrigerator, maybe type of refrigerator. And I saw like a family of five, a family of six living in these very, very small units. And they're living this way. And half the world lives on $2.50 a day.

$2.50 a day. Most of these people have nothing. Most of the world is like that. 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day.

And it changes our perspective when we begin to think about those things. When we compare ourselves to the rest of the world, we have it. We're pretty blessed. And the fact that we're here in an air-conditioned building on Sunday morning, enjoying life, drinking coffee. I mean, we are blessed people.

We can appreciate that. When we see it from that perspective, you know, our problems become, our struggles become so much smaller. Because I can realize this, I'm better off than most. I'm better off than most. Can you say that with me?

I'm better off than most. No matter what you're going through, I'm better off than most. We can go through a lot of challenges in life, but we're better off than most. It changes our perspective. And when we begin to do, when we begin to apply these three things, it does something in us.

God begins to work in us. And that's what Jesus is trying to teach us. He's trying to teach us to look at the needs of others. Look what's happening around you. It could change your perspective.

It could help you come up with solutions. It could do things in your situation. It could begin to heal you in the middle of your bad day. Begin to reflect. Begin to look at others.

Begin to reach out to others. Look what he says in Isaiah. He says, if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, it just doesn't help me. Look what it says. Then your light will rise into darkness, and your night will become like the noon day.

So your darkness will become noonday. Your night will become noonday. Your darkness will become light. And the Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.

He will give you strength, and you will be like a well-watered garden. Isn't that refreshing to know? You will be like a well-watered garden, and it isn't just for you. It's like a spring whose water never fails. Your waters never fail.

It's available for others. It begins to pour out into other people. So this is a biblical principle. This is a promise that if you focus on meeting the needs of those who struggle around you, he will take care of you. If you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, what does he say?

All these things will be added to you. He gives us benefits in our suffering, in our pain when we begin to focus on others. There is a reason for our pain, and that's why we build a church the way it is. We exist as a church to help people understand this, that it's not about you. It's about others, and ultimately it helps you.

That's why, I mean, we have teams in this church when we work together, when we come together, when we set up church on Sunday morning, when we operate as a tech team, when we meet in small groups, when we set up. We do a lot of hard work here, but ultimately it's doing something for us. We don't, yeah, we need the help, you know, to have a healthy church, and that's, you know, very apparent, you know, but it's not as much about us needing the help. It's more about you and what helps you, because when you begin to reach out to others, God begins to do something with you. We use this statement, when we exist to help you help others so God can help you.

We exist to help you to help others so God can help you, and that's what we ultimately want. We want God to help you, to help you. Here's what Paul says about it, and this isn't in your notes, but if you'll take a look up at the screen, you can follow along. This is in the message. I love how the message says this.

He says, All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah, Father of all mercy, God of all healing counsel. He comes alongside us when we go through hard times. And before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times. Why? So that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.

We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort. We get a full measure of that, too. When we suffer for Jesus, it works out our healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times.

And when you see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it. No doubt about it. I love how it is that way. No doubt about it. It's the truth.

And some of you are here today, you're like, Oh, okay, I'm convinced about it. I'm convinced, Pastor. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. No doubt about it. That looks like God works.

God does that. But how? How? Well, there's two things. They're not in your notes.

I just want to mention these two things. First of all, it's through your gifts and your passions. Because you have gifts and passions that I don't have, and I have gifts and passions you don't have. And God has specifically equipped you with things to help others. You have a gift, and we want to help you discover those gifts.

You, 87%, I think the statistic is 87% of people attending church or are part of the family of God, Christians do not know what they're here for. Do not know what they're here for. And that's a shocking statistic. And we as a church want to be people who know without a doubt what we are created for, who we are with our gifts and our passions and using those gifts and passions to help others. Amen?

And secondly, he uses us in our messiness. Well, Pastor, I'm just so messed up. I'm dealing with so much, I don't think I can be used. I don't know. I don't know.

No, the fact is, you're messy because you can be used. You can be used because you're messy. Let me say it like that. You can be used because you're messy. Frankly, I don't want to be around a bunch of perfect people.

Perfect people make me sick, you know? Because they're not. Really perfect anyway, because nobody's perfect, but they pretend to be perfect and we're perfect and I want to do this and I want to do that. You know, you ever walk into those places where you feel like everybody's just too perfect and they, you're not good enough and I don't want to be around that. I want to be, I want to be around imperfect people because they help me, right?

And that's the point. When our pain is used, the things that we go through are used to help others and we all are in this together. We're trying to figure it out together and we can help each other in our pain and our struggle. So let me offer just a few things and then we'll close. We'll do three things here.

You know what it offers for people when we reach out to people and share in the struggles? Here's what it does first. It offers them stability. It offers them stability. And I'm going to break up Luke 23, 40, beginning with 43, that last statement of Jesus.

I'm going to break it up and I'm going to share three things with you. He says, Assuredly, I say to you, Assuredly, this is the truth. Assuredly, this is the truth. Some versions say truly. There is truth in what I am saying.

There is a foundation on what I am saying. We serve a God that never changes. You believe that? We serve a God that is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is a stable God.

He is an uncontrollable God. He is bigger than your situations. He is bigger than your frustrations. He is bigger than your problem. He is uncontrollable.

He is the 80-pound gorilla in the room. Where does the 80-pound gorilla sit? Anywhere he wants to. Because he's God and he's bigger than your situation. And you have a firm foundation to stand on in Jesus Christ.

They say the universe is 46 billion light years. And it continues to expand. It's huge. And Isaiah says God measures it with the span of his hand. I was corrected on this earlier.

I read this in science. So Tim corrected me. He's good about correcting me all the time, okay? Yeah. Call him out a little bit.

No, no, I'm glad he does that. But the sun is 92 million miles away, and that's truth. And we can stand outside and feel the sun on our face. And then it's not even the biggest sun. There's lots of suns that are bigger than his sun.

In fact, there's this one called Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is not only a movie that disturbed me as a child, but it is actually a sun that is 700 times bigger than the sun, and there are suns bigger than that. There are stars in the sky that are much larger than our sun, and the word of God says he breathed. He said the word, and they came into existence. He breathed and spewed the stars out.

We have a God that's way bigger than us that we can stand on. Psalm, I love how the psalm says this. He lifted me out of a slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire, and he set my feet on a rock, and he gave me what a firm place to stand. We have a God that's uncontrollable, that's so big, that's so powerful. He does not change, and we can stand on him, and we can be assured that we have a truth that we can hold on to, no matter what your situation.

And we can give people assurance. We can give people stability in their situation. Number two, we can offer them support. When we reach out to others, we can offer them support. They need support.

Luke 23, 43, in a New King James Version says, Today you will be with me. Today you will be with me. Sometimes we just need to reach out to somebody and say, Come on with me. Be with me today. Let's walk this out together.

You need to walk this out. I need help. You need help. Let's join together and help each other. Let's support each other.

Life was not designed to go it alone. And I don't know why we continue to gravitate to trying to do things alone. Well, I think I'm just going to work it out. I think I'm going to go and do my own thing, and I'll figure it out. I think men are probably the worst for it.

We tend to try to figure it out on our own. I'm going to go lock myself in a room for a few weeks and just figure it out. Man, I'm a man, you know. No, guess what? If you're a man, you need to ask for help.

When you have issues, you need to ask for help. You need to step it up and reach out to somebody. And that's why we have groups in our church. That's why we have teams in our church. That's why we meet together.

Regular outside of even teams and groups and salt groups and things like that, we have other ways of connecting with each other. I meet with people all the time. We have other people that meet with people all the time because we all need help. We need to be doing this thing called life together. We need to get together, you know, wherever.

Let's get together and go work out together. Let's get together and go surf together. Let's go play golf together. Let's get together and have dinner together. Let's get together and watch movies together.

And let's talk about these things. Let's get to know each other a little bit and stop living separate lives and live together as a church and do life as a church so that we can be healed, so that we won't struggle through these things on our own. We need to be together. We need to do things together. Don't do it in isolation.

Don't do it on your own. Ecclesiastes says this. I love how the NLT says that a person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are better than, what, one? For a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

The pain you go through may be the answer to someone else's problem and ultimately may be the answer to your struggle. And there are things that no one else can relate to but you. There are things that no one else can relate to but you and somebody else. We reach out to people to offer them support, support people. And thirdly, it offers them salvation.

It offers them salvation. He says, today you will be with me where? In paradise. I love that word paradise, you know. I think of Jimmy Buffett and, you know, do-do-do-do, you know, here's like birds and beaches and resort and all those beautiful things.

You know why I think of those things? Because paradise, literally, the literal translation for paradise is resort, is resort. He has a place. He looked over at this man on the cross that was going through that same struggle. The man was crying out to him.

He gave him an answer to his situation. He gave him an eternal answer to the situation, not just a temporary answer. He says, today is salvation. Today receive salvation because I'm getting ready to walk hand-in-hand into paradise, into this resort, into this place I have everlasting for you. Come with me.

I can see Jesus after they passed away on the cross, that man holding his hand, walking into paradise, a place where there are no more pain, no more tears, no more shame, no more hurt. And he's walking. He says, come with me. Here we are, a place where we can live forever, a final resting place, a final place where you no longer have to deal with the struggles and pains of life. John 14, 1 and 2 says this, do not let your hearts be troubled.

Jesus said to him, why are you troubling? Here, I'm going to tell you something. He says, trust in God, trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. He's saying, there's a place for you.

There's a place in paradise for you. It's there waiting for you. In my father's house are many rooms. And if it were not so, I wouldn't have told you. They were questioning.

A question, Lord, you're going away, all this stuff is happening. He says, look, look, look, where I'm going, you're going to be with me, and I'm not telling you this just to tell you this. I'm not telling you this to give you some kind of inspirational message. I'm not telling you this just to give you a good day. I'm telling you this to fix all your problems because there's so much more I have for you.

I have things. Paul couldn't even describe what it looked like. He was the only person in Scripture that was able to be lifted up to the third heaven actually in his body. He even said, I don't know if it was in my body or whatever was going on, but whatever that vision was, I can't even tell you what I experienced, because it's humanly impossible for me to tell you what was going on. There were rubies and emeralds, but man, that doesn't even, there's streets of gold, all this stuff that, that, that this imagery that he was trying to give, but he says, I still can't.

I mean, I don't even know how, because it was so beautiful. It was so beyond anything I could ever expect, and if, if you could just, and he just, if you could even get a glimpse of what he has in store for you, it would make all the difference in how we live today. It would make all the difference. It would make all the difference, the struggles and the pains that we have. It, it helps, it reinforces hope.

It reinforces stability. It reinforces truth. It reinforces everything. He says, I am going there to prepare a place for you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.

So my final thought is this. My final thought is this. Jesus offers more than a better now. His, let me, let me, let me just stop there. A better now is kind of American idea of Christianity.

And I don't want to say that we, we can't experience good things. It's the beauty that God gives us in the now. We can experience him in so many beautiful ways. We experience him every day. We're getting glimpses of the kingdom of heaven as we walk out our life, as we spend time with our children and our family and, and just the beautiful things, the lovely things, the lovely things in this life, that, that, that, that, that, that brings joy are little glimpses of God.

But we have this American idea of Christianity that the better is, is just now that we got to have the better now. But the truth is there are going to be struggles in life. There are going to be issues in life, but Jesus offers more than just a better now. Now it's not just a better now. It's a better place.

He wants to take us to a better place. He has a better place for you. How to live through a bad day, focus on others, because when you begin to focus on others, it does something for you. Change our perspective, change our thought, change our mind process. Let's pray.

Father, we just thank you, God, for your word. It's so beautiful and it's so true. Every time I read it, it's like a breath of fresh air to my life. And what I find, Lord, is when, even when I'm studying and I'm going through struggles and I begin to, to, to pour into the people here, what you've showed me, it begins to change me as well, Lord Jesus. And I pray that people here today would experience the very same grace as they reach out to others, as they're going through a bad day, as they're dealing with struggles, that they begin to take actions.

To help those who may be going through the same things they're going through. And as a result, they are changed. There may be some today, Lord, that, that may not know you. Maybe they've walked away from you. Maybe they're far from you.

Maybe they're here for one reason or another. Maybe they're broken. Maybe they're hopeless. Maybe they're, they're hurt. Maybe they experienced some type of rejection.

Maybe they were offended at the church. Maybe they were offended at others. Whatever that is, Lord Jesus, I know that they're here today because of you. It's no coincidence they're in this room, Lord. And while the church is, is, is remaining in prayer, if there is anybody here today that wants to commit their life to Jesus, that the day is the day you, you, you walked in here and you've, you know that you need to know Jesus.

You need to know God. You need to know him more. If that's you today, if you would just share by lifting your hands, just, we're going to embarrass you and bring you up to say, Hey, I got it. I'm ready. I'm ready to give my life to him.

I'm ready for him to do a work in me, change me. I want to walk closer to him. I want to know him more. We're all going to pray this together as a church. For those of you who made a decision today, let's pray this together.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I believe that you are God, that you died and you rose again on the third day. Yes, Lord, you are God. And I believe that you died on the cross to forgive me of my shortcomings, my sin, where I missed the mark. Today, I receive you into my heart, change my life, come into my heart, come into my life. I walk with you today.

Today, thank you so much, Lord, for believing in me, even when I didn't believe in myself and rescuing me. I'm with you from this day forward in your name. Amen. Amen. Can y'all.