Making Faith Work

We talked about that, and last week we hit on generosity and how to live a life that God rewards, a blessed life. Well, this week we're going to pull all this together, and we'll conclude with the grand finale of how to make faith work. How do we actively make faith work? And James enters into this after going through all these chapters, just instructional teachings of how to live a good Christian life, how to live a blessed life, how to live a life that people see and glorifies God and He comes through all of this, and then he gets to the place where he's like, okay, we're going to talk about some supernatural things now.

Now that you've rolled through all of this, I'm going to tell you how to do things that you thought were impossible. So, we're beginning with James 5, 13. We start there because we left off last week on chapter, on verse 12, and we're going to roll from verse 13, and this series is a little different than the normal series where we have topics and stuff like that. We're actually letting the Scripture speak. So, we're looking at this.

We're walking through the verses and learning from these verses in James. So, he starts off by talking about prayer, but not just any prayer. He's talking about supernatural prayer, prayer for healing, prayer that actually changes things and does things differently. And there's a lot of controversy surrounded around when we talk about the topic of prayer and healing. So, we want you to understand kind of what we believe as a church about healing and prayer and divine healing, as we call it in the church.

We call it divine healing. If you want to call it supernatural healing or God healing or, as my brother says, hands-on healing. You can call it whatever you want to, but God actually tells us through James, James instructs the church about healing. And we want to navigate this well because there's a lot of teachings on healing. And we want a real strong and basic understanding.

Something simple, but something real. So, James 5, 13, it says, if anyone among you or is anyone among you in trouble? Is anyone among you in trouble? I think that was probably an easy question to answer because there's always trouble, right? Jesus said, in this life, you're going to have trouble, right?

Whether it be physical, whether it be spiritual, whether it be emotional, whatever it may be, there's always trouble. Is anyone happy? It says, anyone is in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy?

Let them sing songs of praise. So, not only pray for people who are in trouble, rejoice when things are accomplished, right? Praise him when things are going good. I'm happy right now. Let's praise him.

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. Now, in our church, we actually do practice that. When someone needs prayer, we gather around them. We anoint them with oil.

We don't do it a lot right in the middle of service. Usually, it's after service or as we're closing. Sometimes, we'll offer people an opportunity to be prayed over and we use oil. Now, oil is just a symbol. There's nothing magical in oil itself.

I've actually got a little thing of oil from Israel, you know? It's like, it's Israel oil. And I remember somebody brought that from Israel to me and actually purchased it in Israel. They said, this is Israel oil. And I said, is that a special oil?

And it says, well, no, not really. But it's just oil because a lot of our oil actually comes from that type of oil, comes from Israel. So, there's nothing really special in the oil itself. It's just symbolic. Much like baptism is symbolic and communion is symbolic, oil is symbolic.

And when we pray over people as a symbol, as the Word of God shows us, the oil that covers over people, a symbol of the Lord's anointing, we pray over people in oil. And it says this, and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. This is not Leon's writing. This is James' writing.

This is the church's writing. And the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Now, let's just talk about divine healing or supernatural healing just for a second. There's two kind of sides of this equation, okay? And most of the church is kind of right on a lot of things, but then they kind of get it wrong on other things. And there's two extremes in the area. One of them is those that pray for people.

There's a movement and, you know, in some Pentecostal charismatic movements and parts of those. And I don't want Pentecostals to get a bad rap because I am actually Pentecostal. I grew up Pentecostal in a Pentecostal church, so I can actually talk a little bit about Pentecostals in a tough way at times, you know? So there's this movement on the other side. Every time you pray in faith, that person should be healed.

Every time that you lay hands on somebody, they should be healed. But this just isn't the case. And what happens is a lot of people become hurt. They pray for their father, their grandfather, their mother, their child, and it doesn't happen. And then there's condemnation that comes from the church.

You didn't have enough faith and you didn't have enough strength in your prayers. Maybe you should have fasted more or you should have prayed more. I have a friend whose father had cancer when he was a young child and they were in a church that was what we call a faith healing type movement. And they believed with everything that was within them. They had the faith to pray over him, and he would be healed.

The father believed it, the family believed it, and they prayed, and he wasn't healed. He passed away. And instead of the church coming behind them and giving them a good, you know, just comforting them and telling them that, you know, this is just a part, you know, this was God's plan, God, you know, God had a purpose in this, and giving good theology behind it, they said, you didn't have enough faith. He would have been living today if you had just prayed a little longer, if you had fasted a little more, if you had prayed the right way, you just didn't have the faith. And as a result, he was away from the church for years, and didn't have any, I mean, it's very hurtful, and it's very condemning when we take this extreme.

And then you have the other side of the house that says, we call this the dispensational approach, where God doesn't heal anymore. People believe that God, you know, God's closed the doors, God's done, the canon is set, healing is done, and healing is no more. There's no need for it now, we don't even need to pray for it, it's actually heretical to pray for healing, that's what this side of the house says, and that's equally as dangerous. Because John talks, I mean, James talks about prayer healing. The Bible actually focuses a lot on gifts and healing.

So, sometimes people are healed, and sometimes they aren't. Now, pastor, I believe that God can heal, and I think he should heal every time, but why does he not heal sometimes? You know, I don't know. I'm not sure why he doesn't heal on every, I know he can heal on every occasion, if he wanted to. He could restore everybody, but I trust that I have a God who knows best.

I have a God who has a plan beyond mine, and my thoughts are not his thoughts. His ways are not my way, and if it were my way, everybody would be healed, but guess what? I'm glad my way's not the right way, because my way is flawed. And if it were my way, I'm glad that nobody's following my way, because my way is human. So, I trust that God has it under control.

I trust that God knows best, and I can believe and trust in him, and I don't try to rationalize things based on my limited understanding of why God doesn't heal every time. But if you're following your notes, I do want to say this. God still heals. God still heals people, okay? Maybe not all the time, but he still heals people.

And I want you to, and we want to focus this, on this for a minute. There's not a verse anywhere that says he is no longer healing. Not, nowhere in scripture. And in fact, Hebrews 13, 8 says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the same then as he is now.

He is still in the healing business, and he uses the church to heal. Let me just give you a few personal examples that I've experienced in healing. When I was a young boy, probably about six years old, and you know how when you're really young, you have faith like a child. You know, you believe everything. You believe that, you know, you can talk to a tree and it'll move, you know?

I mean, it just, you're talking to trees. You're doing things. Your imagination's wild. You have, you have imaginary friends, you know? You have all these things.

And Jesus actually talks about faith like a child, right? He says, unless you have faith like a child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, right? Because we need to, you know, his ways are beyond our ways, right? So I was a young boy, and a cyst began to grow on the back of my leg, and it became about the size of a golf ball. And I was going to have to have some tests run and go through some things, and I don't know if it was cancerous or not.

My parents certainly were a little scared. They didn't want me to know that, but they were a little scared of what was going on because this growth was happening, and we didn't know, you know, the next steps. What was this going to transpire to be? But one night in my room, my dad, you know, said his, we said our prayers together, and dad said, you know, you want to pray over your cyst there? I said, yes, dad.

I want to pray over this cyst. And dad, don't worry. I remember it. Dad, don't worry. God's going to heal it.

God's going to take care of it. So we prayed. Dad laid his hands on my legs, and we prayed over my legs, and that very next morning, it was gone. There was nothing there. There was no tests need to be made because God still heals.

God still heals. There was a lady in a church my dad pastored. Her name was Miss Helen. Miss Helen was a very sweet lady. She was like my, one of my second grandmothers.

In fact, when I was called to go to ministry and go to seminary, she supported me financially. She was a very sweet lady. And one day she came into church, and she had a bad diagnosis. Her heart was not doing well. In fact, she was going to have some major surgeries.

And when they went in to look at her heart, she had heart valves in different places. In fact, it was almost backwards. Things were all over the place, and it was causing some major complications. I mean, it was messed up in there. And the doctors were like, this is going to call for some major surgery.

It's having effects on how your heart's beating and what's going on. And this is going to be, and she was just, I mean, this was out of nowhere. Her whole life, she's been walking around with a heart defect and never knew it. And as James tells us in the Bible, the church got around her one Sunday after church and prayed over her. They laid hands on her and asked for healing.

Well, Ms. Helen went back to the doctor that week, and they ran some scans and some things. And the doctor was very puzzled. Because when he looked at the report, he says, there's nothing wrong with your heart at all. And I don't understand what went wrong last week, but I don't see anything there.

Everything's back in place. I could have sworn that I saw in the other results that their heart was really, really messed up. But here I see no problems. And she said, he said, this is just almost a medical miracle. I mean, I don't know what to say.

You know, this is how this test turned up this way. She looked at him. She says, it was Jesus Christ. Jesus healed me. And the doctor said, I believe it, because this is impossible.

And I remember us celebrating that. My grandfather was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the early part of last century, back when the tuberculosis scared. In fact, his father was put into a home because they didn't have a cure for it, and they would place him in homes to pretty much pass away to keep it from the general public. And as my grandfather was coming in contact with tuberculosis, and it was starting to grow inside of him, he decided his last hope was to go to a prayer meeting, a prayer healing meeting. In fact, my name, my first name is Dwight, because of Dwight L.

Moody. He had so much respect for Dwight L. Moody and his ministry, because this ministry was under his ministry. And he walked into this prayer meeting, and I can't really, I'm just paraphrasing what my grandfather actually said. I was reading some old notes, and he's like, I had this burning sensation as these people were praying over me.

And something happened inside of me. And when I left there, I could breathe better. I could function better. And as the weeks went on, the tuberculosis completely went away. And as a result, he gave his life in ministry.

He gave his life to the Lord as a result of that happening because of prayer healing. So I believe in prayer, and I believe in healing. And our church stands on prayer healing because God still heals. And some of you are like 2 Timothy 4.18.

It says, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. So some of you are probably asking, is God going to rescue me, or is he going to just take me home to heaven? Both. Yes.

Both and. Because God not only cares about your physical healing, there's a lot more. And this is where James kind of shifts when he starts talking about healing. He starts focusing on faith because he cares about the whole person. He cares about your physical healing.

But he also, if you're following your notes, he also is concerned about your soul. In fact, he's probably more concerned about your soul. In fact, I threw in some more verses. This isn't on the screen. It may or may not be in your notes.

It's probably not because I didn't have a whole lot of room because I got a lot of scripture today. Matthew 10.28 says, don't fear the one who can kill the body, but the one who can destroy the soul. Jesus said that. In Mark 8.

46, Jesus said, what good is it for a man to gain everything in this world, but to forfeit, to lose his own soul. So, Jesus said this. He was concerned, not just about physical healing, but he was concerned, he was also concerned about the soul. Luke 10.19.

20, he says this. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the powers of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Now, in the context of this scripture, he's talking about spiritual authority over Satan, right?

He's given the disciples authority, but he says, don't just rejoice in all this stuff that I've given you, this faith power that I've given you, but rejoice because your name is written in the book of life, is written in the kingdom of heaven. So, more than anything, God is concerned about your soul. Secondly, God wants me to grow in faith. Not only is he concerned about your soul, but he wants you to grow in faith. So, sometimes God heals, sometimes God doesn't, but it's probably for these two reasons.

That God is concerned about the soul, and God wants me to grow in faith. Hebrews 11, 6 says this, and without faith, it is impossible to please God. If you don't have faith, you can't even please him. You can have everything in the world. You can have good looks and good living and do the right things, but without faith, you can't please him, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

And then James goes on in verse 17 and says this, Elijah was a human being. He starts to transfer to making this faith work when we want things like healing to take place, or we want anything that is impossible to take place. He says, Elijah was a human being, even as we are. Now, if you don't know anything about Elijah, this guy was calling down fire from heaven and stopping rain from happening and bringing people to life. This was a pretty powerful, probably one of the most popular prophets of the Old Testament.

Probably, if he isn't the most popular, he's probably the top three in the Old Testament that we go to. And he says, guys, Elijah, look, we can do what Elijah did, because even as we are, he was just a normal person. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crop. Now, we can learn a lot from Elijah, so we're actually going to turn to that particular passage in 1 Kings 17.

1, where it begins with this particular story. So, we're going to transfer our energy over to this passage to talk about how Elijah actually worked and how faith worked in his life. How was he able to do these things as just a normal man? So, it says, Now, Elijah the Tishbite from Tishba and Gilead said to Ahab, Ahab, a very, very evil king who worshipped other gods, who killed prophets, killed hundreds of God's prophets. As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.

This is what God said, except at my word. Elijah, except at my word. So, faith is always birthed from a word. It's always a word. That's where faith starts.

It's a little word. At my word. Wait for my word. It's at my word. I've given you that word.

It could be a dream. It could be a promise that God. It could be a prompting. It could be an audible, soft voice. It could be an inaudible, soft voice.

It could be a stirring. It could be something. Something you're motivated towards, but God always begins with a word. Elijah 55 11 says this, "...so is my word that goes out of my mouth.

It will not return empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So it starts with the word, but it doesn't end there. What's interesting about this verse, let me just fill you in a little bit about what was going on in the story so I don't have to throw a lot of, read a lot of scripture to you. But it's crazy, it's like Elijah was so anointed by God, he got with Ahab, he says, "...hey, I'm going to prove to you that my God is my God, and is the only God that is the living God, and you're going to bring all your prophets of Baal, you've slain half of the Christian prophets and all that stuff, hundreds of them."

So they gather 450 prophets of Baal, the God that they served, up on a hill, and Elijah came up and says, "...okay, here's what we're going to do. You're going to build your altar here, and I'm going to build my altar here, and I want you to pray to your Baal, and I'm going to pray to God, Yahweh, and we're going to see who's really God." So they took their calf, and they cut them up, and they put them on the altar, and for half a day, I mean, just actually all day long, they were just cutting themselves and doing all the, you know, and all the stuff that you see on movies and stuff like that, with their mask and all that, just kind of calling out to Baal, just praying to Baal, and Baal did not answer. Baal did not answer, and Elijah just looks at them and says, "...

hey, your God's kind of quiet there. He's not saying a whole lot. Well, let me show you what I can do, you know? Let me show you what my God can do." So he sets his sacrifice.

He says, "...in fact, I'm going to make this even harder for you. I want you to go get some basins of water, and I want you to just pour them on there." So four basins of water, and then another few basins of water, and then another few basins of water, till there's just, it's just gershing with water. And it's pouring, and it had a trench around it, and it's pouring into the trench, and he starts calling on the name of his God.

And fire comes from heaven. And burns the altar, not only burns the altar, it goes into the trenches and, and, and, and sucks up all the water instantaneously. And what do the people do? You are the one and only God. And they start running to that God.

And it's just, just wild stuff happening. This actually happened. Isn't that wild? But it started with a word from God. It all started with a simple word.

I want you to go to Ahab, and I'm going to freeze up the heavens for three and a half years. It's what James tells us. And you're going, you're going to just wait patiently for me. In verse 19, this was kind of added to my notes just yesterday. I was reading verse 19 as he goes away from that place, and he goes up into the hills, and Jezebel, Ahab's wife, is like super mad with him, and she wants him dead.

And then Elijah starts getting into a funk, and he goes, hides in the hills, and the Lord comes to him. And he says, and he says, the Lord came by, and then there was wind, but he wasn't in the wind. There was an earthquake, but he wasn't in the earthquake. There was fire, but he wasn't in the fire. But then this still small voice came, and it said this, what are you doing here?

Elijah, what are you doing here? Don't we often try to look for the thunder, and the fire, and the earthquakes, and the lightning? God, what do you want me to do? And he's calling and whispering to you. And he's prompting your heart.

And he's calling you to something. And he started a word. Just a small, still word. Lord, interestingly enough, that was me 15 years ago in an office in Raleigh, North Carolina, and that very same sentence I heard, what are you doing here? Got me yesterday, guys.

This is actually fresh and new. I heard the voice, what are you doing here? I've got something more for you. Maybe you've heard the voice of God. For you, it might be just a prompting.

It might be a stirring. But maybe God's screaming out to you. I don't know. But faith starts with the word. And faith holds on to what he said, number two.

Not only does it start with the word, it holds on to what he said. So you can have a word. You can hear the whisper. But if you don't hold on to it, this is very, this is the most complicated part of faith working. Because what it does, it requires us to be patient.

And most of us are kind of here. Most of us are in this stage of faith. We're waiting for something to happen. We're waiting. We know God's given us a word, but it hasn't been completely fulfilled and activated yet.

Some of you are sitting here today, and you've got so many things stirring in your hearts for your family, for your church, for your community, and you're sitting on it, and it hasn't been activated yet. But hold on. Because this is the place where it either stops or starts or continues. Because faith continues no matter what. Because if God gives you a word, he's going to fulfill that word.

Did you know that? If it's a word from God, he's going to fulfill it. Whether it's through you or whether it's through someone else. If that word is given, if you do not hold on to that, hold on to it. Hold on to it.

Verse 43, go and look toward the sea, he told his servant. And he went up and looked, and there was nothing there. He said, seven times Elijah said, go back. And seven times the servant reported, a cloud as small as the hand, a man's hand rising from the sea came up out of nowhere. So Elijah said, go until Ahab.

Hitch up the chariots and go down before the rain stops you. So just imagine this, you know, this servant of him coming running over the hill. I don't see anything. Go back again. I don't see anything.

Go back again. I don't see anything. Seven times the servant's like, is Elijah crazy? You know? I mean, nothing's going to happen here.

But then that seventh time he sees a small little rogue cloud pulling over the sky. What does Elijah say? Get ready, because he's holding on to something that's getting ready to happen. A small cloud, didn't seem like very much, but Elijah had a word and he held on to that word. When God first birthed Salt Church in my heart, to start a church that people would actually enjoy attending, there were many times it was really hard to hold on to that word that God gave me.

In fact, in the planning process, I picked up the phone to call somebody who could offer me a job somewhere else, because I was so doubtful, to be honest with you, of where we would go and what we would do. Luckily, the guy on the other end didn't pick up the phone and about a week later, God allowed certain things to happen in my life to let me know that this is where you need to be going and this is the direction you need to be going in. We can stop it or we can start it. Your situation may just be a small thing, but it doesn't mean that it stops there. Because God is ready to do something.

Why does God do that? Why doesn't God just answer our prayers? Why doesn't God just allow it? Because he wants our faith to grow. He wants us to learn from him.

He wants us to understand him. In Galatians 6-9 says, let us not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest. If we do not give up, hold on to what God has birthed in your heart. And thirdly, faith grows from humble beginnings to imaginary places, unimaginable places. Unimaginable places.

Because there's a process. I think of fireworks. You know, you're watching fireworks and it's like a pop here. Yay! A pop here, you know, it starts off, it's kind of small.

Pop! Yay! Pop! Yay! And then we're kind of like, okay, when is it going to start?

And then it goes, pop, pop, pop! Whoa! There's a bigger one, you know? And it's, ba-da-da-da, ba-da, and then it goes back to pop. Pop!

And you're like, pop! Ba-da-da-da! Pop! But we know the grand finale's coming. And when the grand finale's coming, it happens, right?

Ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! And you're just like, whoa! And everybody's cheering, and it's just like unbelievable! And that's how God works. For three and a half years, he gave Elijah the word that something would happen.

He gave Elijah that word. I'm going to bring rain upon this land, and you're going to face Ahab, and you're going to do all these things. For three and a half years, he sat on that word, and all there was was a small cloud, and seven times his servant went. Here's what it says in 45. Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds.

The wind rose, and heavy rains came on, and Ahab rode to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came upon Elijah, I love this part, and tucking in his cloak so he could run with his belt, into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. Now, I don't think you understand what's going on here. Okay, Ahab's in a chariot, and he's racing across, you know, going, and here's Elijah. He tucks in his little belt, and, you know, he's like, like supernatural stuff is happening here.

But the cloud came. God grows our faith from humble beginnings, small things, small clouds. He always starts small. He always starts with humble, small words, small things, but he brings out big beginnings. Zachariah 4.

10 says this, Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work you begin. What does that mean? He actually enjoys watching us do what we do. He likes watching us grow, and watching us build our faith, and watching us push forward, and watching us, you know, even when it seems like we're going, Lord, I trust you, I'm building, I'm holding on, and I'm pushing forward. He likes it, and we like things instantaneously.

We like to get them right away. We like our drive-thrus. We like our order-on-lines. We like our grocery pickups at the store. We like all of that, and we want to see the big thing right away, and I struggle with that.

You struggle with that, but that's not how God works. God works supernaturally by starting with small clouds, and the small clouds become big clouds, and rain pours, and the power of God falls and does his thing, and right here at Salt Church is exactly where we are. God loves grand finales, and we started off small, and we built a little here, a little there, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. But this is not it. I mean, I'm excited.

I know a lot of you are excited about what's going on here. We're excited about our big days. We're even excited on our small summer days like today. We're excited. We love what's going on here, but I can tell you that that's not the word.

That's not the complete word that God gave me, and I'm inviting you to be a part of the journey, the vision. I see thousands of people coming to Christ. I see just ministries. I see our own building, our own land, and people coming in and people going out changed. I see the power and presence of God, people just coming into the place, and their lives being changed.

And then I see hundreds or thousands going out into the community. I see people starting churches in areas. I see people going across the world through Salt Church, by the support of Salt Church, changing the entire world, and it begins with a small cloud. And I've been holding on to that, and I've been holding on to that, and you've been holding on to that with me. God has a desire to grow things.

Ephesians 3.20, he says, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to the power that is working within us. I have my own paraphrase. That's why. Because I pray it so much.

Because God can do immeasurably more than you can think, than you can imagine, than you can put into your thought process, than you can put together on a piece of paper. He can do far beyond what you can think. But, the process is the point. I heard it said, the process is a point. There's a process and there's a reason for the process because God puts us through the process.

Promise, process, payoff, and then perspective. Because we need perspective. And then James ends with the greatest miracle of all. Starting with verse 19. My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wonder from the truth, and someone should bring that person back, remember this, whoever turns a sinner from the arrow of this, of their ways, will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

You know, the greatest miracle is eternity. The greatest miracle is eternal life. Because it's all about eternal life. That's why we do what we do. That's why this church exists.

That's why we aim to do more, immeasurably more than we could think and ask. Because we know that the power that works within us cares about the souls of men and women in this world. And that one day, we may be healed in this life, and we're praying for something supernatural, and we want to do things in the power of God. But ultimately, this is for eternity. Everything we do now reflects throughout eternity.

Every decision, every choice, every conversation, every piece of the puzzle, every opportunity reflects eternal life. Eternity. The miracle is the process of eternal life. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, maybe some of you have never understood what eternal life really is. What it means to have eternal life.

It means to have a relationship with Jesus. It's not about looking good, acting good, doing the right things, and all of that. It's about eternal life. It's about, Lord, you are a friend. You are a God who cares about me, who's concerned about my soul, and concerned about where I will be.

That I will actually be with you in eternity. Maybe you're somebody who's never, it just clicked all of a sudden. Wow, that makes sense. That it's not really about how good I am, and I've tried it my own way my entire life. But now, I want to make that decision to walk with Him.

To turn away from doing it my way, and do it His way. Because, not because He wants me to do the right thing, because He loves me. And He cares about my every one, my every love. Because that's the greatest miracle. Is that a God who's so perfect, so holy, that didn't really need us, wants us.

He desires to have a relationship with us. Is that you today? Just gently raise your hand. I want to pray for you. You're ready to make that decision today.

Are you ready to do that? Are you ready to give it all to Christ today? How long is that you today? Eternal life is weighing in the moment. That you'll be able to live with Him forever.