Sunday Service 3.15.26

Hey, hey, hey.

Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Hey,

hey, hey.

Heat. Heat.

Well, good morning church. If you would

stand to your feet, we're going to

worship the Lord this morning. Everybody

had a good week so far? Anybody had a

good week? Man, the weather was warm.

Pastor was happy, right? He was happy.

But it's going to freeze again in a

couple days. I don't know what you're

praying over there, pastor, but he's

like every seven days just give us some

weird weather. He wants it to happen.

So, he's doing he's in touch with the

Lord. So, man, I'm happy to be here

today and I'm happy that we're here to

worship the Lord. Let's go to the Lord

in prayer and then we're going to jump

right in to worship and just ask the

Lord to be with us. So, Father, we thank

you, Lord, for this day. God, I thank

you, Lord, for your presence, Lord. I

thank you for your goodness in my life,

God. And I pray that this morning, God,

we would recognize, Lord, that you're

here in this m place, God. You're here

in our midst, Lord. God. And we're

thankful, Lord. We're thankful for you

to be here today, God, because you, God,

bring the peace, the joy, the hope that

we have need of in this house today,

Lord. And we just give it to you as we

worship this morning, Lord. It's in your

name we pray. Amen. Come on, let's

worship today.

We'll sing this out today. I'm shaking

off the heaviness.

I'm shaking off the heaviness.

Oh, I'm dancing out of my regrets.

I'm throwing caution to the wind.

And I am not ashamed to praise like

this. Some would say it's foolishness.

But I say it's worth the rest.

I can't forget what Jesus did.

Oh, I'm not ashamed to praise like this.

Where are those chains that once held

me? I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm

free. My sin is gone. How can it be? I'm

free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free.

Look at what the Lord has done. I'll

never go back to the way I was. I'll

sing. I'll dance. Cuz I believe I'm

free. I'm free. Thank God I'm free.

I found a friend. I found a friend that

never quit.

No other loves as good as this.

Cuz I don't care what he was saying.

I'll never be ashamed to praise like

this. Where are those chains that held

me? I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm

free. My sin is gone. How can it be? I'm

free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. Look

at what the Lord has done. I'm never

going back to the way I was. I'll sing.

I'll dance cuz I feel it. I'm free. I'm

free. I'm God. I'm free. You took your

cross and you broke your body.

You shed your blood. Now the sinner

can't see. My debt is paid and my record

is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did

it for me. You took your cross and you

broke your body. You shed your blood,

now the sinner can't see. My sin is paid

and my record is clean. I couldn't do

it, so you did it for me. You took your

cross and you broke your body. You shed

your blood, now the sinner can't see. My

debt is paid and my record is clean. You

couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

Where are those chains that once held

me? I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm

free. My sin is gone. How can it be? I'm

free. I'm free. I've got I'm free.

Look at what the Lord has done. I'm

never going back to the way I was. I'll

sing. I miss cuz I feel it. I'm free.

I'm free. Thank God I'm free. You took

your cross and you broke your body. You

shed your blood. Now the sinner can't

see. My debt is paid and my record is

clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it

for me.

You took your cross and you broke your

body. My s is dead now. My sin is set

free. My debt is paid and my record is

clean. I couldn't do it so you did it

for me. Look at what the Lord has done.

I'm never going back to the way I was.

I'll sing. I'll dance cuz I feel I'm

free. I'm free. Thank God I'm free.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

Come on, lift up a shout of praise

today. We thank you, Lord, for what you

did, God, that we could not do. God, we

give you praise in this house today.

Amen. Amen. You may be seated for just a

moment. We've got a quick speed the

light video for you this morning.

Partial, halfway, mediocre. These words

do not describe your generation.

Unconventional,

sacrificial, resilient, passionate,

faithful. This is who he created you to

be. Believing you can. You can provide

vehicles for our missionaries. You can

propel the gospel through media and

social networking. You can influence

culture and impact the globe. But I

believe this is just the beginning. You

have just begun to dream about

conquering the world water crisis

through conventional means. You have

just begun to speak up for those who are

in poverty and shout out for those who

have been trafficked. You have just

begun to be launched to act on behalf of

the lost on your campus, community,

nation, and globe. Through speed the

light, your generation has decided to be

allin. All in to fight for the

abandoned. All in to quench the thirst

of those who have been ignored. All in

to restore the broken. All in to provide

transportation. All in to equip with

communication. all in to demonstrate

compassion to all people. I am calling

on your generation to be allin this year

for allowing God to use you to your

fullest potential to spread his gospel

until all know the truth of his word and

the love of Jesus. Rise up and be allin

to speed the light to the world.

>> Amen. Amen. Man, I tell you what, speed

the light excites me and I know that

missions excites this church. And so, we

just wanted to take a moment in this

missions month to highlight speed the

light. You know, we've got a group of

young people here that are passionate

about raising money for missions. And

we've got a district, we've got a state,

we've got a nation, we got a church that

is dedicated to raising money for

missions as a whole. But they have

imparted it upon young people to be a

major part of that. And I love that

about the Assemblies of God. is we have

BGMC, we have speed the light, we have

men's ministries, we have women's

ministries that raise monies for

specific things and it's not just it's

all a big pot going to the same thing,

but they've said, you know what, we want

to set apart this group because we trust

that they're able to do it on their own

to raise money to go be effective to

carry the gospel. So, I want to read a

statement from AYM, which is Alabama

youth ministries. It says, "Today, Speed

to Light is one of the most effective

student initiated missions ministries in

the world. Assembles of God students

have accepted a great responsibility to

voluntarily, we don't make them.

Sometimes I know they feel like we make

them, but we don't make them. Sacrifice

and raise funds to purchase missionaries

equipment across the United States and

in over 150 countries around the world

since 1944.

And this is a little bit of an old stat.

It has not been updated. Speed of light

has raised close to 200 million. I think

it's actually closer to 300 million now

for missionary equipment around the

globe. That is incredible. The young

people have taken it upon themselves to

raise money for missions. You know, our

church, we set goals every year. And 15

years ago, almost when we started as

youth pastors, we had a goal of $1,000.

That was what we set. And I don't even

know if we made it, pastor. I think we

were short of it. It was like 900 bucks.

I I'm proud to say that this year, it

wasn't our best year. Um, we've had some

we've had some better years in the past

couple years, but this year our young

people raised $23,752.

Incredible.

We were number nine in the state. We're

number nine in the state per capita,

which means the amount of youth, amount

of people we have in our church. We're

in the top five. We have an incredible

giving church here that is just awesome.

And and you know, I I challenge our

students. One thing we did about a

decade ago, and that's weird to say that

I can live in decades now, but about a

decade ago, we challenged our students

to be the one to raise missions. We we

said, you know what, we can do big

fundraisers. We can do our cook off.

We'll still do that. We can do, you

know, pork sales. We used to do those,

but we really want to put it upon these

kids to raise the money. Like, we want

them to work. We want them to see the

goal. We want them to see the mission.

And we thought that we would take a step

back. We start, you know, we started out

at $1,000 about 15 years ago. We went up

to five. I think we may have reached 10.

But when we started doing that, when we

started putting it on the kids, we

started to see the numbers grow. And

what it took from them was to buy in to

the bigger goal. To buy into the bigger

goal. And this past year, I've got some

statistics. Just from the kids raising,

they alone raised nearly $5,000 just

themselves. This is no fundraiser. This

is nothing else. Yeah. Give it up for

them.

And so we we wanted to kind of highlight

and again we don't do this because we

want them to be on this screen but I

want them to see the importance of what

they give. So we took the top five

givers in our youth department this year

and we want to post them right here.

These are our top five givers. We got

Austin Reed that gave $116. Y'all can

clap it up for them. Ryan Rushing $450,

Alyssa 750. Faith Dunham $850. and Alan

Quas, who is actually number 11 in the

state, gave $1,400. $1,400. Incredible.

Give it up for him.

So, I guess in part by giving the most

amount of money, she gets to come up

here and say a little something. So,

she's like, I'm not giving the most next

year if I got to say that. I'm just

kidding. So, I want you to hear from her

heart just why she gives the speed of

light, what she did, and what she's

going to plan to do this year.

So basically last year I set the goal to

race 1500 and I raised 1400. But

recently at our speed the right speed

the light rally he gave this analogy. It

was like how are people going to believe

if they never heard and how are they

going to hear if people don't go and how

are they going to go if we don't send

people. So if I'm willing if I am able

to raise what I can to help people go to

heaven one day. You know I might not

know who I'm benefiting but I'm going to

see them in the kingdom one day. And if

I can do anything, I'm going to do what

I can to make sure people have the funds

to go and so they can hear Jesus and

believe for themselves.

>> Amen. Ma'am, all right, I'm done. I'm

done. That was it. No, I want to I want

to put in a plug this year because we

have challenged the students. We got a

lofty goal. I think it was $40,000 is

what we set for this year. Cade wanted

$890,000

and I told him, "Hey, if we get there,

we'll do it. we'll do it. But I believe

that these young people, we've set some

individual goals and we've we've

challenged them. We did a little sheet

that basically it fills out their

interests and we asked them what it is

that they like to do. What what is it

that interests you? When people see you,

what it what is it that they would say

you're good at and how could you turn

that into a fundraiser? And so we gave

them individual sheets to write down

their giving. And if we go on that

number, we've got well above $5,000 this

year for the individual goals that

they're going to be challenged to. And I

told them, you know, we we nearly had

three that were going to be going to the

banquet, which if you don't know this,

if you raise $1,000 in the state, we get

to go to district council and they get

to honor the students to raise $1,000

and they feed them. There's a really

emphasis highlight. And so I told him,

man, I want to I want to take 10 of you

next year. I want to take I want to

raise $10,000 individually beyond what

it is that we do outside of that

fundraisers and giving and all of those

things. I want to raise $10,000

individually so that we can take you we

got to take the band to district council

which I think it may be in Mobile next

year. That'd be a lot easier, too. So, I

want to I want to in I want to challenge

you as a church. You know, we we've

started the cafe back there and you may

not know this, but the cafe is 100%

proceeds go to Speed the Light. And this

is just a selfish plug that I'm going to

put in about the cafe and I think a

couple people can back me up here, but

we've we've had coffee at a lot of

different places in the past couple

weeks being around. And I can tell I can

tell you this, our coffee is good.

>> Come on. I mean, I literally we were

practicing this morning and David

ordered a black eye. If you don't know

what that is, it's a lot of caffeine and

it's no sugar and that's why he drums

like an animal up here. So we we I tell

I tell him if he says two shots, put an

extra in there. we need it. But when it

was walking in, the smell of that, it

was like, man, this thing is good. I

mean, and so my challenge to you is that

the students run that. We've got two

leaders and I want to shout out to to

Matt and Natalie for run helping run the

cafe. Give it up for them.

You know, my my wife helps put together

the schedule. She coordinates getting

the students here that got to work that

week. And so, we had a meeting at the

beginning of the year and we sat down

with the parents. We said, "Here's our

goal. Here's what we want to do. We want

to put a lot of pressure on the kids

individually. There's one student that

works each week. They're going to be the

ones that kind of learn the system, get

in get in line, do these things. We've

got big plans for it out there. There's

a lot in the works. I mean, pastor, at

the end of this month, we're going to be

revealing some of those things, but we

want the look to be different out there.

We're waiting for some timing. We've

already got some renderings drawn up

about what that's going to look like.

We've got ideas of new things we want to

add. And so, we've started an interest

form. I don't know if you know this, but

there's a few of you that have filled

this out. that there's things that you

like that you want to see out there. We

want to we want to bring those to you.

We may not be able to do all those

things. But all of this, everything

that's given out there is donated. So

100% of the proceeds again go towards

speed of light. And we raise about we

raise about $100 a week. So that's

that's the profit that we make out

there. And so I believe that man,

Starbucks, they're no good. Let's just

be honest, right? Uh we've got two

coffee shops in Mobile that I put a plug

in for and that's Certas and Red Bar

that I think can beat our coffee.

Everybody else they fall short. They

fall short. We've got good coffee. We've

got good people that train. I can tell

you we've got a speed to light cafe chat

that are amongst our leaders and they're

all the time sending out this. What if

we did this? What if we did frappes when

we go to places we try coffees and we

like we could do this better? I think we

could. And so we're constantly trying to

evolve this. So here's my plug. If

you've had coffee from back there before

and it was no good, it's on us. Come

back there. It will be good. I promise

you these baristas and we we realize

that barista barista. I don't know if

Matt's a barista. I don't know what it

is. I think it's all barista. But you

can come back there and you can try

something and realize this. Everything

that you give back there goes towards

missions. It goes towards these kids

individual fundraiser. We said the weeks

that you work, we're going to give you

credit towards speed the light. We

challenge them again to be here early. I

mean, Scarlet was working today and she

showed up and she was here when the band

was here. I mean, and I mean, they're

here early ready to do this thing. And

so, we're putting the emphasis on them.

It's not just a thing to fill in. We're

not just babysitters. The same with

Pastor Eron. Like, if Pastor Eron and

Miss Sarah up there, if they if they

were babysitters, like we would go

somewhere else, but they're not. They're

teaching them the word of God.

>> And we want to instill in your young

people and your children the word of

God. the heart for missions and we want

to be advocates alongside you as we've

said time and time again to help your

kids see the bigger vision beyond

themsel that there's something happening

just as Adeline said man if I can just

do one thing one thing to help somebody

know about Jesus that's all that matters

that's it so I want you to be in prayer

for us this year I I believe that yeah

we're going to supersede our goals we're

going to we're going to meet it I think

Alabama raised $850,000 this year we're

going to do bigger things but more than

that that we would have young people

that sense the vision, young people

called to missions. That's a hard prayer

to pray because I've got a young man

and I think about him

going overseas

and leaving the comfort

of America and and me and my wife.

But I would do it,

man. And God call it

God call these young people.

Stir their hearts for something bigger.

>> And it's all that matters.

I'm sorry. I didn't plan to get

emotional. It wasn't part of the script.

But I believe that God has something in

store for this church. I know he does. I

know he does. And it doesn't just stop

here at the old people, and I'm part of

that. It starts at the young people.

God, stir their hearts.

>> Challenge them to see what it is that

you want them to do, God. Lord, stir

them up to where they sense the vision

for what you have in the Old Testament

and the New Testament about how God

called people out of their comfort zones

to do something greater than they could

ever imagine, man. And it starts here.

It starts now. It starts where we put

our hand to the plow and we live this

life and we let God speak to our hearts

so that when we get to that place and

we're available and God says go, we go

and it makes all the difference in the

world. So God, I pray that this morning,

God, that you would stir up a church,

Lord. That you would stir up a group of

young people, God, to sense your

presence, Lord. Lord, to sense your

vision, to sense your calling,

God, that they would know, Lord, that

you above everything else, God, is what

we're called to, Lord. We're not called

to a job. We're not called to a sport.

We're not called to an extracurricular

activity. We're not even called to an a

person, God. We're called to you, God.

So, whatever you have for us, God, I

pray, Lord, that we would build our

foundation on you, your word, God, and

you would call us to deeper things,

greater things,

Lord, and you would give us a heart for

missions, Lord. This year, I believe,

Lord, that we're going to do bigger and

better things than anything ever before,

Lord. But I pray more than that, God,

that you would allow us just to be

sensitive and open to what you have in

store for us, Lord. Let us be used by

you, God, as a church, Lord, as young

people, as students, God, as parents, as

leaders, God, whatever the calling you

have on our life, Lord, let us be

available for you. It's in your name we

pray. Amen. Amen.

Amen.

Amen. We talked during Sunday school.

Jesus is all that matters.

That's it.

Yeah. We want to be comfortable.

Yeah. We want to keep our kids here,

but his mission is more important.

It's different.

And you just saw it with Pastor Nathan.

It's different when you say, "I'm

willing for mine to go."

And if you don't have any yet, then when

you have some, you'll understand. Are

you willing to do what it takes for the

kingdom?

We're a missionsminded church.

Adan, that was fantastic.

I want to see them in heaven. So,

whatever I can do, God, whatever little

I can give, wherever I can volunteer, if

I can go,

I'm willing.

Here I am. send me.

Here's some money. Here's some prayer.

Here's my feet in my hands. Willing to

go and willing to act.

BGMC, Speed the Light, men's, women's,

there are a lot of opportunities for you

to get involved.

The kingdom.

I'm pausing here on purpose. I don't

know why.

I think sometimes we get we get going in

our lives and we say, "Oh, I got to do

this and that and this is my schedule

and I got to be and I'm going to be hold

on."

When I get to the end of my life,

I'm not going to say, "Man, I wish I'd

have made another dollar."

And if they talk about me making paint,

then I messed up.

If you don't know, that's what I do for

a living. I make paint.

That's my physical job. That's also my

mission field.

You have a mission field.

Every single day, you have a mission

field. Amen. Will you stand with me?

We've got uh the Fonsa baby. We're

celebrating that right after service

today. Don't forget your hams for our

missions trip. And Easter is coming. We

need your candy and we need you to be

here on the first.

We need you to be here on the first. I

got to pastor. I don't know if it got

past pastor. Y'all going to be here on

the first for the Easter egg hunt. You

don't have to hunt Easter eggs. My

daughter will hunt them for you. It's

okay. We need you here. It's for the

kingdom. Amen. Are you ready to worship?

Father God, we thank you. We praise you

for who you are. We praise you, Father

God, for letting us be a part of your

work.

giving and praying and sending and

going, Father God, for your mission so

that people can hear about you so that

they can come to know you so that we

will see them. We will hang out for

eternity with you in heaven. May our

praise and our worship be pleasing to

your ears this morning. In Jesus name we

pray. Amen.

Christ is my firm found.

He's the rock on which I stand.

Everything around me shaking.

Oh, I've never been more glad. I put my

faith in Jesus.

He's never let me down. He's faithful

through generations.

Why would he fail now? He won't.

Come on. If you believe that today, he

won't. And I've still got joy.

And I've still got joy in chaos.

I've got peace that makes no sense. So I

won't be going under.

I'm not held by my own strength. I built

my life on Jesus.

He's never let me down. He's faithful in

every sin. Oh, we declare it, church.

Oh, so why would he fail now? He won't.

Oh, he won't fail, Lord. He won't.

He won't.

He won't

be.

Come on, lift this up. I've still got

joy when I've still got joy in chaos.

I've got these that makes no sense. So I

won't be going under.

>> Yes, I will. I'm not held by my own

strength. I built my life on Jesus.

He's never let me down. He's faithful in

every season.

He shouted out. So why would he fail

now? He won't.

He won't.

He won't fail.

He won't fail.

He won't.

He won't

He won't fail.

He He won't fail.

Father, we give you our praise, Lord.

Come on, across this room, church. Lift

your hands to him today and just begin

to reveal, Lord, who he is in your life,

God. I pray Lord that we begin to sense

your presence God. Come on, declare this

today. And rain came when blue. My house

was built on you.

And I'm safe with you. I'm going to make

it through.

The rain came when blew. My house was

built on you.

And I'm safe with you. I'm going.

>> We're going to make it, Lord. Yeah. I'm

going to make it through.

Cuz I'm standing strong on you.

Oh, I'm going to make it new

cuz my house was built on you. Christ is

my firm.

He's the rock on which I stand.

Everything around me shaking.

Oh, I've never been more.

I'll put my faith in Jesus.

He's never let me down. He's faithful

through generation.

We shout. So why would he fail now? He

won't.

But he won't fail if he won't. Oh, he

won't. Lord,

he won't fail.

He won't fail.

He won't.

He won't.

He won't fail.

He won't fail.

You won't fail me, Lord.

There's never been a day, Lord,

that you've left me, Father,

that we give you our hearts today, Lord.

And I pray Lord that this morning God

that we would just begin to offer

ourselves to you today God

everything that we have

everything that we are Lord

for our plans our dreams Lord our future

God our family whatever it is God this

morning God that's holding us back from

everything being given to you Lord

Lord I pray that you stir our hearts

Lord

You challenge our minds today, Lord.

Lord, and help us to truly sing this

next song, God.

We lift it up to you, God.

I give myself away.

I give myself away.

I give myself away.

Give myself away.

So you come on, declare it today.

I give myself away.

Give myself away

so you

can use me. I give myself away.

I give myself away

so you

come on. Here I am, Lord. Here I am.

Here I stand.

Lord, my life is in your hands.

Lord, I long

to see

your desire

revealed in me.

I give myself away.

I give myself away

so you can use me. I give myself away.

I give myself away.

So Oh, I give myself.

Oh, I give myself away.

I give myself away

so you

can use me. I give myself away.

I give myself away.

So come on, sing it. Take my heart and

take my life, Lord. Take my heart.

Take my life

as a living

sacriice.

For my dreams,

for my prayers.

Lord, I place them in your hand.

I give myself away.

We give it here, Lord.

I give myself away

so you

can use me. I give myself away.

We give it all to you, God. Oh, I give

myself away.

So you I'm going to sing. My life is not

my own.

My life is not my own.

To you I belong.

I give myself I give myself to you.

Declare in church my life. Oh my life is

not my own.

To you I belong.

I give myself. I give myself.

>> Lift that up my life Lord. We give a

chance. My life is not my own.

To you I belong.

I give myself I give myself to you. My

life Lord is yours.

My life is not my own.

To you I belong.

I give myself I give myself to you.

I give myself away.

I give myself away

so you can use me. I give myself away.

I give myself away

so you can use.

I give myself away.

I give myself away.

I give myself away.

give myself

nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

And I just want you

else

nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

And I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

And I just want you

nothing else.

Nothing else, Jesus.

Nothing else. Come on, declare his

holiness today. You're holy. You are

holy.

You are rightous.

You are wonderful.

in all your ways.

You are mighty.

You are matchless. Lord, I'm going to

worship. I'm going to worship you all.

Oh, he's holy today, church. I declare

you are holy.

You are righteous.

Yes, he is. You are wonderful

in all your ways. He is mighty Lord. You

are mighty God. Oh, you are master.

So I'm going to worship you. Oh my.

You're holy, Lord. You are holy.

You are rightous.

You are wonderful.

Give all your way. Yes, he's worthy

church. You are mighty.

You are matchless.

Oh, so I'm going to worship you. Come

on, just begin to lift him up in worship

today. We thank you, Lord.

Your holy father, we give you

everything.

Oh, we need your touch today.

He's worthy. He's worthy.

Lord, speak to my hearts, God.

Thank you, Lord. We declare and I just

want you, Lord.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else, Jesus.

Nothing else.

>> Oh, I just want you, Lord.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else. Come on, make that your

prayer. And I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else. Jesus.

Nothing else will do. He is holy. Lord,

you are holy.

You are righteous.

Oh, you are wonderful in all your ways.

You are mighty.

You are matchless.

So I'm going to worship you, oh my.

He is holy, Lord. And you are holy

and you are rightous

and you are wonderful

in all your ways

and you are mighty.

You are matchless.

I'm goingship you all my days.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

I just want you

else

Jesus.

Nothing else will do.

I just want you, Lord.

I just want you, Father.

Nothing else will do, Lord.

Come on. As our pastor comes, just begin

to lift up that prayer today.

Lord, begin to speak to our hearts.

Father, I just want you, Lord.

Nothing else will do.

And I just want you

else

nothing else.

I just want you

Thank you, Jesus,

>> Lord. I praise you this morning.

And I thank you, Lord, for the words of

this song. And Lord, I pray that it

would truly be the prayer and the desire

of our heart today that we just want,

need, and desire you. We need an

encounter with you. We need a visitation

from you. We need you to move in our

midst. We need you to speak into our

lives, God. We need to hear you clearly

today, Lord. And then we want to move in

the direction in which you're calling

us. You are wonderful.

You are matchless. You are righteous.

You are holy. You are loving. You are

gracious. You are merciful.

And Lord, you are here with us today in

all your power and all your glory. And I

pray Lord that throughout the remainder

of this service today that we would

meditate upon your word and this song

would stay with us for the depths of our

souls today that Lord as good as it is

to enjoy fellowship with each other.

What we really need is just you. And

Lord, I pray today that this worship

time and everything, Lord, that has

transpired this morning has been

pleasing to you. And that your spirit

now, Lord, would come and saturate,

Lord, the atmosphere of this room. And

that our hearts would be open and

receptive, Lord, to for you to speak to

us and then for us to respond in the

proper way.

God, it's it's one thing to just be

hearers of the word, but Lord, you've

also called us to be doers of the word.

So, I pray today, Lord, that our our

spirit would be open and receptive. And

Lord, that the word and the seed of the

word would fall on fertile ground and

take root in our lives. And when we walk

out of these doors, God, let us be on

point this morning

to bring praise, glory, and honor to

your name in everything that we do. And

everyone said, "Amen."

He's good, right?

Man, that's a great atmosphere this

morning in this room. Praise the Lord.

You may be seated today. Thank you,

worship team, for preparing us and

leading us this morning.

The Lord is faithful

and he is true. And I love that very

first song that we sang this morning.

That's the first time I've ever heard

that. It's a powerful, powerful song. I

hope you've had a good week. I hope

you've been blessed. I hope you've been

walking in God's favor and under his

anointing this week. I hope you've had

opportunities to allow the Lord to use

you and to work in your life this week

and uh not just been sitting idly by and

waiting on an opportunity. I hope you've

been taking every opportunity that's

been afforded to you to step out in

faith and to give God glory and honor in

all areas of your life. If you have your

Bibles, I want you to turn with me to

the book of Nehemiah. It's where we're

going to camp out. One chapter of

scripture this morning. Nehemiah chapter

1. And I want to kind of build again, we

are in missions emphasis month. And as

you can tell, um, every week this this

month, we've been highlighting a

different aspect of missions. We talked

a little bit about BGMC. We had our

children in here last week talking about

uh their heart of uh missions and what's

being instilled in them upstairs and on

a weekly basis, not just in children's

church, but through uh impact and Royal

Rangers on Wednesday evenings. And you

you see and you hear from their heart

about missions and about reaching lost

souls. And then what a powerful uh

presentation this morning about speed

the light. And we hear a lot about speed

the light and we're doing this

fundraiser for speed the light or the

kids are raising money for speed the

light. But when you boil it all down, I

think I mentioned it last week, all of

it is about souls, lost souls for the

kingdom. There are different aspects and

ways that um different age groups here

in our fellowship, raise money and put

it in a big pot and it's dispersed out

to meet the needs of missionaries and to

support missionaries, sending them to

the field. And we're going to be talking

a little bit about that next week. As

you come in here next Sunday morning at

the end of service, we're going to be

filling out our faith promise pledges.

Once again, we do that every March and

we're going to be doing it a week early

uh this this year primarily because

we're moving right into Palm Sunday the

next week and then Easter Sunday right

after that. I can't think of a better

time for us to celebrate missions

because the heart of Jesus was he came

to this earth and he bled and died for

all mankind and he wants us to go out

and to reach the world and to complete

what he started and that's all about the

work of missions in the heartbeat of

Jesus Christ. So I appreciate your your

passion and your desire throughout all

of these years to help us support

missionaries. We'll be hearing more

about that. It's the number of

missionaries that we support uh for a

church our size is is powerful and it's

because we have a heart to follow Jesus.

And you know, missions is not just about

sending them overseas, but it's also

about you and I being on mission in our

lives. And here at home, there's home

missions as well. We're going to we're

going to talk a little bit about that

this morning by looking at Nehemiah and

Nehemiah's life today.

There were problems in Nehemiah's day.

There were problems back in the

homeland.

There were things that were not the way

they were supposed to be or the way God

had ordained for Israel to be in

Nehemiah's day and time. And people knew

it. But there was a man who had

surrendered his life and his will to God

and wanted to do something about the

situation that he found surrounding

himself. His name was Nehemiah.

I love the story of Nehemiah. I love the

book of Nehemiah. I love the willingness

and the heartbeat of Nehemiah. I love

how how Nehemiah surrendered every fiber

of his being to God and made himself

available to God. And God used him to

accomplish something in the supernatural

realm as a willing vessel. And God is

still looking for people that will be

sold out and dedicated to him in any way

where we look around and see problems or

we see situations that we need God just

to show up and move in powerful ways and

people that will just step forward and

say, "God, here I am. Use me." And God

always wants to work through a willing,

soldout vessel that says, "Here I am,

Lord. Use me. I don't have a lot to

offer. I can't do it in my own talents

or giftings and abilities. I don't have

enough resources to be able to do it.

But with God, all things become

possible. And God is just looking for a

church or he's looking for an individual

or he's looking for a unit that that

will simply say, "God, I cannot do it on

my own, but at this moment, I throw up

my hands and say, I see the need and I

know your heart, and if you can use me,

here I am. use me. And Nehemiah was one

of those individuals.

His homeland

was in a state of disarray and he saw

the need. Let's begin reading this

morning. Nehemiah chapter 1, beginning

in verse two, it says this. Haniah, one

of my brothers, came from Judah with

some other men, and I questioned them

about the Jewish remnant that had

survived the exile and also about

Jerusalem itself.

And they said to me, "Those who survived

the exile and are back in the province

are in great trouble and disgrace. The

wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and

its gates have been burned with fire.

And when I heard these things, I sat

down and wept. For some days, I mourned

and fasted and prayed before God, before

the God of said, Lord, the God of

heaven, the great and awesome God, who

keeps his covenant of love with those

who love him and keep his commandments.

Let your ear be attentive and your eyes

open to hear the prayer your servant is

praying before you day and night for

your servants, the people of Israel. I

confess the sins we Israelites,

including myself and my father's family,

have committed against you. We have

acted very wickedly toward you. We have

not obeyed the commands, decrees, and

laws that you gave your servant Moses.

Remember the instruction you gave your

servant Moses, saying, "If you are

unfaithful, I will scatter you among the

nations. But if you return to me and

obey my commands, then even if your

exiled people are at your your farthest

horizon, I will gather them from there

and bring them to the place I have

chosen as a dwelling place for my name.

They are your servants and your people

whom you redeemed by your great strength

and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear

be attentive to the prayer of this your

servant and to the prayer of your

servants who delight in revering your

name. Give your servant success today by

granting him favor in the presence of

this man. I was cupbearer to the king.

Problems in the homeland. There are

three things in these in these uh 10

verses of scripture that Nehemiah did to

change the circumstances that surrounded

him and surrounded God's people, the

people of Israel. First thing that we

see in verses two and three, it says,

"Haniah,

one of my brothers, came from Judah and

some other men, and I questioned them

about the Jewish remnant that had

survived the exile and also about

Jerusalem." And they said to me, "Those

who survived the exile

are back in the province are in great

trouble and disgrace, and the wall of

Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates

have been burned with fire." So, let me

set the the background a little bit. So,

Nehemiah is in exile. He is in Babylon.

He is a a Jewish man. believed in the

Lord God Almighty, but he's been exiled

most of his life probably.

Most would say that Nehemiah had

probably never been to Jerusalem before,

but

his family members and people that had

studied the word. Or maybe he was a

learner of the word himself, understood

that he was a Jewish, an Israelite

person that was called by God, God's

chosen people, and knew the stories

going all the way back to the very

beginning that God had placed a special

calling and given the calling to

Abraham. And it was passed down to Isaac

and then to Jacob and then the 12 tribes

that God was going to give Israel a land

that was flowing with milk and honey, a

promised land. God gave it to them and

they they rebelled against God. They

turned their back on God. They turned

inward. They became selfish in all their

ways. And God had promised Abraham at

the very beginning that listen, if you

will follow me and obey my commands,

just like he told Moses and the

Israelites when he set them free from

the hand of the Egyptians and headed

them toward this promised land again. If

you'll follow my ways, I'll be with you

and I will bless you and nothing will be

able to stand against you. But if you

disobey me, if you turn your back on me,

I will bring destruction your way. I

will not completely annihilate you, but

I will scatter you and I will send you

and I'll send you in exile. But when

your heart is right, when your heart

returns back to me, when you pray a

prayer of repentance, I will hear your

prayers. And no matter how far you've

been scattered or where you are or what

type of persecution you find yourself

in, I will hear and I will gather you

back to this land. So Nehemiah obviously

had learned the word or it had been

passed down to him. Maybe he had

individuals in his life that that had

learned and been in the process of

learning and the promises of God. Maybe

like Sunday school teachers or or

pastors or priests or maybe it was

family members or friends that continued

to instill and pass that down. And here

he is living in a foreign land in exile

because his forefathers had been

disobedient to God. and he's living that

out. Has never been to the homeland, but

his heart was always passionate about

the homeland. He knew the promise of God

for himself and for his people and for

his family. And now all of a sudden, he

sees journeymen coming back. He knows

that they've been to to Israel. They had

been to Jerusalem. and he wanted to

know. There was a longing in his spirit

to know what's it like back in

Jerusalem. And he's probably excited to

hear the reports because now there's a

group that was there and some exiles

that were there are or gone back and

he's inquiring of them. What's it like

back at home? What's it like? What's God

doing there? What's the people? How are

how are they living? What's going on in

that place? And then he hears the story

that it's in disarray,

its walls are broken down, and its

people are are living in a way that God

had never intended to them. But as he

heard the story here, he visualized the

problem. As the report came to him in

his mind, he began to put himself in the

place of those exiles that were living

now in Jerusalem. And then he's also

remembering what he's been taught and

what God had had spoken to him and been

passed down to him about the way they

should be living as God's chosen people.

And it broke his heart. So he began to

visualize in his mind what the

atmosphere might be like in that place.

Here he was a captive.

He kept Jerusalem though close to his

heart although he had never been there.

It's kind of like this.

How many of you ever visualize what it's

like to be in heaven?

or maybe what it was like to go back to

one of the Bible stories that you read

about and that you hold close and you

hold dear and you can put yourself in

that place. You're reading the story and

you think, "Man, that's just a powerful

story. I wish I would have been there to

witness that." Or we come into church

and we're here in the atmosphere and God

is moving and a time of praise and

worship and maybe we're singing some

song about going to heaven and being

raptured and being in his presence

forever more and we close our eyes and

imagine what it's like to place oursel

in that moment. I was reading my

devotion really early this morning

before the sun came up and it was all

talking about the rapture and I was

thinking about to myself what is that

going to be like that in a moment in a

twinkling of an eye as the scripture

says that I'm going to be sitting here

on my sofa with my devotion open reading

and all of a sudden bam I'm out of here

and being trans transpired

transitioned from this earth with all of

its problems and its pains all of a

sudden to seeing the Lord face to face.

You ever visualize those things when

you're kind of down and discouraged and

you think about that that in one moment

I'm going to leave all this stuff

behind. And sometimes we find ourselves,

man, I wish it was right now. I'm ready

to wash my hands of this stuff. Or we or

we read stories about what it was like

to win a great victory like David being

and going up against Goliath and the

victory of what it was like for him to

step forward as a young man that really

had no power going up against that that

massive giant but the power of the Holy

Spirit in his words that he trusted God

to bring him down. And then we can

transition oursel and imagine what it

would have been like to be there and to

witness that act take place visualizing

being in those moments and those periods

of time. Well, this is Nehemiah in this

moment. But it's not like a great

celebratory time that's taking place

here. He is an exile and he's in exile

because of the disobedience of his

forefathers. But he's longing for God to

restore and he's longing for the day

that he could go back and live in the

land of promise as God's chosen people.

And he's thinking about his homeland and

he's thinking about Jerusalem. And all

the sudden here comes a band that that

of of travelers that make their way back

from Jerusalem and he runs up to him and

what's it like back home?

What's it like in the in the city of

Jerusalem, God's holy city? What does it

look like there? And he's probably

excited. Maybe the people are rallying

together. Maybe things have turned

around. There's an excitement that's

that's growing inside of the homeland.

But he hears the story and it crushes

his spirit that the walls are in

disrepair

and the city the people are living in

disgrace and it's not the story that he

wanted to hear.

And he visualized what it must be like

living in that moment in that period of

time.

He kept Jerusalem close to his heart.

the walls. Today, when you think about

and read the story,

we don't think much about walls.

We think about in our city, we have city

limits and they they they you know, they

go from Mobile Bay on one side all the

way out and it kind of snakes out toward

West Mobile and north. We're almost

north, almost to the city limit sign

here and then south all the way down to

the bay. And we we think about city

limits, but we don't think about a city

with walls.

When you think about the day in which

Nehemiah was living, the walls were very

important to the people that were living

in those cities in those days.

They meant stability. They meant

survival for the residents that were

living in that city at that time. They

offered safety from raids, raiding

parties that would come in and steal and

kill and destroy. They symbolized to the

people around them that lived in other

lands. That city is a strong city and it

has peace on the inside because of the

safety and stability of its strong

massive walls. It's almost impen

impenetrable for the enemy to make its

way in because the city is so protected

and so guarded. But Nehemiah knew

through this story Jerusalem was left

vulnerable. It was left exposed. It was

left exposed to the enemy that was

around.

And when we read the story, we think

about Old Testament times and how yes,

we can see that, but we've never really

lived in those moments to fully

understand it. But there are things in

our society today that we should have

walls guarding us and protecting us,

built up from prayer and from the Holy

Spirit.

A hedge of protection that we pray for

around ourselves.

We need a hedge of protection. We need

the Lord's angels to protect us from the

attacks that seem

just so powerful that comes against

every part of our society and our world

today.

And we can look around in our community

and think just like Jerusalem,

we find ourselves left vulnerable as a

community.

Societal walls and standards are

destroyed. Our family is left

vulnerable.

Spiritual walls are left vulnerable or

are shattered and broken because of sin

and disobedience.

Today, walls are falling down all around

our community. And God is looking for

someone willing to say, "Here I am,

Lord.

Use me."

He's looking for individuals that'll

say, "God,

we pray and we desire and we long for

your church to be vibrant and powerful,

for our world to change and our

community to be saved and for revival

fires to burn again. But all we see is

heartache and misery and pain and

violence and animosity

and resentfulness that's going around

all throughout society. And we look at

how societal norms and barriers have

been destroyed. And the Lord is saying,

"Listen, I want to send revival. I want

to send my presence. I'm longing to

restore once again, but I'm looking for

someone that'll say, "Here I am, Lord.

work through me. If you can't find any

other person that's willing to do it,

Lord, here we are. Use us. We want to be

pure and we want to be holy and we want

to stand before you. We look around at

what's going on in society and we say,

"God, how can anything change?" And we

think that God's just going to come in

and move his hand and it's going to he's

going to do something in a in a

supernatural way. And he can't.

But what I see throughout the New

Testament is God is looking for

individuals that he can work through.

Sold out lives that know what it means

to pray and to intercede and to

visualize the problem that is around us,

the societal decay that is destroying

our nation and our community and our

families and our church world.

And the Lord says, "I want to do it. I

want people to be delivered. I want

people to be saved. I want to breathe

upon your community once again. I want

to wave my hand and send revival fires.

And I want I want people to come in

waves to come to know me as Lord and

Savior and experience. But I'm looking

for an individual or I'm looking for a

group of people that says, "Lord, if you

can't find anyone else, here I am. I

make myself available to you."

We got to look around. It's easy for us

to look at society. It's easy for us to

see the negativity and listen, all you

have to do is turn on the news in the

evening.

And it's easy for us to be very

complacent,

very pessimistic,

looking around at society and say,

"Well, there it's hopeless for anything

to change."

Nothing is hopeless or impossible with

God.

Nothing. God's looking for willing

vessels. It's time for us to put the

devil on notice.

You have robbed and you have stolen and

you have killed and you have tried to

destroy long enough and I'm not taking

it anymore.

>> You had your way in my community and in

my nation and in my family and in my

church and in our society long enough

and I'm not going to take it anymore.

>> I am sold out to God. I am God's

individual and I want God to work in

this day and time and put a stop to

these things. And I know that that's

God's heartbeat is for him to restore

and to hear us when we repent and we cry

cry out to him. But you and I have got

to like Nehemiah,

we've got to visualize the problem

that's around us. It's easy for us to

point blame. It's easy for us to

condemn. It's easy for us to point at

leaders or the lack of leadership at the

circumstances that's going on and gripe

and complain and just sit idly by and

cross our hands and be negative. But

that doesn't do anything to change the

problem. But when the church rises up in

faith and boldness and power and it does

what the church is called to do, which

is to pray and and to surrender ourself

and to repent of our sins and to ask God

to do a new work inside of us. God, you

did it in the past. I know you can do it

today. And I know what the scripture

says. You want to send a an end time

revival into our community. Lord, help

me to be a part of that. Here I am,

Lord. Use me.

He visualized the problem. But yet he

also

he also came to the conclusion of the

decision

that he agonized over the dilemma.

Now I put myself in this situation

and I think about it a lot. It hurts me

to see and to hear of things that go on

in our nation that's contrary to the

will of God.

It hurts me when I see

sin abound in our community. We live in

the Bible belt. We talk about Jesus and

we talk about being Christians. Yet we

see what what seems to be more and more

sin and destruction that's taken place

in our community. I think about the the

family of three that was just savagely

murdered in Theodore in the past couple

of weeks and we think how in the world

is that possible in a civilized society?

Well, anything is possible when our

hearts go away from God and we're not

surrendered to our creator who gives us

passion and meaning and purpose in in

moving about in life

when we allow sin to take over will

destroy in in every area of our life.

But Nehemiah, when he heard about

Jerusalem and heard about his homeland

and remembered what God had promised and

how far removed they were from living

that out, he agonized over the dilemma.

And it said that he wept about it. Now,

when I read this in in preparation for

today, I had to ask myself, Spence,

when's the last time that you wept

over your community?

There's a lot of times that I can turn

on the television

and I I can be negative about what's

happening and not like it and try to

point blame somewhere else. Listen,

it's not politicians,

it's not police officers, not judges,

it's not anything that's going to change

it. It's the church that's going to

change it. It's a heart problem. It's a

sin problem. It's a disobedience

problem. And God's looking for people

that can heal the problem that he can

work through to heal the problem that

deals with the sin of the heart.

We've talked about missions this

morning. And most of the time when we

talk about missions, we talk about like

raising funds to send it to missionaries

or put a missionary on the field or or

to give them the equipment that they

need or speed the light, give them

vehicles to get to certain places. And

we think, well, I can do that. I just

write a check and, you know, I'll

support the I'll support Adeline on her

fundraising campaign next year. You

know, she $1,500. She did a great job

raising 14 and I'll help her get to that

point next year and we'll pat ourselves

on the back about it. But that's that's

not all that missions is.

Missions is here and now.

Missions is at this moment.

We talk about foreign missions and we

think about foreign missions a lot,

but there's a lot to do with home

missions right here at home. Nehemiah,

although he was in exile,

his heart was at home. His heart was

passionate about the homeland,

about the people rising up, for them

getting back to being the people of God,

God's favor and blessing. And he wanted

to see the walls rebuilt and the exiles

return. But beyond that, for God's favor

and anointing to rest upon his people

and then for for them with their hearts

right, for God to make them the people

and the nation that he had called them

to be.

We should have a heart for our community

and for our nation and for our world to

be all that God has destined us to be.

And it starts with our own heart and our

own longing. visualizing what the

problem is and how did we get to this

this place. We can look back to the past

and we can see wonderful outpourings of

the mighty move of God in our society.

But and how did we get so far away from

it? How did we get to the place that we

find ourselves in today? You know, the

churches in America are starting to

decline. We're following a a pattern

like Europe. I read an article yesterday

that said if we stay on its current

track that in just a few years, America

should expect to see a 100,000 churches

close its doors.

Why?

Because we're getting away from the

things that are most important.

It's not about just being church or

doing church.

It's about a heart after God.

Lord, how did we get here? What do I

need to do to to turn back? What do I

need to do to receive your favor upon

our our life? In verse four, it says

that Nehemiah agonized over the dilemma.

When I heard these things, he said, I

sat down and I wept.

For some days I mourned and fasted and

prayed before the God of heaven.

The only hope our nation and our

community and our world has is found in

the church of Jesus Christ. And the only

church, the only hope that the church

has is found in you and I. The church is

not an organization. The church is not a

building at a certain address. The

church is made up of the people that

have been bought and paid for by the

blood of Jesus Christ and know what it

is to be saved, redeemed, and

transformed by the blood of almighty

God. And when we realize who we are,

then we want people to say, we want

people to see and to hear and to

understand, you need a taste of this. It

will liberate you and it will set you

free and it will set you on fire.

>> That's what my community needs. That's

what my nation needs. That's what the

world needs is the hope of glory.

Nehemiah was broken.

But he made himself available to God. In

13 chapters of this book, 11 of them

find Nehemiah on his face before God in

prayer. 11.

What does that tell us today?

Prayer has got to be the key of anything

and everything that we do. If we want to

make an impact in our family, if we want

to rebuild some walls, if we want the

the light to shine forth, then listen,

we've got to be on our knees, crying out

to God, receiving our marching orders,

letting him hear from us, letting us

hear the voice of God speak to us, and

help us to know what he wants us to do.

God is the God of the impossible. Yes,

God's people are called to be on their

knees. I heard a quote a few years ago

that really kind of struck me to the

core and it kind of goes along with this

today that says this. If we're living

without fasting and we're giving without

sacrificing and we're praying without

weeping, no wonder that we're sowing

without reaping.

And that makes a lot of sense today.

Nehemiah prayed a prayer of repentance

first. He understood what what caused

this societal problem. What caused his

people to be in exile? What has caused

the vulnerability in the homeland where

the people live

a vulnerable lifestyle and its walls are

destroyed

as they walked away from God.

And he understood that the first step

back is for you and I to pray a prayer

of repentance. A heartfelt prayer of

repentance. God knows the difference

between us just speaking words

and when it's coming from the depths of

our heart and our soul. It's kind of

like this. We can come in on Sunday

mornings and we can sing the songs off

the screen.

We used to sing them out of a book and

boy that was a big thing when we got

went away with the books and then we

started singing them off the wall as

people would say. It doesn't make a

difference where it's coming from other

than it needs to be coming from here.

God knows the difference when we're

praying prayers,

selfish prayers,

prayers

to show prayers to show off

or prayers of desperation and repentance

before God.

And Nehemiah prayed a prayer of

repentance first. Look at verse six,

kind of the end of verse six. He said

this, "I confess the sins we Israelites,

including myself and my father's family,

have committed against you. We have

acted very wickedly toward you. We have

not obeyed the commands, decrees, and

laws you gave your servant Moses."

When we're willing to repent for others

sins instead of just talking about what

someone else is doing, then that moves

the heart of God. It's easy for us to

complain about things. It's easy for us

to point fingers. It's something

different for you and I to be on our

prayer bones and interceding for the

circumstances and the people around us

and for oursel. That is what moves the

heart of God. And God knows the

difference between what's coming from

here and what's just words coming out of

our mouth. God wants to hear the cry of

our heart.

Nehemiah visualized the problem.

Nehemiah agonized over the dilemma. And

then last but not least, Nehemiah

personalized his response to God. Look

at verse 11.

Lord, let your ear be attentive to the

prayer of this your servant and to the

prayer of your servants who delight in

revering your name. Give your servant

success today by granting him favor in

the presence of this man. For I

was cupbearer to the king. Now,

sometimes we say, "I don't know that I

want to ask God selfishly to do

something for me."

When you're going before God and you're

asking for God to work through you, it's

it's easy and you should ask for God's

favor to be upon you. Sometimes we we

pray sometimes and we think, "Well, I'm

not so sure that that kind of sounds a

little self-righteous for me to be

asking." Listen, we want God to be with

us where we go.

>> God, when I walk out of this door, let

my light so shine before men that you

receive all the glory in my life. It's

not about me showing off. It's not about

my position. It's not about that I'm

something greater than somebody else

outside in this world. No, I've just had

an encounter with the King of Kings and

the Lord of Lord is in his house. And

when I walk out this door, I should

radiate the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And God, I pray that you would use me

when I walk out of these doors. Help me

to go and help me to have an encounter

with somebody. Place me in a position,

Lord, where somebody is in need and then

give me the boldness to be able to speak

the truth and love to them. Give me

favor. Listen, God wants everybody in

this room to be blessed today. He wants

his favor to be poured out in great

measure upon every one of us in this

room. Not for our selfish motus, but for

his glory at the end of it. We come into

this place to worship and to magnify his

name and to have an encounter with God

and to hear his word and then apply it

to our life. But if we just let it go

inside of here, it's going to die inside

of here unless it's cultivated and given

away.

Are you with me today?

>> You have not because you ask not.

God, I want more of you. God, I want to

be about your presence. I want to see

what you see. I want to hear what you

hear. I want to be your hands and feet.

I want to go where you would go. Help

me, Lord Jesus, to make a difference in

the circumstances around me.

Do you love where you live?

Do you love our nation?

Do you want God's favor to rest upon us

and his blessings to be poured out in

great measure? Do you want revival to be

poured out in our nation once again?

God wants that more than you do. He

wants it more than I do. He wants people

to be set ablaze. He wants us to long

for him. But it starts with us having a

pray praying a prayer of repentance from

our heart before God. God, we have

sinned. We have sinned as a nation. We

have turned our back on you. We used to

be known a as a Christian nation, but

we're running as far away from that as

we possibly can. But God, I make myself

available to you at this altar today.

and I lift up my hands and I say, "God,

forgive me of my sins and forgive us,

God, the sins of our fathers that have

turned our backs on you." And Lord, as

we pray on behalf of not only ourselves,

but on behalf of our brothers and our

sisters and our nation, that will move

the heart of God. And if we make oursel

available to say, Lord, if you're

looking for someone that you can use in

these days, here I am.

Here we are as a church, God, in this in

this city. Help us, Lord Jesus, to be

about your mission today. I see the

need. I visualize the problem that's

around. God, I I'm beginning to agonize

over the dilemma that we find ourselves

in,

but Lord, I make myself available to you

today.

That's missions as well.

It's not just about somebody being

called and somebody going overseas or us

providing a vehicle or some material for

them to teach, but it's also about you

and I knowing who we are, knowing how

God's called us and knowing that he's he

wants to work through our lives if we

make oursel available to him. Amen.

Would you bow your heads with me this

morning?

Lord, I thank you today

for your goodness.

And I thank you, Lord, for your desire

to save

and to empower

and to impact a generation with your

glory.

And Lord, I pray today that you would

ignite a passion inside of us instead of

us looking around and saying, "This

seems almost impossible to do."

Let us begin to realize that the God of

the impossible

dwells inside of me.

With you, God all things become

possible.

Scripture says, "All things are

possible, Lord, to those who believe."

Help us today to believe like we've

never believed before. Help us, Lord, to

take the scales off of our eyes and help

us to look around at the things that we

see in our world

and to say, Lord,

if you need an instrument, if you need

somebody, God, that you can use, here we

are, God, send me.

God, help us to begin to

see the community the way you see the

community.

Help us to grieve

over sin and waywardness and

disobedience

and the things, Lord, that have pulled

us away from our first love.

and help us to realize God

that what is going to change the

circumstances around us

is the passion and the fire and the

salvation that abides in the hearts and

lives of a soldout believer.

God, you can do something miraculous and

shake us to our core.

You can ride it in the sky. You can

speak audibly to lost people, but you

choose to use your church that has been

in that has been empowered

by your Holy Spirit.

You desire to send us out. You desire to

breathe upon us again. You desire to fan

the flame, God, of revival inside of us

that makes people living in darkness

understand and turn their attention

toward the great light that lives

inside of your church and inside of your

people.

Forgive us of our sins. Forgive us of

our the sins of our forefathers.

Forgive us, Lord, as a nation for

turning our back on you. And Lord, today

we just cry out to you once again

and ask you God to draw us back to you a

fresh and a new today.

Lord, we praise you today, God, and for

your glory. And I pray, Lord, that you

would help us to never take for granted

the precious gift of your son that we

celebrate here at this season of the

year. Looking forward to Easter.

Help us to use it, God, your mercy and

your grace to make an impact, Lord, with

those that are around us today

in Jesus name.

I want to ask you this morning, if

you're here

and you want God to work through you,

you want to be an instrument that would

say, "God,

there's anything in my life that has

hindered me from being an instrument

that you can work with.

I want to make a renewed commitment to

you and I want to lay my own selfish

ways down at this altar

and you need God to ignite a passion

inside of you once again

and you want to make yourself available

for God to work through you.

I want you to meet me here at this altar

for a few minutes before we close. Then

we're going to have closing prayer, pray

over a need, and then we're going to be

dismissed. But I think the best way for

us to end this service today is at a

place of yielding and surrender before

God at his altar.

God wants to use us. God wants to impact

uh this community and our nation through

us.

But we've got to be sold out and

dedicated to him. And if you want to be

that person that he can work through,

join me here this morning for a few

minutes at this altar. Then we're going

to be dismissed today.

at your feet.

I'm caught up in this holy

moment.

I never want to leave.

Lord, I'm not here for blessing.

Jesus, you don't owe me anything.

More than anything

that you can do,

I just want you.

Oh Lord, I'm sorry

when I've just gone through the motions.

I'm sorry

when I've just sang another song. Take

me back to where we started.

I open up my heart

to you. Oh Lord, I'm sorry, Father.

And I'm sorry

when I've come to my agenda. I'm sorry

when I forgot that you're enough. Take

me back to where we started. Lord, I've

opened up my heart

to you.

Oh Lord, I'm caught in your presence,

God. Caught up in your presence.

I just want to sit here, Lord,

and I just want to sit here at your

feet.

I'm brought up in this holy

morning.

I never want to leave.

And I'm not here for blessing.

I'm not here for the blessing.

Jesus, you don't know me, God. Oh,

Jesus, you don't know me.

these things

more than anything

that you can do. Oh, I just I just want

you. Come on, declare it, church. I just

want you, Lord. I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

And I just want you.

Nothing else come

and nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else. Jesus.

Nothing else will do. He is holy. Lord,

you are holy.

You are rightous,

oh God. You are wonderful

in all your ways.

You are mighty.

You are matchless, Lord. Oh, so I'm

going to worship you all my days. Just

worship him, Lord. We give you our

praise, Lord.

Everything we are, Lord,

you worthy of all our praise today.

Give it all.

We give you our everything, God.

We declare it, Father.

And I just want you.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

I just want you.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else will do.

And I just

else

will do

nothing else.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

We thank you. We thank you, Father,

for your mercy.

Thank you, Lord. God, we give you our

praise this morning.

everything that we are,

every plan, every agenda that we have,

Lord, for our future.

And I pray that just like Nehemiah,

Lord, we would see what it is that's

ahead of us, God, with the place that we

find ourselves in, the place our city,

our family, what our jobs, those around

us are in, God. They're hungry for you,

Lord.

Lord, some are in the midst of

destruction, Lord. maybe destruction

that they brought upon themselves, Lord.

But nonetheless, Lord, you are the one

that does need Jesus.

So, I pray that you stir our hearts this

morning,

that we would have a heart after

missions, Lord, that we would not be

sitting by idally complacent, Lord, with

where the state of the world is at,

Lord. That we would step up. We would be

used by you, Father.

We thank you, Lord, for who you are.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen. Listen, before we're dismissed

today, Brother Kevin is standing right

here with us today and he is going in

for surgery on Tuesday morning early. Um

he's got pretty serious surgery on his

spine and his back. They're going to be

out of commission for probably about

three months or so, but we know that

God's able to do a lot more and a lot

faster. So before he goes in and faces

surgery on Tuesday, I want us to stretch

our hands toward you today. And I want

to pray God's blessing and favor to fall

upon his life today. And God would bring

healing in in a very fast way this

morning. So let's pray. Father, I thank

you for Kevin today and I thank you Lord

for his life. I thank you for his faith.

I thank you for his dedication toward

you, Lord. And today, Lord, we just join

together in singleness of purpose in one

heart and one mind and one accord. And

we surround him, Lord, with prayer

today. And we know, Lord, that you are

the great physician and you are the

healer today. And I pray, Lord, that

there would be a peace and a presence

that would settle in, Lord, to to

Kevin's mind and spirit today. And Lord,

as he leaves this church, let him know

that you have him. You have him in the

palm of your hand. And you Lord are

bringing about the work of healing in

his body. We know Lord that you can

speak to this spine. And we know Lord

that you can make him whole in every way

today that he can leap and jump and

shout and walk out of this place

completely and totally healed in every

way. But Lord, we also know that you

give wisdom and guidance and direction

to surgeons and to those Lord who are

who are your instruments of healing God

today. And I pray, Lord, that you would

guide and direct the hands of this

surgeon. Lord, if he goes into surgery

on Tuesday morning, I pray that

everything would go better than was

planned. Lord, what man is planned is is

one thing, but what God's plan is is

something totally different. I pray that

the pain would subside. I pray, Lord,

that his spine would be would be healed.

And I pray the pressure points, Lord,

would be released. And I pray that the

moment he wakes up from surgery, Lord,

that he would know that there is a

difference that has transpired. And I

pray, Lord, that the recovery process

would be faster, Lord, than what any man

believes is possible. But Lord, from

this day forward, I pray that your

spirit, Lord, would surround him and

carry him, Lord, on the on angel's

wings, Lord, throughout this process.

And we give you praise and glory and

honor today. And I pray that your Holy

Spirit, Lord, would guide him every step

of the way through every part of the

healing process. And we give you all

praise, glory, and honor for it today.

And we stand upon that word that by your

stripes, Lord, we are healed in Jesus

name. And we give you all praise and

glory, Lord, for doing it today.

Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Amen.

He's good, right? He's faithful. Let God

work through you and flow through you

this week. Listen, remember ladies,

there's the shower in the fellowship

hall immediately after this service for

Ali Fonsica. Just make your way right

over there. God bless you as you go and

we'll see you back Wednesday night 6:30.