Repent!

[Music] good morning church it's so good to see you on this wonderful lord's day are you ready to worship all right wonderful well we want to welcome you to north lake baptist church whether you're here in person or online joining us thank you for being with us this morning as we worship if you're with us and you're a guest we do have a gift bag for you that feel free to pick up on your way out this morning at the conclusion of our worship and so church let's open up our bulletins and look at our announcements wednesday night we have normal activities our awana youth and adult bible study awana beginning at 6 15 and youth and adult bible study at 6 30 so be sure to join us this wednesday night i also want to make you aware of the women's bible study getting started in february they'll be studying elijah now there's three different opportunities you have to participate in that bible study monday night at 6 30 or tuesday morning i believe at nine o'clock and then there will be an online option on tuesday evenings that lifeway is making available so be sure to uh get in touch with us at the church office or you can see andrea howell or vicky wingo about that bible study okay wonderful also middle school and high school students we got united weekend coming up in march march uh 5th 6th and 7th it's fast approaching and because of the pandemic unfortunately we have to limit our number of who can attend and so we have 25 spaces total and there's five left so i need you to sign up uh quick uh students if if you want to participate in our united weekend uh there's a qr code there uh in your bulletin that you can scan and get signed up and if it gives you any trouble at all just give me a call you can call us at the church office and we'll be sure to work through that with you all right so john reminds us in his uh epistle first john 1 9 that if we confess our sins that jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness church will you join me as i pray heavenly father we thank you for this day lord we thank you that today in this worship service lord that we can confess our sin and that you will cleanse us of all unrighteousness because of jesus your son who gave his life as a ransom for many lord we pray that you'd be with us and that lord we would leave this place willing to serve you it's in jesus name amen let's stand together this morning let's sing about the victory that is found in jesus christ i heard an old story how a savior came from glory how he gave his life on calvary to save a wretch like me i heard about his groaning of his precious blood atoning then i repented of my sin and won the oh victory in jesus my savior forever he sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood he loved the air i knew him and all my love is to him he plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing blood i heard about his healing of his cleansing power revealing how he made the lane to walk again and caused the blind to see and then i cried dear jesus come and heal my broken spirit and somehow jesus came and brought to me the victory o victory in jesus my savior [Music] bought forever with his redeeming blood he loved the air i knew him and all my love is to him he plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing blood i heard about a mansion he has filtered me in glory and i heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea about the angel singing at the old redemption story the song of victory o victory in jesus my savior [Music] and all [Music] in jesus my savior forever he sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood he loved me air i knew him and all my love is due him he plunged me to victory beneath the cleansy amen do you believe that this morning amen it is his blood that has redeemed us from our sins as pastor matt shared just a moment ago he shared from first john 1 9 that says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and also cleanse us and we're singing about that redeeming blood this morning we're singing about the redemption that can only be found in christ today this morning i want to share with you that as we've just sung about that we've sung that we have victory there are some who may not understand what that victory is yet there are some who are battling for their own spiritual life whether you may be here with us in the building or whether you may be online and you've not turned your life over to christ yet and you don't know what that victory that christ can bring you don't know about that hope but you know that you need something and you may have been searching for this one thing and nothing that you have found to date has filled that gap and has filled that hole well this morning i want to assure you that jesus christ is here to fill that gap he is your hope he's not a hope he's not one hope he's not some kind of hope he is the hope he is the truth and this morning as we sing about that i didn't just realize that i needed christ before i was saved after i was saved i realized that i need him more and more and more each day we're going to be singing a song here in just a moment that talks about our need in christ and the very first part of that script of that particular song opens up and it happens to say exactly what first john 1 9 is talking about and it goes lord.com and i confess and it talks about our confession in christ but we get to the chorus of that particular song and it goes lord i need you oh i need you and when you look at that and you compare that with scripture i find in scripture some some hope that is there um in first john 2 verses 1 that says my little children i am writing these things to you so that you may not sin but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous so we have an advocate who is with us the whole step of the way so this morning as we sing and as we worship i want you to think about the dependence that you have upon christ and how he's there to meet your need lord i come i confess bowing here i find my rest without you i'd fall apart you're the one that guides my heart lord i need you oh i need you every heart i need you my one defense my righteousness oh god how i need where sin runs deep your grace is more where grace is found is where you are and where you are lord i am free holiness is christ in me lord i need you oh i need you everywhere i need you my one defense my righteousness oh god how i need you lord i need you oh i need you every hour i need you my one defense my right o god how i need you [Music] so teach my song to rise to you when temptations come my way when i cannot stand i'll fall on you jesus you're my hope and stay lord i need you oh i need i need you my one defense my righteousness oh god how i need you my one defense my righteousness oh god how i need my one defends my righteousness oh god how i need amen lord we need you you may be seated man good singing this morning uh so good to see you here this morning if you have your bulletins please look at the back page and we'll look at our prayer list our prayer verse comes from the preamble to the lord's prayer our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and while while we're here on earth we're probably not going to find the kingdom coming the will being done at the county level at the state level at the national level or the world level but for christians it needs to be at the heart level we need to make sure that he is king of our life begin our day with praises we have new members dave and joyce buffalo we praise the lord for that also george and jeremiah had their baby this past week warrick chapman 8 pounds and 20 inches tall so we praise the lord for his gift of life i also want to pray for those in need of salvation from romans chapter 10 you see that verse and we i still have a sign of who's your one who's the one that you are praying for who's the one you're seeing seeking to lead to faith in jesus christ i also want to pray for those in our church family you see the list there one of our babies elea grant been in children's hospital this past week and also linda true love recovering from shoulder surgery we pray for our parents who are expecting children also under extended family and friends we have one to add this morning one of our online viewers named angela suffering with severe back pain and asking us to pray for her today under long-term care you see tom henderson underlying there he is our 100 year old member he's our eldest member and uh he was in the hospital a while back and then went to rehab in a nursing home and was actually doing better than they claimed he was but his daughter told me this past week that he has developed pneumonia now so be in prayer for brother tim brother tom also down the page there you see betty stanford i understand she's not doing well so continue to pray for her and also pray for missionaries serving around the world this morning the international mission board has asked us to remember a pastor matthew that's really not his name but uh because of where he's serving he's a church planter in a muslim country mali west africa and doubly difficult for him because his father is one of the muslim tribal leaders there but he has become a christian in his church planting so be in prayer for that work there in mali i also want to pray for our families who are grieving tara hart that's a relative of peggy spinner who passed away this past week and also we want to continue to remember our nation and our leaders for such a time as this as we go the lord in prayer father we do thank you for this day that you blessed us with kind of cold and damp outside but warm with your spirit on the inside i thank you lord for my brothers and sisters in christ who are able to be here today in person and for those who are joining us online lord we thank you that you're omnipresent god you're everywhere all the time and so wherever your people are worshiping you are there we thank you lord we pray now that you bless us as we continue to sing praises to your name as we open your word and allow you to speak to our hearts lord we pray that you hear our prayers and answer according to your good will and purpose and we pray this in jesus name amen [Music] i'm so confused i know i heard you loud and clear so i follow through [Music] somehow i don't want to think i may never understand that my broken heart is a part of your plan when i try to pray all i got is four [Music] words [Music] i know you're good but this don't feel good right now and i know you think of [Music] things it's hard to count it all joy distracted by the noise just trying to make sense of all your promises sometimes i gotta stop remember that you're god and i am not so thy will be done thy will be done thy will be done like a child on my knees all that comes to me [Music] me i know you hear me lord your plans are for me [Music] i know you hear me i know you see me lord your plans are foreign [Music] that comes to me be done thy will be [Music] done i know you see me i know you hear me for teaching us to pray and sing thy kingdom come thy will be done if you have your bibles please open to matthew chapter 3 as we begin our study through this book in the early stages of it matthew chapter 3. looks like we've already been there one week maybe there another week so keep reading chapter three last time we had a character study of john the baptist who is a good example of what it means to be a humble servant of the lord today we want to move from the man to his message we want to listen to john the baptist the last old testament prophet who comes preparing the way for the first coming of our lord and savior jesus christ i'll begin reading in verse 1. in those days john the baptist came preaching in the wilderness of judea and saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make his paths straight now john himself was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist and his food was locust or grasshoppers and wild honey then jerusalem all judea and all the region around the jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the jordan confessing their sins but when he saw many of the pharisees and sadducees coming to his baptism he said to them brood of vipers how's that for a call to worship how many of you think he'd be invited back to our church if he started off the service you bunch of snakes who warned you to flee from the wrath to come therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not think to say to yourselves we have abraham as our father for i say to you that god is able to raise up children to abraham from these stones even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire i indeed baptize you with water into repentance but he who is coming after me is mightier than i whose sandals i am not worthy to carry he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire his winnowing fan is in his hand he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor he will gather his sweet into the barn and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire the main message from john the baptist involves a special word that seems to have been lost on our generation lost on the 21st century church you see it verse 2 repent and verse 8 and 11 repentance if you're one who marks your bible you might want to underline those very important terms come from the greek word metanoiate that means to change to change your mind to change your direction to turn from yourself and your sins in the ways of the world and turn to the lord the apostle paul gives us an example in first thessalonians 1 9 about how the thessalonian christians had turned to god from idols to serve the true and living god that's what repentance is it means to turn around to stop where you're going turn the opposite direction to stop going wrong and start turning to the right to turn away from your sins and turn toward the lord verse 3 john quotes from isaiah and said the lord is coming so straighten up in ancient times before paved roads when you heard that the king was coming to visit your town you would get out and prepare the way so that the king would be impressed with your town you'd straighten out the crooked places level the steep places grate out the ruts fill the potholes give the king a smoother ride into town and that's what john is saying here the lord from god from heaven is coming soon so you need to prepare your hearts turn from your sins your crooked ways straighten out your life be righteous be holy verses seven through nine that we just read john says instead of acting like children of the serpent who live like the devil repent and change live like children of faith live like children of your father abraham verse 10 he says when the lord comes judgment is coming the good will be saved the bad will be burned get your heart right with god get ready to meet thy god as the old testament prophets used to say and luke's version of this story people begin asking well how do we repent what shall we do of course john told them quit being selfish instead of being a taker be a giver help the poor the sick the elderly the underprivileged tax collectors and soldiers asked well what shall we do to repent and be saved how do we repent should we quit our jobs john says no but as you are doing your job be righteous be just be fair in the way that you do your job the way you live your life you can be a christian soldier you can be a christian government employee but just don't use your powers or your position to cheat gouge extort take advantage of your fellow man be content with your wages be content with what you have don't be greedy don't be jealous don't be envious now though the tax collectors and soldiers could repent and still keep their jobs john made it clear there's certain lifestyles that you cannot keep doing what you're doing to repent means you've got to quit you must stop example that was from 1949 there was this guy named mickey cohen he was a top mob boss in los angeles he rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous he lived a life of luxury and of course he paid all the bills with his salary from organized crime something else happened in 1948 1949 billy graham had his first big crusade that's when he first popped on the scene there as he goes out and has his crusade in los angeles and there were conversions of big name hollywood types and cohen he wanted to be a christian too so he went to the crusade he prayed the sinner's prayer but he continued to live a life of crime a little later on some of the billy graham team met with him and asked him what was the deal and cohen says now wait a minute you never told me that i had to give up my career got to give up my friends wait a minute they're christian movie stars they're christian athletes there's christian businessmen so what's a matter of being a christian gangster if i have to give up all that if that's christianity then count me out we've got a similar example from luke's account where he describes the meeting between john the baptist and king herod if you remember that story king herod had taken to wife queen herodias to live with him and she was at that same time his wife his sister-in-law and his niece you figure that out sounds a little jerry springer to me anyway i think that's what's going on there anyhow john the baptist had the courage to tell the king you need to repent you cannot be a christian adulterer you cannot be a christian murderer you got to repent you got to change and of course king herod and queen herodias were not amused so they put john in prison and later murdered him i think john not only took a beating from him i think he would take a pretty good beating from our churches today imagine if john were to show up in our politically correct churches today and say you cannot be a christian homosexual you cannot be a christian transgender you cannot be a christian rock star a christian rapper you cannot be a christian abortionist you cannot be a christian bartender you cannot be a christian drug dealer you cannot be a christian dance club operator you cannot be a christian wife beater you cannot be a christian pornographer you cannot be a christian gospel on social media you cannot be a christian or a violent christian political activist you must repent you must turn away from your sins you must turn away from the evils of this world repent if you expect to enter the kingdom of heaven i think john would be canceled by our cancelled culture and unfortunately he'd be canceled in most churches john's audience asked if we repent will you save us will you give us eternal life are you the christ and john says no i'm not the messiah i'm not the christ i'm simply the voice crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord the lord is coming i'm telling you to turn from your selfishness your sin your wickedness and go to meet your lord he alone can save you he alone can fill you with his holy spirit he alone can change your life can make you holy and get you ready for heaven and by the way friends that's the gospel that's the good news the lord is good the lord loves you the lord will forgive your sins the lord will give you an abundant and eternal life but before you can experience any of the goodness of the god you've got to repent romans chapter 2 and verse 4 the goodness of god leads you to repent get your heart right turn away from your sins so that you and the lord can have a little talk this is not new it's just been ignored it's an ignored part of the gospel it's ignored part of the bible repent or repentance is found over 60 times in the scriptures old testament prophets preach repentance they came into town preaching turn or burn turn from your sins are you going to burn in judgment boy those are some negative guys john the baptist came preaching in the wilderness repent for the kingdom of heaven is near it's coming near he's coming soon get ready if we ever get to matthew chapter 4 matthew 4 17 the lord came preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent for the kingdom is near when jesus sent out his disciples and told them to preach what he tell them to preach said one sermon repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand peter on the day of pentecost in acts chapter 2 preached repent of your sins and turn to the lord jesus and you will be filled with the holy spirit paul at athens not the university of georgia but the university of greece in acts chapter 17 god commands all men everywhere to repent in five of the seven churches in the book of revelation that we just finished the lord says repent the late great evangelist vance havner used to say the last word of our lord to the church is not the great commission the last word from the lord to the church is repent and the last word that the lord commanded is the last thing we want to do and that is repent i know we've got some theological nitpickers out there who will come along and say once you're saved you no longer need to repent or ask forgiveness of sin because calvary covers all your sins past present and future well while they may be theologically and technically correct they are relationally wrong let me give you an example i was born the son of clay jones and i will always be his son nothing that i can do will change that however there were a number of things that i did when i was a teenager that strained the father and son relationship now whether or not i ever apologized to my daddy or not i was still his son but i'll tell you this life was better around the house and he and i were on better terms when i repented when i went and said daddy i'm sorry i was wrong please forgive me and i promise not to ever do that again all of a sudden life was much better around the old campfire than it was while he and i still was i still his son yes but were we in a good positive relationship and the answer is no not until i repented and the same thing with the lord if you're truly saved you'll always be his child and calvary does cover all your sins but it does not stop the consequences of your sin and that's why christ the one who died on calvary's cross so that we could have forgiveness of sin writes to his church in revelation chapter 2 and 3 and says repent and do the first works or i will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand i'll turn out your light he also said repent or else i will come to you quickly and will fight against you he says repent or i will cast you into a sick bed he says you are lukewarm repent or i will spew you out of my mouth so when christians do wrong guess what you still need to repent now i know some of y'all i know you never own up to it but some of y'all get sick and tired of me preaching about sin and repentance and judgment i actually had a few that were bold enough to say danny uh i don't know if you know this but you kind of got this negative vibe going on uh why can't you be a little bit more like norman vincent peale or robert shuler who used to preach the power of positive thinking why not preach the goodness of god why don't i preach about his grace his love his acceptance his forgiveness well brothers and sisters i do preach the goodness of god matter of fact just a few moments ago didn't i quote romans 2 4 the goodness of god leads you to repent maybe a negative vibe but i'm preaching the goodness of god and the goodness of god leads you to repent that's the way it works god is good god is gracious god is loving god is forgiving but before you can enjoy all of god's positives you must deal with the negatives and that is you must repent of your sins that's what the bible says for god is also in addition to being loving and forgiving and all that he is also just and holy and righteous and he cannot indeed he will not tolerate condone or approve of our sin we have to do something with it you say but danny the bible says in romans 13 14 put on the lord jesus that's a positive it truly is but if you read the rest of the verse it says and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust in other words you've got to repent turn away from your known sin but danny why can't you major on the grace of god okay let's look at the grace of god titus 2 11 talks about the grace of god the grace of god that brings salvation has appeared to all men next verse teaching us that denying or repenting from ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present age see how it works together i preach goodness i preach grace i preach love look but danny why can't you major on the promises of god okay well let's look at the promise of god second corinthians chapter seven having these precious promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of god somebody say amen i'm preaching the good stuff this morning but it calls you to repent to turn away from the things of the world but danny preaching on sin sounds so judgmental why not just let god be the judge like it says in second timothy 2 19 the lord knows those who are his again read the rest of the verse and let everyone who names the name of christ depart or turn or repent from their iniquity so there what am i missing here i'm preaching all the good stuff the apostle paul wrote the greatest chapter on the love of god ever can somebody tell me where you can find the greatest chapter on the love of god ever first corinthians chapter 13. i heard somebody say it you are the winner today first corinthians chapter 13 but why was it chapter 13 because he spent the spent the first 12 chapters talking about the sins of the people at corinth and how they needed to repent so see it all works together you repent of your sin and then you all of a sudden have this opportunity to experience the love of god let me ask you when was the last time you repented i'm not asking when was the last time you felt guilty many people feel guilty but they never change their life the bible refers to that as worldly sorrow second corinthians 7 10 the sorrow of the world produces death why because if all you ever do is feel guilty but you never change your life you never come back to jesus all you'll simply do is die in your sins but there's another kind of sorrow or guilt that helps you it's also found the same verse second corinthians 17 for godly sorrow produces repentance which leads us to salvation and you don't have to repent about that you don't have to regret that see there how it works together let me be a little more personal when was the last time you heard a sermon or a sunday school lesson or a bible study that changed your life change the way you think changed the way you act changed the way you talk changed the way you dress influenced you to quit a bad habit caused you to change your attitude if that has ever happened to you that's repentance that's what repentance means that's what gives you access to all the goodness of god is when you're willing to turn from the wrong to the right turn from your own way and turn to jesus one more thought before we close and don't get too excited i'm nowhere near done one more thought is when was the last time you led somebody to repent and again i'm not talking about when was the last time you were talking about how the world's going to hell in the handbasket and how bad and how sad it is i'm telling when's the last time you spoke to somebody who was dying in their sins and told them how jesus can change your life when's the last time you did that again you don't have to be hateful or rude or ugly i know some of the old testament prophets they let her rip you know when they went into town and preached but you don't always have to be rude or crude or ugly about it you can call somebody to repentance in a kind and gracious way if you're old as me or older you may have remembered the old country singer glenn campbell he used to have a song if you see your brother standing by the road you want me to sing it with a heavy load from the seeds that he sowed if you see a sister falling by the way just stop and say you're going the wrong way you've got to try a little kindness just show a little kindness so you can lead somebody to repentance and you can do it in a kind and gracious way just somebody that you're acquainted with and you see them going in the wrong direction so you're going the wrong way let me tell you how you can turn things around and have a different kind of life not only the old testament prophets john the baptist jesus and the apostles call people to repent so should we in our circle of influence and everybody's got one everybody's got somebody that listens to you everybody's got somebody that's watching you parents need to preach to repentance to disobedient children don't just say oh it's a phase they're going through i guess that's one of the things i didn't have with my father daddy never let me have a phase it was never that little old phase that we're going through he would call us to repent i mean really and that's what parents need to be doing and preachers and teachers should care enough about their congregation classes to call them to turn from the wrong to the right and friends should care enough about a friend to encourage them to turn away from sin and selfishness and turn to the true and living god friends don't let friends live in sin you can quote me on that if you've got a friend you don't let them just stand idly by and go to hell while you do nothing about it they may end up going to hell but at least you can they can stand before god and say at least one person in my life tried to turn me around we should care enough about them to tell them romans 6 23 brother sister the wages of sin is death but what the gift of god is eternal life through christ jesus our lord there's the good news now let me go ahead and give you a warning uh calling people to repentance is a thankless job and sometimes even a dangerous job as we talked about earlier john the baptist he preached repentance to herod and of course herod and herodias did not appreciate it so they put him in prison and later on they beheaded him now i doubt if you'll be beheaded for sharing your faith however the person that you're talking to may not appreciate it some people will some people return from their sins and turn to christ and you will be their hero for the rest of their days but others who you tried to lead the lord may hate you and despise you for as long as you both shall live still leading someone to repent leading someone to christ is the loving thing to do listen to the half-brother of jesus james james chapter 5 verse 19 if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the arab his ways will save us all from death and will cover a multitude of sin see it's the loving thing to do to see someone you know who's going on the wrong track and to turn those folks around you know as a pastor i visited the hospital a lot in the last 30 years i've heard people say my doctor's really nice but i don't seem to be getting any better and then i've heard others say well my doctor doesn't have any bedside manner but he told me the truth and it saved my life so he continues to be my doctor the question is what kind of doctor are you if you've got a friend who's dying in their sins what kind of doctor are you do you avoid the issue are you going to be nice are you afraid to hurt somebody's feelings afraid they'll get mad at you and so you talk about the news you talk about the weather you talk about sports talk about whatever's on sale at walmart you know you can think of everything under the sun to talk to them about except you never do quite get around to talking to them about jesus or do you say look i love you and i don't want to see you suffer so please come to jesus and let him change your life i remember when i was just a little boy we had a terrible rainstorm one night had a flash flood and we didn't know it was getting up had to go somewhere the next morning and the rain had washed out the bridge on our road though we didn't know it at the time and turns out a car had already plunged into that swollen creek and people were trapped in the flood waters and as we were driving down the road some guy flagged us down we didn't know him from adam didn't know who he was and he flagged us down and he was really kind of negative he said stop don't go down that road the bridge is out find another way to go what do you think about a guy does that suppose he'd been positive suppose he'd waved at us and said y'all have a good day and we and we ran around that curve and plunged off of that bridge into the into the swollen river there and who knows what would have happened to us i just kind of appreciate the fact that he was negative that morning you know what i mean which which message ended up being the most positive which message was a right and loving thing to do you know the negative news stopped the bridges out ended up becoming the positive news that kept our family out of the water and and i know as i said earlier i know you get tired of me preaching repentance and preaching against sin especially when i'm preaching against your favorite one or something like that you just just assume me stop but just think about me as a guy standing on the side of the road and i'm flagging you down and i'm warning you that bad things will happen if you continue to follow the way of the world but good things will happen if you choose the road that leads you to the lord jesus christ and you find salvation maybe this morning you need to repent maybe you never trusted jesus christ your savior you may not know it but uh the things that you think are not that big a deal or a pretty big deal sin is a pretty big deal on the side of a holy god and you need to get your heart right with him so you need to repent you need to turn from yourself turn from your sins turn from the way you're going and turn to jesus well if you feel like the lord's speaking to that your heart right now i encourage you to do it today the bible says behold now is accepted time today is a day of salvation you don't know you've got another chance or maybe this morning you need to lead somebody you know to repent and so in the next few moments as we have our time of invitation and prayer won't you ask the lord to give you wisdom on how to do it and also ask the lord to give you courage to do it as we close i encourage you to repent because according to the word of god that for all of us the second coming of christ is later than we think it's coming sooner than we think it's at hand it's near let's pray father i thank you for your word i thank you lord for the various john the baptist that you have put in my life to tell me that i was going the wrong way and i need to turn around i need to repent we pray this morning as your word has been shared both here and in person and also for the folks who are listening online that we analyze our life and see if there's things that we need to repent of and also help us to think around our circle of influence all the people we know and come in contact with are we being faithful to lead them to repent if they're on the wrong road lord i pray to move among us now by the power of your holy spirit during this holy time of invitation for we pray this in jesus name amen now is our time of invitation our altar is open if you need to come and pray we'll be singing a hymn in just a few moments if you've never trusted jesus christ as your savior won't you trust him today maybe you prayed and asked the lord to save you but you never made a public profession of faith by joining the church being baptized i'll be standing down front i'd love to talk with you about that maybe you've been saved and baptized you've completed all these other steps and your church membership is somewhere else but you've moved to this area and you feel like the lord is leading you to join our church and find your place of service here won't you join our church today maybe you just need to recommit rededicate your life to the lord say you know those questions i really couldn't answer i hadn't repented lately and i hadn't let anybody to repent lately and so maybe you just need to pray in where you're at or down at this altar and say lord i pray that you would give me the wisdom and the courage to share what everybody needs to know what people desperately need to know about faith in jesus christ listen to the voice of the holy spirit as we stand together and sing our hymn of invitation won't you respond [Music] oh so are you weary and troubled no light in the darkness you see [Music] there's light for a look at the sea you and life undone and free turn your eyes upon jesus look for in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely in the light of his glory and grace [Music] through death into life everlasting he passed and we follow [Music] for than conquerors we are turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely in the light of his glory and grace his word shall not fail you he promised believe him [Music] his perfect salvation to turn turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely in the light of his glory and grace turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely him in the light of his glory and grace all right come up here and stand with me mama can come too this is ella beth casselberry she come this morning professing her faith in jesus christ and requesting baptism all you who rejoice in this decision say amen amen so we do praise the lord for that thank you for being here today for your attendance for your prayers um and they'll be standing up here with me so we want to encourage you to come by and welcome them into our fellowship and we'll ask brother james if he will to come and dismiss us in prayer let's go to the lord in prayer lord god we just thank you for valuing ordinary people and for equipping us to serve you we thank you for our pastors and our servant leaders who love you we thank you for sending your son jesus christ to bring salvation to those that are lost and we thank you for jesus promises that for those who love him that he'll never forsake us we thank you for allowing our church to endure and even prosper during these challenging times that we have today we ask that you hear the prayers that we lift up to you for those that are sick those are lost those that are in need we ask that you would you have our church leaders godly wisdom we ask that where we see challenges to our church that you'd show us the opportunities we have to spread the gospel message we ask that you give us forgiving hearts so that we can love all of our neighbors these things we ask in jesus christ's name amen [Music] you

Channel: Northlake Baptist Church

Views: 2,294

Rating: 4.9016395 out of 5

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Id: Z3jJPBw8hRs

Length: 55min 35sec (3335 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021