The Echo Effect | Kenneth Mulkey

good morning how's everybody doing today good allowed to be in church it's wonderful welcome to church once again to everyone and especially all of you who are visiting with us here at Cottonwood for the very first time you're our guest so thank you for being here with us and let's give our guest one more hand because they're just awesome thank you hello everyone viewing via livestream welcome to our service thank you for being a part with us as you already know we are in the midst of our h4 season here at Cottonwood and it's an exciting time where we have the opportunity to pray and also to get involved and some real good Kingdom initiatives that God is wanting to do through our church and so we have some displays out and I'll mention that before we close service today but right now is time for God's Word and so I trust that you all brought your Bibles this morning or at least you have an electronic device if you're sitting next to someone who didn't bring their Bible perhaps they want to look on with you and so you can they can follow along with the scriptures that way or they're gonna be up on the screen so go to first Thessalonians chapter 1 we're going to read verses 5 through 9 I'll be reading from the New King James Version of the Bible and I'll give you just a second to get there and then I would like to open up in prayer and then we'll dive right into what the word has to say to us this morning I want to encourage you just to lean in and listen and I believe God is going to minister to you and speak to your heart this morning father thank you so much for your love thank you for your presence that is here with us thank you for your word father we ask that the Holy Spirit would give us spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus may the eyes of our heart and understanding be filled and flooded with light so we'll know the hope of your calling father let Jesus be glorified let here great truth stir our hearts today and activate us Lord to be doers of the word and not hearers only thank you for helping me to share your truth from your heart in Jesus name Amen beginning in verse number 1 of chapter 1 I'm sorry verse number 5 of chapter 1 in 1st Thessalonians 4 our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake and you became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Akaya who believe can you please read this next verse along with me and be verse number 8 for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in macedonia and nakiya but also in every place your faith toward god has gone out so that we do not need to say anything for they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God the great Apostle Paul had left Philip I and went southward and he ended up in Thessalonica and there Paul preached the gospel to these believers to these people there who eventually became believers he spent some time with them and ended up continuing to teach them and they continued to grow and continue to learn but these individuals when Paul had arrived had been given over to idol worship pagan idol worship it was something that Gentiles were involved in at that particular time in this particular region but when they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ it totally changed and transformed their lives in verse number 8 we read together something that happened as a as an effect as a result of them having heard the gospel of Christ and inviting Jesus into their hearts it says from them the word of the Lord sounded forth or another translation says sounded out and what that literally means and gives us the picture of is a trumpet that is blowing that has an echo effect the word of the Lord from this church in Thessalonica through these believers in Jesus was echoing out from this location into other regions around Thessalonica and as the Bible says in every place it doesn't mean literally in every place but it was a far reaching area and his spoke of how their faith in God was just becoming something that was well known and widespread to other people the word echo is a sound wave that bounces off of a surface causing you to hear an identical replication of the original sound so from Thessalonica what people were hearing is that Jesus loves you that God cares for you that you are not alone that God sent his son to take your place so that you don't have to die in your sins people in Akaya and people in Macedonia and people in other places were hearing this message they were being touched by this particular message and God's Word was echoing out people in Thessalonica would travel from there to other places and carry this message people traveling from other places through Thessalonica would hear this message and it wasn't something that they have sat in a room okay strategically how can we do something so that everybody will begin to talk about our faith in God they did not do that at all it was a result it was an outcome of their genuine sincere faith in God and them simply endeavoring to live it out what can we learn from these believers so that we - in our lives and through our church can have this echo effect for the Gospels sake there are some things that we can learn the very first thing that we can learn from them is that they received the Word of God they received the Word of God verse 5 tells us that when the gospel came to them they received this message of the gospel in their hearts and the Holy Spirit caused them to be born again that see and their reception of that seed was the inception of eternal life their eternal destiny was changed in that very moment when they welcomed and received the Word of God first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 says this for this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the Word of God which you heard from us you welcomed it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of God which also effectively works in you who believe the power of life and the ability to change all took place when the word was received how many of you know that change when it's motivated externally only can last for so long it's when change takes place internally that truly change can take place externally and when internal changes are made they have to be made by something that is substantial enough to sustain that particular decision to change the only thing that is substantial enough to maintain a right qualitative choice to change is the Word of God because the Word of God does not change and the Word of God is truth and the Word of God remains forever so we live in a world that is subject to change everything is changing right in front of our eyes but the Word of God will never change and if you want to see your life become something better than what you're experiencing today the Word of God my dear friend is your answer you don't have enough willpower to break certain things that are on your life today but the Word of God the anointed Word of God has the power to destroy every yoke of bondage the Word of God is light and will pierce through every bit of darkness in your life and your family and your marriage and your business the Word of God has that power but it has to be received the Word of God is living and it is powerful you may just look at it as words on a page in a book called the Holy Bible but friend every word in that book is God breathe is God inspired and every time we receive that word we get a breath of not just fresh air but a breath of God's air of God's life on the inside of us and we are able to change because of that Jesus once taught a parable of the sower and in Luke's account in chapter 8 in verse 11 and 12 it says now the parable is this the seed is the word of God those by the wayside are the ones who hear then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their heart lest they should believe and be saved this idea of receiving the word and welcoming the word is so vitally important because the Word of God is of course God's way God's methodology God's instrument to bring someone who is going to spend eternity see not just a couple of years not just a couple of decades eternity away from him in torment suffering the Word of God is in truth the the the single most important thing that can bring that difference and in the verse I just quoted to you it says the devil came to steal the word out of their hearts so they could not believe and be saved what the devil does is the devil tries to distract you right now the devil might be trying to distract your mind from receiving what I'm saying you're thinking about what you're going to eat after service and you're getting distracted you're wondering if the Rams are going to be New Orleans today and you're getting distracted you're wondering if the Dodgers are going to win tomorrow night and you're getting distracted you're wondering about different things you're getting distracted no lock and low load lock in I pay attention lean in listen to the Word of God because the Word of God friend is your miracle so your miracle is in this book we're looking for something out here there's going to try to change us and help us and bless us but God says just simply receive my word welcome my word and if you welcome the word then friend the seeds of your miracle or inside of you already and like a woman who has been impregnated you will be walking around with life growing on the inside of you you're a miracle of healing you're a miracle of deliverance you're a miracle of provision your miracle for peace of mind and freedom from depression and anxiety friends are on the inside in the Word of God this practice of receiving the Word of God is something that we have to continually do it's not just we receive it initially when we hear the gospel it's something that we have to continue to do always remember this that each and every one of us are continual students in God's University and we don't graduate until we graduate well I know quite a bit cuz I've been walking with the Lord for 40 years you know I can I can I can pretty much get up there on the platform and preach about anything pretty much I can preach about prayer and preach about faith talk about holding this talk about tithing I can I can tell you how to love your neighbor cuz I just been doing it for 40 years now and I just kind of pretty much got everything tied up in the bow god bless you god bless you I'm so happy for you but here's the thing we are in school until we get to heaven we're learning we're a disciple we are a discipline learner and in order for us to learn we must continue practicing listening and in order for us to listen we must therefore position ourselves to receive and if we position ourselves to receive and welcome the Word of God then we will listen then we will learn that our life will be transformed and through a transformed life people will see Jesus through us and then God will be glorified in our lives so we must receive the Word of God and people were hearing the testimonies from Thessalonica all over the place and nakiya in Macedonia and Paul would walk up to people and he was so excited about what God was doing in Thessalonica he was he was saying you know what I'm gonna tell them about what God is doing in Thessalonica and before he could get it out of his mouth someone will say hey did you hear what's going on in Thessalonica man those people they're there they're on fire for God they're excited they're enthusiastic they're like a different kind of people what's going on and Paul will go someplace else he'd hear the same thing he'd go someplace else he'd hear the same thing he goes someplace else he'd hear the same thing and the people again they meant to say what can we do to get ourselves famous what can we do to make ourselves no it was not that at all it was just simply them having received something they had not had before if you are in the desert and it's hot and you are parched and you are very very thirsty and you are behind dehydration and somebody walks up to you with a nice bottle of water friends you are going to drink that water like it is the most important valuable commodity on planet earth because given your situation and circumstances at that moment it is and these people were worshipping idols they have little statues they had eyes but they couldn't see them they had ears but they couldn't hear them they had a mouth but they couldn't talk to them they had on so they couldn't hold them and they had legs but they couldn't walk to them but when they found Jesus Jesus could see them Jesus was listening to them Jesus would talk to them Jesus would hold them Jesus would go towards them and their life had been changed and people heard this testimony if we want our lives to have an echo effect we have to receive this engrafted word that is able to save our souls the second thing we learned from these vessel nikons if we want our life to have an echo effect is that they imitated their spiritual leaders they imitated their spiritual leaders Paul said you guys became followers of us and of the Lord the word followers they're actually literally means imitated imitating and Paul has said one time in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse number one he said to the to the church imitate me as I imitate Christ I'm trying to imitate Christ and so you imitate me as I as I imitate Christ and these believers did that isn't it true that when you're young you are susceptible to look at people and imitate them when you get into something new you know you're trying to figure out really what to do and you haven't read the manual or the direction the instructions or you don't know your job description you just kind of follow what everybody else is doing you're imitating and that's what they did and undoubtedly they learned from Paul the importance of sharing the gospel but they also learn from Paul the importance of living out the gospel understanding that the gospel is the message to be preached but it's also a message to be practiced on a daily basis dr. Albert Mehrabian of UCLA said that we learn 55 percent of what we learned through our eyes we learn by watching we learn by observation and so therefore these believers were learning from Paul verse 7 says they were from this imitation of Paul they became an example to people who were in Akaya and people who are in Macedonia two of the main regions and which that area and part of Rome was divided in two and they became examples in those areas and it's important to be an example Paul told his young son in the faith Timothy in first Timothy four and twelve he said but be an example to the believers in Word and conduct and love and spirit and faith and impurity be an example sometimes we sell ourselves short sometimes we think we think oh I'm not a preacher I'm not a pastor I'm not in a position of authority or influence so to speak I'm not a singer I'm not a musician I'm not up on the stage I'm not this I'm not that but friend here's something very very accurately you are as a believer you are salt you are light you can be an example right where you are starting today right now you don't have to go to school to be an example and when you're in Christ Christ is our example we just endeavor to follow his pattern and follow those who are following him and I'm telling you friends you can be an example you can have an impact right where you are we talk about having an impact but it's interesting to me the word example actually means to strike with a blow to make an impression in other words if you were to hit a large piece of foam the foam would have an impression for at least a little bit of your fist having pushed it in and as you step back from it there would be an impression of your fist there and these people because of their lifestyle they led for Jesus there locally and abroad we're making an impression on people for the sake of the gospel and you can do that just by the way you live your life people heard about how this this community of believers helped each other and how they would serve each other and how they would serve their community and how they would lend to each other and how they were hospitable to strangers and people heard this and they did it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and word spread quickly they didn't just talk the talk that Thessalonians walked the walk and because they said it and because they did it there was power in influence that echoed from where they were to other people and people got wind of their faith in God Macedonia from Thessalonica if we were talking driving miles would be about a 40 minute drive it would be like going from Cyprus to Hollywood okay and I see sister Joanne here in the front row let's just say sister Joanne right here is here in Cyprus and people in Hollywood were hearing about her walk with Jesus yeah they were hearing about the a-listers but they were hearing a different message about sister Joanne and they were hearing about how she loved Jesus how she's a praying person a very kind-hearted gentle person how she looked out after other people how she took care of those who couldn't take care of themselves how she was very kind and hospitable and they heard about her all the way in Hollywood and with Akaya Akaya would be about in driving distance in miles about 319 miles from Thessalonica it'd be like from here to Phoenix Arizona and people would have heard about her there they would have heard about her life how she lived and they would have heard about the group of festival icons because this small band this group of believers they were just doing what they did not to be seen not to be heard but what they were doing and what they were saying was being heard because they were doing it for the right reason and for the right person they were doing what they did is unto the Lord it exemplified a church who through unity and community and going in the same directions towards the one who's called him can have an effect that goals beyond its local neighborhood and city and environment we have to understand this that you are writing a gospel a chapter each day by the deeds that you do by the words that you say men read what you write whether faithless or true so what is the Gospel according to you these believers were echoing the Gospel story there was a missionary who went to China and this missionary went to be a part of this language class so he could learn the Chinese language very first day of class the instructor walks in and does not say a word strange thing walks in walks up and down every single aisle and doesn't say a word to anybody and then all of a sudden walks out of the classroom students are sitting there not really knowing what's going on instructor walks back in the classroom and then she asked the question to the students was there anything special you noticed about me I couldn't really think anything then one yellow lady said well I noticed that you had on a beautiful scent a beautiful fragrance a beautiful perfume you smell good all the other students started laughing like hahaha that's not really what it was he just said yes that's what I wanted you to observe that's what I wanted you to know because you're not going to learn the Chinese language real quick but I wanted you to understand that your life and the way you live you can minister to the Chinese people and be a fragrance of Christ's love to them even though you don't know a word yet of their language and so it is with you and I we don't have to preach real loud we don't have to have a microphone in our hand we don't have to be up on a stage we just need to live for Jesus wherever we are if we live in garden grow live for Jesus if you live in Long Beach live for Jesus if you live in Anaheim live for Jesus if you live in the center of Southern California bring a party live for Jesus if you live and in Costa Mesa live for Jesus if you live in Seal Beach walk with Jesus wherever you live you can be an influencer and have an impact for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ the third thing we can learn from these believers in Thessalonica and am I saying anything good to you guys you guys getting this [Applause] they endure suffering for their faith they endure suffering for their faith their influence and echo effect was proven by continuing to hold steadfast to their faith although they were persecuted one of the things that devil wants to try to do to get us to let go of the Word of God is to put pressure on us through persecution thinking that if I let go then this will stop and I don't want this to continue so I will let go so it will stop and it is truly a deception it is truly a deception see these individuals used to worship idols they worship these statues and this was part of their lifestyle and they were entrenched in this then their family and their friends but when they heard the gospel and they turned towards Jesus they stopped worshipping idols now everybody who they worship idols with think or thought they had lost their mind and something was wrong with them and what happens is that when they left worshipping idols those pagan idols then the people who would worship thing are what do you think you're better than us now you're going over here following this God who you cannot see what's wrong with us now you don't want to be our friend you're not part of our family anymore and they began to experience the fires of persecution it hurt their friends and their relatives that they no longer worship idols some would have lost their jobs because of their newfound faith in Christ I know of people of brothers and sisters who they cannot get a job in certain parts of the world they cannot get a job because of the simple fact they are a Christian they cannot experience a promotion even though they're qualified and more qualified than anyone else because of the simple fact they are a Christian jesus said guys I just need to tell you something since you're following me and you're a part of my team and part of my crew here I mean it tell you this the world has hated me and if you follow me they're gonna hate you a servant is not above his master if they have called me Beelzebub they're gonna call you names too so don't think it's strange when these things begin to occur when these things begin to happen the Bible says that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will not might will suffer persecution there comes that point in all of our lives in certain situations in certain times where our were challenged at the core of our faith and we have a choice to hold on and endure realizing that when men revile you and speak against you falsely for his sake Jesus said rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven persecution is not fun but there is one principle in Scripture that can help us when we're persecuted and it's called perseverance perseverance will outlast persecution and if we persevere then God will give us his spirit and his glory and His grace upon us so that we can walk through some of the challenges of being persecuted for our faith but you know what it does when you're persecuted it makes you hold on to what you have that much more tighter realizing that I know I got the truth Jesus I know you're real I know you love me I know you're alive and I know they don't know and so I'm gonna continue to hold on to this truth and the tighter you hold on to the truth in your heart the more of an indelible impression it has on your soul to where no one on planet earth can talk you out of it nobody can beat it out of you nobody can convince you otherwise Jesus Christ is not the one and only son of God the only way of salvation because you know that you know that you know that your redeemer lives because he lives on the inside of you [Applause] the scripture says in 1st Peter 4:16 yet if anyone suffers as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in this manner their faith was tested and they were passing this test because they were continuing to live for Jesus and hold on to their faith and people heard about their faith toward God not their faith that was being exercised so they were just getting blessed but their faith so that through the tests and the temptations and the trials of life that we're beating against him and the storms that were coming against them and their families they were holding on to Jesus looking unto the author and finisher of their faith and they were enduring and indelibly impressed people that they could be persecuted be talked about be malign experience what they experienced and yet hold on there must be something real to this thing I was traveling with pastor bayless in Europe several years ago it's a great opportunity and after one of the meetings I was talking to a young lady she said I accepted Jesus into my heart my father disowned me my family entire family has turned their back on me I have no one persecution but she wanted prayer to continue to keep going to keep pressing forward Paul said our light afflictions which are but for a moment are outweighed by a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory my daughter was in a junior college local junior college and I don't know why she did this but she ended up getting like AAA degrees just kept on taking different classes different topics different subjects getting all these AAA degrees me I just would have got one and I would have been happy like hey but she just kept going and ended up getting three she could have got four she was one class away from getting her fourth but in that class and I'm not even sure why they would even ask or require this but they did that there had to be a denunciation of her faith in Jesus and so she said no thank you and so there are going to be things in our lives that are going to challenge us at the very core of what we believe and in those moments remember to hold on to Jesus he's there to help us and to encourage us and to strengthen us the fourth thing that we can learn from these believers whose lives in church echoed out into the world around them is that they echoed the gospel from their local church they echoed the gospel from their local church chapter 1 verse 8 once again please for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything these individuals were genuinely genuinely converted they had received life Jesus was not a far distant individual to them he was up close and personal to them and they realized where they were and what they were doing and how debilitating destructive and just how sad they were and now they experienced this beautiful fresh vibrant new life with the God who will walk with them and talk with them and they just couldn't keep that to themselves they would enter together in Thessalonica and they would worship God and they would sing songs like we sung earlier and they'd come together and do this and then leave that service with so much life so much hope so much faith inside of him that they just couldn't hold it on the inside of themselves and so they had to tell somebody so intestinal naica they would share when they travel to other places they would share when people would come through Thessalonica they would share with those travelers and tell them because of what God had done for them there was a little dog and he had gotten hit by a car not run over literally by the car but hit by the car and he was lying on the side of the road there in the street and he was just kind of still alive but hurt a doctor drove by and saw this little dog and he realized he was not dead he was alive so he scooped him up and put him in his car and took him home he realized that he has some cuts and some abrasions on him but he was gonna be okay if he could be nursed back so this doctor took some time and nursed him back as any good doctor would and care for him and cleaned up his cuts and abrasions and he was carrying from his house and to his garage he's gonna take him in his garage and all of a sudden in route the dog jumps out of his arms and runs away the doctor thought what an ungrateful dog I'm sure when the dog ran away he probably looked at him and said you dog he went on about his evening and that evening he heard some some scratching at his front door he heard some scratching in his front door and he wondered what it was he went to the door he opened the door and it was a little dog we had brought back another little dog who was hurt this is what the Thessalonians realized we're hurt we're broken stained with sin stained with in and Jesus Christ in His mercy and love rescue me I've got to tell somebody about this Savior who can save anybody by His grace by his love studies show us that 70 to 80 percent of church growth happens from one friend telling another friend from one family member telling another family member it's not a rocket science God never planted to be that way he only planned that one person who's been touched would tell somebody else give them the same medicine that God gave to you that's all and we here at cottonwood have something in common with that church at thessalonica we just simply want everyone to know if you were to cut us here at cottonwood we would bleed Souls because God raised this church for the sole purpose of bringing a living Jesus to a dying world this is why we exist this is why we exist and because of that I want you to please give your attention to the screen as we watch this video what if we could take Cottonwood to Long Beach we're already heavily invested in caramel a dose and we have relationships developed and built their cotton wood actually has boots on the ground being the hands and feet of Christ and giving people drink when they needed something to drink in feeding them with their hungry they've showed us love and respect and they emphasized when we don't have the strength to speak to ask for help back in February they only gave me five days to move I had no one to help me I mentioned it to Adelaide and she got a group of people from church and I mean they were there right on time and they helped me move I've never seen a group of people come together - yep it was really amazing as I watched them going around being something light and breaking the soil that inspired me so much that I actually joined the church was baptized I've seen them walking through here like vessels store the door you know just giving everybody the peace of mind with the food the vouchers the prayers they're very meaningful for everybody here they've touched my heart my soul that would these people come around to us to uplift us to give us hope we don't come with a agenda cuz we'll come and we or Minister and we will return back if someone isn't in me so they tell us and receive us more because they said they really feel loved it just seems like God you've already been doing this and we're just gonna continue to get involved and take the next step and in what you're doing so like reaching out through Carlitos and potentially creating a hub or a campus it just seems like the natural extension of what God's already at work doing it was almost like God just opened this door we actually found a couple of facilities and we're in talks with one of them right now that's right down the road from Carmel Eidos where it would just find yourself right in the middle of these diverse communities which by the way is a reflection of heart Katella Cottonwood community being on that and the day we've only got one shot at this and then we step into eternity God has no plan B for the world it's us he's not building anything else in the world but his church [Music] it's one of our three h4 initiatives that we are gathering together to do as a local church here at Cottonwood just to endeavour to echo the beautiful sound of the gospel friends your life can echo further than you ever could dream or imagine it's never for any of us that we would be heroes or be famous people it's the design of God that our life would have an effect on so many more thousands and thousands of people than we could ever think of or imagined and it's just simply because we're just doing things that he has asked us to do could you bow your heads and close your eyes just for a moment please I just want to share with you and extend an invitation to you there might be some of you here your life may not be at this very moment and echoing life of his gospel because you have not yet received Christ you've not yet invited Jesus into your heart and echo is a replication of the original sound and the original sound of God's message is his love his love for you that was demonstrated through His Son Jesus the Bible says that God so loves the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but should have everlasting life without Jesus Christ we are all destined to perish eternally but because of God's love and God's understanding that we could not save and rescue ourselves he sent us his son to be our Savior to be our substitute Jesus paid the price of sin and the wage and price of sin is death so therefore Christ came lived a sinless life preached the good news of the kingdom of God went about healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with him was falsely accused taken through a series of kangaroo courts and was committed and sentenced to be executed by way of crucifixion and as he died on that cross he died for you and he died for me he died for our deepest darkest ugliest sin in everything that has separated man from God and as he shed his blood it was indeed the acceptable sacrifice to God to wash away our sin and he was raised from the dead and he is alive right now and in this very moment whether you are here physically or watching via livestream he comes to you now and he knocks on the door of your heart so that you would allow him to come in and he would give you eternal life and he will be unto you your Savior and your Lord which means boss he will be unto you a friend that sticks closer than a brother he will be your comforter your counselor your strengthener your standby he will be whatever you need him to be in your life and more importantly without him your life is lacking your life is missing the prince of life I'd love to pray with you today I'm not talking to you about religion I'm not even specifically saying join this church I'm simply saying what God is saying that if you would call on his name he will save you if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus you'll be rescued you'll be saved so I would like to pray with you but I'll find I need to find out who I'm gonna pray with first so when I count to three I want you to raise your hand up higher by your up raised hand what you're saying is I want to invite Jesus Christ into my heart I do not want religion but I do want a relationship a living relationship with the Living God I want that I need that I long for that and maybe if you have walked away from God and you're like that prodigal son in the Bible you're backslidden spiritually today is your day to come back home to him one God fiercely loves you my friend he fiercely fiercely loves you too don't put off the matters of your eternal soul too vitally important to keep disregarding and putting off and procrastinating on believe in him today and respond three raise your hand up high if that's you raise your hand up high raise your hand up high so I can see it I can see some hands I see your hands I see your hands god bless you god bless you everybody just look up at me right now for a moment those of you who raised your hands I'm going to ask you to do something this is not me trying to embarrass you because I wouldn't do that to you but this is me trying to just do something simple that can help you I want to help you be able to not only receive God right now we're going to pray but I want to be able to help you stand for God tomorrow when you go to work and so just as a simple act of faith I want to ask you and invite you please if you raised your hand to just stand up for us right now we're gonna cheer and we're gonna clap because we're happy look at God hallelujah I see you way up there god bless you I would not have seen you otherwise god bless you sir god bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you I see you a couple I see you guys god bless you I see you god bless you God bless you God bless you up there I see you but God sees you most I see you I see you with that beautiful baby girl god bless you I see you guys standing up together that's what it takes that's what it takes today we got to stand up for somebody we've got to stand up for the gospel we've got to stand up for the truth and that's what you're doing if you didn't stand because you were afraid stand up right now don't be afraid don't be ashamed it's not too late we haven't prayed yet this is your molded this is your opportunity God is pulling on your heart but yet you haven't responded I want to encourage you stand up right now and let's pray together let's pray together I'm gonna give you some words to say and all you have to do is mean these words with sincerity from your heart it's you it's your prayer talking to God let's pray together dear God in heaven with all my heart I believe that you love me so much so that you sent your only Son Jesus to die in my place on the cross and I believe that through his shed blood all my sins are forgiven and that you have accepted me Jesus I invite you to be my Savior I confess you as my Lord thank you for making me a new creation now let my life have an echo effect throughout every city throughout this nation and across the world in Jesus name Amen god bless you guys let's give it up for them let's give it up let's give it up thank you Lord you may have your seats you may have your seats god bless you [Music]

Channel: Cottonwood Church

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Id: 49WS4vgvXTo

Length: 51min 44sec (3104 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 14 2018