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Well, again, good morning, and I hope you have your bibles.
So if you do want to invite you to join me in proverbs, chapter one.
Want to reemphasize some of the things that you just heard.
But before I go any farther, because this section is the section in the light, and this section is the section that's in the dark.
All right?
So if you weren't here earlier to hear this, I want to apologize for the darkness that is over here.
Walked in this morning.
We had an electrical issue that's happening.
We hope to get that fixed.
So if you need to pull out a flashlight to see in your bible, that's okay.
I did have a couple of people say, if we want to sleep, does that mean we can just head over to that section?
And I will say no, because right now I can see Bobby on the back row right now.
Right?
Bobby waved, everybody.
I can tell that Bobby's awake.
So if you sneak over there, Joel Van Ham is going to be standing in the back, all right?
And he's going to just walk up and thump you in the back of the head if you go sleep over there.
So, Frank, you're right there, buddy.
All right.
Don't you sneak over there, man.
We know.
All right, so a couple of announcements as we go in, man.
Come back tonight.
It's going to be a great time of fellowship together.
We're just going to gather together as a church family.
One of the things that I love about the holiday season is there's just time to get together with friends and family and eat, and we just feel like, why stop that?
So we're going to come back together tonight and just have a wonderful time of fellowship together.
I made a big old pot of chicken and dumplings last night that we're going to bring, and I will say this, all right?
She might be a little embarrassed about this, but I'm okay with that.
Erin made homemade, fresh from scratch.
The whole house smelling like them cinnamon rolls.
All right?
They bake up as big as your head.
You know what I mean?
Like one of those deals.
All right?
And so you want to come back for that?
And so bring pot of soup, bring a pot of chili, bring a dessert.
We're just going to gather in here tonight, have some fun, fellowship together as we start off this new year.
All right?
Also, as we're getting into, I want to remind you, these cards right here for our studies that start next Sunday will start right up at 09:00 in the morning.
We got six of them that we're starting back with.
As we're kind of getting to that new pattern and new routine of what we do around here, I want to encourage you as this new year starts, there's something in here for everybody.
I guarantee you will find something that the Lord can use powerfully in your life over this coming season and that you will use it for the entirety of your life to serve him and serve him well.
So I want to encourage you to take this.
You can sign up.
There's a little QR code on the back that you can do that.
All right.
Well, we are starting our series in proverbs.
We will get back into Genesis sometime in February, but we want to start off the new year together as we're looking to get back into gym memberships and we're looking to get back to eating healthy, and we're looking to get back to read a book a week or whatever like you've set for your New Year's resolutions.
One of the things that we've set as a church that we want to do is commit to being people of the word.
And so the challenge for all of us, myself included, is there's 31 chapters in proverbs.
So to take a proverb, chapter of proverbs a day and read that through the month of January, and so then we'll come gather on Sunday morning and I will preach through some of the proverbs that we read.
Don't worry, I'm not going to try to hit through all of those.
We'd be here till 09:00 tonight.
Right.
We're not going to do that, but we are just going to weave our way through some of the chapters that we've read.
And so I want to encourage you, if you haven't started that, if you're new, this is the first time you've heard it.
That's okay.
Start today.
Start today and join us in this process of what we are doing.
So we're going to begin our study this morning by beginning what you would have read if you were with us on January 1, the very first day.
Proverbs one, verses one through six.
It says this, the proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing in righteousness, justice, and equity, to give prudence to the simple knowledge and discretion to the youth.
Let the wise hear and increase in learning.
And the one who understands obtain guidance to understand a proverb and a saying the words of the wise and their riddles.
Well, as we get started in this, I want to kind of let us understand together about the book of proverbs and how we are to read proverbs.
Proverbs is different than any other book of the Bible, the way that it's written, the way that it's formed.
At times, it can look like a lot of the things that we see in psalms, in the form of which it's written.
It's considered wisdom literature, though, even though it's written largely in poetic form.
So what I want us to begin with is this.
What is the purpose of proverbs?
Like when our scripture was formed, when God put our Bible together for us, what is the purpose of proverbs?
And the overarching purpose of proverbs is this.
Proverbs teaches wisdom.
Proverb teaches wisdom.
But what does that mean?
What does it mean that it's going.
To teach us wisdom?
Is it just a list of rules to follow?
Is it like an algebra test in order to gain knowledge?
What do we mean when we say that proverbs teaches wisdom?
Because it's different than the world's wisdom, and it may even be different than what you and I think of when we think of wisdom.
So proverbs teaches wisdom, but here's what we see.
Proverb teaches wisdom, and wisdom is actually a skill.
Wisdom is a skill.
So the word that we just read with wisdom is the, in the original text is this word, chokma.
And this word actually means ability or skill.
It's used other places in scripture as well.
In Exodus 31, scripture talks about the craftsmen who worked and who built and who sculpted in the tabernacle.
And the word to use to divide to describe their skill was this word for wisdom.
The ability of mariners on the sea in PSALM 107 is described as WISdOM.
In one kings chapter three.
It talks about people with administrative abilities or skills.
And when describing their abilities, the word that is used is wisdom.
In Two, SAmuel 20, it talks about.
Those who give CouNSel and those who seek them.
And the word used to describe the counsel that they would give is this word for ability or skill of wisdom.
So we see that wisdom in and of itself is a skill to be learned and a skill to be applied in our life.
So WIsdom is not directly connected in scripture to intelligence, to life experience or natural abilities.
Wisdom is for all of us.
And wisdom is a skill that is worked Toward.
I think sometimes we look at and we say, that person has a high level of intelligence, so they must be wise.
That might not always be the case.
Sometimes we look at someone and we say, they've lived more years on this earth than I have.
They have a lot of life experience.
They must have Wisdom.
And that might always be the case.
Or sometimes we just look and say, you know, I don't know what it is, but they were just gifted with.
Being wise, but that might not always be the Case.
Wisdom is a skill that is worked toward.
Think about any skill, any craft, any sport, any art that you've pursued to learn how to do.
You walked in as a novice, but the more you study, the more you.
Practice, the greater you become in that.
And the comforting thing is that the.
Bible tells us that's how we obtain wisdom.
That's how we obtain wisdom.
Verse four said to give prudence to the simple.
That word simple is gullible.
You think you're GuLLIBle?
WELL, you can be Wise.
Says knowledge and discretion to the youth.
Says, you think you're young.
People tell YOu YOu'Re Immature.
Well, you can be wise.
And it says that wisdom, more wisdom is even needed for those who are wise.
Let the wise hear in verse five and increase in learning.
And the one who understands obtains guidance.
Right.
So wisdom, then, is a skill.
It's a discipline that involves training and correction.
The second thing that we need to understand about this is proverbs teaches wisdom, oftentimes in an object LesSon, using ComParison or analogy.
I read an author this week that said this.
He said, proverbs paints a picture of how the world generally works, comes out and says, like, I want to paint this picture for you, as we see in proverbs that this is what you're going to see, and the explanation of what's there and the explanation of how it generally works.
But sometimes that picture, we can look at it and try to take that picture literally.
When the proverb that is given to us and the picture that is there, not all of that is to be taken this way.
An example of this in proverbs 24 24.
I don't have this on your screen.
I apologize.
Whoever says to the wicked, you are in the right will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations.
But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.
Well, whoever says to the wicked, you are right will be cursed by people.
It's not judges.
Whoever says to someone who's wicked, you'll be right will be cursed by people and cursed by nations.
Well, we all know that that doesn't always happen.
The entire time we see corruption at the highest levels.
We see people working to get evil people freedom.
Within this, we see people affirming those who do wrong.
So what is the principle that this is teaching?
The principle that this is teaching is be a person of truth.
Be a person of truth.
And then the proverb paints the picture.
Of the destruction, especially of the soul, of what we see when we're not people of truth.
So a question will come up about proverbs.
Are proverbs promises or proverbs principles?
And that's a complicated question, because if we just say that proverbs are principles, then what ends up happening is we lessen the weight, the impact and the importance by saying they're not a promise.
But if we say that they're fully a promise, then what we'll see in here is, as it paints the pictures, is that it doesn't accurately communicate how it can play out.
So I heard a guy this week, and here's what he said.
He says this, proverbs are principles, not promises.
But I promise the principles are true.
I love that proverbs are principles, not promises.
But I promise the principles are true.
Here's the point.
Stop picking them apart and start applying.
Them to your life.
And no one, as they apply wisdom, is going to look back and say, that was foolish.
That was foolish.
The next thing that we see is that proverbs teaches wisdom through helping someone choose the best course of action among those available.
I love that.
Proverbs are extremely practical.
Sometimes we receive advice, or what someone would call wisdom that they share with us that is both unrealistic and self seeking.
Let me give you an example of that.
Maybe you have a child in your.
House that's under the age of one.
Or maybe you've had children in your.
House under the age of one, and.
I come to you and say, here's.
Some wisdom for you.
In order to be a parent who.
Is patient, who is kind, who watches.
Their words and does what they're supposed.
To do with this eight month old baby, my piece of wisdom for you is this.
Every single night you need to get.
8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, right?
You laugh at me.
Why?
That's unrealistic.
Right?
It's unrealistic.
Proverbs aren't going to give you that.
Proverbs are not going to give us unrealistically the best course of action amongst what's available for you.
But it's also not going to give.
You self seeking wisdom.
Sometimes we'll sit down with someone that we respect, we admire, ask them, how.
Do they get to where they are in life?
They say, you know what?
Here's the advice that I would give you.
Here's the wisdom that I would give you.
Everyone in your life is going to.
Look out for themselves, but you've got to look out for you.
That's the wisdom, the advice that I could give you.
The problem with that, it's not wisdom.
It's not the wisdom of God's word, because that wisdom is self seeking.
That wisdom looks to put others down.
So that you can glorify yourself.
That wisdom is not looking at how.
Can I serve others and what could.
I do with God?
So that when, in this, when we see proverbs, it's extremely practical.
It helps us with the best course of action among those available.
But when wisdom of God's word is applied, you will always do what is right and what is just.
In every single way.
If you read this week, I want to give you some examples of how proverbs are not hard to implement.
They're not hard to understand.
You don't have to have a bible degree.
You don't have to have years of studying God's word to be able to read through these and understand these.
We'll begin with some that are just right out there.
And if you were with me, you read these this week, and you maybe underlined some of these or said, I'm going to apply these.
But proverbs, in extremely practical ways, talks about things that you and I face every single day.
Proverbs talks about finances.
Proverbs 39 honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.
From the very beginning, it says, like, look, here's how you're to handle your money before you figure out anything else.
Right here.
Begin with this.
Honor the Lord with your wealth.
Like how many of us, if we apply that, how everything else would fall into place.
Proverbs talks very bluntly and very plainly about how to treat others.
Proverbs 327 do not withhold good from those whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
Were you nice?
No.
Why not?
I didn't want to.
Well, you're wrong.
Be good.
Do not withhold that as long as.
It is in your power to do it.
How would the world change if that were applied right in facing daily decisions of the temptations that we face?
Proverbs 414 do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil before you even do the action.
Don't begin down that path.
Don't head down that road.
Of what you will face, you'd know.
Show of hands.
But just kind of wrestle with this.
How many of you have taken kind.
Of the goal in 2024 to kind.
Of tame the tongue a little bit?
What we say, how we use it.
Right.
Proverbs 424.
But put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you.
And that when we take that is both in what we say, but also in what we allow ourselves to listen to.
This isn't hard work ethic.
Proverbs six.
Six.
Go to the ant, o sluggard.
Consider her ways and be wise.
You ever watched an ant?
You can't watch them for long because.
They'Re moving, they're working.
They're doing.
They're working for others.
They're preparing ahead of time.
They're thinking.
They're active.
They're part of a family.
Right?
Sexual purity.
I love this one.
He who commits adultery lacks sense.
He who does it destroys himself.
He who commits adultery.
All right.
We dismiss the kids.
You're stupid.
Stupid.
It's foolish.
And he who does it, God's word says in every facet.
Destroys himself.
Destroys himself, and can't bring that back.
Here's the beauty of proverbs.
You don't have to sit here and try to figure out what every word means in the original context.
In the original language.
It's as simple as, hey, man, don't look at that.
It'll destroy you.
Don't say that.
It's destructive.
With your money, whose glory are you seeking?
Right?
And as we understand, proverbs teach wisdom, but it teaches it twofold.
In a twofold context.
It teaches it as moral skillfulness, what you do right.
Holy living.
So when you take proverbs and you.
Apply them to your life, it will change, literally, what you do.
It'll change how you speak.
It'll change what you do with your hands.
It'll change how you look at your day.
It'll change how you spend your money.
It'll change what you do.
But it'll also.
Proverbs teaches wisdom as mental discernment.
It changes how you think.
It gives you a godly worldview.
It helps you see people differently.
It helps you see encounters differently.
It helps you see situations differently.
I read a guy who I consider.
To be wiser than me.
He passed away this past year.
Pastor at a church, big Presbyterian church.
In New York.
His name's Tim Keller.
And Tim Keller said this in his book on proverbs.
And I've got this pretty long quote on the screen.
Wisdom is not only for deep thinkers.
It is how you get through daily life.
It helps you know what to do.
When your child comes home from school.
With a black eye or when you.
Suddenly come into unexpected money, or when.
You lose your job.
What do you do that won't make things worse?
Our wisdom will guide us as we grow in knowledge and image of his son, Jesus, who is wisdom itself.
I love that.
That's wisdom.
What do you do when your kid comes home hurt?
I know what you can want to do.
Is that what you should do?
I know.
What would you do with money?
That was unexpected.
I know what we would want to do.
But what should you do?
What do you do when what you hold as your security falls apart?
Right.
Wisdom walks you through what you should do.
Let's keep going, though.
Proverbs one seven kind of digs more into this.
It says, the fear of the Lord.
Is the beginning of knowledge.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs also, and not that any scripture does, but proverbs like man, it doesn't care if it hurts your feelings.
All right.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
So proverbs gives us the source of wisdom.
The source of wisdom.
The source of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
Another quote I read this week, the fear of the Lord captures both aspects of shrinking back in fear and drawing close in awe of who he is to fear the Lord, a phrase that we use but very rarely understands, describes this as both drawing in and pushing away.
God is so awesome that I don't fully know what to do with all of this.
He's greater than me.
He's greater than my feelings.
He's greater than my circumstances.
But he's greater than all of us.
He's greater than all of our feelings.
And at his word, this was created, and at his word, this could all be taken away.
That's the fear of the Lord.
Continues on proverbs two one through five.
My son, if you receive my words.
And treasure up my commandments with you.
Making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understand, yes.
If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
So wisdom of God and fear of the Lord are sandwiched together and cannot be drawn apart from one another.
The more we fear the Lord, the more that we seek his wisdom.
The more that we seek his wisdom, the more that we fear the Lord.
It's the beautiful picture of what we get.
The writer of Hebrews describes the fear.
Of the Lord by saying, therefore, let.
Us be grateful for receiving a kingdom.
That cannot be shaken.
And thus let us offer to God.
Acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God.
Is the consuming fire the picture of what it looks like to fear the Lord?
Here's my concern.
We talk a lot about loving God.
That seems weird to say, and we should.
We're called to love him of all that he's done for us.
But here's what I think happens in the lives of so many people who call themselves christians.
They want to love God and not fear him.
And I'll be honest, when we fall.
Into that pattern of belief, it's evident in our lives.
We love God.
We have emotional connection with God, but we don't fear God.
So we're not willing to sacrifice, we're not willing to obey, we're not willing to worship him, we're not willing to respect him.
And instead, our entire relationship with him is based on the strength of our emotions, which is weak love.
Weak love.
Believers aren't to be scared of God.
But God's word teaches us that having a reverence for him greatly impacts the way that we live.
The fear of God is respecting him, obeying him, submitting to him, worshipping him, and yes, loving him with all that we are.
And wisdom comes from the fear of God.
And lastly, and you jump over to.
Proverbs three, we see that true wisdom requires true faith.
True wisdom requires true faith.
Proverbs three, five through eight says this, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes.
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh.
And refreshment to your bones.
Have you ever used the expression, maybe at work, maybe at home, maybe with some friends?
You ever use this expression?
All right, I've been quiet long enough.
We're going to do this my way.
How many of you have ever used that expression before?
Raise your hand.
I think more of you have.
Come on.
Now.
I see some of our alpha personalities in here who kept their hands down, and I find that hard.
Believe you've said it you know you have.
Jesus is watching you, right?
If not, you've said something similar, or someone has said it to you, and you're just sitting beside them, and you're afraid to recognize that you may have said it to them as well.
At one point in time in your life, and in my life, we've used this expression, or one similar.
And here's what's usually happened to lead to this.
We've been a part of a team.
We've been a part of a family, and there's a problem to be solved.
And we've taken the humble backseat, and we've let others throw out their ideas, their suggestions, their plans, their strategies.
And we know right when they say it, this won't work, but I'm going to wait.
And they try it, and it does what?
It fails, and then someone else tries it, and it fails, and someone else tries it and it fails.
And then eventually we say, all right, we're going to do it my way this week.
I've got a Bible.
It's a Reader Bible.
It's easier to read through.
They put paragraphs instead of things like this.
And it's what I use for my quiet time, and I like to highlight and write a lot in it.
I'm journeying through this right along with you.
And on January the third, I'm reading.
I come to this.
I read this passage of scripture, proverbs three, five through eight, highlighted all of it.
And then I wrote down these five words.
Bo.
Do this my way.
Do this my.
See, I think.
I don't think I know my problem, and I think maybe your problem as well.
In obedience to the Lord, we don't want to be rebellious, but we are.
I know my problem, and I think maybe some of your problem.
I don't want to be foolish, but.
Sometimes I am and sometimes you are.
Because when it comes to whatever this topic is, finance, marriage, what we say, what we do, what we think, how we see, how we respond is because we've been trying to do it our way.
We've been trying to do it our way.
And what God gives us in the message of proverbs is, hey, do this my way.
Do this my way.
What stops us?
Trust.
The key for you having the faith in me, having the faith to do not what just is in proverbs, but what's in Genesis through revelation is trust.
To trust God is difficult.
It's hard, especially if you've never done it before.
But even for those of us who have, we walk into a situation and we've like man, I've been here before.
I know what my heart's telling me.
I know what my friends would guide me on.
I know what seems to be the right thing to do.
But God's word says, to trust God is to not place trust in yourself.
Do not lean on your own understanding.
To trust God is to open your entire life to him.
Every aspect, every part of it.
The things you think that you're doing well and the things that you think you're failing at every single area of your life, you open it to him.
Proverbs three says, in all your ways, acknowledge him.
To trust God is to see ourselves correctly.
Is to look and understand at my very fiber of my being, who I am.
Proverbs three says, do not be wise in your own eyes.
Don't think too highly of yourself is what the apostle Paul tells us.
To trust God.
Proverbs three tells us, is to deal with sin, to not ignore it.
But it says, turn away from evil.
Make the choice.
Make the choice and turn away to experience.
To trust God, in closing, is to experience peace.
It's to experience peace.
Proverbs three says, it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
Healing.
There's been a lot of sickness going around, right?
Flu, Covid, viral stuff.
And I'd be willing to bet there's most everybody in here over the last.
Month has either been sick or has had someone in their house who has been sick recently.
When you've had that just kind of knocks you out.
A few weeks ago, I had that for, like, three or four days.
And you don't feel right.
Your head's all messed up.
Your body's aching, right?
And then there's that morning where you.
Wake up and you just feel back to your old self again.
You feel normal.
God's word says that when we surrender to the wisdom of God, it's like bringing healing to our flesh.
Here's what we do.
We carry the sickness of sin with us every day.
And when we pick up the wisdom of God, it's instant healing for what we need.
He says, it'll be refreshment to your bones.
It's July, so I want to talk about a month that you may have.
Forgotten about in South Carolina called July in South Carolina.
In Lexington.
You're outside.
It's Saturday.
You got to work in the yard.
It's a new neighborhood, so there's not a tree inside.
All right?
There's no shade.
You're out there working.
You forgot your water inside.
It's a little hot.
You're a little tired.
You're a little worn out, but you got to persevere through.
You got to get this done.
And so you push through and you push through and you push through.
And then eventually you can't take it anymore.
It's 110 with a heat index of 190, right?
You've never experienced a heat like this before.
And you're angry at everybody in your house who's folding clothes and watching tv.
So you go inside and that beautiful.
Thing called an AC hits you, right?
And you feel it.
And the sweat that's on your body cools you down, and you get chill bumps for just a moment.
And then you walk over, and that big overpriced bottle of water is sitting there and you grab it and you chug it.
It's pouring out of the sides of your mouth, right, getting on your shirt, but it doesn't matter.
It's covered in sweat anyways.
And then in that moment, you get this feeling.
You've been out in the heat, you've been out in the struggle, but you're refreshed, you're hydrated.
Here's the struggle for us.
When we don't trust God, we spiritually dehydrate ourselves.
And God says, when you come to me and you apply the wisdom of this to your life, then you'll experience healing.
Then, and only then, you'll experience refreshment.
Go do it your way and get wore out, get sick and destroy yourself, or live my way.
Live God's way.
And in spite of the circumstances of your life, you'll experience the peace of God.
What would it look like for you?
You're going to read through proverbs and you're going to find a lot of.
Areas, and maybe you attack all of them.
But what if you just began with one, just one.
What if you looked at where you're.
At and you said, you know what, God, I'm going to take this one step.
Take this one step in your finances, one step in your marriage, one step with your kids, one step with relationships, one step with career, one step with revenge, one step with substances, one step with food, one step with health, one step with time, just one.
And said, God, I'm tired and sick of doing it my way.
And today is the day that I do this with you.
I trust you and I trust in your plan, and I seek to follow you.
Want to invite you to join me with that journey as we go through this together, for you to look and see and to start with that today.
But also today I want to challenge you.
If you're here today, maybe you've come here as a visitor, as a guest for the first time.
Maybe you've been coming here for weeks, months, or years.
And today I want to challenge you with this decision, to make this trust.
Step, to take the trust that Sam took.
The step that Sam took.
To trust God for your savior, to trust Jesus as the Lord and savior of your life.
To not lean in on your own understanding that you are good, that you are right, that you are justified.
But to admit that you like me, like all of us, without Christ, we're hopeless.
We're sinners without a savior.
To admit that you're a sinner and to believe.
To believe.
To agree in your mind and in your heart that Jesus is who Jesus is, that he is God's son who died on the cross for your sins and mine, who was buried in a tomb and who rose from the grave and who ascended to heaven and he will return again.
And in that moment, the fear of God, those who know him and those who don't will be real to everyone.
To believe who he is.
And then the Bible tells us, when I admit that I'm a sinner and that I believe who Jesus is, who.
The Bible tells me that he is, in order to be saved, what I.
Do is I confess.
I confess with my words and with my life that Jesus is Lord and savior of me, of me.
And that decision to confess Christ as your lord and savior is the wisest decision you'll ever make.
In a moment, the band will come back on stage.
We'll prepare, as they lead us in worship, to take part in the Lord's supper together.
As I said from the very beginning, this is open to anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ.
But we believe this is a very sacred.
This is a very special time, and we don't go into this time lightly.
We love that we do this on the first Sunday of every month.
And it's a reminder, it's a part for us to check our hearts as we face the next days, weeks, and months ahead.
The Bible tells us that we're to examine ourselves under the power of the Holy Spirit, to see if we're ready to partake in the Lord's supper together.
For everyone who is a believer.
And the first thing that we do, we search for any unrepentant sin that's in our heart between us and the Lord and this relationship that's there.
And before we take this, the Bible says that we repent we confess those.
Sins to him and he is faithful to forgive us.
And as we examine this relationship under.
The power of the Holy Spirit, we.
Examine these relationships under the power of the Holy Spirit as well.
And that there's anyone in our life that we need to forgive, whether they've asked for our forgiveness or not, whether they deserve our forgiveness or not, that we determine.
We make the choice.
We make the decision to forgive them.
Regardless of what our emotion may lead us.
We make that choice today.
Or we say, do I need to.
Seek forgiveness from someone else?
And if so, then we do it.
We do it.
There's no criticism or judgment.
If you decide that today that your heart is not ready.
In fact, I would encourage you.
I would encourage you.
If your heart's not ready, wait.
But as the band leads, want you to respond to the Lord and how he leads you today.
Would you go to the Lord with me in prayer?
God, we come to you this morning, Lord, thanking you for who you are, Lord, for your plan and your purpose for our life.
God, I pray that as we prepare to take this together, Lord, I pray that you would penetrate the hearts of everyone who's here.
Lord, first and foremost, if there's anyone here who does not know Jesus Christ.
As their lord and savior.
But today, Lord, as we looked at your word, Lord, your spirit spoke to them.
They admitted that they were a sinner.
They believed in Jesus.
And who the Bible says that he is, they confess him as Lord and savior.
Lord, I pray that that would happen in their life through the drawing of your spirit, as they surrendered themselves to the call that you've placed on them.
And that today, today would be the wisest decision they will ever make.
That.
Has the effects of all of eternity for them.
God, I pray for all of us in here, Lord, that we would not be found unprepared to acknowledge and to observe the Lord's supper.
As we see the work of what Christ did on the cross, the punishment that we deserved, but the work that he did.
And that in his death, we find life, we find hope, we find purpose, and we find meaning.
Lord, we thank you that today, just as it was then, the tomb of Christ is empty, that there was a body for three days, and that body is there no more.
Lord, may we live in the forgiveness that you give us.
It's in Jesus'name we pray.
Amen.
Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next week for another episode.
In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.