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Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located in Dothan, AL and exists to Reach the lost, Build the believer, and Connect people of God to the mission and purpose of God.
Aaron, I appreciate you saying what you did, my brother, about singing, and I thank God for my fragility. You know, it's often been said we should preach from our weakness. Welcome to our weakness today. We should preach from our weakness, because what happens when we are weak, church? He is strong, and when He is strong, His Word is strong, and that is the endeavor in which we approach this today. When God delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt so many years ago, He did it for a reason. I know you know that, but have you ever pondered that much? When God freed the people from Egypt, He did it for a reason. He told Moses to say this to Pharaoh, let my people go so they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness. God freed His people. God freed His fragile. God freed His fragile people so that they may worship Him. God delivered His people out of Egypt, and He guided them to Mount Sinai. And this little bit of Scripture, before we get into our text, I want you to just listen to it and picture yourself there as best you can. It comes from Exodus chapter 19. So just if you would, if you need to close your eyes fine, I want you to put yourself in that spot as I read God's Word. On the third day, when morning came... There was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. Now think that for a moment. It's not just a few hundred. It's not just a few thousand. This is a lot, more so than any population at Dothan might have, certainly. All of them heard that trumpet. And they all shuddered. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder... Moses spoke, and God answered him in the thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up. Now right after this, God gave his people ten commandments. We know that and the rest of the instruction. What happened there would become a pattern throughout the Old Testament. While it was not always Mount Sinai, and not always in this exact... kind of scene, it did serve as a pattern for God's people gathering regularly to worship him and hear his word. Now in a sense, it meant that to be a member, are you listening? To be a member of God's people, to have this privilege of standing in the great assembly before God, that's what it meant to be a member of God. To be a member of God's family, to stand and to worship. In Nehemiah chapter 8, the people of God gathered and stood for hours. I'm not asking you to do that today. Can we say amen? So, good. We have, thank God, comfortable places to sit. But in this passage in Nehemiah 8, they stood for hours worshiping and listening to God's word. Not some pontification of an individual, but simply hearing. Hearing the word of God. That could be the first takeaway. I think, especially in the West, but certainly maybe in the church worldwide, there are pockets, if not large areas of us that have lost an awe of God's word. And therefore, we've drifted from true worship. Now we gather. We fellowship. We enjoy each other's... We enjoy each other's company and all for those things. But if we lose sight of an aweness of the living word of God, we cannot but do anything else but drift from true worship. These people in Nehemiah cried out, amen, amen. And they bowed down with their faces to the ground. God's people gathered to behold. Behold his glory and hear his word. Now when you get into the New Testament and to the ecclesia, to the church, it literally means assembly. Gathering together. The church is that place. We read the author of Hebrews encouraging those who were not assembling in the church. Now we often think about it as far as like he said, hey, this is what you need to do. But he was encouraging the people that were not in the habit. Of going and being together and probably growing lukewarm in their faith as a result. He was encouraging those that were not assembling together not to neglect this important means of grace. Now you know this. We've talked about before. Grace is getting something you don't deserve. Now who that is saying would say, you know what, if you come and gather together and you're going to get something you don't deserve. I'll be there. That sounds good to me. I mean, who in here will put your email down if you get 40% off? I'll do that. Then Lord knows you get all kind of spam for the next six months. You can't unsubscribe. I don't care what title is highlighted. The number of times you said unsubscribe, they're going to send you more. So we'll jump on an email to get 40% off of who knows what we don't need from Amazon. That's delivered free. We can return free. But we'll jump on that. But to get something you and I don't need. That goes beyond any gift that we can ever get. The grace of God. Why not stand in line? Let me in. I love that we have two services. But Lord, if the wire grass to respond for God's grace, we couldn't have the number of services and the number of churches we have. They would be full every time because people be getting in line. I want that. That I don't deserve. I want that. An idea of what the grace. of god is in the truth of his word his description of the church's gathering has echoes of the scene we just read the author of hebrews reminds us that we are not coming to an earthly mountain like israel did in the old testament no we are coming church to something much greater for we are joining a heavily assembly filled with throngs of angels and saints throughout the ages a great cloud of witnesses and we are giving glory to god and hearing him speak not through thunder but through his word we tend to miss the significance of the church's gathering we enter it can i dare say haphazardly at times habitually possibly flippantly i hope not but we have lost the significance of gathering together we come into the gathering casually because well that's what we do on sundays especially here in the south perhaps maybe it doesn't even cross our minds how awesome mind-boggling breathtaking and distinct this is of what we're doing right now let me think about it what in the last six months has taken your breath away i mean it's just like you're in awe of it you you can't get away from it i know i've shared with you guys before that the first time we went to the grand canyon was during the southern baptist convention several years ago and i'd never i've told y'all i've traveled out west a lot i can't tell you the number of times i've been to mobile uh so i mean i've just i've been around i know i don't look like it but i mean i've been up north around huntsville i've just i've been around i've been around i've been around i've been around i've been i've been all over but i remember i said you know what we're just gonna go and watch this hole in the ground and let's go eat after that just where can we go eat i want i want to get some good barbecue see if arizona has any good barbecue i'm telling you what ronnie when i first saw that place it literally i this is not embellished it took my breath away it was not because i'm scared of heights and i was gonna fall off that ledge although i was like that they said let's take this 25 feet is good right here but it took my breath away i've heard many parents say the first time that they saw their newborn child it might have been because they were scared out of their senses but it took their breath away even on the fifth one brother aaron still takes your breath away when's the last time you were in awe of god's word and the worship with brothers and sisters because of the grace and love and mercy of christ jesus our master our king our lord the lover our souls our savior we should not miss the wonder and weight of worship this is why john stott said true worship is the highest and noblest activity of which man by the grace of god is capable then a.w tozer one not to mince words said this in my opinion says a.w tozer in my opinion the great single need of the moment is that light-hearted superficial religionist be struck down with a vision of god and lifted up with his train filling the temple the holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the shekinah glory from the tabernacle as a result he goes on to say we are left to our own devices and forced to make up the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of church people that's pretty weighty it is not necessary for us to bring in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold our attention the glory of god almighty is more than sufficient to hold our attention that is if we'll just take the time to realize who he is church we desperately need to rediscover men we want to be of service to this family of worship we desperately need to be of service to this father's day Thank you to those in our team. They just found out this morning this is going to be the new text, and, man, they got on it, so they're often unseen. I just want to say thank you to them. Psalm 95. Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord. Shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation. Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout triumphantly to him in song. For the Lord is a great God, a great king above all gods. The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks are his. The sea is his. He made it. His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep. Under his care, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me. They tried me, though they had not seen what I did. For 40 years, I was disgusted with that generation. I said, they are a people whose hearts go astray. They don't. They do not know my ways. So I swore in my anger, they will not enter my rest. Would you pray with me? Father, this is your word. We ask that you would bless it. May you find our ears ready to hear, our hearts ready to receive, our hands and feet ready to apply for your glory and your glory alone. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. So real simply, and quite honestly, a little quickly, there are many things I'm sure we could draw from this passage. But for today's purposes, I believe there's at least four things that we can embrace to allow us to be sobered up to, again, to realize what worship is. The first are in the first two verses. Worship Him enthusiastically. Worship God enthusiastically. This great psalm begins, Come, let's shout joyfully to the Lord. Shout triumphantly. I mean, it's already been won. How much, I mean, I love college football. And if you, you may think I'm just, I go nuts when my favorite team, who happens to wear crimson and white, when they do well. But here's how I react. I just sit there. Aaron can testify of this. I mean, I beat his favorite team, or I did. Our team beat his favorite team. He was there. He was a good sport. But I just didn't go nuts. I thought, the sky's falling. Somehow we're going to lose this game. We're already winning 28-0. I'm just, I'm always waiting for the, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just frozen. But if you told me the game's already been played, Chuck, I know your team wins. Do you think I'm going to shout a little more enthusiastically because I already know the victory's there? Folks, the victory is there. That should free us up. Not that we just go bananas. We have what the Bible calls order, and I thank God for that. But to have the liberty to give praise to God that the victory is won. It was won on Calvary. Why should we say, well, thank God for that. That's awesome. That's really good. Praise him enthusiastically. The triumph is there. It's settled. That should cause us to say, thank God Almighty. It is indeed well with my soul. Not to bring attention to myself, but allow the created being within me to give praise to my creator and do it enthusiastically. Sadly, many people who come to worship, not necessarily here at Richcrest, but many people who are gathered around this state, around this country today, are more interested in looking dignified than glorifying God. Revelation 5, 12 tells us that God is going to be worshipped in heaven. Listen to what the word of God says there. They said with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. The four living creatures said amen in Revelation 5, 12. And the elders fell down and worshipped. This tells us that in heaven, we are going to worship God with loud singing, accompanied by with shouts of amen and amen and amen. Worship should include singing for the joy of the Lord, verse 1 reminds us, because the Lord wants us to come before him, as scripture is saying in our text, with thanksgiving, with music and song. Now, music or a joyful noise. You know, sometimes we like to joke about that. You know, when we went to Promise Keepers, Ronnie, I don't know if you remember this, but we would go and I bought a shirt and brought it back here. And this was when y'all still, y'all lived on Martin Street. And this is when I found out that, you know, we could have a good time together. Well, I bought this shirt. I love to sing. And if I stand, beside Aaron or Bradley, I can be in tune somewhat. But this shirt said, real men sing real loud. Man, I love that. That is a biblical truth. Real men should sing real loud and lead the women in our life to do the same. So in this, we should know to make a joyful noise, refers to maybe singing, acapella. The Hebrew word translated song or psalm, psalm, zomier, means a song accompanied by an instrumental music. God wants us to worship him with singing and musical instruments. There are many styles of music. I mean, I shared last week about the Avett brothers and I've had some people text me and they said, hey, who was that again? I want to hear to country kid and all that. Did anybody listen to Avett brothers this past week? I'm so proud of you, man, to be cool like I am. But God wants us. There are many styles of music. Traditional, contemporary, blended. Listen, God likes them all as long as they honor him and express what is really in our hearts. Ephesians 5.19, Paul writes this letter to the church at Ephesus, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music. Sing music with your heart to the Lord. So this word translated psalm literally means a striking or twitching with fingers on a musical instrument. Picking and grinning started way before country music. Psalms refers primarily to Old Testament psalms accompanied by this musical instrument. Hymns were purely vocal and a song typically by a group. I find that from Matthew 26, verse 30. Spiritual songs, Now this is where, I'll chase this rabbit for a minute. I've told you all this before, but when I worked at UPS, which by the way, you should be in awe of that as much as I am. That I would get a call and say, hey, you need to preach tomorrow. That years ago, I would be excited if I could sing a note in the side of a UPS truck, much less stand in the pulpit. God is in a miracle working business. I'll just tell you that right now. But I would used to getting that fiberglass shell of that UPS truck, and man, I would sound, good because it would echo around it would bounce off cardboard it would hit that aluminum shelf but when it got to that fiberglass man I sounded good in that brown truck and I would just make up things I mean I did I would just I would I would knew I had a tune of just as I am but I put my own words to it or or how great their art I would I'm terrible at remembering words but I'm pretty good at making them up on the fly and usually and I didn't know this until I was studying this it reflected what God had been doing in my life that's exactly what this means a song of testimony I know last week I asked you what is your song this week I want to ask you are you singing it don't let someone else sing what it should be your song of testimony if you hear someone giving testimony how good God is how great thou art you need to jump Jump in with both feet on the deep end and sing your song of testimony to the glory of God. So in this, God wants us to be in worship of him enthusiastically. Sing these things to him. There's nothing more dull. There's nothing more boring than half-hearted singing. I mean, it just, boy, it just peeves me. I just, I just, I don't mean to be judgmental, but man, when I'm singing there, and I don't experience with you guys, but just to see somebody just kind of muddling the thing and, you know, rattling change in the pocket and just saying, well, we can just get through this, then the preacher's going to give the three points and a poem, and we're on the way to get some chicken and biscuits.
Gosh, may the Lord know that we are singing to him enthusiastically and all the time. Don't go half-hearted. Let us sing for the joy of the Lord. Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. God wants us to worship him enthusiastically. Secondly, worship him reverently.
Why does God want us to worship him enthusiastically and reverently? Why? Because the Lord, because the Lord is the great God, verse 3 tells us. The word great is not great enough. The word great is not big enough. It doesn't even come close to be an adjective to describe our magnificent God. The Hebrew word translated great means exceedingly great or spectacular. Listen to what Psalm 66, verse 5 says. Come and see the wonders of God. His acts for humanity are awe-inspiring, almost to the point where you're startled. Now, Monica still does it on occasion, but she used to love, quite annoyingly so, to scare me and to scare Toler and Trace and Turner. It wouldn't just appear. She would crouch down, and we would come in the house, and we would say, and then she did it with a cute way of going, and we would jump back, and it would scare us. It got us every doggone time. It would scare us. It would startle me. What happens when we're startled? Well, that vein starts to pop out in your neck. The adrenaline starts to flow. You become aware of what's around you. That's the idea of being startled by God's greatness, and to go and worship Him reverently. You are absolutely aware. Your senses are very sensitive. You see things. You hear things. You are in tune. When you worship God reverently, you hang on everything you're experiencing. Not necessarily what I'm saying or what is being sung, but you are experiencing the Holy Spirit being. You are being in that place. You are sensitive and ready to receive, and then ready to apply. So this Hebrew word, translated awesome, really does mean, in a way, terrible. It means to revere to the point of being startled. God wants us to worship Him reverently. Bacchaeus, the great king above all gods, verse 3 continues, the great king above all gods. This is a reminder that polytheism is alive and well. This You know, we may have the tendency to say, well, just in the Old Testament they had a lot of gods. I dare say we have more gods now than we ever have. They may not be a carved image, but they are the gods of comfort. They are the gods of pleasure. They are the gods of sexual perversity. They are the gods of religious beings. They are the gods of busyness. There are so many gods. Listen, that good people worship, that we need to be brought back to worship the Lord Almighty with reverency. There have been many ways and two kinds of gods, but one true God only today.
To worship the one true God as He desires, we must obey the command found in Exodus 20, verse 3. You know it. You may not recall it right now, but you'll know it as soon as I start saying it. Exodus chapter 20. Exodus 20, verse 3. Write it down somewhere. E-X-2-0-3. Exodus 20, verse 3. Do not have other gods besides me. Luke 14, 26, Jesus is using hyperbole. If you hate not your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, husband, your own life, you cannot be my disciple. Jesus is saying, you must love me most and first. There cannot be anyone before me. If there is, you are not my disciple. You might be a church member. You might be a good businessman. My soul, you might even be a good dad. But can we be reminded this morning, good is always the enemy of great. To be great is to recognize the great God needs to be preeminent in our lives, and we need to worship Him reverently. Have no other gods other than God Almighty.
Our God is awesome because, as verses 4 and 5 tells us, in His hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. We should worship God reverently because He is the great and awesome God who created everything, including you and me. What did God say to us? What did He say to the prophet Jeremiah? You'll recognize this one as well, Jeremiah 1, verse 5. I chose you just a little while ago. I chose you last month. I chose you in 1970. No, I chose you before I formed you in the womb. I set you apart before you were born. God wants us, church, to worship Him enthusiastically, to worship Him reverently. And third this morning, to worship Him submissively. This means we must bow down in worship and kneel before the Lord, our Maker. It doesn't just refer to physical posture, but an inward act of submission to God. Now, there's three important verbs in verse 6. Bow down, worship, and kneel. The word translated worship here, shechab, means to prostrate oneself. To worship God submissively. Are you listening? To worship God submissively means more than just bowing down. It means obeying the command found in James 4, 7. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil. Add those two together always. When you think of submission, you must think of resistance. Submit to God, resist the devil. Submit to God, resist the devil. And then he will flee from you. Every time we come to worship, corporately or privately, every time we come to worship, we must resist the devil because he is working. Do you realize that even now? He's working. Distraction. Somebody moving. You hearing something. Me mispronouncing a word. My sleeves going too far out from my coat. He's trying to get you off track. But we must resist the devil. Submit to God in worship. We must at the same time resist the devil. We should worship God submissively because scripture goes on to say in our text, He is our God and we are the people of his pasture. The flock of his care. This verse reminds us of John 10, 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. God wants us to worship him enthusiastically. God wants us to worship him reverently. God wants us to worship him submissively. And then finally this morning, God wants us to worship him obediently. Look at the latter part of verse 7 into verse 8. God always wants the result of worship to be obedience. It is the application. You know, we've often said many times the definition of disciple in here. You know, Webster says, defines disciple as a person or follower of a given teacher or doctrine. However, we look at the Greek word disciple, mathetes. It means thought accompanied by an endeavor. You just can't simply have a thought of coming to church. And leave without an endeavor. To do so is being incomplete disciple. And what we've always told our kids, a half truth is what? A whole lie. So you cannot be a disciple just by having a thought. It must have an endeavor. There must be application. There must be obedience in worship. The Psalmist writes, today if you hear his voice. Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah. This provocation refers to the incident at Rephidim where the Israelites complained about having no water. Now keep in mind, this was just a few days after parting of the Red Sea. Now they're complaining about having no water and it was just a few days before they saw the Red Sea. Hardening our hearts is the result of ignoring God's goodness to us. True worship. True worship always reminds us of how good God has been to us. And it should result in obedient hearts. So there's the key. Chuck, how do I obey? Remember. How do I do what God's asked me to do? Remember. Remember what? How good He has been to you. There is not a soul in here that you cannot go through your life and begin to just be in awe. Of how good God has been to you. I promise you, if you endeavor to do that, you may become overwhelmed before this Father's Day is over. You just begin to say, God would you remind me of how good you have been to me. And for His glory, He will flood your soul with memories. That's how you are obedient. You remember God's goodness. Psalm 8411. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord grants favor and honor. He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity. Listen. Not hardening our hearts today. Are you listening to me? Not hardening your heart today is critical. Because it presents us with a passing opportunity to get right with our God. If we put off responding to the voice of God, we have one less day to fulfill His purpose in our lives. That's too good not to say again. If we put off responding to the voice of God, we have one less day to fulfill His purpose. As someone who said, you cannot get right with God too soon. Because you don't know how soon may be too late.
Each time we refuse to be obedient, we harden our hearts just a little more. Then after a while, we harden our hearts so much that we can't even sense God speaking to us anymore.
May He help us not do that. That's why hardening our hearts is crucial. Do not harden your heart. Every time we say no to God, it gets easier the next time to say no. Not now. I'm not sure. And that only hardens the hardening process. To worship God as He desires, we must do so enthusiastically. We must do so reverently. We must do so submissively. And we must do so obediently.
Jesus said that true worshipers worship like this in John 4, verse 23. But an hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. Now, worshiping God in spirit simply means our inner beings. That's what we are. That's what communicates with God. The right music, the right mood, the right place. Worship is more than that. True worship is when our hearts are right with their Creator. To worship God in truth is to worship Him the way His Word teaches. And that's found in John 17, 17. Sanctify them by the truth. Your Word is truth. You do know what sanctification is, right? That is the middle part of salvation. Salvation is immediate, progressive, and ultimate. The immediate part of salvation is when we're regenerated. You're born again. The final part of salvation is glorification. That's when we get to heaven. From the point you're born again to the point God clocks you out is being sanctified. And you're being sanctified by the truth. And as Samuel Blackaby said, the truth is not just something, the truth is someone. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. So we worship in spirit and in truth. That which communicates with God and that which we know is true. That being Jesus Christ.
I heard a tale many years ago, and you've probably heard this illustration, but it's applicable now, certainly. A man went to an art museum. He was observing a beautiful masterpiece on display. And it displayed a particular painting. And it's about the crucifixion of Christ. And he was looking at it, and it was a bit muted, and he couldn't really appreciate it. And the tour guide said, you need to get a little lower to get a greater appreciation of the different paint strokes and nuances of what the painter did to that. So he did. He got a little lower and still couldn't see it. He said, no, you've got to get lower to appreciate what is really going on here. So he stooped down a little bit lower, being dignified. He didn't want to go down on all fours. said, no, you need to get lower. He looked around. There was nobody else in the museum there. So he got down on his hands and knees, and he was just looking at it. And the guy said, no, you need to get lower. And he looked at it again. So he really got down low. He says, no, you get a little lower. He thought to himself, well, I'm here. I want to realize the majesty of what I want to see. So he got down, flat of his face, and looked up. And he was there. He was in awe. The colors became so vibrant. The brush strokes stood out like peaks and valleys. He saw the details of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ like he had never seen them before. That's what we need to do. Many months ago when I was preaching from Joshua, when the Lord of the armies came to meet Joshua, and Joshua said, you know, are you for us or against us? And he said, neither. I'm the king of the Lord's armies. Joshua got as low as he could, as fast as he could, for as long as he could. That's what God's calling us to do. In worship, enthusiastically, reverently, submissively, obediently. Church, on this Father's Day. Dads, on this Father's Day. Will you commit to get as low as you can? As fast as you can? For as long as you can? To see the details of the crucifixion of our Master, our Lord Jesus Christ. Church, that is our challenge. Church, that is how we're called to worship Him. Would you pray with me?
Father, in this time of application, really, it's what it is. We call it an invitation. God, what do you want us to do?
Lord, what is it you want us to know? God, may we always have an endeavor after a thought. God, we know that we are not saved by works. But our salvation should produce works for your glory. So Lord, now in this moment, having heard your word, the perfection of it, on the wonder and weight of worship. Lord, what is it you want us to know? And Father, what is it you would have us to do? For your glory. Now you may be in here and you've heard this and you're thinking, I just, it all sounds good, but something's missing. It may be that you have not asked Christ to be your Savior. You may be in a part in your existence that you do not know Him personally. You do not have a relationship with Him. If that is, if that's the case, you're in the best place ever. I will be here, Chase will be here, there'll be others. Would you give us the opportunity to share with you what it means to be a Christ follower? What it means to fall in love with Jesus? We would love to share those things with you. Would you come see us? You may be a born again believer. You may have entered into regeneration and you're now in that sanctification process, but your worship, for whatever reason, has grown dry. I'm speaking from experience. God has not moved. He's there waiting on you, waiting on me, to renew the passion of our worship. Identify what may you have not been doing. Is enthusiasm missing? Is reverence missing? Is submission missing? Is obedience missing? Whatever's missing, come to the altar. Ask God to reestablish it. Bring it back to newness. Thank His holy name that mercies are new every morning. If you're looking for a church home, would you come see us? We'd love to talk to you about what that means. So when I say amen, I want everyone to stand and you respond, whether in your seat or at this altar, what God is calling you to do. Father, in Jesus' name, make the decisions we make with our mouths, with our minds, with our hearts, be pleasing to You and glorify Your name as we worship You, Lord, with great enthusiasm, with great reverence, with submission and obedience. For Your glory, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast today. I hope you've been encouraged by God's Word. It sure has been a joy to share it with you. And even now, people at Ridgecrest are making decisions for Christ. Perhaps as you've watched this, this broadcast, you've recognized the need for your own decision for Christ. The prompting of the Spirit has caused you to recognize that you need Christ as your Savior. And the good news is you can receive Him right where you are. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Right where you are, you can call on Him. Say something like this from your heart to Him. Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me. I know I'm a sinner and I know that You came into this world and died on the cross for my sins. And right now, I invite You to come into my life. Forgive me and be my Savior. I can assure you if you'll call on Him, based on what God has already told us in the Bible, that He'll hear that prayer and He'll answer that and He wants to begin this new journey in your life with you, transforming you into His image. We'd love to help you with that decision as well. You'll see a QR code on your screen. And if you would scan that or you'll see contact information or if you'll contact us about your decision today, we'd love to help you take next steps. There are no strings attached, no fees involved. We'd just like to help you begin that journey with Christ. You may be watching this broadcast today and say, I need a church family to belong to. I already know Christ as my Savior and I'd like to be a part of the Ridgecrest family. Also, if you will, scan that QR code. That'll take you to a location and we'll be able to help you make those kinds of decisions like becoming a member here or if you've never been scripturally baptized, those kinds of things. So contact us through the QR code or through the contact information on the screen. Well again, it's been a joy to have you with us today and I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. Whatever decision we can help you with, by all means, contact us. May the Lord bless you.