Get Your Act Together - On Purpose

Bro. Ray is back from his July sabbatical and concludes his series "On Purpose."

In this message, we're reminded of God's purpose for our lives and the importance of living it out faithfully. The central theme revolves around 2 Corinthians 13, where Paul admonishes the Corinthians to examine themselves and get their spiritual act together. We're challenged to consider why God may intervene in our lives, preserving us for His greater purpose. The message draws parallels between the Corinthians' struggles and our modern cultural challenges, urging us to value our souls above all else. We're encouraged to guard against habitual sin, false accusations, and denial of truth - all of which can derail our spiritual journey. Through personal examination, prayerful expectations, and purposeful exhortation, we can align ourselves with God's will and hear those coveted words: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

What is Ridgecrest Baptist Church - Sermons?

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.

Well, with that said, today I want to conclude the series we've been in on purpose with one final message here based out of 2 Corinthians chapter 13. If you have your Bibles, open up there. We're really going to use most of the chapter, but we're only going to read just a few of the verses in just a moment. But I want to conclude this series. You know, I started this series months ago, and I said to you then that you and I were put on this planet to live out the purposes of God with our life. And it's true. That's why you're here. You're not just here to use up resources and to breathe. You're here to accomplish something for the kingdom of God. That's true of everybody on this planet. Not everybody gets it. And I'm convinced a lot of Christians don't get it, that they don't realize that their life has bigger meaning than they even might realize. Let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever experienced or had an experience in your life where you realized that God intervened and kept you from certain death? How many of you remember an incident where you had an incident and kept you from certain death? where you say, God intervened, and he spared my life, he kept me from death. I know of one I'm thinking, I've had a couple, but one in particular that I think of that resonates in my mind, it was while I was your pastor here, and it was several years ago. But you probably know those, and I knew instantly that God had intervened, that God had saved my life. Why is that? It is because he still has purpose in your life. That's why God intervenes, because he still has purpose in your life. Even if you aren't aware of that, he has purpose. He's not finished with you yet. Of course, over the last month, a lot of interesting things have happened, and we're all well aware of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Over the last month, in conversations I've had, I've been asked by several people, Pastor, do you believe that God providentially intervened and spared his life? My answer is absolutely. I think without a doubt, God did that. Why? Because God has a purpose. But listen carefully. Listen carefully. Many people have assumed that God intervened in that particular case so that Donald Trump will be elected president. That may be the case. And let me just say, personally, I'd like to see most, if not all, and certainly not all, but most of his policies on things like economics, and the position against terrorism, and his support of Israel, border security, and world respect for America, and self-sufficient energy again, and the protection of religious freedoms. I tell you, personally, I'd like to see that happen again. And we'll know in November if God's purpose was for him to be spared and elected. By the way, I think Israel might be a major component of that because of his strength and support of Israel. Let me just say a footnote. Right now, we sit here, and there's a great deal of tension going on in Israel right now with anticipation of what's going to happen and what might happen next. And we need to pray. In fact, why don't we just pray for Israel right now? Let me just pray for Israel. Lord Jesus, we know they're not perfect people, and we know that they're accountable to you. But we also know they are your people, and you have said, I will bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them. So, God, we know your plans for them. Father, through Scripture, and let us, I pray, that this administration we have will do the right thing by Israel and not bring down the judgment of God upon this nation. Father, we fear the judgment of God. Let us, Father, align ourselves with truth first and your people. And we pray, Father, for their protection now in the days ahead against terrorism, against hostilities. We pray for them. They're people. We have people from this church that are there. We pray for their safety and well-being and for ministry through them. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. But it could be that that's a major component. Israel's a major component in why God spared him if, in fact, he is elected. But what if it doesn't happen? Have you thought about that? There were a lot of people that came out in the last election and had prophesied that this man would be the next president again. God had told them. But it didn't happen. There were people who were skeptical after that who said, well, the election was stolen and all. Now, I don't know. Maybe it was stolen. But here's what I've always said. But do you think God wasn't in control? The Bible says God sets one king up and casts another down. Sometimes, by the way, God gives you. I didn't mean to do all this, but let me just finish it up real quick. Sometimes God gives a nation what it deserves because he's trying to get their attention. So what if? What if? And I'm not saying that, look, Donald Trump might not be what we need. But I will say that he stood on places that we do need in this country. Policies, not personalities, should guide your decisions. But there could be some other reasons that God spared. We're talking about purpose. I'm going somewhere with this. So if God spared him and spared you, what Let's talk about purpose. There's a reason that God did that. And in the case of the failed attempt on his life, it could be that God's purpose, have you ever thought this? Maybe. I thought long and hard about it. It could be that God's purpose is to show Donald Trump just how much he loves him. I heard him talking different about God. I heard a lot of secular politicians talking different about God. Maybe God just wants to say, I spared you because I want to show you how much I love you. And so that you could come into a personal relationship with me and not just a cultural affirmation of me. That could be it, you know. God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Or could it be the purpose that God had in intervening there is, and this is hard to grasp for a lot of people, but was it to spare his life if he is not elected, simply to show us that our hope is not in a person, but in Christ alone.

And to put our trust in God. Trust in God alone. Alice and I watched the interviews with lots of people, and in one interview a woman said this. She said, He is God's anointed. Some have treated this as if he were a kind of American savior. And I have to tell you, that scares me. Because God's not going to be replaced by any person, no matter how affirmative we may feel about them or not. Some have thought that he is America's savior. That I think is dangerous. A better way to think is that God may have intervened because he has appointed, and we'll see, appointed him for God's purpose. But being appointed to a purpose is different from being anointed for a purpose. One requires being filled with the Holy Spirit. Appointed is an assignment from God. Let me give you an example. King Saul was anointed. Go read the story about how God put him in position, and it's very clear the Spirit of God rushed upon him. Go read the story about how God put him in position, and then you have King Cyrus, who was a pagan emperor, and God used him to deliver Israel, and he was appointed. He wasn't anointed, he was appointed. So it could be that we've just confused what's going on. It could be that God's purpose may be as simple as reaffirming that God is in control of our life and times, and that we are all here until his purpose with us is complete. But whatever his purpose for us is, is we must understand that God is in control.

Psalm 139, 16 says, So it's very important that we keep perspective. Let God be God, not make assumptions for him. But whatever the purpose, whatever the purpose, and whatever the time, we will know. We are to live our lives based on the purpose of God. And to live out God's purpose, we must get and keep our act together. Hence the title of this message, Get Your Act Together. So that one day when we enter into the kingdom, we will hear the words of God when he says, Well done, good and faithful servant. That is a statement about living out of the purpose of God. And in today's passage, Paul helps us with that. Y'all ready to stand again? Stand up if you will. Let's go. If you're physically able to do so. Let's begin in verse 5. Keep your Bibles open because I'm going to refer back to the early verses in this chapter. Verse 5 begins, Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test. I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to, to have met the test, but that you may do what is right. Though we seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. And for this reason, I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. Lord, thank you for your word. Help us to understand how very important it is for us to live our lives with purpose. Your purpose. You've created us for purpose. Help us to get it, Lord. And help us to get our act together if we need to do that. Just like Paul admonished these Corinthians. Would you take your word now and speak into our hearts? Individually, Lord. Corporately, for sure. But individually, speak into our hearts. We're listening. We're listening, Lord. Speak to us. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Now, chapter 13 is what we might refer to as kind of a PS, you know, a postscript to a letter that has been written. Paul's writing to these Corinthians, and he's wrapping things up. And both books, by the way, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, both of them address a lot of spiritual dysfunction that was in the church. And he's wrapping up. Chapter 13 is when he kind of comes to that place. You know, you've done this perhaps in writing a note, a card, a letter, or something to someone before where at the end you said, oh, yeah, by the way. And you just started mentioning different things. They had no real connection, but they just dealt with several different things. I meant to tell you this. I meant to tell you this. Or I meant to tell you this. That's kind of what Paul is doing here. He's offering some final words to these culturally compromised confessors of Christ. And he's offering both words of warning and words of admonition. And all of them, the warnings and the admonitions, are designed to help these believers get their spiritual act together on purpose. Let me show you, first of all, three warnings that Paul gives us. First of all, he warns them about practicing habitual sin. He tells them to stop practicing habitual sin. Verse 2, he identifies this. I warned those who sinned before. See, I've already warned those who are practicing sin. And he's talking about habitual sin and all the others. And I warned them now. I warned them before and I warned them again about this practice of habitual sin that they obviously had not dealt with. Many of the Corinthians had simply ignored Paul's warnings in the past regarding their practice of sin. And they've just continued that sinful behavior with no concern. In light of the recent outrage at the Olympic ceremony, which is hard to believe, quite frankly, that we've got to that place, but there are actually some pastors. Y'all do know what I'm talking about, don't you? The blasphemous mocking of the Lord's Supper. Read my column if you're not aware.

But would you believe this? There are some pastors that have come out defending it. For example, and I quote one pastor who said, I just don't think we Christians realize how fragile we make our faith look when we act as though something like artistic expression represents an existential threat to us. We have allowed fear and suspicion to overtake our public witness rather than love. I was a pastor who said that. In other words, this is unkind of us to react to this. This isn't loving. We ought to be more loving in our response to this. Listen, friend, this wasn't artistic expression. And you don't give a pass to blasphemy. The Bible says that we all have a sinful nature. All of us. And behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. But that does not. That does not exempt us. And so therefore you get a pass on blasphemy. This was a whole matter Paul is dealing with. That they had, by the way, they had abused the Lord's Supper. Did you know that? The Corinthians had abused the Lord's Supper. And Paul said for this reason many of you are ill and some of you have even died. And it was all because they had blasphemed the Lord's Supper. Have you ever wondered how a worm gets inside an apple? You don't get this at every church.

You ever wondered how a worm gets inside an apple? You probably, like me, used to think that it burrows its way in somewhere. You know, maybe it comes up from the bottom. That's not how it gets in. A worm gets in an apple, listen, because an insect lays eggs and an apple blossom.

And so when the blossom becomes the apple, guess what? It's already inside. The worm is already inside. And it doesn't bore its way in. It bores its way out. Well, you know, that's a perfect illustration. That's a perfect illustration of sin. Sin doesn't come in this way. Sin enters right here. The heart is deceitfully wicked. No one can know it. And it works through a person's thoughts and words and actions. And Paul warns them to get their act together because of their habitual sin, because of these spiritual dysfunctions, because he says what I don't want to do is when I come to you have to use discipline on you, spiritual discipline. The second warning. He gives them is regarding their believing false accusations. And he really is telling them, stop believing false accusations. Look at verse three. He said, since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me, let me tell you what was going on there. Some in the Corinthian church had falsely accused Paul of not being a true apostle that Christ was speaking through. Now, there was a method to their madness. It's a lot like the culture you're living in. This was nothing more than an attempt to undermine the authority of God's word. So what they said is that God, Paul's not a real apostle. Therefore, you don't have to pay attention to what he says. So if he says that Jesus said or God said anything he says, you can ignore. You don't have to believe that's from God. And it was all an attempt to undermine the authority of God's word so that they could ignore it and keep on living the way they wanted to live. Does that remind you of the age you're living in? If we can undermine, really what it was, it was the old, have you heard this? This adage before, shooting the messenger because of the message. And so that's what they were doing. They were saying, we don't like the message, so shoot the messenger or discredit the messenger. That's where your world is, my friend. We don't like the message, so shoot the messenger. Shut up the messenger. It happened to John the Baptist. They were attempting to do it with Paul. And so they were saying, you don't have to believe him. And they were bringing false accusations against him. And many of the Christians were believing that and saying, yeah, he's a little over the top. I don't like what he, I want to live the way I want to live. I want to pick my own. It was kind of like the age of the judges. You remember that where every man did what was right in his own eyes. I'm my own standard.

We're seeing this in the cultural Christian community as well. You know what the new term for it is? It's called the deconstruction of Christianity. And it is this idea that, and a growing movement, particularly of, an age group category 40 and below, but it's former Christians, and I don't even know that you really should use the term Christian, but former Christians who now claim they no longer believe. And it's nothing more than a refusal to accept the authority of Scripture. While I was away, I read a book entitled The Destruction and Deconstruction of Christianity. And the authors in it state this. They say, in the deconstruction movement, the Bible is seen as a tool of oppression, a tool of oppression that should be rejected rather than a standard of truth that should be affirmed. This was happening. They didn't call it that in the Corinthian church, but it was happening there. It was happening in the Corinthian church. It's happening, unfortunately, in too many churches today in our world. And Paul warns them to stop believing lies because those lies that they were believing were spiritually destroying them. And then he gives them a third warning. He tells them, He tells them to stop denying the truth. Verses 7 and 8. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong. And then he goes on in verse 8, for we cannot do anything against the truth. They were operating against the truth. And by the way, when you believe lies, you will operate against the truth. That's just the bottom line. It's really connected to the previous point, the previous warning that I just mentioned to you. Once you undermine the authority of God's Word, doing what is right becomes subjective. That's why, again, every man says, I'll just do what's right in my own eyes. And many Christians today have become modern-day Corinthians because what they've done is, in order to be liked by their world, their culture, they have substituted their own personal opinions for God's truth. They argue that a person's conscience should guide an individual to freedom from oppressive and toxic beliefs that are taught in the Scripture. And then many spiritualize it, as if it were from God, even though it contradicts the Word of God. It's important in the day that we're living that we not make the same mistake that the Corinthians made of denying the truth, believing lies, in order to feel more comfortable about our behavior and the behavior of our culture. Because once you get there, you can justify any ideology you want. You can justify, listen to this, any pathology you want. You can justify any ideology you want. Any kind of belief system you want. You can justify any kind of behavior you want. So Paul is warning them and to us today that there are consequences to habitual sin. There are consequences to believing false accusations, believing lies. And there are consequences to denying the truth. He wanted them to know that. And he wanted them to get their act together. And by the way, he wanted them to get their act together before he came there personally. He said, I want to come there for a different reason. And I don't want to have to go there. to come there and use the authority God has given me to spend all that time disciplining you. I want to come there and us mutually grow and build one another up. So he says you essentially have to get your act together and that is true for us as well. And he helps us do that. He helped them do that. He gave them three admonitions and that's what I want to give you as we wrap up. The first admonition he gives them is he calls for personal examination. Do you see that in verse 5? Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Paul's implication in that statement is that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is in fact a Christian. He says examine yourself. You're in the church but are you a Christian? Are you really a true genuine follower of Jesus Christ? That's true to this day. Not every person that enters the church is a Christian. Not every person that says they're a Christian is a Christian. You know they still tell us that over 80 percent of Americans claim to be God followers and most of them claim to be Christians. But listen we know it's not true. This culture wouldn't look like it looks if that statistic really represented genuine authentic born-again Christians. And so Paul says examine yourself. Why is that? Well because your soul is your most important possession. Have you ever thought about that? Your soul really is your most important possession. Don't lie to yourself about the condition of your soul. Your eternity is on the line. It's interesting the values of the Bible. People put on stuff isn't it? It's amazing what sells on eBay. Y'all ever bought anything off of eBay? It's amazing what sells on eBay. A Brazilian manufacturer put a UFO detector complete with AA batteries for sale on eBay. The detector it said it described it could detect fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field which are caused by visitors from an alien spacecraft. It sold.

Some nutcase paid $135,000. $135,000 for that. A grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000. A haunted walking cane went for $65,000. One buyer paid $263 for Britney Spears chewing gum and a potato chip shaped like a cowboy sold for $1,000. I hope it was true. It was packed well. This is just crumbles of potato chip. I thought this was a cowboy. You get the point don't you? It's amazing the kind of value people assign to crazy things. But what's really crazy is to not value the most important thing. Jesus said for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? You want to know one of the reasons that you may struggle to live for God? It may just be because you haven't valued the most valuable thing you possess properly. You haven't given it the value and the attention that it deserves. Let me read you a story. If you want you can follow along in Luke chapter 12. In Luke chapter 12 we read about a man. It's called the parable of the rich fool. You've read this story before haven't you? Verse 13 began, someone in the crowd said, I said to him, teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, man who made me a judge or arbitrator of you? And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I'll do this. I'll tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, fool, this night, here it is, your soul is required of you. And the things that you have prepared, you know, the things that you've really valued, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself. And it's not rich toward God. You know why a lot of Christians are struggling to follow God? It's because they've got their values misplaced. They've got their values misplaced. And instead of the soul being priority, the substance of their life is priority. This man had no concept of value and it cost him his eternal soul. I want to ask you, if your value, if you value your soul, you'll give it the utmost attention. Won't you? You'll let the Holy Spirit fill it and you'll let its priority shape your destiny. So I ask you this morning, what's the condition of your soul? Have you examined it? As Paul said, you know, people analyze silver and they analyze gold to determine its purity. You know, these Olympic athletes, when they get a medal, you know, they always get a picture biting into it. You know why they bite into it? It's not because they've starved themselves so they could perform to test the genuineness. It's an old methodology because gold was soft and silver was soft. And you could actually bite into it and leave an imprint. It was that soft. And that would tell them about the purity of the medal. People test those things, coins, medal, all of it's tested for genuineness. Well, even more so, Christians need to take a careful look at the condition of their souls. That's what Paul's saying to these Corinthians, to us. If you're not sure about your soul's eternal security or its eternal destiny, listen, don't let delay. Do something about it. You can do something about it. Before you leave this place today. Then we see Paul's next thought given to them, his prayerful expectations. Verses 7 through 9 talk about this. He said, we're praying for you. He said several things we're praying about. And he wanted to encourage them. These are admonitions. And so he said, I want you to know we're praying for you. We're praying for you. Aren't you encouraged when somebody sends you a note and says, I'm praying for you? I had three this morning. I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you. I love it. I'm encouraged by that. Paul's trying to do. He said, I'm praying for you. And there's some things I'm praying. He's praying for their restoration. Your restoration is what we pray for. Remember we talked about their habitual sin. Well, he prays that they will live, did you notice, upright and free from the sin that had taken hold of them that they were engaged in. This battle with sin. And friend, I just say this to you. If you're battling with some kind of egregious habitual sin, it's some trusted and godly people praying with you and for you. They had Paul praying for them. How encouraging would that be? Paul's praying for us. They were and you are engaged in a great and serious spiritual war. And one of the most vital weapons of warfare is victory through prayer. John Piper said that life is a war. That's not all it is, but it is always a war. And are we? Weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. The truth that we're at war. Prayer is primarily a wartime, he says, walkie-talkie for the mission of the church and the Christian as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising, he says, that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in our den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can pray and we can call headquarters for everything that we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of a limitless being, the limitless provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. He's right. He's right. Paul's praying for them because they were in spiritual war. You're in a spiritual war. Not only must you use prayer, but you must also gather those who will pray, and pray with you, and pray for you. He also, as he prays for their spiritual restoration, he's prayed for it because they were weak spiritually. They were weak spiritually because they had forsaken the truth. Remember, they had believed lies. They had believed false accusations. And so he's praying for them because they had forsaken the truth. Listen, you cannot thrive without consistently taking the truth of God's word into your life. Have you ever heard? It's mostly an infant condition, but have you ever heard of the condition called failure to thrive? It's a very serious condition that mostly affects infants, but occasionally affects older people as well. It's kind of like when an older person is generally diagnosed as a person who's just given up. With an infant, they don't really understand what they're doing, but they're just not thriving. And the solution for that, mostly, there are a number of things that we're counseled to do. There are a number of things, but the most significant thing is nutrition. You've got to get nutrition because in both cases, the infant or the senior just doesn't eat, and they don't take in the nutrients that they need to sustain themselves. Well, friend, that's true of a lot of believers today. They're weak, and their growth is stunted. You know, an infant that has battled failure to thrive, in most cases, their growth will be stunted. If they survive, their growth will be stunted.

You know, when a Christian doesn't take in the nutrients of God's Word, guess what? They are failing to thrive, and they stunt their spiritual growth. They need the nutrition of the Scripture, the Word of God, but we have access to it, and it will help restore us. Let me ask you this morning, are you thriving, or are you just surviving? Jesus said this, the thief comes but to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus has come that you might thrive. The thief has come that you might just survive or destroy you. That's not where Jesus wants you to live. He wants you to live in the abundance of the power of God and the Holy Spirit in your life, and if you're not thriving spiritually, you either have no relationship with Christ, or the devil has done what he loves to do. He has robbed you of the soul-restoring truth of God's Word. So one final thing I show you, one more under the idea of the admonitions of Paul, and that is there is Paul's purposeful exhortation. We see that in verses, really, 9 and 10, where he talks about, this is the reason that I have written to you, even though I'm away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that God has given me. Paul's letter was corrective. He rebuked them from a distance, and he did that hoping that they would respond, because he didn't want to show up and say, I was coming, I wanted to spend time in growth and building the kingdom of God, but instead, I've got to do maintenance. I've got to do corrective discipline. I want to instead, he said, you deal with this now. Get your act together before I come, so that when I come, we can work on the kingdom.

And so, when I see you, we can spend time in the things that encourage and build us up. You know, too often, we delay dealing with the things that need our attention, don't we? We know they exist. We know we're not where we should be spiritually. We know that we need to chart a new course with God, but we make excuses. We make promises about the future. I'll get there. Or we simply ignore what needs to be dealt with in our life. We always think, if I can put it out of my mind, I don't have the responsibility to act upon it. Can I just say this morning, for some of you, now is the moment of restoration. Some of you are listening by radio or watching by television or live stream in this live audience, and today, really, God is speaking to your heart, you need renewal. We might call it revival. Paul called it restoration. To be back on course with God. My closest friend in hijacking, school was a strong believer. He and I both had Bible studies that we led among the student body and we're very close and we prayed together and we had at least a reputation of some good things for the Lord. We went to college together. We both, when we graduated, went to the same college and we turned, in turn, we pledged the same fraternity. But that's where our roads took a different path and he began to get engaged in things that he had never, had never characterized his life. I won't go into detail about all those things, but things that undermined his Christian faith. And on one occasion, I said to him, I said, hey, hey buddy, I said, let's eat lunch today. So we were in the cafeteria. We were eating lunch and I said, I need to ask you something. What are you doing? And he ducked his head as we sat at the table. He said, I know, Ray. I know. I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I know what I should be doing. But he said, right now, I just want to do this other stuff, but I'll get it all together later. Thank you. But it wasn't confrontational. It was really kind of sad. I ran into him just a few years ago with his third wife, whose life has taken no different course. I'll do it. I know what I ought to do. I'll get there in time. I'll get there. I'll get there. Have you made excuses? And God's saying, I'm not going to fight with y'all forever. For others, this may be the moment of salvation. Today may be the, behold, today is the day of salvation, the scripture says. Maybe this is a salvation day, not a restoration or renewal day, but a day of salvation for you. And where you get serious and say, when I examine my soul, I don't know Christ. I don't really know Christ. And I need to meet Christ. I don't see him working in me. I say the right things, but there's no evidence of Christ in my life. I was visiting a man. He told me that when he was young, he was a senior adult man. And he told me that when he was young, he had felt strongly as a teenager, the pull of Christ upon his life. He said, he was calling me. He was compelling me to give my life to him. He said, I knew it. He said, I knew. It was the Holy Spirit. But he said, I resisted. I resisted. I was so resistant that, and it was, he said, every time I went to church, he said, there was this pull from the Spirit of God. You need to give your life to me. And he said, I just kept resisting and resisting. And he said, the pull got so great in my life. I finally said to God, God, if you will leave me alone, I promise I will never bother you again.

An old man now. And he looked at me and he said, preacher, God has kept his word. I don't know how I couldn't keep mine now. And I pleaded with him and tried to persuade him that it's never too late with God. But he said, no, I feel no, no tug, no pull of my need for God, even though I probably should. It's too late for me. Well, I don't believe that, but I believe he did. And it reminded me of the scripture where God said, my spirit will not always be with you. And he said, I don't believe always strive with man. There's a time when God says, you've resisted, you've resisted, you've resisted, you've ignored, you've excused. And God finally says, so be it. Romans 1, Paul said, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do the things that were ungodly. Listen, I don't know God's timing, but I know you're still here. All of us are still here because God has a purpose for us. And the great fulfillment of life is to enter the kingdom of God one day and hear the master say, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in much. Now enter into the joy of your master. Is this a day of restoration for you? Is it a day of salvation for you? Examine yourselves. Father, help us this day. All of us, we're here on purpose to value what's most valuable, our soul. Help us, Father, to be honest with ourself. There are some who are listening, watching. There are some in this building, Father, this many people, there are people who are, who need renewal. They need to return to you. Would you give them, Father, that conviction that says, I'm going to look and value the thing that counts for eternity, my soul. I'm going to chart a new path by letting the Holy Spirit have his way in my life. There are others, Lord, who need to respond to salvation today. This is a day of salvation for them. Give them courage not to resist, not to ignore, not to put it off like that man I told about, but today to come and say, today I trust Jesus Christ with my eternal soul. Would you speak to them? There are others, Father, that just need a family to belong to. They just need a body of believers that they can belong to that will encourage them and love them and pray for them. Father, I pray for those that today you'll bring them to this place. Speak now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you speak Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned into the broadcast today. I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. 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 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, for God has already heard your prayer and answered your prayer. And theampher will begin this new journey with you into the image of Christ you have been transformed into. We'd love to help you with that decision as well. You'll see a QR Code on your screen if you would scan that or you'll see contact information. If you'll contact us about your decision today, we'd love to help you take next steps. No strings attached or fees involved. We just like to help you begin that journey with Jesus. this broadcast today and say I need a church family to belong to I already know Christ is 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 that 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