How God Blesses Broken Hearts

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Can we celebrate that this morning? Let’s give it up for the worship this morning. Come on, let’s give it up, man. You guys can go ahead and take a seat. It is so good to be here with you all this morning. It is so good to be able to sing those words. I was broken when I needed shelter. I was an orphan. You were my healer. Right? I want to welcome you to our 11:00 service to those watching online. I want to welcome you. To be honest with you, with all this celebrating. It also reminds me of the actuality of things that are going on right now. And I don’t know if you know this, but we have a family in our church. Andy and Colin Bury, three little girls, and Andy. She had COVID, and on Friday, we were all praying. They were trying to find a hospital that would be able to take her. And they flew from here in Kentucky to Arkansas. And the team that had to work around that. And so that’s happening here in our congregation. Then I think about what’s going on in our community. Four months ago, I just threw the way that the Lord works. I was able to come in contact with a great family who lost their mother. And this past Friday. The woman who lost her mother, Charlotte. She also lost her husband and dad on the same day. I think of all the other stories that I’m hearing right now. As we come up and we sing these great songs, it’s also a reminder of what’s really going on. There is a lot going on, and it’s just tough. After I got done sharing that Caitlyn that’s playing the keys, she told me that she was actually beside the gentleman who passed away on Friday. And I think on Wednesday night at inspire, we had so many of those that are working in the medical field to stand up, and we were just able to pray for them and just to see the tears rolling down. Things are really tough right now. And so this morning, I told the team I was like, I’m usually coming up, and I’m like, I’m so excited for all this. Also, it’s a reminder that life is hard life is tough. So this morning, you know, we’re in part two of the sermon series, A blessed life in a Broken World. And Pastor Virgil started off last week, and it was so great. And so this morning, before he comes up, I just want to go into a time of prayer, set our hearts knowing that God is going to move. We got to watch baptism’s last service and what God was doing, but we also realized that things are tough. So, Father. I’m thankful for my friends at this 11:00 service. I’m thankful that we can sing. That you are a good father, that the best is yet to come. That father. We can look forward because we have trust in you. We have hope in you. But, Father, it doesn’t change the fact of what’s going on right now. And father knowing that you are this comfort. And so father right now I press pastor Virgil is going to come up. And father was able to listen. Have our hearts ready to be served with you knowing that you are good. So, Father, we say all this in your name. Amen. I have to agree with Brandon. Life is pretty tough right now. I mean, life is full of pain. It’s difficult. The world is really broken, isn’t it? Nothing works perfectly, marriages don’t work perfectly, or relationships don’t work perfectly. The economy doesn’t work perfectly, or bodies don’t work perfectly. And you think about everything that’s going on is that life is full of losses. We have defeats and discouragement. We have pain and pressure. We have trials and tribulations. We have sorrow and suffering. And it’s a reminder to me that this is not heaven, and this is the reason why we prayed this prayer.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

And here’s the question Denver tried to answer for us today. How do you and I how do we rise above the unpredictable losses of life? Let me say that again. How do you and I rise above the unpredictable losses of life? And we’re actually going to turn to the teachings of Jesus from the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five. And we’re looking at the second Beatitude. The second statement is on how to be happy. You remember that the Greek word can be translated into English. Blessed or happy. And Jesus gives us some teachings on how to rise above the losses of life, but it doesn’t really make sense. It seems kind of, you know, illogical, the advice that he gives us. But he says.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Matthew 5:4 

Now you think about that, and you go, that does not make any sense. I mean, really? Do you have to mourn in order to be comforted? I mean, I’m happy if I mourn? I don’t think this was supposed to happen. And then I got thinking about it, and I got debating. This just might be a tough message. I said to myself, how am I going to really walk people through this? Then I begin to realize that we all have experienced loss. We’ve all experienced grief. We’re all on the same journey. We all hold grief and loss in some form or fashion in our hearts and in our lives. And how do we deal with that? You know, I’m not trying to belabor the point, but at the beginning of the year, I knew very little about grief. But since my dad passed away in May, my understanding of grief and the lessons I’ve learned from grief has been exponential. And I could go through ten or 15 things that I am learning about grief. I don’t want to do that, but I just want to give you two quick things. And the reason why I want to do that is because of many of you. You’re grieving the loss of something. Well, here’s the first thing that I learned. The first thing you learn is that.

God Doesn’t Expect Me to Be

HAPPY ALL THE TIME.

God doesn’t expect you to be happy. You know, there’s this theology, this thought that if I’m a Christ follower, if I’m an all-in follower of Jesus Christ, if I’m fully surrendered, then I just go around with happiness. I go around with a smile on my face. I go around round picking flowers, singing songs, doing all of these things, skipping over one hill to the next hill because life is nothing but a ball of joy because that’s what you’re supposed to do. But that’s not what Jesus said. Jesus says Blessed are those who mourn. In fact, that sounds like the rainbow bride, not a Christian. If folks look at what Solomon said years ago, thousands of years ago, he says.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 

The Bible says that sometimes the only logical choice is to grieve, to mourn, is to weep. Because life is full of pain and losses and suffering and all of that. But somehow or another, we’ve come to the place where we have to grin and bear it. And in the middle of the storms of life, we’ve got to put on a smiley face and pretend that everything is okay. And Jesus says that blessed or happy are those that mourn because life is full of losses. Folks, listen to me when we talk about losses. Most people look at losses as something that you do at a funeral is that you have a loved one that passed away. You hear the news, and you begin to grieve. You know, wait for the funeral. You go to the visitation, you have the funeral, and then the grief is over with. We put grief in just a small compartment, and we spend like four or five days, and then grief is over with. Folks, listen to me. Grief is much more than losing a loved one. You can have the loss of a dream. Some of you, you’ve lost your health. You’ve got bad news. For some of you, you’ve lost energy. For some of you, you’ve lost a job. You’ve lost a career. You’ve lost your retirement. You’ve lost money. You have lost your reputation. There are thousands of things that you can mourn this morning. And here’s the thing about it, God says the only appropriate response to grief and to losses is not to fake it but to face it. And so one of the things that I have been learning is that God doesn’t expect me to walk around being happy all the time. The second thing that God has been teaching me is that.

Grief Is Essential

TO MY HEALTH.

That grief is essential to my physical health, to my mental health, to my spiritual health, and to my emotional health. All of that, health is a very important ingredient. I would go as far as to say that.

Grief is a GIFT from God.

The reason why it’s a gift from God is that grief helps us navigate the transitions of life. Folks, listen, since my dad passed away. I’ve been navigating the transition of living life without my dad. How do I navigate those transitions? It’s through grief. Now, some of you are here this morning, and you have never been sad. You’ve never grieved anything. Now, if that is you, let me just say something to you. You’re in one of three categories. Number one is that you’re out of touch with reality. Because there are a lot of things to be sad about. Do you understand that since Covid broke loose, 9,000 Kentuckians have died? Do you know that this past week, one funeral home? They had 14 bodies delivered to the funeral home. Just this past week. The funeral homes are backed up because more and more people are dying. And so if you’re not sad, you’re not grieving, you’re out of touch with reality. Or number two is that you’re out of touch with your own emotions, and you’re living in denial. Or number three, you just don’t love you don’t love anything except for yourself, I guess. I don’t know. But pain is an emotional and healthy gift that God’s given to us. Grief is a gift from God that we have in order to navigate the transitions of life. Now, unfortunately, most people respond in unhealthy ways to grief. And there are several different ways that we can respond to reactions to the loss of life.

Two unhealthy reactions to the losses of life:

” REPRESSION is when I unconsciously try to block a painful thought out of my mind.

” SUPPRESSION is when I consciously try to block a painful thought out of my mind.

I just have to compartmentalize them. I don’t want to deal with that. I don’t want to cry. I don’t want to have any emotions. I don’t want to do any of that. But folks, listen to me. When you are brokenhearted when your heart has been shattered, here is how you get through it. It says this.

God doesn’t want you to suppress it. God doesn’t want you to repress it. God wants you to express it to friends and confess it to him.

This is the reason why I have been open and honest with you about my grief process because I realize that many of you have walked through grief, and you’ve done it in an unhealthy manner or an unhealthy way. And here’s what I know about unhealthy when it comes to grief. Many of you, you were hurt when you were a child is that you lost a parent. Your parents got a divorce. Somebody said something to you that was so out of character that it hurt you, but you were a small child, and you didn’t know how to grieve. Now, think about this, that hurt, that pain still exists. And you know what happens as a result of you not dealing with it in a healthy way?

If I don’t let it out, then I’ll act it out.

And what happens is that this pain, this grief that you have never dealt with, not only does it come out in unhealthy ways and you hurt people and the people that you love, but you also stop emotionally at that point. You get stuck at that point because notice what it says. If you don’t grieve the losses of life, you get stuck at that stage, and then you act everything out, and you take it out on other people. You get in certain situations, certain circumstances, and outcomes unhealthy. You go. Where did all that come from? The reason is that you’re still not processing something that took place as a child when you were a child. I would encourage you to go back to wherever the thing that you have not grieved, you’ve not processed, go all the way back to that. Begin to grieve, that begin to mourn that begin to weep, that walk through that. Because if you don’t, you are stuck there emotionally, and you will continue to hurt people. You will continue to ostracize people in your life. And God doesn’t want you to do that. God wants you to grieve because why? Blessed and happy are those you mourn. Because why? You would experience his overwhelming presence. Now notice what King David says. King David says.

“When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. moaned all day long.”

Psalm 32:3 

Say that last sentence with me. I moaned all day long. Now, friends, listen to me. There’s a difference between moaning and mourning. Moaning is a negative approach to it. Mourning is positive. Moaning is actually having a pity party. Morning is actually calling out to God and saying, God, I cannot do this by myself. God, I need your strength. I need your help. And some of you, you’re just moaning about it, and you’re not mourning. And it’s two completely different things. And so here’s what I’m trying to get you. See, you cannot choose the things that happen to you. You cannot choose the bad things that happened to you. But you can choose to grieve. You can choose to be healthy. You can choose to walk through grief and be comforted by God. And you can experience the presence of God. Now, the question is, how does God heal the brokenhearted? How does God minister to you and me? Well, folks, listen to me very carefully. If you’re going to have God minister to you, you cannot walk around grief. You cannot go over grief. You cannot go under grief. The only way that you’re going to experience healing is to do what? To walk through grief. And so, how does God bless broken hearts? A couple of things. Number one.

How Does God Bless Broken Hearts?

God draws us CLOSE TO HIMSELF.

Friends, listen to me. Some of you you’ve experienced a loss. You’ve lost your job, you’ve lost some money in the stock market, you’ve lost a dream, you’ve lost your health, or you’ve maybe you’ve lost a child or a loved one. Listen to me, you’re going. You know what? I don’t feel God whatsoever. God feels a million miles away. I don’t know where God is, but I do not feel God in my heart. I do not feel God in my life. I just want to know where God is. I want you to look at what Psalm says.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.”

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He’s not aloof, he’s not distant, he’s not out taking a break, and he’s not on vacation. He’s actually with you every step of the way. He was there the moment that your loved one died. He was there the moment when you received the news that you’ve lost your job or you’ve lost money from the stock market or whatever it is that you lost. He was there when you received that news. It also says that he saves those whose spirits have been crushed. He’s there for every moment of your life. Notice how the author of Hebrews says it. He says this talking about God.

“I will never leave you and I will never abandon you.”

Hebrews 13:5

Now, I just want you to circle that phrase that God will never leave you. And as you circle that phrase, I want you to understand that God will never leave you, no matter what you’re experiencing, no matter what you’re going through, no matter the shame, the guilt, the trauma that you’ve been through or that you’re going through, God will never leave you. He will be with you 100% of the time and notice what it says. And he will never abandon you. He will always be with you. So how does God heal a broken heart? The very first thing that he does, he draws us close to himself. The second thing that he does. Listen to me, my friends.

God GRIEVES WITH US.

We think that we’re the only one that grieves. No, God grieves with us. The reason that you have emotions is that God gave you your emotions. The reason that God gave you emotions is that God has emotions. He’s an emotional God, and folks, let me just say something to you. God identifies with us; God grieves. Let me ask you a question. When God looks down on humanity, do you think that God is like that humanity is just beautiful? Or do you think he’s like looking down, grieving? Do you think the grieves that we call each other names all the time? Do you think that he grieves because we bully each other? Do you think that he grieves because our country is divided over hundreds of issues? Do you think they looked down upon them on the world and upon the planet, and they see how we’re destroying the planet? Do you think that it just happens to maybe grieve the heart of God? Do you think that when God looks down, and he sees that you’re dealing with grief in an unhealthy way, it grieves his heart? See. God is a God that is involved in our lives. God is sympathetic. He’s not apathetic; God is not distant. God is with us every step of the way. He suffers with us. See, some of you go. Well, Jesus doesn’t know what I’m going through. Jesus just doesn’t understand. Jesus is not with me. Look what Isaiah said about Jesus. This is a prophetic word. This was written thousands of years before Jesus was born. And notice what Isaiah says about Jesus.

“He (Jesus) is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

Isaiah 53:3 

Jesus experienced sorrow. He’s acquainted with grief. He understands he identifies whatever you’ve lost, whatever you are experiencing, whatever you’re walking through. Jesus can understand that. Here’s. Here’s the interesting thing. Jesus had friends here on earth. He had relationships. One of his best friends during that time was Lazarus. Remember that Lazarus passed away. Look with me here.

“When Jesus saw Lazarus’ sister sobbing, and saw how all those with her were crying also, his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved . . . Then Jesus started crying. “See how much he loved Lazarus!” they said.”

John 11:33-36

Jesus loved Lazarus grief is actually evidence of love. The more that you love someone, the more that you’re going to grieve, my friends, the more that you’re going to grieve. And here’s the real Jesus who understands everything about your grief and your losses. You may not feel that he’s close to you, but he’s closer to you at your time of brokenness than at any other time. He’s promised us that he will never leave us or forsake us. And here’s what I believe. I believe that everybody in this room everybody’s watching online. It is that we have grief, we have burdens, we have pain that we want to be healed from. And I believe that we just want to lay them down and get rid of them. So I’m going to invite you. The worship team is to come back out. At the moment, the worship team is going to lead us in a song. But I want to give you a picture of something if you will. Just please, just look with me here for one second. In Revelation chapter 21, Verse 4. You have to go and read it later on your own. Talks in verse one that there’s a new heaven and a new earth. And that we’re now entering heaven. And it says the very first thing that Jesus does, Chris, the very first thing that Jesus does is it says that before we enter in, Jesus reaches up. And he wipes the tears from her eyes and from her face. One of the most intimate things that you could ever do is reach up to someone’s face and wipe away tears. And then you know what Jesus is going to do. He’s going to say, come on into the place where there are no more tears, there’s no more grief, there’s no more cancer, there’s no more heart disease, there’s no more covid, There’s no longer any death. Come to your eternal home called heaven. You know what? Until that day, we have to do something. We have a choice to either. Hold on and Ignore our grief and the pain that comes along with it. Or we can lay it down at the feet of Jesus. And say, Jesus, you come, you take it.

So here’s what I want to ask you to do. I want to ask you if you would just sit up straight in your chair for a second. I know this sounds elementary, but that’s what you said straight. And then just put your feet on the ground. Put your hands in your lap with your palms up. The worship team is going to lead us in this song. And as they sing this song. I just want you to lie down. You’re a pain. Lay down your grief. You’re hurt, your losses. Just give it all to Jesus, say Jesus. Come and take it all away. You’re close to me. You’re close to the brokenhearted. You’ll never leave me. You forsake me, God. You grieve with me. You know where I’m at. Just come and release me from all of that. Would you do that? If you want to, just close your eyes as they sing and as you release this.Did that feel good just to give it all to Jesus and be seated? I got to tell you one more thing before we close. Just one more thing. You know, this is what God wants us to do, is to grieve, to give it to him, walk through it so we can be comforted. And we’re all searching for healing. But, you know, Scripture tells us that one day, Miss Marks, one day, one day, we’re going to be completely healed. Because you know why?

God gives us the HOPE OF HEAVEN.

That’s where ultimate healing is going to come from when we leave and take our last breath, and we go to spend eternity with God. And you know what? I’ve been around a lot of death. And if this world is all there is to the suffering and the pain and the trials and tribulations, this is a cruel, cruel world in life. I’ve seen people gasp. Taking their last breath. I’ve seen people suffer. I’ve seen families weep and pray to God to take their loved ones. They’re in so much pain. People are being killed. If that’s all there is. This is a cruel place. It’s a cruel existence. But you know what? It’s not the end. God has been preparing a home for us for the last several thousand years. And here’s what Paul says. Paul says that there are some people who walk around with no hope. Paul says I don’t want you to grieve like the people who have no hope. And see, folks. I have hope. I have hope that one day I’m going to see my dad again. I want to see the people in our congregation that I’ve officiated their funeral. And I’m going to see them again because I don’t grieve with no hope. I grieve with hope. And some of you are here today, and you’re grieving with no hope. You’re holding on to dear life because this is the only life that you know of. Let me tell you, friends, that there’s another life. And it is called eternal life. It is called heaven. It is called heaven. And you can experience heaven today. You go. How do you do that, Pastor? Well, Jesus says you have to be born again. Born again is not my term. It’s not the church term. It’s not a denominational term. It’s a Jesus term. Jesus says in John chapter three, verse three.

“No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

John 3:3 

I have to ask you, this is the greatest question that could ever ask.

Have you been born again?

And some of you go, Well, what’s born again? Born again. It is talking about spirituality. We’re talking about it from the inside out. See, we all have a physical birthday. Most of us were born in a hospital. Some of you were born in an ambulance or in the car on the way to the hospital and might be at home, but most of us in the hospital, have a physical birthday. But we also need a spiritual birthday, where we invite Jesus to come into our lives and transform us from the inside out. And we call that being born again because that’s what Jesus called it. And the greatest question I could ask you is, have you been born again? You go, Well, Pastor, I don’t know if I have or not. I’d like to be. Well, it’s a really simple process. It’s as simple as A, B, or C in each one of those letters that correspond directly to a word that’s very important.

Admit I’m a Sinner

Believe God Sent His Son

Confess Him as Lord

The letter A is to admit. That I’m broken, that I’m a sinner. That I cannot be. I cannot fix myself. See, there’s something broken inside each and every one of us. And this thing that’s broken on the inside of us. No priest, no pastor, no promise, no program, no parent. No aunt, uncle, or grandparents. Nobody can fix what’s broken on the inside of you. See, I always like to say this is that I’m not a floor model. I come with some assembly required and I need to be fixed. Jesus is the only one that can do that, and he can fix that thing that is broken and make you go. Well, how can he fix the brokenness inside of me? How can he fix my sinful nature? Well, that’s where the letter B comes into play. The letter B stands for believing that Jesus can fix you and me because He sent his son Jesus to die on the cross. See, folks, Jesus came and did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Listen to me, my friends. He came. He lived the life that we could live. He lived a life of perfection. And then he died. The death that you and I should have died. He died and took the hit for my sin. And for your sin. And for my brokenness and your brokenness. And you know what? Because Jesus came to earth, lived, and died. And then, on the third day was resurrected. You know what he gave? He gave us some rewards. Do you know what those rewards are? He gave us forgiveness and heaven. That’s what he gave us as a result of dying in our place. In the letter, C stands for confessing him as my Lord in my Savior. See, friends, here’s the thing. If you admit, believe, and confess, you could be born again and born again, folks. It’s not a concept that you can come and attend church 60 minutes a week. Jesus did not come and die on the cross so that you can sit in the church and come for 60 minutes and just feel good about yourself. Jesus came and died the death that he died so that you could live all in life for Jesus, so that he could be the first place in your life, so he could be first in your mind, your heart, your soul, your finances, your attitude, your words. I mean, folks, listen, Jesus doesn’t want 60 minutes of your time. He wants your entire life. That’s what Jesus wants. Are you a pastor, and how to do you. How do I do all this? How do I seal the deal? Well. I’m going to help you to do that. I was going to ask you about your head just for a second if you don’t mind. Some of you were here this morning. You go, Pastor, I need to be born again. I’ve never admitted them. A sinner that I’m broken. That. I’m sinful. Never admitted that. But I understand it today. I don’t understand everything about Jesus. But I believe that Jesus died in my place. And Pastor. I’m willing to confess some. That’s my Lord and Savior. How do I do that? Well, you step across the line. But praying the born-again prayer. In a moment, we’re going to pray it, Campbell, to lead you in it. But I want to make sure that I count on you. And you are counted in that prayer. If you’re here this morning, your Pastor, I want you to count me in. When you pray, that prayer hears one want to ask you to do. I want to ask you to do me a favor, okay? I’m not going to ask you to stand. Not going to ask you to text me. I’m not going to ask you to walk down front. I’m not going to ask you to meet somebody in the atrium after the service. Here’s what I want to ask you in a moment. I’m going to ask you to raise your hand. And when you raise your hand, I want you to hold them up really hard. Because when we do more go around the room, we count our hands. And this morning, we had two people. To raise your hand and say, I want to receive Christ. I want to be born again. I want to be. I want my name written in the Book of Heaven. I want my sins forgiven. I want to be healed completely one day. Two people raise their hands. And so this morning, if you want to be counted in that prayer of being born again, just raise your hand up really hard. You just hold it up. One,. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Seven people. Eight people. I got you. Want everybody to look at the screen. I just want us all to say this out loud rather than just those eight. Can we just all say it out loud with enthusiasm?

“Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you’re the Son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your Father. Today, Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin to be born again. God is my Father. Jesus is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my Helper, and heaven is now my home. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Would you give those eight people around applause for praying that prayer? Yeah. Now, listen to me. I’ve been a Christian for a long time. Ever since I was nine years of age. I’m 55. You do the math, okay? It’s like 46 years. And here’s one of the things that God has done in my life. It’s when I’ve made a decision for God. When I made a decision for God. One of the things. They help to seal the deal. It was for me to go and have someone to pray with me. See what I’m saying? That just kind of seals the deal. And we’re going to have our staff team, some of our leadership team. I’m going to invite them to come right down, and they’re going to stand across the front. And here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. If you this morning lay down your suffering, your hurts, your grief. You just gave it all to God. Now, for some of you, when you did that mean, you just felt the burden was lifted for others of you. You did it, and you feel like nothing happened. That’s okay. Because you didn’t feel it doesn’t mean that it’s not true. And here’s what. Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to seal the deal with God and go, God. This morning I’ve given you my grief, my pain, my hurt, my suffering. I’ve given it all to you. And then you’re just going to come forward. And if you don’t know one of the four leaders down here, they’ll ask you your name, and you tell them your name, and you say, You know what I gave? I gave everything to God this morning. I gave them all my grief, and they’re just going to pray for you. And then some of you this morning, eight of you, you raise your hand, and you invite Jesus into your heart. Use born again today. And the greatest thing that you could do is come down here this morning, introduce yourself to one of our staff members, leaders around here, and say, you know what? I was born again today, and they’ll pray over you and seal that deal. There’s something about driving a stake in the ground spiritually. Does it make sense? Have you experienced that? I have. Have you experienced that? Absolutely. So this is just an opportunity for you not to let the devil steal anything from you. Take anything back that God’s given you. And this is for you, too, just to seal the deal. So I want you to stand. And the worship team is going to lead us in this song. And as before, they even sing the first word. You come on out, and you come and take one of our leaders by the hand.

God’s morning in this morning. We’ve had just a gentleman come up and just say, you know what, I will get baptized this morning. We go, Heck yeah, you can get baptized, yeah. So they ushered him off, and they’re getting them changed. We got people praying. You know I’m going to ask some more of our leaders to come down front. And here’s the thing. God’s moving, my friends. God wants you to drive a spiritual stake. God doesn’t want you to walk around with burdens and cares of the world. He wants you to be set free from all of that. Drive a stake. Don’t let the devil take back what God’s given you this morning. We intentionally created these spiritual moments this morning so that God could speak to you on a level in a way that we cannot do. All we can do is just create the atmosphere and create the environment for God to do something. And so, father, right now there are people that are white knuckle holding on to the back of the chairs. They’re holding onto their spouse’s hand. They’ve got their hands in their pocket. They’re praying, Dear Lord, let this invitation be over with right now so I don’t have to go forward. But if they sing another song. I’m going to go down. So guess what? We’re going to sing another song. Because God is not through God’s move in this morning, my friends. And listen to me. He brought you here for such a time as this. This morning is to move and to set you free. Experience the comfort and the healing of God this morning as we continue to worship.

That picture right there, that visual picture, is what took place inside of The View this morning with your life is that you were transferred, and when you prayed and received Christ, and he was born again this morning is that your soul was transferred, Scripture says, from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of life or into heaven. Your name went from not being in the books of heaven to be in the book of Heaven. And you know what? You let the world know. And this is how you let the world know that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. And you have been born again. And so. You know, this morning. God’s been here, and we’ve been praying like crazy that God would meet people at a level that we’re not able to meet them at. And he’s done that this morning. Do you believe that? Yeah. And I just want to say to you. That is as we get ready to close out. Your generosity makes everything that we do possible. And folks, let me just say something to you. I unashamedly talk about generosity. Because you know why? Because the very DNA of God is generosity. God is the most generous being in the world because he’s bankrupt heaven, but sending Jesus to the earth to die in her place. God wants us to be generous, and people who go, you know what? I’m not being generous. Wish you would stop talking about it. Don’t understand the very nature of God. And it’s my job to help you to understand the nature of God. God doesn’t need your money. God wants your life, and he can’t have your life. If you trust in reliance and dependence on finances, and this is the reason why we encourage people to join our online giving team, go to our website. You can join and join you join when you sign up for recurring giving where the weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, whatever you want to do and you sign up and you can. It’s safe, it’s secure, and it is simple. And so I’m just gonna keep challenging you because that’s if we’re gonna be like, God, we have to be generous. The second thing is, in two weeks, Dustin DiBella is going to be in the house. Are you excited about Dustin? So, Dustin just won Season 16 of America’s Got Talent. If you watch that season that concluded in the middle of September, he just won that. And he’s going to be our special guest on the 24th for both services in the morning at 9 and 11. Then he’s also going to be at our student service that evening at 6:30. Give it up. Yeah. So the reason why we have this is not to entertain you. The reason why we have this is so that you can leverage Dustin to invite you. The person who needs to start their spiritual journey toward living all in love for Jesus. And so maybe it’s a neighbor or family member or somebody that’s spiritually stuck and say, You know what? Come to church with them. We got a guest speaker, and he’s going to do some magic and do some stuff and, you know, and just invite them to come. It’s a non-threatening way to get them to come rather than just praying like crazy that God will show up and show up that day in their hearts. Right? So I’m going to pray for you. And then then, you’re dismissed. The worship team is going to sing us out as you’re leaving. Father, thank you for meeting us today. Thank you for showing up and showing off. And we’ll give you all the glory in Jesus’s name. Amen. God bless. Have a great day.