- Well, good morning. It's good to be with all of you. Spring has arrived. So isn't that awesome? I rejoice every year. It's just awesome. So it's great to have you with us. And we are about to dive into the study that we have been in. It is called multiplying disciples and it is a study in the book of 2 Timothy. So what I want you to do right up front here is grab a Bible open up to 2 Timothy 1:8 So welcome to all of you here. Welcome to those worshiping with us online and also those that are in our lower gathering area. We wanna dive right into God's word today. This is an incredible book and I'm finding so much in this book that applies to me to our life here at Rockpoint. And today is a big one. So 2 Timothy 1:8. I'll begin reading there in just a few moments. A few years ago, lovely Lynette and I were flying back here to Minneapolis. And I was in the corner by the window, it's one of my favorite seats and I was doing some work. I needed to get some stuff done before we arrived back here in Minneapolis, St. Paul. Lynette was sitting there with her earplugs in or whatever and listening to music. And she was looking over to her left to a young man high capacity guy, which we found out later, who was watching something on his computer. And she was observing evidently there was some subtitles and she was able to figure out this was a movie, a documentary or something on the meaning of life. So she leans over to me and she goes, I think we need to share with this guy. Now I just got comfortable. I'm in my little zone, I'm ready to get some work done and the next thought I had was what are you doing watching his movie? There's boundaries here when you're on an airplane. You're supposed to be focusing on stuff that goes on but her personality is totally different. So as she was watching this, she leans over here and says I think we need to share something with this guy. And I'm like, well, what am I supposed to say? So I said, well, okay. And then she turns to me and I'm the pastor so you need to know that. And she goes, look, something to the effect of, if we knew that they were hungry and needed food and we had the ability to give it to them, wouldn't we do that? Well, at that point it's over because I'm just about gonna miss this divine appointment. So I said, you're right. So we began a fabulous conversation with this guy. High capacity, wasn't born in the United States. He was doing some global kinds of things if I remember correctly and the door just opened up to begin to communicate the gospel. And we had this great conversation. We communicated the gospel. We talked about our faith and he wasn't offended. And it was just this rich opportunity. Now, a couple of thoughts here. First, we all have a sense of apprehension when the opportunity comes up for us to share our faith. Don't forget that. I do, you do, everybody does. There's just that sense of do I step into the zone or do I go back to the world in which I wanna live? But by doing that and by giving in and listening to that voice, we can sometimes miss a divine appointment that God has presented to us. After all why wouldn't we share? It was a divine appointment. And it drives home the central theme of what we're gonna talk about today, do not be ashamed. Paul, the apostle is approaching Timothy at the end of his life and in a loving way but a strong way. He is saying Timothy, don't be ashamed of the good news that you have been given. Look down at verse eight. He says, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a Holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, I love that name, Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. If you go back to verse eight, Paul is driving home do not be ashamed of the gospel or God's people. As I've said, we all experience apprehension at some point for those of us that are followers of Christ and an opportunity comes up to share our faith. I'm not so sure it totally ever 100% goes away. Now, maybe you've got a certain personality where it might but in many cases it doesn't. And I've had the opportunity to share Christ in a variety of different settings and locations and I'm not sure it totally all the time goes away. We wonder what should we share? We wonder is this the right moment? And how bold do I get? Do I just force it? And I might trying to hog tie the individual and get them down or has the Holy spirit really given me an opportunity to communicate the hope? We all have those kinds of questions. And Paul says the word in verse eight. He says, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony. That word for testimony means objective truth. It means historically accurate, truthful, objective truth about the good news of Jesus Christ. And he says, first and foremost, it's a gift of God's grace given to us. Notice what he says in verse nine. He says, this is the God who saved us and called us to a Holy calling. Not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and his grace it was given to us as unmerited favor. Something we needed more than anything and yet we deserved it the least. Now this is the end of Paul's life. Here's how he says it in Ephesians 2:8-9. I love these two verses. For by grace, notice that it's a gift, you have been saved through faith. So it's a gift given to me, that's grace. However, it is through the exercising of my faith, my turning, my trusting in Christ alone. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, here he makes it even clear, not a result of works so that no one may boast. It's not because I earned it. It's not because I've done something. It has absolutely nothing to do with me. Salvation is a marvelous gift of God's grace based on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He conquered sin. He conquered death. He offers that to us as a gift and it's by faith or trust in Christ alone as a person. He's the one that paid the price for my sin. He's the one that rose from the grave. He's the only one that can take me to heaven by his works and not my own. And there's a calling here that he saves us. A calling to live a Holy life. He says here, and none of that is by our works. It's all done by the very power of God. And Paul is delighted and excited to communicate the message even at the end of his life. When kids get gifts at Christmas and birthdays and you know this as parents or grandparents, they are so excited to show the gift off. If they get a ping pong table, if they get a Foos ball, they call in the friends, come on over, let's play with the new X-Box, whatever version. It's like 95 now or something, I don't know. But you get all this fun. They just are so delighted. Now, when you think about this from a spiritual perspective, the fact that it is a gift from God, it removes any sense of entitlement in our lives, anything. Anything is better than judgment in hell for all eternity, anything. It is the fact that you and I deserve hell itself. You and I deserve judgment. The truth of the good news of Jesus Christ begins with bad news. And the bad news is you and I are sinners deserving of hell and separation from God for all eternity. And the wonder of God's grace is that he looked at you and said, I love you enough to send my son to die for you and come back to life again so that we could have a personal relationship with one another because I wanna save you for all eternity. That is a remarkable gift. And when you and I put our faith and our trust in Christ alone as savior and Lord, he changes us as we've talked about in this series, from the inside out. He changes our motives. He changes our motivations. He changes our hearts, desire and cry to follow him. That's the idea. And Paul also says it is a message of hope and new life. Look down at verse 10. He unpacks the gospel here. Really is what he's doing. And gospel means good news. And he says, all of this has been made manifested through the appearing of Jesus. He's the one, he's our savior. And then I love this, who abolished death and brought life in immortality. The only hope we have is through the gospel. It is Jesus Christ who said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. There is no other hope, folks, for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. There's one way, that's it. It's through Christ. And if you're a follower of Jesus, you know that way. And Paul is saying, now you can not be ashamed of gospel. You have to tell others about it because it's the only hope that they have. If your friend was threatened with their life and you had the answer for them, what would you do? You would tell them. We see this classically illustrated over in Germany during World War II. When what happened? Many individuals came to rescue the Jewish people. Why? Because they knew their life was at stake. And you know what they did? They put their own life on the line to do so. And that leads us right into the next point. The invitation that, hey guys, don't be ashamed of the gospel. It's a gift. It's the message of hope. And here it is. It's an invitation to suffer together for sake of the gospel. Because Paul says it over and over and over again throughout this book. We are going to share in the suffering he says, at the end of verse eight. And I must say that I believe that persecution and suffering for the gospel, not just trials and difficulties, but persecution, suffering for the gospel is going to be on the rise in the days ahead in our Western culture here in the United States. We're already beginning to see it take place. It's the first century. So you know what? We should welcome it. Go back to the book of Acts. You'll have a layout. You'll have a playbook on how to respond with boldness and courage and begin to pray in the midst of all of these times. It is an unprecedented, incredible opportunity that the rest of the world has been facing and it's now coming here. And some of you that travel around the globe know exactly what I'm saying. What an opportunity we have to communicate the message of Christ. It's coming. Now, it starts with this idea that people are gonna think the message that you offer them is absolutely crazy and nonsense. Just little history here. In the Greek and Roman mindset, they thought the resurrection was absolutely nuts. And the reason is because anything tangible matter or body is absolutely detestable as based on Plato's thoughts. And so their idea was that, when you die you're freed from this nonsense, this detestable flesh. And any concept of the soul being reunited with a resurrection body was nonsense. That's why when Paul goes to Athens, when Paul travels around Asia Minor, when Paul stands before officials, they look at him and say, Paul, you're out of your mind. You're absolutely nuts. Well, that's the idea. It's because they just couldn't conceive of it. Now, can you relate to that? I'm gonna tell you, there's gonna come a point in your life where you share Christ with someone and they're gonna look at you like you are absolutely out of your mind. Timid Timothy faced that. He was a pastor in the church of Ephesus. Do a little historical research as to the context of what was going on in that city. And Paul was encouraging him to have courage. Paul was facing death and Timothy should as well. And I'll tell you, when I consider what believers are facing around the globe, it puts my situation in perspective. And if they can face death sitting in a prison cell, I can certainly face being shunned by friends when I communicate the gospel of Jesus. Wow. And he says, all of this can be done by the very power of God. He brings it up in verse eight. We are to suffer with by the power of God. He brings it up in verse 14. Again, Paul was convinced in his own life that courage did not come to him simply by human grit. It came by the very power of God. So whether you are Timothy or someone else this point is have courage. And that came when he submitted his life to the master, the call of go and make disciples. Our message of hope found in Jesus Christ, the message of truth that we live by that's found in all 66 books of the pages that are found in the word of God is going to increasingly be at odds with our culture. But the incredible news is this. That shows the contrast between what we hold and what others hold. And I'm telling you, the more that that contrast is spoken of the more you're going to surface in people's lives, especially those that the Holy Spirit is working, a desire to change their life. That's the opportunity we have. The gray's gone. I would rather have a black and white world. And the reason is because then when I live out my faith there are others that say, I want what you have. And you need to tell me what that is because I don't like my life this way. If I took you to a slum in Africa, if I took you to a slum in Haiti, you will meet people 100% guarantee who look at you as an American who's got all kinds of wealth and they would gladly in a second transfer and trade everything that they've got in their life with your life. And the reason is because they look at all you have and all they have and in a moment, they're basically saying I don't wanna live this way. And I'll tell you what, I've met people and they will say, when someone shared the gospel with me, when someone shared the message of Jesus Christ with my mom and our family came to know Jesus, you know what the statement is? Why didn't somebody tell us this earlier? They're just waiting for an open door. And Paul now says, even in the suffering. That's the platform that oftentimes God uses to communicate the message of Christ. Paul had a particular suffering that he went through. And yes he faced persecution and beatings and stonings and unbelievable what this guy. His body was broken down by the time he got to the end of his life. But he also prayed for healing. God doesn't heal everyone. Sometimes he does. But oftentimes he uses that in our lives. And he certainly did with Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 and 10 he says it this way, but he said to me, after praying, God would you please heal me? Would you please heal me of this ailment? He says, he said to me, God said to me, notice this, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Do you know what he's saying here? He's saying in the midst of all of this, in the midst of the suffering, God has now given me a platform to communicate the message of Jesus Christ. Our suffering is oftentimes used to communicate the message of Jesus Christ to our world. We don't do it alone either. Because he says in verse eight, don't be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. We do this together. This is in community. That's why it's such a big deal here at Rockpoint. We want you to join in relationships so that as we share the message of Jesus Christ, as we go and make disciples, we do so in the context of community. I think one of the main reasons why Timothy goes into 15 through 18 talking about Onesiphorus is because timid Timothy could easily look at the great apostle Paul and say, Paul, I'm not like you. I'm not that bold. I don't know what to do and I think there's indications throughout this book that Timothy was timid. And so Paul says, okay, don't look at me. By the way it's by the power of God. But look at this guy, Onesiphorus. Don't you love that name? Onesiphorus. He's not a pastor. He's not an apostle. He not a preacher. He is simply a guy that we don't know much about him but I'll tell you what? He wasn't ashamed of Paul and he wasn't ashamed of the gospel. And we find out later, Luke wasn't either and Paul is saying, look at him. Look at me and look at him. Timothy, this is our obligation to go. And then he says, don't forget this one. Remember your divine appointment 'cause we all have them. Just like I did, just like you do in different ways. Paul, it says if you'll look down at verse 11. He says, Timothy, you need to understand I was appointed. I was appointed. That means Paul was given a specific reason and a purpose that God saved him and a strategy and a plan. You and I have been placed on this planet and called to make disciples. That is the call. Jesus said, go and make disciples in Matthew 28. That's what we have to do. It's sharing Christ. And God has chosen you, saved you, He's living his life through you through a Holy calling and he's asking you to pass on that light to other people, family members, coworkers, whoever that might be, whoever crosses your path, that constitutes your mission field so that you can be a light for Jesus Christ. And he describes it with three words. He says, my mission field was appointed to me as a preacher. Now, don't be scared by that word. It simply means that Paul was given the truth about Jesus, commissioned to go out and proclaim or communicate the truth about Jesus Christ. That's his point. And that God was gonna provide protection for him. He gave him a message and he was to carry that message of peace even into enemy territory. Why? Because it's a message that delivers people from the of sin. It's the only hope that they have. And then he says, not only is he a proclaimer, he says he's an apostle. He says, preacher and apostle. Now that's a small a. We've talked earlier that Paul was given the big A office of apostleship. We're not but we're still given the little a, commissioned to go. The word apostle means sent out as a missionary into our life, into your mission field. You're a missionary, I'm a missionary. Wherever we go, it has to be a lifestyle. That's the idea. And then he says, I was also given the task of being a teacher. Teacher is communicating truth. Disciple means learner. If you are to make disciples, that means you're the teacher who's creating learners by sharing Christ and helping them grow in their faith. That's the idea. And then helping them to do the same. It's passing it on. The point here is that we all have a responsibility. When God brings up those divine appointments we all have a responsibility to communicate Christ. If you go over to 2 Timothy, we'll be back here in several weeks, but go to chapter four. I want you to notice verse five. 2 Timothy 4:5. Paul says this, as for you always be sober-minded , endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry. Timothy, as a pastor was given the responsibility to communicate his faith. You and I are given the responsibility to communicate our faith and make disciples. We may not have the gift of evangelism but we all have the responsibility to communicate the hope that we have. So it goes from person to person to person. Paul did Timothy, Timothy would others down all the way to the point to where you and I heard the message of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they faithfully passed it on. We help others grow regardless. Now, some have been given the gift of evangelism. I met a guy over in China. Came to Christ within the first couple of months of his life with Jesus Christ. He led 300 to 400 people to Christ. I would say that's the gift of evangelism. Billy Graham definitely had the gift of evangelism. Josh McDowell definitely has the gift. Somebody that we know here in SwinCity is Nick Hall who's ahead of Pulse Ministries. Communicating Christ. A thousands of individuals have given their lives to Jesus Christ, specifically targeting those that are 30 and under. He's got the gift of evangelism. And by the way, he's gonna be speaking here May the ninth. So we got him. You're gonna wanna hear that. It's just starts off our Rockpoint reaching together. It's a fabulous opportunity for us. These individuals do but I'll tell you what, not all of us have that gifting but we all have the responsibility to share Christ. Now that may come through suffering. That might be your platform. It's hard to understand why certain people have ailments and struggles and difficulties. And I'll tell you, we know some it's just like a trial, after trial, after trial in their life. But many of them use that as an opportunity to share Jesus Christ. If they've got cancer, they go get their chemo treatment. You know what they're doing there? They're talking with other people. They're trying to build relationships with those they're coming in contact with. It's hard to know why God takes us through suffering and pain and difficulties but those are opportunities to communicate the message of Jesus Christ. It might be in a friendship. It might be in your neighborhood. It might be walking across your lawn or your driveway and communicating Jesus Christ. And here it is, it might simply be planting a seed in someone's life that you're gonna come back to. I've been talking with individuals for over the course of years and one of them in particular and not given his life to Christ yet but we're still praying and talking and communicating. And there's been open doors. You never know what is going to happen. Start praying for people. Start praying for those in your relationships. Start praying for them in your neighborhood. Now, there are some within Rockpoint Church that are doing this and I call them lifetime missionaries. It doesn't matter where I drop ship them into the world, they are missionaries. You could send them over to Mongolia. They're missionaries. You place them in a neighborhood and we've got people in Rockpoint that are doing this right now. They are cultivating relationships within their neighborhood. They are building care relationships, they're talking to people, they're having barbecues, they're offering opportunities to pray with them, to communicate Christ with them. And lo and behold, the Holy spirit begins to generate and they have opportunities to communicate Christ. The point is, it's a lifestyle. This past week I just had another opportunity. I started a conversation with somebody we were doing a business transaction. I'll just put it that way. And you know what happened? They just came right out and they said, well, I was supposed to die last year. Bingo, divine appointment. Pay attention. And you know what? I don't even know what I said. I was just like, okay, wow, what a conversation? I didn't say anything. She says, well, but I'm not. So my reaction was, praise the Lord. And I didn't know how she's gonna react to that. So we had the conversation and finally at the end of it I said, can I just pray for you? I'll tell you what. You can talk to an atheist, agnostic, somebody who is diametrically opposed to what you believe. But if you simply say, can I pray for you? They will more than likely 99.9% say, absolutely. So you know what I've started to do, I pray for them. And then you know what I do? I put the gospel in there. That's an opportunity. You just start praying, build the gospel into the prayer so that now it's not offensive. And you know what? They get away from that and they look at me and smile and then I had an opportunity and we'll take it from there. But that's enough of that story. You know what? You just never know. So here's the questions. What do you like to do in life? What's your hobby? Oftentimes those can be opportunities for you to begin to build bridges with others that like those hobbies so that you can start sharing Christ with them. You begin to pray for opportunities to come up. What do you find as points of commonality with those that you're at work? Maybe it's before work, lunchtime or after work, whatever that situation, maybe it's on a business trip with a group of people. You find points of commonality and you begin to pray and God all of a sudden starts opening up doors to organically begin to communicate the message of Jesus Christ. And then Paul begins to wrap it up. He says, I want you to guard the gospel, Timothy. Don't be ashamed. Remember you've been given divine appointments in life. We all have, they're right there for us. Now you need to guard this gospel. He says in verse 12, I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. His point is I've given Jesus Christ my life. My eternal life is secure in him. He's guarding it. And he's now given me that message, that hope, the good news of Jesus Christ to guard it, make sure it's accurate and then hand that off to other people like you, Timothy who needs to hand it off to others as well. That's his point? Look at chapter two verse 15 We'll be here in a few weeks. Once again, these themes are similar as Paul is looking at the end of his life. And he says in verse 15, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, notice this, a worker who has no need to be ashamed. Why? Rightly handling the word of truth. Get in to the scriptures, Paul. Understand the truth about the good news. Because the more you understand that it is a testimony, objective truth, historically accurate, the more you get to know Jesus Christ personally and he changes your life, the more excited, bold, and motivated you're going to be by the power of the Holy spirit to communicate that truth even in the midst of suffering. Don't be ashamed of any of this. It's why we are so committed here at Rockpoint to the truth that's found in God's word. It's why we are so committed to being a part of a denomination. Many of you perhaps don't even know we're part of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Wonderful denomination committed to the gospel, the truth of what God speaks. Why? Because we wanna guard the good news of Jesus Christ. We're not giving up on the truth that is found in this word. Why? Well, because the gospel is true. Paul knows it's true. He says, I am not ashamed, verse 12 for, do you notice this? I know. He knew it. Not just here. He knew it here. He knew it in his heart. That's the idea of what Paul's after. Acts chapter nine, go back and read it. He met the risen Christ. It transformed his life. And now he's running around Asia Minor communicating the message of Jesus Christ. And quite frankly, you can read at the end of the book of Acts in Acts 26. He's standing on his way going over to Rome. He's standing in Cesarea, maritime Cesarea. It's over by the coast. It's the port where he was gonna be shipped off to Rome. And he's standing in front of King Agrippa who is the great, great grandson of Herod the great and he's communicating Christ boldly to these guys and he actually says, it's rational and it's true. As a matter of fact, Paul in chains is looking at these guys and after he spent a couple of years in prison. And he says, you want to be a Christian? He's just so bold. And they actually look at him. One of the other officials says, Paul you've absolutely gone mad. Why? Because it just didn't make sense to them. But Paul stood there and he says, no, I want you to understand the hope that I have 'cause it's the hope that you need. Paul knew it was true. He told Timothy it's true. Paul was not a prisoner of Rome. He was not a prisoner of Nero. He was not a prisoner of Caesar. He was a prisoner and he says it right there in Acts 26, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And if it is Jesus Christ that has appointed me for a purpose to go to jail, I'm gonna preach the gospel there like nobody has ever seen before. And sure enough he did and people came to Christ. Why? Because he was a lifetime missionary. He was not ashamed to communicate Christ. And then he says, Timothy, just be aware of this 'cause I know your personalities may be a little different than mine, trust the power of the Holy Spirit. He says in verse eight, he says it here, trust the power of the Holy Spirit who will guide you and give you the ability to understand the scriptures as you study to show yourself approved. In chapter two, he tells him, it'll be the spirit of God that gives you the power to be bold and stand up and to communicate the message of Christ. I've had a few times the privilege of praying before the opening session of the State House of Representatives before they start their session. And on one particular occasion I was there with another individual who, they're members of Rockpoint, a former state representative and as I was standing there getting ready, you have to write out your prayers and they always evaluate them. And the individual that was on staff, I'm not gonna say any names, but they came up to me and said, there are people who are sensitive about what you say. And the reason is because at the end of my prayer, I said in Jesus name. And so what she was trying to say in so many words, people may object and dah, dah, dah, dah or whatever it was. So we said in Jesus' name. That's exactly what we did. So there are times in which I face, regardless of whether it's praying with somebody who doesn't know Jesus, praying with somebody or sharing the gospel on an airplane, we all face that moment. And quite frankly, I believe it's of Satan. And here's the reason why. He doesn't want you to share your faith. So he's gonna do everything he possibly can to discourage you. Don't listen to those words. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to follow these practical steps as you walk through what it means to engage in this world. Be ready to share your faith. 1 Peter 3:15 tells you to be ready to give an answer for what you believe. If you need help with that, would you please let us know. We have little booklets back there called good news, bad news. You can pick them up at our connection center. You can contact us on our website. We present the gospel in written form on our website. We're gonna have a gospel presentation coming up on our website. So you'll have an easy way to access it. But we want you to engage, and in the midst of sharing your faith, here's how you can get ready. Just tell them about your life before Christ. Tell them about what it means to turn and trust Jesus as savior and Lord and then share with them the change that it's brought about in your life. Just deal with those three things. And there's this gospel collision that happens between your life and the grace that's been given to you. You just open up and share your story. You gotta be ready to do that. Once you are ready, you begin to pray. Now I'm not saying you haven't already started to pray. Prayer needs to be this whole time here, but now you're praying specifically, God, would you open up doors for me to share my faith with someone. He has to be the one that begins to convict hearts. He has to be the one that draws them. It's his work, not yours. We covered that this morning. As you begin to pray then look for an opportunity to care for them. Why? Because you want them to know that you're their friend. And as you begin to build that friendship they may reject your message, they may not be ready. But I'll tell you what? There's gonna come a point in their life where God may take them through something and then who are they gonna turn to? You wanna be there? So you begin the process of praying. I'd encourage you to walk through your neighborhood. I'd encourage you to begin to care for people in your neighborhood and talk to them and communicate to them in the midst of whatever they're going through. And then you begin to have opportunities as God opens them to share this message you're prepared to share. And then once you communicate Christ, here is the last step. Tell another believer what you've done, do it in your life group, do it in your community. Why? Because that'll allow them to pray for you and encourage you to communicate Christ to our world. And here's my closing statement. If you've been here, you've been listening online and you're wondering what do I with this? I really don't even know for certain I'm a follower of Jesus because I don't know if I've ever given my life to Jesus Christ. I've been thinking it might be if I get to heaven, the good outweighs the bad and I get in. I wanna be crystal clear here. You need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you're not sure you have one that happens the moment you acknowledge that you are a sinner, missed God's mark of perfect perfection and you need forgiveness. I can't convince you of that. Only God's spirit can. But once you come to that point in your life, it's at that moment that you repent and turn to Christ. You repent of sin and self and you turn to Jesus as the only one who paid the price for your sin and rose from the grave. And you transfer your trust in him as a person who paid the price for your sin and rose from the grave. And as you trust in him alone as savior and Lord he will come into your life and transform you and change you so that you can become a light to other people. Would you close your eyes and pray with me. Regardless of where you are in this room, our lower gathering area, you're worshiping with us online, I just want you to quiet your hearts for a moment. Ignore the distractions around us. If you are that last person I just talked to and you have no assurance that you are forgiven and going to heaven, the assurance comes the moment you trust Christ as savior and Lord. And that happens in that moment. And you can use your own prayer to do this, your own words. But in essence it's this, God I'm coming to you because I believe I'm a sinner and I believe my sin deserves to be punished. I don't wanna be separated from you and I want forgiveness. And so in this moment of time I am repenting and turning of myself and my sin and I am turning to you, Lord Jesus. I confess with my mouth right now and my heart that Jesus you died on the cross for my sin and rose from the grave and I am asking you by trusting you and turning to you to be my savior and my Lord. Thank you for saving me. And father for all of us that have made that choice, we thank you that you have given us new life to be bold, to no longer be ashamed, to now go into our world and communicate the only hope that people need in this moment, in this time, in this place in history so that they can have their eternal address changed for ever and transfer their citizenship from hell to heaven because of their hope and faith in Christ. And it is in Christ alone we pray. Amen.