Speaker 1: 0:00

Have you ever been trying to be helpful to someone? You were trying to be a good friend, you tried to help someone out and it just backfired on you. It just didn't work out the way you wanted. Okay, here you go. Long story short, my sister-in-law had to move out of her apartment and she asked me to help her move. Now, I hate to move. That's one of my least favorite things to do. Okay, so if you are moving anytime soon, don't call me, I'm joking. You can call me, I'll be there for you, but anyways, I hate moving. And so I said you know what? I'm going to be helpful, I'm going to be a good brother-in-law. And so I rallied a couple of guys and we went over to her apartment and we went to help her move. Okay, so, but here you go, because I didn't want to do it. I really don't like it.

Speaker 1: 0:43

I was moving fast, ok, so we got there, we're just throwing things in the boxes, we're bringing it to the U-Haul. Finally, I go upstairs and I see that she has this desk. And I see she has a desk and I say, ok, I need to get this desk. But I was feeling the best way to say it, I was feeling motivated and lazy at the same time. I don't know if you ever had that feeling Like I'm ready to do it. I'm moving fast and lazy at the same time. So I grab the desk, I take the drawer out and, instead of, like a normal person, just packing it and bringing it down, I take the drawer out and I say I'm bringing this whole thing down, okay. So I grab the middle drawer and it's like this big, you know this big I'm walking and I'm walking down the stairs, but I can't even see what's in front of me. And as I'm going down the stairs, bam, I miss a step and my ankle bends in a way that ankles aren't supposed to bend, and I scream I broke my ankle. I broke my ankle. I said some other words that I can't say at church, there too. But so the drawer flew in there, I fall on the ground, I lay all out and I'm scrapping my ankles. Luckily, one of the guys helping us was a nurse and he ran over to me, but I was in. I was in full blown dramatic mode. I was like my ankles are broke. I can't see, I can't hear. Somebody help me. I was ready for my Oscar, okay. And so here you go.

Speaker 1: 2:07

Here's the crazy part to this story. I'm laying there, my ankle starts swelling up and they called the ambulance. They called 911. They called the ambulance to come get me. And here you go, these three firemen come in and these dudes were buff, like straight from a calendar or something like that. And they walk in and they look at me and I can sense their judgment. I can sense that they're judging me because I'm laid all out like my ankle I can't never walk again. And they look at me and I'm like OK, whatever, here's the most humiliating part. They come and they bring one of those gurneys and they strap me y'all. They strap me like they're about to lift me off of Mount Everest and they strap me to this gurney and the whole time I'm saying, oh, this is the worst pain I ever experienced in my life. I don't know, I'm going to make it. I'm like this is the big one, elizabeth, I'm coming home. That's how it was. And so they bring me in the ambulance.

Speaker 1: 2:59

The crazy part where the apartment is and where the hospital was Once. The crazy part where the apartment is and where the hospital was. It was a five-minute drive. I could just went in the back of someone's car, but they bring me there, they bring me to the back. My mother-in-law works at the hospital, so she got me VIP access. And so here you go I'm back there, being dramatic as can be a long time in the hospital.

Speaker 1: 3:22

They end up walking up to me and they tell me. They say, mr Gaines? I said yes, tell me. Give me the information easy, please. I said, mr Gaines, you didn't break your ankle. They said it's barely a sprain. I said next time I'm going to help by hiring movers. Okay, that's going to be my, that's my next thing. But I was trying to be helpful, man, by hiring movers. Okay, that's gonna be my next thing, but I was trying to be helpful. Man, don't judge me. I know I'm dramatic. Okay, but for real, have you ever tried to help someone and it didn't work out the way you want it? Here's the truth. Here's the truth.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Today, we're gonna talk about help. We're gonna talk about what it looks like. We're gonna talk about this four-letter word named help. Four-letter word named help. And when it comes to help, everyone feels a little different about it. Everyone has a different little feeling about it. You've got the stereotypical guy right who doesn't want to, who's lost, and they don't want to ask for directions. Or they get some Ikea furniture and they think they can put the Ikea furniture together without looking at the instructions. Jesus was a carpenter and I think he would need the instructions on how to put Ikea furniture together, okay.

Speaker 1: 4:28

Or you may have the overly helpful new grandma who keeps giving unwanted helpful tips on how to raise a baby. The baby may be crying. Grandma comes over and says oh, the poor baby, they must be teething. You want to know what you need to do? Just get some whiskey. Get the whiskey, rub it all on his gums, because whiskey is good for teething, it's good for headaches, it's good if you're having a bad day. Thanks, grandma, we know, we know.

Speaker 1: 4:58

But what do we do when we need help, when we need help? When it comes to help, sometimes we find ourselves looking to the wrong thing for help. We can find ourselves going to the wrong direction An inconsistent friend or an inconsistent spouse. We may find help through an addiction, scrolling mindlessly on your phone or even cable news. Here's the truth. All of us, every one of us, need help. We all need help, whether it's learning a new job, if you're entering into a new season of life. You need help to navigate that, growing in your spiritual walk with God. You need help Learning how to be a good spouse, a good friend or a good parent. We all need hope.

Speaker 1: 5:44

Now the psalm writer says this. He says this in Psalm 121. Now there's two ways to read this verse. You know when he says I lift my eyes to the mountains. Now, to us that might sound kind of like just some poetic language, but to the psalm writer it's loaded. It's a loaded statement.

Speaker 1: 6:06

See, in ancient Israel, mountains symbolized strength. They symbolized stability. They symbolized things that were strong and never going to look down. So to look up at a mountain, it means it's unshakable. And maybe some of you have your own mountains, things you look to when life gets tough, those places that you think will help you when everything else is falling down.

Speaker 1: 6:33

But here's the thing the psalmist is looking past this mountain because he knows that even though the mountain is big and strong, it can't actually help him. Then the other thing people used to go up to the high places to worship idols. They would go to the high places trying to find some kind of connection to the meaning of life, some kind of connection, something that can help them. They were looking for answers from anything but God. They would climb those hills hoping to find comfort and guidance from things that could never deliver. Sounds kind of familiar to us, doesn't it? Well, don't we do that?

Speaker 1: 7:10

So the psalmist is making a statement I'm not looking to what the world looks to, I'm not putting my hope in the idols or the culture or whatever else, or what everyone else is running after. He's saying my help doesn't come from the mountains. Instead, instead, he's saying my help comes from the one who makes the mountains, my help comes from the mountain maker. He's looking beyond and past the mountains to one who can actually help him. He's looking for the creator instead of the created. He says my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Jesus even talks about this. Jesus talks about this.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Jesus told the disciples, after they couldn't do a miracle, that they didn't understand why they couldn't do it. And Jesus says this to them. He says this. He told them I tell you the truth. If you have faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move from here to there, and it would move nothing. Nothing would be impossible.

Speaker 1: 8:22

So the question I must ask us today is this when does your help come from? Where does your help come from? I'm going to have some fun with this. Okay, I'm going to give us four tips on how to get help from God by breaking down the word help. Okay, I was very proud of myself when I wrote this.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Okay, so here you go, starting with the H H hope beyond the world's solutions. Hope beyond the world's solutions. Hope, man. Hope is a powerful thing. Hope is a powerful thing. But the problem with hope is sometimes we put our hope in the wrong things. Sometimes we put our hope in the wrong things. For example, as many of you know, we have a pretty big event happening this Tuesday, don't? We People are like, what's happening? Here's the thing, here's the thing, here's the thing that troubles me with Jesus followers when things like this happen. So many Jesus followers have their hope in whoever wins this election. Now, here you go.

Speaker 1: 9:12

I'm not going to downplay the seriousness of people's views and values and what you're voting for and all that stuff. I'm not going to downplay it. It's very serious. And can I pastor you for a second? Can I pastor? I encourage you to go out and vote and to pray and ask God to lead you in that, okay.

Speaker 1: 9:28

But what I want to say, if I can be completely honest, neither one of the people running for office should be your carrier of hope. They should not be the carrier of your hope and if they are, you will be disappointed. You will be disappointed. But let me level it up one I should never be your hope. Like I love the pastor, I love to preach, I love to give spiritual wisdom and I hope you learn from the church, but don't put your hope in me. I'm going to disappoint you. Please don't put your hope in LVC'm going to disappoint you. Please don't put your hope in LVC. Like I want you to be a part of this church, I want you to be fully engaged in the life and mission of this church. But the church is full of a bunch of messy people and so if you put your hope in the church, you will be disappointed. You're going to be disappointed.

Speaker 1: 10:22

Jesus. Jesus actually tells us very clearly where we should put our hope, where we should put our hope, and this verse I'm about to read. If you've been following Jesus for any length of time, you know this, you know this verse. You know this verse so well that you're desensitized to it. It's like white noise to you. But Jesus tells us this. He says this this resurrected Jesus says before, before his ascension to the right hand of God. He says then Jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Speaker 1: 10:59

When Jesus says all authority, he's not talking about some authority, he's talking about all authority. He's not talking about some authority, he's talking about all authority. He says all authority and he isn't talking about a little influence or a little power here and there. This is comprehensive authority over everything, every corner of reality, not just here on earth, but in heaven as well. Jesus. Jesus is making a bold, sweeping claim to ultimate authority over the entire cosmos. This includes authority over the seen and unseen, the physical and the spiritual, every power, every government, every nation, every system. And here's what's beautiful about this. And here's what's beautiful about this For Jesus' disciples, both back then and for us today.

Speaker 1: 11:48

His authority isn't just a theological concept. No, it's the foundation of our mission and our hope. We're not operating out of fear or out of anxiety or under the weight of our own strength. We are stepping into the work of God's kingdom under his authority. Because he said it, we can do it. Because he lived it. We can follow him, his authority. So everything we do, we take, is within the realm of his sovereignty. That's why we have hope. It's not because it's not because of what we can do or what others can do for us, or hope. True hope, it's always rooted in Jesus, it's anchored in Him, anchored in Him.

Speaker 1: 12:41

So there's a story in the gospel about a woman who lost hope. Who lost hope? She had a bleeding disease for 12 years and, being a Jewish woman, because of her disease she couldn't participate in temple worship. So she was excluded from the church. To make it a little bit more modernized, to make it a little bit more current, she had some church hurt. She had church hurt. She was excluded, judged by her community. And because she had church hurt text says this she suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and has spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.

Speaker 1: 13:21

So her hope. So, because she had church hurt, she went to the world to find hope. But the world let her down too. Excluded from community, hope of the world's solutions didn't work out for her. What is she to do? She's in the middle of give up or desperation. She's caught in the middle of. She can either give up on life, give up on herself, call it quits, or she can get desperate for change.

Speaker 1: 13:49

So she looked to the mountains, but her hope didn't come from the mountains. Instead, she heard Jesus was walking through. She heard Jesus was passing by her town and she heard about the miracles and the signs and wonders that he has performed. She heard that he forgave sins. And she did something crazy. She reached out for help and in her case, help could have led to death. Because of her disease, because of her condition, if she was caught in a massive crowd of people which Jesus had thousands of people follow him at this point in his ministry. If she was caught and discovered by the law of Moses, she would have been subject to being stoned to death. So her reaching out for help could have led to death. And here's the thing, though. Here's the thing that sounds intense, but I want you to be encouraged by this woman's desperate faith, because if you're dealing with anxiety or fear, or an addiction or shame, you find yourself trapped to reach out for help. Man, that can feel pretty scary, right, scary like death is an easier option. But she, she did something that I want us to see. Mark 5 says when she heard about Jesus and again, remember, she tried everything else. She tried the world's solutions and it did not work. She grew worse. She came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak because she thought if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. And immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. Hope is when our hope is in Jesus and Jesus alone. It's when it's in Jesus alone which leads to E. We got to embrace surrender Again.

Speaker 1: 16:01

In our culture today, we don't like to use words like surrender. We don't like to use those kind of words. But the truth is the truth. Can I be honest? If you're not surrendered to Jesus, you're surrendered to something else. If you're not surrendered to Jesus, don't act like oh, I'm my own independent thinker, I got my own thought. No, you're just following someone else's trend to be their own independent thinker. I got my own thought. No, you're just following someone else's trend to be their own independent thinker. No, you're surrendered to something. And here you go, because we're made to worship. We are made to worship, and you want to know what worship is? It's because, like, what does that mean? We're made to worship? Worship is whatever we hold up in front of us and fix our eyes on. And we hold up in front of us and fix our eyes on, and wherever we fix our eyes on, we become. We become what we worship. That's why, when we worship Jesus, we can become more like Jesus. And so here you go. We got to embrace this surrender, because the truth is, if we're not surrendered to Jesus, you may be surrendering to your deception of control, thinking that you actually are in control. You may be in surrender to your political views or your own ability to be a high performer, or the numbers in your bank account, or the idolatry of the love of man. Here's the truth, though. When we focus on Jesus, we can become like him. It's kind of like this, it's kind of this A month or so ago, aaron and I went on a date and we did a rock climbing date.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Come on, we were trying to shake it up instead of just going out for dinner. We said let's do something fun, and so we went rock climbing. So we go to this rock climbing place that's down the street from here and we have to watch all these warning videos about how not to die while doing this. It's a lighthearted Dave, very lighthearted, and so we get all of our gear, we get all of our stuff on, and then the instructor takes us to the wall and shows us how to hook up to the rope, how to hook up to the harness, to the safety harness, and then he says, okay, what you got to do is you got to climb the wall. And then, when you get to the top, you just got to let go and fall down, because the rope will actually guide you slowly down.

Speaker 1: 18:07

And so, me, being the ultimate gentleman, I say ladies first. And so Aaron hooks up and she begins to climb up, and she's so athletic and beautiful Again, again, I'm just, I'm a blessed man and so she's climbing up, she gets to the top and the instructor says, all right, let go. And Aaron, let's go. And she does it, and the thing guides her down. She made it look easy. I said, wow, ok, that was impressive.

Speaker 1: 18:27

And then it's my turn, ok. So I said, all right, I hook up and I begin to climb, and the first thing I notice while I begin to climb, my forearms hurt. I say, okay, this is a lot more forearm strength than I recognize. And I'm climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing. I get to the top and the instructor says, all right, let go. And so here I am, I grab the rocks and I'm ready to let go, and I poke my butt out. I said, wait, wait, wait, I'm ready. All right, all right, here I go. Here I go, just count me down. They count me down and I go and I'm holding on.

Speaker 1: 19:04

Still, here's the thing. Here's the thing I know, I know in my head I am hooked up to this machine. I know in my head that I am safe. I know that I am not gonna fall to my doom if I let go of this thing. But even though I know it, I don't know it. Even though I know it, I can't embrace the surrender to this machine, and I got to say something about that.

Speaker 1: 19:32

When it comes to our faith in God, we may know, yeah, god's for me. I read it in the Bible one time. But until you know God is for you not just know in your head, but know in your heart you'll always catch yourself like this Butt out, looking crazy Going to trust God and finally, after about six or seven attempts, I did let go and I went down the way I was supposed to be, which makes me think about this. Which makes me think about this why can we surrender? Why can we surrender? Two reasons why we can embrace surrender. One it strengthens your faith muscles. It strengthens your faith muscles the more you surrender to God, the easier it becomes to surrender to God. Here you go.

Speaker 1: 20:14

I truly believe that people aren't just like not wanting to surrender to God. I think that's a problem, but I think, for the most part, we want to live for what God has for us. We want to trust in God. The problem is not that we don't want to trust in God. The problem is our faith muscles are weak. Our faith muscles aren't as strong as they need to be. Tithe in 10%. Big faith muscle. Going to marriage counseling when your marriage is having a hard time. Big faith muscles Dating again. Big faith muscles Making a career change that can require big faith muscles. Going back to what Jesus said earlier though a little faith can move big mountains. This is the truth. Using a little faith over and over and over and over, getting those reps in will help you get bigger faith muscles. Reps in will help you get bigger faith muscles. And so next time, next time the mountain is in front of you well, that mountain looks pretty small compared to the size of my God.

Speaker 1: 21:10

Then the second thing, the reason why we can embrace surrender. It says God's guidance always comes with our faith. God's guidance always comes with our faith. Here's the beautiful thing about faith. God guides us along the pathway. Yes, there are times that we got to take leaps of faith and jumps of faith and we're not really sure what's going to happen on the other side of it, but oftentimes God is just inviting us to walk with Him.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Galatians 5 says like this since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. What is that saying? When I take steps of faith, I'm walking beside God's guidance. I'm partnering with the Holy Spirit to do what God is doing. Faith is keeping in step with the Spirit, not falling behind and not trying to get too far ahead, but walking in step, which leads me to L Okay. So H is we're going to have hope beyond the world's solutions. E we're going to embrace surrender. L we're going to lean on Jesus daily. We're going to lean on Jesus daily. I want to make it practical for us. Okay, because we just don't come to Jesus once. Embracing surrender is an over and over and over again decision. For some of us it might be by hour by hour, by hour, if not even more than that Embrace and surrender. Looking towards Jesus On my gravestone One day, hopefully a long time from now, I want the phrase spend daily time with God on you, because I hope the message of my life, I can encourage people to spend daily time with God. And what do I mean by that? What do I mean by that?

Speaker 1: 22:47

In our local basics class that's the class we do if you want to learn how to be more involved at the church we talk about what does it look like to become fully engaged in the life and mission of LVC. And there's five rhythms that we talk about. And the first rhythm and the reason why it's number one because it's most important in my opinion rhythm number one is active participation in your own spiritual walk. Here's the thing. Here's the thing about LVC. Say this place is packed out. This auditorium fits 515 people. Say this place is packed out with 515 people. I'm praying that it's going to happen one day, just to let you guys know.

Speaker 1: 23:21

But if all 515 people, if their faith is just in Jacob and Aaron, if their faith is just in LVC, but they don't know how to spend daily time with Jesus, we missed the mark. We missed it. But if 515 people can learn how to spend daily time with God, to have an authentic relationship with Jesus, that they can navigate the complexities of life through their relationship with God, it changes everything. Everything changes. Our communities look different, our neighborhoods look different, marriages look different, upbringings for our children look different when everyday people learn how to become Jesus followers. And so how do we become Jesus followers, man, we got to lean on Jesus daily. We got to call for Him for help. We got to spend daily time with Him. And I want to get practical with us. But because the psalm writer says this God is our refuge and our strength. He is an ever-present help in times of trouble.

Speaker 1: 24:25

Paul writes it beautifully. He says this in Ephesians. He says I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources. Did you know that God has unlimited resources for you? He has unlimited resources for you. He has unlimited resources for you, and I truly believe this. I truly believe God speaks just as much today that he did back in the Bible days. The problem that we have as a society, a societal problem that we have today, is that our notifications on our phone are louder than God's voice and we have to get to a place and say God, I'm going to lean into you, I'm going to lean into you. But he says his unlimited resources will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then I love this. Then then Christ will make his home when, in your heart, in your heart, in your heart as you trust in him, and your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.

Speaker 1: 25:27

How to spend day and time with God? Like I said, I want to be practical. Spend day and time with God. By you know, have a certain time, have a certain time. Jesus had a certain time For him. It was the morning time. We read that in Scripture. He woke up early and he prayed Find a time that best fits you. For you it might not be the morning time, because you're too grumpy in the morning and God don't want to deal with your grumpy self. No, no, but for a fine time.

Speaker 1: 25:50

I do believe in the principle of first things. So, even if you roll right out of bed and your first words are God, I give you this day. I think that's a good start to your day. But find a time. When my daughter was around one-ish, my time with the Lord was right after her nap, right when I put her down for her nap. That was a perfect time for me to spend time with the Lord.

Speaker 1: 26:10

You find a certain time. Find a time, so find a certain time. Find a time, so find a certain time. Then have a certain place. Jesus had a specific place he went to pray. Having a designated place can help you from not being distracted. So if it's a chair, if it's a certain room, if it's going for a walk, whatever it is, have a certain place and then have a certain plan. Have a certain plan, because there's nothing worse than you carve out time to spend time with God. Then you're like uh, what do I talk about? What am I supposed to do? How many these and thous? Am I supposed to say no, have a certain plan. I encourage you to download the YouVersion Bible app and it has daily plans, it has topical plans, it has biblical-based reading through the Bible plans and I encourage you to do that, and if you want to know more, come talk to me after the service. Okay, but as we do that, we will tap into His unlimited resources and gain inner strength and God will heal our hearts. It's the last way. The last way for us to get godly help is pursue wholeness in Christ. Pursue wholeness in Christ. Friends, your passion is in your pursuit and so whatever you are pursuing the most, whatever you're going after the most, that is what you're most passionate about. And so, if you want to know what a person is most passionate about, figure out what they're pursuing the most, figure out where they're going after the most, and my encouragement for you is that Jesus will become your passion, that you will pursue Him.

Speaker 1: 27:35

There's a story, again again in the Gospels this man, he was paralyzed for 38 years. For four decades, almost four decades, he found himself in the same spot, day after day after day. That's a long time, that's a long time to be in the same spot. And then Jesus walks up to him and says do you want to get well? And what kind of question is that? This man has been in the same spot for 40 years, and Jesus asked him a question that seems so obvious. Well, of course he wants to get well, of course he doesn't want to be in this spot. But but check this out. Jesus walks up to him and he asks him this question. But I want you to think about this. What he's really asking him is something deeper than just having a fresh set of legs. Jesus is asking him about matters of the heart, he says. What he's asking him is do you really want to change? Do you really want to change? And here's the thing Sometimes we're stuck in a situation for so long it becomes comfortable. And comfortable doesn't mean good, it just means familiar. I can be comfortable in my bad situation because at least I'm familiar with it.

Speaker 1: 28:52

Some of us are walking around with problems we've had for so long that we wouldn't know what to do if we didn't have them. We carry that anger, that insecurity, that feeling of being unworthy or overlooked. It's become a part of our identity. If someone came along and asked you if you wanted to get well, how would you respond? See, jesus is asking this man a question that's not about his legs, but it's about his heart. It's about his heart. Do you really want to change? Do you really want to change? Are you willing to let go of the false narrative that you believed about yourself for so long. And then the second thing he's asking them are you willing to walk away from what's holding you back?

Speaker 1: 29:31

Jesus is asking this man to consider something powerful. What's it going to take for him to stand up and walk? Because getting well means leaving behind that mat that he was familiar with. And I just want to ask you, guys, this what mat have you been laying on in your life that you are so familiar with that you don't even know how to get up from it? What would my life be like if I didn't have them? And here's the best part about the story, this is what I love about the story.

Speaker 1: 30:01

So Jesus asked him this question do you want to get well? He responds back with an excuse. He says, well, I can't get to the pool of water. He believed there's a lot of crippled people that believe they can get into this water. An angel from heaven would come and heal them. They believe this myth. People that believe they can get into this water, an angel from heaven would come and heal them. They believe this myth. And so he came back with an excuse. And then Jesus' response to his excuse. And this is why sometimes Jesus heals us, not just out of faith, but out of grace, just to let you know, yes, healing can happen because of faith, but sometimes God is just grace and he heals us because of that, because his ardent and deserved love. But he says to him pick up your mat and walk. Why wouldn't Jesus say to him hey, leave that mat behind and start a new journey, leave that old thing behind and go for it? Jesus says get up, pick up your mat, get up and be healed.

Speaker 1: 30:55

And so I picture this story. This man, jesus says to this man, and his legs begin to change. He's like I feel something I haven't felt before. He feels something. And then he begins to stand up. And he stands up and he's walking, he's standing, this miracle is happening. And Jesus says hey, that mat, though, roll it up, pick it up.

Speaker 1: 31:17

And I don't think Jesus was just trying to ask him to be clean. I think Jesus wanted him to grab it because he wanted him to remember this is where you've been, but this is not where you're going. And this was your hope for so long. Your identity was wrapped in this. That's not who you are anymore. You're a new creation and friends. So I ask you today, I ask you today are you willing to pick up your mat? Are you willing to say okay, god, you brought me through these things and my future. Well, fear, fear is not my future, but God, you are, and I'm walking towards you, I'm going after you. And so when we look to God, when we say God, I need help, he is faithful to rescue us time and time again, because our hope, our hope comes from the Lord, the maker of the heavens and the earth, and he helps us so much that God sent his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we thank you for your goodness, we thank you for your favor and we say more of you, lord, more of you, lord, more of you, god.

Speaker 1: 33:01

There's some of us in here, like the woman who is stuck in a situation. Reaching out for help seems scary to you. How do I reach out for help? What's scariest is knowing that we need help, but staying in the same situation. So right now, I just pray against the lie that is telling people if you get help, you're going to be shamed, you're going to be forgotten. People aren't going to be there for you. I speak against that in Jesus' name, and I pray that people have freedom to get help, freedom of confession.

Speaker 1: 33:47

The hardest of all the spiritual disciplines is confession, and so, lord, I pray that people will be able to go to a healthy person and find freedom, reach out for help, and right now I mean it's for the Holy Spirit, saying your first step is just talking to Him. He wants to talk to you, he wants to know you. He wants to talk to you, he wants to know you. And it doesn't have to be a fancy prayer. It can be a simple prayer that sounds just like this Help, help me, god, help me. And he is faithful to listen and respond. So come, holy Spirit. If you're in here today, you're like Jacob man. That sounds good, but I don't know this Jesus you're talking about. I don't know him personally, or maybe you have, but you kind of walked away. Life got in the way and you walked away.

Speaker 1: 34:55

If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life for the first time or trust him again, I want to lead you through a prayer. I'm not going to call you out. Have you come up front, nothing like that. Just right where you are. I want to lead you through a prayer. First, I'm going to ask you to respond to the Holy Spirit. I'm going to count to three and on three you can just lift up a hand Again, but I won't call you out. Have you come up front? Nothing like that. I just want to see who I'm praying for. So if you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life or trust him again on three, just toss your hand up in there long enough so I can see it, so I can know who I'm praying for.

Speaker 1: 35:27

One, two, three, amen, amen, amen, all across this room, amen, it's right where you are. You can repeat this prayer with me. You can say it out loud or say it in your heart. Just say Jesus, forgive me for my sins, make me new. Today I trust in you. Today I trust in you. Today I follow you. Today I reach out for help In Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.