Faith, Week 1

Tim Rivers | November 12, 2023

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Transcription

Come on, somebody give Jesus some praise in this place. That was pretty good, but we just witnessed a multitude of people go down in the waters of baptism. Can somebody lift some crazy praise to Jesus? Come on, let's celebrate with our brothers and sisters who went down in the waters of baptism. Wow, I love baptism. Sundays, it's just amazing to watch people make that public declaration that they're in relationship with Jesus. And I don't know if this happens to you, but anytime I watch baptism, I get nostalgic about my experience getting water baptized. In fact, this month, November the 19th, will be the anniversary of when I got water baptized and it will be 25 years ago

And I still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember how I felt I was nine years old in that oversized baptismal robe. Anybody got baptized in a robe? Should we bring those back? You know what I'm saying? After a while, it smells mild, dewy, and you're like, there've been a lot of people in this joint. But it just brings back that memory of what happened in my own life, and hopefully it does the same to you. I want to encourage you, if you have not registered to be water baptized, don't you even worry you can still make the decision today to get water baptized. We got shorts for you that no one's worn. We got a fresh T-shirt for you. We've got towels that nobody's ever dried with. We've got everything necessary for you to get water baptized. And I promise you, if you have made a decision to follow Jesus, your next step of obedience is water baptism because it's a public declaration of you going all in with Jesus and those that have been baptized say amen. So it's going to be a good time. Alright, so we're kicking off a new three-part series today. We ended the Kingdom series. Did anybody have a good time with the Kingdom series?

Great, great. And then we got to give some props to Pastor Stan for last week.

Such a good teacher, always so relevant, always listening to the Lord. We are so thankful for you delivering the word Pastor Stan. Thank you very, very much. And today we're kicking off that three part series and we are going to call it faith. And if I had a candy stick as a preacher, it would be the topic of faith. I love talking about faith and I've been praying and I've been asking God, I'm constantly asking God, what do you want your people to know? Where do you want them to grow in? What are you wanting to share with your people? And the reason why I feel like this is the series, the topic for this hour is because some of you, a lot of you are about to enter into 2024 and it's going to require some serious faith moves.

Some of y'all nod your head like the Lord's already been talking to you, but I believe that 2024 is about to be a year of serious faith moves, and it's true for you as an individual, which means that it's true for us corporately as a church, as a church body, we are going to make some faith moves and in order to understand what is required of you as you step into more of God, we got to go to the word and see what the Bible says on the topic of faith so that we can be prepared and ready to walk into 2024 ready to get everything that God says belongs to us and somebody say amen. So I'm very excited about it and I believe that God's going to speak to us. Grab your Bibles. Hebrews chapter 11, the book of Hebrews chapter 11. Anybody got a paper Bible say, yeah,

Yeah.

Anyone got an electronic one? Say, yeah, yeah. How about the screens? All right, Hebrews chapter 11 verse number one. This is the keynote passage on faith. It says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen for by it. The people of old receive their commendation by faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Let's look at verse number six, and without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Somebody say amen. Amen. So today my topic for today, my title for today is Now Faith. Now faith, it is very important that you understand that you don't have delayed faith. You got to have now faith. What you realize something about this passage, it does not say now, faith now is not a transitional word into the next topic as if I was talking to you and said, now let me move on to the next topic. It says, now faith, no comma, which means that it's immediate, it's present, it's right here in the moment. We're not going to delay. God wants you to have now faith,

Right? Okay, I'm going to have to teach and preach a little bit.

Thank you God for your word. We thank you Lord for what you're getting ready to do today. I thank you for all those who've been water baptized already. I know that there are dozens more that are going to be baptized today. I thank you, Lord God, for what you're getting ready to do in our hearts and in our minds. I pray that we have ears to hear, a heart, to receive a mind, to understand what you would say to us as we dig into your word. Give us a revelation of what faith really is. Break down preconceived notions and ideas of what we think faith is and help us to have revelation from your word on what it is and why it's necessary for us to have it. I give you name, the praise, the glory and the honor because you are worthy of it in Jesus' name and everybody say amen. One more time. Put your hands together and give God some praise in this place. Somebody say now. Now faith. Faith, if you're in this place today, either physically or you're watching online or you're listening on the podcast, you have a measure of faith.

You have a measure of faith. You may not understand what faith is, but most of us are privy to the idea that we have to have an element of believing just to entertain the idea that there is a God who exists that you've never met, you've never shaken his hand, you've never seen him, but you believe that he exists. You would not be in this place today if you didn't somehow entertain the idea that it is possible. And for some of y'all it ain't a thing but a chicken wing without a shadow of a doubt that God is real. But for some in this place, maybe this is your first time in church, but you know something is possible

About

This God

And for most of us, we're privy to the fact that we all need faith, but we all also have been taught that there are certain interpretations of what faith is. Depending on your background, if you've been in church for any length of time, you have a preconceived idea about what faith is. If you are from a Protestant reform background, then faith, you've been taught that faith is mainly attached to justification or salvation. In fact, the reformers, their main pushback against the Catholic church was that salvation is by grace through faith not of our own works. And that's what started the reform movement because the Catholic church believed that there were certain things that you had to do to merit the grace of God, but the reformers came and said, no, according to what we read, justification is done by grace through faith. If you come from a Catholic background, then faith is more closely associated with traditions and sacraments like the idea of transubstantiation, which is where the sacraments, the bread and the wine that you eat literally turns into the body and blood of Christ. You have to have faith to believe that. You also have to have faith in some of the traditions that the Catholic church has taught. If you come from a charismatic background, then faith has been closely associated with miracle signs and wonders and extra biblical manifestations such as being slain in the spirit or declaring those things that are not as though they were like healing signs and wonders. If you come from a Pentecostal background like I did, then faith is closely associated with the demonstrations of the Holy Ghost

Speaking in tongues, shouting, miracles, healings. You declare those things in faith, it doesn't really matter

Where you end up in the outworking of faith, we all agree that faith is a necessary component to be a participating member in the body of Christ. We all know this thing. In fact, we are so attuned to the fact that faith is an intricate part of your relationship with Christ, that we check people's spiritualness by asking them about their faith. If we meet somebody that we're unsure is saved, we say stuff like, have you placed your faith in Christ? If we see somebody struggling in their walk with God, we say stuff like just keep the faith. When we see people that need a healing in their body and they've been praying for a while, we tell 'em, just have. When we see people that have an issue and it seems like they're about to backslide and walk away, we tell 'em, I'm praying for your faith. We know that faith is a necessary component of the Christian walk and even though we know that faith is in our society today, we're dealing with a lot of people that are walking away from the faith. They're doubting their faith and partly it's because we live in the information age. So in the information age, whatever you have a question on, you can Google

Whatever you're wondering about. You can get on your laptop or your computer and look up and I promise you you're going to find some answers. They may not be the right ones. In fact, they're probably not. You know how many people have self-diagnosed themselves on WebMD? You got a knot and next thing you know, you think you're dying in the next three weeks. How do I know I've done it? I've done it.

But a lot of people are walking away from the faith and they feel like throwing in the towel because they don't know how to mix their faith with the word of God. So it must not be possible. It must not be real because Google can't explain it and my neighbor can't explain it and I don't know how it's going to happen. I don't have the facts and the figures and I don't have the blueprint. I don't have all the 1, 2, 3 and I don't have the strategy and so people are walking away from the faith. But can I tell you that this is not new? The passage that we read in Hebrews chapter 11, the writer of Hebrews is dealing with people who feel like giving up. They're contemplating walking away from their faith, they're contemplating going back to the world. They're contemplating just throwing in the towel. And the writer of Hebrews says, wait a minute, don't give up. And the reason why he's talking about faith can be summarized in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 35. Let's go there. Hebrew chapter 10 verse 35. He says, therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised for yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by

Facts,

But my righteous ones shall live by rules. But my righteous ones shall live by regulations, but my righteous ones shall live by what they know and how much time they spend in the Bible and how many hours they pray a day. But my righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but are those who have faith and preserve their souls. The writer of Hebrews is encouraging his audience not to throw in the towel, not to give up, not to quit, not to backslide. He tells them that you need endurance. And then he says the way you get endurance is you live by

Faith.

He hasn't even explained what faith is He's given them. No context, no explanation, no ex to Jesus for what faith is he hasn't gone through. And then an expository study on faith and presented that first and then tell him, Hey, now that you know what it is, now I can explain what you should do. No, he does not explain what faith, but he tells you whatever faith is, I promise you, you got to live by it.

Whatever faith is, I'm telling you that if you want to be righteous, you got to live by it. In other words, it's not a taxi that you call when you want to get to a certain destination. It's the vehicle that gets you to every place you need to go. Can I give you an example? It's like a vehicle. It's like a car. You may not know the molecular structure of fuel, but what you have to understand is that in order for your car to move, you got to have fuel in the tank. In fact, you can't even start the car without having fuel in the tank. In other words, if you want to move, you got to have faith. You got to have faith in your tank. You can't even activate your Christian walk with God unless you have faith. You don't even know how to explain it. Anybody in this place testified that fact that you got saved. And when people ask you what happened, you can't explain it,

Right?

All is you went to church, something happened and before you knew it, you were at the front and people are like, what happened? You're like, I don't know. There was just something in me that caused me to respond to something I believe and I don't even know why I believe it. That's called faith. And this is what he said. He said, the righteous shall live by it, which means that if the righteous live by faith, then those who don't live by faith are not yet righteous. I'm about to clap and run on this word myself. Lemme say it again. If the righteous live by faith, then those who don't live by faith are not yet righteous because it is literally a requirement for your walk with God. The same is true of every believer. It's not just those who are new, but it's also for those of you who've been in church for a very long time, you constantly have to remind yourself that your walk with God is a walk of faith. You have to establish that as a fact in your life that you cannot walk this walk with the Lord unless you have faith. So of course that begs the question, what is faith and how does it work?

Let's look at Hebrews chapter 11, verse one. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. Faith must have a substance to which it is attached. What makes faith work is that is attached to something or someone that has a reputation for being reliable and have integrity. The amount of faith you possess is unimportant. I'm just messing with some of the osteology right now because you can have a lot of faith in an unreliable substance and have unreliable results, but you can have a little faith in a reliable substance and have reliable results. Ask Jesus, when a man had an issue with his son who was possessed by demons, he went to the disciples and said, yo, y'all got to cast this joint out. The disciples did everything they could to cast it out. It didn't come out. So then the man comes to Jesus and he says to Jesus, yo, your disciples couldn't cast out this demon. I wonder, can you? Jesus says anything is possible to the one who believes. And the man who is in my opinion, the most honest man in the Bible says, I believe

But cap my unbelief. In other words, I'm telling you with my words that I believe, but in my heart, I'm yet not convinced how many of us would be that honest with God I believe, but have my unbelief. And then Jesus says, because of your faith, I just admitted that I'm struggling with my faith. Jesus said, I don't need you to have all of it figured out. I just need a little bit of it. And because of the little faith that you have, I'm going to work a miracle in your life because every human will struggle with their faith. And the problem is the church has not left us margin to struggle and have faith. The problem with the modern church is that we have convinced people that if you have any shred of doubt, then it's not full faith. But according to Jesus, Jesus said, I don't need full faith. I just need a little bit of faith. And so the disciples roll up to Jesus and they say, Hey Jesus, come here real quick. We did a lot of praying and honestly we are embarrassed that nothing happened. So Jesus, we need to know why could we not cast out the devils? But you could.

Jesus' reply to them was, all you need to do is have a mustard sea of faith and you can say to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and it will happen. You don't need a whole lot, just use what you got. Faith is the assurance that word assurance means. It is the guarantee or it is the title deeded of things hoped for. And it's like you buying a house and you haven't gotten the house yet, but you sign your name on the title deeded. And the reason why you sign your name on the title deed as the purchaser is because you trust that the seller is going to fulfill their end of the contract. Faith is the thing that convinces you that what you hope for will come to pass.

Oh

Lord, faith is what helps you realize or make real what you hope for based on the reliability of the one who made the promise. Are y'all following me? Faith is not based on feelings. Faith is not based on how I feel about the scenario. It's not based on what I feel. Emotions can't make decisions. It's how you feel about something. Did you know you can feel faithless and be full of faith and you can feel faithful and have no faith. You cannot base your relationship with the Lord on feelings because the world will tell you. Pay attention to your feelings. Forget the facts, go with how you feel. I'm all about therapy and counseling. If you got to work through emotions, a hundred percent I backed up. But in the economy of God,

You cannot base what you believe about God based on how you feel about God. Because in the economy of God, it doesn't follow feelings, faith, facts, it's flipped in the economy of God. It starts with facts. Then you place your faith in those facts. And when you place your faith in those facts and you see that it worked out, your feelings will follow your faith. Oh Lord, I'm about to say it again. In the economy of God, it starts with facts. God is a good God. I may not feel like it, but he is a good God. And that's a fact. And even though I don't feel like it, I place my faith, my trust, my confidence, my assurance, my title deed, my guarantee on the fact that he's a good God. And when he shows up, then my feelings follow the decision I made. Oh my Lord, maybe I'm just preaching to myself. This is why Jesus would say according to your, he didn't say according to the facts, he didn't say according to how you feel. He didn't say according to the circumstance. He didn't say according to what transpired. He didn't say follow this certain strategy. He said, according to your faith, so be it unto you. You are the only one that controls.

That's

Whether you follow your feelings or your faith. Jesus would say that and Jesus would say that to people who had real issues they can't see. How are you going to tell somebody who's blind open your eyes? They didn't feel like it because what I've been trying to do, but it changed when the one who made the promise has got receipts. That's a fact. And because I know that fact, I may not feel like it, but I place my faith on the fact that he has healed before. And because he has integrity and because he is reliable, I can place my faith in him and know that it's going to work out and my feelings will follow. So let's explain what faith is. Faith is and the Greek work for faith is STOs. It is a full conviction of God's ability to do what he has promised. I'm going to have to say it again. Faith is full conviction of God's ability. Too many of us have been taught that faith has to do with how we feel about something or what we can muster up about something. But faith has nothing to do with you and your ability. It has everything to do with being fully convicted or convinced of God's ability to do what he has promised. True faith isn't confirmed until your actions reflect what your mouth say about God. Alright, I'll say it again. True faith isn't confirmed until your actions reflect what your mouth professes about God.

This is why the Bible says that we walk by faith and not by sight. In order for faith to actually work, you got to move. You got to walk. You can sit there all day and profess all these things about God. But if you sit in the same spot, you're not convinced, you can say all day long that you think that God has got this plan for your life and God's going to do this. But if you're just sitting and you're lazy, boy kick back recline saying all this stuff about God, but you don't get up and move toward it, then you haven't exercised faith yet, you're not fully convinced yet because you move according to the conviction of what God has promised. I love how Dr. Tony Evans said. He said, faith is acting like God tells the truth.

Faith is acting like God tells the truth. Sometimes you may not feel like God's telling the truth. Sometimes you may not be fully convinced that God's telling the truth, but faith says, I don't know how to explain it. I don't feel like it, but I'm still going to move toward it. Why? Because of the reliability and the integrity of the one who's making the promise. And if he's done it for you and if he's done it for you and if he's done it for you, then I'm going to walk in the same direction and see if he will do it for me. And here's the thing about faith. The more you exercise faith, the more you step into it, the more you realize that he's coming through. Every time I take a step, he makes it happen. And then I take another step and he makes it happen. And next thing you know, I'm just moving in faith. Why? Because he has a proven track record of doing things that he promised he would do in my life. Oh my God, have mercy. I wish somebody would hear me preach.

I got to keep preaching. I got to keep preaching. You may not feel like he's telling the truth and you have permission according to the word, to have doubt and faith, to struggle and move, to have questions and keep climbing. You have permission. Preach out because the doubt you have, it is not doubt in God, but it's doubt in yourself believing it. Faith has nothing to do with you. Faith has everything to do with the simple fact that you are believing what God says

He will do. Did he say he will heal your body? Did he say he would touch your mind? Did he say he will set you free? Did he say you're the head and not the tail? Did he say that you are going to be the lender and not the borrower? Did he say he will pick you up when you fall down? Did he say he is the bread of life? Did he say that he is the water that shall never run dry? Did he say that he will save your children? Did he say that he's got a purpose for your life? Did he say that he is a promise for your life? If he said it, I'm walking toward it. Did he say what has God said he was going to do in your life? Oh my Lord, if he said it then act like it. If he said it, if he said he is going to heal your body, then act like it. If he said he is going to touch your mind, then act like it. If he said it, that's a fact because the Bible says that his word will never return unto him void, but it will go out and do whatever he sent it forth to do. If he said it, I promise you it will happen. You may say, I don't want it. It'll bypass you and hit somebody else.

And I'm not in the business of giving up God's word and letting somebody else get it. I'm going to stand right here dealing with doubt, dealing with some unbelief, dealing with some struggles. And I'm still going to accept the fact that when God says he's going to do something, I believe it because he has receipts. Can anybody testify that he's got receipts? Has he ever done anything in your life that you didn't think was possible but you moved in that direction and when you did, it happened? If he did, I dare to put your hands together and give him praise. Some of you are having a hard hearing this word because you've been conditioned for the last 20 years of your Christian walk. That faith has to do with you getting in some kind of transposition and humming for 30 minutes, elevating yourself to a different level. You think that faith is you coming down here and rocking back and forth for two and a half hours with two church mothers on either side telling you to keep tearing. It's on the way and you think that you rocking back and forth is you exercising faith. But I'm here to tell you that faith is very, very, very simple. Faith is just me saying, God, if you said it,

I'm going to walk in it. I don't have to get in a trance. I don't have to get emotionally weird. If God said it, that's all I

Need.

Some of y'all are struggling with that

Man. I don't know. I

Don't know, doc. I'm sorry. That's probably going to happen a lot though. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That just seems too simple. Alright, the writer of Hebrews said, I know y'all going to be tripping 2000 years later, y'all going to be like, man, that seems too easy. That's why he said, Hey listen, don't take my word for it, but I'm going to call some witnesses. I'm going to call some witnesses because we already talked about this a couple of weeks ago. A witnesses, somebody who can testify of what they have seen, heard and experienced, and if they don't testify, they commit perjury. So the writer of Hebrew says, I'm going to call on some witnesses, so I'm calling on Noah real quick. Hey Noah, come up here and tell 'em 'em what it was like when the word of God came to you and said, Hey, build an ark because rain is coming and you had to deal with the fact that you have never seen rain before and you have never built a boat before. There was no reason for you to build a boat, but because you trusted in the reliability and the integrity of the one who told you to do it, you went ahead and built an ark. And because you built an ark

When the rain did come because the one who said it was coming, you survived the flood. Then he says, you know what? Don't take Noah's word for it. Lemme call on Abraham. Because Abraham was up in age and he was very comfortable where his dad was. And God comes to him and says, Hey Abraham, I need you to leave where you're at and I need you to move to a land that I'm promising you and I'm going to give you a son. That is a promise. Abraham had to deal with the feelings of I don't have a son. I've been trying promise you, I've been trying this place that I'm at. Ain't all that cool, but because I trust the reliability and the integrity of the one who's telling me to move, I'm going to start stepping out. And the Bible says that not having seen the promised land, it was counted to him as righteousness. Why? Because he moved in faith. The writer Hebrew says, don't take Abraham's word for it. Let me call on Sarah. Sarah was the one that when she overheard the conversation that she was going to have a child, she snickered and laughed and the angel said, why are you laughing? This is going to be so and we can give, can give Sarah all types of grief for laughing. But the fact is that Sarah kept going into that tent with Abraham.

Am I lying or am I lying? Sarah kept going into that tent with Abraham. I don't know Abe, you know I'm up at age, but God said it so we might as well try. And at some point she mixed her faith with action. And because she did, she came to be with child.

The rite of Hebrews said, lemme call on Moses. Let me call on Joshua. Lemme call on Rahab. Then he says, I don't even have the time and space to talk to you about Gideon and Samson and David and Samuel. I can't even talk to you about Daniel. I can't even give you all the facts and figures of the three Hebrew boys who were sitting there talking to the king. And the king said, listen, if you do this, I'm going to kill you. And the Shadrach Micha and Bendigo say, listen, you're going to have to toss us in the fire. And even if God doesn't come through, I still believe I still have faith. Why? Because my God has receipts. He's come through before. He made me survive eating peas and carrots. And if God can do that, I can make it through the fire. And if I don't make it through, I'm going to die believing that I will. What would happen if you activated that type of faith in your life? What would happen in your life if you activated the type of faith that says, I'm moving toward what God is telling me. And when people say You're crazy, you're like, I would rather die

Moving in the direction of my promise than ignore it for years because I'm still waiting on some confirmations. You got the confirmation as soon as you got the word. You know how many people are not moving forward into the promises that God has for them because they're still waiting for somebody to agree. But what would happen if you activated your now faith Hebrew says, I don't want you to delay. I don't want you to start to think too much about it. I don't want you to wait until you have a theological explanation. I don't want you to wait until your group agrees, but if God says it and it agrees with his word and is confirmed with those who are spiritually appraised in your life, stop stalling.

Jesus.

Don't stall because this is what the writer of Hebrew says, Hebrews chapter 11, verse six. Without it, without faith, it is

Possible

Impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. If you're KJ, V and without faith, it is impossible to please him because those who come to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him. Let me ask you this. Are you moving in the direction of the promise? Because if you are not, the first problem is you may not believe that he exists as God, the one who speaks and it shall come. The one who says be still and the wind of the seal obey him. The one who says, open your eyes and the blind receive the sight. The one who says come out out of him and a thousand demons come out of the one who says, Lazarus, come forth and the dead man has to respond. I'm talking about he is the one that has given you promises and the only thing required of you is to believe that he's telling the truth. We have three children, Zara, Zion, Zane Zara's, seven years old, but when Zara was a little baby,

I

Wanted to teach her how to jump into my arms. Every parent dreams of that, right? You throw 'em up in air or you have 'em jump from something and you catch 'em, right? I remember the first time I was trying to convince Zara to jump into my arms. I said, Zara, I put her on the edge. I said, alright, jump. She said, no. And I said, no, no. Come up here. You can trust me. I will catch you. She said, no. And I tried to give her all the facts and the figures and the reasons why she can trust me. Daddy is tall, dark, and handsome.

Daddy is strong. Daddy would never drop you. Daddy's got you. You can trust me. I will never let you hit the ground. I'll sacrifice my own body to make sure that I catch you. She didn't trust me because she didn't believe my word yet, but I kept talking to her about what I was able to do. I kept telling her that she could trust me. I kept telling her that I got receipts. I've caught bigger people than you. I kept telling her, you can trust me. I've got facts that prove that I will not drop you. All you got to do is jump to me. Finally, she got to the point where she said, come closer so I would get closer. Why? Because I am trying to convince her of who I am. So she would say, come closer, and I would get closer. She would say, come closer.

And the more she said that, the closer I would draw and I would draw nearer to her until finally she trusted me enough to do one of these. Her feet never left the edge, but I caught her. And because she trusted that I would catch her, even if she leans in, I started to back up and she started with one foot, and then she would go with both feet. Now I can promise you when I walk into the house, my kids, they run, they jump on the couch and then they jump forward a superman and I catch 'em. Why? Because I'm a good father who never lets down on my children. I will catch 'em every time they jump because they now exercise faith on the fact that I'm reliable. How many in this place you haven't jumped yet because you don't believe the word of God? And if you don't jump, then I ask you to lean forward and just let it drop. How many and here has God asked you to jump and you won't jump yet? And I'm telling you it's okay. Just lean and watch him catch you. And sure enough, the more you lean, all of a sudden you'll put one foot. Lemme try one out and he'll catch you, and then you can jump and he'll catch you. And next thing you know, you'll live the rest of your life Superman

And watch God catch you. Because faith is based on the fact that I trust God and His word. My God, do I have anybody that can testify to the fact that you jumped, that he caught you? Do I have anybody here now testify that you'll leave the edge and you are confident in the fact that God ain't going to drop you, he won't drop you. Somebody give God some praise in this place. Some of you in this place and you hear me preaching, and this may be your first time here or you've been around the church for a while and you hear this whole constant about faith, but for you, you're not even at the edge. You're back here going, I'm watching all these other people jump off the edge. I don't even feel comfortable getting to the edge. Well, according to Hebrews chapter 11 verse six, it says, it is impossible to please God without faith. But the first step of faith is believing that God exists. And for some in this place, you may not have a relationship with Jesus, yet you may be convinced that there's a possibility that he exists, but you haven't placed your faith in the fact that he truly is who he says he is, and that he really did come and he really did die on the cross for you, and he really was buried and he really did come out of the grave and he did it for you.

So there's some folks in here that you need to make a decision right now to become a follower of Jesus so that you can, I am trying to call you to the edge so you can lean forward into his arms. So if that's you today, I want every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're in this place and you feel the call of God to respond to the fact that God has come, he was buried, he rose again in the body of Jesus Christ and he did it for you to bear your sins upon himself, to forgive you of your sins. If you place your trust in him, if that's you in this place, I want you to pray this with me. Say, dear Jesus, I recognize my need for you. I believe that you came, that you died and you rose again, and you did it all for me. Say this with me, friend. I place my faith in you. Come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. Thank you Jesus for hearing my prayer, and it's in your name that I pray. Amen. If you just pray that prayer, we are going to celebrate, right?

Come on, somebody stand on your feet and celebrate all those who pray to receive Christ into life. It ain't the end of the story though, because if you are in this place and you just pray that prayer, your next step of obedience is to be water baptized and lucky for you,

We got water. What duff hinder us to be baptized. It's warm. We got somebody that's going to baptize you. We got shorts, t-shirts, towels, everything is ready. So if you're in this place and you just prayed that prayer, your next step is water baptism. If you're in this place and you profess faith, but you've never been water baptized, today is your moment. So if you're in this place and you're ready to get water baptized, I want you right now to get out from where you're at and head toward the back doors right now, and somebody in the hallway is going to receive you right now. There are people moving right now. Come on and see 'em. Come on on somebody. Make some crazy noise that celebrate with those that are making a decision. Come on, if you need to be water baptized, do not delay half now face and start moving your way right now. Somebody is receiving you. Come on, somebody. Give Jesus some praise in this place.