Seize the Moment!

Opening Worship and Scripture

[Opening music and worship]

Church of Artesia, we're so glad that you've joined us online and in our Sanctuary this morning. Our opening scripture comes from Psalm 84.

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord of Armies. I long and yearn for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

— Psalm 84:1-2 (CSB)

Better a day in your courts than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than live in the tents of wicked people. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord grants favor and honor; he does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity. Happy is the person who trusts in you, Lord of Armies!

— Psalm 84:10-12 (CSB)

Join us this morning in prayer. We are your children, and we gathered here today to pray. Hear our cry, Lord. We need your mercy, and we need your grace today.

Hear us as we pray: Our Father, Lord in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our Father, hear us from heaven, forgive our sins we pray.

Hear our song as it rises to heaven, may your glory fill the earth. See our hearts and remove anything that is standing in the way of coming to you today.

Our Father, Lord in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our Father, hear us from heaven, forgive our sins we pray.

Led by many who have crossed that path before, this is the song we'll be singing forever: holy is the Lord, holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord, holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord, holy is the Lord. Hear our prayers today.

We've gathered here to pray. Hear our cry, O Lord. We need your mercy, and we need your grace today.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our Father, hear us from heaven, forgive our sins we pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our Father, hear us from heaven, forgive our sins we pray. Forgive our sins we pray. Forgive our sins we pray. Amen, amen.

Before there was a light, you walked across the pages of time. You made everything. To wake us as a child, it became like the least of us.

Behold Him, Jesus, Son of God. He healed the sick and saved the blind, the lost, and the lame. Behold Him.

Be still and behold Him, Jesus. Behold Him, Jesus, Son of God. Oh, be still and behold Him, Omega, our God, the risen Savior. Thank you.

For your love is deeper than the sea, it was mercy, this is unfailing. Your arms are a fortress for the weak.

I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge, you are my strength. As I pour out my heart, these things I remember: you are a faithful God forever.

You still the storm that flows from Calvary's street, a fountain for the thirsty, your grace washes over me.

I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge, you are my strength. As I pour out my heart, these things I remember: you are a faithful God forever.

I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge, you are my strength. As I pour out my heart, these things I remember: you are a faithful God forever.

Open my eyes, open my eyes, open my eyes, open my eyes.

I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge, you are my strength. As I pour out my heart, these things I remember: you are a faithful God forever.

I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge, you are my strength. As I pour out my heart, these things I remember: you are a faithful God forever.

Walking in Personal Standards

Somebody praise the Lord! God is good, and all the time, amen! Welcome to the last getaway weekend of the summer. We've got a lot of people out on their last little vacation trip—either that, or they found out Pastor John's not preaching, just kidding. Anyway, praise God!

Let's pray. Lord God, we come before you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, as we assemble before you, that we lay our burdens down, our concerns down. Lord, you know our trials and our concerns. You know our ups and our downs. You know those within our church family that are struggling, those that are healing, those that are recovering, those that are going through things, Lord.

So Father, give us peace and strength. Give us the faith to endure and give us the hope that we know that you are in control of all things, and that you have provided for each and every one of us. So Lord, I thank you for those that are here this morning, those that are home recovering, Lord, or those that are traveling, or those that are watching via our livestream or a recorded message. We thank you, Lord, that you open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to receive what it is that you have for us. Lord, we just appeal to you because you are our strength. We give you praise, we give you honor, and we certainly give you all the glory. And all those in agreement in Jesus' name say, "Praise God!"

Turn with me, if you would, in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. I took this message literally from the men's meeting Thursday. You know, I always tell you, my sermons are basically you getting to hear my conversation with God; I just get to share it. So a lot of times, I don't prepare a lesson ahead of time. I wait until almost the end of the week just to see what's going on, to see what I hear, to see what resonates on the inside of me. In this particular teaching, I'm not going to teach what was taught then, but some of the guys that were there were talking about a few things, and this particular message drew out of what they were saying.

I'll be reading in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 25 to 32:

Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity. Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

— Ephesians 4:25-32 (CSB)

The title of our message this morning is "Seize the Moment!" Not "sneeze the moment," but "seize the moment."

The book of Ephesians, the letter of Ephesians, among other things, deals with Christian living. Chapter 1 is an introduction into the letter. When you read chapters 2 and 3, it talks about what life is like in Christ—in other words, being born again. Chapter 4, verses 1 to 16, speaks of the unity of the body of Christ, that we are to be one with one another. What I'm going to be dealing with today is chapter 4, verse 17 through chapter 5, verse 21. I'm not going to do all of that, but it talks about personal standards, which is my topic today. In other words, what does all of this mean? How does it translate to me? What is the personal standard that I should gather from this?

The title "Seize the Moment" just gripped me the other night, and it's like, you know, there are a lot of things that go on in life, and sometimes some things just pass us by. But other times, there are things that we need to seize. We need to really get a hold of what God is doing. We can't just let things drift on by and think, "Well, it's going to show up again tomorrow or whatever." Sometimes, when something happens, we need to seize that moment and really understand how important that particular moment is.

Living in Truth and Unity

In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 25, it says: "Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another." "Therefore" means "so then." Since you know what he's already said—that we are one in Christ, we should be one with one another—there is a certain standard, a certain way that we should be handling ourselves. We should, as Christians, be modeling and exemplifying these particular things. "Therefore" means: now that you understand life in Christ and the unity of the body of Christ, this is how we are supposed to carry this out. In other words, this is what the church is supposed to look like.

A lot of times, we forget that we are modeling Christianity. We are modeling Christ for those who do not know Christ. So, what is it that we are modeling? What is it that we are displaying? What is it that someone would take away from us if they met us? Would they know we're a Christian? Would they think bad things of us, or would they think good things of us? What is it that they would take away? What are we presenting? If we are changed by God, what is it that we are changed into, and therefore, what is it that we should be displaying?

One of the things here is we must repent from falsehood. It says, "Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth." We must repent from falsehood. In other words, lying. We used to lie and steal and do whatever it was before we were saved, but now we have to turn away from that. That's what repentance means: you turn away from it. It doesn't mean you just say, "God, forgive me for this, but I'll probably do it again next week." No, it's the idea of, "God, forgive me of this, and I'm going to do my best to not do that again. I'm turning away from it, and I'm going to go in a different direction."

And it says that we must speak the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts, or sometimes we don't want to speak the truth because we live in an age now where it's like, "Well, I don't want to get into anybody's face. I don't want to step on any toes. I want everything to be nice and good and everybody to be happy." But that's not what Christ told us. He told us there was going to be turmoil. He told us they were going to hate us for his name's sake. He told us it was going to be difficult. One of the markers of Christianity is martyrdom; it's going on today. It's not always going to be smooth, and it's not always going to be easy, but somehow that's what we want. But that's not always what it is. And so, sometimes we just have to speak the truth. We see something, and we know it is not Christ-like, we know it is not godly, we know it is not what God wants for us, and sometimes we have to speak the truth to it.

The other thing is we are to be in unity. It says, "because we are members of one another." We are called by the same God, we have the same baptism, and we have the same change in Christ through receiving the gospel. "I'm a sinner. I recognize I'm a sinner. I recognize that sin has separated me from God. I recognize I cannot live eternity with almighty God because of my sin. But God so loved me, he sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross, taking my sins, if I'm willing to believe that to the point that I'm willing to confess that to others—that Christ died for my sin." What that does is bring us together in unity because we all follow Christ. So we should be in unity. There shouldn't be this fragmentation.

I always wonder why people say things like, when you meet somebody and you say, "Well, I go to such-and-such a church," and then somebody says, "Well, what does your church believe?" and I'm like, "Huh? Aren't we reading the same Bible? Shouldn't we all be believing the same things?" But the sad commentary is that that's what's out there. We're really not in unity with one another because we really don't want to speak the truth sometimes, or maybe we haven't really fully turned away from falsehood. But we're supposed to be in unity. We're supposed to be one with one another.

In the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) a couple of weeks ago, we had an interim president of the National Association, and he had to step down. The reason he had to step down is because he lied about his education. He lied about three different degrees that he said he had. Now, mind you, this is the interim president of the entire Southern Baptist Convention, a guy who was looked upon as probably going to be the full-time president. He lied, and he had been living that life for a long time, moving up the ranks living a lie, and nobody checked behind him. Then, one day, somebody decided to check, and they found out everything he said was a lie.

The reason I'm saying this is not to point a finger at him, but to realize this affects us. It affects the body of Christ. It's just like if I lie to you up here, it affects you. If we lie to one another, it affects us. If we don't speak the truth to one another, we're not going to bring one another into unity under the banner of Christ. We're going to become fragmented. This is why we have so many different things going on in Christianity. This group doesn't fellowship with that group, that group doesn't want to pray with this group, and all this stuff is going on, but yet scripture doesn't teach us that. It teaches us to come together. But yet, when you have the head of an organization—whatever it might be, the local church, the head of the denomination, the state, or whatever—when they're lying about who they are, it affects all of us. This is what he's saying here. Our behavior, we're supposed to be one with one another. Would we really want somebody to lie to us? I mean, how do you feel when you find out someone has lied to you? It's betrayal. It makes you angry. It hurts you. There are so many things going on on the inside of you. We have to remember that the way it affects us when we find out somebody has lied to us, if we lie to someone else, the same thing is going on. And then when you magnify this by it happening over and over and over, it is a huge problem.

Managing Anger and Avoiding the Enemy

How am I supposed to handle this when I find out about things like this? Verse 26 says: "Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger." You're in the moment. Seize that moment. You are angry, and what do you do about it? Well, he just said to put away all falsehood and speak the truth, each one of you with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. So, okay, we find out something is wrong, but now, as you seize that moment, what are you going to do behind it? How are you now going to respond to it? Because you see, as we seize the moment because it affects all of us, we hear the report.

I've never met the interim president of the SBC, but his behavior affected me and it affected you. It affects the denomination and it affects Christianity as a whole because people read about it and they say, "Oh, look at this. Look at what this guy was doing." And then we knock on someone's door with the gospel, and we want them to believe us. You see, I might not have been in a particular place when there was an earthquake, but the tsunami that the earthquake caused might affect me. There's a ripple effect going out, and we have to understand that it's not just an isolated moment in time. It affects all of us at some point or another. How close you are to it, how far you are from it—there are still ripples going out from that event.

Yet it says, "Be angry but don't sin." Why? Verse 27: "and don’t give the devil an opportunity." You see, the devil is looking for an opening. He's just looking for an opening so he can say, "See?" It's like the world. The world is looking for an opening to say, "Look at those Christians. Look at what hypocrites they are. They say one thing and they do something else. Why would you want to follow them? Why would you want to be part of that?"

It's a ripple effect going out. If we lie and misbehave as Christians, the world and the devil will be quick to point it out. You ever heard someone say, "Oh, I thought you were a Christian"? They were just waiting. They're waiting for that moment so they can catch you in that. You're angry about something, and you let something slip, and they go, "Oh, I thought you were a Christian."

We have to be aware that people are watching us. People look at us. It's not that we are perfect; we are forgiven. But at the same time, we have to project a particular image because we are followers of Christ. It's like the old bracelet: "What would Jesus do?" What would he do? What do we do? We have to speak the truth. We should not lie. We cannot let our anger overcome the moment because if you seize the moment, you realize, "I'm angry here, and there's a temptation here that I could let my anger now morph into something else." And if I do that, now I can destroy my witness in a brief moment of anger. We have to be careful. We have to be mindful. A lot of times, we wonder why people resist the church. What are we projecting? What are we showing? Are we embracing? Are we speaking the truth?

A New Action Plan in Christ

Verse 28 says: "Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need." In other words, when we are saved, it's a new action plan. Things are different. Things have changed now. You see, I used to be a sinner. I used to lie, I used to steal, I used to cheat, I used to not care. But now I've repented. I've turned away from that. Now I care, and how do I display that? How do I show that?

I have to seize the moment of salvation in order to change the moment, and the moment is in my life. I was headed in one direction, doing one thing, thinking it was all okay. Now I'm going in a different direction, following God. I need to change. I need to seize this moment and make this moment real in my life. I need to make it impactful. Because, you see, if that moment just goes by like, "Yeah, I was saved 23 years ago, 40 years ago, whatever it was," and it's just kind of laissez-faire, and you don't really take it seriously, you don't really realize the magnitude of what salvation is. You don't realize what it means to be saved, what it means to be part of the body of Christ, what it means to walk in unity with one another, what it means to walk in Christ, how we follow the scriptures—if we don't take all of these things seriously, that moment has left us. We never seized the moment, and so the moment never becomes impactful. It's almost like nothing happened.

But you see, if you seize the moment, the moment becomes special. It becomes important. It's like those certain events in your life when something happens and you never forget it. You remember that day. You remember it was raining, or cloudy, or hot, or cold. You remember what you were wearing, what other people were wearing, the song that was on the radio, what was on the TV screen, whatever it was, because you seized that moment.

Salvation must be seized. It must be that moment, that marker in time that we seize, to the point that it changes everything that comes after it. Because now we're part of something different. Now we're not living for ourselves. Now we're not following the world. Now we are living for Christ, we are following Christ, and we are part of this body that God calls into unity.

How do we display that? How do we become the body of Christ? We need a new action plan. You see, we need to view life through the scriptures and through Christ. If we don't know Christ, if we don't know the scriptures, how do we seize the moment? How do we change? See, that's why church is important. Yes, Bible studies are important. Yes, fellowship is important. But also, your own private time of reading scripture and just meditating on the word of God. What does this mean?

My degrees are in theology, and a lot of times people say, "Well, I don't want to do theology." Well, whenever you open your Bible, you're doing theology because basically theology is: Who is God? What is he doing? And where am I in relationship to what he is commanding me to do? That's it in a nutshell. Who is God? What is he doing? And where am I in relationship to what he said? That's theology. You can break it down and extrapolate it out farther than that, but that's what it is. Who is God? What is God doing? And now, how am I supposed to interact with God? God wants me to interact with him, but you see, if I don't know the scriptures, if I don't follow Christ, how do I do it?

We have to say, "I used to do this, but now I do this. I used to be that, but now I'm this person." You know, it's like a lot of times when you go through that change, and all of a sudden you realize you're a new person in Christ, what happens? The devil comes quickly to do what? To steal, kill, and destroy. So all of a sudden, you go to your family members or you go to your best friend and you say, "You know, I got saved at church," or "this happened," and they try and tell you, "Oh, that's all just a bunch of baloney. Nothing happened. That's just the warm fuzzies. Nothing really happened here."

You see, if we don't seize that moment, we'll let somebody knock it out of our head. That's why sometimes, when you get saved, you have to change your friends. Sometimes when you get saved, you have to tell your family, "I love you, but this is the road I'm going now," because they will want to pull you back, whoever they are, into their comfort. You make them uncomfortable when you change, because they realize if this person changed, then something's probably going to happen to me, and somebody's going to try and change me, and I don't want to change. Even though we're living in the middle of discomfort. You see, without Christ, we're trying to find comfort in the middle of discomfort, and there is no comfort in discomfort, but yet we live our lives that way.

It's like trying to go to sleep on a 40-year-old mattress. You're looking for that one spot you found a week ago, and it's just not there anymore because the mattress is so torn up, it's so old, and whatever. There's no comfort there anymore because that's what our lives are like. Life is so torn up, we're trying to find comfort in it, and there's never going to be any comfort. The only comfort is when you come out of that lifestyle and you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and then the change occurs. "I used to do this, but now I do this."

Edification and the Holy Spirit

Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29, talks again about our behavior and how we project: "No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear." Let's read this again: "No foul language should come from your mouth." In other words, think about what you're going to say before you say it. Because most of the time, we want to get even when we get mad, and we know how to push buttons, right? We know, especially if it's somebody close to us, we know how to make them even madder. Think before you respond. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification. Edification means building up, strengthening.

According to the need of the moment, seize that moment as an opportunity to bring Christ into the situation, to bring godly change into the situation. You see, when you walk into the room, you should change the atmosphere in that room because you're bringing Christ in there. That's why sometimes, when you're the only person saved and you go into an area where there's nothing but a bunch of unbelievers, they don't want you there. You make them feel very uncomfortable. Stick around and make them feel more uncomfortable, but eventually preach the gospel to them, because you see, you light up the room when you come in. You're bringing the light into the room. Therefore, if we're bringing the light into the room, don't turn it off while you're there. Sometimes this will happen: we bring it in, and then we see what's going on, and we don't want to say anything, we don't want to speak the truth, we don't want to listen, so we just kind of try and dim that light and pretend like everything's cool. No. You've been changed from darkness into light. Be the light. Speak such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Grace is favor; grace is God's unmerited favor. It's being a peacemaker. The Bible calls us to be peacemakers. Sometimes, when we're angry, the last thing we want to be is a peacemaker. We just want to get even. The flesh wants revenge. Your born-again spirit doesn't want revenge because that's for God. God is the one who judges; God is the one who handles that. But you see, our flesh wants something to happen. It's like those people you can tell have been waiting for something bad to happen to somebody. Ten years later, they get in a car wreck and they go, "See?" What do they say? "Oh, see, when they did this to me, now God did this to them." They're just waiting for something bad to happen so they can go, "See?" Why would we act like that? Why would we wait for that? Why would we not want to resolve the conflict?

See, being a peacemaker doesn't mean you keep everything quiet. It means you resolve the issue. Sometimes we think peacemaking is, "Shh, don't say anything, don't want them to go off, don't want her to get upset." No. Resolve the issue, then it won't happen again. You see, when there's an argument, if there are no peacemakers, it's going to be the Hatfields and the McCoys. It's not going to get resolved. But if there's one peacemaker, then there's an opportunity for peace. But what if there are two peacemakers? Then you're guaranteed to have peace. Be the peacemaker. That means sometimes you have to let go of your argument and listen to what the other person is saying. Sometimes that's very hard to do.

So, what is useful? When you seize that moment, what is useful? What is it that I can do in the middle of this conversation, in the middle of whatever I'm doing, that is going to be useful? You see, we're not to tear people down, we're not to destroy them, but we're to find a way to build them up. So, what is useful in order to build them up? Is it helpful, or is it hurtful? Are we building up, or are we destroying? Are we protesting, or are we rioting? Those are two different things. See, you can protest, but when the protest becomes a riot, that's not a protest anymore; it's something else. Is it helpful, or is it hurtful? Do you just want to get even with someone because you want to see them hurt because you got hurt? Or is it helpful to turn the situation around so that there's no more hurt or pain?

Verse 30 says: "And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption." Number one: why did Jesus die? He died because we are all sinners. He saw us in our condition as lost and in need of salvation. And so, when he extends his mercy and his grace to us and we receive that, what are we going to do with that? Are we going to go back to lying, stealing, cheating, and misbehaving? You see, that would grieve God. As a parent or as a friend, if you do something good for somebody in order to make amends, and then they just continue to be hateful and angry, how do you feel? You can't really compare that to the magnitude of God's love when it comes to salvation—that magnitude of love that wants us to change and become the body of Christ, to repent, and to move towards unity in Christ.

So it's like, why did Jesus die? You have to seize that moment. He died for my sins so that I could lay all of that aside, all that I messed up, and I can now start fresh. I can start new. I can now be what God wants me to be rather than what I created for myself because of my sin nature. Did we seize the moment when we first realized what God did for us? You have to seize it. You have to grab it. You have to get a hold of it to the point that you don't ever let it go, you don't ever forget it. Because if you don't hold it tight, someone or something will knock it out of your hand, and you'll totally forget. You'll just kind of move on.

And if we seize the moment that we realize Christ died for our sins, do we seize the moment to now preach the gospel? He calls us to the cross for salvation, and then he sends us from the cross to a lost and dying world to preach the gospel. Do we seize the opportunity when it's there, or do we just kind of think, "Oh, well, I don't think God's calling me to do that"? The opportunity is there to say it, and we don't say it, or we don't do it, or we don't pray for it, or we forget to pray for it. We let so many things go by because we didn't seize it. It wasn't that important to us. It has to be important to us because Christ died. That's why it's important. He died; it's important.

Cultivating Kindness and Forgiveness

Verse 31 says: "Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice." In other words, when you see the bitterness, the wrath, the anger, the clamor, and the slander that is in you and that is in me, seize that moment. Gather it together, all that malice, and get rid of it. Because if we don't, it's going to surface at some point in time. It's not that we're going to be perfect, but if we're carrying around all these hurts, all this stuff, and the way we used to do things—getting even, and "well, they did it to me so I'm going to do it to them"—you have to get rid of that kind of stuff. Gather it and get rid of it.

This is why these messages are important, and you hear the conversation with God. There are a lot of things I do these days where I get angry. I get angry at church, I get angry at the way things are going, I get angry at different things in government, and things like that. I could end up being a pretty angry guy and just lashing out, but I have to seize that moment and turn something that's negative into something that's positive. I have to find a way to take what is broken and make it good. Okay, yeah, we had someone who was the head of our denomination lie about his degrees, but that's not the end. We need to put that away, and now we need to put the things in place so that never ever happens again—the checks and balances, whatever it might be. Gather it, get a hold of it. Bitterness: get rid of it. Wrath: that's where you want to see someone suffer. Anger: sometimes we hold on to anger and it just poisons our whole disposition. Clamor: the wrangling, where you've got to be right, and it's your way or the highway. Slander: this is part of gossiping. Malice: trying to get even. Gather it and get rid of it.

I'll close with this part, verse 32. Once you've done all that—see, you can't do verse 32 if you haven't gotten rid of the other stuff. Sometimes we want to read verse 32, but yet we haven't really done the internal look to see if there is something we need to get rid of. Because if you don't get rid of it, you can't put verse 32 into action: "And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ." On a good day, you can do that, but what about today, when it's not a good day and you still have all that anger and that malice underneath that little top layer? That's going to come shooting through like a volcano. That's why we have to lay all that stuff aside. That's what it means to be born again. That's what a new person is. That's what baptism is: you're laying down the old person, and the new person is coming forth. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Seize the moment. Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. Still tell the truth; you just find a way to say it that is tender, forgiving, and kind. Remember the story of the woman at the well. She encountered Christ, and he told her all these things. When you read it, you would think she would be so convicted she would just want to get away from him. But what does she do? She becomes one of the first evangelists in the Bible. She runs to town and says, "Come, see a man..." She runs and tells others. Convicted, yes, but it was done in such a way that she gathered others to go hear the message.

To be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving is a part of salvation, because God so loved us that he gave. When we deliver the gospel, a lot of times when we go out and do evangelism, people will be downright mean. They might be nasty, but we don't give that back to them. We just say thank you and move on. You can't treat them the way they're treating you because they don't understand. They don't know. But you see, it's your actions. Let your light shine before humankind so they will know you are a Christian. They will understand a little bit more about what Christianity is really all about.

Understand this, and really I'll close with this: people don't know. They have never been in here and heard Pastor John preach, or Pastor Gigi preach, or Pastor Irwin preach, or anybody else in here preaching, or anything else that goes on. They don't know what you know. They just live out there, convicted by whatever they see or what the world tells them Christianity is, and so they just kind of live in that little self-denial, in that little false world. But it's up to us to go out there and show them the difference. No, we are not perfect, but we are forgiven. And this is why I come to you in a loving manner to preach the gospel—because someone preached the gospel to me in a loving, tenderhearted manner to the point that I was finally able to really hear it and receive it.

So I want to encourage you to seize the moment. Seize the moment of salvation. Seize the moment, the opportunity to preach the gospel. Seize the moment to get rid of malice, wrath, anger, and all those things that have hindered us for so long. Seize the moment to be tender, kind-hearted, and loving, and to bridge that gap. Sometimes there have been separations and stuff; you be the one who brings those things back together again. Be the peacemaker.

Let us pray. Lord God, we come before you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Father, we thank you that you saw us in our hopelessness. You saw us when we were in need of salvation. You saw that we were in the darkness, and out of your love, Lord, you sent your only begotten Son to die on the cross. And if we would only believe that Jesus took those sins on the cross with him and confess it, then we would be saved.

But Lord, as we seize that moment of salvation, as we seize it and hold on to it for all eternity, may it be that call that brings us to action. May it be that call that helps us to be peacemakers. May it be that call that helps us to look at those who don't have and supply. May it be the call that helps us to preach the gospel in season and out to a lost and dying world. May it be that call that causes us to speak the truth.

So Lord, help us, strengthen us, encourage us, and remind us, Lord, of your love, of your strength, and your ability. For God, only you can save, and we thank you, Lord. Help us to be in unity with one another. May the body of Christ be strong and vibrant, and in unity, looking towards Christ for our direction. Father, we give you praise, we give you honor, and we certainly give you all the glory. In Jesus' name we pray, and the church said, "Praise the Lord!" Praise God.

And I'll call up Pastor John. He's going to take us the rest of the way.

Church Announcements

This is going to be my first time giving announcements, so if I mess up, it's Steve's fault.

Good morning. First and foremost: giving. If you are interested in giving to the church, you can do that either online or in the offering plate in the back. We know that God doesn't need a single penny of our finances in order to accomplish what he wills, but every time we give, we get to participate in what God is accomplishing through the ministry of this church and other missions efforts. We get to recognize that not just what we give, but all that we have belongs to our Lord. So let's go ahead and pray together and give thanks to God for our offering this morning.

Lord, we thank you for the gifts that you have given us, and we thank you for the privilege of being able to reflect your generosity towards us in our giving. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to use all of our finances wisely for the advancement of your kingdom and for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

A couple of other announcements. First, Irwin's class is currently going through the Book of John in the library every Sunday morning. So if you are interested in attending that, that is from 8:45 to 9:25 AM in the library. They are currently going through the Book of John; I would encourage you to go to that.

There's also going to be a new Sunday school class called "Church Matters," which is a class that I'll be teaching in the Bible study room in the back every Sunday. It will be six weeks on rotation, going over some basic things about the church. So if you're interested in joining the church, I would encourage you to take those six classes, or if you're just interested in learning more about the nuts and bolts of how this church runs. Next Sunday, I'll be teaching on what the Bible says about joining a church. Does the Bible actually say that in order to be a faithful Christian you need to attend church? I know I'm speaking to the choir here, but I think the answer is yes, and so we'll be going over that. That will be at 9:00 AM in the Bible study room in the back.

We also have Wednesday night Bible studies. It is not happening this week, so if you show up, the doors will be locked—don't come this Wednesday night. It'll be the next week. So, the second Wednesday of the month, we will start our Wednesday night Bible study, and Steve will be leading us through the Pastoral Epistles.

And lastly, we also have our 75th anniversary coming up in October. If you're interested in helping with that, reach out to Billie and you can ask her how you can be helpful for that. Steve, am I also giving the benediction? Okay, did I miss anything? Sweet.

Well, as the worship team comes up, let me go ahead and give us our benediction from 2 Corinthians 13. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen.

[Closing Worship Song]

You are here, moving in our midst, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, working in this place, I worship you, I worship you. You are waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are.

You are here, touching every heart, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, mending every heart, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, turning lives around, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, mending every heart, I worship you, I worship you.

Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. That is who you are, that is who you are, that is who you are.

You never stop, never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, never stop working.

You are here, moving in our midst, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, working in this place, I worship you, I worship you.

Have a blessed week!