Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the June 7 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 6:35 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter 6, verses 30 through 38. And the sermon is entitled A Love of Others delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. Today I ask that you take God's word. Take your Bible, Luke chapter number six, Luke chapter number six.
[00:00:24] As we gather around God's word. Now, for those of you that are joining us in this series, I'm preaching the book of Luke, but I'm also right now in the middle of Jesus preaching one of his greatest sermons. And there are, there are debates on what is going on here. If you take note or take look in your Bible at verse number 17, Luke chapter 6, verse number 17.
[00:00:54] Luke records that Jesus came down and stood in the plain. Do you see that?
[00:01:00] So Luke records this part of the sermon that Jesus is preaching. And it is called the Sermon on the Plain.
[00:01:08] And there's great debate. Is this the same Sermon on the Mount just on the level spot of the mountain, or is it a totally different place with a very similar message? And I want to tell you this, it really doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter because I believe Jesus never changed his message.
[00:01:28] No matter where he was or around the crowd of people, his message never changed.
[00:01:35] And so as we gather around the word of God today, we know that God's word does not change.
[00:01:41] This would be equivalent of me taking one of my Sunday morning sermons and going to a church in Lynchburg, remodifying a little bit and preaching that same sermon.
[00:01:54] It would be different because I know my flock here.
[00:02:00] So whether it's a same sermon in a different place or a very different sermon, it really doesn't matter.
[00:02:08] I'm glad the Lord has us sitting in the middle of the greatest preacher, not me, Jesus listening to his sermon.
[00:02:17] It's important that we are sponges and try to soak this up.
[00:02:21] I want to say this before I move forward.
[00:02:23] I learned something this week. Not only do we have an audience here at Clifford, but there are many that join us live stream. And some of those people that are very, very faithful to us are those at Fairmont Crossing nursing home.
[00:02:39] They turn the big screen TV on every Sunday morning.
[00:02:43] So I want to welcome those that are there watching this morning live. They're part of our congregation.
[00:02:49] As we think about this great sermon, I want to start with this story.
[00:02:57] Dan and Ron Lafferty were part of a group, a radical group of people that carried the original beliefs of the Latter Day Saints Church.
[00:03:09] Dan and Ron were convicted murderers of their sister in law, her infant daughter.
[00:03:18] The murders were committed under a revelation from God.
[00:03:25] God told these brothers to kill their sister in law. That blows my mind.
[00:03:31] Rebecca Lafferty was the daughter of Dan.
[00:03:37] She sought to forgive her father, trying to rid her life of the evil, the pain, the hurt and the trauma of that his decision caused. And it rippled down to her life.
[00:03:49] She said she often pushed things to the side, never looking or processing in her own words. She spiritually bypassed the trauma as she confronted her dad and her uncle.
[00:04:07] It wasn't a means of condoning evil, but it was with the spirit of forgiveness and through a glass window in prison, forgiveness led the charge.
[00:04:23] There are many details of this story. You can go online, you can read about them in a book and even watch them in a movie.
[00:04:33] But maybe you have a situation that is similar.
[00:04:37] Not that you took someone's life, but in your heart, because of unforgiveness, you have murdered somebody.
[00:04:48] The greatest sermon that Jesus is preaching is calling his followers to be radically different than the norm, than what the world would do.
[00:05:03] So as we see in this sermon today, we're going to talk about how we treat others.
[00:05:09] We're going to talk about judging church.
[00:05:13] We're going to talk about loving your enemies.
[00:05:17] And all of that can be done by God's grace and through his help.
[00:05:22] Your generosity, your forgiveness, your mercy that is extended to enemies and to others is a testimony of God's work in your life.
[00:05:35] And so today, the moral of the middle of the Sermon on the Plain is our relationship with other people matters.
[00:05:49] We should desire to treat others like Jesus would treat them.
[00:05:58] And I'm preaching to the church.
[00:06:03] What does a sermon about loving others mean?
[00:06:08] Or what does a love of others look like?
[00:06:13] Today we're going to look at that. Luke, chapter number six, starting with verse number 30.
[00:06:26] Give to every man that asketh of thee and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again.
[00:06:34] And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
[00:06:42] A love of others requires us to do unto them, or do unto others as you would have done to yourself.
[00:06:52] How many of you have heard that before?
[00:06:55] If you've been in a Sunday school class or church, maybe you had a grandma or mama or a daddy or a grandfather that told you that.
[00:07:06] God bless you if you did, because those are good teachings.
[00:07:10] But in this middle of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus is telling his disciples the way that you love people and the character in which you love people. Matters.
[00:07:25] It really doesn't matter who the recipient is.
[00:07:29] It matters more on your end of what your love looks like.
[00:07:34] And he is calling his followers to love very differently.
[00:07:41] As we see the opening of our part in verse number 30. It starts with the word give. Give to every man that asketh of thee.
[00:07:52] Now that sounds like an open book, Pastor. What are you telling me? Anybody that asks me whatever, I'm supposed to just give it to them?
[00:08:01] No, not exactly.
[00:08:07] Here's what that means.
[00:08:10] If you see a need and you can meet the need, do it.
[00:08:16] Help them.
[00:08:18] I'm a firm believer and you've heard me say this before. Those are things you need not to pray about.
[00:08:25] We're commanded to do unto others.
[00:08:28] We're commanded here to give people things that they are in need of.
[00:08:35] And he goes on in verse 30 to say this and of him that taketh away thy goods. Ask them not again. Don't expect anything in return.
[00:08:45] Have you ever let somebody borrow something and never gotten it back?
[00:08:52] How do you feel about that person? Don't say it out loud, please, please.
[00:08:57] Oh, man, that rubs us the wrong way. It makes us mad and angry.
[00:09:02] And yet what God says here, what Jesus is saying here, there are times that we need to be givers without expecting anything in return.
[00:09:16] If you meet a beggar, give and don't demand a return of your things.
[00:09:23] In my logic, in my little Amherst county mind, we are all simply middlemen and middle women when it comes to helping others out.
[00:09:37] And what I mean by that, there are so many ways I believe we need to cut the middlemen out.
[00:09:45] But in ministry, you and I are called to be middlemen and middle women for the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Lord has given and blessed and poured into us who we are, to pass that along to other people.
[00:10:02] And as those middle men and mental women, when we see a need and we are blessed to be able to meet it, we should be able to do that without hesitation and without expectation of getting back what you have given.
[00:10:22] It's easy for me to be a middleman.
[00:10:26] It's easy for you to be a middleman or middle woman when you realize that everything you have is a gift from God.
[00:10:36] Anything that I have, anything that I own, anything that I possess, it is all God's anyway.
[00:10:45] And so it's easy for me to give something away that's not mine.
[00:10:51] Does that make sense?
[00:10:53] I can give your hundred dollar bill away very easily.
[00:10:57] If you gave me $100 bill and said, jeffrey, give this to somebody that needs it, that's not hard at all for me to do. Why? Because it's not my hundred dollar bill.
[00:11:13] But when God asked me to give my hundred dollar bill away, I gotta ask some questions first.
[00:11:23] Are you the same way?
[00:11:25] It's easy to give when you know it's not yours. Anyway, God has just made us shepherds and stewards of these earthly things while we live here anyway.
[00:11:39] And so as middle men and women, when it comes from the Lord, it should pass through us in order to help others. In the name Jesus, this sermon is calling disciples, holding them to a higher standard, to live out their faith.
[00:11:58] Jesus sums it up by saying this.
[00:12:02] As you wish men to do unto you, you better do the same to them. Look at verse number 31. As you would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
[00:12:17] Now I will tell you this.
[00:12:19] This is known as the Golden Rule.
[00:12:22] And we can rephrase it however we want to. And other religions do that. Other religions have a Golden Rule that is very similar to what we read here, but in the different faiths it usually begins in the negative.
[00:12:39] And here's what the Golden Rule in other faiths say. It says this. What hurts you or what is hateful to you, don't do that to your neighbor.
[00:12:50] Do you see the negative there?
[00:12:53] Whatever you don't want done, do that to your neighbor.
[00:12:59] Well, what Christianity does is it starts with others and it just simply says this as you would like to be treated, treat others the same way.
[00:13:13] And when we think about loving others, we are to do unto them as we would want to be done to us.
[00:13:25] I know there are times that we realize this Golden Rule reaches out with godly values, with kindness and compassion, grace and mercy to those who need to be treated with respect and those that are before God. We are called to be the examples of God's love and God's heart by how we treat our fellow man and woman.
[00:13:50] Now, I notice I didn't say how you treat your wife or your husband, your family member, how you treat a church member.
[00:13:58] I think those levels should be very high. But how you treat somebody you don't know, and even how you treat somebody you don't like matters.
[00:14:10] It matters in the eyes of God.
[00:14:14] And so today a reflection of God's character is a reflection of God's two greatest commandments. To love him first and love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:14:28] And some of your neighbors that you need to love live in your home.
[00:14:38] Some of the neighbors that you need to love, you work with them.
[00:14:43] Some of the neighbors that you need to love are strangers, and even some we as Christians have labeled as our enemies.
[00:14:52] But God has put these people in your life that you could do unto them and as the Lord has done unto you, and you would have them to do unto you.
[00:15:04] And so what does loving others look like?
[00:15:08] Treat somebody else like you want to be treated.
[00:15:16] That's what Mama said.
[00:15:19] That's what Grandma said.
[00:15:23] Thumper even said, if you don't have nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all.
[00:15:30] Church, we need to take that to heart.
[00:15:34] Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
[00:15:40] It doesn't start with them.
[00:15:43] It's not an expectation of waiting for your enemy to say, I'm sorry. No, no. You want your enemy to say, I'm sorry? You go say sorry first.
[00:15:56] That's hard.
[00:15:59] Look, look. Preachers stepping on some toes, but God's already stepped on mine.
[00:16:05] It hurts. It's hard, but that's what God wants his people to be like.
[00:16:12] There's another way that we need to love others.
[00:16:16] Look at verses 32 through 36.
[00:16:23] For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye for sinners also love those that love them.
[00:16:32] And if you do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye for sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have ye for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again.
[00:16:51] But love ye your enemies and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
[00:17:08] Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
[00:17:15] A love of others calls us to be merciful. That's point number two. Be merciful.
[00:17:23] How do we extend that mercy? And what is mercy?
[00:17:28] As we understand from God that mercy is undeserved kindness or compassion towards us.
[00:17:35] But it is also when he withholds from us that which we deserve, we have a merciful God.
[00:17:46] Amen.
[00:17:48] The Bible describes God's mercy with these words that his mercies are tender and they are great, and they are rich, and they are everlasting.
[00:18:01] Psalm 136 says this. His mercy endures forever.
[00:18:07] Titus 3:5 says this. According to his mercy, he saved us.
[00:18:16] And so what does it mean to be merciful?
[00:18:20] It means this showing kindness and compassion that is undeserved, and showing others and giving them something that they don't deserve.
[00:18:35] That ain't a piece of Your mind, okay?
[00:18:40] Trust me. I know what that's like.
[00:18:44] What is Jesus calling disciples to do today?
[00:18:48] He's calling his followers, his disciples to display mercy not only in their own lives, but to those that they come in contact with.
[00:18:58] The three examples of mercy and fulfilling a golden rule simply look like this.
[00:19:05] Look at the love that you see in verse number 32. He says this. If you love them which love you, what thank have ye for sinners also love those that love them?
[00:19:17] Simply loving somebody that loves you, that doesn't set you apart from the world.
[00:19:25] Sinners, unbelievers, the wicked, they love people that love them.
[00:19:32] Reciprocity, that's the word here.
[00:19:36] And that word means a mutual exchange. I'll love you if you love me.
[00:19:43] If you enter any kind of relationship like that, you better be careful.
[00:19:49] I even think maybe the highest earthly relationship outside of your relationship with the Lord Jesus is one that we find in marriage.
[00:19:58] And even in marriage, you're not called to love as long as you are being loved.
[00:20:05] Listen to me, church.
[00:20:07] You are called to love even when you don't feel loved.
[00:20:14] And that's how marriage works.
[00:20:18] And today, for you and I, as believers, as Christians, we are to love despite what we feel or what we know. It's a call to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And it's a call to love even if you get nothing back.
[00:20:40] So when we think about being merciful, you need to be merciful in your love.
[00:20:46] That when you don't even receive love, you're able to give it because God loves you and you're the middleman and it flows through you to somebody else, despite what you get back.
[00:21:01] Jesus says, if you only love because people love you, sinners are able to do that. That's nothing special.
[00:21:13] There's a second area that we're called, and that's labor. Look at verse 27. It says this, the end of verse 27. Do good to them which hate you. You see that word, do good there?
[00:21:25] And then in verse number 33. Do good to them which do good to you. What thank have you? What good is that if you only do good to those that do good unto you?
[00:21:38] God calls us to labor. Our words and our actions should not be constantly ripping and tearing people apart.
[00:21:50] Not only are you to love them, you're to do good by your actions towards them. Your words, your deeds. And I'm going to carry it a little bit further. Even your thoughts but matter before God.
[00:22:06] We have a little friendship deal in my little circle. Whoever I eat lunch with, y' all know one of the pastors, he loves to eat lunch. Okay? But there's a group of friends that kind of keep me accountable. And we have a little, little, you pay this time, I'll pay next time.
[00:22:24] And we lose track of who paid when. I'm just going to be honest with you.
[00:22:28] But if we live life in that mindset of, you pay this time, I'll pay next time. Someone always is going to owe somebody something.
[00:22:39] And if we live life okay, I'll be good to you because you've been good to me, or I'll help you this time because you helped me last time.
[00:22:47] Why can't we just help people?
[00:22:50] Why? We got to keep tabs and keep track of.
[00:22:54] I'm thankful God doesn't keep tabs of how many things that I haven't done for him.
[00:23:02] And so what we realize is this. God's people are not only to love, but they are to do good. And they are to labor with the blessing that you may not receive something in return for what you do.
[00:23:22] Doing good to your neighbor reaches out to them, even those that despise you.
[00:23:30] And he calls us to a lifestyle that doesn't use reason, doesn't make excuses of why we can't do it.
[00:23:39] Not only are you to love, not only are you to labor, but be careful here. Church we are to lend.
[00:23:46] Look at verse number 35.
[00:23:51] Or, excuse me, look at 34, 35. If you lend to them of whom you have hoped to receive, what thank have ye for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing. Again, this is Jesus expressing and these verses, a need to lend or give, expecting nothing in return.
[00:24:17] How many of you know that banks make a living on this?
[00:24:25] Banks make a living, they make success.
[00:24:29] Because when you borrow, when they lend, not only do you have to give back what you have borrowed, but you got to give a lot more.
[00:24:39] And what Jesus is saying here, when you lend or when you give, we should not expect anything in return.
[00:24:50] Unbelievers, the gentiles, sinners, they do the same thing.
[00:24:55] Children of God today, don't bank on your reward being a return on what you have given somebody.
[00:25:04] Because here's what I found out.
[00:25:07] What I give is usually never enough.
[00:25:15] I always fall short.
[00:25:17] And when I think about that in my own life.
[00:25:21] When we love, when we lend, and when we labor for Jesus, all of what he has given us just flows right through us.
[00:25:39] This doesn't make Sense.
[00:25:42] This is not what they're going to teach you in school, in marketing class and money management class. They're not going to teach you this stuff.
[00:25:51] But Jesus says this. If you are a willing vessel, I can pour into you and you can pour into so many others in my name.
[00:26:03] How are you showing mercy to those who have never experienced or seen God's mercy before?
[00:26:14] There's one more point that's found in verses 37 through 38.
[00:26:23] Judge not and ye shall not be judged.
[00:26:27] Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you good measure. Pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that you mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.
[00:26:49] How do you love somebody else?
[00:26:51] How do you love others?
[00:26:53] You have to be generous.
[00:26:56] And I'm not talking generous with your money.
[00:27:00] Can I tell you one of the greatest ways that you can be generous and I can be generous? It's called a four letter word. And it's not one of those four letter words.
[00:27:11] T, I, M, E.
[00:27:21] When we think about giving, most preachers would use this sermon to say, you need to give more to God, to His church.
[00:27:32] I'm not twisting your arm.
[00:27:35] Listen to me.
[00:27:38] The promise four years ago when I stood behind this pulpit was simply this.
[00:27:42] I'm not going to beg you for money.
[00:27:45] God will provide.
[00:27:49] But how do I know God will provide? Because he continues to pour into his people, and his people pour into other people.
[00:27:56] And when God gives to you, we are just allowing that to flow through us because we have generous hearts.
[00:28:05] A warning very seriously in verse number 37, not to judge.
[00:28:13] Now I want to start this.
[00:28:15] The part of being generous is this.
[00:28:18] You should not have a judgmental spirit.
[00:28:24] Being generous means that you're not walking around judging and criticizing and condemning and convicting people according to, to your rules and your standards.
[00:28:36] That's what judging is.
[00:28:39] So judging is that you not only are looking for the evidence, you have pronounced the sentence, you declare them guilty.
[00:28:49] And here's what Jesus says, you should not be judging.
[00:28:54] People that carry judgmental spirits are hard to work with.
[00:29:05] Amen.
[00:29:06] Amen.
[00:29:07] In Jesus day, if you had a disease, there would be people that say, that person must have done something so bad in the eyes of God that God struck them with this disease.
[00:29:21] So in their mind they were judging them. This person is a horrible, horrible sinner.
[00:29:29] And Jesus says this, you are not to be like them.
[00:29:36] Now I will say this. If you Want to go on the website and listen to a full sermon from Matthew's gospel on this? You go listen to that full sermon. I'm not preaching it today. There's 21 sermons on the Sermon on the Mount. Go listen to them.
[00:29:51] Judge not doesn't mean that you are not to discern.
[00:29:57] So spiritual people are supposed to have spiritual eyes. And when you look at something and you don't see something spiritual, you are to identify that and you are to stay away from that.
[00:30:10] That's not judging, that's discernment.
[00:30:16] But as believers, we can have the reputation of looking down our long nose of religion and judging people.
[00:30:26] That is very true.
[00:30:28] That spirit should not be within the people of God.
[00:30:34] You are not God. You do not pronounce judgment. So get rid of that spirit.
[00:30:45] Forgiveness.
[00:30:46] Pardon should be equal in our lives as well.
[00:30:50] And as we forgive others and as we forgive enemies, we are showing that we are our heavenly Father's child.
[00:30:59] So we're told to judge not and condemn not and we're told to forgive. In these verses, they are three of the four commands that are given.
[00:31:08] The relationship with other people.
[00:31:12] So how you love and how you serve and how you lead and how you show forgiveness matter. Relationship with other people matter.
[00:31:27] Some of you in this room may sit here today and say, I don't care what people think about me.
[00:31:34] If I pushed hard enough, I believe I could find a way that you may disagree with that I could find reason to disagree.
[00:31:43] Deep down inside. I believe all of us care about what people think about us.
[00:31:49] And I'm one of those people.
[00:31:52] I could stand here and say, I don't care what people. This is what. No, that's not my heart.
[00:31:57] As God has poured into me and showed me kindness and graciousness and mercy and forgiveness all. Oh, when I talk to somebody that I don't know, I want that to flow to them and I want them to understand. Not that I'm a nice guy, but God is a generous God and He loves us and he will forgive you like he forgave me. He will pick you up out of that miry pit and put your feet on the strong solid rock if you will let him.
[00:32:27] Today.
[00:32:29] Today.
[00:32:31] If you were to look at your life, is it one that says, I don't care what people think of me?
[00:32:39] Or is it one that says this?
[00:32:43] I care what people think of me because I represent Jesus Christ and I want people to see in me that I am my Father's child.
[00:33:00] We end where we started. Look at verse 38.
[00:33:09] That first word is give.
[00:33:13] Give.
[00:33:14] And it shall be given unto you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give unto your bosom.
[00:33:25] For with the same measure that ye meet withal, it shall be measured to you again.
[00:33:35] Now listen. The whole time Jesus has been saying this. You can't do things for other people expecting and for the sole purpose of what you will get in return.
[00:33:47] But here's what Jesus says.
[00:33:49] If you allow me to pour into you and you pour into others, and you are generous to others and you give to others, you will never, never, ever go without a moment of testimony. How many people can testify today that because of the Lord Jesus and his faithfulness, you may have had to string out some things, but you've never gone without. Can you raise your hand? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
[00:34:21] In my little country way.
[00:34:24] Sorry, you got a little country boy as a pastor. I'm sorry.
[00:34:32] The person that went to get a sack of feed in Jesus Day.
[00:34:38] How do you know you got the right amount?
[00:34:45] They would take that sack and they would pour and they would pour into that bucket or that sack and they'd fill it up.
[00:34:54] Oh, they'd take that bucket and they begin to shake it and let it all settle down. Shake it, shake it.
[00:35:02] They would pour more on top.
[00:35:04] They would shake it down.
[00:35:09] They would pour more on it until it began to overflow.
[00:35:16] They began to pack that down, pack it down and pour it once again until it overflows in the floor and they had the correct amount they were supposed to get.
[00:35:37] What does that mean for you and I?
[00:35:40] Here's what that means.
[00:35:43] You can't outgive God.
[00:35:48] You can't.
[00:35:51] If you think I'm going to love somebody only if they love me. God says, that's not my way.
[00:35:58] I'm only going to do something to somebody because they're nice to me. That's not God's heart.
[00:36:06] I'm going to give somebody what little bit I have. I can give a little more, but I'm not going to give them all of it.
[00:36:15] And here's what the Lord says as you give.
[00:36:21] My promise to you is that your bosom, your lap, will be overflowing because I'm going to pour into you and I'm going to shake a little bit.
[00:36:33] I'm going to pour a little bit more and I'm going to pack it down.
[00:36:37] I'm going to pour a little bit more of blessing on your life that your lap, your bosom is not only full, but it is overflowing.
[00:36:47] You cannot outgive God when it comes to love, mercy, forgiveness, and even monetary. Monetary value.
[00:37:01] God calls you to give it all.
[00:37:10] To an enemy, To a friend, to somebody in need.
[00:37:22] So as Jesus has poured love and mercy and forgiveness over and over again into our own lives, how can we pour into others that same love and forgiveness and mercy as we come to a moment of invitation?
[00:37:40] Maybe there's somebody in your mind that you need to go to with forgiveness.
[00:37:48] Now look, if you have done like I have done in the past, I have went and I have said the wrong things.
[00:37:56] And how many of you know when you say the wrong things and you mean the right thing, you can still mess up with a terrible bad thing, right?
[00:38:05] So before you enter into something or a situation, maybe you just want to pray about it.
[00:38:16] Maybe you want to pull your spouse or maybe you want to pull a godly friend and say, let's go before the Lord and pray about this situation.
[00:38:24] Maybe right now you know of a situation where you can be a blessing not in the name of you or your family, but in the name of Jesus, that you can be a blessing because God has poured into you so much you can overflow into somebody else's life.
[00:38:44] We are called to live with that kind of spirit.
[00:38:48] And my prayer today is as we leave here. This has been a hard message, but as we leave here, we leave here with a smile on our face, knowing that we belong to Jesus Christ and knowing that he will lead us and bless us.
[00:39:05] Because of that leading, he will allow us to encounter the people and the situations that need his love and mercy, but need it through us.
[00:39:19] How is God going to use you this week? Church.
[00:39:26] Jesus sermons are tough, aren't they?
[00:39:30] They're challenging.
[00:39:33] How will you accept that challenge this week?
[00:39:39] Maybe you're here today.
[00:39:43] The greatest love in the world is not in any human form.
[00:39:51] For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever will believe in him will have eternal life today. If you don't have and you don't know the greatest love, that is Jesus, I invite you to come to him.
[00:40:16] And because of that love, I don't have to look down my long nose.
[00:40:22] I fall at people's feet and just say, God, use me.
[00:40:27] Pour through me, God, save me today. If you need the saving grace of a holy God, it comes through his son Jesus, dying on a cross, raising on the third day, overcoming death to give us a hope and a future today. Maybe you need to put your faith in him.
[00:40:51] You come, I pray this moment isn't about just standing and singing.
[00:41:04] I know what's going through our minds. And I'm going to say this jokingly, but seriously, donuts are waiting. Okay, listen to me, church.
[00:41:15] The most important thing in the next two minutes is this. The Lord Jesus meets you right here.
[00:41:21] And before a holy God, you can bring your cares and your needs and he will meet you here.
[00:41:28] Let's bow before him. God. Thank you for this day, God. I just pray, Lord, in these moments, God, that you will just press upon the people that are here, their need for you.
[00:41:40] Lord, maybe there are believers in this room that we just need to get our lives straight.
[00:41:46] Part of getting our lives straight is realizing, Lord. We need you to touch areas that we don't like you to touch.
[00:41:53] God. We need you to shake us up a little bit that you can pour more into us.
[00:41:59] Lord, today, if this sermon has hit a nerve, it hit my nerves, God. May it bring us to our knees before you, seeking that you would just shake us in such a way that you can continue to pour into us that we will be more like you.
[00:42:16] Maybe there's someone in this room that's dealing with hurt and pain and heartache and years and years of unforgiveness and they have continued to sidestep it.
[00:42:31] God, bring them to the point of forgiveness, Lord, that one that needs your son, Jesus.
[00:42:41] God, I pray that your spirit will move in such a way, Lord, to convict of sin and to show that a turn to Jesus is needed.
[00:42:50] Lord, we pray that you will lead in that turn as you direct that faith, that trust. And you, God, meet us where we are.
[00:43:01] We're imperfect people trying to be like you.
[00:43:08] Show us your grace now. We pray in Jesus name.
[00:43:11] Amen. Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.
