Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst, welcomes you to the Aug. 5 revival message with Rev. Dr. Michael Fitzgerald, pastor emeritus of Clifford Baptist Church 63 was Jolene by Dolly Parton.
[00:00:16] You remember that song?
[00:00:18] I can't sing it for you tonight, but I've heard it a thousand times.
[00:00:22] It is the sad tale of a woman who was begging another woman not to steal her man.
[00:00:30] Here's my thought on that. If he can be stolen, he ain't worth having in the first place.
[00:00:40] I digress.
[00:00:43] According to Dolly, she was inspired to write that song when she and her husband Carl were in the bank, and Carl was at the teller's window doing the transaction. And she was a beautiful woman, and she was flirting with Carl.
[00:00:59] And Dolly saw that happen. And this song popped in her head, and she went right to the car and wrote it out just like that.
[00:01:10] A song about a woman just begging that her husband not be taken away. That's country music.
[00:01:18] I loved hearing Hank Williams tonight, by the way.
[00:01:21] You did a great job, Everett. God bless you. What a talent. God bless your talent. You keep using it, but believe it or not, I use that illustration to compare it to my sermon tonight.
[00:01:33] Now, most of my sermons are hours of labor, especially revival sermons, where I ask the Lord to give me the topic that that congregation needs to hear. And then, lord, now that you've given me the topic, please give me the scripture that will match there. And I study it and I pray over it, and I think about it and I write it down. I literally write down every word of a sermon on paper before it gets to a pulpit.
[00:02:00] But this sermon was completely different. It was inspired in a moment, not in a bank. And I wasn't being flirted with.
[00:02:10] But on May 23, after Pastor Jeffrey and thank you, Pastor, for allowing me to this pulpit. This is my favorite pulpit in the world.
[00:02:19] May 23, I wrote the date down. I was driving and I was praying and thinking about the topic for tonight, asking God to give me the direction to speak to the people of Clifford Baptist Church. And this sermon flooded my mind in such a way that I had to get home quickly so I could write down the notes so I wouldn't lose any of it. I'm 68. I'm starting to lose things now, but I wanted to get home and make sure that I got down the notes of how God had given it to me.
[00:02:51] And I want to set the stage with you about this sermon tonight. The ministry of Jesus always intended to be centered in God's. Son, the Lamb of God, who laid down his glory and came to us by birth in a manger. He laid aside his heavenly glory, stepped out of heaven as the eternal God, the Son of God, and born in a manger, took on flesh incarnate to walk among us. Ultimately to go to the cross for us to take the punishment for our sin that's rightly ours. But the perfect Lamb of God took it on his shoulders that you and I might be forgiven and that we might be here tonight so the world might be saved. For God so loved the the world.
[00:03:40] This gospel is intended for every single person on earth that the world might be saved even on the night of Jesus birth. As we see it in Luke chapter two, the angels spoke to those lowly shepherds in the field that they were giving good news of great joy that was to be given to all people.
[00:04:05] The Gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ is for all people.
[00:04:11] Jesus came to change and to save the world.
[00:04:18] And in his three years of public ministry he ministered to multitudes, to crowds of people. And you know, as you have read the Gospel accounts of Jesus life, that he ministered to multitudes so many times. In Matthew chapters five through seven, he preached the Sermon on the Mount. And According to Matthew 7:28, after the sermon was done, the throngs, the Greek word is aklas, the throngs of people were astonished by his teaching. It was the greatest sermon that has ever or will ever be preached on earth.
[00:04:54] And the throngs of people who heard it were astonished at the word of God that came through the Son of God.
[00:05:01] The Sermon on the Mount.
[00:05:05] Most of Jesus parables, simple stories, simple little pithy stories that had one main carry away point. Most of Jesus parables were spoken to the crowds, to the multitudes, to those who needed one point upon which they could build their lives.
[00:05:27] In all four Gospels we see the account of Jesus teaching some 5,000 men and an unnumbered amount of women and children.
[00:05:36] And he taught them in one gospel. It says that he heals them.
[00:05:40] But there comes a time when the teaching is done that they are hungry and so he feeds them.
[00:05:47] And as you know, this is the only miracle that's contained in all four gospels of the Bible. But you know, he fed 5,000 men, unnumbered women and children on five barley loaves and two fish. In the south, that'd be five crackers and a can of sardines.
[00:06:08] Jesus knew by the wisdom of God that his word was intended and to be extended to every person on Earth and the multitudes came to hear him.
[00:06:23] Jesus ministry is for the billions of people of the human generation who've ever lived.
[00:06:31] The good news is for every single person that the world might be saved.
[00:06:40] And praise God. Clifford Baptist Church. I'm thankful to see that mindset here that you want to see the world saved, not just a little group of people in this sanctuary, but rather we want to see the world come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
[00:06:57] Back I believe in the early 1990s, we took our first step into the world out of this sanctuary and that we began a radio ministry. And I can tell you right now, Terry Jones, who's sitting right there, was part of the beginnings of that. She was the one who stood up. She and Georgie said, we will support that financially.
[00:07:17] So we began a radio ministry with WAMV radio station in the heart of Amherst, Virginia.
[00:07:24] Now, WAMV didn't have a huge footprint.
[00:07:28] In fact, there were times that I couldn't even get it here in Clifford.
[00:07:32] But there were people in Madison Heights who told me, yes, we listen to the radio ministry all the time.
[00:07:39] So our first step out of the sanctuary into the world with the Gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ was through little WAMV radio in Amherst. Today, in addition to the people here in this sanctuary, the Gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ comes through two major footprint radio stations. Jeffrey, is that still correct?
[00:08:02] Two big footprints, Footprints of the radio. In fact, the folks in Charlottesville right now, I'm preaching in Charlottesville, and many of those people tell me, we hear you all the time here in Charlottesville because those sermon series are still running, but also, of course, through YouTube and platforms like YouTube. The gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ is extended from this sanctuary to the furthest corners of the world.
[00:08:32] It's amazing that the Internet allows the world to access the ministry of Clifford Baptist Church. And that's the way it should be. We're in that age where we have the gospel and we can send it out and praise God. Clifford Baptist Church is doing that.
[00:08:47] Keep on keeping on.
[00:08:49] We need to do that.
[00:08:53] But here's the turning point of the sermon.
[00:08:57] The multitudes were very important to Jesus, but he has a heart for every single soul.
[00:09:08] He loved speaking to the multitudes, even taking a boat out onto the Sea of Galilee and speaking to the multitudes on the shoreline. He loved speaking to the multitudes, but his heart was for the individual.
[00:09:25] Jesus was not preaching to nameless, faceless crowds.
[00:09:30] I have been in nameless, faceless crowds. In fact, a few Years ago, I was asked and given the honor of praying over a NASCAR race in Richmond at the raceway.
[00:09:42] That raceway holds over 50,000 people, and every seat was full.
[00:09:48] And so, I mean, it's a360 around as you see people around you everywhere.
[00:09:54] And I was nervous like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
[00:09:59] But I want you to know, as I stood on the sidelines and the man gave me the motion to come to that microphone, when I started out, the first step was, lord Jesus, it's just you and me here. And every nerve faded away, and I was able to pray as God would have me to. But that crowd was filled with nameless, faceless people. It was just a 50,000 people carpet around me, and I didn't meet any of them in a gospel way.
[00:10:33] But when Jesus spoke to the multitudes, being the Son of God, he knew every heart. He knew every face, he knew every need. He knew every person in that multitude to which he spoke, and he loved every one of them. His words were individually for every one of them.
[00:10:53] You know, when Jesus spoke to his disciples and he said, let not your heart be troubled, you'll notice that's in the singular, because he was speaking to them individually, not as a group, but as individual men who had followed him.
[00:11:09] And that's Jesus heart. He intimately knows every single person, and he intimately loves every single person.
[00:11:19] Jesus, as the Son of God, related to every person as he or she needed it.
[00:11:25] Some needed his physical touch and needed his physical healing.
[00:11:31] Some of them needed for him to speak to them in a way that they could hear, such as a woman who was dragged out of an adulterous situation, Driven, dragged in front of the crowd, dragged in front of Jesus. And Jesus spoke to her with a gentleness and a forgiveness. And he sent her on, saying, go and sin no more.
[00:11:54] But then also, when he spoke to a certain group of Pharisees, he got right up in their faces and he said, you're nothing more than a group of whitewashed tombs.
[00:12:04] You look great on the outside, you're dressed up on the outside, but you're dead as a hammer on the inside.
[00:12:12] Jesus knew how to speak to people in their particular situation.
[00:12:18] I love Jesus words to the crowds, but I am drawn to his conversations with every single person.
[00:12:27] I noticed that he tailors every conversation to suit that person, to speak to that person, to touch them at their point of need, wherever it might be.
[00:12:39] In fact, Pastor Nathan and I have talked about a book to be written that studies the different patterns in which Jesus spoke To different people.
[00:12:50] I'd like to think that one of these days I get to write that book. But if I don't make it, Nathan, I commission you to write that book. Where are you? There you are. Write that book.
[00:13:02] I believe you could.
[00:13:05] For the sake of our time. Tonight, let me give you just three personal conversations of Jesus with one person.
[00:13:13] I chose three. I chose these three in particular because you know them well.
[00:13:20] A man named Nicodemus, a man named Zacchaeus, and a woman who was unnamed. But she came to meet him at a well.
[00:13:31] John, chapter three. Jesus meets one of the most intelligent men of the world. He was a Pharisee, which meant he was a doctor of the law.
[00:13:38] We would call him an Old Testament scholar today. He knew the Word inside and out. He was a teacher. He was also a ruler. He was on the Sanhedrin. He was a very important man in the Jewish culture. His name was Nicodemus.
[00:13:51] It's so interesting. As Jesus speaks to him, he relates to him where he needs to hear.
[00:13:57] I want you to hear these words. In John 3. 3, Jesus says this to Nicodemus.
[00:14:05] Verily, verily. Those words, especially in King James Version, means, here's a flag. You better listen to this.
[00:14:10] Other versions say other things, but verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
[00:14:24] He speaks those words to one of the most intelligent men in the world.
[00:14:28] And that intelligent man asked the most childish question that could be asked.
[00:14:32] Do you mean that I am to enter back into my mother's womb to be born again?
[00:14:40] And Jesus very gently says, no.
[00:14:44] Being born again is a new birth of the Spirit of God.
[00:14:49] It's not being born out of your mother's womb again.
[00:14:52] It's being born by inviting the Son of God, the Spirit of God, to reside in your heart, to give him your sin and to allow him to be your Lord and your master and your Savior. That's the new birth. It brings forgiveness. It brings salvation and eternal life. He comes to live in you, and Jesus culminates it by saying, and when the Spirit of God lives in you, when you're saved by grace through faith, you will never perish but have everlasting life.
[00:15:28] It's very obvious that Nicodemus accepts Jesus because he shows back up a couple of times. But he shows up especially toward the end of John in John, chapter 19, wanting to anoint the Savior who had died on the cross so he could be born again.
[00:15:48] In Luke, chapter 19, Jesus meets Zacchaeus.
[00:15:52] He had met the most intelligent man in the world, One of them in Nicodemus. Now he's meeting the loneliest man in the world in Zacchaeus.
[00:16:00] He was a Jewish man, but he had sold out to Rome.
[00:16:06] He was collecting taxes from his own Jewish, Jewish family.
[00:16:12] So he was a traitor. Not only did he take money from his own family, but he extorted enough of it to make himself rich.
[00:16:25] And the Jews hated him as a defector and a traitor.
[00:16:30] And Rome couldn't care less about him. He was nothing more than a little pawn in their system of tax collecting.
[00:16:38] So his family hated him and the community didn't care about him. He was the loneliest man in the world.
[00:16:48] But Jesus passes through Jericho and there's little old short Zacchaeus in a sycamore tree, just trying to see him.
[00:16:58] And In Luke chapter 19, verse 5, Jesus calls him by name. And I want you to understand that is a very important aspect of this account of Jesus life.
[00:17:08] Zacchaeus had never met him. He didn't expect to meet him. He climbed up in a sycamore tree just to watch him pass by.
[00:17:17] But as Jesus passed by underneath, he looks up and he says, zacchaeus.
[00:17:22] He calls him by name.
[00:17:26] He says, come down out of that tree because I'm inviting myself to your house today.
[00:17:33] So Zacchaeus doesn't invite him. He invites himself.
[00:17:40] So Jesus went to the loneliest home in town.
[00:17:44] Probably Zacchaeus had not had a visitor in years.
[00:17:48] Now, scripture does not tell us the conversation after that door closes. When Zacchaeus and Jesus go into that house, the door closes. We don't know what is said. But we do know this.
[00:18:00] When Zacchaeus emerges from that house, he calls Jesus, Lord, there was a transaction that took place in his soul because he was saved in that meeting.
[00:18:14] One of these days when we get to heaven, I'm going to say, zacchaeus, tell me, what did y' all talk about in that house?
[00:18:21] But we know the transaction of salvation happened in Luke, chapter 19, verse 9. Jesus says, this day, salvation has come to this house.
[00:18:34] John, chapter four.
[00:18:36] Jesus was in Sychar Samaria, sitting on the lip of a well.
[00:18:44] So he had talked to one of the most intelligent men in the world. He had talked to one of the loneliest men in the world. Now he's going to talk to one of the most ashamed people of the world.
[00:18:56] She had been married and divorced five times.
[00:18:59] If you remember, according to Jewish law, a woman could never divorce her husband. It was always an action that only the husband could take.
[00:19:08] So that meant that five men had thrown her away for some reason.
[00:19:14] And she was so discouraged and disgusted with it all that she threw in the towel and just lived with the sixth one.
[00:19:23] And her life was nothing more than a mess of shame.
[00:19:28] She came to that well in the heat of the day so that she didn't have to see or speak to one single person who walked out of Sychar to come to the well. She came by herself because she didn't want to see anybody. She was so ashamed of her life and what had happened.
[00:19:47] But unknowingly, when she came to the well that day, she had an appointment with the Son of God.
[00:19:59] And he met one of the most ashamed people in the world.
[00:20:03] And he drew her in, talking about the living water of a savior. At first she didn't understand that she was thinking about physical water, and she couldn't put it all together. But finally it began to dawn on her what he was saying.
[00:20:19] Living water, the water of life, the water of purpose, the water that rids you of shame. She began to understand, and she said to Jesus, I'm waiting on that Messiah. I am waiting on that savior to come.
[00:20:35] And In John, chapter 4, verse 26, Jesus said, I that speak to you am he.
[00:20:45] And that moment, that woman who lived in shame received Jesus Christ into her life.
[00:20:53] And that moment in that transaction, something happened in her that she could set her shame aside.
[00:21:00] It says that she left her water pot, which was a very valuable item. So she left something that was very valuable in an earthly sense. And. And she ran into town and she did something that she had not done for a long, long time. And that is, she spoke to people. And not only did she speak to people, she was witnessing to people saying, go to the well. Meet that man who knew everything about me.
[00:21:23] He will change your life. Go out there, meet him. She, immediately after the moment of salvation, became a witness for Jesus.
[00:21:34] And they could not calm her or quiet her down. The first act as a believer, she became a witness.
[00:21:43] Here's my point tonight.
[00:21:45] Jesus always took time for the one, and he ministered to that one and that point where he or she really needed it. He never turned one away.
[00:21:58] He. He never let the circumstances of that person's life turn him away.
[00:22:03] No matter what mess they had been into, no matter how dirty they might have been in sin, Jesus never turned one person away. And every time we see one person saved on the pages of scripture, we say there's a miracle.
[00:22:20] But I know that Pastor Jeffrey and other pastors this Room. Pastor Nathan when we sit with men, women, boys, girls, and we see them, Pastor Clyde and we see them come to Jesus as Lord and Savior, that is a bona fide miracle. As much as it was in the biblical day when the Lord Jesus gives life, it's a miracle. It is a new birth, and it does change your life.
[00:22:50] It's an amazing thing to see.
[00:22:54] Every single person is of eternal value to Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible ends with this invitation.
[00:23:03] Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17.
[00:23:14] Now, 99% of my sermons always begin with the Scripture that I'm centering on. But I'm going to end my sermon with the scripture that I'm centering on tonight.
[00:23:23] If you want to turn your Bible with me, it is Matthew, chapter 10, verses 29 through 32. You will know this verse of Scripture. These verses, Matthew 10:29 to 32.
[00:23:46] Jesus says this.
[00:23:49] Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
[00:23:53] And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
[00:24:05] Fear ye not, therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows.
[00:24:12] Whosoever therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven.
[00:24:24] I wrote a little note down on the side of this page of my Bible years ago.
[00:24:30] It's almost faded out. But here's what I wrote in my Bible. I don't even know where I found this information out.
[00:24:36] Redheads have about 90,000 hairs on their head.
[00:24:43] Black hair has 103,000 hairs. Brown, roughly 109,000 hairs. Blonde.
[00:24:53] 140,000 hairs, basically roughly on your head. Now, some of you men made it real easy for Jesus.
[00:25:09] Perfect heads. I know. I've heard that before.
[00:25:16] Whoever you are, wherever you come from, however much sin you've got packed away in your suitcase, however many challenges you're facing in your days ahead, Jesus knows all about you.
[00:25:36] Because he loves you.
[00:25:39] Because he created you.
[00:25:41] Psalm 139 tells us, we are knit together in our mother's womb by the very hands of God.
[00:25:49] You are his creation and he loves you and he does not want to lose you.
[00:25:55] He loves you so much. He wants you as his child. He wants you as his own. He wants you for all eternity, salvation, period.
[00:26:06] That's the message of the Bible, that you and every person we meet, we're one of a kind to our Creator and to our God.
[00:26:15] So, believers, we know that every person is of infinite worth to our Savior. That's the Message of the Bible for us. We're of infinite worth to our Savior.
[00:26:29] So, believers, here's my revival message tonight. In your life at this very moment, who is central to you?
[00:26:37] Who is that one person in your life who needs the gospel?
[00:26:45] And probably for most of us, there is a name, there is a face that jumps up in our head right now. That one person in our life that we're concerned for.
[00:26:56] Out of the billions of people on Earth, who's your one tonight?
[00:27:02] Who's that one who needs a special touch from Jesus Christ?
[00:27:10] Is it a spouse or a child or a grandchild? Great grandchild. A family member, A co worker, A very close friend for years? Who is it? That's that one in your mind right now, this moment.
[00:27:24] That one who needs Jesus to touch that life.
[00:27:28] You know, I believe when we're truly saved, we see with the eyes of Jesus.
[00:27:33] And I believe when we're saved, we have discernment that comes from Jesus. I've had people say, you know, I think my friend is lost, but I can't judge. No, yes, you can, because you have discernment coming from Jesus.
[00:27:46] And Jesus points us out to those ones who need a special touch, and especially those ones who need. Who need salvation from him, who are lost and going to hell without the good news. Oh, discernment is real in every believer's life.
[00:28:01] Who's your one?
[00:28:03] Who's that one on your mind, on your heart this very moment?
[00:28:07] Praise God. Clifford Baptist Church reaches the multitudes through media and missionaries and feeding and clothing people and saving unborn babies and supporting so many ministries that go out to the multitudes. Don't stop that.
[00:28:25] You keep stepping out of this sanctuary into the world, taking the gospel there. But personally, you and me now, just you and me.
[00:28:33] Who's your one?
[00:28:36] Who's that one on your mind this moment? Who needs you and me to slow down and get out of our little comfortable box and go to them and reach out to them and share with them the love of Christ? Who is it in your mind now?
[00:28:54] Who's the one?
[00:28:56] Who's the one who needs you?
[00:29:00] I love what Kurt Skelly said last night in that we most perfectly love Jesus when we give his love to somebody else in the Bible. Jesus says, you're ministering directly to me when you Minister to your 1.
[00:29:15] That's an amazing thought, isn't it?
[00:29:18] Here's the truth of the word.
[00:29:21] God is sending every one of us as believers to your one.
[00:29:26] And our one changes with time. I know that I've had many ones over the years of ministry.
[00:29:34] But maybe your one needs to come home. They are a Christian, but they've wandered away from the faith. They need to come home. They need to come back to worship. They need to come back to having Jesus as the centerpiece of their life.
[00:29:49] Maybe your one needs you to walk with them through some pain or some loss or some addiction with the love of Jesus.
[00:30:00] Maybe your one needs your help to walk to Jesus because he or she has never felt worthy to do it alone.
[00:30:08] And they need someone to take them by the hand, take them on the arm and say, let me walk you to Jesus and get you to his love and to his salvation and to his grace.
[00:30:20] You know one of the most awakening verses of the Bible is Jesus speaking to his disciples in Matthew, chapter 9, verses 37 and 38. Would you take that Bible and open it and see that in fact, it's right on probably the same page as the central verse I just read you. Matthew 9, 37, 38.
[00:30:43] Jesus speaking to his disciples. He says, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
[00:30:58] Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into the harvest.
[00:31:07] Those verses have always jabbed me.
[00:31:12] They jab me personally when Jesus asks me, am I one of the few?
[00:31:19] But also they've jabbed me as a pastor, saying, how do I preach so that a church feels that call to go into the harvest, so that we go in as a church full into the harvest? How do we do that? How do we accomplish that? By the will of God. We follow his footsteps there.
[00:31:38] So my question tonight, and here's the invitation, will you be one of the few?
[00:31:46] Will you go into the harvest of one?
[00:31:51] Will you go from this place tonight saying, lord Jesus, help me reach that one with your gospel, with your love, help me reach them where they are, in what they're doing, with whatever they're facing. I want to go to my one with the gospel.
[00:32:07] And Jesus says, if you'll do that according to scripture, you'll be one of the few.
[00:32:12] Everybody who sits on a pew is not one of the few.
[00:32:16] You have to make that decision and you have to make that commitment that you'll be one of the few. And my prayer is that the Lord will fill up Clifford Baptist Church with the few who will go to our one and bring Jesus there. To that one.
[00:32:34] Will you be one of the few?
[00:32:38] Will you be one who will take the love of Christ where it needs to be? Maybe the best way to do that tonight is for you to bring your one, if you will do this. There's no arm twisting here, but maybe you want to bring your one to this altar and lay that one on this altar before the Lord Jesus and say, lord, I want that one to be ministered to.
[00:33:04] And so I bring him or her who is on my mind to this altar, Lord. And not only do I bring them in concern, but I bring them in commitment that I will seek him or her out and I will minister to her or him.
[00:33:19] Because I want to be one of the few who goes into the harvest of one to give the good news. There.
[00:33:28] I pray. Clifford Baptist Church is filled with the few.
[00:33:33] Maybe tonight you want to express that at this altar, if you choose to come, you come.
[00:33:39] One last thing.
[00:33:41] If you are here tonight and you have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you've never come to him.
[00:33:48] The Lord Jesus already knows your name.
[00:33:51] The Lord Jesus already knows all about you. And no matter who you are, you can just come to this altar and say, lord Jesus, it's me.
[00:34:01] And I'm bringing you everything I have.
[00:34:05] And I'm bringing this weight of sin on my shoulders and this weight of guilt that I've carried.
[00:34:12] And tonight I'm laying it down at the foot of your cross.
[00:34:18] And I'm asking that you remove it from me as it says in the Word, as far as the east is from the west.
[00:34:26] Because, Lord, I want to belong to Jesus as my Savior.
[00:34:30] I believe that you went to the cross and laid down your life for me. I believe that you died there, shedding your blood, that I might be forgiven you. You died in my place, so tonight I can be forgiven you. Come.
[00:34:46] I'm not asking you to put it off till you feel like you're cleaner.
[00:34:50] I'm not asking you to become a Bible scholar before you come.
[00:34:55] I'm asking you to come tonight.
[00:34:57] The old saying is, Jesus cleans his fish after he catches them.
[00:35:02] If you've never received Jesus as your Savior, you are of eternal value to him.
[00:35:09] And he wants you as his very own brothers and sisters. Will we go into this harvest from this place tonight to be one of the few who go to claim one for Jesus Church, home, whatever you need.
[00:35:27] He meets us in this place. Let's pray together, our Father, our God, as we come to your house tonight. Thank you, Lord, for this place, O Lord.
[00:35:39] Gwen and I cannot express how much we love this place, how much we love this church, how thankful we are to see how it is being led in this day.
[00:35:54] Thank you for Pastor Jeffrey For Pastor Nathan, for the staff of this church, for John. Pastor John, just thank you, Lord, for what we see happening and the way this church is moving forward. Thank you for Kim and Melinda, Lord. Just thank you for deacon leaders. Thank you for servant leaders of this church family.
[00:36:15] And I am so grateful and thankful for the love that Jesus has for this place.
[00:36:21] As Jeffrey and I have talked, Lord, I believe for what I've seen over the last 43 years, your hand has rested on this church in a very special way.
[00:36:32] It's not a thing that I did, not a thing that Pastor Jeffrey or anybody else is doing.
[00:36:37] It's by the grace of God and your hand on this church that carries us forward.
[00:36:43] We are humbled to be called into your service and we are humbled to be called to go out into the harvest.
[00:36:52] I pray tonight before we leave this place that we have made a commitment to be those few who enter the harvest who seek the one right now for Jesus Christ and his ministry to them, whatever they need. May we be that witness that goes to them immediately.
[00:37:12] We love you, Father. I pray that you will bless this altar tonight for anyone who would want to come and bring their one here and make the commitment to minister to that one.
[00:37:20] Father, you just bless this moment of decision.
[00:37:24] And however that decision is made here at this physical altar, at the altar of the heart, Lord, send us out as a different people.
[00:37:31] Send us out to claim the world one by one, for Jesus, our Savior.
[00:37:38] We love you. We thank you. We claim that one lost person and ask that he or she come tonight.
[00:37:45] We make our prayer in the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[00:37:50] Amen.
