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Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
Red Letters - The Golden Road
In this week's sermon in our "Red Letters" series, Pastor Tyler Lynde brings us to Jesus’ stark finale in the Sermon on the Mount: two gates, two roads, two ends. Tyler begins with the Golden Rule, not as polite restraint but as proactive love that mirrors the Father’s generosity and fulfills the law from the heart. Then he follows Jesus into the decisive choice. The wide gate and easy road feel natural because self sits at the center, yet they end in ruin and, ultimately, separation from God. The narrow gate and hard road demand repentance, daily cross-bearing, and obedience, yet they lead to real life now and eternal life to come. Tyler anchors the hope of this path in Christ Himself. Jesus is both the gate and the way; no one reaches the Father apart from Him. And we do not walk alone. The Spirit indwells believers as Helper and Guide, giving peace in trouble and power for obedience so that love of neighbor becomes possible. This message refuses sentimentality and despair: it is honest about hell and radiant about grace. Choose the road that keeps company with Christ and practices the Golden Rule as a family resemblance, and you will find that the narrow way, though steep, is the best way to live.
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So today we're going to be getting the end of Jesus' sermon and, as most great preachers do, he has several closings, and so, if it was good enough for him anyway, I'm not going to go too far with that, but he brings it home with a reminder of what is important, as well as calling those who would listen to make a choice, and we'll be looking over the next few weeks at four warnings or choices, each offering a dichotomy of eternal outcomes. So two ways, two trees, two claims and two builders. They all focus on the judgment at the end of time, and so make it plain that this is a continuation of a discussion of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, and the title of today's message is the Golden Road, the Golden Road. So let's read from the scriptures together this morning. So whatever you wish that others would do for you do also to them, for this is the law, and the prophets Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Let's pray together, father, I thank you and praise you for your word that is rich and powerful and we ask, lord, that you would take these words and that you would cause them to be used for the building of your kingdom. I ask, lord, god, that in each of our hearts, that you would do the alignment and adjustment that needs to be done For those of us who need correction. We ask that you would correct us as only a father who cares so deeply. Would we also ask for those who need encouragement this morning that you would bring encouragement. And finally, lord, for those who don't yet know you, I pray that, through the words of the gospel of Jesus Christ today, that the Holy Spirit would awaken hearts and minds to the truth that is found in Jesus Christ and that there would be many today who would find their way to choosing the best choice of all, which is to follow after Jesus Christ. We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:So when Amy and I were younger, we had children. We still do have children, we have four children but we started something that was a practice that everybody, that all of the children, learned. This was going to be something that was a part of the kind of the culture of our family, and whenever they would go somewhere without us, we would ask them a question who do you represent? Who do you represent, who do you represent? And we had taught them that the right answers to that question were myself, my family, the Lord Jesus Christ, the church in general, and what was? There's one or two others, I can't think of any. Which ones, anna, I forgot? Okay, my church, the body of Christ, yeah, all of those things, right, and so that was something that, like I said, that we taught and it wasn't that we were looking for perfection, but we were at. We were asking them to act according to who they were going to represent, right? So, however, they were going to go about their time and experience the different things that they were about ready to experience outside of our presence. We wanted them to be thinking about who was it that they represented? We would encourage them to act like that. Our hope is that they would make decisions, by God's grace, that would help them to live lives that represented those categories very well. We weren't asking them to be what they weren't, but simply to act like they knew who they were. Did you hear me? We weren't asking them to be what they weren't, but simply to act like they knew who they were. They were lions, and lions behave in a particular way.
Speaker 1:In a similar way, jesus begins our passage today with an action point for his followers, based on everything that he's been encouraging them about before. In this very sermon, he implores them, first of all, to love others the way that God the Father loves. To love others the way that God the Father loves. He says so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. This saying is generally known as what the golden rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Speaker 1:But this statement, when you think about it, is so countercultural. This just seems like it should be common sense, like this should be normal, like it should be the basic expression of humanity. But how many of you know that humanity typically takes on the negative form of this? And it's not all wrong, but they say something like don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you. So instead of the positive thing, like stepping out in love and doing for others as you would have them to do to you, it's more about restraint Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you. Again, not totally wrong, but not necessarily what Jesus was trying to get across. And I think maybe the twin sister, the more sinister sister in the group, says something like do unto others before they do unto you. Do unto others before they do unto you. Both of those things often are based on selfish motives.
Speaker 1:Obviously, believers in Jesus are called to live differently in this world. Do you believe that? Amen, it is the truth. Remember in the verses before this that Jesus is telling his followers that if earthly fathers love to give good gifts to their children, how much more will our heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him? This is the way that our father loves us. He gives good gifts to us, he blesses us, he takes care of us. He's a good, good father. He is kind and generous, he is merciful and gracious, he is loving and patient. There are literally thousands of words that we could use to describe the character and nature of our heavenly father, and here's the bottom line point I'm trying to make through this introduction those who are God's children should act like him. Those who are God's children should act like him. Ask yourself the question in what ways am I acting like my heavenly father? And maybe ask a secondary question in what ways am I acting like my heavenly father? And maybe ask a secondary question in what ways am I not acting like my heavenly father? And then the third question is how can I change in the ways that I need to change? When we're proactive in our approach to love others the way that God loves them, with a proper attitude, we are obeying the word of God.
Speaker 1:Jesus said that the law and the prophets are fulfilled. You obey the law and the prophets when you do good to others and love them the way that God loves them. Romans 13, verses eight through 10, says oh, no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law, for the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Remember, there was a lawyer that came to Jesus, a Jewish lawyer, and he asked him the question what must I do to inherit eternal life. And Jesus said well, have you obeyed the commandments? And he said I've obeyed all of them, right? And then Jesus turned to him and said love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And then he asked a dangerous question. Remember the question who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor?
Speaker 1:Jesus begins to tell the story of a man who was on the road to Jericho, and as he was on the road, he was stopped by robbers and he was beaten and all of his goods were taken from him and he was left on the side of the road for dead. And as he's laying there, bleeding and dying, a priest walks by, and a priest, wanting to remain pure and holy, passes by. On the other side of the road, a Levite comes by, which is a servant in the temple as well, and what does he do? He passes by on the other side. And finally, a third person comes by, a Samaritan. Remember, the Samaritans were hated by Jews because they were a mixed breed, they were not just pure Jewish blood. And so what happens? The Samaritan, seeing this man laying there, bleeding and dying stops, gets off of his animal there, bleeding and dying stops, gets off of his animal, comes over to him, binds up his wounds, pours in oil and wine, sets him on his own horse and leads him down to an inn where he puts him in the care of those who were there. And not only does he put this man in their care, he also pays for all of the needs that they have then and what they might have in the future. This is called the good Samaritan right. I mean, even though Jesus is a lot like that good Samaritan and he wants us, as God the father, wants us as his children, to live like and to act like the good Samaritan.
Speaker 1:Jesus asked the man which one was a neighbor, and he couldn't even find the words. He couldn't even say the Samaritan. He said the one who showed mercy. The one who showed mercy. Aren't you glad that God has shown mercy to us?
Speaker 1:Can you imagine if we as a body of Christ, as we as believers in Jesus Christ, chose to live like this, if we chose to follow the golden rule, if we chose to love others the way that God, the father, loves us, would things change? Would anything change? The answer is yes, it would absolutely change. Think about how marriages would be affected if we chose to love others the way that we would like to be loved? How about families in general, relationships between fathers and children and children and mothers? How about workplaces All of the stress and strife that goes on in workplaces? What if believers were to raise up above that and to live their lives like they're loved, so that they can love others? How about schools we just talked about and prayed for those who will be involved in the school system. Probably some have already started and others will start this week. What a difference could be made in the school system if each and every person who has any influence there began to live like this, began to give of themselves in loving ways, representing our heavenly father.
Speaker 1:What about the grocery stores in town? They would see us coming, wouldn't they? We would all be racing to the back of the line so that we could pay for the groceries of the person in front of us, just as an example of showing the love that the Father has given to us. This world, this community, would begin to change. How about street corners in this community? Would things change if we would be out there loving on people instead of railing on them, instead of walking by somebody that's holding a cardboard sign. What if we stopped and prayed with them and showed them the love of Jesus?
Speaker 1:And finally, what about church life? Can you imagine the divisions and strife and hurt and all of those things that could disappear if we would simply obey the words of Jesus and do unto others as we would have them do unto us? My friends, this is exactly what Jesus is imploring us to do. This is the way that he's asking us to live, and here's the good news he would never ask us to do this unless he was going to help us do it. We have the grace of God that lives in us and we're going to talk about this at the end, but he lives in us and he gives us, he equips us with everything that we need for life, and this we can do. This you can do this. You can love, like our heavenly father loves.
Speaker 1:So just as important as the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. How many of you know that there was a first commandment? I just quoted it Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, your mind, your soul and your strength. This is the first commandment with promise. I contend that without this one being followed, we won't be able to fill the second one. You can't love your neighbor unless you've been loved by God and you, in turn, love him. It's that relationship that gives you the grace that you need to be able to love your neighbor when they are unlovable. None of us in this room are ever unlovable, thankfully but we know people you're probably thinking of them right now, in your sphere of influence that seem to you. You can choose to love in spite of. In spite of, you can love the way that God loves us. So if we, if we love others, how are we supposed to love God?
Speaker 1:The passage goes on to talk about choosing the right road. So, love God. Loving God is choosing the right road, choosing the right road. We can't love him unless we're on the right road, choosing the right road. We can't love him unless we're on the right path. Jesus says enter by the narrow gate. Don't you love it when someone gives you the answer to the question before they ask the question? That's what Jesus does here. Before he gives them any kind of choice, any kind of decision, before he presents the two options that he's going to present, he says to them choose the narrow gate, enter by the narrow gate. This is the way that I want you to walk. This is the journey that I want you to be on. This is the path. This is the way. Enter by the narrow gate. Jesus isn't playing a game with us here. He's being very plain and very clear and concise and we want to take his words at that place, and we're going to talk more about the narrow gate in a minute, but first of all I want to talk about the other option that Jesus brings up. You see, the easy, wise road leads to hell. Please pay attention. This is very serious. The easy, wide road leads to hell, for the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, many.
Speaker 1:All of us, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, are very familiar with this way, the wide way, the wide gate, the wide path. In fact, we're all born walking on this very path. Our feet are firmly planted on the wide path from the day we take our first breath, because, since Adam and Eve, every person ever born into this earth, except for Christ, has been born dead in sin, not having a right relationship with God, and so we have started this life out on the easy way. When we were growing up, we actually lived on easy easy street. One of our houses that we lived on was called Easy Street. I don't know why it was called Easy Street, but we lived there. That's the place. Remember? I told you where all of those groceries were given to us without us knowing where they came from Easy Street. So it feels like Easy Street, this road.
Speaker 1:For some of us, it may be the only road we've ever known, and I'm talking to you specifically here this morning and those of you who are watching online if this is the only road that you've ever known. I want to tell you that Jesus is giving you another choice today. He's giving you another option, and just because the wide road has felt comfortable and easy and right does not mean that that is the truth. Bob Dylan, in his famous song, said I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined, stone, cold dead as I stepped out of the womb. Those were the words that he spoke, and then he goes on to talk about what seems to have been a salvation experience for him. That is the condition of our lives without Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:This path is the path of least resistance. It is the path of self-indulgence. It's the path where we think that we are fully in charge. It's the path of envy and pride and self-righteousness. It's the path that feels really, really right. The wide road, the easy road, calls to us, it allures us, it tells us this is the right way. Walk here. In Proverbs 16, 25, the scripture describes it like this there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Speaker 1:This path is the path that Satan manicures, that Satan himself maintains he has no greater desire than to take as many people to hell as he possibly can. He is not some kind of Halloween costume to wear. He is an evil, wicked, sadistic creature who has fallen from grace and will never be restored again, and his desire is to destroy as many people as he can. In fact, in John 10, we know that the description of his life is given the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. That is Satan's greatest work. He doesn't care what means he has to use. He'll even dress up lies and make them look like religion if it will appeal to us and keep us content. How many people have been so lost? And yet they felt like they were following after God. They prayed a prayer as a child and yet nothing ever changed. There's no fruit that ever came in their lives of transformation that comes as being a child of God. So many people today who think that Jesus is just another name in the atmosphere, somebody that we should respect as a prophet and a priest and maybe, you know, maybe even somebody that we should really pay attention to his words. But he's not who. He said that he was.
Speaker 1:My friends, there is a plan that Satan is using, even within churches, to water down the truth concerning Jesus and the truth concerning eternity. There is an eternal place of separation. There is an eternal place called hell. The road leads to hell, this wide road. The Bible describes hell as a place of utter darkness and unrelenting fire, where there will be weeping and groaning and gnashing of teeth. It is a place of torment and desolation. It is all of our worst nightmares wrapped up into one. It is a place designed for Satan and all of his demons, and also because of people's decision to not follow Jesus Christ, they will also, according to the scriptures, find their place of eternal. Can't even use the word rest in that place, eternal torment in that place.
Speaker 1:I know we didn't talk about this a lot and you'll not find many churches in America talking about this today, but I'm here to tell you this is the word of God and this is what Jesus was talking about. There's a wide road that leads to destruction, and the destruction is not to your checking account. The destruction is not to your physical health. The destruction is not although all of those things can be affected by walking on the wide road here in this earth but how many of you know the destruction it's talking about is eternal. It's forever.
Speaker 1:The most traumatic reality of hell, as difficult as all of the other things that I talked about, is eternal separation from Father God. It's the one place where God will not be found. I encourage you just to sit there in that for just a moment, because I hope that, as we move on to this next part, that a couple of things will happen. I hope, first of all, that we will have a renewed desire to make sure that we're on the narrow path. Number one. Number two I hope that we'll have a renewed focus to pray for loved ones and those around us who don't yet know Jesus. Eternity is forever and we should not be satisfied or happy that anyone would go to hell, and I also hope that if we realize today that we are on the narrow road, that we will rejoice with great joy and not allow the little things in this life to continually trip us up.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to stop for just a minute and pray for loved ones who don't yet know Jesus. Would you pray with me, father? In the name of Jesus, we pray for all of those who are on the wide path today, who are destined for hell and for eternal separation from you. Father, we pray that you would have mercy. We pray that you would reach out by your spirit, that you would touch our children and our grandchildren, and coworkers and schoolmates and people in the grocery stores and all of the people within the local churches. Lord, people around the world, we ask that you would cause the entrance of the light of Jesus Christ to dispel the darkness and that many would notice and recognize that they're on the wrong path and that today would be a day of demarcation, that they would change direction, repent and follow you. Pray for that, lord God, and give us courage as followers of Jesus, to be able to speak the truth in love to those who desperately need it. In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:Aren't you glad that Jesus didn't end the discussion there? You see, jesus didn't leave us without a way. Jesus didn't leave us on the wide path. Jesus didn't leave us destined for destruction. Jesus didn't leave us to our own devices. Jesus didn't leave us having to remain under Satan's control. Jesus made a way. Come on. Thank God, there's another road. Thank God, there's another way. The hard, narrow road leads to eternal life. Jesus goes on to say for the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few. Notice the words that Jesus used to describe this narrow path. It's not easy as in the wide way. It's not, it's not something that's comfortable. He uses words that are difficult or less than exuberant. He says it's a narrow road, it's a hard road and there are few that find it.
Speaker 1:And another place Jesus spells out the life of a follower in very distinct terms In Luke nine. He says to all if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, will what? Save it or find it. We do ourselves and those whom we try to convince of the truth a disservice when we undersell the difficulties that walking on the narrow road entail. This is not an easy street. This is not something that is for the faint of heart. Following on the narrow road is one of the hardest things that you will ever do here in this earth. It's not an easy thing to choose the life of a disciple, but how many of you know that have experienced it? It is the very best life that you can ever experience, and we learn here that Jesus himself is the gate to the narrow road. We can look in John 10.
Speaker 1:We talked about what the thief does, but if you read the verses around that, therefore, jesus said again very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But what I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Or another reference, another translation says that they might have life abundantly.
Speaker 1:You see, as evil as the enemy of our souls is and has, as much as he has bent on destruction and as many ways and means that he uses to attempt to take people down the wrong path, how many of you know Jesus is not going to be outdone by Satan, done by Satan? Satan is a liar and he's the father of all lies and anything that he or his demonic horde speak to us, we can take it to the bank. It is not true, it is a lie. But how many of you know that we can count on the words of Jesus Christ? Excuse me, he is the truth that we're searching for. How do we know that Jesus was willing and able to provide for us a better way, a more excellent way? We know this because what he proved it?
Speaker 1:He proved it by being willing to leave all of the accoutrements of heaven, everything that he experienced throughout all of eternity in his relationship with his father, and he chose to leave that behind, to come to this earth, to be born as a human being, to choose each day to live a life that was pleasing to his heavenly father, to love others as he would want to be loved, to show the love of his father to many, many people, thousands and thousands of people. He spoke the words of life that came from the father himself. He prayed for many, and many were healed and set free from evil spirits. He did all of these things representing the kingdom of God, and he did all of them, all of them, to perfection. And then not only that. If that weren't good enough, he also chose, of his own accord, in the garden of Gethsemane, as he said father, if there's any way, let this cup pass for me. Yet not what I will. Let your will be done.
Speaker 1:He chose to obey his heavenly father, to take upon himself the sins of the world, to allow himself to be beaten and mocked and cursed, to have his beard ripped out and a crown of thorns placed upon his head, to be beaten beyond recognition, to be laid upon a piece of wood with his arms and his feet nailed to it, and to be hung between heaven and hell in being mocked and made fun of. And yet, what did he find? The words to speak? What did he find the energy as he pulled himself up on the cross, barely able to breathe? What did he say, father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. And then, a few minutes later, he said it is finished.
Speaker 1:And that story is amazing in and of itself. But how many of you know that's not the end of the story? Because three days later, as he promised, as was promised by the Old Testament prophets, as was promised by God himself, jesus rose up from the dead. He is alive and well. He ascended into heaven. He was given the name above every other name, he was seated at the right hand of the Father. And guess what he's doing today? He's praying for all of us, that we wouldn't give into temptation, that we wouldn't walk on the wide path but we would find our way, that we would follow after him, that we would be disciples who count the cost, who deny ourselves, who take up the cross of Jesus daily and follow after him, who take up the cross of Jesus daily and follow after him. And come on, don't get me started. And, by the way, there's one more thing he's getting ready to split the heavens and come back. He's getting ready to split the heavens and come back. He's getting ready to come back and he's coming back for those who find themselves on the narrow road. On the narrow road, we cannot even enter the narrow road without going through the gate of Jesus Christ. You can't do it. And to further that thought, jesus is the only way to the Father. He's not a gate of many gates. He's not a way of many ways.
Speaker 1:That's popular in our culture as well, to talk about Jesus as being one of the many options that we can take to get to God, to build a relationship with our heavenly Father. I promise you, jesus cleared this up himself in John 14, 6, when he said to his followers I am the way, the truth and the life. And if that wasn't enough, no one comes to the father except through me. Jesus is not a way, or a path, or a gate. He is the way. He is the way. He is the way.
Speaker 1:Clear your mind of all foolishness that would try to convince you that there are other ways to have a right relationship with Father God. There is no way except through Jesus. There is no way. Whoever's listening right now online promise you this is the truth. There is no other way except through jesus. So what must we do? Should we be religious? Should we act a certain way? Is that how it starts? Is that how we walk through the gate. We straighten ourselves up, dust ourselves off, stop cussing in public. No, that will come. But that's not how you start. The way that you start is acknowledging you're on the wrong road.
Speaker 1:The Bible calls it repentance. Jesus himself said that we are to repent and believe. To repent is to acknowledge I've been on the wrong road, I've been on the wide path. I've been on the wide path, I've been on the easy street, and I realize that, even though I said a prayer as a child or I've been, you know, grew up in a Christian home, or, you know, I've been around Christian people, or, when people ask me, you know how I represent myself, I call myself a Christian, and yet there's no real change in my heart. It doesn't bother me to go against. My conscience is seared. One of the greatest signs of false conversion is a seared conscience, a conscience that doesn't care if it disobeys God.
Speaker 1:We are to repent of our sins and then we are to place our hope, our trust and faith in Jesus Christ and his finished work. We are to believe on the Lord, jesus Christ. And what does the Bible say will happen when we repent and believed? We will be saved. We will be saved. We will walk on the narrow gate. We will walk on the narrow way and guess, who's there egging this on? Walking with us? Jesus himself has led the way. He has shown us the way. He walked the narrow path. He walked the narrow road and somewhere in the distance I love what our sister said earlier this morning somewhere in the distance, jesus is there. Whether we can see him or not, he's waiting for us. He's calling us. Come on home. Come on home. Come home to the father. Come home to the father. What will graciously be given to us when we choose to repent and believe is the gift of eternal life. Those who follow after Jesus and endure to the end will be saved.
Speaker 1:The narrow road is hard, but we're never alone when we abide in Jesus. We're promised peace even in the midst of trouble. Jesus has already won the battle. He's already won the war. He's already defeated Satan at the cross. So Satan can try to lie to us all day long, but guess what? Jesus has already won? And he's a friend who will never leave us or forsake us. He's as close as the mention of his name.
Speaker 1:John 16, 33, jesus tells his disciples I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace In this world. You will have trouble On the narrow road. It will be hard, it will be difficult. You're going to have to say no to the things you want to say yes to and yes to the things that you want to say no to. You're going to have to choose, by God's grace, to live a way that is different than the rest of the world lives. You're going to be persecuted for walking on this path. But guess what? I have already overcome. I have already overcome and I am with you. Not only is Jesus with you, but, by the Holy Spirit, how many of us know he lives in us.
Speaker 1:We'll finish with this John 14, 15 through 17. If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives on the inside of us as believers who are walking on the narrow road. And how many of you know?
Speaker 1:We have an internal GPS, we have a God positioning system. We have the ability to have our conscience renewed. We have the ability to be convicted and to be spoken to and encouraged and exhorted and challenged and taught and trained, and all of those things are done by the Holy Spirit, and sometimes the Holy Spirit sounds a lot like my wife and my children and some of you as you speak words of life to me, or words of encouragement or words of correction. God uses people to accomplish his purpose, but it all comes through the work of the Holy Spirit who lives on the inside of believers. So, in conclusion, when we love God by choosing the right road, we become a part of the family of God. We become a part of the family of God, and when we love others the way that God loves them, we prove that we are a part of the family of God. My friends, if we are a part of the family of God, if we are walking on the narrow road, it will be much easier. I'm not saying it'll be perfectly easy, but it will be much easier for us to love others the way that we have received love from God, our heavenly father.
Speaker 1:Amen, let's pray together, lord, these are very serious thoughts and words. I thank you that Jesus didn't leave us guessing that he wasn't like mystical in the way that he expressed what we needed to do in order to obey the words of the Sermon on the Mount. None of this can be done without your grace, without your help, without the work that Jesus did and the continued work of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives. And so, father, I pray that you would help us to act like your children. We thank you that we are your children. We thank you that we've been made in your image and we've been made brand new as believers in Jesus and Lord.
Speaker 1:So we ask that you'd help us to walk in that, that you would give us fruits of repentance, that there would be signs of transformation and, father, for those who are here or listening to this, that maybe have grown up in church or prayed a prayer at a young age, but there's no real signs of change, father, I pray that this would be the day that there would be a recognition of the need to change paths, to walk away from the easy street, from the wide road, from the path that Satan continues to lie about to tell us that this is the one that you should be on and that they would recognize that Jesus Christ himself is calling out to each of them to come and follow him.
Speaker 1:I pray that there would be true repentance and a belief in Jesus Christ that would lead to salvation. And, father, I pray that that salvation would have on its heels the promise that we have to salvation. And, father, I pray that that salvation would have on its heels the promise that we have of endurance. We thank you that those who endure to the end will be saved, and the saved will endure to the end because of the grace of God that lives on the inside of us, that keeps us from walking away. Help us, father, encourage us, strengthen us, help us to take these things seriously, help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and help us to love our neighbors as ourself. We pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus, amen, amen.
