Pastor Robert and TaQuaris Smith
Jacque: I just want to welcome everybody here today. It's so good to see you. I just want to say all your names and tell you how great you look. Ben, you look so great in your suit. Yeah. It's so good to— and then we have so many new friends here. I just want to introduce— there are so many I could introduce, but may I introduce Patricia? This would be Pastor Robert's mother is here with us today. It's so good to have you here. We are excited to hear Pastor Robert speak and know that we are going to get filled up.
I just want to remind you that today is the day that we are going to be honoring our friend, Bob. We miss him. I can't imagine how you miss him. We miss him. Bob, what are you doing right now? Oh, I have goose bumps at the thought of it. He is with his mom. He is with Jesus. What we are going to enjoy remembering what a great guy he was and how much we love him. That's at 2 o'clock today. 1 o'clock is a visitation with the family and two o'clock the service begins. Pastor Robert and TaQuaris will be serving communion after service today. So you can just go right over there and have communion and prayer.
Also, just one quick announcement for the ladies: We start a Bible study this Wednesday. It's going to be awesome just studying the Holy Spirit from scripture. We are going to have such a good time in God's word together. So please look online, get that information and let me know if you want to come here to the church for the study, or if you want to join us online. So get a hold of me if you would like to be a part.
Brian: That one wasn't done. Good morning, everybody. It's great to see you. Isn't it interesting and exciting in the springtime when the crops and the fields have just been planted and you start driving by them and the corn that is now 9, 10 and 11 feet tall; it's just coming out of the ground, but it's exciting because we know what's on the horizon. That's kind of how I feel about hope community church right now. I feel like we are in actually—even though it's September, I feel like we are in a springtime. I feel like the winter has passed. We have a future in front of us as we water and as we cultivate. As we sow into what the fields that God is making available to us, we are seeing just the beginning of what will become a great harvest.
I want to congratulate Sean on a great job at the fair this past couple weeks. They gave out over 7,000 children's Bibles. They prayed for many people and I would like to hear from you next Sunday, Sean, if you want to just share a quick testimony and tell us all the things that God did at Crossroads Chapel. A lot of you may not know this, but Sean is the president of Crossroads Chapel and they have a great ministry out there at the fair of year. We are just so proud of you and all that you are doing. God is using people all through this church to do wonderful things for the kingdom of God.
It was during the passing of Jacque’s mother, Ruby, that we became introduced to someone who's become very near and dear to our hearts in the last, just few weeks. It's Pastor Robert and TaQuaris and his wonderful family. It's good to have you here today. There are a couple others in the children's ministries, so forth. AJ was talking to me, and as you know, there has been— with starting of Influence Church, there has been a vacuum of leadership that has happened here because Kelly and Catalin who were with us on staff for many years have left and some of the young people that were part of our church are helping them get started with their church.
We are not mega church. We not even a step down from a mega church, whatever that is, but we have a powerful God. We were praying about, Lord, direction for our future because we know that what God has put us here to do has yet to be completed. A lot of good things have happened, but a lot more or things need to happen, fall into place. We need people to do that. We need people in our ranks and we need an expansion in our leadership. Praying with AJ and Robert and the things just kind of— I'm not even sure how it all happened. It's just like, how did you get here? I don't know. We just took a step and now we are here. That's kind of how God is.
Jacque and I had a prophetic word many years ago that God was going to take us from mountaintop to mountaintop, and we were going to look at each other and say, how did we get here? And it was like, I don't know, but God did it. One of the things that God has really done and is doing is he brought a wonderful gift to us in Pastor Robert and his wife TaQuaris and their family. I just felt like it would be good for him to bring the word for us today so that we could get to know him better and all of you who are watching online. Please, all of us, let's welcome our newest staff, Pastor Robert Smith. God bless you, my friend.
Robert: Praise the Lord. I said, praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. I'm excited to be here this morning. Amen. It's a good applause for me, but I said praise the Lord because this is— hallelujah. This is a day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. I want to welcome you all. It's good to be here. Pastor Brian, Jacque, thank you for this opportunity. Hope, thank you for opening up your arms and allowing my family to become a part of your family. We are excited about what God is doing. We don't know all that he is doing, but I learned a long time ago to trust him. I don't need to have all the answers. He has the answers and he has my best interests at heart and so does he for you. He has your best interests at heart. So you don't have to worry about what tomorrow, as long as the Lord is providing the steps for you. Amen.
I want to thank my family here. I have blood relatives and I have adopted relatives, people that have been in my life for many, many years. I thank you for your undying, steadfast support. I thank you. It means a lot for all of you to be here. All of you watching, hello, I'm Pastor Robert. Hopefully you get to see this face for many, many, many times to come.
Wow. How did we get here? It started over for lunch, and talking and praying and pacing back and forth. I can't forget the council I have from my big chief, you know, my son. I said, "RJ, should I go and join Hope?" He is like, "Yep." "Why?" “Because I want you to.” I said, "Okay, it's as simple as that." But I thank my wife for her steadfast prayer and support for me. We've been in season of seasons of transitions, and she has had my back all the way. And so sweetheart, I appreciate you. I appreciate the gift that you are. I appreciate who you are to me. And that's the biggest gift.
I have a "we" message today. Everybody say we. Sometimes people believe that the preacher is pointing the finger at you, but this messages for us, we. I'm the new guy around here, but I've come to link arms and join forces with you in the greater body of Christ, but in this local body of Christ. I have a message for us, we. That's who I'm speaking to today: us, we. So keep that in mind. Amen.
I have some good news for you today. I don't know if you knew it already, but Jesus coming in the flesh was the greatest happening in the event of mankind. It's the greatest event in mankind. Human history has no never been the same since. It is the power of the gospel, and what is the gospel? The gospel is that telling of how and why Jesus came in the flesh. It is the power of the gospel that still transforms people's lives today. The power of the gospel is the reason why I'm standing before all of you today. The power of the gospel is why you are here. The power of the gospel of why we are saved, why our families are saved, our friends, our loved ones are saved, and the hope that we have that our good friend, Bob is with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We have that hope because of the power of what Jesus Christ did for you and me.
But what I want to tell you today is that the transforming power of the gospel is not just limited to the preacher preaching message. The transforming power of the gospel is also in the lives of all those who call ourselves Christ's followers. All of the followers or disciples of Jesus Christ are to spread the message of the cross. The spreading of this message is not limited to preaching either. I think that's where most people, church people have gotten comfortable: is that the spreading of the message has been put all on the shoulders of those who herald the gospel message preaching, or even you and I individually, corporately somewhere preaching the message.
But I tell you, there is even an expanded witness in the way that we live our lives. You see we are called to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ. All of those who are Christ's followers need to be, need to be intentional and active in being ambassadors of Christ. Did you catch that? We need to be intentional and active in being ambassadors of Christ.
Not only does a dark need to hear us, and to be quite honest, they don't do that enough either. That's a message for another day, but it also needs to see us. I'm telling you church, Hope, the entire body of Christ, we need to wake up today. Not only be heard, but we need to be visible. I'm talking to us, we. We need to be visible. What do I mean by that? Our lives are the first and sometimes only message that the unsaved will see or ever see or hear: our lives. I have a challenge for us today, us, we to become more visible.
I believe that my coming here to hope is not circumstantial. I believe it's very prophetic in the sense that I believe, my wife and I talk about this all the time, we have assignments in the earth. I believe my assignment is to come hands join hands with you in prayer, in work, in fellowship and moving for this community, Hope Community, to become more visible.
What I want to talk to you about by way of this message today is being a visible com community. We can take that locally, presently visibly here with us at Hope Community, But obviously this is also a message for the larger body of Christ that we need to be a visible community. I just have a few scriptures for you this morning, but kind of our base scripture that we want to have. This message go through is the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. We are going to reverse his 13 through 16. Remember we are talking about being a visible community. Matthew 5, 13 through 16, and I'm going to read the New Living translation. Somehow, Pastor AJ has influenced me in this translation, so I've been in it lately. I think it's good for our purposes today.
Here is heard of God starting in verse 13. You are the salt of the earth, but what good is salt if it has lost its flavor. Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. Verse 14: you are the light of the world like a city on a hill top that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it get gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly father.
Salt. Salt gets a bad rep today, but for a moment, can I talk you about the characteristics of salt? Salt is a necessary and essential nutrient for life. If you and I did not have salt, we would die. Most things need some type of salt content. Most of our bodies of water on this earth are full of salt. You see animals; we have salt licks for animals because it's a necessary nutrient for life. Not only is it a necessary nutrient for life, it adds, for some of us, too much, but it adds flavor and seasoning to our food.
Even though I've been introducing my mom to more in the spice cabinet, other than salt, but every now and then there are certain things that you need to add a little salt to give it a little kick, a little flavor, a little seasoning. As some of you will get to know, I like food. I like flavor. I like seasoning. Salt is a distinctive spice. There is no other spice, no other seasoning like salt. It's very distinctive. Remember this is an "us" message, "we" message. Salt also preserves and restores. Pat, if we took a trip, a long trip and we had to carry our fish back from a long trip, ice is not enough. We need to pack it in salt to preserve our catch. I'm speaking prophetically to you too. Not only am I a fisher of men; I like to fish, fish as well. Salt is necessary for life. It's a preserver of life. It adds flavor and seasoning.
In the gospel, Jesus is telling us, disciples, that you are salt. Just in the way of natural salt, you are salt as disciples. So what does that mean? I just told you the characteristics of salt. Disciples of Jesus Christ, we have the same characteristics. I'm here to tell you that today, disciples, followers of Christ are necessary for life. Did you get that? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are necessary. Everybody say necessary for life. Just like salt in our food, we are to impact flavor, season up the surroundings in our lives and everyone else's life: salt.
We are preservers. We are preservers of life. We are preservers of righteousness. We are a preserver of good things, the things of God. In our ambassadorship, we have a responsibility to go out and be salt in the earth, salt. Hope, I'm telling you today, we are about to shake things up. We are about to resurrect life. Amen. We are about to change our surroundings, in Corcoran, in the surrounding areas and beyond our borders than we could ever imagine. We are about to shake things up because we are going to be visible and sprinkle our salt everywhere we go.
Righteousness. We are a preserver of good things. The things of God in our ambassadorship, we have a responsibility to go out and be salt in the earth. Salt hope I'm telling you today. We are about to shake things up. We are about to resurrect life. We are about to change our surroundings in Corcoran, in the surrounding areas and beyond our borders than we could ever imagine. We are about to shake things up because we are going to be visible and sprinkle our salt everywhere we go.
This passage that Jesus shares is also talking about light. Light, if we were to define its natural characteristics, light defined as the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible. You catch that? It makes things visible. It also means understanding of a problem or mystery or in other words, enlightenment. But I like it when it said it is a natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible.
You see, as disciples, just like we are salt, we are also light. How do we shine our light? We have works good, works that we are to be visible in the community with our good works. Our good works are not for showmanship. Our good works are not to earn credits or merits or likes or hearts or smilelies. It's nice, but that's not what our good works are for. Our good works are to provide an illuminated path to God. That's what we display our good works for.
But see, you and I are at a crossroads just like the entire body of Christ. We have come through a period of darkness, a darkness that most of us, especially in the younger generations, have never experienced before. We are in a shift yesterday. We celebrated— we honored or memorialized 20 years since the events of 9/11. In my lifetime, 9/11 represented a shift, not only in society, but also in the church. The world was never the same after the events of 9/11, and so here comes 2020, another shift. The world is not the same, neither is it going back pre-2020. The church is not the same, neither is it going back pre-2020?
We have a responsibility right now to revive because just as Jesus warned about salt losing its savor, Jesus said when salt loses its savor, it's good for nothing. It's worthless, only to be thrown out, only to be trampled upon. Why? Because salt has has characteristics to preserve, but it has to be pure. What Jesus was drawing on in his day, salt was a very valuable, precious commodity, very valuable in trade because it's necessary. Because of the transportation issues and how they had to transport the salt, sometimes the salt would get mixed with different impurities. If you and I are salt and we mingle around, sometimes we are going to get tainted a little bit. That's okay just as long as we keep the right ratio.
The problem is when that mixing and mingling of different elements and impurities overtakes the property of the salt. Salt is no longer because it doesn't preserve, it doesn't have the flavor anymore, it is not good for anything. The power of salt lies in its distinctiveness. It lies in the difference that it makes. And so believers, if you are salt, your power lies in your difference, in your distinction from the rest of the world. The rest of the world is in mourning. It's shaken up. It has no idea direction of where to go because of the things that have happened this past year and a half, and they've been bound by fear. Fear paralyzes. It distorts, it disorientates, it confuses, but you are light. You are salt. You are to make a difference. But if you are responding just like the rest of the world, then quite frankly, what good are you?
According to the word, you are good for nothing. I'm not trying to step on toes. This is a "us" message, a "we" message. It's an alert for us to wake up and be who we are to be ambassadors, to be visible. So what does that mean? We have a responsibility to go out in this world that has no direction and be seen giving direction. All of us are not going to be on a pulpit preaching the message, but you go to the grocery store. There are people at grocery store. You go to the gas station. Some of you, if you are not working from home, you go to a job. You go out to eat. There are people there that are watching you, that are seeing you.
This past year, I deliver— since November of 2020, I delivered over a thousand grocery orders to people, over a thousand. In that time I saw all walks of life: people bound by fear, people not mentally able to go out, people not physically able to go out. They were blessed not only by my ability to deliver their groceries, but I can show you the comments, the ratings that I have. They were blessed by who I was. If I read some of them, they said, "Thank you, Robert, for being kind. Thank you for being polite. Thank you for providing a laugh, smiling. Thank you for respecting our time. Thank you for saying God bless you."
I may not have been in a pulpit or in a church building, but I did more ministry since November of last year than I did 20 years sitting in the church office, making a difference, being salt in people's lives. When I go into the grocery store, they all know I'm coming. This is not a bragging session. I'm just giving you a practical example of how we are to make an impact in our surroundings. They know when I'm coming in the grocery stores, why? Because number one, I open up my mouth. It's so amazing that we as Christians have the greatest gift in the world, and we have a problem with just opening our mouths saying hello, as if we don't have anything to share.
I intentionally— remember that word in my introduction, being intentional? I intentionally go and look for the saddest face in the store and I say, "Hello, how you doing today?" I always tell people that when I know the answer, I assume the answer; I always ask them, how are you doing today? I remember one lady said, "You see how I look. You know how I'm doing today." But I said, "Yeah, I want you to acknowledge how you look." One young lady, I said, "It's my job; it's my business to get in your business. That's my job." Whoa, nobody does that. I said, "I am."
Now when I see that person, they smile. They know that I'm coming. One of the guys in the meat department, all I did was go and greet them, be friendly, complimented them on their meat displays. Now he comes in, he said, "We look forward to you coming in." Why? It's a hard time, and the people that are working are working hard. I see the same people working week in and week out. They are working hard. Why can't we, the Christ bearers, the ambassadors of Christ, why can't we share what we have that love of God in our hearts, in our bodies, in our spirits, in our minds? Why can't we share that? Are we quarantined in our love and expression of God?
What better opportunity that we have now for the church of Jesus Christ to grow than a time where everybody is quarantined, everybody is isolated; everybody is down doom and gloom? Hello, I'm the smiley one in the room. What are you so smiley about? Because I love Jesus and Jesus loves me. Visible. Intentional. Someone asked me recently about what are your evangelism techniques? I said hello. They are like, what? Yeah. Hello. It starts with hello. Have a conversation. Have a conversation. You have eyes. If you can still see pretty good like me, praise the Lord, give a compliment. Say, God bless you. You would be amazed. What that does. God bless you. How are you doing today? Be intentional about having conversation with people and just let the Lord take it from there.
I don't have to carry my Bible around and go to the store and say, turn to a gospel of Matthew chapter 5. No, I represent what Matthew chapter 5 talks about in the way that I'm expressing and living and interacting with people that's around me. Hope, your light has to shine. Are you ready to shine?
I want to give of us a reminder from Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapter 5, versus 8 through 9. It says starting in verse 8: for once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light, for this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. I don't think Paul was asking a question. He said once you were darkness, once you were lost, but now you have light from the source of light, the Lord. And it says gives you an imperative. So live like who you are as people of light, because this light that you have is the only thing that's going to produce. What's good and true and right.
What you and I have is the only solution to this world that's full of darkness and chaos and confusion and abuse and unrest and injustice and violence and calamity and pandemic. You and I are the only ones. If you call yourself a follower of Christ, you and I have the only solution. It's the light that shines from within us. It's something interesting as many times as you read the Bible, when you keep studying. It is amazing the things that you can see the thousandth time that you read a verse. One of the things that caught my eye in the scripture, in Matthew is something that I think is very pertinent to us today in this message about why we should be light, why we should salt. Why we should be visible is that it brings glory to God. Again, our motivation is not for the hearts, not for the likes. It's not for the following. It's to bring glory to the father. That's out of Jesus's own mouth. It's to bring glory to the. We are to be light because when we show our good works among men, it brings glory to God. When we are kind, when we feed the poor, when we help the widows, when we close the clothless, when we bring in the orphans, when we go out and minister, when we help people, when we are kind, when we are loving, when we are gentle, when we are patient, then we bring glory to God.
As I drive up and down these roads, back and forth and home and around, I see lots of opportunity on the horizon for this community, Hope, to shine. I see new developments going up all the time. I see more and more coming and I'm hearing plans of other things being developed. There is a whole bunch of opportunity for us to shine just within a few miles of this community. That's exciting; an opportunity for you and I, not just me, not Pastor Jeff, not Pastor Brian, but all of Hope Community. Could you imagine that your hello down the road at Hy-Vee could change someone's life? It can. It can. I'm a living with witness.
There is a young lady I met, speaking of Hy-Vee at a different location. When I first met her, she was not having a good day. She was really down. Her countenance was down and you all know what I did, right? I went up to her and she was trying to give me every excuse not to talk to me. I just kept asking questions. I said, "You know what, I'm going to pray that your day gets better. What else am I going to do, every time I come in here, because I'm a frequent shopper in here, I'm going to come check on you.? Do you know about after a month her whole countenance changed? She did not even look like the same person. As a matter of fact, she looked at this, just to her, just an Instacart shopper.
But let me tell you the power of what you can have in people's lives. She came to me on her last day at this particular location; I'm just an Instacart shopper. She sought me out where I was at in the store and she said, "I just wanted to let you know this is my last day here at this location, but I'm moving to another location. I don't know if you ever shop there, but if you do, I would like you to come and say hello." I'm just an Instacart shopper who had the courage to go and intervene in someone's life when they were at their worst. She remembered that. There are other places, other people, countless stories, just saying hello, greeting people, meeting them where they are.
I remember another young lady. She couldn't remember who I was. I'm big on customer service. I'm like, "What do you mean you don't remember who I am?" She said, "Well, I see hundreds of people every day." I said, "So do I, but I remember you." She said. "You do?" I said, "Yeah. You are from Oaxaca, Mexico." When I said that, she remembered the conversation. She said, "I remember you. You greeted me. You told me God bless you in Spanish." she remembered me. You just say hello. Be intentional about meeting people, changing people's lives. There is a great opportunity right now. I don't know in this generation any greater opportunity to mingle. Go tell them I'm here to get into your life. I'm getting in your business. The Lord may give you other words to say. That's what he gave me.
Last scripture, Philippians chapter 2, verse 15: so that no one can criticize you, live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in the world, full of crooked and perverse people. It's good for us to gather here on Sunday. It's nice to see all your smiling faces. You are such beautiful people. I know I look good today. Pastor Brian looks good today. It's nice to do that, but the majority of you, I see your light shining your light. What good is it for light to be all the time mingling amongst other lights? We need to go out and shine in the midst of people that are in darkness. So what am I saying, Hope? Let's gather on Sunday, but let not this be the only time there were out being ambassadors of Christ. That means there are other things to do outside of these four walls.
My desire is to come alongside you and help us, us, we do that. Let's go out. We can start small. Let's change courtroom. Let's change it. Every single one of us, let's change it. Well, Pastor, I don't know. You have a mouth, don't you? You can say hello. It starts with hello. I'm sure each and every one of you has ideas. I want to hear them so I can come along with the leadership of this church and say this is what people want to do. Let's pray about it. Let's get to work. Let's do it. Aren't you afraid? Nope. I'm not afraid. Afraid of what, people? I grew up on the south side of Chicago. I've been shot at. I've had knives in my back. I've bottles thrown over my head. I've been all around the world. I've been to the democratic Republic of Congo that makes Chicago look like kindergarten. I'm not afraid. Afraid of what? Well, they may reject me. Yep. They rejected Jesus. Get over it.
He is the most rejected, despised man in human history. And guess what? In his promises, he didn't promise that we wouldn't be rejected nor despised, but he said he would never leave us nor forsake us. He gave us great promise that all lead to us being in the glory with him, with God forever and ever. I don't know about you. I like my solitude time, but I like company. I think God has a little bit more room for more folks in his kingdom. For us, in this community, this local community, it starts with you and me right now making a commitment to be intentional and being visible in this community.
In the next few months, I'm going to pray and brainstorm about ideas of how, how this local community can be more visible. Each and every one of you— I've met people like Sean; you have a sphere of influence of people. My wife has sphere of influence of people, others, Pastor Jeff, everyone that I've met, you have spheres of influence of people and connections and networks and things and places. Let's bring glory to God. Let's bring glory to God. I'm ready. Are you ready?
God is glorified. When believers like you and I, who are light, who are salt, go out into the darkness where men are and change their lives. It brings glory to God. I give you my commitment today with every fiber of my being that I am committed to helping this local community go out and bring glory to God. God bless you and keep you and let's go be visible in Jesus' name. Amen.
Brian: I'm going to have Pastor Jeff come and just have a time of prayer. Thank you, Robert. You are feeling courage and inspired? Amen. Thank you. Pastor Jeff, why don't you come and let's just have some time of prayer?
Jeff: Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Thanks brother. That's awesome. Great introduction to a man of God who is coming alongside of us and help us go where Jesus wants us to go. One of the first things that you talked about was the power of the gospel. There is not a one of us that can go out and be salt and light until the power of the gospel changes our lives. That's where it starts. You may, and I'm talking to everybody who is watching right now on livestream and everybody that's in the room, you may have been a Christian for a long, long time, and you need the power of the gospel to change your life right now, because something has gone amiss.
You may be watching or you may be here and you actually have never trusted Jesus with your life, and you have the most wonderful experience in store for you right now today by simply opening up your heart and saying to Jesus, I trust you. When we do that, whether it's for the very first time or whether we've been a Christian for 20 years, when we do that, the power of the gospel changes our lives. We want to take a minute right now to give everybody an opportunity. Wherever you might be at in life and wherever you are at in location right now, the Holy Spirit is with you and he is listening to your heart cry. If you want something in your life to change, I just want you to say these words with me: Jesus, I trust you. I choose to trust you. I give you my life. I give you control. Come and meddle. Come and do what you want in my life. I need a change. I ask you to bring it. I'll just quit doing it my way and I ask you, teach me from this day forward, how to do it your way.
Holy Spirit, I ask right now you just come and fill every one of your children, who has trusted you in this moment, with the power of the gospel. Thank you for changing our lives. As we are in this moment of trust, we just want to give space for God to do miracles exactly the way we need them every single one of us that's here and listening. He transforms our lives and he meets us in our deepest needs. And so if you need a miracle today, if you need a healing or some other help from the God of heaven, now is the moment that you can receive it.
As we are praying for one another and as we are releasing the power of God in this way, in our lives, Butch, we are going to with you for a total restoration. We had a good report on Linda Campbell. We are going to believe for her for a complete restoration. Many of you remember little Chanson who had an accident when he was camping with his family and a, in a head injury. They are embarking on a 72 hour prayer vigil, commitment to prayer, starting Wednesday at 7:00 AM going until Saturday at 7:00 AM to believe God for a miracle for him. We are going to join them right now, trusting Jesus for a miracle for that little boy that his life will be restored.
So along with these individuals, we are going to trust God for his miracle for you. So if you need a miracle, just put your hand up to him, spirit, we just release your power. We thank you for your presence and your goodness, your willingness and your ability to meet us in our desperate place of need right here, right now we release healing to Butch and Linda and to Chanson, and we release miracles to everyone whose hand is up, that you will meet us in our place of need, and that we'll be able to say the Lord has helped me. The Lord has helped me. Just give it a moment. Just let your hands be lifted and your heart be expected. As we receive what he has, we can just begin to thank him. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
I want to encourage you to let us know how the Lord touches your life. If you are not here or even if you are here, you can go to our website and up in the right hand corner, you'll see a little button says, contact us and you can click that and you can send us a message. Pastor Brian and Jacque will receive it and we'll get to hear what God is doing in your life, how he has touched you. We would love to hear about that. We would love to hear what Jesus is doing for you because we are in a season, as Pastor Robert has pointed out, we are in a season, a new season, something that God is doing right now, fresh and new to bring his salvation to us and to this world. It starts right here where we all just prayed together.
I also want to let you know, especially if you've trusted Jesus for the very first time. Again, if you go to the website, we have a four part video series that you can say line up to receive called 'Why you matter to God'. That will be a great encouragement to anybody who has trusted the Lord recently or for the very first time to get an understanding of what Jesus has really done to us and what it really means. We just want to bless see you all. I want to thank you for tuning in and thank you, Pastor Robert for speaking to us so clearly. Brian.
Brian: Jacque, why don't you come? Let's stand together, shall we? Let's raise our hands together. We want to bless you. This is what God said to Moses who gave it to Aaron. And he said, "This is what I want you to do when the congregation gets together." And he says, this: may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. And may we be the salt of our community and the light in the darkness. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. Pastor Robert and TaQuaris will be over here to serve communion for anybody who wants to have communion today. God bless you have a wonderful day and don't forget about Bob’s Memorial services at 2 o'clock. Bye-bye.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 9-12-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.