Pastor Brian and Jacque Lother
Jacque: I don't even want to talk. It's so beautiful. The peace of God. I love the presence of God. I had a thought; well, for one thing, if you are a visitor today and you got a visitor package, there is a CD of Brian and Micah in there. I hope you enjoy. I was thinking the postcards in the back near Rachel, we can hand those up, but we could mail them out too. There is a nice place on there for you to write somebody's name and you could mail some of those postcards to people and invite them to come to hope.
Brian: That would be a great idea. I want to start first thing today by reading from the book of Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 and 12. This is a great picture of God's love for us and what he did so that we would have direction in our lives. Let's read it.
Jacque: Ephesians 4, 11, and 12 from the NIV. Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up.
Brian: So that the body of Christ might be built up. Today, unemployment is going up, but it's interesting. The reason unemployment is going up today is not because there is no jobs available. Not all who are unemployed are so because there are no jobs available, and the same goals for the church. The title of my message today is spiritual unemployment. Not all people who are unemployed spiritually are so because there is nothing to do or there are no jobs available. Our call to salvation included a call to service. I really appreciated Pastor Robert's message last week about just a place for all of us not just to belong, but to also a place to serve, and we have a community that is a need of knowing Christ.
The fact of the matter is no service to God is small. Not all services as visible as others. Obviously, my place of service is much more visible than somebody else's. All service to God is important and no service to God is small because it all matters. There is another portion of scripture I want to read. This is a really clear picture of Jesus. It's found in Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 to 28. We will read that out of the Message Bible.
Jacque: You have observed how godless rulers throw their weight around how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great, must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the son of man has done. He came to serve, not to be served and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.
Brian: Generally speaking, when the king shows up, that's not what he shows up to do. When the president shows up and visits our community, he generally doesn't show up to serve. He has got an agenda. He has got things he is requiring of the, his constituency, the people who are part of that country, and they usually come with demands. It's kind of like President Kennedy when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." He was employing the people.
Jesus came and he has contrasted with the godless rulers. He said the godless rulers throw their weight around and how quickly power goes to their heads. We have seen that, haven't we? All the promises made before the election seemed to get lost, because now all the power goes to serving the elected official. But Jesus said something very interesting to the disciples.
He said it's not going to be that way with you. I'm not sure that he was just speaking out of foreknowledge, but he was just speaking a declaration over them. He said this is not how you are to be, for whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be raised up into the kingdom of God must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first must actually become the slave of everybody else. That is what the son of man has done. This is what Jesus has done. He came to serve not to be served. And then after he finished serving, he then came to give away his life in exchange for the many who were held hostage.
Another way to summarize this whole scripture is basically to say, this serving is not optional. Serving is not optional. Serving is not something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time, but rather serving is to be something intentional. We live our lives for the most part intentionally. I'm baffled at times when I talk to some people and they say, "Well, I never keep a calendar." I think that myself "bologna." You keep a calendar. You just don't keep it as regularly as maybe some other people do, because on Monday, they just don't say, well, I wonder what I'm going to do today. No, you are going to go to work today. It's Monday. You have schedules. There are things that we build into our schedules intentionally. Don't we?
Jacque had her class reunion last night. So people from all— there was a guy there from Denmark, he lives in Denmark now, that was part of her graduating class. When he got the notification of this class reunion, what did he do? He put it on his calendar. This function became something that he was going to participate in intentionally. All these people that showed up last night did so intentionally. They didn't just follow the spirit, and show up there. They came intentionally. That's what we have to do. We have to put service into our schedules. We have to say, "How am I going to serve?" Because Jesus came to serve and he came to give. These two verbs are to define really our life on earth, serving and giving. That's what distinguishes us from someone who is not a follower of Jesus. That distinguishes us from someone who is not a follower of Jesus. Often, we are more easily inclined to say serve us instead of saying service.
Jacque: I think you should repeat that.
Brian: Should I repeat that? Okay, all of you watching online, get this. Write this down. So many of us are often guilty of saying and thinking, serve us instead of saying service. It's so refreshing—do you want to write that down?
Jacque: I was going to say that is worth writing down.
Brian: Okay. That's worth writing enough. Good. Thank you. God gives me something good every once in a while, you know.
Jacque: That was good.
Brian: Even a blind something can poke something, whatever. Anyways, it's so refreshing when a person says, "I'm looking for a place to serve. I'm looking for a place to be a blessing. Where I serve? What can I do?" Frankly, that line isn't really very long.
Jacque: I often tell people you don't just come to church on a Sunday for what you get. You come for what you can give to others, even something as simple as a smile and a hello and how are you. That's giving. That's serving.
Brian: I'll tell you one of my concerns, because I've been in church my whole life. I'm now 70. My dad was a pastor. Again, my view of everything is still somewhat narrow compared to the whole world's view of all the different churches and denominations. But one of the things that I have observed is there has been a shift in, let me use the expression, how church has done. The shift is that church has become a place to consume something. It has become a consumer activity rather than a place to give and sow. And so when I'm tired of the meal, I'm getting here, I'm going to go over there because they have better lights or they have better this, or they have better that. I'm more entertained by going over there.
God is asking us to recalibrate our thinking about church. He wants us to represent his kingdom in a different way than how the Guthrie theater tries to attract attendees or how the Minnesota Twins or the Vikings attract people to come to watch their games, or all the other stores out there that try to get your dollar. We have to think of the kingdom of God entirely different, because Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." It's operates in entirely different principles than the principles of this world.
I was thinking of the situation right prior to the United States' involvement in World War II and how most people don't realize this: right prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, almost 80% of the American population were against the United States getting involved in the war in Europe. Most of you probably are aware of the fact that Winston Churchill was begging the United States for help, and we were trying to figure out, well, how can we help without really helping? How can we help without really making a commitment? And then the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, and that 80% who was against our involvement turned to 95%, who were for being involved in the war. Do you know why? Because there was a very visible enemy who was trying to take what was ours as land, as a nation and we had become attacked.
The whole attitude after 9/11 was a lot different than it is even today in terms of preservation of the United States. So I just say that to say this, that we have to recognize that there has been an always has been a spiritual attack against the things of the kingdom of God. The only way to counteract it is for us to sign up. Many churches today are suffering from a huge problem, which I am calling spiritual unemployment. What happens in a society when unemployment goes up? When unemployment goes up, productivity goes down, doesn't it? The other thing that actually goes up with unemployment is generally speaking, crime goes up with unemployment.
I want you to take that concept and just translate it into the church because serving increases the productivity of our local spiritual community. The more we serve together, the more we put our shoulder to the plow, the more we are creative in how we can serve our local community of faith, the more powerful and the more influence and the stronger our local community of faith becomes, but it does one other thing as well. It also helps to keep us on the road to victory over our own sin. Service helps us to keep victorious over our own failures, our own sins, because when we pray and when we study and when we serve and when we worship, it's much more difficult to get involved with sin, but when we stop praying, and when we stop reading God's word and we stop serving and we stop worshiping and we stop coming together, now, some of the main components that hold us together, spiritually are gone and we are susceptible to sin. I want to read a story that a lot of times, people miss the real crux of what happened here. We find this in the life of David and it's from the 1 Samuel, chapter 11, verses 1 through 4.
Jacque: In the spring, at the time when Kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the King's men and the whole Israelite army.
Brian: I don't like to interrupt you, but I need to say something here. The custom of the day was not that the kings would send all the armies out, but that the Kings would lead the armies. Even if you go back and look at Pharaoh; when the armies were chasing the Israelites prior to the Red Sea, Pharaoh was out there in one of his chariots. This time of year happened. It was the spring time, the time when kings go off to war, because war was based on climate to some degree as well. It was the time of year when kings went up to war, but instead of David leading the charge, he sent a Joab out with the whole Israelite army, and they had success read the rest of that. They destroyed—
Jacque: They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged the Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem
Brian: But David remained in Jerusalem. One of the things that this translation says is, "One evening, David got up from his bed," but this wasn't nighttime because it says that he walked around on the roof and he saw Bathsheba taking a bath. Well, if it was at nighttime, he wouldn't have been able to see her. So really what was happening here, he was probably taking a nap in the afternoon, then got up from his nap in the afternoon. He was idle He wasn't involved in anything. He had all sorts of time on his hands and he went out on the roof and let's see what happens.
Jacque: One evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Elian and the wife of Uriah, the Hittite." Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her.
Brian: Do you think if David would have been out with his men doing what he was supposed to be doing, serving that he would ever become an adult or an a murderer? He probably wouldn't have. One of the things that really contributed to David's falling with Bathsheba and then committing murder, bringing all sorts of grief to the family of Uriah, et cetera, et cetera, was the fact that he was idle. He wasn't serving David became idle and his idleness, he sinned. If he would have been where he was supposed to be, he may not have ever become a murderer. He may not have ever become an adulterer.
Serving often keeps us out of trouble. I don't think the scripture says this, but we have heard it many times, haven't we? Idleness is what idle hands are the devil's handiwork. Serving helps keep us in a place of spiritual safety. It's good to serve. It has to come out of a discipline and intentionality, but it's really good. Let's read another portion.
Jacque: When we are serving, we are thinking of others more than ourselves,
Brian: That's right. Yes. Let's read 1 Timothy 1 verses 7 and 8.
Jacque: And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed, keep that ablaze.
Brian: This is talking to Timothy. Paul is writing to Timothy. He was a young man, probably a teenager. His grandmother was very godly and he had been raised in a godly home. There was a special, we might use the word anointing on him for service and ministry, but Paul wanted to set him in place. So Paul laid hands on him, prayed for him and set him in place, and then he writes this to him later in the book of second Timothy.
Jacque: Keep that ablaze.
Brian: Keep that ablaze. And what is that? It's that special gift of ministry.
Jacque: God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible. So don't be embarrassed to speak up for our master or for me, his prisoner, take your sheriff suffering for the message along with the rest of us.
Brian: God is depositing his truth into our lives all the time. Even when it feels like we are in a desert, there is an oasis there someplace if we will stay there long enough to find it. He deposits his truth in us all the time, but then fear comes upon us, doesn't it? Fear is such a hindrance to people being released into the things of the kingdom of God.
Jacque: It steals so much.
Brian: It does, but we need to admit something or at least face something here. And that is this: we have to sign for the package before the devil can deliver the goods. Should I say that one again too? Okay.
Jacque: I think there is a depth that I don't have.
Brian: We have to sign for the package before the devil can deliver the goods, or maybe I should say the bads. The signature that we actually signed with is giving into fear. Giving into fear is the signature that we are signing with the enemy to allow negative things to come into our lives. I was talking to Paula before the service today, and I just have a suggestion for all of us. That is this: confessing his word all day long is better than living in fear all day long. Confessing the word is much better all day long than living in fear all day long.
In both camps, whether it's confessing the word of God or fear, in both camps, we are waiting, aren't we? When you are confessing the word for a circumstance or situation, you are in a season of waiting, but when you are in fear, you are waiting too. You are waiting for the hammer to fall or whatever.
Jacque: You have got to be intentional about that because so many times when I'm struggling with something, I just go to the word and say, "God, show me a verse that is going to speak deeply to me on this topic." And then I write it out and put it on the fridge because we go there a lot. And then I see it over and over and I say it.
Brian: We see it like 30 times a day when we put it on the refrigerator. Don't put it in the job that you haven't done for six months. Don't put it there. Put it on the refrigerator because that's where we go regularly.
Jacque: That is being intentional.
Brian: The refrigerator to us Gentiles is like the phylacteries to the Jews. They put the thing on their foreheads. Anyways, where am I? I don't know.
Jacque: Sorry. You were talking about not giving into fear, not signing for the package.
Brian: And confessing rather than being in fear. In both camps, we are waiting, aren't we? What would you prefer to be in your heart while you are waiting, expectancy or fear? Yeah, expectancy. Wouldn't you rather live in a place of expectancy rather than live in this place of fear?
Jacque: Oh, I remember all the verses about abundance in the scripture. There is abundant help. There is abundant pardon. There is abundant love.
Brian: I really do believe that God is shaping all of us into a powerful tool that can be used in establishing the kingdom of God on earth. And you know what, now is the time to let go of our fears, spring forth into the hands of the almighty one. The fact of the matter is every single one of you aren't a surprise or an afterthought to God. Every single one of you, you are not a surprise to God nor were you an afterthought to God. So, you know what, let's quit acting like it. Let's start acting like we have been made with a purpose. When we look at the biblical record, there only one who was sinless. There is only one who was sinless. There was only one who was without blemish. We know that to be Jesus. The rest of the cast of the kingdom, which we are part of, but the rest of the cast of the kingdom had some rather distinct and obvious flaws.
I would like to take just a couple of minutes to go over kind of a list of a lot of our favorite Bible characters. We think of them as all successful, and God used them highly, but I want to show you all the flaws that they had. Abraham was old, but that had nothing to do with whether or not God was going to use him or not. Amen. All of you should have been saying amen on that one. Well, not all of you, but most of you. Jacob, Jacob was a deceiver and he was insecure. He was a deceiver and insecure. Maybe you have been deceptive in your life and now you are trying to live a better life, but you feel like you only can have second best from God. No, God did a great thing through Jacob.
Leah was told she was unattractive, but she wasn't unattractive to God. She wasn't unattractive to God. Joseph was the victim of abuse and rejection. How many of you have suffered abuse and rejection? And yet look at what God did through Joseph. He made him the number two man in the whole kingdom. He spared the whole nation of Israel when the drought came. Moses, he had a disability: he stuttered. We don't think of Moses as a stutterer, but he wouldn't even do what God asked him to do without Aaron being his spokesman for him. A lot of the words that we hear Moses speaking, I wouldn't be surprised, actually, if Aaron was the one doing the talking in all of that because he was such a stutterer.
And then Gideon man, he was poor and afraid. He was just poor and he was hiding and he was afraid. But look what God did with Gideon. He was poor and afraid, hiding from the Midianites and God shows up and calls him a mighty man of valor. Wow. Was God blind? No, God saw what his spirit could do in Gideon at the time if he would just submit to him and take a leap. Here is Samson. What was Samson? He had wandering eyes. He had wandering eyes and yet God still used them. He probably had a sexual addiction. He probably did, and yet God used him. God can use anybody. God can take the worst part of our lives and still help us cut through all that stuff to do something great.
What about Rahab? What was her vocation? She was a prostitute and she is in the lineage of Jesus. So if you might have been involved in that vocation during the course of your life, not all is lost. It's not lost.
There is a future and a purpose for you. We mentioned David already, a murderer and adulterer. Wow. I just was at a service a few weeks ago, and I heard this fantastic worship leader. A guy told me later, "Yeah, he served 20 years in prison for murder." I would have never known that. He was way too anointed to be a murderer. But he was anointed God to do this wonder. I was just kind of lifted right into the presence of the Lord.
Elijah, he felt sorry for himself. He was even suicidal at times. Here we think of him as this great prophet, which he was. Jeremiah had a life of depression with poor results. He was a failure when it came to bringing people to conversion or repentance. He was depressed. If you had to live the life of Jeremiah, you would be depressed too. So let's not criticize him. People that struggle with depression, God can still use you. God can help you press through all of that.
Jonah, he was reluctant and a pouter, wasn't he? He was reluctant and he was a pouter. Even after God did great things through him, he pouted, but God still used him in his fallenness and his terribleness. And then we have Naomi. She was a widow. Any widows here today? You are not over just because your husband died. Your significance hasn't dissipated because your husband has died. Naomi had a great impact on the whole lineage of Jesus Christ. And then John, the Baptist, man, he was an eccentric. He was a social outcast. That might be you. If you are listening today online, maybe you don't even go out of your house because you feel like you are a social outcast, but God can use you. God has a purpose for you. You are not all washed up. You are not cast aside just because you are eccentric and a social outcast.
What if you are impulsive and hot tempered? Well, God used Peter, didn't he? Maybe you say I've got to get my temper under control before I serve. No, you don't. Serving will help you get your temper under control. Just jump in and start serving. Martha, she worried a lot. She was worried about what other people thought and I've got to do this and I've got to make this good meal. She worried a lot. Maybe you worry a lot, but God wants to have you be part of serving.
And then I love this story about the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. What had she gone through, five or six marriages and failed relationships? I can almost guarantee you, without knowing her personally, that she was the victim of abuse. Most people who go in and out of relationships are searching for love in all the wrong ways, and usually it relates back to somehow being a victim of some kind of abuse in their lives. So this was the Samaritan woman. Church history tells us that she and her sons became the greatest evangelists in all of Samaria after Jesus left. She couldn't keep her mouth shut. She was just the Gabby woman from the well. She couldn't keep her mouth shut about what Jesus had done for her.
Of course, Zacchaeus, dishonest, unpopular, yet God still used him, brought salvation to his house. We know Thomas. He was a doubter. He was skeptical. Your propensity might beat to think that the glass is. You propensity might beat to think that the glass is half empty rather than half full. That's your propensity. God can still use you. God still wants you to serve. There is a place for you in the house of the Lord. And then of course, Paul, he was a Pharisee. A lot of people hold that against me, that I'm a pastor. So I've got to climb over all that objection with other people and still serve.
Paul had some questionable health issues, too. A lot of people think he had bad eyesight. I'm not sure what his health issues were, but sometimes he couldn't write because he couldn't see. So I think it had something to do with his eyes. That didn't disqualify him from writing most of the epistles in the New Testament. And even Timothy, as we read about here, he was young and he was timid. And Paul says, don't neglect this gift that was put into you and so forth.
All these people, and there are scores more throughout the scriptures, they all had one common trait, one common trait. They were willing to serve and do what was asked of them. They were willing to serve and do what was asked of them. We talk about going fishing; Robert can tell you this. If Robert finds a good fishing hole, he doesn't tell anybody else where it's at. He could be on Mille lacs Lake, come in with a whole string of walleyes and people say, "Where did you get them?" He would say, "Oh, out there, out there somewhere." Nobody tells anybody where their good hunting spot is or where the good fishing hole is. But Hope Community Church is to be a fishing place, and this is not a place to keep secret. We are not trying to keep secret Hope Community Church. This is why we want you to hand out these cards, and this is why we want people on online to send Moments of Hope to some of your friends and, and sign up for Moments of Hope and those little 62-second videos that we all put together. Pastor Jeff and Sergio and other people who are part of our ministry, they put all these incredible videos together. They are incredible evangelistic tools. Just send them to a friend that needs encouragement.
Jacque: You can also go to My Hope Community on YouTube and see them all at once.
Brian: Yeah. Being fishers of men, it takes intentionality to do that and a willingness to move out of our comfort zone. You may not realize this, but I put myself in uncomfortable positions on a regular basis.
Jacque: I do too.
Brian: I do it all the time.
Jacque: Fearful. I get fearful. I have to not sign for it.
Brian: But the reason I put myself in uncomfortable positions on a regular basis is for love. I do it because I love Jesus. I do it because I love my wife. I played at this class reunion last night and I sang 'California Dreaming'. Now, if you don't think that put me in an uncomfortable place—
Jacque: And he was great with us backup singer.
Brian: But why did I do that? You know why? Because I love my wife and I knew it meant a lot to her to be able to sing at her class reunion because singing is so important to her. I put myself in an uncomfortable position because I love my wife and I love my family and I love this church and I'll put myself in an uncomfortable position. I don't always like to go stand before the city council and try and argue or try to persuade people of why they should do this or why they shouldn't do that. I don't always like to do the things I have to do as the pastor of this church, because I don't want people to reject me. That's in all of our hearts. Nobody likes to be rejected, but I do it for the love of this church. I do it for the love of people and love will always push us. It will always nudge us in the direction of being uncomfortable. It will always do that, but the rewards are incredible.
It was really good when it was all over last night, and all the people were so happy and they were smiling at Jacque and just having such a good time. I want to thank Don, who is our sound guy today who came and ran sound for us and made all the difference. He put himself out and people sacrificed and worked hard and it was all for love. It was all for love. The rewards when we put ourselves out and we serve, even when we are uncomfortable in serving, it puts a smile on the face of Jesus. What could be more rewarding than that?
Jacque: Thanks again, for last night. It was great. But I wanted to talk about, you know, we all have a special gift. God has gifted all of us, but some of us don't know what that is. So if you don't know, what is it I'm gifted at, come and talk to us. And then I loved this in that verse, that they laid hands on him and prayed. I would love to be able to just pray for people in service and release them to their service.
Brian: Yeah. One of the things we want to implement here, we have not really ever done this before, but want to give recognition to every place of service. We won't do all this at one time. We will probably just do it over time. We want to lay hands on people, whoever specific area of service that they are serving in and give public recognition to that and lay hands on them and really give them an impartation to serve in that area. That doesn't mean that you are going to be doing that the rest of your life, but it does mean you are going to serve until the Lord makes something different available for you to do. I remember when Ruby, right before she passed, she said, "I don't know why I'm here anymore," because she was pretty much immobile and she couldn't move and she was stuck in a room and we would say to her, "Yeah, but you can pray Ruby." She would have a list of people that she would pray for all the time.
Jacque: She started praying for Sunday morning church on Saturday nights and prayed through the night for us.
Brian: Yes. You are never too old or out of it or incapacitated to serve. There is always something we can do. My goal is that there is a hundred percent employment at Hope Community Church, a hundred percent spiritual employment. There is no unemployment here at hope community church, because everyone has a place to serve. I would just ask for you to start praying, where can I serve, in what capacity can I serve other than just coming to church and giving tithes. Those are important. That's very encouraging when we are all here, but the strength of our church is going to be in how we serve. In the strength of our online community, you might be in another state. So obviously you can't come to this facility, but you can still participate in some of the online ministries that we are launching and doing. We encourage you to write us and tell us how you feel that God wants you to be a part.
I would like to just take a moment to pray, and then I'm going to ask Pastor Jeff to come and pray as well. But father, there are so many ways that we can serve. There are so many ways that we can touch people. There are so many ways that, Lord, you want us to be spiritually employed. And I pray for us that, Lord, our courage would override our fear and that our willingness to be uncomfortable will be motivated by seeing the smile on the face of Jesus. And so we ask that, God, you speak to our hearts now whether we are watching online or we are people who are here on how we can serve the faith community, the community of faith that we are part of, because we want to bring in our service, we want to become like you, and we want to bring your kingdom here on the ears. Thank you, Jesus. Pastor Jeff—
Jeff: Wow. That was great. I love the list you gave us. Who would have thought all those people that we admire in the scriptures were so flawed.
Brian: Yes, I know it.
Jeff: It makes me feel better about myself. How about you? How about you, watching on live stream? There is hope for every one of us. We are going to pray for miracles in a minute, but before we do that, it's really important if you have never trusted Jesus with your life to give you a purpose and meaning, to give you a reason to get out of bed, then now is the time to do it. If you are here sitting in our auditorium, or if you are watching on livestream and you are not in a place right now in your life where you are trusting Jesus, maybe you did at one time and it's no longer, or maybe you have never actually given him your life, I want you to just to close your eyes, put up your hand and pray with me right now. Just follow after me. It's a very simple prayer. Just say, Lord, Jesus Christ, I choose to trust you. I'll give you control of my life. I'll give it up if you will make it new. I'll lay down my desires and I'll pick up your will. Change my life, please. Make me yours. Amen.
If you have prayed that prayer and you are here, let us know before you go. If you are online, you can go to our website and there is a little "contact us" button you can push and you can send Pastor Brian and Jacque an email and just let them know what Jesus has done in your life. It's the first day of a wonderful change. There is nothing as transformative as meeting Jesus. So thanks for praying that prayer, those of you that did. The next thing we want to do is pray for miracles, but before we do that, I've just got to wish my wife happy 46 years, 46 years anniversary tomorrow. It has been a good 46 years. Thank the Lord.
Brian: Good for you.
Jeff: We will talk more about that next week. Cheryl and I are going to be sitting where Brian and Jacque are, so we will talk a little bit about that. Butch, would you stand please? The Lord gave me a word for you when I was sitting over here and what he told me is that these momentary light afflictions are producing in you an eternal weight of glory, but they are momentary and they are light, and I really expect that God is fully going to restore you to health. You guys still have a lot to do for Jesus, and we are going to get to watch you do it. I would like some of you who are standing or maybe sitting around Butch, if you would go lay hands on him during this time of prayer. We are just going to continue to trust Jesus for total restoration in your body and in your health.
And then also Larry Foths has asked that we would lay hands on him and pray, and I've asked Ben and Sean. Ben is one of the elders in the church and Sean is certainly one of our best elders in the church. They are going to lay hands on you, Larry and we are going to agree that God would do a miracle in your life. Larry is struggling with some back issues. Those of you who have— and knee, but I think Linda, didn't you say it's starting in the back. We need to get rid of that. We are going to trust God for that. I expect to see a miracle for you, Larry too. Anybody else that needs something from Jesus, it can be a healing, but it might be something else. You might need help with your rent this month. You might need a help with one of your children that you are struggling in a relationship with. If you are online or here, if there is something that you need, just put your hand up. We are going to believe God together because he sees every one of our needs, and he says he answers us even before we ask. So father, right now, we pray for Butch, we pray for Larry, and we just agree with everyone else who has their hands raised to trust you for exactly what they need today. Lord, you are the one who acts on our behalf. You are our advocate. You are our healer. You are our provider. You transform our lives and you move in such powerful ways. We are willing to wait, but we trust you for whatever you have for us, and we expect for you to act miraculously because that's who you are.
Holy Spirit come to each one of us that has a need right now come and touch us right now. Come and heal us right now. Come and ensure your providence, ensure us of your providence in our lives. Encourage our hearts to look to you, to trust you for your goodness, to see your hand released, to change us and to work in our circumstances, to work in the lives of those we love, to work in our bodies. We just receive for me right now. We just receive from you right now because that's who you are. You are holy and you are good. Just manifest your presence and your power right here, right in our living rooms right in our church. Thank you for being real. Thank, you Jesus. Amen. Isn't God good? All the time. All the time.
Brian: Thank you Lord. We are so grateful you are here today. Get a special welcome to Roger and Jan. Thank you for visiting with us. God bless you, and those of you who are watching online, we are so grateful for the support that you give to us as well as the fact that you encourage us by your wonderful participation in what God is doing here. Pease continue to reach out to us. We love to hear from you during the week. And then especially if you prayed to receive the Lord today, please let us know because we have some special things we'd like to send your way and also just to keep praying for you.
Let's raise our hands together, shall we? And now 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. May the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. And may your heart be stirred to serve the king of kings. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son. Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful, wonderful day.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 9-19-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.