Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on April 28, 2024.
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Audio Transcript
Thank you, worship team, for leading us this morning. As the children are making their way out. If you want to take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter five, we’re going to continue to look at the calling of the disciples. Are you a true disciple of Jesus? And the points are either an encouragement to you that, yes, that, that’s me, I’m a disciple of Christ, or wow, I haven’t thought of that, or I need to work on that.
If you do need to work on any of these things about being a true disciple, God is going to empower you if you will ask him, because he’s going to empower you to do what he desires in your life. We’re going to begin reading in Luke 5. 1. As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. He saw two boats at the edge of the lake.
The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let your nets for a catch. Master Simon replied, we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing.
But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets. When they did this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, go away from me because I I’m a sinful man, Lord.
For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. Don’t be afraid, Jesus told Simon. From now on you will be catching people. And then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
Then we go to verse 27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me. So leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. And then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house.
Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples. Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus replied to them. It is not those who are healthy and need a doctor, but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. May we pray? Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that we know how to have a right relationship with you through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ by placing our faith in him. Father, we also thank you that you give us direction on how to live our lives.
Give us a desire to ever spend time in your Word, discovering your will for us and how we are supposed to live. And as we look at your Word today, help us to discover new ways that we can follow your son better. In his name we pray. Amen. Started last week, we’re talking about what is a disciple.
A disciple is someone who devotes oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them. It’s not just academic, it’s to have a change in our life. For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example, in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. Disciples not only involves the process of becoming a disciple, but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism. So we’re looking at 18 points in this text.
Last week we looked at 4. The first thing that a true disciple does is they desire to be close to Jesus. They don’t want to be far away. They, secondly, desire to hear God’s word. Third, they let Jesus use what they have.
And they also let Jesus interrupt what they are doing. Going on to the next point today. The first thing that I want you to see is that true disciples of Jesus do simple things that Jesus asks. They do simple things that Jesus asks. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.
Nothing special or spectacular here. They do this every day. They’ve done it for years. It’s just common practice. They can do it without thinking.
Jesus is just asking them to do something simple in the midst of his teaching here. He didn’t ask him to do something great and magnificent and wonderful, just something commonplace. And we find in the Christian life that sometimes it’s harder to do things that are easy to do, that God asks us to do. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to do something awesome and great and wonderful that we think is big and significant because we end up saying, look at what I did, instead of saying, look what God did. God hasn’t called everyone to be a Billy Graham.
God hasn’t called everyone to be the best singer most of us just have simple, ordinary lives. And God asks us to do simple and ordinary things. And it’s so easy to say, well, that’s not important. I don’t need to do that. What are some of the simpler things that God asks us?
He asks us to read our Bible daily. He asks us to attend worship once a week. He asks us to pray about everything. And all these things are private in a way, so we can easily just dismiss them as unimportant. But everything that Jesus asks us to do, whether it seems small to us or magnificently large, everything is equally important.
Everything great or small, everything difficult or simple, everything grandiose or plain. If Jesus is asking you to do something simple, it’s worth doing it. And it’s just as important as doing great things. Let’s go to an example in the Old Testament, second Kings, chapter five, where we have the prophet Elisha who has been presented with a man from Damascus that has leprosy. His name is Naaman.
And you may remember the story, but as I read through it here, what you need to see is that God asked Naaman, through his prophet, to do something simple, that if he would do it, it would result in his healing. He didn’t ask him to do something magnificent or great. This is how the story goes. Elisha sent him a messenger who said, go wash seven times in the Jordan and your skin will be restored and you will be clean. God’s messenger didn’t even go and see this man.
He sent his servant to talk to him. Go and wash seven times. What was Naaman’s response? It wasn’t, oh, sure, I’ll do what God says. No, it says, naaman got angry and he actually left, saying, I was telling myself, he will surely come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the skin disease.
He was expecting something spectacular. And then he said, aren’t Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I have just washed in them and be clean? So he turned and he left in a rage because he was asked to do something. That was what simple.
His servant approached him and said, my father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he only tells you, wash and be clean? So. So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times according to the command of the man of God. And his skin was restored and became like the skin of a small boy and he was clean.
If he hadn’t done the simple thing, what would have happened? He would have missed out.
God asks us to do simple things. We need to be obedient to those if we’re going to get the Blessing. Luke, chapter 22, verse 36, 38. Jesus was about to go to the Mount of Olives where he knew he was going to be betrayed. And he asked his followers to do something simple.
He said to them, whoever has a money bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn’t have a sword should sell his robe and buy one. It’d be like I told you, before you go home today, take a hymnal with you, take a bulletin and stop and buy a candy bar on the way home. I mean, it would be really simple. Jesus was just asking them to do something.
They maybe didn’t understand it. But the thing is, the simple thing that he asked, what was their response? They obeyed him. They said, look, here are two swords. And he said, that is enough.
And he told them the reason why he had asked them to do it was to fulfill a prophecy from the Old Testament that says he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment. When God asks us to do simple things, there may be something that’s been working its way out in history for a very long time. And the simple thing that he asks us to do is going to make that prophecy, or whatever it is come to fruition. True disciples of Jesus do simple things that Jesus ask.
The next thing that true disciples of Jesus do is that they recognize Jesus as Master. Verse 4. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Master Simon replied, we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.
This word master is only used in Luke. It’s talking about one who is set over other people. It refers to a master, it refers to a king. It can refer to a commander of a ship, a military officer, or one who presides over an entire city. Such a person has appointed authority over others.
And this is the title that Peter is giving to Jesus. Jesus wasn’t his father. Jesus wasn’t his boss. Jesus was just someone he knew. He had no appointment in this life that would place place him over Simon.
But Jesus is recognized by Simon here immediately as a king, as a commander, as an officer, as a magistrate, that he owes his allegiance and obedience to Philippians 2. 9, 11. Why are we supposed to recognize Jesus as master? We read this for this reason. God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. One day, everyone, those that do not believe, that are not followers of Christ will bow their knee to Christ and they will confess that he is the Lord. But true followers, true disciples of Jesus Christ recognize that now that God is to have control over our life and we are to listen to him. And Simon sets that here. He says, because you are my master, I will do what you say.
True disciples of Jesus next believe Jesus despite personal experience.
Verse 5. Master Simon replied, we’ve worked hard all night long and we’ve caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets. These weren’t weekend fishermen. This was their life.
They were used to casting the nets out. They knew how to catch fish. And if they hadn’t caught any fish that night, it wasn’t because they didn’t know what to do. They were experts at this. So when Simon said, we’ve done everything that we know to do and we have done it all night long and we’ve caught nothing, we’re experts at this, Lord.
Our personal experience tells us that there are no fish to be caught in this lake tonight. And we know because we are the experts. Their personal experience could have caused Peter to say, no, I’m not going to do it because I know better than you. But that’s not how he responded to the Lord. He said, yeah, my personal experiences, we’re not going to catch anything.
But if you say so, because you are my master, I’ll let down the nets. When we have little that we think we can’t do anything with, Jesus can do a lot with that. And when we aren’t able to do things in our own strength, that’s when Jesus excels in doing things through us so that the glory can be brought to him.
They didn’t run into town and tell everybody, look at the catch of fish that we brought in. Glory was given who it was given to Jesus Christ. And if they had caught a lot of fish that night and then Jesus let them catch more, there wouldn’t have been this great awesome comparison to say what we couldn’t do, Jesus was able to do through us. When Jesus asks us to do things, we have to remember that his intellect and his understanding are Completely above us. He has reasons for why he asks us to do things.
And even if it goes against our personal experience or the experience of our friends or others, if God asks us to do it, we need to do it. Because he is all knowing, he’s all powerful, and he is ever present. Proverbs 14:12 we read, There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death. The caution here is don’t always rely on your own understanding. Because often what you think is the right way, in contrast to what God is telling you, is not going to lead to life, it’s going to lead to death.
Isaiah 55:8 gives us this comfort why we can trust God when He asks us us to do things. He says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are not my ways. This is the Lord’s declaration. If God asks you to do something that just seems odd or out of the ordinary as a disciple, as a follower of Jesus, you need to be obedient.
Proverbs 3, 5, 7. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Two contrasts here. You either trust in the Lord or you rely on your own understanding. In all your ways.
Know him, and when you know him, he will make your path straight. What it’s talking about here is, it’s not this. We go and seek to trust God and to know Him. Every time we have a decision to make. It’s supposed to be a lifelong endeavor, that we’re all always trusting him and we’re always getting to know him better.
We always have a desire to know him better. We do whatever we can to know him better. And by knowing him better, knowing his personality, knowing his character, knowing his desires and his commands, it just helps us to know how to stay on the right path. It’s by knowing God that our path becomes clear to us, what we’re supposed to be doing. The contrast is don’t be wise in your own eyes.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Because what we want to do, our natural inclination is always going to be towards evil, whereas God’s path is always going in a different direction. Going back to the text now, the disciples of Jesus worshiped Jesus. When Simon Peter saw this mentioned earlier, he ran into town excited about the fish. Is that what he did?
He wanted to go tell everybody. He wanted to go tell his dad. He wanted it printed in the newspaper. He wanted a picture in the National Enquirer of his great catch of fish. But he didn’t do that.
He recognized that Jesus was Lord and Master and He knew where the fish had come from. And his response to that was, he didn’t seek to glorify himself, but he worshiped Jesus. And he expressed that by falling at the knees of Jesus. True disciples of Jesus worship Jesus above all things. It’s going to be this way in the end.
We need to be used to it now. Revelation 22:3 through 5, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him, period.
The greatest thing about heaven will be to be in the Lord’s presence, to see him face to face and to worship him. They will see his face. His name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. People will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light and they will reign forever and ever.
This is how the story ends. And those who recognize him and now as Master, are worshiping Him. At this time, you’d ask yourself, are we worshiping Jesus with our life? Are we desiring to see his face? Meaning, do we want to be so close to him that we know exactly what he’s thinking, what his intentions are?
Is it obvious to you that Jesus name is above all others and he should be the preeminent person in your life?
Going back now to the text in verse eight, when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, go away from me because I’m a sinful man, Lord. True disciples of Jesus recognize their sin condition. Simon understood that the Lord God Almighty is completely separated from sin. And we’re going to look some at sin and repentance. Here a number of verses.
We need to understand what sin really is. But there are two extremes that we need to avoid that I want to mention. First, the first extreme is we don’t understand how bad sin is. We don’t see how opposite to God it is. We just don’t think it’s that bad, especially the sins that I commit.
I mean, there are some awful things out there that really wicked people do. But I don’t do any of that stuff. My sin is small. It’s not that big. We therefore believe that we can overcome our sin problem by doing more good than bad.
If sin isn’t as bad as it really is, then, well, it’s on the scales. If I do more good than bad, then the good will kind of wipe out the bad. But Scripture tells us that any one sin is enough to keep us from a right relationship with God, no matter how small or how big? Only one sin, the smallest sin, even just taking a piece of candy that doesn’t belong to you is small enough and awful enough and terrible enough to separate you from God for eternity. The other extreme is that we understand how bad sin is and we see that it completely separates us from God.
But we believe that we’re too sinful and there is no hope for a right relationship with God. We understand how bad it is, but then we say there’s no hope for us. But praise the Lord. Scripture says there is no sin too great that the blood of Jesus cannot cover. And there is no sin too great that God will not forgive if we repent of that sin and we turn to Jesus.
True disciples of Jesus recognize their sin condition. They recognize how awful sin is, and they repent of that sin and going their way, and they turn to follow the Lord. What is sin, according to Wayne Grudem, his definition is sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. First thing I want you to see there is that it’s a failure to not conform.
Even not doing something wrong, if you neglect to do something right, to conform is considered sin.
It can be in our actions, it can be in the things that we do, but it’s also about our attitude. Just having sinful thoughts and sinful desires make us separated from God. It can be by our acts, it can be by our attitudes, our thoughts and desires, but also the fact that we are just born with a sin nature because of our relation to Adam and Eve, it has been passed down to us. My example is I act like a denizen. And people in my family, there are just certain things that we do.
You know how it is in your family, certain things that you do, foods that you like, memories that you have that makes you part of your family. I act like a denizen. I also think like a denizen. Our family jokes about this because one of our greatest senses of humor is we tell jokes that we only understand as a family around other people. And we think it’s funny because they don’t get it and we do.
It’s kind of a. Maybe that’s a cruel sense of humor, but we all kind of think alike like that because we’re denizens.
But if I didn’t act like Adenison, I acted like someone else today. And I tried to make you realize I don’t think like a denizen. I am still genetically what A denizen. And so it is with sin, we can act it out, we can think it, but still genetically, it’s in us. We have a sin nature from birth.
So even if I don’t act like a dentist, and even if I don’t talk like a dentist, and I am still what, I’m still a denizen. Romans 5, 7, 8.
The wonderful thing is that God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners. Not after we started to act a little good. Not after we started to show some interest in him. Not after we cried out, lord, I’m a sinner. But even before that happened, because we have this sin nature within us.
At that point when we were enemies to God, Christ died for us. That’s the hope that we have. But we have to understand that we are sinners so that we can appreciate what Christ has done for us. We can say that Jesus died for us, but if we don’t understand that he died for us because we’re sinners, we don’t understand what we’re being cured from. We don’t understand what it is that he has done for us.
Ephesians 2, 3.
We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts. And we were by nature children under wrath, as the others were. Also, it’s talking to all of us. It’s talking to people in the church here. It’s not saying we’re in the church because we were better or we had less sin.
It says that all of us previously were living in fleshly desires. All of us were carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts. And all of us, before we come to Christ by nature are children under wrath as the others were. Also, when we think about God’s wrath, we can think back to the 10 plagues that were placed upon the Egyptians. God’s wrath was poured out on them.
They had hail, they had insects, they had frogs. That would be my wife’s worst. Wrath of God is to have frogs everywhere.
One blessing not to live in Florida anymore. They’re everywhere. And then God sent his wrath by killing all the firstborn. And how many angels did he do that with? Just one angel that night went through.
Someday God’s wrath with all of his angels is going to be poured out upon this world because of sin. And we need to understand that we are under that same wrath to be destroyed by God. Except for the fact if we placed our faith in Jesus Christ, that He removes us from that part of recognizing our sin condition makes us appreciate more what Christ has done for us. Romans 7:18. I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my flesh.
For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. So we believe that Paul is writing here. And Paul was a Jew of Jews. He was from the right nation, he was from the best tribe, he was from a great family, he had had the best religious training and he was following the law to attend. He everybody looked at him and said, he is truly a righteous man.
Whatever Paul says has to be right. But he said, in spite of all that, I know that nothing good lives in me. Because Paul knew that he had a sin condition that he was born with. By nature we are all evil and sinful. By nature.
We have no good intention us. And if there is any desire to do good by people that are outside of the family of God, we have to stop and question that. Are they really doing good for goodness sake? Because I see people doing good for self promotion. I see people doing good for monetary gain.
I see people also doing good because they think it’s to going going to save them. It’s a matter of self atonement. Only God’s people, with God’s help can do good just for the pure sake of being good. Because that’s what God’s character and nature is. He does good because he is good.
Not for any ulterior motives. As image bearers of God. Though polluted and corrupted by sin, I think there can still be a sense of right and wrong in people. There’s an understanding there that’s placed in us because there’s enough of his image in us still. But the world as it is becoming more and more evil is flipping everything over to the point that what the world thinks is good is actually evil.
And one of the biggest things right there now that we’re seeing our news every day, is the problem anti Semitism. They think that it’s actually good to want to eradicate the Jews. It’s not good to want to eradicate anybody, any race, any family, any clan, any nation. We are evil by nature and eventually what is good becomes evil and what is evil becomes bad. According to scripture, if we don’t follow the Lord because we have a sin problem.
Jeremiah 17, 9, 10. The Prophet recognized this and he was distraught. He says the heart is more deceitful than anything else and it’s incurable. Who can understand it? We go back to when we talk about the gospel over here that because of Adam and Eve’s destructive choice, we now have a deadly condition that’s completely incurable except by the grace of God.
And Jeremiah was saying, if our hearts are incurable, then what hope is there for us? And God just exemplified what he was thinking. God said, I, the Lord, I examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve. All sin will be judged. One day God will judge our evil hearts.
And in our present condition, without Jesus Christ, we will receive God’s wrath and judgment. But when Jesus died on the cross, he took the judgment of our sin. He took the the wrath of our sin upon him to keep us from having to experience it. That one day, so that our incurable, exceptionally deceitful hearts might be cured, might be saved, so that we can walk the Lord’s way. Ephesians 4, 18, 19.
Paul’s now talking about the world is. He says they are darkened in their understanding. The reason why they are excluded from the life of God. They’re not living in the light. And because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts, they became callous and they gave themselves over to promiscuity.
For the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. This is what, what sin does. This is what we need to recognize.
Because of sin, we are excluded from life in God, meaning that we are facing death. That’s the death that Adam and Eve brought into the world by their disobedience. And when we’re excluded from God, our hearts begin to get hard to the point that they become callous. And once we reach that point, once the world reaches that point, then they’re into just pleasing themselves, all types of promiscuity. It doesn’t bother them anymore because they’re callous.
And from that it gets even worse. They practice every kind of impurity. And Paul says that what it leads to is not satisfaction, not true reward, but they just desire more and more of every kind of impurity. That’s what sin does to us if we don’t recognize it. It promises a little bit of happiness, it promises a little bit of pleasure, it promises a little bit of fun, but it’s momentary.
And you have to sin again in order to get that happiness or that good feeling. And then you have to sin again because Satan doesn’t give anything permanent. And all the time he’s leading us down a path of addiction to whatever it is. But there’s no promise that there’s going to be any fulfillment. But recognizing our sin condition, accepting the cure that God offers us gives us joy that’s permanent, gives us happiness that’s going to last for an eternity.
And recognizing what sin does, it helps us to appreciate more what Jesus has done for us and what we have in him. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 15 through 17. The writer gives us an example of Esau in the Old Testament. Let me read the text. It’s a warning to us.
Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many. And make sure there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal. The first thing there falls short of the grace of God. There are people that are pursuing salvation, but if they don’t accept the grace of God for salvation, if they continue to think they can save themselves, they’re going to fall short. But the second warning there is not to be like Esau.
He was immoral, he was irreverent. He sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal. Esau is the example for us. He was immoral and irreverent of God. He did not give God reverence, He did not give God devotion.
He did not give God the worship that God deserves. He was more interested in his fleshly life. In other words, what his body wanted, what his life desired was more important to him than God. His fleshly desires was what he desired more than his spiritual life. And the picture is so pitiful.
Here he gave up the greatest gift, an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not to be the king of the world. He gave it up for one bowl of beans. That’s how little he understood what God was offering him in salvation and a relationship. The text is saying, don’t be like Esau.
Don’t take the world instead of Jesus. Esau was so hungry, he thought he was going to die. And the reality of it is, he did die. But he died more than just physically. He died spiritually.
We can desire the world so much that we feel that sometimes it is more important to keep the world than to have a relationship with God. Whatever your choices are, your relationship with God is more important. To turn from going our own way to following God’s way, to not choose to sin.
We go on to read in verse 17 about Esau that, you know, later he wanted to inherit the blessing, but at that point he was rejected. And even though he sought it with tears because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance. So we Get a allegorical picture of what happens here is that God offers the gift of salvation to everyone and he asks us to repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, to repent and turn away from sin. But if somebody rejects the Lord, just as Esau did, the time may come that repentance is no longer available.
So it is with us today that if God is calling anybody to turn to him in repentance, there’s no guarantee that if you don’t do it right now that you’ll walk out that door or that you’ll make it home. The time to repent of our sin and turn to the Lord is today. Mark, chapter one, verses 14 through 15. Jesus gives us two words that are really one command. After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God.
He said, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news once again. Repentance is we’re going our way, doing things our way, figuring out that we’re going to save ourselves our way. Repentance turns from doing things our way.
It turns from sin to doing things God’s way, and it turns to accepting what Jesus Christ does for us for salvation. And that’s why these two things go together here. Because if we really believe what Jesus said, if we really believe he is master and Lord, if we really believe all these things, things with that belief, with that faith, there’s going to be an actual turning to walk with Jesus. You could have the worst cancer in the world. And you could go online and you could read about some doctor that has cured every single instance of that particular cancer 100% thousand times over.
But if it’s just the head knowledge and you don’t put your feet to work and go find the doctor, all your knowledge about him is going to do absolutely no good. And so it is. Some people in this world, they understand the Bible, they understand the gospel, but they never have allowed their faith to cause them to repent, to turn from their sin, to follow him.
If you believe that God is holy and cannot tolerate sin is the first statement up on the screen. If you believe that God hates sin, and we’ve talked about that today, if you believe that God will judge sin one day, we’ve read scriptures on that. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross to save you from the penalty of sin, and if you believe that Jesus is the rightful Lord and master of your life, this is all the faith side of it. But there has to be repentance. Then you will repent or turn from the way of the world to live God’s way.
And then you will repent and turn from living for self and from living for Satan instead to live for God. Don’t let your understanding of what the gospel is be where you stop. There needs to be a turning point to Jesus Christ when you come to him and confess, Lord, I am a sinner. I understand how awful it is and I’m repenting of that today and placing my faith in Jesus Christ that He can cleanse me of all that sin, that he can protect me from the wrath that is to come. And I accept what he’s doing for me by faith what I can’t do myself.
And speaking to God that way is showing your faith and and your repentance. And it’s then that you become a true follower of Jesus Christ. May we pray?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word today. And we ask that you would move in our hearts to help us to be true followers, true disciples of Jesus Christ in any of these areas that we are weak in. Father, prompt our heart to cry out to you to bring about change in our life. We pray especially that you would move in the hearts of some today that maybe have a knowledge of Jesus Christ, but they’ve never truly turned in repentance and faith to follow him for salvation. Father, that you would move in their hearts today and prompt them to speak to someone about this.
That they could be certain before they leave our building today day that they are a disciple of Christ, free from the wrath of God, adopted into your family, looking forward to an eternal time of worship and blessing with you in heaven one day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.