Do You Trust God or Test Him? | Mark GreathouseHow to Pass the Tests of Life

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 Welcome to Bible study. It's that time again and we want to invite you and we want to encourage you to invite somebody else to join you tonight because it's going to be a good time of fellowship where we come together and we dine and we feast upon the word of God.

And as his word comes into us, it will give us light and it will give us life. So, we want you to tell somebody about Bible study and invite them in. Right now, we're going to be focusing in on Mark chapter 12 as we continue in this Gospel according to Mark.

But before we dive in this evening, we want to pray with you any concerns, any needs that you have. And we want to invite the Lord, his presence here through the power of the Holy Spirit to be with us. So that those needs that you have will be presented unto him and he will hear us as the word of God says.

And not only will he hear us, but he will answer. And that you in your relationship with him will grow and increase in intimacy because he loves you. So let's pray. Father, thank you for my brother and my sister. Thank you for my friends and those who have gathered tonight.

Lord, we're asking Lord that as we have assembled, that your word will be alive and that your breath will be breathed upon everyone who has come. We're asking, Father God, for new doors to open, new opportunities. Give us new understanding of your word tonight, Father God, and equip us well for the things that are to come.

We pray for the needs of those that are present. We pray, Father God, that you will supply everyone of their needs. We're asking, Father, that resources will come where they are needed. Relationships will come or be restored where that's needed. Father, we're praying for household salvation. We're praying for healings.

Father, you're the one who sees and knows all. And we trust you to do so much more than what we even know to ask right now. We pray in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. All right. If you have your Bibles, let's turn to Mark 12. Mark 12. We're continuing in this gospel where Mark presents Jesus as a servant, the suffering servant Isaiah talked about.

And um you can listen to some of our previous teachings, all all of our teachers and get caught up to date to how we get to Mark 12. We see Jesus presenting the kingdom, uh introducing the kingdom, pronouncing the kingdom and living the kingdom before those who are around him each and every day.

Some like it, some dislike it, some are threatened by it, some are comforted by it. But that's how the kingdom of God is. especially when it's encroaching upon this kingdom of this world and this earth which is uh directly opposed to all that God is. But God is in control.

The Bible says the earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof. Uh all those who dwell in it belongs to God. Mark chapter 12, uh if you're looking for a subject, and I invite all of you to go ahead and download the outline so you'll have that. We're going to cover as much as we can in this session, but if there's anything that's left off, you'll have it right there at your fingertips and you can continue your study.

Mark chapter 12, don't test me. Don't test me. Subt, do you test or do you trust Jesus? Do you test Jesus or do you trust him? We're going to get into that. But Jesus was he was very strategic in his interactions with those who were around him every day.

Uh some came as genuine seekers or sincere seekers looking forward to change in their lives and in their personal surroundings. Others were cautious onlookers waiting to see what would become of Jesus. You know though some go and they're trailblazers and then some just kind of wait and see what's going to happen before they get in.

And then there were others who were just utterly opposed to Jesus, his message and the kingdom that he represented. They were beholden to the materialistic comforts afforded them by their own efforts. So in Mark in in Mark chapter 12, Jesus confronts those who seek to entrap him. He utilizes the efficacy of stories to instruct those who desire to know more and encounters those with open hearts to God and the message of his kingdom.

Jesus asks those who come to oppose him. And you'll see that later on in this chapter, why are you testing me? And here's the question. Are you one who tests Jesus? Are you or are you one who trusts him? Let's get into it. Uh as as a result, we're just praying that you'll understand the significance of a a parable.

Understand what a parable is. By the time we're done today, we're praying that you will be able to uh answer the question, does Jesus promote the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead as the Pharisees believed? Are cornerstones significant? And if so, what what purpose? What is a parable?

And also you'll be able to identify the most significant aspect of giving to God. We'll see that because God is interesting interested in our giving. We'll see that in the text and I love how Jesus is. So first of all, let's just take an overview of the entire chapter and then we'll come back and dig a little deeper.

If you're in agreement, all in agreement, say amen. Amen. Thank you for being in agreement. All right. In the first 12 verses, we see here in Mark where Jesus is questioned. He's questioned by the chief priests. He's questioned by the scribes and he's questioned by the elders. So then in these first 12 verses, it says Jesus employs the efficacy of par parables.

He starts teaching and and uh demonstrating aspects of the kingdom through the use of parables. And then those who questioned Jesus in these first 12 verses, they become angry with him and desired to take him, but they were afraid of the crowds. Then we see in verses 13-1 17 how it's not the chief priests, scribes, and elders who are coming to try to entrap Jesus.

But then you have the Pharisees and the Herodians seeking to entrap Jesus with his words to speak negatively against the Roman government. They use flattery to try to manipulate Jesus, but he's not caught off guard. He can see right through it. Somebody say Jesus sees through it all.

Yeah, he sees through it all. Even sometimes when we come and approach him in prayer, we try to be strong and act like we got it all together, but he sees right through it. And he can see the core of who we are. That's why he says, "If any man just come after me.

Come after me as you are. Come after me. I will feel you. Come and cast your cares upon me because I care for you." And let's make this great exchange. Give me your heaviness. I'm talking to somebody right now. Jesus says, "Give me your heaviness and I'll exchange it by giving you my yoke. is easy.

My yoke is free. My burdens are light. So give me that heaviness and I got something good in store for you. So Jesus clearly he sees through their motives and speaks with wisdom to dumbfound them. After Jesus finished talking, they had nothing that they could say. Then in verses 18- 27, we see the Sadducees.

So first of all, you had the chief priest, scribes, and the elders coming. Then you have the Pharisees and the Herodans. Then we see the Sadducees coming now and they they attempt to ent trap Jesus to speak against the scriptures. They seek to get him to speak against the resurrection from the dead.

And Jesus points out their error and lack of understanding of the scripture. And he tells them so, you know, Jesus didn't hold back punches. He just let you know, you know, he did it in love, but he was direct also. Hallelujah. He was direct also, wasn't he? God is good.

All right. Then verses 28-34, a scribe comes again to encounter Jesus and inquires about the preeeminent commandment. Which one's best? Which one's the greatest? Then Jesus replies and encourages the scribe and his level of understanding and perception. He says, "You're doing good. You're doing good. Good question. And I see you got some understanding about this.

Keep on going. Keep doing what you're doing." But then he shuts down the naysayers that were all around him. So Jesus was always confronted. We see in verses 35 through 40 that Jesus employs again the efficacies of teachings and warnings. He points out the errors of those in leadership and particularly the scribes in these verses.

And the crowd is delighted. You know, Jesus, he he he never came down hard on anyone while he was here. He was very much gracious and forgiving. But the ones that he did come down uh some would say he came hard against were those who were in leadership positions, those who should have known better, those who knew the law but were act were acting through their lifestyles as stumbling blocks to those who were trying to follow them.

And so Jesus, you find things Jesus saying, "You whitewash supplicers, you grave, you tombstones, uh, you know, he really, really hit them where they were, not to condemn them, but also to spark in them and then hopefully caused them to repent." John the Baptist had already come before them and said, "Repent.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand." They didn't listen to him. They were so caught up in their religion, and their tradition, and we may get into that a little bit later. So then verses 41-44, we see that Jesus is in the temple and he's not sitting up in the pull pit like we would say these days.

And Jesus went sat over the side and he watched where the offering was being taken. Jesus watched when people were giving their offerings. And then he called his disciples over and he ranks the givers based on proportionate levels. So Jesus was watching what they were giving. Jesus watches what we give.

Somebody say that. Jesus watches what I'm giving. He's looking at my heart. He's looking at the proportion of what I'm giving. He's looking at the ultimate motivation of what I am giving. So let's jump on in verses 1-2. The efficacy of parables. If you're following along in the outline, the efficacy.

What is efficacy? Why are you using that word, brother Mark? Well, efficacy one, it began with an E and it fit. No, no. The efficacy, it's the power to produce an effect. That's what efficacy means. The power to produce an effect. So Jesus employed the efficacy of parables because he had a desired end in mind when he was using these.

So he was intentional in his use of parables. So what is a parable? A parable is an allegory. It's a symbolic representation or it's a narrative of comparisons. He will say the kingdom of heaven is like unto this or the kingdom of heaven is like this or this person did this and he they thought he was telling a story but it was more than what was actually going on around him.

It was a symbolic representation of something that had happened was happening or will happen concerning the kingdom of God. Sometimes he used simileies. Sometimes he used metaphors. A simile comparison of unlike things using like or as. And metaphor. We're going come on. We back. We're going back to school.

Metaphor is a comparison of similar things not using like or as. So Jesus creates a readiness by using the efficacy of these parables. He creates a readiness to see and receive the kingdom of God. Why use par parables? Why use parables? Matthew 13, the disciples asked him this question.

Matthew 13 10-17 in the message translation and it says this. The disciples came up and asked why do you tell stories you know he says at one point they say you talk to others you talk to us plainly but you talk to everybody else in stories. Why do you do that?

Verses 11- 15 says this. He replied, "You you've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight, it hasn't been given to them." Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, underline that. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely.

But if there is no readiness, I hope underline this too. If there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. It's kind of like the parable that Jesus talked about the parable of the sewer and he said the sewer went forth to sew and he would sew the seed and would fall upon different types of soil and then he gave the ramifications of the the one that was sewn among thorny ground.

You know, you can go back and read that at your own time, but again, it's talking about the condition of the soil, which is a representation of the heart. Is the heart ready to receive the information about the kingdom? And so Jesus went on to say right here, that's why I tell stories to create readiness to nudge the people toward a welcoming, a welcome awakening.

In their present state, they can stare till doomsday and not see it. Listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast or his prophecy repeated all over again. What was his for forecast? Your ears are open, but you don't hear a thing.

Your eyes are awake, but you don't see a thing. And he goes on to say, "The people are stupid." That's in the Bible. The people are stupid. That's her in the message translation. I didn't make that up now. Come on. I don't use that word. The people are stupid.

All right. They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen. They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look. So they won't have to deal with me face to face. And let me heal them. Some of you, this word is starting to do something on the inside of you right now.

Let let the word work. Just let it work. Just let it work in there. All right. But then he continues, "But you have God's God blessed eyes. Eyes that see. Thank you, Lord. And God blessed ears, ears that hear." A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them would have given anything to see what you are seeing to hear what you are hearing but never had the chance.

So that's why Jesus said you're asking me why I use parables. I'm using that to nudge people along so that they can perceive the kingdom of God. So hope over here in the book of Luke also 8:es 9-10. Here's another uh example when they asked him about uh the use of parables.

Luke 8 9-10 says this in amplified translation. Now his disciples began asking him what this parable meant. And he said, "To you who have been chosen, it has been granted to know and recognize the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that those seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand."

So we say, "Those who have been chosen," and that was parenthetically in the amplified translation translation. What do you mean those who have been chosen? Can't everyone come? He's talking about those in reference to those who have been chosen. Those whose hearts have been opened or who have opened their hearts to receive it.

Those are the ones who have been chosen because they have already been willing to receive the message of the kingdom. It's not excluding anybody else but those who have identified and say yes, I want to be a part of this. Then because of that, my heart is open to receive the message of the kingdom. then now perception and understanding is given unto me.

But if my heart is closed off, somebody listen to me. If my heart is closed off, then I'm keeping myself away from the possibility of perceiving and understanding that which God has in store for me. Somebody shout shout, "God has something good in store for me." Come on, say it real loud.

God has something good in store for me. All right. All right. Let's continue. So Jesus spoke about how the father had sent prophets before him and then sent the son himself to the children of Israel, but they continued to reject him. So what again are what are we doing with Jesus here?

Are we testing him? Are we trusting him? God had sent prophets over and over in the Old Testament. And if you go and just read through the Old Testament, you see they came with messages in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and they would talk about uh what's coming and the current state of the nation at that time, but also what God was going to provide in the future.

Mark 12 1-12, let's join there right there. And he says this, Jesus began to speak to them, this is the Amplified Translation, the chief priests, scribes, and elders who were questioning him. All right, we're here in Mark chapter 12. Now in parables, he said this, "A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower."

I want you to get a picture. He's got some land. This is a landlord. Landlord. Somebody say landlord. Okay. All right. He's got this land. He planted a vineyard, lots of grapes and all of these things. And put a wall around it. He dug a pit for the wine press.

He built the tower. You can watch out and see. Then what did he do? He rented it out to tenant farmers and and he left the country. H when the harvest season came, he sent a servant to the tenants in order to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

They took him, one of his servants, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent them another servant. So he said, "Okay, you didn't listen to that one. Okay, let me let me try again to come and get what's rightfully mine." They threw stones and wounded him in the head and treated him disgracefully.

Verse 5, "And he sent another, and that one they killed. Then many others, some they beat, some they killed." He still had one man left to sin. And I want you to see this. Jesus is telling this story and people are they're starting to grasp it and they're starting to look at it and he says they got one more person.

I can imagine them just being on the edge at that point. One more. He's going to send somebody else after they did that to all of his servants. And he says, "Okay, I'm going to do this, my beloved son." He sent him last of all to them, saying, "They will respect my son."

But those tenants said to each other, "This man is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and destroy the evidence, and his inheritance will be ours." So they took him and killed him, threw his body outside the vineyard. "What will the owner of the vineyard do?" Jesus is asking the crowd. "He will come and destroy the tenants and will give the vineyard to others." "Have you not even read this scripture?

The stone which the builders regarded as unworthy and rejected. This very stone has become the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord and it is marvelous and wonderful in our eyes. And they were looking for a way to seize him. Who was looking to seize them? The chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.

Why? But they were afraid of the crowd. for they knew that he spoke this parable in reference to and as a charge against them. And so they left him and went away. Who is this landlord? Who is this landlord that sent all these servants? And this well this is a picture um of of God the Father and his relationship to the children of Israel.

He sent them prophets after prophets after prophets. They didn't hear them. They killed them. They didn't like what they had to say. And then finally he says, "Okay, I'm going to send my beloved son." And then what do they do? They kill the son. And that's a foreshadowing of what was going to happen to Jesus uh in just a little while from this time.

So the land ruler represents the father and his lordship over all. Lordship overall. Somebody say he's lord. He is lord overall. And so although he was rejected, the suffering servant that Mark talks about has become the foundation, the cornerstone which sets up everything else that is built. The cornerstone that was talked about in this passage.

Well, what's the cornerstone? Isaiah 28:15-17 is what was referenced. Let's look at that really quick. Because you have said, while you're turning there, because you have said, we have made a covenant with death and with shale, the place of the dead, we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming scourge passes by it, it will not reach us.

For we have made lies our refuge, and we have concealed ourselves in deception. Therefore, the Lord God says, "Listen carefully. I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for the secure foundation firmly placed. He who believes, who trusts in, relies on, and adheres to that stone.

So, we know he's not talking about a physical rock. Whoever adheres to, relies on, and trusts in that stone will not be disturbed or give way in sudden panic. He says, "I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason's level. Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and waters will flood over the secret hiding place."

So Jesus is putting to h a cornerstone or Jesus is that cornerstone upon which everything else is aligned. He's when they put a cornerstone when they're building a house, it goes in the corner and establishes the angles. It it sets everything else up. Everything else is built upon this.

And if it's not set correctly, then everything else is going to be off base. But because Jesus, hallelujah, that son who was sent is the cornerstone, the chief cornerstone, then we know that everything that is built upon him shall be right and in place with God. Hallelujah. Let's move on before we run out of time here.

Get your outline. Get your outline. So then we want to talk about the entrapment. We talked about the first part here, the efficacy of the parables. But now let's talk about the entrapment of religious activity and individuals, the entrapment. Entrament. Verses 13-1 17 in this in this chapter says this.

Then they sent some of the Pharisees and her Herodians to Jesus in order to trap him into making a statement that they could use against him. They came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are faithful. you and have no personal bias toward anybody. You see, you catch that flattery.

For you are not influenced by outward appearance or social status. No, you're not. But in truth, you teach the way of God. Come on, somebody say the way of God. Yes. Is it lawful then? Oh, here we go. We went through the flattery. Here we go. The Pharisees and Herodians.

Ah, or Herodans if you pronounce it that way. Is it lawful according to Jewish law and tradition to pay the pole tax to Tiberius Caesar or not? Should we pay the tax or should we not pay? H but knowing their hypocrisy, he asked them, why are you testing me?

That's so that's where we get our our subject today. Why are you testing me? Don't test me. You know, I I can remember growing up my my mom may say something and tell us to do this and I might press the boundaries a little bit, just a little bit and just a little bit more.

And sometimes she might just rise up and say, "Boy, don't test me." When that when that came out, I knew to stop pressing the boundaries and then to retreat a little bit because if I cross that boundary, judgment was coming. Somebody said, "Judgment." Judgment was coming. So Jesus asked the question, "Why are you testing me?

Bring me a coin uh to look at it." So they brought one. Then he asked them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said, "Caesars's." So Jesus said to them, "Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesars's and to God the things that are God's." And they were greatly amazed at him.

Why? They were trying to trap him. Thought they'd get him with a little flattery to open up and ease things, then drop the question on him. So the Pharisees again you might want to look at some previous studies. Pharisees were the religious leaders who believe in the supernatural and afteri and afterlife.

They believe in resurrection. The Sadducees didn't believe that. The Sadducees basically were limited to the first five books of the Torah. The Genesis through what we call Genesis through Deuteronomy. Then we have the herodians or Herodans. They were the political leaders. So you got Pharisees were religious leaders.

The political leaders were the herodans or Herodians in concert with the government. They were supportive of the Herods. Okay. Okay. So then Jesus, he comes in with the word of wisdom. He who is wisdom came in at the right time. Why? Because he discerned their hearts. He knew they weren't authentic or genuine.

Then he says, "Okay, then give to Caesar what belongs to him." Look at that coin. Whose coin whose image is on it? Okay, that's Caesar's coin. So give Caesar that which belongs to him. Give Caesar that which has or embodies his image. Give that that which bears his image.

Give that back to Caesar. But then he says then give to God that which bears belong that which belongs to him that which bears God's image. So what bears God's image? What was made in the image and likeness of God? Uh man was. So he says okay give that to Caesar but give God all that you are.

Give him. And they're standing and blown away. Woo. I think we're going to leave him alone now. Okay. Then they came up again with another question and they um I'm just going to hit this really quick. They said, "Whose wife is it anyway?" They came up and they Here come the Sadducees.

Now the Sadducees again, they don't believe in the resurrection. They don't believe in uh the supernatural. They don't believe in the afterlife. So the Sadducees came up you know the Sadducees who say there is no resurrection verse 18 says came to him and began questioning him saying teacher Moses wrote a law and basically the next few verses say okay if a man marries a woman he dies and he doesn't have any children her his brother has to take her as a wife and then uh try to to have a family with her and raise up children and if he dies then the next brother-in-law has to marry her and continue to go on and so finally he says this happened for seven times in this situation and he asked they asked him in verse 23 in the resurrection whose wife will she be they're trying to trap Jesus because they don't even believe in the resurrection you know so whose wife will she be after because all seven had her that's what they say right here in the scripture and then Jesus comes back and say is not is this not why you are wrong because you know neither the scriptures that teach the resurrection nor the power of God who is able to raise the dead.

Verse 25, for when they rise from the dead, they do not marry, nor are they given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But concerning the raising of the dead, because he knew that was their core issue. Have you not read in the book of Moses in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, "I am the God of Abraham and of God and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken and you are deceiving yourselves. So what did Jesus say? He didn't say, "I was the God of Abraham up until the moment he died." He didn't say, "I was the God of Isaac or I was the God of Jacob."

No, he says, "I am." He is alive. And then he's indicating that he's continues to be their God because that there some point is going to be a resurrection. So the s Sadducees didn't believe in it. Um Jesus told them that they were in error as teachers. So they were teachers.

They did not know the scriptures or the power of God. In Matthew 15 7-9 he called them hypocrites, play actors, pretenders. Um he said Isaiah prophesied about you correctly. He said these people honor me with their lips but their heart is far away from me. He says but in vain do they worship me for they teach as doctrines the precepts of men.

And I want you to continue to go through in your own time in the outline and read some of these additional scriptures where Jesus, he entrapped those who come came to entrap him. He entrapped him with truth. Hallelujah. The truth will always be the antidote to error. Somebody say the truth will always be the antidote to error and deception.

Put that and deception. And deception. All right. Then Jesus encounters as we wrap this up this chapter he encounters those who are seeking he another scribe an expert in mo Mosaic law. So the scribes they were the ones who actually wrote down the law they wrote down the scriptures that was their primary uh occupation if you will but then in addition to that they began to become teachers.

So not only did they move from just writing and copying down they began to become teachers. Um, and then one of them came up and said, "Jesus, Lord, what's the greatest commandment?" And he says, "The greatest commandment is this here, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength." And he says the second one along with that, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And in another place he said, "All the others are built upon this."

So then the scribe, he he felt good. He says, "Amirable. That's admirable, teacher. You truthfully stated that he is one." He gave Jesus props and said, "You're right. You're right. You're right." Then Jesus said, "Okay, you're answering thoughtfully and intelligently." Look at that. Thoughtfully and intelligently. And then he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

And then after that, he said, "Nobody asked Jesus any questions." Then he encounters someone else. And this is what we were talking about earlier. He's in the temple and he encounters even from a distance a widow. She comes in. He sees everyone else coming with the parade and making much over how much they're giving in the offering.

Jesus came in again. He came and sat right by the offering pot. He sat right there and watched those as they were giving. And it says verse 42, "A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which amount to a might. Calling his disciples, he said to them, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, this poor widow put in proportionately more than all the contributors for the treasury.

For they all contributed from their surplus, but she from her poverty." But in all she had, all she had to live on. That's what she put in. So what do we get from this? We see that love is the foundation for all the commandments. We see that knowing the commandments and even practicing them is not sufficient to perceive the kingdom of God.

Jesus said you must be born again. John 3:es 3-7. I want you to read that in your own time. He says um you can't even perceive the kingdom unless you're born again. So all this Jesus is talking about presenting the kingdom. Most of them could not even understand it or or get too close to it because they had not been born again.

But Jesus said, "Hey, make note of this. You must be born from above in order to understand that which comes from above." So again, giving is an expression of your heart. When Jesus was watching, he says, "Proportionately, this woman is given all because she gave all she had unto the Lord." and others they were giving what was left over after they had spent what they had.

H So here's the question again. Do you trust Jesus or do you test Jesus? Are you testing him? Do you find that Jesus is the truly the Lord of your life and he calls the shots as the landlord? He gets everything that he wants from your life because he owns your life.

Ah sometimes we don't like to hear that but Jesus owns our lives because we yield them unto him as an offering and say you are Lord. Not only are you savior Romans chapter 10 says confess with your mouth what Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved.

Salvation but then lordship comes first. You are Lord. You call the shots. Everything about you is right always. So, do you find yourself wanting to test God instead of truly trusting him with your life or with your soul? Sometimes it gets difficult because because of life's experiences and we find it difficult because we project onto the Lord Jesus the experiences that we've had with other people.

He says again, come come. Are you willing to trust him or do you want to test him to every moment? I don't know if you will do that. I know your word says it, but I don't know. I'm not going to jump fully into you, Lord, because you might not do it.

Do you trust Jesus or do you test Jesus? So, a question here. Won't you accept God's plan of salvation for you today? If you're listening and you've never accepted Jesus, I'm going to invite you right now to join us in prayer and say, "Lord, I surrender." Come on.

Lord, I surrender my life. I give everything over to you. And by faith, Lord, by faith, I believe that you died for me. You took my place. The judgment that was intended for me, you took it on. And now I receive the blessing that you have for me.

I receive it now and I give you my life. Jesus, you're Lord of my life. I proclaim it right now. Lead me, guide me, keep me, preserve me until I see you face to face, Jesus. If you prayed that prayer, let us know. We celebrate you and we want you to come back next week along with everybody else who joins us on a weekly basis.

Come back because God has something good in store for you. God bless you. We look forward to it.