I love Colossians 1, so if you'll turn there. I want to preach to you about the will of God and the blessing of believers. Because I think that is the blessing of believers, the will of God. Colossians 1. And as we peruse the first chapter, we see Paul telling the Colossians that they are remembered in prayer. And verse 3, for example, says, And I'm glad you folks pray for each other. I'm sure you do. And I'm sure you're praying for the preacher as he's out of town. And we thank God for Brother Tony. He's a good man. And his wife, good people. I love them. Thank God for them. But I like that. What it says there, we give thanks, praying always for you. But the Bible says men are always to pray and not to faint. Prayer is such an important part of our life. And then verse 9, drop down to verse 9. pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. I want to pray with you. Father, we thank you for your word. We're thankful that we can share the truths of your word with these who love you. who are glad to be in the house of God. We do pray for our brother as he's absent from us that you'd bless him and his dear wife Dawn, that you'd help their journey to be safe when they return, and that you'd help them there in Florida to be encouraged and strengthened in their spirit and their inner man through reading the Word of God. hearing the preaching of the Word of God. Father, bless these dear ones who have come tonight. We came because we hunger. You said if we hunger and thirst after your Word, we will be filled. So I pray that you would fill us with your Spirit. Use us, anoint us for your glory. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. There are 22 verses in the Word of God with the exact words, the Will of God. And if anybody wondered, is it that big a deal to know what the will of God is? Absolutely. It is really the essence of Christianity. The essence of Christian life. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, and this is just an introduction. It says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy unto God which is your what? reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by a renewing of your mind that you might prove," listen to this, what is it, good and acceptable and what? Perfect will of God. That you can prove it. Hey, isn't that wonderful? You can prove that what the will of God is for your life. So many people, you ask folks today on the street, we met three or four folks, we stopped in the street and tried to give them gospel tracts and tried to witness to them. Man, I tell you, this is not an open city, is it? People aren't, they're not very receptive. But you know, in due season you shall reap, if you what? I mean, we've got to just keep on going. Just because people are hard doesn't mean that they don't need Jesus at the right time. They're going to think, hey, maybe I should have listened to that person that tried to give me a Gospel tract. Because we want people to go to heaven. Amen? And I hope you do too. I'm sure that you pass out these Gospel tracts and I think that's the will of God as well. What else was in Paul's prayer for the Colossians? I'm glad you asked. Let's look at verse 10, please. Verse 10. This is his prayer, that you might walk worthy of the Lord and all-pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. That's why we read the Word of God. That's why we go here to the preaching of the Word of God. Why? Because we want to increase in the knowledge of God. We want to know Him better and serve Him better. Amen? I just want you to peruse this chapter with me just real quickly, okay? Christian graces. I want you just to notice the Christian graces. Look at verse 3. What do Christians do? They give thanks. Yes. And praying always. Two different things. You're right. Absolutely right. Giving thanks and praying. Look at verse 5. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. So what do Christians do? They have a hope. They hope. Why? By the way, our hope is not in vain. Our hope is real. It's real. We have a Christ. We have a Savior. We have a Lord who makes those hopes a reality. And then look at verse 7. What do we do? Learn. Isn't that what we're doing? We learn the Word of God. Why? So we'll be more like our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice what it says in verse 8. Who also did what? declared unto us your love in the Spirit. So declare. What do we do? We declare the Word of God, don't we? We go door to door when we talk to people about the Lord. We're declaring the truth of the Word of God, trying to help people come to Christ. Look at verse 9. Again, it says, do not cease to what? Pray. So we're people of prayer. That's what Christians are. And then look at verse 10. We walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. That's what God wants every Christian to do, walk worthy. How can you walk worthy? We're unworthy creatures by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we walk with the Lord, as we talk with the Lord, as we live for the Lord. And then notice what else it says in verse 10, verse 11. So we're strengthened. with his might. Hey, aren't you glad? Listen, I was All-American in wrestling when I was in college. I took third in the nationals, so it gave me All-American status. But you know what? After two open-heart surgeries, I'm all weakly. I'm a 200-pound weakling, but I remember those days when I wrestled guys. Some guys were much bigger than I, but I'm glad that I was able to do that. By the way, you're in a wrestling match. We wrestle not against what? Flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness and high places. We wrestle against Satan, don't we? But the Bible says you're more than conquerors through him that loved us. You know why you're on the victory side? Because you are on the right. You wrestle against Satan. You're not falling for his ploys and for his wiles. So I'm thankful that we're strengthened. And then look at verse 12. who delivered us from the power of darkness that has translated us. We're already translated. I like that. And then into the kingdom of his dear son. So we're delivered. We're translated. And then in verse 14, we're redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Amen? I love that song. I'm redeemed. And then look at verse 23. Verse 23, if you continue in the faith. Now, I don't know why anybody wouldn't want to continue. Listen, when I set my sails to serve the Lord, we sing a song, no turning back, no turning back. The cross before me, amen? No turning back. We can't turn back once we start serving the Lord. And then, I want you to notice number 24, rejoicing. And Christian, listen, Christians ought not be sad sacks. They ought not walk around with a mulligrump. No. Hey, listen. If anybody's got reason to rejoice, we do. We're born again. Blood-bought children of God. We have a reason to rejoice. So we don't have to be deadpans. And then verse 28. Look at verse 28. I love this. It says, whom we preach. So preaching. Listen, that's our food, our daily need. We need the preaching of the Word of God. It says, warning every man and teaching every man. So teaching also. We're taught. And we might present every man perfect. You know what that means? Not that Brother Calkins is going to be perfect, but that word perfect means mature. God wants us to grow in our faith, not to be spiritual weaklings. He wants to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, and take on the whole power of God, that we may stand against the wiles of the devil. So I'm glad for these. And then look at verse 29. I can't quit. Where unto I labor? What do you do? You're a Christian. You're a child of God. You're not lazy. You're a laborer. Amen? Why do we labor? For reward? but not here. We may never see a reward here. We may not see the fruit of our labor. Listen, can you imagine how many times Paul preached that he never saw people got saved? Or how many times people in the Bible really worked for the Lord and served the Lord and they're beaten and they're maligned? But yet, they didn't quit. They just kept on serving the Lord because God was in their heart moving them and motivating them. Now, what else did Paul's prayer include? I'm glad you asked. Look at verse 10. That you might do what? Walk worthy of the Lord. Say it with me. that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." So God wants us to walk worthy, worthy of Him. And none of us is worthy, but in the sense that we can please the Lord, God wants us to walk worthy in a way to please the Lord. But it says fruitful. You know what is the fruit of a couple, man and a woman? What's the fruit? Well, what is the fruit of a Christian in the Lord? Another child being born into the family of God. Somebody else coming to know Jesus. So, we're supposed to be fruit bearers. We're supposed to bear fruit. And I'm glad about that because that's such an important part of the Christian life. Years ago, we had a young lady tell me that all the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of God. It's love, joy, peace, long-suffering. Yes, that is the fruit of the Spirit, but the fruit of a Christian is another Christian. So the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit that we bear are two different things. We ought to have the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness. We ought to have those things. But we also ought to bear fruit. So in other words, there's two different aspects of fruit-bearing. And I think as a Christian, we want to be fruitful. We don't want to be fruitless. We want to be fruitful. We want to reach people with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 3.10 speaks of good fruit. Matthew 7, 17 through 20 speaks of the tree bringing forth good fruit. We as Christians ought to bring forth good fruit. And then Matthew 13, 8 talks about the different kinds of soil. What are they? Some brought forth 100 fold, some 60, some 30. How many are we bringing forth? How many are we introducing to Christ? Listen, maybe it's one. But at least we're trying to reach somebody with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It may not be 30. But we can all try. Amen? We can all put forth that effort to reach somebody with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, number one is a prayer. Paul's prayer for the Colossian Church. That they be fruitful. Jesus elucidated on that in John 12. Let's just look at a couple passages in John with me. John 12, 24. I hope you're fast. Verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. that needs to die, but we need to die to ourself before we can bring forth fruit. One buries the seed in the ground, the seed looks like it's dead, but it brings forth a new plant, doesn't it? And we're supposed to be like that, amen? John 15.2, look at John 15.2. We see here that Jesus made it a requirement. What is that? Look at John 15-2 with me. So every Christian ought to be a fruit-bearing Christian. We ought to bear fruit. We ought to bring forth fruit. We ought to reach people with the Gospel. I appreciate the fact that you folks are passing out these school bags. And that's wonderful. Praise the Lord. It's an investment. It's an eternal investment. It's not a temporary thing. It's an eternal investment. You got it within those bags. Gospel literature that people can come to Christ. That's wonderful. I praise the Lord that you're making that effort. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. And I'm glad I've been purged. Sometimes that purging is painful. You ever get purged? But I'm thankful that God, that we're willing to be able to be purged. John 15, 16 says, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, you have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth what? God wants us to bring forth fruit. Our relationship with Christ is natural for our bringing forth fruit. It's just like a mom and a dad. What do they do? They bring forth fruit. They have kids. Well, if we're a Christian and we're rightly hooked up to the Savior, we're going to bring forth fruit to the Lord. We're going to bring people to Christ. You know, and I don't notch my belt. You know how the old gunslingers used to notch their belt. Well, I got them. I won. You know, I don't notch my belt and say, well, I won 15 people to the Lord. I don't know how many people I've won to the Lord. I just want to keep on winning them to the Lord. I want to keep on trying. If you don't reach somebody with the gospel, That's between you and God. But if we try, that's the main thing. We put forth the effort to bring people to Christ. Now, Paul's example on salvation is seen in verses 12 through 13. I want you to notice that. Back to Colossians, please. Back to Colossians chapter 1 and verse 12. I love this. This is what you are. We're partakers of the saints in light. Amen? That's what we are. We're partakers of the saints. And then verse 13 says, What were you before you got saved? You are in the power of darkness. You are under Satan's dominion. You weren't under God's dominion. You have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. You know what? I am translated. Do you know that? You are translated. We have been translated. That is pretty cool. I learned how to speak a little Korean when I was in Korea. Hi, how are you? Your name, what is? What is your name? It's Spanish. I know a little bit of Spanish, right? Usted es mi amigo. You're my friend, okay? So, yo tengo mucho dinero. I have a lot of money. Okay, I have a little bit of money. But here, the main thing is, the more we can, whatever we can do to reach more people, I think it's important that we do it. When I see somebody that is oriental, I just assume they are Korean. I know they are Japanese. I talked to a Japanese Chinese man this afternoon. He took a tract across the street. So I was glad to be able to give him a gospel tract. He didn't understand much English. But you know I talked to him about being born again. And gave him the tract and he received it. So praise the Lord. We don't know when that person might get saved. But at least we get to give them an opportunity. Give them the gospel. He couldn't speak real good English. But I'm thankful I got to talk to him about the Lord. So Paul's emphasis was to get people saved. Look at verse 13. This is a wonderful verse. I want you to get this. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. How many were in darkness? You were. Yes, you were. He's delivered us from that power and it translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. I'm glad I've been translated. Can you imagine that? Now, I used to have to translate a little Spanish, you know, especially when I taught it. But I had to translate Spanish. I had to translate Korean for my friend. He took me into a Korean restaurant. And I said, muesum nica, what is it? He said, ah, very good, very good. And so we ate it. I got to the bottom of the pan. And here is fish scales. and a fish skeleton. We've been eating the intestines. I didn't know what it was. I said, Morsomneka, what is it? He said, oh, very good, very good. He rubbed his stomach. I didn't know it was the intestines of the fish. But you know, it does help us if we can learn a little language to communicate Christ with people. So Paul's understanding of the kingdom. Look at verse 13 now. Let me say it again. Listen, I don't have to get to heaven before I'm in his kingdom. I'm in his kingdom right now. I'm in the kingdom of Christ right now. I'm one of his children. Amen? He's my king. King of kings and Lord of lords. I'm thankful for that. We've been redeemed. We're bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 14. I love it. It explains it even further. In whom we have redemption through his blood. Why thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ. Cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Even the forgiveness of sins. That's what it says. How many of you have your sins forgiven? Amen. That's great. Listen, if you don't, you could tonight. You don't have to walk out of here a sinner. You can walk out of here a saint. That's what happened to me in East Moline, Illinois, when I was a boy, 12 years old, and when John McNabb told us how to get saved, I knelt right there in the front pew, next to John McNabb and Gary Davidson, and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I didn't understand everything, but I knew I was saved. I went home, I had a little New Testament, and I told my I told my neighbors, I said, hey, I got born again. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I immediately went down and started talking to people about Jesus. Why? It made such an impact on my life. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. Got saved. So knowing Jesus, that was Paul's emphasis. He wanted people to know Jesus Christ. Look at verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? Listen, who's Jesus? He's God. Well, I have a hard time when people can't understand that. He's my Savior. He's my God. The Father, the Son, and what? The Holy Spirit. He's one God. He's my Savior. or saved through the blood of Christ. He's the image of the invisible God. Listen to what Matthew Henry said about this. He said, Christ is a human in human nature that is the visible discovery of the invisible God. And he that hath seen him hath seen the Father. Amen. Matthew Poole said about that, very God of very God. He said about this verse. And then he says, John 17, 3 and 5. Hebrews 1, 3 says, yet more distinctly, Christ is the image of God. Isn't that wonderful? Christ is the image of God. You say, well, I don't know if I understand that. Well, good. Hang in there with me for a minute. Look at verse 16. For by him all things were created. By whom? By Jesus Christ. By whom? By Jesus. He created everything. Then what does it say? That are in heaven and that are in earth, invisible and invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him. Amen? And for Him. And He is before all things and by Him all things consist. You know what that means? By Him all things consist. Everything is held together by Him. You know why things haven't fallen apart totally in our country? Christ is holding them together. And listen, we may see darker days in the future. But don't despair. Jesus is coming again. How many believe that? I believe He could come today. I believe all the prophecies have been fulfilled about his coming. By the way, I'd be sad if you were here and heard the word of God and didn't respond to the Bible and you were left behind. That would be a tragic thing because God doesn't want anybody to be left behind. He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. You know what that means? I'm walking along life's way and I realize I'm not prepared for heaven. I might die and go to hell. And turning around, a change of heart, a change of mind, saying, I'm putting my trust in Jesus Christ. That's what I did when I was 12 years old. 63 years ago, I put my trust in Jesus Christ. Best thing I ever did. That makes me 75, in case you wondered. Number 16 says He's our Creator. Number 18 says He's the head of the body. Look at verse 18. He is the head of the body. What body? This body. The church. He is the head of the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. What does that mean, preeminence? He wants to be first. He wants to be number one. Listen, if He takes back seat to anything else or anybody else, That's sad to Him because He wants to be number one. He doesn't want to be number two. I love her. She's my best friend. I've been married 53 years, but she's not number one. Jesus is number one. And that's the same with her. I'm not number one. Jesus is number one. Amen? He has the preeminence. He's number one. He's first place. And I love that. Notice what it says there, this verse, verse 18. Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. He might have first place. He wants to be first. Is that a selfish thing? Listen, he deserves to be first. He is number one. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. What's that mean? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were in Christ. If I were Jesus Christ, in me would be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But I do have Christ in my heart. He's in my life. But Jesus Christ was the epitome of God. A lot of people struggle with that. I don't struggle with that at all. So what's God's will for my life? We talked about that for a few moments. I'm glad you asked. Look at verse 22. What's God's will for my life? Excuse me. I almost got to back up. Let me back up to verse 20. See that's talking about you and me. He has reconciled us to himself. Hasn't he? Amen. We used to be enemies. Now we are friends. In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy. Isn't that good brothers and sisters? To present us holy. That is what God is going to do. You say, what about those thoughts that you had? What about those actions that you are guilty of? No, they are under the blood of Christ. Amen? What about those things you did in your past? You could have been a rotten snake. But if God's forgiven you, you're not a rotten snake. You're a child of God. You're a child of the King. Amen? Unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. Nobody can point the finger at you. Unblameable. Nobody can blame you. If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. Wow, I love this. Verse 22. There are three things for you to do. Number one. What God wants to do in your life. To present you holy. Think about that. We have a song we sing. To be like Jesus. To be like Jesus. My desire to be like Him all through life's journey from earth to glory. My desire to be like Him. God wants us to be like Christ. I want to be like Christ. Every day I struggle sometimes about the fact that I'm not as much like Christ as I ought to be. But I'm going to keep working at it. We sing another song. More like the Savior. How many of you remember that song? More like the Savior I would ever be. Amen? We want to be more like the Savior all the time. Take a moment and look to 1 Peter 1 verse 16. 1 Peter 1 verse 16. You've got to be quick. And if you're not there, I'll read it. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. It is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. You know what? That's our desire to be holy, to be like Christ. That's my desire. And notice in that verse, back to verse 22, that you might be holy, unblameable. That means nobody can point the finger at you and say, hey, look what he did. Look what she did. No, nobody can point the finger at you because you're unblameable. Nobody can point the finger in judgment. Look at 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 13. Just a couple of chapters beyond where you are. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 13. It says here, to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God. Even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints. He's coming again. It says that he might establish our hearts what? Unblameable in holiness before God. By the way, I'm not unblameable because I'm a good person. I'm unblameable because I have a great Savior. I have a great God who's cleansed my heart, come into my life. And then verse 27, look back at Colossians verse 27. To whom God would make known what is the riches of his glory, of this mystery among Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He wants to dwell in your life. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Then in verse 28, He wants to present every person perfect in Him. Look at verse 28. Read that with me, will you? Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. Now, you're not perfect. But we are as far as the Lord looking at us. He sees us as righteous. He sees us as perfect. Why? Because we're cleansed by the blood. I am redeemed. You know that song? By the blood of the Lord. Lamb, I am redeemed and I know I am. I think that's so important that we can sing that song. I want to challenge you tonight. Listen are you saved or are you a child of God? That is number one. Because if we are a child of God we need to have a walk that is different than we had before we were Christians. We had to live differently. We had to talk differently. I am thankful God has delivered me. I remember before my wife got saved this guy came to our house. Derwitt Harris and Jean Richards came to our house. I'm talking about 50 years ago. They told her how to get saved. About 48 years ago. They came to our house and told her how to get saved. He said, how about you? I said, I'm alright. I'm saved. I wasn't living like a saved person. I wasn't living like a Christian. That's why I had a bad car accident. The accident wasn't an accident. It was the design of God. The Bible says, Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son that receiveth. I needed a spanking from God, and God knew how to give it to me. I remember in the ambulance, I had a head full of glass. My chin was split open. It dawned on me, I'm saved. What am I worried about? Because I was really scared. I knew I could die because I was in and out of consciousness. Then it dawned on me that I had been living like the devil. I said, Lord, don't take me now. Let me talk to you about my sin. I talked to him about my sin. I cried out to God, please forgive me. God forgave me. I said, okay, I am ready to go. I was ready to go home to heaven. I probably shared it this morning, but I love the fact that I ended up waking up in the operating table, and they were taking glass out of my head. My knuckle was crushed. But I had a peace that passeth understanding. I wasn't afraid. And then I came to, and I said, I've got to get out of here. This is my last day in the Army. And they said, you can't even walk. And I didn't know if I could or not, but I stood up, and I passed out. I stood up again and I walked out of there. Who's been in the military? If you've been in the military, you don't go anywhere without being in uniform. I had a t-shirt, it had blood encrusted all over it, and I had my head wrapped up like a mummy. Not a daddy, but a mummy. So I was walking down to the base and I'd salute, I was a non-commissioned officer, but I'd salute the officers, and nobody questioned me whether I had, I didn't have a hat on, I didn't have a shirt on, I had a t-shirt on, and it was blood-soaked. Nobody said a word. But I got to thinking, it was a testimony to the goodness and glory of God, because it brought me back to Himself. And I'm so thankful. You know who I called when I was there? I called the preacher. The guy that was her preacher more than he was mine. I let her go to church. I stay home and drink my beer and smoke my cigarettes. I called the preacher. He came and took me home. He took me out to get another car. What a wonderful thing. Here I am. I've been living like the devil for years. But after God dealt with me, I said, okay, Lord, I hear you. I got right with God, and God allowed me to serve Him. I've been serving Him since 1970 when that accident happened. Listen, don't let it be an accident that causes you to want to serve the Lord. Let it be because you just know that He loves you, and we ought to love Him in response, amen? I want to challenge you tonight. The major theme in the Bible is salvation. Are you saved? If you're not saved, that's the most important thing in the world. You're being born again. Like I say, I got saved. I mean, I know I got saved. By the way, I got right with God in 1970, but I prayed for salvation. Because I thought, man, I must not be saved. The way I've been living, I really asked the Lord to save me. So one of the times, either in 1957 or 1970, I got saved. And then we talk about Jesus being King, but He's the King of your life. He's the King of your life. We sing, King of my life, I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be. And then we mentioned being holy. You know why you're holy? Because you have a holy God dwelling in your heart and life. And by the way, we can't be holy without the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in us. I would be as unholy and ungodly as the world. But I'm thankful that God can make us to be holy. And I want to challenge you tonight. Unblameable. Think about that. Nobody can point the finger at you. Unblameable. I'm thankful that God had a girl in our church years ago. I preach a message on forgiveness. And this lady, she had adopted a little crippled girl. She was taken care of. Sweet, sweet lady, wasn't she? Remember Luann? She's a sweetheart. And she came to church fairly regularly. She's just a wonderful gal. And I preach on forgiveness. And after that, that evening, she came back and told us a story. She went home that day, called her dad, with whom she had not spoken for years, maybe 10 years, and said, Dad, I want to ask you if you'll forgive me. Now, her dad had molested her when she was a child. She was a teenager. But she said, I want to ask you to forgive me. Because she was bitter toward her dad. Unforgiving. The Bible says, if we don't forgive others their trespasses, never will our Father in Heaven forgive our trespasses. So she asked her dad to forgive her for being bitter toward him and unforgiving. She said, Dad, will you forgive me? She didn't hear anything. All she heard was weeping. But God re-established their relationship. Her sisters were there on the telephone with her. They all made things right with their family. He needed to be corrected. He needed to be stopped. He needed to be rebuked. Whatever else needed to happen. how freeing it is to give forgiveness to people. Nobody's treated us perfectly, but to forgive somebody, it takes character, it takes God's Holy Spirit burdening us to say, hey, I don't want to hold this any longer in my heart. Please forgive me. Boy, I tell you how freeing that was. This young lady was a different lady. She was sweet already, but don't you know how much sweeter she was after she forgave her family, forgave her dad, and the whole family was restored. It was a terrible thing that had happened to her, but she was reconciled to her family. I want to encourage you tonight. Listen, have you reconciled to God? Are you reconciled? Do you have that sweet relationship with God? Because if you don't, God wants you to. That is so vital for us. To walk with God. To have Him as our best friend. Our best companion. I remember reading a story about Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday and Moss Sunday would be walking down the street. She wouldn't know if he was talking to her or talking to Jesus. Because every other step he'd take, he'd be talking to Jesus. And she'd say, what did you say Billy? No, I was just talking to Jesus. That ought to be our life. so consumed with the Lord that people might not be able to tell who we're talking to. She knows that sometimes I am talking to Jesus. She's trying to get my attention. He's got my attention. So I'm going to encourage you tonight. Listen, each one of us sometimes will have a skeleton in our closet. And we don't need those. We need to have a sweet relationship with Jesus Christ, a sweet walk with the Savior. And if that's anything that's I always believed in the invitation. I'll tell you why. One day I walked that aisle and I wept. I cried out to God for forgiveness. I'm so glad he did. And if you need forgiveness, listen, it's not that you have to walk the aisle, but wow, how freeing it is to walk the aisle and say, Lord, I want to get it right. So if there's anything that's not right, I trust that maybe you'll let God work in your life and get it right tonight. Father, we thank you for these dear ones. They have come tonight. Lord, we love them. We are thankful for their presence here tonight. Lord, we are all a bunch of sinners saved by grace. But Lord, maybe somebody is not saved. Lord, that would be a tragic thing to have someone walk out of here. knowing that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin and not accepting you as their personal Savior. Not repenting of that sin. Not turning from that sin and letting Jesus Christ have first place in their life. Father, we pray that you'd bless those who may have people that have not forgiven them. Maybe people they've tried to reconcile with. That you'd help us to love our enemies. Love people that haven't loved us. Help us to forgive. Help us have that relationship, not only with them, but with you. That it's going to be much more clear because we've gotten right with others. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.