I'm welcoming you into the service today. It's just me and you together wherever you are. I hope that you're staying warm and safe and dry. There's a good covering of snow on the ground. Now, some of you have already tuned in for the Bible study hour. We've just completed that about 15 minutes ago. I'm now going into the message for today. And so I have no idea who may see this message or who may participate in it. But if you will plan to stay with me for the next little while, I'd like for you to grab your copy of God's holy word and turn to the gospel of John. John chapter 14 is where we're gonna study together today. John chapter 14. That's our text for today. And I'd love to have you join us for this study today. We have so many needs in our world and so many needs in our culture. And I want to pray for you. I cannot see all of you who are joining the room. I can't see how many of you are participating because of our camera setup. But if you have a special need in your life, if you have a prayer request, please put it in the comment section. Because what I'll do is go back after I'm done with the message, I'll go back and read all of your comments and all of your requests. And if you have a prayer request that has been unaddressed publicly in this video time, I will pray those needs to the Lord before this day is over. You can be assured of that. And I'd like to pray for you. And so if you have a special need in your life, you have a special need in your heart, please, please, please, You don't have to give any details, just put a name and is it a health need, is it a spiritual need, is it a financial, whatever the need is, just put that in the comment section. And before today is over, I'll go back through and pray for your request as you lay it out before the Lord. And so we are going to, I see some of you coming in the room, I see Miss Tina out there, I've seen Felicia out there. I'm not sure who else is coming on live with me here today, but I'm thankful that y'all are out there. I'm thankful to have this means to communicate with you today through this live broadcast, and I'm thankful that you're participating. And understand that there were a lot of churches that still had early services today, and I know there's been a lot of cancellations. My goal and my purpose for still providing this time is to connect us, to stay connected with the people of faith who love God and His word and wanna learn something together. And so that's why I'm still doing this virtual message today with you is so that it might touch somebody's heart and somebody's life. Today, our message is about relationship, relationship. And that's really what we're gonna focus on in just a moment. But I wanna pray together I want to pray together with you. If you would join me for a word of prayer, let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would hide Duane Russell, the preacher behind the cross of Calvary. I pray that you would speak your word by the aid of your Holy Spirit to the hearts and minds of those who are truly willing to receive it. I know, Heavenly Father, there are many who would hear a sermon from this preacher and they would immediately turn away from it. But Lord, I pray for your spirit to draw people, not to the preacher, but to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray, Father, that I'll be an effective minister and an effective witness for your glory and your honor as we look at your scriptures together. Bless us, Lord. Bless those that have needs. I think a very special request for the Bassett family as they've lost a sister in this world and preparing for her services this week. I pray a blessing on that family. I pray a blessing on Ashley and Tina as they've both been dealing with overcoming some infection. I pray Heavenly Father for Jim and Connie. I pray for Kim. I pray for Heavenly Father Tanya and Desiree and Shelly. I pray Heavenly Father for you to visit upon Pat Newbold. I pray that you would visit upon each and every one of those circumstances. in a way that would glorify your name. And Heavenly Father, the reason I continue to bring those people before the foot of your throne is because I'm believing that prayer is a part of your will. And I'm praying, God, that your will would be done in every single one of those lives and those circumstances. I think about Joni and Ron. I think about Felicia, Heavenly Father, the decisions that she needs to make for you to give her wisdom. Lord, there are so many that need a touch from heaven. And God, I pray that the message that you've given me to share would help clarify your response to the needs that we have. May we be a blessing to you as we strive to honor you and glorify you For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we're gonna look together at John chapter 14 is where we're gonna study together. And as we begin our time together, here's the question. The question is, how much do we expect out of relationships? When you think about human relationships, isn't it true that all of us have certain expectations in our relationships, right? We're not supposed to enter into any kind of relationship that is only one-sided. All of us in our own understanding, our emotional understanding, believe and realize that that a relationship that is healthy is a relationship there is mutual respect, there's mutual empathy, there's mutual compassion, there's mutual caring for one another and each other's needs. We think about human relationships that there's a give and a take in every relationship. Sometimes I've counseled couples that say, well, I feel like this relationship is more one-sided. I feel like I give more and they take more. And so we have those moments in our lives and that's true for all of us. We all have relationships and sometimes those relationships are very, very amicable. They're giving. That old country song, Life is a Dance, is a picture that always goes through my mind when it comes to relationship, because life is a dance. Sometimes we lead and sometimes we follow, and that's true. God has equipped us with that ability to to yield in a certain moment for each other and then to move forward with each other in another moment. That's how God has equipped us. That's how God has created us. But here's the bottom line. God has created all of us for relationship. He has created all of us for relationship. Now, in our humanity, we get that because the first relationship we have in life is the relationship with a parent or parents, right? Caregivers for our life and our wellbeing. When we couldn't care at all for ourselves, we had somebody in our world. And some of us know that sometimes that gets kind of messed up and things are happening in the adult lives around us. And so it's kind of fragmented or broken in the people that are supposed to be there to take care of us. And so that leaves a vacuum and it leaves a void inside our lives. All of us know what it is to begin to grow up and then begin to branch out to more of a intimate relationship with somebody. And we begin to explore that idea of boyfriend and girlfriend and all that kind of stuff. And some of us know what it is to have a heart broken because somebody came into our life but they were only there for a season and then they left, but it left an emptiness in our heart. All of us know what it is to find a relationship and maybe to get married and then some sickness comes and all of a sudden that person is taken from us, we feel, and so now we're left with a vacuum. a place of emptiness in our hearts. We all know what it is to go through this life and to have seasons of our life where people are there one minute and they're gone the next. All of us understand that, but it doesn't change the plan of God and the purpose of God for your existence. You and I have been created with and on purpose, and part of that purpose is fulfilled in the context of relationships. How we relate to one another. But of course, you know me well enough to know that the most important relationship is the one we have with God. It is forged in the fire of circumstance. It is forged in the fire of difficulty sometimes. It is forged in the fire of emptiness and loneliness in our lives that somehow we begin to have a soul search moment that we begin to look up instead of looking out. And we find that God is right there ready to embrace our lives. But remember, He embraces us for relationship. God has created you for relationship. He's created you for a relationship with himself. And the means by which he connects that relationship is through sending his son into this world so that he would walk among us and be a part of humanity so that we would see the very character and the very nature and the very identity of an unseen God. in his son Jesus. And that when we look at the pages of scripture and we watch the footsteps of Jesus as they go across the sands of time, we begin to recognize the nature and the character of Almighty God. And we say to ourselves and we say to Him, God, I want a relationship with you that I don't ever have to feel alone or abandoned. I don't ever have to feel like nobody cares. I don't ever have to feel like I am worthless or that my life is empty. God, I want a relationship with you that fills my emptiness. that fills the vacuum of my heart and my life, that brings me a sense of your fulfillment and your peace that passes all understanding. I want a relationship with you, God. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as I have you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 14, here's what I want to focus on. Jesus has been walking with his disciples for about three years, three and a half years, He's been walking with his disciples. He's been directing his disciples. He's been sending his disciples out to minister the kingdom of God. He's been sending the disciples out to tell people about the heavenly kingdom and the coming kingdom of Christ. And he's telling people the way you can enter into the kingdom of God is that you must repent of your sin. You must repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you would begin this spiritual relationship with Almighty God, and you would begin to reflect that relationship to the people that you're in relationship with here on earth. Jesus has been spending all of his time with his disciples. He's been ministering to them, and he's been ministering through them. And then we come to chapter 14, and I'm not gonna read the whole chapter with you today, but I really do wanna bring out some very, very, very important parts to this chapter. So if you've got your Bible open, go to John chapter 14. And the first thing that we see in 14 is a familiar passage. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. Now, what does that mean? Well, the heart in the Bible is always described as the seat of our emotion. Jesus knew that his disciples were an emotional bunch. He knew that they would sometimes get all stirred up in the spirit of their emotions about reacting to the things that Jesus would teach them and the things that Jesus would say. And this is one of those things that Jesus is about to teach his disciples. He says, now, hang on guys, let, that means you choose not to let your heart get all stirred up. Don't let your emotions get all frazzled and fired up right now. Don't let yourself get all caught up in your emotion. He says, relax, take a deep breath. And here's what I'm about to tell you. He says, let not your heart be troubled. He says, you believe in God, believe also in me. Now he doesn't say, he doesn't say himself first. He says, God first. He says, you've got this relationship with God. You've got this relationship with me. In other words, listen, You have believed about me. Now in chapter 14, verse one, he says, I want you to believe in me. That is, I want you to go from having a head knowledge about me being Messiah and Lord, and now I want you to go deeper. And I'm here to tell you today on the authority of God's word that people who claim to be believers on the Lord Jesus Christ need to make the change from on Jesus to in Jesus. To believe on Jesus is to believe things about him. To believe in Jesus is to have Jesus in you. It is to know that I have something that is deeper, more meaningful and unshakable in my life. It is knowing that he is with me no matter what the circumstances are, no matter where my past has been, no matter what my future holds, I'm still holding on to Jesus and Jesus is holding on to me. And he says, let not your heart be troubled. Don't get all stirred up in your mind. He says, you've got a relationship with God. Now I want you to understand that it's important for you to also have a relationship spiritually with me in your heart. He goes a little bit further and watch this transition. He says, in my father's house, remember what he said? You believe in God, believe also in me. in my father's house. Now what Jesus does is he opens up the window of glory and he asks his disciples to look up to future things. He doesn't want them to be focused only on the present. He wants them to focus on the eternal. That's what Jesus does throughout his ministry. He doesn't want people just to focus on the, the current circumstance, the current trouble, the current trial, the current circle. No, he wants you to open the window of heaven and look up for eternal things in your day-to-day life. He says, let not your heart be troubled. He says, you believe in God, believe also in me. And then he says in verse two, in my father's house, A house always gives me the impression of an address. It always gives me the impression of a place to go. If my children say, I'm gonna go to mom and dad's house, that means they're going to a place. They're not just going to some Milky Way area, space. No, no, there's a place. And when Jesus said this statement, he's talking to these disciples, he says, in my father's house, That is, in my father's place, there are many mansions. Now mansions are not the way we think of mansions. It's not like, you know, talking about the identity of a resource or that. No, he's just saying that in my father's house, there are many dwelling places. That's the other word for mansion. It's a place. Remember that, it's a place. It's a place where God is. more than anything else that I can communicate to you right now, it is that God wants you to have the future mindset that you have a place to go to. That is, when you release the spirit of your life into of Europe is released, where does it go? It does not go to haunt people in this world. Nope, you don't do that. The Bible says you either go to the very presence of God, where God is, where he has an address, where he has a place, or you go to be separated from God forever and ever and ever. It all depends on whether you have believed on Jesus or you have believed in Jesus. There's a difference. And he says, there is a place in my father's house, there are many mansions. Then he says, if it were not so, I would have told you. Now, Jesus is telling his disciples, he says, now guys, listen. If this wasn't a part of your future reality, if this wasn't a part of your future relationship with God, if this wasn't a part of the equation, he wouldn't bother bringing it up now. He wouldn't bother trying to instruct the disciples about it now. He wouldn't even bother to go through the point of interest with them. What would be the point? Jesus isn't just giving them some empty words here. These are the words of Christ. He says, in my father's house, there are many, many mansions. And he says, he says, he says, I would have told you if there wasn't so. And verse two, he says, but I go to prepare a place for you. Now, place is, again, the image I have is address. It's a physical place, but it's also spiritual at the same time. It's also eternal at the same time. So it's, there's a place. And it's hard to wrap our minds around that, but that's what Jesus said. Jesus said there is a place that your spirit is gonna go when your physical body dies. When our physical body gives up and gives out, there's gonna be a transition of our spirit, and our spirit is gonna go on living. Where? Either in the presence of the Lord in that place, or separated from God in another place. But watch this, he says, and if I go to prepare a place for you, remember he said, I'm not wasting my words. I'm not giving you false hope or false expectations. He said, if it were not so, I would have told you. Here's what he says. He says, I could have prepare a place for you. And here's what he says. I will come again. I will come again. Now think about this, ladies and gentlemen, he already came to this earth as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. He already made his time travel between the heavenly place where God is, that place, that physical place, that address of God, and he has been sent out from God to inhabit the little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. There's the baby arriving in that little body, the Spirit of Almighty God being sent forth from God's very expression of himself into that little, into the womb of Mary. And now there's a baby who is filled with the very deity of God in the essence of the person Jesus lying in a manger. And you say, preacher, why is all of that so important? Because it's about eternal things. Now here's what he says, he says, if I go to prepare a place, I will come again and receive you unto myself. In other words, relationally, I want you to know that there may be a time or a period of separation, but I'm still gonna hold on to you in my heart. I'm still gonna hold a place for you. Some of us know what that feels like. You've gone through the loss of a loved one and certain holidays and certain events in your life. You leave a place for that loved one. You know that loved one is not physically going to arrive to that point of place, but you know this, in your heart and your mind, you've always got that image, that moment, that love. Jesus said, I'm going to hold on to you in my heart as I go away from you. But listen, I will come and I will receive you to myself. Look at what he says, that where I am, there you may be also. That's his plan for relationship. That's his goal for relationship. Doesn't that sound just like a good, strong relationship? I enjoy spending time with you and you with me. And that's how I started the message this morning. When we're in relationship that's healthy, don't we like to be around each other? Don't we enjoy each other's company? Jesus is telling his disciples and thereby telling us who truly believe in the Lord Jesus. One day, there may be a time of separation, but one day, because he's held us in his heart, one day he is going to bring us to where he is. And remember, ladies and gentlemen, he already said, if it was not so, I wouldn't even bother telling you this. If it wasn't something else to share with you, I wouldn't bother telling you this. This is amazing to me, but it gets even more amazing. He says, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also. He says, and whether I go, you know, in the way, you know, and then in verse six, in response to the disciples question, he says, he says, I am that way. I am the way. Believing on Jesus Christ will not get you to heaven. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is what gets your ticket or your way into heaven, into glory, into that place that he prepares for you and he prepares for me. You can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that he is the son of God, but you have to be willing to transition from the head knowledge to the heart knowledge. That is with all of your heart, you believe in Jesus Christ to be How do you make that transition? Here it is. Here's the word that takes you from the head knowledge about God to the heart experience with God. Here's what it takes. Listen, repentance. That is, I am no longer associating my will to be contradictory to the will of God. No, I'm going to submit my will, I'm going to surrender my life, I'm going to repent of my sin, I'm going to turn toward God, and all of my heart is going to go into loving Him and allowing Him to love me. That is the transition from head knowledge to the experience of the heart, repentance. And every one of us understand that if we really think about it long enough. Because it's that same way in any relationship. If a man and a woman, a young man and woman come into my office and say, pastor, will you please perform a wedding ceremony for us? I spend time counseling that couple and asking questions about what? Listen, I asked, what do you love about this guy? And I said, what do you love about this woman? Now listen. I'm listening for and I'm watching for the expression of not what comes from the head, but what comes from the heart. It's not enough for a couple to come into my office and say, will you please perform a wedding ceremony if I don't get convinced that they are truly in, in love with one another. Now they may be doing that, They may be very young and they may have a lot of life yet to experience. They may not fully comprehend what that's going to mean in the future. But here's what I'm always praying. God, give me the wisdom. Give me the discernment that I can sense that this couple is really in love with one another. And that's what God is looking for in your heart. He wants to know, do you really love him? Not just up in the head, but do you really love him? That means is he top priority, right? Isn't that how we look at our human relation? Is he top priority? God, do I love you beyond everybody and everything else? Because if I'm really loving you, there's nothing else that has place in my life. There's nothing else that I desire like I desire you. And when Jesus starts out John chapter 14, ladies and gentlemen, Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it amazing what he says to the church? He says, look, he says, I'm going to go prepare a place for you and I want you to be where I'm at. I'm going to come back and receive you to myself that where I am, you may be also. Now, ladies and gentlemen, he then says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to that father's place except through me, Jesus said. You have to believe on Jesus, but more importantly, you have to believe in Jesus. And you say, well, preacher, is there anything in the Bible that would tell me what it looks like to believe in Jesus? Well, I am so glad you asked. because indeed the Bible does give us that answer. I want you to go with me to verse 16. Chapter 14 of John to verse 16. Now watch this. Well, yeah, I'll take us there. Actually, go down with me to verse 23, all right? because our time is going by quickly and I don't wanna keep you too much longer today. But I want you to go down to verse 23. Now, verse 16 and 17 and 18 and 19 is all giving us another promise. Now watch this. From God's point of view, what he promises to the relationship is his Holy Spirit, his comforter. That is, here's what he says, if you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that means you're gonna submit your will to his will, you're gonna repent of your sin, you're gonna trust him to be in your heart, and you're gonna trust him to be your Lord and your Savior. He says, here's what God's gonna do for you if you make that commitment of your heart. He's gonna send you the Holy Spirit of God. He's gonna comfort you and lead you and guide you. but the Holy Spirit is gonna live within your heart, within your life. He's gonna take a possession in your heart and your life. He's gonna be with you. Remember what I said as I started out the message today? All of us want a mutual satisfying relationship physically, don't we? We wanna know somebody's gonna be there no matter what. We want somebody to be there in the good times and the bad times. We don't wanna feel isolated, alone and lonely. We wanna know that there's a relation. That's what God is promising. He's promising that you're never gonna be alone. He's never gonna leave you nor forsake you. No matter what the rest of the world does around your life, God promises that he's going to send this comforter and that comforter's gonna be with you and he's never gonna leave you. He's gonna be with you forever. Now, follow me. I'm trying to hurry so I can get to the end of this message. I think somebody asked me a few minutes ago how many cups of coffee I've had. I don't remember. But here's what I want you to get a hold of. Listen, here's what I want you to get a hold of. Watch this. I've said to you that from God's point of view, his promise is you have a place with God. His promise is you have a place to which Christ will come and take you to. He also says from God's point of view, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. But the question we've got to answer, the question we've got to answer is this. What's my response? I mean, repentance is my response partially, right? I've got to repent of my will being contradictory to the will of God. And I've got to repent of that sin and turn to God with all of my heart. So to my district, I've got to love him, right? That's part of my response. But what about my day-to-day life? What about my day-to-day response? What am I supposed to do in the day-to-day experience with God? And the Bible does give us that answer. And it's going to, listen, I've got to hurry, but watch this. Look at what it says, watch this. In verse 23, you still with me? John 14, verse 23, here's what the Bible says. Verse 23, look at it. Jesus answered and said this, if a man loves me, now that's not head knowledge. That's, I've made the transition between Noah, about loving Jesus to knowing Jesus. I've made a transition about not just knowing about him, and now I've experienced him in my life. And so Jesus said this, he said, if a man loves me, Watch this, watch this. What's your commitment? What's your responsibility of mind? What are we supposed to do in our day-to-day life? What is the purpose of the church? What is the purpose of the gathering of the church whenever possible? What is the purpose of it? Ladies and gentlemen, it is for us to fulfill this next statement that Jesus makes in his holy word. Here's what Jesus said. He said, if a man loved me, he will keep my words. Keep my words. What's that mean? He will hold on to my words. He will meditate on my words. He will speak my words. He will love my words. He will hang on to my words. Think about it. If a young lady and a young man get married, and then the young man joins the forces of the armed services, and then he goes overseas and fights, and they write letters to one another across the sea, across the lands from one another. They are desperately missing one another. But when he receives a letter from his girl at home, He holds on to those letters. He holds on to those words because they're an expression of her love for him. When he sends home a letter and she receives that letter and she sits in quiet silence and lets the teardrops fall. against that piece of paper. Those words are even smeared through the tears of her missing that groom of her life. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, they're separated from space, but they're not separated in the heart. their longing for one another and the day that they'll be brought back together again. That is exactly what God wants you and I to hold and possess in our heart for Him. That while we may be separated by the space between here and that heavenly place, that within our hearts we get in the Word of God and we allow the teardrops to fall on the Word of God and it reminds us that this is not our home but that He has a place and we long to be absent from this body someday and to be present with the groom of our heart. His name is Jesus Christ. That is the kind of love that Jesus is talking about when he says, keep my words. Keep my words. Hold on to my words. That's what he means. You say, where are his words? Right here, this Holy Bible. These are his words. He said, hold on to my words. and let these words hold you close to me, God would say. These words express his love and his devotion for your life, but he also wants you and I to keep these words. Listen, it's not first, listen, it's not first and foremost obey my words, we'll get to that in a moment, it's keep them. In other words, we will never keep, we will never obey what we're not keeping. We will never obey what we're not holding on to. We will never respond with our heart to what we don't have possession of. So what Jesus teaches the church is he says, keep my words. More than anything else, hold on to my words and let my words hold on to you. That's what Jesus means in verse 23 of John 14. I've got to hurry, all right? I keep saying that. I don't know why I've got to hurry. I just don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to lose any of you. I want to keep you, I want to keep you interested in the truth of God. But here's what he says, watch this. He says in verse 23, he says, if a man loved me, he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Do you know what Jesus is saying right there? You'll never have to fear. alone or lonely. You'll never have to feel like nobody cares. Ladies and gentlemen, the man preaching this sermon right now knows experientially what it looks like to have people laugh and turn their back and disdain for the things of God. And sometimes it's been hard not to receive that personally. I've just got to keep giving it back to the Lord. But sometimes that's difficult, but I've never ever felt that in my relationship with God. I've always felt that He still loves me and He's still with me no matter what I'm going through and what I'm dealing with in my day-to-day life. And Jesus said, keep my words But he says something else. He comes back with another promise from him and his heavenly father. He says, if you'll keep my words and let my words hold on to you, he says, you're going to have a day-to-day experience with the presence of God. The presence of God is going to be felt and sensed in your heart. He says, we're going to make our abode with you. We're going to make our home with you. We're going to be in your life day to day. Verse 24, he says, he that loveth me, he that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's what sent me. He says, when you reject the words of Jesus, you're rejecting the heavenly father, God, you're rejecting the spirit, God, you're rejecting all that is God. He says, you're not rejecting Jesus, you're rejecting God. And so we look at this verse in verse Verse 25, he says, these things I've spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to remembrance whatsoever I've said to you. Now look at verse 27, peace. I started out several minutes ago talking about relationship and life is a dance and sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow. And I talked about the submission and the movement in life and the movement in relationships, but truly all of us are looking for relationship where there's peace. None of us usually, if we're healthy, none of us want conflict and chaos and confusion. I mean, if we're really healthy in the spirit of our minds, we don't want, we just want to walk in peace with one another, right? And if we're really loving somebody and that somebody is really loving us and they're putting our needs in front of theirs and I'm putting their needs in front of mine and we're mutually caring for one another, empathetic for one another, loving one another, guess what is the result of that? There's peace there. There's tranquility there. There's life there. There's a sense of wonderment in that kind of relationship, isn't there? And what Jesus said here in this passage of scripture, he says, the whole result of the relationship with God, made possible through his son, Jesus, in the aid of the Holy Spirit, is there's gonna be peace. Peace, he says, I leave with you. He says, my peace, I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. He says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. If you are right now walking in a personal relationship with God, then you and I should be experiencing peace with God. But my challenge to you today is this. My challenge is, think about this now, this is very, very introspective. My challenge to you and me today is this. Have you believed on Jesus or have you trusted in Jesus? If you have believed on Jesus, that means you believe that he is Jesus, that he's the son of God, that he's come for the sins of the whole world, that he's come to be your redeemer and your salvation. Believing on Jesus is very, very different than transitioning to believing in Jesus. In Jesus means that now, interwoven relationship with the God of this universe through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus, in the aid of the Holy Spirit. And that means I'm walking in relationship with God, right? And when I'm in relationship with God, what that means is this is a mutual thing. I've made up my mind I'm gonna obey you, Lord. I've made up my mind I'm gonna live for your will to be done in my life, Lord. I've made up my mind that I'm gonna serve you, Lord. I've made up my mind that life is not worth living without you, Lord. I've made up my mind that there's nothing in this world that compares to the knowledge of the grace and the mercy and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart. That is very, very different than believing on Jesus. And my question as I bring this message to a close is, have you believed in Jesus? Is He truly your salvation? Is He truly your Lord? You say, Preacher, how would I know? How would I know? How would I know He's my Lord? You keep His words. You hold on to them. You weep over them. You love them. You hold, you hang on every, you hang on every word. And you say, oh, my heavenly father, thank you that you've revealed yourself through your son in the pattern of the holy scriptures. And I weep over these scriptures and I pray over these scriptures and I receive these scriptures. And the spirit of God that's in me constantly reminds me that you're with me, that you'll never leave me nor forsake me. And I believe that you're in me to such a degree that there is a peace. There's a peace that passes all understanding that I can't even find anywhere else in this world. It is a peace that only you can give me. It's a peace that only you can offer me. It's a peace that only can come as a result of a relationship with God. If you're watching this video to this point, you know the question I'm going to ask. If you died today and you were to stand before a holy God and he were to ask you, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? Would you say, because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the evidence is that my name is written in the Lamb's book of life? Then he'll say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into my rest. Or would you have to stand before God and say, well, God, I hope I've done enough good. I've tried to love people. I've tried to serve people. I've tried to be a good person. And he's going to say, wait a minute, Let me pull out all of the records of your rights and your wrongs. And he'd say, after all of the evidence has been reviewed, depart from me. I never knew you, you worker of iniquity. Now, ladies and gentlemen, which one of those things would you like to hear? If what I've been preaching is true and I believe it is, if what I'm teaching is true and I believe it is, according to the word of God. If you stand before God, how would you meet him? Is your name written in the Lamb's book of life? If not, you can make that decision right now, but you cannot make it by simply saying a prayer. Jesus never told people they would have peace simply by saying a prayer, forgive me and live in my heart. He never said that that would be enough to bring peace. He said peace comes through relationship. that is knowing Jesus in your heart, not just in your head. You can say all the prayers you want to until the end of your life comes, and you can miss God the entire way. The only way to know that you know that you know that you're getting entrance into the heavenly kingdom one day is to know that your name is written down in the Lamb's book of life with the Lamb's blood written in the book of life for you, that you have a sure place in heaven. You say, preacher, how can I have that place? You bow your head right where you are, if you're able to, and you pray this prayer. You say, dear God, I'm a sinner. I've sinned, I've broken your commandments, and I'm sorry. God, would you please forgive me? I'm turning away from my old life, and I'm surrendering to you. Will you apply the blood of Jesus to cover my sin? and to wash it away. I want to learn now how to love you the rest of my life is my prayer in Jesus' name. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that prayer will not save you. You can believe on Jesus, but not in Jesus. Repentance is the only connection point between on and in. I'm just giving you a prayer to express what God has already placed on your heart to do. If it was a genuine moment you just had with God, reach out to me and let me know that you prayed that prayer. As a result, I'll follow up with you and do what I can to support you in your new journey of life. I love all of you. I'm thankful that you spent this time with me. I'm sorry we couldn't be physically in person together, but I'm thankful at least we had this means to communicate. I have kept you longer than I intended to, but I'm not going to apologize for the preaching of God's word. I'll never ever do that. I just hope it's had an effect in your heart. I love you and I'm asking blessings on each and every one of you. We will not be having services tonight, but hopefully we'll get back together this Wednesday night at 630. I'd love to have you come. and join us for Bible study Wednesday night at 6.30. God bless you. Have a great day. Stay safe, stay warm and be blessed. God bless you.