Take it and make your way in it to the book of Romans. We're going to look at the first 12 verses in the 14th chapter today in a message that I have entitled, Let's Leave It to the Lord. Okay. And so with that, once you get there, you guys know the drill. Elizabeth, would you get me a water, please? Let's stand to our feet that we might humble our hearts before God today. Father, we just want to come before you, Lord, and you know, you've given us a responsibility. You've said that the preparation of the heart belongs to man. And so, Lord, we just want to take a moment and just ready our hearts to receive your word. Lord, we just open ourselves to you. We thank you, Lord, that your word is like a purifying fire. Your word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. And so, again, we just lift every heart that's here up to you. We pray that you would speak, move, and minister in a tangible, undeniable way. And we'll give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Have a seat there, family. No coffee, thank you. Yeah. The proper perspective on roles and relationships, that's what Paul is putting into place for us in our current section of Scripture. Guys, the forgiveness that God has given us, the mercy that He's poured out on us, and the love that He's shown to and shared with us, is to have a direct impact on how we relate to others. And ultimately, we're to let love rule in our relationships. Unfortunately, oftentimes, we do not. We can get kind of nitpicky, or the word that people like to use is judgmental toward one another. You know, if I feel a certain way about a subject or course of action, you know, I want all of you to feel the same way too. And if you don't, well, I might think you're carnal. Or on the flip side of that, if there's something that maybe you don't do that I think is okay too, well, I might think you're legalistic. And so, we can try to persuade people to our perspective. The problem being that it's just our perspective. In other words, today the Apostle Paul is going to take us into the grave. Ladies and gentlemen, there are certain things that the Bible is crystal clear about, yes? I mean, we know that adultery is sin, and I could just say, well, let's have a a pop quiz, everyone throw out something you know is sin, and I'm sure things like, well, stealing is a sin, and murder is sin. We know lying and deceiving is sin. We know sexual immorality. Guys, these things aren't in question. 1 Corinthians 6, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. I think some people, they allow themselves to think something that, I mean, I know right there it's not scriptural. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." And so what the Bible clearly says, we have no need to debate. But what about the things the Bible doesn't directly address? How are we to handle those? And, you know, what do we do in an unclear or uncertain circumstance or situation? Well, our natural inclination is to judge one another. Paul will point that out four times in our present passage. We criticize one another. We place guilt trips on one another. We try to persuade people to our perspective. We want to conform them into our image. Yes, it's true we're called to make disciples, but ladies and gentlemen, what we're supposed to do here is leave it with the Lord. Let the Lord be the Lord of that person's life. Can I just tell you something? The Holy Spirit has been doing a fine job of convicting people and transforming people into the image of Jesus since long before we came along. And He doesn't need our help. Again, it's true we're to make disciples, but not disciples of ourselves, disciples of Christ. If the Bible is clear, then we're to be clear. Where the Bible is silent, We're to be silent, allowing others to work out personal conviction between them and the Lord. So in matters of the gray, there are a few guiding principles that are simply wise to consider. You can write them down if you want, but one we discussed last week, I just mentioned it, we're to let love rule. You know, what is the loving thing to do in this situation? Number two will kind of emerge as a bit of a theme today. You know, I am, you are to work out your own salvation, the Bible says, with fear and trembling. And again, we'll see that a little bit more later. Number three. Don't do anything that will cause my brother or sister to stumble. We'll see that next time, not next week being Resurrection Sunday, but next time we gather in the Book of Romans, we will discuss that. It kind of leads us back to the letting love rule and all of that. But we're not to enforce our personal liberty and we're not to impose our personal restrictions. We're all a different places of growth and maturity. And so let's let the Lord be the Lord in each believer's life. Let's turn our attention here. Chapter 14, first verse, he says, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Okay, here was just a relevant gray area in the culture surrounding the early church. The context was one of dietary restriction. Guys, you had Jews who were, excuse me, learning what it meant to come out from under the law. Now, of course, the law did not demand vegetarianism, but there were restrictions on pork and shellfish and such. And, you know, they were struggling with what they considered to be unbridled open season on eating whatever, right? And then you have Gentiles who weren't familiar with these restrictions. They were loving their freedom in Christ. They're eating BLTs. They're having grilled pork chops. They're loving their shrimp salad, you know, and all of the things. Now, of course, we can't limit this to Jew and Gentile debate or contention or dispute. It's just the example I'm using, okay? Even amongst Gentiles. You know, you had some who would go to the open market. You guys are very familiar that idolatry was prolific in the ancient world, yeah? And so there would be these temples to these idols, these pagan gods all over the place, and these pagans would be sacrificing animals to their gods, but then what are they going to do with all the meat? So they would have a meat market right outside the temple. And so you would have a believer who would go down there and, man, everything's a great price, right? I mean, there's so much of it and all. And so they're buying this meat on sale, and then you've got this other believer who's like, you know, hey, listen, I'm not sure. I mean, that was sacrifice to a demon, man. I mean, that's kind of satanic in nature. I mean, you're putting satanic tenderloin in your body or something, you know? I mean, what is this? And the other guy's like, no, man, I'm just eating tenderloin, it's a great price. And so, you know, Paul talks about these kinds of contentions, these types of disputes in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And these people would, rather than taking a chance on eating something given over to demons, well, they just stick to a vegetarian diet. The problem as you might imagine, is that each of these groups tended to think less of the other. In other words, the vegetable plate believer looked at the meat eater as completely carnal and ungodly. And then the take-me-to-the-barbecue believer, you know, looked at these I-don't-dare-eat-meat believers as self-righteous, stuck-up, and legalistic. You see the dilemma? How's this gonna be handled? Well, the first thing Paul does is call a spade a spade, and he deals with this openly and honestly. Aren't you glad that God loves us enough to confront us, to deal with us openly and honestly? And so he comes to them, he says, hey, listen, this is not a matter of right and wrong. It's a matter of where one may be concerning these, let's just call them neutral zone issues. We're not all in the same place and we've not all been extended the same grace. Now again, guys, we're talking about disputable topics. And he divides believers here in any local assembly, even at large, just the body, you see, he divides them into two categories, those who are weak and those who are strong. What sort of shocks us is which group is considered strong and which group is considered weak. Because we might be prone to believe that the one who shows restraint, who refuses certain liberties, would be the stronger one. That's not true. It's not the case. This is the brother or sister who feels like their relationship with the Lord, and you've all either know one, perhaps you are one, and they feel like their relationship with the Lord is contingent upon their keeping certain rules, certain regulations, these kind of these guidelines, albeit self-imposed, but they struggle to rest in simple righteousness by grace through faith alone. Now this is not to say that they didn't receive Christ by faith, but the simplicity of that is a struggle for them. Paul says, listen, receive one who is weak in the faith. Guys, don't miss it. It's such an important instruction. The local assembly does not have certain, let's call them maturity guidelines before you can join in. It is not the spiritually elite super saint country club when you come to church. I mean, maybe you're here today. And if we were just to be honest, listen, I mean, you're a weak believer. I mean, it's just the truth of where you're at right now. Can I just say, I couldn't be more stoked that you're with us here today. I mean, I'm telling you, thank you for being here. Ladies and gentlemen, there are many reasons that a believer might be, could be weak. I mean, maybe you're a brand new believer. Listen, we don't expect babies to function on an adult level, do we? I mean, they're still running around making mess in their pants and such. And so, I mean, why would we expect baby believers to be strong and have no issues? It's only natural to begin new life in a state of weakness. Perhaps they're malnourished. Maybe they've not been properly fed due to maybe personal neglect of God's Word, or they've not been in a fellowship that truly takes the responsibility, the mandate to feed the flock. Or, you know, maybe they need the exhortation to be about their Heavenly Father's business. Ladies and gentlemen, maybe they've been fed so thoroughly, and maybe this is you today. You've been fed so thoroughly that you take in the Word just with such consistency that you are, can I just say, spiritually plump. You're a little portly, spiritually speaking, and you're neglecting your God-given responsibility to put in that work and to stir up those gifts that are within you. For whatever reason, people can be weak as believers, spiritually. Receive one, Paul says, who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. In other words, we're not going to fight over these gray areas. I'm not going to try and convince you that you can't be right with God until you see things like I do. Ladies and gentlemen, I learned a long time ago to respect other people's right to be wrong. It was a joke. You can laugh. It doesn't mean I'm always right. Typically true, but not always. I could...no, I'm not. I was going to go on a Trump tirade. Probably the best ever. We're not sure we're looking into it. There's nothing that's ever been done like this before. Probably the greatest. Now, if you want to debate everything or become contentious over the issues, well, you know, we'll probably have to part ways. But if we can agree to disagree and just leave it to the Lord to sort it out in our hearts and our lives, then we can fellowship and grow in grace together. For them, one of the issues was diet. Now there's some of that, okay, there's some of that in the church today, but not much. Some people choose to be vegetarians, but not for...you know, most that do that don't do that for spiritual reasons. Again, some do, but for us, mostly it's other things. Like, is it okay for a believer to own a television or to... stream Netflix? I mean, I mean, they're a pretty woke organization, you know, they're kind of, they have an agenda. Or what about, you know, I heard Disney has this, you know, they've got this thing now. Is it okay that I have their app and all of the things? Or can Christians go to movies? Or, you know, what about smoking? Or the occasional glass of alcohol? Or what represents modest apparel? Where do you stand on tattoos? You see, these are some of the areas that believers can have very strong, yet varying convictions that the Bible doesn't definitively speak to. And I think that when it comes to the, let's call them gray areas, we've referred to it as a neutral zone, the question comes down to motive. Like, why do you choose to do or not do certain things. If you don't go to the movies because you think that somehow makes you more spiritual, closer to God, somehow gets you gains with God, that's not a sign of strength. It's a sign of weakness. And again, guys, there are some things that we know. I'm gonna say this again and again. We're discussing disputable things. There are some things that we know we're not to set in front of our eyes, okay? We're not talking about that. But if you choose not to go because you just don't have any desire to, doesn't really matter to you, or you believe that the Lord has just said it's not for you, then cool. Just don't place or enforce or impose your restrictions on anyone else. Why not? Look at verse 3. He says, let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, underline it, he will be made to stand for God is able to make him stand. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we've already alluded to it. The reason I'm not to put my trip on you is because, well, I'm not your Lord. You won't answer to me. Now, in keeping with our own cultural example, it'd be easy for the non-moviegoer to judge those who go to movies as carnal or ungodly. Yet, simultaneously, it would be simple for the moviegoer to despise the non-moviegoer as hopeless, stuck-up, self-righteous, and legalistic. The problem for both parties is that guy or that gal that they have more or less rejected, did you see it? God has accepted. And that's why we're to...the word is receive them, verse 1, because God has received them, verse 3. And if God has received them, who am I to despise, judge, or reject them? Now, at the risk of redundancy, I'm going to continue to say it, we're not talking about clear sin issues. You know, there someone is, this hypothetical person, right? And they're in a sexually immoral relationship, and they're here, you know, and they're going to church and all, and I'm somehow made aware of it. And as their pastor, I approach them and I say, hey, listen, you know, this isn't right. You really need to repent, you really need to renew a sanctified relationship with God. Well, you can just hear it, right? Who are you to judge me, pastor? You know, people do this all the time. Listen, when you're simply sharing what God's Word says, that's not judging, okay? That's making someone aware or reminding them of what God has already judged. Okay? It's not my judgment. It's God's judgment. And that's why I'm urging you to repent. But concerning these questionable things, guys, I think that we major on a lot of minor issues. And I think the enemy loves to get us distracted from our main mission. Do you know what I'm saying? In other words, we're worried about a brother smoking when God wants us to concern ourselves with rescuing people from hell. You know what I mean? We want everyone to be conservative. God wants them all to be a Christian, you know. If God has it for someone to stop smoking, He's well able to get their attention and to take it from them. He doesn't need me to do that. Now, if someone asks my opinion, I will gladly and humbly give it to them in a loving manner. But I'm not to get on my soapbox and start preaching to them about this and that. You know? I'm reminded of, you know, back in the day, you know, Charles Spurgeon and D.L. Moody, you guys have heard of these guys? These are like kind of famous preachers of years gone by. And they kind of got in a little bit of an at odds because Charles Spurgeon, who's gone down historically, they call him the prince of preachers. He smoked cigars. And Moody thought that was just, I can't even believe it. I mean, you gotta be kidding me. But Moody enjoyed the theater. He went to the theater. Charles Spurgeon thought that was anathema. That was terrible. Well, who was wrong? I mean, maybe both of them. Listen, let each work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. More on that in a minute. He says here, who are you to judge another man's servant. Listen, if you were incredibly wealthy, let's just say you are, you know, you have this large estate, you know, people who take care of your grounds, you have people who serve meals and all of the things and I come over and there we are and the night's going along and Maybe they put the fork down here and I'm thinking it needs to go over here. Or they bring this out when I think they should have brought that out. And eventually I kind of, I begin to berate and lambast one of your servants because they're not doing something the way that I think that it should be done. Well, now that would be a problem. And you would probably have words, not with them, but with me. And you would be all like, hey guy, listen, I'm well able to take care of this. If they're doing something that I think is out of line, I'll let them know. Okay guys, God has lots of servants. Every believer belongs to him and it's not ours to criticize or chastise or direct his servants. He can do that. To his own master he stands or falls. Again, underline it. Indeed, he will be made to stand. Why? For God is able to make him stand. I love this. Guys, I love this. That person that I am putting down, God is holding up. If God has begun a work in you, he will complete it. Jude said that when he was signing off his letter. Like this, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. I'm so glad, aren't you? I'm so glad that Jesus is able to present me faultless before the presence of God. Because if it were up to me, I'd never make it. I might add, I'm so glad that my, and I'll just use air quotes, success in the Christian life doesn't depend on someone else's opinion or what they may or may not think of me. Because if it was, I'd never make it. God is the one who makes me to stand and he makes you to stand. Family, if we're serving the Lord as we're called to serve the Lord, we would not have time to nitpick or micromanage the lives of others. If I'm seeking to win souls for Christ, I'm not going to have time to scrutinize your life. And I want you to notice there's to be unity but not uniformity. The command isn't to erase their differences but to grow in grace and rise above them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Look at verse 5. He says, oh, let's see here, one person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord. And he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. And he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat and gives God thanks. So you see, he's talking about these neutral zone, these gray area issues. From a particular diet, he goes to a particular day. This was another one, right? And this was a matter of dispute. I mean, which day is the right day on which to worship? Should we worship on the Sabbath, you know, on Saturday? Or do we worship on Sunday, Resurrection Day, which is the appropriate day? Now, to some people, this is a huge issue. I'm more of the persuasion, every day is a day that we should honor and worship the Lord. You know, I don't esteem one day over the other, some people do. He says, let each be fully convinced in his own mind, or as I've said again and again, let each individual work out their own salvation with, and here's the key, with fear and trembling, because it's to the Lord. Guys, I'm going to say that again. It's to the Lord that we do what we do. Let me say that like this, there you are, you're trying to work out what exactly is modest apparel. Well, because this becomes kind of confusing and uncertain and unclear, you'll note different generations have different kind of thoughts on all of this. And if you can dress however you're going to dress as to the Lord, then that's between you and the Lord. Disputable things become a matter of conviction and conscience. Now, conscience alone can become seared through sin. We know this, right? So that if you're out getting drunk, or you are engaging in sexual immorality, and you're like, my conscience is fine with it. Well, this is a bigger problem. Your conscience is seared and calloused over because the Bible is clear on those matters. But by the same token, just because the Holy Spirit convicts me on something doesn't mean that he's convicting everyone on that same thing. You say, well, that doesn't seem fair. Well, listen, life's not fair. You know, one day the Lord was telling Peter, how many of you remember this story? He's telling Peter that when he was going to grow old that he would be martyred, you know, put to death for his faith. And he didn't like that too much. And so he looked over at John who was in the mix of the crew there and he's like, well, what about him? And Jesus said to him, listen, if it would be my will that he remain until I come again, what's that to you? You follow me. What's the take home? Don't worry about what the Lord is doing in someone else's life. Just worry about staying true to what he's doing in your life. And if you're persuaded that the Lord has said no movies for you, then be faithful to that persuasion until you sense He's released you from that. I suppose a pertinent example in my own life would be the guitar. I gave my life to Christ when I was 19. Guys, when I was a kid, when I started the guitar, I would sit in my room, my parents bear me witness, eight hours a day, and just practice and practice and practice. No one was making me. In fact, they were like, you need to come out. It's time to eat. You know, these kinds of things. This had become my love. It had become my life. Guys, I grew my hair. I was going to be a rock star. I mean, this was the thing. I was going to do music for my whole life. And thank God, you know, he intervened. He had a different plan. And so he saved me, right? And there I am. And it just became so clear to me because I was so obsessed with this instrument. One day, the Lord just spoke to my heart and he posed a question to me and he said, Who are you going to serve? Are you going to serve me or are you going to serve? Essentially, you're going to bow down to the idol of that instrument. And I could just sense that he was calling me to give it up, to just quit playing it. And so I did. So for like a year, like I'm, I don't know, I don't want to go on too much about it, but here's the thing. For a year, all I did, I never practiced, I never did any, all I did, I was still playing like an acoustic on the worship team. That's all I did. When it was time to do worship, I would play. Other than that, I'd set it down. I never touched it. And now, did I despise others who were still playing their guitar, who were still practicing every day, who were still really trying to improve and all the thing? Well, it's not fair. They get to play their guitar. Why can't I play my guitar? No, there's none of that. Why? Because it was to the Lord. I sensed the Lord was calling me to this, was putting this kind of this, just drawing this line in the sand. About a year later, I was reading through the scriptures and I came across that passage where The Lord said, the one who seeks to save his life will lose it, and the one who will lose his life for my sake will find it. And with that, I sensed the Lord release back to me the guitar, saying, essentially, you were willing to lose your life, your identity, for me, you can have it. You see, it was just important for me to know who was my priority. Does this make sense? It was a personal conviction. And whatever we do or don't do, we do it to the Lord, unto the Lord with a grateful heart. Okay, verse 7. For none of us lives to himself. And by the way, I don't practice anymore like that. No more eight-hour days for me. be lucky if it's an hour a week for me. I hardly ever pick up my guitar. I mean, the Lord just delivered me from that idolatry, I guess. Verse 7, for none of us lives to himself and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Sometimes, and guys, we're not too far from finished, sometimes verse 7 is used to say that there's no way around the fact that our lives, our decisions, the things we do impact others and that our lives are connected and woven together. And that's...it's true and it's a fine application, it's not really the interpretation of this verse, meaning that's not the point Paul's making here. The point Paul is making is that we're all equally accountable to Jesus Christ. And so we need not concern ourselves with restricting someone else's diet or the day on which they worship. We're to let Him be the Lord of their lives and concern ourselves with the fact that we're going to stand before Him one day, okay? No one is going to stand before me. No one's going to give an account of their lives to me. But we're all going to stand before God. And so I'll keep track of my convictions. You keep track of yours. OK? Whether we live it up in the Lord or give it up for the Lord, it's all unto Him and for His glory. OK? Look at verse 10. We'll read through the remainder. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow. and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each of us shall give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way." And that will segue us into next time. What's Paul's point? That we should not be condescending or critical toward one another. That we should be compassionate and encouraging to one another. You should be, hey, run to win, you know? Live your life for the glory of God, because we're all gonna stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day, and then the why behind the what that we chose to do or not to do will become evident. Guys, it's coming back to that Peter and John principle. Don't worry about what God has called so-and-so to do or not to do. Worry about what he's called you to do because you're the only one you have to answer for. Now, when Paul speaks of the judgment seat of Christ, I'm kind of talking fast. I want to get you through here. When he's speaking of the judgment seat of Christ, don't get that confused with the white throne judgment of God. These are two different events. The white throne judgment of God takes place after the millennial reign of Christ when all the unregenerate souls who've ever lived will stand before God both small and great and be formally judged. That is when the books will be opened and all whose names are not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire which burns day and night forever and ever. Now, as a child of God, You won't be in that line. Somebody say praise God. Your sins have already been judged and the penalty has already been paid at the cross of Jesus Christ. The judgment seat of Christ is the...we refer to it as a reward ceremony of the believers. It is the word...the Greek word is bema, b-e-m-a, seat. It is the picture of when the athletes in Olympic Games or whatever would stand before the judge or the crown or the magistrate and receive their rewards, their crowns for competing and placing. And so, this has nothing to do, the judgment seat of Christ has nothing to do with determining if you go to heaven, okay? That was decided the moment you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved. But the eternal rewards that we enjoy are yet to be seen. And those are going to be based on the life that you live, the works that you do, the motive behind why you did them. To the Corinthians, Paul explained it like this. For we must all appear before the bema, the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. So it's either going to be gold, silver, precious jewels, or it'll be burned as it goes through the fire like wood, hay, and stubble. And I am of the persuasion that much of our life's works will go up in smoke. But there will be those things that you did with a right heart because you wanted to glorify God. You didn't care if you were careful to not let your right hand know what your left hand was doing and so on and so forth. And your father saw in secret and will reward you openly. We're going to close, by the way, so we're heading that way. And the idea is, did I do what I did out of love for God and love for others, or was it to appear spiritual? You know, we have this way, don't we? I wasn't going to pick that up, but now someone's kind of watching, so I'll go ahead and pick it up. you know, was it to appear spiritual or did I do that to increase my social media following and maybe become a Christian influencer, you know? By the way, isn't that what we're all called to be? Like Christian influencers, you know? What you're going to give an account for isn't your sin, but how you handled those things that the Lord entrusted to you. Be they your time, your talent, your treasure? Did you serve the body? Did you use your spiritual gifts wisely? Did you step into those opportunities that he opened for you? These kinds of things. Guys, there is no knee that's gonna bow before me. I don't need to stand over and judge anyone. I'm free to love everyone. I think Augustine said it best when he said, and this is a loose quote, he said, unity in what is essential Liberty in non-essentials and in all things charity or love. So love rules over all. In things that are non-essential, there's liberty. In things that are essential, there's unity. But woven through it all, you see, is love. Family, this might shock you a little bit, but there are times that you're gonna discover that God will bless people that you disagree with. So let's just be careful to make Jesus the Lord of our lives and be content to let him be the Lord of their lives as well, amen? All right, let's bow our hearts. Father, we thank you for the practicality of your word. And we thank you that we're free to love knowing that you are the Lord. And so I pray that you help us to do just that, to love, to encourage, to provoke one another to good works that we might, Lord, just see great rewards lavished upon their entry into your kingdom. What a wonderful day it will be. And Lord, we just willfully and we joyfully and we humbly bow our knee and our hearts before you. God, we ask you just to be glorified in our lives. Guys, while we're sitting here and our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, I hesitate to let us go before I give you the opportunity. If you've not given your life to Christ, it's not the judgment seat of Christ that you should be worried about. It is the white throne judgment of God. And it's not a scare tactic, it's a simple reality. But what you need to know is that Christ bore your penalty so that you wouldn't have to. And so you can believe on Him today, right here, right now, where you are, and be saved. Doesn't matter where you've been. Doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, why you find yourself here. It's your first time. You've been here a few times. None of that matters. We're not asking you to join Calvary Chapel of Joplin. We don't even have a quote-unquote church membership. If you're a member of the body of Christ, welcome aboard. You're a member. But if you're not a member of the body of Christ, you've never received Jesus Christ, not truly, you've never raised that white flag of surrender in totality, then, well, I would implore you, today is a day of salvation for you. Believe upon Him and you'll be saved. And so if the Lord's speaking to you, if he's dealing with you, I'm just going to ask you to raise your hand. I'm just going to I'm just going to call you out. I mean, if this today is a day of salvation for you, then show me who you are. And if I see that, I'll acknowledge that you put your hand down. But but don't miss your moment. Is there anyone wanting to. To open the door. And say yes to Jesus Christ. Yeah. God is so good. And Father, we're just so, so grateful and so, so honored, so humbled by your grace that you would condescend in the person of Jesus Christ and become one of us, that you might lay down your life for us, that you might save us. And truly no greater love has anyone than this and that they lay down their life for their friends. But Lord, you, you demonstrated your own love for us in that while we were still sinners, we were against you, we were enemies of you, you died for us. And what can we say? Lord, we love you and we just thank you and we honor you in this time. In Jesus' holy name, amen.