He took my place. And someday, some glorious morning, I shall see Him face to face. All because of God's amazing grace. Amazing grace, God's amazing grace, amazing grace. Amen, thank you for joining us this morning. If you would stand, we'll continue with our song service. Proverbs 31, verse number eight says, her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. I think today's a good day to praise our mothers this morning. It's good, glad that you're here this morning. Brother Beavis, would you open us in a word of prayer, please? Amen. Please join us in singing hymn number 23, There is Power in the Blood. ♪ There's power, power, wonder and power ♪ ♪ In the precious blood of the Lamb ♪ ♪ Would He be greater than flesh and blood ♪ ♪ There's power in the blood, power in the blood ♪ ♪ No more addicted to malady's side ♪ ♪ There's wonderful power in the blood ♪ I can fly. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. Who is this King who could not wear a golden diadem or a robe of royalty? Who is this King who could not take and birth the kingdom from as a sovereign majesty? Who is this king who sits among the common men to eat? Who is this king who only vows to wash his servant's feet? He's the only king who had to die to right the wrongs of men. He's the only king who surrendered Every king will bow before and say, Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords. He is the only King. Who is this King? Who paid so high a price to end our pain? With the riches of His grace, who is this King? Who sacrificed His life so I could live in an everlasting grace? Who is this King who lets me be an heir of glory? Who is this king who's everywhere and lives inside of me? He's the only king who had to die to right the wrongs of men. He's the only king who surrendered to him. He's the only king whom every king will bow before Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords. He's the only King who had to die for us. to wipe the wrongs of men. He is the only King. He is the only King. Let's stand once again. We'll sing hymn number 210, Wonderful Grace of Jesus, Greater Than All I See. Hymn number 210, sing it with us. ♪ Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all I see. ♪ Set it free, set it free, for the wonder, the grace of Jesus lives within me. I'm closing in. I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand nations, I'm in a thousand nations, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I'm in a thousand, I ♪ Raging through all the world ♪ ♪ Gladdened and ignited ♪ ♪ Singing loud their foes ♪ ♪ Anointed Lord our Savior ♪ ♪ Living in eternity ♪ ♪ Providing grace unto Jesus ♪ ♪ We praise Thee ♪ ♪ You'll see me when I come to see you ♪ ♪ I've heard the legends, I've heard the arts ♪ ♪ I've crossed the oceans to bring you here with me ♪ ♪ I've been to so many lands, I've traveled the skies ♪ ♪ I've been to time and time again to see you ♪ ♪ You'll recognize the precious name of Jesus ♪ What is your endeavor? If you've got to try, work just a little bit harder. I am the mountains, I am the mountains, I am the mountains, I am the mountains, I am the mountains, I am the mountains, I am the mountains, Please remain standing as we go to the Lord in prayer for our offering. And thank you, may we see you. do do So even if you're visiting, we'd love to have you come down front, please. If you would, we have a gift we'd like to give you and just acknowledge you. So if you would come down front, that'd be a blessing. So one of the gifts that we're giving ladies this year, it's entitled It's a Wonderful Life. You know, when you stop and think about life, it is a wonderful gift from God. And this is a devotional-type book. I know that ladies tend to maybe write more than guys do, and it's probably a shame to us guys. We probably ought to write more. But there's a lot of good reading here in the front and then talks about praying and praying for different things in your life and strengthening your relationships. And then it talks about recording your journey and it has a Bible reading schedule and then a daily prayer list place and then a place to record each day. And so I think this will be a great gift for our ladies. And then we have another gift here that Mr. Preston's holding, and a nice little booklet for the ladies to have also, and so excited about these gifts, and our very own Lisa Potts made these, and so praise the Lord for that. I'm gonna start all the way down here, I've got my guys in tow. Might get a little heavy. Did you get one of those? Thank you. Awesome, so awesome. I wanna thank my helpers right here for helping kind of speed the process along. You appreciate our moms, right? I mean, what a blessing. And so I wanna pray over them and pray that God will give them a great day and let's do that now. Lord, we love you and we thank you for your great love for us. We thank you for the moms that are in our lives. Thank you for their influence, for their help. Lord, I pray that you would give them a blessed day and not only a blessed day, but a blessed year. I pray that you'd help those that are still raising children. And Lord, I don't know that that really ever ends, but God, I pray that you'd give them wisdom and strength and that you would help them to direct the lives of their little ones as they grow up. Lord, I pray that you would Give these mothers a great day today. We thank you for each one of them and pray your blessings upon them. We ask these things in your wonderful and most precious name. Amen. Let's give the ladies a hand as they head back to their seats. Thank you, ladies, for coming and being with us today. What do I want for my children? Do I seek for them worldwide fame? Do I treasure for them wealth and riches? Do I want their lives to be just like a game? What do I want for my children? Is it power and wisdom and light? Do I want for them untold blessings? Do I want everything to go just right? I'll tell you what I want for my children. A heart full of peace from above. A life of serving others. A heart of patience and love. them to know my Savior, to be free from the power of sin. to walk with Jesus. I want them to be like Him. This is what I want for my children. I want them to walk With Jesus, I want Him to be my King. M number 102, He Hideth My Soul. Let Jesus my hope abide, O stay home to me. Be I, O my soul, with the breath of thy love, when rivers of return I see. Be I. and shadows of my mercy lay. With God in my life, in the depths of His love, and God, my Savior, in His hand. And God, my Savior, Our wonderful Savior is Jesus, our Lord. He came from heaven and earth away. We all would be there if God chose us. In the land of the free and the home of the brave. He guided my life in the paths of His love, and now I'm here in His hand, and now I'm here in His hand. O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! And God is with them, with them. And God is with them, with them. His words of salvation, His wond'rous power, Thou shalt without end overcome. Amen. Thank you, babies. It's not what I prayed for. It's not what I wanted. It's not something I understand. My circumstances seem so confusing. I'm placing it all in your hands. Your ways are higher than mine. I want mountains to move. You want me to climb. So I'm going to trust your work, your will, and your time. Your ways are higher. One day I'm sure I will look back and marvel at how you knew best all along. You see from heaven, you know it's the hard times that make my faith steady and strong. Your ways are higher than mine. I want mountains to move. You want me to climb. So I'm gonna trust your work, your will, and your time. Your ways are higher than mine. When I start to doubt, help me believe that somewhere so far above me Your ways are higher than mine. I want mountains to move. You want me to climb. So I'm gonna trust your work, your will, and your time. Your ways are so much higher than mine. Your ways are higher than mine. you Well, amen. It's good to be in the Lord's house today and to have you with us. Would like to invite your attention to Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two. Luke is not an uncommon portion, especially chapter two, especially around Christmas time. But, and as much as I love Christmas, I realize it isn't Christmas time. But it does contain what I believe be an interesting message. It's been interesting thoughts for me as I prepared it. And I simply entitled this today, Mary's Ponderings. Luke chapter two, we'll begin reading verse number 41. If you can, stand with me in reverence to the reading of the word of God. You might just glance at verse number 40. It says, and the child grew, referring to Jesus, and the child grew and waxed strong in the spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto him, How is it that ye sought me? Was she not that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Kind of interesting, verse 40, in relation to verse 52, Jesus is continuing his growth, increases in wisdom, he continues to grow smarter and wiser, and in the grace of God, in the favor of God, being upon him. Let's pray. Lord, we love you, and we thank you for the time together this morning. Lord, it's our prayer and our desire that we might meet with you, that you would take your word and through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, reveal to us those things that you have for us here today. Lord, we thank you for your word that we can hold in our hands. We thank you that it's our roadmap and our guide to help us to become better parents, better mothers, better fathers, to help us to be better children, to help us to learn how to walk with you and to serve you in our lives and all that we do. We thank you for this time together this morning, and we do continue to pray that you would bless our moms in a great way. We love you, and we ask these things in your blessed and most holy name, and all the people said, amen. You may be seated. So this story is one that undoubtedly you've heard several times if you've been in church. Jesus and his family head to the temple. At this time he's 12 years old. He's getting just about to the age of 13, which was his passing to adulthood. And so he's traveling with his family. And like many families, Jesus and his mom and dad and the immediate family, the kinsfolk, are all traveling together. My wife and I have done that several times. As our kids were growing up, we would travel with her mom and dad on different trips. And it wasn't uncommon for us to be on a trip together. And they'd be like, hey, can the boys ride with us? And we're like, peace and quiet? Yeah, they can ride with you. No problem at all. Yeah, take them, get them. And so here we are. We have Mary and Joseph leaving the city. Let's not think ill of them. In the woke version of the world today, we would outcast them because they didn't know where their son was. But in the real world, they're thinking, hey, he's with Grandma and Grandpa, or maybe he's with one of his uncles. He's surely in the group. He knows we're leaving. We told him, right? You ever tried that with a teenager? We told him. And so they're making their way, and they come to their first night stop, and when they make the stop, lo and behold, Jesus cannot be found. I remember when my wife used to take our boys shopping, and it just seemed like every one of them, about the time they'd get to that six, five, four, somewhere in that age, that they would like to play disappearing on mom. So I remember several times being with her, and we'd be in a store, and you remember when they had the round rack of clothes? Them little boogers would get in the middle of that round rack of clothes, and she'd be looking, where are those boys at, you know? And she'd begin to utter mutterings of fierce anger. No, probably not her sweetness. But I don't know how many times she would be getting all worried, and they would pop their head out of the clothes. No wonder they're still alive today, amen? Every mom said, that's right, that's right. So they have undoubtedly a little bit of angst in their life. Hey, where's Jesus at? I thought you had Jesus. No, I thought you had Jesus. I thought he was with grandma and grandpa. I thought he was with uncle or aunt. I thought he was playing with his cousins. Well, he's not here, so guess what? Back to the city we go. Now, as they're going back, I imagine it had been rather leisurely coming, but probably a little more hurried going back and probably discussing where did you seem last? You know, I like that question so much. I'm getting to the age where I start to misplace things. And I go, hey honey, have you seen? And she goes, why, you can't find it? I said, no, I can't find it. She goes, where did you have it last? And I always wanna say, if I knew where I had it last, I wouldn't be asking you now, right? Okay, now watch out here, don't gang up on me. So they're asking, they're hurrying their way back, they're beginning to talk, they're wondering, where did you see Jesus? Maybe that evening when they first stopped and they realized he wasn't there, they begin to be inquisitive with grandma and grandpa, and with those around them, hey, do you know where Jesus is? Have you seen Jesus? Do you know where he could be? And they look around, around, around, around, and lo and behold, they can't find him, so they make their way back to the city, and after three days, Three days, how would you like to be, have lost your child for three days? In this day and age it would be like almost tragic. Now they say if you don't find a child within the first 24 hours, especially with human trafficking going on now, they'd be gone forever. So I just imagine an anxiousness of mom and dad, They're looking, finally, three days later, they find him, and of all places to find him, they find him at church. Wow. So when we left, verse 40, it says, and the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. He's 12 years old. At 13 years old, they have what is known as a bar mitzvah, where the young man becomes an adult, and he has to know the 10 commandments, he has to be able to recite them, he has to know the meaning of them, and there's several things in the Jewish religion that he has to be able to do to be able to cross this threshold into being manhood. I think that would probably still be a good thing. But in America, it's like, oh, you're 13? Okay, you're a man. Or you're 15? You're a man. One of my sons just recently sent me a quote. This guy's not a great theologian, but Burt Reynolds once said, you're not a man until your dad says you're a man. There's some wisdom there. Because I've met some 20-year-olds that have no business driving a car or managing their own checking account. Because they're still a kid at heart. They've not been encouraged as they're growing up to become a man. My wife, many times, there'll be things to be done around the house, and I'll do those things. And almost out of unbelief, she goes, how'd you know how to do that? And I'll say, it was in the man book. Huh? It's in the man book. What I mean by that, and most of you men understand, it was the way I was raised. I was raised following my dad, carrying the tools, holding the light, and I learned. The man book. Problem is, today we go, Johnny, you're too much trouble. Go in there and play a game. Or Johnny's playing a game, and he won't put it down. We don't make him come learn. I've got a wonderful older son that's a good pastor, but he grew up in a mechanics household. He should be able to do all kinds of stuff. The other two boys, whenever I'd go outside to work on a car, they were right there behind me. I'd say, hey, Jeremiah, I'm gonna go out and work on this car. I'll be out in a little bit. He was primping his hair or something, I don't know. The good thing, he's got a decent job, because he's paid a lot of money to have repair work done to his car. I don't know about you, but with the automotive background I've got, they come to me and they go, yeah, we got a, well, that son called me just the other day, and he goes, dad, they want to put rear brakes on my car, and it's like $455. What do you think? I'm like, are you stupid? I said, bring 200 of it and take me to lunch, buy the parts, we're in there. By the way, all day long for any of you, all day long, okay? That's gravy money when you're a mechanic, that's gravy, man. So to knowledge, to increase in knowledge and wisdom is so important and as parents it's our responsibility to help them to be able to increase in knowledge and wisdom. So the Bible tells us that Mary kept all these things, all these sayings in her heart. We go back to Luke chapter two at the birth of Jesus, amazing story, which we read just in December. We get to verse number 19. I always think about verse number 19 when I'm reading that story. It says, but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. You know, there's nothing like having a child, right? This is baby Miles. Isn't he a handsome guy? Yes, he hid all this. Yeah, look at him. Yeah. So one time I was preaching, I used his sister. as an illustration, so I said, we can't let Miles, you know, go anywhere without getting to be held and preached about. So we raised three honorary boys. I'm telling you, it's amazing when you hold a baby, isn't it? There's just so much peace to be had in holding a baby. Oh, it's okay, oh yeah, it's all right. Just keep it there, not on me, we're great. Usually when we would get our first baby, I'm like checking. Yeah, he doesn't have six toes, that's good. And he got five little fingers. They just always mystify me how they get the little fingernails and how fast they grow. It's just amazing. Mary pondered when she had baby Jesus. Did you ever do that when you had a child? I don't know how many times I'd hold my children and I'd think, I wonder what they're gonna grow up to be. I wonder what God's got planned for him. I wonder if they're gonna have a long life or a short life. God knows all those things. He's got a plan. And I look at him and go, I just ponder, just wonder. I wonder, and I think about this from Mary's standpoint. She's holding Jesus. She didn't name her child. She was given a name to name her child, Jesus. "'cause he's going to save his people from their sins.'" Ooh, can you imagine the pondering that was going on in Mama's head there? What do you mean? This precious little guy, he's gonna save all these people from their sins? Little Jesus, he's gonna be able to do that? How's God gonna do that? And then, I think she probably thought, Oh no, I gotta raise Jesus. Can you imagine the weight of the burden of raising Jesus? No, I mean, it would be a great weight, wouldn't it? As a dad, I'd be like, oh my goodness, I got so much to teach you. I hope I'm teaching you all the right stuff. And she would have those same questions, no doubt. Oh boy, what am I supposed to teach Jesus? Where should I teach him? What should I teach him? And all those things. And so she pondered little baby Jesus. And now here he is at 12 years old. This just blows my mind. And she walks into church, the temple, like Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple, kind of, not. She walks into church. And he's sitting among grown, elderly men, undoubtedly, men who have been trained and spent their life in the scriptures, and she's listening to him interact with them. They say something, and he goes, well, have you ever thought about this? Or have you thought about this verse? Think about this. I love this when I was studying. The word. Jesus Christ, John 1.1. The Word was teaching the Word to sinful man. Whoo! He had all the right answers. Now listen, Lalo, if I'm in school, I'm gonna sit by Jesus. He's gonna have all the right answers, you know what I mean? Especially if it's like Bible-related. I'm gonna sit by Jesus and, hey, Jesus, let me look at your notes. And she kept all those things. I can only imagine how wonderful it was. Love you, buddy. Put you back with dad. I can only imagine what it must have been like as she's pondering. He's gonna grow up. He's gonna save his people from his sins, from their sins. And I'm sure that as you've held babies or mothers-to-be, you look and you think, I wonder what this little child's going to grow up to be like. I wonder, am I going to be the right parent? Am I gonna put the right things into this one's life? Am I gonna make these investments? Am I gonna choose the right things that they will grow up so that they might be greatly used of God? Or am I gonna be neglectful? Am I gonna let them grow up to be self-centered and self-serving? Am I gonna let them grow up to not be respectful of others? Am I gonna fail as a parent in training them to learn to love the Lord their God? Am I gonna fail in that way because I'm gonna take them to church when it's convenient, but on the other hand, when there's stuff that we wanna do, we'll go do it rather than be in church? And just a whole bunch of questions, undoubtedly, that went through her mind as she pondered on baby Jesus. And now, as she saw him, teaching the teachers. That brings me to the second point. which is the entering into his call. And when we think about the entering into his call, we actually see that in verse 41 and 42, that his parents went to Jerusalem every year for the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And so here they are, they're making a simple trip to Jerusalem for the Passover, except this time, as they left, Jesus did not come with them. This time as they left, Jesus had sought out to begin his work among mankind. Jesus, at this time, had felt it important that he would go to the temple and he would interact with those men that sat there. I've often thought of this, and I'll just throw it out for you to think about. I've often thought about, down the road as Jesus begins his earthly ministry. So he's 12 here. We know at the age of 33 he begins his, actually at the age of 30, he begins his earthly ministry. I wonder if there's still guys around over that 18 year period that could say, I heard him in the temple. I remember he answered this question, something I had thought about my whole life. He was able to give me the answer. So there are things as a pastor that I still have not figured out, okay? And it always scares me when I have young guys come into my life and they go, they know everything. And I'm thinking, okay, so you know absolutely nothing, okay, if you know everything. The first thing I learned as I got to the point where I was graduating college was I've got a lot to learn. You know, it was the same way when I was a mechanic, when I was a mechanic and I always knew there's more to learn, there's more to learn, there's more to know. And it's like that in all of our lives as we grow. And I think to myself, okay, there's still things I need to learn. I was visiting one time with a great missionary who'd been on the field for 50 years, and he was telling me, he said, you know, there's a portion of scripture in the book of Hebrews, and he called it out, and he goes, I've wondered on that scripture for 30 years, and I finally found a book last year that answered my questions about that scripture. I thought, wow, 30 years. So it's okay, Lalo, to have questions about what did Jesus actually mean here? It may mean that we invest our life to be able to figure out what is it exactly that Jesus was trying to convey? What was it that Jesus was trying to see? But can you imagine that here he is at 12, answering and questioning people in the temple, and then he begins his ministry at the age of 30, that undoubtedly there were some guys around who would say, I heard him when he was 12, and he answered this question for me I had wondered on for years. And he had the answer. That little child that stood up was able to teach us great things. This person not realizing that he was actually talking to the word himself, Jesus Christ. So Jesus begins, if you would, a call to the ministry that God has for him. And when they come to seek him, when his parents come to seek him, he is quick to remind them, I must be about my father's business. That's going to be 18 more years. before he goes full in to the ministry, but he is about, he's working, he's training, he's proceeding to the point that he's gonna serve in the ministry that God has for him. The third thing that I think Mary kept and wondered on was his death. His death. A Bible tells us in the book of John, John 25 through 27, and there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, undoubtedly John, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her into his home. Jesus' bloodline was not the bloodline of sinful man. When Jesus was born, we know the story from Luke 2, the Holy Ghost came upon her. It wasn't that she had had a relationship with a man. Isaiah 7 tells us that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. And so here in Luke chapter two, the fulfillment of that, that she has been a virgin and that that is in her is of the Holy Ghost. And when that baby is born, the bloodline which passes from the father did not come from a simple man, but the bloodline came from God the father through the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ. His blood was perfect blood. His blood was not tainted by sin. He had not given in to the sin that mankind was known for. Therefore, he could be the perfect sacrifice for men's sin. She had undoubtedly stand at the cross and look up. And Mary thought, I didn't know my baby was going to end on a cross. I didn't know my baby was going to have to go to a cross and have those nails placed into his hand and into his feet. I didn't know that they would take my baby and they would take a cat of nine tails and rip his skin from his back. I didn't know that they were going to mock him, that they were going to stand around and jeer him, that they were going to gamble for his coat, that they were going to pluck his beard, that they were going to put a crown of thorns upon his head. that they were gonna crucify him for the sins of mankind. I didn't get that his death was gonna be all that. I didn't get that for three hours, God the Father would turn his back in the middle of the day and the place would be dark because the sins of entire mankind would be placed upon him. These were things, as Mary stood at that cross, I think she couldn't help but think about. my precious little baby that the angels announced, that I watched him teach in the temple, that I heard him with great wisdom and authority. I watched that beginning of the call into the ministry, and he told us that he must be about his father's business. How could it be that it must all end this way? For three days, she probably was in great anguish and pain. Why must my baby die like this? How is he gonna accomplish salvation for all the world? But for this point, the fourth point is resurrection. What a day for Mary. What a day for mankind. Jesus didn't stay dead, amen? Jesus was placed in the tomb, but he came forth victorious over death, hell, and the grave. The Bible tells us in Matthew 28, verse number 10, then said Jesus unto them, be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. Jesus had passed from this life. Three days he had been in the grave. Now he is victorious. I can only imagine the relief and the joy and the excitement when Mary got word Jesus is alive. Jesus is alive. All the questions that must have mulled in her mind of how can this thing be? What is it that happened? How does this all tie together? So you probably didn't understand the resurrection. I doubted if many of us would at being that close to the situation. She undoubtedly wondered, how could a dead man be raised again? And yet the resurrection is the crown jewel in the Christian faith. It is so important to us. If Jesus would have just died and stayed dead, he would have just been a good man, maybe even a magic man, because he could heal people. But Jesus is alive. Jesus is alive. And with that, we can say, there's reason to live. Because as Jesus rose again from the dead, when I die, so I also will be raised to life everlasting. I also will spend an eternity in heaven, but it's only for the saved. The lost will be raised again to judgment, to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire forever and ever. Jesus said this in John 11, 25. Jesus said, under her I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Romans 6, 5 says, for if we had been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. What a blessed hope for the Christian, the resurrection of Jesus. On it, if you would, swings the fact that when I die, there's a place better than this. When I die, I'm not just worm food in the ground someplace. When I die, as a child of God, Paul said to be absent from the bodies, be present with the Lord. and to be with him forever. Remember, Jesus, as he ascended to the Father, the scripture records for us, I believe the book of Hebrews, it says that he's seated at the right hand of the throne of the Father. Seated. Work done, accomplished. He's not worried about going to get kicked out of heaven. He's not worried that he's there on a timeline. He's settled in because he's there for all of eternity. Child of God, if you know Christ as your Lord and Savior, if he's forgiven your sins, heaven is your eternal home, you ought to be excited right now. I'm excited in the fact that when I die and I got the promise from the Bible to be absent from the bodies, be present with the Lord, I'm gonna spend all of eternity with him. But if you don't have that peace today, you need to consider this, you too will rise again. Revelations chapter 20 tells us, Satan and death and hell, all will be cast into the lake of fire for all of eternity, and then those who never asked Christ to be their Lord and Savior will spend an eternity in that lake of fire, forever and ever. The choice is yours. If you've not made that choice today, I would at least ask that you would ponder on what's been presented. Keep those things in your heart. Think upon those things and respond to them as God would lead you, that heaven might be your eternal home. Lord Jesus, I love you today and I thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth of it. Thank you to know that as you gave your life in death for our sins, you shed your blood for the remission of our sins, that you rose again the third day, that you're alive and well. As a child of God, we rejoice to know that heaven's our eternal home. As Jesus is the resurrection, as he rose again, we too know that to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Lord, I pray for those here today that maybe don't know that, they've never settled it. Lord, I pray today they'd let us share with them from the Bible how they can know that they're saved and on their way to heaven. Thank you for your great love to us. We'd ask these things in your blessed name, amen. Would you stand with me this morning? We're gonna have a moment of invitation of God spoken to your heart. I'd encourage you to come, whatever your need. You're here without Christ as your Savior. We'd love to take a Bible and share it with you from the Word of God, how you can know that you're saved on your way to heaven. Whatever your need is today, would you come, Brother Steve Lisas? My life, my love, I give to Thee, Thou Lamb of God, who died for me. Oh, may I ever faithful be, my Savior and my God. I'll live for Him who died for me How happy then my life shall be I'll live for Him who died for me, my Savior and my God. I now believe Thou dost receive, for Thou hast died that I might live, and now henceforth I trust in Thee. my Savior and my God. I'll live for Him who died for me. How happy then my life shall be! I'll live for Him who died for me. ♪ My Savior and my God ♪ Good to be together in the Lord's house today. Gonna have Brother Potts come with our announcements, God bless you. Service on May the 19th. Brother Dave McCracken will be preaching for us on Sunday, May the 26th. Youth Rally coming up. It'll be at South Noelwood Baptist Church on Friday, May 31st. The cost is $10 per teen, which includes some food. Please have the teens at the church by 5 p.m. and should be back around 11 or 11.30. And then camp coming up for 2024 camp is June 2nd through the 7th. These are one hundred seventy five dollars per child and that's due on May the 19th. Coffee sales is that still going on. Be done with. Today's the last day so. Right. So if you want some good coffee. AC. Roast right. uh... it's available today uh... twelve dollars for the coffee twelve fifty four grounded coffee twelve dollars for beans and that will help everything proceeds go to the camp all the announcement you you