Romans chapter 15 verse 13. We're not going to look so much at the context of
what's going on here. I'll give you that as homework this week to go
back and read the verses before this. We're just going to kind of kind of
pluck this one little verse out. It's a beautiful verse. I think it's a good
verse. Sometimes you may hear this verse in a benediction at a church service. So
we're just going to look at this one little verse this morning. I'll read it
then we'll pray and get started. Romans chapter 15 verse 13. Now may the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may
overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. God we come
to you today and we thank you for being good to us. God I praise you today for
the work that you have done this week. I thank you for blessing us, blessing the
kids, just allowing us to come and be in your house and to worship you. And God we
praise you for your greatness. We thank you for Jesus and who he is and the hope
that we have through him dear Lord. We come to you today and we need that hope.
We live in a world that is full of pain and heartache and just just evil in our
world dear Lord. And so God maybe there's something today that they come into this
place and they they feel hopeless. I pray today dear Lord that we come and we hear
your word and we rejoice in your presence and we feel your Holy Spirit God
and that we can leave this place with hope that we can leave this place with
joy and peace and I ask these things in Jesus name amen. This this week was a
beautiful week. I asked Jennings to sing that last song before I preach today
because I think that song tells exactly what this week was like. There was a
sweet sweet spirit in this place and it was the presence of God. God was here
this week. I know that our revival is not scheduled for another couple of weeks
but but I believe that we had a revival this week. I believe that God worked in
a mighty way. I believe that God worked amongst us adults. I believe that God
works amongst the kids. Our teachers did such a good job this year. Our teachers
the kids knew the Bible stories. They knew what mattered and and we did all
this for one reason. Now we had a lot of fun. We we laughed and we acted silly and
we ate good foods and we had some cool games. We made cool crafts but we did all
of this and we always come together in God's house for one reason and that is
so people can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ so that those who have heard it
can grow in Jesus and those who have not heard it can come to Jesus and this week
we had six children who gave their life to Jesus. Praise the Lord. That's good. We
can clap. It's okay. That's good. Amen. We had six children. Three of them were going to be
baptized here within the next two or three weeks. We're getting all the dates
lined up where family can come but praise the Lord we had three from other
churches that will be getting baptized at their churches in the next few weeks
and what a what a what a beautiful thing that is. God was among us this week. The
Spirit moved and God's Holy Spirit when he moves he moves in a powerful way. Now
I don't it may just be me. I may be the only one that felt it but I hope some of
the rest of you guys some of you workers some of you some of you folks felt that
the power of God this week. You know when I sit here every night Dana asked me to
to be the worship rally leader. I volunteered for recreation and she said
no I want you to do a worship rally. Now I hadn't done that in a long time. I felt like I
was too old. That's one reason why I didn't want to do it. I said I'm a 40 year old man.
I don't this needs to be a young man's game. I don't know if I can even do it
but I'm glad that she gave me the opportunity to do it because because I
had the best seat in the house because I got to stand here every night and I look
across here and I see 39 kids that were just as happy as they could be. They come
every night with excitement and on this front row were 14 kids three to five
years old. Yep, Payton taught that class. I'll be praying for her. She still recovered.
But there's nothing more beautiful than to see these children that are
that are sitting on this front pew. There's nothing more beautiful. Jesus you
know there were some some folks bringing kids to Jesus and the disciples said
look take him away. Jesus he's the Messiah. He's got important things to do.
You don't have time for these kids and Jesus said look don't don't hinder the
little children from coming unto me. And what a beautiful thing that is. What a
beautiful story that is that Jesus reminds us of the importance of the kids
and yeah they're a little rambunctious. They're a little wild. They got a little bit
of energy but man what a beautiful thing that at that age that there are kids
that feel this pew. And it gives me hope. It gives me hope when I see that there's
another generation of young folks that are coming. That even in a small church
like this that we could have 39 kids that would come every night and here's
the cool part. Those kids didn't walk here. There's somebody that had to bring
them. Those 39 kids had parents and had grandparents that cared enough about
them that every night of the week that they would bring their kids and have to
come pick them up at 830. That's late but they were faithful to do it every night
and look listen at this for those of you that weren't here Friday night we had
all of our kids lined up. We had about 120 people here on a Friday night that
come to praise God for all the work that he had done. That's a beautiful thing.
That's a beautiful thing how God worked and when I see that when I see all your
smiling faces today when I see y'all are so faithful to come each week and so
faithful to serve it gives me hope and our world needs hope today. Our world
isn't a bad bad shape. We've got presidential candidates that's being
shot at. We've got countries at war. We've got disease. We've got all this stuff
that just that just overwhelms us and it can make us feel quite hopeless in this
world today. But Romans chapter 15 verse 13 says now may the God of hope feel
you with all joy and peace. May the God of hope. Now I don't know what your hope
was when you came into this building today but I'll tell you this if you've
tried to find hope in someone other than God you won't because the source of hope
is God and God alone. So we come here today so that we can find hope in God so
that we can know that there is hope in our situations. There's hope in our
sinfulness and our addictions. There's hope in our broken relationships. There's
hope in our and in our jobs that we hate. There's hope when the world seems to be
against us. There's hope when everything seems to be falling apart. There is hope
because we come here today to worship a God of hope and that is what we come
today to find the hope of God so that we may be filled with what? With joy and
peace. Now may the hope of God fill us this morning with joy and peace and as I
come here every night this week and as I saw these kids there's a sense of hope.
There's a sense of joy. There's a sense of peace. I saw all of our workers not
just the kids but every time I would see everybody they were smiling they were
excited they were happy. There was there was joy in this place. There was peace in
this place. One night everybody had gone and I was turning off all the lights and
and it was quiet and I was thinking man you know the life and the joy is in the
people in the people of God and praising God and it brings life to this place and
praise the Lord that we can come this week and we can come today and we can
experience the hope of God and I hope today that you are experiencing the joy
of God in your life that you're experiencing the peace of God in your
life. So may the God of hope give joy and peace to us but but how do we receive
that? No doubt God is a source of infinite hope and infinite joy and
infinite peace but to obtain that there's something that's required for us
and that's what the scripture says. Now may the God of hope fill you with joy
and peace as you believe in Him or some of your translations may say as you
trust in Him. Let me ask you that question today. I don't know the answer
to it only you know the answer to that but but have you trusted in God today?
Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Do you know that when
you feel hopeless and helpless do you know that when you struggle against sin
in your life do you know that the only way that you will be delivered of that
is through Jesus Christ that He is faithful to forgive us that He's faithful
to restore us and begin to work in our life when we confess our sins when we
seek Him when we call out to Him when our lives are falling apart and we say
Lord Jesus I need you when we call out to God and say God I need some hope in
the midst of my despair in the only place that we can find that hope and
that joy and that peace today is when we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Lord
and Savior. Now I don't know but I but I want everybody in here to have trusted
in Jesus Christ I don't know if you have. Now I say this a lot I'll say it again
I'm not asking you do you come to church I'm not asking you if you pray
occasionally I'm not asking you if you read your Bible sometimes I'm asking you
have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior are you living for Him
that's an easy question for us to answer we can we can answer that you know the
answer that as soon as I say it are you living for Jesus Christ or are you
living for the world are you living for Jesus Christ or are you living for
yourself are you seeking the glory are you giving it to Jesus Christ in your
life I don't know the answer to that but you know the answer to that and what
what God's Word calls us to again and again is that we would repent of our
sins that we would seek God that we would call out to Him and when we seek
Him with all of our heart we will find it. Maybe the reason you haven't found
Jesus in your life is you haven't been seeking Him but maybe today the Holy
Spirit is working in your life and maybe today you realize that you need to seek
out Jesus Christ I want to tell you that he's here for you today that he died on
the cross that he was crucified and that he was resurrected and that is the
greatest truth that you will ever hear in your life that's what we learned in
VBS this week that God's truth never changes our world is constantly changing
our world is constantly telling us oh this is right oh this is right oh this
is acceptable oh this is my truth so whatever my truth is is okay but we
don't live by our truth we must live by the truth of God's Word and the truth of
God's Word is this is that we are sinners we are wretched men and women who
do evil and horrible things but God in our sinfulness saw us and sent Jesus
Christ his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not
perish but have everlasting life that Jesus Christ would give his life for us
that is the grace of God so that our sins would be forgiven that is the
truth of God's Word and God's truth never changes so we need to discover the
hope of God today we need the joy and the peace of God to help get us through
our life every day when we hear bad news after bad news after bad news and that
only comes when we have trusted in Jesus Christ now may the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace as you believe in him so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit the power of the Holy Spirit oh what a
beautiful thing the scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit indwells in us when
we come to Jesus Christ it's a beautiful thing when you see the spirit of God
move some of you have experienced that some of you have been part of revivals
where you've seen the Spirit of God move or been in a church service where you've
seen the Spirit of God move or been part of a VBS where you've seen the Spirit of
God move and when the Spirit of God moves it's evident it's evidence it's
undeniable one of the one of the things we see the thing that we see when the
Spirit of God moves is that lost souls come to Jesus Christ is that souls are
saved that Jesus Christ begins to work that the Holy Spirit begins to work that
God's Word begins to work and we it's evident to us when the Holy Spirit is at
work because people give their life to Jesus Christ we see it in a variety of
other ways Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 3 23 says but the fruit of the
spirit is love joy peace patience kindness a goodness faith gentleness and
self-control these are the things that we see when the Spirit of God moves
these are the things that we see in our church these are the things that we saw
this week in our church in VBS we saw the joy of God the peace of God the
kindness of God we saw all of these qualities in the workers that we hear we
saw in the children that were here and why because the Holy Spirit was working
in this place God has been so good to us Enterprise Baptist Church God has blessed
us so much through the years and in these last couple of years God has
continued to bless us and I believe that God's Spirit is at work and I believe
that God's Spirit will continue to work if we continue to listen to the Spirit
of God and continue to follow the Spirit of God and continue to do the work of
God and it's the Spirit of God and it's the work of God that will change this
world now I know we're writing right up amongst the midst of a presidential
election regardless of who you like it does not matter to me but I'll tell you
this that our presidents are not going to change our world none of our leaders
are going to change our world it is the power of God that will change our world
it is the word of God that will change our world it is the Holy Spirit working
among people that will change our world now we look at our world today and we
say we're hopeless it's just it's no way this might be the end maybe maybe this
is it maybe it is I don't know but then again maybe God wants to do a mighty
work God does it he's done it many times a revival has to start somewhere
the Spirit of God has to start working somewhere for that spark to ignite who's
not to say that it may not be when it starts in you that it may not be the
spirit working in you and you're obedient to God that causes the spark
that brings the revival that changes the nation that changes the world who's not
to say that it won't start at Enterprise Baptist Church who's not to say that it
didn't start in VBS 2024 the Spirit of God wants to work among us and maybe for
some of you today the Spirit of God has already been working on you maybe
there's that conviction there to know that you need Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior we come and we read God's Word and we study God's Word and it is
good for us it is powerful for us and it tells us things about ourselves and it
reveals us when we reveals to us when we come and we open our heart and we seek
God we see that there are things in our life and in our heart that shouldn't be
there and it just and it just brings this this burden this conviction on us
but praise the Lord praise the Lord if you feel like that today because here's
what the scripture says 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10 says for
godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation
now Paul said that after he had preached some hard words to these people he wrote
to him in 1st Corinthians some hard things and and it grieves some of the
people but Paul says praise the Lord that you're grieved by these things
because godly grief leads to repentance and it's a repentance that leads to
salvation in Jesus Christ and so when God's Spirit begins to work amongst us
when God's Spirit begins to work in our lives when God's Spirit begins to work
on our heart he's calling us to trust in Jesus Christ perhaps there are some of
you today and you feel the Holy Spirit working on you perhaps today you know
that you've not trusted in Jesus Christ maybe you've been to church a lot maybe
you know a lot of scripture but maybe you've never trusted in Jesus Christ and
repented of your sins and live for him maybe the Holy Spirit is working on you
today well I pray today that if the Holy Spirit is working on you that you would
not turn away from God but that you would repent of your sins that you would
receive that salvation that comes only through Jesus Christ the power of the
Holy Spirit is a beautiful thing the power of the Holy Spirit helps reveal to
us the hope of God it helps reveal to us the joy and the peace of God but that
only comes when we have trusted in Jesus Christ in just a few minutes we're gonna
have our song of invitation we do this every week maybe there are some of you
out there today and you've never trusted Jesus Christ and maybe today as you sit
there you're ready to trust Jesus Christ as we have this song of invitation I
would encourage you to come forward we use all this language walk in the aisle
and asking Jesus into our heart you know the scripture never says anything about
asking Jesus into our heart but it does call us to put our faith in Jesus Christ
and to trust in Jesus Christ the Bible says never says you've got to walk the
aisle to be saved these are terms that we use and they're good enough but what
I'm calling you to today is not just walking an aisle but what I'm calling
you to today is to put your trust in Jesus Christ to put your faith in Jesus
Christ to repent of your sins and maybe today you're ready to make that decision
as we sang this song of invitation I would invite you to come and respond if
the Holy Spirit has spoken to you only you know the answer to that question
only you can make that decision but I pray today that you would trust in Jesus
Christ let's pray father God we come to you this morning we thank you for your
good words I pray that you would bless these words I pray that you would bless
each one that's here today God I thank you for all the ones who have come I
thank you for the blessing of our VBS I pray for these children dear Lord who
have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ I pray that you would bless them
as they prepare for their baptisms God I pray that you bless the workers that
were here that we continue to grow in you through that experience God I pray
that you'd bless this church God I pray that your Holy Spirit would work amongst
us would work amongst many all over this country all over this world dear Lord
that we would be those who were transformed by you God there there may
be some today that came into this place looking for hope and peace and joy and I
pray today that they have seen that it only comes when we trust in Jesus Christ
so if there are some today that do not know Jesus Christ I pray God that in
this time of invitation that they would respond that they would come that they
would that they would put their faith in Jesus Christ today that we baptize them
as as your word commands God maybe there are some here today and they're yours
but maybe today they need to repent of something in their life maybe today they
need to kind of just re-shift their focus dear Lord to put you back at the
center God if you've spoken to anybody God I pray that right now that they
would respond and I ask these things in Jesus name amen