Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be
your host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages
are a blessing to you and bring you closer to God.
Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Again, my name is Pastor David Bickford. I am the
pastor here in Salmon Arm. The message I have prepared today is, prepare now to get rich.
The subheading would be, lay up treasures in heaven. As we get going and jump into this,
just a little bit about what the purpose of this podcast is. It is simply an outreach
tool, an evangelism tool. These are sermons that I have preached already in the church
and I basically just reformat them into this podcast. Eventually I will probably do video
for YouTube as well, but they are uploaded to YouTube in audio form as well. We are working
on getting a little bit better with the technology as time goes on.
Anyway, let's go ahead and jump in this day. The text that we are working from today is
Matthew 6 verses 19-24. If you are following along, you can go ahead and get there. It
is Matthew 6, 19-24. At the time of recording this, we are getting close to Christmas. We
are about 10 days away from Christmas. I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas. It is
an awesome time of the year for us as Christians because we can share the gospel a lot more
freely. People are a little bit more open to it. If you are not doing that already,
that is part of the reason why you wish people Merry Christmas is to share your faith with
others. So don't be discouraged by people trying to push you off and say, oh no, no,
you have to say happy holidays because not everybody is a Christian. Well, that is the
whole point, isn't it? Isn't the whole point to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those
you come in contact with? What better to do that with than by saying, hey, Merry Christmas,
here is a whatever your favorite drink is, not alcohol, of course, but your favorite
holiday drink like an eggnog latte or peppermint mocha or a peppermint hot chocolate. You could
go up and say, hey, Merry Christmas, would you like a peppermint mocha? It is a very,
very powerful time. You are hearing more Christian music played openly because a lot of the Christmas
songs of the season are Christian in nature, of course. So let's use that to our advantage
for the evangelism of Jesus Christ and really just focus in on bringing the love of Jesus
Christ into the public square and not being deterred by the world telling us to keep that
silent and separate because we all know that they are not doing that with a lot of their
messages with a lot of their gospel that they're preaching, which is not from our Lord. So
let's just do that in a kind, caring, loving way. And again, Merry Christmas as we get
started with this message today.
So prepare now to get rich. So when I was reading this book, and I actually am still
reading it. I haven't finished it yet because I took a break, but it was a book about Andre
Augustine. And believe it or not, when I was a young, young man, I was, I was growing up
in Los Angeles and my dad was very into tennis when we lived down there. And I remember my
first pair of really good shoes were a pair of Andre Augustine shoes, Andre Augustine
being a very famous tennis player in the, uh, the nineties. And so anyway, on, on the
court tennis legend, Andre Augustine seemed to be unbeatable during his heyday in the
1990s and early 2000s. The superstar was very successful and earned tons of money. He is
currently worth $175 million. And at one point he was even ranked world's number one. But
in this, but in his 2009 book Augustine revealed that his life as a tennis superstar was one
that he hated. He says that despite his wealth and success playing the game interfered with
his personal relationships and he felt disconnected with his life. He then became very involved
in philanthropy and was especially interested in education. And he opened up the Andre Augustine
college prep Academy in 2001. And he has said that he finds that work far more fulfilling
than he did during his days as a tennis player. It's interesting how, you know, once you get
out of the limelight a little bit, we're out of the, you know, it's all about me and my success kind of realm.
And you start pouring back into others, how much more fulfilling that can be. And there's
a biblical principle with that, right? And so let's look at Matthew six, 19 through 24,
lay up the treasures in heaven and verse 19, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself
treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys a where thieves do not break
in and steal for where your treasure is there. Your heart will also be the eye is the lamp
of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your
eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if then the light in you is
darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and money. So as we jump in, the first point I want to look at is watching
your desires, right? And so let's define what that means a little bit, you know, desire.
It's usually a verb used with an object and it's to wish or long for, to crave, to want,
to express a wish to obtain or ask a request. Other words that are similar to desire are
covet, fancy, solicit, aspiration, hunger, appetite, thirst. All right. Most of us want
more money. We want more stuff. I mean, people all the time that have tens of thousands of
dollars in toys. And what I mean by toys, I mean like big boy adult toys, like boats,
quads, campers. Oh my. And some of us like to have the newest technology as soon as it
comes out, the newest iPhone or the Samsung phone that comes out. You know, we, we want
to upgrade. In fact, I myself, you know, I I'm an apple guy. I have, you know, apple
computer. I have an iPhone. I have an older iPhone. It's an iPhone XR and I'm, I'm, I'm
saving up, you know, to get an iPhone, you know, 15, you know, pro and the other silliest
reason I want that is because finally, finally, even though I love apple, they're, they're
switching over to the C type connection instead of the lightning connection. So I will be
able to get rid of a bunch of useless cords because I'll be able to only have one charger
hanging around versus all the other chargers that, that I end up with. So I'm not immune
to wanting to have some of the newest technology, but I'm still rocking the iPhone XR right
now. So, uh, that's, that's, that's where I'm at, but yeah, we, we, we battle with this,
right? There's nothing wrong with stuff. There's nothing wrong with wanting, you know, a Tesla
or a giant truck and trailer. The issue always comes back to your desires. Why are you dry?
What, why are you driving your appetites and what, what direction are those? Are you allowing
those appetites to drive you? What are you feeding yourself? What does your diet look
like? You know, from a spiritual and emotional level. So let's think about that for a minute.
The more you eat some items, the more you crave them. You know, sugar and simple carbohydrate
foods are very appealing, but as you eat them, you tend not to be satisfied and crave them
more and more. And I've, I feel this, you know, quite a bit. So one of my vices, cause
I typically eat like a keto or like a fat adapted diet. I don't eat a lot of carbs,
but one of my vices is like, um, is mini wheats. Right? So, you know, frosted mini wheats and
I'll take a handful of those, you know, try to limit the amount I eat, but it's always
amazing. The, you know, you eat a little bit and then you want more. And so it's kind of
like the idea of, of the potato chip. Oh, you can't eat just one. There's something
about, you know, these, these either, you know, salty carbohydrate treats or these sugary
carbohydrate treats that it just drives you to want to eat more and more of it. Whereas
if you were eating, you know, a clean fat or a clean protein and you focused on that,
you would be fuller and more satiated because it's, it's actually a better food choice,
you know, in most cases. Whereas healthy foods, complex carbohydrates, even good proteins
in fat, they, like I said, they'll satiate your appetite and provide you with more energy
that you actually need. If you avoid the junk food, you can, you know, in time curb your
desire for them, but only if you remove them from your diet, if you, if you limit the amount
of influence they have in your diet. So if we turn our diet now to the soul, like the
soul or our diet for our soul, there's a well known quote that has been attributed to many
throughout the years, but the version I like best is from a guy, Frank Outlaw. And this,
this is a mantra, if you will, if something that resonates with, you know, it's something
that resonates with me. Uh, it calls us to judge our thought life and we're told to do
the same throughout the Bible. In fact, in Proverbs 4 23, it says, be careful what you
think because your thoughts run your life. So Proverbs 4 23, I want to emphasize this
before we get to the quote Proverbs 4 23, be careful what you think because your thoughts
run your life. So here's the quote. Watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your
words. They become actions. Watch your actions. They become habits. Watch your habits. They
become character. Watch your character or it becomes your destiny. And this is by Frank
Outlaw. He was the late president of a chain of grocery stores, buy low stores. Let's read
that one more time though. Or let's, you know, you listen to this, watch your thoughts. They
become words. Watch your words. They become actions. Watch your actions. They become habits.
Watch your habits. They become character and watch your character for becomes your destiny.
Part of why this quote is so moving to me is that it emphasizes the choice that we have.
We choose to cultivate certain thoughts. We allow the seeds of thought to be sown into
the soil of our hearts and out of that and out from that grows our actions. Those actions
multiply and multiply reaping a bountiful harvest that creates a strong habit. As habits
are re-sown with the same actions fed the same thoughts, we build out a fortress or
a silo that becomes our character. That tower that we are building from our thoughts and
our actions then habits has a character that becomes our destiny. So we're building our
resting place, if you will. That's what our destiny is. It's like our resting place. So
as we build upon, you know, our, our thoughts, our actions, our habits and our character
that we are building our resting place, which is our destiny. You can look at this in a
different way. Instead of building a beautiful and purposeful tower, it could be that you're
building a pit. So either you're building this, this tower that's your destiny, this,
this, uh, you know, pillar, uh, or, or landmark or altar in your life that is your destiny
and God, or you could be building yourself up a way, a gateway path into the pit. Right.
So you could think about it either way. Are you digging yourself into a deeper hole or
are you building yourself a resting place with the Lord on high?
In first Timothy six, three through 10, it says to be careful of false teachers and,
and true and fine true contentment. So let's read. If anyone teaches a different doctrine
and does not agree with the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ and teaching that accords
with godliness, he has puffed up and get seated and understanding nothing. He has an unhealthy
craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander,
and indecisive suspicions, constant friction among people who are depraved in the mind
and depraved truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain, but godliness with contentment
is great game for we brought nothing into the world and we could take nothing out of
the world. But if we have food and clothing with these things, we will be content. But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful
desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is at the root of all
kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith.
It pierced themselves with many pangs. So then what are we supposed to do? The scripture,
the word of God is always our lighthouse. It is our measuring stick by bathing in the
word of God regularly and praying for God's discernment. We can have faith that God will
direct us towards his path and his godly desires for our lives. In Christ we have hope. That
is why we preach the message of Christ to all who will listen.
This brings me to my next point, which is earthly riches. As we think of earthly riches,
again, keep in mind that our original text that we're working from, Matthew 6 19 is telling
us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth. So when I'm talking about building
your destiny, I'm not talking about earthly gain. I'm not even talking about salvation.
If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, then you are saved. If you've repented of
your sin and accepted him as Lord in faith, then you are saved and you will enter into
heaven. You will enter into the kingdom of God. But he does tell us to lay up treasures
in heaven where the moth and rust destroy. So that is as you become saved, you're going
to want to serve the Lord. You're going to be in alignment with him. That's basically
this desire from Jesus telling us that his desire for us is to work towards the kingdomly
things, to the heavenly things. He's telling us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven
because where we are working for, when we're laying up treasures in heaven, that's where
our heart will be. If we're laying up treasures on earth, that's where our heart will be.
Right? So let's keep that in mind that we are talking about spiritual treasures when
we're thinking about the things of God. So as we look at earthly riches, riches being
the abundance of invaluable possessions or wealth, there are many other ways of describing
riches, abundance, treasure, wealth, affluence, assets, fortune, gold, opulence, plenty, property,
resources, substance, worth, the opposite of course being lack or poverty or debt. And
some similar synonyms to this would be like carnal. When we talk about earthly riches,
we're talking about a carnality, temporal, terrestrial, or worldly. So there's a powerful
excerpt from the Lay of the Last Minstrel by Canto, or in Canto 6, sorry, by Sir Walter
Scott. And it goes a little something like this. It says, Breathe there the man with
soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land, whose heart
hath near within him burned, as home his footsteps he hath turned. From wandering on a foreign
strand if such there breathe go mark him well, for him no minstrel rapture swell. High though
his titles, proud his name, boundless his wealth, as wish can claim. Despite those titles,
power impel, the wretch concentrated all in self, and doubly dying shall go down, or actually
living shall forfeit, fair renown, and doubly dying shall go down, to the vile dust from
whence he sprung, unwept, unhonored, and unsung. So like the pleasures of sin, earthly riches
last only for a very short season. You know, if we're lucky in life, you'll live to your
seventies or your eighties, or by strength of will you make it into the hundreds. This
is why we're warned about fostering this covetousness relationship, or covetous relationship with
wealth, fame, and riches here on earth. Blessings is not the concern here. We can see from the
story of Job that God enjoys blessing his people. We can see that with the entire story
of Israel, there are blessings, they are a blessed people, and their propensity to turn
away from God didn't stop God from blessing them as a nation throughout their history,
and trying to call them back to him. The issue isn't having the riches, but rather hoarding
the riches, or the use of earthly gain for things outside of God's purpose. If you look
at the story of Solomon, he was the wisest of kings and the richest of kings, but it
was his foolishness in the end to show off his wealth and splendor in a way that was
unbefitting such a wise king that ended up causing problems for his ancestors down the
line. So again, we're called to be emissaries for this heavenly kingdom, but if we were
to be witnesses to the world for God, the creator, then what example are we setting?
If people look into our spending habits, what would they see? Is your spending, your savings,
your focus on the things of God or on the things of man? How do you go about gaining
wealth? Are you doing this in an ethically or moral way? So people on the outside are
looking at us as Christians, and they're judging us and trying to see, are they being ethical,
are they being responsible? This is not an idea of, oh, well, they're not giving the
charities that I like, or oh, they're not supporting things that I like. That's not
what I'm talking about, because we all know that there's going to be judgment from sinners
because we do not align with them spiritually, but we still have to work and ourselves and
be ethical. Proverbs 28, 6 says, better is the poor man who walks in his integrity than
a rich man who is crooked in all his ways. This speaks to that truth that we are called
to have integrity in the ways of God first. And then if blessing comes through that, then
great, but it is better to be the poor man and have integrity than to be the rich man
and be crooked.
And Luke 16, 19 through 31, we see this illustrated with the rich man in Lazarus. In verse 19,
there is a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every
day and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores, who desired to
be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked
his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by angels to Abraham's side. The rich
man also died and was buried and in Hades being tormented. He lifted up his eyes and
saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy
on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am
an anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that in your lifetime you
received your good things and Lazarus in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted
here and you are in anguish. And beside all this, between us and you, a great chasm has
been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able and none
may cross from there to us. And he said, then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's
house for I have five brothers so that they may warn them, so that he may warn them lest
they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the
prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to
them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. How prophetic.
I mean, obviously, you know, Jesus knew what was going to happen in this situation and
he's giving this this, uh, you know, a parable. But the reality is, is this is foreshadowing
to what to come and is foreshadowing for the time that we live in now where we do have
a risen Lord and people still choose not to believe. And Revelation 18, 16 through 17
says, alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet
adorned with gold and with jewels and with pearls for in a single hour, all this wealth
has been laid to waste. These scriptures highlight for us the frailty of earthly riches. Even
in the story of Job, we can see a picture of how quick our wealth and abundance can
be swept away. We see Job is a godly man being tested. Everything was taken away from Job,
his kids, his wealth, even his health. He was only left with his very judgmental friends
and an understandably bitter wife. Thank goodness Job remained a hedge of protection for his
wife. Even though Job was considered blessed and rich by man prior to these events, it
was not these riches that set him apart and why he can still be read and we can still
read about him today. Job was set apart because his actual riches were stored up in heaven.
He went through a tremendous trial, but in the end he was vindicated by and his blessings
were multiplied. But his true riches are still the riches that he received stored up in heaven.
Which brings me to my third and final point, which is heavenly riches. Synonyms for heavenly,
angelic, blissful, celestial, delectable, delicious, divine, glorious, holy, lovely,
supernatural, wonderful. These are the kind of riches that we're trying to store up in
heaven. The focus of our life being one that we are trying to go forward in and align with
the heavenly vision that we have received in Jesus Christ. As we move forward in that
heavenly vision, we're storing up the riches in heaven that Jesus Christ tells us to focus
in. Again in the text it says in verse 20, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven.
This is from our Lord, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not
break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart is. I emphasize again
that this is the works that come by the faith that you've already put into action. You've
already had faith, which you received salvation by grace of no work of your own. But because
now you have Jesus in your heart, your life starts to change and you become aligned with
him, now you have a desire to do the things of God, to work towards laying up these treasures
in heaven. That's what we're talking about here is the outflow that comes from salvation
by grace. We're not talking about works that lead to salvation. We're talking about works
that come from a changed life because of salvation. In Hebrews 13, 5, it says keep your life free
from the love of money and be content with what you have for he has said, I will never
leave you nor forsake you. This is something I battled with all the time. I'm a working
pastor. I'm a pastor full time, but I do have a full time job as well. What does that mean?
That means I have to in my day to day life remember that this is my calling is to preach
the gospel and to reach the lost. This is my focus to do that. I had to grow in my own
life into a place where I knew that I needed to have a job to help provide for my family,
but for a long time I was chasing after corporate goals. I'd had jobs that were going to potentially
lead me to higher responsibility, but they always required an amount of commitment that
was going to take me away from the things of God. They were always going to take me
away from my family to a certain extent. There's this corporate rat race idea of if you want
to make it in life, you need to sacrifice all of these things on the altar of whatever
corporation you're working for. It's a shame really because we're supposed to be looking
towards the heavenly things and oftentimes many people will do this. I came to a place
in my life where I had to understand that the benefits received from this corporate
race were going to be hugely detrimental to not just my family and my life here on earth,
but they were going to be detrimental to my spiritual life. I had to come to a place where
I literally was able to say, I'm giving you my life, Lord. I'm going to be content with
where I'm at. I'm going to be content with what I have. I'm going to do a good job with
the responsibilities I have, but I need to focus in on the things of God. When we look
at Andre Augustine, he says that despite his wealth of success playing the game interfered
with his personal relationships, he felt disconnected with his life. He then became very involved
with philanthropy and was especially interested in education. He started taking his eyes off
of himself, his success, and a lot of the success drive that he had came from his relationship
with his earthly father, the fact that his father desired for him to be this superstar
in tennis. He had these barriers that caused him to be very aloof in his own personal life
and it was very hard for him. But it wasn't until he was able to put that aside and start
serving others that he started finding fulfillment.
Why did Andre feel so unfulfilled despite his immense earthly success? As we read earlier
in 1 Timothy 6, 9, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare,
into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Discontentment
can drive people to desire riches when the root of their discontentment is that they
are not connecting to the Father. Even with Andre, we can see that in his heyday he had
issues with alcoholism. He was looking for love with all sorts of different women and
models and different things. He wasn't finding fulfillment in what he was doing so he was
looking for other things to fill this void in his heart. But here's a useful article
that expands upon this thought. Discontent is one of the most powerful shaping influences
in our society. Advertisers regularly attempt to dissuade us from the things we use every
day in order to sell us their products. Political parties thrive on discontent, stirring up
voters to covet things they do not have in order to elect a candidate who will take from
one group of people and give to another. Truly contentment is rare today. So think about
that though because this is not a new idea. This is one of the things that led to the
fall of Greece was in the democracies of Greece they were true straight democracies. The way
that political leaders would win their elections was they would take from one group usually
the richer minority group because everybody in Greece got one vote and they would take
from the more elite richer group and give to the poor group. As time goes on this process
would continue to happen until now. There is not an affluent richer group. Everybody
has a lot less of everything and it caused Greece to be ripe for being taken over. That
is with Alexander the Great and eventually their empire collapsed upon itself.
This is why there is so much advertising though to gaining riches, fame, and power is that
this idea of focusing in on the discontentment of others. When discontentment is the driving
force in a person's life all sorts of problems can result. Spouses can rush headlong into
extramarital affairs. Households can pile on loads of debt as they try to keep up the
lifestyle of their neighbors. Biblical truths can be distorted in an effort to make the
message easier to sell. Timothy faced some kind of doctrine elaborations resulting from
teachers who made monetary gain their chief end in life. The prosperity gospel is nothing
new and that is why Paul urges contentment with one's own estate in 1 Timothy 6, 6-8.
He expands upon this principle in today's passage reminding us that a desire to be rich
fueled by discontentment can create senseless desires and result in destruction. Note that
Paul does not say that those who are rich are the ones who succumb to temptation as
if having wealth is evil in itself. Many of the saints who lived during biblical area
were wealthy. For example in Genesis 13, Luke 8, 1-3 we can see this. So being rich itself
is not sinful. What Paul is warning us against is the desire for wealth. But even here he
is not cautioning against the desire to improve one's estate but the desire that makes money
and things to be the end all be all of life. The apostle is warning us not to be like the
rich fool who stores up possessions only for himself and never thinks about how he can
benefit others. As John Calvin explains, having luxuries is not to be condemned on its own
account but lusting after them is always sinful. Those who love money above all else will do
anything to get more of it. They will fall into a snare. We just read that in 1 Timothy
6, 9 which is the same word used in snare of the devil in 3, 7. People who worship gold
and silver will find their bank account will not help them escape the same fate reserved
for Satan. So as we close we need to look at the focus on heavenly riches. What does
that mean? We are called to build our house on the rock of Christ. The revelation of Jesus
the Messiah, the son of God. Our purpose then is to build our lives around that revelation.
Our focus should be on the great commission of spreading the gospel, spreading the word
of God, and seeing others saved by God's grace. As we move into the purpose that, as
we move into this purpose that's laid out for us in the Bible and focus our efforts
on God's will, then Jesus will be building our heavenly home and storing up our heavenly
riches. John 14, 1-3, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Let not your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I
would not have told you, or would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself
that where I am you may also be. So in closing, watch your desires. As we read in Proverbs
423, be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life. Watch your thoughts,
they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become
habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character for it becomes your destiny.
And then remember, we're not trying to store up earthly riches. As we read in our text,
we're not laying up treasures here on earth because they can be eaten by the moth, destroyed
by rust, and thieves can come and steal them. In Revelation 18, we see again that it doesn't
matter how fine of clothes you're in, the city, the greatness of the city that you live
in, how many jewels and pearls and gold you have, because all this can be laid to waste
in just a single hour. And in the times we live in today, this is a very critical thing
for us to understand with everything that could be on the horizon, with all the wars
and rumors of wars, with all the tumultuous events that are happening in the economies
of the Western cities. As the Western nations are collapsing in on their own lack of integrity,
we need to remember that trusting in the riches that we have right now is foolish.
We need to be laying up our heavenly riches. We need to keep our mind and our heart and
our spirit focused on the things of God. Because that's what's going to help us to weather
these storms like Job did and to build for ourselves treasures in heaven. Every head
bowed, every eye closed. Of course, if you're driving, keep a 10 and 2, keep your eyes on
the road. But everybody else, I always like to take a quick minute to give an invitation.
As a Pentecostal church, we believe in the invitation and doing altar calls. And it doesn't
matter where you are because anything can become an altar if you're doing it with a
right heart. And what do I mean by that? It's simply we just give an invitation that if
this message has impacted you, if this message has spoken to you and you know you're not
right with Jesus Christ, you know you're not right with God right now, I want to give you
the opportunity to get right. I want to give you the opportunity to be saved. And what
does that mean? That just simply means that you're turning from your sinful life, you're
accepting Jesus as your Savior and faith. And then therefore you receive grace. It's
an invitation that's open for everybody. But you have to allow yourself to receive it.
It's nothing we do. You just have to open yourself to receive it. So if that's you,
it's as simple as this sinner's prayer, which is, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. And
you can repeat this after me. Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you
sent your son Jesus Christ and that he died on the cross for my sins. I repent of my sins.
I turn away from them and I accept you Lord as my Savior. I ask you to enter into my heart
and be my Lord and Savior in my life. And I thank you for the grace that you bestowed
upon me in salvation that comes from that grace in Jesus name. Amen.
If you pray that prayer, I'd really appreciate it if you shot me a message, if you reached
out to me, I'd love to hear from you. And otherwise I just thank you for listening to
this message and I look forward to you coming back again. I just want to quickly close in
prayer. Dear Lord, I pray this message goes out from here and touches the nations of the
world. I hope that it reaches the lost to bring them to call them to Christ through
your Holy Spirit for nothing that I do can can bring people to salvation. But I pray
that the Holy Spirit would use this to bring people to you to the foot of the cross and
that they give their lives to you. I give you all the praise and glory and Jesus mighty
name. Amen. Thank you again and I can't wait for you to come back next time.