Let's open our Bibles together to the book of
Acts, the seventh chapter. spiritual warfare
occurring in the spiritual dimension of reality.
This warfare began with Satan's rebellion and
consequent judgment, and entered into human history
in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. So now
every descendant of theirs is involved in this
warfare, know it or not, like it or not, none
is exempt. from this warfare between the forces
of the evil one and the Lord God. When an individual
is saved, he is transferred from the side of
Satan to the side of God. Thus he joins the victory
side. In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer,
says the New Testament, through him who loved
us. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who always leads
us in his triumph in Christ. That victory is
woven throughout the text that we are going to
read this morning beginning in verse 54 of Acts
7. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed
intently into heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened
up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand
of God. But they cried out with a loud voice
and covered their ears, and they rushed upon
him with one impulse. And when they had driven
him out of the city, they began stoning him.
And the witnesses laid aside their robes at the
feet of a young man named Saul. And they went
on stoning Stephen, as he called upon the Lord,
and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And
falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud
voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
Having said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was
in hearty agreement with putting him to death.
On that day a great persecution arose against
the Church in Jerusalem. They were all scattered
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except
the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen
and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul
began ravaging the Church, entering house after
house, and dragging off men and women. He would
put them in prison. Therefore, those who had
been scattered went about preaching the word,
and Philip went down to the city of Samaria and
began proclaiming Christ to them. And the multitudes
with one accord were giving attention to what
was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the
signs which he was performing. For in the case
of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming
out of them, shouting with a loud voice. And
many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed,
and there was much rejoicing. in that city. Now
there was a certain man named Simon who formerly
was practicing magic in the city and astonishing
the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone
great. And they all from smallest to greatest
were giving attention to him saying, this man
is what is called the great power of God. That
was his billing, you see. When Simon was doing
his thing, that's how he was introduced. The
great power of God, Simon. They were giving him
attention because he had for a long time astonished
them with his magic arts. When they believed
Philip, preaching the good news about the kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were
being baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon
himself believed. After being baptized, he continued
on with Philip. As he observed signs and great
miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.
Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God, they sent
them Peter and John, who came down and prayed
for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
For he had not yet fallen upon any of them. They
had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on
them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed
through the laying on of the apostles' hands,
he offered them money, saying, Give this authority
to me as well, so that every one in whom I lay
my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter
said to him, May your silver perish with you,
because you thought you could obtain the gift
of God with money. You have no part or portion
in this matter, for your heart is not right before
God. Therefore, repent of this wickedness of
yours, and pray the Lord if possible the intention
of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see
that you are in the gall of bitterness and in
the bondage of iniquity." But Simon answered
and said, pray to the Lord for me yourselves,
so that nothing of what you have said may come
upon me. So when they had solemnly testified
and spoken the word of the Lord, they started
back to Jerusalem. We're preaching the gospel
to many villages of the Samaritans. God's servants
are on the victory side. Our text today reveals
three encouragements to the children of God about
their Heavenly Father. The first encouragement
is this, that God's sovereignty employs all circumstances
to achieve His will. God's sovereignty employs
all circumstances to achieve His will. That does
not mean that God creates all circumstances,
for He is not responsible for sin, yet they all
are used to achieve what He has ultimately purposed.
There are two seemingly disastrous circumstances
in our text which occurred in one day. Let's
notice how God used them to accomplish His purpose.
The first circumstance is the death of Stephen,
the first martyr of the newborn church. We studied
his trial this last week. We looked at his lengthy
historical defense, which actually became an
indictment of the nation of Israel. His words
to them resulted in their rejection of the gospel
and of their Messiah, that rejection being signified
by their killing of the Lord's prophet, Stephen.
It is interesting to notice the parallels between
Stephen's death and that of Christ's. Both involved
a trial before the Sanhedrin on charges which
were trumped up. Both had false witnesses brought
before the trial to accuse them. Both were accused
of blasphemy. Both prayed for their murderers
when dying. It is further interesting just to
notice in passing that the deaths of Christ and
Stephen are the only two death scenes recorded
in detail in the New Testament. Stephen's martyrdom
was crowned with a vision, a spectacular and
majestic vision of the Lord. Stephen confirms
as a witness himself the exaltation of the Lord
Jesus Christ to the right hand of God the Father.
Jesus had said himself that he was going there.
But now there is one standing on earth who looks
into heaven and says, in essence, yes, he is
there. I see him at God's right hand. The right
hand, of course, signifying the place of acceptance,
the place of full authority and honor. As Stephen
looks up, he sees Jesus standing, not sitting
at the Father's right hand. Most of the time
the New Testament refers to his posture as that
of sitting. But Stephen sees him standing there,
and the question is why was Christ standing?
Well, there are several possible answers to that.
It may show his intense awareness of the events
transpiring there in the city of Jerusalem. Perhaps
he is also preparing to welcome home Stephen,
his child. Stephen bore witness on earth to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
stands before the Father in heaven to bear witness
of his servant, Stephen. Whatever the reason
for that, the fact is that Stephen's death might
appear on the surface as a major defeat for the
will of God. For after all, here is a key spokesman
who is silenced. But verse 58 introduces to us
the person of Saul of Tarsus. And here we understand
something of why God is allowing this event to
take place. It brings Saul to the forefront,
not yet a believer, still very much a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. A man who on this occasion
approved of the execution of Stephen. They laid
their coats at his feet. That doesn't mean they
needed someone to guard them. That means that
he may well have been in charge of the execution
itself. Luke inserts the detail regarding Saul
because he wants us to see that in the seed of
Stephen's life, which is being planted at this
point in death, there is very soon going to germinate
another life, another man, whose influence upon
the whole Roman Empire will be many times greater
than that which Stephen had in the church in
Jerusalem. Undoubtedly, Saul was impressed with
the demeanor of Stephen as he laid down his life
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly,
Saul heard his prayers as he prayed for the Lord
to receive his spirit and asked the Lord in essence
to forgive his murderers. St. Augustine was so
impressed with this truth that he said, If Stephen
had never prayed, Paul had never preached. His
point being that the prayers of Stephen were
so important and so overwhelming in their significance
that they struck the heart of Saul and he was
unable to escape them though he continued on
in his persecution of the church. One of the
positive outcomes of Stephen's death is Saul's
ultimate conversion, although interestingly Paul
never does, in his letters at least, refer back
to this occasion. Will you notice that how God
used even this circumstance to bring about his
ultimate purpose? This is the second disastrous
event that took place that day, and that is great
persecution against the church in Jerusalem.
It says that all were scattered. Now the all
here probably refers to all of the Hellenistic
or the Greek oriented Jews like Stephen who were
there in the city of Jerusalem. There was not
entirely good feeling between the Palestinian
born Jews and those who had a Hellenistic background.
And so probably on this occasion it was those
Hellenistic Jews who had converted who were chased
out of Jerusalem. The apostles remained in the
city, evidencing among other things their great
courage. although they were not Hellenistic Jews.
Saul was like an animal that got a taste for
blood. He was like a vicious wild beast who with
excitement and determination went about persecuting
the Church of Jesus Christ. In verse 3 it says
that he ravaged the Church a very strong term.
And so it might seem that suddenly the revival
in Jerusalem is over. This great movement of
the Spirit of God that we have observed in our
study now for a number of months may seem on
the surface to be cut short by the persecution
against the church, that its potency has been
diminished, that Satan has gotten a victory.
that God used even this circumstance to accomplish
His will. It says, therefore those who had been
scattered went about preaching the word. So once
again, God used what was a disastrous circumstance,
humanly speaking, to bring about His ultimate
will and design. They went about into the city
of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.
Remember Acts 1 -8? Jesus said, you'll be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea. And what
was the next place? Samaria. This was God's method
of getting the gospel to the Samaritans. Otherwise,
the Jews might never have gone there. These Jewish
Christians, they might never have gone there.
But the Lord forced them out of the city of Jerusalem.
through the persecution, and they went to the
city of Samaria. My point is this, that nothing
outward can thwart God's will in your life. He
uses even seeming disasters to achieve His ultimate
good for you. Notice I said nothing outward.
There is something inward that can thwart God's
will. And that is a rebellious heart. If our
hearts are not right with God, we can thwart
the will of God and waste our lives. Such tragedy,
such awful sadness when that occurs. But there
is nothing outward in our circumstances which
can possibly hinder God's will in our lives.
He uses all of them by His sovereignty to accomplish
His good. and His design for you and me. Boy,
that's a great encouragement to me in the midst
of my battle. I don't know about you, but that's
an encouragement to me as one who is on the side
of victory to know that God is working for me
in all of my circumstances. Now, there's a second
encouragement I want you to notice. It is that
God's kingdom advances through the proclamation
of Christ. Now, there are some in our world today
who have mistaken ideas about how God's kingdom
advances. There are some who think it happens
through legislation, others through environmental
improvements. Some think that God's kingdom is
advanced by throwing over oppressive governments,
or by education, or by healing the sick and feeding
the poor, or by working for a nuclear free world.
Indeed, this theme, the kingdom of God coming,
is a favorite of liberal theology, which of course
we totally reject. What they usually mean by
the coming kingdom of God is that man, by his
own ingenuity and goodness, by his improvements
and evolution, if you please, will establish
a utopia of peace and justice in the world. Such
an idea is a misunderstanding of both the kingdom
of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The kingdom
will not come as a result of humanity's efforts,
but indeed in spite of them. Furthermore, the
kingdom will be to the glory of God and not to
man's glory. The kingdom refers to God's rule
in the world. Now, that is an invisible kingdom
in the hearts and lives of those who follow Him.
Someday it will be a visible, earthly, real kingdom
when Jesus comes again. And then they often speak
of the gospel of Christ as being the good news
that man has a spark of divinity in Him, or that
we all have innate goodness which just needs
to be announced and developed. the world will
be a better place. But the gospel of Jesus Christ
is the fact that men are lost hopelessly in sin,
but that God has loved us so much that he has
sent his Son to die on the cross, be raised from
the dead, to save us from our sin. What we need
to do is to trust in him, to believe on him,
in order to be saved. That is the gospel of Christ.
God's kingdom His true kingdom advances when
the gospel of Christ, the true gospel of Christ,
is proclaimed. It advances not continents at
a time, not cultures at a time, but one person
at a time. When that one person responds in faith,
that is the advance of God's kingdom. including
Philip, who went into the new areas to proclaim
Christ. The result of this was that the gospel
and God's kingdom extended further than ever
before into enemy territory, including Samaria.
I don't think I need to recount for you the intense
hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. These
people gave attention to what was being preached
by Philip. Now, why would these Samaritans pay
attention to him? Well, in the first place, he
was proclaiming the gospel of the Messiah. You
may know that the Samaritans in their own peculiar
religion, which was a mixture of Jewish religion
and Gentile paganism, that these Samaritans also
believed in a Messiah who was coming because
they accepted the Pentateuch, the books of Moses,
as being truth. And in Deuteronomy 18 .15, Moses
predicted the prophet who had come, a Messiah.
And so the Samaritans too looked for a Messiah.
In fact, read about it in the Samaritan woman's
conversation with Jesus. there at the well outside
the city of Sychar. They look for a Messiah.
And so now here is one who proclaims to them
the Messiah and at the same time who was doing
amazing things. He was delivering people from
demons and disease resulting in great rejoicing.
In verse 12 it says that many of these people
believed and they were baptized. Their baptism
being an evidence. of their genuine salvation.
You say, is it necessary for a person to be baptized,
to be saved? Of course not. Of course it is not.
Is a person genuinely saved who refuses to be
baptized? Question mark. I don't know. Because
in the New Testament, baptism is the outward
profession and evidence that one has genuinely
trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 14 through
17. We have recorded the fact that the apostles
sent a delegation to the city of Samaria in order
to check out what was happening there. Peter
and John were selected to go. Why did they come?
When they came, notice that they prayed for these
new converts that they might receive the Holy
Spirit. And it says that He had not yet fallen
upon any of them. They had simply been baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus. And so they prayed
for them, laid their hands on them, and they
received the Holy Spirit. Now let me emphasize
that that is not the norm for this age. But it's
something that God allowed to take place in Samaria
for a specific reason. And that was so the Samaritans
would understand what Jesus said. Back in John
4 the salvation is from the Jews. What takes
place here by the will of God allowed those early
believers from such diverse prejudice backgrounds
to be welded together for the Samaritans to understand
that what they were receiving was coming from
Jerusalem. And to help those people in Jerusalem
to understand that those Samaritans down there
were receiving the very same gift of salvation
that they had gotten. So you see it was to weld
together the early church so that there would
not be a church of Jerusalem and a totally separate
church of Samaria. It was the Lord's body to
be one. the message of Jesus Christ proclaimed
in our world today will give advance to God's
kingdom and God's work. And may I say that that
is true in your world as well, in your sphere
of influence where God has placed you. Only as
you proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ, Is God's
kingdom going to be extended through you in that
office, in that school, in your home? Would you
please understand that God has not called us
to circle the wagons. Do you know what I mean
by that? Have you watched enough cowboy shows
to know? God has not called us to build a fortress.
God has called us to be aggressive ambassadors
to the world, or to put it another way, to be
gorillas, not gorillas, gorillas, of love and
righteousness, reaching out to those who are
lost with the good news. When you and I do that,
believe me, it will not go unnoticed by the enemy.
And I think that we can observe in our world
that Satan is not on the defensive. but rather
he is on the offense. Let me just suggest to
you very quickly four fronts of obvious satanic
offense in our day. One is the front of Eastern
mysticism. This Eastern oriental religion is
mushrooming in our nation. Whether it is called
Hinduism or transcendental meditation or yoga,
it is mushrooming. in various parts of our world,
and especially in our country. I believe that
is because when people turn from the truth, they
are turned to the lie. And there's nothing that's
more hideous and filled with the lie than Eastern
religions. Second front that I see Satan attacking
on is that of what I call neo -Paganism. There's
a growing movement. In our nation today, returning
to paganism, witchcraft, astrology, and Satanism.
You can see it in the advertisements that Gene
Dixon is putting out for astrological forecasts.
Call this 800 number and get your astrological
forecast. It would be funny if it weren't so
serious. There is a growing concern, if you watched
2020 last Thursday night, you know that there
is a growing concern in our nation today regarding
the ritualistic worship of Satan, including human
sacrifice. There is growing evidence that some
of the children who have disappeared in our nation,
two million of them a year, are disappearing.
That some of these children have been sacrificed
to Satan. You had to see the program to appreciate
what I'm saying. If you didn't see it, maybe
you'd want to write for a transcript. It was
an extremely enlightening telecast, and I would
say that if they're concerned about it, that
it's something we better be aware of. There is
around us something called the New Age Movement,
which we've talked about in brief before. The
most recent issue of Christianity today, there
is an article quoting Douglas Groteis, a doctoral
candidate at the University of Wisconsin, regarding
the New Age movement. He says it's the result
of the counterculture which rejected materialism
and turned inward and eastward in the 60s and
70s. He says the New Age worldview added the
dimension of divine power to humanistic thought,
producing a type of cosmic humanism. He says
that the political agenda of the New Age movement
is a form of androgyny, making no distinction
between male and female. Males are held responsible
for the evils of human history. The neo -pagan
return to the Wicca concept of Mother God, holding
male and female in her womb, is a hallmark of
New Age religion and politics. That has to do
with witchcraft, by the way. A view of ecology
in which nature and God are merged. In other
words, a great emphasis on ecology. It's almost
a spiritual thing and the transcendence of God.
That is, that He is separate from and above His
creation is totally rejected. A world order that
applies and quote, all is one. close quote, theology
to nations, making national boundaries obsolete
and taking a global approach to the world's problems.
In other words, this is just socialism. Walter
Martin, director of the Christian Research Institute,
defined the New Age movement simply as occultism.
I think we see it as well in the popularity of
such games and television shows as Dungeons and
Dragons. Pat Pulling, who is the founder of BAD,
B -A -D -D, bothered about Dungeons and Dragons,
is the mother of a son who was in his early teens
who killed himself and was one who was deeply
involved in playing Dungeons and Dragons. After
studying this movement and this game, she says
that the material comes from demonology, witchcraft,
and the occult. Now she, as far as I know, doesn't
claim to be a Christian. She's just a mother
whose son died, killed himself as he was involved
in this particular game, and that's her conclusion.
This is neo -paganism. Satan is on the move,
my friend, in our nation today in neo -paganism.
And then in Islam. Islam is awakening to a new
era of militant evangelism, especially... in
what may be called the post -Christian cultures,
especially those in Europe. I was talking to
a missions executive this past week and she told
me that in 15 years, that is in the year 2000,
one out of every two babies born in France will
be born to Muslim parents, if the present trend
continues. and conversions in France. Today in
1985 in England, one church building every week
is being bought and made into a mosque with oil
money that you and I are supplying the Arabs.
Islam is on the move and I think is perhaps potentially
the greatest force that we are going to have
to reckon with not only spiritually but politically
in the world. even more so than communism, which
is my number four front. Because communism today
seems to be sterile in Europe and Asia, but it
is spreading like a fire through Latin America
as the impoverished masses seek alleviation from
their suffering. Satan is on the offense in our
world, and you and I who belong to Jesus Christ
need to be on the offense as well. proclaiming
the gospel of Christ, advancing His kingdom.
But you say the battle is tough. Satan is strong.
These powers around us are moving. That's right.
My friend, Jesus Christ is stronger. That brings
me to my third encouragement, and that is that
God's power overcomes the power of darkness.
Greater is He that is in you than He that is
in the world. We see individuals who are delivered
from demonic spirits, the spirits screaming as
they come out in verse 7. And then we are introduced
to one Simon who was the leading sorcerer in
that area. He was put out of business, at least
temporarily. His conversion in verse 13 seems
to have been a superficial one. You will notice
especially in the narrative books. of the New
Testament that the word believe does not always
mean genuine conversion. In James, it says, using
the same word that the demons believe. They're
not saved. They believe. I think in that same
sense, this man, Simon, believed he was even
baptized, but he was exposed for what he was
and what happens in verses 18 through 24. It
is from him we get our English word, simony,
which refers to the selling or buying of religious
office and privilege. This Simon was probably
not a genuine believer, but was exposed as one
who was still perishing in his sins. such direct
and obvious contact with the powers of darkness
as Philip here. We must not be deceived into
thinking that they are working only in pagan
lands, or inactive, or somehow merely ancient
superstitions. One of the ways in which Satan
enjoys working the most is through false Christianity.
He has done this from the beginning. It talks
about those messengers of Satan who disguise
themselves as angels of light. In other words,
they come on as Christian ministers and Christian
leaders, but in fact are the messengers of Satan.
Satan is very alive and active. I read an editorial
in a newspaper I get in which the writer... told
about a person by the name of Starhawk, a lady,
and he says I use that term generously, who had
a seminar in a church, and her seminar was entitled
Magic, Sex, and Politics. Starhawk has written
the Spiral Dance colon, the rebirth of the ancient
religion of the great goddess. That goes together
with that New Age stuff that I read a few moments
ago about Wicca and the worship of the goddess.
That's exactly what it's talking about. She also
wrote a book called Dreaming the Dark, colon,
Magic, Sex, and Politics, and that was her subject.
She claims to be a feminist, a peace activist,
a private therapist. I'll bet. and a witch who
teaches and practices the old religion of the
goddess." Now you say, what church in the world
would sponsor such a thing as that? It would
even allow it in its facilities. Where in America
could that happen, right? Plymouth Congregational
Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Satan loves
to use religion. That's his favorite disguise.
But let's make it a little more personal. You
see, Satan is not either just working in religious
leaders, but he also is working in your life
to seek to neutralize your effectiveness. Satan
does not care if you are cold or lukewarm in
your Christianity as long as you don't become
hot. He doesn't care if you're busy in church
work. as long as you don't pray. Satan doesn't
care if you attend services at church as long
as you don't witness when you leave. He doesn't
care how much money you give to the church as
long as you fail to love God with all of your
heart. Satan is on the attack against you, but
the encouragement is this, that God's power is
greater than the powers of darkness. Ephesians
6, verses 10 through 18. That's a key passage.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might. Put on the whole armor of God. My friend,
if you are a child of God, you are on the victory
side because of the victor, Jesus Christ. God
employs all of your circumstances to accomplish
His will. Even your failures, your mistakes,
the consequences that you bear because of past
sins, all of those God nonetheless employs to
accomplish His will in you. That should be an
encouragement to you, soldier. Secondly, God's
kingdom advances through the proclamation of
Jesus Christ. We have a job to do. You may feel
that your witness has fallen on deaf ears. Don't
forget that your witness is important whether
it's heard or it's not heard. It's exciting to
be a part of a church that has a purpose that
is greater than its members individually. Our
purpose in part is to be a witness in the Twin
Cities area to capture the attention of this
metropolitan area. with our sister churches.
To be involved in this is a great privilege.
I hope that you're involved in it. What an encouragement
to know that God's kingdom advances in this world
as we proclaim Jesus Christ. And the third encouragement
I remind you is that God's power overcomes the
powers of darkness. That is true even in the
strongholds that Satan may have constructed in
your life to battle against you. So, enjoy your
victory and experience it in your daily walk,
in your relationships, in your temptations, in
your opportunities. You say, well listen, Pastor,
all of that sounds really good, but I tell you
what, I'm already defeated and I quit. I resigned
from the Army. No, my friend, you didn't resign
from the Army. You may have gone AWOL, but God's
going to get you back. You can't quit this army.
Listen, it's no disgrace to be defeated, having
done your best, but it is a disgrace to quit.
Remember the George Washington who defeated the
English earlier, capitulated to the French in
the French -Indian War, but he didn't quit. Do
you remember the man who struck out 1 ,330 times
at bat? Do you remember his name? Of course not,
because you remember the fact that he got 714
home runs. His name was Babe Ruth. It's no disgrace
to be defeated, but it's a disgrace to quit.
You may have failed, but your failure is not
the important thing. It's what you do with that
failure that counts. How you let God use that
experience in your life. to strengthen you and
to teach you. I want to close today with just
a word that I'm taking from Dr. James Jeremiah
in a radio presentation that he gave some time
ago. He writes about Paul Morphy, who was the
champion chess player of the world. A friend
of his invited him to come and look at a valuable
painting that he had purchased. His painting
was entitled The Chess Player. It represented
Satan playing chess with a young man, the stake
of the game being the man's soul. The game had
reached the stage where it was the young man's
move, but he was checkmated. There was no move
he could make that would not mean defeat for
him. And the strong feature of the picture was
the look of awful despair on the man's face as
he realized his soul was lost and the grin on
Satan's face as he saw his victory. The chess
champion studied the picture for a time and then
called for a chess board and some men. Placing
them exactly in the same position as they were
in the painting, he said, I'll take the young
man's place and make the move. And he made some
moves that set the man free. F .W. Borum said,
When I heard this story, I thought it was just
like my life. In the game of life, I was the
loser. It was my move, but death was in every
direction. I was in despair when I saw one come
on the scene who knew all about my life, and
I recognized in him the only one who could help.
I turned the game over to him. And He made the
move that set me free. My friend, that one is
Jesus Christ, and He can move in your life today
if you let Him do it. Let's pray together. With
our heads bowed and our eyes closed, you know
you could be here today and you feel like the
person with that chessboard. You feel trapped.
You feel like every move you make could only
result in your further defeat, humiliation, maybe
even death. My friend, there is one on the scene
who's able to take your place, to make the move
for you to set you free. Will you look to him
today? You may need to be saved. You've never
trusted Christ as your Savior. You need to trust
him today. Or as a Christian, you may be at a
point of disobedience and your life is wrecked.
You're in bondage. There's one who is Wishes
to set you free if you'll just turn yourself
afresh to Him. Will you by the uplifted hand
say, Pastor, God has spoken to me and there are
some things in my life that I need to take care
of. Pray for me. I lift my hand to ask you to
pray. God bless you. Are there others? Yes. Lord,
I pray that these today who have been spoken
to will know that next move that you want them
to make. and will understand what the decision
clearly needs to be and what the steps are that
need to be made that you may work powerfully
in their lives. Lord, I pray today that they
may know that they are on the side of victory.
In Jesus' name, amen.