God Finishes What He Begins

Turn if you would to Philippians chapter one. This morning, Philippians chapter one. We're going to read verses three through six this morning. Philippians chapter one and verses three through six. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

Always in every prayer of mind for you may for you all making request with joy. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word today.

Pray Lord that you would use the sword of the spirit to pierce our hearts. We thank you Lord for this past week and what you've done. Lord, we pray for those who have made professions of faith. Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. That you would keep them close to you and Lord that they would continue to come and to grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Pray Lord for us who have known you for several years now. Born again, many years ago, that we too would continue to grow in the knowledge, the love, and the grace of Jesus Christ. Lord, never allow us to get to the point to where you think we've arrived. Or even Paul said, that he hadn't attained that yet. That he was pressing forward to the mark, the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and Lord, I pray that we would be tender and yielded to your work in each and everyone of our lives.

That we would be conformed to the image of your son, Jesus Christ today. As we exalt Jesus Christ, our savior in all things. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. God finishes what he begins.

That's what we're going to look at particularly from verse six. In Philippians chapter one today, men fail. I fail. God doesn't fail. Amen.

He always finishes. Amen. What he starts. There's a song in our hymnal on Tide. Jesus never fails.

And praise God. He doesn't. We start out in verses three to five. Paul writes there, once again, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mind for you all making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

Paul starts out this letter to the Christians at the church of Philippi very positive on a very positive note and he does in several of his letters but but even more so in this letter and and we continue to see this this positive note all the way through the letter to the Philippians. Paul was excited about what God was doing there in their lives, in that church, in that city. He wanted them to know right from the get go, right upfront that that he was excited and enthusiastic about what was happening there and in their lives and he says here, he says, I thank God. Paul didn't start out by saying, I thank you. He says, I thank God for you.

I thank God for you. For what God has done for you and bringing you into the fold of salvation and giving you a burden and an enabling power to minister in the gospel unto the lost. The fellowship and the furtherance of the gospel with the apostle Paul. Paul was excited to see what God was doing there and he thanked God for them and for their growth and for their burden for evangelism, for evangelizing the lost, and in spreading the gospel. He was excited that they were growing in the knowledge of the scriptures.

They were studying, they were learning, they were, they were gathering, assembling together to hear the preaching of God's word and it was changing their lives and those lives of others around them. He was excited about their growth and the knowledge of the scriptures. He was excited about their growth and their love for Christ and one another. Bible says, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts. He sheds abroad in our hearts.

The love of Jesus Christ. A love for Christ and a love for those whom Christ loves. For our brethren, We have fellowship with under the blood of Jesus Christ. He thanked God for their growth and their love for Christ. And for one another.

He thanked God for their growth and their burden to reaching others with the gospel and even their assistance in the evangelistic efforts of Paul. He mentions later in the book how they had sent an offering, a gift to him to to help him, to assist him in reaching other cities and other people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. These flags behind me that are obviously from other countries are up here because they represent missionaries that we have sent, that we are are part of supporting to other parts of the world to tell other boys and girls, men, and women. About Jesus Christ in the gospel. God is excited about that ministry.

Paul was excited about that ministry in Philippi. God is excited about that here. As we sit here today, there are others that we support and pray for that are preaching the gospel. In other areas of the world and even there, men and women, boys and girls are coming. To know Christ.

All of these things, Paul praised the church at Philippi 4 and encouraged them to go further. Don't stop. Keep going. Keep growing in these areas. Keep ministering.

Keep drawing close to the Lord. Do not become complacent. Do not become stagnant. What God has started, he will continue. This caused Paul to intercede all the more for them.

Making petitions to God for them regularly and joyously. Says here in verse four, always in every prayer of mind for you all, making request with what? With joy. Paul was excited and when he made request for the church at Philippi, he did it with a joyous heart. With some of these other churches he wrote to would seem he probably prayed for them with a heavy heart.

Because of some of the struggles in their churches. Just the fundamental things that they were struggling with but when it came to the church of Philippi, he prayed with a joyous heart. For them. He prayed with a joyous heart because he recognized the work that God was doing there. And he was excited about.

He recognized the work. It is a joy to see God at work in the lives of others. It is good to see. It is joyous to see the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of our church. It's been joyous this week.

It's been joyous many weeks before and I praise God. It'll be joyous for many weeks to come. God is doing a work here. He is doing a work in us. That should excite us When I started in the in the ministry as a youth pastor up in Georgia, there was a young man.

His name was Bryant. I've mentioned him before. Him and his wife are good friends of ours but Bryant was only a teenager in high school when I started as youth pastor and he didn't come to church much at all. His mom started coming and he started coming back to church with her every now and then but you know, when Bryant came to church and the invitation was given, only he only came about once a month but it seems like every time he came, when the invitation was given, he came forward. And I thought, what is God doing in this young man's life?

Well, he started coming more more often. Got to minister to him, pray for him. It was every Sunday morning for a while and then then he started coming on Wednesday night and and then he started coming on Sunday night. He became one of the leaders in my my youth group. During all of that, he he had a a girlfriend in high school.

He came to me one day and and we talked about it and I said, do you know if she's saved? He said, well, I think so. I think she's a Christian. I said, well, have you asked her? He said, no.

Well, how you going to know if you don't ask her? So, he asked her and he came back and he said, yeah. She says she's a Christian. I said, well, what did you ask? He said, well, I just asked her if she was a Christian.

She said, yes. You know, he didn't kind of delve any further into it. Find out if she knew what that meant or not. Well, she came to church with him. Few weeks later and after the service, I'm not sure.

I probably wasn't the first time she came. It was a second or third time she came but I had the opportunity to talk to her about the Lord and Brandy was not a Christian. She didn't she didn't have a clue what that meant and she trusted Christ as savior. Amen. And they dated for six years.

He went off to to Christian school. She stayed in in the area and eventually, they got married and they're the youth directors and at the church I youth pastor in Georgia. It was exciting to see what God was doing in their life. There's a young fellow named Jason. He got saved while he was in my youth group.

Somebody had given him a track and said, hey, pray this prayer and you'll be saved. You don't get saved by praying words of a prayer written on a track. You get saved by repenting and putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. He didn't know what he was doing. After he'd come a couple years, it dawned on him.

He wasn't saved. He got saved. He went off to Christian College and Lord did wonderful things in his life. Fellow named Jerry Brooks came to our church. He is somewhat of an an alcoholic, a partier, and and big fellow about four hundred pounds.

Somebody you wouldn't want to meet in the dark alley. But actually is meek as a pussycat but Gary got saved. He became one of our bus captains and drove buses every week to bring young people into the church. You know, those were joyous times and it's been a joyous time this week. It's been a joyous time if if you look at the cup is half full and not keep looking at it as half empty.

The whole time I've been here, I've seen souls saved. I've seen people growing and coming to know the Lord and growing in the Lord and you know, right over here, Daniel's over here this morning. I'm excited about what God's doing in Daniel's life. He got saved this week and I can already see a difference in his life. You know, God's not through with Daniel yet.

That's not through with you. Let's be excited about what God's doing. Let's let's get excited and let's let's go to the Lord in prayer with that excitement and pray with joy in our hearts. What he started, he's going to want. He's going to finish.

He's going to finish in Daniel's life, in our lives, and in our church. Paul said in verse six, he says, being confident of this very thing which he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Paul is positive in this letter for several reasons. For what he's seeing happening in the church of Philippi but he's also very positive because Paul knows something about the character and the power of almighty God. What God starts, he what?

Finishes. He finishes and what God had begun in the lives of these children of God in Philippi. He was going to finish. Have you ever started a project and never finished it? Wanna ask you to raise your hand but if you're human, somewhere along the line, you probably started something you didn't finish.

Some of us are more prone to that than others. When I was a kid, I I got a model car. Always liked that they used to go and you could go into Walmart or when I was a kid there it was Kmart. And they had these boxes about the size of a shoe box, not quite that big. And they had these model cars that you could put together.

They were plastic and either snap them together or you had to glue every little piece together and then you could paint it and put decals on it. Had our family car was an AMC Pacer. Does anybody remember what a Pacer looks like? Yeah, it looks like a Volkswagen on steroids. It just kind of malformed big Volkswagen and well, that's what we have.

Ours was a Pacer X though. It was special. It was just a little bit longer than a normal Pacer. So it didn't look quite as odd. But anyway, but for some odd reason I don't know if somebody bought it for me or I bought it.

But I bought this model Pacer. You know, you think you like you get a Mustang or something out of pacer but anyway, it's hard to believe they even sold a model of a pacer. But but they did and so I had this pacer and I put most of it together. You know, it it it you know, the the the main structure and all that, most of the pieces were on it and and I got so far and then I got down to the real tedious part. And well, I quit.

And it sat there and it sat there. For years, it sat there and then finally, it was gone. I think my mom probably got tired of seeing it and it just disappeared and I didn't even notice it was missing. So, I started a project and I didn't didn't finish it. But unlike me, God doesn't do that.

He finishes what he begins and he always does what he says. He will do. You can count on God. You can count on Jesus. Jesus never fails.

God cannot lie. Not only had God begun a good work in them but Paul could be certain that God would finish. Let's take a quick look at what God had begun and what God would finish. In the church at Philippi. First of all, what had God done?

What says here that he had brought them into the Paul thanked them, thanked God, and was joyful about their fellowship in the gospel. That word fellowship sort of means partnership. For their partnership in the gospel. Well, some commentators seem to imply that that meant their partnership in the ministry of the gospel and in the proclamation of the gospel and that is certainly a part of what Paul is saying but before you can minister in the gospel and proclaim the gospel, you first must be saved by the power. Of the gospel.

Paul said, for I am not ashamed. The gospel for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans one sixteen. Paul thanked God and was joyful because these people had been saved. They had been born again.

By the message gospel. By the message of the gospel. What is the gospel to Jesus Christ? God the son. Came to die for sinners on the cross.

And that he rose again from the dead and he ascended up into heaven where he sits, the right hand of the father. To intercede and to welcome all who come to him by faith. By faith. Paul was excited because they have been saved. They were born again.

They weren't just professors. They were possessors of a relationship in Jesus Christ by faith. And Paul was excited. It was Christ who came to seek and to save that which is lost. It was the father who had sent him.

You know John three sixteen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son, verse 17, into the world to condemn the world. We were already condemned in sin. God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be what? Saved.

Might be saved. Why did Jesus come come into the world? To seek and to save that which was lost. That's you and that's me. And that's a lost and dying world out there.

Jesus Christ came to die for them and he came to die for us. It was Christ who died on that cross for the sins of mankind but God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When it says, he died for us, that means, he died in our place. He took upon himself the penalty and the punishment for our sin, the sins of the whole world. The just for the unjust.

He being the just, we being the unjust, that he might bring us back together. With God. It was Christ who rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the father where he ever live it to make intercession. If you're like me you still struggle with temptation and sin I know you are. Bible says, if we say that we never sin, we do, we're what?

We're we're lying. But praise God that that's under the blood of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the father. My advocate in high. When I fail and when I sin and when I fall, Jesus Christ is there When Satan comes to condemn me to say, I already died.

That sin. It is under the blood of Jesus Christ. There is therefore no condemnation. To them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. It is Christ who rescued them and us from the eternal penalty of sin.

When we placed our faith in Christ alone as our savior and Lord. It is Christ who justified them and us from the condemnation of sin and has set us apart as the children of God. As many as received him, to them gave you power to become the children of God even to them, the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Colossians one hundred thirteen and fourteen, who hath delivered us? That is Christ who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son and whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins, that is what God has done.

It's not what you did. It's what he did. You can't save yourself and Isaiah sixty four six, it says, our righteousness is as what? Filthy rags. Can the rag clean itself?

No. Before the rag can be used, it has to be cleaned. Before we can reuse to bring glory to our creator and God, we have to be saved and we can't save ourselves. Only God can do that by his grace through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. And if you're saved today and you're born again and you're a child of God, you didn't do that.

I didn't do that. The person who showed you the message from God's word didn't save your soul. God saved your soul. Amen. It's God's work in us.

It's what God did on the cross of Calvary. It's what Christ did. When he died and rose again and ascended to the right hand of the father. It's God keeping his promise. It's God giving to us his gift.

Not of works but according to his mercy, he saved us. It is the work of God that is translated us, taken us from the kingdom of darkness and sin, and placed us into the kingdom. Light. The kingdom of his dear son. Eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness is God's gift to us. We have received it by his work. Not by ours. But as Paul points out to the Philippian Christians, what God had begun, he was going to what? Finish.

Finish. There was a day if you're a child of God. If you're saved, there was a day. There was a moment. When you humbled yourself and repented and put your faith in Jesus Christ as savior.

Being born again is a event in your life when God, when you come to God and God saves you. For Jesus said, he that cometh to me, I will in no eyes what? Cast out. Cast out. When you came to Christ in faith to be your Lord and savior.

I was nine years old. If you're saved, you should remember Time. Christ saved your soul. But God wasn't finished with you at that point. You see, that isn't the end.

That's just the what? That's just the beginning. That's just the beginning of what God is going to do for you and what he had done was going to do for the Philippians. Paul says, that which he hath begun. I am confident Paul says, of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it, will complete it, will finish it until the day before it.

Day that we stand before Christ. Robed in the righteousness of Christ Live with him forever. This week, past week, God began a good work in the lives of Dina and Daniel, McKenzie, and Caitlin who all made professions of faith in Christ as savior. As many of us did years ago. And he began his good work in them.

As he is still working in us. We can be assured that God will finish what he began. He will finish his work. He will deliver us safely. To his side.

To our home. In heaven. Spotless. Washed in the blood. Of the lamb.

To dwell with him forever. I want to look at a few passage of scripture that elaborate this morning. On what God is going to finish in you and me. First Peter one three to five. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

That's what God has done for you if you're saved. He who have been born again by God's power, by God's might, by God's work, by God's grace, according to God's mercy, into the family of God. Done in there. It says, two, two, an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and the fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the what? Power of God.

Power of God. Through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed. In the last time. What God, what has God said that he will do? Not only has he saved you by his grace and power, but God is going to keep you by his grace and power and he is going to deliver you one day to that place in that inheritance in heaven.

Incorruptible, undefiled, and the fadeth not a way that's reserved in heaven for you. There's place in heaven. And it already has your what? Your it. Essentially.

Name It's yours. It's your home. It's your eternal home. Yeah. You will be there one day.

It's as though you were already there essentially. God will keep his promise. It's yours. It's reserved for you. Now, you're not going to get there by your good works.

You're only going to get there because God's going to what? He's going to keep you in his hands. He saved you like he said he would when he came to him by faith and he's going to keep you. Jesus said, no man is able to pluck them out of my what? Out of my father's hand.

No one. No man. We are not saved by our good works for by grace are you saved through faith and not not of yourselves as the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Not by the works of the law but for by the works of the law, Galatians two sixteen, shall no flesh be justified in his sight. We're not saved by good works, neither are we kept by good works, but by the power God.

Luke, I mean, Romans eight twenty nine, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That word predestinate predetermined. That's what this is what it's saying. All those who are saved in Christ Jesus, who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, who are God's children. All of those who know Christ are predestined to become changed into the what?

The image of Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is predetermined. All those who are in Christ will be changed and conformed to the image of his son. If you receive Christ as savior by faith, you are his child and what is God doing in your life? Tells you right here.

He's conforming you what? To the image. To the image of his son. And someday, we're told in first John, when you stand before him, that you will be what? You will see him as he is because you will be like him.

Sin, thing of the past. You will be like him. We will see him as he is. God will have finished what he started. What he is doing now in the lives of each and every child of God.

You can be assured of. Second Timothy one twelve. Paul writes, for the which cause, that is the cause of Christ and the cause of the gospel, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.

Paul says, I know whom I have believed and I know that the one who I put my faith and trust in is going to keep his promise and I know that he is able to keep his promise and I know that he will keep his promise and that I am safe in his what? Safe in his hands. He will keep me until the day that I stand before him complete. Paul didn't say I'm confident that I am going to accomplish this. Paul said, I am confident that God is going to accomplish this in me.

Praise the Lord because if it was dependent upon you and me, we would have lost it. We would have never had it. It's only by the grace and power of God and it's only by his promise and his power and his grace that I know that I'm going to see him someday and I'm not going to see him at the Great White Throne. I'm going to see him at the Bema Sea. I'm going to see him in heaven.

The place he's reserved for me. I'm going to see my savior face to face and Imma give him all the glory for what he's done in my life and if you know Christ, you'll do the same. Hebrews seven twenty five, wherefore, he that is God is able also to save them to the uttermost. Now, how many often you use that word? In your regular uttermost.

Maybe not a word you use all that often. We'll come back to it. Wherefore, is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, by Christ. Seeing he ever live it to make intercession for them. Wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost.

God is able to save us to the uttermost. The word uttermost means completely and in perpetuity. I guess maybe you don't use the word perpetuity very often either. But it means that Christ saves us completely. He is sufficient.

His death on the cross was sufficient to save your soul and to forgive you of all your sins. Not only does He save us completely, but He saves us forever. He doesn't save you today and lose you tomorrow. He saves you today and He holds on to you for all eternity. Eternity.

He is able. He is able to do that because Christ is alive. We serve a risen savior. He is in the world today. I know that he is living No matter what man say.

I see his hand as Murphy. I see his voice of cheer and just the time I need him, he's always near. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today.

He lives the right hand of the father. He intercedes for me and so I know that I am secure in him and what he has started, he will what? Finish. And then Jude one hundred twenty four and twenty five. Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

To the only wise God, our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power both now and ever. Amen. Now, unto him, that is God, that is able to keep you from falling. It doesn't say that you are able to keep you falling. It says that what?

God is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless one day before his presence and glory with exceeding what? Joy. You know, God is joyful. God is glad that you are going to be with him in heaven someday and that he is going to keep the promise he made. Shouldn't you be glad?

Shouldn't you be excited? Shouldn't you be joyful for yourself and for others that know him? And that one day, we're going to celebrate Jesus together in heaven. We're going to sing praises to his name. We're going to lay our crowns at his feet.

For what he has done for us and finishing what he started. In closing this morning, and some of you are probably wondering if you're looking at the clock how I'm getting to the closing at quarter till. I started a little bit early if you didn't notice that. I'd like to ask three questions this morning. Question number one, have you been born again?

Have you been saved from sin and hell? Having received the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and his finished work on Calvary. Have you been born again? Or have you been trying to get to heaven your way? There's only one way to get to heaven and that's God's way and that's through faith in his son, Jesus Christ.

Have you been trying to get there your way? On your terms. There are a lot of people sitting in pews today in churches and that's exactly what they're doing. They're saying, God, I come to church. You you have to let me into heaven.

God, I read my Bible every now and then. You need to let me into heaven. God, I put money in the offering plate. Certainly, you're going to let me into heaven. God, I was nice to my neighbor.

I even prayed this morning. God, you're going to let me into heaven and God says, I never knew Depart from you that work iniquity. Only one way to be born again and that is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're trying to get in heaven on your own terms, you need to repent. You need to have a change of mind and heart.

You need to turn from your way to whose way? God's way. God's way. And be saved today. God will save your soul.

He will begin a good work in you. He'll finish it Question number two, have you had doubts about God's power to keep you safe or maybe you might say you have doubts about your power to keep you safe because see that's usually the problem. We get saved by faith and then someone confuses us and the devil comes in and convinces us that though we were saved by faith, in order to stay in God's good graces, we have to live such and such a way. Well, I tell you this, God does want you to live in such a way. He saved you that you might do that.

But you cannot keep yourself safe. But God can and if you've had doubts Don't listen to the devil anymore. Cast those doubts aside trust in the promise of who? God. The promises of God Get busy about the master's business and quit worrying about the thing that has already been taken care of.

Too many Christians out there. They're worried about something that God has already taken care of. And the devil keeps them all bent out of shape over something that's already been taken care of. To keep them from growing and serving the Lord. Let God do his part.

You do yours. Trust him. The number three this morning are you yielding to his work? Or are you resisting? You see, God has begun a good work in you and God will what?

He will finish that work but whether He and you are joyful in that work or whether you're miserable in that work. Depends upon you. Now, God's going to finish it. But you can make it easy or you can make it what? Turn if you would to Romans chapter 12.

You say, oh, here he goes. I knew the last point was going to take fifteen minutes. Because there's fifteen minutes till twelve almost yet. No, it's not. So, I'm just going to introduce this and we're going to finish this point next week.

Romans twelve one and two, I beseech you therefore, brethren, that word beseech means I plead. I plead with you. Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that's what God has done for you on the cross and saving your soul. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies. A living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Now, when Paul writes Romans chapter 12, he's not writing to lost people. He's writing to save people. He's writing to children of God. He's writing to saints. He's writing to those who've already been set apart through faith in Christ by the shed blood of Jesus into the kingdom of his dear son.

What is he saying to them? Say, now that you have been set apart, now that you have been saved, now that that's been taken care of by God and he's going to keep you. Now, Paul says this, I plead with you, I beg you. Choose to yield yourself. To present yourself, your body, your mind, your heart, your days, in service to the one who has bought you with his blood.

Yield yourselves to his spirit. Yield yourself to his word. Don't resist his work. Embrace it. Embrace his love.

Yield and submit to what he's doing. Don't fight it. Because you fight it, you're going to make yourself miserable. And you're going to be a little use to Christ on Earth. How sad when you stand before him someday and you see it all go up in smoke.

You have no rewards to lay at his feet. Don't fight it. Don't resist it. Yield to it. Embrace it.

When Christ points out something in your life, confess it. Forsake it. Get on your knees and pray for him to give you victory. Cast out temptation obey his word yield to his way In so doing, you will know the joy and the peace that comes in serving Jesus. He is the potter.

We are the clay. Yield to his hand. Don't resist it. He is working. He will finish.

But whether you enjoy it and prosper in it here, whether you're miserable and fighting it. Is up to you. God's begun a good work. God's going to finish the work. Are we receiving it with joy?

Are we fighting Let's make a decision If you haven't, today and tomorrow and the next day and the next day. To embrace it. And to yield ourselves to him day by day. To be conformed not to the image of the world but to be transformed. Into the image of his son, Jesus Christ.

Not only the day before that we stand in the heaven but as we're living for him. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for this day. Thank you Lord for what you've done this past week. Pray Lord for those that have made decisions and Lord, the devil was already already attacking them and standing in their way, bringing doubts into their mind.

Lord, I pray that you keep their eyes focused on you. I pray Lord that they would continue to come and grow in the Lord. I pray Lord that Lord as you have worked today, that we would consider Lord, that we need to to trust you to do your part and Lord that we need to yield to you by your grace and through your power you would shine out more brightly in our lives. Here, in this place, today, we be the salt and light that you've called us to be, that we would not hinder your work or resist your work. For disobedience and doubt and rebellion but Lord that we might yield ourselves fully to you.

That you would draw others to yourself. That you might be magnified in us. Bring glory to your name. Lord, I pray. There's one here today that's never trusted Christ.

I pray as we sing this hymn of invitation, they would come that we might show them how they might be safe today and I pray that we who know Christ as savior, that we would consider Lord. That we would examine ourselves to see if there is any area in which we are resisting your work. We might get that right with you. In Jesus name, we pray.