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it was good morning let's go ahead and get started we will um start out with the reading of the word um chosen isaiah 40 28-31 have you not known have you not heard the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth never faints nor is weary his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might he increases strength even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint may god bless the reading of the word by the way if you haven't noticed our shepherd is sitting right over here now he won't say this he's not got his full strength back yet so take it easy on him but you can't keep him away we've missed him pastor good to see you and let's do some praise and worship let the glory rise up in this this place i count on one thing the same god that never fails he's working on yes is oh now is never later i choose i choose i choose amen hallelujah thank you jesus is jesus foreign is is oh jesus is is is is is open precious more tell the world of the treasures you found please i give myself away i give myself away here i is to see your jesus give myself away give myself away so you exactly all my dreams i give myself away take my heart all my dreams lord i play give myself away away so you can see this to give is me please thank you jesus praise your father well um today we have one of our own that's um going to bring the word um you probably have seen fred malpika sitting back there a lot of times praying and you guys are praying man but let me tell you something he's an impressive guy okay he'll intimidate the best of us with his credentials all right not only is the guy a supervisor at the faa but he's also a nurse and he's studying to get his credentials uh under under under uh the expert here um fred's from puerto rico so if he starts off and starts spouting off spanish just just hang on go with him because he'll come back around a minute you know and and rely on the holy spirit to kind of kind of keep us up with him during that time so uh i'm looking forward to it he's an impressive man and sincere godly christian man fred my pickup god bless your church i didn't hear that one god bless you church amen we're here to praise the lord right so then we can't have our mouths shut right hallelujah so uh thank i want to thank the church and i want to thank the pastor pastor scruggs for uh for really uh taking me under his wing and uh giving me this opportunity and for mike and and everybody that's part of the leadership of the church um it's really a privilege to be able to come up here and share god's word with each and every one of you and uh but i also have to recognize that it's only because of god's mercy that we get the chance to be up here as well we're all human beings we all have fallen short of the glory of god so no one regardless of credential or anything else can say that it's through their own strength or their own determination that they are able to share god's word we can share because of his mercy and because he's great and because he's awesome and that's why we praise him and that's why we come to this building because we call this place the church but the church is here the church is in your heart the church is in our minds the church is in our home so wherever we congregate whether it's in this building or outside or wherever that's where the church is at that's where the holy spirit's presence will be and that's what i look forward to every time i come here to see each and every one of you because you guys are my my uh christian family amen you guys are my brothers and sisters and my mentors and um i just uh i just thank god that i'm able to be here and be able to share this experience with each and every one of you amen i'm gonna uh read from the book of matthew really quick chapter 24 starting in verse 4 through 14. and uh my the version i use as nasb is slightly different than new king james but at the end of the day the lord's word is the lord's word amen we read the word in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit amen and jesus answered and said to them see to it that no one misleads you for many will come in my name saying i am the christ and will mislead many you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars see that you're not frightened for those things must take place but that is not yet the end for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes but all these things are merely the beginning of the birth pangs then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another many false prophets will arise and will mislead many because lawlessness is increased most people's love will grow cold but the one who endures to the end he will be saved this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come let's pray father god i give you thanks for this opportunity for this day o lord i give you thanks for the help that you have given us o lord and for the healing that you have blessed many of us with oh lord i thank you because you are the one on the throne o lord you are the sovereign god of all and i thank you because you've given us and shown us your mercy and love i pray o lord that you guide me this this morning o lord with this message may the message that comes out of my mouth be only the words that you want to be spoken this morning o lord guide me o lord let the holy spirit fill me o lord fill me with that un saying i ask that you give me that that anointing o lord jesus to be able to speak the word the way you want me to speak it oh lord guide us and open each and every one of our hearts and our minds let our ears hear your word and let our eyes be able to see the truth before us o lord i ask you these things and jesus mighty name amen beloved when i when i was reading this prior you know as we read it and it sounds a lot like what's happening right now we see the earthquakes we see the famines many of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted all over the world but i my worry is that the magnitude in which it's happening is not quite yet what god is talking about and it's going to be times where it's going to be difficult not only for our brothers and sisters overseas but the time is going to come where it's going to get real difficult right here right here in our homeland in the land of the free there's going to be a moment where we may not feel so free as we all know there is a systematic uh strategy that's being employed has been employed for many years now that is trying to cover our mouths cover the mouth of those that want to speak truth cover the mouths of those that want to live according to god's will and what he teaches us in his word info they've infiltrated government infiltrated our schools and they're going towards our future our children and it's a serious issue folks because if we don't make changes in our homes immediately our children will be the victims of our failure we can't always blame satan for the things that we don't do when we know we're supposed to do satan's always going to employ things against us but it's up to us to be that wall it's up to us to be that stronghold it's up to us to put up that shield against what the enemy is trying to throw at each and every one of us because it's our job to take care of our children the bible says to teach your children and bring them up in the word so when you don't do that what do you expect because they've already got the school system so what's next there may come a time where we can't even send our children to school because we're going to have to teach them at home and then the worry there is will those credentials be valid to be able to survive secularly difficult times are coming ladies and gentlemen and what worries me even more is that i as i was researching the church i i decided to look up to see if if there was anybody or or any organization that was taking polls or surveys about about the church and and how people identify whether they identify with with christianity or not or unaffiliated or whatever it may be and i found a study and it compared the the share of the american public from 2009 and compared it to 2018-2019 and let me tell you it's a sad story because we read in matthew that many will fall away but we're not even there yet and we're falling away it's a serious issue super serious issue it shows here that in this poll in that change of just 10 years basically from 09 to 1819 we had a loss of 12 with men and a loss of 11 of women and we're talking about the population the united states so you may think that 12 is not much but we're talking about many many people and then when you look at the right side of the scale and we tried to get it up on the screen but it just it just wasn't working but there's an increase with those that say that they're unaffiliated with any church an increase of 10 in both men and women why why do we lose people that one day were believing in christ one day they felt that they could that they understood what it was to be a christian and then now a couple years later are no longer affiliated what is happening folks are we failing at the church maybe but i think a lot of this is happening at home you see we've had many years where we've had a change in mentality where we are encouraging our daughters to go to school and to not depend on any man but i think we forgot about our sons because nowadays all i hear is every woman saying i can't find no man i can't find no good man why not where are the men where are the men taking a lead in the lives of our children where are they where's the role model where's the example we go to many churches and i know when i was in the service i visited many churches and whenever the ministry of women was up on the stage it would take up probably the whole thing in most churches and then when it was the men's turn later on the week you couldn't cover up this front table it's it's it's incredible but why is this happening men have to step up and rise up men have to start being the role models and take the lead role that god had placed in their hands a long time ago but the problem is the enemy keeps on attacking and attacking and in ourselves getting focused in this secular world getting ourselves in debt all we do is work nobody's home except for mom so are we giving the example for our men to know how to be men for our boys to know how to grow up to be men for our daughters to understand what a real man is what a man of god is what it looks like to have a a husband that will put himself on his knees before the lord and put his petitions and his family's needs in god's hands before he thinks he can do it on his own we need that to come back we need that to come back also in this survey they were talking about the percentage of those that were actually attending church and it says in 2009 regular worship attenders which in their definition a regular worship attender was those who attend religious services at least once or twice a month so the definition is weak but at least with that definition it said that those who attended worship regularly outnumbered those who attended services only occasionally or not at all by a 52 percent to 47 margin but today meaning 2019 when they did this survey says today those figures are reversed more americans now say they attend religious services a few times a year less than 54 say they attend services at least monthly when i read that i was uh i was in shock because i i know that attendance is low but i didn't realize how low and so what i start thinking is this if if a regular church attender is somebody that shows up once or twice a month and that's been reversed and now that's less than half where is everybody imagine trying to hold a marriage together talking to your spouse once or twice a month i highly doubt that that would be successful i highly doubt that you would have true love in that marriage i highly doubt that you would have a complete understanding of your of your spouse with that kind of relationship so if it takes that much effort or that much communication for me to be able to hold the marriage together imagine what i owe god the one that we say is our lord and savior when somebody is your lord you don't have control you are no longer important only the will of your lord is important but how can i know the will of my god if i talk to him once a month how can i understand what he wants from me if i can't communicate with him how are we going to stand strong when these tribulations come how am i supposed to feel the holy spirit in my life to guide me to keep me strong if i'm not talking to the one if i'm not talking to the one and only almighty god how how am i supposed to expect to survive how am i supposed to expect my family to survive how am i supposed to expect my community to survive how am i supposed to expect to come to church and be able to feel the lord's presence when no one is talking to him i think that when we start to put these things together we have to take a long hard look at ourselves because many times fear is the problem fear is the problem because we're afraid to tell people truth because we're afraid that their feelings are going to get hurt we're afraid to tell our family members about the lord because we don't want to lose them as family or we don't have want to have arguments at home or we don't want to have difficult situations and family gatherings but then my question is what are you going to do when god asks you what was your role in bringing them to christ what was your role and bringing them to the truth because if we can't do it at home we're not going to do it outside if we can't do it at home we're not going to do it outside so how are we supposed to do what god wants us to do did he not say that we were commissioned did he not say that we were supposed to go to the four corners of the earth how can i get to the earth if i can't even make it outside my front door how can i look at my god in the face and tell them i lived according to your will sure buddy that's why the bible says that many will come and say that they rebuked demons and that they did healings and all these other things and god's gonna be like man i never knew you that's enough to make your knees tremble that when you think that you made it to the end and you think that you're ready to go and you're in heaven and you're in front of the lord and he tells you that there's no coming back we get one life we get just a few years on earth to do what god wants us to do and i already feel bad that it took me forever to come to the lord even though i grew up in a pentecostal home i was super rebellious you couldn't tell me anything because i was the one who knew it all and i lament those years that were lost but god of his mercy allowed me to have an opportunity to come back and so with that opportunity and i think many of us as we're sitting here are going to have to reevaluate that opportunity as well first john 2 24 says as for you let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning we can't let anything abide in us if we ain't here excuse for us not to come to church covet can't be the excuse any pandemic can't be the excuse it can't be because we have to be here to hear god's word the only way to get sanctified is through the word the only way to know what god wants for us the only way to understand the warnings that god gives us is through the word and we have to abide in that word but we can't abide in it if we ain't hearing it and then the verse continues and says if what you heard from the beginning abides in you if because there's many of us who come to church and we hear what the pastor says and we hear what the preachers say and we hear what the evangelist says but we don't go home and read the bible for ourselves so you may know god but you don't know god see because you could know somebody by their name from a distance oh yeah that's joe smith or whoever but do you know joe smith do you know him what kind of person he is what his tendencies are in order for us to have a relationship with christ we need to know him and we need to know what he requires and what he wants from us and then it says if what you heard from the beginning abides in you then you also will abide in the son and in the father so it's obvious that we have to have a relationship with the lord it's obvious that we have to read the word of god where it's obvious we have to study it on our own time not just here when we assemble it can't just be sunday only and speaking frankly it can't just be wednesday and sunday it's got to be a daily thing if i don't talk to my wife daily she's going to be very upset if i don't show my wife that i love her she's going to be very upset if i don't give her a hug it's a bad day in the neighborhood so if i don't pray to the lord if i don't talk to the lord if i don't read his word then the day is going to be even worse it says here in hebrews 10 25 not forsaking our own assembly together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another not forsaking the assembly many think that watching us on youtube is good enough they think that watching us on facebook is good enough maybe you have your favorite evangelist then you watch him on social media it's not enough because you can hear that word sure absolutely i'm not saying it's not a bad thing don't misinterpret me i'm all over the place with youtube and my favorite evangelists and preachers it's insane that's my wife i don't even watch tv it's constant jesus all day but it's not enough though i got to be able to congregate with you because the bible is very specific it says here but encouraging one another how do i do that if i don't know you and you don't know me how am i supposed to receive the encouragement i need to continue in the path that god has for me if you don't know me and i don't know you how am i supposed to know what to pray for if you don't know me and i don't know you how are we supposed to be one body if we don't communicate because last time i checked when a system in the body decides to do its own thing it's called cancer and that's something that starts slow and you don't even know it by the time you find out you're halfway out the door don't you think that that's kind of what's happening to the church because we seem to be losing a lot of people and we're not waking up you know sometimes i think that people are miss or i should say underestimating their ability to evangelize because we have an idea in our heads right evangelize and go to the street preach in every corner go all over the place go to different countries what happened to evangelizing at the supermarket i mean i gotta go there at least once a week because many people in my house were puerto rican so there's a whole lot of food shopping going on so i take advantage of that i check out and i give them a church card and i say you should come check us out you don't have to preach them right there and then but you started something you gave them something they'll take a look at it they'll take a look at it if i go to the restaurant my waitress comes over my waiter we have a conversation and if i can't get a conversation because they're busy you know what when i'm leaving hey god bless you always say that it takes two seconds because the way you behaved they're gonna see is different from everybody else for those that work in the service industry you get a lot of rude people you get people that treat you like you're not supposed to be treated but then you get that customer that treats you with respect and then at the end he says god bless you you do that several times and a pattern starts to emerge in their heads and they start to realize that there's something different about those people that are always telling you god bless you that there's something different about those people that believe in the christ that's how you open up hearts and minds folks there's nothing wrong with preaching this street trust me when i was small that was the number one thing that our church did my parents would go out there with the church and they had one of these speakers in the corner and it was on like donkey kong everybody was going to hear it whether you want to or not because they go to the bus stop and just keep preaching all up in the way so if you wanted the bus you're going to hear about god you didn't have a choice so i'm not i'm not against it folks but nowadays it's not that easy but i can evangelize in different places when i go to the doctor i can talk to my nurse about god while she's taking my vitals when my doctor starts to tell me oh what's wrong this and that well you know this is going on but you know what i know god is in control and i came here because i know god gave you an intelligence so you can help me but i know god gave it to you you start talking to people like that and they're gonna they're gonna be like this guy's either crazy or i don't know what's going on but again if enough of us do that a pattern emerges eyes start to open up ears start to wonder and want to hear more because one day somebody's gonna ask you so why do you talk about god like that and there's your door there's the door that's how you step in that's how you evangelize you know it reminds me of the story of of gideon we were talking about this yesterday in my house when we were having our weekly bible study with the family you know gideon was a judge that god raised up for the people after they did evil in the sight of the lord and when you read judges that pattern is over and over and over goes over and over and over israel did evil in the sight of the lord over and over and over but gideon when the angel of the lord went up to gideon and said that god was with him o brave warrior i think i'll look it up here in a second i have it but he basically tells him that he's old brave and at the time gideon was at the wine press trying to separate whis wheat from the husk in secret because they were being oppressed by the midianites so in gideon's mind he's super fearful he's trying to just get some food but the angel of the lord is calling him brave when he's hiding and trembling in fear because of the midianites he may not have believed at that moment but later on he finds out that god saw something in him that he didn't see himself god saw something in each and every one of us that we not be that we maybe do not recognize or do not acknowledge and age doesn't matter it doesn't matter see because the the beautiful thing about this congregation about our congregation is that there is so much experience and wisdom here you can fill up a library but the thing is that it's got to be shared though i know i want to hear it i'm the first one i'm ready to sit down the beauty about the gospel is that all you need to do is be able to communicate you don't even have to talk if you know asl you could do it like that if you know how to write you can do it like that in any which way you can communicate the beautiful things that the lord has for us but we need to get back to that we need to start reflecting on ourselves and get back to that wanting of sharing the word and that wanting of changing our homes and our churches in hebrews 10 19 through 24 verse 19 it says therefore brethren since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of jesus we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of jesus why is that important because at the time only the priest could go into the most holy place but jesus did something for us to open up the door so there was no longer an obstacle between us and god but a large sacrifice had to happen and only the precious blood of christ like they were singing before was what could cleanse us so we can actually be in the presence of the lord right and the high priest could only go once a year and and god forbid he wasn't right because he'd die immediately but god is merciful he changed that for us he knew that even though the spirit is willing the flesh is weak he knew that so even before he made us he was ready to make that sacrifice and purchase us through his blood so if you're purchased that means you belong to somebody you don't belong to yourself you don't belong to yourself that's why we can't stop talking about god because you don't belong to yourself it doesn't matter what your dreams are it doesn't matter what you want to do if your dreams concur with what god wants it's gonna happen i'm not saying that it's bad to have dreams and aspirations but they just have to be aligned with what god wants and we won't know that unless we have a relationship with god we won't know that until we can feel the presence of the holy spirit within us all the time verse 20 says by a new way i'm sorry by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh when jesus christ died on the cross the veil was torn apart from top to bottom that veil that existed that didn't allow us to communicate with god directly was banished but it had to be through his sacrifice so his blood and his flesh how we don't put that as priority in our lives is something that we need to marinate on because if you look at a human being who gives his life in war for his company how many movies do we not see of people that do amazing things because somebody died for them in war as a matter of fact they come back so traumatized that they go back my childhood friend his father was a vietnam veteran and when he was done with his tour he went right back he couldn't stay over here because he felt guilty that other people were dying and he wasn't there with them so if he felt guilty so much that he left his family he left everything that he had to go put his life at risk again for that band of brothers how come we can't put our life at risk for god it's because when they experience that it changes them if we don't experience jesus it won't change you when you experience god it changes you it changes you like they were changed and your mentality becomes different because many may not even understand you you think my friend could understand why his dad left him to go back to people that weren't even family he couldn't understand that not until he got older not until he could understand the mentality that was there many of your family members won't understand you when you first come to god they're not going to understand this first love that you're experiencing they're not going to understand it but that can't hold you back that can't hold you back you got to search for that experience you have to have it you can't live god with only what comes out of the pulpit you got to live god with what he lets you experience that's how you're going to change that's how we're going to change this whole thing and that's how we're going to get this building full for the glory of god verse 21 says and since we have a great priest over the house of god which is jesus christ let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of the faith you can't draw near to god for benefits because they don't belong to you they don't belong to you unless you're part of the team i can't show up at a company and be like hey i want your health benefits if i don't work for that i can't expect it unless they accept me as an employee of theirs god is not going to give you anything unless you've been accepted and is the easiest position to obtain my opinion god wants sincerity god wants a repentance that's the hard part flesh doesn't want to repent flesh doesn't want to change your flesh doesn't want to stop doing all the things that were fun because many people think that being a christian is boring many people think that living the life of christ is boring or is square but what they don't understand is when your hope is in an eternal paradise if you will that's not square and that's not corny and that's not boring it's something amazing and it's something that when we experience it we're not going to know what to do with ourselves i'm telling you right now it's so amazing that god's got to change your name when you get up there that's how amazing it is verse 23 says let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering what does that mean not everybody can come to you and tell you something then all of a sudden you doubt what you read in the bible you can't let whoever just come up to you and and tell you a couple of things and then magically that's it now you start doubting god now you start doubting everything is done for you now you start doubting his existence because that's the game right now that's what the satan is deploying against each and every one of our children especially when they get to the university and how can they defend themselves if nobody was teaching them at home how could they have a strong foundation if they never got it they never received the materials and maybe they got some materials because maybe in your house everybody was talking about god and and god is wonderful and all these things but if you didn't teach them why god is awesome if you didn't teach them that then how are they supposed to defend themselves how are they supposed to stay strong when these people come with them with these advanced philosophies and these strategies that they've been practicing for forever how do you expect them to to be able to withstand that or survive that how they're not going to be ready folks and our children when they go to the university you think they don't see these professors like that's what it is they're very impressionable it's our job we got to change this church we got to change this and if our kids are big guess what there's grandkids around time to teach the big kids how to teach the little kids how to be followers of christ time for us to teach them how to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful that word is powerful when somebody's faithful that means they're always there regardless even when you think they're not coming they're there they're going to show up out of nowhere but to build that faith to trust somebody that deep got to know him got to have a relationship with him you gotta be convinced in the deepest part of yourself that god is who he says he is or else you're not gonna commit you're not gonna commit you'll be the first one when they say if anybody's scared and trembling leave you'll be the first one to leave be the first one so when persecution comes you're gonna survive it think about it like this imagine that the mark of the beast was the mask that you gotta wear just an example i'm not saying that it is it's an example imagine the mask that you were now was the mark of the beast would you have been able to not wear it and survive would you have been willing to go through it and say you're not wearing it because that means you can't go to the supermarket can't go to work can't go to my job like that so what do you do are we ready for that kind of thing are we ready to stand strong like that are we ready to live in the street if we have to are we ready to live in the street with our kids if we have to are we ready to leave and lose our homes are we ready only if you have a relationship with christ is when you're ready and even with that you might feel fear that's why god says do not fear you know why he says do not because he knows you will that's why he says that he's preparing us he's trying to prep us so we could understand the things that will come but he's going to be there he's going to be faithful but to believe that with everything we have got to have a foundation got to have a relationship got to know christ got to know him gotta seek his face that's one thing i had to learn how to seek god because first it was mechanical when i was first coming to the lord i would just read because i made a schedule for myself and i would say i gotta pray every morning because that's what was on the schedule but then when god started touching me it was no longer because of the schedule it was because i started feeling things inside i started feeling those changes i started getting a confidence that was not there before i started having an understanding that was not there before and a willingness to suffer for the god that i was learning about for the god that was penetrating my heart and my soul and for the god that was protecting my family see that's the thing when you start believing in god everything changes and you start to understand and you start to be able to see how beautiful god is when he starts protecting you because sometimes we don't realize it but let me tell you something about god god has saved my mother's life god has saved my father's life several times several times i can't wait for the day he comes and just talks about it but my dad had an experience where he was stabbed three times in the neck as a taxi driver and the gentleman told him a bunch of times that he was going to kill him that he was going to end them and as the guy is sitting behind him in the taxi he's got he's got the knife in his neck like this my father starts to pray and he tells god give me the strength to fight this guy off me and when the guy heard my father cry out to the lord like that he was stunned for a second and my father was able to grab his arm and fight so that he wouldn't get sliced yet another time and in an attempt to save his life he did the possum he acted like he was dead he put his head down squeezing his neck tight to stop the blood and made it seem like he had passed out and when the guy came out of the car to go into the front to take him out my dad started that taxi and was out of there the guy got one more shot at my dad though when he went out got him on the side like this it was the biggest wound out of the wounds but god was with my dad and you may say how you figure that if he got stabbed three times well god was with my dad because he's still here he was able to grab his handkerchief put it on his neck drive with one arm and go all the way to the nearest police station and we're talking about puerto rico folks we're not talking about the united states where everything's close you got to drive through crazy roads you got to drive all over the place and when he finally made it the first cop he sees passes out he had to go to the next one but god is good though he doesn't remember after that he remembers being in a cop car and just hearing the engine go and then he remembers opening his eyes in the hospital where they telling him we're going to have to stitch you up and there's no time for anesthesia and my dad was not young at the time he was in his 60s when this happened but god was with my dad so when you serve a god like that how do you not serve a god like that let's pray father god thank you for your word today o lord thank you for giving us the opportunity lord to be able to reflect on the mercy that you show us oh lord that despite sometimes we give you our back you're still there that despite the fact that we get lazy with the mission you put in your our hands now you're still there thank you lord because your rod and your staff they comfort me lord when you give me a difficult word it lets me know that you love me lord that's why you speak to me sometimes with a strong word that's why you correct me even though it hurts lord that's why you've given us this word today so that we can reflect lord and change our ways change our behavior change our attitude and start talking about you everywhere thank you lord thank you in jesus name amen if there's anybody who uh who knows that they gotta change their perspective if there's anybody who understands that they gotta change before it's too late don't hesitate to come up here because i want to pray with you i want to pray with you so the lord can give you strength so that the lord can cover you with the blood of christ and clothe you with the holy spirit there's nothing more powerful than that folks when the holy spirit clothes you he prepares you for everything and anything so if you know that maybe you haven't been given it your all i want to pray with you and if you don't know god this is the time this is not a time to be uh with your guard up this is not a time to be prideful this is a time to understand that god's giving us the opportunity to come to him and change our life and change our ways because it's a beautiful life what god has for us and even better when we see him at the end of this journey if there's nobody i'm just going to pray all together so that we could be dismissed this morning and i just hope that that we all just reflect on this and that we call come back on wednesday not just a couple of people everybody come back on wednesday come back on sunday but come back with somebody come back with a friend come back with a neighbor come back with somebody and let's do the work that god placed in our hands amen father god thank you for today oh lord thank you for this congregation thank you for this christian family that you have blessed us with o lord jesus thank you for bringing back our pastor o lord our shepherd and our leader o lord thank you lord for restoring him o lord and we know that you're going to do a great work in him o lord keep working o lord keep working in us keep working in our community keep working in our jobs oh lord keep working in every single place that we show up and let the holy spirit guide us so that we can bring church to those that don't know about you instead of waiting for them to come here to this building oh lord let us show them that church is in the heart of each and every person oh lord allow us to demonstrate this love to them and to each other o lord let our actions speak louder than our words o lord so that they can see that you are different o lord and that you do protect us and that you are the living god the one on the throne the one sovereign of all thank you lord guide us as we leave this building today o lord and keep us safe always in jesus name amen your you