When Love Moves In, Fear Moves Out | Sunday Message

A New Beginning presents a book about the greatest evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham, written by his friend, Pastor Greg Laurie. I bring insights that maybe other books have not really touched on.

I also weave in a lot of my personal experiences, one-on-one with Billy, things he said to me, and things I gleaned by watching him. So if you want to learn more about this man that changed the world, get your copy of Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. Yours for a gift of any amount at Harvest.org. Hey there. Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you.

If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest.org. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, just as we sang, how great Thou art. And we come here today to worship You, and we come here today to hear from You, because we need truth in a world that is filled with half-truths and outright lies. And You tell us in Scripture that we are to be discerning people and to test the things that we hear. So help us to learn more about that as we look at Your Word together. We commit this time of Bible study to You now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You can all be seated. Hey, we're in 1 John chapter 4. It's part of our Unshakeable series, and the title of my message is, When Love Moves In, Fear Moves Out. Alrighty. 1 John chapter 4.

When Love Moves In, Fear Moves Out. That's the title of my message. Have you ever gotten one of those scam phone calls? Oh, there's so many of them now. And they'll come from, you name it, Apple, Amazon, the IRS. And they're telling you, you better pay up or you're in trouble. 33 million scam robocalls are made daily. And they do work because I read that 68 million Americans lost over $29 billion to these scam phone calls. But there's scam religious things as well. Scam counterfeits out there for the real gospel. Just as there is the genuine, there is also the counterfeit.

They claim to be one thing, but they really are another. Jesus called them wolves in sheep's clothing. In fact, one of the signs of the end times, which I believe we're in, is some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines that demons teach. And that is why we're told right here in 1 John 4, Don't believe every spirit, test them, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now, what is John referring to when he says spirits?

How do we test a spirit? Well, basically, he's talking about angelic beings. There's a supernatural realm.

Just as we live in a physical world, there is a spiritual world. And in this spiritual world, there, of course, is God and Satan, but also angels and fallen angels, also known as demons. And they're actively at work. The good news is we have more angels on our side than the devil has on his side. And angels are constantly doing the work of God, sort of working behind the scenes. They just show up, do what they're there to do, and go.

They're sort of like SEAL Team 6, you know? You don't even know they were there, but they're doing the work of God. The Bible says the angel of the Lord encamps around those that fear him. And it also tells us that they're ministering spirits sent to minister to those who are the heirs of salvation.

That would be us. Sometimes angels guide us. Occasionally, they speak to us. They often protect us, and they're actively at work in our life. But then there are fallen angels, also known as demons, doing the work of the devil. I mentioned last time that the purpose of demons seems to be twofold. They seek to hinder the purposes of God and extend the power of Satan.

Now, they come in different ways. We always think of something demonic as dark and sinister and evil, and it can be that, of course. But it can also come through the guise of something that seems virtuous and good, even religious.

Don't forget that Satan, also known as Lucifer, was once an angel of light. I mean, what is more virtuous than going and getting a wonderful education at one of our Ivy League universities? But my question is, what is going on in these universities today, like Harvard and Yale? Did you know that the mission statement of Harvard University, when it was founded back in 1646, went as follows? Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. Mission statement of Harvard. So how are they doing in that? And then, of course, there's Yale, very similar. Their mission statement is, quote, Every student shall consider the main end of this study to wit, to know God in Jesus Christ and answerably to lead a godly, sober life.

Wow. What happened in our universities? They become centers of confusion, promoting woke ideology, anti-American sentiment, worst of all, anti-Christian sentiment, and they're a hotbed of anti-Semitism. I mean, how can you explain the fact that after October 7th, when the people of Israel were attacked by Hamas, a terrorist organization funded by Iran, and 1,200 Israelis lost their lives, men, women, children, some of them were tortured and unspeakable things were done to them. So you would think there would be a global day of mourning afterwards, but instead we see demonstrations against Israel and for the terrorist organization with banners that say things like free Palestine and from the desert to the sea, or rather from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

I mean, most recently the tragic killing of Yaron Lezhinsky and Sarah Milgram, who worked for the Israeli embassy. This beautiful young couple were going to get married. Sarah didn't know that he had bought her a ring already and was going to propose to her in Jerusalem.

But here's another thing you may not have known. Yaron is a messianic believer. That means a Jewish person who believes in Jesus Christ, and Sarah had just become a believer and she was going to be baptized in Israel. Thankfully they're in heaven together right now, so we can rejoice in that. But the man who took their lives, the man who murdered them, cried out, free Palestine.

What does that even mean? Do people even know what the river is and the sea is that they talk about? Let's just do a brief history lesson on what's actually going on in that part of the world. Technically, if you want to look at the biggest picture, all of that land should be under the Jewish people because God gave it to them.

But they only occupy a very small section of it about the size of New Jersey. And they're in Gaza over near the ocean where the Palestinian people live. The Israelis left that area back in 2005. They withdrew their military.

They withdrew settlers. They even uprooted graves and moved everything back to Israel. And they gave the reins, they gave the keys if you will, to the Palestinians saying this is your territory. We'll continue to supply you with electricity and water and humanitarian aid.

But this is yours now. So the Palestinian people elected Hamas, a terrorist organization, to represent them. And Hamas created a launch pad for terrorism. You go, Greg, this is political.

This is accurate. And if you look this information up, you'll find out what I'm telling you is true. They built elaborate tunnels with the millions of dollars that were given to them for humanitarian aid. And they used them as ways to get into Israel and attack the people.

But it all culminated on October 7th with that horrific attack with the loss of so many lives. So when we say from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, do any of these people know what the river is? Do they know what the sea is?

Here you go. Look at the picture. You see that big blue body of water? That's the Mediterranean Sea. That's the sea. The river? There it is, the Jordan River.

What's in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River? That tiny little country called Israel. What they mean when they say from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, is we don't want Israel. We don't want these Jews here anymore. Iran, the sponsor of Hamas, who represents the Palestinian people, have repeatedly said they want to build a nuclear weapon with the intent of wiping Israel off the face of the map. They've said it over and over again.

They call America the great Satan, and they call Israel the little Satan. So this is the situation. Well, what about a two-state solution? I think most Israelis would like a two-state solution, but the problem is if the representatives of the Palestinian people say Israel does not have the right to exist, how do you enter into a negotiation? Let's say you and I decide to be friends, and let's go out for dinner, and you say great, but I just want to let you know you do not have the right to exist, and I would rather you are dead.

Okay, so there's not going to be a great relationship, is it? So you see the challenges that are there, and I believe there's a spiritual dynamic behind all of this. I believe this is a spiritual battle that we're seeing right now, and that's why we should not believe every spirit.

We need to be discerning, and we need to be informed and educated. So that brings us to 1 John 4, history lesson over. Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the Spirit they have comes from God, for there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God. If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. If somehow they claim to be a prophet but does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

Point number one, if you're taking notes, we are in a spiritual war. John speaks of the Antichrist and antichrists, plural. The Antichrist, a coming world leader, will emerge on the scene, and when he comes, he'll bring temporary peace. He'll help the Jews rebuild their temple, and then he will desecrate that rebuilt temple with what is called the abomination of desolation, spoken of in Matthew 24 by Jesus. And this is where the Antichrist will erect an image of himself and command people to worship him.

So in effect, he'll show his true colors. So this is that coming world leader, the Antichrist. But then there's antichrist that John refers to. And remember the prefix anti doesn't just mean against, though it includes that, but it also means instead of. So John is saying in the last days you're going to see a lot of instead of Christs, or fake Christs, or someone pretending to be Christ, or representing him.

And so this is something we need to be aware of. So John is refuting a teaching of that time that was called Gnosticism. It's from the Greek word kenosis, which means to know. So Gnostics believed that salvation came through this hidden spiritual knowledge. They did not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God walking this earth. They believed you had to get this hidden spiritual knowledge and then you would know. That's kenosis, you would know. So it's a funny thing. John takes their word from them and uses it to show how we can know God.

And he uses the word kenosis 30 times in his epistle. You can know this for sure. You don't need the secret password.

You don't need the hidden knowledge. But then he lays down this litmus test, if you will, as to how to know whether or not something is really true. Here it is, 1 John 4, 2. If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.

Listen to this. To be a Christian, you must believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, supernaturally conceived in her womb. The virgin birth is an essential. And then you must believe that he was fully God and fully man, walking among us. And then you must believe that he died on the cross and bodily rose again from the dead three days later and that he's coming back again. These are non-negotiables that every Christian should believe. You say, well, everyone believes that. In fact, every religion teaches that.

No, actually, they don't. If you are to take even a quick look at the major religions of the world, you would see they have very different views on the person of Jesus. As an example, Hinduism teaches Jesus may be admired as a wise teacher or a holy man, possibly as a god among many other gods, but it does not show him to be the one true god or the exclusive savior. Well, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me.

And he said, I and the Father are one. So that's clearly a different view than what the Bible teaches about Christ. Buddhism teaches Jesus is not divine.

He's sort of an enlightened teacher, maybe a moral example, but they have no real belief in a personal god in most Buddhist schools. Now, Mormonism, which will often present itself as a form of Christianity, has a whole different view. They teach Jesus is the Son of God. He was created by God the Father, but he's not equal with the Father.

Jesus said, I and the Father are one, claiming equality, but they say he's not equal with the Father. And they teach that Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers, and they deny the Trinity. The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is not God, but rather he's the Archangel Michael in human form. They deny the Trinity, and they deny the bodily resurrection of Christ.

Now, here's another thing. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses teach that they're the only way to God. And so when a Mormon says, well, I'm a Christian too, if they're honest, they would say, but we have our prophet, Joseph Smith, and we have our extra books that you don't have that are equal to the Scripture, and you have to come this way if you want a relationship with God. So the reason I tell you all this is I'm looking at the litmus test of 1 John. And all of these are contrary to what John says.

These are sort of like modern versions of Gnosticism. And what is John emphasizing? He's saying, listen, I want you to know God. In fact, in 1 John 5, 13, he says, We wrote these things to you that believe in the name of the Son of God, so you may gnoscope, so you may know you have eternal life.

You can know this for sure. He repeats it again, 1 John 2, 3. By this we know that we know him. And then in 1 John 3, 14, we know we have passed from death to life.

So he's focusing on this and emphasizing it. It's no secret. Anyone has access to it.

You don't need a secret password. You've probably heard this story before, but there's a man named Stephan Thomas, a German-born programmer who lives in San Francisco. He was given over 7,000 bitcoins back in 2011. It's payment for making a video that explains how cryptocurrency works. And at that time, bitcoin was worth very little, but all of a sudden it was worth a lot more. In fact, it was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But this individual took that bitcoin and he put it in a digital wallet.

I'm not even sure what that is exactly. But to get the money to access the bitcoin, you had to have the password, which he wrote down on a piece of paper and then lost it. I'm not laughing at his misfortune, but really you have that much money in an account and you lost the password? And I wonder what passwords he tried. Password, that's a good password.

Or the name of your pet. He couldn't remember his password. He tried eight times to get in. He has two times left. And if he doesn't come up with a proper password, he will never have access to all that money.

And that's sort of how it can seem in this relationship with God. You don't have the password. Here's the good news. Jesus already took care of all of these things for you. You don't have to worry about them at all.

You don't need secret codes or anything else. Jesus entered your password. He paid the price and he has given you open access to God. Number two, God is bigger and greater than everyone and everything else. God is bigger and God is greater than everyone and everything else. Look at verse John 4-4. But you belong to God, my dear children. You've already won a victory over these people because, and I love this verse, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Memorize that verse. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

Let's say it together. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The one that's in you is Christ.

The one that is in the world is Satan or anyone or anything else that you think is a threat. Christ is greater than all of that. He's greater than Satan, greater than sin, greater than your problem.

I like the way Max Lucado summed it up. When he said, you may feel outnumbered, but you're never overpowered or outpowered. God in you is greater than any challenge in front of you. Here are three biblical examples of God's people overcoming their adversary. Moses at the Red Sea.

Wow. He's at the brink of this massive body of water he can't get across. Behind him in hot pursuit is the Egyptian army.

He's literally between a rock and a hard place. And he calls out to God. And God says, I will fight from you.

You only need to be still. And the Red Sea parted. You know the story. It's all of Israel passed through the dry bed of the Red Sea and the waters were piled up on each side. You ever been to one of those really nice aquariums like the Monterey Aquarium? They have these giant tanks with all these exotic creatures. Imagine walking through the Red Sea going, whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's cool. Get my camera. Hurry. And meanwhile, Moses is going, keep walking, keep walking.

Let's go, let's go, let's go. They get to the other side. The last Israeli gets over and the waters close on the pursuing Egyptian army. Think of David facing Goliath. What an adversary.

Nine feet, six inches of solid muscle. Yet David trusted in the Lord and said, you have defied the armies of Israel. And he attacked him. And Goliath was defeated. Think of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. A violent storm hits and they're pitching about in that little boat. And Jesus stands up and rebukes the sea and says, peace be still. Jesus was bigger than that storm.

Point number three. If you really know God, you will love others. If you really know God, you will love others.

First John 4, seven. Dear friends, let us continue to love one another. To love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

I love this. Earlier we identified the three major themes of First John. Number one, God is light. First John 1, one.

This is the message we've heard from the beginning. And declare to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness. So God is light. Number two, God is love.

Reinforced right here before us. And he does not love, does not know God. And thirdly, God is life. First John chapter five. He that has the Son of God has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Light and love are inseparable.

Sort of like grace and truth. Light and love. So, you know, light shows you what's really going on. You ever lose something in your car, it's really dark. You've got to get it out of the garage. You've got to get some light in there and then you find it.

Oh, that's where that burrito went that I lost one year ago. No wonder there was an odd smell in the car. So light exposes things. So maybe the light shines into a person's life.

Maybe it's a friend of yours. The light of scripture. The light of truth. And you see they're doing something they should not be doing. That's where love comes in. The light shows the problem but the love wants to help the person in the problem.

Right? So the Bible says if a brother or a sister is overtaken in a fall, you who are spiritual should kick them when they're down and tell as many people as possible, preferably on social media. You know that verse, right?

Yeah, it's not in the Bible. What it really says is if a brother or a sister is overtaken in a fall or stumbles in sin, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of meekness and take heed lest you also be tempted. So what it's really saying is if someone's down, help them up because one day you may be down. And you may need someone to help you up. See, that's light and love.

Light shows the problem. Love brings the solution. And God is love. Jesus said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have perfect doctrine. Well, we should have perfect doctrine as much as we can.

We should believe the right things, but actually he didn't say that. By this shall all men know you are my disciples, that you have love one for another. You know, one of the things that drew me to Christ was the love of Christians demonstrated toward each other. I looked at them and I thought, these people are weird.

They seem to actually love each other. And I don't know what kind of home you were raised in, but I wasn't raised in what you call a loving home. I know my mom loved me in her way, but she never told me. She never affirmed me in that way, so I never heard it. She never hugged me. So I was kind of sort of a broken person when I first showed up at church, and some girl comes up to me I've never seen before, throws her arms around me, and says, God bless you.

I love you, brother. And I'm like, eh. You know, not everyone's a hugger. Some people say, I'm a hugger. I'm like, oh, no.

How long is this going to take? But, you know, some people don't know how to do that. I was one of those people. Reminds me about a scene, or reminds me of a scene from Star Wars when Princess Leia says to Han Solo, I love you. And in the original script, he was supposed to say, I love you, too. But Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo, said, I wouldn't say that.

So they rewrote the scene, and it went as follows. Princess Leia says, I love you. Han says, I know. That's good. That's me. I love you, brother. Yeah, I know. Okay.

Can you stop hugging me now, please? It's taken me a long time to learn how to love, to learn how to say I love you, and to accept love from others. But that is a mark of a real Christian. Be known for your love. Be known as a bridge builder, not a bridge burner. Be known as someone who builds people up, not as someone who tears people down.

Be known as a person that one could call on for help, a loving person. Don't be a grudge holder. Some people are known for their anger and that they're always upset about something. By the way, did you know that crows hold grudges? Crows are interesting birds, aren't they? I wouldn't say I'm a huge crow fan.

I'm kind of more a hummingbird fan. But, you know, crows are intriguing. I mean, they're better than seagulls.

They're worthless. Seagulls are like the cats of the air, I don't know. Actually, I like cats better than seagulls. Maybe I like them the least of all animals. It seems like they have intentionally targeted my car on more than one occasion.

His car just got washed, let's go. But crows, they remember and they literally hold grudges. So they did a study on this and someone put on a mask and they went and captured crows. This did not go down well in the crow community.

They immediately started talking about that person. You hear all the crows squawking? They're talking about you.

They're evaluating you. And so it turns out that these crows would then kind of dive bomb the people if they wore the mask. Even much later, in fact, after the original crows died, they found that their children did the same thing. So they're passing this grudge on to the next generation. This is all true. Say, Greg, I didn't come here to church to hear about crows.

I know, but let me finish. There's one virtuous thing about them. If you treat them well, they'll remember your kindness. So you feed them, they'll bring you little gifts like little trinkets, buttons, bits of metal, maybe if you're really nice, a dead mouse or something. I don't know.

But hey, you treat them well, it's like, he's good. He's good in the crow community. We just sent out a tweet. Everybody knows it.

Well, we don't even call them tweets anymore, do we? Anyway, so don't be like a crow and hold grudges. Be a loving person. Be a forgiving person. As I often said, I forgot what I often said.

Oh, yes. And that brings me to my next point in a moment. When you forgive a person, you set a prisoner free yourself. Point number four, God's love is greater than our worst fears. God's love is greater than our worst fears.

First John 4 18, God demonstrated this love to us by sending his only begotten Son. Such love is no fear, for perfect love expels all fear. King James translation, perfect love casts out all fear. If we're afraid, it is for the fear of punishment and it shows we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

I find this verse interesting. You might think John would say courage is better than fear or faith is better than fear, and that's all true. But instead, John says perfect love casts out all fear.

And the word that he uses for casts out or expel is a strong action-oriented word that means to drive out, to throw out with force. Fear and love are mutually exclusive. If you are living in fear, especially the fear of judgment, you have not yet grasped what it is to be loved by God. Please know this, you are loved by God. God is not mad at you.

God is mad about you. And he loves you with the deepest love. And that evicts fear. Because if you walk around with a concern that oh man, God doesn't love me and God's gonna judge me, then John is saying, listen, when you know the love of God, it drives that fear away. And he's never going to stop loving you. Number five point, Romans 8.38 reinforces this when it says I'm convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor our fears for today, nor worries about tomorrow.

Even the powers of hell cannot separate us from God's love. And you know, our fears change with the passing of time. When we're little kids, we have little kid fears.

I hope you don't still have those fears. You're afraid of the dark. You're afraid of the monster under the bed. You're afraid of abandonment. That's why divorce is so devastating, especially for children.

I remember that well. As you get older, maybe your early teens, you have different fears. You have the fear of not fitting in, not being liked or accepted, not being good enough.

Then you become a young adult. You have new fears. Now your fear is am I gonna find a career? Am I gonna find someone to love me?

Am I gonna find a spouse? Or maybe you find yourself comparing yourself to others on social media. Then one day you wake up and you're an old person.

And they have different fears too. How do you know when you're an old person? There are telltale signs. You know you're getting old when you sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there. You know you're getting old when you have a party and your neighbors don't even know it.

You know you're getting old when your back goes out more than you do. You know you're getting old when you use the light on your phone in the restaurants to read the menu. Do you do this? I do it. It's like I can't, this type is so small. It's so dark so I get out the phone. I've got the light. It's such an old person thing.

And I even find myself using my camera app so I can blow it up a little bit. What am I ordering here? That's a sign of getting old. You know you're getting old when someone actually cancels their plans. You know what I'm saying? Like well we're gonna go out tonight.

Oh they canceled. All right. You know you're getting old when your candles cost more than your cake. You know you're getting old when you drop something and you bend down to pick it up and you wonder what else you can do while you're down there. I don't want to come down here again.

Is there anything else that needs to be cleaned or picked up? Let's get it over with. Signs of getting old. But the good news is God has something for you in every stage of life. To the child God says I'll never leave you or forsake you. To the teen God says you're fearfully and wonderfully made. To the young adult the Lord says I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope.

And to the elderly God says even to your old age and gray hairs I am he who will sustain you. I've made you. I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you. I love that.

All the old people are clapping, age. Clear, poof. I'm back. Okay. So he has something for all of us. When you get older you don't want to lose your mobility. You don't want to lose your mental sharpness. You want to remember things. That's very important.

All the old people are clapping, age. Clear, poof. I'm back. Okay.

So he has something for all of us. things, that's very important. Anyway, that was a joke, I meant it that time. The other time I really did forget this time.

That was the joke, like, oh you lose your mental sharpness and I forgot something, see, okay. Last point, our love for God is a response to God's love for us. Our love for God is a response to God's love for us. Why do we love God, 1 John 4.19? We love him because he first loved us. I mean, when we just think about the fact that God loves us, it's overwhelming.

You know, the Bible says it's the goodness of God or the kindness of God that brings us to repentance. His love wore down our rebellion. One day we just realized, why am I fighting with him? Why am I running from him?

He loves me, and so I respond in love. I remember years ago, I believe it was 2006, I went to the last crusade that Billy Graham ever preached at. He was an older Billy, an elderly man, who needed help even getting up on the stage. They constructed a special pulpit for him that had a little stool he could sit on, but it looked as though he were standing.

This is a picture I took with him. It's a bit on the blurry side, but this is the last time Billy ever preached publicly. I remember he stood up before this crowd.

He was not like a father figure. He was like a great-grandfather figure, but in my estimation, almost like a prophet-like figure. He turned to the crowd and simply said, God loves you, and he turned to the middle, God loves you, and he turned to the other section, and God loves you. Those words carried so much weight because he lived a life that backed it up. And he could have said maybe 30 more things in that span of time, but just those simple words, God loves you.

And I think that's something this culture needs to hear, and I think it's something you need to hear as well. God loves you. So what do I do? Well, I respond, I reciprocate. How can I respond to the love of God? Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

So if you really love God, do what he tells you to do. But another way that I can respond to the love of God is to remember what Jesus did for me. Remember his sacrifice, that he went to the cross, and he laid his life down for me, and then he established something that we are to do to memorialize this that we often call communion or the Lord's Supper. Remember, he was in the upper room with his disciples, and he took the bread and he broke it. And he took the cup and he drank it, and he said, this is my body which is broken for you.

This is my blood. Now, we don't believe in the Eucharist, as it's called. We don't believe that literally the bread becomes the body of Christ, or the juice becomes the blood of Christ. Jesus often used pictures to make a point. He said, I am the door, I am the bread of life.

He wasn't speaking literally on those occasions. So he's using pictures to help us to understand the sacrifice he was about to make. Having said that, when I hold the bread in my hand, as you will in a moment, because we're gonna close with communion, and as you hold the cup, these are tangible reminders of the sacrifice of Jesus for every one of you.

But it comes down to this. You wanna make sure you're in a relationship with him. Because Paul tells us that when you receive the elements of communion, let a person examine themself. So we need to do a self-examine. Ask myself, am I living in fear? Do I know that my sin is forgiven? Have I realized God loves me? Do I have the confidence that I will go to heaven when I die?

If not, then you want to change that and become a believer. So in a moment, I'm gonna pray with you who are not sure. Pray with someone that has joined us who doesn't have the confidence that they're a child of God.

They don't have the confidence that they'll go to heaven when they die. And you can just pray this prayer after me, and then we'll all receive communion together. So let's bow our heads, and I'm gonna lead those of you who need Jesus in your life in this prayer. And I'm even gonna ask everyone to join in this prayer as an affirmation for those who are praying it for the first time. So pray this after me. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, but I know you're the Son of God who walked this earth.

You were fully God and fully man, and you died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now Jesus, come into my life. I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and my Lord, as my God and my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. God bless you that just prayed that prayer for the first time. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast.