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Blessed are the Eyes That See (Luke 10:21-24) image

Blessed are the Eyes That See (Luke 10:21-24)

FBC CTX Sunday Messages
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8 Plays1 day ago

Sunday Message recorded 05 October 2025
by Associate Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934

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Transcript

Opening Prayer and Gratitude

00:00:06
Speaker
Father, again, we come before you. We just pray that you just continue to bless our time as the body of Christ. Lord, as we come together in fellowship and worship, and as we go into a time of studying your word together, Lord, just may your spirit go before us. Spirit, we know you are here.
00:00:20
Speaker
We know that you are working. We pray that you continue to work, that you continue to remove the veil of the hearts of those who do not see. the hidden things of the kingdom of the gospel.
00:00:31
Speaker
um But Lord, for those of us who have ah had our eyes open, I pray, Father, that we will continue to live in passion for you and for your kingdom, Lord. We love you, we praise you, we thank you for your great sacrifice. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Introduction to Luke Chapter 10 Study

00:00:51
Speaker
All right. Well, with the remainder of our time, we're going to look at God's Word together. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Luke chapter 10. To Luke chapter 10. That's where we're going to be this morning.
00:01:07
Speaker
I'm so grateful for Mr. Stephen Mick or Dr. Stephen Mick, I should say. And then even Mark Vickers, which by the way, I didn't share this last time when and I introduced Mark, but he was ah he's also an ordained pastor. So we're very blessed to have men like Stephen and Mark who are serving on our deacon team just because we are so blessed by them.
00:01:27
Speaker
I hope you guys know that as a church that we have an incredible deacon body. And if for some reason, if Victor or I are out of the way, We know for a fact that we have a team of deacons who can step up and who can help fill the pulpit and serve in every way possible. So super grateful for those two men.
00:01:44
Speaker
I'm going water. That wafer is like stuck in my throat. Anybody else? Yeah? I would offer you my water, but I'm not going to that. so
00:01:56
Speaker
All right. But I am very grateful for Mark's message last week out of Exodus with the challenge of, are we allowing God to deliver us from our strongholds? And we looked at that through looking at the nation of Israel when God was bringing them out of the land of Egypt and how they had a tendency of wanting to turn back and they had a tendency of wanting to to to think of the things of the past rather than focus on the things of the future. And if only moments, right? We all have those moments. So Mark, thank you so much for that message.
00:02:26
Speaker
but But this morning, though, we're gonna be returning back to our study through the the book of Luke.

Sending of the 72 Disciples

00:02:31
Speaker
And if any of guys can recall from a a couple of weeks back, mr ah or Dr. Stephen Mick was preaching on the first several verses of Luke chapter 10.
00:02:41
Speaker
And he was he covered the passages of Jesus sending out the 72, right? That included his 12 disciples. And he he told them, he was saying, hey, I want you to go out, but I don't want you to take anything with you.
00:02:53
Speaker
And he gave them all these commands of what and the expectations of what to do, right? When you go out, I don't want you to take anything with you. But if someone welcomes you into their house, I want you to walk ah to walk in. But if someone rejects you, I want you to to dust the feet the the sand off your feet and I want you to move on.
00:03:09
Speaker
And just do my work. Do my kingdom work. And so the 72 go out. And then right at the end of that section, going into verse 16 or, yeah, verses 17 through 20, the disciples, the 72 come back and they are rejoicing in the experience and the work that they were able to do.
00:03:32
Speaker
and And the miracle which God was doing through them, right? And this is an incredible thing because you a remember, out of the 72, how many of them were actually qualified men to be followers of a rabbi?
00:03:47
Speaker
Probably none of them, right? If if one, right? Right? None of them were technically qualified to do this work. And that's what's so radical about the ministry in which Jesus is doing, because Jesus comes on the scene as this rabbi who is proclaiming this truth of the kingdom of God with great power and great authority, and in such a way that it's turning the heads of the religious leaders.
00:04:11
Speaker
And so for Jesus then you a kind to to build this team of 72 to ultimately commission them to go out and to do these miraculous works, you've got to remember they were out there healing the sick. They were giving sight to the blind. They were casting demons out. They were doing incredible things, things that not even the religious leaders were able to do.
00:04:32
Speaker
And so for them to do that, this is this was catching the eye of every religious leader at the time. This was causing a scene. And so they come back and they're rejoicing, even though they're not qualified to do it, but yet Jesus allowed them to be a part of this great kingdom work that he's bringing to heaven earth to from heaven to earth.
00:04:53
Speaker
But the one of the things I did not want to forget was right there at the very end in verse 20 of this chapter, Jesus, 72 come back rejoicing.

Revelation to the Humble

00:05:05
Speaker
And he goes in verse 19, behold, I've given you authority to read to tread on serpents and scorpions and over the powers of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, right? So he says, it's it's great to be to rejoice in the kingdom of God, but he says, don't rejoice in the fact that you have power over the demons.
00:05:30
Speaker
but rather he goes on, he says, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
00:05:37
Speaker
He's like, you know, you can have all the power and the authority here on earth that you want over Satan, but the greatest gift, the greatest thing that I don't want you to miss is that your note that your your power and authority is not the greatest thing. it's It's the fact that your name is written in the book of heaven. It's in the kingdom of heaven. And every life that you are encountering and every life that you transform, their name is now written in the same book.
00:06:02
Speaker
This is what Jesus was trying to remind these 72 about, especially his 12. And this is a great reminder for us that when we go out and we do the kingdom work of God, it's so easy for us to get wrapped up in the publicity of it or in the acknowledgement of it of like, yeah, um' a christian i I'm a I'm a member of First Baptist Church in Columbus and I give money and I give to the poor and I go and serve and I do all this. That's great. The accolades are great.
00:06:29
Speaker
But how great are the accolades when you're not bringing people to the name of Jesus and you're not allowing them to experience the saving grace of salvation that Jesus is offering.
00:06:41
Speaker
All of that is a wash compared to knowing Christ Jesus.
00:06:46
Speaker
But we go on in this next chapter, or this next section here, the verses 21 through 24. I want you to hear what Jesus is saying to the disciples. And I want you to see this incredible interaction that Jesus has with his own heavenly father. In verse 21, it says this, in the same hour, in the same hour, he rejoiced.
00:07:08
Speaker
So not only did the disciples rejoice, but Jesus rejoiced. Why? He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to the little children.
00:07:27
Speaker
Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who ah or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
00:07:44
Speaker
Verse 23, it says, then turning to the disciples, he said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
00:08:06
Speaker
Let me stop and pray for us one more time. Father, we come before you, Lord. And again, we thank you for the the ministry, the testimony, and the power that is in your name.
00:08:18
Speaker
And Lord, for anyone who's in this room and and who's a believer in in you and Jesus as as Savior and Lord, we have truly experienced the transformational power of the gospel.
00:08:30
Speaker
And I pray that we... will hold to that and allow you to do a good work in us and through us as you did with these 72 and ultimately with your 12. But Lord, I pray for anyone who's here this morning, though, who eyes have not been open to the hidden things of the gospel. I pray that this morning, Lord, that you'll just rip that veil off their heart and that they will be able to encounter you the way that you desire to be encountered.
00:08:55
Speaker
Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank It's Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:09:01
Speaker
So not only do we see that the disciples come back and rejoice, but within that same hour, verse 21, we see that Jesus rejoices.
00:09:14
Speaker
and i like and And I labeled this sermon, man, my eyes, my mind just went blank. I labeled this sermon, blessed the eyes that see because of this, the three truths that we're to see in this today, in this passage.
00:09:31
Speaker
The first one I wanna see is that, blessed are eyes you see, because Jesus rejoices in the Father's will, okay? And the reason why he rejoiced in the Father's will is because that will has now been revealed to anyone who chooses to follow after Jesus.
00:09:48
Speaker
And so in that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, i thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to the little children." Now, I do wanna make a quick note that this is most this is not mostly, or not quite the only time in scripture that Jesus rejoices, but this is the one and only time we see in scripture that it is written down.

Childlike Faith vs. Worldly Wisdom

00:10:12
Speaker
Luke obviously thought it was important enough to write this particular section down in the scripture for us to understand that in the same way that the that Jesus rejoices in the Father, too should rejoice in the Father.
00:10:25
Speaker
right But why is Jesus rejoicing in the Father's will here? Well, there's two things. One, he's rejoicing the Father's will because the fact that he has hidden his will from the wise and understanding in this world.
00:10:43
Speaker
Now you're probably like, why is Jesus rejoicing in this fact? It's because it all ultimately comes down to who are who are the wise and understanding of this world? We have a tendency of thinking that is just because you're a scholar or because you're because you're elevated to a prestigious position or because you have certain accolades that you are wise, that you are in this class of your own, an understanding.
00:11:10
Speaker
But what we see ultimately in the scriptures is that even at that time, like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes and the other religious leaders or individuals or other religious groups like the Gnostics, who believe that by attaining knowledge that you have reached this higher level than everybody else, that by being wise and understanding that you have arrived.
00:11:30
Speaker
But what Jesus is saying here is that no, because they consider themselves wise, they're completely missing the point of the gospel.
00:11:40
Speaker
And so Jesus is rejoicing this fact that because these hidden things of the gospel have been withheld from them, it's a good thing. But why is that a good thing? It's because we must understand as humans, as as people here on earth, as God's creation, that in order to have a relationship with the heavenly father, we must deny ourselves.
00:12:00
Speaker
We must deny our own understanding and our own way of thinking in this world. That's the only way that we'll be able to understand the heavenly things in his kingdom. Because the heaven his heavenly kingdom is so counterculture to what this world is saying.
00:12:16
Speaker
We cannot fully grasp it unless we deny our own wisdom and our own understanding of the things and the realities of this world. And we put our faith, hope, and trust in the spirit to then reveal God's nature to us.
00:12:32
Speaker
This is a harsh reality. This is a really hard reality for a lot of us, especially in today's culture, because everything about today's culture is saying that if you achieve a certain position or that if you go and get your own degree or if you do this or you do that, then you will arrive.
00:12:51
Speaker
But what we're seeing in Jesus throughout his ministry and throughout his life is the exact opposite. it's not even just seen in the life of Jesus. this is This is the gospel message from the very beginning of time.
00:13:04
Speaker
You see, even been going back to the garden with Adam and Eve, she was deceived into thinking that if she just ate of the fruit of the tree, that she would be able to attain this knowledge, this wisdom that would give that would just open her eyes to everything.
00:13:18
Speaker
Not understanding that by doing that, it was going to open her eyes to the reality of sin.
00:13:27
Speaker
You see, when we walk in our own wisdom, our own understanding, and our own way of thinking, pride creeps in and it holds us back from truly seeing God for who he is. And that's the whole problem right now with this this the religious leaders at this time that Jesus is encountering.
00:13:45
Speaker
Because Jesus did not fit the mold by which they thought he should fit of who the Messiah would be they couldn't grasp the reality of who Jesus actually was.
00:13:57
Speaker
This is a great pausing moment because ah want us to think about that for a second. If you're in the room and you're having a hard time understanding who Jesus is, is it because you're trying to fit Jesus into your mold and your expectation for him in your own life?
00:14:13
Speaker
Or, Are you actually willing and ready to break down your strongholds, to break down your understanding, to break down your idea of who Jesus is, to welcome him in and for him to reveal himself to you in a way that you've never seen him before?
00:14:32
Speaker
Because let's be honest, for all of us who are genuinely followers of Jesus, that's why we have such joy. You know, that's why the disciples, when they came back from their missionary journey and their efforts, they were excited, they were joyful because they were able to see Jesus for who he actually was and they were able to see God for who he actually was in this life.
00:14:56
Speaker
They were able to do things and see things and say things and and participate in things that In and themselves, they would never be able to participate in. But because they chose to submit themselves to Jesus and to the will of God, to the Holy Spirit, to work, they experienced things in absolutely incredible ways that they would have never experienced before.
00:15:20
Speaker
So for Jesus, for him to say, you know, this this way of, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for that you have hid me, sings from the wise and understanding, but yet revealed them to who?
00:15:32
Speaker
The little children. Now, there's there's ways we can look at this. We can look at this as actual physical children because if you actually go back a ah ah chapter where we were talking about this before about being the greatest in the kingdom, y'all remember who Jesus said it was the greatest in the kingdom?
00:15:51
Speaker
The least of these, right? We're talking to the disciples. He actually brings the child up to his side. He says, unless you enter the kingdom like this child, you'll never experience it because it's the children and who actually allow their minds and their hearts to be open to the reality of the gospel.
00:16:09
Speaker
They haven't experienced the wisdom of this age, if you will, that creates a stumbling block for them. but rather because of their their their innocent mind, because their innocent faith, they can experience the kingdom of God in a way that we will never experience it until we choose to humble ourselves in that same manner.
00:16:32
Speaker
but in the same But in the context here, when he says that he revealed this to the little children, he's talking about his disciples. Some say he's talking specifically about his 12 disciples. I like to think he's talking about all the disciples who are on the missionary journey, those who experienced his will.
00:16:50
Speaker
He says, do i rejoice, Father, because you withheld the hidden things from the wise understanding, but yet you revealed it to the little children.
00:17:01
Speaker
And again, this is another hard reality for us because, again, we live in a society that really lifts up and encourages us to walk in our own knowledge and our own understanding.
00:17:14
Speaker
But really, if you want to experience the kingdom of heaven, the way that God designed it and created it, we have to humble ourselves and have faith like children.
00:17:28
Speaker
Faith like children. The reason why this is a sobering reality is because if y'all are, you know, going back to the the value of children back in first century Israel, there was they were of no value.

Grace and Salvation in Christianity

00:17:40
Speaker
They were of no worth until they were able to come of age to actually start producing and to work and to do things that bring value to their home. Until then, they were invaluable. They were just looked over. They were cast off.
00:17:54
Speaker
And so for us, it's it's just it's hard for our minds to wrap around that reality of of for us to experience Jesus, we have to be this way. We have to be willing to to submit in such a way that Only God can work in us and through us.
00:18:11
Speaker
But yet that's the beauty of the gospel, that is that salvation can be attained and can be received, not by anything that we do, but by everything that Jesus did.
00:18:27
Speaker
That's the greatest gift that this world has ever seen. That's what makes Christianity so unique. is that we have a God who has done everything for us, even though we do not deserve it We're actually the reason why it's as chaotic as it is, because we can't get out of our own way.
00:18:43
Speaker
But yet God said from the very beginning, he says, no, I have a redemptive plan for my creation, and I'm going to send my son, God incarnate, to come down, take on flesh, to live a perfect life, die the perfect death, to be the atonement, the sacrifice for all sins forevermore.
00:19:01
Speaker
And if you just believe and confess in that, you'll be saved. And the hidden things of God will be revealed to you.
00:19:10
Speaker
This is absolutely a beautiful picture.
00:19:15
Speaker
In 1 Corinthians 1.19 verses 3.27, Paul says this about the the things of the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of heaven. It says, ah "'For it is written, "'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, "'and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. "'Where is the one who is wise? "'Where is the scribe? "'Where is the debater of this age? "'Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? "'For since in the wisdom of God, "'the world did not know God through wisdom.'" It pleased God through the folly of what what we preach to save those who believe.
00:19:47
Speaker
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Get this, a stumbling block to the Jews and Greeks. Wow. me re-say that. And the weakness of God is what? Stronger than men.
00:20:03
Speaker
christ the power of god and the wisdom of god for the foolishness of god is wiser than man wow who you say that for the foolishness of god is wiser than men and the weakness of god is what stronger than men For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of us were wise ah according to the worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
00:20:33
Speaker
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. So if you're in the room today and you're like, man, God, there's no way you can use me. There's no way you can use my life.
00:20:47
Speaker
Don't let Satan have a foothold over you. because God's power is way stronger than anything in this world could ever offer. And he can use whoever he desires as long as you are willing and strong enough to submit yourself to his will.
00:21:02
Speaker
But the second thing I want us to see here with ah is this. We're going to have to fly through these next few points. But the second thing is that not only does Jesus rejoice in the Father's will and how God chooses to reveal himself, not to the wise and understanding, but to the to the children of the world, to those who are of childlike faith, but rather we also see that Jesus rejoices in the Father himself. And this is a beautiful picture of the Trinity.
00:21:28
Speaker
<unk>all Let's read this again here. It says, yes father for such is your gracious will verse twenty two all things have been handed over to me by my father that no one knows who the son is except the father or the father is except the son and anyone who chooses or anyone who to whom the son chooses to reveal him So we see this beautiful interplay here between the Father and the Son and ultimately the Holy Spirit and how no one can come to the Father, no one can know the Father except if they know the Son. Well, you can't know the Son unless you know the Father. Well, how do you know that? Through the power of the Holy Spirit.
00:22:02
Speaker
You see, none of us can receive this gospel message. None of us can receive this the hidden things unless by us submitting to God's will and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us.
00:22:15
Speaker
So you wanna know one key mark of a true believer? How do you worship? Are you submitting to the Holy Spirit? are you submitting to the will of God and trusting him to reveal the hidden things to you? Or are you just looking at the scriptures as a scholactic a scholastic book that you're just trying to attain higher knowledge for?
00:22:37
Speaker
Do you have intimate relationship with Jesus or is it just words on a page?
00:22:46
Speaker
And so Jesus, in the same way as he is rejoicing in his Father's will, and rejoicing in who he is in the Father, we should be rejoicing the fact that God is choosing to reveal himself through Jesus, through the Holy Spirit to us, and then brings us into his family along the way. It's an absolutely beautiful picture.
00:23:11
Speaker
Another example of this is... is philiplip out of Philippians chapter three with Paul, where he's talking about his own life and his own accreditations, but yet he counts them awash comparing to to greatest the greatness of knowing Christ, right?
00:23:27
Speaker
For he says in verse four, it says, "'Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.'" If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. <unk>mci on the eighth day of the people of israel the tribe of benjamin hebrew of hebrews asked the law of pharisee asked is the other persecutor of the church as she rights is under law blameless but whatever gain i had i counted a loss for the sake of christ indeed i count everything alo because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ jesus my lord for his sake
00:23:58
Speaker
i have suffered the loss of all things and count them rev in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes to the law, but which comes through faith in Christ, through righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
00:24:20
Speaker
You see, in the same way that Jesus rejoices with the Father and how he knows him and how the Father was pleased to dwell with him and and to do a good work in him, when for any of us who believe and confess that Jesus is Lord, we should rejoice in the fact that we've been brought into this family.
00:24:36
Speaker
You see, God did not have to extend this invitation of relationship to us. The Trinity is this perfect relationship in in and of itself. But because of God's great love for us, he chooses to bring us in on it.
00:24:48
Speaker
And what Paul's saying here is that there's no greater gift in this world that we can receive than that in itself. He's saying, everything that I've done and every accolade that I ever received, he said, knowing Christ is far greater that.
00:25:05
Speaker
So I pray that's where we are today.
00:25:09
Speaker
But he goes on and he says this in verse 23 and 24. So he rejoices, not only in the father's will, he rejoices in the father himself, but then he turns the disciples. He says this privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
00:25:27
Speaker
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it. And to hear what you hear did not hear it. You see what Jesus is doing is he's reminding his disciples of this great promise covenant that has been established from the very beginning of time.
00:25:43
Speaker
God had this divine plan that though his creation would ah would fail and turn away from him, that he would send his son Jesus our Messiah, our Savior, our Lord.
00:26:02
Speaker
So that way we can be brought back into the family God and experience Him a way we've never experienced it before. And what's beautiful about this, and this is what I want us to see today, is that because of the fact that we're on this side of the cross, we get to experience the fullness of it right now in this very moment.
00:26:24
Speaker
You see, because there have been faithful men and women way back before us who knew about the promise, who lived by the promise, who desired to see the promise, but did not see it.
00:26:37
Speaker
But yet they remain faithful.
00:26:41
Speaker
But yet we have the promise right here in front of us right now, this promised hope of salvation, but yet we have a hard time remaining faithful to it and receiving it.
00:26:53
Speaker
So that's why Jesus, when he's looking at the 72, those who've come back from the mission and they've experienced the goodness of God, he says, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
00:27:05
Speaker
You see, this isn't just an all encompassing statement. Not every person in this room is is experiencing the blessing of God the way it's intended to be.
00:27:16
Speaker
You see, Jesus, what he was saying is, is the only those who truly submit to the father's will way that I have talking about Jesus himself, only then will you see the great promise covenant being fulfilled.
00:27:31
Speaker
But you have to surrender to that. You have to be ready to to die to yourself, as Jesus talks about, pick up your cross and follow him. And there's great reward for that.
00:27:44
Speaker
Y'all remember back in, I think Matthew chapter 11, where he's talking about for anyone who is walking through hardship or anyone who's experiencing pain, he says, call upon me. He says, come to me and I will give you rest, right? Take my yoke upon yourself and I will give you rest. You see, there's great reward in following Jesus, especially in seasons of hardship.
00:28:09
Speaker
That's why I love so much the message that that Mark gave last week and how it fits together with all this. It's really cool to see how the Lord works. Because we're actually going through a very similar lesson across the street at the youth house called He is Here.

Experiencing God's Presence

00:28:21
Speaker
And we've been looking at this question of what do you do when you do not feel God's presence?
00:28:26
Speaker
What do you do? Do you turn inward and try to figure it out on your own way and your own understanding? Or do you stop, be quiet, listen,
00:28:38
Speaker
and experience God. Then and only then is the hidden they are the hidden things revealed to you. When you stop, you're quiet and you allow God to reveal himself.
00:28:50
Speaker
You gotta quiet your heart, you gotta quiet your mind. And that's exactly what Jesus is talking about here with these 72. He's saying, hey, blessed are the eyes who see what you see because you have stopped.
00:29:04
Speaker
You stopped long enough to see what I have come to do here on this earth. You see, the religious leaders and all these Pharisees and scribes and ah and and whoever, they they can't seem to get past their own understanding, their own wisdom of this age to stop and to see who I actually am and what I've actually come to do.
00:29:27
Speaker
But you, 72, he's saying, but you have stopped. You have listened. You have seen. You have heard. And you have experienced the goodness of God.
00:29:39
Speaker
And you've been rewarded and be blessed because of it. So as we begin to close, we go into this time of invitation. I pray that if any of you in this room have never truly experienced the blessing of God,
00:29:54
Speaker
if if you've never stopped long enough to to clear your heart and your mind, like what we were just talking about here before we took the Lord's Supper, to to clear your heart, to clear your mind so that way you can truly hear and experience God for who he is, I pray this morning you will do that.
00:30:12
Speaker
That you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart to move in such a way that maybe he's called you to do something that you that you've rejected to do over and over and over again.

Invitation to Accept Jesus

00:30:24
Speaker
I pray that this morning you allow him to work in you and like and lead you into doing that one thing. Or maybe it's that you've never experienced or that you never surrendered your life to Jesus to begin with. That you've been rejecting it, that you've been pushing it down the road, that you've been waiting for a better day, that you've been waiting for the right opportunity time. Well, let me tell you, now is the right time.
00:30:46
Speaker
While we have today, have the opportunity before us to experience Jesus, that you allow him to come into life and you allow him to transform you from the inside out.
00:30:57
Speaker
Because I can tell you this, for anybody who's in this room, you've never surrendered your life to Jesus. If you talk to any true believer in this room, genuine of faith, there's nothing greater in this life than they've ever experienced in the transformational power of the gospel.
00:31:11
Speaker
I would not be here today sharing these words with you if it wasn't for the fact that one day i stopped and listened and the Lord revealed himself to me and he says, this is far greater for you than anything in this world.
00:31:24
Speaker
And I said, yes.
00:31:29
Speaker
God can use anybody to do miraculous things, but you just have to be ready and willing to surrender to it.
00:31:39
Speaker
So let me pray for us, and we'll go into this time of invitation. If you need to come down and talk to me, you can totally do that, but or maybe you just need to sit in your seat and you need to pray. ah pray that you do that. But I pray that you will just stop and listen and allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. So way he can use you in a way that you can never that you've never experienced it before.
00:31:57
Speaker
So way he can that way you can leave this place knowing that you are blessed because of the things that you see the things that you hear. And that is the good news and the hidden things of the gospel.
00:32:08
Speaker
Let's pray. Father God, we come before you, Lord, and we just thank you for the good news of the gospel. Lord, we thank you for the fact that you don't hide the gospel for those who are wise and who are understanding in the ways of the world. But Father, you you reveal them to those of us who who are unwise and those who are foolish and those who make mistakes and those who who maybe do not meet the mark. And Lord, we praise you for that because Lord,
00:32:35
Speaker
I would not be here today. i would not be able to to share the good news of the gospel if that was the case, because I was a foolish, foolish man. still am at times. And Lord, I pray that if there's anyone you here who's here and they feel the same way, Father, that you'll just open their heart to reality of it doesn't matter who they are or where they are or what they've done, that your gospel is powerful enough to transform even the most broken individual.
00:33:02
Speaker
And that you have a desire to use anybody and everybody who's willing to submit to your will. So God, be with this time of invitation. May you work in our hearts. May you remind us of the calling, the great calling it is for us as believers to go and to share the good news of Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray.
00:33:19
Speaker
Amen.

Closing and Church Information

00:33:26
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.