Hope Church LV Sermons
Out of Context :: The Golden Rule
You ever had somebody take something that you've said, something that you've written, and just take it completely out of context and use it in a way that you did not intend at all? This issue of being misunderstood isn't new with our generation. It's been happening throughout history and it has even happened when it comes to the teachings of Jesus. We begin a new series this morning simply entitled out of context. Ways we misquote Jesus. If we have a question, if we ever examine, if we ever evaluate immediately somebody rises up says, well, remember what Jesus said. Don't judge. There's no way verse one means never judge anybody because three times in the same chapter Jesus teaches us how to use right judgment. Let me give you three steps if you're going to confront a brother, sister, and Christ. Here's the first one. Examine my own heart first. Number two, ask God for the ability to say the right thing at the right time and the right way. You need to then go with a heart to serve your brother or sister. If I hadn't examined my own heart first and ask God for wisdom, and if I'm not to the place in my attitude where I'm ready to get involved whatever it takes to help that brother, sister move forward. Let me tell you what I need to do. Keep my mouth shut. That's the truth. Now I know that sounds strong but it's the truth. How can we live the Sermon on the house? How can anybody come up to such a standard we need health and grace? Where can we get it? Here's the answer. Jesus says here in that moment of desperation when you're thinking what in the world am I gonna do? He says look at verse 7. Then our desire to rightly relate with people should push us to a passionate pursuit of God. We don't need our best thinking. We don't just need God involved in the major areas of life. In every single aspect of your life relationships included you and I need wisdom and only God. Jesus says do not judge. Don't have a judgmental condemning spirit but we are to be discerning people. Let's be sure that we interpret Scripture in its context because I assure you if we are going to rightly relate to other people it starts by us passionately pursuing Him and out of intimacy with Him. He will love people. He will walk with people. He will share the message of life with people through us. I believe that is what Jesus meant that day. When He taught this sermon on the side of the hill that is this teaching in its context. This is the third weekend in a series that we've been walking through simply entitled out of context. We've been looking at some statements of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and how often these statements are taken completely out of context and made to say things that Jesus never really intended. This weekend we bring this series to a close and we're looking at the third of these three statements. If you have your Bible go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter seven as we're continuing our study straight through the Sermon on the Mount and we come to verse number 12. William Barclay says about this verse it is very probably the most universally famous thing Jesus ever said. The verse that I'm about to read for you is probably the most famous thing that Jesus ever said quoted by people that are Christians quoted by non-Christians. It's quoted by other religions. It is a very famous thing of Jesus. It's even been given a brand. We call verse 12 the golden rule, right? Haven't ever heard the golden rule before? Look at it in verse 12 of chapter 7 here's what it says. In everything therefore treat people the same way you want them to treat you. For this is the law and the prophets. Look at it on the screen. I want us to read this one since it's just one verse we're gonna read it out loud together. You ready? Here we go. One, two, three. In everything therefore treat people the same way you want them to treat you. For this is the law and the prophets. Each weekend we've asked three questions. We're gonna ask the same three questions this weekend. Here's the first one. How is this principle often taken out of context? How is this principle often taken out of context? Because this is another verse of Scripture that's used in a lot of different ways and I want to give you some examples of how it's used out of context. For example it's used sometimes to be simply taught as a moral principle. Some people take this verse and they teach it simply as a moral principle. I remember when I was a kid in elementary school. My school teachers, now I wasn't in a Christian school I was just in a public school setting but my school teachers would use the golden rule. They would emphasize I remember them teaching us the golden rule when I was a little kid in school and they would say hey Vance you don't need to do that because you wouldn't want somebody to do that to you right? I don't know about you. I was not the best kid in school. I mean I wasn't the worst kid in school and that was kind of always my barometer you know. I wasn't trying to be the best kid but I didn't want to be the worst kid either because I didn't want my dad to find out because I knew whatever I got at school it was worse when I got home. That's the way I was raised. If I got in trouble at school that was the starting point because it was gonna be worse when I got to the house. I was gonna pay dearly for what I had done. So I tried to always listen to my teachers but they would you know get on to this. I can remember teachers saying things like Vance would you want someone to call you that name? Remember the golden rule right? And everybody ever hear that kind of stuff in school growing up that they would use that golden rule. They'd say Vance would you want somebody to throw that at you? Remember the golden rule. Vance would would you want somebody to break in line in front of you? Remember the gold. Vance would you want somebody to punch you in the nose? Like no I'm kidding. Remember the golden rule right? Teachers would use that as a moral principle but when we simply teach this as a moral principle dealing with a pattern of behavior we've missed the essence of what Jesus is saying in this powerful sermon about radical kingdom living that flows from the inside out. If all we do is take this and use it as a as a principle to help people live different morally we've missed the essence of what Jesus is talking about. So the golden rule is more than just a moral principle. A second way that this is used out of context is it's commonly used as a religious virtue. You will find in almost every religion if you were to study it in almost every religion you will find a similar expression to the golden rule as a part of their religious virtues. If you were to study Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam or Judaism or many other religions you will find a similar principle to the golden rule written into the fabric of every one of those religions. Now in this way our treatment of others as it's taught as a religious virtue is viewed as a means by which we can earn favor or merit with God. Some people would take the golden rule and say hey if you live by the golden rule then you earn merit and favor. One of the most famous religious expressions of this would be from Hinduism and they call it karma right and the principle behind karma is whatever I do right today can bring good fortune into my life tomorrow. Now as followers of Jesus Christ obviously we don't believe in karma but if we're not careful we believe something very similar. I've heard Christians say well I've done my good deed and we almost say that with the expectation now God owes me one. I got one coming back to me because you know I did something good today for somebody so now I expect that to come back and if we're not careful we begin to teach the golden rule as a religious virtue that creates a performance-based relationship with God and that is the essence of what is wrong with all religion. Religion says if you do one thing then you earn favor with God. If you do good deeds then then God smiles upon you and you build up credit and your bad deeds take away your credit and your goal is to try to keep more credit in your account than you're drawing out and a lot of people take the golden rule and they teach it simply as a religious virtue that says if you do good things then good things will come back on you. That's not what Jesus is teaching with the golden rule but there's even a third way that we use this out of context and this is when it's twisted by the enemy to appeal to our flesh. If you have not come to this realization as a Christian you will our flesh is wicked and the moment that you think your flesh is good you are in real trouble. The only good in me is Christ in me. My flesh will run headlong into all forms of wickedness but for Christ in me and His grace and if we're not careful our old flesh can take this principle out of context to justify our actions towards somebody else and here's the way we'll twist that verse. Here's what we'll say. Well I'm just doing to them what they did to me. I'm just treating them you know what the golden rule says our flesh will take that verse and just twist it ever so slightly to justify and we would never probably even say that out loud but in our heart in our heart we use this principle to justify and say hey I'm just I'm just doing to them what they did to me. This is this is really what they deserve. It's the way they've treated me. It's the way they acted towards me. But what Jesus is describing if you haven't if you haven't caught on to this by now as we've studied Matthew 5, 6, and 7 Jesus is describing a radically different way of life than that. I mean just turn back one page to Matthew chapter 5 in verse 43 listen what he says he said you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbors and hate your enemy but I say to you love your what that doesn't say hey I'm just doing to them what they did to me that's just love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you it's not on the screen but skip on down to verse 46 and 47 he said if you love those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same if you greet only your brothers what more are you doing than others do not even the Gentiles do this he said the golden rule is not simply treating them the way they treated me and if we're not careful our flesh can take it out of context and twist it and we'll use it even justify our own actions towards somebody else so if Jesus here is not simply giving us a little moral standard to help kids do right and wrong if Jesus is not here giving us a means by which we can earn favor with God and if Jesus is definitely not giving us a justification for treating people the way they treat us then what is Jesus saying well that's the second question we want to ask an answer tonight what did Jesus really say what does the golden rule mean and if we're gonna understand this rightly we must look at the very words Jesus used as evangelical Christians we believe in what is called the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture let me tell you what that means it means we believe that every word of scripture is inspired by God as we read the Bible we're reading God's very word to us and with what we believe about the doctrine of inspiration every word of scripture is God breathed and chosen by the Father to communicate what he intended that's very important that we understand that because if we're not careful what we do is we get in a group of people and we all open our Bibles we read some verses and here's the question we ask well what does it mean to you well that's good for you here's what it means to me but you see when we understand the doctrine of inspiration of Scripture it's not what does it mean to you what does it mean to me the question is was it mean it doesn't have a meaning for you and a meaning for me so that I can make it say what I want it to say and you can make it say what you want it to say now there are some places in Scripture where we can have some different interpretations but it's very important that as we study the scripture we're not looking for a personal interpretation we're looking for a biblical and textual interpretation of what the scripture says there are a couple of important words Jesus uses in this verse I want to give them to you here's the first one it's the word everything Jesus begins by saying in everything now depending on the translation that you're using some translate it with the word whatever in whatever or in everything now that word everything is a little Greek word that simply means the whole all but it also can mean every individual part everything the whole and every individual part all right now that's gonna mean something in a minute so hang on to it the second word is the word treat he says in everything treat people the same way you want them to treat you that word treat there it's an it's a command meaning that Jesus is not giving us a suggestion it's an imperative it's a command for us to obey it's also continuous meaning that it's not something that just we do part of the time Jesus here is describing a lifestyle practice that is continuous it's moment by moment he's describing something that applies to all or everything and every individual part and he's describing a pattern of our lives that is ongoing and continuous and is an aspect of obedience to him as a follower of Jesus Christ all right now with that is the basis let me give you three defining statements about what Jesus said here's the first one what Jesus describes impacts every relationship in my life everything Jesus here is talking about in this verse the way we relate to people he says in everything therefore treat people he's talking about our relationships life is full of relationships every aspect of our life is filled with relationships and the word everything implies that Jesus is not just talking about a few of the relationships in our life Jesus is describing something that impacts every relationship in my life for example he's talking here about close relationships when he's talking about the golden rule he's talking about relationships in our life that are close relationships like family hey Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 is a great principle for husbands and wives it's a great principle for parents and children Matthew 7 12 is a great principle for brothers and sisters when Jesus gives us this principle he's giving us a principle that refers to or that impacts all of those close relationships all those family relationships this principles to be lived out in our family relationships can you think about the impact it would have and your immediate family if we simply just begin to live out Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 the only way you ever acted towards somebody else is the way you would desire for them to act towards you had fix ever problem in my home I don't know about your home but but that fix every situation in my home I'd never have to get on to my kids again right I mean if they only acted towards each other according to the golden rule life's much better amen I mean no more time and time out no more getting out dad's belt you know not that kind of stuff man it also talks about our close friendships the friends that we have the people that we work with every day at the office the people that work at the factory the people that you work with at school the people you go to school with those close friends and co-workers Jesus says in everything he's talking about every relationship in my life every one of those close relationships but he's also not just talking about our close relationships Jesus is talking about our casual relationships like acquaintances you see sometimes we don't even think about those the person that you encounter it Walmart the person that you are standing in line with at the bank the person that is waiting on your table at the restaurant the officer that pulls you over or speeding the person at the counter God bless them at the DMV everything you see when Jesus is describing this principle this pattern of behavior he's not just talking about the way I'm to act with my husband or wife or children or or aunts or uncles or grandparents or my co-workers or classmates or my employer employees he's somebody every relationship in my even the the people that I'm bumping into on the street the people that I'm talking to is I'm pumping gas into my car this principle impacts every relationship in my life the close and the casual it also impacts the relationships with people that are easy to love and those that are not easy to love I mean let's be honest all right there's some people that are easier to love than others amen don't make eye contact with anybody right now wouldn't be good but when Jesus said everything man he just opened the door this principle applies to that person that comes to your mind right now that is very difficult in your life it's everything principle this principle refers to those that I'm in relationships with who believe what I believe it applies to those who don't believe what I believe can you imagine what impact we would have on the lost world if we truly lived out this principle towards unbelievers this isn't just a brother and sister in Christ thing this is an everything principle one of the great damaging things that we have done as the body of Christ is the way we have treated people in our culture who vehemently denounce what we believe there's some people in our culture who do things say things and believe things that are totally contrary to what we do and believe this principle applies to them I'm to treat them the way that I would desire to be treated this principle applies to those who treat me right and to those who don't treat me right it impacts every relationship number two what Jesus describes impacts and it's about to get personal every area of every relationship in my life everything means the whole but it also means every part and here's what that means it means the stuff that they can see and the stuff that they can't see I come from the south it's where I was born and raised the south is known for southern hospitality can I tell you it's somewhat of a sham here's what I mean by this and I don't mean to be over generalizing my people in the south but southern hospitality is to your face if you ever been in the south we can love you to your face and we can tear you apart behind your back and we can do it with a smile and a y'all and make you feel good about it when Jesus here says everything he's talking about every relationship and every aspect of every relationship listen I'm to treat people the way that I would want to be treated when they can see what I'm doing and I'm to live that way when they can't see what I'm doing you know what that means right this is an issue where Jesus is not just even talking about the actions he's talking about my attitude everything and I hate it when he uses words like that don't you everything and just so you don't think I'm reading too much into this word everything I want you to go back again to chapter 5 look at verse 21 he said you've heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit adultery and whoever commits or shall not commit murder and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court but I say everyone who's angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court you see what he's doing he's taking it beyond the action right to the attitude look down at verse 27 you've heard it said that you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her in his heart is already committed adultery you see how he takes this principle and he goes right to the heart Jesus is not just with Matthew chapter 7 some people believe Matthew chapter 7 in verse 12 is really the crescendo in the summary of the entire sermon on the Mount some people believe that the entire sermon on the Mount can be lived out if we simply live out chapter 7 verse number 12 everything means in every relationship in my life both in my attitude and in my action when they can see it and when they cannot see it I am to live out this principle third statement what Jesus describes is not simply refraining from certain behavior but it is actually encouraging radical behavior let me explain that here's what I mean by that the most famous quotation in another religious context to the one we find Jesus make here is the one that Confucius wrote down here's what Confucius said what you do not won't done to yourself do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself do not do to others but do you hear the difference in what he said and what Jesus said what Confucius said can be obeyed by doing nothing what you don't want done to you just don't do it it's only in the negative you can obey that by just doing nothing what Jesus says is the opposite it's in the positive he said treat people the way you would have them to treat you meaning I can't just refrain from doing some things and honor what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 demands activity it demands service it demands a lifestyle a pattern of living let me give you the point look at it on the screen in every area of every relationship in my life now that by itself that's that's a mouthful in every area of every relationship in my life I am to continuously seek ways to serve others through my attitudes and actions that's radical that's why they heard the sermon on the mountain said you got to be kidding me and that's why when we hear that and we understand the reality of what Jesus said here's our response that's impossible to obey anybody tonight ready to make the commitment that in every moment of every instance of my life in every year of every relationship I'm gonna always continuously at every moment to always seek to serve others with every attitude and action in my life anybody ready to sign on that dotted line you won't get out the door do you broken that right it's impossible and it is impossible if we only see it as a moral principle to be lived out or religious virtue that we're expected to live out on our own it is impossible but Jesus adds a phrase at the end of this verse that gives us some insight into how we're to live this out Jesus said and everything therefore treat people the same way you want them to treat you for this is the law and the prophets Jesus ends this statement by equating honoring this principle Jesus said you honor verse 12 you got the whole law on the prophets all 39 books in the Old Testament you honor verse 12 you got it when I read that it reminded me of something Jesus said later on in Matthew take your Bible turn to Matthew chapter 22 there was another place where Jesus equated a statement with all of the law in the prophets Matthew 22 look at verse 34 if you don't have a Bible we're gonna put these up on the screen listen what it said when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they gathered themselves together one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment the second is you shall love your neighbor as yourself basically the same as the great as the golden rule verse 40 on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets Jesus said let me sum up the whole law for you love God and love others you love God and you love others everything else will take care of itself but I want you to notice he did not give those two commandments as equal in importance he gave the first one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and then he gave this this expression this is the great and foremost commandment the word great is from the Greek word megas we get our English word mega he said man this is the mega command this is the big one and if we didn't understand from megas he gives us the second word proton this is the foremost this is the chief this is the one that's the priority above everything else he said the absolute most important thing in your life is to love the Lord your God why did he say it that way here's why I said it that way the only hope I have of honoring the law of God the only hope I have of loving my neighbor as myself is Christ in me out of the overflow of an intimate love relationship with the Father you see the only hope I have of living out the golden rule is Christ in me out of the overflow of a love relationship with him before Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself he said love the Lord your God that's the big commandment here's why causes you and I focus on loving God Christ will begin to manifest his life through us and he will love our neighbor in ways you and I never could I want to show you a verse on the screen that for most of my Christian life I didn't understand this verse I heard it wrong put it up John chapter 14 verse 15 read it out loud with me if you love me you will keep my commandments let me tell you how I heard that verse most of my Christian life most of my Christian life here's what I heard if you love me you better keep my commandments emphasis on obedience because I had to show God I loved him and what he said is if I'm gonna show him I love him I got obeying so the focus became obedience and guess what no matter how hard I tried to obey him guess what I always did always failed I heard the verse wrong can I can I let you hear the different way tonight here's what he said not if you love me you better he said if you love me you will emphasis on love me because when I focus on loving him then he begins to change me on the inside like we sang about a moment ago and what comes out of my life is now Christ in me let me give you a general principle look at it on the screen everything God desires to do through my life he will do out of the overflow of what he's doing in my life I can only rightly relate to others out of the overflow of a right relationship with God that's why Jesus put him in order love God that's the great and foremost then love others my capacity to love others rests in my intimacy with God so all that here's a summary of what the golden rule says look at this on the screen the golden rule is simply a description of what his life looks like being fleshed out in my life through relationships with others that's the golden rule the golden rule is not me trying it's me trusting him through me to do that which I don't have the capacity to do on my own it's his life the golden rule is simply a description of his life being fleshed out in my life as I relate to other people every time I fail at the golden rule it's because I've stopped letting him live through me and I've taken back control every time every time you tell me I know that because Jesus always does that which pleases the Father Jesus never breaks a golden rule Jesus is always Jesus said I didn't come to be served but to serve every moment of my life that I'm allowing Christ to live through me guess what it's gonna look like treating other people the way I want to be treated every moment so then let me ask the last question and we're finished how does this apply to me today how does this apply to my life today I want to give you three realities and we're done here's the first my relationship with God is more important than any other relationship in my life I'm gonna say that again my relationship with God is more important than any other relationship in my life every other relationship in my life being right depends on my relationship to the Father I want you to think about that for a minute we live in a day of broken dysfunctional relationships husbands and wives parents and children boss and employee neighbors friends we live in a day of seriously broken and dysfunctional relationships Jesus said husbands love your wives now listen to this as Christ loved the church he said wives be subject to your husbands as to the Lord either one of those statements by themselves are impossible for you and how to live up to love your wife as Christ loved the church we humanly we can how can we do that he was selfless he was sacrificial he gave his life there was never one time here you know as human beings we that's not possible wives be subject to your husband's as to the Lord how do we ever live those things out listen if you read Ephesians 5 where those verses are contained you know we always miss before he said that you know what he said first be filled with the Spirit you see the only hope I have for loving my wife is Christ loved the church is out of the overflow of intimacy with God where his Spirit is living through me his life is living through me he's loving through me the greatest thing I can do to be a husband to my to my wife the greatest thing I can do to love my wife listen is not love my wife the greatest thing I can do to love my wife is love Jesus Christ and to the degree that I cultivate intimacy with God Jesus through me will love my wife like I never dreamed possible wife the greatest thing you can do to love your husband and to be subject to live out those principles to your husband is not try to live those out on your own the greatest thing you can do is love Jesus same principle we find in John chapter 15 verse 12 listen to this one Jesus said this is my commandment that you love one another just as I've loved you nothing about that Jesus said to you and me as brothers and sisters in Christ we're to love each other just like Jesus loved us that's a tall order I mean his loves are pretty high standard you willing to die for everybody in the room I mean let's be honest we want to be John 15 12 you can't understand John 15 12 let's you understand John 15 1 through 11 you know what John 15 1 through 11 is right I am divine you are the branches he who abides in me and I and him will bear much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing John 15 1 through 11 teaches us that the priority in our lives is abiding in Christ and when we abide in Christ guess what the first obvious evidence is we love our brothers and sisters in Christ as Christ loves through us the most important relationship in my life is my relationship with God here's the second reality God will use every relationship in my life to deepen my relationship with him as you and I begin to seek to live out the golden rule and we begin to seek God's heart towards relating to other people God will reveal things in my life by showing me things in the lives of others and it'll use them to conform me to his own image let me let me give you an illustration of what I mean by this the first church I ever pastored it's a wonderful time three years of ministry we saw a lot of people come to Christ I told you the story before explosive growth almost the fourth of the town attended our church it was just an exciting exciting place but there was an existing power struggle that was there things didn't end well at the end they asked me and our whole staff team they forced us to resign and leave the church because it outgrew their ability to stay in control of things and it was just a it was a bad ending for us and it just ripped my guts out and at that point in my life I was done with ministry I didn't want to do it anymore lifeless too short the kingdom of God was too big I could get my paycheck somewhere else and be involved in what God was doing but God used the church in Memphis Tennessee to literally love me back into the work and and they kind of restored me and and I had a guy begin to meet me I've told his name before Clyde Cranford started to disciple me and Clyde came in he sat down with me one day and we began to talk through some of these Christ issues in our life and Clyde said Vance have you forgiven those guys now I won't talk about some else I don't want to talk about that and then Clyde said something and when he said it it was like a thunderous blow to my soul here's what he said he said Vance those guys didn't do anything to you that you have not already done in your past to the Lord and God in his grace has forgiven you and it's that same grace that he desires to use through you to forgive them in that moment God was trying to live out the golden rule in my life towards other people but what he was really doing was he was doing stuff in me you see it was my relationship to them that God was using to change some stuff in me that was just wrong my heart was just wrong and it took me being mistreated to see the mistreatment and my own heart towards the very grace of God in my life to conform me more to the image of Christ God's going to use every relationship even the difficult ones to conform you to his image and here's the third and final principle we're finished as I focus on knowing him he through me will transform every other relationship in my life I'm not gonna ask you to show your hand tonight but I would believe that in this room maybe in every seat in this room there are people who have some relationships that need some work maybe it's a husband wife relationship maybe it's a parent child maybe it's an office relationship maybe it's a relationship down at the plant maybe it's a relationship with a neighbor maybe it's a relationship with a friend from years ago maybe it's a relationship with an enemy maybe it's something as simple as a relationship that you bumped into somebody this week and you just need to go back to that place and make some stuff right I don't know what it is but here's what I know as you and I focus on knowing him he will transform our relationships I want to make two statements and we're done I want to give you that summary again the golden rule is simply a description of what his life looks like being fleshed out in my life through relationships with others and I want you to see this quote by John MacArthur and we're finished listen what he said it's so so true selfless love does not serve in order to prevent its own harm or to ensure its own welfare it serves for the sake of the one being served and serves in the way it likes being served whether it ever receives such service or not that level of love is the divine level and can be achieved only by divine help that is the golden rule in its context let's pray Lord Jesus would you have your way tonight God would you speak would you take this truth and transform God we acknowledge our need for your word to take root in our lives and to change us and Father we ask you tonight to speak beyond the words of a man beyond the words of a sermon God would you speak Lord would you inventory our lives in this moment every relationship every area of every relationship and God would you speak as you sit in the quiet of this moment I want to ask you a few questions tonight and then we're gonna stand and we're gonna sing a song of response and I'll give you an opportunity to respond publicly if you need to do that the first question for you tonight is do you have a love relationship with God do you have a love relationship with God do you know him personally listen the most important thing that you can do to fix any other relationship in your life is first of all begin with a relationship with God if you're here tonight and you're not a Christian you're not a follower of Jesus I want to invite you when we stand to sing in just a moment to leave where you're sitting we have some pastors here at the front we have some prayer volunteers on the side and at the back if God is speaking to you right now and you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ when we stand to sing you leave your seat the people besides you will let you out you come to one of these pastors or one of these prayer volunteers and you just say to them I want to give my life to Jesus and they'll show you from the Bible how you can be saved how you can become a follower of Jesus Christ second question I want to ask you is this is your love relationship with God the most important relationship in your life is it the foundation for every other relationship are you seeking God daily intimately personally privately are you spending time in his word are you spending time in prayer are you seeking God daily third question are there broken dysfunctional relationships in your life I want you to ask on right now God would you reveal relationships in my life that aren't right and then here's what I want you to ask Lord Jesus how do you want to love them through me God how do you want to treat them through me and I want you to ask God to give you this week a specific tangible way you can begin to serve them you can treat them you can love them and allow Christ through you to serve them are you depending on Christ to relate to others through you are you living moment by moment in dependence on him saying Lord I need you I need you I need you if you need to pray with someone if you need to receive Christ if God's speaking to your heart and you need to talk to a pastor you come to one of these here at the front as we stand and saying God have your way speak to us as as we worship. It's in the name of Jesus we pray.