Still Waters Church
Reaping
Jesus called you to fulfill his primary purpose on earth. He gives us multiple purposes, but they all lead toward his primary purpose of saving people through the power of the gospel. Pastor Ritchie Miller teaches about the blessings you receive when God uses you to reap his harvest.
- Broadcast on:
- 04 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
We're going to start a new series called "A Healthy Home" and we're going to be looking in the Book of Proverbs, actually for eight straight weeks, we're going to look out of the Book of Proverbs, and we're going to talk about how to have a healthy relationship, how to communicate, how many think communication is important. All right, you've got to learn how to do that, right? We're going to talk about how do you have healthy money? What does that look like? How do you have good parenting skills? How many have children? Raise your hand, all right? How many have adult children? Raise your hand, all right? A lot of you? How many have grandchildren? Raise your hand, all right. You need to be here, okay? We're going to be talking about this over the next several weeks. I hope you'll be a part of it, and that will start next Sunday. But today, we are going to wrap up the series that we've been in, and we've been looking at what the Bible says, what Jesus actually taught, and he used the metaphor of sewing and reaping, he used the metaphor of a farm and producing crops, and last week we talked about waiting. Well, that's a hard one sometimes. You don't like to wait. It's like the guy that prayed for patients. He said, "Lord, give me patience, but give it to me right now." And we have to learn to wait on the Lord, okay? But today, we're going to wrap up this series with a very important part called reaping. Reaping. What does God put you here on Earth for? Why are you here? Have you ever wondered that? I mean, the fact is, you're not just here by accident. I know some people believe that we're an accident, but we're not. It's not an accident that you are born when you're born, that you live where you live, that you look like what you look like. God planned you, okay? You can't ever forget this. So, what is reaping? Why does God have us here? Why are we here now? Well, I would say this, that God has designed you to reach people. That's one of the real purposes that God has for your life. Scripture teaches us that it is God's will and primary purpose for us as a believer, for us as a church, to reach people with the good news of the gospel. Now, make no mistake, there are several things, several reasons, if you will, as to why God has you here. God planned you. You're not an accident. Why does God have you here? Well, one of the main purposes is that you're to worship God. That's what God has created you for. That is the one thing you'll do throughout all of eternity. God created you to worship Him. God created you to love Him. God created you so that He could love you. God created you also to love others. We call this fellowship. We call this serving. In fact, the Bible is very clear that you cannot serve God unless you also serve others. Now, a lot of times when we think of serving God, we think of things like going to church. Going to church is important. You should go to church. I'm glad you're here. But that's not really serving God. That's worship. That's learning about the Lord. But serving God is done by serving others. In fact, Jesus Himself, I've read it this morning. He basically said that if you want to minister to Jesus, if you want to serve Him, He talked about when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was in prison, you visited me. Now, what does that mean? Well, it simply means this. That unless you learn to serve others, you really don't ever serve God. And so don't ever think about your ministry to others as a waste of time. Because the truth is, you're doing this as if you're doing it to Jesus. And that's the way He looks at it. So He's got us here for worship. He's got us here for fellowship. He's got us here for discipleship. You know what the Bible says about your purpose in life? That one of the purposes that God gives you in your life is that you're to become more and more like Jesus. That's growing in your faith. That's getting closer to Him. That's why we have the little statement that we say a lot here that your next step is your most important step. Now I got saved when I was eight years old. I've been a Christian now for over 50 years. Now, you would think that if you've been doing something for 50 years, maybe you got it figured out by now. But if you've been a Christian for very long, you know that you don't ever fully have it figured out. That's why we say your next step is your most important step. The idea being that you never stop growing. You never stop learning. You never stop following. You certainly can get better at it. You certainly can be comfortable in your life with the Lord. But it's like you're never to give up. You're never to slack off. You are to follow Him and to love Him the way Jesus said, "With all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, we are to love Him in that way." So why are we here? Well, we're to serve God by serving others. Did you know that you can't see God? Oh, we can see God's activity. We can see God's work. But God is Spirit. They worship Him as worship Him as Spirit and truth. So you can't physically in this body lay your eyes on God. However, you can see other people. And so what God has called us to do is to serve Him by serving others. So He has us here to love Him. He has us here to grow. He has us here to worship Him. He has us here to serve Him by serving others. In fact, Jesus wrapped all of Scripture up. He said in two commands that we're to love God and we're to love others. And so if we're doing those two things, then you're really doing what God has called you to do, what God has left you here to do, to love God and to love others. Now, the way that this, I believe, is most fleshed out, if you will, most lived out, is something that Jesus said was the reason that He came. His primary purpose. Now, we've talked about some of these, but there's one purpose that stands above all others. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Reaping, in other words, we're to give the gospel. We don't do the saving, but we are to share the gospel. We don't do the saving, but we are to do the inviting. We don't do the saving, but we are to do the witnessing, letting God use us. And a witness is just somebody that tells what they've seen, what they've experienced. And so the most effective way to do that is in your daily life. Are you talking about what God has done in your life? Are you talking about how God has answered prayer in your life? Are you talking about how you're learning? Once again, not being holier than thou, not acting like you're better than others. But in humility, letting people know, yes, your life before Christ was a mess. And not that it's perfect now, but it's sure a lot better than it was. When you begin to live this way, when you begin to witness in this way, what does God do? He uses your life for what I believe is the primary purpose, the primary reason that He left you here. In Luke 19, 10, Jesus said, "For the Son of Man," that's a reference that He used for Himself, talking about the Messiah, that's what He was doing, is claiming to be God, claiming to be the Messiah, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." That's the reason He came. He came for you. He came for me. He came for those who are not here yet. Now, the theme throughout Scripture, if I could give you this, it's really this. God created everything, we're talking about the whole Bible, I'm going to give you the whole Bible in a nutshell. God created everything, mankind's sin, and as a result of that sin was separated from God. Jesus Christ became our forgiver. He's the one that paid the penalty for our sin. He paid the price for us so that we could be saved and be made right with God again. And Jesus is coming again, and He wants you to live with Him forever so that He can love you forever. That's really the Bible and just a sentence or two. And so God wants you to be in this dynamic, loving relationship with Him. So why does He have you here? What is your reason? What is your purpose? You say, well, my purpose is to earn enough money to retire and to live a comfortable life. Well, I hope you can do that, but that's not your real reason for existence. That would be just filling some skin for a while. That would not really be having a purpose. You say, well, my purpose is my family. Very important to have family. Very important to love your family. Very important to care for your family, but that's not your primary reason that God has created you. Now, are these all a part of these things? Of course, but today we're going to talk about this purpose. We're going to talk about reaping as in seeing people come to know Jesus Christ. I want to read to you from a passage that if you've been in church much you've heard or probably read before. And it's in John chapter 4. In this chapter, Jesus and His disciples, they took a big risk. By the way, that is a theme that God wants you to understand that the Christian life is not about safety. It's about faith. And that if you ever get to the point, listen, I'm getting ready to give you something good here, okay? This is free. Yeah, this build is going to cost you something, but nevertheless, I'm just kidding. The fact is God has put you here for a reason. He has put you here so that you can help bring people into His family. But Christianity is not safe. Now, I don't believe that it's wrong to pray for God's protection. That's true. You should pray for that. But this idea that God just simply wants you to have a life of ease, never have a struggle, never have to worry, never have to pray. That just simply is not true. If you want proof of this, do you remember when Jesus was talking about His cousin, John the baptist, John the baptizer? Here's what He said about him. He said that essentially, He's the greatest man, the greatest Christian that ever walked. So He said, now understand the impact of that statement. If Jesus Himself said, John lived for my purpose. John was a great person in the kingdom of God. And I want you to understand that John the baptist, when it came time for him to really put up or shut up, he wondered, was he doing the right thing. Because he sent his disciples to Jesus and they asked him this question, are you the one or do we look for another? Now, understand the impact of that because honestly, John the baptist, you read John chapter 1 and you read in the gospels, John the baptist was more convinced than anyone that Jesus was the Messiah. He said, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and untie sandals. He is the one, he preached this, he lived this, and yet when it came down to the nitty gritty, when he faced the difficulties of life, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, are you really the one? Is all that I've sacrificed, is it worth it? And leave it to Jesus to answer with a thing that makes you think. He sent his disciples back, he said, you go tell John and he essentially quoted from scripture. He said, the poor had the gospel preached to him, them, the blind are able to see, the dead are coming back to life. And what was his point? His point was that the power of God is being manifested and yes, John, it is worth it, it is worth it for you to live for my purpose. That's what he's saying. Well, in John chapter 4, Jesus was taking a big risk because he went through Samaria and if you have been around church much, you've probably heard some preacher talk about this, but the Samaritans and the Israelites hated each other. And I say hate and I use that in a very real sense. I'm not talking about the difference between Georgia fans and Georgia Tech fans, that's not what we're talking about. You might hate each other, but you really get along because you see each other in church, but you know, you like to rid each other. No, the Samaritans and the Israelites, they despised each other. In fact, it was so bad that Jesus and his disciples really risked their own life to go through this area. Well, what we're going to read here is a portion of the story about Jesus and the woman at the well. You remember that story? Okay. And what had happened was they had been ministering and Jesus sent his disciples into town to get some food. And when they came back, they saw him talking to a Samaritan woman. Now you have to understand in the culture in that day, you just didn't do that. You didn't talk publicly to some other man's wife when no one else was around, that was considered dishonorable. That was not something you did, that was a bit scandalous, okay? And only that, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman, but he had a purpose and he had a reason for it. And this big risk that he took, his disciples said, "Here's some food." And he said, "I've got something to eat that you don't even know about." And he's talking about the spiritual nourishment that he got from sharing the gospel, from telling people about the way, for being a part of God's harvest. Because that's why he was here. And there's so many things we learned from this, that when it comes to the gospel, we should take risks as well. When it comes to telling people about the Lord, you should break down cultural barriers. It shouldn't be my for and no more. It shouldn't be everybody that votes like you, looks like you, smells like you. It's for everyone. There's so many things we can learn. We learn about the nourishment that comes from doing the will of the Father. But let's look in John 4 and verse 34. We'll just read about four or five verses. And then Jesus explained, "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me, and from finishing his work." The Apostle Paul talked about finishing the race. Now let me just tell you, you've got a race. You're not done yet. You know how I know? Because you're still alive. At least I think you are, okay? Elbow the person next to you, make sure they're not dead, all right? So I see some of you are like, "I wonder if this person is..." I hadn't heard them breathe lately. Are they alive? No, God's got you here for finishing his work. He's called you, not... Look, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the retirement. I hope you can retire and retire rich. I hope you get to do that. But understand this, retiring from work is different than retiring from living for God. God has not called you to retire from living for him. Now if you're able to... You've saved money. You've invested. You've been wise. And you're able to live. And I know many of you have. And I applaud you. I think that's a wonderful thing. I hope that everybody plans well, okay? So that one day you can retire too. But I look around the room and I see a lot of people that are retired. But you haven't retired from serving God. You're here. You ever noticed that there are a lot of people that give up on serving him? They just kind of get out of the race? Well, God says we're to stay in the race. He said, "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me and from finishing his work." You know the saying four months between planting and harvest. But I say, "Wake up and look around." By the way, that is a very good call, isn't it? "Wake up. Be aware." You ever notice that it's easy to fall asleep? Oh, I'm not talking about when you go to bed at night. For some of us, that's hard, okay? Or, if you're like me, I don't know what it is. Recently, I've been waking up at 3 a.m. And I cannot hardly go back to sleep. So if I start yawning during my own message, you'll know why, okay? That's something we're talking about. Wake up. Be aware. Jesus said, "Wake up and look around." The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages. And the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike. You know the saying, "One plants and another harvest." And it's true, I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant. Others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest. So I want to just point out the answer to this question. Why should I as a Christian? Why should we as a church collectively strive to reach people? That's the question. Why are you here? Well, I won't be very long on these points, but maybe if you're arriving them down, you can follow along on the church center app. You can see the sermon notes. Go back and study it later. But the number one reason I believe is because all people matter to God. All people matter to God. Is this ever occurred to you that you've never laid eyes on a person that God did not send Jesus to die for? No one. People that are different political persuasions than you. I'm going to get in trouble. People that are different sexual orientations than you. Hello? Oh, no, we're not justifying sin. I'm just simply saying Jesus came so that sinners could be saved. Let me take a real quick poll. How many of you will qualify as a sinner? Raise your hand. All right? See, almost everybody's got their hand raised. Some of you didn't raise your hand. I'm going to see you afterwards. I'm going to point out some things. All right. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, okay? But no, the truth is you've never met anyone. You've never locked eyes with anyone that Jesus did not die for. Now do all people get saved? No, unfortunately. Does that make the atonement that Jesus gave for us effective for everyone? No, because if you don't get saved, it's really not effective. In other words, it doesn't change you, okay? It doesn't save you. But if you don't get saved, make no mistake, it was available, okay? Now you may not have taken advantage of it, but it's available. All people matter to God. I want you to notice what Jesus said. The fruit that they harvest is people brought to eternal life. Can I just refocus us as a church for a little bit? We must be about reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ. That's our job. And if we ever cease to keep that as a priority, we really cease to have a reason to exist as a church. Look, I love all the things that we do as a church. I love the fellowship. Hopefully you learn from my teaching and preaching. You grow in the Lord. Man, we do a lot of good things here. But if we ever stop reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ, we cease to have a real reason to exist. God's called us to this. I love the fact that we've got people in this room today that have met Jesus. Got and saved. We've got some teenage boys that are here today, Tyler, in the back, Jordan, a couple of our teenage boys that, not too long ago, got saved and baptized. And we have children in our children's ministry that get saved and baptized. We have adults. Many of you have been saved and baptized through the ministry of this church. Let me just say, we must, we must continue to do that. That's why we're here. If we ever start thinking is just about our fore and no more, then we cease to really have a reason to exist as a church. Number two, reaching people as God's will for my life and for the church. Did you know that? You don't have to wonder if you're praying in the will of God if you're praying for people to be saved. Did you know that? I mean, there may be some things that you are not sure if they're the will of God. Lord, I'm thinking about getting this kind of car. Would you show me if that's your will or not? Lord, I'm thinking about buying this house or moving to this apartment or changing to this job or getting my hair cut in this way or wearing this outfit. Those may be things that you're not sure of, but the Bible says that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Does that mean everybody's going to get saved? No, it does not, but it means that God wants everyone to respond to the gospel. You don't have to wonder if that's God's will. You don't have to pray and say, "God, should I invite someone to church? Should I tell people about what God has done in my life?" You don't have to pray about that. You know that is God's will for your life. And I tell you, the more we take this seriously, the more opportunities we're going to have. A number of years ago, there was a man that came to our church. He and his family have since moved to Florida. But when he came, his wife, her best friend, was getting baptized. And so she said, "We're going to go watch our friend get baptized." Well, this man, he came up in this service. He came, made a beeline for me after the service. He came to me, he said, "I just want you to know I will not be back." And I'm like, "Oh, no, I offended someone else." And he's like, "No, I just want you to know I don't go to church because I don't believe in God." I said, "Okay, well, I'm glad you're here." The next Sunday, I looked up and there he was sitting right in the audience. And he came up to me that Sunday as well. He said, "I just want you to know that I don't believe in God and I will not be back in this church." I said, "Okay, good to see you." Two Sundays in a row. For six straight Sundays, he came up to me every Sunday after the service and told me, "I won't be back." And finally, I said, "You got a hush." The fact is, you say you don't come and you've been six weeks in a row. He said, "Well, I don't believe in God." And I called his name, I said, "I hate to tell you this, but God's speaking to you. That's why you're coming." He's like, "Oh, I don't know about that." Well, the next Sunday, he showed up again. And he came up to me afterwards and he looked like he was ready to get in a fight with me. His face was red, he was bloodshot eyes. I thought, "Oh no, he's going to take a swing at me." And he came in, his voice is trembling. And he said, "I don't know what you're trying to pull here." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "This nonsense or whatever you're trying to do. I don't know what you--I told you for six Sundays in a row. I don't go to church." And every Sunday I wake up, I say, "I'm not going back to that church." And I find myself here, I do not know what you're doing." And I told him, I said, "Dude, if I had that much power, I'd get into your bank account." Okay, so I don't have that power. And I told him, I said, "Look, what's happening is God is speaking to you." He goes, "Oh, man." And, well, anyway, I knew he was a very intellectual guy. And he traveled a lot. And I told him, I said, "Let me challenge you on something." I said, "I want you to read the book of Romans." This guy was an engineer. He had his degree in that very analytical thinker. I said, "One of the greatest pieces of literature that's ever been written in human history is the book of Romans." I said, "You need to read it because you're very intelligent and tell me what you think." Well, the next Sunday he came up, he didn't have a scowl, he had a smile. I said, "What happened?" He says, "Well, I did it." I said, "You did what?" I thought he read the book of Romans. "Oh, I read the book of Romans." He said, "I read it about five or six times." And I did it. And I think I knew what he was talking about. I said, "What do you mean, what did you do?" Because I was going to make him say it. He said, "I did that thing you talk about every Sunday." I said, "What things that?" And he just went, "I gave my life to Jesus." (Applause) Now, I can tell you that it's God's will for us. Now, that's a beautiful story and I love stories like that. But did you know that every story is just that good? You may not feel like your story is that dramatic because maybe you grew up in church. Let me tell you something. You matter to God. Your story is just as dramatic, just as important, and just as impressive to him. Is there any that we could ever tell? Why? Because reaching people is God's will for my life. We've got to reach people now. Jesus said, "Look around. Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us and are ready now for reaping." I hope you will not make the mistake that a lot of Christians make a procrastination. Years ago, we ordered these little things. They were little flat wooden coins. And they were round like a coin and they had T-U-I-T on it to it. And if you don't know what that is, you're like, "What is a round to it?" Well, you're always saying, "When I get around to it, I'm going to do this and that." Well, here's you around to it. Let's do it. And can I say this? We don't need to wait. We need to do it now. Who is it that God has put in your life that you need to reach? And once again, you don't do the saving. Neither do I. But you know what he said? And we read this. Some people plant. Some people water. But we all get in on the harvest. And so, what are you waiting for? Who are you procrastinating over? Who do you need to call or text or invite or let them know that you're praying for them? I've shared this story before. It's one of those stories that's so good. You have to share it every once in a while. Three years ago, we had a woman in our church that she was one of our greeters. By the way, if you wonder wherever you serve, if it matters, you just listen to this story. There was a man that came to our church and she was able to greet him, welcome him in. Well, it turns out the man got saved on that Sunday. He shared with us afterwards that he had decided that day, actually the night before, he was going to give church one more shot. He's going to give God one more try because he was at the end of his rope. And if he didn't find what he was looking for after the service, he was going to go home. Please forgive me for saying this crudely. He was going to blow his brains out. And he shared with us how this woman that was a part of our greeters gave him hope. He said, "You know, I had been so distraught and so troubled and she went out of her way to make me feel welcome. She went out of her way to make me feel like God loved me. And because of that, I sat in that service and I listened to the pastor preach and I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Don't think what you're doing is important." He said, "Well, all I do is serve on the greeters. Aren't you glad there's going to be a guy in heaven because somebody served on the greeters?" And what I'm saying is this, we've got to reach people now. Don't wait. Quit procrastinating. And then God rewards us when we reach people. In fact, what it says here, the harvesters are paid good wages. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike. What does that mean? Well, good wages are being paid both now and in heaven. See, I don't think there's anything more joyful, more joyous than when you influence somebody for Jesus Christ and they get saved. There is no greater feeling in the world, okay? I mean, it's so deep and so satisfying and so powerful. It lets you know that God is at work in your life and that God is using you. But you know what? You get the joy, but you don't want to see even going to be better when we get to heaven. You probably have heard the song "Thank You for Giving to the Lord." I honestly believe this. When we get to heaven, every person that served, every person that gave, every person that prayed will be a part of reaping what they didn't even know was theirs. You see what do you mean? Can you imagine what it's going to be like when you stand in heaven and for those of you, let's just keep it about our church and the places that we've invested money that you have given, okay, we've spread the gospel around the world. What about for the first time you meet someone from a Zulu tribe that you never met and they're going to come up to you with a big smile on their face and say, "Thank You. Thank You for what? Forgiving so that I can hear the gospel?" What about the people in Ecuador that we've given to to help a plant, a church there, people that you've never met, you don't even speak their language. And you're going to see them one day and they're going to come up to you and they're going to hug your neck and they're going to say, "Thank You. Thank You for what?" Forgiving so that I can hear the good news of Jesus. And we can do this all over the world in Europe, in Africa, in South America, in Central America, in Cuba, throughout the United States, and in foreign places where they don't speak English, like Alabama, all right? You ever heard somebody from Alabama try to talk? Okay, you know what I mean? Well, let me wrap this up, okay, because here's the thing. We're done. The last thought is this. Reaching people requires teamwork. We want to do this? Oh, you've got a responsibility to make known, but think about that. But you know what? We need to do this as a team. This is our job. Not just mine. If you think, if you have the mindset, that this is what the pastor gets paid to do, then you misunderstand Scripture. This is not just my job. It's yours. It's ours. It requires teamwork. Jesus said, "What joy awaits both the planner and the harvester like?" You know the saying, "One plant's another harvest, and it's true." I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant. Others had already done the work, and now you get to gather the harvest. What is this saying? I'm going to read a couple different translations so you get the scope of what Jesus is saying in the New King James that says, "You have entered into their labors." We enter into our labor together. It's collective. In the NME, it says, "You reap the benefits of their labor." In God's word, translation, "The person who harves the crop is already getting paid. He's gathering grain for eternal life, so the person who plants the grain and the person who harves it are happy together." They all write a song. "Happy together," or however you say. Now you know why I don't leave worship. What is he saying? He sent his teamwork. We get to do this together. We get to see God at work when we obey him. That's what he's saying. First Corinthians 3, 7 and 8, "It's not important who does the planting or who does the watering." What's important is that God makes the seed grow. Make no mistake about it, you play a part in that God wants you to be a witness. God wants you to share the good news. He wants you to take your next step. He wants you to do that. But God does the saving. Now, I've had people mistakenly and they misunderstood what this is about and they would refer to people that got saved as my converts. Let me tell you what I saw one of your converts do it. I'm like, hold on. I don't have any converts. Because if they're my convert, they're not saved. They're gods. Now does that mean that it's saved as perfect? No, you know better than that. But the truth is, God says it is a team effort. Well, let me close with this. Matthew 938, "Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his field." I want us to end today praying that God will anoint us, give us opportunity, give us ears to hear, give us a heart to obey so that we can reach people for the kingdom of God. It's our job. That's why we're here. And God just simply says He wants to use you. And I hope you'll let Him use you. Why? How? You know, every time you give, every time you serve, every time you participate, every time you pray, praying for loved ones, praying for neighbors, praying for people that you work with, praying for your kids classmates, praying for people that you don't even like. Okay? Oh wait, if the only people that ever got saved were the people we liked, that'd be bad, wouldn't it? Because I got bad news for you. There's somebody that didn't like you. Aren't you glad you were able to be saved? Okay? Every time we give, what does it do? Well, I've had people ask me, "How much ministry can you do for a hundred dollars?" I said, "About a hundred dollars worth." So every time we give, every time we serve, every time we step up, every time we pray, every time we invite, what are we doing? We are fulfilling why the reason why God has us here. And so let's do it. Let's do it. Let's start today. Go home today and think about somebody that you can pray for. Somebody that you can invite this week. And then we can pray with honesty. Lord, send forth laborers into your harvest. Heavenly Father, I pray that you'd help us to be just that. Laborers in your harvest, witnesses for you. Help us to live for your purpose. Live for your reason. And Lord, we'll thank you and praise you for all that you do in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let me encourage you today. If you have not been saved, we've been talking about being saved. What does that mean? Well, I hope you'll come. We have someone that will be here after the service with our prayer team. They'll pray with you. If you'd like to know what that means, we'll pray with you, okay? And you can receive Christ today. Or maybe you'd say, you know what? I've got a prayer request. Maybe you're praying about a job. Or maybe you're praying about your family. Or your health. Or finances. Whatever it is. It doesn't matter. You don't have to be a member of the church or you don't have to pray. You don't have to be a Christian to come pray, okay? We're going to have somebody here to pray with you if you'd like to pray afterwards, okay? And then, let me say this. Ushers are getting ready to come. And you can give if you're like 5% of our congregation you give when the plates are passed. The buckets are passed. But if you're like most people you give online by texting to give or through an app. Ushers you go ahead and come. And while they're coming, let me say this. If today you have not been and I repeat, not been through our next step class. But you'd like to know what it means to be a member. You'd like to know a little bit about it. I've got a brochure that I'd like to give to you. So let me put everybody on the spot. How many have been through some form in the past of a next step class? A membership class. Raise your hand. Raise your hand, okay? All right, put your hand down. How many have never been through one of our membership classes? In other words, you didn't go through whether it was back here. It was after the service. It was during a weeknight or some other time. But you've never been through that. Raise your hand. Raise your hand, okay? A few of you. Here's what I want you to do. Look right this way. I want to meet you in this room to the right. If you don't have time to stay very long, I just want to give you a brochure, okay? That'll explain it to you and you can learn what it means to be a member. By the way, one of our sayings is here that participation is membership. Our goal for you is not to get you to sign on a piece of paper. Our goal for you is to participate. That's our goal. That's what membership is. And so anyway, you see me afterwards on the way out. I'll give you one of these brochures. And thank you for being here today. I love you. God bless you.