For Such a Time as This | The Time is Now

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Join us as Gabe Kolstad and Ken Wooten bring us a message about Such a Time as This. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Melissa and I were on track eight in the train car and uh we were excited. We were going on a little trip and we got booked a train and it was a great destination and we were just kind of there early because I'm a little bit of a nervous traveler and I like to get there early. So if you ever go to the airport with me, watch out. You know, we're gonna have plenty of time sitting there at the gate. We're on the train, excited, and just kind of watching the clock. It's like, man, we're really close to when we're supposed to leave. We know this is the train that they said to be on, and but nobody else is coming in. It just felt weird, you know? It was like, why are we the only ones in this train? Not a lot of commotion. And so we, you know, what we double check, hey, we're here. Then the time hits, and we're supposed to be leaving, and we look at each other like this doesn't feel right. Right then, somebody pokes their head in and says, if you're headed to this destination, you're on the wrong train. And we were like, What? We've been playing to like scramble, you know, bumping into each other, trying to grab our luggage, fall out the door onto the thing, and go try to find where's the next you were asking this person like, where's the next train? We we run, we're running, we're running, we're hearing this sound right here. Yeah. Okay. You know, we we gotta get to, so we finally made it on, but you know what? By the time we got on the right train, it was already moving. We got on the train, it wasn't moving, we threw our luggage up there, jump in, and now we're headed to the right destination. And I'm telling you this story because it's a real story, but also because I've missed out on opportunities before. And listen, we are in the middle of a move of God here at West Side. It is exciting. I would not miss this for anything. And I don't want you to miss it. I want you to be on the train with me. I want us to go along with God and what he's doing. There's nothing as thrilling in life as being a part of something that God, the creator of the universe, has orchestrated, worked out, opened supernatural doors for, and then invited you to get on the train. We're going. And I want you on the train with me. And I want you to grab your notes right now and pull them out of your program if you would. Uh, if you're online with us, welcome to West Side. Thank you for being with us online. There's some notes there in the in the uh chat for you. We'd love for you to follow along as well. And I just want to encourage you that some really wonderful things are happening, and this new series is called The Time is Now. This is the new series, this is the new initiative that we are undertaking as a church. And I did some numbers because I I love numbers. I I'm a little bit of a numbers nerd, and so when I uh looked back just last weekend and I saw the number, and now one measurement of a church's health is weekend attendance, they call it. It's not the only measurement, it's one. I looked at that and I thought, okay, that's great. How does it compare with last year, the same Sunday? And I did the math and came up with 22.47% increase year over year. And then I look kept looking back, and you know what we're finding is that's about what's happening every year-ish. 20 to 30 percent, they call it a growth gap. Well, and that's exciting, right? I mean, can we just pause for a second and say God's bringing people to himself? Let's thank God for what he's doing. I'll tell you one thing that you should know for sure. It's not because of us. It is the Lord doing some great work, and we know that, and we thank God for that. And uh, so 22.47. Then I thought, oh, that's awesome. Okay, let's look ahead at next year and see what would happen if this was to continue. And here's the problem we don't have the space for that. We we we will be stopping short of that unless we make a change. And that's why we look at this whole thing and go, oh, then the time is now. We got to act while God is moving, God is doing things in the community. We're not gonna be on the sidelines, we're gonna be in the middle of the action because that's where he wants his people. So grab your notes and I want to show you what Jesus Himself says about this kind of thing. Jesus set this up. I mean, Jesus, when he was raised from the dead, just to give you the timeline, we just finished a series called Come Alive. We've talked in depth about his resurrection. We'd even talked about, you know, his birth. You live 33 years on the earth sinlessly. The Son of God, God in the flesh, the Messiah, the perfect Lamb of God, right? Then he dies on the cross for our sins. He's buried, and then he raises from the dead. Then he spends 40 days on the earth with the disciples. If you wonder if all this stuff is true, just read the New Testament. It's all in there. 40 days on the earth with his disciples, instructing them. And then he ascends into heaven and he says, I'm coming again. Okay, while he was with his disciples, he gave them something called the Great Commission. This is like the last thing he really did with them. He commissioned them. And I want you to see this with me in Matthew chapter 28. It says in verse 16, then the eleven disciples left for Galilee. Pause for a second. Eleven? How many disciples were there? Twelve. Why were there eleven here? Judas. And one of the things you might notice in life is that you started your journey and you might see people sometimes drop out of the race. Don't let that discourage you. Don't be one of those people. Decide that you're gonna stick with it. It says the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Verse 17 says, When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some of them doubted. I want to pause there too and say, Isn't it interesting how God could show up in our life and do a miracle? I mean, in this case, the miracle of miracles, right? I mean, raises himself from the dead, shows up, and then somehow it's just a few days later, and we're like, I don't know. Are you really real? You know, do you can you really help me with my bank account, God? And he's looking at them going, I just raised myself from the dead, and you're doubting now. And we do we all do that, right? But let's be people of faith in this season. It says in verse 18, Jesus came and told his disciples, I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He goes, I've been given all authority on heaven, in heaven and on earth. Now, just approximately how much authority is that? It's all there's like there's no more authority than what Jesus claimed right there to have. He's like, all authority. I mean, what he basically said is, I'm the most in charge of everybody. I'm the most in charge. I read that a couple weeks ago and I started thinking about my own prayer life, and I started thinking, does my prayer life match what Jesus said there? I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth. And I realized something. Not always. Sometimes I pray small, sometimes I act small, I live small, I play small. But he's saying all authority. He's setting it up, okay? He's setting it up for this next part that I want you to read out loud with me in verse 19. It says this. Let's read it out loud together. Ready with gusto. Can you do it? Verse 19. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you, and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Okay, that's called the Great Commission, meaning Jesus commissioned his followers. He's like, You are my followers, you are on mission. This is your commission. Go, right? Pretty clear. And I think what we notice about that is that he says a couple of things. He goes, I've got all authority. He goes, I want you to go, I want you to make disciples, I want you to baptize them, I want you to teach them everything that I've commanded you. At Westside, we say, helping people find and follow Jesus. That's what we say. And when you look at all this, it's pretty interesting how he ends it. He said, I want you to be sure of this. I am with you always. And then he says, even to the end of the age. What I love about that is that he says, there's an age, and as we've already talked about in the last series, he's coming back. He's gonna come back, and he's gonna raise us up from the dead, and he's and he's gonna be with us forever. And so I look at ahead at the we're in this age right now where he's not here. He said, I'm coming back. And the exciting thing about that is that he's coming back. And the terrifying thing about that is he's coming back. He's coming back as the king for everybody who believes. He's coming back as the judge for everybody who rejects. And that's real. And when you look at your life and you look at your neighbors, and you look at your household, and you look at your workplace, do you realize that you're the one that's been sent? Does that hit for all of us? It's you. He's saying, Go. Make disciples. I'm coming back. And he's coming back as king, and he's coming back as judge. I was reading this week Matthew chapter 24, and I got frightened when I read what it actually says. Because Jesus says, when the Son of Man, that's how he refers to himself sometimes, says, when the Son of Man returns, he said there's going to be great mourning over the whole earth. And I was like, wow, I thought it was supposed to be a party. Jesus is coming back. And I realized what he was talking about was mourning for people who realize that it is too late. That's a hard reality for me to accept. But he said it's real. And he said there's gonna be some signs of when I'm returning. Now I think we should be filled with joy and anticipation about what's coming for believers. I really do. I believe it with all my heart. I've I've staked my life on it that he's coming back. I believe it. And I'm excited for it. But I also want to make sure that everyone in my circle has heard the good news. And he goes, There's gonna be some signs of when I'm gonna come back. And he goes, when this starts to happen, when that starts to happen. And I was reading that this week, going like, huh. I look at my news app and I look at the Bible and I'm like, huh. Man, it seems like the time is now, doesn't it? It seems like it's our day, it's our time. And I want to give you some stuff in your notes, okay? First of all, write this down. It's harvest time. It's harvest time. We know that. It's harvest time. Meaning he's pulling, he's bringing in the harvest. The harvest is people. The harvest is the people that he wants to bring to himself. He's bringing the harvest in. He's just like, let's gather everybody. Come on, pull them in. He's got things in the New Testament. It's like, go out and and and find people and bring them in so that my house may be filled. He's like, it's harvest time. Come on, let's get everybody, everybody, everybody in here. He said in John 4 35, wake up and look around. He said to his disciples, the fields are already ripe for harvest. The fields are already ripe for harvest. I mean, it I I have in my mind an image of what the world and their response is to Jesus, people that don't that don't know Jesus. But he doesn't see it the same way that I do sometimes. He looks out and he goes, No, no, no, look at all these people. They're just so ready for a shepherd. He's like, just look around. It's ripe, they're ripe. And sometimes we have a hard time telling, right, if somebody's ready or not. It's kind of like avocados. I don't know if you uh have a problem. I'm like the worst with produce, okay? I'll go to most of the say, hey, can you go pick up some stuff from the store? I'm like, sure, I come back with this, like the most green cantaloupe you've ever seen in your life. You cut it open, just like, can't even cut it. Watermelons. I'm standing there in the in the produce department trying to figure out what's a good watermelon. I'm playing drums on it, you know, like smelling the end of it, you know, shaking it. Like, I don't know what a good watermelon is. I get the avocados, they're on the counter, and I love avocados, I like them in the morning, and so I'll pick one up and I'll try to cut it, and it the knife won't go in, like the knife blade breaks, you know. I'm like, well, that's probably not ready. And then you get one and it's like you open it up, this is gonna be perfect. You open it up, and it's just like rotten, you know? Jesus is going, it is harvest time, they're ready right now. You don't want an avocado to go one day too long, do you? No, today. It's right, it's ready. He's going, This is the moment. Okay, question. When you were a kid, did you ever play hide and seek? Okay, what do they say right before they come looking for you? Ready or not, here I come. I believe that's what Jesus is saying right now. Ready or not, oh, let's get ready. Let's use every second of the age that we are in, every second of the life that he's given us, every breath of the life that he has given us to be all about that. It's harvest time. There was recently a study done about the city of Portland, very interesting. It was a deep, big study. Ed Stetzer was the guy behind it, and um big organization, lots of data, and it says this interest in Jesus is bigger than expected. This is about Portland, Portland, Oregon, the metro area. Why it matters? This is the biggest surprise in the data. He says there's a real measurable appetite for Jesus, not just spirituality in general. That interested but not connected group represents a significant opportunity that churches are not reaching. Well, you know what? Not on our watch. Uh, we will do everything that we can to be in that gap, to fill that gap, to be in that space, to be the harvesters in the harvest. Second thing in your notes it's activation time. It is activation time. And here's what that means. He Jesus is looking around, he's like, oh my gosh, look at all these people. They're so ready. I mean, just here, think about it, just here in one church, in one small corner of one little part of a metropolitan area in the last two years, 600 people have said yes to Jesus. That's amazing, right? Already this year, we're eclipsing the rate of last year's people coming in in that place. It's already past that same rate. It's it's past it. We're we're seeing more this year, even. Crazy. And and so Jesus, like it's it's harvest time, and then he says it's activation time. He says in Matthew 9:38, so pray to the Lord who's in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send what?

unknown 15:13

More workers.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

More workers, right? So he's like, I want to send more workers into his fields. So into the fields. If you read that verse, just at the first glance, you'd read it and be like, oh, okay, yeah, God, dear Lord, I pray that you would convict other people to give their lives in service of the harvest. God, use other people to make a difference. God, put people in places, you know, where they could be the one that just is standing there and giving the good news, or maybe they become super generous and and they really fund like a major movement of God. Or maybe they see somebody in super need and to like to step in at just the right time. God, use those people to do that stuff. In Jesus' name, amen. You know. What do you think he's gonna say? Yeah, tap you on the shoulder. This happened to a guy named Chuck in our church recently. He was telling me this awesome story. He was just at our last service. Actually, we just did a barbecue at this property that we're talking about on Friday, and he was the first person to sign up, and he said, I want to be used. Chuck loves to be used. Well, he was talking to a guy in our community that was in deep need, and he kept on going to visit this guy, and he would he would just try his best to kind of like pray for him, maybe bring him a little treat or give him just a little bit of food or something. And then he said, God, this guy needs real help. God, would you send somebody that can really send somebody to him that can really help him? And he got up and he turned around and he said, God talked to him so strongly, and it was like, Chuck, it's you. You know, like oh, okay, so he turns around, he like goes way out of his way, he makes friends with this guy. He actually ended up bringing him to church recently, and it's a it's such a beautiful story, but he realized in all of that that it was him. God was trying to tap him on the shoulder. Same thing in the New Testament when you see that story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. People are walking by someone who's hurt, and they're like, Oh, shame that you got hurt. Hey, we're praying for you, you know. Hey, we've submitted a prayer request to our Westside prayer team for you. Hope you feel better. You know, they move on their way. And then this one guy who's like the outcast sees this and drops everything he's doing, reaches in his pocket, pulls out the money. Yep, I got enough money for a hotel, goes, takes this guy, gets him fixed, gets the clinic, you know, does all the stuff because he knew that he should do that. And Jesus is like, that outcast is the one that followed my heart in that. I want you to see what I put in your hands. That is that brochure that uh your notes and everything came in today. Would you grab that out with me real quick? This is brand new. This is something that we're focusing on this month, and I want you to be a part of it. It says the time is now. God opened the door, and I'll tell you what, um, this whole thing about the space that God is pointing us to, it came to us. We weren't looking for it. Every single step along the way, it's like God was there first, opening the door. I've never in my entire life experienced anything like this where it's like he's doing the heavy lifting as we open this opportunity, as he opens this opportunity, he brings it to us. And he's basically just putting this in front of us, going, like, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? This is an opportunity for more room. That's what it is. More room. There's some sketches in here. These are not architectural renderings, they're just helping us to imagine what it would feel like to have more room so that we could continue to serve God's needs and opportunities. Here on the back of it, I want you to see this. It says, This moment will require all of us. Now, you're gonna look back there and you're gonna see a dollar sign. Some of you, if you're brand new with us online, if you're brand new with us in the room, I know what you're thinking. You're like, dang it. We picked the week there. We're gonna talk about money, and we're at this church, and we knew this was gonna happen, and I'm just gonna tell you a couple things. One, we don't always do this. Two, this is such a special opportunity, and I want to invite everybody into it. Some of you might be like, well, I don't even believe in Jesus yet. I'll tell you what, he believes in you. He has created you for a purpose. The very first step is to say yes to his grace, to receive that grace, that gift that he just gives to everybody who asks. The second thing you can do is give your life right back to him. Because when you get involved in something that God is doing, it's the most thrilling thing you could ever be a part of. And I don't want anyone to miss it. So I'm inviting everybody to be a part of this. This is a 12-month initiative to step into what God has opened. We're believing God for$750,000 over and above our normal giving, okay? This is not about us going like, well, I normally give this, I'm gonna split that in half, and I'm gonna shuffle half of that over to this new fund. If we do that, here's what will happen. We'll have to start, you know, using fans in church instead of air conditioning. Um, you know, we will we'll the donuts will go away. Uh, you know, the coffee will become hot water. Bring your own coffee, you know, kind of thing. We don't want to limit what God is doing through our church in this. We want to expand it. And so this is an over and above thing. And I want to encourage you to seek the Lord in this season. What we're asking for is uh for us all to just go on a journey, and that's what this is. You look at the list and you're like, wow, this$750, that's a lot, and it is a lot. But what it does is it secures a building, it makes it usable, and it gets us in. And we will be blessed for that. Some of you might be looking at this list going, wow, somebody's gonna need to give$100,000. True. Likely in a in a situation like this, there's gonna be a gift of that size needed. And it's not about equal giving, it's about equal sacrifice. I was talking to a lady last week about this, and she had been to some of these meetings and been to the building, and she goes, you know, I want to be involved. Thing is, I don't have anything that I can give. She goes, but I found these antiques in my on my the like old books and stuff in my shelves. And she goes, so the Lord put it on my heart to find out if they're worth something so that I could sell them so that I could be a part of this. So she said, Can I show you what's in this bag? So we sat down and we started looking through it. And you know what? It to me, it was such a special time because I'm like, I'm not a I don't know what am I talking about, but but I'm like, wow, look at that, you know, who could you talk to? And she's just on this journey to go, I want to be a part of this, and this is how I could do it. And it reminded me so much of that lady. Remember the lady in the New Testament who's at the temple and she's putting the two mites, the two little coins in the in the in the temple treasury. And all these other rich people are coming by, you know, dropping like$10,000 checks in there, and Jesus is like, and he just locks in on this lady, he's just looking at her. I think it's funny that he's looking, he's watching in that moment. He's watching them drop their offering in the temple treasury. Do you know why? Because he looks at this lady and he's like, She's given me her heart. That's what she's doing. That's the biggest gift of all of this. Her heart. She actually wrestled. With what she could bring. And she decided to bring everything. And you might look at it and go like, that's nothing. And he looks at it and goes, I could multiply that. That's the beauty, and that's the journey. And that's what I'm asking all of us to go on. So in the in the seat that you're sitting in, and online on the Tap Connect system, there's a link. But this commitment card is what I want you to think about, okay? So this is not something I want you to fill out and turn in today. Please don't. This is this is something for you to consider and to pray through as a family, as a household. At the end of the month, we'll bring these back. But right now, would you pray about where's God leading you? Maybe you could help us with gifts from stored assets. I've been noticing in the book of Acts how people sold stuff and gave the money so that people's needs can be met. It was very common. Maybe you've got stocks. Already in our church, the leaders have been going first in this, and already there are people saying, I've got some stocks I'm gonna give, I've got some cash and savings I'm gonna give. I'm gonna sell a boat. Things that you know you could say, I'm gonna be part of this one-time offering. And then what could you do monthly on top of your normal giving? As a sacrifice, our family's getting involved. We're also in this place of going like we're gonna sacrifice above what we normally give. And for us, we've been very, very, very involved in financial stuff at Westside. I would never ask you to go first or to do something that I'm not doing. This is something that we've we've been leading in, to be honest with you, and we love it. And I want to invite you into that because we all get the blessings. So I want to ask you to be a part of what's going on with this journey and not to miss, not to miss. The other thing I want you to know is we're uh we're doing something called seek nights. Seek nights. Seek nights are just uh prayer nights that we're gonna have over at this space every Wednesday night this month. And so if at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night you want to come over to the space, please do. You can sign up for it on your card, we'll send you the address. Um, it's just a time to pray. There's no program, there's no music, there's nothing fancy. We're gonna go in there and seek the Lord. And so I want to invite you to be a part of that. This is a journey for us, all right? And I believe that the time is now, and I believe that you and me, we do not want to miss out. I don't want to be looking back 20 years and be like, remember that time when all those people got on that train and they had such a journey and I missed it? No. Remember that time we jumped on the train and it was an exhilarating ride of faith? Yes. And how God changed the world because of our obedience? Yes. Let's do it. It's harvest time, it's activation time. And I'm gonna ask my mentor, Pastor Ken, to come up and give us point number three. Let's welcome Pastor Ken. 51 years. 51 years. I often wonder how does somebody make it 51 years in the same place? And then I see this man's consistency and love and prayer life and and time in the word, and I realize that's how. Thank you, Dad, for being here today. Love you too.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Well, it's uh number three, it's your time. I had my time, and it's wonderful, and I've had a great, you know, I don't have anything in life that I regret. I'm so glad God led me here to this church in 1975 as a 32-year-old fella. And I've had the privilege of being here for 51 years, and all the precious people that said yes to Jesus. But I want you to know that God is doing something very special right now, right now. And just like I didn't want to miss the opportunity, don't you miss the opportunity, be a part of it. Jump in with both feet, get wet, enjoy the ride. I like this verse, it's found in Esther chapter 4, verse 14. It says, Who knows whether you have came to the kingdom for such a time as this? In Ecclesiastics chapter 3, it talks about time and time and uh a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to harvest. There's times, and this is your time. This is where you come in, and and uh you get to have your time in it. Here I'll show you a few things. Are you with me? I love you too. Here I here's when I first came. That's my wife Karen at that time. She's holding Melissa. That's Melissa, the pastor's wife, but mainly my daughter. Anyway, that's Melissa. That's Timmy, the standing down below. He's five years old, and Danny, he's ten years old. And that's when we first came here, and uh, we had such great outlets. We said, boy, God is gonna use us in a wonderful way, and he did, he did. Look at the next picture. This is standing in the parking lot back over here, looking back at the children's center. That's all that was here, and uh and that's where the kids and the adults, all of us met, and that's looking at the parking lot. And then the next picture. This is our first Easter sunrise service we had. I've been here for three years, and as you can tell, that many people don't want to fit into that little building at the right hand side, and it did, and they didn't. On the left hand side is the old farmhouse that used to sit right there where this church is. It's an old farmhouse condemned, but the junior boys loved it, and they still met in that. They met in that for Sunday school up in the attic. They just thought that was the most fun they ever had in their lives, and uh so that was it, and uh had a wonderful time. And then God laid it on our hearts, it's time to build, just like he is with you and your pastor. We've got to go bigger. The auditorium is packed right now, it's full. There's a couple seats here and there, but it's full, and you've got to have a bigger place. And I am so excited. People say, Well, Pastor Ken, are you kind of sad? No, I am joyful just to think that after 51 years of being here, I get to see this with my own eyes. I get to see what God is doing with all the planting that I did, and that He did. And now the harvest is here. God wants to grow this church beyond our imaginations, He wants to reach more people, and one day you'll be in that new building up there. It seats three times what this seats. You'll be able to sit there and rejoice and sing and thank the Lord Jesus. And when you've got 51 years behind you, you'll be ready for another building, I hope, before then, even. It's been a wonderful trip. Oh, this is when we started building our first building. This is the auditorium you're in right now. Boy, we really thought we were something. Melissa, Melissa went and roller skated in that all the time. Wasn't any walls or anything, she just had a ball, and then this is our first Sunday coming in here in this auditorium. We were outside ready to come in. Oh, we were happy. You talk about the rejoicing day. We thought, dear Lord, you have blessed us beyond blessings, and we were so thrilled. There's a couple words, two words, that we had in those days, and you have too. The two words were doubt and faith. Doubt and faith. Which one will we pick? Well, we decided as a church, we're gonna pick faith. Yes, sir? We're gonna go with faith. We're gonna build our faith. So we begin to fill our faith. Now, by the way, you want more faith, I'll tell you how to get it. The Bible tells you, Romans chapter 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Every man, every woman, you need to spend time daily reading at least a chapter in your Bible every day. At work, at your lunch break, or somewhere, read God's word. And you'll grow, and you're faith to grow. See let me tell you three things about faith. There is that standing faith. You're standing on the rock, Christ Jesus. That's when you come and say, Jesus, I invite you to come into my life. Oh, you're standing on the rock. You're saved, you're going. Heaven's your home, God's your father. And then the next one is you walk. You begin to walk, you get involved. You just you just walk. The last one is Paul says, run the race. That's where you're at. Run the race. Don't just walk. Run. Run the race that God has set before you. I'm 83 now. I know. You haven't told me a thing. Every day I'm glad I got out of bed too. But you know what the thing about is, I don't want to be left out. I'm going to be a part of this to the day Jesus either comes or takes me home. And I'm going to be a part of it. And my wife and I have talked it over. We're going to sacrificially give so much. Not only every month, but one-time gift. You say, really? Oh yeah. Aren't you retired? Yes. But I still got a little bit of money. I know most people aren't supposed to have any money when they retire, but but I'm going to be involved. I'm like Gabe. I say, Lord Jesus, we need to reach more folks for Jesus. And to get more folks like you growing in the faith. Where you become giants of God. Where you cross the Jordan on dry ground because you believed. See, where the walls came down because you believed. Where the giant is slain because you believed. See? You've been walking long enough. We've been in this place now for 46 years. Israel was only in the wilderness 40 years. It's time to move. And go on. Do something else. Don't stay here. Don't settle for this. Get on down the road. Let God use you. Run with all your might. Dear church, run. You'll come to my age one day. You'll say, did I run when God gave me the opportunity? I did. Oh, it was scary at times. But we ran. And I had folks just like you that say, Pastor Ken, I'm behind you. We'll run with you. We'll make it. And we made it. Built the annex out back, blacktop, what the where you parked your cars. We made it. Now it's your time. Do I have your eyes? It's your time. Step in. Let God take you to new heights that you've never been, new roads that you've never traveled. Let me use you in a wonderful way. May I pray, God. I pray that you'll continue to anoint the churches you have. Precious people will come to Christ. All these years, God, 51 years you've blessed us. And now in these last years, you have blessed so much it's beyond our imagination. We've never seen it before. But here you are moving. And God, we want to be on the wave. We want to be in the path. Lord, we just love you so much. Why our heads are bowed and eyes are closed, maybe you're here today. You've never said yes to Jesus. I did 62 years ago on a ship, the USS Eojima, outside of Cuba, while serving in the Marine Corps. I bowed my head and I said, Jesus, you could pray this right now. If you've never done it, this is your time. This is it. This is your time. Jesus, would you forgive me of my sins? Thank you for dying on the cross for me, being buried and raised again. I invite you into my life for the rest of my life. I want to be found 60 years later serving you. If you prayed and asked Jesus into your heart, would you let me pray for you? Why every head bowed and every eyes closed? Would you slip up your hand, let me see it, and say, I did this morning. I've asked Jesus to come into my life. Slip up your hand, let me pray for you. Father, thank you for each one. Lord, uh I stand here with your blessings of 51 years. And God now, Gabe has these 19 years and he's done wonders. We thank you from the bottom of our heart. Man, do we love you, Lord Jesus? We thank you for loving us. In Jesus' name we pray it all. Amen.