Anonymous - Part 1, by Pastor Rob Ketterling
Well, we are starting a new series called Anonymous, and I want to let you know that it was birthed out of me reading all the old school sermons this year. If you don't know, I set a goal that I want to read one hundred old sermons from Spurgeon, Finney, Jonathan Edwards, the old, old sermons. And I've just been devouring them, and I will easily get to a hundred sermons. I probably have already done that, but I haven't kept track of it. I think it was in the 70's. But I'm just devouring it.
And this message and this series was birthed out of one of the lines I read from one of those old sermons. The line said this. It said, "Prisoners have a number, but children have a name." As I read that, it just hit me, and I felt the Holy Spirit just start to download stuff to me about that when you're a prisoner, you just have a number and you lose your identity. But children have a name, and God gives his children names and he loves his children by name. So I'm writing all this down and just downloading it all, and that is where this whole series was birthed out of, that one line.
Now, in that, we are going to look at that point; that prisoners have a number and children have a name. But we are also in this series going to look at the names that we're given as children of God. That he gives us new names, that he gives us titles and names that we can know. He talks about name changes. He actually changes the names of people in the Bible. We are going to look at that. We are going to look at the name above all names. And then, ultimately, in Week 4 in this series, I want to make sure that you realize even though you are a part of a growing church, you are not a number; you are a name. Every person is seen as valuable. Every person counts. Every person makes a difference, and we are going to realize that we are not forgotten, but God still knows what we are doing and he knows our name.
So this is a series to tell you that you are not a statistic. You are not a
number. You are a person with a name, and you matter. If you don't figure that out, if you don't realize you matter to God and God knows your name and you just see yourself as a statistic in this life, how many know that would be very depressing? It would be very depressing to think that you are nothing more than one of the seven billion people, roughly, on this planet, and you are just here breathing up air and not really mattering.
But I saw somebody that felt this way, and I feel very sorry for this lady. Her name is Lynn Beisner. She wrote a very, very heavy article. As I was doing research I found this article. And it just hit me, here is somebody that must believe that they are just a number on this planet, that it doesn't real matter that her name is Lynn, that she doesn't really have great value. And I'll tell you the title of her article. It is very shocking, and I know this will shock some of you. But the title of her article was this, "I Wish My Mom Had Aborted Me." That was the title of her article. And as I saw that and realized what she was writing, she was saying anything I do on this earth could have been done by anyone else.
She goes, "Really my existence on this planet is a net loss for the planet." I thought how sad. There is somebody that just has lost it, that they are just a number.
And if Lynn was ever to see this message, I would love to say to you, "Lynn, you matter. You have a purpose. God created you. You're here for a reason." And to everyone in our church and at all of our campuses, I would say you are not a number, you were created for a purpose. You are not a net loss. It doesn't matter what you suffer with. You are not a net loss to this planet. We would not be the same without you. Everyone matters. Everyone matters.
But if you think you're a number, you can get caught up in that. "I don't matter. I don't count. It's not any real significant loss if I'm gone." If you see yourself as a
number and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I could see where you could get just depressed and lose your identity and just be anonymous in a way.
As a matter of fact, the Bible says, essentially, if you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you don't realize this, you really are a prisoner. You really are a prisoner. The Bible says the word "slave," but you could put "prisoner" in there. Romans 6:20 says, When you were slaves to sin -- when you were prisoners to sin -- you were free from the control of righteousness. Paul was saying to the Romans, "You were actually like a prisoner, you were a slave, you were a number in the devil's army of people that he's just bringing to hell. You were a slave to that." And so you could see where people would lose hope.
But if you know the message of Jesus Christ, you know the message of God's love all throughout the Bible. How many know that he is just reaffirming over and over again, "I love you. I know your name. I called you. I have a purpose for you. I have a plan for you."
I love what Isaiah 43:1 says. It says, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine." That's the God we serve. He said, "I've called you by name. I know you. I love you. I paid the price for you. You are mine." And so I'm hoping in this series to convince you that you are not a number, that you are a person with a name, God knows it and he loves you.
But how many know that in our society we have a lot of numbers? How many know you get a social security number, and if you don't have one, you don't get to work. I remember when I got my social security number and I thought, "I have to memorize that? I have to put that on every job application?" How many know you memorize it pretty good and you can just rattle it off. And I won't tell you, because you might steal my identity.
We have all sorts of numbers. We have our addresses we have to remember,
our phone numbers. I'm starting to not remember phone numbers because of the Favorites things on my phone. I mean, my family all has, you know, phone numbers, but I
really can't tell you. I can push the button to call them, but they have numbers. You have employee numbers. You have PIN numbers. Don't share them with your neighbor either.
You have library card numbers. I remember -- this is a true story -- I went and got my library card, and they issued me my library card and my number. I looked at it. It was 6666. I was like, I don't want that number. I mean, I'm a pastor. I don't want that number. So I went up to the librarian. I said, you know, "Hey, I'm a pastor. And I don't like that." I mean, you know, like Revelation talks about the number of the beast, 666, and everything, and I was thinking I could get rid of it.
She looked at it and she goes, "There is an extra 6. Get over it."
Okay, Mr. Spiritual, you know. And I learned that day that I am not the beast.
All right, so one extra number.
We've got numbers upon numbers upon numbers upon numbers that we have to remember. We have employee numbers. But we are not numbers. And numbers can dehumanize us. They can just get us to do terrible things when we just look at people as numbers and not as human beings. When Stalin, the horrible communist dictator, was told about the millions of people that he killed, he had this quote. He said, "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is just a statistic." That's all it is, it's a statistic. That's all it is.
It is so dehumanizing to look at people as numbers. So controlling to lose our identity. And one thing that we've noticed is that when a prisoner goes to jail, when they go to the prisons they are given a number. They are given a number. It is very dehumanizing to no longer be called by your name, but to be called the number. They are more than 24601, 6239 or 46664. They're Jean Valjean. They're Elvis Presley. They're Nelson Mandela. It's real names behind numbers. And yet we just see people with numbers.
And I want to talk to you a little bit about people in prison, because they lose their identity. And as I talk to people in our church that have been to prison, and, yes, we
have people in our church that have been to prison. As a matter of fact, I was just talking to a man that does ministry with prisoners, and he said, "Can I bring some of the prisoners,
the former prisoners to Guys' Night? Are they welcome here?"
I said, "Absolutely. Please bring them." Know that this is a church that loves people and treats them as names and not numbers.
But I've talked to some of the people that have been in prison, and they say, "I will never forget my number. I'll never forget my number. I was given the number and I'll never forget it."
I talked to one prisoner, a former prisoner, and he said, "It was so dehumanizing. I had never been called a number before. I was always a name. And now I'm being called a number." And he said, "I sat there in my cell," and he said, "All I could think about was taking my own life." He said, "That's what I wanted to do. And then I thought, 'I don't want to take my own life. I hope somebody in prison will kill me and end my life.' Because this is miserable. I can't believe that this is what has happened to me." He said, "It was so horrible."
As a matter of fact, when he saw our preview video, our intro video -- he saw it last week -- it shook him. And he went home and wrote some things down. Then he said, "I felt compelled to send you this." And he sent me a poem that he had written called, "Behind the Number." And I have to read this to you because you just have got to see what a number does and what's going on behind the scenes. And he wrote this. He said:
What do you see, Guard, what do you see? What are you thinking when you look at me? A convicted prisoner, not very wise,
Unsure of himself with far away eyes,
Who lives in a pen and submits to the rules. Are you thinking he's not but a six-digit fool?
I'll tell you who I am as I'm held against my will,
As you play with my life and grind me through the mill.
I'm a person like you with kids of my own and a family too. A person not unlike you, with hopes, dreams, goals,
A person such as yourself
With thoughts, feelings and soul.
Memories so dear as the things I own.
I think of the years and the love that I have known. From time to time my battered heart swells,
But inside this prisoner, a soul still dwells. So open your eyes, Guard, open and see,
Not a convicted prisoner. Look close and see me.
He writes down his number there and his name, and I told him, "I refuse to call you your number." I will call him his name. Thank you, Dennis, for giving this to me and saying what you said there. I think it's very inspiring. Could we thank Dennis for being vulnerable and giving that up? [Applause]
I want to say this to our church. Let's not act like we're the prison guards.
You say, "I'm not a prison guard, that doesn't apply to me."
Sometimes we act like that. People come into our church and they are really prisoners of the enemy. They are prisoners of the devil. And they look different, they smell different, they are into different things than we are in, they are doing different things. And we look at them and we judge them. We look at them almost as a number, as a prisoner.
We can't do that. This church needs to be life-giving and loving and say, "Welcome. This is a safe place to find out about Jesus."
Now, some numbers that you need to have before we move on in the series. I want you to see the real numbers and the real people behind these numbers.
There are 2.2 million inmates in the prison system right now in the United States. 2.2 million inmates.
There are 10,000 in Minnesota alone.
Every year 4,000 new inmates are brought into the prison system in Minnesota alone. Every year.
97 percent of those that are in prison right now will be released someday. 97
percent.
36 percent of them will commit another felony within three years.
25 percent of them will have a child within one year of being released from
prison.
Those are some numbers that you need to realize that are going on around us every single day.
Now here are some good numbers, all right? Here are some good numbers that we can celebrate.
This year River Valley Church will take care of 1,000 children of inmates through Angel Tree ministry. We will bless them with gifts and bless them and take care of them, 1,000 of them.
As a matter of fact, we are helping with a prison in Florida even, of all places.
We are helping with a prison in Florida. And all the churches in Florida heard that River Valley from Minnesota was helping with a church in Florida. They said, "Wait a minute. These are our prisons. We should be stepping up and taking care of our prisoners and the kids here. It shouldn't be somebody from Minnesota." And so we are actually spurring others on to good works.
We found out that if you're an inmate in prison ministry, which we are involved in heavily, your likelihood of committing a crime goes down by 26 percent, even if you just attend the Bible study that we do.
Prison ministry in Minnesota alone saves the state of Minnesota $3 million. And every month 60 people from River Valley are involved in prison ministry.
Do you realize those 60 people visit seven prisons, two jails, and give over 300 hours of volunteer service in the prison? That is not even the time that they meet and strategize and get ready. It's not even the time of them driving. It is 300 hours in the prison volunteering.
This is our church, and I want to say thank you to all those people. Can we
show our appreciation to the people that are going to the prisoner? [Applause]
As a matter of fact, I was going to meet with the head of the Minnesota Prison Fellowship. I was meeting him at a local coffee shop, and as I was going in to meet him -- this was not planned -- as I walk in and order my coffee, a young lady comes up to me, and she goes, "Pastor Rob, this is so great I ran into you at the coffee shop." She said, "I've just got to tell you. I'm so excited. I just joined the Prison Lifegroup." She had no idea I was meeting the guy with Prison Fellowship. And she said, "I can't wait until my background check clears and everything and I can go to prison." Good, you know, River Valley Church, the church that wants to go to prison! You know, I mean that's us.
Then I was talking to one of the guys of our church, Dave, who has just done an amazing job in prisons. And he was telling me, "I'm about to get the highest level of clearance where I can go into any prison at any time." This is what he said to me. He goes, "It's my get into jail free card." I thought that's a great way to say it.
Oh, man, that's the heart, and I just want our heart to be there for the prisoners and say, "You are not a number, you have a name. The greatest name you could be known by is child of God, and this is a church that wants to help you understand the grace and love of Jesus Christ."
See, prisoners have a number and it keeps them anonymous. Prisoners have a number and it keeps them anonymous. And if you're anonymous, you know what? It is easy to use people if they are just anonymous. It's easy. Not just in prison, but all around society. If you don't know your coworkers, it's easy to use them and not treat them as human beings.
Business Week just did a recent article about the permanent temps in the situation. They call it "the era of the disposable worker." And it's easy to fire What's Her Face or The Skinny Guy or That Other Dude, because you don't even know who they are.
They don't have real names. And I think there is a huge disconnect. We are not doing life with people. We are using people. And we can't use people; we are made to be in community.
I think it's a sad thing that many of us in suburban America use our garage door openers almost as the modern-day drawbridge. We pull into our driveway, we push our button, our garage door opens, we pull in, we push the button, and close out the neighbors. We sit on our back porch, don't say hi to anyone. It's like a modern-day drawbridge. We should know our neighbors' names. If we don't know them, it's easy to use them. Also, if they are anonymous, it's easy to mistreat people. It's easy to mistreat people
if they are just anonymous and they really don't have names and they really are seen as just the neighbors at 9464 or these people over there. It's a sad thing.
I think the one that will mistreat the most people is the devil. I think he mistreats and uses people. And I think when you look at the Bible you even realize that the one leading the charge for hell really has a number. He really even has a number. If you know Revelation 13 when I was referring to the number of the beast, it says,
The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
If you think about it, the Antichrist is taking away the identity from people, saying take that number, this is what you have to have. He's running, if you will, the largest prison on the planet. People say to me, "I'm going to party in hell." You are not going to
party in hell. You are not going to party in hell. It's really just a place that's numbered. It's a place that is evil and horrible. If you can think of it, it's the worst prison ever created.
If people are anonymous, it's easy for people to do wrong. It's easy for you to do wrong if you just feel like you're a number in this world. If you just feel like you don't matter, like nobody knows your name and nobody knows what's going on in your life, it's easier for you to sin. If you were having a problem with sin, you know what you need to do? You need to join a Lifegroup. You need to get into a Lifegroup and get some community in your life and stop being anonymous. Because when people are anonymous, it's easier for them to do wrong.
Proven, it's a proven study. Carnegie Mellon University, they did a study, and they found that students are more likely to cheat if they don't know their professor and if their professor doesn't know their name. Because there is no embarrassment, there is no guilt, there is no relationship. It's just that person up there, it's just that person out there, and it is easier to cheat that way.
As a matter of fact, I heard of a funny story about a guy that was in a class of like 200 people. He was in a university class of 200 people and was taking a test, and the professor said, you know, "Time's up. Stop taking the test." All these students came down and put their tests down there. This guy kept writing and writing five minutes, ten minutes, filling out his test, doing another thing. And he walks up there, and the professor said, "I have to give you an F. I mean, you went past the time limit."
And the student said, "Do you know my name?"
And the professor said, "I have no clue who you are."
So he took his test, put it in the pile, shuffled it up and said, "See ya."
Can't believe Pastor Darin did that. No, just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. [Laughter]
If you are anonymous, it's easy to do wrong, it's easy to do wrong. You just are more prone to it. You know what's sad? They've been studying this about the digital world we live in. The digital world that we live in where we hide behind the screen of our smartphone or our computer. And they are saying, this study that they are doing, they are saying that there is this anti-inhibition, that you're starting to lose all inhibition. The rhetoric is ramping up, that we are getting so mean to people. And we are starting to do horrible things that we'd never think of doing face-to-face, but yet because it is online we think we
are anonymous, that we are hiding behind there, that we can say these horrible mean things and we can be cyber bullies and we can do these things. It's wrong. It's wrong. But because there is the anonymity of the screen, you think that you can do that. You just see yourself as a digital number online. You are not. You're a real person.
And can I say this to River Valley Church? I want our online presence to be life-giving. We need to lower the rhetoric and settle things down, and we need to be
life-giving, positive people online. We need to be faith builders and positive people and life-givers and realize what you put out in cyber space is out there forever. Let's lift up the name of Jesus and be a positive example in a digital world.
The darkness of anonymity feeds sin, because when you are anonymous, when you're just a number, you're living in that darkness. That's what Ephesians 5:11 says. It says, Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
See, because sin loves to be in the dark. It loves to be anonymous. It loves the cover of darkness so that you can't be found out.
John 3:20 says, Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. They stay in the darkness. They stay there because they are saying, "I'm going to stay in the dark because I want to be anonymous, I want to hide here." And with that, all of a sudden they do all sorts of evil.
But God is saying come to the light. And if you come to the light and you call upon the name of the Lord, the Bible says you get a name, he calls you by name. And I love this, that God calls us by name and says, "I want you to leave darkness. You are not anonymous. You are not a number. I have a name for you. I know your name."
John 10:3 says, The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. If God knows your name, here is a couple of things for you. You are not a number. God knows your name. Here is a couple things: If he knows your name, he knows your purpose. If he knows your name, he knows your purpose.
Now in Genesis 1 God is naming things. You've got to understand this.
Names were different in the Bible times. When they would name something, it said what it did and why it was here and what it was created for. So when God creates the sun, he said, "I'm going to call this the sun. This light will give heat. This light will illuminate the day. This is the sun. And it is called this because this is its purpose.” It had a purpose and it had a reason for being.
And it is interesting that in Genesis 1 God is naming things, and then all of a sudden Adam gets to name things. I would just love to see that.
"We will call that aardvark."
"Okay," God's like, "that's creative. All right." "We'll call that platypus."
"Okay, another good one." "Kudu."
"All right."
I'd just love to see that moment. But God is naming things and then Adam is naming things. But here's the thing. If you have a name, you have a purpose. If you have
a name, you have a purpose. And God says you have a purpose. You have a real name and you have a purpose. And God wants you to fulfill your purpose.
He called Bezalel. He said, "You know what? You have a name and you are good with your hands. You are a craftsman. I want you to build my tabernacle because I have seen the quality of your work. I know how I've wired you, and that's what you're here for. I know your dad's name and I know your name. And I'm calling you to build the tabernacle for me."
God called Moses, and he said, "I know your name. I know the way I wired you. I need a leader with a little passion. You know what? I need someone to lead the largest prison break ever from Egypt, so I need a felon on the lam. It's you, Moses." Some of you are catching up to that one. All right. You ever think about that? Here is a guy who was a murderer, and God is like, "I'm calling you to go back."
But here is what God knew. He knew that he had a man named Moses that had some leadership passion, and he could stand up before Pharaoh and say, "God wants his people to go. God's not satisfied with that answer. We all leave. We are all going."
God is going, "That's the way I wired you. That's what I called you for. That's your purpose."
If God gives you a name, you have a purpose. And everyone here has a purpose. If he knows your name, then guess what, he knows where to find you. He knows your first name, he knows your middle name, he knows your last name, and he knows where to find you. And that's a good thing. The Psalmist says in 139. He says,
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
The Psalmist is saying, "You know where I am. You know me. You know my name. You know where I live. You know if I'm in the dark or in the night. You know exactly where I'm at."
And there is one of two ways you can see that scripture. You can realize that God knows everywhere you are and be sad about it, like, "Uh-oh, he knows where I am."
Or you can be excited about it. And you can say God knows your name and he knows where to find you, and he's right there with you. And if you go into the prison and do prison ministry, God is right there with you. If you are in a dark alley doing ministry, God knows where you are and he's right there. You call on his name. It's not like, "Hey, God, do you know where I'm at?" It's like turning over your shoulder and saying, "Heavenly Father, Daddy, I need help."
And he's like, "I'm right here with you." It's a beautiful thing. God knows where to find you. He knows what you're involved in. He loves you personally. If he knows your name, he loves you personally. You are not a number. You are not a unit. You are a person with great value, and he loves you personally.
Let me say this. Jesus didn't die for numbers; he died for real people with
names. He died for people like Mallorys and Johns and Muhameds and Conners and Logans and Carols and Isabellas and Enriques and Julios and Angelas. He died for real people with real names and he loves you personally. Even when you see an alter call
where we say, yes, I see that hand and that hand and that hand, and there might be dozens of people that give their lives to Jesus, hundreds of people, thousands of people, every single one of them had a personal call from God. He called them by name. He tapped on their heart. He didn't say, "Hey, group, follow me." Each person is loved personally.
I love what God's heart is. I read this scripture, but I'll read it again. Isaiah 43:1. Israel is in captivity, and God is telling his people how much he loves them. He says, But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine." It's a beautiful thing.
Last thing. If God knows your name and you are not a number, you are a name and he knows it, he'll never forget you. He will never forget you. He will never forget your name.
And I have to confess I am not good with numbers. All right, I'm not good with numbers. I can fill gas in the car, and Becca will say, "How much is gas?"
And I'm like, "43.53, 54.33? I don't know."
I've got to confess. I'm going to make all the dads feel a lot better here. I mix up the boys' birthdays. I'm like, "Is it July 29th, 27th, August 20th?"
And Becca is like, "I can't believe you forget the dates!"
I said, “I may forget the dates, but I'll never forget their names."
Sometimes my mom and dad forget our names. You know, like, "Hey, Rob, Rick, Ryan, whoever you are, get over here!" I will never forget their names.
But here's the beautiful thing. You are not a number; you have a name. And when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, you didn't become number 2,786,347,886th person giving your life to Jesus. You are a name. You are a person. Here is what God says in Revelation 3:56. He says, The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will knowledge that name before my father and his angels. The day you gave your life to Jesus, he didn't write your name with a number next to it. He just wrote your name. And he keeps track of you by name. You are not a number in the family of God.
And the last thing, Isaiah 49:15, he says, "Never can a mother forget her nursing child. Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you." God says, "I would not forget you. If you think about the passion that a mom has for her baby, it's like she could never forget her baby. And even if that was possible, I could never forget you. I love you. I called you by name. I sent my son for you. I love you. You are of value. You are not a number. You are a name. And I call you by name."
Prisoners have a number. Children have a name. And you have a name and God has called it. We need to thank God that he calls us by name, he loves us by name, and he will never ever, ever forget our name.
Can we bow our heads here and at all of our campuses, and let's just have a moment to close our eyes and thank God that he called us by name, that he knows our name, we are not a number.
Lord, I thank you that you called us by name. We are not a number. You called all of us by name. And I thank you for that. And I pray even now as we just close this service with an opportunity to give their life to Jesus, that people would realize that right now, if they don't know you as Lord and Savior, you are knocking on their heart. You are calling them by name. You're calling them by name. And I pray that they'd answer that call and they'd respond to that.
With every head bowed and every eye closed, I just want to give an opportunity as we close out this service for some to say, "I want to say Jesus is calling me by name. I want to call upon the name of the Lord. I want to ask him to forgive me of my sins." You're saying, "I'm not sure that my name is written in that look of life. I come to church, I think about God, but I've never really asked him to be my Lord and Savior," and you're saying, "I want to do that." This is your opportunity to say, "I want to be forgiven of the things that I've done wrong. I want to accept what Jesus Christ did on that cross, that
he paid for me, he paid the ransom for me so that I could be set free. And now I can accept him as my Lord and Savior and have forgiveness."
And if that's you, in just a moment I'm going to ask you to raise your hand and we will include you in a closing prayer. You can raise your hand, look up at me and I'll acknowledge you, and then you can put it down. But I'd love to pray one closing prayer with people that will say, "I want to be named child of God. I want to be named forgiven. I want God as he's calling me by name to know that I love him, and I'm calling upon his name to be saved."
So if that's you, across this place with everyone's head bowed and their eyes closed, would you just have the courage to raise your hand and look up at me, and I would acknowledge that and then you can put it down. Yes, yes, I see your hand. Are there others? Yes, in the back, in the front, the front. Yes, yes, yes. Lots of hands going up. I'm seeing so many over here. I'll look in the middle section now. Anyone here want to join those? Yes. So good. And the far left? Yes. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. People with hands going up all over. It's so good, it's so good, it's so good. This is what God is calling us to do, to call upon his name. And then he says, "I'm going to give you the name child of God. I'm going to forgive you of all that you've done wrong, because you're going to call on the name of Jesus."
You can put your hands down, and I would love to pray this prayer with you.
There were so many hands that went up, and I thank God for that. We are going to say this prayer. I'm going to pray a line, and then I'm going to ask for you to pray a line out loud.
And here is one of the things we do at River Valley; nobody prays alone. We're going to pray out loud with you. The people that have already called upon the name of the Lord are going to pray with you as you are welcomed into the family of God. So let's pray this prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus, I'm sorry for my sins and all that I've done wrong. I ask you to forgive me. I turn away from them and turn towards you. I thank you for paying the price so I can be forgiven. Thank you for that forgiveness. Now give me the strength to live for you every day of my life. You are my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name.
So, Lord, I thank you for those that have turned from their sin, and they thank you for the forgiveness that you give them. You died on the cross so they could be forgiven. You give them that ability to have the name child of God. And I pray that as they turn from their sin and turn toward you and trust in only what you could do, they are now forgiven.
They didn't have to work for it, they didn't have to strive for it. It was grace that was given to them, and I thank you for this new life in Jesus Christ. We rejoice in those that made that decision to give their life to Jesus Christ. And we pray that they would have the strength and the confidence and the joy and the peace of knowing that their name is written in the book of life. Blessings on them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.
There were about 17 people that did that. Can we thank God for the people that raised their hand and did that? [Applause] So good. A new name.
Can you all stand with me all across this place as I talk real quick to those 17 people. You gave your life to Jesus, and we want you to do two things before you go to bed tonight. One is get this book called Now What. It's our gift to you. It is just a free book.
As a matter of fact, prayer teams, could you make your way forward while I'm talking?
The prayer teams have this book. They would love to just give it to you. You could say, "Hey, I need a book," They'll give it to you. If you want to pray with them, they will pray with you. If you want to say, "I made the decision," and talk to them, they will do whatever. But they have it and the Welcome Center has it. And then I want you to do one other thing. So get the book before you go. I helped to write it with our team. It's just like, how do I live as a follower of Jesus?
And then the other thing is this: Before you go to bed tonight, tell someone you gave your life to Jesus. Tell a friend, tell a coworker, tell a relative. Tell someone you know that is a Christian. Tell them, "I made the decision. I raised my hand. I prayed a prayer. I started on the journey. I've got my Now What book. I'm following Jesus and I'm trusting in him for my salvation.” I think it's very important that you go public with your decision that you did. You know, it is almost 11 o'clock. You've got all day. Find someone. You can even tell somebody on the prayer team that you did it. But I thank God for that.
As we leave from here, realize you are not a number. You are somebody with a name. And that name has been given to you. That name that is the greatest name you can be called is child of God, and we thank God for 17 more people that now have that name as child of God.
Before you leave, one more time, let's thank God for those people that gave their life to the Lord. [Applause] Yes. Have an amazing week serving the Lord. God bless you.
