I've been walking on air all morning. What a great day it is. I'm Trevor Davis. I'm GCC's pastor. And we had lots of guests in the first service going to preach the second message of the who's your One?

Series. Going to give everybody a visual aid on how you can be a part of that. At the. At the end, we're going to tie it all together with the baptism of a new Sister in Christ. And our baby church is having their first official public service right now as you're in this one.

And so it's been an awesome day. It was like the night before Christmas every night for me this week. That's how I'm feeling. Who is your One is not just something we're going to think about for four weeks, and then Easter hits and then we'll be on to the next thing. It kind of is the thing.

And today, if you find Luke chapter 16 in your Bibles, I want to preach a message to you. I call who is Waiting at yout Gate? And I want to go ahead and ask your permission. Do I have your permission to teach you the Bible this morning? All right.

And so with that glowing endorsement, today, I want to teach you one of the parables of Jesus. And there's going to be some things that you probably haven't ever heard before. The Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus. If you go and look in the Gospel of Luke, you'll find out that this parable is the third of a trilogy. The first parable of the trilogy is the parable of a prodigal son who wasted his father's possessions.

And that's in Luke 15:11 32. And then the second parable in the trilogy is the parable of an unwise servant or steward who. Who wasted his master's possessions. And then this is our third parable of the trilogy. And it's the story of a rich man who wasted his own possessions.

And all three of these parables, properly understood, point to saving faith and deal with what it means to become a child of God. But a few verses before our parable today of the rich man and Lazarus, there's a short poem that Jesus says about the tension between God and material possessions. And the material possessions have a name. It's an ancient pagan God called Mammon. And the poem goes this way.

Jesus declares, no servant can serve two masters. Either he will love the one and hate the other, or he'll be loyal to the one and he'll despise the other. And then he climaxes the whole thing with, you cannot serve God and mammon. You need this background to understand the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Let me ask you this question.

Who were the wealthiest religious leaders in Israel at the time of Jesus teaching? And the answer is, it was a group called the Sadducees. And the Sadducees had all the money, they had all the academic training, and they were theologically liberal. They didn't believe in anything supernatural. They rejected the existence of angels, and they said there would be no resurrection from the dead and there was no afterlife.

When you die, you're just dead. Like the animals. They were sad, you see.

But what I told you about them is true. That's also part of the backdrop of the parable that Jesus is going to give us. Because since they claim there's no resurrection after this life, it's as though Jesus says, okay, guys, everybody, listen. I'm going to tell you a story of two people. One person served God, the other one served mammon.

And here's what happened to them after they died. So here's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to make a contrast between this rich man who indulged in luxury and ignored all the suffering around him on one hand. And on the other hand is the poor man named Lazarus, who suffered terribly in this life, but he gets rewarded in heaven. And by this parable, the Lord Jesus sends a stern warning about the dangers of wealth.

And the reason it's appropriate to preach this message in this house today is because, compared to most of planet Earth, we live in luxury and wealth because wealth can easily become a master that competes with our devotion to God. And Jesus says, you can't serve two masters. But, Pastor, are you getting ready to preach a sermon and tell me that riches and material possessions are inherently evil? The answer to that question is no. But I will tell you this.

Failing to use those material possessions to do good makes us spiritually blind. And we no longer see who's waiting at our gate. So before I finish, before I preach the message, who's waiting at your gate today? Let's bow for prayer, Father. It is.

It's with fear and trembling on the inside and lots of energy on the outside that I come to this pulpit today to preach this message. And I ask for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to help me. And I ask for the master evangelist, the Spirit of God, to begin to convict hearts who don't know you and to wake up believers who have stopped maturing. God, let the truth of the scriptures penetrate deeply into us and don't allow the enemy to steal the seed that's going to be planted in hearts today. Lord God, bless our baby church down the road five miles in Jesus name and a faith filled church said.

All right, so Luke 16, 1931. In verses 19 to 21 we have on the one hand the rich man's lifestyle versus Lazarus suffering. This is what Jesus says in the first three verses. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So the rich man lived in luxury. He's dressed in the finest clothes and he dined every day like a king. It was a banquet every day. And he was so consumed with his wealth and so committed to his personal comfort that he never acknowledged Lazarus laying outside the fence, who is a suffering beggar.

You know what else we understand about this? This man's daily feasting forced his whole household staff to work seven days a week, which meant he himself and everyone under his care was forced to break God's Sabbath day and not work 1 in 7. Just further adding to this man's disregard for the righteousness of God. Let me just stop and ask you this question. Is this not a sure warning to those whose lives are committed only to their own pursuit of pleasure?

On the other hand, there's Lazarus. Lazarus was not just poor, he was also sick. And his body on the inside should showed on the outside that this man felt terrible every day. He's covered in sores, the Bible says. And he's also entirely dependent upon an unnamed group of people who carry him and place him outside the rich man's fence every day, perhaps before they go to work.

And he longed for just the stuff that Lazarus was going to throw in the garbage, just the crumbs, just the leftovers from the lavish table of the wealthiest man in town. And he never received any. And then it's like, ironic and tragic that the only ones other than those unnamed people that laid him at the gate every day, the only ones who show him any care in this parable were the dogs. They licked his wounds. I read some in my research that back in the first century in the eastern hemisphere, the medicine men were convinced that there was some kind of medicinal purposes of the saliva of canines.

And so Here we have these dogs licking this man's sores so they won't hurt so badly. Also, in the ancient near east, dogs weren't pets, they weren't domesticated. They were scavengers, hunting in packs. They had more mercy on Lazarus than that man, so their lifestyles couldn't be any more different. But in verse 22, there's a reversal of the fortunes of these two men in the afterlife.

Here's the verse. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. The Lord Jesus is just abrupt when he talks about these two men's death. He gives descriptive words about Lazarus and his trip to heaven.

But the rich man who dined like a king and had a banquet every day, he just dies and is buried. Lazarus, the man who suffered so much in life, is carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. And when we get to this point in the parable, we now know that in this parable Lazarus has four allies. He has the unnamed people that carry him to the rich man's gate every day. He has the dogs who lick his sores.

He has the angels who carry him to heaven. And he has Father Abraham himself comforting him there.

He's in Abraham's bosom. That's a figure of speech that means a place of honor and peace in the afterlife. Meanwhile, the rich man who had everything in life dies, finds himself buried and facing torment in a place that Jesus calls Hades. Here Hades is another word for hell. Listen to me very carefully.

The Lord Jesus makes it crystal clear that wealth and comfort on earth mean nothing if they come at the cost of neglecting others and ignoring God.

So now the tables are turned and eternity tells a very different story. Alright, so that's the setting of the parable. Jesus finishes the parable with three absolutely severe warnings. And I think they get worse as we go. And so, for the note takers, here's your chance.

The three warnings that are left. Number one. Jesus says death is an equalizer, but not a sanctifier in verses 23 and 24. And being in torments in Hades, the rich man lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off. Now we know that heaven and hell are not down the street from each other.

And Lazarus in his bosom. And then he cried and said, father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.

Friends, we all die, but we Are not all blessed with God's holiness after death?

And yet here we are reading these verses and we're surprised to learn that even in torment, the rich man continues his arrogance. He's no different than he was in his previous natural life. He asked Abraham, of all people, to send Lazarus to serve him. You see, his dying did nothing for his worldview. He still sees Lazarus as an inferior.

Lazarus is nothing more than a subordinate who should fetch him water, Be my gopher. Even in hell, the rich man expects heaven to serve him. He's barking out orders to none other than Abraham.

Death hasn't changed this man at all. He doesn't even think to apologize to Lazarus for ignoring him in life before saying, can you make Lazarus do something for me?

There's a common attitude among non Christians that says, when I die, I'll be a different person. I may be a scoundrel here, but in the next world I'll be different. Death will help me grow up. I'll be a good neighbor there, and I'll be a respectable citizen in the afterlife, if there is one. Well, friends, Jesus parable directly contradicts that attitude.

It's false. It imperils the one who holds it. Death is an equalizer, yes, a sanctifier, no Warning number two. Memory intact, but opportunity ended. This is verses.

These are verses 25 and 26. But Abraham said, son, remember in most of my Bibles that word remember circled. Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he's comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, Jesus says that Abraham says, and if that weren't enough, besides all this between us and you is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.

So Abraham tells the rich man to remember. So you know that whether you go to heaven or hell, your memory will be fully intact. You won't be able to forget. This rich man will recall every time he heard the cries of Lazarus outside the fence and refused to show any love to him. He will remember all the opportunities to give grace, but he just could not be bothered.

And you know what? He'll cringe every time he thinks of the saving grace he refused. It means that if you die without Jesus, you'll remember all the opportunities you had to get your heart right with God. You'll remember this sermon from this pulpit on this day, even if you don't take any notes, you'll remember every word. Then, because of the opportunity you squandered.

Now the rich man's lifetime of luxury is over and the roles are reversed. And Lazarus is comforted and this man's in torment. And Abraham makes it painfully clear there are no second chances after death.

Eternity is final. Today I hope to preach as a dying man to dying men and women. And if this is the last one you hear, you got grace and an opportunity to know Jesus and be right with God for the final time. There's a chasm, a gulf between heaven and hell. And in the middle is the abyss, and it cannot be crossed after we die, you see, in Hades, the rich man cannot plead.

He can't bargain, he can't write a check. He cannot undo his choices. The time to repent is gone. Where he is now, he will remain forever.

Did you know that the decisions that we make in this life, how we live, what we prioritize, and how we respond to God, did you know those decisions carry eternal consequences?

And the only bridge across the chasm, the only way to get across the gulf, is Jesus Christ. And we must cross that bridge in this lifetime, memory intact. But opportunity ended. The final warning, I think, is the worst, because so many are deceived by it. Jesus warns against misunderstanding what matters most.

I mean, just missing it. Verses 27 to 31.

Then Lazarus said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him, Lazarus, to my Father's house, for I have five brothers that he may testify to them lest they also come to this place of torment. Lo and behold, even in torment, the rich man suddenly becomes an evangelist.

He's begging Abraham to send Lazarus back to tell his brothers so they won't end up in the same place. Can I tell you, Nobody in hell today wants you to come there.

Even if you knew them and loved them. Everyone in judgment today wants you to miss it.

Send somebody, he says, but he completely misses the point. And this is what my job is to teach you. Verse 29. Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.

Abraham's response is very simple. They already have the word of God. Friends. The Bible says in Romans 10:17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. The Scriptures, the law and the prophets are enough to lead any and every sinner to repentance.

If they won't listen to that, no miracle will change their hearts.

And let me just say, before I move on from there, we're in a season in our church where the Lord has blessed us with signs and wonders. We've been laying our hands on sick People here and in homes and small groups and praying for them that God would make their bodies well and they would have divine healing. And God has been saying yes. And we have been documenting and writing them down and celebrating these miraculous gifts from God that we are seeing happen through prayer. We're seeing people that have been addicted to things for years and even decades just in one single prayer of faith.

God breaking strongholds. We are watching him put relationships back together that seemed that there was not a counselor on earth who could do it. The power of God has been in our midst. And let me tell you, it's only enough to condemn you. It's not enough to save you.

It's only enough to prove that God's real. It's not enough to bring you to Jesus. God has set his word to do that. Here's verses 30 and 31. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

But Abraham said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. All right, for me to explain these verses to you, I have to acknowledge. Here's the rich man insisting to Abraham that he knows better than Abraham. May I say to you that if you're ever in the presence of the real Abraham, try not to correct him.

No, Father Abraham, this is missing the point. This man thinks, if only my brothers could see a dramatic sign. If they saw a dead man get up out of the grave, they would believe a miracle would convince them. But Abraham shuts that down immediately. If they reject the truth of God's word, even a resurrection will not open their eyes.

And may I say candidly that history has proven this to be true because Jesus Christ himself rose from the dead. It is verifiably documented. It is historically accurate. There is so much historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus that if you reject it on academic grounds, you need to tell yourself, self, I can't believe anything I read because it stands alone with evidence. And yet most of the world refuse to believe Jesus walked out of the grave.

Here's the piercing question, though I won't even put it on the screen. I want you to hear it from my voice.

Are you waiting for a sign before you take God seriously?

Or will you listen to the truth that he's already spoken?

Well, if I see it, I'll believe it. No, you won't. The time to believe is not after death. It's now. Okay?

I have effectively, and I might say beautifully taught you these verses. So that part of the sermon is over. But I want to finish this today with key lessons from this parable. Seven of them in rapid fire succession in a list with minor comments in between, because I want to make sure you understand key lessons from the parable. Number one.

Material wealth is not a guarantee of God's favor. If the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a word to any of the wealthy, it's this. Make sure you're not deceiving yourself because of all the winning you're doing in life. You've got this Midas touch. You're climbing the corporate ladder.

You got a beautiful house with a wonderful family inside and you can't seem to lose. Make sure you don't tell yourself that that's God giving you the thumbs up. Because it wasn't for the rich man. In our parable, the rich man had everything, but he was still condemned.

Number two, suffering is the other side of the coin and it doesn't indicate God's rejection. Here's a word for those of you whose life stinks right now, and I don't make light of that. Everything's going wrong. It's all sad. People are dying, people are sick.

People are losing their jobs. People are rebelling. And you can't get along with this person, this person. Your body hurts and everything is awful. And that really might be true for you.

Don't listen to the voice of the enemy that says, look how much God hates you. That's also a lie. It's the flip side of the coin. Lazarus suffered, but he was honored in heaven. He was honored in the life that matters most.

May I say to you, it's the next life that matters the most.

Number three, Repentance must happen in life.

You've got to get right with God here and now. And you shouldn't play chicken with him and think, well, on my deathbed, I'll get it all right with God. Hey, I'm a police chaplain. I'm a pastor. I attend deathbeds often.

Nothing changes there.

The afterlife offers no second chances. Number four. Religious heritage is not enough. The rich man cried out, father Abraham, but it was too late. He thought, if I die, I'll just flash my Jewish badge.

I'll just go, look, I'm a descendant. I'm of the same blood as you. I'll call you Father Abraham. Well, listen to me very carefully. God doesn't have any grandchildren, as great as grandchildren are.

If you want to go to heaven when you die, if you want to have your heart right with God and have eternal life. You have to have the right to be a child of God. It doesn't matter how holy, how committed to Jesus, how godly your parents were, your grandparents were. You don't get saving faith by heritage. You get it by faith and repentance.

Jesus said, the Lord said in John 1:12. But to as many as received him, even to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Number five. Here, God's justice surprises our expectations.

Let me be very clear what this parable means. The rich man's downfall was not his wealth. It was his indifference. When he lived all those days with more than enough and did not care about the suffering closest to him, it exposed his heart. His bank account meant nothing on the other side of death, because he didn't care about Lazarus, we know he didn't care about God.

Number six, miracles do not produce faith.

Even witnessing a resurrection won't change a hardened heart.

And lastly, number seven, our concern for others matters to God. Jesus warns against blindness to the suffering or it makes our 10 man offering that much more important.

As I wrap it up, I want to tell you a story. But first I want to remind you that the rich man in Jesus parable lived a life of luxury. He was consumed by self indulgence. He was blind to the suffering of Lazarus at his gate, who was a man he could have helped. But he did not help.

And his story ends in torment marked by regret and marked by an irreversible separation from the mercy of God. That's the rich man over here. Keep that in mind as I tell you about a contrast, a man whose name you probably don't know, but you should contrast that with Humphrey Monmouth. Humphrey Monmouth was a wealthy London merchant who did not step over spiritual beggars in his life. Instead, he fed them.

He was sitting across the table when a man named William Tyndale declared, I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spares my life for many years, I will cause a boy that drives the plow to know more of the scripture than he does. Monmouth was destroyed by those words from William Tyndale. And from the other side of the table in the pub there, he replied, dear Master Tyndale, it was a verbal contract. He said, God has given you a job to do and it's time you get to work.

And then he said, my house is yours and my purse is yours.

And then he signed it in the air across the table. Most sincerely, H. Monmouth, Bishop of Nothing, patron of one Humphrey Monmouth. Sheltered William Tyndale from the outside world, from the authorities seeking to arrest him. He funded his translation of the Bible, and then he helped to smuggle those first English Bibles across borders in Europe.

And what did he get for all that? Well, you don't know his name. Here's what he got for all that. He spent 12 months imprisoned in the tower of London. Not for theft, not for treason, not for acts of violence, but for daring to support the word of God in the language of the common man.

They arrested him and imprisoned him when they found out he was paying for Tyndale to translate the English Bible. He was Tyndale's gospel patron. Tyndale would later pray from his shackles of his hands and his feet. There was a brush pile with logs right over here. There was the angry mob in front of him.

There was the chief prosecutor over here and the executioner standing above the beam. The shackles were so tight on William Tyndale that he had to catch his breath and with one powerful blow of his lungs, get out the last thing he ever said.

And with the loudest yell he could, with the little breath he had, he said, lord, open the king of England's eyes.

Moments later, they strangled William Tyndale and burned him at the stake. What was his crime? To put the Bible that you have in your lap or on your phone, in your possession.

That prayer, lord, opened the king of England's eyes, echoed in the history. And just under three years later, after Tyndale's martyrdom, King Henry VIII sent the edict and he authorized the printing of the Bible legally into English. And it became the most widely printed and sold book in the history of the English language. And it used between 80 and 90% of Tyndale's work. We owe this man a great debt, but even more so the man whose name you didn't know until now, who said, I'll give up my money, my privacy and my freedom for the Bible in English.

The rich man in Luke 16 left no legacy, only a cautionary tale. Humphrey Monmouth helped spark a reformation. One hoarded luxury, the other invested in eternity. Lazarus lay at the rich man's gate. The English speaking world lay at Monmouth's gate.

Who's waiting at your gate? It's about for prayer.

I wonder if you'd say to me today, pastor, when I heard that parable, when I heard those scriptures today, I could relate to those two men. And when I do an inventory of my life, my life is more like that rich man's and less like Lazarus. And and if that means I need to get my heart right with God today, then the Lord's brought me to that place. And I need you to pray for me to have courage to get the help that I need. Would you pray for me?

Nobody looking around, just me. Would you just lift your hand if that's you? I don't know if my heart's right with God. I might be like the rich man. And I want you to pray for me.

Pastor. Anybody? Anybody else? You don't have to be first. Now just lift your hand.

All right, Lord, for those precious souls that are in this valley of decision, I pray Holy Spirit, evangelize them, God, bring them to Jesus. Bring them to repentance of their sins. God, break their hearts. And I pray. God, I pray that for those that are like Lazarus and suffering, would you bring them for prayer ministry so they can get some help?

God, I pray that you would do your work today as only you can. In Jesus name, Amen. There's one other thing that we're going to do today, Don, if you'll just give me a second. It's going to take a few minutes.

And that is I want you to know that this who Is yous One series is not just something we're going to do for four weeks. Then Easter is going to be here, going to erase that and move on to the next thing. This is kind of the deal that we're doing as a church for the next few weeks and months even. And so you may have noticed this display over here. It's a visual aid.

In a few minutes it's going to be down here. But let me tell you about that. It's part of our who Is yous One campaign. And each of us who belong to our church is praying for one person, or at least one person. And we call them our One.

And we're praying for that person to come to know Jesus and become a Christian. And it might be a friend, it might be a relative, it might be a co worker, it might be a neighbor. It's just listen very carefully. Someone you're connected to who lives close enough to one day be a part of our church family. Let me say that again.

Someone you're connected to who lives close enough that one day they could be a part of our church family. And there's a clear container here. There's going to be different colored ping pong balls. Right now there's three colors over there. There's a fourth color, but that's kind of a special one.

And you've Got to come and get that from us. Specifically, here's what each color means. There's going to be more white ping pong balls than all the rest of them. White represents that you have a one. You're connected to them.

They're close enough where they live that. That they could be a part of our church. And you have officially prayed for them by name, either with your small group so that your small group knows the name and they're praying with you or with a member or with some of our prayer teams. After a service, you come to them, you bring that name, and they pray with you. Once you pray an official prayer for a one, and now you're committed to that one, you take a white ping pong ball and you put it in the box.

All right, now, look, I have three ones. I have three people I pray for every day. I'm going after them. I want to share the gospel with them. I want to invite them to church.

I'm only going to put in one ping pong ball. They represent all three of my ones because we just don't have enough white ping pong balls. Does that make sense? All right, we're going to do it that way. So when you get a one, even if you have four of them, one ping pong ball means I have prayed for all of them by name, out loud, either in my small group or with some prayer team members.

You don't even have to be a member of our church to do this with us. You just need to be here for several weeks and you want to go and pray for your one, as we're doing now. The blue. The blue is pastor. I have shared the gospel with my one and I've asked for a response.

I have told them the bad news and then the good news. I've told them the proper response to the gospel. And I've said, wouldn't you want to believe in Jesus today? That blue one. I've shared the gospel.

I've asked for a Response from my 1. Orange. Orange. Your 1 came to a Sunday service with you even if it wasn't with you. Maybe they came at 9 and you were here at 11.

But they came to a Sunday service because of the work of evangelism. You're doing orange and then green. My one was baptized at Great Commission Church. See, that's what we're doing. We're praying for people who are far away from God, and we're watching them come by faith in the love of God all the way into putting on the jersey of the Lord.

Jesus Christ and saying, look, I'm one of you now. Let me tell you something. In the first service, for some reason this morning, there were tons of ones of people that have been praying for, they've been praying for. They just all showed up this morning. One guy turned to this lady and this other guy that had been praying for him, he goes, well, I guess I'm your one.

He goes, you can put all the ping pong balls in for me. I'm going to be here. What I heard today changed my life. It was that kind of thing. It was awesome.

My one was baptized. Each one of these, each time one of these steps happen, drop the matching color ball into the container. It's a simple but powerful way to celebrate what God's doing in the lives of the people we care about. So who's your one? Let's keep praying for that one.

Let's keep sharing, let's keep inviting, let's keep believing. Let's win our world one person at a time. And now for you. Parents need your help. I want you to treat this activity that we're doing, this visual aid because every week that thing's going to be filling up different colors.

I need you to treat it like the Lord's supper. It's not on the wavelength as the Lord's supper, but I need your help because all the kids are going to see the balls and they're just going to start cramming them in there. If you have a child that wants to put a ping pong ball in our visual aid, help them get their own one, start praying for their one and let them have a one. But when it's your turn to put your ping pong ball into the box, don't let your kids do it for you, don't let your husband do it for you or your wife because this represents your responsibility of personal evangelism. Does that make sense?

You guys help us police that with the kids. Alright, let's bow for prayer. God, we want to pray for our visual aid to be an example of the work that we're doing and the accountability that a church needs to be evangelistic. God, I pray you'd give us hundreds and hundreds of ping pong balls of different colors showing the work you're doing in the lives of the lost. By the prayers of the saints in Jesus name and a faith filled church said Amen.

All right, Don, I guess I got a little baptism eager there. First time I've heard part of a message from standing back in the back and it was pretty Good, Trevor. We are ready to have a baptism, and I'm excited about this. So help me welcome to the stage Sophie Patterson.

This is Sophie Patterson. Are you excited to be up here, Sophie?

And in just a moment, I'm going to have your small group come up here. But before they do, I just want to share that. Met with Sophie, got to talk with her about her journey of faith. So interesting. Just your opening line here.

Before Jesus became a part of my life, I was very lost and hopeless. All lost people are in that condition, but they don't always realize it. And through circumstances in your life, the Lord opened up your heart and your mind to being able to realize that there was nothing that was going to help you. And you began to cry out to the Lord, and suddenly you opened your eyes to see who Jesus was, and it became so impactful to you. And he has helped you a lot according to your testimony.

So I want to ask you, just in front of all of these folks here at Great Commission Church, Sophie, is it your testimony that the Lord brought you to a place to realize that you were a sinner and in great need of his mercy and that you trusted Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life? You did that right. And so today, we're going to baptize you. But we don't think anybody ought to walk alone. And the reason we think that is because God has said we're not supposed to do it alone.

So he creates spiritual families of which we can get support. So if you're part of Sophie's small group, I want y'all to all come up here because I want y'all to be a part of this. So come on up right now. Small group. Sophie's small group.

Y'all come on up here as quickly as you can.

All right?

All right. Turn around and see them. Say, hi, Sophie. Hey, Sophie.

Hey. If you're here today as a special guest because you wanted to see Sophie baptized and you're here to kind of support her, would you raise your hand if that's you? We have some folks over here. We thank you so much for being here. We really.

Come and join us this Sunday at the Great Commission Church for a truly remarkable and uplifting experience. Great Commission Church is not just any ordinary place of worship; it's a vibrant community where faith comes alive, hearts are filled with love, and lives are transformed. Our doors are wide open, ready to welcome you into the warm embrace of our congregation, where you'll discover the true essence of fellowship and spirituality. At Great Commission Church, we are more than just a congregation; we are a family united by a common mission – to follow the teachings of Christ and spread His love to the world. As you step inside Great Commission Church, you'll find a sanctuary that nurtures your faith and encourages you to be part of something greater than yourself.

We believe in the power of coming together as a community to worship, learn, and serve. Whether you're a long-time believer or just starting your spiritual journey, Great Commission Church welcomes people from all walks of life. Our vibrant services are filled with inspiring messages, beautiful music, and heartfelt prayers that will uplift your soul. Every Sunday at Great Commission Church is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with God and connect with others who share your faith and values.

At Great Commission Church, we believe that faith is not just a solitary endeavor but a shared experience that strengthens and enriches us all. Our church is a place where you can find purpose, belonging, and the encouragement to live a life in accordance with Christ's teachings. Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church and experience the transformative power of faith in action. Be part of a loving and supportive community that is committed to making a positive impact in our world. Together, we strive to fulfill the great commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We look forward to having you with us at Great Commission Church this Sunday, where faith, love, and community intersect in a truly amazing way.

Great Commission Church is a non-denominational Christian church located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. We are a short drive from Germantown, Southaven, Collierville, Horn Lake, Memphis, Fairhaven, Mineral Wells, Pleasant Hill, Handy Corner, Lewisburg and Byhalia.

See you Sunday at Great Commission Church!