Well, this morning we were supposed to be in the book of Micah in our journey through the Bible, but on Thursday, I really sensed that God wanted me to pivot with the message in light of everything that has happened over the past week. I don't know how the Lord wants to use this morning in your life, but as I was preparing for today (this is going to seem random), I got this picture in my mind. I was reminded of an experience I had when I was in middle school.
When I was in middle school, I used to go to my friend Luke's ranch, and they had this old CJ Jeep. We would take the Jeep out and go mudding. Our sole goal, as these pubescent boys, was to get stuck. We would go out and find mud pits, and we would do doughnuts in the mud pit until we got stuck. It was great until we got stuck, and then we'd have to call his dad.
I will never forget seeing his dad come down the hill in this massive tractor with these massive tires with thick treads. He would effortlessly roll through the mud, strap tow straps to the Jeep, and pull us out so we could have traction again. For some reason, as I was preparing for today, I got a picture of that. I think the reason the Lord reminded me of that was because I wouldn't be surprised if some of us feel stuck this week, if the mud of life has kind of dragged us down and we feel stuck.
Maybe you feel stuck in sadness. As you saw the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it hit you. I was getting texts from people, like, "This has really hit me this week. This feels really heavy for me this week." Maybe you have felt stuck in sadness. Others of you have felt stuck in anger and frustration, and it has been boiling up inside of you. Others of you have felt conflicted. You have felt kind of stranded in this internal conflict, like, "I don't really know how to feel right now."
So, what I really hope this morning is for you is some tow straps from God the Father kind of hooking up to your life and pulling you out to get traction with him, for you to experience joy, for you to experience peace, for you to experience traction and hope. Why? Because you know Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the King of all kings. He has conquered Satan, sin, and death, so we anchor ourselves in him today. That's my hope.
I just want to invite you to do what we do every Sunday, to take a moment and pray. So, if you will, pray that for yourself, especially if that resonated with you, if you feel a little stuck right now, if you just need God the Father to tow you out. Just say, "God, would you give me traction with you this morning? Help me to hear from you today." Then I want to invite you to pray for the people around you. Just ask God to speak to them as well. Then I want to ask you to pray for me and ask God to speak through me to you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you would be welcome here and that your work in our hearts would be disruptive in the most beautiful of ways. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would glorify Christ in our hearts and in our minds. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight today. In Jesus' name, amen.
This week has been a dark week. It has been marked by evil. If it were just the twenty-fourth anniversary of 9/11, that would be enough. I don't know how old you were on 9/11. I can still picture myself standing in my roommate's room, watching planes fly into the Twin Towers. Almost 3,000 people were killed. If it were just the anniversary of that, that alone would be enough of a reminder to all of us that this world is deeply marked by evil. Yet, we saw in the same week the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
I think the reason the assassination of Charlie Kirk hits home for Christians in a specific way is because Charlie Kirk was an outspoken follower of Jesus Christ. Now, this week I've gotten texts from people who were major fans of Charlie Kirk's methods, and then I've gotten messages from friends who found his methods offensive. It doesn't matter where you land on that.
Here's the reality. Here's the most important thing. As I've processed it, my sense is that Charlie Kirk was seeking to live for Jesus the best way he knew how, and he got killed seeking to do that. Because of that, that should hit home in a unique way, especially for Christians. If that wasn't it, there was a school shooting in Colorado, and then senseless acts of evil all in between.
Now, here's why we're pivoting this morning. One of the reasons we're pivoting is that one of the things that grieves me, as a pastor, is that people want to take evil and make it political. That is so unfortunate, because evil is not a political issue; it's a spiritual issue. Evil is always spiritual. Evil is a satanic and demonic issue. Flying planes into buildings is demonic. Assassinating someone on a college campus in the middle of the day is demonic. It's a spiritual issue.
As we, as a church family, have been journeying from cover to cover through the Word of God, I just want to remind you that, as we've been looking at the story of God, there is a villain in the story of God, and the villain in the story of God seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. But here's the good news. Evil shouldn't shake our faith if we're in Christ. Evil should anchor our faith. It should actually fuel our faith. It should ignite something new in us. Why? Because we're reminded that Jesus Christ is the only one who offers a satisfying solution to the evil in our world.
So, if you have a Bible, I want to take you back to the beginning to Genesis, chapter 3. I want to unpack two things for you today. The first thing I want to unpack is the reason for evil. Let's just all get on the same page. Why is there evil in our world today? Then, secondly, we're going to unpack the right responses to evil.
1. The reason for evil. If you aren't normally here on Sundays, if you're here today because you've been shaken into church this week… Like, if that's you, if you came here this morning just because you're looking for answers, first, I'm so glad you came. Genesis, chapter 3, actually helps us make sense of reality.
Every single person in this room is operating with a worldview. If you think about a worldview as the lenses through which you see all of human existence, how you interpret human experience, you have to make sure your worldview, the lenses through which you see life, actually makes sense of reality. When evil is very overt in our lives, it calls into question, "Hey, does your worldview actually support the human experience?"
I would argue that the Christian worldview takes weeks like this and makes perfect sense of them. Genesis 3 helps us understand why evil, like we have seen this past week, takes place. So, look with me at Genesis 3, starting in verse 1. It says, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say, "You shall not eat of any tree in the garden"?'"
This is the introduction of the villain into God's story. He goes by several names in the Bible, one of which is Satan, which means adversary. He goes by the Devil, which means false accuser or slanderer. He goes by Beelzebul, which means lord of dung. He's also called the Tempter, the Dragon, the Evil One, the ruler of this world, the god of this age, and the Prince of the power of the air, indicating that he has instituted a counter-kingdom which stands in defiance to God's rule. Last but not least, he's referred to as the Father of Lies. We see him lying from the start.
So, as we are introduced to the villain in God's story, let me remind you of what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6. It's so pertinent to this week. He says, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
When Paul says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against cosmic evil forces, that word wrestle carries the idea of hand-to-hand combat. It's the idea of two people up close trying to pin one another to the ground. What's the point? We have a real, up-close enemy that is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy in our lives, in our church, in our state, in our country, and in our world.
What does he say to the woman? He says, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" Satan isn't asking a real question here; he's mocking. When he says that, he's saying, "Is God that ridiculous, that idiotic, that dramatic, to say you can't eat of any tree of the garden?"
"And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die."' But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"
What I want you to see here is that Satan only needs three lies to be effective in his work. We've seen the three lies already. The first lie is "God is not that good." "God is lying to you. He told you you'll die. You won't die. He's lying to you. God is really not that good." Second, "You don't need God because you can be god." "God is lying to you because he doesn't want you to be like him, because then you won't need him." Third, "There are no consequences." They're the same three lies he uses. He only needs three. Those three lies continue to be effective today.
What's the result of Satan's lies being embraced as truth? Verse 6. Watch this. This makes sense of reality. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate."
This is so important. If you want to understand the evil we've seen in our world today, this is it right here. It says Eve saw that the tree was good. Up until this point in the book of Genesis, God is the only one who saw that things were good. Now Eve is seeing what is good. Up until this point in Genesis, God has been the only one to declare something good. Now Eve is deciding for herself what is good.
She is taking the place of God. She is taking the responsibilities of God. She's taking what God has done, which is make things to be good, see them as good, and declare them as good, and she's saying, "Now I will see what is good, and I will declare what is good." Eve decides that the tree that was to be avoided is now the tree to be desired, and she eats the fruit.
Let me encourage you to see what's happening here. What you need to understand is in this story, the villain of God's story had a mission. What was the mission? It was for the people God made to listen to him instead of to God. If they were to listen to him instead of to God, what would be the outworking of that? They would take what God declared to be not good and redefine it as good. That's it.
That's where all evil in our world springs forth from. It's when the people God has made begin to listen to the Father of Lies instead of to God. When we listen to the Father of Lies, we will take what God has said is not good and redefine it as good. That's exactly what happened, and it changed everything in the human experience.
Just watch this. This makes sense of reality. Watch everything that became true because Adam and Eve took what God said was not good and redefined it as good. Verse 7 says, "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths." That's the beginning of shame. Now there's something to hide. This is why you might not just feel like you've done something wrong but that you are something wrong. That's shame. It's the beginning of shame.
Verse 8: "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." This is the beginning of alienation from God. The trees became a barrier between them and God. This was the first time. Now a part of the human experience was this understanding that you aren't right with God.
Verses 11-12: "[God] said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?' The man said, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.'" This is the beginning of conflict. Did you see it? God comes down to them, and he's like, "What happened here? Who told you you were naked?"
Talk about a passive man. Look at what he says. "The woman…" So it's her fault. But watch this. He doesn't just blame the woman; he blames God. "The woman whom you gave to be with me…" Like, "God, if it's anyone's fault, it's definitely not mine. If you need someone to own it, you can look at her. But even more than that, you should look at yourself. You did this to yourself. You made her for me. She misled me. Your problem." It's the beginning of conflict. It's just the beginning.
Verse 16: "To the woman he said, 'I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.'" That idea of the woman's desire being for her husband… It can mean against her husband. It means she will seek to dominate her husband, and in the end, it says, the husband will rule over her. That idea in the Hebrew can mean dominion, mastery, or lordship in a very harsh way.
So, do you see the conflict? At humanity's worst, women will be a nemesis to men, and men at their worst will oppress and dominate women. You see the beginning of conflict. Then, in verse 17, you see the beginning of pain. "And to Adam he said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, "You shall not eat of it," cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life…'"
There are now experiences in life that can cause both physical and emotional pain. You can trace even anxiety and depression disorders back to right here. It's also the beginning of death. Verse 19: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Do you see what he's saying? He's like, "Look. I actually made you to rule over the ground. In the end, the ground is going to rule over you. You're going to be over the ground for a limited period of time. Then you're going to be under the ground again." What's the point? Death is now part of the human experience. There is no cause of death that does not find its place of origin in Genesis, chapter 3.
This is important. What I just unpacked for you is just the beginning of these things. What you need to understand is that Satan, the Devil, the Father of Lies… His intention is to take what began there and multiply it and magnify it to its greatest extent here on the earth. That's why in the very next chapter you see a brother murdering his brother. In the very next chapter, you find murder.
Then, it's not long after that that you find rape, suicide, child sacrifice, war, entire cities given over to homosexuality… You find every kind of evil. If you were to just pause the tape and then hit rewind, if you were to keep circling back and hitting rewind, rewind, and rewind, all forms of evil in our world find their origin right here in Genesis, chapter 3.
So, this is the reason for evil. If you're here this morning, if you're not a Christian, if you're not normally here and just came here looking for answers, again, you have to make sure you have lenses through which you see life that actually make sense of reality, because here is the reality. We live in a day and age where people love the idea of no absolute truth or morality. It just sounds better.
It's better to say, "You know what? Find your truth. Like, what is true for you? Who am I to say what is true for you? What's true for you doesn't have to be true for me, and what's true for me doesn't have to be true for you. What I find to be wrong doesn't have to be what you find to be wrong." That sounds great until you hit weeks like this where you have people, both Christian and non-Christian, looking at an assassination in broad daylight in front of thousands of college kids that has now been passed around the Internet.
You have people all over the world saying, "That's wrong." Well, if you don't believe in absolute truth, who are you to say that that's wrong? You can't betray your worldview. You're stealing from the Christian worldview. Don't steal from it; be true to it. Otherwise, you're committing intellectual suicide, because what you're saying is "Nothing is wrong until I decide it's wrong."
No. There is a reason why, when the Twin Towers fell, everywhere I walked on Texas A&M's campus I found college students watching TVs, all having the same response. Why? Because there is something hardwired in each of us to look at that and say, "That's evil. It's evil." I think about what C.S. Lewis said. He said, "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?"
The reason you can look at the assassination of Charlie Kirk and say, "That's wrong…" You don't even have to like him to say, "That's wrong," or when people celebrate the death, to say, "That's wicked." It's because something in you knows what a straight line is. That straight line is God, the one who made you, the one who hardwired you to know that there is truth and it's in him. That's the reason for evil.
2. The right responses to evil. The first response to evil is evil should sober us to worship. This week, I was getting messages from people, which I've already shared. Just people saying, "This is heavy. I just feel sad. I feel off." Other people, "I feel conflicted." No one had a routine week. No one did. If you did, then this is your first time in public in the last seven days. No one had a routine week. Everyone was kind of knocked off stance.
It was a sobering week. You couldn't just kind of keep moving. No matter where you land on things, something in you had to kind of pull out and be like, "What is happening in our world?" It was sobering. But we don't just sit there in the mud. God is inviting us to respond to what we've experienced. Evil should sober us to something. It should sober us to worship.
How do we deal with the disruption we have experienced and the emotions we've felt? We worship. That's how followers of Jesus Christ respond to evil. We worship. We turn our attention to God. We look to him. We hope in him. We find gladness in him. Why? Because we know Jesus, and we know how the story ends. That's why we look to him and find gladness in him: we know how the story ends.
In Genesis, chapter 3… If you've been with us, you know this well. In the midst of evil, God provides a solution. Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." What is that talking about? God is talking to the Serpent. He's talking to Satan. He is just saying, "Look. There is one coming from the woman who one day is going to crush your head. He is going to deliver the death blow to you." That is a promise of a savior to come.
Now, here's what I'm going to do right now. I'm just going to read Scripture. Instead of me trying to explain it, I am just going to trust the beauty and sufficiency of reading Scripture. So, in light of Genesis 3:15, just listen to this. First John 3:8: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."
Colossians 2:15: "He [God the Father] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." In whom? In Jesus Christ, the one who appeared to destroy the works of the Devil. What's true because of Christ? First Corinthians 15:51-57. This is incredible news.
"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Revelation 21. This is how the story ends. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things…" All of those things that began in Genesis 3. "'…for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'"
This is why we hope. This is why evil sobers us to worship. If you've just sat in anxiety, sat in anger, sat in turmoil this week…enough! Enough. God the Father is hooking tow straps up, saying, "It's time to get out of the mud. You don't have to sit there as a follower of Jesus Christ. Hope in Christ. Look to Christ. You know Jesus Christ. You know how the story ends." It sobers us to worship. Amen?
Secondly, evil should sober us to repentance. What began with Adam and Eve has spread to all humankind, every single one of us. This is very important. Every single one of us was born with a natural drive. There is something in us that is driving us toward listening to the lies of the Enemy. There's a drive in us to take what God declared as not good and redefine it as good. Anywhere that there's a redefining of what God has declared to be good or not good, you'd better be clear: the villain of God is at work. Anywhere that is taking place, the villain is at work.
Take 9/11, for example. What do you have? You have people taking what God has said is not good and redefining it as good. "Flying planes into buildings is now good. Eradicating the world of infidels is now good. God is actually going to reward flying a plane into a building. He's going to consider you a martyr and bless you because of that." It's wicked. That's evil. That's demonic. That is humanity buying the Serpent's lies and taking what God has said is not good and redefining it as good.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk, school shootings, a church shooting just a couple of weeks ago at a Catholic school mass, children being killed… There's a redefinition of good. "Murder is now good. Murder is now the only viable way to remove someone from the earth. Murder is now the only viable way to deal with hurt and hate. Murder is now the only viable way to communicate to someone that they have wronged you; therefore, you must wrong them." That's evil. That's demonic. That's the villain of the story at work, convincing people God made to take what God has declared not good and redefine it as good.
Now, this is where I need you to tune in. I'm not playing games today, folks. Many of you showed up today just to see if I was going to call out evil, which I have, and I'm going to, but before I call out evil out there, I want to call it out in here. Let's call it out in here, because it makes no sense to be passionate about calling out overt evil if we're not willing to own our covert evil. So, let's just get real.
Anywhere in this room where people are saying bitterness, unforgiveness, and hate are now good… Why? "Because it's my right. Because of what they did to me, for the hurt they caused me. It is now good. It's now my right." "Pornography is now good, because it's a way for me to satisfy my needs when they aren't getting met. Manipulative speech, abusive speech, condescending speech, and hateful speech is now good, because I'm just being a strong, courageous truth-teller.
Gossip is now good, because it will help people know how to pray for someone else. Workaholism is now good, because I'm just using the gifts God gave me, and this is how I provide. Materialism is now good, because God wants me to be happy. Right? Drinking too much is now good, because I'm just having a good night with the guys."
If we're followers of Jesus Christ, evil in this world should cause us sobriety. It should lead us to repentance. It should remind us of Genesis 3. What is at the ground floor of all evil? It is humanity believing the lies of Satan and taking what God has said is not good and redefining it as good. It should lead us to repent of all of the ways that we, personally, have just sat in socially acceptable sin.
When Romans 12:9 says, "Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good…" Look, friends. Repent. If there are areas of your life… I don't care how small or inconsequential you think they are. If there are areas of your life where you are taking what God has clearly said in his Word, "This is not good," and you are redefining them as good…you are justifying them, you are rationalizing them…the only right response is to repent. That's where we have to start in this room personally: to repent.
Look. In moments like this, when evil is very visible in our nation, when we're reminded that almost 3,000 people lost their lives in a moment like that by acts of terror, it should remind us that our nation is broken under the weight of sin. Jesus Christ is the only remedy. We should pray for repentance in our land. We should look at the news. We should look at what people are elevating as good, and we should identify the evil. We should call it out, and we should beg God to lead the people of the United States of America to repentance.
We have to look out today. So many people right now are going to think, "Oh no. He's going political." No. I am just taking the Word of God, looking at our nation, and saying, "Look, people. Weeks like this should call our nation to repentance. It should call us to see the ways that God has said, 'This is not good,' yet we're elevating it as good."
Think about what is now celebrated, even by churches in our country, as the greatest extent of equality and freedom. Killing babies in the womb is now good. Why? Because it empowers women. Because it gives them control over their bodies. It allows women to keep their careers on track. Marriage between two men or two women is now good because God is love. Mutilating the body that God has given you is now good because it allows you to truly live out the gender that you believe you are.
Friends, this isn't equality; this is evil. Evil is what it is. It is the work of the Father of Lies. What grieves me is some of you are like, "Yeah, get 'em, TA!" No! "God, please chase them down. Draw them in. Bring them to yourself. Use us as agents of reconciliation." Some of you are here, and you've had an abortion or are part of the LGBTQ community, and what I said probably just sounded really hateful.
Look. I want to be unapologetic. God is the author of life, not us. Period. God defines marriage; we don't. God assigns gender, not us. But what I want to be clear on is that every single person here is guilty of evil in God's sight. Every single person here. Here's the incredible news: every single person here can be forgiven and made new by Jesus Christ, but anyone who wants to be forgiven must come to Jesus Christ on his terms.
What are his terms? For everyone here, every single person, what are his terms? It's surrender. It's not easy beliefism. It's not saying, "Man, I'm a good American, and that makes me a Christian." No, it doesn't. You come to God on his terms. What are his terms? It is to lay your life down. It is to surrender to him. It is to know him as your Savior and as your King.
Let me read you a sobering verse. This is 2 Corinthians 5:10. It says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." Jesus is coming back, and he's going to judge the living and the dead. No one escapes without answering to God. Do I say that to scare you? Sort of.
No one gets scared into heaven. Heaven is not going to be full of a bunch of people who got guilted or scared into heaven. Heaven is only going to be filled with people who saw the beauty of Jesus Christ and wanted him, knew that they needed him, and put their trust in him. But having the realization that one day you're going to stand before him, so don't wait until then to figure out what to do with him.
When I say I don't mind scaring you a little, it's just to say, "Hey, let's live sober." So, if you're a Christian, and you're playing games right now, repent. If you're cheating on your spouse right now, if you are living in unrepentant sin right now… Just because it doesn't seem like God is holding you accountable right now doesn't mean he won't.
If you're here today, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I hope you hear my heart. There is such good news for you today. Jesus lived perfectly because you couldn't. I couldn't. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin so we wouldn't have to, and Jesus rose from the dead so we could be made new. Would you trust in him today? Would you trust in him?
Finally, the final response to evil is evil should sober us to mission. The way Charlie Kirk died is a reminder that no one is promised tomorrow. There's no guarantee that people get to grow old with their spouse or see their kids grow up. We should share our faith boldly. I just want to invite you to think. Is there anyone in your life that you've been putting off telling them about Jesus? If so, ask God, "God, would you open the door? Would you give me an opportunity?"
If you're waiting for the right time to bring it up, just bring it up. You'll find out if it was the right time or not. But ask God to use you. Look. Do you want to push back some of the darkness you see? Let's be on mission. That's what has been true of Watermark for 25 years. Let's not let it slip away from our church. Let's be a church that seeks to renew our city in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's push back the darkness in our city in the name of Jesus Christ.
Just in case you don't know, Watermark partners with over 20 local ministries to promote renewal in our city. These partners are pushing back evil and darkness, whether it's in regard to sex trafficking, prison ministry, poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, or whatever it might be. You should go to our website, watermark.org/outreach, and just look. Don't sit on the sidelines. We have these partnerships not just so that the church staff can know what's going on. No, we have these partnerships so that the people of God here at Watermark can be on mission with God in our city, pushing back darkness and evil.
I just want to focus for a moment on Watermark Health. You're going to hear more about Watermark Health in a moment from executive director Christy Chermak. The stories that pour out of Watermark Health are evidence that God uses his church to fight evil in our city. Watermark Health is providing medical care toward the under-resourced.
You should be so encouraged, because Watermark Health has intervened in suicides. Watermark Health has helped women choose life for their unborn children. Watermark Health has cared for refugees with dignity. This is just one specific way where we, as a church, have said, "We want to be about what God is doing. We want to provide medical care to the under-resourced, and this is a specific way that we can push back darkness in our city."
The reason I'm focusing in on Watermark Health right now for a moment… This is a very important ministry to our church. This coming Thursday is North Texas Giving Day. There's a \$200,000 match. So, you should give to Watermark Health this week. It is one easy way for you to push back darkness in our city. You can go to watermarkhealth.org/give, and you can be a part of what God is doing through that ministry. The evil we see should sober us to mission.
So, here's what I want to do right now. I just want to give us a moment again to be still and know that God is God. If you'll close your eyes, I want to ask you three questions. First, have you responded in worship yet? If not, then when we sing in a minute, you should really sing. God is pulling you out of the mud. Stop sitting in your anger, your frustration, your turmoil. Turn to him and worship. Second, have you responded in repentance yet? What are the areas of your life where you have taken what God has said is not good and have redefined it as good?
If you don't know Jesus Christ, then even right now, I want to invite you to pray. If that's you right now, if you're here, and you want to begin a relationship with Jesus, would you put your hand up real quick so I know exactly who I'm talking to in this moment? If that's you, I just want to invite you right now to pray. Say, "Lord Jesus, would you come into my life today? Thank you that you died for me. Thank you that you rose for me. Would you come into my life? Would you forgive me of my sins, and would you lead me in a new life?" The final question I want to invite you to answer is…Will you respond in mission?
