Carla's Birthday Evangelism

What do I believe God wants them to know? There is hope, peace, life, a future in Jesus and that Jesus wants them in the family

Why? We long to be connected to the Father

What do I believe God wants them to do? Join the fmaily or come back home

Why? We all long to be in the family of God

INTRO

One of the questions many of have asked about Carla and others who are Christians, not in name only, but really live by the name is how do you have some much HOPE, PEACE, JOY, LIFE, LAUGHTER? (not just now but those who have know Carla know this is true before the recent trial....which by the way James says we can consider all joy because God is going to use it to grow us up.)

Is as she said she met a man named Jesus and turned her life around.

She turned her from

HOPELESS TO HOPEFUL

DEAD TO ALIVE

LACKING JOY, FULL OF JOY

We have heard about it…Carla testimony and now we will read about what scripture says about this…this is true of many of us here and can be true tonight for some of us tonight.

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God didn’t want to keep us dead.

Dead and nothing we can do can change that we need a miracle.

Rich in mercy…raised us up

He didn’t just forgive us. He adopted us in by GRACE. Read with me

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

This is available to you tonight and I know it is God’s heart, Carla’s heart, that the number one thing she wants to happen with the rest of her life here on Earth is for more and more people to join the family of God.