You’re on Deck

Mariner Alvin Davis burst onto the Seattle sports scene in 1984 and had one of the best seasons by a rookie in baseball history. Besides being named to the All-Star squad, Alvin was voted Rookie of the Year that season after batting 316 with 27 home runs and 116 runs batted in. Alvin's seven seasons here. Produced several club records and on May 9, 1986, he had a night to remember when he drove in eight runs against Toronto, still an all-time record.

His leadership on and off the field made him one of the most popular Mariners of the last 20 seasons, and he will forever be remembered as the first to be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame. 3 to 2 pitch on the way swinging. baseball. one.

And slam home run. I can't think of a better introduction than that video for Alvin, so let's all give our brother Alvin Davis a warm welcome. We are going to be seated during the service today. You guys get to sit down, so we should be able to have that privilege to.

but, Alvin and his family have been coming to Cornerstone since 1992, when he retired from baseball. And I think it was about 12 years ago after a series of conversations with Alvin in person and over the phone that Alvin contacted me and he said, I, I feel like God is leading me to just come and stand by your side in the ministry here at Cornerstone. And be a help and a support to the ministry here and to serve the people of this congregation. And in whatever ways are needful, and I know when I heard him saying that I was thinking I had to pinch myself.

I couldn't believe this guy who could do anything he wanted was choosing to devote his time to this church body and over over the years he has been a great, friend, companion, and, fellow pastor. In fact, in a lot of ways, he's my pastor and has shepherded me through some difficult times, but we love you, Alvin, and I'm so blessed to have you here in the Cornerstone family, a part of our lives and blessed to have you here today. Thank you. Just for the benefit of those that may be visiting who may not know him as well as we do here at Cornerstone, why don't we start off by having you tell us a little bit about your family?

OK, well, I'm, I'm from Riverside, born and largely raised here, actually in this part of Riverside as well, so this is very close to home, and, my wife and a couple of my kids are here today. Kim and I have been married for 25 years. We celebrated 25 years of marriage, back in May. And Jordan is here.

I can see him. He's our oldest, just recently graduated from Laternal University and Kayla is here, our youngest who just started at the Master's College about a month ago and so we're going through a time of transition and of course, you're my family, so, I'm, I'm truly at home here at Cornerstone. OK. take a minute to take us through your big league career, the teams you played for, and, and the, the span of years.

OK. I was with the Mariners, as you saw in the video from 1984 to 1991. And then in 1992 I left the Mariners and, and signed with the California Angels and I split the season in 1992 between the Angels and the team in Japan, the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, and so that was, that was my career at the big league level, OK. One of the notable things about Alvin's career in my mind is the way that it began.

It began with a bang, several bangs actually. he started playing for the Mariners in April of '84, and the first game that he played for the Mariners, he hit a home run in his second at bat. In the 2nd game that he played for them, he hit another home run, and then in the 3rd game, he did not hit a home run, but he hit 3 doubles, so a tremendous start. My question is, what were you thinking at that point, especially like standing on 2nd base after your 3rd double in that game?

it was really a, a surreal experience, just looking at the two years that had led up to, to that event and the things that had happened in just a few days before, as you said, standing on the 2nd base at the Metrodome in Minneapolis after hitting the 3rd double, just reflecting on the things that the Lord had done that caused that to happen. And really, as you said, pinching myself, is this really happening?, are these things really happening in my life? Yeah, I had gotten called up to the big leagues a few days before.

I started the season in 1984 in Seattle, in Salt Lake City.

I was scheduled to be the Triple-A third baseman that year and was moving along, and progressed and moved from Double-A to Triple-A and was hopefully heading towards the big leagues. I'd been invited. Major league camp that year as a non-roster player and had an opportunity to play and get a taste of the big leagues and so when I got called up by the Mariners, it's actually a funny story, I played one game in AAA. when the game was over, I got called into the manager's office and here it is my first year at AAA, and I'm thinking this is A prank.

This is an initiation and something's going to happen and they're going to welcome the new guy. I was fairly new to the organization and my first day in AAA and after the manager or someone came and told me, you need to go see the manager, my friend Harold Reynolds said, You're going to the show, which is that's slang for the big leagues. You're going to the major leagues and And I was like, yeah, right, let's see what these guys have up their sleeves. So I go and sit in the manager's office and Bill Plummer's our manager.

He's a real good friend of mine and a mentor, and he looks across the table and he says, Ken Phelps, who was a first baseman in Seattle, got hit by a pitch and broke his hand, and they called and they want you to go to the big leagues. And I was just like sitting there, waiting for the punch line, and he's, no, really, you're going to Seattle tomorrow. This, this is not a joke, and he was surprised by my reaction, I thought I'd be jumping up and down and screaming for joy, but so anyway, fast forward, I flew into Seattle the next day and I had never seen the King Dome in person.

I'd seen it on TV.

I'd seen it on postcards and And, the dream that I had had since I was 5 years old was becoming a reality. I wasn't supposed to stay very long, Ken was going to be on the DL for about 1012 days more and then I'd go back to AAA and Del Crandall, the manager told me when I got to Seattle, we brought you up because you're left. Handed bat and you can play a little bit of first base, but, don't, just, just stay here and stay ready. If I call upon you, I want you to, to do what you do, but, you'll be going back to AAA, so don't get too comfortable and that was fine with me.

So, I, I, I'll take the, the littlest taste I can get because, that's the dream, just to get there. And so as you mentioned, to get the opportunity to start, face Dennis Ackersley. The first game, the veterans came to me and they said, this is what's going to happen. There's no scouting report on you.

Nobody really knows who you are, but typically what's going to happen is they're going to feed you a bunch of fastballs inside and they're going to see if you can turn on the ball and if you can't hit that inside fastball, then you don't belong up here and, and you won't stay. And so I had the scouting report and my first at bat, Mr. Eckersley beat me. He beat me with a fastball and I fouled out to the catcher.

that was an experience all in itself, I'm hoping I can just sneak in to the big leagues and there won't be too much hoopla and all this stuff, and I'm standing in the on deck circle. My knees are knocking, my whole body's shaking, my mouth's dry like it is right now. And and and just, there's this flood of emotions, there's people in the stands, 30,000 to 40,000 people in the stands in this indoor stadium, and it's all the sights and the smells and the sounds of the big leagues and, and, and the dream is coming true, and I'm thinking, man, I just want to slide through this first at bat, just get it out of the way, and sure enough, on the big video screen when it's my turn to hit, Alvin Davis, this is his first major league at bat.

Just let the whole world know so everybody can come and watch and see what this guy's gonna do.

But, 3 or 4 days later to be standing on second base in Minnesota, I'm just going, man, I can't believe this is happening, Lord, thank you. What, what words can you use to describe that? Well, you ended up having a phenomenal year that year. You were the MVP for the Mariners in '84, the American League Rookie of the Year, and you also were on the All-Star team for the American League that year.

Just real quick, what was that like being in the, the All-Star Game? Another one of those experiences like a kid in a candy store, literally. I was added to the roster for the American League late. I wasn't voted in or anything like that, but, I had the opportunity to be selected to play on this team, and the game was in San Francisco, and Kim and I fly from Toronto to San Francisco and you get in this, it's, it's a show of shows.

everything is just magnified and To be in the clubhouse and be on the same roster with guys that you have been watching play on Saturdays and and and are really your heroes of the game, Reggie Jackson's and Dave Winfields and you've got Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Garvey and all these guys, and, and you're one of them, and you're walking around really like a kid. nervous to ask Reggie Jackson for his autograph, I said, Mr. Jackson, could you sign my ball? And mister, we're peers here and I'm like, there's no way.

There's just no way. To this day I look at that picture and I just go, that is incredible that I played with those guys. Wow. well, through, through the length of your career from '84 to '92, you, and we got to say some of this trivia so that the kids can fill in their blanks, but, but you batted 280 over the length of your career and 160 home runs, but really had a, a good career.

You endeared yourself to the Mariners organization both with your play on the field and, just, the man you were, off the field. As you, as you think back over the length of your career, I guess one of the things some of us might be interested in is what, what are the, the top 1 or 2 most memorable moments for you. Well, I've described one, I think, in pretty good detail, the first game, the first at bat, that's definitely one of the memories. Another great memory was at the end of my career, the last month I was with the Mariners.

In September of that year we had the first winning season. We won our 80th game, and that means that for the first time in the Mariners' history, one of the teams won more games than they lost. We'd had 13 seasons of futility. And it's something that you work for when you get into that environment and you understand what the challenge is and we fell really short.

We were the doormats of the American League for the most part, us and Cleveland if you remember that time in baseball. We were the kick around kids and I haven't really shared this with Milton before, but one of the things that used to happen pretty often. When I was with the Mariners in the early days where people would come up and, what do you do? Well, I played professional baseball.

Well, who do you play with? Well, I play with the Seattle Mariners and well, when are you gonna make it to the big leagues? I kid you not, so. So, when you lose 102 games a year, nobody knows who you are.

You're the team that just left town, so to win that 80th game was really a special feeling. What sums it up for me was Dave Niehaus, who was just inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Last month, a Hall of Fame broadcaster had called almost every game in those 13 previous seasons. He was there from the first pitch in '77 until the last out was recorded in '91.

And when he came into the clubhouse, often the media gets in after the players do, and we'd done our congratulations and everything to one another. When Dave came in, he was in tears. And I realized, what, what a, what a lift that was, a burden of futility to try to sit in a booth and call games for 13 seasons and try to make positive comments about some really bad teams. It was a relief.

So that was, that was a memorable moment. I'm, I'm going to go into one more, Milton, since you mentioned it, the Hall of Fame induction. was really a memorable time as well. To the love, to experience the love and the appreciation from the fans and from the, the organization and from the whole community, what a gift that, that was, and I, I remember standing on the field, just, just overcome with emotion because, you, you just, you try to do your best.

You try to give your best, and for me, I, I try to, to play to God's glory. I tried to treat people the way that I wanted to be treated, like Jesus said, and to be liked. My friend Ken Scott, before I went to Arizona State University to college, he had me memorize Matthew 5:16, which says, Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. And that's all I tried to do and to be standing on that field and be Bestowed that honor.

It was just an incredible experience. As you look back, or you've been out of professional baseball since '92. What do you miss most about playing in the big leagues? the paychecks.

Those, those were nice. Yeah, those paycheck, I, I miss the hero worship, just if you can just imagine coming out of your hotel and seeing thirty-something old men just flipping through their baseball cards as fast as they can so they can come up and get your autograph, that's a joke. I, I don't, I don't miss that. I don't miss that part at all.

No, just two C's, the competition and the camaraderie., you grow up competing and competitiveness is a part of your nature because you don't move up if you're not competitive. Every level that you move up to as an athlete, the players get better and more talented, and you have to be able to match that level of competitiveness to have that fire and that drive to be successful at that level. And sometimes it was hard to turn off. Kim can tell stories of times in the offseason where or even after I retired, we'd be playing a friendly game of backgammon.

a little bit of the competitor would come out of me, and I'm rolling and boom, slamming those backgammon chips around, and it's just like, honey, we're not on the field. But I'd be disciplining the kids and I'd get a little passionate and, it's like they don't have helmets on, they're they're little kids. It's something that just burns inside of you and, I miss the camaraderie, especially when I first came out. That's been replaced with my family here and the guys here at Cornerstone, but you go through so much with those guys, sometimes starting in the minor leagues, sometimes starting in amateur ball.

Harold Reynolds and I go all the way back to 1980 playing amateur ball together, and you live with them for 8 or 9 months a year. you do, you travel together, you eat together, you sleep together, you room together with these guys, you have kids together, you go through problems together, everything happens together. You win and you lose together. And so when I was out of that, it's like, whoa, this is different.

I don't, the guys aren't around anymore, and so that's one of the things that you miss as a player when you leave. I remember the first year after you retired. It was hard to watch a Mariners game. and just seeing the teammates like rejoicing together and high fiving each other after something great happens and just not being a part of that anymore.

you need to know Alvin has not been completely candid when I ask him what he misses about. Playing in the big leagues. When I asked him that question this week, one of the answers he gave in terms of what he misses is being able to wear stretchy pants to work every day. there's, there's, there's a couple of things that I, I look at now and I, and, in men's fashion and I just go, what were we thinking?

the, the one thing is the tight baseball pants and the other thing is the dolphin running shorts. It's like, How are we thinking, why couldn't we just let those things out a little bit and have some room so that we could move. Well, we affirm you, Alvin. Just turning a corner here, you, you were raised in a Christian home, and how old were you when you accepted Christ as your Savior?

I was 12, OK. As you as you talk about Coming to know Jesus as your savior at the age of 12, when, when you tell your story, fear is, is a significant element of, of that story. Why don't you maybe tell us that story and break open that, that aspect of it? Yeah, well, I, I grew up in church most like a lot of our kids here today and, and heard the gospel and church and Sunday school and heard the message, a number of times, my family, my parents were, were devoted, to the local church and so we were, we were there all the time and so I heard the gospel preached a lot and.

Probably the key element that God used, the gift that He gave to bring me to salvation was a fear of Him., I'd heard the gospel preached and I knew that I was a sinner. That's one of the aspects of the gospel, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23, and, as I reflect about what I was feeling and going through during that season of my life, I, I knew not only that I, that I had sinned because I was in trouble a lot, but I also knew that I didn't have the desire to do the right things.

And that that realization hit me, I, I, there, there's times I don't even want to obey my parents.

I don't want to do what God wants me to do. I want to live my own life, something that I still struggle with to this day, I an independent, I want to do it my way person. And what how God used the fear in my life was the fear of judgment, of having to face Him on judgment Day. And to give an account., one of the verses that, that we've been meditating on and thinking about is Hebrews 9:27, and it says, and it is appointed to man to die once, and after this comes the judgment.

And then also verses like we see oftentimes at sporting events, John 3:16, there's a phrase in there, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And I remember sitting in a church service and knowing that I was a sinner. And knowing that I was going to face God on Judgment Day, those are, those are two things that were that were guaranteed and were absolute, and I was afraid. I was afraid of God, Jesus says in Luke 11, don't fear them who can kill the body, and that's all they can do, but fear Him who, after he has killed, can sentence you to hell.

That's who you should fear, Jesus said. And so God gave me the gift of fear. And, and, and that helped me overcome that independence that was in me. I wanted, I wanted my own life, I wanted, I wanted to be wealthy, I wanted to be famous.

I, I wanted to experience all of these things that the Bible called sin, but it appealed to my flesh. And there was a struggle going on inside of me, even as a 12-year-old, but God used the gift of fear of him and of the judgment and of the truth that, what, I can die at any moment. I had lost my dad when I was 9. I had lost my grandmother a couple of years prior to that, so I wasn't a stranger to death, and I knew how quickly death could visit.

My dad died in the night. He was here one day and the next day he was gone. And so I knew, and, and so even as I've been preparing, and we've been preparing for this, the theme, you're on deck, my message for everyone today is, is that you can be gone like that. And on the other side of that event you're going to stand before a holy God, a righteous God.

You're going to stand before your Creator, and you're going to be judged. The good news is, as you mentioned, Milton, God has made a way of salvation. He's made a way for us to experience eternal life, and that's through his Son. for me, I, I, I have the vision that before I came to Christ, I was drowning in my own sin.

It's one of the things that I grew up afraid of, of drowning. I was drowning in my own sin. And I needed to be saved. I needed someone to reach down and pluck me out of my sin because I did not want to go to hell.

I did not want to face God in that condition. And so I called out to Jesus and I asked Jesus to save me, to save me from my sin and to save me from myself. And that's how I came to Christ. And that that leads to the next question.

obviously, like Solomon said, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear, I like the way you said that fear is a gift. A lot of times people don't view it that way. Fear of putting your hand on a burning stove, that, that's a gift that you would wish that you had had if you learned the hard way.

So. To fear the Lord, the majesty of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness, the justice of God. That's God actually wants that through the prophet prophet Isaiah. God says the person that I look at with favor is the person who trembles at my word, that's that honors Him.

So you were, you had these thoughts going through your mind as a 12-year-old. You end up Believing in Christ, for salvation. What has Christ come to mean to you since, since that moment 12 years ago? I understand a lot better now than I did 12 years ago what abundant life is all about.

Jesus said in John 10:10, The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. salvation is the starting point. The new birth, life in Christ is the starting point. But God has so much more for us in Christ.

He's, he's adopted us into his own family, and as you've said so many times, as you've shared the gospel with us, it would have been enough if Jesus had snatched us out of the pool of sin. And, and said you're safe, but he's given us so much more than that. He adopts us into his own family and gives us the right to be called children of God, John says, and he makes everything come together. when I reflect back upon my career.

The glory of God was the thing that brought everything together as a ballplayer. It's the thing that brings everything together in life. You sometimes, I think we need to play the and then what game with ourselves, if you will. OK, I'm speaking to the young kids, I wanna be famous, and then what?

Well, I want to be rich, and then what? Well, I want everybody to know who I am, and then what? when you, when you get down to life, and then what? What will it all mean?

Solomon said it's futile, it's vanity. A life like that, especially as a Major League Baseball player, I'm gonna tell you something, Major League Baseball is a great game, but it's a terrible God. I hit 280, which is respectable. 72% of the time I was out.

You have so many ups and downs and sideways and highs and lows, and if that's all you're playing for, you're going to end up empty. It's just a matter of time, dealing with the day when you cannot do it anymore, when you can't perform anymore. If baseball has been your god, you will be lost. You will not know who you are, and there's many an athlete who struggle with that reality.

Who am I now? I can't hit anymore. I can't throw anymore. I can't steal bases anymore.

Nobody wants me anymore. If baseball has been your god, then you're nobody, and a lot of people struggle for that. Well, they live in that and they can't pull away from that. That's what I love about, Your story is that you experienced all these blessings in the big leagues, but you saw them as gifts from God and you glorified Him.

through that, and you never allowed those things to become God to you and Alvin and I have been talking this week about another, a couple of players, but one of them is Daniel Nolte, who played for, I believe the Twins for a few years. He was a pitcher and he was on the The Yankees team in 1999 that won the World Series, but his was one of the names on the Mitchell Report and the steroids scandal, but it was no news flash that he had done steroids because he had already confessed that publicly.

and he has come to know Jesus as a savior. But his story is that after the, the Yankees had won the World Series, they were all celebrating that night, and, all of them were drinking, getting drunk, and, He remembers vividly in the limo going back to the hotel.

And feeling, he's drunk. Everyone else is drunk. They're celebrating the World Series at the top of his profession, and this crushing sense of emptiness just came over him and gripped his heart. And he said, I turned to the only sober person in the limo, and that was the driver.

and asked him, so is this all there is to life? This guy won the World Series. And he's like, is this it? Is this all there is?

Because it couldn't meet his need. But your story is very different than that. By the grace of God, and you've said many times, you're not perfect. You weren't perfect back then, but by the grace of God, you were able to see these blessings.

And not live for them, but to live for God and then to receive these blessings as a gift from Him. That's a huge difference. It is. And, Milt and I, I'm not, I'm far from perfect.

I struggle with this on a daily basis. I struggled with it regularly when I played. I'm human. But I can tell you my, my best days on the ball field were the days that I had a sense of His glory.

Those were my best days when I could bow my head before Him and say to Him, Lord, thank you for this opportunity that you've given me. Thank you for this life that you've given me, for where you have placed me. And now I just want to go out and I want to give my all for your glory and for your pleasure. And that's abundant life that ties everything together and it doesn't, it doesn't matter really what we do if, if, if God is the author.

Of that, then it all goes to him. And, and we are the recipients of the gifts and we get to feel his pleasure. I love Eric Little's quote from the movie Chariots of Fire. He was called to go to China and his family was very concerned that he was running and pursuing this Olympic dream, and there's a scene in the movie Chariots of Fire with his sister where they're on a mountaintop and she's confronting him in love about his calling to go to China.

And he responded to her and he said, Sis, God has called me to go to China. And she breathed a sigh of relief. I've gotten through to him. But he said, but he also made me fast.

And when I run, I feel his pleasure, regardless of what God has gifted us to do. When we do it for Him and for His glory, we feel His pleasure. He's the one who has given us whatever gifts we have, and that's the reason that we live. Amen.

You've spoken before about a passage from the proverbs that your mom shared with you. Early on in your career that you were able to take with you throughout the length of your career, why don't you share that with, with us? Yeah, it's Proverbs 35 and 6, and, I didn't, I didn't acknowledge my mom when I introduced my family, and that, that would have been a 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts if I hadn't done that. she's, she's the hero of my life.

And bless her heart, she and my aunt Lou, who they're the same age, I had the pleasure on Friday of dropping off 2 88-year-old ladies to go on a cruise by themselves and, it was just, it was just awesome, Mom gets out of the car, and her hips bothering her that day and she left her stick in the car and the, the gentleman, bless his heart, he wanted to come up and give her a wheelchair and she waved him off. I got this, what a, what a wonderful lady she is. As I was going to Arizona State, much like, like my buddy Kenny Scott did, she had me memorize Proverbs 35 and 6, and she had been quoting that to us for years.

And as I said, I lost my dad when I was 9, so she raised a 9-year-old and two teenagers by herself and And Proverbs 35 and 6 is trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path and He will make your path straight. And so Mom gave that verse to me as a life verse, maybe she had a premonition or something of where the Lord might be taking me, but it was so important, going through baseball, going through the Major League experience, to have the priorities right. In all my ways acknowledging Him and allowing him to direct the path to make the road as smooth as he would want it to be. And that's a great reminder for us.

We tend to want to trust our own wisdom. That's a daily battle for even those of us that have known the Lord. But God says if you do that, if you acknowledge me. And not depend on your own understanding.

I will go ahead of you. I will make your path straight and smooth, and you will succeed exactly to the degree that I want you to. And your life is a vivid testimony to the truth of Proverbs 35 and 6. And I remember when you were inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame, you just with that platform that God gave you, speaking to all of the fans on that day, you, you shared Proverbs 35 and 6 with them.

And how much that passage meant to you and how faithful God had been to. well, thank you, brother, for sharing with us today. Let's express our appreciation. I'm going to ask him to stay up here because I'm going to have you pray for, for all of us in just a minute.

But as, as we have prepared for today, and even as we've talked today in this service, we, we actually do so with heavy hearts, with with hearts that are burdened. and our burden is that, that everyone in this room would know by experience. The, the blessing of God, the salvation that God gives to Christ, the way that Alvin was able to experience that. Before my feet hit the floor, this morning, I, I was just praying for this service and, and I was like, Lord, if there's any, anyone here in the service that is considers themselves an atheist, for example, And I just said, Lord, help that person to know that they're really not atheists and that deep down inside they know in their heart of hearts that there is a God, but they've suppressed that knowledge of you because they want to live their own way.

And I also prayed a prayer before my feet hit the floor, for those who maybe would say, I believe there's a God, and I, yeah, I believe the Bible's true, but I just don't go, I don't go your way. I don't, I don't believe in all this stuff about Christ. and maybe you pride yourself on being so resistant to, the gospel whenever you hear it. but my prayer this morning, And even right now for you is that you would just hear God.

If you believe there is a God, then just think about it. What person does God look upon with favor? God tells you the person he looks upon with favor, and that is a person through the prophet Isaiah. God says, Here's the person I look on with favor, the man who is humble.

Who is brokenhearted over his sin, and who trembles at my word. God says, that is the person that I look upon with favor. And just as Alvin said, fear is a gift. I would hope that you would see that humility as a gift from God as well, and it's something beautiful that catches the eye of God, and he prizes that.

We, we feel a burden that everyone in this room just be gripped with an awareness of, not the greatness of Alvin, but the greatness of God. the God that the Bible presents is a God who who gives us every breath that we breathe, and every heartbeat is a gift from God. Every legitimate pleasure that we experience in life is a gift from His loving hand to us. Every function of every organ in our body is a gift from God to us.

So God is the Creator of this world. which you live. God is also your Creator. God is the one who holds you together, and every good thing you have in life is a gift from God to you.

So God is constantly, he's not only your Creator, but He's constantly being good to you every second that He gives you a pocket of air to breathe. So you live in dependence upon Him. Even if you say I'm an atheist, I'm a Buddhist, doesn't matter. Every one of us lives in complete dependence upon this God.

That is how glorious and how good this God is. And the Bible teaches us that this God has spoken to us in His word and has given to us His law. And the first of his laws is don't ever have any other God in front of me. Never have any other God before me.

And other laws, don't ever lie, don't ever steal, don't ever commit adultery. With your body or even in your thoughts, don't ever murder anybody. And the Bible teaches that if we hate someone in our heart, we're guilty of murdering them in our hearts. And so this God has, as a manifestation of His goodness to us.

He's given us laws to live by. And if we could see Him for who He really is, we would say, Whoa, as great as you are and you've given me guidance, I want to obey you and honor your wisdom. But sadly what all of us have done in our lives is we have looked at God's laws. We've looked at him and said, what, I think I'm smarter than you are.

I will live my way. I will follow my wisdom. I will do things the way I want to do them. You tell me to abstain from this.

I'm going to do what you've told me to abstain from. And we've lived in defiance of this glorious God. And we've sinned against him. And if you're here today, and you're like, yeah, I've sinned, who hasn't sinned?

But what's the big deal? If, if that's your mindset, you don't get it. You don't see the greatness of the God against whom you have sinned. We measure the greatness of sin by the standard of the greatness of the God against whom we have sinned.

And so our prayer is that God would open, open our eyes to just see His greatness so that we would then understand the greatness, the magnitude of our sin. What the Bible teaches is that God demonstrated his greatness also in sending His Son Jesus Christ into the world. And Jesus, 2000 years ago, lived in the land of Israel. He lived an absolutely perfect life.

He never thought a sinful thought, spoke a sinful word, committed a sinful act, absolutely flawless in every way. Alvin said, it's appointed unto man wants to die after this, the judgment, the reason we die is because of our sins. Well, Jesus never sinned, and so he never deserved to die. However, he died.

He was crucified on a cross. And who crucified him. We did. I did.

Every one of us in this room, we crucified Him through our sins. The Bible says He died for our sins. And I, my prayer is that you would just let that into your heart to realize that you participated in the death of Jesus Christ, by virtue of the sins that you have committed. Our sins are what nailed him there, as it were.

And we need to feel the weight of that. Jesus is the apple of God's eye, the one in whom he delights, and yet we participated through our sin in the slaughter of this glorious one. And There is a fear that should come over us when contemplating this. But the Bible goes on to tell us that Jesus had a constructive purpose in his death.

And that was in order to shed his blood, so that we can experience the forgiveness of all of our sins. Think about all the sins you've committed throughout your lifetime. There is nothing you could ever do to atone for those sins, nothing you could ever do to clean up your heart, to make yourself acceptable to God. And so God sent His perfect Son Jesus into the world to live the perfect life that you could never live and then die the death that God did not want you to die, so that on the cross Jesus would absorb the wrath of God.

He would take God's wrath, God's judgment on Himself, and then God says to everyone in this room, If you want to be saved, if you want a relationship with me, if you want to be adopted into my family and become My child. If you want those things to happen, then here's what you need to do. Quit looking at yourself, or at anything or anyone else to be what saves you. Turn your eyes from all of that, from all else, and look to Jesus and Him alone to be your Lord and Savior.

God saying, I provided the way of salvation for you. And I did it all. I did it all because you could do none of it. And so Be humble, God would say, recognize your bankruptcy, and see the sufficiency of Jesus and say, God, I will honor you.

I will glorify you by putting all of my trust in Him, and none of my trust in me. are in my own righteousness. I want to ask you to bow your heads at, at this time in our service. So many things we could draw from just our time together with Alvin this morning, a challenge to young people about, man, the world's not where it's at.

It's in Christ. That's where our soul's true satisfaction is. And so I've been challenged by our time. with Alvin and I've learned some things and I'm, I'm sure all of you have.

I want to speak specifically to those of you that are here today that have never put your trust in Christ. You've never had your sins forgiven. I don't know, if you ever struggle with, With guilt over the sins you've committed, but just think over your lifetime, the sheer quantity of sins you've committed. And the quality of those sins, and then realize that God is offering you today complete full pardon if you will simply put your trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

And if you're feeling right now God's spirit working in your heart, then we would rejoice in that. I can't change your heart, and we're not sitting up here pretending to change your heart, but if God is in this room and God is touching your heart and He's, he's moving you to respond to Him. In faith, then I want to encourage you to just, I, I'm going to speak some words of prayer. And you are welcome to pray these words with me, as you respond to God's spirit working in your heart.

God be merciful to me, a sinner. I am guilty of many sins, and I deserve your wrath. I want to have a new heart. But what can I do, Lord?

I can do nothing to save myself. You are the only one who has the power to save me. So right now, Lord, from the depths of my soul I call upon Your name. Trembling yet believing.

I cast myself entirely upon You, Lord. And I trust the blood and the righteousness. of your dear Son Jesus. Lord, save me today.

For Jesus' sake. Amen. If you prayed that prayer this morning, I've got just a few things I want to challenge you to do. Number one, I want you to go home.

Believing In Jesus Believe in him every moment of every day. Never stop believing in Him. The Bible teaches us that those who truly believe in Jesus will begin to bear fruit in their life. I would also encourage you to pull out your bulletin that you received when you came into the service this morning, and if you could just write on the back of that comment card that is in the bulletin, just let us know the decision that you have made.

And let us know your name. We're not going to harass you, but we'll have someone from our church call you and just try to encourage you and see what questions you might have. We would love the opportunity to minister to you, to encourage you in your Walk of faith with the Lord. And I would also And just to let that as you leave the service this morning you're going to see as soon as you walk out of the auditorium an easy up just a little shelter area with a blue top and there's some some people underneath that that would love to talk with you and they have resources.

They've got free Bibles and other free resources that they would love to give to you to help you. Just, just, you just go over there and talk to them. They'll hand those things to you and seek to encourage you, and you can take that Bible and those resources home. And began this this journey of faith with Jesus Christ, enjoying a relationship with God.

Because you've put your trust In him I'm going to ask Alvin if you could just pray for all of us and especially for those that have responded in faith today. Father God, we are just so thankful to you. Thank you, Lord, that you have chosen to reveal to us the plan of salvation in Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, that you have, made it possible for us to enjoy life, abundant life here and everlasting life in the age to come.

Father, just, can't express to you the thankfulness. For the life that you have given to me and many others who have called upon the name of Christ. Our prayer would be, Lord, that you have been glorified. That you are pleased with what has been spoken of you today.

And thank you for this opportunity. To say how good you are. In Jesus' name. Amen.