← ArchiveSunday, February 9, 2014DateFebruary 9, 2014Speaker—TextJohn 14Passages in this sermonJohn 143:44John 68:46John 139:13Romans 10:1333:13TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Thank you, Brad. It is a pleasure to be here. I'm on now. Great. It is great to be at Bethel. You don't know this, but when I first started preaching, I started doing some countywide youth crusades.0:26And one of my very first ones was at St. Clair County High School Stadium. And I remember it was right by a church that was made of rock. Y'all know where it's right on the side of it. Anyway, it was an incredible benchmark in my own life because during the youth night, there was a racial confrontation going on out in the parking lot.0:49And only in St. Clair County could this take place, I think. But instead of the police breaking them up or taking them off or something, those police officers, the sheriffs, marched them into the stadium and sat around them and made them listen to my message that night.1:06And when the gospel was presented, several students came forward and a couple of police officers came forward to receive Christ. And to me, it's one of those benchmarks I look back on and with fondness of Bethel being right involved with it. You had a pastor, I think Mike Northcutt was the pastor during that time.1:34And so I've always had that affinity towards you guys. And thank you so much. And now Brad and Jessica, where is Jessica? Is she? Nursery. Nursery. Now, she's about to give birth, right? Not this morning in the nursery, hopefully. But anyway. Wow. Okay. Nursery. You know, I don't think a church should ever have a problem getting nursery workers. I really don't.2:04Because if you want to know anything about the parents' lives, just get in the nursery, okay? Because you can ask those kids anything. And you go, and then mommy and daddy did what? And they'll tell you. I mean, they'll be honest with you. We have two children. And I remember when I was single, I had a sermon entitled, Ten Surefire Ways to Raise a Godly Kid. Then we had kids. And I changed it to three suggestions that may or may not work. You know what I'm saying? All right, so, you know, kids will change your lives.2:33Hunter is our young man now. He's a baseball player. Loves baseball. In fact, they had a scrimmage game yesterday in the high school. And he hit his first home run of the season. So I love baseball. Not as much as Hunter does. He told me, he said, I want to be president of the United States of America. Now, that'll shock you when your son says that. But I didn't know when to stop. And I said, why do you want to be president?3:02So help me. He said, because you get to throw the first pitch out at the World Series. And I thought, well, okay. And then Hope is our daughter. Hope is instant energy. I don't know if you've ever been around a kid that just, you know, has two volumes on and off. She has no middle. She just gives it everything she's got. She is adding gray hairs to my head. And I mean, I love her to death. But I now know why some animals just eat their young. You know what I'm saying? I mean, she's everywhere around.3:30So, but she brings a lot of excitement to our family. And it is just a privilege and an honor to be here with you folks at Bethel. I want you to take your Bible. Hope you brought your Bible. Turn with me to John chapter 14, okay? And as you're turning to John chapter 14, I was talking about my kids so much. I need to go ahead and just recognize my parents are here. So I am their kid. I am the reason why my dad has no hair. But anyway, he is here and I love them to death.3:59And thanks so much for them being here this morning. I want to talk to you about storms, okay? Because the one thing I've learned about storms is that storms are scary. Now, if you think about it, it could have been when you were young and there was a thunderstorm outside. Or it could have been just like what Rick was mentioning to us earlier about the winter storm.4:25And you got caught on the interstate. And you know what amazes me is that they're talking about now another winter storm watch for tomorrow night. I mean, you know, I wish there was a global warming conference going on so we could just all stand outside and laugh at them right now. But anyway, you know, but all these things, you know, storms can be scary. But in the last 25 years of my life, I've learned that not only are the physical storms scary, the personal storms are scary.4:53Just like what we weren't expecting a couple of weeks ago to take place, sometimes storms of our lives happen. And we can't prepare for them. They're not on the five-day business planners forecast. You know, James Spann's not with his suspenders on, looking at the green screen, going, you better watch out for this. And I know you don't know me, and I'm just filling in this Sunday morning. But if I were to take a step into your space, it would be like when you're in the examination room.5:23And the doctor says there's something suspicious. Well, as soon as you hear that term suspicious, you're going to prepare for a storm. It could be when you're in the employer's office. And maybe due to the economic problems of the day, or they're having to cut back their force. You don't recognize that. All you recognize is you and your family are about to go through a storm. It could be when you're sat down by the one person that you thought would never let you down.5:52When there's words being shared, and you're about to walk through something you weren't prepared for, and that's a storm. Or it could be, you know, just a simple unexpected text. Or a phone call. Or even tragically, when there's a knock on your door late at night. When those things happen, let's just, those things are scary. And it's also inevitable. I mean, someone once said you're either going into a storm, you're in a storm, or you're just coming out of a storm.6:22I mean, if you take in enough oxygen, let's be honest, you can't avoid the storms of life, okay? They're just out there. Now, I know you're probably sitting out there going, man, you're such an encourager, you know? Well, all right, here's the deal. I don't want to focus on the storms. Rather, for the brief time we have together, real quick, I want to talk to you about how to have peace in the storms of life. Even though they're inevitable, how can you walk through those storms having joy?6:50You may not be happy, but how you can have joy? And that's the reason we've turned to John chapter 14. So in order for you to catch the relevance of today's message, you've got to understand the context. And by the way, in John chapter 14, Jesus is not speaking to a huge mass of people, all right? He's not about to feed the hungry or give sight to the blind. In John chapter 14, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, okay?7:17He's speaking to his inner core of followers, you know, his devoted ones. In fact, I believe it's at this time the disciples are at their lowest point. Now, I've never read this in a book or I wasn't taught this in seminary. I just kind of walked through their lives in Scripture. You know the story, you know, Jesus comes upon the scene and he says, follow me. And the disciples, they leave their nets and they follow Jesus. And wherever Jesus goes, I mean, crowds just start to gather.7:46Remember at the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. I mean, the average layperson was just like, that's right. And they started jumping on the bandwagon and the crowd started to grow. And the disciples saw this. And you know what the disciples did? I'm not going to indict you, but I'm just going to be vulnerable before you. The disciples acted just like I would act. They were going, this is awesome.8:14And they started having like little private discussions about who is going to be the next greatest in the kingdom of God and who's going to be able to sit on his right side. I mean, the disciples thought they had life tied around their little finger. And things just started happening and they were really growing in it. But all of a sudden, Jesus gave the cost of discipleship. He said, you can't be one of mine unless you deny yourself, take up your cross, and only then can you follow me. And when he started foretelling the Lord's Supper,8:43you got to read, not now, but if you read in John chapter 6, when he said, you're not going to be one of mine unless you drink of my blood and eat of my flesh. I mean, he was talking about the Lord's Supper. But the average layperson was like, man, this is too hard for us. And they jumped off the bandwagon as quickly as they jumped on to the point where Jesus looked at his own disciples and he said, hey, gentlemen, are you going to leave me also? Now, the crowds are gone, okay?9:11Now, what makes matters worse is in John chapter 13, Jesus identifies who's going to betray him. Who's going to turn him into the Sanhedrin? Now, this betrayer is not some anti-Jesus protester out there. This one who's going to betray Jesus is one of the 12 disciples. You know him. His name is Judas Iscariot. Going to turn him in for 30 shekels of silver. Now, the disciples in John chapter 14, they're in this upper room. Their location has not changed.9:40The crowds are gone. Rumors are swirling. And now one of their very own has been accused to be the one who's going to betray Jesus. I can't help but believe, and I don't want to put too much in Scripture, but I'm just trying to be real before you. I can't help but believe that one of those 11 remaining disciples had to have this thought go through his head. What else can go wrong? Have you ever been there in life?10:09Has it ever so just come down upon you that you just wonder, is there anything else that can go wrong? Listen to what Jesus chose to tell them. Look down in verse 25, okay? He says, these things I have spoken to you while being present with you. Basically, he's saying, I've already shared this with you before, okay? Now, look down in verse 26. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, when the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. Now, look at the next phrase.10:39And bring to your remembrance all things that I've said to you. That's the second reference of going, hey, I've already told you this. The million-dollar question I have on this Sunday morning, what in the world has Jesus been trying to tell his disciples that it's gone right over their heads? Well, all you have to do is look down to verse 28. He explains it. He says, you have heard me say to you. Now, look, that's the third reference in just four verses of Jesus going, you better get this.11:09So, to me, it's an important message. This is what he says. You have heard me say to you, I'm going away and coming back to you. If you love me, you would rejoice. You know what he's telling his disciples? He's saying, gentlemen, I know you don't understand this, but I've got to go to the cross. And I understand if you're sitting here this morning in 2014 going, hey, Dawson, you're standing up on that platform and you're trying to tell me that my pain, my suffering11:38can somehow be related to an act that took place 2,000 years ago. Look right up here. Yes, sir, I am. Yes, ma'am, I am. I can't change. The message will never change. Jesus had to die on the cross. He had to die on the cross because we got a problem. I know we don't like to discuss it. We get together, especially in the South. We come to church, we put our mask on, we walk through the doors, and we pretend that life's perfect.12:06But here's the fact of the matter. We've all sinned. The Bible says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now, you may not know me, I may not know you, but we've got one thing in common. We've all sinned. In fact, if you don't believe me, I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to ask you a question. If you've ever told a lie in your entire life, not just this morning, it may have been good, okay? But if you've ever told a lie in your entire life, would you just raise your hand right now? Just keep it up. Because some of you are like, woo-hoo, like that.12:36All right, keep it up. Keep it up. If you've ever told a lie, you've got your hand up right now. I want you to look around this room right now. Look around the room. Do you see all the liars that are here this morning? All right? You can try. By the way, if you didn't raise your hand, you just told a lie right then. We know better, okay? I mean, think about it. Isn't that weird? We are birthed from our mother's womb, and we come into this world knowing how to be bad. Parents, let's be honest. We don't have to teach our kids how to be bad. No. We have to teach them how to be good.13:07I mean, you think about it, and I know how Americans are better made in the USA, but sin was not created in a factory in Chicago in 1948. You have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Now, you remember the story of Adam and Eve, but you've got to understand what happened in the garden was the woman, Eve, was deceived. You read that. She was deceived, but here's the deal. Adam, the man, deliberately disobeyed.13:33And from that time, sin has formed in the veins of every man, every woman, every boy, every girl. We're sinners before a holy God. Now, please listen to this. He is a loving God. He is a forgiving Father, and I love to preach that message, but the one thing we can't overlook is that He is a holy God. He cannot be in the presence of my sin, so because of my sin, I'm over here, God is over there, and you may be sitting here going,14:02wait a minute, are you saying we're in this situation because of some old boy named Adam? I am, but we can't blame Adam. You know why? Because we've already raised our hands. Every one of us, listen, every one of us has chosen to rebel against God, so we're over here, God is over there, we can't come to Him, not even on my best day, but here's the good news on a Sunday morning. When I couldn't come to Him, He came to me. The Bible says, but God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners,14:31Christ died for who? Us. He did something for me that I could not do for myself. He did something for you that you could not do for yourself. He died on the cross. When I was growing up, we'd have the phrase that Jesus is the God-man. I don't know, Todd, you remember with Doug Sager, he would say that He is all God like He is no man, and He is all man like He is no God, but I want you to understand, you'll never realize this until you place Him on the cross. Catch this.15:01Catch this. Because when they lifted Jesus Christ up, because He is all God, He is firmly grasped to His deity, but because He is all man, at that point, He could reach out to the sinfulness of mankind, and when they lifted Jesus Christ up, He became the one who bridged the gap between God and man together again. That's the reason there's hope. And you know what? As I travel, especially in the South, it's almost like people go, got that, thank you so much, heard that before, I believe Jesus died on the cross.15:30Look at me right here, Bethel, okay? If you're sitting here this morning, and you got it all in your head, saying, I'm fine, I got that Jesus died on the cross, may I remind you that according to Scripture, even the demons in the pit of hell recognize there's a God? They know Jesus died on the cross. So where's the difference? What is it that Jesus is describing here in John chapter 14? There's one verse we skipped over, and that's where I want to share with you16:00very briefly, and then we're done. Look in verse 27. He says, Peace I leave with you. What is the difference between a religion and a relationship? Jesus didn't die on the cross to make us religious. He died on the cross to make us righteous. And what He says is, Peace I give to you. This world is missing something. In fact, some of you are here this morning, and you're on a perilous pursuit.16:29And you're going, Man, if I can only climb that social ladder one more rung, if I can only drive that type of a car, if I can only wear those type of clothes, if I can only join that type of a club, if I can only hang out with those type of... Listen, here's the problem. Enough will never be enough. America's got luxuries at their fingertips. I mean, where else but America can you find a fast food restaurant right next door to a fast weight loss clinic? You know what I'm saying? All right. You can put it on and take it off all on the same day.16:58All right. I don't believe God's up there going, I think Americans need more pleasure. You know, I think they need to just have some more fun. People are living for the weekend. In fact, if you're here this morning and that's your mentality is you're living for the weekend, to me, it's like you're standing in line, the pocket of pleasure hits and you go yee-haw and then you get right back in line. Rick mentioned the illustration of going to Disney World. I thought about that. You know, I love going to Disney World. You ask anybody that knows Scott17:28and I'll tell you, I love going to Disney World but you know what I've realized about Disney World? You know what you do at Disney? You wait. Have you ever been? How many of you have ever been to Disney World? Let me see your hands. All right. Be honest. You've given the money to the mouse. Okay. Anyway, you know what you do. You get to the, you get to, I'm kind of hung up here somehow. Anyway, it's attacking me. Anyway, you get to the park and what you do is you get to the parking lot and you wait for the tram. You get on the tram, you get up, you buy your ticket,17:58you wait in line. After you wait in line to get your ticket, you go through security. After you wait to get through security, you go through the ticket line to go into the entrance to the park and you wait then. You get to the line to the ride and what do you do? Wait, we rode Buzz Lightyear. I don't know if you've ever ridden that ride. Buzz Lightyear is a phenomenal ride but we rode it last summer without a fast pass. We stayed in line for an hour and 30 minutes in direct Orlando sunlight. Now, Disney World, they're very polite to us. They had water. $5 a bottle18:28but anyway, that's another story. We'll preach about that later but anyway, we got in and we rode the ride. The ride lasted about two minutes so an hour plus wait, two minute plus ride, we get out and my daughter's like, we're doing that again. Okay. I'll do that for a couple of days but if you're living your life like that, I just want you to think about it. If you're here today and you're living life thinking, man, something's missing in my life, you've made a tragic mistake because it's not something,18:57it is someone and his name is Jesus. Because if all life was about is to have fame and fortune, Hollywood would be the bastion of tranquility. There would be self-help books out there of people going, if you just go to Hollywood, you will find yourself. But all we have to do is just read magazines or watch television. When I say these names, I don't want anyone to snicker or laugh. I want you to know my wife and I, we've committed to pray for these people because when you see19:26Miley Cyrus, you see a life unraveling before your eyes. Justin Bieber, he's someone that needs to have someone praying for him. They've got it in their heads. This is the perfect example of people are going, hey, I know Jesus. If I had to put the God of multiple choice, I'll pick Jesus. But there's a difference between having the facts in your head and peace in your heart. Jesus said,19:57Jesus said, what does it profit a person if you can gain the entire world and lose your own soul? Man, this morning, I want you to know you can walk out here a brand new person and have what Jesus is offering you and he's not up there going, man, I'm going to give you more fun and I'm not going to give you more money and I'm not going to give you, I'm going to give you peace. I travel a lot. In fact, I probably travel 40 plus weeks out of the year and I go to some places and man, I have to stay overnight and some places they put me up in nice, I mean three, maybe even four star hotels20:27and other places I go, I stay in places that just wish they could find a star. You know what I'm saying? Any star at all, they'd be happy about that. You know? And here's what I've determined. You know who has the softest pillows at night? Let me tell you, it's not the Marriott's. It's not the Hilton's. Look at me. It's any pillow. When you place your head upon it, knowing you have peace with a holy God. Until that takes place in your life,20:56you don't know what I'm talking about. There's some of you here this morning and you can go to any doctor in St. Clair County and he or she can tell you how to add a whole lot of years to your life but it's not until you come to Jesus that you experience life during your years. There's a major difference. Man, I'm not talking about another religion. I'm not talking about a philosophy. I'm talking about you becoming a new creation. And there's only one thing you've got to step over to get to him and it's a word called pride. I know Americans don't like it. We're self-made men21:26especially in the South. But I've got news for you. Jesus is not going to meet you at some bargaining table. He's not going to meet you in a conference room and negotiate with you. We come to Jesus under his terms, under his provisions or we don't come at all. And there's a battle let me tell you what pride is. It's the battle between image and integrity. Let me explain that. Okay? Image is what other people think about you. I'm going to be honest for you. Image is not bad. Okay? What other people think about you we need that a little bit. What other people21:56think about you it dictates to us what we wear, how we act, where we go. Image is not bad. The only problem exists is when your image overtakes your integrity. Now let me explain the difference. Image is what other people, who other people think you are. Integrity is who you are. So in just a few moments when we stand up and there's a time of invitation and God's drawing you to himself and you stand up and the first thought that goes through your head is if I go forward what other people22:25think, I want you to know wrong question. Don't worry about what other people think. Concentrate on who you are. Does that make sense to you? This morning you can walk out of here a brand new person. Now very quickly wouldn't it be awesome if I were to tell you only people without Jesus go through bad days. I mean only, let me use the church term, only lost people go through storms. Man if that was the case and sign up to Jesus and you get an immunity against storms of life and he's promised you to have a paid22:55vacation, gold Rolex and no problems, they'd be lined up from here to lead saying I want some of that. Here's the problem, listen to me very carefully, I've only got one problem with those health, wealth and prosperity gospels. It's wrong. Nowhere in scripture does it teach that when you come to Christ you'll never go through another bad day. In fact I got to remind us according to scripture though a righteous man may go through many trials, here's the23:25here's the end of it, yet the Lord shall deliver him through all. Here's the difference, the number one type person I've met in the last ten years are the guys and girls that come to church, they warm the pews, they'll sing the songs, they'll take notes during the message and if I were to ask you do you know for sure that if you were to die you would go to heaven, you would respond yes I know that I know that I know that I know that I know if I die I'm going to go to heaven. But if you were to finish your statement you would have to include I'm just not enjoying my trip.23:54trip. And then you have a special speaker come in when your pastor's on vacation and he starts talking about living the victorious Christian life. Go out there and live for Jesus and you just want to sit there and go how are we going to go out there and live for Jesus when we've been beaten and battered and bruised by the storms of this life. Does that sound familiar? Where's the difference? Let me tell you what I discovered verse 27. Listen to what Jesus says and I'm done he says peace I leave with24:24you my peace I give to you. Look at the next phrase not as the world gives do I give to you. If that's not underlined or highlighted in your Bible you need to do so right now. Okay listen to what he says not as the world gives do I give to you. You know what he's telling his disciples I'm not going to deal with you the way the world deals with us. You know how the world deals with us they'll put a quick you know fix on it a band-aid get you out of their situation but Jesus is on. Sometimes life's not a quick fix. Not as the world24:54gives do I give to you a lasting sustaining peace. Listen to what he goes on to say. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. Now have you ever heard that phrase let not your heart be troubled? Anybody? Anybody? Let not your heart Okay Sarah where do you usually hear that phrase? Funerals. Preachers we love to use it at funerals. But we don't use verse 27. We usually use verse 1 of John chapter 14. Let me put this in context and I'm done.25:24Look what he says over in 14.1. Let not your heart be troubled. It's the same grammatical structure as in verse 27. He's in the same context here. He's saying let not let your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Look at the next phrase. Believe also in me. Place your faith and trust in me. Why? Because Jesus25:53Because Jesus has never lost control. He's not promised you that you'll never go through a bad day. He's not promised you that you'll be able to escape pain and suffering. Because we live in a fallen creation. What happened in the Garden of Eden please understand this. What happened in the Garden of Eden still has impact today and stuff happens. I'm not standing up here saying that if you're going through an illness God's mad at you. If there's been an accident God's getting back at you. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying because we live in a fallen26:23creation stuff happens and we're all going to go through it. In fact if you put it like this there's only one perfect person that should have gotten out of here without any problems and his name is Jesus but the Bible says he's a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. So if he didn't get out of here without any problems why do I expect for me to get out of here without any problems? What's the difference? I know who's in control. If Jesus loses control we're in a26:53serious situation here. You say well everybody loses control. Jesus never lost he's never lost control. Even when he died people say well he died. Think about where did they place his body when he died? They placed him inside of a tomb. What type of a tomb? You only borrow something with the intention of giving it back. Amen? Amen. That's good. You'll catch it later. Anyway. That is the point of the message. If Jesus only died on27:22the cross I would say that's a good man. But I'm not going to surrender my life to him. We understand he came to this earth as a suffering servant. He went to the tomb as a crucified Christ but on the third day he arose the exalted son of the living God. The stone was rolled away. Please understand the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out. He wasn't inside there going man I hope they don't forget about me. You know. That's not the case. The stone was rolled away so that we could go in and find that he who went in is no27:52longer in. He's out. Man and Paul says that God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things of heaven, of things of earth, of things under the earth. That at the name of Jesus every tongue shall declare Jesus Christ is what? To the glory of God the Father. If he was some plastic idol we bowed to three times I would say get a life. If he was some type of religious philosophy28:21religious philosophy that we had to go through some type of rituals to gain access to him I'd say man let's not waste our time. But he is the king of kings and the lord of lords and he has promised to never leave us. In fact he says lo I am with you what? Can you think of a time not defined by the term always? I mean he didn't say I'm there when things are going great. When life's going great he's there. And that's usually when we forget about him. But when life's falling28:51apart he's right there. Anybody got a fear of flying? Anybody? Anybody got a fear of flying? Okay. One person. Two people. Alright. The rest of you are liars. But anyway that's it. You've already raised your hand. I should have known that. But anyway I have a fear of flying. I have to fly a lot. I fly Delta. Most of us do in Birmingham. You know what Delta stands for? Delivering every living thing to Atlanta. But anyway when we go to heaven we're going to have a 45 minute29:21layover in Atlanta. We're going to call that purgatory. But anyway and I had to fly Delta and I was flying. It was raining. I got in my seat and I'll never forget this. I'm not embellishing this. During the announcements the pilot came across here were his exact words. He said folks we're about to attempt to take off. I thought you know if you're going to attempt one why not go all the way?29:51way? Okay I mean you know there's not a rest stop on the runway and he must have been a former fighter pilot or something because when he took us up have you ever been in a plane that just went straight it's almost like you're going straight and we hit those clouds and the plane was bumping and I mean no one was passing out peanuts. No one was moving around. It was one of those eerily silent moments. I wish I could tell you I was you know being all spiritual. I was scared to death. Somebody bumped into me and I was like we're going down. I mean you know it was like it was like one of those deals you know and30:20I was like well it's been a good life you know and going to heaven and scared to death and and then it happened. And I'll be honest with you I've never thought about this before in my life. Y'all are much smarter than I am. But as soon as that plane broke through the last cloud here's what I discovered just above those clouds the sun was shining. I'd never thought about that. You know the sun doesn't30:50call in sick. Sun's never late to many of us this morning when we woke up we didn't check our curtains to make sure the sun was there. Could you ever imagine if the sun ever stopped shining for one second? We just expect the sun to be there. Now look at me. Every one of us have put our faith and trust that the sun's going to be there. If you can put your faith and trust in some kind of whatever that is that's going to be there. This morning I am calling you on that same faith to31:19put your faith and trust in the king of kings and the lord of lords who has conquered the grave taking the sting of death out and said ma'am lo I am with you always. Some of you this morning you need to meet Jesus for the first time. Yeah you got church. You got the religion thing. You got the religion thing down pat but you don't have a relationship with Jesus. As soon as you walk out this door. It's going to be the last thought you have about him until the next time you come in here.31:48Today I'm talking about you can walk out of your relationship with Christ. But for some of us here this morning going through your marriage going through that personal situation when you can't see his hand you can always trust his heart and he'll never leave you. Would you bow your heads with me? Every head's bowed. Eyes are closed. I'm going to ask Rick and some of the people are going to come and get prepared for the invitation.32:18You've been through this before. I'm just going to ask unless it's of the utmost emergency if you refrain from leaving or moving around because if this message was for you I don't want you to mess it. If it's for the person beside you I don't want you to try to mess it up. And as God has drawn people to himself let me tell you what's going to happen in just a few moments from now. We're going to stand. We're going to have a time of invitation. And during that time of invitation that is open for any man, woman, boy or girl across this auditorium. If this is the first time32:47you've been in this congregation or if you've been here a hundred times or you're a founding member I don't know how old the church is but you're sitting there this morning going man I don't have a relationship with Christ. I'm not going to leave the platform. I'm not going to send anybody after you but I do want to share with you how you can be saved this morning. How what the Bible says you can become born again. It's not by running up and down these aisles. It's not by screaming at the top of your lungs. The Bible says in Romans 10 13 whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be33:17saved. Whosoever that means anybody call upon the name of the Lord. That's the key phrase to call. The word there means to stretch forth. It'd be like if you were drowning and someone threw you a life preserver. You're going to trust that life preserver. You're not saving yourself. You're drowning. You're trusting the life preserver. You know what that term call means in today's language. You got to do business with Jesus. You can't be sitting here going well if everyone else does it I'll follow. If everyone else decides to do it I'll follow. No no no.33:46Jesus never says follow my followers. Jesus says follow me. You're sitting there this morning saying I need his love. I need his peace. I need his forgiveness. I need Jesus. And this morning if you're sitting in this room and you've never received Christ. I'm not saying you've never prayed a prayer with your lips or walked the aisle or filled out a form or even gotten wet. You're sitting there this morning saying life change has never happened in me. I'm going to pray this prayer out loud and as I pray this prayer out loud you pray this prayer inside your heart.34:16Don't say one word with your lips. You scream it inside your soul. The person beside you will not know what's going on but the Bible says there's rejoicing the presence of God. So I'm going to pray it out loud. You prayed inside your heart. It goes like this. Dear God I know I've done some things wrong but I know you love me to the point that you sent your son to die on the cross for me. So right now the best way I know34:44how I open up my heart. I receive you into my life. Forgive me of my sin. Make me brand new. I know you love me. Now help me to love you. Thank you God. I now call you Father. Thank you Jesus. Head you're bowed and eyes are closed. I'm going to ask if our pianist or35:14instrumentalist would just begin to play softly. Here's what I'm not going to leave the platform. No one's looking around. We don't have spotlights. We don't have cameras on. But here's the deal. If you just prayed that prayer for the first time or for the first time that you meant it. There's never been life change to take place in you and before you walk out of the back door you want God to open up your heart's door and make you a new creation. Here's what I want you to understand. If you just prayed that prayer no one I repeat no one can ever take35:42Jesus away from you. He is not a God that wants to play games in your life. He's a God that wants to plant roots in your life. Well let me tell you what's about to take place. In just a few moments I'm going to pray and then we're going to stand. As soon as we stand Brad's going to be here at the front maybe a couple more I don't know. But as soon as we stand I'm going to ask you to leave your seat. If you're in the balcony there's steps on both sides. If you're down here on the floor from the front row all the way to the back row. When we stand your knees become straight. You get out of your pew get to the nearest aisle. If you're in the middle they'll let36:12you out. They'll let you scoot out. You come forward grab Brad's hand and say I prayed to receive Jesus. And I understand you may be going wait a minute you're adding something to this. No I'm not adding something to it. Let me tell you the reason why I'm asking you to come. We're going to give you some more information. We're going to make sure you understand what's going on. But primarily the reason why we're asking you to come is based on what Jesus says. He says if you deny me before men I'll deny you before my father. If you confess me before men I'll confess you before my father.36:41Remember the requirement? You had to mean it. And I just want I'm not going to argue with you. But if that prayer didn't mean enough to you that when we stand if that relationship with Christ doesn't mean enough to you that when we stand you're not willing to step out come walk maybe 20 steps and have somebody pray with you and tell a group of Jesus followers that you're now becoming a follower of Jesus. You're not going to tell these people you're going to become a follower of Jesus. You're not going to be able to go back to your school go back to your home and go back to your business and tell those people37:11you're a follower of Jesus. I just don't want you to walk out of here with a half truth. Today you may be the only one that comes. I'd rather that be your mentality and it be only you down here than for you to sit back wait on everyone else to make their decision and if we have others to come then you come become a follower. Jesus never says follow my followers. He says follow me. So your wife may not come with you sir. Your husband may not come. Your children may not come. Your parents may not come. Your friends may not come37:40forward. But today if you prayed that prayer as soon as we stand you make your move come forward and say today I prayed that prayer. I need life change to take place in me. Before you come I want to pray for God to give you boldness this morning. But others are here saying man I know I'm a follower of Christ. I know when I die I'm going to heaven. But maybe there's a storm going on in your life. Maybe this altar is drawing you to it. Say man Lord I've just lost my focus in the storms of life and I need to regather.38:09I need to focus on you instead of my situation. Maybe there's here this morning people going through marriage problems. Maybe there's health situations. Whatever God is drawing you to himself this morning let's do one thing. Not worry about our image but let's focus on our integrity. Whatever God tells us to do let's be obedient in that. I want to pray for us and then we're going to stand. Father I pray right now that as your word goes out it's promised never to come back void. Lord I know men, women, boys and38:37girls in this room if they prayed that prayer will you give them boldness and guts like they've never known before. God allow them not to look around and wonder what anyone else is doing but allow them to know how important they are how valuable they are in your eyes. And as you draw them to yourself give them boldness this morning to come. I pray for the marriages that are falling apart. I pray for the addictions that need to be conquered. I pray for the prisoner who needs to be set free in their own mind and in their own guilt.39:06Father this morning show up and show off for your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let's stand together. Brad's going to be here at the front. We're going to sing. You come right now.39:28Bye.More sermons on John →
