The Danger of a Coerced Decision: A Theological Review

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I'm going to read the verses all the way through, but I'm going to have you stand in honor of God's word.
[00:00:04] It's familiar.
[00:00:05] This is our last installment of this portion of our study in the book of Romans chapter 15, the verses 14 to 21.
[00:00:13] And you are well aware, but for time's sake, I'm going to read it all the way through.
[00:00:19] Now I myself am confident concerning you my brethren that you also are full of goodness and filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another and nevertheless brethren I have written more boldly to you some of you or at some points I mean boldly by the way we saw last week meaning
[00:00:39] You guys in Rome, you really know the Word of God, so I've given you some really top shelf stuff to think about.
[00:00:46] Real deep stuff to you on some points.
[00:00:48] As reminding you because of the grace given to me by God, verse 16, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.
[00:00:58] ministering the gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
[00:01:07] Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things pertaining to God, for I will not dare to speak of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed to make the Gentiles obedient.
[00:01:24] in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and around about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
[00:01:39] And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ was named lest I should build on another man's foundation but as it is written
[00:01:50] To whom He was not announced, they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand.
[00:02:00] In Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen.
[00:02:04] You may be seated church.
[00:02:07] And I'm gonna give you the back end up front real quick.
[00:02:11] At the end of this message this morning, it is incumbent, it's a must, it has to happen, that an invitation go forward for you to make a decision publicly for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:02:22] There you go.
[00:02:22] I just said it.
[00:02:24] Now some of you immediately decided to start making excuses as to why you need to go home early.
[00:02:30] The doors are locked, the ushers have their guns on tase, and you'll be considered a flight risk
[00:02:37] If you get up and go now, you're busted before you even attempt it.
[00:02:42] You are going to be challenged.
[00:02:43] You are going to be invited to know Jesus Christ personally and understand the fact that a religious experience to God is not what he's looking for, but an intimate relationship is.
[00:02:58] And it's very important.
[00:03:00] And so we've been talking about the family of God, that we are in fact one family, one and all.
[00:03:05] And that whole theme talks about you and I ministering to one another and loving on each other.
[00:03:10] That we make ourselves available to care for each other.
[00:03:13] And we've been studying that along the way.
[00:03:15] We saw that the church is something that is not to be debated upon.
[00:03:20] It's not to be or not to be.
[00:03:22] That the church is.
[00:03:23] And we saw that the church is a certain particular way of doing family.
[00:03:28] I think the church is God's ultimate way of doing family, if you think about it.
[00:03:34] I think if you have a messed up family but go to a really good church, you won't have a messed up family for long.
[00:03:41] because that church is going to instruct you in the Word of God which heals all things including the way that we do family.
[00:03:49] And so that we learn from verse 14 on how a family ought to be.
[00:03:54] And we also learn what we do.
[00:03:57] What a family does is that a family gets involved and loves on one another and lifts up the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, but in doing so in care.
[00:04:08] And then we also concluded last time that the real family, what it's all about and what it's for was found in verse 16.
[00:04:15] And that is that we might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.
[00:04:22] Paul says, this is his ministry.
[00:04:24] And you might say, well, you go Paul.
[00:04:27] But Paul is saying to us, mimic him, copy him.
[00:04:32] And he says, ministering the gospel of God, and this is awesome, that the offering of the Gentiles, he's speaking like a priest now, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Spirit of God or by the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:48] I love that.
[00:04:49] Paul is saying, I preach the gospel.
[00:04:53] I'll evangelize, and then when somebody comes to Christ, I'm gonna disciple them.
[00:04:57] You know, Paul was an apostle.
[00:04:59] He was, my goodness, if you look at Paul's life, he may have had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit operational in that guy's life.
[00:05:08] I mean, man, you say, well, I'd like to be like that.
[00:05:11] Well, wouldn't we all?
[00:05:12] But here's the thing, what keeps us from being like Paul is our lack of willingness.
[00:05:18] I think our God is so good that if you find yourself in some sort of a battle for the light and for righteousness, he will give you what's needed, folks.
[00:05:29] He will give you what's needed, but if you've resigned to sit on the couch and eat Pringles and watch, you know what I almost said?
[00:05:38] Sit on the couch, eat Pringles and watch, I'm dating myself now, roller derby.
[00:05:51] I turned 68 this week and somebody... No, no, don't clap about that.
[00:05:59] And somebody gave me an awesome card.
[00:06:01] I think you gave it to me, Tim.
[00:06:03] You may not know.
[00:06:03] Your wife probably bought it.
[00:06:04] But you gave me a great card.
[00:06:07] And it said that this is what was going on in 1958.
[00:06:10] Gasoline was 24 cents a gallon.
[00:06:14] Listen.
[00:06:15] Yeah, bread was 17 cents a loaf.
[00:06:19] The national average income of the United States in 1958 was $3,700 a year.
[00:06:27] The average price of the American home was $17,000.
[00:06:34] That's what Newsom pays for lunch at the French Laundry.
[00:06:40] No, I'm sorry, that's what you pay for Newsom to have lunch at the French Laundry.
[00:06:46] Oh, Pastor, don't start with the political comments.
[00:06:50] Well, it's 2026.
[00:06:51] I'm just getting started.
[00:06:54] But listen, all that said, it was like, I mean, I didn't even understand what 1958 was about when I was born in 1958, but I'm looking back, gasoline, 24 cents a gallon.
[00:07:05] How's that sound?
[00:07:07] And it was all this, and Dwight D. Eisenhower was my president when I was born.
[00:07:12] All these kinds of things, okay?
[00:07:14] All that said...
[00:07:17] There is this time of life in which through all the changes in which you and I live in in time and in politics and in age the bottom line is this for the believer that for you and I we are in route together moving toward heaven that is true for every single one of us today in this room if you're a Christian those of you that are watching right now
[00:07:43] If you've given your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, it is very important to you that others hear about the gospel, and after they hear about it, we are to make disciples of them.
[00:07:55] Now, this is not so much an evangelistic church, although this church is involved in evangelism, but we are more of a disciple-making church.
[00:08:04] We will, by God's grace, invite people to come to Christ, and some people respond.
[00:08:10] But our big thing is teaching the depths of the Word of God and trying to go as deep as we can in the Bible, which led us to the second point, and that's where we'll finish off second and third point today, and that is we are to be an authentic church, a real church.
[00:08:29] And today you might find me being a little bit on the side of the skeptic.
[00:08:33] I might be more, for argument's sake, on the side of those that have an issue with the church.
[00:08:43] It was the church that offended them.
[00:08:44] It was the church that hurt them.
[00:08:46] Now some people have been wrongly offended by the church and wrongly offended by maybe a Christian, but
[00:08:55] We might sometimes do some justice by unpacking what does offense mean.
[00:09:00] If somebody says that you're a sinner and you need to be saved, Jesus died on the cross for you, so you're gonna go to hell, somebody might say, well, that offends me.
[00:09:10] Well, it offended me too the first time I heard it.
[00:09:16] But it's true.
[00:09:18] Now if somebody says something that is hurtful and mean and ugly in the name of Jesus, that's terrible.
[00:09:26] And the church is guilty of that.
[00:09:29] I should say there are those within the church that are guilty of that throughout history.
[00:09:35] But I want you to know and will stress always that we are to be an authentic group of believers.
[00:09:41] This is to be an authentic church.
[00:09:43] We're not to be something that we're not.
[00:09:46] And I hope that when you and I meet each other on the street or at the store, at the restaurant, that we are the same people.
[00:09:55] Friends, listen, that's important that we're the same people.
[00:09:59] Our pastors were praying for families earlier and the dilemma, the challenge of a wife that is hurt, scared, wounded, weeping, not knowing who or what her husband will be after service.
[00:10:16] Did you hear what I just said?
[00:10:17] He goes to church, but there's nothing about the church in him.
[00:10:21] He goes to church, he hears the Bible, but there's nothing about the Bible in him.
[00:10:25] And that's a tough way to live.
[00:10:29] And when I hear stuff like that, I just hope that that man doesn't tell anybody else that he's a Christian.
[00:10:35] Are you hearing me?
[00:10:37] We need to be authentic.
[00:10:40] And we saw that an authentic church in verse 17 brings glory.
[00:10:46] In fact, itself reflects the glory of Almighty God.
[00:10:49] He said, therefore, I have a reason to give in Christ, and it is this, in the things which pertain to God.
[00:10:59] And I love that.
[00:10:59] I have reason to glory in Christ, is what Paul the Apostle is saying.
[00:11:04] And that's a beautiful thought because in everything that you and I are doing according to the Bible, whatever we're doing, we're to be doing to give God glory, to bring our lives under the obedience of Christ.
[00:11:17] God wants us to live our lives in a way that honors Him and that's a great way to live.
[00:11:22] We talk about this often.
[00:11:23] But the day is coming, friend, where you and I will all stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and we're gonna give an account for how we lived.
[00:11:33] People have often debated, what is that judgment before the seat of Christ going to look like?
[00:11:38] Well, we know this.
[00:11:39] It's for only those who are Christians.
[00:11:42] It's not for the damned or the condemned or the lost.
[00:11:45] It's for those who are saved, the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of God.
[00:11:50] That's another story.
[00:11:51] That's the great white throne judgment.
[00:11:53] And I pray none of you wind up being there.
[00:11:57] Because that judgment, you stand before God, it's unfiltered, unmitigated wrath in perfect justice.
[00:12:06] And the outcome for the penalty is hell.
[00:12:12] Even though God didn't make hell for us, he said that, we wind up not wanting God into our lives, and by default, that train that you're on only has one destination.
[00:12:25] and God wants you to change tracks and get on a train to glory.
[00:12:35] Reminded me of an old song.
[00:12:36] I remember years ago in my BC days.
[00:12:40] You know what BC means, right?
[00:12:44] I went to, there was a place called the Golden Bear.
[00:12:46] Oh, so there's a bunch of drunks in here too.
[00:12:53] If I remember right, it was in Huntington Beach, was it not?
[00:12:59] And it's funny, I saw people there who people really didn't know.
[00:13:03] I saw the turtles.
[00:13:06] Mama Cass was there.
[00:13:11] And a guy by the name of Kenny Rankin.
[00:13:14] Nobody knows who Kenny Rankin is, but a song, there's a song, Blackbird singing in the dead of the night, that kind of stuff, that song.
[00:13:22] Listen, there's a song that he helped write with the Beatles, I think it was, and Rod Stewart went on to make it a big hit, by the way.
[00:13:30] It's called People Get Ready, this train's a-comin'.
[00:13:33] It's pickin' up passengers from coast to coast.
[00:13:38] You don't need to get a ticket.
[00:13:42] You just get on board.
[00:13:44] And he goes on to tell you that the Lord, he's blowing the whistle and he's coming.
[00:13:50] People get ready.
[00:13:52] There's a train coming.
[00:13:54] And it was all about, believe it or not, accepting Christ and getting on his train.
[00:14:01] And it's a train of glory.
[00:14:04] The Bible tells us that when you and I see heaven, it's glory.
[00:14:08] I love that.
[00:14:12] I saw a friend, boy, I saw a guy yesterday at an event.
[00:14:16] I was at a human trafficking event to stop human trafficking.
[00:14:21] And a gentleman walked by and I recognized him.
[00:14:23] He recognized me and he goes, do you remember me?
[00:14:25] I said, I'm sorry to say, I remember your face.
[00:14:27] I don't remember your name.
[00:14:29] And he said his name.
[00:14:31] And it was like, it just lit up.
[00:14:33] Oh my gosh.
[00:14:33] And I remembered seeing him.
[00:14:35] and various aspects of this church decades ago.
[00:14:38] He's moved on and it was beautiful to see him.
[00:14:42] And we immediately, oh yeah, remember this, remember that?
[00:14:45] And in that brief moment, and as he began to walk away, his name was Randy.
[00:14:49] I said, Randy, we probably won't see each other again here, but I'll see you soon in heaven.
[00:14:54] And somebody heard that and they started laughing, not because that they weren't a believer, they started laughing because they said, oh my goodness, that's true.
[00:15:06] Think about it.
[00:15:07] There's a possibility that you and I may not meet each other again.
[00:15:12] But if we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and we've trusted Christ, and we are those Gentiles who Paul said he preached to, and we come to Christ, we're gonna see each other in heaven.
[00:15:27] And so I think we ought to start saying that to people.
[00:15:29] Now look, I wouldn't say it to your wife or to your husband, but if you see somebody you don't know and you know that they're a believer and you're exchanging those salutations and greetings with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, I think it'd be pretty cool for us to start saying, see you in heaven.
[00:15:48] See you in heaven because listen, let the world hear that.
[00:15:52] Hey, it was nice meeting you.
[00:15:53] God bless you, man.
[00:15:54] See you in heaven.
[00:15:56] If I don't see you again, I'll see you in heaven.
[00:15:58] Remember I told you before?
[00:15:59] I hope I taught you this before.
[00:16:01] We in this church never say goodbye to one another, even if you're dying or if you're moving to some other state.
[00:16:08] We do not say goodbye.
[00:16:10] What do we say?
[00:16:12] See ya.
[00:16:14] Because it's never a goodbye.
[00:16:16] That sounds too final.
[00:16:19] Not for the believer.
[00:16:21] The church is going to enter glory because Christ has purchased us by his own blood.
[00:16:26] And by that great blood and offering of Jesus Christ, we're going to go to heaven.
[00:16:31] Not based on any merit.
[00:16:33] If you are saying, I want to go to heaven, I'll try to be a better person.
[00:16:38] You're not going.
[00:16:39] There's no better people in heaven.
[00:16:41] That's silent in here.
[00:16:45] Good.
[00:16:45] Think of that one.
[00:16:48] You think in heaven there's a place where the good people are at and then the okay people are at?
[00:16:52] And then I'm over here with the losers over here?
[00:16:56] No, none of that.
[00:16:58] There's only one good and that's God.
[00:16:59] And there's only one God and that's the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, three in one.
[00:17:04] God, the triune God of Genesis chapter one, verse one.
[00:17:09] He's one God.
[00:17:10] Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one.
[00:17:13] But the Bible tells us that God has a son, that in creation the Holy Spirit brooded upon the waters of creation, and that Elohim,
[00:17:24] Created.
[00:17:25] In the beginning Elohim created.
[00:17:27] And the word El is God and Hymn is plural.
[00:17:31] A singular plurality.
[00:17:32] Wow.
[00:17:33] And Jesus is the Savior of the world.
[00:17:37] Listen, God the Father is not the Savior of the world.
[00:17:39] God the Father is the Father.
[00:17:40] The Holy Spirit is not the Savior of the world.
[00:17:44] He's the power.
[00:17:46] Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
[00:17:49] He's the atonement.
[00:17:50] He was the sacrifice for us.
[00:17:52] And it's awesome.
[00:17:53] Colossians, not Colossians.
[00:17:56] I got the C right.
[00:17:58] 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
[00:17:59] 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 says, Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
[00:18:07] Give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks or Gentiles.
[00:18:12] or the Church of God.
[00:18:13] So there's three categories mentioned.
[00:18:15] Don't be offensive.
[00:18:17] Just as I also please all men in all things, says the apostle, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.
[00:18:26] Notice that his drive is I want to make sure that in discipleship the church is saved.
[00:18:33] Those that I teach and speak to, Paul is saying,
[00:18:36] I want to make sure that they've made their calling and election sure.
[00:18:38] And to the Gentile, I want to make sure the Gentile has the opportunity to be saved.
[00:18:44] The Gentile is the non-Jew.
[00:18:46] And to the Jew, I want to make sure that my brethren, those of the same blood, Paul would say, his brethren, that they're given the opportunity to save, that they can come to Christ and be saved.
[00:18:58] And we stressed it last week that salvation is one way.
[00:19:02] Remember that.
[00:19:03] Remember that.
[00:19:04] I cannot repeat this enough.
[00:19:05] Salvation is not a different way for the Jews and a different way for the Gentiles.
[00:19:09] That's insane.
[00:19:10] Anybody teach you that?
[00:19:12] That's false doctrine.
[00:19:13] Nicodemus was a Jew, and Jesus told him, you must be born again.
[00:19:17] And the Bible is, to every human being, you must be born anew, born again, to enter the kingdom of God.
[00:19:25] Paul said he spoke of these things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
[00:19:30] And that word means things that belong to the...
[00:19:33] Kingdom, the politic, technically is the word of God.
[00:19:39] To identify with God, to do the things that God desires to have accomplished.
[00:19:44] Romans chapter, are you guys okay?
[00:19:46] Romans chapter 15, verse 17.
[00:19:48] This is in the English Standard Version.
[00:19:50] It's a nice read right here.
[00:19:52] In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.
[00:19:59] Notice this verse we're studying right now.
[00:20:01] Notice how the ESV puts it.
[00:20:02] This is very good.
[00:20:04] We have a tendency to take this the wrong way.
[00:20:06] We overreact.
[00:20:08] In Christ Jesus.
[00:20:09] The qualifier, church, is the word in, I-N. Write it down.
[00:20:14] The qualifier, if you're in a seminary course, you'd have to do this.
[00:20:17] Explain this verse.
[00:20:18] Number one, qualifier is the word in.
[00:20:22] That's the qualifier.
[00:20:25] In who?
[00:20:25] In what?
[00:20:26] In Christ Jesus.
[00:20:29] All right, what then?
[00:20:30] I have reason to be proud of my work for God.
[00:20:35] None of us, let's be honest, not a single one of us would say right now, hey everybody in Christ Jesus, I'm proud of the work that I've done for God.
[00:20:46] Nobody would say that, but Paul would say it.
[00:20:51] You wanna know why he would say it?
[00:20:53] Because he would be able, don't miss this, he would be able to communicate those truths in a way that is so humble and so God-glorifying that you, when you hear Paul say it, would never think, he's talking about his own strength, this is where we miss it, his own powers, his own abilities.
[00:21:12] Folks, listen, we gotta get away from ourselves.
[00:21:15] You know, I just need some me time.
[00:21:17] No, you don't.
[00:21:19] You need to get away from you.
[00:21:22] You need to leave you at the next stop.
[00:21:26] Because here's the deal.
[00:21:30] The evidence that we spend too much time with us is, well, I did do a pretty good job on that one.
[00:21:39] Oh, I led another person to Christ.
[00:21:43] Oh, make me want to vomit, right?
[00:21:48] But when the Holy Spirit has a hold of you,
[00:21:51] You know, people talk about tone.
[00:21:53] I could tell you, I love you, or I could tell you, I love you.
[00:21:57] It's all in the tone.
[00:21:59] When Paul says, I am proud, you understand that he is saying, I've already written in other books to all you guys that I'm the chief of sinners, that out of me, no good thing can come.
[00:22:15] I am so proud in the qualifier, Christ Jesus.
[00:22:22] that I have done work for God.
[00:22:25] He's not saved by those works.
[00:22:27] He's giving God the honor that God has worked through, Paul would say today, a clown.
[00:22:32] Somebody who's the chief of the worst.
[00:22:39] That's what Paul would say.
[00:22:42] Well, that's the ESV.
[00:22:44] Look at the NIV.
[00:22:45] The NIV puts Romans 15, verse 17, chapter 15, verse 17, this way.
[00:22:49] Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.
[00:22:55] That's true too, different words.
[00:22:57] You say, Pastor, why do these great versions of the Bible have different words?
[00:23:01] It's nothing to be alarmed about.
[00:23:04] You know how I'll show you the Greek words and the meaning of the Greek words very often?
[00:23:08] And have you noticed that those Greek words will always have many, many multiple words to describe that one Greek word?
[00:23:14] The translators simply pick a word that they believe is the stronger word.
[00:23:22] That's all it is.
[00:23:23] It's not interpretation.
[00:23:25] It's not contradiction.
[00:23:26] It's not error.
[00:23:27] This is English.
[00:23:28] We're talking about the Bible coming out of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic into English.
[00:23:35] And so notice that the translators equate work to service.
[00:23:43] I like that.
[00:23:45] You want to know why?
[00:23:46] The word service can also be translated worship.
[00:23:52] Now all of a sudden I see what Paul...
[00:23:54] In fact, let's back up.
[00:23:55] Let's go back to the ESV.
[00:23:57] Everybody watch.
[00:23:58] I'm going to read it different.
[00:23:59] In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my worship for God.
[00:24:05] Makes a difference, right?
[00:24:11] And of course, he's not talking about that human pride.
[00:24:13] That would be sin.
[00:24:15] Colossians chapter 1 verse 10 tells us that you may walk worthy of the Lord...
[00:24:22] Fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
[00:24:28] I always submit to you that that is literally impossible to do apart from the person of the Holy Spirit.
[00:24:34] Those of you who are not born again but you're very religious, you have a hard time with that verse.
[00:24:39] You'd rather just go on to the next verse.
[00:24:45] Because the moment you think this way, that you walk worthy of the Lord, I'm worthy, I'm worthy.
[00:24:50] I just checked, I'm worthy.
[00:24:53] and the Holy Spirit saying, yeah.
[00:24:58] No, you're not.
[00:24:59] He'll remind you of things to humble you.
[00:25:01] Fully pleasing Him.
[00:25:05] Church, the only way that you and I can actually fully please Him is even though we are dust and we are prone to sin, even though we hate sin, we still sin, not by plan, but by weakness.
[00:25:20] That, listen, even in that life that we fail at, did you know that you are pleasing to God?
[00:25:29] Can you handle that?
[00:25:31] Hear me out.
[00:25:32] Don't answer.
[00:25:33] Do you love Jesus?
[00:25:34] I love Jesus with all my heart.
[00:25:36] Yes, me too.
[00:25:39] Do you serve him?
[00:25:40] Yes, I serve him.
[00:25:41] But now you start thinking like this.
[00:25:43] Yes, I serve him, but I need to serve him more.
[00:25:47] Do you worship the Lord?
[00:25:48] I worship the Lord, but not enough.
[00:25:51] Do you pray?
[00:25:52] I pray, but not very often.
[00:25:55] Not as long as that should.
[00:25:58] You see, the moment you start and then you think about you, the sunshine comes out and then the cloud blocks it out.
[00:26:07] And that cloud is your pride.
[00:26:09] You may be a believer and you're on your way to heaven, but you're not happy about it because you think you never pray enough.
[00:26:16] You think you never give enough.
[00:26:17] You think you never serve enough.
[00:26:20] You know what Paul the Apostle said?
[00:26:21] He said, look, who can figure this stuff out?
[00:26:25] I don't even judge myself in these areas.
[00:26:27] I leave that to God.
[00:26:31] You can never bring your merit to God.
[00:26:36] Jesus is the merit.
[00:26:39] Plus nothing.
[00:26:41] And that's vitally important that you understand that.
[00:26:43] John chapter 14 verse 12, Jesus says, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also.
[00:26:51] Did you hear that?
[00:26:54] What?
[00:26:56] And greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.
[00:27:00] Church family, if you ever wanna pick on a verse, do that one.
[00:27:04] Jesus said, most assuredly, that means absolutely, absolutely, truly, truly, I say to you, he, she, who believes in me, the works that I do,
[00:27:24] He or she will do also.
[00:27:27] He said, now I'm having a hard time with this Bible.
[00:27:30] Oh, Jesus doubles down.
[00:27:32] And greater works than these he or she will do because I go to my Father.
[00:27:38] What on earth is he talking about?
[00:27:40] Listen, this is very fun.
[00:27:44] Jesus said, my children, as they go and minister to others, they're gonna do the works that I do.
[00:27:52] They're gonna do greater works.
[00:27:56] How can we possibly do greater works?
[00:28:00] There's a great answer to this.
[00:28:02] I'm just gonna draw this out for a moment.
[00:28:07] Do you see the qualifier in this verse?
[00:28:10] I don't understand, Jesus, how I could do greater works than you have done, and I even don't even understand how I can do the works that you've done.
[00:28:19] I mean, I've never raised anybody from the dead.
[00:28:22] Well, maybe you haven't, but have you prayed for people and they were healed?
[00:28:28] Have you shown love to someone?
[00:28:31] Have you been gracious?
[00:28:33] Have you been forgiving to others?
[00:28:37] But then Jesus blows it all up and says, you're going to do greater works than I've done.
[00:28:42] How is that possibly true?
[00:28:46] Before I answer that, note the qualifier.
[00:28:49] This qualifier is not at the beginning, it's at the end.
[00:28:52] Do you see it?
[00:28:54] Because what?
[00:28:56] Because I go to my Father.
[00:28:58] Translation.
[00:28:59] Hey you guys, because I'm gonna go to my Father, you know all the stuff that I've done, you're gonna do it also?
[00:29:04] And because I'm going to the Father, the Holy Spirit's gonna come.
[00:29:07] And you're gonna do greater things.
[00:29:09] What's the greater thing?
[00:29:11] You can raise somebody from the dead.
[00:29:13] You and I could raise somebody from the dead.
[00:29:14] The problem is, in fact, Jesus raised people from the dead, but they had to die again.
[00:29:22] Right?
[00:29:22] Think about that.
[00:29:23] You ever think about that?
[00:29:24] He raised Lazarus.
[00:29:25] He raised Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus had to live his life and die again.
[00:29:34] You can raise somebody from the dead, but they're gonna have to die again.
[00:29:38] Unless a rapture happens, that'd be cool.
[00:29:40] Get raised from the dead and then the rapture happens in your lifetime?
[00:29:43] That's a super-duper.
[00:29:48] But check this out.
[00:29:52] Because Jesus went to the Father on the day of Pentecost, what happened?
[00:29:54] The Holy Spirit came down.
[00:29:56] What happened when the Holy Spirit came down?
[00:29:58] People began to believe in the gospel because the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit and they preached the gospel from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth until it wound up in Chino Hills.
[00:30:10] And when Jesus said, you'll do greater works than me, listen, Jesus, you can honestly never accuse Jesus of being an evangelist.
[00:30:19] Did he evangelize?
[00:30:20] Yes, of course, but not the way that you'd expect at the stadium or in church.
[00:30:26] Jesus said this way.
[00:30:27] I'm obviously making this up right now.
[00:30:31] This is a disclosure.
[00:30:34] Hey, thank you for coming, everybody.
[00:30:37] Great that you're here.
[00:30:38] Hope you enjoyed the worship.
[00:30:40] If you do not pick up your cross and follow me, you'll have no part with me.
[00:30:44] Unless you're willing to consider yourself dead, you'll never live.
[00:30:51] Unless you're born a second time, you're gonna wind up experiencing hell.
[00:30:56] Have a great day.
[00:30:59] When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, he said to Jesus, good master, what must I do to be saved?
[00:31:06] What did Jesus say?
[00:31:08] It was amazing.
[00:31:09] Jesus said, by the way, the guy was rich, young, and a ruler.
[00:31:13] Rich, Jesus could have said, you know, we could really use his money.
[00:31:19] He was young, we could use his energy.
[00:31:22] And maybe he'll influence younger people and we'll have young people come.
[00:31:26] and he has authority.
[00:31:28] He's a ruler.
[00:31:29] This guy, he's like the forerunner of every yuppie that they'll ever be.
[00:31:34] No, Jesus says, I tell you what, you wanna inherit the kingdom of heaven?
[00:31:40] Go sell everything that you have and come and follow me.
[00:31:44] Is that how you get to heaven?
[00:31:45] By selling everything you have?
[00:31:47] No.
[00:31:48] What was Jesus doing?
[00:31:49] He was hitting that man right in the idols.
[00:31:54] All of his idols.
[00:31:57] All of the things that that man equated to meaning, success, and power, they were anything and everything but God.
[00:32:08] And Jesus hid him right in the idols and says, go sell all that you have and come and follow me.
[00:32:14] Jesus knew that that man would not give up his other gods.
[00:32:20] Friends,
[00:32:21] When Jesus says greater works, you will do.
[00:32:23] When you share the Lord Jesus Christ with someone in evangelism, if you tell just another person about the love of Jesus Christ and the gospel of God, when you do that, Jesus says, you're doing greater works than me.
[00:32:42] When somebody comes to Christ,
[00:32:44] We have no evidence in the Bible that when someone's raised from the dead or their blind sight is open, do the angels applaud?
[00:32:52] Correct me if I'm wrong, church.
[00:32:53] Is there any verse that says when one person regains their sight, the angels of heaven rejoice?
[00:32:59] No, what does the Bible say?
[00:33:01] When one person repents and comes to Christ, the angels in heaven rejoice.
[00:33:07] Wow, Jesus said you'll do greater works.
[00:33:10] And that's called upon us.
[00:33:13] Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them and then we also learn this in verse 18 that there's the reality of church Paul says for I dare not I so appreciate this for I dare for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed
[00:33:43] to make the Gentiles obedient.
[00:33:46] I love this about this man of integrity.
[00:33:50] Paul is not gonna be some pie-in-the-sky orator who, not to offend anybody, but would never take a course of philosophy without inserting the gospel.
[00:34:09] Paul would never host a rally.
[00:34:12] to talk about something and never bring up the gospel.
[00:34:15] Are you hearing me?
[00:34:16] The gospel is the answer.
[00:34:18] The word of God is the answer.
[00:34:20] And Paul is saying, I have learned from God to not speak about anything that he first has not worked out in my life.
[00:34:30] I love that.
[00:34:36] That's a reality.
[00:34:39] The opposite is this.
[00:34:41] Somebody who's a family psychologist and you go to his office and he's like 13 years old.
[00:34:48] And he's got all the degrees on the wall and you're there to talk about marriage.
[00:34:54] We need you to help us with our marriage.
[00:34:57] And then 30 minutes into it you find out that the guy's never been married.
[00:35:01] I don't care if you have a degree from all of the universities put together.
[00:35:08] Unless you've been married, you're not qualified.
[00:35:13] Well, how do you know?
[00:35:15] Been there.
[00:35:17] I've done been married, still married.
[00:35:19] It's been 47.
[00:35:20] Yeah, I think 46, maybe 47 this year.
[00:35:29] Maybe I'll have to check.
[00:35:32] A long time, decades.
[00:35:36] Decades, listen, and it's like somebody, you go to get counseling to somebody, we need help with our children, we have a teenager.
[00:35:43] Do you have a teenager?
[00:35:44] No, I've read about them, but I don't have one.
[00:35:49] I can't hear anything.
[00:35:50] No, no, Paul the Apostle said things like this, I want you to follow Christ.
[00:35:55] And somebody from the crowd goes, yeah, well what do you know?
[00:35:59] Paul would say, this is what I know.
[00:36:03] I was at the top of the food chain in Judaism.
[00:36:07] I made all the money and had all the power and I met Jesus on my way to Damascus I was out to hunt down Christians he knocked me off my horse he spoke to me and when he revealed himself to me I found out that I was absolutely hell-bent on the course of destruction and then he began to go to work in my life let's be honest everybody I know you might have brought your non-christian friend but let's tell them straight up
[00:36:36] You want to get your teeth knocked out?
[00:36:38] Of course not.
[00:36:40] Well, then don't become a Christian.
[00:36:43] Because you become a Christian, you just get your spiritual teeth knocked out.
[00:36:49] I heard a woman give a testimony last night who, from LA, spent her young life from the ages she was sexually abused at the age of five.
[00:37:01] She was then sold into slavery
[00:37:05] in Los Angeles at the age of 14.
[00:37:09] Long story short, she's been rescued by Jesus Christ and she has a ministry now.
[00:37:15] Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:37:18] But you know what she said?
[00:37:19] She said, I accepted Jesus Christ and he went to work in my life.
[00:37:27] And she said, I'm gonna tell you right now, Jesus Christ makes you deal with your past.
[00:37:35] Jesus Christ causes you to have the victory over your past, but you gotta face it with him.
[00:37:39] He'll walk you down the hallway of your past.
[00:37:43] And she said, if you think being a Christian's an easy thing to do, then you need to stay home.
[00:37:48] But if you wanna really live, she said, Jesus will get ahold of you in reality.
[00:37:55] And he'll start cleaning house.
[00:37:58] And she said, it's painful.
[00:38:00] And she said, I wouldn't have it any other way.
[00:38:02] She goes, I'm free now.
[00:38:04] She's free.
[00:38:05] Listen, you need to know that.
[00:38:08] We need to stop this warm and fuzzy stuff.
[00:38:14] And come to Jesus Christ and say, Lord, if you need to gut me, I'm inviting you to gut me.
[00:38:20] And I say that in faith, Jesus.
[00:38:23] I'm trusting you to be gentle enough, but take me to the limit enough, because you know me, I don't even know me.
[00:38:30] And you know what you want to do in my life.
[00:38:34] So you come inside and you do what you need to do.
[00:38:38] And if I scream, if I tell you to stop, don't listen to me.
[00:38:46] No matter what you hear come out of my mouth, don't stop.
[00:38:49] And Jesus, he's rolling up his sleeve and getting out his tools.
[00:38:54] and he'll say, oh no, thank you, I appreciate that.
[00:38:57] But once I begin a good work, I don't stop until it's completed.
[00:39:03] That's Ephesians chapter one, verse six.
[00:39:06] In Psalm 138, verses two through eight, the Bible says that once God has started this work, he said that I've laid my hand to the task and I will not stop working until it is completed.
[00:39:18] Our God never, he'll never take you half the way and drop you off.
[00:39:22] You may want to get dropped off, you won't do it.
[00:39:25] You may not want to cooperate and then he'll let you go into the weeds a little bit.
[00:39:30] But those come to Jesus meetings with Jesus are not always fun, but they are effective.
[00:39:38] And then we saw when we read this portion of scripture that he's talking about reaching the Gentile world.
[00:39:45] He talks about reaching the world from Jerusalem
[00:39:51] That was the epicenter of the Christian church.
[00:39:54] From Jerusalem to Illyricum.
[00:39:57] And we showed you a graph a week or two ago about how far away that was.
[00:40:01] Nearly a thousand miles by airplane in a straight line.
[00:40:05] Many thousands of miles by horse, foot, and ship.
[00:40:11] The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 4,
[00:40:14] God also bearing witness that is preaching the gospel both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will if you want to see God work make yourself be global and here's the beautiful age in which we live in you and I live in an age that we can go global on our device
[00:40:43] You can transform your social media into a witnessing tool for Jesus.
[00:40:49] Mark chapter 16, verse 16.
[00:40:51] What about this?
[00:40:53] He who believes and is baptized will be saved.
[00:40:55] By the way, let me explain that.
[00:40:56] He who believes, that's how salvation happens.
[00:40:59] And then baptism is the outward announcement that you've been internally saved.
[00:41:05] The gospel, sorry.
[00:41:08] Nowhere does the gospel say that you have to believe and be baptized, then you're saved.
[00:41:14] But the Bible does teach that if you believe you're saved and then your first step of obedience should be the display or the acknowledgement that you've accepted Christ buried in the waters of baptism.
[00:41:27] It's a symbol or a type of your dead life now coming up in newness of life.
[00:41:34] And we're gonna be having a baptism when we have our first baptism of this new year.
[00:41:39] If you've never understood that right, you ought to sign up.
[00:41:42] He who believes and is baptized will be saved.
[00:41:45] But he who does not believe, notice this.
[00:41:47] Notice, see it answers it.
[00:41:49] But he who does not believe will be condemned.
[00:41:53] It doesn't say he who does not believe and is not baptized.
[00:41:56] And these signs will follow those who believe.
[00:41:59] In my name they will cast out demons.
[00:42:02] You say, really?
[00:42:03] Yeah, really.
[00:42:04] Should we not be wearing pastor cams?
[00:42:13] I don't know if you can handle it or not.
[00:42:20] You ever been dealing with somebody and it's not normal what's going on?
[00:42:25] You ever seen their eyes turn as black as the eight ball on a pool table?
[00:42:32] How did that happen?
[00:42:33] You ever heard somebody change their voice and they sound like their voice is 30, 40, 50 feet away?
[00:42:39] How did that happen?
[00:42:41] I don't believe in that stuff.
[00:42:43] I just believe in the Bible.
[00:42:44] No, you don't believe in the Bible.
[00:42:46] Jesus told us this stuff is real, which I think explains a lot about America these days.
[00:42:57] And these signs cast out demons.
[00:43:00] They will speak with new tongues.
[00:43:02] They will take up serpents.
[00:43:04] And if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.
[00:43:08] They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
[00:43:12] First of all, you're not supposed to tempt God and drink poison.
[00:43:15] That's not what it's talking about.
[00:43:18] But if you take all this right here and you study the book of Acts, all those things happen in the book of Acts to those who went out to the world to serve Christ.
[00:43:26] Do you know that?
[00:43:28] I had a group in Russia, I forget what year it was, from this church.
[00:43:33] Somebody got saved.
[00:43:34] It was awesome.
[00:43:34] The guy got saved.
[00:43:36] His name was Kaha.
[00:43:39] He was from Kazakhstan.
[00:43:42] We were in Moscow.
[00:43:42] We were preaching the gospel on the streets.
[00:43:47] And Kaha accepted Christ.
[00:43:50] Then he came back a little later and he said, I want you, Pastor Jack, to come to my home.
[00:43:54] I told my dad that I'm going to bring you home to preach the gospel to my family.
[00:43:59] And how do you say no to that?
[00:44:03] And so Lisa was with me and some others, our translators, and some of you.
[00:44:09] And I don't know if there was about maybe 10 of us or so.
[00:44:12] We went to their flat.
[00:44:13] It's beautiful.
[00:44:14] Spare the length of it.
[00:44:16] It was, oh my goodness, five to six hours.
[00:44:22] But the father, the son announces, these are Americans.
[00:44:27] And they're all freaking out because they'd never seen an American before.
[00:44:30] They're touching us.
[00:44:32] No, really, they were touching our skin.
[00:44:34] Like we were from Mars.
[00:44:38] And they're so happy to have an American in their home.
[00:44:40] And the father, he's an old man, he's like 68.
[00:44:43] He's an old guy, old wrinkled dude.
[00:44:50] He's speaking in Russian and he's also, he's so proud and he calls it toast.
[00:44:57] It's culture, toast!
[00:45:00] And he's pouring this stuff and it's, to me it looks like 98, yeah, it's like high octane.
[00:45:11] And I told Larissa, I said, we don't drink.
[00:45:15] And she goes, you do tonight.
[00:45:20] And I said, no, no, no, we don't.
[00:45:22] She said, listen, you need to stop that right now.
[00:45:25] Here's what's going on.
[00:45:26] Number one, it's our culture.
[00:45:29] This is a big deal.
[00:45:31] That is cognac and vodka.
[00:45:34] She said, if you don't drink, toast with this family.
[00:45:41] I'm sorry, I keep going like this, don't I?
[00:45:43] That's because we had to join arms like this.
[00:45:46] He gives it to you, you give it to him.
[00:45:53] And she goes, if you don't do this, he will be so offended, he will be crushed, you won't be able to say anything to him.
[00:45:59] And I remember saying this to myself, oh God in heaven, you said in Mark's gospel that we can drink poison.
[00:46:10] I'm serious.
[00:46:14] I cannot tell you, you'll have to ask Lisa, she's got a great memory.
[00:46:17] I don't know how many toasts we did.
[00:46:21] but me and our team and all of them at the table, nobody got a buzz.
[00:46:28] We shared the gospel, there was silence and then Caha stood up and said, did you hear what he said?
[00:46:35] You can be forgiven, I was forgiven today.
[00:46:40] You can come to Christ, now, right now.
[00:46:44] We'll never have this chance again.
[00:46:45] He told, watch this, oh wait, he said,
[00:46:49] Dad, mom, you, sister, friends, all of you, right now, accept Jesus, right now.
[00:46:57] It was so funny.
[00:46:58] And you know what?
[00:47:00] I mean, that's a weird form of evangelism.
[00:47:05] But he looks at me, this guy's been saved for hours.
[00:47:09] This guy, he turns to me and he says, say it again to them.
[00:47:14] I said it and they all stood up to accept Christ.
[00:47:20] and that's not in my notes.
[00:47:24] But that verse, I wanna see God move.
[00:47:28] You wanna see God move?
[00:47:29] Then get out there where he's moving.
[00:47:33] Okay, and clue, it's not on your couch.
[00:47:37] Jesus is in the world, he's out there.
[00:47:41] And then very, very quickly, we need to wrap this up and we will and it ends with this, verses 20 to 21 and that is the church is here and it's there and it's,
[00:47:49] Everywhere, God's church.
[00:47:52] Which, by the way, we need to be praying for the believers in Iran and Persia today.
[00:47:56] We don't know how many are dead, but there's a lot of dead people.
[00:48:01] But Christianity is exploding in Persia.
[00:48:07] God's church is everywhere.
[00:48:10] And you want to look for God's church on the move.
[00:48:12] In verse 20, And so I have made it my aim.
[00:48:15] This is my target.
[00:48:19] to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named.
[00:48:22] If people have already heard about Jesus, Paul said, I'm moving on.
[00:48:28] Notice the intensity of this man, and may it be ours.
[00:48:32] Wait, was Jesus preached in where?
[00:48:35] In Southern California, Jesus has been preached?
[00:48:37] Oh yes, Paul.
[00:48:38] Okay, then I'm not going there.
[00:48:41] Isn't that amazing?
[00:48:43] Well, where are you going to go?
[00:48:44] Tell me where Jesus Christ has not been preached and that's where I'm gonna go.
[00:48:48] Now, we used to think we gotta get in an airplane and fly to Bangladesh or something to do that.
[00:48:54] Now, all we have to do is open our eyes in our own community.
[00:49:00] The world is now here.
[00:49:02] This week in New York City, last week in New York City,
[00:49:10] Over the city of New York City, now the Islamic call to prayer is now being broadcast over New York City for the first time in American history.
[00:49:22] Indicating that on September 1st, 2001, the United States was defeated.
[00:49:28] That's what that means.
[00:49:30] You can't spin it another way.
[00:49:31] Don't try to make yourself feel good.
[00:49:36] They invaded on September 11th, 2001 and they won!
[00:49:40] And the proof of it was this week.
[00:49:44] New York City is subject to the Islamic call to prayer on public speakers over the city.
[00:49:56] And I made a post about that and I said, this is what you get when Christians don't vote.
[00:50:02] I want that to settle in.
[00:50:04] How did this happen?
[00:50:07] They got a new mayor!
[00:50:11] Because all the Christians stayed home.

[00:50:17] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Good.

[00:50:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good.
[00:50:19] Like Jeremiah, God says, Jeremiah, don't even speak to me anymore about these people.
[00:50:26] Don't pray for them.
[00:50:28] They've made their choice.
[00:50:29] Let them go.
[00:50:32] In the greatest financial epicenter of the world,
[00:50:36] is now Islamic.
[00:50:40] How do you combat that?
[00:50:42] Give them Jesus Christ.
[00:50:43] That's the only way.
[00:50:44] What are you gonna do?
[00:50:45] Preach the gospel.
[00:50:48] And by the way, after you preach the gospel, go vote right next time.
[00:50:54] And so, listen, he says, I've made it my aim to preach Christ, the gospel, that is.
[00:51:02] Not where he's been named.
[00:51:03] See the word aim?
[00:51:04] The word aim is awesome.
[00:51:06] I make it my aim.
[00:51:07] Look at it.
[00:51:08] It is my love.
[00:51:09] The word means to aim is to love.
[00:51:12] It's to joy.
[00:51:13] It's to aspiration.
[00:51:14] It's to ambition.
[00:51:16] It's to target.
[00:51:18] I've made this my target.
[00:51:20] Love is my target.
[00:51:23] How do you live that out, Paul?
[00:51:24] By telling others about Jesus.
[00:51:28] Matthew 28 verse 18 and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all nations by the way in that declaration the word evangelism is never mentioned because it's implied every Christian will tell somebody about Jesus when they become a believer go and make disciples that is make them students of the word
[00:51:56] all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo or behold I am with you always even to the end of the age or the end of the world amen Acts chapter 1 verse 7 and he said to them Jesus said to them it is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has placed in his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
[00:52:26] comes upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria, here it is, and to the end of the earth.
[00:52:35] Does any of this excite you?
[00:52:37] When I read that, I say, pick me, pick me.
[00:52:43] Don't you wanna get freaked out?
[00:52:45] Listen, some people have to go to an amusement park to get their rush.
[00:52:50] I'm not big on amusement parks.
[00:52:52] I don't need them.
[00:52:54] Some people are, what's the word, adrenaline junkies.
[00:52:58] Man, tie a rubber band to your leg and jump off a bridge.
[00:53:02] I don't need to do that.
[00:53:05] Jump out of an airplane.
[00:53:07] I don't need to do that.
[00:53:10] I'm trying to be as radical for Jesus as I can.
[00:53:12] I'm trying to obey him as much as I can.
[00:53:15] And let me tell you something, that will stoke your life.
[00:53:20] That will get you going because if you've got your antenna up and you're listening, you might just hear him say something and then your heart rate is going and you can't sleep, you can't rest until he says to you, you go do this thing.
[00:53:39] and you go do it and you're not strong enough and you don't have the ability and who are you anyway?
[00:53:44] Who are we anyway?
[00:53:46] But we stand for what he wants us to stand for and then God opens up the sea.
[00:53:52] All because you obeyed and brought him glory.
[00:53:57] And he says in verse 21, but as it is written, to whom he was not announced they shall see
[00:54:06] and those who have not heard shall understand.
[00:54:10] This is the Apostle Paul quoting out of the book of Isaiah.
[00:54:14] Notice this, as it is written.
[00:54:19] Paul the Apostle is leaning upon the Old Testament to do New Testament evangelism.
[00:54:27] That's why the book of Isaiah has more quotations of it in the New Testament than any other book of the Bible.
[00:54:36] Here, Paul is referring to Isaiah 52 verse 15.
[00:54:41] It's about the Messiah.
[00:54:43] So shall he sprinkle many nations.
[00:54:45] Kings shall shut their mouths at him, and what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider.
[00:54:56] Folks, listen.
[00:54:57] Paul the Apostle, by the Holy Spirit, is using Isaiah chapter 52 to announce to us
[00:55:04] that God's plan is for those who have never heard the gospel or never understood to become believers also.
[00:55:10] It's not just the Jews, it's Gentiles also.
[00:55:14] And listen, he's also quoting Psalm, or excuse me, Isaiah 65 verse one.
[00:55:21] I was sought by those, Gentiles, who did not ask for me.
[00:55:28] I was found by those who did not seek me.
[00:55:33] I said, Here I am.
[00:55:34] Here I am.
[00:55:36] Isn't that cute?
[00:55:38] This is God saying, Here I am over here.
[00:55:40] You guys are looking for me?
[00:55:41] I'm right here.
[00:55:42] Isn't that cute?
[00:55:46] God speaks through the Hebrew prophet announcing to the Jewish people that he's also going to save Gentiles.
[00:55:53] Look around you.
[00:55:55] In fact, if you're an atheist, this is a great day.
[00:55:59] You can stop that right now.
[00:56:00] You wanna know why?
[00:56:01] How many of us, let's do it this way.
[00:56:05] How many of you are Jewish?
[00:56:06] You have Jewish blood in you.
[00:56:07] Raise your hands, come on.
[00:56:10] Several, awesome, put your hands down.
[00:56:12] How many of us are Gentiles with no Jewish blood in us?
[00:56:15] That means the rest of you raise your hand.
[00:56:19] All of us are proof of a nearly 3,000 year old prophecy, God's word is true.
[00:56:25] Boom, here we are, just exactly as the Bible said, that Gentiles would believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[00:56:32] Go figure that out.
[00:56:33] See, you don't need to be an atheist anymore.
[00:56:36] That alone proves God's existence.
[00:56:40] And so I wanna leave this with you.
[00:56:43] They shall understand.
[00:56:44] Do you understand?
[00:56:46] Do you know?
[00:56:50] that Christ Jesus is not a fairy tale, it's not a story, and he is not the founder of a religion.
[00:56:57] I'm always offended, not really, when people say, you know the three great faiths and the great three religions in the world, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
[00:57:08] Islam's always at the end because it came last.
[00:57:11] Just know that.
[00:57:12] Judaism, Christianity, Christianity comes out of the Old Testament scriptures.
[00:57:19] That said,
[00:57:21] I don't like being called a religionist.
[00:57:24] I'm not a religionist.
[00:57:26] Oh, what is your religion?
[00:57:27] Ain't got one.
[00:57:31] Listen, if you love Jesus, you don't have a religion either.
[00:57:34] If you love Jesus, you have a relationship with him.
[00:57:38] Friends, listen, if you know the Lord, you know this, you know that you're going to heaven.
[00:57:44] The Bible says, listen, these things are written that you might know that you have eternal life.
[00:57:50] You're gonna have to, listen, don't anybody move.
[00:57:53] This is a holy moment.
[00:57:55] Many of you are gonna be nervous in a second because I'm gonna challenge, well, I'm gonna invite you, but you're gonna be challenged by the Holy Spirit.
[00:58:03] In a moment, I'm gonna ask you to make a decision regarding Jesus Christ.
[00:58:07] You're gonna get nervous about it.
[00:58:08] You're gonna get anxious.
[00:58:09] You're gonna feel it in your carotid artery area, your pulse, your blood's gonna start pumping around your neck.
[00:58:16] You're gonna feel a little tension around your midsection, maybe just below your heart.
[00:58:21] And then, thirdly, you're gonna start thinking of excuses.
[00:58:24] Honey, it's time to go.
[00:58:25] We gotta go.
[00:58:26] Why, why?
[00:58:26] I don't know.
[00:58:27] I know we gotta go.
[00:58:28] Something's telling me we gotta go.
[00:58:30] That would be Satan.
[00:58:33] Saying it's time to go.
[00:58:34] Right now, today's the day, now's the time for you to finally stop goofing off.
[00:58:41] It's time for you to stop trying to run your life
[00:58:44] It's time for you to stop justifying yourself.
[00:58:47] You know you're guilty.
[00:58:48] We know you're guilty.
[00:58:50] And we don't even know you.
[00:58:52] But we're all guilty.
[00:58:57] Lust, anger, fear, hatred, envy.
[00:59:03] So if you're in this building, if you're in any other buildings, if you're in the courtyard, I'm going to ask all of you that are going to respond to this public invitation.
[00:59:13] In fact, listen to this.
[00:59:16] I wanna read this to you.
[00:59:17] The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.
[00:59:24] Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.
[00:59:31] There's no other God because there's no other way of salvation.
[00:59:34] Listen, I'm gonna ask you right now, Father God, in Jesus' name, I pray that as we sing this song right now to give people time
[00:59:42] that they would say, that's it, that's it.
[00:59:44] I'm done with this.
[00:59:45] I'm done playing games.
[00:59:47] I'm gonna get real with God.
[00:59:48] I'm gonna give my life to Christ.
[00:59:53] I'm gonna confess that he died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the grave.
[00:59:59] As the Bible says, I'm gonna receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior, because I need him to wash me of my guilt, shame, and sin, and I'm gonna receive the new life that he has for me.
[01:00:13] I'm going to ask all of you to be intellectually honest with yourself and with God because what's happening to you right now is happening on the inside.
[01:00:22] You're getting squeamish.
[01:00:23] You're getting a little hot.
[01:00:26] That's the Holy Spirit working on you.
[01:00:30] He loves you.
[01:00:31] If you're not saved and you're sitting here right now and you feel nothing, it's because you're not God's child.
[01:00:37] You'll never be God's child.
[01:00:38] You're done.
[01:00:40] I mean, you don't even care.
[01:00:42] You're dead.
[01:00:43] But somebody right here right now today might be saying, this makes sense.
[01:00:49] I think I'm in trouble with my sins and I want to be rescued from my trouble.
[01:00:54] I want my sins forgiven.
[01:00:55] As Gia sings this song, I'm going to ask you to get up and obey God and stand at the front of this stage and come quickly.
[01:01:05] You know Jesus said, whoever comes to me I will in no wise turn away.
[01:01:14] Isn't that wonderful?
[01:01:16] The Messiah said, if you come to me, I won't turn you away.
[01:01:24] If you're saying today, well, just, I'm gonna, there's a couple of things I need to take care of, and then I'll come.
[01:01:31] I just want you to know we all tried that.
[01:01:34] It doesn't work.
[01:01:40] Gia opened up with that song, Come Just As You Are.
[01:01:45] And that's the truth.
[01:01:49] When a woman was caught in the act of adultery and brought to the feet of Jesus to be stoned to death, they asked him what should be done with her.
[01:02:02] Jesus told her, woman, your sins are forgiven.
[01:02:06] Go and sin no more.
[01:02:10] You either think that's wonderful news or you think that that's crazy news.
[01:02:16] But that's exactly what you need.
[01:02:19] And today, if you are Jewish, we're not asking you to end your Jewishness.
[01:02:26] To become a follower of Messiah, you have to understand something.
[01:02:29] We as Gentiles, Paul says in Romans 2, we become Jewish on the inside.
[01:02:35] God circumcises our hearts
[01:02:39] But you may be a Jew on the outside, but you don't have the salvation on the inside.
[01:02:46] Your heart's never been circumcised.
[01:02:48] That's the heart that God's looking for.
[01:02:51] And we are all lovers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[01:02:58] You ought to be a little bit jealous about that.
[01:03:01] Us Gentiles know your God and your scriptures.
[01:03:06] I know I just lied to you a moment ago and said I wasn't going to give another chance, but to our Jewish friends, complete your Jewishness.
[01:03:18] Complete it by coming to your Messiah.
[01:03:22] In 15 seconds, you can do that.
[01:03:24] Get up and come.
[01:03:25] The clock is ticking.
[01:03:27] Come right now if God is speaking to you.
[01:03:30] Come to Yahshua HaMashiach, the Lord of the Scriptures.
[01:03:35] Those of you who are standing here, let this prayer fall from your mouths.
[01:03:39] Let the Lord hear it.
[01:03:41] The Bible says if you believe this in your heart and confess this with your mouth, you shall be saved.
[01:03:47] You may or may not feel anything when you pray in a moment.
[01:03:50] Feeling doesn't matter.
[01:03:51] This is a decision of your will.
[01:03:53] Your mind has been changed because your heart has been challenged and the Lord will not refuse you.
[01:04:03] Are you ready?
[01:04:04] Family of God, will you pray with them?
[01:04:06] Dear Lord, I come to you in Jesus' name.
[01:04:12] I'm asking for you to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me from my unrighteousness.
[01:04:25] I want to be new.
[01:04:26] I want to walk with you now.
[01:04:31] I confess Jesus Christ
[01:04:36] as my crucified Savior and my resurrected Lord.
[01:04:40] In Jesus' name I pray.
[01:04:45] Amen.
[01:04:46] Amen.