Urban Legends #1
[Video, Eerie Sounds] There is an urban legend that this house is haunted because a little girl supposedly was murdered. It is not that I am afraid to go back there or anything, but I just kind of like standing here. Now, for the record, I don’t believe in ghosts or anything like that, but last week as we were shooting a video, my friend, Mark, went back to edit it, and he noticed some weird things. We tried to keep all this under wrap, but somebody uploaded it on U-Tube, and it has just gone crazy, so we will just go ahead and address it and talk about it here. Let’s go ahead and look at the video, and you will notice, behind me, there is a strange image that moves from the right to the left. Watch. Here it is. It is just … see it. Okay, uhlllll, let’s look at it in slow motion. Okay? There it goes. Freaky. Now, if that’s not weird enough, later on in the video, there is an image that actually moves from your left to your right on the screen. If you watch it carefully, you’ll see it. Okay? Yeah, one more time, slow motion. Okay? Weird, isn’t it? Now, I don’t believe in ghosts or anything, but we do have a guy who’s actually looking at the video frame by frame, just to tell us exactly what is going on. I’ll tell you more about that next week. For now, I’ll stay outside of the house and we will deal with week number one of “Urban Legends”.
Well, welcome today to all of you at all of our campuses as we are in a series called Urban Legends. Speaking of the haunted house, you know, I don’t get into that kind of stuff, but my friend and video guy, Mark, we actually went there to shoot another video. This one was for our LifeGroups, which you will see in your life if you are here, in a few weeks, and were actually in the house again … until Mark heard something and saw something, dropped his camera, screamed, we both ran off like little girls. So, that’s just uh … tell you more about the video next week as we do more homework on it. Today, though, we will start a brand new series, and of all the series that we’ve ever done in the church, I would say that this one has potential to be the most important. Today, we will look at an urban legend that, in reality, all of our eternity’s hinge on the possibility of this being legend or being truth. Very, very important. Next weekend, I will talk about what I consider to be the most dangerous spiritual legend in the American church. The majority of Americans believe this very dangerous teaching, and we will talk about that next week. I cannot wait to get into that.
Today, though, we are going to look at one of the most common world-wide beliefs today. You can see this on talk shows, television, radio, you can see your favorite movie star talking about this, and in this very politically correct world, it is very common to hear that there are many different ways to God. People will say as long as you are sincere, and you are sincerely seeking, all roads lead to God. This message, it feels good. It is easy to believe, but the question is, is it an urban legend, or is it true?
What is funny to me is, this is different than years past, but today, you can talk about just about anywhere, you can talk about God. You can talk about God on Oprah. You can talk about spirituality. You can talk about karma … positive feelings coming your way, right now. You can talk about all these different things, but you can’t talk about Jesus. You talk about Jesus and everybody freaks out, I mean, even in public schools you can’t talk about Jesus. I like the story of one fourth grade little girl that was trying to talk about Easter, and her teacher said, “You can’t talk about Christian things here at school,” and the little girl said, “But it is Easter, and Jesus rose from the dead,” and the teacher said, “You Christians are so foolish. Jesus did not rise from the dead.” And the little girl said, “Yes, He did.” And the teacher said, “No, no, the Roman soldiers stole the body of Jesus.” And the girl said, “No! They didn’t.” And the teacher said, “Prove it,” and the little fourth grade girl was frustrated. She said, “I can’t prove it, but when I die and I go to Heaven, I’ll ask the Roman guards and they will tell me they didn’t do that.” And the teacher said, “Yeah, but what if they are not in Heaven?” And the little girl said, “Well, then, when you die, you ask them.” [laughter]
Are there many different ways to God, or is Jesus the only way? Whenever you say Jesus is the only way, people tend to write you off as very narrow minded, very judgmental, very close minded. Is it legend? Is it truth? Let’s look at the claims of Jesus, because you’ve got to admit, almost nobody debates the existence of Jesus. Even Jesus’ detractors admit Jesus existed. People don’t dislike His teaching. How can you? It’s the best teaching around. Love people. Be generous. So, they don’t debate His teaching. They don’t debate His existence. What people debate is His exclusive claim to be God, the Son of God, the only way to God. John 14:6, Jesus, one time said, He said, “I am the,” what? All of our campuses, Say it out loud. Jesus said, “I am the way. I am the truth, and I am the life.” And Jesus said, “Nobody gets to God, no one comes to the Father except,” how? He said, “Except …” There’s only one way, Jesus said. That brings the point of debate. Is He the only way? John 10:30 and following, Jesus said, “I and the Father are,” what? “We are one and the same,” He said. Again, the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus, who also was a Jew, but Jesus said to them, “I’ve shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you want to stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews. But for what? We are stoning you for blasphemy, because you are a mere man. What do you claim? You claim to be God.” It is those claims that freaks everybody out.
Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, the Dalai Lama, none of them claim to be God. That’s what separates Jesus, and that’s what offends so many people. Let’s be honest. Deciding on the answer to this issue is one of the most important things that we could ever do. Our eternal destination hinges on the answer. Are there many ways to God? Or, is Jesus the only way? If Jesus is who He says He is, the Son of the living God, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and said, “You must deny yourself and follow me.” If that is true, then we should surrender the rest of our lives, giving every bit, empowered by God’s Spirit, to pursue Him, to live for Him, and to live for His glory in every single way. If, on the other hand, though, it is not true, you should never, ever come back here again. You should never waste your time in a Christian church, because we are just kidding ourselves, and this is all a big joke. So, let’s explore it and see. Legend or truth? Where do we fall?
We are going to put Jesus to the test, and we are going to test a couple of things. If you are taking notes, we will start off by testing the credibility of Jesus. How credible was He, because a lot of times when you get closer to people, you are less impressed. From a distance, they may look impressive. People sometimes will meet me in person. And they’ll be like, “Dang, you are not nearly as impressive as I thought.” Every now and then, though, I can continue to fool people, like this week, I went to the grocery store to pick up some stuff, and this guy just was like overwhelmed to see me. He’s like, “Oh, my gosh. You’re him! In the grocery store, you go to the grocery …” I’m like, “Of course, I go to the gro …” He’s like, “I can’t believe you’re in the grocery store! You’ve got a cart.” Man, he was just going on, and so finally, I thought, “I’m going to just jack with this guy.” I said, “Dude, I haven’t been to the grocery store in years. Normally, I just like pray for a pizza, and it appears, and I just like ask God for something. Groceries appear in my house.” He looked at me dead on. He goes, “That’s just incredible, man. That’s got to be so cool.” [laughing]
Anyway, let’s look at some things about Jesus, and let’s test His credibility, examine three things. First of all, we are going to examine what people said about Jesus. Now, not just His fans, and not His disciples, but let’s look at a couple of people who had reason to not like Jesus. The first one is Pilate, Pontius Pilate. Now, if you know his story, he was under a tremendous amount of pressure to crucify Jesus. And he wanted to find any sin, any fault, any excuse to give in to the crowd, so Pilate examined Jesus, and here’s what he said, John 18:38. He said, “What is truth?” ‘Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no basis of charge against Jesus.’ “ Then, another version of the Bible, it translates it this way. It says, “I find no fault in him.” I mean, He hasn’t done anything wrong. Try this. The next time you think you are the Son of God, go ask someone if they find any fault in you. Go to work and ask. I asked my wife, Amy, “Do I have any faults?” ha ha ha. She said, “You want the whole list, or just the top one hundred?” Okay? Pontius Pilate, who was looking for something wrong, said, “This man hasn’t done anything wrong. I can’t find any fault in him.” Look at what people said about Him. Look also at the centurion and some of his buddies who were at the crucifixion of Jesus, and they were on the side of the crowd who wanted Jesus dead. If you know the story, Jesus gave His life and the ground shook, the temple veil was ripped, and here’s what some other people said. Matthew 27:54, “When the centurion and those who were with, were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that happened, they were terrified, and they exclaimed,” say it with me. They said, “Surely he was,” whom? They said, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Okay, they looked on and they said, “Wait a minute. This has got to be the Son of God. He is who He said He was.” Examine what people said about Jesus.
A second thing we are going to examine, if you are taking notes is, let’s examine what Jesus did. He was well known and famous for His teaching and for His miracles. Mark 6:2, “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!” Think about the miracles of Jesus. What did He do? What did He do? Well, He opened blind eyes. Impossible. He healed deaf ears. He caused the mute to speak. Some guy with a shriveled up hand that spoke, and the hand was healed. He cast out demons. He multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000 men, and probably their wives and kids there, as well. He walked on water. He calmed the storm. He raised the dead. And nobody, not even the Pharisees, who hated him, debated the validity of His miracles. They just wanted Him to stop. “Sure, He does miracles. Just stop Him.” Examine what others said about Him. Examine what Jesus did, and also, if you are taking notes, let’s examine what God did. If there is any one thing that pops out of scripture that’s important to recognize, it is that scripture claims that Jesus, after He died, was raised back to life. In fact, Peter, when he was at Solomon’s colonnade, was talking to some of the men at Israel, and this is what he is recorded to say. Acts 3:15-16, he said, “You killed the author of life.” All of our campuses, help me out. But what did God do? “But God raised him from the dead, and we are witnesses to this.” He said, “You know what? We didn’t just hear about it, but we saw Him when He was risen.” Now, admittedly, there is a lot of debate. No one debates whether Jesus existed. No one debates the quality of His teaching, but what they do debate is, “Was He really raised from the dead?” And some arguments to say He wasn’t, a lot of people will say, “Well, the Roman soldiers, they stole the body of Jesus, and so He is not really risen.” But you have to think about this. The Roman soldiers, and the enemies of Jesus would have loved nothing more than to produce a dead body, to say, “Look, the disciples are full of it. Here He is. He’s still dead.” So, that argument seems to vanish pretty quickly. Now, a lot of people will also say, “Well, the disciples stole the body of Jesus,” which is a possibility, if you can imagine that these unarmed, untrained men overpowered the best of the best of the Roman guards, who were kind of like today’s UFC fighter, and you have to remember, too, that you would still have the testimony of the guards, who could say, “Well, you know, we weren’t paying attention, and you know, these guys, they were really tough, especially the little tax collector guy. I mean, he walked up to us, and just beat the tar out of us, and they stole the body.” You still have the testimony of the guards. Now, think about this. The twelve disciples, Judas took his own life, John died of old age. How did the other ten die? Well, the other ten died the death of a martyr. After severe torture and persecution, they lost their lives for the cause of Christ. Do you think that these ten men would really die for a lie? Scripture tells us this. Jesus was spotted. There were witnesses. There were those who saw Him on the road to Amaas. There were those who saw Him on the mountainside. There were those who saw Him in the Upper Room. According to the book of Acts, there were over 500 people who saw the risen Christ. There were witnesses. Think about this. Ask yourself this. Do you really expect any rational-thinking person to believe that eleven, ordinary, uneducated men devised the most grand scheme in the history of the world, pulled it off, and kept it a secret – with no personal motivation for self-gain, but quite the opposite. They pulled off this elaborate hoax with severe personal cost and lost, being hated, despised, rejected, abused, tortured, and martyred, all in order to cheat the world into being a better place.
Urban legend. There are many ways to God, and honestly, in our politically correct world, that just feels right. It feels safe. It is not offensive. Yet, Jesus makes a very exclusive claim, and He says, “There’s no other way to the Father but through me.” Test the credibility of Jesus.
The second thing we are going to do is, we are going to test the character of Jesus. Is He who He says He was? Was He a man of God, a man of integrity? John 8:46, Jesus asked a question. “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” Okay? “If I’ve done something wrong, point it out. Just tell me. What have I done? Prove me guilty of sin.” He said, “If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” When it comes to the character of Jesus, we really have only one of three options. Who was He? If you are taking notes, option number one, we would could just assume that Jesus was a liar, like the rest of us, because we all lie, and if you say you don’t lie, you are probably lying when you say you don’t lie.
I had a house full of six-year-old boys over at my house this weekend. We had a slumber party for my six-year-old, first boy slumber party we ever had, probably the last, and all these boys, they are just great kids, but they are liars. They lied the whole stinking time. We played these games that’d ask them questions, and they’d lie. I said … they were trying to warm up each other. I said, “How many of you have ever been swimming before?” “Oh, oh, oh, oh, I have.” They’d all say, “How many of you have been swimming in the ocean?” “Oh, oh, oh, oh, I have.” “How many of you have ever been bitten by a shark?” “Oh, oh, oh, oh, I have,” they’d all say. “How many of you have ever killed a lion?” “I, I, uh, oh, oh, oh,” they all had killed a lion. One guy even said, “Ask my dad. He killed a lion, too.” [laughter] A bunch of liars. There’s some of your kids were at my house, and they’re liars. They are just … my kids … They’re just … Maybe Jesus was a liar, and if He was, you’ve got to admit, He was dog gone good, wasn’t He? I mean, He was so persuasive that He got these twelve guys, and He was like, “Hey, you know, starting this business. You can get in on the bottom floor, and you know, there’d be layers under you and you can retire.” And so, He talked them into leaving their families, their career, their jobs, and for three years, these guys followed Jesus, who you could say was lying. At some point, you know Jesus had to sit back and go, “Man, I had not idea I could pull this thing off. I think it’s going to stick. I mean, it could be like 2,000 years later, and people will still believe that I was the Son of God. Dang! This thing could work.” Okay? Now, if He was lying, you have to know, at some point, He would break. He’d have to. He wasn’t Jack Bower. You know, he would break, right? So, so at some point, and I don’t know when, but whenever they were beating Him in the face over and over and over again, you know, with their rings, over and over and over again, and His face became so disfigured you couldn’t tell if it was a person or an animal, He probably would have broken then. It could have been, when they stripped Him down naked, and they took a whip, and in the whip there’d be these little metal balls, and there’d be sharp bones, they’d beat Him again and again on the back, and at first, the little balls would cause Him to bruise, then before long, they’d burst through the bruises and blood would splatter everywhere. Then His body would get ripped open, and His vital organs would be exposed and then, the bones would cut through that, and before long, He was bleeding to the point of physical exhaustion and pain beyond anything you could imagine. He’d probably break then, but if He’s really stinking tough, He’d just continue going, “Yeah, I’m just fooling them all, still,” but about the time when they put His bloody back on the cross and take the stakes, and they’d be about to drive them through His hands, don’t you think about that point He’d say, “Okay, sorry guys. This was all a joke. I’m just messing with you. Okay? I was bored as a carpenter. Wood on Monday. Wood on Tuesday. Wood all week long. I just thought I’d just mess with you.” Don’t you think at some point He would have said, “Hey, let’s take our ball and go home. This isn’t funny any more.”
Is He a liar? The man who is known for His moral teaching was immoral, Himself? It’s an option. Another option is, He was crazy. If you are taking notes, He’s a lunatic. He’s like, you should lock Him up. Put Him in a mental hospital. I like the story about the mental hospital that was surrounded by a wooden fence to keep everybody safe, and there was a hole in the fence with a sign on the outside that said, “Don’t look in the hole.” And this guy was walking by, and he saw the sign, and he heard a guy on the other side of the fence going, “Thirteen, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen,” and the guy was going, “What is that guy doing? There’s a sign that says, ‘Don’t look in the hole,’ “ and he, “Thirteen, thirteen, thirteen,” and finally, the guy just … curiosity got the best of him, so he looked in the hole and the guy on the other side poked him right in the eye and just started laughing. He goes, “Ah.” The guy on the other side of the fence is going, “Fourteen, fourteen, fourteen.” I hadn’t really worked all day, but I keep trying and I think maybe I’ll get lucky.
Maybe, maybe Jesus was a lunatic. He was crazy. You think about David Koresh, Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, and others who had kind of a messiah complex. They believed to be God, or the messiah, or some sort of deity. They all had a history of disturbing behavior. And, you think about Jesus, the most loving, most generous, most perfect person. He was either a liar, or He was a lunatic. We have one option left. If you are taking notes, and that is this, He is the Lord of all. He is Lord of everything. Why is it today that a lot of people don’t have a lot of respect or admiration, or worship for Jesus? I think a lot of the reason is because a lot of people don’t understand who He was. I think a lot of guys look at Jesus and think, “Well, that’s a guy I could beat up,” and first of all, I don’t think he could. Secondly, they’ll see Jesus as kind of this poor effeminant Galilean peasant, and I want you for a minute to not just think about the pictures that we’ve painted of Him, but I want you to think about who the Bible says He is when He returns. The apostle John, when he was exiled on the isle of Patmos, had a vision of the returning Christ. I want to see if this is a person who demands your respect, more so, your reverence, more so your worship and your devotion. Let’s look at how it’s described. Revelation 19:11, John says, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on a white horse and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written …” What is that name? All of our campuses, say it out loud. The name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” One more time. His name is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
Think about Jesus, if you will, for a moment. His public ministry lasted only three years. Think about the span of life. His public ministry lasted three years, and even though His ministry was only three years, His very birth splits time in two. Before Christ, and those of you who are young and growing up in today’s politically correct education system, do not buy into the lie that you are being taught. A whole new generation is coming up, thinking that B.C.E. is the way it’s always been, before common error, and my children will grow up with your children thinking that’s just the way it is unless we teach them, “No!” For years and years and years, it has been accepted that B.C. stands for Before Christ. His very birth splits time in two. Scripture says that there is one name that is above every single name, and that is the name of Jesus, and you will, on this earth, bow and call Him Lord, or one day, you will be like everyone else, who will kneel down and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. If you were the prince of darkness, Satan, what name would you attack? The name of Jesus. You can talk about all forms of spirituality in today’s world, but you can’t talk about Jesus, or you are narrow minded. If you were the evil one, what name would you attack? Name one other religious figure whose name doubles as a curse word. Go to virtually any movie rated PG-13 appropriate for our children to hear, “The F Bomb, G-D, and Jesus H Christ, not using a form of worship, but used as a curse word. Think about what name you would attack if you were the evil one.
Think about this. Ever see anybody, they were like working on something with a hammer … boom, boom, boom, and then they miss and they hit their thumb … thoommb! You ever hear anybody go thoommb, “Ah, Muhammad, boaaaaha, Buddha!” But what do they say? “Jesus Christ,” the name above all names, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What do you believe? What do you believe about Him? Jesus asked His disciples one time, saying, “Who do people say that I am?” “Oh, you’re all these kind of people. You’re, yeah, you’re uh Elijah, or you’re John the Baptist, you’re one of the prophets,” and then He looked at Peter and He said, “Peter, who do you say that I am? Who do you say I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Who do you say He is? Who do you say He is? Now, listen very carefully. Not just who do you say He is with your lips, but who do you say He is with your life, because there is a big difference. Not just, “Yeah, I was a little kid, and I went to church, and I prayed this prayer, and you know, I got confirmed. I was baptized,” or whatever, and, “Yeaaaahhh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, He’s my Savior.” No, no, no, not just what you say with your lips. What do you say with your life? This last seven days, just the last week, what would your actions say you believe about Jesus? Who do your actions say that He is? If He is Lord and you really believe that, let me tell you what you did a lot of last week. You sought Him through His word, because this is the bread of life, and you were in His word, because you really believe it. And you were probably on your face worshipping Him quite a bit, because you can’t not when you know who He is. And I bet you were praying like crazy, a lot of time in prayer, because you know that’s your direct access to the very throne room of God, and I can guarantee you this, you were looking at people who don’t know Him, and you were trying to figure out how you could help them to know Him, and you really, really care. Let me tell you what you weren’t doing. You weren’t concerned that much about your job, because that’s going to burn up and go away, and you weren’t that concerned about having the perfect house, because you know that’s temporary, and you weren’t that concerned about your car and your clothes, and your going to the gym and working out, because you know that all that stuff’s temporary. What you were concerned about were the things that last, because you believe that Jesus is Lord … or maybe you don’t.
Truthfully, when I look at my actions, they often don’t really reflect the Lordship of Christ. I don’t just want to say with my lips, but I want to live it with my life. So, it’s pretty easy and popular to blend in today and say, “Yeah, there’s many ways to God.” It is really easy. It is more dangerous to actually think it through, to do your homework, and to come out on the side that I fall on, and that is this. Here’s who He is to me. He’s my friend. He’s my Savior. He’s my Redeemer, my righteousness, my rock, my shelter, the bread of life, the gate, the door, my salvation, and my Lord, and the only way I have access to God, and if there had been another way to get to God, then Jesus would have never had to be born and never had to die. It’s because of that, I not only want to confess Him with my mouth, but I want to confess Him with my whole life. Who do you say that he is?
All of our campuses, let’s pray. “Father, may we resist the temptation to blend in to what is popular, cool, and easy, but may we do the homework for ourselves, and God, I, I believe that Your Spirit and Truth will reveal that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and we have no access to You but through Him.”
All of our campuses today, there are, really, there are two groups of you. There are those of you that really believe that Jesus is the way, and there are others of you that say, “Yeah, I’m not quite there yet.” Let me talk to those of you that, first of all, believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that He is Lord. Ask yourself this. Have your actions reflected the lordship of Christ? Think about the words that you say. Think about the attitudes of your heart. Think about how you spend your money. Think about where your mind drifts. Think about how you raised your children. Think about how you spend your time. Do your actions reflect the lordship of Christ? My guess is that many of you today, in a very humble and broken moment before God, you will have a holy moment where you will say, “God, my actions have not reflected the lordship of Christ. Forgive me. Change me. Adjust my priorities to putting You first. In every way, I’m following Your voice.” If that is you today, at all of our campuses, your actions have not reflected the lordship of Christ, and you will seek Him for forgiveness, you will repent, and you will change by His power to His ways, would you lift up your hands high? All of our campuses, just lift them up high. Man, oh, there’s so many of you. I’m so pleased with what God is doing. Would you just do this, I’ll just kind of guide you. Just, just pray right now to God, and tell Him some of the things you have been putting in front of Him. Just give them a name right now.
Now, ask God to forgive you, and in your own heart, worship Him right now, because you are forgiven. “Now, Father, we ask that as Your people, we would not just confess You with our lips, but we would confess You with our lives. God, may You be Lord over all of our relationships, over our households, over our businesses, over our marriages, over our children, over our friendships, over our finances, over every relationship that we have, over our attitudes, over our hearts, over our morals, over our decisions. Jesus, we pray that You would not just be the Lord that we confess with our lips for salvation, but that You would be the Lord that our lives confess. You are Lord over all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Keep us on a short spiritual leash. When we stray, convict us lovingly back into Your perfect ways and Your perfect will.”
Still praying today, at all of our campuses, there are those of you that you have been presented some information today, and more than that, there is something going on spiritually in your life. Maybe you are feeling drawn to the ways of Jesus, and let me just explain to you what that is. That is the work of a very loving God, who reaches out through the power of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been working in your life for a long time, and His goal is to bring you and introduce you to a relationship with God. Let me just explain it as clearly as I can. It is called the Gospel, and Gospel means Good News. Here’s the good news. The bad news is, we are separated from God because we are sinful beings. The good news is, God so loved you that He became one of you. He sent His Son, Jesus, who was without sin, to die in your place as a substitute for your sins on the cross. The good news is, though, that the tomb is now empty. The stone’s been rolled away. There are witnesses. Jesus is back. He has risen, and He sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty right now, and right now at this moment, He is praying for you. What does He want? He wants you to turn from your sinfulness, your ways, your decisions, and turn to Him. He said, “If anyone would follow me, he must deny himself.” It’s no longer about you. He must pick up his cross, just like Jesus did. That means, basically, you are going die to yourself, and then you follow Him. What we don’t do, is what I think has become American version of Christianity, which is, “Jesus, save me. I prayed the prayer, and now I’ll go on with my life.” No, scripture says that anyone who calls Jesus Lord will be saved. That means He is first in every single way. You are saved by His grace, something we could never, ever earn, but we follow Him with all of our life.
There are those of you at all of our campuses, you are being drawn to the things of Jesus. Call out on His name. He will forgive you without condition. He will cast all of your sin into the Sea of Forgetfulness, and you will be made brand new. You call out on His name, and the scripture says you will become a brand new creation. There are those of you at all of our campuses, God has brought you here because this is your moment. Who do you say that He is? A great man, a wise teacher, or the Son of the Living God, Who is Lord of all? “Jesus, save me. Me the Lord of my life in every way.” That’s your prayer today at all of our campuses, lift your hands high right now. Just lift them high all over the room, and leave them up if you will. Just leave them up, and just let me acknowledge you. Sir, right back over there. Sir, all three of you right here together, God bless you guys. Right here in this section, ma’am. Right back here, sir. Right back there in the back. Right back here, sweetheart. God bless you guys. Right over here. Both of you together. Right back there toward the back, God bless you guys. Right up here. Others of you saying, “That’s my prayer today. Jesus, save me.” Right back here. Way back here toward the back. Others of you. Right back over here. On this side, awesome. Right here. Both of you right here, Praise God for you guys. Others of you. “Yes, Jesus, save me. I surrender to You. Forgive me.” Others of you today.
Pray with those around you. Just pray out loud. “Heavenly Father, I give You my whole life as Jesus gave His life for me. Because You died for me, empower me to live for You. Forgive me of my sins. Make me new. Make me like You. Be my Savior, and be my Lord. In every way, I give my life to You. Thank You for new life. In Jesus’ name I pray.”
