Transcript

Sermon Transcript: Easter Sunday 2022

4/17/2022 Jeff Schwarzentraub 27 min read

Paul said, "I delivered to you as first importance that Jesus Christ died according to scriptures, that he was buried and then on the third day, he was raised from the dead." Friends, we're here to celebrate the fact that God is not dead, that God is alive, that he is with us and that he works in and through us. Every Easter, when this story gets told, I'm just afraid that there are people, because they've heard the story before, they heard it as kids, Jesus died on the cross, he rose from the dead. Next year, Jesus died on the cross, he rose from the dead. That sometimes we miss the point of the story. We miss the mark. We don't quite understand.

It reminds me of the Amish family I heard about that traveled to a big city and they saw all sorts of things they had never seen before. They saw all sorts of automobiles. But one of the things that they noticed that they didn't see in their small town were skyscrapers. So, they went into the skyscraper that had department store and the mom and the daughter went wandering off to look at clothes. The father and the son were standing there at a bank of doors that were silver, that were opening and closing. They didn't know what they were.

At one point in time, an old woman, who was about 90 years old, that was haggard, that was hunched over with a cane, they saw the door open, they saw her walk into the door, into this room, and they saw it close and they didn't know what it was. About two minutes later, that same door opened and a beautiful woman walked out, a beautiful young lady. And the son said to his father, "Dad, what is that?" And he goes, "I don't know, son, but go get your mother."

Sometimes we hear the gospel so many times that we forget what it's about, friends. I'm here to tell you that God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to die in a cross, so that those who believe would never perish, but would have eternal life. That God has an incredible love for you. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead validated that he was God's one and only eternal son and wanted to have a relationship with you.

So, I thought, for this morning, while we gathered, if there's one scripture in the Bible that really highlights the heart of God and who He is, it's Luke 15. Because all sorts of people have all sorts of ideas about God. Some view Him as a cruel master. Some view Him as a benevolent grandfather. That it doesn't really matter how you live. But Jesus wanted to clarify to a group of people in Luke 15, just who God is. Jesus Christ was God in flesh and so he told not just one story or two stories, but he told three stories.

And he told this story, because the setting says in Luke 15, "Now the tax collectors and sinners were coming near him to listen to him, both the Pharisees and scribes begin to grumble saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'" To study the life of Jesus, if you know anything about Him, is that He loved to hang out with sinners. As a matter of fact, He was dubbed pejoratively a friend of sinners, sinners loved Jesus. That's good news, because the Bible says that you've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If Jesus were here, you would want to be around Him, because He's a friend to those who are sinners.

Now, while this group of people, this group of tax collectors and sinners were gathered, there's another group of people that were gathered too. They were the religious elite. And the religious elite had a hard time understanding how Jesus can hang out with people like that. Now, we make up all sorts of constructs for who good people are and who bad people are. We think that we know who the good people are. It's interesting to me that most people I meet put themselves in the good category. No matter who they are, they always think they're better than somebody. And this group of people was gathering because religious people cannot understand why God would care for sinners, specifically tax collectors. The tax collectors were Jewish people that collected taxes from their own, but there was no internet, there were no tax bracket. Nobody could look up to see how much they were owed. So, tax collectors were notorious from taking more money from the people, but there was nothing the people could do about it.

Then, there's this group of people that everybody in society knew were sinners. And as Jesus is in the middle of these two groups of people, this group of sinners that he's hanging with and this group of religious elite that we're saying, "How could he hang with people like that?" He tells these three stories. And these three stories still have impact for us today.

He told this story and he said, "What am what man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open pasture and go after the one that has lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together all his friends and neighbors saying to them, 'Rejoice with me for, I have found my sheep that is lost.'" I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over 99 that don't need repentance.

Now, as I look around today, I don't think many of you are farmers, but most people in Jesus' day were in the agricultural business. The sheep represented this, their property. Think about your property for a second. Jesus was saying if you lost one sheep and it wandered off, you wouldn't say, "Oh, well," you would go find that sheep. And when you found it, you put on your shoulders, you'd rejoice. You'd come back and call all your friends and rejoice and say, "This sheep was lost and now I found it." He said, "You know what? You care about your property." I mean, you care about the things that you have. If you misplaced your iPhone or you misplaced your computer, or you misplaced something that was significant to you, you wouldn't just say, "Oh, well, I'll just go get another one. It's no big deal."

No, you would search for it. And when you found it, you would tell your friends, "Hey, I found it. Here it is." You'd rejoice, because you know why? Human beings care about the things that belong to them, it's their property, and they say, "It's mine." He said, "I tell you the truth. You care about your property. Let me tell you what God cares about. God cares about sinners that repent. God cares about people that get to the end of themselves and recognize there's no other way than to have a relationship with God. And there's a party that goes on in heaven when that happens."

Then he tells another story he says, "Or what woman, if she has 10 silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, 'Rejoice with me for, I have found the coin, which I have lost.'" In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. So, Jesus has just gotten done saying, "You know what? You, as human beings, you care about your property and when you misplace some of it or you lose it and you find it, you rejoice." Then he says, "Guess what? I know something else about you. You care about your money."

Imagine 10% of everything you own when you woke up today was just gone. You checked your bank account, you looked online and 10% was just gone. You wouldn't say, "Oh, well, no big deal." You would want to find what you had lost. When you found what you had lost, or you realized the bank had made a mistake that was against you and it came back in your favor, you would rejoice and you call all your friends together. And Jesus was saying, "I know you, I created you. I know everything about you. You care about your belongings and you care about your money. Let me tell you what I care about. Let me tell you what God cares about. He cares about his people that He created and the problem with the people He's created is that they're sinners. And He loves it when people recognize that they're sinners and turn to Him for salvation." All of you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We don't realize what that means.

See, back in original creation, when Adam and Eve were told they could do whatever they wanted and that any decision they made would be good. God just gave them one command to not do, do not eat off the tree of the knowledge of good evil, the day you eat off that tree, you will surely die. They could have done whatever they wanted to do. And yet, what did they do? They chose to sin. When they chose to sin, sin entered into the world and dying, they begin to die. We all know today inherently that our death date is set. While we may not know the exact date of our death, we know that it's going to come. We all know that one day we will stop breathing and we'll die. Here's the question, what's going to happen to you when that happens? Jesus wants you to know that if you die in your sin, apart from Him, because God is holy and He's righteous and He's good and He can only take perfect people into his presence. There's no way for human beings to have a relationship with God.

You may think you have a relationship with God. You may pray. You may go to church. You may read your Bible. You may try to be a good person. But the Bible makes clear, we've all fallen short of the glory of God, because God only takes that which is perfect. That's why Jesus had to come. That's why He was trying to get sinners attention. So, He tells these people, "Hey, listen, you don't understand. Here's why I love sinners, because sinners is the very reason I came. I came to seek and save that which is lost." He's saying it for the religious people who don't see their need. He's saying it for those who don't understand that they have a need for Christ. He says, "You care about your money. You care about your property. Here's what I care about and my Father cares about, lost people that come to Him."

So then, He told this very, very familiar story. Most of you have heard it before. He said, "And a man had two sons." It's the tale of two sons. "The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate that falls to me.' So, he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went into a distant country and there squandered his estate with loose living." So, he tells a story of two sons. The youngest son goes to his father. And here's the equivalent of what he says to his dad. "Dad, I know one day I get a third of the estate. I don't get that until you die. I wish you were dead now. Can you just please give me my money and I'll leave? Because I want nothing to do with you." So, the father gives him his money.

And it says, "Not long after that," it means he had a plan. He took the money and guess what he did? He went to a distant country where there he squandered everything and lived wildly. You know what I find out about people and I know it inherently myself? If you want to sin, you always get away from people that know you. You always go to the distant country. When people are having an affair, they never invite their spouse to the party. They always get away. Right? When people are trying to cheat their boss, they don't do it in front of their boss, they go to the distant country. This young man took everything that had been given to him. And he went and squandered it for himself. Friends, that's what the sin condition does. Everything you have has been given to you by God. And so many of us think, "No, this is my life. And I'm going to live my way and do things the way I want to do." And that was the younger son's attitude.

Now, notice what happens. It says this, "When he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished. So, he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would've gladly filled his stomachs with the pods that the swine were eating and no one was giving him anything to eat." So now, what was really going well for him, he went off and was living his life to the full and he's thinking, "Man, I've got the world by the tail. I've got money. I've got friends. I've got it all." And now, he's hit rock bottom because there's a severe famine in the land.

Now, who controls the famine? Who controls those things? It's God. I want you to know, some of you are here today and you're so broken in your situation and you look at your life and you ask yourself this question, "How in the world did I ever get here?" You look backwards on your life and when you were a little boy or a little girl, you would've said, "There's no way I'd be dealing with the problems I'm dealing with now." God has a way of engineering circumstances in your life so that you will know that you need Him. This younger son grew up as a Jewish boy. Pigs were unclean animals. You didn't eat pigs. You didn't get around pigs. You didn't hang out with the pigs. It was probably a pejorative term that junior highers called each other was a pig, unclean, filthy animal.

Guess what he's doing now? He's so desperate, he's deciding, "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to feed the pigs. I'm going to hire myself out to somebody. I'll do whatever it takes just to survive." As he's watching the pigs eat, he now is wishing that he was the pig, because the pig is actually living better than him. Some of you are in that situation today. Some of you are in a situation today that if you could hit the rewind button on your life, you would go back and do things differently. That was the younger son. The younger son was living his life and living his life until he couldn't live his life the way he wanted to live his life anymore.

But I love what it says here in the next part of this word, it says, "But when he came to his senses." When he came to his sense, that means he woke up. That means he started thinking to himself, "Maybe life isn't as good as I thought it was going to be." And he said, "How many of my father's hired men have enough bread? But here I am with hunger, I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, 'Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired men.'" Here's what he begins to think. He thinks about his dad. And he thinks this, "The slaves that work for my dad have it better than me, even though I'm his son. And I've come to my senses and here's what I'm going to do." He develops this three part sermon like any religious person tries to do.

He says, "Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, just make me a slave. I'm just going to go back to my dad because, guess what? It'd be better to be a slave for my dad than to be out here and be free and have this miserable life." And here's how we know he wasn't just mincing words, because the next section says, "So he got up and went to his father."

Now, think about what's been going on at home the whole time he's been gone, his older brother's still been there. His older brother's still working for his dad. His dad has been shamed by the entire community that he would give his son the inheritance and watch his son go do all these different things. Certainly, word has come back to the family, "Look at what your son's doing. He's a mess. He's horrible. He's jacked up." Some of you feel that if you stood in front of God, that's what He'd say about you. That you're a mess, that you haven't lived your life to the full, that you're messed up and that God doesn't want you.

But I have good news for you. God, the Father loved you so much, He sent his son Jesus to die for you. He cares about you and He has great compassion for you. Because notice what happens next. It's my favorite part of the story. "When he came to his senses, he goes to his father," and he does this. "So, he got up and came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and he felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him." Now let me break this down for you for a minute.

Jewish men in the first century did not run. It was undignified to run. His younger son had never seen his dad run ever. Now you think about what a long distance is. If you picture the father up on top of that building over here, maybe the son down this quarter mile track, which is literally a half mile down that way. And he sees his son. And when the father sees the son, the son then sees the father and the father is sprinting towards the son. Now, we've read about what the heart of the father is. It's a heart of compassion, but the younger son didn't know that.

I mean, what do you think you would do if you told your dad, "Dad, I wish you were dead. Dad, give me your money." And you went and squandered everything. And then when you're about a half mile away from your dad, he's sitting there looking for you and for the first time in your life, you see your dad sprinting towards you and he's unrelenting in his steps and he's sprinting towards his son. What do you think the younger son was thinking? He was thinking, "My dad's going to kill me."

But here's what the younger son was thinking, "I don't care. My life's so miserable. I'll take whatever he is going to do. I'll take whatever lecture he's got. I'll take whatever beating he's going to give me. I don't care anymore." But what happens when the father comes racing towards his son that had messed up his life, that had robbed his father, that had done everything wrong? His father runs to him and instead of giving him a lecture and instead of beating him, instead of shaming him or anything else, he hugs him, he embraces him, he starts kissing him. Why? Because the father's heart is a heart of compassion.

Compassion is when you see a need and you take action. Compassion is when you see people hurting and you do something about it. He saw his son hurting in his sin and he wanted his son back. So, he starts hugging and kissing his son and notice what happens next. "And the son said to his father, 'Father I've sinned against heaven and in your sight, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.'" He gets two parts of his three part sermon complete, as his dad's kissing him, he's going to preach to his dad. "Dad, I'm sorry. I don't deserve to be here. I want to be a slave." But that's not good enough for his dad, because you know what his dad does? His dad says this, "He called to his slaves saying, 'Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it, let's eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and he has come to life again. He was lost and has been found,' and they began to celebrate."

Can you see that picture? Most people think the reason that they don't want to go to church, I've heard stories like this, I heard it this week. "I don't think I can go to Bandimere, if I came to Bandimere, lightning might strike there. I mean, I might set the church on fire." No, you see, when people who recognize their sin, come home to God. What they get immersed in is his mercy and his grace and his welcome. He says this, "Come home. I've been waiting for you to come home. I've always wanted to have a personal relationship with you and we never ever had that."

And he calls his slaves, because remember the son just wanted to be a slave. So, he calls his slaves and says, "No, no, no. You're not going to be a slave. Let me get my slaves for you. Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet." You know what he was saying? "We're about ready to have a banquet, I'm going to put the best clothing on you, because tonight at the banquet, when I invite all my friends and tell them that you're back, I want you to have the place of honor at the banquet. And I'm going to put a ring on your finger, which symbolizes this, you belong to our family and you have authority from our family and I'm going to put sandals on your feet, slaves don't wear sandals, but you're my son and you're going to wear sandals because your feet are going to remain pure, because that's how I made you."

And I get the picture that anytime that younger son would look down and be like, "I'm so undeserving of this," he would recognize that his father gave him sandals. And then he decides, "We're going to have a feast. They're going to kill not only a calf, but we're going to kill the fatted calf and we're going to celebrate. And there's going to be this huge party." Friends, I want you to know that God loves you so much, that He wants you to come home. Some of you today are steeped in religion and you've never come home to God. You don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. You just know a little bit about Jesus. And He wants you to come home.

Now, I love this story, but the story doesn't end here. It's not the story of the prodigal son. Remember, it's the tale of two sons. Because remember there's another son in the story too. He comes into the picture now. Some of you that can't identify with that, some of you that would say, "Yeah, I'm not one of those sinner types. That's not who I am. Why did I come and listen to this message? That's not me. My life's actually pretty good. I'm actually a pretty good person. I think when I die, God's just going to accept me for who I am." Then you need to hear about the older brother, because he felt just like you.

Notice what happened. It says, "Now the older son was in the field and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing." Now where's the older son? He's working. He's been working ever since the younger son left. The younger son left, didn't do what he was supposed to do. Older son stayed, did everything he was supposed to do. He comes home. And how did he come home? How did he notice that something was different? How did the father throw a party? Two words, ready? Certain denominations don't believe in these two words, music and dancing. There's a party going on.

Notice this, the older brother's not going to go talk to the father. The older brother doesn't want to go talk to the father. He's going to get somebody else. He says it, "He summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be." In other words, even though the older brother's home, he's not really with the father. He doesn't have a relationship with the father anymore than the younger son had a relationship with the father. He's just doing work for the father. So, he summons one of the slaves, because he's not going to go talk to his dad and says, "What's going on here?" And the slave begins to tell him, "Hey, your younger brother has come home and your dad's throwing a party in his honor." But notice what happened, it says, "But he became angry and was not willing to go in."

Now you would think that when the older brother heard that the younger brother, who may have been dead or was in a bad spot, had come home, he'd be like, "My bro's home. I want to go see him." But he's angry. He's angry at the fact that his father would show grace to the son that didn't do what he was supposed to do. He's like, "I'm not going into that party," but I want you to notice what the father does. "But his father came out and began to plead with him." What do you notice about the heart of the father? The heart of the father goes after sinners and the heart of the father goes after religious people. He's pleading with you and notice what he begins to say.

"The older son answered his father and said, 'Look, for so many years, I've been serving you and have never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours,'" notice what he doesn't say it, he doesn't say my brother. He says, "This son of yours came home, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed a fattened calf for him." Here's what he's saying.

He said, "Dad, this is totally not fair. It's not fair. This son of yours went and squandered all your wealth. And when he comes home, you throw a party for him. You killed a fattened calf. All these years, I've been slaving for you. All these years, I've done everything you ask. All these years, I did everything you told me to do. You want to know why that calf is fat? I'm the one that fed it. You never gave me a calf. You never gave me a goat. You didn't even give me enough money to go get a happy meal at McDonald's. Dad, you owe me, I've done all the right things."

You see his heart? That's the heart of the religious spirit. The heart of the religious spirit wants to enter eternity saying, "God, I'm good enough. Take me just as I am. I'm better than most people." You do not want to enter heaven asking God to bless you for who you are. The religious spirit kills. The religious spirit takes people to hell every single day. Why? Because God only takes perfect people. He only takes perfect. If you can't stand before God as perfect, you're not getting in the kingdom. That's the reason why Jesus Christ had to come and die on your behalf.

The father continues to plead with him, and he said to him, "Son, you have always been with me in all that is mine is yours, but we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours," knows how he calls him his brother, "Was dead and has begun to live. He was lost and he's now found." He said, "You don't get it. You've been with me this whole time, but we've never had a relationship. You've been with me this whole time, but you've acted like you're my slave. You've been with me this whole time. But you thought relationship was based upon you doing good for me."

Friends, none of us have done good enough for God. God sent his son because none of us were good enough to enter eternity. God sent Jesus who was born of a Virgin, who fulfilled the law, who died on a cross and three days later rose from the dead. The reason that we're here to celebrate is that Jesus Christ is indeed a friend of sinners. And God wants to welcome all sinners home. God wants to welcome you home. Many people I know say, "No, you don't understand. Pastor Jeff, when I die, I'm just going to tell the Lord what denomination I was. I'll tell Him I was Methodist. I'll tell Him I was Catholic. I'll tell Him I was Baptist. I'll show Him how I took communion. I'll tell Him how I was baptized. I'll tell Him how I joined a small group."

And I'm here to tell you, while those things may be good in and of themselves, they won't cover your sin. They won't cleanse you from your sin. Jesus Christ came to cleanse you from your sin. Jesus Christ came to forgive you in your life. Jesus Christ wants you to have a relationship with Him. In a minute, I'm going to call many of you forward who need to give your life to Jesus Christ today. That the purpose of this gathering is not just to have a church service. The purpose of this gathering is for those of you who know you're lost, to be found by God. Some of you are here today, who know, who know that you're far off from God, who have tried to play religious games or have felt this way, "I'm no good."

Friends, it doesn't matter what you've messed up. God loves you with an unconditional love. It doesn't matter whether you've been into drugs, illicit relationships, cheated people, stole from people, completely live for yourself. You're here today listening to the fact that God loves you with an unconditional love. From the moment you were created, God has wanted to have a relationship with each and every one of you. Some of you say, "Well, I don't know about a personal relationship. I just think I'm a good person." That's not enough. God wants you to come home. God wants you to come home. He wants you to personally know who He is.

Here's my question for you, at what point in your life, if you're dead in your transgressions and sins and that's how you were born and, by the way, that's how you were born. Because picture this, when Adam and Eve had sinned and then they came together and then they produced offspring, what did they produce? They produced sinlings and you're one of them. There's no way you can have a relationship with God. You say, "Well, I've tried my best. I've been a good person." That's not good enough. Jesus Christ came because you weren't good enough to get to God and He created a bridge for you to come.

It reminds me of the story that I heard that took place after World War II about a father and a son that had been estranged, because the son went off and did exactly what this younger prodigal son did. He squandered all of his dad's wealth. And he told his dad, "I never want to see you again." But after the war had ended, he started to feel contrition and he wanted to see his dad again. But he figured his dad would never want to see him again. So, he wrote a letter to his dad and he said, "Dad, I'm going to be coming through on such and such a train at 3:00 in the afternoon. And I'd love to see you, but I know I've shamed you. I know I've shamed our family. And in two weeks, when that train comes by, I'm going to come. But when it stops at the train station, I promise you, I won't get off if you don't want to see me. But dad, you know how that train station goes by our old house?"

He goes, "When I go by there, if I see that you'd hang a white towel or a white sheet out the window, I'll know that it's okay for me to get off the train and come home." So, about two weeks later as that sun was traveling on that train, the closer and closer they got to his hometown, the more he began to wonder, "Is my dad going to accept me? Is it going to be okay for me to come home?" And he was just hoping that there would be a little sheet hung out that window. And wouldn't you know, as he turned that corner and his heart was racing and palpitating and all these things, he turned the corner, you know what he saw in that town. He saw white bed sheets flying from every single house in the entire city because it was a signal to him his dad saying, "Hey, you come home anytime you want."

And here's the truth. God, the father, didn't hang out a white sheet for you today. You know what He did? He hung his own son, Jesus Christ, on a cross for you, who shed his blood for you, who rose from the dead for you. Here's what He's inviting you to do. Come home, come home. See, here's the question, when did you come home to God? You say, "Well, I don't remember when it was." Well, then perhaps you're not a believer.

I got married about 17 years ago. I wear a ring on my finger. I remember the day that I got married. I didn't just wake up one day and was like, "Are you married?" I'm like, "I don't know. There's somebody sleeping next to me that wasn't before, I think I am." I mean, it was a commitment. It was a decision. The same is true about your relationship with Christ. And there's many of you who came here today that do not have a relationship with God the Father through the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." If you've come to Jesus, you'll know that you came to Jesus. You know how you'll know? Because when you come to Jesus, God will put a deposit of his Holy Spirit on the inside and you will know that all your sins have been cleansed. The third person of the Trinity will indwell you. You say, "Well, I don't know that that's happened." Now, I've been here at Bandimere Speedway before, during one of their events, and I know that these cars can go from that starting line to that far sign in about three seconds, 300-some miles an hour. It's amazing to watch how powerful they are.

And I know that if you were standing here on the track when that took place and you got hit by one of those cars going 324 miles an hour, it would have such impact with your life that there would be no doubt you had been hit by it. You would die immediately. Now, I got a question for you, what's more powerful, a car with a jet engine traveling at 324 miles an hour or the Holy Spirit of God? Here's my question, how can the Holy Spirit of God invade your life and you not know? See, for many people, we just believe religion. We believe that we've been a good person and that's not enough. Because when you stand before God on judgment day, you will stand by yourself. And the only answer, when He asks, "Why should I let you in my kingdom?" Is that, "I've turned from my sin and I turned to Christ, because I needed a personal Lord and savior." Here's what God wants to do. He wants you to give you the opportunity right here today at Bandimere Speedway, to give your life to Jesus Christ.

In a moment, I'm going to call you forward. And I know there are several hundred of you that are going to come down and receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior. We'll have people here to pray for you. I'll personally pray for each and every one of you that come down, because today is the day of salvation. And here's what I would tell you today. Today, if you hear the Lord's voice, do not harden your heart. Today, if you feel like, "That's me, I know I'm not a Christian. I know I'm just kind of going through the motions or I'm too far away from God. I don't think God could love me." I'm here to tell you, on the authority of God's word, He loves you with an unconditional love and He's telling you, "Come home, come to me. I will forgive all of your sins. I will cleanse you from everything. I will indwell you. And I will live with you forever."

Friends, the most important thing in this life being prepared for the next. You heard from my buddy, Matt Pate here a few minutes ago. Here's what I know about Matt Pate. He's either going to be healed or he's going to be healed. He's going to be healed on this side of heaven or he is going to be healed immediately when he gets in the presence of Jesus.

And here's the reality while you may not know the time of your death and I don't know the time of my death, it's coming. But the good news of Jesus is not just preparing for when that's going to come. It's having a relationship with Him now. So, in a minute, I'm just going to invite all of you to come forward. We're out here praying over this. I know there's about 67 steps from the very top, all the way down on each side, we got ladders down here for you to come. We have people that want to pray with you down here. Friends, the reason that you were invited here today, and the reason that you're here today is so that you would hear and know the voice of God. If you've heard the voice of Jesus in your heart, he's going to invite you to come.

So, I'm just going to ask you right now, right where you are. If you'd like to trust Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, would you come? As you come today, I just want you to know, if there were only one of you that came, there would be a party in heaven of sinners, a party in heaven of angels that are rejoicing over sinners that are coming. I'm going to tell you right now that those who know Christ here are going to celebrate you too. So, right now, just right where you are, I'm just going to invite everybody to stand where they are. And if you'd like to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, would you just come and gather right before me, right here, as we pray a prayer of salvation for the Lord to do a work in and through your life. Please, come right now. Amen. Can we give God praise for those that are coming to give their lives to Christ?

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