The Worst Sinner: Week 6

I want to tell you about my son, Shepherd.

He is ten months old, and Shepherd, even though he's

still a baby, he's already learned how to take his

own selfies. He knows how to work the iPhone. He

knows what buttons to push, and it doesn't matter if

he's playing with a toy, if he's eating, it doesn't

matter what he's doing.

If he sees me or his.

Mom take out our iPhone, he knows what to do.

He drops whatever he's holding, and then he smiles, he poses.

While I was traveling last week, Shepherd and I facetimed,

and Shepherd knows to hold the phone, but he doesn't

hold it still. He gets so excited he starts shaking

the phone, and I'm just getting dizzy watching him on

the FaceTime. I didn't think that I would ever have

a problem with the amount of storage on my iPhone

until I had a baby.

Since having a baby.

Several times, I've had to clear some photos make room

because the baby requires more photo storage. I'm sure that

you've got hundreds, probably thousands of photos on your own smartphone.

It's likely that you took some photos this week over

the Thanksgiving holiday. Family photos I mean, and what do

we do when we take a group picture. We snap

the picture and then we look and we zoom in

and we make sure everybody's eyes are open, make sure

everybody's smiling, and we make sure that cousin Eddie doesn't

have the bunny ears in the background.

It's so easy to look.

At a photo, crop it, shape it, filter it, edit

it before we share it, before we upload it to

social media, onto Instagram.

It's so easy.

But if you're my age or older, you know that

photos were not always instant.

You might remember one of these.

This is a disposal camera, and when you take a picture,

there's no screen to see what you took a picture.

You can't review it.

And so when we were younger, this is how we

took selfies, just hoping that your thumb didn't cover up

the lens. Inside of this disposable camera is a role

of film like this. This is thirty five millimeter film.

This is what captures the image. I remember as a

young boy going with my mom to drop off rolls

of film to be developed. We had rolls of film

from our family trips or vacations or family gatherings and holidays,

and we would take these to a place like Walmart

or CVS, and we would drop them off with the

clerk and then we would come back to pick up our.

Photos days later.

It was an instant and I still remember when one

hour photoed of development was a novelty and so we

had to drop them off. When the film got dropped

off with the clerk, it went into a dark room

and it was developed in the dark room, and we

had to wait to see our prince. Do you ever

feel like you're waiting on God and it's just taking forever?

Does it feel like you're in the dark waiting for

God to move?

I mean, don't we.

Want instant results. Don't we want to see instant change?

I mean some of us we want God to give

us the next step instantly. We want to know which

college to go to, which major to choose. We want

God to tell us who we should marry, what career

path to start.

We want instant answers. Some of us would.

Really like it if God would instantly fix our problems,

make the debt go away, speed up the recovery and

healing process, accelerate this project. We want to see instant change. However,

following Jesus is not always instant following Jesus sometimes is slow,

sometimes it's gradual.

Sometimes it takes a process.

And this is the title of today's message, Trust the Process.

This is my message today, Trust the process. Today we

are wrapping up a message series about the life of

Paul and this In this message, we're gonna look at

acts chapter twenty one and the following chapters all the

way to chapter twenty eight, and you're gonna see in

these chapters in Paul's life, he endures a long process.

It's a lengthy process. There's a lot of waiting in

this process. But let me tell you as you read

these chapters chapter twenty one, twenty two to twenty three,

all these chapters, this process, it's not boring.

It's actually exciting, and it's also dangerous and full of risk.

Let me tell you what happens in these chapters in

this process. Paul is arrested, he's threatened, he's nearly beaten

to death, he's nearly assassinated. He's held in custody for

two years. He's on the sea in a storm for

fourteen days, then he shipped wreck for three months, and.

Then he's in Rome waiting trial for two more years.

It's a long process, and all of this starts when Paul,

in Acts Chapter twenty one, is preparing to return to Jerusalem. See,

Paul's been traveling the Roman Empire, preaching, starting churches, and

now in Acts twenty one, he's going to go.

Back to Jerusalem. But there's a problem.

When he gets back to Jerusalem, Paul's got enemies waiting

for him, and it doesn't take very long for his

enemies to find out that Paul's back in town. Let's

take a look at Action Chapter twenty one, starting in

verse ten, while we were staying for many days, a

prophet named Agabus came down from Judea, and coming to us,

he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet in hands,

and said, thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how

the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns

this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

When we heard this, we and the people were urged

him not to go up to Jerusalem. And then Paul answered,

what are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart, for

I am already not only to be imprisoned, but even

to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let.

The will of the Lord be done. So a prophet

warned of Paul, don't go to Jerusalem.

His friends begged him, don't go to Jerusalem, but Paul

didn't listen to their advice. Paul trusted in God. Paul

trusted the process. This the first point that I want

to share with you today is that God is developing

you in a process.

God's developing you through a process.

He's taking you through a process for your own development.

You know, when we have this negative role of film,

when it goes into a dark room, it goes into

a process. In the end, you're going to end up

with a nice, beautiful picture. This is a picture of

the statue of Paul in Rome. But it doesn't start

that way. First it goes into a process. It goes

into the dark room. And when you're in the dark room,

you can't let any outside light into the dark room

or else it will compromise the film.

When the negative is in the.

Dark room, it's exposed to some brief doses of concentrated

light to transfer the image on to photo paper. And

then after that it goes through a series of chemical

washes and rinses, all.

To produce this picture.

If you interrupt the process, you might compromise the photo.

If you let light in from the outside, you will

destroy the photo.

It's a long and lengthy process. God is developing you

through a process. Because God is developing you into the

image of Jesus. God wants you to look more like Jesus.

He wants your decisions to reflect Jesus. He wants your

relationships to reflect Jesus. Jesus developing you into the person

that He created you to be. And so I want

to say to somebody today, do not interrupt the process.

Trust the process. God knows what he's doing in the

dark room.

So when Paul arrives in Jerusalem, it doesn't take long

for his enemies to find out that he's there. Here's

where we pick up in verse ten. Seizing Paul, they

dragged him from the temple.

And immediately the gates were shut.

While they were trying to kill him, news reached the

commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of

Jerusalem was in our uproar. He at once took some

officers and sould and ran down to the crowd. When

the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped

beating Paul. The commander came up and arrested him and

ordered him to be bound with two chains.

Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

Some of the crowd shouted one thing and some another,

and since the commander couldnot get at the truth because

of the upward, he ordered that Paul be taken into

the barracks. Now, you may not be facing an angry mob,

but I'm sure you have suffered.

I'm sure you've been through some stuff.

I want to say today that sometimes the process can

feel painful. May not be an angry mob, but it

may be disappointment. It may be feeling wounded, feeling hurt,

feeling let down. The process can feel painful. The process

is not comfortable, The process is not easy. There are challenges,

there are situations that there are difficulties in the process.

And so Paul finds himself in this process.

He goes from being mobbed into Roman custody, and in

order to get some answers out of Paul, the Romans

prepared to torture him for some information. Let's keep reading.

In chapter twenty two, verse twenty five. As they stretched

him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion, standing,

there is it legal for you to flog a Roman

citizen who hasn't even been found guilty. When the centurion

heard this, he went to the commander and reported it.

What are you going to do? He asked, this man

is a Roman citizen.

The commander went to Paul and asked, tell me, are

you a Roman citizen? Yes, I am, Paul answered, And

the commander said, I had to pay a lot of

money for.

My citizenship, but I was born a.

Citizen, Paul replied, Those who are about to interrogate him

withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized

that he had put Paul.

A Roman citizen in chains. It was illegal in.

The first century to flog a Roman citizen, or even

to put them in chains until they had a chance

to go to trial. Romans were considered innocent until proven guilty.

And this Roman commander's.

He's impressed that Paul is a citizen by birth.

Well, even though Paul's escapes the flogging, he's still in danger.

Look at chapter twenty three, verse twelve.

Some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an

oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

More than forty men were involved in this plot.

They went to the chief priests and the elders and said,

we have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything

until we have killed Paul. Nothing was going to stop

these people until Paul was dead.

The process can feel painful. What is the.

Pre developed film called before it turns into a picture.

It's called a negative And where does the negative go?

It goes into the dark room to be developed. Are

you in a negative situation? Does life seem negative right now?

Have you been in a negative place? There's no hope,

there's no positivity, your way down with fear, your way

down with restlessness insecurity.

Everything's just negative.

And others around you in your life they don't seem

to understand. Do you know what the dark rooms of

life feel like? The dark room of divorce, the dark

room of a illness or diagnosis, the dark room of

pain and suffering, the dark room of grief.

Are you in a dark room? I want to tell

you that.

God brings light into our negative God uses the dark.

Room to develop you through a process. Trust the process.

Theologian Andrew Murray once wrote, only on the path of

development can you reach your divine destiny. You may not

understand why things are happening, you may be second guessing

a decision, but you have a divine destiny. The suffering

is not your destiny. The pain is not your purpose.

The grief is not the end of your story. That

other person doesn't get the final say, the attorney or

the judge doesn't have the last word. You have a

divine destiny and God is developing you in the.

Dark rooms of life. God's developing you through a process.

Trust the process, even when it's painful. Paul was in

Roman custody. He'd been attacked, he'd been arrested, and.

Now he was alone. Sometimes the process can feel lonely.

The process can feel lonely. I've shared openly before that

I regularly see a Christian counselor for my mental and

emotional health.

And I remember going through a personal.

Trial in my life that was frustrating, challenging, and I

met with my counselor and I described what I was

going through, and I said to my counselor that I

felt lonely.

Put my finger on it. That's what I felt.

I described my frustrations, describe my fears, describe my concerns,

my worries, and I felt lonely. Shared about how I

felt like nobody really understood what I was feeling, and really,

deep down it felt like there weren't many people that

I could truly trust completely with all the details. I

felt lonely. Even when you feel lonely, you are not alone.

When you feel misunderstood, you're not alone. When you feel isolated,

when you feel forgotten, and when you feel overlooked and unheard,

you are not alone. God is with you in the process.

Trust the process. Paul's alone in Roman custody, locked up

in chains. But I want us to notice what happens

to Paul when he's alone in custody. Look at Acts

twenty three, verse eleven. Paul is alone in custody, It

says here the following night, the Lord stood by him

and said, take courage, for as you have testified to

the facts about me in Jerusalem.

So you must testify also in Rome.

What does it say here while Paul's alone, while Paul's

in jail, While Paul's in prison, while Paul's in the dark.

The Lord stood by him.

The Lord stands with you. The Lord stands with you.

Jesus is with you in the process. You are not alone,

You are not forgotten by God. Other people may not

understand the process you've been in. You may have been

in this process for a long time, but Jesus is

with you in the process. You see when a roll

of film like this, when it's being developed in the

dark room. One of the first steps to development is

that the negative goes into a machine called the enlarger,

and the enlarger projects the image onto photo paper. The

enlarger shines specific moments of light concentrated light through the

negative to transfer that image on to the photo paper

that the light shines through the negative.

Can you see where I'm going? Jesus is the.

Light, and Jesus shines into your negative situations. Jesus shines

into the places of deepest pain and greatest.

Challenge because Jesus is the light.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus entered this dark world with.

Light and hope.

Jesus lived a perfect life, and he brought light wherever

he went. He healed the sick, he cast out demons,

he confronted injustice.

He raised the dead.

He is the light. But then when Jesus died on

the cross, when he was crucified, it seemed like darkness

had won. Jesus was crucified on a Friday afternoon, and

from noon to three pm, darkness covered the land because

it seemed like darkness won. As Jesus hung on the cross,

paying for our sins, he breathed his last and it

seemed like darkness had won. When they took his body down,

it seemed like darkness had won. When they laid him

in the tomb, it seemed like darkness had won.

On Saturday, as his.

Friends were grieving and lost, it seemed like darkness had won.

But on Sunday morning, at dawn, as light began to break,

the earth shook and the stone in front of the

tomb rolled away, and Jesus came back to light.

He is the light of the world. And so when

you're in the process.

And all you see is this dark negative, All you

see is the trouble, the suffering, the difficulty of the pain,

God's light shines into the negative. I don't believe that

God causes our pain. I don't believe that God harms us.

But God uses pain, he uses suffering, He uses the

negative as a part of our development, because God is

developing you through a process. When Paul is in prison,

did you notice in verse eleven that God gave Paul

an assignment?

Look closely again at verse eleven.

Paul's in prison, it says the following night, the Lord

stood by him and said, take courage, for as you

have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so

you must also testify in Rome.

God had an assignment for Paul. God was sending Paul

to Rome. I want to tell you that God has

a purpose for the process.

God's got a purpose for what you're going through. God's

got a purpose for what you're enduring. There's a purpose

for your process. You may not see the whole picture

right now, but God sees it. God might be preparing

you for something. God might be getting you ready for

an assignment for a ministry. God might be doing something

in your life, preparing your heart, preparing your character.

To do what He's called you to do. It's possible

that your suffering.

Is intended to help comfort and encourage someone else. God's

got a purpose for the process, trust the process.

Paul knew that he had a purpose, and so in custody, waiting.

Until the soldiers transferred him to the Roman governor. Maybe

the Roman governor would set Paul free, but no, Paul

waited in custody for two years, waiting for a hearing,

waiting to appeal to the governor. Sometimes the process can

take longer.

Than we want.

Sometimes the process just takes longer than we hope it would.

Paul's a preacher. He thrives on crowds, he preaches to audiences.

But now he's locked up.

God's told him and he needs to go to Rome,

but he's in chains. God may have showed you what

your assignment is, but you're ten steps back. God may

have put something on your heart and you can see it,

but you just.

Don't know how are we gonna get there?

Or you've known for a long time this is what

you're called to, this is what God's doing, but it

just seems like it will not change, and it's lasting

longer than it should.

The process can feel like it lasts longer than we want.

I've been.

Earning my doctorate degree for the last four years, and

I've enjoyed the process.

But now it feels like this process is taking longer

than I want.

I'm entering one of the last phases of the process,

which is writing the thesis project, and it's a long process.

And so two months ago I turned in.

The first draft of the first section of the project

and I waited for my feedback.

I waited, you can ask my wife. Every other day.

I was checking my email, refreshed Like they.

Said it would be here in four to six weeks,

it's been three and a half weeks. It's been four weeks.

Have been four and a half weeks waiting to get feedback.

And I finally got feedback, and I was surprised because

I thought I had a pretty good start. But not

only did I need to make some edits, I also

needed to revise a lot of things and completely resubmit

the first draft of part one. Now this has made

me feel a little bit anxious, and I'm under a

deadline to get this done.

And once I.

Resubmit that draft, then I'll submit another full draft in

the spring, get feedback, make some more edits, and then

submit the final, final, final draft. And then the last

step is I have to give a verbal defense of

the thesis in.

Front of a panel. It's a process.

In some days, I just wish the process would be over.

I know, I'll be grateful for it, but sometimes the

process can take longer than we wanted to. There's an

attorney here in our church who recently got admitted to

the Supreme Court Bar, which means that she is now

authorized qualified to argue cases in front of the Supreme Court.

It's an incredible accomplishment that she's been working on for

a long time, many many years. And she described that

day that she the ceremony, she got to meet the

Supreme Court justices, she.

Shared a meal with them, and then she.

Got to watch a court case live, the legal arguments

in the courtroom. And she told me that this case

that she was watching, it started back in twenty eighteen

and it's taken all this time.

To make its way to the Supreme Court.

And some of the evidence in the case goes back

to twenty twelve. That's a long time, maybe longer than

many people wanted. Sometimes the process can take longer than

we want. When you're waiting, God is working when you're

waiting for an answer. God is working when you're waiting.

To get the feedback when.

You're waiting for a decision, when you're waiting for the

right person, God is working when you're waiting for the paperwork,

the visas, the job approval, when you're.

Waiting for the bank transfer. God is working. Even when

you can't see it, He's still working.

Remember that God has done great things for people who waited.

David was anointed to be king as a young boy,

but he waited more than fifteen years until he was crowned.

King Moses knew that he was.

Supposed to free the Israelites, but he waited in the

wilderness for forty years until God called him. Joseph had

a vision of leadership, but before it came true, he

was thrown in a pit, set into slavery, falsely accused,

lived in prison for three years.

And don't forget.

Jesus who prayed and fasted in the wilderness for forty

days before his public ministry started. God did it for them,

and God will do it again.

God is working even when the process takes longer than

we want. Trust the process. Trust the process.

So Paul waited in custody for two years and then

a new governor came to power, and this governor heard

Paul's case look at acts twenty five. Governor Festus convened

the court in order that Paul be brought before him.

Paul answered, I am now standing before Caesar's court, where

I ought to be tried. I've not done any wrong

to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. If, however,

I'm guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not

refuse to die.

But if the.

Charge is brought against me by these Jews are not true,

no one has the right to hand me.

Over to them. I appeal to Caesar.

After Festus had conferred with his counsel, he declared, you

have appealed to Caesar.

To Caesar, you will go.

Every Roman citizen had a right to appeal their case.

They had a right to be seen in Caesar's court.

In our context, it would be like that' hernie I

had mentioned earlier, taking a case to the Supreme Court.

So when Paul says.

I appeal to Caesar, he's really saying, let's take this

to the Supreme Court and see what they have to

say about it. Well, the problem is Caesar was in

Rome and Paul was more than two thousand miles away

in Israel, and so Paul would have to travel across

the Mediterranean Sea to get to Rome.

And here's what we read in Acts twenty seven.

When it was decided that we would sail for Italy,

Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to the

centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.

We boarded a ship from this place.

That starts with a that I can't pronounce, but to

sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia,

and we put out to sea. As they were sailing,

a storm rose up on the Mediterranean, and the storm

threatened to destroy the ship. Look in verse fourteen, a

wind of hurricane force called the northeaster, swept down from

the island. We took such a violent battering from the

storm that the next day they began.

To throw the cargo overboard.

On the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard

with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared

for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally

gave up all hope.

Have you been in a storm of life? Have you

been knocked off balance?

Have you been in the dark room for so long

that you've given up hope. Does it feel like things

are not gonna get better? Does it feel like there's

not gonna be any change. You've been praying but there's

no results. You've tried therapy but it's not working. You've

tried a new job, you've tried a new relationship, but

you still feel hopeless. And you keep returning and facing

the same temptations again, those same insecurities coming up, those

same weaknesses, those same struggles and anxieties.

You go back to those same habits, go back to

those old relationships. It feels hopeless.

You and I have a spiritual enemy, the devil, who

wants to interrupt your development process. The devil will try

to sabotage your process.

They'll try to get in the way and knock you

off track.

I remember, many many years ago, I was helping lead

a leadership development program in a local public high school.

Our church had partnered with this high school district.

And remember, on the first day of the.

Program, so many high school students stayed after school led

out to participate in this program. And it was an

awesome first day, so many students really encouraging, and then

one of the high school senior girls had her own

car and she drove off of the campus and when

she drove out of the driveway and turned onto the

main road.

Another car struck her in the intersection. And when I

heard this, I rushed to the intersection and my heart

sank because this is what I saw. I was just

scared looking for this girl.

I spotted her surrounded by paramedics. Her car is the

one that you see flipped up on its side. That's

the car the student was driving in. And I see

her surrounded by paramedics without a single.

Scratch, no physical injury.

She was shaken up, she was scared, she was frightened,

but nobody was hurt.

Nobody was injured.

Everybody in that crash walked away safe, and I.

Praise God for that.

But then I also remember standing in that intersection watch

the fire department scoop up and sweep up all the

broken glass. And I've had this spiritual conviction this was

the devil's work.

We are doing God's work with those students.

And on the first day of this program, the devil

crashes in trying to derail God's work. Your enemy, the

devil will try to get you off track. He will

slay him on the brakes. He will punch you in

the gut, knock the wind out of you. But I

want to tell you that nothing will interrupt.

What God wants to do as he develops. You trust

the process.

Paul was in the middle of this storm, on this boat,

trying to get to roam.

The storm lasted for fourteen days.

Everyone had given up hope. They had stopped eating. And

here's what we read in verse twenty one. After they

had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up

before them and said, men, you should have taken my

advice not to sail from That's Paul, just a little

told you so.

Verse twenty two.

But now I urge you to keep up your courage,

because not one of you will be lost, only the

ship will be destroyed. Last night, an angel of the God.

To whom I belong and whom I serve, stood beside me.

Let me read that again. An angel of the God

to whom I belong stood beside me and said, do

not be afraid. Paul.

You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given.

You the lives of all who sail with you.

So keep up your courage, man, for I have faith

in God.

Who do you belong to?

Who do you belong to when you're in the storm?

Who do you belong to when you're in the dark room?

Who do you belong to? When you're going through the process?

Remember who you are in the process. When a film

negative goes into the process, it goes through a series

of chemicals and solutions.

Each one is designed to develop the picture into a

beautiful image.

After the light shines through the negative onto the photo paper,

you take the photo and you.

Dump it into the chemical wash. That's the first step.

Then you dump it into the developer, and there's some

time it spends in the developer, and then there's the fixer.

That's the third tray, and then there's the stabilizer and

you put the image in there.

And each one of these trays is designed to bring

something out of the photo, enhance something in the photo.

And then the last thing that you do, when you've

been through the whole process, you hang up.

The photo to dry, like on a line or on

a clip. I want to tell you, when you're in

the process, remember whose you are.

When you feel like the enemy is trying to drown you,

remember who you are when you're overcome with grief.

When shame is washing over you, remember whose you are.

When the pain is almost intolerable, when the temptation is

too great and you feel like you can't swim and

keep your head above water, remember whose you are.

You are not forgotten.

And when you begin to doubt God, when you begin

to think that he has forgotten.

About you, that he doesn't hear you, that he doesn't care.

When it feels like God has left.

You out to dry, what's the last step the pictures

hung up to dry?

Remember whose you are. Trust the process. God is with you.

In the process, God's developing you. In the process. God

has not forsaken you. He's working with you.

And so Paul is on this ship.

The storm batters the boat, threatens to destroy it, and

they decide to abandon ship and swim for land. Here's

what we read in verse forty one.

But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground.

The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the

stern was broken to pieces by the pounding surf. The

soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of

them from swimming away and escaping, but the centurion wanted

to spare Paul's life and keep them.

From carrying out their plan.

He ordered those who could not swim to jump overboard

first and get to land. The rest were to get

their own planks or on other pieces of the ship.

And this way everyone reached land safely.

No one died. The whole group was protected by God.

They swam ashore to the island of Malta, and the

rest of the Acts twenty seven you can read about

the ministry that Paul.

Did on the island of Malta. He God healed people,

God saved people.

They were there until springtime, and we read in eight

verse eleven. After three months we put out to sea

in a ship that had wintered in the island, and

so we came to Rome.

When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live

by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

Once Paul made it to Rome, he was still in custody,

but it was more like probation, more like house arrest,

and he could receive.

Visitors, he could preach freely. He was free to write

and publish and send letters. He had a lot of liberties.

And then here's how his story ends. In Acts twenty

eight for two whole years.

Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed

all who came to see him.

He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the

Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

The last thing I want to say today is that

God is.

Faithful to complete the process. The process may be painful,

the process may last longer than we want, the process.

May be lonely. But God, God is faithful to complete

the process. While Paul was in Rome, he published a lot.

He wrote a lot. Specifically, he wrote letters.

To churches that he started, and these letters are a

part of the New Testament that we have today.

In one of those letters, he wrote to the church

in Philippi.

Do you remember the church in Philippi where Paul and

Silas were imprisoned and then God opened the prison gates.

And he wrote this letter to the Philippian church.

And I want to read something that he wrote in

Philippians chapter one. He said, I am sure of this.

I'm confident, I know this to be true. I'm convinced

of this.

I am sure of.

This that He who began a good work in you

will bring.

It to completion At the day of Jesus Christ. God

is faithful to complete the process. God's going to do it.

He's going to get it done. He's going to bring

you through. He's going to finish it.

Just before Jesus died, just as he took his last breath,

he said the words, it is finished. Jesus endured a

terrible process for me, terrible process for you.

The whole reason that Jesus died was to.

Pay the penalty for our sin. See, he died the

death that we deserve for our sin on the cross.

Jesus died for all the sin in your past. He

died for that thing that nobody else knows about, that

you don't want anyone to ever find out about. He

died for that, the thing that brings so much shame

to you when you think about it.

He died for that so that you can be forgiven.

He went through a process, and he finished it. He

made the payment.

If you don't have to work it off or pay

it back or earn that grace, he paid for it all.

It is finished. He endured a process. Do you believe it?

Do you believe it is finished? Because on the other

side of the cross was the resurrection. Do you believe it.

I think it's fitting that in a moment we're going

to receive communion, which is a reminder that it is finished.

And before we receive communion, I want to invite us

to respond to the message we've heard today. Would you

bow your head and close your eyes with me? Would

you take a look into your heart.

Today if you realize.

That you need God's forgiveness, that you don't have a

relationship with God, and you want to change that, I

want to give you that opportunity today. Perhaps you've been

trying to manipulate the process on your own, control things

on your own, making your own decisions. Today, if you

want to come in a relationship with God and be

forgiven of your sins, here's the invitation. Simply pray and

repeat this prayer in your heart. Say, Dear God, I

admit that I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness.

I believe Jesus died.

For me and rose from the dead to save me.

Today I confess Jesus's Lord of my life.

I trust you with my life.

And as we remain in this posture of prayer, I

just want to encourage anyone here who who prayed that prayer.

If you've trusted Jesus.

If you've asked for forgiveness, if that's you, if you

would just be so brave just to raise your hand,

just so I could see you, so I could encourage you,

so I could say that God loves you, God bless you.

Is there anyone else I see you? God sees you.

Amen. Now we are all invited to respond by receiving communion.

You can go ahead and open the cracker part.

The cracker is.

The body of Jesus that was broken for us so

that we could be saved. Would you take a moment

as you hold that cracker in your hand, would you

thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus. Would you thank

Him for his body and praise him his body rose.

I'll together, let's receive the cracker.

You can open the juice.

The juice is the blood of Jesus that was shed

for us. The Bible says, without the shedding of blood,

there is no forgiveness of sins. It is by his

blood that we are forgiven, that we are washed clean

from our sin. So together, let's remember and receive his blood.

Let's stand together.

I'll close us in prayer before we continue. Father, God,

thank you for your grace, Thank you for your presence. God,

We thank you that you've saved.

Us, you freed us, you've healed us. And God, we

rejoice that Jesus did not stay in that tomb.

We celebrate that Jesus is alive, that he is reigning,

that he is in.

Heaven and God.

We celebrate that the difficulties, the troubles of this world

are not permanent, but.

We have an eternal hope. And we pray all of

this in Jesus's name. Amen,