When All of Your Good Deeds Aren't Good Enough...

Last weekend was a special weekend here at the crossing.

And to those of you who served, and when I say served, if you

are a greeter and tech and worship and kids ministry,

parking lot, coffee bar, new gear booth, section leaders, you

know who you are If you served. You know who you are.

If you parked far away, if you give financially support, the

ministry of the Crossing. If you are a person who was

inviting people. To those of you who are part of

the 3:00 PM prayer club, I just got a quick update for you.

God did it. We had 15,000 191 people on site

or inside at one of our locations and thousands more

John joined online. Our goal is to make this region

the hardest place on planet earth to get the help from and

we are taking ground and it is such a joy to do ministry

alongside each and every single one of you is we try to help

other people find what we found in an intimate personal

relationship with Jesus Christ. I also want to update those of

you who have been praying for our Weaver location.

They had 410 people on Easter weekend.

We are so proud of you guys and the team that God has assembled

up there and can't wait to see what God does next.

And in addition to all of that, we are celebrating 39 baptisms

from this past weekend, which brings us to 420 for the year.

God is up to something, and that means it is not a time for us to

let off the gas. Keep praying, keep inviting, and

let's find out what happens when we have a can't stop, won't stop

attitude for the Kingdom of God. I want to welcome all of our

different locations, those of you here at 48th St. all of our

different locations across this region, those of you watching

online, and those of you who are a part of the crossing inside.

Last week we started a sermon series called Unexpected, and we

began the series with a story about Zacchaeus and how Jesus

dealt with a person that other people would have called the

worst of the worst, sinners like you and me.

And we learned that Jesus came to seek and save those who are

lost. Well, today we're going to jump

all the way to the other end of the social religious spectrum

and see how Jesus interacts with somebody that everybody would

have said is the best of the best.

John chapter 3, verse one. Now there was a Pharisee, a man

John 3 · chapter mention

named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

Quick background, Nicodemus is a Pharisee.

He is 1 of the 71 most powerful men in the nation of Israel by

being a part of the Sanhedrin. When you think of him, I want

you to think of him as part Supreme Court Justice, part US

senator, and part Bishop. He had dedicated himself to the

word of God. He was a respected teacher.

He was somebody that everybody looked up to.

Little Jewish moms would talk to their little Jewish boys and say

one day, I hope you end up like Nick John, chapter 3, verse two.

John 3 · chapter mention

He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you

are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can perform the

signs that you are doing if God were not with him.

Lots have been said and speculated about the fact that

Nicodemus shows up to talk to Jesus at night.

It could have been that Nicodemus, because he was a very

important person, had a very busy schedule and this was the

only time that worked. And it makes perfect sense that

he could have been sent by the other members of the ruling

council to investigate this Jesus be who was doing all kinds

of things. And so he was simply just

waiting for the right time for his calendar and Jesus calendar

to collide. But others have wondered, and

I'm in agreement with them, that perhaps the fact that this took

place at night was on purpose. It was deliberate.

He didn't want to be seen. He didn't want to admit that

there was something special and different about Jesus that was

stirring in his soul. Part of the reason why I feel

this way is when you read the Gospel of John and you read

first, second, and third John, all written by the same guy.

He goes out of his way all throughout those books and

letters that he writes to highlight the contrast between

light and darkness. Light has come into the world,

but darkness has not has not understood it.

We are to be children of the light and we are to put away the

deeds that are done in darkness. And Nicodemus shows up at night.

Maybe part of the reason he was coming at night is he had way

too much to lose by being associated with the one who was

turning the religious world upside down.

John chapter 3 verse 3. Jesus replied very truly.

John 3:3

I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are

born again. Now Jesus answers a question

that Nicodemus is not asking. Nicodemus shows up and Jesus

almost cuts him off and goes in a completely different

direction. Now there is way more going on

here but you have to back up to see it.

Quick reminder, when you are reading your Bible, when it's

like John chapter 3 verse 3, the chapter 3 and the verse three

John 3:3

are not inspired, they're not from God.

They're just simply a tool to make sure that you and I are

looking at the exact same verse in a relatively efficient period

of time. So if you were to write a letter

to your wife, you wouldn't go baby chapter 3 verse one, like

you just write it and it just be one big letter.

And that's what these were. So if you want to see what's

happening, sometimes when you're reading this and you get chapter

headings and you get verses, it can kind of interrupt a train of

thought. So if you were to peel all of it

off and you're to back up just a little bit, it sets the stage a

little bit differently. John chapter 2, verse 23.

John 2:23

Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many

people saw the signs that Jesus was performing and believed in

Jesus name. But Jesus would not entrust

himself to them, for he knew all about people.

He did not need any testimony about mankind, for He knew what

was in each man. Now there was a man, a Pharisee

named Nicodemus. There's a, You guys have

probably done this, you're at a different place and you're on,

you're travelling and you decide that you're hungry and you're

going to go get something to eat.

And what do we do? We look at the reviews.

We kind of have an idea of the type of restaurant we want to go

to. We see how expensive it is.

And then we kind of look at the reviews and we allow the reviews

to tell us whether or not we are going to trust that restaurant

with our digestive tract, right? Like, you know what, this place

has got some sketchy reviews, but we're in the mood for sushi,

so let's pick the one that's closest to the hotel.

We're not wanting an away game, so you're looking in there.

Well, if it's your hometown restaurants, you know, all the

restaurants you go to and all the ones that you avoid, you

don't need a review because you know what to expect.

Jesus doesn't need any reviews from anybody.

He knows exactly what's going on in a person's heart.

He knows exactly what's going through their mind.

He doesn't need anybody to tell him anything about anyone,

because He knows absolutely everything there is to know

about absolutely every single person.

Jesus did not entrust Himself to them because He knew what was in

a man. Now, there was a man named

Nicodemus. Jesus knows exactly what's going

on in Nicodemus's heart, exactly what's going on in Nicodemus's

mind. Nothing is off limits.

That's kind of comforting about Jesus and scary.

If you've ever done something and you were doing the right

thing, but everybody took it wrong, you kind of like the fact

that Jesus knows you were trying to do the good thing.

You just screwed it up. You like that He knows your

heart. You like that He knows that your

intentions were good and your intentions were pure.

It's comforting to know in those times that Jesus knows what's

going on in our heart and what's going on in our mind at the same

time. Sometimes you did the good

thing, but you did it for bad reasons.

You can fool other people, but you can't fool God.

He knows exactly what's going through your heart, exactly

what's going through your mind. He knows how dark it can

actually be. Nicodemus shows up.

Now there was a man and he shows up and he acknowledges that

Jesus is a great teacher. And today there are people all

over the globe who will acknowledge that Jesus was

indeed a historical person in the 1st century and that his

teachings were indeed spectacular.

Something special about him, something different about this

man named Jesus. And they'll say, you know what?

Those teachings were good. And we could even put these into

our life. They're powerful.

They're worth following. And Jesus was a great teacher.

But Jesus did not show up to teach.

He did not show up to further our educational pursuits.

Jesus came to save and he looks at Nicodemus and he says you

will not see the Kingdom of God unless you are born again.

This would have hit Nicodemus like a ton of bricks.

He was one of the most respected religious people of his day.

Very few people knew the scriptures like Nicodemus knew

the scriptures. Very few lived a more devoted

life than Nicodemus lived. However, it is not knowledge

that saves, nor is it religious adherence.

He tells Nicodemus that he must be born again, that he must be

born from above, that he must have a spiritual birth.

And Nicodemus took it like a donkey learning French.

He I don't want to demonstrate that because I don't know how

that would go, but you get the idea.

It's not computing, so Jesus unpacks it like this.

John chapter 3 verses 4 through 5.

John 3:4–5

This is Nicodemus talking. How can someone be born when

they are old? Nicodemus asked.

Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's

womb to be born. Jesus answered very truly.

I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are

born of water and the Spirit. No one has ever gone into heaven

except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

That's Jesus. Just as Moses lifted up the

snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up

that everyone who say this next word believes may have eternal

life in Him. Lots have been said about being

born of water and of the Spirit. I will just tell you that

baptism in the water accompanies the Spirit Jesus.

When he was baptized in the water, the Holy Spirit descended

upon him like a dove. In Acts chapter 2, verse 38, the

Acts 2:38

very first gospel message, it says that we are to be baptized

and then we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Just like you needed a physical birth to arrive on earth, you

need a spiritual birth to be in the spiritual Kingdom of God.

Then he takes Nicodemus all the way back to the Old Testament

and he mentions the snake lifted on a pole.

He goes all the way back to the Israelites and those of you who

remember decisions in the desert that we were doing last year,

you guys might remember this, but quick recap, the Israelites

are in slavery in Egypt. God sends Moses and 10 plagues

to deliver the people from slavery from the Egyptians and

they leave Egypt and they're going through the desert.

They come to the Red Sea. God parched the Red Sea, they

walk through on dry ground. When they're thirsty, He gives

them water to drink in the middle of the desert when

there's no food, He gives them food every single day in the

desert. And when they need a place to

go, he gives them the pillar of cloud by day, in the pillar of

fire by night to guide them. And then they get all the way to

the edge of the promised land. And God says go into the

promised land. But because there are people in

the promised land that the Israelites were afraid of, they

had more fear about man than they had faith in God.

And so God said, I'm going to punish you because a good father

punishes his children. And he says, listen, if you

don't have faith to trust me to go in here.

If you don't believe that I'll take care of you there.

Even though I've taken you through all these other areas,

you're going to wander in the desert for 40 years.

So now the people are going back into the to the desert and

they're wandering around and like most kids, they get mad at

their parent for the discipline that they're experiencing.

And so they start popping off at the mouth to God.

And they're going, it would have been better if you hadn't even

rescued us if you'd never delivered us, if you'd have just

left us back there. So God said, all right, I'm

going to punish you again. I know this is going to be tough

to hear. Just track with me.

So God sends poisonous snakes out to bite the people and they

begin to die. And then all of a sudden, when

the people start experiencing the poisonous snakes, they all

of a sudden become believers in God again because they go, hey,

God, we believe in you and would you stop this?

So now they believe that God can actually take care of the

snakes, even though they didn't believe that God would take care

of them in the promised land. And so God says, OK, take a

snake, make it out of bronze and put it on a staff and hoist it

high. Put it on a pole, hoist it high.

And if you get bit, all you have to do is look at the snake in

faith and you will be healed. So when little Johnny got bit by

the snake, he would go, Oh my goodness, I'm dying.

And then little Johnny would look up and he'd see the snake

and in faith he'd believe that if he saw the bronze snake

lifted on the pole, that he would be healed, that he would

be saved. And today, if you were to go to,

you know, at least they used to do this.

If you were to go to the doctor's office or you would go

to the veterinary's office, most times they'd have a little

embroidered thing back when embroidery was cool.

And if you're an embroidery person, I'm not trying to hate

on you because I'm sure that that's like a whole like

quilters. You guys have your own little

hierarchy. You'll see a snake on a staff

that when you see, when you go to a place that has the snake on

a staff, it's where you get better.

It's where you get healed. God was teaching the people of

Israel about faith, about believing that God is who He

says He is and will do what He says He will do.

Nicodemus or Jesus is looking at Nicodemus and he's talking to

him about faith. Jesus is saying the Kingdom of

God that you care about. I've been there.

I'm from there. And you know, the Old Testament,

which it wasn't technically the Old Testament at that point in

time. It was just the Testament

because the New Testament hadn't been written yet.

So he's like the Scriptures that you're really smart in.

Guess what, You're an expert in all these areas.

You know, the snake on the pole in the desert.

Yeah. Watch when those people looked

at the snake and they were healed.

I'm going to be lifted up and everybody who looks on me in

faith, who believes in me, will be saved.

Nicodemus's mind had to have been racing because Nicodemus

had the right upbringing. He had the right job, the right

disciplines, the right pedigree, the right relationships, the

right approval of man, the right behaviors.

Nicodemus had every reason to have faith in himself and his

good works. But it doesn't matter how good

you are, you are not good enough.

After all this talk about faith, do you know what happens next?

In this night time conversation with Nicodemus, do you know what

comes right after the verses we just talked about about faith

and belief? For those of you who are smart,

do you know what comes right after John 315?

John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and

only Son, that whoever in him shall not perish, but have

eternal life. For God did not send His Son

into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world

through him, whoever in him is not condemned, but whoever does

not, stands condemned already, because they have not believed

in the name of God's one and only Son.

Watch this for God so loved the world or for God loved the world

in this way. Wives, there might be times

where you're going, you know what, how do I just love my

husband better? Like I'm going to love my

husband in this way and you, you might go, you know what I'm

going to do? I'm going to go out there and

I'm going to organize and just straighten up his garage.

He'll love that. I, I want you to know, don't you

just stay inside, stay out of there.

You can't be helpful out there. You can broom, you can take a

broom, you can sweep. Don't touch anything.

We have a system. Husbands, there may have been

times where you've said, you know what, I'm going to love my

wife in this way and you've went looking for where the dishwasher

is in the house. You've heard about it.

You don't know exactly where it is, but you've heard that you

have one, you might have two, you're not completely sure.

And you're supposed to load it. And so you've got all the

clothes. OK, you're get.

Listen, you're trying to help out.

You grab a vacuum, you plug it in.

You start moving around. Sometimes you don't plug it in,

you just move it around. When she comes in the house,

she'll love that. Just seeing you with that

vacuum, she loves it. You love your wife in this way.

How did God love us? In what way did God love us that

he sent his one and only son? You've heard me talk about this

before. I think Rick Warren's the one

who said it first. You can give without loving, but

you can't love without giving. Some of you you're like, I love

America, but during tax season people aren't as American as

they used to be. Like we need a break before July

14th. I mean not July 14th.

What? No, no.

I was thinking July, June 14th, that's Flag Day and July 4th

which is Independence Day. But after on tax day, nobody's

really a big fan of America. Like, I can give, I just don't

love it as much right now. A dad who doesn't provide for

his kids, doesn't love his kids all that well.

You can. You can give without loving, but

you cannot love without giving. And what does God give?

Not some podunk, rinky dink knockoff gift.

He gives us his one and only son.

I remember Zane was young and we I was in Macomb and I had the

garage door up and he was kind of playing and I remember

looking at him and being overwhelmed by how much I loved

him. And then something flipped

inside of me. I realized for the first time

how much my dad loved me. Like my dad had told me he loved

me his whole life. But it was when I was looking at

my son through a father's eyes that I realized how my own

father looked at me. And I called my dad and I said,

I get it. I finally understand how much

you love me because I'm looking at my son and I realized how

much I love him. That's why Paul, he goes out of

his way. It's like he is screaming in

Ephesians like people sometimes say you can.

I mean, you can believe a lot of things about God, but don't you

ever, ever for a second believe that God doesn't love you?

Look what it says in Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

This is Paul. He goes and I pray that you

being rooted and established in love may have power.

So you need some kind of supernatural strength to do what

together with all the people to grasp, to lay hold of, to

understand. You need a superpower or

supernatural power to understand, to understand what

this is. What He says, to grasp how wide

and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

Don't ever doubt how much God loved you through Jesus.

And who does he give this gift to?

He gives it to a sinful world, one that has rebelled against

him, rejected him, disobeyed him, a world that has been his

enemy. And who is this gift for?

Whoever do you guys know? Whoever, if you're here today,

whoever is rich and whoever is poor, whoever's a winner and

whoever is a loser, Whoever is married, whoever is divorced,

whoever is single, whoever's a newlywed and whoever's widowed.

It's for whoever's sick and whoever is healthy.

It's whoever is young and whoever is old.

It's for whoever has a white collar and whoever has a blue

collar job. It's for the whoever's.

It's for whoever is addicted and whoever's in recovery.

It's whoever is a Satan. I, you know, I wrote stripper.

So whoever's a stripper, if you're here, God bless you.

We don't mind the glitter. We're just glad you're here.

Whoever's a stripper, whoever's abused and whoever's the abuser.

It's whoever you love and whoever you hate.

It's whoever are your friends and whoever are your enemies.

Raise your hand if you're a whoever, that's who it's for

Whoever. But what do they get?

They get eternal life. What a gift.

We just lose sight of this so often.

We get so used to it. People can be saved.

They don't have to perish. They can have a redeemed life in

the present and a resurrected life for all of eternity.

And for those who do not accept this gift, this world, with all

of its pain and suffering and disappointment for them, becomes

as good as it gets. And when this life is over, it

only gets worse. However, those who do accept

this gift, this temporary earthly tent gets filled with

the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, so that even

though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

we will fear no evil, for He is with us no matter what we face.

We're able to claim the promises in Romans 831 and 837 in first

John 4/4 that we are more than conquerors through God, and if

God is for us, who can be against us, and greater that is

in US than He that is in the world.

Can I get an Amen for that? And more than that, when this

life is over, we get to be resurrected, reunited with the

Creator, the pursuer and great lover of our souls, and share in

the new heaven and the new earth in His holy presence.

Amen. That is all available.

However, there is a limitation to whoever believes who in faith

take hold of the gift of God that is in Jesus Christ.

Hear me Nicodemus thought he was a Christian.

He thought he was in. Why?

Well, because of what he had done, he thought he had access

to the Kingdom of God because of his efforts instead of because

of Jesus. He looked at salvation and he

figured he was already in the in crowd.

But hear me, you and I are not Christians because of what we

have done. We are Christians because of

what Jesus has done on our behalf.

When Jesus was lifted up on the cross like the snake on a pole

in the desert, the penalty of our sins was upon him and on in

faith we look upon him and we are healed, we are saved.

There's a lot of jokes about showing up at the pearly gates.

And so when you die and you stand in front of the pearly

gates and there's, you know, 2 angels there with their 6 packs

look very similar to me, and they ask you this question, why

should we let you in? I'm going to give you an English

lesson. Don't use first person pronouns.

Use third person pronouns, first person pronouns.

Why should we let you in? I'm glad you asked.

I've been a Christian my whole life.

I, I went to the crossing. I stayed awake during most of

Clayton's sermons. I didn't laugh at the things

that he said that he shouldn't have said.

I, I went on mission trips as long as there was a beach.

And if there was a mission trip that wasn't on a beach, I gave

people money to go on that mission trip.

Clayton didn't have to explain to me why there were chapter and

verses in the Bible. I already knew that.

I even, and I don't want to bring this up, but I've

memorized a couple of those verses and I was a pretty good

person and I gave from time to time.

And you may have seen me, I served in the kids ministry and

I parked pretty far away And when we were, when it was at

worship time, I don't want to bring this one up, but I mean,

I'm going to just that way you kind of know who you're talking

to. When the rest of my row was

worshipping, most of the time my hand was a little bit higher

than everybody else's in my row. You want to avoid first person

pronouns at all costs when you're at the pearly gates

because if you are using first person pronouns, if you were

talking about all the things that you have done, you are not

getting in. Those are the wrong answers.

When you are standing there and you, they go, why should we let

you in? You will say because He did it,

because he made a way, because He made it happen.

Let me show you how Isaiah 53 explains your and my salvation.

Look what it says. He grew up before him like a

tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in

his appearance that we should desire Him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind.

A man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom

people hide their faces. He was despised, and we held him

in low esteem. Surely He took up our pain, bore

our suffering. Yet we considered him punished

by God and stricken by him and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed

for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us

peace was on him, and by His wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray.

Each of us has turned to our our own way.

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before

it's sheer is silent, so He did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgement he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich.

In his death will circle back, Though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to

crush him and cause him to suffer.

And through the Lord makes his lie, or though the Lord makes

his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and

prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will

prosper in his hand. But after he has suffered, he

will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge.

My righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear

their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a

portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the

strong, because He poured out his life unto death, and was

numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and

made intercession for the transgressors.

He, he, He is how you and I have access to the Kingdom of God.

He is the reason salvation is possible.

He is the one who did it on our behalf.

By his stripes, we are healed. Now you're going by Clayton.

What about all the stuff we're supposed to do?

The things that you and I do are a response to our salvation, not

in order to earn our salvation. If you, if your life has been

transformed and saved and made new and right and fiddled the

Holy Spirit, how can you not be about his good work?

And a person that has had all of this happen to them, that does

not go about doing the things that God has called them to do,

might not have had this thing happen to them because it is the

natural response to a saved and redeemed life.

But hear me. The things that we do for God,

they are not for our salvation. They are because of our

salvation. The things we do are the fruit

of our salvation, not the root of our salvation.

Nicodemus shows up again in an unexpected place.

He shows up with a fellow man, a rich man by the name of Joseph

of Arimathea, on Good Friday. And they go to the authorities

and they make an unexpected request.

Can we have the body of Jesus? And they take his body and they

wrap it in linen, and they cover it with pounds of spices, and

they lay Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea's grave.

And I wonder, as Nicodemus was carrying Jesus's body, I wonder

if he got to take him off the cross.

I wonder if he was remembering that conversation they had late

one night when Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I wonder if

Nicodemus believed and in faith was saved.

And that is the exact same question that I want to ask you.

Will you believe that Jesus is who he says he is and will allow

you? Or will you allow Him to do what

only He can do, which is bring salvation into your life today.

And the only way you can have it is through faith.

We're moving to a time of decision.

To those of you in here that do not have an intimate personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, I've got really, really good

news for you. You can have it today.

God will make up his dwelling in your heart and in your life.

You can be saved. If you are a whoever today, you

can become a child of God. So you might be going.

You know, I like all this stuff that we're learning here at the

Crossing. It's really, really good.

And I really love the teachings of Jesus.

And maybe you have a little bit of Nicodemus in you, like you

just like him as a teacher, but Jesus.

And listen, Jesus was one of the best teachers, the best.

But Jesus didn't come to just teach.

He came to save and he came to rule.

Jesus is not something you just add to your life.

Do you remember? I don't know if they still do

this. When I went to school, they had

those, those plates, cafeteria plates at school lunches, and

they had all those different sections in there, right?

Like they had a section. They had a section for the

regular dessert, and then they had a section for the other

dessert. Then they had a section for the

friend who was sitting next to his dessert.

They had all those. And then the square pizza.

Like they had all those, yeah, you guys ate where I ate.

And you're like, I think I know where his problem is.

There isn't in your life like one container, one spot where

Jesus goes. We get this twisted because you,

you know, you hear about a marriage that's falling apart

and you're like, man, it'd be awesome if I could let Jesus

into my marriage. Super true.

Jesus in your marriage is a great thing.

Some of you may know somebody who's been going through some

parenting stuff and you heard that they allowed Jesus into

their parenting and like it did some pretty cool stuff.

Completely true. Completely true.

There's people who have been navigating, you know, mental

health issues and they're they let Jesus into some of those

areas of their life and it got better and they're like, man,

this is awesome. Jesus is, but I need you to hear

me say this. Jesus is for all of you.

Jesus will enter through any part, but he wants the whole

thing. Like if you were drowning right

now and I was like a fat Hasselhoff coming to rescue you,

OK, On my own, on my own flotation device, OK.

And I come up to you and you're like, Clayton, save my pinky.

Just keep, keep that pinky out of the water, man.

No, you want all of you to be saved.

You want every part of you to be rescued and redeemed.

You want every part of you to be safe and secure.

You want all of you to be rescued.

And what happens, this weird thing is we know that things are

not right and we try to turn our lives over one bit at a time,

like we're in this long negotiation.

All right? God, I trusted you with my

marriage and I trusted you with the 1st 15 minutes of my day.

And I trusted you this And every area that you've turned over to

him is better. Not not necessarily easy the

better and all the areas that you keep for yourself, you suck

in. You are getting an F in the

areas where you are in control and Jesus is getting an A+.

But it's not until things go from like AD plus to an F minus

do they do F minuses. You wouldn't know you were a

good student. You're like, I'm going to keep a

hold of this. And it's like things have to

completely fall apart before we turn it over to him.

Jesus came to save all of you and to be in charge, to rule, to

be the King of all of you. So today, if you were here and

you have never started an intimate, personal relationship

with Jesus Christ, hear me. This is the good news.

He wants all of you. And the reason why maybe you've

been giving him bits and pieces is because that's all you know

is that the people who love you only get to love you in bits and

pieces because if they knew all of it, they wouldn't want

anything to do with you. But Jesus, who knows every

thought that ever passes through your head and every feeling you

have in your heart says, I want it all.

So just a few moments when the people around you stand and sing

and some of them come to the steps and pray, I want to

encourage you to walk right over there underneath that screen

next to that baptistery and talk to somebody.

My experience, people have a desire to turn their life over

to Jesus. But in between them having that

desire and them doing it, there are questions that need asked

and it costs you nothing to ask that question.

If you don't want to do it over there, bring it or bring it up

to the person who brought you or a person that you saw here.

But don't put it off any longer. To those of you have a

relationship with Jesus Christ. I just want to remind you, you

are not saved because of what you have done, but because of

what Jesus Christ has done for you on our behalf.

But Paul shouts in Ephesians chapter 2, watch this for it is

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

by grace, something you did not earn that you have been saved

through. Check this out faith.

We access our salvation through faith and this is not from

yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by

works so that no one can boast, for we are God's handiwork

created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in

advance for us to do. What he's saying is, is when you

come into faith, you and I come through the exact same door.

Belief. And now that we are in Him, He

has something in store for us to do.

Since God is always moving, always reaching, always changing

people, we must be people who are always moving.

Like the Israelites, we just follow the cloud.

Wherever He leads, we follow. There are no spectators on God's

team, only participants. And maybe it's time for us to

fully participate in the mission that God has given us.

Would you stand with me, Heavenly Father?

I'm asking you to do something that only you can do today, God.

Would you change hearts and change lives?

God, I know there's some people who are thinking there's no way

that they could ever turn their life over to you, that there's

no way that you would ever want them.

But God, I pray that you would win the war in their mind and in

their heart today. God, that you'd reveal to us

what it is that you want us to do, and that you'd give us the

strength and the courage to do it.

But this wouldn't just be another weekend, another day on

the calendar. But God, that every single

person would draw closer to you. And your name, I pray.

Amen.