Reclaim Your Finances | Jerry Harris

Wow, how are you doing Crossing Church?

Are you doing, okay? That doesn't light a fire under

your Woods wet. Need to dry out, something needs

to happen. Well, I am so glad to be here

with all of you with everyone online, everyone inside all of

our locations. It's so great to get together

because when the people of the Lord get together and the Holy

Spirit inhabits, the Praises of his people stuff happens, the

Holy Spirit, begins working, amazing, things happen.

And I pray that that is something that happens.

There's something special that happens to you today.

I want to welcome all of our campuses joining together and

we're in a series called reclaim restoring what was lost fixing

what was broken and we've learned a lot, we've already

learned a lot in this series, there's a lot of things to

reclaim in our marriages. There's so much working against

us. Those of us that are married, I

mean culture is just coming against us, slamming down on us,

and we have to get back to the basics, or we have to find the

basics for the first time Allison.

I just came back from two days at our camp at a marriage

Retreat. And it's just so rewarding to

see the lights come on in people's lives, are asking

really substantive questions and things are getting put together

or put back together in a right way.

Way. That's so encouraging to me that

we can actually do proactive things to reclaim our marriages

last a couple of weeks ago. Clayton talked about technology

and how how I social media and other types of Technology

supposed to connect us. Actually disconnect us from

every critical relationship that we hold dear.

I started thinking about it and the context of my own life you

know how hyped up we can get. I mean, and right now for

clickbait all of them. Media and social media are

trying to just get us angry, stir us up all the time.

And I don't know about you, but I get the feeling that in my

heart. And so I deleted Facebook

Twitter and Instagram off my phone.

You know what? I don't feel less.

Then I felt before, because I could feel myself, amping up.

We have to reclaim the quality of those relationships last

week. Clayton, talked about porn.

Wow. That's a hard topic to talk

about. I mean a tall order, right?

And and he did such an excellent job and the thing I love the

most about last week's experience was, you know, we

always call people to come to the front and you know, to just

kind of let the burdens go and of course you know who's going

to do that when you're preaching a sermon on born, right?

So there he's going to go. Oh yeah.

And he said, come on Church everybody come up.

Let's prop provide cover for these other for people that are

dealing with this issue and the whole front was full of people

and I thought to myself if that isn't a picture of the church,

what is a picture of the church that we come around each other

and we cover each other? With our prayers with our

concerns? I thought that was awesome.

We have to reclaim our Holiness because this stuff damages us

and our culture is saturated in sexualized things that really

destroy healthy sexuality. Now today I'm going to be

talking about money and I know that some of you're going to go.

Oh, great. He's talking about money now,

I'm not talking about church money.

I want to talk about your money. And I want you to think of the

things that we've already discussed marriage.

Technology, sexuality. And now, today money, you know,

they are all incredible blessings, aren't they?

They all are but there's a reality that comes with

blessings. There's always a dark side to

every blessing and when something is used properly, it's

a blessing. And when it's misused or abused,

it can become something. That's incredibly painful, more

painful than Than the blessing can be.

And so, I'm so thankful. For the blessing of my marriage

because I win. I don't know about the rest of

you. I mean it's great.

Maybe you're doing good in your bracket, you know, for the NCAA.

But when it comes to marriage I win you guys.

Good second third, fourth sixteenth, great.

But right, there's number one, nobody beats me when it comes to

my wife, as as a life partner and a Ministry partner except

for my, that's my point of view. And that's the only one that

matters in that bracket and I am thankful for technology, you

know, particularly Now that there's such a thing as face

time because well, I miss my grandkids, I get to get on

FaceTime and I don't get to hear about how they lost a tooth.

I get to see what they look like, with both our teeth brush

teeth gone or the latest toy that they're playing with, I'm

so thankful for that. I'm also thankful that we can

have healthy sexuality because those grandkids that I'm talking

about that's where they came from.

Healthy sexuality and the Oneness that I get to experience

with my spouse. And I'm also thankful for money.

I'm thankful for the things that it can do the doors, that it can

open the comfort that it can provide.

But there is a dark side and that's why we need to talk about

having these things. Reclaimed So, where do I start

with this idea of money? Well, I'm going to start with

history. There was a man who was

considered one of the most powerful rulers of all time.

His name was Ramses. The second he was also known as

Ramses, the Great and he was the greatest leader of one of the

greatest kingdoms, that the world has ever seen the Kingdom

of Egypt. He died in 1213, BC and

Egyptians built monuments to him particularly at the city of

Eve's. And one of those monuments was a

depiction of him Seated on a throne as a young rameses.

It stood 62 feet high, that's imposing when you think about

him sitting and it's still six stories high.

And one of the things that made this particular depiction of

Ramses, the Great interesting was that it was inscribed on the

bottom in Greek. Because at the time, of course,

nobody knew how to translate hieroglyphics.

They had discovered the Rosetta Stone yet and so, a lot of these

things in Egypt were Mysteries. But this one wasn't a minister,

a mystery because it was inscribed in Greek.

And this is what it said in Greek king of kings Ozymandias.

Am I if anyone to know how great I am and where I lie?

Let him out. Do me in my work.

Wow. So as man Dias is Greek for

Ramses. nearly 1,200 years later that would have meant at the

time of Christ a Greek historian named diodorus actually went to

thieves and witness the broken ruin of what had been this

colossal statue and wrote about it in his volume of world

history and over 800 years after that, Amana a poet by the name

of Percy Shelley, got with some of his friends and they were

doing speed riding over different topics and the topic

that day was this archeological ruin of Ramses, the Great.

And so they all wrote quickly in about 10 minutes, Percy Shelley

wrote his most famous, sonnet, And this is what it says.

I met a Traveller from an antique land who said, two vast

and trunkless legs of Stone Stand in the desert near them on

the sand. Half sunk a shattered Visage,

lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command.

Tell that it's sculptor. Well, those passions read.

Which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things, the hand

that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal, these words appear.

My name is Ozymandias King of Kings.

Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair.

Nothing beside remains round. The decay of that colossal

wreck, boundless, and bare the lone and level, Sands stretch

far away. What a picture of how the Mighty

Fall. The accumulation of all this

wealth and all of this power. And all of this Fame designed to

last forever immortalized, in stone, doesn't last forever at

all. And if that's what we're living

for, if that's what your Desiring, you're placing your

faith in the wrong place. Now I'm not talking about the

money, it's about where money or power or the pursuit of that

stands on the list of priorities of your life.

And some of those heartbreaking stories that I've ever heard

since I've been at the Crossing, or stories of people who came to

the crossing and, like, many of us before we have the

experience, with this church, never knew that we could

actually have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. We understood about religion, we

understood about going to church, but the thought that you

could actually know Jesus that you could actually interact with

Jesus, that you could, Have this relationship with Jesus was a

foreign idea until they experienced it here, and they

experienced massive transformation and that

transformation went out into their marriage, into their

family, into their extended family, and it's so beautiful,

and they became rooted in a spiritual community.

And they were flourishing and bearing fruit.

And then I've seen some of those same people here about

opportunities, maybe more money, maybe A career advancement.

And the desire for that next thing that desire to go up the

next rung of the ladder. LED them to go somewhere else

and they hadn't done their homework about, where's the

spiritual Community down there. I've had phone calls where

they've called me and said, can you help me?

We're trying to find a place down.

We're not able to find a place down here and you know, we're

watching online or we're doing this or that.

And they never get rooted, they never get routed down.

They ever put foundations down in a new spiritual community and

then I hear the story later on that the marriage is blown up,

the family's blown up. And it's just a tragedy. now,

I'm not saying that you can't do it like once you're here, you

know, the door only swings one way you can't leave, but I am

saying that you have to pay careful attention to the most

important things in life because without the spiritual support

bad things can really happen and wealth can be a blessing, but

only if it's used in the way that God intended, The Apostle

Paul was teaching Timothy about this very thing and in 1st

Timothy Chapter 6 in verse 6 he says this but godliness with

contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world

and we can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content

with that. But those who want to get rich

fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and

harmful desires. Plunge people into ruin and

destruction. For the Love of Money is the

root of all kinds of evil. And some people eager for money.

Have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many

griefs. now, I want to go back into that scripture and I want

you to look at the beginning of it, and I think every single

person Listening to the sound of my voice right now.

Would agree with me and agree with this scripture.

That that's what we want. He says godliness with

contentment is great gain. How many of you really love the

idea of godliness you want to be more Godly?

You want to be closer to God than you are?

How many of you would agree with that?

Right now you say yep. That's what I want.

Sure, of course we all want that right?

And then the second thing that said, there is contentment.

Contentment. How many of you are pursuing?

The Secret of contentment? You want to be content?

No matter what, the circumstance that you'd love to be more

content. How about that?

Yeah, again, we're all in agreement.

That's what we want. But where we looking for that,

Where's the source for that? And then you see this other

thing and I can I know that nobody wants this other thing

that people who want to get rich and that uses the word fall fall

into temptation, kind of gives you this idea of a pit like like

like like you're just falling into this big a hole in the

ground, right? They fall into temptation.

How many of you want to be tempted?

Oh yeah, tent me. And attract, how many of you

want to be entrapped? Not a hand.

How many you want to have foolish and harmful desires.

Give me some foolish and harmful desires.

I'm anybody know where I can get some foolish and harmful

desires. No, nobody's asking for that.

Nobody wants that. And then it uses the word plunge

plunge people. Again this idea of falling ruin

into ruin and destruction because somebody please show me

where I can get some ruin and destruction because that's what

I want. Nobody wants that.

And yet how many people are looking for the opposite thing?

Then what is provided? Because people who want to get

rich, believe in that lie. Now, I want to put this in the

proper perspective, I'm not saying that money is bad, I'm

not saying that taking care of your families, but on the

contrary, in first Timothy 5:8, just one chapter before just one

1 Timothy 5:8

page before in your Bible, Paul instructs Timothy.

He says, anyone who does not provide for their relatives and

especially for their own household, has denied the faith

and is worse than an unbeliever. I don't think anybody wants to

be worse than an unbeliever. That's pretty bad.

Do I I want to be worse than one.

Well if you don't provide for your family, you're worth.

So wait a minute. This is frustrating.

On the one hand you tell me I'm supposed to avoid the love of

money. On the other hand, I'm supposed

to provide for my family. So how do I walk this tightrope?

I don't understand how these two things work together.

Maybe a better way to say it is, how do I enjoy the blessings of

God's Financial provision but not let it spin me out or my

family out? Well, let's Let Jesus instruct

us today. Let's look, Jesus teach us.

So Jesus is preaching the most epic sermon of all time.

The Sermon on the Mount, is Matthew, 5, 6, and 7.

And as he's coming to the ending of that sermon, he tells this

story. This, this Parable, this lesson

in the story and it has to do with this very thing.

And this is what I want to bring to you.

You have to start if you want to walk that rope that tightrope

you have to build your life on the right foundation.

Matthew 7:24 to 27 says therefore anyone who hears these

Matthew 7:24–27

words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who

built his house on the rock and the rain came down the streams

Rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house yet, it

did not fall because it has Had its foundations on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put

them into practice, is like a foolish man who built his house

on the sand, and the rain came down the streams Rose, and the

winds blew and beat against that house.

And it fell. With a great crash.

We need to build our life on a firm foundation.

We sing that song. That Christ is my firm

foundation. Do you have a firm foundation?

Do your foundations go deep? Are they stable?

A couple of years ago we did a series I love this series and 10

lessons in it and we started at the beginning of the year was

called closed on Sunday and it was based off of a song that

Kanye West had written and he had just released this album

that went like Mega platinum and it was just an awesome awesome

song. I remember the lyrics like stand

up for my home. Even if I have to walk this

alone you remember that was just like wow.

It just captured the this idea this concept of putting Christ

first and putting down those kinds of Foundations.

I remember my son Joey said Jerry or dad live by the Kanye

die by the Kanye. So he said, be careful because,

you know, the the wind blows around and I but I really think

I really think that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were

trying to make it happen. They really were but it didn't

last. And those of you that do follow

these things on social media, know that Kim's back to dating

around and doing skimpy. Photoshoots and Kanye who is

now, ye is getting cancelled for all of his outrageousness.

And all I can think is that. So sad, you know, why it's sad

because it was all in front of them.

They knew the right answer. But worldly desires got the best

of them. A good foundation is expensive

and it's even more expensive. If you've already built a whole

structure of your life on a bad Foundation, because what that

means is, you got to tear all of that down all the way down

below. Those foundations and lay the

right one. The Apostle Paul said in First

Corinthians 3, there is no Foundation that can be laid

other than the one already laid and that Foundation is Jesus

Christ. He has to be that foundation and

they have to go down deep. so, my question to you, is this Are

you on the right foundation? Do you have an intimate personal

relationship with Jesus Christ? If you're going to try to live

on that tightrope to be providing for your family and at

the same time, not allowing the love of money to take you down,

that really destructive Road. You have to have that

relationship with Jesus. So if that's the case, maybe

some of you are saying, hey, I've laid that I've got that

Foundation. Jesus Christ is the rock on

which I stand. Great.

What are you building on it? And what could we learn from

Jesus on how to build what we build on it?

How about this, don't build what you can't afford.

Make sure you can afford what you build.

Jesus told three stories in succession told the story of a

hundred sheep and one got lost in the shepherd, went to find

that lost sheep left the 99 to go.

Find that one lost sheep. Then told a second story about a

woman who had 10 coins and lost one of those coins and swept her

whole house to find it would rejoice when she found that one

of ten coins and then he concluded with a parable of two

sons. We know this story is The

Prodigal Son. And the younger, the one who

didn't have the responsibility to family, the wouldn't get the

double portion of the inheritance asked his father to

have his inheritance early and his father did as he acts, so he

gave him half of his inheritance.

Now that would have been a lot. You can build a life on that,

but what did he decide to do? The Bible uses this term, he

spent it on loose living. Anybody have any illustrations

personally in your life about something that would fall under

the heading of loose living? Yeah.

How did that last? How did that work out?

Could you afford that when you did that?

You know the story, right? So, he spent his inheritance on

that, and then when the money was gone, there was a famine in

the land and he was starving to death.

And so he found work in a pigsty but he still didn't have enough

to eat and he was longing to eat.

The slop that was being fed to the pigs and then he said, I'll

go home to my father. Either?

I don't deserve to be a son, I'll just be a hired servant he

memorized this whole speech so you can.

Can you see this emaciated disheveled young man coming

back, mustering the energy to come back to his father.

The Bible says, while he was still a long way off and

probably not recognizable, his father saw him all that way away

and ran to him. And here, he's got the speech

prepared in the father throws, his arms around his Go, son and

won't hear any of that. My son was dead and is alive

again. He was lost and now he's found.

Let's throw a party. What a beautiful picture of the

love of God. for his children and yet, He didn't get another

slice of inheritance, did he? It was gone and he had to start

from scratch. This man had everything he

needed for a great life, but he wasted it.

The moral of this story for us is don't waste your life, don't

waste your resources, building. Something that is disposable so

many things in our lives, we've considered them disposable but

your life itself, that's not disposable.

It has Eternal ramifications eternal.

Joy said, pay you back. Don't blow that Sometimes.

We get a skewed view of what makes life good.

So we build our lives on things that we shouldn't like on debt.

Now, I'm not saying that dead is a sin.

I'm not saying loan is a bad thing but it can ruin you.

We have to be very careful with that and not try mean you me you

me you might look at some other people and you go look at that

car. They're driving.

I wish I had a car like that. Look at the house or living in.

I wish I had outside. Look at the clothes, they're

wearing then I wish I had something like that.

And so what do we do with our credit card?

Then what happens? When we're dealing with like,

exorbitant interest rates. We can spend our lives on once,

and totally miss what we need. And I need to tell you this.

I'm 63 years old. So everybody that's younger than

me, listen to this. Okay, God is faithful.

When you put him first, he will take care of you.

You think you're good at taking care of your kids, he's better.

He will take care of you. But you have to put him first,

you have to live your life by his priorities and not by your

own. He has always been faithful some

of you right now. You're saying I'm disconnecting

from this because you don't I'm already there I'm already not

not not in the good way but in the bad way like I'm like you

know I can't even get a credit card anymore, all the other ones

are blown up. I got people, I got this.

I don't know how I'm going to make it.

I'm worried, I'm struggling. Look, we know that that's a

reality in your life and in American culture, and as a

church, we want to reach out to you want to help you.

So at all of our locations today, there's an info bar.

There's a place where you can connect and there's something

we've been doing for a long time, Financial Peace

University. And we want to encourage you to

go back to the info bar, at the end of a service and sign up.

And say, I want to be a part of that.

I want to learn how to do that, because the stories of how

people in such a short time are actually able to reverse that

curse, you can do it. And it's christ-centered is

god-honoring. You can do that some of your

going. I don't have time to attend a

class. We're going to have one online

for you. so, if you don't want to get in a car on a cold day,

we got you We want to be the people that have these things in

there, right? Order, our priorities, and our

right order. We want to help you do that.

So, make sure you build on a right foundation.

Don't build what you can afford and number three, build a life

that lasts. You can have a good foundation

and you can build a good building.

What is your life but will it last?

Jesus was confronted with the question.

In Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 13.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Read it with me. It's someone in the crowd said

to him. Teacher tell my brother to

divide the inheritance with me and Jesus replied men who

appointed me a judge in an Arbiter between you, then he

said to them, watch out be on your guard against all kinds of

greed. Life does not consist in the

abundance of possessions, can I get an amen to that?

Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions and he

told them this Parable, the ground of a certain rich, man

yielded an abundant Harvest and he thought to himself.

What shall I do? I have no place to store my

crops then he said this is what I'll do.

I will tear down my Barns and build bigger ones and there, I

will store my Surplus grain and I'll say to myself, you have

plenty of grain light up laid up for many years.

Take life, easy, eat drink and be merry.

But God said to him, you fool, this very night, your life will

be demanded of you, then who will get what you've prepared

for yourself? This is how it will be.

With anyone who stores up things for themselves.

But is not rich toward God. you know, sometimes we think that

success, with possessions means that we are a successful person

it doesn't mean that we might think the bigger the barn, the

better, the life, Sometimes we can feel that way.

I know that sometimes I felt that way.

So a couple of months ago, January I was asked to speak

down in Phoenix and a friend. This friend of mine invited me

to speak and it happened to be the same week as the

Barrett-Jackson Auction. And I'll just say if, you know,

you know, okay. One of the things that I had

said to this guy the year before he was asking me a question,

what's your favorite car Jerry? And you know what somebody's

going to say you know, they're going to say Ferrari or

Lamborghini or you know, some exotic car Maybach or something

like that. And I said a lucid And he went

what and I said a lucid. I've never heard of elusive.

Most of you haven't heard of a lucid.

How many of you've never heard of a lucid?

Yeah. See what I'm saying?

Poor people, so sad. Well, Lucid is an electric car.

It's actually made in Arizona about an hour south of

Scottsdale where the Barrett-Jackson Auction is.

And I told him about it and then when we were coming, the next

year, we were going to go to Barrett-Jackson.

He said you're not going to believe this.

They have a lucid Driving Experience there and you could

even you could actually drive a lucid, okay?

You a lucid is a sedan, it's got four doors.

It has six different ways. It can massage you in the seat.

This is what it looks like. That that's that.

That is a lucid at the Barrett-Jackson Auction.

It is also the Lucid that I drove next picture.

Just in case you're wondering that's me getting in the lucid.

Okay. Do I like it?

Because it's comfortable. Wilshire.

Do I like it? Because, you know, it's got

great interior finish. Yeah.

No, the reason I like it. It has over 1,000 horsepower.

Over 1,000 horsepower. Yeah, this is actually the

middle lucid. Like the low end loose.

It's on like 860. Like, who cares 160 horsepower?

Okay, that's like a rocket ship. This is over at the one.

I drove is over 1000. They have one called the

sapphire. Has 1,400 1,400 horsepower.

Yeah, the engineer sitting in the right seat, when I was

driving said he goes we don't even ask ourselves doing ask the

question about is that enough horsepower anymore?

Now we're having ethical conversations on.

Is it right? Should you even have that much

horsepower? And I thought I would be driving

it in a parking lot. He goes on now.

We're going out on the highway and I took that sucker out on

the highway and he goes, he goes, keep it slow, keep it

slow, keep it slow until I got about 300 yards between me and

the car in front of me. He goes let it eat.

And I put down the accelerator pedal, and I only got halfway

before. I was on that bumper.

I felt like, I mean, you've heard of the ten dollar test

where you put a ten dollar bill on the dash and see if you can

get it, you can have it like it, put it like, if you're so stiff,

it's your car so fast. It pushes you back in the seat.

I've never experienced anything like this.

This was like, just this like being an astronaut going

horizontal. It was crazy, and so I get out

of car. And I get on the phone, and I

call that woman right there. And I said, Allison, I need, I

need this car. I need this car bat.

How much is it? That's 138 thousand dollars.

Come on. Needless to say, I didn't come

home with a lucid. And here's the rear.

So here's the the other truth of that.

I cannot imagine the beautiful leather seats of that.

Lucid having like divots in the back seat, from the car seats

for my grandkids. I can't imagine cleaning up the

stain on the beautiful carpet from the juice box.

I can't imagine what it would be like, pulling out the half

sticky, half melted candy. You know I'm trying to say No

matter how beautiful something, might seem how incredible it

might be. It won't last.

You know, what does last an intimate personal relationship

with Jesus Christ? That'll last.

You know what, a last when you make his priorities, your

priorities. When you put him first every day

and when you don't, you repent of it.

When you do life, his way, not your way in every way, it'll let

you choose a better spouse. Raise better kids have a

purpose, filled life, and find peace in the midst of storms

with an unshakable, hope for the future Be a fool.

I got a text message this morning from my oldest sister.

Carolyn who said death is imminent for my sister Arlene,

she's dying right now. She hasn't already passed away.

But let me tell you something about my sister Arlene.

She is a spiritual Tyrannosaurus.

She knows the word better than I know the word. and I remember

texting her back this morning before first service going, can

you imagine Can you imagine the people?

Welcoming her mom, dad my brother, Larry.

DJ and a lot of other other names, the thought of it.

To be in a new body that will never wear out.

Never grow old. Never expand, like mine has

Commit to imagine it. Oh, I'm going to miss her

terribly. I love calling her, getting her

advice. And I'm not going to have that

for a while, but that is the treasure that you lay up for

yourself. When you lay up Treasures in

Heaven rather than putting them here on the earth.

It's not just about money, it's about relationships about

opportunities. I'm going to give you five quick

things. 52. Dues ready.

Number one, trust God. You know why you should trust

God? Because you can There, maybe

everything else in this world that you can't, but you can

trust God number to put down the idol of wealth.

Quit living, comparatively, welcome those people live in the

house, I should live in a house that big I should drive a car

like that. Save yourself, the pain of

self-imposed piercing with grief.

Number 3, automate, your giving, you know, Jesus said, when you

give don't be like the pagans. Don't let your left hand know

what your right hand is doing, right.

My givings automated. I just live in the reality and

90% doesn't bother me. I don't think about it.

And God's blessing people like crazy with it.

Number four, bunch of generosity.

Everything. You give over the tithe, you're

the Lord of that. That means you see a person in

need, you want to bless a person?

It would it be great to have a couple hundred bucks in here in

your wallet, your purse and you say hey here here, Just to be

able to reach out and help a person that's in.

Need number 5, look to the example of Jesus.

Look to the example of Jesus. None of you in this room or any

of our locations have ever heard of James, Allen Francis, none of

you. He was a preacher, not a

particularly well-known preacher in the 1910 1920 range.

But he also wrote a piece of literature.

Not like Percy Shelley, not with all of the Pomp and Circumstance

of sonnets and poetry. And even though you've never

heard his name, this piece of literature was part of a sermon,

he preached. And somebody pulled it out of

that sermon and published it. And I'm going to read it to you.

Here is a man who was born in an obscure Village as the child of

a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure

Village. He worked in a carpenter shop

until he was Thirty, and then for three years he was an

itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book, he never

held an office. He never owned a home.

You never had a family, he never went to college.

He never put his foot inside a big city, he never traveled. 200

miles from the place where he was born.

He never did one of the things that usually accompany

greatness. He had no credentials, but

himself, he had nothing to do with this world except the naked

power of His Divine Majesty. Manhood.

While still a young man the tide of popular opinion, turned

against him, his friends ran away one of them denied him,

another betrayed him. He was turned over to his

enemies. He went through the mockery of a

trial. He was nailed upon a cross

between two thieves his Executioner's.

Gambled for the only piece of property.

He had on Earth while he was dying and that was his coat when

he was dead. He was taken down and laid in a

borrowed Grace. I threw the pity of a friend. 19

wide centuries have come and gone.

And today, he is the center of the human race and the leader of

the column of progress. I am far within the mark.

When I say that all the armies that ever marched, all of the

Navy's that were ever built all of the parliaments that ever sat

and all of the kings that ever reigned put together, have not

affected the life of man upon the Earth as powerfully as has

this one saw. Solitary life.

That is the person that I want to follow because he did it,

right? And I am willing to entrust my

life to him. How about you?

We're moving to a time of decision.

I thought it was so interesting to put those two pieces of

literature beside one, another to see what the Pinnacle of

human achievement is And to see this other thing. that at the

time would have been considered an anti Pinnacle like the lowest

Valley and yet The reason that you are here in this room right

now. The reason that you took time

out of your day, the reason that you're listening to this is

because of that one. Solitary life.

Jesus wasn't a man. He became a man.

He's God himself, who came? Put on the mantle of Flesh.

Humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And has been exalted by God, he died alone on that cross.

He bore your sin and mine and when he was dead, they buried

him in a borrowed tomb, but he rose again on the third day, and

he's alive right now, and he's here in this room and he knows

your name. Not only does he know your name,

he knew your name before you knew your name.

And he loves you. He loves you to the point of

Dying For You. So that you could live forever.

He holds you accountable to your debt of sin.

And then he pays the price himself.

That's who Jesus is and he wants you to have an intimate personal

relationship with him. There's going to be someone

right over there by that baptistry because in a moment

we're going to stand and singing.

When we do, if there's somebody somebody in this room that does

not have that relationship with Jesus Christ.

Why don't you accept the greatest gift ever given to any

human being on the face of the Earth?

And make it your own. Many of you here today, and

you've had made that decision for Christ.

You've accepted him into your heart and your life, you've put

that foundation in. I hope that those the, the the

foundation goes down deep and you're building your life on

that. But, you know, as well as I do,

the lower story sometimes gets the best of us.

We start building things our way instead of his way, sometimes

things get backwards, and sideways and wrong.

And there needs to be times where we just go back to our

knees. We remember, He's the Lord and

who's not the Lord. We turn the burdens over to him.

We remind ourselves or let the Holy Spirit, remind us who we

need to be serving. And those of you that come up

here and you lay something down, I'm telling you, you'll feel the

presence of Jesus Christ, raising you up back up onto your

feet and you will walk away from these steps lighter than when

you walk to them. Can I get an amen?

It's true. But that's in your hands.

And so is this moment would you stand with me in Jesus name,

heavenly father I pray. Take this moment.

Take this moment help us father to see ourselves as we truly are

the way that you see us. I pray.

Father, the Angels around this building facing outward swords

drawn. No one can get to us.

We stand on Holy Ground because you're here.

And I pray, father, your Holy Spirit would be unimpeded.

Speaking to the depths of our soul and that father, we then

like little children would respond to you.

I pray in Jesus name. Amen.