Reclaim Your Marriage | Jerry Harris

Well, good morning Crossing Church.

How are you doing today? Some of you might remember me.

It's so good to be. Here.

It is so good to be with you. I've had the opportunity to

preach in a couple of churches in the last month, or so one in

Arizona, it was like, they were having the worst cold snap of

course. In Arizona bows, great to speak

with them and then in Lincoln Nebraska and it was havin,

they're havin a big warm snap. So that's, you know,

everything's topsy-turvy but there's no place like being

home. And this is home and just so

glad that we get to be together and we get to be in God's word

together. I want to welcome all of our

locations all around this region.

So, thankful for each and every one of you of your Insider

online. We love you.

And and just so happy to be able to share with you this fine

Lord's day as well. And just one thing I want to

remind you of is that in the month of March, there are two

more marriage. Retreats.

And I'm going to be talking about marriage today.

And there is nothing that you could do.

Better than just to invest yourself in a marriage Retreat.

Let God speak into your life. Let us word speak into your life

to focus on that. That's homework worth doing and

it can totally totally change your life, your marriage, your

kids, your grandkids, who knows the blessings that God will give

through that whole process. So we're in this series, I love

the Title of this series and its reclaimed.

I love the word reclaim so much. I feel like biblically that is

encapsulated in that word reclaim and I Was preparing for

this message today and I saw these two little tag lines that

they kind of did some artistic work with.

You can see, just make some kind of hard to read, but it's

restoring what was lost and fixing.

What is broken. Restoring what was lost and

fixing, what is broken. And Those those words that word

reclaim and those two taglines, they kind of hit me because

there's an assumption that's being made in that word.

The word reclaim and the assumption is that you want.

Whatever is broken or whatever was lost that you that you want

that back, right? Whether you you earned it,

whether you paid a lot for it. Whether it was just precious to

your what that you want that back.

You want to reclaim that. And I'm contextualizing that in

my life and in my context, in my circumstances and I wonder how

you might feel about those words.

Do you sense? Culturally.

That we are surrounded by broken things.

Do you feel like we've lost things like some really

necessary things and they seem to be lost or forgotten.

I wonder if you might feel that way, is an American like in our

country. You might feel that way as a

complete Community member like in your community.

All these communities that we represent at the Crossing, all

of network in or maybe even personally things that are lost

or broken inside of you, I want you to know that I feel that

way. That's a burden on me.

And I want to do something right now that maybe I would encourage

you to do today and that is I'm going to confess something to

you. And that is that sometimes.

I feel like the things that I so that I feel so deeply, They

Don't Really resonate sometimes with younger generations, and it

makes me wonder if there is even a desire out there to reclaim

anything. Instead, I see this non-stop

indoctrination to move American culture away from reclaiming and

instead embracing new ideas about sexual identity, about

historical identity about national identity, about social

identity and about Civility and so many other things and I don't

want to be classified. I know I'm 63 years old but I

don't want to be that guy. Who's morning the good old days.

But can't help believe but believe that so much that is so

valuable has been broken and lost.

And I confess to you that sometimes I feel like that any

desire to want to reclaim any of those things is just a pipe

dream. so then I hear about something happening in Wilmore

Kentucky, Went viral a couple weeks ago.

Everyone, that has a pulse knows what I'm talking about.

Asbury University students refused to leave their weekly

Chapel service. They have three Chapel Services

a week and instead continued to worship and praise God in their

chapel and they miss their classes to continue to worship

and praise God. And I know that that you've

heard about it, like just one post on social media had over.

80 million views. So everybody's heard about this

and the more I saw, the more I actually heard about mostly with

social media. I wanted to investigate it

myself. So I'm the publisher of

Christian standard magazine and and I have an editor that lives

in Louisville Kentucky and that's only about an hour from

Wilmore which is just a like 15 minutes.

South west of Lexington Kentucky to ask him.

Hey if you would go down there and take a look at that and

maybe I said something about, it will pay your expenses and he

said to me, his name is Mike Mac and he said, actually, I just

got back. I was there for seven hours and

it was life-changing. It was so powerful and I came

there and, and you could just feel it, like, it was palpable.

And, and people I was out on the lawn.

I never even made it in the building.

I was out on the lawn and people have started praying together

and a guy came up to me and I said you owe me to pray with

you. I started praying with him.

Feel just art, you'll spontaneously Ministering to one

another, with a holy spirit was powerful.

And I went, wow. So I felt this need inside of me

to go there to experience that myself.

So I thought about a couple of guys who might have the time to

be able to go with me and I called Walt wilcoxon and then I

was going to call Jim Dennis. So I called Walt and I said,

hey, you want to go? And he goes yeah, I'd love to go

and I go I'm going to call Jim. Dennis, he goes, don't bother.

He's already there. True story.

He's actually on his way back. So we are making arrangements to

go and I called Jim and he's on the road, coming back and he was

like this was not. He goes he was crazy and it was

it was incredible. He started telling me about his

experience and then he said, you know, they had food.

It was provided, they had pizza, they had, they had snacks, they

had drinks had all this stuff and I went, I tried to pay for

it and they go, no, it's been provided.

Like are you kidding me? They wouldn't take your money to

know said it's been provided. Like somebody had just ponied up

the money for like all these restrooms and you know all this

stuff and he goes I felt so bad. It goes I put some I said you

just take donations and they said, well, we'll take a

donation so he handed him some money.

And he said, maybe the crossing could do something to help this

out. So I called Clayton.

And I said, what do you think the crossing could could help

pay for all the stuff that they're doing?

And he said, just come to the office and we'll cut you a check

for five thousand dollars. So you don't know it until now,

but as a church we participated in the Asbury.

Revival. You were paying for toilets.

You are paying for pizza. You're paying for bottled water.

So that people could just continue to pray and seek the

Lord. Incredible.

So we're in the car, you know, we jumped in the car on Friday

morning and we made the seven-hour trip that was last

Friday, and in the car, I was talking to Walt about what I was

going to be preaching about, which is how to pick and be the

right spouse. How do you pick the right

spouse? And how can you be the right

spouse? And and Walt said, well, I'm

really excited about half that sermon.

How come they got it over there but you guys are still quiet.

I don't know, any way we get to the decision time for.

Maybe you. Okay.

Anyway, I love his gift of encouragement anyway, so we got

there and we got there as it was getting toward evening.

And then as night fell, I mean I took a few videos, but this is

the video that I took when night fell.

So look at the screens right now and you can see what I was

experiencing. That's the lawn and right there

is Hughes Auditorium on your left.

And that's where the if you seen those videos that's where

they're happening and you can see a line you can, stat line is

for people wide. And it goes over half a mile.

6/10 of a mile and it is not moving because once you get in

the auditorium, people don't want to leave.

But people are willing to stand. And by the way, it's 28 degrees.

When I took that video And people have filled that Lon and

they're praying outside, you see that?

They put like this Jumbotron thing out there so you can see

and that was amazing and and all of the local churches didn't

matter what the sign was out front.

Didn't matter what denomination they were.

There's an amazing thing. They all simulcast it.

I went into one a Baptist Church and you can tell they don't they

don't they don't do the whole video on the wall thing.

So I mean it was old school. It was Use and it was organ and

piano, right? But they had a chair sitting on

the left side and they had a, they had a video projector

sitting on the chair shooting up against the wall.

And so I mean, I mean that's that's pretty rudimentary right?

And and there was a couple of there were people up, you know,

that we're praying and confessing their sins and stuff

happening up front and there was a couple over there and there

was a guy that was leading them helping them like we would do

that when like praying with them.

And and he kneels to pray and he sticks his rear end right in

front of the, of the video projector.

And so, and so, you only see half of like, and nobody said

anything nobody cared. And about every other verse that

they were singing that was being simulcast.

The the internet was so bad that it would buffer.

And it would just freeze and buffer.

Nobody cared. They just kept saying and it was

amazing that when it, when it quit buffering, we were right

with him again. It was absolutely astounding to

me. so, What was what was amazing was there was no

production. I mean, it was there was not

produced at all. It was just a bunch of a bunch

of people in a room and most of them, seventy percent of them

were under the age of 22. And there was no musical

excellence. I mean they weren't picking

people who are just great. Just somebody, if you get up

there with a guitar and there were somebody maybe on the piano

and they had their phone, they're trying to find, You

Know, chords. And there was a guy on a beatbox

and that was about it. And they're leading worship that

didn't matter. I mean, all they had to do with

start, all they had to do was start a song.

There was no words on any screen, so you didn't have words

to go with you, you know, didn't matter.

I mean, they, they sing like a bar to an everybody would just

pick it up and then start singing.

There was no special lighting. There was no famous people,

there is no comfortable chairs. There was no Posh accommodations

and none of it mattered. It was completely student-led

and the, The Faculty of Asbury did their best to maintain that

there were people that tried to get some stage time.

Lots of people that tried to do that.

Some of them famous like Kari, Jobe cane and one of the things

they said, no, this is student-led Tucker Carlson came

with a film. What came with a film crew?

Wanted to do film? They said no completely

student-led That was that day. I thought it was amazing how

they kept that the way it was and what you saw instead was

students worshiping in song confessing their sins, publicly

dropping to their knees at the altar and repentance giving

their testimonies reading scripture.

And this is how they would read scripture.

I mean, they would line up, they would line up to read a

scripture. And the president of the college

was standing in front and they have a kind of a tradition at

Asbury when they read scripture and when that scripture is read,

the president would raise his hand and say, this is the word

of God. And then everybody, all those

students would say and we believe it Like thunderously,

they would say that and then another one come up and another

one would come up, they have 1020 in a line just having a

scripture on their heart that they wanted to read.

So, the faculty made sure that there were no outside

distractions that kept keep it, orderly, the rejected people who

wanted that stage time. And eventually, I mean the town

of wilmore's only 3,300 people and they were having 15,000 a

day so it overwhelmed the community.

So eventually they had to say take the Revival out because he

can't just stay here. But absolutely beautiful.

The Holy Spirit was so thick. It was like, James, Earl, Jones

and Field of Dreams when he said you'd have to brush it away from

your face, you just walk into those spaces, you start crying.

Was powerful. And I know I needed to be there.

I needed to be there because of what I just confessed to you.

I was there for hope. Mike Max said I was there for

Unity. I saw Unity.

What I saw was hope hope for a new generation.

TriMet predominately 18 to 22 year, olds crying out for the

Lord's presence confessing their sins to him publicly repenting

of their sins and praying. but there are a whole heart for him

to move because that is what this word is all about.

Revival is reclaiming. Repentance is reclaiming.

Confession is reclaiming obedience to God.

And His word is reclaiming. I confess to you that many

times, I have felt like Elijah under the broom tree thinking,

everyone else is broken and lost who's left.

And I was reminded that God told Elijah when he was feeling sorry

for himself that he had reserved 7000 who had not bowed the knee

to Baal and I saw thousands and thousands of young people take

up the Cross of Christ and deny themselves.

Now, that is not the topic that I was assigned for this series.

But it literally has everything to do with it.

Finding or being the spouse. That honors.

God requires obedience to him. Obedience to him.

Over the things of this world and over culture and gen Z is

under greater pressure than any previous generation that we know

of to bow down to the idol of culture and worldly acceptance.

But that trip to Asbury. Showed me that the smallest

Taste of the spirit of God is so much more powerful than any of

those idols and any of those cultures, See God's word is true

and it's infallible and it stood the test of time for thousands

of years regardless of culture culture on the other hand has

little if any shelf life it is so temporary and it is so

disposable. The culture of this generation

once this generation to be known as the generation of anxiety,

the generation of depression, the generation of suicide, but

God can and will speak life into this generation.

And it begins with God's word so that's where I want to start

today when it comes to being a spouse or finding a spouse.

And so we're going to start in the most basic truths about

that. Now, I'm going to step out from

behind this table and you've all been on a airplane flight and

the flight attendant comes up and they have a seat belt.

And they show you. How to operate a seat belt?

Right. And some of us are like, well,

that's really dumb. I don't need to do that mean,

look at me. I mean, I understand how to

operate a seat belt. But sometimes we might want to

wonder when we're trying to reclaim something.

If we still need to know how to operate seat belt.

When the oxygen mask comes down, they show you how to put it on

even though you ought to know how to put it on.

Right, so there's going to be some stuff.

I'm going to say. And some of you might recoil.

And I just want you to put your seatbelt on and make sure, you

know, where your oxygen mask is okay.

Because that's what's going to happen and I'm not going to

waste any time doing it, ready. I'm going to tell you three

things about marriage. Here's the first one, male and

female. Just that.

Male and female. I'm going to encourage you today

to do the same discipline, the same traditional discipline that

as very students do, because when I'm done reading the

scripture, I'm going to say this is the word of God.

Matthew 19:4 through six, these words, by the way are in read.

Matthew 19:4

In my Bible that means there are the words of Jesus ready?

Having you read, he replied that at the beginning, the Creator

made them. Male and female and said, for

this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be

United to his wife. And the two will become one

flesh. So they are no longer two, but

one therefore what God has joined together?

Let man not separate. This is the word of God.

There are two Sexes assigned at birth.

That's the way that God created you and designed you.

It goes. Clear down to the cellular level

men, have an X chromosome, and the Y chromosome in every cell.

Women have, an X chromosome in another X chromosome in every

cell, That's how your made even down to the cellular level.

Now, I know there are people who are same-sex attracted and I

know there are all sorts of cultural variations with regards

to sexual identity, but that is not how you or made and that's

down to every cell in your body. I know what the world says, and

I know what culture says, but the world and culture will pass

away. We just read what Jesus says and

Jesus is alive forever. And for those of you that are

worried about being judged by culture, I want you to know

something you will never stand before culture and be judged,

but you and I will stand before. God?

We will all stand before God. And we will be judged according

to his word and this is not my opinion.

This is what the Bible says. I know that for some of you this

is like, how do you, how do you Buckle a seatbelt?

But that is not the case in our culture.

Orange in Zee. Number two.

To be unified in faith for life to understand male and female.

And then, to be unified in faith for life.

I don't know what you did, or what you feel like you ought to

do, if you ever find a spouse or when you found a spouse, or when

you ask someone to be your spouse, but the first question

you should find out is where are they in their faith?

Before you like their clothes, their hairstyle, their body

shape. How will they have a

conversation? Where do they stand on their

faith? The Apostle Paul said, do not be

yoked together with unbelievers for what do righteousness and

wickedness have in common or what Fellowship can light have

with Darkness. This should be the first thing

that you look for. You need to be it and you to

look for it. Listen to me, it is essential to

be in a one flesh in spirit as well as in body because without

it, you'll never be on the same page.

Now, I know some of you that are younger, you might think that

marriage is balloons and lollipops and rainbows, but

those of us that have been in the war called marriage, We know

that it's not always easy and sometimes it's hard.

As a matter of fact, it can be the hardest things, the hardest

things that you ever experienced in life could happen, inside

that one flesh, relationship and the place you go for Hope and

peace and strength. Is God and his word.

And if you're not on the same page there, let me tell you.

I've had enough people in in my office prove to me that when

you're not on that same page, somebody bears that alone.

And that is not the way that God designed it.

It's the first thing you should have in common.

Your faith. Number three.

You need to be committed to The Godly order of things.

There is no disorder in God and there is no confusion in God.

None zero. And so we need to understand

that with God, you don't have confusion, you have something

else. Instead, the Bible says, God is

not the author of confusion but he's the author of peace and

when you follow God, you can be at peace, not in confusion.

What do I mean? And how does that apply.

Well, I'm going to read 1st Corinthians, chapter 6 verses 18

to 20. He's the words of the Apostle.

Paul. Flee from sexual immorality.

All other sins. A man commits are outside of his

body. Now, this is important.

I want you to raise your hand. If you've heard.

Somebody say all sins the same, all Sin is Sin.

Yeah, that's only partly true and partly false because sin is

not the same. When it comes to consequences,

all sin separates you from God? In that sense?

That's true. But there are some sins that

make a lot bigger Mark in your life than others.

And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying here, right?

Let's look at it all other sins. A man commits are outside of his

body but he used in sexually sins against his own body.

Do you not know that your body is the Temple of the Holy

Spirit? Who is in you whom you've

received from God? You are not your own, you were

bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body.

So we have to flee, sexual sin. So I said, male and female, I

said that we need to be unified in faith for life.

And third, be committed to Godly order.

And that's what this scripture is.

Defining now a few months ago, I showed you this is called the

ram model and this is the way that a relationship is supposed

to form. You're supposed to get to know

somebody. And when you know them well

enough, you begin to trust them because what trust is is what

you think about what you know, I've had a lot of people come to

me. Their marriages are falling

apart and they said, well, I really thought that I knew that

person. Because that's what trust is it.

When trust is broken. It means that what you thought

you knew you really didn't. So those knowing and then

there's what you think about, you know, trust then Reliance is

what you do based on what you think about what you know How

you actually act not just what you think.

And then, if all of that goes, well, you come down here to

Commitment you say, I want to get, I'm going to get that

person off of the market. I want that one to be mine.

I want that one to be forever. I want that.

I netwo, yes. Sign me up, right?

That's commitment. That's why you're taking all

these O's. When you get married, that's

commitment. And then, and then, and then

this Touch. Yeah.

That's the way it's supposed to work.

Now there's a lot of reasons for that because when you get these

in the wrong order, Things become very confusing and very

destructive. And Satan is the author of

confusion. Not God And I'll tell you why

that is because just like the X and Y chromosomes and all these

things that God did when he when you were created.

He also created you that way in every way including your married

life. so, when a woman gives birth, Her body delivers, 10

times, the amount of normal of oxytocin hormone into her body.

She just gets this huge rush soon as that babies, born of

oxytocin and they put that baby on mommy's tummy.

And something happens. Something miraculous happens.

Bonding. And it's bonding for life and

it's because God designed her to release 10 times the oxytocin in

that moment. So there is a chemical

scientific response that God has designed inside of a woman to do

that. She also releases that in sexual

intimacy. A man in sexual intimacy

releases vasopressin a hormone that is also called the monogamy

molecule. Because as a species human

beings were designed to mate for life.

Wow, cool. Now, maybe not so much because

how many relationships do you know, started that way and did

that? Or did we go to the bar?

Hoping we get lucky. We picked someone up.

It's dark. You're drunk or drinking in the

dark, they look pretty good. You wake up in the morning

you're going. Oh my goodness.

But all that hormonal stuff happened and you do that over

and over and over and over again.

What happens? This is not how you were

designed. This is not how I was designed

and right now you're going. Oh, stop preaching.

Killing me. Cuz I haven't done that.

I'm broken. I'm lost.

I don't know what to do reclaim Reclaim because God has the

ability to fix what is broken? He has the ability to recover.

What has been lost, only he can do that, we have got to reclaim

and you're going, okay? Okay.

How do I do it? Okay.

Here's an acrostic, an acronym, ready, re-see laim reclaim.

I'm going to give you a word and a statement for every one of

those. So you can remember it, you

might want to write them down. Down.

Number one. Are what does it stand for

repent of your sins? Repent of your sins to repent

means to turn. Literally, the Greek word means

to turn And and there's a scripture that actually has the

definition within the scripture. It's in Acts chapter 3 verses 19

Acts 3:19–20

to 20. It says repent then and turn to

God so that your sins may be wiped out.

You want your sins wiped out? I do.

How do I get my sins wiped out? I Repent that your sins may be

wiped out. How many you want?

The next thing that times of refreshing may come from the

Lord? That's Revival.

That's where God fixes your heart times of refreshing come

from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah.

Who has been appointed for you? Even Jesus to feel the presence

of Jesus. To repent.

I want that. Yeah, you're broken.

Something's lost, repent. Number 2 or e the letter e

experience experience the cross. experience the cross because

that's where the sacrifice for your sins are If you know that

you're carrying all these sins, you know, you've got all this

stuff, maybe nobody else knows, maybe it's a secret thing, you

don't, you know as and it's just you that knows it.

What do I do with it? I've owned this regret.

I have all this hurt. I have all this pain.

What do I do with it? You take that right to the Cross

experience, the cross, because it was at the cross where Jesus

shed his blood and his blood is enough to cover every one of

your sins, it doesn't require anything more than what Jesus

did when he gave himself as a sacrifice for your sins.

So experience the cross because that is where the payment is for

your sins, see? Confess your sin.

Confess your sin, which means to admit your sin before.

God, first John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful

1 John 1:9

and just and will what you want that?

I want that. I want my sins to be wiped out.

I want a time of refreshing from the Lord.

I want him to send the Lord, the Messiah into my heart that he's

appointed for me. And I want to know that he's

forgiven me, and it doesn't say he will forgive us of our sins.

Only, it says, he will purify us.

And not just from some of our sin.

It says all unrighteousness. When we confess our sins, I need

to do that. Oh yeah, I'm going to repent,

I'm going to embrace the cross and experience the cross, and

I'm going to confess my sins and in the L, and reclaim is a

definition. It's to understand your sin from

God's point of view. Look, it's for look is the L

look. At yourself from God's point of

view, See. Everything is just so biased

inside of us because we're always about our point of view.

We're so self-focused as a culture, but we need to get out

of ourselves and we need to get into God's point of view.

And when you see things from God's point of view, you agree

with him. And when you agree with him,

you're in the right place and that is where there is

incredible beauty. Because the beauty of Truth is

healing. It heals you?

Some people think, well, you know, I'm forever scarred.

I've been victimized. And I've been forever scarred.

I'm not saying that you haven't endured a lot of hard things and

that you haven't been victimized, but I'm telling you,

there isn't coping in the Holy Spirit, there's victory in the

Holy Spirit. There, he remakes you and only

he can do that. There's healing in it.

A is for accept. This is where it gets really

good. Except the power of God's

Amazing. Grace.

In Romans chapter 5 verses 9 to 11, it says, since we have been

Romans 5:9–11

justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved?

From God's Wrath through him, I want to be saved from God's

Wrath. For if, while we were God's

enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his

son. How much more having been

reconciled shall we be saved through his life Not only is

this so but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ

through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Wow. I is for imagine, imagine the

you That God sees. You know, a lot of times we

think that God looks citizen, all he sees is all of our

shortcomings, in all of our, all the bad things that we've done.

But you know what? That's Satan limiting you to

what God sees, because God sees you as a completed work.

God sees you with all of your potential realized.

The Bible says that we are as far as he is concerned, we are

already seated with him in the Heavenly realms.

So God doesn't just see you as his broken up, busted up, dumb

kid. He sees you experiencing all of

the potential that he has in your life.

All of that realized impacting other people for the kingdom for

all time. Imagine that true because it's

true. And finally, move em is move

toward Jesus. You see, the thing about Sin is

that makes it even more confusing.

Is we realize we've done something wrong and we realize

we're broken because of it realized stuff's been lost

because of it and then we just run but we're aimless, we just

kind of just run. And a lot of times when you run

from a sin, you run into a worse one.

And what God is trying to help us to understand is that he

gives us. He doesn't just tell us to flee.

He doesn't just tell us to run. He tells us where we're supposed

to run, and that's to Jesus. Because I can tell you this, if

you're running to Jesus, you're always running in the right

direction. And if you're running to Jesus,

you're putting the right amount of distance between you and

that's in so move. Toward Jesus.

I'm going to close with this. We sing the song We sang it last

week. I think I'm praying.

God, come and turn this thing around.

God. Turn it around.

Turn it around. Lord, turn it around, right.

And you know what? That's putting all the

responsibility on him. Like, would you come and fix all

this? And if we were to hear the voice

of Jesus Christ, he would say, excuse me.

I've already been there. I've already been there.

I put on a human form. I walked on your Earth for 33

years. I endured the worst.

That a person could give another person.

I died for you on the cross. I was buried for you in a

borrowed to I rose from the dead and I ascended to my Father in

heaven. And I'm there right now,

pleading your case. So maybe when we sing I'm

praying God come maybe we should just point her finger like this

and say and turn this thing around.

God turn this around. Turn me around.

Turn me around. Like the students in Asbury were

broken, people were lost people. So am I?

But when the spirit comes and we submit to that Spirit, something

happens. something wonderful happens because the church

begins to look beautiful. With all of her beautiful

messiness. I'm talking about marriage and

some people would say, you know, but Jesus was never married, the

whole reason. Jesus came to this Earth was to

get married. And you are his bride.

And he gave his life up. For his bride.

And he's coming back for his bride, because there is nothing

in this world more beautiful than the Bride of Jesus Christ.

We're moving to a time of decision.

There are people in this room. Struggling right now.

Hurting right now. Wrestling right now.

Oh, you might be a Christian, you may have said the words, you

may have made the decision. That's all great.

I appreciate that so much. But you know what I mean?

Because life happens like we call it the lower Story.

The lower story happens, right? And I'm just going to invite you

to do something today because these steps.

Have been. They've been preyed on and

they've been wept on. For years.

And it is where the lower story. Gets enveloped by the upper

story. because when you get low, Before the Lord, you see the

heights like you never did before. when you get down, he

lifts you up. Because this is a place of

repentance. And it's a place of confession.

And it's a place of Grace. And if you've got something on

your heart, maybe you're carrying it for yourself where

you're carrying it for somebody that you love, bring it to the

Lord, just bring it to the Lord. And I know you can do that in

your seat, but it's something profound when we get down on our

knees. And we don't care who sees us

like those students when they start confessing their sins

publicly with a microphone. I don't care who sees it, I

don't care who hears it because I want him to hear it.

Some of you here today and you've never accepted Lord Jesus

as your savior and your lord. You never come in to an intimate

personal relationship with him. And right over there by that

baptistry, there's going to be somebody to talk to you and

there is nothing in this world. I can't, I can't ever put any

words together in a sermon. That would even begin to match

the sermon that is preached when a person is immersed in raised

up in that water, it's the most profound powerful sermon, you'll

hear. Is that?

Just the sound of water. And a smile enjoy.

And that's available for you right now.

Would you stand with me? Let's pray together.

Heavenly father in Jesus name. We come to you.

Father, we reject the things of this world.

We reject the things of this culture and we embrace the

culture of Heaven. We Embrace citizenship in

heaven, we embrace your word because it is the inerrant

infallible truth in our Authority for life.

It's Eternal thing that you gave us in this temporary world.

We hear your words. We want your words to see deep

inside of our hearts. So I pray father and this moment

will respond to you in Jesus name.

Amen.