WHEN IN ROMANS | Part 2 | Wages & Gifts

Uh-huh.

>> [music]

[applause]

>> Good morning. I need to let my dad on

stage. [laughter] How's my dad, by the

way? Are you proud?

Thanks for the intro today.

Hey, we are in our series when in

Romans. So, we're excited about this

series and digging into uh what Paul has

to say. Pastor Dan kicked us off last

week. Uh talked about the Romans road

and remember learning about that in

Sunday school way back in the day and

the milestones that come along the way.

And and when Pastor Ben asked us, we're

we're doing two weeks in a row. Pastor

Dan was first week and then I'm second

week. I got concerned. And I was like,

man, I really hope Pastor Dan doesn't

steal what I want to talk about because

then I have to start all over again.

But Pastor Dan killed it last week. And

in fact, I was afraid that Pastor Dan

would steal my stuff, but I'm actually

going to steal his.

>> So, we're going to kind of revisit and

piggyback off of what Pastor Dan shared

with us last week. Uh, but we're not

going to go like on the straight road.

We were talking pastor Pastor Dan's like

in the straight road very like broadly

uh uh appealing to everyone and I'm

going to hone in. We're going to kind of

take a scenic route around the Romans

road today and and one milestone that he

shared. So, how many of us have a job?

How many of us have a job?

All right. How many of you love your

job? How many of you love your job? My

mom better love her job. She watches my

daughter every day.

All right. How many of you guys just

work your job because it pays the bills?

You don't love it, you just work it

because you kind of have to because if

you don't Yeah.

So, I work part-time here at Grace

Summit Church. That's part of the job

that I love. But I also work full-time

in what we call a secular job in in the

ministry circles. But I don't really

like that because really any job is

another opportunity for ministry outside

of the church.

So anyways, I've worked at Lincoln

Financial for 15 years here in Fort

Wayne 10 years in the position that I'm

at right now. Now, I don't necessarily

love my job, but I do like my job and it

does pay the bills. So, I don't know

about the kind of jobs that you all

have, but at my job, there are different

levels of positions that you can be in.

And then within those levels, there's a

pay scale of whatever position you're

in, there's a minimum amount that you

can make and there's a maximum amount

that you can make. And so you're paid

somewhere in that uh there's no matter

how long you work there, how little you

work in a certain position, you'll never

get less than a minimum amount. You'll

never get more than a maximum amount.

Now on that scale and within it, you

earn higher on the scale the better you

are at your job and the longer that

you've been there. So this is what's

called in the corporate world, in

corporate speak, this is what's called

merit-based pay. So, you get paid for

how well you're working, how long you've

worked.

It's the work you put in or the return

that your employer gets back from their

investment in you. So, that determines

your wages. And this is true for most

employers. The work that you put in or

that return determines how much you

make. So, how many people watch the

World Series?

A few of us. Any Dodgers fans in the

house? All right. We'll pray for you

sinners.

So, I haven't watched a full game of

baseball uh from beginning to end since

2016 when the Cubs won the World Series.

There's God's team. Hallelujah.

>> Cubs won the World Series. Well, last

night me and Kate were like, "We need to

watch this, but we don't have like an

antenna." So, Kate's like frantically

trying to figure out how can we watch

this? There's got to be like a free

trial. So, we found a free trial and we

watched it last night and then we're

canceling it. Um, but we watched the

whole game. Thank goodness for daylight

savings time ending, right? You got that

extra hour of sleep. How many stayed up

and watched it?

>> A few of you. Sally Hannah said she

tried but they went to bed.

>> Love you, Sally. [laughter]

>> All right, so with the World Series on

Monday night, the Dodgers and the Blue

Jays played an 18 in game, which is

almost twice as long as a normal

baseball game. They played 18 innings.

And the Dodgers have a player and his

name is Shi Otani. He's a Japanese

player. He came over and this guy has

just an absolutely obscene contract. He

makes a ridiculous amount of money. So

for that one game, so 18 innings, about

6 hours of baseball

for one game, Show Otani made based on

his base salary for one game, $864,000

>> for one game. One game of baseball. more

money than most of us can dream of

making in years. Okay, he makes it in

one game. So, Shoi Otani signed a

10-year, $700 million contract with the

Dodgers. So, that's a lot of money,

right? That'd be nice if we get a little

tithe of that. Come on to our church.

Seems like a lot. But just this year, so

we think about this, they paid him all

this money just this year. or show Otani

for the Dodgers made with his

endorsements, with his name recognition,

with the foreign interest that he brings

in from Japan, he made the Dodgers $550

million. He made them that. Now that

they've won the World Series, it's

probably even more. And so Shi Otani is

they're going to have his contract paid

for within a year or two. So

his contract will pay for itself and

then some and that is merit-based pay.

So he's returning to the Dodgers what

they are giving to him and he's earned

that. Now what does baseball have

anything to do with what Pastor Dan

talked about last week? [snorts]

So we talked about our jobs and we

talked about kind of this this pay scale

and the merit-based pay. Another word

for your pay are your wages. That's what

you earn. What have you earned? What has

your merit at your job gotten you? And

so we're going to apply that from our

jobs into the milestone that Pastor Dan

gave us last week in Romans 6:23 where

Romans 6:23

it says, "For the wages of sin," so this

is what we earn. This is what our merit

gets us. The wages of sin is death, but

the free gift of God is eternal life in

Christ Jesus our Lord. So this morning

we're going to be talking about wages

and gifts. And so this milestone Pastor

Dan shared with he likened it to

receiving a bill and God kind of takes

that bill away and gives you something

instead. But again, I'm veering off of

the road a little bit and we're going to

liken it to the wages that we've earned

for what we've done.

Unfortunately,

the human condition thanks to Adam and

Eve is that we're all sinful and born

with sin innately within us. There is

nothing that we can do to earn enough

wages to avoid the consequences of sin.

Even if we're making as much as Shi

Otani, that is not enough

to avoid it. Now, fortunately for us,

somebody greater than Shi Otani came.

Jesus came, God the Son, stepped from

heaven to earth, born of a virgin, died

on the cross, rose from the grave, all

so that God could give us a gift and

forget about what we've earned, that we

don't have to worry about our wages.

And we see this idea over and over in

Romans, and we'll be talking about over

these next few weeks of this gift. And

in Romans 5:12

Romans 5:12

says, "Therefore, just as sin came into

the world through one man and death

through sin, and so death spread to all

men because all sinned." We're going to

skip ahead to verse 15. But the free

gift is not like the trespass.

For if many died through one man, so

Adam, through Adam's trespass, much more

have the grace of God and the free gift

by the grace of that one man, Jesus

Christ, abounded for many.

And the free gift is not like the result

of that one man's sin. For the judgment

following one trespass brought

condemnation, but the free gift

following many trans trespasses brought

justification.

So, Adam's one sin cost us everything.

But Jesus's gift covers everything.

For if because of one man's trespass,

death reigned through that one man, much

more will those who receive the

abundance of grace and the free gift of

righteousness

reign in life through the one man, Jesus

Christ. So God gives us a gift instead

of the wages that we've earned. But

there's a problem. And Pastor Dan did an

interesting illustration last week. He

had uh some gift cards. So he he had

some free Starbucks that he was giving

away. He had free Chick-fil-A. That's

God's chicken.

And he had free Smoothie King if you're

into that sort of thing. Only one person

in each service. So, two people came

down to claim the Starbucks card. He

held them out. He said, "Come and get

them." And one person came down first

service. One person came down second

service to grab those Starbucks gift

cards. First service for the

Chick-fil-A. Two people tried to come

up. One beat out the other, so only one

person got a gift, but I've been told

the other person did receive a gift

card. So, we got them taken care of. So,

two came up and then one came up for

Chick-fil-A and second service, which

makes no sense. It's Jesus's chicken.

Two came for the Smoothie King card. A

total of seven people came to accept the

gift that Pastor Dan was offering. So,

he offered these these cards. Seven

people came, got out of their seats, and

came down to accept the gift out of the

dozens of people that were sitting in

the room.

So, it made me think

there was a gift that was offered free

of charge.

Why

weren't more people interested in the

gift?

Why do we often reject gifts freely

given to anyone who would come and

receive them?

See, God offers us a gift worth far more

than even Chick-fil-A, far more than

even Starbucks.

And whether it's a gift card or it's

salvation or it's rededication or it's

healing or it's a promise that God's

made to us or direction that God wants

to give to us. What's stopping us from

[snorts] coming up and receiving the

gift?

So today I want to talk about four

things that hold us back from God's

gifts to us.

And the first thing I want to talk about

that holds us back from God's gifts is

disbelief.

So, there's a saying, we've probably all

heard it. If it seems too good to be

true,

>> it probably is. And that's a common

saying, we've heard it. We live in a

skeptical and a cynical society. No one

takes anything at face value. Now, we'd

like to think that Pastor Dan didn't go

out and spend the gift cards and then

bring them here and give us empty gift

cards, right? We'd like to think that.

Uh but those who accepted the gifts that

were received

had no way of knowing that they had any

value until they used them.

Okay? And we did verify first service

the Starbucks cards worked. Uh so they

they were working gift cards. But many

times we'll miss or even refuse God's

gift because we lack faith to believe

that it's a good gift and that it has

value.

For salvation, the first step in

salvation is to believe in your heart.

Without belief, the gift remains

unclaimed for healing and miracles and

direction.

Belief is required to receive the gift.

So, we go back and we're looking at

Jesus and Jesus has sent his disciples

out uh to do his work, to heal, to

teach, to bring people to him. And so

they're going out and they're doing all

these things and there's a boy that's

possessed by a demon and the disciples

are trying to cast this demon out and

it's just not working. And finally they

call Jesus over and Jesus we can't get

this guy free. And so Jesus in Mark

Mark 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 and this is an interesting

passage because we see some of the

humanity of Jesus here. Jesus gets a

little bit exasperated with his

disciples here and then later on he gets

sarcastic. So let's see what Jesus has

to say here. So they brought this person

to Jesus to be freed from the demonic

possession. And Jesus answered them in

Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Oh faithless generation, how long am I

to be with you? How long am I to bear

with you? Bring him to me. He's like,

I'll do it. Bring him to me. And they

brought the boy to him. And when the

spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed

the boy, and he fell on the ground and

rolled about foaming at the mouth. And

Jesus asked his father, "How long has

this been happening to him?" And he

said, "From childhood." And it is often

cast him into the fire and into water to

destroy him. But if you can do anything,

have compassion on us and help us. And

here's Jesus gets a little bit

sarcastic.

Jesus said to him,"If you can."

So, he's kind of calling him out. If you

can, all things are possible for one who

believes. And immediately the father of

the child cried out and said, "I

believe. Help my unbelief."

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came

running together, he rebuked the unclean

spirit, saying to it, "You mutant deaf

spirit, I command you, come out of him,

and never enter him again." And after

crying out and convulsing him terribly,

it came out and the boy was like a

corpse. So that most of them said, "He

is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand

and lifted him up and he arose. And so

we see in this story,

belief had to come first. Jesus didn't

cast the spirit out of that boy until

the father believed that he could. So at

first, the father said, "If you can."

And then Jesus kind of calls him out. He

said you have to believe.

Belief has to come first and freedom

came second. Faith always comes before

freedom. So we have to let go of our

disbelief

to accept the gift. The second thing

that holds us back kind of related to

disbelief and maybe a little more

focused in is distrust.

If we lack belief, we also lack trust.

But we can believe and [snorts] still

not trust. Okay, two sides of the same

coin. And again, we probably trust

Pastor Dan to give us working gift

cards. But maybe just in our minds, if

we haven't spoken to Pastor Dan or we

don't know Pastor Dan, maybe just just

for a fleeting moment, we thought maybe

he's messing with us,

>> right?

>> Maybe he's messing with us.

We know Pastor Dan as a man of

integrity.

>> Yes.

to give us working gift cards.

But here's the hard thing about trust

and in coming to receive the gift. Truly

trusting someone means giving them

control.

How many of you have done a trust fall

before? So with like I was back in

middle school or whatever and we go to

the the field trip or whatever and you

stand on the platform and there's like

six people or eight people on the ground

and you have to turn around. You have to

turn your back to them. Sorry, Leo. I

turned my back to the camera. You turn

your back to them and you fall

backwards. Uh, you are not in control.

Okay? You have to trust the people

behind you to catch you. Okay? Pastor

Dane could have gotten you all the way

up here and like had it holding out and

just went psych and took it back.

That would have been embarrassing. It

would have been humiliating for you. And

when you go to accept the gift, you give

control to the giver.

And on a grander scale, this is why we

find ourselves lacking trust in what God

has for us. We have to trust that what's

in God's hands is better than what's in

our hands.

>> We ultimately have to give God control

and give up our control.

Proverbs chapter 3

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

illustrates this. It says, "Trust in the

Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on

your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he

will make straight your paths. Be not

wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and

turn away from evil. It will be healing

to your flesh and refreshment to your

bones."

So as humans, our default mindset, kind

of how our brains work as fallen humans

is to lean on our own understanding.

What we know, what's our situation?

What's our perception?

We have to be in control.

We like to think ourselves wise in our

own eyes. Like to think that we know

what's best, that we know the right

answer.

But the problem is that our perspective

is so narrow,

infinitely narrow compared to God's

perspective. And he can see the end

result of all of these things that are

happening to us. We have to be willing

to let go of control, to let go of our

trust solely in ourselves and learn to

trust in him.

And there are times that it takes

immense faith in devastating

circumstances to let go of that control

and to let God have it and to make

ourselves vulnerable.

But when we can practice that faith and

when we can lose control seeding it to

him, we then can accept the gift and see

that it is far better than anything that

we could have accomplished by ourselves

or any situ any end of the situation

that we could have accomplished. We have

to trust and we have to believe. And

Paul again Romans chapter 4 16 says that

Romans 4 · chapter mention

is why it depends on faith in order that

the promise may rest on grace and be

guaranteed to all his offspring

not only to the adhering of the law but

also to the one who shares the faith of

Abraham. So Paul's talking about Abraham

here who is the father of us all. As it

is written, I have made you the father

of many nations in the presence of the

God in whom he believed, who gives life

to the dead and calls into existence the

things that do not exist. In hope,

Abraham believed against hope, that he

should become the father of many

nations, as he had been told, "So shall

your offspring be." He did not weaken in

faith when he considered his own body

which was as good as dead since he was

about 100 years old or when he

considered the barrenness of Sarah's

womb. No unbelief made him waver

concerning the promise of God. But he

grew strong in his faith and he gave

glory to God fully convinced that God

was able to do what he had promised.

That is why his faith was counted to him

as righteousness. So Abraham is 100

years old and God gives him this

promise. There's no reason for Abraham

to believe or trust in the natural that

God's going to accomplish this. He's

100. Sarah's at least 80. The likelihood

of them having any children at this

point is none. Right? But yet Abraham

trusts God.

He looks beyond his situation. He looks

beyond his circumstances. He looks

beyond his perception.

to know the power of God and the promise

that he would give. Letting go of

unbelief and receiving the gift of God's

promise. And so in order to come and to

receive the gift, we have to let go of

our disbelief. We have to let go of our

distrust.

The third thing that we have to let go

of, and this is really difficult for us,

is our pride.

Pride

says as he's holding the gift card out

or the gift, as we're holding out the

gift, pride says, "I don't need that.

I don't want people to know that I need

it.

I don't want people to think less of

me." It starts to become what are going

to people going to think of me if I go

and accept this gift?

I don't want to be embarrassed. I don't

want to be humbled. I don't want to look

weak.

And this is about a lot more than gift

cards.

We hate looking weak in front of other

people.

So, we're starting to get into the hard

part now. And I want us to take a moment

and think, truly think about this for a

moment.

Are you truly in such a place where you

require no prayer for anything

or any situation in your life? You don't

have to answer. Just think about it.

If you are in a place where you require

no prayer, then Jesus has returned and

you are him.

>> Okay?

>> Amen.

You don't require prayer

in your work, [snorts] in your walk with

God, just to be closer to him,

can we all?

Do you need healing?

And not just like the big healings, not

like just cancer or just major diseases,

but the cold that you woke up with or

the sore throat.

God doesn't care about just the big

things. God cares about the minutia of

our lives and he wants us to draw close

to him and to receive what he has for

us.

Is there nothing that God can give you

that can make you a stronger Christian

that can bring you freedom from

addiction? That can bring healing.

>> So, we need to push beyond our pride and

find what gift God may already have

waiting for you if you just let go.

And so Jesus addresses this in the book

of Luke chapter 18. He's telling a

Luke 18 · chapter mention

parable. I'm going to paraphrase just a

little bit as we're going through it. He

also told this parable to someone who

trusted in themselves that they were

righteous and treated others with

contempt.

Two men went up into the temple to pray.

One a Pharisee and the other a tax

collector. The Pharisee standing by

himself prayed thus, "God, I thank you

that I am not like other men,

extortioners,

unjust,

adulterers,

Democrats,

Republicans.

God doesn't honor that."

Or even like this tax collector, I fast

twice a week. I give tithes of all that

I get. But the tax collector,

standing far off, would not even lift up

his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast,

saying, "God, be merciful to me a

sinner. I tell you, this man went down

to his house justified rather than the

other. For everyone who exalts himself

will be humbled,

but the one who humbles himself will be

exalted. So you can either humble

yourself or God will humble you.

There's only two options.

And here's the thing, you can't just

call yourself humble and be humble.

>> Okay? I'm so humble.

>> You don't measure your own humility.

Okay?

Humility can only be recognized in you

by others.

>> It's not an inner quality only. Humility

has to be an outer quality. Has to be

shown outwardly to God or the people

around you. And so today, if you're

dealing with pride, maybe you don't

recognize it. I pray that God convicts

us today, convicts me today to break

pride and let us receive the gift that

he has for us. Yes. Amen.

>> To the unsaved, he has salvation

available to you. To the saved, he has

rededication, a new, deeper relationship

with him, freedom, and healing if we

only let go of our pride.

Paul addresses this Romans 12:3. For by

Romans 12:3

the grace given to me, I say to everyone

among you not to think of himself more

highly than he ought to think, but to

think with sober judgment, each

according to the measure of faith that

God has assigned.

In the end, we are nothing

but sinners saved by grace through our

faith in Jesus Christ. and we would do

well to remember that and accept the

gift today that God has for you. So he

talked about disbelief and distrust and

they were kind of the same coin,

different sides of the same coin and

have kind of the same idea here. We just

talked about pride and letting go of

pride. And the fourth thing that holds

us back is shame.

We'll start closing here. If if pride

says I don't need it, shame says I don't

deserve it.

Shame says I'm unworthy of it.

And instead of of building ourselves up

in pride, we tear ourselves down in

shame.

And God doesn't want either for us. He

doesn't want us to be proud and he

doesn't want us to be ashamed.

>> [snorts]

>> And the thing about shame, shame is

often more dangerous and it's more

destructive than pride.

>> It can also be more subtle.

Shame can affect you without your

knowledge.

So, a few years ago, we went through the

the freedom group and I know um Radiant

Women just went through it a couple

semesters ago and so you guys can can

understand what I'm about to say. Many

of us have gone through it, but the

first time that I went through it, we

went through the 13 weeks and then

there's a retreat at the end and they

have several sessions throughout that

retreat. And going in like as a pastor,

you kind of think that you have

everything together and you're like, I'm

just doing it to learn about it and so

that I can help other people as they're

going through it. Uh, and I went into

that retreat feeling super heavy

and and God started doing some work in

me in that through the whole process and

in the retreat. And so what I like to

say and try not to laugh because it's

kind of a Shrek reference. Deep on the

inside of me there was an onion. Okay?

And

as we're going through these sessions,

there were several of them. And every

session, God would God would reach in

and he'd peel a layer away.

And so every session, I'm starting to

feel lighter. I'm like, "God, what are

you doing?" Like, I'm supposed to be

helping other people. And this is

totally a trap for any pastor because we

think we have it all together.

I think that I have it all together and

I'm supposed to help other people. And

God's like, "Ah, you don't have it all

together."

So he's peeling these layers off of what

is happening, what's holding me back

from this gift of freedom that God has

for me. And so we go through all these

things and we get to the last session.

Thankfully, God took his time. He he

peeled that last layer away and there

was a situation from when I was younger

that uh caused great shame in me.

And over the years, I buried it and left

it there and didn't deal with it, not

even knowing that it was there. And God

revealed that to me, and I'm like,

that's what's been holding me back. And

he took it. And I left feeling a hundred

times lighter than when I walked in. All

because unrealized shame. Things that I

didn't know happened that affected me in

ways that I didn't expect. Shame can be

very subtle.

It's a fear of accepting the gift,

believing that we're unworthy of it due

to our own actions, our own thoughts, or

our own past,

often leading to harming ourselves.

Shame causes us to constantly look

backwards.

causing us to harm ourselves spiritually

and physically.

Shame can come from various places.

Sometimes it's something that we've

done, an action that we took, a sin we

committed, a word we said, an angry

reaction, a habitual sin, a person that

we've wronged or caused hurt to, an

addiction that we can't kick, drugs or

alcohol or pornography or food. things

that slowly destroy us from the inside.

It can be that we've disappointed

someone.

Sometimes

it's not something we've done. Sometimes

it's something that's happened to us

beyond our control. physical, mental

abuse, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse or

church hurt, bullying or abandonment or

rejection,

divorce,

>> family breakdown. We've seen it all and

it all brings shame and it all tries to

bring us down

and it makes us feel unworthy of the

gift.

And that is one of Satan's greatest

lies. if he can convince you to focus on

your past to convince you that you don't

deserve and shouldn't receive God's

gift. So, he's preventing you from

taking the gift,

then he doesn't have to deceive you

after you have the gift, to try to take

it back. It's a lot harder to take the

gift back once you've received it than

to prevent you from taking it at all.

>> Okay?

Because in the end, Satan's lazy. He

doesn't want have to do more work than

he has to. If he can get you before

receiving the gift, that means that's a

lot less work for him to do after you

take the gift. And so, we're going to

challenge you this morning to take the

gift.

>> Shame never comes from God.

>> And shame is never God's desire for you.

Amen.

>> Romans 5,

starting in verse one, Paul really

illustrates this. He says, "Therefore,

since we have been justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also

obtained access by faith into this grace

in which we stand. if we rejoice in the

hope of the glory of God. Not only that,

but we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces

endurance. Endurance produces character.

Character produces hope. And hope does

not put us to shame.

Because God's love has been poured into

our hearts through the Holy Spirit who

has been given to us. God's love breaks

shame into a million pieces.

For while we were still weak, at the

right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a

righteous person. Though perhaps for a

good person, one would dare [music] even

to die. But God shows his love for us.

And that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. What did Jesus say

on the cross? Said, "Father, forgive

them."

While they're spitting on him, while

they're mocking him,

while they're cursing him,

Jesus forgive forgave them.

And because he did that, Paul can write

in Romans chapter 8, "There is therefore

Romans 8 · chapter mention

now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus. There

is no shame to be had in Christ Jesus."

And if Satan can't tempt you into pride,

[music] shame is the tool that he'll use

to get you to reject God's gift for you.

If he can't make you feel too highly

about yourself, he'll make you feel

lowly about yourself.

But here's the beauty of the gift.

for any of those things that hold us

back. Whether it's disbelief or distrust

or pride or shame, the beauty of it is

that you never have to earn the gift.

And if you feel unworthy of it, remember

that unlike our secular jobs, [music]

we're not on a merit-based pay scale.

In fact, the very definition of grace is

unmmerited favor. It's favor that we

don't deserve, but that God gives us.

He gives us the gift regardless of our

own shortcomings, regardless of our

past.

Our sin makes [music] us undeserving.

But Jesus's work on the cross, makes us

worthy recipients.

Your sin, your past, your shame, your

previous actions

are not more powerful than the blood of

Jesus.

And God has a gift for you today.

As I assembled this message and as I was

studying and putting it together and it

it started kind of light and then as it

was going on, it got heavier and and

[music] heavier and weightier and

weightier

and doesn't happen very often as I'm

preparing a message, but the the Holy

Spirit resonated with with my spirit.

And it's it's a feeling you can't

describe.

But today

there's at least one, but maybe more

likely there's multiple of you and me. I

believe there are multiple people who

need to step out, [music]

accept the gift of God today. This is

your opportunity. So I'm going to invite

the the worship team to come as we stand

together.

And I want to invite the prayer team

to come down to the front.

[music]

And this morning,

I believe that that God stands at the

altar, gift [music] in hand

for you,

waiting for you to come and receive it.

And so we [music] need to put away

disbelief.

We need to put away distrust.

We need to swallow [music] our pride.

>> And we need to leave behind our shame.

God is ready. His arms are open. The

gifts in his hands, ready to give to you

today.

Go get it.

Don't miss the gift that he has for you

today. And guys, who cares

>> what anybody else thinks? That's right.

That

>> nothing holds us back more from coming

to the altar than the people around us.

>> And it's not their fault. It's our they

don't care.

[music]

This is an intimate moment for you and

for God.

And so, let's take another moment. We we

we focused earlier on

what we need. What's the thing that we

need prayer for? Whether it's a big

thing [music] or whether it's a small

thing.

And so hold on to that thought and don't

lose it and bring it to the altar and

let God replace it with a gift that he

has waiting for you today.

Receive the gift. And we're going to

[music] come full circle here. We're

going to read Romans chapter 6 and we're

Romans 6 · chapter mention

going to start a little earlier in verse

20. Paul says, "For [music] when you

were slaves of sin, you were free in

regard to righteousness. But what fruit

were you getting at that time from

[music] the things of which you are now

ashamed?

For the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free from

sin and have become slaves of God, the

fruit you get leads to sanctification

and its end eternal life.

For the [music] wages of sin are

merit-based pay is death. But the free

gift of God is eternal life in Christ

Jesus our Lord. Let's pray today. God,

>> we're thankful for the gift, Lord, first

of salvation that God, you made

available the opportunity for us to know

you, to dwell in your presence, to seek

you, [music]

>> to know that you are real. And so Lord,

today in the house, if there's someone

that doesn't know you, Lord, we pray you

prompt their hearts with the Holy Spirit

work,

draw them to receive the gift today. For

those in the house, we're already saved.

We already believe. We already trust.

Lord, we pray that you break pride in

this room today. That you break shame in

this room today. Lord, dig out the

things that are deep within us that are

holding us back from what you have for

us.

Let us focus on you today in Jesus name.

Amen. The prayer team is here. Don't

miss what God has for you today. [music]

>> [music]