Q&A - Why Should I Believe in Jesus?

want us to learn. It's in Jesus name I

pray. Amen.

All right. So today we're in the final

part of a series called questions and

answers and the the reason that I I've

done this study, which is very different

from a typical Sunday morning worship

service. The reason we've done this

study is so that you could be

apologias or that's a Greek term which

just basically means that you'll be able

to defend your faith using tactics very

similar to what the Apostle Paul used

and what

what the Apostle Peter used when they

went into places they couldn't just bust

out the scriptures cuz number one the

Bible had not been canonized yet, but

number two a lot of people were like

well why would we believe in this Bible?

Like you got to convince us to believe

in the Bible before we're going to you

know meet you there and so they'd had to

argue for their faith using things like

reason and evidence and giving

thoughtful answers to people's

questions. It's not about arguing people

into a relationship with Christ. Like

that doesn't work. If you can talk

somebody into something then somebody

else can talk them out of it. So what it

is though, it's about removing these

intellectual obstacles and barriers to

show people that Christianity is

reasonable, logical, and credible. So if

you have not been following the series,

this is part four. I would encourage you

to go back to part one on any of our

social media and just listen to all

these in a row and hopefully it'll

strengthen your faith and if you don't

have faith maybe it'll lead you into a

saving faith. But we've talked about

things like is Christianity the one true

religion or can I believe in the

existence of God or can I trust in the

Bible? And today we're going to ask the

most important question of all, which is

who is Jesus? What what is Christianity

all about? Because if Jesus is not who

he claimed to be, then Christianity and

the Holy Scriptures are pointless. But

if Jesus really is the son of God then

we need to listen to everything that he

has to say and we need to study his

scripture and we need to learn about God

because those things that matter they

matter enormously if Jesus really is who

he says he is. Because Jesus prayed to

his father. Jesus obeyed his father.

Jesus lived and quoted and trusted the

Bible. So if Jesus really is the son of

God then the Bible's not just a

collection of ancient writings. It's

actually God revealing himself and his

purpose to us in written form. And

that's why I'm ending this series with

the most important question of all which

is why believe in Christianity or is

Jesus really who he says he is? So the

case for Christianity often revolves

around four pillars. The first of which

is the claims of Jesus. The second one

is the gospel accounts. Matthew, Mark,

Luke, and John. What what did they write

about their time with Jesus? The third

thing is the resurrection of Jesus and

then lastly the message of Jesus. What's

unique about Christianity apart from

every other religion in the world. So

let's start with the claims of Jesus.

Jesus did not just point to God. Jesus

claimed to be God. And so there's so

many people out there that say well

maybe Jesus is just a good teacher.

Maybe he's a good man. Maybe he's a

prophet, but

is he really God's son?

Well Huston Smith who wrote a book

called The World's Great Religions says

this.

Buddha and Jesus impressed their

contemporaries so much that they did not

just ask who are you? They ask what are

you?

And Buddha would respond, oh I'm not a

god.

But Jesus responded I am the God of the

Bible. Okay? So that separates Jesus

from every other founder of every other

religion. Jesus made some absolutely

astounding claims. Jesus said of himself

that he has the authority to forgive

sins. If you look in Matthew chapter 9

Matthew 9:2

verse 2

these are the words of Jesus.

He says take heart son

your sins are forgiven. And the people

get upset. They're like only God can

forgive sins and he's like, yeah, I know

cuz that's who I am. Like he has the

right to forgive sins because ultimately

all sin is against Jesus. So he uniquely

has the ability to forgive you of the

sin because all sin ever committed is

against Jesus. No no other prophet or

religious founder could ever claim

anything like that. Jesus claimed to

have the authority to judge the world.

His words again, Matthew chapter 16

Matthew 16:27

verse 27. He says I will come back to

judge the living and the dead.

And he's judging primarily on people's

attitude toward him. Do they have saving

faith or do they not? Do they have

saving faith or

do they not?

He also says in John chapter 8:58 that

he claimed to have an eternal existence.

John 8:58 says before Abraham was

John 8:58

I am.

Before Abraham was I am. And this

infuriated the Jews so much that they

tried to kill him by throwing stones at

him. Jesus is saying that he's older

than Abraham, but that's not the main

thing that made them angry. They're

angry because not only did he say he

preexisted Abraham, but he's also saying

that he was there in Exodus chapter 3

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

when Moses experienced the burning bush.

There was this bush that was on fire and

Moses went up to it and he took his

sandals off cuz he realized it was holy

ground. The bush was on fire, but it was

not being consumed and so he gets some

marching orders from the burning bush.

The burning bush tells him to do some

stuff and then Moses is like, well when

I go do this stuff who do I say sent me?

And the burning bush says tell them the

great I am sent you.

So now Jesus is claiming to be the great

I am in the story in Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

And this is why they tried to kill Jesus

in that moment.

Jesus accepted worship. Well anytime an

angel shows up people fall down on their

face because you know it's an angel,

right? And the angels are always like,

nope get up. Do not be afraid. I'm not

God. I'm not Jesus. You don't have to

bow down before me. We're just the

messengers, right? But in Matthew

Matthew 14:33

chapter 14 verse 33 Jesus had walked on

water to his disciples and it says they

fell down at Jesus feet and said truly

you are the son of God. And guess what?

Jesus accepted their worship. He didn't

say get up. He allowed them to worship

him because he is God. Jesus claimed to

be the son of God in John chapter 10

John 10:36

verse 36.

He says why do you accuse me of

blasphemy because I said I am God's son.

I am God's son. That's not blasphemy.

Jesus claimed to be equal with God.

In John chapter 5 verse 18 again, these

John 5:18

are the words of Jesus. He's saying this

about himself. Says therefore the Jews

sought all the more to kill him because

he not only broke the Sabbath, but he

also said that God was his father making

himself equal with God. And then in John

John 10:33

10:33 they explain their reasoning. They

say look we're not stoning you for any

work but for blasphemy because you Jesus

a mere man claimed to be God.

Jesus claimed to be God's only son.

Not only God's son, but God's only son.

John 3:16 for God so loved the world

John 3:16

that he gave his only begotten son. What

does that mean? Well the only son gets

everything the father has.

So now Jesus is saying everything that

belongs to the Father God belongs to me

and now people are absolutely furious.

This is what led to him being nailed to

a cross.

Jesus claimed, get this, to be the only

way to salvation. If you want to make

people mad post that on social media

today.

That not all roads lead to the top of

the mountain. There's only one and Jesus

says I am the way the truth and the

life. No one comes to the Father except

through me. So here's our conundrum.

Unlike Muhammad and Buddha and all these

other religious leaders, Jesus isn't

just pointing the way to God. He's

saying I'm God. I've come to earth to

find you, forgive you, save you, and

adopt you into God's kingdom. So so

imagine this. Let's say you're lost and

you pull out your phone and you get on

Google Maps and you put in your

destination and the voice says, well

turn left in 300 feet then turn right.

And so you follow the instructions and

you get to where you're going. The the

GPS was helpful

but it was just pointing the way to a

destination. It's something that exists

outside of you that's guiding you.

And that's what every other religion

does. Every other religion says here's

the path, here's the steps, turn left in

300 feet and you will find yourself with

God. But now imagine you pull out your

phone and you call an Uber and the

driver pulls up and you get in the back

seat and the driver's like I don't need

to know the directions because I know

where you're going. I am the way to

where you're going. I know the

destination you need to get to. You

don't have to explain anything to me.

You don't have to do anything for me.

You don't even have to pay me. I'm just

going to get you where you need to go.

Well that's what Jesus is saying. Jesus

is saying I am God. I'm not going to

just show you the way to get to God. I

am God. I am life and you follow me and

you will wind up where you want to be.

Look every other voice says follow the

path

but Jesus says follow me.

Now here's the thing. These are the

audacious claims of Jesus. So we have to

decide right here in this moment what

are we going to do with these claims?

C.S. Lewis called this the great

trilemma. You've probably heard this a

million times, but he says with Jesus

you're forced into one of three

categories. He is either Lord, a liar,

or a lunatic.

But Jesus can't be your homie. He can't

be your mentor. He can't be your guide.

He can't be your influencer. He can't

even be your prophet.

Because if what he says is true, then

you have to make him Lord. If it's

untrue, he's either a liar or a lunatic.

Friends, it's all or nothing with Jesus.

You cannot just admire him from a

distance and ignore all the claims that

he makes about himself. His claims about

himself force you to make a decision.

So, the gospel accounts

are next on the list. And so, I I want

to talk about those because I feel like

the the gospel accounts are the thing

that really are going to help you decide

whether or not you want to be a follower

of Jesus. So so, the question is maybe

Jesus' followers embellished the stories

to make him a legend.

All right, so maybe that's true.

Problem is, the New Testament was

written just decades after the events of

Jesus' life, and it was written by

eyewitnesses and people that interviewed

eyewitnesses. The New Testament is 100%

first-hand accounts of what happened

with Jesus. The gospels also contain

irrelevant details that legends do not.

So, Richard Bauckham, he's a professor

professor of history at uh St. Andrews

in Scotland. He says this, "The gospels

contain many irrelevant details that

don't help the plot or the characters.

They're just things that were

remembered." So, in John chapter 21,

John 21 · chapter mention

Jesus tells the disciples, "Throw your

nets on the other side of the boat,

you'll catch a lot of fish." So, they

throw their nets on the other side of

the boat, they catch a lot of fish. But

when it tells the story, it doesn't just

say they caught a lot of fish. It says

they caught 153

fish.

153

fish. Why is that important?

Now, I know our fishermen in here are

like, "Man, if I caught 153, I'm going

to say 153. I don't know

I get it.

Why is that important to the story?

Still a lot of fish, right?

Mhm. If it was a legend, they wouldn't

include that, but it's not. It's not a

legend, so they include these things. In

Mark chapter 15, you you have the the

Mark 15 · chapter mention

man that was forced

to carry Jesus' cross when Jesus

couldn't carry it anymore. His name was

Simon of Cyrene, and it says he is the

father of Alexander and Rufus. Who are

Alexander and Rufus?

No one knows. You know why? Because

they're never mentioned again. So, why

in the world was this included in the

story? It was included because it's a

remembered detail. It was included

because maybe their their father, Simon,

had passed away. But when you're writing

a gospel account, you want to make sure

that people can go behind you and

fact-check the stuff you said. So, there

he's like, "Well, you may not be able to

talk to their dad, but you can talk to

Alexander and Rufus. You can ask them

what happened on that day when Jesus was

carrying his cross."

Look, the gospels don't read like

propaganda. Some people say, "Well, you

know, his followers just wanted to get

power, so they wrote these things about

Jesus in order to take power away from

the Roman government and get it back to

themselves."

If you were on a quest for power,

you would not write down,

"Forgive your enemies."

Okay? If you were on a quest for power,

you would not promote servant

leadership. Yet, that's what the gospels

promote.

Mark recorded the Apostle Peter's

account of his life with Jesus. And in

that account, they included the story.

Now, this is his biography. They

included It's an autobiography,

actually. They included the story of how

Peter denied Jesus three times. Look, if

you're writing a legend and you're

trying to take power, this guy is the

leader of the first church. He's the one

Jesus said, "I will build my church on

your testimony." You're going to be one

of the founding fathers of the church.

So, let's make sure when we write your

story, we include the part where you

denied me three times on my way to the

cross.

When you're writing a legend, you don't

write that detail.

Think about the apostles that were

following Jesus, then all of a sudden he

gets arrested and they all flee to the

upper room and they hide like cowards in

that room. Not one of them willing to to

to follow Jesus as he's being judged.

These are the leaders of the first

church. Again, if you're writing a

legend, you don't include these stories

that make the leaders look terrible. And

then ultimately, our hero, Jesus,

suffers a humiliating defeat and death

on a cross. That's not how you write a

legend. Also, we got this real problem

with eyewitnesses. Like,

Jesus fed 15,000 people with a few

loaves of bread and a few fish. And that

was recorded in these gospels, which

were written maybe 10 to 15 years after

the events took place.

So, don't you think that 15,000 people,

upon reading about this miraculous

event, if it were not true, don't you

think at least one of them would step up

and say, "Hey, that's a lie. That's not

what happened."

Think about Jesus raising Lazarus from

the dead. He did it publicly in front of

a whole town. Then they write about it.

Don't you think somebody would have

stood up and said, "Hey, he didn't

really come back from the dead. That

didn't happen." You can't record stuff

like that in writing and then just

expect everybody to to be on board if

it's a lie or a hoax or an

embellishment.

You also have the uh

words from C.S. Lewis, who was a

professor at Oxford and Cambridge, and

his studies were medieval and

Renaissance literature. And so, he spent

his whole life, one of the smartest men

alive, spent his entire life studying

legends. And he writes this, "I've been

reading epics and legends all my life,

and if you think the gospels are written

as a legend, you don't know anything

about legends."

So, maybe he's not a legend. Maybe Jesus

is just a liar or a lunatic.

Well, listen to these words from Tim

Keller.

These are some of the claims that Jesus

made about himself. These are some of

the things we know about Jesus. This is

the standard that Jesus set for himself.

Jesus made high claims with without

pompous behavior.

Jesus showed tenderness without

weakness. Jesus flexed strength without

harshness. Jesus demonstrated humility

without a lack of confidence. Jesus

claimed authority without pride. Jesus

had conviction without approachability

with approachability. Jesus spoke of

holiness without prejudice. Jesus

described himself this way. Jesus said,

"This is the standard of living. This is

the perfection that God expects of all

of us." Which is why he had to die to

take our place on the cross cuz nobody

can live up to that standard except for

one person, and his name was Jesus.

Look,

he was the most famous man on Earth at

the time, under immense scrutiny by

multiple governments, and he set the

standard for himself at perfection.

So, don't you think if he's failed in

any one way,

any one way to live up to this standard

that he set for himself, don't you think

that would have made national news?

Don't you think there'd be someone

somewhere that would say, "Hey, this guy

actually is not what he claimed to be."

Even Pilate, while Jesus was going to

the cross, he he washed his hands. He

said, "Look, I I can't find one thing

that this man has ever done wrong." This

isn't a Christian. This man's not a

believer.

He just investigated and found out that

there was no testimony

that proves that Jesus isn't who he says

he is. So, now we're still on the hook.

We still have to decide,

does that mean Jesus is Lord? So, let's

talk about the resurrection.

This is the the end-all be-all. If this

is fake, then y'all don't have to show

up next Sunday, okay? That's what the

Apostle Paul told his church to. If this

isn't If this isn't real, if he didn't

come back from the dead, then y'all go

find something else to do on a Sunday.

See, there is a some thought out there

that perhaps Jesus' followers saw him

die, and they wanted to keep his legends

alive.

Well, there's problem with that. First

of all, the resurrection of Jesus was

seen by hundreds of witnesses. Let's

read 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

in verse 3. By the way, this this was

written just 15 years after Jesus died

on a cross.

Paul says, "For I passed on to you as

most important what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins according

to the scriptures, that he was buried,

that he raised on the third day

according to the scriptures, and that he

appeared to Cephas, then to the 12, then

he appeared to Over get this, 500

brothers and sisters at one time." And

then he says, "Most of them are still

alive." Why does he include that?

Because he doesn't want you to just take

his word for it. He wants you to read

this and go and talk to some of those

500 people in that one instance that saw

Jesus resurrected. By what By the way,

he appeared multiple times to multiple

hundreds of people as well.

He says, "Look, I know some of them have

fallen asleep,

but some are still alive. Go talk to

them." Then he says in verse 7, "Then he

appeared to James and all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one born at the wrong

time, he also appeared to me." He

appeared to Paul back when he was named

Saul and he was persecuting the church

by killing Christians. That's when Jesus

showed up and revealed himself to Paul.

So, you also have Paul's testimony to

deal with as well. Why Why change? Why

change your lifestyle if there was no

resurrected Jesus?

It's also important to note that women

were the first people to witness the

empty tomb.

If you're going to start a legend or a

rumor or a hoax at that time, you could

not do so with women's testimony because

this was a fiercely patriarchal society.

They did not care what women had to say.

They weren't even allowed to testify in

court. And so, why start a rumor or a

hoax on the testimony of women when

women at this time were not even allowed

to share their testimonies?

Jesus' body was never produced. You know

the quickest way to stop an uprising if

you're Rome?

Just show them the body.

Pull the body out of the tomb, put it in

the public square. Look, there's Jesus.

He's dead. Be quiet. Go on about your

business.

Why couldn't they do that? Because the

tomb was empty. And even the opponents

of Jesus acknowledged that the tomb was

empty. Look at Matthew chapter 28, verse

Matthew 28:11

11.

As they were on their way, some of the

guards came into the city and reported

to the chief priests everything that had

happened. After the priests had

assembled with the elders and agreed on

a plan, they gave the soldiers a large

sum of money and told them, "Say this,

his disciples came during the night and

stole him while he was sleeping." So,

even the enemies of Jesus acknowledged,

"Hey, we got a problem here. This tomb

is empty. We don't know what happened.

There were Roman centurions outside that

if they lost the body would they'd have

to sacrifice their own lives. So, I'm

pretty sure those guys didn't let

somebody come in here and steal the

body. So, what do we do?" Well, we make

up a story and we say that somehow some

way those disciples who were hiding in

the upper room as cowards were able to

come in and steal this body in the

middle of the night. We also have this

other problem and it's called the

disciples. They went from fearful to

fearless.

Like, what happened in these men's lives

that they were in this upper room that

afraid even mention the name of Jesus

and then all of the sudden they're

willing to die for their faith. Not just

them, the thousands of other martyrs

under the reign of Nero that were being

put to death simply because they were

believers in Jesus. Why would all of

these people go to their graves if this

was just a hoax?

Then you have the rapid spread of

Christianity among the Jews. They They

even changed their day of worship from

sun from Saturday to Sunday.

The Jewish people are the most

traditional people on earth. They have

customs that date back centuries that

have never been broken. They do not

change what they do. Yet, all of the

sudden there's a group of Jewish people

that decide to move the day of worship

from their Sabbath, which was Saturday,

to Sunday. Why? Because that's the day

that Jesus came back from the dead and

they wanted to celebrate and worship on

the day that Jesus came back from the

dead. Then finally, you have James uh

Jesus' brother James. He didn't even

show up for the crucifixion to comfort

his mom while her son was being put to

death on the cross. That's why Jesus

from the cross gave his mother Mary to

John for John to look after her. And

yet, all of the sudden James is writing

a book of the Bible talking about how

Jesus is Lord. What Like, what happens?

How did his brother go from hating him

to serving him and worshiping him as

God? Well, the answer is because he met

a resurrected Jesus or the most likely

answer. So, imagine this. Let's say you

got a crime scene and you're a CSI,

you're a detective. Uh you come up on

the scene and there's like no body, but

there's hundreds of witnesses and

they're all saying the same thing. And

then you got these security guards that

are saying the same thing as the

witnesses. Then you have these main

suspects that instead of lying have

decided that even if it cost them their

life, they're going to tell the truth

about the incident. And you have this

whole city that's worked up over this

thing this this non-body related crime

scene. Imagine you're that detective and

you just go to your boss and you're

like, "Hey, I think it's all just a

rumor.

I think people imagined it."

That's not following that. You'd be

fired immediately. There's way too much

evidence for you to just say, "Well, uh

I assume it didn't happen."

And that's the explanation that the best

fits the resurrection of Jesus, too.

Because you have hundreds of witnesses.

You have an empty tomb that nobody could

produce a body for. You have enemies

admitting that the tomb was empty. You

have disciples going from fearful to

fearless willing to lay down their lives

for what they believe. Thousands of

other people willing to do the same. And

then you have these these these martyrs

all over the world saying, "Yeah, this

is actually we saw the resurrected

Jesus." The resurrection and believing

in it is not a blind leap of faith. It

is not a blind leap of faith. It is the

most logical explanation based on all of

the evidence that we have both inside

the Bible and outside of the scriptures.

So, if Jesus really did rise from the

dead, if the gospels are true, and if

Jesus rose from the dead, and all this

evidence points to this one thing, then

perhaps we should listen to his message.

We should at least allow him to speak to

us um based on the the reasonable

explanations that we've seen so far. So,

here's the message of Jesus and it's

very unique among all the other

religions of the world. Because what

someone may say is, "Okay, you've given

me plenty of evidence, plenty of stuff

to think about, and it is logical to

conclude that Jesus was really who he

said he is, that the Bible's true, that

Christianity's real.

But then they might say, "Well,

but I'm a good person.

So, I really don't need Jesus. Like, I'm

not like my neighbor down the street.

I'm a lot better than they are. So, I

don't really need a relationship with

Jesus." Well, think about it this way.

Let's imagine a a mother who is raising

a son and she sacrifices everything for

her son. She gives him everything that

she has to put him through college and

help him be successful in life. And she

teaches him three things. She says,

"Hey, you're going to work hard, you're

going to care for the poor,

and you're going to tell the truth." And

let's say he grows up to do all of those

things,

but he never calls her.

Never checks in, never shows up, has no

relationship really. And then someone

says, "Well, what about your

relationship with your mom?" And And

he's like, "Well, that doesn't matter. I

I'm a good person. I do everything she

taught me to do."

Friends, that's not enough.

Because doing what she said and knowing

her are two completely different things.

God did not create you just to follow a

set of rules. God created you for a

personal relationship with him.

And because of that,

you have to make your relationship with

God right.

It doesn't matter what good you do. The

main thing Your Your main problem is not

not morality. It's not moral failure.

Your main problem is the fact that you

have a broken relationship with God. And

it really doesn't matter how wonderful

you are. You have to repair that

relationship. And here comes

Christianity's unique claim. No other

religion will offer this to you except

Christianity.

And that's the fact that God, who

created you, entered the world to seek

you out. To find you.

The Son of Man came to seek and save

those which were lost. So, Jesus took

our guilt, our shame, our sin, and he

took it upon himself and nailed it to

the cross. He lived the life that we

could never live, a life of perfection,

and he died the death that we could

never die, a sacrificial death that

would pay the price for all of

humanity's sins.

Friends, salvation is by grace. You do

not earn it. And that's the unique

message of Christianity. We are

forgiven. We are saved. We are adopted

into God's family not because of what we

do, but because of what Jesus has done

for us.

Friends, we did not turn to God out of

fear. We turn to God out of gratitude.

First John chapter 4, verse 19, we love

1 John 4:19

God because he first loved us.

So, now we're left with the problem C.S.

Lewis was talking about, liar, lunatic,

Lord. Which one is it?

So, we're in a courtroom. We're on the

jury we jury we've heard all of the

eyewitness testimony. We've heard all of

the expert witnesses speak. We've We've

done all of the cross-examinations. The

evidence has been presented from every

conceivable angle and now it is time for

us to make a verdict.

And what we can't really do is just walk

out into that courtroom and say, "Well,

I need more time to think about it. I

I'll decide later."

Because not deciding is actually

deciding, by the way.

That's still a decision.

And that's where some of you are today.

Over the last 4 weeks you've seen the

evidence. You've seen the evidence that

that Christianity provides one of the

most, if not the most, reasonable answer

to all of life's big questions. You

You've been presented with the evidence

that the most likely explanation for

life and creation is the existence of

God. You've been given the evidence that

the Bible gives you the most logical,

comprehensive worldview available.

You've been placed in a situation based

on the claims of Jesus where you have to

conclude that Jesus is either a liar, a

lunatic, or the Lord. We We've seen the

reliability of the gospel accounts.

We've seen the evidence of the

resurrection. We've seen the the unique

message uh of God's amazing grace that's

been demonstrated to us by Jesus'

sacrificial gift on the old rugged

cross.

So, the question should no longer be,

"Is there enough evidence?" The question

should be, "What are we going to do with

this evidence?"

So, imagine you're you're standing

outside a house and it's cold, but it's

dark, it's quiet. Maybe that cabin in

the woods I was talking about a couple

weeks ago.

And And you're alone. And then suddenly,

a door opens.

And there's light that's shining through

and you see a table inside to the house

and the the table's been prepared for

you.

And there's a man at the door and he's

welcoming you in. He said, "Look, I

prepared this this place for you." And

it And then he says, "It does not matter

why you're out in the cold. It does not

matter why you're you're you're in this

position you're in. The only thing that

matters is that you are welcome here."

And he invites you into the house.

Well, friends, that's what

Jesus has done. That's what uh

That's what is through his life and

through his death and through his

resurrection, he has opened that door to

God's kingdom for you.

He's opened the door so that you can

have a personal relationship with God.

So, that door is open for you. Not

because you earned it, not because you

knocked it down, but because Jesus

opened it for you with the cost of his

life. Why? Because he loves you.

You are the joy that was set before him,

so he endured the cross. So, all that's

left today

>> [music]

>> is for those of you that have not

stepped into that door to step in.

So, I'd ask if you would to just kind of

bow your heads for a moment and try to

to focus your minds on what the Holy

Spirit is saying to you.

And even if you don't have faith, I want

you to understand that the Holy Spirit

still speaks to you because Jesus came

specifically to love you

and to save you.

So, bow your heads, close your eyes, and

just think for a moment. Picture

yourself. Are you inside the house at

that place where where Jesus has

provided everything for you?

Are you inside the house where you know

that the literally the worst thing that

could happen to you personally is that

you die and you wake up in heaven?

Is that your reality? Are you living

under the provision and the care of

Jesus here on earth? Are you outside in

the cold?

Well, friends, if you find yourself

outside in the cold

looking in, I would hope that over the

last 4 weeks you've received enough

evidence and enough support to believe

that

it's reasonable to conclude that Jesus

really is who he says he is. And if he

is who he says he is, then

then God is real, the Bible is real,

Christianity is real, and this is

something [music] that

maybe I should investigate further.

And as you walk down that path and get

closer to the house, you realize, "Wow,

this is actually [music]

This is what I was made for. This is

what I was created for. This is what

I've been missing in my whole life. I I

I've had this hole in my heart, and I

never knew what it was, and I tried to

fill it with all kinds of other stuff.

But now I realize that that nothing

could ever fill that void except for a

personal relationship with God. Yeah,

I'm a good person, I do good things, but

the main problem I have is that I have a

broken relationship with my creator.

Well, the good news for you today is

that you don't have to do anything but

step into that door.

Step through that threshold.

Walk into that relationship with Christ.

And the way that you do that, according

to scripture, is through faith.

So, if you'd like to place your faith in

Jesus today, you can pray out loud, you

can pray in your heart.

But just say something like this. And as

long as you mean it from your mind and

your heart, God says you'll be saved.

Just say something like this. Say

Say, "God, I realized that I am a

sinner.

I'm not perfect.

And God, I realize that

I need a savior.

And I believe

that that savior's name

is Jesus.

I believe he's God's son.

I believe he died on a cross.

And I believe he came back from the

dead.

And that mustard seed-sized faith, the

scriptures say, is enough for the Holy

Spirit to come and live within you.

To to grow your faith, to help you

become the person that God created you

to be. And there's nothing that you can

ever do from this day forward that would

separate you from the love of God.

This is not a contract. This is a

covenant. God holds the covenant. He

holds the promise. There's nothing you

can do to lose it.

So, now you're in that relationship with

Christ. You say, "Well, what do I do

next?" Well, the Bible says the next

thing you do is you make it public.

You let people know about the decision

you made. And you do that through

baptism.

So, if you [music] made a commitment to

Christ today or over the last few weeks,

I would encourage you just send me an

email or call me, text me. Let me know

so I can celebrate with you and also

show you what those next steps would

look like. So, God, thank you for what

you've done in our hearts today. Thank

you for the way that you've met us right

where we're at. And Lord, for those that

came into your house for the first time

today, I just want to celebrate the

decision that they made. Lord, thank

you, God, for drawing [music] them in.

And Lord, we know that our mission is

still vast, and there's still so many

that need to hear. So, send us out from

this place with the gospel in our

hearts, in our minds, and our tongues

>> [music]

>> so that others could learn about the

goodness of God. In