Replay | I Will Wait (Summer Jams) with Chris Schlotterbeck

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Thank you and enjoy the message.

Bear your feet for stomping, your hearts for worship, and get those hands in the air as

Hub City worship brings you Mumford and Sons, I will wait.

One, two, one, two, three, four.

Well I came home like a stone And I fell heavy into your arms

These days of dust which we've known Will blow away with this new sun

But I'll wait, I'll wait for now And I'll wait down for my crown

And I will wait, I will wait for you And I will wait, I will wait for you

So bring my step and breathe that breath Where you forgave and I won't forget

Now what we've seen will end with less Now in some way you shake the excess

And I will wait, I will wait for you And I will wait, I will wait for you

And I will wait, I will wait for you And I will wait, I will wait for you

As well as strong, use my head alongside my heart To tear my flesh, fix my eyes

Tethered my free from the lie But I'll wait, I'll wait for now

And I'll wait down for my crown

Raise my hands, retain my spirit gold Bow my head, keep my heart slow

And I will wait, I will wait for you And I will wait, I will wait for you

And I will wait, I will wait for you And I will wait, I will wait for you

Hey, give it up for our team! This is the last week of Summer Jams and I tell you what, they've done great this entire series.

Now again, many of the songs you may not have heard of, you may not have known, but it was kind of to the point because we're trying to challenge ourselves to hear something new while at the same time find God in the middle of it.

So welcome to HCV, if you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your space. If you're new here, thank you for being a part and gathering with us.

Now Mumford and Sons released this song as the lead single from their second album, Babble, in 2012.

Not long after its release, it became one of the most commercially successful songs the band has ever written.

It climbed to the top 10 in the Canadian, Scottish, Irish and New Zealand singles charts and it peaked at number 12 in both the US and the UK.

Rolling Stone Magazine listed this song as the 13th best song of 2012.

Now during the first week of its release, I Will Wait sold over 150,000 copies and then had sold at least 2 million copies in that first year.

Mumford and Sons are going to win Album of the Year for the Album Babble at that year's Grammy Awards.

Now the interesting thing about Mumford and Sons, so many people don't know this, but Marcus Mumford is the son of John and Eleanor Mumford,

who just so happened to be the world directors of the Vineyard.

They oversee all of the churches that are vineyard, both in the US, in the UK and throughout the world.

Now after listening to this song several times this week, watching the music video from Red Rocks, reading through different authors' interpretations,

the one that spoke most heavily to me was the one that spoke that the song is the story of the prodigal son.

It's the story of the prodigal son as seen through the eyes of the prodigal son, instead of the father.

What the son was seeing as he was choosing to return home.

Now many of you don't know the story of the prodigal son. It's about the son that wanted his half of the inheritance.

The father gave it to him, to which he went and spent it all living wildly only to find himself living with the pigs,

eating with the pigs and deciding to return home.

So when you read it or listen to that song from that perspective, suddenly you begin to see what Jesus is talking about.

The song begins by saying that the son came home. He was feeling heavy as a stone.

And if you think about it, when he returned home, he didn't know how his father was going to react.

He didn't know what he was going to say. He didn't know what he was going to do.

And then seeing the father, the son seeing the father at a distance, wondering why was he running towards him?

Why was he sprinting towards him? What is he going to do to him?

The subsequent lines refer to dust, which ultimately represent the son's troubles that he experienced in the life,

but how they would disappear when the father would embrace him, giving him a new beginning.

The narrator stresses on the kneeling and the waiting as a sign of submission and patient

and anticipation of the judgment he was about to receive from the father.

The second verse, he recognizes that through the things as he was living,

they may not pan out as he wishes he was willing to persevere and move on walking in Jesus's forgiveness.

The third verse, he maintains the message of staying strong amidst the down moment.

And as a sign of total surrender, he asks the Lord to free him from the lies of this world and from the desires of the flesh.

He further uses gestures such as raising his hands, bowing his head to symbolize his humility and resolve to pursue a relationship with God.

Now, many of Mumford's lyrics on this album allude to the theme of the hypocrisy, the frivolity of religion

and the way, in fact, that religion hurts and kills people.

You can even hear it in the first verse of I Will Wait.

Stones are hard, but they also are broken and smoothed over.

And see, religion does the same thing to us.

Religion hardens our hearts towards God, breaks us down, corrodes us,

both our spirit and our character because we give into this lie that God is harsh and demanding

and only willing to use us and love us if we offer religious sacrifices.

When in reality, that's the opposite. God's arms are open, wide, sprinting towards us.

As the Father was sprinting towards the Son, he wants our hearts.

It sounds as if Marcus Mumford either was or is tired of the whole religion thing, which has left him worn and bitter.

But the truth about salvation is that we can't get it for ourselves.

And here's the major point of our talk this morning. We don't reach God. God reaches us.

See, we're not powerful enough, which is why we need a Savior.

We wait on God to capture us in the right moment of our lives.

And if we don't, we'll die of exhaustion trying to reach God with our actions,

which leads us to our first thought this morning as we conclude Summer Jams 2022.

Religion focuses on the external, not the internal.

Now, if you've ever looked at someone in society, and it doesn't have to be a religious person, anyone, could be a politician.

And you look at them and you're like, wait a minute, you're saying one thing, but you're not living it.

Isn't that kind of hypocritical?

Notice what Jesus is saying in Matthew's gospel, in Matthew 23, 25 to 26.

Jesus said, what sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees, hypocrites.

You're so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence.

In other words, you're putting on this religious show on the outside, but it's not matching up with the heart.

He goes on to say this in verse 26, you blind Pharisee, first wash the inside of the cup and the dish,

and then the outside will become clean too.

See, Jesus is saying your religion is all about the external.

It's all about what you're doing when in reality God is more concerned about the internal.

That's what religion does.

It focuses on what you do rather than how you're living on the inside.

And there's so many people within our culture that wrongly assume this simple statement about God.

Since God is holy and I am not, in other words, we haven't always made the right choices,

somehow I either need to be made right with God by doing something or why should I even try, he doesn't love me anyway.

What religion will say is unholy people will try to close the gap between a holy God

and a sinful people by outward religious effort, by acts.

You try to close the gap of your sinfulness and God's holiness by trying harder, being better, doing the right religious things.

Religious rules can include, well, I go to church, I got to give some money, I have to be nice, don't be mean,

help the little old ladies across the street.

There's some things I can't do though, don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew tobacco, don't get tattoos,

don't run around with people that do those things, especially the girls who do those things.

Just don't hang out with them.

And see, people believe if they do those things, if they don't do bad things, if they do right things, they can be made right with God.

See, that's trying to close the gap with human effort.

And what does Jesus say?

Don't be like the Pharisees.

Don't live like them because that's what they're doing.

See, that's what the Pharisees did.

They put on a big religious show like many of you do.

They'd go out on the street corners and they'd pray long prayers.

Not really caring about whether God heard them or not, but so everyone else would think they were holy.

They would look holy.

They would wear these big fancy robes and these long tassels and they would stand up straight.

But at the same time, they would take advantage of innocent widows.

They would lie to people and they would heap all these rules on everybody else.

You have to obey the Sabbath.

You shouldn't be hanging out with that person or those groups of people.

Don't be like that.

See, it's all about the external.

Let's have a little history lesson.

Diving back into the Old Testament.

Now, some of you may not know this, but if you go back into the Old Testament after Ezra and Diyambe.

Here's what happened.

The religious leaders, the Pharisees, they looked and they said, well, God's people keeps breaking the law.

And because they keep breaking the law, the people end up in bondage.

They become slaves.

What we're going to do is we're going to come up with new rules to make sure that everybody doesn't break the old law.

By the law, they're speaking of the first five books of the Bible called the Torah.

We're going to come up with manmade laws to make it extra safe.

And these well-intentioned leaders, you know what they did?

They came up with over 600 brand new laws that become known as the fence laws.

And these laws, they went into effect thinking they were going to protect the Torah.

For example, when it comes to the Sabbath, there's 65 different laws just about the Sabbath, do's and don'ts.

Later on, someone compiled all these books into one book in the third century known as the Mishnah.

And the book has over 800 pages of manmade laws that were added to the laws of God.

And see, that's why Jesus got very passionate.

And he said this in Matthew 23, three through four, don't follow their example.

They don't practice what they teach.

They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

So if you're here this morning and you ever thought, I want to believe in God, I want to follow God,

but there's just too many rules, it's too oppressive, that's not God's heart for you.

God's heart is not about rules.

This is what people added to what God already established.

And all those rules are, are works trying to close the gap and it does not reflect the heart of God,

which leads us to our next thought.

See, you and I, we cannot earn God's acceptance by following the rules.

We cannot earn His approval by following rules.

Look at Romans 3.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.

The law simply shows us how sinful we are, but now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him

without keeping the requirements of the law. There it is.

As was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago,

we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus.

And this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are.

See, no matter how hard we try, no matter how religious we are,

no matter how many good works we do or bad choices we make,

we cannot earn God's acceptance by obeying the law or following the rules.

Religion says your good works will please God, but you know what the Bible teaches?

We can't do anything good enough to please God.

And for so many people, the rules are go to church. Don't do bad things.

But the Bible says no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.

No one. It doesn't matter that you come here to HCV.

It doesn't matter how holy you act while you're here.

It doesn't matter you're putting on a show, how hard you try.

You cannot be good enough to please God by effort or works.

That's following the rules. That's the law. It's impossible.

Again, Romans 3.20 says, God doesn't accept people simply because they obey the law.

No, indeed. So I get it. Many of you are sitting there thinking,

well, why in the world did God give us the law?

If we can't live up to it, then why did God give it to us in the first place?

Well, that just so happens to lead us to our next law.

The purpose of the law is to show our need of a savior.

That's what it's for. Look at Romans 3.20.

The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

And this is so important, and we need to talk about it

because within our society there's this common belief,

I'm not that bad of a person. Heck, I'm actually a good person.

And in fact, as a pastor, if I want to make a lot of people really, really mad,

all I have to say is, you're a sinner.

And if I were to say that, you know what I'm going to hear about?

Don't judge me. Who are you to judge me? I'm not a sinner.

But see, this is why the law is so important.

It shows us that every single one of us are sinners.

Well, Chris, I'm not a bad person.

Well, maybe compared to somebody else, you're not a bad person.

Right? The reason I wore this tracksuit is so that you would judge me

and think that you're better than me.

See, I'm not as bad as that guy.

But see, here's the deal.

You can compare yourself to other people, and you may not be that bad of a person,

but when it comes to the standards of God, you fall incredibly short.

In fact, we all do.

So what I want to do this morning, is I just want to simply ask you three simple questions

that illustrate the fact that the law shows our need of a Savior.

Is it okay if I do that?

Now, what I'm going to do with these questions, I was going to have you raise your hands.

That's a show of hands.

Have you ever committed this sin?

But I know half of you won't raise your hand, so I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand.

Okay? Because then I'm going to be causing more sin to come into your life,

and it's just going to be a wreck. Okay?

So let's start with a simple question.

We're going to go real easy.

How many of you, now think about your life, how many of you have ever told a lie?

Now, some of you are raising your hands.

Now, the funny thing is, the reason I didn't say raise your hand is because the other half of you

that didn't raise your hand, then you would be lying to yourself anyway.

So it's just going to create just a whole mess.

Here's the reality.

We all have lied at some point in our lives, true or false?

Thank you.

Okay, number two, it's a little bit harder.

How many of you have ever stolen something?

Right? Now, now there's less hands up.

Some of you are saying, oh, Chris, I've never stolen anything.

Okay, I hear you. You think you're perfect.

Think about the bulk candy aisle that you were walking down,

and you happened to be walking, and you thought, man, that root beer barrel float,

I mean, hard candy, no one will notice it.

Right? And that bulk candy aisle, oh, no one's going to miss that, look.

Hey.

Now, we may not admit it, but we've all stolen something, true or false.

Thank you.

Okay, we're going to get a little more challenging.

How many of you have ever lusted?

Oh, see, now I only got six hands up.

Oh, no, Chris, not me.

Listen up, guys.

I know what you look at, and when you look at it too long,

it can quickly turn to lust.

And ladies, oh, I don't lust after men.

Okay, maybe you don't, maybe you don't think he looks nice,

but you certainly can be tempted by that vanilla bean cheesecake on that piece of paper.

But listen to it, see, now here's God's standard.

Listen to what Jesus says.

Anyone who ever looked lustfully at someone actually committed adultery in their heart.

Now, many people are going to argue with me about that point.

Oh, Chris, that's not adultery.

I never physically did anything.

I didn't touch them.

We didn't kiss.

I didn't say it.

Jesus did.

See, the standard of God is so much higher than our standards.

And it says that if you even look lustfully, it's a serious offense against God,

and you've committed adultery.

Now, here's the crazy thing.

We laugh about it, and we can laugh about it,

but I would be willing to say that within this community of faith,

I would find a bunch of people that are lying, thieving, no good adulterers.

That sounds like a sinner to me.

True or false?

True.

In fact, I would say you're a bunch of wretched, pathetic, unrighteous, and unholy people.

Hey, welcome to the Hub City Vineyard.

We make you feel right at home.

Pat yourself on the back.

We love you.

Aren't you glad you came?

Now, I don't want to be harsh, critical, not trying to make you feel bad,

but for those people that say I'm not a bad person,

suddenly we realize we're really short of God's standards for our lives.

And I want to say it this way.

Until you see yourself as a sinner, you won't see your need for a Savior.

And that's where we have to start.

Until you see yourself as a sinner, you don't need a Savior.

But the good news of the Gospel is, if we dive into it, it's not about what you do.

It's about your need for forgiveness.

There's no person that can perform their way to God.

Because all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's standards.

See, what's the purpose of the law?

To simply show us that we're not good enough.

To simply show us that we need grace, we need mercy.

God help us.

Which leads us to our next thought.

We are made right with God through a simple faith in Jesus.

Going back to Romans 3.

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him

without keeping the requirements of the laws.

It was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.

And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone who's sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight.

And He did this through Christ when He freed us from the penalty of our sins.

See, it doesn't matter how bad your past has been.

It doesn't matter what you're going through right now.

Or what your present circumstances and choices are.

When you put your faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven.

And you're made completely new.

And that's why I will continue to challenge you and tell you as a community of faith,

you do not need religion.

You don't need religion. You simply need Jesus and Jesus alone.

And listen, it's not even Jesus plus some good works.

It's just Jesus.

Think about this. Jesus hanging on the cross.

Jesus was actually crucified between two criminals.

One of them that was hurling insults at Him.

You saved others. Why can't you save yourself?

The other criminal looked at Jesus with a broken heart and said,

Jesus, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom?

Now remember, Jesus hanging on the cross, looked at the other criminal and said,

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Wait.

To be right with God, He's got to do something.

He's got to do the right things.

He's got to do good.

I'm sorry, but that criminal can't come off the cross.

He's nailed to it.

He has to change.

No, he simply had to believe.

Because there was no way he was coming off that cross, going to a synagogue, later to be baptized.

He was dying on that cross.

And what did Jesus say?

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Faith in Jesus alone is all we need.

And why is that? Because all of sinned.

The Bible actually says that when we begin a relationship with Jesus,

we are clothed in Christ, and that He gives us a robe of righteousness.

What Jesus does is He takes us and sees us as perfect when we are walking in relationship with Him.

I mean, it's amazing, but if you're in a relationship with Jesus,

when you wake up in the morning and you prepare yourself to get dressed and start your day,

you can literally picture yourself putting on Jesus and the Holy Spirit,

so that as you go to work, as you go to hang out with your friends, you're bringing Him with you.

That's how we become a new creation.

Our sins are forgiven, and God doesn't see us as filthy sinners.

How does He see us?

He sees us as children, as His sons and daughters, the perfection, if you will, that He saw in His Son.

See, that's the difference between religion and a relationship.

Now, in your outline, there's a box there,

and I wanted to really outline four different statements that sum up the difference between religion and relationship.

Religion says, it's what I do. Relationship says, it's what Jesus has done.

Religion says, it's all about me.

Relationship says, it's all about Jesus.

Religion says, do, do, do.

Relationship says, it's done.

Religion says, well, if I obey.

Relationship says, because He loves me, I choose to follow and obey.

See, that's the big difference.

The big difference is recognizing that it's not a religion.

It's not about what you do.

I mean, last week, if you missed it, I challenged all of our people.

I said, I believe that God is calling His community of faith to be a bunch of little Jesuses running all around the Tri-State area.

That people would see all these people serving others and praying for others and loving one another.

It's almost like, that's Jesus. Is that Jesus?

And it's funny, I got this text after that sermon.

After that talk, sorry, I don't do sermons.

They're too religious.

And if you ever got one of those book texts and you think, man, it would have been a lot easier just to call.

Because sometimes with book texts, you get like 10 words in and you're like, I'm done with this.

Anyway, someone sent me a really long text.

And I started reading it and it intrigued me because the text was all about, man, I was really challenged by your talk.

I really feel like I need to step out and be this little Jesus for people.

And that's what my desire in my heart is.

But what if I mess up?

I know I'm going to make a mistake.

I know people are going to look at me and say, oh, I thought you were in a relationship with God.

Why are you doing that?

And it was all these questions about religion.

And I thought, you're going to make a mistake.

We're not perfect.

But it's all about the relationship.

And it's all about showing people that even in your mistakes, God still forgives and God still desires that we walk fully after him.

Friends, that's the good news about Jesus.

So instead of action steps, I want to give you three simple truths this morning that would challenge you to continue to pursue your relationship with God.

Can we do that?

And the first is this.

Religion has complicated what God made simple.

Now notice how simple this is.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus.

Stop.

One sentence that sums up what God is about.

And this is true for everyone.

Say everyone who believes.

It doesn't matter who you are.

For everyone is sinned.

We all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight.

He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the plenty of our sins.

It's always been that simple to God.

But religion adds to the simplicity of the gospel.

And all you have to do is go all the way back to the beginning and look at the Garden of Eden.

What do we have in the Garden of Eden?

Well, God created Adam and he said, this is good.

God created Eve and he says, this is even better.

Because Adam wasn't very good on his own, but together they formed a partnership that was really, really good.

Think about the Garden of Eden.

They were naked in this beautiful paradise, which I don't know about you, but that's exciting to me.

There's no cold weather.

There's no stress.

There's no anxiety.

Nothing.

Just being honest here.

God says, be fruitful, multiply, have lots of fun, take care of my creation, name the animals, plant crops, enjoy my gift of paradise and be blessed.

There's one thing I don't want you to do.

One thing.

You can eat from any tree in the garden.

But there's one thing.

That tree over there is the knowledge of good and evil.

And if you eat of it, it's not going to be good for you.

Don't do that.

If you eat of it, you'll surely die.

Now remember, be fruitful, have fun, multiply, enjoy paradise, name the animals.

Giraffe, turtle, big monkey, right? Like name these things.

You got a lot of work to do.

There's one thing you don't do.

Don't eat from that tree.

Why?

Why did he tell them not to eat from that tree?

Was it so they wouldn't have fun?

No, they were naming all the animals.

They were naked in paradise.

They were having fun.

Was it to keep them away from what's really good?

No.

It was to keep them away from that which steals life.

It was to keep them to continue to receive the freedom of blessings.

What has religion done?

Religion has complicated what God made simple.

Right? God made it simple.

Religion complicated.

First John 1, 8-10.

If we claim we have no sin, we're only fooling ourselves.

We're not living in the truth.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just.

If we give us our sins, it cleanses us from all wickedness.

If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar

and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

I mean, when you look at today's song through the eyes of the prodigal son,

he was broken, he was defeated, he came to the end of this rope.

Mumford writes, I came home like a stone, and I fell heavy into your arms.

These days of dust, which we've known will blow away with this new sun.

You can almost see it, this new life, this embrace of the Father.

Not following rules, but returning home to love.

Which leads us to our next truth.

Religion, complicated with rules, Jesus simplifies with love.

John 8, teacher they said,

this woman was caught in the act of adultery, the law of Moses says to stone her.

What do you say?

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him,

but Jesus stooped down and wrote,

in the dust with his finger.

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up and said,

alright, let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.

Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one,

beginning with the oldest until only Jesus was left

in the middle of the crowd with the woman.

Then Jesus stood up and he said,

where are your accusers?

Didn't even one of them condemn you?

No Lord, she said, and Jesus said, neither do I go and sit no more.

Now many people, what did Jesus write?

We don't know for sure, but many scholars that are a lot smarter than me

believe that he was writing the sins of the men into the dirt.

Because the Bible tells us that the older walked away first.

We also don't know what happened to the woman's life,

but I believe and can almost promise you she never committed adultery again.

And it wasn't that she got caught,

and it wasn't that she was afraid of getting in trouble,

it was because she was forgiven and she experienced love.

Again Mumford writes in I will wait,

so break my step and relent you forgave and I won't forget.

And I hear it all the time.

Well, I don't want to follow God, there's too many rules.

It's not even fun and it's boring.

Well, those added rules are from man, not from God.

Jesus by his grace and faith and him alone were declared righteous.

And we put on the righteousness of God.

Therefore, I don't have to try to obey.

I don't have to live with religious words or actions.

It's just simply trusting.

I'm never going to be good enough.

I'm a sinner who needs a savior.

And when I call on him, he forgives.

And God hears our prayers and we are clothed in righteousness.

Because I have been loved, I choose to follow.

That's our only reasonable response.

Religion complicates what God made simple.

Religion complicates with laws.

Jesus simplifies it with love, which leads us to our final truth.

Jesus, to sum him up, said love God and love your neighbors yourself.

For this is how God loved the world.

He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish,

but have eternal life.

Everyone means everyone.

And notice it says to simply believe.

And then Jesus would go on to say, again, answering the religious leader's question,

which is the greatest commandment?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

The second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Now notice the entire law, all the demands of the prophets,

are based on these two commandments.

Now I can imagine religious leaders,

wait a minute, there were 600 additional laws.

They were created to protect God's original law.

I've got to follow them. I've got to obey them.

What did Jesus say? No.

The most important is what? Love.

Love God. Love others.

Religion complicates with laws.

What does Jesus do?

Simplifies with love.

Put on Jesus. Walk in his grace.

Love God in everything you do.

What does that mean? It just means put God first and love others.

And you know what it means to love your neighbors?

Just honor and respect people, people.

That's all it means.

Honor and respect even the people you don't like

because they're created in God's image.

I mean, again, even just this week, what?

More division, more hate, more struggles in our country.

Why?

Why?

Because of man-made choices and decisions.

And then they want to blame the church,

point fingers at Jesus and God,

when God is all about love.

It's always about to respect and honor people.

That's God's best for us.

Again, Mumford writes, I'll be bold as well as strong.

Use my head alongside my heart to take my flesh,

fix my eyes, a tethered mind free from the lies.

I'll kneel down, raise my hands, paint my spirit gold.

It's like he's putting on the righteousness of God.

I bow my head.

Keep my heart slow to hear your spirit.

So if you're a Grace Bomb Growth Group leader,

could you come up here on stage, please?

So next week we're going to start a new series called Grace Bomb

because we believe the best way to make a difference

in the lives of others in our community, in the tri-state area,

is to just drop little bombs of grace into people's lives.

Could be that you pray for them, could be that you smile at them,

could be you buy them lunch or a coffee.

I have no idea.

There's going to be a lot of different ways that we learn.

And with this series launching next week,

I'm going to challenge all of you.

I did this in our first gathering,

but in our second gathering as well,

I want to challenge all of you to be a part of a Grace Bomb Group.

This year we're going to have 12 Grace Bomb Groups

all throughout the tri-state area, okay?

And these Grace Bomb Groups are going to meet for five weeks.

So I am going to ask you to have audience participation.

So I want you to raise your hand.

How many of you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus?

Okay, I'd say it's about 85%.

That's a good number.

You grow your relationship with Jesus by getting around others

and challenging yourself to grow, okay?

So I want to challenge you that raise your hand

to commit five weeks of your summer, that's it, five weeks, and then it ends,

to being a part of one of these groups

so that you can grow in your relationship with Jesus.

Pretty simple, right?

Pretty simple, right?

Thank you.

Alright, Rudy, you want to introduce everyone?

Alright, you ready to go?

Everyone ready for this?

Start with the Andersons.

Hi, we're the Andersons. I'm Kelsey.

I'm John.

And we are from Greencastle.

We'll meet Friday evening starting between 6, 6.30,

and I'm never on time, so it's okay.

Good morning, I'm Angela Jarvis.

I live in the Cedar Lawn area west end.

My group will be on Wednesday mornings at 8.30.

We'll have coffee and home run donuts, and I have a pool.

We're coming in.

There we go.

Hi, we're the Malloy's.

Our group will be held on Wednesdays in Williamsport at 6 p.m.

I don't have a pool, but we will have snacks and drinks.

Hi, we're the Hops, and we'll be meeting on Wednesdays at 7.

We do have a pool, so bring the whole family,

and it'll be a good time.

Bring the whole family.

It's Sierra Falls, by the way.

Fahey Group, and we'll have food, fun, family, and fellowship

about a two-minute walk from Schaefer Park,

and they do have entertainment on some of the weeks.

Boonesboro Group, 5.30, Saturdays.

Hi, I'm Kristen.

I'm Tammy.

We will be starting Saturday, July 16, Saturdays at 11,

at Falling Waters, and we do have a pool,

so bring your band suits and swim trunks,

and we will be providing brunch.

Hi, I'm Anne.

We're going to be meeting Sundays at 7 here in the cafe.

We cannot have a pool indoors, but we might bring squirt guns,

so don't bring a bathing suit.

Hello, my name is Mike, and this is my wife Nicole,

our niece Liliana.

Our group is going to be Friday nights at 6.30.

We live in Big Pool.

We have a pool, and we also have a park next to it

that has a crick, so we have water all around us.

Hi, my name is Trent, and this is my wife Courtney.

We will be doing our group on Saturdays at 5 here at the office at HCV.

We don't have a pool either, but, you know, we'll have fun.

I'm Patricia, and this is Ben Chalf,

and we are meeting in Martinsburg from 6.30 to 8 or whatever.

We don't have a pool, but those that are co-hosting with us,

John and Lisa Reese, have a pool.

So, anyway, come join us.

Hey, I'm Tracy.

And I'm Rudy.

And I do have a pool, but we're doing it in my office,

so I don't think it'll fit.

So we're going to be doing Wednesdays at noon via Zoom,

and I may try to get a pool in the office.

We'll bring a sprinkler in.

We'll squirt each other in the face with water.

Yes, so they're doing a Zoom group for those of you

that can't find the time to meet in person.

So can you give them all a hand?

Thank you, guys. I appreciate it.

So I wanted to put a name with a face, and I want to challenge you.

They're all over the Tri-State area, including Martinsburg.

We would love for you to jump in a group.

Remember, how long is it?

Five weeks.

Five weeks of committing to a group.

We believe that group will change your life,

and it will challenge you to grow your relationship with Jesus,

which is most important.

So will you stand with me as we close?

So as I was praying about how to close this talk today,

I just felt like God kind of challenged me or nudged me to say,

look, there's some of you here today,

and you grew up or have experienced religion in your life.

Maybe it was rules. Maybe it was a church you're in.

I have no idea. Maybe it was a family member.

But you just felt like God didn't love you

because you just weren't making the best decisions.

You weren't following the rules.

And I just felt like the Holy Spirit wanted to overwhelm you today

and just eradicate any of those images that you may have assumed

that you thought you had to live up to,

because all He's inviting you into is a personal relationship with His Son.

So if that's you, if you just got some baggage,

if you're just carrying around some hurt and some pain from your past,

I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand.

I just want to invite you to put your hands out like this.

And all this is is I'm receiving.

I want to receive a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit.

I believe that God's going to touch your life this morning.

So Holy Spirit God, God, you know the hearts of those that are gathered here.

I just pray, God, that anyone in this place that struggles with any type of religion

or expectations that were placed on them to live up to man-made rules and expectations,

God, I just pray you would eradicate that in Jesus' name

and that your love and your grace and your mercy would just surround them

and impact them in a special way this morning, God.

Just overwhelm us, God, with your love, your peace, your grace.

We're just thankful, God, of how you set us free and change us from the inside out.

In Jesus' name.

And we all said together.

So if we could stay in that place of prayer, you know that every Sunday I offer

just that relationship that God so freely extends.

I'm not going to have you come forward.

I'm not going to have you say your name or introduce yourself.

No one is even going to see that you want to begin that relationship

between you and God.

So no one looking around.

If you're here this morning and you need to start a relationship with Jesus,

you need to return to Jesus.

You're like a prodigal son.

I want to pray with you.

Just slip your hand up and we'll all pray with you together.

Yes. Yes.

Let's pray these words.

Jesus, I'm broken.

I'm full of doubt, shame, regret.

Sin.

I'm a sinner in need of your grace.

I believe you're God's son.

I believe you died for me.

Make me new.

Fill me with your spirit.

Allow me to serve others.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Now listen, text me.

If you prayed that prayer when you get out of here, text changeme to 9700.

I will respond to you this week personally, give you next steps,

challenge you to grow your relationship with Jesus.

If you're joining us online, thank you.