An Encounter with Jesus: Change of Heart

Come on, twenty years, let's go shout out to the Taylor family.

Good morning, Venture Church. How are we doing this morning? Oh you

guys are lively, even loud of the day. Am come on, I

love it. If we haven't met yet, my name is Johnny White.

I am the youth pastor here. I want to give honor where honor is.

Do honor our pastors who are on sabbatical, who are here in two

weeks? Are we excited? Freaking amps? They're in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know where they're at, somewhere foreign that I can't afford,

But I hope you guys are having fun. We'll see you guys soon.

We're excited for you. Also want to honor you Venture Church. It means

something. It was important that whatever ministry job I was going to take as

my first one, I really wanted it to be a place where they believed

in the next generation. And it was a perk that the majority of our

staff are former youth pastors. It was a perk that our lead pastors value

the next generation. But can I tell you it is the ultimate affirming thing

when I have a church that believes in next generation with our finances, with

their time and with their prayers, and so I want to honor you.

In fact, I want to have our youth ministry honor because I venture youth.

We have a culture of honor. In fact, we honor because we

are And so can we just give a handclap for the rest of the room,

Well, you guys, handclap for yourself. That was for you guys.

Anyways, we're you right now. In the middle of a series entitled

Encounters with Jesus, I was scrolling through my phone this past week and I

stumbled upon a photo. Have you guys ever just like discovered things about your

family that you're like, I just don't actually know who you are as a

person. I was scrolling through and I came across the picture of my grandmother.

My grandmother has taught me everything that I love about art and music,

and she used to put me on so the oldies. She used to show

me the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Elvis. We have any Elvis fans

in the room? Oh, come on, let's go. Absolutely well,

she said, Johnny, actually she called me John John, like she calls

me John John. Y'all can't call me that. But she said, I

have a story. You're never gonna believe it. And I was like,

what is what is it? She said, I kissed Ovis and I was

like, what I said? I kissed? I kissed Ovis. He came

to a concert in Dusty Odlubbic, Texas, and I brought my mom with

me, and I was like, I just straight up don't believe you.

And she's like, well, I had a feeling you would say that,

and I had a feeling that you guys would doubt it. And so I

brought the photo and I got a confession. This wasn't just like a kiss.

This was an embrace. Can we put that photo up of my grandmother?

So you can't even tell where their two faces are, because this is

like right before he got like fat Ovis Like this is like this is good

prime Elvis right here. And it reminded me of the story that I just

believe is profound. In nineteen sixty eight, right after the Martin Luther King

assassination, the country is in turmoil, the country is in confusion, and

we stopped by an Elvis who is a shell of himself. This is an

Elvis who has fallen into the trap of ssumerism. Where he is making movies

and making soundtracks about the movies and making soundtracks about the soundtracks of the movies,

and Hollywood has this moment where they're saying, We're sick of Elvis,

and Elvis is having this moment where he's saying, I'm sick of Hollywood.

And in the middle of filming his nineteen sixty eight comeback special, he is

bombarded with just this wave of emotion, frustrated that his career has been reduced

to just nick knacks and comedy holiday specials, and he feels like he has

to say something, and his management's advising him, don't say anything, don't

say anything, but he's like, if I can't say something, I want

to sing something. And him and his team curate the song called if I

Can Dream, and it is distinct across Elvis's discography because of its innate,

raw emotion, sounds different than anything they've heard before. This is a new

Elvis, This is a rediscovered Elvis. Something that was bigger than Elvis himself

took him by surprise, and how he was able to self reflect and change

what he realized that he had sold his authenticity for money, for gimmicks and

This was something that he was so passionate about that he goes on record and

says, I refuse to do anything that I do not believe in anymore.

I refuse to sing in something I don't believe in. If my passion's not

in it, I can't do it. There are times where something bigger than

us comes in front of our face, and his name is Jesus. And

in the light of that we should be changed, we should be altered.

And there is a moment when we see the cross, when we see the

power, when we experience God in his wholeness, that He will present a

better way and a better opportunity. The title of my mind or my message

is change of heart. Change of heart. Today, I want to unpack

with you the concept of repentance. When they gave me this topic, I

was like, Oh, I'm ready, let's cook. Because it is one

of the most beautiful aspects of our faith. I believe that the concept of

repentance shouldn't be foreign to our walk, but it should be essential, something

that we are constantly practicing and marrying. And I want to give you guys

a little bit more context of what repentance actually means. Google says to feel

or express sincere, regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin. The Hebrew

word shift means to return or to turn back. It is often used in

the context of turning away from sin and returning to God. The Greek word

metanoia means a change of mind or a change of heart. It signifies a

transformation in one's way of thinking and living, turning away from sin and turning

towards God. I want you, guys to open up your bibles to Luke

chapter twenty three. Where we're at in this context, Jesus has already been

tried by Pilot, he has been beaten, he has been crucified, and

he is joined in company with two thieves, one on his right hand side

and one on his left hand side. On this we're seeing just what the

echo of what the crowd are saying. They're mocking him, they're antagonizing him.

And we see one of the thieves also begins to beerate Jesus, do

you know how bitter you have to be to be in the same punishment as

this person and still ridicule him? And as we look at these three crosses,

we also see the sign above his head that Verse thirty eight tells us

this is the king of the Jews. Verse thirty nine tells us that one

of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him, aren't you the

Messiah? Save yourself and us? But the other answered, rebuking him,

don't you even fear God since you were undergoing the same punishment. We are

punished justly because we are getting back what we deserve for the things we did.

But this man has done nothing wrong. And then he said, Jesus,

remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him,

truly, I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.

Everybody bout your heads. Dear God, thank you so much for who

you are, Thank you for what you do. Would you take this time

to transform our lives, highlight your heart, highlight your mercy, highlight your

grace, that we would have an atmosphere that we could submit our truth,

our ugly or mess to you. It's in your name, we pray.

And everybody said, amen, I was telling about you. Students. Last

Wednesday was like session one before camp. This is like session two, and

then we're gonna just have an amazing, awesome week it's gonna be great.

I'm excited about it. Billy Graham, the Late Great, said, repentance

is you change your mind about God and yourself and your need. This story

is a beautiful story that shows what repentance can look like and shows Jesus interaction

with repentance. I believe that in repentance certain things should be true. It

requires certain things of us. And I want to submit to you three truths

about repentance, and the first one is a change mind. A changed heart

should also have changed action. Look back at those first two verses of what

we see in the story. We see a thief, and it's quick and

easy in the story to just say, like, oh, the thief who

rebuked the other thief, that's that's that's the good guy. That's that's the

one. Like, yeah, we want to be just like that guy.

But that guy is more like us than we care to admit, because in

deeper context, here's what we see in Matthew twenty seven and Mark fifteen.

It's stories of this exact same account, and it reveals to us that it

wasn't just one thief that berated Jesus, it was both of them. Originally,

both of the thieves crucified with Jesus, berated and insulted him, just

like the crowds. And so the question I kept asking, and maybe you're

wondering between then and the story we just read, what could have changed.

It's important that we go even a step further of who these people actually were.

The term that is used to describe and Luke the thieves is co corgos,

which means malefactor, evildoer, has reference to violent connotations. And the

other translation or the other Gospels, and Matthew and Mark it says, uh

lest this, which means bandit. These are murderers. They're not on the

cross because they stole a piece of candy. These are violent criminals. And

a violent criminal just hours ago is bashing Jesus and it has this change of

heart. Can I tell you spending time with Jesus should change you. It

should alter you. It should alter the way you act, It should alter

the way you think, It should al the way that you function. I

can't tell you the dynamic of what Jesus actually said, but I can tell

you this repentance is not grieving and maintaining the same pattern of sin. I'm

sorry, isn't I'm sorry. It's not I'm sorry, and I'm moving a

turning point. You want to know if you have authentic repentance, it's this

signal and sign of It's more than just a moment, it's a lifestyle.

I am marked, I am changed, and in the changing, I'm altering

who I am as a person. In fact, I'm not altering me.

Jesus is transforming me because I have met him, I've spent time with him,

I've been invested in his presence. I am made new and in the

making new that should reflect in our everyday life and our thoughts, voice and

the action everything that we do. I can't tell you specifically the conversation between

Jesus and the thief, but I do know this. Where we would focus

on him being the criminal, Jesus saw a man, Where we would focus

on the temporary. God saw through and saw the eternal, incorruptible soul that

was in possessed the breath that he had breathed his life into into the creation.

That's the form and how he sees all of us, not just our

actions, but who he crafted and created us to be. And a viewpoint

like that, this is a fragment of the grace that he actually embodies.

Romans three twenty three says, for all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God. And I love this picture that the scripture draws up.

It shows us three crosses, one on the left side, one on the

right side, one in the middle, which means both of these thieves had

an opportunity. Both of these thieves could see Jesus. Both of these thieves

could talk to Jesus. Both of these thieves could look at the sign that

was above his head that said, this is the King of the Jews.

But where one thief saw a verdict, where one thief saw a conviction,

the other thiefs saw the truth that this is the King of the Jews.

Not ironically, this is the Messiah. This is someone who can heal,

This is someone who can transform. This is who they say he is.

And when you know who he is, you operate differently. When we know

who Jesus is, when we see and encounter Jesus as we know him to

be, things should shift, things should transform us. A changed mind and

a changed heart has to have changed action. The second thing a changed heart

and a change mind requires is ownership. Ownership I was a terrible kid growing

up. Not a secret. You probably could have guessed it. I feel

like the best youth pastors are trouble kids when they are growing up. So

you want to be a youth pastor when you grow up, be bad.

I'm just kidding. I don't do that. Don't do that. I was

apologize on my bad. I'm sorry. Don't email me, I won't respond.

I'm just kidding. I was a bad kids. I used to I

had a pyro phase. I still have a pyrophase. And I used to

burn small things. I would set pencils on fire. I would set like,

you know, pieces of carpet on fire. I'd set stuffed animals on

fire. These are all like red flags. But uh, I would try

to be slick. I would try to hide it, and so I would

sweep, I would vacuum, I'd wipe down. I get the chlorox bottle

out everything, and I don't know what it is. It's like the parent

radar. They just like no. So my mom would walk in, She's

like, what are you doing? Nothing? She's like, so if I

look around now, if I look around right now, I'm not gonna see

anything. No coll her bluff and she's like okay. Like five seconds,

she's like what's this? And it's like the smallest crumb of ash. She's

like, where'd this come from? Like I don't know, maybe we sh

didn't vacuum. I don't, I don't. I don't know what to tell

you. And I just immediately folded. I was like, all right,

all right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I'm

sorry, and I swear. Parents they just like pull from the same like

I guess, like it's the book they give you whenever you have your first

kid of like quotes to say, because she said this, and maybe you

have said this, You're not sorry that you did it. You're just sorry

you got caught. Raise your hand. If you've said that before, raise

your hand. If y'all heard that, befo, yeah, h listen.

Your posture means something. And what I mean by that is this, What

does it communicate when it's not out of a fallout that you're able to offer

up your mistakes? In fact, is your fallout or is your repentance due

to fallout? Or is it due to conviction? It's easy when you have

no other option but Jesus. But when repentance is taken out of a place

of strength. That says something about your relationship, ownership what I love about.

Let's put that verse back up in verse forty one. I want you

to pay attention to what the thief says. We are punished justly because we

are getting back what we deserve for the things we did. But this man

has done nothing wrong. The thief is a aware of his mistakes, and

he doesn't try to justify his action. The follow up isn't Jesus, you

don't understand my situation. You don't understand my circumstance. You don't understand how

I was raised. You don't understand how low my bank account was. You

don't understand the stress on my job. You don't understand how my family was

depending on me. He doesn't throw a pity party for himself. He leans

into it. He says, I made a mistake. I did it.

I will not justify my actions. I submit them to you. I was

wrong, a human approach of I am incomplete. The thief owns it.

I think there's something powerful in us submitting things to God when we don't have

to. I feel like that communicates the actual state of your relationship that if

there are things that you would withhold with God like he doesn't know it,

that says a lot more about how you perceive him. It can the things

that we could offer and submit to him, the things that like, Okay,

God, you can take this. But I'm still trying to figure this

out. We are changing the roles of how God's supposed to operate in our

lives, of I will try to fix this first before I tag you in,

and I want to speak to the lie. They're like, well,

God is omnipresent. He already knows I made a mistake, so I don't

need to bring it up. Your posture matters, Our posture matters. Yes,

God is aware, but what is it communicate when he says, God,

I already know that you know, but I need you to know.

I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I don't want to be like this

anymore. I want you to have it. I want you to take it.

Proverb twenty eight thirteen says the one who conceals his sin will not prosper,

but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy. Is there anybody in

the room grateful for a merciful God? The proof, and what repentance actually

is is proof of a surrendered life, that my life is not my own.

I won't try to lead on my own. I won't try to fix

my problems. I will prayerfully consider it as my first response. Here's what

I know. His presence has the opportunity to harden your heart or transform your

heart depending on your posture. You can't draw near to Jesus without being encountered

by the light. And when it is in the dark, what is hidden

will be exposed. And if you are not prepared and you are not ready,

and you are not welcoming, if we hold on to what to what

it is when it comes into the light, there's this there's this tension that

if Jesus draws closer, you're walking further to stay in the shadow, and

there's that distance. They're like, well, I'm just not feeling God.

I don't know why we're not close. I don't I just feel like I

have we haven't been the same recently. And every time he's trying to draw

near, every time you want to draw near, you got one hand stick

back, Like I'm just trying to lean in. I'm just trying to just

just I want to get closer, but I can't can't get too close because

I don't want to reveal this just yet. Ephesians two eight says, for

you are saved by grace through faith. This is not from yourselves. It

is God's gift, not from the work. So that no one can boast

The reality is this. There are three people in this story, and it

is quick and easy to celebrate the repentant thief. But the reality is you.

And I lost a brother that day, the one who leaned in fully

into the heart and heart of I'm gonna believe what they say about Jesus.

He's a hypocrite, he's a fraud. That sign is a conviction, and

he can't do anything. It wasn't the crimes of the criminal that removed him

from God's grace. It was his own heart that got in the way.

I were talking. I was talking to our you students this past Wednesday about

anointing the enemy. Cannot remove your purpose, cannot remove your calling, cannot

remove how God crafted you to be. But he can't utilize you to run

as far away from it as possible. You can't say that, you can't

confess that you can't bring that to God. He will utilize shame to keep

you quiet. He'll utilize guilt to keep you quiet. For some of us,

he utilized your pride. You have too much to lose. You can't

come off as weak, can. I tell you? A place of vulnerability

is the strongest place that you can be in the Kingdom of God. Repentance

is not for the select. It's for the ones who are in the promise.

It's for everyone who calls him self believers. It won't be sin that

will forfeit God's grace in your life. It will be your heart. It

will be your vulnerability. A changed heart, a changed mind requires changed action.

A changed heart and a changed mind requires ownership of our mess, of

our mistakes, and a changed heart follows the savior. The last line of

this scripture, in verse forty two, we see the last plea of the

pens and thief. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come

into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you

today, you will be with me in paradise. God's grace is way bigger

than you, and I will ever be able to comprehend. Where the thief

was satisfied with just being remembered. Eventually down the line welcomed into the kingdom,

Jesus says, no, I don't want to just think of you.

I want you with me. I want you to be with me in not

the kingdom, not just kingdom paradise today, that word paradise in the Greek

hey Re Bible is in reference to the Garden of Eden. What Jesus is

talking about is he is hinting at the intimacy that will be between the bridge

of heaven and earth that Jesus starts to be the blood through the sacrifice.

We're seeing true welcome that you're coming with me. This is what I'm here

for. You are here to serve out a sentence. I'm here to fulfill

a promise. Is the line of what Jesus is striving to do. This

word is also a Persian word that is in reference is in reference to the

Persian kingdoms. They would bestow this honor on their guests, that when they're

marked with it, it was seen that they could walk around the common places,

they could walk around the kingdom, and they would be seen as a

companion of the king. Repentance in God's grace is just us stepping into the

promise of being God's companion. The bridge of who Jesus is is to fulfill

our needs, fulfill our mistakes, to make us fool, to make us

right. We get to follow the Savior. Romans three twenty five says God

presented him as the mercy seat by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness.

Because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. Jesus displays

mercy, and there's mercy for you and I because Jesus is the bridge.

Jesus is the bridge of grace. Jesus is a bridge of transformation. Jesus

is the bridge of forgiveness. Jesus is the bridge of redemption in our stories.

What I know is this is that Jesus reflected in his heart is the

way, the truth and the life. And just like the bridge, there

is only one way to the Father, and it is through his life.

His death and resurrection provides access and grace for us to step into. Repentance

isn't for the few, It's for everyone, and it is for you and

I, and I love that the story and the line that what we see

the last salvation of Jesus's life isn't someone spotless, but it's the worst of

the worst. On his deathbed, he turns the cross into an altar.

Before fulfilling the promise for all, he stops for the one and communicates this

line, if you want me, you can have me. Give me your

mess and I'll take it Jesus. One of the few times, actually,

I think the only time that we see a deathbed salvation, and I think

it's for us that nobody would say it's impossible, but nobody would assume that's

the way it goes, that we wait until the last second to make a

decision, that we wait until the last second because I love the story of

how he ends up with Jesus. But man, the salvation is just a

tip of the iceberg of getting the note Jesus. It is one of the

most is the most beautiful decision, one of the hardest decisions that you can

make. But the person who lives a full life, learning and discovering and

being with Jesus, there's an opportunity. And I don't want us to fall

into the trap of at the end later on eventually, but to be partnered

with Jesus in our right now, to receive Jesus in our right now,

and so I want to provide an opportunity. There's two things I want to

do. A call to salvation and a call to repentance. Jesus is for

you. Maybe you stepped into this room. You don't even know how you

kned about church today. Maybe you got dragged here. Maybe you were half

asleep and your parents like, we're going. But I'm telling you there is

an assignment on your life. There is purpose on your life. And I'm

feeling that the fog of how you're perceiving life, the unfulfilled life, the

inconvenience life that you're feeling, the thing that you've been chasing, that you

just are, you're finding no into it. I'm here to offer you not

a solution, the solution someone who is eternal, outside of time and space

and is never too big to hear your Christ, that is never too far

to bear your mess. And so I want to invite you every head bowd

every eye close. If you were in this space and you don't know Jesus,

you don't know Jesus, and you're ready to yield your life, You're

ready to acknowledge there is a God who is bigger than me, and I

want him to be the lord of my life. If that's you, would

you just raise your hand. I'm like, not even account the three you

just raise your hand, Just slip it up. Come on, I see

you, I see you, I see you. Keep the hand up.

Come on, Jesus. Would you pray with me? Dear God, thank

you so much for who you are, thank you for what you do.

Lord. I pray that you would be with us for the people who are

making this decision. Lord, that as they call you the Lord of your

life, would you continue