Irresistible

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Well, good morning, Awakening Church.

Great to be with you.

My name's Ryan.

If we haven't met, we're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

We're in a series called Ecclesia.

Say that with me.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Fantastic.

You're doing amazing.

And we're asking this question: how do we return to Jesus' vision for the church?

When Jesus named his new movement, he called it the Ecclesia.

We call it the church, but it wasn't a religious term.

It was actually a political or civic term.

It means called out ones that were to shape and uh influence culture.

And so we've this new movement had these distinctive marks.

This early group of followers had these distinctive marks that stood out of these are people who have been with Jesus.

The three were simply this: that they had a radical generosity, they had a bold faith, and then they had a sacrificial love.

And we're spending uh six weeks, two on each of these.

We just concluded two weeks on a radical generosity.

Uh now we're beginning on a bold faith, and then we'll conclude with a sacrificial love.

Now we really want to help us lean in and live this out.

And we have some ways to do that as a community.

One is with a radical generosity.

We're launching a course called Freed Up.

Like, how do you experience financial freedom, financial peace, even in Silicon Valley?

If you're wrestling with that, if you're feeling overwhelmed with finances, this is for you.

Sign up.

It's a free course to you, and it will help you tremendously.

And then when it comes to a bold faith, you're like, oh, I don't know exactly what that looks like.

We're offering a course just on how do you share your faith?

How do you live out this winsome life here in Silicon Valley?

We'd love for you to be a part of that.

And then on September 1st, we're kicking off uh foundational prayer, 21 days of prayer.

We have a book outside.

Would love for you to grab one and join us because we believe wherever prayer focuses, the power of God falls, and we want to be a praying church, and this will actually lead us all the way to our birthday.

Our birthday is on September 21st.

And so we're gonna bathe uh the way in prayer.

I don't know what bathed the way in prayer.

I've never said that line before, but we're gonna do it.

We're gonna do it, okay?

Sound good?

Yeah?

Okay, thank you.

Okay, thank you, thank you.

All right.

Now, yeah, and let's jump to the next slide as I set this up.

Thank you.

Question for you.

I I want you to picture in your mind uh someone who doesn't know Jesus.

It might be a classmate, it might be a coworker, it might be a neighbor, a friend, it might be your roommate.

Shoot, it might even be you.

You're here and you're like, ah, I don't really know.

And uh Jesus yet.

And so you got that person in your mind?

All right, now, what one word would they use to describe when they hear the word Christian?

What word would come to mind when they hear the word Christian?

Go ahead, yell it out at me.

Hypocrite.

Okay, keep going.

Judgmental.

Oh, that's quick.

That was good.

You were like in stereo right there.

That was awesome.

All right, what else?

Religious, absolutely weird, okay, fantastic, absolutely, exclusive.

Yeah, so there's this research group called Barna.

They're the leaders when it comes to faith and culture, and they ask this question of those who don't follow Jesus.

Here were the top answers.

Christian comes to mind judgmental, harsh, angry, hypocrite, political.

Now, keep that person in your mind, okay?

That person that just said those things about us.

I'm just kidding.

Uh, but about Christians, that's kind of the perception.

Now, what word comes to mind when they hear the word Jesus?

Yell it out.

Loving, compassionate.

What else?

Teacher, yeah.

Gentle.

Same group, Barna came back when they heard you guys are fantastic.

Like you were an A plus audience so far.

This is when they came back with Jesus, it was this loving, compassionate, forgiving, wise teacher, Christian, judgmental, harsh, angry, hypocrite, political, Jesus, loving, compassionate, forgiving, wise.

Have you ever wondered why is there such a large gap?

Why do people tend to like Jesus but struggle with his church?

Why is there such a large gap between the way people see Jesus and how they see his church?

And then how do we return to being the irresistible community that Jesus intended us to be?

The sermon title today is Irresistible.

Would you say that with me?

Go ahead and turn to your neighbor, say it again.

No, that was fun.

That was fun.

If you got your Bibles, would you turn to Luke chapter 5?

Luke 5 · chapter mention

If not, it will be in your notes and on the screen.

We're gonna look at a moment in Jesus' life where he calls one of his 12 disciples, and it's in this moment we get a picture of the very heart of Jesus, and at the same time, what it means for us to be his irresistible community.

How do we close the gap for the church where the church looks and responds more like Jesus?

We pick it up in verse 27.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector.

Say tax collector.

He saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his what?

Tax booth.

Okay, we got a guy doing his job in the middle of the day.

Jesus sees him, he says, Follow me.

Jesus, and Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet.

In fact, this is uh like the word here for great means over the top.

Like this is, I mean, he was a tax collector.

He ripped off people, he had lots of money, he threw a lavish over-the-top rager.

That's what it's what it said.

For Jesus at his house.

For Jesus, he threw this rager for Jesus.

And a large crowd of what?

Tax collectors and others.

I love that.

And others.

Tax collectors and others were eating with them.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, why do you eat with and drink with you're getting you're getting and sinners.

And then Jesus answered them, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I've not come to call the righteous tongue in cheek here with the Pharisees, but sinners to repentance.

How do we return to the irresistible community of Jesus followers?

This community that, by the way, in the middle of like severe persecution and opposition was so irresistible, people were drawn to this community and it revolutionized the world as we know it.

A community that they simply called the followers of the way, because they just simply walked in the way of Jesus.

How do we return to that?

I want to just give you a few observations here of what it looks like for us.

When you see Jesus, you see God.

When you look at Jesus, when you see him, when we're reading the way that he's responding, you see God.

And so when you see Jesus, you see how God responds to people.

You see how God feels about people.

Remember in the text it said, after this?

Well, what happened before this?

If you just read at the beginning of chapter five, Jesus calls his first disciples, it's Peter, James, and John, uh, you know, these blue-collared fishermen.

How does Jesus feel and respond to blue-collar grinding it, working through, mundane, just seeking by, trying to get by, just hoping to somehow make it?

How does he respond?

He looks at this group that's been passed by, that's just trying to make it through the day, and he says, Follow me.

I want you.

You may have been the last pick on the playground, but you're my first pick.

And then right after that, he comes up to this uh leper.

Leper in the ancient day, um, they would wear a bell around their neck, and they would be in colonies of other lepers to because that was the only community, because they're ostracized.

Nobody wanted to be around them.

They'd have this bell and they would ring it, and as this when they got in proximity to people, they would yell, unclean, unclean.

They would spend their life ostracized from community, and no one would touch them.

Now, the way Jesus did this miracle, he says, Jesus, would you heal me?

And Jesus doesn't just say, Be healed, which he could have done.

Jesus touched the untouchable.

You know, the way we understand germs to work and dirt and what and all sorts of things, and this was the ancient idea as well, is if you get dirty, you become unclean, right?

If you get dirt on you, you become unclean.

But Jesus reversed it.

Because whatever he touched, that dirty became clean.

How does Jesus respond to the untouchables?

The ostracized.

And then you have this paralytic man.

His friends are just trying to get him to Jesus and the crowd.

They don't know what to do.

They dig this hole through, they drop him through the mat.

The religious leaders are just Judgy McJudgerson, yeah.

And he looks down and he not only heals him, he forgives him.

And pick up your mat and walk.

And he walks out forgiven and free and healed.

When you see Jesus, you see God.

And when you see how Jesus responds, that's how God responds.

That's how God feels.

That's how God thinks.

And here's what's amazing: when Jesus walked this planet, irreligious people found Jesus irresistible.

They were just drawn to him.

I like how Andy Stanley says it.

He says, People who are nothing like Jesus liked Jesus.

But then there's this.

We find over and over religious people.

Well, they found Jesus repulsive.

Over and over, not not everyone, by the way.

Nicodemus eventually got it.

Other Pharisees began to follow Jesus, but overall, religious people, people who thought they knew God, who thought they understood who God was when God in flesh stepped onto the planet, they didn't recognize him.

It wasn't even that they didn't even recognize him, they didn't like him.

So let me ask does your version of God look like Jesus?

Like the picture that comes to mind when you think about God, does it look like Jesus?

Friends, oh, we've started this series with a high view of Jesus.

We gotta understand and look at the way Jesus responds to people, the way he leans in, the way he treats people, the way he teaches us and calls us and then models it to not just love our neighbors, but to love our enemies.

And pray for them.

Does your version of God look like Jesus?

If not, you have the wrong version of God.

When you see Jesus, you see God clearly, perfectly.

You don't have to wonder how he feels about you, how he would respond to you, what God is thinking, because you get to see it clearly in how Jesus responds.

And then get this this is amazing.

When Jesus sees you, he calls you.

When he sees you, he doesn't just go like, wow, hey, cool.

He calls you.

Notice this, I love this verse, by the way.

This is, I could preach this one the entire morning.

We won't, but I could.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector.

That word for Saul is so good.

Um, it means to perceive something above and beyond what is merely seen with the eye.

Like he walked past this tax collector booth that everybody had to walk past, and as you walked into Matthew's territory, Levi's territory, not only did you like have to walk past, you had to pay uh, you know, a tax on your goods to enter the territory.

Everybody saw him, everybody despised him, everybody hated him.

I mean, tax collectors were despised, right?

I mean, we can think about the IRS, and I don't think we have anybody that works for the IRS here.

And he can kind of have that, like, eah.

And they're doing good work, God bless you, it just hurts us.

Um, yeah.

But that's not even close enough to the picture for us when it comes to tax collectors here.

Think of a loan shark.

Think of someone that is taking advantage of another, that is using their power to manipulate and to uh cheat and to swindle and to oppress.

Now, Jesus saw this tax collector.

By the way, the tax collector was ostracized from Jewish community.

They were considered unclean, they were not allowed to go to synagogue, they were not allowed to enter the temple.

Jewish people would not not only not have them in their home, they would never enter a tax collector's home.

Jesus saw this tax collector.

And then the text says, This is amazing.

What's his name, by the way?

Levi.

Yeah, yeah.

Most of you know him by the name Matthew, right?

Matthew is um uh he wrote the gospel of Matthew.

Well, Matthew is his Greek name.

Matthew is his tax collector name, it's his business name, it's the name that he used, you know, as he was working and he's a corroborator with Rome.

He was, you know, a traitor to the Jewish people.

That's what they saw, Matthew, and he calls him Levi.

Levi is his Hebrew name.

Levi was the name he was given at birth.

Levi, it means to be attached to.

It means to be joined.

Originally, his calling and his identity was to be attached and joined to God.

And yet, what he had done is he was attached and joined to Rome.

He was attached and joined himself to power.

He was attached and joined to self-proclamation and his own demise.

And Jesus calls him and says, Levi, I long for you to be reattached to me.

Join me.

Follow me.

Here's what's beautiful, too.

What did Jesus tell Levi to do?

Tell me.

Tell me.

Follow him.

Two words, right?

Follow me.

What do you need to be a disciple of Jesus?

Two words.

Follow him.

He didn't say fix up your life.

He didn't say clean up your act.

Peter uh Levi, Matthew's sitting in the middle of collecting taxes.

And Jesus says, What were you doing?

What were you thinking?

Look at what a betrayer and a traitor you are.

He didn't say any of that.

He just said, Follow me.

Jesus saw him.

Saw who he was beneath the activity that everybody else saw.

He said, You're Levi.

Would you reattach yourself to the one who brings true purpose in life?

See, the way of Jesus is simply this.

The way of Jesus is that you belong first.

You belong.

Like follow me, you belong.

And as you follow me, and this is how their first disciples did it, they started following Jesus.

They weren't really sure who he was.

They think he might be the Messiah.

And as they followed him, they got to know him, they believed in him.

And as they believed in him, they were became more and more like him.

The result, acceptance, fellowship, transformation.

Jesus started with Levi from a place of acceptance.

What did Levi have to do to earn acceptance?

Nothing.

Zero.

In fact, this was the big uh gripe that the religious leaders had in the ancient day in uh Palestine.

To eat with somebody was to accept them.

This is one of the big reasons why Pharisees would not sit down and eat with tax collectors and sinners.

It was to accept them.

And he Jesus got this all the time.

He sat, he had these parties, he's with them.

He's in places like this party.

Honestly, if I was there and it showed up on TikTok or Instagram, you'd be like, what is he doing there?

What is my pastor doing there?

He's at this rager.

No way.

Jesus was there for Levi.

And Levi invited all his friends to see Jesus.

See, we have to discern, and what we've what we think is acceptance means agree with.

That's not what it means.

I can accept you.

I don't have to agree with everything.

Jesus didn't agree with all that Levi was doing, but he says, you start from a place where I accept you, you experience the fellowship and community, and you experience transformation.

I like how Philip Yancy said it.

He wrote this the issue is not whether I agree with someone, but rather how I treat someone with whom I profoundly disagree.

The way of Jesus, you belong, you believe, you become.

The way of the Pharisee is you believe, you behave, and if you believe the right things, and you behave the right way, then you finally belong.

If you just believe the right things, we got to have this all clear.

And believing the right things is important, so don't get me wrong there.

But and then you behave, you gotta believe and you behave, and if you believe and you behave, then finally you will belong.

And what it creates is pride, I'm better than you.

There's an in-group, there's an out-group.

Hypocrisy.

Could it be that the reason there's this large gap between the way people see Jesus and the church is we got some Pharisee in us in the West?

That we've allowed that to infiltrate the way we are.

Let me ask you.

When Jesus saw Levi, he called him.

Because he didn't see a tax collector, he saw an image bearer, one of his kids that has wandered, that's lost, and he called him home.

He saw someone thirsty trying to quench his thirst in any which way, trying to fulfill his purpose and all that he has through power and possessions and prominence.

And he says, Come home, reattach yourself to me.

I like how Henry Nowen says it.

He says, God, help me to see others not as my enemies or as ungodly, but rather as thirsty people.

And give me the courage and compassion to offer your living water, which alone quenches deep thirst.

When you see people, what do you see?

Oh God, would you give us your eyes?

May we see others the way you see them and welcome them in.

When you see Jesus, you see God.

When Jesus sees you, he calls you.

And when Jesus enters your story, you can't help but share it.

What did Levi do when Jesus called him?

Help me out.

What do you do?

Yeah.

When Jesus calls you, what do you do?

You call your friends.

Right?

That's what he did.

He called all his friends.

He didn't make new friends.

He's like, I gotta get right friends now.

I gotta change my friends.

I gotta somehow get a whole new crew, a whole new posse right here, and I'm gonna start hanging out with them.

He said, This is my crew, and I want all of them to know you because when Jesus enters your story, you can't help but share it.

You know, um, what do you do when like you you find something great?

Like amazing, like that fantastic restaurant.

If you have one, tell me about it, by the way.

I love food.

Like you tell everyone, oh, there was this amazing sushi spot, it's fantastic.

This burger joint is incredible, right?

You tell everyone, or that movie.

Think about this.

Remember this?

You do you remember, okay?

Hang hang on.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you remember the CrossFit phase?

You know how you remember it?

Because everyone who crossfit told you that they crossfit.

They wore the shirt, they posted it, it was everywhere.

It was like never mind.

But it it was crazy, like everybody told you.

Now, today, what are they?

It's it's it's the uh weighted vest phase.

Everybody's wearing their weighted vest.

I don't even know what a weighted vest does for you, but I'm thinking about getting one just because I see everybody wearing one, posting it, talking about it.

It's the weighted vest.

Because what happens is you find something that's helpful, you find something that's good, you find something that's great.

The most natural response is you want somebody else, and you share it with somebody else.

Levi, he was sitting minding his own business, eking through life, feeling like an outcast of his own people, feeling like he could never be good with God, and God shows up in Jesus and says, follow me, and he couldn't help but share it with everyone around him.

And yes, he invited all the wrong people, and yes, Jesus showed up.

By the way, this is really good.

Jesus was okay with being misunderstood.

He was misunderstood by the religious leaders constantly.

Jesus was okay with being criticized and never let criticism keep him from loving people.

Also, just saying, oh, this is for free.

Jesus loves your company.

He just enjoys you.

That's why he keeps calling you home.

He enjoys you.

When you see Jesus, you see God.

When Jesus sees you, he calls you, and when Jesus enters your story, you can't help but share it.

You know, one of the greatest evangelists at awakening in our history, and I could talk about several people, but it's one person that came to mind immediately was someone uh you wouldn't probably know.

Doesn't look like the church person.

What does that even like look like a church person?

You know, I showed up to church as a college kid, and I had people asking me, like, are you a Christian?

I'm like, I grew up, I'm a pastor's kid, I just didn't wear the right clothes, and you think I'm not a Christian.

Like, what is that?

It was in the Midwest too, but um, he didn't have all the right answers, didn't have a lot of theology.

I mean, he's still struggling with partying and weed and all the rest.

Like his life wasn't all cleaned up and figured out.

But here's what happened is he met Jesus.

Jesus changed his life and he shared it with everyone he came into contact with.

And every Sunday he would introduce me to somebody he met at a bar, at a club, on the bus, somebody he met at a coffee shop, somebody he was walking to school with, somebody that he was, you know, just on the way to church with.

He just talked to about people about Jesus.

And it wasn't because he had all the right answers, it wasn't because he was like had this grand theology, Bible verses, none of that.

Jesus changed his life, and he couldn't help but share it.

And so many people's lives have been changed by Jesus because of one person who's like, This is good, he's good, and I can't help but share it with every person I come in contact with.

And here's why.

When you trust Jesus, he rescues and he heals.

Why did Jesus come?

You ever think about that?

It wasn't to start a religion.

It wasn't for us to like be able to have this like really cute, wonderful service on a Sunday where you can go feel good for a little bit, go about your life just to have a nice day.

Like, ooh, I got that little, you know, like morality checkbox or that feel-good checkbox, or um, you know, I now have a community.

Ooh.

That's good.

We need all those sort of things.

So I'm sorry for putting it down too much.

But but that's not why Jesus came.

What do you say?

It's not the healthy that need a doctor, but the what?

Sick.

Another time the religious leaders are questioning him for doing the same thing, hanging out with tax collectors and sinners.

He said, I came to seek and save that which is lost.

That is the heart of God.

Like the heart of God breaks for those who are far from him.

The heart of God says, I will do whatever it takes to bring you close.

My heart breaks that you're struggling, that you're so far, that you're going through life and you just long for purpose and meaning, and that you're searching in all these places and finding emptiness and dryness and your suffering.

Like my heart for you is I want to welcome you home.

This is the heart of God.

That's why Jesus came for the sick.

You know, I was thinking about this: the difference between a hospital and a gym.

I like to work out.

I'm not in like crazy good shape, but I like to work out.

Gyms intimidate me.

You ever been to like a health club, a gym?

They they intimidate me.

Seriously, I really legit.

The only time I felt safe in a gym is uh my buddy, he was a former NFL football player, and I walked in with him.

I'm like, what's up?

I felt like yeah, I'm with him.

I don't look like him.

There's not muscles everywhere, but I'm with him.

But with every other time, honestly, I I feel like this.

I need to get in shape before I go to the gym.

Anybody else?

I have to get in shape and I'm gonna work and get in shape.

So what?

I never go to the gym because I'm constantly not in shape because I'm not going to the gym.

Because I go there and I'm like, these dudes are got this strong and they're doing this and this, and I'm like, oh, I don't know how to do any of that.

I'm overwhelmed by that.

You know, nobody says, uh, you know what, I need to get healthy to go to the hospital.

Right?

Nobody's like, oh, I need to get healthy to in order to.

No, when you're sick and you understand, man, I can't fix this.

Where do you go?

You go to the hospital.

The church was not meant to be a health club, it's meant to be a hospital for the sick.

And what happens, and what suddenly happened, is we got people that are looking at the church and we put it on our smiley, sunny faces, we wear our things, we're not honest, we're not going, we're all broken people.

See, church, hang on, hang on.

The thing that we must identify and realize is our deep brokenness and our deep belovedness.

Listen, listen, listen.

This will return us to be an irresistible community when we absolutely understand we're deeply broken and deeply beloved.

There's no hypocrisy there.

It's like I'm just a broken, wounded person that is beloved by Jesus, who's welcomed me home.

Welcome.

Welcome to the community of misfits and outcasts.

We all were at one point, and then Jesus said, Follow me, and he changed my life, and he can change yours.

May our hearts never grow cold or uh uh like mundane.

So like the most amazing news of the planet.

John 3 16, the most famous verse, for God so loved the starting place is love.

That he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You know, I get this sometimes.

Ryan, I I I know that.

Tell me something new.

You know, that's part about the tax collector.

That was kind of cool.

Levi's name, I didn't know that.

That was fun.

May we be a church that's reminded of something true, not like addicted to something new.

Where we remind ourselves of the reality, I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Jesus saved me.

He is a rescuer and a healer, and he can do that for me, he can do that for anybody.

May that line for God so loved the world, like he loves me and he loves you.

It means he loves every single person on the planet, regardless of where they've been, what they've done, what they look like, what they're in, what they're going through, what they believe.

He came for them, he came for you.

And may it break our hearts.

Same way it broke Jesus' heart.

For those who've yet to experience his grace and his healing and his hope.

The church forgets John 3, 17, though.

For God did not send his son into the world to what?

Huh.

Oh, that's weird.

But to save the world through him, why is it that the church is so good at condemning?

Known far more for what we're against than what we're for.

God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

I like how the message says it.

God did not go to all the trouble of sending his son merely to point an accusing finger.

I like that.

Telling the world how bad it was.

He came to help to put the world right again.

God bless you.

When you see Jesus, you see God.

When Jesus sees you, he calls you.

And when Jesus enters your store, you can't help but share it.

Why?

Because when you trust Jesus, he's a healer and a rescuer.

And so this is the church, friends.

Don't miss this.

The church.

It's not a like a health club, it's a hospital.

The church is rescued ones.

We've all been rescued.

Sharing rescue stories.

I've been just rescued.

My identity is that I was lost, and now I'm found, and somebody found me.

I needed saving.

I was just a one who's been rescued, and I can't help but share the rescue story.

Came across this, I think, parable, if you will.

I don't know who wrote it years and years ago, called The Lighthouse that Became a Country Club.

It goes this way.

On a dangerous stretch of coastline, there once was a little life-saving station, just a small hut, one boat and a few dedicated volunteers.

They watched the seas day and night, ready to risk their lives to rescue anyone in danger.

Many lives were saved through their courageous efforts.

Over time, the station became well known.

People wanted to be a part of it to support it.

Money was donated.

New boats were purchased.

Volunteers joined.

The little station grew.

But soon some members said, this place is too rough.

If we're welcoming people, it should be more comfortable.

So they replaced the cots with real beds, redecorated, and turned the life-saving station into a beautiful clubhouse.

Now fewer members actually went out on rescues.

They hired professionals instead.

One day a shipwreck brought in dozens of cold, dirty, half-drowned survivors.

They trampled the carpet, messed up the furniture, and made the clubhouse chaotic.

So the members built a shower outside where the victims could clean up before coming in.

At the next meeting, the majority voted to stop the messy rescue work altogether.

They said, let's focus on enjoying the club.

A few protested.

Saving lives is why we exist.

But they were outvoted.

They were told, if you want to rescue people, start your own station.

So they did.

But over time, the same thing happened again.

Today, along the coastline are many exclusive clubs, beautiful buildings, great amenities, but shipwrecks still happen.

And people are still lost at sea.

Oh that we church would once more realize who we are called to be.

A community of the called-out ones.

Of those who Jesus looked at and saw and called out.

And we can't help but share our rescue story with everybody we know.

In fact, if you're here, you're a follower of Jesus.

First one, I just want to ask you to do this.

Would you remember the moment Jesus rescued you?

Would you just, as we worship, would you just remember that moment?

Would you allow your heart and your mind go back to that day of where you were at, what you needed, and how Jesus met you there?

Where it stirs afresh your soul?

And then would you say, who are the people in my life he's called me to share my rescue story?

Who are the people that I'm gonna be praying for, loving on, that my heart breaks for?

Who do I need to see the way Jesus sees?

Who are the people that I've been overlooking, passing by, dismissing, but Jesus stops and sees and calls.

Who are those people?

Who's the one?

Would you have at least one?

And simply become the sharer of the greatest story of humanity.

And then for others, you're here, you had no idea you had a God that loved you that much.

And you're like, I need a healer, I need a rescuer.

I feel so broken and lost.

I long for purpose and meaning.

And Jesus says, I love you, I came for you, I died for you, and I'm calling you.

Not clean up your life, not fix up your life, follow me.

Welcome home.

If that's where you're at, I just want to give you an opportunity to respond to that, which is called the good news and receive Jesus as your rescuer and healer.

Would you all just pray with me?

And if you want to start a relationship experiencing his grace and love, would you just pray after me?

Jesus, I believe you came for me.

I believe you love me.

And I need rescuing.

I feel broken and empty.

I can't fix the things in my life, and whatever I keep doing, it just doesn't quite make it work.

So, Jesus, would you come and be my rescuer?

Would you be the healer of my heart?

I believe you came for me, that you love me, that you died for me, and that you rose again to new life.

And so would you come into my life and make me know?

I trust you to be the leader of my life.

As we just continue to pray and with your heads bowed, if you prayed that prayer, would you just raise your hand so I could know and pray with you?

Amen.

Raise it more high.

Amen.

Amen.

And Jesus, I pray for those who have stepped towards you today, Jesus, and those who uh have stepped for the very first time into relationship with you.

Would you overwhelm them with your love?

May they experience your rescuing, healing power, and may we be a community that welcomes them and guides them to your heart.

In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

Why don't we stand and we'll worship?

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