Renewal || F.A.V.O.R. || Pastor Diego Mesa

Welcome to the ALC Podcast. Here at ALC, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. We've been all this year and introduce you specifically this month

of January Favor. And I'm gonna test you right now. What is the

F four faith? What is the A four good job? What is the

V four and what is C four? And I'm gonna talk to you about

the R. Pastor Adam masterfully has navigated us through what favor really looks like

and the A of abundance and the victory and the obedience. So when I'm

not here, I'm traveling. Two weeks ago, i was in Seattle.

Last week I was in Orlando. This week I'll be in Seattle again.

I listened to the message so I could be fed and capture the spirit of

what God's saying in this house. And so let's stand for the reading of

God's words. And I know God's going to say something to you today.

In Matthew eleven and verse twenty eight and different translations, it says, come

to me, all of you who are tired. I don't need to ask

you who's tired today and have heavy loads, And I will give you more

tiredness and more heaviness. That's what religion gives you, it says. And

if you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me, and I

will give you rest. And last of all, come to me, all

you who labor and are heavy laden and are overburden, overburden in your marriage,

your finances, what's going on in politics and the world, he says,

And I will cause you to rest. I will ease and relieve.

And here's our keyword, refresh your souls. You may be seated. I

don't know if there's a person in here that doesn't need a renewal and a

refreshing in their soul. Their emotions, their will that seem to be sole,

fragile today are emotions in our feelings today. Today, I want to

talk a little bit about renewal. Say that with me, renewal. I

want to talk a little bit about the promise of renewal. You know,

I have, like you, my phone, and I don't know about you.

I get a ton of emails all the time. I got to clear

that thing out. It seems like five times a day and I'm talking a

lot of emails like you, and some of them are good emails, and

some of them are just because you buy products and everything, you have to

give your email and then they send you everything that they're trying to advertise.

So every once in a while, I have to clear my emails. So

what I have to do I have to go to the bottom of that email

and I have to unsubscribe, telling them I don't want it anymore. Sometimes

I just get tired and weary of all the emails and I just pan to

the bottom. I say, undrescribe, unsubscribe, unsuscribed, on subscribe.

Then I go back after like a month and say, I don't get that

email anymore. I really liked the advertisement they came and didn't realize that I

unsubscribed them when I should have just kept them or renewed them. And sometimes

you need to understand where you need a renewal and you need to subscribe to

that renewal, or where you just say I need a cancelation from everything that's

wearying me and tiring me and the heavy loads. And that's what we're going

to talk about today. So as I opened this up, have you ever

felt like you were just simply dragging from the moment you got out of bed

to the moment you went to bed that day, drive your car, took

a shower, and eating. You were just simply going through the motions and

really not at your best. You were here and you were there, but

you really weren't here, and you really weren't there. Have you ever just

simply felt heavy and weighty in your life? Because of all the losses that

I've experienced in my life, I've lost something and I've lost someone, and

that just makes me feel waiting today. You may have lost the dream,

you've lost your faith, you've lost hope, you've lost vision, and last

of all, have you ever felt just simply spent worn out, worn down,

just simply worn. You're like valcro that has lost its stick. You're

like underwear that keeps just sliding because of the elasticity that every one of us

have one piece of underwear and you say I'm gonna throw it away, I'm

gonna throw it away, and it makes it back into the hamper and out

of the washing machine, and there you go all day long, just as

it's slide. And don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about oh

you homa, jeez, get old audio. People come on now. You

know, we are quick to renew a gym membership or a subscription to something

or cable provider, whoever it is. But we don't understand what it means

when God talks about I want to renew, and the Bible talks about I

want to renew your hearts. I want to renew your mind. I want

to renew your spirit. I want to renew your attitudes. I want to

renew your strength. I want to renew yourself. Why because these parts of

your life get warned sometimes and they get weary sometimes, and they get tired.

This is what a renewal looks like, or my definition of what a

renewal is. It means this God is not done with you yet. God

is not done with you yet. The second thing is change is on its

way. I know you're going through something difficult. I don't know where you

are in the transitional changes of life where you're becoming an empty nester or you're

just becoming a parent, or you're just becoming a husband, or you're just

becoming a wife, or you're just becoming a boss, or you're just retiring,

but all of us are in transitional changes of our lives, and renewal

wants to come into those places of change. And renewal is like a second

wind. Athletes know what it's like when they just can't run no more,

they can't lift no more, they can't go no more, and then all

of a sudden, the second wind comes that just empowers you to make it

through the workout or to go further than you thought possible. And that's truly

what a renewal is. So let me just share six seas with you very

quickly, of some areas that all of us I think need a renewal today.

We need a renewal when it comes to the commandment. What am I

talking about? The Bible talks about loving. That's the commandment of God,

a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. And some

of us maybe bitter, Some of us are walking and grudges and unforget giveness,

angry or maybe even hatred. And I need a renewal in my love

walk because I'm very impatient with people and very intolerant towards certain people, and

I'll hold on to things too long. So God, I need a renewal.

I need a renewal in the commandment of Love. Then I need a

renewal in commission, God, go into all the world and make disciples.

God, I'm not winning souls. I'm not sharing my faith. I'm not

telling anybody who you are in my life. I need you to renew my

witness for you, God. Then I need you to renew the callings in

my life. The husband calling, the wife calling, the father calling,

the Christian calling, the assignment, the purpose. Why you gave me,

the personality, the gifts, why you heal me and delivered me from the

ways of this world. I need to renew my calling a purpose. Then

I need to renew my courage God, because temptation is getting the better of

me. So coming to these temptations, and I need the courage to stand

in faith when everything else tells me to abandon my faith. Then I need

God, you to renew my commitments, those vows, those obligations, those

promises, those expectations, those responsibilities that I have in this lifetime. And

then I need you, God to renewl my consecration. That's my time spent

with You God, because I seem to have time for everything else, God,

and I seem to give you the crumbs of my day and my time.

God. It's a drudgery, and it's a duty to sit there and

pray God, because all I do is look at the clock, and I

open my Bible, and then the phone rings, and then I had all

the intentions of the world of God and whatever it is may look like in

my church attendance, these are areas where God wants. I promise you a

renewal in your life. So let me be with the time left give you

three areas of where God wants you to renewal. The first one is God

wants to renewl the beth al in your life. Well, we got to

understand what beth al is. So let's read a scripture. It's found he's

going to talk about Jacob. It says, when Jacob woke up from his

sleep, he said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I

did not know it. He was afraid and said, what am What an

awesome place this is? This is none other than the House of God.

It is the Gate of Heaven. Early in the morning, Jacob took the

stone that was near his head, and he set it up as a marker.

He poured oil on the top of it, and he named the place

what beth Owl. What did he just say before? It was the house

of God and the presence of God, and that's what he said. It

was prolifically known as LUs loose ex you mean it goes Then Jacob made a

vow, if God will be with me watch over me during this journey I

am making, if he provide with food to eat and clothing to where.

God said, God, okay, let's stop right here. So what happens

now is twenty years take place. Twenty years take place from this original place

of consecration encounter with God at this place called beth al. He dedicated this

piece of ground. He put a rock or stone, as they did in

Old Testament time, so that when you see a stone stacked on another,

you didn't know that that accidentally came Someone purposely did that, and something significant

happened there. So he made this place where he had his dream where he

envisioned angels coming up and down. It was very impacting for him and transforming

for him. So he called that place bethl. Now, twenty years later,

time goes by, he's not visited beth al and now comes this episode

of life that I'll just share with you. Maybe you know it because now

what happens. And through a little bit of time that preceded it, he

had a daddy and and and and his dad he deceived his dad and giving

his brother his birthright. He saw his twin brother, said I'm gonna murder

you and I'm gonna take you out and I'm gonna hurt you bad because you

stole my birthright. And he went on a run, and he went hiding

and he took off. Then all of a sudden he met a man named

Laban, and Laban had two daughters and and and he loved this one daughter

named named Rachel. But but the man deceived him and he put Leah in

his tent. And he didn't want Leah. He wanted he wanted Rachel.

And so he had to work seven years to now be deceived to get Leah.

Now he's got to work another seven years to get the woman he loved,

Rachel, And then he doesn't have nothing. So he says, work

another seven years and I'll give you prosperity. And so he gets to this

point where he's tired and he's wearied he's a canniver. That's what his name

means. Jacob. He don't take crap from nobody. He'll cut your legs

out. He'll steal your mortgage, he'll steal your bank account. And he

also gets ripped off himself. He has to fight for everything. He has

to hide, he has to run. He's full of fear. And now

we meet up with chapter thirty five. And God said to Jacob, get

up and go to beth al Man, you need a tattoo that right now.

You need to drop the mic right now and walk out of here and

say get up. This is why the Holy Spirit comes to you when you're

in places of weariness and tiredness. He lets you get away with it for

a moment because it's sorrowful, sad, it's part of grieving, let's say.

And then he'll come gently and he'll say get up. And then if

you don't want to get he say get up. And then if you don't

want to get get up. And then if you want to get up,

get up and go back to Bethow and settle there and build an altar there

to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau and

here's what I want you to do. So Jacob said to his family and

all who were with him, the revelation comes. My change is in beth

Al. I can leave all this junk behind and become who God made me

to be. But I got to get to beth Al. So he tells

his family. Get rid of all the foreign gods. That's what you have

to do to get a renewal. Get rid of all the crap in your

life, all the false gods in your life, every idol of worship that

you have built your life around, a player, an attitude, materialism,

labels, hurts. Get rid of all the foreign gods. And he says,

now it's time to purify yourself with some new habits and some new lifestyles,

and some new thinking and some new talk. And then now I want

you to change close. What's changing your clothes mean? It could mean something

like start practicing Thanksgiving. It could mean it could mean I want you to

start a project to help someone else who's in need, and I will bless

you through that. But it goes on, and he said he went to

Bethel and he experience that renewal in his life. So here's what you need

to recognize what is Bethel. Bethel is the house of God, but it's

the place more than that. It's the place where you encounter God. It's

a place where God. You welcome God to intersect your life. Bethel is

a place where every day you meet with God. It's the place where God

deals with you. It's a place where God talks to you. It's a

place where God reveals himself to you. It's a place where you expose your

vulnerability and your weaknesses to you. It's a place where God, God begins

to minister to you and touch you in areas where no one and nothing else

could touch you. And So when you're in a need for a beth Al,

I mean when you're in the need of a pain in your life,

you're tired, you're weary. You gotta get to beth Al. You gotta

meet with God every day, sometimes in midday, sometimes at nighttime. I'm

not who I should be. I'm gonna get to beth Al. You know,

in forty six years of being a Christian, I have put miles on

my spiritual engine. And like a car, I've been down this down the

road forty six years, driving up and down this country, called the Kingdom

of God. Stay with me. I'm trying to give something symbolic to you.

The reality is this is that I could still stay on the road,

but I'm gonna have to rebuild my engine. See if you really like a

car, and let's just say you win one hundred thousand, and you're going

two hundred thousand, and now you're hearing some knocks take place, and you're

getting leaks now take place, and a little bit of sputtering. But you

like your car, then what you go do is you go rebuild the engine.

Now. Now the oldominer might still say two hundred thousand miles, but

the engine is zeroed out, which means I could go another two hundred thousand

miles. And some of you need to rebuild today. You need to rebuild

today. You've been driving down the highway called the Kingdom of God in life,

and you're passing all these rest stops called beth Al but you think you're

a superman. I'm gonna waste time. I ain't got time for that.

And you're drive by the rest stops and drive by the rest of and you

drive by too many rest stops, you're gonna get an accident. You drive

by and you'll burn out that engine. So I think that God is talking

to us today about what beth Al could do for us us And just like

cars, and I'm not going to talk about the car you drove in in

the parking lot. Some cars have duct tape on them and they're all primered

out and they got broken lights and crack windshields and no side mirrors and no

bumper, and they're driving their car in that little spare that you're only supposed

to do fifty miles, but you got two hundred miles on it. Now,

technically you're drivable, but you're not functioning at your best. You're getting

from point A to point B. But look at all the noise you make

to get from point A to point Look at all the people looking at you,

say, doesn't that guy understand what he's doing? What that thing looks

like? Let's go to point number two while you still like me, I

want to talk about a renewal of pleasantness in your life. Everyone needs a

renewal of Bethel where you meet God next. You need a renewal of pleasantness

in your life. During the time of Judges, there was a famine in

the land a man left Bethlehem in Judea with his wife and two sons to

stay in a territory of Moab for a while. Both Milan and Shelan also

died, and the woman that's Naomi was left with with without her two children.

I guess whatever that said at the end, uh, and without a

they're so scared their quick father like, I don't want he keep calling me

out of it, Okay, he said. So here's Naomi's. Naomi's in

a foreign land. She's an Israelite woman to jew but because of the family,

she goes to live in Moab. She has two sons and they eventually

grow up and they marry, but they die and then she loses her husband.

She has no means of providing for herself. She's in a place of

hardship. Then there's this conversation with her daughter in laws. She says,

I can't give birth to another child and then that son marry one of you,

and are you willing to wait for all that? So let's go,

so let's read this, and so would you be willing to wait for them

to grow up? Would you restrain yourself from remarrying? No, my daughter's

My life is too bitter for you to share, because watch watch you listen

her verbiage, because there's a lot of us that talk this way because the

Lord has turned against me. Please next verse. Then the two of them

traveled until they came to Bethlahem. Say beth Lahem. Bethlahem means house of

bread. We'll bring that back in a moment. We said, we got

to get to your beth Olt, but you got to go find your Bethlahem,

your house of bread. And when they entered Bethlahem, the whole town,

the whole town Yay was excited about their arrival. And the local women

you know that grew up with her that baby came to the wedding ceremony that

were best friends. They said, wow, can this be Naomi? Say

Naomi. Naomi means pleasantness. Here comes pleasantness. This is pleasantness, she

says this. Don't call me, call me maa. She answered, For

Almighty God has made me very, very bitter. I'm pissed off, pissed

off because I lost my husband, and it's not fair. I'm pissed off

because I lost my two sons. No, it's not fair. I'm pissed

off because I followed my husband to a foreign land. I'm away from my

family and my friends. I have no income, I have no job.

So don't call me pleasant no more, because I'm far from pleasant. You're

about ready to meet Naomi Maara, the bitter one. She said, I

went away ful, but the Lord known as her verbis she's mad at God.

She's gonna blame God for every hardship that has ever taken place in her

life. Where was God? I know, if we would be more honest,

we probably say, you know what I have been like Naomi sometime when

a tragedy hit my life and I blame God. And she said, but

the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi?

Since the Lord has the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty God has

afflicted me. Let's fast forward. Okay, that's where she was right.

But we're not gonna stay Mara. Why's he gonna stay Warman? So that

we're only talking about three chapters later? Well, that's what happens. Boaz

took Ruth, that was her daughter in law. Now Boaz is the wealthiest

man one of them in Israel. In Jerusalem. Bethlahem Ruth and she became

his wife, and he slept with her, and the Lord granted conception to

her, and she gave birth to a son. Wat says. Then the

women said to Naomi, here these women come again. Blessed be the Lord

who has not left you without a family, redeemer today. May his name

be come well known in Israel. Well, it says, they're talking like

sonnsnass be all that he renewed your life. He renewed your life. That's

a renewal. And he says, stage you and your old age. Indeed,

your daughter in law who loves you, and it is better to you

than seventh suns has given birth to him. Naomi took the child, placed

him on her lap and became a mother to him. God changed her life

through a grandson that she thought would never ever, never happen. She didn't

come back. But don't call me Naomi no more, She said, I

am Naomi. Thank you for reminding me that I am Naomi. And some

of us have, like Mara, grown angry and cold and temperament, and

we become sad in our lives because of all the losses and the hardships and

the family and the unwelcomeness the unexpectedness, the unfortunate, and the difficult things

that have taken place in our lives. But the reality is is that we've

got to get back to Bethlehem, the House of Bread, because if you

don't get back to the house of Bread, you're going to remain bitter rather

than getting better. And so I want to challenge you with the house of

Bread, Bethlehem. What are you feeding on today? What are you eating

on today? Because what you feed on and what you eat on, what

you think on, is either going to keep you bitter or it's gonna make

you better in your life. And when you are acting like Naomi saying with

self pitying and you're having a pity party of complaining all the time, and

you're acting like a victim all the time, then that's a sign that you've

got to get to Bethlehem, because I'm acting more like a Mara who's bitter

than a Naomi. That's pleasant. One of the translations for the word renewal

is going to go on the screen. This is a translation for the word

renewal peling GENESEA Now, Pastor Adam came next week, he would really give

you the proper annunciation but I went really fast pealing and genesee pelin means again.

Made up a two words genesea means beginning. Put the both words together

and means a genesis again. And some of you need a genesis again.

You need a new beginning. I need a new beginning, even though I'm

still married to this person, but I need a new I need a renewal

in my marriage. I need a renewal in my fan. I need a

new beginning on my job because I think everybody's an enemy me there, my

bad perspective of life is wrong. I just need a new beginning. I

need a new genesis and again genesis in my life. And here's the last

point I want to share with you. It's my favorite point because many many

years ago I did a series around this that God wants to renew your strength.

God wants to give you a renewal in your strength. You know,

many many years ago, there was a man who came up to me,

and I don't want to laugh because I don't know really what was going on

in his life, but he said, I want to know if the church

can pay for me to go on a vacation when you've been in this business.

You've heard it all, and you don't know if people are serious or

they're trying to be funny or what he said. But he said he was

serious. When he kept talking. He said, I want to know if

the church will pay for me to go on vacation. I said, okay.

So after I stopped smiling or giggling or laughing on the inside, so

I just said, so, what is your job? Real tough right now?

What's going on with your job? He said, Oh, I don't

have a job. I don't work. I said, okay, I said,

is you're going through some difficulty in your marriage and it's just something wearing

your days. I don't have a wife. I'm not married. I said,

okay. So are the kids just tiring you out? Wearing your So

I don't have no kids, And my inner diego said, what the heck

do you need a vacation for? But the compassionate inside of me said that

maybe he just needs a vacation from life. And there's something beyond a job,

marriage and kids that this guy's struggling with. And sometimes I think that

that's oftentimes what people are going through today. It's tough to define why I

need a renewal. And why I'm weary and why I'm tired, I just

I just am. So God needs to renew your strength. So Isaiah,

we're gonna read this scripture says this use may become faint and weary, and

young men stumble and fall, but those who trust King James's weight on the

Lord will renewal. There's our word, renewal their strength, or renew their

strength. And when God renews your strength, you will soar on wings like

eagles. You're gonna be like an eagle, and you're gonna run, and

you're not gonna become weary, and you're gonna walk, and you're not gonna

faint. And here's what I want to break this down to be, when

God starts talking to us, that we are like eagles, because today many

people just feel weak and they feel fragile, and they just feel vulnerable.

So over here I have an eagle right here, and God chooses to say,

this is what resembles you. This is what I've created you to be,

and in your adverse and in your troubles, this is what you need

to be. Now, there's a vast difference between this eagle and this little

parrot over here, they that wait upon the Lord. You're gonna be like

a parrot, and you'll mount up like a parrot and you're sore and not

what the heck? This guy lives in a cage. This guy does not

live in a cage. It's a vast difference between these two birds. This

bird, if I snap my fingers, he'd go crazy. Watch go over

here. This guy won't budge. I mean, because he's a statue.

But in real life, or is he? You know? Sometimes this is

what this this eagle has. What we have here a beak, and what

he has here are talents back here, and what he has are beautiful feathers.

Sometimes life wears this thing down called the beak, and sometimes life wears

down these talents on his toes, and sometimes life wears down his feathers.

But his livelihood of succeeding is based upon how sharp and how tough this beak

is and those talents and those feathers. And he cannot afford to allow these

things to wear down. What wears them down, well, much like you,

what wears what wears it down is the environment. The environment he lives

in, the climate of this world, the conditions of this world, the

weather of this world has just simply worn down his feathers, his talents,

and his beaks. What he has experienced in this life. He's had to

build nests, he's had to forage for food, the engagements that he's had

to have, how he's had to fight enemies and other eagles. All these

things that you and I have to navigate through the experiences, the environments,

the encounters, the experiences, the engagements has gotten me down right now where

I'm not as sharp as I should and I'm dull, and I need a

renewal in my life. So this bird, the way God's created him,

he will go through what they call a moulting process. In that moulting process,

he will rub his beak against the rock till it's nothing, but he

knows it will be renewed. It will grow back, and it will grow

back tougher and stronger and sharper than it's ever been before. He recognizes that

his talents are not as strong as they want. He'll go through a multiprocess

and he'll rub them against rocks and they'll start bleeding. But he knows the

promise of his creator that they won't stay that way. They are gonna be

renewed, and they're gonna be sharper and greater and stronger than they've ever been

before. He knows that his feathers have become dirty, now worn out.

He's lost some feathers. When he goes down to to get his prey,

there's a whistling sound instead of a silent stealth sound. And that's why his

prey keeps running away, and that's why he can't eat the way he used

to eat. And so he'll pull out every feather of his beautiful body and

he'll become naked. But he knows his creator will renew his feathers. But

he's got to go through the multing process of difficulty and look at himself in

the mirror of God's word and say, I'm not who God's created me to

be. I'm an ugly bird. I'm a dirty bird. I'm a weak

bird. But I want to be the proud bird that God's I want to

be the majestic bird that God I want to be the prestigious bird. I

want to be the splendor bird that God's created me to be. That they

put me on money, they make movies about me, they put me on

statues because of who God's created him to be. As I finished this,

now here are some traits now of eagles. Eagles have amazing eyes sight.

They say they can literally this is I read it. It says they could

see fifty miles away. You need, some of us need to renew our

vision. We can't even see the nose at the tip of our face.

We have no vision for God. I have no vision for I have a

vision for my money. I have a vision today for the San Francisco forty

nine ers. I ain't got no vision. He's got amazing stature. He's

a big bird. He ain't this little, misly little parakeet. Not bless

you, parakeet, but you ain't all that. Believe me, You're a

bird of stature. Your wings span is seven to eight feet big. His

strength, his talents can break a man's forearm like a twig. He could

snap. He could lift a deer, a deer, a grown deer.

With that talented flyaway his height, he could fly ten thousand feet in the

air. Ask little pd Ha, let me let Pete out of the cage

and see what Pete is going to do over here. He may sing a

cute song that's all that bird can He may have, he may anyways.

His diet, this guy's got to be fed. This guy feeds himself.

This guy, this guy doesn't d eat dead carcasses. He don't. He

ain't, doesn't eat bark trees. He eats meat. It's a carnivore.

His diet shows everything. He's He lives seventy years when of the longest living

birds, he lives a long life. He's not here today, gone tomorrow,

made a splash a DBT and nothing else happens. He maximizes his years

and it's not there. But he lives with one mate for the rest of

his life. He ain't shacking with all the other female eagles got oh,

Jesus got him a nest over here, and Barstow got him a nest over

there, and Indio got him a vest over there in Chewu La Vista got

he got a nest here in Rancho. And he dwells with the wife of

his youth. And then it's nurturing skills of how they raise their children together,

createing a legacy of eagles. I want to end with one verse.

It's on the screen and it says this you satisfy my every desire with good

things. You've supercharged my life so that I soar again like a flying eagle

in the sky. Let's pray, Father, thank you so much. Supercharge

our lives. God, You know our lives better than anyone else. And

we can't fool you God, and we can't pretend. Oh God, can

we just stop faking it for a moment? Can we just stop pretending for

a moment? And when people ask us how you're doing, when we say

I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm all right, I'm alright.

M But I'm not. I've just grown seeing too many battles in too

many fights, been through too much. And I may not be desperate,

I may not be falling apart, but I'm just kind of going through the

motions. God, and I don't feel like I'm at my best. God.

I pray that you supercharge everyone in this room, God, to be

their best, not just average, not just okay, not just going through

the motions. Supercharge them God, to be the best man, to be

the best woman, to be the best Christian follower they could be for you,

Father, in the name of Jesus, which you just allow them to

soar and soaring is not always going above the adversity. It's going through the

adversity and maintaining my altitude and my attitude without falling. I pray that you

now give them a strength they've never had before, Give them a bethl with

you, God, and bring pleasantness back into their lives in Jesus' name.

Amen, Hey, thank you so much for coming to church today. Thank

you for inviting your friends to come to church with you today. Here's what

I want to encourage you, and I'm gonna ask that nobody move until.

I don't know if it's Pastor Sina's going to come and dismiss you, or

you passor Nathan will come, but stay in the till the end. Here's

what I know. Life and death are held in the balance, You and

our one German, when virus, when accident, or misshout from Heaven's gator,

Hell's doors. Tomorrow's not promised any single one of us. One of

our soldiers I got to Texas morning, he went home to be with went

to heaven. He transitioned this morning. All the times we loved on each

other, we saw on each other. But guys, that's the reality.

This earth is a place of transition. We're all gonna eventually die, but

not everybody goes to the same place. Not everybody experiences the same thing in

eternity. And it's not that you're a good person that will determine it,

A moral person that determines it, a spiritual person that determines it. Those

are works. And I talked a little bit when I made the statement about

religion. Religion teaches you that works will save you. Christianity tells you your

works are like filthy rags. The only work that could save a man is

the work of Calvary. Religion tells you you got to get right to go

up to God. Christianity says you could never get right. So Jesus came

down to this earth. It's a vast difference. I grew up in religion,

so I'm very familiar with that mentality until I understood that I can't merit

anything, and on my best day, I'm still a sinner who needs to

be forgiving them my sins. And Jesus came to this or to pay for

my most horrific, wicked, and ungodly sin. That's why he was marred

and beaten and died on a cross for me. He took my punishment,

he took my damnation, he took my suffering that I would have to pay

for an eternity for my sin. No one had ever told me that today

is your day of revelation. Today is your day. God's not mad at

you. God is not mad at any single person in this room. He

wants a relationship with you. But you got to take off the mask,

soften that hardened heart, and believe in him today. Or you say I'm

a Christian, but I'm not serving the Lord as I should. I want

to rededicate my life to the Lord. I've been riding the fence of compromise

in and out. When I count to three, i'm gonna ask you to

raise your hand like this, and we're gonna pray for you. This is

how much it's gonna hurt. That much Jesus raised himself on a cross and

died mar beating and naked like this. Why didn't he die in an alley?

Why do the Italian painters put a loincloth? Roman way was humiliation he

was willing to do. I haven't been saved all my life. I was

bold as a center. I cuss in front of you. I fight in

front of you, I fornicate in front of you. Now, all of

a sudden, people come to Christ and they don't want anyone to see them.

It's like a secret. No, Jesus died openly. The least I

could do is openly profess my faith in the one who's so loving me,

love love me so much to die naked. One two you raise your hand

now for Jesus. Rededicate your life to the Lord. One two three,

Raise your hand all across this auditorium, wherever you might be. If you're

raising your hand, just stand on your feet for Jesus right now. Go

all the way stand for him. Stand wherever you are. Let's say this

prayer now. The clapping is not to disrespect. That's actually what the Bible

says. There's a rejoicing that takes place in heaven because of what decision you're

making right now. Say this, dear Jesus, you know everything about me,

and I can't fool you. I come to you just as I am.

I need you, I need your forgiveness, I need your heaven.

I ask you today and invite you to be my lord and to be my

savior. I don't know what that all means, but that's what I now

commit to. You help me to walk that out in Jesus's name. Amen.

We really hope you enjoyed the message, and if you said yes to

Jesus, we just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to

help you walk out your faith. Click the link in the description or head

over to grow dot Faith the download your devotional. Oh and be sure to

subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC podcast

and we hope you tune in again