Behold | Victory Church

I'm so grateful for our youth. Youth have such a special perspective on things, don't they? Don't they? I'm going to read an email from a person who wrote to her parents after she had left home for college that kind of helps us understand maybe perspective today. So this is the email that she wrote to her parents. It says, Dear Mom and Dad, It has been nearly three months since I left for college. I haven't had a chance to share much, and I am very sorry for my thoughtlessness and not communicating sooner, but I'll bring you up to date now. But before you read any further, please sit down. You're not to read on unless you're sitting down. Well, I'm getting along pretty well now. Shortly after my arrival, my dorm caught on fire, so I had to jump from a second-story window. The skull fracture and concussion I received when I jumped out are almost completely healed. I only spent two weeks in the hospital, and my eyesight has nearly returned to normal. I only get headaches once a day now. Fortunately, my leap from the window and the fire were witnessed by the attendant at the gas station across the street. He called the fire department and the ambulance and visited me regularly in the hospital. I had nowhere to go because the dorm burned down, so he generously invited me to stay with him. It's only a small basement apartment, but it's quite cozy. He's a wonderful man, and we've fallen deeply in love. Anybody getting, is it getting hot in here? Any dads kind of having a hard time with this email? We're planning to get married as soon as his divorce is final. Oh, and there's one more thing. I'm pregnant. I know how thrilled you'll be to become very young grandparents, and I know you'll welcome

the baby with the same love and devotion you gave me. He's really a wonderful person, despite being considerably older than I am. And while he isn't well-educated and doesn't have a steady job, he has a good heart. It's what every parent wants to hear. Now that you're up to date, I want to tell you there was no dorm fire. I didn't jump out of a window. I wasn't in the hospital. I'm not engaged. I am not pregnant, and there is no older man in my life. Remember, I got a D in history and failed chemistry. I just wanted you to see those grades in the proper perspective. We're going to talk about perspective today, but before we do that, I want us to honor a man that is always challenging us and shifting our perspective in life, in leadership, and in our faith. Can we honor our lead pastor, John Chastain, and let him know how much we love him? We're grateful that he's taking a few weeks off with his family, and we're grateful that he does that because whenever he's rested, any healthy leader makes healthy people around him. We're grateful that we get to benefit from him taking time off. I also want to welcome everyone watching from our Grapevine campus, and everyone watching from our Edmond campus, and everyone else watching online. Can we give it up for our family church, our extended church family online? So aren't you thankful that people help you see perspective or challenge your understanding and try to elevate it sometimes? We need people like that in our lives. My wife and I have been married for 22 years, and before we got married, thank you. Before we got married, we were both serving at the same church. I was interning in my last year of college, and she was already working in her first year as a teacher. And we just happened to...

serve at the same church so we were both single and everyone kept telling us you guys need to you know you get to go out everyone for months for months till you know I just to be honest I didn't see it I just I was trying to finish school taking 21 hours in my last semester working 25 hours and I was I just didn't see but they're like you know you need to try she's single you're single let's do it so I asked her out and two months later we I broke up with her and it was because I wanted to focus on the Lord and now she if you asked her she says because I wasn't ready for a real relationship but you know tomato tomato but instead we became friends we actually got to know each other we did mission trips conferences youth camps and we served in ministry together for about three years all that time that we were friends our pastors our leaders they're like I'm telling you she's it I'm telling you that's the one and because I allow them to change and shift my perspective not to mention because they change her perspective as well we got married and in the words of famous theologians the red clay strays you know I don't know what happened but it sure don't add up on paper but when I close my eyes late at night you can bet I think my maker she keeps on oh man I thought you guys were gonna go with me you guys don't read the theologians red clay stray so we got a couple okay come on it's Oklahoma you know I bet you Edmund they were all like standing up singing the song but but I'm so thankful that our perspective changes because some of the greatest shifts and changes in our lives some of the times where our understanding was transformed is because somebody challenged us and told us you're not seeing this the right way you're looking at this wrong and I believe that that's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our life sometimes can you imagine if those chances in our lives when our perspective was was shifted how much more important it is for us to allow God's Word to change how we think and how we feel we know that God's Word wants to do it in our lives to be transformed by the renewing of our mind because when that happens everything happens see sometimes circumstances don't change but if our perspective in those circumstances changes then everything changes everything changes a

trial is no longer a trial a trial is now a testimony because our perspective change it is no longer a closed store it was not just rejection but now we feel protection from God from not allowing us to walk through a door or from what to walk through a relationship that he knew it wasn't good for us it's no longer just a hard hard season in life now it's a faith forming and character forming season where God is showing us who he is see sometimes the miracle is not just God removing obstacles and and troubles and problems from us sometimes the miracle is that we get to see his presence and get to see his power and get to know him in a way we didn't know him before always because we allow our perspective to be challenged and change and I wonder if some of us may feel stuck in life maybe stuck in our faith we fit up we've hit a plateau and I bet you it's not because you don't love Jesus anymore it's not because you're not showing up to church but I wonder if it's just simply because we've lost sight of him and so I believe the Holy Spirit wants to shift our focus today I'm gonna invite you to stand once again and we're gonna read God's Word real quick we're gonna read two verses I'm gonna have you circle some words because we're gonna dive deep into those words first one is John 1 14 and says this and the word became flesh and dwelt among us I wonder you want you to circle the word dwelt and we saw his glory glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth circle grace and truth now flip the page or maybe you don't need to flip the page but let's go to verse 24 says and the messengers had been sent from the pharisees they asked him and said to him why then are you baptizing if you are not the christ nor elijah nor the prophet john answered him saying i baptize you in water but among you stands listen one whom you do not know now real quick it's it's hard to believe that people who had seen jesus walk with jesus knew the traditions the sacraments and practices of the torah that even do even though they had all this knowledge

they still miss the messiah in the midst of them among you sends one to whom you do not know verse 27 it is he who comes after me of whom i am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandal these things to place in bethany beyond the jordan where john was baptizing people the next day he saw jesus coming to him and said behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world i want you to circle that world that word behold because that's also the title of this message today let's pray father we thank you that today we can come and not just be a church because it's the thing that we do every sunday but we can come and truly experience something because your word is alive and because it is alive it speaks to us lord it divides our heart our feelings see it searches the corners in of a heart that sometimes we don't even understand but according to your holy spirit thank you that it can become alive and bring life and light into our mind into our understanding and we thank you for that in your name we pray amen you may be seated i know we often say or at least i've said it many times christianity is not about religion it's about relationship have you said it before and i've recently became challenged because how many times have i made religion look like it's a bad thing when biblically it's not and let me explain further i believe that that there are there are many things about religion that can help us with our faith did you know that like the singing of songs and hymns that's part of religion fasting praying reading reading written prayers meditating those are part of religion silence given generously baptism partaking of the eucharist those are parts of religion practices tradition and rhythms that have been part of the church for centuries

and even the bible talks about pure and good religion james 1 27 says pure and undefiled religion in the side of our our god the and father is this to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world see religion is good and healthy unless we think that's how we earn salvation unless we think that's how we earn our approval from god religion can be good and healthy unless while doing it we miss jesus entirely that we think because i'm doing all these things therefore i'm good to go and i believe this is probably the audience that john is referring to when he writes his apostle his epistle john 1 1 says this in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god so the greek word for word is is logos which is the spoken word so what john is trying to share with this audience is that from the very beginning jesus was present at creation he later on says in verse 10 and 11 he came into the very world he created but listen but the world didn't recognize him and then he says he came to his own people and even they rejected him so the infinite god becomes finite the invisible god becomes visible the creator of the universe becomes like his creation and john starts with this wide camera angle to talk to us about what's taking place then before there was a universe before there was light before there was time in the beginning was the word jesus was present there and then he begins to slowly zoom in from my wide angle from the galaxy to the earth from the earth to israel Israel to the Jordan and from the Jordan it focuses on a man coming toward him so John to his disciples and the people around him to them he says behold the Lamb of God who

takes away the sin of the world why would John tell people behold to someone that they were already looking at why would he tell his disciples hey when I first read it it sounded like he was saying hey look at the person that you're already looking at but it's not that behold has a different meaning and I believe this is our first thought why is John telling someone to behold someone that we're already seeing is simply this first thought everyone sees not everyone beholds everyone sees not everyone beholds so the word behold in the greek is a word ide that's where we get the word idea from in the greek it means to look to see but it's not just with your physical eyes it actually means pay attention look again form a new idea form a new perspective why because people saw Jesus but didn't recognize him as Messiah and John understood everyone sees but not everyone beholds and we know that Christian life is not just about information at least I hope that we know that Christian life is not just about practicing and reading verses that are and I'm telling you these are good for you ultimately they transform our mind we need those verses we need to go to church we need to fast we need to pray we need to give we need to do all those things but if we don't if we do those things without beholding Jesus we can miss him in the middle of his word so when our perspective changes we believe that everything changes with it and that's what God's word does in our lives Paul said it this way in second corinthians he says and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed changed into say into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit see Paul believed that whenever you behold God the way he wants to be understood that things in your life will begin to take place changes will begin to take place simply because you're in the presence of Jesus simply because you're learning something new about him that you did not understand before here's what Paul is telling us when we stop beholding Jesus we stop being formed into his image that's why it is a big deal that's why I feel like we need to talk about it today maybe the greatest problem wasn't that people in that time couldn't see Jesus but the problem it was that they couldn't recognize him to the point that even his people rejected him when we stop beholding Jesus we stop being formed into his image so what is it about beholding Jesus that is so transformational what is it pastor Oscar what is this such a big deal that we must behold him so that our life can deeply change I'll put it this way seeing is about eyesight

beholding is about insight everyone sees but not everyone beholds so a few years ago we got to go to LA much like our like our youth went to LA and and we're grateful that even our youth and and our Edmond campus went to Puerto Rico Gloria Dios Hallelujah and our team from OKC went to LA and so whenever we went we were right outside of Disneyland and there's a shopping area there's restaurants there's souvenir shops right outside Disneyland I mean you can look at the gates from this from Disneyland from there but just because you're in the outskirts of it in fact you could even buy the Mickey Mouse ears the Donald Duck t-shirt you could wear you can put it on and to the outside world people think you went to Disneyland even though you never walked in there then a few years later our family we didn't go to Disneyland we went to Disney World how many guys been to Disney World this is I'm telling you man we actually went to and to the animal kingdom we went to the magic kingdom I bought the lousy $20 burger we'll never do that again I tried to sneak in some sandwiches. They wouldn't let us. You know any Latinos have ever done that? I'm just kidding. We didn't do that. We thought about it. But I think what John is trying to tell his audience is that you've been content with the outside of Disneyland. When there's a kingdom that God wants you to be a part of, that He wants you to partake in, that He wants you to get into your system and experience, but you can't just but stay on the outside. Here's a second thought. Beholding unveils God's character. Now imagine going to the Niagara Falls and just staying in the parking lot instead of saying, Hey guys, I'm going to take a nap. You guys will do it. I'll be here when you come back. Imagine going to the Grand Canyon and just being on your phone the whole time. Now, maybe there's some of you here. I know that when I was in college, I actually got to swim in the waters of the Grand Canyon, jumped off a 40-foot cliff. I will never do that again. I experienced the Grand Canyon in a way that I didn't want to experience the Grand Canyon. I got submerged, and I survived, and I'm thankful that I'm here. If I would do that again, listen, I would dream about the Grand Canyon, and I would probably wake up now with a hurt foot. That's what happens when you get old.

But many of us don't get to experience things because we're distracted by something else. Can you imagine being presented Jesus just as a carpenter? And we miss out the cries for the carpenter. So this is what John is trying to help his people. Let me show you what you're missing. So John 1.14 says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we're going to dive in, and we're going to look at the word dwelt, and we're going to look at the phrase full of grace and truth because they're not just random. John is cleverly using those words to hyperlink a scripture that happens in Exodus 1,400 years before. John is echoing words and phrases that they would be very familiar with because they had grown up understanding and reading and studying the Torah. So the messengers from the Pharisees that were there, they knew exactly what he was saying. He's pointing them to another scripture. So let's dive in. The word dwelt, it's a hyperlink to Exodus 40. It means tabernacle, tent. It's the Greek word skenao. So what John is saying is the Word became flesh and made His tabernacle among us. He made His tent. Some of your translations might say He made His dwelling among us. Exodus 40 says, Then the cloud covered the tenth of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. For throughout their journeys the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel. So Yahweh's presence was visibly manifested in the Old Testament as fire, as a pillar of smoke, and as a cloud. So John is helping his audience with a new perspective that they have never heard or seen before. What he's telling them, he's saying the same presence that was in the tabernacle with Moses is now tabernacling with us in the presence of Jesus.

The same presence of God who was present at creation, who was present at the tabernacle by fire, by the cloud, by the pillar of smoke, is now present and dwelling with us in the person of Jesus. That's a new perspective He was giving them. But He doesn't stop there. John 1 says, We proclaim to you that the one who is 60 from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen, we saw, that word in the Greek is the same word, behold, we beheld Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of Life. And then John adds in verse 14 to John chapter 1, He says, That glory was full of grace and truth. That's another echo that John is intentionally making to the book of John. exodus in chapter 33 that's a story when Moses asked God show me your glory to which God responds Moses you cannot see my glory for for mankind shall not see me and live he's too perfect too holy for people to see him so God instead shows us shows Moses a glimpse of his back but in order for him to do that he has to hide him in the rock and while he's doing that while Moses is hiding so that he doesn't die well while God is walking by him and showing him a glimpse of his back God proclaims his very own character listen to what he says God calls himself compassionate and merciful is slow to anger and abounding in faithfulness and truth Moses says show me your glory show me your wage show me your power your authority and God says let me show you my compassion my mercy let me show you how I am a slow to anger and abounded in faithfulness and truth faithfulness and truth those are the same words that John is using 1400 years later he's using the same verbiage because he's telling his audience what Moses couldn't do what Moses could not experience the limits that God put on Moses have been untied have been released if you want to see God's face if you want to see God's glory just look at the face of Jesus Christ because God has wrapped all of his glory all of his authority all of his power in the person in the man of Jesus Christ John was telling his audience we can't we no longer ask to see God's glory all we have to do is look at Jesus if you want to see God's power look at Jesus if you want to see God's mercy

look at Jesus if you want to see God's compassion look at Jesus if you want to feel God's presence look at Jesus he's right there with you don't miss out on him behold him why because beholding unveils God's character full of grace and truth that is not just a theological statement that's an invitation that's saying I don't know what you're dealing with I don't know what you brought to church it doesn't matter what what it is he's full of grace and truth he will never give you his grace without his truth thank you Jesus but I promise you he will not just give you his truth without his grace he brings just he's a just God and he will do whatever it takes to bring you closer to him why this John thing is imperative for us to behold him that word behold is a command it's not just hey you come to church in the next few days weeks and months if you want to if you ever feel like it you know try beholding Jesus it'll be good for you that's not what he's saying at all he's saying he's putting such an importance and intention on these words that if we don't behold Jesus we're gonna get to miss out on the fullness of God for our lives that's how big of a deal it is but why is John so passionate about this here's the third and final point we become what we behold so convicting and I'm so thankful that we get to preach messages that are not just hey you need to listen this is the word of God but this we need to we get to preach messages that God has been speaking to us internally first that this is what my journey in the past couple of months the past few months has been and there's a story in the Bible where if we remember Jesus has died resurrected Mary comes to the tomb to anoint Jesus but surprise he's not there so she runs back and gets the disciples and John and Peter get in a foot race and John tells us that John won and they get there and I love if you want to do a study look how many times that we're looking and saw and then go to blueletterbible.org and you can find the meaning of those words in the Greek because there's a progression to what's happening sometimes the word the word is saw in both places but one time it's physicalized the other time is with curiosity and then finally they arrive to their faith and believed but Mary it's a completely different story and I personally relate to Mary because Mary arrives at the tomb the tomb is empty and she's crying there and verse 11 says now mary stood outside the tomb crying as she wept she bent

over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where jesus body had been one at the head and one and the other at the foot they asked her woman why are you crying can tell that the angels were men woman why are you crying they have taken my lord away she said and i don't know where they have put him at this she turned around listen and saw jesus standing there but what happened but she didn't realize it was jesus and don't get too judgy on mary because you and i do that often how many times in our faith we wonder where jesus is especially when we're suffering especially when things are not making sense jesus where are you why do i feel so far away all the while jesus is standing right there we just didn't realize he was him verse 15 he asked her woman why are you crying who is it you're looking for but the word looking it's not just with physical eyes that we're looking is who are you pursuing what are you after what are you searching for thinking he was the gardener she said sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have put him and i will get him jesus said to her one of the most powerful words in the new testament i believe he just simply says mary why is it so powerful because she saw him with her physical eyes and she did not know it was him until she heard him call her name everything changed the bible says that she fell at her feet and she beheld him she began to worship him there's an old story in luke 24 where there are two disciples on the road to emmaus and jesus comes alongside of him and starts just talking to him to them start talking about scripture and these guys were amazed at the words that this stranger was bringing to them so they asked him hey would you just spend have dinner with us stay with us before you leave so they did and while they were having dinner jesus begins to break bread and all of a sudden something began to to speak loudly in their heart then jesus disappears and they're just wondering how did we miss jesus he was right there did not our hearts burn within us have you ever felt what it means to feel the burning in your soul because you know that jesus is right there with you have you ever realized sometimes we we forget and miss out and recognizing that jesus is with us even though that there's a burning in our heart for him that we cannot explain have you ever noticed how familiarity can still wander from us we see the same things every day we drive the same roads and miss beauty and beautiful people all around us we're surrounded by noisy children or grandchildren and sometimes they become noise in the background and we forget to just look at

them and and to realize that tomorrow they're leaving for college like my oldest and you miss out on so many things because you just simply they became too familiar with you it's what c.s lewis calls the veil of familiarity it's a veil that covers all things that are glorious and beautiful and miraculous c.s lewis is a christian theologian best known for writing the chronicles of narnia but c.s lewis was not was not always a defender of apologetics of the christian faith in fact before he became a christian a believer he used to be a staunch atheist a pronounced very well-known atheist who was a professor at the university of oxford in england and in fact people knew him best because he he would defend his atheism not only he loved he enjoyed being an atheist but he loved myths and fairy tales which he believed the christianity was just the lowest of the fairy tales he was a professor of mythology in fact he studied medieval fairy tales because he loved them until he had a conversation with one of his friends with two of his friends one of his names was Hugo Dyson but the other one was J.R. Tolkien. J.R. Tolkien is known for writing the Lord of the Rings one of the greatest movies in the world that you'll ever see okay the best followed by the Hobbit I mean I just love them and I get why Tolkien wrote those works of art now he says he wrote them because he wanted to remove the veil of familiarity I want to help people understand with new eyes love and mercy and grace and good overcoming evil and hope he felt like people had that that message had gotten lost so he had a conversation with C.S. Lewis and he's telling him and you know Tolkien was a very strong Jesus loving Christian Catholic so he begins to ask Lewis you know why you like those fairy tales right you you realize that there's an underlying story in all those fairy tales

it's the same story there's a guy who comes kills the dragon saves the girl there's a prince from a far away land who comes to to kiss his bride and to wake her from from her death there is a guy who comes from a far away land who comes as a warrior and hero who wants to defeat the evil people so that all these other people can be set free Tolkien tells Lewis that's the message of the gospel the reason why you love us so much because Ecclesiastes says that God has placed eternity in the heart of man and the and the stories that you believe the search the hope that your heart is searching for are found in the gospel because Jesus he is the one who was sent from heaven to kill the dragon to save his girl the church his bride Jesus he's the one that comes the prince the son of a king that comes from a far away land coming to awaken the church his bride with a kiss Jesus he's a warrior hero that left his heaven so that he could come to earth and defeat heaven and defeat hell and the grave so that people could be set free Jesus is a true man what is Tolkien doing? Tolkien is shifting his perspective Tolkien was trying to shift the mind of this brilliant thinker that all he needed was to know Jesus has been there some of you guys are here and you're looking for Jesus and you don't even know it you're searching for something the bottle the glass bottle is not going to give it to you the plastic bottle is not going to give it to you encounter Jesus behold him second Corinthians 5 17 says therefore if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation all things pass away there's a word again behold all things have become new it's a

command look at the things that God wants to do new in our life and beholding Jesus I believe one of the the signs of beholding Jesus it's not just emotional response even though emotions could play a part in it but one of the signs of beholding Jesus is the rearrangement of priorities how many of us have come to church for weeks for months for years and nothing in our life has changed can I submit to you that it's not because Jesus doesn't love you and it's not because you don't love Jesus simply because you've become maybe too familiar with them all things have become new so let me zoom in even further if your faith feels dry if your worship feels like routine if reading the bible just feels like words on a page if your prayer is just same automatic and mechanical maybe you and I need to behold Jesus once again behold him he takes away the sin of the world a friend of mine was just hearing this past week about his grandfather who was just this rough you know man's man hard man never cried until he gave his life to Jesus he said I grew up watching him cry every Sunday every time someone would share the gospel he would cry I'd like cry So he finally asked his grandma, why did grandpa cry all the time? She said, your grandfather cried for decades because he never got over the fact that Jesus saved him. Sometimes in my life when I felt like Jesus was distant or silent, when I felt like I was drifting away. This is in ministry. I wasn't drifting away because I had stopped believing in Jesus. I was drifting away because I slowly started to stop being amazed by him. And I think that's where many of us land. We know what a Christian says, we know what a Christian looks like. But if you're honest with yourself, if you're honest with the Lord, you too have drifted away.

And like me, you've mistaken him for a gardener. And you've doubted and you've been discouraged. Jesus, why don't you answer my prayers? Why are you silent? And all that Jesus is wanting to do, great man, he just wants you to look up. He's right there. He's right there. The greatest gift you can give this world, the greatest impact, I promise you it's not your politics. It's not your success, it's not your influence. The greatest impact that you can make on this world is showing people what a life looks like when it's been beholding Jesus. Because your life has been transformed from one degree of glory to another. You're no longer the same. That speaks volumes to the people around you. That's what they need to see. Mom and Dad, let me talk to you for a second. The greatest impact that you can make on your children is not education, a good education, even though that's important. The greatest impact that you can make on your children is not having a big house, is not just having a good inheritance. The greatest impact that you can make on your children is not having their room full of medals and trophies that are going to be put away in boxes and in a shelf somewhere to collect dust that they won't see for years or even ask for years. The greatest impact that you can make on your children is showing them what it means to behold Jesus. To be changed by Him. To be transformed by Him. To experience His grace. To experience His mercy. To let Him know, I once was lost, but now I'm free. I once was bound by sin. I once was in chains, but thank you Jesus that you set me free. It's showing them what it means to behold Jesus. Amen. Some of us carry grief, confusion, maybe sin. Maybe you're just wondering, have I gone too far from God?

Am I just too far from Him? I want to remind you He's closer than you think. But my encouragement to you is, don't just admire Jesus. Don't just do the routine for the sake of the routine. Don't just study Him. Don't just sing about Him. Behold Him. Behold the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of your world. If you came with sin today, behold the Lamb of God who takes your sin. Carries your sin. Removes your sin. If that's you today, whether you're in Edmond or Grapevine or here. If that's you, if you don't know Jesus. If you've never met Him, Lord and Savior. If that's you, would you, when I count you through, would you just raise your hand? I want to pray with you. Pastor Oscar, I don't just want to admire, study Him. I want to give in my life because I've never done that. And I want to follow Jesus. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand. One, two, three. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Somebody else. Thank you. Thank you. All over the place. Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Everything. Everything in the Bible. Old and New Testament points to one person. Jesus Christ. let me pray this prayer with you and then I want to I want to pray again but would you repeat this prayer say dear Jesus thank you for saving me thank you for dying on the cross for my sin thank you that I get to be your son and daughter thank you for loving me in spite of my rebellion I come to you and offer you my life in your name I pray amen and then before we pray again I know we'll have our one of our pastors out of the other campus come to the stage but I think this is where most of us are if we're honest we've become too familiar with Jesus and we lost the wonder and losing the wonder makes us eventually to wander off you're in the right place because as you wonder what God is thinking about you he's thinking he has truth and grace and faithfulness so that's you you're saying pastor Oscar that's me I've just I've gotten over the fact that Jesus saved me just simple as that it's not because you don't love Jesus it's because you're not praying or reading your Bible I think the Holy Spirit just saying hey it's time to look up Jesus is right there next to you if that's you when I count to three I'm gonna invite you to stand and we're gonna pray together and I promise you you're not gonna be the only one if I was sitting down I'd be standing up which I am so I'm standing up with you if you were of the ones that gave their life to Jesus I want you to join him and

stand we have can we just pray as we get ready to close it let's just pray if you see someone that's standing let's surround them let's put your hand on their shoulder and let's surround them everyone let's find people let's not have someone who's not getting prayed for no one by themselves that's that's our church that's what we do we love on people we pray for people because we know all of us go through this thank you so much thank you so much father I thank you because you presented us your love your truth and your grace thank you that as our perspective is changing that you will transform our minds and our thinking through your love I thank you that people are gonna feel accepted and welcome and embraced by the gospel today and I thank you that because your love in us will never we will never be the same again thank you Jesus for your life thank you father for your goodness we worship you we honor you in your name we pray we're so grateful that you joined us today at victory we pray big prayers to a big God and we expect big results if you would like to receive prayer you can submit a prayer request by visiting victory church slash pray if this message or any of our messages have impacted your life and you would like to partner with us through giving you can do so at victory church slash give thank you again for joining us at victory church we live life to the full