Getting to the Heart of It

Welcome to church, it's so good to see you in the house. Would you stand with us, if you're joining us online, would you just come ready, come ready to worship. We're gonna praise the Lord, but before we jump into it, I wanted to read a psalm to you, to kind of remind us of what we're here for. We're here to worship and encounter the Lord today. And so I wanted to read Psalms 23, and if you know it, you know where I'm going with this. If you don't, you probably hear me reading it, and you're like, oh, I've heard that before. But I wanted to focus in our minds that the Lord is here with us, and so let me read. It says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes us lie down in green pastures. He leads me by still waters, and he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. We believe that our God is in this place today, that he is with us. For those of you who are going through that valley today, he is with you, so be encouraged. Take courage today in that truth. It says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows. And this last part, I love it. It says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

through all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And so what we're going after today, as we go before the Lord and we worship him, is this idea that we, in Christ, can worship in confidence. Confidence that he is a faithful God. And maybe today, your confidence is lacking, but because of the circumstance or your situation, maybe it's not panning out the way that you imagined it, but I wanna encourage you to take courage today, because the Lord sees you, he cares for you, and we're gonna go before the Lord today in his presence, in that full confidence, declaring that the battle belongs to him. Can we do that today? Declaring that no matter what our situation is, he is in control. So that's what we're gonna declare in full confidence. Come on, let's worship. Yes, we trust you, Lord. Sing it out. And as I walk through the shadows, your love surrounds me. Oh yes, surely goodness and mercy. Come on, hey. There's nothing to feed now, for I am saved. Come on, in full confidence, church, declare this away. So when I fight, I fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high.

Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear, every fear. I lay at your feet. I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Hey, come on. Yes, we surrender our trust to him. Sing it out. And if you are for me, who can be against me? For Jesus, there's nothing impossible for you. We believe, come on. When all I see are the ashes, you see the beauty. Oh, thank you God. When all I see is a cross, God, you see the empty tomb. Yes, you do. Because there is victory today, come on. So when I fight, I fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear, every fear. I lay at your feet. I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh, almighty, come on. Sing almighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of God.

of our God. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle. We believe. Come on. Nothing can stand against the power. Almighty fortress. See. Almighty fortress. You go before us. Nothing can stand against. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power. Almighty fortress. See. Almighty fortress. You go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. So when I fight, I fight on my knees. With my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet. I sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. So when I fight, I fight on my knees. With my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And every fear I lay at your feet. I sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh God, yeah. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Yeah. Oh we believe it Lord, the battle belongs to you. Come on we believe that today. It belongs to Jesus. Come on we're going to declare that there is victory in Jesus' name. That no matter what your battle looks like, he's going to carry you through it. Come on. Oh yes Lord. Miracles when you move, such an easy thing for you to do. And your hand is moving right now. You are still showing up at the tomb of every Lazarus. And your voice is calling me out right now. I know you're able. And my God, come through again. You can do all things. You can do all things but fail. Cause you never lost a battle. No you never lost a battle. And I know, I know you never will. Oh yeah. Everything's possible by the power of the Holy Ghost. A new wind is blowing right now. Making my heart a stone, taking over like a spherical. My walls are all crashing down right now. I know you're able. And my God, come through again. You can do all things. You can do all things but fail. Cause you never lost a battle. No you never lost a battle. And I know, I know you never will. You can do all things. You can do all things but fail. Cause you never lost a battle. No you never lost a battle. And I know, I know you never will. Everywhere you never lost a battle You never lost a battle Never, never Oh, oh, oh Oh, you're never, you're never victorious We trust in Jesus, we trust in Jesus Cause you can do all, you can do all things You can do all things but fail Cause you never lost a battle No, you never lost a battle I know, I know, you never will You can do all things You can do all things but fail Cause you never lost a battle No, you never lost a battle

I know, I know, you never will I know, I know, you never will I know, I know, you never will Oh, yeah You'll never lose, Jesus You'll never lose, yeah Y'all came here to worship today Come on If your faith isn't being stirred, I don't know what is God is so good and He is here today As we respond to His goodness As we respond to His mercy I wanna encourage you to continue to lean in Even if you don't know every single lyric, every single word, every single melody Our God is in this place And so what we can do is offer Him our attention Offer Him our love, our gratitude, our affection today Through our singing, through our worship And it's as simple as this, as saying, God, this morning I'm thankful I'm thankful for what You've given me I'm thankful for the blessings I even count it joy in the trial that I'm in Because I know You'll get me through it Because I know that You are faithful Because I know that You never failed And You never will And that this battle Even though maybe sometimes I feel like I'm fighting it on my own I know it's Yours

And that You fight from a place of victory Maybe that's what Your worship looks like today I wanna encourage you as we continue to sing This next song It's a new song, you may not know the lyrics But the chorus is really simple It says, Jesus Jesus Your name is higher You are my one desire And I pray that that would be our worship today Not going after little victories But going after Jesus And showing our love and our affection to Him The song also says, in the pre-chorus it says In Your presence there is freedom In Your presence Chains are broken Bones will be restored They come to life again That is the God that we worship today A God that is still moving A God that is still working But let's not miss this moment As we give our affection and our love And our gratitude to Jesus So come on, let's worship Him Because He is worthy of it Oh yeah, we thank You Jesus Oh yeah, yeah, we worship

No matter our circumstance No matter our situation We worship You Oh yeah, we sing I fell Your love And I fell Your love Cover my shame I've heard You say You love me anyway I will draw near Through all of the pains I know You're here And I've seen You move How only You do God, You are faithful Your promises are true Lord, we are here We're ready for You I want you to come move like you do, in your presence. In your presence, there is freedom. You have broken every chain. In your presence, there is healing. You call bones to life again. It's only Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Your name is higher than my one desire. So I will lift my voice and sing. Jesus. Oh yes, Jesus, you're worthy of it all.

All our worship. All our affection today. I've seen you move. How only you do. God, you are faithful. Your promises are true. Lord, we are here, ready for you. So come move like you do, in your presence. In your presence, there is freedom. You have broken every chain. In your presence, there is healing. You call bones to life again. Jesus. Oh yes, Jesus. Jesus. Your name is higher than my one desire. So I will lift my voice and sing. Jesus. Oh, the name above all names. We will never stop loving you. We will never stop sharing your goodness. Oh, we worship you. So come on, let's declare this next part. I will never stop chasing your glory, telling your story of who you are, Jesus. Come on. Sing, I will never stop. I will never stop. Chasing your glory. Telling your story.

And I will never stop. I will never stop. Chasing your glory. Telling your story. I will never stop. I will never stop. CHASE IT! Chasing your glory. Telling your story. I will never stop. I will never stop. Chasing your glory. Telling your story. JESUS! Oh yeah! Telling your story. JESUS! JESUS! Your name is higher. Your name is higher. My one desire. So I will lift my voice and sing. JESUS! Oh yeah! JESUS! Oh yeah! JESUS! Oh yeah! JESUS! Oh yes, Jesus, we praise you, so worthy of it all, so worthy of it all, yes, can you

honor Him, Lord? There's something, something about that name, Jesus. If you're a guest today and you're wondering why we put so much emphasis to sing and to lift up this name, it's because it's the name of God. It's the name above every name. He's given it to us to set us free, to give us hope, to transform us for all eternity. Just like that song we sang, we're never going to stop. We're never going to stop meeting. We're never going to stop declaring that name. We're never going to stop being generous and serving and loving and giving so that the world will know the name of Jesus, His life, His hope, His freedom. And He's here today. By His presence, by His spirit, the living God is with us today. He wants us to experience the fullness and the freedom that comes in the name of Jesus. And today, every single one of us in person, at home, we have an opportunity to respond to this name, this name, this only name that can save. So I want to prepare our hearts right now to hear what God wants to speak to us, not what a man wants to say, not music, but what the spirit of God wants to speak today. Let's prepare our hearts and come to Him in prayer. Father, thank You. Thank You, Jesus, that You are here, that You are near, that there's no one like You. There's no one who loves like You. There's no one who gives like You, God. Everything that we have is because You have given it to us, and we're so grateful. Thank You for the breath in our lungs. Thank You for the family around us. Thank You, God, that You're still walking with us, and we're not done because You're not done with us. God, I pray in our time together that You would just teach us, as only You can, that Your words that are living and active and powerful in spirit and life would give life

to our brittle and barren bodies right now, God. That we could be transformed into who You want us to be, that we can know who You are and experience the power of Your promises, the power of Your presence with us right now. God, I pray that You would give us a spirit of expectancy, believing that You can do infinitely above anything that we already have in our minds. We trust You for that. We trust You for the miraculous. We trust You for hope. We trust You for good news today. It's in Jesus' name. All the people of God prayed this and said, Amen and Amen. Come on, church. Can we just give them thanks? If God has been good to you, may not feel good, may not look good, but if you've experienced His goodness, can we just praise Him right now? Turn to someone around you. Tell them there's good news today. Let them know there's good news today. You may have a seat. Hey, welcome. Welcome to the local church, the perfect place for imperfect people. I'm so grateful that God has been so good to us. Church familia at home, I'm so grateful that you are with us today online as well. God has some good news for us. And speaking of good news, I just want to start off by sharing some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first? Which one? I got good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear?

Let me hear. Bad news. How many say bad news first? Most of you. Well, I'm going to give you the good news first because the good news is that 70% of people who have good news want to share the good news first. Maybe it's because we're trying to sugarcoat the bad news, whatever it may be. But 70% of people who have good news and bad news, they want to share the good news. Here's the bad news. Are you ready for the bad news? The overwhelming majority of people who hear good news and bad news only focus on the bad news. Proven here today. Give us the bad news, please. The majority of humanity, when there's good news and bad news given, the majority of us only focus on the bad news. We pay attention more to the bad news than any other news. It seems like it's human nature for us to dwell on what is wrong and what's not right and what we don't have. We focus on the bad news. And it's bad news for us. It's bad for our health. A neuropsychologist named Fabian Vanderberg, he did a study that basically said this, that the more bad news we hear, the more bad our health becomes. Several years of this study. The more bad news we consume, the more bad news we search after, the more bad news we fixate our attention on,

the worse our health gets. And this is real bad news for us in 2021, because it seems like there's no shortage of bad news, right? You scroll on social media, bad news after bad news after bad news. Someone else is sick. Someone else got fired. You know, doesn't matter what political sides you're on, you know, there's stupidity in politics again. And it seems like it's never ending, but there's good news. How many of us know that? I scroll past the bad news. I was talking to Pastor Garland this weekend. He's like, you didn't know it's gone? I'm like, no, I don't watch the bad news. I look for the good news. I love those videos of little kids getting, you know, hearing aids for the first time, and they can hear their mom and dad speak to them. It like just, it breaks my heart with so much joy. I love when veterans come home and their family doesn't know, and the dog's all excited, and the kid's like, daddy, you're home. That just makes me feel so good. And I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube of just people, blessing people, random people. You have a need? I can meet it.

I'm gonna meet it. It makes me feel so good. There's so much good news, and so I have good news for you in all of this bad news. The good news is today, we're starting a new teaching series called Good News, and we're gonna focus on good news. We're gonna fixate our eyes on the good news, and this good news is gonna fuel us. It's gonna refill us. It's gonna give us hope. How many of us are ready for some good news? All right, I got good news, and I got good news. Which one do you wanna hear first? Hey, we wanna hear good news from you as well. Every single week, we wanna celebrate what God is doing here in your lives, and so share good news with us. Go to thelocalchurch.com slash goodnews, and just tell us. Tell us what God is doing in your life. There's nothing too small. There's nothing too big that we're gonna celebrate here, because we wanna hear good news, and I have good news for you. Starts off with my son. This is my son, Ethan. He got glasses this past week. You know, he had 20-20 vision at the beginning of 2020. It's like 20-20, 20-20, great,

but then all year long, he was doing this. I'm like, son, you're only a quarter Korean. Come on, stop it with the Asian eyes. He's like, dad, I can't see. I'm like, you're lying. Of course, I can see perfectly. We got him a test this week, and yeah, he can't see. So he put the glasses on. He's like, dad, I can see again, and I was like, my son, I'm so sorry. So my son got some glasses. This is good news. Let's celebrate that. Felicia and Austin, part of our church, we are watching right now. Baby Tyson was just born. All right, so you automatically celebrate a baby being born, but not my baby eight-year-old son. I see how it is, people. Felicia, Austin, we love you guys. We're so excited to meet baby Tyson, but he was born the past few weeks. Molly and Jonathan, their flight from their honeymoon arrived last night at 11. They got married last week. Let's celebrate Molly and Jonathan, part of our church, Amelia, two becoming one. Beautiful family that they are. Maria Ranton, is she here today? She's probably serving somewhere.

She's been praying for a new opportunity. She's been praying for a job. God gave her a new job at the school that her son goes to. So double good news. Come on, let's celebrate that. Andres and Pam, we're celebrating every month with you. 11 months of being cancer-free. Man, we'll celebrate 12 and 13 and 14 and 15. So grateful for that. Leanne and Eric Hellander, they are celebrating their anniversary in Maryland right now. And so let's give it up for them. Celebrating the anniversary, but even more so, if you see Eric, ask him when he's gonna retire. He can tell you the time, the date, and the hour. They're retiring. Both of them are finally retiring at the end of this year. Let's celebrate that. You've been working so faithfully, so hard, and finally, finally, you're gonna be able to rest. We also are celebrating Jay and Betsy Huang. Just two days ago, they gave birth to their second son, little Jin Soul Huang. And today, we actually, we wanna give away some blessings as well. And so we wanted to bless them with a $1,000 gift basket to give them diapers, because how many of them know diapers aren't cheap, and all the things that they need.

But we just decided that today, as we celebrate goodness, we're gonna create some good news. And so last service, we were able to bless a single mom with six months of groceries. And today, in this service as well, we're gonna give away $10,000 today. We're not a rich church. We just wanna bless people in a time of bad news. And so Bryant, where are you at? Bryant. on the camera. Brian, I'm talking to you. Is that you behind the mask? Is that you, Brian? Come up here, man. Brian serves on our storytellers team. He's responsible for everyone on Church Online seeing a lot of the pictures that we take, and we realize you don't have a camera. You're so good at capturing stories. You don't even have a camera. He didn't ask for one, but we just want to bless him today with a new DSLR, Brian, because of the generosity of Church Familia and the love of God. We love you, man. Just want to bless you with that. Well done, Brian. Thank you. Not only that, there's someone here who's near and dear to me, and they open up their home to seemingly strangers, people that are in need, and constantly inviting anyone that they meet. We know, Debbie, that times have been rough, but you've been so faithful to give your smile away, to give your cheer away, even though your sister's battling cancer, and the people around you seem to be hurting you. But God sees. God knows. God cares. And so we want to bless Debbie today also with six months of groceries, so you don't have to worry about that burden. You're able to to pay your rent. Love you, my sister. I told her to stay for the second service. She's like, but you said last week to come to the first or the last. I said, just stay for the second, okay? Yeah, just stay. Today we're going to give away some scholarships to some college students. We've given away another camera to someone who just, it was a hobby of theirs, and we wanted to bless them. And again, we're not a rich church, but we're a blessed church. And so we want to bless other people with good news. And doesn't it feel good? Doesn't it just feel good to give? Because that's the heart of God. We're more blessed to give than to receive. That's his heart.

So over the next several weeks, we're going to be talking about this good news. We're going to be talking about the heart of our Heavenly Father. And so I've titled today's teaching, Getting to the Heart of It. And I want us to get to the heart of good news, because even though sharing good news is good news, and even though giving away things is good news, it's not the entirety of the good news that God has for us. I want you to turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 4, starting in verse 14. Here's what it says. It'll be up there in the screens. You can follow along in your app as well. Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit's power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. And when he went to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went up as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll and found the place where this is written. Verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me. He has set me apart to bring good news, to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that the captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come. Verse 20. He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, sat down. All eyes in synagogue looked at him intently. Verse 21. And then he began to speak to them, saying, The Scripture you just heard has been fulfilled this very day. I want you there's good news for all of us today. Maybe you didn't get something today, but God wants to get you good news today. And in verse 18, when we read good news, in some of your translations it says the word gospel. Anyone ever heard that word gospel before by show of hands? How many of us ever heard, you know, a lot of churches we talk about preaching the gospel. You know, depending on what type of church you grew up in or what kind of, you know, background you have, there's some churches that believe that there are different types of gospels. Like maybe you've heard of the prosperity gospel. There's some that's permeating the church. It's this idea and belief that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and powerful. And although that sounds like good news, can I tell you that's not the gospel. And then on the other side, the other extreme, there's some people who believe in the poverty gospel. It's this idea that if you want to be spiritual, if you want to be used by God, you got to give away everything. You got to live off. Nothing you got to be poor and can I tell you and thank God that that is not the gospel as well But then we have gospel music right you know about gospel music

It's more soulful right more so R&B chops more than than like rock or pop. What is the gospel? It's simply translated Good news, and it comes from the Greek word Evangelion see gospel when we talk about being a gospel centered church preaching the gospel that isn't a Christian word That was a Greek word and what it meant it was the good news of the Emperor and the Empire And so in that time whenever the Emperor wanted to decrease something wanted to make a proclamation He would say it's good news This is the gospel And he would send out heralds to go to the city squares and all the towns and say everyone we have good news It's much today like maybe a press secretary for an administration Giving you know a news report on behalf of the administration and listen again It doesn't matter what side of the spectrum you are on who you voted for Anytime a press secretary gives an announcement. They always try to spin it as something positive right, but is it always? No like back in that time everyone ladies and gentlemen. I have gospel news for you today our Empire is Expanding our Emperor is going to take a military crusade, and we're going to take over all the surrounding regions upon us We are expanding our reach and all of you you get to play a very significant part in us Expanding our Empire by paying more taxes. This is the gospel. This is good news Is it? Now for people who are in with the Emperor sure it's good news But every single Emperor eventually was overturned and so those who were close to them now the good news is no longer good news now It's bad news for them because they're going to get there. They're going to go to jail They're going to lose their life and a lot of us when we think of the good news of Jesus when we think of the Gospel what we think in terms like that that it's good for some But it's bad for others, and we we we separate ourselves into different factions. We're the good guys We're the God people and so we get good news. We sing of all these songs of good news with you But you're you're the atheists. You're the heathens. You're the curse or you're you're you're the bad guys So you don't get good news. We get good news. You can go to hell This is what a lot of us think in our minds and even live out when it comes To this good news God has for us, but I have good news for us you ready for the good news

The good news is good news for everyone The good news don't be mistaken. It's good news for Everyone and so these followers of Jesus They took this this common cultural word and they Connected it to something to someone that they actually believed was good news Good news worth sharing good news worth spreading good news That they were worth that they were that they were willing to give their lives for So that the world could know this good news John 3 16 we find a part of this good news And it's most simple form many of you. You know this maybe you've heard this maybe if you're a guest today You're watching online. You've never been to church pretty sure a lot of you. You've already heard of John 3 16 Here's what it says It says for God so loved the world That he gave his only son That whoever believes in him Should not perish but have eternal life It's so simple it's so short yet, it's so profound and If you know nothing about the Bible Start here If you think you know everything about the Bible return to this This is the fullness of God's good news for us in its most simple form This is the heart of it all And all starts with God You know a lot of people they want to know what God is like they have all these ideas about God you look at Hollywood And God is displayed in many different ways, but but who is he God is powerful first of all He created everything if you look to the skies maybe not in South Florida because all the the light pollution But if you go up to the mountains or you go a little bit further north and you see the beauty of the universe

You stand on a mountaintop, and you see all all of creation, God created that with his powerful hand. And you don't just have to look out, you can look in. And the complexities that make us human beings, how things just work. This past week I was, I promise you I'm not making, I was doing this in my office. I was like, I know how this works, but how does this work? Like, finger up, finger up, those are the only two fingers I'll use. Like, it just works, right? I think in my head, whoop, and it does it. Everything just fits together. And inside of us, not only is everything intricately made, but that we have a moral code inside of us. Research has been done that every single civilization, every single culture, they have some sort of moral code. And a lot of it revolves around what is good and what is bad. It is bad to mistreat and abuse little kids. It is good to do good to your neighbor. Where did we get that moral code inside of us? It wasn't your abuela with the chancleta, it wasn't Mr. Rogers, because who put that in them? It was God. Our conscience shows the fingerprint of a creator. Just like we see a building, there had to be a builder. When we see creation, there had to be someone who created that. He's powerful and he's perfect. He never makes a mistake.

God never says, oops, whoopsie. He has no need for anything at all. But he's also present. See, although he has no need for us, he wants us. For God so loved the world. Now, perfect place for imperfect people, let me say it. There's some people in this world I don't like. Okay, yes, I'm human. Don't be shocked. Oh no, Pat, listen, there's people you don't like as well. I know it's true. People will call you up on the phone and say, hey, I'm just calling you about your car's extended warranty. I don't have an extended warranty, you scammer. People who talk in movies. People who cut you off in traffic and don't say, oh, I'm sorry. Like if you just say, if you just throw the hand up, like, okay, you can go. Like, I'm so mad at you, but okay, you can go. But no, when people just cut in front of you and they use a different hand signal, it's like, oh, it gets me mad. I love Pastor Johnny and I have nothing against vegans, but don't put your cheese on our pizza. What's wrong with you? Come on, can I get an amen? Those people, it's like, stop it, I don't like you. And because we're all like that,

we all have the thing that we don't like. A lot of us, we kind of make God in our image and God must be out for vengeance. God must be out to punish people, but no, he loves. He reaches out with love. And this love is not the love that we love with. We say we love a whole lot of things, right? I love that movie, I love that book, I love that outfit on you. Oh my gosh, girl, you look so hot today, wow. And I love you until you get old and ugly. And then I'll fall out of love with you and fall in love with someone else. This is how we love, right? But God, his love is a show love. His love is unconditional. His love is unending. And there's nothing we can do about it. He loves you. And you can't change that. Your goodness can't earn it. Your badness can't take it away. He loves you. But you know what we can do? And you know what a lot of us do do? We push it away. We reject his love. Because we've been so rejected in the past because our hearts have been hurt by other people. We're skittish and we're fearful

when it comes to God's good news for us. I have this dog named Denny Crane. Put a picture up of my dog. It's actually not my dog, it's my wife's dog. And it's her dog before we got married and then after we got married. I have allergies. How convenient. So we gave the dog away to my father and my mother-in-law. And I'm Korean and he's a hot dog. And so I've made a lot of jokes in the past like, Denny, stop eating. I'm gonna eat you if you continue to eat. I don't make those jokes anymore. Don't send me nasty emails. I kind of actually really like the dog. He's cute and he's just grown worse as he's continued to grow. This is a very old picture of him. He has like cataracts now, gray hair everywhere. True story, we thought he was gonna die like four or five months ago. He's like 16 years old. The dachshund shouldn't live that long. And so the kids were saying goodbye to him. And then my little daughter, Emma, she prayed. She said, Jesus, please heal Denny. Help him to walk. And the next day the dog is walking, we're like, yay! Now we gotta find a house sitter, you know,

to watch the dog while we're out on vacation, great. But I love this little dog. I've grown to love him over the years, but he's still skittish when it comes to me. Even, he can't see very well. Sometimes I'll reach and he'll go back a little bit and he'll get all tense and he'll tinkle on the ground. And I know I probably shouldn't say that in church. Pardon my French, can't say tinkle. It's not just me though, it's our children as well. They love him and they just wanna pet him and let him know how much he means to them. But he'll respond with barking or sometimes biting. And why is that? It's because when he was a puppy, he was abused. He was mistreated. And even some 15 plus years later, he still finds it difficult to trust people. I think a lot of us are like Denny. When it comes to God's love, we've been so hurt by churches, we've been so hurt by church people, we've been so just disenfranchised by life and all the bad news that we push away and we're skittish and we're reluctant that God could love and God could give good news. And with all of our pride and all of our chest pounding, we're very anxious and fearful people, but that doesn't stop him. He continues to pursue us with love.

For God so loved the world that he gave. What did he give? His terms of service, his commandments. I love you, so you better follow everything I say. He gave his son, his son Jesus. Jesus is not simply a historical figure. He's not simply a good teacher. He's the one and only son of God who loves us. Who loves us so much that he was willing to give his life out of love for us. You wanna know what God looks like? You don't have to look in or out. You can look to Jesus. The way that he loved, he loved the unlovable, he forgave the most heinous of sins. He hung out with imperfect people. He met people's needs even though they didn't believe in who he was. This is the heart of the good news. I want you to write this big idea down. The heart of the good news is that God is love. If you know nothing today, know that. God is not out to get you. God is not out to punish you. God is present today and he is love. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And some of you are like, I don't need that. I'm good, I'm good on my own. All right, I'm a moral person. I don't have any needs.

Why does God have to do that for me? Because there's a hard issue with every single one of us. Every single one of us, we have a heart problem that we can't heal on our own. In Jeremiah 17, nine it says, the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and it's desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? I don't know, because there's sometimes like my heart really feels like this is the right thing. How many of us have ever said that and done something that our heart feels and we found out my heart was wrong? This relationship stinks. This opportunity is a disaster. We have a heart problem. And then in Mark 7, 21, it says, for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All of these evil things come from within and they defile a person. What this is talking about is sin. And I know when people talk about sin, we think it's bad news. Don't, don't, don't talk about this sin. Don't, don't, don't point out my sin. We're all imperfect. All of us have this heart problem.

It's called sin and it's not bad news. It's not bad to talk about sin. One of the most loving things we can do is talk about sin honestly with people. It's because it's sin that separates us from God. In Mark 5, 8, it says, only the pure in heart. When Jesus is talking about the beatitudes, he says only the pure in heart will see God. God is perfect. He's blameless. He's spotless. sinless, but yet we are not. And doesn't matter how good we try, unless we are perfect in every single way, unless we never sin, we can't see God. That's bad news. And Romans 6 23 doesn't sugarcoat. It has the bad news and the good news and it gives the bad news first. Romans 6 23 says, for the wages of sin is death. Because God is perfect, because God is holy, because God is just and we are not and we sin. The price, the payment, the penalty that we deserve that God has to enforce being just is death, is eternal separation from this perfect God who loves us. That's bad news, but this is good news. Amen. I want to share some good news. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God. You didn't do anything to deserve it. Brian, you did nothing to work for that. It was a free gift, because we love you. Because we love you, Debbie. The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. This is the good news, that we can have a new life, that we can have a new heart. 2 Corinthians 5 17, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old has, the old life has gone. A new life has begun. Do you understand that this isn't prescribing Lipitor? This isn't putting stints in your arteries and doing a bypass surgery. He doesn't make your broken heart better. He gives you a new heart. He gives you a new life. See, this good news that these first followers of Jesus were willing to give their life for wasn't that Jesus died, that Jesus rose again. And because Jesus is live, we

can be alive. We can have a new heart. The good news isn't bad people become good. The good news is dead people become alive. And this is the good news of God for us. For who? For preachers? For people who serve? For people who give at church? No. Whoever. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever. I want you to miss this. He's being very personal. He's talking about you. Who? Whoever. You matter to God. He loves you so much that he sent his Son to die, to rise again for whoever believes in him. For you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes. Say believes. Say it one more time. Church familiar at home and hear one more time. Say believes. So I want you to say that because a lot of us don't get that. A lot of us think it needs to be far more complicated. What good do I need to do? What class do I need to take? What do I need to give up? You didn't earn it. You can't unearn it. But doesn't God help those who help themselves? God never said that. In fact his word shows us the opposite. That God helps those who know they can't help themselves. Who know I can't win without you. I can't get through this without your help. I can't be good enough. I've tried. I've failed. My heart has deceived me. I need your help. That's who. Whoever believes. It's that simple. We've been saved by grace alone and Christ alone by faith alone. We can't do anything to work it in our lives. All we do is believe. That's our responsibility to believe. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Meaning we get God's goodness. Forever. Not just during a church service, not just when you did something that was good, when you complimented your child and you helped him, no, no, forever. This is the good news. This is the good news he has for us. It's free. It's here.

It's available. Will you receive it or will you reject it? How will you respond to this good news? I wanna get to the heart of it. Here it is, final big idea. Here's the heart of this good news. And we'll continue to talk about this over the next several weeks and we'll show different perspectives and what it means, not just for forever, but for our today, but here's the heart of it. If I believe, if I believe the good news of all that Jesus has already done for me and receive it and receive it for myself, I can experience, live out, be overwhelmed by all the goodness of God for all eternity. Today, you have the opportunity to respond to this good news, for you to cross over the line from death to life. What are you gonna do with it? Jesus, when he called the disciples, he called them all by name. Today, he's calling your name. He's let you know, this is the good I have for you. How will you respond? In the seat back in front of you, and for those of you, can you hand me one? In the front row, go ahead and reach behind you. There's a connect card. Thank you, Debbie, dual blessing today.

Can all of you grab one of these, every single person? Grab this, pull it out right now. This is a connect card. Our heart here at the local church is to connect people to Jesus, to one another. And so every single one of us, we have a next step to take. For some of you, there's several things you can fill out. You can write whatever you want there. For some of you, you may have questions about what it means to follow Jesus. You may need to talk to somebody. You may be in a place in your life where you just need some help. Every one of us have a next step. Maybe you have something to share. Maybe there's some good news. You can't even wait to go to localchurch.com slash good news, and you wanna share it right now. Whatever that is, a prayer request. Every one of us, I wanna ask you right now to take your next step, and just fill that out. Let us know. Let us know how we can come alongside and help get you connected. But some of you today, your next step is to surrender your life to Jesus, to receive this good news that will leave you changed forever today. And so if that's you, today you're saying, okay, I need this.

I need Jesus. If today you're saying yes to God's free gift of life and love, if you're saying, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he lived, died, and rose again for me, and I receive it for myself so I can have new life, I want you to write down this card anywhere, on the notes anywhere. Just write, I believe, and I receive. If that's you, if today you are crossing over the line, this is more for you than it is for us. I want you to know, God wants you to know that on this very day, at the 10.30 service, you made a decision that changed everything. I believe, and I receive. And then give us some contact information, because in a few weeks, we're gonna be celebrating some good news. We're gonna be celebrating everyone who surrendered their life to Jesus over the past several months through baptism. It's gonna be a meaningful time for us as a church, but if that's you, write down, I believe, and I receive. And that's it. You are a new creation. I did Molly and Jonathan's wedding a few weeks ago, and at the very end, after they shared their vows and exchanged rings, I said, okay. They're like, is that it?

Yeah, that's it, that's it. I mean, that's a commitment. Legally, I've done everything. Legally, you are officially married. Marriage, continue the relationship is something else, but really, it's that simple. 12-minute ceremony, that's it. There's no class you have to take. There's no offering you have to give. There's no dirt you gotta sweep out of your life. You just say, I believe, and I receive. and he becomes the Lord of your life forever and now the journey is beginning the relationship it's just beginning for a lot of you today nine last service I don't have any in this service yet and he's gonna walk with you he's gonna guide you he's gonna grow you he's gonna give you new desires he's gonna transform you from the inside out you don't have to force it but you do have to receive so here's what I want to do as we conclude today everyone in this place everyone say hello everyone who said hello I need you to pray with me for those who today surrendered their life to Jesus we're gonna pray out loud here at home all together this is so you know that today you've received the good news of Jesus and your life and eternity is forever transformed would you bow your heads and pray this with me God I believe that you love the world come on everybody God I believe that you love the world you gave your one and only son for me who lived died and rose again so that I can be free without you I'm dead but with you I live forever so I believe I receive I am yours Jesus amen come on church can we just celebrate all of those today who surrender life to Jesus and listen if you wrote I believe and I receive we want to celebrate with you would you just throw up that card right now all across this room so we can celebrate come on let's give praise let's thank God I see those hands man awesome thing that God is doing in this

place the best let's stand to our feet let's worship him for who he is I will never stop chasing your glory and telling the story of Jesus oh yeah telling the story of Jesus your name is higher come on give a praise in this place we praise you