He’s Still Alive

Welcome all of our campuses that are worshiping with us today. So good to have all of you. Hey man, I'm most excited about the speaker lineup we have this year than any other year we've had in the past. So plan on being there. You can plan on being there by registering online now for the next three weeks. There's a $15 discount for you to register here. We expect a lot of people to come. So get that registered before Christmas. Don't wait around and be ready to do that. Hey, a couple things. You heard about 21 days of prayer and fasting. We do that as a church to kick off our year every year. If you've never been with us before, you do not have to participate. Nobody's gonna ask you how you're participating, but we invite you in to take a deeper step. Maybe for some of you, it'd be fasting from one meal for the first time. Maybe for some of you, it's fasting from devices. Maybe from some of you, it's fasting from television. I don't know what it's gonna be. You and the Lord get to decide what that looks like for you. But we spend those 21 days specifically seeking the Lord. Some go without food for 21 days and just drink water. It's fine. Whatever you're doing, it's not about how do we starve ourselves.

It's about how do we fill ourselves with the grace of God. Last year when I was doing it, I began to ask the question, one of the things I was praying about was campuses and Lord, how do we expand campuses? And one of the questions I kept asking the Lord was, how do we do that? How do we expand campuses without spending millions of dollars every time we need to go build a new campus? And Matthew 25 just kept coming into my heart. I was in prison and you came to see me. I was in prison and you came to see me. And I knew that the Lord wanted us to do something with prison. So we began to pray. And by the end of that 21 days, we had met Pastor Howie and shortly thereafter, he became part of our staff. And as you know, this summer we began a kind of a launch team sequence and now at the Buena Vista Correctional Center, Buena Vista Correctional Facility, we have over 100 guys a week that are meeting that are a campus that are part of Brave Church. So can you give them some appreciation? We're so excited that one of our campuses and in talking to Pastor Howie, we want to expand that. So I'm gonna invite Pastor Howie up.

Would you give him a warm welcome this morning as he comes? And you look great by the way, Pastor Howie. The Deputy Director for the Federal Bureau of Prisons is gonna be with us in the second service today. So if you wanna stick around and see him. Otherwise, why don't you share with us some of the things that the Lord is doing and what the potential is for us to do as we move forward in our mission. And what the potential is for Brave Church with prison campuses by next summer. Well, good morning, Brave Church. It takes about nine months to make a baby. I've worked here about nine months. Look at this big old baby. We in the last nine months have been creating, as Pastor Jeff just said, we've been creating this prison ministry for Brave. We are actively engaged in Buena Vista. It's growing, things are really moving there. In the next three to six months, we're looking at the possibility of expanding to six more campuses. Six. Praise the Lord, amen. Amen. We are, praise the Lord. We are currently in negotiations with Sterling Correctional Facility to have maybe a campus.

They have two separate yards there. So maybe a campus on both sides. We're currently talking to Crowley Correctional down in Crowley, Colorado. That's a private prison. And as you guys know, Pastor Jeff and I and Pastor Ty, we went to Washington, D.C. and we've been talking with the Federal Bureau of Prisons because we have federal prisons in our state. And so we're hoping later this spring to be launching two campuses in the Florence Correctional Campus down there. There's like four prisons there. We're looking to be in two of those. But before we do that, tomorrow, we're looking to start a new relationship with the Englewood FCI that's just 12 minutes from here. And this morning, we wanna just recognize we have a person from that facility. Jenny, would you mind standing up and just waving to the people? Would you give her a big Q10? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We just wanna appreciate them. And like Pastor Jeff said, in our second service, the deputy director for the Federal Bureau of Prisons is gonna be here during the second service. We're gonna bring him up and pray over him. But thank God, thank God for the baby that he's building in the prison ministry in Brave. We are super excited. Hey, can we give God some appreciation for all he's doing? Thanks, man. Thanks, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I wanna address this, because I've had people say, why are you so excited about prisons? I mean, those guys can't even tithe.

Or, you know, why are you so excited about that? I mean, I don't see how that monetizes. We care about souls at Brave. We care about people's lives and people's eternity. And it's what God cares about. And so I couldn't be more excited if we can lead the nation in doing prison ministry around the country and reaching people that nobody else wants to go after and reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen? All right, finally, I'll just tell you, I'll make a quick statement. I was in Israel all last week. Last Sunday, I had worship. My worship service was on the Mount of Olives last Sunday. And so as I was worshiping on the Mount of Olives, it's pretty incredible. How many have been to Israel before? All right, how many wanna go to Israel sometime? All right, I wanna lead a trip back there again. When you're worshiping on the Mount of Olives, you realize everything's so small. So while you're worshiping on the Mount of Olives, I mean, there's the Garden of Gethsemane right there, and there's where Jesus was crucified right there, and there's the upper room right there. And so we're worshiping, and last week was we were worshiping, we were singing the song, The Blessing, but it was being sung in Hebrew. And it was very powerful and very anointed

to be with 1,000 pastors on the Mount of Olives. That's the exact place where Jesus ascended into heaven, and that's the exact place he's gonna come step his foot again, amen? And to be worshiping there was just an incredible experience. Got to hear a lot that was going on, talked to a lot of Israelis there. And just so you know, I think it wouldn't do it justice unless I got to preach on this and teach on this, because there's so many voices out there that are telling you what you need to believe about Israel. And personally, I don't really care what anybody says except for what God has to say. And so I think it's gonna be important for us just to look in God's word. So for those of you out there that are serious Bible students saying, I don't know what to believe. I mean, this person's a Christian, and they're saying this, and this person says they're a Christian, and they're saying this. What does God actually say? I think it's important for us as a church to know what God actually says. And spoiler alert, I believe God has a plan for the nation of Israel, still does, because his promises are always true. And we can walk through that sometime,

but that's for a different day. So today, let's get our hearts ready to hear God's living and active word. Would you pray with me as we get ready to hear him this morning? Our Father in heaven, we do give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are. Lord, we thank you for all the different ministries that you're building in our church. Lord, from the youngest to the oldest, and Lord, our expansion into other campuses, specifically this morning, we give you praise for what you're doing in our prisons, both around our state and soon to be around our country. Father, we just pray that Brave would be a catalyst and a leader in helping people be reached with the good news of Jesus Christ, and we thank you for that. Lord, we thank you that we've had the chance to preach to all thousand of the men at the Buena Vista Correctional Facility here in Denver. Lord, we thank you that you've been able to do all these wonderful things, and Lord, we pray that you would have your way with your word. And Lord, we're ready to hear your word this morning because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking. So our prayer collectively this morning is speak, Lord,

for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, who believe what he says, and who will put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. My freshman year in high school was the last year I ever went trick-or-treating. And I know when I talk about that in church, there are people here like, you're gonna lead off with Halloween, seriously? We never celebrate, that's the devil's holiday. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is as a freshman in high school, it only meant one thing to me, candy. Getting as much as I could as quickly as I could, and I was told by my mom I was too old to go trick-or-treating. My friend was told by his parents he was too, and so we took pillowcases, and we went in the neighborhood behind us, and we just started sprinting through the neighborhood, house to house, knocking on doors, trick-or-treat. Take candy, run, take candy, run, take candy. And you know what it's like when you do this? People always know where the quote good houses are. You know, not the ones that give you the little fun size, but the regular size candy.

Not the ones that give you a comb or a toothbrush. You know, somebody that actually cares enough to give you like really good candy. And so everybody knew, and they kept talking about this house that was two doors down from mine. Now, these are the kind of people, and you know those kind of people, the kind of people that decorate like a month in advance, and they have all sorts of things out in their yard, and this was that family. And I remember seeing they had, you know, goblins and all those different things, and they had a scarecrow on the front porch, and they had all this different stuff that was going on, and they kept talking about all the candy that you could get there. And so I remember that was one of our last trips. Our pillowcases were full, because we took two bags, and we were running back, and we were two doors away from my house. And I remember I walked up to the door, and I went to ring the doorbell, and I, you know, I mean, they had stuff everywhere. I bumped the scarecrow in the head, and you know, as I did, the little girl that was five years old, the youngest daughter, came to the little bay window,

and she said these words. She said, my mom is sick tonight, but she said you can have one piece of candy from that jack-o'-lantern pumpkin. And I remember I looked down on the scarecrow's lap, and there was one of those big, plastic, orange jack-o'-lantern pumpkins brimming with candy. And I was standing there with my friend, and I was thinking, one piece, my foot, we're gonna take the whole thing. We're gonna take the whole pumpkin. I'm like, bro, how much do you think we can get? And we're having this debate, and he's like, Jeff. He goes, we'll take it all. He goes, you go first. And I reached my hand in to grab as much as I could. And when I did, the scarecrow grabbed my arm and spoke to me. And said these words, my daughter said just one piece. I about wet my pants as a freshman in high school. I knew the scarecrow was there. I'd seen the scarecrow there. Everything was, nothing surprised me. Here's what I didn't. I didn't know the scarecrow was alive. Knowing the scarecrow was alive made all the difference. Friends, Jesus Christ is still alive.

There are many people in the church that attend church that don't act as though he's alive. There's plenty of people that have rejected him because they don't realize he's alive. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, three days afterwards, he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He's as alive as he's ever been. And if you know that he's still alive, that makes all the difference in the world. So today I wanna talk to you about how you approach this living Jesus. And to do that, we're gonna be in Acts chapter nine and probably one of the most familiar stories, which is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the conversion of Saul. And those of us who will be familiar with it if we've been in church, but I don't just want you to be familiar with this story. I want you to think about when the living Christ became real to you. Here's how the story begins. He says, now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus

and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told to you what you must do. The men who traveled with him stood speechless hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. So let's talk about this a little bit. Let's talk about who this Saul of Tarsus was because we know him as the apostle Paul. We know him as the one that wrote two thirds of the New Testament. We know him as the foremost missionary theologian in the church. We know him as the one who's written so many things that when we hear the living word of God, we're like, thank God for Paul, thank God for Paul. Who was he? Well, he was not always Paul. He was Saul of Tarsus and we learn about him, but here's what I want you to see this morning. Maybe three truths about how you respond to the living God

and you're gonna see this in his life and you need to see it reflected in yours and the first is this. When Jesus confronts you, surrender to him. When Jesus confronts you, surrender to him. Now, it says this. Now, Saul was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, okay? This is who he is. He is a murderous, every time he breathes, he's thinking about killing Christians. I mean, his whole heart is for persecution of Christians. His whole heart is to murder them. Notice this and if you go back one chapter in chapter eight, when Stephen is being stoned and saying, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. There was a young man that they were laying their robes by, that was Saul and Saul, chapter eight and verse one, was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. Saul hated Christians. They were interrupting his religious way. Religious people hate Jesus because Jesus interferes with your religious practices. Jesus is the living God of the universe. Jesus is the only way. He's the way, the truth, the life. At this time in church history, Christians were referred to as the way. This is the way that they acted, the way that they did things.

They were following the master, they were on the way and what is Saul's heartbeat towards Christians? It wasn't a, hey, we should invite Saul to church. You know, we could get him there. Maybe he could hear Pastor Jeff and that was not it. It was, we need to stay far away from this guy because if he meets us, he's gonna bind us in chains, take us to Jerusalem, put us on trial, we'll probably be killed. We got to avoid this guy at all costs. I mean, if there's any leader anywhere that hates Christians, wants nothing to do with Christians, wants to see every single last Christian be exterminated, it's Saul of Tarsus. That's who he is. Now in his mind, he doesn't see himself that way. In his mind, he sees himself. as the most upright Jew there possibly is. I mean, when he writes the book of Philippians, he writes about what he was prior to his conversion, which we're reading about this morning. And in Philippians chapter three, he says this, if anyone else has mind to think he has more to offer than me, according to the flesh, I have far more. I was circumcised on the eighth day, the way every Jew is supposed to. I was of the nation of Israel, I'm of God's chosen people. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews as to law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, I persecuted the church as to the righteousness,

which is found in the law, blameless. Like the way I see myself, this is Paul seeing himself before he was converted, everything I did, I did right. I did everything according to the traditions of Judaism. I'm doing it all, I'm keeping the law. It's those Christians that were getting in the way. They were upsetting the way we did the temple. They were upsetting all these things because they were now saying that Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus is God and Jesus is the Christ. And we did submit our entire lives to him and they're interrupting everything. And that's why he went after him. I mean, you gotta realize this, some of us in our sphere of influence have people that cannot stand Jesus, but you have nobody in your sphere of influence as intolerable as what Saul of Tarsus was. I mean, he was a man to avoid. He was one everybody knew about. You're gonna see it in the text this morning in Acts chapter nine. And notice what he was doing. He was asking for letters from the high priests to get to Damascus so that he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Do you know how far Damascus was at the time from Jerusalem? We're talking 150 miles. He didn't have a car, moped, he walked.

I mean, that would be like saying he's so zealous about killing Christians, he's gonna walk from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins to go find some more. I mean, it wasn't like he was just concerned about those around him. He wanted anybody, anywhere that named the name of Christ to be put to death. That's what he wanted. I mean, that's his heartbeat. And you hear him talk about this, even when later in the book of Acts, when he's talking to King Agrippa in Acts chapter 26, you read some of these things. Acts chapter 26, verse 10, he said, and this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. When it was like, should we put these to death? He's like, absolutely, kill them all. Kill them all. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. His whole life, his whole heartbeat was breathing out murderous threats against Christians and spending the entirety of his life

persecuting and seeing them killed. He was a violent persecutor of the church. He imprisoned men and women. He breathed out murderous threats. He voted for the deaths of Christians. He forced them to blaspheme and he hunted Christians. That's who this guy is. Now, does this guy seem like your first choice for being the foremost missionary theologian of the church? No, this guy's too far. This guy's done too much. There's no possible good left in this guy's heart, but not according to God. As he was traveling on the road to Damascus, suddenly a light flashed from heaven around him and he fell to the ground and he heard a voice say to him this, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? What's he hear first? His name. The living Christ knows his name. The living Christ is watching everything he does. Keep in mind, God sees everything that you do. Even when you think you're doing it in the dark, it's as if you're doing it in the day before him. He sees it all. He knows your name. He knows everything about you. And what's he telling him? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Well, he's in heaven. How could Paul be persecuting him? Because Jesus always said, whatever you do the least of these you do to me. However you treat Christians, that's how you treat Jesus. Why are you persecuting me? I'm the head of my body. My body, my head is in heaven. My body's on the earth through my people. Anything you do to my body, you're doing to me. Why are you persecuting me? You know what his question is? Who are you, Lord? I don't know who you are. Of course he doesn't. Or he wouldn't act the way that he does. Says, who are you, Lord? And he says to him, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up, enter the city, and it will be told to you what to do. Now it says that the men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they were hearing this voice, but they were seeing no one, right? They were hearing something, but they weren't seeing it. And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. He was totally blind, and leading him by the hand, they brought him to Damascus. and he was without sight and neither ate nor drank for a period of three days.

Now, here's some other things that God was telling him at the time. Because in chapter 26, we learn a little more. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goats. You know what a goat is? Goat is a stick. Goat is a stick that they use for oxen to keep them in line. And the more that the ox would push against it, the more they'd get pierced because they're trying to move them around. He's like, why are you kicking against me? The pain you're feeling in your life is me trying to get you to turn back towards me. Some of the biggest pain you experience in your life as a non-believer isn't from the devil, it's from God who's trying to get you to turn around towards him. He's trying to get your attention. He's trying to say, quit going in that direction. It's so painful for you because I'm poking at you and prodding you and trying to get you to look back and look up at me because I love you so much. Saul, Saul, why are you doing this? And then he gives him his commission This is what Saul would have been hearing. But get up and stand on your feet for this purpose I have appeared to you

to appoint you as a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things which I will appear to you. Rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. That's his commission. God gives him his commission. Jesus says, this is what you're gonna do. You're gonna be my messenger to the Jews and to the Gentiles. You're gonna go testify of who I am. You're gonna show them the forgiveness of sins. You're gonna tell them that they're following their father, the devil, and they need to turn back and follow me. This is gonna be your entire life work. Nothing else is gonna matter to you anymore. You're now my servant. And here's the truth. When God confronts you, surrender to him. When God confronts you, surrender. We live in a society where we're so busy and there's so many noises and so many different things going on

that when things happen, we're like, yeah, I kind of felt God in the service. But when you hear the voice of the Lord, just stop, like stop dead in your tracks and surrender. It's kind of like if you were driving down I-25 and all of a sudden there were sirens and lights behind you and a voice telling you to pull over, what would you do? You probably wouldn't say, well, I'm not really the surrendering type. You would pull over because the authority is greater than you, right? Or when you're on a team, whether you like your coach or don't like your coach, but he's the authority and he's coaching, he says, don't do it this way, do it, you need to listen because they're an authority. When the God of the universe is speaking to you, stop, surrender, say, okay, I'm at your will. I'm hearing what you're saying. There's too many people when they begin to hear the voice of God that kind of say, well, that's nice and I'll think about it later. The Bible says, if you hear the voice of the Lord, do not harden your heart. And I want you to see something else about this encounter. What you don't see and what you never see in the Bible is a person that goes after and seeks God. It is always God that seeks them. The Bible says there is no unrighteous, no not one.

There is not one who seeks after God. If you're here today and say, that's not true of me, I'm really seeking, I really wanna know, then let me tell you what's really going on in your heart. It's God that's drawing you to himself and he's actually seeking you. And the reason you have any interest in spiritual things is because God is being merciful to you and God's being gracious to you. There is nothing in Saul's heart where he's saying, well, if God's really real, I'll believe it. Saul thinks he knows God. Saul thinks he's set with God. Saul's doing all the right religious things for God. He's not seeking after God, but God was seeking after him. And when God spoke to him and God blinded him and God gave him his mission, everything changed. He surrendered the entirety of his life to the Lord Jesus Christ and all that God wanted to do. Because what happens when God confronts is confrontation leads to repentance. And here's the truth. God has been orchestrating a plan in your life for you to meet him. And usually that plan involves some sort of humility. Well, almost every single testimony I've ever heard, mine included, whether you're far off and you're living your own life and you're too sexy for your shirt and you're all these things.

And all of a sudden, God, bam, something happens in your life and you're down on the ground. And all of a sudden it's like, that's when I met the Lord. Or you could be on the opposite side. Well, you know, I'm super religious. I'm always doing the right things. And what you realize, religion is just simply apathy. It means you hate God even more because now you're going through all the motions, but you don't have a relationship with God. And God apprehends you and be like, I'm the one that you should be worshiping. All you're doing is going through the motions. And God awakens your, it's always God that does the work. You didn't save yourself. God saved you. God initiated the salvation. God sent Jesus long before you were ever born. Jesus died long before you were ever born. He rose from the dead. long before you were ever born, and he's been initiating in your life long before you ever looked to him. From the moment you were conceived, he was initiating and trying to come after and trying to save. It's God that does the work. It's God that's wanting to make himself known. And when he does, stop and surrender to him. Stop and surrender to him.

It's not enough just to adopt some religion and think I'm okay because I've gone to church and I'm okay because my good outweighs my bad and I'm okay because I'm a nice person and I'm okay. It's not okay. What's okay is when the living God comes and speaks to you and lives in and through you and you are no longer the same as you once were. Amen? I mean, and when you are confronted with God, you're never ever the same. Why? Because even in John chapter 16, verse eight, when Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, he says, and he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. God has said eternity in our hearts. That's why you all know there is a God out there. There is a God out there. People that are atheists are fools. That's why the Bible says the fool in his heart says there is no God. A fool doesn't mean you're uneducated. A fool means that you've tried to suppress what you know to be true, which is we're eternal beings. Because God said eternity in our hearts. And if I'm gonna repress that and stuff that down and say there's no such thing, I'm an atheist,

I'm going against God, I'm a fool, right? Because we know, we know there has to be a God. I mean, creation screams of creation. Creation screams of a God. The heavens declare the glory of God. You can't wake up here in Denver on a morning like today and look out west and see the front range and say, yeah, that just kind of happens. You know there's a God. You know there's a creator. You know there's someone greater than you. But when Jesus reveals himself, that's when you know his name. And when God confronts you, he confronts you in your sin. And when you see your sin for who you are, because all of us are born thinking we're pretty good people until we meet Jesus and then we realize I'm not so good after all. I mean, Isaiah chapter six, when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple with glory, what did Isaiah say? As he's watching the seraphim and the cherubim, they're all flying around saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Heaven and earth is filled with his glory. What does he say? He doesn't say, oh, it's really good to be here. I'm holy too. No, that's not what he says. He says, I am ruined.

I'm a man of unclean lips. I come from a people of unclean lips. I don't even deserve to be here. Like this is not gonna bid well for me. And so what does God do? He sends a seraphim down, takes the tongues from the altar, touches his lips and burns them to say, hey, what's unclean in you, I can make clean. What's unholy in you, I can make holy, but I'm the one that has to do it, right? So when God confronts, surrender, don't fight it. God loves you enough to show you all your sin because unless you recognize your sin, you see no need for a savior. Like if you're not a sinner, what are you getting saved from? There's two things we need to be saved from. One is our sin, right? We need to be saved from our sin. God has to pay for that because God punishes sin, so we're being saved from our sin. We're also being saved from what? We're being saved from God himself who's gonna pour out wrath on all sinners. Salvation is God's merciful gift to say, I am saving you, I am sparing you from my coming wrath for all sin, and I will unleash my wrath. You can read about it because when I listen to people talk and they'll say, well, the Old Testament God was really mean, but the New Testament God, he's just gracious,

he doesn't care anymore. You haven't read your New Testament. I mean, when he comes bursting out of the sky with fire, he's not coming to pat people on the head. He's coming to unleash his wrath on those who have not repented. So when you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, but surrender to him. And this is what the apostle Paul did. I mean, he gets up from the road, he can't see, he doesn't wanna eat, he doesn't wanna do anything. He's just like, lead me into Damascus, which is where he goes. I mean, Peter, when he meets Jesus, he's like, Lord, go away from me, I'm a sinful man. When you experience the holiness of God and he confronts you, surrender to him. Surrender to him, right? That's what he wants you to do. When Jesus confronts you, surrender to him. How about this? When Jesus converts you, submit to him. When Jesus converts you, submit to him. Once you surrender, when Jesus converts your heart, when God saves you, then continue to submit to him because sometimes we think, okay, well, he saved me, now I'm gonna continue to live for myself. No, no, no, no. Once you're saved, once you're converted, once you're a new creation,

then continue to submit to the Lordship in his life. Notice what happens. I love this story. Now, there was a disciple at... Damascus, named Ananias. Now this is clearly a different Ananias than we read about in chapter five, because he's dead. All right, this is Ananias in Damascus. And there's this disciple in Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision. How many of you want to see a vision of the Lord? I'd love to see more visions. I'd love to dream more dreams. I want to see a vision. He has a vision. And in this vision, the Lord says, Ananias. And he says, here I am. I'm getting a vision of the Lord. And the Lord said to him, get up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias. Come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. So here's the vision. Ananias, I'm sending you to Straight Street, Judas's house.

Go knock on the door. There's a guy in there, Saul of Tarsus. He's seen a vision of you coming. You're gonna lay your hands on him and pray for him that he might be restored. Are you excited about that vision? Ananias is not excited about that vision. I mean, you're talking about the lead terrorist of the day for Christians. But Ananias answered and he said this, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. So Paul's done most of his work in Jerusalem, but even though he lives 150 miles away in Damascus, word's gotten out, hey, this Saul's coming. Be ready, protect yourselves. He's coming and he has authority from the chief priests in Jerusalem to drag you back to Jerusalem so that you would face prison time or be killed too. And Ananias is like, Lord, I've heard this. And notice what God says. But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. Now I love verse 16, especially when people say, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

God does love you and he has a wonderful plan for your life. God loves Saul and he had a wonderful plan for his life. And here was his plan for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. That's God's wonderful plan for Saul's life, right? So Ananias departed and entered the house. And after laying his hands on him said, notice how he calls him, Brother Saul, this mass murderer of Christians, seemingly some people that he would have known or knew about, he calls him his brother. The Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So Jesus speaks right through Ananias. Ananias gets a vision. This is who I want you to minister to. I want you to go minister to that God. God, I don't know that I wanna go minister to that guy because he could kill me. He could throw me in prison. He could take away my family. He could take my, Lord, it's better if I just stay alive and serve you here in Damascus, don't you think? No, actually in the vision, I told him you were coming and you were the one that were gonna lay hands on him and you were gonna pray for him and you were the one that was gonna impart the Holy Spirit into his life.

So just go. So he does. And that's exactly what happens. And when he sees him, he's like, my brother, we're in the same family. You're my brother in Christ now. Let me pray for you. So that's exactly what he does. He goes and he prays. Now notice what happens after he prays. Verse 18, and immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales and he realized his sight or he regained his sight rather, and he got up and was baptized and he took some food and was strengthened. Notice what you see in Saul. You see immediate obedience. You see immediately he wants to identify in every way that God wants him to identify. What you see in the book of Acts is that immediate identification is public baptism. Baptism didn't save Saul any more than baptism saves anybody today, but baptism is the first step when you get saved in water to demonstrate your identity with Christ. That's what it looks like. If you were baptized as an infant, great. It doesn't mean anything, but it was good that you were. I mean, I guess it was a nice religious ceremony. Baptism is for believers.

Baptism is for disciples. Baptism is for those who have been converted. So once you're converted, if you haven't been baptized since you've been converted, get baptized, not because it saves you, but you're saying as a believer and as someone that knows that Jesus now lives in me and as one who has the Holy Spirit resonant in their heart, I'm going public all the way and identifying that I've died to my sin and I'm resurrected in Christ and I'm living for him. Baptism is identity. It's identity. It's kind of like I look around the room today and some of you are wearing Broncos jerseys, right? Now, if I wore a different kind of jersey when I preached, you would have a different kind of visceral reaction. I mean, if I wore a Broncos jersey today, you'd probably wonder, well, why is he wearing a Broncos jersey? But at least it's a Broncos. but if I wore like a Green Bay Packers jersey today and got up here to preach, there would be some, you would have a visceral response if you live in Denver. Baptism is saying I'm going all in with Jesus. That's why we baptize people here. Not because it's this big religious practice, but anybody who comes to Christ needs to submit to him and your first way you submit to him is by being baptized.

Like, Lord, I got it. I mean, before Paul even eats, he hasn't eaten or drank for three days. Before he does that, what's he do? Gets baptized. It's the most important thing that he's going to do. Why? Because he's got a new heart now. Ezekiel talks about it. In Ezekiel chapter 36, he talks about a new heart that you've been given through this covenant relationship with God. You're no longer the same. Titus 3, five says you've been regenerated or made alive by his spirit. Second Corinthians 5, 17 says you're a new creation. Old things are gone. Behold, all things have been made new. And that's why the Bible says in like James 1, 22, do not just be merely hearers of the word, but doers of the word. Why? Because in the Old Testament, God dwelled in the tabernacle and the holy of holies and eventually in the temple. His presence dwelled there. Where's his presence dwell now? It dwells in the heart of every single believer. You are a temple of the living God. So you submit to him.

It's not something you go to do somewhere. Well, the church needs to do this. The church needs to do that. Or the pastor needs to become. No, you need to be the fullness of everything God wants you to be by submitting to him daily, by taking steps as we talk about, not perfectly, but increasingly, right? Not everything happens immediately in the Christian life. It happens increasingly over time. The more and more we submit to the Lord Jesus Christ. Coming to Christ is like adoption papers. For those of you that have adopted a child before, you know you stand before with your attorneys and you stand before a judge and the judge grants that you become the parents of this child. It's a legal ceremony. It's a document that's notarized. And all of a sudden that child that walked in that was in foster care, that child that walked in that didn't have a mom and dad. Now guess what? You have full rights as that mom and dad, right? Here's what happens when you're saved. You've been adopted as sons and daughters. You have full rights in the family of God. God is your father through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen? And we're family. And that's what Paul was understanding.

Everything had changed in a moment. He was converted in a moment, but he's gonna spend time in his life continuing to grow in Christ, amen? I mean, that's what's going on. And so when Jesus converts you, can I just tell you this? Submit to him. I've seen this over the years as a pastor that some people who are genuinely converted by Christ have been taught a faulty understanding of grace that grace is just to forgive sin. And what that means is now that you're a Christian, live however you want, sin however you want, and God will just give you more grace. That's a misunderstanding of grace. The same grace that saved you from your sin is the same grace that grows you from your sin. Titus 2, 11 and 12 says, grace teaches us how to say no to ungodliness and worldly things and live self-controlled upright lives in this present age. Sometimes people who are truly converted don't look like they're truly converted because they're not submitting to Christ continually and taking baby steps of faith with him. Because if you're a believer in Christ and if you're walking with Christ, eventually you're gonna look different. You're gonna act different.

You're gonna speak different. Your behavior will catch up to your identity over time. It just will. And we hear stories, and some of you have these stories where immediately a pattern of behavior that you had is immediately gone, and that happens. But even if that happens, like I used to drink and from the moment I got saved, never drank again. That doesn't mean there's no other places in your life or room for growth. You might still have an anger issue that takes some time to work through. You might still be selfish. You might still be greedy. Your heart is not completely purified at conversion. We're all on a journey together. So let me give you some good news because some people tell me this, Pastor Jeff, I don't know that I'm a Christian. I'm just so aware of my sin. That's good. That means that you're growing in Christ. If you would say, yeah, I don't sin anymore, that's a little more dangerous, right? Because the more you grow in the holiness of Christ, with God being as holy and perfect as he is, the closer you get to him, the more blemishes you're gonna see on yourself. And God continues to point those out, not because he doesn't like you

and not because he's mad at you, not because he hates you, but as a son or a daughter, he has more for you. And he's pointing those things out. So you'll be like, okay, I'll submit to you there and I'll do that and I'll honor you and I'll do that. That's what it looks like. We're called to surrender to him. See, for some of us, we think, well, I'll just keep the law. The law is what I do. You can't keep it. You can't keep the law. You can't keep it perfectly in any way. I mean, that's why Romans 3, verse 19 says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and the world may become accountable to God. Here's what it's saying. When you die, you do not wanna appear before the living Christ thinking that you've kept the law because your mouth will be stopped really, really fast. If you end up in front of Jesus with your verbal resume of all the good you did, your mouth's gonna shut up really, really fast because nobody's kept the law perfectly. Nobody's kept the law, not even the intent of the law. Well, I've never committed adultery. Yeah, but have you ever had lust in your heart? Because if you are, then you're an adulterer.

Well, I've never murdered anybody, but if you've ever thought an ill thought towards somebody else, you've murdered them with your heart. Every one of us is guilty of breaking all 10 of the commandments. It's why we need a savior. It's why we need Jesus to save us. And so when you're confronted by Jesus, surrender to him. When Jesus converts you, then submit to him. Continue to go on the journey with him. Continue to grow in Christ. Continue to attend a life-giving church. Continue to be around life-giving people that are helping you grow. Continue to be in the word. Continue to stay in prayer. Fast, grow, give. I mean, anything you can do, not for the purpose of earning your salvation, but for the purpose of growing in the strength that you have in Jesus Christ. There's this invitation. Did you know there's an invitation? Here's what Jesus would say to every single one of you. I can tell you all of this with authority. No matter where you are with the Lord, no matter where you are, no matter how deep you think your faith is, no matter how shallow you think it is,

here's the invitation from Jesus today to you. I have more for you. I have way more for you. If you've been walking with the Lord for 40 years and you've been faithful for 40 years, here's what the Lord would say to you. I have way more for you. If you're brand new in the faith, or if you've been stumbling around, here's what the Lord would say. I have way more for you. You're trying to find it in the world. I have way more for you. I mean, there's always this invitation from Jesus for more if you'll submit to him. And what the world says is no, submit to us. Submit to our system. Submit to our ideas. Submit to what we're looking at. Submit to what we think's pleasurable. Submit to your flesh. Jesus is like, no, don't do that. Don't love the world, the flesh. Don't love the lust of the eyes. Look to me, he would say. Look to me. And when Jesus converts you, here's what I would say. Submit to him. And then finally this.

When you're converted, then how about this? When Jesus commissions you or sends you, speak for him. Speak for him. Notice in the middle of verse 19, after he took food and was strengthened, it says, now for several days, he was with the disciples who were at Damascus. So now the word's getting out from Ananias to the other disciples like, hey, Saul, he's a believer. I prayed for him. Scales fell from his eyes. Like he's humble. He's been baptized. What? They're all hanging out. And immediately notice what Saul does. He began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue saying, he is the son of God. Now, why was Stephen martyred? Stephen was martyred because he said that Jesus is God's one and only son. Who was there watching Stephen be killed? Saul was. Why was Saul giving approval to his death? Because Stephen believed Jesus was the Christ. Now what's he doing? He's going back to the same people in the same synagogues in the same region saying, hey, this Jesus, he is the son of God.

This who he is. See, here's how you know you've been converted when you speak about it. When you speak about it. Because how is it that the Holy Spirit can save your life? How is it you can go from death to life and not tell anybody? I mean, there's nobody that has a testimony like where they were almost killed in a car accident, but then they miraculously lived, and they're like, but I'm not gonna tell anybody. I mean, nobody has that story. I mean, when something miraculous happens in your life, you tell the story. You always tell. If you were dead, and you know you were dead, and if you know you're on your way to hell, and you know you deserve hell, and there's no way you can get to heaven, and God steps in and saves your life, deposits the Holy Spirit, gives you total freedom from your sin, new joy, you can't not tell people about it. It's not like a pastor telling you, you better tell people, that's how you know you're saved. It just is. I mean, have you ever seen somebody? I mean, even people that elope, people that are like, I don't want anybody to know, I don't want anybody to know,

I don't want anybody to know, it's a secret. Once they elope, they tell everybody. It's not a secret anymore, right? Because when something so joyous happens to you, you tell everybody. When you have a child, you tell everybody. When you have a grandchild, you tell everybody. Anything worthwhile in your life, you tell everybody about it, right? If you're at a Broncos game and they score 33 points in the fourth quarter, and you're actually there, you tell people about it. I wasn't there, so I didn't. But the point is, when something exciting happens to you, you tell people, you share it, speak about what God's done in your life. Now, it's really interesting because God saved Saul. Who was Saul? Saul was one of the most devout Jews of his day. He knew the scriptures backwards and forwards. He just didn't know the God of the scriptures. So now that Saul's been converted, Saul knows his Bible. Saul knows how to use his Bible to defend that Jesus is the son of God. Some of you, before you were converted, knew a lot about the Bible. I knew a lot about the Bible before I was converted. I went to a Lutheran grade school. I had to memorize scripture. I knew a lot about the Bible,

but I didn't know the God of the Bible. And then when I got saved, the Bible made sense. But I knew a lot about the Bible from the moment I got saved. Some of you don't know anything about the Bible the moment you got saved. You're like the guy in John chapter nine. I ask him, what do you know about the Bible? He's like, I don't know anything about the Bible. All I know is I was blind and now I see, and he did it. But he's speaking about it. So you don't have to know everything about the Bible. You don't have to know anything about the Bible. But you know that you know that you know that Jesus Christ saved you, so tell other people. That's what Saul was doing. All those hearing him, verse 21, continued to be amazed and were saying, is this not the one, is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on his name and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priest? Here's what they're saying, wait, wait, wait. Isn't this the guy that's been killing everybody? Isn't this the terrorist? Isn't this the one that we all have been praying about? Isn't this the one that we've said is the biggest danger to the Christian? Yeah, but Paul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus

by proving that Jesus is the Christ. How would he prove it? Because he knew the scriptures. And now he's reading through the word for the first time with the Holy Spirit in his life, reading through like, how did I miss this? Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering servant. Psalm 22 talks about his death on the cross. All the Old Testament prophesies that the Messiah is coming. He'd be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5 too, all these things are there. And Paul's sitting there in the synagogue saying, you guys listen to this, you guys don't even know what you're reading. Let me show you what it is. I've met him, I know him. His name's Jesus, speak about him. Friends, a quote gets often quoted and given to St. Francis of Assisi, who my understanding is he never said it, but people like to put it on plaques that says, share Christ everywhere you go and if necessary use words. I don't think he ever said that because he was an outspoken evangelist that proclaimed repentance and called people to repent. Listen, here's the reality. That statement is usually like this, like live a godly life, which I would say, live a godly life, but the gospel cannot be known unless you speak it.

You can't just go to work or school or in your neighborhood and quote, be a good person and like, hey, they'll figure it out. They're not gonna figure it out. They're not looking for Jesus. They're just looking at you and they're like, oh, they're a pretty good person. Tell people, speak it. Why are you who you are? Because I believe in Jesus. Why do you do what you do? Because I believe in Jesus. Why do you do what you do? Because the word of God is true. Because this is who I am. Tell people, speak it. When you start speaking about your faith, your faith will strengthen. When you start speaking about your faith, your faith will grow. Even for those of you that don't share your faith because you would say, well, I don't know the answers. They're gonna ask me questions I don't know the answers to. Friends, that's a great thing. You know what you say when you don't know the answer to the question you're sharing your faith? You know what you say? I don't know. That's a great thing to say.

It's just honest. Yeah, I don't know, but you know what? I'm gonna go talk to somebody. I'm gonna go read my Bible and then is it okay if I come back and talk to you? That's how I started learning my Bible because I would talk to people and they would ask me questions. I'm like, that's a good one. I have no idea about that, right? And now I'm not afraid to share my faith with anybody because I've been asked the same questions over and over, but there's still things that people may ask me today where I would say the same thing. I don't know. Do you know why? Because I don't have infinite knowledge. I don't share my faith because I'm the most knowledgeable person on the planet. I don't share my faith because I have the greatest walk with Jesus. I share my faith because I serve the greatest God in the universe who saved my life. And I love him, amen? When Jesus converts, he commissions. He commissions. Now notice this, like right between verses 22 and 23, you don't see this, but if you look at Galatians chapter one in verse 17, you'll see kind of a pause in Paul's ministry

because it tells us what he did at this point in time. It says in verse 17 of Galatians one that he did not go up to, I'll do it in verse 15. When God called me by his grace, he was pleased to reveal his secret. When God called me by his grace, he was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, that's Peter, and stayed there. within 15 days. So what you're gonna see Paul do between verses 23 and 24, he's gonna go to Saudi Arabia. He's gonna go and he's gonna be trained. He's gonna be taught for a period of years. He's gonna grow in his faith. So he's speaking about Jesus, but he's still got a lot to learn. And God's gonna take him and he's gonna mold him. And oftentimes God takes you to a wilderness experience where he's molding and building you before he publicly launches you

into what he wants to do in your life. And after that time, he came back to Damascus and then he's gonna go down to Jerusalem. That's where we pick up in verse 23. It says, when many days had elapsed, those are those three years, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. But their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so they might put him to death. So isn't this interesting? This murdering terrorist is now on the opposite side of the threats that he once gave. I mean, now he's experiencing the exact same things that he was giving to other people. And he learned about this, but the disciples took him by night and led him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. So he couldn't even get in and out of the city because people were gonna kill him no matter where he went. So they had to lower him outside the city wall in a basket. And then where does he go? He goes to Jerusalem. And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. You know what they thought? This guy's an imposter.

He's just coming in. He's learned some Christianese. He's coming in just to figure out which ones of us are Christians so he can kill us all too. There's nobody in Jerusalem that's like, hey, we heard you were converted. Here's what they were saying. We'd wanna see some evidence. And we haven't seen any evidence. And how do we know that you are who you say you are? Because here's what we know. You killed my sister or my mom or my brother or my dad, or you had them bound in prison. Like if you really have been converted, I need to know that you've been converted. So there's nobody in Jerusalem that's like, oh, praise God. They wanna see it with their own eyes. They wanna know it with their own experience. But notice this, Barnabas, his name means son of encouragement, took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had talked to him and how at Damascus, he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. So what did he need? He needed somebody to come alongside of him and vouch for him.

And who did that? Barnabas. Barnabas. There's always people in the body of Christ that have the gift of encouragement. That's Barnabas. So Barnabas is gonna come alongside and say, hey, tell me your story. Let me learn what it is and all this stuff. And then he's like, okay, I'll vouch for you. I'll stand in the gap for you. So he starts telling all the disciples, here's what happened. Let me tell you about his road experience to Damascus. Yes, he was on his way to go kill people. Yes, he was going to do that. Here's what God showed him. Here's what he's been doing for the last three years. You can trust this guy. You can believe in him. I'm with him. I'm walking with him. I'm standing with him. You say, well, what's the big deal about that? Think about this. Think about the person in your life that you would say that person is so far from God or that person that you would say in your heart, they deserve every bad thing that would happen to them for what they did in this life.

What if that person came to Christ and started attending Brave? Could you walk over and say, man, if you're truly a believer, you're welcome here. Because that's what we want to tell everybody, right? If you've truly been born again, you're welcome here. You're welcome to worship the Lord. We're in the same family, so we can get along here too, right? I mean, that's who Barnabas was. He was welcoming him into the family and Paul's continuing to speak boldly about the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but guess what they were attempting to do? They were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea, which was a port city, and they sent him away to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. What was God's plan? How did God bring peace to the church when the church is being ravished, when persecution's on the rise, when all these terrorist things are going on? What did God say? I'm not just gonna protect my church.

I'm gonna convert the lead terrorist and let him speak on behalf of the church. That's what I'm gonna do, because I'm God. And that's been my plan all along. So now the church is experiencing peace again because God converted that sinner that was causing the greatest amount of problems. So here's a question, here's a question. How should we be praying for our nation? How should we be praying for our neighbors? How should we be praying for our friends? Not that they just come to church. How should we be praying around Christmas season? Not just so people come to church. How should we be praying? That they're converted, that they come to know Christ. Because if somebody truly comes to know Christ, they will never, ever be the same. Friends, and when you truly know Christ, then you become his witnesses. That's what the whole book of Acts is about. Jesus says, not on dates and times, but here's what you'll know. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the. The earth, Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples and baptize them and teach them everything. Friends, there is no belief without proclamation. Faith comes through hearing

and hearing through the word of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 says we're ambassadors for Christ. Jeremiah said there was a fire in his bones, he couldn't hold it in. I mean, anything worthwhile needs to be spoken. If you get called to testify in a courtroom, you have to speak. You can't just sit there silently. All right, well, if there's a fire in a building, you can't just leave and say, well, I was living, I was modeling the life I wanted them to model. I left the building. I know they burned, but they should have known when they saw me leave the building. I mean, you'd yell fire. That's why I'm leaving the building, right? This is what we need to learn. Paul started talking about Jesus immediately because the story of the gospel is so amazing. There's a guy named John Newton who was born on June 24th of 1725. His mom taught him scripture until she died around his seventh birthday. He ended up growing up pretty wild, joined the Naval Service at the age of 18. He fled the Naval Service, he was flogged. He ended up getting into slave trade, but it was eventually he was enslaved to a slave trader's wife.

And one night that they were on a ship, it was March 21st, 1748, when he was 29 years old and the ship was gonna go down and he just called out, and it must've been from the scripture he was taught as a kid. Maybe it was Peter when he walked on the water. He just cried out, Lord, have mercy. And the ship didn't sink. And he knew in his heart there had to be a God. And later he was converted. At age 38, he became a pastor. He worked with William Wilberforce and was his mentor to stop the slave trade. And eventually on, when he was 47, on his New Year's Day sermon on January 1st, 1773, he penned the words to the song, Amazing Grace, about himself. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Sometimes in church, when we sing that song, people begin to think, well, amazing grace, that's cool, but I'm not a wretch. I'm not that bad. I'm like a good person that trusted, no, you're a wretch or you don't know your need for a savior. Like you have to realize every single one of us,

I mean, there's a gravity and a weight with what I'm telling you. Every single one of you will stand before the glorious resurrected Christ who came for you, died for your sins, rose from the dead, who's in glory, who will be the first one that you see when you die and breathe your last. And you're gonna be accountable for all your sin. And if you die apart from Christ, it is gonna be the worst moment in your eternity because you're gonna hear these words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you, be cast into hell, you'll await final judgment for the lake of fire because God is so perfect and he's so holy and he's so righteous that he can't be around sin. And I know we're living in a day and age where people talk about annihilationism, that non-believers, they just eventually die. There's no evidence that shows that. As a matter of fact, in the book of Revelation, it says their smoke goes up day and night. God's punishment lasts forever. I mean, eternal death is as long as eternal life is. But for those who on this side of heaven would say, Lord, that's me and I have no hope and I know I'm a wretch and I need a savior, save me from my sin, save me from your wrath and have prayed a prayer of repentance

to have Christ be the Lord of their life, then here's what you'll hear when you die. Welcome home, well done, good and faithful servant. I came for you, I love you, I died for you and you recognize that. And friends, I'm telling you, I don't care what you think is the most important thing in life, that's the most important thing in life. That moment that you experienced with Jesus will be the most important moment in your life. And here's what I'm here to tell you. Here's what I'm here to tell you. When I say you are loved at the end of the service, I'm telling you, you are loved, but that doesn't give you a hall pass to heaven. Loving parents discipline their kids. The loving Holy God of the universe sends everyone that doesn't want him to hell for all eternity. That's what he does. But he loves you so much that he's calling you today and if he's confronting you today, don't harden your heart today. Let Jesus be the Lord of your life and tell him, Lord, save me and save me now, amen. So let me pray for you and then I'm gonna have you stand. In fact, let's stand right now as we pray. And we're gonna sing that song, Amazing Grace. I'm gonna pray that you would know Christ before we sing it and then I wanna sing that song out loud.

And I want you to sing it as a personal testimony of what Christ has done in your life. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor and praise. is for who you are, and Lord, there are some here in this room, there's some in Westminster, there's some online, there's some in the prison today. They're listening, there's some on the radio, and they're saying, if I were to die today, there's no way I'd be in heaven. There's no way, I've been playing games, or my life doesn't reflect Christ, but I'm hearing him today, and I'm confronted by him today, and if that's you, here's how I want you to pray, just right now, right where you're at. Lord, save me. I repent of my sin, and I trust Jesus Christ alone and his death on the cross to pay for all of it. I believe he rose from the dead, and I want him to take over my life, forgive all my past, forgive all my sin, and welcome me into your family. Father, I pray for all those who have prayed that today, I pray all those who have believed that for a while, and Lord, as we sing the song, Amazing Grace, may it be a personal testimony of your goodness to us in saving us out of our sin and giving us resurrected life. We give you all the praise, glory, and honor. In Jesus' name, amen, and amen. Can we give God praise for his word today?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.