How Do We Break Free From What Holds Us Back? | Acts 3:11-19 | Dwan Hill

As we go across point, welcome to church. My name is Sednick, this is Cheryl and the rest of the team. We invite you guys to stand with us. Thanks for spending the next few moments with us as we sing some songs together. Special welcome to those tuning in online and our friends at God Behind Bars, we love you. Listen, for God so loved the world, amen. There is nothing that we can do to earn that love. He sent his son Jesus so that we may have eternal life and that is the reason to praise him today. So let's lift our voices, lift our hands as we sing these songs, come on. Come on, let's sing. Sing, come all you weary, come all you thirsty, come to the well that never runs dry. Drink of the water, come and thirst no more. Amen. And come all you sinners, come find his mercy. Come to the table, he will satisfy. Taste of his goodness, find what you're looking for. Come on, lift your voices. For God so loved the world that he gave us. His one and only son to save us. Whoever believes in him will live forever. Amen. Come on. Come on. Oh, oh, oh. Come on, let's bring it to him.

Come bring all your failures, bring your intentions. Come lay them down, come lay them down at the foot of the cross. ♪ Because Jesus is waiting there with open arms ♪ ♪ See his open arms for God's own love ♪ ♪ The world that he brings is one and only Son to save us ♪ ♪ Whoever believes in him will live forever ♪ ♪ Forever, oh we believe, we believe in the power of hell ♪ ♪ Forever defeated, now it is well ♪ ♪ I'm walking in freedom for God's own love ♪ ♪ God's own love, the world, oh yeah ♪ Everybody sing. ♪ Praise God, come on, praise God, from whom? ♪ ♪ All blessings from God, come on, praise him, praise him ♪ ♪ For the wonders of his love, praise God, praise God, praise God ♪ ♪ From whom all blessings flow, praise him, come on, come on, praise him ♪ ♪ Praise him, come on, come on, praise him ♪ ♪ For the wonders of his love, his amazing love ♪ ♪ For God's own love, the world that he gave us is one and only Son to save us ♪ ♪ For God's own love, the world that he gave us is one and only Son to save us ♪ ♪ Forever the reason, we'll live forever, the power, the power, oh the power of heaven, forever it will be ♪ ♪ Now it is well, I'm walking in freedom, for God's own love, God's own love, the world ♪ ♪ Yes he loves us, he loves us, yes he loves us, he loves us oh, yes he loves, he loves us ♪ Come on. Come on, choir. Yeah. Lift it up. We praise God. We praise God. From whom all blessing flows.

To praise Him. Oh, praise to Him. For the wonders of His love. Yeah. Jesus Christ is the only one worthy of our praise today. Amen. No matter what you're walking through, He can bring life out of the dead. Life today. You give life. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Thank you, Lord. Great are You, Lord. You're great. Great are You, Lord. All You do and do. It's Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to You only. So great are You, Lord. You give life. You give life. You are love. You bring light to the dark. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken.

Oh, it's what You do. What You do. Great are You, Lord. Oh, You're great, my God. Great are You, Lord. Oh, we sing. It's Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to You only. It's Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to You only. Yeah. Great are You, Lord. You're worthy. You're worthy, God. Great are You, Lord. It's coming a day where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So let us praise now. Come on, church. All the earth will shout a praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Come on. Great are You, Lord.

I'm not going to let the rocks be the only thing to cry out. Come on. All the earth will shout Your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. All the earth will shout it. All the earth will shout Your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. Come on, every voice. One more time. All the earth. ♪ Earth will shout for rain ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will say ♪ ♪ Great are You Lord ♪ ♪ It's Your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's Your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's Your breath in our lungs, every single breath ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's Your breath, so thankful Lord ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to You only You alone ♪ ♪ So thankful, I'm so thankful ♪ ♪ Oh You're worthy, worthy, worthy, come on church ♪ ♪ Sing great are You Lord ♪ Great are You Lord, come on. Come on.

♪ There was a moment when the lights went out ♪ ♪ When death had claimed it's victory ♪ ♪ The king of life gave another's life ♪ ♪ The darkest day in history ♪ ♪ They're on a cross they made for sinners ♪ ♪ For every curse is blood to pour, amen ♪ ♪ One final breath and death was finished ♪ ♪ But not of the end they could ignore ♪ ♪ For the earth began to shake and the veil was torn ♪ ♪ What sacrifice was made as for heaven and earth? ♪ ♪ And to all, we welcome you Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world ♪ Come on, anybody ready to get their praise on today? Woo, let's go. ♪ There was a moment when the sky lit up ♪ ♪ A flash of light breaking through ♪ ♪ When all was lost across eternity ♪ ♪ Oh, the King of life was moving ♪ ♪ The King of life was on the move ♪ ♪ For in a dark, cold tomb ♪ ♪ There our Lord was laid ♪ ♪ One more hour, He lives forever ♪ ♪ Forever and ever ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world ♪

♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, Savior of the world ♪ ♪ Savior of the world ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Sing let every knee come bow before the king of kings ♪ ♪ Let every tongue confess that he is Lord ♪ ♪ Lift up your shout, let us join with all of heaven singing ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Forever we're singing oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ All my soul cries out oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ No one, no one can hear us ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Amen, Jesus, amen, Lord of heaven and earth, amen, Jesus, amen, Savior of the world ♪ ♪ He's been saving for generations, He has, and He's saving souls today, still saving souls today ♪ ♪ Amen, Jesus, amen, Lord of heaven and earth, amen, Savior of the world ♪ ♪♪ Praise the Lord, everybody. Checking to see what kind of church we've got today. Praise the Lord, everybody. Okay, good, good, good, good. It's good to be in the house of God today. If you're watching online, welcome to church. And also my friends at God Behind Bars, every campus, I'm honored, honored to be here today. It's a good day to be in the house of God. My name is Duann. I get to serve as a worship pastor here. And you chose the right church and the right place to come today.

We are continuing a series called Here for Good. Pastor Dustin preached an awesome sermon last Sunday in our Sunday service, and he was preaching from Acts chapter 3. This person, this lame man got healed in the lobby of a temple. That's the kind of church I want to go to. You get healed in the lobby, man. That's the kind of church I want to go to. And I get to continue that story today. That man was about 40 years old. He was sitting at the temple gates, lame since birth. That means he could not walk, had never experienced his legs working before. And Peter and John were on their way to church. Before they got in the temple, this man asked for money. And Peter and John said, we don't have a lot of money, but what we do have, we're going to share that with you. And Peter reached out his hand and said, rise and walk. And this man, I'm going to nickname him Moonwalker, because he started jumping and praising God. And I would moonwalk today, but that would be another miracle that we don't have time for. And I know you've practiced in the mirror before, and you've tried to moonwalk before, but we're not going to do that today. I will say that when something happens to you from the power and presence of God, your response should be praise. You may not be able to dance or sing or shout like other people, but man, has God done anything for anybody in the room here? I just want to say as a worship pastor here, I get a chance to tell you you have permission to praise God. And it may not be that you grew up in an expressive environment, but praising God is not Pentecostal and it's not personality driven.

It's based on a testimony. And if God has done something for you, you ought to say something. You ought to praise the Lord. Good, good, good, good. He's worthy of all that praise. He's worthy of the praise. This past year and obviously my legs have been working my whole life But I do know what it feels like to not be able to walk like I should Right before my 40th birthday. I woke up with a lot a lot of pain in my lower back extreme pain I've never felt that pain before that pain was running down all the way to my foot I was in so much pain that my wife had to help me put my clothes on I had crutches I couldn't even get to the worship night without having someone drive me here so much pain so much pain And maybe you've experienced that before either physically maybe you've been sick or been in the hospital Have you experienced some type of illness or maybe your pain has been more internal? Where you face depression or thoughts that you wouldn't want to share with anybody else So maybe your family or your marriage is in a situation that seems hopeless and broken again I want to say God's power is here And if you're in the room, it's because he wants you to be here, and I have good news for you today God Jesus the Holy Spirit is still in the healing business and what he did in Acts chapter 3 Thousands of years ago can happen in this room today. Do y'all believe God could do something in the room today? I Believe he can do it. I believe it. Okay, we're gonna pray and that's the Holy Spirit to lead this time Lord we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house this house of prayer this house of miracles Jesus if you don't speak Nothing should be said But we pray for your spirit to guide this time. May your word fall on good ground and produce beautiful fruit In the name of Jesus we pray Amen

Awesome. Awesome. Like I said, we're in Acts chapter 3 and One of the big questions that I asked when we started reading this story was How do good things? Happen in the world and how do bad things happen in the world? We worship just now all hail King Jesus and Jesus is good. We believe that he's holy and righteous and awesome But how does a good God? Allow bad things to happen in the world. You don't have to turn your phone or scroll very long Or turn on your TV or have a conversation at work or in your house to figure out that there's crazy people in the world And there are crazy situations going on things that we can't control things that we don't have answers to There are there's turmoil and wars and all types of things that's pressing against the truth of God The question is why is that happening if God is so good? Why is there sickness if God is so good? Why is there war if God is so good? Why aren't we still in Eden and I'll tell you I don't have a perfect answer to that question But I do have something I want to give you is that we we come to church to be reminded of the story of God And in the story of God, we may not get the answer to every question, but we do hear God's purpose For this world and in that purpose I think there's faith and hope and let me tell you something if you're doing a Bible reading plan right now Or if you just want to know what the whole Bible is about I'm about to give you a really quick summary really quick summary We start in Genesis with creation God created all things good There was a fall he redeemed everything and he's coming back to restore it. You're welcome. That's the whole Bible They say Bible in a year. I gave you a Bible in five seconds. Come on cross point creation fall Redemption restoration. That's the story. That's the story of God and that story God wrote for his glory And we're part of that story and the first thing we'll talk about is creation Because I need you to know that God makes good things God makes good things and even though the world is in a bad shape right now. God makes good things Let me list a few good things that God made From creation food is good. Can I get an amen for somebody in the church? Work is good

Rest is good. Oh y'all need a nap. Y'all need a nap. That's what that is Somebody said amen too loud No, I like it it's good growth is good Marriage is good sex is good Science is good And you may see you may see some of those words and think like well my marriage is not so good And maybe my work is not so good but the truth is God makes things good and the best thing that he made is Humanity he actually said that it's very Very good. He made humanity so good. I mean, this is only, only God could do this. He'd scrape up dust off the ground, breathe life into dust, and make a living soul. How awesome is our God? He does good things. But if he does good things, what happened? Why are we facing bad situations? Why are there bad situations in the world? And this is the fall. God created good things, but sin is good gone wrong. Sin is good gone wrong. It's basically, I look at it like this. Sin is corrupted good. It's like sin messed up what God had planned. Sin is living in the wrong direction. If you're trying to get down to Franklin, which is south of Nashville, and you drive north, you're going in the wrong direction.

Sinning is living in the wrong direction. And sin, unfortunately, because it's opposite of God's plan, is inherently not good. It's that simple. And because it's not good, it has consequences. God said the greatest of those was death. But he also writes in Genesis by revelation of the spirit, chapter three, Genesis chapter three, it says, "'Cursed is the ground because of you. "'Through painful toil, you will eat food from it "'all the days of your life. "'It will produce thorns and thistles.'" Remember that for later, thorns and thistles for you. "'By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food "'until you return to the ground.'" Consequences. That's not what God wanted. He didn't make the world cursed. He didn't make thorns and thistles to be coming out of the ground. That's a consequence of disobedience. God had a plan for Adam and Eve and said, hey, you have the freedom to do all of this, but don't do that. That sounds like some of our lives. You have the freedom to do all of this. Don't do that. And what's the one thing that we want?

The one thing that we shoot for? Cursed is the ground. It reminds me of this story. I grew up and my dad used to ask me to cut the grass almost every weekend and I hated it. I did not like cutting the grass. It was hot, it was a lot of work. I'd rather be playing music or hanging out with my friends, but he had a vision for the yard. He wanted the yard to look great. When I became an adult though, I wanted my grass to look good. And you guys know, when you have the best yard on the lot, it just does something to your spiritual life. I don't know, you just feel good. I wanted people to come to my house and see a great yard. Now, I'm gonna show y'all a picture of a perfectly manicured yard. And this yard is not my house. This is not my house. It's not my house. This is my dream. This is my dream, to have a yard that looks so beautiful that even the neighbors are like, man, your yard looks great. And so I called my friend Dustin. He was leading worship earlier. He's got a company called Great Lawns Turf Care. I said, hey, Dustin, I've got, my yard is not looking great.

Can you come help me? So he came last fall, planted all these seeds, got all the weeds out. And by the springtime, my house was looking good. It was looking pretty good. I was so excited that my yard was what I was starting to imagine it to be. And then something happened. I started walking around my yard, you know, maybe in pride, and I found holes in my yard. I said, man, maybe the kids dug up something and put toys on there. I don't know what that is. And a couple of days later, I saw a second hole. And days later, I saw a third and fourth hole. I was like, this is not my yard. This is not what I'm supposed to be seeing in my yard. So I called Dustin back. I said, Dustin, I got holes in my yard. What's going on with my yard? He said, man, I think I have bad news for you. I think you have moles. I think you have moles in your yard. Now, if you think that's a cute picture of a mole, you need to come down for prayer because this is an image of Satan. This is hell on earth. This represents sin, church. Don't think it's cute. See, that's what's wrong.

We think sin is cute. That's the problem. No, these moles were tearing up my yard, man. And it was only like two of them. It wasn't even a lot of them. The amount of holes in my yard made me think there was a city down there. It was only two of them down there. Man, these moles were not doing what I wanted them to do. I couldn't help but think about that when I thought about creation and the fall because. because just like I wanted my yard to be beautiful, kind of like Eden in a neighborhood of brokenness, so did God make this world. He spoke to the chaos. His spirit hovered over the waters and he breathed goodness, including humanity, into the world, and then, because of disobedience and doing things, I would say, our way, it started under the surface. Y'all know sin doesn't just knock on your door and say, hi, I'm sin. It starts underground. It starts in ways that we may know it's sin, but we'd rather not pay attention to it until it starts to come above the surface, maybe because it's embarrassing, maybe because someone pulled the cover off of us, maybe because we can't sleep at night,

maybe because our marriage is falling apart, maybe because we can't even talk to people without being anxious, maybe because we're depressed. It starts to get above the surface, but it's been there longer before you could see it. Sin takes what was meant to flourish and starts to storing it under the surface. So I wanna do a little activity with you today. And I was thinking, we're gonna put a couple of blanks on the screen. Creation and the fall. Blank is good, but blank is sin. I just wanna, I want you to think about it. You can either write it down or maybe even turn to the person next to you if you get a good idea, and say blank is good, but blank is sin. What comes to your mind? What is good that has been tainted by sin, corrupted by sin? If your neighbor says something good, you can say, praise the Lord. If they said something bad, you can still say, praise the Lord. What is good, but has been tainted by sin? Can I give you some ideas? Not an exhaustive list, but some things that came to mind this week. Work is good, but greed is sin. Fun is good, but making fun of people is sin.

Sex is good, but sexual immorality is sin. Diversity is good, but racism is sin. Pleasure is good, but addiction is sin. I didn't write that list to point out your sin. Those are coming from some of my life stories, where I've tried to work for affirmation out of selfish ambition and call it providing for my family. I've been having fun with people talking about somebody out of casual fun and realized later we were gossiping. And I point those things out not to make you feel shame or guilt, actually. I'm actually pointing them out to recognize where the moles are. Because you may not recognize it yet. You may not see it on top of the surface, but the Spirit of God comes to reveal our hearts and to show us maybe I've deviated from the good creation that God has made. Maybe the reason why my life is not the way it should be or the dream yard that I wanted, maybe it's because I'm tolerating sin in my life. I'm guilty too, y'all. Underlying, unconfessed sin is a distorted version of what God really wants for you. My first attempt to get rid of the moles, I called this company, which we were named Nameless, because they were terrible. I said, hey, I got moles in my yard. I'm pretty sure that they're tearing up my whole yard.

I'm pretty sure that if you got rid of them, this problem would go away. He's like, yeah, we do this professionally. They came over and they said, Mr. Hill, all we're gonna do is put gas underground and it'll kill them. I said, do that. I know it's God's good creation, but I don't want them in my yard. And after three or four attempts, they multiplied. No. So instead of getting rid of the moles, they multiplied. I said, that sounds a lot like my life though. Don't we run to the wrong things to get rid of sin? And it causes more problems? Let me give you a couple examples. You feel like God has abandoned you, so you depend on a relationship to make up for what you lost. You feel like pleasure is your way to joy, so you take on substances to make up for the emptiness inside. And doesn't that double on itself? Again, I'm not blaming you, I'm raising my hand. We do the wrong things to get rid of the sin in our lives. What if there was a way? I feel like preaching now. What if there was a way, a better way, for you to get rid of sin in your life? What if God has a story, a plan, that included not just getting rid of moles,

but healing your whole heart? I think we have something to talk about today. This takes us to Acts chapter three. This is a story I mentioned a few minutes ago. Acts chapter three, verse 11. Peter, after reaching out his hand to heal this man by the power of God, preaches this sermon so that people know that that healing actually was a sign to something else. Acts chapter three, verse 11. While the man we call Moonwalker held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his son. Everyone say Jesus. Jesus. Say his name again, Jesus. Jesus. You handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you and you killed the author of life. That's a bar.

We call that a Bible bar. You killed the author of life? You see what sin does? The very one who was sent to save us from our sin is the one they murdered and executed. We get blinded. We get blinded. They killed the author of life. Let's keep reading. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name. Someone say Jesus. Jesus. And the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. Peter better preach, man. You see, Peter didn't do the miracle. God did. Peter couldn't help that man with anything, really. He didn't have money, he didn't have status, he didn't have education. Peter was basically bankrupt. But what he did have, come on, somebody, he had the name of Jesus. And the man brought his need, but God brought the miracle that he needed.

And it's the same for us today. It's the same for us today. We bring our need, God brings the miracle. Verse 17 of Acts chapter three. Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your leaders, but this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. And friends, this is our highlighted verse today. Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Come from who? The Lord. Come from the Lord. That's a beautiful verse. Have y'all heard that verse before? The way that I thought repentance worked was only sackcloth and ashes. I beat myself up, make myself feel as bad as possible, as much shame and guilt as possible, and then the more sorry I feel, maybe, maybe, maybe God will extend grace and mercy to me. That's not repentance. That's not repentance. Repentance is actually an invitation to healing. It's an invitation to flourishing. It's an invitation back to the original good that God created.

Repentance is actually more beautiful than maybe what we pictured it to be. It's not a get out of hell free card. A lot of people repent just so that they don't get punished. Or they hide their hands behind their back and kind of make this religious statement. That's not repentance. Repentance is I am going the wrong way. And I need the Lord's help. to turn around. Repentance is an invitation. It's not condemnation. It's an invitation. Lord, I need your help. Lord, rescue me. Lord, heal me. Lord, set me free. Lord, deliver me. That's what repentance is. It's beautiful. It's actually the best thing you could ever do. Not in your own strength, but by the Spirit of God. Okay, my family, we have a favorite game that we play. Pretty often. And it's a very deep theological game called UNO. Very deep game. And I brought this card with me today. This UNO card. Y'all know what this card is? It's the reverse card.

They were hoping it was a draw four. That's what they wanted it to be. And y'all know y'all are wrong for putting that draw four on your mom. That's terrible. You shouldn't do that. You should let her win. This reverse card changes the game. You could have the same hand as a person next to you. But with this card, everything changes. The direction of the game changes. Why? Because this card says the direction that the game is going is now going in the opposite direction. This is what repentance looks like. Let me tell you something. Your situation may not look like it changes today. You may still have the same hand. But when Jesus enters your story, when you turn to him, everything changes. And it may start underground. It may be something you can't see yet or feel yet or even maybe have enough faith to actually walk in yet. But I'm telling you, the spirit is more powerful than any situation that you're facing. He can break any addiction. He can set anyone free who has a reverse card. I love that card, man. It's like, it reminds me of redemption because redemption says God forgives sin. He doesn't hold your sins against you. He actually forgives them as far as the east is from the west. He forgives sin. Remember that verse we read in Genesis in the beginning where we read all those consequences about sin? It would be a very bad Sunday if I left you in your consequences. But I have good news for you from Galatians chapter 3 verse 13.

It says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, curse is anyone who is hanged on a tree. We deserve punishment that we no longer have to receive through Christ. Let me show you how this works. Redemption. Sin produced thorns and thistles. Jesus wore a crown of thorns to reverse the curse. Sin produced sweat and toil. Jesus sweated drops of blood to reverse the curse. Sin brought death and the grave. Now I'm ready to praise him. Come on, somebody. Because Jesus died and rose again. That means if you're still living under a curse, you haven't received what Jesus bought for you. If you still feel bound, now I'm not saying you might still feel that way, but by faith, even with the same hand of cards that you got dealt, this man was born lame. He couldn't change that, but he still reached out in prayer. He didn't stay where he was because Jesus reversed the curse. Let me tell you about these moles in my yard. First company did not do a good job. So I actually got a recommendation from our campus coordinator in Franklin. Shout out to Amanda. She said, I got a mole guy. Who has a mole guy? She had a mole guy. This guy came to my house just three days ago and found three moles in my yard and removed all three within two days. And I was so thankful to him. I said, you're not going to believe this, but I'm actually preaching about moles on Sunday. Do you have any advice I could share with the church? And he said, oh, that's exciting.

I'll have to stream in and watch your message. I would love to see that. I was like, what church you go to? He's like, I go to Crosspoint. The mole guy goes to Crosspoint. I said, that's convenient. Now, I'm curious. What campus do you think the mole guy goes to? If you want something. done right, you go to Dixon. You got to go to the Dixon campus. Ogden Mole Control caught five moles over the past two months. And he said to me, he said, actually, the moles are considered by the government to be an evasive species, which means you can get them out anytime you want to. I said, the government has done something right. Praise God. They finally figured out. And all this revelation started going in my mouth like, wow. How evasive is sin? And how can you get it removed if you call the wrong person? But if you call the right person, if you call the name that's above every name, if you call the one that conquered death, hell, and the grave, that means any sin that you're facing today can't stand against his name. He saves. That's what he does. His name means Savior.

He is the Savior. And if you need saving today, Jesus is the one you should call. Like a good Savior, Jesus is. OK, sorry. Moving on. I had to do it. It was too easy. That's not even the end of the story, though. And many Christians, they stop at Jesus saved me from my sins. It gets better than that. Jesus died because God makes good things good again. So he doesn't just pick up the furniture on the side of the road and buys it and takes it to your house. He picks up your life and restores it better than it was before. And not just you. He's restoring the whole world. One day, there'll be no more crying, no more dying, no more pain, no more wars, no more sickness, no more depression, no more bondage. Jesus is going to break the neck of Satan. He's going to bind him up. And the saints of God will reign with him forever in a beautiful city. Not in heaven, by the way. He's bringing heaven to earth. Restoration, my friends, is healing. Restoration is healing as a preview of heaven on earth.

I know we think that God's going to take us up to heaven and we'll escape earth. No, that's not the plan. God is bringing Jerusalem here. And this world, this earth that's marred and broken and under the power of darkness right now will one day break free. The lion will lay with the lamb. Cultures that have been at war for generations will be at peace. Families that have been estranged for generations will be brought back home. Doesn't that sound like good news? I know your problem seems big right now and it's important, but God's going to fix the bigger problem. The bigger problem is that we're bound by sin and sin reigns. He's going to crush Satan's head and deliver his people from sin forever. But you have a decision to make, friends. Repentance is not a get out of hell free card. It's an invitation to experience heaven on earth now. You don't have to wait till Jesus comes back to experience heaven on earth. And I'm not saying it's going to be perfect. I am saying that you can get the moles out of your yard. I'll tell you, I had that back pain and I went to the doctor the day after my 40th birthday. So around the same time this man got healed. Went to the doctor. They said, you have a herniated disc in your back.

And the only way to fix it is to go in there and chop off the edge of that herniated disc. So I did that, I got the surgery. And I expected that when I got out of that surgery, I would never feel pain in that spot again. And I realized after they said, no, you got to go through physical therapy, you have to stretch, you have to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that this doesn't happen again and you don't have to come back in this doctor's office. I'm telling y'all, repentance starts in a moment, but Jesus wants to give you a lifestyle. He wants to give you joy that goes through not just one moment, but your life. And that means you may not feel it today. Even if you say, Duann, I want what you're talking about. I want to repent. I want to turn to the Lord. You may not feel chills go down your spine today. You may not see your bank account change tomorrow. You may not see your marriage drastically improved by tonight. But can I tell you something? God is good on His promise. And the same way that He promised that Jesus was coming through a virgin girl 2,000 years ago, He has promised that He's coming back. And if that is true, if Jesus... Jesus is as powerful enough to raise Himself from the grave

and to return and make all things new. Don't you think that He cares about you? Don't you think He can meet you in your situation? Is there anything too hard for God? Is addiction too hard for God? Is sickness too hard for God? Is brokenness too hard for God? You're right, it's not too hard for Him. If you're ready to receive the fullness of God's power, if you're ready to receive the beautiful yard that He has for you, if you're ready to receive healing and flourishing today, I've got good news for you, my friends. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything under the surface that is not part of His plan for your life. Any hidden sin, ask Him. Don't ask the gas guy. Don't ask even yourself. We deceive ourselves like nothing is wrong. We love to hide behind, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. But what if you said, Holy Spirit, I need your help. Ask Him to remove anything under the surface that could be destroying the garden of your heart. I want to give you a really simple prayer you can pray. This prayer doesn't work because you're in church. It works because Jesus is good. Lord, have mercy on me. Help me turn away from whatever is under the surface and help me follow you. There's no magic in that prayer. It's just a way for you to pray something sincere.

First of all, it recognizes, Lord, help me follow you. Lord, have mercy on me. Second, it says, I need your help. And third, it gives you a new direction. Friends, it's not helpful to turn around and stay still. You've got to keep going in a new direction. Once God turns your life around, you're going to need community. You're going to need the scriptures. You're going to need prayer. You're going to need to ask the Spirit to give you the strength to keep going in a direction. So here's your invitation today, friends. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if that's true, if he can pick up a lame man that was lame for 40 years, he can pick you up too. So I'm going to ask you to bow your heads. I have been praying, our church has been praying that as we sing today, as you hear the words of the gospel, that the Spirit will stir something inside of you. Maybe some of you for the first time, this may be the first time you've actually heard the gospel preached in a way that you can receive it, or you've been in church your whole life. And still there's a mold, there's a piece of sin that God wants to redeem and get out of your heart. So, I'm not going to give you an emotional situation. I'm going to give you about 30 seconds where you can just confess your sin to the Lord. Ask him, have mercy on me. Help me. Have mercy, oh God.

Lord, we thank you for making a way for things to be good again. We turn from our broken ways, the things that have not been working, and we ask for mercy and grace to make our lives beautiful. We need you, Jesus. We need your power, your presence. Heal us in the deepest places. I pray for every person that's in this room, everybody that's watching online, the guy behind bars. I pray for the Spirit of God to break every chain, to redeem every broken situation. And it's not by our power or our might, but it's in the name of Jesus and by your Spirit that we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, can I give you one more step? Thank you for praying. Thank you for being honest with where you are. It's really important. I'm gonna ask prayer teams to come down. It's really important that you not only ask for forgiveness, but you confess your sins one to another. Not because they can heal you, but because it's good to share what God has done in your heart to give accountability to the next step. Today is awesome. Sunday is great, but y'all know y'all gotta go to work tomorrow. And when you go to work, you need prayer warriors, maybe on a text thread, or you need someone praying for your strength, or someone to say, hey man, you can make it,

or hey, here's a scripture. You gotta have help. So I encourage you to come get prayer with somebody at the front, or hey, at the campuses or even this room online, don't rush to your cars. Don't rush to your cars. Stay where you are. Talk to your wife or your kids or a friend and say, hey man, this is something that I've been struggling with and I need help with. Can you pray with me? I believe God's gonna meet you where you are. He's gonna give you the strength so turn your life around. So turn your life around. There's more to life than making it moment to moment, day to day. There's more to life than just getting to heaven. The goal of the faith is for heaven to come here. Jesus has made a way for us to start now. We can start practicing heaven now by loving one another, by praying for one another, by laying hands, by speaking truth and agreeing together that this world is not our home. We will not accept brokenness as our identity. We will not accept darkness as our inheritance. Jesus is Lord. All hail King Jesus. All hail King Jesus.

And if he is, which he is, if he is Lord of all creation, which he is, there will be a day. We can praise him with our hands held high forever. And I pray that everyone that has heard this message will make that decision to be a part of that great celebration. Father, we thank you for the service. We pray for your will to be done in our lives as we go. In Jesus' name that we pray, amen. God bless y'all. Thank you for coming today. Bless you. Amen.