How We Stop People Pleasing and Start Trusting | Mark 15:1–15 | Dustin Aagaard

Well, welcome to church, everybody. So glad you decided to praise the Lord with us in the house of God. My name is Duann. Wave your hand if God has been good to you. Oh, man, look at all the testimonies in the room. Hey, if you're watching online, you can wave your hand too. God behind bars, we love you. Hey, it's time to praise the Lord, most of all, because Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins by his amazing grace. If you're glad you're saved, can you wave your hand today? I'm glad I'm saved too. Come on, let's clap our hands like this. It's time to praise him. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. I'm clean. Stain what's stained on me. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. Blood, how can it be? I'm ransomed and redeemed. I'm standing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah.

I'm clean. It's not what I have done, but what you've done for me. You've paid it all on Calvary. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. Your love has overcome. Your mercy is supreme. Dancing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Come on, clap. Took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out that grave. Hallelujah. Here I come. Because you took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. And you nailed it to the cross.

Got me running out that grave. Got me running out the grave. Hallelujah. Here I come. Took away my shame. Because you took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. Got me running out that grave. Hallelujah. Here I come. Because you took away my shame. Because you took away my shame. Yes. He took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out that grave. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah.

Here I come. Hallelujah. Come on! Washed in the blood of the good and few. Hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood all because of you. Hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood all because of you. Hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood all because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood all because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood all because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Yes, he has been. So good to worship with you today. Man, we have so much to be thankful for, right? So much to be thankful for like our salvation, forgiveness, breath in our lungs, right? You know, scripture teaches us that we can shout our praises to the Lord. Every bit of our praise we can shout them to the Lord. So I want to take a minute and practice that. Can we do that real quick? quick. Is that okay? Is that okay? Thank you. Okay. On the count of three, I want us all to say hallelujah. All right. One, two, three. Let's try that again. All right. One, two, three. Hallelujah. We have so much to be grateful for. Do it again. One, two, three. Hallelujah. Amen. Church, sing this with me as we worship together. If you recognize it, go with us. Here we go. My Jesus, my savior, Lord, there is none like you. All of my days I want to praise the wonders of

your mighty love. My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath, my prayer, all that I am, never cease to worship you. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing. Come on. Power and majesty, praise to the king. Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name. I sing for joy at the work of your hands. Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have in you. You got it. Let's sing. My Jesus, my savior, Lord, there is none like you. All of my days, and I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love. And you're my comfort, and my shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath, my prayer, and all that I am, never cease to worship you. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the king. Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name. I sing for joy at the work of your hands. Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, nothing compares to the promise I have in you. Oh, we praise you, we praise you. Oh, we praise you. Let's sing. In the darkness we were waiting without hope. ♪ Without light till from heaven you came running ♪ ♪ There was mercy in your eyes ♪ Come on, sing. ♪ To our mercy came a word from a throne that has fallen ♪ ♪ To the grave of the Lord ♪ That's right. We won't be a choir in the room today. Come on, lift your voice and sing praise the Father. ♪ We praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, we need Him more ♪ ♪ Oh God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ Let's keep singing, come on. ♪ To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost ♪

♪ To redeem the whole creation you did not despise the cross ♪ ♪ For even in your suffering you saw to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this was our salvation Jesus for our sake you died ♪ That's good news. Come on, let's sing praise. ♪ We praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ We praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ And the morning that you rose, all of heaven ♪ ♪ And we stand in awe of you, God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ And the death of their tombs, and the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who come to the Father now ♪ ♪ And the church of Christ, let the spirit lift the flame ♪ ♪ Now this gospel truth of old, shall not fail, shall not fade ♪ ♪ By His blood and in His name, in His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected me ♪ Come on church, let's sing it. Praise the Father. We praise, we praise. Come on lift it up, come on. We praise the Father. Oh, we praise. Oh, we praise. King of kings. Church, can I invite you to raise your hands to the King of kings. The only one that we can bow our lives to. The only one who deserves all of our worship and praise and attention today.

We're gonna sing that chorus one more time. Keep your hands lifted up and let's worship and adore and devote our lives to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the lamb who was slain, the God of the earth. universe the savior of the world the friend to the friendless come on come on let's sing it out let's shout to the lord come on let's do it praise the father praise he's worthy worthy come on come on we got one more one more oh we praise you praise the father praise the spirit three in one we praise forever to the king of kings we praise forever to the king praise forever to the king of kings come on someone say praise the lord one more time say praise the lord praise the lord thank you for worshiping with us let's keep worshiping you can have a seat so good morning how we doing it's good to see you if we've not met my name is dustin agard and i get to serve as one of the pastors here and i am excited uh this morning cross point and i'm excited because i'm wearing a hawaiian shirt i don't know about you let me tell you how my week started my week started by me driving to work and the snow true story and now i'm wearing a hawaiian shirt i just i'm here today to testify that god can change your week your month or your eternity amen hey some of you are here and you feel like it is winter right now in your life you feel like it's it's hard it's heavy it's dark and you're just praying for a ray of sunshine and we're praying for a fresh dose of the son of god in your life today right here right now and so before we dive in i just want to pray that over you so let's go ahead and pray god we love you god we thank you that you are a god that brings out the son the son of god you bring us light love grace mercy kindness and i pray for anybody that is here any campus online i pray that anybody that is going through a darkness or a coldness of winter would you show up and do something fresh and new in each and every one of us today you are a god that loves to bring dead things to life

would you do it again lord we love you before we open the word of god our answer is yes whatever you have of us it is yes it's in your son's holy and precious name we pray and everybody amen amen i don't know if you've noticed but in america we have become fascinated with courtroom drama with true crime shows and podcasts as a matter of fact uh 50 percent of americans say that they watch it on a regular basis a third of americans watch it or listen to a podcast every single week we are fascinated with it and the whole premise is i i think a lot of us want to know is we just we're on the edge of our seat we want to know who is guilty and who is innocent and today we're going to unpack a a trial a courtroom trial it's the most intense important trial in the history of our world it is the trial of jesus if you have a bible you go ahead and open up to mark chapter 15 we've been going through the book of mark for an entire year we're getting close to getting finished we're in mark 15 verse 1 through 15 if you don't have a bible it's okay it's going to be on the screen and you can follow along mark 15 verse 1 very early in the morning the chief priests with the elders the teachers of the law and the whole sanhedrin made their plan so they bound jesus led him away and handed him over over to Pilate. Let's just pause there. Like who are these jokers? Who are these dudes that are handing over my best friend, my savior over to die? Well, the chief priests are the ones that ran the temple. The elders are the ones that ran the communities, the people, so to speak. And then the Sanhedrin is when they would come together about a group of 70 and they would kind of have a court of law to pass certain laws and regulations. That is who is coming together to conspire against Jesus. Let's keep going. Are you the king of the Jews? Asked Pilate. You have said so, Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again, Pilate asked him, aren't you gonna answer? See how many things they are accusing you of? But Jesus still made no reply and Pilate was amazed. Now is the custom at the festival to release a prisoner with whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? Asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. What shall I do then with the one you call the king of the Jews? Pilate asked them. Crucify him, they shouted. Why, what crime has he committed? Asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, crucify him. Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. Here's a summary of Mark 15. Barabbas deserved the cross. Pilate authorized the cross and Jesus carried the cross. It's a brief summary, but I got you for 30 more minutes.

So I'm gonna unpack it a little bit more. Here's three observations that we make from Mark 15. Three observations that as we unpack it, it's this. Number one is you can't focus on the crowd and the cross at the same time. You cannot focus on the crowd and the cross at the same time. What you focus on matters. Here's a deep truth. What you focus on is what you're focused on. What you are focused on is what you're focused on. And Pilate was focused on the crowd, Jesus was focused on the cross. It says this, why Pilate was, or I should say it like this, why Pilate was focused on the crowd, Jesus was focused on the cross. And I'm in this moment, I'm like, how would Jesus be able to do this? I try to process. Like in this moment, there is a trial. How is Jesus able to keep his eyes on the cross and not the crowd? It's very, very simple. Our pastor, Pastor Kevin says it beautifully. He says, the more time I'm intimate with God, the less time I'll be intimidated by people. I love that. You see, Jesus was able to focus on the cross, not the crowd, because he was intimate with the father. And the more he's intimate with the father,

he's not intimidated by the people. And so he was able to focus on the cross, not the crowd. You see, you can't please people and God at the same time. That's what Galatians 1.10 says. It says, and now am I trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. You see, in this moment, Jesus had more faith than fear. And I wanna unpack that for a minute, that whole idea of faith versus fear. Fear grows when you look to the crowd. Fear grows. Your anxiety, your insecurity, it grows the more you're looking at people, but your faith grows the more you look at the cross. So you wanna feed your faith, look at the cross. You wanna feed your fears, look at approval and people. Fear grows when you look to the crowd. Faith grows when you look to the cross. So my question today is, what are you focused on? Are you focused on the cross or are you focused on the crowd? You see, I think, I don't know, I don't know everybody, but I think most people struggle with insecurity. And I think that's okay. It's okay to have insecurity. What's not as okay is for your insecurity to have you. And you might say, well, what do you mean by that? Well, if we all have some level of fear,

the goal is that our faith would be greater than our fear. And it's okay if you and I have insecurity, just don't allow your insecurities to be in the driver's seat. So when you wake up and make decisions, are you allowing your faith to make decisions or are you allowing fear to make decisions? You see, I think that we listen to our feelings way too much and we don't listen to our calling enough. If I'm just being honest, I'm gonna talk about myself. I may not talk about you. What do my feelings have to do with anything? What does my opinion have to do with anything? It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what the Father is telling me. And so many times we wanna get into this conversation with ourselves is how am I feeling? And that's how I'll make my decision. It doesn't matter. Listen, I'm married 24 years to an incredible woman. It doesn't matter if I feel like loving her today. It doesn't matter. My opinion doesn't matter. My feelings doesn't matter. What matters is my decision and my commitment to love my wife with everything I have. That's why I love her. You know why she loves me? I'm asking, seriously, I have no idea. I'm serious.

I'm just trying to figure it out. Spent 24 years. I'm a dime with a dollar. You know what I'm saying? Listen, I think we rely too much on our feelings and not enough on our calling. And in this moment, Jesus' faith was greater than any kind of fear that we might perceive to have. Remember hearing powerful, powerful story firsthand from a pastor in Sierra Leone, West Africa. His name's Pastor Shedonka Johnson. This was in a time where militia were going around and they were capturing and persecuting and killing Christians, but even worse, if they found out you were a pastor. And they went into Pastor Shedonka's village and they took him out of his home and they brought him in front of the whole village and they said, you need to say goodbye to him because you will never see him again because we're going to take him away and we're going to kill him. And so what they did is they kidnapped him and they put him in a shipping container. Think about this. West Africa, Northern Western Africa, they basically wanted to bake him to death. And in a place where most people would fill that shipping container with sorrow, he turned it into a sanctuary.

And what he began to do on death row in a shipping container is he began to just preach the gospel. He began to worship in the dark and in the heat. And he began to praise God and pray out loud. And they got so annoyed, they told him to stop it. They kept saying over and over, stop it. And he just laughed. What are you going to do, kill me? So he just kept praying over and over to the point where they thought he was crazy. The commander thought he was crazy. So the commander wanted to come meet him. They opened the door and Pastor Shadonka says, you must meet Jesus Christ. That way, when you kill me, he will forgive you. At this point, the commander is now even more convinced that the man's crazy because he's never seen this kind of boldness in the midst of death before. And so he decides not to kill him that day, to kill him in a day or two. But Pastor Shadonka just keeps praying, keeps praising, keeps preaching the gospel. And that one idea of Christianity just kept a little bit of a sliver of hope in the commander's heart. And he began to process that, couldn't sleep. So finally he comes back, opens the door again and asks more questions about Jesus. Fast forward, he ends up not killing Pastor Shadonka. He ends up giving his life to Jesus.

And instead of killing him, he hired him as his chaplain. Come on now, come on. Hey, you know what's funny? Y'all clap like y'all hear stories like that all the time. I don't know what's going on. That's a pretty powerful story. And that's why I've had this prop for years. This is in my home office so that when I have a bad day, bad week, bad month, I just think back when Pastor Shadonka, if he could handle being baked alive in West Africa and seeing in the dark that I could handle a negative coworker, I could handle the digital trolls, I could handle whatever God throws at us. Why? Because we're not focused on the crowd. We're focused on the cross. Amen? Fear will make you worry about the crowd. Faith makes you wonder at the cross. Second observation that we have is this. Silence isn't weakness when you know who's in control. Silence is not weakness when you know who's in control. Mark 15 verse four, it says, so again, Pilate asked him, aren't you going to answer? See how many things they're accusing you of? But Jesus still made no reply and Pilate was amazed. I don't know why he was amazed, but I'm amazed by this. And I can guess why Pilate was amazed. Again, put yourself in Jesus' shoes.

He's here, he is on trial. Everybody seems to be against him. The people that have power are against him. And he says nothing. How do you say nothing in the midst of that? Because I think Jesus' level of confidence was through the roof. I said what I said, confidence. Y'all are like, what's confidence? Confidence is confidence in God. And I think Pilate was full of insecurity. And because he was full of insecurity, remember it said he was swayed by the crowd. He did whatever the crowd want him. He was full of insecurity. So he was blown away to see a man in a vulnerable situation not fazed at all. He had confidence. And it says that Pilate was amazed. How in the world are you in that position and have that level of confidence? You see, I think Jesus had high pressure and low stress. He had high pressure and low stress. I don't know if you know this, but pressure and stress aren't just social words. They are actually scientific words. Pressure and stress are scientific words, okay? Some of you might know more about science and I might get this wrong. You don't need to email me, it's okay.

But from my best guess and understanding, it's this. Pressure, okay, is the measurement of a force applied to something externally. So when they wanna measure external, the force of something, that's called pressure. Stress is the measurement of what's happening internally. So you have pressure on the outside and you have stress on the inside. Pressure is what life puts on you. Stress is what happens in you. Pressure is what's happening around you while stress is what is happening in you. Let me illustrate it like this. I have this little toy, this little stress ball. I don't know how well you can see it, it's full of gel. And just when you touch it, it just immediately absorbs your hand to where you could just simply crush it. So the more external, the more external pressure there is on it, it creates internal stress. So every time I touch it and hit it on the outside, it's impacting what's on the inside. Some of you are like, well, that's the only option in life. Anything that hits us on the outside is gonna affect us on the inside, but that is not at all what Jesus is presenting. He's presenting something totally different. He's saying, what if, what if it didn't have to be like that? What if you could handle any kind of external pressure on the outside, and no matter how much I pressed

on this cube, it's not impacting what's on the inside. It's not impacting stress. So you could have high pressure and low stress. This is the invitation of Jesus. It's what he tells us in Matthew 11, when he says, he says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. He doesn't say pressure-free life. He says, I'll give you rest. Rest is internal. He says, I'll give you stress-free life. You can't escape the demands of life. You can't escape the pressures and all the responsibility. He says, but in the midst of all the pressure, I can give you peace. Matter of fact, he says this in John 16, 33. He says, in this world, you're gonna have trouble. That's pressure. You're gonna have it. He says, but take heart. I've overcome the world, and I give you peace in the midst of that. He says, I will give you peace internally while you have pressure externally. So many times we have pressure externally. We're trying to change a job, change a relationship, think it's gonna change everything, but it doesn't change anything until you change what's in here.

And the way you change from in here is you just surrender your life, your heart, your day, every single day, and you give it up to Jesus, and he changes you from the inside out. Stress often happens when we try to carry or control only what God can. That's what impacts stress. When you try to carry or control something you were never meant to carry or control, that's God's job. Third observation that we make from Mark 15 is this. We don't just reject Jesus. We replace him. We don't just reject Jesus. We replace him. Some people think you reject Jesus. You don't ever just reject him. You always replace him. And in this passage, they replaced Jesus with Barabbas. And anytime you replace God with something, that is called an idol. Anytime you replace God with anything is an idol. An idol is something that at one time may have been a good thing, but you turned it into a God thing. An idol is something that you put your hope, your trust, or you depend on more than God. You prioritize it more than God. That is an idol. And too often, I think we swap out the real Jesus

for a counterfeit God that we make on our own. Things that just don't make sense. I want you to imagine, just imagine this. I want you to imagine that I went to Lowe's or Home Depot and I bought a two by four and some sandpaper. And I took a saw and I cut the two by four and I used some of the wood as firewood. And then I took some sandpaper and I begin to just kind of make the rest of it. I would just kind of shape it however I want. And then I said, I did it. I made a God. I want you to imagine, I just created this God. And then I put it in my living room. I begin to bow down and worship it. I begin to pray to this wood that I just bought and made. And would you save me, piece of wood? Would you please help me? Would you please comfort me? If I were to tell you that, y'all would think I'm crazy. That's exactly what happened to Isaiah 44. There's a guy that had wood, half of it he used as firewood and the other half he turned and made an idol. And I know what you're thinking. Why would anybody ever worship something that they made themselves? It doesn't make any sense, right? Like that doesn't make sense. I think we could do this though. I think we build careers and then we worship them.

I think we build wealth and then we worship it. I think we build families and our bodies. And I think we build our hobbies. And all of a sudden now they are a bigger priority. They get bigger dependence and bigger trust than God. And just like it didn't make any sense in Isaiah 44, it doesn't make any sense today. That when you build something and then center your life around that, that is an idol. And Jesus says, there's a better way. He says, there is a better way. And while we often might swap out Jesus for something else, Jesus is doing his own swap. You see Barabbas walks free while Jesus walks to the cross. That is the gospel. Jesus walks to the cross and Barabbas walks free. Some of us think that the gospel is that Jesus died on a cross, that's not the gospel. Jesus just didn't die, Jesus died instead of you. That's the gospel. He died in your place. It is the greatest swap of all time that you should have died, I should have died on that cross and Jesus says, I'm going to swap out your place and my place. It's the greatest love story ever told. God's love for you and for me. I don't know if you are familiar with the history of the jersey swap. It started in 1931.

It is when athletes after a game, they'll swap jerseys. I don't know if you've ever seen this. In 1931, there was a soccer match between France and England. It probably ended in a tie, they all do. And after the game, and after the game, they begin to exchange jerseys. And all of a sudden, almost 100 years goes by and we're still practicing this. Now let me, if you're unfamiliar with this practice, let me explain what happens. After a game, as a sign of mutual respect, players will exchange jerseys with one another, but there are some rules to it, okay? There's mainly two rules. First rule is this, you only exchange jerseys with somebody that is of equal value on the other team. So if you are the captain, you're gonna exchange jerseys with the other captain. If you're an all-star, you're gonna exchange jerseys with another all-star. There's not gonna be this sense of all-star exchanging with a bench warmer. It is kind of the sign of mutual respect. We are like-minded, but on the other side of the field. That's the first rule. The second rule is very simple. Both people have to agree to the swap. Both people have to agree to the jersey swap. So it has to be fair and both people have to agree. Now, something I thought was pretty cool

is I was watching the Orlando Magic, they're a basketball team in Orlando. People in Orlando don't even know about them, okay? And so I'm a big Magic fan and one of their star players, Desmond Bain, last week, he did a jersey swap. And here's what's cool. He does this swap with this little girl. He thought the little girl just wanted his jersey. And she said, no, no, no, no. I wanna do a jersey swap. And so he swapped jerseys with this little girl. Can I tell you something? If this is your girl, listen, no knock on her, but that's not a fair swap, all right? I'm just saying. That's not a fair swap. In the NBA terms, that is an unfair trade. It is a very cool and wholesome moment and I loved it. but it is not a fair trade. And I thought, that is the picture that Jesus offers you and me. An all-star basketball player, it is not a fair trade and comes to somebody that's not even playing, can probably barely even throw the ball and hit the rim. And he comes to you and me and he offers an unfair trade, an unfair jersey swap. It is the greatest deal you'll ever get. Jesus wants to exchange his righteousness,

his pure and holy jersey for our stained, impure, sinful jersey. And this is what happens, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, it says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus offers his righteousness for our sinfulness. The second rule, that was unfair. The second rule when it comes to a jersey swap is both people have to agree. Both people have to agree. You see, Jesus wants to do a jersey swap with you, but that doesn't mean it happens. You actually have to agree to the swap. And we already know that he wants to give you his jersey. That's what the cross, a bloody cross in an empty tomb showed, that God loves you so much that he sent his one and only son, Jesus to die on a cross for you. He didn't do it in hopes you would stop doing this, or he didn't know that you would do that. He didn't love you, comma, he loved you, period. Period. Not if you would stop doing this. He loves you in spite of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and he'd do it all over again. It's the gospel, it's the greatest news ever. Here's what happens if you do a jersey swap, 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

the new creation has come, the old is gone, and the new is here. In World War II, there was a medic named Max, and Max would run onto the battlefield, and just like his training, and just like his code, he would find wounded and dying soldiers, and he would bring them first aid or life-saving kind of situation. He would bring blood transfusions, was something he often did. But the code and the training said that he was to rescue anybody, and that included people fighting against them. That included German Nazis. And so he created this kind of thought, this system where he would run on the battlefield. He had all this different blood types, but he had marked special label that if he had blood that was donated from a Jewish person, and what he would do is he would run across a wounded or dying German Nazi, and he'd run up to him and he said, my name's Max, I can save you, but only if you are willing to receive the blood of a Jewish donor. So many of them would say, absolutely, sign me up, and he would save their life, but some of them through pride and stubbornness would say, I'd rather die. And Max would let them pass out,

and then he'd save them anyways. That day they were saved by the blood of a Jewish donor. Some of you, you are here today, and you feel like you are bleeding out on the battlefield, and you have tried to do everything you can to save yourself, and you cannot save yourself. The only way, the only way that you can be saved is if you accept the blood from a Jewish donor, and his name is Jesus, and he offers it freely, he offers it willingly, and he offers it generously, and he comes today and he offers you his blood for your salvation. You see, Jesus wasn't captured, he came here on a rescue mission. He voluntarily stepped into your place and my place, and he was tortured, he was stripped naked, and he was hung on a cross for all to see. For you and for me, you will not get greater love than that. And he offers a jersey swap after that, but both sides have to agree. It's not, hey, he just did that, that's cute, thank you. No, no, it's he did that instead of me, and I want to. to exchange my life for his. I want to surrender my life and begin to live for him. It didn't end on the cross. Three days later, he conquered death once and for all. And he rose from the grave and he showed himself to hundreds of people. Showed himself to hundreds of people.

And here's the question. In the words of 90s theologian, Heavy D, now that we found love, what are we gonna do with it? Some of y'all know I'm preaching now. Now that we found love, what are we gonna do with it? You just heard the greatest love story ever told. But it doesn't mean it's your story until you swap jerseys, until you have a great exchange, until you lay down your life and pick up his. Right now, it's just noise. But in a moment, it could change your life, it could change your eternity. Question is, is that what you want? Here's how you do a jersey swap with Jesus. It's really simple. First thing you do is admit that you made mistakes. The Bible calls it sin. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We've all made mistakes. And God's not here to shame you, He's here to actually do the opposite because 1 John 1.9 says this, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. He's not here to shame you, He's here to redeem you. But it starts by confessing sin. Listen, if you don't have sin, then you don't need a Savior. It is in our humility saying, I am a sinner in need of a Savior that He can now rescue and redeem.

Second thing is this, to believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Romans 5.8 says, but God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Not why we are perfect, but why we were sinners. And then the third thing is to commit your life to Jesus. Not to a perfect life, but to surrender your life, to prioritize Him, to live for Him above all else. Romans 10.9 says this, if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You'll be saved. It's the greatest love story ever told. I wanna go ahead and pray for you. Go ahead and close your eyes. Bow your head. Some of you are here today, and if you're honest, you've made different things in idol, and you wanna surrender that idol, and you wanna pick up a life in Jesus. You wanna surrender your life. You're gonna have opportunity right here, right now, to have a jersey swap with Jesus, the great exchange. It's really simple. I'm gonna say a prayer. I want all of us, all campuses online. I want you, wherever you're at, you just repeat this prayer after me, everybody, if you would.

I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus. I wanna begin a relationship with you, and surrender my life to you. I repent of my sins. Will you please forgive me? Jesus, I may not be perfect, but I am yours. In Jesus' name I pray, amen, amen. You can look right here. There's nothing magical about that prayer. What's special is the sincerity from your heart to the heart of the Father, and if you just prayed that heart with sincerity for the first time, you just began a relationship with Jesus, and nothing, the Bible says, can separate you from the love of God, nothing. And what's happening right now, if just one person said that prayer and began a relationship with Jesus, it says all of heaven is celebrating. If they're celebrating up there, can we celebrate down here right now? Come on, let's go. Come on. Amen. Man, if you just said yes to Jesus, let me just tell you, I'm so proud of you. It'll change your life in every way and the best of ways. It'll give you that peace that passes all understanding.

It's not gonna be an easy or perfect life, it's just a life with Jesus, so much sweeter, so much better, and not just in this life, the life to come. And giving your life to Jesus, surrendering your life to Jesus is, it might be personal, but it's not private. So this is what I wanna do. I wanna encourage you to tell two people. One, I want you to tell a friend today. Tell a friend. I don't care who it is. Second one is, I want you to tell us. And you could tell us by texting life to 615-615. If you gave your life to Jesus today, if you just surrendered your life, would you just go ahead right now, you can take out your phone and text life to 615-615. We wanna be able to come around you. We wanna be able to come and pray with you. We have some resources we wanna help you with. We wanna be able to come and be a source of encouragement every step of your newfound journey. And one more time, can we give it up for everybody that just said yes to Jesus? Come on, come on. So good, with that said, let me close in prayer. God, we love you. God, thank you for loving a knucklehead like me. Knuckleheads like us.

God, I pray that there is somebody here and they feel like they're bleeding out on the battlefield, but yet they're still stubborn. And they're not sure if they wanna accept the blood. Of a Jewish donor. God, I pray, would they not be able to leave until they surrender their life to you? And God, I pray for every single person that just said yes to you, would you surround them with good godly people that are gonna walk with them every step of the way? And God, thank you that all of heaven is celebrating and rejoicing and so are we. And so God, we thank you. We thank you for showing us what confidence looks like, showing us on how we could live with high pressure, but low stress, because we are intimate with the Father so we're not intimidated by people. And so God, we ask, would you help us to keep our eyes and our lives focused on the cross and not the crowd? God, we need you. We love you. We thank you. To your son's holy and precious name we pray, amen, amen. Amen. Amen. All you hurting and broken within overwhelmed by the weight of your sin Jesus is calling

Have you come to the end of yourself? Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Jesus is calling Oh come to the altar The Father's arms are open wide Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ Leave behind your regrets and mistakes Come today, there's no reason to wait Jesus is calling Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy From the ashes a new life is born Jesus is calling Oh come to the altar The Father's arms are open wide Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ Forgiveness was born with the precious blood Oh what a Savior Isn't he wonderful? Sing hallelujah Christ is risen We bow down, we bow down Bow down before him ♪ Sing, for He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Oh come to the altar, the Father's arms are open wide ♪ ♪ Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Oh come to the altar, the Father's arms are open wide ♪

♪ Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Christ, oh what a Savior, oh what a Savior ♪