Nailed By Grace | Pastor Earl McClellan

We were at a place that was being watched by undercover cops, and yeah, you know, they pulled us over, they arrested us, and I should have been only in for a couple of hours. So I'm like, I'm there in the waiting room, and I'm like, I'm about to go home, it's going to be done. And then all of a sudden they handed me the other jumpsuit. And I'm like, wait, wait, this is not for me. And you know, they don't talk to you, they're just like, boom, go. Thankfully, stuck me in a room by myself, only one little glass window here, that's all I had, smelled like urine, and so I was hating it in there. That was a moment that God needed me to have so that I could clearly hear and stop. That's when I felt like He said, do you want to do this for the rest of your life? Now we've known each other for a long time. Since 2003. Is that when we met? Mm-hmm. 2003. Yep, 2003. You gave your heart to Christ all those years ago. Tell us about that experience. What happened? It was actually, this actually goes, starts with my grandmother. My grandmother was really praying like nonstop over and over and over, hey, I pray that he finds a church, you know, and one day, man, I just woke up and I was like, I'm gonna go to church. Started driving around trying to figure out where to go. And then the second week I ended up showing up to Shoreline and I was only there for like five minutes. I was so out of, I was wearing a purple suit, okay. No way. I didn't know how to dress.

From K&G, from K&G fashion. Yep. And I'm like, I got to get out of here, man, because it was just, it was so just different. I felt so out of place. So I left. I thought that was it. You went from going one direction to a totally different direction. How would you describe it? Because that's what it looked like to me. And talk about on fire, passionate, zealous. You were the epitome of that. Where I was at in that time is I actually woke up and I got high and went to church that day. You know, like I was, so even I was sitting in church and I was high. I mean, it took me about two months to finally break all of that stuff off. But, but honestly, it was me just diving in regardless of how, I mean, just what a mess I was, you know, but I was like, man, I'm going all in. What happens when you go to your grandmother, the one that's been praying for you and you tell her this is what's happened, Mimi. It still chokes me up to this day to know that for 20 years, she was praying every day. Just, I mean, she was praying down heaven, you know, and just hell cannot have him. Hell cannot have him. Lord, would you bring him to a church? And she, I remember she would call me all the time. Do you find a church? I'm like, no, I'm not looking for a church, you know? She just, just believing by faith that I would, I would end up one. And so, um, man, uh, that is one big thing that I missed because I remember the time that I got to call her and tell her, uh, I went to church. Why did you guys choose to come and start Shoreline City with us?

There was part of me that wanted to verbally say no, but there was a part of me inside saying this is it. And I remember we were in the car and we were both kind of like, this is it. It felt like we were walking in God's will for our life. And I remember us being like, we never want to be out of that will. So, um, if this is what you have for us and this is what we're going to do, but we don't want to do what you tell us not to do. And so we were like, we're going to do it because you said for us to do it. If he can do this in me, he can a hundred percent do this with anybody, um, by some of even the pictures that you've seen and just some of my life and just my thought process and all the things it's like, he just got in there completely cleaned it up, scrubbed it clean. And there's still some things I had to work on, but he just, he made it new. He made me new. So yes, a hundred percent. The key is you completely surrender, completely surrender. Let him have it. Let him have every single piece of you, every corner, just a hundred percent. Give it to him and watch what he does. I want to talk about your kids for just a second. Um, pretty remarkable, very, very special. Your parents are so proud of you and all of us are. Ethan, Ben, as you're here looking at them, again, remembering, you know, you've been in jail, you got your grandmother praying for you, all these crazy things that you've navigated in life, and now you look at your kids here in front of you, what would you want to say to them? So proud of you guys, and I want to say thank you. Thank you for being so easy to parent.

The leaders I have in my life and the way I am is just so shaped by Shoreline, honestly, and I'm just so thankful that we were picked to be those kids, and that we get to grow up with such amazing parents. Oh, I love you guys. You're the God of resurrection, God of restoration, God of second chances, He is always working, God of all creation, God of our salvation, Worthy of all praise, and we will bless His name, say God of resurrection, God of restoration, God of second chances, He is always working, God of all creation, Our salvation, He is worthy, He makes all things brand new, He makes all things brand new, His Word faithful and true, He makes all things brand new, He drinks morning redemption, He drinks ashes for beauty, Jesus faithful and true, He makes, come on we say, He's the God of restoration,

God of restoration, He's giving second chances, Oh, He is the God of all creation, God of our salvation, Oh, He's worthy, Anybody need restoration? He's the God of resurrection, God of restoration, He is always working, He's God of all creation, God of our salvation, Worthy is the King, Worthy is the name, He makes all things brand new, He makes all things brand new, His Word faithful and true, He makes all things brand new, He drinks morning redemption, He drinks ashes for beauty, Jesus faithful and true, He makes, come on we say, He makes all things brand new, He makes all things brand new, His Word faithful and true, He makes all things brand new, He drinks morning redemption, He drinks ashes for beauty, Jesus faithful and true, He's making all things brand new. Yeah, we can clap our hands for sure.

Happy Resurrection Sunday, church family. So glad you're here. You may take your seats, my friends. What a beautiful song, and what a beautiful day it is. I am thrilled to see every one of you excited about today. My name is Earl, and if you're here for the very first time, we love you already. Again, let's give our first time guests a big old round of applause. We're glad to have you. Online family in the room, in the theater as well. I see people sitting on stairs too, so we will do all we can to make sure everybody feels all taken care of. We're so, so glad you're here. If you're here for the first time, you never would have heard us say this because you're here for the first time, but at the end of almost every single service, we say, give us a year. The idea behind that is we're trying to, you know, help people wrap their brain around this, you know, following Christ and just kind of starting on the journey. So we say give us a year, not a year where you just be attending church, but a year where you would be like involved and connected and know people's names and they know your names and you kind of begin to grow in your walk with God.

But it's Easter, I'm giving y'all a discount. It's not give us a year, it's give us three months. Okay, three months, three months. Now, there are some of you and you're right on the edge of giving your heart and your life all the way over to God. You're right there. You can feel that he's been working in you, whether it's an emptiness you feel or an anxiety or a stirring, there's something going on and you're right there. And I feel like God brought you here today on purpose to say, son, daughter, come on, come closer. So I'm inviting you into that. Now, I also recognize there's some people you're like, I'm not coming back, okay? I'm here this one time, my girl told me to come, my mother told me to come, that's why I'm here, I ain't coming back and fine, no problem at all. But whenever you're ready, just know we'll be here. And we'll have arms open wide for you and be ready not to throw any stones, but to accept you and help you become all that God has called you to be. But those who are on the edge, you're right there. Let this be your step today. What I mean by give us three months, I'm gonna break it down. I want you to read your Bible every day for three months. This is your three months shred, you know, on YouTube, like, give me three months.

Okay, this is your 90 day shred. Read your Bible every day. I want you to come to church each week. I want you to tell someone that you're making this commitment. That's what I want you to do. Three months, okay? You're already almost there. Just take this step. And at the end of these three months, I believe that God's gonna grab a hold of your heart in such a powerful way and push you forward. And the dream that you have for who you're going to be, I want you to know that God has an even better and bigger dream for you. And he wants to see that fulfilled in your life. But you're gonna have to be willing to take some steps. Okay, if you got your Bibles, open up with me to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21, if you didn't bring your Bible with you, we're gonna put the words on the screen so that you can follow along. Revelation chapter 21, and we'll begin reading in verse number three. It says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. And he will dwell with them. They will be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. Verse number four, he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. Then he who, verse number five, he who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. Have you ever asked yourself a question like this? Why is there so many terrible things going on in the world? Like why all this brokenness and difficulty and mess? Why is the world like this? Have you ever asked yourself the question, God, why are you even allowing all of this to happen? We see whether it's homelessness or wars or it can be abuse or human trafficking, whatever it might be that's going on in the world, hunger, people dying of thirst, like what is happening? Why is the world like this? And it's an emotional question. And I don't wanna answer the emotional question just with a practical answer. That's where you can kind of get disconnected with a person. They're asking something from their heart and you answer from your head. It doesn't always line up. But I think this scripture speaks to answering this question. And not only this scripture, I think the whole of the Bible does. You see, first and foremost,

the world isn't messed up because of God. The world is messed up because of us. We're the ones that broke this place. When God originally made things, the Bible tells us he created a garden, a garden for humanity to live in, to connect with him, to connect with each other. It was peaceful, harmonious, people there for worship. Serving and encouragement and love and then humanity we decided God. We don't want your way We want our own way We don't want to go your direction We want to go our direction. I Don't want to be obedient. I'd rather be disobedient and once we did that sin entered into the equation and whenever sin gets into a thing it It spreads like a disease and tries to kill everything it touches Its aim is not to bring life. Its aim is to destroy to destroy relationships mental health peace community its aim is to absolutely Annihilate and we decided to humanity that we're not going to be on the side of God We decided to be on the side of darkness and the in the enemy and all of this has been happening And that's what we see in our world today We see this brokenness You look on your phone You can see it sometimes in your own family, maybe even in your own life But God is not indifferent to this God is not sitting back there going. I don't care you screwed it up. It's on you No God does the exact opposite For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him would not perish

But have everlasting life. God said I'm sending my son into the world to fix the brokenness all the mess and all of the Difficulty, I'm not going to stay disconnected. I'm going to enter into it. That's what Christmas is It's Emmanuel God with us that God comes into this world is raised as a little baby And and grows into the man that he is and Jesus Christ one day gets on an old rugged cross For me and for you because God is interested in fixing messes even ones that we make my wife and I have three great kids and our Our oldest a few years ago was going away to college now He's all married and grown up and we love his wife. So thank God he picked good. Whoa. Thank you Jesus There's gonna be some weird dinner tables Conversations if we didn't like her, but we love her more than we like him. So this is good But when he's on his way to college My wife was having a tough time Here's her 18 year old young man son And she's looking at him and all she can see is the little baby that was in the playpen That's all she can see So he's got his muscles and his traps and his biceps and his back and she doesn't see any of it She just sees cute little Parker, so she's like Earl you better do something about this I'm like, I don't know what to do. So I got a dog. I Brought him in the house like he was Simba Had him over my head like this Couldn't believe it. The family was going crazy. So we got Turks now That's his name and Turks is a cute puppy as you can see Turks is so much fun But Turks also loves the trash can I? Can't stand this there have been so many times I've come down in the morning only to discover that Turks has been in this trash can there is stuff everywhere I've actually caught him in the can in it And he can't get out he got stuck somehow I'm like you're staying in there close the thing off No, I've never done that. I thought about it, but I've never done it Mess after mess. It's always all over the place. I don't even know how he gets in this trash can I'm convinced my daughter is an accomplice in all of this, but I cannot prove it

But somehow some way he gets in the trash can gets trash everywhere and me trying to be the best dog dad I can possibly be I clean it up He's cute, but he makes a mess You're cute But you make a mess We all do And God Says I see the mess I'm not indifferent toward the mess I'm gonna come And I'm gonna put my hands in all of the mess, and I'm gonna clean it up myself This is what we are celebrating at Easter that in the middle of the night That in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ God not only got in our mess But he cleaned it up by his grace and by his mercy and this is for every single one of us The Bible tells us in Acts chapter 10 verse number 38 It reads how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth With the Holy Spirit and with power and he went about doing good and he all who are under the power of the devil. This is what Jesus did. He never walked around putting sickness and brokenness on people. Jesus was always taking sickness and brokenness off of people, giving us the exact representation of who God is. God is a restorer. God's gonna put your life back together and it does not mean life is not hard. We all know life is hard. It's God entering into the mess that we made and saying, I am in this thing with you to make everything right. I make all things new. And it's for everyone, not just for some spiritual elite, not just for those who know all the Bible verses. This is for every single one of us. Acts chapter 2 verse 21, it says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone. I don't care if you got a story like Ben's. I don't care if you smell like weed right now. I don't care if you got three million dollars in your bank account or your negative 227 dollars in your bank account. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God is no

respecter of persons. For married people and single people, Latino and black, white, I don't care whatever your background is, Asian, God has a plan and a purpose for your life. Go back with me to Revelation chapter 21. I just want to read these verses again. Verse number 4, John, who's the writer here, is getting a vision of a future time. It's after the second coming of Christ. After his millennial reign and he, verse number 4, he will wipe every tear from their eyes. I'm going to just talk to those of you who've been crying a lot of tears. A day is coming that he'll wipe every tear from your eyes. There will be no more death, no more gravesites, no more funerals. There'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. I can't wait for this day because, man, we've been in some mourning and some crying and some pain. For the old order of things has passed away. Verse number 5, now God speaks. God says, he who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. I love that God says, you can take this to the bank. I'm making everything new. It's done. It's a done deal. You remember when Michael Jordan hit, for his sixth title, was in Utah and hit that last shot? Do y'all remember? He's a GOAT. He's a GOAT. He hits that shot. Once it leaves his hand, he just, he knew it was going in. He knew it was going in. You know when Steph Curry's at the end of the game and he hits a three and then he goes, night, night. It's a wrap. It's done. It's over. It's finished. It's completed. God is saying here, I'm making everything new. You can write it down. Night, night. I'm doing it and I'm going to continue to do it all the way into the future. This is the God that you and I are serving here. Last Easter, a young lady in our church, her name is Olivia. She's actually here right now. I got to meet her parents for the first time and I met them fresh off of a tragedy that was happening in their life. Their home had burned to the ground. I got some video of it for you. Imagine pulling up and you see this happening to your home. Fire department and this fire is raging. Memories, dreams, artifacts, so many things just being consumed in a moment. Gone. After the fire is put out, I mean it's just debris left in the house. You see all of the smoke damage. It's just, I mean it's destroyed. Olivia, her connect group got together and they were, they put

something together for her parents. So loving, so kind. Didn't solve all the problems. It was just saying, hey we're thinking about you. We're praying for you. I got to meet her parents and Olivia was telling us that her parents are now rebuilding the house. And it's not done yet, but they're rebuilding it and putting things back together. I saw the home, I saw these pictures, I saw all the wood that was helping put this house back together, but then I also thought about the nails. The nails are used all throughout this house to make a new house. And I couldn't help. That's what God uses to make all things new. He uses nails. In the story of Jesus, he goes through a trial. And this trial, it's a sham of a trial. And he goes back and forth and they're accusing him and beating him and then they force him to carry his cross up the hill and he gets there and there's some Roman soldiers there waiting for him. And these Roman soldiers with precision have nails, not like house nails, like you and I would use, but like railroad nails. A nail more similar to this one, five to seven inches long, thick all the way around. And it has the ability to drive through bone and wood. This is what went into Jesus's feet and what went into Christ's hands.

And he hung there on that cross for a few hours. Then he died. They took him off the cross and they took the nails out of his feet and out of his hands, but nails were still gonna be part of the story. Because a couple days later, Jesus rises from the dead. And when he rises from the dead, he reveals himself to his disciples, but not all of them are there. One of them is not present. His name is Thomas. And Thomas says to the disciples, hey, fellas, you're telling me Jesus is alive and I'm telling you, there's no way. I don't believe it. This is what he says, the Gospel of John chapter 20. It's recorded. I'm so glad this is in the Bible. John chapter 20, verse 25. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, I will not believe. And there are some of you right now, you're saying I won't believe unless I see proof that Jesus is who he says he is and I can see the place where the nails used to be all healed up. Well, verse number 26, look at this. A week later, his disciples were in the house again

and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here. See my hands? Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop doubting and believe. And it was in this moment Thomas said, my Lord and my God. It was God using the nails in Thomas' life to help him to come to faith. Can I talk to those of you who are followers of Jesus for just a moment? You have experienced this. You've experienced maybe your life burning down and then God in his grace and his power stepping into your life and restoring and making things new. Matter of fact, some of you are here and you're feeling out of place because you don't feel like you're perfect enough, but little do you know that the people that are surrounding you right now, we are not perfect people. We have just been touched by the grace of almighty God and his mercy has met us in our darkest hour and in our brokenness and he put us back together. Do not let the pretty clothes fool you. Underneath here, there are so many scars, but God has continued to pursue us and love us and empower us and encourage us

and he's the one that has made us new. So if you're looking for proof, you're sitting next to proof. You're sitting next to someone that has been the beneficiary of the grace of almighty God that the nail marks that were in the hands of Jesus healed us and has put us on a firm foundation. God used nails on the cross. God used nails to help a doubter believe. And God uses nails to make all things new. This is what He does. My last verse for all of us and then we're as a team to sing a song over us. Acts chapter 2 verse number 22 and following. So Israelites listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through Him as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him and that's what we celebrate today. And like it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him, when you and I are found in Jesus, it's impossible for death to keep its hold on us. Just bow your head for a moment my friends, in the theater, online, I want you to allow the grace of God to capture your heart in this moment. Drop your walls, undo your fists, relax your hands. Let the grace of God in. What Jesus Christ did on the cross those 2,000 years ago is still good today. So I ask the team just to lead us in a song that will remind us of the beauty of the cross and the glorious resurrection that we have in Jesus Christ. Thank you for the cross Lord, thank you for the price you paid, bearing all my sin and

shame, in love you came and gave amazing grace, thank you for this love Lord, thank you for this love Lord, thank you for this love Lord, thank you for this love Lord, thank you for seated on the throne we crown you now with many crowns you reign Pita, Prius high and lifted up you are Jesus, Son of God the darling of heaven, crucified oh, worthy is the Lamb oh worthy, worthy is the Lamb of God oh, He died so we could live worthy, worthy, this will always be my response worthy is the Lamb and I will say He is worthy worthy, worthy, worthy, oh worthy is the Lamb Jesus, worthy is the Lamb ♪ You are, You are, You are the Risen King ♪ ♪ Never could I hold You back ♪ ♪ You are, You are, You are the Risen King ♪ ♪ You are seated, seated in majesty ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, now and forever we say ♪ ♪ Never could I, never could I hold You back ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You are seated, seated, seated in majesty ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You are seated, seated, seated in majesty ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You are seated, seated, seated in majesty ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You have won the victory ♪ ♪ You have won, You have won the victory ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You have won it all for me ♪ ♪ Never could I, never could I hold You back ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You are the Risen King ♪

♪ You are seated in majesty, seated in majesty, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, one more time, say ♪ ♪ Never could I, never could I hold You back, Hallelujah ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You have overcome the world ♪ ♪ You are seated in majesty, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, one more time, say ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You have won it all for me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You have won it all for me ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You are the Risen King ♪ ♪ You are the Risen King, You have overcome the world ♪ ♪ We are forever, You are highly glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Son of God ♪ ♪ The God in the heavens crucified ♪ ♪ The God in the heavens crucified ♪ ♪ Word is our life, Word is our life ♪ ♪ Say one more word, say one more holy word ♪ ♪ Word is the way, Jesus, Word is our life ♪ ♪ We give Him all the praise, Word is the way. ♪ This moment that we're stepping into now is going to be a moment in someone's life that will change your life forever. I'm about to give you an opportunity to respond to the grace of God. To surrender your heart and your life to Jesus Christ. And this is not about joining a church, or do you have a Bible, or do you think you're a good person. This is about saying, Jesus, I surrender my life to you. The Bible uses the word repent. I'm turning from my own way.

I'm changing my way, I'm thinking. And I'm getting in alignment with you. It's not about have you made mistakes, because we all have. That's why He came. It's not about can you be perfect, because in reality, none of us can. But we're going to find our lives in Christ and be made new. So bow your heads and close your eyes, if you wouldn't mind, just for a moment. I do ask you to do that. to do that just so you can focus. If you're under the sound of my voice and you have never given your heart and your life to Jesus Christ, you've never made him first, you've never made him number one, but you're saying, I don't wanna go my own way anymore, I wanna go his way. Or maybe there was a time you were serving Jesus but you slipped away and you've gone another direction and now you're like, I'm ready to come home, I'm ready to give my heart and my life over to Jesus Christ. As messed up as I feel I am, I'm ready right now to respond to the grace of God. If that's you, you've never given your heart to Christ. Or one point in time you didn't, you slipped away. On the count of three, I want you to throw your hand in the air

and say, yes, that's me, I wanna give my heart and my life to Jesus and I want you to lift that hand high, ready? One, two, three, just lift your hand up high, you're saying, yeah, that's me, this is you responding to the grace of God, you're saying, yeah, this is me. Don't let the person on your right or your left intimidate you right now, this is between you and God, your creator. He wants your heart, he wants your whole life. This is beautiful and powerful. I'm asking everyone to do me a favor, put your hand over your heart if you would not mind. I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me, say, dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I made mistakes and today I give you my heart. Today I give you my life, give me the power to live for you in Jesus' name, amen and amen.