The Good News

We're in a series going through the Apostles' Creed, and what we've been doing each week, if this is your first week here, is we've been reading this creed out loud together. Now, there are different creeds throughout the church history, and what they are is they are statements of faith. The earliest creed actually goes all the way back to the 30s, and not the 1930s, the 30s. Like 36 AD, Paul writes down a creed in 1 Corinthians 15, and these were simple statements of faith that people could memorize, that really take all of scripture and condense it down to a few memorable statements. So this is the Apostles' Creed, and this has been around for about 1700, 1800 years, and we're gonna read this out loud together. I wanna invite you at all locations, would you stand where you are if you're able, and it's gonna come here on the screen. I'm gonna read out loud. Would you read this out loud with me? I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to hell. The third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there, He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. You may be seated. Do you remember the moment that you first surrendered your life to Jesus? Do you remember that moment? I want you in your mind, if you're a follower of Jesus, go back to that moment that you first heard the good news. That's what we're gonna talk about today. It's something called the gospel. Gospel literally means good news. You heard the good news of what God had done for you through the person of Jesus, and you surrendered your life to Him. Do you remember when that was? Do you remember where that was? For me, I was in junior high when I surrendered my life to Jesus. And I'd grown up in church, and I believed in Jesus. I believed things about Jesus, but it was in junior high where I really surrendered my life to Him.

And there's a difference between those two things. See, the Bible teaches that even the demons believe, they believe things about God, they believe things about Jesus, but they don't call Jesus Lord. They haven't surrendered their life to Him. They just believe things. The Bible says even the demons believe, and they shudder. But to surrender your life is something completely different. Do you remember that moment? Do you remember what it felt like to experience the love of God just washing over you? For some of you, that was recently. For some, maybe it happened this summer at camp. For some, maybe it happened this year. You were just recently baptized. For some of us, maybe it was decades and decades ago. But I want you to go back there in your mind because I want you to remember that moment that you first believed and surrendered your life to Jesus. What an incredible gift that God loves you so much that He's provided a way for you to have a real relationship with Him. As we talk about the creed, the apostles' creed, we're talking about what it is that we really believe, not just mental assent, but we've been using this definition. Creed comes from the Latin credo.

And here's the definition. I believe so fully that I give my heart, my trust, and my life to this truth no matter the cost. The word I would use for that is surrender. To surrender to this thing called the gospel. Gospel means good news. It's the foundation of our faith. It's the very core of what we believe. And the gospel is what sets Christianity apart from every other faith on the planet. It's the foundation of our faith. It's the very core of what we believe. It's the very core of what we believe. And the gospel is what sets Christianity apart from every other faith on the planet. Every other faith on the planet is religion. And religion is this. See, you and I, we're separated from God because of our sin. And what every religion on the planet is is advice. Here are the things you and I must do to try and work our way to God. News, it's something completely different. What the Bible teaches, when you and I were separated But the Bible teaches the gospel, good news. from God because of our sin, God, in love, in mercy, and in grace, worked his way to you and in through the person of Jesus. This is not advice, this is news.

This is something that has happened. And he offers life to those who would surrender their life to him. This is the gospel. And for some of you here, you're like, okay, Robert, I've heard this before. I could even do the hand motions, I get it. Here's what I wanna challenge you with. I want you to pay really close attention. I want you first, remember what it was like when you first surrendered your life to Jesus. And I want you to go deep on this truth. Some people are like, Robert, I just wanna go deep. I've heard this, give me something new. There is nothing deeper than what I'm about to share with you right now. Over the next few minutes, we're gonna read from Scripture. This is the deepest truth. This is the greatest reality. Know this, believe this. Credo, at the core of who you are, surrender your life to this reality. It is the most transformational truth in all of human history. Christian faith starts with this thing called the gospel. Listen, and it stays with the gospel. The tendency is if you've been around church for a long time, if you've been following Jesus for a long time, we try and add things to the gospel. Do not do that.

Stay with the gospel. It is good news. It is not religion. It is something completely different. Several years ago, my wife and I, we were driving and we were driving up the 101 and a phone call came in and we answered it. So it was on the car speaker and it was a family member. And this family member had gone on a date with this guy. And on the date, they were kinda getting to know each other and having this conversation over dinner. And he said, well, what are your spiritual beliefs? Are you a Christian? And she said, of course I am. She was not a Christian. But she really liked this guy and thought he was cute. So she said, yeah, I'm a Christian. She said, oh, good, I'm a Christian, you know, and wanted to make sure we had that in common. And I'm glad we believe the same things. And so that date ended and then she called us and she said, hey, I met this guy. He asked if I was a Christian and I said I was a Christian. So what is it that we believe? And over the next several minutes, I shared with this family member what I'm about to share with you. And I want every person in our church to be able to share this with somebody else. If they ever ask you the question, what you believe,

or in my situation, what they believe, that you would be able to share this. And here's the thing, it is so simple. It's three sentences. And if you would memorize these three sentences right now, you would be able to share this. If you would memorize these three sentences, write them down, they're actually verses in the Bible. You can share what it is that we believe. And so in this car ride, I shared these three verses, these three sentences. And my family member, at the end of it, I said, do you want to surrender your life to Jesus? And she said, yeah, I do. And in the car, driving up the 101, over speakerphone, she gave her life to the Lord. The relationship didn't work out. Not going on any more dates, but the real gift was that now she walks with the Lord. And so I want all of you who are followers of Jesus to be able to share what I'm about to share with you with other people. Memorize it, write it down. If you're here and you've not yet surrendered your life to Jesus, I want you to listen very closely. This is the foundation of our faith. This is the good news. I'm gonna walk you through something that I was taught when I was a kid called the Romans Road. In the book of Romans, your Bible is a collection

of 66 ancient manuscripts. And one of those ancient manuscripts was the book of Romans written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome. And it's very much a systematic theology, just kind of looking under the hood of what it is that we believe. And so we're gonna be in the book of Romans and we're just gonna go through a few different verses in there. And we're gonna start, and this will help you remember, we're gonna start with chapter three of Romans. And if you're like, where's Romans? Look in the table of contents and you can find that in your Bible. Go to Romans and you're gonna go to chapter three. Chapters are the big numbers, verses are the small numbers. So chapter three, and then we're gonna go to verse 23. I don't know why I'm doing hand motions. I am. For some of you, this is gonna help you. Three's the magic number, 23. We're gonna start with Romans 3.23, which introduces to us the problem. Now, before I do this, how many of you, when somebody says, I got good news, I got bad news, how many of you are like, give me the good news first? Raise your hand, all locations. If you're like, give me the good news first. Okay.

How many of you are like, give me the bad news first? Just, okay, that's most of us. You're in luck. Here we go, bad news. The problem. Romans 3.23. For all. All includes you, all includes me, all includes every person you've ever locked eyes with, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This is a problem. This is the first sentence of understanding what it is that we believe. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What is sin? Sin means, it's actually an archery term, it means to miss the perfect mark. If God's standard is perfection, anytime we miss that standard, that's called sin. The distance between where the arrow would hit the target and the perfect bullseye, that distance would be called sin. It's an archery term. So I wanna ask this question. We're gonna just go with the 10 commandments. That's familiar, even if you're new to church, you might be familiar with the 10 commandments. How many here have ever told a lie? Just raise your hand if you've ever told a lie, all locations.

Okay, how many have never told a lie? Yes. That counts double, cause you're lying in church right now. All of us. Like there's no question, all of us would go, yeah, you know what? Yeah, I've done that. And here's what happens. This guy's gonna represent us. Anytime you and I tell a lie, that's the word lie, it's like there's this mark on us because of our sin. Now, lying, that was an easy one. There's another command in the 10 commandments that we're to honor our mother and our father. You don't have to raise your hand. I already know the answer. So you have dishonored your mom and dad. How many have ever had some other God other than God Almighty, meaning you've worshiped something in your life. You've placed value on something. You've put something on the throne that only God should occupy, and you've wrapped your life around that thing. Could be money, sex, power, prestige, comfort, food. Don't raise your hand. I already know. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

10 commandments says that we're not to murder. Jesus says, actually, if you have anger in your heart towards somebody, that's the same thing as murder. Maybe you haven't done the action, but the core, the root of it is there. Have you ever had anger or hatred towards somebody? You're like, no. What about the last time you drove in a car? Yep, yep. That's right. That counts too. Adultery. Jesus says that if you look lustfully at somebody, that's adultery in the heart. That's the same core issue. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I'm not gonna go through all 10 commandments, but I promise you, you've broken the other ones too. All have sinned. And so here's what we try and do. Try and go, I'm just gonna add religion to my life. And I'm gonna, we're aware that, if we're really honest, we're aware that we have this problem, and so I'm just gonna try and add religion. I'm gonna try and do good or be a good person. I have this spiritual gift of anytime I get on an airplane, I make it look like I wanna have a conversation, even though I just wanna watch a movie. And my wife makes fun of me for it,

because I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason, just about every flight I sit down and I just end up in conversation, and I'm even putting earbuds in, like I'm giving all the signs, but there's just something about me that says, hey, talk to this guy. And so my last flight I was on, I'm having a conversation, and this guy's talking to me, and I really, I was like, I'm just gonna watch this movie, the entire flight. And I found, like, this guy's interesting, so we had great conversation, and it got to the point where he's like, so what is it that you do? And I was like, oh, I teach. And if you're like, are you ashamed to be a pastor? Not at all, but here's the deal. If ever you're in a conversation with somebody and you want that conversation to end, just tell them you're a pastor. Absolute conversation killer. So I try and wait to kind of like share that, you know, and get to know the person and ask questions and all of that. Like, oh, so what do you teach? History, you know, like. I teach history, and I teach some like, I don't know, like life things.

I work with youth a lot. Oh, that's great. Oh, you teach students? Yeah, yeah, I teach students. And eventually it came out that I'm a pastor, and immediately he goes, wow, I'm trying to be a good person. And what I loved about it is it was honest. And the reality is most people that I talk to, most people that you talk to, all of us were like, well, I'm just trying to be a good person, you know? And we think, well, as long as my good. waste my bad, and this is a very natural human thought. But here's the problem. The Bible doesn't say that we're divided into the good and the bad. There's only two types of people. There's the not guilty, and there's the guilty. That's it. And we just all admitted that we're in the guilty category. In fact, there's only one person in the not guilty category, and that's the person of Jesus. The only person who was born without a sin nature, who never sinned, even though he faced temptation, he never gave in to that temptation. He lived the perfect life that you and I could never live. Jesus alone is perfect.

The rest of us fall into the guilty category. Doing good things doesn't erase the fact that you and I are guilty before a perfect, holy God. That's the problem. And it gets worse because there's a penalty for the problem. I told you three sentences. The first is, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The second sentence is actually two parts. It's one sentence. We're gonna do part one and part two, and if you're like, I can't memorize three sentences, memorize this one sentence. And for those of you that are overachievers, I'm gonna give you a couple extra ones that you can add into your notes. By the way, if you have a Bible, and you're like, I don't know if I'm gonna remember three, two, three, or whatever, you can write it down in the back of your Bible. If there's a blank page and you can write in the margins, you're like, is it okay to underline my Bible? Yes, please oh please do that. Mark it, it'll help you find things as you find verses that you really like, underline it, put a star in it. That'll help you get back to that when you're looking for that verse again. But you can write that down. Write this one down.

This is the penalty, Romans 6, 23. So if we did three, 23, three plus three, that equals six, 23 again. I don't know why I'm doing hand motions again, but there you go. That's gonna help somebody. Romans 6, 23 says this. For the wages, what we earn, a wage is something that you earn, the wages of sin is death. Listen closely. When it talks about death, it's not just talking about physically dying, it's talking about spiritually dying. And here's what death does. Death separates. If you and I are having a conversation and I die, my body's there, but I'm not there. There's been a separation now between us. Death separates what we earn for our sin because God is holy, because God is just. He cannot just ignore our sin because of his holiness, because of his perfection, because of his righteousness, and because of his justice, he can't just ignore sin. And so the penalty, what we earn for our sin is separation from a holy God. Death separates, that's the penalty, but that's only the first part of that second sentence. Romans 6, 23 continues, but, this is the provision, but the gift, a wage is something you earn,

a gift is something that is freely given. You don't have to earn it. If you have to work for it, it's no longer a gift, now it's a wage. Does this make sense? The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So if death separates us, what does life do? It brings us back together. If what we earn for our sin is death, this gift that Jesus offers, the gift of God is eternal life, eternal is just the length of it. It's just the state of that life, it is eternal. The gift is that we are brought back together in relationship with God. And we're gonna dig down theologically here, as does the creed. I don't know if you noticed, but the creed that we've been working through, the Apostles' Creed, it starts out, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth. It starts out with the creation of the world, and it goes quickly to Jesus, his only begotten son. So it gets to the birth of Jesus, and then we get to the part that we're gonna look at today, that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. And from that point forward, all these following subsequent lines really zoom in on just a few days in the life of Jesus. So from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus, those are the first two sentences,

and then the next few sentences are gonna zoom in on just a few days in history. And that's really important because those few days are really important. Says that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. Now I had somebody ask me, Robert, why is Pontius Pilate mentioned in the creed? Like that guy's kind of a loser and he gets his name in the creed? I mean, aren't there other people that we wanna highlight and all of that? Here's why Pontius Pilate is mentioned because it's a timestamp in history. This was a real trial that took place. This was a real moment in history that happened. And for years, historians would say, well, the Bible's not accurate because there's no real record of Pontius Pilate, whoever that guy was. And they said, well, there's this one mentioned by Tacitus, but it's a different title and the Bible got it wrong. And they would argue that Christianity can't be trusted because the foundation, the Bible can't be trusted. And then in 1961, archeologists were digging in what is now known as Caesarea Maritima. And as they were digging, they found this stone and etched into this stone, it said Pontius Pilate, and it had the title that he had. And it was from the time period of the crucifixion of Jesus.

And guess who got it right? The Bible. And this great Roman historian actually got his title wrong. The Bible remains undefeated. Anytime you hear people go, oh, I don't know, there's historical inaccuracies and all of that. The Bible remains undefeated. I would put the Bible against any other historical book and it's more than just history. It's a collection of 66 books, a unified story, and all of it points to Jesus. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified. He died, he really died, and he was buried. When he was crucified, Jesus on the cross, what he was doing was paying the debt for our sin. He was paying the debt for our sin to restore, sorry, PG. To restore our relationship with God. He took our sin upon himself. Bible teaches, he who knew no sin, meaning he was the only one not guilty, became sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. And on the cross, Jesus, who lived the perfect life after he was tortured, he was beaten, crown of thorns on his head, his back ripped open, he was nailed to this cross. And on this cross, do you know what he said? He uttered this word, tetelestai.

And it was an accounting term that means the debt has been paid in full. We translate that, it is finished. And on the cross, what's the debt that he paid? It was the debt for your sin and for my sin. It was the debt that you and I could never pay on our own. It's the debt that he did not deserve, but he chose to pay it. Do you know why? Because God so loved the world. He gave his one and only son that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. He did this because he loves you, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter what's been done to you. And he declares it is finished. And there is a cosmic ripple that happens in this moment. The sky is dark, the earth shakes, people walk out of tombs in the temple. This was the religious center where it represented the holy of holies. This is a place where the presence of God was. And there was this veil in between the high priests and the priests and the holy of holies, because sinful people and a holy God do not mix well. And so you had this veil and some scholars believe it was about 60 feet high. And as thick as about four inches thick to separate these areas. And in this moment, Jesus declares it is finished

and the earth shakes. It is torn, the Bible records in multiple places from top to bottom. That God is opening up what had been separated because of our sin and providing now a way for us to have access to this holy God through the blood of the lamb who takes away the sins of the world. That's the moment that the creed is zooming in on. That he was crucified. He really died. He was buried, he placed his body in a tomb. And then it says he descended into hell. And if ever you've wondered, well, what does that mean? I'm gonna explain it to you. He descended into hell. Now the word hell, there's different words in the Bible that we just translate into the word hell. In the Hebrew language, there's a word called Sheol. In Sheol, this is just the place where dead people go. And in Greek, the word is Hades. This is the place where dead people go. Now there's another word, Gehenna, and this is the place of eternal punishment. This is not where Jesus goes. So if you're picturing in your mind this place of eternal punishment, Jesus goes into the place of the dead, meaning he really physically died. He enters into this place, but listen,

he's paid the debt, he's victorious. And what's gonna happen in the moments that follow, we're gonna look at several things that happen after the crucifixion. The best way I can describe this, this is like the victory parade. Let me explain it this way. I imagine one day the Phoenix Suns will win a championship. It's in my imagination. I can picture it. It's almost happened a couple times. I was born and raised here in Arizona. I've been a fan my entire life. And I imagine one day we're gonna win, and there's gonna be a celebration at the end of that NBA Finals game. And they're gonna wear the hats, and the confetti's gonna fall. They're gonna have the T-shirts. They're gonna interview him. They're gonna pass a trophy around. And then there's gonna be a parade. And people will celebrate this great victory. One day it's gonna happen. Jesus pays the debt of our sin on the cross. And what follows, the best way I can describe it, it is a victory parade. When he descends into hell, into Hades. And the picture of this, we get it from 1 Peter. We get it actually from the Old Testament prophecies

in Isaiah and in Psalms and some of the other prophets. We see it depicted in Acts and Ephesians. And when we put all of that together, because the Bible is one unified story, we get this picture of what's happening. And here's the best way I can summarize what Jesus is doing, what happens when he enters into the place of the dead. Well, in the place of the dead, biblically, there's kind of two different areas. There's one where the demonic forces dwell. And where the unrighteous are separated from those who have put their faith in God. And Jesus goes into this place, this demonic area, and he looks them into the eye. And this is the best way I can describe it. He looks them in the eye, and he says, I won. And then he walks out. Bible says that he actually speaks to the demonic forces. He tells them what just happened. And then he goes to the place of the dead for those who had put their faith in God, who are described in Hebrews as those who didn't receive it yet, but they had their hope and their trust, and it was credited to them. And then he goes to the place of the dead for those who had put their faith in God. And then he goes to the place of the dead for those who had put their faith in God.

And it's credited to them as righteousness, the same way we're credited with righteousness through faith in God. That those who were in the place of the dead, Jesus enters into that place and he says, you guys are coming with me. I've conquered death. I've conquered hell, the place of the dead. I've conquered the grave. And it struck me for the first time as I was studying this this week, and I actually, I'm not an emotional person, but I just sat and I just had tears streaming down my face thinking about one person in particular. His name's John the Baptist. John the Baptist is the one that said when Jesus was walking up, he's the one who baptizes Jesus and he says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who takes away the sin of the world. Doesn't just mask over it, doesn't just cover it up. No, he takes it away. How? He becomes that sin. He pays that debt on the cross. And towards the end of his life, John the Baptist, he's gonna be murdered. And he sends disciples to Jesus going, Jesus, are you not the Messiah that I thought you were? I'm about to be beheaded.

I'm about to be killed. And Jesus sends message back to him. And you know what Jesus does? He quotes the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, the anointed one, the savior, the rescuer that he's fulfilled, that the blind see, the deaf hear. He sends message to John the Baptist, don't lose hope. And in this moment, somewhere between Friday and Sunday, Jesus enters into the place of the dead. And he says, John, I told you, you're coming with me. And from this moment forward in the Bible, see, everything prior to that, it was talked about when people would die, they would go to the place of the dead. And from this moment forward, Jesus has broken the curse of death and the language changes. Now, throughout the New Testament, to live is Christ, to die is gain. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, the Bible teaches. It's completely different than the language that's used prior to that, because something cosmically has happened. Jesus has conquered death. In Revelation, it says that Jesus holds the keys to death. and to Hades, he's conquered it. That's why he tells the thief next to him on the cross, today you will be with me, not in the place of the dead. No, he says, today you will be with me in paradise.

He was dead, he was buried, he descended to hell. And on the third day, there was a resurrection, he rose again. Unlike every other human in history, death could not hold him by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was brought from the realm of the dead, resurrected a new body amongst the living. And he appears to his disciples, and he appears to many believers hundreds at a time. And then he ascends to heaven, he gathers his disciples together, he ascends to heaven. What's Jesus doing right now? He's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, he is sitting in power, he is reigning, he is holding the keys to death and the grave, and he's offering life to whoever would surrender their life to him. He ascended to heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Romans 4.25, you can write that one down, says he was delivered over to death for our sins, and he was raised to life for our justification. What does that mean? That means when God looks at us, when you surrender your life to Jesus, when God looks at us, he doesn't see all of our sin, he doesn't see all of the things that we've messed up, the words that we've said, the things we should have said that we didn't, he sees the righteousness of Jesus.

We are clothed in the righteousness of the only one who's not guilty. And here's the promise, this is the last sentence. Romans 10.9. If you're like, dude, I don't have enough fingers, I can't, I guess 10.9, there you go, 10.9. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one Lord, his name is Jesus. Romans 10.9, if you, meaning this is personal, if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. What does that mean? It means I surrender my life to him. And you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Church, that's really good news. If you're here and you're ready to surrender your life to Jesus, I'm gonna invite you to do that right now. And so I'm gonna lead us in a word of prayer. You can close your eyes, bow your head. Something we do at Sun Valley, we open up our palms, this is a posture of receiving. It's also a posture of surrender. It's a posture of laying down. All of our effort, all of our own works. And if you're ready to surrender, to lay down your life, surrender your life to Jesus, I'm gonna help you do that right now. You can pray to God, you can use my words in your own heart and mind,

you don't have to say it out loud, he hears your thoughts. You can say, God, I know that I've sinned. I know the penalty of sin is death. Jesus, thank you for living the perfect life I couldn't live. Laying down that life is a payment for my sin. I say yes to your gift of new life through faith in you. I believe in the resurrection. I believe that you conquered death, hell, and the grave. And I choose to surrender my life to you now. Jesus, you are Lord. Amen. If ever you wonder, why do we say amen? It means let it be so. If you just said yes to surrendering your life to Jesus, we have a gift we wanna give you. And so here in just a moment at the end of the service, you can come forward to our first step area, you'll see signs by the stage, you can grab one of these Bibles, there's a guide in here to help you in your journey of following Jesus. And for the rest of us, church, don't just hear this today and go, wow, yeah, that gospel's good. Memorize it. Be ready to share it. And one of the highlights of my summer, I was at junior high camp and my daughter,

she was a small group leader, she's in high school, she was a small group leader at junior high camp. And one of the girls in our small group, there was a. Presentation similar to what I just shared with you. And this girl decided to surrender her life to Jesus. And they had a moment where she could walk forward and they had this big drum and she hit the drum and it was a way of just saying, I'm surrendering my life to the rhythm of Jesus. And she walked back and she gave my daughter this huge hug and she says, I did it. I got invited to be in the baptism water, this last baptism with my daughter and with this junior high girl. And I got to be a part of watching my daughter baptize. This sweet little girl. And I gotta tell you as a dad, I love baptizing people. I love being in the water. I love those moments. It does not compare to watching my kid pass the baton of faith to another person. There's nothing like it. And God, the Father, Abba Almighty loves watching us pass the baton of our faith to others. So church, be willing to share what it is that you believe. Be willing to share the good news. There's new life, forgiveness of sins for those who would surrender their life to Jesus. Would you pray with me?

God, thanks for loving us so much. For providing a way when we could never have done it on our own. God, what an incredible gift. For those who just surrendered their life to you, thank you. We know that there's a celebration in heaven over one person who surrenders their life and so God, we celebrate with you in that, thank you. And for those of us who have been followers of you maybe for months, maybe for years, maybe for decades, would you help us remember what it was like the first time we received your grace? And may we be bold in sharing that good news with others. Guide us, we ask and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.