The Line in the Sand - Hell

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- Well, hey there, Pantano. How we doing? We doing all right? (audience applauding) But it is really, really good to be with y'all. Hey, before we dive in today, you know this each and every week if you're here. We have people all over the globe with us. We've got folks all the way from Minnesota right now. We've got folks at our Benson campus. We've got folks in the prisons on the Pando app all over the United States. We've got people at Gospel Rescue Mission and our online campus. Would you welcome all of them in today? We are so glad you are with us. (audience applauding) Well, if I'm brutally honest about this message today, this is one of those that I kind of wanted to skip. Like, I got to the last couple of weeks and I was like, man, this is the one right now, I'm like, man, if we skip this one, I'm good. Nobody would know. I'm the pastor, I make the schedule. We've been in this series called The Line in the Sand and we're talking about the lines that people draw so they don't have to follow Jesus. And we've covered some really, really heavy topics, like the exclusivity of Christianity, that Christianity's so exclusive.

Why would I want to do that? Are we talking about sexual-ethnic? Remember that one? Yeah, I didn't even preach that one. I gave it to somebody else. (audience laughing) Then we talked about suffering. We've talked about hypocrisy. Last week we talked about misogyny. And I know, like some of you guys are like, man, after those, what could be any harder to preach and teach than that? I would talk about today for me as one of those that, man, I'm just not excited to preach about. We're preaching about hell today. You're like, oh, that sounds like a feel-good kind of day. In fact, I would say no pastor should ever be excited to preach about hell. Like, if you're excited about hell, there's probably something wrong with your heart. (audience laughing) Like, I don't take joy in hell. I feel the weight of it, but here's what I know, is I was looking at this trying to figure out how to maneuver the preaching schedule so we didn't have to talk about it. I realized something. I love you too much to skip it. And I actually love our city too much to pretend, like Jesus never talked about it.

I love Benson, and I love our prison system, and I love all of the people that are engaged with what we're doing. And so I just couldn't do it. I couldn't skip it. And there's a lot of opinions on hell. I'm reminded of a story. It was the day after Christmas, 2004. I actually remember this day. I can tell you where I was sitting when this event in history happened. You ever have those moments where you remember where you were when something happened? And there was a 10-year-old girl. Her name is actually Tilly Smith, and she was standing on a beach in Thailand with her family on vacation. Perfect morning. And Tilly decided that she was gonna go look at the water. And when she got to the edge of the water, 10-year-old Tilly noticed something weird. It was frothing and bubbling at the water. Now, normally that wouldn't be weird, but two weeks earlier in her geography class, her teacher back in England had taught her class what that meant. So she starts telling her parents. She goes to her mom and dad frantic saying, "There's gonna be a tsunami." Now, parents, if your 10-year-old runs down the beach

on a perfect morning, you're like, "There's gonna be a tsunami." You're like, "Oh my gosh, shut up, we're on vacation." Dad, the water's bubbling and frothing. That's what the ocean does, baby. It moves. It gets frothy like a cappuccino out there. They did what all parents do. Relax, we're on vacation. But she wouldn't let it go. You ever had a persistent 10-year-old? A persistent little girl, 10-year-old? I had two of them at one point in my life. Two persistent 10-year-old little girls are like 40, 40-year-old persistent little girls. This is what they're like, right? And she wouldn't let it go. She was like, "Dad, you don't understand. There's a tsunami coming. You gotta tell someone, we gotta warn people. We gotta let people know she gets louder." And her dad's like, "You're kinda ruining the morning, Tilly." But finally her dad goes and talks to security guard. The security guard clears the beach. Little over 100 people. Literally minutes later, the waves begin to get bigger and hit the shore. I don't know if you remember the tsunami of 2004 killed literally hundreds upon hundreds of people. Not one person on that beach died

because of Tilly Smith. Not one. Can I ask you something? Yeah, you could applaud that. (audience applauding) But can I ask you something about Tilly? Do you think people after that? "What a hateful little girl. "How dare you ruin my vacation. "Like what kind of hateful little girl "talks about tsunamis on my vacation?" Nobody said that. You know what they labeled Tilly a hero? So why is it when Jesus warns us that we're about to be wiped out by something? We get offended by it. We call Jesus cruel. See, the skeptic in that story were the parents. As any parent would have probably been a little skeptical. They're annoyed at the warning and their sure it's an overreaction, like this is just a 10 year old being a 10 year old. Now the objection assumes that Jesus is the wave but Jesus isn't the wave. He's actually the kid on the beach trying to convince everybody to get off. Now here's the line in the sand a lot of people draw. And if there's one that I've heard more than anything else over my time in ministry, it's this. Trevor, because of hell, I can't be a Christian.

And then they followed up with, "How could a loving God send people to hell? "How could a loving God send people to hell?" Yeah, can I tell you something? I actually get this one. I get it. It's actually not a dumb question. It's a very human question. In fact, if that question has never bothered you, you've not thought about it very long. You've not thought about the implications. Like to take how lightly means that you have to not consider it deeply if you take it lightly. Let me ask you, what about you? Like what is your thought process? My guess is most of us do one of two things with hell. We either avoid it or we abuse it. We avoid it or we abuse it. We avoid it because honestly, it probably scares us. It probably scares us. So we try to soften it, right? We joke about it, we say things like, "Hell's where the party is?" Woo! It's gonna be one big frat party. By the way, if that's appealing to you, we got a whole 'nother set of messages we need to talk about. We're like, "That's where all my friends "and I are gonna party for eternity."

Or we turn it into a punchline. We turn it into a little bit of a cuss word because that feels better than reality, right? That's what some of us do with hell. Or we go the other way, we weaponize it. We abuse it. We paint it on a sign that says, "Turn or burn," right? I was literally driving my daughter back to U of A's campus this last week and there were people protesting in the street. And one sign, "Turn or burn." I'm like, "I wish you'd just get out of the road "so I could turn down the street over here." That's what I wish you would do. I just wanna turn. I'm not worried about the burning, I just wanna turn. Or we scream it on a street corner. We use fear and shame so that people do what we want them to do. Like we use lots of fear. Like some of you grew up in churches like that, didn't you? Where if you don't do this, you're going to hell. If you do this, you're going to hell. It was never where you get to be with Jesus as long as like, if you do this, you're going to hell. Very little love. Here's what I know about Jesus. Jesus doesn't do either of these things. He never used hell as a joke. He never used it as a weapon. He was clear and clear as kind.

Now, some of you are like, so what is hell? If it's not a party? Well, scripture says it's weeping, gnashing of teeth, eternal darkness, sulfur all over your skin, a burning that never goes away. I don't know about you, does it sound like my kind of party? That's not a good Friday night at my house. That's what scripture says of hell. But let's be honest about something else. We say we don't want anyone to face judgment. Like if I were to ask you, how many would say, man, I don't want anybody to face a judgment of hell. Would anybody say that? I don't think that's true. You're like, then why'd you make me raise my hand? (congregation laughing) I don't think we really believe that and here's why. I don't know many people, especially in this room or anywhere else, that wants the man who traffics children to get a pass. You're like, oh, dang it, why'd I raise my hand? (congregation laughing) I don't know many people that want the abuser to simply get to walk away. Something deep in us cries out that somebody has to make this right. I'm sure all of us have felt that way. See, we love fair. We want justice for everybody else. But the problem is, is we just want grace for us.

Yeah, I want justice for that, Yehoo, but give me grace. So the real question is not whether there should be a line All of us believe in a line. The real question is who draws it? That's the real question. Like this whole series has been about these lines in the sand. So here's what I want you to carry out of here, Daddy. We're gonna unpack this 'cause you're gonna hear this thing. So what does that mean? But here's what I want you to hear as we start. God honors the line that you draw. God honors the line that you draw. We'll come back to that. Just hang that for a minute. I want you to go over to Matthew chapter 25 if you got Bibles. Matthew chapter 25, if you don't have a Bible, let me encourage you, buy a Bible. If you're like, I can't afford a Bible. Come talk to somebody. We'll figure out a way to get you a Bible, okay? Like open up a physical Bible. Like get in this thing, Matthew chapter 25, it's in the New Testament, the back half of the Bible, right? The first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 25. And here's something that surprises people. The person in the Bible who talks about how the most, not the apostle Paul.

Some people are like, I feel like that guy would talk about hell a lot, no. Some people will be like, oh, it's the Old Testament prophets 'cause they're always angry. You know what I mean? You read the prophets, you're like, those are some angry dudes. They're always telling people they're going to hell. No? You know who talked about hell more than anybody else in Scripture? Jesus. The most loving person who ever lives said more about hell than anyone else in Scripture. Why is that? It reminds me of a story from December of 1984. On the M25 motorway in London, just south of London, a thick fog had settled over them. Some of you guys are like, isn't that London all the time? But it was thick. In fact, a truck drove into the fog and crashed. But because the traffic behind him couldn't see what had happened within minutes, car after car after car is slamming into other cars blindly, people were dying left and right on this highway. Two police officers got to the scene and they start waving down drivers, like they're trying to wave them down, but nobody will pay attention because I can't see them. So then they start screaming and waving

and people just keep driving into the fog. Finally, one of the officers picks up a cone and throws it. Got your attention, didn't I? Like chunk the cone, threw it at their windshield. Like, bounce this, author, can you imagine you're driving down the road and this is like, weeee, and hit your windshield. First of all, you're going to stop your car, aren't you? Yes, she's like, absolutely, I'm going to stop my car. And then you're going to probably get out of your car ready to fight and then you're going to see the police officer and you're like, oh my bad, what did you need? Like they're literally, in this moment they're chunking cones to make sure people that waving was not enough, screaming was not enough, throwing some cones at people's cars is what got their attention. Anything to stop one more. You know what's crazy? Nobody called those officers hateful. Nobody filed an insurance claim on them. See, that's what Jesus is doing, talking about hell. It's not a threat. He's literally standing in the road, throwing cones at our life. Going, hey, would you just pay attention? That's what Jesus is doing. So what did he say? Matthew chapter 25, verse 46. He says, and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into where?

What's it say? Eternal life. Two destinations, both eternal. Paul describes it this way. Second Thessalonians chapter one, verse nine. They will be punished with eternal destruction. Forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power. That sounds intense. Then Jesus describes that Mark chapter nine, verse 48. This is what He says. It's a place where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out. Does that sound like a party? Sound like a place you want to go hang out with all your friends? I don't want to soften this. 'Cause I think a lot of Christians have tried to soften this, but here's the reality. Hell is real. Hell is forever. At its core, hell is being forever separated from God. I want you to think about that. Like every laugh, every sunset over the Catalina's, every moment you've ever been loved, all of it came from God Himself. Hell is the existence without any of that. Without the one who's given you that. Complete separation. Now watch this. Watch what happens in Scripture.

Five verses earlier, Jesus tells us who hell was made for. Don't miss this. Don't miss this part of Scripture. you cursed ones, into the eternal fire, prepared for who? Who's it say?'" The devil and his demons like did you catch it? Hell was not prepared for you and me. That was never the intent. It was actually prepared for Satan and his demons. So hell was never God's dream for you and me, not the dream. So how does anyone end up there? Well, let's take the question apart, right? Because the line in the sand is, "How could a loving God send people to hell?" Three words, people send and loving. Let's unpack those three words in that question. Let's go to this first word, people. Let's just go to that word. The question assumes that people are neutral, right? "How could a loving God send people?" Well, that makes it sound like we're all just standing around innocent and God's picking on us. Let me ask you, how many of you are without sin? Cool. Jesus is not here, okay? If you raised your hand, I want to meet you because you were literally Jesus. Like God is not picking on us. Jesus actually says, otherwise, John 3, 19, and the judgment is based on this fact. God's light came into the world, but people love the darkness more than they love the light for their actions were evil. Not some people, people, me, you, each and every one of us. Here's why, because people are not neutral. Jesus told a story about a king whose own citizens rejected him. Like you can go unpack the whole story in Luke chapter 19, but verse 14 says, "But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say we don't want him to be our king." That's the human heart. That's the human condition. That's the line. We don't want a king. We want to be the king. We like our own little kingdoms. Let me remind you something. God honors the line that you draw. If that's the line you draw, he won't honor that line. That's what he does. Here's what I know. Life is not fair. Let me ask you, how many know life is not fair? Just show of hands. Oh, good. You've experienced some. If you're not raising your hand, you were born like literally today. You're an infant. We're really glad you're here. It's going to get worse. All right. I'm just letting you know. Here's how I know life's not fair, because the cross is not fair. Like a perfect man in Jesus was tortured for crimes he never committed. Here's what else I

know. Heaven is not fair either. You're like, wait, what? Oh, heaven's not fair. You know why I know heaven's not fair? Because you and I get to go there. That's not fair. Because we don't deserve heaven. What's fair? You know what we deserve? Come on. Oh, yeah. I just want to make sure you're listening what we're talking about. I'm going to sit seven people with a cone just a minute ago. I mean, let's pay attention, all right? I wasn't even supposed to leave the stage. I assured our team I won't hit anybody with this. They're like, now liability. What did we do? Right? That's where we're at. Like none of us deserve heaven. Here's what I know. Like, there's these two things mercy and grace. Let me redefine them for you. Mercy. We love mercy. Anybody like mercy? Oh, yeah. Have mercy. Uncle Jesse. Full house. Here's what mercy is. Mercy is not getting what I deserve. That's the definition of mercy. I don't get hell. That's mercy. That's what I deserve. I deserve hell, but God's mercy keeps me out of there. Here's what grace is. Grace is getting what I don't deserve. You know what I don't deserve? Heaven. You know what I get? If I declare Jesus, I get heaven. Mercy and grace. Romans 623, it says this, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God." I love this. The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Wages are what we earn. A gift is what you didn't. So maybe the better question is not how a loving God could let anyone go to hell. Maybe it's how a just God could ever let Trevor Devage into heaven. How could a just God ever let any of us in? Maybe that's the better question. So that's people. Let's talk about the next word in the question. How could a loving God send people? Send. Hear me carefully. Jesus is the judge. The sentence is real. He's the one who gives it, but nobody ends up on the wrong side of that judgment who don't walk away from the king first. That's the only way you end up on the wrong side of that judgment. C.S. Lewis, he's a theologian, a writer, he's written unbelievable, But he says this, "The doors of hell are locked on the inside." They're locked on the inside. Paul says the same thing about people who kept pushing God away, Romans 1, verse 24. So God abandoned them to do whatever their shameful things their hearts desired. Can I tell you that right there may be one of the scariest verses in the Bible to me.

That right there. And he abandoned us to do whatever shameful things our hearts desired. Basically that God takes his hands off and says, "Okay, you want it your way? Have it your way." You want your little Burger King life? Have it your way? It's going to be flame-brilled. If you're not careful, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's really funny. That just happened on the spot. That's pretty wild. Here's what I know about love. Love never forces. I've had people go, "Why doesn't God just make us do this because love is not love if you're forced? If God forced you to love him, it would not be love. If you spend your whole lifetime to leave you alone, in the end he probably will." Lewis actually went on to say this, "There are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those two whom God says, 'Thy will be done.'" See God honors the line you draw. If you draw the line that says, "I don't want you," he'll honor your line. Now, you might say, "But Trevor, nobody would choose hell." I agree. I agree. But here's the problem. The choice has never been about a place. It's always been about a person. That's what you're choosing. Would you even want heaven if Jesus wasn't there? I wouldn't.

He's what makes heaven. You can't have the kingdom without the king. See, we're not choosing a place, we're choosing a person. So we've got these people, and how could God send people? How could a loving God, let's talk about loving. You may say, "Okay, but how can love and wrath live in the same God?" Have you ever thought about that? The wrathful God of the Old Testament, you kind of lump this in, you're like, "How could God be so wrathful?" My friend Matt Hessel, he's a pastor in Colorado, he's actually the one that gave me the idea for this series. So if you don't like it, blame him. Send him lots of emails, okay? We'll find his email and send it to all of you. It'll be great. And he talks about going to Kenya, and he told me the story of walking through one of the poorest slums in the entire nation of Kenya. I don't know if you've ever been in a third world environment, but it blows up anything you've ever seen here. And he said that as he's walking through, he met a woman there. And she said this to me. He said this absolutely rocked my existence as a Christ follower, as a pastor. She said, "I can't believe in a God of love if he's not also a God of justice and wrath." And then she told him why. She said, "The worst days in the slums are the days it rains, because the rain pounding on the tin roof drowns out the screams, and that's when the rapes happen." She said, "And I can't believe that God is loving if he's not also going to be just and wrathful towards those that are doing this." So you go tell that woman that a loving God should never be angry. Let's go tell her that.

And here's what we miss. Wrath is what love does with evil. Wrath is what love does with evil. So before my girls were born, if you would have asked me if I was capable of wrath, I'd like to know, then the first one showed up. And something began to well up in this daddy's heart, that if you hurt my little girl, I will help you meet Jesus today. The Scripture say lay hands on it, never says how hard. You hurt one of my girls, it's unlike Donkey Kong. You're like, "But you're a pastor, you're right, but I'm a daddy first, and you miss one of my girls, I'm going to throw more than a cone at you, okay? I know people. There's lots of desert." And I have friends with big machines. I'm not accusing or saying anything. Just forget I said any of that, okay? But I never would have thought that I could be wrathful until I had little girls. And here's why. I look at them, and I'm like, how could anyone... And that's how God looks at us. See, that's not the opposite of love, by the way. That is love. See, if you have a problem with evil, then you don't really have a problem with wrath. Because you want God to defend his children. But a God who shrugs at the slum while people are being raped is not loving. That's indifference. That's an indifferent God. But here's where it turns.

This is where it shifts. The same God who is angry at evil also doesn't want a single person to face it. He doesn't want one person to face it. How do I know? Go back to the Old Testament, Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 11, it says, "As surely as I live," says the sovereign Lord. "I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people." Now, if you just stop there, man, some of us are like, "I don't like that sentence." But we should because inherently all of us are wicked. He says, "I don't take pleasure in the death "of wicked people. "I only want them to turn from their wicked ways "so they can what?" What's he say? So they can live. Maybe dig a little deeper. Second Peter says it like this, chapter three, verse nine. "The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise." He's not being slow as some people think. No, he's being patient for your sake. He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent. You know what the grace of God is? Is he hasn't wiped us off the planet yet. Like he wants every single one of us to know the truth of eternity with him. God's not having itching to drop people.

He's in the road in the fog, waving his arms and throwing cones. Just trying to get you to pay attention. He's not turn or burn. He's, "I need to get you away from the fire." He did more than wave. He did more than throw cones. You ever heard John 3, 16? Anybody ever heard that verse? Anybody know it? Anybody ever seen it on a piece of cardboard in an end zone in a football game? You know what's funny? Most people know John 3, 16 for God. Love the world. He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Boom, we like that. But we miss verse 17 where it says this, God sent his son into the world not to judge the world but to save the world through him. That's the linchpin of John 3, 16. That every sin gets paid for. So either Jesus paid for it at the cross or I gotta pay for it myself. It's one of the two. So on the cross, he took the judgment I earned. I earned it. My wage, death, destruction. He was forsaken so we wouldn't have to be.

So I drew a line in the sand and put keep out and God was like, I'm not really good at personal space. So I'm gonna cross the line to try to bring you home. I'm gonna do everything I can. God honors the line you draw but he bled to give you a chance to erase it. That's what he did. So what about you? I wanna talk to two groups. If you're here and you're not a follower of Jesus, can I just tell you? I'm not trying to scare you into anything. I'm not. So somebody sent me a message or like, you're gonna scare the hell out of people this weekend? I'm like, what? It's a weird question to ask me. Now I think I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna try to love you into heaven. I'm not trying to scare you into anything. We're out of it. Here's what I know about fear. Fear makes terrible disciples. Terrible disciples. Can I just tell you? Jesus is not fire insurance. I used to hear that growing up. People get baptized in the church I grew up in but I got my fire insurance. I'm like, what?

This ain't all state. This isn't Lemu, emu and all that kind of weird stuff. Like that's none of that. Liberty, bibberty, whatever your thing is, right? Jesus is not fire insurance. He's the treasure. Like, I'm just a guy in the road waving my arms and throwing cones 'cause I care about you. So if you're hearing you don't know him, like I'd really, there's some people I'd love to actually throw one of these out. You guys are like, you got real close. They're probably all gonna get baptized again today because I threw a cone at 'em. No, I'm just joking. That's hilarious. I'm not actually gonna throw it but I do wanna ask you, what line have you drawn? Maybe it's been one of these last six weeks. Maybe it was something a church did to you. Maybe it's something a Christian did to you. I'm really sorry. Maybe you just like being your own king. That's the line you draw. He'll honor it. He's not going to kick in the door. But he does say this in Scripture that he will stand on the other side of the door and he'll knock. And the hand that is knocking is a hand that's got scars that was willing to die for you to erase the line.

Now, I know somebody like, yeah, but my life's a mess, let me go get cleaned up and then I'll figure this out. You're never going to figure it out to fetch your attitude. Jesus doesn't want you to clean yourself up first. He says, I just want you to come home. I just want you to come home. Now if you're a follower of Jesus, let me talk to you. This message costs you something, too, because if hell is real, the people around you are not projects. There are people in the fog that they're your neighbor, your co-worker, your dad, your kid that has walked away, your spouse. I'll never forget my dad's words. My mom and I were both baptized. We were both attending church. We were both involved. We were both trying to figure out our faith and my dad wasn't. And I'll never forget his words. So I realize at some point my wife and my son might be going somewhere that I'm not and I want to do everything in my power to make sure I was with them. So let me ask you, who's your one? If you already know Jesus, who is your one that you're trying to snatch out of hell? If you're like, what's a one? We talk about around here all the time. It's just one person in your life far from God that needs the hope of Jesus. Let me ask you, when is the last time you love somebody enough to have an awkward conversation with them? By the way, I love awkward conversations, they're my favorite. The more awkward, the better. That's why I love being on an airplane with people, they can't get away from me. That's why I always sit on the aisle.

They have to walk over me. Where are you going? Bathroom, you want me to pray for you? Then they don't ever come out. It's crazy. It's weird. Like, what's the last time you had an awkward conversation? Not with a sign on the side of the street. Not with shame. How about with tears in your eyes? Like, if we really believe this, silence is not kindness. There's no kindness in being silent. You know what some of us need to do that know Jesus, we need to repent of being more comfortable than concerned. We've just gotten comfortable. And the problem is, is without concern, people go to hell. And here's what I know. If we don't address people on their way to hell, what we're really saying is we bless whatever it is that's sending them to hell. If we say nothing, we're giving that our silent blessing. Let me say the reason I'm so passionate about telling you about the hope of Jesus. I came to this realization a couple of decades ago. The reason why I'm so passionate about telling you about the hope of Jesus is because I know a couple of things. One, I may never get an opportunity to tell you this again. Like this could be my last day on earth, I don't know. And here's what I know. If it is, if it's the last sound bite, I need you to know that there's something better than hell. I'm also very aware this could be your last day.

You're like, I don't like that. You might not like it, but it's true. And if this is it, and I don't tell you, that there's a Jesus that died for you, bled for you, rose for you, so that you wouldn't have to know eternal separation from Him. You wouldn't have to know weeping and gnashing of teeth and eternal fire and maggots and burning, if I didn't tell you that, you know how much I'd have to hate you not to tell you that. I don't want you to live another day in that. See, Jesus was never afraid of your line in the sand. Remember the woman in John chapter 8, she's caught in the act of adultery they throw where in front of Jesus? You know what I love about Jesus? He stooped down and he drew lines in the dirt. I think he was kind of doodling messing with the religious leaders. But on the cross, he stepped over every one of those lines that had been drawn. Tucson and Benson, the prisons, gospel rescue mission, online. Can I just tell you, our cities are full of people driving straight into the fog. It's full of them. I don't know if you realize, but in the-- that worship with us. That's a lot of people, y'all. That's a small city. But here's my challenge to all of us, is what if, all of us that call this place home, we became the church that stands in the road and throws cones. Now some of you guys are like literally, no, not literally, please don't go do that. (congregation laughs) But what if we erase the line in the sand?

You know what erases lines in sand? Water. Water erases lines in sand. Every line you've ever drawn on a beach disappears the moment the water comes in, doesn't it? When my girls were little, we go on a vacation. If we do a beach vacation, the first day, they would always write the name of the place we were, and then the year underneath of it. So like if we were in Puerto Rico, let's say Puerto Rico, 20, 23, right? And then the water would come in, and when they were little, they'd get so mad. They're like, "We work so hard." It's like then don't stand that close to the water. What's wrong with you? (congregation laughs) Every line disappears with water. That's baptism, that's baptism. Acts chapter two, verse 38, one of the most famous verses on baptism. Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins, "and turn to God." Now repents just a really fancy word for Micah 180. Turn in a new direction. And he says, "Repent of your sins, and turn to God." He says, "And be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, "for the forgiveness of your sins." Then you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's baptism week here at Pantan,

and you're like, "That's every week, isn't it?" It is. This is an emphasis week. We've already had some in some other services this week. By the way, at this point, over 1,000 people, again, this year, have given their life to Jesus here at Pantan. It's been unbelievable. (congregation applauding) And I need to remind you, the water is not magic. It's Tucson water. I promise you it is not magic. It's not magically delicious. Do not open your mouth. (congregation laughing) Jesus is the one who saves. But baptism is where you stop standing on the side of the line, and you go under with him, and then the old gets buried, and the line gets washed away, and you come out on his side. You see, you drew the line, but Jesus crossed it. And the waters where you let him erase it. That's no longer about you or me. So if you've never been baptized, I'm not gonna ask you to think about it. I'm done asking you that. For a long time, I've been like, "Hey, once you go pray about it, once you think about it, I'm done with that." I'm not gonna ask you to think about it.

I'm gonna ask you to do it. To just get rid of every excuse, today. Not tomorrow, not six weeks from now. Not when grandma can be here. Not when we get the whole family here. That sounds really noble. And yes, if you've got your people here, that's great. But it's not about your people. It's about your eternity. It's about erasing the line. In the book of Acts, people believed in that same moment. They would get baptized. Like there's stories where people would hear about Jesus, and then they'd be like, "Hey, there's some water. "Can I get baptized?" And they'd be like, "Sure. "Can you imagine that? "You're riding down the road. "Hey, there was some monsoon last night. "There's some water. "Very little, can you put me face down in it "because I don't think it'll get me, right?" Because you imagine, right now today, there's water. There's water, and you've heard, maybe today's the day you go, "Well, there's water, "can I do that?" Yeah, you can. In fact, in the next few moments, that signover there's gonna light up.

It says baptism. We've got people standing there waiting for you. Like that little magic trick, that's fun. There's people over there. There's people backstage. We've got shirts. We've got shorts. We actually do have hairdryers. I said that for months and realized we didn't. I was lying about it, but we actually do now. (audience laughing) It wasn't an intentional lie, I actually thought we did. So then we had to buff people's bald heads. It was crazy, it was weird. But you just went, "No, God honors a line you draw." But it'll also honor the one you erase. So today, let the water wash yours away. So I wanna pray with you. I'm gonna stay where you're at. I don't want you to move. We're gonna commune together. We're gonna sing somewhere together. We're gonna celebrate. We're gonna throw a piano party anytime during the rest of this service together, anytime. From now till we walk out of here, you can walk over there and there's somebody waiting for you to welcome you home, to erase the line. And here's what we're gonna do. Those of us that already know them,

we're gonna throw a piano party for you. We're gonna scream yellow hoot and holler. It's gonna be craziness in here. It's gonna be great. You're like, "Are we Pentecostal?" No, but it'll look like it. Okay, I just want you to know. Because we wanna celebrate what God's doing. of our time, you wanna make that decision, you come on. If you've already made that decision to do that this week and you signed up, you can come on and make your way over there right now as well. But let me pray for us and watch what God's gonna do through us, God, we love you. God, thank you for being a God who loves us to the point of death, to the point of burial, to the point of resurrection. God, that you literally took on our death and our shame. God, you took on our hell, so we don't have to. God, for those that have never chosen you, like really chosen you. God, I pray today they would say that they choose you. God, that they draw a line in the sand and God, you will erase it. God, wash it away. God, take all these lines in the sand and just wash them away today. God, that people would come to know you, that they would be consumed by you and not by the things of this world.

God, there's no amount of money, there's no amount of things that can fill the void for eternity, except for you. So God, may we erase the line today with the waters of baptism. God, for each and every one that make that decision today, God, I pray, God, that they would, they would experience something new and real. Heaven on earth as it will be when they get to heaven. So God, we love you. We give you all the glory, all the honor, all the praise and it's in the powerful name of a saving Jesus. We pray all these things, all God's people said. Amen. Love you, church. (congregation applauding) (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ I'll break the candle that lay between us ♪ ♪ I'll hide the mountain I cannot hide ♪ ♪ In desperation I'll turn to heaven ♪ ♪ And spoke your name into ♪ ♪ And through the darkness you're loving kindness ♪ ♪ Tore through the shadows of my soul ♪ ♪ The work is finished, the end is written ♪ ♪ Jesus crushed my living ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Look out in heaven, so great a mercy ♪ ♪ What heart and heaven is a boundless grace ♪ ♪ The God of ages stand down from the glory ♪

♪ To where my sin and error are shaped ♪ ♪ The process of it, I am forgiven ♪ ♪ The King of kings calls me his own ♪ ♪ Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the water, save me me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death that lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You had broken every shame ♪ ♪ This salvation in your leg ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your baby body began to breathe ♪ ♪ Out of the silence, the roaring lion ♪ ♪ Declared the grave has no claim on me ♪ ♪ Come on, church, we serve a risen God, amen ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your baby body began to breathe ♪ ♪ You're warning I am ♪ ♪ Take heaven away ♪ ♪ There's no pain on me ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, Yours is the great Lord ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I live ♪ ♪ Yeah, praise no one who sent me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Death that's lost, it's been for me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my healing Lord ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ Praise no one who sent me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Death that's lost, it's been for me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my healing Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my healing Lord ♪ (dramatic music) - Amen, no, we have so much to be thankful for, so much to be grateful for. I just love, it's been all my heart lately that just God gives us so much grace, so much acceptance. We can truly trust and believe and know that each day is a new day, right? And no matter what we've experienced in the past, the trials and the obstacles and maybe how we handle those obstacles, man, God is here today to give us new life to allow us to experience newness with Him. And so every week we take communion and it's just an amazing reminder that we have an invitation, we're accepted. We don't need this special VIP, you know, past, we don't need this amount of history or all these hoops that you have to jump through with all these other things in the world, man. Jesus just says, come to me openly. I paid the price. Just believe and I want to bring you new life, right?

And so man, let's just hold to that promise today and if you have that cup with you and that the cracker and the juice, I want to encourage you to just remember what that means, just the symbol that Jesus paid the price and He invites us into freedom, it's a new life with Him. Blood that was shed on the cross, symbol of the juice and the body, His body broken for us is that bread and it's just a reminder, man. Let Jesus just consume our hearts today and just dwell in us today, that we would take Jesus with us out of this place, that we would take Jesus to our families and how we experience today and all of that means. So let's go to Him in prayer, God. We thank you for who you are, we thank you for forgiveness, we thank you for freedom, we thank you for a new life. Jesus, just make that alive in our hearts today, that we would really resonate with the impact that that means. Jesus, that it would really challenge us to live a life that is full of joy, full of honesty, integrity, humility, that we would see people, how you see people, we would love people, how you love people. We're so thankful, God, that you see us the same and you love us. Jesus, we give this time to you, we thank you for the invitation, we take this communion and remember that we're welcome in your kingdom.

Jesus' name, you can go ahead and take that on your own if you want and think of it. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) - All right, church, we're gonna continue and worship to celebrate who God is, what He's doing in Pantano. Specifically, baptisms that are gonna be happening over here. Let's worship instead. (soft music) (soft music) ♪ Praise when I'll never ♪ ♪ And praise when surrounded ♪ ♪ As praise is the waters ♪ ♪ My enemy shall live ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ And praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise when I'm feeling ♪

♪ It's one and a half ♪ ♪ Praise is the shock that brings Jericho down ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet but God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ We're gonna keep praising you Lord ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Our face does your sorrow ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rain ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ Our face does your faithful ♪ ♪ Praise cause it's you ♪ ♪ Praise cause it's nobody greater than you ♪ ♪ Our face does your sorrow ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rain ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ Our face does your faithful ♪ ♪ Praise cause it's you ♪ ♪ Praise cause it's nobody greater than you ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside ♪

♪ How could I keep it inside ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise God, who my blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all the earth below ♪ ♪ Praise Him all the earth below ♪ Praise on the sun and hold the earth He is worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy, worthy We are here to worship Come and bring your song Let's go to great things And He's not done Let the sound of heaven come and flood the earth Let the saints rise up as your glory builds the church But the Lord is good and His love endures forever He is always good and His love endures forever Praise God, who my blessings will praise Him of the earth be low He's worthy, worthy, praise God, all you heavenly hosts Praise on the sun and hold the earth He's worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy Oh, the blind eyes open, oh, the lost ones say Praise our hands as we magnify His name Oh, the Lord is good and His love endures forever He is always good and His love endures forever Praise God, who my blessings will praise Him of the earth be low He's worthy, worthy, praise God, all you heavenly hosts

Praise on the sun and hold the earth He is worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy, worthy, praise God On that day when the trumpet sounds And every eye will see and every knee will bow And all glory and power to Christ our King Oh, He reigns forever, oh, creation sees Praise God, who my blessings will praise Him of the earth be low He's worthy, worthy, praise God All you heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost He is worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy, worthy, praise God Praise God, He is worthy, worthy, praise God Come on church and see Him, see Him praise Him of the earth Praise God And man, man, God is so good, I hope He feels love today in this place When two or more gather, that's all it takes, He's with you But we know He's with us all the time when we go So man, take Jesus with you, if you're new here, we welcome you We want to connect with you more at the next steps room across the courtyard And if you need prayer for anything, we have a prayer room as well [Music]