What To Do When You're Hurt

happy birthday we don't just sing songs that say what a God let me stand and testify we didn't know if we were gonna have a building and yet we're here what a God we didn't know if we were gonna have offices and yet we're here on the 16th floor overlooking all of Orange County what a God what a God I have seen God do miraculous things in this last year and I'm here to testify and to celebrate that if God did it then God can do it again in the last year maybe you're sitting here thinking what's the big deal you guys it's just a one-year old birthday party let me tell you what my God can do in one year in one year I saw somebody with nothing more than a business plan and no capital start a business build the business and was able to hire their very first full-time employee with benefits in December of last year let me tell you about what God does in this house I saw a woman who doctor after doctor told her she could not conceive and I saw her give birth to a baby this year I saw somebody who was burned out on church tons of church hurt frustrated with Christianity walk into this place and I said you're not gonna serve you're gonna sit and now this individual is in full-time ministry let me tell you what God can do in one year what a God what a God what a God I'm honored I'm humbled that I get to celebrate with you and our online family around the world that calls Revere home today we're gonna have an honest conversation might step on a few toes this day is about celebration because we're celebrating the trust that we build with each other will have a lasting in Kingdom impact so will you do me a favor whether you are far from God or close to God this is what I'm asking whether you're in the room or watching online this is what I'm asking will you for a moment just quiet your heart and be open the theme that we are walking in this new year is open wide and so my prayer as we open the Word of God is that we take him at his word so if you feel comfortable close your eyes if you feel comfortable in a posture of receiving we just open up your hands in this moment as a community we're saying God our hands are open our postures to receive show yourself to us you want to hear you we want to know you you want to feel you be big in this place in Jesus name amen and in there one more time

happy birthday Revere so glad that you're here go ahead turn to your neighbors say good morning after a good afternoon if you are watching in any time zone around the world I just want to say we are nosy I'm nosy I want to know where you tuning in from well it is a perfect day to celebrate a birthday in fact if you are new to this community you're new to this church I say this phrase quite often give God a year and see what he can do give God a year and see how he can transform your life so last week it was our first Sunday back of the year and I always like to give that first Sunday message what is the theme for our year our word for the year and the word for the year was open wide and it's actually based out of a prophetic word from the Prophet Isaiah it's on the screen you don't have to turn there but Isaiah 26 to says open the gates that the righteous may enter and then the nation that keeps faith so on your seat is a newspaper it is just simply to document here ye everyone listen up wait what did they say when they get out newspapers what is not here ye what do they say read all about it oh my gosh clearly I'm so young I don't know those olden terms yeah read all about it on your seat is a celebration newspaper because we are documenting what God has done in the last year here as I was preparing and thinking about this message and inviting our church to go all in that was last week's message it's on YouTube you can check it out but the message and the call for our community was to go all in now that term is actually a gambling term it's in response to a poker game a card game called poker and it's when you take all of your chips everything that you have and you put it all into the center of the table and that is communicating everything that I have I'm going all in I'm putting everything out there well that idiom the colloquial phrase that we use go all in it symbolizes now even when we don't play poker that you get to have everything you get to this is everything that I have laid out this is all that I have and what I'm seeing and and what I wanted to spend a little bit time addressing today is that we heard this message of going all in last week but one of the things that I have been seeing maybe not this community maybe in this community is I'm seeing a lot of

people who profess to be Christian where we give God a little but we expect a lot we we do half-hearted believing but we want the full benefits of God We give half-heartedly, but we want a full blessing so the challenge last week that I said for this series We're gonna take a look at what does it mean to go all in? What does it mean to open wide your mind this week? I want to talk about opening wide your life Then we're talking about opening wide your hands and opening wide your heart and last week I felt very committed to to talk about opening wide our mind that With our mind we will chase after God and I put a very serious invitation out there So if you claim to be a Christian better yet If you say that you are a follower of Jesus that requires some actions in our life And I had requested of this community. We are gonna be people that daily pray. Let's have a conversation with God That's gonna be people who daily read God's Word. I don't care download the you version Bible app Let me tell you I have a six-day streak. I woke up at 355 this morning and did my Bible reading? Yes, yes, because I said Jesus before the gym Some of y'all said Bible before breakfast But we're serious about our Bible reading and then the last charge the last invitation was To submit to whatever God has to utter the words of Jesus not my will your will be done So as I was thinking about this and preparing for this week, I sat down with the verse It's on the screen again, Isaiah 26 It says open the gates that the righteous nation may enter the nation that keeps faith So we had to sit with this and say, okay Well if the invitation the prophetic word is to open wide the gates the implication is that they have been closed And so the question I began to sit with him all over is that why have so many people? rejected the concept of Jesus Why are so many people selectively obeying when God requires full following? This is a bigger topic at hand But bear with me because I only have 30 minutes and I want to get us out and celebrate with some cupcakes it takes some photos and all the other stuff, but The underlying reason why we close the gates to our lives is a lack of trust

We don't trust people. We don't trust each other. We don't trust our co-workers. We don't trust our family We definitely do not trust institutions There's an underlying current right now in society of a lack of trust and there's no judgment I think there's some ownership that I would like to address, but I just want to start with why are we closing the gates to our life? Why have we put a padlock on believing people? And so I would like to just communicate a simple Statement, they'll be the foundation of our time together. Don't let people keep you from the purposes of God. I Was shocked as I began to study the number one reason The number one reason why people do not Say yes to Jesus or to church or to Christianity The number one reason is that 84% of people say this is Barna research 84% of people say that 84% of non-christians say they do not want to be a Christian because Christians are hypocrites They say do what I say, but not as I do So the question is can I can I trust you? I? Used to work out at this one gym I when I lived in LA I worked at LA Fitness and there was a cycle instructor by the name of Lori and she was Like a twig everyone loved Lori's classes. Everyone fought to get into Lori's classes There was lines out of Lori's classes people walked out drenched and sweat out of Lori's classes and try they may I could never get Into Lori's class. So I got there early. I put my name in I reserved my spots. I had my cycle cleats I went through the class. It was a great class. I sweated a lot. There was good music It was fun amazing But then I realized why everyone wanted to get into Lori's class because at the end of class she pulled up this pink Donut box from her bag and she starts passing out doughnuts to all the writers and I was like, wait a minute I'm confused because you're gonna have us consume more calories than we just burnt. I don't know if I can trust you Lori I'm sure it can be thick. I didn't try to keep me just coming back to your classes. It doesn't make sense but see we see this in society all the time and If I'm honest with you, I'm gonna spend a lot of time talking about church today and church trust Because that's where we're at and if you're here today and you're celebrating I'm so glad that you're there but I also believe that there is a swath of people in this community and online who feels that there is a lack of trust and I believe that if we get our trust with God, right? We get our trust with God's community, right?

We'll learn to trust other people in our life But I think what's hard is that we're seeing Christians say one thing and do another You probably have that one friend that's out here like posting Bible verses and daily reading and Jesus songs and like this loves you and Then turning up on the weekends, you know Like they forgot their witness those people that that that live one way on Sunday and act a different way on Monday those people that will have big opinions on like I Will say that there was this one man who had very big opinions Very he was very public about his opinions on women's clothing believe that women should where turtlenecks and ankle skirts come to find out there's a 20-year porn addiction that was going on. I think some people feel a way about people who say one thing and do another. So the invitation of Open Wide and Open Wide this gate, I have to first acknowledge that there has been hurt and confusion. And when there's hurt and confusion from people we love and people we trust, inside the church, outside the church, at work, not at work, at home, in our communities, if there's a breaking of trust, what happens is that we put the gates of our life together with a padlock. And when we close the gates to our heart, when we close the gates to our mind, when we close the gates to our lives, we live isolated and alone and afraid and betrayed and deceived. And so we close the gates of our life saying nobody can come in. If I'm honest with you,

as somebody who is in church, in ministry, if you have maybe had some reservations or you know somebody that has had reservations about this, send them this message. Because I think that we need to acknowledge that we can't blame people for being suspect. People are a little sus with church and I understand it. Because when you ask non-Christians what comes to mind when you think of church, they're gonna say things like scandal, abuse, misappropriation, hypocrisy, judgment. And I can't blame them. Over the last five years, I have been left scratching my head. I have seen pastors make horrible decisions and get caught and exposed. I've seen people mishandle God's people and God's finances that leave me grieved. I've seen this and I'm grieved by it and I don't wanna draw a lot of attention to it, but I need you to know that I'm not tone deaf. I need you to know that there are people with legitimate hurt that I simply want to come to you and say, I'm sorry. I've been in ministry for over 20 years and I have made mistakes. And I'm not up here to try to be the Joan of Arc of Christianity, get your trust in God back. But can I be one voice that just sees you and acknowledges maybe some of the hurts

that you've experienced by the hands of someone that you loved or someone that you didn't know or someone that you trusted or someone in the church. And so the question we're asking is, if Jesus came full of grace and truth, why are so many Christians full of lies and hate? Brendan Manning says this, this beautiful quote is on the screen. The single greatest cause of atheism in the world is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelieving. The title of today's message is when you can't trust, when you can't trust. Maybe you are here today and your trust is broken. Maybe you feel confused or hurt or disillusioned. I understand, Jesus understands that too. But because we're here in church and because we're starting a new year and because I want you to know what this community is about, I believe that it's okay that you might be a little suspicious. I hope by the end of this message, your heart opens wide, that the gates of your heart opens wide. And let me just let you know that if you have been suspect or you have felt hurt by the hypocrisy in the church, guess what, Jesus felt hurt by it too. In fact, not only was he hurt by it, he actually hated it. Jesus, I love Jesus because he's savage.

Jesus, people think I'm savage and I'm like, just read the gospels. Jesus is a gangster. Do you wanna know who called out the hypocrites of the time? Jesus, good answer. Anytime a preacher asks a question in church, just shout Jesus. 90% of the time, you're gonna be right. All right, so let's do that again. Do you know who called out the religious hypocrites during that time? Jesus. Great, great, amazing. Let me back this up with scripture. Matthew 23 says this. What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs. You show up with your Charlotte Tilbury makeup. You show up with your shined wingtips. You show up looking high and tight. The fate is good. Yeah, you look good on the outside, you religious people. Beautiful on the outside, but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. Yes, thank you from the inside. That's what Jesus said. These are some fighting words. Jesus did not say this, but when we read you whitewashed tombs,

it's like we don't really understand it. He's basically saying you big back, knee-knock, self-religious, nah, just kidding, but kinda. Calling somebody a grave crip, that was savage because as a good Jew, you couldn't even go near those things because you would be ceremoniously unclean. And that's what he's calling the Pharisees. Verse 28, outwardly, you look righteous. You look like righteous people, but inwardly, your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. The word hypocrite is used 17 times in the Bible. And do you wanna know who used that word exclusively every single time? single 17 times see you guys listen to me every answer is Jesus who's gonna buy us our building good answer good answer okay every time the word hypocrite was used it was used by Jesus 17 times Jesus used this word and this is fascinating because Jesus is speaking Aramaic and yet he uses a Greek word the Greek word for hypocrites is hubocritus and it's a term from the arts and culture world it was a term used for actors in theater the only time this word hypocritus was used was Greek in the realm of acting why is that a hypocritus was somebody who wore a mask the word hypocritus is someone who wears a mask this one role an actor would be an old lady they would take off the mask and put on a new mess and they're a wealthy man so Jesus is saying you are out here faking the funk you look one way to this group and you act another way to this group Jesus was the first person to call people out and he's just like yeah you religious people you're just doing that to be seen you religious people you're fasting and telling everyone about it you religious people you're out here praying all loud so that everyone can hear you you religious

people you're acting like you're generous but you're really stealing from the poor now please hear me Jesus wasn't calling out their sin he was calling out the show that they made of it he wasn't calling out their sin he was more bothered with the show he didn't say woe to you people who custom the golf course woe to you people who watch Real Housewives of Salt Lake City that's me leave me alone he's not saying woe to you those who have a porn a problem and you're downloading images in the middle of the night he didn't say that he said woe to you that word woe w-o-e is damned are you not the cuss word but the actual damnation cursed are you when you act one way and you say another you don't like these things guess what Jesus don't like those things either and I believe the best person that's gonna rebuild trust in our lives with others with co-workers with family members and with us as a church is Jesus Matthew 22 33 says this Jesus ain't done he's got more he like wipes his mouth he's like come with me this way you snakes you brood of vipers how will you as escape being condemned to hell tell me how you really feel Jesus this is savage why are people confused by Christians why are we closing the gate to our lives why are we not trusting people well one reason is some people who claim to be Christians they're not Christians Titus says this in Titus 1 6 6 or 116 they claim to know God but by their actions they deny him going to church doesn't make you a Christian following Jesus does coming in with a 10-pound Deacon Bible and a lexicon with you doesn't make you a Christian that following Jesus makes you a Christian you coming in and believing in God doesn't make you a Christian because demons believe in God all right what makes you a Christian is saying I am a follower of Jesus and my life exemplifies that so the first reason why it's confusing is that there's some people who claim to be Christians but they're just not Jesus is loving and kind and their demeanor is hate and condemnation that's one reason another reason why it feels confusing to have trust maybe in a Christian community is that some people are Christians but they're baby Christians they're just a little immature they love the Lord but they're new in their faith and they're out working this is what Hebrew 513 says

for someone who lives on milk is still an infant they're speaking about someone who's a baby in Christ a new believer in Christ and doesn't know how to do what is right oopsie a little mistakey it's a little uncomfy solid food is for those who are mature who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong when we started this community it was literally going after the unchurched and what I didn't realize as a church kid raised in church by Christian families is that unchurched people have very colorful language so there was a young man who came in and he was brought by a friend before we even launched churches at a worship night he came in and he was radically touched by God he heard the gospel message and responded he came the next week and he said pastor B God is so effing good except he didn't say effing he actually said the word I'm just bleeping this out for my mother God is so effing good I was smoking weed this week and I felt like God was telling me that's not like for me and I'm like that's right bro cuz there's no high like the most high all right get your life yeah yeah with those baby Christians I'm not gonna be like how dare you use that language of the house of God no I got grace for you gonna clean it up we're gonna clean it up a little bit and there's no judgment because as a sanctified spiritual woman of God there are times where I say some unsavory words I don't want to be a hypocrite I want to tell you the truth I say some unsavory words I'll just leave it at that you don't have to know what They are, all right. So there's some Christians that say they're Christians, but they ain't Christians. There's some Christians that love the Lord, but they're mature. And then truthfully, there's some Christians who are mature, and they mess up. They fall into sin. There are Christians who make mistakes,

though they love Jesus. They lie to cover up, and they love Jesus, but they have an affair, and they say that they love Jesus. And we're left really confused. And we have to be very careful, no matter how long we've been following Jesus, that we have to admit that all of us are vulnerable to sin. Scripture says in Romans that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So we have to be very careful that don't judge lest ye be judged. And when we fall short, actually, I'm not in codependent relationships anymore. I won't say we. When I fall short, I am prone to blame my circumstances. Well, you know me. You know my heart. You know that's not me. But when others fall short, I will look at them and make an indictment on their character. Oh, well, they are bad. Now I'm gonna say we to let us know that we can be honest in the house of God. When we make mistakes, we want people to see our heart. We want people to see that was not intentional. We want people to see us at our best. But when other people fall, we make it about their character. When we sin, let me tell you a little secret. When we sin, God isn't shocked.

Why? Because he knows we're sinners. Look at what Psalms 103, 14 says. For he knows how weak we are. What a God, what a God. In my brokenness, in my weakness, in my fear, in my insecurity, in my doubt, in my skepticism, he already knows that. He knows I'm gonna fail. He knows I'm gonna fail my family. He knows I'm gonna fail you. He's gonna know I'm gonna fail at a number of things. And he gives me grace. He remembers we are only dust. I understand that you might be here today and a Christian might've hurt you. And for that, you need to hear me say, I'm sorry. I hate to admit that as a leader who loves Jesus, I have gotten it wrong. I have said stupid things in the attempts to be funny. I've maybe been sarcastic or sardonic. Maybe intentionally or unintentionally, I have hurt your feelings and I am sorry. I'm reminded here, I'm nothing but dust. I'm a dirtbag. You guys, that was funny. No? I'm a dust bunny. No, is that better? I'm frail, I'm human, and so are you.

And God can still use us. If we submit our hurt and admission to the Lord, look at Acts 13. If you brought your Bible, I want you to turn there. We will be reading several verses out of there. If not, the scriptures are on the screen. And if not, download the YouVersion Bible, which is free 99. And if not, we've got a paper Bible for you for free at the Welcome Center. We love you. We love the word of God in here. Acts 13, verse 49 says this. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. This is revival. Paul and Barnabas are out here telling everybody, Jesus loves you. He's come for you. He's amazing. They're doing signs, wonders, and miracles. People are coming to know the salvation of Jesus Christ in droves, and in verse 50, but the Jewish leaders, somebody say but. But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women. Ooh, telling us. Ooh, Siri's over here talking to us too. Yep, yep. The God-fearing women of high standing. These are the church-praying ladies. These are the people who love the Lord,

but they are not okay with what's going on. It was the church-fearing ladies of high standing and, somebody say and. The leading men of the city. They stood up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. Paul and Barnabas, they were getting beat. They were getting scourged. They were getting made fun of. They were being persecuted. And what did Paul and Barnabas do? They quit the church. They said, bump this, I'm out. Y'all see me? Y'all use me? You're a bunch of hypocrites. You're a bunch of horrible people. Is that what they did? Paul and Barnabas could have and would have left bitter, angry, isolated, frustrated, and alone if they focused on their offense. But they had a very clear understanding that the church didn't let them down. The church didn't betray them. The church didn't hurt them. It wasn't the church as a whole. It was a few people. God did not let them down. God protected them. God loved them.

And the ministry continued. And the thing that I just wanna pause for a second and pick up an idea and a concept that I said last week that we'll be building on through the course of this series is that. there's different standards for the church than there is for the world. Because if you were to go to Starbucks and you order your caramel frappuccino with two pumps of stevia and two pumps of crack and they get it wrong, are you gonna sit here and tell me, I'm never gonna drink coffee ever again because I messed up my order? No! If you go to McDonald's and you order a McFlurry and the McFlurry machine is broken, as it always is, are you telling me you're never gonna get a McFlurry ever again? If you walk into a restaurant and they're rude to you and they don't say your name and their order is wrong and you had a horrible experience, are you never gonna eat again? No! But why does that standard exist for the church? That church hurt me. I'm never gonna be a Christian. I'm never gonna follow Jesus. I'm never gonna go to church ever again. Listen, the church didn't hurt you.

One person hurt you. And I'm not trying to minimize the pain. I'm not trying to minimize the pain. I'm here to tell you that the reason I feel so deeply committed to this message on trust is that I have had to go through a trust-building, God bless you, God bless you, a trust-building year for the last two years. And I stand before you and testify and tell you with so much joy in my heart that man and woman might let you down, but God won't. A church leader might let you down. A family member might let you down. A coworker might let you down. Your spouse might let you down, but God won't. If you've been hurt by a pastor, I'm sorry, me too. If you've been hurt by someone you trusted in ministry, I'm sorry, me too. If you've been hurt by people in church saying things about you that know nothing about your situation, I'm sorry, me too. I was unaware of the hypocrisy that lived in my house. And I have every reason to say the church hurt me. I'll never trust a pastor. I don't believe what Christians say. But I stand before you three years later from the greatest betrayal and trust broken of my life to say I was so grateful for the church because the place that might've brought the greatest hurt might be the place of the greatest redeeming and redemption.

I get to stand before you today a year of leading Revere. Ooh, that rhyme, ay, ay. A year here at Revere, watch out, I'm gonna sell my bars. A year here at Revere of seeing God move, lives transformed, people getting baptized, wounds being healed, minds being sanitized, lives being changed and transformed, marriages coming together, children who are wayward walking back to Christ. That's been worth it, that's been worth it. And the more that I trust God, the more that I can trust others. It takes work, it takes work, but I know it can be done. For those that had been hurt by the church, I'm so sorry. It might, you might need some counseling, me too. You might need some therapy, me too. You might need a community group to help you heal. Hey, me too, but I'm saying don't let the disappointment from others keep you from the purpose of God. Don't close the gates of your life because people are just dust. They will let you down. Look at Acts 13 verse 51. So they shook the, what? I'm glad no one said Jesus. I actually set that up. Ooh, you guys are reading a Bible. I'm so proud of you Bible scholars. Let's do that again.

So they shook the, off their feet as a warning to them and went on to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy in the Holy Spirit. Ooh, this is not easy because to be filled with joy after great betrayal is really hard. It's hard not to carry a judge, a grudge. It's hard not to carry a grudge, but sometimes you just gotta shake it off. Sometimes in church, I'm doing this. It's not a praise dance. I'm shaking it off. I'm shaking off the hurt. I'm shaking off the skepticism. That person that hurt me at work, I'm gonna shake it off. That person that hurt me at home, I'm gonna shake it off. Taylor Swift didn't shake it off. Paul and Barnabas did, all right? I am gonna shake it off. I don't want the gates of my life to be closed. I'm gonna trust God, go all in and open wide. And so yes, the biggest complaint of non-believers is the churches are judgmental and hypocrites and narrow-minded and if you've been hurt by a church, by a Christian, you have disdain for hypocrites in the church, I apologize. And Jesus does too. He doesn't want that within our church. And I need to stand before you and just let you know that last week, I gave a big invitation for our people. In fact, I used the word invitation to kind of soften it,

but truly, I set the bar. I, oh, I don't wanna say this word, but I am. In spiritual disciplines, this is a have to. I demanded that if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you gotta know your Father. You gotta talk to your Heavenly Father. You gotta know about Him. Your father you got to get into his word and you've got to submit that's a big ask in this community. It really is I'm asking you to go all in with your life and I realized That there is a pressure on pastors. It's a good pressure. We should Scripture is very clear about the honor and the privilege and the responsibility of a pastor but I realized last week is that I Asked and demanded things from this community and today I want to let you know what you can expect from me I'm not trying to be out here like the Joan of Arc the do-gooder. That's gonna say that no, I'm gonna fail you I'm gonna hurt your feelings unintentionally. I'm gonna make mistakes But if I was able to clearly articulate what I'm expecting of you to say that you are a follower of Jesus This is what you can expect from me for the course of this year in the course of my ministry life what you will hear me say and double down on is that I will live a life of listening to God and Obeying him at all costs. I Will let go of the things that are precious to me and tender to me because nothing will come before the Lord So I need you to hear as a shepherd in this house I promise you that my ear is gonna be attuned to God always and whatever he says, I promise you I will obey the second thing that you could believe and know about the leadership of this house is that we are going to Steward our finances with transparency This is not our money This is God's money and we will steward it for the glory and the building of God's kingdom and Lastly you could expect moral integrity from me What does that mean if the Bible says it I must do it if the Bible says not to do it. I won't

so Here's the reality about breaking trust in building trust the reality is that we've all been hurt by hypocrites and We've all been hypocrites, too So when we think about rebuilding trust I think it's important that we do a couple of things to rebuild this sense of trust How do we build trust with each other with our loved ones with church? Well, we get honest when we're wrong We admit it. That's why in our mission statement It's that we are gonna be a people of repentance so that revival can break out. We will admit when we are wrong Number two, we will repent we'll apologize. It's one thing to say I was wrong 50% then you say and I'm sorry Get honest we repent we apologize and then we forgive and that is how trust is rebuilt Let's talk about this within church. If you've lost faith in Jesus because of people Maybe your faith was in people and it should have been in Jesus Pastor Craig Rochelle said that and it impacted me forever So when I get confused at work at home in relationships at church, I don't look at man. I don't look at woman I don't look at institutions. I don't look at power. I look to Jesus What did he teach? I will do how did he live? I will copy. How did he love I will emulate Because everywhere that Jesus went he showed compassion for the least the unloved the last and the lost And that's who I want to be in this community. I Want to leave with the words of Jesus? Jesus said in Matthew 15 8 people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me That shall not be at Revere We are gonna be a people Who stand back one year from now and one decade from now and declare I trusted God I didn't trust in a person and trust an institution. I didn't trust in church I trusted God and I stand to testify. I'm better because of it. My trust has increased I'm opening wide the gates of my heart to receive a newness from him What a God I? Stand before you with a humility to say

Without God, we wouldn't have made it. I stand before you with humility and honor and tell you without God I wouldn't have made it with humility and honor in my heart The Lord very clearly spoke to me and told me that I had to tell you that I love you I love this community and I haven't said that because I Was in a one-sided relationship for way too long and I swore to myself and made unholy vows saying that will never be me again I will never love someone that doesn't love me back and then I look at the life of Jesus So whether this is your church or whether I'm your pastor or not I have to tell you The feelings that I feel when I'm in this room when I look at your face when I stare into your eyes I feel you and I love you and I may not know your name and I may not know your story But God does and he has sent a broken imperfect Rock march woman with scars that are visible to everyone to just be a salve and an ointment over those wounds and say, the Lord could heal you. Here is a place of restoration. Here is a place of redemption. Here is a place where revival will break out. Spirit of living God, we thank you. You have sustained us. You are healing us. You, God, we put our hope and our trust in. With every head bow and every eye closed, we're just gonna create a moment. For those on a day like this when we're talking about open wide, you might be in a place where you have never said yes to Jesus. You haven't opened wide the gates of your heart or your life or your mind because you don't trust God. Well, today I'm here to tell you, there is a man named Jesus who you could trust.

He loved you so much. He lived a sinless life and led a horrific death and had a horrific death. And then by the power of God, raised himself from the grave and the same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave as Romans 10 tells us, can live in you. Do you want this Jesus? Do you know this Jesus? Do you wanna be transformed by this Jesus? If you are here today and you've never said yes to Jesus, or maybe at one point you were walking with the Lord, but your trust was broken, your heart was broken, or sin just was appetizing, wherever you are on that spectrum, you've never said yes to Jesus or you are repenting. You are coming back to the Lord. Today is the day. It is a new year. It is time to go all in and open wide. Give God a year and see what he can do. If you're here today, I'm gonna count to three. And if that is you, you are saying yes to Jesus or you're coming back to faith. One, by raising your hand, you are saying, I want Jesus as my personal Lord and savior. By raising your hand, you are saying that my mistakes and my failures, what the Bible refers to as sin could be forgiven because of what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. And three, the same spirit that resurrected Jesus

from the grave will live in me. If that is you, one, two, three. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Anyone else online? This is for you too. This is for you too. We wanna know. Anyone else? Anyone else? Hi, hi, hi. Ooh, yes. Oh, why did we give a polite little golf clap? It should have been roar-esque. But why did we give this clap? Because we have seen God transform the lost, the unloved, and the sinners into new creations. So church, I'm gonna invite you. I'm gonna invite those who didn't raise their hand and are already followers of Jesus. I want you to say this prayer out loud so that those that did raise their hand know that they're not alone in this. Will you repeat after me in this bold declaration of faith? And then we are gonna have a praise party of epic proportion.

But if that is you, you should repeat after me and say Jesus. Today I choose you as my Lord and my Savior. I submit to you, God, your will, not mine. Cleanse my heart, cleanse my mind, cleanse my body. Fill me with your spirit to do what I cannot do. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. So Orange County, online, in person, I want us to stand to our feet and declare that the enemy has tried every which way to knock us out and we are still here. You could have not come today. You could have turned to sin. But because of your love for the Lord and his love for you, will you raise your voice and declare, what a God. What a God, what a God. Church, I can't hear you. I want the demons in hell to fear. I want Satan himself to quake because the people of God are declaring, what a God, what a God. Raise your hallelujah. Happy birthday, Revere. I love you. God bless you.