You Asked For It III Week 2

Welcome to Free Life Chapel, where we help you discover and live the free life in Christ. My name is Kati, and I'm so glad that you decided to tune in with us today. If you ever find yourself in the central Florida area, come visit us. We want to see you face to face. But until then, feel free to visit our website, freelifechapel.org, to find out more about what's happening at your church. There's an amazing message in store just for you. I hope you're encouraged. This series is being made up off of questions that you sent in asking, what does the Bible say about? And that's what we're doing, addressing these issues. The Bible doesn't run from culture. It steps in and gives us perspective on how to live in culture successfully, strong, and not just as a part, but to help bless, to heal, and to lead going forward. And so that's what this series is about. Matthew chapter 7, verse 14, is our signature verse for this. Everyone read this with me. Here's what it says. The gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it. Doing what God says is work, and it's tough. Can somebody say amen? We've tried. We've stepped out there. We've hit this path, and I've fallen off the path before and had to get back up and work my way back on the path. Maybe you can understand that as well. But God's not so disgruntled or frustrated about us falling off the path. He's more excited about you just getting back up to get back on the path. He doesn't condemn us for dropping it.

He just encourages us to get up and keep going again. That's why the Bible tells us in Psalm 119, 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. In other words, when life seems dark and I don't know what the answers are, I can go to your word, and your word will show me maybe not every step in life, but you don't need to know every step. You just need to know the next step. And so that's what God's word does. It shows us what the book says so we can live this life the way we're supposed to. But I want to encourage you with something. The goal is not just to rip hacks out of the Bible to know how to do relationships or money or culture. In fact, the goal is not just to live these principles. The goal is to know the author of the book. And when you know the author of the book, then the principles are no longer limiting or hard, or you feel that you've been damaged by them, but you know that they bring life because you know the heart of the author. That's the game changer. So today I want to bring that to the surface as we go into this and begin to answer more questions. We did this last week. We're doing it this week and next week we'll wrap this up. But there is a full list of questions being answered for the past two years on our website, freelifechapel.org. Check out that resource page and we'll show you how you can engage those and answer some of those questions. Let's hit a few today. Question number one, does the Bible say anything about cremation? Let me just hit it very quickly and tell you, no, it does not. The Bible doesn't encourage it or prohibit it.

There's a lot of people that will tell you, no, you can't. You can't do that. A lot of different faiths or religions or dogmas have a strong stance against it. It's a personally held traditional stance, but there's nowhere biblically that you will find anything prohibiting that or speaking negative of it. In fact, in the Bible we have examples where people were buried when they died. Lazarus was buried. Abraham buried his wife Sarah. But we also have in the Bible where King Saul and Jonathan, his son, were actually cremated in the Bible after they were killed. We have actually examples of both and one is not worse or better than the other. Now there's people that will say, yeah, but you don't understand. If someone is cremated and all their ashes are there, how's Jesus going to raise them from the dead because they're all ashes? Let me just tell you, if he's going to raise someone from the dead, he can probably put the ashes together if he needs to. If he's going to do one miracle, he can probably handle all of them. You understand? So I don't think that's an issue. It's a tradition. It's an individual opinion and if you have a strong opinion on that, hold to that. It's just fine. It's just not a sin issue. It's not a Bible issue. Number two. Are the New Living Translation and the NIV translations good Bibles to study with? Let me just tell you this. Every Bible is a translation. Every Bible. King James Bible, 1611, is a translation.

Translation from what? From the ancient manuscripts, translated from Hebrew and Greek into what we have today in our English so that we can understand it. What's important about you knowing your Bible is the context of scripture. What does the Bible say, and how does it apply? And so learning that is really important. But when it comes to owning a Bible, reading a Bible, today more people turn Bibles on than they do opening Bibles up. Digital, electronic, there's a lot of websites out there. They give us a lot of Bible versions. And I want to just address and give you a perspective on the different purposes of different translations in the Bible. I think it's important as Christians that you understand this because they're not all the same, and they have different intentions behind them. One translation is considered a word-for-word translation. That's the King James Version, or the New King James Version, or the ESV, English Standard Version, or the NASB. These versions are more word-for-word, meaning it's the closest possible match to the original text. The challenge that can come with that is they're more concerned about literary accuracy, literal accuracy, than they are making sure that it's got good English phrasing. So the English can kind of sound or feel weird in how they say it, but they're going after the exact accurate, like this word is supposed to come before this word, and this one before this one. So you've got a lot of commas in this verse trying to break it up. That's the purpose of those word-for-word translations. That's what they do. Then you've got one called thought-for-thought translation. And this is a good one also. This is your NIV, New Living Translation, NLT, Christian Standard Bible, CSB. These are some of those versions as well. And the purpose of those is to bring modern meaning, modern understanding to the Bible. So when you read it, it's not like you're talking to a dude or a girl on the street who just delivering that to you. And the priority of those versions is to bring clarity and English phrasing to the Bible, sometimes at the expense of giving complete literal accuracy to the Bible. So the phrasing can be a little bit different when you begin to read that. And so in some of those cases, a half of a verse might actually be missing if you went to a literal translation. So as you read these versions, realize that they're good and you can learn from them. But this is why it might be good to actually get a couple ones that you just begin to look at because the way that a verse is phrased gives you different

perspective on the Bible. And then finally, there's what's called the paraphrased version. This is the message version, the new century version, the passion translation. And these versions are written like novels. They're written like stories, like you're just reading this story through real easy to understand. And I will many times recommend to new believers, just jump into one of these. It's like just reading a story and it begins to take you through the picture as to who God is. Can I remind you that your Bible is actually a story? All those books are a story of God working inside of people to bring his will to pass. It's a story and you and I need to find ourselves in the story. And so that's why I don't mind these. A lot of people will push back on them. I think there's a lot of value to these, but they do sacrifice a lot of literal clarity because they're trying to give you the overarching picture. It's not getting into the specifics of the literature in order to make sure you're getting all the details. I hope those make sense that you see what I'm talking about here. And then there's this other one, if you want to go crazy, there's this called the interlinear translation, big study Bible, where you're going to study every Hebrew and Greek word. They're written on top of each other, English with the Hebrew and the Greek, and that's for your scholarly kind of perception. But let me just say this. We all need to study the Bible. We all need to read the Bible. That's what I'm bringing this to you, that you understand what they're there for, that they're just, there's an intention. They're not all just out there trying to come up with a new version of Bible to sell. They have an intention and a purpose to them. And so you might be asking yourself, pastor, which one should I read? And I'm going to tell you, which one do you like? Start right there and begin. And ladies and gentlemen, they got all kinds of Bibles. Y'all understand they got everything you can imagine out there. They got an urban Bible out there. I'm loving that thing. It's like Jesus said, yo, to the disciples and I go, what's up? And like, yeah, yeah. You so Riz, like all this got going on in your Bible. It's crazy. So anyway, uh, it, it, it's all there. Here's what I would tell you. Second Timothy two 15 becomes really important for us. And it says this, do your best to present yourself to God as a tried and true worker who isn't ashamed to teach the word of truth correctly. Study the Bible, learn the Bible, begin to read the Bible, become familiar with the Bible and the Bible. Eventually you'll know when you're reading the Bible. Well, when the Bible. reading you. When you start reading it you go, oh I need to work on that. Me too.

I'm working on stuff too. We're all in process. Lean into it. Find that version that you understand and do that right there. Question number three. This is a good one. With Halloween are we desensitizing our kids to darkness? That's a great question. It's a very important question. I'm glad I'm glad it was asked. Let me just say this. The decision to participate in Halloween is is a personal decision and I would say it's a matter of convictions or personal values that that you have in your life. Many in the room were raised no problem. Trick-or-treat and and go do that. Never even gave thought to what the holiday itself was about. We saw it's the time to put a costume on and go play and have fun. Then others were like no. It was this way or that way. It was all that. I've studied a lot about the holiday and so I had an aversion to it and just pushed back on that. That's a personal conviction of mine. I don't apply that to you. I apply that to me based on the origins of that holiday. It was Celtic and then from the Celts the Catholic Church picked it up and they said this is actually a celebration of of Saints. It's All Saints Day on November the 1st. So Halloween is the eve of the hallowed. That's why the 31st is Halloween and the first day November would be the All Saints Day celebrating those men and women that God used mightily. Wonderful. All of that I'm telling you right now 99% of people in our culture today don't even think about any of that when it comes to that day. It's not on the radar. When Caleb was being raised in our home we didn't celebrate Halloween but I'll tell you what we did do. We went to the Halloween stores and we after Halloween we bought everything we could find for him after Halloween because sometimes Tarzan would be running through the house. Other times Batman was coming to the house. You never knew who was going to come to the house and he was loaded. He had a drawer full of like we loaded him up. Sometimes Cindy's running through the house like Pocahontas like it was just like it was just all that and so anyway anyway playing now yeah but but we didn't participate in that in that in that the celebration of that. Here's what I would say if if the if the holiday itself if it violates your faith or your conscience don't do it. Don't do it. If it

doesn't bother you be careful. Just be aware that there is some purpose of meaning it didn't come out of anywhere. It does have origins and if you want to look into it you can but let me speak about this for Free Life Chapel when it comes to our stance because of our outreach. I wanted I wanted Caleb to understand what the purpose of the of the holiday was which when all of his friends were out there participating I told him why we didn't do it. We don't want to lean into that personally. That was our conviction but at Free Life Chapel we do so what happened well here's the deal my position on the issue of recognizing Halloween has shifted but it has not changed. I recognize it I just don't celebrate it and I want to talk to you about the difference there how we look at it at Free Life Chapel. Here's here today if you don't know this in the fall our trunk or treat is the number one highest outreach event that we have at Free Life Chapel. Last year we had over 6,000 that showed up on our property that wanted that they're going to come out with their families. They were having great fun. Families were having a blast. Kids were having a blast. Loving it the chance to shake hands hug necks and meet the community that's what our heart was. If the community is going to celebrate then let's give them a place to celebrate it and get the chance to get to know them and maybe have them come visit with us on a Sunday. Truth is there's people in this room today that you joined us for the first time on the property for that event and now you're here today. I love that but I want to show you why we do that. We have Bible to this it's not just opinion. 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 22 states this. This is Paul talking the quarterback of Christianity. Here's what he says, I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I mean think that's that's a pretty passionate verse right there. I become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. Well let me show you how he lived that out because that wasn't just a cool verse. Paul wrecked the religious crowd. They were so angry with him in these New Testament times because Paul goes to this place called Athens. Athens Greece. Okay Athens they worshipped everything like everything

Everyone they didn't want to make anybody mad So they just worshipped at all and just in case they missed one. They had a they had an altar built to the unknown God Just in case because we don't make anybody mad like all of them Paul steps into Athens amongst all this paganism Paul is a Christ follower. He steps into an arena where there's Paganism everywhere. They're worshipping idols. They're sacrificing animals to these gods Paul steps into there Around these people in the midst of them and he looks back at him and he comments on their devotion Wow, you all are devoted you all are serious in your worship to your gods and commends them and Honors them in the sense of their devotion not to the God. They're serving but their devotion I got to tell you when I read my Bible and I come to that passage. I'm hit and I'm reminded really quickly. I differ Greatly abjectly on a spiritual and religious theological basis with the Muslim community, they're precious people. They're sweet, but but but theologically I disagree But you know what? I've got to say I've got to give respect because five times a day those folks believe what they're doing and They're they're following their faith like it or not Here they go And then I look back at the go at the church and go can we just get together once a week and say same? I love you, Jesus the devotion You have to respect that when they say they believe they believe and they go hard and so there is nothing wrong with Identifying that that's what Paul did Paul said I recognize that I I your devotion is is is amazing to see and then Paul used an idol in Amongst all their idols in order to preach an illustrated message he said this idol that you have to the unknown God, let me tell you about him and Paul used an idol that way if you want to get technical violated Exodus chapter 20 don't have any graven images don't have any of the gods before me and Paul is using an idol not saying that That was God

But using it to represent because that's what the culture bought into and Paul said I need to use what you see and you Understand already let me use that to show you who Jesus is and share the message again I've become all things to all people so that by all Possible means I might save some Paul then goes on and he starts talking about how educated he is Well Paul wasn't an egomaniac, but he's talking to community leaders, and he needed them to know I'm not a religious dummy. I can go head-to-head with all of your PhDs I can discuss law with you, and I can talk you into a corner based on that He earned a reputation and a level of credibility to be heard in the culture And then he used it to share the love of Jesus not how great he was but how great Jesus is Paul engaged the culture didn't run from the culture and now he had voice in the culture So here's what Paul's mo was and here's what our mo is Engage the culture for relationships that will open the doors for ministry Engage the culture I Could care less about an egg for Easter I Could care less, but the community wants it they're going to celebrate it somewhere so if we can create a place that we can connect and they come to this property and begin to shake hands and welcome Then our heart and our spirit can be used in that capacity to touch people and affect them for the kingdom of God and this Is why we do what we do Paul never Compromised God's standards or scriptures, but I will I will tell you what he did compromise the traditions of the church He violated the traditions of the church you can't do that you can't do that show me Bible well I can't I just know you can't well Why can't you because what my church taught okay? But that the church might have taught you something that's not even scriptural. It was a preference It was a position, but it wasn't Bible I just want to make sure that we come back into that alignment Paul said I will violate Tradition all day in order to reach someone with the good news of Jesus Christ And so if it's something that you say it's good I can do this then go right ahead walk with caution and make sure that our focus on that day is We're not celebrating the darkness and evil of course we want to make sure that it's time that if we're gonna our kids are going to

Participate there's something that can be wholesome in our family together if it does violate your conscience Then don't participate and raise your family that way But just be really careful that we're not throwing sticks and stones at each other when the Bible gives us some levity to move in this capacity Question number four the one that you've all been wanting to get to By the way We have uh, we have brownies for everybody on the way out today. It's gonna be great and And gummy bears and whatever you want. You're just gonna be great. So we'll see We'll see you outside, dude Doritos for everyone. Yeah. Yeah. No without what I smoke marijuana Not not me. That's the question. All right, let me just get that I Smoked marijuana I go back and forth with feeling guilty and not feeling guilty. I love God with all my heart I pray I just need to know if God has a problem with marijuana Does it make me any less of a Christian for doing it? Christians drink all the time and people think it's okay. So why is me smoking so wrong? Let me just hit aspects of this question. And let me just say I love the question It's a great question You see it just a few years ago. The church would have taught you it's illegal And you don't violate the laws of the land. That's Bible. That's not opinion. That's Bible. You don't violate though Well now it's no longer a prohibition in our than the laws of our land now, it's wide open So now what do we do? Well, the Bible still is able to speak to us and I wanted to go there So first of all, let me say this you are never less of a Christian Please hear me When it comes to your Christlike status, you've heard me say before you can't be a little bit pregnant You can't be a little bit saved you either are or you're not if you're a Christ follower. You're a Christ follower All of us if you say if you've invited Jesus into your heart, you can be tore up You can have all kinds of things that you're still struggling with addictions. But if you're reaching for Jesus, you're good You're gonna bust heaven wide open

But here's the deal God's Word does come and our goal is to grow in our faith So that we're not living beat up by these things that are wearing us out when Jesus word He can show us how to outlive them become stronger and have a faith rich enough that we can then reach and bless others We don't get derailed by things any longer because I'm standing on the Word of God So that's what we want to move towards right there But here's what I would say whenever an issue or a topic is not explicitly spoken to in the Word of God Then we need to go and look for the principle in God's Word that can speak to us and give us direction in our life And I want to go there. I Will tell you this every marijuana smoker that I've talked to they have a favorite verse in the Bible Their favorite verse is Genesis chapter 1 verse 29. They can all quote it God said I have given you every herb that grows in the land. And so that like hey, boom, that's all I need They got it tatted. They ready to go. I'm a Christian Right, you saw that? Yeah Okay Good. So let me just let me just go here because it does not say I gave you all of the cannabis You need go and have a party that that's not what that verse is saying But I do want to look at a principle here because Jesus did not mention Marijuana in his Mount of Olives talk you understand. So let's go here The question when it came in and addressed also and it equated it with alcohol if alcohol is okay Then why is marijuana not and I want to show you actually that we draw some principles from The topic of alcohol in the Bible that give us direction regarding marijuana that I will put out there for your consideration Watch this Psalm chapter 104 the Bible says that alcohol makes a man's heart happy I'm not going to ask if I can get a witness I'm just gonna say that's what the Bible says. Like when someone is heavy a glass of wine Alcohol is it lifts the spirits that that's what Psalm 104 says and it doesn't speak against it It says that's just what it does. In fact, the Bible tells us also in 1st Timothy chapter 5 take some wine for your stomach's sake It's got some value some additional value to it. Don't don't push back on that now See, I'll tell you right now a lot of my Pentecost on my UPC my Church of God people right now We are over here twitching and tripping right now because oh my god, you can't say just relax. Look we're talking Bible not your denomination

Let's talk Bible for a second here. Just listen with me The Bible does not prohibit drinking But it speaks really directly many times on drunkenness on Intoxication the Bible hits that hard so the Bible when it comes to alcohol it speaks on moderation a Cap a limit the glass or the whole bottle this is the Bible says listen Put a lid on it. You've got to be functional There's it's a plate. There's a place that you can move towards it if you can handle that But be careful of what you introduce into your life So that it doesn't become something that starts to run you instead of something that you're able to moderate in your life Proverbs chapter 31 verse 4 actually says this kings and leaders should not get drunk or even want to drink. If you're a king, a leader, aspiring to be a leader, a ruler, somebody with authority, it says don't get drunk and leave the alcohol alone completely. That's Bible. Now you might not like that. Well, I can handle it. Okay, that's all good. I'm just telling you what Proverbs said. Take it up with Solomon when you talk to him in heaven. His goal was you got to be sober. You never know when you got to make a quality decision because kings and leaders make decisions that impact other people and we can't have you inebriated. You just had your fifth brownie and you're trying to make a decision for the family. This might not be good right now. Come to church. Come on. Here we go. First Peter chapter 1 verse 13 says this, be sober minded. Be sober minded. In fact, one of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. One of the things Holy Spirit does in us is he gives us the capacity to take control in our life. So different than marijuana, the Bible tells us that alcohol can be consumed in moderation. But let me ask you about this because the only time that I've seen marijuana participate in is when there's been a desire for some level of intoxication. My goal is to kind of be alleviated and just kind of hit another gear for just a second. Now again, just hang with me here because according to what we find out medically, marijuana brings with it, and this is a joint, it affects memory, learning, attention, decision making, coordination, emotional, and reaction time. And again, Dorito cells go

up. Your bill goes crazy there. There is that effect from marijuana. I do know, I've had people approach me, but pastor, my doctor has recommended he wants to prescribe marijuana regarding a back pain or an issue. Listen, medicinally, wear it out. Go after it. I don't see any challenge biblically against that when it's going to do something to bring some health to you. We have morphine for people that need some help with pain. We see that this can be something that can be prescribed and used medicinally. That can bring some health and some good for your life. All I'm saying is you want to walk really carefully regarding this, and you've got to deal with it one-on-one. When the gentleman or the lady who ever submitted this, they wrote, I'm struggling with this because I feel guilty, and then I feel okay, and I'm not sure what to do. Can I offer to you this? If there's any sense of conviction inside, it could very well be that the Holy Spirit is saying, it's not my best for you. It doesn't even have to be a sin issue in order for him to convict us of something, because I want your best life ahead of you. And so there can be a movement, a growing to next levels. I think everybody in this room, all of you watching online and on TV right now, would say that as you were growing in your faith, there's some things that you left behind. Not necessarily because they were bad. I just decided it wasn't the best for me if I want to step higher, and I let it go. There were some people that I exited out of my life, not because they were bad, but the influence wasn't good, and I had to keep moving my life forward. That's what the Word is talking about here. First Corinthians chapter 6 verse 12 says this, you say I'm allowed to do anything, read this, but not everything is good for you. And even though I am allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything. We want to walk really carefully, and this is not just in marijuana, this is in a lot of arenas of our life. A lot of arenas of our life. So the Bible is not explicit on the prohibition, but we do want to look to the principle, and all I would say is wrestle with it. Pray over it. Let God deal with you, and when he deals with you, if you don't feel a peace or you feel a conviction, listen to that and respond to it. Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24

say this, David is writing, search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Read this, point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. If God is convicting you of anything, let it go, because he wants to pick up speed on this path of life so that nothing's holding you back. I'm gonna, I don't, again, I don't have anything specific or explicit that I can point you to, so I'm not labeling it one way or the other, but I am gonna say it becomes a personal thing that you're gonna have to walk with God and let him lead your life in. I hope that makes sense. Question number five, if someone leads a good life but doesn't believe in God, are they going to hell? It's a good question. Really good question. Let me address it this way very quickly. How do you define a good life? They're living a good life, but they just don't believe in God. They're living a good life. How many lies can you tell and still be considered good? How much racism can I have in my heart and still be considered good? How much money do I need to give in order to reach a status of a good person? What if I don't have that kind of money? I can't buy my goodness. Serving. Do I need to serve a certain amount? But if I serve a certain amount, does that then negate the pride that's in my heart? The truth is, the very question itself, and it's a great question, but the question itself requires someone

to become the judge over your life. Can I be good enough? And that judge over your life is going to decide if you're good or you're not good. And so my question is, who have you decided is the judge for your life? Which human being do you want? Don't look at me, because I'm having a difficult time with myself, so I ain't got nothing for you. Don't choose me. Okay, so your neighbor, your mama, your spouse, your friend. Let your kid be your judge. How about that? No, of course not. It doesn't work. Who can set the standard for all of humanity? Do you want the church being the dictator as to who's good and who's not? Absolutely not. We've tried that. It turns into religion, domination, and it's an absolute tore-up, legalistic mess. Do you want the government? No. Do you want a friend doing this? No. You and I can't even look in the mirror and determine our own goodness,

because if we're going to be honest, we tore up from the flow up. Look at the person and tell you, he's talking about me right now. Just tell him, he's talking about me. I've got issues. Yes. Here's what I need you to know. We're all a mess. We've all got pride in our life. Now, I'm going to keep doing this until your neighbor says a hard amen. Oh, that's good, good, good. We've all got lust in our life. We've all told those lies. Tell them I'm not here. Hey, can you come over? Oh, I'm busy. None of us are good. Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20 says, Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. Romans chapter 3 verse 10 says, No one is righteous, not even one. In other words, don't get impressed with me. Don't get impressed with who you consider a big... The Pope is a mess. All my Catholic folks, I love you. I'm not mad at you. I'm not hating on you.

I'm just quoting the Bible to you. We're all a mess. So salvation is not a matter of good behavior. Salvation is a matter of a relationship with Jesus. Those are different. Because my behavior can be a mess, but if I'm loving Jesus, my behavior is changing and growing. In other words, just because you cleaned up the outside doesn't mean everything is good on the inside. I know some people that do amazing stuff in the community. They're kind. They're loving. They're nicer than some Christians, and they don't know Jesus. But they, like you and I, have to get their lives right with Christ. So if someone leads a good life but doesn't believe in God, are they going to hell? The answer simply is yes. Just being very honest with you. You see, without repentance and a relationship with Jesus, people will intrude, break into hell. Let me remind you. The Bible says that hell was made for Satan and his angels, not for one human being. If people go to hell, it's because they chose to rebel against God,

when God is doing everything he can to stop them. I will even have my son pay the price for your debt. I will do everything for you. Just come to me and let me take your past, your sin away. I'll fix that and grow you. Don't go. If a person goes to hell, they will bust through the barricade that heaven has built trying to stop every person from going there. Psalm chapter 51 verse 5 tells me this. I was born a sinner. Psalm 51 verse 4 says, My sin against God and His judgment against me is justified. In other words, bit of judgment that God would want to level against Scott, he's right. There's nothing he would judge me sinful or wrong over that I could push back on. He's right. Guilty as charged. And my sin is only against God. That's what David wrote. I sinned against you and you only if I sinned, O God. That's exactly right. And you have the right to judge me. I deserve it. You're right. I've done that wrong. But 1 John 1 verse 9 says this, only God can forgive my sin. Because I've sinned against him and him only, only God can forgive my sin and get it right. That's why I can't be good enough. I can't change my own status.

I need him. That's why everybody under the sound of my voice, as kind as you are, as nice as you are, as many little league teams that you coach, the charity you give away, the soup kitchens you feed, you help in, that's a blessing. That's awesome. You're an amazing human being. But you're lost. You're sinful. There's no righteousness. You need a savior. His name is Jesus and he loves you and he'll open arms wide and pull you in, not throwing elbows but loving on you. We're all in the same condition. And until we recognize this, that there's no such thing as good enough, there's no such thing, none of us deserve heaven. We all deserve hell. That's why Jesus died for us to replace, to take our status on him, to give us his status that I could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. First John chapter 1 verse 9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In other words, he says, if you ask me, I guarantee you, you'll be completely forgiven. So the issue is not you trying to convince me. It's you being willing to ask me. And if you'll ask me, you got it. And there's no degrees of salvation. Can't be a little bit pregnant. You can't be a little bit saved. You either are or you're not. And I want you to know that relationship. Would you please stand to your feet in the room today?

I want to ask you to bow your heads all through the room. You watching online. I want you to join with me. We're going to pray a general prayer. Everyone together, we all need Jesus. And I don't care if it's your first time praying or you just prayed it 10 times this morning already. The condition that we live our lives and we want to continue to reach for Jesus. Number one, we want to get our relationship right and started with him. Or number two, we want to keep repairing that relationship. Not out of condemnation, not because he's mad and throwing elbows, but because I love him. I love him. There's times that I'm talking to my wife and I'll say, Cindy, are we good? Did I do anything? I want to make sure things are good. God forgive me. And so today I want us all to pray this prayer. Say Jesus come into my life. Forgive me. Change me. I believe you died for my sins and paid a price I could not pay. I receive you as my Lord and as my savior. Forgive me. Change me. Take my life and use it for your glory and help me to live a life that pleases you in Jesus name, amen. Can you put hands together and just celebrate that right there? Come on. Don't ever get tired of that.

Don't ever get tired of that. Don't ever get tired of that prayer. Whisper it throughout the day. Make it a part of your day. Just your routine. Just God, I just want to repair. I'm sorry. The attitude. Oh, the thought life. Oh, we just, I just want to stay in relationship and getting back on the path. If you prayed that prayer today and you hadn't prayed it in a while, you were just as saved as I am because we're all on this on level ground here. Let's keep moving towards him. Let's keep growing in our faith together. That's what community is about. We need each other, but you can do this. If I can do it, you can do it. And we don't have to do it perfect. We just got to keep getting up and coming back again. And if we do it side by side, I promise you, your days are going to get stronger. Your life's going to get stronger. One moment at a time, one step at a time. Don't run from God's presence, run to his presence. It's a place of love and embrace. And there's answers that will give you the life that you say you're looking for. God knows what you need. He's going to give it to you. If you love him today, would you put those hands together one more time and just celebrate? I told you the message would encourage you. For more encouraging messages, feel free to visit our website, freelifechapel.org.

Until then, I hope you have an amazing day.