February 25, 2024

00:04
Well, y’all can make your way back to your seats.

00:15
So I put that in context.

00:22
Just so.

00:25
Oh, I’m going to.

00:33
I probably shouldn’t even say this. Y’all hear that? Y’all know what that is, right? That’s a bell.

00:44
No, I’m not. I probably shouldn’t say this. This morning I went to open the gate. How many of y’all know what dummy lock is? Good Lord, there ain’t very many of you. Okay.

01:04
Y’all can make the decision which one’s the dummy. Those that raised their hands are the ones that didn’t. No. I grew up in an ancient time, I guess, where if you lock the gate and you don’t like turn the combo or something, it’s not really locked. It just looks locked. That way a dummy thinks it’s locked. OK, that’s what it means.

01:33
It was really locked this morning, right? The guy standing at the gate was not a dummy. It was really locked. And so I get up there and I lock it in here. Here comes Ronnie and Terry pulling in behind him. And Ronnie has a bell, cowbell, on the back of his truck hanging on the bumper, but it’s just with a zip tie.

01:56
And so it’s a dingling. He pulls up, and I thought I would be very pastoral this morning, and I said, hey, Ronnie. He rolled his wind down. I said, hey, Ronnie, your dingling’s about to fall off.

02:08
He looked at me like, what? I was like, your cowbell is about to fall. I am learning. I am learning there are some things you can’t say anymore. Things I grew up saying that have a whole different meaning today, okay? I’m learning. All right, take your Bible. I didn’t know your preacher was like that.

02:38
Okay.

02:41
Maybe you should have told them to watch a video. No. Take your Bible and open to John, John chapter 14. Mike, Dennis, remember I said, I think I’m on preach in John 13. But service hadn’t started yet, so. He done switched it. We’re only a chapter ahead. John 14. And I want to share.

03:08
Versus scripture if you’ve been around here very long, you’ve probably heard me quoted if you’ve ever been to a funeral service Perhaps that I officiated you’ve probably heard me read from this text of scripture, but it’s not a it’s not necessarily a funeral Scripture instead it was actually something Jesus said that I believe in this world and this culture we live in today is perhaps some of the most important words of the Bible don’t do a misunderstanding

03:38
me I believe all the Bible I believe all the Bible and I believe that all the words in the Bible are important and in other words I believe everything it says I don’t have any doubt about that and I hope you don’t either

03:53
We live in a world today that just wants to shed doubt on everything about God and His Word. And we live in a world today that is so filled with confusion, like every time you turn around someone is questioning. And let me say this, there’s nothing wrong with questioning. I don’t want you to be, and I don’t want to be, one of those robot Christians that just believes everything fed to me,

04:23
That a lot of things fed to you is junk Is junk in other words, I don’t know about you, but I want to know The truth so if you write anything down today, just write that word the truth down write that down Because there’s so much confusion Some say Disinformation and yeah, there’s a lot of it uh, I don’t know about you, but I as I have

04:49
gotten into social media. And that’s a big word today, right? Like a lot of different social media platforms. It began with me, my descent began, watching YouTube reels or Facebook reels. And then it discovered TikTok. Heh heh heh heh heh. Heh.

05:12
That’s just a few minutes of watching some idiots do dumb things. There’s some good stuff out there, but I’m really mesmerized by it. I find myself sitting there watching that going, yep, if you’re going to be dumb, you better be tough. I know why they wrote that song. I see some people do some really crazy stuff. But also, Rick’s going, yep, I saw the video of you, Rick.

05:41
I’ve seen some really good stuff like man, there’s some great preaching clips on there. There’s a lot of good stuff, okay? You understand I’m not here this morning saying all things are bad and I think you’ve got to be careful what you look at and what you feed on. But I watch some things and I’m thinking man, there’s some real fruit loops out there. I mean they really are and they’re not even from General Mills cereal. I mean they’re just…

06:12
And so I have a, I actually have a lot of sayings. Some of y’all will get used to me. Cause I grew up in the country. I grew up my dad being from the country. I mean, like when I tell you we from the country, we from the country. All right. Someone asked me one time, they said, why is it, and not very long ago, didn’t Yana, why is it that

06:40
It seems like things will be going really good around church and then somebody just goes off into crazy land. Or something like that, you know. And let me give you all word of advice and then I’ll get into the message. I’m not preaching yet so don’t start your clocks. Alright, just hang on. But I’m going to give you some real good country wisdom and advice here because I know a lot of you are younger than me. Just remember something. When you set the woods on fire,

07:07
When you set the woods on fire, the first ones to come out of the woods are the squirrels with their nuts. So if you wonder, why do so many crazy people show up in my life? Or why does it seem like when things start going well in my life, then all the crazy things start happening. Just remember, when you set the woods on fire, the squirrels and all their nuts come out of the woods first. Alright, you get that. Think on it. But when you look at the world we live in today, it’s kind of hard.

07:37
to know what is truth, what is the truth, because everybody says, well, this is my truth. Can I just help you about something? When you hear someone say that, you don’t have to say anything back unless you want to, but if you want to, a very wise thing to say back is, I don’t care what your truth is. I wanna know what the truth is, because what people are saying when they say,

08:06
I, my truth is this, or my truth is that, what you need to understand is, you’re looking at a person, or listening to a person, who is confused. Because how many of you know that truth is absolute, meaning it is concrete, it’s foundational?

08:27
Well, you don’t understand. My truth is, note, your truth is, or my truth is, we might be confused. The truth is written in black and sometimes red letters on white paper and it’s called the Bible.

08:44
It really is. And you say, well, are you sure about that? I’m absolutely sure about it. I’m banking my whole eternity on that and that it is. And so whenever you read the Bible, I hope you’ll remember a couple of things in this confusing world. And by the way, I thought about this last week and I was talking about reading stuff and people will often read things and a lot of things, and I think that’s good. You may have heard me say, you know, like when it comes to the news,

09:14
Sometimes I’ll watch Fox News. Sometimes I’ll watch Newsmax. Sometimes I’ll turn over to CNN just to know what the enemy’s doing, okay? Y’all get that in a minute too. Here to catch up. There’s things, I love to read things that aren’t Christian. I love to read things to know about things in the world. I’ve read about other religions. We had a Bible study the other night. We were talking about this and I’ve read about a lot of different religions and a lot of different things. In other words, I grew up in a Christian home,

09:44
I didn’t want to just be a Christian because mom and dad were, because that wasn’t going to do me any good. I wanted to know, do I have it right? Is the Bible really true? And I have done that, trust me, I’ve read a lot. And I’ve come to the conclusion without doubt that I can stand here this morning and tell you, I know the truth.

10:05
I have met the truth. I know the truth and he’s a person. His name is Jesus. No other human in all of human history has changed history and the world and mankind like Jesus did. No other religion can claim that they have a risen savior. Remember what I’m about to tell you. Every other religion in the world elevates man

10:35
that you must die to appease the God. But we are the only ones that have the truth.

10:44
You say, oh, that’s an exclusive statement. Exactly. We’re the only ones, Andrew. And I want you to know the difference in Christianity and all other religions. All other religions, at some point, will come to the conclusion that you or I must die for its God. But ours is the only one that our God came to earth and lived as a man and died in our place and died for us. Not only did he die, but he was very

11:14
in a rose again the third day and he’s alive today and he’s not just alive but what I’m about to read to you you’re gonna see he’s coming again he’s coming again so I want you to look in John chapter 14 and I’m gonna begin in verse 1 we’ll read through verse 6 and I’m gonna share a couple other passages with you and and we’ll be done today you have to know that in the world we live in today there are a lot of people

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And by the way, very sincere people that are sincerely wrong. You say, is this about you standing there saying, you’re the only one that’s right? No, I’m not right. Jesus was right.

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I’m just following him and what I’m going to share with you. Remember I said truth is written in black and red letters on white paper In the Bible. Here’s the deal when you read black letters in the Bible That’s God’s Word inspired by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit inspired men to write those words That’s why when you turn to Genesis or you go to Revelation the book all the book it fits 66 books of the Bible

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the same author, that Holy Spirit was the author. That’s why it all connects. But.

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When you come to John chapter 14, Jesus is on earth. He’s with his disciples. He’s in the last days of his earthly ministry on this earth. He’s about to go to the cross and give his life for our sins. And he has been training and teaching and preparing his disciples. And he just gets through with this event that he’s having dinner with them. And he says,

13:04
And you got to remember they didn’t wear boots and shoes like you and I might wear they wore Sandals and they walk around in Israel and Jerusalem and stuff like that where it was dusty So it was not uncommon every day for their feet to be dirty And so it was customary that they would go in and one of the first things they would Normally do is wipe off with a towel or clean their feet and and but but can you imagine? Doing that for someone else Can you imagine?

13:33
If we’d have walked in here this morning and I had this big, well we do got a big tub of water over here, and I said, hey, Bobby, come on up, or I just called out some guy, and then I called somebody else randomly, would you come up with a towel, some soap, and a rag and wash his feet? And his wife would be going, y’all are in for the surprise of your life. This is gonna stick. I’m sorry, Bobby, didn’t mean to pick on you back there, buddy. But can you imagine how humbling thing that would be? And so he taught his disciples this. He washes their feet.

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And he tells them he goes guys if you want to follow me You’ve got to be willing to do this and what was the example matter of fact the Bible says he did it as an example What was the example he was trying to share with them? Hey, if you want to be part of my kingdom the kingdom of God, then you must be a servant to others and So when he comes to John chapter 14 verse 1, it’s still part of the same

14:32
story, same dialogue, discussion he’s having with them. Peter has just said, oh Lord, you know what? I’m gonna go with you, I’ll be with you, I’ll even die with you. And Jesus tells him, he says, man, before this night’s over you will deny me. And so then he comes to chapter 14, verse 1, John chapter 14, verse 1, he says, let not your heart be troubled.

15:01
Let me just stop right there. How many of you, you don’t have to raise your hand, walked in here this morning with a troubled heart? How many of you in the last week have had a troubled heart?

15:11
How many of you in the last month or the last year have had a troubled heart? And by that, it doesn’t just mean your tickers about to quit ticking. It means you got heaviness in your heart. You’re carrying something really burdensome, really heavy, really hard, and you don’t know what to do with it. And maybe it’s bringing fear and anxiety in your life, and you’re going, you know, this is so hard. If you really have a troubled heart, you know,

15:41
been there, I’ve done that. It’s even hard to breathe. It’s hard to sleep. It’s hard to just get by the next day or even the next hour. And Jesus looks at his disciples who they’ve just experienced all this great stuff and he says, guys, let not your heart be troubled. Don’t let your heart be troubled. And he says, you believe in God. And these were, these were Jews. These guys were, they knew the Old Testament law.

16:09
They were raised in the temple. So these were religious guys, you could say.

16:15
But he’s trying to teach them things are about, something’s about to happen that is going to change your life, but not only change your life, but change human history. What they know what they’re having to come to the conclusion of, and this is the whole reason John wrote the book of John, was to show that Jesus wasn’t just a good servant. He wasn’t just a good master. He wasn’t just a good teacher. He wasn’t just a good prophet.

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of the living God.

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And so when he says this, he says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Why does he say that? By the way, do you know why they crucified Jesus? They did not crucify Jesus when they took him to trial and they hung him on a cross. They did not. When the Jews cried out, give us Barabbas and crucified Jesus. You know why they did it. They didn’t do it because of the miracles he did. They didn’t do it because of the many multitudes of people he fed. He did that. They didn’t do it because of the people he healed. They couldn’t deny that.

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You’ve got a guy that’s never seen in his life and he gets up and he goes home that night and he can see everything You’ve got another person that was buried named Lazarus in a grave Everybody saw it. They even said don’t uncover him. Don’t bring him out. He’s been dead four days if you bring him out He’s gonna stink And they would see Lazarus in their midst. He’s walking around nobody could deny the miracles Jesus did though. No one had ever done miracles like that

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But what got Jesus crucified, if you would, was this very claim, if you believe in God, believe also in me. In other words, he was saying to them, as he had said before, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. What is the natural conclusion? He’s saying, I am God. I am the great I Am. That’s why he said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am life. I’ll get to that in a second. That’s why he says, I am the bread of life. I am the good shepherd. What was he saying?

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I am the Father. I am God in flesh. So when you look at Jesus, he’s not just another prophet. He’s not just a good teacher. He’s really God. And that’s the gospel message is that man was so lost in his sin. Women were so lost in their sin. They couldn’t do anything to appease God. Do you know the Bible says that our very best works and deeds. Think about that.

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the good things you could do in life, the very best that you could ever muster up in your life for the entirety of your life, the Bible says are as filthy rags before God. In other words,

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We live in a culture today, we live in a world today that will try to do one of two things. It’ll try to say, try to live your life in such a way that whenever the end comes, your good outweighs your bad. How many of you know that’s not gonna happen?

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It will not happen because how many of you know that you can, you sin every day. If you ever meet somebody who says, I’m not sinning, I’ve overcome sin, I never sinned, you look at them and say, you just did, you’re a liar.

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You lied. You know why? Because here’s what the Bible says about sin. The Bible says all unrighteousness is sin. That brings me to my second point. Here it is. And that is that nothing that is unrighteous

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All of everything that is unrighteous is sin everything that is righteous is of god And so when the bible says all unrighteousness is sin you and I have to realize we we do things That are unrighteous which are a violation of god’s law Now I want you to listen to me carefully. We don’t live Under the old testament law I’m not i’m not bound by the law

20:20
I don’t have to, my life isn’t controlled by the law. Matter of fact, Paul says this about the law. How many of you, you’ve heard me reference the Ten Commandments? There’s actually 613 commandments in the Old Testament alone, but just humor me for a moment. Just take those 10, and we’ve all broke those commandments. Have we not? I mean, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, just a minute brother, I’ve never murdered anybody.

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Jesus said if you hate a person in your heart without a cause you’ve committed murder already Well, I’m not cheating on my wife or my husband But I’m says if you look at another person in lust after them with your own eyes Jesus said you are an adulterer

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Well, I’ve never stolen anything. Well, gee, God said, you’ve robbed me with ties and offerings. You realize that? In other words, if I don’t give God what’s his, I’m robbing God. So the Bible says all unrighteousness is sin. When I look at the law, the law does not give me warm, fuzzy feelings. It condemns me. It shows me that I am a law breaker.

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that I am rebellious against God. How many of you know what the Bible says about rebellion against God? Here’s something that’s gonna blow your mind. The Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. How many of you have ever watched one of those TikTok videos where these Satanists sitting back there with their pentagram and they’re doing, they got a goat head sitting in the middle, they’re doing some seance and stuff. You’re like, oh, devil worshipers, oh, that’s witchcraft. That’d never have anything to do with that. But the Bible says when we rebel against God,

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sin of witchcraft. Holy smoke. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not feeling good about this one. So, whenever the Bible says all unrighteousness is sin, the Bible says whatever is not of faith is sin. Let me give you something. When you’re depending on your own ability and your own efforts to please God, that’s what that means. You’re in sin.

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When you’ve taken your lunch money, your kids’ lunch money, when you’ve taken your rent money, your car payment, and you’ve gone and gambled it away, and said, well, I hope I win the lottery. Is that trusting God? No.

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So you understand whatever is not of faith is sin. All unrighteousness is sin. And then the Bible also says in James, to him that knows to do good and doesn’t do it, that also is sin. How many of you know we’re up there neck in sin by now? In other words, I look at the Bible and I’m going, wow, I got a lot of sin in my life and I am a condemned sinner before God. And so I look at who Jesus is and I recognize he was God in the flesh

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came, the Bible calls him Emmanuel. We sing about that at Christmas. Emmanuel, Christmas songs with Emmanuel. What does it mean? It means God with us. So we look at that and we look at the cross, for example, and it’s a reminder that somebody, not just anybody, but the Son of the Living God, God in the flesh, came to die in my place, in your place, to receive the wrath of God

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so that we wouldn’t have to have… See, we live in a world today where Jesus, when I think of Jesus, how many of you think of some white guy and he looks like a hippie and got a beard and walks around in a robe with some sandals? He had a beard, by the way. He had long hair, by the way. But he wasn’t white, by the way. Just to get over, I hope you get over that right off. He was not.

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And so I hope you understand that we think of Jesus that’s been Americanized and we think, oh well, he was all love. Because you know the Bible says God is love. Yes it does. But the Bible also says that God is an angry God. Is he angry at you? Is he angry at me? No, he’s angry at sin.

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The Bible tells us that God is going to be a God of wrath one day. In other words, he’s going to judge sin. But here’s the good news. We live in this era of human history called the Age of Grace.

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And here’s the good news about the grace is that God was going to and always will pour out his wrath on sin. But the good news is he did that at the cross. He poured out his wrath on his own son so that he wouldn’t have to do it on us. Do you know why people go to hell? And by the way, they do a lot of more matter of fact, I’m going to show you scripture in a second. There’s a lot more people going to hell than heaven.

25:15
Hell is a real place. Well, I can’t imagine why a good God loving God would send anybody hell. He doesn’t Can I tell you why people go to hell? It’s not because they’re bad people. Can I tell you there’s some good people going to hell? Can I tell you that why people good, you know, can I just say hey, did you know there’s some bad people probably going to heaven?

25:36
Well, I never thought of that. That kind of, contrary to what I’ve grown up believing, well, here’s what the Bible says. The Bible says, read John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And then go read verse 17, the next verse, the one we normally leave out. For God, Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Why? The next verse is because those who have not believed on Jesus are condemned already.

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So the message of the cross is that you and I have sinned. Our sin warrants the wrath of God.

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And the truth is God poured out his wrath on his own son. And so if we freely receive that gift of salvation, forgiveness and mercy from him, that he offers through his son, then we can have forgiveness and cleansing of our sin and have eternal life. And here’s the absolute truth. Why do people go to hell? Not because they’re bad, not because they’re good, but because they have rejected God’s offer of grace and forgiveness. How can you be saved

26:47
the very thing God offers to save you with. So when Jesus says to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled, believe in God. If you believe in God, believe also in me. Here it is, verse 2, in my father’s house are many mansions. I’m reading from the New King James, some translations translate it maybe a little more accurately in the fact that it says, in my father’s house are many rooms. Either way, in heaven,

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And by the way, I want you to get this image out of your mind. Jesus didn’t down the cross, be risen from the grave, ascend back to the Father to go grab a hammer and start building this room. It’s already there. OK, so he says, in my Father’s house are many mansions, many rooms, many dwelling places.

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I like the way they translated here in the King James and say Mansions because I got to believe that anything God does he does big You do biggest house you could probably imagine on earth is gonna be pretty small in heaven In other words if if God’s doing it it’s it’s got to be big But he says in my father’s house so many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I Go to prepare a place for you. In other words, I’m going to make sure I’m going to make sure there’s a place

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for you. And he says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive it to myself that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. So Jesus is saying, look, what he’s telling his disciples is, hey, look,

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The minutes coming, the hours coming real soon, where I’m going to go to the cross, I’m going to die, be buried, resurrected, and then I’ll eventually send back to the Father. That’s the place, that’s where He’s going. And they’re all going like, huh, what? We never heard nothing like that. We never seen anything like that. And so Thomas…

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We always call him doubting Thomas. I don’t know that he was a doubter. I think he just had a lot of questions. And so Thomas speaks up and he says this in verse five, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going and how can we know the way? In other words, how are we going to get there?

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We don’t know where you’re going. Bear in mind, he hasn’t died on the cross yet. He hasn’t risen from the grave. They were all, even though they walked with him, they were skeptical of this.

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I mean, it’s one thing to see him raise Lazarus from the dead, but now Jesus himself is about to be dead. How does a dead man raise himself from the grave? That’s part of yours and my salvation. For the Bible says, if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the mouth, confession is made in the same way.

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And so he says, Jesus, how are we going to know where you’re going? And how do we know the way? And here’s the statement of truth that divides everything.

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When I think of Jesus, when you think of Jesus, we often think of a guy who just came to love and accept us in whatever we do. Can I tell you something? God doesn’t accept whatever we do. God accepts us however we are, but he loves us enough that when we come to a relationship, into a relationship with him, that he will change us.

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He ain’t gonna leave us the same, he will change us. How many of you know that God is the only one that can change you? How many of you parents have ever sat with one of your kids, maybe a teenage kid, and they say something like this? And in other words, I’ve heard this before, I’m a father. How many of you ever heard something like this? Or how many of you ever thought something like this? You know, dad, I really like this guy. I know he’s got some issues, but I can change him.

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I’ve done about 200 and something weddings. You know how many times I’ve stood here and I can see it in the bride’s eye going, I know this dude’s got some issues, but let him be married to me for a year and I’ll change him. And I’m sitting there going, uh huh. You fixing to get a rude awakening, girl. You ain’t going to change him. He might change you. Not really.

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You ain’t gonna, how many of you know you can’t change anybody? How many of you in here know you can’t even change yourself?

31:23
You think you’re doing a good job at it? How many of you got it? Well, I kind of got past that, and then all of a sudden, it reared its ugly head in my life. You know why? Because you and I can’t even change ourself, much less anybody else. Only God can change you. That’s why he said to his disciples, he said to the world, he said in the word of God, he didn’t say you need to be reformed. He didn’t say you need to be recovering. He said you must be born again. Do you know why Jesus said that you must be born again

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John chapter 3 because your first birth messed you up. When your parents gave birth to you, your mom gave birth to you. Your daddy was there and he had part of it, but your mom gave birth to you. That first birth messed you up. You were born in the sin.

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And that’s why Jesus says, hey, you don’t need a reformation. You need regeneration. You need to be reborn. The first birth messed you up. Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. And so I’m getting to the statement Jesus is going to make. And this statement divides everything.

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Jesus isn’t just this soft, white hippie guy walking around with blue eyes that we see in pictures today. That, you know, he just lets everything go and everything happen and there’s no truth there, no absolute to him. No, you need to understand what Jesus came to earth to do and what he came to say divided people.

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It divided families. It draws a line in the sand. It it isn’t inclusive It’s very exclusive And this is what he says he says to to thomas and to the other disciples Jesus said to him remember he just said lord We don’t know where you’re going and we certainly don’t know the way jesus says to him I Am the way that statement I am Where’d that come from?

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Remember when in the Old Testament, the story in Exodus of a man named Moses. Moses is given this task.

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to go deliver the children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians led by Pharaoh who had them in bondage for over 400 years as slaves. And yet, God made a promise to a man named Abraham back in Genesis 12 that your seed, your descendants, your children will be a chosen people and from them I will make a great nation. They go in to Egypt. There are about 70 Jews.

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total. That’s the beginning of the Jewish world. And whenever this time comes, there’s about a million of them, but the only problem is they’re slaves to Pharaoh. And God chooses this man named Moses, who, by the way, if you think Moses was perfect, he murdered a guy, he stuttered a lot, and he had a lot of issues. God says, uh, Moses, I want you to get out of the desert. He had been there 40 years because he was high. Now he was an outlaw because he’d killed a guy and he

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He had to go on the run for 40 years. And so he says, I want you to go back to Egypt. And when you do, you stand before Pharaoh. And you tell Pharaoh, let my people go. I’m paraphrasing here, but you get what I’m saying. I’m not going to give you the Gen Z version of the Bible. How many of y’all watch that TikTok video? Yeah. Woo, told you squirrels come out of the woods. They really coming out in that one.

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I asked somebody today, I said, what generation am I? They told me I’m an ex. OK. That must be like Twitter. I cleaned it up. Twitter.

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Somebody’s laughing. But here’s the part I want you to get. When he says, go let my people go, Moses asked a really good question. Okay, Lord, sounds like a good plan here, but who do I say sent me?

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Like you’re asking me to go before Pharaoh. Like Pharaoh is like the most powerful man on earth. I like in that time the Egyptians kind of ruled the known world and I mean This dude could cut my head off. This dude could you know put me in prison a lot of things could happen Why is he gonna even listen to me? Matter of fact, he’s been looking for me for 40 years because I murdered a guy And you know what? No, no what god said to mosa. He said you tell him that I am

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that I am since you. So when Jesus says, I am. I am. I am the way. Read it. I am the truth. And I am the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. Here’s what makes Christianity exclusive.

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And this is why I say the message of the cross, the gospel is a very exclusive message. Jesus did not say, I am a good way. He didn’t say, I’m the best way. He didn’t say, I’m one of the ways. Jesus said, I am the way. That is an emphatic statement meaning I am the way.

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am it. There is no other way. In other words, there’s no other religion. Buddhism can’t get you to heaven. Islam will not get you to heaven. I could go on down to the world’s religions. I could go on down through your efforts and my efforts. None of those will get us to the Father which is in heaven, except his son Jesus and what his son did on the cross. That is the only way. I am the way. I am the truth. See when I say,

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There’s a lot of disinformation out there in the world. There’s a lot of people that are confused today It’s because they say things like this Well, my truth is or your truth is no there is the truth and it is God’s Word And it’s what Jesus said and he is the truth. There’s no other option It’s Jesus or nothing. It’s it’s you follow him or you followed the wrong one You can follow anybody you want but not many of them not any

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them are going to get you to heaven except Jesus. He says I am the way, I am the truth, and I am life. No one comes to the Father except by me. Here’s what I want to leave you with. Take your Bible real quick and just go over to go over to Matthew for a second. Matthew chapter 7 in verse 21. Let me leave you with two thoughts here.

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Matthew chapter 7 verse 21. I have written and recorded here in my Bible the most haunting words in Scripture. How many of you know there’s some scary stuff in the Bible? How many of you know there’s some funny stuff in the Bible? How many of you know there’s some crazy stuff in the Bible? I could give you some stuff, man, you’d just read and you’d be like, oh, I don’t need to watch them soap operas anymore, just read the Bible.

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I don’t need TikTok and Facebook no more. There’s a lot of drama right here. But here’s here’s Here are what I believe are the most haunting scariest verses

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in all the Bible and I’ll tell you why. Jesus, Red Letter Edition, if you’ve got a Red Letter Edition Bible, these words are written in red, meaning Jesus himself spoke them. Now again, not that any words in the Bible are unimportant, they are all very important, but when you see it in red, they’re actually quoting Jesus himself. And so he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord.

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shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father in heaven what by the way let me start right there what is the will does that mean does that mean i got to do god’s will in order to get to heaven does it mean like i’ve got to work to get to heaven no the will of god is this that none should perish but that all should come to repentance and faith in jesus christ god’s not willing that any should perish but that all come to faith in christ and through christ you you got

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God for my life. I’m going to will about first of your life is to really believe in

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wants is to save you. What God wants to is to save you, redeem you, and wash you from your sins and have a relationship with you because he’s the way, he’s the truth, and he’s life. But he says

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I’ve got to hurry. He says, not everyone who says to me, the Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven, many, underline that word, many, many will say unto me in that day. What day? The day of judgment, the day coming, the very day that the apostle Paul warned about in Second Corinthians chapter 5. He says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Why does a person like me get up here

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and preach to you. Why do preachers, why does any Christian share their faith with someone else? It’s because I know the goodness of God and that’s what I’m preaching to you, but I also know the terror of the Lord, that great day of judgment coming that Jesus is speaking of here when time has now been done and eternity has begun and we are all judged. Remember I was talking about reading books while ago? Hey, it’s great to read other things,

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In fact, I would say make sure before this day ends that you begin reading this book I’m preaching from because you’re not going to be judged according to Harry Potter You’re not going to have all these other religions and all these other books about stuff out there to be judged by But this book right here one day you and I will stand before God and we will give an account for what we believed And how we practice this book in our life And I’ve got to tell you something if I’m going to be judged by this book

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I don’t know about you, but I want to know it. And so when he’s talking about that day, he’s many will say to me, that day, that day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name? Have we not done many wonders or miracles in your name? Let’s stop right there. Does that sound like a sinner to you? Does that sound like a bad person to you?

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Remember my statement a moment ago, there’s going to be some good people going to hell? We’re talking about someone it seems like who must be doing some preaching, some ministry. They’re prophesying in God’s name, in Jesus’ name. They are casting out demons in Jesus’ name.

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See when you hear me get up and talk about hey you need to cast some demons out you need to know there’s no Special ability of my own the demons come out not in my name, but in the name of Jesus. There’s power in his name So he says you there’s though you prophesied my name you cast out demons in my name and look at the next thing He says you did many wonders miracles In your name we did many more so these are obviously even religious people And look what jesus says to them

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and I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness or sinfulness.” Now, let me make some clarifications in that statement. When the Bible was written in the New Testament, it’s written in Greek, it’s translated into an English translation to which we’re reading today.

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The Greek language, you may have heard me say this, is a very complex language, and English is a very simplistic language. So when the translation is made, sometimes we lose the meaning or the impact of the words that it was being said originally by Jesus who’s speaking. So what he’s saying, and here’s what people often go, oh that means anyone who practices lawlessness or sin, anyone sinning is going to miss heaven.

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How many of you know when you get saved, when you become a Christian, you’re not going to stop sinning? You should slow down in your sinning. Here’s what happens differently for a sinner and a saint. A sinner is one still condemned by their sin and has not believed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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A saint is someone who was a sinner but now believes the gospel. I’m a sinner. I can’t save myself I trust the finished work of jesus on the cross to save me that person becomes a saint And here’s the reason why it’s a big word in the bible that paul uses called justified No, it’s not a show on hbo. It’s a real deal justified What does that statement mean? It’s a legal statement. You need to know in the kingdom of god. There’s many legal statements

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of declarations made in the scriptures. When I stand before God and confess my sin to him and humble myself recognizing I deserve the wrath of God, but I believe Jesus is the way, he’s truth, he’s life. And what he did on the cross, he took my place. In that moment, God says, I no longer see you as a sinner.

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See you as a saint. That’s not me being arrogant. Are you being here? That’s the actual legal definition of Justified I have been justified in the sight of God. He has moved me from this status Sinner to this status. I’m a saint of God Now do I still see it? Here’s what happens I you meet you all of us in the moment that I’m justified from my sin by the blood of Jesus

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I a couple things happen number one my Spirit man the part of me and you that is different than the animals How many of you know you are different than the animals? I know you’re looking at your husband You’re going I was pretty sure that evolution thing was right. You know, he acts like a monkey sometimes. No Don’t look at your husband. Look at me What makes us different than the animals by the way the whole world says we’re just another animal right

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The whole world says, you know, we have all from a monkey universe, tadpole or, you know, whatever. It’s crazy. You know, I’m not dumb enough to believe that you can’t tell me that all this complex universe that we live in just happened by chance. That’d be like you sitting me down with a coloring book and saying, see these words, see these letters, see, see the pictures, see the cover. It just happened. It doesn’t have an offer. I’d be looking at you going, you smoking too much dope.

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I don’t believe that. My rational mind can tell me when I look at all the complex universe God created that there had to be a creator, an author of this. Speak to a doctor who studies the human body and ask them how complex just your heart is or your kidneys are.

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Along with the rest of your body that functions perfectly unless something you get sick or something But but just ask how complex of a creation you and I are so it brings me back here so when I think about I Think about the fact that God has made me from a sinner to a saint I’m different than the animals what makes me different than the animal. I have a spirit We often say horses or animals have spirits. That’s not really true. They actually have a soul

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We kind of twist those words around the spirit Within you is the part of you that god did different To adam than he did to all the animals when he when he spoke a bird into existence That’s what he did. He just spoke it into existence when he made the horses and we made the cows or dogs He spoke all that read your bible reading genesis all those animals came before man a day before

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Not millions of years before, not evolved, all that stuff, you know, crazy. But a day before. But God spoke all of life into existence until it came to man. And then he takes man. Ladies, you wonder why your husband is so dirty? You ever wondered that? Like, why is this man so dirty? Like everything he does, he leaves his stuff laying around. He’s got these dirty underwear hanging off over here. It’s like, he’s always dirty. God made man from the dirt.

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Well, let me help you ladies real quick. I got to lighten you up a little bit. Don’t raise your hand. How many of you women, wives, have ever been stabbed in the middle of the night by your husband’s big, sharp toenail? You know, that one that when he kicks you, it’s like, oh, you stabbed me. God gave that to us.

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so that when our dirty underwear are on the floor, we can stab them and throw.

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Oh, yeah, I’m looking around now, huh? We can stand throw stuff with it. Yep. Don’t get our hands dirty God made Adam and when he made Adam from the dirt, you know what he did? He breathed God who is what a spirit Breathed the breath of life into man Read Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and the Bible says God here’s why I say to you There’s no such thing as a real atheist in this world

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There’s just someone operating in a spirit of rebellion and rejection that there is a God. But deep within their being they know there is a God because God said he has put eternity in the heart of every human. Yeah. That’s what makes…so my spirit is made right with God. It’s quick and it’s made alive. And my soul, that’s your mind, your will and intellect. By the way an animal has that. They don’t have a spirit but they do have a soul. Mind, will and intellect.

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My spirit and my soul have been saved, redeemed, but there’s one problem and it’s this body, this flesh.

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It has not yet been redeemed. So here’s the deal when my spirit is redeemed. That is my justification when my soul has been redeemed that is my sanctification in other words god throughout my life. The holy spirit is Changing me daily to be more and more like christ. He’s changing you daily to be more and more like jesus That’s called sanctification But then eventually when we die and by the way, we are all going to die talking to a guy this week he was telling me he had a terminal disease and

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and that there was just maybe five, six weeks to go by. I said, well, listen, let me give you some, let me cheer you up. Y’all know I can cheer you up. I said, listen, you’ve only gotta die once in your life. One day of your whole life, you gotta die. Live the rest of the days. And I said, and then one other thing I gotta tell you is, none of us, unless Jesus come back real soon, none of us are gonna get out of life without dying.

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It’s it’s we are going to die and so but when you die your body goes into the ground or goes back to dust and that is awaiting the resurrection of Jesus and the fact that when he does

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Then that is going to be our glorification. So I have my justification my sanctification and eventually one day my Glorification when he raises his body and my body will not grow old it when I get sick It will be perfect like God intended it to be and that is going to happen to every believer By the way, it will happen to unbelievers, too There is the resurrection of the just the saved

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And then on that great day Jesus came out in the resurrection of the unjust. Did you know that? Did you know that every human that has ever been created will be resurrected? Some to receive the rewards of God at the judgment seat of Christ, those who have been saved, and others to receive.

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the damnation and condemnation that they chose because they would not believe in the name and the person and the finished work of Jesus Christ and that will be on the great white throne judgment when their body soul and spirit stand as one before God and they are judged according to the books and if their name is not found written in the book of life they are bound and cast by the angels into the lake of fire forever

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It’s a horrible thought. And that’s what Jesus is saying. He says, look, I will declare to them one day, I never knew you. Let me give you this. I’m trying to land the plane. So just buckle your seat belt, tray up in front of you. We’re going for a crash landing right here. If you ask me, do I know who the president is, I would say, you want the real one or the fake one? No, I mean, I don’t.

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You say, do you know who the president of the United States is? I’m like, yes, Joe Biden. Can you tell me something about Joe Biden? I can tell you some things about Joe Biden. You might not want to hear it, but I can tell you. But if you went to president Joe Biden and you said, do you know Jeff Tackett? He’s going to go, no, I don’t know anything. No, I don’t know him. Don’t know him. You said that about president Trump. I know who they are. We don’t really know each other. They certainly don’t know who I am.

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There’s a lot of people who know about Jesus. Matter of fact, you ask most Americans, do you believe in Jesus? Sure. I don’t believe in Jesus, but do you know him? Jesus is saying something right here that means a personal relationship. See the Bible is not about religion.

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religion won’t do anything for you. Notice Jesus said, they’re gonna say they prophesied my name, they cast out demons in my name, they did all these many wonderful miracles in my name, and he says, depart from me, for I never knew you. Because they were religious, but they had no relationship. See, the one thing, I…

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The one thing that religion has done in our world is it has told us that we could do good enough, be good enough, you know, all this stuff. And they’ve missed it. It’s all about what you can do and not about what Jesus did. Proverbs 17, and I’m going to close with this. It says, There is a way that seems right to a man, but the ends of that way are death.

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See, the whole world is looking for answers, is looking for truth, and is looking for a way in one’s life. I heard the other day when they came out with technology, I think it was Elon Musk, called Neuralink, where they claimed they can implant this thing in your brain, and they’ve tried now with the first human. If you don’t think things are crazy, hang on.

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They can plant this thing called a neurolink in there and they can download data of your brain and basically, basically the theory is they can cause you to go on and live forever. Even though your body dies, they can upload all of your intellect, what we would call your soul, your mind, your will, your intellect. They can upload all that and potentially later download it in another cadaver. How many of you have ever seen the movie Avatar? You want to know what the devil’s doing? Just watch Hollywood.

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He’s telling you. It ain’t a joke. And Elon Musk, the great Republican guy that he saved Twitter and became axiom, yeah, he’s leading it. So when I tell you, I’m not for the right wing, I’m not for the left wing, I’m for the bird in the middle of Jesus, okay? I’m not going that way. You need to know there’s some demonic forces that work in this world, and I’m not saying that that piece of technology is totally demonic or anything, I’m just saying it has demonic potential.

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You follow me? But even if they could do that, they’ll never get away from that part of you called the Spirit. That part of you that is unique in there has never been and never will be anybody else like you because God uniquely, fearfully, and wonderfully made you and made you to be an eternal being and one whom He loves greatly.

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so greatly that he was willing to leave heaven and become a man and made a declaration that may offend some today but it’s still the truest statement ever been made he said I am the way I am truth and I am life you know what brings the most anxiety in people’s lives is the fear of dying it’s a natural instinct that God gives us I think

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for survival. When you meet someone who’s, quote, suicidal, you’re meeting someone who I believe has been liked to by demons and affected them mentally because no rational, sane, mentally well person would want to end their life. God made us different than that. God gave us a desire for life, but yet we all know we’re dying. And so what is the hope? The hope is, Jesus said this in John 10, 10. The thief.

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meaning the devil, Satan, came to do three things. You wanna know his plan for you? You wanna know Satan’s plan for your life? Simple, to steal, to kill, and destroy. To steal, to kill, and destroy. Everything about you to eventually that destruction of your soul when you’re cast into the lake of fire. That is his purpose.

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But you know what Jesus said in the same verse? He said, but I, I have come to give you life and life more abundantly. And he does that because he’s the way, he’s the truth, and he’s life. Would you bow your heads with me for a moment?

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before I close this service and we go eat lunch and go to Borad and whatever your afternoon has in store. Let me, come on man, let me ask you this.

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It’s not a matter of if. Okay? Let’s take that word out of the equation. Let’s just say when. When. Because Hebrews 9.27 says, it is appointed, in other words, we have an appointment, it is appointed unto man once to die. And then after this, it says the judgment. What’s the judgment mean? It means we’re going to stand before God.

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So it’s not a matter if, it’s a matter of when we stand before God.

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Have you trusted fully in the fact of what Jesus said when He said of Himself, I am the way, I am truth, and I am the life, and nobody, no man, no person comes to the Father except through Me? Have you totally believed that and committed your heart to that truth?

01:00:08
If, not if, but when, you and I stand before God, and we will, that day’s coming. Sure as I’m standing here, that day will come. When you stand before God, will He look at you and say, depart from me, for I never knew you.

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And if that happens, oh, how sad that would be. You know why? Because God has gone to greater lengths than anybody. God has gone further than anyone else would go, knowing that you and I couldn’t save ourselves.

01:01:00
He knew that. He knew we couldn’t help ourselves. He knew we couldn’t change ourselves. So He became our substitute. He became the way. He became the way. Imagine, God watches His own Son was crucified and poured out His wrath for sin on His Son so that He wouldn’t have to for us. So you see how unnecessary it would be to stand before God and Jesus say that to you?

01:01:28
When he offers a free gift of salvation, free to you, it costs him everything, but it’s free to you, say, what must I do then to be saved? What must I do to accept this way? How can I know that I’m going the right way? How can I know that I’m trusting the truth? How can I know that I’m going through him? I quoted it to you a moment ago, Romans chapter 10, verse nine and 10.

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Thou wilt confess the Lord Jesus with thine mouth, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. For with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. God, I’m a sinner. I can’t save myself. If I get what I deserve, it’s hell. But I believe with my heart that Jesus died for me.

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was buried and rose again the third day. I believe he paid my sin debt that I owe to God in full. And I declare with my mouth and believe with my heart today that Jesus is the way, he is the truth, and he is life. And the best I know how to take on, I…

01:02:51
I give you my life. I give you my heart. I surrender to you, God. I come to you by faith through Jesus and what he did for me. Would you pray that today if you’ve never prayed that, if you’ve never trusted that, if you’ve got doubt in your heart today? Well, you know one time, Pastor, I went to church and I prayed and…

01:03:19
I even got baptized, but I’m just not sure. Can I just tell you something about, I believe with all my heart, when God saves you, it takes once. When He does, He does, and He does well, and He does good, and He does forever. But can I tell you, eternity is too long to be wrong. Eternity is too long to be wrong. I wouldn’t, I don’t wanna risk that for anything. I wanna know with all my heart.

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I trust him with all my heart, my life, my eternity. That I believe that he is the way, he is truth and he is alive.

01:03:57
So would you pray with me today? God, I confess I’m a sinner. I know my sin separates me from you. If I get what I deserve, it’s hell. But I believe Jesus is the way. I believe he’s the truth. I believe he’s life. And you pray something like this, Father, forgive me, save me, change me, and help me live for you.

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A simple humble prayer from your heart, you mean it. From your heart to God right now. He’s listening to you. And He’ll save you. He’ll do what you and no one else can do. He’ll change you. You’ll have a new nature about you. A changed person. That’s what the Bible, that’s what Jesus was talking about when He said you must be born again. It’s being changed by God. A new nature.

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Jesus name. My heads are still bowed for this moment. If you prayed that prayer with me today, I’m not going to point to you, not going to embarrass you. I want to give you an opportunity at the end of the service to come by and tell me.

01:05:07
If you really mean it. But how many of you prayed that prayer saying, Jeff, I truly received Jesus today as my Lord and Savior. I receive him as the way, the truth, and life. Yes, hands, several hands, all are good, thank you. You prayed that prayer with me today, you truly mean it. Hey, let me know about it at the end of service. Tell somebody, Jesus said, if you won’t confess to me before me, and I’ll not confess you before Father, don’t be ashamed to share with others how you truly trusted Christ.

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as your Savior, Him as the way, the truth and the lie.

01:05:44
I’m gonna ask you to stand. Man, would y’all lead us in two verses of the song you sang a moment ago during our worship. They’re gonna do that, y’all join us. And when they’re done, you’re dismissed. Offering can in the back, if you wanna give an offering to the Lord today, we don’t pass an offering plate, you can do that. You can put one of those slips in there if you’re visiting with us. Drop that form in the back. Just let us know who you are. We love you, we’re grateful for you being here. Glad you worshiped with us. And I especially wanna say to visitors this, we say around here, and it’s an obvious thing,

01:06:14
us for the first time. Okay, we understand you’re visiting. You’re a visitor. You come back a second time, you’re family to us. All right? We love you and we’re glad that you worshiped here today with us and I hope you’ve been blessed. I hope you have a blessed week. Don’t forget our Bible study, six o’clock this Wednesday night. Ecclesiastes chapter three, I think, is where we’re at and that’s going to be an awesome time to study. Bull

01:06:43
Saturday morning at 9 a.m. I’ll get that right. Be sure and get a bulletin. That’s why they don’t let me do announcements because I don’t even know where I’m at sometimes. I’ll get you lost in me, but just follow them.

01:07:03
There’s going to be hamburgers and stuff in the back. We’re going to have concession up at the bull riding here a little bit. So if you don’t have time to get away from lunch, they’ll have concession open at the bull riding here in just a little bit. That’s what that smell is. They’re cooking. All right. Let’s sing this last worship song. We sang she sang it a moment ago and it was really awesome. They did an awesome job today leading us in worship. Didn’t they? Amen. Let’s let’s see.

01:07:29
You lead us in two verses that when they’re done, you’re dismissed, okay?

01:07:36
worthy of every song we could ever sing

01:07:46
Of all the praise we could ever bring

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Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you.

01:08:10
Jesus the name above every other name

01:08:18
Jesus the only one who could ever save

01:08:26
Of every breath we could ever breathe We live for you

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There is no one like you There is none beside you Open up my eyes and wonder Show me who you are and fill me

01:09:02
With your heart and lead In your love to those around me

01:09:29
Jesus, the name above every other name

01:09:37
Jesus the only one who could ever say worthy of every breath we could ever we live for you

01:09:55
Thank you

01:10:00
We’re gonna keep singing, y’all can be dissing.