DNow 2025: Changed // Saturday Night

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, let me take you back to around December 1st.
And once December 1st rollsaround, that means that
Christmas is coming.
And since Christmas was rightaround the corner, that means
I've got to go up into my atticto bring down all the Christmas
stuff that we have stored therethe other 11 months of the year.
So I go up there and I bringdown our Christmas tree, bring
down the ornaments, bring downthe wreaths and the nativity

(00:22):
scene, like bring down all thatstuff.
And then my wife and I we startsetting up for Christmas.
But as we do my three-year-olddaughter, she starts getting
really, really excited.
She's like mom and dad, can Ihelp?
Mom and dad, can I help?
And we're like JC, absolutelynot.
No, you cannot help.
So much of this stuff isfragile and breakable.

(00:43):
No, unfortunately, you can'thelp with this.
And we start putting the treetogether because we have a fake
tree, not a real one.
And once we finally finish upwith the tree, she's still just
like right at my knee, going Dad, can I help, dad, can I help,
dad, can I help?
And finally I'm like okay, jc,yes, you can help.
What we're going to do rightnow is we're going to start
putting the ornaments onto thetree.

(01:04):
So just grab an ornament andthen you're going to put it up
onto the tree.
So I turn my back to grab anornament and as soon as I turn
my back, all I hear is crash.
And I look over and she'sstaring at the floor and there's
an ornament that's just brokento a bunch of pieces right
before her.
And I was like, oh my goodness,like the moment I gave you a

(01:26):
job to do, you failed at yourjob, like we were supposed to
make something beautiful and yetyou broke it.
You broke it and, whether yourealize it or not, that story
right there is the story of mylife and your life and the story
of human history.
Because our heavenly father wasmaking something beautiful.

(01:47):
He was making something thatwas going to be stunning and
then he allowed his kids to takepart in it.
And the moment we hit the scene, our sin broke what was meant
to be beautiful and our sinshattered what was going to be
stunning.
My sin and your sin broke whatwas going to be beautiful.

(02:08):
What we're going to talk abouttonight is how God changes our
brokenness, how God changes ourbrokenness.
Last night we talked about howGod changes our identity.
This morning we talked abouthow God changes our path and
tonight we're going to talkabout how God changes our
brokenness.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to actually look at the
very first prophecy about Jesusin Scripture.
A prophecy is something spokenof years before, of what's going

(02:32):
to happen in the future, andthis is the first ever prophecy
about Jesus.
And what's fascinating is it'son one of the very first pages
in Scripture.
In Genesis, chapter 3, the verybeginning, god's saying hey,
I'm coming, I'm sending someoneto fix what you have broken.
So we're going to look at thisstory of Adam and Eve.

(02:53):
When brokenness first enteredthe scene, while there was a
perfect world that God hadcreated, adam and Eve had made
choices that brought brokenness.
We're actually going to start inGenesis, chapter 1, the very
beginning of Scripture, startingin verse 26.
Leading up to this, god hascreated the heavens and the
earth.
He's created the stars in thesky, the waters in the seas and

(03:16):
the birds in the air.
Then, on the sixth day ofcreation, he makes humankind and
he says this verse 26.
And he says this verse 26.
Then God said let us makemankind in our image, in our
likeness, that they may ruleover the fish in the sea and the
birds in the sky, over thelivestock and all the wild
animals and over all thecreatures that move along the
ground.
So God created mankind in hisown image.

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In the image of God, he createdthem Male and female.
He created them, god blessedthem and said to them be
fruitful and multiply, increasein number, fill the earth and
subdue it, rule over the fish inthe sea and the birds in the
sky and over every livingcreature that moves on the
ground.
Then God said I give you everyseed-bearing plant on the face

(04:00):
of the whole earth and everytree that has fruit with seeds
in it.
They will be yours for food.
It's all Now.

(04:24):
There's a lot that can be saidabout this specific passage, but
I want to point out to you thething that stood out to me as I
was preparing this message,because I want to point out the
thing that almost feels like itwas a mistake from God, because
look at how much authority Godgave Adam.
He creates him and he says ruleover the fish in the sea and
the birds in the sky, over thelivestock and all the wild

(04:47):
animals and over all thecreatures that move along the
ground.
He says fill the earth andsubdue it.
Subdue it means to haveauthority over it.
Then he says I give you everyseed bearing plant.
So God creates this perfectworld.
He doesn't remove himself fromcreation, but he does give it
over to humankind to rule over.
And God says hey, the fish inthe sea have authority over them

(05:10):
.
The animals on the ground haveauthority over them.
Every seed bearing plant haveauthority over them.
The whole earth, you haveauthority over it.
And the first thing I want toshow you is this in looking at
Genesis, chapter one in light ofall of the scriptures, point
number one Adam's use ofauthority creates the need for

(05:32):
Jesus's use of authority.
Adam's use of authority createsthe need for Jesus's use of
authority Because we see here inGenesis that God was in some
ways a delegator.
He allowed Adam and Eve theopportunity to manage what he
hadator.
He allowed Adam and Eve theopportunity to manage what he
had created.
He gave them authority over theworld.
Now, that command wasn't justgiven to Adam and Eve, it was
given to us as well.

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He's given us authority overour life.
My question is how are youdoing with that, like with the
freedom that God has given you.
How are you doing with that?
In looking at Adam and Eve'sstory, we see that they used
their authority to bringbrokenness into the world and

(06:16):
they broke what God had madebeautiful.
So here's my question why didhe let them touch it Like, why
did he let them have so muchauthority?
He's God.
He's got to know he's a betterperson to rule over all of
creation than they are, like.
Why did he involve them in thisprocess?

(06:36):
Well, I think here's why.
Why did I involve my daughterin putting together our
Christmas tree?
Because I love her and it's alot more fun for me to do things
with her than to do thingswithout her.
I would much prefer for her tobe in the process, even if
things are broken, than for meto say, hey, go stand over there

(06:59):
, wait on the sidelines, becauseshe's my daughter, I want to
involve her with things In thesame way.
God so loves you.
He wants to involve you in hiscreation.
But my question also is why didhe involve them?
But why did he give them enoughauthority to break things

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permanently?
Well, the good news is is hedidn't.
He didn't give them theauthority to break things
permanently.
The best thing.
The best way I can explain that,I think, is this we had gone
out to eat and my whole familyme, my wife and my two daughters
.
We were going back to our carand here's a picture of it my

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daughter, my oldest daughter.
She was like, hey, can I pushCallie, our youngest, in the
stroller?
Can I push her in the stroller?
Can I push her in the stroller?
And eventually I'm like, okay,sure you can start to push her.
So she grabs a hold of thestroller and that thing's not
going straight at all, likeshe's pushing it up against the
curb.
Then she starts pushing it inthe oncoming traffic and as her

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dad, I'm not like, okay, yep,that's a bummer.
Like you're pushing that thingin oncoming traffic.
That's a shame.
No, whenever it would startgoing sideways, I'd correct it,
because you see here she hadsome authority, but she didn't
have all authority.
She had some authority, shedidn't have all authority.
The moment that she made thingsgo a little bit crooked, I

(08:29):
stepped in and corrected it.
And this is really the realityof Scripture God gave us some
authority, but the really,really, really good news is he
didn't give us all authority,because here's really the story
of Scripture.
If you don't know the story ofscripture, I'm going to give it
to you.
Really, from Genesis toRevelation, the story of

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scripture actually mirrorsitself, and here's what it is.
God created a perfect world andafter creating a perfect world,
he created a perfect man and hegave that man authority.
That man used that authority tobring brokenness into the world
.
And upon seeing that, god senta perfect man, jesus, who used

(09:14):
his authority to restore theworld that one day he will
recreate a perfect world.
That's the story of scripture.
Again, it mirrors itself.
Perfect world, perfect man useshis authority to break the
world.
So God sent a perfect man whowould use his authority to one
day recreate a perfect world,because while he gave us some
authority, it wasn't a permanentauthority.
He gave Jesus all authority.

(09:35):
Matthew chapter 28 says this.
Then Jesus came to them andsaid all authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me.
And if you wanna to understandChristianity, it's this.
We have used our God-givenauthority to break the world,
but Jesus has used his God-givenauthority to redeem the world.
And it's point number one.
First thing we can learn Adam'suse of authority creates the

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need for Jesus's use ofauthority.
Now the next part of the storythat we're going to read is in
Genesis, chapter 3.
We're going to start reading inverse 6.
And leading up to that, god hassaid you can eat from any tree
from the Garden of Eden, justnot one of them, just not from
the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil.
But then Satan slithers ontothe scene and said did God

(10:21):
really say, did God really mean?
I think God's keeping you fromsomething.
And then we see this in versesix when the woman saw that the
fruit of the tree was good forfood and pleasing to the eye and
also desirable for gainingwisdom, she took some and ate it
.
She also gave some to herhusband, who was with her.

(10:42):
That's an important part of thestory.
Eve gets a bad rap for she beingthe one who chose to sin.
But it says Adam, her husband,was with her.
He was just standing there asSatan the deceiver was speaking
to her.
He was standing there idly by,passive, with his hands in his
pockets, allowing his wife to belied to by the enemy.

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And then it says and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of themwere opened and they realized
that they were naked.
So they sewed fig leavestogether and made coverings for
themselves.
Then the man and his wife heardthe sound of the Lord as he was
walking in the garden in thecool of the day, and they hid
from the Lord God among thetrees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to theman where are you?

(11:25):
He answered I heard you in thegarden and I was afraid because
I was naked, so I hid.
So Adam and Eve used theirauthority to disobey God, and I
love that.
God's first question to them isnot what have you done?
But it's where did you go?
Where are you?

(11:46):
Why are you hiding from me?
And you see, they're hidingfrom God because their sin
brought about a feeling thathumanity was never meant to
experience, and it was thisfeeling of shame.
This feeling right here is instark contrast to what we see in
Genesis, chapter 2.
Before sin, it says Adam and Evewere both naked and they felt

(12:09):
no shame.
There was nothing to hide andnothing to fear, because all
they knew was love from theirheavenly father.
But now that they've tastedevil, the first thought they had
was I need to run for myheavenly father and just like we
saw with Jonah this morning.
That's what shame is going totell you.
If he knows what you did, he'snever going to love you.

(12:32):
The same, if he saw how youdisobeyed him, he's not really
going to want you.
So Adam and Eve run in theirembarrassment and try to cover
up what they've done.
This is point number two.
Second thing we can learn fromthis text Adam's actions brought
shame.
Jesus' actions removed shame.
Adam's actions brought shame.

(12:52):
Jesus' actions removed shame.
Adam's actions brought shame.
Jesus' actions removed shame.
And you see, it's not wrongthat Adam and Eve felt badly
about our sin.
We should feel badly about oursin.
But there are two ways torespond to sin.
There is shame and then there'sconviction.
Those are two very differentthings Shame and conviction.

(13:12):
Shame says you need to run fromyour father.
Conviction says you need to runto your father.
Shame says you need to concealyour sin.
Conviction says you need toconfess your sin.
You see, shame looks likerunning away and pretending like
you've done nothing wrong.
Here's how you know if youstruggle with shame.

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Here's how you know if youstruggle with shame versus
conviction.
You struggle with shame.
If I mention a sin struggle uphere that you struggle with.
Maybe it's sexual sin, maybeit's body image struggles which
have turned into you hidingeating patterns in your life.
Let's say I mention a sinstruggle that is yours and your

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first thought is that's my sinstruggle and I can't let anybody
know about it, because if theyknew what I have done, they'd
see me differently.
If they knew what I have done,they'd view me differently.
And if God really knew what Ithought or what I've done, he's
not going to love me the sameway.

(14:16):
That's what shame is going totell you.
You should be embarrassed aboutwho you are and what you've
done, but I love what happensnext in Genesis because from the
very beginning of scripture Godis going you don't need to feel
shame because whatever you'reashamed of, I'm going to fix it,
because here their sin madethem ashamed of their nakedness.
And look at what God does WhileAdam and Eve try to cover their

(14:39):
sin up with leaves, theirnakedness up with leaves.
Look what happens in verse 21.
This is actually right here,pointing to what Jesus would do
thousands of years later.
It says the Lord God madegarments of skin for Adam and
his wife and clothed them.
Well, what actually had tohappen for him to make garments

(14:59):
of skin to clothe them, he wouldhave had to make a sacrifice.
An animal would have had tohave been sacrificed so that he
could take those garments ofskin and cover up their
nakedness.
And I love this that the firstever sacrifice in scripture
would actually point to thefinal sacrifice in scripture,

(15:22):
because here, while God made asacrifice of an animal to cover
up their shame, jesus would comeand he would be sacrificed on
our behalf, and scripture saysthat he took on our shame so
that we could no longer feel anyshame.
His punishment on the cross iswhat covered up our brokenness,
our nakedness and our shame, andthis is what we celebrate.

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If you've ever taken communion,this is what we remember when
we take communion.
We celebrate the fact that weno longer have to live in shame
because Jesus' body was brokenon our behalf and his blood
covers our sin.
You know, I actually thinkwhenever we take communion, we
should be remembering what Jesusdid on the cross, but I think

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he also wants us to rememberwhat happened here in Genesis,
chapter three.
This is something that I justnoticed recently for the very
first time, because look atsomething that I noticed in
scripture In Genesis, chapter 3,verse 6, it says this when the
woman saw that the fruit of thetree was good for food and
pleasing to the eye and alsodesirable for gaining wisdom,

(16:29):
she took some and ate it.
You see, in Genesis, chapter 3,take and eat is the phrase that
created shame.
But look at the words thatJesus intentionally chooses to
use at the Last Supper when heinstitutes communion Matthew,

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chapter 26,.
While they were eating, jesustook bread and while he had
given thanks, he broke it andgave it to his disciples, saying
take and eat, this is my body.
You see, while in Genesis,chapter 3, that phrase take and
eat is all about the giving ofshame, in Matthew, chapter 26,
that phrase take and eat is allabout the removal of shame.

(17:12):
Because, you see, while Adamand Eve took from the fruit, all
of a sudden they became ashamedof their nakedness.
Jesus came emptied himself andbecame naked upon a cross so he
could take and eat of his body,so that we no longer have to
feel any shame.
And that means, if you came inhere tonight ashamed about who

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you've been, ashamed about whatyou've done, you feel like
you're supposed to be aChristian believer, but you know
your life, you know you havenot been following Jesus and
you're ashamed about what you'vedone.
Or maybe you are followingJesus, but there's these certain
areas of your life that you aredeeply embarrassed of and
you're thinking if only God knewhe wouldn't love me.
Here's what you need to know.

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He's seen it all, he knows itall and he wants all of you, in
spite of what you've done.
He so loves you.
He emptied himself.
So you don't have to feelshamed about what you've done
because he's forgiven it.
You don't have to hide in thecorner covering yourself up,

(18:16):
because his blood has alreadycovered you up, and you don't
have to run from your father.
You get to run to your fatherand when you're in the presence
of the king, there's no shamebecause he's given you his robes
, robes of righteousness.
So point number two, secondthing that we can learn Adam's
actions brought shame.
Jesus's actions removed shame.

(18:37):
The last thing I want to pointout about Adam is what happens
directly after the verses thatwe just read.
Adam tells God that he wasafraid because he was naked.
And God says this and he saidwho told you that you were naked
?
Have you eaten from the treethat I commanded you not to eat
from the man, said the woman youput me here with.
She gave me some fruit from thetree and I ate it.

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So God goes hey, did you dowhat I told you not to do?
And Adam goes the woman thatyou placed with me.
God goes, hey, buddy, did youdo the thing I didn't tell you
to do?
He goes, the woman that youplaced me here with you.
See, it's not my fault, it'sher fault and, more than that,

(19:24):
it's actually your fault becauseyou put her here with me.
But God's like hey, no, buddy,did you eat it?
Did you eat it?
This is the third thing that wecan learn from this passage.
Adam avoids responsibility,while Jesus takes responsibility
.
See, adam falls short anddoesn't own up to it.
Even in Genesis, chapter two,adam was the one who God gave

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the command to not eat from thetree, not Eve.
Adam was supposed to pass thatcommand along to his wife, eve.
Instead, he stands idly by asEve is being tempted and he
passively takes the fruit andeats it, and then he goes.
But it's not really my fault.
I don't know about you, but,man, I feel like that's so much

(20:08):
like me.
I feel like that's so much likeus.
Whenever we're confronted withwhat we've done.
We just want to blame otherpeople.
Like, maybe for you, you'rereally short with your parents,
you're angry with your parentsand your response is man, if
they just weren't so annoying, Iwouldn't respond that way.
You're shifting the blame.
Or maybe for you, man, you'restruggling with drinking alcohol

(20:31):
and you're going man, if myfriends wouldn't drink alcohol,
then I wouldn't.
Either You're shifting theblame or maybe you're not giving
your best at school, you're notgiving your best on your sports
team and you're just going.
Well, my coach or my teachers,they're not very good at their
job.
Again, you're shifting blame.
You're trying to say, hey, it'severyone else's fault and not

(20:54):
my own.
And we have a hard time saying,hey, this one's on me, this is
my fault.
But the good news is that's notwho our God is.
Because while Adam goes, my sinisn't my responsibility.
Look at how God responds nextin verse 13.
My sin isn't my responsibility.
Look at how God responds nextin verse 13.
Then the Lord God said to thewoman what is this you have done

(21:14):
?
The woman said the serpentdeceived me and I ate.
So the Lord God said to theserpent because you have done
this, cursed are you above alllivestock and all wild animals.
You will crawl on your bellyand you will eat the dust all
the days of your life.
Now, right here, this is thefirst ever prophecy about
scripture, thousands of yearsbefore Jesus was born.
This is what God declared, andI will put enmity between you

(21:37):
and the woman and between youroffspring and hers, and he, her
offspring, will crush your headand you will strike his heel.
You see Adam sins and goes hey,this is not my responsibility.
And God looks at Adam's sinsand he's going I'm going to make
redeeming your sins myresponsibility.
Because before this moment ofsin, god had walked with Adam

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and Eve in unhinderedrelationship.
It was a perfect, harmoniousrelationship.
But then Satan slithers in andsaid did God really say?
And they chose to follow thatsnake instead of their God and
that brought brokenness intotheir relationship.
And right here, genesis, chapterthree, verse 15, is a
declaration from God.
As he says I'm going to come toget my kids back.

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Because when he says here thathe will crush your head and you
will strike his heel, what Godis saying is he's saying I'm
going to send someone born of awoman and it will be his mission
to destroy you.
Satan.
That's gonna be his job.
But what your mission will alsobe to destroy him.
You will try to take him outbefore he can accomplish that

(22:44):
mission.
So God sent that man his namewas Jesus to destroy that
deceiver Satan.
But that deceiver Satan didn'tgo down without a fight, so he
fought back and he convincedhumanity to turn their backs on
Jesus, until Jesus was arrested.
And as he was arrested he wasstripped of his clothes, beaten

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to his face, spit in his face,they put a crown of thorns upon
his head and then they tied himto a pole and again with nothing
covering his back, they tookwhat was called a cat of nine
tails, a whip with shards ofpottery and glass, and then they
whipped him 39 times, one shortof death.
And then Jesus, after he hadbeen whipped so brutally that

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his back would have been totallyopen and covered with blood,
they said hey, jesus, pick upyour cross and take it to the
place called Golgotha, the placeof the skull where you're going
to be murdered.
And then Jesus was carrying hiscross to that place.
And then Jesus, who had thepower to create all of humanity,
no longer even had the strengthto carry his cross and he

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crumbled underneath the weightof his cross and someone else
had to pick up his cross.
And then, once they eventuallygot to Golgotha, they laid him
down against two beams of woodand then they nailed his hands
and his feet to it and theyraised him up on a cross to die.
Now, many of us don't reallynecessarily know how he died on
the cross, but here's exactlyhow he died.

(24:12):
When you'd be crucified, you'dactually suffocate.
That's how you'd die, because,as you'd be on the cross, it
would take so much effort justto breathe.
You'd have to push down againstthe nails on your feet to go,
and then you'd let out, and thenyou'd push down and go, and
then you'd let out, and then youpush down and go, and then you
let out, and then you push downand take a breath and then let

(24:33):
out, and then finally Jesus saidit is finished.
And then he died.
And when he said it is finished,satan thought that meant Jesus
was finished.
Satan thought that he had won.
Satan thought that he had dealt.
Satan thought that he had dealtGod the final and fatal blow.

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But then God just counted tothree and then, three days later
, jesus rose from that grave andas he stepped out of that
garden tomb he goes.
You know, my heel is bruised alittle bit from what you did on
the cross, but as he stepped outof that garden tomb he stepped
on Satan's head and when he did,he put that deceiver to death.

(25:15):
As he did, he silenced thatliar and as he did that enemy
who wanted to take out God'schildren from Genesis, chapter 3
, he was the one who dealt thefatal blow in Matthew, chapter
28.
You see, he lost because Godtook the responsibility to get
his kids back.
And what I love about this isthe defining moment in Adam's

(25:38):
life is that he was defeated bySatan in a garden.
And the defining moment ofJesus' life is that he gained
victory over Satan in a gardenbecause Jesus came to save his
kids.
And see, we are saved becausewhile Adam abandoned his
responsibility, jesus neverabandoned his.

(26:00):
And, in summary, point numberone Adam's use of authority
creates the need for Jesus's useof authority.
Point number two Adam's actionsbrought shame.
Jesus's actions removed shame.
Point number three Adam avoidsresponsibility while Jesus takes
responsibility.
You know, I mentioned at thebeginning that my daughter JC,

(26:20):
she broke that arm and itshattered into a bunch of pieces
and I wanted to show you whatit looked like.
So I took a picture of it andhere's what it was.
You can't tell here, butthere's.
It was in a picture of it andhere's what it was.
You can't tell here, butthere's.
It was in a bunch of differentpieces, had to gather them up
and put them back together.
You might not be able to tell,but actually the person on the
bottom right still couldn't findtheir head, like they are
headless even in this picture,because this thing was like

(26:42):
broken, broken.
Now imagine after she had brokenthis ornament.
Imagine that she picked up allthe pieces of it and came to me
and said hey, dad, I broke this,can you fix it?
I would have had to tell herhey, jc, girl, I can't, I can't

(27:02):
fix what you have broken.
This thing is beyond my abilityto repair.
We can't glue it back becausewe can't even find all the
pieces of what you broke.
I wouldn't be able to fix it.
But check out what was on theornament, because on the inside
of the book cover it quotesIsaiah, chapter 9, verse 6.

(27:24):
And this is another prophecyabout Jesus in scripture and it
says this for unto us, a childis born.
Why was he born?
Why was Jesus born?
He was born to fix what we hadbroken.
He was born to put the piecesof our life back together, and

(27:47):
this is the good news of thegospel.
This is the reason why all ofus have a reason to rejoice,
because all of us havebrokenness in our life.
I don't know what it is for you.
I don't know if the brokennessin your life is disordered
eating.
I don't know if the brokennessin your life is sexual sin.
I don't know if the brokennessin your life is disordered
eating.
I don't know if the brokennessin your life is sexual sin.
I don't know if the brokennessin your life is anxiety.
I don't know if the brokennessin your life is isolation and

(28:10):
loneliness and despair anddepression.
I don't know what yourbrokenness is, but all of us
have brokenness because all ofus have sinned.
In our response, even sometimes,what we feel like the church
has told us to do is you've gotto get your life in order,
you've got to fix it, you've gotto do enough good things, and
if you do enough good things,then your life will be fixed.

(28:33):
And we want to pull ourselvesup from our bootstraps and say
I'm going to fix up my life.
Here's the truth.
You can't fix what you'vebroken, but he can.
This is why he came to fix yourdespair, to fix your isolation,
to fix your sin.

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And the good news of the gospelis, when you see the shattered
pieces of your life down on thefloor, here's what you can do.
When you see the shatteredpieces of your life down on the
floor, here's what you can do.
You can pick up the brokenpieces of your life and bring
them to your dad and sayHeavenly Father, can you fix it?
And he will, because that'swhat he came to do.

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Let me pray that he would.

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Heavenly Father, I pray that wewould sense the gravity of the
gospel, that we'd be face toface with our sin and know that
we have sinned against the holyGod that you so loved us.
You desired to create a worldfor us that was perfect, but we
said we don't want you.
We're going to do our own thing.
I'm going to do my own thing.
I'm going to throw myself intosexual sin.

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I'm going to throw myself intoselfishness.
I'm gonna do my own thing.
I'm gonna throw myself intosexual sin.
I'm gonna throw myself intoselfishness.
I'm gonna throw myself into analcohol addiction.
I'm gonna throw myself intowhatever it is, believing that
that's gonna be better.
But I know there's so manystudents here in this room going
it's not better.
My life feels broken.
It feels like something'smissing.
God, I pray that they wouldrealize that it's not something

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that's missing, but it's someonethat's missing, and it's Jesus
Christ who came to live for them, die for them and rise again
for them.
And I pray that they wouldunderstand in a real way for the
first time tonight that you arewhat's missing and that
ultimately, you're the one whocan put the brokenness of their
life back together.

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So, father, I pray that throughthe power of your Holy Spirit,
you would bring salvation in theroom tonight, that tonight
would be a night that thesestudents could say for the rest
of their life.
That's when things change for me, because that's when I started
following Jesus for real, notjust because my parents brought
me to church, not just becausethat's when I started following
Jesus for real, not just becausemy parents brought me to church
, not just because that's whateveryone else in Bernie seems to

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do, but because that's what Iwant to do, because I trust in
the fact that Jesus is alive andwith me and for me, and
although I have turned my backon him, he never turned his back
on me.
So right now, while you'rethere, sitting with every eye

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closed, man, if you want tofollow Jesus, if you want to
make the best decision you'llever make in your life, you can
do that right now, whereveryou're at, whatever you've done,
whatever you've said, whateveryou've watched, you can follow
Jesus right now and experiencehis full forgiveness and

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acceptance, mercy, grace, hopeand love.
And if you wanna follow him,you can just pray after me in
your head.
You can just follow these wordsalong with me in your head and
just say Jesus, I am a sinner.

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Although you so loved me, Idecided to not love you and I
pursued things that werecontrary to your commands, but
even then, you still so loved methat I believe that you sent
your one and only son, jesusChrist, to live for me, die for

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me and rise again for me so Icould have a hope and a future,
so I could live eternally withyou in heaven.
Not because of what I've done,but because of what Jesus has
done and God, right now, I'mgiving my brokenness over to you
and asking God, would you fixit?

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I'm bringing my failures overto you and saying God, would you
forgive it?
And God, thank you for the goodnews of scripture that we can
know that you will forgive, thatyou will restore, that you will
redeem, because you have donewhat it takes to fix our sin by
being crucified on the cross.
And if that's you and you wantto follow him all the days of

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your life, you can just sayright now in your head Jesus, as
best as I'm able, I want tofollow you for all the days of
my life, until I see you face toface in eternity.
In Jesus' name, I pray amen.
And if that's you right now, youguys can take a seat for just a

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second.
If that's you and you're likeman, I want to follow Jesus,
like things just changed for me.
If that's you, I'm gonna giveyou an opportunity to respond to
the good news of the gospel andI'm gonna ask you in a moment
to stand as a declaration of I'mnot who I once was.
I am standing because I believethat Jesus is alive and with me

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and for me, and he's changedeverything in me.
And here's why we ask you tostand.
We believe that when yourespond physically, it
solidifies what has justhappened to you spiritually.
When you respond physically,it's saying this is what's
happened inside of me.
I'm different now.
I'm changed now on the inside.
I want to declare that toeveryone on the outside.

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Now, here's what's probablygoing through your head.
The enemy is going to try totell you don't do that Like,
think about what everyone elsewould think of you.
Don't stand up.
Do you really want to followJesus?
Here's what you get to do.
When you stand, you get to saySatan, you don't have the final
word in my life anymore.
I don't listen to you.
I'm taking a different set oforders from Jesus Christ and he

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says that I'm so seen, I'm soloved and I'm so saved.
So I don't care what you'regoing to try to convince me to
do.
I'm going to be obedient towhat God has called me to do and
he saved me spiritually.
And I want to declare thatpublicly in front of all my
friends, so that I can help them, so that they can help me
follow Jesus, so that I can helpthem follow Jesus as well.

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So if that's you, if you wantto follow Jesus, if everything
has changed for you, I'm goingto count to three in just a
second, and you have to standand declare that you have a new
life because of what JesusChrist has done in your life.
So, on a count of three, you'regoing to stand up.
One Jesus loves you.
Two this is the reason whyyou're here.

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Three you've been saved byJesus.
If that's, you, just standright now and say I have a new
life in Jesus Christ.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I don't know if you know whatscripture says.
Hey, keep standing.
I don't know if you know whatscripture says.
It says that in heaven, thereis more rejoicing when one
sinner repents, and right nowthere's like I don't know,
there's a lot of you.
So, as heaven is rejoicing, hey, let's rejoice with what heaven
is doing right now.
Yeah, hey, to those of you thatare standing, I remember that

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moment when I came to followJesus for the first time.
It changed everything about therest of my life.
It was the best decision I'veever made and I'm so excited for
you that you get to know andfollow Jesus.
Your life will never, ever,ever, be the same.
What we're gonna do right now iswe're gonna respond in worship.
If you are standing, you've gotleaders who are at the back or

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the sides of the room and Iwould encourage you, I would ask
you to, during this time ofworship, to go find them and
talk to them, have aconversation with them, and if
you are sitting right now andyou're like man I didn't stand,
but I do want to follow Jesusyou can go find them as well.
Or if you've got anything elsegoing on in your life, if you're
like man, I've got this hiddensin, or I want to get baptized,

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or this is going on with myparents.
I just need to share this withsomeone.
Now's the time to go do that.
So now, for the rest of us,let's stand, let's respond and
if you decide to follow Jesus,go find your leader.