October 12, 2023 • 33 mins
Join us as Pastor Scott leads us in week 3 of our sermon series "This is My Story."
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
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and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Well, it's good to be backhome. Some of you know, okay,
this one okay, thank you.Some of you know that down and
I had an opportunity this past weekor so to get away. It wasn't
a real plan thing. It was, hey, we haven't done anything to
get away personally, to be togetherand have a little vacation this year.
(00:23):
What do you want to do?And that was in August to the end
of August versus September. And wego, huh, well, we've got
one week available. That's in likethree weeks. What do you want to
do. Well, let's go toWyoming. What's in Wyoming. There's a
National park out there. It's coldin Wyoming. I don't want to go
(00:44):
there. And then we started lookingthe prices to go to Wyoming. It
was expensive. I said, where'swarm. We went to Hawaii, so
we've never been there, and sowe got the opportunity to go away.
But I say all that to saythat I haven't slept since. So I
(01:07):
actually asked back here, I said, can you pray for me today?
I said, I'm so tired.My mind is just kind of a mush.
But the Lord is good. Wegot away. We got to relax
and rest. And then now Igot home, and now I can't sleep,
and so now I'm tired again.So isn't that the way the world
works? So we have been working. I say all that that has really
(01:30):
nothing to do anything other than itis good to be home. It is
good to be with our people.And thank you so much for the wonderful
gifts and the love. I wasthinking as all that was being said and
done, is as a pastor,whether it be a youth pastor or whatever,
whatever designation that we have, wefind our purpose because of you.
(01:57):
You help us fulfill what God hascalled us to do, and so we
appreciate the appreciation. But we appreciateyou. It helps me to live the
life that I think God's called meto. To be able to have the
privilege and the honor to preach toyou today. I don't ever take that
to take that lightly. So thankyou, thank you for the gifts.
(02:22):
I mean, do you see allthat back there. I'm gonna eat on
that today and it's gonna be gone. Maybe i'll sleep. I have a
sugar just I'll be like way highand that sugar crash. He'll just knock
me out. That's probably what Ineed to do. That's what Jesus is
calling. I'm certain of it.All right, Well that's enough goof a
(02:46):
Well, it's not enough goofing around. I'm bringing Brad up here with me
today. So yeah, So we'vebeen in this series called this is My
Story. And two weeks ago orso, I said, this is my
story and I shared a little bitabout my family and just little bits and
pieces of all of that, andgot to share all that God had done
(03:09):
and how he had brought me towhere I am today standing before you.
And then last week I didn't getto watch it live. It's a six
hour difference. I wasn't going todo that, but because I would have
been like, I would have beenup at three o'clock in the morning or
so four o'clock, and I wasn'tgoing to do that. I'm sorry.
You're good, but not that good. But we watched it later and we
(03:36):
got to watch and hear the littlelittle bit of your story at Pastor Tara
about where God has brought you.And then so today I wanted to Brad
and I have been working together.We've been trying to disciple each other and
keep each other accountable. A littlebit. We've been spending some time together
about once a week. We're tryingto get together, growing over a book
(03:57):
and we're just trying to grow together. We're trying to be more like Christ.
And I thought, you know what, this is my story. Brad
can be the one who God helpsme share today what our story is.
So I asked him come up here. And you know, Brad seems like
this big, outgoing guy. Buthe was like, hm, I'm honored,
(04:17):
but those are a lot that's alot of people out there, and
he didn't, you know so,But Brad, Brad's a good guy,
and so I asked him. Igave him a series of questions that I
said I'm gonna ask. I didn'twrite him down, So we're gonna shoot
this from the hip a little bit, which could be scary, you know,
Brad, and I'm feeling judged.You are you are in a good
(04:46):
way though, right in Jesus' name. So I asked that The first thing
I want to I want to askBrad and and for you to share with
us, is can you tell usa little bit about your growing up?
Tell us a little bit about yourhistory of where where life started for you
and your family. Can you dothat for us? Just a quick for
(05:08):
me and the girls? Oh forme personally? Well, I was born
in Dover, Delaware, and myfather. I am a GM kid,
and my father took a transfer todel Cay, Oklahoma when GM opened a
large plant out there. I leftwhen I was in kindergarten. But what
(05:30):
I remember was my grandmother and grandfatheron my mom's side were Quakers and they
attended a Presbyterian church, and myfather's parents were Presbyterian and they bounced around
between Presbyterian and Methodist churches. Mymom and dad, they went to church
(05:51):
with me a little bit. Istarted going to church when I was in
kindergarten, in the first grade ata Baptist church, Baptist Church in More,
Oklahoma. Sadly the building was wipedout in nineteen ninety nine in a
big tornado. But uh, Ialways went to church when I was little,
(06:11):
I really didn't. I enjoyed allI Daniel and the lions Dan.
Uh it was, you know,always my favorite Bible story. And maybe
because they're lions and I like animalswith potatoes, said yeah, with potatoes.
Yeah, And uh, as Igot older, you know, my
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sisters. I'm not, you know, I mean, people drop away as
they get older for young people,which is really sad. But I always
kept going. And I really feelthough that I kept going for the wrong
I went for the wrong reasons.Unfortunately, I'm not really going to go
into a whole lot of that.But when I decided I want to go
(06:55):
for the right reasons that I wantto know more and learn more, I
felt, you know, I feltlike I was kind of had a door
closed on me. So I droppedaway when I was eighteen, like a
lot of young people do. Okay. So so with with your story,
and and and Brad didn't want toshare all this details. We don't need
to know all everybody's details. That'snot what testimonies are about. We don't
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need to know all the horrible thingsthat happened in our lives that we the
choices we made, and so Bradand I talked about that a little bit.
But it's interesting to know that youyou grew up with a Christian background,
just you know, with grandparents somewhat, but it wasn't it wasn't uh
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would you call it a solid backgroundas in as in like family, and
and and That's kind of what wetalked about. And ironically, like Pastre
Tara preached about last week and everything, I really thought about that this week,
and ironically your sermon had to dowith a lot what with what I
taught with the archery last week.My my faith was built on sand.
(08:00):
Back then, there was a seedplanet. But I was built on sand
and it washed away back then.Okay, So where when would it be
the time? Could you describe atime that you kind of recognized that there
was a god? Looking back,I realized God hadn't forgotten about me.
But when me and Stacey were married, I guess, uh, when I
(08:30):
realized God was really reaching out tome, was really reaching for me and
my family was when me and mykids were sitting down watching a cartoon.
We were watching The Prince of Egypt, and Stacy was getting ready for work
that Saturday, and she asked whythat guy was talking to that burning bush.
She didn't know who Moses was.I'd never heard of anybody that didn't
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know who Moses was. So theplant, I guess the seed finally took
off in me and I really satback after she left for work and realized,
I, you know, I wasalways there for my kids as much
as I was, as well asmuch as I could be being a truck
driver. And I just really satback and realized my oldest daughter was six
(09:15):
years old, never even been ina church before. My two younger daughters
they went to church, they wentto daycare at a church, but they
didn't really teach any kind of Biblelessons at this daycare. And I really
sat back and set it to kitchentable and I actually started to get teary
ey and what allows the father Ireally was because me personally, I think
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that's part of being a good parentis giving your children the information and letting
them learn something. And I reallywanted to. And matter of fact,
I remember my sister, my wife'ssister, invited us to church here,
(09:58):
and we came to church here,and a couple of weeks later, Pastor
Carroll came to my house. Iwas sitting there in a pair of cutoffs,
my everything covered up in plastics.I was painting my living room.
I looked at Pastor Carroll and Itold her, I said, I want
my children to know Jesus Christ asour Lord and savior, and for lack
of we don't have all day,but I have all day. Yeah I
(10:24):
do too, but I'm the preacher. Yeah they don't. But you know
it's gonna be fishing loads with thatback there. But anyhow, me and
got you know through some rocky timesback then that I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna bore everybody with the details.I kind of told God, I said,
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God, if you saved my marriage, I'll give it all to you,
my wife, my kids, myeverything. And as I and I
really felt, I really felt differentafter that moment with God. I cried
harder than I've ever cried in mylife. And I'm not much. I
do cry, but I'm not muchof a crying man. Internally, I
(11:07):
am as I got and as Igrew. My mentors is basically Pastor Leonard,
Pastor Carroll, Melissa Harty. Somany people in this church have been
here for me. When I lookedat all the young people doing uh,
who their inspirations were and stuff?I thought about that all week this week,
(11:30):
who was the biggest impact uh atthis church? Dan and Nancy When
I was having the hardest time inmy life since I've been here, you
two means so much to me.You guys have always been have always been
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there for me and had time forme. And I love you guys very
much for that, Donna when meand in the last five years, you
have been there for a advice forme and Stacy and I can't thank you
guys enough. And right here inthe second row my best friend in the
whole wide world. That's my brotherfrom another mother. And I know it
(12:11):
sounds like a joke, but it'strue. Steve, I love you.
You were more than a brother tome. He's been there for and we
The way we met was I neededto know how to send an email and
his license plate is it guy.So we've been friends for more than ten
years. And we're spiritual brothers also, So when I realized there was a
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God was when I started, youknow, with that moment that I had,
I was getting off track. Sorry, I didn't expect that at all.
You're welcome. When I started comingto church here and the love that
I felt, my hand was soreand risk was sore. After our first
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Sunday here, Joe Kirkham came upand shook my hand. A lot of
people here know, remember Joe Ah. Everybody welcomed me and my wife and
my kids, and I realized thatvery first Sunday that we came because we
came because my wife wanted to knowwhat it meant to be saved. Pastors
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started to serve a series that weekon what it meant to be saved.
That moment, there was no doubtin my life that God loved me.
He never forgot me, even whenI fell away. I don't say he
wanted me to fall away, buthe I look back at the time that
I was a scumbag, and hetaught me, you know, how to
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look at a lot at young peopleand say, you know what, it's
rough, but you know, trustme, he still loves you young people.
Even if you guys make even ifthey make a mistake, God still
loves you. I still love you. So sorry. Oh man, you
answered half my questions. You're good. You're good, You're good. I
(14:03):
don't really know how to answer askthis question because of of what some of
the things you've said. But whatwhat can what continues to drive you forward?
Meaning some of the things that we'vetalked about is you You've just mentioned
that you know, God brought youfrom where you were to being saved to
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now you know Stacey teaches a Sundayschool class, Mad Mad. She helps
with the children. Malia helps withthe youth. McKenna helps with the youth.
They they McKenna is on the worshipteam. You're doing an archery ministry,
You're you're meeting with me and anddoing some some discipleship. What brought
you from? I know Jesus,and I know he saved me to saying,
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hey, I want to I wantto serve him? What what What's
what's the impetus that that push pushesyou that way? I didn't ask you
this prior. No, no,no, that's fine. And you know
I was really I was actually kindof thinking about that this week. And
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He saved my family. He keptmy family together. When I'm gonna be
honest, my wife, me andStacy, when we first started coming here,
we were on our way to divorce. And I love my family.
I love my wife, I lovemy children, I love my son in
law. And we were on ourway there. And God kept his part,
kept up his promise to keep myfamily together and help give me and
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my wife a foundation to grow together. And it's that love that he gives
me that I want to learn andI want to learn and grow and give
back people. That's the best Ican answer that. That's that's a perfect
answer. So that's a perfect answer. Well, I don't got anything else
for You answered all my questions kindof in your your talk there, and
I appreciate that. Thank you,Brad very much. Give me a appreciate
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you, buddy, Thank you.I just want to say, I asked
Dawn today, Sadly there are nopictures of Pastor Scott in a grass skirt.
Praise Jesus. Thank you, Brad. I know that's not easy.
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A lot of you would never wantto come up and do that, and
Brad's got just enough in him thathe was able to do that for me.
And I appreciate that, and thankyou very very much for sharing your
story with us. Stories matter,don't they? Our stories matter because his
story is different than my story,and your story is different than his story,
and the stories go all go onand on and on. But today
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I want to talk about what iscommon amongst us all in this story is
this word that we use so much, Grace. I'm going to read you
a verse out of First Timothy andverses out of First Timothy. If you
can bring that up this First Timothyone fourteen to seventeen. It says,
the grace of my Lord was pouredout on me abundantly, along with the
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faith and love that are in ChristJesus. Here is a trustworthy saying deserves
full acceptance. Christ Jesus came intothe world to save sinners. Praise Jesus,
of whom I am the worst.But for that very reason I was
shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus
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might display his unlimited patience as anexample for those who would believe on him
and receive eternal life. Now tothe King, eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor andglory, forever and ever. Amen.
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I told Brad I was going touse those verses this morning, and
I said, just because it saysthat as that part there, it says
Christ Jesus came into the world tosave sinners, of whom I am the
worst. This is not about him. Truth is, we all feel that
way. I was the worst sinner. I was the worst ciner. Don
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We've heard your story. You werethe worst cinner. You were the worst
center. You were the worst center. Where you are all the worst center
in my mind. I don't knowhow in the world that God could love
me enough to die in across tosave me from the mess I had created
and been a part of. Ican't imagine it. I don't understand it,
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and I can't grasp it that despiteeverything that I had done, all
the choices I have made, allthe mess ups that I had done,
that God stepped in and said,I love you anyway. And that's that
word grace, For I was theworst sinner and God's grace stepped in.
And so what is God's grace.It's his unmerited favor, It's it's his
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undeserved love. I don't deserve God'slove at all. I don't deserve for
a God to say that you aremy son, and I chose you and
I love you. And I don'tdeserve that at all. I haven't done
anything to deserve it. I mean, I try to be a good guy
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now and I tried to be agood guy back then, but I wasn't
and I'm still not. I cannever be good enough for what God has
done for me. I can't.I can't. I can't earn what God
has this love that God has givenme I put the favor given to someone
who deserves the opposite. Oh,I deserve the opposite from God's love.
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I truly deserved punishment. I trulydeserve everything that I should have gotten.
But yet God has reached in withthis grace, and he has said that
you are okay. I've got you. My grace is sufficient for you.
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The absolutely free expression of the loveof God, finding its only motive in
the bounty and benevolence of the giver. I didn't come up with that.
God's no strings attached goodness. Theunderlying meaning of grace is that there is
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nothing we can do to make Godlove us more, and nothing we can
do to make love us less thanhe already does. There is nothing so
good about us that makes us worthyor able to earn God's love, and
there's nothing so bad about us thatcan separate us from the love of God,
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which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Out of Romans eight. There's
nothing that I can do, goodor bad that God will stop loving me,
or I can't increase his love forme. That's what grace is.
It's this abundant love no matter whoI am and where I'm at. I
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read this, and it said,justice is getting what you deserve. I've
done something wrong, and so Iget justice. Mercy is not getting what
I deserve. But grace is gettingwhat I do not deserve. That's what
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grace is. So today I've gotjust a quick few points here about grace,
and so let's bring up the firstone. That grace is personal.
Grace is personal. Grace is nota thing. Grace is not I walk
out into this room and all ofa sudden, grace just kind of hits
me. You know, Grace isnot a piece of paper and says,
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here you go, there's your grace. Grace is personal. It's something that
is it's it's it's personal to me. You can't catch it. You can't
buy it at a store. SayI'd like a I'd like a cup of
grace. Please. How much doesthat cost? Well a lot. Grace
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is personal. And and I cansay this because grace is Jesus. Grace
is Grace is Jesus coming to Sawon the road to Damascus and calling him
out. Grace is personal. WhenZach Jesus is walking to along the road
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and he sees Zach kes in atree, and he says, Zach he
has come down. I'm going intoyour house and you're gonna have a dinner
with me. I don't care whereyou've been, but this is where we're
at, and I love you andI want to spend time with you.
It's it's Jesus reaching out to Matthewthe tax collector and say come and follow
me. It's Jesus going to sittingin a house and it's crippled man gets
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dropped down on a mat and he'slaying there before him, and Jesus says,
your sins are forgiven, but notonly that. Get up, take
your mat and walk. Jesus thisgrace that we have. This grace is
a person in the form of Jesusthat comes to us personally. It's the
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It's the Jesus that came to mewhen I was twelve in my bedroom and
said, Scott, I want youto be a preacher. I don't care
where you or where you're going.Jesus is the grace that we can all
have. Jesus is the grace,and he's a personal savior. The journey
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of grace is not about following usa system. The journey of grace is
not about I do this and Ido this, and I do this,
and I do this. It's notabout a following and reading a book,
a manual, a denomination, ora tradition. We follow, worship and
serve Jesus Christ. We don't doanything to deserve God's grace, and we
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need to stand on that and understandthat this is a personal thing in our
lives. The second point I haveis grace is free, but it's costly.
Yeah, it's free. God givesthis grace to us. Yes,
I don't deserve it and it's free. One can say they're justified by grace
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alone as a gift from God.But the fruit of a justified life,
please catch this. The fruit ofa justified life is the one who has
left all and followed Jesus Christ.When the disciples heard follow me, they
were first obedient to the call beforethey had a confession of faith. I
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asked Brad, when did you firstknow about or hear about Jesus? And
he tells us about well, hisgrandparents, but he didn't really follow.
It is God's pursuing us. Godhas been pursuing us from the time that
we were born, and he's beencalling us. And it's called provenient grace
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and this belief, in this understandingthat we have no option to come to
God and because the only way weknow God is because he comes to us.
That's it. And he's consistently beenpursuing us. But he doesn't give
us this grace simply just to say, oh, here's your get out of
jail free card. Here's you don'thave to go to Hell card. That's
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not it at all. That's notwhat grace is. I mean, God
is willing, Jesus is willing.This grace is abundant, and it is
free, and you can't do anythingto earn it. You can't, you
don't deserve it, you can't doanything about it. And so it's given
to you if you ask for itand take it. And Jesus loves you
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and it's all real, and believeme, it's all real. But he
doesn't do it just so that youcan just get up in the morning and
say, whoo, I'm saved.The cost is saying I am saved and
I want to be more like mySavior each in every day. The lost
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is you have to take what Godhas given you, the gift you have
given, and use the gift.I don't know how many times that you
know you you have this gift.And the best example I have is somebody
who who took piano for lessons theirwhole life. I know Tara is extremely
good at it, she continues touse her gift. But there's some people
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in this world that they started andthey were good at it, but they
haven't used it in years. Whatevertheir gift was, it doesn't matter as
the piano or what. And thenthey can come up here. And you
know, I used to know howto play chopsticks. I don't know how
to do anything. We have beengiven gifts. We've been given gifts,
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and we don't use them gifts.We don't develop the gifts, and those
gifts they atrophy. You don't usea limb, it atrophies and becomes weak
and useless and no good. Andthis gift that God has given us of
grace has called us to put thework and the effort in to grow it
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and use it and develop it.So it is free, but it takes
some cost. I had to giveup some stuff. I had to stop
doing some stuff. I had tomake some choices that I didn't want to
make, and I had to giveup this lifestyle that I thought was wonderful
and great. I thought it wasterrific and all this fun and everything.
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The truth is it left me emptyand lost and tired and wore out and
worried and burdened. I had togive that all up, and I had
to say, Jesus, what doyou want for me? I want to
go your direction with my life.I want to develop into who you want
me to be. So this graceis free, but it costs effort and
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sacrifices on our part. Now thoseeffort and sacrifices does not get me the
grace. The grace is free.I don't want you to misunderstand that I
cannot earn God's favor, but Ican be the person God's called me to
be. Do you understand the differencethere? This means yes, this means
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no. If you give me ano, I'll keep going. See it's
getting late. You don't want tokeep going. My next one is grace
is amazing, amazing, grace,How sweet the sound This grace has saved
me. When I do wrong,someone else is punished. When I've messed
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up. Jesus died on the cross. I didn't when I was a failure,
Jesus took the brunt of my failures. As I continue to fail occasionally,
Jesus takes the brunt of my failures. This grace is amazing. I
cannot describe it. I cannot giveit enough. And number four grace demands
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praise. Do you remember in thelast part, verse seventeen of that it
says, after he says of thisgrace that I have been given, I
was a sinner. Of who Iwas the worst? He goes on to
say, now to the King,eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
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God, be honor and glory,forever and ever and ever and ever and
ever. Amen. I added acouple evers. This grace creates praise.
And if you, as a believerin Christ, have not been able to
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praise our God, you need toexamine whether you've accepted the grace, if
you have not been able to praiseand worship and tell other other people about
this Jesus. What's great about Brad'sstory? As he said, I was
invited. I was invited to thischurch. And when I got to this
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church, people were excited, andthey shook my hand and they welcomed me
in, and they poured their livesinto me. And they told me about
Jesus. And the pastor was obedientto the word, and he shared what
Christ had done in his life.And it says, who is this Jesus.
Let me tell you about who thisJesus is. And he's so real,
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he's so full of so much graceand love for people. This is
our story, people, This isthe story of a church been going for
two thousand plus years. It's astory of history where God came in the
beginning, he said, in thebeginning, God created, and it's been
going on from the beginning, andwe'll go to the end until when our
Christ, our Savior, comes backto us again. This is our story,
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folks. It's a story of graceand love and mercy and peace.
It's the story of a God whopursues us. Man, I'm a little
wound up. I should never goto Hawaii again. Our God is good.
Our story is good. And ifyou don't know this story, if
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you haven't experienced this story, ifyou're stuck somewhere in this story, I
pray to God that you will findthis Jesus and you will find this grace.
I pray to God that you willmove beyond I am saved and move
to saying I want to be different. I just feel that there may be
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some people who need to have sometime at the altar. This morning.
I wasn't even planning this, andI know what pushes our time. But
our God's good. Our God's good, and maybe today you need to just
reaffirm where you're at. Maybe todayyou need to have this grace, you
need to have this Jesus in yourlife, and you need to spend some
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time with the altar. I don'tknow where you're at. And if we
don't use the altars, that's fine. I don't care. Today. It's
about what you and God got goingon. So let's stand together. They're
going to sing, and as theysing, if you need to spend time
with the altar, you do so. Be obedient to our God, not
to me,
Well, it's good to be backhome. Some of you know, okay,
this one okay, thank you.Some of you know that down and
I had an opportunity this past weekor so to get away. It wasn't
a real plan thing. It was, hey, we haven't done anything to
get away personally, to be togetherand have a little vacation this year.
(00:23):
What do you want to do?And that was in August to the end
of August versus September. And wego, huh, well, we've got
one week available. That's in likethree weeks. What do you want to
do. Well, let's go toWyoming. What's in Wyoming. There's a
National park out there. It's coldin Wyoming. I don't want to go
(00:44):
there. And then we started lookingthe prices to go to Wyoming. It
was expensive. I said, where'swarm. We went to Hawaii, so
we've never been there, and sowe got the opportunity to go away.
But I say all that to saythat I haven't slept since. So I
(01:07):
actually asked back here, I said, can you pray for me today?
I said, I'm so tired.My mind is just kind of a mush.
But the Lord is good. Wegot away. We got to relax
and rest. And then now Igot home, and now I can't sleep,
and so now I'm tired again.So isn't that the way the world
works? So we have been working. I say all that that has really
(01:30):
nothing to do anything other than itis good to be home. It is
good to be with our people.And thank you so much for the wonderful
gifts and the love. I wasthinking as all that was being said and
done, is as a pastor,whether it be a youth pastor or whatever,
whatever designation that we have, wefind our purpose because of you.
(01:57):
You help us fulfill what God hascalled us to do, and so we
appreciate the appreciation. But we appreciateyou. It helps me to live the
life that I think God's called meto. To be able to have the
privilege and the honor to preach toyou today. I don't ever take that
to take that lightly. So thankyou, thank you for the gifts.
(02:22):
I mean, do you see allthat back there. I'm gonna eat on
that today and it's gonna be gone. Maybe i'll sleep. I have a
sugar just I'll be like way highand that sugar crash. He'll just knock
me out. That's probably what Ineed to do. That's what Jesus is
calling. I'm certain of it.All right, Well that's enough goof a
(02:46):
Well, it's not enough goofing around. I'm bringing Brad up here with me
today. So yeah, So we'vebeen in this series called this is My
Story. And two weeks ago orso, I said, this is my
story and I shared a little bitabout my family and just little bits and
pieces of all of that, andgot to share all that God had done
(03:09):
and how he had brought me towhere I am today standing before you.
And then last week I didn't getto watch it live. It's a six
hour difference. I wasn't going todo that, but because I would have
been like, I would have beenup at three o'clock in the morning or
so four o'clock, and I wasn'tgoing to do that. I'm sorry.
You're good, but not that good. But we watched it later and we
(03:36):
got to watch and hear the littlelittle bit of your story at Pastor Tara
about where God has brought you.And then so today I wanted to Brad
and I have been working together.We've been trying to disciple each other and
keep each other accountable. A littlebit. We've been spending some time together
about once a week. We're tryingto get together, growing over a book
(03:57):
and we're just trying to grow together. We're trying to be more like Christ.
And I thought, you know what, this is my story. Brad
can be the one who God helpsme share today what our story is.
So I asked him come up here. And you know, Brad seems like
this big, outgoing guy. Buthe was like, hm, I'm honored,
(04:17):
but those are a lot that's alot of people out there, and
he didn't, you know so,But Brad, Brad's a good guy,
and so I asked him. Igave him a series of questions that I
said I'm gonna ask. I didn'twrite him down, So we're gonna shoot
this from the hip a little bit, which could be scary, you know,
Brad, and I'm feeling judged.You are you are in a good
(04:46):
way though, right in Jesus' name. So I asked that The first thing
I want to I want to askBrad and and for you to share with
us, is can you tell usa little bit about your growing up?
Tell us a little bit about yourhistory of where where life started for you
and your family. Can you dothat for us? Just a quick for
(05:08):
me and the girls? Oh forme personally? Well, I was born
in Dover, Delaware, and myfather. I am a GM kid,
and my father took a transfer todel Cay, Oklahoma when GM opened a
large plant out there. I leftwhen I was in kindergarten. But what
(05:30):
I remember was my grandmother and grandfatheron my mom's side were Quakers and they
attended a Presbyterian church, and myfather's parents were Presbyterian and they bounced around
between Presbyterian and Methodist churches. Mymom and dad, they went to church
(05:51):
with me a little bit. Istarted going to church when I was in
kindergarten, in the first grade ata Baptist church, Baptist Church in More,
Oklahoma. Sadly the building was wipedout in nineteen ninety nine in a
big tornado. But uh, Ialways went to church when I was little,
(06:11):
I really didn't. I enjoyed allI Daniel and the lions Dan.
Uh it was, you know,always my favorite Bible story. And maybe
because they're lions and I like animalswith potatoes, said yeah, with potatoes.
Yeah, And uh, as Igot older, you know, my
(06:32):
sisters. I'm not, you know, I mean, people drop away as
they get older for young people,which is really sad. But I always
kept going. And I really feelthough that I kept going for the wrong
I went for the wrong reasons.Unfortunately, I'm not really going to go
into a whole lot of that.But when I decided I want to go
(06:55):
for the right reasons that I wantto know more and learn more, I
felt, you know, I feltlike I was kind of had a door
closed on me. So I droppedaway when I was eighteen, like a
lot of young people do. Okay. So so with with your story,
and and and Brad didn't want toshare all this details. We don't need
to know all everybody's details. That'snot what testimonies are about. We don't
(07:17):
need to know all the horrible thingsthat happened in our lives that we the
choices we made, and so Bradand I talked about that a little bit.
But it's interesting to know that youyou grew up with a Christian background,
just you know, with grandparents somewhat, but it wasn't it wasn't uh
(07:38):
would you call it a solid backgroundas in as in like family, and
and and That's kind of what wetalked about. And ironically, like Pastre
Tara preached about last week and everything, I really thought about that this week,
and ironically your sermon had to dowith a lot what with what I
taught with the archery last week.My my faith was built on sand.
(08:00):
Back then, there was a seedplanet. But I was built on sand
and it washed away back then.Okay, So where when would it be
the time? Could you describe atime that you kind of recognized that there
was a god? Looking back,I realized God hadn't forgotten about me.
But when me and Stacey were married, I guess, uh, when I
(08:30):
realized God was really reaching out tome, was really reaching for me and
my family was when me and mykids were sitting down watching a cartoon.
We were watching The Prince of Egypt, and Stacy was getting ready for work
that Saturday, and she asked whythat guy was talking to that burning bush.
She didn't know who Moses was.I'd never heard of anybody that didn't
(08:52):
know who Moses was. So theplant, I guess the seed finally took
off in me and I really satback after she left for work and realized,
I, you know, I wasalways there for my kids as much
as I was, as well asmuch as I could be being a truck
driver. And I just really satback and realized my oldest daughter was six
(09:15):
years old, never even been ina church before. My two younger daughters
they went to church, they wentto daycare at a church, but they
didn't really teach any kind of Biblelessons at this daycare. And I really
sat back and set it to kitchentable and I actually started to get teary
ey and what allows the father Ireally was because me personally, I think
(09:37):
that's part of being a good parentis giving your children the information and letting
them learn something. And I reallywanted to. And matter of fact,
I remember my sister, my wife'ssister, invited us to church here,
(09:58):
and we came to church here,and a couple of weeks later, Pastor
Carroll came to my house. Iwas sitting there in a pair of cutoffs,
my everything covered up in plastics.I was painting my living room.
I looked at Pastor Carroll and Itold her, I said, I want
my children to know Jesus Christ asour Lord and savior, and for lack
of we don't have all day,but I have all day. Yeah I
(10:24):
do too, but I'm the preacher. Yeah they don't. But you know
it's gonna be fishing loads with thatback there. But anyhow, me and
got you know through some rocky timesback then that I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna bore everybody with the details.I kind of told God, I said,
(10:46):
God, if you saved my marriage, I'll give it all to you,
my wife, my kids, myeverything. And as I and I
really felt, I really felt differentafter that moment with God. I cried
harder than I've ever cried in mylife. And I'm not much. I
do cry, but I'm not muchof a crying man. Internally, I
(11:07):
am as I got and as Igrew. My mentors is basically Pastor Leonard,
Pastor Carroll, Melissa Harty. Somany people in this church have been
here for me. When I lookedat all the young people doing uh,
who their inspirations were and stuff?I thought about that all week this week,
(11:30):
who was the biggest impact uh atthis church? Dan and Nancy When
I was having the hardest time inmy life since I've been here, you
two means so much to me.You guys have always been have always been
(11:50):
there for me and had time forme. And I love you guys very
much for that, Donna when meand in the last five years, you
have been there for a advice forme and Stacy and I can't thank you
guys enough. And right here inthe second row my best friend in the
whole wide world. That's my brotherfrom another mother. And I know it
(12:11):
sounds like a joke, but it'strue. Steve, I love you.
You were more than a brother tome. He's been there for and we
The way we met was I neededto know how to send an email and
his license plate is it guy.So we've been friends for more than ten
years. And we're spiritual brothers also, So when I realized there was a
(12:33):
God was when I started, youknow, with that moment that I had,
I was getting off track. Sorry, I didn't expect that at all.
You're welcome. When I started comingto church here and the love that
I felt, my hand was soreand risk was sore. After our first
(12:54):
Sunday here, Joe Kirkham came upand shook my hand. A lot of
people here know, remember Joe Ah. Everybody welcomed me and my wife and
my kids, and I realized thatvery first Sunday that we came because we
came because my wife wanted to knowwhat it meant to be saved. Pastors
(13:16):
started to serve a series that weekon what it meant to be saved.
That moment, there was no doubtin my life that God loved me.
He never forgot me, even whenI fell away. I don't say he
wanted me to fall away, buthe I look back at the time that
I was a scumbag, and hetaught me, you know, how to
(13:41):
look at a lot at young peopleand say, you know what, it's
rough, but you know, trustme, he still loves you young people.
Even if you guys make even ifthey make a mistake, God still
loves you. I still love you. So sorry. Oh man, you
answered half my questions. You're good. You're good, You're good. I
(14:03):
don't really know how to answer askthis question because of of what some of
the things you've said. But whatwhat can what continues to drive you forward?
Meaning some of the things that we'vetalked about is you You've just mentioned
that you know, God brought youfrom where you were to being saved to
(14:28):
now you know Stacey teaches a Sundayschool class, Mad Mad. She helps
with the children. Malia helps withthe youth. McKenna helps with the youth.
They they McKenna is on the worshipteam. You're doing an archery ministry,
You're you're meeting with me and anddoing some some discipleship. What brought
you from? I know Jesus,and I know he saved me to saying,
(14:50):
hey, I want to I wantto serve him? What what What's
what's the impetus that that push pushesyou that way? I didn't ask you
this prior. No, no,no, that's fine. And you know
I was really I was actually kindof thinking about that this week. And
(15:11):
He saved my family. He keptmy family together. When I'm gonna be
honest, my wife, me andStacy, when we first started coming here,
we were on our way to divorce. And I love my family.
I love my wife, I lovemy children, I love my son in
law. And we were on ourway there. And God kept his part,
kept up his promise to keep myfamily together and help give me and
(15:33):
my wife a foundation to grow together. And it's that love that he gives
me that I want to learn andI want to learn and grow and give
back people. That's the best Ican answer that. That's that's a perfect
answer. So that's a perfect answer. Well, I don't got anything else
for You answered all my questions kindof in your your talk there, and
I appreciate that. Thank you,Brad very much. Give me a appreciate
(15:58):
you, buddy, Thank you.I just want to say, I asked
Dawn today, Sadly there are nopictures of Pastor Scott in a grass skirt.
Praise Jesus. Thank you, Brad. I know that's not easy.
(16:19):
A lot of you would never wantto come up and do that, and
Brad's got just enough in him thathe was able to do that for me.
And I appreciate that, and thankyou very very much for sharing your
story with us. Stories matter,don't they? Our stories matter because his
story is different than my story,and your story is different than his story,
and the stories go all go onand on and on. But today
(16:41):
I want to talk about what iscommon amongst us all in this story is
this word that we use so much, Grace. I'm going to read you
a verse out of First Timothy andverses out of First Timothy. If you
can bring that up this First Timothyone fourteen to seventeen. It says,
the grace of my Lord was pouredout on me abundantly, along with the
(17:07):
faith and love that are in ChristJesus. Here is a trustworthy saying deserves
full acceptance. Christ Jesus came intothe world to save sinners. Praise Jesus,
of whom I am the worst.But for that very reason I was
shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus
(17:32):
might display his unlimited patience as anexample for those who would believe on him
and receive eternal life. Now tothe King, eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor andglory, forever and ever. Amen.
(17:52):
I told Brad I was going touse those verses this morning, and
I said, just because it saysthat as that part there, it says
Christ Jesus came into the world tosave sinners, of whom I am the
worst. This is not about him. Truth is, we all feel that
way. I was the worst sinner. I was the worst ciner. Don
(18:17):
We've heard your story. You werethe worst cinner. You were the worst
center. You were the worst center. Where you are all the worst center
in my mind. I don't knowhow in the world that God could love
me enough to die in across tosave me from the mess I had created
and been a part of. Ican't imagine it. I don't understand it,
(18:37):
and I can't grasp it that despiteeverything that I had done, all
the choices I have made, allthe mess ups that I had done,
that God stepped in and said,I love you anyway. And that's that
word grace, For I was theworst sinner and God's grace stepped in.
And so what is God's grace.It's his unmerited favor, It's it's his
(19:04):
undeserved love. I don't deserve God'slove at all. I don't deserve for
a God to say that you aremy son, and I chose you and
I love you. And I don'tdeserve that at all. I haven't done
anything to deserve it. I mean, I try to be a good guy
(19:26):
now and I tried to be agood guy back then, but I wasn't
and I'm still not. I cannever be good enough for what God has
done for me. I can't.I can't. I can't earn what God
has this love that God has givenme I put the favor given to someone
who deserves the opposite. Oh,I deserve the opposite from God's love.
(19:51):
I truly deserved punishment. I trulydeserve everything that I should have gotten.
But yet God has reached in withthis grace, and he has said that
you are okay. I've got you. My grace is sufficient for you.
(20:12):
The absolutely free expression of the loveof God, finding its only motive in
the bounty and benevolence of the giver. I didn't come up with that.
God's no strings attached goodness. Theunderlying meaning of grace is that there is
(20:36):
nothing we can do to make Godlove us more, and nothing we can
do to make love us less thanhe already does. There is nothing so
good about us that makes us worthyor able to earn God's love, and
there's nothing so bad about us thatcan separate us from the love of God,
(20:56):
which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Out of Romans eight. There's
nothing that I can do, goodor bad that God will stop loving me,
or I can't increase his love forme. That's what grace is.
It's this abundant love no matter whoI am and where I'm at. I
(21:19):
read this, and it said,justice is getting what you deserve. I've
done something wrong, and so Iget justice. Mercy is not getting what
I deserve. But grace is gettingwhat I do not deserve. That's what
(21:40):
grace is. So today I've gotjust a quick few points here about grace,
and so let's bring up the firstone. That grace is personal.
Grace is personal. Grace is nota thing. Grace is not I walk
out into this room and all ofa sudden, grace just kind of hits
me. You know, Grace isnot a piece of paper and says,
(22:04):
here you go, there's your grace. Grace is personal. It's something that
is it's it's it's personal to me. You can't catch it. You can't
buy it at a store. SayI'd like a I'd like a cup of
grace. Please. How much doesthat cost? Well a lot. Grace
(22:33):
is personal. And and I cansay this because grace is Jesus. Grace
is Grace is Jesus coming to Sawon the road to Damascus and calling him
out. Grace is personal. WhenZach Jesus is walking to along the road
(22:55):
and he sees Zach kes in atree, and he says, Zach he
has come down. I'm going intoyour house and you're gonna have a dinner
with me. I don't care whereyou've been, but this is where we're
at, and I love you andI want to spend time with you.
It's it's Jesus reaching out to Matthewthe tax collector and say come and follow
me. It's Jesus going to sittingin a house and it's crippled man gets
(23:23):
dropped down on a mat and he'slaying there before him, and Jesus says,
your sins are forgiven, but notonly that. Get up, take
your mat and walk. Jesus thisgrace that we have. This grace is
a person in the form of Jesusthat comes to us personally. It's the
(23:47):
It's the Jesus that came to mewhen I was twelve in my bedroom and
said, Scott, I want youto be a preacher. I don't care
where you or where you're going.Jesus is the grace that we can all
have. Jesus is the grace,and he's a personal savior. The journey
(24:14):
of grace is not about following usa system. The journey of grace is
not about I do this and Ido this, and I do this,
and I do this. It's notabout a following and reading a book,
a manual, a denomination, ora tradition. We follow, worship and
serve Jesus Christ. We don't doanything to deserve God's grace, and we
(24:42):
need to stand on that and understandthat this is a personal thing in our
lives. The second point I haveis grace is free, but it's costly.
Yeah, it's free. God givesthis grace to us. Yes,
I don't deserve it and it's free. One can say they're justified by grace
(25:08):
alone as a gift from God.But the fruit of a justified life,
please catch this. The fruit ofa justified life is the one who has
left all and followed Jesus Christ.When the disciples heard follow me, they
were first obedient to the call beforethey had a confession of faith. I
(25:34):
asked Brad, when did you firstknow about or hear about Jesus? And
he tells us about well, hisgrandparents, but he didn't really follow.
It is God's pursuing us. Godhas been pursuing us from the time that
we were born, and he's beencalling us. And it's called provenient grace
(25:56):
and this belief, in this understandingthat we have no option to come to
God and because the only way weknow God is because he comes to us.
That's it. And he's consistently beenpursuing us. But he doesn't give
us this grace simply just to say, oh, here's your get out of
jail free card. Here's you don'thave to go to Hell card. That's
(26:18):
not it at all. That's notwhat grace is. I mean, God
is willing, Jesus is willing.This grace is abundant, and it is
free, and you can't do anythingto earn it. You can't, you
don't deserve it, you can't doanything about it. And so it's given
to you if you ask for itand take it. And Jesus loves you
(26:40):
and it's all real, and believeme, it's all real. But he
doesn't do it just so that youcan just get up in the morning and
say, whoo, I'm saved.The cost is saying I am saved and
I want to be more like mySavior each in every day. The lost
(27:00):
is you have to take what Godhas given you, the gift you have
given, and use the gift.I don't know how many times that you
know you you have this gift.And the best example I have is somebody
who who took piano for lessons theirwhole life. I know Tara is extremely
good at it, she continues touse her gift. But there's some people
(27:21):
in this world that they started andthey were good at it, but they
haven't used it in years. Whatevertheir gift was, it doesn't matter as
the piano or what. And thenthey can come up here. And you
know, I used to know howto play chopsticks. I don't know how
to do anything. We have beengiven gifts. We've been given gifts,
(27:47):
and we don't use them gifts.We don't develop the gifts, and those
gifts they atrophy. You don't usea limb, it atrophies and becomes weak
and useless and no good. Andthis gift that God has given us of
grace has called us to put thework and the effort in to grow it
(28:11):
and use it and develop it.So it is free, but it takes
some cost. I had to giveup some stuff. I had to stop
doing some stuff. I had tomake some choices that I didn't want to
make, and I had to giveup this lifestyle that I thought was wonderful
and great. I thought it wasterrific and all this fun and everything.
(28:34):
The truth is it left me emptyand lost and tired and wore out and
worried and burdened. I had togive that all up, and I had
to say, Jesus, what doyou want for me? I want to
go your direction with my life.I want to develop into who you want
me to be. So this graceis free, but it costs effort and
(29:00):
sacrifices on our part. Now thoseeffort and sacrifices does not get me the
grace. The grace is free.I don't want you to misunderstand that I
cannot earn God's favor, but Ican be the person God's called me to
be. Do you understand the differencethere? This means yes, this means
(29:21):
no. If you give me ano, I'll keep going. See it's
getting late. You don't want tokeep going. My next one is grace
is amazing, amazing, grace,How sweet the sound This grace has saved
me. When I do wrong,someone else is punished. When I've messed
(29:42):
up. Jesus died on the cross. I didn't when I was a failure,
Jesus took the brunt of my failures. As I continue to fail occasionally,
Jesus takes the brunt of my failures. This grace is amazing. I
cannot describe it. I cannot giveit enough. And number four grace demands
(30:08):
praise. Do you remember in thelast part, verse seventeen of that it
says, after he says of thisgrace that I have been given, I
was a sinner. Of who Iwas the worst? He goes on to
say, now to the King,eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
(30:33):
God, be honor and glory,forever and ever and ever and ever and
ever. Amen. I added acouple evers. This grace creates praise.
And if you, as a believerin Christ, have not been able to
(30:56):
praise our God, you need toexamine whether you've accepted the grace, if
you have not been able to praiseand worship and tell other other people about
this Jesus. What's great about Brad'sstory? As he said, I was
invited. I was invited to thischurch. And when I got to this
(31:22):
church, people were excited, andthey shook my hand and they welcomed me
in, and they poured their livesinto me. And they told me about
Jesus. And the pastor was obedientto the word, and he shared what
Christ had done in his life.And it says, who is this Jesus.
Let me tell you about who thisJesus is. And he's so real,
(31:44):
he's so full of so much graceand love for people. This is
our story, people, This isthe story of a church been going for
two thousand plus years. It's astory of history where God came in the
beginning, he said, in thebeginning, God created, and it's been
going on from the beginning, andwe'll go to the end until when our
Christ, our Savior, comes backto us again. This is our story,
(32:08):
folks. It's a story of graceand love and mercy and peace.
It's the story of a God whopursues us. Man, I'm a little
wound up. I should never goto Hawaii again. Our God is good.
Our story is good. And ifyou don't know this story, if
(32:29):
you haven't experienced this story, ifyou're stuck somewhere in this story, I
pray to God that you will findthis Jesus and you will find this grace.
I pray to God that you willmove beyond I am saved and move
to saying I want to be different. I just feel that there may be
(32:54):
some people who need to have sometime at the altar. This morning.
I wasn't even planning this, andI know what pushes our time. But
our God's good. Our God's good, and maybe today you need to just
reaffirm where you're at. Maybe todayyou need to have this grace, you
need to have this Jesus in yourlife, and you need to spend some
(33:15):
time with the altar. I don'tknow where you're at. And if we
don't use the altars, that's fine. I don't care. Today. It's
about what you and God got goingon. So let's stand together. They're
going to sing, and as theysing, if you need to spend time
with the altar, you do so. Be obedient to our God, not
to me,
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