December 1, 2023 • 44 mins
Join us as Pastor Scott leads us in week 2 of our brand-new sermon series titled "Your Next Step."
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
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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Well, I got asked first thingtoday. I don't know what entrance you
came in when you came into thechurch today, but I don't know if
you saw a little bit of differenceout there with the gravel. We moved
some rocks around, moved a lotof rocks around yesterday, and I first
and foremost, I want to saythank you everyone who helped out yesterday.
There was a nice large crowd andwe were trying to beautify the church and
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do the things we need to doaround this building. So I'm so thankful
for that. But I got askedfirst thing this morning, how do you
feel? Are you sore? AndI was like, no, didn't you
think about it this morning? AndI was doing great, and then all
of a sudden, I decided towalk up the stairs and I realized I'm
not doing so good. I toldsome people earlier or yesterday, I said,
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if all of a sudden I startkind of doing one of these things,
just pretend it's the Holy Spirit,not cramps, all right, if
I kind of do something a littleoff. So this morning, I want
to continue our series that we startedlast week with Pastor Terra. Yeah,
and I've written that I normally don'twrite out my entire sermon, and I've
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written it out today a little forthe most part, because I didn't want
to really miss anything. And soit's going to be a little bit different.
You know. Usually I'm walking allaround and maybe I'll do it.
I'll just take my papers with meand it'll look a little funny because you
know me, I can't really sitstill very well. So let's start it
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this way. The number one goalof a church's existence is to help people
find Jesus and be brought into aloving relationship with him. If a church
is not going to do that,then it's not fulfilling its purpose to go
and make disciples of all nations.So here at DCN defies Church of the
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Nazarene. We've laid out our missionto help accomplish this purpose in four distinct
statements. Can you say them?With me? Is to love God,
love others, grow deep, repeatnice. A couple of you said that
with me. That's great. Nowlook to the person next to you and
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say, this is our mission.That's good. See it's this class participation
this morning last week, Pastor Taraintroduced us to these steps on how are
we going to accomplish our mission withthese next steps. And these in these
four steps, these are the foursteps we believe that everyone here at DCN
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should take in their spiritual journey withJesus. There are steps that will propel
people to the type of relationship webelieve that God wants us to be in
with Him. They are the stepsthat will guide as we preach, as
we teach, as we plan ourcalendars, as we develop ministries, as
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we challenge ourselves and you. Sostep one is no Jesus. Pastor Tara
led us in this and it sayswe believe that as a church, each
of us on a journey, andin that journey, there are moments that
we experience God. Those moments arewhere God shows up, he works something
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out, He appears in the faceof someone, or through a word spoken,
an invitation, a gift, agesture. Those moments where God is
trying to break through to us andshow us that He is there with us
and pursuing us. These glimpses ofGod, these moments in His presence in
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our lives, are what we callprevenient grace. You guys, remember we
said that last week. We believethat every person every person starts on step
one, no Jesus. It's wherewe listen and learn. Some of that
is formal and some of it isinformal. We listen to others, We
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learn, we observe, We askquestions, We look back at moments and
analyze. It's a time of absorbingall the ways in which God is working
in and around us. We beginto recognize God pursuing us, and we
begin to pursue him. We beginto look for Jesus and people. We
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begin to look for Jesus in moments. We try to find ways to seek
him. At work, we beginto ask, is this Jesus for real?
We experienced Jesus working in our lives, and we recognize it when it
happens. We experience him at homeand at work. We experience him at
school and with our family. Weexperience him when we are out driving and
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in the store, and we connectwith people. We see Jesus as we
connect with believers. We see Jesusin their faces and in their words.
We start to connect our hearts withothers who are trying to connect with God.
So we listen and learn, wepursue, We experience, and we
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connect and Somewhere around this time wecome to this perpetual fork in the road.
It's the is this Jesus for real? Is he for real? And
if he is? What do Ido with him? What do I do
with this Jesus? Do I believewhat he's been? What I've been seeing?
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Are these people who call themselves Christians? For real? Am I really
in need of a savior? AmI really not good enough? Is God
real and pursuing us? Did Jesusreally come and to seek and to save
the lost? Am I? AmI lost? We at DCN believe this
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is where we are all at whenwe are in step one, But we
also believe you cannot stay there.You cannot stay there. You have to
move on to the next step.Step two is today's messages receive Jesus,
the Son of God who came andto save us from sin. So let's
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first understand where we're at. We'vebeen getting to know Jesus. We've heard
about Jesus, we've asked questions,we've observed, we've been unrecognizing where God
has been pursuing us. That's prevenientgrace. We've been connecting with believers,
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and we've been watching studying talking withthem. Your curiosity is getting piqued.
You are beginning to experience moments whereyou feel God speaking in your heart and
in your mind. You at timesfeel there is a pulling in your life.
You are recognizing there is a holein your heart that you've never really
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acknowledged this way before. You've beentrying to feel it, but maybe didn't
realize that you were doing. Butwhat you were doing wasn't working. You're
trying to figure out, why doI need Jesus. I'm a good person.
I'm good. You may or notfeel like you're a horrible person.
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You've been good, You've been betterthan some, little worse than others,
but not as bad. You're notmother by Teresa, mother Teresa by any
you know means, but you're notbad either. That is called moralism.
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Moralism and moralism is the self righteousbelieve that all is well with me spiritually
because I live a decent moral lifeand have improved my behavior. I've gotten
better. I'm not as bad asI was, and I got some ways
to go, but I'll get there. I'm working on my own behavior.
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A moralist is someone who believes theyare saved by the good that they do
and the bad that they avoid.I'm not so bad. I'm more good
than i am bad. It's amore good than bad mentality. It's a
belief that God grades on a curve, and a little goodness just goes a
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long way with God. But we'renever good enough because we don't account for
sin. We have a moral compass, however, it doesn't know how to
find true north because sin has distortedit, much like a magnet would distort
the real direction on a compass.We believe in right and wrong, and
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so where does that come from?Where does right and wrong come from?
How do we grab that? Whatmakes us try to be good? It's
the visible but ignored Gospel of Jesusand Romans one, nineteen and twenty.
It says, for what can beknown about God as plain to them,
because God has shown it to them, for his invisible attributes, namely,
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his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived ever since the creation
of the world, and the thingsthat have been made so they are without
excuse. I want to stop there. It's not in my notes, but
I want us to understand that thatwe see God all around us. We
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see it. The scripture says,from the very beginning, all of human
humankind, all of mankind, hasseen God working in our midst and any
of many times that gets attributed tosomeone else or something else, another God.
But God is always pointing us andpulling us towards Him by what a
sin? But we tend to ignorethat people in general do. Romans three
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twenty three says tells us we allhave sin and fall short of the glory
of Gods. That means that youand me, all of us, we
have all sin and falls short ofwhat God wants and expects of us.
This is what prevents us from beinggood enough. We all have sin.
I have had sin in my life. So let's figure out what sin is.
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What is this thing that we're reallyguilty of? Sin is rebellion.
John Wesley gave a definition as widelyused as sin and says, sin is
a voluntary transgression of a known lawof God. It's known. It's a
willful dis obedience. I know whatI'm supposed to do. I've been,
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and I go against it, andI choose to go against it. I
know what God wants and says todo or don't do. But I do
it anyway because I want to.It's because I want to. My selfish
gets in the way I choose todo wrong, even though I know better.
Slave is also enslavement. Sin isalso enslavement. It's an act of
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commission. Romans six one and twosays, I know I shouldn't do it.
Basically, I know what I shouldbe doing, but I do it
anyway. I shouldn't do it,but I do it anyway. I can't
seem to help it. Sin isan act of omission. I knew what
I was supposed to do, butI didn't do it anyway. But I
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don't want to do it, andso I didn't do it. Roman seven
nineteen talks about that we are allborn in sin, every one of us.
Romans five twelve says, therefore,just as sin entered the world through
one man, and earth through sin, and it's way, death came to
all men because all sinned, weall have this thing called sinful nature.
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In us. We have this desireof self that pulls us towards sin.
We're gonna love sin more than welove God because we are enslaved to sin
in bondage to his power. Noamount of good intentions or hard work.
No humanistic moralism is going to liberateus completely. Sin is enslavement. Sin
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is also estrangement, estrangement, somethinghas gone wrong with our relationship. It's
a damaging relationship. Sin separates peoplefrom God and each other. You all
know the story of Adam and Eve. You've heard it. What was the
first thing after they took and theydisobeyed God? What did they do?
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They hid and Jesus and God reachesout and says, where are you?
And we were ashamed? So wehid and we covered ourselves. And sin
separates us from relationship. It's anestrangement in relationship, and it damages our
relationship between us and God, andit keeps us apart, and it holds
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us away from Him. Isaiah fiftynine to two says, but in your
iniquities have made a separation between youand your God, and your sins have
hidden his face from you, sohe does not hear. So, so
what do we do with this?Here's where we get in some meat and
bones. Here's where we get itall put together. What do we do
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with this? This is the messthat we've got us into. Is we
admit we are sinners? Folks.We have to admit it. We have
to own it. We have toown the fact that I'm not good enough.
We have to admit we're sinners.We have to We have sin in
our lives and we cannot save osave ourselves from it. It's bigger than
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us. First John eight says,if we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truthis not in us. First John one
ten says, if we claim tohave sin, we make him out to
be a liar, and his wordis not in us. We are sinners.
We are sinners. We're not goodenough. We're just not good enough.
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The second thing is believe. Wehave to believe that Jesus came to
save us from our sin and death, and we cannot save ourselves. Luke
nineteen sin nineteen ten says, forthe son of Man came to seek and
save the loss. Romans three says, and we are we are justified freely
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by his grace through the redemption thatcame by Christ. Jesus God presented presented
him as a sacrifice of atonement throughfaith in his blood. He did this
to demonstrate his justice because in hisforbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand,
unpunished. He did it to demonstratehis justice at the present time,
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so that just so as to bejust and the one who justifies those who
have faith in Jesus. Folks,I know some of you might be struggling.
I'm this is you're struggling. I'mcome reading and I'm not real,
but I want you to listen.Hold on for a few minutes here.
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What I just told you is thegreatest news ever Well I normally don't try
to pull these out, but thatshould have been a few amens. What
I just told you is the greatestnews you've ever heard in your entire life.
That Jesus came and to save us. He came to save us from
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our sins. One Corinthians says,for I handed on to you as of
first importance that what I in turnhad received, that Christ died for our
sins and according with the scriptures,and that he was buried, and that
he was raised in the third dayin accordance with the scriptures. Praise God.
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This love that Jesus has for us, This love that God has for
us as a self giving love.God proves his love for us that while
we were still sinners. Christ diedfor us while we were still sinning.
Christ died for us, while wewere still in the depth of the muck
and mire of our lives. Christdied for us for our sake. He
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made him out to be sin whoknew no sin, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus took on the sin. He
took on all the bad things Idid. And I think back and I
try to forget a lot of thesethings. The truth is, I don't
want to remember any of it.We just went through our series of this
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is my story, and it's hard. It's hard to go back and remember
all the things and all the thingsthat I want to forget, all the
ways that I have failed God,and all the ways I've sinned. But
God for in all of his gloryand all of his wisdom and all of
his love, He said Jesus whosaid, I haven't even have sin in
my life, but I will takeon everything Scott you did, and I
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will take that on me. Idon't deserve that. I don't deserve that.
It's saving grace, and we aresaved by this grace, of which
is outside of myself, outside ofus. We can not save ourselves.
Only Jesus can. It's a totalgift. Everyone knows the verse John three
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point sixteen. For God so lovedthe world that he gave his only son,
that whoever believes in him should notperish but have everlasting life. He
gave his son. It was agift to you, It was a gift
to me. God's acceptance of usisn't based on what I've done or I
will what I'll ever do. PraiseGod, Praise God. It is strictly
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grounded on the nature and character ofGod to send Jesus into the world,
to die for the sins of theworld, and to be raised for our
salvation. I love this. Thisis why I wrote all this down.
I knew if I got up here, I'd just go on a tangent.
I had to kind of keep myselflined up. Today, I just know
it. Provenient grace, which I'vementioned a couple times, leads to saving
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grace and to faith in Jesus Jesus. God has been pulling us. God
has been talking to us. Godhas been putting those moments in our lives.
God has given us invitations to cometo church, invitations to come to
an event invitations of a conversations,moments where God has shown up and God
has been working and talking and doingand pursuing us, and he's been pulling
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us. And when he eventually he'ssaying, I'm wanting to pull you to
me so that you can be savedand experience me. All those moments,
all those things where God has beenpursuing us, leads us to an awareness
of in a response to the onewho has awakened to us faith in Christ
alone. Ephesians two says, forby grace, you have been saved through
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faith is not your own doing.It is the gift of God, not
a result of work. So thatno one can boast. I can't do
any enough. I can't be goodenough, I can't work hard enough.
I can't be nice. God wantsnice people. But that's not what's going
to get you to heaven. That'snot what's going to get you into His
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presence. It's not what's going toget me to be You are all nice.
I try to be nice, butthat's not what does it. It's
not what does it. And thereis salvation and no one else, For
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there is no other name under heavengiven among men which we must be saved.
Number three, we must confess oursinfulness. I've already talked about that.
We all have sin. We allhave it, we were born with
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it, we acted on it,we didn't act. Romans ten says that
if you confess with your mouth Jesus'sLord, and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead,you will be saved. For it is
but with your heart that you believeand are justified. It as with your
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mouth that you confess and are saved. We have to confess our sins and
relieve ourselves from all the guilt andshame. We must give the burden of
the guilt. I have to lookat my life and I have to give
up the guilt of my life.And I have to lay that upon Jesus
because I cannot carry that on myown. I cannot carry that on my
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own, and I can't save myselffrom it. It is here, it
is with me. I have togive it up to him, and I
have to confess and say, Jesus, Jesus, I'm a sinner. I
have intentionally sinned. I was bornand sinned, and Jesus, I need
you to take my sins and forgiveme for them. John one nine says,
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if we confess our sins, he'sfaithful and just and will forgive us
our sins, and purists purify usfrom all unrighteousness. Now fourth, the
fourth action in our step of receivingJesus of what we expect here at DCN
is baptism. Now, you don'thave to be baptized to be saved.
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It's not like all of a suddenyou say I want Jesus and you have
to jump in the tub. It'snot how it works. It's like all
of a sudden you start running upand just do U. Some head dives
in. That's not what we're saying. But as we look at our church
and we look at the people hereat our church, and our expectation is
we want you to start to knowJesus. We want you to receive Jesus,
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and then we want you to bebaptized in Jesus. And the reason
why it's not something that I youknow, like who we can count that
off. That's one more on ourlist. That's not it. We want
everyone who are born anew or bornagain to be baptized. We need to
be baptized. We must die toour sinful life and be born again in
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Christ at baptized. At baptism,I say the words buried in our transgressions.
When I lay somebody into the intothe waters, when I'm submerging them,
I say, buried in our transgressions. And as I pull them out,
and I said, raised again inour righteousness. If Jesus didn't expect
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us to be baptized, then whydid he tell his disciples go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing themin the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Godexpects us to be baptized. So what
is baptism? Oh, I hada fun time writing this out this section.
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Listen to me. What is baptism. It's a display, a public
confession, a symbol, But it'smuch more than that. It's an experience,
a moment of remembrance, a badge, a brand. As you enter
the water, you are nervous asyou anticipate whether or not the water is
cold. But not only that,but what are others going to think?
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All these people are watching me,what is this step I'm taking? Then
you hear your name being called.It's a reminder that Jesus knows and calls
you by name. Next, youbegin to be lowered into the water,
and as you feel the water flowover your body, you feel, you
feel, you feel, you recognizethat you've placed your trust in the hands
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of a representative of God. You'veplaced your body in this moment of surrender
to somebody else. You know thatif you stay there too long, you
won't be able to breathe. It'sa reminder that you were letting Jesus bury
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you and your sins with him.You are now dead to yourself and trusting
God and for steady hands. Youhave to let go of your will and
say to God you want God's butyou don't have to stay in that watery
grave long. You are quickly raisedup as Jesus was raised up from the
grave, and you are able totake a deep breath of life giving air.
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Your fear is gone. Your excitementis palatable. You can feel it,
you can taste it. The air'scold. Your skin feels the coldness
because you're all wet and the airconditioner's on. You feel it. You
hear it as the believers, thosewho are watching the witnesses, you hear
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it as they begin to celebrate withyou. You smell it, you see
it, you feel deep down inyour bones. A new life has come
forth from the grave, one builtupon the faith in Jesus, who came
to forgive your sins and raise youfrom the land of the dead to the
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land of the living. You arenew creation in Christ. Baptism is more
than just a public confession. Baptismis a way of saying, Jesus,
I want to experience more of you. Romans six three and five says,
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don't you know that all of uswho were baptized into Christ, Jesus were
baptized into his death. We weretherefore buried with him through baptize him into
death, in order that just asChrist was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we toomay live and have new life. Baptism
is more than just getting wet.Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
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he's a new creation. The oldestpassed away. Behold, the new has
come. So what do we receiveout of this? What is the deal?
My favorite radio station is WIIFM.How many of you have listened to
that one? What's in it forme? W I I? What's in
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it FM? For me, okay, what's in it for me? What
do we receive when we receive Jesus, What do we get? Number one,
we receive eternal life Romans five eighteen. Consequently, just as a result
of one trespass was condemnation for allmen, so also the result of one
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act of righteousness was justification that bringslife to all men Romans six twenty three.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life through Christ Jesus ourLord, Romans five twenty one. So
that justice sin reigned in death,so also grace might reign through the righteousness
to bring eternal life through Jesus Christour Lord. And again John three point
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sixteen. For God so loved theworld that he gave his only son,
that whoever believes in him should notperish, but have eternal life. I
don't know about you, but I'msore a little bit today. My body's
breaking down a little bit. Theolder I get, the more it breaks
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down. I would not want totake this one into eternity. I am
looking forward to the day that Jesuscomes and takes me home. I don't
want it to be today. No, let's not get crazy, but I'd
be okay with it today. Idon't necessarily want it to happen on the
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way home, but I'd be okaywith it. Number two, we receive
atonement, the forgiveness of our sins. The penalty has been paid. He
is the He's the payment of oursins, the propitiation of our sins,
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and not only ours, but alsofor the sins of the whole world.
He paid the price, He tookthe cost for what I've done. Psalms
one O three ten says, foras far as the east from the west,
so far as he removed our transgressionsfrom us, in that a beautiful
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thought, in that a beautiful word, that as far as as far as
the east is from the west,that all the things that I have done
against God, and all against creationand God, against all of humanity,
all the things that I have donewrong, God says, I will take
those. Ge Jesus death in thecross says I will take those. I
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will pay the price that is duefor those sins, and I will take
them, and I will remove themso far away you never have to deal
with them again. We receive hope, a real hopeful current life there's so
many people in our world that areliving a hopeless life. They have no
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idea what God offers and what allGod can give to them. Romans eight
one to four says, therefore,there is now no condemnation, no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law
of the Spirit of life set mefree from the law of sin and death.
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For what the law was powerless todo, and that it's weakness by
the sinful nature. God did bysending his own son in the likeness of
sin of sinful man to be asin offering, and so he condemned sin
to sinful man in order that therights requirements of the law may be fully
met. Who do not live accordingto the simple nature, but according to
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the spirit, we have the opportunityby allowing Jesus to receive Jesus into our
life, we have the opportunity tohave a life without defeat. Now doesn't
mean you're gonna win every game youplay of Monopoly with your friends. I'm
not talking about that defeat. Wehave an opportunity to say that this world
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will not defeat us, for Christhas already won. Sin does not have
to overcome us. Because Christ hasovercome, we do not have to live
despite what some people say, wedo not have to live a life of
sin. We do not have tolive a life in sin. We have
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one who has overcome sin and savedus from it. We also receive peace.
Romans five to one says, Therefore, since we've been justified through faith,
we have peace with God through ourLord Jesus Christ. Peace. Knowing
we've been justified, the price hasbeen paid for our sinful natures. I
don't have to pay the penalties anymore. You ever have a bill? Wouldn't
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it be nice if somebody just allof a sudden said, don't ever worry
about this again. I don't carewhat the bill is. I don't care.
If it was ten cents, I'dbe like, yes, I don't
have to worry about that anymore.But your spiritual life, your life is
worth more than ten cents. It'sworth more than we can imagine. And
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Jesus says it's paid for. Thatshould just give you a place of peace
in your life. That should giveyou a peace that if I've given it
to Jesus, I don't have totake it back. I've given it all
to him. I don't have toI don't have to say, well,
you know, I'm kind of worried, Jesus that you're not gonna pay that
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bill for me. Well what aboutnext month? What about next month?
Jesus says, I've got you.Don't worry about it anymore. Pay our
price has been paid. Thus wehave peace and we receive joy Romans five
to two. Though who we havegained access by faith into this grace in
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which we now stand, and werejoice in the hope of the glory of
God. We rejoice. I've preachedon this before, and if you've heard
me, I'm sure I'm not talkingabout happiness. I'm not talking about happiness.
We're gonna have down moments, We'regonna have We're gonna have things in
our life that are not happy moments. But I can tell you in the
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midst of the not happy moments,that I've got joy in Jesus. I've
got joy in my life that Iknow that no matter what's going on in
my life, whatever's happening, whetherit be good or bad, that I've
got joy, and I've got thishope, and I've got this peace,
I've got this savior in my lifewho gives me this unspeakable peace and joy
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in my life that I cannot trulyexplain. And you won't ever know that
until you experience I'm just going tobe completely lay that out there for you.
Until you experience Jesus, you won'tunderstand that. You won't understand it.
But I tell you today, asI stand before you today, that
the joy that is real in aChristian's life somebody who has received Jesus is
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so real. You ever seen somebodywho's going through a horrible time in their
life, sickness, death, whatever, it doesn't matter what it is,
and their life is just seems likeit's just falling apart. But then all
of a sudden you see them walkingto church and they're like, hey,
good morning, and you just feelthe joy in their life. How look
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at Sherry, I just happen tocatch look over there. The joy in
your life of Jesus is amazing.It's real, and we can't explain that
to other people. It's a joyof freedom, it's a joy of forgiveness,
it's a joy over fear of death. I'm gonna be wrapping this up
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here. Eugene Peterson said, this, God in Christ saves us from condemnation,
judgment, and hell. God inChrist redeems us, and we are
fully reconciled. God in Christ justifiesus, making right what's wrong. God
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in Christ remakes us, and weare born again. God in Christ adopts
us into his family. We arelost to sin and we need a savior.
We all do. We cannot saveourselves, and we must. It's
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ABC's I don't know if you caughtthat or not admit a that we are
sinners and we need a savior.B believe that Jesus is that savior.
C confess our sins to him sowe may be forgiven of them and baptized.
Just it's just what it is.It's not a d or anything.
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Be baptized with Jesus to be raisedagain with him. It's been awful quiet
in here, and I don't knowif that's a good thing or a bad
thing. I realize we're not arambunctious group, and that's okay. I'm
not saying we have to be.But maybe today, maybe just maybe the
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spirit's been talking to you, Maybethese words hit you. Maybe today is
a day that maybe you need toaccept Jesus. I can't say to know
where everyone's at. I can't sayto know where every one of you sits
with Jesus. That's not my rolein life. But my role in life
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is to give you an opportunity tomeet Jesus. And I want to introduce
you to Jesus today. This wholemessage was about me saying, hey,
Jesus here, so and so andyour so and so and people online your
so and so. Jesus is here, and we need to get to plass
this. We need to get someof us need to get past this place
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of just I kind of know Jesusto receiving Jesus. If there's anybody in
the room today who feels like theyneed to accept Jesus today, I'm going
to ask you to do one simplething. Do itt up Jesus. In
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fact, I'm going to make itbe as bold as this is. Anybody
here, I'm going to actually stepout a little bit, not step out
out of the aisle or anything.But does anybody just say it's okay.
I was in your shoes, Iwas in your seat, and I one
day I in a Sunday school class. My Sunday school teacher this is why
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Sunday school is important. It's justa side little note in a Sunday school
class. My junior high teacher said, I don't remember what the lesson wanted,
but it was something along this ideaof that somewhere along the line,
you need to know Jesus. Andmy Sunday school teacher said, does anybody
want to receive Jesus or accept Jesustoday? If so, just get up
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out of your seat and turn aroundand kneel at your chair. There was
three of us in the class thatday. Nobody else moved me. I
got on my knees right in there, that little Sunday school class, and
I said, Jesus, I'm asinner and I need you this morning.
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If you need Jesus, would youquickly just raise your hand up. It's
okay, other people will see you. I had to raise my hand.
Do you need Jesus today? Doyou need to accept Jesus as your life?
Today's the day. Maybe you're ata place today where you've walked away
from Jesus. I realize I'm notmaking this easy. You walked away from
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Jesus. You knew Jesus. Maybeyou had an relationship with Jesus, and
you walked away, and maybe todayyou're re examining and you're saying, I
need Jesus back in my life.Anybody here not a lot of hands.
Maybe praise God all you're going toheaven with me. In the third group,
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maybe you've accepted Jesus, you're livingwith Jesus, you've got it all
going on. But maybe you haven'tbeen baptized. I'm not trying to guilt
anybody into baptism by any stretch ofthe imagination, but I think you need
it. I think it'd be goodfor you. And so I'm going to
have you ask talk to me afterchurch. Talk to me after church and
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say, Scott, Pastor, Scott, I've known Jesus for X amount of
time and I haven't been baptized,and I want to do that. I'd
love to have that conversation with you. Wow, you guys are still really
quiet. Can you see why Iwrote this out today. It's not my
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normal, not my normal style.It's just about killed me standing here.
But I want you to know thatas your pastor, it is my respont
responsibility and my joy to serve youand to lead you to Jesus, and
I would fail if I didn't givethis opportunity to you today. So let's
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stand together, let's pray. God, you know exactly where your people are
today in this room. You knowexactly what's going on in our hearts and
in their minds. And God,you understand how this was a little hard
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for me to preach today just simplybecause of the format. Oh God,
it's not hard for me to preachthe life giving news of Jesus Christ.
That's not my problem at all.I just don't want to mess it up
sometimes. So God, right now, I pray for your people in this
room. I pray that your HolySpirit has been stirring their hearts. And
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there's probably people in this room Godwho who want to receive you today.
But God, maybe I scared thema little bit by asking them to raise
their hand. It's okay if theydidn't, God, they can pray a
prayer to you right now, askingyou to forgive them or their sins and
receive you into their lives. Ipray God that you will help them to
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do that right now. And maybeGod, there's somebody in this room that
again they didn't want to raise theirhand. But maybe they've walked away from
Jesus, They've walked away from Youand the relationship and God, they needed
a renewal today. God. Maybethere's just some sin in their life that
they need to give up and theyneed to give that to You today.
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I pray right now, God thatthey will do that as they stand here
before You and God again, withthis baptism, I don't mean to trivialize
it. I don't mean to makeit the end all by any stretch.
And God, I don't think you'resaying, and I don't think I'm saying
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that they won't make it an eternityif they don't get baptized. That's I
don't believe that's what you were saying. But God, I think you did
call us to do it. SoI ask God that you will help us
to discern that, and we'll beginto think about that, and we begin
to pray about that, begin toweigh that out in our lives so that
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we can truly experience You in anew way. God. You're a good
God, and you do offer somuch. God. You know I don't
really gain anything by sharing the Gospelother than you. God. Mayor may
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we as people hear your voice.May we receive Jesus, help us to
get past just knowing him, andhelp us to receive him. We thank
you Jesus. Amen,
Well, I got asked first thingtoday. I don't know what entrance you
came in when you came into thechurch today, but I don't know if
you saw a little bit of differenceout there with the gravel. We moved
some rocks around, moved a lotof rocks around yesterday, and I first
and foremost, I want to saythank you everyone who helped out yesterday.
There was a nice large crowd andwe were trying to beautify the church and
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do the things we need to doaround this building. So I'm so thankful
for that. But I got askedfirst thing this morning, how do you
feel? Are you sore? AndI was like, no, didn't you
think about it this morning? AndI was doing great, and then all
of a sudden, I decided towalk up the stairs and I realized I'm
not doing so good. I toldsome people earlier or yesterday, I said,
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if all of a sudden I startkind of doing one of these things,
just pretend it's the Holy Spirit,not cramps, all right, if
I kind of do something a littleoff. So this morning, I want
to continue our series that we startedlast week with Pastor Terra. Yeah,
and I've written that I normally don'twrite out my entire sermon, and I've
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written it out today a little forthe most part, because I didn't want
to really miss anything. And soit's going to be a little bit different.
You know. Usually I'm walking allaround and maybe I'll do it.
I'll just take my papers with meand it'll look a little funny because you
know me, I can't really sitstill very well. So let's start it
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this way. The number one goalof a church's existence is to help people
find Jesus and be brought into aloving relationship with him. If a church
is not going to do that,then it's not fulfilling its purpose to go
and make disciples of all nations.So here at DCN defies Church of the
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Nazarene. We've laid out our missionto help accomplish this purpose in four distinct
statements. Can you say them?With me? Is to love God,
love others, grow deep, repeatnice. A couple of you said that
with me. That's great. Nowlook to the person next to you and
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say, this is our mission.That's good. See it's this class participation
this morning last week, Pastor Taraintroduced us to these steps on how are
we going to accomplish our mission withthese next steps. And these in these
four steps, these are the foursteps we believe that everyone here at DCN
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should take in their spiritual journey withJesus. There are steps that will propel
people to the type of relationship webelieve that God wants us to be in
with Him. They are the stepsthat will guide as we preach, as
we teach, as we plan ourcalendars, as we develop ministries, as
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we challenge ourselves and you. Sostep one is no Jesus. Pastor Tara
led us in this and it sayswe believe that as a church, each
of us on a journey, andin that journey, there are moments that
we experience God. Those moments arewhere God shows up, he works something
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out, He appears in the faceof someone, or through a word spoken,
an invitation, a gift, agesture. Those moments where God is
trying to break through to us andshow us that He is there with us
and pursuing us. These glimpses ofGod, these moments in His presence in
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our lives, are what we callprevenient grace. You guys, remember we
said that last week. We believethat every person every person starts on step
one, no Jesus. It's wherewe listen and learn. Some of that
is formal and some of it isinformal. We listen to others, We
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learn, we observe, We askquestions, We look back at moments and
analyze. It's a time of absorbingall the ways in which God is working
in and around us. We beginto recognize God pursuing us, and we
begin to pursue him. We beginto look for Jesus and people. We
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begin to look for Jesus in moments. We try to find ways to seek
him. At work, we beginto ask, is this Jesus for real?
We experienced Jesus working in our lives, and we recognize it when it
happens. We experience him at homeand at work. We experience him at
school and with our family. Weexperience him when we are out driving and
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in the store, and we connectwith people. We see Jesus as we
connect with believers. We see Jesusin their faces and in their words.
We start to connect our hearts withothers who are trying to connect with God.
So we listen and learn, wepursue, We experience, and we
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connect and Somewhere around this time wecome to this perpetual fork in the road.
It's the is this Jesus for real? Is he for real? And
if he is? What do Ido with him? What do I do
with this Jesus? Do I believewhat he's been? What I've been seeing?
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Are these people who call themselves Christians? For real? Am I really
in need of a savior? AmI really not good enough? Is God
real and pursuing us? Did Jesusreally come and to seek and to save
the lost? Am I? AmI lost? We at DCN believe this
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is where we are all at whenwe are in step one, But we
also believe you cannot stay there.You cannot stay there. You have to
move on to the next step.Step two is today's messages receive Jesus,
the Son of God who came andto save us from sin. So let's
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first understand where we're at. We'vebeen getting to know Jesus. We've heard
about Jesus, we've asked questions,we've observed, we've been unrecognizing where God
has been pursuing us. That's prevenientgrace. We've been connecting with believers,
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and we've been watching studying talking withthem. Your curiosity is getting piqued.
You are beginning to experience moments whereyou feel God speaking in your heart and
in your mind. You at timesfeel there is a pulling in your life.
You are recognizing there is a holein your heart that you've never really
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acknowledged this way before. You've beentrying to feel it, but maybe didn't
realize that you were doing. Butwhat you were doing wasn't working. You're
trying to figure out, why doI need Jesus. I'm a good person.
I'm good. You may or notfeel like you're a horrible person.
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You've been good, You've been betterthan some, little worse than others,
but not as bad. You're notmother by Teresa, mother Teresa by any
you know means, but you're notbad either. That is called moralism.
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Moralism and moralism is the self righteousbelieve that all is well with me spiritually
because I live a decent moral lifeand have improved my behavior. I've gotten
better. I'm not as bad asI was, and I got some ways
to go, but I'll get there. I'm working on my own behavior.
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A moralist is someone who believes theyare saved by the good that they do
and the bad that they avoid.I'm not so bad. I'm more good
than i am bad. It's amore good than bad mentality. It's a
belief that God grades on a curve, and a little goodness just goes a
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long way with God. But we'renever good enough because we don't account for
sin. We have a moral compass, however, it doesn't know how to
find true north because sin has distortedit, much like a magnet would distort
the real direction on a compass.We believe in right and wrong, and
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so where does that come from?Where does right and wrong come from?
How do we grab that? Whatmakes us try to be good? It's
the visible but ignored Gospel of Jesusand Romans one, nineteen and twenty.
It says, for what can beknown about God as plain to them,
because God has shown it to them, for his invisible attributes, namely,
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his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived ever since the creation
of the world, and the thingsthat have been made so they are without
excuse. I want to stop there. It's not in my notes, but
I want us to understand that thatwe see God all around us. We
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see it. The scripture says,from the very beginning, all of human
humankind, all of mankind, hasseen God working in our midst and any
of many times that gets attributed tosomeone else or something else, another God.
But God is always pointing us andpulling us towards Him by what a
sin? But we tend to ignorethat people in general do. Romans three
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twenty three says tells us we allhave sin and fall short of the glory
of Gods. That means that youand me, all of us, we
have all sin and falls short ofwhat God wants and expects of us.
This is what prevents us from beinggood enough. We all have sin.
I have had sin in my life. So let's figure out what sin is.
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What is this thing that we're reallyguilty of? Sin is rebellion.
John Wesley gave a definition as widelyused as sin and says, sin is
a voluntary transgression of a known lawof God. It's known. It's a
willful dis obedience. I know whatI'm supposed to do. I've been,
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and I go against it, andI choose to go against it. I
know what God wants and says todo or don't do. But I do
it anyway because I want to.It's because I want to. My selfish
gets in the way I choose todo wrong, even though I know better.
Slave is also enslavement. Sin isalso enslavement. It's an act of
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commission. Romans six one and twosays, I know I shouldn't do it.
Basically, I know what I shouldbe doing, but I do it
anyway. I shouldn't do it,but I do it anyway. I can't
seem to help it. Sin isan act of omission. I knew what
I was supposed to do, butI didn't do it anyway. But I
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don't want to do it, andso I didn't do it. Roman seven
nineteen talks about that we are allborn in sin, every one of us.
Romans five twelve says, therefore,just as sin entered the world through
one man, and earth through sin, and it's way, death came to
all men because all sinned, weall have this thing called sinful nature.
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In us. We have this desireof self that pulls us towards sin.
We're gonna love sin more than welove God because we are enslaved to sin
in bondage to his power. Noamount of good intentions or hard work.
No humanistic moralism is going to liberateus completely. Sin is enslavement. Sin
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is also estrangement, estrangement, somethinghas gone wrong with our relationship. It's
a damaging relationship. Sin separates peoplefrom God and each other. You all
know the story of Adam and Eve. You've heard it. What was the
first thing after they took and theydisobeyed God? What did they do?
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They hid and Jesus and God reachesout and says, where are you?
And we were ashamed? So wehid and we covered ourselves. And sin
separates us from relationship. It's anestrangement in relationship, and it damages our
relationship between us and God, andit keeps us apart, and it holds
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us away from Him. Isaiah fiftynine to two says, but in your
iniquities have made a separation between youand your God, and your sins have
hidden his face from you, sohe does not hear. So, so
what do we do with this?Here's where we get in some meat and
bones. Here's where we get itall put together. What do we do
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with this? This is the messthat we've got us into. Is we
admit we are sinners? Folks.We have to admit it. We have
to own it. We have toown the fact that I'm not good enough.
We have to admit we're sinners.We have to We have sin in
our lives and we cannot save osave ourselves from it. It's bigger than
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us. First John eight says,if we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truthis not in us. First John one
ten says, if we claim tohave sin, we make him out to
be a liar, and his wordis not in us. We are sinners.
We are sinners. We're not goodenough. We're just not good enough.
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The second thing is believe. Wehave to believe that Jesus came to
save us from our sin and death, and we cannot save ourselves. Luke
nineteen sin nineteen ten says, forthe son of Man came to seek and
save the loss. Romans three says, and we are we are justified freely
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by his grace through the redemption thatcame by Christ. Jesus God presented presented
him as a sacrifice of atonement throughfaith in his blood. He did this
to demonstrate his justice because in hisforbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand,
unpunished. He did it to demonstratehis justice at the present time,
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so that just so as to bejust and the one who justifies those who
have faith in Jesus. Folks,I know some of you might be struggling.
I'm this is you're struggling. I'mcome reading and I'm not real,
but I want you to listen.Hold on for a few minutes here.
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What I just told you is thegreatest news ever Well I normally don't try
to pull these out, but thatshould have been a few amens. What
I just told you is the greatestnews you've ever heard in your entire life.
That Jesus came and to save us. He came to save us from
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our sins. One Corinthians says,for I handed on to you as of
first importance that what I in turnhad received, that Christ died for our
sins and according with the scriptures,and that he was buried, and that
he was raised in the third dayin accordance with the scriptures. Praise God.
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This love that Jesus has for us, This love that God has for
us as a self giving love.God proves his love for us that while
we were still sinners. Christ diedfor us while we were still sinning.
Christ died for us, while wewere still in the depth of the muck
and mire of our lives. Christdied for us for our sake. He
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made him out to be sin whoknew no sin, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus took on the sin. He
took on all the bad things Idid. And I think back and I
try to forget a lot of thesethings. The truth is, I don't
want to remember any of it.We just went through our series of this
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is my story, and it's hard. It's hard to go back and remember
all the things and all the thingsthat I want to forget, all the
ways that I have failed God,and all the ways I've sinned. But
God for in all of his gloryand all of his wisdom and all of
his love, He said Jesus whosaid, I haven't even have sin in
my life, but I will takeon everything Scott you did, and I
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will take that on me. Idon't deserve that. I don't deserve that.
It's saving grace, and we aresaved by this grace, of which
is outside of myself, outside ofus. We can not save ourselves.
Only Jesus can. It's a totalgift. Everyone knows the verse John three
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point sixteen. For God so lovedthe world that he gave his only son,
that whoever believes in him should notperish but have everlasting life. He
gave his son. It was agift to you, It was a gift
to me. God's acceptance of usisn't based on what I've done or I
will what I'll ever do. PraiseGod, Praise God. It is strictly
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grounded on the nature and character ofGod to send Jesus into the world,
to die for the sins of theworld, and to be raised for our
salvation. I love this. Thisis why I wrote all this down.
I knew if I got up here, I'd just go on a tangent.
I had to kind of keep myselflined up. Today, I just know
it. Provenient grace, which I'vementioned a couple times, leads to saving
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grace and to faith in Jesus Jesus. God has been pulling us. God
has been talking to us. Godhas been putting those moments in our lives.
God has given us invitations to cometo church, invitations to come to
an event invitations of a conversations,moments where God has shown up and God
has been working and talking and doingand pursuing us, and he's been pulling
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us. And when he eventually he'ssaying, I'm wanting to pull you to
me so that you can be savedand experience me. All those moments,
all those things where God has beenpursuing us, leads us to an awareness
of in a response to the onewho has awakened to us faith in Christ
alone. Ephesians two says, forby grace, you have been saved through
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faith is not your own doing.It is the gift of God, not
a result of work. So thatno one can boast. I can't do
any enough. I can't be goodenough, I can't work hard enough.
I can't be nice. God wantsnice people. But that's not what's going
to get you to heaven. That'snot what's going to get you into His
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presence. It's not what's going toget me to be You are all nice.
I try to be nice, butthat's not what does it. It's
not what does it. And thereis salvation and no one else, For
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there is no other name under heavengiven among men which we must be saved.
Number three, we must confess oursinfulness. I've already talked about that.
We all have sin. We allhave it, we were born with
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it, we acted on it,we didn't act. Romans ten says that
if you confess with your mouth Jesus'sLord, and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead,you will be saved. For it is
but with your heart that you believeand are justified. It as with your
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mouth that you confess and are saved. We have to confess our sins and
relieve ourselves from all the guilt andshame. We must give the burden of
the guilt. I have to lookat my life and I have to give
up the guilt of my life.And I have to lay that upon Jesus
because I cannot carry that on myown. I cannot carry that on my
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own, and I can't save myselffrom it. It is here, it
is with me. I have togive it up to him, and I
have to confess and say, Jesus, Jesus, I'm a sinner. I
have intentionally sinned. I was bornand sinned, and Jesus, I need
you to take my sins and forgiveme for them. John one nine says,
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if we confess our sins, he'sfaithful and just and will forgive us
our sins, and purists purify usfrom all unrighteousness. Now fourth, the
fourth action in our step of receivingJesus of what we expect here at DCN
is baptism. Now, you don'thave to be baptized to be saved.
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It's not like all of a suddenyou say I want Jesus and you have
to jump in the tub. It'snot how it works. It's like all
of a sudden you start running upand just do U. Some head dives
in. That's not what we're saying. But as we look at our church
and we look at the people hereat our church, and our expectation is
we want you to start to knowJesus. We want you to receive Jesus,
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and then we want you to bebaptized in Jesus. And the reason
why it's not something that I youknow, like who we can count that
off. That's one more on ourlist. That's not it. We want
everyone who are born anew or bornagain to be baptized. We need to
be baptized. We must die toour sinful life and be born again in
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Christ at baptized. At baptism,I say the words buried in our transgressions.
When I lay somebody into the intothe waters, when I'm submerging them,
I say, buried in our transgressions. And as I pull them out,
and I said, raised again inour righteousness. If Jesus didn't expect
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us to be baptized, then whydid he tell his disciples go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing themin the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Godexpects us to be baptized. So what
is baptism? Oh, I hada fun time writing this out this section.
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Listen to me. What is baptism. It's a display, a public
confession, a symbol, But it'smuch more than that. It's an experience,
a moment of remembrance, a badge, a brand. As you enter
the water, you are nervous asyou anticipate whether or not the water is
cold. But not only that,but what are others going to think?
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All these people are watching me,what is this step I'm taking? Then
you hear your name being called.It's a reminder that Jesus knows and calls
you by name. Next, youbegin to be lowered into the water,
and as you feel the water flowover your body, you feel, you
feel, you feel, you recognizethat you've placed your trust in the hands
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of a representative of God. You'veplaced your body in this moment of surrender
to somebody else. You know thatif you stay there too long, you
won't be able to breathe. It'sa reminder that you were letting Jesus bury
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you and your sins with him.You are now dead to yourself and trusting
God and for steady hands. Youhave to let go of your will and
say to God you want God's butyou don't have to stay in that watery
grave long. You are quickly raisedup as Jesus was raised up from the
grave, and you are able totake a deep breath of life giving air.
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Your fear is gone. Your excitementis palatable. You can feel it,
you can taste it. The air'scold. Your skin feels the coldness
because you're all wet and the airconditioner's on. You feel it. You
hear it as the believers, thosewho are watching the witnesses, you hear
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it as they begin to celebrate withyou. You smell it, you see
it, you feel deep down inyour bones. A new life has come
forth from the grave, one builtupon the faith in Jesus, who came
to forgive your sins and raise youfrom the land of the dead to the
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land of the living. You arenew creation in Christ. Baptism is more
than just a public confession. Baptismis a way of saying, Jesus,
I want to experience more of you. Romans six three and five says,
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don't you know that all of uswho were baptized into Christ, Jesus were
baptized into his death. We weretherefore buried with him through baptize him into
death, in order that just asChrist was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we toomay live and have new life. Baptism
is more than just getting wet.Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
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he's a new creation. The oldestpassed away. Behold, the new has
come. So what do we receiveout of this? What is the deal?
My favorite radio station is WIIFM.How many of you have listened to
that one? What's in it forme? W I I? What's in
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it FM? For me, okay, what's in it for me? What
do we receive when we receive Jesus, What do we get? Number one,
we receive eternal life Romans five eighteen. Consequently, just as a result
of one trespass was condemnation for allmen, so also the result of one
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act of righteousness was justification that bringslife to all men Romans six twenty three.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life through Christ Jesus ourLord, Romans five twenty one. So
that justice sin reigned in death,so also grace might reign through the righteousness
to bring eternal life through Jesus Christour Lord. And again John three point
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sixteen. For God so loved theworld that he gave his only son,
that whoever believes in him should notperish, but have eternal life. I
don't know about you, but I'msore a little bit today. My body's
breaking down a little bit. Theolder I get, the more it breaks
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down. I would not want totake this one into eternity. I am
looking forward to the day that Jesuscomes and takes me home. I don't
want it to be today. No, let's not get crazy, but I'd
be okay with it today. Idon't necessarily want it to happen on the
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way home, but I'd be okaywith it. Number two, we receive
atonement, the forgiveness of our sins. The penalty has been paid. He
is the He's the payment of oursins, the propitiation of our sins,
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and not only ours, but alsofor the sins of the whole world.
He paid the price, He tookthe cost for what I've done. Psalms
one O three ten says, foras far as the east from the west,
so far as he removed our transgressionsfrom us, in that a beautiful
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thought, in that a beautiful word, that as far as as far as
the east is from the west,that all the things that I have done
against God, and all against creationand God, against all of humanity,
all the things that I have donewrong, God says, I will take
those. Ge Jesus death in thecross says I will take those. I
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will pay the price that is duefor those sins, and I will take
them, and I will remove themso far away you never have to deal
with them again. We receive hope, a real hopeful current life there's so
many people in our world that areliving a hopeless life. They have no
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idea what God offers and what allGod can give to them. Romans eight
one to four says, therefore,there is now no condemnation, no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law
of the Spirit of life set mefree from the law of sin and death.
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For what the law was powerless todo, and that it's weakness by
the sinful nature. God did bysending his own son in the likeness of
sin of sinful man to be asin offering, and so he condemned sin
to sinful man in order that therights requirements of the law may be fully
met. Who do not live accordingto the simple nature, but according to
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the spirit, we have the opportunityby allowing Jesus to receive Jesus into our
life, we have the opportunity tohave a life without defeat. Now doesn't
mean you're gonna win every game youplay of Monopoly with your friends. I'm
not talking about that defeat. Wehave an opportunity to say that this world
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will not defeat us, for Christhas already won. Sin does not have
to overcome us. Because Christ hasovercome, we do not have to live
despite what some people say, wedo not have to live a life of
sin. We do not have tolive a life in sin. We have
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one who has overcome sin and savedus from it. We also receive peace.
Romans five to one says, Therefore, since we've been justified through faith,
we have peace with God through ourLord Jesus Christ. Peace. Knowing
we've been justified, the price hasbeen paid for our sinful natures. I
don't have to pay the penalties anymore. You ever have a bill? Wouldn't
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it be nice if somebody just allof a sudden said, don't ever worry
about this again. I don't carewhat the bill is. I don't care.
If it was ten cents, I'dbe like, yes, I don't
have to worry about that anymore.But your spiritual life, your life is
worth more than ten cents. It'sworth more than we can imagine. And
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Jesus says it's paid for. Thatshould just give you a place of peace
in your life. That should giveyou a peace that if I've given it
to Jesus, I don't have totake it back. I've given it all
to him. I don't have toI don't have to say, well,
you know, I'm kind of worried, Jesus that you're not gonna pay that
(33:07):
bill for me. Well what aboutnext month? What about next month?
Jesus says, I've got you.Don't worry about it anymore. Pay our
price has been paid. Thus wehave peace and we receive joy Romans five
to two. Though who we havegained access by faith into this grace in
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which we now stand, and werejoice in the hope of the glory of
God. We rejoice. I've preachedon this before, and if you've heard
me, I'm sure I'm not talkingabout happiness. I'm not talking about happiness.
We're gonna have down moments, We'regonna have We're gonna have things in
our life that are not happy moments. But I can tell you in the
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midst of the not happy moments,that I've got joy in Jesus. I've
got joy in my life that Iknow that no matter what's going on in
my life, whatever's happening, whetherit be good or bad, that I've
got joy, and I've got thishope, and I've got this peace,
I've got this savior in my lifewho gives me this unspeakable peace and joy
(34:14):
in my life that I cannot trulyexplain. And you won't ever know that
until you experience I'm just going tobe completely lay that out there for you.
Until you experience Jesus, you won'tunderstand that. You won't understand it.
But I tell you today, asI stand before you today, that
the joy that is real in aChristian's life somebody who has received Jesus is
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so real. You ever seen somebodywho's going through a horrible time in their
life, sickness, death, whatever, it doesn't matter what it is,
and their life is just seems likeit's just falling apart. But then all
of a sudden you see them walkingto church and they're like, hey,
good morning, and you just feelthe joy in their life. How look
(35:04):
at Sherry, I just happen tocatch look over there. The joy in
your life of Jesus is amazing.It's real, and we can't explain that
to other people. It's a joyof freedom, it's a joy of forgiveness,
it's a joy over fear of death. I'm gonna be wrapping this up
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here. Eugene Peterson said, this, God in Christ saves us from condemnation,
judgment, and hell. God inChrist redeems us, and we are
fully reconciled. God in Christ justifiesus, making right what's wrong. God
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in Christ remakes us, and weare born again. God in Christ adopts
us into his family. We arelost to sin and we need a savior.
We all do. We cannot saveourselves, and we must. It's
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ABC's I don't know if you caughtthat or not admit a that we are
sinners and we need a savior.B believe that Jesus is that savior.
C confess our sins to him sowe may be forgiven of them and baptized.
Just it's just what it is.It's not a d or anything.
(36:34):
Be baptized with Jesus to be raisedagain with him. It's been awful quiet
in here, and I don't knowif that's a good thing or a bad
thing. I realize we're not arambunctious group, and that's okay. I'm
not saying we have to be.But maybe today, maybe just maybe the
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spirit's been talking to you, Maybethese words hit you. Maybe today is
a day that maybe you need toaccept Jesus. I can't say to know
where everyone's at. I can't sayto know where every one of you sits
with Jesus. That's not my rolein life. But my role in life
(37:17):
is to give you an opportunity tomeet Jesus. And I want to introduce
you to Jesus today. This wholemessage was about me saying, hey,
Jesus here, so and so andyour so and so and people online your
so and so. Jesus is here, and we need to get to plass
this. We need to get someof us need to get past this place
(37:38):
of just I kind of know Jesusto receiving Jesus. If there's anybody in
the room today who feels like theyneed to accept Jesus today, I'm going
to ask you to do one simplething. Do itt up Jesus. In
(38:01):
fact, I'm going to make itbe as bold as this is. Anybody
here, I'm going to actually stepout a little bit, not step out
out of the aisle or anything.But does anybody just say it's okay.
I was in your shoes, Iwas in your seat, and I one
day I in a Sunday school class. My Sunday school teacher this is why
(38:22):
Sunday school is important. It's justa side little note in a Sunday school
class. My junior high teacher said, I don't remember what the lesson wanted,
but it was something along this ideaof that somewhere along the line,
you need to know Jesus. Andmy Sunday school teacher said, does anybody
want to receive Jesus or accept Jesustoday? If so, just get up
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out of your seat and turn aroundand kneel at your chair. There was
three of us in the class thatday. Nobody else moved me. I
got on my knees right in there, that little Sunday school class, and
I said, Jesus, I'm asinner and I need you this morning.
(39:09):
If you need Jesus, would youquickly just raise your hand up. It's
okay, other people will see you. I had to raise my hand.
Do you need Jesus today? Doyou need to accept Jesus as your life?
Today's the day. Maybe you're ata place today where you've walked away
from Jesus. I realize I'm notmaking this easy. You walked away from
(39:36):
Jesus. You knew Jesus. Maybeyou had an relationship with Jesus, and
you walked away, and maybe todayyou're re examining and you're saying, I
need Jesus back in my life.Anybody here not a lot of hands.
Maybe praise God all you're going toheaven with me. In the third group,
(40:00):
maybe you've accepted Jesus, you're livingwith Jesus, you've got it all
going on. But maybe you haven'tbeen baptized. I'm not trying to guilt
anybody into baptism by any stretch ofthe imagination, but I think you need
it. I think it'd be goodfor you. And so I'm going to
have you ask talk to me afterchurch. Talk to me after church and
(40:22):
say, Scott, Pastor, Scott, I've known Jesus for X amount of
time and I haven't been baptized,and I want to do that. I'd
love to have that conversation with you. Wow, you guys are still really
quiet. Can you see why Iwrote this out today. It's not my
(40:49):
normal, not my normal style.It's just about killed me standing here.
But I want you to know thatas your pastor, it is my respont
responsibility and my joy to serve youand to lead you to Jesus, and
I would fail if I didn't givethis opportunity to you today. So let's
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stand together, let's pray. God, you know exactly where your people are
today in this room. You knowexactly what's going on in our hearts and
in their minds. And God,you understand how this was a little hard
(41:34):
for me to preach today just simplybecause of the format. Oh God,
it's not hard for me to preachthe life giving news of Jesus Christ.
That's not my problem at all.I just don't want to mess it up
sometimes. So God, right now, I pray for your people in this
room. I pray that your HolySpirit has been stirring their hearts. And
(42:00):
there's probably people in this room Godwho who want to receive you today.
But God, maybe I scared thema little bit by asking them to raise
their hand. It's okay if theydidn't, God, they can pray a
prayer to you right now, askingyou to forgive them or their sins and
receive you into their lives. Ipray God that you will help them to
(42:21):
do that right now. And maybeGod, there's somebody in this room that
again they didn't want to raise theirhand. But maybe they've walked away from
Jesus, They've walked away from Youand the relationship and God, they needed
a renewal today. God. Maybethere's just some sin in their life that
they need to give up and theyneed to give that to You today.
(42:44):
I pray right now, God thatthey will do that as they stand here
before You and God again, withthis baptism, I don't mean to trivialize
it. I don't mean to makeit the end all by any stretch.
And God, I don't think you'resaying, and I don't think I'm saying
(43:05):
that they won't make it an eternityif they don't get baptized. That's I
don't believe that's what you were saying. But God, I think you did
call us to do it. SoI ask God that you will help us
to discern that, and we'll beginto think about that, and we begin
to pray about that, begin toweigh that out in our lives so that
(43:29):
we can truly experience You in anew way. God. You're a good
God, and you do offer somuch. God. You know I don't
really gain anything by sharing the Gospelother than you. God. Mayor may
(43:53):
we as people hear your voice.May we receive Jesus, help us to
get past just knowing him, andhelp us to receive him. We thank
you Jesus. Amen,
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