Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - A Way Out, Part 1: Always A Way Out

Episode Date: August 8, 2015

Temptation is the seductive little voice that twists what you want into what you need. It distorts your thoughts until you’re trapped—and when you’re trapped by temptation, it’s not the time to listen to yourself. Put your trust in someone who kno... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm incredibly thankful to have all of you with us today. All of our life churches across the country, our network churches across the world. Those of you on the other side of computer screens at church online, would you join me today in giving glory to God that we get to be a part of celebrating over 1,700 people being baptized on this weekend. An amazing, amazing move of God, something that we can never, ever take for granted at my local. I know many of the personal stories of those who are baptized, and we celebrate with all the communities that every single person matters to God. Everyone has a story, and we celebrate your new life in Christ.

Today, we are starting a brand new message series. It's called A Way Out. And what I want to just kind of give you the backstory of this, the only way I can describe it is that God gave me what I would call a divine burden for this. topic. Oftentimes I would preach like one message and move on dealing with temptation. And what I want to do is I want to talk for four weeks. I've already written the whole message series. We're going to build week upon week upon week. And what I really believe with all my heart, that there are those of you on the other side of this, you will be significantly different. You will be free from things

that have held you bondage for years and years and years. We're going to discover that our God is faithful, and no matter where you're trapped, it could be something big you've never told anybody about, it could be something that everybody knows and it's just annoying you, but God always gives us a way out. I'll talk about the first time in my own life that I really came face to face with addiction. On both sides of our family, if you kind of trace back through the generations, there were problems with alcohol, and I was stupid enough to believe that I could drink alcohol, party and not be impacted the way others were. So off in college, I joined a fraternity, I played sports, I drank with my frat brothers, and partied with my teammates, and I got out of hand.

People actually started, if you can imagine in college, other frat guys saying, Craig, we think you might have a problem, okay? Almost all of us had problems, but I stood out. And so they said, why don't you cool it down for a while? I said, I don't have a problem, no big deal. Okay, I won't drink. Well, I couldn't stop, and that scared me. It came to really the head one night when I beer-bonged a six-pack, not like at one time, but one after another. Do they still beer-bonged today? I'll let me know. Who knows what that is? Who knows what that is? Yeah. How do you know what that is? Okay? So, anyway, it's, you know, just picture of funnel and a tube and drinking really, really fast. And so I beer-bonged a six-pack, and then I drank a small bottle of Seagram 7, and then I went out partying.

Okay? And so midway, you know, early in the night, my friends were like gross shells out of control. They dumped me back off at my room and said, stay put. You know, you're not partying anymore. And I remember thinking, no, no, no, no, no, no. The night is young. I'm running to the girls' dorm. That's just what made sense to me.

And so I left out on foot. And I remember, like it was yesterday, running across campus, the last, The last thing I remember was this thought, wow, I can't even feel my legs hitting the ground. This is freaking amazing, okay? That's the last thing I remember. Next thing, it's 10.30 or 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. I overslept practice. I found out that two Kappa Siggs from a different fraternity were kind enough to retrieve my body,

passed out with my head hanging over a curb on a very dangerous street. and I realized I had a problem. I had a problem. There are those of you, and I would venture to say, everybody at one level or another, has something in their life that is consistently there that should not be there. And I don't know what this would be for you.

I mean, let's just call it what it is. Alcohol for many people is a problem. Now, you could have a drink or two every now and then it not be a problem, but there are those of you who do it every single day, a substance problem. It could be you're smoking something you don't want to smoke, you shouldn't drug, you're shooting something, you're popping pills you shouldn't pop.

For someone else, it could be that you just lie, sometimes for no reason at all. And you don't even know why you just told a lie, and then you tell a lie to cover up that lie. And before long, there are some people who really can't even distinguish what the truth is because they lie all the time. There are some, many, quite honestly, that have eating issues. You eat and eat and eat, neat, neat, and eat, and eat, and it can be, like, grossly overeating, or it can be as simple as a sugar addiction.

that you just can't seem to push the food away and you just continually eat things that you shouldn't eat. You don't have to look probably beyond three or four people close to you that someone has a sexual addiction all over the world today. You're looking at something that you shouldn't be looking at. You're acting out, or some of you are moments away from acting out because you're visualizing things that you should never, ever see. For some, it's spending, that you're in debt massively.

And yet for whatever reason, you go and buy more and more and more and more and more and more. And you think I should stop, but you can't seem to stop, and you just continue to spend and spend and spend. For some, it's gambling. I mean, you know, you drive up to the big places, and now you just go online, and you think, hey, I'm pretty good at this and you win something, and then you lose something, you lose more, and you lose more, and all of a sudden, like, ah, I can't seem to get out. You try to gamble your way out, and you only get in more trouble. As innocent as it seems, some of you, it's like your phones. media. You can't even have a conversation with somebody without having this thing up in your face doing, one day your thumb's going to fly off. Where to go? Because you wore that little thing out,

okay? And it doesn't seem like a big deal, but you have no idea how much it's robbing you from because you can't have an intimate relationship with anybody because you're just doing this your whole life. I don't know what it would be for you, but I venture to say that every one of us has something that shouldn't be there. I want to let God's Word speak directly to this, and we're going to jump off of the text that we're going to look at every week for four weeks, and this is the text from God's Word. First Corinthians chapter 10, verses 12 and 13. This is what Paul said. So powerful. He said, so, if you think you're standing firm, be careful that you do not fall. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. Here's the good news.

And God is what? Everybody's saying aloud. Our God is faithful. Even if we are faithless, our God is always faithful. How is he faithful? One of the ways is this. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted and you will be, all of us will be.

But when you are, what will our God do? Scripture says he will also provide what? Say it aloud. He will provide a way out so you can endure. What I hope you'll understand is that every time there is a temptation, there is always a way out. Every single time you are tempted to do something that would be harmful to you, harmful to others, or hurt the heart of God. There is always a way out.

Let me tell you where we're going to go in this series. Today is going to be simple. I'm just going to tell you. We're going to build a foundation to build upon. Next week we're going to look at resisting. We're going to find through scripture how we can do our part to put up an impenetable wall against the attacks of the enemy. We're going to ask ourselves, why in the world would we ever resist a temptation tomorrow that we have the power to eliminate today? And we're going to do everything possible to put distance between us and that which harm us.

Week three, we're going to go massive spiritual. And we're going to see the power of the Holy Spirit of God that enables you to overcome things that your mind thinks you cannot overcome. Week four, we're going to look at what happens. What you feed, grows, what you starve, dies. We're going to look at three things that every follower of Jesus needs to do to feed their spirits. So their spirit becomes greater than their flesh. and we're going to look at God's word and let his power help set us free because whenever you are tempted, God is faithful. He will always give you a way out so you can endure it. I believe God is going to set some people free.

If you want to get into this and clap and believe that it is possible, I absolutely, with all of my heart, believe many people will be different because the power of God's word and his presence. A simple definition, if you're taking notes, what is temptation? There are many definitions. This is the one we're going to work with. What is temptation? It is anything that promises satisfaction at the cost of obedience to God. Temptation is anything that promises satisfaction.

Oh, you're going to like this. It's going to feel good. It's going to make your life more meaningful. It promises satisfaction at the cost of obedience to God. And what happens, scientists actually, will tell us that when you give in to whatever the temptation is, oftentimes your brain releases a little chemical called dopamine. It gives you a hit, a buzz, a thrill. You want it. You make the purchase. You want to look. You take a look. You want to say it because it's going to feel good

to say it. And so you say it, and your brain rewards you for it with a little bit of dopamine. And there's the thrill, there's the buzz, there's the high, there's the moment. There's a, oh, I'm satisfied, followed by the, oh, I shouldn't have done that. Oh, I feel bad. bad about that, the guilt, the regret, and the shame. And many of you know that cycle, you want it, oh, I shouldn't done it, oh, oh, oh, what is temptation? Is anything that promises satisfaction? You're going to like this. You need this. It's going to feel good. It's going to be great. At the cost of obedience to God. So as we build a foundation today that is necessary to build upon in the weeks to come, we're going to keep it real, real simple and talk about four truths about

temptation. Truth number one, we need to embrace this, that it is not a sin to be tempted. It is actually not a sin to be tempted. Hebrews 415 says, for we do not have a high priest Jesus, that's Jesus, who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses. But we have one, Jesus, who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not what? Yet he did not sin. In other words, Jesus was tempted just like we are, but being tempted is not the same as sinning. And you have to understand this,

because our spiritual enemy will use what psychologists call a false guilt to make us feel guilty when we shouldn't feel guilty. For example, eating a donut is not a sin. But if for you, you're learning to eat healthy and you feel convicted, I don't want to eat a donut. And so you walk into work, and there's a dozen chocolate frosted donuts, and you walk by, and they're calling you, eat me, eat me, I'm chocolate on the top. And you go, oh, I want one, I want one, you look at one, you look at one, you look at one,

and then you make it by. You did not sin. You were tempted, but you did not sin. Now, if you pick it up and you smell it, is that a sin? I don't know, you're getting technical on me. If you lick the chocolate off the top, that probably crosses the line. I don't know, okay? But if you make it by there, you didn't sit.

You're driving down the road, ladies, and you see a guy with no shirt on and he's jogging, or you see yoga pants girl or whatever, and you think, oh, I better turn around and make sure they get across the street okay, just to see, okay? You know, if you do that, you probably went too far. If you're driving by, go, oh, there's an attractive person, and you just keep on driving. You didn't sin. You make me tempted. you didn't sin. To be tempted is not the same as to sin. What our spiritual enemy wants us to do is to

feel guilty. Oh, I did it wrong. Because then when we feel guilty, what do we often do? We medicate our guilt with sin, right? We thought, well, I've already felt bad, so I might as well more, okay? In fact, I had a guy that was trying to get off pornography. And so we talked about it openly, and he called me, he goes, oh, my gosh, oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. What happened? He goes, I'm traveling, I'm by myself, and I was watching TV, and I was looking at what movies were there, and I came across the bad movies, and he goes, I almost bought one of them, and I feel so bad, I almost bought one. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Did you watch it or not? He goes, no, no, but I feel so bad. Wait, wait, wait, okay. You're all alone, yes. You could have watched, and no one known, right? Yes. You didn't watch, right. You called me a friend who's also a pastor.

I'd say that was a narrow victory. not a defeat. Instead of saying, oh, I feel so bad, that was a narrow victory. In other words, don't be looking at movies. Don't be going to Krispy Kreme donuts when you don't want to be eating donuts. Don't get around it, but you didn't give in to it. Don't let false guilt bring something on you that should not be there. We're going to start with this.

It's not a sin to be tempted. The second thing if you're taking notes is this, and you need to understand that you are never above temptation. You are never above temptation. I don't care who you are. You are not above temptation. Verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 10. If you think you're standing firm, be careful that you do not fall. Okay. Let me get up in your business because that's what I do every now and then. If you're kicking back going, I'm so glad so-and-so is going to hear this, well, I don't need this, but I'm glad I got somebody with me who needs this, okay? You be careful. Okay. Anytime you think, oh, that's not me, I'm above that, I would never do that. Understand this, our spiritual

enemy will come at you at your weaknesses, and he will come at you at your strengths, okay? How often do you see the great family guy who really does love his family end up doing something stupid? What happened? He was overconfident in his strengths. What would happen? You see a doctor who understands medicine and all and really cares about health and ends up getting hooked on prescription medicine. Why? He overestimated or she overestimated her strengths. Satan will come at you at your weaknesses, also come at you at your strengths.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever think you are above it. In fact, so often there are people that think, I would never get in, I would never do that. And they're the very people that fall the hardest and the fastest. We're going to guard against self-confidence because our heart, scripture says, is deceitful above all things. We never know when we're going to be vulnerable. We have no idea what we are capable of.

Any single one of us is capable of the grossest sin given the right environment. We are not above temptation. I preached an awesome message one time on anger. I mean, I don't call my message awesome very often, but it was awesome. I mean, it really was. I was driving home basking in the glory of God upon my powerful message. I came in and one of my kids did something and I lost it. I threw a temper tantum.

I got angry after preaching on anger. Amy looks at me and says, Pastor Craig, any time Amy calls me Pastor Craig, that is not a term of endearment or encouragement. Pastor Craig, you should listen to your own sermon on anger. Like, I'll show you anger. I mean, right after I preached on anger is when I was vulnerable to the very sin that I just preached. John, you are not above it. Number one, it's not a sin to be tempted. Number two, you are never ever above temptation. Number three, we need to understand that God will never tempt you. Okay? God will never, God's tempting me. God's tempting me. No, no, no, no, no, no. That is not

God. Now, God will test you, but he will not tempt you. There's a difference. Why do you test someone? you're a junior in high school and you got your final test why do we test you to promote you okay we test you to move you forward god will test you he will never tempt you god test you to move you forward satan tempts you to move you backwards and there is a big big big big difference so god's not going to put a temptation to sin in front of you but god may test you are you going to be obedient in this are you going to be faithful in this that's a test not a temptation in fact james said it this way in James 1.13, James said, and remember, when you are being tempted, do not say God is tempting me. God is never tempted to do wrong, and God never tempts anyone else.

Where does temptation come from? It comes from our own desires. Well, I'm a good person. Technically, no, you're dead wrong. You are a bad, sinful person, and so am I. We are bent away from God. You never have to teach a two-year-old to have selfish lessons, do you? Today we're going to learn to be selfish. I'm going to try to take your toy and you scream, mine. Now, you don't have to do that because by nature we are not good people. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

I want that, I want that, I want that, we're dragged away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. It starts with a desire, and then it's born into a sinful action. And now watch this. And when sin is allowed to grow, what does it give birth to? Death. Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it? Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it?

You ask, any married couple where someone lets sin in the door and where that sin led them to, sin never makes life better, sin always destroys. It promises satisfaction, but it costs obedience to God. Oh, this is going to find, this is going to spice up our marriage. This is going to help me relax. This is going to make me feel better. Oh, this is going to make me feel more special. And the hit, the buzz comes for a moment, and then it starts to unravel.

It leads to death, destruction, every single time. And there's a generation of people giving in to it, say, it's okay. This is just the way I am. Well, this is just my one thing. You know, I can't overcome this. Oh, God is tempting me. Well, God just made me this way, okay? I mean, this is just how I am.

I mean, I tried and I just can't overcome this. I mean, this is just, this is my one thing, okay? God understands, okay? God is righteous, okay? And through the power of Christ, he calls us to follow him, not by our own power, but he leads us into righteousness. God will never tempt you, okay? I read this crazy thing, and I don't know if you'll like this or not,

but this really intrigued me. Martin Luther, the Father of the Great Reformation, just massive theologian. He said, to be a theologian, you need three things. I'll say it this way, if we're going to translate it to our world. To be close to God today, you need three things. He said you need prayer, meditation, and temptation. Okay, come again. Okay.

To be close to be a real theologian, you need prayer, talking to God, meditation, hearing from God, and temptation, learning to depend on God. You want to really get close to God? God uses everything. God uses what the devil meant for evil, he uses it for good. Temptation, write this down because this is powerful. Every temptation is an invitation to depend on Christ. That's good. I'm going to say it again. Every temptation is an invitation to depend on Christ. Because when you are tempted, God is faithful. He will always give you a way out. Every time you're tempted to do whatever is disobedient to God, that is an invitation for you to depend on Christ.

Because in your own fleshly nature, you do not always have the ability to say no to temptation. If you did and you've got a brain at all, you're not going to do this. But we end up doing the wrong thing. We do the stupid thing. We do the hurtful thing. Why? Because we don't understand that if Martin Luther is correct, prayer, talking to God makes us close to God.

Meditation, hearing from God, thinking on His Word makes us close to God. Temptation? Learning to depend on God. Because every temptation is an invitation to depend on Christ. God, he will test us, he does, he wants to see are we obedient, but he never tempts us. Satan tempts us through our own fleshly desires, our own evil desires, and we all have them. If you think you don't, you are way more vulnerable than the person who's honest enough to say, yes, I do. Number one, it's not a sin to be tempted.

Number two, you are never above temptation. number three, our God will never tempt you. And number four, this is the title to our series, and this is what we have to embrace, is that there is always a way out, no matter what. No matter what you're facing, no matter what gross sin has you hostage, no matter what small, annoying thing that everybody knows about has you in its grips. There is always, always a way out. 1 Corinthians 10, 13, any time you want to get into this, any one of our churches, there may be someone in Fort Worth that gets a little more excited than somebody here. That's okay, get into it.

And our God is what? Our God is faithful. He will not let you be what? He will never let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, because you're going to be tempted, because we're all tempted, we're all human beings. When you're tempted, what were our God do? Our God will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

What will your way out be? I don't know. I don't know. But I'm here to tell you, I'm here to tell you, God has for you a way out. It may be confessing it. Whoever conceals his sins, scripture says, does not prosper. But whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. We confess to our God for forgiveness. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. but we confess to people for healing. If you confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed. That's one reason why life groups are so powerful because we're not battling sin alone.

We're in a community with other people praying for each other and we're open. For you, it might be confessing. It might be that you take a big risk and you say, I'm going to tell you something I've never told anybody before. I need help. and I don't want to be like this and I don't want to be stuck and you admit some of you it's just admitting it

because a lot of people have told you you have a problem. I don't have a problem. I don't have a problem. Listen, if two or three people or more have told you have a problem, McFly, you got a problem. Admit it.

For some of you, it's going to be therapy or it's rehab. I mean, it's like it's deep and you've tried and you've tried and you're not getting there on your own and you need some deep healing and you need a detox and you need distance and you need time. For some of you, it's going to be accountability.

You need someone that can kick your butt, okay? You might need two men who can kick your butt, you know, that are going to get in your face and love you enough to ask you the hard questions and not let a day go by without being in your life. For some, it may be true repentance. I'm not talking about remorse. Remorse is, oh, I'm sorry, I got caught. Repentance is God.

I'm sorry. I need your help. I need your grace. Whatever it is, listen to me. For you, there is a way out. There is a way out. There is a way out. There is always a way out. Our God is faithful. There is always a way out. It's like back in the olden days when video games were really good.

Who remembers Pac-Man? Gallagher, Thonger, Donkey Kong, the Glory Days. Asteroys. Anybody remember asteroids? Anybody at all remember asteroids? It's almost embarrassing how bad it was. Yeah, we had shapes. That's why our video games is. was your spaceship. You, you, you, you, you, you, you shoot out little, little missiles, bullets, and you get, and you had these shapes that would come toward you, shoot it, and there'd be little shapes.

And you had thrust, which was really, you know, you could hit thrust, and you go, and your ship would do this, okay? Whenever you're in trouble and two asteroids are coming at you, what button was in the middle? Who remembers? It's called a hyper what? Hyper space. Oh, yes, somebody remembers. And so what you do, you're playing, beep, boom, boom, hyperspace, and then your asteroid disappears.

your spaceship and comes back in another place. I don't know how you don't get into this. You're playing. Boom. Hyperspace. Okay. I'm going to tell you right now, in the kingdom of God,

there's another button. It's not called hyperspace. This one's called Hyper Grace. You watch it. I hope you saw that coming. Whenever you're tempted and whenever you're in trouble, hit the button. Somebody say, hit the button.

You're in trouble. Touch somebody next to you and say, hit the button. The donuts are in the office. Hit the button. and walk your butt out of the office, okay? You're driving by the jogger, hit the button, and turn the other way. Your boyfriend's pushing in the back seat, hit the button, hit it twice, hit him the third time, okay?

You hit the button and get out of the other. There's always a way out. There's not hyperspace, there's hyper grace. Our God is that good. He always gives you a way out. And when alcohol had me gripped, and I could not overcome it, it was one of the major things that drove me to Christ. Jesus, if you are real and if you are there, help change me and make me new.

Every temptation is an invitation to depend on Christ. And he did. And by the power of Christ for two years, I never drank a thing until I went on a road trip and went to a party. And there were a few girls there that said, hey, okay, this is long before I met Amy. I'm a new Christian. you look like Tom Cruise. My ego went,

B-h-h-e. I swear to you, some theme song from Top Gun is playing on the radio. As they say this, they threw a beer down, and I drank one, and then two, and then too many.

And I woke up the next day, and I looked in the mirror, and I said, I hate you. I hated what I saw. I fell again. God will give you a way out. There is always a way out.

And if you fall, God will pick you up again and give you a way out again. I looked in the mirror and I drew a limel of sand and I recognized I'm not that good. I cannot overcome this myself. I am always vulnerable. I am always vulnerable to that and other things. And I always need Jesus to help me out. And that was the last time that I was drunk and I have not been drunk again,

not because I have the strength, but because Christ in me is stronger than the wrong desires in me. And here's what you need to hear. Christ in you, not you and you, because you and you will get kicked. Christ in you is stronger than the wrong desires in you. What is temptation? Temptation is anything that promises satisfaction at the cost of obedience to God. And when we are weak, we are vulnerable to give in. The good news is that also when we're weak, Christ's strength is made perfect in us.

That's why every temptation is an invitation to depend on Christ. Christ in you is more powerful than any wrong desire in you. Every time you are tempted, God is inviting you to trust in Jesus who will set you free because the good news is this. Our God is faithful. When you are tempted, he will always give you a way out. The way out is through his son, Jesus.

And by the grace of Jesus, we can be free. Father, I pray today that your Holy Spirit would start to work, to do what only you can do. God, that our hearts would be only, open to the work that you want to do in our lives. And all of our churches, as you're praying today, there are some of you that you have massive, dark secrets. Other people don't know. If you're married, your spouse may not know. Nobody may know. Some of you, you have family secrets. You're covering for somebody. You're compensating. You all know, but nobody else

knows. You kept it a well-guarded secret. Some of you, it's something that's everybody knows. All sorts of people have tried to tell you. Some of you, it's not really big or huge or gross or whatever, but it really is a sin. It's something that's been with you. Some of you, there's something that you've just kind of resigned and said, well, it's just the way I am. This is just what I'm going to do. Our God brought you here today to tell you. He loves you. And he is faithful. Even when you are faithless, he is faithful. And he will always give you a way out.

There is a way out of that which has held you hostage. And the way out is through God's son, Jesus. At all of our churches, if there's something big and you need help, if there's something that everybody knows about and you need help, if there's something that most would consider relatively small, but you're kind of sick of it dominating you, and you need help. and you want to take it before Jesus, and you want his power in you

to be stronger than the wrong desires in you. Would you lift up your hands at a moment of honesty at all of our churches? Lift up your hands right now. Lift up your hands. All of our churches lift up your hands. Put them down right now. There are more of you at our churches right now, and I'm just going to say it. Listen to me. This is not something we're going to play around with.

There are more of you. Those of you that did not raise your hands at first time, but you say, yes, there's something in me, and I need God's help. Lift them now before God. All of our churches are to lift them up, say yes, that's me. Thank you for your honesty. God, we're going to be real. We know we're only as strong as we are honest. And God, we come before you honestly, asking for your help. God, we don't want

anything in our life that would be dishonoring to you, destructive to our own lives, or hurtful to others. We ask that the power of the risen Christ that dwells within those who are believers would be stronger than the wrong desires in our lives. God, we thank you that there are some even now that supernaturally, in this moment, they're going to be free. Who are the sun sets free as free indeed. And God, we believe that chains are being broken right now.

God, I know for others there will be a process that is beginning right now or continuing that you've been doing over a period of time and they may have seasons of victory and then a defeat. Seasons of victory and defeat, God will keep running back to you, knowing that every temptation, is an invitation to pin on your son, Jesus. God, we ask, by your power,

you would begin the healing work to set us free. As you keep praying, nobody looking around at all of our churches. There are those of you right now, there's a weight on you and you know it. There's something that's drawing you toward God, but there may be an immense sense of guilt. Oh my gosh, I've done wrong.

I'm not worthy of God's love. remember that feeling. I cannot believe how overwhelming it was. I want God, I need God, but I feel so guilty. I need to get my life right. I need to do better. I need to try hard. I need to stop doing bad, so I need to get ready for God. What I didn't understand is that God wanted me to come to him at the moment as I was. That's why he sent Jesus, because Jesus was born of a virgin without sin. Jesus was tempted in every way as we were, but he never sinned. That's why he was the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. You may say, well, I'm not a religious person.

Do you feel guilty when you do something wrong? Why? Because God put a conscience in you, drawing you to need something more. Don't live in the guilt. Come to Jesus as you are. And when you call on him, you know what he does? He hears your prayers. He forgives your sins.

He separates them as far as the east is from the west, and you become new in Christ. And all of our churches, those who say, yes, I need his forgiveness, I turn toward him. I'm not just sorry I'm doing this. I'm sorry that I've sinned against God. I want his salvation by faith today. I trust that Jesus is enough, and I give my life to him. That's your prayer.

Lift your hands high right now. All of our churches and say yes, that's my prayer right back here. God bless you over here as well. Others of you who say, me too, back here on the back, over here on this side, say, yes, I need Jesus. Lift up your hands. Let me just meet you eye to eye. No one else needs to even look right over here. God bless you as well.

Right over here, both of you. Praise God for you all. Right here, sir. God bless you. Church online, you click right below me. Right back over here saying yes. Would you all pray with those around you pray? Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins.

Make me new. Jesus, I need you to strengthen me. Be my salvation. be my life. Fill me with your spirit so I can serve you. My life is not my own. I give it all to you.

In Jesus' name I pray. Would you all worship big, worship loud, welcome those born into the family of God and you may want to stick around and get baptized in that service. Who knows, that could happen.