Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - I Deserve It, Part 2: I Deserve Condemnation But He Gave Me Mercy

Episode Date: April 11, 2015

How different would the world look if everyone got what they deserved? Would your salary be the same? What would our prisons look like? Would nice guys finish first or last? God knows what we deserve. See if that's what we get in I Deserve It. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm glad you were to New York? Yeah, I'm like stuck. It was really good. I've never eaten there before. And Brian, come on, come all. You want to play? Yeah. You want to play? Yeah, I got a quarter. There you go.

Leggys first. Go ahead. It really was. It really was. Really nice. I'm really glad you brought me here. I'm really, you know, I'm just happy that we can come out. Who's that?

Let's go. I'm thrilled to have all of you with us today for a message I believe is going to speak life and freedom to so many people. We're going to be in John Chapter 8 if you want to go there on your U-Version Bible app and follow along. We're in a four-part message series called I Deserve It. Next week we're actually going to look at Zakias. Believe it or not, in 25 years of preaching, I've never taught a whole message on Zakias, a little man with a big sin problem. And in my study for this message, it really, really gripped my heart.

And I believe it's going to speak to a lot of people in a very powerful way. Zechias deserved rejection, but Jesus actually accepted him. Today, we're going to look at a woman who did something really, really bad, and actually got caught and deserved condemnation. But because of the grace of Jesus, he gave her mercy. I'm curious, if I could get all of you guys to participate, all of our churches, it's no fun without. you. How many of you, honestly, you've ever been caught doing something wrong? Raise your hands up

high. You've been caught doing something wrong. If you're not raising your hands up right now, you're caught lying in church, which is something wrong. I think everybody's been caught at some point. We discovered last week almost all of you have been caught speeding. Look at what kind of a godly church we have, a bunch of speeding sinners. You've probably been caught maybe lying like I have or caught gossiping or certainly when you were a kid. You had chocolate all over your feet. You're a lot. You've face and your mom said, were you eating the chocolate? You're like, no, no, never had chocolate in my life. And you're busted, so busted. We're going to look at a woman that got caught. I remember probably the most embarrassing time I was ever caught doing something. It was, I just, I still can't believe

this. It was a church event. Years ago, Amy and I used to open up our home every week and just invite people from the church. Hey, if you're new, we'd love to get to know you. We did this for years and years. It was one of the most meaningful seasons of our lives. In fact, many of you would have been there years ago in our home, and we did it until quite honestly the number of people just got too big for a home. We loved it. Week after week, month after month, people would come, and then they'd go home at a reasonable time. It was very, very special time. But there was this one group of people that, a pretty big group, the normal people went home, and some of the rest of you stayed. And you know how it is? Like, you know, when someone's got babies, you kind of just know

when it's time to go home. And for whatever reason, this group didn't. And so it got really, really late. And so I just kind of said, well, it's been great having you guys. Thank you all so much. We're blessed to having our home. Can't wait to see you at church. We're going to call it a night. And they just stayed. And so I'm like, I'll try this again. Like, oh, it was awesome, man. You know, I got to get up early tomorrow. And we got babies and stuff. And so I don't want to be rude or anything. But we're going to call it a night. And so God bless you guys. And so God bless you guys. and they just stayed. So I turned the heat up to make it really hot and uncomfortable,

and they just stayed. And I said to Amos, I said, can I see you in the bedroom? We've got to check on the baby together. We went in there like, I don't know what to do. I've tried everything else. Polite. I dropped hints.

I was direct. I turned the heat up. These people just will not leave. What is wrong with them? She said, I don't know. Just be nice. Remember who you are? So I walked back in the living room,

and there was like seven or eight people sitting on our sofas and their mouths were just like and they just looked like they were devastated and i'm like i don't you know you didn't leave and now you're looking at me weird and then i heard amy pick up the baby in the bedroom and the baby monitor in the bedroom broadcast everything into the living room and i hide hashtag worst pastor ever so busted it i just remember the you feeling like, well, I guess I won't be seeing you guys at church like I thought. You know, just so, so bad. It's the worst feeling to be caught in today.

We're going to actually look at a woman who was totally and completely busted and in the wrong. In fact, we're going to look at John's Gospel, John Chapter 8. And we're going to start in verse 2 and then just read verse by verse through this story and let the power of the grace of Jesus minister to us in a very special way. Verse two, John said this. At dawn, Jesus appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them.

Verse three, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman, what would she do? Would you say it loud? Brought in a woman caught in adultery. So if you can just get your mind around this, Jesus is outside, he's teaching, there's a group of people around. It's kind of like a little intimate group, maybe a little bit like a life group.

He's teaching the word to them, and the Pharisees come in. They're dressed in their full robes with their headgear. They've got their tassels hanging down, and they're bringing in this woman who was caught in the act of adultery. So chances are if she was just recently caught, she probably doesn't have a whole lot of clothes on. I mean, maybe she grabbed a sheet, maybe she was partially covered, and she is totally and completely. you humiliated beyond description. Now, just for the record, I don't know about your campus and where you're from.

But where I'm from, it always takes two to commit adultery. I don't know about where you're from, but we notice in this story that there's no mention of the man, kind of a double standard, and they bring this woman in, and she is totally and completely shamed through and through. She is guilty. She was caught in the act.

And you can only imagine. Unfortunately, some of you have been caught doing something wrong. And you know what those voices of condemnation sound like. Your life is ruined. You're never going to live this down. No one's going to love you after what you did. Oh, and you call yourself a God person. You're supposed to be a Christian.

After what you did, God will never use you. God will never love you. You're used goods. You're pathetic. You're nothing. The voices of condemnation, guilt, and shame. What's interesting to me is you don't even have to be caught doing something wrong to feel shame. In fact, sometimes shame grows best in the dark.

Mark. It's when you hold something secret that you really feel guilt and condemnation and shame. In fact, I was talking to a guy that just was, he was hurting so much, and he confessed to me as his pastor. He said, he said, I hate myself for this. I love my wife. I truly love Jesus, but for whatever reason, I go on my phone and I look at pornography almost every single day. And he was trying to say, he said, should I tell my wife? I don't want a devastate her, but I want her help and her prayers. And he didn't know what to do. He said, I didn't know how bad. it was until he said I always try to erase my tracks but my wife just grabbed for my phone the other day to look at it and when she did I knocked it out of her hand because I just couldn't let her

hold the device that holds me hostage and I just looked at that and I just like he has so much shame and what's interesting is especially around sexual sin in fact I want to make sure we talk broader than sexual sin because there's shame in all types of sins but this story is she was caught in a sexual sin. So I'm going to stay there just for a moment because there is so much darkness around this particular issue. In fact, I'll just be real transparent with you.

The first time I actually saw pornography, I was in the fifth grade. My buddy Stephen found his dad's stash of Playboy magazines. I wasn't even sure what that was, but it sounded really exciting. So I went to Stephen's house and after school and we locked ourselves in the closet. And I mean, I just remember thumbing through these pages

going, I don't even know why. I liked what was there. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what you're supposed to do with what I saw, okay? It just intrigued me, and I felt this, like, rush and this adrenaline, and it was just so exciting, and at the same time, I felt such guilt. I felt so dark, and I felt so dirty.

Well, it only got worse when I went home, and I saw my mom, and she was like, oh, son, I love you. You're such a good kid on the inside. I'm thinking, no. I'm horrible. I've been looking at Miss February for hours, you know. And I mean, I felt so bad. And I went into my room and I just prayed, God forgive me, God, forgive me, God.

And I made a promise to God at that moment. I will never, ever do that again. And I kept my word before God until the very next day after school. And there I was again in Stephen's closet, this Miss February feeling this simultaneous rush and guilt and shame. And for many of you know, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Those voices, they just overcome you're nothing. You're never going to overcome this. You're just a horrible, horrible person. And it may not be in a kind of category of sexual sin for you. It may be that you just overeat and you tell yourself I'm not going to do it anymore and you don't

want to. But you hit a road bump in life or something happens and the next thing you know, you're just doing this and then at the end of it you're like I feel so bad and you feel so much shame for some people it's overspending for whatever it is you may feel down or you may feel lonely or you may feel inadequate or like life hasn't been good to you so you just go out boom do you buy more than you can afford and then you get the bills you're I'll never do that again and then a few weeks later you're out shopping again and you feel dark when you can't control yourself some of you it's a substance that just has you. There's something in a bottle or something in a can or there's something you shoot up

or something you smoke that is very small and yet is bigger than you. And you feel dark when you go back to it again and again. Some of you, it's your temper. I'm not going to unload on my kids ever again. I'm not going to do that. They weren't a fault. I'm taking my frustrations out on them. And I'm never going to do it again.

In three days, like, rah! You know, just, and you know, oh, I feel so bad. Some of you, it's not even, it's not something so big. It's like I talked to one mom and she said, my life is a Pinterest fail. She said, I can't bake. I can't organize a closet and my kids don't even match when they walk out the door with their clothing, you know, so I'm so horrible.

And whatever it is, you just, you look at whatever else is doing and you look at what you're not and you try not to do. something wrong and you end up doing it again, and you internalize the actions, and before long you think, because I did bad, I am bad, I'm worthless. And what really breaks my heart, just as a pastor, is so often how some of you, you didn't even do it.

You were purely a victim. Someone else in a position of power and authority abused you. And yet you internalize the shame. And somehow in your mind, Satan twisted the events and you think, well, I must have done something to deserve this. I must have been at fault. It's my fault. I'm dirty. I'm bad.

I brought this on myself. And you take what someone else did to you and you think what they did to you is who you are. Shame, condemnation, and guilt. I did bad, therefore I'm bad. Someone did something bad to me. therefore I'm bad. This woman, I'm telling you, if she were just in a normal context, like if she's living today and she's you and she has an affair,

she's thinking it's over. My husband is never going to love me again. My kids aren't going to respect me. All the women are going to talk bad about me, whisper, whisper, keep your man away from her. She's a husband stealer, blah, blah, blah, blah. But for her, it was so much worse than this. Whenever she would think like we might,

my life is now over, for her, she was literally thinking my life is over. In other words, they're going to kill me for this. Because quite honestly, at the moment she committed this sin, this was considered to be one of the top three worst sins in Jewish culture, and to commit the sin of adultery was a crime punishable by death. So she's being brought, dragged, literally almost like to a trial, and she's thinking my life is really over.

We see this in verse three when the Pharisees, the scripture says they made her stand before the group. And they said to Jesus, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now, what do you say? What are the Pharisees doing here? They didn't care a lick about her.

All they wanted to do was leverage her to hurt and trap and trick Jesus. Because if he said, yeah, you're right. That's what the law says. Go ahead and stone her. Then he would lose his reputation for being loving and full of mercy. But if on the other hand he said, no, no, no, no, I'll act too quickly here. We should forgive her. Then they say, oh, Jesus is codoning adultery.

And he's saying it's okay to break the law of Moses. So verse 6 even tells us they were doing this. It says they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing Jesus. But Jesus was always prepared for opposition. John said this. He said, but Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. So picture this. This woman is full of shame.

She's hurting. She's barely clothed. Should we stone her? Jesus doesn't respond. And he just kneels down. starts doodling in the sand, starts writing down something. Now, that raises the question. What did Jesus write?

And the answer is, we don't know for sure. Nobody knows. For centuries, scholars have been debating. What did he write down? And we don't know, and I have to tell you that, but there are many biblical scholars who suggest that Jesus was writing down the sins of the men who were accusing the woman.

Why do they think that? There are two reasons, two strong reasons. One is because later texts actually said that's what Jesus was writing down. That's one reason. Pretty strong argument as to why. Second reason is because there's actually two Greek words translated

into the English language as to write down. One is the word grafin, and the other is the word catagrafin. Gryphine means to write down. Kata means, again, and it means, categoriffin means to write down against. The word that's used in this text is the word categorifin. So whatever Jesus was writing down, he was writing down something against someone.

Perhaps, we don't know, perhaps writing down the sins of those men who were accusing this woman. Verse 7 says this, when they kept on questioning Jesus, he straightened up and said to them, all right, boys? if any of you are without sin. Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. So get the context. Jesus, should we go ahead and kill her? Right, right, right, right, right, right. Stands up.

If any of you never sin, go ahead, here's a rock, you can go first. But again, in the Greek language, and I'm not a Greek scholar, I actually studied Hebrew extensively in seminary, and I've worked to pick up Greek as best I can, but in the Greek language that when it's translated as anyone who is without sin, this text actually also means not only are you without sin, but you didn't even want to sin. So it's not even like the bar is here, but like the bar is way up here. So not only did you not do it, but you never even wanted to do it. So there you have it. Okay? Because I don't know about you, but there are a lot of times today I do not sin. But oh dear Jesus, how badly I want to.

Am I talking to anybody? Am I the only one in this place today? Because sometimes you want to, but you don't. In fact, just the other day I was driving? Have you noticed how many of my personal sin stories relate to your irresponsible driving as you irritate me? I was driving and I went through an intersection and I didn't have a stop sign so I went through it. This other guy had a stop sign but ignored it and he came through it and almost T-boned me. He slams on the brakes, lays on the horn. I turn kind of to stay out of the way and he just looks at me and gives me this look and the next thing you know, this guy tells me I'm number one. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to do it in church, but tells me I'm number one, then says something that begins

with the letter F and goes on and on and I'm reading his lips now and I actually think I'm not certain, but I think he said something about my mama. By the grace of God, because I am maturing in Christ, I had the composure not to act. I decided to assess the situation. Very prayerfully looked over my shoulder to make sure I didn't have a stop sign. I didn't want to be in his face if I had actually broken the law. Then I looked to see if he did have a stop sign. I did not. And he did. He clearly was in the wrong. So I very calmly. put my Honda pilot soccer car mom, which I hate, into park, reached down, unlatched my safety belt, and reached to open the car door.

Probably took about a second and a half, maybe two seconds, because I was moving slowly. During that time, I visualized the whole scenario. You know how your mind does this? I saw myself. I saw myself get out of the car, walk calmly over to him, reach into his relationship. down the window and grab his middle finger. I saw myself snap it off and put it where the sun never shines, while I gave him ample opportunity to say plenty of nice things about my mom who I love.

I continued to play this out in my mind, and then I saw myself calling Amy to explain to her what happened. With my one phone call, I was allotted from the police department, and then visualized my children reading the headlines in the news the next day. Pastor of Life Church, arrested for breaking off man's finger. By the grace of God, I did not act. I wanted to. I wanted to more than I can tell you.

And I had to take satisfaction and knowing that I could have done that if I had to, but I didn't do it and do not judge me. I was a man a long time before I was a pastor. And every now and then, that man wants to show back up and show justice in the name of the Father. Son and Holy Spirit to help people know the will of God. If you never sinned, throw the stone. But not only if you never did it, if you never ever wanted to do it, throw the first

stone. Jesus says, and then verse 8 says this, he stepped again stooped down to write on the ground. He's writing again the second time. At this, those who heard him begin to go away. one at a time, the older ones first, until Jesus was left with only the woman standing there. So, picture this. Woman's caught. She's, you know, embarrassed dying.

Jesus should be stoner. He says nothing. He writes on the ground. He stands up, okay, boys, you've never done anything? You never wanted to do anything. You throw the stone. He starts riding on the ground again. The older ones leave first.

For some reason, this cracks me up. If he's writing down the sins, the older ones going, oh, I see where this is going, I am so out of here. I'm not staying away from this at all. The young stupid ones don't realize he's getting to them. But anyway, they're all gone. Jesus is just there with this broken woman who was guilty, sinful, and completely in the wrong.

She deserved condemnation. In verse 10, Jesus straightened up and asked for woman. Where are they? Has no one condemned you? And through her certain tears, she says, no one, sir, then neither do I condemn you, declares the Lord. Here's what I hope you will see, is it hands down beyond a shadow of a doubt. With absolute justice, she deserved condemnation. She was sinful, she was wrong.

But because of the grace and love of Jesus, he did not give her what she deserved. but instead of giving her condemnation, he gave her mercy. And the good news is for those of you who are in the same place, full of shame and guilt and condemnation. Romans 8.1 says, therefore now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I'm going to say it again because you need to hear it. Now, therefore, now. Not later, not after counseling, not if you prove yourself, but now, therefore,

there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Even though she deserved condemnation, he gave her mercy. And even though you may have done wrong, and you deserve condemnation, you don't have to wear the cloak of guilt. There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So when the voices continue, you're used goods. You're pathetic. No one will ever love you.

You can't even let them know what you did because if they knew what you did, they wouldn't accept you. You're pathetic. You're always going to be this way. You can't overcome it. You've tried for too long. You're just that way. You're filthy. You don't have the ability.

You're bad. God doesn't love you. God could never use you. God could never forgive you. This is just the way you are. You remember this. You are not what you do. did. You are not what those voices say. You are not who others say you are. You are who Christ says you are.

And if you are in Christ, he says you are forgiven. You are free. You are an overcomer by the blood of the lamb and by the words of your testimony. You are not your past. You are not what somebody did to you. You are not even what you did even if it was wrong, because now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Somebody say now? Say it again, say now. Now there is no condemnation. Jesus even looked at her in verse 11, and he declared, go what? Help me again, because you'll see a common word here. He said, go when? He said, go now and leave your life of sin. Say it again. He said, go now and do what? Leave your life of sin. Be free. You've overcome this. You're not in bondage anymore. I used to read that and think Jesus was going, okay, I forgive you now.

Stop being bad. Go now. Go now. Stop being bad. But now that I know the full character of Jesus, he wouldn't say in it like that. He's like, go now. You're free. There's no condemnation. You don't have to live in the shame. You don't have to go back to that life. that you've lived, you don't have to live in condemnation. Go now, be free. Notice he didn't say, well, you're going to need at least six months of counseling for this because you've got daddy issues, because that's the reason your user-friendly is because your daddy wasn't there for you, and so you're finding love and all the way. And he didn't say that, did he? I apologize for user-friendly that just came out. I don't know where it came from. But what I'm trying to tell you is this.

Listen to me, there are some of you right now you think you're always, going to be that way and you think you cannot be healed and you think you cannot change and some of you you are trapped in a sin that has held you hostage for years i believe that one minute in the presence of jesus and everything can change when can it change listen to me listen to me some of you i'm telling you right now it can change right now now in the presence of jesus that which held you hostage can change right now That addiction can be broken now by the power of Jesus. Sure, sometimes it's a process. Sure, sometimes it's a process, but sometimes Jesus just does it now, now.

Therefore, there is no condemnation in Christ, Jesus. Go now and be freed from your life of sin. Then verse 12, Jesus continues. Then he's speaking to a group of people. And when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the what, somebody helped me on. He said, I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world, Jesus says. I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will, what say it? Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. You never have to be in darkness again. You see, when Jesus looked through it and said, where are your condemners? Then neither do I condemn you. At that moment, Jesus was not just the light of the world, but he became the light of her world.

And when he becomes the light of your world, you never have to walk in darkness again. Some of you, it's going to become personal right now. When Jesus is no longer just the light of the world, but when he becomes the light of your world, you never have to walk in darkness again because he overcame sin. He defeated it. There is no sin in your life more powerful than the grace of Jesus.

And so if you do fall back into it and if you do mess up and if those voices come back, you're not and you're nothing and you're never going to be and you're always inadequate and God could never love you. You're saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is the father of lies, Satan lying to me. The truth will set you free, and the truth is not an idea.

The truth is a person. I am the way the truth and the life said Jesus. And Jesus is the truth, and the truth is I am forgiven. The truth is I am healed. The truth is his power in me is greater than the power in this world. The truth is because he is my light, darkness never wins. I can go now. I can be free now.

I am not held hostage by what anybody did to me. I'm not held hostage by my own guilty feelings because of what I did wrong. Because now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Neither do I condemn you. Don't miss it. This woman deserved condemnation. According to the law, she was guilty. And according to the law, we are guilty too.

But because of the goodness of God, Jesus does not give us what we deserve. Even though we deserve condemnation, he gives us mercy because he is the light of the world. And whenever we follow the light of the world, we never have to walk in darkness again. And that's why now you can find healing. And now you can go your way and send no more because that's how good our Savior is. Father, we pray that in your presence, your Holy Spirit, would do a healing work in your church as you want to do today. Here's what I want you to do. All of our churches, I want you to really listen carefully to me, and I don't want anybody looking around.

In fact, if you're like holding hands with the person next to you or got your arm around somebody, let's put our hands all in our own lap right now. And I want to give you the chance just to have a moment with God where this is just your moment with God. nobody looking around. There are many of you who like me live with guilt and shame for so long. I remember just loathing myself after what I've done, how could God love me? Some of you right now, somebody did something to you, and you somehow in your own thinking owned it as your fault. I must have done something to deserve this.

And you've lived with that guilt and that shame. You were a victim, and yet you feel shame. Others of you, you just did pure wrong, and you mean, you were wide awake when you did it and even aware. And yet you cannot shake it. You may have prayed for forgiveness, but you still feel guilty. Some of you, you're trapped in a repetitive sin. For many of you, it's held you hostage for years. You may have just surrendered to it and say, well, that's just the way I am.

It's just the way I am. Listen to me, in the presence of Christ, you can be free. Now, you can be free. At all of our churches, those of you who would say, honestly, I'm living under some condemnation. I've got shame. I've got guilt. Maybe even I feel trapped.

And in the presence of Jesus today, I want to be free. Nobody looking around. Would you lift up your hands right now? Just all over the place. Lift them up. Lift them high in an act of faith before God. Go ahead and put them down, if you will. There are so many of you.

And I praise God today that you are open to what God wants to do because I believe he wants to do a miracle. Now, I'm going to ask it again. Because there are many of you that you know, you should have just raised your hands, but out of embarrassment, fear, or maybe even shame, you did not, and I wanna give you the chance to do it right now.

This is the grace of God, say, yes, I need his healing. Would you lift up your hands right now? All of our churches, just lift them up. So many more hands going up. Father, today, I thank you that in your presence, there is healing and there is hope. And God, I thank you that one moment in the presence of Jesus can change everything.

And God, I cannot even imagine the depth of the pain in so many people's heart right now, but I pray that Jesus, just as Jesus said, it would be true at this moment. Where are your accusers? Satan is called an accuser. We know that, God. But because of what Jesus did,

he silences the voices of our enemy. God, I pray that at this moment, in your presence, that we would not believe we are what we did or what others say we are, but we would believe that we are who you say we are. In Christ, forgiven, made whole. Break the power of shame holding people back. break the power of sin by the name of Jesus that is above every name.

Bring healing and hope. God, for those who feel trapped, I pray that now, go now, now, now, in your presence, there would be changed forever. They would look back and say, at that moment, God did something. Something broke on the inside of me. And I started to experience his grace and his forgiveness and his healing and his mercy. God, I thank you in advance for all that you're doing at this moment. bring supernatural healing, lift the darkness of shame and condemnation.

May your children be free because of the grace and love of Jesus. And all of our churches, nobody looking around. There are those of you you recognize right now that you desperately need Jesus. I remember feeling so much shame for all the people that I'd hurt, and I called on the name of Jesus, and he forgave me, and he enabled me to forgive myself for what I'd done, that there are those of you you're going to recognize right now, you need his grace. Why can Jesus forgive you?

Because he was condemned in your place. He took your sin, he died with it on a cross, he rose again three days later, and now when you call on his name, you will be forgiven. He takes your sin and he separates it from you. You'll be brand new. There are those of you at all of our churches, you simply recognize. Many of you, you've been carrying the weight and the guilt for years. You've never forgiven yourself.

Jesus is going to forgive you and the healing. is going to start. At all of our churches, you recognize, I need Jesus. I need the same Jesus that set this woman free. I need his grace. I need his power. I need his forgiveness. I need his mercy. That's why I'm here today. At all of our churches, you say, I need Jesus. I need Jesus. I turn from my sin, and I turn toward him, and I call on him. Jesus, save me and be the Lord of my life. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high now all over the place and say, yes, Jesus. Leave them up. I want to just look at you. All three, four, five, six of you over in this section, both of you over here, way back over here as well.

I want to just nobody else looking around here in the middle section, both of you back there, right up here, both of you together, all three of you, four of you over here. God bless you guys right there. Praise God for you. Others, I need his grace. Church online, you click right below me, both of you together, saying yes to Jesus over here.

Others today who we call on him, save me and forgive me. Pray with those around you. Pray heavenly father. Forgive me of my sins and make me new. Jesus be the Lord of my life. First in every way. Fill me with your spirit so I could be free. Free to know you, free to follow you, free to serve you.

My life is not my own. Today I give it to you. In Jesus' name I pray, would you worship big, worship loud? Thank God for those who set free. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus. Welcome into God's family. today.