1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,760 What up, Crossing Family? I'm so excited to welcome you 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,760 guys from all of our different locations and from wherever you 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,840 are joining us online or inside. God bless you. 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,640 I'm so thankful that we get to partner together and expand 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,840 God's Kingdom together. I have a special announcement to 6 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,390 make. You may remember back in 7 00:00:24,390 --> 00:00:27,950 Thanksgiving of last year, we encouraged many of you to 8 00:00:27,950 --> 00:00:31,750 participate with us and making an in your corner gift to help 9 00:00:31,750 --> 00:00:34,110 us acquire our Jacksonville location. 10 00:00:34,350 --> 00:00:37,830 And we have been meeting with title companies and attorneys 11 00:00:37,830 --> 00:00:39,950 and we have been doing all the negotiation stuff. 12 00:00:40,310 --> 00:00:45,870 And about two weeks ago, we were finally able to ink the deal and 13 00:00:45,870 --> 00:00:50,850 we own our Jacksonville campus outright debt free because 14 00:00:50,850 --> 00:00:53,770 there's so many of you guys going on the journey with you. 15 00:00:54,210 --> 00:00:56,930 To those of you in Jacksonville, I hope you know that there is 16 00:00:56,930 --> 00:01:00,570 entire region of Christians who call the crossing home, who are 17 00:01:00,570 --> 00:01:04,250 in your corner and are rooting for you to make Jacksonville one 18 00:01:04,250 --> 00:01:06,890 of the hardest places on planet earth to get to hell from. 19 00:01:07,130 --> 00:01:10,050 And we hope that you will take that as this is a sign that 20 00:01:10,050 --> 00:01:12,530 we're for you and we can't wait to see what God's going to do 21 00:01:12,890 --> 00:01:16,970 through you today. We are in week two of our new 22 00:01:16,970 --> 00:01:19,410 sermon series and you guys have been great. 23 00:01:19,850 --> 00:01:23,730 You didn't clap, you didn't send emails, and you've been 24 00:01:23,730 --> 00:01:25,970 incredibly gentle and respectful so far. 25 00:01:26,250 --> 00:01:30,610 And I want you to keep that energy up as we step into this 26 00:01:30,690 --> 00:01:34,490 second week. And I have brought in Caleb to 27 00:01:34,490 --> 00:01:38,810 come and help us navigate this these next two weeks in the 28 00:01:38,810 --> 00:01:43,090 sermon series. Caleb is a trusted counselor and 29 00:01:43,090 --> 00:01:48,180 guide to churches all across the country to navigate these 30 00:01:48,180 --> 00:01:51,460 waters. He's been down this river many 31 00:01:51,460 --> 00:01:55,900 times and he has been more than generous to come and spend 2 32 00:01:55,900 --> 00:02:00,260 weeks with us to help us learn how to do this well. 33 00:02:00,260 --> 00:02:04,060 How to love God, how to love people, how to uphold scripture, 34 00:02:04,180 --> 00:02:06,700 and at the same time make sure that we are seeking and saving 35 00:02:06,700 --> 00:02:08,820 the lost. He's not going to do this 36 00:02:08,820 --> 00:02:11,920 because he's not the kind of guy who would push it, but he has 37 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:16,680 written two incredible books. One is called Messy Grace and 38 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,200 the other one is called Messy Truth. 39 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,720 And if you are a Jesus follower, you're a family member, you're a 40 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,120 friend, you're a coworker of somebody who may be in this 41 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,960 situation. These would be go to resources 42 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,920 for you and you can take advantage of the QR code on the 43 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:36,420 seat in front of you from wherever you're joining and 44 00:02:36,420 --> 00:02:39,340 it'll take you to the Amazon link for those books or you can 45 00:02:39,340 --> 00:02:41,420 get them anywhere books are sold and if you're not a reader you 46 00:02:41,420 --> 00:02:43,140 can get them on Audible or however that is. 47 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:45,940 But would you please welcome to the and you can clap. 48 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:48,780 Would you please welcome to the Crossing our good friend Mr. 49 00:02:48,780 --> 00:02:53,100 Caleb Kaltenbach. I can't wait. 50 00:02:53,700 --> 00:02:57,540 You're going to do all thank. You so much. 51 00:02:57,540 --> 00:02:58,940 All right. How are we doing today? 52 00:02:58,940 --> 00:03:01,580 Good. All right. 53 00:03:01,660 --> 00:03:05,460 Hey, I'm so glad to be with you. And by the way, I love. 54 00:03:06,110 --> 00:03:10,270 Pastor Clayton and Pastor Jerry, who was here before him and just 55 00:03:10,270 --> 00:03:13,270 the team here. If you are looking for a church 56 00:03:13,270 --> 00:03:16,390 or somebody invited you, I just want to let you know you are in 57 00:03:16,390 --> 00:03:19,270 a great church. This is a church where you can 58 00:03:19,270 --> 00:03:22,030 follow Jesus and people just wrap their arms around you no 59 00:03:22,030 --> 00:03:24,550 matter who you are, no matter where you are in your walk. 60 00:03:24,550 --> 00:03:27,230 So I hope that you'll keep on coming back and checking out 61 00:03:27,230 --> 00:03:30,070 this church. I hope you also invite some 62 00:03:30,070 --> 00:03:32,150 people with you next time you come. 63 00:03:32,150 --> 00:03:34,310 So anyway, we're we're glad to have you here. 64 00:03:34,940 --> 00:03:36,980 I'm going to start off telling you a little bit about myself. 65 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:42,140 I'm originally from Columbia, MO, and Kansas City, home of the 66 00:03:42,140 --> 00:03:43,940 greatest football team in the NFL. 67 00:03:46,020 --> 00:03:48,340 I I knew. I knew this church was saved. 68 00:03:50,020 --> 00:03:52,300 There are several of us in California. 69 00:03:52,300 --> 00:03:54,740 I live in Los Angeles now because my family and I enjoy 70 00:03:54,740 --> 00:03:58,340 not having money and we enjoy complications. 71 00:03:58,670 --> 00:04:00,350 So that's why we live there I guess. 72 00:04:00,350 --> 00:04:03,030 But I will tell you this, many Chiefs fans are out there 73 00:04:03,030 --> 00:04:05,110 because of Joe Montana. A lot of people just followed 74 00:04:05,110 --> 00:04:07,270 him over to the Chiefs when he was there in the 90s and they 75 00:04:07,270 --> 00:04:11,750 haven't left because we have our own fan out Thanos now as a 76 00:04:11,750 --> 00:04:16,269 quarterback anyway. Also, I'm married to my 77 00:04:16,269 --> 00:04:19,990 beautiful wife. Her name is Amy and she is a muy 78 00:04:19,990 --> 00:04:25,030 caliente Latina and she goes to the gym every single day, has a 79 00:04:25,030 --> 00:04:26,710 six pack. I think you can tell I enjoy 80 00:04:26,710 --> 00:04:30,470 Netflix a lot. Then we have two kids. 81 00:04:30,470 --> 00:04:34,470 We have my 14 year old daughter Rachel, my 16 year old son Joel. 82 00:04:34,470 --> 00:04:37,990 My son is 6 foot two. I asked my wife if we need to do 83 00:04:37,990 --> 00:04:41,190 a DNA swap. I said I'm not going to be mad, 84 00:04:41,190 --> 00:04:42,910 I just need to know who's paying for college. 85 00:04:42,910 --> 00:04:45,390 That's the biggest deal. There's forgiveness at the 86 00:04:45,390 --> 00:04:47,510 Cross, but we're talking about college right here. 87 00:04:47,510 --> 00:04:53,110 So anyway, anyway, when we first got married, we wanted to have 88 00:04:53,110 --> 00:04:56,790 kids immediately because we were insane, pretty much. 89 00:04:57,620 --> 00:05:00,980 We immediately wanted to have kids, and we tried and we tried. 90 00:05:00,980 --> 00:05:04,620 No matter what happened, we couldn't get pregnant and we 91 00:05:04,620 --> 00:05:06,980 both kind of got destructive in our own ways. 92 00:05:06,980 --> 00:05:10,620 I became a workaholic and my wife started watching Twilight 93 00:05:10,620 --> 00:05:14,180 movies over and over again and I just said we're going to get you 94 00:05:14,180 --> 00:05:17,300 pregnant one way or another because the the vampire 95 00:05:17,540 --> 00:05:20,180 sparkling vampires have got to stop entering our house. 96 00:05:20,260 --> 00:05:23,340 Okay, no more. And we went to a fertility 97 00:05:23,340 --> 00:05:25,340 clinic. We got pregnant with my son Joel 98 00:05:25,340 --> 00:05:27,940 in our first try and my daughter Rachel in our second. 99 00:05:27,980 --> 00:05:29,620 I love them equally. But I got to tell you about 100 00:05:29,620 --> 00:05:32,620 Joel's birth when he when we found out that she was pregnant, 101 00:05:32,940 --> 00:05:35,380 we were so excited. I mean, so excited. 102 00:05:35,380 --> 00:05:38,140 We became the annoying couple that you never wanted to have 103 00:05:38,140 --> 00:05:41,100 over because we monopolized conversations and talked about 104 00:05:41,100 --> 00:05:43,180 our pregnancy. You know, it had been two or 105 00:05:43,180 --> 00:05:46,100 three years of waiting, and we finally got pregnant and we lost 106 00:05:46,100 --> 00:05:48,020 friends because that's all we talked about. 107 00:05:48,020 --> 00:05:50,460 And we said, who cares? We'll get new friends. 108 00:05:51,050 --> 00:05:53,810 We'll be alive longer. And I couldn't wait to get to 109 00:05:53,810 --> 00:05:56,490 the hospital because I had seen the movies. 110 00:05:56,490 --> 00:05:59,330 I knew what to expect. I knew that when my child came 111 00:05:59,330 --> 00:06:02,970 out, my son, he would be like there would be a light shining 112 00:06:02,970 --> 00:06:06,410 down from heaven. Epic John Williams, Star Wars 113 00:06:06,410 --> 00:06:10,650 music underneath, you know, He would come out pristine, clean, 114 00:06:10,650 --> 00:06:14,090 grab my finger and with perfect pronunciation would say the word 115 00:06:14,090 --> 00:06:16,730 father. And that is not what happened. 116 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,160 We got to the hospital and everything was great until the 117 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,480 pain hit my wife and she became somebody I had not exchanged 118 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:29,200 bows with At that point. I tried to comfort her and put 119 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:31,800 my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me and her eyes were 120 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,200 glowing red. And she said, don't you touch me 121 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,600 right now. And I'm like, Okay, Linda, 122 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,160 Blair, Emily Rose, whatever your name is, we need. 123 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:42,880 I don't know if we need drugs or a priest. 124 00:06:44,220 --> 00:06:46,900 So we tried the drugs and she went back to loving God and 125 00:06:46,900 --> 00:06:51,020 others at that point. And then the time came for my 126 00:06:51,020 --> 00:06:54,500 son to come into the world and the doctor comes in and what 127 00:06:54,500 --> 00:06:58,460 looks like a hazmat outfit and a welding mask and they put tarp 128 00:06:58,460 --> 00:07:00,180 everywhere. And I'm like, is something 129 00:07:00,180 --> 00:07:03,220 getting ready to explode? Because I've got, I'm not 130 00:07:03,220 --> 00:07:06,580 covered anywhere. And then when my son came into 131 00:07:06,580 --> 00:07:09,500 the world, I remember my expression because I remember 132 00:07:09,500 --> 00:07:12,340 how it felt. My expression went from this to. 133 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,360 I was like, You sure you shouldn't put him back to cook 134 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:20,680 some more? I mean, I think he's got some 135 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,520 more time left in the oven. And he came out. 136 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,840 He was a color that Crayola had never invented a crayon for. 137 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,440 Ever. OK, he was wrinkled. 138 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,840 He made the most awful noises I've ever heard when he came out 139 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,040 and stuff was coming out of his mouth and like he smelled funny, 140 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,840 his head wouldn't, like, stand still. 141 00:07:41,150 --> 00:07:43,470 And they wrap it in a blanket and they gave them to me. 142 00:07:43,670 --> 00:07:45,670 They said, what do you think? And if you get to know me, 143 00:07:45,670 --> 00:07:47,990 you'll find out real quick. I have a DHD and I really don't 144 00:07:47,990 --> 00:07:51,190 have much of A filter sometimes. And in that moment I just looked 145 00:07:51,190 --> 00:07:54,150 at him in my first words when I was holding my son, where he 146 00:07:54,150 --> 00:08:02,390 looks like a turtle. I looked at my wife and I'm 147 00:08:02,390 --> 00:08:04,510 like, this is what we produced together right here. 148 00:08:04,510 --> 00:08:08,510 This my daughter came out, she looked like this big red juicy 149 00:08:08,510 --> 00:08:10,110 ladybug. And if you had been there, you 150 00:08:10,110 --> 00:08:11,970 would have said. Man, it was messy. 151 00:08:11,970 --> 00:08:14,850 And some of you have been there before, some of you haven't. 152 00:08:14,850 --> 00:08:16,170 Some of you'll be there in the future. 153 00:08:16,170 --> 00:08:18,890 Good luck. And I just want to let you know 154 00:08:18,890 --> 00:08:20,770 that in that moment, I don't know where it came from. 155 00:08:20,770 --> 00:08:23,650 I just love my kid. I just did. 156 00:08:25,050 --> 00:08:26,650 And and I still love my children. 157 00:08:26,650 --> 00:08:29,050 Trust me, my children have done nothing to earn that love. 158 00:08:29,050 --> 00:08:31,850 Listen, OK, They have taken my money throughout the years. 159 00:08:32,090 --> 00:08:34,049 They've gotten me sick. They brought home the stomach 160 00:08:34,049 --> 00:08:36,169 flu. Before children I used to look 161 00:08:36,169 --> 00:08:38,650 like Zac Efron and then I had children. 162 00:08:40,250 --> 00:08:41,850 And now I look like this right here. 163 00:08:42,409 --> 00:08:45,810 I will probably die two years earlier because I have children, 164 00:08:46,810 --> 00:08:48,690 OK? They they have not added to my 165 00:08:48,690 --> 00:08:50,730 life in that way. But at the same time, I cannot 166 00:08:50,730 --> 00:08:54,050 imagine my life without them. So they've done nothing that 167 00:08:54,050 --> 00:08:56,970 they did to earn my love, but yet I just love them. 168 00:08:56,970 --> 00:08:59,050 And I just want to let you know today, whether you know it or 169 00:08:59,050 --> 00:09:01,050 not, that's exactly how God feels about you. 170 00:09:02,570 --> 00:09:07,010 There's nothing that you can do to earn his love our best 171 00:09:07,330 --> 00:09:12,430 efforts. Are but stained gifts that we 172 00:09:12,430 --> 00:09:15,470 offer him. But yet God looks at you. 173 00:09:15,470 --> 00:09:18,510 And when other people say they put you in categories, they 174 00:09:18,510 --> 00:09:21,470 label you, they push you to the side. 175 00:09:22,070 --> 00:09:24,790 God takes you out of the corner. He looks past the categories. 176 00:09:24,950 --> 00:09:28,390 He doesn't pay attention to the definitions and he says that's 177 00:09:28,390 --> 00:09:33,110 my child and he keeps pursuing you until you follow Jesus. 178 00:09:34,070 --> 00:09:37,270 Now that's really good news for all of us. 179 00:09:38,310 --> 00:09:40,950 I don't know about you. I just don't know how God can 180 00:09:40,950 --> 00:09:42,750 love some of the other people in the world. 181 00:09:42,750 --> 00:09:47,190 You you know exactly who I'm talking about too, don't you? 182 00:09:47,910 --> 00:09:51,790 You know the people that you walk down the hallway at work, 183 00:09:51,790 --> 00:09:53,790 you see them coming, You're like, goodnight, and you walk 184 00:09:53,790 --> 00:09:57,190 around the long way to go to the bathroom, you see them at school 185 00:09:57,670 --> 00:09:59,630 and you're like, oh, I'm going to pretend to be on my phone, 186 00:09:59,630 --> 00:10:02,990 even though I'm not you. You like, you're at the gym. 187 00:10:03,030 --> 00:10:05,390 They want to talk to you. You pretend like you can't hear 188 00:10:05,390 --> 00:10:07,840 them. These are the people. 189 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:09,600 And I'm not talking about the creepers that are dangerous. 190 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,360 I'm talking about the people that don't vote for the 191 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,240 candidate we voted for. I'm talking about the people. 192 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:15,920 They're in different relationships than we are. 193 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,800 I'm talking about the people that have different ideals that 194 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:20,960 work in different jobs that wouldn't would never work in 195 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,960 there, that are in situations that we would never think that 196 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,520 we would be in. And yet, here's the thing. 197 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,560 God loves messy people. And the first two were letters 198 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:34,000 of messy are ME, me. I got to admit that I'm messy. 199 00:10:34,420 --> 00:10:36,060 And that God loves messy people like me. 200 00:10:36,060 --> 00:10:37,860 And God loves messy people not like me. 201 00:10:38,500 --> 00:10:40,140 And so that's really what I want, to talk to you. 202 00:10:40,140 --> 00:10:41,780 I want to talk to you about messy Grace. 203 00:10:41,860 --> 00:10:45,340 And some of you like Caleb. The Lord's grace does not messy. 204 00:10:45,900 --> 00:10:48,500 I get that. Give me some room here and I'll 205 00:10:48,500 --> 00:10:50,500 explain it later on. But I want to talk to you about 206 00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:52,020 messy Grace. The next week I'm going to talk 207 00:10:52,020 --> 00:10:56,620 to you about messy truth. OK, So to kind of help you and I 208 00:10:56,620 --> 00:11:00,140 navigate this, how do we love people that we don't agree with? 209 00:11:00,460 --> 00:11:03,130 How do we love people? That make relational decisions 210 00:11:03,130 --> 00:11:04,530 we would never make. What does that look like? 211 00:11:04,530 --> 00:11:06,890 How if you have your Bibles through your mobile devices, you 212 00:11:06,890 --> 00:11:09,850 can turn to John Chapter 8. In just a moment I'm going to 213 00:11:09,850 --> 00:11:13,290 have the words on the screen for you and if you don't have your 214 00:11:13,290 --> 00:11:15,450 bibles, that's fine, you can just follow along with me. 215 00:11:15,690 --> 00:11:19,170 Now just to set the scene, Jesus has all of his disciples and 216 00:11:19,290 --> 00:11:23,370 Jesus is in the temple courts, which is like the church lobby, 217 00:11:23,530 --> 00:11:26,050 the temple in Jerusalem and he's teaching there. 218 00:11:26,050 --> 00:11:28,090 Whole bunch of people are around him. 219 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,440 And an extraordinary thing happens to him. 220 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,160 Like, I think if Jesus were alive today, he could have his 221 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,320 own reality TV show. There's never a normal thing 222 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:42,000 that happens to Jesus. And so this is one of these 223 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,640 moments. Take a look at John chapter 8, 224 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,760 verse two. I'm going to stop in the middle 225 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,440 of verse six. At dawn he appeared again in the 226 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,200 temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and 227 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,890 he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law on the 228 00:11:55,890 --> 00:11:57,970 Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. 229 00:11:58,130 --> 00:12:01,010 They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 230 00:12:01,210 --> 00:12:04,810 teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery in the 231 00:12:04,810 --> 00:12:07,370 law. Moses commanded us to stone such 232 00:12:07,370 --> 00:12:09,370 women. Now what do you say? 233 00:12:09,970 --> 00:12:11,850 Just going to read the beginning of verse 6 here. 234 00:12:12,170 --> 00:12:15,010 They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis 235 00:12:15,210 --> 00:12:18,180 for accusing him. And so you have the Pharisees 236 00:12:18,180 --> 00:12:20,620 and the teachers of the law. The Pharisees were like the 237 00:12:20,620 --> 00:12:23,540 celebrity pastors of the day. You'd be reading their books, 238 00:12:23,540 --> 00:12:25,580 listen to their podcasts. They'd be speaking at 239 00:12:25,580 --> 00:12:27,980 conferences. And in Jesus's day, there were 240 00:12:27,980 --> 00:12:32,220 some 6000 Pharisees. They're roaming around the land 241 00:12:32,220 --> 00:12:33,580 of Judea. And then you have the teachers 242 00:12:33,580 --> 00:12:37,580 of the law. And and these people have like 7 243 00:12:37,580 --> 00:12:39,300 doctorates, and they don't have a life. 244 00:12:39,380 --> 00:12:41,580 They're 90 years old, still living with their parents, 245 00:12:41,860 --> 00:12:44,340 living in the basement. That's who these people are, OK? 246 00:12:44,540 --> 00:12:47,890 And they hate Jesus. Because the Pharisees, while 247 00:12:47,890 --> 00:12:51,410 they came from good origins and they started out trying to 248 00:12:51,410 --> 00:12:54,570 protect God's word, they have started trying to manipulate 249 00:12:54,570 --> 00:12:57,770 people to their point of view and become controlling. 250 00:12:57,890 --> 00:13:00,130 And they use fear to control people. 251 00:13:00,250 --> 00:13:03,690 And then here comes Jesus and he offers grace and truth, 252 00:13:03,810 --> 00:13:08,690 conviction and compassion. He offers principle and he 253 00:13:08,690 --> 00:13:11,830 offers love. And people are leaving them to 254 00:13:11,830 --> 00:13:13,230 go follow him. So they're always trying to 255 00:13:13,230 --> 00:13:17,150 catch Jesus. And so this is their latest 256 00:13:17,150 --> 00:13:19,030 ploy. They find this woman who is 257 00:13:19,030 --> 00:13:21,470 caught in the act of adultery. Now, don't miss this. 258 00:13:21,670 --> 00:13:26,590 It says they caught her in the act, In, in, in the act. 259 00:13:27,430 --> 00:13:30,150 You're like, how I'm like, I don't know, they're creepers, 260 00:13:30,270 --> 00:13:33,470 right? So they catch her in the act, 261 00:13:33,630 --> 00:13:36,790 They take her out, they drag her through town. 262 00:13:36,830 --> 00:13:38,590 They put her at the feet of Jesus. 263 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,360 And they say Moses says we should stone her. 264 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,560 What do you say? Now here's the interesting 265 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:45,160 thing. They think they have Jesus in a 266 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:49,960 catch 22 because if Jesus says stone her, he's keeping the law 267 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:51,680 but he will lose faith with the people. 268 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:54,520 But if he says don't stone her, he'll keep faith with the 269 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,320 people, but he's breaking the law. 270 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,400 And if you're not used to reading the Gospels, let me just 271 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:01,920 clue you in on something that you may or may not know. 272 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,600 Never ever try to checkmate Jesus. 273 00:14:07,030 --> 00:14:10,550 It really doesn't go well. And what's interesting is the 274 00:14:10,550 --> 00:14:12,910 fair season. The teachers law are so worried 275 00:14:13,310 --> 00:14:16,670 about keeping the law that they don't realize they've actually 276 00:14:16,670 --> 00:14:18,510 broken it. They don't have witnesses to 277 00:14:18,510 --> 00:14:23,470 corroborate what she did. They don't even have, like, a 278 00:14:23,470 --> 00:14:25,830 trial. The law says you have to go 279 00:14:25,830 --> 00:14:28,190 through a trial. And here's the other thing, 280 00:14:28,350 --> 00:14:33,670 where's the dude? I guess that doesn't matter, 281 00:14:33,670 --> 00:14:37,260 right? You see, it makes me mad when it 282 00:14:37,260 --> 00:14:39,700 says they're using this question as a trap in order to have a 283 00:14:39,700 --> 00:14:41,660 basis for accusing him. They don't care about her. 284 00:14:41,900 --> 00:14:44,500 They are using her as much as the man who's having an affair 285 00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:47,220 with her was using her. Whether or not you believe in 286 00:14:47,300 --> 00:14:49,860 Jesus, I think you'd have to admit that's messed up right 287 00:14:50,540 --> 00:14:52,300 now. I don't know what your response 288 00:14:52,300 --> 00:14:54,140 would be. Some of you are emotionally 289 00:14:54,140 --> 00:14:56,380 reactive. You'd start yelling and 290 00:14:56,380 --> 00:15:00,100 everybody would be a casualty. Some of you would blow up. 291 00:15:00,100 --> 00:15:01,700 Some of you would internalize it. 292 00:15:02,420 --> 00:15:04,580 But Jesus, he does something weird. 293 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,840 And some of you are like Caleb. Don't call what Jesus does 294 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,880 weird. I'm not saying it was creepy bad 295 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:11,640 strange. It's awkward. 296 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:13,200 It's probably something you wouldn't do. 297 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,520 Look at the rest of verse 6. But Jesus bent down and started 298 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,160 to ride on the ground with his finger. 299 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:24,320 That's an awkward response. Now some of you are not 300 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,440 realizing this because you've read this book, this story, for 301 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,240 a long time. Some of you have been Christians 302 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,660 since God was a boy, Okay. I mean, that's how long. 303 00:15:33,660 --> 00:15:36,500 And you're familiar with this. When was the last time you were 304 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:41,980 in an argument and you said, hold on, I tried it with my 305 00:15:41,980 --> 00:15:43,740 wife. We were in an argument last week 306 00:15:43,780 --> 00:15:47,140 and I started, I got on the ground, started riding on the 307 00:15:47,140 --> 00:15:48,260 ground. She's like, what are you doing? 308 00:15:48,260 --> 00:15:50,860 I said, acting like, Jesus, I figured one of us should. 309 00:15:54,460 --> 00:15:58,940 I did not say that. You know how I? 310 00:15:59,060 --> 00:16:00,660 You know that? I didn't say that because I'm 311 00:16:00,660 --> 00:16:04,290 alive. The fiery wrath of Latina. 312 00:16:04,290 --> 00:16:06,250 I'm not going to deal with that. No, no, no. 313 00:16:06,250 --> 00:16:09,010 I'm just like yes, ma'am, yes, me, esposa Bonita. 314 00:16:09,410 --> 00:16:14,210 And so a lot of people try to figure out what in the world was 315 00:16:14,210 --> 00:16:16,890 Jesus riding on the ground. Was he riding down the sins of 316 00:16:16,890 --> 00:16:18,930 the people in the crowd was he writing down versus the 317 00:16:18,930 --> 00:16:20,930 scripture? I I found this really 318 00:16:20,930 --> 00:16:22,410 interesting verse. See if you can make the 319 00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:24,730 connection. Jeremiah 1713. 320 00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:28,090 It's in the Old Testament. Lord, you're the hope of Israel. 321 00:16:28,290 --> 00:16:30,290 All who forsake you will be put to shame. 322 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,280 And those who turn away from you will be written in the dust. 323 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:40,520 And in the Hebrew, this word for dust could mean sand, dirt, mud, 324 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:42,760 ground. Why? 325 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,280 Because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living 326 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:47,840 water. And if I were a betting person, 327 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:53,520 I bet Jesus was writing down the names of the Pharisees and the 328 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,840 teachers of the law in the ground. 329 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,360 That's just a guess because we don't know, but it would make 330 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,930 sense. Because he was living out 331 00:17:01,930 --> 00:17:04,569 literally what this says. And basically he was telling 332 00:17:04,569 --> 00:17:07,930 them, You think that you are so close with God because you're 333 00:17:07,930 --> 00:17:11,369 keeping the letter of the law, but you're further away than 334 00:17:11,369 --> 00:17:13,730 this woman is. Hear me out. 335 00:17:13,730 --> 00:17:15,770 Quick tangent. I think it's okay if we do a 336 00:17:15,770 --> 00:17:17,609 tangent in here, but let's find out. 337 00:17:18,530 --> 00:17:19,650 Clayton will let me know afterwards. 338 00:17:19,650 --> 00:17:23,890 Here's the deal. God doesn't care how much you 339 00:17:23,890 --> 00:17:25,369 know. If you don't have any compassion 340 00:17:25,369 --> 00:17:30,010 to show, God could give a rip how much you have. 341 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,240 The Bible memorized. If you don't have any compassion 342 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,680 because you can have correct doctrine, but be a complete 343 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:42,120 heretic in how you treat people and live out your theology and 344 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:44,640 God's like, that's a clinging symbol in my ear. 345 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:46,040 You're like Caleb. I don't like that. 346 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:47,720 Well, blame Paul. He said it, not me. 347 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,200 Don't get mad at me. Just get mad at Paul. 348 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:52,040 He's dead, not me. Just leave me alone. 349 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,280 Let's go back to John. Chapter 8, verse 8. 350 00:17:55,950 --> 00:17:58,230 Because they don't get it. Verse seven, I mean when they 351 00:17:58,230 --> 00:18:01,190 kept questioning him, Jesus straighten up and said to them 352 00:18:01,390 --> 00:18:04,710 let anyone of you who's without sin be the first to throw a 353 00:18:04,710 --> 00:18:06,750 stone at her. And again he stooped down he 354 00:18:06,750 --> 00:18:08,870 rolling ground. Now I think this is brilliant 355 00:18:09,510 --> 00:18:13,230 because Jesus knew after that challenge they would not throw a 356 00:18:13,230 --> 00:18:17,270 stone because back then they believed what I believe what 357 00:18:17,270 --> 00:18:20,110 your church leadership believes, that God is the only sinless 358 00:18:20,110 --> 00:18:23,870 being in existence. And so if the Pharisees picked 359 00:18:23,870 --> 00:18:27,220 up a stone and threw it. They would be claiming to not 360 00:18:27,220 --> 00:18:29,740 have sin, and that's like a big deal. 361 00:18:29,740 --> 00:18:33,100 That's called lying. And out of the 613 commands in 362 00:18:33,100 --> 00:18:35,180 the Old Testament, God put lying in the top ten. 363 00:18:37,060 --> 00:18:39,300 You know why? Because lying breaks the 364 00:18:39,300 --> 00:18:43,540 relationship, right? Lying at least harms the 365 00:18:43,540 --> 00:18:45,660 relationship. But there's another reason why 366 00:18:45,700 --> 00:18:46,940 Jesus knew they wouldn't throw a stone. 367 00:18:47,140 --> 00:18:50,300 Because if they picked up a stone claiming to be sinless and 368 00:18:50,300 --> 00:18:53,460 they threw the stone at her, that very stone would be used to 369 00:18:53,460 --> 00:18:54,860 throw right back at them and kill them. 370 00:18:55,060 --> 00:18:58,420 Because if the only sinless being in existence is God, and 371 00:18:58,420 --> 00:19:02,020 they're claiming to be sinless, they're claiming to be God, and 372 00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:04,060 all their friends would know that they've sinned. 373 00:19:04,620 --> 00:19:07,340 And like, that's automatic death penalty. 374 00:19:08,110 --> 00:19:10,590 But you may not believe in Jesus yet, but you got to admit he's 375 00:19:10,590 --> 00:19:14,030 got mad skills. You do not want to get in an 376 00:19:14,030 --> 00:19:17,230 argument with Jesus and I love. Look at this verse nine. 377 00:19:17,230 --> 00:19:20,190 I love verse nine. It's almost comical at this. 378 00:19:20,190 --> 00:19:23,190 Those who heard began to go away one at a time. 379 00:19:23,670 --> 00:19:27,070 The older ones first. I love that until only Jesus was 380 00:19:27,070 --> 00:19:28,590 left with the woman still standing there. 381 00:19:29,390 --> 00:19:32,350 Jesus straightened up, and I can see Jesus kind of hamming it up 382 00:19:32,350 --> 00:19:35,260 a little bit, saying woman. Where are they? 383 00:19:35,300 --> 00:19:38,300 And by the way, that's that's a complimentary term. 384 00:19:38,860 --> 00:19:41,180 There are some people who are like, why do you call her woman? 385 00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:44,340 It's not. No, no, it's 1st century. 386 00:19:44,340 --> 00:19:47,180 It's not like woman. No, he's saying ma'am. 387 00:19:47,420 --> 00:19:49,260 That's another way of saying ma'am, he's being ultra 388 00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:52,260 respectful to somebody that had no respect that day. 389 00:19:52,740 --> 00:19:55,460 Ma'am, where are they? Has no one condemned you? 390 00:19:55,740 --> 00:19:58,860 No one, Sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you. 391 00:19:59,060 --> 00:20:01,980 I love that. Aren't some of you glad that 392 00:20:01,980 --> 00:20:06,900 Jesus said that? Neither do I condemn you, but go 393 00:20:07,420 --> 00:20:13,700 and leave your life upset. You see a big part of of this 394 00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:16,780 series that Pastor Clayton's doing that he's going to talk 395 00:20:16,780 --> 00:20:21,860 about is really how do you handle faith and love, grace and 396 00:20:21,860 --> 00:20:23,540 truth, compassion and conviction. 397 00:20:23,740 --> 00:20:26,940 And he's got a great sermon he's going to do in a couple weeks on 398 00:20:26,940 --> 00:20:30,020 that. And so today I want to talk 399 00:20:30,020 --> 00:20:34,110 about the grace side of things. Messy grace and somebody like 400 00:20:34,110 --> 00:20:36,230 God, Caleb. God's grace isn't messy. 401 00:20:36,430 --> 00:20:39,070 No, it's not. But it feels messy. 402 00:20:40,270 --> 00:20:43,070 When we're supposed to love people, they're doing things 403 00:20:43,070 --> 00:20:45,830 that we don't like and we don't agree with that help hold views 404 00:20:46,030 --> 00:20:47,670 that we don't like, that we don't agree with. 405 00:20:48,910 --> 00:20:51,350 And so here's the principle I want you to get from this story 406 00:20:51,350 --> 00:20:54,550 right here. Grace is for everyone, and that 407 00:20:54,550 --> 00:20:58,350 includes anyone. I feel like we're not all on the 408 00:20:58,350 --> 00:21:01,220 same page. OK, so I'm. 409 00:21:01,220 --> 00:21:03,340 We're going to do this together. You're going to help me say this 410 00:21:03,780 --> 00:21:06,980 because some of you are looking like a deer before it gets hit 411 00:21:06,980 --> 00:21:09,980 by a car glazed over. Are you serious? 412 00:21:09,980 --> 00:21:11,500 I have to love people I don't like. 413 00:21:11,620 --> 00:21:15,940 Yeah, I know it's hard. God didn't say you have to like 414 00:21:15,940 --> 00:21:17,100 him. He said you have to love him. 415 00:21:17,300 --> 00:21:21,180 OK. Grace is for not everyone said 416 00:21:21,180 --> 00:21:22,140 that. We're going to try again. 417 00:21:22,980 --> 00:21:28,300 Grace is for and that includes. And then I added this. 418 00:21:28,300 --> 00:21:32,850 Dot, dot, dot, even the any ones that we don't like, understand, 419 00:21:32,850 --> 00:21:38,330 or agree with. So here's the thing. 420 00:21:38,930 --> 00:21:41,290 One of my favorite verses is in Romans 5. 421 00:21:41,290 --> 00:21:43,490 While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 422 00:21:43,650 --> 00:21:47,650 Christ pursued us before we even liked him. 423 00:21:49,090 --> 00:21:52,010 Jesus died for us before we were even born. 424 00:21:53,730 --> 00:21:57,930 God was pursuing us when we were indifferent about him. 425 00:21:59,450 --> 00:22:02,050 I'm just telling you, grace is for everyone, and that includes 426 00:22:02,130 --> 00:22:04,610 anyone. What does that look like? 427 00:22:04,650 --> 00:22:06,210 What does that look like? When you believe that in your 428 00:22:06,210 --> 00:22:09,410 life, usually you come up to this feeling like grace is 429 00:22:09,410 --> 00:22:11,770 messy, even though it's not because of the emotional 430 00:22:11,770 --> 00:22:13,610 attachments you have in the relationships in your life. 431 00:22:13,610 --> 00:22:16,690 So let me tell you, for a lot of my life who that was for me. 432 00:22:16,930 --> 00:22:21,930 My It was my mom and dad. You see, my parents used to be 433 00:22:22,250 --> 00:22:24,690 professors at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and at 434 00:22:24,690 --> 00:22:27,530 Stevens College. And when I was two years old 435 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,600 they divorced and both of my parents went into same sex 436 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,840 relationships. My dad had a lot of friends. 437 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,040 He was never in a monogamous relationship, but my mom was in 438 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,120 a 22 year relationship with a woman named Vera and they were 439 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:44,600 activists and they moved to Kansas City and I went back and 440 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:49,840 forth on I-70 between Kansas City and Missouri and I was just 441 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,900 raised in the L GB TQ community. I grew up preschool, elementary 442 00:22:53,900 --> 00:22:58,460 age, middle school, going with my parents to pride parades, 443 00:22:58,460 --> 00:23:03,100 bars, clubs, Hangouts, camping camp outs, all that kind of 444 00:23:03,100 --> 00:23:05,460 stuff. And here's what I learned from 445 00:23:05,460 --> 00:23:09,580 my mom over and over again. OK, Christians will not like you 446 00:23:09,580 --> 00:23:12,460 if you are not like them. That's what I learned. 447 00:23:14,270 --> 00:23:17,190 Christians hate gay people is another thing I learned. 448 00:23:17,190 --> 00:23:19,950 I saw it time and time again. I I was in pride parades, seeing 449 00:23:19,950 --> 00:23:22,230 people holding up signs who claim to be Christians saying 450 00:23:22,230 --> 00:23:25,790 God hates you, turn or burn. And if that wasn't bad enough, 451 00:23:25,790 --> 00:23:28,470 when people from my mom's parade would go try to talk to them, 452 00:23:28,590 --> 00:23:31,030 these socalled Christians would spray them with water and urine, 453 00:23:31,030 --> 00:23:32,390 saying this is what God thinks of you. 454 00:23:34,590 --> 00:23:39,110 That made an impression. I saw family members ignore 455 00:23:39,950 --> 00:23:44,590 their young sons who are dying of AIDS at the start of the AIDS 456 00:23:44,590 --> 00:23:50,390 epidemic in the 1980s. I saw them not go to the 457 00:23:50,390 --> 00:23:52,310 hospital because they're taking a moral stand. 458 00:23:52,310 --> 00:23:55,110 There was a difference between taking a moral stand and being a 459 00:23:55,110 --> 00:23:58,660 moron. I saw families who would go 460 00:23:58,660 --> 00:24:01,540 visit their young sons. My mom and her partner would go 461 00:24:01,540 --> 00:24:04,940 say goodbye to these young men who are in their community, and 462 00:24:04,940 --> 00:24:07,500 their family would be pressed up against the wall like they're 463 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:10,780 waiting for a firing squad. So I got the message real clear 464 00:24:10,980 --> 00:24:14,740 Christians hate gay people. If you are not like them, they 465 00:24:14,740 --> 00:24:17,260 will not like you. And by the time I got to high 466 00:24:17,260 --> 00:24:19,340 school, my life was just out of whack. 467 00:24:19,340 --> 00:24:22,580 I was sneaking out, partying it up, getting drunk, all that kind 468 00:24:22,580 --> 00:24:24,660 of stuff. And then when I was a sophomore 469 00:24:24,660 --> 00:24:28,350 in high school in the 10th grade, I got invited by another 470 00:24:28,350 --> 00:24:31,470 high schooler to his Bible study that he was putting on at his 471 00:24:31,470 --> 00:24:34,710 house for other high schoolers. And I thought, this is going to 472 00:24:34,710 --> 00:24:36,350 be perfect. I'm going to go and I'm going to 473 00:24:36,350 --> 00:24:39,630 be a pretend Christian, and I'm going to learn about their faith 474 00:24:39,630 --> 00:24:42,750 and I'm going to discredit it and move on the next Bible 475 00:24:42,750 --> 00:24:43,830 study. And you could tell that worked 476 00:24:43,830 --> 00:24:45,230 out real well. That was a great plan. 477 00:24:47,030 --> 00:24:51,630 And so I went and the way that I'm going to describe their 478 00:24:51,630 --> 00:24:53,950 house, if this describes your house, please don't take any 479 00:24:53,950 --> 00:24:55,700 offense. As long as you don't have a 480 00:24:55,700 --> 00:24:57,460 posters of Nickelback in your house. 481 00:24:57,740 --> 00:25:00,620 I think you're good. That band's awful. 482 00:25:00,660 --> 00:25:02,700 Don't ever put up a poster of that band. 483 00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:07,140 But however you want to have you, you have Christian stuff up 484 00:25:07,140 --> 00:25:07,860 on your wall. Good. 485 00:25:07,980 --> 00:25:10,580 Me too. But as an unchurched, 486 00:25:10,740 --> 00:25:13,660 unbelieving 16 year old, I had never stepped foot in a 487 00:25:13,660 --> 00:25:16,380 Christian household, much less a Catholic household. 488 00:25:16,700 --> 00:25:19,860 And when I walked in to this house, it looked like they had 489 00:25:19,860 --> 00:25:25,480 raided a Bible bookstore. Like they had Christian breath 490 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:26,920 mints. Did you guys know we have our 491 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:28,080 own breath mints? Did you know that? 492 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,160 Anybody tell you that they're called testaments? 493 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:34,840 Yeah, right there. And I'm not joking either. 494 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,960 Tell me you're like, huh, huh. Don't Google it right now. 495 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,520 Ask afterwards. Person next to you will tell you 496 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,560 okay. And don't try them unless you 497 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,240 want to see what cyanide and spearmint taste like together. 498 00:25:47,380 --> 00:25:50,860 Then they had the Christian bookstore like art on the wall, 499 00:25:50,860 --> 00:25:52,460 the frame pictures. You know what I'm talking about? 500 00:25:52,460 --> 00:25:57,140 Like I'd never seen a house before where somebody had a 501 00:25:57,140 --> 00:26:02,060 frame picture of a sheep on the wall that they didn't own would 502 00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:04,260 maybe like a Bible verse. I'm like, this is strange. 503 00:26:04,900 --> 00:26:08,820 And then they had a picture of a lion with a cobra and a kid, 504 00:26:09,700 --> 00:26:11,380 little shepherd kid with a Bible verse. 505 00:26:11,380 --> 00:26:13,700 And I'm like, are we going to sacrifice a chicken tonight? 506 00:26:13,700 --> 00:26:16,970 This is these people have framed pictures of animals they don't 507 00:26:16,970 --> 00:26:20,370 own on the wall. And then my friend comes up from 508 00:26:20,370 --> 00:26:22,770 the basement and says, ah, you're here. 509 00:26:22,770 --> 00:26:24,850 We've circled up. Won't you follow me downstairs? 510 00:26:24,850 --> 00:26:26,770 And I'm like, well, this is the beginning of a horror movie. 511 00:26:30,890 --> 00:26:32,490 So I went downstairs to the basement. 512 00:26:33,370 --> 00:26:35,330 Everybody's reading from First Corinthians. 513 00:26:35,330 --> 00:26:38,290 I can't find it because I didn't know God put a table of contents 514 00:26:38,530 --> 00:26:40,810 in there. And I read a verse from First 515 00:26:40,810 --> 00:26:49,020 Chronicles about some dude getting impaled, and they're 516 00:26:49,020 --> 00:26:52,860 like, where are you? And I said, well, I'm in First 517 00:26:52,860 --> 00:26:54,060 Chronicles. They're like, you're in the Old 518 00:26:54,060 --> 00:26:56,060 Testament. I'm like, is there a new one? 519 00:26:57,620 --> 00:26:59,500 Like, I didn't know. We had it updated 2.0. 520 00:26:59,500 --> 00:27:03,060 And so I was really embarrassed, but I really, I started going 521 00:27:03,060 --> 00:27:04,780 back to this Bible study again and again. 522 00:27:05,340 --> 00:27:08,970 And then I started going to another Bible study by that was 523 00:27:08,970 --> 00:27:11,850 led at the University of Missouri, Columbia, by a guy let 524 00:27:11,850 --> 00:27:14,610 it named Roy Weiss. I went to his Bible study over 525 00:27:14,610 --> 00:27:17,570 and over and over again. And I'm just telling you that I 526 00:27:17,930 --> 00:27:21,810 could not get enough because I realized Jesus was not like the 527 00:27:21,810 --> 00:27:23,690 people on the street corners, that he had very deep 528 00:27:23,690 --> 00:27:26,570 theological convictions. He had very real expectations 529 00:27:26,570 --> 00:27:29,250 about how we should pursue holiness and live and treat 530 00:27:29,250 --> 00:27:32,010 other people. But he also had very real, 531 00:27:32,050 --> 00:27:35,510 personal, authentic relationships with people that 532 00:27:35,510 --> 00:27:37,470 the religious elite of the day would have nothing to do with, 533 00:27:37,470 --> 00:27:41,430 people that were pushed to the side, people that were deemed to 534 00:27:41,430 --> 00:27:44,830 be unclean. And I was like, man, I love 535 00:27:44,910 --> 00:27:46,270 Jesus. I don't want the sheep picture, 536 00:27:46,270 --> 00:27:49,510 but I love him. So I started studying what the 537 00:27:49,510 --> 00:27:52,710 Bible had to say about homosexuality and sexuality and 538 00:27:52,710 --> 00:27:55,150 marriage and intimacy. And I came to two conclusions I 539 00:27:55,150 --> 00:27:57,670 still hold today. Number one, I believe that God 540 00:27:57,670 --> 00:28:00,670 designed sex to be expressed in a marriage between a male and 541 00:28:00,710 --> 00:28:03,070 female, and any kind of expression outside of that 542 00:28:03,070 --> 00:28:06,750 design is a sin. But I also believe that our 543 00:28:06,750 --> 00:28:09,630 theological convictions are never catalyst to devalue 544 00:28:09,630 --> 00:28:14,710 another human being, that our biblical beliefs can never be 545 00:28:14,710 --> 00:28:18,310 weaponized to intentionally harm other people. 546 00:28:20,670 --> 00:28:24,550 And so I I just kept on learning and one morning I woke up and I 547 00:28:24,550 --> 00:28:26,630 called my friend Greg. I've been going to his dad's 548 00:28:26,630 --> 00:28:28,670 church on for youth group Sunday evening. 549 00:28:29,790 --> 00:28:31,590 I said, Greg, I think I've turned Christian. 550 00:28:33,030 --> 00:28:34,730 What do we do? He said. 551 00:28:34,730 --> 00:28:37,090 Well, let's go to the Chinese buffet and then I'll baptize 552 00:28:37,090 --> 00:28:43,370 you. And I think that was an Acts 238 553 00:28:43,370 --> 00:28:46,050 1/2. And so we did that. 554 00:28:46,970 --> 00:28:51,010 And I was really nervous to tell my parents because I become a 555 00:28:51,010 --> 00:28:53,810 Christian. I eventually felt like I wanted 556 00:28:53,810 --> 00:28:56,410 to be a pastor and I changed my view on sexuality. 557 00:28:56,410 --> 00:29:00,010 And I had to, as a 16 year old, come out to my 3 gay parents as 558 00:29:00,010 --> 00:29:03,660 a Christian. And they both kicked me out of 559 00:29:03,660 --> 00:29:08,220 their houses for a while. And so when I do talk to a lot 560 00:29:08,220 --> 00:29:12,180 of L, GB, TQ students or young adults, they're like, well, I 561 00:29:12,180 --> 00:29:15,460 thought only like Christian parents did that. 562 00:29:15,460 --> 00:29:21,740 I said no human beings do that. Human beings fear just like 563 00:29:21,740 --> 00:29:24,260 that. As a matter of fact, when we 564 00:29:24,260 --> 00:29:27,980 think about how do we live out this idea of graces for 565 00:29:27,980 --> 00:29:31,460 everyone, that includes anyone. It starts with this principle 566 00:29:31,460 --> 00:29:34,630 right here. Don't allow the fear of some to 567 00:29:34,630 --> 00:29:39,870 determine the value of many. Don't allow fear from some 568 00:29:39,870 --> 00:29:44,110 people to determine the value of many people. 569 00:29:44,510 --> 00:29:47,470 Now, first of all, I want to say there are some people out there. 570 00:29:47,470 --> 00:29:50,270 Some leadership gurus will say, you know, fear. 571 00:29:50,430 --> 00:29:52,590 You know, that's a that's a bad thing. 572 00:29:52,670 --> 00:29:54,190 Those people are morons. No, it's not. 573 00:29:54,950 --> 00:29:57,070 Fear is not a bad thing. God gave you the potential to 574 00:29:57,070 --> 00:30:00,110 feel fear for a reason. Let's say that we're hiking. 575 00:30:00,110 --> 00:30:02,150 I think you again, You can tell I don't hike. 576 00:30:03,830 --> 00:30:07,350 OKI don't I? If if I'm running, you need to 577 00:30:07,350 --> 00:30:10,190 run because whatever's behind me is really bad. 578 00:30:10,750 --> 00:30:13,190 But you'll probably be laughing at the fact that I'm running. 579 00:30:13,470 --> 00:30:15,470 You'll be like, well, that's the most adorable thing I've ever 580 00:30:15,470 --> 00:30:20,710 seen. Like, God, if if we're hiking 581 00:30:20,870 --> 00:30:24,350 and you see a rattlesnake, are you going to be like, well, I'm 582 00:30:24,350 --> 00:30:27,670 going to name her Betsy and I'm going to love her. 583 00:30:27,710 --> 00:30:32,820 And no, no, not too long ago, just two houses down. 584 00:30:32,820 --> 00:30:37,900 My neighbor woke up at 2:00 AM because his siding, last door 585 00:30:38,460 --> 00:30:40,740 was rattling. Somebody's trying to get in. 586 00:30:41,540 --> 00:30:43,540 Turns on the light. There's a mountain line in his 587 00:30:43,540 --> 00:30:48,300 backyard. He had a gun, Handgun. 588 00:30:48,540 --> 00:30:50,380 He like it scared him. He fell back. 589 00:30:50,380 --> 00:30:52,940 It went off. Didn't shoot anybody. 590 00:30:52,940 --> 00:30:57,060 Scared everybody in the house. So I'm. 591 00:30:57,060 --> 00:30:59,260 I'm just telling you, God gave you fear to know. 592 00:30:59,260 --> 00:31:02,800 Oh, oh, trigger warning. You see, But there's such a 593 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,400 thing as toxic fear. That's why people win elections 594 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,880 today. If you get people to be afraid, 595 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,320 you can control them. And you see that some of us in 596 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:16,080 this room, we live in fear. Here's some free advice. 597 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,680 You don't need to tide for it. I think I can say that. 598 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:20,920 OK, hear me out on this. OK. 599 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,640 If you want to be less fearful, turn off CNN. 600 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:27,800 Turn off Fox News. I did. 601 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,070 It's wonderful if something happens. 602 00:31:31,070 --> 00:31:33,310 People text you. They really do. 603 00:31:33,350 --> 00:31:37,190 You always have those friends. They'll text you Okay. 604 00:31:37,270 --> 00:31:40,630 We had a hurricane and an earthquake in the same day in 605 00:31:40,630 --> 00:31:44,590 Socal. A Hurricwake night before. 606 00:31:44,590 --> 00:31:46,070 People like the Hurricanes coming. 607 00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:48,110 I'm like, great. I don't know what to do, so I'm 608 00:31:48,110 --> 00:31:49,430 just going to keep doing what I'm doing. 609 00:31:50,270 --> 00:31:54,550 It's fantastic. You see, I used to be frustrated 610 00:31:54,550 --> 00:31:56,310 all the time because I watch the news too much. 611 00:31:56,870 --> 00:32:00,460 Okay, I turned off the news. I'm not frustrated anymore. 612 00:32:00,460 --> 00:32:02,740 Now I watch Unsolved Mysteries and I'm scared all the time. 613 00:32:07,060 --> 00:32:12,060 So I'm just telling you that my parents exhibited that same kind 614 00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:14,460 of fear because we naturally fear what we don't understand, 615 00:32:14,460 --> 00:32:17,780 what we can't control. But the opposite of fear is not 616 00:32:17,780 --> 00:32:21,140 courage. Fear necessitates leadership. 617 00:32:21,260 --> 00:32:22,500 That's why we always have leadership. 618 00:32:22,660 --> 00:32:27,820 The opposite of fear is empathy, leaning in because we follow the 619 00:32:27,820 --> 00:32:32,580 one that it has all power and knows everything, and that 620 00:32:32,620 --> 00:32:35,460 enables us to engage any situation. 621 00:32:36,460 --> 00:32:39,500 So the first thing we got to do never allow the fear from some 622 00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:41,420 people to determine the value of many people. 623 00:32:41,580 --> 00:32:42,700 I got to go through this real quick. 624 00:32:42,900 --> 00:32:44,780 The second thing, here's what I'm telling you to do. 625 00:32:44,820 --> 00:32:47,220 Think deeper about people, not differently about theology. 626 00:32:48,380 --> 00:32:51,380 I'm not telling you that you need to change your orthodox 627 00:32:51,380 --> 00:32:53,820 beliefs on marriage, intimacy, relationships. 628 00:32:55,180 --> 00:32:57,920 Okay. I'm telling you that if you have 629 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:01,800 a biblical, grounded, orthodox view on that, keep your view on 630 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:03,640 the historic judeo-christian marriage. 631 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,120 But I'm telling you, think deeper about people because 632 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,680 nobody is shallow. Everybody is deep, and everybody 633 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,040 is a conglomeration of their hopes and their dreams and 634 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,800 everything else and their failures and their pains and 635 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,760 their upbringing. And so eventually my parents let 636 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,040 me back in. Then I went to Bible College in 637 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,680 southern Missouri, the Mecca of Christianity. 638 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:27,770 Joplin, MO. Anybody ever been there before? 639 00:33:28,290 --> 00:33:28,850 Yeah. Don't. 640 00:33:29,130 --> 00:33:31,330 If you haven't, don't go for very long. 641 00:33:31,850 --> 00:33:34,090 You know how most family trees branch out down there? 642 00:33:34,090 --> 00:33:36,730 It's just one straight line. It just goes up like that. 643 00:33:37,570 --> 00:33:40,530 And I preached at this one church when I was in Bible 644 00:33:40,530 --> 00:33:43,370 college for 18 months. We were the largest church 645 00:33:43,370 --> 00:33:45,770 statistically, the largest church per capita in the world 646 00:33:45,770 --> 00:33:49,450 at that time. 50 people in the town, 25 of them went to our 647 00:33:49,450 --> 00:33:50,730 church. Boom. 648 00:33:51,330 --> 00:33:54,130 Largest church in the world per capita at that time. 649 00:33:55,050 --> 00:33:58,970 And for 18 months I preached there the Sunday before my last 650 00:33:58,970 --> 00:34:01,010 Sunday, which I didn't know I was going to have a last Sunday. 651 00:34:01,010 --> 00:34:02,930 But the Sunday before my last Sunday, I brought my mom to 652 00:34:02,930 --> 00:34:07,290 church and she like, you know, thought the worship was awful. 653 00:34:07,290 --> 00:34:10,929 And it it was and somebody like, no, it was beautiful to God. 654 00:34:11,010 --> 00:34:12,570 I'm not talking from his perspective. 655 00:34:13,570 --> 00:34:17,250 I'm sure it was great for him, not for me, not for you either 656 00:34:17,810 --> 00:34:18,650 kid with us. Not right. 657 00:34:18,650 --> 00:34:19,690 No. But it's honest. 658 00:34:19,929 --> 00:34:22,370 Okay. And so the next Sunday, she 659 00:34:22,370 --> 00:34:23,850 didn't show up. But there were two elders 660 00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:26,810 waiting for me on the doorstep and they said, hey, Caleb, we 661 00:34:26,810 --> 00:34:28,090 need to talk to you before you preach. 662 00:34:28,409 --> 00:34:30,530 If you want to keep preaching here, don't you ever bring 663 00:34:30,530 --> 00:34:35,130 somebody like your mother again. We don't like those people. 664 00:34:35,489 --> 00:34:38,889 And I said, well, I I think funny thing is, I don't like you 665 00:34:38,889 --> 00:34:39,929 now. So I quit. 666 00:34:41,250 --> 00:34:43,810 Like, right now I quit. Like you can't quit. 667 00:34:43,810 --> 00:34:45,969 You got to preach. I said, oh, you don't want that. 668 00:34:47,850 --> 00:34:49,850 You really don't? No. 669 00:34:49,850 --> 00:34:52,239 We need a sermon. And so, like, there's a song 670 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,320 when I was growing up by Bon Jovi is pretty popular Blaze of 671 00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:00,120 Glory that if you're going to go out, you know I'd written a 672 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,520 sermon on fasting. Who cares about it, Ripped it up 673 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:04,520 and threw it away. And I got up there and I 674 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,040 preached the sermon on grace and truth. 675 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,240 And I walked out and I said, God, if you ever allow me to be 676 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:11,160 in the church, I want to be in the church filled with messy, 677 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,280 broken people, People who are following Jesus, people who 678 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:17,040 aren't. People who have been in 679 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,240 addictions, people have been divorced something times married 680 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:22,720 something times. People who are their life were 681 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:24,240 falling apart. People who are wealthy. 682 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:27,640 People have no money, people are in gangs, people are in this and 683 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:29,160 that. People who just don't know what 684 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:31,600 they're going to do with their life because people that is what 685 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,520 the church is it. It's a beautiful mosaic that God 686 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,520 is united together a broken lives, a glorify him. 687 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:46,480 You see, I do not believe for a second that Jesus came and died 688 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:48,760 for a place masquerading as a church. 689 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,120 But it's really a fair sea factory. 690 00:35:52,030 --> 00:35:54,230 And there's a reason why some lamp stands are removed. 691 00:35:56,910 --> 00:36:01,990 And so the last principle that I want you to understand of how we 692 00:36:01,990 --> 00:36:04,150 live out this idea that graces for everyone, that includes 693 00:36:04,150 --> 00:36:07,470 anyone, is this. Acceptance is commanded, but 694 00:36:07,470 --> 00:36:10,310 agreement is optional. You are commanded by God to 695 00:36:10,310 --> 00:36:13,070 accept people. You are not commanded to agree. 696 00:36:13,670 --> 00:36:15,510 Some of you're like, what do you mean by accept, Caleb? 697 00:36:15,510 --> 00:36:19,390 I mean that you love somebody for who they are and where they 698 00:36:19,390 --> 00:36:22,650 are in the moment, no matter what. 699 00:36:23,210 --> 00:36:25,490 But that does not mean you agree with every decision they've 700 00:36:25,490 --> 00:36:29,850 made, their relationships, where they work, their political 701 00:36:29,850 --> 00:36:32,650 views, their opinions. You don't have to agree. 702 00:36:33,050 --> 00:36:36,130 You do have to love them. And if you're not a Christian, I 703 00:36:36,330 --> 00:36:37,810 don't know if this is in the script or not. 704 00:36:37,970 --> 00:36:40,930 Clayton, let's find out. This might be a good reason not 705 00:36:40,930 --> 00:36:44,570 to be a Christian, because when you follow Jesus, you give up 706 00:36:44,570 --> 00:36:47,850 your rights to be indifferent. You give up your rights to be 707 00:36:47,850 --> 00:36:51,140 bitter and unforgiving. You give up your rights to treat 708 00:36:51,140 --> 00:36:53,620 people poorly. You don't get those rights when 709 00:36:53,620 --> 00:36:56,940 you follow Jesus. There's a big difference between 710 00:36:56,940 --> 00:36:59,700 acceptance and agreement, acceptance and affirmation, 711 00:36:59,700 --> 00:37:03,620 acceptance and approval. And so I moved to Southern 712 00:37:03,620 --> 00:37:08,340 California in 1999, back when it was popular to do so and got 713 00:37:08,340 --> 00:37:12,780 married like my wife. She's a lucky lady, I told her. 714 00:37:12,780 --> 00:37:15,420 I said, do you ever know God would bless you so much? 715 00:37:15,420 --> 00:37:17,940 I mean, in your wildest imagination, did you ever know 716 00:37:18,550 --> 00:37:22,030 to your knight in shining armor look like a cross between Grew 717 00:37:22,030 --> 00:37:31,070 Uncle Pester and Doctor Evil? Here, I said, this is your eye 718 00:37:31,070 --> 00:37:35,950 candy you wake up to every morning, she looks at me and she 719 00:37:35,950 --> 00:37:42,110 goes, yay, that you better hope nothing happens to me, because 720 00:37:42,110 --> 00:37:44,150 husband #2 is not going to look like this. 721 00:37:47,310 --> 00:37:50,040 You can tell a lot of our relationship is built on 722 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:54,760 laughter here. And so we moved to Dallas, TX 723 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:56,520 for 3 1/2 years because everybody's got to live in 724 00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:00,280 purgatory at some .0. It was awful. 725 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:06,680 Jerry Jones is there and it's extremely humid, and people 726 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,640 think the Cowboys are still America's team. 727 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,680 And it's like, look, I love living in the 90s as well, but 728 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:21,170 we got to let go, right? Hey, Jimmie Johnson is gone 729 00:38:22,730 --> 00:38:24,410 anyway. You, you live in your world. 730 00:38:24,410 --> 00:38:25,690 You live in your matrix. That's fine. 731 00:38:25,690 --> 00:38:28,050 Your fairy tale. I'm happy for you, Cowboys fans. 732 00:38:28,050 --> 00:38:29,730 You're so precious. All of you. 733 00:38:30,250 --> 00:38:34,210 You're so precious. And so I moved back to Southern 734 00:38:34,210 --> 00:38:37,690 California eventually. I was after 3 1/2 years. 735 00:38:38,010 --> 00:38:40,850 And while I lived in Dallas, TX, both of my parents, they moved 736 00:38:40,850 --> 00:38:42,450 down there to be closer to our family. 737 00:38:42,890 --> 00:38:45,370 My mother's partner had died. They moved down there. 738 00:38:45,610 --> 00:38:47,450 Then they said, can we start attending your church? 739 00:38:47,790 --> 00:38:51,830 And I said my church that I'm the senior pastor of. 740 00:38:51,870 --> 00:38:53,590 And they're like, yeah, I said, you know what? 741 00:38:53,590 --> 00:39:03,710 I preach about relationships. They're like, yeah, I said come 742 00:39:03,710 --> 00:39:06,990 on over. And two weeks before we left to 743 00:39:06,990 --> 00:39:08,030 move back to Southern California. 744 00:39:08,030 --> 00:39:11,510 Two or three before we left, my parents at the ages of 6/9/70 745 00:39:11,830 --> 00:39:13,190 gave their lives to Jesus Christ. 746 00:39:19,060 --> 00:39:21,540 And it wasn't me, it was the church. 747 00:39:21,860 --> 00:39:26,460 And the church knew what they about my parents and they 748 00:39:26,460 --> 00:39:28,340 disagreed with him, but they treated them well. 749 00:39:29,380 --> 00:39:31,620 And because the church treated them well and they treated them 750 00:39:31,620 --> 00:39:37,300 like humans and not like projects, my parents became 751 00:39:37,300 --> 00:39:39,060 Christians. And then in the last year, both 752 00:39:39,060 --> 00:39:40,500 my parents have gone to be with the Lord. 753 00:39:42,340 --> 00:39:45,850 And I just think every time I hear a worship song, they are 754 00:39:45,930 --> 00:39:49,490 standing before the throne of the Lamb and they're 755 00:39:49,490 --> 00:39:58,010 worshipping. Just like it matters what you 756 00:39:58,010 --> 00:40:01,090 believe, it also matters how you treat people. 757 00:40:03,210 --> 00:40:07,290 Never give up on grace, And even when grace feels messy, you just 758 00:40:07,290 --> 00:40:12,650 got to know God provides the opportunity for you. 759 00:40:13,340 --> 00:40:16,020 To have a life altering conversation, the difficult 760 00:40:16,020 --> 00:40:19,260 conversation and grace and truth sometimes, but you've always got 761 00:40:19,260 --> 00:40:24,100 to have grace there and that's what it means to love people and 762 00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:28,820 messy grace and right now we're going to move into a time of 763 00:40:28,820 --> 00:40:35,260 decision. All he's good. 764 00:40:37,220 --> 00:40:40,980 And this is a special moment because I get the opportunity to 765 00:40:40,980 --> 00:40:43,780 have this moment, which I don't get to do very often, with all 766 00:40:43,780 --> 00:40:46,540 of our different locations. And what I want to do is we're 767 00:40:46,540 --> 00:40:48,260 getting ready to close out the services. 768 00:40:48,300 --> 00:40:53,060 I want to remind you that God is not just a God for messy other 769 00:40:53,060 --> 00:40:55,500 people. He's a God for messy people like 770 00:40:55,500 --> 00:40:58,460 you. Every single one of you, you 771 00:40:58,460 --> 00:41:00,940 have your mess that you bring to the table. 772 00:41:01,460 --> 00:41:04,340 And our God, He doesn't compromise on the truth, and he 773 00:41:04,340 --> 00:41:06,380 also doesn't compromise on how he loves us. 774 00:41:07,070 --> 00:41:11,270 What I want to remind you is that the gospel is still good 775 00:41:11,510 --> 00:41:14,550 news. That it is the kind of news that 776 00:41:14,550 --> 00:41:18,030 reaches out to messed up centers just like you and me. 777 00:41:18,270 --> 00:41:21,670 And it shows us a way forward. It shows us a way out. 778 00:41:21,870 --> 00:41:26,190 It shows us a better way. And deep down to the core of our 779 00:41:26,190 --> 00:41:29,510 being, we believe that God's way is the best way. 780 00:41:29,510 --> 00:41:34,070 And that's why we have good news, and it's why we have a 781 00:41:34,070 --> 00:41:36,630 better way to live and love in our world. 782 00:41:37,290 --> 00:41:40,410 And there are some of you today who you have never trusted God's 783 00:41:40,450 --> 00:41:43,050 better way. You've never said, I want to 784 00:41:43,050 --> 00:41:45,490 make Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of my life. 785 00:41:45,770 --> 00:41:48,650 You've never said I want to start an intimate, personal 786 00:41:48,650 --> 00:41:51,090 relationship with him. And for those of you who've been 787 00:41:51,090 --> 00:41:52,770 coming around the crossing for a while, you've heard me talk 788 00:41:52,770 --> 00:41:54,610 about this. But every single week at all of 789 00:41:54,610 --> 00:41:56,490 our different locations, there are people who are joining us 790 00:41:56,490 --> 00:41:58,650 for the very first time. And so would you give me just a 791 00:41:58,650 --> 00:42:02,290 moment to talk to them? My story is this, that the 792 00:42:02,290 --> 00:42:05,450 single greatest decision that I ever made. 793 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,960 Was making Jesus Christ the Lord and savior of my life. 794 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:10,520 And I know what you might be thinking. 795 00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:12,080 Well, yeah, Clayton, you're the preacher. 796 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:13,200 And I'm sure Caleb would agree with me. 797 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,360 But I want you to know is I'm not the only one that that's my 798 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,880 story. In fact, my story is similar to 799 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,880 so many stories in the room that you are in right now. 800 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:24,760 In fact, I'll prove it to you crossing family. 801 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:29,320 If the single greatest decision that you ever made is making 802 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:31,600 Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life, would you put your 803 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,040 hand up? See, I promised you I wasn't 804 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:36,540 lying. His Grace is not just good for 805 00:42:36,540 --> 00:42:39,260 me, it's good for you too. I got to tell you a second 806 00:42:39,260 --> 00:42:40,940 thing. Not only is it the single 807 00:42:40,940 --> 00:42:45,140 greatest decision that I have ever made, my single biggest 808 00:42:45,220 --> 00:42:48,140 regret is that I didn't do it sooner. 809 00:42:48,860 --> 00:42:51,700 Crossing family. If that's your story too, would 810 00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:55,500 you testify? You're thinking, man, I got to 811 00:42:55,500 --> 00:42:59,140 get my life together 1st and then I can start my relationship 812 00:42:59,340 --> 00:43:01,860 with Jesus. No. 813 00:43:03,150 --> 00:43:07,110 If you could save yourself, God wouldn't have sent Jesus. 814 00:43:08,630 --> 00:43:12,510 If you could turn it around, he wouldn't have died on the cross. 815 00:43:13,190 --> 00:43:16,790 If you could fix you, you wouldn't need fixing. 816 00:43:18,630 --> 00:43:22,270 He mentioned the verse in his sermon that while we were still 817 00:43:22,270 --> 00:43:26,890 sinners, Christ died for us. His love is not available to you 818 00:43:26,890 --> 00:43:29,970 once you get it all figured out. His love is not available to you 819 00:43:29,970 --> 00:43:32,490 after you say the right things and believe the right things. 820 00:43:32,650 --> 00:43:36,850 His love is working on your behalf right now, and I think 821 00:43:36,850 --> 00:43:40,250 the reason why he has you here is so you can start that 822 00:43:40,250 --> 00:43:44,450 relationship today. And so at all of our different 823 00:43:44,450 --> 00:43:46,930 locations, in just a moment, the people around you are going to 824 00:43:46,930 --> 00:43:49,490 stand and sing and the band's going to start leading us and 825 00:43:49,490 --> 00:43:51,490 worship. And some people are going to 826 00:43:51,490 --> 00:43:53,290 come up to the steps and they're going to get down and pray. 827 00:43:53,990 --> 00:43:55,310 But if you're here today and you're going, you know what? 828 00:43:55,310 --> 00:43:57,190 I need to turn some stuff over to God. 829 00:43:57,790 --> 00:44:00,830 I need to start the relationship that I desperately been longing 830 00:44:00,830 --> 00:44:03,670 for, that I was destined for. You can make your way to the 831 00:44:03,670 --> 00:44:05,950 right side or the left side of the stage, and there's a 832 00:44:05,950 --> 00:44:07,430 baptistry. And there will be somebody on 833 00:44:07,430 --> 00:44:10,390 staff who would love the opportunity to talk with you to 834 00:44:10,390 --> 00:44:13,030 the rest of you in the room, specifically the Christians. 835 00:44:13,030 --> 00:44:14,550 Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. 836 00:44:15,230 --> 00:44:18,270 Would you join me in spending a little bit of time at the steps, 837 00:44:19,110 --> 00:44:21,370 praying? That not only would we do a 838 00:44:21,370 --> 00:44:24,570 better job of knowing our scriptures so we know what God's 839 00:44:24,570 --> 00:44:28,210 best way is, but that he would also give us His spirit and His 840 00:44:28,210 --> 00:44:31,890 strength to live that best way and to treat people that best 841 00:44:31,890 --> 00:44:33,490 way. Maybe there's people that you 842 00:44:33,490 --> 00:44:37,490 care about, people that you love, that you desperately want 843 00:44:37,490 --> 00:44:39,170 to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. 844 00:44:39,170 --> 00:44:41,330 Would you pray that God would use you and open up 845 00:44:41,330 --> 00:44:44,290 opportunities and doors for you to have those conversations? 846 00:44:45,050 --> 00:44:47,010 Maybe you're the kind of person who wants to see your workplace, 847 00:44:47,010 --> 00:44:50,410 your school, your environment, your family changed that. 848 00:44:50,410 --> 00:44:53,570 God would use His Holy Spirit to transform you in such a way 849 00:44:53,570 --> 00:44:57,650 where you live in a way that draws them closer to Jesus. 850 00:44:58,370 --> 00:45:00,130 Because one of the best testimonies that you can ever 851 00:45:00,130 --> 00:45:03,130 give somebody is a transformed life right in front of them. 852 00:45:03,610 --> 00:45:05,250 And what if God wants to use you? 853 00:45:05,730 --> 00:45:08,090 Would you guys stand with me, Heavenly Father? 854 00:45:08,090 --> 00:45:10,610 I'm believing that you're going to do big things in this church 855 00:45:10,610 --> 00:45:13,020 this weekend. That there are people who are 856 00:45:13,020 --> 00:45:15,460 going to drop off things that they've carried for way too 857 00:45:15,460 --> 00:45:17,660 long. That people are going to pick up 858 00:45:17,660 --> 00:45:20,340 the call to be the people you have called them to be. 859 00:45:20,340 --> 00:45:23,580 That they're going to live the life that you destined for them 860 00:45:23,580 --> 00:45:25,820 to be. But, God, we know that we can't 861 00:45:25,820 --> 00:45:29,340 do this life and do the things that you've called us to. 862 00:45:29,340 --> 00:45:31,740 On our own power and on our own strength. 863 00:45:32,460 --> 00:45:33,900 We're going to need your Holy Spirit. 864 00:45:35,060 --> 00:45:38,060 And so God, bring about a transformation in us. 865 00:45:38,060 --> 00:45:40,700 In your name, I pray. Amen.