Morning, how we doing? My name is Daniel.
I'm one of the lead pastors here at Resurrection Church.
I have a privilege today to introduce someone to you.
So the first time someone preaches at our church, we take
a moment to introduce them to you in case you don't know them
yet. And so I'm going to, in just a
second, get to introduce and then pray over somebody who's
going to preach here for the first time.
Let me say this. We believe at this church that
every single person who's called to this church, regardless of of
what you think of yourself or your own talents or your own
spiritual gifts, has a calling in ministry for the Lord.
It's the only reason that God saved you and left you here and
didn't take you home. And so you may not know what
that is right now. You may not feel like you know
what that is, but we believe that God has a call on your life
and that there is a place to serve in the context of this
church and in this city. And, and maybe who, who knows
what's after that as you are sensitive to the work of the
Holy Spirit. And I'm telling you this one
because man, it is my heart that you, you get engaged and
beginning to use your gifts, your talents, your energy, your
money and the, and the spiritual gifts that God gave you for the
glory of God. And I'm, and I'm telling you
that secondly, because 2 1/2 years ago, nobody in their right
mind would have believed that Sean was going to preach today,
nobody but God, because this is who our God is.
This is at at the very center of the character of God is that he
takes those of us that do not deserve it, they could not earn
it, that are not qualified for it.
And he does magnificent things through that.
And so will you put your hands together and welcome my good
friend Sean Stevens. We're going to pray.
Will you lift your hands? If you if you would?
And we're going to pray over Sean today for the guy.
We thank you for Sean. I thank you for JCI.
Thank you for their their children and their extended
family and all the people you've impacted through the testimony
of the Stevens and Father. God, I thank you for the
redemptive work that you do in each of our lives.
But particularly I thank you for the privilege of us getting to
walk with and watch and witness your work in Sean's life.
So we lift before you, Sean, as he brings your word today.
God, will your spirit fall mightily in this place?
Will you give us active ears to hear?
And will you give us soft hearts to receive in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Morning.
I mean, I didn't think I was going to cry before I got up
here. Hey, my name is Shawn Stevens.
I'm a small group leader also on the teaching team here at res
Man, it is a it is a pleasure to be up here Resurrection Church.
This location has meant so much to me even before it was rez
when it was Calvary Bible. I've got a lot of roots where
the Lord has done a lot of good work in my life here.
So it really is an honor to be up here with you.
If you have your Bible, we're going to be in John chapter 10,
verses 22 through 30, John 1022 through 30.
We're going to continue in the God is Good series and we're
going to be looking at Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
So as you turn there, I'll give you a little backdrop on who I
am. I've known the the Lord for
about 13 years, 1213 years. I gave my life to Jesus in 2013.
And what I believe about Jesus in this moment that he is he's
good, He's for me, that I can be satisfied in him, that he has a
plan and a hope and a future for my life has not been something
that I have always believed. It may surprise you, but I am an
addict. Hi, my name is Sean and I'm an
addict. I was, I was addicted to pain
pills at 16 years old. I found heroin.
I think 18 or 19, 22 years old I was breaking into homes to
support my addiction. Full blown alcoholic at that
time as well. I had been jumping from house to
house, living with different friends in different
communities, homeless in my car for a little bit, then back to
my parents and back to from back to my parents in this cycle
perpetuated itself for about a decade.
And then I'm back at my parents house when I'm 26 years old and
in 2013 living in a shed in their backyard.
What a blessing. And wouldn't you know, there
came a a knock at my parents front door and I don't know who
answered it, whether it was my mom or my dad, but it was a Teen
Challenge fundraiser. And I don't know if you know
anything about Teen Challenge, but I see a couple of hands
going Teen Challenge. Teen Challenge is a Christian
ministry that that focuses on liberating people from addiction
and having them to get to know Jesus.
I knew exactly who they were. I was not a believer.
I didn't know who Jesus was. I didn't know really anything
about Christianity. But I went out there and talked
to this guy and this moment in my life was foundational for me.
Just to let you know about addicts is they're not easy to
talk to. May sound surprising, but an
addict really has to be in a place of utter brokenness to
kind of accept wisdom in their life.
But I went out there and I talked to this guy and his name
was James, and he leaned into my life.
He didn't look down at me or through me, but he just left me
with a little bit of hope. I mean, I had track marks on my
arms, I had alcohol on my breath.
I had a cigarette in my hand. I was suicidal, I was depressed.
I had given up on life. I had so much potential when I
was younger, so much hope for my future, and all of it was gone.
So I go out there thinking, man, I will do anything to change.
I will do anything. And he just says, brother,
there's a place that you can go, you can get sober, you can find
God in your life. We had a little conversation and
he left and he said, hey, Jesus loves you.
I love you. I hope that I can see you out at
Teen Challenge one day. So I go in and tell my parents
like, hey, listen, I'm going to go to Shafter to get sober.
I'm living in a shed in their backyard.
They could have been like, dude, if you got to go to Milwaukee,
go, just go. So that's what I did is I left a
Teen Challenge and once again, no idea of who Jesus was.
The only thing that I believed was true about Christians is
that when you become a Christian, life gets really
easy. Is that not true?
Life gets real life. You got some money in the bank,
you got a house, you got a car. All of your problems go away.
And to my surprise, this didn't happen.
I continue to struggle with worry, with doubt, with fear,
with insecurity about my future. I mean all of these feelings of
shame and guilt. I found myself in this place
going God. Why aren't things different?
The problem was that my expectation of who Jesus was
wasn't the real Jesus that I had crafted for myself.
A God that would change my circumstances but not change me.
And that's the big idea, if you're taking notes today, is
that Jesus cannot change my life while I'm busy creating him.
John 10, verses 22 through 30. It says at the time the feast of
dedication took place in Jerusalem, it was winter and
Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will
you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told
you. And you do not believe the works
that I do in my Father's name. They bear witness about me, but
you do not believe, because you are not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them.
They follow me. I give them eternal life.
They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of
my hand. The Father who has given them to
me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them
out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.
So here we find Jesus. He's in the colonnade of
Solomon. So at the Feast of Dedication,
in Hebrew, the word dedication literally means Hanukkah.
So it is the celebration of Hanukkah for the Jewish people.
And they're celebrating when the temple was rededicated 200 years
earlier. So what they're doing is they're
looking at God's covenantal faithfulness, that God is the
Redeemer, that God is the Savior.
But mainly what they're looking for is a Messiah to come is that
at this time the Jewish people were not living in a Free State.
It was controlled by the Roman government, heavy Roman
taxation. There was military control,
there was political presence. And the expectations of the
Messiah at that time would be a military Messiah king that would
come and liberate the Jewish people is that, hey, there are
four foreign oppressors in our land.
Jewish sovereignty is not here. We need to cleanse that.
It was Rambo. They were looking for Rambo
Jesus to roll in headband, Bowie knife, blood of the I don't know
why, but I have this like vision that it's like a buff lamb.
He's riding on and the lamb has a Bowie knife and a headband on
and he's coming in to like crush the Romans.
But that was their anticipation as they said, hey, we need
someone to come in and free us from our situation.
And earlier in John chapter 10, before we get to where we're at
right now in 22, what we're seeing is Jesus was doing what
Jesus does. He goes in and he starts to
rebuke the religious elite, the Pharisees, the scribes.
And he's saying you had one job to do, which is to tend to the
flock of God, to the people of God, and to lead them into a
relationship with the Father. But instead they were expecting
Jesus to give them more. It was more authority, it was
more power, it was more status. They took this holy and selfless
calling that God had on their life, and they made it into a
means of gathering wealth and power.
Listen to what Jesus says in John 1013 and 14.
He says he who is a hired hand, Speaking of the Pharisees and
not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming
and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf snatches them and
scatters them. He flees because he has a hired
hand and he cares nothing for the sheep.
Once again embracing selfish, selfish ambition in their life
and not caring for the flock of God.
And then we pick up in John 10/24.
This is what Jesus says that they are responding to Jesus.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will
you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us
plainly, Jesus, we've seen you, you're you're going around,
you're doing miracles. Everyone's talking about that.
You might be the Messiah. I heard that you're doing some
cool things, but are you the guy that we're looking for?
This is The thing is that's not a question at all.
That word gathered here that we see that they gathered around
him. It's not the gathering that
we're going to do. Some of you are going to be
gathering at the sugar mill after this.
It's not the way that the youth gather for pizza before they go
into the youth youth youth service.
The word gathered here literally means to him and to surround, to
enclose. So this isn't a friendly
gathering. They are circling in on Jesus.
In this moment they felt threatened, they felt like their
expectations of the Messiah were not being met.
They were looking for what Jesus could offer them.
They had invented a Jesus that had come to give them more and
they were not seeing the true reason why he was there.
And this is the thing, we do the same, same thing all the time.
We fall into the same exact or is it just me?
Am I the only one? I got these lights in my eyes
right now, but we fall into the same position that Jesus I will
believe that you are the Messiah if you finally restore my health
or Jesus all believe that you are the Messiah.
If this promotion that I have been waiting for forever.
I can barely ends make ends meet.
If you meet this need then you will be the Messiah or something
I've struggled with for a long time.
Jesus all believe that you're the Messiah.
If I don't have to give up control in my life, can I just
hold on to this one thing? I'll call you Lord.
I'll go to church, I'll check the boxes.
But submission, that's hard to do.
We fall into the same position. I found myself in Teen Challenge
in 2013 and things were getting better.
I mean, it was looking good for me.
I mean, I had clear eyes for the first time.
Track marks are gone. I had sobriety for three or four
months. That's the That's the first time
in a decade that I could pass a drug test.
It was exciting. But with all of that came these
emotions. 10 full years of suppressed emotions.
The shame, the guilt, the overwhelming feeling of
uncertainty about my future. And now the frustration was I'm
26 years old and I'm living in a community room with a bunch of
strangers. These two guys haven't showered
in four days. I can smell their feet right
now. I still, it's like a trauma
response. I can still smell their feet.
I'm like, oh God, I find myself in this position where I'm like,
Jesus, I'm a believer now I'm three months sober.
Why aren't my parents telling me to to come back?
Why can't I find the the perfect job?
I'm 26. Don't you want me to be able to
provide for myself to have these good things, all of this guilt?
Aren't you supposed to get rid of all of this stuff?
I wanted to know what Jesus could do for me.
And if I truly understood what Jesus desired to do in my life
today, I would be 12 years sober.
But I'm not today. I'm two years sober because I
wasn't. Praise God.
But the issue is that I wasn't addressing.
The real need is that my situation didn't need to change.
I needed to change that. We need to allow the Lord to
change us. But I can't have Jesus change my
life while I'm busy creating him.
But here's the wonderful news. Jesus knows us, family.
He knows you. You know how you feel like you
know your wife. Sometimes you're like, I know
it, like Jesus knows her more. Jesus knows your kids, Jesus
knows where you're at. Jesus knows that we're selfish
little creatures that have misguided prayers and an agenda
when we come to him. But as a father with his
children, he still, I mean, I've got a, a four year old daughter,
junior, 4-4 years old, and she the last couple of days just
been walking around the house talking about popsicles and it's
like really ambiguous too. Like there's no kind of like
point. She just like no popsicle, no
popsicle. So finally I go, what's up with
the popsicle? Listen to how this girl
responds. She says that's a great idea.
That's a great, that's a dad, dad, that's a great idea.
We should definitely go get a popsicle.
I'm like bro, a PhD in gaslighting this girl.
Like get into politics immediately, you're going to
kill it. But as her father, I love her
through it. I know she comes with an agenda.
I know she wants to to get her way at any cost.
And I still have a plan for her life.
And Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the good news is that he still
desires to tend to your actual needs.
So what are the needs that Jesus intends to meet in our lives?
One, Jesus offers us security. About six months ago, I got
offered AI got offered a position with a company that I
was working for to move to Texas.
I mean, it was like a, it was a cool offer.
I mean, I have been poor most of my life and in and out of
addiction and I'm, I'm doing really well in this job.
And this company says, hey, Sean, this is what we want to do
for you. We want to move you and your
family out. We're going to pay for plane
tickets. We're going to literally get a
truck for you and, and move all your stuff, drive it over to to
Texas. And by the way, here is your
sign on bonus and that number. I've been poor my whole life
that it could have been $1,000,000 on the page.
It was life changing money, absolutely life changing.
So me, I start to scheme. I'm like, clearly this is from
the Lord. Obviously you see how many zeros
are behind that number. Wow.
And I got some friends over there too.
And they, they love Jesus a little bit.
And there's this one big church there.
And definitely it has to be from God.
I've made so many impulsive decisions in my life.
I knew better to do that. So what did I do is I, I took it
to my men's group. We meet every Friday morning
totally willingly, by the way, No reluctantly, I did not want
to do it, but I brought it to them and I bring it to them and
I'm, and I'm trying to explain how it's a good thing.
And I think like this is from the Lord and, and in their
wisdom, they love Jesus so much. They're so wise.
They love me so well. They go, hey, let's, let's put a
pin in this and let's wait a week.
Let's pray about it. So a week later we go back and
I'm sitting in the room and I'm like, this is it.
I'm moving to Texas. I'm ready.
I'm going to have money. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Resounding no in the room. I received it and it was great.
Hooray. I left the room clapping and
jumping in joy. Now I was frustrated, beyond
frustrated. I had worked so hard in my life.
I was 18 months sober. I'm a good husband, I am a good
father. I'm serving my community.
I am doing everything that I am supposed to do.
Can I get any kind of semblance of financial freedom in my life?
God, everything is how it is supposed to be and I feel like I
am not getting blessed. Have you been there, Lord?
Can I be able to pay for my kids to go to Res Mania without a
scholarship from the church? Have you been there where
everything is going right in your life and Jesus doesn't move
to where you begin to think God owes you something or God is
wrong in the situation? You know, that morning when we
made that decision, one of the guys asked me a question.
He said, Sean, what would you say to a guy who's 18 months
sober, who the Lord is? The the Lord is freshly
restoring his marriage, that God is blessing their family in ways
that are incomprehendible and they were going to uproot
everything and move to Texas. What would you say to that
person? Well, well, Daniel, Dave, I'm
outing my men's group. They're like, don't do it.
That's silly. I'd say that's an unwise
decision. Fast forward now, the company
that I would have went to Texas and worked for is not doing
well. The industry has completely
changed and I'm realizing that what I demanded of God then was
a blessing and what I see now He gave me was protection.
God knows what's best for us family.
He knows where you're at, where you got to look at the Chase app
every day and go, well, Nope, still not in there, dear Lord.
Or that the car issues that just never stop.
You're saving up money back in the shop, back in the shop.
God knows where we're at. He knows what we need.
Security is a good thing to desire.
It is good to be wise. It's good to work hard.
It's good. It's good to desire nice things.
But things can change in a moment.
Your health 1 diagnosis and the security of that health is gone.
The job that you've worked at for 30 years and all of a sudden
you're laid off. It can happen in an instant.
Everything can change. What cannot change is the
security that we find in Jesus the Good Shepherd is that he
promises to be with us no matter what is happening in our life.
Listen to what it says in John 1027.
It says my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.
We follow Jesus. We're walking with Jesus.
He promises to be with us. Psalm 23 Four.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
and adversity and confusion and weariness and depression,
feeling isolated, I will fear no evil.
For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they
comfort me. The Good Shepherd promises that
he will be with us and He will comfort us no matter what we are
going through in our life. Jesus offers US security number
2. Jesus offers us satisfaction.
Needless to say, satisfaction has been a constant battle in my
life. Remaining satisfied, like I
said, I am. I'm actually two years, two
months, and two days sober today.
Praise God. Yep.
Listen, family, it ain't me. By the grace of God, I stand
here today. But two years, three months ago,
2 1/2 years ago, as Daniel was saying, the bottom fell out of
everything where I was at. 2 1/2 years ago I was was a heroin
addict, then 2 two years three months ago fully addicted to
meth, only drinking vodka all day long, little bit of water.
When I felt my body shutting down I quit a career job paying
me $80,000 a year. I had a 2 year old daughter.
We were about to get evicted from our apartment.
My wife is 7 months pregnant. She's divorcing me and there are
two plane tickets to move to South Carolina with her father
in her e-mail. That's my situation by the grace
of God. Mariana Morgan realizes, man, I
haven't seen JC in a while. I'm going to give her a call,
Calls JC. JC explains the situation that's
going on. And then I get the call that
everybody wants to get. Your head pastor is calling you
as I'm homeless in my car. Daniel just says, hey, we need
to meet up. Let's meet at the church office.
We need to talk about some things.
I sat there with the elders, some other people who had
battled addiction and and found recovery and sobriety, and I'm
talking with them and it's that moment that I had to ask myself,
what satisfies you? You tried to find the
satisfaction 10 years ago doing the same exact thing.
Is it more alcohol? I know some of you in this room
struggle with alcohol, and I just want to let you know that
Jesus has so much more for your life.
This isn't in the sermon, by the way.
I just feel God loves you so much.
God had to speak to me in that moment.
Sean, is it more alcohol? Is it more drugs?
Is it more porn? Is it more immorality?
Is it more debauchery? What?
What do you need? There's a verse in Psalm 23 that
says he makes me lie down in green pastures.
Sounds amazing. So I get to lay down in green
pastures. It ain't an invitation.
Jesus didn't ask me. Hey, Sean, if you're willing,
maybe would you consider there's a a nice shade tree and there's
this fluffy grass under there and I think you need to take a
break. Can you please go lay down?
The Lord made me lie down. I was running off a Cliff.
And he said, all right, time to take a break.
And that's what the Good Shepherd does in our life, is
that he wants to ask us where we find our satisfaction.
I get that most of you guys ain't hanging out with homeless
people behind Walmart, but the Lord is asking you in this
moment, where does your treasure lie?
Where does your treasure lie today?
Is it in possessions? Is it the cars?
Is it the toys? Is it the big house?
Is it the vacation? Is that where you are trying to
find your fulfillment? Is it in your position?
I think of a lot of youth. They go, man, I'm only in junior
high, I'm only in high school. I can serve the Lord later.
Or what about time? There is a lot of seasoned
Saints in this room, a lot of people that are in the latter
stages of their life. You've worked hard, you've
sacrificed a lot, and you may be holding time as your treasure
that you want to control it. This is mine now.
I don't want to give this up. The problem always lies in that
when we put our treasure in created things, they are going
to continue to let us down over and over and over, even if
things are going well. Have you been in a position like
that where like all is good, yet you just still not content?
You're like, why? I mean, look at my 2025 Denali
HDAT 4 Super X, whatever triple Z truck that you have.
Why am I not finding satisfaction?
We go to Lake Tahoe every every July in our family.
And it is it's a fun trip. It's it's super relaxing.
It's great. We love to do it.
And I know that we get ready for this trip.
It's it's June, it's starting to get hot in Bakersfield.
We're like, hey, we're leaving in six weeks and then it's two
weeks and then it's like, hey, it's right around the corner.
It's tomorrow. We're leaving and we pack the
kids up and you know all of their snacks and we get their
drinks and then our snacks and our drinks.
Then we take the kids pee 20 times before we leave, yet they
still have to pee 10 minutes after we leave.
And then you're leaving Bakersfield and you're looking
at the weather app. You're like, it's 157° in
Bakersfield right now and you're going up the five.
You get to Tahoe, 72°. It's, it's so beautiful.
Unpack the stuff in the hotel, you just, you're, you're just
chilling. You get the kids to the beach,
the sunscreen, the umbrella, you get your drinks and then you sit
there and after about two minutes you go.
It's nice. I mean, it's it's good, but it
doesn't completely fulfill when we try to look to these things
for fulfilment, the eternal weight of our fulfilment and we
try to have created things fill that it's going to let us down
over and over and over. So what do we do?
Do we continue to look to these moments, to these things, or
could there be something more to satisfy our soul?
Look at Matthew 621. It says for where your treasure
is, there your heart will also be.
Jesus always comes for the heart.
Jesus wants our heart. He wants us.
He wants us to to be made into the person that he has created.
And he ultimately wants to offer us satisfaction and #3 Jesus
offers us salvation down to John 1028.
It says I give them eternal life.
They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of
my hand. The Father has given them to me
is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch
them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one the
ultimate gift of God in our lives.
The ultimate need of humanity is not merely the ability to feel
secure or satisfied. It is God himself is that Jesus
wants to have a relationship with you.
That is the ultimate need that we have.
And that is the claim that Jesus is making in John chapter 10.
It's the claim he's making in this room to your hearts right
now is yes, I'm Messiah, yes, you can trust me, yes, I'm
Saviour and yes, I am God. And I want to shepherd your
soul. And that's what we need to ask
ourselves today is that do we want to allow Jesus to shepherd
our soul? Because there's other people in
John chapter 10 who had witnessed the miracles of God,
the withered hands healed, the demons exercised, the leprosy
gone in an instant, the 5000 people fed.
Yet some of them were still saying Jesus, But what about my
Kingdom? But what about me?
What about my pleasures, my preferences, my desires?
If you don't meet those, then you are not Messiah.
Jesus would ask, what other proof do you need in your life?
Is it the historical evidence that Christianity is real, that
the resurrection happened, that there's countless miracles that
were performed? Is it that lives have been
radically changed? Is it that all of the apostles
died a brutal death and had nothing to gain from it?
Jesus asks us today, what other proof do you need?
So how will we respond? Will we respond like religious
leaders saying, Jesus, how long are you going to keep us in
suspense? Or will we respond like sheep
who merely hear and follow and that Jesus is offering us
security and satisfaction. So how do we experience these
things? Security and satisfaction,
Little application points #1 allow the Lord to minister to
you. Allow him to minister to you.
I use Jesus as a bungee cord in my life family.
I'm I'm two, 2 1/2 years sober ish.
Sometimes I still see a Cliff in my mind and I'm like time to run
off that Cliff. And sometimes I do.
And as I'm falling in these intrusive thoughts and
everything is hopeless and why even try as I'm falling, I look
back up and I go Jesus, I'm secure in Jesus.
I'm satisfied in Jesus. My identity is founded in Jesus
and then I bungee back up and I land next to Jesus and he's like
you going to keep doing this over and over and over again.
Why are we doing this over the last month?
We live at the Manor where my Manor people at right now and we
go my wife and I live at the Manor, the church apart
apartments right over here. And over the last month, we've
had some very unfortunate circumstances that have happened
to our car. So about 3-4 weeks ago, we had
two tires slashed on one car and we had one tire slashed on
another car. And then on Thursday, I wake up
and my driver side window is busted out of the car.
And we're trying to save up money, we're trying to be
responsible. And these things continue to
happen. I'm like, Lord, can we get a
break? So I'm driving to Chase to pull
money out to pay for this window and I sit in the car and my eyes
are just filled with tears and I'm furious and I'm so confused
and I just don't understand. So I stop and I just allow the
Lord to minister to my heart in that moment.
And it may look different for each one of us.
I know mine is prayer and a lot of times it's angry prayer.
Family, can I tell you that God is big enough for you to get
angry with them? Get angry.
It's OK. My daughter yells at me every
day. Seriously, she's something else.
That girl, the popsicles, like what?
But I love her and I want her to bring those prayers to me.
I want her to talk to me. Our Father wants us to talk to
him. Is it prayer on how the Lord
ministers to you? Is it worship?
Is it just blaring A Hillsong song and just, I mean letting
the Lord minister? Is it calling that friend who is
the superhero of affirmation in your life?
We all need that person. They just show up and they're
like, you're blessed, you're doing great.
You actually keep up the good work.
Who do you have in your life that can speak that security
over you? They can look at you and say,
hey, you're a child of God. Guess what?
A window might get busted out next week.
You're a child of God. Everything might fall apart.
You're a child of God. You might be taking the GET bus
coming up soon. You're a child of God.
You are secure in him. Allow the Lord to minister to
you #2 recount the blessings. I have to recount the blessings
every day. Lord, speak these truths over my
life on how you've showed up in miraculous ways.
Recount the blessings, America, the land of prosperity, the land
of wealth, and we're not satisfied.
I have to let the Lord speak satisfaction into my heart.
And I would ask you today is that if nothing were to change
in your life, if everything stayed the same, the hardship
that you're in right now, if it all just stayed, would you still
be satisfied in Jesus? And if no, ask the Lord to find
your satisfaction in Him, and He will give it to you.
But I have to repeat these things all day.
I have acted like a child most of my life, yet the Lord has
blessed me with children that I get to steward these beautiful
little babies. I can't even look at my wife
right now. I have a beautiful wife.
She should be in South Carolina. I should be homeless, but God
being rich in mercy with the love that He has for us, He sent
his Son to die on a cross that I find satisfaction in Him.
Recount the blessings in your life and salvation.
There's only one step practical application to salvation and
it's this. Jesus loves you so much and you
know how I know is because if unlovable was a category to
Jesus. I've checked all the boxes and I
am so loved by him today and so are you.
He wants to be in a relationship with you.
He lived a perfect life for you. He died a brutal death for you.
He rose on the third day so we can embrace forgiveness and
redemption. He loves us and I want to give
you that opportunity today. I know that there are people in
this room that you have maybe never been in a church before
and this concept and idea of Jesus doesn't even make sense.
It didn't for me 12 years ago. But I know that the Good
Shepherd of all of heaven and all of earth has his eyes locked
on you in this moment. And he is saying, son or
daughter, let today be the day. Let today be the day where you
embrace me. He wants to love you.
So if you would, we're going to bow our heads.
This is what the Bible would tell us.
The Bible would tell us that God designed us to live in a
relationship with Him, but our sin has broken that connection
and that through Jesus life, death and resurrection that we
can have new life when we believe in Him.
If you feel that pressing on your heart in this moment, that
invitation, we want to give you the opportunity to accept Jesus.
So if you would just repeat after me, Father, I know that I
was created to be in a relationship with you.
I know I cannot do this on my own.
Today I look to your son Jesus, his perfect life, his death and
his resurrection for the forgiveness of my sins.
Today, God, I embrace new life with Jesus.
I thank you for giving me the faith to believe in Jesus name,
Amen. And with every head bowed, every
eye closed, still, if you prayed that prayer for the first time,
can you be courageous in Jesus and raise your hand for me?
Thank you Lord, thank you. In Jesus name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the
family of God. Family, would you please stand
with me? We're going to enter into a time
of worship and prayer. Our prayer team is actually
going to be coming up right now. We want to pray for you.
We want you to encounter the love of Jesus in your life.
We know that we bring burdens, we bring hardships, we bring
troubles into church every single day, and God wants to
speak to those troubles. So if you feel called, please
come up for prayer. You move as the Lord leads.