Commercial Christianity (Part 3) Jesus + Follow Your Heart

Transcription

1 Commercial Christianity (Part 3) Jesus + Follow Your Heart Pastor Wes Aarum August 21, 2016 Hey, good morning. My name is Wes and I'm the College and Young Adult Pastor here at The Chapel. And I have the honor and the privilege of being able to share God's Word with you today. Always exciting, because most Sundays I sit right where you're sitting right now. In fact, I typically hang out in the East Worship Center over there, and I'm just enjoying the worship. Can we say thank you to the Worship band and the people who led us this morning? To the tech people who made it possible, so much goes into just presenting this opportunity so that we can worship together, and I get to sit under great teaching just like you. But there are some moments, some Sundays when I come to my seat, and I've got a million things going on in my head, in my heart and if I'm not careful, if I don't push, pause and push those things to the side, then I can miss some of what God has for me that day, in that moment. And I don't want us to miss what God has to say to us because here's what I know about the Word of God, it's what I believe, what I've found to be true in my own life. God's Word is perfect, it is flawless, okay, it is tried, it is pure. That means there's nothing I can do to make this book more powerful.

2 There's nothing I can do to make it bigger or stronger. It is all of that and more on it's own. And so God simply wants us to have ears to hear so that we can receive what He has for you. He has something for you today. He didn't just accidentally bring you here, He has something He wants to speak to you about personally. He knows what's going on in your head and your heart and He knows what your day holds for you. He knows what next week holds for you. He knows all that and He wants to speak into our lives that knowledge. We only get so many spins on this planet and God wants to make them all count, so if we'll have ears to hear I believe He wants to say something to us that is really pretty spectacular but it's up to us if we'll listen, so I'm going to ask you to do what I ask my college kids to do each week when I get a chance to speak to them is that you'll pray with me and we'll ask God together to speak to us. You don't need to hear from me, I've got nothing that can change you life. But God does. So I'm going to invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes if you would please just for a moment. Just silently, just say God, give me ears to hear, I want everything that you have for me today. If you would just pray something like that, just lean in and pray something like that. And if you would, please pray for me that God would help me to speak His truth accurately. Thank you. Heavenly Father, we bow before you, we acknowledge your greatness, you're incredible. Lord, thanks for gathering us in this place even though this time will be brief, Lord you have plans for it. Holy Spirit, thank you for

3 the help that you will give me to communicate your truth. Lord, give us ears to hear and hearts to obey. Lord, thank you. Jesus thank you for the cross, for your death, your burial, your resurrection. Thank you for your love. Speak to us now, for your glory, for your goodness we'll thank you. In your name we pray these things Christ. Amen. If you have your bibles, please open up to Proverbs chapter 3. This text that we're going to look at in just a few moments will not be on the screen, so grab your bible, if you have it on your electronic device, Proverbs chapter 3. We have bibles there in front of you or if you feel friendly you can get close to someone and look on with them. That's totally cool. We're family here, so that's good. Proverbs chapter 3. We're going to be there in just a moment. We're in a series called 'Commercial Christianity, Jesus plus... I'm going to move this mike or I'm going to end up hitting it. There we go, alright. That'd be fun though. That'd be a YouTube video right there. Okay. Don't judge me. Okay. Commercial Christianity - Jesus plus something. And that something we're going to look at today is a belief that has been embraced by literally billions of people. Yeah. It is so hardwired and ingrained into our culture that to question it is almost tantamount to sin. Alright. You'll find it all over the place. It is viewed as being beautiful and liberating. And what is this commandment, this creed of our times that we're told this is what you need to listen to and this is what you need to do? Three words, "Follow Your Heart". Follow your heart. Man, it shows up all over the place.

4 Let me give you a couple of examples, someplace you'll see it. It's quoted by famous people, Steve Jobs. "Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become." It adorns our walls in our homes, we've frame it and put it on our walls. Isn't that beautiful? Cursive, by a rose. So beautiful, beautiful. Alright? We fashion it into jewelry that we wear and that we let everyone see. And oh, boy isn't this wonderful? We even ink it onto our bodies, some of us, we love it so much. And if that's not enough, Mickey and his friends give it a hearty "yes", this is what you need to do. Follow your heart. Some of you are going hey I was at that show. Okay, good. Right? We see it almost everywhere. It is a philosophy, it's a philosophy that proclaims that your heart is a true and reliable guide of what you really want and need in life, and if you follow it it will lead you to the life that you want, a life of happiness and a life of genuine fulfillment. So follow your heart. It sounds so nice. So real. So authentic. So wonderful. And it's some of the worst advice you'll ever get in your entire life. It's awful. Now I know, some of you are thinking right now, I can't believe I came to church for this. Really? I came here through the weather to hear Pastor Jerry and I got this guy? Really? I mean look at him. Look at his hair, he doesn't even know what he's doing with his hair for crying out loud. He thinks he's a surfer, he's surfed Buffalo? That's, he was probably backstage vaping before he came out here. Alright. You guys are way better than nine o'clock. Nine o'clock probably thought I was doing that. okay. So, just to set the record straight, I don't vape, okay. My hair, it's still in the research

5 stage, so pray for me. I've tried to surf before. I like it, I'm not very good at it. Okay? You don't catch a lot of waves here in Buffalo. I get that. But here, listen, this is what I'll promise you. I'll make you this promise, we don't have a lot of time but we're going to get after it. Here's what I promise you. We're going to take a look at that phrase. We're going to press it up against the Bible. We're going to look at it biblically and if you stay with me I promise you that we are going to land in a place that is absolutely terrific. So let's start by defining our terms a little bit, okay? Follow your heart. What do we mean when we hear that used. What do we mean by the word heart? Essentially we're talking about our desires. Our wants, our feelings, our desires as being in being in the seat of authority in our lives when it comes to how we make decisions. Our desires are in the driver's seat. I'm going to give you three reasons today why that, that is trouble with a capital T. It's trouble. Let me give you reason number one. Because your desires can't tell you if they're right. They can't tell you if they're right. They can tell you that they're real, but they can't tell you if they're right. How do you know that your feelings are telling you the right thing. Well, I just feel that they are. Okay, so your feelings are telling you that your feelings are right. Huh, look it. Here's what I think I know about you. Because I know this about me. I'm really good at self-deception. I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm really good at deceiving myself. If I want something bad enough, I can

6 figure out a way to talk myself into it. I bet you can too. In fact, I'll bet you have. Let's do a little quiz, okay? All of us here in this auditorium and the East Worship Center, those, Lockport, Cheektowaga, our online campus, our pajama campus, okay? Not really a thing, not really a thing, okay. Here let's take a little quiz. How many of you have ever eaten something, you've eaten something that you knew probably wasn't good for you, probably shouldn't have had it, you know it's like ahh, I don't think, you know, I don't need it, but you went ahead and you ate it anyway because you wanted to. Look around, keep them up, keep them up. Look around. Thank you. Some of you didn't raise your hand. Liars. You sit on the throne of lies. Yeah, right? How many of you have ever had a donut? Donut, donut people. Yeah. You don't need a donut. You never need a donut. I'm not banging on donuts. I love donuts, but let's be honest. There's never going to be a scenario in your life where you look at that thing and you go, I have to have this or I'm going to die. It's not going to happen. It's not packed with life-giving nutrients, okay? No one's every going to walk up to you and go hey, have you lost weight? Yeah, I dropped twenty pounds on that Krispy Kreme diet. Those words are never coming out of your mouth, man. It ain't happening, right? And yet, and yet you go to your donut shop, your favorite donut shop, whatever it is, you know, if it's you know, Tim Horton's, you know, Dunkin', Paula's, Krispy Kreme in your area, if you ever make that trip, not that I have. You go in there to that den of temptation and there they are just laid right out, right? If you're at Krispy Kreme they're coming off the

7 racks, man, you're looking at them, oh, ho, ho, right? And you know what you tell yourself? I don't need that. It doesn't matter, you want it. You want it. So, internal dialogue starts, a little self-deception begins. You go, you know what? Okay, it's pretty small and it has a hole in it, right, so there's nothing there. So, I'll just have one, and you think I can walk it off. Oh, wait a minute, I have a Fitbit. I know, I'll be able to track how many steps I take, how long it will take me to walk that donut. This is a health experiment, that's what this is. That's a good move. And then all of a sudden you think wait, I've walked a lot already today. I can have two. And I'll combo it with a diet Coke, they'll cancel each other out, bonus! Right? And you stand there basking in the glory of your good stewardship. So proud of yourself, right? And if you're a real pro, you'll use Scripture. Oh yeah, oh, yeah. Too close? Am I getting too close? Too soon? Yeah, yeah, hey what was that verse we just learned in our Circle Group? Oh what was it, 1 Timothy 6:17, yeah, where God richly supplies everything for our enjoyment. I enjoy donuts. God has supplied that for my enjoyment. I want to honor God. It like, if I eat this donut, I'm honoring God, it's like I'm having my own worship moment. My worship moment sponsored by Krispy Kreme, yes. Wacky, right? It's wacky. It's just wacky until it's not. Until it's a wrong relationship that you want. Or it's that you want to spend your money in a wrong way. Or it's a wrong website that you just want to check out. If we've trained ourself in the art of self-deception by placing our desires at the seat of our decision-making authority, then when it comes to something way more important than

8 donuts, the follow your heart philosophy can land us in a place that is barren and ugly and destructive and worse. Look at what the Bible says in the book of James, check this out:..each person, that means everybody's in this, everybody's in this, no one's exempt. "each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Death, it doesn't get any bigger than that. It doesn't get any more serious than that, right? Notice where this whole train starts? Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires, by their own desires. That's how it happens. And if we put our desires in the place of authority in our lives that is a place and a weight they were never meant to be and never meant to bear, and it can land us in some really dark places. Which leads us to the second reason why 'follow your heart' is bad advice. The second reason is this: Because of the stuff that can be in your heart. The stuff that can actually be in your heart and in my heart. The Bible, here's a couple samples, just a smattering of Scripture that talks about that: "The heart is deceitful above all things". It's deceitful. "The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." You know what that means? That in your heart you can tell God no, you can tell Him no. That's a risky business of free will that God has entrusted to you and me as human beings, imagebearers, His creation, in His image we can tell Him no. We can tell Him no. "Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." Why does the

9 psalmist pray that? Because he knows that his heart can be divided, some for God, some against God. "Search me, oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me." Why does David pray that? Because he knows the possibility and the power of sin to be lurking around in his heart, that he is blind to, that he can't see and he needs God's help to point it out. He can't see it in himself. Look at these words of Jesus, "For out of the heart, out of the heart come evil thoughts - murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." You know what Jesus is saying here? That every spiritual problem, at it's core is a heart problem. Every spiritual problem is ultimately a heart problem. I mean, think about it. Be honest. This past week what did your heart tell you? This past week alone. What are some of the things your heart told you? Think of the thoughts that your heart brought to your mind. Were they all good? Were they pure? Every single one selfless? Good, beneficial, helpful? Were they? When that guy cut you off in traffic, did your heart leap to bless him? Oh, he probably has a medical emergency, God I pray for that family. Amen. Amen. Right? How about your words? How about the words that came out of your mouth this week? Were they encouraging? Were they helpful? Were they kind? Were they good? Or were they critical and negative, selfish and gossipy. Jesus has something to say about that as well. Look at this scripture: "For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Or your version might say, "Out of the overflow of the heart

10 the mouth speaks." Jesus says, what's in your heart eventually is going to come out your mouth. It's eventually going to come out. So the words that you speak are a genuine viable litmus test of the condition of your heart. Listen to what you're saying, because it'll tell you what's going on in your heart, Jesus says. What would have happened this week if you would have followed your heart in every aspect? If you would have followed every thought your heart had. If you would have followed every word your mouth spoke. Would it have been good? Or could it have been trouble? There's a third reason why follow your heart is bad counsel. Because your heart was created to be led, not followed. Your heart, my heart, it was created to be led, not followed. Look at this Scripture in Proverbs. "Hear, my son, and be wise and direct your heart in the way." You don't follow your heart in the way, direct your heart in the way. Your heart was not created to be a leader. It was created to be a follower and to follow the one true King of Kings, the Great Shepard, the Lord of Lords. Our hearts were created to follow Him. And how that plays out? Well, we see that in one of the most familiar verses in the Old Testament. You have it in front of you. Proverbs chapter three. Take a look, verse 5. A familiar passage if you've been around the Bible at all. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, trust in the Lord with all your heart." It doesn't say trust in your heart with everything you've got. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

11 Let's walk through this real quick. Trust. That word 'trust' in the Hebrew literally means to attach oneself. To attach oneself. Trust in the Lord, you would attach yourself to the Lord. Say, "I'm coming, here I am. Here we go." You would attach yourself to the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all, everything. There's nothing held back. There's nothing hiding in the corner. With all, that's everything. Everything you look at, everything you listen to, the ruminations of your heart, of your mind, of your fantasies, of how you spend your time, how you spend your money, what entertains you, how you broker your relationship world. All--trust in the Lord with all your, that word 'your', it's personal. That means it's your decision. Nobody makes it for you. That's your decision. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. What that means is we take all of our want and all of our desires and we surrender them to Jesus. We bow the knee and we entrust them all to Him. We give everything to Him. We hold nothing back and say 'you're the final say so in every area in my life--here'. Now, if just in this moment there was a twinge or maybe even a bigger twinge of push-back in your life, in your heart, in your thoughts, you've just learned something about yourself. And if we're honest it really speaks to the crux of the matter in every single one of us. You know what the real issue is of this whole scenario? It's found in the first word of that verse: trust. We don't trust God. Not really. We trust ourselves. We'll trust God with some things. God you've got that, but I want to be free to choose this. We believe our desires really are true and reliable, they deserve to be acknowledged, pursued, satisfied. That's why we want Jesus plus "follow your heart". Jesus plus "I want to make my own decisions in these areas of

12 my life". It's a train wreck man. God says that's not how it works. That's not how I created you. It won't work because it can't, because I'm the Creator of the universe and I won't let it. Right? You're going to miss out on the most important thing that you truly want and truly need and that is God's will. I work with college students, I have lots of conversations about God's will. And Satan has convinced us that not only can we not trust God, but man, His will is something to be afraid of. Right? I mean, think about it. That's how he operated from day one. That was his strategy. What was the first recorded question in Genesis out of Satan's mouth to Eve? Did God really say? He cast a shadow of doubt on the person of God, because he wants us to doubt God's goodness and absolutely be afraid of giving everything over to the Lord because God's will is something to be afraid of - because God's going to rip you off, hold things back from you. It won't be fun. Hmm. God's going to put you on a street corner with a blow horn in your mouth and you're going to be shouting at people and as they come by. Repent! Get saved, sinner. Grrr...or something crazy like that. When I was growing up - just to be honest, because I'm just going to honest because that's us - I had the privilege of growing up in an awesome Christian home - so grateful for that. I came to Christ at a young age. Later on in my life, I started to think that I knew better than God. Hey, I know, God - you made the universe, but I think I go this one. O.k.? Hello. Punch yourself in the face. Dumb. But, you know what? I started to buy the lie that if I give everything over to the Lord that He's going to make me do stuff I absolutely don't want to do. Hey, Wes - give me your life because guess

13 what, buddy? I'm going to make you be a missionary. Hahaha. You're going to go to Africa. You're going to live in a bamboo hut. You're going to have to - ah, hope you like wicker. Going to make you marry somebody really ugly and fat. You know, whatever. You know all those things - just being honest - college kids - relax, it's a joke. But I had those genuine fears. You know why? Because I didn't believe the Bible. Because God is clear about His will. We don't have to guess about the character and the quality of it. Take a look at these two Scriptures, man, and just let them blow your mind. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. Does that sound like something you want to be afraid of? It's good. It's all the way good. There's not a part of it that is not good. It is pleasing. It is satisfying. Some of you are like, hey Wes, I don't get that, man. Hang on. We'll talk about that in just a moment. And it's perfect. That means it's totally complete. Totally complete. Perfect. It won't get any better. It can't get any worse. It would be incomplete; it wouldn't be perfect. Look what James says. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Good and perfect. Listen to me. God's will for your life is built on good and perfect. His plan for your life - for your relationship world - for everything! - is built on good and perfect. And it comes from the Father of Lights who doesn't change.

14 That means whoever God is today, He was yesterday, He will be forever. You're never going to show up and God's going to be in a mood. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Why? Because He doesn't change. So that means His plan for you, His desire for you is always built on good and perfect. That is what is true. Listen, listen. You want a practical way of applying this - Trust in the Lord with all your heart - you want a practical way? Then you've got to tell yourself the truth. That's practical. You've got to tell yourself the truth. You've got to tell yourself that regardless of what your feelings are feeling in that moment, you've got to tell yourself the truth. That God's will is built on good and perfect. Maybe you're alone and Satan has convinced you that God is angry with you and He has left you and He is so - man, you're done, buddy. He is so mad at you. He is so... you blew it. He's done with you. And Satan will make sure that people's opinions come along to reinforce that. He'll have people in your life that will say things to you that will reinforce that. That you're not worth anything. And, man, that deal didn't come through and you didn't get that grade and on and on it goes and, man, he's very strategic in that. And it can seem like that is what's true. It's not what's true. So as a believer and you're alone in your room, and you're looking in the mirror and you've got that enemy telling you what a loser you are and how much God doesn't care about you, look at your situation - Satan will try and use temporary situations in order to get us to make long term permanent decisions. It's all he's got to work with, it's a lie. That's why you tell yourself the truth. If you look at yourself in the mirror and you

15 rehearse Scripture, you rehearse the truth to yourself. And God says I've loved you with an everlasting love. I'm never not going to love you. I'm never not going to be excited about you. I am never ever not going to embrace you as my child. I believe in you and I have a plan for your life. That's what's true. You've got to tell yourself the truth. You've got to tell yourself that God's will for you is good and perfect. That's how you trust the Lord. That's how you attach yourself to God so that when He beckons you - see this trust is a command and an invitation. He says, come! Trust Me with your heart. Give your life. Surrender yourself to Me and follow Me. Follow me. It's one of the marks - one of the chief marks that Jesus says would mark out a believer, a person who is genuinely in the faith. Look what says. Look what Jesus said in John. He says my sheep listen to my voice. That's not just hearing. They're leaning in, saying, I'm ready for what You have to say because we're going for it. Whatever you say, the answer is already yes. Lord, whatever you want - yes. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them - He knows you inside and out - and they follow me. Inherent in following is trust. You attach yourself to Christ. You trust in the Lord. So as we take this follow your heart philosophy and we wash it with the Word of God, this is where we land. The only time you should follow your heart is when your heart is following Jesus. The only time you should follow your heart is when your heart is following Jesus. So here's the question: Does He have your heart? Do you trust Him with all your heart? For real? You're here. You're a Christ follower. You're a believer. You've invited Christ into your life. Does He have all of your heart? Are you

16 trusting Him with all of your heart? You say, Wes, how do I know? It's easy. Is there an area of your life where you're telling Him no? Is there an area in your life that you're telling Him no and you're not trusting Him with all of your heart? If you're telling Him no about something, you're not trusting Him with all of your heart. Here's the great news. It doesn't have to be like that. You can slam the brakes on. The Bible calls that repentance. You say I don't want that. Jesus, I want to start saying yes to you. Where you've been telling God no, you can start today to start telling Him yes. And you know what that means - for some of you, you're clear on that. That's why Satan's convinced you, you don't want to go down that road. It's a lie because on the other side of that yes is experiencing of God's good and perfect for you. Because you understand what that yes means - for some of you that means you're going to have to have a conversation with your husband or your wife, with your mom or your dad. You're going to have to start spending your money differently. You're going to have to start saying no to something that, you know what - you're feelings have attached themselves to. Maybe it's a wrong relationship. Maybe it's a wrong website. Maybe it's a wrong habit. For some of you, you've telling God no, I can't get up and spend time in the Word and your yes means you're going to set the alarm clock earlier. You're going to get up and you're going to spend some time in God's lifegiving Word with Jesus. And that's what your yes means. But it can happen. You can tell Him yes. If you're here today and you're saying, Wes, I hear you, man. I read that. I get that. But I've got to be honest with you. Right now I'm not in a good

17 spot, man. I've said yes to God with everything and He's put me in a spot that's not good. Things aren't happening. My relationship world is fractured. I'm in this spot where I'm spinning my wheels and I'm crying out to God and the heavens are silent, man. It's barren and I've said yes to God on everything and it ain't working. Pleasing? God's will is pleasing? Not to me! Can I just tell you - man, I hear you. I've been there. And I will probably be there again. Because in this world we're going to have trouble. But let me give you this illustration. It's actually a true story from the life of the apostle Paul. Paul's a pretty good guy to pay attention to - arguably the greatest missionary that ever lived, that ever will live. And he had a heart to go to Spain. To preach the Gospel to Spain. That's what he wanted to do. Know where God put him? In a prison in Rome. God allowed Paul - instead of going to Spain to be this incredible missionary - God allowed Paul to be put in a prison in Rome. Now if I was the apostle Paul in that situation, I'm pretty sure I would be tempted to go, God, are you kidding me right now? Really? I'm here? Come on. You gave me this commission. You're the one who said get out there and preach, man. You're the one. I've been doing it and now this? I'm alone. I'm abandoned. It doesn't seem like your responding to me at all. I'm in this prison. I've only got so many days on this planet and you've put me here? And I may never get out of here? But there's no evidence that the apostle Paul ever thought that way. There is a lot of evidence that Paul, in that spot, decided to trust God. It's a choice. He decided to trust God and do what was in front of him. He says, well, as

18 long as I'm here, might as well try to encourage some of the churches that I planted, so I'm going to write some letters. Doesn't sound too spectacular, does it? But do you know as a result of Paul's time there we have four books of our Bible. Philemon, Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians. Let me ask you. Could Paul have done a great work if he was a missionary to Spain? Most certainly. Do you think it would even compare to the billions upon billions of people that have been impacted by the Holy Word of God for those four books? Not even close. Not even close. Paul never knew that. But God did. God knew. And the thing is, Paul never knew that in his life. The canon was not completed before Paul died. He didn't know that. Can you imagine when he got to heaven - I don't know if this happened, but it could have. Imagine when he got to heaven and God said, hey, Paul, I just want to let you know - I just want to show you what I was doing with you in that prison. I know you couldn't see it, but look! Look what I had you do. Wow! And guess what? In that moment - pleasing! In that moment, pleasing. Look - we've got this much of the picture. God sees the whole thing - beginning and end. And He's good. He says you can trust Me. You can trust Me, and I'm at work in ways you cannot imagine. And if it looks boring and dull or fractured or empty and barren and you're like, what is going on, God? I've said yes to you and I'm in this spot - you can trust Him. He says trust Me because I'm doing something that you can't see right now, but one day you're going to look over your shoulder and you're going to go wow! Good, perfect, pleasing. God wants that for you. You've got to trust Him. You've got to trust Him.

19 So you're here and you're a believer. Are you trusting Him with all your heart? With all your heart? Trust Him with all your heart? Is there an area of your life where you've been telling Him no? You need to start telling Him yes. You can. And finally, maybe you're here today and you've never, you've never trusted Jesus with your whole heart. Never. If you died tonight you don't know where you'd go. Listen, please listen. Heaven is real. Hell is real. Death is real. Eternity is forever. It's forever. And if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ you will not make it. You say, well my good works are pretty good. No, they're not. They are not good. There's no good works that you have. The Bible tells us they're filthy rags. Do you know what that means? That every single one of our good works is tainted. It's polluted. It's stained with wrong motives, with selfishness, with pride, with ego. It's wrong. It's a stench. It's wrong. There is no good works that you and I have that we can impress God with anything. We're sinners. We're lost - every single one of us, man. We're rooting around in garbage of this world thinking we're going to find a piece of trash that is going to satisfy us. And it won't. Ever. But God said I love you so much, I'm going to send my Son to die for you. You want to know how important you are to me? Look at the cross. At the cross God forever answers the question, what does He really think about me? He says I'm going to make a way, because your sin is going to cost you your eternity apart from me. It's going to cost you your now apart from me. God says I don't want that. I'm going to send my Son to die in your

20 place to pay for your sins - every single one of them. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son and whoever believes in Him - not about Him. Not believing that He existed and wow, he's probably a good teacher. Believe in Him. You attach yourself to Him. You commit and surrender your life to Him. Whoever believes in Him will not perish in a place of justice and judgment forever, but will have eternal life - a home in heaven, a relationship with God that starts the moment you invite Christ in. He who has the Son has life. If you don't have the Son of God you don't have life. It's that simple. It's that real. It's that profound. And if you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus, that is why He brought you here. That's why He put you in front of the screen. Singular reason why you're in this room today. Why you're in front of that screen today. Because God gave His Son for you and He wants you to know Him. But you've got to turn from your sin. He sets the terms, not us. His terms are simple. Demand nothing, surrender everything. He sets the terms. He's God. Not us. But if we'll come to Him on His terms, realizing we are a mess and we are lost and we are headed to hell, but God says I made a way to rescue you. And we save Jesus save me. He will! He saved me. He can save you. And as you give your life and your heart to Christ you can follow Him, you can trust Him. But it's your choice. Let's pray together. Just bow your heads and close your eyes just for a moment if you would. Thank you guys so much for your attention, your kindness, your grace - man, I appreciate it. But this is the moment. What did God speak to you about? You can't walk out of here and go, wow, that was a nice little talk. No it wasn't. Whenever truth is presented from the

21 Word of God, we've got to make a decision on that. Truth will not let us off the hook. Wherever truth is proclaimed, we have to make a decision. So what is it - because God is so passionate about you and so in love with you - what has He spoken to you for your good that He is calling you to right now? First, as a believer - you're here and you know you a Christ follower. What has God said to you in our moments together? Where are you telling Him no that you need to start telling Him yes? Do it! Repent. Do it now. Or maybe you're walking with the Lord and you just need to be reminded that you need to rehearse God's truth to your heart. Maybe there's a truth you need to hear right now because the enemy's been having his way with you. And you just need to remind yourself of what is true and you need to just stake that in the ground of your spiritual life. Do it. Or maybe you're here and you don't Jesus. You don't know Him. You know about Him but you don't know Him. The ultimate questions of life haunt you. Why are you here? Where did you come from? Where are you going? God has an answer for all those. Now if today as I have been speaking, just like someone's put their finger in the middle of your chest going, man, this is you - that's not me. I don't have that ability. That's the Spirit of the Living God speaking to you, knocking on the door of your heart. Will you respond? You say, Wes, I want to. I know I'm lost. I need to be found. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. I get it and I want Jesus. If that is you, then tell Him. Tell Him right where you're seated. Tell Him. Cry out to Him silently in your heart - just cry out to Him.

22 Let me give you some words because somebody loved me enough one day to give me some words. Just pray something like this. This prayer is not magic. Just the way that we offer our hearts to God. Just pray something like this. If you want Christ in your life, you want Him to be your Savior, you want to give your life to Jesus, you can pray something like this: say dear Jesus silently in your heart - dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. I get it. I need a Savior. I need you. I believe You died for me - believe that You rose again for me, that You have life to give me. I want that. I want You. So I turn from my sin and I repent. I've seen what I could do with my life. I turn to you. I'm ready to see what you could do with my life. So come into my life. Save me. I'm all yours. I'm all yours and I will declare it. Heads bowed and eyes closed and no one looking around. But if you just prayed that prayer - something like it - then this is your moment. You just gave your life to Jesus. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do right now. I'm going to ask you to raise your hand and look right at me. Nice and high. All across the auditorium. If that was you, I want you to raise it up and say Wes, it was me. I just want you to stare at me and hold it up for a moment. I'm looking around the room. I don't want to miss anybody. It's me, man. Look right at me. Stare right at me. Awesome. Thank you. If you're in the East Worship Center, do the same thing. Hold it up. Hold it up because you're making that declaration to God. Hold it up, stare right at me - all across the auditorium. Fabulous. Thank you. I want you to keep it up because I want to pray for you. God, I only see hands. You see hearts. You know what's going on. Help them to know that You meant business with them if they meant business

23 with You. You are good to your Word and in this moment you've rescued them. May they know that based on your authority. Read their lives, God. Keep your hands up and your eyes on me just for a moment. I'm going to ask you to do something. When we dismiss, I'm going to walk right out this aisle and there's a room right over there called the Fireside Room. If you're in the East Worship Center same thing. I want you to meet me over there. If you're serious - if you're serious, I want you to meet me over there because I've got something I want to put in your hand, going to help you. And if you didn't raise your hand but you know you need to come, I want you to grab somebody. I want you to just get over there. I want you to come on over there. I'm only going to take a few minutes but I want to talk to you just for a moment, tell you some things that I want you to hear and put something in your hand. All right? If you'll do that, shake your head. Say yeah. Great. Put your hands down. Father, I pray for all of us that today would be a day where we lean into You with everything that we've got. Lord, thank You for the way that You love us and that you expose the heart, the parts of our heart that don't belong to you, and in love You encourage us toward yourself. Lord, may we run after you with everything we've got knowing that Your arms are open wide for us. Lord, help us to respond and to trust You with everything we've got. For those today that might be in a tough spot, Lord, I pray that You would give them deep encouragement from Your truth and that their day would change because their perspective has changed - because You can be trusted. Thank you Jesus. In Your name, amen.

24 If you raised your hand or if you didn't, I'm going to go right out this aisle. I want you to meet me right over there at the Fireside Room. I want to give you something. Thank you, guys. Have a great day.