This sermon, But He Might, uses the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5 to remind believers that while we live under God’s grace, we should never mistake His mercy for permission to sin. Pastor Jesse challenges the church to rediscover the fear of the Lord—not a fear that drives us from God, but one that leads us to obedience, holiness, and wisdom.

What's up, Eternity Church? How are y'all doing this morning? If I say God is good, what do you say and all the time? Amen. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that no matter what we're going through, no matter what we've been through, no matter where we're going, God really is good. He's the God of the mountaintops and he's still the God in the valleys. He's still the way maker. He's still the chain breaker. He's still the grave robber. Amen. So, we're going to say that one more time together. And we're going to say it with a little more gusto so that we can really tell our hearts that God truly is good. Everybody ready? All right. God is good and all the time. Amen. Let's worship. Hey, come on, Eternity. Let's go. Try and count my blessings, but I've got too many. I don't even know where I would start. Come on. Been changed by your kindness. From rebel to righteous. I can't thank you enough for who you are. Let's let him know how good he is. Good times 100, good times a thousand, good times a million. Can't even count it all. You're nothing but good God. Good in the valley, good on the mountain, good every moment. No doubt about it. Oh, you're nothing but good. How could I forget it? You met me in the desert. Your living water rushed right through my soul. Front line of the battle ahead of me in the trial. You making a way is all I know. Cuz you're good times a 100 good times a thousand good times a million. Can't even count it all. You're nothing but good God. Good in the valley. Good on the mountain. good every moment. No doubt about it. No, you're nothing but good. You're nothing but good. Let's go. What the enmy meant to keep me found. You took it, turned it upside down. I know you'll do the same right now. Come on. When the enemy tried to take me out, you came and turned it all around. I know you'll do the same right now. What the enemy to keep me found, you took it, turned it upside down. I know you'll do the same right now. When the enemy tried to take me out, you came and turned it all around. I know you'll do the same right now. Come on, just the voices. Good times 100. Nothing but good God. Good in the valley, good on the mountain, good every moment. No doubt about it. Oh, you're nothing but good. Hey, you're nothing but good God. So good. So good. Amen. Amen. I love that that first song was called Good Times because how many of you have heard Pastor Jesse say that we're not just here for a good time, but we're here for a long time. Amen. Well, good morning church. How are you today? Good. It's so good to be in the house of the Lord together, right? Yes. Always. Well, real quick, why don't you just quickly turn to your neighbor, say hello, say good morning, give them a high five. We'll take a few moments to do that. All right, as you're making your way back to your seats, if we have not yet met, my name is Tina and I am the crew coordinator here at Eternity Church and I'm honored to be your host this morning. If this is your first time here, welcome. We are so excited that you're able to join us. After this service, I invite you over to E101. It's right outside of auditorium door number three. But there we'll give you a quick rundown on all things Eternity Church. It's only for a few minutes and there's snacks and refreshments. And then after that, you'll head over to our connection lounge. There's a large yellow banner that says connect here, but we'd love to get to know you a little bit better, connect with you, and bless you with a free gift. And if anyone has any questions or need anything at all, find someone wearing a staff lanyard or yellow gotcha shirt because they've got you. And please help yourself to a latte, cold brew, tea, refreshments, make yourself at home. There's also a mother's room for you mamas out there. Feel free to use it. There's a TV broadcasting the service, so you will not miss a thing. And there's also changing tables in the men's restroom as well. So, speaking of the men's, the big announcement I have for you this morning is our very first men's event in this building is Friday, November 7th. So, there's going to be a lot of good food, great worship. Pastor Jesse is going to bring a powerful word that I know will bless the men of this city, the men of this community, and men of this church. So, invite your friends, invite your mates, scan the QR code, and get registered, and we'll see you there. So, now let's go ahead and move into our tithes and offering. If you have your Bible, you can feel free to turn to 2 Corinthians 9 13 and 15. And it reads, "By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others. Thanks be to God for his inexpressable gift." So when I read that, it just reminds me that when we give, we are giving in faith that we know the Lord will always provide. It also reminds me that when we give, we are stakeholders in the kingdom of God. And for those of you that know, when we have skin in the game, we're a lot more invested than when we don't. And also, when we give, it is our appreciation to what the Lord gives to us. So keep these points in mind as you prepare to give. You can drop your tithes in the buckets as they get passed around. You can scan the QR code on the screen behind me. You can text eternity to 77977. And you can also go to my.comg. So, as the ushers come up, let's go ahead and bow our heads, lift our hands as we continue to worship. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this morning and I thank you for all the goodness that you've been doing in this church. Lord, we are so honored to be witnesses of it. I pray over the word that Pastor Jesse has for us, Lord. I pray that it falls on hearts that are postured, ready to receive and hear from you this morning. I pray for every single giver. I pray for their um thankful their faithfulness and thankfulness to you, Lord, as we give. And I know that you will multiply these tithes to expand your kingdom for your perfect will. We love you, Jesus. We honor you. We praise you. Jesus' name. Amen. Yeah. You have blessed me and I know it. So I owe you my author of my story. And I thought that it was over, but your mercy kept me going. So I owe you Lordve. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praisees. Oh Lord, you deserve only you deserve all my praise. I know I'm far from finished. But your grace is still sufficient. And that's what makes the I owe you my praise. Now I'm standing here for knowing life is worth the living. You're the God of new beginning. So I owe you my praise. Praise him. Oh Lord, you deserve. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praisees. Oh Lord, you deserve. Only you deserve all my praises. Oh Lord, you deserve. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praisees. Oh Lord, you deserve. Only you deserve all my praise. Oh, you been so good to me when I think of all you've done. When I think of all you brought me. I can never say enough. When I think of all you done, when I think of all you brought me through. When I think about your love. I can never say enough. When I think of what I think of what you've done for me. When I think of I can never say enough you for the ways that you have made for the price that you have paid for your mercies every day. That's why I owe you praise for the ways that you have made for the price that you have paid. For your mercies, that's why I owe. That's why I owe you for the ways they have made for me. And the price you have paid for me. for your mercies. That's why that's why. Come on, church. Sing out praises. Praisees. Oh Lord, you deserve. Oh Lord, you deserve all my praisees. Oh Lord, you deserve. Only you deserve all my praisees. Lord, you deserve Oh Lord, you deserve all my praise for what you only when I think of all you've done. When I think of all you brought me, I can never say enough. When I think of all you brought me through, when I think about you, I can never say enough. For the ways that you have made for me and the price that you have paid for me, for your mercies. That's why I hope. That's why I owe you pray for the ways they were made in the price they have paid for me in your mercies. That's why I hope that's why I owe you praise. Amen. Come on. There was a moment when the lights went out. When death had claimed its victory, the king of love had gi up his life. The darkest day in history. They're on a cross they made for sinners. Every curse is blood atoned. Final breath and it was finished. Not the end we could have known. For the earth began to shake and the veil was torn. What sacrifice was made as the heavens roar. Go hail King Jesus. All hail the Lord of heaven and earth. All hail King Jesus. All hail the savior of the world. There was a moment when the sky lit up. Flash of light breaking through all was lost. He crossed eternity. The king of life was on the move. In a dark hole too where our Lord was away, one miraculous praise to forever. All hail King Jesus. All hail the Lord of heaven and earth. All hail King Jesus. All hail the savior of the world. All hail be Jesus. All hail the Lord of heaven and earth. All hail Jesus. All hail savior of the world. So every bow before the king of kings. Let every tongue confess that he is the Lord. Lift up your sh. Let us join with all of heaven singing. Holy. Sing it. Holy. We cry out holy. Sing it home. All hail King Jesus. All hail the Lord of heaven and earth. All hail King Jesus. Oh, of world to face a lifong and burn it. to open up my heart and let you search it to fall down on my knees instantly condemn us to shine a light into the Leave this darkness to leave behind my mask worship. God give us courage. God give us courage. We come into your presence. Singing closer closer. Let heaven fill the earth with holy fire. Fire. Don't stop until our hearts are burning. Holder now. Holy courage breaking out to crucify my will in holy service to never bow if it means the furnace to my every breath. You deserve it. God give us courage. God give us courage. Oh, we come into your presence. Closer and closer. Let heaven through the earth. Fire. Fire. Don't stop until our hearts are burning. over now. Holy courage breaking down. Let the trembling heart be break. Let his ransom people pray. Let the stronghold start to break. Just a mention of his name. Let the captives leave their chase. Let the voices start to praise. Watch the mira of his name. Let the trembling heart be with his ransome people. Watch the stronghold start to pray. Just the mention of his name. Let the captives leave their chains. The voiceless start to pray shake. Just a mention of his name and closer. We call into your presence closer closer. Let heaven through the earth with holy fire. Fire. Don't stop until our hearts are over and over. We come into your presence. Sing closer, closer. Let heaven through the earth. Fire, fire. Don't stop until our hearts are burning over now. Holy cow. Make us for now breaking out. Amen. Amen. Bolder and bolder now. Amen. You know, isn't it amazing the difference God can make in your life? Absolutely amazing, isn't it? That God can take someone who maybe you felt weak, maybe you felt like a coward, and then later on you look at your life and you're like, "Man, I'm bold. I'm strong. God's moving in my life. God is good. Amen. God can take any one of us and do anything with us. Hey, he's the one who knit us together in our mother's womb. He knows how to how to make us into all that he designed us to be. Amen. Is anyone's life better now that they've given their lives to the Lord? Come on. Like, I'm not asking if anybody's perfect. I know you're not. None of you are. Right. But life's better, isn't it? Right. And you know, I see these church websites every now and again and they're trying to be funny and it says like, you know, no perfect people allowed at this church, you know. And I think that's funny. I'm like, perfect people are absolutely allowed at my church, but none have come yet. None. Not even one. Not even you and not even your wife. She ain't perfect. Nobody is. Right. But hey, we're better than we were before. Yeah. We're better than we were last week. And last week we were better than we were last year. And last year was better than the year before. None of us are perfect, but we are all on a journey saying, "Lord, help me to become all that you designed me to be." Amen. It's good to be in God's house today with you. I'm going to preach a sermon today that might be one of the more difficult passages to preach from and quite a difficult uh sermon to preach. Uh but I just know it's going to be good for you. We saw probably I don't know 30 or 40 people at the altar call this morning. We had I think it was either 18 or 19 people gave their lives to Christ in the first service. And uh so whether it's difficult or not uh God's going to move. God's going to move. Uh if you've got your Bibles, turn to Acts chapter 5. I'm going to read from verses 1 to 6. Acts chapter 5:es 1-6. While you're doing that, I just want to say welcome if you're new. My name is Jesse. I'm the lead pastor here. glad that you are here today. Um, next week we're going to start a sermon series in Galatians and uh just great just Christian theology and Christian living in in the book of Galatians. It's a wonderful book, one of my favorite books of the Bible. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, those guys, Colossians. Um, but then uh and after that, then it'll be around Christmas time. And next year we're going to do a sermon series starting in the middle of January on the ten commandments uh or the ten commandments depending on what part of the country you're from. Uh but that's going to be a great sermon series cuz in that we're going to talk about why do Christians still care about the ten commandments, right? Like why in the new covenant do we still care about these commandments from the old covenant? Uh where are they reiterated in the new covenant? Things like that. We'll also talk about what's special about them. And then, you know, and why do we heed them but not other things? You know, like there's there's some scripture that talks about not wearing a shirt that has two different fibers sewn together. Why do we not follow that rule? But we do still believe that we need to live by the ten commandments. I want to put that to rest in everybody's hearts. And we'll talk about that uh in January. Sound good? And so it'll be a 10 week it'll be an 11week series actually, but at least 10 for obvious reasons. All right. Um, also remember men, uh, our our men's event on November the 7th is called Bold Men. Bold men. We are renaming our men's ministry to bold men. Okay? Cuz we want to be bold men. Amen. Boldly leading our families. Boldly preaching the gospel and boldly living for the Lord. Yep. All right. So, bold men. Acts chapter 5. You got it? All right. I'm going to read it to you. You can read along on the screen or in your Bibles as well. It says, "But a man named Ananas with his wife Safh sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept it back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only part of it and laid it at the apostles feet." But Peter said to Ananas, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie?" See, why has Satan filled your heart to lie? See, he has made a promise. He had heard from God. He'd said what he would do, but then he had lied about it. You've lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. While it remained unsold, was it not yours anyway? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart and have lied to man? Sorry, lied not to man, but to God. This is a tough passage to preach from. And so, um, so I I I need to pray. So, you ready? Lord God, I thank you for the privilege it is to read this word a couple of thousand years after it was written. God, I thank you that today it's as powerful as it was then. That the truths in it are exactly the same as the truths that were in it then. And I thank you that all of the word of God is useful to equip the saints and help us to live uh more in line with your word. God, I pray that you would speak to all of us through this passage and help us to understand it, Lord, and to understand the warnings and the encouragement that we find in it. I pray that you would release me where I need to be released, and you would restrain me where I need to be restrained, and you would help me, Lord God, to uh to clearly and effectively preach your word today. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Someone say, "Amen." Amen. You may take your seat as you high-five one of your neighbors. All right. Now, there is now there is a um I had a tough time deciding whether or not I was going to share this story uh with you today, the story at the start of my message for multiple reasons that could be misconstrued one way or the other. Um but in chatting with the friend and and also just praying about it, I really felt like this story was important at the start of the message. Okay. So, so, so bear with me as I share this with you. But, um, but many of you guys have like a 401k that you might have some stock in or things like that to sort of look after your future, right? So, many of you have that. Um, for Lauren and I, we don't have that. We have um for most of our lives been trying at least to put it into a couple of rental properties and uh and so our whole uh retirement is almost entirely wrapped up in that. Uh so I recently felt like God was speaking to me about selling our investment property and giving uh most of the proceeds to the church and um it was just what we felt God was calling us to do. And so I shared with a friend that I felt God leading me to do this. And um you know and a part of it was like God spoke to me as I was praying. I'm like, Lord, we've got, you know, as we move into this new building, uh, there's going to be a lot more people and that's going to be a lot more expenses and, um, giving takes a while to catch up to the attendance. And so, so, Lord, you know, I I'm just praying, Lord God, I pray that you provide. I pray you provide the resources. I pray that new people will not just come and take, but that a lot of new people would join us in funding uh, the mission and the vision of the church to see the lost saved and the saved, discipled, and families restored and and people finding a new home. God, I just pray that people would help. And I felt like the Lord telling me that that that I need to lead the way. That I need to do it, too. That it's not just something I need to pray others will do, but something that I will do and go to another level myself. That that I need to be willing to sacrifice even if it hurts. And um and I shared all this with a friend and um and uh and and then he said, you know, as sort of as the date of the closing of the property that that we had personally sold, uh as that got closer, um uh it was already obvious that the church has grown a lot uh since we moved into the building uh 8 weeks ago. Uh it's obvious that there's a lot of people coming and that usually means that in a couple of months uh it will translate into more people serving, more people praying, more people uh caring for each other and also more people giving. This is just natural math and it does matter. We do live in the world, right? Um and so it was like well more people have turned up so obviously that will take care of itself sooner or later. I love that one of the one one of the increases of expense at this church has been Bibles. Like the amount of Bibles we have had to buy and provide for people in this building has been phenomenally. Um but here's the deal. But but it became obvious that okay it has grown so it will catch up at some point. And so my friend says to me, "Hey, since it looks like it will catch up at some point soon, do do you think that maybe you don't need to give all that money to the church after all that maybe you could reinvest it?" Uh, that was the exact words that you could reinvest it. And I said, "Oh, no. I have to give it because I said I would give it." And then I said to my friend on the phone, I said, "And and by the way, there's a there's a story in the Bible about a couple who said they would sell their house and give the money to the church, but then when they sold their house, they they didn't give their money to the church and and God killed them." And so I said, I'm not going to be that guy. U because it's it's not a it's not a similar story. It's the exact same story. It's not like, you know, you can take the story of Ananas and Safara and sort of like apply it a little bit to my s. It's like, no, it's the 100% exact same story. So, I said to my friend, I'm like, look, hey, number one, I God told me to do it. I said I would do it. U, but I'm also not only giving because there's a need. I'm giving because I want to obey God, but also because I absolutely love what God is doing here. I love what God is doing here. I love what God was doing in Clive and I love what God's going to keep doing here. And the truth of the matter is not that this is what we're doing. So don't be like, "Oh, what a good man." But but the truth is Lauren and I would be absolutely willing to bankrupt our entire lives if it meant more people give their lives to Christ and more sinners get discipled and more people stand up for the truth and the of the word of God and lead this nation back to repentance and salvation. Amen. And so I said, "And if the lead pastor isn't willing to give when it hurts, then why should a single mom working extra shifts to feed her family give when it hurts?" So I said, "Nah, I want to stay alive." And that leads me back to Acts chapter 5. And the funny thing about Acts chapter 5 and this story is um that these days I love this passage. I think it's fantastic. But for many years, it absolutely confused me. Okay? I used to look at the passage and just be so annoyed that this is in the New Testament. Like literally, I hated that this happened after the cross. That this happened after our punishment for our sins is poured out on Jesus Christ. Like if this was in Malachi or as the Italians call it, Malachi, the Italian prophet, then I would have been like, "Yeah, that's fine." I could picture it being God saying, you know, look, hey, why do you rob me? I told you to stop robbing me. Give your tithes or I'm going to kill you dead. I'm like, yeah, I can see that in Malachi. Anybody else? Right. I'm like, at at least it fits better in Malachi than it does in the book of Acts. And even then, even then in Malachi, I'm like, could we maybe let's move it further back. Let's move it further away from the New Testament, you know, like maybe 1 or 2 Samuel, 1 or 2 Chronicles. Let's do that. Or even better, God, can we take this story, this story, can we take it from the book of Acts, Ananas, and Safara, and can we just put it in the book of Job? Because Job is already hard enough to explain to people, isn't it? I'm like, let's just add Ananas and Safara to that. It says, "And Job's wife said, curse God and die." And it turns out his neighbors robbed God and died, too. Perfect. Let's put it in the book of Acts. Would in the book of Job. Would anyone else have found it a lot easier to understand this passage if it was in the book of Job, right? It's not just me. The reason is I love the cross. I love that God poured his wrath out on Jesus Christ, his only son, on the cross, displaying his grace and his mercy toward me. A a and that I would be able to have a relationship with God. I love the cross. Because of the cross, I know that even as I struggle in my sin, God's grace abounds. Because of the cross, I know that even if I keep disobeying God, that this isn't the Old Testament. It's the New Testament. This isn't the Old Covenant. This is the new covenant. This isn't before the cross. This is after the cross because of the cross. The mercy of God and the grace of God is displayed in my life and your life for all of us and forever. And so I wondered and wondered and wondered, God, why is this story in the New Testament after the New Covenant after the cross? And now you're wondering too. Before you were like, it's just a story. Now you're like, yeah, it is after the cross. What's going on there, mate? Many people have taught over the over many years, over a couple thousand years, and I don't think they're wrong on what they teach specifically, but they've taught that this passage shows us how God takes giving and generosity so seriously. Like, don't just pretend to be generous. Be generous. Don't act like you're generous. Do it. Don't say you're a tither. Tithe. Now, I'm not disagreeing with that generally accepted application of this passage. I don't think they're wrong to use it in this example uh per se, but I do think that that is far too narrow of an application of this passage. This goes much broader than giving, much broader than tithing, and even much broader uh than an example of keeping your word. It's much broader than that. And so, as I was wondering and pondering, why is this after the cross, it hit me? I may struggle with sin. I may even give up the fight. I I may even make peace with my sin. I may stop fighting against my sin. But because I live after the cross, God is not going to punish me. Because I live under grace, Jesus took the punishment for my disobedience. This story shows me that because of Jesus Christ, God will not kill me for my sin and God will not end my life because of my continued disobedience. But he might. But he might. Ananas and Safh show us that even after the cross that even after we are living in this new covenant of grace that we can push God too far that yes God punished Jesus so he wouldn't have to punish me but he still might. Remembering that he might brings us back to a fear of the Lord. When people don't fear God, they mock God. Many people in our culture mock God. And it's because they don't fear him. They don't think he they don't think he either has any power or B, they don't think he'll do anything about it. Churches, we have churches that promote sin and ungodliness. And if you go to their websites or even look at their buildings with the flags that they fly, it's clear that the most important thing to them is promoting sin. And they do it because they no longer fear God. They don't think he's going to do anything about it. They forgot that Ananas and Safh is in the New Testament. Not at the start of the book of Matthew, but after Jesus had ascended into heaven and God killed them. Sadly, a byproduct of grace and mercy can easy become mockery of God and his word. And so after the cross and the covenant of grace, Ananas and Safh are a reminder to us that we still must fear the Lord. And no one here will disagree with the statement, we got to fear the Lord. Right. Right. Come on. You all agree with that. Yeah. I told you it's going to be a brutal sermon today. This might actually be one of the hardest sermons I've ever had to preach. I've preached on hard topics that the world doesn't like, but this is one that Christians don't like either. Right? But none of you would disagree with the fact that we need to fear the Lord. Right? It's written all throughout scripture. But most of us can probably hardly remember the last time we heard a sermon on the fear of the Lord. And if we can remember a sermon on the fear of the Lord, it probably went something like this. Well, the fear of the Lord is just knowing how big God is. Have you heard that before? The fear of the Lord is just to to remember how big and how strong and how mighty our God is. And if God is that big and if God is that strong and if God is that mighty, imagine the fear he strikes in the hearts of your enemy. That's how I've heard the fear of the Lord shared all the time. And that's not a bad thing to remember. I want my enemies to look at my God and be like, I better pipe down for sure. But the fear of the Lord is not only about our enemies. It's also about you and me. Do you fear the Lord? Because you should. Just like your children. Your children should be worried that if they don't stop that bad behavior, you're going to spank them. Like I've been out in Walmart every now and again and uh and uh I look at some of these kids and the way they behave and I'm just like lady spank that kid. Just just smack it. Do something to that kid. Anybody else? Like anyone ever volunteered to do it for Do you not know how to do it? I'm wearing a belt. I'll show you. You know what I mean? Like kids today like they get smacked with a hand. They don't even know what it's like for your dad to whip his belt off and whip you with it. Hands up if your dad hit you with the belt. Yeah. Now, I'm not saying that's good. In fact, I'm pretty confident that by today's standards, my dad abused me. Um, by today's standards. But I turned out all right. Got a little twitch, but anytime I see a belt or hear the word belt, I sort of twitch a little bit. But I'm doing all right. Like listen, if all your kid ever gets is mercy, they will stop respecting you. I've seen a video of a school teacher that got fired because he he he did he hit a kid. But I saw on the video that guy was saying, "You're an F in this and an F in that and I'm going to do this to your family and all this other gear." And was was pushing the teacher and pushing the teacher, physically pushing the teacher and saying that. And I'm like, "Yeah, if my kid did that, you should smack him." and said, "The parents are wanting to sue the school." And I'm like, "And your kid's going to prison in about five years." Because what should have happened was you should have looked at your kid and be like, "But you got what you got, didn't you?" If you're going to talk like that to to your school teacher and you're going to physically push your school teacher, he's going to smack you back. If all they ever get is mercy, oh well, it must have been the school teacher's fault. Oh, it must be the kids worker's fault. It must be the neighbor's fault. They cuss out the teacher. Mercy. They pick on some kid at school and all they get from you is mercy. They beat up their siblings and all they get is mercy. They throw their phone across the room and all they get is mercy. At some point, that kid will never respect you and will not fear that parent anymore and they'll do whatever they want. And then secondly, that kid's going to jail. in a covenant of grace and mercy. Thank God there's a reminder in the story of Ananas and Safh that yes, his grace overlooks our sin and he's not going to strike us dead like in the Old Testament, but he might. But he might. The fear of the Lord is a very good thing because we humans are very good at going way off track when we have no guard rails in our lives, aren't we? When there's nothing to hold us back, we're good at letting nothing hold us back. And what's amazing is when you realize that God does actually still care about our behavior. God does care about repentance. And God is grieved when we live in perpetual disobedience with no regard. Uh we we're sorry in comp in in in perpetual disobedience with no regret and no desire to change. We don't even care like whatever we made peace with this man. When you realize God actually does care about that, you can start to see things a little clearer in scripture. We see there's actually some consequences for bad behavior all throughout the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we see where there's some people living in sin and when they go to take communion, they did not even have enough sense to check their hearts. They did not even think to check, have I got sin in my life that I'm just not caring about? No, no, no. They instead they approached communion. Communion that represents the blood and the body of Jesus Christ. And they approached that with no fear and no reverence and no respect. those who were living in sin didn't even have the good sense to stop and recognize their sin and ask God for forgiveness. You can totally come and you can totally take communion, but you might want to stop and be like, "Lord, thank you for this blood and and this and this body of yours that was poured out to forgive me of my sins. I pray you forgive me of this sin going on in my life and you help me to do better moving forward." And I'm going to take communion now as a reminder that it is only because of your grace and mercy that I can stand here. That's what we ought to do. But instead, they that they they had no fear, no reverence, no respect. And it says they ate and drank judgment upon themselves. He goes on to say that for many of them that judgment included being sick and that some of them have died because of it. That's New Testament after the cross, not in Job. after the blood of Jesus was poured out for our sins. After his blood was poured out for us, they mocked the blood that was poured out for us and they died because of it. Fam Hebrews says, "God is an all-consuming fire." Church, because I love you is why I preach this sermon. Because I love you, I need to share something important with you. Don't mistake the grace of God for permission. Don't do it. It is possible to push your luck too far. There's now there was millions of Christians. But you know what? There's a couple of examples in scripture of people that went too far. Let's go to Romans chapter 1. It says, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal men and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up. Therefore, God gave them up. God gave them up to what they wanted, to the lusts of their hearts and impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies amongst themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up to their dishonorable passions. for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving upon themselves the due penalty of their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up. It's the third time it says God gave them up to a debased mind and they did what not ought be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness and evil and covetousness and malice. And they are full of envy and murder and strife and deceit and maliciousness. Their gossips, their slanderers, their haters of God, insolent, hoardy, boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless and ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree, though they know God's righteous decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die. They not only do them, but they give approval to those who do them. At some point, God might say, "You know what? You don't want to listen. You won't heed my warning. This has been going on for too long. You're never going to change. So, have what you want." I thank God I had a dad that didn't give me everything I want. Dad, can we have this? Can we have that? And sometimes he said, "No." Thank God for that. It's a tragedy when that roadblock is moved from someone's life and now they are just given over to have whatever you want go. He might give us over to the things we won't let go of. And any pastor that loves you will tell you this. A pastor who loves his church will warn people that at some point there are examples where God had said, "Okay, you're done." Now, here's the one thing I want to share with you to put your mind at ease. I've seen people read this passage from Romans and they've sort of freaked out, got worried. They're like, "Have I gone too far? Has God given me over?" They're worried about it. Have I grieved the Holy Spirit so much that God has given up on me? Here's the good news. If you're asking that question, the answer is no, you have not. Nope. If if you're actually worried about having gone too far, you've not gone too far. If you were worried about going too far, God would have if you had gone too far, God had given you over and you wouldn't even care. So, praise God, you have not gone too far. Amen. If you're worried about it, you've got you've got time. It means that in your heart you still want to honor God. It means that you still want what God wants. That your heart, like David's heart, is still after the Lord. David was after the Lord, but he still sinned and struggled. But in his heart, he wanted what God wants. Do you still want what God wants? You have not gone too far. Praise God. But I cannot promise you that Tuesday isn't going to be too far. I cannot promise you that next Sunday will not have been too far or next year. I don't know when too far will arrive in your life. I don't know if too far will ever arrive in your It probably never will. Praise God. But it might. As much as we preach mercy here, and as much as we preach grace here, we have to preach this as well. You can go too far. And I really, really, really don't want to see you join the likes of those in Romans to join the likes of Ananas and Safh or those who didn't even care that they sinned, or those that blatantly took communion without repentance, not even caring. Please don't. Please don't. Did anyone ever watch the movies Left Behind? Yeah. And then not sleep for a year. Anyone read the books, the the Left Behind books? Yeah. Right. That after after you after you watch those movies, anytime you found your you found yourself alone in the house or couldn't find your family, you were like, I got left behind. Did anyone else? That's for real. I legit thought I got left behind sometimes. Get off the school bus, come home, ain't nobody there. I'm like, I knew I needed to stop sinning. I deserve this. This sucks. You know, it's just us who were struggling with sin at the time. We're like, we're getting left behind. You know, I was so worried about the end times because around this time when those books came out, every church is preaching on on on the end times, right? And I was terrified of them. I was so worried that when Jesus was going to come back, I wouldn't have finished my list of accomplishments yet. You know, there were things I wanted to get done before Jesus comes back. Anybody else? Right. I know that every single young Christian man's biggest fear was that Jesus was coming back in between his wedding and the hotel. You know that's true. Come on. That was every young every young Christian man from the ' 90s biggest fear was that's the one day he's like just don't come back today Lord don't come back today like I read the whole Left Behind book series you know and and as I'm reading that book series I got saved like 67 times 67 I got saved 67 times reading the Left Behind series but the truth It it did put some fear in my heart, some good fear in my heart. Like like what do you want to be doing when Jesus comes back? My grandma would say that. What do you want to be doing when Jesus comes back? I remember one day as a young man being on a school bus on my way to school and and ladies, I'm sorry, but young men are growing and learning self-control. I remember on the school bus as a young man, maybe 15 and I had this crush on this girl and I was looking at her inappropriately and then it hit me like a sock in the eye. What if Jesus comes back right now? Jesus would be like, "Look, I ain't here for the perverts. You can stay. I'm taking everybody else." Right? And because of that fear that just rolled up in my mind, I changed my behavior instantly. Instantly. Anyone else know what I'm talking about here? Like that that fear made me realize I can't keep doing this. I can't keep acting like this. I don't want to grow into that. It it was the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1:7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Proverbs 111, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and those who practice it have good understanding." It's amazing how a little fear of some consequences can cause us to fix some bad behavior. So, here's where it will come down to. It will come down to no longer. So if we if we believe that God might the question then we need to ask is can God do we actually believe God is all powerful that God is strong that God is mighty that God can do whatever he wants because if we believe that and if we believe this then we're going to change our behavior. A little fear of the rapture wasn't so bad for me. And that's why the story about communion in Corinthians is good for us. And that's why the story about Ananas and Safh is it's good that it's in the New Testament because that fear will lead us to wisdom. It will help us take serious the commands of God and start to practice the ways of God. And taking God's commands seriously and doing what God says will make for a far better life than if we just keep on taking his grace and mercy for granted. And the truth is, your life will be better if you remember that he might finally punish you. Am I saying God's going to kill you? No. Am I saying God's going to hurt you? No. Am I saying he's going to make you sick? No. Am I saying that you better stop what you're doing or God's going to get you? No. No, that's not what I'm saying. No, his grace and his mercy are indescribable. So, he probably won't. I'm just saying he might. That's it. My whole message today is I'm just saying he might and he can. So, why would I say that to you? Why would a loving pastor be like, "God might kill you?" Because it's true. Because if you truly understood what God could and might do, not just what God can do. Oh, we're good at knowing what God can do. It's good to know what he might do. You might start paying attention to what he's asked of you. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And as we do what he says, we discover life is better doing what God says. My marriage is better when I love my wife like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her because that's what scripture tells me to do. And my life will be better that way. My health is better when I do what God says. My kids are better when I raise them his ways according to the words of the Lord. My finances are better when I manage them the way God says to. My influence is better and broader and more powerful when I live my life according to God's word. So, as we get ready to close, I want you to listen to me. Some of you know as I've been preaching today that the Holy Ghost is tapping on your heart. You've been mocking mercy. You've been treating grace like permission. And today, God is calling you to repent and obey. Here's a word of the Lord for some people. Stop praying for revival. Start praying for repentance. Revival is a byproduct of repentance. Stop praying for the symptom or the result. Start praying for the cause. Start praying for repentance. I've been praying anytime I pray for revival in America, I pray, Lord, lead us to repentance as a nation first. I pray, Lord, as more and more of us repent. I pray revival would fall. Today, God's calling you to repent and obey. Not because he hates you, but because he loves you too much to leave you where you are. And as you read scripture, you'll notice that there's a story where God where Jesus confronted a woman who was caught in the act of adultery and he said, "I do not condemn you." Now, people have twisted stories of God's compassion repeatedly throughout the years, and they'll use stories like this, and they'll say, "When people are going through trauma or have bad things happening in their lives, you need to wait. before you confront them or convict them. And that's why at church we don't, this is not us, this is what others would say. And that's why at church we don't want to have a pastor who talks about sin or or talks about cultural wars or talks about what's going on in the world. No, no, no, no, no. We we we need to spend the next 37 years building relationship first so then we can speak to them about it. Have you heard people say that we need to build relationship first? People, churches will say this is a place where you can belong before you believe. Can I tell you that is crap. You do not belong before you believe. You believe and then belong. Now, you're welcome before you belong. You're welcome for sure. Everybody's welcome. But only Newman's belong in the Newman house. and only the sons and daughters of God belong in his house. You got to believe to belong. We're not building relationship for 30 years before we tell people, "Hey, God wants to change your life." In the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. She was she was a hooker. So, she's already doing crazy stuff. Her life absolutely sucks. Awful by her own decision and others. She's a victim. and a and also a sinner at the same time. And and so she's it's horrible. She's in trauma and then she gets caught in the middle of it. Like that's nuts. That's embarrassing. That's trauma. And and then they want to stone her. They want to kill her by throwing rocks at her. That is a traumatic day. Wouldn't you agree? In fact, that was for sure the most traumatic day of that woman's life. And Jesus didn't wait for three months or three years of relationship before he said go and sin no longer. He said neither do I condemn you now. Go and sin no longer on the same day at the same time. Truth and grace together. So it's my prayer today, my prayer today that for all of you that today would be the day. I preach this today because today's the day you need to hear it. It's my prayer that we are all filled with the fear of the Lord again. Not a kind of fear that makes us run from him or the kind of fear that makes you scared, but the but the kind of fear that makes you run to him. A fear that says, "God, I don't want to live without you. God, I don't want to test you anymore. I want to honor you in my life." So, right now, church, in fact, would we all stand up? service has officially got 14 minutes left till it's over. I've intentionally preached this quick so we can spend some time ministering to people. So, please don't run out into the lobby or whatever else. This is a really important moment of the service. This is a holy, holy, holy moment. If you've been walking too close to the line, if you've been taking grace for granted, if you've been living with sin, that you've stopped fighting, in a moment, I'm going to ask you to walk down to this altar. Don't wait till next week. Don't wait till Tuesday. Don't tell yourself that you'll fix it later. This is your moment. The same grace that warns you is the same grace that will forgive you. The same spirit that convicts you is the same spirit that will cleanse you. I pray that you would come down like David, saying, "God, I'm sorry for treating your grace like permission. Create in me a clean heart and renew in me a right spirit. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not thy holy spirit from me." And I'm telling you, if you come down with that heart, God will work and move in your life and strengthen you and transform you. Ezekiel 36 says, "I will sprinkle." God is saying, "I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and and from all your idols. I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." You do not have to do this alone. I don't know whose hearts God's knocking on in this room, but you may be here and you're like, "I can't go down the front. What will they think of me?" Listen, what has caring what anybody else thinks about you done for you so far? What has it done? All it's done is kept you stuck in your sin. No, no, it's not. The fear of them is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is. It's time to fear the Lord more than you fear them. Cuz until you fear the Lord more than you fear them, you're going to stay stuck in your sin. But God wants to set you free. God wants to set you free today. I don't know what your sin is. And nobody's going to assume. I don't know if it's God's been talking to you about your marriage. If God's been talking to you about your relationships, if God's been talking to you about what you look at online, if God's been talking about you about whatever it is, I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's a bitterness and a brokenness in you that you refuse to let go. I don't know if it's a faith step God's been saying, "Are you going to do it yet? Are you going to do it yet? Are you going to do it yet?" And you're like, "Nah, no, no, no, no. At some point, God's just going to give up. I tell people, I do not know how many people I know how unqualified I am to be the lead pastor of this church. And I do not know how many people said no before God went and picked me. I don't know. There's got to be somebody that God's like, "You should start a church in in in De Moine. Call it eternity. You should start a church in De Moines. Call it eternity." After a while, God's like, "Fine. There's an idiot in Australia who'll say yes to just about anything. I'll get that guy instead. But knowing what I know about me, there ain't no way I was number one. What's God been calling you to do that you've been saying no? What's God been calling you to stop that you've been saying no? What's God been calling you to work on that you've been saying no? Thank God for his grace and mercy. He's not going to strike you dead and he's not going to give up on you, but he might. Come down the front right now. If that's you, come down the front right now. There was 30, 40 people in the first service. I know. I know this service has got at least as many sinners as that service. So, come on now. I shouldn't call you a sinner. Actually, you're a saint still struggling with some sin. Come on down the front all the way. Fill the middle here. We're going to pray for you. Come on down the front. Keep on coming. Keep on coming. This is not an embarrassing moment. This is an empowering moment. This is not a moment to be ashamed of. This is a moment to thank God for. Hallelujah. I'm so glad. I Oh, man. Come on. Keep on coming. Keep on coming. Anybody else? Freedom today. Amen. Freedom today. Amen. Come on. Anybody else? Thank you, Jesus. Every one of you. I am so proud of you. I know that sounds weird. I'm probably younger than half of you, but I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. This humility that you're walking down the front right now in front of everybody in the church to say God's been speaking and I've been ignoring. That is really bold faith. And I'm telling you, you're going to be all right. I believe it with all my heart. You're going to be all right. He's going to put a new heart in you. He's going to put his spirit in you. and he's going to help you as it says in Ezekiel. What does it say? I will put my spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Because right now, your heart is saying, God, I want you and your ways. I'm going to ask you to do something weird. We've only ever done it once before at Eternity Church, one other time ever, and it was two hours ago in the first service. I'm going to ask you to do something. You might need some space, but in this contrite with a contrite heart, in an act of humility right now, I want you to just take a knee. I want you to kneel before the Lord. We sing it in songs, so it shouldn't be weird that occasionally we might do it, right? And I want you right now, I'm going to talk to them all for a couple of minutes. But what I want you to do right now for the next two, three minutes while I'm talking to them, I want all of you guys and gals down the front here to just be praying. Lord, thank you for the privilege it is to come again into your presence and to hear your word. God, help me receive it. God, strengthen me. God, help me to live it. God, I pray you really do put a new heart in me. God, I pray you really do put a put your spirit in me. God, I pray you really do help me and cause me and strengthen me to walk in your ways. I want you to just pray. You can whisper, but I want you to pray for a couple of minutes while I talk to everybody else. Everybody else, listen up. And this might apply to some people down here, too. I don't know. But here's the deal. This has been a tough message. Thank God that he loves us enough to put this in the word, too. today, you know, but I want to talk to everybody for a moment. If you're here and if you don't know Jesus, I want you to give him your life today. If you're away from the Lord, I want you to say yes to the Lord today. If you've if you've walked away from maybe once you had a relationship with God, but you've walked away from him, you not been following him, I want you to say yes to him today. I don't mean to threaten you, but when are you going to finally say yes? Today's the day. God's ways really are better. Like I said today, it's a little tough sometimes to follow the Lord. It's a little tough to sort of to say no to your own desires sometimes to to to to sometimes the evil thoughts and the evil desires that we have. It's a little tough sometimes. But but you will find out that as you say yes, as as you follow the Lord, as as you ask for his help, you will find out that that it is a better life when we follow Jesus. Not always an easier life, but it's always a better life. Always a better life. So, I'm going to say a prayer one line at a time. And scripture says, if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that you will be saved. Before I said, you know what? You got to believe to belong. I meant that. Newman's are welcome to belong at the Newman house. Nobody else does. I welcome people to come. I'm hospitable to people. We bless people at our house. But when nighttime comes, you get out. It's just the Newmans that belong there. Well, it's the same with the Lord. Everyone says we're all God's children. It's not true. Only those who believe in the Lord are God's children. Everyone else is part of God's creation. Scripture says to those who did receive him and believed upon his name, he gave the right to become children of God. So I'm saying today, will you give your life to Christ? Because scripture says if you give your life to Christ today, then you are a child of God, a son or a daughter of God, and then you belong in his house. So I'm asking right now, pray this prayer with me. Don't leave thinking I'll figure it out next week. No, no. Give your life to Christ today. If you've walked away from the Lord, get right with God today. We're all going to pray together. I'm going to say it one line at a time, and I want everyone else to repeat it after me, one line at a time. Everyone together, so no one's praying alone, but especially those who are away from the Lord. Everybody together, repeat after me. Dear God, I believe Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe he died on a cross for my sin. And you rose him up out of the grave to give me life, hope, joy, peace, and everlasting life. I receive it all. I receive this new life with you as my Lord and Savior. I ask for your forgiveness as I repent of my sin and I ask for your help to live my life your way from now on. So please speak to me and lead me and guide me and help me to become all that you designed me to be. And I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. God is good. In the first service, a whole bunch of people put their hands up telling me they gave their lives to Christ. And so, I just say that to let you know you're not alone. But I do want everyone in the room to close your eyes and bow their heads on the stage, off the stage, everybody. Nobody looking around. I'm going to ask you when I count to three to lift your hand up and show me who you are. I'm not going to point you out. I'm not going to come down there. I'm just going to from where I'm standing here. I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to pray that God would move in your life. that God would would help what what the seed that was planted in your heart today to grow and you would become a strong faithfilled believer living the life that God has called you to. And I pray that he helps you. So on the count of three, while no one's looking around, let me know who you are. On the count of three, hold your hand up for 15 seconds. Tell me who you are. You gave your life to Christ. One, two, three. Shoot it up and hold it up for 15 seconds. For 20 seconds, actually. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. God bless you. You can put your hands down. Come on, give the Lord a shout of praise. That's 37 people gave their lives to Christ today at Eternity Church. Lord God, thank you for life and salvation found in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord God, that even when a sermon on Ananas and Safara getting killed, dead gets preached. That the word of God will not return void. It will accomplish all that you planned for it. That there is life and salvation found in this place. And that 37 people, 19 in this service, have found hope in you. But God, I pray it would not be a fleeting moment on a Sunday just sort of emotionally decided upon. But God, it would be real, stuck in their heart and a change in their lives. So I pray you lead them and speak to them and guide them and help them God through friendships, through sermons, through their new Bible that they'll get today. God, I pray you speak to them and help them to become all that you designed them to be. And even as stuff needs to change in their lives and and things need to be broken off their lives, God, even as they go through the refiner's fire, so to speak, I pray that they would know life really is better God's way in Jesus name. Someone say, "Amen." All right. Now you guys down the front, here's what I want. Stick around for a moment. We are going to sing a song for just four minutes. We're going to we we we end every service with a song. My my friend Tina will be back out in four minutes to to to just dismiss the service and let you know about E101. She she'll talk for 20 seconds. But what I want from everyone down here, I know you I know you took a knee. You're welcome to do that again if you want. But that was just an act of humility before the Lord asking for his help. But now I want you to worship. Worship as someone who knows, you know what, you're a believer. You belong in the house of God. You belong in his presence. You're welcome in his house. You're welcome in his presence. And just worship and pray and ask that he would help you to live your life his way now. That never again will he have to speak to you about this same thing. But here's the deal. What you've decided today is God, you said this. I'm going that way. Even if you do fall a little bit, don't make peace with it. And don't be ashamed of yourself. Stand back up and say, "Lord, I'm sorry. You were right. I was wrong. Help me to be stronger tomorrow and not to fall again." Amen. Lord God, bless them. I pray you would create in them a clean heart and renew a right spirit within them. That God, I thank you that you're not going to cast them away because they have humbled themselves. Lord God, that that their heart's desire is to follow you. So I pray you would strengthen them and help them and even cause them to follow your word in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Stay down here and worship the Lord. Everybody else, we're going to worship for about three or four minutes and then we'll dismiss the service. You guys love you. So proud of you. See y'all next week. Bring a friend. Hesus. All hail the Lord of heaven and earth. All hail king Jesus. All hell. The savior of the world. All hail Jesus. All hell. Lord of heaven and earth. All hell Jesus. All hell savior. Sing it again. All hell. All hell Jesus. All hell of heaven and earth. All hail king Jesus. All hail the savior of the world. All hail Jesus. All hell of heaven and earth. All hell Jesus. All hail the savior of the world before the king of kings. Let every Yes to he is Lord. Lift up your shout. Let us join with all of heaven. Sing it holy. Sing it holy. We cry out holy sing Jesus. All hail Lord of heaven and earth. All hail Jesus. Allior. Sing it one more time together. Oh h Jesus. All hail Lord of heaven and earth. All king Jesus. All himior of the world. Wow, what a powerful word delivered by Pastor Jesse. It is such a blessing to be led by a pastor who is not afraid to preach truth and grace when we need it. Right. Well, this concludes our 10:45 service. If you need prayer for anything, I encourage you to come up. We have an incredible team that will pray with you and pray for you. And if you're new, just reminder, head over to E101 and then the connection lounge. Thank you for spending your morning with us, church. Love you. for the answer. to the air. I praise you anyway. Give him praise. Give him praise in the highest praise. Give him praise. Give him praise in the highest worthy heaven. Doors wide. Sometimes you got to stand with your head high. I praise you. Praise him. Give him praise in the highest praise. Give him the highest worthy. Give him praise. Give him praise. Give him praise in the highest praise. Give him praise. Give him praise in the highest worthy. Come on. If God's been good to you, I want you to sing this out. blessings. I'll praise you anywhere, every goodness, every step, each and every breath. I'll praise you. So all my life blessings countless praise you. Every promise kept goodness every step each and every breath I praise you. Praise in the highest worthy worthy honor. I'll praise you anyway. I know that you're with me. I praise you anywhere. Hallelujah. Who has believed the word of the Lord? Who has perceived his home for that bleed out for me for my unbelief? He was crushed, pierced, wounded, forsaken, despised, mocked, hated, rejected. And still he knew no sin. Let that sink in. Exalted high above it all. The sacrifice paid it all. The lamb of God. Most holy one. Jesus. You are worthy. himself. Every disease sickness was fallen and put on he was crushed. It was taken, despised, hated, rejected, crushed, wounded, forsaken, disguised, mocked, hated, rejected. Still he knew that all the sacrifice it all the lamb of God. Most holy Jesus you are worthy. Exalted high above it all the sacrifice who paid it all the lamb of God. Most holy one Jesus you are worthy Jesus absolutely perfect excellent and holy you're the risen one Jesus name above all others holy king forever seated on the throne Jesus, absolutely perfect, excellent, and holy. You're the reason one. Oh Jesus, came above all, holy king forever, seated on your throne. Oh Jesus, absolutely perfect, excellent and holy. You're the risen one. Jesus made above our holy king forever. seated on your throne. It falled high above it all sacrifice who paid it all. The Lamb of God, most holy one Jesus, you are worthy. Oh, exalted high. Most holy one. Jesus, you are worthy. Come on, sing Jesus. Jesus, absolutely perfect, excellent and holy. You're the one Jesus name above all forever seated on your throne. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. Absolutely perfect. Excellent and holy. You're the risen one. Jesus name. Holy king forever seated on your throne. for the joy set before him. He endured the cross. Fix your eyes, oh my soul. The one who gave it all the other Son of man of our consider this consider everything we will Every burden to be our turn from all things our gaze on the the finish. Oh, and the son of man, my sw Consider he is everything. He is everything. We were focused on let us go with our It's up to you. We will run this focus on your face. You won't let us run this focus on your face. You won't let us lose heart. We will run this focus on your face. You won't let us grow we made it's a pilgrimage. You won't let us lose heart. Lift your head and look the sun. The kindness of our consider everything. He is everything. He is everything. He is everything. He is everything. Heart is in the valley where the flag was blown. God is in the throw your hands up. Don't know what to do. God is in the giving. God is in the God is in God is in the promise and the God is in the waiting n. God is in the God is in the God is in the fire in the right knowing In the moment in the last cry is in the blinding. God is in the miry. God is in the in the fire in the after. Breathing the breed as you know in the morning I know I should get up and handle my burdens to grace. Father I know I'm your son but feel like I'm done. The bitterness eats me away. Remember the day you calling me following me. Tears was all I could say for the sticks and the stone smoking at me like I'm counting on the phone trying to build a home struggling with the investment from the season I'm told in the light. He's walking away. God is in the high. God is in the fire. Brea in the middle. God is in the front of every One day I know my blood away. Raised up from the dirt to save the father. Have you ever seen a sea spin? Well, that's what a mighty God is. Have you ever seen a giant go down? Well, that's what happened. What a mighty God he is.

This sermon, The Meek Christian, redefines meekness as strength under God’s control—not weakness, but power submitted to divine authority. Drawing from Matthew 5:5 and Psalm 37, it explains that meek believers are bold, courageous, and Spirit-led—using their strength, influence, and convictions to serve God’s purposes.

The Power of Repentance, teaches that repentance is not a word of condemnation but a gift of freedom and restoration. Using David’s fall and Psalm 51 as examples, it shows that no matter how far we’ve gone, God’s mercy runs deeper than our greatest failures.

Thoughts & Prayers, teaches from Philippians 4:2–9 that prayer and our thought life are not empty gestures but powerful, God-given tools for peace, direction, and transformation. It confronts a culture that mocks prayer, reminding believers that prayer changes situations as well as hearts, and that what we dwell on shapes who we are.

What the Bible tells us about suffering

Hope of the World addresses grief, persecution, and the seeming triumph of evil in light of the tragic death of Charlie Kirk. Rooted in 1 Peter 1:3–9, it reminds believers that our ultimate hope is not in this world but in the eternal life promised through Jesus’ resurrection.

[Music] Good morning, Eternity Church. Will you stand as we prepare to worship together in this place? And if you would, would you lift your hands as a sign of surrender as we just uh pray together to commit our service to the Lord? God, we thank you so much for who you are. We know that in your presence things change. Lord, we ask just that you help us to focus on you. You're the one that truly matters in this place. Help us to set aside any distraction, any weight that we may have brought in here, Lord. Draw us to yourself as we just pursue you in worship. As we lift up the name of Jesus in this place, we need a move of God. We need a move of God for our families, for our city, for our nation, for our church. We praise you. We thank you. And we want to honor you here in everything that we do here together. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Here we go, church. [Music] Oh, we need a move of God. [Music] We've come for a move of God. We've come for the Holy One. All we want, all we hunger for is you. Come on, [Music] Lord. Come on, sing it out. Holy Spirit, come alive. Fire on the altar, a fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Until we encounter you. Come on. Make us desperate. Tear our idols down. We're repentant. This is still your house. Lord, you made it. When you said you'd pour your spirit out. So, Holy Spirit, come alive. Fire on the altar. A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Until we encounter you. Come on, church. We're going to declare in this place that we need a move of God. Come on, sing it. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heavens. We need a move of God for our families. We need a move of God for our nation. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heavens. We need a move of God in our church. We need a move of God in our city. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heavens. Fire on the altar. A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. A fire on the altar. A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heaven. Sing it out. Come on. [Music] We need a move of God. Come on. We need a [Music] We're hungry. We're open. [Music] Oh, we praise your name. Lord. Yeah. Hallelujah. Give God a shout of praise this morning. This is weird and awesome all at the same time. Hey, welcome to church this morning. My name is Brad. I'm one of the pastors here. We are so glad that you that you joined us this morning. Like to say welcome to you. If you are new here, I'd like to invite you to our connection lounge. It is right out door number one and there's a tall sign that says connect here. Please go there. We'd like to get some information from you. We'd like to meet you. We have a free gift for you when you stop there. Also, if you're new immediately following the service, outdoor number three around the corner is E101. Now, E101 is a place where you can learn all about Eternity Church, our vision, our values, and you can also learn how you can get connected here at Eternity Church. So, please do that if you never have before. Um, we'd love to. And there's food there, too. I forgot about that. Don't forget the food. Mamas, if you've got a squirmy child or you need to change a diaper or take care of any other of your little ones needs, right here in the back, right by door number one, there's a sign that says mother's room, that's for you. Dads, if you need to change a diaper, um, in all the men's restrooms, there are changing tables. Now, we've met. Now, it's time for you to meet each other. Look around. See someone that you don't that you've never met? Say hi to them. Hug a neck. Shake a hand. Invite them to lunch. All right. Um, I've been instructed by this fine group of people down here that you can join them down here to worship. They promise they won't bite, but come on down. I have a few announcements. A few announcements as we move on this morning. Um, tomorrow night at 7 PM right here in the sanctuary, there's corporate prayer. So, you're welcome to come. There's a group of people that gather the first Monday night of each month. And that's tomorrow night. Also tonight, tonight at 5:00 p.m., baptisms under the Jesus Tower. Now, we have seating for about 160 people on bleachers, but we have lawn chair seating that's unlimited if you bring your own lawn chair. So, do that. Come and join us. We've got 35 or so people signed up. We actually had a gentleman come last night when we were setting up the tanks and he said, "Can I get baptized?" And I'm like, "Right now?" He goes, "No, I'll come back." But so anyway, come and get baptized. It's going to be awesome. Going to be awesome. Next weekend, October 12th, is our finally home weekend. It's going to be a great celebration. Yeah, God has done amazing things and we're going to celebrate that next week. There's going to be inflatables for the kids out in the north parking lot. There's going to be food giveaway and there's going to be tons of special guests. We're going to honor all of the people that have helped us do this because they are awesome and they deserve honor and we're going to do that next week. So, come join us for that regular service times next Sunday. Um, as we get ready to receive the offering, I'd like to invite the gotcha crew forward. I'm just going to pray, but you can give in any of these ways on the screen. You can scan the QR. You can text eternity to 77977 or you can go to myetternity.com/give. Also cash and checks in the bucket. Make your checks payable to eternity church. Come join the youth and worship. And we're going to pray. Jesus, thank you that your word says give and it shall be given to you back to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. God, we believe that this morning and we thank you that your word is true in Jesus name. Amen. Let's continue to worship. [Applause] [Music] [Music] I don't want to play a in that [Music] I don't want to grieve your heart. Lord, I pray that you would make a place for you to rest, place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. Oh Jesus. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] Humble me with holy fear, [Music] never to abuse your mercy. Consecrate and keep me near. It's my joy and it's my honor to be. A place for you to rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for you to brea. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. Oh, make me a dwelling place. [Music] Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set apart. More than a song, that's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set aart, more than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure. Your heart holy instead ofart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands. Your heart. Holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, your heart holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. To rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for you to breathe. Holy Spirit, stay. Make a dwelling place. [Applause] clean hands. Your heart holy and set up high. That's what you're worthy of. We hand your heart. Holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. [Music] That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. [Music] You're worthy. You're worthy. [Music] Worthy of it all. [Music] You're worthy of it all. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling. [Music] Make me a dwelling place. [Music] I pray. I pray. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] I pray. Make me a dwelling place. [Applause] [Music] Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] I pray. I pray. [Music] Amen. [Applause] [Music] If your people who are called by your name humble themselves and pray you will heal our land. If we turn from every wicked way and turn to seek your face, then you will heal our land. [Music] You will turn your face from heaven with mercy and forgiveness. [Music] You will heal our land. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are healed. Come on. And in faith we grab the he of your own from where the mercy will flow. Jesus is the Lord. All sickness, bondage, and disease, oh it must bow his name for Jesus is the Lord. Your Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are healed. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer and by Christ we are here. Oh, come on church. Let faith rise up. Let faith rise up cuz it's who he is. Come on, sing this with me. that by your stripes we are healed. [Music] That's right. [Music] By your blood be drawn near by your Come on we stand [Music] that by your stripes we are healed. By your stripes we are healed. You made a way for us all. Lord, we stand in hope. By your blood, we draw near. Oh, by your blood we draw near. You made a way for us all. Lord, we stand in hope. You're Jesus, the healer. You're Jesus, the healer. You're Jesus, the healer. And by your stripes, we are healed. You're Jesus, the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are healed. [Music] Come on church. We're going to sing this again. Oh, you made a way. Oh, you made a way. [Applause] [Music] So by your stripes we are here. Sing it out. [Music] Come on, receive it [Applause] by your blood. [Music] Only by his blood you made a way. [Music] By your stripes we are healed. Oh by your stripes we are healed. You made hope for us all. for we stand in. Oh, by your blood we draw the air. Oh, by your blood we draw near. You make a way for us all. Lord we stand in your Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your strip we are healed. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are here. Sing it again. Your Jesus. [Music] Come on. One more time. Give us eyes to see that you're Jesus the healer. [Music] Come on. Let faith rise up. Let faith rise up. Amen. Amen. What do you say? Wild. Let's show how we worship on Wednesdays. Huh? Wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide this weird soul. This black ball. And I tried with all my might, but I just can't win the fight. I'm looking drifting a bag of just when I ran that road, I met a man I didn't know. And he told me that I was not alone. Come on. He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the master. I thank the Savior because he healed my heart. He changed my name. Forever free. I am not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Oh. [Music] Not what I see. Got no choice but to believe. And my doubts are burning like ashes and wind. So long to my old friends. Burning and bitterness. You can't just keep it moving. Now you ain't welcome here. From now till I walk the streets to go, I'll sing how you save my soul. This way where one has found a way back home. You picked me up. You turned me around. You placed my feet on solid ground. I think the master. I think the savior because he healed my heart. He changed my name forever free. I am not the same. I think the master I [Music] declare this victory will hell off another one. I am free. Come on. I am free. I am free. Hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Will hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. I am free. I am free. He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the master. I thank the savior. Because he healed my heart. He changed my name. Forever free. I am not the same. I thank the master. I thank the savior. I thank God. [Applause] The testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. That means what he did for another. He can do it again. That means what he did for another, he can do it again. Come on. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that little bit. Now get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Let's party. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up out of that grave. Get up out of that grave. Because he picked me up. Turn me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I make a master. I think a savior because he my heart. He changed my name. Forever free. I'm not the master. I thank the savior. I thank God. Thank you Jesus. [Music] Come on. Good to be in church. Amen. I love having the privilege of pastoring a church that loves the presence of God. Amen. I love that our worship team come to worship, not to put on a performance. I like David. I will get even more undignified than this. I love it when people give us a review. They're too hyperactive. I'm like, "Sorry, I was dead and I'm alive now. Sorry, I was going to hell. I'm going to heaven now. I'm a little excited about it. Sorry, I was lost, but I know the way now." Yeah, I'm a bit excited about it. I love that our church loves to worship the Lord. I love that our youth love to worship the Lord. Don't you love that? God is good. If you're new to Eternity Church, thanks for coming. We love you. But more importantly, Jesus loves you. He's got a plan for your life. Uh way back in the beginning, Genesis, in the beginning, all right, God created the heavens and the earth. And then he said, "Let us make mankind in our image." And when God said that, you were in the mind of God. You're now so many years into the future, but but in that moment, you were in the mind of God. And God saw the earth unfold and every tragedy and every good thing, everything. He saw it all. and he knew that it would all lead to you being here having an opportunity to make him your Lord and Savior. He's been excited about this moment since in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Scripture tells us that when one sinner repents, when one sinner gives their life to Jesus Christ, that there is more rejoicing in heaven. And I got a feeling there's going to be some rejoicing in heaven today when people give their lives to Christ. Now, I'm not a prosperity gospel preacher, so I got to tell you stuff. Yes, life is better God's way. Yes, every area of your life that you do God's way is better than if you do not. So, so, so your marriage is better if you do it God's way. Your your your children are better if you parent God's way. Your relationship with mom and dad is better if you honor your mother and father. Do it God's way. Your finances are better, too, if you do them God's way. Amen. Your health is better if you do everything in your life is better if you do it God's way. But I want to be honest with you, doing life God's way is not always easier, though. Sometimes it's actually more difficult cuz the world's running one way and you're trying to run the other way. The world's running away from the Lord and you're trying to run to him. And it's not easy. Sometimes you get caught up in a crowd. Sometimes you get caught up in in in just just ungodliness. And sometimes you have, you know, bad ideologies and bad belief systems and things that don't honor the Lord. And God wants to come into your life and transform you and help change those things in your life. And and if I'm honest, that's not always easy. But what I want to encourage you is this. If you give your life to Christ now, even though it might not always be easy, it will always be better God's way. Look, nothing good comes super easy. You know, like if you want a new house, it's got to get built. You know what I'm saying? Like good things sometimes are hard work. And sometimes this better life is a little bit of hard work, but it is better God's way. And so I want you to give your life to Christ today. If you're away from God, I want you to give him your life. And I want you to find out quick smart in a hurry that God's ways are better than your ways. God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. God's ways are better than our ways. And so if you're here and you're away from God, I'm going to say a prayer right now, one line at a time. And I want you to repeat it back with me after each line. We're all going to say it, all of us together, so no one's praying alone. But scripture says if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord that you will be saved. And so as we pray it as you speak it with your mouth, I want you to believe it in your heart and according to God's word, your life will change. God will come into your life and you will become a son or a daughter of God. And then the journey begins. This journey of lining your life up with his word where you discover some things are hard, some things got to change, but everything's better God's way. Even in the pain of change, it's even better than God's way. More joy, more strength, more fulfillment as you're living your life on his purpose. Amen. So, I'm going to say this prayer right now, and I want everyone in the room to repeat it after me. And I especially want those who are away from the Lord to pray it with us as well. But everybody together, repeat after me. Dear God, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died on a cross for my sin. And I believe that you rose him up out of the grave to give me life, hope, joy, peace, and everlasting life. I receive it all. I receive this new life with you as my Lord and my Savior. I I ask for your forgiveness as I repent of my sin and I ask for your help to live my life your way from now on. I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. [Applause] So now what we're going to do is this. If you gave your life to Christ just now, I haven't even preached yet. Kind of did little mini sermon, but but if you gave your life to Christ in our service, I want you to do two things for me. Maybe three things actually. Number one, I want you to tell somebody that you did that. Throw something up on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or or all three combin Twit face, whatever you want. Just put put it up online. Tell some I gave my life to Christ today and everything's going to change now. Tell somebody. Tell your mom. Tell your dad. Tell your tell your co-workers. Tell somebody. Be bold. Stand up. Tell someone. I'm a believer. Now, number two, I want you to tell us. Okay? I want you to text the word Bible to the number 5153350335. You can't see it. I can. I got the special glasses. There we go. Bible. 5153350335 or scan that barcode. If you do that, we're going to send you a Bible in the mail this week cuz you're a Christian now. You're like, "But I haven't changed much." You're a Christian now. God wants to speak to you. You need to read your Bible. God will speak to you through the word. He'll speak to you through friends. He'll speak to you in sermons. God will speak to you. And so, you need to read your Bibles now. So, text that number. We'll send you one in the mail. And lastly, though, so tell somebody. Tell us. I want you to tell me. If you could all close your eyes, everyone in the room, close your eyes and bow your heads. There's nobody looking around. If you prayed that prayer, if you gave your life to Christ, when I count to three, I want you to tell me by lifting up your hand, cuz I want to pray for you that God would move in your life, that God would help you make the changes to make your life line up with his plans for your life and help you find out real fast that God's ways are better than yours. And uh I'm just want to pray for God's favor and healing and protection on your life. And so, if that was you and you gave your life to Christ, I want you to be bold and take a step of faith. I'm not going to point you out or come down there. I'm not even going to tell anybody. But I do want to celebrate with the angels in heaven that you gave your life to Christ. That everyone in this room who got saved today, I want to know who you are. So be bold. And on the count of three, while no one's looking around, lift your hand up and hold it up for 15 to 20 seconds. Right now, if that's you, 1 2 3, shoot your hands up and hold them up all over this place. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 people. God bless you. You can put your hands down. Come on, let's pray for these 20 people. Heavenly Father, thank you for 20 more brothers and sisters coming home to you. Finally home. Lord God, I pray you bless them and protect them and protect the seed that's been planted in their hearts today. Lord God, I pray you would help them to to line their lives up with your word. You would speak to them and lead them and guide them and help them that they could become all that you designed them to be, Lord. And that that that you would heal their brokenness. That you would break the pain and the shame of their past off their lives. And they would know I am not what I did. I am not what I was. I'm a son or a daughter of my creator of God. Now God, they would know that you love them, that you're for them, that you're with them, and that they would find out quick, smart, and in a hurry that God's ways are better than ours in Jesus name. Someone give the Lord a shout of praise and say, "Amen." All right, I'm going to go through my quick things at the start. All right. Hi, I'm Jesse. Welcome to church. Next on my list, uh, we're still very new here. It's only our fifth week. Our big grand opening is next week. Bring a friend. and bring someone to church. Baptism's at 5:00 p.m. today. It's not too late for you to get baptized. Or if it is too late, and somebody already said that they're wrong, I'm right. You can get baptized if you want. So, all you got to do is be a believer, love Jesus, and believe that his ways are better than your ways. That God is right. And sometimes we're wrong. Okay? You want to You're just saying baptism is I'm going to follow you every way I can now. I'm going to live in obedience to the Lord. And so, if you want to get baptized, just turn up at 5:00. will have some shirts and shorts for you as well. But you do have to be a believer and you do have to actually want to honor God's word in your life if you want to get baptized. Lastly, I'm going to read one short verse from Matthew chapter 4. I'm going to read verse 17 from Matthew chapter 4. Then we'll pray and you can take your seats. It says in Matthew chapter 4, right after Jesus began his ministry on earth, it says, "And from that time on, Jesus began to preach saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for every person that's here. I don't know what everybody went through this week. I don't know what pain they're carrying. I don't know whether people came to church today feeling like they completely messed up their entire lives by making terrible mistakes. I don't know what's going on in people's hearts, but I do know that you know. And that even though you know the worst things they've done, you've invited them into your house, into your presence, that they might receive your grace and mercy, and that they might experience the power of transformation, the power of a transformed life. God, I just pray that you would help us all to receive your word today. God, I pray you would help us to understand this topic of repentance. What does it mean to repent? How do we do it? Why is it not scary? Why is it good? God, help us to leave this place just reminded of your goodness, inspired to live for you and encouraged to never give up. I pray this in Jesus name. Someone say, "Amen." Amen. You can high-five one of your neighbors and take your seats. Thank you, church, for letting me go a little off script. I just felt like the the room was ready for salvation. Amen. Because I don't need to preach a big sermon for people to get saved. We just need to know that God is moving for people to get saved. Amen. Well, the topic of my sermon today is repentance. Okay? The power of repentance or as you would say, the power of repentance. The power. Someone say power. The power. The power of repentance. Now, in the world that we live in, uh, repentance has become a bit of a dirty word. It's become, um, uh, and that's kind of become true in many corners of Christianity as well, where people want salvation without repentance. They want forgiveness without even the slightest desire to change their behavior. They want a relationship with God, but they don't want to do anything that he says. And if a church has the gumption to preach on repentance, they would say it's a hatefilled church. It's a judgmental church or that's just an oldfashioned church. But the truth is that repentance is not hateful at all. Repentance is a gift from God. It's a wonderful opportunity that God has given to each and every one of us at multiple times in our lives. And we certainly do not deserve the opportunity or the privilege to repent. Yet by the grace and the love and the mercy of God, we can repent. And now further distorting and confusing people on the issue of repentance uh is when people in the world fall or when people in the world fail and when they own up to their mistakes uh having been caught or or simply just owning up, the world does not forgive. They get cancelled. They get crushed. They're never allowed to live it down. And it's any wonder that people hate the word repentance because the world I in the world repentance doesn't really lead to victory. It can lead to shame. Now with God, it's the opposite. With God, repentance is an open door. It's his mercy. And he gives us a chance to turn back, to be forgiven, to have a fresh start, to let him wipe the slate clean. Repentance is not a curse word or a hate word. Repentance is a hope word. If repentance had a sound, it would be the sound of chains breaking and angels rejoicing. Because scripture says that every time a sinner repents, there's rejoicing in heaven. If repentance had a sound, it would be chains breaking off your life and angels rejoicing in heaven. Amen. Repentance is proof that no matter how deep into the pit you have fallen, God's love is deeper. that no matter how wide the pain and the effects of your sin have reached, God's love reaches wider. That no matter how far the rumors and the talk and the gossip of your failings have traveled, that God's love travels further. that no matter how deep you've gone, how wide it hurt, and how far the rumors have traveled, you still have the privilege of repentance and the opportunity to be transformed by the power of God back into the image of his son. You can still become all that God designed you to be. Repentance is a gift, not a scary word. It is a gift from God. Now, Psalm 51 is a very powerful example of repentance. Uh, it was actually David's response to being caught in sin. Um, what sin was it? Well, we actually read the passage a couple of months ago. Uh, that that describes what happened when David got caught. In 2 Samuel 11:2, it says, "It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of his house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful and David sent and inquired about her." And someone said, "This is Beth Sheeba, the daughter of Iliam, the wife of Uriah the Hitittite." So David, knowing that still sent messages uh messengers who took her and she came to him and he lay with her. um she returned to her house and she conceived a child and she sent word back to King David saying I am pregnant now. Then after all of this happened, David proceeds to try to cover his sin up. And as he tries to cover up his wrongdoing, things go from bad to worse. Has that happened for anybody else? Right. You mess up, you try to hide it, try to cover it up, try to make sure nobody finds out about it. And it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse and worse, right? And so, first he conspires to have the woman's husband come home so that he would sleep with her and then everybody would think it's his child that she is pregnant with. But that doesn't work because while his mates are at war, they're at a war that David was supposed to be at. See, this passage actually starts saying in the time when kings were supposed to be at war, David stayed home. Okay? So his mates are at war, a war David should himself have been at. So Uriah refuses to sleep with his wife while and enjoy that kind of experience while his friends are risking their lives. He was a good man. So then David goes, "Well, this idea didn't work. I need a better idea to cover this up." So So then he says, "Well, send him send Uriah to the front lines where he will most certainly die." And then it unfolds exactly as his plan was. The man returns to war, dies on the front lines, and then David takes this takes uh Uriah's wa wife to be his wife. Then what happens after he's sinned, tried to cover it up, tried to cover it up again. Does he repent? No. Nope, he doesn't. God has to send a prophet to rebuke David to call him out on his sin. And then David has a moment of clarity and with a broken heart tears his robe and and realizes just how far from God he has fallen away and then he repents. Now often when people get caught and then they repent, people say, "Well, they didn't really repent. They just got caught." Listen, we don't know people's hearts. David really did repent because he got caught. Okay? We don't know people's hearts. And we've got to stop trying to decide and try to judge whether people really are repentant or not in their hearts. We got to look at the behavior. If they've stopped doing it, let's just trust their word that they've repented. Come on now. Right? Like like if they say they have, that's between them and God. So David repents. Okay. Um he gets to Psalm 51 and he he prays a desperate prayer after being caught and rebuked for his very awful sins. He says, "Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy." Have mercy on me, oh God. See, David, who God would call a man after God's own heart, uh, loved the Lord. And David, at least most of his life, knew the Lord, wanted to follow the Lord, knew his precepts, knew his ways, knew a lot of God's character. And knowing who God was, David appeals to God, appealing to his love and his mercy. Now, we all know about the grace of God. We we talk here all the time. We preach truth. We preach grace. We preach truth. And we don't lower the standard, even if it's uncomfortable in this world, but we lift up the grace of God to match it because Jesus came full of truth and full of grace. Amen. And so, we preach truth. We preach grace. But do we know what mercy is? Grace and mercy are not the same thing. Uh God is both gracious and merciful. See, mercy is when we do not get what we deserve. We're like, I know I deserve that, but but but please have mercy on me. And grace is when we get what we do not deserve. We're given something we didn't earn. We didn't earn it, but by God's grace, we've been given it. Thank you, Lord. mercy. We deserve to be punished, but by the mercy of God, we are not. So, grace is amazing. We do not deserve eternal life. We do not deserve forgiveness. We do not deserve healing. I do not deserve to be standing here on this stage preaching the word in front of all of you. Yet, by the grace of God, here I am. I do not deserve my wife and children. Yet by the grace of God, look at the beautiful family that God has blessed me with. I do not deserve eternal life, but by the grace of God, I will walk the streets of gold with most of you after this life. God is good. Amen. Oh, how I love the grace of God. I have been given so much more than I deserve, but mercy. Oh, I love the mercy of God as well. I deserve to go to hell. I deserve to be punished for my sin. I deserve to have every good thing taken away from me as a consequence of my behavior. I deserve to be banished from his presence. And yet hell will never see me. And yet my punishment was poured out on another. His name was Jesus Christ instead of me. And I will not be cast away from the Lord's presence. But I will live with him for ever and ever and ever. Oh, I love the mercy of God. Cuz I will not get what I deserve. David knew this. David knew that by the power of God's love and the strength of God's mercy, that though he had failed again and again and again, doing worse and worse things, one terrible thing after another to cover the last thing that he did, yet David still knew that by the mercy of God, he could approach the Lord and he could repent and God would receive him. Because God's love and mercy run deeper than your greatest failure, you can still repent. No matter who you are. Looking at David, many of you might see him and think, "Wow, I have not gone that far. I have not stood on the roof and taken someone else's wife and then killed the husband." I hope I hope that that hasn't happened in this church. But if you look at David, you might think I have not gone that far. Man, if God can forgive David, if if God's mercy extends to David, his mercy will extend to me. Right? But then there might be others who say, "Wow, I've gone further. Please don't tell us." You know, just keep that to yourself between you and God. But others might say, "I've gone further. I've done worse." Or at least you might say, "I know of someone who's gone further and done worse things than David." Well, then hear me when I say this. David is not an example showing us the limits of God mercy. No, David is an example that shows us that there is no limit to God's mercy for those who are willing to repent. Hear me when I say, you got to understand this. David is not the limit of God's mercy. That's not what David isn't the limit. David is an example that there is no limit to God's mercy for those who are willing to repent. Amen. So firstly, paving the way for repentance is understanding that God's mercy runs deeper than your greatest failure. And all who are willing to repent can enter the throne room of God. They will be met with mercy and God will receive them. Praise God. Isn't God good? So no matter what you've done, no matter who you are, whatever you've been carrying, listen to me. God's mercy still reaches you. Repentance is a gift, isn't it? So what happens after that? Next, David confesses his sins. Verse three and four of Psalm 51. For I know my transgressions. My sin is ever before me against you. And you only have I sinned and and done what is evil in your sight. So, so that that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. And some people have taken exception to this. Against you and you only have I sinned. What he's saying here is the most important thing to recognize is I sinned against you. There's three things in David's confession that I want you to recognize. David recognized, "I know I have sinned." Number two, David recognized, "I know I have sinned against God." Number three, David recognizes that I know God is right to judge me. That I deserve judgment. I deserve to be punished. And I know that if God chose to do that, that God would be righteous to do it. Our sin was against God. See, when we sin or are sinned against, our sin is against God. If you sin against me, you're sinning against God. If I sin against you, I am sinning against God. Our sin is against God. And what's most important above who has sinned against me or against you is that all our sin is against the Lord God. And the most important thing that people who sin against me need to do is recognize that their sin was against God and that from God they need mercy and from God they need forgiveness. See, I think we get too distracted by whether or not people have come back to me and asked me for forgiveness. And and honestly, as I think about my own life, uh when people have sinned against me, when people have hurt me, the the the moments of real healing that I have experienced is when I finally got to the point that I let God deal with them, where I began to trust God. God said, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." So I say, "God, I'm going to let you deal with them cuz I know that it's you that they sinned against. And I know that you defined what's right and what's wrong, and it's you they sinned against. So God, I'm going to trust you with them. I I I stop at that moment. I stop needing them to come to me. And I just hope and I pray that they go to God." See, what matters most is the sin is against God. So when people sin against me, yes, it hurts. And I'm not belittling what's happened to you. And I'm not belittling what people have done to you or around you and how much it's hurt you. But I am not going to live my life waiting for them to show up and apologize to me before I can be set free. My healing my healing begins when I say, "God, they sinned against you first. I trust you to deal with them. If they repent, praise God. Receive them. If they don't, you'll deal with them. And you'll deal with them better than I ever could. That's when healing comes into my life. But either way, I am free to forgive. Of course, it's healthiest when they come to me and apologize as well, but but that's not what I need to heal. I don't need closure from somebody. I get my closure from the Lord. I don't need closure from you. I'mma get my closure from God. Can I get an amen, church? In David's repentance, he's recognizing I sinned against God. And he recognizes God is right. God's ways are better than mine. God's thoughts are higher than mine. God is right to judge me. Again, it's the mercy that he knows about the mercy and the love of God. And that's allowed him to recognize that that that he can say, "God is right to judge me and punish me because he knows the mercy of God will receive him." Too many people sin, fall down, do terrible things, live terrible lives. And instead of accepting God's mercy, instead of humbling themselves and recognizing, I've done the wrong thing, I'm doing the wrong thing, instead of instead instead of declaring that the truth that God is right and I am wrong, they convince themselves and they convince other people that God is wrong and my ways are better than his ways. Instead of repenting, they distort the scripture to make themselves feel better. They take the word of God and they twist it. People who do that are not becoming more like God. They're becoming like the devil. Our first encounter with the devil in scripture, he comes up to Eve. He twists the word of God. He twists what God says. He says, "Did God really say?" It's the oldest trick in the book that people who want to make themselves appear righteous to man instead of to God will say, "Did God really say?" Get people to question God's word. Get people to twist God's word. And people still do it today. Instead of accepting the wonderful mercy of God that allows us to admit that we have sinned against God and have been living in in opposition to his word, instead of simply humbling ourselves and accepting his mercy, they defend themselves so that they can appear righteous before man instead of being righteous before God. And it works. There are entire denominations in America that effectively exist for one reason and one reason only, to justify your sin and let you feel good about it. They'll say things like, "Well, how does what I do hurt anybody else?" Can I tell you, we don't preach truth because of whether or not you've hurt us. It's because you've sinned against God. We don't preach the word. We don't have this social gospel where it's like, "Hey, you know, if I'm hurt by something you do, I need to preach a sermon on it." No, no, no, no. I want you to know how to honor God in your life. I'm supposed to be a preacher of the word of God, not the word of Jesse. I'm supposed to be a preacher of the word of God, not the word of the world. Come on now. I want you, all of you, everybody in here and out there, all around the country to know, hey, here's what God says is right and wrong. And whether what you do hurts me or not is irrelevant because God says it's sin and against you I have sinned. We don't preach tough stuff so that people can make us feel better. We don't preach tough stuff so that so that you know to to sort of get it off our chest. We don't preach tough stuff because we hate people. It's because we love you and he loves you. And you can humble yourself and admit, "I've been doing it wrong." You don't have to pretend it's fine. You can just admit it's wrong. You can come to the Lord and say, "What I've been doing is so wrong." And God will say, "Welcome, son. Welcome, daughter. Let me help you change it." Did God really say, "Is the word of God really pro-life? Did God really decide what marriage and family is? They've forgotten that whether you hurt me or anyone else is of least importance. The thing you need to worry about. What's most important is, have we sinned against God? I don't want to look righteous to some blinded and confused congregation because that's not a righteousness that saves. The only righteousness that saves is a righteousness that comes from God. And so whether we want it to be this way or want it to be that way, it doesn't matter. If we want people to be saved, we want them to receive their righteousness from God, not their righteousness from a blinded and confused congregation. We want them to repent and experience the goodness and power of God in their lives. Repentance, changing course, living a new life. It's not easy and we all make mistakes and none of us will ever be perfect. It's not about perfection, but it only works if we're willing to admit that it's against God that we sinned. Repentance doesn't work if we don't recognize it's it's against God that we sinned. Repentance doesn't work if all we care about is, "Oh, what people have I hurt?" No, no, no, no, no, no. Have I sinned against God? We have to admit that we were wrong and he is right. You see what David would do? David would read the word of God and be changed by it. David David submitted to the word of God over o over his life. He lived under the word and and he let the water of the word wash over him as scripture says. So we recognize it is God that we've sinned against. We recognize that God has a right to judge us. And church, I know this has been a brutal sermon. This might be, you know, someone's brand new today and they're like croaky. But hey, you want to know what repentance is? Hey, I put it on Instagram before I preached it Sunday. I told you what I was preaching on. It's your fault if you didn't see it. All right, we recognize it's God we've sinned against. We recognize that God has a right and is right to judge me. But let's read on because it does get better. It's been brutal, but here's some powerful and wonderful and awesome and fantastic news for you now. Okay, verses 7 to 10. Purge me with hip and thou shalt be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that have been broken uh that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. David's asking for a couple of things. One, he's saying, "Lord, please cleanse me. I feel dirty. I feel disgusting. these things that I've done, this this this way I've been living, this stuff I've been thinking, these things I've been doing, this way I've been beh I I feel disgusting. I feel dirty. I feel I feel revolting. I I don't know about you, but but I've felt that before anybody else. And you're like, and and I can't clean it up. There's nothing I can do, Lord. There's nothing I can do to fix this. There's nothing I can do to feel better about this. There's nothing I can do to to shake this stink off my life. There's nothing I can do to make myself feel better or feel clean after what I've been doing or what I've done. So God, I'm going to need you to clean me. And he's also asking the Lord to change him. Create in me a clean heart and renew in me a right spirit. This is so important because we cannot clean our own hearts and we cannot change our own hearts. Now that's not an excuse to keep on going. David is responsible for his own actions. But at the same time, the more we say yes to sin, the more our hearts love to sin. It's like a person addicted to drugs. I've I've seen this hundred times. I grew up in a family full of substance abuse and drug abuse and and the person addicted to drugs, they they chose the drugs. They made the choice to start smoking that, to start sniffing that, to start injecting that, they they made that choice. And every time they they took them, the more their body wants them. And yet for some addicts, even as they want the drug, they hate the drug. There are some that want it and love it. There are some that there are some that that want it and don't hate it. But but there are some that that want the drug and they hate the drug. And those are the people that eventually get free. They know that it's ruining them, but they're stuck in this dichotomy of worlds where where I love it when I do this. Oh, I hate it when I do this. People who are addicted to pornography have felt the exact same way in the moment. They love it while simultaneously being ashamed and they hate it. I I love this. I hate this. Come on. Anyone Anyone ever been stuck in sin and know what I'm talking about right now? Come on now. Can we admit that we've had sin in here? I love this. I hate this. The people who hate this are the ones that will find freedom. still can't blame anybody else. But praise God, we hate this. And can I tell you right now, if you're stuck in sin and you hate it, praise God, I'm so glad you hate it. Scripture says that God will give them over to the lusts of their heart. What's he saying? He's saying, "Look, these people, they're ungodly. They've chosen ungodliness. They're never going to change. They have gone so far. I know they will never come back. Just get out there. They'll never change." But if you hate your sin, praise God, the Holy Ghost is still working in your life. Praise God. God's not done with you yet. You will receive the mercy of God. You will receive the grace of God. You will have victory. You will overcome. Amen. Cuz you still hate your sin. You have not given up the fight. You have not made peace with sin and despair and destruction and brokenness. You still hate it. Praise God. You will overcome. But that part, too many people lack that. Too many people are shameless in their sin. They don't care about it. But only those who hate their sin will finally have victory over their sin. Because those who hate their sin will come to God admitting their sin and asking God to clean them up and to change their hearts. And God will deliver them. And God will receive them. And God will clean them. And God will heal them. And I want to tell you right now, whoever you are, whatever your sin that you've been struggling with or working through or maybe even hiding from everybody else, if you love the Lord, if you hate your sin, if you ask God to help, you will overcome it. You will find victory over your sin. Do not make peace with it. You will overcome. This may be your first time in church today, and you already know why he dragged you in this door. You will overcome. Don't make peace with it. It's heartbreaking when you start to wonder, am I ever going to get over it? Yes, you are. James, the book of James actually tells us if we confess our sins to one another that we will be healed. Sometimes God uses a brother or a sister in Christ to help us overcome our sin. Not even saying that you have to go. It doesn't say if you confess your sins to the person that you sinned against, you'll be healed. No, it says if you confess your sins to one another, you will be healed. Go to a brother in Christ. Go to a sister in Christ. Humble yourself enough to say, "Hey, I've been struggling with A or B or C or D or ABC and D." And then you you then you know you've got a friend praying for you, calling on heaven for you, encouraging you, calling you up to to to to hold you accountable. You will have victory. Hey, I'm telling you right now, if you've been battling something forever and you feel like you'll never overcome it, maybe it's time to take God's advice and share it with a friend and ask for their help and prayers. Amen. You don't have to change alone. You don't have to battle this alone. You certainly don't have to battle it forever. You can, and I believe with all my heart, you will be free from the change that seemed to have so easily ens snared you. Tell God you're sorry for sinning against him. Recognize his standard is the right standard. Ask him to clean you up, and he will. You don't have to feel dirty. Even if you sin again tomorrow, pray this prayer again. Psalm 51's going to get you through, my friend. Pray it again. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. Ask him to clean you up and help you meet the standard moving forward to change your heart. But as we get ready to pray for people, because we're going to open the front for prayer in about 2 minutes, 3 minutes, cuz you can go home still struggling, still feeling filthy, still feeling dirty, wondering if you'll ever change. Or you can come down the front and say, "I need prayer. I need prayer. You You don't even have to tell us what's going on if you don't want. Don't have to tell anybody. And by the way, if you do tell somebody, they won't tell anybody else. If they do, we'll kick them off the prayer team. They'll never be up here again. I mean it. If people can't trust the prayer team to not gossip, then people won't find healing and victory. So, if you're thinking about joining the prayer team, but you got a problem with gossip, don't join the prayer team. We Let me be even clearer. We don't want you on it. We want you in church, but we want you to get We want you to come down and get prayer if you're a gossip. All right, I say that to say this. You can trust the team to just pray for you and believe for victory and healing and God to clean you up. Amen. But don't go home. And nobody's going to be like, "Yeah, that's definitely the porn guy. That that that that definitely the that's definitely the speeding guy. That's the bitter guy." Nobody's going to be No. People are going to come down for gossip. People are going to come down for bitterness and brokenness and unforgiveness. People are going to come down for all sorts of different sins they can't shake off their life saying, "All right, it's time to get help." Amen. So, come down the front. But as we get ready to do that, I want to say this. There's something else really cool. After sinning, the most important thing to David wasn't losing his reputation, his job, or his crown. Nope. He wasn't like, "Oh, no. I messed up. I'm not going to be king anymore. Lord, please don't take my crown. Don't take my crown, Vic. Don't take my job. Don't take my reputation. Don't take my money. Don't take my No, he didn't care about any of that. All he said was, "Lord, cast me not away from thy presence, oh Lord. Take not thy holy spirit from me. Cast me not away from thy presence, oh Lord. Take not thy holy spirit. I don't care about anything else, Lord God. The only thing I know I'm a need to be in your presence. I'm going to need to be in your house. I'mma need to be I'mma need to have your Holy Spirit leading me and guiding me and helping me or I will never be able to overcome this church. You need to love God's presence. You might be the world would tell you that that you know what? You've sinned. You've messed up. You're terrible. You're stuck. You got these bad habits. You're you're a hot mess. You're disgusting. You don't deserve to be in church. And God would say, "You need to be in church. You need to You need to worship me in your car. You need to worship me at home. You need to worship me in church. You You need to be in church and worship God. I like that song. This is how I fight my battles. Worshiping God. Amen. But lastly, the other thing he says after all that, after this great mess up, David says, "And by the way, and then Lord created me a clean heart. Cast me not away from your take not the Holy Spirit from me. and then I will teach transgressors your ways and lead sinners back to you. The world would say, "You messed up. How dare you talk about the word of God? You messed up. How dare you talk about God?" And God says, "All I've got is people. So, I'm going to need you to keep talking." And all the people have messed up in one shape or another. So, keep on keeping. The world would say that makes you a hypocrite. God says that makes you a person on a journey trying to line your life up with my word step by step, moment by moment, day by day. Hey, the mercy of God has paved the way. You have not gone too far. He will receive you. Admit you've sinned against God and he's right to judge you. Ask him to forgive you. Ask him to clean your heart. ask him to change your heart, stay in his presence, and keep preaching the word. Would you all stand up with me, church? Lord God, I pray for our church that people in this room who have been struggling with sin in their lives or areas of their lives, struggling in repentance, not knowing how to get through. God, I pray that today would be a turning point in their lives that they would remember this moment. They came to church. They walked down the front. God spoke. God moved in their lives. And they finally got traction, had victory, and everything changed. God, speak to all of us in this room. God, have none of us who need to be down the front who need prayer. Have none of us leave without it. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. I say that because here's the deal. You can leave looking righteous to man or you can say, "God, I don't care what they think as I walk down the front. I want a righteousness that comes from you." Amen. So, God bless you, church. We're going to sing. Brad will be out in about four minutes to close the service and uh and then uh and he's got some other instructions for you. But let's worship our way out. And if you need prayer, walk on down the front. God is good. Let's have some victory today. Amen. [Music] anything that is [Music] I don't want to grieve your heart. I pray that you would place for you to rest, place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me your dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for you to brea. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling pray. [Music] Humble me with holy fear, never to abuse your mercy. [Music] Consecrate and keep me near. Cuz it's my joy and it's my honor to be. A place for you to rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move. room for you to breathe. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] Clean hands, pure heart. Holy and set apart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set apart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Your heart holy instead aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, your heart holy and set aart for them a song. That's what you're worthy of cleaning hands. Your heart holy and set aart more than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move. room for you to breathe. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me your dwelling place. Clean hands. Your heart holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. clean hands. Your heart holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. [Music] That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. What a God, huh? I'm so thankful for the grace and mercy of God. So thankful for his love. So thankful for his grace and mercy. Friends, thanks for coming this morning. Um E101 outdoor number three and around the corner. Please go to that if you're new here and come back at 5 for baptisms out under the Jesus Tower. Going to be awesome. We love you heaps. Have a great week.