Hope Church LV Sermons
Two Roads :: The Reality of the Kingdom
In every age, the next generation always seeks to express itself in a radically different way than the previous generation. In every age. That's why when we sit down and we get our kids and we start looking at the pictures from when we were in high school and college, we go, "Man, I can't believe I've ever dressed like that. I can't believe I ever wore my hair like that. I can't believe I ever wore those clothes," right? Because in every age, the next generation always longs to be different. We long to live our own way and express who we are and it's a writer named John Stott. And John Stott was writing about this very principle. And listen what he said, I want to show you this quote on the screen. He said, "Today the younger generation continues to search for a place they can be at home. They feel alienated by the prevailing culture. If today's young people are looking for the right things, meaning love, reality, they're looking for them in the wrong places. The first place they should be able to turn is the one they normally ignore, the church. For too often, what they see in the church is not a new society which embodies their ideals, but another version of the old society which they have renounced. No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than these words, but you are not different from anybody else. For the essential theme of the whole Bible from beginning to end is that God's historical purpose is to call out a people for Himself. This people is a holy people set apart from the world to belong to Him and to obey Him. Its vocation is to be true to its identity, that is to be holy or different in all its outlook and behavior. In January of 2010, 15 months ago, as a family of faith, we set out on a journey together. We began January of 2010 studying straight through the greatest sermon ever preached, the sermon on the Mount. It's contained in the Gospel of Matthew, you can go and take your Bible and open it there if you'd like to. Matthew's Gospels, chapter 5, 6, and 7, is the longest single recorded message ever preached by Jesus, and we have it in these three chapters, and in these three chapters of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is describing this radical way of life that Stott was talking about in his quote. Unfortunately, the church, specifically in North America, I'll speak to us because I believe it's more true in us than anywhere else. We've settled for something far less. We've settled for something that falls very short of the lifestyle, of the radical demonstration of living that Jesus points out. When we began our study together, we started in chapter 5, verse 1, and Jesus opens with this list that has become now famous, both inside the church and outside the church. We've even given it a name, we call it the Beatitudes. Jesus gives these bullet fire statements that describe this radical nature of living, and we gave a definition when we started that series of the Beatitudes, and I want to put it back up on the screen this morning. I want you to read it out loud with me. What are the Beatitudes? These are declarations of a radical way of life made possible in Christ, resulting in real, unshakeable happiness. As we began to look and study those principles, as Jesus talked about real brokenness, and He talked about gentleness. He talked about purity. He talked about hunger and a thirst for righteousness. He talked about being a peacemaker. When we studied those principles, we began to come to conclusion very quickly. Those principles in and of themselves are impossible if we're only looking to our own resources to live them out. What we began to understand quickly is the Beatitudes are a description of the life of Jesus Christ as His life is made manifest in us, and then as we moved on through chapter 5, we began to understand that the real mission of the church, Jesus used the word salt and light in chapter 5. The real mission of the church is to simply allow His life to be made known in and through our lives out of the overflow of this intimate love relationship with Him. That's our mission to make Christ known, not just through preaching sermons, not just through having services, but in our lives as we live day in and day out, moment by moment and dependence on Him, you and I are to be salt and light in this world. Then Jesus began to give us some examples of what it looks like practically. He did that with some, what we called warning statements. Six difficult statements that Jesus made as He began to apply these principles to everyday situations like hatred, lust, marriage, divorce, promises, revenge, loving our neighbors, Jesus began to make these very practical applications. And as we read and studied through those things together, we became even more convinced. The only way we live these out is Christ in us. These principles left to themselves are not naturally who we are. We are naturally the opposite of these things. When you read the Sermon on the Mount and you understand the lifestyle Jesus is calling us to, we understand the only hope we have is Christ in us. Then we moved into chapter 6, verse 1, Jesus drops this bombshell when He says, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them." Jesus begins to compare the real thing, kingdom living, living out of the overflow of intimacy with God, a change that happens on the inside that spills out on the outside. He began to contrast that with religion, the great tool of the enemy, religion that says, just clean up some things on the outside, just conform to some standards, just perform a few rituals and hope for the best in the end. Remember how we talked about wearing the mask? There are a lot of people who feel churches every weekend that are wearing a mask. They're pretty going to show, oh, they look good on Sunday, man, they got their dress clothes on and they're saying all the right things and they're singing all the words of the song, but on the inside they're the same old person they used to be, they're just performing. Jesus began to describe a faith and a reality that is very different than just putting on a show. He began to describe a lifestyle that is literally Him changing us on the inside so that what begins to come out of us is not just a better us, it's literally Christ in us. Then He began to give us some examples. He says, "Here's what this looks like as you give. Here's what this looks like as you pray. Here's what this looks like as you fast." Then towards the end of chapter 6, Jesus began to teach us that when we really begin to live this way, it changes our whole worldview. When we understand the kingdom of God, when we understand that this life is not the big picture, that this life is simply preparation for the big picture, that real life happens in eternity. This is only preparation for that. This is only a short window. Jesus said, "Man, when you understand kingdom living and you understand the kingdom of God, Jesus said, 'You don't even focus on temporary things. You don't lay up your treasure on earth where moth and ruscan destroy.'" He said, "Man, you begin to lay up treasure in heaven. You seek first the kingdom." Why? Because it's the only thing that's going to last forever. Not only as followers of Christ are we to be different in the way we live our lives, our whole perspective on life. We begin to see life differently. We begin to see things in the realms of eternal things and temporary things. Very contrary to the way the world lives. Then in chapter 7 that we began a few weeks ago, Jesus transitioned and began to give some climax, if you will, statements, some statements that really begin to summarize, "Hey, if we're living out the kingdom of God, here's what it begins to look like in your relationships with others." He made those three statements that are often pulled out of context, but when understood in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, they described the life of Christ and it kind of crescendoed last weekend with that golden rule. Treat others the way you would have them treat you. For over a year now we've been walking through this teaching on the kingdom. This weekend we begin the last section in the Sermon on the Mount. It's been a journey as a church. I hope it's been as transformational for you as it has been for me. You know as preachers of the gospel we have to, what you get to hear in about 30, 40 minutes, sometimes 50 I know on Sundays. We live with for about 25 hours during the week. By the time we get in here on the weekend, God has so just done a work in us. I hope that's what has happened in your life over this 15 months together. The principles of the kingdom of God are so radical. I want to, before we launch into our text today, I want to give you a summary of kingdom living in two statements. Here's the first one. Kingdom living begins with following Christ. There's some that would take the Sermon on the Mount and they would read it and they would think that kingdom living begins with trying to live out the principles Jesus has described. That's a road that leads to failure. You see religion says you take these principles and you try the best you can to please God by living them out. Kingdom living says there's no way I can live these things out. The kingdom living is really born out of a transformational relationship with God. It's the overflow of that relationship and here's the reality. Any person that has a relationship with God had a moment when that relationship began. You ever ask somebody the question, "When did you become a Christian and had them respond like this?" "Oh, I've always been a Christian." When I first moved to Las Vegas, one of the things that perplexed me the most was that question. I would begin to talk to people and I'd ask people that question, "Oh, you've been a Christian." I would hear often people say, "Oh, I've always been a Christian. Can I tell you something this morning?" That's not possible. Nobody's always been a Christian. Now, that doesn't mean that I can't be born into a Christian family, that I can't be born in and around the things of God, that the gospel is something maybe that I've heard since the time I was born, but the reality is every person that as a follower of Christ had a moment when that relationship with God began. Let me show it to you in the Bible. There's one of the most righteous men in the New Testament was a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Now, I know when we say he was a Pharisee, immediately we think he's one of the guys with the big black hat and the twisty handlebar mustache, you know, that's always tying people to the train track, right? That's who the Pharisees were. But in reality, the Pharisees were the most respected people in Judaism. The Pharisees were the men that moms and dads wanted their kids to grow up and emulate. They were men that had devoted themselves to studying the entire law and the prophets, and they'd made public verbal commitments to honor everything in the Old Testament. Now, they were going about it backwards. They were trying to perform. They didn't understand the relationship piece, and many of them even became hostile towards the person of Christ because of their misunderstanding of the truth. But there were many of the Pharisees who were genuine, honest, hardworking, God-fearing men, and one of them was Nicodemus. Nicodemus was so embarrassed about his stature and his lack of understanding that he came to Jesus at night. He didn't want anybody to know he'd come. So when all the crowds had gone away, Nicodemus comes to Jesus and starts asking him some questions. And listen to what Jesus said to Nicodemus, look at it on the screen, John 3-3, "He said truly, truly I say to you, unless one is," what does it say? Born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, unless you're born again. You see, every believer has a moment of conversion when I turn from my sin and surrender the control of my life to Jesus Christ. That's what Jesus was describing there in John 3. Nicodemus, hey, you may have been around the truth. You may have heard the truth, but Nicodemus, in order to be a part of the kingdom of God, you must be born again, that experience where we are made alive in Christ. You see, because of our sin, we're separated from a relationship with God. And it's only in Christ that we're made alive to God. And it's that moment that the Bible describes as being born again. I was raised in a Christian family. My mom and dad are both first generation Christians. That means that neither one of my grandparents, neither said of my grandparents, were Christian people. They were not in church. They were not church people. They didn't have anything to do with church, but necessarily against it just weren't church people. My mom and dad, as teenagers, had neighbors begin to talk to them and invite them to a church service. And they was getting involved and getting around some other people that both my mom and dad came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And God called my dad to preach the gospel and my whole life. My dad's been a pastor and my mom and dad, mad in college, and they were married and my dad's been in ministry. So from nine months before I was even born, I've been in church. I've been around the gospel my whole life. I mean, I don't know anything but going to church throughout the week, going to youth camps and vacation Bible schools, and that's just the way I was raised. That's what I've always been taught, but being around the gospel and being in church and knowing the teachings of Jesus is not the same as being a follower of Christ. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college at the University of North Alabama that one night by myself and my apartment, I knelt down beside my bed and I poured out my heart to God and I surrendered the control of my life to Christ. I began to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and my own lostness and I yielded the complete control of my life to God. And that moment I was born again to a relationship with God. Now listen, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. No, there were no lightning flashes in the sky, there were no bells and whistles, I didn't have tingling run up and down my spine, I wasn't weeping uncontrollably, there was none of that for me. Now for some people that's kind of what that moment feels like, but it wasn't for me. Matter of fact, if you'd asked me that night what happened, I wouldn't have even said I was born again. It was later that I realized that's when I began a relationship with Christ. Christ's and kingdom living begins with following Christ. So as we begin this final section, I want to ask you a question this morning. It's the first question I want you to really think about today. Have you surrendered your life to Christ? I'm not asking today if you're trying to be a good person. I'm not asking if you're attending church regularly. I'm not even asking if you believe all the facts of the gospel. I'm not asking if you're a moral individual. I'm asking you today, have you ever surrendered your life to Christ? You see, here's what I know. There are some of you that for 15 months have listened week after week. You've heard this description of a radical way of life. You've heard us talk about a relationship with God. You've heard us describe an intimate love relationship with Him. You've heard us say that there's no way for you to live these things out apart from intimacy with God, a love relationship with Him. There are some of you today that are so close to it like Nicodemus. But you've never surrendered the control of your life to Christ. I believe there are probably even some of you that have wrestled with it. You've gone home and you've thought and you've struggled and you've even said, "Next week, next week when I go, next week when I go to that service, man, I'm going to give my life to you." Another week comes and another week goes and you've stayed right where you are sitting on the outside looking in, not surrendering the control of your life to Christ. Have you ever surrendered the control of your life to Christ? The second statement is that kingdom living constantly pursues His life in me. You see, following Jesus is not just a decision that we make. That's where the church often gets out of balance. What I've just talked to you about about being born again, surrendering your life to Christ. Often the church in North America puts so much emphasis on just making a decision that we've forgotten following Christ is not just a decision that we make, it's a life that we live. Following Christ is not just my life trying to be lived rightly. Following Christ is literally His life being lived out through my life out of the overflow of an intimate love relationship with Himself. Let me ask another question this morning. How do I know if I've surrendered my life to Christ? I know that as Christians, there are times that we struggle, there are times that we wrestle with our faith and we even wonder, "Am I really following Christ? Have I been born again?" Here's where we make a mistake. When we start asking that question, we try to go back to that moment, five years, ten years, twenty years, thirty years ago, "Well, did I pray the right thing, did I say the right words, did I believe, the right facts, did I really understand what I was doing, did I mean what I was saying, and we try to go back there." Listen, I've been married now for nineteen years. You know how I know that I'm married? I don't have to go home this afternoon and pull out a video. I don't have to go look at a video to understand, "Oh, let me make sure I say I do just right." Because I don't have to do that. I don't have to go home this afternoon and pull out a marriage license to try to remember if I'm... Let me tell you how I know I'm married when I go home there's a woman there that I got a relationship with and I've been having a relationship with her for nineteen years. The greatest evidence I've got that I'm married today is not an event nineteen years ago. It's a relationship in my life right now. Let me give it to you in the truth. I want you to see this on the screen. Now I wrote this down this week. I really believe the Lord spoke this to my heart. The real evidence of salvation is not a past experience. It is a present relationship. It is important that we understand we have been born again to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all have a moment of conversion, but the greatest evidence today that I had a moment of conversion is that there is a relationship with God in my life that is growing and vibrant and real. Let me show it to you in the Scripture. First John chapter five verse thirteen. Look at it on the screen. These things I have written to you who say it out loud. Let me ask you a question before we go any further. The word believe is it past tense or present tense. We're thankful for all the English people in the room, right? Some of you went, "Oh God, what is past or present?" Believe it's present tense, right? This is these things I've written to you who believe present tense. In the name of the Son of God, in order that you may, what's the next word? No. What is the certainty? It's not that I, listen, it's not that I believed back here in the past somewhere. John says, "I'm not writing to you who believed." He said, "Listen, let me tell you how you can know you got eternal life. Whatever you believe back there, it's still an active, present, ongoing relationship in your life today." That's the evidence that it's real. Am I constantly pursuing his life in me today? So here's the second major question I want to ask you today. Are you living your life out of the overflow of a love relationship with him? Listen to me. If you miss these two principles, you've missed everything else we're talking about. Let me prove it to you. We're not going to read it this morning. We're not going to study it, but in Matthew 7 verse 21, as Jesus gets to the end of this sermon on the Mount, listen, what he says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, will enter.'" Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And Lord, did we not cast out demons? And Lord, did we not perform many miracles?" Listen to me, could there be more three more spiritual activities mentioned than that? I mean, we're talking about prophesying, casting out demons and performing miracles. That's got to be up on the high list of spiritual do's and don'ts, right? "Lord, didn't we go to church every weekend? Lord, didn't I read my Bible every day? Didn't I try to be a good husband and father? Lord, did not try to be a good parent to my kids? God, did not work hard at my employer's office. God, did not try to honor you with my life. Lord, did not try to live for you." And then the Bible says, "And then I will declare to them." "I never knew you." Depart from me, you who practice, lostness. You see, as we come to this last section in the Sermon on the Mount, what Jesus said, what Jesus does, is He gives four examples, four illustrations. For you and I to examine our heart to see whether or not we are in the kingdom of God. Jesus closes this message with an invitation. He closes this message with a time of examination. He's been teaching about this radical way of life. And now He closes with four examples for you and I to examine and evaluate our heart to see whether or not we are in the kingdom of God. He first asked the question, "We're going to deal with this morning. Which way am I going?" In verses 13 and 14, then He begins to ask the question, "What kind of fruit am I producing?" Then what we just read, "What defense am I giving from my own salvation?" Then He closes with, "What foundation am I building my life upon?" These are examples and illustrations and exhortations to help us examine our heart, to see if we be in the faith. I want to read the first one this morning and then draw a few principles and we'll be finished, Matthew 7, verse 13. After this lengthy sermon, Jesus says, "Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it." This morning, it's important that we notice, first of all, that Jesus here is contrasting two roads. But it's not too like you might think. We think as He gives this description, one of them has over it the banner, the way to life, eternal, and the other one has over it the way to hell. The problem is both of them say the way to life. One of them is a lie. You see what Jesus has been contrasting through the entire Sermon on the Mount is His way versus the world's way. Now, the world's way sometimes looks like the way to hell. As it describes itself, like we do in Las Vegas as sin's city, right? I mean, sometimes the world presents its best foot forward and that is sin, pleasure, lawlessness, rebellion against God, but let me tell you what, sometimes the world's way looks like. Sometimes the world's way looks like morality, church attendance, faithful marriage, good living, keeping your nose clean. Listen, it doesn't matter what it looks like, if it's not His way, it's a lie. So I want to give you three realities and we'll be finished of following Christ. Here's the first one, following Christ is not a trouble-free way of life. It's not a trouble-free way of life. Jesus uses some words here, he uses the word narrow, wide, small, broad, narrow and small. These two words that Jesus uses, there's two different Greek words. One of them comes from a root which means to groan under pressure. It describes something that's tight or small. The other one is a word that means to press together. In the adjective form, it's the word tribulation or affliction. Jesus is here describing the way of following Christ and He says, "I want you to understand something up front." It is not a trouble-free way of life. There's a lot of preaching in America today, unfortunately, there's even preaching in Las Vegas today that says Christ is nothing more than a self-help philosophy. If you will simply follow Jesus, all of your problems will go away. And to me, that is not the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus said, "There's a broad way, there's an easy way, there's a wide open way." And it promises things, but Jesus said, "That's not my way, my way's narrow." But some of the way He described it in Matthew 16, verse 24, Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it, deny himself." We're preaching, unfortunately, a gospel in our country that says, "You come to Jesus and just be where ever you want to be, be who you want to be, he'll meet every need you've got." Deny himself, take up his cross, that's a symbol of dying. The cross was a symbol of death. We have it today as a decorative ornament, but the cross was a symbol of death, it was a symbol of suffering, it was a symbol of sacrifice. Jesus said, "Follow me, means to deny yourself, to take up your cross to die." This is a description of absolute and complete surrender. And as we've listened to the Sermon on the Mount, we've understood that. Listen to what He said in verses 9 and 10 of chapter 5, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Look at verse 39, "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek turn the other to him also." If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. "Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him to give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you." What is that describing? Let me tell you what this is describing. The Sermon on the Mount describes absolute selflessness. I'm dying to self that Christ may live through me to share His love with others. Jesus said, "I say to you in verse 44, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" Paul understood this. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, look over at 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and Paul's second letter to this wonderful church. Paul writes to them about this very thing in verse 7, listen to what he says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." Listen to what he says, "We are afflicted in every way." Does that sound like prosperity to you? Does that sound like health and wealth to you? He said, "We are afflicted in every way but not Christ. We are perplexed but not despairing. We are persecuted but not forsaken. We are struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. However we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake." Why? So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Following Christ is not a trouble-free way of life, second reality, following Christ is the only way to life. Jesus said one way leads to destruction. The other leads to life. Jesus is speaking that reality for this life and the life to come. He's not just talking about heaven and hell, that is implied here for sure. Heaven and hell are very real places. Every person sitting in this room will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. The Bible teaches that. But he's also talking about this life. The word destruction means total loss and ruin. Here's the great paradox of the gospel. As I die to self, I find life in him. You say explain that. I can't. I don't understand it but it is a spiritual reality as I die to myself, as the world would say if you're going to be satisfied you've got to live for yourself. Jesus has died to self and it's only in dying to self that I then find life. It's the truth of the gospel. Let me give you a life changing truth any way that promises life other than Christ and Christ alone is a lie. Jesus said the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy but I came that they might have life and have it what abundantly. You see here's the reality. God created us. God created every human being on the planet. Not only that, He created the planet. He created the solar system that the planet sits in. God created it all. And God created all of it and human beings were the crown of His creation. He placed us in the middle of this vast expanse and He created us for one reason and one reason only to live our life in a fellowship relationship with God. And then sin entered the picture and the Bible teaches us that sin brought about death. What does that mean? It calls us to die to God. Now we come into this world dead to God and alive to sin. That's why you don't have to teach us how to sin. That comes naturally, right? We know how to do that. We come into this world dead to God and alive to sin. And the gospel teaches us that man has tried many things to feel that emptiness. You see God created us. God made us to live our lives in fellowship with him. Because of sin we have an emptiness. There's a void on the inside of the human soul that can only be filled with a relationship with God. But the world says I can feel that void. The world offers religion. The world offers pleasure. The world offers materialism. The world offers relationships. The world offers all sorts of things. But it's like a cup with a hole in the bottom of it. We fill it up and for a moment it's full and we're excited and we're satisfied and we look back a moment later and it's empty again. And therein is the birthplace of all addiction. Let me tell you why we have addiction in our culture. Because there's a God-shaped vacuum in the soul of every human being and human beings are trying to feel that God-shaped vacuum with something. And when we try something and it fills it for a moment and then it's empty again we keep going back and back and back and back again trying to feel that emptiness that's on the inside. But Jesus said, "Listen, no matter what you're trying anything but me will never satisfy. It will never bring life." You see it's only in a relationship with God. When I come to the place that I turn from all of that, for some of you today it will be turning from lifestyles of sin that the world would say, "Yeah, that's sinful." For some of you it will be turning from dead religion. And the world would say, "That's a pretty good person." But you're just as empty when you lay your head down on the pill at night as the guy living in the streets of Vegas is trying everything to fill his soul. You know it and God knows it. When I turn from that and put my faith and trust in the glorious person of Jesus Christ and the gospel that says Christ died for my sin and he rose again from the dead so that I could be given by grace a relationship with God. It is only then that I find life. If you're here today and you're not a follower of Christ you'll never find life apart from a relationship with him but there's a second application to this and that is there are a lot of people that are Christians. You've surrendered your life to Christ but you're trying to live out of your own resources. Hey listen, let me tell you who the most miserable people are in the world. It's not lost people. Lost people are miserable but their misery is found in the fact that they can't find what it is to bring satisfaction. Tell you the most miserable people are. Most people are trying to live out of the old way of doing things because they've tasted the glory of God. They've tasted salvation and they're trying to live the Christian life out of their own resources. You want to talk about a dead in street? Following Christ is the only way to life. A certain final reality, following Christ is not a popular way of life. The last comparison Jesus uses is many and few. Many are taking the world road, a few, choose my way. Why is that? If it's the only way to life, why is it that so few? There's a lot of things we could say. I want to try to give it to you in two texts of Scripture. The first one is John chapter 3 verse 16 and verse 19. We know verse 16, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, put those verses up there for us. John 3, 16 and 19. And God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. But then look what verse 19 says. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world. And men love the darkness rather than the light for the deeds. If you know why so few choose Christ because we love our sin. We love the darkness. Even though it doesn't satisfy, even though it leaves us longing, even though it leads us wanting more and more, our hearts are so wrapped around sin. That we're not willing to turn from our sin. And trust Christ. Let me give you the second reason why I believe only few. It's found in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Close to the verses we just read a moment ago, it's actually verses 3 and 4. Paul says, "And if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In whose case the God of this world, speaking of Satan himself, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Let me tell you why so few because we have an enemy who's a deceiver. And many have bought into the lie. I ask you two questions this morning. I'm going to bring you back to them. Have you ever surrendered your life to Christ? Some of you, this is the first time you've ever been in our services. Today is a day for you to surrender your life to Christ. Some of you have heard me preach enough times you can mimic my accent. But you have never surrendered your life to Christ. Have you surrendered your life to Christ? Any question I ask you is, are you living your life out of the overflow of a love relationship with Him? Listen, you're going to come in here every week and you're going to sit and look at other people and say, "Man, I wish I had what they had until you understand. It's not about you trying to live it. Your call is to a love relationship with Him. And as you pursue Him, He will do through you what you never dreamed possible." Let's pray together this morning. As you sit this morning with your heads bowed, I want to lead us in a word of prayer and we're going to close our services a little bit differently, Father. God, we ask you to speak right now. Lord, as you did last night, would you save people in this service? God, as you did last night, would you bring revival to the heart of saved people in this service? Holy Spirit of God, we invite you to speak. As you sit there before the Lord this morning, I want you, if you can, to just try to get to a place in your mind where it's just you and God. And I want you to wrestle with those two questions. And I want you to put off the first question because you've been coming for a while, alright? I want you to wrestle with both questions. The first one is, "Have you ever surrendered your life to Christ? Have you been born again?" Say, "How do I know you've got a relationship now?" Where's the evidence today? If you're here this morning, after hearing the gospel proclaimed and you have never surrendered the control of your life to Christ, I want to invite you this morning to put your faith in Jesus. Right there in your heart, just trust Him, surrender your life to Him. Now I'm going to lead you in a prayer, but listen to me, praying a prayer is not what brings salvation, it's faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Prayer is a vehicle through which we can express our faith, and if you're ready to trust Christ and surrender your life to Him this morning, I want you to pray right there in your seat. You just pray along with me and simply say, "Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner." Lord, I know that you died for my sin, and I know that you rose again from the dead. Jesus, I confess, I have tried the other way. And today, I surrender my life to you. I ask you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for forgiving my sin. Thank you for saving me. Listen to me, the Bible says, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." If you just cried out in faith to God, you just had that moment. You've just been born again, not because I said so, but because Jesus, the Word of God says so. When we put our faith in the gospel, we are born again. If you just prayed with me for the very first time, I want you to do something right now. Nobody's looking around with me, but here's what I want you to do. If you just prayed with me and surrendered your life to Christ as a testimony, I want you to just put your hand up and then put it back down. If you just prayed with me, "Thank you, sir. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. God bless you. Praise God. Thank you." Listen, if you just prayed with me and you just raised your hand, I want you to look at me right now. Just look at me. Just make eye contact with me. I see you right there. God bless you. I see you. Here's what I want to ask you to do, okay? We're not going to do anything right this minute. When this service ends, in just a moment, we're going to take an offering, the service will be over. This ends, you see Tom McCormick right here with the white shirt, Tom, raise your hand. I'm going to go right over here. I'm going to be standing right there with Tom and some of our prayer volunteers. If you raised your hand and you've trusted Christ today, here's what I want you to do. I want you to come right over there after the service. I want to meet you. I want to personally connect you with somebody. We want to get some information from you so we can follow up with you to help you on this new journey in Christ, okay? You've just begun a brand new relationship in your life. It's brand new. I know you got more questions than you got answers right now. That's okay. I've been saved 20 years. I still got a lot of questions, a lot of questions. I've been married 19 years, still got a lot of questions, right? Relationships can be confusing. That's okay. We want to help you take the next step. I want you to meet me right over here after the service. If you understand what I'm saying, just nod your head at me. All right, second question we're dealing with today. Are you living out of the overflow of a love relationship with God? Are you living out of the overflow of a love relationship with God? Listen to me, church. If you're a follower of Christ and you're trying to do this thing on your own, it's destruction. It's misery. It's misery. Are you abiding in Him? Are you connecting with other believers to go deep in your relationship with Him? I'm going to pray for all of us this morning. Prayer volunteers, if you're in this service, we're going to need some. If everybody who looked at me come, we're going to need some more help over here. Let me pray, and they're going to come, we're going to receive our offering. Let's pray together. The Lord Jesus, thank you today for the truth of the gospel. Or thank you for what you're doing in the hearts and lives of people. The Lord, I pray for those that indicated today, they've surrendered their lives to you. God would you in this moment give them the boldness to simply walk over here when we're done. Just walk over there so that we can help get them connected and help take next steps in their relationship with you. God, we thank you for the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. And Lord, it is not just about a moment of salvation, but gospel is for a life of salvation. May we live a life out of the overflow of a love relationship with you for the glory and honor of God. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.