The Rescue Church

Wonderful Not Worthless

Wonderful has become an old word. It’s definitely not wonderful. One likely doesn’t hear high schoolers yelling, “that’s wonderful!” when something great happens. Merriam-Webster says it means “unusually good.” So when God through the Psalmist says we were “wonderfully made” it is as if he was saying the way we were created was “unusually good.” This is significantly better than an average creation by a typical creator. You are an above average creation, wonderfully made! We’re exploring this...

Broadcast on:: 09 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

All right, so as I was preparing for this message, like I said, we're going to be in the book of Jeremiah and in Jeremiah chapter 1, if you have your own Bibles, you can follow along there. If not, when we get there, it'll be on the screen. But as I was preparing for this message, I was thinking about how we value things, how we decide what something is worth. Now, about three years ago, we cleared out my mom and dad's house to sell it, Debbie helped her to sell it, and she can attest that there was a lot of stuff in it. But as we were clearing this out and getting it ready to sell, there was one of the things that caused it to take so long to get to that point was we had differences of opinion among us siblings on what things were valued at. Some of us are like, that's 30 years old, it has no value throw in the dumpster. Others were like, oh, but don't you remember that time when that thing meant, and it's like, oh, my gosh, it's not worth anything to me throw it away, and then, I don't know, my brother, I think, has a basement full of stuff that he thought was worth something because he is more sentimental than I am by far, and so it got held on to. The point with that is just that we value things differently. One of the reasons that eBay was a thing is because we value things differently, you may have something that you're like, this is not worth anything, this is junk, I'm going to see if somebody else will buy my junk, it's why you do garage sales, and you say, okay, I'm going to put this on eBay and see what somebody will give me for it. And the prices often go up to ridiculous amounts, and people like me go, why did someone pay that amount of money for that thing? We have friends of ours that they liked the auction thing, and this is about 20 years ago, and they went to one of these auctions that were buying junk, and they really wanted this silly planter, and they bought this silly planter that they paid $5 for, which I think was about $4.50 too much, and they bought this thing home, and they were like, oh, this is going to work perfect in our house, I know where it's going to fit, and again, something that somebody else didn't want that they were willing to pay money for to have. What happened in that situation, though, it was a situation where what was really valuable, none of it nobody else saw the value of, because as they pulled this planter apart and threw out the fake plant and all, they found rolls of hundreds in there. Somebody who knows who, who knows when, decided to stash a lot of cash in this thing, and they came out well ahead, because this thing that they bought had value that no one else saw and no one else realized. It was worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. I can't remember the number, was it 10,000 that was in there? I don't remember what it was, it was some ridiculous amount of money, and I just thought they got that for five bucks. Anyway, we're looking at the profit Jeremiah who existed and lived at a time about 550 to 700 years before Jesus lived. There's a little bit of debate exactly when that was, but in that time frame. And in that time frame, when he was living, he was a prophet, a prophet being a person who had the responsibility of speaking truth. God had said, "I am going to speak to you and through you, and you are going to speak truth to my people." In many cases, that truth not only affected the people that were there in that time, in that instance, in that day, but it would also be things that would be relevant and was foretelling or telling of things that were going to come, whether it was tens of years later, hundreds of years later, or thousands of years later. So he would speak truth that hadn't happened that would at one day happen. In his case, in Jeremiah's case, when he was a prophet, he was coming after some pretty well-known prophets, people that if you've been in church long, you may have heard of people like Joel or Micah or Jonah or Isaiah. Those that have all been his predecessors coming before him. And when Jeremiah is alive, it's a time of turmoil, a time of a little bit of chaos for the Jews that were in Judah. Judah, as you may or may not know, was really a pretty small nation, and it was actually a fraction of what was at one point Israel that was broken up into two different nations of Israel and Judah, and in Judah, the smaller nation is where Jeremiah was at. While he was there, though, there was a lot of things happening. There was the Assyrian nation, the dynasty, if you will, that oversaw much of the known world and controlled much of what happened at that time. They had been in power. If you're wondering, "Oh, who was Assyria? What would I know from Assyria?" And Jonah and Nineveh, when Jonah went to speak to the Ninevehites, a big fish story for those who don't know what I'm talking about. The others that were trying to fight for power and try and get some of it were the Egyptians. They were there, but they were kind of in and out. And then you had, of course, the Babylonians. The Babylonians, if you're like, "Okay, who are the Babylonians? What group were they?" That was King Nebuchadnezzar. That was the ones who had Daniel and Shadrach and Bishach and Abednego. So all of this stuff is happening around the time of Jeremiah. So in the middle of all this chaos and stuff that's going on internationally and all the uncertainty nationally, God reaches out to Jeremiah to call him. And he calls Jeremiah and says, "Hey, it's not an accident I'm calling that you're here, that you're born right now, that this is when you're here. You've been created right now with purpose and in this time for a purpose for this time." He says this. We'll go right into Jeremiah, but before we do, let's pray and let's ask that God would direct this time. Gracious God, we're going to look at your word and as we do, we want to hear from you. So God in the middle of the chaos of a week and the chaos of a day, whatever, just quiet our thoughts that we would hear what you want us to hear. Not what even I say, God, but that it would be what you say. And if I say anything that doesn't even match up with what you would want said, I just pray that people wouldn't even hear it, that it would go over their heads or right by them without their ears even comprehending it. But God, speak whatever it is you would want to say today in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so we're in Jeremiah chapter one, we're going to start at verse four and we'll go from there. And verse four, he says, "The word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.'" So Jeremiah starts saying, "Hey, God says to Jeremiah, I've known you for a long time. I've known you longer than you've known yourself. In fact, I, God, created you on purpose and with a plan." And he says then, he goes, "Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." He says, "In the middle of this chaos that you've been created, I put you here." And as I put you here, I put you here with plans that you would be a prophet. Now the idea of him being a prophet was not a career choice. This isn't like, "Hey, you're going to be a prophet, you're going to make all sorts of money as a prophet because it's a very lucrative position." This isn't like a celebrity speaker that everybody throws their money at. It's a calling and a purpose. It's like the idea that there are people who are gifted as pastors who God has called as pastors who don't work vocationally as a pastor preaching the word. It may be a person with a pastoral gift, he's not here today, but I would say Doc Peterson has that pastoral gift that he lives out through his work as a doctor where he gets a chance to connect and speak life and speak open to people in a medical profession. Others have that gift. Well, God says to Jeremiah, "Hey, your calling is that you are going to be a prophet. You are going to speak for me to my people." And he says, "And I prepared you for this, I called you for this, I knew you were going to do this even before you were born. Even before you were created, I knew this was going to happen." Now, some of us have kids, some of you may not yet, some of you may hope you never do, but we have kids and we have three of them. And if you don't know, there's Miriam, Micah and Kirti. And Miriam is the oldest. And with Miriam, we've said this a lot of times, and my kids love it when we talk about them, so they're going to love this. So Miriam was the, it was and is the oldest, and we were trying to have kids and we wanted to have kids. However, been at a point where a doctor has said to you, "We're not sure you're able to have kids. You know what it's like to go, but we want to, we really believe that this is where God has us." And so in Miriam's case, we planned and prepared for Miriam. That was the idea. We were going to have this child. For Micah, it wasn't quite that situation. Micah was, "Hey, surprise, I'm coming," and we're like, "Oh, we didn't think this was even possible, but here he is." And then not long after that, there comes Kirti. Now you may go, "Okay, Kirti's adopted. You have to obviously plan. You must have had a thought for that." I will tell you, and some of you know this, we had said, we were part of a church that was very active in orphan care, foster parents struggling with raising their kids, adoption, and things like that. And in this church that we were a part of, a number of people are pastor adopted, and he adopted from India. And then other families are worship leader adopted from India, and the other families were adopting from other places, are doing foster care, and then someone else adopted from India. And there started to be this rumble below the surface that said, "Okay, if we want to be a part of the in-group, we must have to adopt from India, not just, not adopt, not be in foster care, but we must have to adopt from India." So I did what every good leader does, and I got in front of people, and I said, "Here's the deal. You don't have to. God hasn't called everybody to adopt from India. In fact, even I are not going to adopt from India. It just isn't going to happen." Bill shaking his head because he knows that you never say, "This is never going to happen." I bring all that up not to say how wrong I was, because there's plenty of other ways to say that, but to say that, stop shaking your head, but instead to point out that often when we have our kids, it's not necessarily what we planned, whether it was adoption or biological, it wasn't always our picture and our plan. Sometimes it surprises us, yet in those situations what we've learned and what we know from Jeremiah and from other places is that God wasn't surprised. It wasn't like, "Oop, that's an accident." It was, "No, no. I have a plan for this one." I know that this may not make sense. I know that you may not understand this, but there is a plan and a purpose since Kirti has been actually in our family from early years, and this her and Eve love it when people say this. If you want to really make them happy, you can comment about how much they are similar, because they absolutely love that, but the reality of it is that people have commented that Eve is more like Kirti than Eve is like Miriam, or Miriam is like Eve and Kirti like Eve. I bring that up to say, "God knew all along that this person, this little person that's born in India is really going to be Eve's daughter, and I'm going to create her in a way that her and Eve are a lot alike, to a point where it's oil and water, and sometimes it causes explosions, which I don't think oil and water do that, but it causes a mess, but at the same point, you can clearly tell that they are family and that they go together. They may not have the same genes, but they clearly were created to be part of the same family. Jeremiah, God knew what he was doing when he created Jeremiah. He wasn't surprised at the time he was creating him in, and he had a plan all along. The psalmist says it this way, he says, "For you created in my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in a secret place, and when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Like David, like Jeremiah, you are purposefully created." That to some of you goes without saying, you're like, "Well, that's a given." But I am amazed that there are so many people that feel that they were a mistake, they were an accident, or that life would have been better if they had never been created. And I'm not talking people that are depressed or people that are thinking that, "Oh, what was me?" I'm talking people that would come across as healthy and would engage, and you would look at them and go, "Well, clearly you have purpose and value, yet for some reason the circumstances of their life have them saying, 'I may be smart, I may have all sorts of abilities, I may be able to do a lot of things,' but based on family situations or whatever, it would probably have been better if I wasn't here." And so if that's you, if you're one of those people that has had that thought ever, I want you to know you are purposefully created. God knew you before you were even known by your parents, God knew you before you were known by your adoptive family, God knew you before anybody had known you. He knew you before the doctors ever saw you. He knew you before you were born. And He allowed you to be here because He has a purpose for you. He values you, and He loves you. And so God tells Jeremiah, "I knew you, I called you, you are here right now for a reason." And He says, "Hey, I've got a huge assignment for you. I've got something big. I want you to be a leader in this group of people speaking truth to this group of people that's probably not going to want to hear a thing that you have to say." And Jeremiah did what probably most of us would do and would be like, "Whoa, hold on, time out." You called me to do something that no one wants me to do, and he's like, "Yes, I'm glad you understand." You see, he had custom-wired Jeremiah for this situation. And I'm wondering if as he's telling Jeremiah, "Hey, you're going to be a prophet. Did Jeremiah go, "Time out, can I just, can I just farm over here? How would I build stuff?" Maybe I should be a servant, but he's like, "No, no, I created you. I've got a purpose for you, and this is what it is." But before he gets there, I want to share with you what Jeremiah said specifically. He says, "Alas, sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak. I am too young." My guess is somebody here, myself included, has probably at some point or multiple points throughout their life said, "Yeah, God, you got the wrong person. You don't really want me." And then you've probably started to make the excuses. You've started to say, "Yeah, but I'm too old to do this. I'm too young to do this. I am the wrong sex. If I was a guy, it would be easier. If I was a girl, it would be easier." You've come up with all of these reasons. Maybe it's like, "Yeah, but God, I've dealt with addiction. I'm messed up. You can't use me." Or maybe it's, "God, my marriage failed. You don't want me here." Or, "God, did you see what I did to that business I was trying to run, it collapsed. How can you use me? Obviously, I don't know what I'm doing. We keep throwing out excuses." And then the sovereign Lord says, "But before I get there, I want to go back to that." Notice what Jeremiah says to start. He says, "Alas, sovereign Lord." That word sovereign means like he's all knowing. He's all, he's overall. That word means it's Jehovah, it's the God overall. It's Yahweh, it would be the original word. It's the idea that God is truly God. So he's going, "Okay, God who knows everything and who is over everything and who is God of everything, I think you've got something wrong." Which is probably what we do at times when we're like, "God, I know you called me to this," and we say, "Lord, or God," and we're addressing him as if he knows all and as if he is overall, yet we're saying he doesn't get it right with us. And Jeremiah says, "I get that you're overall, but you're wrong." A little bit of a conflict there. And then the Lord says to him, "Do not say I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and wherever I command you, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you. I will rescue you," declares the Lord, which I think would have brought a little bit of fear, because all of a sudden I'm like, "Wait, it's like I'm going to need to be rescued." But anyway, "I will rescue you," declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "I have put my words in your mouth. God has called him out." He says, "Jeremaa, you are capable. You are capable not because of who you are, but because of who I am. Because of who I am, you are going to have the ability to speak." It's like, "Do you not know who I am? I am the God who can equip you." And Jeremiah is in great company, just like you, if you're one of the people that has questioned whether God has really called you or whether you're able to do what God has called you to do. You're in great company. My favorite is Gideon, you know, Gideon who says, "Hey, I'm going to use you to save my people." And Gideon goes, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out, God. Let me give you an update." I'm part of a tribe here in this nation of Israel, and my tribe is the least. So you maybe should have picked someone from one of these greater tribes, but not only is my tribe the least, my family is kind of like low in the totem pole, low in the ranking of things with the Israelites and with my tribe. And so I'm low down on the list, we're low down on the list. And not only are we low down on the list within that list, I'm like the least in my family. I am the wrong guy for this job, and God goes, "Yep," and I've called you. I have called you to do this. He has given him the ability to do it, not because of who he is, but because of who God is. He applies to you and I, it's not that we can do things because of who we in and of ourselves are, but we are capable as Christians because of the Holy Spirit inside of you. I think I've got a note there, and it would say, "You are capable of all God wants to do through you because of the Holy Spirit in you, because of who God is." You aren't experiencing God's best in your life because you are limiting him in what he can do. You're saying, "Hey, you can only do what I can understand, but only what makes sense to me." And then God calls out Jeremiah and just says, "No, I've given you this ability. I've given you the ability to talk. I've given you the ability to speak." He points out that Jeremiah, "You're going to be able to do great things because I created you, because I called you, and because I equipped you. It's because of who I am, not because of who you are." Which carries on to us, and Paul, Paul and his letter to the Ephesians reiterated to it, and he says that we are able to do even more than we can imagine or ask because of the Holy Spirit who lives inside us. This isn't simply an idea that we have an ability in of ourselves, it's we have an ability because of who God is, and because of God who God is, he's given us that ability. But it's not just an ability to have, it's the ability to use because he's calling us to act. He's calling us to do something, and he says, "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." This is not just simply an ability to do something, it's a calling to do something big. It's an assumption that Jesus is, that God is making on Jeremiah's life, that there will be action, and out of that action there will be impact. And in your life, there is an opportunity for you to make an impact. You weren't created simply to exist, you were created to make an impact. It's not just about you, it's about lives around you. It's the way you live and how it affects people. It's things that you say that may encourage people. It's things that you do that may help people be the people that God created them to be. It's you sharing the love of Jesus with a world who needs to know the love of Jesus. It's you helping people who are hurting. It's you providing jobs through your abilities as an employer. God's created you to make an impact, and I don't know what that impact is, and unfortunately you probably don't know yet either, but you and I, we tend to limit ourselves by what we see, by what we can understand. But remember, He is sovereign, Lord. He is overall, He sees all, and He is doing things that you and I don't even know at this point and at this time. Each person has value, no person is an accident, and you and I don't get to decide what amount of value that person has, because that's what God did when He created us, when He made us, when He formed us, when He called us. He did that in Jeremiah's life. He does it in your life. He does it in the lives of those around us. I'm going to step back, have you ever watched any of the reality shows like American Pickers or Antique Roadshow or Pawn Stars or Storage Wars? How many of you have watched any of those? Okay, so if you've watched any of those, you know what happens is that people find these things that are junk, or maybe junk. In some cases it's, I think it's worth a fortune because it looks old, in other cases it's like, I don't know if it's really worth anything, but I'm going to bring it here. And they bring it to these, kind of the first level of experts, the Pawn Stars, the Pawn Shops or whatever, the people that see stuff and kind of ask them what they think. And then often they bring in like the experts. These are the people who truly know what things are worth. And they start evaluating this painting and go, you know what, you look at the brush strokes and the stuff, this isn't as old as you think it is, it was just made to look old. You go, okay, I got nothing. Other times they look at things and they're like, that toy that you have there was created by so and so, it was a limited manufactured thing and it's worth thousands of dollars. And you're like, this rust the old thing and they're like, no, yeah, it really is. And we don't realize what we have until it's evaluated by the expert, the person who truly understands the product. I'm here to say that that's what God does in our lives. Often we have people around us speaking into us, which is good, we need healthy people speaking into us. But if we don't have the right people that see the value that we have, then we miss out on what our true value is. And God says you are incredibly value. You have significant purpose so much so that God said, I am going to send my son Jesus to die. I'm going to send Jesus from heaven to earth, he's going to give up all this not for a life of joy and luxury on earth and granted I think Jesus had a lot of fun. I mean, he got to hang out with a bunch of guys and do all sorts of who knows what. I'm sure they had a lot of fun. But when God was sending him, the end purpose wasn't all the fun he was going to have, it's like, okay, so here's what's going to happen, I'm going to send you, you're going to go, you're going to die and we're going to die having carried on you, the sins of anybody who would ever live. And you're going to feel that pain and agony on a cross when you're suffering a brutal physical death that you don't deserve but you're going to suffer it and you're going to be beaten to a point where many would be dead but you're going to still be alive. You're not going to be recognizable as who you were but it's okay because then you're going to die carrying on yourself the pain and agony of every sin that every person will ever commit. Now because of that, every one of these people that I've created is going to have an opportunity to live in relationship with us. They are worth that and Jesus goes and suffers and gives his life. So he says, that's what you're worth, you're worth my life. More than what other people around us may see, more than what other people may know. And so if Jesus, if God says you as people are worth that, all of you are worth that. You probably need to take a step back and look at how are we treating those around us. And I am not here to say all of the answers because I don't have it but we've got some things that we can consider. I'll just blow through a couple of them real quick. One of the ones that I would look at first is the unborn. We have a chance to look at unborn and say how are we treating the unborn. And now there is a bill that's going to be, we're going to have a chance in South Dakota to vote on. And you know me, I avoid politics heavily. But I just want to say to this, we are as a people in this country fortunate where we have an opportunity to vote. We have an opportunity to stand up for what is right. And we have that opportunity to go into God's Word and to discover what is right. And then based on a Holy Spirit's leading, we get a chance to go cast a ballot. And so as we do, I think one of the things that we need to consider is probably the most important thing that we need to consider beyond any political party, beyond any of that is what does God say? What does His Word say? And as we go, we vote that. And in the case of this amendment where we're looking at a vote about the protection of an unborn child, it seems like to me that, and I'm not an expert on it, but there's a lot more in to it than that, and at what point they are in life. So I'd encourage you, look at that ballot and say, where am I going to stand on that? How am I going to vote? But as much as I'm going to tell you that you need to do that, and that we have an opportunity to make a difference in a life that God creates, I'm going to say at the same point, we have the same obligation to care for those kids who are orphaned throughout the world that from parents who choose not to abort their child, but don't necessarily want that child. So we have an obligation there as well. I kid you was doing some research, and I don't know if you know this, but there are over 183 million orphans in the world. We as the church talk an awful lot about abortion and how wrong it is, which is true. In fact, we can go back to Exodus, Jesus got in his law and his Mosaic law had laws and rules. You can look at Exodus 21, 22, or 24 for people who cause an unborn child to die. The consequence of that was that person was to die. So the Bible talks about this all the way back in Exodus, all the way back in the Mosaic law, but at the same point, we are also told to take care of widows and orphans. And so when we look at that command, if we are going to fight and advocate for the life of the unborn child, we definitely need to be fighting and advocating for the life of those who are born as well. We shouldn't just choose one over the other. And if we get hung up so much on that one area that we are not taking care of, those who are the single moms that are going through hardships or the dads that are going through hardships or that mom that experience that thing that should never have happened to her that made her a mom because of that thing that somebody else did to her or that situation where they were mistreated. Or maybe that mom that's already gone through that decision and made that decision but needs to know that there is still a God that loves them in spite of that decision to end that child's life and that there is grace, that same grace that is extended to you and I is extended to that person who has gone through that abortion and they should not be cast out. We as the church should be loving them as well. It doesn't end with just that one topic but as long as I'm going, what about other people groups? Because we see that most often that those situations that cause people to end an unborn child's life start with people of low economic status or are a race other than white. So, what causes that? Why is that? Is it because they don't feel that they have the help and the support to do it? I'm not a sociologist, I don't have those answers. I'm just saying we need to as people realize that this is a big issue that involves a lot of people. And to that we as Christians have been involved unfortunately in too many situations of passing on hate instead of as passing on love. We have seen racism come out of the church. There's a quote that's out there and I'd love to say that it's wrong but the quote is the most divided place in America is the church. And I don't know if that's true and it's racially divided is what they were talking about. And I don't know if it's true or not but I think it's something that we need to consider that we as Christians can get so hung up in what we think and how we think that we're not equally loving everybody well. We get hung up on people who look like us, who talk like us, who think like us and we need to be careful about that. Because remember that same God who created that unborn child that we're fighting for is the same God that created your neighbor who is a different socio-economic class or your person across the street who votes differently than you do or whatever it might be. And this is a challenge at times because we like to congregate with people who are the same as us and these differences will flat out get messy, they get messy but each of us has value, each of us has worth and each of us was created for a reason. So as we wrap up I would ask what's your response as you think about the value of people, of those around you? As you think about the fact that you were created with purpose, sometimes it's easier to find value in other people than it is to find the value in yourself and maybe that's where you need to start and go, "Hey, I'm struggling to believe that I have worth and I have value, maybe that's working through it with a counselor, maybe it's working through it with a trusted friend or someone that will walk through it with you that says, no, no, you have value. Maybe it's struggling to believe that you're equipped, you know that there's this thing that God's called you to but you've been saying, "Nope, I can't do it." You're like Jeremiah saying, "Yeah, but I can't talk." You're like Moses who said, "Yeah, but I don't know how to talk." You're like Gideon who says, "Yeah, but I'm too young. I'm in the youngest." Oh wait, Jeremiah said that as well. Maybe you've come up with every excuse and the next excuse that comes if you use that "I'm too young" is eventually then you're going to shift from the "I'm too young" to "Oh, well now I'm too old." There was never a right time to do what God called you to do. So is there something that God's calling you to that you're going, "Hey, I'm not qualified and God's going, I know you're not, but I am." And if so, what is that? Do you need to step into that? Or maybe it's somebody that you just need to encourage. There are people around us all that are hurting and maybe we need to take some time to encourage them. As we wrap up today, we're going to pass out some cards and we're going to have a chance to encourage some people. We've got people who are going through some stuff. We've got people who are, well, for one example, Esther is in the nursing home now trying to recover and rehab after a fall. I know she would much rather be here with us this morning, but that's not where she's at. And so maybe she needs a note of encouragement from some of us. Maybe you're needing to rethink something else that's not even directly like that. Maybe you're like me and you're so tired of the politics, but you've gotten to a point with it where you're like, "I'm just not voting because I'm just done with it." Maybe you need to rethink that and go, "Hey, remember, there's people that have value and purpose and your vote matters." Again, I completely understand being disenchanted with some of that, but I would also encourage you that there are unborn kids whose lives are in the balance and you have an opportunity to make a difference with that. And beyond all that, maybe you're here or maybe you're online and you're at a point where you're like, "Yeah, I appreciate you saying that I have value and I have worth. And that's great, but I don't get this whole God thing. And maybe it's time for you to say, "Hey, I need to investigate what it means to have a relationship with God." And if that's where you're at, I would just encourage you that God loves you. He cares about you more than you care about yourself. He was willing to go through incredible suffering and pain to die, to have a relationship with you. And he made it as simple as possible. I'm not going to say easy, but as simple as possible when he said, "Hey, here's what it comes down to. I'm offering this gift tree, but you have to choose to accept it. I'm offering you a chance to have a relationship with me, but you have to choose to accept the forgiveness I've offered." And when I say it's simple, it really comes down to you saying, "We're told if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, if we believe in our heart that he raised him from the dead, that we will be saved." It really comes down to that, confessing, "God, I'm acknowledging that you're God. And I'm realizing that you sent Jesus to die for me to offer forgiveness. And I am trusting that because of that forgiveness, I can have a relationship with you. That's what it comes down to. And so if you have never done that, I would just encourage you. That's the place to start. And if you're questioning whether or not that even makes sense, that's awesome. I'm glad you're questioning it. Keep questioning. Keep thinking about it. But don't just sit there and think about it. Find me. Find somebody who you trust that loves Jesus and let us walk through that with you. I'm not going to pressure you because it's got to be your decision. It's got to be your relationship. And I would walk with you as you evaluate because I truly believe that when God says that if you seek me, you will find me. If you seek me with all your heart, I believe that that's true. And so if you truly seek him, I believe you will find him. I don't believe you'll be able to get to a point where you don't. And when you get to that point where you do see that he is God, then you have a decision to make of whether or not you're going to accept it or not. But that's up to you. So as we close in prayer, my questions are, what is your response? And what are you going to do with what Jesus has done for you? Let's pray. Our gracious God, thank you for your word. Thank you for examples of people who have gone through things that we've gone through. People that have struggled with a feeling of insufficiency, a feeling of just inadequacy. God, I just pray for each of us that we would hear you speak clearly to us and that we would step into where you're leading and what you're doing in our lives. And if there's a person that is hearing my voice that has not trusted you, that they would realize that they don't have to be perfect, we know I'm not, but that you love us anyway and that you want a relationship with us. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to this recent message from the Rescue Church. We pray that God will use this message to encourage, challenge, and inspire you in your faith journey. To hear our messages live, head to one of our physical campuses. If you'd like to learn more about the Rescue Church, please visit us online at therescuechurch.com or email us at office@therescuechurch.com. [BLANK_AUDIO]