Once Blind, Now Seeing: Obedience, Grace, and the Courage to Tell It

Well, who's ready to hear from the word today? Like Pastor Keith said, uh, I need a little bit of help preaching here real quick. And so when I say hallelujah, you just say amen. Amen. So, let's practice here for a second. I say hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Okay, I think we're ready here. Wow. Wow. Well guys, I I want to thank you so much for being here today because I I do believe that God is always moving and he's moving in our midst in places like this. It's not every day where you get to come to a family and a body of Christ who truly just loves Jesus with all our heart. Wait, we believe the Bible. We believe everything that's in the Bible. We believe that God is speaking here today, right now.

Hallelujah. All right. Check it if you're awake. Now, uh I believe that Journey Church is the place where revival is going to break out. We countlessly see miracle after miracle and healing after healing. Um where is my boy David Shulker at I believe uh recently he has a testimony. Um he was healed. I won't expose it cuz actually I just realized that's something personal and so I want him to share that. So go ask him. But uh God is healing and it gets me super excited. Literally, I got back from Uganda and realized a lot has happened here at Journey Church and I feel like I missed out. Like he he tells me he's healed. I'm like, "What what is going on here at Journey Church?" And so I feel like I I missed out, Pastor Keith, as much as you guys missed out what happened at the

City Church in Uganda. Um I feel at home here. And um I believe God is not just moving across the world, but he's moving here right in Central Oregon. And he's actually starting with you guys. Hallelujah. Amen. Now, uh, Pastor Keith and Kara, I always, every single time I'm up here, uh, I want to give honor where honor is due. And so, I'm always going to honor you guys, and we love you. And I thank you for your prayers, your grace, your love, and your leadership. And so, thank you so much for choosing to love Jesus with all of your being. Now, journey, it's it's actually very rare to find pastors who would serve Jesus with everything they have, will take a step

of faith and branch out and say, "You know what, Jesus? You have everything that I own. It's all yours, and I'm going to serve you with my time. I'm going to serve you with my love and devotion. I'm going to serve you in the secret place." And so, Pastor Keith and Kara, thank you so much for choosing to be those pastors and lead us into deeper places with Jesus. We believe God is going to move in great power and he's going to continue to give you guys a greater grace. And guys, guess what? When God chooses to give our lead pastors a greater grace, that means we get a greater grace, too. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Well, uh, if you don't know me, I know Pastor Keith already, uh, kind of introduced me, but my name is Noah, and I'm actually one of the pastors here at Journey Church, and I get to oversee all things outreach. Not only just prayer that's up at the front, but outreach.

So, that's all the teams that uh, go out locally to our family, brothers, and sisters in Christ, uh, and love like Jesus. We get to go out nationally and love like Jesus. And then I get to oversee all of our teams that go out globally and love like Jesus. And so recently I just got back from Uganda, Africa, and we brought a a team of 11 people over to Uganda to partner with our sister church, the city church over there in Luzer. It's right um a suburb outside of Kala. And Kpala is kind of like millions of people in it. And so this place is huge. It's packed. It's it's jammed. And so they are doing such a good work over there in Uganda. And God continues to move in power. He continues to move in power. Many people are getting healed, saved, set free. All

of the above. What you really read here in the Bible, it is happening. And that's what we got to experience there in Uganda. We actually had the opportunity and the honor to share the gospel of Jesus to this generation because we are believing this generation is going to change the world. Amen. Oh, you're supposed to say hallelujah. Okay. Now, um every time we preach the gospel of Jesus, we preach the cross of Jesus Christ, Christ crucified, God confirms his word through his healing hand. I want you to take a note about this. Mark 16:19-20 says this. So then the Lord Jesus after he had spoken to them the disciples was he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God and they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with

them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. So the Lord confirms his word by his hand. And we continue to preach the word of God with boldness. And we ask the father for boldness because every time you preach the word, there's going to be some threats and there's going to be some life that happens and spiritual warfare that happens to you. He but he will always act. We see in Acts 4:29 verse uh through 31 the disciples even say this. They say, "Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak the word of God with all boldness while you stretch out your hand and heal." And signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus." And when they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,

and they continue to speak the word of God with boldness. And that's exactly what we get to do here. And that's exactly what we did in Uganda. We got to go from school to school to high schools to um stars ministry, disabled ministry, all over the place speaking the word of God with boldness. And I'm so proud of our team and you guys, you got to sew a seed in prayer and financially into this team that got to go to Uganda. And what we did, we got to go to school and we we stepped out in faith, got out of our comfort zone, and we preached the word of God with boldness. And then the miraculous happens. I will say we went from school to school. People are getting saved. Um people are getting delivered. The prophetic is operating. But it wasn't

until this big conference at the end where we said, "All right, schools, come join us on Saturday. We're having a a giant youth conference and we're going to love like Jesus. We're going to love Jesus and we're going to have a lot of fun." For those who have been to Uganda, you know, you you got to get your dancing shoes on. I'm not going to dance here for you today though because nobody wants to see that. But it's so much fun. But what's even cooler about this, God confirmed his word. It wasn't until the at the end of this, we called it the confest because it's a they blended two words, conference and festival. So confest. And by the end of this confest where we're praising and we're worshiping, then the spirit of the Lord fell.

It was there where we had a total of 173 kids get uh saved. It was there where many people were getting delivered of demons that were oppressing their life. It was there where many people were getting healed of stomach issues and eyes and everything of all the above. It was there where these students were actually getting the anointing of God and falling under his hand. God moved in power and he confirmed his word. And that's what he's going to do today. Amen. Hey, come on. Now, today, what we're going to do is we're going to uh talk about one particular story in the Bible that actually tends to stand out amongst most stories. In my opinion, the story is truly miraculous because I believe

that God wants to speak to you through today through this testimony. When we're in Uganda, we tell we told the testimony of Jesus in our lives. And when we do that, we are saying Jesus can and will do it again. And he he did it again. And so we I want you to take note of this testimony in the Bible. But what what's cool about this testimony is that it actually has some noticeable actions or applications to our lives that we can start implementing right now. I believe God has called us up into higher and newer places and he's created you to go from glory to glory. He's created us in putting us in a higher priesthood is a is the nice religious term for that because I believe he wants to show you

that he is the one true living God. No one else could do this for you. His name is Jesus, right? And it's only by the power of Jesus that you can be healed. It's only by the power of Jesus that we are saved. And I believe that God is beginning in our church to raise us up in faith and obedience. Hallelujah. Amen. But it starts with Jesus. It starts with an encounter, an understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done for you. It starts with your testimony. So the story we're going to be reading about today is right in John chapter 9.

If we we're carrying through uh the book of John and before we get started though I want to lay a foundation or a framework for this scene that takes place. So we see previously that Jesus he had been having this uh this dispute with the Pharisees in the temple at the time of the the feast of tabernacles. So this is about like six months or so before Passover in which he was crucified. So about in chapter 8, it records that um Jesus, he's he's having this conversation with the Pharisees and he's declaring to them before Abraham was I am. And so the last time we see Jesus, they were actually picking up stones to throw at him.

But he he passes by their midst and he leaves the temple precincts. Earlier we see at a magnificent time where there's light shining above the whole city, Jesus is declaring I am the light of the world. That he is the light of the world. So with these two claims there is no misunderstanding of what he meant by this. He's saying you must come to me to be saved journey. You must come to Jesus to be saved. And it's after all of these events that Jesus, he passed by and he stops to address and heal a man who was blind from birth. Jesus, he stops and he steps into a life of a man that was born blind. And he gets a little unorthodox with this. He

steps into the life of somebody who would be considered the least of these. He gets a little unorthodox and he he spits with slivy. He spits into the ground and he he makes a mud pie. He takes the mud and he wipes it on the man's eyes or he anoints the man's eyes and he tells him to go and wash. The man comes back. He washes and he comes back seeing. So literally Jesus gives a a a great example that he is the light of the world by bringing light to a a blind man's eyes. Hallelujah. How great is that? Jesus is the miracle working God. He truly is the light of the world. No one else could do this. Amen. Now, Journey Church, there's something else though I want you to pay attention to and I want to draw your

attention to with this story. I want you to notice who Jesus touched and the actions of the person Jesus touched. I want you to take notice of who the blind man is and who he represents and what he did. When we look at this passage together, we can see uh three truths and applications for our lives. And there are three things that we must understand during this time in our day right now. And this is number one. One, we need to understand that obedience bears a blessing. two that understand that Jesus, he uses the least of these.

And this third, understand that it's time to proclaim your sight. And these three points, we're going to dive in together and they're going to start to make more sense as I explain them to you and as we read through the scriptures. So, let's start with this first point. Obedience bears a blessing. John 9:1-7 it says as he passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his disciple asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind Jesus answered it's not that this man sinned or his parents but that the work of God might be displayed in him we must work the work of him who sent me while it is day night is coming when no one can work as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.

Having said these things, he spit on the ground. He made mud with the saliva. He then anointed the man's eyes with the mud and he said to them, "Go wash in the pool of slum," which means scent. So he went and he washed and he came back seeing. So we see here Jesus right he got done talking to the Pharisees in the temple. He said before Abraham I was I am. He also said,"I am the light of the world." Jesus, he passes by their midst. And it is here in this encounter with a blind man, Jesus then demonstrates his deity. And he demonstrates that he truly is the light of the world. And during this time of passing by, during this time of passing by, Jesus,

he does something I believe he does every single time. And what I mean by this is he during this time of passing by his his disciples ask this question. And often times when you follow Jesus, you're going to start asking questions. But the the disciples start asking questions. They say Jesus why did this man like why is he blind? Was he born why was he born blind from birth? Is it because of his sin or is it because his parents' sin? Is it option A or is it option B? But how many of you know when we follow Jesus, it's more like option C? Now to understand why the disciples may be asking this question in the first place, we also need to kind of understand that during this time there were those who taught prenatal sin.

the child that the teaching at the time uh it started they intertwined with all the teachers and they uh started teaching prenatal sin where a child could actually sin while they were still in the womb before they were born. So there were some who sort of held to this belief and it's because this was being taught by some of the people or some of the rabbis. This may be perhaps why the disciples are asking this question. Who did sin? that is he was born blind and if he was born blind and if he sinned that meant he had to sin sometime before he was born. It's this time in history where the rabbis also adopted from uh Plato the idea that people pre-existed as spirits

and they were waiting for bodies. Some of them were good spirits and some of them were bad spirits. But men pre-existed as spirits waiting for bodies. And if we look at this this teaching the teaching of Plato, it of course it's actually the teaching of Mormons which this teaching it it starts to lead to the thought process that you could actually be elevated into godhood. And not not to tear down any religion, but if we go any further, it starts to sound a lot like the same sin as Satan. He said, "I wanted to be like God." And then he deceives Adam and Eve into the same lie, saying, "God doesn't want you.

You can be like him as well," elevating the godhood. But the point I'm trying to make is not to tear anything down. The point I'm trying to make with this teaching is that this disciples are asking this question. Why did this man why was this man born blind? Is it because of his sin or his parents' sin? And they're asking this question because their attitude was focused on the sin, not the savior. They were focused on the sin, not the savior. And sickness, it could be a result of sin. But in this case, it was about the work of God, not about the sin. It was about the savior. And how many times do we focus on our sin, trying to figure

out the solution, and we miss going to the savior? Jesus, he demonstrates that he is the savior and the light of the world by making this man who's born blind see. He's bringing light to the eyes. And what's significant about this story though is not just that this man was healed, but that this man was obedient. The healing, it happened when this man was obedient. The miracle happened not just when Jesus touched him or anointed him, but when he chose to do what God said. Jesus ch he chose to trust what Jesus said to him and go to a place called scent.

John 9:7 it says he said to him go and wash in the pool of Saleom which means sent. So he went and he washed and he came back seeing. So the blind man came back seeing. And for the blind man the the obedience bore a blessing. And I believe that there are some of you here in this room today that feel like the blind man. You probably could be physically blind and need healing. You feel blind about certain situations in your life or you feel like you're spiritually blind. You may feel like God has spoken to you about certain situations in your life. And you may feel like God has spoken to you and he's calling you to do great things for him.

But I want to let you know that whatever it is, like this blind man, obedience bears a blessing. God may be saying, "Go walk in faith. Step out in faith." God may have anointed you, but now he is asking you to walk in obedience. He's asking you to walk in obedience before the blessing comes. We can see this principle about obedience bearing blessing not only in just this chapter but in Deuteronomy 28 and in 1st Samuel 15. Deuteronomy 28 verse 1-6. It says this. And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God and be careful to do all of his commandments that I've commanded you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, and the increase of your herds and the young flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in and when you go out. Furthermore, 1st Samuel 15:22 says, Samuel said, "Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than the sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams." My point is this, Journey, church.

Obedience bears a blessing. And today, God is calling some of you to stand up and go. God is sending you and he's calling you to take a step of faith. So, will you do it? You may say, "I'm not equipped." You may say, "I I'm not ready." Or, "I don't understand." You may say, "I'm scared." Or you may even say, "Why would God ever use someone like me?" And my response to this is going to be exactly because God uses people who are least likely to succeed in this world for his glory.

He uses you for you. He uses you for your testimony. He uses you because it's not by our might, not by our power, but by the spirit of the Lord. This is point two. Everybody understand that Jesus, he uses the least of these. John 9:8-12 it says the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying is this not the man who used to sit and beg and some said it is he and others said no but it's like him but he kept saying I'm the man so they said to him how are your eyes open then he answered the man called Jesus he made mud and anointed my eyes

and he said to me go to Saleom and wash so I went and washed and I received my sight And they said to him, "Where is he?" He's like, "I I don't know." He's like, "I was blind. How am I supposed to know?" So Jesus, he said to the blind man, "Wash in the pool of Saleom." Slom means scent. God had an assignment for this blind man since the beginning. And we see this plan earlier when Jesus said that his blindness was strictly for the work of God. So God had an assignment for him. I believe in God has an assignment for you journey. Hallelujah. God has an assignment for you. God can take what you think is broken, what you think is worthless in this world and use it for good. God can take

what was rendered useless to man and make a miracle out of it. God took this blind man's uh blindness and turned it into a blessing. God took this man's lifelong problems and used it for a means of his glory. So don't tell me God can't use your problems and make a miracle out of it. Hallelujah. There's nothing impossible for our God. That's just who our God is. That's his character. He loves you. He loves stepping into our blindness. He loves stepping into our blindness. Meaning he steps into the areas of our lives where we see that there is no hope, no light at all. He steps into the

areas of our lives where we see nothing good coming out of it, but there has been no life before. No light before. I want you to receive this truth today, Journey Church. Because if you don't receive this truth, often times we continue to live in the lies that we have been told throughout our whole lives. We we we can begin to continue to live in those lies. I've been there since birth. Sometimes the lies that I'm worthless. The lies that I won't amount to anything. the lies that I'm broken or everything I do or be a part of falls apart or even the thought that I'm a vessel made for destruction.

But here's the truth, Journey. Jesus takes the impossible lifelong problems and he makes them beautiful. Wait, whoa, whoa. Let me say that again. Jesus takes the impossible lifelong problems and makes them what? Beautiful. Hallelujah. Amen. And he wants to use you for his glory and his beauty. You have a purpose here on earth and that's to reflect his beauty and his glory and his ministry. And we see time and time again that Jesus, he loves to use the least of these. He loves to anoint the people who are least likely to be successful in the world's eyes. This is show that the power of God is greater than the power

of man. And the weakness of God is greater than the power of man. God chose what is foolishness in the world to shame the wise. This is so no one can boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24-31 says, "But those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolishness in the world to shame the wise." God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring

to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus. And because of him, you are redeemed. But who? Because of Christ Jesus, you became the wisdom of God, righteousness of sanctification, and redemption. So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boasts in the Lord. That's what I'm feeling today is that today God wants to anoint you and use you for his glory. When God chooses to anoint you and he chooses to open your eyes, we must though, we must must must we must be obedient to share what he's done for us to share our testimony. We must proclaim our sight.

John 9:18-34 18 verse through34 it says the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and he had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and they asked him is this your son whom they say they were born blind how then does he now see his parents answered we know that this is our son and that he was born blind but how he sees we don't know nor do we know who opened his eyes he's of age he speak for himself. But his parents said these things because they feared the Jews. And for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess that Jesus be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore, his parents said, "Ask him. He's of age." For the second time, they called the man who had been born blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this

man's a sinner." "Well, watch out calling Jesus a sinner." And he answered, "Whether he's a sinner, I don't know. But one thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see. And they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open his eyes, your eyes?" And he answered them, "I told you already and you wouldn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are a disciple of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but this man, we don't know where he comes from. Then the man answered, "Why? This is an amazing thing. You don't know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." So, never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. And if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, "You, you were born in utter sin, and you would teach us." And what they do is they they kick him out of the synagogue. The blind man's parents were afraid. So therefore, they said, "Ask him. He's of age." But once this blind, this once blind man, he decided to stand firm and proclaim the truth. He proclaimed his

sight. He proclaimed that he was once blind. Now he can see. Hallelujah. Amen. So he knew the cost. He knew the cost. He knew that he would be kicked out of of the synagogue, but he still stood for the truth and he still shared what God had done for him. He proclaimed his sight. So likewise, journey, we must with boldness must proclaim our sight. Meaning we must proclaim the work of God uh that he's done in our lives. We must do this though with boldness. I want to let you know that when you speak the testimony of Jesus, when you proclaim your sight to those around you, many are actually going to hate you.

Many are going to say that you're lying. Many are going to question your motives. They do this because Christ did the impossible. They don't understand it. And he used the muddy things in your life to open your eyes, not theirs. So many people will not understand you. But you must be obedient to the call of God on your life to proclaim what he has done for you. To proclaim your sight. You must proclaim your sight with full obedience no matter the cost. Even when it hurts. following Jesus. It may cost you your religious traditions. It may cost you to branch out in faith like you never have before and to get out of your comfort

zone. It may cost you a separation between you and what you've always known. And what's sad here that takes place is that the the religious people, the people who are supposed to reflect the face and the presence and the glory of God, they've removed the blind man from the synagogue, from their presence. They removed him from the place where people learn about who God is. I personally believe that God wanted to use and send this blind man to witness to the Pharisees. He sent this blind man, the witness to the Pharisees as a means to open your eyes. God uses what's foolishness in the world to shame the wise. And I'll repeat that again in 1 Corinthians 1:27. God chose what is foolishness in the world to

shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God uses what's the blind and muddy things, the muddy situations to shame, to show his glory. And it is here that Jesus, he uses this blind man not only as an example of his divinity, but as an extension of grace to call the Pharisees to him. I want to let you know that sometimes God uses people to call us back to him because we have already chosen the right Jesus off. God may have chosen people in your life, the foolishness in the world to that call you back to him

because you've already chose to write Jesus off because you've already hardened your heart in certain areas because you search every other every other way and you continue to deny that Jesus is the way. But I beg you, if that's you and Jesus is using the people in your life to draw you back to him. Don't kick them out of your life. Don't don't kick them out of your life. He loves you. Now, if you have been treated like this blind man, notice what happened here is so beautiful.

When the religious or when the pastors of the time kick the man out, Jesus shows up. Jesus shows up in the hard moments. Jesus shows up in the times of deep hurt. And it's here in the midst of the pain of removal and out of obedience of proclamation, Jesus gives the revelation. It's in the hurtful moments that Jesus reveals that he truly is God. Something miraculous had been done in this once blind man can now see. But now it is in this place, this place of hurt outside of the synagogue where Jesus chooses to reveal that he is whom the blind man had been seeking the whole time.

Jesus says, "Do you believe in the son of man?" And the blind man says, "Uh, yes, I do. But who is he?" Jesus says, "I'm it, man." John 9:35-38 Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And having found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" And he answered, "And who is he, sir, that I might believe in him?" And Jesus said, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. So today, there are two people that I want to talk to in this house. There are the blind men and there are the Pharisees.

I believe many of you here feel like this blind man. Your eyes have been opened. You have encountered the miraculous. You called Jesus as Lord and he's revealed himself to you. But now this is your call. It's time to proclaim your sight. It's time to step out in obedience and proclaim the work of God that has been done for you. It's time to step out of the chair to go to the streets to go to the family and proclaim the work of God that has happened, the life change that has happened to you. There's a revelation of Jesus to be had and God wants to use you. It's time to proclaim your sight and just know when you are obedient to this call, you're going to be hurt.

You're going to be kicked out. But for you, there's a revelation of Jesus to be had in the hurtful moment, saying that he is Lord. There's a revelation of Jesus to be had. They just going to start healing those wounds of the heart. There's a revelation of Jesus to be had and already has come saying that he is the Lord of all. That he is the creator and the author and the perfector of our faith. That he came down fully perfect God and man. And what he did, he went to the cross for us. He died for our sins. He became our sin on the cross for us. So guess what? You can have eternal life. Hallelujah.

This is the revelation of Jesus. But what's even greater than this? This Jesus, he not only died on the cross, he rose up three day late, three days later. And then he ascends to the right hand of the heavenly father. and he is interceding for you and for me right now. He's not done moving. He's standing in the gap and he's fighting for you and me right now. And through faith in Jesus, we can become the righteousness of God. And guess what? This Jesus, he's coming again. He's not just sitting at the right hand of the father. He's coming back here to earth to redeem this place. And he's saying you are coming with me. You are coming with me. Just full the full presence of God with man with his children. There will be no more weeping,

no more mourning, no more crying, no more death. Just the full presence of God and his children united forever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is the revelation of Jesus. And this same Jesus can be experienced right now. Whatever hurtful moment you're in, he can be experienced right now. He steps into our situations. [Music] And now to the Pharisees in the room, understand we're all prone to the phariseaical heart. You may have judged. You may have kicked people out. You may have been in disbelief about the work of God in others lives.

Understand that he Jesus is love. He loves you. He loves all of us. But he he loves you and he's inviting you to step in. He's inviting you to come to his feet and know him. And I believe Jesus right now is extending an invite to you to repent and to start changing the way we think and we behave. to cast off everything we formerly knew and come to a direct uh revelation and relationship with him to cast off tradition to cast off the sin and come to his feet. And when we come to his feet, he starts to expose every little detail of our heart. And it gets a little intense, but it's good because he loves you. The father prunes those who he loves. So, he's going to start revealing sin, but we we bring it to his feet because when we uh confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive our sin.

First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And it's only by Jesus that we can be saved. Journey church. So, it's not Muhammad, it's not Buddha, it's not any spirit guide, it's nothing else. Just Jesus. Jesus is the only answer. He himself says in John 14:6, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." And this is how we come to Jesus, everybody. I love how specific the Bible gets. They give us a framework for this. In Romans 10:9, he says, "Because if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be

saved." It's that easy. We believe and we confess. We believe in our heart and we confess, Lord, you are God. So in this moment, what I'm going to do is I'm going to provide an opportunity for you to get to know who this Jesus is. To get to know the author, perfector of our faith, to get to have eternal life and hope in him, but also I'm going to provide the opportunity for you to receive the anointing, the grace of God on your life. You have a purpose here, and God wants to show his beauty through you. you then know his beauty and show his beauty.

And so in this moment, what I'm going to do right now, I'm going to ask that every eye would be closed and you bow your heads. The reason why I ask this is so we can get distractions out of the room. It's good to get distractions out of the room so you would uh focus on what the Holy Spirit is saying to your heart, what he's tugging in your heart. So in this moment, I'm going to count the three. And when I say count the three, I want you to raise your hand if you're choosing Jesus today. If you're choosing eternal life today, if you're choosing it for the first time, you don't have to wait another day. You don't have to wait to know the grace of God today. You don't have to wait to have eternal life. You don't know what tomorrow holds.

So right now, on the count of three, with eyes still closed, I just want you to stick your hand up so I know who I get to pray for. So, Father, right now in the name of Jesus, would you begin to speak to each heart, would you begin to reveal everything that's not of you, Father? One, choose eternal life now. You don't know what tomorrow holds. You don't even know what tonight holds. You don't know what's your last day. Choose life now. And two, out of all of the decisions in life, this is one you'll never ever ever regret. This one builds you up and gives you life, not tears you down and causes death.

[Music] And three, right now, raise your hand if you want to follow Jesus and receive this eternal life. It's really hard with the lights. So, if you can stick it up slightly higher so I know who I pray for. Amen. Amen. Amen. Just keep him up while eyes are still closed. I just want to see who you are. Amen. Believing the Lord will bless you guys abundantly. He's got a great plan for your life. Are you a builder by any chance? Yes. Okay. Do you own that company? Yeah. Okay. I'm praying the Lord would bless you with many, many homes, but you would also use that to house the orphans. That you would house those who

are in need. God has given you a great gift. And I believe as you steward that and as you honor the Lord with it, it's going to grow abundantly in Jesus' name. Do you believe that? Amen. Amen. Father, thank you for what you're doing here. All right, you guys can put your hands down and with eyes still closed, we're we're just protecting the intimacy of the room as brothers and sisters in Christ, knowing that God has chosen you for this world for great things. I'm going to ask that we would help partner with those who are choosing to receive Jesus today. We want to put into practice Romans 10:9 where it says, "Hey, we believe and we confess." And so together, would you pray a prayer like this out loud with me

so I can lead you in this? Would you say, "Jesus, I believe in you. Would you forgive me of all my sins? I commit my spirit and life to you. I ask to receive the Holy Spirit in Jesus name." Amen. Amen. Yeah. Give a round clap because guess what the word says? It says there's more joy in heaven over one person who repents and comes home than over 99 people who need no repenting. And sorry guys, we all need repenting. Come on. And Jesus loves you. And I believe today he's sending you out into the world. And so we're going to do step two. We just got saved. But step two now is go.

And so during this time, where's the rest of the band? Okay. During this time, what I'm going to ask if you are choosing to say, you know what, Lord, I am standing here and I am choosing to go and I believe you has sent me. Would you stand up right now? [Music] Hold on. Some people still need to receive this truth. If if you're able to stand, stand. But Lord, I believe God has anointed this generation to be kingdom workers. I believe that God has anointed you guys to bring the power of heaven on earth. I believe God has brought you here for a purpose to reflect his face and his glory. But do this with boldness. Amen. Don't be afraid of being kicked out.

Don't be afraid of the hurt that's going to come, but walk in boldness. Walk in the power and the authority of Jesus. And so I'm going to ask together, I realize we don't have enough prayer team members for everybody in this room. So would you just lift up your hands, maybe both hands to Jesus, close your eyes and say, "Jesus, anoint me. Here I am. Send me. I welcome the ministry of your Holy Spirit." In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.