Tough Love: Jesus Calls Us to Love Our Enemies

Thank you, pastor. [applause] What up, Journey Church? How y'all doing today? Man, it's so good to see y'all. I'm excited to be here. God is going to do some amazing things. He's already been doing some incredible things. If you have have not heard the murmurings of the weekend, the marriage conference has just been, man, it's just been enriching. And if you were here, if you just lift up a little hand so I could just kind of see if you were there. If you didn't, it's okay. We we we missed you. But you're going to see the fruit of that throughout all the marriages uh in this space. Uh couple of housekeeping things. First of all, some of y'all didn't even know I was a pastor. Like, I get it. You know, some of you that may

know me, depending on your musical preferences, you know, as I look out through the audience, you know, there some of you may be familiar with some of my music. Maybe some of you are not and that's okay. Uh there's a little song from about 30 years ago that goes this is how we do it now. Yeah. Yeah. So yes, I am that Montel Jordan. God kind of plucked me out of that space and did some incredible things uh with my life, with the life of my family. And I'm just super super grateful that now I get the opportunity to not only do uh what I love to do, but I do what I love to do. And God loves what I love to do. And that's a sweet spot uh in the kingdom. Um business.

First of all, I want to honor your pastors, Keith and Carpatrick. They are true men and women of God. [applause and cheering] Y'all got good preaching here. But my my man Keith, he can go. He's an excellent communicator. And I felt like in my prayer time yesterday, I wanted to also be able to say, Kara, you are an astounding woman of God, and you have the word of God on your lips. And from that standpoint, don't ever shrink back. Please, with boldness, stand before God's people. Stand before him. Because every time you grab that microphone, or even if you don't, it's just when you speak, you can feel that God is using you into some spaces that you may not

ever be comfortable with, but I'm telling you, it's there. Me and my wife, we talked about it. We see it. I just want to affirm you in that space. [applause] Yeah. Yeah. Uh I got to thank the Richardsons, uh Brandon and Holly Richardson. We would not be here had it not been for them. They served us uh for over two years ago when we were doing a ministry online. They would fly from central Oregon somewhere through here through Seattle and somehow get out to Atlanta, Georgia, and drive an hour to come out and see us to lead worship in our living room. Uh and that was a big deal. And they did that faithfully for well over a year. And so I'm grateful that now that they've been planted here, uh, we now get to be part of the fruit that they did with us back there and now

we get to spend that time. So I want to thank Brandon and Holly [applause] for that. Last of the housekeeping things. Some of you know, some of you don't. My wife is releasing a children's book on September the 1st. And if you put that little picture up, it's pretty pretty cool. This is Shiloh and the not so scary girl above his bed. It is a story about a monster who's very, very afraid that there's a little girl who lives above his bed and it takes fear and it flips it on its side from a different space. The reason why I'm sharing this is because we have an opportunity to make the New York Times bestseller this if we sell a certain amount of books by a certain date. This is pre-sale. book is not available for you yet, but you can purchase the book now ahead of time. We would love if you would partner with us

and grab a book for your kids, for your grandkids, some of you your great grandkids, we would love to be able to not only share this amazing story with you, but in addition to that, if you go another further, that's a country term. If you go another further and you purchase three books, we have marriage content, a book bundle of our marriage resources. We'll give that to It's worth $97. We'll give that to you for free, a digital download of marriage content if you will partner with us and and grab three of these books. So, we have the ch Listen, there are books out there right now that are teaching our kids all types of stuff. Can I just Can I keep it Can we keep it 100 up in here? I know you're pastors. I'm I'm going to keep it 100 with y'all. There's all types of stuff being communicated to our kids and it's very little content from people who are believers in Jesus Christ that are

getting the opportunity and the platform to do what we are doing. So if you will, I ask you to partner with us and come along on that journey. Amen. Amen. All right. So, uh, with that being said, if you have your Bible with you or an electronic device on silent, just a few moments, we're going to be reading from the book of Matthew, Matthew, chapter 5. And yes, you got an amazing production team here and uh, the notes will be uh, and the quotes will be on the screens for you. The scriptures will all be there. But we want to encourage you and empower you to hold the word of God in your own hands so you can read it and see it for yourself. Also want to take a moment. I want to welcome those who are watching online.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for locking in. We ask that you join along with us on this journey we're going to take uh today. Y'all have been in a series called Kingdom Come. Kingdom Come. And you've been focused on parables. Pastor, I I I know that parables are the preferred teaching style of Jesus. It's where he would take fictional stories and provide spiritual truth and application that were presented that had the ability to give sight to the blind and it could blind those who thought they could see everything. Um, okay. So, uh, what we're going to do is let's just go in. Let's have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads for a moment. Heavenly Father, we come before you today to say thank you.

First of all, to say that we are grateful for you, God. We're just grateful for you. And I want to thank you for the opportunity for us to hear your word, but also to be transformed by it. I ask you that today you would draw men and draw women's hearts towards you and that they will know today that not only do you love us but you are love. So God make me invisible so what your people hear are your words. What they see is your truth. What they feel is your heart for us to be set free so we can set other people free. Holy Spirit have your way in this place. Reach those who may be watching online. Father, I ask you to heal broken hearts today. Make it safe for us to love again. You want us to be free. Who the

son sets free is free indeed. We pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Everybody said, "Amen." Amen. Amen. Last week, Pastor K brought that fire. He talked about freedom in the father. If you missed it, you need to go back and you need to catch up. Get that word in. He was good. He explored the parable of the prodigal sons plural because most people don't recognize that there was a son who left and was gone and there was a son who stayed and was gone. Some of y'all missed that. It's okay.

You got to go back and listen to the message. You'll understand what that means. But not only did parables, not only were they the the main way that God spoke, and he did that because he understood that there were some people that could catch what he was saying. There were some people that were picking up what he was putting down and then there were some that did not. And he still wanted to speak to everybody, but he wanted to make sure that those that had ears to hear would be able to not only hear with their ears, but they would be able to listen with their hearts. Talked about this this past couple of days that ears or that hearing is what you do with

your ears. Listening is what you do with your heart. And so from this moment today, I'm hoping that not only do you have ears to hear what I'm saying, but you're able to have a heart that listens to what God is saying to you through what you are hearing. I'm going to talk today about arguably the most profound teaching in the Bible, and it came from the very mouth of the son of God. It came from Jesus Christ. And I'm speaking of something called the sermon on the mount. Are y'all familiar with the sermon on the mount? Today's message is called loving the unlovable or tough love. Somebody say tough love. Tough love.

I'm going to talk about tough love today. I know the world has a definition of tough love, but I believe the Lord is going to give us a revelation today on what the Bible requires of us that could easily be considered tough love. I love the word of God. I love scripture. I'm a words guy and I love the scripture because it is the living, breathing word of God. The Bible is alive. And when people say, "Oh, the Bible is boring." I'm like, "What book are you actually talking about? It is hard for me to comprehend." And if that's you, maybe if the Bible seems like it's boring, it's hard. There is a thing that you can ask the Holy Spirit. You say,

"Holy Spirit, will you just awaken awaken your word to come alive in me?" And what happens is something shifts inside of you. The little light comes on and literally as you become a reader, the word of God literally starts to lift up off the page and those stories like they become real. They become alive. Trust me, if you never done that before and the Bible's just boring to you or it's just a bunch of stories, I promise you if you just go and say, "Holy Spirit, give me the eyes to see what you've written. Allow it to come alive for me." It's like the parables. It's like I could say something and it go over some people's head, but people that grab it, they get it. That's what the Bible does. It goes over a lot of people's heads, but but if you ask the Holy Spirit to awaken it for you, he'll

do that. And you need to know the Bible is the only book you read that reads you. That's true. It's the only book that you read that reads you. So, now we're going to go before we get to the scripture, I'm going to I'm I want y'all to take a little trip with me. I want you to visualize something with me because I'm going to give you some foundation. I'm going to give you some context for the story that we're going to be talking about today and we're going to experience this together. If you happen to hear something today and the Lord leads you to write it down, I'm gonna ask you to not only write it on your notes, not only maybe write it in your phone, I'm going to ask you allow God to write it on your heart.

Write it on your heart. Say, "God, that was so good. I don't want to leave here and and and miss that. Write it on my heart because I want I want to remember what you said to me in that moment." All right. So imagine if you will Israel. It's a time period where they have been in captivity for hundreds of years. Rome dominates nearly threearters of the world at this time period. Like they are the superpower, top dog. And God's people are under heavy Roman rule. They are under Roman authority. They are under the thumb of Caesar.

They are submitted and they are oppressed. Not for a year, not for four years, not for 20 years, for hundreds of years. They've turned their hearts from God. God is not speaking. The prophets are not speaking. If Usher was speaking to the Israelites, he would say, "You got it. You got it." Bad. Some of y'all too holy. You don't understand that. That was a parable that some of y'all got and some of you didn't. It's okay. It's okay. I'm a music guy, so a lot of my references happen to go there. But not the ushers in church that there's another usher But if you listen, you can hear it. If

you listen, it's John the Baptist. You can you can hear the voice crying out in the wilderness. It's it's John and he's declaring your promise, your hope, your deliverer, your king, your Messiah. He's not He's not only coming. Yo, he is here. He has arrived. And he declares that. And then Jesus appears on the scene. And Jesus gets down to business quick. He comes on the scene. He gets baptized. He fasts for 40 days and nights. He conquers temptation. And then he begins his ministry. Hits the ground running preaching, teaching, healing. He begins preaching, teaching,

and healing. And whether it was back then or whether it's today, if you have a ministry that has good preaching, teaching, and healing, people will come. That hasn't changed. And Jesus starts to do what preaching, teaching, and healing does. He starts to draw a crowd, big crowds. If you really focus, you can imagine them. You can see them. You can hear them. And this particular crowd, this huge gathering of his followers, the chosen people of God who have been broken and abused and oppressed. They are now following the one they believe

is their promise fulfilled. They believe the guy that they are following is their hope. He's their deliverer. He is their king. He is their rabbi. He's their Messiah. He's their preacher, their teacher, their healer. They believe it and thousands start to follow him. Dirty sandals filled with anticipation, expectancy that Israel's return to power is imminent. Translation: If this the king, we about to be up out of here. Thank God. We've waited a long time. And for a moment, everything seems all good until we get to the side of the mountain. Flashback.

There was a moment in time when the prophets were still speaking. And there was a prophet named Isaiah who said that the word of the Lord was his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are above our thoughts. What do you mean? We're about to find out what Isaiah said back then was the gospel truth about right now because the words that are about to come out of Jesus mouth are frowned upon in this establishment. What do you mean pastor? I am saying the sermon on the mount is as tough to hear today as it was back then.

When the truth is presented in love, it brings healing, but it can still hurt. When the truth is presented in love, it hurts. but it heals. And so the hurting and the healing starts to come out of the mouth of Jesus. He starts to say stuff like, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Hold on. Israel thought, "We supposed to be at the top of the food chain. We are a proud people. Proud to be the chosen people of God. We are the apple of God's eye. We are his promise. And now the promised one is

telling them, be poor in spirit. Don't be don't have a prideful spirit. Don't be the pride of God. Be be prideful. Don't be prideful in spirit. Be poor in spirit. Okay. Jesus. He continues, "Pastor, you are blessed when you mourn. When I mourn, I'm blessed when I'm mourned. That don't sound right. Jesus. Jesus, don't stop. You're blessed when you're persecuted for righteousness sake. Hold on. We got to draw the line.

Persecution. Ain't nobody got time for that. Like there's persecution happening in other countries. There's persecution happen that we can turn our eye from. There's there's ton there's there's no lack of persecution going out in the world. But we hear that today and you tell me I am blessed when I am persecuted for righteousness sake. I'mma keep it 100 y'all. If I'm on the side Yes, baby girl. Yes. If I'm on the side of that mountain and Jesus starts saying some of these things, I probably put the Baptist finger up and just kind of start tiptoeing down the back side of the mountain. Just be like, "Hey, Jesus, I'mma go and get some more

fish and bread. Y'all running low. I'mma I'mma That was like a parable in the Baptist church. When you get up to walk out, you put up a finger. It's that was I care about you. I'm I'm letting you in. The sermon on the mount, it is not the recommended preaching topic when you are trying to build a church or when you're trying to grow attendance. It's just not that. But Jesus wasn't trying to grow a church. Jesus was building disciples. That's a word for somebody out there.

Listen, this the success of your ministry, the success of a church isn't based on numbers. It's baited on heart built on heart transformation. Jesus doesn't stop there. He goes in, I know you heard don't murder. I say don't even be angry. I know you heard don't commit adultery. I I say don't even look at somebody the wrong way. I know you heard an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say if they will smith you on one sheet, give them the other one, too. Is that too soon? Is it though? They want to sue you for your shirt, give them your jacket, too. They want you to go one mile, go two. Jesus, what are you doing?

Yes, baby girl. She no good preaching. The baby no good preaching. Jesus, what are you doing? Jesus says, I'm determined to identify who's here for what I have and who's here for who I am. Are you seeking my hand or are you seeking my face? This message is is tough. It's tough for them to receive it back then and it's tough for us to hear it now. Now, here's where the tough love part really comes in. Journey, are y'all y'all with me? Okay. Matthew chapter 5:es 43-48. I'm going to give you some word. Says, "Love your enemies."

You've heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Why? That you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only,

what do you do more than others? Don't even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect. Love your enemies. That's tough love. That's our first point for today. And actually, it's the only point for this entire message. I'm making it easy for the notetakers out there. One point. Love your enemy.

I know somebody out here, somebody else out here has to have enemies, right? You know, somebody who can't stand you. Somebody who hates your guts. Maybe you have frenemies. That's when you think they're your friends and they actually can't wait to dance on your grave. Who is your enemy? Is it a neighbor? Is it a coworker? Is it a boss? Is it an employee? Is it a spouse?

If that's you and you think it's your spouse, just look straight ahead. Don't blink. No one will know it's you. This is a safe place. Seriously though, who's your enemy? Someone you were once close to? Someone who hurt you? somebody who physically or mentally abused you. Who's your enemy? Who broke your spirit? Who said you were nothing? Who didn't believe in you? Who told you you weren't valuable? Was it your mom? Was it a dad? Maybe it was your child?

Was it a church member? Was it a leader? Was it a pastor? Let me let me ask it this way. Who can't you forgive? Because that person, that's who God wants you to love. [sighs] Pastor, I see I'm going to need some security up in here today. I seen them outside though, so I I feel safe. My childhood pastor used to say, "Why y'all looking at me like that?" Listen, that's tough love. It's easy to love those who are lovable, but to be free, we must forgive. And to forgive, we got to love the unlovable.

We got to love our enemies, those that don't even deserve forgiveness. I'mma keep on a hunt with y'all. I ain't want to preach this message. Y'all got good preaching here. I was preparing a message. I was ready to cook. I'm ready to to to bring I want to talk about something else. Pick another cool parable and and dissect that and have everybody leave here feeling good. Praise the Lord. He sure did preach, you know. But but I sense the Lord telling me to stay right here and show his people how to get free. So I'm praying. And I'm like, "Okay, show me, Lord. You have to show me how to show them how to get free."

So, I understand this whole love your enemy thing too is is tough. But in my spirit, I can hear over and over again, loving my enemy is the key to being free. Loving my enemy is the key to being free. Loving my enemy is the key to being free. And my heart starts to break because God starts to show me what I can't see on my own. He starts to show me everything that we're hiding.

He shows me marriages. He shows me your marriage. Husbands and wives here and watching online right now prepared to throw in the towel because they can't love their enemy. Men and women struggling with addictions, bound by strongholds because they can't love their enemy. Young men and young women whose sexuality and future in ministry hang in the balance because they can't love their enemy. Physical healing from sickness and disease are available but forfeited

because you can't love your enemy. Our world has no shortage of wouldbe enemies. Regardless of your political affiliation, we can look more like the divided states of America because we cannot love our enemy. Transparent moment. Tough messages like this one on tough love require a mature church to process and proceed. And I felt like God told me, "I prepared you to teach this. I've prepared journey to receive this. You show up. They'll show up. I'll show up. And since we're all here, let's listen to what God is speaking."

[applause] 1 Corinthians 13 4-8 says this, "Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing. It rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never ends. Love never fails. I don't have to preach that. That's the word of God coming alive on the page. That preaches itself.

The world can't define love. The word defined love. And the word says that God is love. God is love. So when the world attempts to redefine love, we attempt to redefine God. We're shaping God to satisfy the world around us and not shaping the world around us to satisfy our God. God is love and outside of God there is no love. Love requires action. And some of you may say, "I hear you, pastor. I'm not exactly sure where you're going with this because maybe this is just a little too hard what

you're asking me to do because first of all, you don't know what was done to me. You don't know my story. I can't love my enemy. I want to submit to you today that the enemy is not always who we think it is. All those people I just listed a couple of moments ago. It could be this person, this person, this person, this person. They aren't always the enemy. I'm going keep it 100 with y'all. Um, sometimes we give the devil more credit than he deserves. I mean, the devil, yes, he is our enemy. But the reality is sometimes our biggest enemy is our inner me.

The reason we can't love our enemy is because we don't love our inner me. The reason you can't forgive your enemy is because you can't forgive your inner me. You can't give what you don't have. I'm preaching better than you're responding. God knew what he was asking us to do on the side of that hill. He was requiring us to do something we humanly could not have possibly accomplished outside of him. He is love. Therefore, outside of him, meaning outside of love, it is impossible to forgive. It's impossible to be free.

But Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 says, I can do all things, not some things or not many things. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So now when Jesus stands on that mountain side still speaking to us today, it's no longer a matter of can you love your enemy, but will you and why should you? Because the reality is everybody don't want to be free.

The answer is back in Matthew 5 at the verse 45. He says that you may be sons and daughters of your father in heaven. That's why so that we can be identified with our father in heaven. Sons and daughters who look like our father and we take on the characteristics of our dad. Here's some residual income from the marriage retreat this past weekend from the conference. Kristen and I have been married for nearly 32 years to each other together. We've told y'all that in music business years, that's like 126 years.

and we will be happily married to each other together forever. And that's encouraging, right? Yet early in our marriage for years, I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions damaged her. I broke her heart. I nearly destroyed our family. I was ashamed. I lived in guilt. I lived in condemnation for years. And so I did what people in darkness do. I hid. And I lied. I thought I loved my wife. I thought I loved the Lord, but not more than I loved my sin.

But thank God, he loved me more than I loved him. [applause] And he showed me in a way that I've never been able to fully comprehend to this day. Y'all don't miss this. My wife had every right to hate me. She had every right to leave me. But for Jesus, she gave up her rights. Following Jesus sometimes requires you to give up your right to be right. She wanted to be free. And in order to be free, she had to forgive. And in order to forgive, she had to love her enemy. And she didn't feel like it. And you don't feel like it. But love is more. And because God is love, she chose

love. So she chose God. and she chose love over her right. [applause and cheering] So because she chose love, God loved me through her. She loved me back to him. She loved me back to Jesus. She loved me back to his forgiveness. She loved me back to his restorative power. She loved me back to his faithfulness. She loved me back to fatherhood. She loved me back to faithfulness. She loved me back into ministry. And listen y'all, the only way she can do that is because greater is he that's in her than he that's in the world.

[applause] The world said no. Give up divorce. God said yes the 40 and she wins because we win and the world said you can leave them and take half. God says why not stay and have it all. [applause] So now we love much. We love big. We even love our enemies simply because we were forgiven much.

That's our testimony. It became our test. That's our message. It came from our mess. And now my wife and I, we have a marriage ministry called Marriage Masterpiece. to help millions of couples all over the world heal their marriages. And so that test that we went through, I kne I now hear scripture differently. I hear I hear different what the enemy meant for evil. God turned out for good. Hey Paxton, if you come up and and hit them keys for me, everything sounds a little more holy. Watch. You'll see. Think I'm lying.

Hey, uh you you don't have to forgive, but you hold your own freedom hostage. You hold your own freedom hostage. Without forgiving others, we will never be able to receive the fullness and freedom that God has made available to us through his sacrifice. Real question, don't answer, but just do you want to be healed? God can't heal what we won't reveal. And I believe that even some physical sickness infected to bitterness and unforgiveness.

I want to end with this really interesting story. It's not a parable, but it is an actual occurrence where Jesus meets this man by the pool of Bethesda Bethesda or Bethesda. Um and a man he was lame for 38 years. 38 years. And whenever the angel showed up and he stirred the pool, the opportunity came up for somebody to be healed. And this man couldn't get there on his own and no one would help him. Says this, "Now a certain man who was there had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in

that condition a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be healed?" Journey, why would Jesus ask him that question? Allow the word to come alive for just a moment. Why? Why would he ask him that? Think about it. I mean, the scripture clearly said Jesus knew he had been in that condition for a long time. Wouldn't it be obvious that he wanted to be healed? And the reality is some of us have grown so comfortable in our circumstance. We'd rather remain broken and in in a lame state than to go through the process of getting healed. If you can't say amen, say ouch. Either one works.

If you're challenged in your marriage, my wife and I can tell you Jesus is stopping by to heal your marriage right now. If you're challenged in your friendships, in your relationships, Jesus is stopping by to heal your brokenness right now. If you're struggling with something physical, something spiritual, something mental, God is healer. I'm here to tell you today that Jesus is stopping by right now and he's asking the same question he asked that man at the pool. What he said back then, he's saying it to you right here today. Do you want to be healed? But we've tried the counselors and we've done this and now. Do you want to reconnect with lost family members? Yeah, but you know sometimes, pastor, you got to cut people off. And do you want to be able to forgive something that was unforgivable? Yeah, but even if

you forgive, you can't forget. Do you want to be free from addiction? Yeah, I do. I believe God can do it, but maybe he won't do it for me. This is gonna hurt, but I love you. This is tough love. The only thing sadder than that man lying there lame, incapable of being healed, is men and women walking around lame with the ability to be healed and choosing not to. unforgiveness. It's a prison we can find ourselves living in. And you have the keys. Loving my enemy is the key to being free. And forgiving them isn't about them.

That's right. That's right. Forgiving them isn't for them. It's for you. Will you love you enough this week? Possibly even today. Will you love you enough to allow you to set yourself free? God is ready if you are. And remember, whatever you decide, I'm not your enemy and I'm not your inner me. We're going to pray and ask the Holy Spirit that if there's something that you find unforgivable, that's okay. That's why you need him.

Let's bow our heads. Lord, thank you. Thank you for today. Doesn't take a long prayer for us to say we need you. We need you to step in. That person that came to mind, that instance that came to mind, we are not what happened to us. And I ask you, God, we hold the key to our freedom. I ask you that in the ways that we cannot turn that over to you, lay it at the feet of the cross, we ask you, Father, to please, please, please do what we are incapable of doing on our own, we need you. We trust you. And we believe that Holy Spirit will give us the ability to be free. We pray these things in Jesus name. Everybody said, "Amen." Amen. One more thing I want to do before I leave here. I've been talking about this Jesus, the Jesus who empowers us, who allows

his word to come alive in us. And maybe you don't know that Jesus. Maybe you know of him, but maybe you don't know him. Here's what I want to ask. And pastor, this is the the best way I've learned how to ask ask this question. If today you were going to take your last breath, meaning when you close your eyes tonight and you wake up tomorrow on the other side of eternity, you're going to be greeted by a good, loving, gracious God.

and he can look at you and he can say, "Well done, my son. Well done, my daughter." Some of you, you could take your final breath today and wake up on the other side of eternity and a good, kind, loving, gracious God is going to meet you and he can say, Uh, I'm sorry. I don't I don't know you.

If you don't know for sure how God is going to greet you, I'm talking to you. Holy Spirit is talking to you. You can fix that right now. You can fix that right now. If you mean business with God, one more prayer. Let's close our eyes, bow our heads. Father, your word says if we would believe with our heart, confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ was the son of God, he was raised from the dead, we will be saved. Saving is instantaneous. Deliverance may take time, but we can be saved right now, right in this moment. So, if there's someone here who has never fully surrendered their life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,

I'm going to ask you, heads are bowed, eyes are closed, this is between you and God. If you've never completely surrendered yourself to Jesus Christ, just between you and God, I'm going to ask you to be courageous and just lift up your hand where I can see it. I just want to I just want to honor you. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for Thank you, bro. Thank you for your courage. Okay, you can put your hands down for those of you who have received Jesus and perhaps you're not living like you have and you want to get right with Jesus today. You want to clean the slate, I'm going to ask you, heads are bowed, eyes are closed. If you say, "I love Jesus. I've accepted him as Lord and Savior. I just got some stuff that kind of got in the way." If that's you, I'm going to ask you, you want to clean the slate today, heads are bowed, eyes are closed, would you just lift up your hand? and just be courageous just for a moment and lift up your hand. Thank you.

Thank you for your courage. Thank you guys and girls. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I see you. I recognize it. Okay, you can put your hands down. Thank you. We're going to say this prayer together. Whether you know the Lord and you cleaning a slate, whether you've never given your life completely to him and you want to do that today, you want to make that decision all together. We're going to pray this prayer. Would everybody just lift your voice and say, "Jesus, Jesus, [music] I love you. I love you. You love me first. You love me first. You love me more. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. And I believe I believe Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is my savior. You're the son of God. Son of God. You came to this world. You came to this world for me. You died on a cross. You died on the cross for me. For me. You went to the grave. You went to the grave. For me. For me. You rose again. You rose again. For me.

For me. So come into my heart. Drive out any darkness. Replace it with your love. I turn from the old me. And I turn to you. Now in Jesus name, if you receive that, just lift up your hands all over this building if you're able. Would you lift up your hands? Uplifted hands is a universal sign of surrender. And some of you are surrendering your life. You're surrendering your will. You're surrendering sickness. You're surrendering unforgiveness. You're surrendering to the only one who's capable of doing something with it. And uplifted hands is also a universal sign of receiving. And some of you are receiving God into your life right now. You're receiving the ability to forgive.

You're receiving healing right now in Jesus name. Whether you are surrendering or receiving, God met you here today along your journey to let you know he is with you. He is for you. He is not against you. He is not your enemy. He wants to become your inner me. And we pray these things in Jesus name.