Let me warn us, not just you, us, about a danger that we have to be careful of, and that's legalism. Legalism consists of this.
It consists of taking your walk with Jesus down to a bunch of rules, dos and don'ts. That's bad enough when you do it to yourself. What's even worse is when you start projecting those rules on other people and you start minding other people's business instead of your own business. I've noticed this phenomenon among people in our church who have been gloriously saved out of a very messy past. A lot of times when people were really bad reprobates, I mean really messed up people, and they get radically saved, it's almost like they over-correct and they start becoming harsh and vindictive and legalistic. You've got to be careful of that. I've seen that happen numerous times. It could be, I've wondered about this, if they're so afraid of going back to the cocaine, back to the mess, that they go to an extreme.
We had that happen a couple years ago. There's a man who was, I mean he was a messed up, just drug addict, messed up past, homeless man. He got radically saved, and the Lord really began to bless him. We baptized him here.
I loved watching him grow in the Lord, but I noticed this harshness and this legalism start to soak into his life. One day he called the office and he said, I need to talk to Chad Harvey. I was like, yes sir, how can I help you? He said, I need to report one of your pastors for ministerial indiscretion.
I went, oh boy, I got tensed up. I said, who is it? He said, Pastor Chris Connell.
I said, of course. I knew one day that guy was going to, obviously. I said, man, what did he do? He said, well, I followed him when he left the church parking lot the other day, and he was going eight miles an hour over the speed limit, and he ought to be setting a better example.
He was going eight miles an hour over the speed limit. I said, I can't believe that. I said, the next time I see him, here's what I'm going to say to him. I'm going to say, Chris Connell, depart from me, for I never knew you. I am going to assign you to the outer darkness where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Thank you so much for letting me know. See, that's the harsh spirit we've got to be careful of, and Jesus addresses that here in Mark chapter seven. So remember in the background, we're going through the gospel of Mark. Here's the background. Jesus has just performed the biggest miracle of his ministry.
It's the miracle that that and the resurrection are the only two miracles mentioned in all four gospels. That's how big this thing is. So his popularity seems to have peaked, and remember the people said, we want more bread. We want more food. We want you to multiply food every day. For us, like you just did with the feeding of, we say 5,000.
It's probably more like 15, 20,000 people. And Jesus says, no, no, no. That's not why I came. And he talked to them about their soul and salvation. They said, we don't want that. And it says people just start leaving Jesus left and right.
So now his popularity might be kind of on a downward slide. There's about one year left before he'll be crucified. And in Mark chapter seven, verse one, it says, then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to him, having come from Jerusalem. Now, when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is unwashed hands, they found fault for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels and couches. The disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but they eat bread with unwashed hands. He answered and said to them, well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain, they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men, for laying aside the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do. To them, all too well, you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, as an example, honor your father and your mother and he who curses his father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father and mother, whatever prophet you might have received from me is now Corban, that is, it's a gift to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God.
God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down and many such things you do. When he called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, hear me, everyone, and understand there is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile them. But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile men. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.
And when he entered the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him couldn't concern the parable. Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from the outside cannot defile him because it does not enter his heart but his stomach and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods? And he said, what comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, and evil actions.
I, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these things come from within and defile a man. Now, in this passage, remember I told you, legalism is now about rules and regulations. I see three forms of legalism in this passage. Actually, two in this passage.
I want to add another one. And the first one is tradition. Verse 1, you see the scribes and the Pharisees. Who are these people? About 200 years before Jesus Christ, there was a group of religious leaders that really were elevated, called the scribes.
This is around the time of Ezra. And here's what the scribes did. They said, we want so badly for people to follow God's commands in the Bible. And we want them to not violate any of those commands. We want it so badly, we're actually going to create some rules and regulations that aren't in the Bible. We're going to create some rules and regulations, and then you certainly won't violate the law.
You see what I'm saying? They're trying to protect the law by creating a boundary here of rules and regulations. These regulations, these traditions were passed down word of mouth. And they, at the time of Jesus Christ, had been elevated to the status of Scripture. They're not Scripture. These are rules and regulations, traditions passed down. That kind of keep you a little bit away from Scripture. Make sure you don't violate Scripture.
But you understand what's happening. Now they've elevated it to the authority of Scripture. Now, a couple hundred years after Jesus Christ, it went from being word of mouth, they actually wrote it down. And what you call this anthology of all these rules and regulations, they wrote down. It's called the Mishnah. Have you ever heard of the Mishnah before? So the Mishnah was these rules written down.
But here's my point. They are not violating Scripture. Verse 5, it says the scribes and Pharisees are not upset that these guys are violating Scripture.
No, you're violating these traditions that we have thrown out there, that we have now elevated to the point of Scripture. Verse 4, we have a traditional way for Jewish people, holy people, to wash their dishes. Thirty chapters devoted to just how to wash your dishes. And then when it says that they're upset that the disciples are eating with the unwashed hands, not that these guys were nasty, they didn't wash their hands. But no, they had an entire book on the proper way to wash your hands. And they're not following our book, our tradition, our man-made ways to wash your hands. So you understand what's going on here. Jesus is not saying my disciples are violating the Bible.
No. He's saying my disciples are violating your man-made rules that you have elevated to Scripture. And that's what Jesus is speaking against.
And he does this other time. Have you ever read this before? Like, y'all know what the Sermon on the Mount is? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus would say something like this. You have heard it said, but I say.
Have you read that before? Now, Jesus never says this. The Bible says, but I say, he never does that. I'm speaking against these silly regulations, these silly interpretations that you've put out there. Jesus is addressing that. And so, beloved, we have to be really careful. How many times have you heard me say this? If what I preach goes against this book, don't listen to a word I'm saying.
This is your standard. Mama said that doesn't have the weight of Scripture. Mama said preachers ought to wear ties in the pulpit. I'm sure she was a lovely lady, a wonderful lady, but that's not Scripture. That's tradition.
Here's another one. Well, I've heard that only ordained people can baptize people or only ordained people can do communion, you know, pass out communion. That's not in the Bible.
In fact, I want to blow your mind right here. Did you know ordination is a tradition? That's not even in the Bible. This whole thing of reverend? I'm not a reverend. I'm not even better than you. I have a different calling than you. I have a different job than you.
But we are all equal. The whole thing of ordination, that's a tradition. I'm not saying let's get rid of it. I'm just saying we've got to be careful not to elevate our traditions to Scripture.
I've told you about this one I've had to deal with before. I've gotten fired over this in two different churches. Here's another tradition. Black people shouldn't marry white people.
They shouldn't. Where's that in the Bible? Well, I've always been told that. See, that's tradition. That's not in the Bible. Denominations. I'm sure denominations are fine, but denominations are not biblical. They're traditional. And so Jesus is saying the first form of legalism you've got to be careful of is tradition.
It's very important. A second form of legalism is abusing and twisting God's law, the Old Testament law. There are rules and regulations in the Old Testament.
You can't get around it. Second form of legalism is twisting that. Look at verse 10. Verse 11.
Here's what's happening. So you have people in Jesus' time saying, okay, here's what I'm going to do. I want to say everything I have is God's.
Everything I have is the Lord's. And one day when I die, it's all going to be given back to God. And then you have people coming, elderly moms and dads. You know, they didn't have Social Security back then. Your Social Security is a kid taking care of them. And so you have these elderly mothers and fathers coming up and saying, look, we don't have any food to eat. We're indigent. Son, can you help me?
You know what he'd say? Mom and dad would love to help you. But see, I've dedicated everything I have to God so I can't help you. Hey, son, we're about to be evicted from our house. You're a wealthy businessman. Can you use some of your profits and help us find a home?
Mom and dad, I'd love to do that. But, man, unfortunately, last year I just told God everything I have belongs to you and so I can't use. Do you see how they're abusing the law? I've heard that happen, abusing the Old Testament law in two ways here. I've heard it at this church. So let me address this. One way people today abuse the Old Testament law. I've heard people say this.
They'll say, Pastor Chad preaches against homosexuality all the time. Does he have some issues? Is he struggling with some stuff? I don't think so. I'm dealing with some stuff, but whatever.
No, it's just because y'all are hearing all the 100% positive in the culture. Can you give me 30 minutes and give me the other side every now and then? That's kind of where I'm at on this. But Pastor Chad, and he'll talk about how Leviticus speaks against homosexuality. Hey, but Leviticus also says don't eat barbecue.
I saw him down at the barbecue restaurant. Hey, Leviticus also says that we are to worship on Saturday, not Sunday. So why is he picking and choosing? Why is he saying this prohibition against things like homosexuality, that's for today, but we don't have to follow this whole thing on eating pork.
Does that make sense? Here's the implication. Implication is, so let's just throw out all laws and let's just love each other.
It's called antinomianism. Let's just not follow any rules at all because you can't pick and choose. That's one way the law is abused.
The law has been abused in the church. Now, we went through this whole phase and by the grace of God, the whack jobs left and so whatever, but we have this thing of we need to have everybody at cross assembly go back to Jewish law. So all the men have got to be circumcised. We've got to wear yarmulkes. Let's blow the shofars. Let's worship on Saturday. If it's in the Old Testament, let's do it because it's in the Old Testament.
You see those two abuses of the law that we have here. Now, let me ask you this before, just out of curiosity. We're family.
We're not on WREL anymore, so you won't be on the TV if you raise your hand. How many of you, particularly that first one. Leviticus says homosexuality is wrong, but it also says things like eating pork is wrong and having cheeseburgers. Did you know according to Leviticus cheeseburgers are wrong? Did you know that? All right.
Wait, wait. Why is he saying homosexuality is wrong, but he's ignoring all those other ones? Why do Christians pick and choose? Honestly, have you ever wondered about that before?
Okay. So let me give you three rules. To help you figure out what laws in the Old Testament are for today and what laws are just for the Jewish people. Because there's two kinds of laws in the Old Testament. There are civil laws that's just for the people of Israel.
That's just for the nation of Israel back then. And then there are moral laws. They're universal.
They're for everybody. Well, how do you figure out which is which? Y'all ready for this? Jot this down. Number one, if an Old Testament law is repeated in the New Testament, then it's for today. The Old Testament says you shall not murder. Is that repeated in the New Testament?
It actually is. Then that's for today. Old Testament says honor your father and mother. Is that repeated in the New Testament? Yes, it is.
Then it's for today. Old Testament says you shall not get a tattoo. Did you know it says that? Is that repeated in the New Testament?
No. So it's probably not a moral law. You shall not get a tattoo. I've told you before, I'm not into tattoos for several reasons. Why would you not put a tattoo on your body, Chad?
I've told you before, because you don't put a bumper sticker on a Lamborghini. And so, whatever. If it's specifically done away with in the New Testament, then it's not for today.
Let me give you some examples. The Old Testament says here are foods you can eat and here are the foods you can't eat. Is that law specifically done away in the New Testament?
Yeah. In fact, you see here in verse 19. Those laws, the Bible specifically says that's for the Old Testament.
It's not for today. Saturday worship. Jews worship on the Sabbath. Saturday in the Old Testament. Is that specifically done away in the New Testament?
Yes. In places like Romans 14, 5 through 12, Paul's like, look, worship Jesus. Don't let somebody judge you if you think it's Saturday or Sunday. It is specifically done away. Circumcision. That's in the Old Testament. Is that specifically done away with in the New Testament? Yes. In places like Galatians chapter 5 verse 2. And so, you see what I'm saying?
Okay. So if it's repeated in the New Testament, it's for today. If it's done away with in the New Testament, it's not for today.
And let me give you a third one. Generally speaking, there are times when the Old Testament will say something like this. This law is for everybody. This is a universal law. And we see that in places like Leviticus chapter 18 verse 24.
God specifically says, hey Israel, these sexual laws I'm about to give you, that's not just for you. That's for the nations before you. That's for everybody. Does that help a little bit? Okay. Now, are y'all okay if my ADD kicks in for just a second and I kind of go off on a little rabbit trail since we were talking about Jesus saying, honor your parents?
Can we get back on track if I can go off track a little bit? This is the beautiful thing about being a pastor. You can do your little hissy fits in the pulpit and you have a little soapbox here. Hey, parents, the Bible is very clear. Old Testament, New Testament, teach your kids to honor you, to obey with you.
See, there's a scene going around now. I keep hearing this from parents of young kids. We have to explain to our kids why we say what we say or why we do what we do. Hey, sometimes it's fine to explain, but you don't always have to explain because I said so. That's a perfectly biblical response. That's kind of the first pattern of their relationship with God. And so if you raise kids who always demand an explanation and you think you owe it to them to give an explanation, they're going to become Christians who think God owes them an explanation. And when God doesn't give them an explanation, they start to, what's that thing? I'm dismantling my faith or whatever that thing is called. Well, I actually had it written down here.
It's a popular thing. It's called deconstruct. I'm going to deconstruct my faith because I need God to give me an answer. And God's like, I'm God. I don't have to give.
I don't have to give you an answer. I remember the first time I saw this. I'm hearing this all the time. I won't tell you which of my kids it was, but years ago, my kid, we always did this. Kid invited a friend over to the house without asking darling me. And it was on a Sunday. And on Sundays I'm wiped out.
This particular Sunday was a hard Sunday. And I said, you shouldn't have invited him. You should have asked me first why I invited him. So I told the little kid's dad, I thought, look, I know my son has invited your son to the house. Today's just not a good day. But I told him, you could go over.
He could go over to the house. I said, well, tell him he can't. And I'll never forget this. The dad got down, because you're supposed to do this, got down on the level. Hey, buddy, high five. Yeah. Buddy, you know, sometimes we are wanting to do things that we thought we could do.
And how do I explain it to you? Boy, this is hard. Son, I know your hopes are up. I'm going to do this. I'm standing there saying, I'm biting my tongue. Hey, kid, you're not coming over to my house today. And if you cry, I'll give you something to cry about.
You ain't coming over today. So parents just teaching kids to obey you and serve you in a godly way. And I'm not saying tell them that.
But sometimes yes, ma'am is a perfectly good response from that kid, even if they don't understand why they're saying yes, ma'am, or yes, sir. Okay, so whatever. There are several forms of legalism. Number one, tradition. We elevate tradition to the status of Scripture. Number two is the misuse of Old Testament law.
And then the third form we just threw out there is preference. When your preferences are elevated to Scripture, you've got to be careful. You know, Chad, my last church, we did more hymns. Why don't we do hymns here? That's my preference. There's something wrong with this church, because we don't do hymns. That's preference. Chad, I watched Bethel online.
They had free-flowing worship for three and a half hours. Why don't we have free-flowing worship? Those are preferential things. Chad, I don't like it when Ron speaks in Spanish and preaches and sings in Spanish. We're America. Why is he singing in Spanish?
It's because he's a Mexican. He's trying to project that on us. All those things are preferences, okay? And so in the body of Christ, let's not elevate our preferences to law and Scripture. So what's the solution? So what's the solution to legalism? Jesus was a revolutionary that just said, let's get rid of all the rules and let's just love each other, that Jesus was against Scripture and rules.
Okay. If you think Jesus is just this nice guy that says, let's throw all rules out the window, I'm about to bust that bubble right here, because here's what Jesus says. Verses 18 through 20, he uses an analogy. Now, I don't want to say he's using potty humor, because he's the son of God. I don't want to say that he's using crude humor.
Because he's the son of God. He is using good old blue-collar humor here, okay? He's like, this idea that ritual stuff is what makes you clean, or violating the ritual stuff is what makes you unclean?
He says, that's ridiculous. He said, it's not the food that you sit down and eat that's clean or ritually unclean. That's not what's nasty.
It's when you eat the food and sit down on the toilet. That's what's nasty is what makes you unclean. That's what Jesus is saying.
It's not what goes into you, it's what comes out of you that's nasty. Don't get mad at me, don't look at me like that, that's Jesus who's saying that, okay? And what he's trying to say to us is, rules and regulations and following all these traditions, that's not what makes you clean or unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes out of this heart. And he goes and he makes a list here of things that make you ritually unclean, he says. Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, that's a euphemism for greed, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
Can I hit a couple of these things real quickly? Jesus said, this is the stuff that makes you nasty. Any sexual activity outside of marriage, Jesus says that's what defiles you. And he doesn't define marriage as two gay men or two lesbian chicks, no. He says marriage, the mindset of Jesus, is one man, one woman for life.
Any kind of sexual activity outside of that, he says that's wrong. Do you see this lewdness? Do you see that? Don't know what he means, just think Sam Smith at the Grammys. Listen to me. When you get into Sam Smith and you think that as a Christian I need to be a little bit more open-minded, I'm okay with that, I really doubt your salvation. I was watching a news report of that Sam Smith, if you don't know who he is, don't look him up, but one of his most popular videos right now is a video with men in lingerie urinating on him.
That's lewdness. And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, Jesus is saying you better do a gut check here. He goes a little bit further and he says blasphemy.
What do you mean by that? I'm an equal opportunity offender. Let me offend everybody right now. Here's the thing about blasphemy. There is a prominent, bold African-American preacher in our community that got in a lot of trouble with the pop African-American community last year because he read some lyrics from Beyonce from his pulpit.
Beyonce, mommas and daddies, some of her songs are on your kid's playlist. Here's what Beyonce says in one of her songs. I plug my menses with the pages of the sacred book. I plug my period with the pages of the sacred book. And Jesus is saying any quote unquote artist who says I use the Bible as a tampon is not a Christian and if you get into that stuff, you're probably not a Christian as well. So don't do this thing of Jesus is this nice guy who throws all the rules out the window. He says no, these are the kind of things that come out of you and defile you. And then he says this. He said look, let's go back to the issue.
The issue is not rules and regulations. He says the issue is the heart. All throughout this passage. Verse six, the issue is the heart. Verse 15, the issue is what is inside of your heart. Verse 19, the issue is the heart. Verse 20, the issue is what comes out of the inside, the heart. Verse 21, the issue is what is in a person's heart. Verse 23, the issue is what is inside of you in your heart and comes out. Jesus is saying listen, rulers, your hands are clean, but your heart is rotten. The issue is the heart. And you can dress up, you can go to church, you can do all the external stuff you want, but if you've never been born again, you still have a corrupt heart.
The issue is the heart. I heard this great analogy years ago. I can get a pig, I don't know how many people have pigs for house pets.
I've heard that they're smarter than dogs, actually. I can get a pig, bring it inside, clean it up, spray some perfume on it, put a bow in its hair, and on a day like this, I'll open the door. You know what that pig will do?
It will run right outside and go right into the mud. Why? Because I may have decorated the outside, but at its core, it's still a pig. And Jesus is saying you can do all the rules and regulations you want, you can clean up the outside all you want, but you still have a pig nature.
And so what's the solution? The solution is we need a new heart. And Ezekiel 36 is a messianic prophecy written several hundred years before Jesus. And Ezekiel says, when the Messiah comes, here's what he's going to do, verse 25, then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.
Do you see that? He's saying when Jesus comes, his heart that Jesus said is like feces, it's just nasty. When you get saved, you give life to Jesus. That old heart is replaced with a new heart, where suddenly you just don't want the feces of this world anymore. It's nasty. Now, how do you explain a Christian who's born again who still messes up? How do you explain the 16-year-old boy who has gotten born again, he's baptized, he's saved, and yet every now and then he keeps messing up and he goes and looks at porn? How do you explain that?
Let me give you an example. When I was a kid, I used to love sugar drinks like Coca-Cola, root beer, Sprite. I could chug-a-lug. My metabolism was I could just chug-a-lug all that stuff, and I used to like the birthday cakes.
You know what the little sheet cakes are, and they have the frosting that that's thick on? I used to eat all that kind of stuff. Couple years ago, I made a decision. I was like, you know, I'm just not into that stuff anymore.
I'm going to turn that aside. I was given a new appetite, and over time, that appetite has been developed. I don't know if you've ever experienced this before, to the point now where if I drink one of those sugar drinks, I just feel blah.
When I think about having one of those sheet cakes with the thick icing, just think about it. It's just, I don't know, blah, and I mess up every now and then, and I'll go eat a piece of pie, and I always feel blah. Why? Because I have a new appetite. And when you got saved, God gave you a new heart, a new spirit, a new desire, and he has been working and developing that new heart for how many years you've been walking with Jesus Christ, and when you mess up, there ought to be this spiritual blah that comes over you.
That just doesn't set well with me. I just don't feel good. Maybe in my old days, with my old appetite, I got some thrill, but now that I belong to somebody else, my taste buds have changed. My heart has changed. My passion has changed. When I listen to Beyonce, it just doesn't do it for me anymore. When I listen to Sam Smith, I'm thinking to myself, why am I going back to the feces? When I go back to the world, it doesn't feel right.
Why? Because Psalm 34h says this, I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. I got a better appetite. There's somebody else who fulfills my needs and my longings, and his name is Jesus Christ.
I'm saying to you today, yeah, Father rules, do all that stuff, but ultimately, taste and see that the Lord is good. There's a better way to live out there. In the old days, I used to think celebrities were so cool. I always wanted to meet a celebrity, and I don't know, celebrities just don't do it for me anymore.
That's the old world. I know a better celebrity. I know the one that created all those celebrities. His name is Jesus Christ, the most famous man who ever lived.
I talked with him this morning. The world just doesn't satisfy me anymore. The glitz, you know somebody, I'm out of time.
Let me just say this. I had a guy years ago that came from that messed up past. He's talking about the strip club. He said, have you noticed this about every strip club you pass? He said the facade on that, they're always really, I mean, they do a great job on the facade, the front. It's lit up, it's glitzy, it looks nice. He said, have you ever looked behind the facade? It's always just this old, rotten, rusted out metal building. Isn't that interesting? It looks good until you go behind the scenes, and it's just not much of anything. And this world is displaying all the glitz and the glamour and the Super Bowl tonight, and trust me, Rihanna is going to want to one up what you saw last Sunday night.
We're constantly trying to one up each other, and the world's trying to do that, but if you look behind the scenes, it's nothing. I don't know. I found Jesus. Nothing else can satisfy me anymore. Would you stand with me now, and if you have never turned from your sins, and if you've never turned to Jesus, let me give you the good news in about 30 seconds. Before I give you the good news, let me give you the bad news. The bad news is you're a sinner. You're separated from God, and if you die separated from God, you'll spend eternity separated from God in a place called hell. But God loved you so much that everything that would ever separate you from Him, your sins, past, present, future, were put on Jesus Christ, and when He died for your sins, He paid the price. You don't have to pay the price.
He already did it. Now if you'll turn from your sins and just turn to Jesus, He'll come in and forgive you of all of your sins. He'll give you eternal life and take you to heaven when you die, and He'll give you a new heart. Now I'm not going to lie to you.
You're going to mess up every now and then. You're going to go back and have some sugar drinks and cake and whatever, but there's going to be a blah from this day forward, because He's going to give you this new heart and develop this new heart, and you're going to come to the point in your life where all you want is just Jesus, Jesus, and Jesus. If you've never turned from your sins and turned to Jesus, I want you to bow to me right now, and I want you to say this. Now look, repeating mantras doesn't save anybody. Jesus saves somebody. But if this expresses what you're feeling in your heart, say this to Jesus right now.
Forget about everybody else in this room. Say this to Jesus and mean it. Jesus, I'm a sinner. Lord, I deserve to be punished, but I believe you died for my sins. Lord, you took my punishment. Jesus, I believe you were buried, and I believe you rose again. But this is so important. Say to Him, Jesus, I turn away from my sin, and I turn to You.
Come and take control of my life, and take me to heaven when I die. Amen. Amen. Hey, is there anybody else? I'm just getting old and crabby or something. Anybody else just getting tired of the mess of this world? I'm just ready to go home. Are you? I'm ready to see Jesus again. I'm going to say it again. It's because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and nobody satisfies like Jesus.
Am I the only person that believes that in this place today? Then can you lift up holy hands, and let's just take a few moments and be satisfied with Jesus. Just worship Him, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Let's just take a few moments and just worship the Lord.
Can we do that? Just bow down before your throne. See your face, I cry now, because you're holy, holy, holy are you, Lord. Jesus, King of Kings, Jesus, Majesty, Jesus, King of Kings, Jesus, Majesty, Jesus, King of Kings, Jesus, Majesty, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Blessed is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
We bless your holy name, Jesus. Church, I know it's a crazy world out there. It's a demonic world out there. It's getting crazier by the day, but the world is looking for a group of people whose heads are held high, their shoulders are thrown back, they're bold, they're confident, they're full of love and joy and peace and patience. This world needs the Holy Spirit that's in you right now. This world needs some bold, strong, confident men and women of God. So that's why I say to you, chazak ve'ematz, ah ta'arot ve'ah ta'hel, hi imcha Adonai elahecha behold sha talak, which is Hebrew for, church, be bold, be strong. Do not be afraid and do not be terrified of anything.
Why? Because the Lord your God is going to be with you everywhere you go this week. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we pray, Amen and Amen. God bless you beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
