Worth It | Broken Things Restored

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Join us as Gabe Kolstad brings us a message about how you are worth the cost of your restoration.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Wow, it is so good to see you. Was that a good start to the week or what? Huh? That was so much fun. Let's say congratulations to everybody who was just baptized. Welcome and so proud of each and every one of you. You know what I saw and I felt and you did too? This is not an exercise in religion that we're going through today. This is an expression of new life. That is so different, that is so refreshing, that is so powerful. And we're here to talk about it more today in this series Broken Things Restored. And I want to start off by first of all saying this is an amazing weekend, and we're just watching God work in such powerful ways. And I realize that some of you might have had parking problems. Okay, so let's don't let that. I know it can be distracting or even discouraging, but I mean, how encouraging that God is working in so many lives that, you know, I don't know if you realize this is spring break. Does he did people forget that it was spring break? Do you forget to go out of town? Like, what's going on? God is working in such powerful ways. We're really, really, really grateful. Um, I gotta tell you, as we start off this message, I want you to know that this is Portland Dining Month. Did you know that? It's Portland Dining Month. Pretty special place to live if you like food. If you like food, Portland is like a really good place to live. And um with Easter coming, Melissa, my wife, and I knew that we were gonna be giving up certain things for for as we prepare for Easter. So we planned on this past Tuesday, we planned to start fasting from certain foods, from all the the ones that taste good. And we were gonna only eat the ones that don't taste good, you know, from Tuesday to Easter. And so what do you think we did on Monday? My day off. What do you think we did on Monday? It was embarrassing. It was just, it was wrong and it was embarrassing, and it was so much fun. We went to one of these restaurants that was featured in Portland Dining Month, and it was over near the Lloyd Center on the east side. Anyone know where the Lloyd Center is on the east side of Portland K? And there was this restaurant over there we wanted to go to because Melissa found it, and they what they were doing is they would give you like an appetizer and a main course and a dessert for all for a really good price at a really good restaurant. So we thought, let's do it, because tomorrow we die, you know what I mean? And so we we went in there and they gave us the appetizer, and it was bigger than we thought. And so that comes, it was amazing. What was that? Ricotta donuts. Oh my goodness, that was so good. Then they brought the main course, and that was amazing and a little bit bigger than we thought it was gonna be. And then it was dessert time, and we were feeling pretty full already. The guy comes out and he goes, Can let me tell you about dessert. He goes, I gotta warn you. It's big. And we were like, What is it? He said, It's two giant chocolate chip cookies with a pretty good amount of ice cream in between. And we were like, That sounds great. He goes, Yeah, but you each get one. So he said, I I'd like to talk you into only taking one. And I looked at him and I said these words. I said, We're not quitters. So bring both of the ice cream sandwiches. So he's like, Okay, but I'm gonna put the second one in a bag because you're gonna want to take it to go, I promise you. So we're like, you don't know what you're talking about. So we left it in the bag. You know, we barely, barely got down the one between the two of us. And um, but I'm still feeling this competition. Like that guy, I want to prove him wrong. And so we leave the restaurant and we walk across the street to the Lloyd Center. Because did you know they're tearing it down? The Lloyd Center is being torn down. Well, Melissa spent a lot of time there as a kid, her family would always go over there, so she said, Let's take one last nostalgic stroll through Lloyd Center. And I said, Great, and let's eat the other ice cream sandwich while we do it. And so we pull it out of the bag, we're walking through Lloyd Center, you know, trying to get this thing down. I'm telling you, it hurt. You ever had that kind of thing? They say that you should just keep eating through the pain. That's what you should do if you're in that situation. That's what I've been coached on, okay? Um, in the competitive eating circles. And so, anyways, we just we get it down and it was gone, and we look at each other and we both have the same expression. You know what the expression was? Worth it. That's what you say when, you know. And so that's the title of today's message. It's worth it. Would you grab your notes out of your program? Welcome to everybody online. I want to talk to you about worth it today as it relates to. We've been talking about Easter. It's coming. I said we're gonna teach our way to Easter because this is such a special time of year that I want us to really know what to focus on. I want us to really realize what's going on. I want us to know this is not, again, this is not an exercise in religion. This is an expression of life, and we get to be a part of it. Um, as we talk about restoration, I want you to see a quick video clip from a movie you might recognize. So watch this. You hit this rock.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Sorry, mister. I'll get a job to pay for it. You telling me that you hit this rock over them tree and into my windshield for that lousy stick. That's a couple hundred feet easy. And you done it wearing them things? Imagine that. You know what a prodigy is? No, sir. When you get them legs healed up, I'm gonna be the first guy at the gate to buy a ticket. But I owe you. Get the windshield. I got two yards across the state full of more old windshields and a miracle. I want you to do it again.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

All right. What happened in that scene? This movie's called The Hill. It's a great movie. It is what happened is this guy, this kid is in a field, he's playing baseball with a stick, he hits the rock with the stick, it goes into the farmer's windshield, right? Farmer notices, kid petrified. If you've ever broken a window with a ball, or you know, as a kid, or you ever were the kind of kid that broke stuff like me, you know that feeling of like, I'm dead. And so the kid is feeling this, I'm dead feeling. And the farmer has a different reaction. Like, why did he have a different reaction? He didn't, he wasn't actually focused on the break of the windshield. He wasn't focused on the loss of money it was gonna cost him to fix this windshield. In fact, he seemed like he didn't even want the kid to pay for it. What he was interested in was the potential of the kid. He was gonna bear the cost of the repair, and for him, it was about the investment in the kid. And his response, though he didn't use these words, was worth it. Worth it. This is gonna be worth it. And so he paid the price so that this kid could then focus on his future, became this legendary, and this kid was a prodigy. And what I want you to know is that when we look at redemption, when we look at restoration, how God restores our lives, it's the same thing. Okay that he looks at you and he looks at me and he goes, worth it. Worth it. How much is it gonna cost God to repair the brokenness? Everything. Okay, it's gonna cost him everything. And he looks at you and me and goes, worth it. So worth it. Like this is worth it. So as we talk about this today, I want you to think about your own life. I want you to think about your own restoration of the things that have been needed, and I want you to realize that God looks at you and says, You are worth the cost of your restoration. You are worth the cost of your restoration. And some of you, I know what you're feeling online here in this room, I know what you're feeling. You're like, oh, you have no idea how much it's gonna cost to restore my life. Oh, you have no idea what price has already been paid for you. You have no idea that when God sees you, he goes, worth it. We're gonna do this, we're gonna do this all the way. So I want to talk about how God restores what's broken, and we're gonna do that with a metaphor, okay? Anybody know what this is? Yeah, it's a car, right? It's it's technically a 1948 Tucker. I was told this by Pastor Ken. This came from Pastor Ken's, I'm gonna I'm calling his collection the National Museum of Tiny Cars. This is why I made this up. And it he gave me this last night to uh try not to break while I had it here at church. And it's uh this was a very special car. They only made 51 of these, I think he said, in 1948. And what happened was Ford and Chevy saw that this car was so good, so quality, that it was gonna dominate the market. So they teamed up to put Tucker out of business. Tucker only was able to make 51 of these things, and that was it. But this car was very valuable, it was very specially created, had all sorts of unique features. It was really, really a quality car. And when you think about your life, I want you to know God sees something in you, and that's why it's worth it. So let's talk about that. Here's how God restores what's broken. I want you to write these five words down as we go through this message. The first word is damage. Damage. That's the starting point. It's essential that we start there. We have to start with damage because damage has been done. Like in the movie clip, damage has been done, and you see this windshield broken. And then if you just look back at your life, you're like, oh yeah, damage has been done to me, from me, around me. Yeah, a lot of damage. And it's the place where we have to begin. If you think about it, when you restore car, that's what you're starting with. You want to see a beautiful picture? Let me show you. Beautiful picture. Okay. This is Pastor Ken with his 1935 Ford. Isn't that a beautiful car? Now he restored this car from the ground up. Total, total restoration. And I want you to see where they started. Look what they started with. That's that was the car, okay? They dragged this thing home from the barn or wherever you got it from, and that's the thing they were starting with. That that's quite a ways to go, isn't it? Look how far they went. They they started with the frame. They went all the way down to the frame. That's how far down they went. Every bolt, every nut, every wire was replaced on this thing. Everything. Look to the next picture. You end up seeing this body. It went to the body shop, they sandblast it, they prep it for painting. But I mean, we're talking everything was done. There was no rust, there was no imperfection on this body. And then the next picture, you see how it was like all, you know, this took a long time. I know for you guys, it was a long time. And then you look at the progress, you're like, what? I've been at this for two decades and I got a frame and some wheels? You know, and that's my you might be feeling like, why is this taking so long? But look what it turns out to look like in the end. That is a beauty. And Luetta gets to drive it. Bonus. All right. I wanted to put that in front of you because I want you to picture the process. I want you to picture the damage. What was it like when God found you? Maybe for some of you, that still has yet to happen. What was it like when God found you? What was your life like? Was there damage? The thing that we know about restoration is it cannot begin until you admit the damage. It's the starting place. To acknowledge, yeah, I've been damaged. I've had damage. Maybe I have damaged. And Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1 makes this so, so clear. Paul the Apostle writing to the church at Ephesus, he says this. He says, Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. He said, Let me describe the extent of the damage in your spiritual life. All the way. Dead. Some people, actually, a lot of people in history have argued this point. And they've said, Well, is it that severe? I mean, is it that extreme? Where you'd say, our spirits are dead. In other words, when Paul used this word, he's saying, back to that meaning of death we've talked about in the series, it means separation. He's going, there's no life in your spirit, no heartbeat, no connection with your creator. Zero. Dead. 100% gone. That's how much damage. And many people have debated that and said, no, it's not dead. It's more like sick. It's like maybe you caught a spiritual cold. You know, God went to the cover, found some spiritual NyQuil, He gives it to you, like, okay, all better. But Paul's like, that's that's not what happened. And if you read scripture, it's much more extreme about our condition than that. Scripture says we were separated, dead. There was nothing left, and we had no hope in that sense. And I think that's really true. In fact, if you want to know the theological term of this, and I don't always throw around theological terms because I'm not sure they're always helpful, but I think in this case, to make the distinction of what I believe Scripture is saying is is called total depravity. That's the term. Total depravity. It means zero ability to make a difference on our own in this case. That we cannot climb our way back, we cannot work our way back, we cannot earn our way back, we cannot, we cannot change our own situation. It's called hopeless. That's the condition of our souls in the damage that we have either received or inflicted, but certainly it's the reality of our souls. And what we often do, and I've watched myself try this, and I've seen many, many people try this, is that we try to figure out how to fix it. This is the DIY world, right? I mean, we like we we like to fix stuff ourselves, so it's a do-it-yourself kind of spiritual thing, and you're like, well, I'll just climb some mountains and I'll climb the mountain of success. Or I'll climb the mountain of career or of relationships, you know, and we're we're marching up these mountains, and it's like it's not making any difference. And sometimes you get decades into this and you're like, I've got nothing to show. I'm in no better shape. In fact, I feel worse because I've tried so hard and accomplished nothing. And this is the condition that we're fine, we'll find ourselves in. Sin left us spiritually dead and completely broken, but here's the thing but he found us. I honestly don't know what it was about that car that caught Pastor Ken's attention. But he rolls up in the truck with an empty trailer and he sees that piece of junk, and he goes, Oh, there it is. That's the one. Oh my gosh, do you guys see it? Do you guys see it? No. See what? A bucket of rust? No, no, no, no, no, the masterpiece. Do you see that masterpiece? He saw it. And then they went to work on it. And this is how God sees you. And that's how God restores broken things. He finds us and he has an intention and he has a vision for it. Second word I want you to write down in your notes is this is decision. Decision. Okay? God makes a decision. Now, before you ever chose God, he chose you. Before you ever chose God, he chose you. Before you could get your life together, before anything of value came out of you, he saw the value in you and he chose you. And it says in Ephesians 1:5, I love this. If you I hope you absorb this. If you're not sure of God's love for you, if you're not sure of your place in God's family, listen to these words. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. He he decided in advance how far in advance. We're told, before the earth began, before the world was created, somehow, before Mount Hood was there, before, you know, before the seas and the waters were separated, before all of this stuff, God knew you. And he knew how much you were gonna need him. And he said, I'm bringing you into my family. I'm gonna adopt you. He drew up the adoption papers before the world was created. It says, This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him what? Great pleasure. Great pleasure. Wow. He's like, look, and he goes, We get to restore this. I haven't imagined it differently in my own life. Like, you know, I see myself. Do you ever see yourself as like that bucket of rust? And then you imagine, you're like, what did God see in me? Like, I picture it like this: God rolls up to the junkyard with the truck and the trailer, and he's like, Ugh, here we go again. Gosh, look at this one. What a piece of work, you know. Walks over, he's like, Oh my goodness, how did you let it get this far? Guys, load it up, you know, put it on the trailer, gonna go back to the shop and fix another one. That's kind of how I picture it. That's dead wrong. He rolls up with the truck and the trailer, he hops out, and he's like, There it is! Get it, come on, let's get it. This is the masterpiece in the making. Let's put it on the trailer. Come on, we got work to do. Let's go, let's go. He's so excited. It gives him great pleasure. You're like, not with me, it couldn't. Oh, yes, it does. Imagine the worst person in the world you can think of. And no, the Bible says this is the truth. It would give God great pleasure to restore that person, to go to work on their life because it's so extensive. Now, one more theological term, and I promise I'll stop. But what he does for us is that he imputes his righteousness to us, meaning he actually transfers it from his account to ours, if you believe. This is so important that you know this. This is what the Bible teaches. In fact, it's very clear, and I'm gonna read it to you in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21. This is not in your notes, but you could write that reference down if you want to. It says, For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. It said, God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin so we could be made right with God through Christ. He gives us his righteousness. I think that is absolutely amazing. And this is how God restores what's broken. Third thing in your notes. Debt. D-E-B-T. And this is probably the centerpiece of what we're going to talk about today. Debt is something we're familiar with in America for sure. You know, the number one debt problem in America is uh student loan debt, and it's debilitating for many, many people. And don't you hope that we figure out a better way in the coming decades. I do too. But we know what it's like to carry a debt so big it feels like we're never gonna pay it off. And what we see that Jesus did for us is that our sin created a debt we could never pay, and he paid it. A debt we could never pay. It says in Psalm 49, it says, the ransom for a life is costly. No payment is ever enough. I mean, I know I'm pressing that in, and this is not intended to make you somehow feel bad about yourself. I hope that you understand the value of your life to God when you realize what he's done. I hope you understand how much he loves you and how much his pursuit of you matters, and that this this reminds us that we as humans were God's supreme creation. So when that relationship was broken, it broke his heart, so he rushed his grace to us through Jesus and he paid the full price to cover our debt. And that was absolutely amazing. It says, in fact, in Isaiah chapter 53, I'm gonna read you a scripture from one of my favorite chapters of the Bible, Isaiah 53. Isaiah is a prophet in the Old Testament, and it was written around 740 years before Christ came. So think about this. 740 years before, there's a prophecy that tells us exactly what's gonna happen through Jesus. And if you read this whole chapter, your mind's gonna be blown at how accurate this is. That it describes in such detail what was gonna happen on the cross 740 years later. But I'm just gonna read two verses. It's verse five and verse six. It says, But he, Jesus, was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All those things happened on the cross 740 years later. And he took our place. It says, All of us like sheep have strayed away. We've left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. So he was actually carrying your guilt. He was carrying your regret, my regret. He was carrying your secrets. My secrets. And he he bore all of that. He didn't just pay for you, he paid instead of you because you couldn't pay. And I couldn't pay. And he offers this gift. And as we teach our way to Easter, I want us to understand the depth of the gift that was given. Because what he does later makes it even more powerful when he rises from the dead. We see that God restores through us admitting our damage, acknowledging we've been damaged. He restores through his decision to come and get us from the junkyard, you know? And then he restores through paying the debt. And the fourth word I want you to write down in your notes is the deliverance. Deliverance. Because this is where it starts to get exciting. I mean, now he's taking care of the problem, right? And now he's going to work. The bill's paid, the work begins. It's like when Pastor Ken had that car on the trailer, brought it home, cleaned it up, took the body off the frame, took the body to the body shop and said, Go to work on it. And they said, one thing, what? You gotta pay. Give us your credit card. Jesus paid the price. Now the work can begin. And I want to walk you through how this works because this is the place of hope, I really believe. God doesn't just forgive you, He sets you free. He changes your nature. That's exciting. He changes you from the inside out. Yes, please, God, change me. All those times. When I do really dumb things, those thoughts that I know are not right, those those words that come out and that are hurtful to people, those decisions that I make that I know are not in line with your role. Yes, God, I want you to change my life. He doesn't forgive you and leave you, he begins to change you. And we see this so clearly in Scripture. But I but I want you to know that it's like, you know, picture that car in the body shop, and what are they gonna do? They're gonna take the grinder to it, and you know, sparks are flying, right? Rust is flying off. It's being purified. And look what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18. It says, And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. This is so exciting because you guys, God's changing you from the inside out. Do you feel it? Is there anybody in here who's been changed from the inside out? Is God at work in anybody in this room right now? Yeah, I mean He's doing something in you. You're different, and you know it. And and the the glory here is to lean into this process, you know? To go, oh, I'm gonna let you work, and I'm gonna acknowledge it, and I'm gonna thank you, and I'm gonna tell people about it, and they're gonna notice, and I'm gonna tell them why this is happening, and this is the deliverance part of what he does as he restores us. I want to I want to mix metaphors a little bit. I apologize for you purists. I've been talking about cars. Let me now talk about carvings, sculptures for just a second. Because uh one of my favorite people in history is Michelangelo. Michelangelo, the amazing painter, artist, creator, also sculptor, started out as a sculptor actually, because he had to go live with some people for a while as a kid. And when he moved in, they had a little rock quarry situation going on. So there was all these marble blocks and chisels laying around. He just started picking them up and tinkering. This is how Michelangelo became Michelangelo. And at certain point in Michelangelo's career, he was carving this giant block of marble into something. But it didn't look like anything, you know? It's just this big blob blob of rock. And somebody kind of came by and felt like there was, you know, what's the point of this? What are you doing? What are you actually gonna accomplish? And starts probing Michelangelo about it. And Michelangelo said this he said, I saw the angel in the marble, and I carved until I set him free. And I love that because you know what God sees in you? He goes, Look. Did you guys see it? Do you guys see it?

unknown 24:47

Look.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

There's an angel, there's a masterpiece in there, and I'm gonna carve until I set them free. That's deliverance. And let me give you some bad news. It hurts. Because he's got a chisel and a hammer, and he's going think, think, think, think, think, and your rough edges are coming off. You know, I mean, I I I believe this. I believe that following Jesus is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened in my life. It's also the most difficult thing that's ever happened in my life. So uh bad commercial for do you want to become a Christian today? But it's gonna be hard. He's gonna, he's gonna stop you and the things that you naturally want to pursue that aren't good for you. He's gonna steer you away. There are gonna be some things you're gonna lose in life that aren't supposed to be in your life, beyond your control. And he's going, Oh, I'm setting you free. I'm making you into the masterpiece that you were meant to be. Isaiah chapter 53 actually starts out with this phrase, the arm of the Lord. And it's talking about the powerful arm of the Lord. And we see that the powerful arm of the Lord is actually the compassionate arm of salvation where Jesus would pay the price for us on the cross and then take on the work of transforming us through our whole life. And that is how He restores what's broken is you're changing. Do you see it? Do you feel it? Will you lean into it? Will you let God work in more and more ways? Will you open up more of your life and heart? Will you commit more of yourself to him? Jesus actually used these words. He said, if your whole light is filled with light, there will be no dark corners. Love that. Imagine that. He's got the flashlight, he's looking around. No dark corners. Because why? Because you've allowed him access to the whole thing. And if you'll allow him access to the whole thing, he's gonna restore the whole thing. And it's gonna be a beautiful, beautiful masterpiece. And he's working on it. Now, here's number five. This is this is the best news of all. It's my favorite one, so write this down. It's the word done. D-O-N-E, done. How does God restore things? He gets it done. There will come a time when you're done being restored and you are the masterpiece. Can you even imagine that? I mean, can you even imagine not waking up going, I wish this was different. I wish I was stronger. I wish I didn't do that yesterday. Can you imagine not having that anymore? And God is promising those who believe in Jesus, there will be a day you're done, like done, not cooked, done, but done, finished, completed, masterpiece, ready, beautiful, like Jesus in character. Because he says, What I start in you I finish. He's a finisher. And he will finish what he started. In 1 John 3 2, one of the most amazing leaders of Scripture, I think, the Apostle John. The Apostle John was one of Jesus' closest friends. In fact, the Apostle John writes in the Gospel of John, you know, the New Testament starts out Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John, the Gospel writer, uh, wrote down the words that God gave him for the Gospel of John. And in that, um, he actually refers to himself as Jesus' BFF. He he says these words. He goes, the apostle whom Jesus loved. You ever had somebody like talk about themselves in the third person? You're like, oh, get over yourself. Well, that's what John did. He's like, the apostle whom Jesus loved. And so what he was saying was, I'm Jesus' favorite. And he was indeed the closest apostle to Jesus. He he, you know what? He was also the last man standing. He was the only one that didn't run away when Jesus was crucified. He's standing there at the foot of the cross, next to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Jesus calls out to John and says, John, behold your mother. In other words, take care of my mom. And John did. John takes Mary, history tells us, uh, after that, to from Jerusalem to Ephesus, where they have a home. And John becomes the leader of a church in Ephesus, which is historically such an important church. But what I love about John is he's called the Apostle of Love. He he knows what it's like to have Jesus working on him and to have God working in in such a way that brings joy. And he says this in 1 John 3 2. He says, Dear friends, we are already God's children. We are already God's children. You know what God wants you to feel? If you've believed in Jesus, you know what God wants you to feel? Security, confidence, certainty about your relationship with him. Dear friends, we're already God's children. But he has not yet shown us what we'll be like when Christ appears. He's saying, guess who's coming back? You know, the blessing and the promise of scripture is that it wasn't just Jesus died and paid for our sins. End of story. He died, he was buried, and he rose again. And then he ascended into heaven. He said, I will be back. What's he gonna come back for? He said he's gonna create a new heaven and a new earth. He's coming back, he's gonna set up his kingdom, and he's gonna be with us forever. This is the promise of scripture. And anything less than that is not biblical Christianity. That he's coming back for you and me to be with us. And he said, We do know, he said, we don't know what we're what we're gonna be like when Christ appears, but we do know that we will be like him. He's talking about in character. What's Jesus like? Loving, compassionate, just, kind, wise. I want all the things I want to be. And he's like, that's exactly what he's working on right now. We're gonna be like him, for we will see him as he really is. I mean, think about it. One day, no more sin. Can you even imagine that? Imagine a world where no one had wronged another person all day, anywhere in the world. Imagine a world where nothing that you said was wrong. Nothing that you thought was evil. Imagine a world of no distance between you and God. Complete wholeness. You'd be made whole. No more sin, no more struggle, no more brokenness. You're fully, fully, fully, fully restored. You're all the way the masterpiece God intended you to be. That's the hope that we have as followers of Jesus. I mean, I think hope's really important. I hope for a lot of things every single day. Melissa and I were talking the other day about things we hope for. I was hoping for an ice cream sandwich. Got it. You know? Um I hope that gas goes back under$4 a gallon, don't you? I truly hope for peace in the Middle East and in the world. I truly do. But it's not our ultimate hope. Our ultimate hope is much bigger than all of that. It is total restoration of me and of you and of the whole world. And anything short of that, it leaves us lacking in our faith. Because the full completion of your life is what God is up to. And what He's calling you and me to do is to be a part of it. I mean, because here's the thing: you cannot earn your restoration. Impossible. You can't do it. There's nothing you could do. I mean, there's no points attached to your activities. The people who are baptized today, it's wonderful. We love it. We applaud you. And we know this that did not earn you any points in heaven. You know, being here at church, love it. Absolutely wonderful. No points are given, because that's not what this is about. You got all the points when you believed in Jesus. You got all the points, all the points. You're a winner. You're God's child. All the points have been given. From that point forward, it's all gratitude. It's like, oh, thank you. God, you saw me in that junkyard, and you pulled up, and you got out, and you saw something in me, and you go, guys, load them up, and you put me on, and you put me in the shop and you're working on me, and I'm so grateful that I'm somebody that you would call a masterpiece. That's the gratitude that He wants all of us to have it. And so I want to ask you something today. You can't pay for your restoration, but are you willing to surrender to it? Because that's what it requires that you would surrender to your own restoration. I want to ask you to bow your heads with me right now and just allow God to work in you. Just allow God to speak to you. You know, He's here. And every single person, He knows you by name online. Every person, He knows you by name, He knows your situation. He cares, He He He created you with a plan and a purpose, and He sees in you a masterpiece in the making. And He has paid everything that it costs to make that happen. And there's only one thing that's lacking. It's me and you surrendering to the process, to the journey, to what He wants to do in our lives. So I I recognize that some of you are here, and as your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, I just want to paint a picture for you real quick. And that is this. Maybe uh some of you you're you picture yourself and you're still in the junkyard, and you're still waiting to be rescued. And you gotta you gotta know he's pulling up today. He wants you to get on the trailer. He he wants you to get on the trailer, he wants to haul you off to a better place, a better process. And so I'm gonna pray in just a minute and give you an opportunity to say yes to Jesus and to make him your savior. And he's ready to do that. He's already paid the price. Some of you are here today and you've already made that decision. You'd say, I'm a follower of Jesus, but you're not in community, you're not participating yet. And he wants you to get in the game, he wants you to be a part of it. And in other words, he's gonna say, Hey, come down to the garage with me tonight. We're gonna work on you. You know, the grinder's gonna be out, we're gonna be working on you. So you're gonna have a part in that. That's participating in God's family, that's being with others who can help you. That's reading scripture and praying and being a part of your own journey and community. And some of you, here's your place. You're on mission. You're driving the truck that's towing the trailer, that's gonna pull up to the junkyard, and God's gonna hop out and say, There it is, there she is, there he is, load him up, let's go. And you get a chance to be a part of a rescue operation that's a restoration process that's gonna make somebody a masterpiece. You get to be a part of that, and you're asking God, send me, and he's gonna do it. So I want to pray with you right now. Father, we thank you so much for your love and your amazing gift. Thank you that you are the restorer of our lives, that you you see us, you love us, you help us. And we surrender to that. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters who are here today and they're discouraged at their progress. I pray that you would overwhelm them today with joy. I pray for those today who are needing to know where you're gonna send them, how you're gonna use them, I pray that you would show us today. And I pray for those today who are ready to say yes to you right now, to literally just to say, I'm gonna be a part, I'm gonna let you do this, I'm gonna let you rescue me, I'm gonna let you restore me. And if you've never made your own personal peace with God, if you've never said yes to Jesus, I want to lead you there right now. So with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I just want to say a prayer, and you can say this back to God in your heart and mind if you're ready to say yes to him. Say him, say this. Say, Jesus, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me. I believe in you, your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, lead me. Teach me to follow you. And I ask it in Jesus' name. Now, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed still. I I believe, and God's been moving this weekend as He has been for so long. I believe that some of you right now, you're here and you just prayed that prayer. You you just opened your heart to Jesus. What I would love to do right now is to just have you lift your hand up right now. If you're online with us, if you're here in this room, lift up your hand right now. If today you just said yes to Jesus, thank you, thank you, thank you. If you would just lift your hand up. I want to pray for you right now. Would you lift up your hand if today was your day? Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Amazing. Jesus is saying, I forgive you. I adopt you. You are a masterpiece. You're in my family. You're mine. You're safe, you're secure. He's saying, I'm I'm with you and I'll never leave you. God, thank you for your love. Thank you for your truth. Thank you for your work. Go to work on us, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.