WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.280 Well, you grab your seat. 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:01.600 Good morning. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:03.520 I'm Forrest, Lee Pastor here at Multiply. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:04.799 If I've not met you, welcome. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:06.160 Glad that you are here. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:08.160 Glad that you're here to join us. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.919 We're jumping into this new series called Blood, Sweat, and Tears. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.199 And the title of my message today is Only by the Blood. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:27.679 This uh Blood, Sweat, and Tears is what you say when you've put all your effort in, when you've given it your all, when you've left it on the field, you left it on the court, you've done everything that you can. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.719 You say, I've given my blood, my sweat, my tears, I poured out, I've gave it every single bit of me. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:53.520 And I'm thankful and excited about this message as we look through what Jesus did for us during this Easter season and this passion time as we look at the story of Christ leading up to Easter Sunday and how he's the one who gave blood, sweat, and tears for us. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:02.000 Now, uh, this last year I gave some blood and at the doctor's office, it was not my proudest moment, by the way. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.359 I didn't eat any food before I went to the doctor's office. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:06.799 You know where this is going. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:28.159 Uh I was there getting my blood drawn, and the nurse was taking blood out of both of my arms, and she was having a hard time finding the vein in one of my arms, and I made the mistake of looking down and seeing the vial of blood that was being filled up, which is a mistake because of what's happened in the past to me, some issues that I've had. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:35.519 And so I tried to quickly turn my head away and look away, but would have been done have been done. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:41.760 And all of a sudden, just the curtain started going dark, and things started closing in. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.480 I know what it means, I know what it feels like to pass out. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:52.719 I've done it a number of times, and I just uh looked at her and I said, I'm going down. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:02:04.000 And she thought I was joking, and then she said that I fell over and I kicked her so hard that she could not believe it. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:10.639 And I came back too with six or seven dirt nurses and doctors staring at me, and I said, I'm back. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.360 They were like, Welcome back, they had ice on my head. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.319 Oh man, this has happened to me more than one time. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:38.080 I don't do very good with I'm okay with other people's blood and circumstances I've been in, but my for some reason, my blood, but I'm super thankful that doctors and nurses, and even some of them that are in our church, that they aren't deterred by blood, they're not grossed out by it, doctors, nurses, ENTs that are not uh grossed out. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:42.960 But the reason is when they see that blood, they can stay calm because they know what to do with it. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:54.479 And in the same way, Jesus poured out his blood, sweat, and tears for us, and it wasn't chaos, it was a part of the plan. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:59.360 This rescue plan that God had enacted. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.240 Makes you think about the ending of the first Rocky movie. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:03.599 Has anybody seen Rocky? 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:28.719 He's at the end of the movie and he's won the fight, and he's in the ring, and he's just bloody and sweaty, and and he's given every single bit of himself, and he wasn't just fighting for himself, because you know at the end he just yells over and over again, Adrian! Adrian! Because he wasn't fighting for himself, just himself, he was fighting for somebody else, and so was Jesus. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:56.000 See, Jesus gave to us his blood, his sweat, his tears, his ultimate effort, and what ends up happening is that the enemy wants to trick us into thinking that we somehow can strive and that we can be so great and that we can be clean just by our own performance and success. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:02.800 Our striving, giving of our own blood, sweat, and tears. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:20.000 But a lot of times what it ends up being is that we're striving, we're working hard, we're putting everything, all of our effort into life, and even some of us get in a place where we start feeling guilty because we feel like we got to do more and more and more and provide more and all the the rat race that is life every single day. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:26.720 But I wonder, I wonder, I wonder if the thing that we've been trying to earn has already been given to us. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:54.720 And today, as we look at what Jesus did for us, we're gonna look back at a moment, the night that Jesus was arrested, and how he instructed and what he told his disciples as they were at the table, and he gives his disciples this preview of what the cross is gonna mean. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.480 And so, if you're with me, turn in your Bible. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:04.160 If you got your Bible, Luke chapter 22, look it up on your phone, starting in verse 17. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.560 It's also gonna be on the screens. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:09.600 This is what happened. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:10.959 This is the scene. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:15.600 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:23.360 And then he said, Take this and share it among yourselves, for I will not drink wine again until the kingdom of God has come. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:24.720 Verse 19. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:28.399 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:34.800 And then he broke it into pieces and he gave it to the disciples, saying, This is my body which is given for you. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.279 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:48.720 After supper, he took another cup of wine and said, This is the this cup is the new covenant between God and his people, an agreement confirmed with my what? 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:54.079 Blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:57.920 And then he speaks to the betrayer. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:05.279 But at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is a man who will betray me. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:10.160 For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:14.160 But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him? 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.399 Jesus, surrounded by his disciples and even his betrayer. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:29.680 In a moment of trying to give them a preview and try to just explain what's about to happen in just a few short hours as he's going to go to the cross. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:32.160 He's giving them a picture, but he's not just giving a picture. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.040 He's trying to explain the fact that something new is coming. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:42.399 That there's going to be a new covenant that's going to be confirmed by his blood. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:56.560 And you know as well as I do that we have been following Jesus' words to do this act of communion as a remembrance to him all over the for through the last 2,000 years through communion. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:04.319 This showing of this new covenant that was been confirmed by Jesus' blood that was poured out for us. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:13.519 But I wonder why in the world did God have to do it that way, that this new covenant would be confirmed with Jesus' blood. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:16.240 Like, what in the world is so special about blood? 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.480 Like for this not to be a doctor's office or a hospital, we talk a lot about blood around here. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:22.639 It's in the songs, it's in the scriptures. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:25.600 Like, what what what in the world is that all about? 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:41.279 Well, Jesus is actually quoting and linking back to in the beginning of the scripture and as the people of God are being formed, as the Israelites and this remnant were Moses in Exodus 24, verse 8. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:08:10.720 In this inauguration of the first covenant with his people and Israel as a nation, he sprinkles blood of sacrificed animals on the tabernacle over people, and Jesus intentionally connects his death and the moment that was going to come, and he connects it to the blood and him establishing something new, a better covenant to come. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:19.519 This covenant, it it refers, this word covenant, it refers to this binding promise from God. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:28.079 Not just like an agreement, but this new relationship that's going to cost something. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.720 See, Jesus was trying to help them understand that something new was happening. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:09:06.639 That this sacrificial system that them as Jews have been in, where they were atoning for sin and sacrificing animals, and they were in this cycle of having to constantly try to get forgiveness by way of sacrifice, that this was ultimately leading up to in a foreshadow of the perfect sacrifice that was going to come through Christ. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:14.000 It's him as the spotless and blameless lamb that he was going to be the one to die. 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:28.399 And this concept for Jews, even as Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection in the church began, these Jews were still having to be taught and learn and be instructed about how this new covenant had come. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:37.440 The writer of Hebrews, later in the New Testament, is writing to a Jewish audience and trying to help explain what's going on here so they can connect the dots and figure it out. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:45.840 In Hebrews chapter 9, verse 20, the writer of Hebrews says, Then he said, This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.639 And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the tabernacle and on everything used for worship. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:59.039 In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood, for without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:01.519 Which what in the world does that mean? 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.159 What in the world does that mean? 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:12.320 Moses is sacrificing animals at their atonement, and the only way that forgiveness is going to come is through the shedding of blood. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.519 Like, why? 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:26.720 And we're faced with the fact that sin isn't just this like abstract construct and abstract theological point, but it's something that's very real and that it actually costs something. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:37.120 And in this case, cost the life of our Savior and the shedding of his blood, which represents him as a substitution for us. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:38.639 Everybody say substitution. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:56.399 See, it's only by the blood of Jesus that our guilt and our sin can actually be clean and transferred and satisfied the judgment of God because he's holy and we are not. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:00.639 God is perfect, we're not perfect, we know that we're not perfect. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:18.399 And Jesus is setting up and trying to teach them why it is his blood that is the only means of full forgiveness and final restoration. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:19.360 And here's why. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:20.399 You ready for it? 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:24.879 Jesus took our death penalty. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:32.480 Now, some of you are saying, Forrest, I don't deserve the death penalty. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:34.799 I've never killed anybody. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:38.159 I'm a good person, I'm a good guy. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.519 Everybody likes me, I do things I'm supposed to do. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:12:01.600 Well, James, the brother of Jesus, tells it to us that the scripture confirms the fact that we learn from Romans that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:04.799 See, the payment for sin is death. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:06.639 This death penalty. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:18.960 And so the things that we've done, the ways that we've messed up and broken the law, done things that God doesn't approve of, the wages for that, the payment for that is death. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:25.679 And James, the brother of Jesus, tells us plainly how this works in James 2, verse 10. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:32.480 For the person who keeps all the laws except one is still as guilty as the person who's broken all of God's laws. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:36.960 For the same God who said you must not commit adultery, also said you must not murder. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.720 So if you murder someone, but you don't commit adultery, you've still broken the law. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:41.519 Verse 12. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:48.879 So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:57.279 So if you've even committed one sin, one mess up, then there's separation from God. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:08.559 And I'm here to tell you that all of us have sinned, falling short of the glory of God, because there's not one person in this room that's perfect, including me. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:14.879 Now, if you're really wondering about that, you could probably ask your friends and family, and they'll let you know how not perfect you are. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:21.840 If you're one of those people that just think, oh, I'm just so great, I'm so amazing. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:34.080 See, it's Jesus who, as a substitution for me, died and took my death penalty so that I would no longer be separated from God. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:36.799 And you know what? 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:43.840 I for some reason still try to make up for my mistakes all the time. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.919 I try to do what I can to try to make up. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.919 Feel like I can strive if I just do a little bit more. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:04.480 And maybe you walked into the room today, and maybe you're carrying some shame or carrying some guilt because you also have been trying, trying, trying, and trying to make up for your mistakes. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:14.639 And it's not going to happen to you to be able to be released from that shame unless you are in the freedom that Christ has bought from you, got for you. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:28.000 And we can strive and we can strive and we can strive, but what it ultimately leads to, and this is my first truth for you, is that striving, it locks you up, but surrender, it's what sets you free. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:33.200 See, the blood of Jesus is not just a second chance, it's a full pardon. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.919 And the world wants to tell you, well, you get what you deserve. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:43.759 You just you get what you earn, but none of us can earn our freedom. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:51.279 And it's surrender to Christ that's what's ultimately going to allow us to receive his grace. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:55.039 And listen to me, you don't earn grace, you receive it. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:04.320 And it's only by the power of the blood that we're able to be truly free. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.240 I'll put it to you like this. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:16.720 If you're standing before a judge, judge doesn't normally just listen to the case and just tell you, well, just try harder next time. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:23.279 They have a verdict, they declare whether guilty or not guilty. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:29.120 And Jesus doesn't look at us and he doesn't just say, just do better. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:36.240 He gives us the words that are from the cross, the last things that he would say, where Jesus said, It is finished. 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:43.600 The finished work of Christ happened on the cross to purchase for us a way for us to be in right relationship with God. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:52.080 And it was him through the cross that we're able to surrender to him rather than just strive and strive and strive and try to earn it for ourselves. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:57.840 So many of the world religions try to teach that you can earn your way. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:02.639 That if it's just if you just have a little bit more good than you have bad. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.080 If you just work a little bit harder, then there you might make it. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.960 And what I'm here to tell you is that you are not capable of earning your way into heaven. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:18.720 But you have to have the substitution of Christ and surrender to him in his finished work on the cross. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:23.039 So, what in the world does that look like for you to walk in surrender and not just striving? 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:42.399 Well, maybe for some of you, there's an area of your life right now that you know that you're trying to get approval for because of your performance, and you need to practice surrender by praying and asking God to help you before you act, and you need to declare to the Lord and to yourself, I am accepted. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:53.519 I am already accepted, and that your response to God should not be for love, but from it. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:02.480 That even today, some of you need to say to yourself, I don't have to earn God's love today. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.000 I already have it. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:06.720 If you're with me, say I already have it. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:10.319 I already have God's love for me. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:17.039 And oftentimes I think that I get my value for somehow trying to be impressive. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:22.880 Trying to do my best. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:33.920 Maybe some of you are the same way, trying to perform and trying to be impressive and trying to get value from that. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:43.440 Or maybe you've come into the room today and you're on the opposite side and you've walked in and you're believing right now a lie that you're too far gone and that you're not enough. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:47.200 Can I tell you this is my second truth for you? 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.119 Value, it isn't achieved, it's received. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:59.279 And Jesus gave you value by way of his priceless life given in your place. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:09.519 And the world will just tell you, well, you're only worth how much you do, how much you strive, how much you get done. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:19.440 But I'm thankful that we're not defined by our worst day, but we're defined by what Jesus was willing to give up for you. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:33.440 We're defined not by just what we do and where our worst is, but it's in Christ that only by his blood we can find true security and identity and our value and our worth. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:35.440 Let me illustrate it to you this way. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:38.319 Um, I got this$20 bill. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:40.319 It's a nice one, it's very crisp. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:41.759 It's from the bank. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:45.680 It's a good looking. 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:46.799 Anybody want this$20? 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:47.839 Anyone? 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:49.039 Yep, right here? 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:50.240 Anybody wanting$20? 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:51.279 Yep, okay. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:52.240 All right. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:18:59.279 How about now? 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:00.880 Anybody still want this$20? 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:02.559 Hey, you're here. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.720 The$20 is still the$20. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:26.559 No matter what trials, whatever scars, whatever things it's been through, it still has value, and in the same way, it doesn't matter what you walked into this room, what you've been through, the trials that you've been through, the scars that are on your back, it's Jesus who gives you value. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:28.240 He's the one. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:35.279 He's the one that whether it's pristine or whether you've been through some things, it's Jesus who gives value to you. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.359 You don't achieve it, you receive it. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.079 You receive it from him. 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:48.000 He's the one who declares that you are worthy, that you are free, that you are forgiven, that you are secure. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:20:02.720 And our identity is so important because we're striving for security, and our identity and where our identity lies is so important because Satan and his demons and the enemy wants to lie to you about what your identity is. 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:18.160 Maybe for some of you, you need to take some time and you need to take an inventory and maybe try to root out some of the lies that you've been believing about your worth, and you need to replace it with the scripture. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:24.000 So instead of you saying, you know what, I'll never be accepted. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:31.279 You say from Ephesians 2.10, no, I'm God's workmanship. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:35.119 I'm his handiwork, I'm his masterpiece. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:49.759 And some of you need to take an inventory of some of these lies that the enemy's trying to accuse and trying to put into your ear for you to believe about your identity when your identity and your value is determined and it comes from Christ and what he's done for you, not what you do. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:21:00.640 And maybe you need to share some of those things and lies that you figure out, and you need to share it with a trusted friend or with somebody who's in a multiplied group or team. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:07.440 Someone who can speak that truth over you when you forget it, because we all do. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:30.240 And that's knowing God's word and being able to speak that truth and recite it to us, is what later, just a just a little bit, a few, a few chapters later in Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews gives us this blessing that is similar to the blessings of the Old Testament for, but for something for us to meditate on and speak out over ourselves and over our families. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:42.000 And I want to share it with you because it is in Ephesians chapter 13 and verse 20, and it starts with, may the God of peace, like so many of these blessings in the scripture start with. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:43.920 This is a good one to highlight. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.079 This is a good one to highlight on your phone, your Bible, write it down. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:51.759 Hebrews 13, 20 and 21. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:22:04.640 Now may the God of peace who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of Of the sheep and ratified an eternal covenant with his what? 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:05.920 Blood. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:12.160 May he equip you with all you need for doing his will. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:20.640 May he produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ every good thing that is pleasing to him. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:24.240 All glory to him forever and ever. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:25.519 Amen. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:30.480 Right there. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:50.480 The scripture tells us this blessing tells us that it's by Jesus' blood and through his power, everybody say power, through his power, that we're going to be affirmed and able to produce every good thing that's pleasing to him. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:53.279 Not all glory to you, but glory to him. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:59.599 Glory to God forever and ever from what he did and what his finished work is. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:11.440 And it's so oftentimes that I find myself getting into a pity party because thinking that this thing or that thing that I'm going through is just never going to get any better. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.720 And I'm throwing a pity party for myself. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:25.839 And maybe some of you walked in today, and there's an area of your life where you're stuck, where you're needing direction, where you haven't been able to press through, you haven't figured it out, a sin that is keeping you entangled and keeping you held down. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:34.160 And some of you feel like that you've messed up too badly, or that you've wasted too much time, or you've lost too much ground. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:37.440 But let me encourage you and let me say this to you: this is a third truth. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:39.200 I want you to believe it with me. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:57.519 I want you to believe that God resurrects your story through his blood and his power and his name, because the world wants to beat you down and tell you that your failure is final, that your failure, that it's fatal, that it's the end of the story. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:00.640 But with the cross, the cross isn't the end of the story. 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:02.880 It's the start of something new. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:05.440 It's the start of a new beginning. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:13.359 And it's only by the blood of Jesus that dead end chapters become divine beginnings. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:19.279 Where you're able to see something new happen. 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:30.880 A couple of last week, myself and a couple of the team got to go down to this conference called Exponential, that's the largest church planning conference in America down in Orlando. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:37.920 And I like to go as often as I can because we got friends down there from churches across the country that are connected to us, and it's this big conference. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:49.680 It's like 5,000 pastors and church leaders that come together to talk about the state of the church and talk about where things are as far as churches closing and new churches beginning. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:51.359 And it's this beautiful time of inspiration. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:54.240 I try to get that down there as much as I can. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:25:05.519 And at the end of the conference, their last session every time, what they do is they have a time of commissioning and prayer where they have like 200 people on the front that are ready to receive people to be able to pray over them. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:18.160 And the this last week, I walked down during that commissioning time with this super sweet older couple that was there, and I started telling them about you. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:27.759 I started talking about multiply, and it actually was uh it was the day of our third birthday, March the 20th. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:31.200 And I said, hey, today is multiply's third birthday. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:45.440 This is what God has done, but there's so much more that I know that he wants to do in and through us, and we've seen God's faithfulness over and over and over again, but we're also dreaming big and praying bigger for what God wants to do in the future. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:26:05.200 And I was sharing with them thoughts and visions that we talked about about other churches being planted, and as this couple prayed over me, she prayed this passage that Jesus talks about where a seed goes into the ground and dies. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:19.119 In John 12, Jesus says, verse 24, unless a kernel of wheat, very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.920 But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:33.200 And Jesus is that seed who went into the grave and resurrected from the grave. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:44.319 That by his blood he would bring to us life and that he would resurrect our story as well. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:58.799 And then the the husband that was praying, he said, as we were praying, I just got this thought and this vision of you standing there with your hands open like this cupped and receiving fruit that God was going to produce. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:09.920 And she prayed over us that that our church that we would be like that seed that goes into the ground and dies, and then from it comes this great harvest of multiplication. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:25.200 And as she was praying that over us, I couldn't help just be by be so incredibly moved. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:48.319 As we talk about Jesus and him going into the grave and returning from it, we walk not as people who are hopeless, but we're filled with his power because of his great might and because his blood poured out for us. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:28:07.119 And maybe that means that this week, some of you in the room that you're feeling stuck in some way, you've got to write it down, you've got to pray over it, you gotta choose to pray over it daily, you've got to ask God to show you resurrection power to show up in your life that he so desperately wants to give you. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:14.160 And some of you, that means that this week you need to take the step, a small step or big big step, and maybe you need to make that phone call. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:23.119 Maybe you need to finally go to Christian counseling, you need to confess sin and your life, you need to take the risk. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:33.440 Because it's by you taking the risk and allowing yourself to go down and to the ground and die that Jesus can resurrect you and do a powerful work through your life and story. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.640 And so maybe you need to name that area. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:41.680 Name it before God. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.160 Pray about it daily. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:49.440 Because you don't have to pay for what Jesus already paid for in full. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:56.160 You don't have to strive for what's been freely given to you. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:01.920 You don't have to stay stuck in a story that God's still writing with you. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:13.759 Because it's only by the blood that we're free, it's only by the blood that we're secure, it's only by the blood that we have and can have a new beginning in Christ. 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.000 Could you just imagine with me for a second? 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:27.519 Imagine with me if we just stopped living under the weight of our past and started walking in freedom of our future. 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:39.279 Imagine if we stopped measuring our worth based on comparison and what we see in other people and what they've got and what we don't have, and then we instead we started resting in God's compassion for us and what he's given to us. 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:46.319 Can you imagine if we were a people that we came to God as sons and daughters? 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:59.039 Not ones just striving and trying to do it on our ourselves, but receiving what he's given to us that we can be made new into his family. 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:01.279 And so, what does that look like? 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:06.079 What does it look like for us to surrender and not strive every single day? 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:15.680 Well, it means that you need to maybe in the mornings remind yourself that you don't have to earn God's love today. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:18.960 Because you already have it. 00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:33.279 Maybe that means that when you mess up, instead of that making you run away from God and shame, that some of you have done and even did for years, then instead it it makes you run to him. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:56.000 Or for those of you that just keep reciting this the mistakes of your past over and over and over again in them in your mind, instead, you replace it by reciting his grace for you and the truth of the gospel over your life and his word to replace those lies that keep you held back. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:13.279 You need to remind yourself, I'm not what I've done, I'm who God says that I am, and you receive his sacrifice by trusting his blood, by stopping the strife, by letting him wash you and resurrect you. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:42.319 And as we come to a close today, we're gonna in just a moment have a time of communion where we take the elements of Jesus' blood and his body, and I hope that today you're thinking about it in a deeper way, and that today we're just a little bit more grateful for the blood of Jesus that's poured out for us. 00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:54.000 And also during this time of communion, the worship team is gonna lead us in this song that I heard last year that was really the inspiration of this series. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:55.440 It's called The Blood. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:02.880 And I think I'm in like the 0.001 highest percent fan on Spotify, this one song. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:07.680 Because I've listened to it like a thousand times since last year. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:20.960 And I want for us to learn this song because we're gonna sing it over the next few weeks leading up to Easter and to take a look at the lyrics and learn from them. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.599 Let it turn our heart to God for worship. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:50.960 But I also recognize the fact that in a room this size, there are probably some people in the room that you've been striving and trying to do it all on your own, and you have never given over your life to Jesus, entrusted in his resurrection on the cross for you, resurrection from the grave, death on the cross, burial and resurrection, so then you might be able to be alive as well. 00:32:51.119 --> 00:33:03.519 And there's somebody probably in this room, maybe in this room, that you've been spiritually dead and you've not been able to be free and healed because you haven't received what Jesus bought for you on the cross in your place. 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:05.680 The death penalty that he took for you. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:09.279 And today, if that's you, today is the day of your salvation. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:16.720 Today is the day for you to cross over the line from death to life, to make the decision, to stop holding back, to stop waiting. 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:19.519 So would you pray with me, Father? 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:27.519 All across this room, Lord, I thank you, God, that Lord, we are not what we've done, but we're who you say that we are. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:42.400 That we're sons, that we're daughters of the King, that God, we have our value and our identity in you, Christ, and not what the enemy wants to lie to us and steal, kill, and destroy. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:54.319 And so, Father, I pray across this room right now, Lord, that God, we would pour out our hearts to you, recognizing, Jesus, how you poured out for us. 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:13.840 And God, I pray right now in this room that there's anybody in this place who has not received you as Savior, who's not given you their life, and trusted in and received what you did for them on the cross, that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would pray, Jesus, save me. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:16.000 Pray in their heart and mind, Jesus, save me. 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:24.400 I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin, and that you walked out of the grave. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:31.920 I give you my life as you poured out your life for mine. 00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:40.719 Forgive me, change me so that I can be in heaven with you one day. 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:43.840 Thank you for saving me. 00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:48.159 No one looking around today, you prayed to receive Christ as your savior. 00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:53.440 I want you to take a sign towards heaven and allow me to be able to pray for you by you raising your hand. 00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:57.920 And so, if that's you, at the count of three, I want you to raise your hand up. 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:01.199 If you prayed to receive Christ today, ready. 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:02.719 One, two, three. 00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:03.920 Anyone in this place? 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:09.360 Right over here, I see you, sis, Father. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:12.159 I right over here, brother, I see you right here. 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:18.320 God, hands and signs toward heaven today, God, of decisions that are happening inwardly in their heart. 00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:34.239 And God, I pray right now that you would seal their prayers, and that God, today and from this day forward, that they would be someone who is able to walk with you day in and day out because they in this moment have received your Holy Spirit. 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:43.840 They've been bought with a price, they've been paid for in full, and that they leave this life and enter into heaven's glory because of their decisions today. 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:45.280 We thank you, God. 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:47.760 We praise you in the strong name of Jesus. 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:49.360 Everybody said Amen.