Who Is Jesus, Really? | Colossians 1 Sermon (New Life Church Cicero)

In this message preached at New Life Community Church in Cicero, Omar Calvillo walks through Colossians 1:15–20 to answer one of the most important questions in life: Who is Jesus, really?

Many people know about Jesus, but few truly understand His power, authority, and supremacy. In this sermon, you’ll discover that Jesus is not just a good teacher or a helper in hard times. He is the image of the invisible God, the Creator of all things, the head of the church, and the only one who can reconcile us back to God.

This message explores:

•  The supremacy of Christ over all creation, seen and unseen 
•  What it means for Jesus to be Lord, not just Savior 
•  The reality of spiritual warfare and the unseen realm 
•  How Jesus rescues us from darkness and brings us into His Kingdom 
•  The power of the cross and what it means to be reconciled to God 

Through Scripture and personal testimony, this sermon challenges you to move beyond a surface-level understanding of Jesus and respond to Him fully.

When you see Him rightly, you will move differently.

Preached at New Life Community Church, Cicero

Transcript

0:34

Hello family. This is Omar Calvio with From Wrong to Strong Ministries. Today's episode is a message I had the opportunity to preach at New Life Community Church in Cicero, and it's centered on one simple, but life-changing truth. Seeing Jesus for who he really is. In this message, we walk through Colossians chapter one and take a deeper look at the supremacy of Christ, his authority over all things and what it truly means to respond to him, not just as savior but as Lord. My prayer is that this message challenges you and encourages you and helps you see Jesus more clearly than ever before. And stay tuned because we got some impactful interviews and testimonies coming up this spring and summer that you won't wanna miss. Let's get into the message. Domi, I've been part of a new life since 2014. I started, uh, attending a New Life church when they were meeting in, uh, Garfield Ridge. Uh, I've been married to my wife for, uh, 21 years. My lovely wife Ann. We've, uh, been together, uh, 20, uh, going, going on 26 years. Uh, this summer it'll be 26 years that we've been together. Um, three kids and I'm here because God did something on my life many years ago. And I know Jesus is good. He loves us, and he has a plan, uh, a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us. Uh, but, but, but with that, I wanna ask you guys a question. How many of you have ever been completely wrong on something that you thought you knew? Maybe you had an, uh, an ideal of how a certain tool worked, and then you realize, man, I didn't even know this tool was used in this way. Or, or maybe it was a person that you thought you knew. Maybe this person, you're like, man, I already know this person. And then later on you realize, man, I didn't even know this person at all. When I think about something that, that we know of but don't really understand, it's full power. I think about, uh, electricity. Like electricity. Each, each and every one of us. We have it in our home, right? Like every single one of you, before you got here this morning, you hit a switch. Didn't even think twi twice about it, and the lights came on. You guys grabbed your phones and they were charged, right? You guys, I mean, you hear the sound, sound team. They hit some switches back there. Power came on. So, but, but, but what's going on there? There's something that is happening behind these walls, something that is happening behind these outlets, and there's some power that is flowing through, but we don't really have an idea of, of what it is. Uh, here in, in our state, there are a few power plants. I think there's one in, uh. Braidwood and another one in, uh, uh, Byron, uh, in, in, uh, Illinois. And in these power plants, there are massive amounts of electricity that are being produced there. Uh, so much power, not just enough to, for our homes, businesses, or our church here, but how many of you know that entire cities are being powered by what's happening in these power plants? But many of us don't really understand how much power there is There. And how many of you know that we could spend our whole life benefiting from that power, benefiting from the electricity and still not fully understand it? You can. Like I said, you could hit the switch. You can use the power, depend on it every day and still have no idea how powerful it really is. And that's how a lot of us are when it comes to Jesus. We know just enough. What do we know about Jesus? Jesus helps. Jesus saves, and Jesus helps us when we're going through something hard. We've experienced a little of who he is, but I believe we haven't truly fully grasped his power, his authority, and his supremacy. We treat Jesus like something we can access when we need instead of recognizing he's the source of everything. So here's the danger. When you only understand a little bit about Jesus, you end up with a small view of Jesus and a small view of Jesus would always lead to a small response when it comes to Jesus. Because when, when, when we misunderstand him, but we end up doing this, we minimize him. We don't. We don't see him for who he truly is. We might see him as a good teacher, as a moral example, something to follow. Or someone we just turn to when our life gets hard, someone we add to our lives instead of the one who should be standing over our lives. And when Jesus gets reduced, our response to him is also gonna get reduced. It's not that we ignore Jesus completely, is that is just that we don't move, we stay the same, we stay comfortable, and we're the ones that stay in control. And maybe the issue isn't that you just like don't care about Jesus. Maybe the issue is that we haven't truly seen him, because if Jesus is really who the Bible says he is, if he's more than a teacher, more than a prophet, more than a good man, then he's not just someone that we have to add to our lives. He's the one who changes everything in our lives. And he doesn't just deserve our attention, he deserves our response. So the title for today's message is Seeing Jesus for Who He really is. And the, the main idea we're gonna be focusing, focusing on this morning is knowing about Jesus isn't the same as knowing him when you see him for who he truly is. It changes everything because when you see him rightly. You will begin to move differently. Before we get into the scriptures, we need to understand what's going on in like, in the book of, uh, uh, collage, uh, pastor Juan did a great job explaining what was going on at that time and during that culture to what was happening on the outside. This church is healthy, these are believers. They're coming to faith. They're hearing the gospel, and they are responding to the good news of Jesus Christ. But there's a problem that's beginning to creep into this church. There were teachings that were starting to circulate at that time, and they were distorting who Jesus is. They weren't outright denying Jesus, but they were subtly reducing him. Some are saying Jesus is important, but Jesus is not supreme. Jesus is spiritual, but Jesus is definitely not God. And Jesus is helpful, but he's not enough. So what people were doing, they were trying to add to Jesus, maybe a little bit of philosophy, and Jesus, maybe a little bit of tradition, and Jesus, maybe let's add some religion to him, or some of the spiritual wisdom and knowledge that they had back in those days. Because in their mind, Jesus wasn't enough. Jesus wasn't, uh, sufficient. And how many of you know if we're honest, that that's not just a collage in problem, that's a today problem because people today, what do you hear out there in the world? Jesus might be a way to God, but he's definitely not the only way. Jesus was a good teacher, A moral example. We could learn from the way he lived. We could learn from the way he did, but he's not absolute truth. And he doesn't have absolute authority. He was a prophet. He's there to help me when I need him, but they all stopped short of seeing him for who he really is. So what we're gonna see here in the book of collages is that Paul's not gonna respond with a casual correction to this church. He's gonna respond with one of the most powerful descriptions of Jesus in the entire Bible. We're gonna be reading in collage chapter one verses 15 through 20. And Paul is not just gonna defend Jesus, he's gonna reveal Jesus in a sense. It's almost like he's gonna pull back the curtain and he's gonna show them and he's gonna show us who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and why Jesus is above everything. So let us begin to read in, uh, collages chapter one. Starting in verse 15, it says, Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created in the supreme overall creation. For through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the themes we can see and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning supreme overall who rises from the dead. So he is first in everything for God and all his fullness. Was pleased to live in Christ and through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. And here's what we're going to see, uh, today, church. If Jesus is really who Paul is saying he is, then he's not just someone we look up to, someone to that we admire, but he's someone that we need to respond to because when you see him rightly, you will move differently. So point number one. Jesus is supreme overall creation, seen and unseen. Jesus is not just part of creation. He is overall creation, both the visible and the invisible. There is nothing in our creation seen or unseen that is outside of the authority of Jesus Christ. So let's look at our collage of chapter one and verse 15, and it says. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. Jesus doesn't just reflect God. He's gonna reveal God and the word image in this text in this scripture, it means that he's in exact representation. He has made himself known in the person of Jesus Christ. And this isn't just one verse here in collages that says this about Jesus. There are other scriptures that tell us that Jesus is God. In John 14, in John chapter 14, verse nine, he says, Jesus said, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. And in Hebrews uh, chapter one, verse three, it says that the son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. In collages, chapter two, verse nine, we read for in him talking about Jesus, all the deity, all of God dwells in bodily form. It's not that Jesus is similar, it's not that Jesus is close. It's an exact representation of God. When, when, uh, when we go, uh, there's a group of us that go in into Cook County jail for Bible studies on Monday nights. And one thing we encounter like frequently is one question, is Jesus, really God? Is Jesus really the son of God? Uh, we could ask this question, uh, mostly by, um, Muslims, uh, people that are genuinely seeking to find out about God. People that are curious, but in most times is by people who just want to come and disrupt the work that is taking place while we're in there. So. There's a lot of belief systems out there that acknowledge Jesus, and some even speak highly of Jesus. Uh, for, for instance, do you know that in Islam, Jesus is a prophet and a messenger of God, but not God and not the son of God? Jehovah's Witnesses, they believe Jesus is God's first creation. Not equal with God, and they identify him as Michael the Archangel before coming to Earth In Judaism, Jesus is not the Messiah. He's not divine. He's generally viewed as a Jewish teacher, not God and not the Son of God. So many worldviews, even religions speak of Jesus and some of them even speak highly of Jesus. But what you're gonna see, they, they all come short of calling him God. But for us as a church, as believers, as Christians, this is where our confidence is anchored. We don't have to guess. We don't have to wonder. We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God, fully man. The eternal son of God and Savior, and the truth is that this has to be the foundation of our faith. Going back to collage in verse 16, it says, for through him God created everything in the heavily realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can see. Not just some things, not most things, but everything. Everything was created through him. And in John chapter one, verses one or three, we're gonna read some scriptures that kind of confirm what Paul is saying here in the verse 16. So when John chapter one, verses one and three, it says that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was God. And the word, and he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. And when we jumped down to verse 14, it says, and then the word became flesh. The word took upon our bodily form. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. The glory as of the only son of the father, full of grace and full of truth. Going back to collages, it says everything was created through him and for him. And verse 17, it says that he existed before anything else and that he holds all creation together. Going back to verse 16, in collages it says. That he made, the things we can see and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, authorities in the unseen world church. What Paul is doing here is pulling back the curtain and he's telling them, and he's telling us that there is more going on than what we can see. There is a spiritual reality. There is an unseen realm, but don't miss this. Jesus created all of it. Yeah. Amen. Jesus stands over all of it. So just like the, uh, when I was talking about the electricity, there's something that is happening behind the, uh, behind the outlet. Something that is happening behind the wall. There, there are certain things we could see what are naturalized, and there are certain things that we could only see spiritually. So when Paul is what Paul is saying in this verse, this is not just poetic language. What is Paul describing? He's describing angelic beings, spiritual powers, and even fallen forces that operate in the unseen world. When I read words such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, authorities in the unseen world. I can't help but to think about Ephesians chapter six, verse 12, where the Apostle Paul tells us, he reminds us church, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in heaven places. I I want to go back a few verses in the book of collage. I know when Pastor told me to, to share the, the message today, he told me to share on, uh, verse 15 through 20. Uh, but I believe something is happening in, in verse 16 that we would, we could only fully under understand if we go back a couple verses. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna read collages chapter one, verses 13 and 14, and verse 13 it says, for he has rescued us from the Kingdom of darkness. And transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son. So what is it that you see on display here in that verse? You see two kingdoms. When you think about a kingdom. What's what? What does the kingdom need? Needs a kingdom. So there are two kingdoms that Paul is describing here, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of his dear son, which what you could call the kingdom of light. And every one of us here, or those that are listening or watching belong to one or the other, there's this story that, that I, uh, that I read or that I heard, and it was talking about a man. A man had a dream and in his dream, he's seen two fields, two large fields, and there was a fence running right through both fields. On one side of, on one side of the field was God calling people to come, to come to him. On the other side of the fence was Satan and he was doing the same thing. Come, come and follow me. So both are calling people to come their way so people begin to come. Some started coming towards God, desiring to follow him, but others were desiring to to follow Satan. So they came on this side. So the man in the dream was Undecisive. He's like, man, I really don't wanna give myself to God, but I definitely don't want to be with Satan. So what he decided to do, he said, man, I'm just gonna sit here on the fence. I'm not gonna commit to one side or the other. So he was sitting there on the fence and later, later on that night, Satan came and snatched him and took him with him. And, and the man started to, to, to, to, to protest. He's like, Hey, I didn't decide to go with you. You know, why you taking me? You know what Satan told him? The offense belongs to me. The offense belongs to him. Church, there is no neutral ground when it comes to this. We're either on one side or we're on the other. One thing we gotta remember is that before we came to to Christ, we weren't neutral. We weren't on a neutral ground. We were all under a domain. We were all under a rule. And we're all under a system that was totally opposed to God. And so here we read in collage what, what, uh, what Paul is describing that Jesus came to do, right? This is Paul saying this, Jesus, he came what to bring us out of the kingdom of darkness and to bring us into his kingdom. But what did Jesus himself say? What was Jesus' mission statement? We're gonna find that mission statement in, uh, Luke chapter four. But before we get there, I wanna set the context. Of him declaring this. The context is in Luke chapter three. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist after he was baptized. Scripture tells us that Jesus fully, God, fully man, was filled with the Holy Spirit after being filled with the Holy Spirit. You know where Jesus was led to? He was led to the wilderness. What happened to Jesus in the wilderness? After 40 days and 40 nights of fasting, Satan appear, appeared to him, temped him. He, he, he attempted Jesus three times. The first time knowing that Jesus was hungry, Satan told him, man, there's some rocks right there. Tell the rocks to turn into bread. And Jesus said, it is ridden, man shall not live by bread alone, by the every word that grew seeds out of the mouth of God. And then Satan attempted it again, saying, man, he showed Jesus all the kingdoms and things, the, the, the powers that were back then. And he told Jesus, man, just bow, bow to me one time and I'll give you all this. And Jesus said, it is written you shall serve the Lord your God in him alone. And then the last temptation that, uh, Satan told Jesus was he took him up to a high point and he told Jesus, throw yourself for it, is written. And then Satan began to quote to him, Psalm 91, if for, it says, for He will command his angels concerning you to lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. But Jesus responded with scripture again. And he said, it is written, you should not tempt the Lord your God. So we have Jesus baptized full of the spirit, tempted by Satan. And then we're gonna get into the context. So right after all this, it says in, uh, um, Luke chapter four. I don't have the, the slide for the first part of the verses, but it says, as was his custom, Jesus custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And he stood up to read verse 17 and the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he opened up the book and found where it was written, and this is what Jesus declared. He said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has avoided me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to set free those who are repressed. And the Bible says that Jesus sat down. All lies were attempted, elano, and then he, he declared These scriptures have been fulfilled today in your hearing. So here we hear from Jesus himself. This is his mission statement. He came to preach the gospel to the poor. He came to proclaim release to the captives. Came to recover your sight to the blind, and I believe that's more than just in the natural. He healed a lot of people that were blind back then, but I believe also to open our spiritual eyes and to set free those who are oppressed. This wasn't a side mission of his, this wasn't his mission. To set captives free to bring people out of darkness and into the light. In the summer of, uh, 2004, uh, my girlfriend at the time, uh, you guys know her as Sister Ann over here when, uh, went to a Christian Church, surrender her life to God, not that she needed it'cause she was already pretty good back then. You know, not, not much that God needed to change in her, you know, or me. But she went to a Christian Church and she came back and she starts telling me, I went to this church. I surrender my life to God. I'm gonna start going to church, like, come to church with me. I told her I ain't going to no Christian Church. I told her I already believe in God. I already believe in Jesus. I got my cross on and on top of that I got a rosary on top of that. Like, I don't need to go. I'm good. And I told her, just pray for me. How many of you know was the worst thing I could ask her to do? Pray for me. Because we, you gotta realize, I say it was the worst thing.'cause when she started praying for me, all hell broke loose in my life. I started having demonic nightmare. That night I started having dreams. It was almost like every night, if God were opening up a book and showing me things that I was involved in, like in my past, in my teenage years, in my wild days, like one night it was one story, and the other night it was the next. And it's like, you remember this. You remember that? And to be honest, I felt like I was going crazy during this time. I felt like I was losing my mind when I was younger. I was involved, like in things of darkness, like you could say, uh, the Ouija board, I know, I don't know if people are familiar with that. People take it lightly, but you're basically opening up a door or portal into darkness. I had experience also with, uh, what you would call, um, people call it white magic. Now I know that it is, uh uh, basically witchcraft. I had encounters with that as well in, in, in my growing up. So he, what was happening to me, and here's another thing too, I gotta share this. Um, in my teenage years, basically I, I joined a gang and, and the name of my gang was, uh, saved and disciples. The way we will greet one another was by saying Love of the devil. We will greet each other by almost, uh, confessing in allegiance to, to Satan himself. In Proverbs 1821, it says that the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it would eat its fruit. So what was I confessing back then? I was confessing that I love him. I was confessing allegiance to him and I was basically, my lifestyle was re reflecting on. One thing I do gotta share is that there are many gangs out there with many different names, and in the na, in the natural, they all got different names. But in the spiritual, they, they are all serving the same one. They're all serving Satan because what does the Bible say? The Bible says that the enemy's out to what To steal, kill, and to destroy. So what was happening when she was praying for me that was rising up. I didn't know it at the time'cause this is before I came to Christ, but there was basically I was being tormented. What was in me, the darkness was being affected by, by prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit, right in my very home. But I want you to hear this clearly. Jesus is not in competition with darkness. Every ruler, every authority, every spiritual force has to answer to Jesus. Darkness is real, but it is not equal to Jesus. It is not stronger than Jesus, and it is definitely not outside of his authority. Jesus is Lord overall. Amen. So here's a question. When I was reading the, the, the scripture, a question came to my mind. How did Jesus rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and transfer us into his kingdom? We gotta meet collage in verse 14 where it says, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins? How did Jesus purchase our freedom? He didn't pay with money. He paid it with what? With his life. In one Peter chapter one, verses 18 through 19, we read for you know, that God paid a ransom to save you and it was not paid with mere gold or silver. It was with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The word ransom means. That a price is being paid to set someone else free. We were all in bondage to sin, and Jesus paid the price with his very own blood on the cross. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, we read, for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many freedom. Came through a sacrifice. Why were our sin? Why were our sins forgiven? Because God's justice was satisfied. Sin has the cause and that causes death. And Jesus stepped in and took that penalty on our behalf. He took our sin and gave us his righteousness. We were in darkness bound by sin, but Jesus paid the price to set us free. We were forgiven because he took our punishment. Now we are free and brought into his kingdom. He brought us out now all as free men, but here's where it gets real. If everything Paul just said about Jesus is true, then this is not just about information. This is about a, a position that we find ourselves in. Every, every single one of us is living under a kingdom, under a rule, under a Lord, and what Jesus is revealing to us here. Is truth and he's confronting a reality. We don't get to redefine him. We don't get to reduce him. We don't get to place him wherever we feel comfortable. He is lowered overall, and the only question is where do you stand when it comes to him? Because when you see him rightly, you will move differently. Yes. Point number two. Jesus is the head of the church and Lord of our lives. Jesus is not just the Savior who set sets us free. He is the Lord who desires to lead to lead us. And Colosians one 18 we read. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He's the beginning supreme overall, who rises from the dead. So he is first in everything. So we, what we see here is Paul is shifting the focus from creation over to God's people. He is the head of the church. So, so what does that mean? He's the one that leads, he's the one that directs and he's the one that decides, how many of you know that the, the body doesn't tell the brain what to do or the head what to do. It is the head that sends the signals into all the body parts and tells'em what to do. So if Christ is the head, if we're saying that Christ is the head of our lives, then we don't get to live however we want. Now, a lot of people want Jesus as savior, but not as Lord. We all want to be rescued, but we don't want to be led. We want to be freed from sin. But in no way do we wanna surrender our lives. But church, I want you to hear this clearly the same Jesus who saved you desires to lead you. Yes. You weren't just delivered from something, you were delivered to someone. Yes. And without Christ leading us we're like a chicken with his heads caught off. Can you guys put this light up there with the chicken, with the head cut off? I just kidding how to do that. Do I look like the kind of guys who do something like that? But I'm sure every single one of you have heard that statement, right? To be like running around with a chicken without his head cut off. It's basically running in circles, running with no direction and, and that's how we could be if we don't allow Jesus to be God of our lives. We'll be living but with no purpose, and they're not aligned to the will of God. That's what our life looks like when Jesus isn't Lord. So what is it that God requires of us? And Luke 6 46, it says, so why do you keep calling me Lord, Lord when you don't do what? I say? Why do you keep calling me Lord, Lord when you don't do what I say? And in John 1415 he says. If you love me, obey my commandments. How many of you here love Jesus according to that scripture? How do we show Jesus that we love him? Obey by obeying his commandments? So if Jesus is the head, then he just doesn't deserve a place in our lives. He deserves to be first place over everything in our lives. Not just a partial control, not just a weak in obedience. We have to surrender everything to God because when we see him rightly, we just don't move differently. We're gonna begin to live differently. Last point, point number three. Jesus didn't just come to reveal God. He made a way back to God in collages one 19 through 20. We be for God in all his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ and through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. He reconciled. He made peace through what? Through His blood. What does reconcile means? It means when you think about, think about a relationship, let's say like a parent no longer talking to their children and vice versa, that means that a a, a relationship has been broken. There's no communication. Reconciliation means that that relationship has been restored or has come back together because sin didn't just make us imperfect. Since separated us from God in Romans chapter five, verse 10, we read For, since our friendship with God was restored or other translations, all other translations say reconciled by the death of his son while we were still his enemies. So we were reconciled, our relationship was restored back to God while what? While we were still his enemies. We weren't just neutral before we came to Christ. We weren't just trying to figure things out. We were separated. We were enemies of God. And here's the truth that a lot of us don't necessarily want to hear. Peace with God is not gonna come by more effort than your part. Peace with God is not gonna come by you trying to be more good by you. Trying to live more in a righteous way. Peace with God is not gonna come through these things. It's not gonna come through religion. It's not gonna come by being a good person. Peace with God is only gonna come through what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, because sin has a cost and that cost is death. But Jesus stepped in not just as an example, but as a substitute. In Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21, we read. 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. At this point, I, I would like to call the worship team is I get ready to, to wrap up church. What I want to tell you, those that are listening as we learn that Jesus created everything.'cause who else He created you. Yes. What I want to tell you is that God loves you and that God has a plan and a purpose for your life. Because Jesus didn't just come to die. He came to die for you, for your sin, for your past, for your guilt, for your shame. All of it was placed on him and through his blood, you can have peace with God, not Sunday. Not after you change your life, not after you fix your life, but Tuesday. So here's a question. If Jesus is truly who we've seen today as God creator, Lord head of the church, and if he, if he went to the cross to make peace for you because he loves you, what are you going to do with him? Because you just can't hear this and stay the same. You. We don't need any more information. You know what? We need reconciliation with God through Christ. Why, why did I focus like, uh, a part of my message on the darkness, like I shared the, the spiritual torment that I was experiencing When my girlfriend was praying for me back then, after months of her praying for me, I decided to go to church, to discretion church. After the end of service, the pastor made an altar call. I went up to the front and he led me in a prayer. And basically the prayer was. Confessing that I was a sinner and need of a savior and asking Jesus Christ to become Lord and Savior of my life. The pastor put his hand on my head, started praying for me, and I just felt the heat that began to fill my body. At that point, I didn't know anything the about the Bible. I didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit, but the body can tell you is that something changed on that Tuesday night, on October 26th, something changed. And then the following Sunday, October 31st was Halloween. Uh, after going back after church, we went back to my apartment. It was me, my girlfriend, and her sister at the time. We watched the movie, the Passion of the Christ. After the movie ended, I asked'em if they could leave the apartment, and they're like, why? I just told'em, leave. You guys need to get outta here. When they left the apartment, I grabbed my Bible. I started reading it, and I just began to cry. I began to weep uncontrollably, and then I began to throw up. I was throwing up for about like 10 minutes straight. I didn't know what was happening to me. All I know is that I was really sick. They came back about an hour later and I was pale looking. I was sick. They're like, what's wrong with you? Like, I don't know. I don't know what's happening to me. Later on that night, still Halloween. I don't know why God decided to do this on Halloween, but I know he's sovereign. But we ended up going up to a church to go, uh, to go watch a play. The name of the play was Hells Flames and Heavens Gates. It was a production that they put out on the stage. So we get to the church, we park around the corner, we walk to the front of the church. When I got to the front of the church, I stopped. The doors weren't open yet, and I asked my girlfriend to gimme the car keys, and she's like, why that man? Just gimme the car keys. I grabbed the car keys. I took a step to turn back around to go back to the car. And I began to throw up in front of the church, left a portrayal going around all the way to her car and still throwing up in the back. Why do I share that story? Because I believe that on October 26th. The Holy Spirit would fill me. And on October 31st, the Holy Spirit cleaned up this temple. There was a purging that took place. There was a cleansing, there was a deliverance that, that he did. Yes, there's a scripture that says that, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? And when I think about that, I'm reminded of a story where Jesus went into the temple and he started flipping over tables. How many of you, you know, remember that story? He started chasing the money, uh, collectors away. And he told him, this is my father's house, and you guys have turned it into a den of thieves. What I believe happened with me is that the Holy Spirit basically had to cleanse this temple, and it's been 21 years since he, since he did that, but it all started with a simple prayer. If you are here and if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, uh as Lord and Savior of your life. If you never realize that you had a need to make Jesus, not just savior, but Lord, if you feel maybe like me, you've wrestled with that darkness, you have experience with the spiritual and you know that what's going on behind the walls. It is real, the seen and the unseen, the visible and the invisible. But guess what? Jesus is lowered overall. If you're here, if you need prayer, uh, pastor Rogers up here. If, if anybody here wants to take that step today, when like, I need to take that step, I find myself in darkness. I find myself separated from God because of my sin, and today's the day that I want to take that step. Today's the step that I want to ask Jesus to become Lord and savior of my life. Is everybody here who a raise a hand who would like to pray for you while the worship team is praying? If you, if you know, man, I need to pray and come up here, but also wanna make a, a second call. If you've been serving God for years, if you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but you feel like Jesus, I want to know you more. I know, I know there's more that you desire to reveal to me. Feel free to come up to the altar and somebody will be here to pray for you. Thank you.