Speaker 2: Good morning everybody.
Speaker 2: My fault there.
Speaker 2: My name is Randy.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that you're here today.
Speaker 2: We appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2: Some of you are first-time guests.
Speaker 2: We hope you'll come back next week because we do this every single Sunday right on schedule.
Speaker 2: And starting next Sunday, we will stay with this schedule of the three morning services, starting a series next week.
Speaker 2: It may interest you.
Speaker 2: It's like in these days and times we need to look at some current events.
Speaker 2: So we're going to do a series on what Jesus would say to a lot of things like this.
Speaker 2: Coming Sunday, lord willing, will be Jesus on politics.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 2: And then we're going to have Jesus on marriage, jesus and other religions.
Speaker 2: Marriage, jesus and other religions.
Speaker 2: Are there several ways to heaven or are there just one way?
Speaker 2: And if we are the only way, what's wrong with the other religions, possibly?
Speaker 2: And then we are going to talk about Jesus and sexuality.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it will be G-rated enough to.
Speaker 2: I plan to have the flu that day and Pastor Bert will be giving the message.
Speaker 2: Before we get rolling, let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Speaker 2: Father, just grateful to be in your house, among your, celebrating your truth and also observing your baptism, because you actually modeled it as the way to go.
Speaker 2: So, lord, would you quiet our hearts and steel us and just allow us the focus to lay everything else down for a few minutes?
Speaker 2: That would distract us and give us the clear ability to see Jesus Not just any Jesus, but the real Jesus today, and we'll be richer for it.
Speaker 2: So we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2: Question for you.
Speaker 2: It's going to seem silly and contrite on this day Are you happy If you're happy or whether you're not happy?
Speaker 2: What causes happiness?
Speaker 2: What is at the base of your happiness?
Speaker 2: Well, we had an event yesterday, this giant egg hunt, over at Somerville High School on their football field.
Speaker 2: Can you put that picture up there, christian?
Speaker 2: Now, you know, I learn something every day.
Speaker 2: I learned that the Easter bunny is real because she was there.
Speaker 2: This little girl her name is Christabal and I know her mom and dad, and I know that I probably should have taken the picture of mom and dad rather than her, because the look on their face was pure happiness and contentment, watching their little girl scurry around picking up eggs right, but here's the rest of the story.
Speaker 2: Their happiness is not just based on an emotion as a parent, it goes deeper.
Speaker 2: I know this because they're my friends.
Speaker 2: Brian and Mercy have this relationship with Jesus, so happiness becomes joy in their world, and joy is not conditional on circumstances, and many of you are the same way.
Speaker 2: You experience a joy, or shall I say, at least contentment, no matter what the circumstances are.
Speaker 2: I also know this that in the Kenyan tradition in Africa, when you assign a name to a child, that name means something, and so, according to that tradition, cristobal is Latin for beautiful Christian, and there she is.
Speaker 2: One day that name will fit in every sense of the word.
Speaker 2: So that's one expression of happiness.
Speaker 2: But I think you know there's a lot of attempts that we are confronted with every single day that are portrayed as happiness, but they have really nothing to do with happiness.
Speaker 2: Did you know that there's another state in our union that recently appointed a select committee on happiness?
Speaker 2: I kid you not, truth is funnier than fiction sometimes.
Speaker 2: Kid you not?
Speaker 2: Truth is funnier than fiction sometimes, and one of the quotes from one of the committee members the legislators on the committee was simply this it's the government's role to make our citizens happy.
Speaker 2: Really, now, I've been around a long time.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that till the other day that I read that.
Speaker 2: Now we kind of laugh at that because we all you're thinking what I'm thinking.
Speaker 2: I wonder how they're defining happiness.
Speaker 2: I guess you know, if we tell our people long enough that they're happy, maybe they'll be happy.
Speaker 2: It doesn't work like that and some of the and the other ironic thing is this state is like has some of the worst ordinances for the family ever.
Speaker 2: They have the second highest tax rate in the whole place, in the whole country.
Speaker 2: Some of their judgments on morality are abysmal, but yet we're all supposed to be happy.
Speaker 2: We all go through a period and some of y'all are there today.
Speaker 2: Some of you watching online are there today.
Speaker 2: Is this all there is to my life?
Speaker 2: Is there a deeper meaning to me being here on this earth than I'm currently experiencing, or is this all there is?
Speaker 2: If there is a deeper level, a higher meaning, a bigger cause to live by, how do I get there?
Speaker 2: We all struggle with that because we are wired to need that.
Speaker 2: We are wired to need to know our identity and where that places us in the world.
Speaker 2: Now, in this world, thankfully, we have the Scripture.
Speaker 2: We believe that points us to the one who will answer those questions.
Speaker 2: So my point today from the Scripture we believe that points us to the one who will answer those questions.
Speaker 2: So my point today from the Scripture in the book of Matthew is simply this Jesus holds the key to your life.
Speaker 2: Many of you believe that already.
Speaker 2: Some of you are still weighing that, and I'm especially glad that you're either viewing or you're in the room, because I want this y'all to be a safe place to ask some dangerous questions.
Speaker 2: I want you to ask all the questions you can as the days go by, and all because that's the only way you're going to settle some things in your heart, because my goal for you is to have a faith in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: That's not your uncle's faith or your parents or your grandparents, it's yours.
Speaker 2: It's yours.
Speaker 2: It's been tested, it's been validated and now you're sure You're convinced.
Speaker 2: So that just needs to happen.
Speaker 2: So the statement I'll stand on, based on Jesus' own words he holds the key to your life.
Speaker 2: And John 10 that's on the screen behind me, basically was a promise of Jesus too I've come to give you life, but not any kind of old life, just existing.
Speaker 2: I've come to give you the abundant life.
Speaker 2: Okay, so we're going to be looking at Matthew, because I want to tell you three reasons why this is a true statement.
Speaker 2: He holds the key to your life, and it's true because of what he said, not what I said.
Speaker 2: So thanks for bringing your Bible, if you have it.
Speaker 2: How about Matthew?
Speaker 2: First gospel, first book of the New Testament?
Speaker 2: There's some pew Bibles there too, on the pew rack in front of you or behind you.
Speaker 2: Just grab one of those.
Speaker 2: We're in the book of Matthew.
Speaker 2: It's better to see it in print.
Speaker 2: So why is this true?
Speaker 2: The first reason is Jesus is fully God.
Speaker 2: So let's deal with the real Jesus here today.
Speaker 2: I'm going to read verses 13 through 16.
Speaker 2: Y'all with me?
Speaker 2: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples who do people say the Son of man is?
Speaker 2: So let me just kind of stop right there.
Speaker 2: Caesarea Philippi is way north of Israel.
Speaker 2: You can still go there to some remnants of what used to be there in Jesus' day.
Speaker 2: It was a place that one of the Herods, philip, created, built up the city to be a political strength, but also a religious hotspot, and he built, had temples, built to pagan gods, and then the story got circulating that Pan, the god Pan, was born there, and so it's thought that maybe this conversation happened in front of the rock mountainside where those temples were actually hewn into that rock.
Speaker 2: It would be like Jesus to go right into the teeth of the most pagan place in the whole country to have this conversation, would it not?
Speaker 2: That's who Jesus is.
Speaker 2: He's not scared of anybody or anything.
Speaker 2: And so, within that backdrop, he says hey, who do people say that I am?
Speaker 2: He's talking to his 12 disciples.
Speaker 2: So verse 16, they replied.
Speaker 2: Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah are one of the prophets.
Speaker 2: Some of you are pretty familiar with the word.
Speaker 2: What do all of those names have in common at this point?
Speaker 2: They're all dead as a hammer.
Speaker 2: They really are.
Speaker 2: They're dead prophets right, either recently or hundreds of years earlier.
Speaker 2: Earlier.
Speaker 2: Why Think about it?
Speaker 2: If people don't believe Jesus was who he really was, why are they attributing Him to be the comeback of dead people?
Speaker 2: That's because they believe in supernatural.
Speaker 2: They just didn't believe necessarily in Jesus.
Speaker 2: That's not an odd thing.
Speaker 2: That's where we are in our world today.
Speaker 2: People overwhelmingly will say this oh, I'm spiritual, I'm a spiritual person.
Speaker 2: Well, do you have a church affiliation or a religion you belong to oh no, oh no, and I hear it every day.
Speaker 2: I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious.
Speaker 2: Have you ever said that?
Speaker 2: You might've said that, or you might've had people say that.
Speaker 2: I tend to say, well, good, I'm not either.
Speaker 2: Religion is not going to save anybody's soul, but let me tell you this spirituality as it's defined by the world will not either.
Speaker 2: Spirituality is a vague concept.
Speaker 2: It is a hope, so not a belief, conviction, truth.
Speaker 2: It is a.
Speaker 2: I'm going to choose this path because I believe that there are things I cannot explain and there are supernatural things that do line up.
Speaker 2: That's what they believed in this day.
Speaker 2: They created gods and worshiped them.
Speaker 2: Don't laugh, we do the same thing today, don't we?
Speaker 2: We create gods and we worship those gods, and then we say, well, I'd prefer to be spiritual and not religious, but we also don't want to be just religious.
Speaker 2: That's just going by some earthly routines and calling it sacred when there's no power or authority behind it.
Speaker 2: Jesus went to church every Sabbath because he knew who he was worshiping.
Speaker 2: Some of you are in church, either here or somewhere, every single Sunday, and it's not because you have to.
Speaker 2: It's why Because you want to, and you want to because you know who you're going to see.
Speaker 2: You know you're going to worship the true God, the real Jesus as we're calling him.
Speaker 2: So we don't want to be like that either.
Speaker 2: Let's read on Verse 15, but what about you?
Speaker 2: Jesus said who do you say that I am?
Speaker 2: He puts him on the spot, doesn't he?
Speaker 2: It's truth time.
Speaker 2: It's pop quiz time Now.
Speaker 2: I know in the Greek that you, who do you say that I am?
Speaker 2: Is plural.
Speaker 2: He's talking to the whole group of his 12 disciples.
Speaker 2: In the South we would say who do y'all say that I am right?
Speaker 2: And then, in verse 16, simon Peter answers.
Speaker 2: Those of you that read your Bible a lot, is there anybody surprised that Simon Peter is the one who speaks up?
Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
Speaker 2: Simon Peter answered you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Speaker 2: Also, just one word from the Greek.
Speaker 2: They emphasize one word in almost every sentence, above all the others.
Speaker 2: Peter emphasized the word you believe it or not.
Speaker 2: So inflection is everything.
Speaker 2: He didn't say you are the Christ, the son of the living God, as if he's announcing a new concept.
Speaker 2: Everybody in that country believed there was a Messiah coming.
Speaker 2: Everybody believed there was the great king coming out of heaven.
Speaker 2: One of these days.
Speaker 2: He's emphasizing Jesus as King.
Speaker 2: Jesus the Christ, which meant anointed one.
Speaker 2: He's saying you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
Speaker 2: And he was exactly right, he got it right.
Speaker 2: There's a word, fancy church word, called incarnation.
Speaker 2: The incarnation simply means Jesus came to this earth fully God, son of God, therefore equal with God, therefore God.
Speaker 2: He's always been around, he always will be around.
Speaker 2: When he walked down the street, that's God walking by.
Speaker 2: When he came and engaged somebody you're talking to God.
Speaker 2: When Mary had him and raised him up, she literally raised a perfect child.
Speaker 2: When his grandparents said I have the perfect grandchild, that's the one time in history they were right, right, my grandchild can do no wrong.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, he's Jesus, you're right, but also he's fully human.
Speaker 2: Why he needed to be able to relate to us and us to him.
Speaker 2: He needed to be able to emphasize with us in our plight.
Speaker 2: He was tempted, as we are.
Speaker 2: He got tired, like we do.
Speaker 2: He had his patience tested like we do.
Speaker 2: He went through hardships, he grieved.
Speaker 2: All the things you and I experienced he experienced even harder, even more intensely.
Speaker 2: So here we've got the perfect weapon against evil to overcome evil and overcome death fully God fully human, fully human, though.
Speaker 2: He never sinned, he never blew it, so he had the ability to be the incarnate.
Speaker 2: John 1, 14, another one of the followers who was there that day for this conversation.
Speaker 2: John said the Word, which is Jesus.
Speaker 2: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 2: It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2: I'd love to show you a quick video of one of my friends here.
Speaker 2: Valerie is her name, had some adversity, because the reason I want you to hear this now is just because we're a Christ follower, we don't get to expect a smooth ride.
Speaker 2: We're still going to suffer, we're still going to see pain, we're still going to grieve, we're still going to have setbacks.
Speaker 2: It's how you respond to that that shapes who the real Jesus is.
Speaker 3: Let's see that it was 7.30 am that my mom called me and she was frantic and she just said you need to pray, pray, pray.
Speaker 3: Beverly was in an accident and Beverly is one of my three sisters.
Speaker 3: I just fell to my knees and was praying, as mom had asked me to do, and crying a lot just because of the uncertainty, and then all of a sudden I could just feel God just hug me, and it was the most real I have ever felt the Lord in my life, Even growing up in church and hearing about who he is and all the miraculous things that he's done.
Speaker 3: And unfortunately, it took tragedy to wake me up.
Speaker 3: That's when I knew that this thing called the Trinity, god and Son, holy Spirit, like that's, like it's real.
Speaker 3: My sister did pass away in that car accident and for the three and a half hours that I didn't know, god was with me, jesus was with me and the Spirit was holding me.
Speaker 3: Even though we had to endure that tragedy, god still brought people to Him and Beverly had finished her time here on earth and so it's time for her to go home, and so we just had to rest in that, knowing that God is sovereign so Valerie and her family are still here, serving faithfully every Sunday.
Speaker 2: Beverly's parents are here today and they're serving faithfully every Sunday.
Speaker 2: They still are men and women of faith.
Speaker 2: They still believe because they know there is a power stronger than death who has the ability to give them an experience coming up one day when they will literally see her again.
Speaker 2: They'll see their sister, their daughter again.
Speaker 2: Can you put that quote up there, christian?
Speaker 2: The quote in front of that one?
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 2: This comes from, actually, one of the Batman movies where Bruce Wayne runs into a girl that he likes and he's trying hard to project the image of the rich playboy, you know, to keep people off the scent of the fact that he's really Batman.
Speaker 2: My question is always be was always with him?
Speaker 2: Was he really Bruce Wayne or was he really Batman?
Speaker 2: And so in this point he's kind of caught acting up in public and the girl that he likes, rachel, is not impressed whatsoever.
Speaker 2: And so, as you can see that quote there where he says you know, that's not really me, there's more, I'm not it.
Speaker 2: And he's trying to back out of the image of Bruce Wayne into that.
Speaker 2: We all go through that period where we're just like that we ask those questions Is there more?
Speaker 2: Is there more to me than I'm offering right now, or is this as good as it gets?
Speaker 2: Well, let's move on.
Speaker 2: There's another reason why he holds the key to your life.
Speaker 2: What he builds will last like last how long?
Speaker 2: Forever.
Speaker 2: That's the way he works.
Speaker 2: Let's look back at Scripture, verse 17 and 18.
Speaker 2: Jesus replied blessed are you, simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man or flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
Speaker 2: He said basically y'all, he's saying you're not smart enough to know this.
Speaker 2: So I know that had to be God telling you this, because you got it right.
Speaker 2: Verse 18, and I tell you that you are Peter.
Speaker 2: He nicknamed him Peter.
Speaker 2: He was Simon bar Jonah, simon's son of Jonah, or what we would say today.
Speaker 2: John Peter says I mean Jesus says at some point you're Peter, which means the rock.
Speaker 2: Point you're Peter, which means the rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell or Hades will not overcome it.
Speaker 2: So let's unpack this just for a second.
Speaker 2: He builds things to last.
Speaker 2: He's announcing I'm going to build my church.
Speaker 2: Ekklesia.
Speaker 2: In the Greek, it was like a gathering place with a special purpose.
Speaker 2: That's what this is.
Speaker 2: We gather for a special purpose.
Speaker 2: I'm going to build my church on this rock.
Speaker 2: So he's talking to a guy he's named Rock.
Speaker 2: Here's the interesting thing the word rock in his application, the word rock in the Greek, when he refers to the church, are two different words.
Speaker 2: The rock for Peter was like a stone, a pebble.
Speaker 2: The rock he says that I'm going to build my church on was a boulder.
Speaker 2: So I think it's possible too.
Speaker 2: He says you're Peter, but on this rock I'm going to build my church because he is the head of the church.
Speaker 2: Right, why is church a big deal?
Speaker 2: Why do I need to go to church?
Speaker 2: Why can't I just be a Christian without a church?
Speaker 2: You can be, you just can't be a good one.
Speaker 2: Because none of us have all the spiritual gifts.
Speaker 2: None of us have the correct doctrine on every point of the Scripture.
Speaker 2: None of us is so good, so talented, so smart that we can pull off what a well-designed spiritual life in a growth mode is by ourselves.
Speaker 2: God deliberately conditioned it to be within a community.
Speaker 2: He put something in us that makes us want to have a community.
Speaker 2: The beauty of it is by His design.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how big a church is or how small a church is.
Speaker 2: If you're connected to a group within the church, that becomes your family, that becomes the point of context.
Speaker 2: Then what goes on in the bigger areas is not as big of a factor on you.
Speaker 2: I've got another friend I'd like to introduce to tell his quick story.
Speaker 2: Eli's his name.
Speaker 4: I guess I would say, like, the reason why I'm so glad that God brought me here is because I met so many of my friends and my you know, people who I've also like have a fellowship with Christ with here.
Speaker 4: You hear so many things from the world telling you to live your life one way.
Speaker 4: You go that path and you're going to find yourself very just unsatisfied and just like you're missing something you know.
Speaker 4: And then one day in my life I decided, you know, I think I need to take that step and just you know, trust in God and just trust, you know, to walk with Jesus more and do the best I can and I'm just so thankful I took that step and to have so many good friends and to have like a fellowship with other Christ followers my age.
Speaker 4: There's people that are there to help back you up, but it's a good feeling to know you're just not alone, to have that support, to have people that you can come to and ask questions about.
Speaker 4: It just changes everything.
Speaker 4: But the thing that brings everyone together is that you know everybody's all looking for a relationship with Christ.
Speaker 4: You just, basically, you just got to take a step of faith.
Speaker 4: I've seen people take the step of faith or stay with it and God doesn't let anyone down.
Speaker 2: I think that's something we always got to remember.
Speaker 2: Appreciate Eli, because Eli didn't grow up here, he moved here.
Speaker 2: He didn't grow up in this church but he came here and he realized as a young man, church.
Speaker 2: But he came here and he realized as a young man I need to be in a group for fellowship because I'm away from home, but also for accountability and also for discipleship.
Speaker 2: My spiritual growth is at stake and he's taken full advantage of that and that's the encouragement because there is more to the life with Christ.
Speaker 2: But much of those lessons and learnings happen within groups.
Speaker 2: So we'll go back to Peter in Matthew.
Speaker 2: He was part of a group.
Speaker 2: He lived with his group for three years and coming out of that he's much more refined and knowledgeable and strong than he even realized he was.
Speaker 2: He's still broken, he's still a sinner, as we all are, but we are redeemed.
Speaker 2: The church has taken some hard shots over past months and years, and many times rightly so.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the universal church, the Christian churches in general.
Speaker 2: Much of it has been well earned, but sometimes it's just so easy to throw out a stereotype Well, I'm spiritual, I don't believe in the church because the church has so many hypocrites or fakers or whatnot in it, and that's also y'all a true statement.
Speaker 2: But name me one organization on the face of the earth that does not have sinful people and hypocrites and fakers in it.
Speaker 2: There is none.
Speaker 2: This is the creation of God to get us there.
Speaker 2: When he redeems people, we all tend to flock together.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what makes the church operate like the church is supposed to.
Speaker 2: It's when the people who are sinful are not in charge.
Speaker 2: It's when Jesus is in charge.
Speaker 2: Now, that's easy to say, but it really can be accomplished.
Speaker 2: He puts Jesus I mean Jesus puts people around to be managers, to be stewards, puts people around to be managers, to be stewards.
Speaker 2: But when people decide I'm going to be the boss and I'm going to take ownership of the place, that's when it jumps the tracks and that's when people get hurt and that's when other people are misled.
Speaker 2: So the main job, it's not hard, it's not rocket science.
Speaker 2: The main thing about a good church that God uses to transform other lives is the people who are put at the top just need to stay out of Jesus' way well enough to let Jesus be Jesus.
Speaker 2: And when Jesus is still in charge, man, you see miracles.
Speaker 2: You see people like Eli who come in at a young age, serious about his relationship, and saying God's preparing me for the rest of my life and I'm going to figure out who I am because that's going to matter, because Jesus can't use me if I don't know who I am.
Speaker 2: Same with Peter when he tells Peter you got it right, but let me tell you that wasn't you, that was God.
Speaker 2: With Peter when he tells Peter you got it right, but let me tell you that wasn't you, that was God.
Speaker 2: He's locating Peter's identity for Peter.
Speaker 2: That's why I'm calling you to rock.
Speaker 2: You're not a big rock yet, you're like a little pebble, but just hang in there.
Speaker 2: Your day's coming.
Speaker 2: And he was, it was.
Speaker 2: There's a third reason.
Speaker 2: This is true.
Speaker 2: He builds to last, but he also calls you.
Speaker 2: He calls you to himself, but then he calls you to a mission also.
Speaker 2: So let's read verses 19 and 20.
Speaker 2: I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 2: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Speaker 2: Then he warned the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.
Speaker 2: Let's look at verse 21.
Speaker 2: Why in the world.
Speaker 2: You know, in a few days, he's going to give them a command to go tell the whole world who he is.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 2: At this point, though, he said you're right, I am him, I am the Messiah, I'm the anointed one, I'm out of heaven, I came here, but hey, don't tell anybody.
Speaker 2: Why in the world would?
Speaker 2: he do this Because they don't understand it yet.
Speaker 2: Peter got the answer right and he didn't even understand it yet, because he had not been convicted and arrested, he had not been crucified yet and resurrected yet.
Speaker 2: So they had an incomplete picture of the gospel because they still were looking for an earthly ruler that would sit on a throne and just boss everybody around.
Speaker 2: That's not him.
Speaker 2: So that's why he's telling he's just trying to not make it so hard on himself later, but he reveals himself first to call you to himself.
Speaker 2: So hey, I'm a simple thinker.
Speaker 2: You want a linear, step-by-step thing of what you need to do.
Speaker 2: The first thing that we all have to do is confess Jesus is Lord of my life, not somebody else's life, but my life.
Speaker 2: You tracking he's got to be personal.
Speaker 2: It's not a religion, it's not a formality, it's not a ritual.
Speaker 2: Jesus, as fully God, fully man, has to be your boss.
Speaker 2: He's got to get permission from you to walk into your life and clean house.
Speaker 2: In my life that meant several years ago.
Speaker 2: He had to break me down to the most basic element and humble me, and it so needed to happen.
Speaker 2: And that's where we all start.
Speaker 2: Well, that doesn't sound like much fun.
Speaker 2: Well, it might not be fun in the moment, but you'll live off of it the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: And once you do that, you invite him into your life by faith, and that's what he is setting the stage for here too.
Speaker 2: That's where the power comes for your life.
Speaker 2: That's where the power for the church comes.
Speaker 2: Then, at that moment you don't know it, I didn't know it.
Speaker 2: At that moment he's preparing you for your life mission.
Speaker 2: You may have more than one.
Speaker 2: Some of them are kind of complicated, some of them are very simple, but all of them are important.
Speaker 2: What he has for you is just as important as what he has for me.
Speaker 2: He does not distinguish between importance.
Speaker 2: You know what he grades us on.
Speaker 2: He doesn't grade us on the power of our calling.
Speaker 2: He grades us on our faithfulness to it.
Speaker 2: You could be sweeping the floor at the back of a production plant, but if you do it to the glory of God and you're faithful to it and you treat people like Jesus would in the process, you're going to be celebrated in heaven.
Speaker 2: One day, you'll have a reward greater than people who have immense power.
Speaker 2: That's what the calling is all about.
Speaker 2: So, randy, god is a God of love, isn't he?
Speaker 2: Jesus loves everybody.
Speaker 2: He does.
Speaker 2: Then all people will eventually go to heaven, right?
Speaker 2: No, not everybody, sadly, we will make that decision.
Speaker 2: Not Him, because here's the other side.
Speaker 2: He is a God of love.
Speaker 2: He loves everybody the same, but he is a God of love.
Speaker 2: He loves everybody the same, but he's also a God of justice.
Speaker 2: And justice says I have to be fair, I have to be just, I have to deal with sin.
Speaker 2: What pardons you is when you ask me to save you, to heal you, to forgive you on this earth and then you live for me.
Speaker 2: If you don't do that, you could be like you can cure cancer and you're not going to heaven.
Speaker 2: That was a place originally prepared for the demons and the devil and all like that.
Speaker 2: But humans now feel it too, because we started sinning and we all sin, and so no, not everyone, sadly, not everyone will go.
Speaker 2: I've got one more friend I want to introduce you to.
Speaker 2: Eric's had that experience.
Speaker 1: I remember my first time coming to Somerville Baptist was to witness a baptism of our dear friends Alex and Aaron Smith and their son Milo.
Speaker 1: We wanted to be there to support them for that.
Speaker 1: I remember leaving being really spiritually uplifted and emotional.
Speaker 1: That evening me and my wife made a pact that we would start to attend church more regularly and we did.
Speaker 1: And we started attending every week, every Sunday.
Speaker 1: I remember Randy preaching one day about being a lukewarm Christian and went home that night and I remember just sitting in bed thinking about it and I believed and I just wasn't sure why I was holding back.
Speaker 1: I made the decision that evening that I was going to devote myself to Christ and be baptized.
Speaker 1: After being baptized, you know I felt like my life was changed forever.
Speaker 1: You know I felt like I became a better husband, a better father.
Speaker 1: You know I felt like a huge weight was lifted off of me.
Speaker 1: I felt like I'd, you know, made a commitment to God.
Speaker 1: I was, you know, promoting the gospel at work, in my job, and it was really resonating with people.
Speaker 1: I felt, you know, it changed me forever in a positive way.
Speaker 2: So the real Jesus is not looking for religious people, he's looking for righteous people and it's a righteousness that he gives you.
Speaker 2: I can't even get that right.
Speaker 2: I can't even be righteous, but I can accept His, and then when he sees me, he sees His own righteousness in Him.
Speaker 2: That's what a Christ follower lives by, and it's the greatest life in the world.
Speaker 2: It is a hard, challenging life, but it is the greatest because then you know who you are, you know who he is, you know where you're headed.
Speaker 2: The pressure is off.
Speaker 2: You just got to live every day to the fullest.
Speaker 2: Live it like it's your last.
Speaker 2: That's all you're accountable for at this point.
Speaker 2: So tell me one more time how it happens you got to confess.
Speaker 2: Jesus is Lord.
Speaker 2: He is who he says he is.
Speaker 2: He's real.
Speaker 2: He came to love you.
Speaker 2: He came to love you into his kingdom.
Speaker 2: He wants you.
Speaker 2: He'll love you into his kingdom right now, as you are.
Speaker 2: He'll change you on the other side.
Speaker 2: That's why he created the church.
Speaker 2: The church is not perfect, but the church is the bride of Jesus and the church is beautiful when it can love someone and allow them the freedom to grow in their faith.
Speaker 2: How do I do that the Bible says confess with your mouth, that's pray.
Speaker 2: Believe in your heart, that's trust Him.
Speaker 2: If you're willing to trust Him to be who he is.
Speaker 2: You just said Jesus.
Speaker 2: Well, I tell you what.
Speaker 2: I got a better idea.
Speaker 2: Why don't I pray to Him and you pray silently as I pray out loud?
Speaker 2: And then, if you've prayed that prayer for the very first time, take one of those contact cards and just check on the back there's check.
Speaker 2: It on the top says I asked Jesus into my life today and just let us know We'd like to send you some stuff to start reading and fellowship with you and maybe talk about baptism.
Speaker 2: If you need to do that, we'll be here to pray with you.
Speaker 2: We'll be here to accept membership into this church.
Speaker 2: We'll be here to lead you and guide you to Jesus too, if you need to do that.
Speaker 2: So why don't y'all stand?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pray that special prayer and then we'll see you down here.
Speaker 2: Lord, I believe.
Speaker 2: I believe you are who you say you are.
Speaker 2: I believe you are King Jesus, son of God, fully God that you hold the key to my life.
Speaker 2: Please forgive me of my sins.
Speaker 2: Please come into my life.
Speaker 2: I trust you by faith.
Speaker 2: I want to walk with you.
Speaker 2: I want to be a Christ follower today.
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming into my life.
Speaker 2: Thank you for loving me, amen.
Speaker 2: See you down front.