Praising through Pain

Good Morning, Bethany Evangelical Free Church:

I count it an honor to be with you all today

And, I’m doubly honored to share the message with you this morning

Thank you Pastor Zach and leadership for the opportunity to share

My name is Ernie Rivera and I serve as a CP at Liquid Church:

My wife, Pilar and I, live in Bloomfield with our two boys, Isaiah and Joshua and our Goldendoodle, Toby

I’m going to pray and we’ll get right into the message today...

The title of today’s message is simply this:

Praising through the Pressure

Your bottom line this morning, is simply this:

Our praise is determined by our PERSPECTIVE of Jesus.

We’re going to look at a text in the book of Philippians 4:

The context really makes this powerful text even more powerful

The Book of Philippians is written by the apostle Paul

Now, Paul was very strategic — one of his top goals in life was to preach the gospel in Rome

He believed he could influence a big portion of the world if he could just reach Rome

So his big dream was go to Rome to preach the gospel.

The problem is, he did get to Rome, but not as a preacher:

Instead, he was there as a prisoner.

In fact, as he's writing the Letter of Philippians, he's writing it under 24-hour-a-day house arrest.

He's locked up, non-stop, to a Roman guard, awaiting trial.

Month after month after month goes by. He has no idea what's gonna happen to him.

He could be executed, this could be the end of his life.

If there's anyone ripe for anxiety, it's the apostle Paul awaiting judgment upon him as he's wrongfully accused, sitting in a Roman prison. He could've been incredibly anxious. And out of that context, he writes this in Philippians 4:6. Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always."

This is one of those verses that you’d find on:

a refrigerator magnet

Greeting card

Coffee mug

It’s one of those verses that’s easy to quote to someone ànd harder to live out

Paul says, “rejoice in the world ALWAYS?”

Rejoice when spouse lies you?

When battling cancer?

Lose scholarship?

Boyfriend cheated?

Child drugs?

Make rent?

Leave house?

Philippians 4:4–7 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

we're looking in Philippians chapter four. Now, if you don't know the context, the context really makes this powerful text even more powerful. The Book of Philippians is written by the apostle Paul. Now, Paul was very strategic. And one of his top goals in life was to go to Rome to preach the gospel. Because Paul knew if he could reach the leaders in Rome, there was so much commerce, so much influence coming out of Rome, that he believed he could influence a big portion of the world if he could just reach Rome. So his big dream was go to Rome to preach the gospel. The problem is, he did get to Rome, but not as a preacher. Instead, he was there as a prisoner. In fact, as he's writing the Letter of Philippians, he's writing it under 24-hour-a-day house arrest. He's locked up, non-stop, to a Roman guard, awaiting trial. Month after month after month goes by. He has no idea what's gonna happen to him. He could be executed, this could be the end of his life. If there's anyone ripe for anxiety, it's the apostle Paul awaiting judgment upon him as he's wrongfully accused, sitting in a Roman prison. He could've been incredibly anxious. And out of that context, he writes this in Philippians 4:6. Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." Then he sounds like your mama because he repeats it. If you weren't listening, then I'll say it again. Rejoice! Out of a place where he could've been overwhelmed and overcome with anxiety, angst, tension, weight, breathlessness, he says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. "I'll say it again, rejoice." That is an amazing verse for a coffee mug. That is amazing verse for a refrigerator magnet. It's a powerful verse for a greeting card. That is an unbelievably spiritual verse to quote to your friends. I hate, though, when people quote that to me when I'm in the middle of a difficult situation. Right? You get a flat tire on the side of the road, it's 102 degrees out, and someone says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." I'll make you rejoice if you say that to me again. Like, really, really, Paul? I mean, seriously? Rejoice always? Under all circumstances? Really, Paul? Rejoice when you find out your spouse has been lying to you? Then rejoice? Rejoice when you lose your job and you don't know how you're gonna make rent, rejoice? Rejoice when your best friend betrays you or your boyfriend cheats on you, rejoice? Rejoice when you find out that your child's been making horrible decisions? Rejoice when you can't sleep at night and the anxiety is so real, so deep, that you don't even wanna leave your house? Rejoice then, Paul? Out of that context, awaiting his judgment, Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. "I'll say it again, rejoice. "Let your gentleness be evident to all "because the Lord is near." He talks about anxiety. He says, "Don't be anxious about anything, "but in every situation, by prayer and petition, "with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, "will guards your hearts and your minds "in Christ Jesus." How could Paul rejoice when he's locked up? How could he praise God when he wanted to preach, but he goes to bed as a prisoner? The answer is, it's all about perspective. It's all about perspective. The title for today's message is this: The Perspective of Praise. The Perspective of Praise. What does perspective mean? Perspective very simply means how you see something. In other words, two different people can look at the same thing and they can see it from two different--

- [Congregation] Perspectives.

- I gotta work with you guys. I mean, seriously. I've been doing this all weekend long. If I'm doing this by myself, I'm just gonna go home, okay? It's all about--

- [All] Perspective.

- In fact, the word perceive in the Latin, it actually means, to look through. It means to look through. For example, for years, I thought that every single person on the planet Earth was lying about magic eyes. Who knows what a magic eye is? Raise your hand, all of our churches, if you know a magic eye. You may know what it is, but you don't know the name magic eye. Magic eye is a picture that's got colors on it that are just kinda everywhere and it looks like nothing but colors. And then some of you have claimed that if you look at the magic eye in just the right way, the 3D images will jump off it and there might be circuses and there might be stadiums and villages and stuff that you can see. And this ol' color blind preacher has just been convinced that you're all lying until one day on family vacation, we went to a wax museum, of which I'm not proud to tell you once you go once, you never go back, but we went to a wax museum. And my family was looking at wax, but they had a magic eye, and I decided I wasn't leaving until I saw something 3D. So I got a mentor, one of the guys that worked there who kinda coached me through it, and he said, "What you have to do is you have to "kind of squat down like you're gonna get a ground ball." So I'm in the ready position and I'm squatting down. And he says, "You have to look through it." Look through it, how do you look through it? You look through it, you look beyond it, you look through it, you look through it. I'm looking through it, I look through it for so long, I think I finally got drunk, like drunk. And in a moment, God as my witness, 3D dolphins jump off the page. I was so excited! I threw my hands up in victory. The moment I moved, I lost it. I never saw it again, but I'm here to tell you that for a moment, I saw the 3D dolphins. How do you see 'em? Listen to me. You have to look through it. It's all about perspective. I wanna talk to you today about a perspective of praise. The apostle Paul could've looked at his situation at face value, and you know what he would've said? This is really bad. This is not good. This is ripe for anxiety. How can I function? My ministry is over, my dreams are crushed. This could've been really bad. In fact, what I wanna do is I wanna show you a scripture that's very close to what he actually said, but it's from a different version of the Bible. It's from the BPV, BPV. If you've never heard of the BPV version, like the NIV, the NLT, there's the BPV. Reason you haven't heard of it is 'cause I made it up. BPV stands for the Bad Perspective Version, and quite often, this is the very way you look at your situation and the very way I look at my situation. It's all about perspective. Had the apostle Paul had a bad perspective, what he could've said was this. "Now, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, "that what's happened to me really sucks. "My God let me down. "I'm overwhelmed with anxiety, "depression, and hopelessness." "And because of the hell I've been through, "I'm quitting LifeGroup and I'm never going back to church." Can anybody relate to the Bad Perspective Version? We look at our situation. This is bad, I've got anxiety, it's getting worse, I can't function, I don't know what to do. It's about perspective. But instead, what the apostle Paul did, is he did look at a very bad situation. We're not minimizing the situation, but he looked at it through a perspective of praise. We're gonna rejoice in the Lord always and through a perspective of praise, this is exactly what the apostle Paul said. He said, "I want you to know, brothers and sisters," watch this, "that what has happened to me," all this thing that looks bad, "what's happened to me has actually served "to advance the gospel. "As a result, it's become clear "throughout the whole palace guard "and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ." In other words, through a perspective of praise, you might look at this and think, I didn't feel like it was good. I thought it was really bad, but then I realized, my God will never leave me. He will never forsake me. No weapon formed against me will prosper. No, no, no, my God is working for good in all things. Therefore, I've got a perspective of praise. I see that what really happened actually served to advance the gospel. In fact, for a long time, they thought I was their prisoner. They had no idea that they were locking up some of the most influential Roman leaders to me for eight hours at a time for me to preach the gospel to them. Who is the real prisoner now? Somebody say, it's all about perspective.

- [Congregation] It's all about perspective.

- You can look at the very same situation and say, this is bad, this is horrible, I can't stand this, or you could have a perspective of praise, a perspective of praise. God, now that I look at this way, I actually see that You are in this, You're working for good. What's happened to me actually served to advance the gospel. What's so powerful is that this isn't the first time that the apostle Paul was actually in prison. In fact, you can read another time in Acts chapter 16, and who knows how many other times? May not even be recorded in scripture. There are multiple ones that we know about, but in Acts 16, Paul and Silas, they were going to their LifeGroup, essentially. They were going to a place of prayer. Did I tell you that LifeGroups are starting next month, that life is better together? They were kinda going to their LifeGroup and there was this woman possessed with an evil spirit. And when they cast the evil spirit out of this woman, a gang fight broke out, a big riot, and they ended up being arrested, beaten by the crowd, and then ordered to be beaten by the religious leaders, or the magistrates. In fact, this is what scripture says in verse 22, that "the crowds joined in the attack against Paul and Silas "and the magistrates ordered them "to be stripped and beaten with rods." I'm hoping that none of you will be stripped of your clothes this week and beaten with rods, but there are some of you who might be stripped of your confidence. You're stripped of your faith right now. You're trying to have faith, but you just can't find it. You're beaten down with anxiety. You're beaten down with your doubts. You're doing everything you can to hold onto your faith, but the anxiety feels so real that you just can't press through it. The apostle Paul and Silas were doing everything right. They were beaten and thrown into prison. I want you just, for a moment, to try to visualize this. They're in prison, maybe broken nose, perhaps, maybe a couple of broken ribs, wiping dried blood off. I mean, we're talking like really severely beaten on a cold, hard prison floor, and they're in this situation. So you know what they decided to do? Well, things are really bad. This isn't fair. We might as well have a worship night. That's what they did. It'd be kind of the equivalent of you finding out that someone you love has cancer, so you say, hey, let's just get together and worship God. Or hey, I just discovered my kid's on drugs. Let's get together and worship God. That's kinda what it's like. How did they do that? It's a matter of perspective. Here's what happened to me working with my counselor. When I say I had unusual anxiety, it's because it's unusual, meaning I haven't had anxiety like this before, and it was so real, it's like, can't catch your breath, can't function type of anxiety. That's how severe it was, and that's why I asked for help. And so I'm working with my counselor, and basically said, "How bad is it? "I'm in trouble. "I'm in trouble." So we went through a long series of questions, and when we got the end of it, he said, "Well, I've got really good news for you. "You're not in that much trouble." I said, "No, you don't understand, I'm in trouble." He said, "No, you don't understand. "You're not in that much trouble. "I know trouble, you're not in that much trouble." He said, "You have an issue that's very real, "but when you look at everything else, "you've got a lot of good in your life." And I'm looking at it through my anxiety, and he's looking at it through a different perspective. He said, "Physically, you're in really great shape. "Your diet is almost flawless. "You're not abusing any kind of substances. "You're ridiculously love with your wife, "and everybody knows it." And yes, I'm flirting with you, and yes, I love you, and yes, you're my bride, and yes, just yes. Just yes. Whatever you want, yes. "And you have a great relationship with your kids, "and you're not missing family events "because you're not able to function, "and you've got incredible relationships around you, "people that really care about you." He said, "There's so many things that are right, "the reason that you're panicking "is 'cause you're just looking at what's wrong, "but don't forget to look what also is what's right." I don't know who this is for right now, but there's someone here, you do have an issue, and it's big, and I'm not minimizing it in the least. Maybe two issues, maybe complicated and three issues. Those are real, but don't forget to look at the whole picture. Do you have friends? Perhaps you do. Do you have your health? Perhaps you do. Do you still have a glimmer of faith? Just a mustard seed of faith 'cause you can move mountains if that's the kind of faith that you have. Do you have a church of people that care for you? Don't just look at what's wrong. Also look at what's right. How could they, when they've been beaten, falsely charged, worship God? Maybe Paul leaned over to Silas, said, "Well, there's a lot of bad, but we're not dead! "If we're not dead, we're not done!" If you've got a lot of bad in your life, at least you can say that. I'm not dead. If I'm not dead, I'm not done. You can look at it from a different perspective and what they did is said, "Let's just go ahead and worship God." Here's what they did, verse 25. "About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying "and singing hymns to God, "and all the other prisoners were listening to them." Now, I want you to notice this. They were praying and they were singing hymns when they were bound up in prison. In other words, God had not delivered them from prison. There was no miraculous provision. There was no miracle. They weren't praising God at this moment for the what, they were just praising Him for the who. That's way better than your responses, I promise you right now. Somebody in Wellington, maybe you can help me out, and this crowd's gonna wake up here in a little while. This wasn't praise for the what, this was praise for the, this was praise before the provision. This was praise for the character and the nature and the goodness of God. It wasn't praise for what they had seen, it was just praise for who God is. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert, if you don't know what happens, I'm gonna tell you the end of the story and we're gonna come back and look at it in a minute, but I want you to understand the context. In a little bit, in the middle of their praise, God is gonna show up in the middle of their praise. He's gonna shake the cell with an earthquake. The doors are gonna swing open and their chains are gonna fall off. Why do I tell you that now? Because knowing what God has done, but what God did not do when Paul was in prison in Rome brings way more power to the truth when he says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." Because Paul knew, from Rome, the power of God to deliver him from the exact same problem. God knew, God could deliver him from prison, but God did not and Paul still offered Him praise. That brings color to the idea of rejoice in the Lord, always. Rejoice when He delivers you and rejoice when He doesn't because this is not praise for the what, you see. This is praise for the who. This is a deeper type of praise. This is when it hit me, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about my own anxiety, and I promise you, once we're through with this series, I'm not gonna bleed all over you all the time. And I wanna tell you thank you for listening, and I also wanna just say that I know that my situation's not any worse than anybody else's, and I'm not looking for sympathy. Everybody's got their stuff, okay? This is just my version of my stuff. So this week I had a little less than two study days, and I had four full messages to write and preach. That's too much. I had the weekend message, which is very, very important. I had the All Staff message, which is very important because all 700 of us get together four times a year. This drives the culture and the spiritual passion of the church. I had a message very dear to me to speak to. Hope is Alive, a great group of helping people overcome addictions, and I had a leadership podcast, which honestly goes to more than all the rest of those things combined. Pressure, less than two days. So I'm sitting at my desk, and this message on praise and perspective is not coming together for me. And I'm feeling anxiety, and suddenly I get a shortness of breath, and I'm panicking. I can't get this one done. I've got three more to do. I've got less than a day and a half. This isn't gonna work. Panic. Then I think to myself, okay, what am I telling the church to do? I'm telling them to praise. Maybe I should praise. I don't feel like praising right now. They can do it, I'll tell them, I'm the pastor, then they do what I say, I don't wanna praise. So I did a little version of praise. It wasn't like, deep real faith praise. It was kinda like, how far did, all right, God, I'm pretty convinced You're still there and thinking You're gonna do something. That's kinda where it started. And over time, it turned into real praise. God, You're good, God, I trust You, God, You always come through for me. God, You're the God who provides. And then it hit me. And I just started crying, just right there. And I put the message aside because it was done in that moment. Done, it hit me. Here's what hit me. I told you that this is unusual for anxiety for me. In other words, in the past, I would've had compassion for you, but not deep empathy because I hadn't felt it. This is just behind the scenes, my world. I can preach an entire message, go home, go to work on Monday, and I can hear nothing about it. No feedback, no one says anything like that. I just don't hear much. The bigger the church gets, the less you hear. It's just part of the nature because, honestly, we don't see each other at the restaurant 'cause I'm doing take out and going home and you don't have my cell phone, I don't have yours. So how would I hear? Just not gonna hear anything. This message series, I'm hearing a lot, which feeds my soul. In other words, it is speaking to a certain group of people in a very, very deep way. And that's when it dawned on me, and that's when my message was finished in the moment and I couldn't hold back the tears because, through a bad perspective, I can't handle this, but through a perspective of praise, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what's happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel, you see. That what I'm going through now is actually helping somebody else, and I don't know who this is for, and certainly not for everybody because I'm not gonna tell you if you just praise, the anxiety goes away. It might, it might not. But I will tell you, praise will change your perspective. It will change your perspective. And in that moment, my perspective changed and I realized, hey, if that's what it takes for me, when my life calling is to offer life, hope, and faith to people who are hurting, to point them to Jesus, if it takes some real anxiety to get me to the place of effectiveness, then bring it on, Jesus because what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. Suddenly, there was purpose connected to my pain. There was purpose, and you may not see it now, but what you're going through now might actually be a ministry to somebody else later because you're experiencing the grace of God to help you get through it. It's all a matter of perspective. Now, I want you to imagine, if you can, this context. Paul and Silas were beaten, bloody, they're in prison, and they decide to worship. In fact, if I could have all of our campuses, our worship leaders, just come forward and the bands position themselves, I'm gonna read to you from the text, and then I'm gonna try to help you see it. It's midnight. "About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying. "They're singing hymns to God, "and the other prisoners were listening." Suddenly, boom, God shows up. When does God show up? He doesn't show up before, but he shows up during their praise, during their praise, during their praise. "Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake "that the foundations of the prisons were shaken. "All at once, all the prison doors flew open "and everyone's chains came loose." All at once, visualize it, visualize it. See if you can see it. It's midnight. There's no visible reason to praise God. They're in jail, they got a broken rib, maybe, broken nose, perhaps. And Paul leans over to Silas, who might be asleep on the floor and says, "Hey, Si." That's his nickname. If your buddy ain't got a nickname, he ain't a buddy. Everybody's got a nickname, Si. "Si, hey, Si, you awake? "Si? "Si, you awake? "Hey, hey." "Huh, yeah, yeah, yeah." "Si, I was just thinking." "What, Paul?" "I was just thinking, man. "We're still alive. "We still got breath. "Our God is still on the throne. "Hey, Jesus is risen. "He's at the right hand of the Father. "He's praying for us. "Why don't we just give Him a little bit of praise? "Why don't we just worship him? "There's a lot of reasons "we could be anxious right now." Si says, "That's a great idea, Paul. "What song you wanna sing?" Paul goes, "Ah, man, let's sing that one. "You know, my favorite one, you know that one. "You know that one Life.Church wrote? "Let's do that one." Pastor Chris Kudi, I'm gonna need your help on this. Let's just pretend like you're Si.

- Hey, Paul.

- That's a nice jacket, Si.

- Thanks.

- Si, why don't we sing that one? You know the one, like we're waiting here, believing God's gonna do something, but God hadn't done anything yet? You know the one where we say, I will lift my hands while I'm waiting? Let's do that one. ♪ And I will lift my hands ♪ ♪ While I'm waiting ♪ ♪ Louder than my fears ♪ ♪ I will sing ♪ ♪ And may my heart ♪ ♪ Ever be reminded ♪ ♪ You are good ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪

- Every Life.Church location, why don't you just stand to your feet if you will? Every church, stand to your feet. ♪ I will lift my hands ♪

- [Craig] You can lift your hands if you want to. ♪ While I'm waiting ♪

- Tell him He's good. ♪ Louder than my fears ♪ ♪ I will sing ♪ ♪ And may my heart ♪ ♪ Ever be reminded ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪ ♪ You are good ♪

- Visualize it if you can. Paul and Silas, they're praying, they're singing hymns. They're worshiping God for who He is, not just for what He might do, and in the middle of their praise, the ground shakes. The doors fly open. Their chains come loose. In the middle of their praise, in the middle of the praise, in the middle of the praise, sometimes you might find out that the key that unlocks your miracle is the sound of your praise. We praise You, God, for who You are. We praise You, God. I have a feeling today, I don't know who it is, but somebody, somewhere, is gonna wanna give our good God some praise. You're gonna wanna praise Him, even in the middle of the pain. You're gonna wanna praise Him when He breaks you out, and you'll praise Him when he doesn't. You're gonna rejoice in the Lord always. You've got a perspective of praise. It's all about perspective, it's all about perspective, it's all about perspective. Jesus, we will praise You when we feel You and we'll praise You when we don't. We will praise You in the prosperity, and we will praise You in the pain. We know, God, that what is happening to us eventually, by faith, will actually serve to advance the gospel. We're not praising You for the what. This is for the who. Somebody lift up your hands and give Him praise while you're waiting. ♪ I will lift my hands ♪ ♪ While I'm waiting ♪

- His name is Jesus. ♪ Louder than my fears ♪

- Give him praise. ♪ I will sing ♪

- His name is above every name He is risen. ♪ May my heart ♪

- He is with you. ♪ Ever be reminded ♪

- He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. ♪ You are good ♪

- He is always good. ♪ You are good ♪

- Give him praise. ♪ You are good ♪ ♪ And I will lift my hands ♪ ♪ While I'm waiting ♪ ♪ Louder than my fears ♪ ♪ I will sing ♪ ♪ May my heart ♪ ♪ Ever be reminded ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪ ♪ You are good ♪ Sing. ♪ I will lift my hands ♪ ♪ While I'm waiting ♪

- Give Him praise. Come on, church. ♪ Louder than my fears ♪ ♪ I will sing ♪ ♪ And may my heart ♪ ♪ Ever be reminded ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪ ♪ You are good ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Even in the unknown ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I know You are good ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Even in the waiting ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Even in the unknown ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I know that You are good ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Even in the waiting ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪ ♪ You are good ♪ ♪ No matter what, Lord ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good ♪ ♪ You are good ♪ ♪ I believe it ♪ ♪ You are good, You are good, ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus You are ♪

- [Craig] Come on, church, if you know He's good, give Him some praise today, give Him some praise, give Him some praise. ♪ I believe it ♪

- Thank Him for who He is. ♪ I believe ♪

- Not just what He does or who He is. Jesus, we praise You that You are here. We praise You that You are faithful, that You'll never leave us, You'll never forsake us. We ask God for Your presence to do what only You can do. God, send Your spirit to give us a piece that goes beyond our human ability to understand. God, we cast our cares upon You. And all of our churches, with nobody looking around, those who have something to surrender to God, a weight, a burden, you're looking at it maybe from the wrong perspective. You want a perspective of praise. You wanna thank Him in the middle of it. You wanna trust Him even when you don't see how the provision, the answer, the solution might come. If that's you, just lift up a hand toward heaven today. All our of our different churches, lift up our hands. God, we ask for the power of Your Holy Spirit to minister to us today. God, give us the faith to praise You when we don't feel it, when we don't see it, when we can barely catch our breath. We thank You that You are our breath, that You are present, that You never leave us, God. We cast our cares by faith upon You because You do care for us, God. Because You care about everything, we will not worry about anything. We will seek You, we'll choose to trust You. Spirit, bring comfort today. God, I pray for a miraculous provision. God, we know that sometimes, the sound of our praise touches Your heart. And just send miracles, God. We pray for healing, we pray for financial provision, we pray for relational healing, God, we pray for emotional healing. We pray for a calming of anxious hearts. And God, when You move, we'll praise You, and God, when we don't see what we hope to see, we will still praise You. That's simply because of who You are. As you keep praying at every location, nobody looking around, there are those of you, you may be a bit confused. Why do these people sing like that? Why do they worship like that? I don't seem to have that. What was it that changed Paul's perspective from prison? He said, "All this has happened to me "to advance the gospel." What is the gospel? The gospel's just kind of a big word that means, the good news. What is the good news? Well, the bad news is this, that without Jesus, on our own, we've all messed up, we've all sinned. If you're really, really honest, you do some things you're ashamed of. And you might wonder, where do I stand with God because of this? That's the bad news, the good news is that God loved you, He loved me so much that He actually became one of us in the person of His son, Jesus. It's a mystery, it's a miracle. God in the flesh, Jesus, the son of God. Jesus was all God and all man, all at the same time, and He came from people like us, people who were messed up, people who were hurting, broken, desperate, lost, lonely, and afraid, and Jesus didn't leave us there. But He became sin for us on the cross, died in our place for the forgiveness of sins. The good news is, on the third day, three days after He gave His life, our good God raised Jesus from the dead. The tomb was empty, He is not there. Why? So that anyone, and this includes you, doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter how dark your life is, doesn't matter how deep your sin resides, anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven. You would be brand new. There are those of you at all of our churches, you realize, I am here for this moment. I'm listening to a podcast for this moment. I'm watching it on YouTube for this moment. I'm here because I need His grace. I need His forgiveness, what do you do? Just turn from your sins, turn toward Him, call on the name that is above every name. When you call on the name of Jesus, He hears your prayers, He forgives your sins, He makes you brand new. All of our churches, those who say, yes, I need Him, this is my moment, I turn to Him. I give Him my whole life. Jesus, I need You, I give my life to You. If that's your prayer, lift your hands high now. All over the place, lift them up. Right back here and right back here and here as well. God bless you guys. Others of you right back here. Say, yes, Jesus. Lift up your hand high so I can see you right back over here. Others today, say, yes, Jesus. I trust You, I surrender. Right back over here. Thank God for you right over here as well. Social line, you click right below me. Oh my goodness, I don't wanna go too fast. Right back here, somebody oughta give God some praise right now. Somebody oughta give God some praise right now. Can I have everybody join your hearts and your voices in prayer with those around you? Pray, heavenly father.

- Heavenly father.

- [Craig] Forgive all of my sins.

- [Congregation] Forgive all of my sins.

- [Craig] Make me brand new.

- [Congregation] Make me brand new.

- [Craig] Fill me with your spirit.

- [Congregation] Fill me with your spirit.

- So I can serve Jesus.

- So I can serve Jesus

- And show His love

- [Congregation] And show His love

- In all that I do.

- [Congregation] In all that I do.

- My life is not my own.

- [Congregation] My life is not my own.

- I give it all to You.

- I give it all to You.

- Thank you for new life. And now you have mine.

- Now you have mine.

- In Jesus' name, I pray. Oh, come on, somebody oughta give God some praise.