Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Hey, New Life Gillette Church. We are thrilled you decided to listen to our teaching on your favorite podcast app. If you made a decision to follow Christ today, would you let us know by visiting? Yes.newlife gillette.com Here is this week's teaching.
[00:00:25] Jesus changes everything.
[00:00:28] Amen.
[00:00:30] That's why we're here. That's why we gather. That's why this morning, this room is more full than I've ever seen it before. Because Jesus changes everything. And I just want to say this at the beginning, just in case this isn't clear by everything we do all the time. We believe that.
[00:00:45] We believe Jesus died and rose again. We don't believe it like a rabbit's foot. We don't believe it like, just in case, you know, we die. We want to make sure that we don't go to hell. It's. It's not a just in case. We believe it like it's the truest thing that's ever happened. We believe it like there's nothing more true and more important than that. Because if it's true, everything's different. And if it's not true, what are you doing here? You could have slept in.
[00:01:07] Jesus changes everything.
[00:01:10] We're going to be in Luke chapter 19. This morning we're reading a story that if you grew up in church, then you've probably heard. You probably know a song about, but it's not normally and Easter sermon. It's a story about a wee little man. A wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord. He wanted us. Some of you guys need exactly as much therapy as I do, and it's great to hear.
[00:01:31] All right, Luke chapter 19. Starting in verse one, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said, zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, he's gone to be the guest of a sinner.
[00:02:08] But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, he here and now. I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Jesus Said to him today, salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and save the lost.
[00:02:31] Let's pray.
[00:02:35] Jesus, there's nothing more important than you dying and rising again for us.
[00:02:42] Jesus, in this next few minutes, make my opinions stand out so we can just throw them away. Nobody needs my opinions today or any other day. But if there's anything we talk about that's consistent to your character and faithful to your word, would you bury it in our hearts? Would you make it come alive to us, Jesus? Because we want to be like you. That's why we're here.
[00:03:05] Amen.
[00:03:07] I have a question for you. Have you ever felt out of place before? Felt like you didn't fit in? Maybe you went to a party or you went to a restaurant. You're just like, oh, this is not where I belong.
[00:03:18] I feel like I should say this right here at the beginning. If you feel like that at church, if you're in church this morning and you're like, somebody drugged me here. But these are not my people. I'm not a church person. Church people are not my people.
[00:03:29] I just want to tell you, you might be surprised. We take Come as you are very seriously here at New Life. And if you're here thinking, yeah, I've had experiences in church before and I just didn't really like it, I didn't feel welcome there. You're surrounded by people who are here because they've had similar experiences. We take Come as you are very, very seriously.
[00:03:47] Anyone, anyone can come to Jesus. And if anyone can come to Jesus, anyone's welcome in this room.
[00:03:52] When I was in college, I dated a girl from for a while. And the best way to describe the difference between the two of us is that our families came from different tax brackets.
[00:04:02] Hers a much higher tax bracket than mine.
[00:04:05] She came from the type of family where they would somewhat often go out to a restaurant that required a dress code. Like, they'd kick you out if you look like me.
[00:04:15] And I grew up in a family where if we ate out, it was to a pizza buffet because you got to make that $7, go as far as you can. And you remember those chocolate chip cookie pizzas.
[00:04:25] Amen. God invented those and heaven's gonna be full of them. And no one will be gluten free like me, so you'll be able to eat all the ones you want. I can't wait.
[00:04:33] Anyway, one time she decided that she wanted to go on a date to a restaurant like her family went to instead of Taco Bell, where I took her, and I could afford that. So she finds this restaurant. I look it up. It's called La Belle V. I still remember the name. I'm pretty sure that's French for, you can't afford to eat here.
[00:04:53] I looked it up. I checked my bank account. I thought, I have just enough in my bank account to probably pay for this meal. And I have overdraft protection, so we're probably fine.
[00:05:03] And we drive up to the place, you know, and first red flag, there's a valet. I am way more comfortable with a buffet than a valet. Give me Golden Corral any day, man.
[00:05:14] But we go in, the floors to this restaurant are marble. I mean, crazy high ceilings. I'm wearing, like, half of my clothes are from Goodwill. And. And the wait staff is dressed super nice. And I'm walking in, and I'm like, they can tell.
[00:05:26] They know I don't belong here. I don't know how they can tell, but they can tell for sure. And the thing is, I was right. Because not long after we sat down, the waiter came up, and he didn't say these words exactly, but basically what he said was, this is your first time in a restaurant like this, isn't it? And I said, yes. Can we leave?
[00:05:43] Here's the crazy thing about the whole thing. We actually. We were so hungry, we got so little food at this restaurant, we had to split a meal because that's all I could afford, which they normally don't do. But the waiter was like, we'll make an exception for you, buddy.
[00:05:56] On the way home, I checked my bank account one more time, and we got Burger King because we were still hungry.
[00:06:01] Here's why I tell you that silly story, because Zacchaeus would have felt a lot like I did walking into that restaurant. Zacchaeus didn't fit in anywhere he went.
[00:06:13] Now, that's not obvious in the story because Zacchaeus was wealthy. It says that very clearly. Zacchaeus was wealthy. So we kind of imagine that means he owned the room. Anywhere he went, people were always looking at him, wanted him around. But what's not as obvious to us in the modern world is that Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and there was nothing worse you could do as a Jewish man. We know Zacchaeus was Jewish because his name was Jewish and he lived in the nation of Israel, so. So he was Jewish. The worst thing a Jewish man could do was to become a tax collector for the Romans. The Romans were overlords. They were military Overlords who ruled the known world. And Zacchaeus had decided, instead of staying loyal to my people, I'm going to make some money and I'm going to collect taxes for the people that my people hate. The best way that I thought of to understand this a little bit is just to imagine something with me. I want you to imagine that the state of Idaho decided to invade Wyoming and they took us over. I know they couldn't. Just calm down. I know they'll never take us. They couldn't take us alive. We'll never surrender.
[00:07:13] Just imagine. Imagine this with me for a second, though. Imagine that Idaho invaded Wyoming and they took over and they bring their military and they set up martial law. They kick out all of our police, all of our sheriffs, and they start enforcing the law with their military, right? So everywhere you go, you see people in Idaho military uniforms reminding you you're. You're not free anymore. Someone else is in charge.
[00:07:38] And then these people from Idaho. Idahoans, Is that what you call them? I don't know. The people from Idaho decide they're gonna start collecting taxes.
[00:07:47] They say, gonna collect a lot of taxes. Cause they gotta fund this military campaign. So they go in and they say, you know what? Let's just call it 30%, 40%, maybe something, you know, they'll feel it for sure, but it'll help us out.
[00:08:00] But they decide, you know what? It would be better to have a local collect the taxes for us.
[00:08:06] They probably won't kill their neighbor. They might kill us. We know everybody in Wyoming is armed, so I know most of you are armed too. So I'm being really careful what I say this morning.
[00:08:19] So they go to your next door neighbor, they knock on your next door neighbor's door and they say, hey, listen, we're going to collect taxes. Taxes are going to be 30%. We're not going to tell anybody it's 30%, though. I mean, the rumors got out a little. But we're not going to announce that. You can tell people how much you want to collect.
[00:08:36] We just need our 30%.
[00:08:38] So if you collect 35%, we don't care where it goes as long as we get our 30. If you collect 45, if you collect 60%, we don't care as long as we get our 30. You do what you want.
[00:08:52] So what happens? Your neighbor says, yes.
[00:08:54] And your neighbor comes around and says, yeah, taxes are 35% this year. And you say, wasn't it supposed to be 30? And he says, yeah, man, those people from Idaho, they Jacked the rates up again. Crazy. And then next year it's 45%. Yeah, those people from Idaho, right, They're crazy. They keep raising the prices, and then it's 50% over and over again. All the while you don't know for sure that your neighbor's on the take. But you got a pretty good idea, because he started wearing a brand new pair of Lucchese, and now he's got a hot tub, and he's got a brand new King Ranch, and he's starting to build onto his house, and all of a sudden he's got money he didn't have before. And. And the only difference is he's now collecting taxes from you. For the Romans, you start to read between the lines. Let me ask you a question. Does he get invited to the barbecue anymore?
[00:09:34] I didn't think so.
[00:09:36] Neither did Zacchaeus.
[00:09:38] Zacchaeus was a tax collector. The Romans were the military superpower that controlled the known world. Not an exaggeration. They literally controlled the known world. And they used their military. They would set up fake puppet governments underneath them, but they controlled everything. And everywhere you would go, you would see Roman soldiers and Roman centurions enforcing the law, reminding you that you're not free. It might feel a little free, but it's pretend. The Romans are in charge, and the Romans would. Would convert locals into tax collectors.
[00:10:07] So Zacchaeus, nobody wanted him around from his neighborhood anymore. The thing is, the Romans didn't want him around either, because he wasn't Roman.
[00:10:15] Everywhere he went, he was doing what all of us do, trying to make life better. Right? It's easy for us to look at Zacchaeus and say, my goodness, I would never do something like that. What a garbage person. I mean, he's a scumbag who would turn on their friends and their neighbors like that, who would do that. But the thing is, Zacchaeus would look back at us and say, really? You wouldn't take the chance to make money. I mean, the Romans were going to take the taxes anyway. You're telling me you wouldn't take a chance to get your family out of the poverty cycle, to get ahead in life? Right. Because that's the thing about us as humans is we all look at somebody else and say, I'm not like them. I would never do what they do.
[00:10:48] Right. And then we justify our own decisions, Right. While someone else looks at us and says, I'm not like them. I would never do what they do. And then they justify their own decisions, as Zacchaeus was trying to fix his life.
[00:11:00] Here's a secret that I think it's really important to learn for all of us.
[00:11:07] It's this right here.
[00:11:10] We're all looking for something that will fix it.
[00:11:16] If you figure this out, it's going to take so much pressure off of life. If we figure this out, it relieves the pressure. Because the thing is, every single person, every human you have ever interacted with is trying to fix it. What are they trying to fix? It's all the same, and it's all different. We're trying to fix that. We feel lonely. We're trying to fix that. We don't think we have purpose. We're trying to fix the addiction. We're trying to fix the fact that our dad won't talk to us anymore. We're trying to fix any number of things, but we all have something that we're trying to fix. That pain, that sin is what the Bible calls it, manifests for all of us. It shows up in our lives differently, but it's all the same thing. It's the same thing for every single one of us. And every single one of us is trying to fix it. When you see somebody under a bridge with track marks up their arm, they're trying to fix it or at least trying to forget it. When you see somebody on social media with 200,000 followers and a yacht, they're trying to fix it, or they're trying to forget it. When you see somebody who's rich and they've made it, and you look at their life and think, man, it would be nice to be them, guess what? They're not admitting it. They're trying to fix it, too.
[00:12:14] When you see someone who's barely getting by, who keeps gambling away their money, and you think, why do you keep doing that? They're trying to fix it. We try to fix it in different ways. We cover it up, we describe it differently. We sell the story of our lives in different ways, but every single one of us is trying to fix it.
[00:12:32] Our culture generally gives us two pathways, two ways that it tells us, you can fix your life, you can fix your problems. And I'm going to draw this out on this whiteboard. But we learned recently that when I draw something on a whiteboard, only half the room can see it. So I have a lovely assistant today. Would everyone help me welcome Seth Adams? He is going to be coming out. There he is. Way to go, Seth.
[00:12:56] Give the audience a bow, Seth.
[00:12:58] This is great. Because he doesn't have a microphone, I can tell him to do whatever I want. Do a dance. Seth.
[00:13:04] I didn't think he would do that. That was awesome. Seth.
[00:13:07] Seth is going to draw for this side of the room exactly what I'm drawing on over here so that everybody can see it. Our culture gives us two pathways, two ideas of what it looks like to fix life, to accomplish your dreams, whatever you want to call it. Here's the first. Our culture says you. You're right here.
[00:13:27] That's you and your dreams.
[00:13:31] The thing that will fix it in life, your dreams are over here.
[00:13:36] Obviously, there's a gap between you and your dreams. You're going to have to figure something out to accomplish your dreams. So one of the ways our culture describes what we have to do to make it to accomplish our dreams is an equation.
[00:13:54] Our culture says your dreams are you plus something.
[00:14:01] Now, the secret in life is just to figure out what the something is. If you can figure out what goes in the blank in your equation, then life will be perfect. If you can start a side hustle and the side hustle goes in that blank, life will be perfect. If you could make more money, that would make you happy, you would accomplish your dreams. If you could get married, you'd accomplish your dreams. If you could get married to a different person, it would accomplish your dreams. If you could just have pleasure, if you could just have fun, if only no one would catch you doing the things that you really want to do that would make your dreams come true. Our culture just says life. You are here, your dreams are here. You got to add something to your life. The secret to life is figure out what you've got to add. Once you figure that out, you got it made. That's one way our world describes fixing it. Here's the other.
[00:14:50] The other, it says, you are here.
[00:14:54] You're in these circumstances in life, and your dreams are over here in these circumstances.
[00:15:05] This is the house you live in, the town you're in, the job you have, the wife or husband you have. Your dreams are over here, and your dreams are contained within different circumstances.
[00:15:15] So your dreams are different wife, different husband, different house, different hometown, different something.
[00:15:23] And the hack, the thing you've got to do is to figure out how to get from where you are to your dreams.
[00:15:33] The world tells us life is just a map.
[00:15:35] Our world tells us life is an equation. Figure out what you got to add and everything will be fine. Or life is a map. Figure out where you've got to go, and then everything will be fine. Would you help me? Thanks, Seth. Didn't he do A great job.
[00:15:53] I'm actually going to go look. Oh, look at that. That's great.
[00:15:56] Perfect. You're an artist.
[00:15:59] This is what our culture says. Figure out what goes in the blank. Do you need more money? Do you need more money to accomplish your dreams? Well, then get more money. Figure out how you've got to get more money. Are you lonely? Do you need someone else to add to your life to make you feel better about your life because you can't stand being alone? Well, add someone to your life. Then you'll accomplish your dreams. Are you having a hard time in your hometown? Is it Gillette? Have you had problems ever since you got to Gillette? Well, just get out of Gillette. Go somewhere else. Go to Phoenix, go somewhere else. Or maybe our culture says wherever you grew up isn't going to work. There's not enough opportunity there. You had to come to Gillette, where you can get a good job and make good money.
[00:16:38] If you just change your circumstances. If you just leave this marriage and go to a different marriage, if you just leave this job and go to a different job, then everything will be better.
[00:16:48] Here's the problem.
[00:16:54] If I am lonely, don't have a lot of purpose, feel lost in life, and then I add money.
[00:17:06] Do you know what I am?
[00:17:08] I'm rich and lonely, don't have a lot of purpose and feel lost because I'm still me.
[00:17:21] If I'm addicted and then I just add fun, friends, more excitement to my life, try to cover up that addiction with the party, tell everybody I'm loving it. Well, guess what?
[00:17:38] I might be fun, my friends might like having me around, but I'm just fun and addicted. And when the friends leave, I'll just be bored and addicted. And when the boredom is over, I'll just be depressed and addicted because the addiction doesn't change. This is my favorite one. I see this as, as a pastor all the time because I do a lot of premarital counseling. A lot of us are convinced that we've got a lot of problems in life, so we just need to get married.
[00:18:02] The married people can laugh, but not loud. You'll get elbowed.
[00:18:06] That's what we think. We think, oh, well, if I just get married, then that'll fix my problems, right? Because my wife or my husband will help me with my problems. It'll be great. I've got all these problems in life. Marriage is going to fix it. But what we forget is that that other person is human and has approximately the same amount of problems you do. So best Case scenario, you help each other out and it's a wash. But like half the time when we get married because we're desperate to try to fix something in our lives, oh, we pick pretty fast. And then we wind up picking someone who their problems trigger our problems and our problems make their problems way worse. And six months into our marriage, it's like you took a bag of forks and put it in a microwave.
[00:18:45] Because here's the thing, you're still you.
[00:18:50] Single or married, you don't change when you get married. You just add a person to your life. You're still you. Rich or poor.
[00:19:01] I'm still me. Broke or not.
[00:19:04] If I leave Gillette and go to Phoenix, guess what? I'm in Phoenix.
[00:19:10] My problems weren't in Gillette.
[00:19:13] Wherever I go, there I am.
[00:19:19] It's one of the most difficult but important lessons for any of us to learn in life.
[00:19:25] I think it's necessary for personal growth and for maturity, is realizing that I'm the common denominator in every single one of my problems.
[00:19:35] I'm the only one who's been there for every bad thing. That doesn't mean it was all my fault. Certainly doesn't. I could have been the victim. There could have been other people who hurt me, other people who sinned against me, other people who took advantage of me. It certainly doesn't mean it was all my fault. But it does mean I have been there for everything that's happened. I'm the only common denominator in every problem that I've ever had.
[00:19:55] And if I tried to blame the things outside, then nothing ever changes. Because here's the reality of our if I don't change, nothing will change, really changes. If I don't change, nothing really changes. If I get a different job, but I didn't change when I went to that job, it will be the same thing over and over again. If I've got a problem with authority, a different boss isn't going to fix it. If I've got a problem with drinking, a different town isn't going to fix it. If I've got a problem with marriage, a different marriage isn't going to fix it.
[00:20:30] Wherever I go, there I am. And if I don't change, nothing really changes. And so many of us go through life repeating the same cycles, trying to redo jobs and retry marriages and retry different treatment programs and going to different things and different things, all of those things that can be helpful. A new job could be great. Treatment is amazing. Rehab is something you should do. If you're struggling with addiction. But the thing is, if we don't change, beneath it all, if we look at that other thing and think that's just going to magically fit, we are constantly going to be disappointed if we think that changing our circumstances or adding some magic trick to our lives is going to fix it. Nothing will really change.
[00:21:13] If I don't change.
[00:21:15] Nothing changes.
[00:21:17] That's the thing about this story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus went from being a thug, I mean, just a paid criminal on the bankroll of the Romans. He went from being someone everybody hated because everybody knew he was taking kickbacks. And pretty much every scholar I read studying this story said, yeah, he was taking kickbacks from the Roman government. That's what we know about Zacchaeus. He was sleazy. You didn't trust him. He goes from that to giving away half of his possessions, half of what he owns to the poor and promising to give back if he's cheated anyone, which we know he's cheated people, to give back four times the amount that he took. That is complete and utter transformation. It's complete change. But the thing is, his job didn't change. He still worked for the Romans. And when the day started and when the day ended, his house didn't change. He walked into one house and walked out of the same house. Nothing in his circumstances changed. Nothing in his life changed. The only thing that happened to Zacchaeus was Jesus.
[00:22:16] The only thing. There's only one thing in the story that could cause the change. We don't know what Jesus said. Jesus didn't say, go pray five prayers. He didn't say, go do this or go do that. Zacchaeus went into a house with Jesus and he came out a completely different person. What does that tell us? It tell us that Jesus changes everything. You saw it this morning. You saw it on the video. Jesus changes everything. But Jesus changes everything because he changes me.
[00:22:44] Jesus changes everything because he changes the only thing that can actually lead to real change. And look, nothing you can add to your life. There's no formula. I'm not trying to.
[00:22:54] This is probably bad for a pastor to say, but if you promise to read your Bible every day, it's not going to change you unless you actually encounter Jesus.
[00:23:02] Can I say that? Unless you actually want Jesus in the book, then reading this isn't going to change you. You can show up in church every week and you're not going to change unless you seek Jesus there. All right, going through a 12 step program is going to Be great. It might change your drinking problem into a work problem or an anger problem, but it won't take the problem away. Only Jesus will do that. There's nothing you can add to your life that will change you. Jesus is the only thing that changes everything. Why? Because he's the only thing that changes me.
[00:23:30] He's the only thing that changes me. He's the only thing that changes you. So that every circumstance is different. Why? Because you're different. Everything in life is different because you're different. And look, I know there are people here and you're saying, cj, look, I've heard this stuff before. People don't change.
[00:23:45] People don't change. Cj that's not how it works. Or you're thinking, I've tried this before. I've tried this a whole bunch of times, and nothing has ever changed in my life. It's not gonna work. This is great and inspirational, but it's not gonna work. But here's the thing. This is the thing I love about this church, is that I can look out here and I can see people that I know. Jesus changed everything in their life. You were led worship by Chris and her husband Richard, who serves on the board. Guess what? Their life completely changed. You know the only thing that changed in their life. You know the only thing that caused life to change? Jesus. Marissa. I know. Marissa has experienced complete transformation in her life. Marissa, what's the only thing that caused change in your life? Jesus. Isaac. Isaac. Your life's completely different now than it was two years ago, isn't it?
[00:24:32] What's the only thing that changed in your life?
[00:24:34] What changed everything in your life? Jesus changed everything. Chad, your life's different, isn't it?
[00:24:41] It's different than it used to be. What's the only thing that led to that change?
[00:24:45] Jesus. Jesus is the only thing we could spend the rest of the morning. Chris, what's the only thing that changed in your life?
[00:24:52] Jesus. Cole, what's the only thing that changed in your life? Jesus. We could do this all morning. I could point to person and point to person and point to person and say, I know their story. I know who they used to be. And they're surrounded by people who knew them before Jesus. And they'll all say, yeah, something changed. And they'll all say, you know the only thing that changed. You know the only thing I can point to that actually made that change? It was Jesus. And you might say, people don't change. Nothing ever changes in life. People are the same. But I can tell you For a fact that they do. And the only thing that makes them change is Jesus. You know why? Cause if you knew me, the guy who went to LA Bellevue with that girl and you knew me today, you'd say something has changed. And it's Jesus.
[00:25:31] It's Jesus. Jesus is the only thing that changes everything because he's the only thing that changes you. And you've probably tried everything else. You've probably been repeating the same cycle time and time and time again. And I'm telling you, stop.
[00:25:46] Nothing else is going to fix it.
[00:25:50] Only Jesus changes everything because only Jesus changes you. How does Jesus change you? That's what we're here to celebrate today. A few chapters after this, Jesus gets nailed to a cross.
[00:26:03] He doesn't go there because the Romans wanted to kill him. He doesn't go there because his enemies and the Jewish leadership didn't trust him. He went there because sin demands death.
[00:26:12] The book of Romans says that the wages of sin is death. If you work for sin, you will get paid. Every single one of us worked for sin. Jesus is the only one who didn't. He's the only one whose account was empty.
[00:26:23] So he went to the cross voluntarily because of his love for us. He went to the cross because he wanted you. The book of Hebrews says it was for the joy set before him that he suffered the cross. Do you know what the joy is?
[00:26:37] You.
[00:26:38] You being changed. You experiencing the life you were made for you in heaven, for eternity with Him.
[00:26:45] That is the joy that was set before him, that he suffered the cross for. He went to the cross because the sin, our sin, demands death. It didn't demand anything of him. So he went and paid it on our behalf. And then he rose again on the third day, defeating sin and defeating death. So that anyone who believes in him would not perish. Meaning that death will not be the end for you. That you don't have to fear death. Because if Jes rose from the dead, then you will rise from the dead. You will spend eternity in heaven with God. But it's not just about escaping the world someday. It's about having the life you were created for. Now you will have eternal life. That starts now. Everything will be different for you. Even now. Jesus will change you. Not just your eternal zip code. He will actually change you.
[00:27:29] That's what we believe. And there's one more thing I have to show you. In this story.
[00:27:33] This story starts in verse one. It says Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
[00:27:38] It sounds like an accident. Doesn't sounds like Jesus was just. I had to get to Jerusalem. Jericho is the fastest way.
[00:27:46] He's just passing through. Just so happened there was a guy named Zacchaeus who climbed a tree.
[00:27:53] Let's read the last verse in this story.
[00:27:56] Chapter 10, verse 10. For the Son of Man. That's what Jesus called himself, came to seek and to save the lost.
[00:28:08] It means Jesus didn't just happen to walk by Zacchaeus that day. He had been seeking him to save him.
[00:28:15] That means Jesus wasn't just passing through Jericho. It means he knew when Zacchaeus would be out in the street and ready to climb up in a tree and when Zacchaeus would finally be ready to respond to the invitation of the Gospel to be transformed by Jesus. And look, what I'm trying to tell you this morning. And normally I don't say stuff like this, but I felt like the Lord highlighted this to me as I was studying for this sermon. I think there's somebody here today. And you feel like it's random that you're here. You feel like you just go to church on Easter. So you're at church. This is just what you do. You do it every year. And what I want to tell you is it's not random. You're not just passing through. Jesus has been seeking you to save you. He's been working on this moment for a long time. And if you say no today, he'll keep working on it. But he's been working at every Easter service you've been to. To try to save you. He's seeking you because he wants to save you. Maybe you're here today and you think church is dumb and you think all of this is fake. And who's this guy on stage just giving an emotional message?
[00:29:08] None of that matters. What I want to tell you is I think maybe.
[00:29:12] I think maybe you don't have to believe me, but I think maybe Jesus brought you here this morning and it was not random. You didn't just show up to make your grandma happy. You didn't just show up because someone promised to buy you lunch. You didn't. You showed up here today because Jesus has been seeking and saving you. He desires for you to be changed and transformed. And he brought you here today because today might be the one day where you're just a little bit willing to try it out and see if there's something to this whole God thing. And I promise you, the scripture says to taste and see that the Lord is good.
[00:29:42] You will find out that he is, because he's the only Thing that can change you.
[00:29:46] And maybe you're hearing. You've been, I don't know, thinking about faith. You've tried everything else, and nothing else is really working. And you decided to try the God thing again, and you just Googled churches and Gillette, and this is the one that came up.
[00:29:59] I don't think it was random. I don't think the ad you saw on Instagram was random. I don't think the Google search was random. I don't think the friend that's been inviting you to church for two years and you finally said yes was random. I don't think any of it was random. I don't think maybe the fact you just walked in alone, not knowing another soul here was random. I think Jesus is seeking you to save you because he loves you. And Jesus changes everything because he changes us.
[00:30:23] Jesus changes everything because he changes us.
[00:30:27] There's a card that was on the seat. You might have sat on it when you walked in. It looked like this.
[00:30:32] This is what I ask you to do. I want to ask you to not put it off any longer.
[00:30:36] All right? You can put it off. Jesus will keep. He is patient. He'll keep seeking you because he wants to save you.
[00:30:42] I just don't think you should put it off.
[00:30:46] In this card, there's two sides. It's perforated in the middle. Here's the first thing I want you to do. If you're here and you need something to change in your life, you know you need Jesus to change something. Maybe you're not a Christian or you weren't an hour ago. Or maybe you've been following Jesus for a long time. There's just part of your life that you haven't let him change yet. You've been holding back the marriage, the addiction. You've been holding back something. I want you to write it down on this side of the card where it says, I'm ready for Jesus to change. I want you to write it down. Are you ready for Jesus to change your marriage? Are you ready for Jesus to change your bitterness? Are you ready for Jesus to change your addiction? I want you to write that down. I know that if Jesus is gonna change that, it means he's gonna change you. Maybe you just need everything to change. Maybe you're just gonna say, I'm ready for Jesus to change everything. I want you to write it down on that card. Tear it in half where it's perforated and take that side home. Keep it in your Bible. Put it on your dashboard. Put it on your fridge to mark the day that you Remember forever. Easter 2026 is the day Jesus changed everything, because it's the day Jesus started changing you.
[00:31:48] And the other thing I want you to do is to fill out this other side that's got your name, email, phone on it. And I want you to write the thing that you're ready for Jesus to change. And as we worship, there are baskets all along the front of the stage, and there are two in the balcony, on the tables in the balcony. What I want to invite you to do is to fill out the card and come drop it in one of these baskets while we worship. If you've been a Christian for a long time and you're just ready for something to change, come drop it in the basket. The reason why we want you to do that is because our staff and our leaders here want to help you. We want to walk with you through that. If you're ready for Jesus to change your marriage, we want to get you into marriage counseling. We want to get you a marriage mentor. If you're ready for Jesus to change your bitterness, we want to work with you. If you're ready for Jesus to change your addiction, we want to get you a counselor. We want to get you into a life group. If you focuses on addiction, if you're ready for Jesus to change your trauma, we want to get you connected to a Christian therapist. Whatever you're ready for Jesus to change, we want to get you connected. We want to help you. You don't have to go through it alone. We want to make sure you have access to everything Jesus has for you.
[00:32:47] So we want to walk through it with you. But you might be here today and you're finally ready to say, jesus, I want to follow you. I've tried everything else.
[00:32:56] I think I'll try you.
[00:32:59] I need your forgiveness. I'm tired of the shame. I'm tired of the guilt weighing over my head.
[00:33:03] I'm tired of trying everything and nothing changing Jesus. I'm ready for you. There's a box that says, I've decided to follow Jesus.
[00:33:10] I want you to check that box, and I want you to bring that card, like everybody else up to one of these baskets and drop it in the basket. Because we're going to walk through it with you. We're going to make sure you have everything you need to start your journey of following Jesus. In fact, here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I'm going to ask everybody in the room to stand up right now. Everybody Stand up, balcony. Everybody stand up.
[00:33:33] There are no magic words that give you salvation. There's no magic prayer that you pray to get into heaven. That's not how it works.
[00:33:41] You are saved by faith. Ephesians chapter two says it is by grace. You are saved through faith, not of works, so that no one can boast.
[00:33:50] Faith means that you are choosing to believe and trust that Jesus actually died to forgive your sins, that you need forgiveness, and that he died to give you that forgiveness, that he rose again to give you new life so that you can have new life be transformed now in this life, and you will have hope for eternity.
[00:34:06] And you believe that Jesus is God, which means he's in charge. That's what faith means, that you decide to put your faith in Jesus. You decide to believe those things. Belief is a decision.
[00:34:18] You decide to put your faith in Jesus.
[00:34:21] There's no magic words. You are saved by your faith in Christ.
[00:34:26] But a lot of us, we find it easier, we find it helpful to have a moment where we pray to prayer because it marks the moment we can remember it. I said those words. I made that decision.
[00:34:38] It's like introducing two people. So I'm going to lead us in a prayer, and what I want to ask is for every single person in the room to pray this out loud. If you're watching online on Church 307, I want you to pray it out loud along with us, because there's somebody here who you might be deciding to follow Jesus right now. And you need to hear the faith of a whole room of people who believe what you believe and realize you're not crazy for thinking a guy from Israel 2000 years ago was God and died and rose again. You're not crazy if it's true.
[00:35:04] And it's true.
[00:35:06] So I want everybody in the room to pray with me. Repeat after me, Jesus, I've sinned.
[00:35:15] I need your forgiveness.
[00:35:18] I believe you died to forgive my sins, and you rose again to give me new life.
[00:35:28] I surrender my life to you.
[00:35:32] You are king.
[00:35:35] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:35:37] Amen.
[00:35:38] If you prayed that prayer, if you prayed that prayer and you genuinely decided today, you prayed it from your heart and you decided to follow Jesus. I want you to know everything is different. Everything in life is different. Why? Because Jesus is in you. Scripture teaches us that when you decide to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God is in you, drawing you to himself. The process of change has already begun. It's not gonna be easy. It's not gonna be perfect. There's gonna be bumps in the road. But you are going to be different. And if you're different, everything is different. Jesus died and rose again. It's the most important thing that's ever happened. And if you decided to follow Jesus, you are now in his kingdom and everything is different. So you can clap for that. That's appropriate to clap for that. Everything's different as we worship.
[00:36:24] Whether you've been following Jesus for a long time or you just decided right now, if you filled out that card and you're ready for Jesus to change something, I want you to bring that card, the half with your information on it, and I want you to put it in one of these baskets along the front or in the baskets in the corner in the balcony. I want you to drop it off. And if you are standing in the seats when someone walks up here, you know your job. You cheer like we're at the Olympics. You cheer like we're at the Super Bowl. Because there is nothing more important than real transformation that Jesus does. So we are gonna cheer like the most important thing in the universe is happening. Amen. Amen.
