Hi there. You know, there's something that I think all of us share in common. In fact, I
don't think we do, I know we do. There's this empty place inside that we're
always trying to fill. You know, as far back as I can remember, I was looking for
God. In fact, my mother tells me she was certain I was going to become a priest
when I grew up because I was asking questions about God. I didn't know that
that God was who or what I was looking for, but I do recall back to my
earliest memories that it's like something was missing and I was always
trying to fill this empty place inside. I've tried with drugs and alcohol, I tried
with sex, I tried with so many things, and I think intuitively people realize
something is missing. There's this crazy piece to the puzzle that they can't seem
to find, and so they will try and fill that empty place with drugs, with alcohol
or with sex or with, you know, accumulating more things. Or even, you
know, doing good works to help people, which is a noble thing but it doesn't
fill the empty place. I believe that that empty place inside is a God-shaped hole,
if you would. I believe we were meant to walk and talk with our Creator. You know,
God's not just a concept or an idea, He is a person. The Bible says that we've
been made in God's likeness and in His image. The problem though is a thing
called sin. Because of sin people have been separated from God. God is a holy
and a just God, and there's no way that God can come into intimate relationship
with sinful men and sinful women because His righteous nature demands that that
sin be judged. But God is also love, and because of His love nature He would not
overlook us. He couldn't overlook our sin, but He wouldn't overlook us, and when we
could not in our our lost state, our state of separation, reach up to Him, He
reached down to us. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin, lived
a sinless life, and wasn't born in a wealthy family's
home. He wasn't born to a powerful politician, He was born to a poor
carpenter and his teenage wife. He sort of lived in obscurity until about thirty
years of age and then He entered into ministry and He began to tell people
what God was like. And when Jesus spoke about God, it wasn't as if God were
distant, aloof and uncaring, but He was near. He referred to Him as a loving
father that wanted to be involved in the affairs of our life. It was something
that people had never heard, and people hung on every word. And He worked
miracles, He raised the dead, He healed the sick. He showed that God was
loving, and He was interested in helping people in their hurts and in their
problems, and in their distresses. And you know, the crowds grew so large
and so many followed Jesus, some of the religious leaders became insanely
jealous and they took Jesus and put him through a mock trial. He was beaten
without mercy and eventually crucified, but all of that was part of the plan of
God. For as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was suspended upon that cross between
heaven and earth, literally God laid the penalty for your sin and for my sin upon
Jesus Christ, and He died under the weight of our sins. He became the perfect
substitute, the innocent for the guilty, the righteous for the unrighteous, the
holy for the unholy, and He willingly went to that cross and He willingly paid
the price for our sin. And you know, I think it's really more than the heart
can take in. In the book of Isaiah, it says that His very soul was made an
offering for sin. I think we will never understand, even through all eternity, the
depths to which Christ went to redeem mankind. The claims of God's eternal
justice were forever satisfied, and on the third day Jesus was raised from the
dead. And here's what the Bible says. If you believe that and you confess him as
Lord, now that word Lord is not some,
you know, magic Christian word or something buzzword, it means boss, it
means I'm willing to die to my rights of independent living and come under your
authority, and when I put my trust in a risen Jesus and I call him Lord, I say
Jesus, I'm willing to submit my life, my heart to you, my future to you, give you
my past, my present, my future, that He brings us into a relationship with God
that the Bible calls salvation. Yes, I am telling you, you can know God. You are
meant to walk and talk with God. And listen, no amount of money will fill that
empty place you feel in your heart. No amount of extreme sports or life
adventures will fill that empty place in your heart. You can run from man to man,
get yourself a new wife, get yourself a new husband, get a new girlfriend, it'll
never fill the empty place. You were meant to walk with God, and I believe
He's reaching out to you even right now. And you know, in my own life, I was
hopelessly messed up on drugs. I had major-league drug addictions, and
problems with alcoholism. In fact, for many years I was not sober at all, and I
ended up in a little street mission. And in that street mission, they talked about
Jesus Christ, and I gave my life to the Lord. The night that I did, people laid
their hands on me and prayed for me, and I was set free from my addictions, and
God changed my life. I invited Jesus Christ into my life. Not just sort of an
appendage. Okay, now I'm gonna start going to church on Sunday because, you know, I made
made this, like, Jesus commitment. No, it was all in, and that's what God's looking for.
He's looking for an all-in commitment, not just something that you add on to
your busy week, or your busy schedule. Literally, it's God, I submit my schedule
my life to you. You've paid everything for me, you've done it all, and now I give
my all to you. And you know, that's when the adventure starts. It's an amazing
thing, walking and talking with God. And you may be watching me right now and
thinking, you know, man, that's what I need to do, but I don't have a story
like yours. I wasn't on drugs, you know, I didn't do this or that. You know, that's
all right. We all have the same need. I married a farm girl from the central
part of the United States. She was always the teacher's favorite student. She never
smoked a cigarette in her life. You know, she was the exact opposite from somebody
like me, but one day she realized she needed salvation.
She needed a Savior, just like I needed a Savior, and she embraced Jesus Christ as
her Lord., and her life changed. And you maybe, you know, on the spectrum more
toward where my wife was. You're sort of that upstanding citizen. You're trying to
do things right. You don't try and cheat people. You don't want to cheat on your
taxes, but that our good works don't save us. Salvation is by grace through faith,
not of works, lest any man should boast. No amount of good works can make us
right with God. If they could, Jesus died in vain. And so whether you're my end of
the spectrum, you've done a lot of bad things and lived a pretty wild
life, or more towards the spectrum of where my wife was, you tried to live
right, and do it right, we all need a Savior. I'd like to invite you to pray
with me right now. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you should take a
moment and give me your undivided attention. This is important. I don't
think you would have listened to me this long, or you'd be watching me right now
if God wasn't somehow dealing with your heart. And friend, He is just a prayer
away. I mean to give you some words to say to God. Now the words themselves
without a sincere heart behind them, they mean zero. But if you'll put a
sincere heart behind these words, and if you'll speak them from your heart to God,
I believe that He will meet you. Maybe you've never done a thing like this
before. Let's go to God. Let's talk to God. If you're a backslider that's had an
encounter with Jesus at some point in your life, I want to invite you to pray
with me. Come back to Him. It might even help you to put your hand on your heart right
now, and let's talk to God. I want you to say this out loud after me if you would.
You say, oh God. Go ahead and say it out loud, let your ears hear the words. Say, oh
God, I come to you right now. With all of my
heart I believe. I believe, Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe He died on the
cross to take away my sin. Jesus, thank you for going to the cross for me. Thank
you for paying my debt in full. I believe you were raised from the dead, and I ask
you now to come into my life, Lord Jesus. Wherever you lead me I will go. All I am
and all I have, I place in your hands, Jesus. And from this day forward, you are
my Lord. I hope you prayed that with me. If you
did, I want to share with you some things that will help you, because you didn't
just hit the finish line, you sort of just hit the starting gate of a whole
new life. And here's some things that you'll need to do if you want to be
fruitful and really enjoy your relationship with God, and grow in your
relationship with God. Number one, talk to God every day. That's
called prayer. Don't use some high religious sounding voice when you talk
to Him, just be yourself. Be honest with God. If you're afraid, tell Him you're
afraid. If you have needs, bring your needs before Him and ask Him
to help you. If you need wisdom, ask Him for wisdom. If you're perplexed about
something, bring it before God and talk to Him about it. If you're happy, tell Him.
If you're mad at Him, tell Him. He knows it anyway.
He loves an honest heart. But then once you get through talking to Him, you need
to get quiet and listen in your heart for Him talking to you, because what He
says is more important than what you say and what I say. That's the other side
of prayer. We talk to God, and we listen for His answers. And then second, get yourself
a Bible. They're not that hard to find, at least in most places they're not. Get
yourself a Bible and begin to read it every day. That's food for your spirit.
It's a light on your pathway. It'll give you wisdom on what to do, and God
virtually speaks into every situation of our life and
gives us wise counsel and guidance. And as well as when we read His Word, as well
as it is guiding us, it literally does build us up with strength. You could say, feed
upon the Word of God. The Scripture says, desire the sincere milk of the word that
you can grow thereby. Third thing you need to do is become
part of a believing community. Find a church where people are not ashamed of
Jesus, where they love Jesus, where they love the Word of God, and find some
community there. Be a part of it, go regularly, and listen to the Word of God
preached or listen to it taught. Get involved in a small group, but just get
involved with other believers. We were never meant to live this life on our own.
And then finally, talk to somebody else about Jesus. Tell someone else what's
happened to you. Use your own words. Tell your story. You don't have to be eloquent,
you don't have to be polished, just be honest.
Tell someone about Jesus. You'll be surprised, God will use you. And
I guarantee you, there's someone in your world right now in your family, in your
workplace, at school, in your neighborhood, someone that desperately needs to hear
about Jesus Christ. They need to hear your story, and God will use it even if
you seem to stumble over every other word. I'm telling you, God will use what
you say to someone else about Jesus Christ. And if you'll do those four
things, talk to God every day, get into His Word, join a community of believers,
and then tell somebody else about Jesus, you're going be okay. Now, I thank you for
having taken the time to sit with me right here. Actually, I would love to look
at you face to face, enjoy a cup of tea together, I'm a tea guy not a coffee guy,
and just talk. I'd love to hear your story, but you know, in your own world
God's going to provide what you need. He's going to provide who you need, and I want to
tell you, God loves you more than you have the capacity to understand it. He
loves you fiercely, He loves you unashamedly, He loves you eternally. And
for what it's worth, I love you too. God bless you.
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