The Best Day Ever

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Gonna welcome all of you again to Easter here at Community Church 2022. You know, our theme for this Easter is the best day ever. The best day ever. Gang, come on. And as we start, I just want to ask you a question. What was your best day ever? Think about it. I mean, of all the days that you’ve lived, what was the best one? Where were you? What was going on? Who was with you? What was happening? Why is it your best day ever? 

I was thinking about that this week and a lot about just my life. And I did a little bit of math, and I discovered I have lived, as of today, 18,312 days. I’ll let you do the math, reverse it, and figure out how old I am. But 18,312 days, that’s quite a few days. And I look around here in this room, and some of you have lived a lot fewer days than I’ve lived. And I also look at some others and, well, let’s just say there’s a little less tread on your tires than there are on mine. But of those 18,312 days, I’ve had some good days. But when I think of my best day ever, one comes to mind. It was the day I graduated from College. I didn’t think I was going to do it. It was dicey right there at the end, especially. But I did it. And I’ll never forget on that last day, I packed up all my belongings from the dorm and my Chevy Corsica. Come on, somebody. It was Maroon. It was a manual stick for speed. I think I had all of 60 HP. It was terrible.  But I remember on that last day, I got all my stuff in there, and I was driving off the campus for the final time, thinking, this is my best day. I remember grabbing that steering wheel. I rolled the windows down. I literally had to roll the windows down. How many remember that, right? You remember that, right? And I blared some Aerosmith with some Run DMC. Oh, man, it’s the best day ever. I was like, I did it. I’ll never have to take another class in my life. I’ll never have to write another paper for the rest of my life. And I was clinching that steering with the best day ever. Little did I know I would spend the next eight years of my life in higher education, earning two master’s degrees and a doctorate degree. And now, I have to write a term paper every single week and give a lot of oral presentations to a live audience. So God has a really good sense of humor, doesn’t he? Best day ever, though. It’s got to be the day I met my wife, Bekah, of almost now, 24 years. Come on. Right. By the way, today just happens to be Becca’s birthday. So come on, everybody, wish her a happy birthday. 29. I can’t believe it. You did it 29. 

But I’ll never forget the day I met her. I was in Church. And by the way, fellas, if you’re not married, this is a great place to find a woman right here in Church. House of God. I’m just saying. Right? And I was in the band. It was a big room, like 2000 auditorium, 2500ft, something like that. And she was kind of sitting up on the left. And on there I saw her. She had this Brown dress with white polka dots all over it. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. I mean, Thunder rolled, man. The lightning struck. And when I found out, she loved Jesus and Aerosmith and Run DMC, too, I was done. I was like, you’re my girl. That’s a great day. Then our wedding day. Best day ever include. It was the day I finally and fully surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. That was the best day ever right there, let me tell you. I was 21. My life was a mess. I had been wrestling with God and running from his call on my life for a really long time. And I was a mess. And so I found myself in South America, in the Andes Mountains, up in Ecuador, and it was there under a full moon. I sat on that rock, and I finally said, I give up. That’s a great day. Best day ever. When I fully surrendered to God’s will and his call in my life. But beyond that day and our wedding day, the day I met back, all those other good days.

I got to be honest with you. It’s like, the best day ever. It has to be the day that our first child, my only daughter, Katherine, was born. That’s right. Come on. She’s right here. She’s 19. Now stand up and wave. Come on, Kate. Stand up and wave. Come on. You look so nice today. Come on, help her out. Church. Come on. Turn around. I’m going to pay for that later. Oh, my God.  All right. She was born right down the street here. It was back then, 19 years ago. Pocono Medical Center is now Lehigh Pocono and Lehigh Valley Pocono. And it was just amazing day. How do you know what I’m talking about? Like, when you hold your first child in your arms for the very first time, it’s just indescribable, right? It’s amazing. You created this life like I made a human. Have you ever made a human? It’s amazing. It’s a beautiful partnership with God. And after all the praying and the hoping, there she is. And she’s beautiful and perfect. And still, to this day, I think for me, the reason that it was, like, the best day ever, because there were a lot of really bad days before that day. A lot of really bad days. Difficult, dark days. 

I don’t know if you know our story if you’ve been around here or not. You’ve heard me talk about this, but our struggle to start a family. We tried for six years. And if you’ve ever struggled with infertility, you know, the pain of that, I mean, just a month after month after month, year after year, the disappointment after disappointment. And then you go to the doctors and do all the tests. And she had issues. I had issues. We both had issues. And she ended up surgeries, multiple surgeries. And by the end of all of that, they told us six years into this thing, the likelihood of you and your wife being able to have a child is, like next to them. And that was hard if you’ve ever gone through that, and then all of a sudden you turn up pregnant, and you’re just so happy. But you go from the heights of rejoicing only to the depths of despair when you miscarry. All miscarriages are bad, but it’s really bad when you’re in that situation.

So you know what I’m talking about. And I just think that you can’t really, truly appreciate the good until you’ve experienced the bad because it’s those bad days that make the good days even better. Isn’t that true? And here’s what I’ve discovered, gang, that the best days are often born out of the worst days. Isn’t that true that our best days are often born out of our worst days?

And what made that day so amazing and so awesome and beautiful when I held Kate in my arms for the very first time, it’s because of the six years of bad days that came before it. And that’s why we say today on Easter, that Easter is the best day ever. Because it’s not only the day that Jesus rose from the grave and conquered death, hell, in the grave, like he died, y’all. But he didn’t stay dead. He got up out of that grave. And what makes this day the best day ever is the days that came before it that were difficult for Jesus and for his followers, like you and like me. That’s why we say today is the best day ever. The day he resurrected, the day he conquered death, hell, and the grave. The day that God shows in shows up and shows off. And he shows us, even in our darkest hours, that there is hope and power and life in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Come on, somebody give him praise for this. There is hope and power in life because it was on this day that God he shows up, and he pulls off the most amazing rescue mission in human history. Some of you might know the story. We started this journey together last week on Palm Sunday, kicking off Holy Week. And Jesus, as he fulfills scripture, he rides into Jerusalem through the Eastern gate. And the people were there waving the palm branches and throwing their coats in front of him. And they were saying. Blessed is he who comes to Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That wasn’t a religious saying. It was a political saying. They wanted Jesus to be their political savior. They wanted him to ride into Jerusalem and throw the Romans that were oppressing them out of power. But Jesus did not come to be a political savior. He came to be a suffering savior. He didn’t come to overthrow Rome.

He came to overthrow sin and death and the grave. And as he rode into Jerusalem that day, they all knew what he was going to do. He was going to come in through the Eastern gate, and he was going to turn right, and he was going to go down to the fortress of Antonia and throw the Romans out. And everybody gasped. Instead of turning right, he turns left, and he goes and throws out the money. Changers from the temple cause this big scene. I mean, Jesus was angry. He’s flipping over tables. He’s calling out the religious power brokers of their day that were exploiting people and said, this will be my house. My father’s house is a house of prayer for all nations, that this is for everyone, not just for the insider but also for the outsider. Causes a big scene. He kind of gets out of Dodge, and he goes with his disciples, and he gathers with them around a table, and they share his last supper before he would go to the cross. And while he was there, he said, One of you guys is going to betray me. And it was Judas. Judas, one of his best friends, sells him out for 30 pieces of silver. And Jesus says, Judas, go and do what you’re going to do and do it quickly. After that, he takes his disciples down to the favorite place he loved to pray, the garden of Gethsemane. And it was there under the weight of so much stress and suffering that he was literally being crushed in his spirit.  As he prays, he sweats drops of blood. At 09:00, Judah shows up, and gives him the kiss of betrayal. Jesus is arrested. He’s handcuffed. He’s chained, he’s blindfolded. He’s punched repeatedly in the face. The handfuls of his beard are literally ripped out of his face. And then he begins to go. Throughout the night, six different trials. They brought false witnesses and false testimony against him, yet he remained silent through all of it. Three of them were Roman trials, and three of them were Jewish religious trials, all of which were illegal because, under both Roman law and Jewish law, it’s illegal to be tried at night. But yet he defends himself not.

And after that, he’s finally sentenced to death. Death by crucifixion, by Pilate. There again, he’s whipped with the flagella and the catanine tails almost within an inch of his life, bleeding out, head so swollen they couldn’t even recognize him, his own mother. And then he’s forced to carry his own cross up a Hill called skull Hill Golgotha, the place we know as Calvary. And there he’s nailed to that rugged cross, and he’s hoisted up for all to see. And after suffering for 6 hours on that cross, after all the mockery, after being spit on, after being beaten beyond recognition, after six long hours, as he’s being crucified on the cross, just, by the way, to die on the cross is to slowly suffocate. It’s an unimaginably excruciating, painful way to die. In fact, the word excruciating, comes from the word that literally means from the cross. That’s what excruciating means.

You know, the word excruciating just reminds us of exactly what Jesus went through in the crucifixion. The Assyrians invented it. The Persians perfected it, but the Romans mass-produced it. Today, when someone is put to death in the United States, extreme measures are taken to make it as fast and as painless as possible. But the die on the cross was the exact opposite. I mean, the entire process was designed to make it as painful and slow as possible, and sometimes the body would hang on for days. And, you know, the Romans always crucified people in very highly visible locations, usually alongside a road or maybe at an intersection. I’ve actually been to Jerusalem. Have you ever had a chance to go? I would encourage you to do that. And I’ve been to the place of the skull, literally stood there. It looks like a skull in a mountain, just the way the rocks are. And he was crucified on top of that. Do you know what’s at the base of that skull today? Skull Hill. It’s a bus station. Even to this day, 20 years later, in Jerusalem, the same place where Jesus was crucified, it’s right in the middle of a massive intersection. 

In fact, when Jesus was crucified, they hung. They fashioned a sign over his head. And according to the Gospels, they had to translate that sign into three different languages. That’s how many different people were passing through from different parts of the known world. And he couldn’t even suffer alone. But he had to have people be gawking at him every minute of this barbaric torture. And after suffering for 6 hours on the cross, Jesus finally died. The Gospels tell us that the rest of his disciples, ran for the Hills for fear that they would be next. And as they took him down off the cross, there was a man named Joseph. He’s from a place called Aramathea. He became a follower of Jesus Christ. He was incredibly wealthy, and he went to the Roman government, and he got permission to take the body and to bury it in his own grade that had never been used. It was cut out of the rock, and there they prepared his body for burial, and they placed him in the grave, and they rolled a huge stone over the entrance to the grave.

And I’ve been to the grave, and they laid him there. Lights out. Game Over Radio Silence no coming back from this. Have you ever been there? Have you ever gone through something in life where you’re like, I don’t see any way I could recover from this? I don’t know how I could ever come back from this. Have you ever been there in life? Or maybe you’ve had your worst day ever, that your worst day ever? Turned into your worst week ever, turned into your worst month ever? Turned into your worst year ever? Maybe turned into a very long season? Have you ever been there thinking, there’s no way I can come back from this? Maybe it was that business that failed and ended in bankruptcy or marriage that fell apart and ended in divorce. Or maybe it was that addiction that has just taken so much of your life. Or maybe it was an illness or a sickness that has robbed you of your life. Or maybe it was depression or anxiety that hangs over you like a cloud, and you can barely get up in the morning, let alone make it through the day. Or maybe it was the betrayal of a friend.

Whatever the case may be, I’m here to tell you this Easter 2022 that the light of God’s love always shines brightest in our darkest hours. I’m here to encourage you today that with Jesus, it’s not over. It’s not over. Not by a long shot. It’s not over. I mean, it looked like it was over for Jesus when they rolled that stone across the gate, and they walked away in darkness and silence and disappointment and heartbreak. 

But I want you to know, with Jesus, it’s not over. It’s not over. That the best days of our life often are preceded by the worst days of our life. Look what the Gospel says in Matthew 28. Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. And suddenly, oh, I pray that you will have a sudden moment in your life today and in your family and your heart and your faith. Suddenly there was a great earthquake that went on, and it says, for an angel, the Lord came down from heaven, and he rolled aside the stone. He didn’t roll that stone away so that Jesus could get out. He rolled that stone away so that we could get in and see for ourselves that he was not there.

He has risen from the grave. I love what it says here. His face shone like lightning. He rolled that stone aside, and then what did he do? He sat on it. I tell you, whatever problem you’re facing today that looks immovable, whatever problem that looks so big, that’s unsolvable today, I want you to know, we serve a God in heaven. He’ll come, and he’ll just sit on that stone. He’ll just sit on that problem. And he will say, Listen, I got this. Because if I can roll this stone away, and if I can resurrect myself from the grave and prove once and for all that I am who I claim to be, I can handle whatever problem that you might be facing in your own life today. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. And I love this next part. Don’t miss it. Then the angel spoke to the women. Don’t be afraid. He said, I know you’re looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here. He has risen from the dead, just as he said this would happen. 

This is why we call it the best day ever because it came after some really dark, difficult, really bad days for Jesus. It’s the power of contrast that you can’t understand the good until you’ve endured the bad. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. What was that joy? That joy was you and you and you and you. That joy was you. He endured the pain and the suffering because he knew the best day was coming. He knew that there was life on the other side of the grave. He did it for you because he loves you. And here’s Mary and the other Mary on the heels of their worst day ever.

And they go to ten to the body of Jesus, and they realize that their worst day ever turns into their best day ever. One of my favorite games to play is the way I pass the time, especially when I travel. I love to play chess. Does anybody else love to play chess? Only the smartest people play chess. Okay, so we got, like, all the hands covered. I never really understood the game until I got into it a few years ago and started to really study it. And I just love the game. That’s a game of strategy. It really makes you think, especially think ahead, like what’s going to be next.  And if you know anything about the game of chess, you know that it’s all about the King. When the King is finally trapped and can move no more, the winning player pronounces Checkmate means the game is over because the King has no more moves. There’s a picture that once hung in the Louvre in Paris. If you’ve never had the opportunity to go there, I would encourage you to do it. I was at a speaking engagement several years ago over there and had the chance to go through the Louvre. It’s just amazing works of art. Just everywhere you look, it’s just another famous work of art. And there’s a picture that once hung in the Louvre. It’s called Checkmate.

This is the picture very famous painting. And here you have the devil kind of looking arrogantly on this side. Then you have a chessboard in the middle, and then you have this other guy over here. He’s in desperation. It’s over. And there was a tour happening in The Louvre for a very special group of people. They were athletes, particularly World champion athletes from all different sporting events. And they were getting a private tour through the Louvre one day. And one of the athletes that were with them was actually a World Chess champion. And they came to this picture, and the tour guide began to explain it.

It’s a picture called Checkmate. And it’s this painting where this guy loses a battle with the devil. They all kind of looked at the painting, and then they could have just moved on to the next work of art. And everybody left except the World Chess Champion. He stood there. He was mesmerized by this painting. And they realized that he didn’t move on with them. So the tour guide went back and said, hey, we already moved on. You coming with us? And he’s like, I just can’t get over this painting. He’s like, yeah, I know. It’s a checkmate. It’s where this guy loses a battle with the devil. He’s like, yeah, I heard all that. But, you know, I’m a World Chess champion, right? And he’s like, oh, yeah. Wow. Okay. And he said I’ve given my life to studying this game, to not only learning it but mastering this game. And the longer I just look at this painting, I got a real problem.

He’s like, what are you talking about? He said, well, as a World Chess Champion, I see things that the average person doesn’t see. And I’ve got a real problem with this painting. Either they’re going to have to change the painting, or they’re going to have to change the name of the painting. He says, what are you talking about?

He said, well, as a World Chess Champion, as I’ve observed the board, the King has one more move. I’m here to declare to you today the King Jesus has one more move in your life, even on your worst day ever, even when your head is in your hands in desperation, and you think it’s over, that there’s no coming back from this, that I could never recover from this, that there is no hope in this situation. I’m here to declare to you today. The King has one more move. The King has one more move in your life. He has one more move in your family. He has one more move in your faith. He has one more move in your career. He has one more move in your home. He has one more move in that addiction, that sin, that temptation. He has one more move in that depression. Come on in. King Jesus has one more move. It’s not over. It’s not over. It’s not over.

The King has one more move. See, friend, listen, the Bible says this in one Corinthians 15. Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in Death. But the law gives sin its power. But thank God, come on, thank God with me today. Thank God. He gives us victory over sin and Death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I want you to know today it’s not over. It might feel like it’s over today, but he sees the end from the beginning, and he’s still writing another chapter in your story, and I want you to know how it ends. There is victory, and there is victory. There is victory in our Lord and Savior Jesus crossed and the bloodstained cross he left behind and the empty tomb, and there’s a victory today in Jesus Christ. You know, Paul is saying that the resurrection comes with power.

He says this is the next verse. I want you to look at it, and God will raise us from the dead on our worst day, on a very bad day when all seems lost, and the lights have gone out, God will raise us from the dead. How? By his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. And I want you to know today the blood of Jesus Christ has not lost its power. God has not lost its power. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the same power that raised Jesus’ lifeless corpse from the grave has the power to raise you your life, your hopes, your dreams, your family, your future. There’s power in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that your best day ever is often born out of your worst day ever. Oh, that this will be your best day ever today.

So my question for you as I kind of wrap this up is, where do you need resurrection power in your life today? Here’s another way to ask it. What is dead or dying in your life today? What is it? Is it your marriage? Is it your mind? Is it a health issue? Your hopes and dreams about your future? Is it the fact you think, man, I should be so much further ahead in life than where I am currently right now? What is dead or dying in your life? 

I have good news for you today. There’s power in Jesus, and in His resurrection, power to raise that which is dead or dying in our own life is available to you and to me today because human energy, runs out. Human power runs out. But God’s power is everlasting and everlasting and everlasting. And it’s available to you and to me today. All you need to do is receive it. Oh, Death, where is your victory? Oh Death, where is your sting? It has been conquered by that blood-stained cross and the empty tomb. Oh, that you will believe with me today. See, friend, the reality is Easter isn’t about Jesus making bad people good. It’s not why he came. It’s not why he died. And it’s not why he rose again. He didn’t come to make bad people good. Jesus came. Easter is all about Jesus bringing dead things back to life. Jesus said in John eleven, this next verse. He said I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he asked you this question today. Do you believe this? Not what your mother believes, not what your grandmother believes. Do you believe this? I mean, sincerely and honestly. Here’s what the resurrection of Jesus means to you and to me today. Over 2000 years later, Jesus lived and died and rose again.

That if you believe in Him, that he claimed to be, here’s why he was crucified. Because he claimed to be God, he backed himself into such a tight theological corner that they killed him for it. They called him a blasphemer. He said, if you saw me, you’ve seen God. He said, if you’ve heard me talk, you have heard the voice of God. He said I am the Son of God. It’s what he said. And he said, I’ll prove it. I will lay down my life. No one took his life. He laid it down willingly and freely for you and for me. And after three days, he said, I’ll pick it back up again to prove once and for all I am who I claim to be, the Son of the living God. God in the form of flesh. And if you die believing in Him, though you die, Jesus said, you will be raised to new life just as he was, with the same power that you will have victory over Death itself in the great. I hope you give this serious consideration because your eternity is at stake. So I want to end my time with you today. And I want to just please hear me. I’m going to plead with you. So much hangs in the balance. I realized this today. Bek and I were talking about this earlier. This is our 19th Easter since we started Community Church.

I want you to know we love you. We love this community. You could probably fake love for like, a year, maybe five, if you’re good, maybe even ten. Come on, almost 20 years. We love you. We love you. We are for you because God is for you. We are for the Poconos. Because God is for the Poconos. We’re for your family and your kids. Because God is for your family. God is for your kids. He loves you so much. He sent his one and only Son. Say, how much does Jesus loves me? He loved me this much when he stretched out his arms across that old tree, and he gave his life for you and me. So I am going to plead with you one more time. Do you believe this sincerely and honestly? Not talking about your mom or your dad or your grandmother or your aunt. I’m talking about you. Do you believe this? Because if you do, when you die, you will be raised to new life. 

I have news for you today. When God made you, he put inside of you a never-dying soul. Here’s what that means. Every single one of us will live forever. Though your body may die, what really makes you? Your soul will never die. It is a never-dying soul. And you will live forever in one of two places in the presence of God, which is heaven, or outside the presence of God, which is hell by any definition. So everybody lives forever. It’s up to you to decide where. Because God has, out of his great love for you, God out of his great love for you, he gave you a free will. He gave you the power to decide whether to love him back or not. He didn’t make you like a robot. You’re not like a computer. No. You’re a human being made in his image. And you have the power to choose. 

I mean, the Bible is clear on this. It says, chooses this day whom you will serve. Do you believe this? I hope you think about it. Give it serious consideration because your eternity hangs in the mouth. I mean, look at this next verse. The Bible says this because Jesus was raised from the dead. We’ve been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven. And the future starts now. Some people ask me, Pastor, when does eternal life start? Does that start when I die? I’m like, no wrong. Eternal life starts the very moment you choose to believe this. You say, Well, I believe. Good, you’re halfway there. John 1:12 says, to everyone who believes in Him, to all of those who receive him, he gives the right to become children of God. So the simplest way I can put this for you. Do you believe it? Have you received it? Believe, receive, believe, and receive. Have you received Him? Listen, you can’t earn your way into heaven. There is no amount of good work. You, on your best day, are still like a filthy rag in the eyes of God.

So none of us are good enough to earn it or to deserve it. That’s why Jesus came and did for us what we could not do for Him ourselves. That he who knew no sin became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God, that we might become children of God. So have you believed in Him, and have you received Him into your heart? If so, you have the right to become children of God.

Everybody is not a child of God. Only those who believe in him and receive Him come into the family of God. And God wants a really big family. You know, Jesus, one of the last things he said before he went to the cross, said this, I go to a place to prepare for you. And he’s talking about heaven. Oh, I wish I could talk some more about heaven today because that’s where we’re going to spend eternity. And eternity, my friend, is a really long, long time. And he said, I go to a place to prepare for you. In my Father’s house, there are many mansions, and there are many rooms. And he’s preparing it for you right now. Are you ready to believe and to receive? You say, well, how do I do that? Jesus said this, in the Book of Revelation. I stand at the door, and I knock. And anyone who opens the door, I will come in. Just open the door of your heart, your life, to him today. He will come in, make you a child of God, a son or a daughter of us, heavenly Father. And he will secure for you a place in heaven. But friends, that future, it starts right here, right now. 

The Bible says today is the day of Salvation. And I would be very remiss if I didn’t give you a chance to believe and receive Jesus Christ into your heart today. Why wouldn’t you do that? Come on, why would you reject God’s love in his Grace? Oh, I don’t need God. I’m doing good. Really. Come on. You can’t even solve your own problems, right? You don’t need a mentor. You don’t need a life coach. You need a savior. And his name is Jesus. And either Jesus saves you, or you don’t get saved. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I can take you to Buddha’s grave. He’s there. I can take you to Stalin’s grave. He’s there. We can go to Muhammad’s grave. He’s there. But I’ve been to the grave of Jesus, and he’s not there. He has risen from the dead, and he is the only way to heaven. I am the resurrection, and the life is he says to you, There are not many roads that lead to heaven. There’s one. And if you have an issue with that, your issue is not with me. Your issue is the one who rose from the dead. He says, I am the way. I am the truth, not one of the truths, not many of the truths. I am the way, not one of the ways. I am the way, the truth, and the life. That’s what Jesus said. He loves you so much, that he wouldn’t sugarcoat it for you.

He said, I’ll say it plain. So he says, Come to me. I stand at the door, and I knock. And anyone who opens the door, I will come in. So here’s how we’re going to end today before we go out, have a lot of fun. Eat a lot of great food. Take pictures. I want to give you the opportunity right here, right now, to do this so that today is your future. It starts right here, right now. The moment that you have the courage, put your faith in Jesus, who died a humiliating death as he was stripped and beaten and hoisted up for all to see. You have the day to show some courage today. And I believe that I receive so that your name will be written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And one day, you will stand before your Father upon entrance into heaven. And if he says, Why should I let you in? All you have to say, my big brother lives here. His name is Jesus. Because Jesus says, if you believe and you receive, you will become my brothers and sisters. Why should I let you in? My big brother said I was welcome. I’m here because of Jesus and what he did. And that’s going to be good enough for your heavenly Father, where you will spend eternity in heaven.

There are a lot of good things here on Earth. A lot of fun, places you can go, ways to spend your money. I get it. There’s nothing like heaven. He’s coming back. He’s coming back. He’s not coming back this time as a punching bag. He did that once and once alone. The next time he comes back, he’ll be riding a white stallion, sword in his hand with fire in his eyes, a tattoo on his legs that says, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he’s not coming back this time to make peace. He’s coming back this time to make war. And he’s going to destroy the works in the Kingdom of darkness once and for all. He’s coming back. It’s not over.

He’s coming back. Are you ready to meet him? Are you ready to meet him? Do you believe it? Have you received it? And if your answer was yesterday, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re not going to bow our heads. We’re not going to close our eyes. We’re not going to say a little prayer because prayer doesn’t save you. It’s your faith that saves you. So your prayer is going to be in action today. In just a moment, these guys are going to come, and they’re going to sing this last song. It’s called Come to the Altar, for Jesus’ hands are open wide. He stands at the door, and he knocks. And if you want to come, if you want to believe and receive upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, ask you to join a Church. Give anything, sing anything, say anything. I’m saying this is about your soul. And if you want today, draw a line in the sand. I’m going to follow Jesus. I’m going to ask you, and we’re wherever you are, you’re going to stand up. You’re going to walk down to this cross because I want you to know there’s power in the cross of Jesus Christ.