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00:00 Anybody excited about this series today? Anybody love Jesus at Strauss Square?
00:07 I want you to look at your neighbor, whichever one you like the best. Just say
00:12 neighbor, God loves, blank. Look at your other neighbor, the one you ignored. Say
00:20 other neighbor, God loves, blank. Over the next six weeks, we're gonna go on a
00:29 journey together and we are going to fill in the blank of God loves, blank. I know
00:37 some of you in here, you have tiptoe anticipation. You're like, "Oh, I can't wait
00:40 to fill in the blanks." We're gonna fill in the blanks for six weeks in this
00:44 series. Before we even fill in the blank of who God loves, can I tell you who I
00:53 hate? I know that's a bad way to start a message, but can I tell you, hate's a bad
00:59 word, can I tell you who I strongly dislike and have a disdain for? I
01:05 strongly dislike people who hurt and mistreat my kids. All the parents in here
01:15 are shaking their head. All the parents in here are going, "I feel you on that one."
01:19 Because if you have kids, you know that anytime somebody hurts or mistreats one
01:25 of your kids, something on the inside of you rises up and it makes you feel some
01:31 type of way when people treat your children wrong. I'm telling you, I have
01:37 issues with people that mistreat or hurt my kids. And I realize all three of my
01:43 beautiful humans, I think we got a picture of them, there they are right
01:46 there. They're cute, they're still in the sanctification process, I know they're
01:50 not all saved, but if you treat them poorly or you hurt them, I'm gonna feel
01:59 some type of way. And I'm not just talking about like a teacher or like a
02:03 coach or something, I'm talking about other kids. Yes, I'm confessing this to
02:09 you, I am a preacher of the gospel, graduated from Bible College, saved,
02:13 sanctified, and filled with the Holy Spirit. However, I am tempted to kick a
02:18 kid if that kid messes with my kid. And here's the real and raw reality, that if
02:26 you treat one of my kids wrong, there's not really much you can do to compensate
02:31 for that. Like, you can give me an offering, you could come to church, you
02:38 could sing me songs, but none of that will compensate for you treating one of
02:45 my kids poorly. It works in reverse as well, because how many of you know, one of the
02:51 greatest ways you can show me that you love me is to treat my kids right.
02:57 Matter of fact, one of the greatest ways you can let me know that you honor me is
03:02 by how you honor my children. I hope you see where I'm going with this today,
03:08 because this is the construct, this is the framework around this series, "God
03:14 Loves _____." Because this is not really a series for us to dive into the capacity
03:20 of God's infinite ability to love us, because how many of you know, God knows how to
03:26 love. He has proven his love for us. If you ever doubt God's love for you, look
03:32 at Jesus on a cross with his arms stretched out wide, and with his arms
03:36 stretched out wide, he says, "This is how much I love you. This is how much I care
03:40 for you." As a matter of fact, God is so good at love, he doesn't just do it, he is
03:44 it. He is love personified. It is not something that he does, it is something
03:50 that he is. So anytime you're talking about love, you have to include God in
03:54 the conversation, because he is love. So this isn't a series about us going into
03:59 the depths of God's love, but this is a series about us increasing our capacity
04:05 to love other people. This is about you and I filling in the blanks so that
04:10 people around us, people in our community, people, watch this, that you don't like,
04:16 can know that they are loved by God. This is a series over the next six weeks that
04:24 we're gonna fill in the blanks on the love of God. And the reality is, it's only
04:28 six weeks, but how many of you know, it could go on and on and on. We could fill in the
04:32 blank with all kinds of people. Matter of fact, in this series, I'll just give you
04:35 a preview of the coming attraction. We're gonna talk about how God loves addicts.
04:39 We're gonna talk about how God loves families. We're gonna talk about how God
04:43 loves prisoners. We're gonna talk about how God loves the LGBT community. We're
04:48 gonna talk about how God loves families. We're gonna talk about how God loves
04:52 Dallas. We're gonna talk about how God loves the Dallas Cowboys. Amen. He has to,
04:58 you gotta keep praying for him. We're gonna talk about how God loves the world. This
05:01 series is going to go on and on. It could, because we're gonna learn how in the
05:07 world do we increase our capacity to love. Reminds me of what Jesus said to
05:14 his disciples in John 13. He said to them, "The world will know you are my disciples,
05:20 not by how you jump up and down in church, not by how you sing, but by how
05:25 you love. That's how they will know that you are one of my disciples." We're gonna
05:32 do what Paul does in Ephesians chapter 3 when he prays this prayer. Look at what
05:36 Paul prays to the church at Ephesus. He says, "I pray that you, being rooted and
05:42 established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people
05:47 to grasp how wide and long and how high and deep is the love of Christ and to
05:54 know that this love surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of
05:59 all the fullness of God." This is our year we've been declaring as a church that we
06:06 want to go, we want to go deeper. And if you're gonna go deeper, then your love
06:14 for other people has to go deeper. See, when we're talking about loving other
06:19 people and filling in the blame, love is not like a class that you graduate and
06:23 you just throw your little tassel on the other side and you're like, "I'm good. I know
06:26 how to love humanity. I've passed that class." I'm sorry, that's not how it works.
06:30 It's actually like going deep-sea diving. And in the same way, a deep-sea diver has
06:36 to keep going deeper and deeper so that their lung capacity can handle going
06:43 deeper. God wants to stretch our love capacity in this series so that we can
06:48 fill in the blank. Because if God is gonna show his love to other people, guess who
06:53 he's gonna do it through? He's gonna do it through you. So I'm not gonna be
06:58 before you long today, but today we're gonna fill in the first blank. And in
07:01 order to do that, I want to go to the Gospel of Luke chapter number 15. You
07:05 ready to fill in the first blank? Luke chapter 15. I want to read verses 1
07:09 through 10. I'm not gonna make you stand for the reading of God's Word, but Luke
07:11 15 starting at verse number 1. Let's fill in the first blank. And it says, "Now the
07:16 tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus, but the
07:21 Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered." You know you big mad when you
07:25 start muttering. "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Then Jesus
07:30 told them this parable, 'Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of
07:35 them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep
07:40 until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and
07:45 goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with
07:50 me. I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you in the same way, there will be more
07:55 rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons
08:01 who do not need to repent. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.
08:07 Doesn't she light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she
08:10 finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and
08:15 says, 'Rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you,
08:21 there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who
08:27 repents." Somebody give God some praise for that right there. Rejoicing. That's
08:34 what we're gonna do when every single one of these candidates get baptized
08:39 today. We're gonna do what's happening in heaven. We're gonna throw a big old party
08:43 and rejoice. But when you look at this parable in Luke 15, it is so clear what the
08:49 first blank is. This first blank is what connects every single one of us. This
08:54 very first blank is what all of us were born into. All of us can relate to this
08:59 first blank of the series. You ready? God loves sinners. God loves sinners. Now I
09:08 know you're looking at your neighbor like they're one and you're not, but the
09:11 reality is this first message applies to every single one of us. God loves sinners.
09:18 And we see it in Luke 15 because when I read the Gospel of Luke in the ministry
09:22 of Jesus, I am intrigued with the people that were attracted to the ministry of
09:27 Jesus. I'm blown away by the people that were drawn to Jesus. As a matter of fact,
09:31 I use that as a gauge for my success in ministry because I believe that if we're
09:36 preaching the same gospel that Jesus preached, we ought to be attracting the
09:40 same people that Jesus attracted. And how many of you know Jesus did not attract
09:44 perfect, put-together, polished people. He attracted ratchet people. He attracted
09:50 broken people. He attracted people that had some issues. He attracted people that
09:54 had some problems. Did you notice that about the ministry of Jesus? That every
09:59 time he opened up his mouth, every time he showed up, it could have been at a
10:02 Strauss Square, people from everywhere showed up to see the ministry of Jesus.
10:07 People that wouldn't go to the synagogue showed up to hear Jesus because he had
10:11 this magnetism about him that attracted lost, broken people. I'm telling you, I
10:17 want to be a church that's just like the ministry of Jesus, that doesn't attract
10:21 perfect people, but attract people who say, "I've got some issues, but I got my eyes
10:25 fixed on the perfect one. And as long as I can get to him, he'll fix what's broken
10:32 in me." It's amazing that he didn't just attract broken, ratchet, messed-up people,
10:38 but he also attracted, ooh, religious people. He also attracted the Pharisees. And I
10:44 don't know if the Pharisees were attracted to him or if they were
10:46 attracted to the fact that sinners were attracted to him and they weren't coming
10:49 to their synagogues, but religious people were attracted to Jesus too, and they
10:55 would show up anytime he would open up his mouth. And before we typecast all the
10:59 Pharisees, I know we put them as the villains in the Bible. How many know God
11:03 loved the Pharisees too? He didn't just love the broken people, he loved the
11:08 religious, self-righteous people too. He had a heart for them too. The only
11:12 problem was they couldn't see what he was coming to offer them because it's
11:16 hard to give medicine to a person who doesn't know they're sick. It's hard to
11:22 throw a lifeline to a person that doesn't know they're drowning, and that's
11:26 why this is the entry point into salvation. This is the entry point into
11:31 coming to God. You do not come to Jesus with your swag. You do not come to Jesus
11:35 with your pride. You have to come to him recognizing that you are a sinner and
11:40 that you need to be saved and that you cannot fix yourself. You cannot help
11:44 yourself. There's not enough TED Talks. There's not enough podcasts. There's not
11:48 enough Oprah classes you can watch to get yourself together. You are too broken
11:53 to get yourself together. Is there anybody in here that's a living
11:56 testimony of the fact that I know I need some saving? He has to have you approach
12:05 him as a sinner who knows you need to be saved. And isn't it interesting that both
12:11 the self-righteous and the ratchet were attracted to Jesus every time he got
12:17 ready to preach. And here was the self-righteous Pharisees' indictment on
12:21 Jesus. They wanted to know why he was hanging out with sinners. That's what he
12:28 was called, the friend of sinners. They wanted to know why do you keep eating
12:31 with these sinners? Because to eat with somebody in that culture meant that you
12:36 accepted them, that you were bringing them into your circle. And he had a
12:41 problem with the Pharisees because they didn't understand if you're really holy
12:45 and you're really a rabbi, why are you associating with these messed up people?
12:50 And I love Jesus because he doesn't give them an answer, he doesn't give them an
12:55 argument, he gives them a story. He said, "You want to know why I'm hanging out
12:59 with them? I'm not gonna give you an argument even though I could shut y'all
13:03 all down." He said, "I'm gonna give you a story because how many of those
13:07 storytellers rule the world? There's something about a story that will change
13:13 your life forever. That's why those of you who are getting baptized today, don't
13:17 let you being baptized be the end of you telling your story. Everywhere you go, you
13:22 need to declare what Jesus has done in your life. That's how we overcome. We
13:27 overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. You ain't got
13:31 to go to Bible college, you ain't got to memorize the book of Leviticus. Some of
13:34 you, the best thing you can do is just tell your story of how God saved you.
13:40 Tell your story of how he redeemed you. Tell your story of how you used to be
13:45 out in those streets, but look how God has restored you. Tell your story. People
13:51 get saved and act like they in the witness protection program, and you don't
13:55 even tell your real testimony. Tell your testimony. That's what the world needs. We
14:00 don't need any more people who keep acting like they got it all together. We
14:05 need somebody that will stand up and say, "Yes, this is who I was, but that's not who
14:09 I am anymore." And if God can save somebody like me, I know he can save
14:13 somebody like you. Don't get it twisted. I used to always know these songs. I used
14:18 to just stand and just look. He told them a story, because if you tell me a truth I
14:26 might believe. If you tell me a fact, I might learn, but if you tell me a story,
14:31 that story will live in my heart forever. So he told them three stories. He tells a
14:36 story about a lost sheep, say lost sheep, a lost coin, say lost coin, and a lost
14:43 son. Say lost son. Lost sheep, lost coin, lost son. Lost sheep, lost coin, and lost
14:55 son. What is Jesus trying to communicate? He is communicating the state of
15:01 humanity that we are all lost. That our default settings are not people who are
15:12 found. Our default settings are people who are lost. Look around the room.
15:17 Everybody look around this. Look around Strauss. Look around Strauss. Can I tell
15:21 you? In this room, there's really only two categories of people. Lost and found.
15:27 That's the only category of people you'll ever meet. There are lost people and
15:31 there are found people. And in these three stories that are all connected, he
15:36 is letting us know that he is obsessed with lost people. That he is obsessed
15:41 with people who are lost, who don't know their way. This is Luke 15, but in Luke
15:46 19 verse 10, Jesus will tell you his mission statement for why he came from
15:51 heaven to earth. He said, "I came to seek and to save the who? The lost." He said,
15:57 "That's why I came from heaven to earth. I came to not just save the lost, but to
16:02 seek out the lost." It's one thing to save them. It's a whole other thing to be
16:06 actively looking for people who are lost. Anybody in here ever been lost before?
16:12 You ever been lost? I never have. I'm saved, but no. I don't remember being lost, but I
16:20 remember a moment that I'll never forget. My wife Taylor and I were at North Park
16:26 Mall and we were out in the open area playing with our little humans and they
16:31 were out in the field running around. And as they're running around, somebody came
16:36 up to talk to us and we just talked to the person for a second and I will never
16:40 forget finishing talking to that person and both of us looking out our
16:44 peripheral going, "Where's our youngest? Where's Remy?" And before you know it, a
16:50 moment of peaceful playing in a field at North Park Mall turned into panic as we
16:56 could not find our youngest, Remy. We started screaming and shouting and
17:00 running all over the field. I will never forget it. And everybody saw our nervous
17:04 panic because she was nowhere to be found. We started shouting out, "Remy, Remy, Remy,
17:08 where are you?" And other parents saw us running around frantically and they
17:12 started shouting out, "Remy, Remy, Remy, where are you?" And it was the longest three
17:16 minutes of my life watching my youngest disappear when I thought I had my eye on
17:23 her. And I'll never forget an officer coming out of the mall with Remy in his
17:31 hand and I ran up to the officer said, "Thank you so much." And I found Remy. I'll
17:37 never forget the panic before that moment. I'll never forget looking at that
17:42 officer saying, "Thank you so much for finding my baby girl." I'll never forget her
17:48 face just clueless like, "What happened?" Totally unaware that we almost had a
17:53 panic attack and a breakdown. But you know what I didn't say in that moment
17:58 when she was lost? I did not say, "Yep, at least I got my other two kids." Those words
18:05 never came out of my mouth and I tell you that because that put the parable of
18:11 the lost sheep in context for me. Because when I first read about the lost sheep
18:15 and the 99 that everybody shouts about and the shepherd leaves the 99 to go
18:19 find the one, I'm thinking if I got a hundred sheep and I lose one, if I lose
18:24 ten, I'm good. They're just sheep. But the reason I can say that is because those
18:29 aren't my sheep and I'm not their shepherd. But when I contextualize it and
18:35 realize that although I had my two kids but one was lost in that moment, I was
18:39 willing to do whatever I could to find that one. I'm trying to tell somebody in
18:44 this place how your God, the Good Shepherd, feels about you. It doesn't matter that
18:49 he loves everybody. He loves you uniquely. He loves you and he will do whatever he
18:54 has to do to go find the other one. That's what matters. That's why the
19:00 shepherd can leave the 91 because the one that's lost is not just another
19:04 sheep. That sheep has a name. It means something to the shepherd. He said, "I'll
19:10 do whatever I gotta do to go find that one. I'm willing to leave these 99 with
19:15 somebody else to go find the one that is lost." I'm trying to tell you the most
19:19 powerful thing you can hear today. God does not love us equally. He loves us
19:24 uniquely. He doesn't love us equally. He loves us uniquely and until you get that
19:31 revelation, you'll just think you're just another sheep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. God
19:35 loves me. No, no, no, no. I'm trying to tell you he will leave the 99 to find you
19:39 because he loves you uniquely. He loves all your quirks. He loves your
19:43 idiosyncrasies. He loves you. Why do you think there's not a single person on
19:48 this planet that has the same fingerprint? It's because our God loves
19:52 each one of us uniquely. He loves his kids not equally but uniquely and he'll
20:00 say, "I'll do whatever I gotta do to go get the one." And I'm looking for a church
20:06 that'll say, "I'll do whatever I have to do to go get the one." When the shepherd
20:12 goes and finds the one, watch what he does. He picks that sheep up, puts it on
20:20 his shoulders, and carries the sheep home. You know why he carries the sheep home?
20:26 Because sheep don't know how to find their way back home. I know you were
20:32 shouting about you being unique, which you are. Ain't nobody like you. You are you.
20:37 And God loves you uniquely. But there are some similarities that sheep have. I
20:42 don't want to insult you. Sheep think they're smarter than they really are.
20:46 Sheep need somebody to guide them and protect them because they ain't got no
20:51 teeth. They don't have no fighting mechanisms. Sheep can get lost easily.
20:56 Sheep stink. I'm just preaching the word. Sheep have a lot of fear and anxiety so
21:05 sometimes they even get scared just by another sheep. Sheep, when they get
21:11 thirsty and they go to drink some water, if they drink water from a stream that's
21:16 running, they'll get so busy because they're thirsty. They'll get so busy
21:19 drinking that they'll get carried away by the thing that they went to quench
21:23 their thirst. You don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about people
21:28 that have been so thirsty and you thought that person was gonna actually
21:31 quench your thirst and you ended up getting carried away. They can't drink
21:36 from a running stream. They have to drink from still water. That's why I want to
21:40 take a praise break right there and thank God for a good shepherd who will
21:43 guide me by still water because I know I'm gonna get thirsty and I don't want
21:49 to get carried away by the thing I went to quench my thirst by but thank God for
21:53 the shepherd that will lead me by still water so my soul can be satisfied. Sheep
22:02 get lost because they don't know how to find their way home. They need somebody
22:10 to carry them. It's one thing to be lost like a sheep because when you're lost
22:16 like a sheep you know you're lost but you don't know how to get home but it's
22:20 another thing to get lost like a coin. Some people are lost like a sheep. They
22:28 just need somebody to go get them and pick them up and say come on this is
22:33 home but the reason he tells the parable about the coin is there's a difference
22:38 between being lost like a sheep and being lost like a coin. Matter of fact if
22:43 you're looking for a sheep all you gotta do is listen for the "baa" and you'll find
22:47 the sheep. The problem with being lost like a coin is you don't know you're
22:52 lost. Coins don't know they're lost. A coin doesn't make noise when it's lost.
23:00 Coins represent the people who are lost but you don't know you're lost. People
23:07 who are lost but you don't know the value that you have and it is up to
23:11 people around you to do what that woman did who cut on the light and swept the
23:17 house because sometimes you could have incredible value but not know that
23:22 you're lost. There's some people here who are lost like a sheep and I came to tell
23:27 you the Good Shepherd will carry you home and there are some of you who are
23:31 lost like a coin and you don't even know that you're lost and yet you carry great
23:37 value. Somebody comes to play softly behind me as I get ready to land the
23:42 plane. You remember in Matthew chapter 22 read it when you get to the crib. They
23:47 tried to trick Jesus and they said, "Hey Jesus should we pay taxes to Caesar?" and
23:52 I love Jesus move. He said, "Show me a coin the same type of coin that this woman
23:59 would have lost." And he says, "Whose image is on that coin?"
24:05 And they said, "Caesar's." He goes, "Okay give unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Do you
24:14 know a deeper question that I want to ask you today especially if you're lost
24:19 like a coin? Whose image is on you? Whose image is on you? Do you realize the image
24:31 of God is on you? That whether you profess that Jesus is Lord or not his
24:41 image is on every single person in humanity. You have never walked past just
24:49 a regular human. Every single human that you see has an indelible imprint of the
24:56 hand of God on their life. Humanity is God's artistry and if you want to know
25:03 about the artist look at the face of the art and the art is every single person
25:08 you pass every single day. You've never passed an ordinary person. How many of you
25:13 know that we are all by creation God's children because he put his image on him
25:19 and the same thing he said about that coin he's saying to you if his image is
25:23 on you give back to God what is God's. He wants your life. He wants your body. He doesn't
25:32 want pieces of you. He wants all of you. Some people are lost like sheep. They
25:39 wander and they don't know how to get home so the shepherd picks them up takes
25:44 them home. Some people are lost like a coin. They don't know they're lost but
25:50 yet they have incredible value and somebody has got to cut on a lamp and
25:54 sweep the house and find you and restore you. The third story we didn't read it
26:01 but it's about a lost son and that's a different type of loss because this son
26:09 goes to his father and says dad I want my inheritance now. Pretty much said dad I
26:15 wish you were dead. Give me my inheritance. Dad I'm tired of being in
26:20 your house under your rules. I want to do life my way and there's some people who
26:26 are lost like that. You want to do life your way. You're tired of the restriction.
26:31 You want to live how you want to live and the prodigal son ran out. Said I'm
26:38 gonna live my life the way I want. I'm tired of the restriction and if I'm
26:42 following the story the same way the shepherd went after the sheep, the same
26:47 way the woman swept the house and looked for the coin, I'm expecting the father to
26:54 run after this boy as soon as he's leaving but the father doesn't do it
26:59 because this boy's lostness is different. He chose to leave. He asked for his
27:06 inheritance. He didn't wander off. He wanted to go. He said I've got the pride
27:11 of wanting to live my life the way I want to live my life and look at the
27:15 grace of the father. The grace of the father said you want your inheritance?
27:19 Okay I'll let you go and how many of you know sometimes the most gracious thing God can
27:23 do is to let you have your way. Sometimes the most gracious thing God can do is to
27:28 let you go your way and the father did not chase after this boy. He waited until
27:34 this boy hit rock bottom. He waited until a crisis hit. That's why some of y'all
27:41 came to Stroud Square right now. You know you wouldn't be in church but now all of
27:44 a sudden life has gotten your attention. Now all of a sudden the job is gone. The
27:49 relationship is gone. The thing you put your hope in is gone. All of a sudden the
27:54 thing you've been drinking ain't doing it no more and the thing you've been
27:57 smoking ain't giving you the same satisfaction and even in that it is the
28:00 grace of God because this is a loving Savior who's been trying to get your
28:05 attention saying that thing will never satisfy you and no I'm not chasing you
28:09 but I'm gonna do like that father did. I'm gonna stand at a distance and I'm
28:14 gonna watch every single day and I'm waiting for you to come home and the day
28:18 that that boy got to the rock bottom and he realized life ain't like this I'm
28:23 better being a slave in my father's house. The day that he came to his
28:27 senses he said I'm not worthy to be a son so I'll just go back and be a slave
28:31 and look at him running back to his father's house thinking he's gonna be a
28:35 slave and not a son but before he could even get to the front door his daddy was
28:40 there watching him waiting for him to get there and he started running towards
28:45 him. I don't know who this is for today but I'm telling you if you'll just take
28:49 one step towards God he'll take 20 steps towards you. Your life is not over. He
28:55 still loves you. He's still waiting for you. This is a beautiful Savior who will run
29:03 towards the one who says I'm sick of living like this and I'll come home. You
29:12 would think when this boy got home he would have got a speech. I told you not
29:17 to go away. What's wrong with you? But that's not the story Jesus tells. Why do
29:23 we keep projecting this image on our heavenly father thinking he's waiting to
29:27 hit you upside your head when you come back home thinking he's gonna remind you
29:30 of all your mistakes? That's not what the story tells. The story follows the same
29:35 pattern of the sheep and the coin and the son. When they found the sheep they
29:40 turned up and had a party. When the lady found the coin she rejoiced and had a
29:45 party and when that boy who came back who had wasted his father's inheritance
29:50 who made all the wrong decisions who was broke busted and disgusted he didn't get
29:54 a speech of how wrong he was he said no no no no no y'all get the fatty cat. DJ
29:59 play some music real quick. My son was dead but now he's found. That is the
30:04 character of God that if you'll come to him he so loves sinners that the day you
30:09 return he is ready to throw a party he is ready to rejoice because you're his
30:14 child. So today before we start this baptism I thought we could have a party.
30:22 I thought that maybe there's somebody here who feels lost like a sheep and you
30:34 don't know how to find your way home God told me to tell you he'll pick you up
30:38 he'll carry you home. I felt like there's somebody here who maybe you feel lost
30:43 like a coin and you don't know you're lost maybe you don't even know you have
30:49 value and I came to tell you that the very image of God is on you. You were
30:56 created in his image and I'm sweeping the house and cutting on the lamp today
31:00 saying this Savior wants relationship with you and maybe you're lost like this
31:05 prodigal son who said I'm sick of being in my father's house who made a willful
31:11 decision to go away and yet the father stood at the house waiting for him to
31:17 come home and ran towards him. Why did he run towards him? Because God loves
31:25 sinners. He loves sinners because he is a Savior and all of us need the saving
31:34 power of this gracious father. So before we start this party before we start this
31:42 celebration where over 300 people today are gonna make a public declaration
31:47 of their faith and going from death to life. I want every person to bow their
31:54 head and close their eyes because I feel like there there's somebody that needs
31:58 to be added to the guest list and you don't know why you came today maybe you
32:03 came to watch somebody else get baptized but God is speaking to your heart. That's
32:11 what I love about this Savior he knows how to speak to you directly some of you
32:16 what you've been going through is God trying to get your attention. He loves
32:22 sinners. He's not repulsed by you. He's in love with you so much so that while you
32:32 were a sinner when you weren't thinking about him he already made a decision to
32:36 give his life for you. So with heads bowed and eyes closed all over Stroud
32:43 Square right here in the middle of downtown Dallas today I want to give
32:47 somebody I don't care if it's one person I want to give somebody an opportunity
32:52 to come home. We say it all the time here at Social Dallas you can always come
32:58 home and it comes right out of this in Luke 15 that boy didn't think he could
33:02 come home he thought he messed up too bad and I came to tell you have not
33:06 messed up too bad you can come home you don't get yourself together to come to
33:11 Jesus. He didn't have time to take a bath the father just put a robe on him he
33:17 didn't even have time to shower the father covered him. So if you're here
33:22 today and say Pastor Robert today's my day I know God's been calling me home
33:27 today I need to give him my life I need to surrender my life to him I'm not
33:33 asking you if you have relationship with church I'm asking you do you have
33:38 relationship with Jesus the God who loves you so much heads are bowed eyes
33:46 are closed if that's you all over this place you say Pastor Robert would you
33:49 include me in this closing prayer I need to give him my life or maybe there was a
33:52 season in your life you were running after God but you turned your back and
33:56 he's calling you back home you sense him calling you back you let a church person
34:00 make you walk away from God and God saying you projected the character of
34:05 man and the church on to me I am a good father who's always ready for you to
34:10 come home that's you saying I need to give him my life or maybe you need to
34:13 rededicate your life to him I'm gonna ask you to be so bold and so brave just
34:17 lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could see it one two
34:21 three can I see your hand Wow hands are going up all over Shroud Square today
34:26 thank you Jesus thank you Jesus anybody else come on if you lifted up that hand
34:30 would you stand to your feet unashamed just stand to your feet all over this
34:35 place today thank you Jesus thank you God look at this look at this thank you
34:40 Lord thank you Lord God knows how to speak to his kids that's why you had to
34:45 be here today that's why you had to be here today and come on this isn't it to
34:49 shame you matter of fact I want everybody to stand and join those that
34:53 have stand stood to their feet and here's what we're gonna do we're gonna
34:56 do the same thing they did with the lost sheep and the lost coin and the lost
35:00 son when his when they came home there was a party that was rejoicing so if you
35:05 lifted up your hand this isn't to embarrass you this so we know who to
35:09 celebrate for I'm just gonna ask you to come out of your seat and come right up
35:12 here to the front and as you start coming you gonna hear people clapping
35:17 and cheering you know why because all of us are sinners who've been saved by
35:22 grace come on I don't care how far you gotta walk if you're all the way in the
35:26 back I want you to come this is your day of salvation this is your moment come on
35:33 the day you hear his voice don't harden your heart come on church I need you to
35:37 turn up for every single person that's coming
35:42 you ought to shout like it was one of your kids you ought to shout like it was
35:47 your sister you ought to shout like it was your brother like it was your mama
35:51 like it was your father coming home come on come on
35:56 I don't care how far you gotta walk I promise every step is worth it come on
36:03 don't stop clapping until people stop coming come on
36:08 this is what our God does he'll take you from lost to found from broken to whole
36:18 he'll redeem and restore
36:23 thank you Jesus come on they're still coming they're still coming
36:32 thank you God thank you Lord thank you God anybody else
36:43 they're still coming they're still coming don't stop the party don't stop
36:48 the party not when there's kids that are still coming home
36:54 thank you Jesus thank you Lord anybody else anybody else yeah yeah come on come
37:05 on come on come on
37:09 thank you Jesus
37:13 thank you God come on I don't care what steps you got to walk down I don't care
37:23 how far you got to walk God orchestrated this moment
37:32 the only reason I got a microphone is to just echo what your father has been
37:37 trying to tell you is you can always come home you can always come home
37:42 anybody else anybody else here's what I want to do today's about community
37:48 remember we ain't leaving until the last person gets baptized so here's what I
37:52 want you to do I'm gonna deputize you to be an evangelist you just got your
37:56 ordination certificate you're welcome God bless you I want you to ask the
37:59 person on your right on your left ask them do you need to go down and if they
38:03 say yes you come with them if they say yes you come with them ask him do you
38:07 need to come down I don't want anybody have to walk down by themselves because
38:11 the enemies in their ears saying you can't come down by yourself so you come
38:14 with them yeah come on come on come on ask him do you need to go down because
38:18 if they say yes you come with them you come with them this is what the church
38:22 is about this is what the church is about this is why we showed up today
38:26 because he's calling his kids home come on he's not coming to condemn you he's
38:32 not a condemner he's a Savior he's a Savior if you're stuck he'll save you if
38:38 you're addicted he'll save you if you're broken he'll save you
38:53 they still coming I know y'all tired of clapping but the angels in heaven ain't
38:58 tired of rejoicing they're still coming
39:02 thank you God thank you God thank you God
39:20 thank you Jesus
39:24 thank you Jesus thank you God for God so loved the world and he gave his only
39:35 begotten Son and whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have
39:42 everlasting life God thank you for the free gift that you paid the price for
39:49 come on yeah come on come on
39:55 thank you Jesus thank you God father thank you that we don't have to get
40:06 ourself together to come to you we just have to respond anybody else thank you
40:15 God here's what I want us to do I'm gonna give you the words we're gonna
40:20 pray this prayer but the power is not in the prayer the power is in this coming
40:25 from your heart and watch this and the power is not just in this moment it's
40:29 what happens even after this moment as you make a decision you're saying God
40:34 I'm beginning a journey to follow you but it starts with me recognizing I'm a
40:42 sinner and the only thing that can save me it's the precious blood that you shed
40:49 on your cross that's the only thing that can redeem me not my good works not my
40:55 good behavior that was the problem with the other son in Luke 15 he thought his
40:59 behavior is what qualified him for the love of God your good works means
41:04 nothing it's the finished work of what Jesus has done so here's what I want us
41:12 to do all over this place can we lift up our hands but especially those of you at
41:15 the front just as a sign of surrender to this wonderful Savior and I want you to
41:22 pray this prayer as I give you the words say dear Jesus today I come to you with
41:32 my hands lifted because I surrender Lord I know I cannot do life without you I
41:43 need you Jesus I believe that you are the Son of God I believe you died for me
41:55 you got up from the grave for me so my response is to surrender all of me for
42:05 all of you Jesus thank you for loving sinners I know I'm a sinner but I also
42:17 know you're a Savior save me set me free in Jesus name amen amen amen amen come
42:31 on and give God the best hand clap of praise that you got come on you could do
42:36 better than that would you give Jesus the best shout of praise
42:41 you ought to praise him like you know hell lost another one
42:46 hell lost a whole lot look at all these people up here that are testifying
42:53 that God loves sinners but he doesn't just love them he saves them and he sets
42:57 them free somebody ought to shout like you want all of the city of Dallas to know
43:02 our God still saves our God still delivers
43:10 (rock music)