← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Real Victory Begins With...
00:35:42
Part 3 of Soul Good Summer
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Oh, it's so fun. So fun. And one of. I have all those experiences. I was just thinking back to the last 18 years of my life as a dad. So want to welcome all of our campuses again. Everyone who's joining us online or on demand in our correctional facilities. What an honor it is to be together on this Father's Day as a. As a church family. Can you put your hands together, Highlands, one more time for everybody who's joining us? I love it. I love it. And we are in week three of a series called Soul Good Summer. Look at your neighbor and say, so good. And that is our more than a series title. That's our prayer for you. You just gotta know we are praying that God would meet you right where you are, kind of halfway through this year. We've all gone through some things, but God would meet you in this month of June and that he would breathe life into your soul. I know that's what he wants to do. And so we're opening our hearts up to God this whole month. You know, we are as people. We have a body, we have a spirit, and we all have a soul. And our soul is our mind, our will, and our emotions. And as I just said, that's an area where we take a lot of hits. This world comes after us in our mind, our thoughts, our emotions, just the pain, all the things that we go through. But the good news all month long, this is our key scripture is Psalm 23, verses 1 through 3. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Here it is. Highlands. He what? He refreshes our souls. And we're just again praying that you would experience that today. And what I have for you today, I'm so excited. It's really more of a Bible study. If you love kind of getting deep into God's word, you're going to love. Today. I believe God wants to minister to all of us. But I got to be honest. Today, all the men of Highlands are on my heart today. I really believe this is a word again for all of us. But I definitely believe the Holy Spirit wants to do something deep in the heart of every man, in the sound of my voice. And I know we've been clapping a lot, but can we just thank God for the men of Highlands. Grateful for you. It's an honor to be a part of this church with you. And our key text today is Hebrews chapter 12. And so if you got your Bible, you can open it up. If you Got your app. You can go ahead and get that out. You'll definitely want to take notes today. So I'm going to read these three verses and then we're going to spend the rest of our time together today working through these verses. And God wants to minister to us. God wants to refresh us today. I love the power of his word. Verse 1 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance. Everybody say perseverance. The race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith for the joy set before him. He endured the cross, he scorned its shame. Where is he now? He's sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God. Verse 3. This is how we're going to close today. We're going to consider all of this. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Anybody grateful for the word of God? Can we honor God's word today in this house? So the book of Hebrews is a book about perseverance. I had you say that word because it really is the key word if you want to understand the theme of the book. It's a book about endurance. It's a book about perseverance. You'll just see that when you read it. You'll see that word over and over and over. And I want to just put the biblical definition of perseverance because it's a gift from God, by the way, that he wants for you, God has perseverance. For us, it just means this steadfast endurance, remaining under a heavy burden isn't that powerful. No matter what the weight looks like, we can remain without giving up patiently and persistently. Again, life comes at all of us hard. We all feel the weight and pressure, the discouragement, the responsibility. And the enemy would love to make us quit. That we would, as we read in Hebrews, we would get weary and then ultimately that we would lose heart. And that may be exactly how you have come into church today. And I'm just going to keep speaking faith all day long. You're going to leave different today. God's going to refresh you today in Jesus name, in your soul. But we're in the middle of of a life that's gonna be full of attack. But in the middle of all that attack, in the middle of all that discouragement, just in the middle of life itself. God gives us a book in Hebrews that reminds us we can have victory in him through perseverance. And so I love language. That kind of creates culture. And so this past fall, we did a series on the goodness of God. We sang about his goodness today. And so I know you know what I'm about to do right now. God is good. And all the time, I love that. I love how that creates. It builds faith. It creates culture. When our family, our kind of family motto is, if we don't quit, we win. And so I'm just going to go ahead from today forward, make that another rally cry of our entire church, because I want to build faith today in all of us. I want to say, if we don't quit, and you say we win on the count of three. One, two, three. If we don't quit. If we don't quit, we win. That God has victory for you, that there is perseverance for you today. There's an endurance that God wants to breathe into your soul. And so for the next few moments, we're going to talk about how real victory begins with the truth that we're going to learn right here In Hebrews, chapter 12. Hebrews gives us four, really, as we read the scripture, four different movements. I'm going to say it strong today, four revelations, if you'll open your heart up to it. And that all starts, of course, in verse one. Put it back on the screen, guys. It says, therefore, since we're surrounded by. Now, catch the setting of the scripture. The setting is so important. Paul is setting us up so we can really. Metaphors or, you know, pictures help us really put ourselves into the Word, into the text. They help it come to life inside of us. And so he's putting a picture around these verses. He says, we're surrounded by this great cloud of witness. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance a race that has been marked out for us. Number one, write it in your app. God has marked out a race for you. There is a race that is marked out for you. And so for today, for the rest of today's message, we're turning this stage, this auditorium, into a stadium. Maybe if you're at Grants Mill, you've seen this. We've already, right here on the platform, have a racetrack, have lanes, racing lanes. There is a, you know, there's lines. There's a starting line, there's a finishing line. I love that we have a crowd, a great cloud of witnesses that are in the room today. I feel like we need to actually bring that all the way around, though. You know, in the state of Alabama, there's a lot of great stadiums we can choose from. I don't know which picture. You gotta help me out out there today. Y' all ready? Should it be this picture right here? Should this be our stadium right there? I don't know. Should it? I don't know. Should it be. It's okay. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not that one. Maybe we should do this stadium right here. Come on. I don't. One of my best friends in the world, Thomas Cox, you're on the second row. I know you want this stadium right here. Come on. The third one. The godliest stadium of all. Go Blazers. Just. Come on, guys. Go Blazers. Can we just. We're in this together. All right? Put up the Roman Stadium. So let's put this stadium around us. So here we are. We're in a stadium. Put yourself there with me right now. And it's crucial for us to really get this text that we would recognize we're in a lane right now. That there is a finish line in front of you. I don't know where you are in your race, but you're in a lane right now. And God is the one who marked this lane out for you. And even in the original language, it just means he set it in front of you. God appointed those lines, and the book of Acts tells us the time that you would live. And even the boundaries of your life, all that's in the hand of God. He's a sovereign God. Your life is. Is not an accident. That's why we are pro life as a church. That's why we believe in the mercy and the grace of God. Second chances. Your life is not an accident. My favorite scripture in the entire Bible is Ephesians 2. 10. You'll probably hear me preach this. I don't know, 10, 15 times every year. I just love the scripture. It says we are God's masterpiece, created new in Christ Jesus. So you. I'm gonna make it personal, Even your own heart, so I. So you can do the good things he planned for you long ago. Write it down. Your life is on purpose. God is the one who marked out this race. He loves you that much that you. You're a masterpiece. You know, if you. If you. If there was a picture of you in heaven, it would be hanging on the wall like the Mona Lisa. It's like his greatest work. Every one of you. Everyone that I Can see right now, my life, your life, it is a masterpiece. And what's so cool is that none of that's an accident. God uniquely made you to run the race that you're running right now, the lane that he's created for you. So your strengths are not an accident. Your gifts are not an accident. Hey, everybody, look at me today. Even your weaknesses are not an accident. And I have so many weaknesses in my life. Usually we focus on more of our weaknesses than our strengths. You know, in vocational ministry, there's a lot of things you can do. Preaching and leading and I've always wanted to sing. Aren't worship leaders. They're the coolest. They're just cool. They don't even try to be cool. My son Landon's here on the front row. He can play guitar. I love it. But I'm kind of mad at him, too. I'm like, why is that? I can't do any of that. You know, a great way to split a church in Alabama is to choose either Auburn or Alabama. If I chose one of those, it would split the church in half. That's why I'm grateful. Pastor Chris was an LSU Tiger, and I'm a UAB Blazer. Okay, we're praying for you right now, right there in that section. The second way I could split this church is if I grab a microphone and try to sing. Y' all would all leave. But, hey, you have strengths, you have weaknesses. But even those weaknesses. Intentional. Second Corinthians 12. Because where we're weak, guess what? We invite God to be strong. If we were strong, we would think we didn't need God. Our life is on purpose. Number two. Our life is for purpose. And I just love this. I see a lot of young people here to my left. You don't have to invent your purpose. I know there's pressure in high school and in college, choosing your career, all those things are important. But the wisdom of God will lead you to your purpose. And you don't have to invent it. You don't declare your purpose. God declared it over you before you were ever born. I know the plans I have for them. Declares the Lord, that God made you to do specific things, and aren't you thankful? Ephesians tells us they're good things. I'm glad that verse doesn't say, and God prepared us in advance to do some really bad things or some really insignificant things or some things that really just don't matter very much. Some people got the good part, some people got the okay, whatever. Part. No, no, no. All of us are called to do good things. And there are lots of ways to live. But only in Christ can we run our race and we all mess up. Hey, everybody. I know this from my own life. I'll preach myself right now. My actions didn't qualify me to run God's race. So guess what? My mistakes, they don't disqualify me. And Romans 11 says that your gifts and your call. I'm preaching faith today. Your gifts and your call are irrevocable. God is not a Walmart. He does not have a return desk. He put it in you. And as a church, I can't even tell you how passionate we are for people to say yes to Jesus and I and then to come alongside you for the rest of your life and help you take those next steps to be all that God has made you to be. Come on, everybody, say out loud, I have a race. Come on, a little more faith than that. I have a race. I have a race. You have a race. We have a race. But Hebrews 1 also tells us that we have some opposition. This is what the scripture says. Since we're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, we're in this arena, we're running this race. Let us throw off a couple things. Everything that hinders. And the sin number two, our race has some opposition. And the opposition is found actually in those two things. Our race has opposition, and the opposition is the things that hinder and the things that come against us as sin. And the Bible is telling us. This is very interesting. Again, we're in the arena for this reason, to really catch the full picture here. The Bible's telling us if we're going to run that race, if you're going to get to the finish line, you're gonna have to throw some things off. And ancient runners, if you've seen, like the chosen. Anybody chosen fans out there. I see you out there. Okay. Or any show, you know, Passion of Christ, whatever, you know, the fashion of the day, people often wore kind of flowing garments so that it was hot, so that they could. It would be breathable. And Paul's saying, you can't run your race in things that aren't fitted for a race. You're gonna have to throw some things off. And so ancient runners who would have been in the stadium basically stripped down to almost nothing. I was gonna do that today. I was gonna put on some spandex today. But again, third, way to split a church right there. But catch this church. Catch this today. You can't run your race carrying the wrong things. And the first one that we get a chance today to throw off, to have some victory in is anything that would hinder. Which. It's a good word, but the actual meaning of it, it just means weight that some of us are trying to run this race, and we need to throw off the weight. Wait, Bulk, here's a good way to think about it. Whatever it is that's encumbering us. And actually, I'm not. And the Bible's not even talking about with this one sin, things that are encumbering our race. You know, sin is wrong for everyone. Like sin is a moral line that is black and white. Sin is sin. We believe that as a church that God has, you know, from his word, from the very beginning and the Ten Commandments on throughout, just the wisdom of God. He has shown us where that line is. I'm thankful that God shows us that. And we have to make the decision to say yes to God and no to sin. Sin is a clear line, but weight is discernment. What is sin for me may not be what is weight for me may not be weight for you. And so I have a just kind of thinking about running this race. Have this. I don't know why things get popular out of nowhere, but have y' all seen weighted vests around? Okay, in my neighborhood, everyone's wearing them, and that may be good for exercise, but if we're running our race, some of us right now are encumbered by something that's in opposition to the race God has for you. Can I ask a question? Really? The Holy Spirit's asking today, what weight are you carrying today? And maybe I don't know what it is. You likely already do. The Holy Spirit will make it clear. Maybe it's a part of how you approach your job or. I mean, the possessions you have. Maybe for a lot of us, it could be habits. Mindsets are huge, man. I know even as a dad, thinking about dads out there today, it's so easy to be so discouraged and to let our past mistakes weight us down for our future. And we're still thinking about something that happened five or six years ago, and it's hindering us from getting. Listen, it's already under the blood of Jesus. Now we're just carrying a mindset that's a weight we don't have to carry. And you just need to see it today. I want you to see it in the stadium. You're on this racetrack, and there is a weight you're Carrying, and it's coming against your race. And of course, the second one says, throw off the sin. Very interesting. It doesn't say plural sins. This is the only place in the entire Bible that sin is spoken of as singular, and it's intentional. I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine who's really like a spiritual uncle, Mark Hancock, who's a part of our Grandview campus. He and I meet every so often. He's so full of wisdom. And we were talking about this text and how profound it is, especially for men, that Paul would make it clear here that there's a sin that we're likely carrying that's unique among all the other sins we might fall into, that we all, as humanity, likely have the sin, that one that keeps attacking us. And the moment I say it, you probably already know it. It's the sin that keeps tripping us. It's the sin that we can't shake. It's the sin we tried to stop. It is the sin that we repent of. But it's like, y' all know when you go to the beach, those sandbars that just get on you, and it just feels like even if you try to throw it off, it just comes right back. And so weight is encumbering us. But sin, this is the picture that Paul gives us. It's entangling us. We're running this race, but it's like the sin has come around our legs and it is tripping us and keeping us from running the race that God has for us. And so, again, this is. I know it's a Sunday morning. Maybe this feels more like a first Wednesday message, but can I just ask you to ask God today, what is the sin in your life right now? What is it that you are facing right now? And I just. I kind of want to make it really clear. And then we're going to pray even later in this service. We're going to throw some things off that. That scent. It's just. It's not an accident. It is a strategic attack of the enemy. So we can't play around with this. In fact, we see all the way from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 4. I'm going to bring my felt board out here right now. Y' all know the first couple, Adam and his wife, and they had two kids, Cain. And in Genesis 4, Cain and Abel bring offerings to God. And for reasons of really of pride, Cain's is rejected and he's wounded. Instead of running to God, or in humility and receiving From God, he gets offended and that offense opens up a target for the enemy. That's often where the sin comes from. Often when we're young, it's an area of hurt or pain that the enemy just sees an opportunity and he hits. Here's what Genesis 4. 7 says. If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it. I know that feels heavy today. It really is heavy today. The sin, the attack of the enemy, it really does want to own us. And so for us today, there's hope coming and we're going to pray. But this is the image. Some of us out there today, and honestly, maybe even a lot of us, we are trying to run this race. And today, walking in church, you are encumbered and you are entangled. And this is why church, your soul could be weary and why you could be losing heart. But I have hope. Anybody grateful that the Bible from COVID to cover is a book of hope and a book for everyone in every situation. Can we just thank God with a shout of praise or a hand clap of praise? There is hope. And I can't wait for these next 13 minutes and 56 seconds to preach the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ to some who've heard it your whole life and someone in the sound of my voice who has never heard it. That weariness and that pain is not the end of your story. There is victory in Jesus. You can persevere. And how do we do it? Where does it all change? Where does the story begin to look different? Hebrews chapter 12. Back to our core text, verse two. What do we do when we're encumbered? What do we do when we're entangled in the middle of it? We fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith for the joy set before him. He endured that cross. He scorned its shame. And where is he now? He's sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. We have to make Jesus the focus of our race. He is the object. He's not a bystander. He's not in the crowd. He's the object of our race. And our focus must be on him fixing our eyes. Our focus is not on the crowd. Our focus. Hey everybody, this is huge, even for us who maybe you've been following God for a long time. Your focus is not just on your finish line and it's definitely not on other Runners. That's how we usually get confused as we start looking around us at others and the way they're living their life. We can't do any of that. And we gotta decide in this moment, I'm just gonna focus my life on Jesus. And the word focus means we turn our gaze away from the weight and the sin, all the things that the enemy wants to keep us stuck in. And we keep our eyes focused on Jesus. The enemy wants us stuck. Almost like we're in quicksand. And I was. You know, I've already kind of shared this, but we were on a vacation earlier this summer at Lake Powell, which is this lake out in Arizona. We were camping, had a houseboat, like a. Basically, if you want to know what a houseboat is, it's an rv, an old RV on pontoons. And the lake has, for years, has been through a drought, and so the water's really low. And y' all starting. When we decided to make this trip, my mom, who's also in the service, she started texting me, mom, shout out to all the moms. I'm 45 years old. My mom is still my mom. Thankful for my mom. She starts texting me, hey, be careful at Lake Powell. There's quicksand. Y' all know the last thing in the world your boy's worried about is quicksand. I don't even really know if it exists. I've never seen it. What? Quicksand? Like, every two or three weeks, here's a screenshot of Facebook. You know, here's an email, you know, here's a whatever. And it's just over and over, like, be careful. Quicksand. Quicksand. Quicksand. I'm like, there's no quicksand at Lake Powell. The very first day we're at the lake, we're trying to find a camp spot. Basically, what you do is you just pull that big old pontoon thing up on the beach. And I was the guy in another boat that was scouting it out. Blake, Lindsay, Pastor Blake was driving the houseboat. I find a beach. I don't get off the boat. I just call him and say, hey, here's our spot. Then I park it. I get on the beach. I'm standing there. He drives the pontoon. But by the way, he was supposed to drive up very casually and slowly. My guy was going like 20 miles an hour. Tidal wave of water. That water just apparently activated that mud. Now where I'm standing in it, that boat is now marred deep. And guess what? Quicksand. It took like 13 of us to get it off the beach. We were losing shoes. We were marred in the quicksand. And you know what I was thinking about the whole time? My mom was right. I know it's Father's Day, but can we thank God for all the moms who were right? They're just right. There is quicksand for your soul that the enemy uses. Oh, lean in here. There is quicksand of the soul that the enemy has been using since you were born to try to keep weight and sin stuck to you. We're gonna go to Genesis a lot today, but here's where we see it. Genesis 3 says this. that moment, their eyes were open. This is right after they ate of the fruit. And sin. This is the first sin. What happens next? And suddenly. And here's the quicksand they felt shame, the quicksand of the soul. The reason that sin and that weight just keeps coming back is because likely, we're walking in shame. And what does shame do, exactly? What we see right here, it says they hid from the Lord, their God, among the trees. Shame always keeps our eyes fixed on what we did wrong. You know, guilt. Guilt says I did something bad, but there's actually hope. And guilt, guilt, guilt says, you know what? I didn't. I should not have done this, and I need help. Guilt says I need to go to God. Guilt says I did something bad. But guess what? Shame does that. If we believe, if shame attaches itself to us, if we believe that what we did is now filled with shame, shame says we are bad. Where guilt says we did something bad, shame says, I am bad. And instead of pushing us to God, we try to deal with it in our own strength. You know why? Because we can repent of what we do, but we can't repent of who we think we are. And the enemy loves to keep us stuck in the quick thinking, the trap of quicksand, of shame. And the harder we fight, just like quicksand, the steeper we sink. This probably explains for somebody in the sound of my voice the weariness you're feeling right now. I am exhausted. I have tried everything. I've even maybe tried religion. But here's a deeper truth for us today. How do you actually get out of quicksand? I know because I was just in it recently. You don't fight harder. You stop fighting. You lean back, you reach up, and someone who is on solid ground, come on, somebody pulls you out of that quicksand. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ and Paul Says it this way in Romans 7. Oh, this is a great scripture. What a wretched man am I. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel answer to shame is not to fight harder. It is to fix our eyes on Jesus, and he is not arms crossed. Looking at you today, I know you may feel this way. That's what shame does to us, is hiding. I'm hiding. I'm so ashamed. I'm so God. This is embarrassing. I've done it again. I keep doing it again. That's the enemy. But you know what Jesus is doing right now? Can you please just reach up to me? I am ready to pull you out. I am ready to get you out of that mess. I know you've done it a thousand times, but I'm still right here ready to pull you out. Just fix your eyes on me. What is Jesus for us in our race? He's in the scripture. He's the pioneer. Pioneer just means he went first. And he shows us the path, that our life actually has an instruction manual. And victory comes. I mean, you're going to hear me preach this probably in every message this year. I think there's something happening in the body of Christ where we recognize this is more than just good advice. This is the wisdom of God, and it deserves radical obedience. Sometimes we judge God in our. Our experience with him, and we're only halfway or not at all following this word. Can I tell you something? If we meditate on this word, Joshua 1:8, we will be prosperous and successful that he went forward in front of us and he has given us an instruction manual. Can I preach to men right now? I'm one of you. I hate instruction manuals. I want to know how to do it on my own. The other day, I was putting together some furniture that I bought off Amazon. It's a high quality piece of furniture that I bought off Amazon. I glanced through the instruction manual. I'm like, I got this. I put it all together. This is like the IKEA story. For y' all who've been to ikea, I don't think anyone's ever put together a piece of IKEA furniture perfectly. The first time I get to the very end, I set it up in our living room. And the most visible piece of all is turned around backwards. You can tell it's on wrong. Do you know what I did? I was like, I repented and I went and I rebuilt the whole. No, I didn't. It's exactly like that right now. So I'm a man. We don't have to live in our own strength. Get in this word victory is found between Genesis and Revelation. And I don't know what the sin is you're facing, but God's answer to that sin is right here. Fix your eyes. A firm conviction. Number two in that kind of idea of the object or focus of our race. He's the perfecter. This just means his presence is with us. Jesus doesn't stand at the finish line and say, come on over here. Jesus didn't just walk it and say, you know what he's not like. You know the blindfold game where he's now directing you. Jesus is with you every step of the way. He is carrying you to the finish line. He's the perfecter of it. He will be with you. We don't have to hide from him. We run to him and we're going to open up the altar as we do every Sunday. Today, a message like this is going to stir some things up. Speaking to dads, to couples, to young people, where our prayer team is going to be available today. And the prayer of a righteous person is powerful. Just agreeing with someone else for the presence of God to meet you right where you are to lift off that shame in Jesus name. And then finally, this is just so great from the scripture, we could do a whole series out of these three verses. You see this great cloud of witnesses that Jesus people are our partners in the race, that God is with us and we are surrounded by others. I mean, look at the room you're in right now. You are not in this journey alone. The devil is a liar. You're the only one. No, you're not. You got other people who probably have experienced exactly what you're walking through. And as funny as that dad video was, why are we laughing? Because we kind of all been through dads have been through those situations. I mean, there's nothing greater than getting in godly community and agreeing with each other and just thank God that we're running this race. He's the pioneer, the perfecter. He's surrounding us with a lot of great people. Can we put our hands together and thank God for the wisdom of God? You don't have to live in the quicksand of shame. And I can preach this with a lot of authority today in Jesus name because of this last verse that we're going to look at and we're going to pray together. Hebrews 12:3. I told you we'd end here. To consider him the power to say any of this is true. It all sounds good. Races and purpose and getting rid of shame and no more weight. All that sounds great. I mean, a lot of people can make up a story like that, but there's only one way we can believe it and build our life on it. So the writer of Hebrews Paul says, I want you to. Before you leave these three verses, I want you to consider the authority of this that you've just heard. And that authority is him, Jesus, who endured opposition from sinners. Why? So you don't have to grow weary. You'll be in this world, but not of this world. You'll go through the same things, but you'll have a different strength. You'll have a refreshing, living water in your soul. Not because we got better, but because our eyes are now focused on the one who already has victory. Real victory begins with his victory. With his victory. I'm gonna focus this on the cross today. That word consider, this is so good. It just means do the math. It's like you're a boss and you're comparing resumes. Some of y' all have done that. Like, you're looking at, should I hire this person or this person? The Bible's actually saying, compare resumes right now. Do the math. So we're all aware of our resume. We know our strengths, our weaknesses, our mistakes. And you know what? I've lived long enough to know that if victory is on me, I'm not in a good spot right now. I pretty much tried everything. Come on, somebody. Anybody else out there today. If victory is on me, man, it's going to be a weary and a tiresome journey. But I can also compare another resume. That's what Hebrews is saying. Compare. Do the math. And to look to Jesus. What. What did Jesus do on the cross? This is what really, what we have to think about today. What did he do on the cross? Of course. He broke the power of death and sin. Think I got one Amen from Ben. And he works with me. He has to say amen. He broke the power of death and sin. Come on, Highlands. Okay, I know you're with me, but there's other things he did, and one of them specifically applies to victory. And this is back, actually, in verse 2, Hebrews 12, 2. He says, for the joy set before him. By the way, that's just you. It was all about. He had you on his mind. He endured the cross, and here's the promise he scorned. There it is. He scorned Shame he broke sin. He broke death. And he also disarmed the thing that would keep us from him. And not just my shame or your shame, all shame. You know, Adam and Eve in that garden, they tried to fix their shame with fig leaves. That's in that humanity. We just. Whatever's around me, I'm just gonna try to. I'm just gonna try to act like I got it all together. I'm gonna try to figure it out on my own. I'm just gonna do whatever I can. But God steps up, and this is the Old Testament. There's a lot of truth here we don't have time for, but it's powerful. God steps into that moment. He sees them. He knows where they are. He sees them. He goes to them in relationship. And God sheds the first blood in the Bible, of an animal. And he takes that animal, the skin of the animal, and. And he then covers Adam and Eve and their shame. He puts clothes on them. Genesis 3. 21. He clothed them. And what was temporary in the garden, what was temporary in the Old Testament, Okamon Highlands. It was made permanent through that blood of Jesus on Calvary. Sin, death and shame broken forever. Jesus died naked on the most shameful death imaginable, reserved for the lowest of low. I mean, Roman citizens were exempt from crucifixion. It was that bad. But for the joy set before him, he went to the cross for you, for you, for you, for you. And what did he do? He scorned shame. It just means he made it nothing. Colossians 2. Having disarmed. Oh, gosh. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, Jesus shamed shame. He made a public spectacle of them and he triumphed over them on the cross. Man, they thought they were nailing Jesus to the cross. Jesus nailed sin and shame to the cross and disarmed them. You men, you're not defined by what you do. You're defined by what he did. You're not defined by what you do. You're defined by what He. He did, the price he paid. That's what you're defined by. Today, that victory can be yours. And here's our final promise. We're going to pray together. Those who look to him, which is what we're about to do, are radiant. Their faces, they're never covered in shame. Can you bow your heads? I want to pray for us. Just love the Bible. I love that the story of God's redemption starts in Genesis with that shedding of the first blood. I love we get the Gospels, those beautiful accounts of the shedding of the blood of Jesus. And I love that. Actually, the Bible ends with another picture, just to drive home the reality of the opportunity in this moment. Revelation, chapter seven. John, who's seeing this Revelation, he sees a multitude of people in heaven. I love this. The Bible says, every tribe and every tongue, every. And John does what we would probably do. He goes, who are these people? How'd they get here? What's this multitude? Where did they all come from? This is the answer. Revelation 7:14. The angel says back to him, these are the ones who've been washed in the red blood of the Lamb. They've been washed white in the red blood of the Lamb. What was temporary in the garden was made permanent on Calvary is made eternal heaven. Come on. Every head's bowed, every eyes closed. What is eternity going to look like for those who are there now? What does it look like? This is the true victory, the invitation. It says, never in Revelation, Never will they hunger, never will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them. No more weariness, no more tiredness. For the Lamb is at the center and the throne. He's their shepherd, he'll lead them, and they'll experience springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Real victory is not what we do on Earth Highlands. Every heart open right now. God's moving in this moment. Real victory, it's not what we accomplished. Real victory is not even living out our purpose and calling. Real victory is eternity with God where he makes all things new. There is no more sin, no more shame, no more tears. And here's the question of the day. It's a holy question. If you died today, have you been washed white in the red blood of the Lamb? And if you have, you know it. And if you've never had made that decision or had a real relationship with Jesus, I know you know that as well, because you've been trying to do this all in your own strength. That ends today. In the name of Jesus, I'm asking you to do the math today. I'm asking you to consider Jesus. And if you don't know him, this is the day, the day of salvation. On the count of three, cps, go ahead and join me on the stage. At every location. We're gonna pray for you on the count of three, boldly today, without even a second of hesitation. If that's you and you wanna know Jesus today, no one's looking around. I'm not gonna embarrass you, but on the count of three, I want you to bold, boldly lift your hands. We're gonna pray together and declare him the Lord over your life. On the count of three. One, two. Come on. You wanna know, Jesus, that you want a relationship? One, two, three. If that's you, lift up your hands. Amen. Right there. I see that hand. Anyone else in this room, through that camera at any location. Come on. Hands lifted high. If that's you, come on. Pray this prayer. Ask Jesus into your heart. Say, jesus, today I give you my life. Ask you to forgive me of my sins, my mistakes. I run away from that. I'm running to you. You are my Lord. You are my savior. I'm asking you to fill me with your Holy spirit so I can live for you. God, thank you. For those who just prayed that prayer. A miracle just happened. The old's gone. The new has come now for all of us. God, I know right now in the sound of my voice. Here at Grants Mill, there are many of us who are running our race with weight. And we are running our race entangled with sin. So we come to you today. We. We refuse on. This is for you today. Don't miss this moment. We refuse to hide or try to fix this on our own. We first in this moment. Come to you. Jesus, forgive us. Fill us. God, I pray for your grace and your mercy to flood every heart and every mind. We're fixing our eyes on you right now. You are the pioneer, the perfecter. God, thank you that you love us and that you are with us. We give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus name. And everybody said, can you join me in giving God praise for all he's just done?