Jesus at the Center | Week 1 | Eternity (Salvation) | September 20, 2026

Hey, friends. Welcome to the City Hope podcast. My name is Bobby Thompson and I have the privilege of serving as a lead pastor. I pray that today's message would inspire you, it would encourage you, and it would also challenge you in your walk with Christ. Enjoy today's sermon.

Amen. Amen. Can we thank our worship team for leading us this morning? The fellas in the back. Thank you guys so, so much.

Well, good morning, everybody. Good today. You guys awake. Thank you so much for being here. If I haven't got to meet you yet, my name's Bobby and I would love the opportunity after the service just to connect.

And as JR said, if this is one of your first times, we would love to connect with you. We want you to know that your presence matters. It's a really big deal to us. You could have chosen to do anything, especially if your team lost last night. You could have stayed at home and just been growing grumpy all day, which some of you probably still will be.

But we're thankful that you're here this morning and I'm really excited about getting started. Before I get started, I want to make you guys aware of something here. In just a couple of weeks, I think on the 24th, we are starting Financial Peace University. How many of you guys have ever been through that? The Dave Ramsey, any of you guys, if you've never been through that, it is a phenomenal.

It's a strategy, it's a class, it's intentionality behind your finance and helping you use your finances and view your finances in a God honoring way. And Shira and I did it many, many years ago. And we still to this day use many of the tools that we learned. It is a great thing. So even if you have the slightest amount of financial stress in your life, this is an amazing, amazing thing, and I want you to take advantage of that.

The class kicks off on the 24th, and out here in the landing area, you can go and sign up and answer or ask any questions. Get those answ. But please, please, please make sure that if that's something you need to do, take advantage of that opportunity. If you don't have any financial stress, I need to talk to you as soon as the service is over because I need some wisdom and guidance in that area of my life. But I'm excited.

I've been looking forward to this new series that we're kicking off today called Jesus at the Center. And so for the next several weeks, that's what we're going to be looking at is Jesus at the center and my heart behind this series is that each and every one of us would take a close look and ask ourselves that question, is Jesus at the center of. And then you fill in the blank. Whether it's your family, whether it's your marriage, whether it's your parenting, whether your job, the choices you make, your thoughts, all we're gonna dig into so many things because whether you realize it or not, intentionally or unintentionally, something is at the center of every decision that you make. There's something there.

And so I don't want to just know or think about Jesus being at the center. The next step is understanding how to live a life with Jesus at the center. And so, again, we're going to get really practical in this series, all right? We're going to talk about marriage. We're going to talk about parenting.

We're going to talk about youth sports. We're going to talk about AI. We're going to talk about all of it. We're going to talk about what do I put in my body. Alcohol, drugs, pills.

You know, everything. Everything that we face in our lives, we're gonna be. We're gonna be digging into that. And how do I do that? How do we keep Jesus at the center of every decision that we make?

And so I'm really, really, really pumped for this series, and I hope that you will make plans to be a part of it next week. We're gonna jump into what I'm. What I'm looking at when I'm. When I'm the Lord's put on my heart is a filter. And we're going to dig into what is the filter that we need to kind of see our life's decisions through.

How do we filter whether I'm, you know, taking a new job or whether we're talking about, you know, a family planning and having a child or getting married or whatever it is. We need to have a filter in our life. And so we're going to talk about that next week. But before we get to the filter today, I think it's very, very important as we talk about Jesus at the center, we have to have the right cornerstone in our life. It all starts with the right foundation.

If you don't get this part right, none of the other stuff that we're going to talk about over the next few weeks is really going to matter. So I want to start today, and I want to ask you what I think is the most important question that you'll ever be asked and the most important question that you will ever answer. But here's what I want to do, okay? And I know sometimes I get you guys to do stuff and participate. And some of you in here, you just sit there and look at me because you're, like, looking through me, thinking about lunch, all right?

But I need 100% participation, all right? So I want everybody to grab your phone. Everybody get your phone. If you have a notebook or a piece of paper, that's fine, okay? But grab your phone.

Everybody do this for me, all right? Because it's a very, very important question. And I want you to get something where you can write your answer down, whether it's in your. Not on your phone or a piece of paper, whatever it is. But I want everybody to write down the answer to this question, okay?

And so we're gonna take 60 seconds, 90 seconds, and we're all over this room. I want you to truly, truly, truly take a second and write down the answer to the question. All right? Everybody understand? All right, Bear, no cheating, okay?

You can't look at your neighbor's card on this one, all right? Like high school. All right, here's the question. All right? It's here on the screen.

You don't have to write the question down. I just want you to write your answer. All right? Ready, set, go. There we go.

If I was standing before Jesus today and he asked me, why should I let you into heaven? What would my answer be? So right now, all over the room, I want you to write down, what is your answer? If you were standing before Jesus and he said, why should I let you into heaven? What's your answer?

What is the thing that you're going to say right now, today, in this moment? We'll take just a second, and we're going to come back to this here in a minute. But why should I let you in? Why another couple seconds? Now, don't lose this.

Don't delete it. Because we're going to come back to it here in just a minute, everybody. Good? You got your answer. Okay, hold on to that.

So this. This past week, I was in. I flew up to Kentucky to be with my mom for a little bit. And the airport scene is probably one of my favorite things to do to watch people, right? Because when you go to an airport, especially like an Atlanta airport, I mean, you got everything right?

You got people that are stressed out, like max stress. You got people that have been there for three days because they can't get home. You got the. You know, the early people who get to the gate, three and a half hours before their flight because they're scared that they're gonna get left. I mean, you got it all right?

You got people that are angry and yelling at people. I mean, it's everything. So I got to experience that a little bit this week in Atlanta airport. It was fun. Got to watch some people.

And all my flights are on time, so praise God for that. But it reminded me of a story when Shira and I were a little younger and we had our three girls. Typically, vacation meant we went to Canada to see her family or we went to Kentucky. All right? So that was our vacation, either Canada or Kentucky.

And so one year, we decided, you know what? We're not gonna use vacation to go to Canada or Kentucky. We're actually gonna go on vacation. And so some of our friends, Shira and I have some friends that we went to college with, and they have some kids the same age as us. So we all said, here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna go on vacation together. They live in Virginia. So they were gonna fly to Miami. We were gonna fly to Miami. We were all gonna meet in Miami, and then we were gonna fly to our destination.

And so we. We jump on the plane, and we get there, and it's. It's Shira, myself, and our three girls. Well, when we got to Miami, there was a storm, right? And so what we had to do is, like, we just kept going in circles up in the air, waiting for the storm to be done so that we could land, right?

And I'll never forget this. Like, we just kept spinning, and we didn't have a long layover. And so by the time we landed, we had, like, seven minutes to get to our next flight. Shira was sitting up in more closer to the front of the plane with two of the girls. I think it was Sissy and Marley.

And I think me and Emma were in the back of the plane. And. And so I text her, and I was like, hey, do not wait for us. Get your stuff and run as fast as you can. Get to the gate, all right?

Anybody ever been in this situation before? Like, you're kind of panicking. And so Shira with the. I mean, the girls were young, and she. They're running, and they get there.

And so she gets to the gate, and she says, all right, hey, we're here. You know, you barely understand her. And so me and Emma hadn't even got off the plane yet. And they got to the gate, and it's open. All right, y' all gotta get here.

Hurry, hurry, hurry. I was like, all right, y' all go ahead. She goes, no, no, no, we're gonna wait. And I was like, I don't know if you should wait. Go ahead and get on.

She's like, no, no, no. We're gonna wait. So Emma and I come running, and I'm, like, carrying Emma and carrying bags and just look like one of those idiots running through the airport, right? And so we get to the gate, and the guy shuts the door, and he's like, I'm sorry, you can't get on. And my wife doesn't enjoy being told no, okay?

And so she was about to fight this dude, okay? And y' all remember this? You remember this? Sissy, Emma, or Marlee? So we're like, hey, wait, no, no, no, no, no.

Our friends are on the plane. We see the plane. It's right there. It hasn't left. Let us on.

We're here. She was here before you shut the door. We're all here, all five of us. And, man, this dude was like, no, sorry, can't do it. And I'm.

And I'm like, dude, what are you talking about? Like, we're going on vacation. Our friends are on the plane. They made it. Why can't we get on?

And I'm literally, like, getting. You know, just feeling myself just getting angry and angry and angry, and I'm like, the plane's right there. They're on. We need to get on. No, you can't get on.

Doesn't matter that. Doesn't matter that the plane's right there. We were close, but we couldn't get in. We were right there. I mean, we were literally standing there.

The gates closed. Can't get in. Stuck in the airport. What do we do? I was thinking about that story this week as I was walking through the airport and, you know, laugh about it now, and I literally had to take Shira and was like, hey, you need to go over there.

Leave this guy alone, right? I was laughing about that. But as a pastor, here's the struggle that I have. I fear that there's a lot of people that are at the gate, but they're not gonna get on. They're not gonna get in.

I have a little bit of a fear that there's a struggle, that maybe even some people in this room and maybe some people at City Hope Church. Are you right there? And maybe your friends are going to get in, and people you love are going to get in, just like our friends were on the plane, but you're not you're spiritually right there, but you're not ready. And I want you to know something. Let me tell you what God's word says about this, all right?

And this isn't just me being judgmental. This isn't me judging you for the way you live your life. This is what. This is what God says. Okay?

If you have your Bible, go to Matthew, chapter seven. Matthew, chapter seven. We're gonna focus on just a couple verses today.

But I just have this. Maybe fear is not the right word. I just have this burden that there's people that sit in churches. There's people that are right there at the gate. There's people that.

That man, they want to get in. They wish they could get in, but they're just not able to yet. So Matthew, chapter 7. Jesus is preaching one of the most famous sermons that's ever been preached, the Sermon on the Mount. And man, he's going hard.

He's preaching up a storm and he's hooting and hollering. I mean, he is going hard. And then he says some really, really tough things for us to comprehend and some really tough things for us to. That just hits us right in the face of our lives. And I want you to look with me.

Let's do this. Let's stand to our feet and honor the reading of God's word. And I just want you to change your position a little bit because I want you to really lock in today. Because some of you are. You're at the gate, you're standing there, but you're not ready.

And the reality is, just like my family, there was the guy at the gate saying, no, no, no, you can't get in. And I want you to listen to what God's word says about this. As Jesus is preaching this sermon, listen to what he says. Not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name?

Didn't we drive out demons in your name? Many miracles in your name. And then watch this. Then I will announce to them, I never knew you depart from me, you lawbreakers. Father, would you bless the reading of your word?

I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would reign in this place, that God, you would prick our hearts. You would convict us. You would lead us to repentance. Show us your goodness, God. Show us your glory today, Lord, be the center of our lives in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. You can be seated.

The cornerstone that we have to have before we get into anything else about Jesus being the center of my marriage or my family or my decisions, all that stuff. The cornerstone is Jesus at the center of my eternity. Jesus must be at the center of my eternity. And so when I read this, this sermon that Jesus is preaching, he makes the statement, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now when you first read that, like, whoa, wait, wait, wait a minute.

What I, most of you probably were taught that if, if I make Jesus Lord of my life, then I get to go to heaven, right? So how does this make sense? The people that say Lord, Lord. Well, I thought that was the point, calling him Lord. Well, this is where we talk about this a lot, is when you're reading the Bible, you really have to understand the context that you're reading it.

The whole story of the Bible matters. We don't get to just pick a few verses that we like and apply those to our lives. It really matters what's going on here. And so at this time, many scholars believe that when Jesus was, was preaching this and he was saying Lord, Lord, he wasn't using the word Lord as an authority figure like we use it today. He was using the, the term Lord, Lord more in general as a, as a respect thing.

Okay? So think about us. It would be more like a polite address like yes, ma' am or yes, sir or, or, you know, when we're, we're just showing some respect to somebody. And that's what many scholars believe. Very respectful, but not authority figure like we have now.

Now let's think about that, right? Let's bring that home to South Carolina. We live in the Bible Belt, right? We live in the south where, where everybody, we assume everybody goes to church and everybody loves the Lord and, and we don't have a lot of people in Bluffton, South Carolina that are just evil, rotten people who hate the Lord and doing everything. I mean, there's probably some.

But for the most part, people where we live are, are. They respect the Lord, right? They may not live for him. They may not go to church. They may not have, you know, quiet time in the morning.

But yeah, I believe in God. And it's more of a sir kind of respect when it comes to the Lord. I think that's, that's where we live today. But Jesus says, think about this. Jesus says, the people who just give respect, the people who just believe that God is real, he's literally telling them right here, you're not Getting in.

If it's just a respect thing, if it's just an authority thing. He says over in James, he says, so what, that you believe in God? Even the demons believe in God.

So wait a minute, I can respect God, I can believe in God, and I can still miss it. I can still not get in. He says in the second part there of verse 21, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. So you can say Lord, Lord, all you want. You can respect God and believe he's real, but only the one who does the will of my God, my Father in heaven.

So what does that mean? Does that mean if I do the will of God, then I'm in, I'm good? Does that mean if I go to church enough, if I give enough, if I help out, if I serve enough, then I'm good? Well, Jesus addresses that question in verse 22. He says, on that day.

So that means on that day, like the question I asked you a minute ago. If you're standing in front of Jesus and asking, he says, on that day, when you're standing in front of Jesus, many people will say to me, lord, Lord. And look what he says. Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we drive out demons in your name?

Didn't we do miracles in your name? And so what he's saying there is, wait, I went to church. The people here are the ones that are saying, we did all of these things in your name. My parents, you know, they drug us to church. My grandparents went to church.

I went to vbs. I was in Awana. I went to Catholic mass. I can recite John 3:16. What do you mean I can't get in?

We did all of these things. I served those crazy kids in kids ministry. What do you mean I can't get in?

Jesus, they're asking, we prophesied, we did miracles. We did all of this stuff in your name. And he says, depart from me. I never knew you.

I never knew you. And so here's what Jesus is saying. Okay, here's what he's saying. It's not a lack of activity, It's a lack of relationship.

It's not that you haven't. This is what he's telling them as he's preaching. It's not that you haven't done all these things in my name. The reason why you can't get in, the reason why you can't get on the plane is because we didn't have an intimate knowledge and relationship with one another.

Dang.

I mean, if you think about it, for me, this is one of the most jaw dropping passages of scripture. And all of the, in all of, I mean, these people think about this church, the people that Jesus is preaching to, they're not the outsiders, they're not the atheists, they're not the agnostics, they're not the ones who were out sinning and doing all the bad stuff. He's talking to the people who were, who were in the church. He's talking to the people who, who were good people. They were the ones had the ministry resumes.

We prophesied, we did miracles, we, we worshiped you, we prayed to you. And Jesus said, depart from me, I never knew you. I mean that to me is, is. It's just really, really difficult to kind of comprehend because these were supposedly the good people. And he's telling them.

There's a pastor named Dean and Sarah and he wrote a book and let me encourage you, if you're a reader, it's called the Unsaved Christian, the Unsaved Christian. And what he does is he modernizes this passage in Matthew chapter seven and he kind of gives us a better understanding of if it was in our context, if it was translated into our era today, like prophecy and miracles and all that stuff. And it would say this, and this is, I'm going to quote him our response to the Lord of all the good stuff that we're doing. Didn't we say grace before dinner? Didn't we vote our values?

Didn't we believe prayer should be allowed in schools? Didn't we go to church? Didn't we believe in God? Didn't we get misty eyed every time we heard God Bless America sung at a baseball game? Didn't we give money to the church?

Didn't we treat women with respect? Didn't we read our Bibles? Didn't we get the baby christened by a priest? Didn't we want America to return to its Christian roots? Didn't we stay married and faithful?

These are all good things that Christians do. But I want you to hear me today. None of that makes you a Christian.

None of that makes us a Christian church. I think one of the tactics of the enemy is for you to think that if I just do enough good, then I can get in. If I can just let my good outweigh my bad.

Being good enough is what these people as Jesus is preaching. Being good enough and doing enough things for the Lord is exactly what these listeners are listening to. And the weight and the gravity of These words to me are so heavy. When he says, depart from me. Like, depart from me.

And I just imagine like the broken heartedness that we had when we couldn't get on an airplane to go on vacation is nothing compared to standing before Jesus and him saying, depart from me.

How many people are on heaven's doorstep? How many people get up and they're right there thinking they're good, good? And he says, I never knew you.

It's tough. I wonder how many people over the years been. Been a pastor for 23 years now, and I kind of think about it a lot. How many people that I've pastored or discipled or loved or helped. How many people fall into this category of haven't I done enough?

Billy Graham once said something that a lot of pastors use this, and it's kind of haunting. He believed that the majority of people sitting in church on any giving Sunday may not actually know Jesus.

So how do I know? How can I know that I'm ready? That's a tough question. How can I know that I'm ready, not hope that I'm ready, not assume that I'm ready, not cross my fingers, but how do I know that I can be ready? So let's go back to verse 21.

Look at what Jesus says. He doesn't say, only the one who does enough, right? He doesn't say, only the one who does enough. He said, only the one who does the will of my Father. Only the one who does the will of my Father.

So then the question is, well, what's the will of the Father? Turn with me to John chapter six. John, chapter six. It'll be here on the screen. John, chapter six.

I brought my glasses so I can see today. John, chapter six, verse 28. The crowd, the crowd here is asking Jesus the same question. Well, how do we get in? How do I know that I can spend eternity with you?

How do I know that Jesus is at the center of my eternity? So they're asking him this same question in verse 28. And he says, what can we do to perform the works of God? What is the will of God? How do we know that we can get in?

And Jesus replied, well, here's the work. Watch this. That you believe in the one he has sent.

That's it. Does that say anything about reading your Bible or giving or serving the will? How do we know the will? Jesus says, well, believe in the one he has sent. That's what it takes.

Church. Listen, you want to get through the gate? You want to know it's not a checklist. It's not this. If I do enough and my good outweighs my bad, it's simple.

It's a person. And his name is Jesus. And that's it. That's how I know. Because the people in Matthew chapter seven, they had the activity, right?

They had the good resume. They could point to all the impressive things that they had accomplished, all their spiritual accomplishments. But Jesus said the one thing that they lacked, the one thing that wasn't there, that mattered the most. He says, I didn't know you. I did not know you.

Now, the word there know or knew in the original language is gnosco ginosko. And here's what it means. It doesn't mean head knowledge. Okay? It's not, well, yeah, I'm aware of God.

It's the kind of knowing that implies intimacy. It's a personal connection, a personal relationship. So again, it's not, I never knew you. And yeah, I heard about you. It's.

No, no, no. We did not have a true intimate relationship, a true personal connection. There's a huge difference in knowing someone and knowing about someone. You and I can know a lot about Jesus. We can know a lot of Bible stories.

You can know the right answers. You can grow up in church your whole life. But Jesus is looking for something deeper.

So he's asking, do you know me and do I know you?

And so I want to make this very clear this morning.

Salvation is earned. Salvation is not earned. I'm going to make it real clear.

Salvation is not earned. It's received.

In other words, you can pile up every good thing, every good text, every nice gesture, every time you've helped an old person, every time you serve, you can pile it all up.

It doesn't matter.

Paul tells the church in Ephesians, for you are saved by grace through faith. It is his grace alone that saves you. This is not of yourselves. It is a gift from God. Not from works.

So that no one can boast. Not from works. You can do all the good stuff that matter. We prophesied, we did miracles, we preached, we did all this ST stuff for you. It's not from works.

I mean, read that again. Saved by grace through faith. It's a gift. It's a gift. You can't earn a gift.

You can only receive a gift. You can't work your way through the gate. You can't church your way in. You can't moral person your way in. The only way through the gate is through a personal relationship with Jesus, trusting him that he is who he says he is.

He did what he said he was going to do. He died on the cross. He was buried. He was resurrected. And all of that together is enough to cover my sins.

That's the cornerstone. That's Jesus at the center of my eternity. Not religion, not respecting him, not my resume, but a relationship.

So there's a part two to my airport story.

After a few minutes, the gate agent guy walks away. And so now here's Shira and myself and our girls trying to figure out what do we do? And we found out that the next flight is in three days to the place we're going. And we're like, what do we do?

And so that guy wasn't having the best day. He was angry. We were all frustrated.

We stood there and, you know, you can see out the window, and we watch the plane just back out. We're all just like waving at our friends on the plane. And we're texting them, calling them. They're like, there's empty seats. Why won't they let you guys on?

Peak anger, peak frustration. I mean, Cher is cussing like, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. She didn't.

So the gate agent, he leaves, and here we are, and we're sitting there and we're like, I don't know what to do. Do we just go back home? We're in Miami. I don't want to drive home. What do we do?

So we're sitting there and then all of a sudden, this lady walks up and she's got her badge and she doesn't have on the uniform, like the typical people behind the thing. And we're all sitting there and we're frustrated and comes to find out she's like the manager, and we tell her the story and she goes, you know, she's like looking, and she's like, come with me. Okay. You know, and she takes us, like, to this far back, back corner of the airport. There's like one gate back there.

And she said, because of all the backed up traffic, the plane has been sitting out there too long. It has to come back to refuel. And it's going to come back to this gate. And when it does, you guys can get on the plane. Y' all remember that?

You remember that? I mean, that was like tears of joy, right? It's like, praise God.

And I kid you not, we got on the plane. Like, that doesn't happen, right? Like, the plane left and then pulled back in and got like, that doesn't happen. Now, I'm not comparing this lady to Jesus, okay? That's not what I'm doing.

But because she showed up and because we followed her, we were able to get on. We were able to get in.

Because of Jesus, not because of anything that you've done because of Jesus. You and I, that's the way that we're able to get in. That. That's the way. That's the only way.

Remember the question we looked at at the beginning? If. If Jesus was standing. If you were standing before Jesus and he asked you, why should I let you into heaven? I want you to think about this.

What did you write down? Okay? What did you write down? If you need to pull it back out so you can see it, have it right there in front of you. Because.

Because if. If your answer was anything like this, well, because I'm a good person. If your answer is because I grew up in church. If your answer is because I've done a lot of good things, hear me today. I love you.

But here's the truth. That's the same answer that the people in Matthew chapter seven gave. And it wasn't enough. That's what they said. And it wasn't enough.

And so if your answer starts with because I, you've already started wrong.

But if your answer is because he. Because Jesus, because Jesus knows me, because his death on the cross paid for my sins, because he said I could come. And maybe for some, when I. When I thought about this question this week, I think my answer would probably be something like, well, you know what? I probably don't deserve to get into this place, but Jesus said I could come.

And that's why. That's why I can get in.

If your answer is because I. It's what the people in Matthew chapter seven said. But if your answer is because of he, then that's the only foundation. That's the cornerstone that is going to stand. That.

That is gonna. The foundation that's gonna hold no matter what.

Now, today, if you're not sure if something in your heart is saying, well, I don't know if I truly know him. I don't know that I've truly taken this step. I don't know that I've actually made that decision. Maybe I prayed a prayer. Maybe I believe in God.

Maybe I got baptized with when I was little. Maybe my parents put me in church. You realize that. That God has no grandchildren. Think about that.

Y' all think about that one later.

If there's something in your heart today that's Saying, I don't. I don't know. I don't. I don't know if I have that kind of relationship, then. Then I want you to hear me, okay?

I'm gonna give you an opportunity right now. Today's the day of salvation. Not next week. Not when I get it figured out. My heart, my prayer for you this week is that 100% of people that are in this room or listening on our podcast would walk away from this knowing without a doubt that when I stand before God one day and he asks, why should I let you in?

That we can boldly proclaim, because, Jesus, that's my heart for you. That's been my prayer for you this week. Not when life settles down. Not when I'm a little less busy right now. So the Bible says that for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that means every single one of you, every single one of us, no matter how nice we put on our clothes, no matter how many good things we do, we are all sinners and we all fall short of.

Of the glory of God. And because we're sinners, we deserve eternity in hell. And the only way that we're getting out of that is putting our faith and trust and belief in Jesus and what he did. And this is so important. Romans, chapter 10, verse 9.

It'll be here on the screen. This is the way that I can know. This is the way that I know that if I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart, if I confess, if I believe that Jesus is who he says he is, he did what he said he was going to do, and he's going to come back and I get to be a part of his family. He wants me. If I believe that with my heart and I confess that with my mouth.

Listen. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness. One confesses with the mouth results, resulting in salvation.

If you're here this morning and you're questioning the answer to that question, man, I just don't know. I prayed. You know, I prayed a prayer with a pastor one time.

Am I good? Bible says that if I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart. So we're going to talk about this a little bit more next week. But salvation is a gift, right? And if I.

If I walk up to Christian today and I. And I hand him the gift and, man, you got Jesus now, right? And this is what a lot of people do. Christians got Jesus, but he sets it down over here and then he goes and lives his life.

Did he really Accept that gift. Is that really a part of his life? Is it just. I love what. I love what Lily said.

Is it just another spoke.

Now? I want to do this. I want to. I want to pray. And if you've never admitted your sins and.

And ask God to know you and that you want to know him and invite him to be Lord, not sir, Sir Lord, but authority. Lord, take over my life. May you be the center of my life. If you need to make that decision, if you need to move from knowing about Jesus to actually knowing God, then I want you to pray this prayer with me from your heart. Not out loud for a show, but between you and God, between you and the Lord.

And this is your moment. This is your moment at the gate. That. That. And at this time when you do exactly the Lord's will.

This is what he said, right? What's the Lord's will that you. You believe in? The one who the Father has sent for some of you. That needs to be your moment today.

So all over this room, I want to ask you just to bow your heads and close your eyes, everybody, all over the room.

And I'm going to pray this prayer of this. This is just me leading you. What did the Bible say to do? Confess with your mouth. This is simply me leading you with a confession with your mouth.

There's nothing special, there's nothing saving about this prayer. Because the second part of that is, yes, I confess with my mouth, but I believe in my heart. It's about what you believe in your heart. And so if you're here this morning and you've never taken this step, today's your moment. Today's your time.

Today's the day that you can say, I'm getting in because I followed the word of God. So if that's you as I pray, just pray this prayer with me. God, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I can't earn my way to you. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again three days later.

Right now, I surrender my life to you. Right now, I make Jesus the Lord of my life. Not just my Savior, but the center of everything. I'm stepping through the gate, not because of what I've done, because of what Jesus did for me.

Now, with heads bowed and eyes closed all over this room is what I want to ask you to do. If you prayed that prayer with me this morning, would you just look up at me right now? If you prayed that prayer with me this morning, would you look up at me? Lot of folks. Lot of folks.

Listen to me.

The gift of salvation, the gift of eternity. God says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that it's yours. So you don't have to wonder anymore. You don't have to. You don't have to.

My good doesn't have to weigh out my bad. I trust in Jesus. I'm giving him my life. I'm gonna make him the center of every decision.

And guess what? You're gonna fall. You're gonna mess up.

But that's why it's about Jesus and not about me. You went from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus. And one day, when you're standing before an almighty God and he says, why should I let you in now? Your answer can be because of Jesus. I love the thought of when Jesus died on the cross and he was in the middle of two thieves and one of the guy on the right was making fun of him, and the guy on the other side was like, hey, you know, And Jesus said, you can be with me in paradise.

And just imagine when that guy showed up to heaven and they said, why should we let you in? And his only answer was, well, because the guy on the middle cross said I could come. He didn't have a life full of doing good things.

That's the truth for you and I today.

And so here's what I want you to do. For those of you that prayed that prayer with me on your way out today, there's a table over here in the landing. There's some little black boxes. And it's just something for us to give to you. It's a gift for us to give to you to help you on this journey.

Now, I want to make this really, really clear.

This isn't something that I have to do every time that I sin, every time that I mess up, every time that I skip church for a couple weeks and then I come back and then I gotta say it again.

Jesus says, if I confess and I believe, then I'm good. So we have some resources for you. We want to help you take your next step. We don't want you to figure this out on your own. That's what church is for.

That's what church is all about. And so, please, when you leave here today, grab one of those boxes if you need somebody to talk to you, to pray with you. That's why we're here. Now. We're gonna end our service a little bit different today.

So I want to just ask you all over this room again. Let's Just bow our heads.

The song we sang earlier, center.

There's many of you in here that know without a doubt. And you wrote down when I asked you that question, well, I've made Jesus Lord of my life and he died on the cross for me. And because of him I'm able to receive an eternity in heaven. Many of you wrote that because you know that you believe that you've confessed that you've had that time between you and the Lord. But.

But here's what I want you to do as we sing this song again. Is he the center of all of your decision making? He may be the center of your eternity and you've got that part figured out, And I hope 100% of us in here do. But if he's not, let's just take a moment and as, as the ladies lead us in this time, let's just recalibrate, let's just refocus, let's just refresh and say, you know what, God, I've gotten away from you being the center of all my decisions.

Father, I just pray for the next couple of minutes that you would just stir in our soul, God, stir in our heart a desire, a passion to know you more. Lord, I pray that even, even now, if there's one here that is questioning their salvation, that is questioning, do I get in or not? God, that you would give them confidence in you, would give them boldness, you would give them courage to come and have a conversation or to speak to you and to speak to somebody and walk out of here knowing today. Lord, I thank you for the many people who were looking at me and said, I prayed that prayer today. Lord, today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day that they know that I'm getting in.

So, Lord, just use these next few moments. Help us to just focus our hearts and our minds on you, who you are, what you've done. God, just help us to worship you and make you the center. In Jesus name, Amen. Thanks again for tuning in with us today.

We would love to connect with you and the best way to do that is through social media or go straight to our website. God bless you and have a wonderful day.