You are invited to stop wondering if you matter and start experiencing the love that created you. Take a moment today to open your heart to Jesus and let Him lead you into the relationship you were made for.
What's up, guys? My name is David John Phillips. I had the honor of being the pastor at Real Church, and this is our Merry Christmas message, our Christmas Eve service, and it's just all about this. God says you are worth it. I man, it's just I love getting to preach this message.
I know you're gonna walk away encouraged. You're gonna walk away with a deeper understanding of the meaning of Christmas and knowing that God says you're worth it. Enjoy. This is gonna be a kind of participatory service, you know. I'm not asking you to to come up or anything like that.
But I will ask you, will everybody raise your hand? I just wanna make sure that everybody's here and and awake and can do that. Hello, miss Olivia back there. You're awesome. Olivia and friends.
And, my Selah Reign, my daughters, and my 2 daughters, and Eden. I'd be in trouble if I didn't say Selah and Eden. They were both waving at me. But, I ask you to do that because I'm gonna ask you a couple questions. I wanna raise your hand.
I want you to raise your hand if if you agree with me here. But, do you believe that *God* can, it's possible, if there is a God, right? Of course, we believe there's a God. We're we're here at church. But, do you believe that God can still speak to people?
Yes. You believe he does? Okay. Most people in here. Okay.
Do you believe that it's possible that God can use a person to speak to another person? God? Yeah? Okay. Cool.
So, believe it or not, our prayer is that today God would speak to you. My prayer is that God would use me to speak to you in such a way because if it's just if it's just me saying, you know, this this rehearsed Christmas story in such a way that you walk away with a good feeling, you're like, oh, cool. Not there's no life changing things about that. But, if it's the God of the universe who created you to know him, created you to "walk with him", more than just come on Christmas Eve or come on a Sunday morning, more than just a religious type of duty in order to make sure everybody thinks that you're a good person. No, I'm talking about a relationship that impacts every aspect of your life.
If the God of the universe who created you actually speaks to you and you listen and respond, it has the potential to impact your life for eternity. To impact your tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. And there's many people in here. There's many people that call Real Church home, that call Jesus their king around the world that have said yes to Jesus, and things have dramatically shifted. So, whether or not you thought you were just coming because your your your wife made you come, or you thought you were just coming because your kids wanted to go to church, or your grandmother, you know, you made you promised your grandmother 1 day that you would go on Christmas Eve.
Maybe that's what you thought. But, whatever the circumstances were, that's not the case. God actually drew you here because he loves you, and he wants you to experience a relationship with him. That's the real reason that you're here. So, the real reason you're here is because God thinks that you're worth it.
You may ask, well, okay. Worth what? I had did this in the first service too. I'm gonna do the same thing here. I'm gonna say throughout this message, I'm gonna say God thinks that you're worth it.
And, you're gonna say I request that you will say, worth what, pastor? Alright. So, let's practice. God thinks that you're worth it. Worth what, pastor Peter?
Alright. Alright. You know, the the first service, I didn't make them do it twice either because they did it so well the first time. So, we're we're just gonna go with that. Let's get started.
And, the Christmas story, I preached on Luke-2 this past Sunday. That is the traditional Christmas story. If you want to hear, you know, the Luke-2 version, which is awesome, of course, they're they're all the same. It's just told from different perspectives. And, I would encourage you to go online, YouTube, or our Facebook, and you can listen to that, share it with a friend or 2, or something like that.
But, we're gonna be in Matthew. We're gonna hear Matthew's perspective of this thing. *Matthew-1*, and we're gonna start in verse 18. It says, this is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, came about. Now, just so you know, Messiah means deliverer.
Anointed, it means anointed 1. Another another way to define it is deliverer. There's a reason for that. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Interesting.
You imagine, if your girlfriend came to you and said, I'm pregnant by the Holy Spirit, like, how would you feel? You know? Okay. Verse 19, Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. Alright?
So, he felt the same way. Verse 20, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid. Take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She was impregnated by God impregnated by God. Verse 21, she will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name *Jesus* because he will save his people from their sins.
Praise the Lord. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means "God with us". That's very important for this message too. Emmanuel, would you guys say Emmanuel?
Emmanuel. Emmanuel. It means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, obedience, but he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Jesus. Why?
Because God said, you are worth it. Worth what? Alright. We do need a little practice. Why?
Because God said you were worth it. Worth what? Praise the Lord. There you go. Okay.
We're gonna 0 in on Emmanuel. *God* with us, what that really means. And, if I'm going to succeed at at bringing this point, at what you're worth home, I'm going to have to show you that Jesus is more than a man. Jesus was more than a good prophet. He was more than just a mere good teacher.
*Jesus* was actually and is actually God. Period. And, I'm going to use the Bible to make my point. But, if I'm gonna use the Bible, I have to show you also that it's more than just a mythical book of stories. It's more than just a fairy tale literature.
It's more than just something that someone wrote in order to control cultures. The Bible is actually divinely inspired. It's actually 66 books written by 40 different authors over the span of 1500 years in perfect synchronicity and in perfect unity. No other book in the world has that. It's divinely inspired by God, and in God there is no error, and there's no error in this.
And, many people have honestly and open mindedly looked into this book in order to disprove it. And if you are a skeptic, I challenge you to do so. Don't just read on on the Internet what someone else says about it. Do your own research. If you do, you will come to know Jesus.
There are 47,000 ancient manuscripts, 5,800 New Testament for the New Testament, and 42,000 for the Old Testament that show that the authors who say they wrote it actually indeed did write it, which is hundreds of times more than the nearest historical document, the amount of manuscripts for that. And, we take those historical documents as fact. To declare the Bible is untrustworthy means that we must find another reasonable explanation for its miraculous nature. For example, conservatively, there are 2,000 over 2,000 prophecies in the Bible, and over 1,500 of them have come true exactly as it has says as it said. The other 500 have just not come true because they're end times prophecy, and they're in the process of unfolding.
So, the probability of that many prophecies actually happening without error is 1 times 10 to the 1,500. That's 1 with 1,500 zeros behind it. So, have written here the probability that these prophecies being fulfilled without error, to trust that the Bible because of that probability, trust that the Bible is not a miraculous book is mathematically inconsistent. It's historically accurate. Back in the 18 hundreds, they assumed that with more archaeology digs, we would just find that the the Bible is a book of fairy tales, and history doesn't actually prove it.
But, the more that we dig in The Middle East, the more that we find, we find that the cities mentioned in the Bible are actually there. The the history of the Bible is is actually true. The more that we dig, the more that we find that what proves the Bible. And the complexity of design shows a designer. So, I'm gonna use the Bible to laser in on the word Emmanuel.
And as we read, and as we read, Jesus will be called Emmanuel, which means God with us. Why? Because God said, you are worth it. Worth it, pastor. There you go.
Let's go to John, the book of John-1. Verse 1, it says, in the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
Without what? Without who? Without the Word. You may have heard me say this if you've been going to real church for any amount of time. If you haven't, maybe you don't know this, but that word word is a Greek word.
New Testament was written in Greek. The word logos, which was coined in about fourth or fifth century BC. It means that which is in all, that which is through all, and through which all is made. That's what it means. So, we just put that into John-1, and we can read, in the beginning was that which is in all, through all, and through which all is made.
And, that which is in all, the word, through all, and through which all is made was with God, and that which is in all, through all, and through which all is made was God. K? So, right there, you have a picture of the Son of God and the Father. 1 God, the Father and the Son. You see it?
Everything that was made was made through him. Now, verse 14, it says this, the **"Word became flesh"**, that which is in all through all and through which all is made, God became flesh and dwelt among us. That means God wrapped himself in flesh and became a man. That is Christmas. What does it mean to wrap, like, flesh?
Like, flesh, what it means is he wrapped himself in the human experience. Like, that you've been through, the the tough stuff, Jesus experienced it. He experienced every single temptation. So, he's not this distant, far off God who who's, you know, just waiting for you to do the right thing. No.
He's been here, and he knows you, and he cares for you. He knows what you're going through. Why? Because God said that you're worth it. You guys are getting good at this.
Let me get there. Have you ever heard the word sin before? Surely, have. Right? You've heard sin?
*Sin simply means, in its most basic form, sin means choosing not God*. Would you agree with me? Sin means "choosing not God". Have you ever sinned before? Right?
Well, telling a lie I have this conversation all the time with people. Telling a lie, that's sin. Whether it's a little white lie or a big 1. Right? Lack of integrity, sin.
Just this. Stealing, you ever stolen before? Maybe, you know, maybe not recently, but you ever stole a pencil in school? Still stealing. Stealing sin.
Period. Now, maybe you have rose colored glasses when you're thinking about your 2 or 3 year old and think that they can do no wrong. But if you remember back to when they were 2 and 3 years old, you didn't have to teach them to lie and steal. They naturally did. When they saw something and they wanted it, mine.
Right? Those dreaded words the parent hears, mine. Mine, mine, mine, mine. They saw it. They want it.
They they took it. Why? Because it's in our nature from birth to be selfish. And then, you ask them if they did it before they could speak. When they speak, they say, Johnny did it.
Right? Because there's a nature to sin from birth. Just like you look a little bit like your dad or you look a little bit like your mom, just like you have some of the same characteristics, some of the same mannerisms, some of the same nature as your parents, you take that back generation to generation to generation to generation. In the same way, the first man and first woman, even science says we come from 1 man and 1 woman, DNA will show you that. The first man and first woman, they had an opportunity from God.
You know, like, people say, well, if we're all sinners, did God mess up when he created mankind? Like, isn't it God's fault? No. God is love. And, you can't have love without the choice not to love.
Otherwise, it'd be an obligation. Right? You ever been in a relationship where the other person just forced you, forced you, forced you, and you had no opportunity to love? That's not love. You can't have love without the choice not to love.
So, God gave mankind in the beginning free will, and he gave mankind the choice to choose God or to choose not God, to choose self. And, mankind from the beginning chose self, and the nature to choose self was passed down from generation to generation to generation, and so we are all born with a nature to sin, and because of that nature, the Bible says in Romans-5:20, it says, for by the disobedience of the 1 man, the many were made sinners. Contrary to popular belief, you're not a sinner because you sin. You're a sinner because the first man sinned and that nature was passed down and now, it's something inside of you. Some are are are better at suppressing it than others and and, you know, they they This mental ascent, and they have some good character, and and and seem to good people, but there's still a nature to choose not God from the inside that plagues mankind, and we have to be saved from ourselves.
Now, from the beginning, mankind has been trying to come up with a way to make it back to God, to make it back to peace, and to make it back to joy and a sense of sustainable hope. From the beginning, Mankind trying to Because sin separates us from God. That's what it does. The payment for sin is death. Death meaning separation from God.
*God is life. Sin* separates us from him. So, you have all of these different religions in the world that man has come up with. You got this, you know, they all say 1 of 2 things. Basically, you've to be 50.1% good over 49.9% bad on the "teeter totter of life" in order to be good enough, in order to make it to the next best thought, you know, next best consciousness or the next best animal or or to be to be good enough to make it to to God or to feel good enough about yourself.
You know, you've done enough good things on Does that does that make sense? Well, I'm a good person. That's The peep The people that believe that, that's what they say, and they might not even know that they believe that. But when they say, well, I'm a good person, they're they're judging their own goodness. And if if they if if they do good enough, then they feel good about themselves.
But if they fail their friend or they fail their mom or they fail on their goals, their life goals or whatever they're putting their trust in, eventually they fall in their butt and whatever they put their trust in let them down or they let themselves down and now they don't feel good about themselves anymore. Now, there's despair until they can pick themselves back up and try again on the teeter totter of life. Is that real talk? Yeah? That makes sense?
So, that's 1 way. The second way that man's trying to climb a ladder to get back to God is, well, this God has a code of rules, you know, the 5 pillars or the, you know, code of Hammurabi or the 10 commandments or, you know, I read my bible enough, I read this holy book enough, I do enough sacrifices before this temple. If I follow enough rules, then then maybe, just maybe, that God will be pleased with me and let me into heaven 1 day or to the next best animal or the next best thing or or or let me into, you know, whatever the the next best is this. That's the other side of it. 1 or the other.
That's religion trying to make it back to God. The problem is there's no lasting peace there. There's no lasting hope there because it's all about what you do and you don't do and you're gonna fail because by nature from birth, you're a sinner. And then there's a third group of people. The third group of people says, heck with that.
I'm just going to go about my life, hope that everything turns out okay, do what I feel like is best, you know, go about my life, not even think about it, and then, you know, when when I die, the universal will just accept me. Right? There's no peace there either. But Jesus, that's where Jesus comes in. Because Jesus because God thought you were worth it.
I think I went a little long before asking you that. You're a little off your toes there. Emmanuel, *God* with us, showed you Jesus was God. There's more ways than 1 to show that in Scripture, by the way. We just don't have that much time tonight.
Born of a virgin, he became a man. Why? Because mankind reaching up by our own effort could never make it to God because we're born with a nature to sin, and God requires perfection. And so because we could never make it to him like every religion does, instead of that, God says, I'm coming to you to save you from yourself. So God became a man.
That's the whole thing. It's instead of a ladder, it's God reaching down. So *Jesus* was born of a virgin. Emmanuel, God with us. That's Christmas because he thought you were worth it.
Worth There we go. Okay. You guys are doing great. Jesus humbled himself. Jesus thought *God* thought he it was worth going through the birth process.
You were worth going through the birth process for. I mean, think about that. *Jesus* became a fetus. I mean, a lot of times people don't think about these things. Sometimes, like to think about these things.
You know? What what is the Bible really saying here? Jesus hung out in a woman's womb for 9 months. *God*, in a woman's womb for 9 months. Now, just to before I really walk you through this, I want you to see something.
In Philippians-2, I'm not just making this up. *Philippians-2, it says, in your relationships this is verse 5. In your relationships with 1 another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being the very nature of God*, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in the appearances of man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. Didn't So just to repeat, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his advantage.
No. He became He was fully God, but became fully man and lived life as a man, not using his godhood, but lived life as a man walking as empowered by the Holy Spirit, just like a believer can today. That's amazing. So, Jesus being fully man Amen. Come on, Lazlo.
That's good. So, Jesus being fully man, like humbling himself as God, stepping off the throne, and in a womb. 9 months. Then he went through the birth canal. God, for you.
Yeah. And then he nursed from his mama, *trusting* that the father would take care of him, the heavenly father would take care of him, provide all that he needed. He had poopy diapers. You know, you think about that? I had poopy diapers like there's no Huggies.
It's it's probably pretty nasty. God humbled himself, became a man. Why? For you, he was experiencing everything that you walked through so that you can know he's not a God that's distant and far off, but he loves you and he cares for you. He's been through the human experience.
Emmanuel, God with us. *Hebrews-4:15* states it very clearly what I've been saying, and it says I'll just read it from here. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have 1 who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin. Why? Because God thought you were worth it.
Worth it. Yeah. See, you have sinned, and we've established that. And because of sin, you can never make your own way to God. The payment for sin is separation from God who is life.
So, separation from God results in hell. A lot of people say, woah, wait, wait a second. You're talking about this loving God. How can a loving God send people to hell? How would a loving God make you spend *eternity* with someone that you didn't choose to spend any time with in this life?
He wouldn't make you. If you never chose Jesus in this life, would it be loving for him to make you spend time with someone you didn't wanna spend with for eternity? No. Love gives you a choice. Now is today is the day of salvation.
He gives you grace. He gives you mercy, and he's saying, hey, choose me. I love you. I've already chose you. I sent my son because I chose you.
Don't reject me because of your skepticism and unbelief. Realize that I want to walk with you. I want you to experience what you were created for. I want you to have peace and joy that lasts in the midst of every circumstance because I'm with you. I want you to know that it takes faith.
It takes you receiving me. *God doesn't want to send you to hell. He loves* you. And, since you can't make it to him, he came to you. Jesus was born in a manger, experienced everything that he experienced, every temptation.
Walked in your shoes overcame, even to the point of death on a cross. Why? Because God thought you were worth it. Death on a cross, he thought you were worth dying for. This computer is a used MacBook Pro.
Pretty used. Few years old. Mike could sell it for $650, $700, something like that. Put it on the market, try to sell it for $700. Nobody pays $700 for it.
You come to me and say, hey. I'll give you $4.50 for it. Okay. Gets you for $4.50. Was it worth 700 or was it worth $4.50?
$4.50. Because something is only worth what someone else will pay for it. Right? So the computer's worth 450. You are only worth what someone else will pay for you.
*God paid his life* for you. That makes you worth the life of God. God paid his life. Jesus paid his life. 1, to forgive you of your sin.
Absolutely. Forgive you of your sin. Yeah. Not just that. *Jesus paid his life* to restore your created value.
*Sin* tainted you. Sin tainted the world. Sin tainted mankind. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He called creation good.
*God paid his life* for you to restore your value, to make you worthy of receiving him, to make you new, to make you brand new, to make you spotless. His blood washes away your sin and then he gives you himself because now you are capable of receiving him. Now, he opens the door for you to walk in relationship with him. God paid his life to restore your value to where you can walk with him now day in and day out in a real way in the midst of a fallen world, in the midst of a world that doesn't believe in him, in the midst of a world that's skeptical, in the midst of a world that some some of them hate Christians and even kill Christians. And, in the midst of that, we can confidently, in hope and in peace, look at them in the eye and say, love you because God loves you, and I'm praying for you to experience the love of Jesus.
I'm praying for you to experience the hope that God paid the price for so you can know him, you can walk with him, and you can spend eternity with him. Not just here, but in eternity, and not just in eternity, but here. So Jesus never sinned, and the payment for sin is death. So therefore, Jesus' death wasn't for his sins. He willingly died for you, for yours.
And because Jesus never sinned, the payment for sin being death, that's why we die. Death had no hold on him. So that's why 3 days later, rose again. 3 days later, Jesus rose again. By believing and receiving him, not only do we get forgiven of our sins, but we also receive his *life* because of them.
Some may be skeptical. How do you know Jesus rose again? That's like, that's the crux. If if Jesus didn't rise again, Christianity is a sham. There's no hope.
Live, party, for tomorrow we die. *Jesus* didn't rise again. Let's see if I can remember these. This would be good for you to remember too. Alive, A, appearances throughout scripture.
*Jesus* appeared to 500 people after he rose again, the Bible says. To 500 different people. And not only that, 30 and 40 years later when Paul wrote, if it was a sham, he wouldn't have wrote, go and ask the witnesses. Go and ask those that Jesus appeared to. If he was just trying to cover up something, he wouldn't have said that because people read his letters and went and asked them.
L, low status of women. Sorry, ladies. 2000 years ago, you don't have the stat you didn't have the status you did you do today. Not that that was a good thing, it's not. But there, 2000 years ago in the in those days, a woman's word didn't matter.
And, you know, the first witnesses that were the witnesses of the gospel or the witnesses of Jesus raising again were women, and that's what's recorded. If you're trying to make a ruse and you're trying to make up a lie, you wouldn't use women. You'd use somebody significant. Doesn't make sense for them to do that. 3, instantaneous historical record.
In the histories, you go back to, you know, those Greece and Babylon, and, you know, the different nations, histories that we have. You know, it's good to get a get a historical document 300 years after it happened, 400 years after it happened, and we take that as fact. But with Jesus, we have 20 and 30 years after it happened, it was it was written, which according to history is is just about instantaneous historical documentation. That's amazing. And we believe the history is about Greece, but yet, we don't believe the history is about Jesus written by how many manuscripts more than the history is about the others?
Instantaneous. A l I v What was v? E is the "empty tomb". E is the empty tomb. All they had to do was show that the tomb was empty, but they never did.
They never could show that the tomb was empty. And then disciples would have dispersed. It never would have happened. Oh, and then V stands for I forget I forget exactly how, but it but basically, the meaning is the "willingness to die". You had these disciples who ran when Jesus was being crucified for their lives and hid, but then just 40 days, 50 days later after that, now they're going back to the very people that crucified Jesus and preaching the gospel to them, willing to die a martyr's death, and at the cost of their life spread the gospel because Jesus was alive and showed up.
But, not only that, there's many people in here that are proof of his resurrection because our lives are transformed. We're new creations from the inside out. It's more than just a a theory. It's more than just a a mental ascent. No.
We know God and we invite you to know him too. I want to invite everyone to stand. I'm gonna invite the band to come back up. And I just want you guys I want to I wanna I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions, and I just want you to close your eyes if you don't mind. You can close your eyes and bow your heads if you'd like.
I invite you to do that. Let me ask you this. See see, the Bible says that if you believe in your heart that Jesus died and rose again, and you confess with your mouth that he's your Lord, you will be saved. Literally, you'll be "born again" from the inside, and God will place a new heart in you. Now, you go from a nature to sin, from you have God's nature on the inside of you, and you have a hope and a peace within you, and now, you have the ability and the capacity.
God renews your over time, your mind is renewed to the reality of what he's done inside of you, and you and you walk knowing him. He empowers you. Right? So, the Bible says, confess with your mouth that he's Lord. Believe in your heart he died and rose again.
You will be saved. Bible also said he's knocking on your heart's door. You're here because God called you here. All the other circumstances, God arranged it for you to be here so that you could have this moment where God invites you into a relationship with himself. That's why you're here.
Bible talks about Jesus knocking on the heart's door. What if Let me ask you this. With your eyes closed, just imagine this. Imagine if Jesus If you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was standing in front of you, knocking on your heart's door, saying, "will you let me in"to your life? Will you give me your life?
Will you let me give you my life? Let me enter into your life, and let me lead you and guide you as I created you to be led and guided. Let me walk with you. If if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was standing in front of you physically knocking on your heart's door, would you let him in? Yes or no?
Hypothetical question. Would you do it? Well, the Bible says where 2 or more gathered in his name, Jesus literally said, where 2 or more gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Hey, guys. There's 2 or more gathered here in his name.
*Jesus is here in the midst of us, and he is knocking on your door saying, will you let me in? I love* you. This is more than just a religion. This is more than just a Sunday morning thing I go to to get a feel good, and then I go on about my life. This is God inviting you to walk with him, and it's your opportunity.
So I'm gonna ask you, if you've never received Jesus before, if you never gave your life to him, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt there's something inside of you, you don't even know what it is, but something inside of you is is saying, like, feels like, man, what this guy is saying is true. You don't even know if you believe it totally with your head, but your heart's saying, yes. Yes. Give your life to Jesus. That's God.
He's calling you and drawing you. It's a supernatural thing. You were created to know him and God is drawing you to himself because he loves you. So I'm gonna count to 3. Not just because I like to count, but because I'm gonna give you the opportunity to respond.
On the count of 3, if you would like to receive to know God, if you'd like to receive Jesus, you never have before, I want you to raise your hand up high. Nobody else is looking around. I want you to raise your hand up high to respond. 1, 2, 3. Anybody at all?
Raise it high. I see your hand. I see your hand. Anybody else? Everybody's everybody's got their head bowed, eyes closed.
Please please do that. If you raise your raise your hand, I want you to look at me. Would you just look up at me? Just look me in the eyes. Nobody else is looking.
I don't know. You I ask you a question. Everybody else keep your head bowed eyes closed. Ma'am, did you wanna receive Jesus? The 1 that looked at me.
Did you did you wanna receive Jesus? Okay. Will you look at me? Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again? Yes or no?
Do you wanna confess him as your Lord? Which means, confess him as your Lord means means I've been in charge my life and God I I give you charge of my life. I don't really know what that means but but I I surrender, I believe. Would you show me? Do you wanna do that?
Yes or no? Alright. Well, let's pray this prayer together. If you really mean it. Okay?
And guys, if you guys would pray this pray this with me. Just say Jesus, I believe. I believe you died for me and I believe you rose again. And right now, I confess you as my Lord. Thank you Jesus.
Thank Jesus. The Bible says if you did that and you meant it, you you believed in your heart, more than just a confession in your mouth, you believed in your heart too, that you're saved. Bible says that you're forgiven. It's an act of faith. It's a "step of faith".
It's as simple as that. Bible says that blessed is the person whose sin is never counted against them. That person is the person who puts their trust in Jesus because your sin was counted against Jesus. It would be wrong to count against you. It wouldn't be just.
That's amazing. So just as a confession of faith, confess means to agree. Say, Jesus. Everybody here say, Jesus. Thank you for forgiving me.
I'm clean. Teach me to follow you. I receive you. Amen. Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast.
I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God *loves* you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving or you can text any amount to 84321 and then just search in the link that comes up. Search for Real Church Clearwater.
*God* bless you, and the best is yet to come.