Well, good morning, Church. I cannot wait to introduce our guest today. You know, the reality is Dr. Johnny Hunt does not need to be introduced from many, many people in this community. For over thirty years, he led Woodstock First Baptist Church. He is now currently the vice president of Evangelism and Leadership with the North American Mission Board. I would dare say there's not too many people in our area that have not heard the name, heard him preach, been touched by his life. Almost a thousand men at our wild game banquet, a couple of weeks ago, got to hear part of his story. So would you guys do me a favor this morning, and would you give a really big Burnt Hickory welcome to an incredibly, incredibly good friend of Burnt Hickory, Dr. Johnny Hunt.

Well, thank you very much. And let me say what a privilege, Joy, it is to be here. Your pastor is somewhere about 35,000 feet up between Istanbul and Atlanta, Georgia, headed back. I am grateful for his invite in. Been blessed by the music that Carey and the band and singers. And I appreciate the way Eli has taken such good care of me. He's been a great host with such a kind heart. Pastor wanted me to say a word to you along these lines. 85% of the people that are in an evangelical church, a gospel preaching church this morning, all over the United States, they're all there. 85% of them, because somebody brought them probably as a child or somebody invited them. I'm a believer today because N. W. Pridgen, a carpenter could not leave me alone. Every time I saw him, he invited me. So finally, when my wife said we ought to go to church, I remember saying, not much in the church, but if I go, I'm going to go where Mr. Pridgen invited me.

Next Sunday, there'll be more people in churches around the world than any other Sunday on the year. Some are trying to decide where to go. Your invite could change their eternity. So, take it seriously. Get your Bibles. Got your phone? A tablet? You want to follow along? I'm going to teach from first Corinthians chapter one, verse 18 through 25. I want to speak on this subject. It's still the cross. We magnified a lot in music this morning. A lot of hands were up. Heard a few whoops and hollers. And I really appreciate knowing where to say amen. And one of the songs says that he is worthy for he was slain for us. That reminds me of next Friday is Good Friday.

It focuses our attention on the cross. Saturday is sort of that day of reflection. Sunday, early on Sunday morning, Jesus got up from the dead. And so, I'm grateful that he died. One songwriter - the Getty's said that when he died, the wrath of God was satisfied. That means that the wrath of God was going to be poured out on me. But Jesus became a curse for us, and he did not abort the wrath of God. He absorbed the wrath of God. And so, I want to talk a little bit about the dynamics of the cross, and then I want to let the very cross define itself and see the significance of it. You may be familiar with the passage, but just maybe God will help us to see something a little deeper, a little different that could make a significant difference in our worship.

So, I'm just going to dove in and then I'm just going to lift out of the text. So just keep your Bible open. If I were to read verse 17, Paul clarified the nature of his mission. Namely, his mission was to preach the gospel. He proceeded to identify the central feature of the preaching of the gospel, namely the Cross of Christ. For over 2000 years, the sign and symbol of the Christian faith has been the old rugged cross. It's the message of the cross, which is the heart of the gospel. I'll guarantee you, probably everyone in here has a favorite song or hymn that's written about the cross. Maybe the old song. The old rugged cross. Or At Calvary. Or At the Cross. My wife. Her favorite song ever was written by Isaac Watts. It meant so much to her that when I was in seminary and took a course called Hymnology, I thought, I'm going to research and ended up writing a 25-page paper on a song that was her favorite in honor of her entitled When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.

Paul made tremendous statements concerning the cross in Galatians 6:14. He said, God forbid that I should boast, except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The most quoted preacher of the 19th century was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. One day someone said to him, Sir, all of your sermons sound exactly the same. Why is that? Spurgeon responded, Because I'll just take a text anywhere in the Bible and make a beeline straight to the cross. So, with that in mind, I want you to think with me for a moment what are the dynamics of the cross? I'm going to be honest with you. If you will give me your undivided attention for a few minutes. I'm going to give you some biblical apologetics, verities of God's word that magnified the reality of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Let's listen to a verse 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. So, for instance, when I go to church as an unbeliever, I didn't own a Bible before I became a believer at the age of 20. I just didn't understand the message. And the Bible says. It's foolishness to those who don't believe, who are perishing, but to us who are being say it is the power of God. What an incredible contrast that even this morning the cross of Jesus Christ is foolishness or the power of God. What extremes? Now you'll find this interesting. The word that is used for foolishness is where we get our English word moron. It is actually in the Greek text pronounced moronic. Now think there was a day in my life God saved me out of the pool hall. High school dropout. No purpose or direction in life. And he called me to preach. And he gave me a message that is moronic. A message that seems total nonsense. Absolute nonsense. It seems absurdity. So sometimes when you're sharing the gospel. The person may be kind to you, or they may not. And they may just say, that is the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life. Why would you say that? 

Listen carefully. But anything significant should be accomplished through the death of a carpenter of Nazareth was sheer absurdity to the Greek mind. That one man, even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, could die on a piece of wood, on a nondescript hill, in a nondescript part of the world, and thereby determine the destiny of every person who has ever lived seemed stupid. Why? It allowed no place for man's merit. You can't earn salvation. No room for man's attainment. You can't buy salvation. No place for man's understanding. Here's the bottom line. We Americans want skin in the game. And when you start telling me nothing in my hands, I bring simply to the cross I cling something in me pushes back. It allows no place for a man's pride. So, this is how the cross is viewed by unbelievers who rely on their own wisdom. I'm going to show you in the word of God where the Bible says you don't become a Christian because all of a sudden, you're so smart that you figure it out. But regardless of how intellectual you are, there's only one way to get saved. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Religions that call for work are extremely popular because you're able to think about what you did to earn it. But when you realize that there's nothing you can do to save yourself, that you're strictly at the mercy of God.

Boy, we just see that as nonsense. Now let's see the contrast. There's the foolishness of the cross. But then the Bible magnifies the force of the cross. It says to those who are perishing. It's foolishness, nonsense, absurdity. But to those who are being saved, it's the power of God. I love Easter. Can't wait to preach next Sunday for Easter. That's a good day to preach. I mean, that is the message of the church. The Bible says if Christ be not risen from the dead, we are all in what we believe is vain. There's no hope apart from the fact that he lived. He died and he rose. Again. And so that's the message of the gospel, the message of the cross. The greatest testimony to the empty tomb is a changed life. You can argue until the cows come in. When you want to deal with whether you debate. Whether it could be true or not. But one thing you can't debate is the changed life. The Bible says that those who are being saved, it's the power of God. How can one group ask, how can the blood of such a person remove sin, give righteousness and guarantee hope beyond the grave? I want to say that again. I want to make sure you understand. What is the gospel, pastor, Johnny?

It is Jesus Christ through the shed, blood on the cross. He has the power to remove all your sin, give you his righteousness, and guarantee hope beyond the grave. In John Chapter sixteen and verse eight, Jesus is about to ascend back to heaven. So, He says this to his followers I'm going to leave, but I'm not going to leave you orphans. I am not going to leave you without a comforter. He uses a little word that I love. It's called paráklētos. It means that I'm going to leave you with one that will walk with you, talk with you, and be with you in life. I mean, going all the way back, you take one of the oldest songs I can even remember when I became a believer is In The Garden. He walks with me and talks with me. There's not a person in here. They can't say. I thank God that in one of the greatest crises, greatest needs in my life, Jesus was there for me. One songwriter wrote it, Well, Jesus never fails. And so, he's there for us. And so, in John 16:8, here's what Jesus said When the Holy Spirit is come, He will convict and that's a word that means to expose something. See, I'm not under any pressure this morning to convince anybody because I don't have the power.

Spurgeon put it this way I can no more change a life than I can create a star. But I know that the one that created the star can change a life. And so, the bottom line is, I believe in the power of God. So, he says, and when he's come, he will expose to the world sin. That's our great problem. We're sinners by nature and by choice. Righteousness. That is something God imputes to us if you're a banker or you're an accountant. My father was an accountant at his own firm for 50 years. That was his language. The word imparted imputed really means that God's taken a ledger, and over on my liabilities, I've got a bunch of sin that I need to be dealt with. And he's talking about how Jesus can come and cleanse my sin. And then over in the area of assets, I had no assets to take me to heaven, God imparted His righteousness to me. 

When my mother died far too young, I was their pastor. I'd been a pastor for ten years, and she died at the young age of 60 with breast cancer. I chose the music for my mother's funeral. I still on a regular basis, I go back, and I googled the song. It was written by Squire Parsons. It's entitled A Beautiful Robe, and it reminds us that right now, if I were to go to heaven without Jesus, that I would stand there. And the Bible says, all of my righteousness are as filthy rags. But God. Oh, this is good. Took my filthy rags. Nailed it to the cross. Took it out of the way. And you know what he did for me? He gave me his righteousness. So, I'm going to heaven one day not because I'm better. I'm not better than anyone. I have the righteousness of God. God put it in my account. And so, then he said, In judgment to come. I had had a unique opportunity to visit one afternoon ten years ago with Billy Graham. And Dr. Graham was 90 years old, 99, when God took him home.

And I'll never forget. And it later was it was placed in the papers. He had said it to many other people, but he just said this. He said, If I had life to do over again, I would preach more on judgment. I feel that we've got to be careful in this generation. Sometimes we try to make this message so palatable that everybody just thinks, Oh, that's just wonderful. Note, the reason the cross is such wonderful news is it is bad news without Jesus. And we've got to tell the truth and rescue the perishing. And so, he talks about the power of God. See, the dynamic of Jesus Christ and the cross. The vindication of the cross is not wisdom in that it makes sense, but power in that it works, it changes lives, it takes sinners, and it makes saints out of it, takes blasphemers and makes preachers out. So, the cross is the manifestation of God's power at work in a life. Now, this will tell you more than you need to know about me. But when I got converted at 20, I had been managing a poolroom, arrested three times, in and out of trouble.

One of my friends was in prison. And I was riding up and down Carolina Market Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, my hometown. And I hear a horn blowing. I look over and there's my old buddy Richard. He just got out of prison. We pulled up beside the road after we did a few greetings. He said, Man, what is this? And he used, you know, a word I can't use here. And he just said, What is this stuff about you becoming a Christian? You believe that yadda, yadda, yadda. And then I went on to say something like this, Richard, I can't explain it. You know, I cussed like a sailor. I was a pool hustler, gambling, covetousness, trying to win what somebody else possessed. And I had no purpose, direction in life. And Richard, Jesus Christ changed my life. I mean, I can't explain it, but I'm telling you, the cursing went away, and the swearing went away. And, you know, I don't I don't manage to poolroom anymore.

I just don't want to try to take what belongs to somebody else. And so, Richard later said this I've always been an atheist. But after I saw what happened to my friend Johnny Hunt and now had to say, if there's no God, what happened to Johnny? And I'm telling you, you've known people. Fact stats came out yesterday. This'll encourage you. I preach stuff in the past I can't verify. I'm being honest. For instance, I'd say this I challenged high school students to give their first year overseas before they went to college. And I would make this statement. I said, the reason I believe that most of them go to college, don't know even what they're going to study. And one day they won't even use their degree in the work of their life. And I couldn't prove it, but I kept preaching it. And then Harvard last year did a study in. 55% of the people that graduate from college in United States do not use their degree. And I thought, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Well, let me tell you what else I've been preaching. I want you to hear this. There's some help here concerning next week. I've been preaching this for years. Our friends that don't know Jesus are more desirous to hear the gospel than we Christians are to tell it. I've been saying it for 30 years. 30, 30 years. I knew deep down in my heart I knew I was right. I knew I was right. Research just came out Lifeway Resources two weeks ago. Google Life Resources slash Baptist Press. Study of witnessing. Listen to this.

They interviewed unbelievers, hundreds of them. Here's what they said. I have a friend that I think a lot of, and I know they follow Christ. I would love to have a conversation with them. But it's hard to find one that wants to talk about it. Yeah. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yeah, I don't know about you, but let me tell you this. This guy has been saying ever since I came to Jesus that the night I gave my life to Jesus, it was the single most important decision of my life. I've never I've never made any decision that so radically changed the trajectory of my life than giving my life to Jesus Christ. Oh, my friend. It may not make sense, but it works. Power of God. So, you talk to somebody, and they say, listen, I've heard people say this before. I'm not real intelligent. I'm not here to try to debate you. But all I want to tell you is this is good. Yes, some stuff. I know what I'm going to say. And I get so fired up before I say it.

But here's what I want to say. Thanks to Calvary, I'm not the man I used to be. I'm not a singer. And if you don't believe me, ask my wife. I sang one day, and we had, you know, 200 voice choir behind me, 60-piece orchestra. That would make anybody sound good except me. And so, I sang the solo. And after my wife said, You shouldn't sing anymore. And I said, Honey, I've just stood in the line for 30 minutes of people telling me how much it blessed them, and they wish I would sing more. She said, Who said that? And I said, Well, to be honest, most of them were Senior Adults. She said, not a one of them could hear you, not a one. But let me tell you why I wanted to sing. It's the only song I've ever sung. So, I want you to hear the lyrics. Today I went back to the place where I used to go. Today I saw the same old friends I knew before, and when they asked me what had happened. I tried to tell them. Thanks to Calvary, I don't come here anymore. Thanks to Calvary. I'm not the man that I used to be. Thanks to Calvary, things are different than before. As the tears ran down my face, I tried to tell them. Thanks to Calvary. I don't come here anymore. It works. It's the power of God. God changes lives. What got my attention since I had never owned a Bible is they said to me, Hey, Johnny, won't you come to church? Now I don't know. I may come. We go every now and then. What that meant is, I think twice I'd been on Easter or Christmas. And then they said this, you know Drew Todd? I said, you know Drew Todd. Yeah, you haven't seen him lately. You know, I haven't seen Drew. Jesus changed his life. Now it's different. I'm thinking "changed life." What do you mean? Do you know Alfred Joiner? Not. Oh, who doesn't know Alfred Joiner. I mean the Joiner boys. Man, you know, you don’t mess with the Joiner boys in Wilmington. Oh, you hadn't seen him like. Nah, I haven't seen him lately. Jesus changed his life. Later, Alfred would disciple me. I'm telling you; the message of the cross is moronic to the person who is perishing.

But to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. And we need to share that Dunamis, that dynamite of the message that changes lives. But Paul knew he was dealing with some intellects when he was preaching there in Corinth. So, you know what he did? He moved from just talking about the foolishness of the cross and he talked a moment of the force and the power of the cross. But then he wanted to give a fact about the cross. So, if you look in your Bible and notice in verse number 19, that is a direct quote from Isaiah 29:14. He knew that everyone that knew anything about Israel's history, that lived in Israel or even lived around Corinth in Asia minor. Here's what he knew. They would know these stories. Here's what he said. There was a day that Israel had a threat from the north. No way they could win. They were called the Assyrians. They were the mighty force.

If you were to study Israeli history, you'd find out in 548 B.C. they devastated the city of Jerusalem and even the land of Israel. And so, they were going to come down on them. And so, these advisors came intellectually. It seemed like good advice. And they said to the king, there's no way we can go against the Assyrians. What we need to do is make an alliance with Egypt and maybe between Egypt and Israel we can defeat the Assyrians. But then there was a preacher. These preachers always come up with these weird ideas. Isaiah comes and here's what he says. Hey, guys, I've been talking to God. And God let me know that if we would call on him, he will fight for us. That's not just the lyrics of a song. I'm telling you. God fights for us. So, guess what happened? The king went with the intellectual advisors and thought, this is, this is absurdity. He's talking like a moron. This is not the message we want to hear. So, they made an alliance with Egypt. Read history. Guess what? Egypt did not show up. Oh, this is good. Guess who did show up. God showed up. Let me remind you, you remember the story. One angel God sent one angel. And the angel slew 186,000 Assyrians. God came. 

Oh, and by the way, you may say, why do you even bring up angels? Well, thanks for asking. But listen, here's why. Hebrews chapter one, verse 14 The Bible says that angels are on assignment to those who are heirs of salvation. Sometimes you feel like somebody is looking out for me. God, read your Bible. God places angels. I don't know about you, but I've come home before and thought, Man, I almost was an accident today. As a matter of fact, I'm still trying to figure out how I didn't end up in that car crash. And then you say something like this. I just feel like somebody's looking out for me. It isn't somebody you know, just somebody looking out for you. God places angels on assignment, all of you precious moms and moms to be. If you look at Luke Chapter ten, the Bible says God has sent angels to protect our children. Wow. That was a good place to say Amen. 

I'm telling you God is faithful. So, the fact of the cross. All right. Let me let me move to another and really final statement, but I'm not done. So, hang with me. There's the dynamics of the cross. But listen carefully to this statement. The cross divides. It does? Yeah. Let me tell you how it divides. The cross stands between you and heaven. You can't go to heaven without embracing the Gospel. Put another way. You can't get saved without the Gospel. You need the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection. That's why next week's such a big deal. That's why people don't even normally go are going to go. People were interviewed in the United States just a few years ago and asked this - how many you believe in heaven? And it was like 85%. How many of you believe you're going to heaven? It was like 92%. It's like people say, I don't believe that, but if it is true, I'm going to be there. Let me tell you what that's called deception. You're deceived. There's a way that seems right, but the end thereof is destruction. The cross stands between you and heaven. Remember the old lyrics? I must needs go home, by the way of the cross, for there's no other way for me.

You know why I'm going to heaven? I've embraced the cross. But then also the cross stands between you and hell. You won't go to hell because you've been embraced the cross. It's not because of what you've done for God. It's what God did for you in Jesus Christ. The cross simply says done, done, done. Religion says, did, did, did. It's not what I did. It's what he did. Did you notice all of our songs today that we sung of someone being worthy when we were being led by Carey? All of them, Carey, were about how worthy he is. There'll be none of us up there saying, I want my turn. I want to brag about what I did to get here. No. Anything you receive in reward based on Revelation five, you will lay at the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ and give Jesus the glory that you're there. Nothing in my hands I bring. So, with that in mind, let me give you a couple of statements and I'll be through. Let me talk, first of all, about the dividing of the cross as it pertains to those who are believing.

The Bible says in verse 18 that it's the power of God to those who are being saved. First of all, that's present tense. But for you English teachers, it's passive voice. Why would you even tell us that? Because it means that if you're saved, you were acted upon by another. It means you can't save yourself. But when I pray with people receive Jesus, I lead them to pray something like this. Jesus, I need you. I know that I cannot save myself. And so, you reach out to Jesus. Repentance is a change of mind. I used to think I could get there this way, but I realized that's wrong now. God has convicted me. He's exposed. God has shown me what it's going to take to get there.

So, it indicates the inability of those who are being saved to accomplish that end in their own strength. It is God who is acting to save them through His power. When I got into conviction, it was on a Sunday morning, and we had Sunday night church back in that time. And so, the preacher said this that morning service. He said, there's a young man here and I think God's dealing with him. And I was down front, and the message really gotten through to me. And I was weeping during the invitation. I saw people weeping during the invitation, during the last service and this room. And here's what he said. Let's pray together as we dismiss that God would bring him back and save him. Now, he didn't identify me, but I knew who I was. Matter of fact, I normally would go and race. I raced on Sunday afternoon Drag Race, and I went home. My wife said, We're not going to drag strip. And I no. She said why? I said, the preacher is talking about me. Oh.

And by the way, some of you men may want to ask this. How do you know he's talking to you? Just look at me for just a moment. When God speaks, it's not because God knows your number. Jesus knows your name. I'm telling you, God flat out with me. So, here's what I said to my wife. You know, I just don't know if I can live this Christian life. And this is an honest man's plea. I feel like I need to be changed. And, you know, the preacher saying Jesus can change my life, but, boy, if he doesn’t know what I'm going to do. I even made a pact with my wife. I said, you know, I like to go Red Fox saloon and drink a lot and I gamble a lot and, you know, running a pool hall. And I just said, so I just want you to know if Jesus can change my life, he's welcome to it. But if he, does it, don't get on my case. Oh, and just for the record's sake, three things happens when you get say please, please leave here with this.

Three things happen when you get saved. Jesus forgives you of all your sins. That's a miracle. You just tell me that God will clean the slate from everything I did wrong. Number two. He comes to live in you in the person of God, the Holy Spirit, because he knows that Christianity is not difficult. He knows that Christianity's impossible. He knows that you can't live this life. So, he comes to live this life through me. And then guess what else he does? He gives you the gift of everlasting life. Because he knows that one day this life will be over. And when it is, I have a gift. Oh, by the way, present tense. It's not what he's going to give me. He gave it to me today. Oh, this is good are you listening? He gave it to me the day I got saved. It's not like Dad died. And now. Now he's got to give it to me. No, no, no, no, no, no. When you got saved, God gave you the gift of eternal life. Some of you may say, is that a big deal to you that God lives in you in the person of the Holy Spirit? Yeah, if you were like me and there are some in this room that you were like me, your dad checked out on your mom.

So, I was raised from seven years old, up by a single mom. I didn't see my dad again for 13 years. But then all this is good. When Jesus Christ came into my life, he came in and said, I'll never leave you and never forsake you. Adrian Rogers put it this way. Your heart is not a hotel. Jesus doesn't check in and check out He's a permanent residence. He never leaves. Well, let me deal with this, and my time's up. It's still the cross. And I want to show you two ways to look at it. I want to show you what it means from a human side, and from the heaven side. I mean, there's a reason, you know. All my years of preaching, I've been preaching now for 45 years. I've always felt like I was a defense attorney. I really have. I feel like I'm trying to convince, I'm serious. I feel like I'm standing before in the courtroom, before an audience trying to convince you that Jesus Christ, the only thing he was ever guilty of is loving us unconditionally, regardless of our sin. And by the way, maybe you need to hear this today. God. Oh, dear. God loves you just like you are. But he loves you too much to leave you like you are. So, from the human side, the world, through wisdom, did not know God.

God, like it or not, wisely established that man could not come to know him by human wisdom alone. That would exalt man. So, God designed to save helpless sinners through the preaching of a message. Oh, this is good. That was so simple that the worldly wise deemed it nonsense. I didn't plan to tell this. I've got a 20-year-old granddaughter with cerebral palsy. She is a student today, second year, first year student about to finish her first year over in Wisconsin at Shepherds College. It's the only fully accredited college for children with special needs in the United States. Her name is Hope. Hope, when she was about 12 or 13 years old. Listen to this. I love this about the gospel. She gave her life to Jesus Christ. You may say, well, she got cerebral palsy. Can she figure that out? Oh, yeah, she can figure it out. Because she's not out there trying to connect all the dots. She and in childlike faith. Jesus Christ speaking in John 18:3. Except you come like little children. And be converted. You shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. So, she came like a little child. And what we do. We think we have to connect all the dots. Well, I just won't. You know, if we had to connect the dots on electricity this morning, it would be dark in here.

I'm getting ready to fly to Jackson, Mississippi, if I could figure out aerodynamics. But if I had to wait until I figured it out, the plane would never leave the ground. And by the way, there's been times I got on there and I knew it was going to take off. But if you saw how much my wife packed, I thought, this thing isn’t going anywhere. The miracle of aerodynamics that my wife, well anyway. If you're watching me, honey, and I love you to death. And last of all, from heaven's side. From heaven's side. So, God says from a human side. You're going to get saved when you put your faith in what I said is true. If you're a historian. Disprove that Christ lived. Disprove that he died. I'll take you to Calvary. It's not that Jews in the land of Israel don't believe he existed or lived. They just refuse to believe that he rose from the dead. It pleased God, through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. Wow. Oh, this is good news. All you teenagers. Every person here. When it talks about, he saved them through the message, it doesn't mean that it was because of their capacity for oral communication. It's not how you present the message that gives its power.

The power is in the message itself. Billy Graham was in London preaching. And they said, Mr. Graham, you're going to set London back 200 years with that message. He said, I am so sorry. I was trying to set it back 2000 years. And then they said this. They said, Dr. Graham, do you believe the message you're preaching is defendable? He said, Oh, you don't have to defend it. It's like a lion. Turn it loose and it will do its work. And that's what I found. The Gospel, the power of God. So, what Johnny Hunt found as a 20-year-old. Is that Jesus is who he says he is. And that's what I said. If he's who he says he is and he can change my life. And I want to just be honest with you, I've been in this a long time. If he hadn't changed my life, I would have found something else to do. He changed my life. Oh, and by the way, it was not temporary.

Genuine repentance is always eternal. Heavenly Father, thank you that you gave a message that really, really was so simple that people stumbled over it. And yet, at the same time, it was so simple that the six-year-old, seven-year-old, the cerebral palsy granddaughter, they are just all sort of bought in, and took you at your word, believed you were who you said you were. And they found you to be sufficient. And I don't know why you're reminding me of this, but I am shocked at Hope's mental capacity for scripture memory. Unbelievable. Help someone to realize today they can reach out. And touch your hand and find its God's. And one day breathe new air and found it's celestial. And one day step on shore to find that heaven is home. With heads bowed and eyes closed. If you're upstairs in the classic service, you're watching online, or you're in this room. Here's the invite. Would you like today to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins? If he's who he says he is, would you ask him to come into your life? And he would do that in the person of God, the Holy Spirit. And he said that he would make it known Romans 8:16 that it's him that is in you. And then received today the gift of eternal life. That's the story of Good Friday. Would you, do it? I'm going to lead you in a prayer. This service is going to be history in just a moment. If you say, I want to surrender my life, I want you to pray with me right now.

God knows your heart. And just as he spoke to me that day, because he knows my name. He knows your name. Would you ask him right now? Lord Jesus. I need you. I know that I cannot save myself. Come into my life. Forgive me of my sins. And save me. Thank you for dying for me. Help me to live for you and Lord, help me to never be ashamed of knowing you. Thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen. If you made that your prayer, whether today or whenever. You can go out right over here on the side and there's a connect center. There's somebody there to show you how you can connect dots, what's next in your life, in your relationship with Jesus.

But I'll tell you this. If you meant it, I hope you'll mention somebody. Sir, If you prayed, I hope before you put the key in the ignition of your car to leave, you'll tell your wife or your children, today I surrendered my life to Christ. See how real he becomes in your life. The difference he'll make when you receive him unashamedly. And make it known that you know him. Everybody Jesus saved in the New Testament, he saved publicly, if he didn't, we wouldn't have a record of it. And maybe did the same in your life. Let me encourage you, to not come to church by yourself next week. Invite a friend. Invite them and say, hey, why don't you come to church with me, and afterwards, let's grab lunch and you pay for it. And they'll come. But it'll be a great time. Thank you for the privilege to be with you today. I love what God is doing in this ministry and its staff that I've gotten to know, and it's been a real privilege to preach the cross and the gospel to you. Happy Easter. God bless you.