Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest
questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search
and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Metter, lead pastor
of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth for the
life we're searching for. Thank you so much for joining us on Easter Sunday morning. We're
so glad that you're here today. We've had such a full weekend. So exciting to see what God has
done. You see the cross behind us here. Many of you may have been here on Friday night when we
have the cross service, which we do this every year on Good Friday. And I built a cross where
I preached the message of the cross. Just celebrate with us for a moment. We had so many decisions
that we were a little bit overwhelmed in a really, really good way. But we had ultimately 50 people
gave their lives to Jesus on Friday night, made a decision to follow Christ. Wow. We are very
excited about that. But you know, God's not done at the cross. God has so much beyond the cross that
he's going to do. The title of the message today is God's not done with you. And if you'll take
your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter three, beginning in verse seven, we'll read in just a
moment. You know, the resurrection says that God's not done at the cross. And we all know the story.
There's more. And that more was that Jesus Christ would rise from the dead. And I want you to think
about this with me for a moment. Hundreds of people knew Jesus before he died on the cross.
We know the disciples. We know the names of some of the women that knew Christ. We know that many
on the Mount of Beatitudes heard Jesus teach, but several hundred knew him personally before the
cross. But have you ever considered this fact about the resurrection, that untold millions have
come to know Jesus after the resurrection? And that's part of why the resurrection is there. So
that Christ would come back from the dead and reveal himself to those of us on this side of
history. And what an incredible opportunity it is to know Jesus Christ personally. That's really the
focus of the message today in Philippians chapter three. You know, when I was in college a number of
years ago, I was very aware of an attractive female student on our campus and her name was
Kim Hawkins. That was her maiden name. I remember one day when someone came up to me and said,
do you know Kim? Do you know that girl named Kim? And I said, well, I know who she is, but I don't
know her personally. However, I said, I would really like to know her personally. And they
introduced me to her and it wasn't long before we were an everyday item. And now 45 years later,
she's been my wife for those 45 years and my life has changed so powerfully since knowing her. Now,
I think most of us have a story of someone we came to know in a personal way and has altered
our lives, changed our life, hopefully for the better than we were before. Well, take that best
scenario of relationships, magnify it by a million times. And that's what it means to personally know
the resurrected Jesus Christ. My goal today is for you to know Christ in the most intimate possible
way. Philippians chapter three, beginning in verse seven, would you stand with me as we read
this text today. Most of us know who the apostle Paul is before his renaming to Paul. He was Saul.
He was a persecutor of the church. He was a Pharisee believing he was doing what he was supposed
to be doing with missing God in every way though. In Philippians chapter three, verse seven, he talks
about the power of the resurrection in his own life. And that's what I want you to see today,
how the resurrection changes everything and everyone. Look at what he says in verse seven.
He says, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake
of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing
Christ. Now, every time you see the word know or knowing in this text, it's a word that means to
experience. It's not just knowing about, it's not just seeing from a distance, but experiencing him
in a personal way. The surpassing value of knowing Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not
having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. And here it is again in verse 10,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Verse 12,
not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay
it hold of that which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as
having laid hold of a jet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward
to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus. I truly believe this passage can change your life and I believe it's changed Paul's life,
I believe it's changed my life and my prayers it will change your life. Father, in Jesus name,
I pray you'll reveal the truths of this passage to each one of us today. Just shine the spotlight on
our hearts and on this truth and Lord, let it prove revolutionary to every one of us. I ask this in
Jesus name and everybody said amen. Please be seated if you would. I guess you can see the
emphasis here without much instruction going on. Just read the text and you can see a few things.
The resurrection is mentioned all the way through this text several times. And then you see the word
knowing used at least twice. And the idea there is Paul is saying that the greatest goal I'll have
in life and the greatest pursuit I have is knowing Jesus Christ personally. This would be the
resurrected Jesus. Jesus came, lived perfectly on the earth for 33 years, died on the cross,
rose again the third day. That's what we've been celebrating today and it's easy to celebrate the
resurrection of Jesus. We love to tell the story of how he came back from the dead. But what are
you doing with Jesus on the other side of death? And what are you doing with Jesus on the other side
of the tomb? He's alive. He's resurrected. Has that made a difference in your life?
Paul says it's made an incredible, extraordinary difference in my life. And today as we walk through
this text, I want to show you some things that Paul discovered about the resurrection of Jesus,
things you'll learn that I think are very, very important. Number one,
we learned that God's not measuring you. God is not measuring you. Now there's another part to that
statement that I'm going to reveal in just a few moments, but first let's just park on that just a
moment. Most of us believe that the way we have a relationship with God is by us measuring up
to some standard that God has placed in front of us. But Paul says right at the top of this text,
something different. He says, and I may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own
derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes
from God on the basis of faith. I'm convinced that most of us spend most of our lives measuring up
in some way to God's expectations. In fact, I know this entire religions are built upon that.
They're built upon not doing the don'ts and doing the things that we learn we are to do.
It's about measuring up to what we were last year or the year before or measuring up to other people
in our lives. And so we look at God and we say, you know, God, I know you're measuring me. I know
you're evaluating me to see whether I'm worthy or not to be able to be in relationship with you.
And so that's kind of how life operates. We do that in every other realm of life. It just kind
of makes sense to us. We compete with others for grades. We compete for others for our jobs. We
compete on the athletic field. We try to measure up to our neighbors. We want what everybody else
wants because we don't want to be missing or behind or lacking in some way. I mean, all of
life is like that. So it's kind of logical sense to say, well, God's like that. Relating to God is
like that. I need to measure up to God for him to accept me and we would be wrong. Just like Paul
was wrong. In fact, if you read these verses, you can see where Paul puts forth two measures of
righteousness here. One was Paul's and the other was Christ Jesus. Now I want you to notice what
it says and what that means. Paul's story really is all about an attempt to be religiously
perfect. He's trying to measure up in every way that he can possibly measure up to the Old
Testament law that you find in the book of Exodus, the 10 commandments, for example, and also the
631 rabbinical additions to the law that you also see in scripture. And he was trying to measure up
to all those things. And yet at the same time, he realized that he couldn't measure up all the way
and he was frustrated. I want you to notice what he says about his own life in verses four through
six. If you have your Bibles open to Philippians three, this is quite revealing. He says, if anyone
has a mind to have confidence in the flesh, I far more circumcise the eighth day of the nation of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal,
as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is from the law found blameless.
And honestly, nobody could beat Paul in that. I mean, he had the pedigree, he had the background,
he had the training, he knew the law in every possible way and nobody could beat Paul.
Sometimes we look around us and say, you know, I can't beat that person. I can't be as spiritual
as that person or as perfect as that person. And when we compare ourselves with everyone else,
we focus on our shortcomings. We focus on our failures. We focus on every loss that we have
and we feel those failures and we feel weak and we feel unable. And it either makes us become
perfectionists like Paul or it makes us try harder and eventually just give up.
Paul was a perfectionistic type and he was doing everything he could. But I want you to know this
is not God's standard for Paul, it's not God's standard for you. Paul was basically saying,
here's the law right here and I measure up almost all the way to the completeness of the law. I'm
blameless before everybody else. And then Jesus came along, which is why Paul was mad at Jesus
before his conversion. And Jesus made this statement. He said, unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And all of a sudden Paul's comparison changed. This is the law and this is Paul. And then here
is Jesus who is perfect in every way. And Paul realizes, I can't have a relationship with God
if it has to come through Jesus. I can never measure up to who Jesus Christ is. But one day
Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. I hope you know the story. It's found in Acts chapter 9,
chapter 26, and chapter 24, where he's retelling it. And Paul is marching on the way to persecute
the church, those who are truly following Christ at the time, and he's breathing threats. It says
he's breathing murder. He's going to put him to death because he doesn't believe in what they
believe in. And he sees a bright light on the road to Damascus. In fact, the light blinds him so much.
And then he hears the voice coming out of heaven, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why are
you going the wrong way? And at that moment, the apostle Paul, whose name was Saul at the time,
met Jesus Christ personally and intimately in his resurrection form on the road to Damascus,
and everything changed about his life. In fact, if you read everything he says,
after he's encountered with Jesus, it's not about measuring up. He talks about being chosen. He
talks about being appointed by God in spite of anything good or anything bad that he'd done in
his life. His whole conversion moment was about accepting Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
In other words, what Paul said basically in the end is, if you accept the Son,
you accept everything and the Father accepts you. Now listen to the line that he says in the latter
part of that verse we read, that I may be found in him with the righteousness that comes from God
on the basis of faith. When all was said and done, God did not want Paul's performance. He wanted his
acceptance of the Son and the recognition of his Son as the perfect Son. And in exchange, Paul was
accepted by God. And that's the principle. When you accept God's Son, God accepts you as his own.
That's a very different measure than what we measure most of the time. Years ago, there was a
story told, and it bears repeating, even though it's been around for a long time, it was a story of
a father and a son, both of whom had art passions. They had a passion for art, for purchasing art.
They themselves were artists. And so they spent time going throughout the world, collecting these
different famous pieces of art from the most famous of all artists, and they built a collection in
their home. In the course of time, the son was drafted into the army, went to serve overseas,
and died in service. There was a few months later that one of the comrades of this son who had died
came to that father's house and unfolded a portrait he had made by hand while on the back
of the battlefield. He said, I know you've lost your son, and I want you to know he was close to
me as well. And I'm just presenting you with this portrait that I made on the battlefield of your
son. Of course, the father was still grief stricken over the loss of his son, but took the portrait
and moved everything else out of the way, all the most famous, most valuable paintings out of the
way, and put the portrait of his son over the fireplace so that it would be centered to everything
because of his love for his son. In the course of time, he died. And of course, when he died,
the instructions to the executors of his estate were that they would sell the estate in an auction.
Everybody came from far and wide to get one of those paintings, to bid on the most valuable
art in the world. And the way it was arranged by his will is that the son's portrait would come
up first. And the auctioneer began to call for bids on the portrait of the son, just a hand-drawn
portrait of a son. Not bad, not excellent, certainly not famous like the rest of the art
that was on display. Everybody was just waiting for the most valuable pieces to be auctioned off.
And at the end of the bids for the son, it was sold for $100 to a close friend of the family.
And with that, the auctioneer shut the whole auction down and said,
the terms of the will are this, whoever has the son gets it all. Whoever buys this painting gets
all of them free. And I think that's an incredible story to help us remember he who has the son has
the life. In fact, that's what it says in 1 John chapter 5 verse 12, he who has the son has the
life. He who does not have the son of God does not have the life. God is not measuring you. He's
doing something completely different. He's accepting you by his grace and by his forgiveness and his
goodness. And that's how you meet Jesus. Not with a bright light on a road to Damascus the way
Paul did, but with the recognition that he has everything for you. His righteousness was enough
to pay for your sin. And once you find yourself in him, you have his righteousness in your life.
You don't have to measure up because you've been accepted by God the Father through the work of
Jesus Christ on the cross. Somebody needs to say amen about that because that means that we are
forgiven. God's not measuring you, but this text also says God's not condemning you.
God's not condemning you. In verse 10, Paul says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may
attain to the resurrection from the dead. Now, if I were to ask a question of you today,
where did death begin? Most of you would go all the way back to the book of Genesis,
where death actually began. Adam and Eve were created in the garden of Eden. They were placed
and they were walking in innocence before God. God gave them one command and they disobeyed the one
by eating of the tree that was forbidden. And as a result of that, sin cursed mankind.
And the very first part of that curse was the declaration of death. Death came because man
became condemned in disobedience. Condemnation brings death. Now, here's Paul who's not talking
about condemnation, but he's talking about life. It's really amazing how different perspectives
are when you understand that there is a resurrection. Keep in mind, I'm a pastor and I do lots of
funerals. Unfortunately, when people die, then there I am doing the funeral quite often. And I
stand at the head of the casket when that casket is open and often people walk by paying their last
respects to the family and to the deceased. And I can tell you from very early on as a pastor,
I can remember watching people's catenates, watching their faces as they walk past that casket and
realizing who really believed in the resurrection of the dead and who did not. For those of you
who did not believe in resurrection, it was a grief stricken moment. It was final. Death is it.
There's nothing other than death. Nothing on the other side of death and you can see it on their
face. But for those who walk by, there's a measure of grief, but they're not grieving as though they
have no hope. They grieve in a different way. And that grief is, yes, they died, but I know they're
with Christ today and I'll see them again. It's a very different look, a very different catenate,
a very different perspective. Resurrection brings a whole new view of condemnation and death,
unlike anything we've ever experienced before. God is not condemning you. He lifts the condemnation
and gives light through the resurrection when we put ourselves in Jesus Christ. Far from condemning,
he is preparing a place for us, has a plan for us. Have you ever thought about why God would create
heaven? That's because he wants you with him for all time and all eternity. He's not condemning you.
He's preparing you for the day when you can walk with him intimately and personally day by day,
by day by day, by year by year, forever and ever. In existence, so far surpassing what we have here
on this planet, we can't even imagine what it's like. So there's no condemnation on those who are
in Christ Jesus. That's what the scripture says. In fact, when you read Romans chapter eight, verse
one, you have an incredible picture of what our relationship with God is really like. Chapter eight,
verse one, here's what it says. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. I hope you let that verse come to your heart. There is now therefore no condemnation,
not since Christ died, not since Christ rose from the dead. There is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. If you keep reading through Romans eight, you'll realize this truth.
God's not condemning you. He is adopting you. It's a very different relationship that he has for us.
You know, by law in Rome, you can disown biological children, but you cannot disown adoptive children.
Now let that sink in for a moment. I mean, we never imagined that we would
disown our biological children, but by Roman law, you had to do research into the life of the child
you were adopting. And by law, you had to keep them for all of your life. They immediately received
all that you owned. And so you had to check them out really well if you were going to adopt them.
Adoption was a permanent decision, a forever decision. But the idea of adoption in Roman
culture was the illustration that Paul chose to use about our relationship with God in Christ now.
Because what adoption says to us is it helps us see God's view of us. Here's the view that God has
of us. When you come to Christ, he knows about your past. He knows about the things you've kept
hidden. He knows about your shame. He knows about your sin. He knows about the thoughts in your life,
everything you've ever thought, every wicked thing you've ever participated in. He knows that.
He knows your present. He knows what was going on yesterday and what's going on today.
He knows what's on your mind right now, even as you listen to me. But God also knows your future.
You don't even know your future, but God knows what's going to happen next week and next month
and next year. And in spite of everything God knows, and he knows it all, in spite of all that,
the Bible says there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And further it says you've not
been given the spirit of fear leading to slavery again, but you have been given the spirit of
adoption by where you call God Abba, Father. You have a spirit of adoption in Christ. You can now
call the Father Abba, which is the most intimate way to express yourself to God the Father.
Abba is that intimate name that Jesus Christ himself called God the Father. In the Garden of
Gethsemane in Mark chapter 14 verse 36, you see Jesus use this, Abba, Father, all things are
possible for you. Remove this cup that is the cup of suffering for me, yet not what I have been
given to you. It is the cup of suffering for me, yet not what I will, but you will. It's a term of
endearment, a term of trust. It means I surrender to you. And I've got adult children today, but
even when they were younger in the home, they didn't call me Father. I am their father, but they
didn't call me Father. I have all kinds of nicknames that they've given me. Daddy, when they were
whatever them calls me. Pop, one of my daughter calls me. All kinds of affectionate terms, but
those terms are terms that I love, and I love them because it says intimacy. They don't just say,
hey, Father John, can I do this or that? That would be weird. The dad,
pa, pop. It implies relationship. It implies love. It implies trust. It says there's intimacy.
It says that we are together in this. Do you know what God is saying to you by telling you,
you can call him Abba, Father? That you're not being measured. You've been accepted.
You're not being condemned. You've been adopted into his family. Let that sink into your mind
for just a moment. You're not trying to measure up. You're just a son or a daughter of God through
Jesus Christ who does measure up and who always has. It's so important for you to get this idea
of the resurrection's power says that everything that was necessary in dealing with sin and death
and condemnation, Jesus did so that you can be an adopted son or daughter of God. Try that on for
size. Feel what that means. So God's not measuring you. He's accepting you. God's not condemning
you. He's adopting you. And then finally, Paul helps us see that God's not done with you. You're
not done with you. He got a feature for you. Notice what it says in verse 13 and 14. Just love this.
These are some of the most often quoted verses that I hear people sharing, especially when
they're eager to see what the future is. He says, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid
hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. I just love that line. Would you
repeat that with me? Forgetting what lies behind. What a line. What an important thing to know.
Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on towards the goal
for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Who doesn't have something that they want
to forget and leave behind? I remember a few years ago waking up in the middle of the night
and I must have been dreaming about things in my past because in my memory, as vivid as I can
imagine, I was remembering disappointing things that I'd said and done many years before.
I was feeling the weight of it for some reason. It was just on me. It was heavy and the memory was
vivid and I was confused about why I was remembering all these things that I hadn't thought of
in years and years. I'm so grateful that in that moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to me in an
unforgettable way saying, I'm not condemning you. I'm reminding you of all that you've been forgiven
of so that you can focus on the future and help others that are walking through the same condemnation
that you one time felt. That's what it means to forget what lies behind and be able to stretch
forward to what lies ahead. Keep looking forward, not backwards. That's what Paul is saying. Don't
look back on your old way of life. If anyone had regrets about the old way of life, it would have
been Saul or Paul putting people to death who followed Christ. This passage tells us, keep
looking ahead. Don't look behind. My favorite vehicle is an old Ford truck that I've been
restoring for a long time. It's a 1992 version. It had its 32nd birthday the other day. I love
that truck a lot. That truck has a rear view mirroring on it but not like the new cars. It
doesn't have the big 12 inch screen where you can see a panoramic vision of what's behind you and
I'm glad. It's just got a little skinny rear view mirror. That little skinny rear view mirror lets me
glance and look at what's behind me but it's all I need really because if I tried to drive
that truck forward while looking and focusing on what's behind me, I would surely have a
collision ahead of me. But instead of that, there is a larger piece of glass called the windshield
in front of that little rear view mirror and that windshield gives me panoramic vision. I can see
everything in front of me and I'm designed and we as drivers are designed to just look forward so
that we can see everything in our path as we drive forward. And if I try to drive keeping my eyes on
that rear view mirror, I will have a collision. And life is very much like that. If you try to
live life forward while looking back all the time, you will have all kinds of problems in the future
but the past can be forgotten. It can be put away by the power of Christ and you can fully focus on
the future. That's what Paul is saying here. Forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward
to what lies ahead. Forgetting what lies behind means that I know my past is completely covered
in Jesus Christ. When he died on that cross, he took all my sins, past, present, and future,
even though I wasn't alive. When Jesus died on that cross 2,000 years ago, God is timeless and
Jesus' death was timeless. That means everything in my past was covered by the blood of Jesus Christ
on the cross. And all forgiven and all paid for. So what that means is I know I'm completely hidden
in Christ. Forgetting what lies behind is completely connected with remembering who we are in Christ and
that's a daily decision that you have to make in order to live life forward. Now there's another
line here before we're through. That line is I press on towards the goal of the upward call
of Jesus Christ. The word call means the invitation. And it means that Christ has invited you
to an upward call. He's calling you up, not back. You have an upward invite from Christ.
Now listen to me carefully. Every day you'll get two invitations. One from the accuser, the enemy,
who calls you back, and one from the forgiver, who is Jesus, who calls you forward. How you live
life depends on what you do with those two invitations. Now you think about all the things
that the accuser of the brethren calls you to go back to. When he calls you, you say,
Jesus Christ has promised that he has taken care of my past through his blood. I'm not going back
there anymore. He has also promised me that he's called me to something in the future.
That's the direction I'm going in. Forward, not backwards. You see, when you can live like that
and think like that, God's not done with you. He has a whole new chapter to open up in your life.
And he closes the old chapter in a way that makes it permanent. So let me ask you today,
what do you need to forget? Don't forget it. Put it behind you. What do you mean, Pastor? You don't
know how big my past was. You don't know how egregious my sin was. You don't know how deep
I was into that. And let me just ask you, is it deeper than death? Is it further away from the
finality of death? Jesus Christ rose from the dead. His power is enough to deal with your past,
however big you may think it is. Forget what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead.
If Paul can help a religious terrorist like Paul forget his past, he can help you.
If Paul can help a man named Peter who denied Christ three times, he can help you move forward.
If he could help a doubting man like Thomas who even died of the resurrection, then he can help
you move forward. He can help you deal with your past and give you a new life on your earth until
eternity happens. Forgetting what lies behind, reach forward to what lies ahead. Now let me
invite you to something. Over the next nine weeks, I'm going to take the time to walk through
nine biblical characters that were called by God away from their past into a brand new future.
And they all had to conclude, God's not done with me. Some of them were extraordinarily surprised.
Some of them were stunned that God was not done with them. But in each case, some of these great
heroes in the Bible, you'll see the story of how you can understand they thought God was done with
them, but how God surprised them and said, I'm not done with you. I'm going to use your past
and propel you into an amazing future. And that's the message series we'll be in for the next nine
weeks. God's not done with you. You can forget the past. You can move forward into the future.
Now let me bring you three verses that I need you to just let sink into your heart for a moment.
First, John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Some of you today are thinking of those sins,
but as you come to him confessing those sins through Jesus' blood,
he cleanses you from all unrighteousness. Some of you need to hear 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 17, which says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature.
The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. Some of you need to remember
what the prophet said at the book of Isaiah. Don't call to mind the former things or ponder
things from the past. Behold, I will do something new in your life and believe God for those who
believe God for those things that are new. God's not measuring you. He's accepting you in his son.
God is not condemning you. He's adopting you. God is not done with you. He's leading you
to a brand new chapter in your life. That door will open when you by faith begin to walk
in the direction he's led you. What an incredible promise of a resurrection Savior. The fact that
he's alive and leading, the fact that he has helped us deal with all the things in the past
and helped us towards the future. My prayer is that God's going to open the door for everybody
in this room about what he has for them in the future. So let me ask you this question.
Have you met Christ personally? That's the key for all of this. Do you know him personally?
Have you come to the place of talking to him and praying to him and saying, Lord,
I trust what you did on the cross to forgive me of sin, to give me this gift of eternal life.
I am in you and in your righteousness and my path is covered through your blood. I'm expecting you
to lead me into the future. Today you can say like Paul, I press on towards the goal for the prize of
the upward call of God in Christ, not backwards, forwards and upward in Christ. Just a few moments,
I'm going to close in prayer, but I gave you three invitations before I do that. Number one,
before you leave today and on your way out, you'll see decision stations that are located at the back
of our worship center. Those decision stations are there for conversations. They're there for you to
be able to have a conversation with someone who can answer questions you may have. We've talked
about what it means to meet Christ personally today. I would encourage you to stop and talk to
someone about what that means if you haven't ever done that, if you haven't ever experienced that.
We want you to experience that today. A casual conversation. We go back and forth. We answer
questions. We point you to the scripture. So that's the first invitation I give you. Stop by the
decision station. Number two, I want to encourage you to come back next week for this series, God's
Not Done With You. There's actually a way for you to hand out invites to people in your neighborhood
or in the spirit of your influence. Bring them back. You know someone that needs to know that
God's not done with them. Bring them with you because these stories are incredible stories
that are connecting to us in a powerful way. And then thirdly, if this is your first time with us,
I want to offer something to you today. There's a place called the Guest Central just outside our
central doors. Right now our coffee shop is the place with several screens around the top of the
desk. And if you're a guest today and you're here for the first time, we have a gift that we want
to give you. All you have to do is just let us know who you are and we encourage you to get on
your phone and write the word text and send it to the number 63566. And that just lets us know
who you are. Or you can grab one of the cards in the seat back in front of you and just put
your name down in any way that we can contact you. But for being our guest today, we want to
present you with a gift and also a free voucher for the book that will be released next week,
God's Not Done With You. It'll go right along with our message series. It'll be something you can
take home and read through. So that voucher of a free copy of that new book will be given to you
when you go back as a guest to that guest central. And I want to encourage you to do that. I'll
actually be out there hoping I can meet you over these next few moments. Would you stand with me
as we have a closing word of prayer? Father, I'm so grateful that you give us a future
secured in Jesus Christ. So thankful that you can take care of our past, something we could never do.
I pray today, Lord, for you to personally reveal yourself to those that have never met you,
never experienced you before. Father, I thank you so much that the promise of Jesus Christ is still
offered today on the basis of His resurrection. And we celebrate that, but we also want to
participate in that. So Lord, today, let each of us do that. Thank you, Father, for all this. I ask
this in Jesus' name. Amen.