Straining To See (Chet Pete)

saying he's perfect. I'm just saying it's better. It's much better. It's much better. It's much better. And I'll tell you this, if you're a god in the room, the greatest gift you could give your kids is for them to see you following Jesus. It's for them to see you serving Jesus. It's for them to see you running after His purpose is for your life. And I have to take a moment in honor the father of this house. Can we thank God for our pastor, Pastor Steven, And while we're

at it, let's praise God for Holly too. God. The thing that I gotta say about Pastor is is that I just thank God that he is a pastor that sees me, not only sees what I can do for him, but sees what God is trying to do in me. I thank God for my pastor seeing me. I did not see myself standing on a stage being a pastor at Elevation Church. This has all blown my mind. But it's beautiful to be able to have a pastor that

sees you, that sees you coming. If you walk in every Sunday and you're like my pastor been following me around he bugged my phones. Thank God, Thank God for a pastor that sees, that sees that season. Can I sing to my wife, Whitney, I love you, Whitney, I love you. Y'all Ready for me to get to my scripture for today? All right, all right, all right, we're gonna be in Mark chapter six, Mark chapter six, Mark chapter six. You're gonna see the scriptures on the screen.

If you're taking notes, write down mark chapter six, verses forty five through fifty one. We're gonna jump in right here and praying and believing that God's gonna do it only he can do today. God touch my mind, touch my lips, God flow through me today. Open up the eyes of your sons and daughters. We love you, We thank you, And it's in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray amen, verse forty five. You'll sit on the screen. It says, immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat.

Can I just preach while I'm reading a scripture? I'm sorry, but that just jumped out to me that a lot of times in my life, the miracles that I experience are on the other side of Jesus making me do something. Sometimes it's a push from God, not my plans, that leads me to see so much that God is doing. He made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him. To best say it a while, he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on

a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land. He saw the Disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. Shortly before don he went out to them walking on the lake. What a sight. Imagine what that would have looked like. My favorite movie right now is The Equalizer. I imagine he walked out there like Denzel just I don't know about you, but my Jesus walks like Denzel, walks like Denzel. He came

to them walking on the lake. He was about to pass them by, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They crowd out, They cried out because they all saw oh him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, take courage, it is I don't be afraid. Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down, and they were completely amazed. The title of my message today is called Straining to see. Straining to see on your

way to your seat, asked your neighbor. I asked him, say when was the last time you got your eyes checked? You can be seated. You can be seated. The reason I asked, is because many of you were straining to see the scriptures on the screen, and those of you that wear glasses, how is looking over them? Lynz help you? How does that help you see? Well? He me and my wife we have identical twin boys, Carson and Carter. They will be thirteen next month. I'm gonna have teenagers.

And yeah, pray for me anytime, anytime we have a major shift like this, I get real nostalgic. I love going back and looking at pictures. And here's a picture from their preschool graduation right here on the screen. Their preschool graduation right here. Yeah, so sweet. Now, I'll be honest, no matter how hard I strain, I can't tell you who's who on this picture. I have no idea which ones Carter, which ones Carson. I turned my head sideways.

I really don't know. I really don't know. And if Whitney tells you she knows, she's live, she don't know who it is. She doesn't know who it is. But a couple of weeks ago, my boys just finished sixth grade and we were at their awards ceremony, and so here's the picture for when they had all ab on a row for the whole year. So proud of my boys.

Where did my babies go? Where did my babies go? Now, if you pay attention to Carter, who's standing next to my wife, Whitney, you see Carter actually has on glasses in this picture. Okay, so just remember that. You'll freak them out if you see him. You come up and say, hey, Carter. You know it's Carter because he's the one with glasses.

You can pull you can pull the picture down. A couple of years ago, we went to the doctor and we found out that that one of Carter's eyes didn't develop all the way and so he had to wear patch for a little bit to strengthen the other eye. And so we went to the doctor. They tested his eyes and they were like, oh gosh, he's straining. He's straining to see. You see my son Carter could see, but he couldn't see well. My son could see what he couldn't see well. And I remember when he got

his glasses for the first time. He did it three sixty and he was like, did it always look like this? Did it always? Did it always look so clear? So Chris, but what happened? What happened? And God really spoke to me because I don't know about you, but I want to see all God has for me. I don't want to miss anything, and I'm gonna preach about that for a second. So get ready to praise God, because I'm telling you God has some good things in store for you.

But this week, God gave me a real time illustration, and I prayed and fasted on whether or I was gonna show you this because I'm not gonna lie. It's kind of embarrassing. And just to give some context, anybody watched the show Ridiculousness. Okay, so this is one of those videos that you could see on Ridiculousness. Somebody put a pole in the office in front of Elevation Worship Studios that I didn't know was there. I didn't know it was there. I'm gonna show this video one time,

one time, one time. If you want to see it again, you're gonna have to go back and watch it on YouTube. But go ahead and show them this video. Hey, I could preach about the fact that I didn't stop after I could hit. I could preach about it, but here's the thing. I ran into that wall. Why because I didn't see it. I got a question, what things are you running into because you you couldn't see it? Are

you into bad relationships because you couldn't see it? Are you running into horrible financial decisions because you didn't see it? Are you making bad business moves running into things because you couldn't see it clearly? Or it works the other way, because some of you are missing miracles because you just don't see it. Some of you your vision is blurred, and so you're missing the blessings that God has in front of you. And so I'm telling you, I don't

know about you. I want to see my family blessed. I want to see my marriage blessed. I want to see my ministry blessed. I want to see my church blessed. I want to see my health blessed. I don't know about you, but I want to see a full picture of everything God has for my life. Here's the thing about when you have resion, you don't see reality well right. And when you don't see reality well, it gets delusional

and it gets real dangerous. And for some of you been running into some things and missing some things for far too long. And God sent me here today to deal with your sight, tap your neighbors say, I'm gonna see it today. I'm gonna see it today. I'm gonna see it today. And so when we go back to our text for it today, we see that the disciples are in this boat, straining, straining to see what Jesus said. You see, Jesus said, I need you to get into the boat, and I need you to go to best

say to where is Jesus sending you? Where's Jesus sending you? And I'm gonna tell you to that. I don't know about you. I'm gonna strain until I see what Jesus said. You see a lot of us, a lot of us our times we read the Bible, we make fun of the disciples. They're dude, usually doing something stupid, something foolish. But in this text, in this text, I started to applaud because when Jesus said get into the boat and go to the other side, he left some details out.

He didn't tell them that the wind was going to be blowing in the wrong direction. He didn't tell them that they were going to be going against the grain. And so I don't know about you. I would have been a little bit frustrated at the fact that I'm doing what Jesus told me to do, and it's starting to get hard. So just for a second, I want to deal with your perseverance. Am I in a room for the people that are fighters, that won't give up at the first sign of trouble, at the first sign

of adversity. You see me and my wife, we just celebrated sixteen years. Sixteen years in January. We got married at twenty one. We got married at twenty one. We had to strain through being dumb. We had to strain through some insecurity, we had to strain through some financial struggles. We had to strain through some health scares, to strain

through some loss of loved ones. I want to take a moment in front of everybody, whole church and just tell my wife, thank you, thank you for straining with me, because I knew when I stood at that isle. I cried when she came down and she was laughing, she was laughing, she was laughing, But I knew God told me that my marriage would be blessed. I don't know what you're dealing with or what you're going through today, but God told me to tell you to strain to

see what Jesus said, strain to see it. Don't give up, don't throw in the towel. Some of you decided to say at the first time of an obstacle that came, some of you decided to stop at the moment that it got difficult. Strain to see what Jesus said, Strained to see what he said. Some of you are like it said. I hear you, but I've been straining for a long time, and if I could be honest, some I'm getting tired of straining. If I could be honest,

I feel like I've heard this before. As I was reading and I was studying, I found out that it would have taken them anywhere from six to eight hours to make it from one side of this lake to the other side of the lake. Now the wind was blowing against them, so that probably would have added more time to their journey. Now in the Texas says that Jesus saw them in the middle of the lake. They have been straining at least five hours. I can imagine

they were tired. I can imagine they were exhausted. I can imagine that Peter was like, hey, listen, let's go back. This is dumb, this is stupid. Just let's stop. Let's stop. And there's one thing, one thing that jumped out in this text for me that I want to preach for a second. Put up verse forty eight for me. Put up verse forty eight for me. It says he saw the disciples straining. Watch. It says at the oars, straining, at the oars, he saw them. So here's the thing

that I want you to know right now. You probably should write this down, is that don't strain alone. Don't don't strain, don't strain alone. Don't strain alone. Don't strain by yourself. And I'm trying. It was it was dim it was day that were in this boat straining. Some of you. You're not going far because you haven't invited friends into your situation to I tell you the truth. There's been some time in the sixteen years. I thank god, I have some friends autumn come to the house. See

the Oh mah, we're gonna show up today. I've had some friends that in the middle of some straining. Here here here, I'll make it. I'll make it clear. You need to have some friends that can take an oar. You need you need to have some friends that will take an oar. Because because some of you, some of you, you've been straining for a long time, but you're straining in circles because you're on one side of the boat, straining by yourself. You've been circling some things for a

long time. Hey, can I can I go as far to say this one's gonna hurt. You've been straining for a long time and it's your fault. I'm going in circles because I ain't let a friend take an oar. Hey, can I make it plain? Let me tell you about an or oh oh, oh, oh oh, you feel overwhelmed. I need a friend that can take me when I'm overwhelmed. Hey, I got some anxiety. My hand's all over the place. I need some friends that can handle me when my

mind's all over the place. In oh, I need some people that when I'm ready to give up, when I'm ready to throw in the towel, they can take an oor. Hey, can you take a moment and thank God for your friends that have jumped in and helped you in the moments that you couldn't give up, that helped you move forward. And if you're here today, you were like I love to have a friend that can take it off. I love to have somebody jump into this situation with me.

Every Sunday, JJ stands on this stage at Valentine on my campus, Bachelor stands on stage at their campuses. You have chat zolo online and every single week you wanna hear something about, Hey, we got an e group for you. Hey join and eat team, start serving today. It's not something that we want from you. With something we want for you, you need to have some friends that will take in or but also also also just like my son couldn't see, well, maybe you need some glasses. Maybe

maybe maybe maybe you need some glasses. And there's two parts, two parts, two parts the glasses. The first part, first part, I want to explain. I had to take we had to take my son Carter to the store to be able to get his first set of glasses. I remember, couldn't see and finally he was able to get his prescription. And so I couldn't go with Whitney and the boys

to the store. I couldn't go with them. So Whitney took them and you know when she she facetimed me at the store and it was one of those face times where she was like, hey, husband, I got an for you, like she was done, Like she was done. The boys was getting on her last nerves, on her last nerves, on he last nerd, and I was like, hey, what's going on, what's going on? What's going on? And so she explained to me what was going on. Those of you that wear glasses or contacts, you you will

understand this. There's two sections, two sections in the store where you get glasses. There's this section that the insurance pays for. Sometimes this is square, but this is the place that the insurance play pays for. My son, my loving son with so much swagger. Where do you think he's at the designer frames? My son is trying on Gucci frames and brittle frames like he has a job.

I told my wife, I said, hey, babe, if you don't tell that boy to get over that to the other side, that I'm leave and come over there and get you. The reason why I bring it up, the reason why I bring it up is because God spoke to me. As I reflected on it is because my son was trying to let me know I can't do cheap frames. It went right over their head. It went right over their head. Some of you are looking through cheap frames. And here's the thing I know about chief frames.

They're easily broken. Some of you, some of you, you need a new frame today. You need something else to frame what you're looking at, where you're going. And here's the thing about frames. Put this up there. Frames give strength. Frames give strength. Now, remember why are they on this lake. It's not it why Jesus told them to go. You want to know what's going to give you strength? A word from God, A word from a word from God. When he got tired, When they got tired and they

were ready to give up, somebody had a frame. They said, hey, hey, we can't give up because Jesus said, we can't give up because I got a word from the Lord. I can't stop because he said go to best say them. I can't throw in the towel because I'm heading in the direction that he's sending me to go to. That's why it's so important to show up to church. It's because you're getting tired, you're getting a weak and you

need a word from God. But that's why you have a Bible, or you have a Bible at your house that you can open up when you get tired and you get weak, because you need a word from the Lord. How far you go may be determined by how strong your frame is. Now, who can stand up and maybe praise God for a second, because I've seen God's word never failed. I've seen God's word never go. I've seen him speak life and there was life. I've seen him

seak healing and there was healing. I've seen couples ready to walk the other way and God spoke about a word. I've seen God's word works. Tell your neighbors say, hey, I got a frame. I got a frame. I got a frame. I got a frame. I got a frame. When I look back over my life and I think things over, I can truly say that I've been blessed. I got a testimony. And guess where it started. When Jesus said, when Jesus said, when Jesus said, you could be seid, he could be sity, you could be seated.

You need a frame. You need a frame. You need a frame to give you strength. You need a frame to give you strength. But not only that. I don't know if you remember, back back in the early two thousand, we used to think we were cool. We were wearing frames with no lenses, don't leaven by myself. Who else did it? Who else did it? Who has did it? Was? Who else did it? Who else did it? Who has

did it? So it's one thing to have a frame, but you gotta participate in this, and so you need a lens and so so so so we gotta we gotta, we gotta frame. That's what gives strength. And then you have a lens. That's what gives sight. You have a lens, and that's what gives sighting. Something interesting happens in the text that I want to use to break this down. Look at this in verse forty eight. It says he saw the disciples straining at the ords because the end

was against them. Shortly before dawn. He went out to them walking on the lake. They didn't recognize and they was like, yo, that's Denzel. Yo, you saw equalized it. That was that was him out there. So I'm walking on the lake. They thought it was a ghost. They crowd out because they all saw him and were terrified. This is it says immediately he spoke to them and said,

take courage. It is I don't be afraid this. This really really leaped out to me because Jesus was close enough for them to hear for them to hear his voice, but they still didn't recognize him. This this really jumped out to me. And as I was studying, I was like, you know what, no disciples, they need to get their

eyes checked too. You know. So if I was an optometrist and I went to school for a lot of years, I would have learned about this eye chart, this eye chart that that they used to be able to test your So let me let me show you this eye chart. This is called the Snelling eye chart. It's called the Snelling eye chart. And doctor Snelling he used this eye chart to be able to test a lot of different things. Some of you just remembered when you find out you

were blind. When you saw this, you just were triggered by this. You were triggered by this. And and I was studying, and there's there's a lot of different things that it tests. It tests ey sharpness, it tests eye movement. You see the green in the red line, It tests whether or not you're your color blind. So if you didn't see a green in a red line, there you go. And here's the thing that really stood out to me.

Stood out to me, is you see see that there's there's ten e's, ten e's, ten e's on this I chart, there's ten letter E'SE. There are ten letter ease and uh, those of you that are trying to count them, if you did not see the big E up top, I want to make it home today. So please don't don't drive. Okay if you can't see the big E. But all the way from the top, all the way to the bottom, there are ten e's on this chart. And you know, as I'm studying, as I'm preparing and I'm praying, I

kind of got frustrated. I was like, why am I going down this rabbit hole? Like why? Why? Why? You know people are gonna be looking at me like I'm crazy talking about the E and I'm not an optometrist, Like God, what are you doing? And something really really jumped out to me. I was really really blessed by what God spoke to me. And because you know, the E is, when you look this up, is actually the most common letter in the English alphabet, the ears used

more than any other letter. And it has this vertical line in this three straight lines, which makes it harder sometimes to be able to see. And and so here here's Here's what God told me to tell you today. I want you to write this down. He told me to tell you to look for E. Tell me to tell you look, look look for E. Look for Tap. Your neighbors say, look for E. Look for em. Now, I'm not talking about E Edwards who plays the guitar. I'm not talking about Erica or Eric. God really spoke

to me. He said, Hey, I need you to go back a little bit to the Book of Matthew, and you're going to go to chapter one, verse twenty three, and you'll see who he is. Put it up on the screens for me. It says its behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name em Manuel, which being interpreted as God with us. Hey, some of you you know Jehovah, Jirah, you know Jehovah Nieci, But some of you today you needed to learn about E. You needed

to know about Emmanuel, God with us. I don't care where you find yourself. You can look around and find Eve. I don't know what situation you're going through. Don't matter how high you are or how low you are, you better look for Ee. Some of y'all still didn't get it, So let me make it plain. Hey, put up wedding, Put up wedding, put up wedding. Anybody engaged in the room.

Anybody engaged in the room. Hey, I'll see y'all see. Okay, Hey, on your wedding day, ask the pastor that's officiating to do the three strand coord braid, because on your wedding day you better look free. You see, one quarter represents the husband, one quarter represents the wife. But I will on my marriage to have e woven through it. But some of you enemy just start trying to speak to your ear. You're like, hey, but I just walk through

a divorce. Here's the thing I know about divorce is when you get all the way, come on, put divorce up on the screen. Oh, somebody helped me preach today when I get all the way to the end of that divorce. I was sitting with my friend this week and he was telling me about walking through a divorce, and he said, at the end of it all that Jesus never left him, that Jesus never forgotten about him. He still saw his goodness, he still saw his grace. Some of you might be going through some sickness in

your body. I'm telling you, if you find yourself going through sickness, at the end of sickness, there's an E. But some of you are like, hey, I will find God when I get healed. He's there too. He's there too. He's there too. It's always reflect on this. This is I was reflecting on this. I remember back in twenty twenty one. This is probably one of the hardest seasons of me and my family's life. Last time I preached, I shared a little bit about this, that my mother was in

a horrible accident. Matter of fact, my mother is still in a coma to this day. And and and we flew out to Arizona to be able to see and it was all kinds of craziness going on. It was, I'm telling you it was. It was. It was hard experience, probably the most difficult experience of my whole life. And I remember, I remember when we got there, we went into these hospital rooms and going back and forth, and it was a lot. It was a lot. The moment I came back home, remember this is twenty twenty one.

Moment I came back home, I wasn't even home a week. I ended up catching COVID, and and when I got COVID, it didn't get better. It kept getting worse. My oxygen level had dropped all the way down to eighty nine. And my wife looked at me and she said, you go to the doctor. Men go to the doctor. Not gonna be more elegant and than that. Goo. Go to the doctor. Yes you're in God's hands, but yes it's the doctor's in God's hands too. So I'm hying if you haven't going to get a yearly check up in

some years. I went to the doctor. I went to the doctor. Finally, I went to the doctor. Mary, She's gonna have to go. My oxygen level wouldn't go up. And the doctor looked at me and he said, hey, listen, I'm gonna have to keep you overnight. I'm gonna have to keep you overnight. So I got oxygen and I'm telling you. He closed the door. I start speaking and something, I'm getting out of here. There, Hallelujah, thank you God, shout out like sheesus, I need you. I'm getting out

of here. I started remember Pastor Stephens prayers. I was like, I've breathe you in Holy spirit, and your strength comes suddenly I'm doing them all. I'm doing all I mean. I'm like, I'm getting out of this hospital room. I'm getting out of this hospital room. It was scary. It was scary. It was scary. But God spoke to me. Because I had seen more hospital rooms and more than I had seen in my whole life. God spoke to me.

He says, you know what, every time you walked into the hospital, there was a word on the door that said entrance. I said. Every time you walked out, that was a word that said exit. And here's the thing that God showed me. It doesn't matter what you're walking into, it doesn't matter what you're walking out of. At every entrance, in every exit, there is an eed. Hey listen, he listen. I feel faith rising. If you're missing it, I'm so sorry. You better look free. That's the lens. That's the lens

that you need to look through. There's no situation that you'll find yourself in that you won't be able to find your God. He'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you. You gotta look for him. You need a frame, You need a lens. The frame gives strength, the lens gives sight. But all of that school, God minister to me. I hope that minister to you. But that wasn't the biggest thing that God showed me in the text. Can I show you, can I show you, can I show you.

The thing that really stood out to me was that verse forty five. Put verse forty five up on the screen. Put verse forty five up on the screen. Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to best say that while he dismissed the crowd forty six forty six, forty six forty six after leaving, after leaving them, he went up on a mountain side to pray. I wonder what Jesus was praying on the side of that mountain as he climbed up

that mountain. I wonder what Jesus was praying. I wonder what he was praying for. I think he was praying for the disciples. I think he was praying that God would give him strength. I think he was praying that they wouldn't give up. I think he was just praying for them. But he went way up, way up, way up, way up on top of this mountain. Says that he was on a mountain side praying your praying man right, Praise God, Praise God. God knew I needed to pick

this side. Jesus was up on the mountain side praying forty six, forty seven, let me see it, let me see it. Later that night the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land forty eight he saw the disciples straining at the oars. That really blessed me because maybe this message isn't about my sight. Maybe it's about Jesus. Remember, they had been out there rowing for a long time, at least five hours, into the middle of the lake, and Jesus is on

top of this mountain, the mountain side praying. This blessed me because it says he saw them. God wanted me to tell somebody it doesn't matter how far you think you are from God. He sees you. You you may have to strain to see Jesus. He's never taking his eyes off of you. And Proverbs, as this versus says, for the people perish for a lack of vision. I've always heard that and I was like, have a vision, have

a vision for your life. But when God was ministering to me today, I realized that I love that my life isn't built on my vision. I wist sit down until they stand up and get the fact that it wasn't based on my vision. But it's his vision. That's the only way that you won't perish. That's the only way that you won't fall. Your sight may fail you. But I praise God today that he's not straining to see me. He's not straining to see you. Healed, He's not straining to see you all. He's not straining to

see you. Pleased, hallelujah, Thank you Jesus, all your neighbor. Thank God for seeing me, thank God for seeing me. Stand up. I'm getting ready. I'm getting ready. I'm getting ready. I'm getting ready to close. It's Father's Day. And as I was, God just leaped to me and I saw, I saw this, and he said, hey, good, take them, Take them to Luke. Take them to Luke Chapter eighteen, because I want you to see the father's loving this. Some of you I may know this story, the story

of the prodigal Son. They're actually two sons, and the younger son asked his father for his inheritance. She says, he give me my inheritance, and he ran off and it says that he squandered it all. Another way to say he lost it all. He fumbled it all and got so bad that he's sitting in a pig pin and he's so hungry that he wants to fill his belly with the pods that the pig eat. It's a low place. Some of you are like, I'm in a low place, and I don't think he can see me

that low. Some of you think the only way that he can see you is when you're standing up. But I love that he sees me when I might be laying down and I don't know if I can get up. I thank God he sees me, and it's like nothing. Put the verse on the screen. Put the first on sc He says, I will set out and return to my brother and say the verse before this. I don't know if I gave it to him, but it said he came to a census. It's like he took the crowd out of the middle of his That's what God's

doing for some of you today. He came to a census. Hold up, hold up, hold on. I can go back to my father's house. I can go back to my father. This is what blessed me. I'll said out, and I go back to my father's house and I'll say them, father, I have sinned against you when he came to a since, yep, okay, I got you. Y'all went back and got the verse for me. Y'all are amazing. Can we thank God for the production team? Go to verse nineteen. Go to verse nineteen.

He says, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your highest servants. Twenty. So he got up and he went to his father. But while he was still up alone way off, how far look this blessed me. He blessed me because I saw Jesus up on the mountains side. And then I saw his father sitting maybe on his porch. And while he was a long way, the son couldn't see his father yet, but the father sure saw his son. And I loved what happened. While he was a long way off, his

father saw him. He was filled with compassion for him, and he ran. He ran, He ran to his son. Hey, some of you went to a Pentecostal church and they was running around the church praising God. But hey, some of you are like, I'm too tired to run. I'm too tired to run. When you're too tired to run, he ran to you. He ran to you. Here's the thing. Some of you saw God as he was just sitting

there watching. Watching and seeing is two different things. I thank God that I don't have a God that just is watching over me, but that sees me, and he has compassion for me, and then he runs towards me when I need him the most. I thank God for seeing me. Then, just to typos, everybody's standing, everybody's standing, everybody's standing Hebrews twelve, Verses one and two. It's just

put everything into perspective for me. Here's what it says. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. What does it say, fixing our eyes on Jesus to your neighbor, you better look for E. You better look for E. You better look for Eve. They here and perfector of our faith

the joy set before him. He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right at the throne of God at the right hand of the throne of God. What a picture of my sight in God's sight. It's blessing me Church, because maybe maybe he was straining to see me. Because it says where the joy set before him, he endured the cross, that that cross wasn't easy, and on that cross he had pain. On that cross. The pierced his side on that cross. They mocked him

on that cross. They spitted him. On that cross. He was straining to take his loudice breath. But this gives this blessed to me, he says. But the joy sat before him while he was straining. He was seeing you saved while he was straining. He was seeing you delivered. While he was straining. He saw you with hope. While he was straining. He saw you with peace. While he was straining, he saw you. I'm gonna give an invitation, But maybe some of you are like, hey, why were

they going to Best Saida in the first place? Why was he so bent on them making them go to best Sayda? They don't get to best Sada until chapter eight. And guess who was waiting on that waiting there for him? There was a bond man. There was a bond man. Maybe you're here today. And the reason why I strained studying, I couldn't sleep well last night is because you were bond. You couldn't see. And today God was just feeling back the scales over your eyes and he wanted you to

see him. He wanted you to see his love. So every one of our campuses, everybody's standing, where you're at, if you're a home ony fam if you're everybody's standing, want you to bow your head, close your eyes, no one moving, no one moving. If you're here today and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, you've never given your life to him. For the first time you have experienced God not on the door of your heart, you

realize he's not just watching you. He sees you, not only that he went to a cross to die for you. I want to give you an opportunity to give your life to Jesus today. Or maybe you're here today and you used to walk with God. You used to talk with God, but you walked away from the faith. I want to give you a moment to come back home. We're going to say this prayer together as a church

family for the benefit of those coming to God. Everyone to repeat after me, say I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died on a cross and a rose from the grave to forgive me and my sins. So I'll give you my sins, I give you my shame, and from this day forward I'll follow you. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. Oh he's about all os closed. If you just said that prayer, you meant it making good decision to put your faith in Jesus or you're coming

back to him. I'm gonna count to three, and when I get to three, I want you to shoot your hand up boldly so we can celebrate this moment with you. Here we go one, two, three, shoot your hand up. If you're making good decisions to where your faith in Jesus. Come on, Come on, Doug. God bless you, God blets you. Thank you for joining us.