Stay standing if you would for the reading of God’s word. We’re going to be in Mark chapter 6 today. Um it’s an absolute privilege to be here. I’ve known Pastor Kevin and Sheila since I was about 10 years old. Uh my parents were and are pastors. So I grew up around Pastor Kevin and Sheila and me and Jody running around from about we were this high. And so to uh be in their world is an absolute privilege. If if you’re visiting today, I just want you to know that you have found a uh a house that from the top to the bottom um is full of the power of the Holy Spirit, full of the truth of God’s word. And you found a place where you can plant your families.

And when I think of uh when I think about you, Pastor Kevin, I think I thought of two words for both you and Pastor Sheila. that Pastor Kevin, you are a you might laugh at this, a tactful theologian, and you often joke that you’re not a theology guy, but um you are so full of God’s word that when you’re preaching, it’s dripping out of you for the entirety of the whole message. And maybe you don’t run to, yeah, that’s something to honor God for.

And you don’t always go chapter and verse. it just spills out of you and those people in this house who know God’s word appreciate that. Pastor Sheila um I called you on the phone a couple weeks ago and uh you answered you’re like is everything okay? And I was like yeah you’re like and I said I just I tell Pastor Kevin how very often how much I love him and appreciate him and I don’t tell you enough. So I just called you to tell you when I think of you I think the two words I thought of were intentional intercessor and Yeah. Yeah. We can praise God for that. That you have a pastor who prays for you, weeps over you, uh loves being in these prayer lines, and we just love you. If you love your pastors, can we uh just honor

We love you. Welcome to Belleview and Dupant. Yaka, I’m going to see you in a couple weeks, Yaka. Your brand new building dedication. Come on, baby.

Mark chapter 6, we’re going to read verse 1-6. And the Bible says he, and this is Jesus, he went away from there and came to his hometown. And his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath, he began teaching in the synagogue. And many who heard him, the Bible says, were astonished. Somebody say astonished.

Astonished.

He’s preaching like, “Huh?” They were astonished. saying, “Where did this man get these things? Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?” And the Bible says in verse three, they continue and say, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And aren’t his sisters like right over there by the lemonade stand?

And the Bible says they took offense at him.

And so Jesus turns to the disciples in hearing range of all of these people and he says, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown.” You guys heard this verse before.

He doesn’t stop there, though. He says, “And among his relatives and in his own house.”

And the Bible says he could do no mighty works there. Somebody say there. There.

Except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. I like the Bible’s like this. That’s just small stuff. Like it wasn’t mighty works just healing cancer and stuff.

And the Bible says about Jesus, he marveled. When Jesus marvels, we should pay attention.

He marveled because of their unbelief.

I love that we have honor weekend coming up on June 28th. This is a house of honor. We honor up, down, and all around.

But as you’re well aware, honor has nearly become a foreign language in our culture.

You can feel it almost everywhere.

We live in a cultural moment where tearing people down is entertainment.

and dragging someone online gets you applause. And suspicion and cynicism are often seen as more mature than gratitude and respect.

The way people talk to leaders and teachers and coaches and bosses, even spiritual authority, it reveals a heart that doesn’t really believe that anybody is set apart or entrusted by God for anything.

that everyone is fair game, everyone is common, everyone is disposable. And that cultural air seeps into our homes if we’re not careful.

And suddenly the people that we’re called to cherish and steward and love, they’re the people that we joke about and we criticize and we dismiss the most.

But at the same time, you have been in rooms where it feels completely different.

A a room much like this one. There are environments where honor is high. And you can sense it the moment that you walk in.

People speak well of one another. They celebrate strength. They cover each other’s weaknesses. They defer to one another. They bless each other. They listen. This is what it’s like to be in championship real estate offices and finance companies and classrooms and championship locker rooms and boardrooms and even if you’ll let me today, living rooms.

The scripture gives us a powerful framework for this in two different rooms that I’m going to play around with today. Nazareth, we’re you could call it Jesus’s living room where Jesus could do no mighty works there. Yeah.

Because honor and faith were low. And then three years later, we have the upper room. Yeah.

Where hearts were elevated and honor was present and unity and prayer and the Holy Spirit descended there.

So imagine that three short years before God would work wonders and birth the church in an upper room, he could do no mighty miracles in his own living room.

That’s what I want to play with today.

That Nazareth versus upper room picture is going to help us talk about the kind of atmosphere I either want to pour some gasoline on your fire or help you to build those that kind of atmosphere in our homes.

So today I have a message for us entitled um your living room as an upper room in Jesus name. Father, thank you for your word. We ask that you would minister to us today. We know that you are her holy spirit. Every time we open your word, you are faithful to do what you said you would do. you say about yourself that you lead us into all wisdom. You lead us into understanding. And so we need you. We ask that you would sanctify us by your word this morning. Conform us to the image of Christ who is the head. We praise you. We honor you. We glorify you in Jesus name. Everybody said, “Amen.” Amen. Why don’t you high five people as you’re grabbing your seat? Tell them, “I’m glad you’re in church today.

I love a church that likes each other.

Uh, I was born and raised in Spokane, Washington. 41 years breathing air on this planet outside of four years in Pullman, Washington.

Pastor a church called Genesis Church. In September, we celebrate 16 years.

Pastor Kevin, I’m coming for you. I’m coming for you. At 40 years, we celebrate 16 years. I’ve been married to my wife, Carly, for coming up 11 years.

We have four kids. I think we have a picture of my family. Yesterday was my wife’s birthday. That’s Carly, Solomon, Ruth, Ezra, that’s his whole personality in one picture.

And then Abigail, that’s my family and I miss them. We’re working hard to make our living room into an upper room. Mark chapter 6 says he could do no mighty work there.

And he marveled because of their unbelief. That little word there has been messing with me.

The Bible says he could do no mighty work there. Not in general. There.

Nazareth, his hometown among his relatives in his own home. Jesus even names it when he says a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. So the problem in Mark 6 is not that Jesus suddenly runs out of power. He’s like where’d it go?

The problem is the atmosphere there.

The problem is the climate in that place. Yeah.

Nazareth was a place where honor was low and unbelief was high.

Nazareth was a place where they knew Jesus according to the natural. We know this because they say, “Is this not the carpenter?” They know his family. They know his history. And listen to me, because they were so familiar with his humanity, they could not receive from his divinity. Great.

Great.

Now, put that next to the upper room in the book of Acts. Three short years later, Acts 1:14 says, “All of these,” and I’m struck by this because many of the people who were with Jesus in Nazareth were also in that upper room. Same people, two very different rooms.

Jesus’ family was in Nazareth. His brothers and his mother were probably in the upper room. The Bible says about the upper room all these with one accord they were there were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus she was also there and his brothers and then Acts chapter 2 says when the day of Pentecost arrived shout out Pentecost Sunday Pastor Kevin blew it up on Pentecost Sunday on that day they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. So in one story you have Nazareth, Jesus’s living room, and in another story you have a different room called the upper room. In his living room, Jesus is resisted. In the upper room, his spirit is welcomed.

In his living room, dishonor shuts things down. In the upper room, expectation opens things up. Right.

And I can’t shake this picture of Nazareth as ground floor and the upper room as elevated.

Nazareth is low level living. Everything is interpreted at street level.

Everything is processed according to the flesh. Everything is about what is familiar, what is irritating.

Shout out families.

Right. and what is common. It’s great. The upper room is elevated.

It’s not about the furniture. It’s not about the interior design. It’s about the posture of the people in that room.

Hearts are raised. Hands are raised.

Expectation is raised. And when they go up, the people of God are elevated in that way. The Holy Spirit descends.

Listen to me. There. Yeah. Now, here’s why this matters for you.

Because every home, if you let me talk to our homes and our families, because at Champion Center, we build the church and we fight for our families.

Here’s why this is important. Because every home represented in this room has a there.

Your marriage has a there. Your parenting has a there.

kids, teens, young adults, college students, the way you interact with your parents in your city, it has a there your household has an atmosphere. The question is not is there a climate in my home? Because there is.

The question is what kind of climate is it? Is your home Nazareth?

ground floor, familiar, cynical, offended, or is your home becoming an upper room?

Elevated, anointed, honoring, united, hungry for God.

And honor is a huge part of the difference between these two rooms. Yeah.

For our purposes today, we’ll define honor as treating something as if it were uncommon.

What is honor? Well, to treat something as if it were uncommon. That follows to say that dishonor is just treating something uncommon as if it were common.

Nazareth looks at the literal son of God, God in flesh. I love reading the Bible. be like, I would never treat Jesus in such a way.

But Nazareth looks at God in flesh and says, “Isn’t that just the carpenter?”

What are they doing? They collapse the uncommon into the common.

They treat something altogether uncommon as ordinary. And when you begin to treat what God has given you as ordinary, you start to miss the gift that’s standing right in front of you.

And if you let me be a little aggressive, when I preached this to my church, I talked through it with Pastor Kevin. I’m like, “Is it too aggressive?” He’s like, “Go for it.” I’m like, “Okay.” And I told him like, “I think I want to preach at a champion center.” He goes, “Go for it.” I’m like, “Okay.” When you collapse the uncommon into common, you miss the gift of God that’s standing right in front of you. And that’s what I think is happening in a lot of homes.

Husbands have become common to their wives. Wives have become common to their husbands. Parents and children have become common to each other. So it’s like, oh, that’s just how he is. This is how she is. That’s just our teenager.

And too few of us are seeing the people in our homes as the uncommon gifts from God that they are.

And so if we’re not careful, we slip into this. It’s not an intentional decision, but everybody just gets familiar. Everybody’s just irritating. Everybody’s predictable. And when that happens, I’m building Nazareth there.

I am genuinely alarmed at how little honor exists in homes right now. the sarcasm, the contempt, the eye rolling, the the way we joke at each other’s expense, the way we talk over one another, the way we keep one another in check.

I love that. Just keeping them in check.

It’s like we have Christian decor on the walls and worship playlists on our speakers and church attendance on the calendar in Nazareth in our living room.

Is this okay? Okay. I have counseled far too many people that feel honored and celebrated in every room they walk into except their living room.

And we’ve created homes where everything is common and then we wonder why we’re not seeing any mighty works there.

So, so people told you if you’re new, come to Champion Center. It’s encouraging. Are you sufficiently encouraged?

This is a rhetorical tactic called building tension. Do you feel the tension? Good. I’ve done my job. Here’s the tension I want us to feel in this message and in my invitation to you by the Holy Spirit. Will your home stay Nazareth or will it become an upper room home?

So good.

Will it stay ground floor, low ceiling, low expectation, low honor? Or will it be elevated marked by honor and unity in prayer and expectation? And your living room becomes an upper room, a place where the Holy Spirit loves to descend and work mighty miracles there.

I love preaching here. You guys are the best. I come from a church that hollers at the preacher. We call it, we say, one of the sounds at our church is preaching is a team sport.

I got two of my great friends who moved over here to the west side who came today and we say it’s not more holy, it’s just more fun. The preachback ain’t more holy, it’s just more fun.

Okay, if we’re going to build upper room homes, we have to get very practical about honor. So remember, honor is just treating something as if it were uncommon.

And honor is maybe more simple than you think. I really want to help you and then encourage your heart at the end of my message. And so it’s pretty simple.

Uh part of our job as preachers is not necessarily to bring you new revelation every Sunday, but to remind you what you already know by the Holy Spirit.

So I feel like that’s my assignment today. If we’re going to build upper room homes that are full of honor and expectation and the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit, it’s going to be how we see, how we speak, and how we hear.

It’s what we see in the text. How we see, how we speak, and how we hear. I’m going to take each of these one by one.

Let’s start with how we see. How do you see each other?

Nazareth saw Jesus through old categories. No. Is this not the carpenter?

They locked him into who he had been and refused to see who he had become.

As leaders, we do this. We got to be careful in our church because when you meet people, you tend to treat them how you meet them even 10 years later.

Like I got friends now, you know, I’m in my 40s and I got kids or I got friends whose kids are like graduating college and I’m like I you’re three years old to me still.

Why? Because naturally in our flesh you treat him how you meet him.

So they they locked Jesus into old categories. Is this not the carpenter?

And they couldn’t see who he had become because they had locked him into who he had been. Right? And dishonor does that.

It freezes people in your old experience of them. It says, “I already know who you are. I already know how this conversation’s going to go.”

I already know where this ends. But honor refuses to do that.

Honor says, “I may know your history, but I refuse to limit your future to what I have seen so far.”

Honor says, I am not going to reduce you to your worst habit or your loudest flaw. I’m going to relate to you according to the grace of God that’s in your life. I’m going to choose to see the gifts of God that are in you, the call of God that’s on you. And I know that you’ve had some things before, but I’m going to relate to you and speak to you and call out of you the goodness of God, the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit.

What I’m not advocating for today is burying your head in the sand and pretending everybody in your house is perfect.

That’s not spiritual. We have a word for that. It’s called denial. Don’t do that.

I’m talking about posture. Think about your marriage.

Some marriages aren’t drifting because there’s no love left.

They’re drifting because there’s no honor left.

And so a a husband only sees what irritates him and a wife only sees what disappoints her. And we stop seeing each other through the lens of calling.

We stop seeing each other according to the great gift of God that is standing right in front of me. Some of you probably need to take about 7 seconds and praise God that that person is still sitting next to you after all of the buffoonery.

Yeah. If we’re not careful, I I preach this message because the Holy Spirit preached it to me.

And if I’m not careful, I I just see everybody through the lens of frustration. That’s Nazareth. An upper room home sounds different. It says, “I might be frustrated right now, but I still believe that you are an uncommon gift from God to my life.” It says, “I may not agree with you about this right now, but I’m not going to speak to you like you’re common. I’m going to speak to you in an elevated manner, believing that you are still a great gift of God in my life.” In Nazareth, disagreement turns into dishonor. in the upper room home.

Disagreement never gets to cancel dignity. That’s it. Yep.

How do you see them?

I do this thing when I get home from work because I can’t give my family always the most time, but I can give them the best time.

And what I’ve learned is that my kids, they’re 9, 7, 3 and 1. And if I just give them the very best 10 minutes of my day when I get home, they’re set.

That’s it.

So, uh, y’all remember Michael Jordan, the GOAT, Miss Me with LeBron? Michael Jordan.

Like nine people that clap. If you’re under 30, you’re like, who’s Michael Jordan?

But y’all remember the intros for the Bulls and that song seriously start playing like like the 66 shooting guard from North Carolina. Michael Jordan was like when I pull up to my house I put that song on serious. I’m serious. I’m not kidding because it gets me in this place where they’re gonna get the very best 10 minutes that I have today.

I I walk in out the starting line tear my teaways off. And you know what it did? It helped me see him different.

Very good.

They run out of the house. My kids are young enough. My two youngests are young enough. They wait at the window and they run out the house. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.

And it it bothered me. I’m like, “Let me breathe, bro.” And then one day I’m like, “What in the world?”

Changed how I see my wife instead like, “Hey, can I breathe? I I just had a long day at work.” She knows I had a long day. She’d been praying for me. She knows I had a long day. If I can give them the best ten, it changed how I saw them.

They weren’t just I need a I need a little breather. I need some rest. If that’s your rhythm, do your thing. But for me, I had to change how I saw.

These are the most important uncommon gifts from God in my life.

It’s not the platform. It’s not the accolades.

Some of y’all are going to put that on your uh Apple Music playlists and you’re going to vibe out when you get home tomorrow.

It’s not just how we see, it’s how we speak. We shape the environment of our home by how we speak there. in Nazareth.

Watch this. Their conversation turned their amazement into offense.

That’s bizarre. Notice when he starts speaking, they’re astonished. They’re amazed. Remember when you were dating?

Oh my god, they’re amazing.

But listen to this.

Once they kept talking, they talked themselves out of amazement into at the end, the Bible says they took offense at him.

They went from where did this man get these things to who does he think he is? Interesting.

And that shift happened as they talked.

The same thing happens in a home. The way we talk about each other, the way we talk to each other, it builds a ceiling over our house. How high is the ceiling going to be in my home?

How you how you how you go out with with the fellas for a 5 hour round of golf.

Hey ladies, in case your husband told you it takes seven hours to play golf, it’s about 4 hours 15 minutes.

Sorry guys, I just broke bro code.

But when you’re out on the 16th grade chopping it up with the boys, how are you talking about your family?

Because it can turn amazement into offense real quick.

When you’re out with with the girls, how are you talking about your family?

Because conversation can turn amazement into offense.

I I was talking to a couple and I I realized this. They were like, “Can you help us with marriage? were talking through things and I had this stunning realization that I was like, “Oh, you think your role in your home is to keep each other humble?” That’s the Holy Spirit’s job.

Your job is to gas each other up at every opportunity that you get.

I don’t mean I don’t mean puff each other up in pride. I mean, call each other up into your God-given identity.

Listen, Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of dealing with your spouse’s pride.

He is perfectly capable of convicting your teenager and he does not need me to volunteer as the fourth in the Trinity.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Josh. You know, in fact, one of my main roles and privileges in my home according to Romans chapter 12 is to outdo one another in showing honor.

That’s Romans chapter 12. That’s my assignment. My assignment according to scripture in part is to build one another up. My job is to strengthen the hearts of the people in my home.

Husbands, can you imagine how different the atmosphere of your home would be if honoring your wife became normal? Not just noticing where she falls short, but noticing where she shines and saying it out loud in front of your kids.

Not just correcting, but blessing, treating her as uncommon. Wives, imagine how different the atmosphere of your home that your living room could become an upper room. If you if honoring your husband became normal, you’re not narrating his failures as if they’re his identity. You’re calling out his courage, his effort, his growth, his movement toward Jesus. You’re treating him as if there’s more in him than what you see on a bad day.

Parents, can you imagine what would happen if your kids hear more about what’s uncommon in them than what’s wrong with them?

They’re not just too much and too loud and they’re so extra and too emotional. They are image bearers with a calling.

And you start to say that out loud and that’s how you start to lift the house from the ground floor Nazareth to the upper room. Students, can you imagine what your home would be like if you treated your parents as the uncommon gifts from God that they are in your life? So when they say be home at 10:00, it’s not met with an eye roll. It’s because they know nothing good happens after 10:00.

And instead of being like, “Well, Sarah gets to stay out till 11.” You’re like, “Thank you for loving me enough, for setting loving boundaries to protect me from things that you know are out there that I haven’t yet run into.” Can you imagine?

Upper room homes, they refuse to weaponize weakness.

A lot of homes, everybody knows everybody’s soft spots. And those soft spots get used like weapons in conflict.

You know exactly which story to bring up to stir up your spouse. You know exactly which failure to mention.

You know the words that will cut. And I just want to say some of some of you in the room, you speak that way because it’s all you know.

It’s it’s the way you protected yourself growing up. It’s it’s the way you you were finally heard. You had to say the most cutting thing and finally somebody heard you.

It’s it’s how you learn to navigate this life.

But but I think there’s a sneaking suspicion in you that there’s got to be a different way than this.

And I just want to tell you that there is. And it’s honor. So good. That’s so good.

The good news about this story is that the same people were in both rooms. You’re not born knowing how to honor.

You’re born sinful and full of malice and greed and self-protection. Sure.

I love that it was the same people in both of those rooms because it means I can start today.

It means that even if my home has been Nazareth, it can start to become an upper room.

How do you hear each other?

Dishonor makes your ears dull. If you’ve already decided that your spouse is a certain way, you stop listening.

What if the wisdom you’ve been asking God for is sitting across your kitchen table?

What if the warning you need is wrapped in your wife’s concern? What if the courage your family needs is wrapped in your husband’s conviction?

And if dishonor has been normal, I just want to tell you the way out is repentance and blessing.

Repentance is how you close the gap between Nazareth and the upper room. You don’t explain away your sarcasm. repent of it. You don’t excuse your contempt. You repent of it. You don’t justify your sharp tongue with that’s just how I am.

You bring it to the Lord and say, “God, there’s Nazareth in my mouth and I don’t want it in my home anymore.”

And then you begin to bless. You ask the Holy Spirit to fill your mouth with upper room words. Fill God, would you fill my mouth with life and honor and blessing?

You start speaking out loud what’s uncommon in your spouse, what’s uncommon in your children, what’s uncommon in your parents. And over time, those repeated blessings begin to rebuild the atmosphere and your living room starts to become an upper room. Hey, if I can be pastoral, you can start today. Good.

So, here’s where all this lands in Mark 6 in Nazareth. Jesus walks into a there where the atmosphere is thick with dishonor and unbelief. And scripture says he can do mighty works. In acts 1 and two, in the upper room, he finds a there where hearts are together. Prayer is rising, honor is present, and the Holy Spirit descends in power. Two very different theres.

When Jesus walks through the front door of your home, what’s he going to find there? Is he going to find Nazareth ground floor? Or is he going to find an upper room, an elevated home where honor lifts the tone, unity lifts the posture, expectation lifts the atmosphere?

I believe the Holy Spirit is inviting some of us to say, “No more Nazareth in my house.

No more homes like this. Instead, let this be our prayer. Lord, make my home an upper room.

Make my home a place where repentance is normal. Make my home a place where encouragement is normal. Make my home a place where we actually listen for your voice in one another.

Make my home a place where we treat each other as uncommon. Holy Spirit, help me to make my home a place where you are welcome, where faith is rising, where we expect you to move here.

So, I’m going to give you a very simple practical step I want to invite you into. I’m going to give you some homework. Y’all like homework? All the teachers in the room said, “Amen.”

Very practical step I want to invite you into sometime this week. Sit down husband and wife and if you can with your children too and ask two questions. The first is this.

Where have I treated you as common? You might have been married 40 years.

You you might be like, “Our marriage is better than ever.” Praise God. There’s still a little bit of Nazareth in each of us.

Or have I treated you as common? Second, here’s the second question.

What’s uncommon in you that I need to honor more intentionally? And if you want to do some Jedi stuff, just tell them.

Here’s what I see that’s uncommon in you.

My wife and I were on vacation last week and I just got to tell her, “Your unique ability is to bring fun and adventure into every room that you walk into.

You’re a fun mom. You’re a fun friend.

You’re a fun wife.” Bro, the way she looked at me was awesome.

So ask ask that question. Then just listen. Don’t defend. Don’t explain. Don’t turn it back on them. Just listen. Repent where you need to repent.

Apologize where you need to apologize.

And then speak blessing where blessing might be long overdue.

And that simple conversation. It’s so simple. Some of you are going to leave here. You’re going to do it. And it’s going to shift. I promise you. We preached this at our church and it caught fire. Shifted things. People have been married for a year. People have been married for 50 years. I got to hear stories of conversations and that simple conversation could be the moment where your home your home starts to move from Nazareth to an upper room.

I don’t want he could do no mighty work there written over your address. I want your address to be known in heaven as an upper room home as a home where the presence of God is welcomed. A home where the spirit of God can descend. A home where honor is normal. A home where mighty works can happen there.

And here’s the good news in all of this is that you and your family don’t just need to try harder to honor.

The good news is that there is a savior.

Who stepped into a completely dishonoring world and loved us anyway.

Scripture says that Christ suffered and rose on the third day so that the repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. Jesus came announcing the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. That means right now because of his death and resurrection, you don’t have to stay stuck in old patterns, old words, old sins, or old atmospheres that have marked your life. Because on the cross, he took the shame.

He took the dishonor. He took the guilt of our sin. In the empty tomb, he opened a new way of life, new hearts, new atmospheres, new homes.

And so, the invitation is not just go home and do better. The invitation is come to Jesus.

Repent and believe in the gospel. Can we stand together?

Repentance simply means turning from sin and self-rule. Turning from unbelief and dishonor and turning toward him in trust.

Believing the gospel means that admitting that you can’t save yourself means admitting, “Yeah, I got a whole lot of Nazareth and I don’t know how to get to the upper room.” The good news is Jesus said to his disciples, “Hey, I’m going to leave and I’m going to prepare a place for you and I’m and I’m going to come back for you and I’m going to get you.” And and the disciples in a beautiful question, they say, “How will we know the way?” That’s good. So good.

I think that’s the question in a lot of people’s hearts. Nazareth to upper room. Yes.

But how how will I know the way? And then Jesus says, “Oh, I’m the way, the truth, and the life. and no one comes to the father except by me. So here’s here’s here’s the invitation.

He didn’t come to call the righteous.

The Bible says he came to call those who know that they are sinners.

He came to call those who know I’m kind of a dumpster fire on top of a train wreck.

In Jesus ministry, the people who could not receive from him are the people like I don’t need that. I’m good, bro.

And Jesus goes, hey, healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do.

And he goes, you don’t realize how sick you are. You think you’re healthy, so the doctor can’t help. But the doctor is in. The great physician is here.

So the invitation today is not just go home and do better. Maybe for you it’s taken a moment. Maybe you’re with your spouse and you just grab their hand and you say, “I honor you. I love you. I bless you.” Maybe you’re here and you would say, “Pastor, I wouldn’t consider myself a Christian.”

What I’m describing is not just a marriage seminar about nine ways to have a more honoring home. That’s great and it has its place, but you can only do that in your own flesh. And when your strength runs out, you’re done. The good news of the gospel is that you can’t do it.

How is that good news? Oh, because the one who can and did has fulfilled it with with his finished work at the cross. And he shed his blood for you to cover all and cleanse you of all unrighteousness and cleanse you of your shame and take the guilt you’ve been walking. And Colossians says all the things that have been uh held against you, all the sins. Colossians tells us that in his crucifixion and resurrection, he nailed the list of requirements to the cross and shamed them publicly. Not you. shamed those sins publicly so that you could walk in freedom and forgiveness if you’ll repent and believe.

And then he didn’t stay dead. 3 days later he rose and he walked this earth for 40 days teaching and then he ascended to the right hand of the father and he will return. But 10 days after his ascension he gave us the holy spirit. Now we have the indwelling God with us, God in us who empowers us beyond our own flesh, beyond our own Nazareth, beyond our own ability to do it based on how our parents taught us, our grandparents taught us, reality TV taught us, Tik Tok algorithms taught us that the real, pardon me, truth has come alive in us by the Holy Spirit. And it begins by believing in Jesus, repenting, and receiving him as Lord.

So maybe you’re here and say, “Pastor, I wouldn’t consider myself a Christian.” I want to pray for you.

I I want to extend the same invitation that’s been extended into the kingdom of God for the last 2,000 years. Not based on your resume, not based on what zip code you live in, how many degrees you do or do not have, which kind of car you drive, what brand of shoes you’re wearing. Everyone is equal at the foot of the cross in their need for a savior.

and he’s drawing you to him.

So, if you’re here and say, “Pastor, would you please include me in this prayer?” I’d love to. I’m going to lead us in a prayer. I’d love it if everyone in this room could pray out loud. We’re going to pray together. We’re going to join our faith with the faith of those who are praying for the first time. Or maybe it’s the first time again. Maybe today represents a returning to the things of God. You knew God at one point, but your heart has grown cold toward him. He’s kind of become irrelevant. It’s not that you hate him. It’s not that you stop believing in him, but he’s just kind of an accessory on the mantle and you sense him drawing you back. I would love to include you in this prayer, too.

So, if you’re praying this today for the first time or the first time again, I know there’s a lot of people in this room. Would you just incline your heart to the father and and pray with me as we pray? Say, “Father,

Father, thank you.

Thank you for sending Jesus sending Jesus to die for me. to die for me.

I know that I’ve sinned. I know and that I need you. I need you.

I believe I believe that you lived and died.

You lived and died and you rose again.

You rose again for my sins. So would you come into my world? Would you come into my world? Be my leader. Be my Lord. Be my Lord.

Make me brand new. Make me brand new. Give me a fresh start. Give me a fresh start. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. And use my life.

Use my to build your kingdom. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Come on. Can we praise God for new life in this room in Jesus name?

and practice some honor.