MAY 29 2022 | Believe S1E6 | Grace

Sea Change Church · MAY 29 2022 | Believe: Ep 6 - Grace
John 21:1-9
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Simon Peter, Thomas, also known as Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the water.

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there, with fish on it, and some bread. The word of the Lord. Well, my goodness, let me tell you the news. My head's been wet with the midnight dew. I've been down on the bended knee, talking to the man from Galilee.

He spoke to me with a voice so sweet. I thought I heard the shuffle of angels sweet. He called my name, and my heart stood still. When he said, John, go do my will. Go tell that long tongue like that. Well, hey, good morning. We are in the final week of the Gospel series. And as you know, after Easter, we move into the New Testament. So the first quarter of the year, we are in the Old Testament.

Now we're moving into the New Testament with the Gospel series. And I want to tell you what's going to be on for our summer series for the next 14 weeks. First of all, the next seven weeks, we're going to be going through the book of Revelation. We're going to be following up on the seven theme from last year. It's called Seals and Trumpets. We're going to be looking at the seven seal judgments and then also the seven judgment trumpets.

Excuse me, the seven seals and the seven trumpets. We'll be going over that for, guess how long? Seven weeks. And then after that, we're going to be going into the book of Acts, where we're going to pick up where we left off last year with Paul's second missionary journey. So if you want to be reading ahead, you can go into Revelation, begin to read about the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and then after that, you can read through Acts, a little bit of summer reading as we move forward into that.

Today, we are in the final passage, and we've taken the first three weeks of the Gospel series. We talked about systematic theology. What does that mean? It means how, what does this say out that we can understand it in an educational way, that we can understand how it's actually working philosophically. We talked about why it was important to have the way and then the truth and then the life, not the life first and then the truth and then the way.

And we talked about those things. The last three weeks now, we've gone into the narrative because people love story. And so we've talked about the lives of people that were impacted by the Gospel. One of these people is the Apostle Peter. Now, the context of this story, if you remember this story, don't get it confused with Luke chapter 5. Now, remember, Luke chapter 5 is when they go out to fish.

It's when the disciples are called that Peter is actually called in Luke chapter 5. And Jesus goes out, and they aren't catching any fish. He says, throw the nets on the other side of the boat, and you'll catch more fish. And he ends up having this incredible, they couldn't even haul it in. That's the first time. Peter recognizes Jesus at that point.

And what does he say to Jesus? He says, I am a sinner. Go away from me. And Jesus says, basically in response, well, I can save you from that. And you will no longer be fishing for fish. You will be fishing for what? You'll be fishing for mankind. You'll be fishing for souls. This particular passage actually is after Jesus has died on the cross. And Peter has denied Jesus three times.

And so it's interesting that Peter, in this passage, is out fishing, doing what he was doing before Jesus says, you won't be doing this anymore. Peter went back to his side hustle. Peter went back to the gig that he used to do because Peter has given up. Peter has quit. And Peter has felt that he has been maybe abandoned by God. But he knew that he had abandoned Jesus in his moment of need after saying to Jesus that I will be the one that will go and die with you.

And so he's quit. He's given up. Have you ever gotten to a place in your life where you feel like you need to quit? Like you need to give up? Where your tenacity has run empty? I say there's one value that I really appreciate, that I enjoy, and really respect. It is tenacity. It is determination. It is the unwillingness to quit, to always move forward.

That doesn't mean that we don't wait on God. But it means that I will never quit to pursue the things that I know are true and are right. And so we see that. Now, he had quit for a reason. And the reason Peter had quit, because at this point, he had not experienced the grace of the cross. Meaning, what Jesus had done on the cross actually covered the sin of denying Christ.

Then Peter did not understand this. And so, if we look at the gospel, there's one thing, and if you can write this down on your notes. Write the word grace. I want to say, if the gospel is about anything, the gospel is not about sin. Sin is a component. It's not primarily about sin. The gospel is about the cross, and the cross talks about the goodness of God and his grace.

I mean, the gospel is about Jesus. But the gospel primarily is about grace. It is about unmerited favor. Getting something that you don't deserve. We live in a world right now that will judge you according to your merit. What you believe in. What causes you go after. How hard you go after those causes. Having the right belief system, whatever it would be.

The reason the gospel is a stumbling block so often is because Christ says, the gospel says, that you can have perfect moral perfection within your soul before God in regard to sin, not because of anything you did. Because of what Jesus did for you. That's what the gospel says. It's actually this incredibly revolutionary statement that most people cannot handle or swallow or take on board.

Why? Because it's unmerited grace and favor that has nothing to do with what you have done. I tried to practice this yesterday. Yesterday I was sitting at home, and I'd had a big morning, and I went, and I got my Saturday nap on. I don't know if any of you got your Saturday nap on yesterday. My wife and I, we invested in a new bed. And you need to invest in a new bed.

If you don't have a great bed, I want to encourage you to get one. And this one, if you press a button, will turn me into a taco. It's called Zero Gravity. And I was sitting there in zero gravity, and I always start singing, ground control to Major Tom when I hit the zero gravity. And everyone knows it's nap time for Daddy. And I was there in zero gravity, and I began to think, what would it be like if I could just go stand before God with no shame and look him directly in the eye?

And then I had this realization, you can. Because the Bible says you can go boldly before the throne of God. Because of anything I have done? No. Matter of fact, in 1 John 1, 9, it says if you confess your sins, that Jesus Christ is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of some of your unrighteousness. No. All of your unrighteousness.

And so this is what I did in my little taco, you know, zero gravity. I closed my eyes, and I began to meditate on the scripture on Revelation 2. And I burst into the throne room like a kid. And I realized that I had the right to be there. Not because of me. Not because, because I have sin in my life all the time. But if you confess your sins, you can look God straight in the eye.

And so I went forward, and as I was meditating on Revelation 2, it talks about the throne room, and I'd been reading Revelation for the new series. And I ran up, and I ran up to the steps, and I just looked God straight in the eye. And the, in this, of meditating on the scripture, which the scripture tells us to do. And I began to look at him in the eye, and my first reaction was, do this.

Oh, you don't belong here. And all of a sudden, I just got this thought in my head, you belong. And I thought, boom. And so I began to look him in the eye, did that for a few minutes, and I got more and more comfortable. All of a sudden, I started feeling this peace come over me. Like, I belong here. And then I went, and I pictured myself just sitting on the steps of the throne.

Because he has a throne, it says. You can walk up to it, and they bow down. And so as I meditate, I'm just sitting there, and God's looking at me, and all of a sudden, he just goes about his business. And I thought, that was so cool. Because what I realized is, like, it wasn't like, what's this unrighteous sinner doing in the throne of God, you know, in his palace?

It was like, I'm going to go about my business because you belong here. Because you're a son of mine. Not because of anything I did. But because of Jesus' work on the cross. I want to say, all of a sudden, when I was in that place, I realized there was none of the problems of the world when I was in that place. There was no war. It was my spirit just meditating in that place and beginning to live from that place.

All of a sudden, the worry about all the things that are going on, all the COVID, all the issues that are happening in our country right now, they didn't belong in that place with me. They didn't belong in that place with me and God. And it was in that place that all of a sudden I thought, this is the place I want to live from. This is the place I want to be.

Back to the scripture, Peter is not in that place. Peter has quit. Peter has walked out on Jesus. And he's gone back to a place where Jesus was but no longer is. Does that make sense? Sometimes we go to places and we expect Jesus to be there and he's no longer there. Jesus is not out on the water with them. He's not in the boat with him this time.

Jesus is on the shore and Peter doesn't understand it. So the first thing I want to say in this passage, what we see in this passage, Peter is feeling cast away from Jesus. He's feeling separated from Jesus. Jesus shows up. Jesus shows up in the midst of his shame, in the midst of his guilt, in the midst of his self-doubt. And he's saying basically to him, you belong.

He meets him in that place. And so grace, if you can get into that place of grace, which only comes from the blood of Jesus and the work of Jesus on the cross, from nothing you've done. If you can get into that place, it manifests the presence of God. You see, when you walk in a state of grace, God's presence is manifested. That is the entire takeaway from today.

We'll look at the scripture. We're going to break the scripture down a little bit. But the entire takeaway is, where are you living from? Are you living from a place of a forgiven child of God that while we make mistakes, that if we confess our sins before God, he is faithful and just, and you can have moral perfection? Can you imagine what that would sound like if you were talking to people and they're asking you about your spiritual life?

Moral perfection. What would they think? They would think, who are you to say that? And you would say, well, like Paul does, I'm not boasting anything I've done. Paul says, I boast in what? The cross. I boast in Jesus. The thing is, we have to be willing to confess our sins, right? And so we see by Peter jumping in the water here that he is willing to do that.

There's a quote by Christopher Columbus. He gets a lot of shade. I understand it. Not everything was perfect. But he says this, and he actually gave his life over to Christ. And he said, I'm the most noteworthy sinner. Many people today would agree with that. And he says it himself. I am the most noteworthy sinner. But I have cried out to the Lord for what?

Grace and mercy. He has covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose. Circle if you see it in your notes. My whole purpose to enjoy his marvelous presence. That will preach. To enjoy his marvelous presence. I want to say it's difficult to recognize Jesus on your shore. As we see here, they didn't recognize who Jesus was.

Peter had influence. He took other people with him. You are never going to go anywhere without taking somebody with you. Somebody will follow. Someone will be influenced. Take somebody with you. He had even taken John, the beloved disciple. He had quit. He had walked away from Jesus. He had gone back to his old side hustle. And Jesus was no longer there.

But Jesus manifested himself. His marvelous presence. Where are you living from? Are you living from that place where you feel like you can walk up and look in the eyes of God and feel comfortable and comfortable in your own skin? That is the gospel. That is why the gospel is rejected. Because we don't live in a world that has forgiveness. Forgiveness.

Of all the outcry you see in the world, whether what's happening with wars in Europe, do you ever see the word forgiveness? Do you ever? Just rhetorically. When you look at any, you can pick any issue. You can look at Uyghur people in China. You can look at Aboriginal people and injustice and perhaps in Australia. You can look to any situation in the world.

Zaire. All over the world. Most people are unaware of what's happening in the world. They have a very narrow focus. But when you look at those, do you ever see the word forgiveness? You see, forgiveness only comes from grace. And grace isn't a ballerina. You see, sometimes we think about grace and the graceful movements. Grace is unmerited favor. Let's go to three points here.

And then we'll come in for a landing. The first one, Jesus manifest himself to the lost. This is super powerful. Jesus manifest himself to the lost. That word manifest, we're going to look at that. It's a really important word. But when you are lost, when you are feeling broken, when you have run away from God perhaps, and you're out on a boat on your side hustle.

We all got a side hustle, don't we? And you are out there, Jesus still manifests himself. One of the greatest verses in the book of Romans is Romans 5.8. While we were yet sinners, Christ did what? He died for us. He reached out to us when we were in our brokenness, when we were in our drug addiction, when we were in whatever you put in the word there.

He is still reaching out. He is still manifesting himself. The question is, do you recognize him? Because we had a problem of recognition. Well, here's the first one. Jesus manifested himself to the lost. It says, verse one. Let's go to verse one. Afterward, Jesus appeared again, circle again, again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. Now, he'd been there many times, again.

He had manifested himself many times after he died. He came and proved himself again. He manifested himself again. Jesus is not, hey, one time you missed your opportunity. The window has closed. You've missed it. Sorry. You're out. No, over and over and over again, the patience of God. He is so patient with you. He loves you. He is sad about, not about you as a sinner, but he's sad about the sin.

Why? Because it keeps him from spending manifested presence with you. God's greatest desire is to spend time with you. God's greatest desire is to love you. God's greatest desire is to know you, that you would sit with him, that you would sup with him, that you would meditate on his scripture, that you would enjoy the peace that comes in his presence.

Yesterday, as I was laying in the taco yesterday, and I was there in zero gravity, in a state of euphoric napping bliss. In that moment, it didn't relax me the way that in a moment, there was a moment in that time where all of a sudden, I just felt, you ever done this? You start relaxing, all of a sudden, your jaw just goes, and you realize, whoa, I didn't even know I was that tense.

Like, where did all that come from? It was like, that's why Jesus hates your and my sin. Why? Because it keeps him from you. He wants to spend time with you. He wants to love you. He wants to be with you. He wants you to manifest his presence to you. Why? That you might manifest his presence to others as well. And so afterward, he appeared again. Here again, this is what I love.

I use the word relentless. This is a really powerful word. I love the word relentless. Here again, we see Christ's relentless pursuit of sinners. He is relentless. He is relentless in his pursuit of sinners. One of the things, another one of my imperfect heroes is Winston Churchill. And it is Memorial Day, and you know that before the June 6th landing in 1944 and 1941 in June, there was Operation Dynamo when they had to remove all of the British servicemen that were stuck on a beach or surrounded by the Nazis.

And they went, and everyone got in boats, and everyone that had a sailboat, anybody that had a boat, went over, and they brought back, I think it was 350,000 to 400,000 men and women from that shore back over. It was called Operation Dynamo. Had Operation Dynamo lost, the entire war effort would have been lost because England was standing alone.

France was standing down. England was standing alone. FDR had not brought America back into the war as of yet because we were exclusionary and did not want to be a part of it at that time. Churchill comes out, and there was a lot of appeasers at the time. And this is one of the things, if you study World War II history, one of the things you'll find is people that wanted to appease.

They wanted to appease Hitler. Let's have, you know, like Neville Chamberlain was the prime minister who did that, was one of the main appeasers. And he constantly wanted to appease. Let's just make nice. Let's make a treaty. Churchill understood that there was no treaties to be made with Hitler. There was no treaties. How often do we make treaties with our sin?

How often do we make our own treaties in order to just have a safer, easier way? And one of the things that Churchill did was he stood up in that moment, and many would say that Western civilization was saved because of one man in that moment that was willing to stand up and say, never give up. I want to read this quote to you. You'll see it up here on the screen.

This is Winston Churchill that has a quote, and it's one of his most famous quotes because right after the dynamo, they believed that there was going to be an invasion. Imagine an invasion of your shores. And Winston Churchill says this. He says this to the House of Commons. We shall never, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.

We will fight on the beaches. We will fight on the fields. We will fight in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. Why did I tell you that? Because that's Jesus. Jesus will never surrender you. Jesus will come after you over and over again with relentless pursuit because Jesus is relentless. He wants to spend time with you.

And so here we see Jesus again, never giving in. You know, there's one more thing that I love that Churchill said. He said this as well because what Peter has done here is given in, right? And how easy do we give in, right? How often do we give in to doubt, fear, shame, all these things that we give in to. He had a speech at Harrow. Harrow is where he graduated from.

And he said this in his speech, and you've heard it again. He didn't say never give up. People have Americanized it. He said this. Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, never. In nothing, never give in. I want to say that in our pursuit of Jesus, are we like that? Are we relentless to pursue Jesus? Do you have a relentless character to your pursuing when you don't feel like you want to, when you're down and out?

Or do we go back to the boat? Do we go back to what we know and what we knew back in the day? This is what Peter has done in this verse. And so we see that Jesus, once again, manifests himself. What does it mean to be manifest? It says manifest means to become known, to be plainly recognized, thoroughly understood. Let me say that again. To be made known.

Jesus wants to make himself known to you. You know, in the scriptures, it says that he wants you to know the divine mysteries of heaven. He just doesn't want you to know how to get to church and a few things about the Bible. He wants to make himself manifest and give you knowledge about the world, the universe, his divine nature, his invisible qualities.

He wants us to go deeper. And he will constantly show up over and over again on the shore of your life when we've gone back out into the boat again that says, come to shore. I want to be with you. You see, when Jesus manifests himself and when we're in his presence, we manifest his presence. I want to say it's hard to be somewhere on a regular basis and not manifest where you have put yourself.

Meaning, if you are constantly caught up in the political headlines of the day, let's just use that. Difficult to maintain a manifested presence of joy, peace, care. Unless you're like John Stott, the British preacher, who said, when I read the newspaper, I read it with the Bible in the other hand because when I read the paper, I need to pray the headlines.

If you're doing that, then fine. If you're spending time on Reddit all day or Instagram looking at how amazing other people are and you're not, wherever you put yourself, wherever you plant yourself, you will begin to manifest those things. You see, those that spent time with Jesus, and we see here with John, John, it says he was a beloved disciple.

He was the first one, as we'll see in a moment, that recognized Jesus in this, when he was on the boat. I think it's also interesting that John ended up on the boat, even though he was a beloved disciple, he followed Peter onto that boat. But when it came time to recognize Jesus, he was the first one because he lived a life of manifested presence within the love of God.

Because you will begin to manifest. I said, where are you planted? Where are your roots? What are you all about? Where you are planted on a regular basis is what you will manifest. It is impossible to take the nourishment out of the soil in which you have planted yourself and not have it affect the fruit. Jesus talks about this. And so he says he is manifesting.

My question to you is, what are you manifesting? What are you manifesting? Is it contagious? Is it infectious? Is it intoxicating to those that are around you where every so often somebody says to you, hey, what have you got because I want it? Do you ever hear that? If you don't hear that ever, if you don't hear something close to that, maybe it's time to plant yourself in different soil.

Peter was planted on a boat. He was planted in his shame. He was planted in his guilt. And in a moment here, he's going to plant himself in the love of God on the shore. Let's go to number two. Peter was manifesting failure, doubt, and self-loathing. Verse three, he says, I'm going to go out to fish. Simon Peter then told them. And they said, we'll go with you.

Stop right there. I already said this. I'll say it again. I'm going to fish. Simon Peter told them. And they said, these disciples, it would change the world because you have influence. Where you go, people will follow. Even if you're doing it in the dark and you don't think anyone knows, it's impossible to plant yourself and not have that fruit.

Because you know the fruit. And it says, you know the root by the fruit. You will know the root where someone's planted by the fruit of their mouth. Jesus talks about that. You don't, Harry said it last week. You don't have corruption from taking something in. It's from the inside out. And so we see that they go with him. Where are you leading other people?

Is it to joy? Is it to peace? Is it to patience? He said, let's go back to the side hustle. Let's go back to the boat. Let's give this up. I'm tired of fishing for the souls of mankind. I know how to make a living. I know how to make this work. These are my old ways. Instead of saying never give in, never give in, never give in, never, never, never.

Peter was leading others into obscurity. You were either leading people to life or you were leading people to obscurity and to death, the scripture says. The Bible is very clear that there's no hanging out in the middle. The Bible is so clear about that. That's why people struggle with the Bible. There's no hanging out in the middle balancing between, you know, the wants of yourself and the wants of God.

There's no balancing that place in the middle. He's saying, I want more. Where are you leading people? He was operating. Peter was operating from a place. Not of presence. Not of looking in the eyes of God. Not under the grace. Because grace manifests presence. Right? If you know the grace. If you know the cross. If you know the blood. Then you will know the presence.

Because you will walk in the presence. He was manifesting inability. He was manifesting inadequacy. Incapability. Incapacity. Incompetence. Ineptitude. Insufficiency. And powerlessness. Let's say we all have something to offer. And the more time you spend understanding the grace of who you are and accepting it. Because it's hard to act. It's hard to accept.

When I was meditating on that throne room, I kept thinking, I don't belong here. I don't belong here. But I said, how much do I believe in the blood of Jesus? Do I really believe in the blood of Jesus? Because I know me. I know what I think. I know the things that go on in my head. The things I do. Where I cut corners. I know all that about me. I don't belong here.

And the word that came to me was because of my son, I will boast in Jesus Christ, you belong. And out of that place, everything said, phew. And we opened up to that. And then you start manifesting from a different presence. Peter said, Peter was walking in inability, inadequacy, incapability, incapacity, incompetence, ineptitude, insufficiency, and powerlessness.

But Jesus was just on the shore if he could just get to him. Let's go to part three. Final point. The disciples had a problem of recognition. They didn't recognize that Jesus was manifesting himself. Jesus is there. Romans says, if you just walk outside and look at the sky, if you just walk outside and look at the ocean, it is screaming out to you God's divine character and his invisible qualities.

It is all around you. Do you see him? Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. Let's say recognition often has to do with focus. Recognition, the loss of focus, of focusing on other things. I think that's why if the devil had a plan, I think it would get us to be focusing on things other than God.

Going too quickly. Wanting more. Going after all these other things where we lose focus. When we slow down and we stop. Let's say, as we see right here, verse 7. Go to verse 7. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment on for he had taken off work and jumped into the water.

The one who knew he was loved was the first to recognize Jesus. And the one who knew he was lost was the first to get to Jesus. Two important points there. John, the beloved disciple, he knew he was loved. The scripture speaks about that. Probably Jesus' best friend. The one who knew he was loved was the first to recognize Jesus. When you walk in love, you will start seeing him all over the place.

When you begin to love your partner, your spouse, one of the things you will see, no matter what happens, is you will begin to be open to seeing all the good things about them. When you walk with grace, when you walk with care, when you walk and start to be manifested presence of those things, it will change your environment. When you walk in critique, when you walk in negativity, when you're manifesting inability, when you're manifesting their doubts and your upsetness, that's what you're going to find.

But see here, the one who knew that he was loved recognized Jesus. And that recognition led to presence. Why? Because Peter got it right and jumped into the water. This was water that he had walked on, remember? Remember, Peter had walked on this water. But Peter doesn't care about walking on water anymore. He just wants to be with Jesus. He doesn't care about miracles.

He doesn't care about the fish. He doesn't care about none of that. He wants to get to Jesus. I swam in the Galilee about three and a half years ago. We swam way out. I had a friend. He's a paraplegic. And he's a stronger swimmer than me. I was out there. I was all dying. You know what I mean? And he's swimming out there. I always wanted to know what went through Peter's mind in those six minutes it took him to get to shore.

What was going through his mind? How fast was he swimming? Imagine when he gets there. He's all out of breath. You know, he's about lost everything, you know, all of his composure. But there he is with Jesus. The one who knew he was loved was the first to recognize Jesus. And the one who knew he was lost was the first to get to Jesus. You know, back in the day there was all these sermons and I preached them.

Okay? Okay? It's Jesus walking on the water and it's like, man, we need to have the faith to get out of the boat. You've heard the sermon. We've all, every pastor's preached to get out of the boat sermon. All right? So get out of the boat sermon. Overused. But nonetheless, you got to get out of the boat. Oh, no, no. No, you know, Jesus on the shore.

You got to jump in and get to the shore. Or Jesus on the boat asleep. You know, be on the boat. There's all these different places. Walking on water, catching fish. You know, you've heard the sermon about, you know, he pushed the boat out a little bit from shore. And then he pushed it out a little bit further and Peter went with him. And now they're in the deep water.

You got to get into the deep water. And there's all these places. And I was asking the Lord yesterday. I was meditating on this sermon. Lord, these are all contradictory. He said, this is what I felt the Holy Spirit just said to me. It's not about walking. It's not about being on the water. It's not about being in the boat. It's not about being on the shore.

It's about being where I am. You see, if I'm walking on the water, I don't want you on the boat. If I'm on the boat, I don't want you walking on the water. If I'm on the shore, I don't want you in the boat. I want you where I am. Just be where I am because I want to be with you. And so with everything we do, with every decision we make, we just have to ask ourselves, is Jesus there?

Because that's where I want to be because I don't care about walking on water if he's on the beach. And if he's in the boat asleep, then I want to take a nap. Then I want to be sleeping there right next to him in that boat and being at peace of his presence. You see, it's not about all these different places. But, you know, I understand the sermon analogy.

It's all important. It's having faith. They all work. But what works most is being with Jesus. He will manifest his presence to you. So there's two takeaways, and we're done. Number one, where's your focus? It's hard not to manifest your focus. Where is your focus? I would say it's impossible not to manifest your focus, whatever you're focusing on.

If you're focusing on getting ahead or being the best at something, or maybe you need to realign your focus. Because when we realign our focus, we have to figure out, is Jesus in the midst of that? Is he in the midst of that? Number two, are you accepting and walking in God's grace? Let me just finish. I said at the beginning. The gospel's about grace.

And grace manifests presence. And where you are planting your feet in the manifested presence of God, you will manifest that yourself. Be where Jesus is. Grace. Or don't be anywhere. Amen? Let's stand if you would. We want to pray for you today. We got a bunch of people that want to pray for you. They're going to have name tags on. They've been trained to pray.

If you need prayer today, if you need healing, if you need to stand before God and just take a moment, you can just tell them, hey, I don't want to be prayed for. I just want to come forward and make it a moment. You can do that. If you want to know more about our church and all the things, and we also have the report, the last year's report, go to the Next Steps table.

Everything you need to know about what's going on here happens at that Next Steps table. And if you just need a cup of coffee and to relax, go get that as well. They'll meet you out there. If you want to extend your hands, I'm going to bless you today. Lord Jesus, I want to bless these people with the manifested presence of God. Jesus, you are a stumbling block because you say that we can have unmerited spiritual perfection, not because of us, but because of your cross.

And I pray that we can walk into that as a church, God, begin to manifest that presence, to not be affected by headlines, by worries, by fears, Lord God, but from a place of belonging where you manifest yourself to us through the grace of the gospel. I pray the grace of the gospel over these people that they would come to know Jesus. If you've never made a decision to follow Jesus today, you can even say in your heart, God, I see you, I have sent you, I want to know you.

If you made that decision, go to the Next Steps table, tell them you made that decision, they will hook you up, talk to you about baptism and going deeper. Lord, we bless these people. We send them out on this Memorial Day. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Hey, we love you.