Finding Freedom and Peace Through the Gospel

1) "How many of you have ever felt overwhelmed? Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, we feel overwhelmed. And think about the things that overwhelm us, right? It's like the scheduling. I have more things to do. I got another invitation. I have to say yes, because if I say no, then they're not going to like me. And I gotta make sure I look like a certain thing and I have to look like the way I look on my Facebook or my Instagram or my TikTok and all of a sudden I'm overwhelmed by just how I have to appear to others let alone the other things going on in my life. I'm overwhelmed by my job. I'm overwhelmed by my the relationships. I'm overwhelmed by everything in my life and so notice that the things that overwhelm us how does it make us feel? It makes us feel heavy. It makes us feel burdened and let me ask you another question and you don't have to raise your hand but how many of us have ever allowed ourself to be overwhelmed by the gospel?" [20:39] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Do we even know what that looks like when Jesus says come to me you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest that the when we're overwhelmed by the gospel it actually is a burdenless joy. Whoo that's exciting. No? Okay I think it's exciting. So here's the thing I think we don't believe it because we've never experienced it. Amen? And so we don't think it's possible. We don't think that that's a reality that we can attain here. We have to hope for that sometime in the future but Jesus says I have come. I have come to give you peace. Amen? That's why he's come. So over these next six weeks we want us we want you we want each of us to be overwhelmed by the good news by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen?" [20:39] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "And you as a resident of France at the time realize that and something of hope rises up in you because it wasn't just that they landed but they overcame the German army there in France at Normandy Beach and therefore changing the trajectory of the war. Amen. So now let's go back further. Let's put ourselves in the cave of Bethlehem around the year zero and then angels have just reported by shepherds have appeared in the field singing glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace to men of goodwill for to you a child is born a son is given to you and they shall name him Wonder Counselor Father of all. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Bethlehem, and you realize he is from heaven, what has he come for? Spoiler, the answer is the same as the allies, which is to fight. Yes, Jesus came to fight." [25:35] (73 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "When I realized that I've been saved or rescued when there was no reason to be rescued, they didn't have to, they didn't have to, the allies didn't have to traverse the Atlantic just to save them. They didn't have to. They didn't have to. They didn't have to. They could just like hung out by themselves. But when I realized that I had been rescued by no merit of my own, it compels me to respond. And so we have to ask the question, why do we do what we do? Why do we do what we do at the Mass? Why do I come to Mass each week? Just because I was brought up this way or because I'm responding to someone who has saved me. Amen?" [27:14] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Because brothers and sisters, you were not created by accident. You were intended by God from the very moment of your conception. And I don't care if your parents didn't intend you. He intended you. Amen? Can you just say, I was intended by God. And not only, see, here's the thing about God is when he intends something, he does it with delight. So can you say, I was delightfully intended by God? And I know some of you refuse to say that because you don't believe it's true. But the hope of this is that as we listen to the gospel, we become vastly aware. that you and I have been delightfully intended by God." [28:00] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "The purpose of the gospel is to give us direction. I mean, it's more than that. It's to save us. But it can help us understand a framework. And then the question is, how do I get there? Why am I created? Where am I going? And how do I get there? Because Father John Ricardo goes off of three convictions. The first is, that you were created with purpose. Number two, is that the world is crying. Can you say, the world is crying? So this book was written in 2018. And so here's three statistics." [29:57] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "The world was crying even before COVID. And during the COVID pandemic, the world shouted in pain. The second factor is this. From 1999 to 2016, death by liver cirrhosis, which is also very near and dear to us here, due to alcohol addiction, increased 65 % with the biggest jump among young people between 25 and 34. And the third factor for this heartbreaking number of early deaths is the current opioid addiction. Americans continue to suffer from opioid addiction. We consume 80 % of the world's opioids, even though it is only 5 % of the world's population. We're 5 % of the world's population, and we in America consume 80 % of the world's opioids. There's something crazy with that number, and it tells us, right? Jesus says we judge a tree by its fruits. The fruit of our society is that it is crying. It's saying, I need somebody to save me." [31:12] (65 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "So we hit the first one. I'm just going to run through the rest of the three. The first one is created. Everybody say created. The second one is captured. Everybody say captured. What does that mean? It means the Lord created the world in goodness, but the world was captured in sin. And so what does He do? Number three is rescued. Everybody say rescued. He enters in, just like the allies in Normandy, to save a people that is His own. So He rescues. And number four is response. Everybody say response." [32:14] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "Because you've been created with a purpose. He loves you dearly. In your captivity, he has come to rescue you. And when we've been rescued, when we've been rescued, we want to respond. And so we are both very excited to share this gospel with you. And sometimes when we hear the word gospel, we think like, oh, yeah, the thing we hear on Sunday. It's like, that's just a piece of the gospel. The good news is that Jesus Christ has come for you. He's come to set you free. And there's nothing, no more good news than that. And so what we want to do is ask the Lord for the grace to be overwhelmed." [33:30] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)