JESUS SAID | Luke 23:43

Well, listen to what second Corinthians chapter six verse two says. I think we'll have it on the screen. Second Corinthians six two says, behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. See, you can't predict when it's over, but here's what we know is that based on Jesus's statement to the thief on the cross, when it's over, it's over. It's today. It's not, I'll get a chance later. And I wanna encourage you. Listen, some of us, maybe we've been putting off following Jesus for a long time. And I'm not just talking about getting baptized. I'm not just talking about, you know, saying a sinner's prayer. I'm talking about truly being in a relationship with God. [01:11:53] (55 seconds)  #NowIsTheTime

It's not that your parents went to church. There's only one thing that can get you from as far away from God as possible to sitting in his lap on the throne. It is the blood of Jesus. Listen to John chapter 14 verse six. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Nothing gets you to god except full belief in Jesus, making him your savior and your king. The contrast in this story couldn't be greater, could it? From one thief to another, the great bridge in the middle that gets us to God. One thief brings us pride. He brings us demands. The other brings his belief and brings us humility. But Jesus brings the power. [01:15:59] (67 seconds)  #OnlyThroughJesus

But he comes to Jesus, confessing his sin with humility, acknowledging his kingship, and prays and begs, remember me. Know me. Be in relationship with me, and Jesus gives him grace. So listen, there is only one thing that can get you from as far away from God to right in his lap on the throne. There's only one thing that gets you there. It's not your church attendance. It's not your how much you give to charity. It's not how good you are. It's not being given the good citizenship award at heaven, I mean or at your workplace. It's not the type of job you have or how much money you make or how big your house is or how many kids you have. [01:15:08] (51 seconds)  #GraceNotWorks

I have two very simple next steps for us tonight. The first one is today to give your life to Jesus. Ask him to forgive you of your sins, give him kingship of your life and do it today. Maybe you've mustered in your head that it needs to look a certain way, be a certain way, you should be acting a certain way. No it just needs to be today. Maybe you've drifted far from God. You're not gonna claw your way back but Jesus he'll find you. And you don't need to claw back, just need to sit where you're at and say Jesus will you come get me? [01:21:45] (63 seconds)  #GiveYourLifeToday

And we have been putting it off and putting it off and putting it off. And I wanna tell you that Jesus loves you so much that he looks at you and he turns his head with the crown of thorns coming down and says, today. Today. Today. Follow me today. We don't have to push this off. And I want you to take great courage that when Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise, the thief didn't start saying, great. What do I need to do? That's our mindset in America. Great. Great. What do I do next? What if the answer was just love him? What if the answer was to reciprocate his love for you? Could you still come? You know, at that point, there's only one thing standing between you and grace, pride. Your pride. [01:12:48] (68 seconds)  #DropPrideAcceptGrace

This this criminal like I mean, and our our level of justice we're going, how is that fair? I'm sitting here and I've given Jesus this and I'm doing this for Jesus and this for Jesus and I feel like I'm struggling and struggling. And it goes down to this, and I guess you can write this down, but just grace isn't fair. Not fair. But the good news is that it's actually not fair for you either. You don't deserve it either. Listen to Ephesians chapter two verse eight. The apostle Paul writes, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God. [01:10:01] (50 seconds)  #GraceIsAGift

I love that he asked Jesus this one simple prayer, and I call it a prayer because he's talking to God, and that's what prayer is. Remember me. When you go to your kingdom, you're the king. When you go to your kingdom, here's my prayer. Remember me. You hear the intimacy behind it? Do you hear the closeness behind it? That word remember me means to know me, to claim me. And isn't that interesting that that's what we do when we take communion? If you look over here, some signs may be covering up. There's a verse that we have right where we take communion every week, and it's where Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me. See, it's on the cross that Jesus remembered us, and it is through remembering the cross that we remember him. [01:01:21] (62 seconds)  #RememberMePrayer

Without Jesus, every single one of us is this thief. We are all about ourselves. Me, me, me, and we treat Jesus kinda like a spare tire. What I mean by that is the spare tire is not ideal. Right? You never think about your tires, do you? Like you're driving down there unless you hit something. But if you don't hit anything, you're not driving down the road and everything's really smooth, and you're not like, wonder how the spare tire's doing back there. You know? No. In fact, some of you don't even know if you have a spare tire. Like, you're gonna have to go look in your trunk later tonight or tomorrow and figure out if you even have a spare tire. [00:46:14] (40 seconds)  #StopUsingJesusAsSpare