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from their sins. I want you, if you know without a doubt today that your sins are forgiven and under the blood, I want you to give the Lord a rousing applause, a great big thank you for his kindness and mercy. >> [applause] [cheering] >> Hallelujah. >> [applause] >> Hallelujah. >> [applause] >> Sandra and I are thrilled to see you again. >> [music] >> It's good to be back. This is a beautiful crowd, a Thanksgiving crowd. We have eaten well, haven't we? And we have done a lot of things well this week, but we're in God's house today to bless his name. And I just want to tell you something. It ain't the same sitting in front of a screen drinking coffee watching the service. Oh, no. I'll be here. And I want to say to these musicians and these singers, there's there's not a word. We are blessed beyond measure to have this kind of talent. >> [applause] >> And now, Father, in this soft moment when we feel your peace enveloping us like a warm blanket. In this moment when it's as though angels are standing around us. We just want to say thank you for Jesus. We have no other reason to be alive. There's nothing else to preach or sing about. And nothing else to live for except Jesus. Jesus, may you be pleased today at the way we talk about you and praise you. Father, may you take joy in the way we, who have received this great salvation, are thanking you for sending your son. Holy Spirit, thank you for being here in this building, in our hearts and lives, and helping us to worship. We don't know how to do it without your help. I thank you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and ask that in the next few moments, if you don't come, that we will hear and be blessed. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Everybody said amen. Thank you for being seated. I'm going to read from the 116th Psalm, kind of carrying on Thanksgiving today, and remind you that the 116th Psalm was one of the Psalms that Jesus sang with his apostles the night he was betrayed. It's called the Hallel. And he and his chosen actually sang this as a hymn. It's amazing because hundreds of years before Jesus even came, David wrote these words about Jesus. And then Jesus actually sings with his disciples about himself. That amazes me. So, let me begin by reading out of Psalm 116. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplication. Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. I love that. Now, this is the second service, so I'm going to take it a little easy, okay? Take my time. David said, "I love the Lord because because he heard me. Because he's always listening to me." Now, skip down to verse 5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. Aren't you glad about that? Return to your rest, oh my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears. Now, this is Jesus singing singing with his apostles singing a song that David wrote hundreds of years before about how God was going to deliver Jesus through the cross, through death, to save our souls. You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore I spoke. I am greatly afflicted. >> [clears throat] >> I said in my haste, "All men are liars." Now, David's going back and forth. Now David is talking. You ever had a moment like that when you lost it? You were having a good devotional moment. You were thinking about the goodness of God. And then a family member showed up or a phone call was made or something happened and you said, "Everybody's lying." Liars everywhere. >> [snorts] >> But he got a hold of himself. And he said, "What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" What a question. What can I give to the Lord for all that he has given me? And this is the answer and it's odd. "I will take up the cup of salvation >> [clears throat] >> and call upon the name of the Lord." Wow. Totally against human thinking. Because we are geared to try to pay back. You give me something, I feel like I'm obligated to give you something. David said, "No, that's not the way it works with God." "God's been good to me," he said. "All the benefits that have come into my life are because God is good to me. What shall I give God in return for all his benefits toward me?" He said, "I'll take more." "I'll take all I can get." And that's biblical, brothers and sisters. We went through a little spell in the Christian community where people would say, "Uh you shouldn't seek his hand, you should seek his face." You shouldn't ask for stuff all the time. That's what God asked us to do. He said, "Ask." He said, "Ask largely." He said, "Ask all the time." >> [clears throat] >> God is honored when we ask him for something. Why? Because he is love. Love has to give. When I ask God for something, it says to God, "Only you have it, and I trust you to give it." Praise the Lord. "What shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? I will take more from God. I'll take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people." Let me say it again. God is most honored when we take what he offers. Praise God. Render, give back. That's That's an odd word to to use. It means to reimburse. How can I reimburse God for all that he's done for me? You can't. It's totally impossible. I want to tell you some things this morning that you've heard before. Now, if you're totally new to the Christian faith, or you've never been to a full gospel Bible preaching church, this will be new to you. But for the large number of people in here who come every Sunday, you already know what I'm going to say today. Nothing will be new. So, here it goes. Salvation is free. Salvation is a free gift from God. Salvation is God taking all of our sins, washing them away, throwing them away, and letting us live in the righteousness of Jesus. And it's free. Three times in Romans chapter 5, check it out. He calls it the free gift of salvation or the free gift of eternal life. Hey, God doesn't loan stuff. And there are no borrowers in the kingdom of God. God is a giver. We talk about eternal life. We We talk about the gift of eternal life. We never say the loan of eternal life. We never say, "God so loved the world that he loaned his only begotten son, that whosoever believes should not perish." We never talk about God loaning the son to us as long as we can tow the mark, as long as we can keep it up, as long as we can be faithful. For God so loaned the world that he gave his only begotten son. It doesn't say that. The wages of sin is death, but the loan of God is eternal It doesn't say that. James does not say every good and perfect loan comes from the Father. I know I'm dragging it along. I know I'm running it in the ground. But somebody needs to understand this because this is a spiritual battle that a lot of people fight. They think that they have to deserve a free gift. No, that's why it's a gift. You don't deserve it, but you get it anyway. They think that if they get it, they got to fight to hold on to it. No, sir. It's a free gift that he gives to you. They think that if they live right and do better, that they can keep the gift. No, sir. God gives you the gift of eternal life, makes a new creation out of you, gives you a new head, a new heart, a new home, everything about salvation is free, but it changes everything about you. I need to slow down. I'm starting to yell. I'm feeling like my old self again, and I got to take it easy. So, I just want you to understand, you receive from the Lord, but you know, in the original Bible language, receive and take mean the same thing. So, when David said, "I will take the cup of salvation." He meant, "I will receive the cup of salvation." So, when you receive or take the cup of salvation. By the way, this is a great thought. I just had this. Jesus drank the bitter cup and turned it into a cup of blessing. Oh, hallelujah. I just blessed myself right there. Where did that come from? Thank you, Jesus. That night he drank the bitter cup, knowing that he was going to shed his blood and suffer like nobody's ever suffered, but because he drank it, because he took it, I can now take it, and instead of it being a cup of anything, it's a cup of blessing. I'm blessed when I drink the cup of the Lord. >> [applause] >> I appreciate that one. You see, when you take the cup of salvation, you take Christ. Go through the book of Colossians and mark it. Take a red pencil, a pen. Check how many times Paul says, "in Christ, in Christ, in Christ." in Christ. So, when you take the cup of salvation, you are now in Christ. And in Christ, there is forgiveness of sins. Pastor, everybody knows what forgiveness is. They might know it up here, but too many Christians still wrestle with it in here. Forgiveness is when the forgiver, the one who has truly been offended, looks at you and says, "Because you have taken my son, I now declare you guiltless, forgiven. All sins in your past, whether it's an action or a thought, even even a mood, I forgive you. All present sins, I forgive you. All future sins, >> [snorts] >> cuz you're going to sin if you live long enough. Hello. Everybody in here's probably going to sin before next Sunday in some way or another. Aren't you glad that if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. It's not God's will for you to drag yesterday around. You are forgiven. Jesus did not die and rise again just so you could talk about, sing about the cup of salvation and yet be pulling an anchor of yesterday behind you. He forgives you in Christ. Yes, he cleanses you in Christ. He doesn't leave you all scaled up. He doesn't just pour a little cold water on you and douse you. He bathes you in his precious blood. There's no ring around the or ring around the collar. It's gone, brother. And Jesus' blood does that. I am forgiven. I am totally clean. Oh. Hallelujah. When I take the cup of salvation, I take acceptance. Do you know what that means? It means that God accepts me. Because of his son, Jesus. Now, listen to me, church. God loves me as much as he loves his son, Jesus. God loves his people, his church the with the same love he loves his son, Jesus. He doesn't look over at Jesus and glow and then look at us and smile. We are in Christ. You know, we are in Christ. So, when he looks at any of us who have taken the cup of salvation, heaven glows. When he offers us the free gift of salvation and we receive it, we honor God to the highest heaven. And at that moment, we become, listen, just like Jesus. We are not inferior to him in God's eyes. Oh, he's still God. He's still the second member of the Godhead. He's still the savior. He's still the lamb of God, but we are in Christ. And God the Father looks longingly and lovingly at us anytime we call on him in prayer. But, there's another thing. When I take the cup of salvation, I take adoption. I am adopted into the family of God. You know when a family adopts, they are essentially saying, "You may not have been born in this house, but this is now your house." I'm trying to hold myself back this morning. And the dad and the mom may set that adoptee down and say, "Listen, it may take a while for us to get used to each other. You're going to stumble and make mistakes. You don't know what we expect all the time, and we don't know what to expect out of you all the time, but we love you, and we're going to work through this thing together. And by the way, young man, you see that big refrigerator in there? That's your refrigerator. You can go in there anytime and make as big a sandwich as you want out of it. You can drink the milk, you can do anything. That's your refrigerator. Son, everything you see now belongs to you. And everything we are, you are now. That's what you get when you drink the cup of salvation. When you take salvation from the Lord, the Lord says, "Everything I've got belongs to you. You are not second rate, you are not second class, you are not on probation, you are not on parole. We brought you in, you are with us and we are with you, and everything I own belongs to you. Accept it in the beloved." And >> [applause] >> victory. In Christ, you have victory every day of your life. You're already victorious. Listen to me. I know in the heat of the moment, in the fog of the war, when you're crying out, "All men are liars. You can't trust anybody." Uh we all get that way sometime, but that doesn't mean we are defeated. It means we It means we are human, and we struggle, but we already have victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm on my way to heaven. I don't know about the rest of you. I'm on my way to heaven today. While I'm preaching to you, I got a mansion waiting on me. I I I got a place up in glory. I'm already seated beside the Lord in a heavenly place. We're just waiting till Jesus calls us home. But while we're waiting, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us and gave himself for us. Shout amen, somebody. >> [applause] >> And I want to tell you something about God. We don't get it right all the time in our prayers. We get frustrated. But God, thankfully, doesn't always listen to your words. He reads your heart. I kind of mess up sometimes trying to pray the right thing and pray the right number of times and I just mess up. I I feel like I'm redundant. I feel like I'm boring God. But see, that's not the way God sees us when we pray. He hears the longing in our hearts. When this right here, and if you're listening by radio, I'm pointing to my mouth and my tongue, when this right here fails us, this in here does not. Because the groaning of the Holy Spirit is the spirit of God telling God what the real issue is. The longing of your heart is the truest prayer to God. All of that you get in Christ. Well, there are some things that are not in Christ. And you ought not to take it. Want me to tell you what it is? Number one, guilt. Condemnation. Regret. There is no regret in Christ. There's no guilt in Christ. There's no condemnation in Christ. All of that is outside of Christ. So, if you're in Christ and you reach out and get a handful of guilt to pull it in cuz you insist on feeling bad about yesterday, you are doing something totally odd. It's an anomaly. It is unacceptable. Because when Christ died and rose again and paid the ultimate price for your sins, he did not expect you to feel guilty about them ever again. Guilt is not in Christ. Regret is not in Christ. Condemnation is not in Christ. And I'm praying today before this message is over, somebody will make a decision. I mean a foot-stomping declaration. I'm done feeling guilty about that. >> [applause] >> I am done regretting that. And I am not under condemnation from my God. I'm just going to tell you this morning uh the flesh the devil and religion all work together in keeping God's children guilty. Folks there's no way in this world that you can ever live the kind of life that will make you say, "I have no regrets. I don't feel guilty." We feel guilty about everything. We came into the world under the sin curse. We came into the world under guilt. Parents live in guilt. There's not a parent in here that doesn't look back and say I wish I wish I had I should have if I'd only known We do that. I'm going to tell you something that's going to try to dog you the rest of your life and it will if you let it. If Pastor Greg and Laura are watching right now down in Atlanta with uh Joe and Lily and that new really big fat baby if y'all happen to be in the same room watching this I just want to tell you Joe and Lily you're not going to get it right. You don't know how to be a parent. Look over at your dad. Ask him if he knew how. Lara, tell her you didn't know how either. It's all an experiment. And you need the help of God. And by the time you raise them, you look back and say, "Oh, now, ooh-wee, I see." But it's too late. But that's the way God designed it. And now, Satan is trying to bring that against you all the time, making you feel guilty, uh encumbering you, weighing you down with what if and oh Lord, I shouldn't have. And it doesn't change a thing except your confidence in the Lord. So, I I'll say it again. My prayer today is that somebody will make a decision in this service. There's not a thing I can do about yesterday. Except take the cup of salvation, take the forgiveness, take all that God has, and say to guilt, "Out of my life." And say to regret, "No more." And say to condemnation, "You don't belong here." It's just the way it is. The first murder ever committed, Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. Why was he jealous? Cain brought to God an offering of stuff he grew, things he did with his hands, his efforts. Abel brought a blood sacrifice, which was what God said, "I want you to bring." See, the problem is we want to bring God our efforts and our accomplishments, show God how big, bad, and strong we are, stomp our feet and show him how determined we are. We can fight this fight. And God says, "I don't accept that." All I accept is what I ask for. If you take what I give you, and if you offer what I ask for, I accept you. See, that's the whole point. And I want to tell you that in fact [clears throat] the other week Sandra and I were at an event. And we ran into a couple there. And they had been to church in the past while, and the lady said, "Oh, Pastor, we love your church. We love it." I said, "But you haven't been back." You know what she said? It's that Catholic guilt. It's Catholic guilt. I'm Catholic. I can't get away from it. I feel guilty all the time. I feel guilty about going to a Protestant church. I feel guilty about missing mass. Can I say something to everybody? Any church that controls you with guilt and fear is not of God. >> [applause] >> Any church that controls its membership, its people, it it with any kind of dogma that makes them feel afraid if they don't is not of God. Jesus died so that religion wouldn't have to control us or condemn us. He became our life, not an organization. Even in this organization that we belong to, the Church of God, if it controls people and condemns people, it's not of God. If it's Baptist, if it's Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Episcopal, any group, any religion that tries to take control of your life and keep you under its thumb is not of God. Because whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Hallelujah to God. >> [applause] >> You are free from that kind of mind control, that kind of fear, that kind of condemnation. And if you belong to a church like that, get out. Get out. Pastor, do you know what you're saying? Of course I know what I'm saying. I planned to say it. If you're in a place where you don't feel free, where's the joy of the Lord? Hey, here we go. I knew I was going to lose it in just a moment. Any church that is dead and dried up and people are afraid and they're stiff and starchy and can't raise their hands and can't say thank you, Jesus, and the the choir sings dead hymnal dirges, funeral dirges. Folks, I could go on and on about dead preaching and dead pastors and dead everything. Jesus Christ walked out of a tomb on the third day, not so we could sit in religious bondage, but so we could be free indeed and worship in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness. >> [applause] >> That's right. Shout amen, somebody. >> [applause] >> You don't need to raise your hand or anything else, but >> [snorts] >> have you ever said, "I need to pray more?" Yeah, you don't need to raise your hand. You don't need to do cuz we've all done it. I need to pray more. Then do it. But if you don't, don't feel condemned. Ask the Lord to help you. Oh, I need to read my Bible more. Who doesn't? Folks, I've been doing this for a long time. This is what I do, excuse me, for a living. And I don't care how much I read, how much I pray, how much I memorize, I don't care what I do, it's never enough in my mind. And the devil always brings it up. You know, you watch that football game, uh you could have been praying. Oh, you went on that missions trip. Uh you should have stayed with your family. Your family needs you. It just there's no end to the condemnation. I'm about to say something right here. At some point, you have to stop dead in your tracks and realize that when Christ, your savior, was hanging on a cross and bleeding to death, he looked up and yelled and said, "It is finished." That meant that there are no more blood sacrifices. God won't kill you cuz you didn't do the right sacrifice. God won't hurt you because you ate the wrong food. God won't punish you because you didn't go to the temple. It's finished. Religion is finished. Now, we are new creations in Christ Jesus. We've taken the cup of salvation and we are children of the most high God. >> [applause] >> I'm going to tell you a story. And I'll say this first. You can receive the gift. You can reject the gift. But you cannot reimburse the gift. No sense in trying. No sense in saying, "Well, I'm going to go to church more cuz God's been so good to me." Some of you are taking this the wrong way. You just have to work it out, okay? No sense in saying, "You know, I'm just going to If Dennis will let me in, I'll join that choir. And I'm going on six mission trips this year. I'm going to every Sunday school class on campus. I'm just going to crazy with this cuz God's been so good to me." What shall you render to the Lord for all of his goodness to you? That's not the way this works. You bless him by saying, "Thank you. Give me more. More of Jesus. I'll take all of Jesus." This is the great story right here. There was a very wealthy land owner. >> [clears throat] >> He had one son who was sorry. A [clears throat] no-good, sorry, prodigal son. He also had a slave who was faithful and kind, took good care of of the man and the man loved him. And his name was Marcellus. The slave's name was Marcellus. The wealthy landowner found out he was going to die. He's in bed taking his last breath. He calls in Marcellus. And he said, "Marcellus, I love you. Thank you for all you've done. And because of your faithfulness, I bequeath this entire estate to you. It all belongs to you." His rogue son comes in. He says, "Son, I love you, but you're not worthy. Although you are my son, and I will let you choose one [clears throat] thing out of this. You may choose one thing only." He looked at his dad and said, "You gave all this to Marcellus?" His dad said, "Yes." He said, "Then I choose Marcellus." Did you get it? >> Yes. >> Marcellus had everything. The son might have been a rotten son, but he had enough sense to know that if you got Marcellus, he got everything his daddy had. I just preached the gospel >> [clears throat] >> I just preached the gospel message to you. And I just told you that in Christ is everything you will ever need. In Christ is forgiveness, atonement, cleansing, power, victory, love, joy, wisdom, health, healing. Everything you need is in Christ. The best thing you will ever do in your life is say, "I take Jesus. I can't get that stuff by myself, but I'll take Jesus, cuz if I've got Jesus, I've got everything I'll ever need in my entire life. >> [applause] >> Come on, somebody. Stand with me. >> [applause] >> Here's why I want you to stand and then now this is what I want you to do. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all the people. I will offer to you the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord. David's not talking about paying God back. He's talking about paying God thank yous. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like for you to fill these aisles up, fill this front up. Fill the steps up. Everybody come as close to the front as you possibly can. Today. There you go. Cuz we're going to offer the sacrifice [music] of Thanksgiving. We've taken the cup of salvation. We've called on the name of the Lord. It would be an honor to God for us to stand here this morning with raised hands and thankful hearts and make a big deal out of Jesus. How many of you realize you've been blessed beyond anything you can imagine anyway? [music] You know we're the richest people on the planet Earth. Do you know we have more food than any any other nation in the world? Do you understand how blessed we are? I want to say thank you to God that I got to be born in America. I want to say thank you to God that I got to be brought up by godly parents. [music] That I get to work with my brother and my sister, my family in church work. That I get to stand with people I love. >> Amen. >> All kinds, all classes, all colors, all cultures, and we get to worship the same Jesus together. I'm thankful for a good church. >> Yes. Yes. >> Aren't you? >> Yes. >> [applause] >> Sometimes God heals and we thank him for it. Sometimes he doesn't and we praise him anyway. See, that's the kind of God he is. So, I want you to if you can, just take these hands, hold them up, and we're together going to sing a song [music] of praise. So, get your mind on it, get your heart in it, and get [music] ready. We want to impress the angels right now. Ready? >> [singing] [singing and music] >> Yes, Lord.

>> [music] >> Lord, [singing] now >> Praise the Lord. I want to do two things. I want to do two things. Number one, I want somebody to say today, "I'm done with guilt. I'm done with regret. I'm done with condemnation. I can't change anything [music] but God has already taken care of it." Could I Is Is this too much to ask to be set free indeed and not be tangled again with a yoke of bondage? In the name of Jesus, Almighty God, I pray today that these chains of guilt, condemnation, and regret will fall off. May we have to step over them as we leave today because we are free indeed in Christ Jesus. >> [applause] >> Do it. And the next thing I want >> [applause] >> to say is this. I don't know when I preached it sometime last year. We need to enjoy Jesus. Not just work for him. Not just serve him. We need to enjoy Jesus. Are you? Are you all happy in the Lord today? I know I've asked you to do a lot of stuff this morning. But it's not a thing that Jesus doesn't enjoy. Praise him. Praise him. Go ahead, Dennis. >> [applause] >> God has been good to me. Can you say it?