The Astonishing Authority of Christ

0:44 So there was a federal agent who went to a ranch in Texas, a large ranch, talked with the old rancher who owned and maintained that piece of property, and the agent said, I need to inspect your property. We've heard rumors that you have illegal drugs on the premises.

1:05 And so the rancher said, okay, but whatever you do, don't go to that field over there. Well, at that point, the federal agent went ballistic, pulled out his badge, and he said, I have the full authority of the federal government. I do what I want. I go where I want, wherever, anytime. Got it? Do you understand? Did I make myself clear? And so the rancher nodded and apologized and went about his chores. Well, a few minutes later, the rancher heard a scream, and he looked over to the field where the agent was told not to go, and he saw him running. He was running for his life, chased by a 2,200-pound Texas longhorn bull, and that animal was gaining ground on the agent.

2:12 It looked like he was about to be gored. And so the agent just shouted at the top of his lungs, help, help. Well, the rancher dropped his tools, ran over to the fence and said, the badge. Show him the badge. The moral in that little story is that authority has to be more than just pronounced. It has to be proven. It is the demonstration of authority that validates the proclamation of authority. Jesus has just, in effect, proclaimed his authority. Back in verse 15 of chapter 1, he came on the scene in Galilee and he made this announcement. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

3:14 That is the king announcing the kingdom. In effect, he's saying the kingdom is here because I am here. The king has come. Now you would expect that such a king would have some kind of power and he would be able to demonstrate the kingship that he pronounced. That's what they asked him to do. When he goes into Jerusalem and takes a whip and starts driving people out of the temple because he calls it his father's house, the leader said, By what authority do you do these things and who gave you that authority? when our Lord commissioned his disciples before he ascended into heaven and sent them out into all the world he began by saying this all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth but then he demonstrated that authority for three and a half years he showed, he demonstrated over and over again his divine authority, both over the natural world as well as the supernatural world. When it came to the natural world, he did things like turning water into wine. He did things like walking on the water. He did things like healing sick people and raising dead people.

4:43 He had complete and total authority over the natural world, but he also had authority over the supernatural world. He forgave sinners. He restored broken hearts. He cast out demons. He promised eternal life to those who believed in him. Today, beginning in verse 21, that's where we're gonna start in chapter one, down to verse 34, Mark will give us three credentials of his divine authority. Three credentials. In effect, Mark shows us the badge that gives Jesus his authority. We're going to look at three areas of that authority. Authority over dispassion, or you might call it disinterest. Authority over demons and authority over disease. Let's begin with the first, authority over dispassion.

5:40 Verse 21, then they went into Capernaum. Now let me just unfold a couple of things. Notice they. So before it was Jesus, but then he called his disciples and he said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Now they have joined him. Now he has his team. He has his men. And Mark just introduces us to the beginning of Jesus' ministry by saying, then they, Jesus and his men, went into Capernaum. Capernaum is a little archaeological site now, but it was a thriving fishing village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee at that time. Very robust. He went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and he taught.

6:35 Just a quick note, he's not preaching, he's teaching. He will be preaching later on, but here he is in the company of God's people and he will be expounding to them the scripture. He is teaching them. Verse 22, and they were astonished at his teaching for he taught, here's the word, He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Now let me paint a picture for you of ancient synagogue worship. First of all, the synagogue itself. The synagogue, if you know your Old Testament, you have noticed that in the entire Old Testament, there's not a single mention of the word synagogue because the institution did not exist in the Old Testament. There was one place of worship that was the tabernacle later on, the temple. But in 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed that temple and moved the people to Babylon for 70 years.

7:38 While they were in Babylon, they developed the institution called sunagoge, or the synagogue, the bringing together. That's what the word means. The bringing together of people. because they had no temple. They couldn't offer sacrifice. They had no formal priestly function. So they would get together in smaller groups and discuss the law or hear the law being taught. Well, when they came back 70 years later, back to their homeland, they kept the synagogue as well as the temple. So wherever you went in the Jewish world, there were synagogues. And there is a synagogue at this time in the city of Capernaum. Now in the synagogue, there were different, you might say, staff members. There was number one, the ruler of the synagogue. And the ruler of the synagogue is the guy who made the order of service each week for the synagogue service.

8:38 We happen to know the name of the synagogue ruler in Capernaum. We're going to meet him in a few chapters. His name is Jairus. Jairus is going to be very interested in Jesus later on when his 12-year-old daughter is sick and about to die, and Jesus will be called in to heal. That's the ruler of the synagogue. Then there was always a group of elders, and the elders sat up front. They had the chief seats. They had the reserve seats because they were the muckety-muck bigwigs of Judaism.

9:16 Then there was somebody called the Chazan, and the Chazan was the minister. And he's sort of a cross between a pastor and a janitor. He kept the Torah scrolls safe to be brought out every Sabbath service, but he also trimmed the lamps so people could see and cleaned the building. third or fourth there was a group called the almoners about two or three of them in every congregation almoners were those who collected alms and the alms were used to give to the poor in the community and then there was somebody called the delegate the delegate of the congregation in Hebrew, sheliach tzibur. And the sheliach tzibur, the delegate, is the one who read the scripture and gave the meaning of it. He gave an exposition of the Old Testament scripture.

10:16 And then in this case, there was somebody called the interpreter. Because the scriptures were in Hebrew, written in Hebrew, but the people didn't speak Hebrew, they spoke Aramaic, they needed somebody to translate the Hebrew into the Aramaic. And so they had a liturgy for the synagogue service. This is how the synagogue service typically went. It would always begin exactly the same way, with the same prayer, called the Shema, the famous Jewish prayer out of Deuteronomy. It was usually performed by a priest. He would raise his hands. He would face Jerusalem, and he would say, Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and the whole congregation would respond, Amen.

11:10 Then the delegate would stand up, the person chosen to give exposition. The scripture would be read in Hebrew, then the interpreter would interpret it into Aramaic, then the delegate would launch into his sermon, his message for the day. At the end of the sermon, there was always a benediction given to the people by the priest, at which point they would all again say, Amen. Well, that liturgy created a dispassion. They became dispassionate, disconnected, detached, disinterested, because they always knew what was coming. It was sort of the same old, same old, same old, especially when the sermons were given by the typical rabbis, the typical scribes and Pharisees who gave these messages. Let me explain that. Scribes and Pharisees were slaves to quotation marks. They always loved to quote what the ancient rabbi said about this or about that.

12:19 They loved to quote authorities, and they prided themselves in knowing all the possible views of all the scholars on every little detail in the text. And they would drag on. So it would sound something like this. Well, Rabbi Hallel says this about that, but Rabbi Shammai says that about this. But then there's Rabbi Gamaliel who says these things about all those things. And they would just quote, quote, quote. That's why I say they were slaves to quotation marks. What that meant is the service became formulaic, dry, rigid, mechanical, predictable. until now. On this day, Jesus Christ is the delegate of the assembly. He is the sheliach tzibur. And that was typical if there's a visiting rabbi or somebody who is qualified as an adult Jewish male of standing, he would be invited to give the teaching. Paul the apostle was afforded that whenever he traveled to synagogues, you remember, Paul would get up as a visiting rabbi and would share the gospel. Well, news has already spread. Buzz is out about this Jesus guy in Capernaum. He's already made the announcement the kingdom of God is at hand. And so they're very eager to hear what he has to say. All the Capernaumites, if that's even a word, are all gathered in anticipation to hear what he has to say. And so he speaks. And when he speaks, when he teaches, verse 22, they were, notice the word, astonished. That's a word that's powerful word. It means to be struck out of oneself, to be struck out of oneself, or to strike with panic

14:27 or with shock. All that means is when Jesus spoke that day in the synagogue, people were gobsmacked. They were, we would say, blown away at what they heard. His preaching packed a punch. It struck a blow to the heart. And that is one of the most notable features of Jesus' teaching and preaching ministry. You will notice it throughout the gospel. He spoke with authority. He was direct to the point, black and white, sometimes offensive, many times offensive. When he gave the Sermon on the Mount, it says, when he had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

15:21 Very similar to what we read here. Now, remember back to that Sermon on the Mount. The reason they were so astonished is because he said things like, you have heard that it was said to those of old, such and such, but I say unto you.

15:41 Very authoritative. I've always loved that part in John 7 when the leaders in Jerusalem commissioned a group of guys to go arrest Jesus. And so they go out, find Jesus, and they come back without Jesus. And the leaders go, so what's up? I mean, you had one job to get Jesus and bring him here. And all they could say back was, never a man spoke like this man.

16:13 He spoke with authority. They had never heard such words of wisdom, depth, insight, words that actually had weight to them. So they're astonished. Now, I just draw your attention back to that word astonished because, you know, Mark could have said a lot of things. He could have said they were impressed.

16:35 They were delighted. But no, he uses the word astonished. astonished. And so we should ask ourselves, why were they so astonished? And I think that the answer is because they have been waiting for this for a long time. And they were living in anticipation. Remember back to our first study in the Gospel of Mark? I showed how messianic expectation was at fever pitch among the Jewish people of the land when Jesus hit the ground. in his ministry. They were expecting him. They had been so oppressed by the Romans and the prophecy of Isaiah 9, the people that sat in darkness have seen a great light. So they were so ready. And so Jesus comes as the delegate on that day and speaks truth, and people are astonished. This is what they have been waiting for. But there's another question I want to ask, and that is not why are they so astonished.

17:42 The more important question is why aren't we astonished? Why is it that we can hear the same truth? Eh, we become sermon connoisseurs. I want to answer that. And I think the reason for that is overexposure.

18:09 Familiarity. You know, you, you know, the saying familiarity breeds contempt. Not that we have contempt, but we've just heard these stories so many times. So we're hearing it again. We go, and I hope you got something new for me. because I've heard this. Over familiarity. Now, I was raised in a Catholic church. I never heard the Bible taught. I heard a couple stories coming out here and there, but when I came to faith and I actually started reading the Bible, I was pretty amazed what was actually in there.

18:45 And then I sometimes envy my wife who had less exposure than I had. She was raised an atheist. So coming from an atheistic background, suddenly she goes to Bible studies. She genuinely was astonished because she had no background, no baggage to bring to the table. So they're astonished. Let me make a suggestion to us all that we do this going forward from now on. Before you come to church, don't just grab your purse, grab your Bible, head out the door.

19:20 But pause and pray. You don't have to pray long, but just pray. You can pray long if you'd like. But just ask the Holy Spirit, Lord, I'm going to church this morning, give me, Holy Spirit, fresh eyes and fresh ears to see and to hear truth in a different way. It is what the psalmist said in Psalm 119. He said, open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law. That's the prayer. Open my eyes that I might see wondrous things from your word. Let Jesus Christ exercise his authority over any indifference, disinterest, dispassionate attitude that we might have. That's authority over dispassion, the blasé feeling. Second is his authority over demons. Now the story goes on. He's in the synagogue. Verse 23, there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. He has a demon. And he cried out. Literally, he screamed.

20:31 He shrieked. That'd be an interesting day at church. Saying, let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

20:54 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be quiet and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, what is this? What new doctrine is this? For, here's the word again, with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And immediately his fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee. Interesting sermon. The delegate, Jesus, stands up, reads his text, gives an exposition of whatever text he preached or spoke from. We're not told. I wish perhaps we were, but he is giving his sermon and his sermon gets interrupted by a demon-possessed shriek. Now there's two things striking about this little story here. It strikes me. Number one, you got a demon-possessed guy in church.

22:00 Yes, the devil comes to church. he's there in church. How long has he been in the synagogue? We don't know. He could have just been visiting. Maybe he had been there a long time. Maybe he was on the welcome team. No offense to the welcome team. I'm not casting shade, but he could have been there a long time and nobody knew. So that is striking. The second thing that strikes me here is that the only ones that are sure of Jesus' true identity were demons. You notice what the confession is. Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God.

22:58 They are confessing on one hand his humanity, on the other hand his deity. These demons understood who the second person of the Trinity was. They understood, can I be theological, the hypostatic union. Fully God, fully man. They understood it. They confessed it. Jesus of Nazareth, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. How ironic that they, of all the beings in this section, are the only ones that have the true identity of Jesus. Leaders rejected him, the Jewish leaders. The crowds didn't really know who he was. They were uncertain. And even the disciples were unsure at first, right? When Jesus calmed the Sea of Galilee, they said, Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him? But the demons knew.

23:55 They had positive ID on him. They knew exactly who he was. They knew who he was because he created them. They knew who he was because he was there when they fell from heaven. was Satan. So they knew who he was. Now there's an important lesson as we move through this, and that is simply that Satan hides in dead religion. He hangs out there.

24:27 He lives and dwells and hides in false religion. He hides in churches. churches who say we believe in Jesus we believe in the Bible but they fashion the Bible and fashion Jesus and fashion God to accommodate their lifestyle second Corinthians 11 Paul said they are false apostles they are deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. You remember when Jesus in Revelation wrote the little, the seven letters to the seven churches, he wrote to Philadelphia. He spoke of those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews but are liars. Well, likewise, there are churches throughout our city and our country controlled by demons, perpetuating error and falsehood. John MacArthur wrote this, Satan is most effective in the church when he comes not as an open enemy, but as a false friend. Not when he persecutes the church, but when he joins it. Not when he attacks the pulpit, but when he stands in it.

25:47 so Jesus is teaching, and as truth is being disseminated from the lips of the Son of God, a demon shrieks. That's why I say it was an interesting service. I've always given this analogy. You know, I always say, you know, when you turn on a porch light in the summer, the bugs come. Maybe it's a better analogy to say when you turn on the lights in the kitchen, the cockroaches flee, right? The light freaks them out. So let me throw something out that you may have never considered before, but I think it's going to help you understand what is happening. In the entire Old Testament, all of Old Testament history, there is not a single incidence of demon possession. Not one. Except, the only exception is Genesis 6, sons of God, daughters of men. If you ascribe demon possession to that, that is the one and only example. So let's say one in the Old Testament. You go past the Gospels to the book of Acts, there's only two.

27:03 when you come to the Gospels, the life of Jesus Christ, they're all over the place. It's like demons come out of the woodwork. In the Gospel of Mark alone, 14 times in just this account. The man in the synagogue here that we read about in chapter 5 of Mark, there'll be the Gadarene demoniac who will show up. In Matthew chapter 9, there's the mute and demon-possessed man. In Mark chapter 7, there's the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman who is plagued by demons. There's an epileptic boy also controlled by demonic behavior, Mark chapter 9. Then there was Mary Magdalene, of whom it says Jesus cast out, anybody remember how many? Seven demons.

27:57 so no demon possession or one in the old testament two in the book of acts but rife they're everywhere in the gospel accounts it's as if the authority of jesus forces their identity they could have been hiding every week in the synagogue nobody knows but as soon as jesus comes in they know that he knows nobody else can see those demons they know jesus can so jesus shows up and they manifest. It's as if the authority of Jesus ferrets them out. Okay, something else I think you should notice, you maybe already have in verse 23 through 25. Notice the difference of singular and plural. You might just read over this, but you shouldn't. Notice, there was a man, singular, in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. That's singular. And he, singular, cried out, saying, let us alone. That's plural. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? And then back to singular. I know who you are, the Holy One of God. It's one particular demon speaking on behalf of a whole bunch of others. Who are the others? I think he is speaking for the entire one-third of the angels that fell with Satan in the rebellion.

29:24 In other words, we all know who you are. We all recognize you. We are all fully aware of your mission, and we are aware that one day you are going to cast us all into the lake of fire. They knew that before Jesus announced that in Matthew 25. They knew that before John wrote about the details of that in the book of Revelation. They knew their end, that the Messiah would come and would cast them all into the lake of fire. And they are afraid that this is the time. They knew that Jesus has the authority to do that. This is what James meant when he said, Even the demons believe and what? Tremble. They tremble. They're terrified. And so Jesus, short verse, he rebuked them, rebuked him saying, be quiet and come out of him.

30:28 Be quiet and come out of him. No dialogue, no discussion, no negotiation. No struggle. Not, I bind you, Satan, just out. Just out. Two commands. The first command silenced him. The second command drove him out. Now that silence gets reinforced. Go all the way down to verse 34. Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases, cast out many demons, and did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him. now if the demons are the only ones that got the identity of Jesus Christ 100% correct, why wouldn't he allow them to speak? You're going to notice this throughout the entire ministry of Christ. He will not let demons testify of him. He did not want nor need the testimony of Satan.

31:33 he does not want hell to be his pr agent so he doesn't allow them to speak and when he drives them out the reaction is astonishment they're amazed at the authority of jesus what is this what new doctrine is this with authority he commands the demons and they obey him. Now, what does all this mean to you personally? Here's what it means. Dear Christian, if you are in Christ, if you belong to Christ, you have nothing to fear. You have no reason to fear the devil. And it's not that he's afraid of you. He's not. You're a microbe to him. You are nothing to him. But the God inside of you terrifies him.

32:30 Terrifies him. John will write this. You know the verse? Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Christ is in you. The spirit is in you. Greater than the spirit of this world, Satan. So authority over dispassion, authority over demons. The third area of authority is authority over disease. This is part three of his badge, you might say. Verse 29. As soon as they had come out of the synagogue, and can you hear them talking? What a service was that? That was wild. They entered the house of Simon. What's Simon's other name? Peter and Andrew. That's his brother, Peter and Andrew's house. With James and John, their buddies, their partners in fishing. But Simon's wife's mother.

33:27 So again, notice Peter, first pope. has a wife, presents some problems, but he's married. There's Peter, but there's also Mrs. Peter and also Mrs. Peter's mom. Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever and they told him about her at once. So he came, took her by the hand, lifted her up. Immediately the fever left her and she served them. Now this is authority over disease. He showed authority in his speech, authority over Satan. Now authority over sickness. Okay. It was customary kind of like today here now. It was customary on Saturday, on Sabbath day, after the Sabbath service in the synagogue to go home and have Sabbath meal at the sixth hour, 12 noon typically, like we have Sunday brunch.

34:26 So they go to Peter's house. And it's not only Peter's house, but it's, as I said, Mrs. Peter's house. But can we just acknowledge Peter's faith here for a moment? He lives with his mother-in-law. You know, I'm not going to belabor this, but come on. Of all the bad things you could say about Peter, hand this to him. He lets his mother-in-law live with him. That was customary in those days. So Peter and Mrs. Peter, his wife's mother, his mother-in-law, and Andrew, and if he had a family, all living in that house. They come over for lunch. She is sick in bed, the mother-in-law. Simon and Andrew, James and John, had just seen an incredible display in the synagogue of Jesus' authority in his speech over demons, and they immediately think he could fix her.

35:24 Now, Mark just says she has a fever. Luke's account says she has a high fever. And why is that important? Because Luke, what did he do for a living? He was a doctor. So when the doctor says she's got a high fever, that's significant. It's such a high fever that according to Mark and Luke, she's bedridden. She can't get up. She can't sit around. She's on her back. And in Luke's account, they ask Jesus. they come to him and they request him to touch the mother-in-law because they know he could do it. So he does. He lifts her up. And I love this. Immediately, the fever left her. Notice that. No lag time. No recovery period. No persistent symptoms. Jesus doesn't say, now, dear, lay back down till you get your strength. She got her strength. You know, when we get a fever and the fever breaks, it takes a while to regain our strength. But here, her energy returned. She is functioning at full strength. Obviously, Jesus has complete and utter total authority over disease.

36:39 rebukes it, it's gone. Never to return. And so what does she do? She served them. Can you just see this lady standing up, smiling, going, now you boys sit down. I'm going to make you a nice Sabbath meal. She served them. Best way to express your gratitude to Jesus is to serve him. Serve him. If you've been touched by God, serve him. There was a woman in Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon's church. You know, I like to refer back to him a lot. And Charles Spurgeon, that great Victorian preacher, he had this woman who had come to Christ. She was converted and she had a radical change in his life, but she was also very talkative. And she came up to Spurgeon one day and said, Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, Christ has changed my life and he shall never hear the end of it.

37:37 I like that. I'm going to praise him and tell him thanks from now till heaven. You'll never hear the end of it. So she served them. Well, this news travels fast. Notice verse 32. At evening, they're in the same house, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.

38:06 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases, cast out many demons, and did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him. So people swarmed the house all throughout the neighborhoods of Capernaum. But they didn't do it until the sun set. Because when the sun sets and the three first stars appear in the night sky, that's the sign that Sabbath is over. and you can't do work on the Sabbath. You can't walk very far on the Sabbath. But when the sun goes down, it's a new day. So they had to wait for the Sabbath to end. And when the Sabbath was ended, the ambulances were lined up down the street, out the door with sick people.

38:57 They brought sick people to Jesus. The Greek verb indicates this. They kept on bringing people to him. They kept on. So I'm guessing he did not go to sleep till really late that night, which is part of Mark's whole thing, right? He wants to show that Jesus is the tireless servant, always moving, always serving, always working, always available. as we bring this to a close, there's one final thought I have that I wanted to bring to your attention. The gospel of Mark has a unique feature that the other gospels don't have. They have in part, but not like Mark. And that is that Mark likes to record the emotional response of people to an encounter with Jesus. He records what happens in their thinking, in their feelings.

39:56 So again, for example, verse 22, they were astonished at his teaching. Verse 27, they were all amazed at his power over Satan. When we get to chapter two, he's going to heal a paralytic. Again, the phraseology, they were all amazed. Chapter five, the demon-possessed Gadarene starts telling everybody everywhere what Jesus did for him. It says, and all marveled. When he calmed the sea for the disciples, it says the disciples were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled. So Mark is doing this and he does it 11 times in the gospel of Mark. people are amazed at Jesus. That's one of the sub themes of this gospel. People are amazed at Jesus. When was the last time you were amazed at Jesus?

40:54 For some of you, Jesus has been tirelessly pursuing you. knocking at the door of your heart, sending people to invite you to church, to an event, telling you about the gospel, or something happened in your life that maybe got your attention for a week, and then you forgot about it. But he's been pursuing you. But the problem is you haven't stopped long enough to become amazed by him. And when you meet him, you will be amazed.

41:37 Simon Ponsibee wrote a book. I love the title, Amazed by Jesus. That's the title of the book, Amazed by Jesus. This is what he writes. To truly encounter Jesus is to be knocked sideways. Astonished, overwhelmed, mild interest means you have not yet met him.

42:00 Yeah, that's that blase, disinterested, dispassionate, what time is it? Attitude. Mild interest means you have not met him. But Peter said, by the way, you know, by now, I think Peter is really the information source of the gospel of Mark. This is Peter's gospel written by John Mark. But Peter said this, God is not willing that any should perish. Remember that verse? God is not willing that any should perish. What that simply means is God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. He doesn't. If you think there's a God up there who can't wait to send people to hell, you have him wrong. He is not willing that any should perish. He didn't want anybody to go to hell. Thing is, if you really want to go to hell, he'll let you. He will honor your choice.

42:57 In that regard, God is pro-choice. when it comes to your eternal destiny, he'll let you choose it. He gives you that power, that authority. But he is not willing that any should perish. But if you surrender yourself to him, you will be amazed. You'll be astonished at what he can do for you and what he can do through you. Totally change you. Let's pray. Lord, we have come face to face via the page of scripture to the authority of Jesus Christ when it comes to speech, when it comes to Satan, and when it comes to sickness. people were amazed by him and people who meet him still are amazed by him.

43:58 I pray, Father, for anybody who is with us today, who has not yet met the Savior, has not invited Christ into their life, into their heart, that today they would, there would be an invitation and there would be a transformation.

44:23 That it wouldn't be life as usual, business as usual, that after today, they'd get it. They would understand. They'd have new purpose, new meaning. And best of all, they'd walk away knowing because of Christ their sins are absolutely obliterated, forgiven, gone. You have authority on earth to forgive sin. so our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed if you're with us and you've never invited christ into your life but you're willing to surrender and let him take control willing to come to him by faith or if need be come back to him because you've wandered from him if that's you i want you to raise your hand up in the air i'll keep my eyes open and i'll acknowledge you and pray for you before we close this service.

45:23 Just keep it up in the air. God bless you in the back to my left. And you, sir, right over here. Yes, ma'am, to my left. Anyone else? Right over here, a couple of you. Thank you. right there in the middle. Yep. In the back. Anyone else? Real quickly, just raise that hand up. Right over here to my left. Thank you. If you're outside in the amphitheater, yep, right over here. Raise your hand. They'll acknowledge you. Right here. Yes, sir. Father, thank you. I'm praying right now for these with raised hands. I pray that you will invade their space, their lives, joyfully invade their lives. I pray, Lord, you will delight them and amaze them.

46:18 It's your power to forgive and give hope. I pray you'll strengthen them in this decision that they're making, that it will not just be a momentary emotional feeling, but it will be a lifelong response empowered by your Holy Spirit. in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's all stand. We're going to sing a final song before we close, and we're going to have a little exhortation in a moment. But if you raise your hand at this song that we're singing, I'd like you to do something bold, but I want you to do it anyway. I want you to get up from where you're standing, find the nearest aisle, come walk that aisle and stand here in front of me when you're all here together. I'm going to lead you in a prayer to make Jesus the king, the master of your life. We're going to do this publicly because that's how Jesus did it. He did it publicly. He did it in front of people. So you're surrounded by people who love you and will applaud you when you get out on that aisle. So come right now. Come on down.

47:21 Come stand right here. If you're in the middle, just say, excuse me. Make your way. Make your right here. Stand right here. Glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. Wow. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

48:20 Happy Holidays by Hannah Carter Dawn Leo Listen, these are people who are choosing Christ, and they're choosing Christ publicly. They're not ashamed. They're saying, I'm stepping out of the shadows. I'm going to live in the light. I'm making a break from the past. That's why we ask people to do it publicly. Everybody else is coming out of the closet these days. I think Christians should stand up for what they believe publicly and not be ashamed of the gospel. Anybody else? We'll wait for you, but come. Thank you. who have come forward i'm going to lead you in a prayer i'm going to pray it out loud i'd like you to say this out loud after me but i want you to say this these words from your heart mean them say lord i give you my life i know i'm a sinner please forgive me i believe in jesus that he died on a cross, that he shed his blood for me, that he rose again.

49:58 I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as Savior.