You Don't Have to Wait

0:00Worship

[worship]

29:20Welcome

Yes, we do. A great big praise all across this house. No, I’m talking, you can do better than that on this Easter Sunday, 2026. Give him praise. Give him a shout. Turn around to three people and just say, “It’s good to see you in the house of the Lord today.” Hallelujah. How many of you are glad to be in the house of the Lord? I will tell you, as the pastor of this church, I’m so grateful to have such a good-looking worship leader. Y’all will get that at 3 a.m. That’ll set in on you. Amen. Hallelujah. Well, again, if we haven’t met, my name is Jason Mayfield. I am the pastor here, among a few other duties.

Amen. But it’s a joy to have you here with us. If this is your first Easter at our church, this is also our first Easter at our church. Amen. So we’re glad we can do this together this morning. Amen. If it’s your first time, your first time in a long time, we do want to greet you. We’re so grateful for you being here today. I want to invite you to do something for us, and it’s actually for you. If you would, grab the orange card in the seat back in front of you, and you can fill this out. And at the end of our service, you can drop it in the offering or take it to the Connect Center in the foyer.

And we have a gift for you today. By the way, we’re a talk-back church — give you a little orientation. If I do this, it means say something. Find the holiest thing you know. Amen. And just say it. The Lord has risen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Whatever you got. But you’ll fill this out. We do have a gift for you this morning, just our way of saying thanks for being here. But we also want you to know that whenever you come to this church, we believe the first thing you should do is make a difference in the world. And so when you turn this card in, we’re going to feed a child for 30 days on your behalf.

Amen. That’s a good place to give the Lord a praise. Hey, I’m realizing here that I have gotten up here and I do not have my Bible. So will somebody grab that for me? I’ll talk to Makala through the camera. Makala, can you have somebody send my Bible up here in just a moment? In the meantime, let me just say we do want to apologize for some of the condition of our building. Just pardon our mess. We have a lot that’s happening here right now. We’re under construction. This room looked completely different five weeks ago. And our children’s areas are under construction.

What in the world is going on? This is something I didn’t expect to see here in church this morning. Thank you, Easter Bunny. I appreciate it. Thank you. Y’all give the Easter Bunny a hand. Well, that ain’t ever happened before. I don’t know. This is strange. The Easter Bunny got kind of a little swagger. What in the world? What? Oh, my gosh. The Easter Bunny’s not going to be friendly with everybody. Be careful around this rabbit. Amen. Y’all give the Easter Bunny one more big hand this morning. Hallelujah. But no, for real, do pardon our mess. If you see some dust or something that’s in a little disarray, we apologize.

We are in the middle of massive renovations all across our building. We’ve done things in here over the last few weeks. Our children’s areas are being updated, some of them downstairs right now. And then this summer, our upstairs kids’ area, the loft, is going to be being updated. And we’re just excited about everything the Lord’s doing around here, even if it comes with a little drywall dust. Can somebody give the Lord a good praise on that? Amen. Hallelujah. Well, I do want to just say quickly that today we are doing something for the first time, because we felt like, why not just try it, you know, when a lot’s going on.

Amen. And we are live on the internet this morning. We are broadcasting to several places. And so would you do me a favor and greet everybody who’s joining us online right now and just say a big “God bless you” to them. It’s good to have you with us. Amen. We’re all over the place. Amen. It’s a good place to be, whether you’re here in person or on a screen. It’s a good church to be at today. Well, I feel like preaching. If you feel like receiving, give the Lord a great big hand clap of praise. Amen.

34:33You don't have to wait: the Dragon Dagger

Well, later. Tomorrow. Monday. Next week. First day of the month. New Year’s Day. At some point we’ve all said it: “I’ll do it later.”

Why do we keep putting things off? Today I’m preaching a message called “You Don’t Have to Wait.” If you have your Bibles with you, I’d invite you to join me in John chapter 19 this morning. John chapter 19. And you can just leave that open on your lap and we’ll get there here in a few minutes. Let me ask this Easter Sunday — I didn’t want to be too controversial, but I can’t help myself — who’s the greatest superhero of all time? And don’t you say Jesus. Oh, my Lord. Who’s the greatest superhero of all time? Okay, I hear Superman. Y’all got it. Spider-Man. Superman.

Okay, Batman. Y’all act like y’all ain’t ever watched TV. Y’all, we know who you are. Okay, let’s just go ahead and look at your neighbor and say, “Loosen up. This preacher is about to cut loose.” Amen. So, okay, so I’m hearing Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, kind of some top threes. Wonder Woman. Okay, we got to have a little representation here in the house. Those are some — let me say this — those are some good options. Those are some good ones, but there is definitively the greatest superhero of all time. This is a definitive answer, and it is none other than the original Green Power Ranger.

Talking about Tommy Oliver. Tommy Oliver, the original Green Ranger. I’m telling you, for people my age, Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, was a moment in our childhood. The five-episode “Green with Evil” miniseries defined our childhood. He starts as an evil Power Ranger, and then he has a redemption arc, and he joins the rest of the Power Rangers and joins the team to fight the evil Rita Repulsa. Now, the Green Ranger was special. He was a little different. He had a shield, but he also had a weapon called the Dragon Dagger. He had the Dragon Dagger, and the Dragon Dagger was his weapon.

He used it to call the Dragonzord, his giant robot that he fought big monsters with. Amen. I can see some of y’all really leaned into this today. Amen. And so he had the Dragon Dagger. Well, here’s the deal. Because the Green Ranger is the greatest Power Ranger of all time, he’s the greatest superhero of all time, when I was a kid, I needed a toy Dragon Dagger. I had to have one. Does anybody here — you ever have something you’ve got to have? I had to have a Dragon Dagger. And if you were a kid at this time, or if you had a son or a grandson in the early ‘90s, ‘92, ‘93, ‘94, you’ll remember that Power Rangers was hugely popular.

It took the world by storm overnight, and because of that, the toys flew off the shelves. I mean, they would be there, and then they’d be gone. And so I wanted a Dragon Dagger. I wanted a Dragon Dagger toy, but the problem was they were getting sold out faster than anyone in my family could get up there to Walmart in Fairfield, Alabama to get one. And so I was devastated when I was a kid. I wanted a Dragon Dagger, and it just seemed like I was never going to get one. Appropriately, because today is Easter Sunday — it was Easter Sunday, 1994. To some of y’all, that sounds like it was five minutes ago, and to some of you, it sounds like it was 100 years ago.

Amen. Easter 1994. Now, my family were not born again. I wasn’t raised in church. And so I went on Easter Sunday, 1994, to where people go for Easter when they aren’t churchgoers. Went to Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. Do y’all remember Opryland? A crown gem of the South. And so we go to Opryland for Easter weekend, and I was sitting in our hotel room. I don’t remember anything about the trip. I don’t remember anything that happened on this trip, except this commercial that I saw in the hotel room. Check this out. And when I saw that commercial, I saw a moment of opportunity.

My hope had been restored. There was a chance to win a Dragon Dagger. Finally. And there was just one problem. I was in Nashville, Tennessee, and I had no way to enter this sweepstakes. I had no way to do it. But I’m in this hotel room, and I get to thinking, wait. If they have Dragon Daggers that people can win, I know how I can get a Dragon Dagger. And so I looked to the one person who I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt in Easter 1994 could get me a Dragon Dagger. I turned my attention to the Easter Bunny. I knew the Easter Bunny could get me one of them Dragon Daggers.

I just knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. And so I go to bed on Saturday night. I wake up Easter Sunday morning. The Easter Bunny has come. I was in Nashville. I lived in Birmingham, Alabama. He came and visited me all the way in Nashville, Tennessee. I mean, that’s pretty good right there if you ask me. And I go, and I start checking all my stuff out, and there’s no Dragon Dagger. That’s not how y’all thought the story was going to go, was it? Y’all thought I was about to have a miracle breakthrough in this Pentecostal church this morning. No, there was no Dragon Dagger.

I had no Dragon Dagger. And as a kid, I never got a Dragon Dagger. Never got one. Never got one. In fact, I never even saw one in the stores. Now I’m having a therapy moment about it. It’s good to finally get this off my chest. Amen. Well, if you fast forward about 15 years, I’m coming up on my 21st birthday. And I’m working on my own. I’m living on my own. I’m making my own money. And at this point, the stores had failed me. My parents had failed me. The sweepstakes had failed me, and the Easter Bunny had failed me. Everybody’s let me down. So I turned to the one source that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt could come through so I could have a Dragon Dagger finally for my 21st birthday.

I turned my attention to eBay. And I’m proud to announce today that thanks to eBay and me making my own adult money, that I am now the proud owner of an original 1994 Dragon Dagger. Right here it is. And we can even summon the Dragonzord with it. If you feel something rumble, don’t worry. It’s just my car outside. Amen. Y’all should give the Lord a praise. I got a Dragon Dagger. I wish y’all would be happy for somebody. Amen. You know, I had to wait almost 15 years to get that Dragon Dagger. It took 15 years. Something that I carried into adulthood. At 21 years old, you shouldn’t want a Dragon Dagger, but I did.

And I buy them if I see them today still. Amen. And I had to wait 15 years. But it also seems like when it comes to making improvements in our life, we wait and we wait and we wait. When it comes to our life actually turning around and finally heading in a direction that we wanted to head, and seeing things happen in our life that we want to see happen, it seems like we find reasons to wait and wait and wait. Tomorrow. Monday. Next month. New Year’s Eve. When the school year starts. When the kids go back to school. When I get a job. When I don’t have to work anymore.

When we get a house. When we get out of the house. We’re always putting off the opportunity to change our life. But I’ve got good news for you today. You don’t have to wait. Look at somebody and say, “You don’t have to wait.” You don’t have to wait.

43:50It is finished: John 19:28-30

Let’s turn in our Bibles to John 19 and verse 28. John 19 and verse 28. It says, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished…” I know some of y’all are going, “Okay, we’ve watched Power Rangers. Now we’re reading the Bible.” Yes, that’s right. Okay. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’

A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. And when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ And he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit.” In this moment, while on the cross, Jesus says, “It is finished.” The question is, what is finished? It’s nice to toss it around, but what is finished? What is finished? Well, everything that is required for you to be made right with God and for your life to start heading in a better direction and to turn around from wherever it is now — that is what was finished at the cross.

And you don’t have to wait. Because it was finished, you don’t have to wait. Today is a high holy day in the church. It’s Resurrection Sunday. For those of y’all who are getting irritated by me calling it Easter, stop being weird. We’re just celebrating Jesus in this church. Amen. We’ll put Christmas trees up too, just so y’all know. Y’all can leave ugly Facebook comments about that. Hallelujah. “That’s pagan, brother.” Okay, whatever. Just giving y’all a little taste of what it’s like around here. Amen. Today is a high holy day in the church. It’s Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, and it’s a high holy day because we’re celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is a high point of the gospel.

It’s a high point of the gospel message. Now, what I do not want to do this morning is take for granted that everybody sitting in here might have a comprehensive understanding of the gospel. And the reason for that is twofold. I think sometimes we take for granted that everybody in the South knows the Bible. It’s the Bible Belt, but too many people’s pants are falling down. That was a good preacher line. That came to me right here. Amen. And so that’s one reason. The other reason is that I’m just afraid that you can find yourself in church after church after church after church, and it seems like we are obsessed with preaching everything but Jesus Christ.

And I want you to know something. I’m not preaching this message today — maybe I’m just talking to my regular people this morning, so y’all know where I’m at, because y’all have heard it — I don’t just preach this stuff on Easter Sunday. This is every Sunday around here, because we’re building a Jesus-centered, Spirit-filled church for all people. I think if you’re about that, give the Lord a praise. I feel it now. Miss Hannah, we’re going to run late. Amen. I’m off the notes already, praise God. I don’t want to take for granted that everybody knows the gospel, so I really want to walk through the simple basics of the gospel this morning.

47:10The gospel: you are a sinner, and the cross

So let’s take a few minutes and do that. And I want to start right here. This is the first thing I want you to hear. First thing — most of the gospel will start here. You are a sinner. Sorry for the cold splash of water this morning. You’re a sinner. You’re a sinner. Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All have sinned. Everybody’s sinned. Everybody’s done it. Everybody’s sinned and everybody’s fallen short of the glory of God. You say, “Well, I’m not as bad as the guy I live next to.” I’m not talking about him.

I’m talking about you. Everybody’s a sinner. And if it does make you feel better, the person sitting next to you is a sinner. Look at them and say, “I could tell. I could tell. I could tell.” So everyone is a sinner. It’s your nature. You’re born into it. You’re a sinner by nature. At the same time, because you are a sinner, you will die an eternal spiritual death. That is a nice, kosher way for me to say, because you are a sinner, you are destined to go to hell. Hell is a real place, my friends, and you don’t want to be there. You don’t want to find yourself there.

Every person is a sinner and is destined for an eternity in hell. The Bible says this, Romans chapter 6, verse 23: “For the wages of sin is death.” The wages of sin is an eternal death. It’s an eternal — it’s not a small death. It’s not a one-time death. It’s not the first death. It’s the second death. That’s the wages of sin. But there’s good news, because that verse does not stop there. And Romans 6 goes on to say in verse 23, “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” Oh, that’s good news if you ask me. It’s the free gift of God. So through Jesus Christ, there is a way of escape from eternal punishment and suffering in a devil’s hell.

Now, how does Jesus provide a way of escape? How does that happen? It’s just one thing to say it, but what’s the mechanism that makes that happen? Well, that’s actually what this weekend is all about. Romans chapter 5, verse 8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” My friends, the mechanism for you to go to heaven and escape eternal punishment is the cross of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Come on, somebody. The fact of the matter is, Jesus Christ died for every person in this room today, but it doesn’t end there.

It’s the cross, and the cross is important because the cross shows the love of God for us. First John chapter 4 says this: “In this is love, not that we have loved God…” Let me tell you, that’s a big misunderstanding that most people have when it comes to church. Everybody thinks they’ve got to get their stuff together. They’ve got to get their act together. You’ve got to be good enough to show up in church. You’ve got to behave a certain way when you come to church. My friend, I’m here to tell you this morning, “In this is love, not that you have loved God.”

Not that you have loved God. I feel a little preach coming on me. I appreciate all the churches that want to go out and they want to put, “This is what we’re all about: love God, love people.” It sounds real good, but Jesus actually came to take a lot of that demand off of them, because that’s called righteousness by the law. You cannot be righteous according to the law of God. That’s why Jesus Christ came. So, “in this is love,” not that you love God and love people. “In this is love,” that God showed us his love in giving his Son as propitiation for our sin.

Love isn’t what I do for God, it’s what I see God do for me at the cross. Amen. Jesus — he’s God in the flesh. He was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. And he was crucified on a Roman cross to pay the price for your sin. You had earned death and hell, but Jesus stepped in, and on the cross he paid the price so you wouldn’t have to. Second Corinthians chapter 5 says this: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In other words, Jesus took our place on the cross so that we could take our place with him in glory.

It’s an exchange. It’s a divine exchange of God’s love for us shown through the cross. So again, quick review here, because I want to tell you what else this weekend is about. Quick review. You’re a sinner. Just thought I’d let that land on you a couple more times. You’re a sinner. And Jesus went to the cross to pay for your sin. But there is something else. Turn with me.

52:38He is risen: Matthew 28:1-6

I’m going to invite you one more time to turn in your Bible. I think this would be good to open to here on Easter Sunday. Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. If you go to Mark, turn back one, you’ll be there.

If you go to Luke, turn back 37 pages, you’ll be there. If you go to Revelation, turn back 133 pages. I don’t know if these are real numbers, folks. I’m just tossing — giving you a chance to turn. Just trying to make it not quiet, or sing the Jeopardy song. Amen. Matthew chapter 28, starting in verse 1. “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women…” Which I do think is interesting, that it scared the men to death, but the women were hanging in there. That’s just something for you to… He says to the women, he says, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” Easter Sunday is the special celebration of Jesus not simply dying on the cross — though that is worthy of its own celebration — but rather being raised from the dead.

He died, but he didn’t stay that way. He got up. Amen. He rose from the dead. In fact, I had someone ask me one day where the church gets its authority. He said, “You know, the Catholics believe that the church gets its authority from the Pope. And Protestants believe that Christianity gets its authority from the Bible. Which do you say it is?” I said, “Neither.” And he kind of looked at me like, “What?” No, the church doesn’t get authority from the Pope. It doesn’t get its authority from the Bible. It gets its authority from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The fact that we serve a God who is living and alive, who got up from the dead — they couldn’t keep him down. You can find Muhammad. You can find Buddha. You can find anybody else you want to go looking for. You can find your favorite celebrities, your favorite athletes, that are all still dead and in the ground. But Jesus Christ — they stuck him in a hole and he got up. And that is why we celebrate today. In fact, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 places a lot of importance on the resurrection of Christ. It says this: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.”

That’s how important it is. If Jesus Christ didn’t raise from the dead, this is all for naught. This is all a show. It’s all showing up and being in the room together and just coming in and doing it. If he did not raise from the dead, our faith is futile. And even more than that, we are still in our sins. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And that’s what the whole kit and caboodle, as my grandmother would have said, hinges on.

56:16The resurrection: the certificate of release

But the resurrection isn’t just an event. It’s not something that just happened. It serves a purpose. The resurrection is the means by which you are released from your obligation to pay for your sin.

See, you are responsible to pay for your sin. And you have no means to do it, because you’re a sinner. That’s why Jesus Christ died for you, to pay for it. But it’s kind of like this. This is why the resurrection matters. I became the pastor of this church back in August of 2025. So less than a year ago, I became the pastor. And I’m having a great time, having a lot of fun. Like this church, like the people. We’re having a good time. Earlier this year, I had to share some news with the church, that we found out that our property — which is paid for. Y’all ought to be excited.

It’s paid for, and we have hundreds of people come play soccer on it every weekend. Amen. And so it’s paid for. But for several years — we got information from the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS reached out. We found out that we had a significant amount of payroll taxes that had never been paid. And we had liens against the property. The IRS had placed liens against the property. The lien against the property — the never paying the payroll taxes was our sin. The lien against the property was our sin debt. Because we had violated the law, there was a debt put against our building where we lost all of the rights to the property.

And the IRS could come in here and take it anytime they wanted to. At any moment when these liens were active, we could have been meeting in the street. Amen. Caused quite a commotion. They might have gave it back to us. I don’t know. Amen. So that’s your sin debt. That’s what your sin debt is. It’s your violation, and you owe the payment on it. Now, by the grace of God, in January of 2025, this church had zero dollars in savings. Zero dollars in savings. But by January 2026, we had enough money in savings that we were able to pay and satisfy all of the liens.

We were able to do that. That’s good. Okay. That is the cross. The cross paid your sin debt. But here’s what’s crazy that I found out in the process. We had the liens. The liens got paid, and we still didn’t have any rights to the property. We didn’t have any rights. They still had all the rights. They could still seize the property. What I had to get is this document right here. This is called the Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien. Even though it was paid for, until I got this, we had no rights to the property. We can’t talk to the bank without this.

We can’t talk to real estate people without this. We can’t do anything without this. We can’t get into agreements with the city without this. We can’t do nothing without this. This property is effectively worthless until we get the Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien. This is the resurrection. This is what the resurrection is. You had a sin debt. Jesus paid it at the cross. But Jesus dying for you can leave your sin debt still disputed. People can say, “Well, I don’t know if we accept that payment. I don’t know if we received it. I don’t know if that’s good enough.”

But Jesus did not stay in the tomb. Jesus got up. He’s a living, active, risen Savior. He rose from the dead. And when he rose from the dead — just like if someone were to come to me and go, “Well, now, hang on, preacher, I don’t think you can do that with your property, because you got tax liens,” I can pull this out and go, “No, my friend, we have the Certificate of Release. We have the certificate. I’ve got the paperwork. I’ve got the documentation.” And when somebody comes to you, when you finally get right with God and you let Jesus pay your sin debt, and they go, “Well, I don’t know.

You kind of still act like the same person. You don’t have all your stuff together. I don’t know that Jesus has actually done anything in your life” — you don’t have to point to you. You don’t even have to point to the cross. You can point to Jesus standing right there, sitting at the throne of God, and you can say, “I serve a risen Savior who says otherwise.” Come on, somebody give him praise. That’s why 1 John says he’s an advocate for those who sin. He’s your advocate. He is the receipt. He is the final word. The work is finished, and the word is final because he rose from the dead, and he still speaks, and his blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Amen. Hallelujah. So you’re a sinner. Jesus paid your sin debt. And he rose from the dead so that if anybody’s got a problem with it, you’ve got proof. You’ve got proof.

61:47Don't wait: the collision and the invitation

Tomorrow. Next week. Next month. Next year. When we have kids. When the kids start school. When the kids are grown. When I get a new job. When we sell the house. When we buy a house. When we change states. When I get away from my family. When we get away from their family. There’s always a reason to wait. But, my friends, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to wait. You don’t have to put it off any longer.

There are some of you in here this morning, and you’ve come here today, and you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you need to get right with God. You know it beyond the shadow of a doubt. You walked in here knowing this could potentially be the day it happens. Then there’s others of you in here who are just doing the Easter thing, and I get it. You’re just doing the Easter thing. You’re doing your one and done. You’re going to be here today, and we’re so grateful that you are. But you have no intention of taking any next steps. You have no intention of going any further.

“I’m going to show up. I’m going to do my thing. I’m going to make Mama happy, and then I’m going to go back to whatever life was like.” You probably think that you’re doing good enough, life is going well enough, and you’re willing to roll the dice that when you get to whatever day your judgment day takes place, you’re going to just roll the dice to think that God’s going to look at you and say, “You’re cool. You did enough. You can come on in.” And I just need to say this to you, friend. You’re a sinner. But it’s not about you being a bad sinner. There’s no grades on this.

Jesus did not die for bad sinners. He died for dead sinners. The Bible says that you were dead in your trespass. It’s been said that Jesus didn’t die for bad people to be good people. He died for dead people to be alive people. Me and Ashleigh have been married for a little over 18 years. And every night — we’ve done this for 18 years — any time one of us gets up to go to the restroom or go to the kitchen or whatever that is, we get up, we navigate in the dark because we don’t want to turn the lights on and disturb the other person. So we’re real mindful of this.

We just get up. We just feel our way through the house. I mean, you know, we live there. We know where everything’s at. And so we’ve been doing this for 18 years. It’s been working out great. We just navigate through the dark and do what we got to do. And then we come back, get in the bed. No big deal. Until earlier this week. It’s never happened, but in 18 years, it’s happened this week. I got up, and because it was dark, I didn’t realize that Ashleigh was not in the bed. And I head into the restroom, and y’all, we had a full-speed collision. We ran into each other dead on.

And we were both starting — you know, you’re asleep, kind of, and you’re, “What is going on right now?” It was crazy. It’s never happened, but it happened this week. Friends, I need you to hear me. There’s some of you in here, you’ve been wandering around in the dark, whether you realize it or not, and it’s been working for you for who knows how long. But you are coming to an eventual, inevitable collision. There will be a moment that something’s going to happen. A job’s going to get lost. Money’s going to get tampered with. A loved one’s going to get sick.

You’re going to get hurt. Somebody’s going to get hurt. Something’s going to happen. Something will happen eventually. And when something comes along, I promise you this. I can tell you this after serving the Lord for as long as I have, both in and out of the ministry — I’m telling you, you want to be right with God when that moment comes. You want to have Jesus as a foundation in your life when that moment comes. Later. Tomorrow. Next week. Next year. There’s no reason to wait. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to wait. And so what we’re going to do this morning, on this Easter Sunday, we’re going to give you an opportunity to get right with the Lord.

And it’s real simple, and I’m going to tell you how you do this. I’m going to give you a little more instruction than I’d give on a normal Sunday. The way that this works is: you’re a sinner. Jesus paid the price for your sin. He rose from the dead to secure your salvation. The way it gets from him to you is you simply call on the name of the Lord. Romans 10 says this. It says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” There’s no bones about it. If you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. Now, is there more to the gospel? Is there more to the Bible?

Is there more to this faith? Absolutely there is. Absolutely there is. But all you’ve got to worry about in this moment — I don’t care what the internet preacher said to you — in this moment, all you have to worry about is calling on the name of the Lord. And we’re not going to have you say this prayer that we pray to call on the name of the Lord by yourself. We make it a practice, because we want to stand with you in your journey of faith here at Saraland Church. We’re going to say this prayer out loud with you as a church family. But before we do that, I’m going to give you the opportunity to do this.

I’m going to ask everybody to bow their head and close their eyes. We’re just going to take a moment here with the Lord. Make a decision. There’s some of you that are making the decision right now, but there’s others of you that came in here knowing that today was the day. So if today’s the day you’re ready to get right with the Lord, I’m going to count to three. On the count of three, I want you to lift your hand real high. I’ll only count to three to give you the last few seconds here to make your decision. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to wait.

I’m going to count to three. You lift your hand high so I can see it, so I can stand with you and agree with you in faith today. One — you already know who you are. Two — I want you to lift your hand high so I can see it. Three — lift your hands right now. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Hallelujah. In Jesus’ name. I’ll give you a couple more seconds here to lift your hands if that’s you today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Eight people saying, “I’m going to take a step forward, and I’m going to give my life to Jesus Christ today.” Amen. I want you to say this prayer with me.

Everybody saying it out loud. Say: “Dear Jesus, I have a sin debt. I understand you can settle it. I ask you to step into my life, be my Savior, be my Lord, and be my God. Thank you for dying for me and for resurrection power. Today I believe I’m saved by the grace of God. In Jesus’ name.” And everybody said it real loud. Amen. God bless you. Come on, let’s give those people a hand this morning. Eight people saying, “I’m going to take a step of faith in the house of God today.” Amen. We’re so proud of you. But like I said a moment ago, there is more. There is more.

69:08Next steps, offering and announcements

This is not a one and done, folks. There is more to this faith journey, and we want to help you with that, especially if you live here in our area. And if you don’t, we’ll help you to take these steps somewhere else. But I want to talk to you just about a couple of next steps this morning, all right? Your first next step is this. This is the next thing you need to do in your faith journey. You need to come back to church. Just come back to church. There’s a thousand things you could try to do. The most helpful thing for you to do if you’re going to serve the Lord in this way — just come back to church.

It’s very easy. You do not have to be good enough to come to church. As long as you put your cigarette out in the lobby, we’re fine. I’m telling you right now, you don’t have to be good enough to come to church. The Lord will take you just the way you are, and so will we. Just come back. Get under some good Bible preaching, okay? The preaching around here is fantastic, if I do say so myself. Number two. Number two, we want you to fill out this Connect card that I have lost. We want you to fill out this orange card this morning. You can scan the QR code and do it digitally, but we want you to fill this out, drop it in the offering, take it to the Connect Center after church.

There’s a little box on here that says, “I gave my life to Jesus today.” We want you to select that so we can make sure that we’re sending you the things that you need to start your faith journey well. In fact, the first thing we’re going to do tomorrow morning — we’re going to send every person who fills this out a devotional to help you get started this week. And then number three, the third thing that you need to do — this is a command of the Lord — is get baptized in water. Get baptized in water. Jesus commands it, so we do it. And you’re in luck. How many of you know you don’t have to wait?

But I also know you’re wearing good Easter clothes. We’re not going to mess up your good Easter clothes today. Next week, you can join us April 12th. Next week, we’re going to be having water baptisms right here in the service. That means you’re going to be able to participate in our water baptisms. You’ve got to go ahead and celebrate. So if you’ll join us next Sunday and sign up online, use this QR code. You can indicate it on the card if you want to. You can tap the thing on the seat back in front of you there. Let us know. Sign up for your water baptism.

We’ll have everything you need. We’ll have a towel. We’ll have a shirt. We’ll have you settled up. We’ll communicate with you this week. Come in. We’re going to celebrate water baptisms next week. And we have a brand-new water baptistry, so you can help us christen it. Amen. Incentivize you. We’re so grateful that you’ve joined us this morning. We have a few more things that we need to do before we dismiss service. One thing I want to let you know is that next week, I’m starting a brand-new series called “Hopeful About Tomorrow.” Hopeful About Tomorrow. I’m going to talk to you over the next couple of weeks about the end of the world.

Everybody seems to have questions about the end of the world, the end of all things. What is happening? Things seem to be getting worse and worse around the world. What does that mean? What does it all mean, Basil? Nobody’s seen Austin Powers in here? Good night. Y’all are so saved. I’m just going to quit and let y’all preach. Amen. My Lord, I told you, come as you are. Amen. But I’m going to start a message series next week on the end of the world. You need to be here. I’m probably going to share some things with you you ain’t heard in any other church.

If you find someone who’s here all the time, they’ll testify: “He’s probably about to share some things you ain’t heard anywhere else.” Amen. So be with us next week. So, at this point, it is time to receive this morning’s tithes and offerings. Amen. We get excited about it. Listen, as we get into this moment, I will tell you there’s a few ways that you can give. You can give using the envelope in the seat back in front of you. You can also give online at saralandchurch.com or by texting the word GIVE plus any amount to 251-357-1607. Now, as you prepare your offering and your gifts this morning, I just want to make mention, if it’s your first time or you’re visiting from somewhere else, another location or whatever, there is no expectation on you to give today.

And we’re not passing this bucket at this moment so we can get your money. That is not our expectation. In fact, not only are we not looking for your money, I just want to tell you — we don’t do this all the time, but I’m going to do it today because we are turning around some things here at the church. We’re not going to have a fully functional benevolence ministry until the fall. We’re actively working on that. Pastor John and Ms. Sheila are helping us with that. And we’re working on a box called the Neighbor Box that will feed people for a month if they need help.

We’re real excited about it. And if it wasn’t so big, I’d have one to show you. Amen. But this morning, if you find yourself here and you do not know where you’re going to stay tonight and you do not know how you’re going to eat your next meal, I want to invite you to do something, but I need you to listen to the preacher here. The buckets are going to pass in front of you in a minute, and there’s going to be stuff in envelopes that you can’t touch. We will take you down before you hit the door. But there’s also going to be loose cash in there and change, coins.

If you see something in that offering bucket that’s going to help you to be able to get through your next meal, next place for you to stay, feel free to reach in there and take out whatever meets that need today. We love you, and we want to be there for you as best as we can. So every week we pray this prayer over our faithful givers and tithers. So if you will, bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much — ushers, you can come forward — Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for what you’re doing in the lives of the people in our church. We thank you that when people give, ministry happens.

And God, we declare the promise of Malachi 3 over every person in the house today who’s a faithful tither and giver. We declare that you will meet all of their needs, that you will protect their stuff, and that you will bless them in ways that are obvious to others. In Jesus’ mighty name. God bless you as you give this morning. Amen. We are so glad that you are here this morning. If we have not had the chance to meet, my name is Ashleigh Mayfield, and I’m so grateful to be able to be with my husband and pastor of this church with you guys. If you are a first-time guest, like he said, grab that orange card.

You can drop it off in an offering bucket as it passes you. Or if you go to the Connection Center, we have a gift for you. We have a couple of announcements that I want to give you and let you know about some exciting things. How many of you guys know we’re building? We’re building. So there’s always something exciting happening at Saraland Church. The first thing that we have is our ladies’ lunch on April 18th at noon. It is a Saturday. Ladies, how many of you guys know we just need community? There’s no dress code. It’s come as you are. There’s no theme.

We want to be able to lock arms, maybe just get out of the house, be able to let your hair down a little bit, get some good biscuits on the inside of you. We’re going to be at Cracker Barrel. And so it’s $15. You can tap that disc on the seat back in front of you. Please make sure you register. I would love to meet you, connect with you, and have you just join in some other fellowship with some other ladies in our church. We are also going to be honoring our graduates in the next couple weeks. On May 3rd — you definitely want to register online — Sunday, May 3rd, we’re going to be honoring all of our graduates, whether they’re in high school, they’re in college.

We just want to pour a blessing and speak a blessing over the life of them as they enter the next phase. So please make sure that you register. That way we can honor your family. Lastly, we have our baby dedication coming up. If you have not dedicated your infant, your toddler, your baby, we would have the honor of doing that with you, to be able to pray a blessing over your family. That’s coming up on May 17th. And, again, all this information — you can tap the disc in the seat back in front of you, and we’re going to get that information in your hands very, very quickly.

But just a moment where we can honor your family and pray over you as you are raising the next generation. How many of you guys know we need Jesus in our homes? Yeah, even more so than in the church, of course. But what good is it if we’re not taking it outside of the four walls, right? We need Jesus in our homes. Lord knows we need Jesus in the schools, okay? And so we want to be able to pray with you. So make sure that you register for that. We do have some exciting things as we’re wrapping up. Everybody is going to get a Jelly Belly on the way out, so please make sure you grab one.

We’ve got a photo opportunity for the family out there. We have the Easter Bunny. And all of your children are leaving today with a bag full of Easter eggs that are stuffed with candy, just a way to say thank you for being here at Saraland Church on Easter Sunday. So if I could have you stand to your feet, just open up your hands. I’m just going to speak a blessing over you real quick. May the God of hope fill you with joy and with peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

In Jesus’ name, amen. Thank you so much for being here with us this morning. We will see you next Sunday at 10:30 a.m.