Chris Hodges - The Resurrection Paradox
So good to see everybody here today. Who's glad to be in church? Who loves Jesus with all their heart? Come on, give him some praise. He's awesome. Oh, it's so good to see you. And let me look into the camera and say hello to all of our campuses. We are one church with churches all across our region, 23 in all. God bless you guys today. I always love to greet the men and women in the Alabama Department of Corrections. We're so honored, honestly, that our state allows us to be in these facilities, bring the good news of God's Word to you every single week. We love you so very much. We always have people that are watching online in our area and around the world. So, wherever you are, we're glad you're along for the ride. Grants Mill, like you've never done it before, come on, say a big hello. Whoo! Good job.
So, today's gonna be a little bit different. We're gonna end differently, and I don't want you to miss a single moment of the service that we have prepared for you, because at the very end we're gonna have water baptisms, and you're actually gonna be able to witness that, be a part of that, and see that, and even meet someone who just recently gave their life to Jesus. And right here in front of every single one of you is gonna follow the Lord in water baptism. So, since we're ending a little bit differently today, let me say something now that I would normally say at the end, and that is I want to encourage you guys in your generosity. You guys are making such a huge difference by your faithfulness. And I'm talking to those who call Church of the Highlands home.
If you're a guest with us, please don't feel any pressure whatsoever. And certainly, if you're watching online, and you attend another church, please invest in your own local church. We're doing just fine here. But for our people, God bless you guys, and I hope you know it's making a huge difference, and I'm praying God continues to bless you. In fact, I never pray, really, that God meets your needs. I'm asking God to give you more than you need, so that you can be a blessing to the world around you. Can I hear a good amen, everybody? So, God bless you. I know they put on the screen, you guys can put on the screen the ways you can give. You can give in the service today and digitally, of course.
And by the way, your giving is making a difference right here in our own church. We are already under construction to two brand-new campuses, with cash, and that is in McCullough and in Woodlawn. Campuses are going up right now. To God be the glory. And land purchased in Alabaster and Opelika. So, good things are happening. So, God bless you. Now, before I get into the message, I also promised you that I would bring results from the Easter survey that happened last week. We had 65,000 people come in person to church last, that's just awesome, you know. Now, honestly, that's about half of what it was in 2019, but that was 100% more than it was in 2020. Amen everybody? To God be the glory, all right? So, as you guys know, we do this ABCD. A, if you're already a Christian. B, you want to become a Christian. C, still checking it out, considering it. D, I don't ever intend on making that decision.
I will tell you that we had 634 people say, "I'm just here, I'm just here checking things out". And of course, you know there's a whole lot more than that, but that's how many let us know, filled out a card and said, "I like what I see, not ready to cross the line yet, but I'm checking it out". Let me say it one more time. If that is you, you are more than welcome, don't give, don't serve, you don't have to sing, you don't have to lift your hands, just listen, and I promise you, you keep coming back, and God's gonna touch your life in a great way. And then the Ds, we had 86 people who said, "I'll never intend on making that decision". But we also had 12 people who actually checked B, who wrote on the side, 12 who wrote on the side, I was a D last year. And so we know it still happens. We're praying for you guys, yeah.
So, are you ready? Are you ready? Because we had... now, look, that was a good clap. That was kind of a Master's Golf Tournament clap, but all right. But this one, you've gotta shout like the angels shout in heaven, because we had 3,883 people, come on, become new Christians on Easter 2021, so. And now I want to bring you a message that I actually thought was gonna be my Easter message, and I decided, "No, no, no, it'll be perfect for the Sunday after Easter". But of course, last week we talked about going from a doubting Thomas to a believing Thomas. How do we take the journey from doubt to faith? And if you missed that one, I'd love you go see that message. It just helps you get past some of your doubts.
One of the declarations that we made in the message was is that Jesus was resurrected so that you could be resurrected, so that the dead areas of your life could come alive. And trust me, that is God's plan for your life. There's a lot of negative, negative Christians out there, that will tell you, "No, God wants you to suffer. He wants to push you down. He just wants you on your face all the time". And like listen to me, Jesus himself said, "No, no, no, that's the devil. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that you might have..." Say it out loud. That you might have life. And he went beyond that and said, "and even more abundantly, have it to the very full".
Now, this is the goal. The goal is to get you, the areas of your life, your marriage, your emotions, your finances, your mind, your life, your purpose, your calling, at what God intended them to be. That is what life, zoe in the Greek. It means for you to literally come alive, in the name of Jesus. He wants that to happen. But unfortunately, that's not what happens. People actually are in a constant state of deterioration. They're not going from death to life. They're going from life to death. This is what most people experience. In fact, I found a funny story that I just felt like I had to read. I think this is the second time I've read it, and I think it was about eight or ten years ago since the last time. I got this from my friend, John Maxwell. It's not theologically correct, but it's really funny. Anyway, all right, so it goes, 'cause you'll hear it right off the first bat. It says, "And on the first day, God created the dog". See, there you go. That's not what happened on the first day. But anyway...
"On the first day, God created the dog and said, 'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who walks by or comes in. For this, I'm going to give you,' the dog, 'a lifespan of 20 years. And the dog said, 'Man, 20 years, that's a long time to be barking at people. How about ten years, and I'll give you back ten.' And God agreed. On the second day, God created the monkey, and he said, 'I want you to entertain people and do monkey tricks. Make them laugh. And for this, I'll give you a lifespan of 20 years.' And the monkey said, 'Man, that's a long time to make people laugh and do monkey tricks. How about I do like the dog did. I'll only live ten years, and I'll give you back ten.' And God agreed. For the third day, God created the cow and said, 'You're gonna into the field with the farmer all day long, suffer under the sun, have calves, give milk, support the farmer's family. And for this, I'm gonna give you a life span of 60 years.' And the cow said, 'Man, that's a tough life to live for 60 years. How about let's make it 20, and I'll give you back the other 40.' And God agreed. On the next day, God created the man. He said, 'Eat, sleep, play, enjoy yourself. And for this, I'll give you 20 years.' And man said, 'What, that's all?' Said, 'How about, hey, could you possibly give me my 20, the 40 the cow gave you back, the 10 the monkey gave you back, the 10 the dog gave you back, and let's make it 80?' And God agreed. So, that is why for the first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play".
How many of y'all see this train a-coming, right? "For the next 40 years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next 10 years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And the last 10 years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everybody who goes by". There you go, everybody. Life, life has just been explained to you. So, let's pray. No, I'm just kidding. That's not the end of it. That's usually what it looks like. What I'm going to share with you today, I'm calling "The Resurrection Paradox," the resurrection paradox. And what I mean by that is that what God has to offer you is not something, when you look at it, you're gonna want it. That's the challenge of a guy like me that's trying to get it in your life. Because when you look at it, you think, "Well, that's not the best thing for me," and it's the absolute best thing for me.
That is actually what a paradox is. A paradox is a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated, actually may be proved to be well-founded or actually true, the Oxford dictionary says. For instance, there's several of them in Scripture, and you never know how true they are until you do them. "Give and it shall be given unto you". "The first shall be last". "We find rest under the yoke of God". "Whoever humbles himself will be exalted". "We become wise by becoming fools for Christ". "In our weakness, he is made strong inside of us". Those are all, doesn't look right on the front end but are actually true. Now, with all of my heart, I'm trying to get this one in you. I'm gonna give you a very short, simple, because I want to make room for the baptisms. It's gonna be a shorter-than-normal, simple, but at the end of the day, I've been doing this 38 years.
So many people still never take this step. I'll just tell you, straight up, and everything in me wants to encourage you to consider this paradox. I'll show it to you in one place, in Mark chapter 8, in the New Living Translation, and it simply says this: "If you try to hang on to your life, you're going to lose it". So, if you're out there to fight, defend, try to make the most of your own life without God in your life, you're going to lose it. "But if you give up your life," now, that's the paradox. "If you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you're actually going to save it". One translation says you're going to find real life.
Well, that's not how people live. I told you last week that this is countercultural. It's very countercultural, 'cause we live in a generation that believes in self-preservation. "Put me down, I'll take you out. You're not, I've gotta stand up for myself". Like, this is the mantra of this age now. Everybody's fighting. You know, "I've just gotta stay alive, stay alive. I'm taking care of, you know, it's about time I just take care of me. I've been taking care of everybody else". This is what people say now. Or self-promotion, I mean, people are thinking about their own brand, what people think about them, how many followers I have. You need to stop thinking about how many followers you have and who you're following, the one you're going to follow. And self-indulging, I mean, there's just, if it's out there, I deserve it, I want it, I'm gonna have it, I'm gonna experience it, I'm gonna take it, I'll eat it, smoke it, have it, whatever it takes.
That's what... I'm gonna indulge. Life, in fact, it was Sigmund Freud that actually believed that the goal of life was pleasure. And the goal of life is not pleasure. The goal of life is purpose, that you're here to make a difference in this life. So, the world is lying to us, culture is lying to us. And by the way, I can prove it. Because have any of these brought you any life? The answer is no, and that's why you have to buy into this simple paradox. Let me show it to you in the larger context. Again, Mark chapter 8. I'll give you the same theological point, but with the whole story because, "Jesus and his disciples..." Well, actually, he took them outside of the Galilee area, which is north of Jerusalem. It's the most beautiful area, the Galilee area. North of that was an area called Caesarea Philippi.
Now, that doesn't mean much to you, but it meant a lot to them. Caesarea Philippi was like going to, it was like going to Bourbon Street. It was like going to Times Square. It was going to the place where the world was represented the most. It was where pagan worship took place. And he took them in the middle of, watch this, everything they thought they wanted. And he asked them a question, "Who do people say that I am"? How are people figuring out this whole thing about Jesus? "What are they saying about me"? And that's the question in front of all of us. They say, "Some say you're John the Baptist". In other words, "You're a guy just telling people to get their life right and get baptized. And others say you're Elijah". Because he went up in that chariot of fire. He never died. They always believed he was gonna come back reincarnated into someone else. "Others say you're just a, you're a prophet," meaning you have a good teacher, you're connected with God, but you're not God.
And then Jesus says, "Okay, there's a lot of different opinions about me and what it looks like to follow me. What about you"? And I would submit to you, especially here in the deep south, there's a lot of different opinions and ways that people follow God. But what about you? And Peter actually answered correctly. He said, "You're the Christ". Now, again, that word may not mean much to you, like it did to them, because the word "Christ" literally means "the Anointed One to break the yoke of bondage". In other words, it was a power word. So, we say Jesus Christ. Christ was not his name, Christ was his title. Christ described what he did, it wasn't a name, it was an action. You're the Christ. You're actually the only one who can get my attitude right, my marriage right, my habits right. You have power to break the yoke of bondage. Come on, somebody. And Jesus warned them, "Hey, don't tell everybody that yet. I'm holding that off for a little bit later".
All right, so that's what he said. "And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again". Well, that's not what they wanted. That's not the Jesus Peter signed up for. Peter actually thought, and the other disciples thought that Jesus was gonna be powerful enough to overthrow the Roman government, 'cause they were tired of being oppressed in their land and this outside nation ruling them. So, they thought, they were basically posturing to be vice presidents and on Jesus's cabinet in an earthly kingdom, not a heavenly one.
So, Peter takes Jesus aside and said, "I don't think so. That's not the Jesus I signed up to follow". And when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan". You never want Jesus saying that to you, by the way, just a side note. And I love this last line, and I want you to just let it, like, take it in. He says, "You do not have in mind the things of God. You have in mind the things of men. You've turned worldly on me. You're seeing it through the lens of culture. You're seeing it through the lens of earth". And that's where we become self-promoting, self-indulging, and self-preserving. We get it all wrong. And then he says this. So, he calls the disciples, the crowd, everybody. He says, "Let me just explain it to everybody. I'll explain it to all of you, 'cause I think there's confusion," and I dare say there might even be some in this room today.
There's confusion of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And he says this, here's the paradox. It's gonna sound horrible. When you hear it, you're not gonna want it, but it's the very thing that can bring you life, that, "If anyone would come after me and actually deny himself..." That's not about you. It's not about your self-preservation, your self-indulging, your self-promoting, and take up the cross, and to us that phrase doesn't even have the punch that it would've had back then, because the cross to us is jewelry. The cross to us is that symbol on a church, and we see it and we go, "Oh, church". You know, that's not, to them it was the place of execution. It'd be like wearing an electric chair around your neck. This is the place of death. It meant, "No, you're gonna die". "I need you to deny yourself and die, and then that's what it means to follow me," to which every one of them would've thought, "That's not what I signed up for".
And then here's the paradox. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will actually save it". And then he says it this way. "What good is it anyway if you've got all those things you thought you wanted on earth and forfeit your soul? You end up in hell. And what would you give in exchange for your soul"? Like, it you get there, what would you be willing to give at that point, when you face God in the end? And the answer is everything. You would give everything. And so basically he's saying, "Then why not give everything now"? And then he says this. "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with his holy angels".
And by the way, that's why we baptize. Because somebody says, "Well, my faith is private. It's just, I have Jesus in my heart". But that's just not what the Bible says. The Bible says that we go public with it, that we're not ashamed of the gospel. We're actually proud to be a Christian. That would be like me, every time I leave the house, I take off my wedding band. Tammy's like, "What you doing"? It's like, "Well, I can't let people know we're married. I might see a pretty girl out there today". How many of y'all know I'd be sleeping on the couch tonight? Probably be out of the house completely is what it would be, right? It'd be hair, teeth, and eyeballs is what we'd have. And that's what, basic, the Lord is saying is like, "Really, you don't want to be water baptized, you don't want to wear the ring, really, really"?
What is he doing? He's calling us to a higher place, watch this, not for the sake of putting you down, but for actually giving you the life you always wanted. It's the resurrection paradox, that on the other side of all this is living, it's life, and the paradox is simply this, is that you cannot have a resurrection without a death. So, let me close. I have to do this very quickly 'cause I want to make room for people to be water baptized. I may even go to be a part of it today. I'm gonna be, I was in the baptism tank, got to baptize a bunch of people after the first service, and it's just wonderful to see people publicly acknowledging Jesus as their Lord. So, how do we do it? How do we die to live?
Let me give you three, and this is actually, I didn't make these up. I actually did a word study through the book of Galatians. I don't have time to explain to you why it's important, how it came out of that book, but the book of Galatians was written to a local church that just happened to be very religious. They were religious. They had a form of religiousness, but they weren't the real thing. So, Paul's dealing with that. And I'm afraid of that in the church today, if I'm honest with you, if I could just say it to you like I want to say it to you. Is that okay if I say it to you like I want to say it to you, everybody? Are y'all okay?
All right. I'm just trying to help you, that in order to live, you have to die, and how at times in the book of Galatians he talks about how we need to crucify ourselves. It sounds horrible, and it's not literal. You don't literally physically die, but things need to die in order for you to live, and there are three of them in this text. And the first one, if you're taking notes, and the truly godly people in this church take notes. Come on, somebody, right? 'Cause they die to self, die to self. So, self dies. Let me explain that to you. Watch this. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live". Now, by the way, he's writing this while he's alive. So, we're not talking about physical death. He's talking about death to himself so that "Christ can live in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me".
You say, "Chris, what does that mean"? That means if you really want to live well, you want to have a resurrected kind of life, you don't want to go from life to death, you want to go from death to life, you really want to experience the best that God has for you, you need to have moments, I like to do it every day when we get to God in prayer and say, "God, you can have me".
Now, I prayed that prayer when I got saved, but I actually pray it every single day. I have a short moment that I'm gonna encourage all of you to try, in fact, everything I'm gonna give you right now, I want you to try for this week. I want to give you seven days to see if this is not the best week of your life, that you will actually go through these three dying exercises, if you will, to see that this wasn't, it didn't turn out to be the best week of your life, where you truly lived, that we die to self, that I actually have this moment where for me, I like to get on my knees, and I say, "Lord, all over again I choose to serve you. I give you me. I don't belong to me. I belong to you. I have been bought with a price". This is 1 Corinthians 6. "And therefore I will honor you with my life, which means you get to tell me what to do. And I believe that your agenda for my life is a whole lot better than mine anyway. So, I'm giving you my life".
And then I like to take, I'm encouraging you to try this. I go, I start at the top of my head and I go to the bottom of my body. The Bible says to offer up your body as a living sacrifice. So, don't kill yourself, but kill yourself. So, I try to kill my natural mind. So, here's what it looks like. So, I say, "Lord, today I give you my mind, that my mind's not gonna think on things that are negative and unholy and depressing, and I'm not gonna feed it with the news all day long. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna feed it with just gossip or... no, I'm gonna think on things that are lovely, pure, excellent, praiseworthy, of a good report. I'm gonna think, I'm gonna let the peace of God be my mind. God, I'm giving you my ears today to be sensitive to your voice. I give you my mouth, that today I'm not gonna speak the negative things that are just natural with my mouth. That means, no, Lord, I'm gonna bless, every word out of my mouth will bless people today, God. My eyes, Lord, I make a covenant with my eyes today to not, as Job said, to not look lustfully at a maiden. I'm gonna let my eyes, I'm gonna have covenant eyes, eyes that are looking straight forward, not to the left or to the right".
Are y'all following me, everybody? "I'm giving you my hands today, God. Let these hands be hands that do good deeds, help people, love people, encourage people. God, my feet, they're ordered of you. I have appointments, but they're all subject to you, Jesus. I give you, I'm dying to self". And Paul says, "I actually do this every day". If you ever wanted a verse to memorize, this is the simplest one in the Bible. Here you go, everybody. Paul says, "I die every day". And I'm encouraging you to do that, to take your quiet time tomorrow, give me about three to five minutes in that quiet time, where you get on your knees and you say, "You can have all of me," and then you just start giving your appointments, I give him my appointments. I give him my phone calls. I give him my text messages. I give him my travel. I give him, it doesn't take long, but I die, I die. He ramps it up with the next one, and that is to die to our flesh.
Now, our flesh means the natural part of you. It's the soul part of you. It's your emotions. It's where you're prone to be hurt. It's where you're prone to have lust or greed or pride. It's those kind of things. And watch what the Bible says. This is all Galatians. This is so cool. "For the desires of the flesh," your fleshly part of you, "are against what God wants to do in you". You know what I'm talking about. "And the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. They're actually opposed to each other, keeping you from doing the things you actually want to do". In other words, you have a little angel on one shoulder, a little demon on the other, and you feel the tug of war of your flesh, but you need to understand the little demon on your shoulder is the one that's keeping you from the life you've always wanted to live.
So, what do we do about it? Watch this, so cool. Those who belong to Christ crucify that. They crucify their emotions. They crucify their sinful nature and their flesh, with its passions and with its desires. Say "Chris, if prayer is the way to die to self, how do we die to our flesh"? Worship, worship. Worship elevates God, lowers me. It's all about him. And then it allows, I can't even explain it. I wish I could explain it better. It'll calm the savage beast on the inside of you. It's what you experience being even in this room, as we talked about. Lord, put your fresh Spirit, Lord, we want a fresh anointing, fresh Spirit of God inside of me. And every time we sing these songs... I can be depressed or anxious. Whew. Instead, for just five minutes, I'm asking you to turn on a worship song and say, "God, I just submit every part of my hurts, every part of my emotions to you, Lord God". And make it all about Jesus and lift your hands and worship the Lord.
And I'm gonna tell you, I do it every day. Every day, I die to Chris. I get on my knees, every day, I worship. And I'm gonna tell you, it just brings peace to my soul. I can be a kind of a worked-up dude. I mean, I know that probably doesn't surprise you. I'm very type A. I've got stuff going on, you know, and I'm always kind of, I look like I'm always late. I'm just ready to go do, you know, something. And when I get into worship, it just brings the peace of God into my soul. Can I tell you, some of y'all need that? I'm just trying to be a pastor to you. It'd be good if you stopped in the morning and let your soul be at rest. And I'll tell you, you have to be careful 'cause you can jump right, you can get in it. To me, I can get in it so easily, that peaceful, hey, get pulled out of it.
I was, not too long ago, I had one of the best worship moments of my life, in my prayer time that morning, and man, I'm going to the office, I'm still, "Shout to the Lord". I mean, I'm having a good time. And this guy in a truck barrels up on my car, waving his fists and like, I don't know what I did. Obviously, I cut him off. I did something I was unaware of, but he is upset. And I'm like, "All right, man". I'm like, "All right, it's all right," you know, but he's still like, "Ah-ah-ah-ah"! But now I've already apologized, you know what I'm saying? I'm like, "What then? What do you want me to do now"? I'm like, he can't hear me.
Have you ever done that in the rearview mirror? You're like... And I'm getting in the flesh so bad. Well, I'm on 280, and it's got a set of demons all its own. Amen, everybody? I mean, it just does. And I'm in the middle of the three lanes, and there's room to go around. I'm like, so I rolled down my window like... In such a hurry, come on around. And I was just, man, now I'm really in the flesh, you know. Like ain't no shout to the Lord. I'm ready to shout to him. You know what I'm saying? And when he came around, I was gonna give him one of those... Isn't that holy? I know. Well, when he came around, it was one of our church members. He's busting out laughing. "I got you, Pastor".
So, I kicked him out of the church. He's at another church now, so anyway. Okay, listen to me. I'm trying to help you live. A lot of you guys are so worked up. I mean, you worked up. This is your whole life. What? What? You're mad at the news. You're mad at your boss. You're mad at your family. You better die. You better kill that flesh. If you don't kill that flesh, it'll kill you. I die to self in prayer. I die to my flesh in worship. And then Paul says, "You'd better also die to the world". You'd better decide how much of the world you're gonna allow in your life.
Now, this is deep into the pool teaching. This is not normal Sunday morning teaching. So, eat it if you can. Spit it out if you can't. Look at me. But some of you have way too much of the world in your life. You're not gonna be able to have that amount of the world in you and have the life of God in you too. Say "Be more specific, Chris". Nope, I'm not going to, 'cause you have a Holy Spirit who's been convicting you for a long time. Don't listen to me, listen to him. You've been watching stuff, listening to stuff. If Jesus saw your... what you're streaming, would he be pleased? No, you know it. You don't need me to tell you that. You have a Holy Spirit's been trying to tell you that. So, how do you die to the world? In my opinion, it's when you elevate the Word.
Watch what Paul says. "May I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world". How do we do that? Jesus taught us, last verse, in the final prayer he prayed in the garden, in John 17. He said this, watch this. "I have given them your," say that out loud, "given them your word". And the world hates it when you follow the Word. "For they are not of the world any more than I am of the world", watch this, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world..." In other words, he doesn't want to bring us all to heaven right now, 'cause he wants to use us. "But that you protect them from the evil one," from the world, how? "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it, so sanctify them, separate them from it by the truth". What's the truth? "Your word is truth".
And that's why... you ready for this? What I'm giving you is a formula that takes you 15 minutes a day, 5 minutes on your knees. "Take every part of me". Five minutes in worship. "Calm the savage beast on the inside of me". Five minutes in the Word. "Separate myself from the thinking of this world". And I'm encouraging you to try it this week. I'm encouraging you to take the first, what I call the first 15, the first 15. Seriously, give me seven days. Give me 15 minutes for seven days. How else are you gonna know if this is true or not? How else are you gonna know that you can never live until you die, until you die and see? And if 15 minutes can be a test case to see if it happens, why wouldn't you do it? And I promise you, this is good teaching, y'all. This will help, this will help you die to yourself, die to your flesh, die to the world.
So, Father, I'm praying for the church this week, so that they really live. And I'm asking you, God, to give them the courage to take steps to see some real change in their life, so they can experience the life you've always intended.
I want you to keep your heads bowed, your eyes closed, and I'm gonna invite the campus pastors to all join me on the stage. In a moment, we're gonna end differently with water baptism, but I want to give every campus an opportunity, that if you're not a Christian, and you want to become one, you want to join in the number of people who have given their life to Jesus, say, "Chris, what would I have to do"? You're one heartfelt prayer away. That's it, one heartfelt prayer. And if that's you, at every location, in the correctional facilities, watching online, pray this. Say:
Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross and paying for my sin. I receive what you did. I ask you to forgive me. I ask you to change me. Be the Lord of my life. I believe you're the Son of God. I believe you died and rose again. And today I surrender all, every part of me, to you. Thank you for saving me. In your name I pray, amen and amen.