It is so cool to be with you guys this morning. And if you have a Bible, I want to encourage you to open it to Acts chapter 2. That's where we're going to dive in. Thanks, bro. What an incredible time of worship. Let me ask a question. How many of you, whether it's written down or just mentally, have some form of a bucket list? Things I'd like to do before I die, kick the bucket. I actually a couple weeks ago had the joy of getting to check one off of my list. I was invited to perform at the coach's dinner at the final four. And I am a basketball freak. I love basketball, and I've always dreamed about going to the final four. Several years ago, my middle son and I went down to the initial first round of the tournament, and that was incredible. But this I got to go to the final four. And part of the deal was they said, Well, you know, we can't pay your whole fee, but we're going to pay you something. And we're going to give you a hotel throughout the entire weekend. And we're going to give you four tickets to the final four and to the championship game. And I'm like, I'm so there. And so my boys got to go with me. Um, if you don't follow basketball, it was in New Orleans. Woo, New Orleans. What a unique place. And our hotel, our hotel was on the corner of Canal Street and Bourbon Street. Now, yeah, some were like, some were like, oh, and that's that's exactly it. You just nailed it. It is it is one of the most unique places. We actually ended up staying at the same hotel with the University of Kentucky basketball team, which was amazing. I couldn't have planned this any better. And and in New Orleans, they have a phrase, who dat. Who dat. Who-dat. Well, after walking around New Orleans for a few days, I think they should change that to what that. I've never been to a place. The first one should be what that smell. What is that smell? I mean, literally, some of the most unbelievably wonderful aromas you'll ever smell. We went to Emeralds one night for dinner. We went to the City Palace Cafe one night. It was just unbelievable. And you go to these amazing aromas, and five steps later, you're just like, oh goodness. What is that smell? And then the other is, what is that? Because we walked out of our hotel. Now we're literally we're around the corner from Bourbonon Canal, and we're on the corner. And I'm not making this up. I just we're standing there, and Graham and Cody are there with me, and they're just like, Why is what is that? This guy, before, he's about six foot two, six three, without the stiletto heels. And he had on tights and a mini skirt, and this fist net thing with a black hat and a veil. And and and my son looked at me, I'm like, what is the that is just weird. And I looked out, and all these people were looking, and they're right there with us. They're just like, look at that weird guy. And then I realized they were pointing at me. And if you're normal there, you're weird, okay? That's just it just blew my mind. But I just thought about this one time, the final four, and the final four in New Orleans, and I watched these guys, and I just soaked up this experience. And we were at the championship game, and I thought, these guys are literally several of three of the starters for Kentucky were in high school last year. And now they're on a floor in front of over 70,000 people playing for a national championship, and they won. And I literally thought back. Now, I've never been an athlete at that level, but I've sat down with some and and they tell me your life is never the same. That one moment, that one decision, that one point of everything kind of culminating. I had a friend who won a Heisman trophy, and we were sitting down at lunch one day, and he said it really didn't sink into me. He says, But I'm sitting there with all the other Heisman winners, and after I won the trophy and after the hoopla had worn down, every one of them, every one of them came up and said, Your life will never be the same. And he's like, and they were right. He says, Because you're always this, and it changes. For some, it changes for the better. For some, it changes for the worse, because they can never get over that point. That becomes their identity, and they're always living in the past. For others, they take that and as a springboard to do amazing and incredible pieces. But that moment in life, and for you and I, we have that same real opportunity, not in a sport sense, but in life sense. And really, there are in our faith, there are three pieces that if we'll grasp onto, and I want to kind of jump off of what Steve shared last week. And let me just say, if you you weren't here last week, or or even if you were, I'd encourage you to listen to the podcast. It was unbelievable how he laid out that relationship that God wants and has with us when we choose that. But this point is one, and if you're in Acts chapter 2, I want to just dive right into a passage starting in verse 22, where it is being written, men of Israel, starting in verse 22 of chapter 2, men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. We have to look at the reality that in this point in time that I want to look at today, these three pieces, it all starts with where Steve shared last week. Why would Jesus go through that? Well, it was a foreknowledge and it was a plan. Jesus was born as a man for a purpose. And that purpose, as it so beautifully put last week, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Well, what joy is worth dying for? And the wonderful, wonderful answer to that, which was so simply and wonderfully put last week, is you and me. Jesus said, You, you are my joy. You're worth going through that. And this morning, what I want us to do is unpack what that really looks like. And to do that, we have to look at three pieces of a, you can call it a triangle or just a puzzle, but three pieces that make all the difference in the world. The first one is we really need to take a look at history. The history of scripture, that where it really started and what it moved to, and that it lays out perfectly to point to Jesus, to why it all happened to begin with. And the part I love about the biblical history is that it's so real. It is not pristine and perfect. God uses these extreme examples of just craziness to show himself to us. And you don't have to go there, but I just want to give you a reference. If you want to start way back, you can go to Genesis, first book in the Bible, chapters 16 and 21, where God is laying out that plan, and we hear of Abraham, and God goes to Abraham and he says, Abraham, I'm gonna birth from you a nation. And if you know the story, you know that Abraham goes, Oh, cool, I'm gonna get this, but then he gets older and older and older. And we see an incredible story and principle that we don't have time to dive into, but as he gets older, his wife says, Hey, obviously God's called you this, but maybe we need to help God. So, here's my idea. And his wife Sarah says, Why don't you, I've got a maidservant, why don't you have a child with her? And maybe that's God's plan. Well, let me just give you a quick synopsis of principle. If your wife ever tells you to have a child with another woman, it's gonna end badly. Historical fact, it is not gonna be good. And it was not good. And we today, you want to see history and reality? The turmoil in the Middle East today is 100% from that decision. The Palestinians and the Jews, they say, Well, we are, we have the birthright because we were first, the Palestinians. And the Jews go, No, we're the called people, and both of them are right. And there's a history there. But Abraham's history went on to David, and King David was one who says, You know what? I God anointed me king. When everybody else looked past me, God said, I see the heart, and I'm there. And look what it says in Acts chapter 2, verses 25 through 29. And the incredible part is this is a reference back to a psalm. But here's the deal: it says in verse 25, David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices, my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me from the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay. Don't miss that, because he's going to explain it in a second. You have made known to me the paths of life. You fill me with joy in your presence. God is leading us in this way to say, you know what? Here's the deal. There's a history here. David is saying, you know what, I've got the key here that not only am I the descendant of Abraham, but here's the deal: it is about a relationship, about a personal God coming to a personal man and saying, I'm not going to abandon you. I have a plan for you, and through you will come me, my son, in the flesh. There is a history, and that history is not a religious history, it is a relational history. Every other religion in the world has sets of rules of do's and don'ts, and it's about control. Unfortunately, I I know some who are even in the Christian faith, use this book as a book of rules for do's and don'ts to control people. But I'm so thankful for a place like His Hands that says that that's not what we're about. We're about the living truth that gives freedom. And it's about that relationship. We want to point everyone to that reality that Christ within us, when we choose him through this historical fact that changes us. So once we get that piece of history, there's a second amazing mystery. And it's not a mystery that we can't figure out. It's a mystery that it is so complex yet it is insanely simple. Let me put it to you this way Christianity, the way God designed it through the Bible, is the only faith, the only religious concept, the only theology that is personal and that is based on not what we can do to earn heaven and life, but what God did to give us forgiveness and grace and purpose and life. Every other faith, if you ever want to evaluate, you just look and you have to ask some simple questions. Well, what is good and bad? And most of them say, Well, I hope I'm good enough. And every other faith is based on trying to be good enough. Good enough. But there's never a definition of what's good enough. I've listened to, I had the privilege of getting to hear one of my favorite uh apologetic communicators, probably one of the best of all time. His name is Ravi Zacharias. And Ravi is an incredible debater who's been all over the world, Cambridge, Harvard debates, debates literally the heads of other faiths. And he made a great comment when he was invited to speak to the National Day of Prayer in Washington. He said, every faith has to be evaluated on four main pillars. First, you have to define what is evil. What is evil? And in faith, in Christianity, it's very simple. Sin. Sin is what's wrong. That's it. Clearly defined sin. And it gives us that so that we can see what sin is. He says in every faith there has to be justice or judgment. How are you going to judge that? And that's where it breaks down in most faiths because it's like, well, I don't get to judge, only God judges. Well, what is the judge based on? In your writings, what is he determined? Here's what it is. And it's never clear, and it's never defined. He says, for it to be true and genuine, there has to be justice. Then there has to also be an opportunity for forgiveness. How are you going to decide who gets forgiven and how that's judged? And you have to define ultimately what is love. Those are the four pillars that have to be defined. Here's the incredible part. Our faith, those of us who have said, you know what, I'm going to take this word as God's living holy word, that He spoke it, and it is living and active. And he says, I'm going to define for you evil. There's a verse, and you can write it in the side of your Bible, just James 2.10. He says, For whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles on just one point, is guilty of breaking all of it. He says, I'm going to tell you what's evil. I'm going to tell you how I'm going to judge. You're either perfect or you're not perfect. Period. That's that's the way it's going to be defined. That's evil. Sin is evil. And he puts it another way in Romans. He says, for all have sinned. Bummer. That we're all at that point where we're not perfect and we're all sinful. And when we get to the heart of the matter on a personal level, we realize that's true. I I have made mistakes. And if you're debating on that, of what that is, let me ask it a simple way. How many of us would be in this room today that would not say, in my life, if I look back, there are some things I wish I should have done, but did not. That would have been best. Some things I could have done, but I did not. Or things that I could have done right, but I chose what was wrong, and I regret it. Or those things that would be, but they won't be, because of a decision that I made. That regret. God knows our hearts and he knows that that is real. The truth is though, he says, You know what? I have something bigger than that for you and with you. I want you to experience my fullness and my forgiveness. Look at this with me. Verse 30. He says, But he was a prophet, knew that God had promised him an oath, that he would place one of his descendants on his throne, which was Jesus. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, and that he would not be abandoned to the grave, nor would his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of this fact. They had seen Jesus. It was a fact. It is a fact. That that mystery became a man. And now here's the mystery made simplicity. And I loved it when Robbie shared this. It blew my mind. There is only one time. One time in the history of man, one time where evil clearly defined as sin was met with the justice of God dealing with that sin through the love of the only perfect man, Jesus, to provide complete forgiveness. And there's only one time in history where all four converged at one moment in one person. Only once. And it was on Calvary through Jesus. That is the power of the history become mystery. But that power, that power that is true, is where we have to go to this third piece. Those two pieces are clear, but there is a third piece that makes it real. It's not just the history of the mystery, but it's the personal key. The personal key that unlocks that door of power and forgiveness and grace. That personal key, I can't help but see it this way. When we're at the final four in the championship game, we're in the arena with over 71,000 people. And it was electric. Half the crowd was probably for Kansas, the other half for Kentucky, and it's building up to the start, and it is just this buzz and electricity, and the announcements are over, and the game is going to begin, and they bring the teams on the court and they're about to tip off. And my middle son Cody says, Dad, look at this. And I looked, and in front of him was a boy that looked to be about a 10 or 11 years old. Sitting there playing a Game Boy. And Cody said, What the heck? And I said, He's missing it. This bucket list item. This unbelievably difficult ticket to get. A life memory. And he is playing something meaningless and useless. And he did throughout almost the entire game. And I'm like, what a waste. What a waste. And then I got to thinking this perfect example that God has given everyone who seeks and accepts it forgiveness and grace and purpose and life. And it is proven through history and fact. And it is given through the mystery of Jesus. But until we accept that and we live in that, the heck. Why don't we grab that? Why don't we walk in that? Why don't we live in that? Because that is where true freedom comes from. It's not about religion. Religion is controlling freedom and grace and forgiveness is what God longs for us to experience. And if I could leave this mental picture, it's a beautiful picture, a very tangible picture of what all that together means. That if you and I, for those of you who may be here this morning and you've heard about Jesus and the history, and you even believe intellectually in the mystery, that all that did come together in Jesus on the cross. But you've never taken that personal key and unlocked that door and said, please come in to my life. And that's actually a picture that Jesus uses. In Revelation 3.20, he says, I stand at the door and knock. If you open the door, I will come in. It's a promise. But as it was explained to me as a 13-year-old, said it's a trick door. There's only one doorknob, and it's on the inside. We have to choose to open that door. And once we do, we get not rules and regulations, we get forgiveness and grace and adoption into the family that God says, I have a purpose for you. After the championship game, we drove over and met my wife and my daughter and our friends at the beach in Gulf Shores. My in-laws have a beautiful beach house there and they let us use it. And as we're at this beautiful beach house, one of my favorite activities of the beach house, one of my favorites, it's just therapeutic to me, is I love to fish, but not put a worm on a hook, throw it out there, watch the bobber. That's not the kind of fishing I like. I like to cast net fish. And there's a lagoon, it's the size of a small lake, it's huge, behind their house. And the way the sand has come through, you can walk between knee and chest deep for about 130, 140 yards, and you can just walk out. And I walk out with my net, it's a 12-foot net. It took me about two years to really get good at it, but you grab it and you got to hold it a certain way, and then you get the angle, and then you get it, and you throw it, and it becomes this huge openness, and it lands and it sinks, and you pull it in and it draws the net and it comes in. It's just fun, it's therapeutic. And I take out a little raft, fill it with water as my live well. Whatever I catch, I put the fish in there and take it back. And Kennedy or the boys, they look in, oh, Dad, got a fish, you know, and then we let them all go, and it's just a blast. Well, I'm out there fishing, and from the dock, my wife says, Hey, come here a second, come here a second. So I come in and she said, These are my parents' friends. And he's been over to Ukraine with my dad. I'm like, that's so great. Nice to meet you, Rob. And I didn't realize until later, kind of figured it out through the process of that day that this is the family that's adopted some kids. Well, one of their kids is a 16 year old, Evan. And he's out rowing in this raft while I'm out fishing. And Rob, the dad, Rod, he said, Hey, he loves outdoors. Nice to meet you. We've met once before, and I'm like, yeah, I remember. Number now, and and then Evan, he says, he just loves the outdoors. So Rod kind of walked over. I said, Evan. He says, Well, he's my adopted son. We adopted him a few months ago. He's literally only been here a matter of weeks. He's from the Ukraine. He doesn't really speak a lot of English, but a little bit. And I'm like, okay. I said, he likes to fish. He goes, Oh, he loves to fish. Has he ever cast netfish? No, he's never cast it. I said, So he kind of wanders away and I said, Evan, come here. And Evan comes over, a little bit tentative at first, but excited about this idea. I said, You want to fish? He goes, Yeah. I said, Okay. He's 16 years old. And I sat there and I showed him how to do it, and I threw it a couple times. And I've gotten to the point where when I pull it in, I can tell when there's something in the net. So the first time I felt a fish, I'm like, hey, uh, pull this one in. And he pulls it in, and sure enough, there's two decent sized fish. He's like, oh my goodness. And he's he puts it in the raft or oh my goodness, and whatever it is in Ukrainian, and he pulls it in and he's just excited. And we fished. And we fished, I don't know, probably an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Rod came out a little later and he goes, if you need to go, you just go. And I'm like, no, we're having a blast. He goes, but I don't want to monopolize your time. I know your family's here. I'm like, I've plenty of time. It's really no problem. I love fishing with him, and he was so excited. And I taught him how to hold it and throw it. And he started, and he says, Well it's good. And I was like, better, better. And he had no idea what better meant. And so he started throwing it out there. He's like, better. And I was like, yes, you're getting better. But two things struck me about Evan. Evan's favorite word in the world is dad. He looked at Rod and he would go, Dad, watch, dad, dad, watch, watch this, dad. Dad, watch this. Dad, dad, dad, watch, dad, dad, dad. See, because Evan was the older brother of the two children that Rod and his wife had met on a mission trip and that hosted the previous summer and fell in love with them. And although their children are older, they said, God just laid on their heart, we need to adopt these kids. And they told them, We're going to work on this. They fly over to the Ukraine and for seven weeks go through the process to adopt these two children. And they find out within the last week or so they have an older brother who's 16. And they made a decision. Well, we're not going to break up the family. So they adopted him too. And it was Evan. As I sat there with Evan, I saw what it really meant: the joy of being adopted, part of a family. His joy is dad. Dad. And I love this part too. Because Rod will introduce him. This is my son Evan from Ukraine. And he said, Evan pulled him aside after a couple days. He says, Dad, um, can I just be your son? Not from the Ukraine, but can I just be your son? And he said, Yes, yes, I'm sorry. So he just introduced him, this is my son. And he says, I'll explain the rest later. He says, but this is my son. And then he just really grabbed my heart because he told me about Evan. And after we got done fishing, I'm going back and I said, Listen, you tell him anytime I'm out here, come out here, I love to fish. He goes, but you don't understand. Evan's not comfortable around adult men, and I'm blown away that he just spent an hour with you. He says, You don't know how special that is. And I said, Well, okay. And I said, it's no big deal. He says, No, no, no, but to him, that is amazing. God is doing something through here because he's having a blast and he's not that way. And he shared with me a story that grace is overwhelming. He said that they had gone fishing off the wharf a few days before. And Evan was so excited. Dad, look what I can do. Dad, I can cast. Look at Dad, look. And he says, Evan went to cast one time and he said he didn't see me walk behind him and he caught me in the leg with the hook. And he went, oh, oh. And he says, It's okay, okay. And he says, I got the hook out, and there's a little scrape. And he says, but for the next hour and a half, Evan was just totally quiet, wouldn't say anything, and just kept his head down. And after a while, Rod went over. He says, Evan, what's wrong? And he said, Nothing. And he says, No, what's wrong? And Evan said, I was I was waiting for you to beat me. And he said, No. No, why would I do that? Because that's all he's ever known. And he said, No, no. It was a mistake. No. And that moment taught me a lesson about grace. God is not up there waiting with a baseball bat to beat us when we've made mistakes and screwed up. God is waiting with grace to say, you made mistakes. My grace is sufficient and it is amazing and it is overwhelming. Let me love you. Let me take your greatest failure, your greatest regret, your greatest pain, and wash over you and overwhelm you with my love and grace and my complete forgiveness. That is the key. That personal key opens our heart. The two pieces of these three, the third piece I want us to really grasp is the simple fact God's forgiveness is complete. His grace is available. And what's really amazing to me is that he longs to overwhelm us with that. And that that grace is contagious. And when we start, because we can't give it until we experience it. But once we experience it, when we start living our days with the reality of God's love, forgiveness, and grace, it changes who we are. But we can't give it if we don't have it. And that God longs for us to experience that every day, to come to Him and say, God, here I am again. Just remind me that you love me and that your forgiveness is complete. And God, overwhelm me with your grace to the point where I can give it today. Will you do that with me and for me? And with that, I realize that grace is contagious. We cannot spread grace and forgiveness until we get it. And we cannot get an endless supply until we receive it through Jesus Christ continuously to be contagious. I love this last couple verses, and I want to read in verses 38 and 39. As he shared all of this, he shared with them, Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are afar off, for all whom the Lord God will call. I guess my question today is is he calling? You and me. For those of us who know him, he's calling and saying, Let me forgive you again today. Know that my forgiveness is complete. Just receive it. It's already there. You've already got it. Just receive it. And by grace, let it wash over you. For those of you who've never made that step, taking that personal key. You've known it here, but not here. My encouragement is that word, be baptized. Repent and be baptized. It simply means turn from where you are to Him. I love the word baptized. It is a physical experience to show God I'm dying to myself and fully accepting your forgiveness, your grace. And it's a water baptism. It's a water death where we die and we raise again. And if you've never done that, let me just encourage you. It is one of the greatest indelible marks on your heart you'll ever have. And we're doing that here. I think it's May 6th. And you can go to the information table and just go, hey, I want to get some information about that. It will be an incredible Sunday. And it'll be a life memory for you to know that I will continuously walk in God's grace and forgiveness. Let's pray, and then we're going to do one more song to just let it all sink in. Father, thank you. Thank you for your complete forgiveness. Lord, that we we not only don't have to be perfect, we can't be perfect. Because we've already sinned. And you knew that. But you made a way through your love to completely forgiveness through Christ. So, Father, whether it's for the first time or whether it's for the first time this week, we just ask that you overwhelm us with your grace. And as we sing this last song together, just pierce our hearts with your spirit as only you can. Thank you for the gift of Jesus on the cross and that spirit that lives within us when we open that door. And Lord, let us just breathe afresh and anew that grace and that love. And it is only through your power and your spirit and your gift and forgiveness that we can pray. Amen.