Hey, so glad you're here today. Thank you for joining us. If you're joining us online or in the room, my name's Jamie, the lead pastor here. Go ahead and ask you to turn to Mark chapter 11. Thank you so much for some of the feedback you're giving about our Easter services this coming weekend.

Like, this is the last announcement you get because next weekend is Easter. And so we have our service on Saturday evening at 6 with preschool, nursery provided, elementary and everybody else in here. And Sunday at 9 and 10:30, normal same time groups at the same time. In fact, there's a couple of challenges. Let me challenge you.

Number one, if you've been thinking about getting in a group, why not next week? Why not next week? And if you've been holding back about stepping forward and being baptized, come see one of us at the altar this morning after a message. We would love to talk to you about what that means. If you've never been baptized, what does that mean?

Because we're Baptists. We're Baptist because we believe in baptism, full immersion after salvation. And so if you were sprinkled in another church, we want to baptize you fully immersed in the water. If you've made a profession, you're just like, I just don't know that I can do it. God will give you the courage, if you'll just trust him to make that declaration that your old life is gone and your new life has come.

So if you're there with me at Mark 11, verse 15, go ahead and stand with me. This is Passover week. Jesus has entered into the city, his triumphal entry, riding on the colt. And they've laid palm branches and coats on the road to celebrate that the king has come. Now, their expectation of what that king was going to do and what Jesus did was two totally different things.

He comes into the city, they're crying hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and he leaves. And the next day as he's walking to the city, he sees a fig tree and he curses it because it wasn't producing fruit. And it's a symbol of how the Jewish system at that time was not producing fruit. Did he become religious?

And so Jesus comes in and Jesus is going to make a statement. And I want you to pick up with me at verse number 15. He says, Then they Jesus and the disciples came to Jerusalem. This is Monday. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, overturning the tables of the money.

Changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. He disrupted their commerce. Remember that word disrupt? Then he explained why.

It was a distortion, he said. And he began to teach them, saying, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber's den. I want you to make note, if you don't have a study Bible, that these two quotations are Isaiah 56, 7 and Jeremiah 7:11. The context is beautiful. The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him.

Matthew reveals that they were indignant. They were more than angry, for they were afraid of Jesus. But the crowd was astonished in his teaching. Father, as we dig into this today, speak to our hearts by your word in Jesus name. Amen.

You know, I miss the days when my kids were younger because to a child, there's always this innocent shock and awe that comes. And one of those is when we would go to the beach on a vacation and there would be a carnival or a boardwalk or. Or some area where they could go play. One of those was in Panama City. And my daughters, for whatever reason, love an upside down house.

Now, let me test you. How many of you have ever been to an upside down house? All right. Thank you. I had one hand in another service like, dad, you know what?

It's an upside. There's one in Pigeon Forge. They're all over the place. They were inspired by things like the spook houses at Coney island in different places. But the reason that they're appealing is because they entertain you by creating an illusion.

You walk in and there's an odd sensation because you're looking up at this structure where the roof is in your face and the floor is up. You walk into a room and you're walking by the chandelier and the couch is above your head. You go into another room and the walls are not square and the pictures aren't hung properly. Some of you in this room are like me. You walk into a room and the first thing you notice, that picture's not straight.

And while people aren't looking, you reach over and go. You adjust it because it's not normal. It does something to your brain. It throws you off. It creates an alternate reality.

People like Walt Disney took advantage of that. In fact, if you listen to the way that they created one of the most famous rides at their park, the Haunted Mansion. His words were, we wanted to create something that was spoofy it was spooky and goofy at the same time. So the first thing you encounter when you walk into this ride is a room that appears to be stretching, but it's an elevator. The illusion gives you this idea that the room is changing, but it's actually you moving.

In fact, at the Upside Down House in Panama City, the first thing you encounter if anybody in this room get motion sick real easy. Well, don't go to this Upside Down House, because you walk in and there's this catwalk, and you're walking down this tube that's moving like this. It's got banded colors. And so you get the feel that you start getting pulled to the side. But are you really getting pulled to the side?

No, because of the illusion. It makes you think, you need to go this way. Anyone ever been to Ecuador and walked on the equator? It's really weird. You're standing on this line and you're doing this.

It's your mind. It's playing tricks on you. It's not real.

And in our world today, there's a lot of things that we see that in God's eyes are not the way that he wanted them to be. They're an illusion. They don't line up with his truth. In fact, if you go back to Walt Disney, this is how he built his storytelling. He said that life is composed of lights and shadows, joys and sorrows.

And he said, we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we did not, if we tried to pretend that there were no shadows. So Walt Disney's solution to that was to tell stories that would make light the dark. First movie that was released, animated movie by Walt Disney, was Snow White and Seven Dwarfs. And it hints at the evil in the world, but in such a light way. In fact, if you didn't know this, six of the seven dwarfs were not happy.

But that movie bothered some people because they felt like what he was doing was trying to avoid the darkness and was telling the children an illusion that wasn't true. One of those men was named J.R.R. Tolkien and his buddy C.S. Lewis. They didn't like the storytelling because it didn't put the reality of darkness front and center.

So you think about the seven dwarfs of Snow White versus the orcs of the Lord of the Rings. That's a whole different story. In fact, Tolkien wrote in a letter, and he said, I recognize Disney's talent, but it has always seemed to me hopelessly corrupted. Though in most of the pictures proceeding from his studios, there are Admirable and charming passages. The effect of them, he said, are disgusting and gives me nausea.

Why, like, I stopped and asked myself, why? Why would J.R. Tolk, J.R.R. Tolkien come out so strongly about this? Because he was concerned that he wasn't portraying the world as it really is. When you and I walk out in this world, it is not what God wanted it to be.

I love the blue sky. I love the warm temperatures. The pollen can take a hike. But the way this world operates is not the way God intended. In fact, when we began to talk about this series called Upside down, the kingdom of God is not upside down.

It's the world that's upside down. And God wants to turn the world right side up by sending his son to usher in the kingdom of God. We live in a world that's upside down. Well, what does that mean? Number one, in the beginning, God created man to be in his image and to rule over creation.

But when man submitted to creation through the serpent, he reversed the order. Which number two, then affects all of creation. That all of creation is yearning. It's under the curse, wanting the sons of God to be redeemed. Why?

Because that's God's creative order. The world God wants to be turned right side up.

Do you think that, like, the world's pretty cool, isn't it? If it's so cool, then why did Peter write, but by his word, the present heaven and earth are reserved for fire.

Gosh, listen, I'm little bitty rabbit, not big one. I won't even shoot it. Heaven is beyond anything that you can fathom. And we're comfortable in something falling.

You know what I want to do? I want to stir you up. I want to motivate you to think today that what's to come is so much better than what we have here. And the world does not want the truth. The kingdom of God appeared and it came to show the world just how upside down it it was.

Jesus and John both preached repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. What is repentance but a turning away, a rethinking that affects my behavior to behave in a different way. Why? Because the world is upside down. In your study notes, let's start with this foundational definition of upside down.

Upside down is a situation where what is at the top is positioned at the bottom, and what is at the bottom is elevated to the top. From God's perspective, the world is upside down and corrupted by sin, living in rebellion because of the sin of man. The bad things happening in this world Whether they be man induced or natural disasters are because creation was subjected to to sin and then comes along Jesus. At a time when those who should have been the mouthpiece of the hope of God had taken the Jewish religion and made it something for selfish gain power. Not too different from a lot of our pastors and preachers today.

They want to be in power and they want to be on top. Jesus actually said, this is not the way it should be among you. It's the way the Gentiles do it. The first will be last. And see how that's upside down.

To live is to die and to die is to live. See how upside down the kingdom of God is compared to this world. But what God has brought in the kingdom of God is what really is right side up. It's the words of life that we follow to find life in Him. We live in this tension every day.

You may be going along and everything's going right, but let something happen, conflict come along, bad news, bad report, and we begin to see just how fallen and backwards this world is. Don't you want, like Paul wrote in Galatians 1:4, to be rescued from this present evil God? It's not that bad, folks. It is. You're living in an illusion.

You're in the spook house and the walls aren't square and the pictures are not sitting on the wall, right? You and I live in an illusion that this is paradise. It is not. What the world considers normal is actually abnormal. What the world considers normal is actually abnormal.

I mean. Okay, well, let me give you some verses. You ready? First, John 2, my typo. 2, 16.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world.

Those three categories, all influenced by the world and my flesh, are not of God. It's upside down. Romans 8, 20, 22. For creation was subjected to futility, not willingly. Did you catch that?

Like creation didn't say, hey, flip us upside down. Creation wanted man in his rightful place, but because of him, God, who subjected it in hope that creation itself would be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Because that was the intended purpose, humanity. And the only way you and I can experience that image is to be saved from our sins, reborn, regenerated. Remember how we talked about how good the gospel is?

Now I can live by the Holy Spirit in me somewhat some way in the intended image that God wanted for us. Matthew 20, verses 25 through 26. If you want to jot those down. Jesus called them to themselves. This is when James and John said, hey, can their mom said, hey, can James and John sit on your right and left?

They're kind of privileged. Let them sit there. And he said, nope, it's not the way it works. You know that. The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them.

It is not this way among you. It should make you nervous. I'm going to offend some people. Y' all ready? It should make you nervous to walk into a church where somebody says they have a ruling.

Anything.

I'm not called to rule you, I'm called to serve you. I figure every man on this staff, we're the lowest of the rung in this room, and if not, we're out of order. We're upside down.

Acts 17:6. As Paul and Silas enter into Thessalonica, and people begin to get saved, and God is moving. They retreat to a man's house named Jason. And it says the Jews got mad and they went looking for Paul and Silas. He said, when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, listen, you ready?

These men have upset the world, and they now have come here. They've come to turn our world upside down. Why? Because they had accepted an illusion as being true. Folks, I'm here to tell you this.

Jesus wants to disrupt your illusions today. Now, you can hold onto them if you want, but I can tell you if you'll let it go. Gosh, what God can do in your life and the things that he could open up to you, your legacy, things you've always believed about church. In fact, I said it before, I'll say it again. If somebody asks you, are you religious?

What do you answer them? Well, yes, I am. No, we're not religious people. We have a relationship with the God of the universe. Religion is with somebody who's keeping a list of things they do to make themselves look good enough that maybe by chance, when you get out of this world, God might say, you're so good.

Come on. That's all right. I'm not religious, and I never want to be called religious. And if you're here for religious sakes, let Jesus Christ set you free from that today. That's bondage to sin.

If you're religious, do you want to be free? Do you want to live the life God intended for you? Well, then you got to stop living according to this upside down world. So pick up with me again in Mark 11, verse number 15. Let me give you three things I see here.

I've already referenced them. Let me give them to you again. Number one. Disruption. Jesus disrupted the cultural norm.

And the greatest thing he can do for you today is disrupt your life, disrupt your thinking, disrupt your religion, disrupt your practices, because you're. You're entombed in bondage to them. Jesus came to set you free, and he walks into that temple that day. See, this happened before John records, most likely two years prior. Jesus walked in, made a whip and drove him out.

Now he's doing it again. It's almost like they were like, oh, right, here comes Jesus. Y' all got everything nailed down. Like, make sure the money's in the bag. Don't leave it on the table.

He says, Jesus came to Jerusalem and he entered and began to drive them out who were buying and selling in the temple in the court of the Gentiles, and he would not permit them to carry merchandise. It was broken. The very place that God had called his people to meet his people was corrupted because man was selfish.

Do y' all see that picture, too? It needed to be disrupted. It needed to be interrupted. And my question to us today is, well, Jesus, show me. Show me where I, in my life need you to disrupt.

You know what a disruption is. Any of y' all remember the Smothers brothers?

One of the brothers was a professional interrupter.

Some of y' all need a professional interrupter in your life because what you follow and what the truth of God is, is so opposite, you don't even see the illusion. Think about this Jesus in Matthew 9, when he calls Matthew, he's sitting and he then eats with the tax collectors and sinners. But the religious elite, because they become so high on themselves, said, you know, you guys need to be like us, and we're only going to come this far. We're not going to go into the house of a tax collector or sinner. We're.

We're not going to go into the house of a Gentile because we're better than you and you have no hope to ever become like us. And Jesus called it out. What was upside down was how that system was abusing and mistreating the people. Jesus says to them, he quotes Hosea 6:6. Might want to write that one down, Hosea 6:6.

And he says, but go and learn what this means, in response to them asking him why he's eating with tax collectors and sinners. I desire compassion and not sacrifice. You think you bringing these sheep and goats and following these rituals and liturgy is impressing me? What impresses me is when you extend love to the broken. Then later in Matthew 12, 1:8, the disciples and Jesus are walking through a grain field on the Sabbath day.

One of them reaches over and grabs the top and begins to eat of the grains. I don't know that they had anything better to do with their life. It's almost like you can see that the Pharisees was over there with binoculars going, what's he going to do now? Wait a minute. He turned left.

Oh, no, no, no. He turned right. I mean, they were so bothered. They just watched him. They had nothing better to do with their time.

I'm going to bite my tongue. But they didn't understand. And Jesus began to correct them, said, wait a minute, wait a minute. Do y' all remember when David went in and ate the showbread in the. In the tabernacle?

And they just stand there looking at him because they don't understand. Because what Jesus is about to say is, I am the descendant of David, who is the son of God and the son of David. And if David can eat the showbread, my followers can eat the wheat. The Sabbath, you remember David wrote Psalm 110 where it says, the Lord Yahweh said to my Lord Adonai. David called Jesus his own Lord.

And if David has the right to walk into the tabernacle and eat the bread, the Son of man should be able on the Sabbath to pick a nut off of that which he made. But he looked at him and said the same thing. If you had known what this means, if you'd have known what this means, that someone had need and took of it according to what the law allowed. I desire compassion and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the innocent because they operated in a system that was upside down.

Hosea 66 is one of my favorite Old Testament passages because of this. It says this literally, for I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice. You know what loyalty means? There's. It's chesed.

It's loving kindness. That's what God extends to you and me. And God's asking us to reciprocate it back to him. If I love God, then I should love what is his. And they missed it, and they created a system that needed to be disrupted.

When Jesus went in there two years earlier, in the Book of John, chapter two, he did the same thing, but this time he said, take away this stuff, take away these tables and take away the selling of this stuff. My father's house is not to be a place of business. And his disciples remembered what was written. Zeal for your house will consume me. David wanted so bad to build God the temple.

And God said, no, you are a man of war. Your son will build my house. And when it was completed in 2nd Chronicles 17, God's presence filled that place just like it filled the tabernacle of a place where those who kept the covenant could come and bring their offerings to God and be in relationship and in the presence of God today. Guys, listen. Maybe for some of you today, the reason you can't experience the presence of God, the reason there's some kind of wall between you and God is because you need God to disrupt what you're holding close.

That's not of him. Would you do that? Today? You see, the temple in that time no longer exists. Today we are the temple of God.

Today, what would it hurt you to say God? Where do I need to be disrupted in my life? Because I kind of look at it like this. This is what they had done to the temple. It's like the hunter who went to a landowner.

Some of y' all hunt in this room. The landowner really didn't do much with the land. It's just. It was forest. And this guy said, hey, can I hunt your land?

And he's like, yeah, sure, go ahead, have at it. Hunt it all you want. Some time passes and the hunter begins to act as if the land is his own. He puts up do not trespassing signs on the trees. And he builds himself a little place to stay when he's sitting there over the night place to keep camp.

He begins to cut roads to get back into places where he couldn't get. But he didn't ask the landowner what he wanted. He just did it one day. The landowner, as time passes, shows up one day, and he wants to see what's going on with his land. He sees this shack and he sees these roads.

And he goes to confront the hunter. But the hunter has forgotten who he was. And he confronts him back, pulls a gun on him, hurts him.

By what authority, Jesus, are you doing these things? Because this is my house.

If you are born again, the Holy Spirit of God lives in your life. Guess what you are? You're a temple. Boys, if you know Jesus Christ, you know what? You're a temple of God.

Ladies, you know what? If you know Jesus Christ, you are a temple of God. There's a whole lot of little temples in here together that make one big temple, which makes this a house of God. Not because we put a steeple on top of this building, not because we call it a church, but because the people of God, those filled with the Holy Spirit of God, are in this place. And if it's a place of God, it should be a house of prayer.

Pick back up with me again. In verse number 17, he began to teach them he had to correct the distortion. Jesus declared how distorted God's will was in their present system. And he said, is it not written? He corrected them.

He's already done this once. And he came loaded. He said, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? Now, when you look at Isaiah 56. Seven, the context is very important because he talks about all the way through that chapter, the foreigner who is keeping the covenant of God, who is following his Sabbath, who's doing all these things and making sacrifice, understanding the covenant better than the covenant people of God.

And he said, I will not cut them off. And he says, even those, these foreigners keeping my covenant, I will bring to my holy mountain, make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable in my sight, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. And what Jesus confronted, what he distorted, what he disrupted, was a distortion of what God intended. Now we're sitting here 2,000 years later going, you know what?

We've got it all figured out, right? Y' all got all of Christianity figured out. Y' all got all the Bible figured out. We think we've got it all figured out.

If you're born again and a believer in God. Did you pray today? I'm not trying to shame you. I'm just asking the question, did you pray today? How often do you pray?

How do you pray? Well, Jamie, you know, you started a new prayer team, okay? That's a handful of people. Well, you know, you did that week of prayer, and then we did those once a month. Is that not enough, folks?

If it's not a part of our DNA, we're not a people of prayer. And if this is going to be a house of God, then it needs to be a house of prayer. And I think the biggest takeaway here is that God needs to interrupt and disturb us to ask the question, like, here we are, and we're in the house of God. Is this a place that we call a place of prayer? Because if it's a place of prayer, it will be a place of hope.

And if it's a place of Hope. It'll be a place of hope because it's a place of prayer. My house, he said, would be called a house of prayer. And then he goes on and he quotes Jeremiah 7:11. He says in Jeremiah, it says, has this house which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?

Behold, I, even I have seen, and I'm going to meddle. Because when you go to Jeremiah 7, he tells the Jews, he says, look, your neighbors, you're not treating them justly, you're treating them unjustly. And the widows and the orphans, you're not even taking care of them. And some of you have the audacity to go offer to BAAL a demigod and then come here on the Sabbath and celebrate me. You've robbed my glory.

And so when he says to them that they are a den of robbers, it's not because the articles themselves are the act of thievery. It's because the people were thieves. They were robbing God's glory. In the courtyard of the foreigner who's been invited to come and experience the presence of God. And these arrogant, these sinful men were saying, you can come, but you can only come so far.

Then Jesus Christ comes and he's cleaning house. Folks, you can't clean your heart at all, but Jesus can't clean your heart unless you let him disrupt what's there. How's your heart today? Because, see, here's the thing. We don't follow someone who's forcing us to do these rules.

We're following somebody that produces joy and gratitude, thankfulness because of what Jesus did. Aren't you glad in the narrative that it said that the veil that separated the ark of the Covenant, that that did at one time hold the presence of God, was rent in two, and that his presence came out of there to dwell in those who would believe in Him? Guys, as I said to you a few weeks ago about the Holy Spirit, I remind you again that what lives inside of you is the same thing that raised Jesus from the dead.

He wants to have a relationship with us, not a religion.

He's calling his people to pray. So here's my challenge. This is very specific. Are you praying for next weekend? Are you praying that God will show up?

Are you praying that God would draw those who don't know him? Are you praying that God might bring back some of those who have walked away? Are you praying? Are you praying that we could come in with a spirit of celebration and awe and wonder? Because when you look at this text, this Last verse, verse 18.

Here's what you see. Three emotions, let me call them affections. Emotions sometimes get a little bit muddy because emotions never determine truth. And you should never base your security in Christ on a feeling or an emotion. But look at what it did.

It says, the chief priests and the scribes heard this. Matthew's text became indignant and began seeking how to destroy him. For they were afraid. For the whole crowd was astonished. Y' all see the three, they're listed in your outline.

Or if you don't have blanks, fill these in. There was anger, fear and astonishment. See, Jesus actions drew out a variety of emotions. When you hear the truth of God, it does something to you. Some of you, it ticks you off.

My life's good just the way it is. Who are you to tell me that I need to change my life? Some of you are afraid. You're afraid that, well, if I yield to the Lord, if I repent of my sins, I'm going to lose something, I'm going to lose credibility. I'm going to lose stuff.

Some of you today, there's something tingling inside.

It's an astonishment. It's, it's awe. You're like, wow, I want to know more about this life and this relationship that I can have in Jesus Christ. So you can have a spectrum of reaction today. You can either walk out of this place they ticked off because Jesus came to disturb your normal, because what your normal is, is abnormal.

Some of you, he needs to explain how distorted your reality is. And if you would just yield to that, the Lord can come in. He can save you from this present evil in your sin and give you life. You can't fathom John 6, 66, 68. Jesus said this as there were some that were offended when he said, if you don't eat my body, drink my blood, you have no part of me.

As a result of this, the Bible says many of his disciples withdrew and were not following him anymore. Did you catch that? These weren't just half hearted believers, they were following. So Jesus looked to his 12 and said, Do y' all want to go away as well? Simon Peter said, lord, no.

Where do we have to go? You have the words of eternal life and today. Guys, listen, if the word of God is the word of God, and I believe it is, if the word of God does not return, void. Today, reading this text, that Jesus walked into a temple and he cleaned it out because it was dirty. The corruption of man had taken over and it ceased to be that which would glorify God today in your life, Does God need to do a disruption so that he can show you that your reality in this world is upside down and he wants to flip it right side up?

Jesus came to turn right side up what is really upside down? He said in Matthew 6, you can't serve two masters, for you will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. What does he need to disrupt in your life where you're holding on to serving wealth? Because he had the answer at the end of that chapter, Matthew 6:33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Billy Graham tells a story about a toy that he saw at some point in his life. It was a clown, like going to an upside down house. And this clown was designed that no matter how you threw it down, like these young guys down here, y' all ever taken the bottles and emptied about half of them, tried to flip them, make them stand up? I think every teenager down has tried to do that.

Well, this clown would only stand on its head upside down. If you threw it and it landed on its side, it would flip up on its head. If you put it on its feet and let it go, it would flip up on its head. And he said, no matter what position you put this clown in, it invariably assumed an upside down position because that was its reality. But it was a distortion.

Put it on its feet or its side, it flipped back up. And he said, that is what unregenerate people do. Do what you may with them, and they will always revert back to their upside down position. That is why the disciples to the world were called misfits. To an upside down person, a right side up person seems upside down.

That's why in our culture today, to be moral is immoral. It's backwards, it's upside down. To a sinner, a righteous person seems to be an oddity, an abnormality. God that did not come out right. A Christian's goodness is a rebuke to the wicked.

His being right side up is a reflection of the world's inverted position. Because what we see in the world is an illusion of the goodness of God. What we want to see is God's goodness. Take what's in this world and flip it upside down and the world will see it someday and Jesus returns and every knee will bow and every tongue confess.

My heart breaks for those who will be forced to kneel but don't know Jesus Christ. So wrap up your notes, close your Bible. I want you to hear this. Here's my challenge to you today as we open up this altar. Two things.

Number one, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Fred and Kevin and myself, Randy, we're all down here. Come talk to us. Let us share with you how good the good news is, how you can know Jesus today, how you can leave here with security and peace with God. Not because you found religion, but because you have a relationship.

Some of you today need to follow. Sophia, Jane, for too long, you've been hiding behind fear of what people would think about you. And that's why you've never entered those waters. But you're missing out on a spiritual blessing because you have yet to declare to the world, I'm dead to that old person, and I'm alive in Christ. The church has been commanded to baptize others when they make profession.

Have you? Now? Listen, we're Baptist, right? If you were sprinkled in another church, that's not baptism to us. We believe baptism is taking you under the water and back up after you have made a cognitive decision and profession of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If that's never happened in your life, you're missing out. What if today, come talk to us and say, look, I'm not baptized. What better day to be baptized than Easter weekend? Come on. That'd be awesome.

So think of these three things. Number one, is God calling you out on something in your life. He's disrupting something in your life. It may be a habit. It may be a bad relationship.

It may be something that you think, say or do. What is it that he wants to disrupt? The distortion? Guys, I just said it a minute ago. If this is truly a house of God, then it needs to be a house of prayer today.

Would you mind coming if you've been inviting somebody? Don't give up hope. Does God still save? Come on. Is God powerful enough to save?

Is God powerful enough to break the hardest heart? Is God powerful enough to call out to those who are lost and dying in their sin? And the answer is, yeah. If we believe that, then just come bend the knee and say, God, I've been praying for my neighbor, my sister, my brother, whoever it may be. God, I want to see them saved.

Do only what you can do. Would you do that today? And God may be stirring your heart. If you're here today, maybe. Say what?

I'm angry at God. Some of you are indignant at God. You've had a loss in your life or you lost a job or something unfair happened. And every time you try to pray, the first thing that comes up is your fist because you're so angry at him. What if you'd let him turn that anger into amazement and awe?

Gratitude. Thankfulness. I'm like Captain America. I can do this all day. But I want to give you the opportunity.

Now, as we get ready to stand, would you stand with me as I pray and we get ready to sing? Father, I don't know the hearts of people in the room. I can only trust in you. I can only trust what you can do. I can only trust that right now you're speaking.

You're searching. Your calling, God. Make it loud. Make it loud. Lord, speak to your people.

Speak to the lost. Draw them to yourself. Do what only you can do. In Jesus name, amen.