Let Love Catch You

Easter's True Story: Jesus and the Criminal Hi, today's all about resurrection. And so it's really good to be celebrating the wins, celebrating the winds that are are gonna come cause you've got winds coming your way. You really have. And I wanna share a story from from the Easter story. I guess you could put up the historical story, a true story apart there, I think probably gets overlooked by most preachers, most pastors, but really moved my heart this week. I mean, I could come and I could intellectually, theologically talk all sorts of things around Easter and what God did and how and every bit of it is profound and amazing. But most of all, I want something that's moved my heart, because if it's moving my heart, I think I can move yours and God can move yours. I want to move your heart today with one of the most powerful stories. I'm in the centre of this story. You're in the centre of this story. Let me talk to you about it. You know this story is about a man. He got caught. He was a criminal. He was one of my brothers, maybe one of yours. You know what? We're all criminals in one way or another. You might never have stolen two cents or five cents, or what's the smallest cents we have now, $0.10? I guess. I don't know one everything. That's awesome. I I honour you. You're a legend in my eyes, but for others, we nicked a lot of things. Some of us and some of you did a lot of time in gaol because of dumb stuff. And dumb stuff only even leads you to a dark place. Say it really does sucks and you were not made to live in a dumb place. You are not made to live defeated. You are made to live victorious. And that's what Easter is about. Finding Jesus's Love Amidst Life's Deepest Horrors So in the book of Luke and the Gospel of Luke and the test, and you see the story and it says there that Jesus was crucified between two other men. He was crucified between two other criminals. You know what I love? My Jesus is the friend of sinners, men. That's why I love being with all sorts of people. I don't care who they are, where they've been, what they've done, what they haven't done, from a boardroom to wherever. God loves them all. And it's, you know, God is a God of imagery and we all know that there was 3 crosses and there was three men on those crosses. And in the centre was Jesus, the Son of God, God himself in the form of a man, right in the centre of all the criminality, the Son of God, God himself, right in the midst of a mess. God himself right in the midst of horror, absolute horror. One of the worst ways you can die is by crucifixion. You slowly suffocate to death. It's take can take days, hours to slowly It's just evil. It's it's the worst of the fallen broken human heart that could ever. I don't even know how they could do that to another human being, but they did it regularly. And here's Jesus crucified right in the middle of this place. And Jesus in this place turns round and he speaks to this criminal on his left or right. I don't think it actually says. And he says to this criminal, he said this to a Johnny, a night, a Ricky, put this in your, put your name in there. Cause really, if you're really honest, we've all done naughty things, right? You know, all sin is common to man. You can't go over there and say, I'd never do that. Well, maybe if you were put in those circumstances, in those situations with that mindset, you too would do it, maybe even worse. That's what the Bible says. This is we've all sent, we've all fallen short of the glory of God. We've all stuffed up, we've all regretted something, right? But here we see God riding them in the midst of the mess and he turns round and he says, so this fella, he's up there, he's slowly suffocating. He's pushing his feet up on the nails in his feet. Imagine the pain. He's pushing up on them so he could speak. Cause if he didn't, Jesus wouldn't be able to speak. He is going through even more horror and more pain to speak to the criminal, to speak to the Sinner, to speak to the Johnny. Put your name in there, or I do. I'm not so high and mighty that I'm better than analysts now. I'm Richard on the list of less than. Yet I'm awesome, I'm wonderful, I'm glorious, yet I know him myself. I'm Richard for all I love the divine Johnny, not the rotten Johnny. So it's go Johnny, go for Johnny. Be good. And Jesus turned around and the pain that he was suffering and he says assuredly. And he said, in other words, that means with no doubt in his mind, he says, I say to you, I say to you, if I could have time to go around and remember everyone's name, might all call out everyone of your names. Cause Jesus says, I say to you, he's speaking to you today. And he says you, he says today you, you, you twice. He's really putting it in to this man's heart. And I want to put something in your heart. I'm speaking to you today. You can't hide. You've got me for the next 30 minutes. You can't hide from me. You can't hide from God and I wanna give right into the middle of your heart. I wanna get right into the middle of your spirit and your mind and your everything about you, cause you're an incredibly awesome person, he says today. You, you my brother, you your little son. Are you your criminal? He doesn't even call him that, that everyone else was calling him a criminal. Jesus spoke to the person, he spoke to the person. He saw past the elder, he saw past the stuff ups, he saw past the muck ups, he saw passes regret. He saw passes that the the foul stuff that he might have done. He saw person says today you will be with me. Well, she will be with me, man. Yeah, we're dying, bro. I even asked God take this cup from me. But I surrendered to God's will. He says not my will be done. This is Jesus words, not my will be done, but yours Lord. Why? Because Jesus saw he had to win that man, even in death, even in the place of horror, the place of absolute agony. Jesus, I gotta reach that brother. I gotta touch that. They call him a criminal. They call him this. They probably call him useless, weak, whatever they call him. But I see a divine being inside of him. I see a champion. I see a beautiful man past the exterior and he says, bro, you gotta be with me, man, you gotta come and walk with me. You gotta come and be with me. There is no time for a Bible study. They were having their church service. There is no time to get baptised or filled with the Holy Ghost. There is no time to go and do some good works for people. Good works. We'll never get to heaven anyway. You do those, the glow for your Father not to get you heaven only otherwise. If you think you're good works will get you to heaven, that's a slap in the face of Jesus. It's only your good. It's only the good works of God that gets you there by grace. Are you saved through favours, not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Well, don't you love that? You see, The thing is this man, I'm in love with Jesus. I'm in love with them, I'm in love with them, I'm in love with them and I'm in love with them. 45 years of walking with them. I'm a more in love with them today than I've ever been. And it ain't talk man. It's hard cause I've had every reason to turn away from him, I've had every reason. I've had every work of hell. It's felt like at times flow over me to better me, bruise me, kill me, destroy me, cause me to give up hope and faith. But in the midst of the horror, I've always found Jesus closer. In the midst of this man's horror, he started to meet the Son of God. Brother, you're coming to me with power to paradise, you see? Listen to this. Love moved him. That's the man on the cross. The other man Love Cordon and Love apprehended him. Why am I a believer today? Why am I a Christian? Why have I endured? I've gone through three major accidents. Everyone of those accidents should have died. Everyone of those accidents, they said I would be paralysed because everyone of them broke my back from a broken pelvis lying on a dirt ride in the middle of India in some God forsaken place. Out in the whoops. I'm lying crawling along the grounds of other trucks. Don't run me over pelvis as well. I just know something's really bad. Jodie, one of her brothers with me. And I said to him, man, holding his hand, he was holding me as an excruciating pain. And I said, I said, tell my wife I love them, tell my daughters I love them. Can you please look after them? He freaked out. He thought I literally meant look after me. So how am I going to afford John's wife and three daughters? You'd have found out years later he freaked out. Poor fella. You know being, you know, and you know this thought the rest of the stories. But God is in your horror. He promised never to leave you nor for sake you, even in your sin, even in your crept, even in your darkness, even in the abuse. When I was abused as a kid and I've had horrendous flashbacks over the last few years. Like horrendous. Like I couldn't believe it could happen after following God for so long. Detail of the abuser coming in my room. The panic that would suddenly I realise the panic. I could feel it as I got taken back to being feeling a kid now. I could feel it even as a corridor, as a older person, even through all the horror, my Jesus was there. People say why didn't he stop it? Wrong question, brother, wrong question. The Power of Choice: Love Over Hate The right question is this. What now? What now? What's done is done, but I'm not going to be sentenced by my past to a death future, and neither should you be. Allow your past to sentence you to be someone lesser than who you are. You're not to be sentenced to a a cell. You're not sentenced to sickness. You're not sentenced to depression, anxiety, or panic. You're not sentenced to poverty. Not with my Jesus. So the question is not why. The question is what now, Lord? What do you got for me, God And this. Yeah. And that's what Jesus was doing at the cross. He says, don't ask me why. What now? What now is this? You will be with me in paradise. You might have some horror on earth. We can't stop some of the horror because God gave us the gift of the freedom of choice. And you might wonder, why does God allow our children to have horrible things done to people, be killed, people he bombed? Because God gave us the gift of the freedom of choice. If you didn't have the freedom of choice, you'd never know the power of love. If it wasn't hate, you'd never know the power of love. You can know the power of hate. I knew the power of hate. The power of hate was destructive. The power of hate would get my knife and my partner put it up to their throat when one day they're stabbing on the ground cause he wrapped the chain round my head and when I said hello Nick's my bomb, pull them out. Pulled him to the ground. Come my life out. Boom. And in that split second that I went like that a friend of mine dived up. Barry Newport was his name. God bless him, him sin for decades died, didn't he grabbed my arm. What a divine moment. God saved me. It was only about 1516 to a future of more horror. Ohh. I'm saved by grace, man. I'm not even interested in my title. I don't care about, I care about having a real love for Christ and a real love for people, no matter who they are because I know how powerful and real Jesus is. No one can. You could give me more. You could come in here and give me all Elon Musk's money. And so you can have the money, but you gotta deny Jesus. I say, bro, that doesn't even touch on the wealth I've got. I mean that you can't buy me out. People have tried to buy my favour, honestly they have and I just walk away cause that's gonna end today. You shall be with me in paradise. Well, you see in the darkest places, in the worst moments, even there God can touch your life. Listen to this and some 116 verse St. sees the pains of death surrounded me in the for pangs. I thought, what's pangs mean? You know, I didn't know what that mean. Who didn't get an education? Ohh, 6 honest people. OK, you, you're awesome intellectuals. God bless you. At least you've got some people around here with some brains and diligence. That's good. I love it. Well, I didn't, but anyway. So the dictionary is my best friend these days. Has been for decades. Pangs means quick stabs of mental anguish. If you ever headache ohh you know something, you're bring some memory, a flashback, a memory, something like that. It's that feeling of guilt. You ever felt guilt? Ever felt shame? Ugly, right in, in the summers, right? The pangs, those, all those that stuff, the regret, the sadness, he says, of hell laid hold of me. And this is not hell of eternity. This is hell in life, you know? You gotta get a grip of this, really, because even with Jesus, there's some hell to be lived through. Ohh yeah. I will never, never have told you come to Jesus. Never. It's gonna be sweet lullaby land. Ohh, hell no. It's probably gonna be some real extra hell. But you know what? I've come to know Him in that place as the Lily of the Valley mate. I've come to know Him as the Bride and shining one. I've come to know Him as the One who never leave you, nor for sake. You often come to know him as the One. He can take you out of the hell and He can bring you back up onto the mountain top of His peace and His blessing. He can get you to a place of victory. He can turn around every circumstance and situation in your life. I believe he can do it. Whether it happens or not, I don't know, but I believe it. Well, even in hell you laid hold of me and it said the summer says I found trouble and sorrow. Who's found a bit of trouble and sorrow? Since you've been a Christian, good on you for being honest. I think you should be honest. It's not a sin, it's not bad. I had those thoughts at time. I did. I had to sort it out. I had to do dig deep because I thought ohh it's saying it's wrong. Well if it was sin, if I ask the Lord to forgive me, isn't it washed away and forgiven? And he takes our sins as far away as Easters from Western. He remembers it no more. You see. Love in Action: Two Criminals, Two Responses Listen, no matter where you have found yourself in life, high or low, Jesus is there. And so the brother was hanging beside Jesus. These three men, I'll call them great men and the greatest of all was in the middle one and 1:00 on the other side, he starts mocking Jesus says he starts cursing him and blasphemy, Blasphemy means he's swearing at him. Blasphemy means he's running him down. I could bless him you like Often we think blasphemy is just a religious term against God and of course it is. That's right. But blaspheming actually, if I started, so if I started swearing it out to Shane, I wanna keep a distance cause he's got a big punch on the brother cook all and brother it it if I start, I'm blaspheming him, I'm putting him down. I'm running, I'm down, you know, and that's what what the other, the other fella, he was running him down and he's running Jesus there and says, what are you doing up here? Cool yourself. The son of God, you useless hoorah. You know, he's just going off at him. You could sort of can understand it, right? I don't even condemn the brother. I sort of get it. If I was in that, maybe I would have done the same. I don't know. I hope not. Hope I would have been the other fella. And so he's mocking him. But listen, then something extraordinary happens. You see, no matter where you're at, my brother and sister, no matter where you're at, my friend, you're a millisecond away from God. God doing something extraordinary in your life and for your life and for your family. Suddenly something happens. Listen to this. Easter is the time we remember, contemplate and celebrate the extraordinary things that took place that day in the days following. So says there, I think it's about verse 4041 and the the other criminal Jesus said you're gonna be with them paradise. You hadn't actually said I took you to the end of the story and now I'm taking you back to the beginning. And then the other fellow on the other side, ohh, Jack there and ohh, Jimmy boy over here and I'll Jack boy over here, Sister Jimmy boy over there. He says. Brother Zipper might not have said it so nice. I don't know. Cut it out bro. Well, he wouldn't better say cut it out cause his arms are out here. But stop it, he says early. He says that at least we deserve. We're getting our, our, our, our. Just desserts here, man. We've done things wrong. But then he then he gives the old head look over to Jesus in the middle cross. He's innocent. We've received the rewards of our wrong. Well, what's happened? What is taking place in the deepest, darkest moment of horror known to man? One is cursing and the other one is saying ohh stuffed up and I deserve this to be honest. What started to happen? What was happening? Because only a few moments before this, guess what they heard Jesus say. Father, forgive them, Member. He's he's having to push up on his nails. You know his feet are like this so you probably can't see cause but he's pushing up on the nails in his feet. Pain steel against bone and he's pushing up and he's saying Father, forgive them for they know what they do. One's cursing everything, the other one's in his agony and horror. What? You know what happened? Love, Love. Gordon Love called him Man Love. Gordon Love touched them. He saw love and action, not love and theory, not love out of a book, not love because it's like the cool thing to be he sort of love in action and that love that was flowing father forgive them for they know what they do. Isn't it crazy and and yet so sad that it missed the other brother? Jesus wanted it to reach him. Jesus wanted them both to say ohh we deserve this. Jesus wanted all both of them to communicate with them, and he wanted to take both of them into paradise that day because they couldn't get away from dying, they couldn't get away from the circumstance. Sometimes you can't get away from circumstance, but Jesus is in the midst of it. An interest they put, you know, this was Rome doing it. It wasn't God doing it, yet it was God. They put him in the midst of the horror, not on the side. God is not on the sideline of your life. He's right there in the midst of your life. He's right in the midst of your battles. He's in the midst of the horror. He's in the midst of the confusion. He's in the midst of the battles and the circumstances, but he had freedom of choice. How God's Love Transforms Haters and Persecutors The power of the most powerful gift given by God to you and I is the power of choice. You chose to come to church today. You could have stayed home and eight Easter eggs. You could have done this. You could have done that. You have the power to forgive and the power to withhold. You have the power to get in your car and go here and go there. You have the power everyday. You have the gift of life. It's the gift of choice. Anyone ever try and take away your choice? It's an evil thing because even God never takes away your choice. Any person who tries to put something on you to take away your choice, tell him to go for a walk. I don't care who they are and give us a pastor or reverend, A vicar. I don't care if its government, I don't care if it's anyone. I didn't care for its family. I don't care if you know anyone trying to take the power of your choice. I'm talking more as an adult because you lead children and our kids right? And a healthy good way. You know what I'm saying though? And they called Disney Church a cult. Ohh it's a crack up cause that's all all the woke the workers have got because they haven't met the slave yet. I've had even I've had journalists in here get moved and changed. You was taught the great story when we opened this building and Todd was worked for the Waikato, said drama Gobbly. She Todd comes in and does that for us. Not even part of the church, but he calls it his church. He's just such a wonderful, beautiful man. I love, I love our brother. Beautiful man, and they came in here when we're year and open. Big opening. 24 years later I meet him. After that is the other journalists got saved, went to church for 10 years before he died. I could tell you stories still to come home about God's grace and power moving on people's lives. Do we Even a woman who led a counter protest from the Wellington University, whose uncle was the Labour MP, hate Destiny, Hate it Apostle. And she, she got all, she was bisexual, so she got all the LGBT community together rail up that we hate gays and we hate this one and hate that one. And hey, I'm gonna get you a whole lot of gay friends, and why not tell you how much they know they're loved? I still believe in what God's Word says, but they know that. We know that and they love it in my own sister and you know and she went and did a big counter protest that counter protest for a few of you were there was foul man. There were girls flashing their boobies, there was guys dropping out their fellows, their junk to try and cause aggravation so they'd be a fight. So then they could say that we were beating people up, you know, all this sorts. They were throwing eggs and water and calling us bigots. Little Carly was six years old, five years old. She says, Daddy, what's a bigot? Houses were blessed. Girl had all my kids there, all the little ones. Then, you know, while I was preaching down there a few years later, gave an older call at church. God was doing awesome things. Lady comes up, gives a heart to Jesus. Didn't think anything of it. Got afternoon, got a call. Pastor, do you know who that was? I can't remember the MP he was a Labour game. Pong Seers bald headed guy but like me but not as handsome. I know it doesn't matter. Was it Chris someone Chris? Anyway, it was his niece and she rang her uncle, says Uncle. I went to church and I gave my life to Jesus and his first thing he said is as long as it's not destiny, Hey, she said. It was destiny. Church Wellington. See. Love always finds a way, man. That's why you're blessing. You love the haters. You love the persecutors. They elevate you. They lift you. Don't get worried about it. It's cool. Say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're blessing me. You're making my reward bigger. They let the love of God flow out there cause love catches. Love caught that Lady that day. Love caught that criminal that day. Love me. Love catches you. Love caught me. From Regret to Forgiveness: The Power of Jesus's Love What changed? John Ferris? It wasn't. Don't you do this. Don't you do that? Well anyone who says you can't do it, I gave them the fingers, probably used some expletives and went and did it anyway cause I thought that was cool. How stupid was I? And dumb. But anyway, that's where I was at. But love catches you and apprehends you. It it catches you. Something extraordinary happened that day in the midst of us here as horror. In the midst of all the ugliness of it all, the unimaginable. Unimaginable happened. His heart got changed. His heart moved and he realised, man, the way we've been living is crazy. We deserve this. But this wasn't the best life I could have lived. I could have lived a better life, I could have loved more, I could have done more, I could have enjoyed life. I could have raised the beautiful family and and had grandchildren. One day they would come up and hug me and kiss me. There's nothing like grandchildren men who who can give me an Amen man. I've got my muscles here today. Ohh, I adore them man. Ohh no, that's my best little buddies and mates. They just make me how just got to look at them and they make me happy. You know, he could have had that, but the damn stuff, the hurt, maybe had been abused, maybe had been ripped, maybe been treated bad, I don't know. But finally he came to a moment, says get stuffed. Pass. I'm not gonna allow you to wreck my tunity, Jesus. Remember Me when you go into your Kingdom? That was his woos. And Jesus looks over and I says my brother, my brother, my brother, my brother, my brother cause he got caught by the love of God. You see my heart every everyday my heart beats. I gotta catch someone with a love of God. I don't have to point my finger and says you've done this, you done that. The heart, if they're honest or already tells them they're being naughty, I just gotta show them it. Reach out and tell them and then it says Jesus died. He died for you, He died for me. He stepped into the place of death. He stepped into the place of judgement and curse. And it says He took upon all all the sins of the world and all the disease and affliction. He took upon himself all of the horror. He says He was whipped for our transgressions and by His stripes we are healed. We got healing available today inside our hearts and on the outside because of those whippings. Because He loved. The Bible says that for joy sit before Him. He endured the cross. He injured the pain for you so you could get free of pain. Get free of it so no longer has to dominate your life. I told my therapist you are going to get some therapy. I do so good. In fact, my therapist came to our night bites and guess what? I knew her boyfriend. You must have passed it. You want me to do it? I know pastors don't do that. How do you think the guilt and the shame and embarrassment of that is what I thought? Stuff the embarrassment. I'm gonna be real because maybe I could help someone else because you're not meant to be getting flashbacks at 60 of your childhood, stuff that happened 50 years ago. And so I gotta work this out. But you know me. I'm not doing it just for me. I'm doing it so I can help others and understand others. That's why I'm doing it because every time I go ohh man, do I do this do I not? And I've learned and it's been helping me actually be honest. But a therapist can't fully heal you. Jesus has got the fullness of healing. You gotta be real careful too cause if you start feeling sorry for yourself you've stay stuck. I don't feel sorry for my nieces if that abuser cause I was I was for the first person in my life. I told him all the details. My family don't wanna know. I don't blame them. I'm not gonna tell you it either, cause why would you? It's crap. It's horrible and since I How do you feel about the person? I love them, really. Yeah, I do. If that person was a female, actually when I was 8 years old, if that she walked inside this room right now, I'd get up and I'd hug her. And I say it's OK, I forgive you, it's OK. Can I help you or can I point you in the right direction to get help? Because I said a bitch. It was done to her cause what adult would do that to a child? Something went wrong in that person's life, right? She's really nice. She's honest to God and I know it now I know not. You might if you've gone through that stuff, you might not be there yet. That's OK. Don't beat yourself up. That's the healing grace that's on its way to your life. That's the power of forgiveness and the love that I want you caught. Because when you're caught by love, you won't hate. I used to hate, man. I was murderous with my hate, so I know how much God has saved me from. That's why I love him and that's why I want you to love Him. This is what was happening. I'm trying to bring it into the our world today. Is it? Hope it's working for you because really, we're all that fella A, we're all there. He got caught, he got saved that day. You see, Listen to this. True Manhood: Forgiveness, Not Violence, Through Jesus True transformation occurs when you realise and embrace who Jesus is and what he's done for you. That's real transformation. What transformed me wasn't a programme man, it was the love of Jesus. What will transform your life? What will take you out of addictions? What will take you out of horror? What will take you out of depression? What can take you out of anxiety? What can take you out of panic attacks? What can take you out of your past? I tell you what, there's no greater than Jesus Christ, the Son of God and you understanding it that how much he loves you and embracing him. He'll take you to a better place, brothers. He'll make you a real man. He'll make you a real man. Man is a a real man's not found in your muscles. It's not found how great a fighter you are. And we own a kickboxing gym. And I love combat sports. And I, I think all men should know how to learn how to do combat sport because they need to learn how to defend their wives and their children in our community and our nation from evil doers. But that's only a last option, right? A real man knows how to forgive. I've been punched in the face and I've turned around. So as I forgive you, I've been slapped. I've been pulled along the ground by my here by a Hardy Krishna guru. True story. Tried to then smashing my head into the side of a car so I just held on to him so he couldn't and all the time. You know what, it is the only thing I could say and it freaked me out when I thought about it later cause Once Upon a time if I couldn't have beaten them and he wasn't up to much. But I'm not angry anymore. I'm not violent anymore. I've got love to share. And while he was dragging me along the road, my other brothers passed them out. He was one of them, bro. I stood there and watched. I think it happened so far state that we're having a big love feast on how beautiful hurry Krishna Hardy Krishna thing called tinkle tinkle tinkle. I'm out there with a brochure about how Hardy Krishna found Jesus. Not being rude, not being disrespectful, but letting people have another option cause God gives the power of choice. They don't want a couple I call. I don't care. Lisa helped you give her have a choice and he came out just went for me. You know what we stopped the Hardy Krishna temple being set up in Nelson and the Nelson region. We won the one how? Cause love was even on the radio the next day. And as he's dragging me all I could say I love you bro, I love you bro, I love you, I love you. I love you. It's all it's all I could think of. You know what, once would have come out of my mouth and if I couldn't beat him I would have got my knife and stuck him. All my mates, mates, Christian mates, no mates, they jumped in, you know what I mean? But love changes you, tough fella. Ohh yeah, tough. I'll show you tough. Jesus is the toughest dude the world's ever seen and he went to the crossing the horror for you. That's tough bro. He's so much didn't want to go to the cross and yet he know he needed to do. He sweated blood and prayer. That's tough, man. That's tough. That's gangster. That's next level. That's that's manhood personified. Who? He is my role model. See, a lot of people know you should hit him. You know, don't be a door mat. Well, I'm not. I'll just showing people another way and then, you know, I pushed them off and, you know, all happens quickly and push them off. It didn't throw fists. I didn't even think of it. That's the miracle. The miracle was that I didn't want to kill him cause he was older than me and I hated older men because I never had a father and step fathers only wanted my mother because she was good looking. Brown here, brown eyes, olive skin. You know, I've got the father's, I've got the Scottish colouring. If I've got her colourings, you'll think of Mouldy will part Mouldy. The people who thought she was. I actually do wonder if there's skeletons in her cupboard too. I don't know. Anyway, don't matter cause yeah, you see my God's real bro. He's real. He is so real it's crazy. He's so gets you like no one else gets you. He understands you like no one else understands you. Jesus Prepares a Place: Embracing Eternal Love Lord Remember Me, and Jesus is come with me now. Could you imagine Jesus dies? Mostly the soldiers would come along and break their knees with a softball bet, a hunk of wood or a sledgehammer and put them out of their misery. And they came to Jesus and he's dead. That's why they put the spear inside and out of his heart came blood and water. The reason blood and water out. He literally died of a broken heart. That's why there was water around his heart. Normally only blood comes out. If you put a put a spear into a person's heart, who's who's pig hunting. You know when you stick a pig you're only blood comes at no water. But Jesus died of a broken heart. Broke his heart to see what was happening. Ohh my he is the bomb. He's the boss. That's manhood, bro. That's manhood man. I love her mate. I just everything about him. He's he's the boss, he's the goat, he's the dude. He's every good thing you could say. And then they came to the other two fellows and that is slowly suffocating and they are we're over this. They've had enough punishment. Get the sledge hemorrhoid software smashed their knees and they collapse because they can't be pushing themselves up for for a brief review. But here's the beautiful thing. God spoke to me. Jesus went ahead of them. Jesus went ahead of the brother who said, Remember Me? Jesus went ahead of you. Jesus went ahead of you, man. And Jesus said you, you, there's, I'm going ahead of you. I'm gonna make a place for you in paradise. And today, you're gonna be there with me. Love goes ahead. They both died. Jesus went ahead. Jesus is now in the next realm cause you know what your body, soul and spirit. I can only see 1/3 of your man. How handsome and how beautiful you all look, right? But there's 2/3 of you that's soul and spirit. I can't see that with my natural wife. I can see what it believes by your words or actions, but I can only see the outer. But suddenly they put their outer off. They died when I had that motorbike accident. The at 1 moment there the boys thought I was dead. Maybe I was I don't know. But what I do know is this. I was outside of my body looking down at me and Dean Davis from Disney fucker Tony was holding me and and speaking in tongues. Yeah, he was speaking in tongues, holding me. I love that man forever. When I found that story and I looked and I could see him holding me right there on that street down the waterfront of Wellington, all busted up, 18 broken bones, spine, lung broken, punctual rara. And then suddenly I woke up in the hospital. Is it alright if we put this needle there, you know, in my foot? Cause they, all the bones up here were all broken. So there was putting all the needles in the feet, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's all, it's all good. You know, there's like. Passed Andre did a video of it and seen it to Ellie and the kids to say that I was alright. You alright? Sort of alright, Got my good along. Just tighten it back up. Holds me together. Who cares? God's love that does matter. It doesn't matter me, I'm not a theological pastor and you're like could sit with a theologian and hold my ground. I know I can't cause I've studied studied the history, I studied the book, but who cares? It's the love of God, man. Suddenly he's on a. He's on the cross suddenly. I bet he's transitioned. No turning back, no other power of choice is gone, no other options suddenly is what they and it's like a blink of the eyes. It's like that. Then he's right in front of them. Jesus, the resurrected, the alive Son of God, is standing there looking at him. He looks around and he can feel this warmth and the slave and this presence that's beyond what any of us have ever fully tasted or have experienced. He looks around and all I could imagine, I've got a great imagination, all I could imagine cause I think I know what I'd do. I'd go, ohh, jeez. I would grab him, man. I'd just grab him and I would hold, I'd give him such a bro hug like you've never seen a bro hug. I think I don't think I think I'd want to hold on from a with to him for a couple of millennia. Ohh, eternally goes forever. So you got you can give me a couple of millennia. Jesus. Everyone else can wait. We're eternities forever never stops. So patience, brother. Kevin, you gotta be patient. It's even. Ohh have you Jesus, I'd have tears I think. I don't know, but I don't be tears of joy. Grab him and I'd say thank you. Thank you. I am gonna do that. You know what it says that when I get there? It says here he will welcome us into eternity with joy. And that word literally means there to be dancing. Ohh yeah, man, if I could do a bit of a dance or something I would do about, you know, I'm a white boy. I got no rhythm, you know, he's gonna be there, you know? Ohh come on, bro. I don't know. Is that he'd banger one for all the white boys? There's a bit of a Crip dance for the Blue Brothers. Is it a different dance for a Blood Brothers? Is it this for that one or this one or that one? Why that probably isn't for the Irish. Certainly won't be a Pole Dance 1. You imagine, right? Ohh no, I'm a bit crazy, I know, but God's crazy so it's why he loves me. There's a picture right there. Are you? But anyway, he's in there today. You'll be with me and proud. Gotta have you in paradise. I gotta have you with me. God help you with me out of the very depths of my heart. You've got to be in paradise. I've got to have you in GI. Gotta get you to embrace Jesus. Even when he couldn't physically embrace them, he braced him with his heart. And all it takes is that you would embrace them with your heart and say Jesus. Ohh God I've stuffed up. I deserve the worst. Please forgive me and have mercy. God, she's down. Done, done, done. Be with me in paradise. See, you gotta accept them and embrace them and walk with them. He, he only had a few hours to walk with him. If he can walk with Jesus dying on the cross, how the how much more should we be able to walk with him everyday? And New Zealand, Altaro and New Zealand, how much more should we be able to walk with them and do it right. And when we fall over and you will fall over, you will make mistakes. Who cares? It's about getting up again, saying God forgive me, I'm going again. Hell is Real: What Will You Do With Jesus? But the other one. He's looking up. Horror has now invalid to him at another level. Horror, The horror of torment, the horror of regret. I was right beside Jesus. I heard him. I even got to meet the man. I But I swore at him and I cursed him and I cursed everybody and I gave life the fingers and I said up life and up you and up that one. And yet I had Jesus right beside me. Like I didn't have the balls, man. I didn't have the guts. I was so angry and so full of hate. They were crucifying me. I was in pain. I don't blame him. I understand. I can't condemn that man. I can't. I would never condemn that man. I'll never condemn someone who hates God. I've never condemn even the people that are murdering your brothers in Christ and in Syria and in Nigeria, you know they're slaughtering them. Us, You won't see that on the news because they're trying to eradicate us. But I'll tell you what, Jesus is arising, and God is arising, and the power of love and the power of the gospel and the power of forgiveness and the power of transformation is arising again. Man, if it can powerfully touch Potato the great king, ohh how much more can it touch us? She goes not looking for a perfect person, he's looking for an open person. It's tough. You're can grasp, but how much more can you grasp it if I can grab it in my to put it all the way over there in Scandinavia amongst the Vikings, which I come from, who we're now pillaging and raping and stealing and killing all the priests in the future. One of their own was gonna come a pastor and and the slaves, the white slaves, it's another one you never hear of cause I don't want cause I want you to be racist and hateful. Like tell you every race is full of crap. Not one of them is better than another. It's why you love. That's why you forgive. My ancestors took slaves, white ones, but those slaves started telling them about Jesus. That's why all those countries ended up becoming Christians. Wow. But he was down there that other, and he was looking up regrets called Hell, Man, Hell is real. I gotta be honest. Hell is this real? But you know, when I know there's a hell, it makes heaven feel better. You know, if there's a fire and then there's the blessing. I want that blessing. I want that forgiveness. I want that look, I gotta get you to heaven and not how the hell. Even the Bible talks about that. We have hell on earth. It's not just an eternity. And I've tasted somehow who's tasted a bit of hell in life. It's really that's real, that's real, that's that's real. I get it, but there's even a worser 1 net brother it's too late. Sucks man, that sucks. Honestly it breaks my heart. It sucks. Put that brother. The beauty of this, it's the beauty of the power of choice. What are you gonna do with Jesus? What do you do with them blaspheming when you hit your finger and go? Jesus Christ gonna walk past them and not do what you just what you want. Life is so short, I've nearly died 3 times. Well, I don't. I'm living. I'm living in the pureness of grace that could be gone tomorrow God for but please Lord, I want to live and if I please don't let me go out and pain. I've had enough of that sleeping on my sleep one day when I'm 9599. Someone say me, believe with me. What are you gonna do? Gonna moan about your past, gonna groan about your abuser. I understand. I'm with you. I I'll cry with you. I'll hold your hand. But tell your bro when are you going to stop letting those people live rent free in your head and life and you get down. You stay broke, you stay poor, you stay broken. And now you're seen as your children. You're mucked. Hell no man, what are you gonna do with Jesus disease, Heaven or hell? Your Opportunity for a Victorious Life with Christ I just gotta be honest cause love is honesty. Not nice, but it's real. Will you come with me and walk with me with Jesus? We work with me and become part of a brotherhood that so loves God. We don't do it cause we we have to. We do it cause we want to. You know what was cool about the other day? I was just amongst people I love and I had all sorts of brothers down there for allsorts of works for life. And that's just cause I wanna get him all into heaven. I want you. And you came here today knowing you were coming to church. God bless you. Man. That's freaky stuff. Who had a smoke before they came to church to feel relaxed? Anyone. Well, that's what I did. I smoke. He was showing us. We'll get you free later. I smoked half a pack of cigarettes without first got into church and got saved cause I was so nervous. Or would they like me? Do they like people like me? Well it didn't matter as long as God liked me, cause he did. God loves you, so I'm gonna finish on this. It's Easter, man. What are you going to do with Jesus? You can have all the excuses in the world, they don't work. The one who ended up downstairs, the excuses were gone. How embarrassing. Excuses. Well, you still had choice. I gave you the gift and then the other brother, he didn't do it because he had to. Didn't have a pastor telling him he should, didn't have anyone. Everyone was condemning him. He was condemned to death. Jesus didn't condemn him. He just says today you're because he saw his heart. God sees your heart, that's what matters. If you don't know Jesus, today I gotta give the opportunity to welcome and the greatest man that's ever walked this earth that you'll walk with him for the rest of your days and the good days and the crappy days and the highs, the lows. Beautiful image. God, he doesn't leave you independent. He puts you with a family. God's the God of family, and he puts you in a frame. This is a family. It's a family that God wants to grow and yes, and He will. And I want you part of this room. You know, God made a, a, a place for that, that man in heaven and he's made a place for you in heaven and cause you're alive still, he's made you a place here, a place where you can belong. I'll always be honest with you, but I'll always lift you up and encourage you, maybe like you've never known it before. I'm great at that, you know, Other things are not so great at. So I'm gonna talk about things I am good about. And yet I will fail on that. And I will fail. Don't look at me to be as if I'm Jesus here. No, but I'm here to help you, lift you, direct you, lead you into a crazily good place. Life is about to change for you, and if you're here today and you haven't received Christ, I'd like us all to stand to our feet because I want to now bring us into some resurrection gone through the death. Because when you give your life to Christ, doesn't Easter the date? It's got nothing to do with it. It's about what you do here with God and if you don't know the law, you even giving your heart to Jesus or you're dead and you went away and you just want to get the big fella back in your life again and get on the right path again. I want you to pray this prayer with me from your heart. Remember it's heart, not heed. And the reason and I want you to repeat this prayer and the only reason I get you to repeat my words is just to help ignite. Because by the time you've seen the fish wood, you have already got born again. Because it's not a formula, it's a relationship. So pray this with me to help you get this ignited. That's you want to give your life to Christ. Please pray this with me dear Jesus. I asked today for you to come into my life to be my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me, Father of all my sons, all my dumb stuff. Thank you Jesus for loving me, giving your life for me, said I could live a brand new life, a victorious life. I'm yours in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Give God a shout. I love their pre woohoo. I love that one.