>> Pastor Eric
00:00:00.320 Well, good morning everyone. Welcome to Freedom
00:00:04.020 Church. I want to say welcome again to everyone watching online.
00:00:07.720 We're so excited for the first Sunday of Freedom Church
00:00:11.060 2026. So glad, the packed house here.
00:00:13.940 Let's, let's give God a great big hand that— ...
00:00:16.600 what He is doing is so, so good. Amen.
00:00:20.160 Uh, we're so glad you joined us today.
00:00:22.140 Uh, if you missed a little bit ago, I'm Eric Bimber, the lead pastor here with my
00:00:25.440 wife Rachel, who's up here leading us in song.
00:00:28.080 Uh, today, we have a special day, not just 'cause it's a launch day, but we're
00:00:31.180 gonna be sharing and giving away a lot of stuff today. We wanna bless you.
00:00:34.480 If you didn't get your gift bag and stuff on your way in, make sure you get that on
00:00:37.900 your way out. But I wanna take a little bit of time to share a little
00:00:41.920 bit about my story, a little bit of how we got to launching Freedom
00:00:45.660 Church, really the vision and what we're planning to do as Freedom
00:00:49.660 Church. Then we're gonna switch gears and jump into the message
00:00:53.100 today, and then we'll have some other, things to do after that.
00:00:56.820 So to start off, I just wanna begin by, again, a little bit about me.
00:01:00.370 I know all of you here don't know a whole lot about me, and like, w— "Well, who's
00:01:03.580 the pastor?" People always wanna know when they come into church, "Who's the
00:01:05.900 pastor? What do you guys believe? And do you have good coffee?" Uh, those are,
00:01:09.540 like, the three most important things, so hopefully you got the coffee already.
00:01:13.040 Um, but I wanted to share a little of my story.
00:01:15.600 You know, my life was really full of bondage.
00:01:19.030 If you could sum up my first 25 years of my life, it was bondage, and what I
00:01:22.960 mean by that was I lived in poverty, I lived in
00:01:26.540 selfishness, I lived in addiction, drinking, gambling,
00:01:30.260 smoking, you name it, stealing. I lived a life full
00:01:34.200 of fear and full of selfishness, and it
00:01:37.800 wasn't until... And, and actually, most people, when they saw me, they would've
00:01:41.120 thought I'm a good person overall.
00:01:43.540 You know, I was a good person, I was a good...
00:01:45.340 I would call myself a Christian simply because I lived in the United States of
00:01:48.820 America. We're a Christian nation, so we're all Christians.
00:01:51.900 And I didn't find that out till I became a young adult and went to my very first
00:01:55.900 church service that someone invited me to, that I begrudgingly went to,
00:01:59.820 where I began my journey with God. See, up to that point, I'd, I'd been
00:02:03.700 in a physical prison as well as emotional and spiritual prison as
00:02:07.520 well. I had only had temporary freedom or temporary
00:02:11.300 escape, but that first church service I went to, I
00:02:14.780 encountered Jesus in a real way. It wasn't this, like,
00:02:18.780 glory— glorious clouds parting and God descended.
00:02:22.340 It was just I knew that I knew I needed saved.
00:02:25.580 I knew that I had sin in my life. I knew that I'd been living for me, myself, and
00:02:29.620 I, and it, it was getting me nowhere.
00:02:31.960 And I knew something had to change, and God got ahold of me that day and I
00:02:35.920 found a real freedom, a true freedom, a freedom that only
00:02:39.580 comes from a relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ
00:02:43.500 has done.
00:02:45.640 I remember the feeling of God's grace and mercy, but it wasn't just a
00:02:49.000 feeling. It wasn't just emotional. It was spiritual.
00:02:52.600 I became a new creation. I want that for every single
00:02:56.320 one of you. Amen. The following week after that
00:03:00.140 service, I started going to a church locally, got connected.
00:03:03.400 I found family. I found community.
00:03:05.780 I found a place where I could belong and function within the body of
00:03:09.520 Christ. And I had people in my life coming around me, men in my life
00:03:13.520 who were able to speak into my life, help me understand how to have healthy
00:03:16.160 relationships, how to have healthy parenting for my son at the time.
00:03:20.440 And we, I found that church is so much more than dead
00:03:24.080 religion or some societal activity that's expected of us
00:03:28.040 as good people. Many of us, we're expected to go to church if you're a good
00:03:31.780 person. You know, if somebody asks you, "Do you go to church?" It's like, "Yeah,
00:03:34.720 I've been there." Right? 'Cause we want to say yes to that.
00:03:37.440 We know it's what we're supposed to do, but it's so much more than just a have
00:03:41.440 to or religious thing. It truly is something we should desire to
00:03:45.340 do when we're in a healthy, life-giving
00:03:48.760 place. I discovered not only how to get free
00:03:52.460 myself, but how to help other people get free.
00:03:55.390 I found that freedom, as great as it is for yourself and what you
00:03:58.460 experience, it r— the ultimate result is that we would be helping other
00:04:02.300 people experience freedom as well, and everybody
00:04:06.040 needs freedom. Amen. Uh, there's antidepressants, there's
00:04:09.920 suicidal thoughts going on and people taking their life.
00:04:12.600 There's anxiety, mental illness, and shame,
00:04:15.780 unworthiness, guilt, fear. There's so many things that many
00:04:19.840 of you are facing and feeling. We all have some level of
00:04:23.420 bondage, of something that's holding us back, rather than living a
00:04:27.160 life of freedom that Christ would have us live, and we can all
00:04:30.800 acquire more freedom with Christ.
00:04:34.460 In the past two years, I've lost a brother and two friends to
00:04:38.140 suicide. At the beginning of this school year, there was a student, took his own
00:04:41.780 life right here in Franklin Regional School on school property.
00:04:45.590 And I realized we have to do something more.
00:04:47.880 We have to reach more of the next generation.
00:04:49.940 We have to do something to take back what the enemy has been
00:04:53.800 do— running rampant on people, that, that darkness that we were singing, that song
00:04:57.640 Tremble, that Jesus is the light. The light does not fear the
00:05:01.580 darkness. I tell my four-year-old that. I said, "Judy, don't be afraid of the dark.
00:05:05.440 The darkness is actually afraid of you, because the light can never be
00:05:09.020 extinguished by the darkness." But if we keep ourselves hidden inside a
00:05:12.860 room or we keep ourselves hidden in our house, the light is never gonna go where
00:05:16.680 the darkness is to extinguish the darkness and the work that the enemy
00:05:20.580 is doing. Jesus, f— one of the first things He did
00:05:24.240 publicly, He opened the Scroll of Isaiah and He read this.
00:05:28.180 He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to
00:05:32.040 bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives
00:05:36.040 will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be
00:05:39.940 set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."
00:05:44.540 Jesus said that this is a time where the captives will be released, that the
00:05:48.100 prisoners are gonna be set free, and Jesus is actually the
00:05:52.010 lead pastor of this church. This church belongs to
00:05:55.560 Him. I simply work for Him. I'm an under-shepherd.
00:05:59.560 My name's listed on the articles and the, the organization, but ultimately, I live
00:06:03.440 to serve Jesus. He's the lead pastor.
00:06:06.260 He's the head shepherd. He's the one in charge and making, calling the
00:06:09.920 shots. We're simply following and obeying Him. So
00:06:13.866 we have structure, we have leaders, we have, people who are governing
00:06:17.846 the church, but ultimately Jesus is the lead pastor.
00:06:21.806 Amen.
00:06:21.836 I have other men in my life. I have people speaking into me.
00:06:24.216 I have pastors, I have mentors, I have disciple- people who are discipling me, but
00:06:27.996 Jesus is the king. He is the Lord. He is the Savior.
00:06:31.596 He is the God Almighty. He is the Alpha.
00:06:35.036 He is the number one.
00:06:36.996 And it was 12 years ago when I first felt God call me to be a pastor.
00:06:41.496 I believe He, He called me, and I didn't know any other direction other than I'm
00:06:45.395 supposed to give my life to build His church, to expand His
00:06:49.056 kingdom, to live my life as a thank you for what He's done for me.
00:06:53.796 I didn't have much other direction, but I knew I was supposed to...
00:06:55.956 I needed to learn the Bible more, so I started going to school at Liberty
00:06:59.256 University and got my Biblical Studies degree.
00:07:01.856 I began going to churches and began apprenticing and learning from other
00:07:05.416 pastors. I even began leading mission trips to Guatemala and
00:07:09.136 Honduras, North Carolina, and traveled all over the country to visit
00:07:12.996 other ministries and other churches in the Florida, Alabama,
00:07:16.816 Mississippi, Texas, New York, Indiana, just traveled.
00:07:19.876 I said, "I wanna know the best way or how do we reach more people for the
00:07:23.766 Kingdom of God, not just to fill a room." In fact, Jesus
00:07:27.656 wasn't concerned about filling the room with crowds, but He was in, in— involved in
00:07:31.216 making an impact in people's lives.
00:07:33.556 So our goal as Freedom Church is not just to fill seats, but to fill
00:07:37.396 you so that you can go be the light into the darkness, so that you
00:07:41.296 can live a life of freedom in Christ, so as a result of you doing
00:07:44.816 that, other people get to experience that as well.
00:07:49.196 Over these past several years, my heart for this region specifically began
00:07:53.116 to grow even more. I began weeping over the f— the school district and this
00:07:56.936 community and just the stuff I got— I s— was seeing in the community, the
00:08:00.896 heartache and the pain and the struggles that I was
00:08:02.856 seeing. And I've had
00:08:06.596 people ask me as we launch Freedom Church, like, "Why another church?
00:08:10.496 Why another church emerge? Aren't there enough of them as it is?" I said, "You know
00:08:14.416 what? There's 21,000 people, over 21,000 people just in
00:08:18.356 Murrysville proper. Over 90,000 people live within 10 miles
00:08:22.376 of this building, and I know tens of thousands of those people are not
00:08:26.316 all going to church. They're not all living for Jesus.
00:08:29.186 They're not all walking the walk." And I said, "We need more life-giving
00:08:32.956 churches that are gonna help people know who God is." We need
00:08:36.776 more churches. We need more people, more pastors, more leaders, more
00:08:40.756 people willing to lead into the unknown, taking steps of
00:08:44.476 faith so that more people not only get to heaven, but would live a life
00:08:48.456 of freedom here and now.
00:08:50.276 Amen.
00:08:51.836 See, here at Freedom Church, attendance is not the goal, but
00:08:55.316 engagement is. Participation is important, that the result of
00:08:59.296 us not just showing up, but really being, being outside the
00:09:02.936 walls is so important. We're gonna track disciples and leaders being
00:09:06.816 raised up. We're gonna track community outreach.
00:09:09.456 How much can we send outside this building, not just what we bring into
00:09:13.376 the building? We're partnering with local organizations such as Friends Thrift
00:09:17.416 Shop in Export. I'm on the board of directors over at Murrysville
00:09:21.076 Christian Concerns, which oversees Friends Thrift Shop, as well as on the Network
00:09:24.996 of Life board and working with the municipality of Murrysville
00:09:28.896 and Franklin Regional, as well as other businesses and organizations.
00:09:32.496 We wanna partner with other people.
00:09:34.776 We're partnering with Cornerstone Ministries right down the road.
00:09:37.676 The lead pastor had my wife and I come up on stage, talked about us, promoted
00:09:41.676 us, and said, "We're gonna work together because there are so many people who don't
00:09:45.456 know Jesus. We need to stop competing with other churches and start working
00:09:49.356 together, being in partnership in unity."
00:09:51.876 Amen?
00:09:54.856 So how are we going to do this and, and what's,
00:09:59.236 driving us? Well, you know, I mentioned about my brother taking his own
00:10:02.596 life and I've seen so much sadness, so much pain, so much darkness in
00:10:06.456 people. That's what fuels me to say, "I wanna get more light to people.
00:10:09.756 I wanna bring Jesus to people. I want people to know who God is.
00:10:13.876 I want them to really encounter Him, not just religion, not just church
00:10:17.376 attendance, but to really know the living God." And when it comes to the
00:10:21.156 school district, I believe God's given us a command.
00:10:24.076 Uh, last year, actually last February, 2025, I really felt
00:10:28.096 God show me a picture of Franklin Regional School, and He brought me into
00:10:32.056 the b— in the Bible where Numbers 13 is at, where there's— the spies are going
00:10:35.936 into the Promised Land, where God- Moses tells the spies, he goes, "Go and
00:10:39.796 check out the Promised Land." And Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that came
00:10:42.976 back and said, "We must go at once and take the land." And they s— the other guys
00:10:46.436 were like, "But there's giants in the land. There's, there's too many obstacles.
00:10:49.496 It's gonna be too hard." And I felt like God showed me and told me, that's what
00:10:53.396 Franklin Regional's gonna be for us right now in this season.
00:10:56.286 We're gonna go take the land, not in real estate, but in spiritual,
00:11:00.076 taking the land spiritually to reach those kids for Jesus, that
00:11:04.236 Franklin Regional School will become a Christian school, not because of some legal
00:11:08.196 designation, but because there's so many kids that are gonna give their lives
00:11:12.096 to Jesus that that school is gonna become a Christian school that's gonna
00:11:16.016 be known for Jesus.
00:11:19.156 We pray for the students. We pray for the staff. We pray for the superintendent.
00:11:22.536 We pray for the school board. We continue to pray for them, and we're gonna show up
00:11:26.496 as much as we can to bring Jesus into that
00:11:29.416 school. Internally, we structured Freedom Church as
00:11:33.456 a servant leadership model. Most organizations have a top-down
00:11:37.456 leadership where the main guy, the CEO, they call the shots. They're in charge.
00:11:41.456 They make all the decisions. Instead, I, I put myself at the bottom of the
00:11:45.376 organization. You know, I pictured it like a tree where I'm the trunk of the
00:11:48.816 tree, that it doesn't matter how great I am, but it matters about how
00:11:52.816 good is everyone in, in the church, how is the— what's the fruit of their
00:11:56.336 lives? That the weight of the organization still sits on me, but
00:12:00.336 ultimately how healthy our church is, how healthy Freedom Church
00:12:04.316 is, is based on what shows up in your lives.
00:12:07.536 How are you living your life of freedom?
00:12:09.236 How are you impacting other people's lives for the gospel of
00:12:13.076 Jesus as well? That Jesus Himself said in Ma— Mark
00:12:16.236 10—as well as in Matthew 20, says the same thing, "For even
00:12:20.200 the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve
00:12:23.960 others and to give his life as a ransom for
00:12:27.200 many." Jesus is the ultimate example of servant
00:12:31.080 leadership. He laid down his life.
00:12:33.340 He gave up his divine privileges to serve
00:12:36.700 others. What better example to follow than Jesus?
00:12:40.540 There isn't one, right? So Freedom Church, our- the healthiest model of an
00:12:44.160 organization, I believe, is a servant leader model, especially for a church
00:12:49.020 where we're gonna equip you, we're gonna train you.
00:12:51.120 We wanna help you learn your God-given purpose so
00:12:55.040 that you can use it to make an impact in other people's lives.
00:12:59.680 So with that comes wh— we don't have church membership.
00:13:03.180 We're gonna have church ownership, where each of you are personally responsible for
00:13:07.160 your part of the body of Christ. Meaning that whatever gifts God
00:13:11.140 has given you, whatever talents God has given you, whatever resources God has given
00:13:15.140 you, we invite you to say, "God, what would you have me do?" That that
00:13:18.920 personal responsibility is on each and every one of us to
00:13:22.660 function and be healthy within the body of Christ.
00:13:26.100 Signing a church membership document doesn't mean a whole lot unless you actually
00:13:29.820 live it out. I'd rather us as a church live out what we say we're
00:13:33.680 gonna do and steward what God has given us, and with that
00:13:37.340 responsibility comes authority.
00:13:39.780 You get to choose how much you serve, how much you- what level of
00:13:43.360 participation you want to be involved in to be a healthy,
00:13:47.360 functioning part of the body. Because again, it's not about numbers,
00:13:51.720 but it's all about how many people are knowing God and beginning
00:13:55.740 that relationship with him. It's all about how many people are finding freedom
00:13:59.740 and living free. That's what we're gonna be graded on.
00:14:02.320 How many people are discovering their God-given purpose and living it
00:14:06.000 out, and how much of an impact are we making, not just for the here and
00:14:09.720 now, but for eternity as well. So if that speaks to you, you say, "I
00:14:13.660 wanna learn more, I wanna know more," keep coming. Jump in.
00:14:17.560 We invite you to be a part of what God is doing through Freedom Church.
00:14:20.900 You're gonna hear more about how you can do that at the end of the service.
00:14:24.260 But I'm gonna pray, and then we're gonna switch gears and jump into the
00:14:27.300 message. So heavenly Father, God, we thank you, God, for what
00:14:31.180 you're doing. God, we thank you for the vision that you've given us to reach
00:14:34.800 Franklin Regional School. God, thank you for the vision to reach this community and
00:14:38.420 the surrounding communities. God, that it wouldn't just stay within these walls,
00:14:41.980 God, but this would just spread like wildfire to every single
00:14:45.400 home, every business, every street in this area.
00:14:48.640 God, I pray that you would command that blessing when churches come
00:14:51.940 together. We pray for Cornerstone Church, we pray for Lions Church.
00:14:55.860 God, we pray for the churches around the country that are watching and are
00:14:59.600 praying and have supported us. God, we thank you for every single
00:15:03.700 person who's been praying and supporting Freedom Church up to this point, and God,
00:15:07.570 con— continue to pray a blessing upon them.
00:15:10.440 God, that you would do what only you can do through Freedom Church, that you'd
00:15:14.360 receive all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory in Jesus'
00:15:18.380 name. Amen.
00:15:21.200 Amen.
00:15:21.390 Amen. We're starting this series for the first four weeks of our
00:15:25.200 church. We thought what better thing than to share some of our core values, who
00:15:29.080 we are, and it's gonna be up on the wall for a while, so you're gonna be able to
00:15:32.420 see it. Uh, this week we're focusing on know God, next week is find
00:15:35.940 freedom, third week is discover purpose, fourth week is make an
00:15:39.640 impact, and that really is our mission statement.
00:15:42.420 We are a life-giving church that helps people know God, find
00:15:46.180 freedom, discover purpose, and make an impact in their world.
00:15:49.480 That's why we exist. That's what we're going to do and continue to
00:15:53.120 do as Freedom Church. So today starts with the
00:15:56.500 foundation. So if you miss this one, the rest of them
00:16:00.200 don't make sense. So we ha— so you guys are all doing good.
00:16:03.620 You, perfect attendance. You're gonna keep that up all year long, right?
00:16:07.320 So I expect to see all of you next week.
00:16:09.360 And watching online, so we are live streaming our 11:00 AM, just to let
00:16:13.240 everyone know. If, if you ever wanna, tr— if you're traveling, you still wanna log
00:16:17.120 in, you wanna watch it later, you can live stream online.
00:16:20.340 It's gonna be on our website, YouTube, Facebook.
00:16:23.140 Um, look for it on there and you'll be able to find that.
00:16:25.920 But, you know, there's a, there's a big difference between knowing about someone
00:16:30.420 and knowing somebody, right? Anybody married? Right?
00:16:34.380 You don't just know about your spouse, you know your spouse.
00:16:37.239 You're acquainted with your spouse, and the English language is, is sometimes very
00:16:41.100 limiting. And we have one word for the word know, but the Greek
00:16:44.820 language is much more, expanded.
00:16:46.980 There's a lot more meanings that we get this one word know from in the English,
00:16:50.900 and two of those words are, are oida, which is Greek for know.
00:16:54.320 It's talking about knowing facts, information, and
00:16:57.560 skills. Like, you can know all the facts about a professional
00:17:01.420 athlete, about a movie star. You can know all the facts and information
00:17:05.181 about somebody, but ginosko is where you're actually acquainted
00:17:09.080 with them. You know that person in a real way.
00:17:13.040 Like, how many of you know Tom Brady?
00:17:15.280 Whether you love him or hate him, we all know about him.
00:17:17.740 I guess you're, yeah, you didn't raise your hand 'cause you don't know him.
00:17:20.100 You know about him.
00:17:21.720 We know about him.
00:17:21.911 We know about him, but how many of you really know Tom Brady?
00:17:24.340 Do you spend time with him? Do you hang out with him? Do you talk to him?
00:17:27.100 I've just picked him because as much as you might hate Tom Brady, he is probably
00:17:30.420 one of the most decorated, if not the most decorated athlete in the
00:17:33.560 NFL. You can know all those facts, statistics, championship
00:17:37.360 rings, and all those things, but knowing him is very different.
00:17:40.880 In many ways, we treat God that same way.
00:17:43.480 We learn information about God. Maybe you've heard Bible stories, maybe
00:17:47.440 you've been to church before, maybe you heard your parents or grandparents talk
00:17:50.820 about him. You have this information, these facts that may
00:17:54.820 be true, they might not be fully true, but you might know true facts,
00:17:58.660 but knowing God and being acquainted with God is very
00:18:02.060 different. Christianity is not about
00:18:04.920 information, but about relationship.
00:18:08.260 It's a relationship with God that he wants to have with us,
00:18:12.480 that God wants to be known. He wants to have a
00:18:16.100 relationship with you. He's not playing hide and seek.
00:18:18.780 He's not re— hiding himself from us, but he wants to reveal himself, and all
00:18:22.720 throughout the Bible we see how God walked with
00:18:26.520 people. He walked with Adam and Eve. He walked with Moses.
00:18:30.030 He was with—spoke to Noah. He was with the people of Israel.
00:18:33.410 He sent prophets to speak to His people, and then even sent
00:18:37.330 His own Son to do the only work that, the only, the work that only
00:18:41.310 He could do by paying for our sins. That God is with
00:18:44.830 us, walking with us, speaking to us.
00:18:47.230 He wants us to know Him and to have a relationship with
00:18:50.710 Him. Amen?
00:18:52.460 Amen.
00:18:53.870 But we have to realize that God is real.
00:18:57.530 I know it sounds so basic, but so many times they, people question, is God really
00:19:01.330 there? Is God really—does God really care about me?
00:19:05.010 Does God really know who I am? And I find many people, they acknowledge
00:19:08.830 that Satan is real or the devil is real.
00:19:11.330 They acknowledge all the demonic horror movies and everything else that happens,
00:19:14.550 that evil exists, but they question, is God really there?
00:19:18.710 And I think the existence of all the evil and the bad and the devil
00:19:22.310 himself points to and supports evidence that there is
00:19:26.230 a good God. 'Cause how can you have evil if there is no such thing
00:19:30.190 as good? How do you have something bad if there's not a good, moral
00:19:34.090 God that determines what is right and what is wrong?
00:19:37.830 God is, being real is the first step to us to realize,
00:19:41.830 before we get into all the facts and information about Him, we need to know and
00:19:45.350 acknowledge that God truly exists.
00:19:47.970 In Romans 1:20, he says, "For ever
00:19:51.930 since the world was created, people have seen the earth and
00:19:55.170 sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible
00:19:58.910 qualities. His eternal power and divine nature.
00:20:02.090 So they have no excuse for not knowing
00:20:05.410 God." God's evidence is all around
00:20:09.090 us. I mean, I don't know how anybody looks at the sunrise and doesn't believe in a
00:20:12.870 Go— God who, who's created everything.
00:20:15.630 Like, the problem in our world isn't atheism, as much as I believe it's
00:20:19.270 misunderstanding who God is. Not reading the Bible and not
00:20:23.230 understanding who God is has led, leads people to have the
00:20:26.370 wrong worldview in how they see the world and how they live the
00:20:30.230 world. Many people build their version of God based on
00:20:34.090 their pain, based on church hurt or family
00:20:37.110 experiences, based on their culture that they grew up in and what they
00:20:40.870 experienced from a past, from Christians who hurt, hurt you before.
00:20:44.730 And I wanna say, nothing that you've experienced bad would justify,
00:20:48.750 especially when Christians have hurt you or a church or a pastor has hurt
00:20:52.210 you, there's no justifying that whatsoever.
00:20:55.130 It's simply acknowledging that's true, that's, that was bad, that's, that was
00:20:58.530 wrong. But that's not who God is.
00:21:01.640 Amen.
00:21:01.690 Christians are supposed to represent God.
00:21:04.170 Unfortunately, the, most of the time we do a really bad job of
00:21:07.510 representing a perfect, holy God, the God of the universe, the
00:21:11.450 God who's created us. In the Bible, there are over four hundred and
00:21:15.170 twenty names, titles, and descriptions about
00:21:18.530 God. Why so many? It's 'cause God is so big,
00:21:22.350 so great, we can't fully comprehend all about who
00:21:26.170 God is in our limited human minds. If we could, we would
00:21:30.170 be God, right? If we could know all the things that God knows, we would be
00:21:33.570 God. Yet we can never, never fully know and fully
00:21:37.350 experience God, yet that's the goal, to know Him more, to become
00:21:41.350 more like Him and less like ourselves.
00:21:44.990 So God is real. God is Creator. In Genesis 1:1,
00:21:48.810 very first chapter, very first verse, "In the beginning,
00:21:52.530 God created the heavens and the earth."
00:21:56.450 When we look at the complexity of the world, look at the complexity of
00:22:00.270 biology, the complexity of science and all the stuff that, that we see
00:22:04.230 in, in the world, I don't have enough faith to believe that all of that
00:22:08.070 came from nothing. Right? When people who don't believe that God
00:22:11.430 created, I mean, you have more faith than I do, because that means
00:22:15.470 you believe that everything we see came out of nothing, and
00:22:19.430 eventually we're all gonna die and go back to nothing.
00:22:22.390 And I go, I have more, I have— I don't have that much faith.
00:22:25.590 I'd rather say, look at the evidence. Look at the world. Look at the stars.
00:22:28.930 Look at how the earth is tilted and everything is just right for us to have
00:22:33.130 sustainable life here. I don't believe that's on accident.
00:22:36.890 I believe there's a creative, in— intelligent designer who has put us
00:22:40.770 here exactly in this time, exactly in this place, and He is in
00:22:44.690 charge, and He is able to control everything that happens around us.
00:22:48.610 And when you can really believe that God created the heavens and the earth, the
00:22:52.610 stars in the sky, He can certainly care for you.
00:22:55.850 Awesome.
00:22:56.430 He can certainly take care of your problems.
00:22:58.450 He can certainly watch out for your needs.
00:23:00.550 He can certainly help you through whatever situation or circumstance that you're
00:23:04.410 currently facing. He can certainly raise Himself back from the
00:23:08.290 dead if He can create the whole world.
00:23:10.170 He can create all life, that God is the creator of life.
00:23:15.330 The other thing is God is holy. He's holy, and you may hear that in
00:23:19.090 church, or you may have heard that in some songs.
00:23:21.190 But Isaiah 6:3, there's all these angels in the, in the
00:23:24.990 throne room of God, and Isaiah, the prophet, he gets this picture of the throne
00:23:28.730 room, and the angels are singing and worshiping God, saying, "Holy,
00:23:32.470 holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's armies.
00:23:36.130 The whole earth is filled with His glory." Holy
00:23:40.070 means perfect, pure, and completely set apart.
00:23:44.050 That God is not just a better version of us.
00:23:46.970 He's not just like us, but, you know, smarter, brighter, better, more
00:23:51.010 gifted. He's completely set apart from us 'cause He is so holy.
00:23:54.750 He is so perfect. That, that three times, that reiteration of holy,
00:23:58.590 holy, holy sets Him so far apart. But
00:24:02.370 yet, at the same time, He is so close as He draws us
00:24:06.010 closer to Him. He's not so distant, so far away, as
00:24:09.790 perfect as He is, but He desires to draw us
00:24:12.550 close. What, what kind of God does
00:24:15.810 that? What k— what king would desire to be close
00:24:19.790 to his people when he is so far above all of us?
00:24:23.430 Like, nobody compares. Nobody, nobody even comes close to comparing
00:24:27.450 to who God is, yet He desires to be close with
00:24:30.670 us. In First John 4, verses 9 and
00:24:34.462 10, we see how God demonstrates His love,
00:24:38.542 that God is love. God showed how much He loved
00:24:42.542 us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that
00:24:46.342 we might have eternal life through Him.
00:24:49.262 This is real love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved
00:24:53.302 us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take
00:24:56.882 away our sins. God doesn't just act
00:25:00.562 loving, He is love. It's in His very
00:25:04.342 nature that while we were sinners,
00:25:08.022 Christ died for us, Romans 5:8 says.
00:25:10.862 And here he says that it's not about that we love God, that we're so
00:25:14.682 good that God loves us because He's given us a, a good job,
00:25:18.502 good job f— for being so good. No, God showed His love for us
00:25:23.122 even while we were sinners. Before we were ever born, God showed
00:25:27.022 His love for us. He demonstrates His love by sending His
00:25:30.602 Son to die for us. But see, in our culture and our
00:25:34.462 world right now, love is probably one of the most misunderstood words that we
00:25:38.282 use. It gets thrown around in so-called Christian churches.
00:25:41.542 And I'm not here to bash other churches, but to say love according to the Bible is
00:25:45.482 very different than what much of the world and the culture is saying.
00:25:49.382 Love does mean we welcome all people.
00:25:51.962 We want everyone to come because when you come and you encounter a living
00:25:55.622 God, when you meet Jesus, it changes you.
00:25:58.862 He changes you. He renews your mind.
00:26:01.622 He transforms you from the inside out.
00:26:05.102 So when people say love is just keep on doing whatever you feel like doing, keep
00:26:09.062 on doing you, don't have to change how you live, how you talk, how you act, how you
00:26:13.122 think, that's not true love, 'cause true love is full of
00:26:17.202 truth and love. That Jesus would never lie
00:26:21.082 to somebody, He would speak truth to them. He didn't put them down.
00:26:24.742 He didn't make them feel bad, but He said, "Hey, there's a better way of living.
00:26:28.302 There's a better way of thinking. There's a better way of acting." And Jesus, every
00:26:32.382 time somebody encountered Jesus, they were different afterwards.
00:26:36.282 Yeah.
00:26:36.502 So true biblical love is when we come to Jesus, there should be a
00:26:39.962 change. We should start to look different.
00:26:42.491 Not always overnight, usually it's a process.
00:26:44.842 It takes time to work on our sanctification, becoming
00:26:48.282 more like Jesus. He sent His Son as a
00:26:51.982 sacrifice to take away our sins. Why would He have to
00:26:55.862 send H— His Son to die to be sacrificed for our sins
00:26:59.822 if we're supposed to just keep on sinning? If we're just supposed...
00:27:02.662 If we're not supposed to change anything in our life, we're to keep on going, why
00:27:05.922 would He need to send His Son, Jesus, to die? I thought He loved us.
00:27:09.902 Well, because He loves us, He sent His Son because our sin requires
00:27:13.922 a payment. In Romans 6:23, it says, "The wages
00:27:17.982 of sin is death." The wages of sin is
00:27:21.922 death. Now, that's bad news, 'cause guess what?
00:27:24.602 Every single one of us have sin, and have sinned, and
00:27:28.622 fall short of God's perfect way that He would have us live.
00:27:32.802 That's the bad news. But the good news, it's coming.
00:27:35.982 The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ
00:27:39.562 Jesus, our Lord. The bad news is every single one of us have
00:27:43.522 sinned. You've stolen something, you've lied, you've thought bad thoughts, you've
00:27:47.502 looked at things, you've done something you shouldn't do,
00:27:50.402 but God has paid a way for us to be set free from that sin.
00:27:54.222 He sent His Son to die on the cross so that our sins could be
00:27:57.922 forgiven, that we can now have eternal life
00:28:01.622 because of what Christ Jesus has done.
00:28:04.422 That's the best possible news. You can't earn it.
00:28:08.022 You can't be good enough. You can't love God enough, because He's
00:28:11.642 already demonstrated His love to you
00:28:14.242 by sending His Son to die for you. That's the best news that we could
00:28:18.042 ever hear. In Jesus, we
00:28:22.022 see God the Father. To know God means to know Jesus.
00:28:25.982 And Jesus said this in John 14. He said, "I am
00:28:30.002 the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the
00:28:33.702 Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would
00:28:37.582 know who my Father is. From now on, you do know Him
00:28:41.462 and have seen Him." When we see
00:28:45.342 Jesus, when we know Jesus, and He's speaking to people in the natural.
00:28:48.042 This applies to us. When you know Jesus, when you see Him, you see what He
00:28:51.942 does, you see the Father. And Jesus consistently
00:28:55.642 claimed to be God. He wasn't just a good person.
00:28:58.982 He wasn't just a teacher. He wasn't just a prophet.
00:29:01.642 He was God in the flesh. That's why they wanted to kill Him.
00:29:05.562 That's why they ultimately did kill Him, because He was claiming to be
00:29:09.182 God. And He said, "If you don't believe in what I say, believe in the works
00:29:13.182 I do." Look at the miracles. Look at the healing.
00:29:15.742 Look at the resurrection power that He had, and yet they
00:29:19.462 still wanted to kill Him. Jesus did not just
00:29:23.322 come to teach us right and wrong. He came to reconcile
00:29:26.982 us back to God, that we have this separation from
00:29:30.942 God, and only through Jesus Christ can we have that gap, that, that
00:29:34.942 s— chasm that separates us, brought back together, where that gap
00:29:38.922 can be removed, where reconcili— reconciliation can
00:29:42.222 happen. Christianity is not about us striving to
00:29:46.122 get to God through our good works and good deeds.
00:29:49.242 It's really about God leaving heaven and coming to earth to die a criminal's
00:29:53.302 death on the cross for us.
00:29:56.682 You realize Jesus was whipped and beaten.
00:29:59.722 He was scourged. His flesh was pulled apart.
00:30:03.002 He was physically nailed with spikes through His wrists and through His feet on a
00:30:06.582 wooden cross and hung up to die.
00:30:10.742 And I know that's a little graphic, but that's the reality of what happened to
00:30:13.682 Jesus, and He did it
00:30:16.782 willingly. Nobody forced Him. He willingly gave up
00:30:20.662 His divine privileges. He left heaven.
00:30:23.102 He came to earth to die a criminal's death so that we could have
00:30:26.782 eternal life, so that we could be forgiven, so that we could have our
00:30:30.662 sins taken away.What kind of God does
00:30:34.366 that? What kind of king does that? What kind of king lays down his
00:30:38.326 life for his subjects? One that is full of love, that is
00:30:42.206 full of our best interest in mind as
00:30:44.746 well. John 17:3
00:30:49.086 says, "This is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the
00:30:52.946 only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent
00:30:56.866 to Earth." How do we know God? How do we know him and experience
00:31:00.806 him more? Well, one of the easiest ways is keep coming on Sunday.
00:31:04.785 Keep coming back. Keep learning. Keep being involved with other people.
00:31:08.486 You can join a Bible study group. That's one of the best things to do.
00:31:11.766 We have all of our groups on our website. You can find them. You can jump in.
00:31:15.386 We invite everybody to join a group, 'cause this week we're
00:31:19.426 starting groups. So if you're like, "I've never been to a group.
00:31:21.586 I've never been to a Bible study," you're allowed to come. Come for ...
00:31:24.886 Usually they're about an hour and a half. You get together.
00:31:27.246 Sometimes they're just men, some are just ladies, some are coed, where you can
00:31:30.586 learn about the Bible. You can learn how to pray.
00:31:33.166 You can learn what it means to know God and begin growing in
00:31:37.146 that relationship.
00:31:39.806 You cannot find freedom, discover your purpose, and make an impact until
00:31:43.706 you first know God. Everything starts
00:31:46.726 here. So you may be here
00:31:48.706 today, and you've been in church before.
00:31:52.206 Maybe you've been in church for much of your whole life.
00:31:55.326 You believe God exists, and you try to live morally.
00:31:57.766 You try to be a good person. Why don't I read to
00:32:01.126 you John 3:16 and 17?
00:32:05.726 Probably the most famous verse, most well-known verse in the
00:32:09.646 Bible. I mean, people have it on their walls.
00:32:11.606 They have it on their bumper stickers. They got it on T-shirts and tattoos, right?
00:32:15.106 Most of us probably have heard John 3:16 at some point. So let's read it.
00:32:18.816 It says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
00:32:22.526 Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
00:32:26.346 eternal life." Now, that believe is not just head
00:32:29.626 knowledge. It's not just that I believe God exists, I believe
00:32:33.426 Jesus was a real person. The word believe, it's that you put your trust in
00:32:37.366 him. You put your full faith in him.
00:32:40.705 It's like you're jumping off a cliff believing that he's gonna catch you,
00:32:44.706 that he's gonna be the way to actually get you into eternal life, that
00:32:48.606 it's not just a mental decision. It's a spiritual
00:32:52.186 transformation that happens when you say, "I believe that Jesus is the
00:32:56.286 only way." He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He said
00:33:00.166 that, "You've seen me, you've seen the Father." He said that this is how we
00:33:04.046 should live our lives as followers of him, that the
00:33:08.066 belief is something that you're willing to lay down your life for.
00:33:11.846 There's many things we say we believe in, but very few things I believe we're
00:33:15.426 willing to give our lives for, to give, put our lives at risk.
00:33:18.966 But the reality is there's no greater cause than the cause
00:33:22.866 of Christ to give your life for, to put your belief
00:33:26.786 in, to put your trust in. Of all the money that could be made in the world, of all
00:33:30.766 the titles that could be there, nothing compares to
00:33:34.366 knowing God, to giving your life, believing in
00:33:38.246 him, trusting in him, taking those leaps and steps of faith that
00:33:42.206 don't make sense. But it's so exhilarating when you can live a
00:33:46.106 life of freedom in Christ. In verse
00:33:49.826 17 he says, "For God did not send his Son into the world to
00:33:53.366 condemn the world, but to save the world through
00:33:56.646 him." I love verse 17 because so many times we feel like
00:34:00.566 we're not good enough. We're not adequate enough.
00:34:03.746 I've done wrong in my life. You don't know what I've done.
00:34:06.426 You don't know what I've seen. You don't know the things I've done in my past.
00:34:09.127 I hear that often too, all too often.
00:34:11.627 And I tell people
00:34:13.127 we all fall short of the glory of God.
00:34:14.986 That's how great God's love is. That's how great his mercy
00:34:18.786 is. Because, yes, we've all messed up, and many of us have done horrible
00:34:22.786 things, but he does not come to condemn us.
00:34:26.607 He comes to set us free. If you're here today and you're not
00:34:30.286 feeling good enough or worthy enough or religious enough,
00:34:34.226 I want you to get set free today. I want you to truly know that
00:34:37.707 God has come not to condemn you, not to shame you, but
00:34:41.627 to break off those shame, break off that guilt, break off the
00:34:45.746 lies that you've been believing about yourself.
00:34:49.125 I know many of you felt, probably felt like you weren't even, shouldn't even be
00:34:51.745 allowed in this building. I'm here to tell you God wants you here on
00:34:55.127 purpose. He knows why you're here, and he wants ... He's speaking to you now.
00:34:58.926 I believe he's speaking to you, drawing you to himself.
00:35:05.086 There's so many things to know about God.
00:35:08.106 I think the most important thing is that he wants you to know him.
00:35:11.806 He wants you to know him. He wants you to know that your sins can be
00:35:15.366 forgiven
00:35:17.286 only because of what he's done for you.
00:35:20.546 So I wanna pray for you.
00:35:23.206 I ask that we would close our eyes and bow our heads.
00:35:25.646 If you're listening online or watching this online, if you could just join us.
00:35:28.886 Take this moment, this moment in time just to, to still
00:35:32.686 ourselves,
00:35:35.446 to close our eyes, just eliminate some
00:35:37.126 distractions.
00:35:41.326 Say, "Father God, I, I know I've
00:35:43.266 sinned." You could say this in your own words, under your
00:35:47.106 breath, how- however you wanna say it.
00:35:48.526 I just invite every one of us to say, "God, I, I know I've sinned.
00:35:52.066 I know I've fallen short of your perfect standard.
00:35:55.526 God, I've done bad things. I've done wrong things.
00:35:57.546 I've said things I shouldn't have said.
00:35:59.746 God, and I thank you that you are more than enough to
00:36:03.386 forgive me.
00:36:05.046 God, I confess my sin to you.
00:36:07.826 God, I confess that I've done bad and I've done wrong, but God, I, I wanna live my
00:36:11.486 life different from this point forward.
00:36:14.206 God, I wanna live my life in freedom.
00:36:16.486 God, I wanna live my life to honor you.
00:36:19.026 God, not perfect, 'cause I can't be perfect, but God, I wanna live my
00:36:22.586 life seeking to please you in everything I
00:36:25.686 do. God, 'cause you created me. You put breath in my
00:36:29.446 lungs. You've given me everything I have.
00:36:32.406 So God, I pray that you would be honored and pleased with my
00:36:35.666 life. I ask for your grace to be upon
00:36:38.366 me." As I live my life as a thank you for what you've done for
00:36:42.382 me.
00:36:43.742 With every head bowed and every eye closed in this moment, I just invite you, if
00:36:47.142 you, if you wanna pray that for the very first time, or you did just pray, and
00:36:51.102 say, "I wanna begin that relationship with God.
00:36:54.162 I wanna know him. Not just know about him, but I wanna know him in a real
00:36:58.002 way," I invite you just to slip up your hand right where you are, and I wanna
00:37:01.842 pray for you.
00:37:07.962 Don't miss this opportunity. Just raise your hand.
00:37:09.942 If that's you, I wanna pray for you right where you are. Amen.
00:37:13.742 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray right now for every person making that
00:37:16.962 decision. God, for every person, whether they raised their hand or not, God, that
00:37:20.422 You're speaking to their heart. God, that they know they wanna
00:37:24.302 know You more. God, they know where they are with You.
00:37:26.942 God, I pray that You, Your kindness, Your gentleness, would draw
00:37:30.902 them to Yourself. God, that You'd show them how they don't have to be good
00:37:34.802 enough to come to You, but they're here right now.
00:37:37.962 You're here now.
00:37:39.922 That they would not miss this opportunity to make the most important decision of
00:37:43.942 their entire life to say yes to You, to
00:37:47.542 choose to begin that relationship with You, and then begin taking their next
00:37:51.342 steps with You. Father, I pray Your blessing upon them.
00:37:54.262 God, I pray You'd just protect them, grant them Your grace to continue to take
00:37:57.842 their next steps. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:38:01.702 Amen. Can we give God a great big hand? Amen.
00:38:06.642 If you, if you made that decision, and you say, "I wanna know God," even
00:38:10.582 if you're just, you're not sure, I wanna help you. We wanna follow up with you.
00:38:14.102 We wanna help you take your next step.
00:38:15.802 So what, one thing you can do is take your phone, put it to the tap card on the
00:38:19.122 seat behind you, or you can go s— come see me, talk to somebody at Connection
00:38:23.062 Point, one of the people wearing the lanyard, and say, "I wanna get more
00:38:25.302 information." If you go to the, that tap card link or on our website, you
00:38:29.282 can fill out, "I wanna give my life to Jesus." We wanna follow up with
00:38:33.282 you to help you. We wanna get you a Bible.
00:38:35.242 We wanna get you into a Bible study group.
00:38:37.022 We wanna equip you and help you so you don't have to figure it all out on
00:38:41.062 your own. So this time, Jared and Mary are gonna make their way up.
00:38:44.482 Let's give them a hand.
00:38:48.582 Jared and Mary are the Freedom Youth leaders.
00:38:50.922 They lead the 6th to 12th grade ministry, and they're gonna take it away for
00:38:54.642 now.
>> Jared and Mary
00:38:55.102 Amen. Well, let's give God another big hand for the word
00:38:57.742 today.
00:39:00.402 So just really excited about everything God is doing today, and I
00:39:04.442 love that we are launching our church by talking about the most important
00:39:08.402 thing, which is to know God. And one of the ways that we know
00:39:12.242 God is through our giving. So we're gonna provide an opportunity for us
00:39:16.182 all to give today. There are many ways to give, which you can
00:39:20.142 see online. Um,
00:39:23.042 there's online. You can scan the QR code.
00:39:25.882 Um, there's cash or checks can go in the back.
00:39:28.122 Um, and then you can also give on Zelle if your bank does that.
00:39:31.562 But more important than that, in all the ways to give, is why we
00:39:34.862 give. You know, when you love someone, you give to
00:39:38.842 them. When you love something, you give for it, right?
00:39:41.592 And I had in my heart this morning that verse that Pastor Eric ended on,
00:39:45.442 John 3:16, that God loved the world, so He
00:39:49.402 gave. I believe that, that Jesus saw, even this
00:39:53.242 moment, that God saw this moment. He saw us.
00:39:55.742 He knew that we needed this relationship with Him, so God sent Jesus to
00:39:59.682 save us. And today when we're giving, really what we're doing is
00:40:04.142 saying, "You know what? I love God so much that I wanna give to Him, and
00:40:08.082 also, I wanna give so that someone else who's not in this room today
00:40:12.042 can hear the good news of Jesus Christ." All right?
00:40:15.082 And I know it's all our first day at Freedom Church, but prior to
00:40:18.922 today, there's been a lot of just giving and generosity, and people
00:40:22.822 just being so generous and selfless so that you could be here
00:40:26.602 today. So today, I just wanna encourage us, let's all keep being a part so that
00:40:30.582 someone else can encounter the love of God in a real way as well.
00:40:34.122 Amen. Let's unite our hearts in prayer, believing that God is gonna multiply and
00:40:37.402 expand so much greater than we could ever dream to see now
00:40:41.382 and in eternity. Heavenly Father, I thank You for the opportunity to
00:40:45.182 give, God. I thank You that You first loved us.
00:40:47.782 You first gave of Yourself to us. You bankrupted Heaven so that we could
00:40:51.742 have eternal life. And Jesus, we ask that as we p— prepare our
00:40:55.362 hearts to give today, Lord God, that You would multiply and expand Your
00:40:59.162 kingdom here in Murrysville, in the local surrounding communities.
00:41:02.882 God, we thank You that You call us and invite us to be a part of sharing
00:41:06.762 Your great love and truth to everyone around us.
00:41:09.422 It's in Your precious name we pray, amen. Amen.
00:41:13.142 If you're new here, I want you, just wanna see a show of hands. Show of hands.
00:41:15.922 Who's new here, first time? First... Trick question.
00:41:18.102 I should see a lot more hands than I'm seeing right now.
00:41:19.902 Um, so I just wanna say welcome to Freedom Church.
00:41:21.902 We are so, so glad that you made it out here for Freedom Launch.
00:41:25.902 If you're new here, we'd love to get to know you and keep you up to date with so
00:41:29.602 many awesome opportunities we have going on here at Freedom Church.
00:41:33.442 If you want to take your phone, scan the tap card on the back of the seat.
00:41:36.862 You can also scan that QR code. Just fill out some information.
00:41:40.332 It'll be a way for us to keep in touch with you and keep you up to date with so
00:41:44.222 many awesome things that God is doing in and through our church, and how you can be
00:41:47.742 a part.
00:41:48.582 Yes, and, and speaking of being a part, if you love this so much, we
00:41:52.482 hope you'll come back. We hope to see everyone here next Sunday.
00:41:56.322 Um, but something we'll be doing is twice a month, we will offer Next
00:41:59.712 Steps. And so basically, Next Steps is a class where you can learn more
00:42:03.582 about the church, discover more about God and what gifts He's put
00:42:07.442 inside of you, and how you can make an impa— So Next Steps is being
00:42:11.462 offered next Sunday after the 11:00 AM service.
00:42:14.302 It's also being offered the following Sunday after the 11:00 AM
00:42:18.122 service so that you can just stay after, learn more, and see
00:42:22.122 what God is gonna do in you and through you.
00:42:25.402 Um, we do have free childcare. We do have food for you as well.
00:42:28.922 Just please sign up so that we can prepare.
00:42:31.212 And really just believing that who knows how many...
00:42:33.862 Maybe this whole room will be at Next Steps next week, which would, would be really
00:42:37.142 awesome. So can't wait to see you there.
00:42:38.682 Amen. God really has uniquely gifted so many of you and would so dream just
00:42:42.652 seeing how you can make an impact. So we look forward to seeing you out, March
00:42:46.602 20... Or sorry, excuse me, next Sunday and the Sunday after.
00:42:49.582 There's another awesome opportunity, as Pastor Eric mentioned.
00:42:52.242 It is so, so awesome we have the opportunity to declare our faith and our
00:42:55.622 relationship with Jesus as followers of him, and we get to do that
00:42:59.562 by taking our next step in water baptism.
00:43:03.302 You know, in the Bible, Jesus had mentioned that to believe and to go
00:43:07.202 and make disciples and baptize them.
00:43:09.602 It was such a powerful declaration of their relationship with Jesus, what
00:43:13.442 God had done inside their heart. So we have an opportunity coming up here on
00:43:17.262 March 22nd. If you have never been water baptized or perhaps you have
00:43:21.322 made that decision for yourself, we invite you to declare your
00:43:25.242 faith in Jesus with all of us to celebrate along with you.
00:43:28.232 It is such a powerful experience and a great, great time.
00:43:31.322 We ask that you scan a QR code or just get signed up.
00:43:33.942 If you have any questions about water baptism or what your next step might look
00:43:37.982 like, I encourage you to come see Pastor Eric, myself, back at the connection
00:43:41.242 point. We'd be happy to guide you along that path there as well.
00:43:44.962 I know such a picture I had, as we were praying just for
00:43:48.902 the upcoming weeks to come, was I literally had this picture of just a line
00:43:52.722 around the room of people ready, waiting to be water
00:43:56.342 baptized. Um, so it might be new. Maybe you're feeling that tug
00:44:00.262 on your heart, but you're just not sure. It's all our first day.
00:44:03.522 That's okay. But, you know, in the Bible, as Jared mentioned, the believers
00:44:07.482 just believed and were baptized. So if you are giving your life to Jesus,
00:44:11.482 you wanna learn more about him, we wanna help you out, and we wanna help you take
00:44:15.402 that next step to really surrender your life to this new relationship with
00:44:19.262 Jesus. So get signed up March 22nd. We can't wait to celebrate with you.
00:44:23.602 Amen. Well, we have a couple fun things to do right now.
00:44:27.442 We're actually gonna be giving away some of these hoodies
00:44:31.262 to the youth men— the youth students, so sixth to 12th
00:44:34.682 graders. Somebody generously donated all these.
00:44:37.542 They say, "Follow me to freedom," with a QR code on the back that their
00:44:41.202 classmates and friends can scan, and it takes them to our website, and they can
00:44:44.722 find all about our Freedom Youth nights, which are on Tuesdays,
00:44:48.722 6:30 to 8:30. So all students sixth to 12th grade are
00:44:52.642 welcome to come to our Freedom Youth this Sunday night kicking off, so tell
00:44:56.662 your friends, bring some friends.
00:44:58.342 Uh, is there anybody sixth to 12th grade in the room that doesn't have...
00:45:02.142 I see some of you were here first service. You right there, come on up.
00:45:04.842 You can have this one.
00:45:06.302 Woo.
00:45:06.322 Let's give her a hand. Come on up.
00:45:09.662 Thank you. You're welcome. And
00:45:12.942 everyone gets... All the students get one of those.
00:45:15.042 They have to go through that door to the left in our Freedom Youth room.
00:45:18.802 So if that's the wrong size, go back and exchange it for the right size.
00:45:21.922 Um, but also, all of the first through fifth graders
00:45:26.062 are getting one of these Freedom shirts.
00:45:27.662 Same thing on the back, a QR code, "Follow me to freedom," that were generously
00:45:31.222 donated. So all the first through fifth graders in the kids ministry rooms should
00:45:35.062 be getting one of those as well. So, so thankful for that gift.
00:45:38.942 Uh, also, we have food afterwards. So there's pepperoni rolls.
00:45:42.742 Some of you saw, getting that on the way in.
00:45:44.662 Pepperoni rolls, bananas, if you're into that kind of thing.
00:45:48.642 Um, there's other s— snacks, biscottis, cookies,
00:45:52.502 drinks. We invite you to stay and hang out.
00:45:54.762 Particip— Grab your kids before you leave, but make sure you take them with you.
00:45:57.842 But other than that, stay and hang out. Get to know some people. Come see me.
00:46:01.492 My wife and I will be around. We wanna meet as many of you as we can, knowing th—
00:46:04.962 this is such a great day as we kick off Freedom Church.
00:46:07.882 And you guys are gonna be in the youth room as well, so you're gonna be able to
00:46:10.302 meet Jared and Mary, some of the youth leaders.
00:46:12.682 Whether you have kids or not, go check out the youth space.
00:46:15.442 It's through the cafe, down the hall, or right through this door as well.
00:46:19.102 But I'm gonna pray. If we could all stand to our feet, I'm gonna pray, and then
00:46:22.802 you'll be dismissed. Well, Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for this
00:46:26.762 day. God, we thank you for this new chapter, God, this new beginning of Freedom
00:46:30.302 Church, God, for what you're going to do through each and every one of us,
00:46:34.272 through us together, for this community, for this school district, God, that you
00:46:38.222 would transform people's lives for your kingdom and
00:46:42.242 for your glory. God, I pray your blessing upon each and every person here, every
00:46:46.302 family, every person watching online, for all the kids in the kids ministry
00:46:49.882 room, and all the teachers and helpers.
00:46:51.962 God, we pray your blessing upon each and every one of them, that we would go,
00:46:55.882 be the Church, living a life of freedom in
00:46:59.282 Christ. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:47:02.562 Have a great week. We'll see you around.