Life of Pi Gospel
I could take being by myself and having to not eat hardly anything and being out on the ocean for days. But one thing that would really get me is the thirst. Not having anything to drink would be torture. Pi had to have been sooo thirsty. Have you ever been there where you would’ve died a drink. Many years ago I worked at Super Summer for a Summer and they kept us so busy. All day long there was not a single moment of down time. One day I had forgotten to get a bottle for water or buy a Gatorade before I left for the day and it just happened to be the hottest day of the summer. So I was in like 110 degree weather all day long, working hard, with no drink. I remember at Supper time I my mouth was dry and I was dying of thirst. I ran to the vending machine and punched in a Gatorade. I could not wait to get that stuff in my body. I needed it! It was going to refresh and refuel my body, I wanted it open so bad. my fingers were fumbling trying to get the plastic thing off. I popped the lid and… nothing came out. I was like “What is going on! I just want a drink, God why have you forsaken me, what is wrong with this bottle?!” I unscrewed the top and realized that the reason it wasn’t coming out was because of this. This little peel off circle thingy. Now, if you saw this little circle on the sidewalk it wouldn’t be a big deal. If we saw it in the trash, who would care. But this on that day was a HUGE deal for me because THIS was holding THIS from getting inside of me. I needed THIS and THIS was holding it back.
There’s two types of people here tonight. There’s Christians and there are non-Christians, meaning you’ve never put your faith and trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. If that’s you, I am so glad you are and your biggest need life is a relationship with Jesus. You may have tried everything that the world has but it doesn’t work. You need Jesus in your life. Jesus wants to come into your life, forgive your sins, save you, and give you a permanent home in heaven and the only thing that is stopping that from happening is THIS. In our life we call this sin. You might look at sin at some places in your life and say that’s not a big deal. But if THIS is holding THIS back than it’s a huge deal.
Ya see the Bible says that everyone has sinned and not measured up to God’s standard and because of that sin the penalty is death, God can’t allow us into heaven and we must go to the only alternative when we die which is hell. BUT, God showed us just how much he loves us and wants to spend forever with us by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to earth, living a perfect sinless life and dying in our place as a sacrifice, a substitute for our penalty. He wants to fill your life and give you newlife beyond anything you could ever imagine but the reason why most of us don’t experience that is because that we refuse to deal with THIS. So how can I get rid of this, my sin, so that God can come into my life and be saved. Dealing with THIS is called repentance. Sin is separating you from God and the only way that get rid of the separation is to repent through faith in God and to accept the forgiveness that he offers.
It doesn’t matter how many worship songs you sing, this doesn’t come off. It doesn’t matter how many times you read your Bible, this doesn’t come off. It doesn’t matter how many good things you do, this doesn’t come off. It doesn’t matter that you believe in God, this doesn’t come off. The only way to remove this penalty that is separating you from God is to simply say Jesus I place my hope and faith in you alone for my salvation through your death for my sins and resurrection from the dead. I repent of my sins, forgive me, remove them from my life, be the Lord of my life, and help me to live for you the very best I can. If in your heart you believe what I just said, I’m going to give you chance to nail that down in just a moment.
Have you dealt with THIS, the sin that is holding you back? Christians what do you need to repent of and rip off you God can overflow in your life. If you’ve never asked God to save you and this is new for you but you know that you need to get rid of THIS in your life forever and make Jesus your LORD. Right now is the time to do that.
Let’s all close our eyes and I’m going to lead in a short prayer. Any of you that are ready once and for all to be forgiven, tear off the sin from your life, and let God come in and save you and be Lord pray this along with me as a tangible way for you to let God know your desire.
Jesus I place my hope and faith in you alone for my salvation through your death for my sins and your resurrection from the dead. I repent of my sins, forgive me, remove them from my life, be the Lord of my life, and help me to live for you the very best I can.