In this sermon, Nicky Cruz, a former gang leader turned preacher, shares a powerful message about God's heart for outcasts. He uses three illustrations - a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son - to convey the message. He emphasizes that Jesus is speaking to those who may be struggling with sins such as pornography, adultery, or substance abuse. The sermon concludes with an invitation for anyone who is hungry for change to come forward and experience God's love and transformation.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. I'll be speaking from Luke, the 15th chapter. If you have your Bibles, open your Bibles and leave it open on your lap and we'll refer to these scriptures as we proceed. Now, the 15th chapter of Luke has been called the Gospel of the Outcast. This particular chapter, Luke 15, the Gospel of the Outcast. This is a word for people who have fallen from grace into sin. I don't know what that particular sin may be, but you were in the fold. You were loving Christ and you went on, but you were surprised by sin. Or maybe you have just had a past feeding experience with Christ. But at this particular time, this message for the outcast would include you because an outcast is the one who feels like a throwaway that has been rejected by the body of Christ or does not seem to fit into the body of Christ and feels estranged from the things of God. I don't know what. Some of you just feel left out and you feel like an outcast. And in this 15th chapter of Luke, there's a crowd of publicans and sinners gathering to hear Jesus teach. Now, this is a crowd of publicans who were tax collectors, tax collectors despised by that society of the time and considered rank sinners. And there were other sinners and folks, any crowd of sinners would include adulterers, fornicators, those who are cursing, those who are alcoholics, those who are far or have drifted. They may have been a part of the flock of God and now they are dispersed. They are sinners and they've come to hear Jesus teach. And standing on the perimeter of that crowd of sinners are Pharisees and scribes and they are mocking. And the mindset of these Pharisees is he's a Jew. He says he's a son of God. But if he were a good Jew and according to the law, he would not associate with sinners. He can't be the son of God because he's touching them. He's laying hands on them. He eats with them. He hugs them. He's a friend of sinners. Well, that's who Jesus came to seek and to save those that are lost. His heart is for the sinner. If you're here and you are living in sin and you would call yourself a sinner, I want you to know that you're the one that Jesus especially loves and who's coming after you right now. I was talking to Nicky Cruz this past week. He was here for Friday night youth service and he was in our apartment and he was telling me about a major church, a very large church that called him and said, Would you please come and hold a meeting? He said, On one condition. Guarantee me you can fill your church with sinners. I'll come, but I don't want to come and preach to a bunch of saints. And that's been his call. That's the love of his heart as an evangelist. Nicky Cruz, if you remember, is a Mahamal gang leader from this city, a feared gang leader, got saved, now preaching, has preached to over 250 million people in his lifetime. He's in his 60s now and still on fire for God. It's still preaching and loving sinners. These proud Pharisees are mocking him, but Jesus gets their attention. There's a silence falls over them. And Jesus proceeds to give a three piece, a three way message with three powerful illustrations about God's heart for outcasts. He speaks of a lost sheep. He speaks of a lost coin. He speaks of a lost son. Jesus is speaking to those like the kind of people I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to reach through my message this morning. It could be pornography. It could be adultery. It could be alcohol, drugs. It could be broken marriages left you devastated. I don't know how to describe this. I don't know how to pinpoint it other than you're sitting here now listening to me and you do not feel the closeness to Christ. You don't know. You don't believe perhaps you may be in such deep sin that you can't believe that he can forgive you, that you're beyond redemption, that you've fallen so deep into sin that you can't be forgiven. You can't be reached. And that no matter how many sermons you hear, there's something. In other words, you've gone too far. And that nagging is in your spirit. It's for a pastor I've been counseling who's exposed this past year for adultery. And he's lost his church. He's lost his family. He's lost his reputation. And this is what he said. I ended up without a single dollar in my pocket. We helped him. And yet he just feels beyond the mercy of God now. He feels I have sinned against so much light. I have preached such strong messages. And here I am now cast away. It's for that precious man also. He speaks first of all in verse 4. If you have your Bible open. And he spake this parable unto them saying, What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it? Now look at those words. He goes after until he finds it. He never gives up on someone who's gone astray. He never gives up on an outcast. He will pursue and pursue. The Holy Ghost has been called the Hound of Heaven. He doesn't hound you to demean you or to rebuke you. He comes to find you and embrace you and bring you back into his house. He goes out until he finds him. David said, Where can I flee from your presence? Where can I hide from you? If I make my bed in hell, you will there. In other words, you can sin until you come to the brink of hell. In fact, you can sin so deeply that you go into hell itself. You fall into hell and make your bed there. In other words, sin has so captivated you, it's caused a slumber. A spiritual slumber so that you can't see. You're blinded. And yet David said, If I make my bed in hell, he's going to find me. You've heard this phrase, a living hell. There are people who say and have to confess, my life is a living hell. I was thinking yesterday of a young lady my wife and I ministered to for many, many years. She was a preacher's daughter. Called to be a missionary. I think it was to China. She could play the piano. She was very talented. She loved the Lord, godly parents, godly home. And until she was about 14, 15, this was her burden. She really, God had his hand on her. She rebelled when she was about 18 and ran away from home and went to another city and married an atheist. And became very, very bitter. And we loved her dearly and she would be in our home. She would come occasionally, you know, perhaps once every two years, she would come and visit us for a few days. And Gwen and I would minister to her and I would remind her of her heritage. I remind her of her missionary call. And she said, Look, please don't go there. It's it's enough. I'm married to an atheist and it's my home is a living hell. She she had two sons through those years who both became atheists. And there were times that she seemed to be opening up because she would hear that call. She would hear that loving voice. And she knew that God was not mad at her no matter what she did. She fell into sin. She fell into moral sin. She fell into a lot of sin. But there was always that and she would always come. She especially respected Gwen and Gwen would embrace her and tell her how much the Lord loved her. But you see, there was a sense that, look, I don't think I can get back. You know, my past, you know, my call, you know how far I've gone. I'm in an atheistic home. And finally, over the years toward later years, when she was in her 50s, she was getting harder and more bitter. And this nagging, horrible sense that I have sinned against the loving Christ. I should be on a mission field. I should be winning souls. And here I am. And I keep falling deeper and deeper and I can't get back. And you see, Jesus said he went after the lost sheep until he found. He does not give up. And by the way, when he does find, he doesn't bring that sheep back to the fold. He takes that sheep into his house. And he calls his friends and he rejoices. Here's a trophy of my grace, in other words. In this whole story, when you read these three accounts, these three parables, it's not so much about the lost sheep even. It's about how the finder, how those who found what was lost, rejoice and become glad over it. And I want you to see that because that's the key when someone comes back to being kept back and living the life. And she, I think she was about 62 the last time she called us a few years ago. She's about 62, 63 years of age. And she called us and I remember talking to her. She said, I think I finally reached a place in my life that at least I could have some peace. I've divorced my husband. And I found a nice little apartment. I fixed it up just the way I've always wanted a place. And she said, I have a new job and everything looks good now. And she thought she'd passed it. A week later, she got a sore throat, went in the hospital, never been sick. And suddenly died. And no one came to her funeral except two close relatives. But he said, the relatives said before she died, she cried to the Lord. And you see, I believe the Lord picked her up right at midnight. Picked her up when she was about to fall into hell. And said, I've been coming. And all I wanted was a cry. And when Nanny cried out to the Lord, the Lord picked her up, I believe, and put her in his arms and took her home. To my sister, Juanita. You see, this means something to me. And it should mean something to you. When you hear me, whoever it is that's hearing my voice right now, you're not too deep in sin. I don't care if you made your bed in hell. I don't care what you're involved in. I could be talking to some prisoner that's been a murderer that's sitting in a prison. And you're listening to the tape or you're listening to the message. I don't care what you have done. If there is a repentant heart, if you will just open, you'll find out, you turn around. Jesus is right there waiting with open arms to receive you back and to heal you. And the good thing, he takes you beyond the flock. If you really repent and you open your heart, he's going to take you right into his house. And he's going to put you up before his friends, before the angels, and one day in glory itself. And he's not going to put you there. This sheep, can you see the sheep found now? And he's in the house. All the neighbors and friends, they're rejoicing and singing. And here's the little sheep, all combed and washed. It was wounded and now there's healing setting in. And the Lord is not condemning that sheep. He's not telling everybody what he did. He's rejoicing. He's in the house. Glory be to God. When he found it, he laid it on his shoulders rejoicing. And here's the heart of the Lord's message. In all three of these stages, you'll hear, rejoice with me, for I found what was lost. And I say unto you likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over the 99 just persons that need no repentance. Over the years, I've seen Jesus find multitudes of sinners. Multitudes of outcasts. But I've observed something. I see them come back, and you see, Jesus said, I'm more willing to forgive than you are to receive forgiveness. He said, I'm a loving, merciful Savior. But many who have come and they've given their life to Christ, and they come back and they are forgiven. But I've noticed that very seldom do I find those who had sinned deeply against Christ or grievously against Christ. And this happens to many Christians who've walked with God for years. They don't enjoy Jesus. They're always struggling and striving in their flesh to please him. They're always trying through works and deeds of the flesh to say, I've got to make it up. I've sinned so bad. I've got to do so many good things to even up the score. And trying to placate God, trying to placate the Lord because I've done so bad, I have to do so much good to equal the books, even the books. And so they don't enjoy him. They're in the house and the father's rejoicing and the father is saying, why don't you rejoice? The Lord's saying, rejoice. You've been saved. You've been redeemed. Enjoy me. I enjoy Jesus. I have battles like everybody else. The enemy comes against us, yes. And sometimes you have to stand before a casket. But sometimes you suffer with a boy for three years with terrible back disaster and so many, many things. Like you go through. But there should be this thing in you that you get up each morning. You get up. And you say, yes, Lord, there's a battle ahead. But one thing I know, that you love me and you rejoice over me. You delight in me. And that's going to take me through. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Part two of this message is in verse eight through ten. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a candle, sweep the house and seek diligently till she finds it. And when she finds it, what happens? Here it is again. She will call her friends and her neighbors together saying, rejoice with me for I found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I said to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. Now, it doesn't say the angels rejoice. It says there's joy in the presence of the angels. And that means the father himself, Jesus, the son and the Holy Ghost are rejoicing over that one sinner and that lost coin. Now, I don't want to get into the details of this particular phase, but it's the same thing. She sweeps until she finds it. Jesus goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. In the early 1960s, my my father had passed away. He pastored in Pennsylvania and passed away and my mother took over the church. But it was a heavy burden. And I had just started working with gangs and drug addicts here in New York City. And I asked my mother to come and join me and be a part of our evangelistic staff. And she came and my mother. There was another godly friend of hers named Fay. And Fay and my mom would go down to Greenwich Village and they were down there sometimes three times a week here in New York in Greenwich Village. At that time, it was the hippie movement and there were coffee shops all over Greenwich Village and having poetry and rock bands and so forth. But my mother was a soul winner and a powerful preacher. And she said, David, she came to me one day. She said, I want to open a coffee shop right now, Greenwich Village, right in Maine. I said, all right. And she said, if one soul gets saved, it'll be worth it. That was her motto. So we rented a place. She called it the Lost Coin. I'm talking about the Lost Coin. And hippies would come in there, gave free coffee and donuts and so forth. And she would invite other Christians around from various churches to come in and counsel. And my mother would go after souls. She wouldn't let go. She was like a bulldog. And there were many that were convicted. Many souls asked the Lord to come into their hearts. But one day, a Jewish boy, Jewish young man walked in, an outcast from the house of Israel, and searching and seeking and feeling so lost. And my mom, she could detect it. And she went and sat at his table, got his coffee and donuts. And she started, told him about Jesus. And he kept coming back. His name was Kurt Hoss. And Jewish through and through. And my mom said, God is going to find you. Jesus is going to be revealed to you. And that's exactly what happened. Kurt Hoss gave his heart to Jesus Christ in the Lost Coin. The pursuer kept sweeping the streets until he found one. The Lost Coin. Now, folks, I don't know of any other outstanding conversions. There was a book written about it called The Lost Coin. But the story centers around Kurt Hoss. He got married to Barbara and powerfully saved. And Kurt and Barbara opened up a website called missinglink.org and started printing my messages. You can go there even now and find messages I preached in 1970, in the 70s. And for all these years, they have been on the Internet. They put out great messages by Leonard Ravenhill and some of the great preachers of all times. You can go to missinglink.org and find this now. His testimony has been all over the world. It was in a national magazine. And Kurt Hoss became great testimony. And they have one of the great ministries in the world today. They get hundreds of thousands of downloads around the world. And it goes back to this wonderful Holy Ghost town from heaven who searches through Greenwich Village, searches through the streets and finds one soul hungry, searching, outcast. I thank God for the ministry of this young man. And now I'm saying that he's sweeping through this house right now. And he's coming now. It's like this woman with a broom. She said, I'm going to keep sweeping until I find. That reminds me of a wonderful true story of how the Lord sweeps until he finds what he's looking for. And this was when the Serbian war broke out, Kosovo and the Serbs. And bombs were falling in Serbia. And troops were going through the land, raping and pillaging. But at the same time, the Holy Spirit was on the streets of the capital of Serbia. And he found two coins, two lost coins. A young husband and wife on heroin, living on the streets. And someone passing by gave him a copy of Cross and Switchblade. And they just nonchalantly took it. But they said, look, let's do this. Let's read one chapter a day and then get high. And then next time, next day, we'll read another chapter and get heroin and get high. And they went through the book, reading one chapter and then getting high. About the ninth chapter, eighth or ninth, something happened. They began to think, well, maybe there is hope. Maybe we're not beyond redemption. And hope started coming into their heart. And they finished the book. And he said, let's find a church. They went into a little church and got saved. Well, let me tell you the rest of the story. They are directors of Teen Challenge in Serbia. You see, he's going to sweep, he's going to come and he's going to search till he finds. Glory be to God. Shall I go on? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and her neighbors saying, rejoice with me for I have found the peace which I had lost. Hallelujah. Let's go to the third parable. The lost son. It's called we call him the prodigal son. The prodigal means someone who goes and wastes his life. Just goes and wastes everything. Now, this I can't just. You know the story. Look this way, if you will. You know the story of the prodigal son. He runs away from home and he spends everything and comes to the end of his self. He loses his friends. He loses his job. He loses his money. And now he's reduced to feeding swine in a pig farm. And finally, so hungry and desolate and desperate, he's eating the corn husk that he's feeding to the swine. And he said, I'll rise and go to my father's house. And he's on his way. And, you know, the story, the father sees him and runs after him, falls on him, kisses him and takes off the rags from his back and puts on a new robe and a ring on his finger and new shoes on his feet. And though he says I'm unworthy to go in, the father says no. The father doesn't condemn him, doesn't rebuke him, because the father's been longing after him. And he brings him into the house and you'll find the same thing. The Bible makes it very clear. My son was dead. Now he's alive. He was lost and now he's found. And they began to be merry. And there was music and dancing. I preached from this pulpit recently on the prodigal son and told you the theme of that story. That parable is not just the son. It's about the heart of the father. And folks, until you see in these three parables a truth that that the Lord is trying to get through to all of us. You see, it was love that brought him and drew him back. But it was the father's delight that kept him in the house once he was there. It was the knowledge that the father was pleased with him. The father was not angry with him. The father would not bring up his past. He had the resources available to him from the father, everything he needed now to go on with his life and rejoice in the Lord. And until you see that, that's what this is all about. Yes, he will come. But once he comes, you have to accept his. You have to look at the heart of the father and some of you here right now see him as a hard man. This is what happened to men with one talent. And he said, I can't serve you. You are a hard man. And he buried his talent in the ground. But this is something that you have to understand, especially if you you want to serve the Lord and you want to face the temptation of hell that's coming against you. When this son comes back, the father says, I don't want to hear anything about your wasted years. When you get to Joel, the second chapter, if you go want to check that you go and you see what it says, God says to the repentant heart, I will restore to you all the years the canker worm has eaten and that you will be glad and rejoice in me. He restores it when you come to Jesus and you give him everything. If if you turned your back against God when you were a junior in the school of Christ or you were about to graduate from this, well, you never graduated the school of Christ, but you may be getting closer to the full knowledge of Christ or fuller knowledge of Christ. But then this sense, and I've seen it working with drug addicts all those years and alcoholics, they come in and they give their heart to Christ and they are forgiven and they're washed clean. But you see them sitting in a corner looking at a picture of a wife that had to leave him years ago. And when you go and sit by him, he shows you a picture of a little son. He said he's probably a teenager now, but I'm hurting so bad because I lost everything. I lost everything in that feeling of loss, lost time, wasted energy, wasted life and sinning against the loving God. And the Holy Spirit has to come many times. I've seen those families reunited. The one I'm talking about found out his boy was about 16 years of age and we found her and the boy and he was reconciled to his father. So proud of his father after he got saved. Hadn't seen him in years. And God can do all of that. But God says, look, I'm not in the business. I'm not going to have you looking back. He said, you're now all my resources available to you and I'm going to make up to you everything that's been destroyed. It won't come out in the same way. It won't come out there, but it's going to come out stronger. It's going to come up better. It's going to come up with more vision and more usefulness in the kingdom of God than you could have had. So that when you repent, he brings you to where you would have been if you had been in sin for 15 years. He brings you to a place where you would have been had you served God all those years. He brings you to a place where nothing is lost. Yes, you will suffer in your body. There'll be the chastening of the Lord. There is a chastening of the Lord. And sometimes it's very grievous. Drug addicts come down with liver diseases and all of these things. And I've seen many of them die young. But all he says, I will restore to you all the years the canker worm has eaten. Can I share one last story? I was preparing this message and I stopped for a while. And I saw in my bookcase a packet of my sermons from 1990 that were preached here. A booklet of my sermons for that year, 1990. And I was reading one of the sermons, a message along this very line. And there was an illustration I used in 1990 of a young man that had been a cocaine addict. And he got saved, came from a good home, a Christian home. And the Lord saved him and called him to the ministry. And the first time Gwen and I met him, we loved him. And he's my spiritual son. And became involved in one of the cities in our ministry and became a great soul winner. And marvelously respected, deeply devoted to the Lord. But after a number of years, he was surprised by sin. You see, I know pastors, friends that have fallen into adultery, but they were not adulterers. They were surprised by sin. They allowed, there was some kind of letting down the guard and they were surprised. And he fell, morally. And so he resigned and stopped the ministry. But he was so ashamed of grieving family, grieving, he thought he had grieved Gwen and I. And he went back to cocaine. And the addiction returned. And divorced. And it got so bad that he would wind up in a room, in a hotel room and lock himself in for three days on a cocaine binge, hoping to die. And the nagging fear is now I can't be forgiven. I'm getting so far away from God, I'm afraid I won't get back. He went into business. Became very successful. Fancy cars. A lot of drinking. Cocaine. And running with a fast crowd and rich and famous. But he was the prodigal son. Spent it all. And then the hard times came. Wind up spitting out blood from his stomach. Red blood. A heart condition. Terror on all sides. And he was in the clutches of the devil for a number of years. And Gwen and I kept praying for him. I remember meeting him just one time after he was divorced and now in sin. And I sat with him and reassured him that we still loved him and God loved him and God was not going to write him off. But one time in total agony and despair, he again shut himself in a room for three days with alcohol. And said, this time I'm going to spit out. But in that stupor, he fell on his face and cried out to God. Oh, Jesus, if you still love me, help me. If you still love me, deliver me. And the Lord heard that cry and brought him back. Now, I didn't know this, neither did Gwen. But I don't know where I was in the country. And I asked somebody, do you know so-and-so? And he said, yeah. I said, how is he? He said, you haven't heard? I said, no. He said, well, he's been saved. He's clean. And God's using him. And he's here in the congregation this morning. He'd come to visit Gwen and I. And God is so using him. He's using him mightily. You see, God restores. All the years that canker worm has eaten. Are you the prodigal? Have you been running? All you have to do is reach out. You'll find his arm already stretched out. He can come and bring you peace and rest in your deepest pain, even if you made your bed in hell. Will you stand? Folks, look this way, please. Very, very simple. Folks, would you remain standing? And please, unless you have an emergency, just stay with us for a few minutes so that the spirit won't be disturbed. Appreciate it very much. Heavenly Father, I'm asking you to go through this house, through the overflow rooms and wherever the sound of my voice is being heard. Holy Spirit, will you draw outcasts to Christ? Will you reveal Jesus to the heart again? Many that have sinned against you, many who have fallen, have taken a fall, and now they live with grief and sorrow and pain, but you're the healer. I am the Lord thy God that healeth thee. Will you say this with me? I am the Lord God that healeth thee. Say it again. I am the Lord God that healeth thee. Now, I hope somebody here that needed that has said it with meaning and with your heart because he wants to heal your spirit. He wants you to walk out of here absolutely transformed by his love and grace. Wherever you're at, if you're in the overflow rooms, you can just go between the screens and stand there, and we will pray with you here in the main auditorium. We're going to minister music for just a moment as we wait. Up in the balcony, go to the stairs on either side and come down. Now, I know the Spirit's here, and I know God by his Spirit is lovingly wooing and drawing. He's not going to drive you. He's a shepherd. He doesn't drive you. He'll lead you. But he'll lead you if you're hungry, if you want to be changed. This will be worth everything I preach if one person comes. Now, there'll be many others, but if one person comes, that would be worth everything. But if you feel that tug, that pull of the Holy Spirit, if you're backslidden, if you've drifted, or you really don't know him, you haven't been able to find your way, just get out of the seat, follow these that are coming. Lord, do the work now. I'm going to suggest that those that are in the annex even, if you'll go to the lobby, turn back behind you, and go to the lobby and the overflow rooms, and the ushers will show you how to get down into the main auditorium, and you can come and we'll pray with you right here in the front of the auditorium. All right, as they're ministering in music, you feel that tug of pull, get out of your seat, stand here, and we'll believe God for this miracle. I know there are many miracles going to happen here at the front of this auditorium in just a moment. God bless you. Just look this way. Let me just speak to you for a moment. You know, when the shepherd found the lost sheep, what did he do? He took him in his arms and carried him, because he was too weak to come home. Some of you are too weak. Your faith, you're wounded and you're hurt and injured, but you don't have to walk back. He'll carry you back. He'll embrace you and lift you up. All you have to do is believe that. All you have to do is say thank you for the word that you brought me, Lord. Thank you, I hear you. So I'm just going to stand still and let you pick me up now and love me and clean me up, wash away my sins and heal my hurt in my mind. Most of the hurt is in the mind, isn't it? It's right here in the mind. Every habit is a mind habit. And the Lord wants to give you a renewed mind. He wants to give you His mind. And that can begin now. It won't just snap and suddenly be done, but it can be the beginning of a new mind and a new heart. He said, I want to take this stony heart out of you and give you a soft heart. I want you to get a heart that just trusts in me. Stop trying to do it on your own now. Just say, Lord, I can't do it. You know that by now, don't you? Come on, I said, you know. How many promises have you made and broken? How many times have you said, boy, I'm going to dig in, I'm going to discipline myself, it's going to happen? And it never does. And then you get discouraged and downcast and say, well, it'll never make it. All right, just say, Lord, I'm through with that right now. All I'm going to do is trust you. I'm going to talk to you. That's called prayer and commune with you. And the Bible said, if you come to me in my presence, all the hills will melt like wax. In other words, all of those things that have come against you. He said, if you confess, He will forgive and cleanse you. Will you pray this prayer? Now, look at me, please. I have to say this first. This little prayer, you know, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you've heard that. Confess your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That's true in essence. It's true in fact. But there's more to it. There has to be something in your heart that says, Lord, I'm ready to give up this runaway spirit in me. And I'll tell you something else. If you're not willing to give up ungodly friends, they're trying to drag you down. You'll never, ever make it. Jesus can love you. He can heal you, bring you into the house. And if you've got friends calling your spirit, you've got to make a stand right now. That's called coming to the cross. And that's painful. You have to give up. And I'll tell you what. Some of you standing before me, you're about 80% for Jesus and 20% still hanging to the world. Some friend, some tie to the world, something. Right now you say, Lord, help me to lay that down. As painful as it is, You will heal my pain. Alright? Let's pray this now. Jesus, You found me. And I'm not going to run. I open my heart to receive You by faith. As Lord and Savior of my life. And I come to Your blood. That cleanses small sins. And I ask You to take away my sins. And my guilt. And fear. And give me a new heart. And a new mind. I will trust You. But I need the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. And take over control of my life. And Jesus, draw me to prayer. So that I can talk to You every day. Draw me to Your Bible. So that I can learn about You. And grow in You. Thank You Jesus. Would You thank Him in Your own words right now? Would You just thank Him? This is the conclusion of the message.