Wow! Fifteen years ago, I came out
of the building, 35 East Toronto, Grace Center of Hope. And it
was evening. The sun was going down. And I
raised my hand toward what's cargo. And I asked God to give
us this building. Fifteen years later, He has. Those that wait upon the Lord
shall mount up with wings as eagles. and run and not be weary.
I'm so glad to have our mayor here and city council, Judge
Bowman and perhaps several other judges are here today. We're
delighted to have you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Amen. You being here means so much
to me, celebrating what can be done with people helping people. We all need each other. We're
about, and our God is about, saving souls and saving lives. Salvation is not only a deliverance
from a sin debt, but it also changes a life. And that's what
I want to talk to you about today. I've been unable to sleep thinking
about this morning. And they did bring the clock
and put it on the wall back there. But rest easy, we only have three
hours that we can legally be in this building. I thought about how could I get
to the bottom line and get there quickly and say a lot in a whole
little. Never has so much been said as
it was said by Christ at Calvary. In the Greek, it's one word.
In our English Bibles, three words. It is finished. It is
accomplished. I'm going to talk to you today
about how people's lives are changed. The absolute truth is
that God has ordained people to help people, that all of us
are counselors, that friends, family, church, and neighbors
make up collectively happy community of life, which is so desperately
needed. We live in a day, and especially
with addiction, all addicts are loners. It's true. They are alone
and isolated. The need of the Gospel. The power
of God unto salvation. A work that takes place on the
inside. And that's what we proclaim here.
And that's what our success is here. We proclaim the Gospel.
I saw some pastors in Big Boy Saturday morning and I hollered
across the restaurant, He's alive! We're not real fancy here. We
want the world to know we serve a living Savior. He's in the
world today. He's active. To the Luther family, Bill, Sue,
Amanda, Brianna, Kara, a special thank you must be given to all
of you. All of you know, or I want you
to know, the Luther family purchased this building and gave it to
Grace Gospel Fellowship. And not only that, but I think
probably even more importantly, for 13 years this family has
been volunteering at Grace Centers of Hope. Helping mothers and
children who have come to this ministry for help and hope. And
we're honored today to have one of those kids that you blessed.
I didn't know she was going to be here today, but I am so happy
to have Diamond here. Where are you, Diamond? There
is Diamond. It was with great joy this morning
that we dedicated the Luther Family Chapel, which is to my
right. The family memorial plaque on the wall outside the chapel
makes clear the spirit of this family and what was once the
spirit, I believe, of this nation. The plaque reads, and Amanda
wrote this, don't give to receive, give to lessen the burden of
others. Not just for today, but for many
tomorrows. Her father wrote, let this special
place restore the lives of those that have lost their way and
rebuild their lives for years to come. One more time. The restoring of lives for years
to come. Today, you see not what government
has done, but the wonder of the grace of God using the energy
and effective compassion of this family and so many of you. The old church used to sing,
if I can help somebody a long life's way, then my living will
not be in vain. It's so true. Government did
not do this. God did. I want to make it clear. The psalmist said, the Lord has
done great things for us whereof we are glad. And then the psalmist
said this, King James, even the heathen, has said, God has done
great things for them. Grace Gospel Fellowship and Grace
Centers of Hope, people point to those two institutions and
say, how do they do that? And I say, we didn't. God does. And I say to you with all my
heart today, in a nation that seems to be headed the wrong
way, Social ills will never be solved by entitlement dollars.
A cold check from government cannot solve the issues of the
heart. Doctors may help to heal a broken arm, but only God can
heal a broken heart. Grace Gospel Fellowship's purpose
is not simply to feed and house those who have totally lost their
way. and have gotten caught up in a culture that does nothing
more than further enslave them by misguided dependency. But
to see them change by a power outside themselves, change from
the inside out, becoming new creatures, productive citizens
with a new heart and a new start. Actually becoming a piece of
work. That's supposed to be funny. Actually becoming a piece of
work. God's work. And Joe read from
Ephesians 2. And we are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus on two good works. For 50 years now, it's been my
quest to be used to build a local church that turns cities upside
down. Where nobodies, the lost, the
homeless, the empty, that includes CEOs and presidents of banks.
Find home, community, family, purpose, bonding, and eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our resurrected Lord and Savior.
I have absolutely no interest in providing a feeding trough
alone for drug addicts. The vision has not been to grow
a bigger rescue mission. If all we're doing is keeping
the drug addict alive, that's horrible charity. The vision
is to grow a local church made up of people who are so grateful
for God's grace toward them that they understand that they are
debtors to the God of grace that saved them. Debtors to His power
that gave them life and changed them from the inside out. People
who know that they were once lost but now are found. were blind, but now they see. Men and women who have been called
to a church that finds itself in the middle of mess and radiates
to change the surroundings. I have walked through the streets
of this city when it was notorious for drugs, drunkenness, and gang
violence. I have seen four wretched beings
that were once men and women leaning against the crack house
or staggering along the street. I've been in houses on Seneca
that were more like dens of wild animals, and I was astonished. I have seen poverty, misery,
and degradation of the inhabitants of this city and wept over it. But in 27 years of preaching
the gospel in this city, it has not been mine to see a city turned
upside down, where the villains got saved, and neighborhoods have changed. It is a pleasant thing to walk
down Seneca Street and see children playing in our park and on our
playground. Scott Gillespie is here. I told
this story at the CEO breakfast. I was on Seneca Street. This
had been years ago. We had several houses, and volunteers
were coming to paint what we called the birdhouse. And it
was a hot summer day. And there was two volunteers
up on ladders. And they were painting the house,
actually painting it yellow. And I went up. The humor man
had just turned a corner. And I could hear the bells ringing.
So I went up to the two volunteers. And I said to them, would you
guys like an ice cream? I didn't see any of our kids
on the street. Just as I got to the Good Humor truck, a little
boy came to the door at 79 Seneca and started screaming, pastor's
buying, pastor's buying. I spent $80 with the Good Humor
guy. I was in Scott's office telling
him the story. And he said, we're going to give
you $10,000 so you can take ice cream down Seneca Street every
Saturday. And we did that for two years.
Out of the back of my pickup truck. Who can tell the power and the
powerful impact of the gospel proclaimed? I can. I have seen it. along with Pastor
Gunn, the power of God to change people. My great desire is to
see people who have the abundant life that awaits them through
knowing Christ and being a part of the family of God. We have
not come with excellency of religious jargon, nor with a plan founded
in social reforms of government or the politics of entitlement,
but with a powerful message, even the dynamite of God that
makes crack houses disappear and turns cities into places
where our children and senior citizens, like myself, feel safe. This indeed is a happy day, a
day of triumph, a day of hope, and a day in which we burst with
the joy of resurrected life. This is a day the Lord's made.
Truly, it was not yellow journalism when Oakland Press said, God
has returned to the stage in Pontiac, and he has front and
center. You know how much power it takes
to deliver a crack or heroin addict from that bondage, from
the throes of addiction? Why it takes the same power that
must be exerted to make a good man know that he's not. Some of you will get that later. The same power must be exerted
on those who have never inhaled, so they know they're not good
either. I know some of you may think,
we'll forgive him, he's old. You may think this outdated,
but the truth is that Satan doesn't care whether you go to hell from
a choir loft singing, Oh How I Love Jesus, or from a bar stool
singing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Either way, church
member or crack addict, it takes the power of God to give life. It has been said that in America,
we're more religious every morning, nearer to hell every night. Neither
the addict who cowers in the crack house, nor the alcoholic
who hides in the church house, will be delivered from the hurts
of life by material, religious, or social status. And I wonder
how many church people that we have here today who have camouflaged
and hid themselves and insulated themselves in a churchy vacuum. You sit here with all of your
hurts. I know that there are some of you in here who are very
religious. You have your own church, but
you're hiding because you have hurts like everybody else. Thank
you, Mark Guillory, for the well back there. I appreciate it. Here's what we all need to understand.
That there really is no difference. That all have sinned and missed
the mark. And here's what the Apostle Paul
asks in the Corinthian letter. For who makes you to differ from
another? What have you that you did not receive? Now if you received
it, why do you glory as if you didn't receive it? The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. Now, what is that gospel? Oh,
I'm so happy I'm right on time. I want to tell you what the gospel
is. This is the sum of it. The Bible says that God is just
and justifier of the ungodly. How can that be? How can God
be a just God? You know you're guilty. You know
you've missed the mark. There are no good people in here.
If you are, you're in the wrong church. Really, the good news is that
Christ came to save bad folks. So that means if you're not bad,
it looks like you're out. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. What a great thing it would be
if some churchy person heard the Gospel today and found Christ
precious to their souls. So the question is this, if God
is just and justifier of the ungodly, the question becomes
how can God Go down into the coal mine of sin and not get
himself dirty. He doesn't sweep sin under the
rug. He's not Santa Claus. He doesn't ignore our sins. In
fact, the Bible declares that every sin and disobedience must
receive a just recompense of reward. Sin has to be paid for. There is a debt that you and
I could not pay, And there's a righteousness that we cannot
produce. We're in big trouble here when
it comes to salvation. Because all of your churchiness
and all of our religious acts are nothing but filthy rags of
unrighteousness in the sight of God. So, God has to do something
for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. And here's the story. This is what this book is all
about. It's a hymn book spelled H-I-M. It's all about hymn. The Old Testament says somebody's
coming. The New Testament says somebody's come. The Gospels
tell us that somebody died, that he was buried and rose again,
that he ascended up on high, and that he's coming back again.
That's what this book is about. God invaded history. Let that
sink deep into your heart and soul today. This is the message
that we have been using here now for over 35 years, 36 years
at Grace Gospel Fellowship. This is the message we preach.
This is where we see the change. It's through the power of the
Gospel. The Apostle Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the Gospel, for it's the dynamite of God unto salvation. Oh, I'm in my territory now.
I don't need my notes now. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became
flesh and tabernacled among us. Think about that. You couldn't
save yourself, but God can save you. But in order for Him to
be just and justifier, He's got to come down here and get the
job done. So God came. Emmanuel, God with us, the perfect
man, walked the Judean acres without sin representing us.
He was holy. The holy sacrifice went upon
Calvary, and there he died. But in those three hours of darkness,
sin was imputed. Sin was charged. To his account,
my sin. God made him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. What a story! What a message! That God so loved
that He came Himself. And God took out His black snake
whip at Calvary. And justice was satisfied on
the tree of the cross. And when justice was satisfied,
when the debt was paid in full, Jesus cried out, it's finished.
What good news that is. I have no more debt. I stand
in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been
imputed to me. I say to the world, God has come. God in the person of His Son
gave Himself on Calvary. I say, look and live. Many times
people come to me and say, you know, Pastor, I just don't
think I could be a Christian. It's such a hard life. Let me
tell you, using heroin is the hard life. You don't see me frowning, do
you? Today is a little heaven on the
way to heaven for many of us in here. How many of you have
had a life changed through faith in Jesus Christ? Let me hear
you. Very good. Now when you go back, some of
you are going to go back to your church next Sunday, I know that.
I want some of you when the pastor is up there preaching and he
really gets going, I want you to say, well, see how that works
out for you. Yeah, we're a little different
here. We really sometimes get so happy we hardly know what
to do. I mean, this is a reality to us that God loves us, that
Christ paid our debt and set us free. Or by grace are you saved through
faith. And that faith is not of yourself. It's a gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. I urge you, right where
you are, if you've never trusted Christ without moving a muscle,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe what I've just told you.
That God has come to earth. That Christ has died in the sinner's
stead, room and place. The sins are forgiven through
Christ alone. You see, the reason it's this
way is so boasting is excluded. No one can boast. What did you
do? Nothing. God did it all. Salvation is of the Lord. He's
the Author and Finisher of our faith. Look what God did here. You know, my life, my mother
used to call me Every Saturday she's with the Lord now. But
she used to call me every Saturday and she said to me, somebody's
going to kill you with that rescue mission. Oh, Mom, I hope you're looking.
I hope you see today. I still feel so very safe. Pontiac's
a safe place for those of you who live outside our city. I
want to tell you, this city has changed. This city is moving
forward. And I believe, I believe the
Gospel has something to do with that. I do. Thank you is not enough, but
I want to say it again to all of you who are here. I understand
the Parking lots are filled and people, as far as I can see,
are standing back there. I want, there are many of our
residents here have walked across the street. Many are in the one-year
program. I want you to observe. I often
say, you are so loved. You are so loved. People who
don't even know you. People who have never seen you. are donating to Grace Centers
of Hope a $5.7 million budget a year with no government strings
and no government funds. That's what we're doing. I want you to observe in closing
what we can do together with God at the helm. What we can
do together. I pray that our nation comes
together. You know, God is a stranger,
I believe, in America. I do. Just as much as He was
in Jeremiah's day. We've outlawed Him. And I know
He's listening this morning, so I want to say, welcome back. We're delighted to have you back. Okay, Sue, is my time up? To Luther, she's my timekeeper. We've got about three minutes. In that three minutes, honestly
and truly, we are in here because this city has been so cooperative,
and especially today, the building department, the inspectors, the
fire department, all of those folks, Some of our people were
still in here at 4.30 this morning trying to get ready. I said,
company's coming. We need to clean the place up
a little bit. But we got a permit for three hours. So I wasn't
kidding when I said, we've got to be out of here. And I know
you're glad. I know you are. We're going to stand together
and we're going to sing Amazing Grace. Miss Pam and I are going
to go to the back. By the way, Joe Atwell, our assistant
pastor, is going to come and then I'm going to go back to
that door. If you have time, you know, before
you go to lunch, I'd love to say hi to you. Many of you I
haven't got to speak to yet, but Miss Pam and I would love
to do that. All right. Thank you so much. Great job.