Hi. Hi. How are you? I'm well. How are you? I'm doing pretty good. My name's Tony. I'm Kelly. Hi, Kelly. Nice to meet you. What can I do for you today? Well, I'm about to take a really big trip. Oh, yeah? Where are you going? To a new country. Oh. Yeah, I'm going to be headed over to the UK. Oh, OK. Business? Pleasure? Just to go see family and my fiance. He's from there. Oh, really? OK. Yeah. So I just want to make sure it's a safe trip and God's watching over me. I'm terrified of planes. Oh, are you? Oh, absolutely, yeah. Have you flown before? Once. Yeah? Once. What makes it so scary for you? It's a tin can of death from the sky. So I could give you all the statistics, right, that tells you that being in that, being in that aluminum Petri dish at 38,000 feet is actually safer than being in your minivan. Oh yeah, yep. Oh no, I know that. Yeah. It's also like this much space, so it's not exciting. And to London, it's a long flight. You flying out of Chicago? Yeah. Yeah, I've made that flight. And it's like a 12-hour flight. Yeah. Well, I've flown five or six times to London, but that was all from Los Angeles. And then Kenya a few times. That's a long, that's a 24-hour flight. Norway and other places. And so I understand, I understand the nervousness. I'm sorry, your first name again? Kelly. Kelly. Kelly. Kelly, do you have any particular spiritual beliefs? I'm a Christian. Tell me about that. How'd you come to faith in Christ? I'd love to hear that. I grew up with my parents going to church. And then I got ordained as a youth pastor at 16. Because I did all the classes and I read the whole Bible with them, whatever. It was just the whole step. But then I walked away from God. How long after that? Like, maybe like two years later. But that was because I got into a relationship that wasn't the best, and they didn't believe in God, and it just was a hindrance on the relationship. You know what I mean? And then I came back to God. How long ago was that? I think like two years ago, but actually getting back into it like eight months ago. What brought that about? I don't know. I just, I needed a lot of guidance and I was just not doing, I wasn't where I wanted to be in life. So I was just like, yeah, I want to do that. I want to go back to God. Do you worship here locally somewhere? Uh, no, I don't have a church. Oh, okay. All right. So, so since we've known each other now for five minutes, um, hi, how are you? Good. I'm good. I'm Tony. I'm Roger. Hi Roger. Good to meet you, too. You got three piles? Yes, how many would you like? Just one. Okay. I can't find my Bible. Well, there you go. Now you got one. You're doing a great deed. Well, thanks. Thanks, Roger. Donations? No, no, sir. No, my church provides all the Bibles, so they're free, which means they're actually free. All right. God bless you. I haven't drunk anything at all, so. No, you're good. So let me ask you this. So Kelly, if you were to die today, I don't want that, obviously, but if you were to die today and you were to stand before God and God asked, Kelly, why should I allow you into heaven? What would you say? I don't think I would make it into heaven. Oh, okay. Because, like, I've done a lot of good in my life. Uh-huh. And I've sinned a lot. Okay. And I've done the, please forgive me, the repenting thing. Yeah, yeah. But, like, I don't... I'm at that part where I'm like, we're not... I know Jesus died on the cross for us so that we could make it to heaven, but... I don't know. Okay. I don't feel like I deserve to go to heaven. Okay. You know what I mean? Like, I haven't done enough good to go back. Alright, so have you ever been in a courtroom before? You're at least familiar with corporate seatings. Okay. So let's say, Kelly, instead of being this sweet young lady who stopped to get prayer because you're going on a scary trip, you decided that you were going to go in and rob the GD Express liquor store. Okay. And I don't think you'd ever do that. This is just painting a picture. Okay. And you're not good at it. And you get caught. And you feel remorse. And you, without anyone promising you anything or coercing you in any way, making you any false promises, hey, just write out this confession and, you know, of your own volition, you write out a confession. Right. I was a police officer for 20 years, and the thing I knew about confessions is they never show a person's innocence, they only show their guilt. It's actually the best piece of evidence against someone, better than even eyewitness testimony, because eyewitnesses can be wrong. But if someone says, this is what I've done. So, I mean, you're guilty of the crime, but you're entitled to your day in court, certainly in this country anyway. And so you go before a judge and you have a trial, the judge finds you guilty. And it's a day of sentencing and the judge asks, you know, Kelly, what do you have to say for yourself? And you say, your honor, um, I was wrong. I've already admitted to that. Um, and, and, but I try to have my good outweigh the bad and I am remorseful. I've shown that. And I think you ought to just let me go because of that. It's the judgment to let you go. No, no, no, he's not gonna let you know Well and even and even if you were sincere, let's say that you're completely sincere the judge has to follow the law He can't take your good intentions and declare you innocent, right? So, the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You're probably familiar with that verse. So, Kelly, I know you're young enough to be my daughter. Well, I'm going to be 60 tomorrow, so I'm sure you're... Okay, so my youngest daughter is going to be 30 this year. So, yes, you're young enough to be my daughter. Okay. So, you've sinned every day of your life. Thought, word, or deed. And that's not a judgment of you. It's metaphysics. It's just the way things are. And so have I. And I've had almost three times on the planet. So my rap sheet is way longer than yours. Nonetheless, you have a long, let's say, criminal history before God. So back to the courtroom. The judge finds you guilty. The judge heard what you said. The judge then takes into account also your criminal history. that just rolls out like a Charmin roll of toilet paper. And he says, he says, Kelly, not only can I not let you go, but it's obvious that you're a habitual offender. So I'm going to sentence you to death. So they're going to whisk you into the next room. They're going to strap you to a gurney, drive a needle into your arm and put you to sleep like a stray dog. But before that happens, the judge, You found you guilty. The judge, who alone had the authority to impose that sentence, steps down from behind his bench, takes off those black robes of authority, walks over to you and says, Kelly, you are guilty. And according to the law, you do deserve to die as a result. And I'm going to go take your place. And the judge walks into the next room, allows himself to be strapped to a gurney with your name on it, a needle driven into his arm with your name on it, and he dies the death that you're supposed to die. And you're set free, not because you're good, not because you're innocent, not because you confessed, not because you said, I'm going to try to do it, do better. None of that helped you in trial. He did it for no other reason than he wanted to extend love, grace, and mercy to you. Someone had to pay. So he did. And you're set free. What would you think of the judge? I'd obviously be grateful forever and I'd owe him a debt. Okay. You think that's a debt you could ever pay? Yeah. That's a picture of what God did. Kelly? Yeah. You're about to make me cry. That's okay. Let it go. God the Father sent his Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man, without sin. He lived a life of perfection for some 33 years that neither you nor I could live for 33 seconds. Yet even though he knew no sin, he voluntarily submitted himself to the torturous, bloody death of a Roman cross, died a death he did not deserve, take upon himself the punishment we rightly deserve for our sins against him. And then he forever defeated sin and death when he rose from the grave. And you know that. You've heard that. And that's not enough. It's also not enough to hope that your good will outweigh your bad, because it can't. Jesus said you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. We can't. So But you still have to receive the gift, Kelly. So your attorney can't believe what happened. The district attorney's pounding the table. That young woman should die. What is the judge doing dying? Your family heard five minutes ago Kelly's sentenced to death, and now they're releasing you. And you walk out of the courthouse. It's Davenport, not Chicago. Cameras all over the place. They heard what happened in the courthouse. They want to talk to one person, and it's you. And they ask, Kelly, what do you think about what that judge did for you? And you say, well, I asked him to weigh the good against the bad. I confessed. I told him I was gonna try to do better. And so it really doesn't matter that he did that for me. Can you ever imagine yourself saying that? I can't imagine you saying that either, Kelly. I can't imagine any reasonable person actually being in that situation, ever saying anything like that. But Kelly, so long as you're putting any hope in you at all, to make yourself right with God, that's exactly what you're doing. So, if you were standing out here, and I stopped and said, I'm flying to London, I want to go, I want to see my fiance, I want to see family, but can I take the love boat? Do I really have to fly out there? And you asked me, Tony, if you were to die today, God asked you, why should he allow you into heaven? What would you say? Here's how I would answer. I would begin by saying he shouldn't. He shouldn't. Because I've broken your law every day of my life. And because you're good, you would be good and just to send me to hell forever. But I know you're going to let me into heaven. Not because of who I am, but in spite of who I am. Not because of what I've done, but in spite of what I've done. I know you're going to let me into heaven because of what your son did on my behalf. So I can have the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life because I'm not looking in the mirror anymore to find those things. I'm looking to Christ. So my encouragement to you would be to look to Christ. Look to Christ. He will forgive you. He'll adopt you as a beloved daughter and He'll never let you go, Kelly. Look, I mean, adoption is throughout the Bible. It's a beautiful, beautiful doctrine. When God truly saves the... Look, I can't speak to your past experiences, your spiritual experiences, serving as a youth pastor and all of that. Jesus said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name and do mighty works in your name and even cast out demons in your name? And Jesus said, I'll say to them on that day, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness. So I can't speak to what you experienced in the past. I have a young lady who's hurting in front of me, who doesn't know where she's gonna spend eternity. Kelly, if you put your hope and your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ alone, truly, not Jesus plus Kelly, not Jesus plus your good works, not Jesus plus serving in the church, not that any of those things are wrong, but in Christ alone, Kelly, he'll take your heart of stone and he'll give you a heart of flesh. He will forgive your sin. He will remove them as far as the east is from the west. He'll remember them no more, Kelly, and He will adopt you as a beloved daughter. Your name will no longer be condemned. Your name will no longer be sinner. Your name will now be redeemed, beloved. He'll give you new clothes. You won't have to fear standing before God clothed only in the filthy garments of your sin. He'll clothe you in the righteousness of His Son. and you'll have a new home. You'll no longer have to worry about your destiny. You will no longer have to worry about your destination. He's gone to prepare a place for you and it'll be yours forever. The Bible says, for I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Kelly, that can be you, but you must come to God on His terms. Because like a good judge in a court... Kelly, you're never gonna be worthy. That's what makes it grace. You can never repay the debt. That's what makes it mercy. What makes God's love so amazing is not how lovable you are. Right Kelly right exactly Exactly you can instead instead of living in fear of not being able to pay off the debt Kelly you can live with freedom and joy knowing that the debts been paid on your behalf and So all you have to do is receive that gift and be thankful if you were my neighbor And we got our second winner and the snow's falling and you come knocking on my door and you say, hey Tony, I'd like to shovel your snow so that I could be your daughter. Well, I'd have a hard time letting a young lady shovel my snow. It's just the way I was raised. But I'm going to say thank you for wanting to do something so kind. And I'm touched that you'd want to be my daughter. But Kelly, shoveling my snow is not going to make you my daughter. But what if you were my daughter? And I come home and I see Kelly shoveling the driveway. And I'm thinking, what's up? What's his name? What's his name? You know, what'd she do to the car? what happened with their grades, I'm gonna be a skeptical dad. You see me, you come running over, you throw your arms around me and you say, dad, dad, look, I don't want anything from you, I know what it looks like, but dad, I'm shoveling the snow because I love you and I'm thankful that you're my dad. That's the difference between faith and religion. Many people think that they've gotta repay the debt, that they've gotta work their way into heaven, that they've gotta shovel the snow so that God will accept them. If God draws you to himself and plucks you out and saves you, you're going to want to live a life pleasing to him, not to earn his love, not to keep his love, not because you're afraid of losing it, but because you're so thankful for receiving it. Kelly, that can be yours if you will simply put your faith and your trust in Christ alone. Stop hanging on to your pride that says, I've got to repay the debt. You can't. That's why He came. Because we can't pay the debt. Receive Christ as your Lord and your Savior and be set free. And you can fly on all the planes you want. It might still be scary, but you'll have no fear of what happens on that plane. Because the worst thing that can happen to you in this life is the best thing that will ever happen to you. You'll close your eyes and you'll open them and you'll be in the presence of the Lord forever and ever. You don't have to fear death anymore. You don't have to worry about death's sting. It's not that we never will, because we're still in this sinful flesh. But Kelly, you can have the assurance of forgiveness and salvation and reconciliation if you'll but turn to Christ. Is there any reason why you wouldn't? As you think about that, is there anything that would keep... Look, I'm not asking you to do anything for me. No one's saved by praying a prayer and asking Jesus into their heart. You don't see that anywhere in the Bible, okay? We're saved by believing the gospel. We're saved by receiving Jesus as our Lord and our Savior. And it's entirely by grace. So I'm not asking you to do anything for me. But as you're thinking about that, is there anything that would give you any pause or hesitation or like, I hear what he's saying, it sounds true, but no. Then turn to Christ and live while God's given you time. Jesus said, whoever is unwilling to deny themselves and take up their own cross and follow me is unworthy to be my disciple. Now again, that's not paying a debt. That means, okay, I want to receive Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior, and it's gonna actually cost me something. It could cost relationships. It can cost all kinds of things. But what you receive is far greater. Forgiveness, eternal life. So receive Christ. Put your faith and your trust in Christ. All I know is you're Kelly. No salesman will come to your door. The information, you say you're not in the church, the information for our church is on the back there. The door's open. But more important than walking into our church is walking into the arms of Christ. Is this the church? Where is this church? Do you know where the Walmart is off of West Kimberly? Quarter to a half mile past that. Do you know where Harlins is? Harlins Restaurant? Hickory Grove? Yeah, just past Harlins. I think my grandparents went to this church. What are your grandparents' names? Bill and Kate Hooter. They died a few years ago. Oh. Well, I've been there for seven years, and there's been no one by that name. There's a couple of churches down that way, but ours would be the first one you see there on the left. How long ago was it? I think my grandma died in 2011. Oh yeah, we didn't even, we didn't even buy that property until 2016, so. Might have been, might have been, yeah. Well, can I pray for you? You still have a Bible? Uh, nope. Can I give you one? When do you leave for London? The first. The first? And this is me. And again, all I know is you're Kelly. But if you ever want to talk about these things or have questions, my wife and my daughter and I, we'd love to have you over for dinner if you'd like. Well, it would be my honor. And it would be my family's joy to minister to you. And all you have to do is text and say, Tony, when are we having dinner? And we would love to do that. OK. I might actually take you up on that. OK. Well, you know what? If you want, text me. And that way, I'll have your number. And if I don't hear from you, then how long are you going to be in London? Three weeks. Three weeks? OK. All right. Okay, I mean, I don't know, I'm sure you're really busy getting ready for the trip, but there's a way we can even do that before you leave? I think we probably could, actually. Okay, well, then let's try to work that out, okay? Can I pray for you? Of course. Can I put my hand on your shoulder? Would that be all right? Are you comfortable with that? Yeah, I'm good. Okay. Father in heaven, I'm so thankful that Kelly stopped today. I'm thankful, Father, for the way that you've answered my prayer and Kelly stopping to talk and receive prayer, Father. Lord, you know her heart. You know her heart better than she knows her own and way better than I do. Father, she stopped with no real assurance of where she'll spend eternity. Father, I pray that you would give her that assurance and that it would be good assurance and that it would be in heaven with you And Father, that would be the result of her putting her faith and her trust in Jesus Christ alone for her salvation. My hope for this sweet young lady is that you would save her, that you would cause her to be born again to a living hope. Father, in that and that the joy, your joy, would be her strength. Father, as she prepares for this trip and as she's anxious about getting onto the plane, I pray, Father, that you would give her a peace that surpasses all understanding, that would guard her heart and her mind in Christ Jesus, that your word tells us, Father, that in Christ we can and we should be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make our requests known to you. So I pray, Father, that if you give her peace with you through faith in Christ, that you would also grant her peace in her travels, and that you would bless her with the confident assurance that as safe as travel is, and I'm sure, Father, to the extent that I can be sure, I'm sure it's just gonna be a wonderful trip, but Father, may her peace rest not with the pilot or the plane, but with Christ Jesus, her Lord. Bless her, Father, I pray. And Lord, if it would be your will, and again, it would be my family's joy, Father, if we could have Kelly over and talk and answer questions and pray together and have fellowship. Lord, to whatever extent you would use me to minister to this sweet young lady, I ask for the privilege, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. I would love a hug. Thank you, actually. I will get a hold of you. I look forward to it. I really, truly do. Thank you. All right. You have a great day.