Hi, this is Pastor Diego. Welcome to the Daily Five. Thank you for joining us today. This podcast is designed to give you a short daily 5 minute word of encouragement to inspire you to think and act on God's word.
Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome to today's episode that I'm calling Too Bag to Be Loved. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt beyond help, like you're just too far gone?
In the Bible, there's a moment where Jesus is speaking to a crowd that felt kind of like that. And this is what he says to them. In John 7:37, 39, on the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted to the crowds, anyone who is thirsty may come to me. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink.
For the scriptures declare rivers of living water will flow from his heart. Jesus called out, come. Jesus shouted out, come. He didn't say it softly so that only people close to him could hear him.
He said it loud. He shouted so that everyone that was there in that crowd could hear it. And he's saying it to you too. Through this podcast.
Jesus is calling you to come. I know some of you sometimes feel like Jesus can't possibly be calling you. And you maybe say to yourself, I can see how Jesus could call other people like my neighbor. He's a respectable guy who goes to church regularly.
He lives a decent life. But church and following Jesus in this discipleship thing, it's not for me because I'm just too sinful. The church would blow up if I. The moment I took a step inside of it.
Listen, you might say, oh, no, just becoming religious. And this is just not for me because I'm too bad for that. If you think or this even describes you or if you think this way, then Jesus is exactly what you need because there's only one kind of person that Jesus didn't accept. When he said come.
That invitation was not for those who thought they were already good and righteous. Jesus basically said, I can't help those who think they don't need help, those who think they have it all together. I didn't come for those people. Jesus came for the lost.
Those who are really deep in sin, those who consider themselves beyond help, beyond hope and unlovable. Those are the ones that Jesus came for. So I encourage you to accept Jesus invitation and to come to him because he loves sinners. Jesus has never turned anyone away who came to him for forgiveness.
He died on the cross for sinners and he suffered for sinners. He did all that for sinners like you and me, so we could accept his invitation to know Him. You don't have to clean things up before you come to Jesus. When you come to him, he will deliver you from your sins.
All you have to do is confess your sins and bring them to him. Just like 1 John 1:9 says. It says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. You know what?
That's not all of the good news. There's more. The Bible says that the sins that we confess to the Lord are forgotten by God. In Psalm 103:12 it says that he has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west.
After our sins are forgiven through confession and repentance. You know there's still more. Then the Lord gives you His Spirit and the Holy Spirit produces the opposite of of all our evil desires. In Galatians 5 it says that the Holy Spirit produces in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
So after you accept the invitation to follow Jesus, many people ask the question, will I still be tempted? And the answer to that is yes. Of course. The devil definitely won't leave you alone just because you confessed your sins to God.
But what changes is that you now have the absolute confidence that you can always come before Jesus no matter how many mistakes you make, because the Bible says that he will never leave you or forsake you. You aren't accepted by God because you're now a good person doing the right things and behaving the right way. Because being saved isn't about being good. You're not saved by being good.
You're saved through faith in Jesus by the blood that he shed for you on the cross. So with that new confidence, my question for you is, what are you waiting for? Accept Jesus invitation to come. God bless you.
See you tomorrow.