Hey, this is Kyle Eidlman from Southeast Christian Church, and I'm going to thank you for listening

to the message today. As we open up the scriptures together, I pray that this message inspires you,

challenges you, and is the right word at just the right time in your life. Enjoy the message.

I am overwhelmed and really excited to share with you that

last weekend, across all of our campuses, we baptized 839 people, 839.

Now listen, you know this, but what we are clapping for and what we're celebrating is not a statistic, it's a story, it's not a number, it's a name.

We are celebrating one life at a time, encountering Jesus and discovering the difference

that Jesus makes, that he forgives our sins, that he doesn't just

forgive our sins, he forgives the guilt of our sins, that you don't have to be weighed down by

shame anymore. You don't have to be weighed down by guilt of the past, that he sets you free.

And I told so many people in the water last Sunday, like there's things we're leaving in the

water, we're not carrying it out

with us. Like shame and guilt stay here. And so when we celebrate these numbers, we're celebrating

that one person at a time is experiencing the difference that Jesus makes. And really,

scripture is full of those kinds of stories. Luke 15, parable that Jesus tells of the prodigal son. I've read that parable

hundreds of times. And I've thought to myself many times, what's that prodigal son look like?

What's he look like? The Bible says that he goes to his father, he takes his inheritance, that he

spends all the money on wild living, and then language in scripture has it this way,

that a day comes where the prodigal son says,

he came to his senses.

Well, what's that look like?

I saw it last Sunday morning.

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