Title — Gary Wilkerson

Thank you for that kind welcome and thank you Patrick and Rosa appreciate those guys don't you love them so much. They are amazing an amazing couple. Let's throw with them that introduction gosh it made me feel really old like I thought he was saying stuff like you know when he fought in the Civil War and he's a good friend of George Washington and Invented electricity all kinds of great stuff.

I did in my past. It's a blast to be with you. I do live in Colorado Springs. I'm a pastor there. The Colorado is a great place I lived. I grew up in New York and then moved to Colorado and it's it's rare.

It's a really different world like anybody ever been to out west Colorado anybody a couple you some of you guys were out there. When they did the cross and the switchblade play for us at our church in Colorado Springs a real different world.

It's it's a world of a four-wheel drive Jeeps with the big super big wheels on them. I actually saw one in Manhattan today, and it was hardly fitting down the street. It just was just like a school bus.

I mean, it was just big it doesn't look that big when it's in Colorado out in the open. You know snowboards everywhere. Every weekend it's hard to pastor because like you know half of anybody that's under 40 years old is up snowboarding or skiing in the mountains.

And then in the summertime, it's it's long-distance bike riding or downhill bike riding all kinds of fun stuff. It's an outdoor world. We love living there. It's it's it's weird to pastor there. It's it's the land of it's one of two states now that has legalized and please don't say amen to this.

It's one of the two states have legalized marijuana. Thank you for that so you haven't said amen all night. You really wanted to right there. But it's it is so it's kind of a liberal state where you know people can come to people come my church stoned I mean, that's pretty that's unusual and So we've been there since you mentioned since 2009.

It's it's a great place. There was a young girl who? Sort of come to our church when we first started there, and she was kind of living a wild life. Just just going a bit crazy and was living with this guy and she got pregnant and had a baby and then he bolted on Her and just left her alone.

And so she started just partying and trying to get some kind of joy out of life. And I'll never forget the day she came out of her seat when we we do our church this thing called an invitation to receive Christ and people walk forward and say I want to pray and ask God to change my life.

And so she did that her name was Bri Brianna. And she came and gave her life to Jesus and she had a little boy at this time. It's maybe two years old one year old little boy. And he came up the altar with her holding his her hand it was really cute.

And I got to pray for them to receive Christ, and I got to baptize her and to see her grow in Christ and come out of things that were just causing her a lot of pain and sorrow and looking for life and all the wrong places and She met Jesus now that kind of pushed the story forward a little bit my 20-something year old son.

Her she caught his attention he caught her attention they kind of hooked up as they say and Got to know each other in a you know in a healthy way in a healthy manner and started falling in love. And so I only got to see her receive Jesus and her son as well.

But then I got to baptize her, but then I got to marry her to my son about a year ago, so that was cool almost almost two years ago now and Yeah, so so and then so she already had a baby, so I was an instant grandfather.

That was cool. I have I mean he's he's four now, and he's fun. I asked him on Easter last Sunday was Easter right anybody go to church on Easter anybody here Easter is a great time to go to church if you never go to church all year go on Easter.

It's fun. Helps encourage once a year we pastors feel like we're doing a good job because a lot of people come to church on Easter Sunday, and that's we treasure that day, so thank you for your attendance on Easter Sunday.

And so I asked my grandson I said Said Deontay do you know his name is Deontay Adonis is not a cool name Deontay Adonis? Do you know what Easter means he goes absolutely grandpa? It's when Jesus gives me superpower to shoot chocolate-covered eggs out at the bad guys.

To to to have an awesome. You know I'm not going to change that just go for it. That's good enough. It's as long as it's Jesus gives you power somewhere Jesus in Easter somewhere. I'm happy. You know that's good.

Go for it kid, and I have I have three other kids. My family's like you ever hear that comedian. He says I have three wonderful kids, and then I got another. You're just getting that yes, I thought I have four kids.

It's kind of they're all wonderful. I have a wonderful wonderful group of kids my youngest she's with me and my wife here in New York City this weekend visiting from Colorado and She has been. I got a text from her today.

She's been sh and the tech texted oh Opin G. She's shot not just shopping. She was shopping. Because because you know in Colorado you get like Wrangler jeans and a sweatshirt that says welcome to veil.

You know so that's so it's real different here. She gets dresses and shoes and stuff like that and she is 19, but getting married soon. She got engaged to our worship leader at our church, so I'm a proud Papa.

She's making me watch this movie called father of the bride anybody ever seen that movie with Steve Martin father of the bride. She's making me watch that and say dad don't do what he did in this movie complain about the cost of the cake and You know things like that and don't cry all the time.

I do. I'm crying all the time. I downloaded the the soundtrack to father the bride. And it just so happens that the girl in that movie father the bride her name is Annie my daughter's name is Annie the last Song on the soundtrack is Annie's gone and I Did just reading the title.

I was like kind of tearing up a little bit. I thought there I listen and I listen to the song. I was so melodious and sad and I called my daughter I said come home. I miss you. She was she was out on a date.

So just leave Ryan come home be with your daddy. It's like I don't know and he's gone, and he's gone and I went to see the place where she's getting married. She's getting married outdoors in a garden and the guy who owns the property this place called the secret garden.

He said now your daughter will come through that door right there and down this walkway. Stay stay there see because I'm a pastor she asked me to marry her and I said there's no way in the world I am already married no.

She asked me to do the wedding for her and I said I just can't I will just be I'll just be a I'll need I'll need Kleenex the whole time. I won't be able to say you know even IV and now I won't be able to say any of it so I Passed on that my good friend Pastor Neil Rhodes some of you might remember Pastor Neil Rhodes.

He's Pastor Neil's gonna do the wedding and and I'm gonna just watch and I'm gonna I'm gonna do the part. Her father and I you know what that one is right her mom I know her mother and I that's see I'm gonna get wrong already.

Her mother and I that's the part where you give away the The bride so let's pray and ask God to Help us hear the Word of the Lord. It's great to be with you from Colorado. It's always good to be back in New York City always great to be back in Times Square Church In the heart of New York City you guys are doing a wonderful job of being a witness and a testimony to the goodness of God and his love and I'm so grateful to get the chance I was so thankful that pastor Patrick asked me to share with you tonight.

And I've already kind of taken up 10 minutes my 30 so I better hurry up so father God just speak to our hearts and give us wisdom to Hear your word help us to to see what you want to say to us and set us free tonight.

I'm really asking you that God I honestly just desire that one thing that that young adults in this auditorium tonight would just break free from the pain and the sorrow and the suffering and the and the the striving and the sense of inadequacy and the sense of of Rejection and a sense of failure and find out who they are in Christ that they're free that they're alive that they're victorious that they're overcomers.

That they can reign with Christ even now we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Somebody showed me a video clip last week of a movie. I never get got to see it was called I think it's I think the title of that.

I'm not sure if I'm getting this right was dude who stole my car. There's an Ashton Kutcher movie or dude. Where's my car. Ashton Kutcher who was married to Demi Moore for a while there a little bit of an age difference, right?

And so Ashton Kutcher is in this video clip. I saw I didn't see the movie, but I saw this video clip. He pulls up with two or three of his friends in his car he pulls up to a drive-in window and there's that little box there that says, you know, what's your order, please and.

And so he goes I'd like I don't remember whatever he's ordering tacos or burgers. So let's just say it's tacos. Let's say it's burgers. Three burgers, please and she goes and the person anybody ever hear this and then.

And then and then so he goes uh turns the guys and go yeah throwing some fries and then. Okay, some burgers some fries and oh, yeah, how about a couple milkshakes and then. No, and then and then how about burger fries milkshake and a few onion rings and then and Ashton Kutcher about this time is getting angry like no and then and then no and then and then.

No, and then and he reaches out and he takes the the thing where the mic is. We're asking the order and just rips it out. I know and then no and then no and then. That's church. That is totally church.

You come every Sunday and the pastor says to you and then. You read your Bible more. Did you read your Bible this week good and then you pray more and then you witness more and then. You fast fast. I don't eat food.

What kind of crazy religion is this and then and then and then and then? What starts off as a message of grace. Jesus loves you. He died for your sins. You're free. You're forgiven. You're Called into a life of joy and victory.

Becomes a life of and then's do more try harder accomplish more overcome rejection by performacism. Performing more to get somebody to love you get God to Accept you more by the more you do the more you'll be loved the more you'll be accepted.

It starts off easy just just love Jesus and then before long they have you trying to do more stuff. It was like when I was a kid I saw this TV show where they had a guy came on and had all these poles sticking up on the stage about 12 or 15 poles some of you may have seen this Before and he put a plate on one of the poles and he started spinning it and it was real casual and cool in the plate.

Because of its momentum kind of the Harlem Globetrotters hanging up the basketball on the finger because the plate had. The momentum could stir be be turned and balance itself, and it was easy. He was he was cool calm collected telling jokes and then he put a second one on the second pole and Then a third one and then a fourth one and then a fifth one now by this by the time he gets to the fifth One he looks back, and what's happening in the first one.

It's starting to kind of like that wobbly thing right and so he runs back over this side and gets that one spinning. And he's still kind of telling a few little jokes. But he's starting to get a little you know his breath get along.

And then then he gets like five or six going on this row and by the time he's done he's got like 15 of these plates and By the time he's spinning this one the one way down on that and it's just about to fall off.

And he like just darts for it and lunges at it gets it to To spin and then as they part start falling off. And he grabs them as they're fun one two three four five and I'm 15 down the line he grabs all 15 of them.

And they're putting you know stack this high, and he goes to and then he drops all the plates. You know just for fun and That's awesome to see but it's difficult to live and Oftentimes what happens instead of following Jesus and loving Jesus and enjoying Jesus and being freed up by Jesus being forgiven by Jesus we take these plates that are Performance plates and say it's easy.

I just got saved and they just said just come to church. Oh, that's simple. I can just come to church or I can come to the gate on Friday night I just spin this one plate, but don't forget to pray. I can do that.

I can read my Bible and I pray and I just have three things to do go to church read my Bible and pray. Well, don't forget to tithe give some money to the church. I'd read my Bible pray study tithe read my Bible study more fast go on the retreat sing in the youth choir do this go on in that place and do this thing and come to the conference and before long we're just like Man, what happened to Jesus?

We're running around like crazy we're exhausted and we're. We're we're we're worn out. We're beat up and and we're not really even after having done all that. We're still in the same problems. We're still Facing the exact same difficulties we face when we started this whole process.

We're spinning plates, but but we feel like we're never doing enough. We're never good enough. We never accomplish enough. We never perform at a high enough standard to make ourselves satisfied, you know.

You live in a world today where where you're under this pain under this pressure to perform to make sure that everybody Approves of you and accepts you for some maybe a father left when you were young and abandoned you and when you see him occasionally.

Maybe you have a lunch together occasionally and you go you go to raise pizza and you're trying to hey dad I did this and I accomplished that and and maybe you're afraid your mom's she's so busy all the time working two jobs.

You're you're concerned like man. Does she even know I'm here? And so maybe if I get good grades and maybe the teacher will approve me. Maybe I'll get that scholarship and and maybe a church. They'll I'll fit into the youth group if I act religious and so we're putting on all these stuff, but we're exhausted and worn out.

And it just seems like week after week There's more stuff to do but we're never doing it well enough and never doing enough and never doing it what we do do. We don't do it. I said do do sorry. That's that's good.

I'd say that I have a grandson. That's why the stuff that we do we end up. We're not doing it enough and we want to try harder and try to accomplish more. But we are worn out. And then we look at our life and say it's it's not acceptable even to God this Christian faith is meant to be Freeing me from sin, but it doesn't seem to be working because I'm still stuck in a habitual pattern of sin.

I still practice the same sins. I don't know how many times I've come to the altar. I don't know how many times I've cried out to God. I when I was a kid a teenager in the church I grew up here in New York I went to it was called the altar some of you may not be familiar with that.

But Sunday nights particularly at church the pastor would give this sermon about and he would always preach against sin. Sin is terrible and you're A sinner and I go. Yeah, you got me. I'm not and so like, you know 10 12 years old I'm coming every Sunday night.

Oh god. I'm sorry. I sinned again and he would preach on things like, you know, like anger. Yeah, I got I'm angry at the pastor because he's always yelling at me. So I need to come to the altar to guess forgiveness for that.

I don't like that guy and then he preached on on on fear and I'm like, yeah, I'm afraid I have to go to church the rest of my life. I'm gonna come to the altar again for that one. I remember one time he preached on adultery.

I was like 10 years old I didn't even know what adultery was. I thought I probably did that one too. So I came Came out of my true God forgive me for whatever that thing is. He's talking about tonight.

And for some of you that don't know what that is, you can ask pastor Patrick after the service tonight so. So, you know, I just saw I saw Christianity as being a Like this list of rules that you're not supposed to do.

These are a bunch of things you're not supposed to do this list of rules and regulations and and if you can Cease from doing these things then God will feel good about you and accept you and you can be finally at peace and you can Find joy, but it seemed to me that sin seemed superior to salvation.

They talked about the power of God. But it seemed to me like man if you we should sing about you know All hail King sin because it's been more powerful than than Jesus to me, you know, like majesty worship.

You know, it's like sin had the power. Because it performed its work in my life a lot stronger to me. It seemed like then then God was even doing. I don't know if I'm relating to anybody here. Some of you are thinking like why did Patrick have this guy preach?

He's a miserable total failure is. But we wrestle with that my own son my my my third oldest son his name's Elliot. He he wrestled with that when he's like 12 13 years old. Dad. It's like, you know, I do these things wrong.

I go to school and man, there's a lot of anger that gets raised up in my heart. I just get I get so mad I get in fights at school 12 13 year old kid at school. Just dad again in fights and there's this rage.

I don't know where it comes from. And I keep asking Jesus to forgive me and I got a time and time again I asked him to forgive me and sent me, you know, help me be free from this Rage in my heart. I hate when I get so, you know, just so enraged by just this littlest thing.

Somebody will knock my books over in the hallway and I just start pounding them in the face dad I don't know what to do in and he's and I remember him asking me so dad. It's like how come I pray and and I don't feel forgiven and how come I pray and I keep doing the same thing.

It doesn't seem like God's answering my prayer because of that. He hardened his heart towards the Lord and even though I believe he grew up in a good home. And we had a good relationship as father and son, but just to kind of cover that Sense of failure and that God's not with him and that maybe God answers other people's prayers.

But he doesn't seem to favor Me is what Elliot said because he's not helping me overcome my habits and my hang-ups and my addictions and my son. So he started smoking pot to try to make him feel kind of good about himself.

And the first time he smoked pot later on he told me this was years later. I didn't even know he's smoking pot when he was 13 years old. And I felt so good when I got high it was like the pain was gone all this Combination all this sense of I'm a failure and I'm no good and people don't like me and people don't accept me has he said.

When I got high man, I became the life of the party people love me. It was it was fun to be high and he went from smoking pot to getting drunk a lot and going to parties to. Somebody gave him some pills and he took some some oxycontin one day oxycodone.

He took that and then he got man that really that really made me feel good all my pain was gone all this sense of I'm letting everybody down was gone and then that wasn't enough and he started smoking Crack and he started smoking Called black tar heroin.

He started to smoke heroin then he started shooting heroin into his veins. Can you believe that? I'm brokenhearted. Here's here's a dad who's just gonna I cannot believe. My little boy man, my little boy is he's getting out there man.

This is dangerous he's shooting and I remember taking him to the hospital and his arm was swollen like twice the size because Of an infection and the doctor told me man. You're just you're just weeks and months away from either.

Oh, you know an overdose or death man. You're you're killing yourself. Yeah and I just could you imagine hearing that as a father and and Particularly a father as some of you may know a little bit a little bit about my background.

My father used to be one of the pastors here. But he also started a ministry called teen challenge, which was for drug addicts. And so this teen challenge drug program had opened like 1 ,500 centers all around the world.

And so here's my sort of background is like helping others get set free from Drugs and addiction and my own sons my own son is on drugs now getting to the place where he lost his job. Got kicked out of school.

We finally had to kick him out of our home. Hardest day of my life asked him to leave my home and he was in tears and I was just a blubbering mess. I was I was just but he had been stealing from us and he'd been using things at our house to sell to so that he could Continue his drug addiction and so we had to ask him to leave and then he he lived with a friend for a while things got Worse and he ended up becoming homeless.

He was living on the streets. It's hardest days of my life him calling me, you know, three in the morning say dad. It's it's 15 degrees outside here in Colorado. It's it's it's snowing. You know, it's like a foot of snow out here.

I need help. I need help and just God I need you to do something in his life all of that began. To some degree or another because he felt like God had let him down. He'd felt like he had not done enough for God or or what he had done for God.

He had performed these things for God and God owed him. He was supposed to be you know I asked God to help me but God didn't seem to help me and so he started asking this question at a young age. Maybe Jesus isn't really that good or maybe he isn't really that strong or maybe he's not that God of victory.

They talked about in church, and maybe he's not the one who really sets me free or maybe he doesn't love me. He loves other people because he sets them free. They asked God to help them get free from drugs and they get set free from drugs and I'm still on drugs.

Even though I've I've tears so many times asked God to help me overcome this Addiction you see when sin seems to rule over us it it seems to dominate at us. We often make a wrong choice. My son made a wrong choice.

He went the way of the one prodigal son who went off to live in in. What in the church we call the world out there in the life of sin? But other sons other children choose a different way. Some of you in this room may have not chosen that way.

To try to get through life. You may have chosen the way of in that same story of the young brother who went out became a prodigal. He had an older brother who stayed home. But he was always trying to do the right thing always trying to live the right way always trying to get his father's approval Acceptance and he never felt loved by his father.

And so this is the person who goes to church who is somewhat of a quasi religious person. But sees sin still ruling in their life like dominating in their life like again like I said earlier. It seems that sin is superior to the power of the Savior.

And when sin seems to do that the older brother in that story if you've heard that story right of the prodigal son. There was an older brother who stayed at home. But he his heart was not right that that older brother sometimes has this this attitude of I've got the right Diagnosis.

I know that there's something wrong. That that that I'm meant to live a holy life that I'm meant to be free from sin that I'm meant to be Victorious in my life that God intends me to live a life of joy and life and overcoming powers of darkness and overcoming addictions and patterns of Negative things in my life.

I know I'm meant for that and so it's the right prognosis. Is that sin seems to be controlling me sin seems to be out of control in my life? It's it seems to be winning the battle in my life. No matter how many times I pray or come to the front of the church and ask somebody to pray for me or I go To the youth group meeting or I go to a youth retreat and I feel better.

I go to a conference and I feel better. But then that same old pattern comes back and back and back and that's we we diagnose it correctly saying that's sin but with the Remedy sometimes we go to the wrong remedy listen carefully if you've not listened anything.

I've said tonight listen to this part. The the the prognosis or the diagnosis is that we're having a battle with sin and sin oftentimes seems to have dominion and win Over us, but the problem more than that the problem with the why we're stuck in that.

Here's the here's the cure now the the the problem is that we have this habitual pattern of sin and But we die we probably we have the right prognosis. But we have the wrong remedy and so what we try to do tonight.

This may not make sense at first. But I want to try to explain it as clearly as I can. When you're when you're having a habit of sin when you feel like you're defeated. When you feel like you're exhausted trying to live up to some kind of righteous standard, and you're not making you're not Clearing the hurdles so to speak.

That that's you understand the problem. But what we do wrongly is oftentimes apply what the Bible calls the law or works or self-righteousness. To our sin nature to our to our sense of failure. I don't know if that makes any sense.

Let me try to explain it one more time here to you. So we understand that something's wrong, so I'm gonna try harder to make it right. I'm gonna be more Religious. I'm going to spin more plates. I'm gonna add another and then to to please God to make him Accept me to make him feel right about me to make him Love me enough to help me overcome my sin and so the problem is is our is we understand we're sinners.

But the wrong way to approach that sin is is called the law. It's called works. It's called self-righteousness. It's trying it's trying to make yourself better. It's it's trying to pull yourself up by your own spiritual bootstraps and say God just you know I'm sorry that was the last time I'll ever do that.

I promise you. And I've promised God a billion times. You know I'll never do that when I was like 14 in church one of the altar calls I'll never look upon a woman with lust in my eyes ever again. I go to school on Monday go like I'm never gonna look at a woman a girl walks by in a really pretty dress nice Legs, I'll never look at a pretty girl again.

I'll never look. I'll never look at I'm never oh man. It's just Monday morning I didn't even make it till Wednesday. You know or Friday and and in the church that I grew up in is if you sinned you'd lose your salvation have to get Saved again, and I'm thinking dude.

It's Monday and I and and and and I could die or Or Jesus come back, and I got to wait till Sunday to get saved again. That's and I always figured like man. You know if you live under that kind of theology and let me suggest if you're gonna sin do it late Saturday night, okay?

That way you only have it like a short time to before you can get saved again, but I don't believe that. I don't believe you get saved and unsaved and saved and unsaved because I'm about to tell you what I believe is that that's under School of thought that says I can pick myself up.

I can do better. I can try harder. I can work at this and that's why a lot of Christians don't like being a Christian. That's why a lot of Christians when your pastor says to you bring an unsaved loved one to to church with you on Sunday.

It's like man. You know say I don't even like being saved. Like I don't know I don't want to drag my friends into this. You know it's just because you're like so unhappy because this thing's not working.

And and you keep trying you keep coming out. Thank God. You're you know you're not giving up but but we're trying to to Affix to the problem the wrong remedy the wrong. The wrong prescription if you will to that life problem see we're applying the law try harder do more.

Work at it more redouble your efforts get the checklist off and make sure you're checking all the boxes of things. You're supposed to do put on the scales. Here's your scale like this week. My scales are good.

I did it's weighing heavier towards my righteous deeds. I'm doing a lot of good stuff. I prayed a lot this week. I read my Bible a lot this week, and I've sinned very little so this week I'm acceptable to God, but the next week something happens and the scales tip in the wrong direction and Dang you're all messed up again.

You feel like where is God all right? I'm gonna close with a few scriptures. And and this is the part where I'm applying the Word of the Lord because it's the truth that I'll set you free, right? That's just not a marquee out in front of a church here in Times Square.

It's the reality of life. It's truth that sets us free and so in the book of Romans is the best book if you want to read. If you want to start studying a book that can help you understand what I'm talking about tonight more in-depth I would recommend the book of Romans to you.

I hope I'm not going contrary to what this the church teaches here. But I want to encourage you to find a translation of the Bible. It's really easy for you to understand King James Version. It's a great translation, but it's really hard to understand particularly in the book of Romans.

It's like thee and thou and thee and do and it's like who knows what it's saying sometimes and so get a translation that you can understand and read the book of Romans and you're gonna find the key to Liberty the key to overcoming a Christian life.

That's full of miserableness and Striving and earning and and feeling like I don't know if there's real life or joy. I don't know if God accepts me and loves me and forgives me and you'll find that in the book of Romans that has This great power, so I want to read from Romans chapter 7 and in verse 4 through 6 I believe Romans 4 chapter 7 verses 4 through 6 and it says here.

So my dear brothers and sisters that you and me right this is the point I like when something gets down to the point okay? And I'm getting to the point of this message here you died to the power of the law when you died with Christ.

That's strange in other words you died to and then and then do more try harder work at it more. But you're a failure but you got to keep trying and God won't be pleased with you until you double up on your efforts and and keep coming to The altar and keep crying and keep praying and keep promising.

Paul says you died to that that's called the law everything I've just said to you is the law you died to that law now. I don't mean repentance or godly sorrow, but I mean to that sense of I'm a failure.

I'm no good God doesn't accept me and if I keep trying harder to be a good Christian I'll be a miserable Christian, but I'll be a good one then that's called the law and and Paul says you died to that.

It's dead. It's no longer there now something that is dead. You don't like to hang around it right most of you do not sleep in mortuaries, right? And if so pastor Patrick if you could talk to them after the service tonight.

You know get out of that. Unless your family owns it and that's just where they happen to let you sleep at night. That's that's. Why am I talking about that? You died to the power of the law when when when you died with Christ.

And now you are knighted with the one who is raised from the dead. So here's the solution it were dead to that kind of law and then Plate spinning lifestyle that just Jesus said that stuff is dead. It's it doesn't produce life in you.

You don't feel joy you don't and there's no victory in that and so Jesus raised us from the dead as a result. We can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. So how can you do good things like? Read your Bible and pray and witness to your friends and enjoy doing it and doing it because you want to do it not because You have to do it to try to earn God's favor or blessing in your life to know that you're already blessed.

You already have his favor. He already loves you. He's already your good father he's already a God who is out to win your heart completely is a God of affection for you and As a result of knowing that that you're not trying to earn his blessing, but you already got his blessing.

He already is in favor of you. He already likes you. He already thinks you're amazing and because of that now he says and as a result of that now we can produce a harvest of Good things good things come out of a heart that no, it's love.