First Responders | Reggie Dabbs

Are you happy to be in church this morning? Somebody look at your neighbor and say, "All right. All right. All right. Go ahead. Sit down. Go ahead. Sit down." Oh, come on. It's a good day. Amen. What a great praise and worship. Clap for the praise and worship team.

Y'all did a great job. Great job. Great job. I know pastor already said that our our young people are at camp, which is why I'm here. I am speaking to our young people tonight up at camp and some of you are enjoying your extra holiday without your child.

But I I would like to I'm just going to let you know what I'm preaching for our kids tonight cuz you need to know. I'm using uh Paul and Silas when they went into prison, they were beaten and put in the inner court and how while they were in that inner court at midnight, they started to sing praises to God.

They were beaten, they were bleeding, they were in chains, and they kept on praising. I think our young people need to have their own Holy Ghost story. I think our young people need to go back after tonight and say, "I remember a Sunday night in August. Something went down at a camp I was at and I was never ever the same ever again."

He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. And tonight, that same Holy Spirit is going to fall on our children. If you feel in your heart that God wants to touch our children, can you for the next 10 seconds give him praise in advance of what's going to happen to our kids at camp tonight?

Thank you for touching our kids. Thank you for healing our kids. Thank you for taking away that attitude. Thank you, God, for what you're going to do. Thank you for saving them. Thank you for changing them forever in Jesus' name. And if you agree with me, say amen.

Amen. Amen. You can sit down if you can. If you're brand new and never seen me before, if you've never seen a media movie, this is going to scare you a little bit. But if you have, you're going to be right at home. Going to be right at home.

Let me read a scripture for today for you. I'm just going to be with you a few minutes. In the book of Ezekiel 22:30, when we read the word of God, it simply says this. God said, "And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it."

But I found none. I found none. In the few minutes I'm with you this morning, I want to speak to you on this simple topic. First responders. First responders. Now, as we get into this, hear me out. When we hear first responders, that means something happened. You hear first responders, that means something went wrong.

Whether it be a natural disaster or someone with a gun again this past week in Min Minneapolis, we see what evil can do. Some reporters reported that the kids were praying and God couldn't save them. They need to take a step back for a second cuz hear me, whenever disaster strikes, first thing we do is pray.

Hear me today. I'm talking to everybody in this room. You may be the one who needs a first responder. I don't know if you've ever been in a car accident or ever been pinned in a car. You think everything's over until you hear that sound of a siren.

Cuz that sound doesn't just mean get out of the way. It means help is coming. We live in a world that needs to hear that sound that help is coming. And I'm here to tell you this morning, Free Chapel, we're the help. Many of you have done things so that young people not only can go to camp but go to forward conference.

You've given so that kids can come and be trained for ministry here. Free chapel is nothing but a beacon. You may not realize it but you think you came to a church today but you came to a hospital cuz we came for the sick and the broken. For the messed up and the lonely.

We came for the addicted. We came for the ones who can't see tomorrow because of the hurt they see today. Somebody touch your neighbor and say, "Let's go >> in Jesus name." In the book of Jude verse 22 and 23, the Bible says, "Be merciful to those who doubt.

Save others by snatching them from the fire. To others, show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupt flesh. If you're here today, if you doubt, you're in a good room. If you need mercy, you're in a great room. >> If you're lost, you're in the perfect room. >> I've say it a lot, but I'll say it one more time.

If you're a sinner and you love your sin, you need to pretend you got to go to the bathroom, get up, and get as far away from me as you can. Cuz the longer you stay in this room, the more in jeopardy your nasty is at leaving you in Jesus name.

Now, you know what else is good? Ain't nobody going to do nothing. Cuz if you get up, your whole row going to go, you know, he nasty. I'm just saying. Hey, would y'all walk with me for a second? Is that okay? Hey, can I I feel like I always act like I'm at home in my free chapel, but let me explain.

Let me let me take you down the road. Everybody touch your neighbor and say, "You're the man." Or now say, "You're the woman." Say, "God ain't talking to others. He's talking to you. He's talking to you." My at the end of my junior year in high school before my senior year in high school, I fell in love with a girl named Lisa.

And she was the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my life. How pretty was she? I went to summer school with her. She pretty. And and in summer school, I just got to hang out with her every day. And and what I didn't realize was until football started.

When football started one day, the counselor came out to the football field. Whenever the counselor show up, somebody in trouble. And when the coach blew the whistle and said, "Reggie, come here." I'm like, "What?" When I walked over, the counselor said, "Why did you go to summer school?"

And I said, "Lisa." And she said, "She is pretty. I'm just saying." And then she said, "You only need one class to graduate high school. All you got to take is government." I said, "Well, that's a good thing." She goes, "No, you got to be in school five hours to qualify for football.

We got to make up a schedule." So, first period, I had gym assistant. Second period, I had gym assistant. Third period, I had government. Fourth period, I had jazz band. I play saxophone. Fifth period, I had football. It's a good year, right? Until one day, the first day of school, I showed up in gym and I said, "Coach, what do you need?" and he said, "Oh, Reggie, they changed your schedule.

Go to the office, get your new schedule, and go to that class. They're going to be waiting for you." So, I went to the office. Now, if you are a superintendent or a principal of a school, you think you in charge, but you're not. If you've ever been to the front office of any school, those ladies behind that desk run the whole joint.

Clap your hands. You know what I'm talking about. Talk about none shall pass. I walked in, I knew all of them. There were four ladies. I hugged them all, said, "Y'all miss me. Y'all miss me." Go, "Oh, Reggie, here. Go to the fourth floor, room 402. They're waiting for you."

And I went, "We got four floor." I've been in there three years. I didn't even know we had a four. When I got to the fourth floor, there was four floors. There was double doors with two letters top. One was the letter A and the other was P.

I didn't have no idea. I went to room 402. I opened the door. I look in, there's 22 people. I only knew one. He was the kicker on the football team. Now look at me. Kickers are smart. They know which way the wind blowing and everything. He looked at me.

I looked at him. He said, "What are you doing?" I said, "They sent me here." He said, "No, Reggie, run." I don't ask. I turned, started to run. And a familiar voice went, "No, no, no, baby. Hold on. You're in the right place. I turn around. It's my mother."

Oh, for those of you who are new, I grew up in foster care my entire life. I grew up in foster care. My real mom gave me away to her favorite teacher at school. So my foster care mom was an English teacher at the high school. She petitioned the school board so that they would give her permission to teach me my last year of high school.

She was then the advanced college prep teacher for English and the educators put me in her classroom. What is wrong with people? I wanted Jesus to come back, but he didn't. But I'm here to tell y'all right now, we need first responders. You know why we need first responders from the heavenly realm?

Because Jesus is coming soon. You know what? Even the Bible says he will send us signs that he's coming back. And I saw a sign yesterday when Florida State beat Alabama. I knew Jesus coming. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but I am a Tennessee boy and I had to just throw him under the bus.

Here, go. Roll that tide. Hey. All right. [laughter] All the Alabama people like, "I hate him. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." No, no, no. Are y'all with me? Say, "Yeah." >> I know it's long, but you you we'll get there. We'll get there. So, I had a year in a a college prep course.

When I got there that first day, my my um my mom, the teacher, handed out a piece of paper. She said, "We're treating this like a college class. So, this is your syllabus, our syllabi. Everything you need to pass my class is right here on this paper. I started reading it and I got very ill.

Very ill. Like I wanted to just throw up. Okay. It said in the course of this year you will read eight books and after each books write a 10page essay on each book. You will be graded by the essay and that will be your final grade. Look at you people.

All of y'all looking at me like what's the big deal? Here's what the big deal is. I didn't grow up in this time. I didn't grow up in this space. You people got everything. You got an A to the eye to read the book to you. I had to use my eyes to read the book to me.

People, what is this, man? I got I I had college I had dinner with some college kids. One of them looked at me goes, "How did you grow up back then?" I said, "What you trying to say?" He said, "If you had a flat tire, what did you do?"

I said, "Walk. He goes, "How did you find someone's phone number? Memorize it." And then I'm like, "What in the world is this?" No. Now look, I know you're in suspense. Everybody's on the edge of their seat. You're like, "How did it go?" With two weeks to go in school, I got my final grade.

Once again, here's this whole age barrier. Some of you are like, "So, you got the text and your final grade was there." No. Every teacher back then had what they call a grade book. And when it came for you to see your grade, you walk up and they had a piece of paper covering everyone else's grade.

And they show you the line with your eight scores and the final grade and a red marker on the end. Jesus blood can wash away all sin. Just so y'all not too crazy. Just so you know, I made a C+. Clap your hands. C plus C's get degrees.

I'm telling I will not say that tonight to your children though. I was so happy. And then my my mom gets up and she goes, "Okay, class. Y'all finish earlier than anybody else. We still got two weeks of school left. What do you want to do?" And I raised my hand.

I said, "Let's pretend it's kindergarten. Get those little rubber mats and take a nap. It's 7:45 in the morning, y'all." Other kids that didn't matter. But then there's this one. There's always one. There's always one. One. This little brother went, "Can we read one more book?" I pointed at him and said, "I'mma find you in the bathroom, dude."

And my mom goes, "Yes, everyone bring your favorite book tomorrow. We're just going to read it. And you know what? Just for the fun of it, let's write one last 10page paper." So I raised my hand. I said, "Any book?" She went, "Yeah, any book." So I wrote my last paper in high school on that literary masterpiece.

Humpty Dumpty. Oh, come on y'all. Help me out. Humpty Dumpty sit on her. Humpty Dumpty had a great >> All the >> and all the >> couldn't put Humpty together. >> Y'all don't understand. I wish I had it today. I wrote this paper. I was the man. I broke it down.

I said, "Humpty Dumpty." First of all, I don't know where those eyes and hat and arms and legs came from. But he had to be a teenager cuz if he a old man sitting on the wall, he too old to be doing that. Not only was he a teenager, he was on drugs.

He on crack. All right? Cuz he thought he could fly. All right? I'm just saying. But that but I wrote it out. I said, "Listen, it says all the king's horses, all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again." And my conclusion was the best. I said, "Now, if all the king's horses were there, and if all the king's men were there, then the king had to be there, too.

So, next time you mess up, next time you crack your egg head, next time you do something wrong, don't go to a horse, don't go to a man, go to the king. I made a mistake. Last day of school was Thursday. On Monday, I handed my paper in to my mom and I said, "Here you go, mom.

I love you. I enjoyed this so much. I went to my seat and sit down. She started reading my paper. She stopped the class and said, "Okay, everybody listen to my son's paper." And she read my paper for the whole room. Everybody was laughing, clapping, giving me high five.

I'm like, "Word. I'm going to be an author when I grow up." Then she did something I didn't expect. She looked at me and went, "Well, that was entertaining." Everybody clapped. And she tore my paper up like confetti at a Toby Mack concert, threw it in the air, and said, "Mm- This is trash.

Come up here. You got to do another book." What kind of mother was this? I know some of you are like, "That's abuse." Yeah. In 2025, when I grew up, that was called correction. That's what that was. That was called training a child in the way he should go.

That's what that was called. That was called I'm your mama. But that's what that was called. She said, "Listen, you got three days." She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a book. She goes, "Read it. I want a paper by Thursday. I love you.

This is for your own good." Now, I can notice right now everybody's highly entertained because I really do know how to tell a story. But there is a point to this. And here it is. It's the book that she gave me from her bottom desk drawer. I asked later in life about that book.

I said, "Mama, were your whole point for me to read that book?" She said, "When I went to the board of education to petition you being in my class, it was for this book and it was for that chapter." I said, "So instead of just saying, could you just read this for me?

You decided to do." She goes, "No, I had your attention. Everybody say chapter nine. >> Chapter nine. Let me explain the book. The book had four letters in the middle on the cover. Mh. MASH. Underneath was a series of numbers 4077. Now, here it is. It was called the 4077 MASH.

I can tell by some of you you're my age. In the 70s and 80s, there was a sitcom about a war called the Korean War, about a mobile hospital unit called the 4077 MASH. It was about doctors and nurses and orderlys and what they did to save soldiers who were wounded to save their life.

But that whole sitcom came from this book. I don't even think it's in print anymore, but check this out. By the time I started reading that book, I knew one thing, one thing only. I had till Thursday or a whole year of writing papers goes under the bus.

So, I'm reading this thing and when I got to chapter eight, I has been set up. The book is about the doctors, the nurses, the orderlys, how they did stuff every day. By the time I got to chapter eight, they had found out this that while they were saving soldiers lives, other soldiers were dying.

Before they could get to them, they would die. They would bleed out. In other words, some of the soldiers who died only needed stitches, but they never got to them in time. and they didn't have to die, but nobody was there to help them. That's pretty good, is it?

Because you think to yourself that you're here because I'm just here cuz I go to church cuz God saved me. But God didn't just save you so you can go to church. He saved you so that you could be a first responder in someone else's life. There are people you meet that Pastor Jensen can't even reach, Reggie can't reach, Pastor Tracy can't reach, but because you're in their life, you hold the key to their eternal soul. >> So, in other words, you are a first responder.

So, watch this. Chapter nine was called tag changer. Everybody say tag changer. >> Tag. >> And here it is. When they realized that all these soldiers were dying, they came up with an idea that every day they would rotate. One doctor, two nurses. Each doctor would pre-check every wounded soldier that came in that day.

The nurse behind him had her pockets full of tags. Everybody say tags. >> Let me explain. The first tag was yellow. If you were giving a yellow tag, yellow means you're hurt really, really bad. Yellow means you may not make it. Yellow means we got to do something to help you.

If we don't, you will die. Yellow. If you can't get yellow, you get blue. Everybody say blue. >> Blue means you need surgery now. It means we got to get the orderly, take you in surgery, and do our best to save your life. So, you want yellow. If you can't get yellow, you want blue.

But you know what? You don't want red. Everybody say red. >> Red means there's nothing we could do. Red means you're dead. You just not stopped breathing yet. Now watch. It's a true story, true book, Korean War. The doctor would go through and just call out the the colors.

The nurse behind him would put the tag on the wrist or on the ankle. The last nurse was called the kiss of death. All she had was vows and vows of morphine, enough to kill a horse. And all she would look for is the red tag. If she saw a red tag, she would aim for the arm or the thigh, push it in, count to 22, put the sheet over the face, cause the soldier would be dead.

Crazy. One day that doctor is doing his thing. There was a people everywhere and he's just calling it out, calling it out, calling it out. He's like, "Yellow, yellow, blue, blue, blue." And the and the girl is tagging him, tagging him. He came to one soldier and he simply goes red.

And he kept walking, kept going. Then she put a red tag on the wrist. She kept going. Then the girl came with the shot. She put she was aiming for the thigh. And right when she came down, the soldier opened his eyes. He grabbed her hand and said, "It's okay.

It's okay. It's okay. Tell my wife I love her. Tell my kids I love them. You got to do what you got to do. I understand." And he closed his eyes. That nurse was moved so much. She looked around. Everybody's doing their job. She looked around and she realized.

So she grabbed scissors out of her back pocket. She clipped off the blue tag. She put she put she clipped off the red tag and put a blue tag on it. And when she did, she said, "Orderly, blue tag, blue tag." They came and grabbed him and they took him away.

One day goes by, two days after seven days, she forgot what she had done. One month, two months, three months later, they had zero wounded soldiers for seven days. Seven days, not one wounded soldier. On the morning of the 8th, they heard helicopter. When it landed, all of a sudden, these guys get out.

The orderlys are there. They go, "Where's the wounded soldiers?" They go, "No, no, no. We're special forces. He's coming." And they went in the woods. They heard truck engines. So they run there thinking it was an ambulance. When they got there, it was more soldiers. None of them wounded.

And they said, "What were you doing?" He goes, "He's coming." And then all of a sudden, a car came, flags all over it. When the door opened, a man stepped out. He had five stars on his shoulder. When he stepped out, he was cool. He's southern. He goes, "How y'all doing?"

He looked around. He goes, "Could I see all the doctors and nurses in the cafeteria? I'll be there in a second." When he walked in the cafeteria, every doctor and nurses there, they all stood up. They saluted. And when they saluted, he goes, "No, go ahead. Sit down.

I won't keep you long. I've given you a week off." We sent the wounded soldiers other places, but I got a question. He snapped his finger and this kid ran up with with a patient chart. Had a red slash through it. He goes, "What's this red slash?" And the head doctor goes, "We use yellow if we can fix you.

We use blue if you need surgery, but red means there's nothing we can do. The injuries were too severe." He goes, "Okay." So this guy, where would he be? He goes, "When was he?" He goes, "Three months ago." He go, "He's in Arlington Cemetery." He's in his hometown cemetery.

He goes, "Okay, what if I told you he's at home with his wife and kids?" What if I told you that for three months the Pentagon was trying to figure out how this brother fell through the gaps? What if I told you that the Pentagon and all the smart people decided somebody at this mobile hospital unit, somebody in this mass unit switched that tag?

I came to find out who did it. And he looked up and he goes, "I got all day. I just want to know who did it." And as he waited and waited, the girl, the nurse, was on the three from the back row. She stood up and made it to the aisle.

When she got in the aisle, he saw her and he went, "You, it was you." And this five-star general took off running. He turned the corner, fell. He didn't even get up. He crawled on his hands and knees, grabbed her by the ankles. Everybody's making comments. But when everybody got quiet, all they can hear, all they can hear echoing through that cafeteria was a five-star general screaming to the top of his lungs, "That was my son.

You saved my son." Hey, look at me. Look at me. If you're here today and you're lost, I ain't nothing but a brother from another mother. I'm here to tell you God's got you. He put you in this room for a reason. He let you hear this sermon for a reason.

All I am is a tag changer to tell you there's hope for you. But it starts with Romans 10:9. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved.

He can cut the tag of sin. He can tuck the C. He can cut it all off and save your life. But you got to choose him. You got to choose him. To everybody else, here's the deal. I'mma save my verse for the end. I got a verse for everybody else.

But let me introduce you to a friend of mine. Is that okay? Since I'm at Free Chapel. Uh, this girl is named Ruby Bridges. Ruby Bridges. Look at Ruby. I know. Look, look. You see Ruby, every go a You put me up there, they go, whoa. Now, if you don't know, in history, Ruby is famous because she is the first six-year-old black girl to be integrated into the schools in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She's the first one. And we got a picture of her first day at school. And here it is. You know you special when you get escorted to school by the FBI, but you know you serious cuz look at Ruby. Look at her hand. She got her black briefcase.

She ready to roll, y'all. I think that's the coolest picture ever. Some of you don't, but let me just go on. Okay. On her way to school, she was greeted by people. I got a couple of pictures of those people. Yep. And I got one more. One more.

Oh, yeah. I looked and I tried to find there's a picture of a lady dressed in a cafeteria uniform and she had a sign that says, "I'm going to poison your food today." There's another picture of a lady with a little coffin with a black doll and had a sign take to it that says, "This is Ruby Bridges."

I know it was a time where people lost their ever loving mind. Y'all know what I'm saying? And we still live in that time where people have lost their ever loving mind. How can kids be in mass at a Catholic school and have to worry about their own life?

But greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. He's trying to pull out all the stops. Everybody watch me. Some of you like, why? Why this? Why? Okay. So, every student was pulled out of the school. Every student. Every teacher quit but one teacher cuz she was brand new and she needed the money.

So, Ruby was in a classroom with one teacher. And she would walk to school. On one Monday, the teacher that taught Ruby came early. And on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, she watched Ruby walking to school and she noticed something. So on Thursday, she met with Ruby's counselor and told Ruby's counselor, "Ruby's doing great, except when she comes to school, she talks to herself.

Maybe that's something you can bring up in your meeting with her because you meet with her every Friday." And the counselor goes, "Well, I'll get up early and I'll come. I want to see this." So on Friday morning, the teacher counselor, people are still yelling, screaming, and here comes Ruby, head down, just talking to herself, talking to herself.

So the counselor goes, "I'm coming to class with you." So Ruby comes in, the bell rings. Why are they ringing a bell? Ain't nobody there but Ruby. And the counselor goes, "Ruby, you talk to yourself on the way to school. On the way you walk, do you talk to yourself?

What are you saying?" And Ruby's like, "No, no, ma'am. I'm not talking to myself." She goes, "No, we were there this morning. We saw you talking to yourself. What were you doing?" And she goes, "No, no, no. I'm not talking to myself. I'm praying." And then then the counselor goes, "Oh, you're praying that God would save you from these people.

Do you think they're going to hurt you? Do you think?" And go, "No, no, no, no. I'm not praying. Are you praying that God would kill them because they're trying to kill you? You want him to kill them first? Now, that would be more my prayer. Okay, but I'm not gonna lie.

He's still working on me. She goes, "No." She goes, "No, I'm praying that God would help them would bless them. My prayer is, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. I'll never forget that story because this little girl is six years old. She's too young to reason and have knowledge to pray like that.

All a six-year-old has is what she's seen. So, she has seen mom, dad, grandma, grandpa go through horrific things, see bad things, and she has seen them go in Jesus name. She heard them on their knees going, "Greater is he that is in me." You know what she had?

She had a first responder who showed her it is time free chapel for us to be first responders not on Sunday but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, all day Sunday. We need to mimic him. Let the world see theirs are better. And here's the scripture. Micah 6:8, the Bible says this, "He has shown you, oh mortal, what is good?

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. We are first responders. I'll close with this. I'm ready, guys. I know I'm like 2 minutes early. We're going to beat the Methodists. They're not eating all the white chicken today.

I'm getting a chicken breast. I had to I do public schools and I had to fly to Ohio. I'm going to be honest, I hate Ohio. When I landed, got in a rental car, got to the hotel. It's 11:30 at night. And I all I want to do is brush my teeth and go to bed.

And then I realize I'm out of toothpaste. So now I got to go to Walmart at midnight and get toothpaste. I don't know if you've ever been to Walmart after midnight. If you have, you know what I'm about to say. There's some freaks running around Walmart after midnight.

I don't know what happens after midnight. But I get my toothpaste. I go to selfch checkout. They close selfch checkout in Ohio. What is wrong with these people? So, I decided I get in line. There's only one lane open. There's a guy checking out. There's two ladies. Then there's me.

All of a sudden, it happens. I can hear a kid running. You can hear his feet. And he's like, "Move, move, move." And the lady right in front of me puts her heads down, shakes it, and I can hear her going, "Oh, Jesus, help me." This little boy about 8, nine, runs past me to the lady in front of me and he goes, "Mom, look, mom."

And it was October, so it was almost Halloween. He had a Halloween costume and he goes, "Mom, you got to get it. You got to get it. Mom, mom." And he goes, "I'm Batman." Batman. And it's the mom's turn. And I see her take a half a loaf of bread, milk, and cheese, put it on the belt.

She looks at the cashier and goes, "Can I have a second?" Casher went, "I'm here all night." She looked at me and I went, "No problem." This mom gets on both knees, pulls this little boy in and says, "Baby, I'm sorry. The bread and the cheese is for your lunch so your friends don't make fun of you cuz you don't have no food.

The milk is for your cereal before you go to school in the morning. I'm sorry. Maybe next year you could be Batman, but I just don't have it." And the little boy, I'm thinking he gonna have a meltdown. You know what he did? He took his right hand, wiped the tear off mom's cheek, and said, "Don't cry, Mom.

I know we poor." I just thought I'd try. Maybe next year I could wait, but don't ever forget. I'm Batman. The cashier said, "Give me the uniform. I'll take care of it later." She pays for her stuff. She's leaving. I put my toothpaste down. It's just a thought.

I just had a thought. Just boom. And I looked at the cashier and I went, I was trying to figure out what I was going to be this year. I'm going to be Batman. can you hand me that uniform right there? And this lady looked at me and went, sir, I don't think this is going to fit.

And I went, "Thank you." But then she caught herself and she went, "Shut up. Are you buying it for that boy?" I said, "You got to hurry. Put it in a separate bag." She goes, "Oh my goodness. How do you know them? Are you from their neighborhood?" I said, "Lady, I'm from Texas.

I hate Ohio." ((applause)) And she said, "Oh my goodness, this is crazy." I said, I said, "Okay, I paid for it." I said, "I got to go." She goes, "Uh-uh. I'm coming with you." I said, "What?" She goes, "I got to see this." Ain't nobody going nowhere. Look at these people.

So, I walk outside. I see the lady. I go, "Excuse me, ma'am." And when I got over, I said, "You forgot a bag." She goes, "I did?" And she looked in this guy and she started weeping. She started crying. And she looked up and goes, "Why'd you do this?"

I said, because your son, he's Batman. And then she said this. I'm pushing. I'm I got my son. I'm walking to the car and I said, "Jesus, if you still love me, if you still love me, help me find the money just so he could be Batman." First responders, >> that's who we are.

Did they get saved? Not my problem. Did they say the sinner's prayer? Not my problem. You know what my problem was? To come up four B dollars and buy that costume and get to the car before they leave so that she could know God still loves her. He does that.

He just drop stuff. Some of you, he just dropped me in here today so that you can know. Hey, look at me. If you're a sinner, here it is. You've been tagged with the red tag of sin. You've been tagged with addiction. You've been tagged with loss. You've been tagged with shame.

You've been tagged with the thoughts of what you've done. Here's the deal. Greater is he who's in you. It's got to be Jesus. You're going to have a chance right now to get right with God. Why? Cuz we are free chapel and we are tag changers. We are free chapel and we are first responders in Jesus' name.

Some of you are like, I'm not like you. I'm not strong enough. I got I got problems. I got No, no, no, no, no. You know what you got to do? You got to step over yesterday. >> You got to step over that. >> In the eyes of the world, I'm nothing but the son of a prostitute.

But that's why I don't look through their eyes. You can't stop the words that go here. Look at me. You'll hear everything that comes in. But you know what you get to choose? You get to choose what gets here. >> So, I'mma count to three. and every sinner in the house that needs to get right with God, you're going to slide out of your seat, come down, and we're going to pray for you.

I'm going to count the same number to three. And then guess what's going to happen? Those of you who've always wanted to be a first responder, always wanted to be a tag changer, but I'm this, I'm that. There's no more excuses. You are who he says you are, >> and you're a tag changer.

And if you need encouragement, you're going to come and I'm going to pray for you. So from right now from the back to the front, left to the right, all campuses, everybody stand. And I'm about I'm only counting to three one time. And if you one of those two, one, two, three, come as close as you can.

I don't care if you're way up in the bow. Get up here. Come on. It's time to change those tags. It's time. It's time to be that man, that woman of God. It's time. It's time. Now is the time. This is it. This is it. You cannot change your past, but you can change your future.

He's mercy is new every morning. Come on. Come on. Come on. His is time. It's time for you to respond. It's time for you to let him in. It's time for you to say yes to Jesus. It's time for you to say, "I'm in. I'm in." It's time for you to let him tag you.

It's time for you to let him change you. No more death. We're life today. No more hopeless. We're hopeful today. No more yesterday. We're living in today and tomorrow. Come on. Come on. Just sing one time. Keep coming. Then we're going to pray. Keep coming. Keep coming. Come on.

((music playing)) ((music playing)) You picked up all my pieces. >> One more time. Keep coming. Keep coming. Come on. Oh, ((applause)) you are. >> If I'm using this song as a reference, it says, "You picked up all my pieces." That's what he's doing. Number one, everybody look at me. Thanks for trusting me.

Thanks for trusting me. Thanks for responding. There's two prayers. One, Romans 10:9, salvation. So, y'all ready? But we're all doing it together. You know why? You know what the difference is from a sinner to a Christian? A Christian has a past. A sinner needs a future. And this prayer is where both of those collide.

All right? Y'all ready? You can close your eyes. You can leave your eyes open. If you're standing by somebody shady, leave your eyes open. All right. But let's do this together. Everybody say, "Jesus, >> you found me. >> You got me. >> You found me. >> I need you >> to cut the red tag.

I deserve to die. I deserve to die. I deserve to be lost. Touch me, Jesus. Forgive me, Jesus. Today's my day to choose you as my Lord, as my Savior. And in Jesus name I'm saved. I'm saved. In Jesus name I'm saved. Now everybody say this. Jesus I'm not on the sideline anymore.

I am you in human form. I am a first responder. I am a world changer. I'm a planet shaker. And it's one person at a time. Show me who I need to help change their tag. Show me that I have the ability to be your hand in this world.

I choose to be used by you in the next five days. Help me be a tag changer in Jesus name. Now, before we dismiss, everybody in the room, just raise both hands. We're going to do a corporate song prayer. What you just sang is perfect cuz he found us.

He picked up our pieces. He's putting us back together. So, come on, let's sing it together. >> Picked up all my pieces. Let me back together again. You are the defender of my heart. And upon my peace, put me back together. You are the defender of my >> When I thought I lost. >> And when I thought I lost, you knew where I live.

You re introduce me to all me back together. You are the Come on church we sing. Hallelujah. Say hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Can we just sing the chorus to that song? Just the voices. Just the voices. Can we sing that as one family >> you have saved me? >> That's somebody's testimony this morning. >> That life is so much better with Jesus.

Hallelujah. Crazy tender. ((music playing)) So much better. >> Now, church family, we can get excited about a ball game. We can get excited about raises and new opportunities, but can we get excited and make some noise for every single person who had their tag changed this morning? Oh, no. But we could do better than that.

There's some people that walked up here with a red tag and now they're walking with a yellow tag of grace and mercy. We serve an incredible God, don't we? An incredible God. Can we give it up for Uncle Reggie for that incredible message? Wow. A timely, timely message.

But I leave you with these two calls to action. The first one is if your tag was changed this morning, we don't want you to just run out of here and just say, "Cool, I heard another message." We want you to respond. And what we have is we have our altar team and our prayer team.

They have lanyards. They want to talk with you. They want to help you. They want to help you get to those next steps of going on this journey to now go from getting your tag changed to being a tag changer. Amen. And if you didn't come to this altar, but the message pricked your heart to say, you know what?

I want to be a first responder. I want the Lord to use me to change some tags. I want you guys to when we dismiss to head out to our connection booth and get involved, go through next steps. There's so many opportunities that you can serve and be a part of everything that God is doing in this house.

Amen. Now, we do want to thank the first responders who respond with your giving. We couldn't do any of the things that we do here at Free Chapel from helping our brothers and sisters in Israel and all the work we do globally and locally without you giving. So, if you want to give today, you can give online.

You can give through the H app or one of the giving stations out in the lobby. All right, Free Chapel Pastor will be back here next week. So, bring someone again. That person you bring may be the person who can get their tag changed next week when pastor gives an incredible message.

So raise your hand and receive the blessing and we'll dismiss. I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you that he will make his face shine upon you. I pray that he will be gracious unto you. I pray that he will lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace in Jesus mighty name.

Amen. Free chapel, we love you. We will see you next week. Have a blessed Sunday and a blessed week. What an incredible Sunday. What an incredible message from I would say Pastor Reggie, but Uncle Reggie. Uncle Reggie. Always good to have him in the house. And uh just as a reminder, he is headed soon uh to travel to FCY camp to be speaking them tonight.

So, keep him in prayer. Keep all those students and leaders in prayer. Uh so many good things uh great stories already coming out of camp and just seen some amazing things. So, uh, we're excited for that. Hey, you could find today's message on the Free Chapel YouTube and on the Free Chapel app.

I want to encourage you to download it because you can get daily devotions based on today's message. It's like that every single week. Those will help you grow in your faith. So, I want to challenge you to do that. We need a daily touch of mercy. I love that.

Micah 6:8, what does the Lord require of you? Act justly and love mercy. And so, be be somebody who loves mercy this week and receive the mercy of God. So, we want to let you know that you can uh you can let us know, hey, this is how we're responded to today's message.

Uh so, Michaela, tell you some prompts and we want to be in your corner to pray for you. >> Absolutely. If you have recently accepted Jesus or today, you decided to make that big decision. One, we just want to say welcome to the family. Heaven is celebrating with you right now.

We're celebrating you, but we want to know. So, you can go ahead and text the word yes to 510510. Or if you're in need of prayer, we don't want you doing life alone. And we have a team of people that would love to pray with you throughout the week.

So you can go ahead and text prayer to 510510. >> Absolutely. Well, happy Labor Day weekend. Make sure to follow Free Chapel and Jensen Franklin on social media. Interact with us during the week. We see you guys right back here next Sunday. Byebye. See you. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey.

((music playing)) Heat. Heat.