Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / No Record of Wrongs

Transcript

No Record of Wrongs · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: So glad to be with you all this morning.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just get set up here.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Happy to be here with all of you.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Good to see you.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Rick and I have had a really, really busy summer.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been here and there and uh, you know, ministering the word.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um we're just happy to be home.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's just good to come home.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's good to be with you guys.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um, like Matt was saying, this church, I feel like is a place where there's just so many expressions of God.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Each of us have a story, each of us expresses God in a beautiful way.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the lovely things about this church is we have different people that we can hear mellow this morning.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just hearing his way of expressing um God and our completeness in God is so, so encouraging.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, anyway, here I am.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: You've got me this morning.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: If I if I mess up, my husband is preaching next week and he'll clean it all up.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, just so you know.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um, the topic I have this morning is no record of wrongs.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And as you might guess, it's about forgiveness.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I only can preach about things that I'm struggling with and that God is helping me through.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is an area that I, especially in the last eight months, I've really come up against and have had to learn uh some deeper truths about.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna share with you some of the things that God has been showing me and has been a great encouragement to me.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope it blesses you as well.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just want to take a minute and just remind ourselves, remind me who the teacher is this morning.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit will speak to you, even maybe if I don't say anything, it might not even be something I'm saying, but the Holy Spirit can and will speak to you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's our teacher, he's our focus.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've been really thinking about the word astonishment.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, does that resonate with any of you?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: The astonishment of the gospel, the astonishment of what God has done for us.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It is mind-blowing if you think about it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think so many years I spent in church just kind of on this flat line.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And God did something so extraordinary that it's hard for our brains to take it in.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so this morning I wanna help us look with astonishment, maybe at some things we already know, but um maybe can look at with astonishment, and it might open our hearts for a bigger vista, a bigger view.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna start in um uh um the love chapter.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's um 1 Corinthians 13, where Paul is talking about love, and we know this is not ordinary, like human love.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is like astonishing love, right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is extraordinary, this is agape love, this is divine love, this is something that we do not have naturally, and it's only something that he gifts us with and that comes through us because of him, not because of anything we do.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So this scripture in 1 uh Corinthians 13, it comes from verse 5 and it's talking about love.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: It does not dishonor others, it's not self-seeking.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know that we're designed in a in a weird way?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our nervous system is designed to be self-seeking.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Your nervous system, and God created us this way.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your nervous system is designed to protect you, to keep you alive.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: It it has a threat detector that goes out and looks for anything that might be dangerous, and it and it warns you of it.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go near there, don't do that, you know, because it wants you to survive.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And without this divine life and love, you are kind of trapped in your own um self-protection, self-survival.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you've ever come across this, if you've ever just had a hard time forgiving.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, why is this so hard?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's the right thing to do, but I can't seem to do it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's like my whole body.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Lord, you made me like this.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like you made my nervous system.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And now I can't get past this self-protection help.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he does help us, which is which is astonishing, really.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So um what I saw in that is that forgiveness is a necessary part of love, of this divine Zoe life, um, eternal life.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: You you realize eternal life, it's not just a long time.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just about length, it's about the quality of the life.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: That eternal life is a there's a quality to it that we need right here, right now.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about, you know, later, you know, in the in the future.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's about right here, right now, I need that divine vitality to to even overcome my own nervous system.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's extraordinary.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: In the Bible, there are two um words in the Greek that are translated as forgiveness.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the first one is a feel means to send away.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So just to send away.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second one is karid zoomahi, and it means to show favor or kindness, and it can imply the forgiveness of debts.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then the noun verb, the noun um word in Greek for forgiveness is a thesis, and it's sometimes translated as remission.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: It means dismissal, pardon, or release.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So knowing this, I went to the Bible and I'm like, when did Jesus first start speaking about forgiveness?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, he spoke about it in the Sermon on the Mount.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, this is where he's pretty much taking the law to its highest demand.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So this is where he says, like, if you're angry at someone, you basically are like murdering.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, or if your eye causes you, gouge it out.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is Jesus teaching in the law system, and he's showing them how much the law it just can't be met.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's just too much to it, and in it, he teaches them how to pray.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: He gives them, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are debtors.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But then after that, he he gives this ultimatum almost.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's in Matthew 6, 14.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's very I feel like harsh.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: He says, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that should be enough to scare you into forgiving everybody because I want to be forgiven.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, when you look at that, you see a conditional forgiveness.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You see a transaction.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is where the Lord has been speaking to me personally is in my relationships.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Am I having a transactional love with these people?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Am I I'll love you as long as you love me back, or I'll like your Facebook post if you like my Facebook post.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of this transactional love.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And and in the old covenant, which Jesus is speaking to people who are under the old covenant, he's saying along their lines, if you do this, then I God in heaven will do that.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you skip ahead in the New Testament, a few uh books ahead in First John, you hear John, one of his disciples, writing this.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's found in 1 John 2, 12.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Mello was talking this morning in his class.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: The tenses, the tense of the verb is very important.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: John, first John is saying your sins have been forgiven.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: But here's Jesus over in the Sermon on the Mount saying, if you forgive everyone, then you'll get forgiven.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: What happened between these two places?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: What happened?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: The cross.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: He paid it exactly.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: He paid it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So what happened at the cross?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: We all know what happened at the cross, but I'm gonna ask you, give me five minutes, and I'm gonna just touch on a few things, but let's together look at what happened at the cross and be astonished by it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, whose sin did he forgive on this on the cross?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: My sin, your sin, everyone, the whole world.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist, when he went to uh baptize, Jesus said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the world, everybody's sin, not just the goodies, but the baddies, too, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um yes, behold the Lamb.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think one of the things we can look at is this divine exchange happened on the cross.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um He did some things.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me just say this.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: He took away the sins of the world, but it wasn't just, oh, your sins don't matter anymore.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: He bore those sins on his body.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: He paid a penalty.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a free, like, oh, sins don't matter.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was a bearing of the sin.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Every shame, every rejection, every addiction, every wrong thought, every mean-spirited comment, every um, you know, just everything was put on his body and he bore it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it says he did it for the joy set before him, which was his gift to you, to me, was like, I'm doing this so that you go free.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: He also on the cross, and this is just a couple things, but he fulfilled every law, he fulfilled the law, every prophecy that was spoken about him in the old covenant, he fulfilled it.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every law that was given to keep people in right standing, he did it.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Is that astonishing?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: He did all of that.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Our old self died with him, and he gave us new life.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: In the temple, you know, when he said on the cross, it's finished, in the temple, a four-inch thick veil split from top to bottom, signifying union.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when the um when the Israelites were were in the desert, and you know, God said, I want to dwell with my people, he they they made him this room, like this holy of holies room, so he could dwell with them.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when that, and and then the temple was also made in that picture as well.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when that split, when that veil split, that separation, that place that was too holy for anybody to go in except for one man.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he went in with a rope tied around his ankle.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So in case he died, no one had to go in after him.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: They could just pull him out.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's how separate he was.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus came to show us the heart of the Father.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: The heart of the Father didn't want to be in a room all by himself, he wanted to be a part of us, in us, working through us, loving us.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so this union happened.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's this other part where he's glorified, where he resurrects and sends the Holy Spirit to us.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, think about this.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Remember when Jesus um rose from the dead and Mary saw him in the garden?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Raboni, like she wanted to hold on to him.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Don't, don't hold on to me.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I still have another thing to do for you.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go to the Father.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be glorified so that I'm gonna send to you so that you'll be walking sons of God as well.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be full of me.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have access to everything that I've had access to.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is astonishing to me what happened on that cross, and I'm so thankful for it.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um but even before the cross, I noticed that Jesus was still going about and forgiving sins.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting that he was gonna die for all of us and he knew that?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: But in the meantime, he walked around forgiving people's sins.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: He forgave the paralytic, he forgave the woman caught in adultery, he forgave the woman who was anointing his feet, he he forgave the thief on the cross, but he even forgave the people who were killing him while he was in pain.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this has always been a sticking point with me with forgiveness is Lord, it's so much pain.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: How do I forgive when I'm feeling so much pain?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then I look at him in so much pain saying, Father, forgive them, but they don't know what they're doing, they don't know in their hearts what they're doing, and he keeps no record of their wrong.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's no transaction there.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the transaction is cancelled there, and and he's demonstrating to us what a non-transactional relational love is, what it looks like, how it is.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um he forgave people that didn't deserve it, didn't ask for it.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you think about what he said in the Sermon of the Mount, if you do this, then this will happen.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the paralyzed man, he didn't say anything.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was paralyzed.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't, um, he he could he couldn't have any part in his healing.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love that um Brett brought this out last week when he was speaking that you know being born again is actually translated born from above.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: A baby has no responsibility for its birthing.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the mother's body just does what the mother's body is supposed to do.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: The baby has nothing to do with it, it's just an effect.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the same with this paralyzed man.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: He did nothing, he confessed no sin.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: He he didn't not forgive or forgive other people, he did nothing.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, in fact, let's look at that um scripture in Matthew 9.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start in verse 2.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, then behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, be of good cheer.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Your sins are forgiven you.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And at once, some of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemes.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you have to think through their minds.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is actually the Son of God.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: He is fully God, fully man in one body.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: This has never happened in history.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: This was a one-of-a-kind, astonishing, incredible thing that had never happened.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: So these Pharisees are looking at this man and they're going, Who does he think he is?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he's gonna forgive sin?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how ridiculous is that?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, that's blasphemy, and he deserves to be killed, you know?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: No one should go around acting like they're God.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, he says to them, Why do you think such things?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what for which is easier to say to you, your sins are forgiven, or arise and walk?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I love this part.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is my favorite part.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, but that you may know the son of man has the power.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is the credibility.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Melo was talking about that this morning too.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is where he gives credibility for himself.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's establishing my authority.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have authority to forgive sins and watch, watch me confirm it.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says to the paralytic, arise, take up your bed, go to the house.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he arose and departed to his house.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So here's Jesus saying, I'm gonna do something really profound, but I'm showing you right now that I have the authority to do it, that I can speak to a man.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this is really our state: paralyzation.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna rise and they're gonna speak and they're gonna love in a way that is astonishing.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to interact with the world in a way that makes a difference.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um, anyway, I I I love that because Jesus didn't have to do that, but he did it to expose the root of man's problem.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's sin is at the root of the problem.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So in this paralyzed man, the root was the sin, and the fruit of it was paralyzation.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: He was really unable to do much.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: He was very kind of stuck, right?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when Jesus goes in and forgives that sin, it's it's like the medicine at the root that gives him cleanness, gives him peace, gives him wholeness.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then what happens?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: The root changes the fruit.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And now the man walks.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in a in a way, we're all like that.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're in our flesh, we're like a paralyzed human.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're not fully embodying the life that we've been given.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus goes to the root of that and gives it a clean slate.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, I grew up thinking whenever I sinned, God was mad at me and I would always feel bad, and I would confess and confess and confess.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, when he goes to the cross, he clears it.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know why?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you feel safe now to go out into a rough world rubbing against people and can make mistakes.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can make a mistake and he's with you.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can mess up and you can realize, oh my goodness, I didn't mean to do that.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no condemnation on you.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's a miracle.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's astonishing.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me, in this season, this like eight months of like kind of really looking at this in my life, I really felt no condemnation from God.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I would sometimes condemn myself, but to me, it was a sign of growth in my own life.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That I didn't go to condemnation over it.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a freedom for me to be a child and learn, for me to be and recognize my own paralyzation and get up and walk because he would help me.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have this idea that every time you do something wrong, he's mad.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're not gonna, you're not gonna make a mistake.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna just be uh, you know, just trying so hard not to displease him.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: So this paralyzed man was able to walk now.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: The the woman caught in adultery, she was empowered to go and sin no more.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: The definition of sin, I've heard I'm sure you know this.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: The the Greek word is hamartea.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the definition that I think we hear the most is to miss the mark.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: But there's this other word and our other definition that means to be without a share in.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that was really interesting to be without a share in.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking a lot about eternal life and what that means.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that we've been given eternal life here and now, that you know, when our body lays down, we're still alive, we're still growing.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's this um life, it's this vitality, it's this energy, it's this experience that gives us power to navigate this world.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: You see it in the Gospels, in Jesus' relationship with his Father, it's a it's a one-of-a-kind life that they shared between each other.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was unlike anything else in the cosmos.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if eternal life is being a living expression and participating in this abounding relationship, then sin is easily defined as standing apart from that, outside of that um vibrant life.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not on God's part, it's on our part choosing to stand outside.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've been really resonating with the parable of uh uh the um lost son, the prodigal son, but I've been resonating with the elder son, just so you know.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um, and we know, like I think we have a ten, I have a tendency to like he's the self-righteous one, and nobody wants to be like him.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And but I'm like, Lord, I'm like him, you know.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you're being too nice to these people, and I want you to be nice to only me all the time and like forget them.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I I was in this um Bible study uh um before the summer was over, and uh I I had I heard something that really, really blessed me.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that is, well, you know the story of the prodigal son, the younger one goes out and wastes everything, and the and the older, and then he comes back and the father welcomes him back and wants to throw him a party, and the older son's out in the field working, and like, what's going on?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like this guy who did all these bad wrong things is like getting a party.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I stayed home, I've worked hard, I've done all the right things, and you're gonna celebrate him?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: In Luke 15, 28.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this verse is talking about the elder son, but he was angry and he would not go in.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, his father came out and pleaded with him.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in your human flesh, can't I see his point?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: I see it.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I see why he's upset.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: I see why it doesn't seem fair.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like the parable of like Jesus or or the the boss paying the guy, the people who worked all day, and then the people who work just an hour get the same.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, like that is not right.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: But what I love about this is the position of the father with that elder son, pleading with him, taking the time to explain to him, son, this is my heart.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: I am not a transactional father, I am not weighing and measuring and holding scales.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: I am for my children.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: You actually see this in the book of Jonah, when Jonah went and had to preach to the Ninevehes, and then God was all-merciful to those meanies and baddies.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And and you look at the end of that story.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: The father is outside with Jonah, with the one who couldn't see.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's not fair.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't get it.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: And with patience and with persistence, in fact, the story ends both in Jonah and with the prodigal, or at the end of that story, with the father outside with the son.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: It never shows him walking away from the older son, saying, You're, you know, you're not thinking right, you should be ashamed of yourself.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's with that elder son.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: That is really good news for me.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's really astonishing news for me that he is not frustrated with my slow growth.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's not angry that, you know, I have some things to work through in this life.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even Jesus, you know, when he was found, when he was young, like 12, and he was in the temple and his parents found him.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Even after that, it says, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're growing, right?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's safe to grow.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it's safe to say, like, you know what?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I struggle.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: I struggle with um unforgiveness at times.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: I struggle with things.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I get triggered.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: I get my feelings get hurt like this.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a that's not where I'm gonna land, that's not where I'm gonna stay.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord has patience with me and he's walking me through it.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that to me is astonishing, is good, good news.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna be okay, that I'm gonna make it to a growing.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna, I'm gonna make it because I have the one.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that song we sang this morning.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: He is for you.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: He is for you.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: He is for me.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: If that if there's one thing we want to tell the world, it's that God is for you.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: He wants your healing, he wants your wholeness.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about where you go at the end of this realm.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're actually living eternal life right now.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't waste it, don't forget about it.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he says to his his son, he says, Son, you are always with me.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ever have trouble believing that?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's the truth.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: He will always be with you, even on your dark days, even on your great days, he is always for you.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And all that I have is yours.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're complete.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're complete.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that you ever would need is in you in Christ.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Our soul is just getting aware of that.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is complete in your spirit, and our soul, our mind, emotion, and our will is like learning it, is like getting it, is being convinced of it, is being aware of it.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: All that I have is yours.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: What an astonishing gift that the God of the universe, the one who made everything, would give us everything he has, everything, so that we might do what he did.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: That we might be an aroma, a sweet aroma to the world around us that is hurting and is in pain and is struggling too.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: He says it was right that we should make merry and be glad.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: For your brother was dead and is alive again.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was lost and is found.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that party that they were having, that party um to celebrate the young son, that's eternal life.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's the party.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's our party.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to stand outside the party.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the father will come out and convince you to come into the party, your inheritance, what you were born to carry.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: He will bring you into that and say, This is what you were created for.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: A big party.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: An astonishing party.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'll finish with this um verse from Romans.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh Romans four, seven uh through eight.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it just says, Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned, whose sins uh happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's no record.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's no record of mine, and there's no record of yours.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I get invited into that.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's an invitation.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Come, Judy, keep no record of Rick's wrongs.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Keep no record of your friends' wrongs, keep no record of your family's wrongs, keep no record of it.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I can't do that in my flesh, honestly.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I can't.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: But hey, in me and my mind being renewed and reminded.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we come together, right?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Face to face to hear and be reminded, have the good news preached to our souls so that we can be reminded of what we truly carry and how astonishing it is, and that we walk out of here with a light, with a vital life that um can change the world.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do you agree?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna finish here and I'm gonna ask you all to stand and I'm gonna pray for us.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your time this morning.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for um giving me your ear, and um I appreciate all of you.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: I did want to say a special welcome to some friends of ours.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Landon and Rochelle are here in the third row.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: They are from our, oh, give them a clause.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: They are from our friend Chris Page's church in Kentucky, and they've just relocated to Winter Garden, which is where Rick and I live.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, we're just so happy that you came this morning, and I just want you to feel welcome.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody, welcome them and say hi to them.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Father, you are astonishing.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: You are amazing, and you love us with such patience, such kindness, such persistence and devotion.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: And there is no place we can go that is too far for you to go.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's no hurt inside of us that is too deep that you can't minister to.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing, Lord, that turns you away from your children.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Whether they're the younger, whether they're the older, they're loved.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're loved by you, and we have someone extraordinary for us day in, day out.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: You are for us.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray this, I'm and I pray a blessing.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: We sang a blessing, I pray a blessing over everyone within the sound of my voice, and everyone who might listen later.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just pray a supernatural blessing.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: May we go out with astonished eyes and look for you in the world around us.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray in Jesus' name, amen.