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#14822 - The Heart That Seeks The Broken - Galatians 6:1 & James 5:19-20 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Galatians
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chapter 6 and James chapter 5. We're going to start in
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Galatians 6 and we're going to land in James chapter 5.
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And I've entitled our Bible study, The Heart that Seeks the
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Broken. And I want to begin our Bible
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study with a question. You don't need to answer it but
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out loud, but you can answer it internally because we have to
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start somewhere. And I, I think the best starting
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point for our Bible study today is this question.
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You ready? Do you have a heart for those
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that are broken? Do you have a heart for those
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that are broken? Everything begins with the
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heart. The heart of the matter, it's
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been said, is always a matter of the heart and among us in the
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church and throughout the world in which we live, there are
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those that are wandering and have strayed away from God's
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will for their lives. We learn in Galatians chapter 6
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in our study last time. Notice with me in verse one,
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Paul is addressing the church and he says, brethren, if a man
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is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore
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such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering
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yourself, lest you also be tempted.
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Let me read that to you if from the New Living Translation they
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translate it this way. Dear brothers and sisters, if
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any, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who
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are godly should gently and humbly help that person back
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onto the right track and be careful not to fall into the
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same temptation as yourself. Today we're going to learn that
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it's a good thing, that it's a great thing for those of us in
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the church, those of us here at Calvary, to go out and bring the
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strays back home, to have a heart for those that are broken,
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to have a heart for those that have wandered away.
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And it really starts within the church you think of as you're
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sitting here today, the the empty chairs that are scattered
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among us. You know, the empty chairs that
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are scattered among us are not just because we aren't
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evangelistic, because we are very evangelistic.
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And it's not just because there is a certain football team
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playing right now. During this time, some of those
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empty chairs were filled by believers that are no longer
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walking with the Lord. They're filled with, they were
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filled with believers who were once passionate and pressing in.
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Some your daughters, some your sons, some your mom's and dads
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and your friends and your coworkers.
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They were once vibrantly following God and now they're
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not Why? Because they've strayed away.
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They've wandered away. You know, the Bible describes
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Christians as sheep. That's one of the descriptions
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that God uses to describe us. There's a lot of great qualities
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among sheep that are good to reflect on for us as believers,
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but there's a few negative qualities that sheep have that
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are not so beautiful as they describe us.
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And one of them is sheep are prone to wander.
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There's always one or two sheep that want to wander away, want
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to do their own thing, want to butt heads with other sheep, and
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that's just the way it is. Let me ask you another question.
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Not only do you have a heart for the broken, but here's a second
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question. What kind of church do you want
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to be? What what kind of church do you
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want to be a part of? I mean, this is your church.
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This is the church you've committed to.
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This is a church where your family, you're raising your
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family, where you're worshiping, where you're growing.
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This is a church where I've committed to.
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This is where I've raised my family into adulthood, where
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I've chosen, and I believe God has chosen for me to exercise my
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gifts here. This is our church.
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So what kind of church do you want to be, especially as it
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relates to those that have fallen away, especially to those
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that are prodigals, especially to those that are hyper
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resistant to the things of God today?
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Do we want to be well? Do we want to be a critical
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condemning, fault finding, judgmental group of Christians?
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I mean, sometimes that's just the way it is.
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But do you want that? I mean, Can you imagine with our
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Christmas invites here, we have all come here Christmas at
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Calvary and on the back join us. We're the most hyper critical
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condemning, finger pointing mean people and all of Aurora, you
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yippee come and worship with us. No, nobody puts that on their
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invite cards. Nobody would ever come.
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I don't even know that there would be people here today that
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would say that's the kind of church I want to be.
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But at times, that's exactly the kind of church that we become
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when we're not walking in the Spirit, especially to those that
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have fallen away, typically the people you're thinking of.
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And I hope by now the topic that we're talking about, I hope by
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now names are coming to your mind and faces because these are
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real people. These are people that are close
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to you, people you know personally, people you do life
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with, people that are super close being in your family.
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Like we're not talking about nameless people here.
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We're not talking about massive crowds here.
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We're talking about 1 by 1. And usually if they were here
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and they're not here anymore, that is a very painful
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experience for you. And you're hurt by it, rightly
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so. But you know what happens with
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pain if you're not careful? Hurting people hurt people, and
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typically hurting people have a tendency to hurt the people that
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hurt them. Are you guys with me?
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Don't lose, Don't let me, don't, don't let me lose you on this.
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Hurting people usually hurt the people that hurt them.
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And that's just not God's heart for us.
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We don't want to be a critical, condemning, fault finding,
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judgmental, sin sniffing church that we don't consider ourselves
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in the whole matter. No, we want to be a grace
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filled, merciful, forgiving, loving, covering, encouraging
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flock. Don't misunderstand me.
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That doesn't mean we abandoned truth and it doesn't mean we
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don't deal with the difficulties.
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The question is how, and it starts with the heart.
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The question is how do we step in?
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You know, as you study through the Bible, as you as a born
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again believer, God is working in your life.
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It's not all dependent on you and me like you know, it's the
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more you study, the more you become like Christ, like no, the
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Holy Spirit's working in your life and he is conforming you
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and me into the image of Christ. He's giving us the mind of
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Christ. And one of the things, whether
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you recognize it or not, whether you see it yet or not, one of
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the things that's happening is the heart of Jesus is becoming
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your heart. It's a fascinating thing.
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Like you may have a background where you were very unkind as an
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unbeliever, you know, before you started following Jesus, but now
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you're different. And it's not just because you
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made some behavior changes. It's because God is in you
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giving you the fruit of the Spirit, kindness and gentleness.
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People actually trip out on it. They're like, what happened to
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you? Well, you know, I go to church.
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No, no, church can't do like going to church doesn't make
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that kind of change. Well, what I mean is God lives
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in me. I'm born again.
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I'm a new creation in Christ that I have changed.
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It's real. I'm not just trying to change my
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behavior around you. I'm not just biting my tongue.
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I am living a full life where Christ is in me, the hope of
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glory. And one of the things in
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particular that God has given you that you need to pay
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attention to and nurture and grow and feed, is this you
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ready? God is giving you a heart to
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seek and save the lost. It's brand new, a heart to seek
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and to save the lost. That's what Jesus said in Luke
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chapter 19. This is what he says, verse 9.
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And Jesus said to him today, salvation has come to this house
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because he's also a son of Abraham.
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For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was
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lost. And James, the half brother of
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Jesus, who now turned to James chapter 5.
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James, the author of this letter, he understood this.
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He learned it not only, I believe, growing up with Jesus,
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but also through the ministry of Jesus.
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And notice with me in verse 19 of chapter 5, James says,
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brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and
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someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a Sinner
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from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover
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a multitude of sins. If anyone among you wanders,
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notice who he's talking to in verse 19, he says, brethren, so
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he's addressing Christians. He's addressing us today, the
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Holy Spirit saying if anyone among you wanders, you know what
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that tells me? Anyone among us can wander.
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We can't look down at someone that's fallen, that's caved into
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some temptation, been trapped by some sin, and they're in a
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backslidden state right now. We can't look down on them as if
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that will never happen to me. You can't say that you're in
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anyone. You're in anyone.
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I'm in anyone, given the right circumstances, a weak moment, a
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perfectly time temptation, every single one of us can make a
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really bad decision that we'll regret in sin.
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Any one of us can wander. That's what he says.
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Anyone among you wanders from the truth.
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And then he says in verse 19 and someone turns them back.
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So all of us are anyone and all of us can be someone.
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We can help bring people back to the truth.
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We can help bring people back to the Lord, back to the Father.
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And that's what we're going to learn today.
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We're going to learn not only not only do people wander, but
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we can also help the wandering come home.
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Now, straying or falling into sin or backsliding happens for a
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lot of reasons. If you're taking notes, I'll
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give you a few. Happens for a lot of reasons.
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First of all, most people backslide for this reason,
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deliberate rebellion. They make this decision.
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I don't want to follow God anymore.
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I want to do my own thing. I want to go back into sin.
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I want to God. I don't like the restrictions.
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I don't whatever. It's deliberate rebellion, and
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that happens very often, but that's not the singular purpose.
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But it is the most popular one #2 falling and backsliding can
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also happen from external pressures and forces.
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You hear this all the time. I'll warn you as a pastor and as
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a friend, as a fellow brother, over and over and over and over
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again until the Lord comes back. I'll warn you, evil company
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corrupts good habits. That's what the Bible says.
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And so you need to be careful with who you spend your time
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with. Now, of course, that can relate
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to your friends and the connections for sure that you
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know your friend group, the peer pressure you get from your
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friend group, absolutely. But with the invention of social
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media, you have a whole new level of pressure in your life,
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of influence, in your life of computerized.
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I almost demonically inspired computerized algorithms trying
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to change your mind. And if you think it's not real,
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you are deliberately closing your eyes to the reality.
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And sometimes it's just these external forces that doesn't
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take your responsibility away. But if you're going in the wrong
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direction, hanging with the wrong people, what do you
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think's going to happen? Wrong things.
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The third thing I see people fall away and stray away is a
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temptation or a snare. A trap.
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I mean, I think of traps like nobody walks into a trap
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willingly. That's why it's a trap.
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Nobody sees a trap and go, oh, I think I'll have my foot cut off.
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Let me go check that trap out. Nobody does that.
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An animal doesn't do that. How does an animal get trapped?
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It's the bait. It's the bait.
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No, no fish wakes up in the morning going I hope I get eaten
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today. But they see something that's
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shiny and they see a little bait and boom, it's the end of their
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life. And that's how believers they
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just get the bait. You, you're, you're deceived.
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You see something you, you maybe have a past with addiction and
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you just you believe a lie. And the lie with addiction is I
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can't live without it. You can live without it.
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You can live a much better life without your past addictions.
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Let me tell you, it's absolutely true.
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But if you believe the lie, you'll go back to the bar when
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things hurt. When you believe the lie, you'll
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pull out the weed when things get strong, like when you
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believe lies, you're going to live a life apart from God.
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You're going to live a life that goes away from God.
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And that would be a backslidden life.
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For those that were raised in the church environment, you'll
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remember there was a hymn. Many of you have have memorized
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it, but for some of you might be the first time you're hearing
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this beautiful song that's been sung by Christians for a couple
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100 years and it goes like this. Come thou fount of every
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blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.
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Streams of mercy never ceasing calls for songs of loudest
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praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet
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sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
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it. Mount of thy redeeming love.
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If that was the only part of the song, Isn't that beautiful?
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It's so good your eyes are up on the Oh, I'm going to sing
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loudest. Praise flaming tongues redeeming
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love. But the song goes on, And here's
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the next stanza. O to grace, How great a debtor
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daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter
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bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
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it. Prone to leave the God I love,
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Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts
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above. Such a beautiful song, Admitting
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our own weaknesses and crying out to God to help us.
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It's interesting. I received an e-mail just
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recently and before as I was reviewing the notes for this
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weekend and the person's describing their family and
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someone that used to come to church here and they're not here
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anymore. It's exactly what we're talking
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about today. And the way they described it is
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life happens. That's how she described it.
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Life happens and this person she loves very dearly doesn't walk
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with the Lord anymore, isn't pressing in for the things of
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God because life happens. And I think that's just a
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fitting way to describe all of the different ways that the
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spiritual warfare in our lives, just getting our eyes off God
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away from the Lord. Like we're not reading the Bible
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every day, we're not praying every day, we're not loving our
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spouse, we're not living a single life that's pure and
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holy. All these things and more.
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You have your own story, some of you.
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We're so glad you're back. But maybe you're on the radio
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right now and you're kind of thinking about it.
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You're watching online, clicking through YouTube, and you're down
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this rabbit hole. Christianity, and it's a great
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place to be, but you got to come home.
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You got to be real with the situation, the way it way it is.
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I hope you have a heart for the lost church.
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It's the heart of Jesus. This is what God is fashioning
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in you. It's everywhere in His ministry
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and life. As real as it is for someone to
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wander away, it's equally or more real that God has a heart
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to restore them and to see them return and that His heart
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becomes our heart. Jot it down.
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Matthew Chapter 9 verse 36. It says when Jesus saw the
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multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them because they
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were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.
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Turn over, would you to Luke chapter 15.
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Now when Jesus sees the crowd, what he sees is their weariness.
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What he sees is how they're scattered.
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What he sees is how they're separate from the shepherd.
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And then in Luke 15, I pulled this out this morning for my
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DeVos because I knew I'd be using it.
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And as I was rereading it, I'm like, oh, the way Luke 15 starts
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is so beautiful. It is the heart of our Savior,
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His heart, our heart. Notice in Luke 15 how the
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chapter begins. Then all the tax collectors and
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sinners drew near to him to hear him.
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And the Pharisees in the scribe murmured, saying, this man
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received sinners and eats with them.
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So get the scene. This is one of the high points
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in the teaching of Jesus. Luke 15.
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It's all about that which was lost being found, parables about
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the Kingdom. And when the Kingdom invades
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reality, when the Kingdom invades the earth, something
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happens. And one of the things that
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happens is those that are lost are found.
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Aren't you grateful that you are lost and now you're found?
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I mean, that's your testimony. And whether you were born into a
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Christian home or you got saved later in life like I did, it
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doesn't matter. We were all lost and the Lord
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found us. There's a lot of talk about us
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finding the Lord. It's more important to be found
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by the Lord and to be a part of His family, born again.
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And you see, when Jesus is about to teach this epic chapter, he
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teaches about a sheep that was lost.
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He came back and they rejoiced. They found him.
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He talks about a coin that was lost and it was found and there
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was rejoicing. And of course, he taught in Luke
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15 about the Son, the prodigal son, like your prodigal son and
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your prodigal daughter. Jesus taught us that the son was
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lost. He was dead, but now he's alive
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because he came home to the Father.
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Who did he teach this to? The sinners and the tax
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collectors. They weren't the only sinners
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there. You know, the Pharisees sinners
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were there and the scribe sinners were there.
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But I love how he was accused of being friends with sinners.
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You want to know why he was accused?
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That was actually an accurate statement.
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Wasn't actually a accusation. It was the facts.
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Why was he such a friend to sinners?
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And why was he such a friend to those that were outcasting on
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the fringe of society and and completely neglected by the
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religious elite of the day? You want to know why?
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Because he came to seek and to save the lost.
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This is fundamental. This is a fundamental principle
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for every single Christian that's hearing me.
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Do you have a heart for those that are broken, those that have
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wandered away, those that have hurt you, those that have hurt
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you through their bad decisions, the challenges that you face in
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Luke 15, seven it says, I say to you that likewise there will be
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more joy in heaven over 1 Sinner who repents than over 99 just
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persons who need no repentance. There is joy in the restoration
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work of the Holy Spirit in people's lives.
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Now come back with James as we wind down James chapter 5 want
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you to keep this in mind. The truth that people stray and
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the truth that God wants them to be restored.
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Notice again what James says. Brethren, if anyone among you
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wanders from the truth, we've already learned, all of us or
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anyone, all of us or anyone, anyone can wander away.
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But there are particular any ones that are connected to your
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life. There are people that God has
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put very close to you. You've born in a family, you
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have neighbors, you have coworkers, you have people that
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you see when you go shopping regularly.
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Like there's always people around us.
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There are people that were in this church that are no longer
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in this church that you used to break bread with and that you
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used to fellowship with. I mean, anytime I teach on this
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topic, I can't help but think in my own life being in the same
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place. Longevity in a church is a very
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good thing. It's a very beautiful thing
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because you watch the life cycle of a church all the way through
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the UPS and the downs, the easy times and the hard times.
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And one of the hardest times that I've experienced in our
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church life here now coming up on 26 years.
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So I've been here for 26 years. I was here from the very first
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day of this church all the way on until the Lord takes me home.
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One of the things I've noticed in the 26 years is how many
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people are not here anymore. I notice it.
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I have a list of people that I pray for.
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I wish I could say daily. It's not daily, but at least
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weekly. I think of those.
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I mean, these are people that I did ministry with.
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These are people that I was on mission trips with.
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These are people that I'd be downstairs on a Thanksgiving
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meal hearing their testimony. These are people that I would
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walk through and pray as they battle and defeat cancer or we
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do their memorial or we I officiated their wedding.
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I mean, there are people, real people, people.
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I'm part of their lives, part of the life of the church that are
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no longer walking with the Lord. And I remember not too many
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years ago, I pulled that list out like I did regularly and I
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was just so discouraged. I probably was already
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discouraged and it just put me over the edge.
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And I'm looking at the names and I'm thinking of some of the
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stories and I'm thinking of some of these guys are like, you
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know, they're full blown atheist now they say, and they're just
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anti God and anti church and anti Calvary and anti everything
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that represents the love of God through the life of this church.
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And I was just so bummed down. I just so heard over it all.
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It's like it's just wrong. Lord, you pour your life into
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people and they just turn their back.
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And I kind of felt like Elijah, you know, everybody's against me
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and God just says no, but it's just slow your roll a little
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bit. Ed.
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I have a lot of people reserved. You're not alone.
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This is normal. This is the same mindset that
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put Jesus on a cross. But at the same time I was
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reading, I don't remember if it was a book or it was a sermon
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because I like to read sermons from Pastor Greg Glory.
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And you know, Pastor Greg Glory was a part of the last big
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revival as we wait for new revival, this last big revival
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that started with the hippies, with the Jesus Revolution.
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And and he was writing either in the sermon or in the book about
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how long he's got double the time I have in ministry.
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So he has double the amount and serving far more people than
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I've ever served. And he was writing just a little
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paragraph of how discouraging it was for him to think of all the
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people he started out with that are no longer walking with the
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Lord. And you're like, at least you're
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not alone. This is very serious stuff
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because these are the people that are close to you, far
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closer to you than they are to me because these are your
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family. These are your friends.
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You think of the person you invited to church, then they got
24:51
saved and then look what happened.
24:52
They were doing Bible study with you and singing and then all of
24:55
a sudden they're right back in the world again.
24:59
Don't over look. You know, you read something
25:02
really quickly in verse 19. If anyone among you don't read
25:06
over the word anyone, because you and I are anyone's and it
25:14
can happen to any of us. However, he says, if anyone
25:19
among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let
25:23
him know that he who turns a Sinner from the error of his
25:25
ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
25:29
That's encouraging, but but I also want you to see not only
25:33
can we all be anyone, but all of us can also be someone.
25:38
Some of you today will, as a result of God using this Bible
25:43
study, some of you today will send that text message.
25:46
Finally, you'll reach out. Some of you will make the phone
25:49
call. Some of you may have to go back
25:52
to that back bedroom in your house and knock on the door
25:55
where your son or daughter lives and just try to open up the
25:58
avenue for discussion. Again, as God changes your
26:02
heart, some of you are going to speak to your unbelieving spouse
26:05
or your backslidden spouse. It's important that you become
26:11
someone where we're agents of grace in our community, not
26:16
hyper judgmental. Look at you, look what you did,
26:20
look how you hurt our family, but just ask the Lord to soften
26:25
your heart so you can have a heart to help in the restoration
26:28
process. I also want you to notice that
26:33
if someone wanders away from the truth, what we typically would
26:36
call backsliding, I want you to notice it's a sin.
26:39
Backsliding is nothing to like wear as a badge and to be happy
26:43
about it. Wandering away from the truth,
26:45
you're when you turn someone that wanders away from the
26:47
truth, you're turning a Sinner back.
26:51
You're it's a it's a gross sin. I know a lot of sins get
26:54
attention, gossip and lying, and those are obvious ones, but so
26:57
is backsliding. Backsliding is living in a
27:00
perpetual state of sin and we should care about that.
27:05
We should truly care about those that have chosen to live such a
27:09
difficult, hard life. Now again, I don't want to
27:13
develop this, but I do need to mention it in this in the
27:16
context of this passage because I can't develop it in full.
27:20
I've done it in different Bible studies, but people will argue
27:23
about and make a big deal about whether a believer can backslide
27:26
or not. We learn in Hebrews that
27:28
backsliding is real. It's a Bible word, but people
27:31
still like to argue about it. They also like to argue about
27:34
whether a person saved or not saved.
27:36
And if a believer backslides, do they lose their salvation?
27:39
I've taught you guys, and I'll continue to teach you.
27:42
Pay attention to what nonsensical things Christians
27:45
argue about because there's usually a very important truth
27:48
behind the argument. Because it's much easier to
27:51
argue. Instead of go talk to a person
27:53
that's backslidden, why don't we just argue about it?
27:55
And we'll just post everything online and we'll just write it
27:57
all out. And we can be really good
27:59
posters on Facebook and never reach a person that's lost.
28:04
And you have to choose how you want to live your life.
28:06
And so people are arguing about this.
28:08
And, you know, if you want to argue about those things, I
28:10
don't, I don't really have time to do that.
28:12
And I don't know how you have time to do that.
28:15
But I do want to give you the truth behind the argument.
28:17
You ready? There is a person that needs to
28:20
be in a right relationship with Jesus.
28:22
And whether they're, you know, unsaved, saved, I don't know.
28:26
I'm going to treat him the same way, like Jesus loves them and
28:31
wants to see them in a right relationship.
28:34
And I realized I may not be the vessel, I may not be the vessel,
28:37
but I'm going to pray that the Lord will do a work in their
28:40
lives. And if he wants to use me, I'm
28:41
willing to be used. And so as you look at this, I
28:45
just think James is being more practical here than theological.
28:50
Just you see somebody wandering away, go after them, reach out
28:54
to them. Certainly, if you're still
28:57
unconvinced, certainly followers of God wander away from the
29:03
truth. That is not debatable.
29:07
That that that's not even anybody wants to argue about
29:10
that. I have zero time for that
29:12
because it's obvious. I'll give you a few examples.
29:16
Abraham was a passionate lover of God, but he made some serious
29:22
serious sinful mistakes in his life.
29:26
One being how he oversaw his home and how he loved his wife.
29:29
We have at least 2 episodes recorded for us in the Bible of
29:33
a very unloving way he treated his wife.
29:37
But he recovered Moses. Moses a very passionate God
29:42
follower, but Moses took things into his own hands and killed a
29:47
guy. I would say that's wandering
29:49
from the truth, don't you? He wandered away.
29:52
So many errors in Moses life. He runs away from God, resist
29:58
the call of God on his life and what does God do?
30:01
Recommissions him, brings him back.
30:04
I think of David. David committed adultery.
30:08
I would say that adultery is a backslidden state for anyone
30:13
listening today. Adultery is not from the Lord.
30:16
Any sexual sin, not from the Lord, adultery, fornication,
30:20
pornography, all that. None of that is from God.
30:23
Nobody can say that's from God. That was not inspired by God,
30:27
not you weren't led by the Spirit to do that.
30:29
That is not from God at all. David was in a season where he
30:33
wasn't following God. He also murdered and lied.
30:40
And yet as far from God he was, he still came back.
30:47
At this point, you think, well, Ed, if I can still come back,
30:51
then what's the, what's the difference?
30:54
Who cares? Like I might as well just sin.
30:55
If I can come back, then you just, you just misunderstand the
30:59
heart of God. Do you, do you really think it's
31:00
OK to hurt the heart of God? I mean, do you really think
31:03
that's fine because there's always consequences with sin?
31:08
Paul asked that question, Shall we continue in sin?
31:10
That grace may abound in Romans. And what does he say?
31:13
Certainly not. So learning from the failures of
31:16
people's lives is not permission, it's warning, It's
31:20
not a permission to sin. It's God's intent to prevent you
31:24
from sin and all the consequences.
31:26
I could tell you as a pastor, I wish sometimes I could help
31:30
people with their consequences. I really wish.
31:33
Like I, I really think I'm more compassionate at God then I can
31:36
just jump in and help them with the consequences of their sin.
31:39
But but I can't, I can just help heal and I can help you get your
31:44
eyes back on the Lord. But I can't undo.
31:46
When I was raising my kids as A at a young age, I was taught I
31:49
would always tell them, don't do something you can't undo.
31:54
Make wise choices. And I tell that to you as just a
31:59
brother and the Lord, don't do something that you can't undo.
32:03
It's like, well, you know, it's grace.
32:05
It's grace. No, it's foolishness.
32:08
And even today, you're on the other side.
32:10
You go, Ed, it's too late for me.
32:11
I did do something I can't undo. Oh, no, no, no.
32:14
It's not too late for you. You have certainly made things
32:17
harder, for sure. But you can come back to the
32:21
Lord. You can come back with all the
32:24
baggage and all the burdens and the Lord, he'll help you.
32:27
I think of Peter. Peter, he walked away from
32:32
Jesus. He didn't just walk away.
32:35
He denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times.
32:43
I don't want you to get in your mind a denial.
32:45
Kind of like what you and I might experience from time to
32:48
time where somebody asks if we're a Christian or something
32:50
and we just embarrassed, or we don't have enough boldness in
32:53
the moment and we just pass on the opportunity like that.
32:57
That's a form of denial. But that's not what Peter was
32:59
doing here. Peter purposely abandoned his
33:04
best friend in the worst time of his life.
33:10
I don't know the man, I don't know him, I don't have anything
33:14
to do with him. And what happens with Peter?
33:20
Jesus meets him, has a heart for him.
33:25
Re enlist them in ministry. Go take care of my sheep, Peter,
33:31
go. I'm glad you're back.
33:35
So let's agree. Let's agree that the Lord is
33:40
calling us to be a tool in His hands to help those that have
33:44
strayed. Let's agree that God is calling
33:48
us to be a tool to help those that have fallen, those that are
33:52
backslidden. Just take the arguments you may
33:55
have in your mind right now. Just set them aside so you can
33:57
be a human being, reaching another human being and asking
34:01
them to get back right with the Lord, checking in on their life,
34:04
seeing if perhaps God might use you in their lives.
34:08
Seeing if that chair next to you might be filled with a
34:10
backslidden Christian that came home to his father.
34:13
That's what happened, the prodigal son, right?
34:15
What happened with the prodigal son is all these circumstances
34:18
happen in his life and he finally came to his senses.
34:23
And so in our final moments today, I want to give you 5
34:25
things that will help you. 5 practical things.
34:29
Because if I have convinced you, and I hope I have, that not only
34:33
do people stray away, but that God wants to use you, then the
34:36
question remains, how? How?
34:38
So let me give you 5 things. There's a probably 150 things,
34:42
but let me give you 5 of them just so you can start thinking
34:45
about them and seeing how God might use you #1 #1 How do we
34:49
help those that have backslidden, fallen away?
34:51
How do we reach the loss number one, we pray for them.
34:54
We pray for them. Let's not minimize, let's not
34:57
just look, overlook a very powerful weapon, a powerful
35:01
weapon of prey. We should be praying for those
35:02
that are struggling and praying for those that are straying.
35:06
We need to ask God to move upon their hearts, to get behind the
35:11
sin, to get behind the rebellion, to do what only God
35:15
can do. Like we can talk to the person,
35:18
but God can deal with their hearts.
35:20
And we need to pray for God to do what only He can do.
35:23
And we also need to pray that God can do through us what He
35:26
wants to do. We need to ask God to speak to
35:29
them and to order like the prodigal son to order things in
35:32
their life to Maze to cause them to cry out.
35:36
And remember the there was a famine.
35:37
He lost all his money, his friends abandoned him, and then
35:40
there was a famine. Then he got a job feeding pigs
35:43
and it brought him to the end of himself.
35:44
Pray, create a list, bring it out every week or so and just
35:50
start praying for people by name and just let the Spirit of God
35:53
lead you. It might discourage you, but
35:56
you'll get through it. He's like, oh, Lord, but but
35:59
then it would lead to hope. It's like, OK, Lord, I know it's
36:03
bad, but you can work. You'll be encouraged.
36:06
Ask for them by name. Request them by name,
36:11
specifically, persistently #2 not only do we pray for them,
36:16
but #2 As you're thinking about the losses, so I want you to
36:18
remember, watch yourself. Don't forget yourself.
36:23
So include yourself in the in the prayer if you will, so that
36:29
as you're praying for those that have fallen, you don't become
36:30
judgmental, condemning, hypocritical.
36:33
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7.
36:35
Judge not lest you be judged. He wasn't, he wasn't forbidding
36:39
judgments. We make judgments all the time.
36:41
What he was teaching us is not to be hypercritical and
36:44
hypocritical. So watch yourself because we're
36:47
just a step or a decision away from a really bad day, a really
36:52
bad month and perhaps walking away.
36:55
Don't look down on anyone else because they've been trapped by
36:58
the enemy. Oh, I can't believe that.
36:59
Look what he did. Did you hear what he did and you
37:02
know, kind of using prayer meanings as gossip sessions and
37:05
did you hear about so and so and did you read this in the no, no,
37:08
no, stop it. Stop as you're praying, consider
37:12
yourself the world loves to kick those that are down.
37:17
That's not to be in the body of Christ.
37:21
We're to help them. We're not to be like Noah's son
37:28
who sees him drunk and in sin and acting strange and weird in
37:33
the tent. And he comes in and what does he
37:35
do? He immediately exposes his dad's
37:38
sin to his brothers. But what does his brothers do?
37:42
His brothers say, I'm not. I don't know what's going on
37:44
with Dad, but now is not the right time to talk to him.
37:48
And they get a blanket and they walk in backwards, not even
37:51
seeing it. They don't even want it in their
37:52
minds covering Dad until the appropriate time.
37:57
We don't look down at people we learned in our study last time.
38:01
The Bible teaches us not to be happy and rejoice when others
38:04
fall. And it's easy to do, especially
38:07
with those you might disagree with or those that might believe
38:11
differently than you just like, or some of them might have, you
38:13
know, power when a pastor falls and you're like, yeah, I'm glad.
38:16
Look what's happening to the church.
38:17
So many bad pastors. It's actually, it's actually not
38:20
as bad as it's as it seems. It's just a few people that got
38:23
trapped and it's horrible and it's a black eye, but there's
38:27
still people, you know, when a pastor falls there as a wife and
38:31
kids and, and a church and influence and it's just so bad
38:35
for the body of Christ. And the last thing we need to do
38:38
is be all finger pointing. At the very least you can pray,
38:41
but #2 you can also watch yourself.
38:44
Because the truth is, is that I could stray and you could stray
38:48
at any moment. First Corinthians chapter 10
38:50
verse 12 says, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take
38:55
heed lest he fall. When others fall around us, it
38:59
should send us to our knees, not just for them, but also for
39:03
ourselves. And we come and say, Lord, I'm
39:05
so weak. You know, because you, you look
39:07
at someone that, that that falls in a particular sin and it, it,
39:10
it pricks your pride because I would never do that.
39:13
And you're probably right that sin wasn't a temptation to you.
39:17
But I'm telling you, there is a temptation for you that could
39:19
wipe you out. It may not be the one you were
39:22
seeing. And so you're, you're like,
39:23
well, I would never have. I would never do that.
39:25
You know, first of all, be careful with the word never, OK?
39:28
Just be careful with that because you don't know what you
39:30
would do. And given the right
39:31
circumstances or the wrong circumstances.
39:34
But we can't look down at people because they failed.
39:38
We have all fallen short of the glory of God.
39:40
All of us have sent. And it's important that we step
39:43
in prayerfully and carefully into someone's life #3 it's
39:48
going to be necessary as you're praying and watching that you
39:51
engage the erring person. You engage them.
39:55
I changed the word, I, I've taught this study before.
39:58
I and I use the word confront. And confront just has all these
40:02
connotations like, you're going to go get them.
40:04
And I don't want to build that in you.
40:06
So engaging is a better word. Like you're going to have to
40:08
connect. Like if you're going to turn a
40:10
center from the air of his ways, you're going to have to be in
40:12
their life. You have to be close enough to
40:14
have a voice in their life. And it's going to require you're
40:18
engaging with them again, sending a text message and
40:22
sending an e-mail, a phone call, whatever it might be.
40:25
But in order to turn a Sinner from the era of their ways, you
40:29
have to be in their life available, ready to be used to
40:31
the Lord. We have just a few moments.
40:33
Would you turn over to Jude real quick?
40:35
Because I want to show you something that might help you in
40:38
engaging people in difficult situations.
40:41
You know, I have to engage people in difficult situations
40:44
all the time. And the Lord gave me this years
40:46
ago that there's two ways and two types of people that you
40:50
engage with basically. So it's in Jude, which is to the
40:53
right by Revelation, right before revelation.
40:56
It's only 1 chapter. When you get there, go to verse
40:58
20, it says Jude chapter one, verse 20.
41:03
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy
41:06
faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the
41:10
love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
41:13
unto eternal life. So that's the posture being in
41:17
love, keeping yourself in the love of God, building yourself
41:21
up in your most holy faith. You're you're a spiritual man, a
41:23
spiritual woman. That's the posture.
41:25
But here are the two options now of ministering and talking to
41:29
someone engaging someone. First of all, in verse 22 on
41:33
some have compassion making a distinction.
41:37
So I picture in my mind the people that are having, you
41:41
know, those that would that would approach this and the ones
41:44
you would have compassion. And I picture in my mind that
41:46
I'm putting my arm around them and I'm just going to walk
41:49
together with them. It's going to be a hard
41:51
conversation, but what they need right now is just someone to
41:54
walk with them and they're ready and receptive to it.
41:58
Most of the time that is the approach.
42:01
Just come with me. That's how I view Bible study
42:04
and teaching. If you'll just come with me,
42:05
we'll discover a lot of things and we'll just come out.
42:08
There are a few that you got to be really stern and strong with
42:11
so that they can open their hearts to the word of God.
42:14
But let's just come along together and if you engage
42:16
someone with a compassionate heart, God will use that.
42:20
It's a powerful thing. You'll remember when they they
42:23
set that woman up in the life of Jesus, They set that woman up
42:26
and she was caught in the midst of adultery.
42:29
Remember that? And the religious rulers came
42:31
and brought her and thrust her in front of Jesus.
42:34
And this poor woman. I mean, originally she's, she's
42:38
got all this weird stuff being set up and being watched and
42:41
then and then she had to be naked for some amount of time
42:44
and we don't even know if she was covered or not.
42:46
And then she's come through. She's already walking in shame
42:48
and guilt and, and she's thrown in.
42:50
Everybody's expecting Jesus to give her the hammer and to be
42:53
angry with her like everyone. And not that's not what he does
42:57
at all. What does he do?
42:59
He has compassion on her. He starts writing on the and
43:03
then all of those that were there in condemnation had to
43:06
leave because Jesus knew them and knew their hearts.
43:09
Compassion, compassion, even some of the worst horrible sins
43:13
you meet with compassion. Not only that, notice in verse
43:17
23. Now you do have to make a
43:19
distinction. And there are those times where
43:21
others you save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,
43:25
hating the garment, defiled by the flesh.
43:28
So most situations you can walk side by side, but some
43:30
situations you got to be face to face like it's it's serious.
43:35
You, you, it's not one of those, let's just walk along where
43:37
you're like, look, this is what we're dealing with right now.
43:41
This is situation. And if you don't make a change
43:44
right now, you could lose your life Type of conversations.
43:48
They don't happen as often, but they do happen.
43:51
And that's why I changed the word from confront to engage.
43:53
Because a lot of times confrontation, when you think of
43:56
that word, you just think, well, it's going to be a hard
43:58
conversation. We're just going to argue and
43:59
yell and scream, and that's not the way it is at all.
44:02
Most of the time, God has already gone before you and
44:04
prepared the person for that conversation.
44:07
You just got to tap into what the Spirit's already done.
44:10
So think of that. Just keep in mind now when you
44:12
get into any difficult situation, is this going to be
44:15
God? Give me wisdom?
44:16
Is this a compassionate one or do I need to be stronger?
44:20
And you'll see the Lord give you wisdom in that number. 4 #4 How
44:25
do we, when we're ministering to those that have fallen away or
44:28
wander from the truth, what do we need?
44:30
We need to forgive the repentant.
44:32
Please listen, don't miss this. This is so important.
44:36
Forgiveness brings peace. Forgiveness brings peace to the
44:43
turmoil. You might be afraid that if
44:46
forgiveness happens, you won't have peace.
44:49
It's almost like you're excusing someone's behavior, but you're
44:52
not. Forgiveness requires, it
44:55
requires you and me to acknowledge something wrong
44:58
happened to me and I release you from the wrong that you've done.
45:03
You forgive the repentant. We don't shoot the wounded or
45:10
kick people while they're down. We accept them in Jesus and help
45:14
them rebuild what the enemies tried to destroy.
45:17
This is the Church of Jesus, and Jesus loves to restore and
45:22
rebuild. Which leads us to #5 not only do
45:26
we forgive, but we speak words of kindness and love to them.
45:30
Imagine what this person has had to deal with all these years.
45:35
Imagine the condemnation. Oh, I could never go back to
45:38
church. Or I could never.
45:40
God would never receive me. You know when when we stray
45:45
away, the devil is always there to lie to you.
45:49
And the key is if you just, if he can just get you and me to
45:52
believe a lie, we'll do the rest in wrecking our lives.
45:58
Any lie we believe takes us away from God.
46:01
Well, God will never forgive me. That's a lie.
46:04
He proved His love for you on the cross.
46:07
Well, you know that church, they'll all can.
46:09
They'll all condemn me. You know, there might be a few
46:11
bad apples that we're praying for, that they will stop, but
46:14
not everybody's going to condemn you.
46:17
Well, you know, and I'll never be able to live with the
46:19
consequences. No, you'll learn to live with
46:21
the consequences. The Lord will be there with you.
46:23
He'll restore you. You might even find that the
46:26
difficulty in your life that you live will be used as a tool to
46:30
help other people before they even fall away.
46:33
God wants to use your life. He he wants even to use your
46:37
failures. We read today and we were so
46:40
encouraged by Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of David.
46:45
It's often referred to as a Psalm of repentance, and most
46:48
scholars put the Psalm 51 being written after Nathan confronted
46:53
him and through his egregious sin and all the pain that he
46:59
brought to so many lives, God still used his repentant heart
47:04
to bless you and me. Now, thousands of years later,
47:07
God's not done with you. He hasn't cast you aside.
47:12
And I would say this, if you've wandered away from the Lord,
47:17
both here in the room or listening online or on the
47:20
radio, if you've wandered away from the Lord, you're welcome
47:23
here at Calgary. We want to see your life
47:26
restored. You're welcome to come back to
47:29
the Father through the life of this church family.
47:33
I hope that you'll find a community that loves you and
47:36
will work things with you. I hope that you will be
47:39
connected in the life group or in the small group or the men's
47:43
or the win the prayer meeting with people that will just
47:45
attach themselves to you in love and grace and mercy and you'll
47:49
get your life back on track. That there'll be 1 less name on
47:53
the list. One more family encouraged, and
47:57
here we want to receive you and love you and encourage you and
48:00
Jesus. That is the heart of this church
48:02
because the heart of this church is the heart of Jesus.
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We all might be growing in it, and we all might mean learning
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to live and grow in it, but I pray that it will always be the
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growing heart of this church. And Lord, help us, help us.
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I love this final scripture. It's a word from the Lord for
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some of us, maybe a word from the Lord for you that have
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strayed away in your backslidden.
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Listen to what the Bible says. Isaiah chapter 35 verse 3.
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Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.
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Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong.
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Do not fear. Behold, your God will come with
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vengeance, with the recompense of God.
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He will come and save you, and that is the heart of God for you
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today. Amen.
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Amen. Lord, Thank you for your word
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and this beautiful, wonderful reminder.
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The churches in Galatia got off track because of legalism, false
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teachers, but people get off track for all sorts of reasons
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and just give us the heart to be used to bring them back.
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Lord stir us up, inspire the words and help us with engaging
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and enliven our prayer and help us to make that list that
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forever, every day, the lost will be on our hearts, the lost
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that have never been born again, the lost that might be wandering
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right now. You know, I think of the
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prodigal son and, and when he left, he never stopped being a
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son. That's why he came back to his
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father. He didn't go to someone else's
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father, he didn't travel the world, He came back home.
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And so I pray for those that need to come home.
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Let him do that in Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.