Permission To Quit

0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.080 Tell me what these cities have in common. Puck quiz, Austin, Texas, 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:10.879 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It's in Oklahoma, Abbey. We were going 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.080 through the cities the other night. She said, Now, where's 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:19.600 Oklahoma City? I said, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Denver, Colorado, 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:26.079 Saint Louis, Missouri. Are you seeing a pattern here? Fort Wayne, Indiana, Toronto, Ontario. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:32.800 Elevation Nights Tour April eighteenth through twenty seventh, twenty twenty three. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.959 All of those cities were coming. Go right now and 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.320 check it out, and we will be there soon here 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:42.920 at Elevation today. I hope we didn't overwhelm you with 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.159 new songs. We didn't do a single song that's on 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:50.080 Spotify today all new songs because it goes along with 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:55.360 my theme for this year. Don't just do you people 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:00.760 are around? Do you do the new you? Do the 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.000 you that God created, Do the you that God is changing. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:06.720 Do the you that is going to walk into the 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:11.240 opportunity that is before you, full of faith, acknowledging your weaknesses, 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.760 but confident in your strength in Christ. Do the new you? 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.640 Are you getting this word as I'm preaching it? Come 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.479 on if you're online, say I'm good this thing. This 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:27.640 thing is sinking in for me. We're going right back 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.880 to Ephesians four, so you might as well sit down 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.640 and settle in. Right back to our key verse. I'm 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.600 done arguing with the Lord when he tells me to 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.560 preach something. I'm just gonna stop fighting it so he 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.160 doesn't have to put my hip out of socket. Like 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.520 Jacob over there in the Old Testament, who I mentioned 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.279 last week. I'm gonna just go with it in along 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.440 with our groups doing immeasurably more. I'm preaching from the 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.040 Book of Ephesians. But the fourth chapter snuck up on 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.600 me because I always liked Ephesians three twenty Now unto 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.120 him who is able to do a measure more. Well, 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.480 then when I got into four, I found out what 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.080 more looks like, and then that helped me. Is helping 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.639 me so much. Man, God is working on me. I'm 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:15.120 glad too. I need him to. I'm not there yet. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.000 I have not achieved Ephesians four twenty four yet. Tell me, 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.959 if you have to put on the new self, put 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.799 it up on the screen, created to be like God. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.640 So I'm not there yet. I've reached some goals in 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.040 my life. I think I've grown, But if that's the 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:40.119 goal to be like God, oh man, I'm gonna need Jesus. 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.160 I thought I just needed Jesus to get me to 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.000 heaven when I died, but then I found out I 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:50.160 need Him in my habits for everyday life now. A 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.359 lot of times when we preach about Jesus, we talk 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.079 about your new home in heaven. You're not going to hell. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.000 You're going to Heaven and be with Grandma and Gabriel 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:03.239 and God. And then we forget to mention that, Okay, hey, 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:07.600 just like we need a new home in heaven, we 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.720 need new habits in our life. Oh. By the way, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.760 I don't need a single amen today. The Lord told 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.720 me this sermon was good, So I'm gonna just break 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:17.720 it out on you and do whatever you need to do. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.200 So let me read this scripture and then I'm going 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.799 to talk about do you, which I know is kind 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.839 of so oh man. When you hear people say that, 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:34.080 it feels good right, like, hey man, you know, probably 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.440 a fifty seven year old shouldn't have that haircut, but 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:43.160 do you? I mean it's a little tight, probably fits 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.080 you better. In a previous season, but I mean, if 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.880 you feel if you can rock and rocket, do you? 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.800 And I'm all for that, that uniqueness, you know, I'm 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.160 all for that. If it's a mohawk that you want, 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.720 get them all, if your parents say you can get 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:06.560 them all. I like your blue hair? Do you? You You 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.080 know what I mean? But I can't just take that 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.680 whole philosophy. Do you if you want blue hair? And 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.760 then tell you, well, if it's a bottle of pills 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.600 that helps you escape and the doctor didn't prescribe it 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:21.120 and you know you're addicted to it, just do you 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:27.480 whatever gets you through the night. So what we're challenging 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:32.320 ourselves in is this idea that the true you is 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.640 the new you. And a lot of times, even if 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:40.479 something is nicer when it's new, at first, I don't 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:45.520 like it. And growing into our relationship with God looks 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.120 like this. Let's go back to verse fourteen and let 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:52.480 me break it down. And this sermon today is called 0:04:53.240 --> 0:05:01.040 permission to quit. Permission to quit. Oh, I know where 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.760 this is going. You're going to tell me keep trying 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.600 and march around the walls. And I know how this 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.880 is man. You just go, oh God, it's gonna be 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.000 one of those sermons. You're just gonna tell me, you're 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.760 gonna make fun of me because I joined the gym, 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.240 and I only went twice, and it's only January, and 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.520 tell me I got to get back in there. But 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.680 stay with me, because I think you might be surprised 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:26.320 where the Lord is leading us this week. Ephesians, chapter four, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:32.800 Verse fourteen. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.960 back and forth by the waves, and blown here and 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:43.800 there by every wind of cable news and teaching, with 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:49.240 the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming, 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:56.120 trying every diet, trying every religion, dabbling in this, dabbling 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.320 in that, doing it six weeks for remembering what you 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.279 know it used to be like in your old life. 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.839 He said, that's not gonna happen anymore. Instead, verse fifteen, 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.679 speaking the truth and love, we will, my favorite phrase 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:16.240 in this whole passage, grow to become. That's so annointed. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.880 Say I will say it with conviction and gumption. I 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:26.599 will grow to become. I'm gonna grow to become a 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.920 better man. I'm gonna grow to become a better dad. 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:32.680 I'm gonna be a great dad. I'm gonna be a 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.719 great If I was a great dad last year, wait 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:36.719 till you see me this year. I'm gonna be a 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.720 greater dad this year. I'm gonna be a better preacher. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.240 I'm gonna be a better teacher. I'm gonna be more honest. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.120 I'm gonna be more vulnerable, no less powerful. I'm gonna 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.240 get up in here and say what God gave me 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.560 to say without the interference of the fear of man. 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.320 I'm gonna stop pulling back when God gives me something. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.000 I'm growing to become. Man. I'm gonna be a good wife. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.680 Are you married? Not yet, but I'm growing to become it. 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.800 And when I become it, God is going to be 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.000 sure that I have the experiences that I need to 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.040 fulfill the calling that He's given me. I'm growing into this. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.720 Don't memorize me right now. If you meet me again 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.880 in a month, I'm going to be more like my 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.800 maker because That's where I'm headed in this life. Don't 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.920 take a snapshot of me and then criticize me. You've changed, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.440 I hope, so if I ever stopped change and cremate me. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.600 I got to do this. I've got to become what 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:38.600 God said I was. But now, don't curse me out 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.560 because I'm an acorn. I thought you said you were 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.360 an oak tree. I am. Let me get in the 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:49.280 right environment, Let me get the right water, let me 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.600 get the right time. Come on, I'm growing to become. 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.120 This helped me because I have a hard time striking 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.640 a balance between contentment, which I know the Bible says 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.760 is good, and ambition, which the Bible also instructs me 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.480 to have grow to become like God. That's a pretty 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:17.560 lofty go. And so when I realize, oh, God is 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.840 calling me to grow to become, not to be all 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:26.520 at once, but to grow to become. Now, this process 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.800 works its itself out in the following way. Look at 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.160 verse sixteen. Excuse me, I didn't read all of verse fifteen, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.440 did I. We will grow to become in every respect, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.800 the mature body of Him who is the head that 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:45.360 is Christ from him, the whole body, joined and held 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.679 together e groups by every supporting ligament. You are out 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.280 of joint. You are out of socket when you're not 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.640 connected with the right people, and He says together, if 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.160 you're going to do the new, you don't make an 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:05.600 idol out of your individuality. One of the ways you're 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.800 going to grow to become is by getting around others 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:13.480 who challenge you, who encourage you. And so then as 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.200 the body builds itself up in love, each part is 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.439 doing its work Verse seventeen. So I tell you this 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.240 and insist on it in the Lord that you must 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:32.480 no longer live. You must no longer live as the 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:37.120 gentiles do in the futility or vanity of their thinking. 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.800 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.360 life of God because of the ignorance that is in 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:50.120 them due to the hardening of their hearts. This phrase 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.600 hardening of their hearts calls into mind linguistically when a 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.600 bone is broken and resets, But the callous that grows 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.040 is hard. Isn't that what happens to us in our life? 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:10.319 We get broken in relationships, broken through experience, broken through trials, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.480 broken through temptations that we can't overcome, And then there 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.160 is a hardness if it is not reset correctly, that 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.480 keeps us from receiving from God what he wants to 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.760 give us, to grow us into who He made us 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.000 to be. But God's not going to leave you broken. 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.199 God is not going to leave you with the bone 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.720 broken and reset so that your heart is harder. He 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:38.240 is going to bring you through this brokenness better than 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.480 when you went into the brokenness. He is going to 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.560 bring you through this brokenness. Who receives this word like 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.679 if it's for you, He's going to bring you through 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:51.959 this brokenness. I'm going to be better after I was broken. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.200 I'm going to be better after they fired me. I'm 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:00.160 going to learn things from this failed relationship. And when 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.160 God resets me, the God of resurrection is going to 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.640 call me forth into a glorious future for the praise 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:15.600 of his name, because I'm growing to become so, he says, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:21.000 don't live like these gentiles who, having verse nineteen, lost 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:26.679 all sensitivity. They have given themselves over to sensuality, as 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.600 to indulge in every kind of impurity you'll ever look 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.839 around and think, just when you think that they can't 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.720 invent any new sins, they make a new one. I 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:40.640 feel like we are living in you know, they had 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.280 the industrial Revolution. I feel like we are living right 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.880 now in this time, in the impurity revolution. We are 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.439 making new ways to be screwed up. It's all the 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.120 lust of the flesh, lust of pride, pride lust of flesh, 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.960 lest eyes, pride of life. But the flavors of it, y'all, 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.319 we got some creative flavors of sin. I better back 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.440 to the Bible. Y'all are looking at me strange. Maybe 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.880 not in your zip code? Is fine, It's fine. It's 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.360 just something I've been noticing. He says, they give themselves 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.319 over to it. Now follow me. When he says they 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.719 give themselves over to it, that is very different than 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:22.160 saying that they get caught up in it. There's a 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:30.400 big difference between giving yourself over and getting caught up. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:43.160 Everybody can get caught up. If you haven't seen the 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.280 person sitting next to you get caught up in sin, 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.840 you just haven't followed them to the right places yet. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.480 You haven't seen them in the right moments yet. They 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.920 just hadn't shown you yet. We can all get caught 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.600 up in different ways, different varieties, different prescriptions. But there's 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:02.880 a big difference between getting caught up. Oh God, when 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.200 I say that, because you're human, there is grace for 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.640 your humanity. There is grace for the moments. Why did 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:17.280 I explode on my wife five minutes after church? You're human, 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.480 but do not let your humanness I might have made 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.520 that word up. Do not let your humanness and the 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.559 grace that God gives for your humanness become an excuse 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:41.240 for your hypocrisy shouting in Houston. Just because I struggle 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.559 with it doesn't mean I have to surrender to it. 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.080 There's a big difference. I mean, there's some big guys 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.480 in this room right now, and I'm sure that many 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:54.880 of them if they took me and dragged me off 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.640 the stage, they can get me off the stage. But 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.280 that's a big difference than me again on their back, piggyback, 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.160 isn't it? Is there a big guy? We should illustrate this. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.640 I need somebody bigger than me. I'm about one seventy, 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.200 so you got to at least have me buy thirty pounds. 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:19.520 Come on, I need a big guy. Ah, mate's here? 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:25.160 Where's mate? Where's mate? Get made up here? Get made 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:31.520 up here. That's a great idea, made the great. Everybody say, 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.720 mate the great? Now, it's not my fally bench presses 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.400 five hundred and five pounds. You got that twenty four 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.360 year old anointy? Are you too injured to do this? Illustration? 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.880 I want to hurt you. He just went through an injury. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.160 We can't hurt him. But imagine this. I'm not even 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:51.320 gonna do the full illustration. I care more about you 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:56.160 than my illustration. I'm selfless. But imagine if he wanted 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.200 to drag me off the stage, he could do it. 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.000 It would just be a ma or a time. But 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.640 that's real different than I jump up in his arms. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.800 So I just want you to see that. Go back, 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.760 sit back down. It would have been cool if I 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.360 could have done it, but I don't want to do it. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:22.680 I don't want to hurt him. When when you look 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.120 at what God is doing, and I really haven't read 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.520 the scripture I want to preach from yet, but that 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.960 whole thing right there that helps me make a critical 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.040 distinction in my life as to whether I am still 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:38.840 struggling with sin. You know, the writer of Hebrews said 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:40.800 you have not yet struggled with sin to the point 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.800 of shedding your blood. And I guess he's saying, like, 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:45.320 when you say I've done all I can do, I 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:51.160 can't change it. Did you do all you could do? Rarely? Rarely? 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.240 And then grace? When grace comes in, Some people take 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.720 that grace and they don't really receive it as power. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.840 They receive it as permission to keep living in stuff 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:10.600 that makes them miserable. So why would you want permission 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:15.160 to be miserable? You can who's going to stop you? 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.680 But this is what the Bible says in verse twenty. 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:23.920 Now we're getting into it real deep here, that, however, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:31.240 the impurity, the greed, the sensuality, the indulgence, that, however, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.880 just talking nasty because you felt mad, You talk nasty 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.640 just because everybody else is so mean to each other. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:42.360 Now you're just mean to Now you're hardened because the 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.560 bone that was broken didn't reset in the hands of 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:50.760 the healer. And Paul says, that is not the way 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:55.120 of life you learned when you heard about Christ. I 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.120 don't care if everybody else does it. That is not 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:06.159 me now. Used to be yeah, but not now, somebody 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.240 shout not now. God's done too much for me. Not now. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.919 I dropped out of church like for eighteen years, but 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.440 not now. I used to think that it was more 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.199 important to wash my car on Sunday than be in 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.240 the house of God, but not now, because I need 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.640 God to wash my soul every Sunday so I can 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:34.200 go forward into my future uncontaminated. Whoa. There is power 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.080 in the word of God, and there is permission in 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:41.000 the Word of God to do it different. That is 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:45.680 not me. That is what I used to do. That 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.919 is what all my friends have been doing. That is 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.280 what I saw growing up. That is what was done 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.400 to me. But why would I take what was done 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.600 to me and carry it into the future that God 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:03.679 has for me that stays there because this is my 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:09.480 Then let me make a sandwich real quick. Verse fourteen says, 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:15.199 then everybody shout. Then Verse twenty says that everybody say that. 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.880 So Verse fourteen speaks to a point of maturity where 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.919 you say, I'm no longer just gonna be driven by circumstances. 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:24.879 I'm no longer just gonna wake up and see how 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.000 I feel and act like I feel. I'm no longer 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:28.679 just gonna wake up and see what I think and 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.560 follow my thoughts till they lead me right off the 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.920 edge of the cliff. I'm no longer just gonna trust 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:34.959 everybody who makes me feel good so I can get 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.679 what I want in the moment. No more beans for birthright, 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:46.440 So God says, when will your then finally come? When 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.320 will it be enough of you getting the same result 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:57.720 from repeating the same behavior. When will your then come 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:04.080 the DEI to grow up, the decision to come into 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:08.320 communion with God, the decision to say, Lord, I want 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:12.679 to put this brokenness in your hands, and then something 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:18.080 pretty awesome happens. He said, that is not you. The 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.560 moment you make a decision, then I'm growing up. Then 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:33.439 that no longer has control over you. That that it 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.040 would get real uncomfortable if I started listing specific that's 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:42.400 in the room, because the categories don't really don't really 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.960 make you cringe. Impurity, creed lost, Oh yeah, I watched 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:51.760 that Bernie Madoff documentary Creed. How about me always wanting 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:57.080 more and never giving much? How about me always thinking 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.520 somebody needs to encourage me? But who am I encouraging? 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:04.439 See how this works? That is not me. And I'm 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:06.640 going to do a list next week that I'll give 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.280 you where I'm gonna teach you the new me is not. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:12.840 And we're gonna list some of the things that you 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:14.919 are not anymore if you name the name of Christ, 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.600 and we're gonna wage war against those things because we've 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:24.000 been accepting them too long as normal. Just because it's 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:30.240 natural doesn't mean it's normal. Watch this, that is not 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.639 the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ. 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:40.120 When you heard about Christ. And so faith comes by hearing, right, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.680 how many know that scripture. Faith comes by hearing, hearing 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:49.120 the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, but freedom 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:56.680 comes by habit. That's why it is possible for you 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:01.320 to know more about God than you are bringing into 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:06.639 your current experience. That's why it's possible for you to 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:11.840 drag around deficiencies and dysfunctions that Christ died to help 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:16.320 you deal with, and then start justifying things that Jesus 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:25.800 wants to set you free from. Yeah, we're going to 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.480 get free in some areas of our life this year. 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:31.879 And if you don't want to get free this year, 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.320 don't come here Furdic preach, because Furdic is trying to 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:40.800 get free this year of some childlike behaviors that are 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.800 coming around in a grown man's body. And I want 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:48.359 to be less petty, less prideful. I want to be 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.440 stable because I don't know what wind and waves has 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.359 come in my way. So I want to be more 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.119 a tuned to worship. I want to be more tuned 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:03.720 into the voice of God. I want to be like 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:10.600 him say it. I want to be like him. Okay, 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.639 you were taught in Him in accordance with the truth 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:16.879 that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.520 your former way of life, to put off your old self, 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:28.560 which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Y'all remember 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:30.719 tricks or for kids from last week? I know you do. 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:33.200 I know if you missed last week, you caught the 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:36.080 podcast first opportunity, because no way you would miss a 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.280 sermon from the Word of God. You wouldn't do that 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.920 and watch Netflix or Hulu, not you, Verse twenty three. 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:44.679 This is the goal to be made new in the 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:48.560 attitude of your minds, to put on the new self 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:55.760 created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 0:22:55.800 --> 0:23:00.639 So now I'm looking at my humanity and I'm looking 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:06.800 at God's holiness wholeness, changing me who I really am. 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:11.360 And I'm making decisions daily about which one to choose. 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:16.720 You know, in this church, I think it can be 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.679 said that you can bring somebody who is hurting, somebody 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:25.520 who is addicted, somebody who is living in a lifestyle 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:28.679 that is way far from what the Bible describes, and 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:32.080 they will hear and feel that God loves them and 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:35.120 that they are welcome, and that they can come back 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:36.920 as many times as they want to come back, even 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:40.679 if their life never changes. I hope you know that. 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:46.000 I hope you know that. Doesn't matter how loud I yell. 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:51.439 I'm not mad at you. I'm not yelling because I'm angry. 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:56.359 The thing that I'm angry at more than anything is 0:23:56.440 --> 0:24:00.000 the devastation that I see in the lives of people 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:05.560 that I love because they are loyal to lifestyles that 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:14.600 lead them to death. One time, a guy was kind 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:18.200 of fussing at me very early in the church, where 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:21.399 he said, we don't preach about sin enough. And he 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:25.960 might be right, because, honestly, like, if we really preached 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.400 about all the sin that's represented in this room, y'all 0:24:29.440 --> 0:24:32.680 wouldn't make it to work Monday morning, and I could 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:34.159 just do my own life and we could get at 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:39.000 least a Tuesday. But what he said, now, this is interesting. 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:42.399 Listen to this. He goes, I feel like when you 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:46.400 preach about acceptance and grace and the love of God, 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:52.280 when you do that, it gives people a license to sin. 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:56.040 Now I had heard that before, so I had to 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:59.720 come back ready for it. I said, a license to sin. 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.280 Most of the people that I preach to are doing 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:11.119 just fine sinning without a license. I mean, what is 0:25:11.200 --> 0:25:15.600 sin an eighteen wheeler like you need a license to 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.560 do it? What is sin? A single engine plane like 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.840 you need a license? All of a sudden, what is sin? 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:26.400 A like sin is hunting like you need a license 0:25:26.480 --> 0:25:31.000 to do it. You're doing just fine sinning without a license. 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:32.920 As a matter of fact, you know what your sin 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:42.320 license was? Your birth certificate. You got here knowing how 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:45.720 to be selfish. Everybody who doesn't agree that's your birth 0:25:45.720 --> 0:25:52.160 certificate is your sin license? Has it had children? Has 0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:55.480 it even looked at yourself? So what I wanted to 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.400 say to the man is I appreciate where you're coming from. 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:03.520 Understand that God has a standard. But I need people 0:26:03.560 --> 0:26:07.240 to know that the same God who gives the standard 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:14.320 will also give the strength. As long as I only 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:17.520 tell you this is how you're sinning, As long as 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:19.760 I only tell you this is how you're missing the mark, 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:21.919 As long as I only tell you this is the 0:26:21.960 --> 0:26:25.600 fifteen ways that you could have been better yesterday. As 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:28.439 long as all of our focus is on that, what 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:38.320 do we do We continue in what we reinforce a 0:26:38.440 --> 0:26:42.240 license to sin. I never met a single person yet. 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:45.919 I've pastored all kinds of people, Southern people, northern people, 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:48.919 black people, white people, men, women, old people, young people. 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:54.640 I never met one that needed a license to be stingy. 0:26:55.359 --> 0:26:58.640 I mean, come on, like, over half the church doesn't tithe. 0:26:58.880 --> 0:27:03.040 Where's you're not tithed? Sense? Where do they give those out? 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:06.720 And even if we get past the big behaviors, like 0:27:06.760 --> 0:27:08.840 you get all these external things and all that, if 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:12.640 we get down into the things that people don't see, 0:27:13.160 --> 0:27:16.240 like how sometimes you use your kids as a backdrop 0:27:16.280 --> 0:27:18.239 for the image that you want to present rather than 0:27:18.320 --> 0:27:21.840 raising them according to who they are. That's a sin 0:27:23.200 --> 0:27:26.760 and you don't need a license for it. In my experience, 0:27:27.400 --> 0:27:31.160 more often than not, people don't need a license to sin. 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:41.000 They need permission and power to quit. Now you never thought, 0:27:41.320 --> 0:27:43.560 and I never thought that a message would come from 0:27:43.600 --> 0:27:47.840 this pulpit called permission to quit. Because there's one thing 0:27:47.880 --> 0:27:52.120 I believe is you got to keep going. And I 0:27:52.160 --> 0:27:53.840 was so happy when it was pouring down rain when 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:56.120 I came to church today because I was like, this 0:27:56.160 --> 0:27:57.840 is great the room I'm going to be preaching in 0:27:57.880 --> 0:27:59.280 the weather will be nice in other parts of the 0:27:59.280 --> 0:28:01.600 world of efemine that. But the people I'm preaching to 0:28:01.840 --> 0:28:06.359 are the people who came anyway. I was so glad. 0:28:06.359 --> 0:28:08.960 I was like, this is the perfect message for these 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:12.760 people because they know you don't just get to like 0:28:13.040 --> 0:28:16.400 not come to church because you might get wet going 0:28:16.400 --> 0:28:24.200 out to the car. Oh, that's a shower of blessing. 0:28:24.240 --> 0:28:26.879 God is bringing. The rain of the word of God 0:28:27.200 --> 0:28:30.200 is about to hit the seat of my potential. I'm 0:28:30.240 --> 0:28:38.240 getting there'll be a seat today. I'm going might clear 0:28:38.280 --> 0:28:41.960 out all those complacent Christians, so only come once a month, 0:28:42.000 --> 0:28:44.720 you know, the type, get the get the real ones 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:46.840 in here. But I really did I thought that because 0:28:47.840 --> 0:28:50.160 you hear, because you didn't quit. There was a period 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:52.240 in our in our world where you couldn't come physically 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:55.440 gather in church and you didn't quit. You watched online. 0:28:55.720 --> 0:28:58.640 Everybody was screaming in the background. You know, it wasn't 0:28:58.680 --> 0:29:01.240 a really good experience immersively for you to do it 0:29:01.280 --> 0:29:02.400 that way. I mean, if you got to do it, 0:29:02.440 --> 0:29:05.000 do it. But now here you are sitting here and 0:29:05.080 --> 0:29:07.520 you don't get to quit because the Bible says, let 0:29:07.600 --> 0:29:09.480 us not give up the habit of meeting together as 0:29:09.520 --> 0:29:12.520 some are in the habit of doing so. I don't 0:29:12.520 --> 0:29:14.640 get to quit, not and live in victory. I don't 0:29:14.640 --> 0:29:19.040 get to quit. If you have the faith to say it, 0:29:19.080 --> 0:29:22.440 say I don't get to quit, and now put it 0:29:22.520 --> 0:29:24.520 right there in the comments. I don't get to quit 0:29:26.080 --> 0:29:30.480 on what God called me to do. I don't get 0:29:30.480 --> 0:29:36.480 to Moses didn't. He didn't get to quit leading to people. 0:29:36.520 --> 0:29:38.120 Even though he wouldn't get to go in the Promised 0:29:38.160 --> 0:29:40.440 Land and eat grapes for them, he still had to 0:29:40.480 --> 0:29:44.640 appoint Joshua as the successor to the bitter end. You 0:29:44.680 --> 0:29:46.440 don't get to quit. Even if you don't get to 0:29:46.440 --> 0:29:47.800 do the thing that you thought you were going to 0:29:47.840 --> 0:29:50.800 get to do. You don't get to quit. You got 0:29:50.800 --> 0:29:54.120 to help somebody else do it. You don't get to quit. 0:29:55.120 --> 0:29:57.600 You still got to have Isaac. Even though your body 0:29:57.680 --> 0:30:00.840 is as good as dead. The Bible said about Abraham, 0:30:00.880 --> 0:30:06.719 you still gotta try again, even though it's not what 0:30:06.760 --> 0:30:08.800 do they say, not as good as I once was, 0:30:08.840 --> 0:30:11.200 But I'm as good once as I ever was. You 0:30:11.280 --> 0:30:13.920 gotta go in and try try. You and Sarah got 0:30:13.920 --> 0:30:16.760 to try this again because God still gave you the seed. 0:30:18.320 --> 0:30:21.800 You don't get to quit, let me stay in this 0:30:21.800 --> 0:30:25.880 for a moment because it might be pivotal. You don't 0:30:26.360 --> 0:30:29.080 get to say, this is as much like Christ as 0:30:29.120 --> 0:30:32.280 I'm ever gonna be, This is as free as I'm 0:30:32.280 --> 0:30:35.560 ever gonna be. You don't get to develop little systems 0:30:35.560 --> 0:30:37.600 and workarounds for all of the things that you know 0:30:37.640 --> 0:30:40.760 that God wants to work on in your life. You 0:30:40.800 --> 0:30:44.080 don't get to quit. What are you gonna do about it? 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:50.680 Pastor I don't know, slash your tires, do something. I'm 0:30:50.720 --> 0:30:52.440 not just gonna stand up here and let you quit. 0:30:53.760 --> 0:30:55.680 I'm not I'm not gonna let you just quit on 0:30:55.800 --> 0:30:59.880 joy or I'm just melancholy. I took a personality toast in. 0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:08.800 It took three personality tests. So if this your personality 0:31:09.600 --> 0:31:16.520 versus God's purpose, and God says you're something and you 0:31:16.640 --> 0:31:29.880 say no, I'm not, God is not wrong. Can we 0:31:30.000 --> 0:31:36.520 all agree that in the beginning was God, and God said, 0:31:37.200 --> 0:31:41.080 and it was so? If the God who before you 0:31:41.280 --> 0:31:45.120 got here said that it is, and that you were, 0:31:45.800 --> 0:31:48.640 and that you can and that you must. Did you 0:31:48.720 --> 0:31:52.120 notice Paul's language that got me excited? He said, you 0:31:52.240 --> 0:31:55.600 must no longer live this way we never get to 0:31:55.680 --> 0:32:01.200 the new self because we kept saying, I might, I might. 0:32:01.840 --> 0:32:04.200 You're gonna join one of those groups. I might, You're 0:32:04.240 --> 0:32:06.800 gonna do that thing. I might You're gonna get I might, 0:32:06.920 --> 0:32:10.920 I might, I might, I might. How many mites are 0:32:10.920 --> 0:32:14.160 you gonna drown in before you get a must in 0:32:14.240 --> 0:32:19.280 your spirit that says, if none go with me, I 0:32:19.440 --> 0:32:25.520 still will follow. I must Why because God called me 0:32:25.600 --> 0:32:29.240 to it. And if I don't do it, I'll be miserable, 0:32:29.600 --> 0:32:33.480 and then I'll self sabotage and I'll fall apart, and 0:32:33.520 --> 0:32:36.560 I'll take it out on people, and I'll spend stupid 0:32:36.600 --> 0:32:39.720 amounts of money trying to cover the fact that I 0:32:39.880 --> 0:32:45.320 quit on what God called me to do, and I'll 0:32:45.400 --> 0:32:48.960 dress up my failures in flesh and I'll call it success. 0:32:49.040 --> 0:32:52.120 But deep down inside, I'm just struggling with the same 0:32:52.200 --> 0:32:55.000 stuff with more money. I'm just struggling with the same 0:32:55.040 --> 0:32:57.720 stuff in a little bit older body. I'm just struggling 0:32:57.720 --> 0:33:00.960 with the same stuff with the same friends who struggle 0:33:01.000 --> 0:33:03.719 with the same stuff. So we all get together and 0:33:03.760 --> 0:33:06.320 we pass it around and we smoke on it and 0:33:06.360 --> 0:33:08.560 we suck on it and we talk about it and 0:33:08.600 --> 0:33:12.640 we comfort each other. But it is not grace, because 0:33:12.720 --> 0:33:16.480 grace will give you, not only watch this the command 0:33:16.600 --> 0:33:20.600 to change. Grace will get up inside of you and 0:33:20.720 --> 0:33:24.080 give you the power to change, so that you can 0:33:24.280 --> 0:33:27.480 know that what you didn't do before, you could do 0:33:27.560 --> 0:33:38.760 it now. Feeling in my spirit, right now you can quit. Wait, 0:33:38.880 --> 0:33:41.160 I thought you said I couldn't quit. Yeah, I'm saying, 0:33:41.560 --> 0:33:46.080 if God called you, you don't get to quit. But 0:33:46.200 --> 0:33:50.200 if it is keeping you from being what God called 0:33:50.240 --> 0:33:56.560 you as of this moment, somebody shout. Now, I'm not 0:33:56.760 --> 0:34:00.640 talking about last week. I'm not talking about in three 0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:03.600 years when it gets easier. I'm not talking about when 0:34:03.600 --> 0:34:06.920 we see about this recession. I'm not talking about anything 0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:11.480 that's going to happen, anything that did happen. But right now, 0:34:12.000 --> 0:34:15.439 anything that is keeping you from being what God has 0:34:15.600 --> 0:34:30.400 called you to be, you have permission to quit. Like 0:34:30.440 --> 0:34:32.479 the neighbor who told joe y'all can't fish in this pond. 0:34:32.560 --> 0:34:35.759 Don't you see the thing? No fishing allow? But then 0:34:35.760 --> 0:34:38.680 the other neighbor, he also is on the pond. He said, 0:34:38.960 --> 0:34:41.240 tell us boys, they can fish anytime in my pond. 0:34:41.400 --> 0:34:45.200 It's my pond too. They can fish there. So you 0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:51.840 can fish there because somebody gave you permission who owned property. Now, 0:34:52.040 --> 0:34:54.160 if the man the first man said you can't fish here, 0:34:54.239 --> 0:34:57.719 he was right because it's not your property. But when 0:34:57.800 --> 0:35:01.560 somebody who does own property adjacent to the pond gives 0:35:01.640 --> 0:35:05.520 you permission, This is why all of our attempts to 0:35:05.680 --> 0:35:09.360 change in our human strength are short lived, because we 0:35:09.520 --> 0:35:12.319 keep trying to do it in a place where we 0:35:12.400 --> 0:35:16.440 don't own property. See until I come to Christ and 0:35:16.520 --> 0:35:19.520 really receive His power in my life and his spirit 0:35:19.760 --> 0:35:22.640 in my mortal body, I can't do it because I 0:35:22.640 --> 0:35:25.560 don't own that spot. So I keep trying to step 0:35:25.640 --> 0:35:27.960 up to it, and I fall short from it, and 0:35:28.000 --> 0:35:30.680 then I'm stuck in it. But God says, wait a minute, 0:35:30.760 --> 0:35:33.040 I have a piece of property. You're ready for this. 0:35:33.760 --> 0:35:37.479 When I went up a hill called cavalry, and when 0:35:37.480 --> 0:35:41.320 I establish the real estate of salvation in your heart, 0:35:41.760 --> 0:35:45.279 when I said this is my throne inside of you. 0:35:45.280 --> 0:35:47.640 You need to understand that not only did I come 0:35:47.680 --> 0:35:51.120 to give you my presence, I came to give you permission. 0:35:51.520 --> 0:35:54.200 And what you couldn't do in the law, what you 0:35:54.280 --> 0:35:57.920 couldn't do in yourself, what you couldn't do in your past, 0:35:58.280 --> 0:36:00.239 what you couldn't do under the guard. Are you in 0:36:00.480 --> 0:36:04.040 the tutelage of the Law of Moses, God said, I'll 0:36:04.080 --> 0:36:06.799 do it for you. You You can lift your hands in 0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:10.759 here because I give you permission to praise me. I 0:36:10.880 --> 0:36:18.719 give you permission to come boldly before the throne. You 0:36:18.760 --> 0:36:22.279 feel that God says, you can fish here, you can 0:36:22.360 --> 0:36:26.359 worship here, you can try again here, you can forgive here, 0:36:26.760 --> 0:36:30.440 you can move forward with your life. Here. Because I 0:36:30.520 --> 0:36:37.919 own this spot, you have permission to quit. And yet, 0:36:39.760 --> 0:36:43.160 the sad reality of the message that I'm preaching today 0:36:43.960 --> 0:36:47.600 is that most of us are more loyal to our 0:36:47.680 --> 0:36:54.160 old self than we are excited about our true self. 0:36:57.000 --> 0:37:01.000 We really are were We still want to play Nintendo 0:37:02.520 --> 0:37:06.719 Sega Genesis and the Lawyer's got an Xbox twelve and 0:37:06.719 --> 0:37:08.320 I'm like, oh, know how to word that controls me? 0:37:08.320 --> 0:37:13.880 And I'm gonna play this Nintendo Now. The question I 0:37:13.880 --> 0:37:15.480 really came up here to ask you. I want you 0:37:15.520 --> 0:37:17.920 to talk about it to somebody today before the day 0:37:17.960 --> 0:37:25.759 is over. Are you more committed to your limits than 0:37:25.760 --> 0:37:32.880 you are to your potential? Are you more loyal or 0:37:32.920 --> 0:37:37.480 committed to your limits than you are to your potential? 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:39.719 Based on the way a lot of us speak and 0:37:39.760 --> 0:37:41.719 what shows up in our language, because our language will 0:37:41.760 --> 0:37:44.279 always be a great light detector to see things that 0:37:44.320 --> 0:37:46.680 we still say and how it affects the way that 0:37:46.719 --> 0:37:50.080 we think, and it leaks out in our language. So 0:37:50.360 --> 0:37:54.759 the moment that we begin to basically defend the way 0:37:54.760 --> 0:37:59.120 we've always been not acknowledge it, I think that's awesome. Hey, 0:37:59.160 --> 0:38:01.799 here's where I am, here's what it is, here's what 0:38:01.880 --> 0:38:04.520 I did, here's what I learned. And there's a lot 0:38:04.560 --> 0:38:06.960 of healing in that, because, as I mentioned, when the 0:38:07.000 --> 0:38:09.919 bone is broken, if it grows back callous, then that's 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:11.600 going to be worse than the end. So I am 0:38:11.640 --> 0:38:14.520 not talking about the fact that you don't acknowledge it, 0:38:15.680 --> 0:38:20.640 but a lot of us go far beyond acknowledging. We 0:38:20.760 --> 0:38:28.600 actually become advocates of our own weaknesses. I don't mean 0:38:29.520 --> 0:38:33.400 facing the fact that at five point four and forty 0:38:33.400 --> 0:38:35.040 seven years old, you're probably not going to play in 0:38:35.040 --> 0:38:37.840 the NBA. I think that is a wonderful limitation for 0:38:37.880 --> 0:38:40.680 you to embrace in your life. I think your family 0:38:40.719 --> 0:38:42.920 will be happy and you will put food on the 0:38:42.960 --> 0:38:47.520 table by acknowledging certain limitations. That's why I didn't get 0:38:47.520 --> 0:38:49.359 on mates back when he came up here because I thought, 0:38:49.400 --> 0:38:52.520 oh no, I forgot he was hurt. Now, somebody over 0:38:52.560 --> 0:38:54.520 there was sending you up like a limb to the slaughter, 0:38:54.560 --> 0:38:57.000 trying to get you reinjured. But I'm your pastor. I 0:38:57.040 --> 0:39:01.440 care about you in that moment. Oh no, no, no, 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:05.760 this is not this is not wise. That's good. That's good. 0:39:06.040 --> 0:39:09.040 Every time I preach about permission to quit, somebody goes 0:39:09.080 --> 0:39:22.000 and gets a divorce. And I'm telling you, if God 0:39:22.000 --> 0:39:23.480 told you to march around the walls and not say 0:39:23.520 --> 0:39:25.239 a word, you got to walk around the walls again. 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:27.959 If God told you to go check again and there's 0:39:27.960 --> 0:39:29.480 a cloud up there and you can't see it, you 0:39:29.560 --> 0:39:31.880 got to keep looking for it. That is not the 0:39:32.040 --> 0:39:37.000 advocation of a lack of persistence. But what I think 0:39:37.040 --> 0:39:41.000 happens to us is when it sounds real good, get 0:39:41.080 --> 0:39:44.960 rid of the old self. It's much harder than it sounds, 0:39:46.840 --> 0:39:49.120 because the old self really helped me through a lot. 0:39:51.360 --> 0:39:54.120 My anger has been a good friend of me in 0:39:54.160 --> 0:39:59.680 certain situations. So to a bend in my anger and 0:39:59.040 --> 0:40:04.759 to choose in moments to be a peacemaker is so hot. 0:40:06.760 --> 0:40:16.040 To say good bye to yes today, let me see 0:40:16.040 --> 0:40:20.480 if I get a copyright strike. And to me, I 0:40:20.520 --> 0:40:23.200 know all the parts of that song. I know the feeling, 0:40:23.239 --> 0:40:26.680 I know the sentiment. I got stuff in my closet 0:40:26.719 --> 0:40:30.320 that I sing. That too is so hard, three holes 0:40:30.320 --> 0:40:35.920 in the sweatshirt to say goodbye, so comfortable. And I 0:40:35.920 --> 0:40:38.400 don't know why we shadow all so much as we 0:40:38.480 --> 0:40:40.719 do over say goodbye to the old self. You know 0:40:40.760 --> 0:40:43.960 how painful that is to make a break with a 0:40:44.000 --> 0:40:46.000 way of life. In many ways, it feels like a 0:40:46.080 --> 0:40:51.200 betrayal of yourself to change. And now you're surrounded by 0:40:51.239 --> 0:40:55.680 a bunch of dummies and bluehorns that say, do you? 0:40:53.360 --> 0:41:00.520 Your husband doesn't have to know, do you? Do you? 0:41:01.880 --> 0:41:07.560 Do you have any idea who you could become if 0:41:07.600 --> 0:41:11.560 you would make the decision in this moment to receive 0:41:11.880 --> 0:41:15.120 the permission of the holy ghost that lives inside of you, 0:41:15.400 --> 0:41:17.400 that was sent to help you and enable you to 0:41:17.440 --> 0:41:23.160 get up from what you've been staring at. And I 0:41:23.200 --> 0:41:25.920 read a quote that gripped me. The lady's name was Phipps. 0:41:25.960 --> 0:41:27.919 I don't know anything about this lady, but she said 0:41:27.960 --> 0:41:33.720 something so powerful. She said, if you argue for your limitations, 0:41:34.560 --> 0:41:42.720 you get to keep them who. I'm gonna send phips 0:41:42.760 --> 0:41:45.879 an offering once I find out who she is. She's right. 0:41:47.080 --> 0:41:51.040 If you argue with your limitations, I just have a temper. 0:41:52.239 --> 0:41:55.239 Then you get to continue to burn through perfectly good 0:41:55.280 --> 0:41:58.360 relationships and keep the people in your life from loving 0:41:58.360 --> 0:42:03.120 you like they could because you have a temper. Oh man, 0:42:03.239 --> 0:42:05.480 I mean I just can't. The money's tight, I can't 0:42:05.480 --> 0:42:08.560 be generous. Well, the world of the generous gets larger 0:42:08.560 --> 0:42:10.880 and larger, the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. 0:42:10.880 --> 0:42:14.160 So you are shrinking yourself with every limitation you defend. 0:42:17.760 --> 0:42:20.799 Should I do a few more examples? All right, let 0:42:20.800 --> 0:42:22.160 me see what I can think of. I didn't plan 0:42:22.239 --> 0:42:29.160 this part out. I'm oh, oh, you know I'm not. 0:42:30.880 --> 0:42:33.520 I'm not a vocal person, so you know I'm not 0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:36.440 going to speak up about this. You know I'm not 0:42:36.480 --> 0:42:38.080 going to say anything about this. So now you're just 0:42:38.120 --> 0:42:40.480 going to suffer in silence till you eventually just explode. 0:42:40.520 --> 0:42:42.040 And it's going to be way worse than if you 0:42:42.239 --> 0:42:49.799 learn how to say, hey, I need help. I love 0:42:49.840 --> 0:42:56.799 it when we get creative about defending our deficiencies. If 0:42:56.800 --> 0:42:59.960 you would reinvest the creativity that you put into the 0:43:00.080 --> 0:43:04.359 offending what you can't do, and if you would reinvest 0:43:04.440 --> 0:43:08.600 that you could be the next Walt Disney. As creative 0:43:08.640 --> 0:43:11.560 as you are, you invent limitations that aren't even there, 0:43:12.480 --> 0:43:17.000 limitations that might be, limitations that could possibly who might 0:43:17.040 --> 0:43:19.360 not possibly like you. Well, I would go, but you 0:43:19.400 --> 0:43:22.560 know there's probably gonna be already somebody there as even happy. 0:43:22.640 --> 0:43:25.080 Yet we used to tell my oldest son Elijah all 0:43:25.080 --> 0:43:27.600 the time something that everybody told me they'd go. You 0:43:27.640 --> 0:43:29.200 ought to be a lawyer one day. As much as 0:43:29.200 --> 0:43:31.799 you love to argue, And I have a lot of 0:43:31.800 --> 0:43:33.400 friends in the church now that are lawyers, and they 0:43:33.440 --> 0:43:35.239 don't stand in court and argue all day long. So 0:43:35.280 --> 0:43:37.319 I now know there was a flawed philosophy that if 0:43:37.360 --> 0:43:39.000 you like to argue, you should be a lawyer. But 0:43:39.040 --> 0:43:41.480 you know what, when it comes to the limitations in 0:43:41.520 --> 0:43:43.560 your life, some of you ought to be a lawyer, 0:43:45.440 --> 0:43:47.759 because not only will you argue with people when they 0:43:47.760 --> 0:43:50.960 try to tell you can do better, not only will 0:43:51.040 --> 0:43:53.279 you argue with the evidence in your life that you 0:43:53.360 --> 0:43:57.600 can overcome and keep on going back, you will argue 0:43:57.640 --> 0:44:03.480 with Almighty God about who you are. He will send 0:44:03.719 --> 0:44:07.239 signs and signals to you that there is more in you, 0:44:07.440 --> 0:44:09.279 and he will show you things that you can do. 0:44:09.600 --> 0:44:13.160 And you get up in the face of God tell 0:44:13.200 --> 0:44:18.720 me about well I can and I didn't and they didn't. 0:44:20.400 --> 0:44:27.840 And you are a defense attorney for your limitations. And 0:44:27.920 --> 0:44:32.200 if you argue for those limitations, you get to live 0:44:32.239 --> 0:44:38.680 in them. See y'all next week or I'm almost done. 0:44:38.719 --> 0:44:40.160 You'll help me get this thing home. You'll help me 0:44:40.200 --> 0:44:44.480 get this thing home, or I'm gonna finish the quote. 0:44:44.680 --> 0:44:46.799 I don't know how what Phips said next, but I 0:44:46.840 --> 0:44:48.160 know what I want to say next. From the Bible. 0:44:48.160 --> 0:44:51.240 You're ready. First part was Phipps. Next part is Verdict 0:44:51.920 --> 0:44:55.719 Part one. If you argue for your limitations, you get 0:44:55.719 --> 0:45:02.280 to keep them, but if you agree with God about 0:45:02.320 --> 0:45:12.800 your potential, you get to outgrow them. Come on, it 0:45:12.800 --> 0:45:14.640 is supposed to be my rainy day crowd that knows 0:45:14.640 --> 0:45:18.439 how to shout over a good point. If you get 0:45:18.440 --> 0:45:22.319 with God and say, I see what the situation is 0:45:22.360 --> 0:45:25.000 trying to say about me. I see what my past 0:45:25.040 --> 0:45:27.800 has been so far, and I know that the patterns 0:45:27.800 --> 0:45:29.920 of my past suggest that I will never be more 0:45:29.960 --> 0:45:32.480 than this. And I know the last January, I was 0:45:32.520 --> 0:45:35.520 sitting in church feeling ambitious too. And I know that 0:45:35.600 --> 0:45:37.920 this has happened so many times in my life that 0:45:38.000 --> 0:45:41.000 I feel like I'm a slave to it. But now 0:45:42.120 --> 0:45:46.120 I am making a decision in this moment to take 0:45:46.200 --> 0:45:50.080 off everything that God did not put on me, to 0:45:50.200 --> 0:45:52.279 strip it away. Now. I'm not going to just get 0:45:52.320 --> 0:45:55.680 to do this once. I'm not just gonna get to 0:45:55.719 --> 0:45:58.160 do this one time. Okay, God old self is God. No, 0:45:58.280 --> 0:46:03.040 Paul says, every day, Hey, you wake up every time 0:46:03.120 --> 0:46:07.759 you feel it, come back, every time that limitation squeezes 0:46:07.840 --> 0:46:10.400 you. You You know the limitation I'm talking about. You know 0:46:10.520 --> 0:46:12.440 the thing you think I can't help it. I just 0:46:12.480 --> 0:46:15.080 always do it. I'm always gonna do it. I can't 0:46:15.080 --> 0:46:19.080 be that kind of person when that comes. Instead of 0:46:19.360 --> 0:46:22.920 arguing with God, who says, I've given you my grace, 0:46:23.000 --> 0:46:27.879 my power, it's more than enough, try just agreeing with them. 0:46:29.280 --> 0:46:32.640 All right. Maybe you think I do have what it 0:46:32.640 --> 0:46:34.400 takes and that's why you put me in this situation, 0:46:37.080 --> 0:46:40.400 or be like the spies and the Book of Numbers. 0:46:41.040 --> 0:46:43.239 We can't go in. We're too small. We're like grasshoppers. 0:46:43.239 --> 0:46:46.319 They're bigger than us and guess what they got. They 0:46:46.360 --> 0:46:49.640 had a grasshopper self image and they lived in a 0:46:49.680 --> 0:46:54.200 grasshopper situation for forty years. Because if you argue with 0:46:54.320 --> 0:46:57.680 your limitations, you challenge them, you get to see what 0:46:57.760 --> 0:47:02.279 God can do. But if you argue for your limitations, 0:47:03.080 --> 0:47:06.680 do you do this? Do you ever do this? Do 0:47:06.760 --> 0:47:11.480 you defend what you cannot become before a God who 0:47:11.520 --> 0:47:19.440 has said you already are that. It reminded me when 0:47:19.440 --> 0:47:22.319 they found a woman in john A, and I didn't 0:47:22.320 --> 0:47:25.640 know why the scripture came to my mind, but I 0:47:25.680 --> 0:47:27.840 thought about that man who said, you're giving them a 0:47:28.000 --> 0:47:34.239 license to sin, and I'm like, oh, lord, man, I 0:47:35.520 --> 0:47:38.040 don't need a license to sin. I need power to 0:47:38.160 --> 0:47:43.759 change you feel that way. And I really don't need 0:47:43.760 --> 0:47:46.360 anybody throwing rocks at me for something that I'm already 0:47:46.400 --> 0:47:48.759 beating the crap out of myself about while I'm at it. 0:47:52.239 --> 0:47:55.040 And Jesus was you can look this up later. He 0:47:55.120 --> 0:47:57.920 was teaching one day in john A and they dragged 0:47:57.920 --> 0:48:00.799 this woman to him and they're like, we caught her 0:48:00.840 --> 0:48:04.400 in the act of adultery. First of all, your creeps, 0:48:06.440 --> 0:48:19.680 how did you second? Last time I checked adultery. It's 0:48:19.719 --> 0:48:27.239 two people where is he? And now Jesus has to 0:48:27.280 --> 0:48:29.960 make a decision because the Law of Moses says stoner 0:48:30.080 --> 0:48:33.879 and they got their rocks ready. Now, maybe you don't 0:48:33.880 --> 0:48:36.080 feel like anybody is throwing rocks at you. Maybe you do. 0:48:36.160 --> 0:48:38.560 A lot of times we victimize ourselves of other people 0:48:38.600 --> 0:48:40.360 who are thinking this about us, and they're not thinking 0:48:40.360 --> 0:48:44.520 about us. They're thinking about lunch. The main thing that 0:48:44.560 --> 0:48:46.600 set me free in preaching was realizing, no matter how 0:48:46.600 --> 0:48:48.440 good or bad I do, all you're thinking about is 0:48:48.560 --> 0:48:53.279 Chipotle five minutes after I'm done. But see, it's not 0:48:53.360 --> 0:48:57.000 really those people you have to worry about, is it. 0:48:57.000 --> 0:49:02.680 It's the stones that you throw at yourself. And so 0:49:02.800 --> 0:49:04.959 now I'm confused because I think this preacher is telling 0:49:05.040 --> 0:49:08.799 me do better. I'm gonna God's gonna no, no, no, 0:49:08.960 --> 0:49:11.600 I didn't say any of that. The people Paul was 0:49:11.600 --> 0:49:15.840 talking to an Ephesians were already saved, but their situation 0:49:16.040 --> 0:49:21.800 didn't reflect their new self, so they wanted better for them. 0:49:22.040 --> 0:49:25.879 And this woman is standing there with her clothes torn, 0:49:25.920 --> 0:49:28.960 no doubt, and dusty from being dragged through the streets, 0:49:30.239 --> 0:49:31.920 and very well aware of what she did, with no 0:49:31.960 --> 0:49:34.520 defense to give. She was caught in the act of 0:49:34.560 --> 0:49:42.280 adultre So Jesus makes this move that I think reflects 0:49:42.320 --> 0:49:45.439 everything I've been trying to talk to you about. Where 0:49:45.480 --> 0:49:52.520 he starts riding in the dirt, and you know, I 0:49:52.600 --> 0:49:55.399 kind of think he's going back to where we came 0:49:55.440 --> 0:49:59.080 from to begin with, to remind us that he knows 0:49:59.120 --> 0:50:03.520 that we come from the dirt. And whatever he wrote 0:50:03.560 --> 0:50:06.440 in the dirt, it must have been really, really weird, 0:50:06.440 --> 0:50:09.640 because the Bible doesn't say, but he made a statement, 0:50:09.840 --> 0:50:14.000 let the one who is without sin throw the first 0:50:14.120 --> 0:50:17.600 rock at this woman, and then he starts writing. Now, 0:50:17.640 --> 0:50:20.759 it has been suggested, although it cannot be proven, that 0:50:20.800 --> 0:50:27.320 maybe he was writing their names and listing certain stuff 0:50:27.360 --> 0:50:30.439 that they did that maybe they don't want to get 0:50:30.480 --> 0:50:33.200 caught in. And maybe it wasn't the fact that they 0:50:33.200 --> 0:50:38.080 didn't sind Maybe they just didn't get caught. So now 0:50:38.160 --> 0:50:40.640 self righteousness has no place, because we got a God 0:50:40.680 --> 0:50:43.920 who's writing in the dirt with the only hands that 0:50:44.080 --> 0:50:48.680 never sinned, and he's showing us something about heaven touching 0:50:48.800 --> 0:50:52.680 humanity and whatever he wrote. The Bible says that they 0:50:52.719 --> 0:50:55.000 begin to leave one by one. You ready for this, 0:50:55.840 --> 0:51:00.839 The oldest one left first. They left in order of 0:51:00.880 --> 0:51:04.320 how long they had had to screw up their lives. 0:51:05.760 --> 0:51:08.759 Oh God, he's writing that about her. Got to get 0:51:08.760 --> 0:51:11.719 out of here right now. How would he even know that? 0:51:11.960 --> 0:51:16.560 It's like he's God. But whatever he wrote is not 0:51:16.640 --> 0:51:18.759 what I want to leave you with today. I want 0:51:18.760 --> 0:51:20.799 to leave you with what he did in verse ten, 0:51:20.880 --> 0:51:27.799 this is so beautiful play. Jesus straightened up and asked 0:51:27.840 --> 0:51:30.440 the woman, because they're all gone now, all the rocks 0:51:30.440 --> 0:51:34.839 are lying there in the presence of the only righteous one. 0:51:36.239 --> 0:51:43.319 And he asked her, woman, where are they? Has no 0:51:43.360 --> 0:51:51.640 one condemned you? And verse eleven touched me because she said, 0:51:52.400 --> 0:51:59.400 no one, sir, And he said, then, neither do I 0:51:59.480 --> 0:52:06.359 condemn you. But I do want to change you. That's 0:52:06.400 --> 0:52:07.920 the gospel. Man. I don't know how to give it 0:52:07.960 --> 0:52:12.080 to you any plainer than this. I don't condemn you. 0:52:17.680 --> 0:52:19.839 There's no rock in my hand, but there is healing there. 0:52:21.880 --> 0:52:24.160 You want to be different, you can watch this. I 0:52:24.200 --> 0:52:26.000 know how we read the Bible. We read it in 0:52:26.000 --> 0:52:28.040 the wrong tone. We read it like this angry God 0:52:28.080 --> 0:52:30.359 that we were taught about that isn't really who he is. 0:52:32.239 --> 0:52:34.160 We read it from the wrong mountain, like the mountain 0:52:34.239 --> 0:52:36.319 mount SINAI. We don't read it from Mount Calvary, where 0:52:36.400 --> 0:52:39.719 Jesus purchased her life with his blood and said, you 0:52:39.840 --> 0:52:43.400 can be forgiven, you can be healed, you can be classed, 0:52:43.680 --> 0:52:46.360 you can have a future. You can have a new beginning. 0:52:49.080 --> 0:52:54.680 He said, I don't condemn you. Go now and leave 0:52:56.239 --> 0:52:59.960 your life of sin. They wanted to give her punishment. 0:53:01.560 --> 0:53:10.960 He wanted to give her permission. Stand to your feet. 0:53:13.160 --> 0:53:18.680 God sent you this word to give you permission. Go 0:53:18.840 --> 0:53:24.040 now and leave your life of sin for the sinless one. 0:53:24.120 --> 0:53:27.440 His name is Jesus has given you a new identity 0:53:28.480 --> 0:53:31.920 and longs to give you a new beginning. You know what, 0:53:31.960 --> 0:53:36.200 you keep saying, But God is too late. Now Are 0:53:36.200 --> 0:53:38.239 you really going to argue with him when he says 0:53:38.280 --> 0:53:41.480 I've given you a hope in a future. You think 0:53:41.520 --> 0:53:43.440 he didn't know how much time it would take for 0:53:43.480 --> 0:53:46.719 you to get to this point. That God who made you? 0:53:47.440 --> 0:53:51.879 Are you really going to argue with the God who 0:53:51.960 --> 0:53:57.160 created you to be like him? Or would you agree 0:53:57.200 --> 0:54:00.319 with him for a moment that maybe I am who 0:54:00.360 --> 0:54:03.600 God says I am. Maybe I'm not what I did. 0:54:03.680 --> 0:54:05.960 Maybe I'm more than the sum total of my behaviors 0:54:05.960 --> 0:54:08.360 and my personality traits and my genetics and what I 0:54:08.400 --> 0:54:14.719 saw model. Maybe I'm wrong and God's not. Maybe all 0:54:14.760 --> 0:54:18.040 I am is not an alcoholic. Maybe the third relapse 0:54:18.080 --> 0:54:20.680 wasn't the last time I need to try it. Maybe 0:54:20.719 --> 0:54:23.080 I'm not always going to suffer from this chronic anxiety. 0:54:23.120 --> 0:54:24.919 Maybe I'm going to learn a more peaceful way to live. 0:54:26.000 --> 0:54:28.000 Maybe I'm not going to die alone. Maybe I will 0:54:28.040 --> 0:54:32.040 love again. Maybe I will make a difference. Maybe I 0:54:32.080 --> 0:54:34.359 will set a better example and be there for my son. 0:54:35.800 --> 0:54:41.600 Whatever he's speaking, I bring you into agreement. Now agree 0:54:41.600 --> 0:54:45.080 with him. That's the first step, just to agree with God. 0:54:45.280 --> 0:54:48.920 That's even what the word amen means, y'all. It doesn't 0:54:48.960 --> 0:54:53.120 mean that's good preaching. It means I agree. So be it. 0:54:54.080 --> 0:54:57.920 If you see it, so be it. God. If you 0:54:58.080 --> 0:55:03.239 say it, oh be it. If you call me it, 0:55:03.440 --> 0:55:07.239 so be it. And if you don't, I'm making a 0:55:07.320 --> 0:55:10.239 break today, even if it takes me the rest of 0:55:10.280 --> 0:55:13.319 my life to live in this freedom. Every day of 0:55:13.360 --> 0:55:16.200 my life. Just like I put on new socks every 0:55:16.280 --> 0:55:17.920 day of my life, just like I put on a 0:55:17.960 --> 0:55:20.520 new shirt every day of my life, just like I 0:55:20.560 --> 0:55:24.319 put on my shoes, I am committed to follow you 0:55:24.719 --> 0:55:29.200 in the light of life, for you are the light 0:55:29.239 --> 0:55:36.440 of the world. Go now and sin no more. Go 0:55:36.560 --> 0:55:41.480 now and sin no more. It's gonna be different, it's 0:55:41.520 --> 0:55:44.799 gonna be difficult. But don't give yourself over to a 0:55:44.840 --> 0:55:47.160 way of life that is leading you to death when 0:55:47.160 --> 0:55:53.240 the author of life is calling you to live. Jesus, 0:55:53.280 --> 0:55:58.520 I bring your people before your feet today, where there 0:55:58.560 --> 0:56:02.760 is no rocks to throw, Oh, only righteousness to receive. 0:56:04.480 --> 0:56:06.480 Heads about, eyes close. The spirit of the Lord is 0:56:06.480 --> 0:56:09.319 working in someone's life in this moment. To give your 0:56:09.320 --> 0:56:15.120 life to Jesus. You have never really given him your life. 0:56:15.320 --> 0:56:17.640 You went to church when you were little, you heard 0:56:17.719 --> 0:56:20.520 the gospel, you know some songs about it. You may 0:56:20.520 --> 0:56:22.480 have even at one time been in a better place, 0:56:22.680 --> 0:56:26.840 but you've never really given him you. Well, this is 0:56:26.880 --> 0:56:32.279 your moment. This is your permission to stop living for 0:56:32.360 --> 0:56:35.920 yourself and live for him. Stop trusting in your own 0:56:36.000 --> 0:56:40.040 righteousness and trust in his. To stop trying to achieve it, 0:56:40.680 --> 0:56:44.960 and receive it by grace with heads bowed and eyes closed. 0:56:45.000 --> 0:56:48.319 At every location, if you hear that tender voice of love, 0:56:48.360 --> 0:56:51.640 that's the voice of Jesus saying where are your accusers? 0:56:53.440 --> 0:56:58.120 I don't condemn you, but I want to change you. 0:56:58.160 --> 0:57:01.799 In this moment, you and God is calling you. I 0:57:01.840 --> 0:57:05.319 want to lead you in a prayer. This prayer is 0:57:05.360 --> 0:57:07.439 not a magic trick. It's an expression of your heart 0:57:07.480 --> 0:57:09.280 to God. For the Bible says that if you confess 0:57:09.320 --> 0:57:11.080 with your mouth Jesus is the Lord, and believe in 0:57:11.080 --> 0:57:12.839 your heart God raised him from the dead, you will 0:57:12.880 --> 0:57:17.040 be saved. It is by grace. We are saved through faith. 0:57:17.680 --> 0:57:19.320 It's not of work, so that no one can boast. 0:57:19.320 --> 0:57:21.400 It is the gift of God. Right now, if you're 0:57:21.400 --> 0:57:23.280 ready to give your life to Jesus online at a 0:57:23.320 --> 0:57:25.920 campus right here at Valentine, I want you to repeat 0:57:25.960 --> 0:57:28.880 this after me, our church family, repeat this out loud 0:57:28.960 --> 0:57:30.919 for the benefit of those who are coming to God, 0:57:31.320 --> 0:57:36.200 Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior, 0:57:37.200 --> 0:57:41.600 and today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. 0:57:42.640 --> 0:57:46.800 I believe he died that I would be forgiven and 0:57:46.960 --> 0:57:52.840 rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. 0:57:53.640 --> 0:57:57.320 This is my new beginning. If you just pray that 0:57:57.440 --> 0:58:00.400 on the count of three, shoots your hand up one, two, three, 0:58:00.640 --> 0:58:03.720 all over the room, all over the room, in the 0:58:03.840 --> 0:58:06.720 chat right now online our intam come on, lift it up. 0:58:06.760 --> 0:58:09.160 Don't be a shame, don't be a same. Well, if 0:58:09.160 --> 0:58:11.480 you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things 0:58:11.520 --> 0:58:14.840 I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, 0:58:15.120 --> 0:58:18.120 and review this podcast. You can also help us reach 0:58:18.160 --> 0:58:22.000 others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give 0:58:22.400 --> 0:58:25.240 and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.