Skip to content GOD'S PLAN FOR PROGRESS: CHOOSE WELL TODAY Oct 28 · 58 min ...more
GOD'S PLAN FOR PROGRESS: CHOOSE WELL TODAY
October 28, 2024 · 58 min
godsplanforprogresschoosewelltodaydrjeffschwarzentraubbravechurch
Series Families Fortified October 28, 2024 · 58 min · Families Fortified
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
In this video 0:00 Embracing God's Faithfulness and Making Good Choices
Embracing God's Faithfulness and Making Good Choices 0:01 Well, good morning. Would you help me welcome our Westminster Colorado Springs and online campus who are worshiping with us today? Great to be worshiping with all of you. And before I begin my message this morning,0:13 from time to time we do what's called a family chat just to bring you updated on a couple of things that are going on because there's a lot of things happening at Brave right now. I want you to be aware of them. The0:24 first is this, we're in the middle of 21 days of prayer. As you know, today is day 8 of our 21 days of prayer. Amen? Every good thing that happens at Brave is a result of God's people that are0:36 seeking His face in prayer. And so I would love to invite you out Monday through Friday, 6 30 in the morning, Saturday at 8 o'clock. I'm still trying to figure out the pastor that did it at 6 30 in the morning, but it's0:46 great. We're having a great turnout. You can also watch online, be praying with us, want you to do that. Secondly, I wanna tell you about Brave Academy. As you know, last year we started a school, started K through 5.0:56 This year we've added middle school and high school, and on September third, we launched year 2. Praise the Lord. So there's still time to sign up for that if you want. We I won't give you the final1:08 number, but we have significantly more students than last year, more teachers and administrators than last year, but I did want you to know this, couple things. Number 1, if you're looking to homeschool your kids, Brave1:17 Academy now can be the umbrella school for your homeschool. So if you're already homeschooling and want to do that, if you wanna start homeschooling, we can help you do that. And if you wanna homeschool but you
1:29 say, I would homeschool if I didn't have to teach math, or I would homeschool if I didn't have to teach humanities, or I would homeschool if I didn't have to teach science, you can homeschool and still take classes at
1:39 Brave Academy if you're in middle school or high school, and so we have a couple people in our lobby. If you're in Colorado Springs or you're in Westminster, and we're coming to you soon, we want to have schools in all
1:49 these places, but if you say, well we can homeschool for a while until that happens, you can be part of our homeschool coop as well. Also wanna tell you this, as we're inviting people in, because of tuition, we've had to
2:00 tell a couple people even in light of scholarships and others, we can't have your student here. And as I was praying this week, I just said, this just didn't feel right to me. And And so here's what I'd love to do. I'd
2:10 love to invite you, to give to our scholarship fund that we have set up. You can use the QR code on the back of your seat. There may be 1 on your screen. No, there's not. But there's a QR code, or you can go to brave
2:21 academy dot org. You just like to give a small amount, or if you wanna start a, you know, hundred million dollar endowment program. Either way, I see that hand back. No, I'm just kidding. We would love to do that because
2:33 we wanna see as many students grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if that tugs at your heart, just know that we would love, you to step up to the plate. We'd love to be able to make some phone
2:43 calls in the coming week and say, hey, you're actually gonna get to go to Brave Academy because of the generosity of our of our church. So if that moves on your heart, please find a way to give, generously to that. So
2:54 our head of school, Jake, as well as Valerie that runs our homeschool co op, they'll be out in the lobby immediately after the service here in Inglewood. You can ask him any questions. You can call the school during the
3:03 week. We'd be happy to help you with any of that. Second or thirdly, I guess, I wanna tell you that we have a women's conference scheduled for Saturday, October 20 sixth. For all the women, it's gonna be a great time.
3:15 Amen? I said we have a women's conference scheduled Saturday, October 20 Thank you. Alright. And I'm saying this not only for the women, but guys, I know oftentimes
3:26 like we like to have our wives and kids home because Saturday's the day we get to be with our family. Guys, make it possible for your wife to be there. Make it possible for your daughters to be there. Do whatever you can
3:35 to watch your kids that day so they can go experience God's grace as a group of women at Brave Church, and so put that on your calendar. There's more to come. My wife's super excited about the speaker that's coming and
3:46 and all that good stuff. There's early bird pricing right now. You can click on in our website and, and begin to sign up. Finally, I'll just tell you this just to be full candor with you, in the next couple weeks.
3:58 I am actually having a small operation done on Thursday. I got hernia repair being done possibly on both sides, and they tell me it's gonna take a little while to recover. So next week pastor Justin Hart's gonna be
4:10 preaching, here. So excited about that. It's possible I could have been back the next week, but I I have my buddy Greg Steer, that's gonna be here. He's a CCU graduate. He's an evangelist. You wanna have all your
4:22 unsaved friends here that day. It's gonna be a great time, and Lord willing, I'll be back the the week after that. So just letting you know, I'm telling you that's gonna be praying for me. And, I think it's appropriate
4:31 to say my wife would tell you if she was here. Apparently, I'm not fun to be around when I'm in pain. So pray for her as well, and, we'll we'll trust the Lord for a great recovery. Amen? So those are some things that are
4:42 going on. He's building his church. He's doing a lot of great things, and we're so excited about all he's doing as we roll into our fall ministry calendar. Amen? So with that, let's continue our worship as we seek the
4:51 face of the Lord. Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are, and Lord, we thank you that we're a body of people that come to highlight you, to elevate you, to praise you, to lift
5:02 you up. Because Lord, you say that if you are high and lifted up, you will draw all men unto yourself. And so we're here to give you the glory, honor, and praise that you and you alone so rightly deserve. And Lord, we
5:14 thank you for your living and active word because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak Lord for we are ready
5:24 to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you
5:35 agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen. Amen. Yesterday, I got invited to the BMW golf championship in Castle Pines. And and so went with a
5:47 buddy of mine to, that golf outing, and he lives in that neighborhood, told me how to get there, and got on the golf course, and it was amazing to me that so many people enjoy golf. And
5:59 as I was watching, you know, I was at the different greens, and then walking our way to hole number 18. And it's amazing to me to see some of these guys play, because they can drive a ball over 400 yards, some of them. I
6:10 mean, the way they hit their second shot right on the green, the the way they put them in. I mean, it's incredible. And what's even more incredible is when you stand next to people that watch golf, that like golf, they
6:20 talk as if they're as good as the people playing. They tell you about their lessons. They tell you about certain holes that they've hit. They tell you about certain drives they've made, certain things they've done, and
6:31 as I was watching yesterday, it dawned on me why I don't enjoy golf that much, and here's why. Most people don't know that before my freshman year in high school, I debated all summer as to whether I was gonna golf on
6:42 the golf team or be a football player. It's actually a decent golfer, but I chose football because when I played golf, I realized I kinda tapped out. I mean, the greatest golf score I've ever really had is kind of in the
6:54 the mid eighties, and I know I could never be phenomenal being a mid eighties golfer. And it's frustrating to participate in a sport where you know you can't be elite or you can't be 1 of the better ones. And so, even if
7:06 you take lessons and even when you're playing and everybody's trying to coach your swing and tell you what to do. It's just not that fun. And so for me, the only people I ever play golf with are people that I like that
7:17 don't keep score. And I'm telling you this story because I think when we're in this family's fortified series, a lot of us feel just like that. It's 1 thing to talk about how God created us and how we're all valuable
7:29 to him. It's another thing to talk about how he created us as men and women and there's purpose in our gender. It's another thing to talk about what marriage should look like. It's another thing to talk about how we
7:38 parent. It's another thing to talk about what it looks like to be a godly single. And yet, when we hear the standard, sometimes we feel like, I feel when I go watch golf is this. What's the use of trying? I can never be
7:49 that good at it anyway. I I heard about the marriage thing, but in all honesty, if I was reflecting, my marriage on a scale of 1 to 10 is never better than a 5. And we've worked at it hard, and
8:01 it doesn't seem to get any better, and you know what? I'm single. I'm almost 40 years old, and I've done it God's way, and I still don't have a spouse. So what's the use in trying anymore? Or we tried to raise our kids
8:10 in the Lord, and some of them have gone wayward and the prodigals, and so I hear what God wants, and I think for some Christians they can live that, but for me, it just doesn't feel like that's ever gonna work out. So
8:22 why try? I'll just give my heart and attention somewhere else, and that's why this message today is for you. Because here's what I believe, that by God's grace if he called you to himself in salvation,
8:34 he through his spirit can do everything in your life that the word tells you that he can do. Amen. And he can redeem any part of your past that's not all that glorious.
8:46 And so then today, I want to talk to you about God's plan for your progress. How is it that you can go from where you're at to where God wants you to be so that you don't get discouraged and give up? And the answer to
8:56 that question is making good choices today. Making good choices now. Because even those of us that would say, yeah, I probably need to make changes. Here's when you wanna make changes. Tomorrow. I'll work on my marriage
9:08 later. Hey, after the party next weekend, then I'll start living morally. I mean, it's always down the road, and God says, no. Today is the day that I want you to go after me. So if you're 1 of those that's been
9:20 listening to this Families Fortified series, and in your heart, you say, I wish I had a family like that. Wish I had a mom like that, dad like that. Wish I had a marriage like that. Wish I lived perfect like that. Wish I
9:31 But I don't know what to do now. God has a word for you to encourage you today. Amen? To do that today, I wanna encourage you to open up your bibles to the book of Joshua. Joshua, we're gonna be in chapter
9:42 24 verses 14 and 15. Joshua chapter 24 verses 14 and 15. As we talk about making good choices, and where this is in
9:54 Israel's history is they've now gone in, they've taken over the promised land, they've conquered all their enemies, they've established the cities, and God's done a great work through all of Israel. After
10:06 being delivered from Egypt, after spending 40 years in the wilderness, after going in, Joshua has now spent his life doing what the Lord asked him to do, and he's seen God's faithfulness to
10:18 him. And as he's talking to the people, here's how he encourages them before he dies. He says this, now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth and
10:30 put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. Whether the
10:41 gods which your father served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in the land in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we
10:53 will serve the Lord. And so as Joshua gives a call to the people of Israel, he's telling them, look at all that God's done. Now, you've seen God move, and you've seen God work, and you've been around the move of
11:05 God. Now I wanna tell you how you can continue to see it. It's almost as if I'm paraphrasing here and saying, Brave Church, you've seen God move in our church. You've experienced God in the preaching. You've experienced
11:17 God in worship, and in prayer. You've seen God move in relationships in our church. You've watched all that. You wanna see it continue to go. You you've heard God's standards for marriage, and you've heard God's
11:27 standards for singles, and you've seen his desire to make family central to all that he wants done. How are we gonna continue to see God move in that way? And And so he gives them this charge, and I'm gonna give you
11:39 5 choices from the text today that you can make today. If you make these choices on a daily basis, you will see God begin to move in your life in greater capacity
11:51 than ever before. 5 choices that you can choose well today, and the first is this. Choose to remember God's faithfulness. Choose to remember God's faithfulness. In
12:03 chapters 23 and 24, right before we get up to our text, Joshua is giving his farewell address, and then he begins to review all of Israel's history and all that God has done. And I won't take the time to read the whole
12:13 text, but in Joshua chapter 24 verse 13, he really puts the the handle on it for everything that God has done. And notice Joshua speaking God's word, speaking on behalf of God, speaking for
12:25 God says this, I gave you a land on which you had not labored in cities, which you had not built, and you lived in them. You're eating the vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant. Here's
12:37 what he's saying. Our God's been faithful. Every good thing you have is from God. Every gift you have is because of him. He's telling Israel, you're in a land that you didn't earn. You're
12:49 in a land you didn't deserve. You've got trees to eat off of that you didn't plant. You've got food to eat that you didn't do anything to get, and you have everything you have because God is so good. So here's
13:01 what I want to tell you to do. Remember God's faithfulness. Remember God's faithfulness. Will will you give God thanks for everything he's done in your life? Because here's how it works relationally. Here's how it works
13:11 in your life. If you're single, it's like, yeah, but but where's my spouse? If you're married then you say, well, how how come it's not How come it's so hard for us? And you only dwell on the 1 thing. Here's what God
13:23 wants you to do. If you're gonna see God move, choose to thank him for all the ways that he's been faithful to you from the time that you were conceived up until now,
13:35 and you will find there's not enough daylight to name all the things. If you're here today, praise God, you have health to come. If you're breathing air, thank God because you didn't create it, and you didn't create
13:47 the the system that you have with your lungs, or your circulatory system to get the oxygen around. God created all that, took care of all it for you. So thank him for that. If you have any good relationships, that's God.
13:57 If you have any resources, that's the Lord. If you have any talents or abilities, God's the 1 that gave them to you. So when you are making choices, choose today to be thankful for God, and for all that he's done in your
14:08 life. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. What's God's will for a moment? Give him thanks. Praise him for all he is. Praise him for all he's done.
14:20 Praise him for his character. Praise him that his love and his mercy never fail. Will you trust God in your present situation, or are you complaining about it? God wants you to trust him for
14:32 that. And even if you're in a situation that's a bad situation, and even if you're in that situation because of the choices you've made, and even if you're the 1 to blame for blowing it, I got good news for you. Israel
14:43 found themselves in that situation a lot. And when they were in captivity after they disobeyed God for decades, and they got hold off into captivity. As the book of
14:54 Lamentations is written and Jeremiah is writing this. Here's what he says in Lamentations 3 21 to 23. When they're in a situation that they caused by their own disobedience and God was being faithful by punishing
15:06 them. Here's how they prayed. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail. They are new
15:18 every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I'm in a horrible situation right now. I don't like where I'm at. I don't like why I got here. I don't like the circumstances that got me here.
15:30 I didn't choose it, or I did choose it. It's no good. But this I'm recalling to mind, and the reason I have hope for my future, is because my God is so faithful, and so loving, and so kind,
15:42 and so good, that no matter how bad it is right now, it's gonna get better because my God is a covenant keeping God. Amen? That's good news this morning.
15:54 And it's not based upon your good works. I mean, second Timothy 2 13 says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. Do you remember
16:06 God's faithfulness? Have you taken the time on a regular basis to speak to him the things you're thankful for or to write for him the things that you're thankful for. Because
16:18 sometimes even in bad situations, good has come from those bad situations, and God is still doing good, and God is a good God. It's his character. It's all he knows. It's what he does. His goodness is always chasing us
16:30 down and overtaking us. It's the enemy that lies to us about the couple things in our situation that haven't been done the way we want, and that's all he gets us to focus on. While all around us, there's so much good
16:41 happening that we forget to thank God for, and then we wonder why is God not good because he hasn't done this 1 thing. When all the time God's been doing massive things that we refuse in our heart to tell him, because
16:52 we're so focused on the 1 thing that we think he needs to do. Can you choose today to remind yourself of God's faithfulness? Can you choose today to be thankful? Not wait till tomorrow. Not wait till church is out. Can
17:04 you just begin to thank him now? Can you just recognize in your heart there's some good things that God did. Every relationship you've had in your life has been sovereignly designed by the Lord. There's anybody that's
17:15 ever given you encouragement that was from the Lord through another person. There's anybody in your life that's ever done you any good. It was from the Lord through another person. If you've ever received any resources
17:25 well, that was me. I'm really good at this. Who gave you the good to do with what you did? Who gave you the brain? Who gave you the skill? Who gave God. It all goes back to him. Every good and perfect gift comes from
17:35 him. Thank him. Thank him. Thank him. Rejoice. See his faithfulness in all these things. And when you're overwhelmed with the goodness of God, it takes your eyes off that 1 little thing that just hasn't happened yet.
17:46 Amen? So remember his faithfulness. That's choice number 1. Choice number 2 is this, worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a choice that you can make.
17:58 That's a choice that you can make. He tells them this in verse 14. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and
18:10 in Egypt, and serve the Lord. What's he saying? You get a choice as to who you're gonna serve, and you need to recognize where your allegiance goes is an act of worship. Every
18:22 human being is worshiping. Well, I'm not really a worshiper. Everybody worships. You are created to worship. You're either worshiping the true 1 living God, the Lord Jesus
18:33 Christ, the second person of the Trinity, or you're worshiping someone or something else. Pagans worship all the time. At their conventions,
18:45 at their concerts, at their sporting events, with their heroes. They're always worshiping. Hands up in the air. Pray, sing, what? That's not worship. I'm not Yes, you are. You're giving
18:57 your allegiance to someone or something. Worship. Worship. Make worship a priority. Can I talk to the men here for a second? Men, 1 way you make a priority of
19:09 worship in your house is that you lead your family to church every single Sunday. Do you know why? Because that communicates to your family. Daddy thinks this is important, and no matter what goes on in our family,
19:21 daddy's at church. So it must be a big deal, and every study shows that kids are 90 percent more likely to follow what their dad does when it comes to spiritual things than even their mothers. Dads, it's your job
19:33 to lead your family to church, and if you don't, here's what you're communicating. Worship's not that big of a deal. Sports is. Vacation is. Time off is.
19:45 Recreation is. You're communicating that to your kids. Oh, no. I'm not. I still love the Lord. You may love the Lord, but you're communicating the worship of other things to your children. So choose today who you will
19:57 serve, but as for me and my house, Joshua says, we will serve the Lord. Choose to worship the Lord, and by the way, Sunday is just the start of worship for the week.
20:08 Like worship is a lifestyle. It's a response to God. So if there's people on the platform leading you and singing, and you're hearing the word proclaimed, it doesn't mean when the service is over worship is done, it
20:20 means I get to wake up and live my life saying when I roll out of bed, Lord it's for your glory today. Every thought, action, indeed I have, it's all about you. How can you best use me to bring you the most glory? What's
20:32 gonna unfold in my life, and how can I best be prepared to make sure that you get my allegiance? That when other people see me and experience me, they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
20:42 Lord of my life. Make that choice. Make that choice. Because sometimes when our marriages are struggling, sometimes when we're singles and we're struggling, our worship goes right out the window, and
20:54 instead of worship, you know what we do? We complain. God, how come you don't fix this? And how come you haven't done this? And Lord, I'm just mad at you right now, and all these different things. But when you voice
21:06 praise to the Lord, everything begins to change because the Lord inhabits the praises of his people. Psalm 34 1 to 3 says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. My soul will make
21:16 its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. Or how about Psalm 95? Oh, come let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us
21:28 shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to him with Psalms. Why? For the Lord our God is a great God and a great King above all Gods. And he
21:39 goes on to describe it. Like when you come to church, if you're coming to church begrudgingly, or you're coming to church like, yeah, I don't know if I can make it on time, or you're coming to church just kinda rolling
21:48 in. You're coming with the wrong heart. Your heart should be all week long, my God's still God. All week long, he created everything I see. He's sovereignly working everywhere. Just to get into
22:00 his presence with other people that believe what I believe, to worship His name is worth my time, and I will be here, and I will seek Him, and I will go after Him. That's what it means to worship. And there's other
22:10 places in the world that would put the North American church to shame. There are places I preach in Asia where I show up for a 9 o'clock service to preach, and I get there at 8 o'clock, and people have been there since 5
22:21 o'clock. Thousands of them on their face praying, hoping that the man of God that's bringing the word has something to say. Do you know how intimidating that is? These people actually expect it to be good.
22:34 They're praying that it's They're not looking at their watch saying, I hope he's done. They're saying, I came from miles away and walked all the way to get here. You better tell me what God wants because I want him.
22:45 That's worship. Amen? That's what God wants us to do. Choose to worship Him. Choose to give Him our allegiance, and by the way, in the families that do that, there's blessing. We organize for everything in
22:57 our life, usually except our families. We organize dinners with friends. We organize meetings apart from our family. We organize how we're gonna take vacations and get away. We organize everything. What do you organize
23:07 with your family? When do you organize your family meals, and your family time, and your family get togethers, and your relationship with 1 another because a family that does, there's blessings. Psalm 1 28. In the first
23:19 4 verses it says, how blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. It's worship. Who walks in his ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you shall be happy and it'll be well with you. Your wife shall be like a
23:30 fruitful vine within your house. Your children like olive plants around the table. Behold, for thus shall be the man for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. When you put the Lord first, there's blessing
23:42 in your family. If you wanna see the Lord move in your family, then put the Lord first in your life. You wanna see the Lord move in your marriage, put the Lord first in your life. You wanna see the Lord moving your kids,
23:52 put the Lord first in your life. Your kids should be so used to coming to church whether they like it or not. They know that's where we're gonna be because that's on the calendar. Nothing gets in the way of that. Now,
24:03 yeah, there can be exceptions. There's a vacation here or a thing there, but they know if we're breathing and we're in town, we're at church. Because you set a precedent for them that it's that important. And if you come
24:15 expectant, they'll come expectant. And if you start receiving from the Lord, they'll start receiving from the Lord. But if you just roll in like, yeah, I hope it's good today, and can't really get there. It wasn't a
24:25 parking spot, so we went home and just kinda tired. You know, we we had a busy night last night, and that's how you view worship. I promise you in the next generation, it's gonna be even worse, and in the next
24:35 generation, it's gonna be even worse. So if you want things to improve in your life, with your family, and with your kids, prioritize the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Make him central to all that you do.
24:45 Choose him and choose him first. Let me give you a third. A third choice that you can make if you're gonna worship and honor the Lord Jesus Christ is this, love and forgive 1 another.
24:57 Love and forgive 1 another. Now he tells him here in verse 15, if it's disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord. In other words, if you don't wanna serve the Lord, here's what he says. Whether the
25:09 gods which your father serve, which were beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. He's like, no. I can't make you serve the Lord. I I can't make you do this. He goes, and
25:21 if you wanna choose who your dad worshiped and you wanna choose the other gods of our culture, I can't tell you what you need to do. But as for me and my house, I'll model it for you. We'll serve the
25:33 Lord, and you need to choose for yourself this day who you will serve. Because the beauty of the gospel is if you choose as a man, or a woman, or a married
25:44 couple, yeah, my family did it this way, but we're going this way. We're all in on Jesus, and we're doing it that way. It'll change generations to come. You you're you're not, you don't
25:56 have to do it the way your mom and dad did if they didn't go after Jesus wholeheartedly. And you don't have to make excuses for yourself that, well, my parents would have known the Lord and done this, then I It doesn't
26:06 matter what they did. You get to choose who you're gonna follow, and you get to decide because your mom and dad can't make you worship Jesus. Even if they drag you here for 18 years, you still get the choice whether
26:17 you're gonna listen and go out and do your own thing, or serve the Lord. You get to choose. You have your own volition. You have your own will. But Joshua was telling, I'm telling you if you're gonna serve the Lord,
26:27 there's ways he's gonna have you live. And 1 truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and what centers and culminates is at the cross is love and forgiveness. And don't you
26:39 love the love and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean the gospel would tell you this, that you're dead in your sins. There's nothing you can do to get to God, but God loved you so much that the father sent his
26:50 son to be the savior of the world. And no matter how bad you messed up, no matter how horrible your life is, no matter how much in rebellion you've lived against God, through Christ's death on the cross, what he was
27:01 saying is, I love you so much that I'm willing to forgive not just some of your sin. I'm not just gonna cover over your sin. I will cleanse you from all of your sin and make you
27:13 a new creation because of my love and forgiveness, which is greater than all your sin. Do we love that or what? Amen?
27:24 And we'll come back to this, but don't you love it as a single who said I wanted to live morally and I wanted to do this, and if you would have asked me when I was 8 years old, I would have told you, but I didn't live
27:34 that way, and now I feel this guilt and this shame and all this stuff. His grace is greater than all your sin. Or for those of you who are married, who had this dream and idea in your head, when
27:46 we get married we're gonna be this family, and we're gonna bless the Lord, and we're gonna come together, but it's been really hard. His grace is greater than all your struggle and your sin. That's that's the beauty of
27:57 it. That's the love and forgiveness of God. But here's what it really means. Choose this day not just to receive the love and forgiveness of God, but choose this day to love other people and give them the same
28:08 forgiveness that Jesus Christ has extended for you. And that's where we say, I don't want that. I want him to love me and forgive everything in me, but those are people.
28:21 I I don't want to extend that love and forgiveness to them, but that's what Jesus tells us that we need to do. If you're gonna be my disciple, that's how people are gonna know. You remember, he gave this new teaching in
28:31 John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35. Here's what he said. He said this, he said, a new commandment I give you. A new commandment that I give to you that
28:43 you love 1 another even as I have loved you that you also love 1 another. So in other words, love other people in the same way I've loved you. By this all men, that's everybody will know that you are
28:55 my disciples if you have love for 1 another. So guess what? Here's what he says, with those closest to you, married people. Those closest to you, children to your parents, parents to your
29:07 children, love 1 another. Love 1 another. Those outside your family, love them too. What about those that are mean to me? Well, you get to pray for them
29:19 and you get to love them. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Christianity is the only faith in the world that teaches genuine love. Well,
29:31 other faiths love people. No, they don't. Other faiths have limits to their love. Other people that aren't part of that community are called infidels. If you're not part of the Christian community, here's what we
29:43 say. We'll lay down our life so that you can know our God, because our God loves you enough to lay down his life for you. And even if you hate us, we'll pray for you and continue to love you, because that's
29:55 who we serve. And you're welcome into our community through repentance and faith. Because we were once dead, and we were once hostile to Jesus too, and he saved us, and he's willing to save you, and so we love
30:06 you. To whom? To everybody. What about people that don't deserve it? Exactly. That's why when the scribe, the attorney comes to
30:18 Jesus, well, where's the limits of this love? Who's my neighbor? Jesus tells him the story of the good Samaritan to tell him, everywhere you go with everybody you see, you love them, and you demonstrate that you belong
30:27 to me, because that's exactly what I'm doing. Which means you have ample opportunity every day to demonstrate love to people that are unworthy of love, because that's exactly what Christ did. Jesus did not pick you
30:38 because you're good. Jesus did not pick you because you're better than other people. Jesus did not pick you because brave were better than other churches. Jesus only picked you because of his incredible love, even though
30:48 you're so undeserving you didn't deserve anything. But he came and died for you, rose for you and invited you into the family through no work of your own, but everything he's done for you. That's love.
31:02 And then we get to forgive too. We love the forgiveness of God. I love the fact that God does not hold my sin against me. I love that he separates it as far as the east is from the west. Love that he drops it into the
31:13 deepest ocean. I love that he never brings it up anymore. I mean, we'll say things like this. When God forgives, he forgets. And what we mean when he forgets, he's omniscient. He hasn't forgotten anything. But what we
31:22 mean when we say that is he's not gonna bring it up again. I'm forgiving you. I'm releasing you. I'm letting it go. It's not coming up. I'm aware of what you've done, but I'm not holding
31:34 it against you. I'm not keeping it in the bank until you mess up again, and then I'm bringing all of this stuff out. I'm forgiving you. The book of Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 32, at
31:46 the end of that chapter, he says, be kind to 1 another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Some of you and the reason
31:58 you haven't moved on in the grace of God and you're not feeling the freedom you need in God is because whether it's your mom or your dad or a boyfriend or a girlfriend or your wife or your husband or your
32:10 child or your parent, you have unforgiveness. Oh, you love them and you'll love them more when they change, but I'm not forgiving that because how could I ever forgive
32:21 that? Here's how. Let me tell you how. Because God in Christ forgave you, and the debt that he forgave in your life is greater than any debt another human being has against you. I know that for fact. You were dead and
32:33 rebellious against the God of the universe. What has that person done? We like to say things like that. I could never forgive that. You're right. You couldn't apart from Christ, but with the Holy Spirit inside of you,
32:44 you must forgive them. You must. And even we pray the Lord's prayers. Now we pray, Lord, forgive me my debts and my sins in the same way you see me forgive other people's sins.
32:57 That's the prayer. I'm asking God to forgive me with the same lavish forgiveness in the same way he sees me lavishly forgive others. And you know where a great place to start is? Your marriage. Your
33:08 family with your kids, and with your mom, and with your dad. Do you know why? Because all of us are sinners. Take a look to the right and to the left of you this morning. Here's what I'll tell you. That person's blown it
33:20 huge. Now look at me. I've blown it huge. Every single 1 of us has. Sometimes when I've done marriage counseling in the past, it's the wife, well, he
33:32 did this and she did this. Here's what I know is going on when I hear that. There's no forgiveness. Yeah, he did. Yes, she did. Now what are you gonna do? Here's what you get to do. You get to
33:44 forgive them, pray for them, and love them. Yeah, but they might do it again. Exactly. And then you can love them and forgive them even more. Because that's what Christ does for you. He does not run out of
33:55 love and forgiveness for you, so you can't run out of love and forgiveness for others. And as you walk that way, guess what happens? You get around people that love you and forgive you enough, that'll change
34:08 you. That'll change You wanna change your marriage? Just love and forgive more. You said you want to be more like Jesus. You said you wanted more of Christ in your marriage, then you get to do that. You get to do it with
34:19 your children, and children you get to do with your parents. And wives you get to do it towards your husbands, and husbands you get to do it towards your wife. And it's not to keep records like, okay. I forgive you. Here
34:28 we go again. Time number 432 this week. I forgive you. I mean that's not what it means. It means I'm not bringing it up. I'm releasing you because I don't wanna say mad at you. It
34:40 doesn't mean I can't tell you what you did was wrong. Doesn't mean I can't say it would mean a lot to me if, but even if you don't change, I'm still gonna love you because even if I don't change, Jesus Christ still loves
34:50 me. Amen? Now we love it when we talk about what Jesus is willing to do for us, but we just don't like talking about how he wants to do it through us. But make a choice today to love and forgive 1
35:02 another, because you know why? His love never fails. His love never fails. You cannot go wrong by loving and forgiving too much. You can't go wrong
35:14 by loving and forgiving too much. Let me give you a fourth 1. A fourth choice you can make is, obey the truth wholeheartedly. Obey the truth wholeheartedly. It means, will you go all in with
35:26 Jesus? I mean, Joshua is asking this question, you know, fear the Lord, that worship him and and serve him. But notice what else he says. He says, do it in sincerity and truth. It means, obey the
35:38 truth wholeheartedly. Will you go all in with Jesus even when the truth is uncomfortable? That's the hard part. I mean, we all say it, Brave. We love this book. I love this book. It's the inerrant inspired word of God.
35:49 Everything in here is authoritative and true. Until it's that area of my life that God's showing me that's so uncomfortable, it doesn't seem fair, it doesn't seem right. Why should I have to do How come nobody else says,
36:00 will you obey his word that way? Right? Because that's when you're gonna see God's favor and blessing in your life. Singles, let me just talk to you. You you you can't be praying for your spouse living in a morally.
36:12 You you you think you're escaping your parents and you think you're getting around it and all this, but all you're doing is digging yourself a rut. And all you're doing is saying, God, I'm gonna go do it this way, and
36:23 I'm gonna rebel against you, but I'm expecting someday it's gonna go good for me. It'll never go good for you. There there's no great return on investment for immorality. For lying, for deception,
36:35 for cheating, for sleeping around. Like, will you obey his word? Job 31 1 says, I've made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully upon another woman, which means this. All pornography is wrong 100 percent of the
36:46 time. So in case you're wondering, is it okay? No. It's not okay. You look lustfully upon a woman, you commit adultery in your heart. It's not okay. So will you obey that or will you say, well I struggle with that. We
36:57 have all sorts of groups that are sin management groups just to get people together to cathartically tell all their sin when they have no desire to see any of it change. It was just as quiet in first service, just so you
37:09 know. Because we play games with God, and we expect God to move, and we're so tired that we didn't see him do it in our time, in our way, that we skirt the corners, and we cheat, and we do these
37:21 different things, and then we wonder why is God not helping me? And it's not just singles, it's marrieds too. I mean friends, you look around, just because somebody has their arm around each other, they're holding hands
37:32 doesn't mean they have a 10 out of 10 in their marriage. And by the way, nobody always has a 10 out of 10 in their marriage. Takes work, because you got 2 sinners and 2 genders that see the world 2 different ways livingShow more
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