Apprehending Grace
This message continues our series on “Overwhelming Grace” with Pastor Jimmy Seibert unpacking Hebrews 4:12–16 to show that grace is not distant but present and available right now. He identifies four tools for laying hold of grace: the Word of God, which washes and renews the mind; the fear of God, which grows with respect and trust; the compassion of Jesus, who was tempted in every way yet without sin and meets us with understanding rather than judgment; and confidence in His care, which allows believers to draw near to the throne of grace rather than run from it. Pastor Jimmy Seibert calls the church to stop running for acceptance and instead run from a place of acceptance already secured in Christ, trusting that help is not on its way but already here.
as a church. We come together to hear the word of God preached. We come together to pray together. We come together to worship Jesus. And one of the most incredible miracles of all of our existence is that God has made a way for us to draw near to Him and that we can actually minister to His heart with our praise. That when we, in this world that we live in, when we decide we're going to look at Him and proclaim the good works of our God, it ministers to His heart. We really do get that beautiful exchange. He saved us from death and brought us into life and we're able to say glory to your name and we praise you Lord. And as we do that together, His heart is touched. That's an amazing thing. He's not just a far off, far away creator of the universe. He's a father who loves us and draws us near. We're gonna praise the Lord together. We're gonna read this scripture together. Psalm 150, let's all read it out loud. Praise the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power. Praise Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet. Praise Him with the harp and lyre.
Praise Him with temporal and dancing. Praise Him with the strings and pipe. Praise Him with the clash of symbols. Praise Him with resounding symbols. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. (audience applauding) (upbeat music) ♪ I'll praise in the valley ♪ ♪ Praise on the mountain ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm sure ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm number ♪ ♪ Praise when surrounding ♪ ♪ 'Cause praise is the water ♪ ♪ My enemy's drowning ♪ Let's sing that again, I'll praise ♪ ♪ I'll praise in the valley ♪ ♪ Come on, praise on the mountain ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm sure ♪ ♪ Praise when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ I'll praise ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm number ♪ ♪ Praise when surrounding ♪ ♪ 'Cause praise is the water ♪ ♪ My enemy's drowning ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪
♪ And praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ ♪ And I'll praise when I'm feeling ♪ ♪ And I'll praise when I don't come on church ♪ ♪ I'll praise 'cause I know ♪ ♪ You're still in control ♪ ♪ 'Cause my praise is a weapon ♪ ♪ My praise is a weapon ♪ ♪ It's more than a sound ♪ ♪ My praise is the shout ♪ ♪ That brings sharing calm down ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep him inside ♪ ♪ You praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise the Lord this morning ♪ ♪ I'll sing this out ♪ ♪ I'll praise 'cause you're starving ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're rain ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're roses ♪ ♪ If we let's declare this, come on ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're faithful ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause there's no body greater than you ♪ ♪ I'll praise 'cause you're starving ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're rain ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're roses ♪
♪ If we let's declare this, come on ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're faithful ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause there's no body greater than you ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ How could I keep it inside? Now I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it in? I won't be quiet, I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? And raise, raise the Lord, on my soul, raise 'cause you're sorry, raise 'cause you're sorry, raise 'cause you're right, raise 'cause you're losing the feet in the grave, I'll raise 'cause you're faithful, raise 'cause you're true, raise 'cause there's nobody greater than you, I'll raise 'cause you're sorry, raise 'cause you're right, raise 'cause you're losing the feet in the grave. I'll raise 'cause you're faithful, raise 'cause you're true, raise 'cause there's no, let's sing this out, come on, gonna pray, raise the Lord, on my soul, raise the Lord, on my soul, we're gonna pray, raise the Lord, on my soul, one more time. One more time, raise the Lord, on my soul, I won't be quiet, I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Now I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it, I won't be quiet, I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? And raise the Lord, on my soul. Can I give him a shot of praise? I'll give you all my praise, we'll look to you Jesus, fix our eyes on you. You give life, you give life, you are love, you bring life to the darkness you hold, you restore every heart that is broken. Come on, church, sing it your breath. It's your breath, we pour out, we pour out. We pour our breath to the Lord, you give life, you give life, you give life, you are love, you bring life to the darkness you give. Thank you Jesus, you resolve every heart that is broken. And we need our new love. It's your breath, in our lives, so we pour out our faith, pour out our faith in your breath, in our lives, so we pour out our faith in your whole life. It's your breath, in our lives, so we pour out our praise, pour out our faith in your life, in our lives. (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music)
(singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) We're all out of place, we're all out of place, we're all out of place, we're all out of place. So we pour out our praise, we pour our praise, we pour our praise, we give all of our praises, our all of the real, we live with our hands, live with our voices, live with our hearts, to sing praise our youth, the air, the Lord of the earth, we shout, "You're here!" Now your praise, our hearts will cry, these ones will sing praise our hearts, to sing all of the earth, will shout, "You're here!" So we shout, "You're here!" Our hearts will cry, these ones will sing praise our youth, the Lord of the earth, to take it all of the earth, will shout, "You're here!" Our hearts will find peace, the ones we'll see. We are in love.
Together, it's your brand. In our hearts. So we pour our praise. We pour our praise. It's your brand. We pour our praise. It's your brand. So we pour our praise. It's your brand. So we pour our praise. Yes, we give you praise. Oh, we need you more than anything else. So we give you praise here in this place. You're the one who saves us. You're the one, Jesus. How we need you. ♪ And blow my deep breath, oh God ♪ ♪ Ooh, the phone is playing ♪ ♪ Singin' blow, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Won't open your heart, sing it out ♪ ♪ My deep breath, oh God ♪ ♪ Come and find me ♪ ♪ Singin' blow ♪ ♪ My deep breath, oh God ♪ ♪ Ooh, the phone is playing ♪ ♪ Singin' blow ♪ ♪ My deep breath, oh God ♪ ♪ I am proud ♪ ♪ You come, you come, Jesus ♪ ♪ All you need is, we need it ♪
♪ How we love you, how we love you ♪ ♪ We adore you ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Give it all of you ♪ ♪ Feed the Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Give it all of you ♪ ♪ Feed the Jesus ♪ ♪ We love you ♪ ♪ Whoa, how we love you ♪ ♪ How we love you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the world of love ♪ ♪ Our hearts adore love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you ♪ ♪ Yes, we love you ♪ ♪ Whoa, how we love you ♪
♪ You are the world of love ♪ ♪ Our hearts adore love you ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Jesus, our salvation ♪ ♪ Our deep ocean ♪ ♪ Put out our love, freedom ♪ ♪ Jesus, our love ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus ♪ ♪ We pour it out, we pour it out ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Our perfection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our affection ♪ ♪ Our devotion ♪ ♪ Put out on the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ Our Jesus ♪ ♪ We thank Jesus ♪ ♪ We thank Jesus ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Your word is my hope ♪
♪ Your word became flesh ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ my righteousness ♪ ♪ Your blood was shed to wash me clean ♪ ♪ And pay the ransom for one like me ♪ ♪ Your word is my hope ♪ ♪ Your word became flesh ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ my righteousness ♪ ♪ Your blood was shed to wash me clean ♪ ♪ And pay the ransom for one like me ♪ ♪ And pay ♪ ♪ And I will raise my hands to heaven ♪ ♪ These rich ones bow no chains are broken ♪ ♪ You set us free to be your children ♪ ♪ Now we will wait with you forever ♪ ♪ We will raise you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Your word is my life in my defense ♪ ♪ Jesus, lift your hand ♪ ♪ My head and one over dead ♪ ♪ You over me and all my sin and sin ♪ ♪ We will ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ You set me free to be free ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ You set me free to be free ♪ ♪ You set me free to be free ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Set us free ♪ ♪ Oh, all I change is mine ♪ ♪ All I change is mine ♪ ♪ All I change is mine ♪
♪ In the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And I will take my hands to heaven ♪ ♪ This is yours ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You set us free ♪ ♪ To love in our children ♪ ♪ Now we will reign ♪ ♪ You will forever ♪ ♪ And I will reign ♪ ♪ My hands to heaven ♪ ♪ This is yours ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I will take my hands to heaven ♪ ♪ This is yours ♪ ♪ To love in our children ♪ ♪ Now we will reign ♪ ♪ You will forever ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. [applause] Amen. Hallelujah. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
This is the very grace of God spoken in Psalm 40, a Psalm of David. And I believe this morning that we need to wait. We need to wait on the Lord, but there's a double wait here. There's a wait and then patiently means to eagerly wait with expectation. Expecting what? Expecting for God to move and come and do what only He can do. Amen. So this morning, if that's you, I just want you to stretch out your hands to the Lord. Stretch out your hands where you are in a pit or you have a family member that's in a pit that needs to be removed, where you need a firm foundation to stand on, a firm footing, where you need a new song in your heart, removing a song of anxiety or bitterness or pain, that the Lord will come and refresh you this morning and to bring a new song in your heart. And it says that many will see, here is the promise that many will see the Lord come and rescue you and that they will put their hope and trust in the Lord. There is a promise that when we wait on the Lord, when we eagerly expect Him to move, that He will move, He will answer, He will turn and answer. And so I just want to pray over us this morning. So Heavenly Father, I do pray, Lord God, that You will look upon us, Lord God, Your people that we put our hope and our trust in You, Lord, that we are not turning anywhere else. Lord God, where there is calamity, that you would bring forth peace. Where there is chaos, Lord God, that you would bring forth the stillness. Lord God, where life is happening and we feel like we're in a pit, no way that we can get out of it. Lord God, I am so thankful that you don't want us to get out of it in our own strength, that you will take us out. Lord God, put us on a firm foundation of grace. O Lord, and fill our mouths with your praise.
Good at the Lord in Jesus name, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. I'd like to invite the ushers to come forward to receive our offering. There are ways that you can give on the screen. You can take a look at those ways. I want to just pray for our offering and just to recognize that we want to be good stewards of God's resources. And yeah, that God's glory, who would come through just the ways that we can give and that it would truly reach those that it needs to reach. And so let's pray, Heavenly Father, I do praise you and I thank you so much, Lord, for what you give us, we give and return, Lord, our tithes, our offering. Lord, may you use it to bless Lord, those who are in need and to further your kingdom. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Whew, man, we have already done church. Oh my word, but hang on to your hats, man. Pastor Jimmy's coming up. There's more, there is more, so thankful. But hey, just another shout out to moms and dads visiting here, Waco Family Weekend, we're so thankful that you're with us and we're gonna take some time to pray for families this morning.
So hang on, yeah, we pray a lot in this church. But we want to also highlight a few things that are coming up, we are all about strengthening the family and we have some equipping classes that are coming up and you should have received the card right here and it has all of the different equipping classes listed. And let me tell you, we want to see families strengthened and don't you know that there's a great attack on family, an attack on marriages. The moment we say I do, it seems like there's so many things, they're trying to get us to say I don't. And so we really want to see God move. And so we have an equipping class for marriages, equipping a class for parenting, that we were parent without fear, but they were parent with the grace of God upon our lives. And there's a women's Bible study as well. Now all these start October 5th, would really love to see you sign up. And if there's something that's holding you back, just pray and ask the Lord. Like what's my hesitation? That you would just lean in for a season and just really invest in these areas. I know that you won't regret it. We also just really want to pray. Yeah, just to really pray. We believe in prayer, but we believe in praying. And so we have a list of just prayer points on the screen.
And once you turn to someone next to you and kids, why don't you take the lead and pray over your parents this morning? But we want to pray and just to see marriages healed and strengthened children, strengthened and healed. And yes, to see the promise fulfilled that God would turn the hearts of the Father to His children and the children to their fathers. So let's all stand. And let's just turn to someone next to you. Let's spend some time praying and I will end us in prayer. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) Thanks for watching! Lord, God, that you gather also all those that are around, Lord, and bring the lonely into family. I pray, Lord, that you would then care for the heads of households, that you would see marriages, strengthened, healed, and made whole. Lord, God, children cared for, Lord, and those Lord, prodigals, Lord, coming home. But I pray that you would bless our families, Lord, and give them everything that they need, Lord, to call out the unique calling, to fulfill that calling that you have for them. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. All right, you can have a seat, love it, love family, so good to see so many of you. What's great about being here over the years is so many of you guys are returning, as your
kids are now at Baylor or MCC or TSTC. And so I just want to say welcome again, and as Sean said, we're starting with a parenting class. First week of October, and Lauren and I are leading that with the Abshires, our little parenting deal. But I wanted to show you a little of the fruit of parenting, our latest picture of the kids and grandkids. There it is. Yeah, hey, man, I didn't know he'd get applause, I'll take it. This is awesome. So Lauren and I, this December will be married 40 years, and starting on the left, Brady and Lauren and therefore Kidos are helping plant Antioch Kona, the coveted church plant that you want to be a part of. Caleb and Sierra are Miami, not the beach in the inner city. A little different scene, and they have their little one there. And Kyle and Abby have just returned from years and working in Washington, D.C. And Kyle has switched vocations to become one of our pastors from law enforcement. And they are here with us, and Daniel and Kendall are rocks. Just rocks in the house here among our young adults, and they've got a little root there. But that is our clan, our family on mission, and as we kind of lean into this equipping classes that are coming up, that's what we're going to, that's what we're going to be doing. We're just going to be talking about what's it mean to be a family on mission. And again, that is not just the nuclear family, that is the spiritual family that God has given us here, and it is such a joy. And for you guys that have been with us, we've been in a series on grace. We're in week five. We've got one more week left, but the great thing about grace, it never ends. So we're just kind of getting going here. And I want to start this morning with just a story of grace, to kind of frame where we're going today, and that is that help is on the way.
Help is on the way for you, for your family, help actually is here, by the grace of God. My friend Jamie Miller, senior pastor at Antioch Fort Worth, many of you guys know those guys, just a great man of God. And last fall, about October, he was struggling, struggling physically, some relational struggles, just pain in life, the challenges that happen with all of us, let alone pastors at times. And he saved us really down, and so that particular morning he was having his devotional time, and he was saying, "God, I need your help, God, I need your help." And he said, "He got a few sentences into this prayer, pouring his heart out, and he hears down the hallway, help is on the way. Help is on the way. Help is on the way." Kind of like a little kid's toy that says, "Help is on its way." Now they do have grandkids, and they do have toys in one of the closets. And so he thought, "Wow, that's interesting what toy is going off in the closet." And so he went down the hall, and he looked around, he couldn't find it, couldn't find a toy, couldn't find anything that was bringing this voice out. And he went and sat back down with the Lord, and he said, "That was interesting," and God said, "Well, what were you just praying?" And he said, "Well, I was praying, Lord, that help would be on its way." And he said, "Well, I'm telling you that help is on its way." And so he said, "He began to just think of it biblically, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the way, and the Holy Spirit is called the helper. Love is not just on his way. Help is present, Jamie. You can trust me." And man, he said he just had this beautiful time with God, it helped break kind of the yoke of heaviness. His wife gets home from work that night, and he's relaying to her the story. And she said, Jamie, they're in...
So they go to the toys and in the middle of this closet is a little fire engine. And that would be the source maybe of help is on the way. And so they press all the buttons and all that little fire engine does is do songs. There's no voice, help is on the way, help is on the way. And they couldn't find a toy that was that. Now whether there is a toy hidden somewhere in their house or not, I know that God was speaking to Jamie that day. And I know that God is speaking to you today. Help is not just out there, help is right here. God's here. Familiar passage we've been using to frame our time is Hebrews 4/16, therefore in light of God's great grace. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. There's one who sits on the throne to Jesus. So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Isn't that beautiful? We can draw near today to the throne of grace for there is mercy and help in our time of need. We've been talking about our definition of grace kind of two sides of grace. It is the overwhelming love, pleasure and favor of God. Thank you God that I'm saved by grace through faith. Thank you God that you keep coming no matter what. And it is the power of God to do the will of God.
It is not just the covering for sin, it is power not to sin. It is the both and of God's full heart towards you. And it is packaged in incredible compassion, which means it's coming at you. When the throne of grace was blown open through the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus, that became an open opportunity to see God, to know God. And he has come to you and he comes for you every day. It's just the turning of the head, the turning of the heart, the acknowledgement that God is on his throne that releases the grace of God in our lives. So over the last four weeks, we've been going through a journey. We talked first about the person of God, Jesus as the grace of God extended to us through the cross and through his life that we saw that, especially we focus on that little story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus not only took care of her sins, but he took care of their sins so that she wouldn't have to live under the yoke of either one. You do not have to live under the yoke of somebody that is sinned against you, nor do you need to live under the yoke of your own sins if you come to the throne of grace and find mercy and help. Jesus stories this as well as provides this through the cross. We talked about the father, the prodigal son who came to his senses,
oh no, my father is good and not evil. He always has had my best in mind and he returns, but the part in the story we emphasize was where the father saw him come in and with compassion got up and ran towards the son. The center, he ran towards the center not away from them. Many times in our humanness, we think, when I get right with God, then I can come to God. Can I tell you, you'll never get right with God until you come to God? Because whatever sin you got into, you're not getting out of without him. And he's put it all that way so that he could have a relationship with you. We have a father that not only created you and loves you, but runs towards you when you let him love you. And then we talked about the Holy Spirit. We just talked about that the Holy Spirit is the helper. The Holy Spirit is not something out here, the vague fog. We sense God's presence and worship, but that is not the fullness of God's spirit. Actually, the spirit of God comes to live within you and we just reiterate over and over again, God knew that we would not be able to live the life he created for us so he put himself inside of us. That is still just a blow. I just need to say that again. God knew that you would not be able to live the life that he created you for, the things that he would ask for you to do so he went ahead and put himself
inside of you so that all things are possible. Thank you, Jesus. So the grace of God is housed in a person and we talked about the grace of God is the power of God. Mick Murray did an incredible job last week and Romans six, shall we continue to sin so grace may abound? May it never be. Present your bodies to God. Quit letting sin reign in your body because you are a new creation because you're rooted and grounded in grace for you're not under the law but under grace. So there is power over sin, not just power from sin. And the beauty of grace is everywhere. A summary statement would be this, 1 Corinthians 15, 10, I am what I am by the grace of God and his grace towards me did not prove vain but I labored more than all of you, yet not all. So everything that God asked is rooted first. I am who I am. I'm a son of the living God by the grace of God. I don't treat that lightly. I apply it to every area of my life so that unrighteousness doesn't rain. And then I run the race that he created me for, not by my strength, but by his, by the grace of God. All right, trying to capture just a couple little pictures for you. We got our first one, our little runner there. Here he is, or she is.
And here's the deal. Often we think of running for acceptance and praise God, you can't earn your salvation. Praise God, I can't work it out in my own strength. So we're running for acceptance. We're trying to prove to ourselves or to somebody else that we're okay by our good works. And that never works, by the way. You always hit the wall. On a good day, you're doing great. Then the next day you're doing bad and you live in the yo-yo of good and evil, trying to justify yourself instead of just letting Jesus be your justification. You are accepted by God. You're created by God. You're loved by God. Not by your own doing, but by his choosing. And when you humble yourself to that, there's a place of security to run the race. Now we are not running like that. I mean fleeing acceptance, running from acceptance. I'm not running from it. I'm running with it inside of me. I'm running from this centered place of grace. So then I run the race that God has for me, not to prove anything anymore, but to glorify the one who created me and set me free. So it's now all about responding to the glorious one, living in that rhythm that he created me for.
I'm not running for acceptance or to prove anything. I'm running from acceptance. Therefore there is incredible power to do the will of God. The will of God, whatever it is, to not submit to your flesh, to honor God, to honor the do good work in the workplace, to go on mission, whatever it is, it is by the grace of God. Here's another picture to try to illustrate it. Paul, he did this for me. He said he did a little self-portrait there in the middle. These are things that I want you to see, feel, taste, and touch. Here's the deal. Do you land on grace in your looping thoughts? Do you land on grace in your fearful thoughts? Do you land on grace in your condemning thoughts? Do you land on grace when you don't know what to do? The answer is that if you don't, then you literally let darkness and chaos ring. If this little guy was not landing on grace, then he's not tethered to anything. He's gonna roll into darkness, or he's gonna roll into chaos because without a grace base is the place where you land, you're on a free fall under the law and under your best efforts or under the acceptance of the world or using some other thing to make you secure and to make you able to do that thing
that God created for. Everybody with me, you got that? So when you are depressed, when you are discouraged, when you're anxious and you're fearful, if you land on grace, then we can sort this out. But if you can't, what I say so many times, people fall through the bottom and then you're looking up, grasping for grace and chaos and darkness envelopes you. God, I like, as Sean shared that passage, didn't know he was gonna share that. He took us out of the Mairi clay and set our feet on solid ground. That would be this right here. The grace of God is your solid base in the person of God. Now, I wrote this little thought down. I don't wanna give you a hope of victory without giving you a way to victory. Everybody want a way to victory today? All right, so let's do it. Hebrews 4, 12 through 16, to get you to that ultimate verse 16. And we're gonna just break this down and my deal is to give you four different tools here. We'll talk about that in just a moment. So here's our text that we're gonna unpack for the rest of our time. For the word of God is living inactive and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the divisions of soul and spirit,
of joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature, none of us hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with him we have to do. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who's been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's a beautiful passage every day all day. But I wanna break it down for you in the four different slots here. It talks first about the power of the word of God to apprehend grace. The second one that talks about the fear of God to apprehend grace. The third thing we wanna unlock is the compassion of Jesus to apprehend grace in the last one, confidence in his care. So let's break it down. Hebrews 4, 12. The word of God is living in active, sharper than any two-edged sword. Dividing between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, judging the thoughts
and intentions of the heart. The word of God, I've often used this little illustration that it washes us every day. It's the shower that we need to take. The word of God is what empowers us. The word of God is what renews us. It transforms us. It cleanses us. It awakens us. It reminds us. It restores us. It heals us. He sent his word to heal us and restore us. Without the word of God, you will never apprehend the grace of God because it is in every page of his word. It is manifest with solid truth. It says this of Jesus. He was full of grace and truth. And truth is that partner to reveal what grace really is and without the word of God, you never get there. So you can come to all the sermons. You can go to life group. Y'all can discuss grace and the beauty that you're getting from it and all that. But until you get into the word of God and root yourself in grace through his word, you'll find yourself drifting consistently and wondering why.
And I want you to know you can be rooted and grounded. It says in the parable of the seed and the sower, he or she who receives the word with a good heart bears fruit 30, 60, and 100 fold. You've got to receive the word of God and let it have its ways. I read this yesterday, Psalm 19. Just let this wash over you and motivate you for the word of God. Whenever they talk about the law or the judgments of God or the commands of God, that means the word of God. So just go with me on this. Psalm 19, seven, the law of the Lord, the word of God is perfect. Woo, this can be hard to, this is perfect. Not because I had anything to do with it, that's why it's perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect for storing the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right. Isn't that great? God, you're right, I'm wrong, right? They call every man a liar, but call God true. This is the, this is, you just let me say, well how have you walked with God for 40 years and so forth? I decided I was wrong and he's right and that was it. And this is an easy thing to work through, easy relative term. This is a challenge to work through,
but at least I'm not the challenger. Woo, all right, that was good. All right, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold. Yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the drippings of the Hank home. Moreover, by them your servant is warned and keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Errors, I can't, but equip me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me, then I will be blameless and I shall be acquitted of great transgressions because of the word of God and a little dinnom. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my rock and my redeemer. Again, I could do six weeks just on the word of God, but I just want you to know that without the word of God you cannot stand in grace on a daily basis with confidence. You must, you must, you must allow it to wash you. We had a friend several years ago who's lost her husband tragically and she was lost as you can imagine, understandable. And she said, God, what do I do?
I can't get a hold of grace. I can't get a hold of an anchor. I don't know what to do, I'm lost. And God said, my word will anchor you. And she said, for four straight months she would read the word six hours a day. I was anchored and ready to go for the rest of my life. We often talk about our besetting sins, our challenges that we all have along the way. And my encouragement is one of the things that you've got to find a scripture to do battle with, not just your best thoughts. An example would be when I was a student and I was reading the Bible and realized, I do not have to be like every other guy, "I don't have to live under the bondage of lust." It's not, yes, it's normal to man, but it is not God's design or desire. I don't have to live under this. God, give me a scripture. He gave me first Peter 1, 13. "Gourge your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, and fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." So when my mind would drift, my heart would drift, my affections would drift, therefore, "Gourge your minds for action, and keep sober in spirit, fix your completely on the grace of the brought to you, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Gourge your minds for action, fix your hopes for it." Yeah, it's like a, it's just on repeat, even 40 years later, and I still need it. When my heart drifts, when my mind drifts, when my affections drift, my friends, the Word of God is your friend. It's your greatest tool to grace. Don't miss it. The Word of God is an activator to apprehend grace. The fear of God, verse 13, and there is no creature hidden in his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. This should bring the fear of God. Listen, here's the interesting thing. We're all getting all worked up, excuse me, about AI and so on and so forth, and I'm sure all of you that want me to do a message on that, I'm sure it'll come out eventually. But here's the point. We'll get there. But here's the point. I'm afraid that the machines are gonna know all the information about me. They're gonna control everything in my life. Can I tell you they already have you? Like, you already are found out. If you're saying, I don't want anybody to know anything about me, listen, we have friends who worked in DC for years and so on and so forth.
They already have all your data. They can have it whenever they want. They just, you're just not big enough to want it yet. So there's not a cap on them finding out what you're doing. Now, I kind of take that as a positive. The positive is then I have the greatest accountability ever in all time of any generation. If I'm doing something weird, I can be found out by somebody, some machine, some human behind that machine, so I might as well just live clean. I might as well live honest. And when I mess up, I might as well just tell everybody 'cause everybody can know anyway. Again, don't let all your AI guys don't let it distract you. Just stay in the middle of the Bible, let Jesus rule. And just by the way, the fastest processor of all time is Jesus and it always will be for processing information, by the way, so I'd like to stay attached to him more than ever and whenever you fear these things, which are understandable, there's legitimate fears and boundaries and all that, hang on to the one in whom is hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. However, some machine's gonna process information, Jesus is one step ahead of him, right? So you wanna be with the one who's got the place of security and it is Jesus. Okay, fear of God. So hopefully you know that anything you're doing is already exposed, so let's just go ahead and be honest through confession of sin
and let's also think before we act, right? Because ultimately, the fear of God is living in the respect of God. When we raised our kids, the number one, I mean, they're about 10 number ones, we'll talk about the parenting class, but one of the number ones was respect. If we don't have their respect, we cannot lead them as they need it. If they will not obey us, we can't keep them from being run over by a car, we can't keep them from eating garbage, we can't keep them from hurting their siblings. They must respect us, so we made them look us in the eye and whether you agree with this or not, we made all our kids say yes sir and no sir, yes sir and no ma'am, for the simple reason, there had to be some buffer between mom and dad of respect. Even though we are our best friends with our kids, by the way, we are best friends. We did lavish love, lavish encouragement, all the, we agree stuff, we did all of that, but without respect, we would never have had their hearts. If you don't respect your parents, you won't do what they ask, and why would you not respect your parents because they don't know as much as I do? Now why don't you respect God? Deep down, you don't believe that God has your best in mind. You don't believe he's smarter than you. You don't believe that he has a better plan for you, so you go your own way, and there is no fear of God in you.
Fear of God's the beginning of wisdom, the fear of God's the beginning of knowledge, the fear of the Lord is your refuge. We're to delight in the fear of the Lord. We're to desire the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord has promises, your righteousness will extend to your children's children. I have 20 different fear of God things that I run over in my mind because again, the blessings that I'm wanting in my life or for my children or for this church or whatever, they are tied to me fearing God. Yeah, you've got to own your own sin, but I need to make sure mine's in check. Whatever you're responsible for, you need to have the fear of God so that others can be blessed. This is not about you, and it's all about you, right? God loves you so lavishly, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, be wise, and don't be foolish. We often tell this story of our kids. When Daniel was a little guy, he was five years' difference between Caleb and Daniel. We had a rule that you could only do media 30 minutes a day, and then, of course, that was monitored by us, what you did have that liberty to do. We had a TV, and then the TV, we had these doors that just so that TV wasn't at the center of our home, and so they would have to ask those VHS days, and so on and so forth. Okay, you've got the scene. So one particular day, Daniel was very drawn to all things media, and so one day, Laura walks in the room and sees the doors pull behind two little legs and a globe coming out of the deal. So he's literally doing this with the doors behind him, and she's just amazed, right? And she's trying to keep from laughing because it does need appropriate response here. And so she goes over, and she said, and she's thinking, this is a fear of God moment. That God sees all things that were accountable to me to God, not just mom and dad, so she's thinking of this great teaching moment, and she walks over, she says, "Daniel, what are you doing?
Nothing?" Of course, nothing. The TV is on. His nose is on the street. Nothing, like all of us. And she says, "Daniel, who sees everything, no matter what?" He said, "Kaleb." Hey, whatever it takes, start with Caleb, who was the little Holy Spirit. He told on everybody, but... So my appeal, friends, today is if you don't have the fear of God, none of us are born with the fear of God. We are all born into sin. When we come to Jesus and the Holy Spirit lives within us, we can learn to fear God. But you have to let the Word of God just do a little top 20 fear of God scriptures. Let them wash your mind, renew your mind, and think about it this way. I respect those that I trust, I respect, and listen to those who I submit to, resubmit to God every day, resubmit, and respect Him so that He can lead you in what He already knows about you. Third one. Oh, third is compassion of Jesus. "Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses." There it is. We're loving this. Fear of God now. Thank you. Somebody who understands me. But one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. I just want you to know, all I can say is I have meditated on these things for hours
and hours with joy, trying to comprehend how could Jesus be tempted in all things, yet without sin, and therefore He has compassion for me in my temptations in sin. It's amazing. Jesus became a man, not because it was a cool way to prove something to you later on in life. He didn't go to the cross just because that would be a... an excuse that nobody understands. If the scripture says he took on himself the sins of the whole world. So the nastiest, darkest, most evil thing you have thought or done, Jesus felt that on the cross at the very least and was tempted in the same way you were to be angry, to be bitter, to be unholy, unhealthy, whatever the issue is, he felt the same things you feel. He overcame it by relying on the Father and he crucified it on the cross once and for all. So you wouldn't have to live in the bondage of it, but you could always have hope. No temptation has overtaken us but with his common demand, but God will plan a way of escape. Come on, my friends, there is a way of escape from a compassionate God that understands. So let's go back to where we all are culturally. You don't have a right to tell me anything until you empathize and validate everything about me. Somebody said, I don't feel validated in wanting to leave my spouse. And I'm like, I can empathize on why you want to leave this person. I can empathize, but I can't validate
that breaking covenant is holy. I can, we don't understand, I was abused as a child, so I'm so more than, or I was exposed to pornography and this is why I struggle. I can totally empathize with that. I've got my own story. I can empathize with every addiction in this room. Anybody watching online, I and or somebody around here can totally empathize and validate that it is difficult, but if we validate it beyond God's power and ability to get you out of it, then you're always stuck in it. So the lead piece is always compassion. You're right, I haven't been where you are, but Jesus has. You're right, I don't understand, and that's fair enough. And you need compassion for me, not just judgment. But once we meet together at the throne of grace with great compassion, then we have to get up and go and sin no more. There is an outcome here of deep understanding and tenderness from God so that, because again, for very few of us, do we just immediately get out of sin? I mean, immediately, we love the stories and I've experienced it where people walked up here, they were alcoholic, literally the chains dropped off and they'd never had another drink again. We have seen that, but that is the exception. The rule is it's a process. And the great thing about the process of temptation and sin cycles is that we have a compassionate God
that's helping us through the process. And when we fail, he's there again today. Okay, bro, you failed again today, but I'm with you. Why don't we try this? Why don't you pick up this scripture? Why don't you reach out to this friend? Why don't we try this program? God never gives up on you, so don't give up on him. And whatever you've done, no matter how evil it is, there is grace to receive his mercy again because his mercies are new. How many mornings? Every morning, every morning. So many things that I want to say, but you can read the Bible yourself. And I promise you there's power in here. And I didn't mean that as a shot. I meant that as, I'm serious. I meant that because I care for you. And I can't be with you. Actually, Jesus said that. He said, I won't be able to be with you. So I'm sending the Holy Spirit to help you. Always. The last one, confidence in his care. We read this scripture to start. And the team can kind of come out now. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of Christ. So why are we drawing with confidence?
Because we have the Word of God renewing our minds about God himself because we have the fear of the Lord. God knows all things anyway. Why would I not come to the wisest one of all time? The fear of God, the compassionate one. There is nobody that's going to love you like Jesus. Period. No one's, there are reflections of Jesus. I hope that in this church you will find grace from people that love Jesus and tenderness and kindness. But on the days when they're not there and when it doesn't work well, you always have Jesus. If you've chosen him as your refuge, Psalm 16, you will know me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand is pleasure forever more. And the pursuit of my life is to find that pleasure. not just to do sin management, but to find that place of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness in the presence of the Holy One, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and out of that live the life that He created me for, by grace. So what I wanna say to everybody this morning is it helps on its way, help is on the way. It's not just on the way, help is, it's here, it's here. All over this room and watching online and other people with anxious thoughts and not just that general anxiety, but literally obsessive, and you don't know what to do, you're suffocating me about a panic attack on the way here.
These are promptings of God. These aren't just like general things. We've got a panic attack this week. Jesus understands, I mean, I've had 'em, they're terrifying, but God's grace, you're not gonna fall out the bottom. He's got you. Put that picture back up of that body standing on grace. (sighs) I just wanna leave this here. This is that panic attack, it's not gonna take you out. It's not. And there's people around you that won't let it take you out. There's grace today to find the peace of God. There's the power to say no, but I feel so powerless. Everything in me screams that I've gotta go back to porn, or I've gotta go back to that relationship. And I wanna specifically say, you don't have to go back to that relationship. That relationship is not your God. And you can't figure it out. What will they do if I leave them? And what will I do? And I just want you to know, until you put 'em in the hands of God, you will be in bondage the rest of your life. There are times to walk away from relationships, not with bitterness and wrath, but because you need to, to find God, and it actually opens up a door for them to find God. If you keep trying to fix everybody,
you're not gonna find grace that you need. And again, I'm not talking about appropriate sacrifice and love and honor and covenant and all that. Just talking about, remember I'm speaking to you this morning that you're in a relationship, and you know that you're gonna walk out of it. Today's your day. You'd say no to those besetting sins. We all have 'em, you guys. I mean, it's embarrassing. I'm 62 years old. Why do I still struggle with lust or why do I still struggle with fear or anxiety? But it's not embarrassing. I'm a human. But I know where to take it. I know what to do with it, and therefore it doesn't rule over me. It doesn't have to rule over you. Perfect love casts out all fear. I love this so far. What would you do if you had no fear? I don't know how they know. I don't even know who would I be. I don't even know what to do with that thought. But don't you love the Bible? That perfect love can cast all fear. So if I'm living cyclically in fear, I gotta, well, I must not understand love.
This is a very easy formula here. I must not understand the love of God. I must not understand that He understands the pain in my life, the truth. If you're fearful that you're gonna do it again or fearful of what if this financial thing or whatever, I just want you to have perfect love casts all fear. So instead of focusing on getting away from the fear, why don't you focus on the love of God? Why don't you let Him love you so thoroughly that the worst outcome you're still in His presence? I always play out the worst case scenario. That kind of helps me with fear. Okay, I lose this, I lose that. I still have God. I still have God and I can't let these circumstances manipulate my life. As long as we're on it, a couple more. This message is hope to ignite a new start, fresh start. God offers that to us every day, but I just want you to know that for those who need a fresh start today's your day, you were hoping, could somebody give me a fresh start? The answer is yes, absolutely. I can control people's opinions and attitudes of you. I can't control the consequences of your failures and your sins. What I can tell you, the God who made you of heaven and earth gives you a fresh start. If you want it, with honesty.
grace, the grace upon grace that you'll be able to shout to the mountains in your life, grace, grace, and they fall because you don't live under the constraints of the world and the flesh and the devil, but you live under a resurrected Christ who offers power for everything that you're challenged with and he definitely provides his presence while you're working it through. We're going to stand together. Our ministry teams come to the front quickly, please. Every time we gather, we want to pray for you. We're asking you to pray for one another, hang on guys, wherever you're getting restless. We got 10 more minutes, just say 10 minutes, somebody say 10 minutes. This could change your life because what's more important even than everything has been done is you're now response to God. This is one thing that nobody in this room can control but you. You're now response to God and so here's what we're saying, you can start coming from prayer right now. I need more prayer teams up here. If you need help today, it's here. Help is not out there. It's here. If you need help physically, mentally, emotionally, relation, any of those little sentences that triggered something, definitely it's panic attack day. We're going to deal with it and take some of these demons out and whatever it is every Sunday, people are saying that physical healing happens, emotional healing because people humble themselves. So if you need to humble yourself, don't let anyone or anything keep you from getting the help that you need and of course it doesn't have to be at the front. You can turn to who you came with, you can grab the hand of your spouse and say can we just say no to the fighting in our house? Can we just declare grace again today over one another? Could we do something to move forward by the grace of God?
Whatever it is, you can turn to one another and come here to respond. What I want to ask everybody to do right now, just close your eyes and we're going to respond to God and if you're here or you're watching online, you don't know Jesus, I want to take you to Jesus if you are not sure of your salvation, if you're not secure, it is love for you. Or if you are a prodigal son or daughter that needs to come home, I'm going to pray these prayers once you're praying with me. For everyone else listening, you are either responding to God personally or you are joining me and praying for a lost person or a prodigal to come home. What matters that you join me and pray? God is wanting to bring people in right now to his grace. So you're praying for someone or you're responding personally. Now here we go. If you need Jesus and you don't know him, just pray this Lord Jesus, I need you. I need you Jesus. Forgive me of my sins, that's an acknowledgement that sin is the barrier between you and God. Give me of my sins. Now we declare our belief. I believe you died on the cross for me, you just declare it back with me. I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe you rose from the dead. I believe you made a way to the Father just for me. And so I come. I come Jesus. I come Father. I come, fill me Holy Spirit, seal the deal in my heart and my, I come by your grace alone. Thank you. I run into your arms by faith this morning for those prodigals that are far away. Lord, bring them back. Bring everybody home, sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers.
Come home to Jesus. Come home. He is here to receive you this morning. He is here to love you and embrace you actually. He is literally running towards you, let him have your heart again. Let him have your life again. Now as we sing, let the Holy Spirit seal the deal in your heart and your mind. And again, if you're with a family member and there's been tension, just grab hands and say, let's break the tension. God, would you come and help us? You don't have to solve it right now, you just got to let God into it. And He has a way forward to you for you to sing. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your blessing's come, come, come, come. You used the hope to lead the truth. You lead us, you send us, you send us, you send us. I know you'll be the same. You'll be the same, remember your baby, remember your children, remember your father so hard. Your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new. So remember your baby, remember your children, remember your father so hard.
Your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new. Your grace is new, your grace is new, your grace is new.
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