Defiantly, Unashamedly, Generously | Extend Grace Generously

Man, it is an honor to be here with you, Southland. You honestly have no idea how much of an honor it is to be here because I have been watching this church since way back in the 1900s. And that's how old I am. And this church has impacted me in so many ways. And the ministry here has encouraged me immensely. And I get, as Scott said, I get to pastor a church in Indianapolis that in many ways feels a lot like Southland. When I'm here, like, this feels like home to me. Our churches are like similar in size and dynamic. And so our staff teams learn from and collaborate with one another. And then I love your pastor. As Scott said, I've been listening to him preach for years and years. We've been one of my favorite preachers. But then over the last couple of years, we've struck up this, like, friendship and brotherhood. And I was thinking about it this last week that I don't know that there's been a single week go by in the last year where we haven't exchanged text messages with each other. And Scott is always dropping serious truth bombs, wisdom, insight, admonishment when needed. What I need you to know, especially if you've not gotten up close to him or maybe this is your first time at Southland, he's the real deal. He is the same guy off platform as he is on and you just got a really special guy in Scott Nickel. Man, just give it up for him. That's what God's doing in his life. And I love this series that you guys are in. Defiantly, unashamedly, generous, which are three key characteristics that describe the kind of church that not only Southland is

but the church that Southland strives to be. And so on week number one, Scott did a great job teaching just about defiant worship. Last week, Ben did an amazing job talking about speaking truth unashamedly. I listened to both of those messages when I went on a walk this last week and was just challenged and convicted and encouraged all at the same time by those messages. And Scott asked me if I'd come in to kind of close this out with talking about we extend grace generously. And our passage is Ephesians chapter two verses eight through ten. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn there. And what I'd like to do before we unpack it together is I just want to be clear with what it says by just letting it stand on its own and then we can kind of go back and unpack it. So let me read it, follow along with me if you will. Starting in verse eight, it says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. Not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Let's pray together. Father, we come to you today and I don't know what it is that we brought in with us, whether we are at this campus or another location or online, but I know that the number of people that are listening to this right now, there's probably a whole lot of things going on. And God, I just pray that for these next few moments that we could lean in and hear from you, we know you have a word for us from your word. We know it's living and it's active. And so you don't need our permission to enter this space,

but we invite you in and we ask that you would speak clearly. What we need is an encounter with you. And so God, I pray that in these next few moments I would just be reminded that my only task right now is to simply amplify what you have already said in your word. We are listening. We ask this in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen. In the late 1930s, there was a man by the name of Harry Bailey who was late for dinner at the end of the day with his family yet once again. But he easily justified it in his mind on the way home because he thought, you know, I'm providing for my family so it doesn't really matter if I'm present with them at the table as long as they have a table to eat from. Walking in halfway through the meal, he inhaled his food, he barely acknowledged his exhausted wife, Nelly, and their children, but not much else. After the meal was over, he put his hat and his coat back on. He explained to her that he needed to head back out to the office to get a few more hours of work in before the end of the day. And you would think that she would have been surprised at that, but she wasn't because you see, this had been a pattern going on in their marriage for quite some time. And she had had her suspicions that maybe he wasn't being faithful to her for months. And having her suspicions confirmed, she made the very difficult decision that she would subject herself to this no longer. And so a few weeks later, when Harry came home yet late, She informed him that she would be leaving, she wanted a divorce, and she would be taking the children. The marriage was over, facing the cold, hard reality that he had blown up his marriage and was losing his family, a giant wave of shame, guilt, and regret that he had been holding back by his own self-delusion suddenly came crashing down around him, and he crumpled himself up on the floor of that empty home that was once filled with the voices and laughter of his wife and his kids, and Harry wept. Years go by, and after the divorce, Nellie kind of moves on with her life, and she ended

up giving her life to Jesus. And she met a man by the name of Bob, who was a godly man, he was a train engineer that attended the church that she attended, and they ended up getting married. Her second marriage. Harry broken down, and at the end of his rope, eventually got invited by a group of people that he knew to a little country church outside of Joplin, Missouri, racing Christian church, where he ended up going reluctantly, sitting on the back row, hearing the gospel of grace for the very first time. And Harry, separately from Nellie, he began to put his trust in Jesus. At that church, he met a young lady by the name of Ruby, and they began to date, they eventually got married, and still not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination. Harry made an effort to mend what he could with his former wife, Nellie, and maintain a relationship with his kids, as he stumbled his way through the rest of his life, trying to follow Jesus. Upon his death years later, his funeral would be in that little church that he came to know Jesus in, and his children and family, including Nellie and her new husband, Bob, would be in attendance. And from what I'm told, they rang the church bell that day in honor of him. Well one of Harry and Nellie's sons, Lloyd, who was just a boy at the time of their divorce, he grows up, meets a young lady by the name of Thelma, they get married, he goes off and serves in the Marines. They have two daughters, the oldest Wanda, the youngest Linda, Linda then grows up, she meets a young man by the name of Mike, they end up having two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy, they named Aaron, and he is standing before you today as your guest preacher, the product of a broken, messed up, sinful, imperfect family filled with broken, messed up, sinful, imperfect marriages, that by God's patience and grace he is bringing redemption into. In fact, I brought this picture with me, this is a picture of a groundbreaking ceremony of a church building in Joplin, Missouri in the 1960s, and the guy on the far right, the guy with the white shirt and the black tie, that's Harry and Nellie's son, Lloyd,

my grandfather, my mom's dad, and then the guy kind of second to the left with the white hair and the suit and the glasses. That's my step-great grandfather, Bob, who Nellie remarried, the trained engineer, and then the guy next to him, to his right, your left, interestingly enough, his name was Martin Brockett, it's my dad's dad, he was the pastor of that church, all three of them are doing a groundbreaking at this church building. It's like a bad reality TV show, you just can't make this stuff up. Now I know that was, I threw a ton of names at you, and if you were able to follow that, some of you were like, you know, trying to figure out all the names. The reason why I'm sharing all that with you, really, the essence of this is that you need to get is that what started in my family tree with betrayal, sin, divorce, and pain ended with God rewriting that script to put the broken pieces back together again through grace because that's what God does, as the prophet Isaiah says it so beautifully. God brings beauty from the ashes. Now I got to tell you, I am so grateful for that group of Christians whose names I will never know on this side of eternity from that small little country church in southwest Missouri who extended grace generously to my broken center of a great grandfather and to my broken great grandmother and they had likely inherited the wounds and sins of their fathers and grandfathers, but because of the generous grace that a group of Christians extended to them. They changed the trajectory of my family tree forever. In fact, I brought a picture of my family on the left as my son Connor. He's actually here with me this weekend. My wife, Lindsay, my oldest daughter, Campbell, who just got married in May, please pray for me. I'm not doing well. Pray. And her husband, Austin, and then our other two daughters, Cadence and Kennedy, and we are not a perfect family by any stretch of the imagination, but because of God's grace we're a family. Amen.

and maybe you can relate in some way because maybe you've inherited a messy, jacked up family tree or due to your own sinful decisions and choices, you are living a messy, jacked up life in need of that kind of grace. And the answer to that would be all of us to one degree or another. You see, when it comes to the sin in our life instead of denying it or drenching ourselves in shame over it, what if we were to find the grace of God that only leads to true and lasting change? As the Psalmist puts it so well in Psalm chapter 130, verses three through four, "If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand?" And the answer to that would be nobody. I know I couldn't, but I'm so thankful for the words he says next, but with you, there is forgiveness. Enter our passage today, Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10. And Ephesians, many of you may or may not know that this is a unique letter among some of Paul's other letters that he writes in the New Testament for the simple fact that he doesn't seem to be putting out any specific fires in the Ephesian church as he was often doing in his letters. Like for example, his letter to the Galatians, Paul is addressing the fire of the Judaizers who had come in and they were adding to the gospel of grace and Paul addresses that fire, that problem. In 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the dumpster fire of a problem of these Christians

who are living in very ungodly ways and they had forgotten or overlooked or taken advantage of the grace of God. But Ephesians isn't like that. Ephesians reads more like a letter of encouragement and provides like this sweeping vision of what God is doing in and through Jesus and what the church is meant to look like because of that grace. And Paul loved this church. He had spent three years in person with them, which is longer than any other place that he had stayed anywhere and his farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 is one of the most emotional goodbyes in all of scripture. And while there really isn't a single crisis that he appears to be addressing in Ephesians, his concern is quite clear. Here's what was going on. Here's the context of what we just read. The churches of Asia Minor were growing by God's grace. They were reaching more and more people, including the Gentiles. In other words, to put it another way, they were reaching more and more people like my adulterous great grandfather Harry. And that was creating some tension with the Jews. Think good church folk who still had sin in their lives, maybe just not as obvious as others. And so it's creating tension.

Maybe you've been in a church like that where churches beginning to grow and people are reaching there one more and think you're beginning to run out of seats and people are living like these like crazy lives and there's this tension that always ends up happening that way. And so what Paul's doing is he's writing to sort of remind them of grace and he's writing to level the playing field to remind everybody that regardless of your background, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Regardless of who you are or what you've done or what's been done to you. Regardless of your past or your present, regardless of your addictions, your anger issues, or that affair. Regardless of your unhealed wounds, regardless of your shame and your guilt. Our only hope is in the finished work of Jesus that is only available by grace through faith. And when we respond to the grace of God that is only available through Jesus' sacrifice on a cross for our sins, then listen, Saffan, his purpose becomes our mission. Or at least this should. To put it another way, I had a mentor when I was in college who said it this way. He said, you know, since we are saved by grace, that ought to make us gracious. You would think that have you ever met

some ungracious Christians? Actually, the term ungracious Christian should be an oxymoron because we are only here by grace. I think it's the reason why Paul says the word grace 12 times in this short book of Ephesians. In other words, he's saying it is all grace and nothing but grace. It is an order of grace topped with some grace with a side of grace. And John introduces Jesus this way in chapter one verse 16. He says, for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. It is grace piled upon grace, piled upon grace with no end of the supply. your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace and your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace. And so, Salfo, and since we are the recipients of that kind of amazing grace that has been extended to us so generously, this is what should prompt us to extend that grace to our one more, to those who are in need of it, in just as much need of it as we are. And here's what's at stake. If you receive grace but you refuse to extend it, it dies. Something within you dies. Something within us, it begins to block that power of God that wants to extend out to the world around us. Several years ago, I got to visit Israel.

And if any of you have never had the chance to do that, as soon as you're able to do it, I would encourage you to go do it. It'll change the way you read the Bible forever. And when you go to Israel, you will very likely visit two bodies of water. One is up north, the Sea of Galilee, which is where Jesus did so much of his ministry. It's where Peter was a fisherman and Jesus walked on water there and he calmed storms and he taught the Sermon on the Mount along the bank. So the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee is beautiful. It's one of my favorite places in Israel. And it's just full of life and it's green and it's lush and the fishing industry is still thriving there. And we actually got to go out on this little boat early in the morning and they were playing worship songs and we did communion real early on the Sea of Galilee is one of my favorite moments. Sea of Galilee has a body of water that flows into it and out of it. And the Jordan River is one of the primary sources. But if you follow the Jordan River all the way down south, you'll find another body of water that you'll get to visit when you go to Israel and that's the Dead Sea. And the Dead Sea is mostly made of salt. It's like 30% salt and it's a very different environment than the Sea of Galilee. Sea of Galilee is lush and green. The Dead Sea is arid and it's like a desert.

It's like 1,400 feet below sea level. It's this hot, dry basin. It almost kind of feels like a scene out of Mad Max or something. And it's kind of cool. It's like you go up and it's mostly salt so you kind of float around in it but there's nothing living in it. And you walk around in this like kind of gray, sludgy kind of mud and the reason why it's dead is because the Jordan River flows into it but nothing flows out of it. And what would flow into it from the Jordan River has cut down dramatically over the years because they divert so much of the water from the Jordan to agriculture and drinking water. So it's just a fraction of what used to go into the Dead Sea so the Dead Sea is shrinking by about a meter a year. And that is a pretty good picture of what happens in the life of a Christian and the life of a church when we receive God's grace but it never flows through us and out of us to others. Something begins to die and shrink. You see, when we as the people of God forget what God has delivered us from by his radical grace we are destined to commit one of two errors. One error when we forget to extend God's grace is it inevitably leads to minimizing sin. And we say things like, well it's not that bad and you do you and follow your heart

and God celebrates the way that you are rather than offering loving change from who you were. Listen man, the only thing that makes grace so amazing is when we realize how serious sin is because if you don't realize how serious sin is then you have no need for grace because you feel like you can earn it. And that leads to the second error is that when we forget to extend grace to other people then we end up adding to God's grace. We end up adding to the cross and Jesus finished work there rather than declaring its sufficiency alone to save. What we need to be reminded of that I think many of us may know we just need a good reminder every now and then that we bring nothing to God in the process of our salvation. There is nothing we bring to the table when it comes to salvation. The only thing we bring is our sin. We don't bring knowledge, we don't bring good works, we don't bring good intentions. The only thing, it's not like I show up and it's 50/50, it's like no we don't bring anything to God except our availability, humility and sin. Kind of reminds me of in the 1990s the Chicago Bulls were playing Cleveland Cavaliers and they end up winning that game in overtime. And Michael Jordan who is the greatest of all time

is really undisputed and if you disagree then you need grace. But he had a career high, and they end up winning in overtime, and Stacy King was a rookie that year, and he comes off the bench to score a single point off one free throw. And afterwards, he was jokingly talking to a reporter, and he said this, "I'll always remember this "as the night that Michael Jordan and I combine "to score 70 points." (congregation laughing) And see, when it comes to salvation, it's kinda like that, except for this one major difference. We don't even score a point. Jesus has done it all. And here's why this is so important, is that if your salvation was up to you in any way, shape, or form, then it would inevitably become about you. And that is a way we can never carry. It'll either lead to spiritual pride or spiritual shame, because you'll begin to think that you actually can bring some things to God to justify your salvation, or you'll begin to say, "I can never do this." Your salvation is on Jesus and Jesus alone. We are not mistakeers in need of a life coach. We are sinners in need of a savior. And may we never forget that, man. May we never forget what God rescued

and delivered us out of, so that we don't become compromising towards the sin in our lives, or callous towards the sinners in our lives. In a church like Southland, that defiantly worships a good God in a broken world, that is unashamed to lovingly declare truth, that is unwavering and being conduits of that grace that we have received to others, those are the churches that God blesses and pours his spirit out of bond. It's a church that looks more like the sea of Galilee than the dead sea, because it's where lives are getting radically set free, and people are becoming the kind of people that Jesus died for them to become. Then I got to tell you, we see simultaneous two things happening right now at the same time. Right now, the world is growing darker, and darker, and more and more divided. Do you feel it? Yeah, we all feel it. And at the same time, the spirit of God is moving and stirring people up. And I've actually never seen in my lifetime the kinds of supernatural conversions that I'm seeing right now. It's like the book of Acts all over again. It's revival riot, revival riot, revival riot.

And the enemy is not just gonna roll over and let that thing happen. And I see God doing an awakening right now in the lives of people that comes whenever you combine defiant worship, unwavering truth, and extending grace generously to others. Man, lives get changed. And just like you guys, man, we are seeing more baptisms right now than ever in the history of our church. Last year, we baptized well over 2,000 people. This year, we're on track to do something similar. And I gotta tell you, when it comes to all the baptisms, it just never gets old. And you know, I love every single baptism, but I have some that are my favorite. And I know I shouldn't say that out loud. That's like a parent saying they have favorite kids. You're like, oh, you know you do. But it's like, when it comes to like baptisms, how could you say you have favorites? I got two groups of people that are my favorite baptisms. One is people over the age of 80. I love seeing those baptisms. 'Cause they're walking down into the water and you're like, man, I hope we don't kill 'em. Like I said, and they come down and this represents like decades and decades of maybe stubbornness and rebellion and sin and yet it's the twilight of their life. They're waving the white flag.

It brings me to tears, man. You know, my second favorite group of baptisms is when you're with somebody maybe backstage and you're praying with them and talking to them. And they're just like a little rougher on the edges. Like they smell like weed, you know? They don't know any better. They're like cursing, you know, as you're kind of trying to lead 'em through this prayer of salvation. And then they'll maybe get this kind of cheapest look on their eye. I've had this a couple different times. And they'll say, I really, really want to get my life to Jesus and be baptized today, but I got a problem. And I'm like, what's the problem? And they'll pull up their pant leg and they'll say, they'll point to like a probation anklet and they'll say, that can't get wet. Those are my favorite baptisms, man. Because what we'll do is we'll get three or four big burly men and we'll pick 'em up and we'll walk down into the baptistry, holding them up above the water. And one guy is assigned to the probation anklet to keep that thing dry and he kind of holds that thing up. And then we flip 'em upside down and we dip them into the water like a chocolate-covered strawberry. Listen, man, like some of you may have a church tradition where you do sprinkling, we do immersions,

but now we also do dippings. All right, that's what we do. And it's like, and those baptisms are amazing to me because those people are realizing what they are getting set free from. And sometimes we just need a good reminder of that, don't we? Especially you've been following Jesus for a while. Man, I love three of you get it, three of you are there. I love like Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preacher though it may assail us and bring us harm. Sin can't reign over us because grace reigns in us. May you never forget that. The question is, do others see that in you? I gotta be honest, man, this passage Ephesians 2, eight through 10 is really not that difficult to understand. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it's not an incredible passage, it is. I'm just saying it's not difficult to understand, especially compared to some of the depth of Paul's other writings, like if you go to Romans, that is some advanced theology right there. And in comparison, this just isn't that difficult. Here's the frame of the passage that we just read from Ephesians. We are saved by grace through faith. Grace cannot be achieved, it is only received. And since we have received grace, we must extend grace generously. That's the good works part of the passage. And please understand that we are not saved by good works,

we are saved for good works, and other people are the object of our good works, not our justification, as Dallas Willard so aptly put it. Grace isn't opposed to effort, it's opposed to earning. Those are different. So this isn't a difficult passage to understand, but I think it is a difficult passage to truly own and live out. And I've just got a couple of reasons, even from my own life, as to why I think, even though we understand the passage, maybe it's difficult for us to live out. One reason might be, see if you can relate to this, is that you might be forgiven, but still not fully convinced grace is enough. Like you might sing the songs, you might say all the right things. When the preacher says we are saved by grace through faith, I always know this is an old preacher joke. Like anytime I feel like the sermon has kind of fallen flat, I'll just like figure out how to say we are saved by grace through faith through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The people are like, "Amen, amen." And you just people will clap at that, and you say you believe it, and I believe you, you believe it, but then deep down when you're by yourself, in a room alone, I mean, be honest, you wander.

And here's why, because you know what you've done. You're the only one who's ever been with you wherever you go. You're the only one that knows every single thing that you've thought, every single thing that you've said out of your mouth. And I think that there are times, whenever we are like, it sounds amazing, but it almost sounds too good to be true, and maybe that inner self-critic begins to kick in, or I'd actually like to say this, be really careful about your inner self-critic, because if your inner self-critic starts to sound more like an unholy spirit than the Holy Spirit, there's a problem. And so maybe when you're by yourself, you're like, "You know what, I mean, I wanna believe this is true, "but have I done too many things that disqualify me?" You know, God loves me, and we use the word love kind of in the general way, like we say, we love puppies and sunsets, but I don't know if God likes me. Like God'll forgive me, 'cause you know, he said he would, and he's God, that's like, you know, kind of his job, but I wonder if he's kind of begrudgingly forgiving me. And we resonate with Paul's words and Romans, the things I wanna do, I don't do, and the things I say I'm gonna do, I don't do it, and what a wretched man I am. We know we're saved by grace,

but gradually we begin to drift, if we're not careful, subtly, towards trying to earn it or justify it. We don't intentionally mean to do that, we just do it. And then our shame kicks in, and then our inner critic takes over, and then it's just a matter of time before we stop extending grace to others, and the reason why is because we've stopped extending it to ourselves. We do not fully receive it, and if you can't fully receive it, you can't fully give it, and what ends up happening is that's whenever Christians become maybe a little bit aloof or indifferent towards the sins of others, or we begin to compare sins with others, or we get rigid and rude and legalistic, and we're harsh with others and ourselves, and we just naturally drift as a human being into effort and legalism. And if that's the case, we need to let this truth from Romans wash over us, Romans chapter eight, verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Can I encourage you to memorize that verse and write it and put it on your mirror or the dashboard of your car, and you just read it every time, shame begins to crouch at your door, for those who are in Christ Jesus. Not because of the things that I do, but because of the things that Jesus has done on my behalf. Man, I just need to tell you,

I came all the way down to Indianapolis really primarily just to say this to you. Jesus' death, burial, and a resurrection. Listen, man, that either covers all of you or none of you. What it can't do is cover some of you. It covers all of us. And may we never forget it. Here's the second reason why I think that it's hard to live out at times is that you might be forgiven, but that doesn't necessarily mean you've been healed. And when I say healed, I'm not necessarily talking about something physical, although it could include that. I'm primarily talking about something emotional, primarily, maybe even spiritual, secondarily. Now, I think the reason why, I think it's possible to be a Christian and still be unhealed. To still have emotional wounds that you're carrying around with you. To still be bitter and angry and addicted. And there's no fruit to the spirit growing off that tree. And here's why. I think it's because we have a lot of Romans chapter 10 verse nine Christians. And that verse simply says this, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

That's a definitive statement. Yes, and amen. That is the core of the gospel. But it's possible for you to believe that and for you to have confessed with your mouth and believe in your heart and you've got salvation. And yet it is still possible to be steeped in an addiction or a slave to your anger. It's still possible to hurt other people that you love due to your own unhealed wounds, maybe from your childhood or family of origin. It's possible to have that. And there's not very many fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, displayed in your life. And I think the reason why is because we don't have nearly enough James chapter five verse 16 Christians, which says something similar but different. Therefore, confess your sins, not to God, but to who? Say it out loud. One another. And pray for one another that you may be what? Healed. Listen man, he's saying don't, he's not saying confess your sins to God and be ill. He says confess your sins to one another. So this is vertical, this is horizontal. And we're confessing our sins to one another, which is the importance of the church.

It's the importance of relationship and small group and community. And you're confessing, and by the way, this isn't confessing your sins to everyone. That's not wise. Confess it to someone. Someone trusted. Pray for one another. Not so that you'll be saved, but so that you'll be healed. And I think we've got a lot of Romans chapter 10 verse, nine Christians, not enough James five, 16 Christians that are trying to do this thing on their own. And one is for a confession of salvation. The other is for a confession of healing. And it's kind of like, any of you ever have a black mold in your home? And how that ends up happening is there's maybe some kind of water that's behind, it's like a water leak that you didn't know about. And it went and it went and it went and it went. And all of a sudden you got this like dark thing that's growing, that's rotting your home from the inside out that's unhealthy. That's a lot like what unconfessed sin is. You can be saved. You're going to heaven, but you can have black mold of sin growing in the recesses of your heart. And what regular confession is on a daily basis is it's clear in that stuff out so that you can stay healthy and whole.

And when you don't, it becomes impossible for grace to be extended through you to others. You ever wonder why you hear stories of spiritual leaders, authors, pastors, teachers, front facing leaders that are on platforms, people that you respect at a distance and then they end up having some sort of moral failure and then it devastates everybody and you're like, how in the world could that happen? Well, there could be a number of reasons why it happens, but this is probably primary. They have their salvation, but they still have their wounds and they've started to hide them instead of confess them. Think about Judas for a minute. One of Jesus' disciples, the guy who betrayed him. I've always thought about Judas. I would imagine that he was a probably pretty good guy. I mean, there's a reason why Jesus invited him to follow him and Judas would have been there and he would have listened to the same sermons the rest of the disciples had. He would have seen the same miracles. I would imagine that Judas probably had a few fireside conversations with Jesus that were probably deeply impactful to him that didn't get recorded in the gospels. And yet somehow Judas came to this place where he was so cold and calculated that he sold Jesus out. What happened? My guess is unhealed wounds that he didn't confess and get out.

we know the Bible verses, but that doesn't mean that we've been healed. And it's just a matter of time before your unhealed wounds will begin to seep out in unexpected ways and maybe it gets transferred to the people that you love without even realizing it. Maybe it even begins to creep into a church and we have blind spots and we don't even see the fact that we're not extending grace to others who so desperately need it. And when that happens, the Spirit of God begins to pull back and just like the dead sea, we begin to die. If you were to have asked me several years ago if I had anger issues, I probably would have minimized it and said anger issues, no, frustration issues, maybe. And I had kind of like this, and still kind of working through some of this, like some deep-seeded kind of anger underneath the surface. I remember, I don't know if any of you can relate to me. When I was a kid growing up, I would oftentimes go into my room, shut the door and just start punching my closet door over and over again and not really even know why because I had some unresolved anger within just due to some family of origin stuff. And about 12 years or so ago, I was with our family, we were vacationing in the outer banks and we decided to take our suburban out onto the beach and drive around,

which we let the air out of our tires so that way if we didn't get stuck. And so we're driving around the beach, we get back out on the road, we got four semi-flat tires now, so we got to find a gas station with air to put air back in the tires. And if you've ever been to the outer banks, it's like nightmare traffic, two-lane road, find our way to this little gas station with just a posted stamp of a parking lot. And there's one little air dispenser thing and there's one parking stall right in front of it. It's the only way to access the air. And there was a couple of dudes with mullets sitting on the hood of their firebird in that spot, not pumping up their tires, but drinking slurpies and eating corn dogs. And I kind of pulled in and I was like, I kind of made it obvious like, I had four semi-flat tires, they knew that I needed their spot. And so I just kind of pulled up and I'm like, that's cool, finish your corn dog, it's fine. But I need that spot. And so I'm waiting and as I'm waiting, they see me, but I could tell they do not care. And there was a truck, a delivery truck that came in behind us and he can't get around me 'cause I'm waiting for this spot.

And so he's behind me, bearing down on me, I'm looking at these guys, they can see what's going on, but they don't care. And then all of a sudden the truck driver blares his horn and I lost it. My anger rushed right to the surface. And I'm not proud of this, but I bolted out of my suburban and I started walking back towards where the truck was. And I don't know what I was thinking because I did this like Michael Jackson shoulder shimmy thing, like this, it was like, it's almost like I was a peacock or something, trying to make myself bigger than I really was. And as I'm like shimmying towards him, I yelled out and I said, "Where do you expect me to go, bro?" And I get right up to the edge of my truck and then I realize that dude may have a gun. So I need to turn around. So I did, I just kind of turned around and I remember as I turned around, I looked right into the window of the back seat where my eight year old daughter was sitting and she had a look of terror on her face, not because of the truck driver, but because of me. And I was like, where's that coming from? And realizing that I had some unhealed wounds that I need to work through.

Man, can I just say this, like as Christians, we don't pray wounds away, we don't over-spiritualize stuff, we don't just say, well, you know, eventually it'll get better. We actually, we don't use grace as a cop out, use grace as a platform to get you to the healing that you so desperately need. Because when we don't, then Christians begin to live in ways that the rest of the world looks at that and they say, why would we ever want what you have? Because you're acting no different than we do. And they not only need to know the doctrine of grace, they need to see it lived out by a changed life and that only happens when we are healed from our wounds. The last thing that I'll mention that I think becomes a barrier to us living this out is that we might be forgiven but maybe just lack a sense of urgency. We just get comfortable with our life and we just think we got all the time in the world, man. And one of the things that I just want you to realize is that Jesus is coming back. Most assuredly, he is coming back. He came once 2,000 years ago as a baby born in a manger and he is coming back again one day soon. And I know the world is getting really, really dark right now and I know that things are getting really, really divisive right now and in the Bible told us this would happen. It would say, you don't know the time but you can know the signs.

And the signs are getting more frequent and heavier right now. And what I want you to know is that you're not guaranteed another moment of life and you're co-worker, your neighbor, your friend who is far from God, neither are they. And may that just allow you not to be living in fear but to living in expectancy that our king is one day. He will return as a war general on a horse. And he will come with fire in his eyes and a sword coming out of his mouth. And he will be dressed in white. And the armies behind him will be dressed in white. Who wears white to a fight? The ones that knows the other guy is going to get blood on him. That's who. And he's going to have this sweet tattoo on his thigh. So for those of you who have been judging me for mine, you'll have to talk to Jesus about that. And it's going to say King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he is coming back to reconcile what has been lost and broken. And the only way that that works is by grace. About a year and a half ago, I started doing jujitsu because, you know, I just never knew if I'm going to get into a fight with a truck driver. And so I started doing this. And I met a guy a little over a year ago, his name is Alex. And Alex, after class, were sitting down and he's a purple belt. And he said, "Hey, I hear you're a pastor." And I was like, "Oh, no." Because I never know what's going to come next after that. And I said, "Yeah, I'm a pastor." And he said, "Well," he said, "I grew up in Central America,

immigrated here as a kid, grew up Catholic. But as soon as we got to the States, my mom goes to a Baptist church. But I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God anymore." And he's probably in his late 30s, early 40s, has a family. He said, "Hey, my wife isn't even more adamant atheist than I am. We don't believe." And I was like, "Oh, man." I was like, "Well, you know, tell me your story." And so here's how he let out. He said, "Well, I just can't believe in a God who had created a universe, put us in a garden, put a burning hot oven in the garden, tell us not to touch it, we touch it, and he sends us to hell for it." And kind of the snarky, defensive side of me. The first thing back to him is I said, "Well, it wasn't an oven, it was a tree." And he didn't laugh. His lips started trembling, his face flushed, and he got really emotional. And I remember just thinking to myself, "Oh, man, this is emotional for him." And so it was almost like a spirit of God was like, Aaron, just listen. Just graciously listen. And so I said, "Man, tell me more." And so he began to share his story with me. And he just unloaded for like 20, 30 minutes, heartbreak and pain. And his wife's heartbreak and pain. And he just said, "I just can't believe in a God that would allow that stuff." And he gets done with all of it. And the whole time he's talking, I'm praying. Because man, I'm a preacher. I think to myself, if there's anybody that should be able to present content that convinces him, then it should be me.

And so I'm just trying to think through the rolodex of all the sermons I preach and all the apologetics and all the content. And the spirit of God was like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up, big boy." Extend grace. And so I just like, after he got done, I just looked at him and I said, "Hey, Alex, that was a lot, man." And I really appreciate you trusting me with that. Thank you for telling me. And his whole demeanor changed. He looked at me and he was just like, "No, no, no, come back. No defense. No argument." I was like, "No, man, just thanks for sharing it with me." And he said, "Well, thanks for listening." And I would see him in the gym from time to time and he'd give me a fist bump and smile at me. That was about it. But after Christmas break last year, he came up to me after class. He said, "Hey, you got about 20 minutes after class that I can talk to you?" And I was like, "Sure." And so he pulls me off to the side and he said, "I need you to know that after my conversation with you, I went home and my wife isn't even more angry or adamant atheist than I am." And so I prayed and I said to God, "God, if you're real, make my wife Christian." That's how he said it. And he goes, "Aaron, I need you to know that over the last few months, like my wife is not an alcoholic. She's not addicted to drugs. She's not an insane person. She's the most rational person I know."

And he goes, "Beth, Aaron, I have to tell you, as soon as I prayed that prayer, she started seeing demons in our house." He's like, "I don't know if you believe me or not, but she has." And she started having these dreams where this like deity would meet her in a dream and would say things to her. She's never read the Bible. And she would wake up and say, "This deity said this to me and I would go babe. That's in the Bible." And she got mad about it. And he said, "I think Jesus is meeting her in her dreams, and she's seeing demons and it brought her to this place where she saw the supernatural. So it became so real to her that he goes, "Aaron, she gave her life to Jesus. And now she's on Facebook, telling everybody about it, meeting with ladies, sharing her story. She's already read the Bible, covered to cover. So I just want you to know, I'm a Christian now." And I was like, "What?" Like, now here's the deal. If you're a little skeptical of that, I could understand it because I'm kind of scratching and tried to explain and defend and argue them into faith, and nothing ever worked. But in this moment, as if the Spirit of God said, "Would you just extend some grace generously from me and tag me in?" And I'm just wondering, maybe in your life right now, you got your one more who is in, in your mind is impossible. But like if you're one more, like if they were to walk through the doors of the church, you would faint. 'Cause you're like, that would take nothing short of a miracle. What if you just begin to pray and pray and pray and extend grace generously to them and tag the Holy Spirit in to let him do what only he can? And so right now, we're just going to give you an opportunity to respond through praise and through prayer and through partaking of the Lord's Supper. Here's what I want to ask of you right now. What do you need out of this message? What do you need? I'm not going to pretend like everything that I've said today is for everybody. But what's the one thing that you really needed

to hear? What's the one thing that you had forgotten that you just needed to be reminded of? And maybe you're here today and you're here for the very first time and your life is a mess. And you're like, "I had no idea there is grace for you and Jesus is beckoning you to come home." Maybe you're here and you've been following Jesus for years and years and years and years and years. And quite honestly, you began to drift into works and you didn't even know it. Or maybe you're beginning, you know, I know it's just a little bit somewhat kind of judgmental towards others. And it doesn't mean that truth isn't important. Truth is important. That's why we stand on it. But we extend grace generously because that is the only thing. That is the thing we have going for us at the core of Christianity as a gracious God who wants to extend it to you so that you can extend it through others. And so maybe we need to repent of some stuff, Church. Maybe there's an attitude of aloofness or rudeness. Maybe we've just begun to take time for granted and we realize that that Jesus is coming back and it is racing upon us. What do you need right now? What do you need to confess to God? What business do you need to do? I want to beckon you down front to come and just lay that out before Him. And I want to leave you with one final verse before we do that. It's 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 that simply says this, "My grace is sufficient for you, personalize it for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And if you're feeling pretty weak right now, then you are a prime candidate for God's grace that is sufficient to save. So receive that and then extend that. Father, we come to you right now and I'm so grateful for your lavish grace that you poured out for us through Jesus on a cross. Forgive us when we minimize it and forgive us when we try to add to it. And so we just want to stand as recipients of your grace and let that transform us. Some of us need to be reminded of our own story and what you delivered us from. Others of us need to respond to it for the first time. All of us need to extend it through the way that we live our lives. A sweet spirit, a kind look, a gentle word, so that it might stop others in their tracks. And we disarm the enemy, the principalities and powers. And we tag you in to let you do what only you can. We thank you. We ask this in Jesus' name and everyone said, Amen.