Step Into The Light

Well, hey, welcome everybody. I want to welcome everybody to all of our locations and all of you who are joining us online. Thanks for being with us today. I want to mention a couple of things and then I want to pray and then we'll wrap up this series talking about rest. The first thing that I want to mention is next weekend we're going to start a brand new series. It's actually on one of my favorite books in the Bible. It's one of the most misunderstood books in the Bible. We're going to be walking through the book of Ecclesiastes and the name of the series is called, You'll Be Dead Soon. Worked really hard on that. And it's true for all of us. And so I want to invite you to come back next weekend. And I actually think that series is going to be very helpful, but that is the title of the series. You'll Be Dead Soon. Starts next weekend. The other thing that I want to mention is junior high camp is this week. And so I want to pray for that. For all of you who give here at the church, you are helping hundreds and hundreds of junior high students experience camp next week. Actually the summer we'll have over 5,000 kids and students experience camp. Lives are going to be changed for all of you who are volunteering. Yeah, we can celebrate that. For all of you who are volunteering and serving our junior high students, thank you. God bless you. It's going to be a great week. And again, thank you to all of you who give here at the church that make those things possible. Nothing happens around here without people being faithful to God and into their giving. Let's pray together. Ask God to speak to us as well as to bless this week and the lives of our junior high students. So Father, we thank you for your grace. I do pray for camp this week. I pray for safety and I pray for life changing experiences for the students and for the adults that will be involved. I pray Holy Spirit that you would move, that students would say yes to Jesus, that Holy Spirit you would whisper your providential calling over various lives. I pray that they would bring hope and healing and I just pray that you would do miraculous things. Thank you for all who give. Thank you for all who serve and in that invest in the lives of our students. And now as we wrap up this series and as we talk about rest and as we talk about the practice of confession and in that how that relieves pressure in our souls, I ask Holy Spirit that you would take over and speak to us. As always, nobody needs to hear from me. We all need to hear from you. And so Holy Spirit take charge. We give you our hearts and our minds and we ask you to bless this time. May it be for the glory of Jesus and also for our good. It's in his name that we

pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. As I start today, I recently had an experience with some of our staff. About once a quarter we do what we call here at the church new staff orientation. If you're new to Sun Valley, we have six locations. We also serve in a prison. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of staff. And so once a quarter, the executive pastor here at Sun Valley, that's Paul Alexander and myself. Paul's kind of like the chief of staff for all of our staff. He and I do this new staff orientation. And we spend an entire afternoon with new staff members and we talk about the history of our church and why we do what we do. And then we talk about staff values and who we want to be as a staff team, as we serve all of you, as we serve the Lord. And through the course of talking with some of our new staff, I really felt convicted to share with you some of the things that I shared with them. And it actually is a good setup for what I want to talk to you about today. Let me ask you this question and you can answer it to yourself in your own heart and mind. What is Christian maturity? Like in your heart and mind, if you're a follower of Jesus, or even if you're here this weekend, you're not a follower of Jesus. You just came to check it out. I'm so glad that you're here. You are always welcome to attend here at Sun Valley. But what, what is a mature Christian? And how do you know if somebody is mature? I got to tell you, as a pastor, every once in a while, somebody will want to criticize something I do. It's kind of a normal thing. It's okay. It's part of what it means to lead, but they will lead the conversation with something like this. They'll say, now, pastor. Before they say what they're about to say to me. They'll say I'm a mature Christian And I just want you to know if you ever say that to me Bless your heart I'm from the south and you all know what that means, don't you? I'm just gonna say bless your heart and I'm gonna throw up in my mouth just a little bit So when somebody comes to me and says I'm a mature Christian, it tells me perhaps you're not You may have done some Beth Moore Bible studies you may have read lots of books You may have done some theology classes, but anytime somebody tells me they're mature. There's a good chance That they're lacking. So so so what does it even mean? And if you've ever said that to me, I love you I'm just teasing. All right

I'm teasing a little bit a little bit but but what what is a mature Christian and How do you know if somebody is? Mature Well, Jesus said that you know a tree by its fruit So, let's just think about that for a little bit You you know, someone is mature Not by how they talk but how they walk in their everyday life What what is the fruit of Of their life You know in the church world, especially here in America, we're very confused about what discipleship is and Then with that what Christian maturity is and then with that what the goal of all of this is Not too long ago and I've told this story before perhaps you've heard me tell it maybe not but not too long ago I was asked to be on a panel and We were talking about on the panel it was a group of like 250 300 pastors and then I was on the panel up front and we were talking about the challenge of Biblical illiteracy in our culture and in our society in other words people don't know the Bible and They don't know what it says and as time goes on people know less and less of of the Bible And so on this panel I don't know what I was doing on the panel because it was me and it was two presidents of two different theological seminaries and a couple of other scholars and then you got me here on the end and I'm looking down the line of these brilliant people going. Why am I here? you know, I'm one of these kind of people like When George W Bush gave a speech to the graduating class at Yale Here's what he said to all of you who graduated with honors. I want to say congratulations and To all of you who graduated with the C average. I want to say you too can be president. I Can so relate to that You know Like

Not a scholar. I love to read I tend to remember things that I Read and God's kind of wired me to do what I do here at the church, but just just some brilliant people and so we started talking about this subject Christian maturity and discipleship and they started talking about theology and varying schools of thought in the realm of theology and This person and this person and this person and this person then it got down to me And frankly, right? I'm the megachurch pastor and there's all kind of jokes that come with that right and there's all kinds of ideas in people's minds of what that what that means and So as it's getting closer to me and dr So-and-so spoke and dr So-and-so spoke and dr. So-and-so spoke everybody up there had more degrees than Fahrenheit and then there was me And so it's coming to me and I am just like Holy Spirit What do you got because I got nothing And just this kind of wave of the Spirit came over me And it got to be my turn and I said here's what's bothering me about this discussion For the last For the last half hour 45 minutes on this panel, we've talked about discipleship and Christian maturity and Theology and no one has said the name Jesus Discipleship is as simple as your your next step of obedience. It's about Jesus. Christian maturity is about following Jesus. And you know if someone is mature if the fruit of Jesus is evident in their life. It does not matter how many theological books they've read. It does not matter what degrees they possess.

What matters is their character. You know a mature Christian by their character. Do they reflect the character of Jesus? I mean, in modern church, we have this idea that you're really mature if you read these big, thick books that were written by people that died a long time ago. But think about this for a minute. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the bulk of the population on the planet of people who were Christians were illiterate. They couldn't read. And you and I have this idea that maturity is we spend 45 minutes to an hour every morning reading out of a book that we barely understand. I'm not talking about the Bible, I'm talking about like other theological books. We have this idea that people that read a lot are mature and people who don't read a lot are immature. Friends, it doesn't have anything to do with any of that. You either reflect the character of Jesus or you don't. And I know some people that know a little bit of Bible, but man, do they do a lot with it. And I know some people that know a whole lot of Bible, but they don't do anything with it. Which one is more mature? If you are a follower of Jesus, one day you will stand and give an account to him for your life. And I'm gonna shock you here for a moment.

It's not gonna be a Bible quiz. He's not gonna say how many verses have you memorized? It's gonna be, did you follow me? Did you love me? Hear this word, did you obey me? Did you give? Did you serve? Did you share your faith? Was your life about me? And so I'm on this panel and I'm like, nobody said the name Jesus and you could have heard a pin drop in that room. And then this illustration crossed my mind and I'm gonna share it with you. How many of you have seen the movie Patch Adams? Just a show of hands. If you haven't seen it, you can see it. It's got Robin Williams in it. It's based on a true story. And Patch Adams, a true character, brilliant man who went to medical school. So brilliant that he really didn't have to study. He would just remember what the professors would say and what he would read. And so he had a 4.0 grade average, but the professors could not stand Patch Adams because they felt like he did not take the medical profession seriously. I think it was back in the 60s, maybe early 70s when doctors were very, very serious.

And so you can picture it in your mind. Robin Williams is playing this character of Patch Adams. He would go into the room, hospital room of a child and he would put on a clown nose as the doctor. And he would make the child giggle and laugh. And the medical school professors hated that because as a doctor, you were to be serious. This was a serious profession and you just don't do that. And so they're thinking about, even though he has a 4.0 grade average and he's doing very well, they're thinking about kicking Patch Adams out of school because he's going to be an embarrassment to the medical profession because he's funny and uses humor when he serves people. And so there's this scene where Patch Adams and a friend, they're walking across the beautiful manicured lawn of the medical school. And the friend is saying, Patch Adams, you've got to stop doing the funny stuff. And you've got to take this more seriously because if you don't, they're going to kick you out. And they're back and forth and back and forth. And finally, Patch just stops him there on the lawn and looks him in the eye and says, let me ask you a question. And the friend says, no, no, no, no, no. Just listen to what I'm saying. You got to take this seriously or they're going to kick you out of school.

And Patch Adams says, no, no, no. Let me ask you a question. Just answer my question. The friend says, okay, what's the question? Patch looks at him and says, what is the difference between a scientist and a medical doctor? And the friend says, it doesn't matter, Patch. You got to take this. No, no, no, no, no. Answer my question. What is the difference between a scientist and a medical doctor? And the friend says, I don't know. And Patch Adams looks at him and says, people. People are the difference. He said, when I. I walk into the room of a child that's not a lab rat, that's a human being who is nervous and scared and yes, has medical issues, but there's more to that person than that. That person is a holistic being. And if I can go in and make that child laugh and feel comfortable with me, it's actually better for them medically as well. And so I'm having this discussion and I'm on this panel and I look at these seminary professors and I say, so, okay, what is the difference between a pastor and a theologian? Here's the difference.

People. And here at Sun Valley, I can stand up here and talk about eschatology, sanctification, justification, premillennialism, whatever you want. I can throw a whole bunch of words at you that you won't understand what they mean, but it's not helpful to you. And here at Sun Valley, here's what we do. We help people meet, know, and follow Jesus. And you are not mature because of the books you read. You are mature because of the obedience that you practice. And I would rather have somebody that hadn't read a lot, but they obey a lot. Because this is what Christian maturity is. And there's a bunch of you men, you're like, I don't know if I can follow Jesus, I'm not a reader. You don't have to be a reader. You just have to be an obedient follower. Discipleship, Christian maturity, is as simple as your next step of obedience. For those of you who are like, I want to go deep. I just told you how. Here's how you go deep with Jesus. Are you ready? Are you ready? You do what he says. I can give you the Greek word, that's not deep. I can give you the theological, velkenschung, the paradigm of it all. I can give that to you.

I actually do. I just don't use those words. But all of that is for naught if there is no fruit in your life. All of that is for naught if there is obedience, if there's no obedience. Are you doing what he says? This is what it means to follow Jesus. Does this make sense to everybody? Are you guys catching what I'm throwing here? We've just got to wake up and not be so distracted by all the goofiness of church culture. You're either following Jesus or you're not. You're either in obedience or you're not. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors. And so here's what I want to talk to you about today. The practice of confession. If you are an obedient follower of Jesus, you will be in your life in a constant state of confession and repentance. It's not a one and done, it's a daily thing. Confession, repentance is a normal part of what it means to follow Jesus. You're always gonna need to be repenting. You're always gonna need to be confessing. Here's why, because you're always sinning. If you're like, no, I'm not. The Nile's not just a river in Egypt. All of us have stuff every day. And the truth is, the closer you are to Jesus,

and the more that you walk with him, the more immature you realize you are. Let me tell you what the key fruit of the Christian life is. Like, if you're wondering, does that person really know Jesus? Are they really following Jesus? Here's the question, you ready? Are they humble? Is there an authenticity and a reality about them? Are they humble? Are they honest? I'm gonna quote you a verse. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the, do you know what fills in that blank? God gives grace to the? To the humble. The more somebody realizes that it's grace, the more humble they are. If you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in that person, that person's walking with Jesus. Because that's the fruit of the spirit of Jesus. The more humility there is, usually the more power there is, and the more the flow of the spirit there is in somebody's life. And humility is just honesty. So confession and repentance,

and a realization of how far we still have to go is a huge sign of Christian maturity. Humility is not a woe is me. Humility is not a. lack of confidence. By the way, as the church was growing and things were changing and, you know, I'm on a screen and all that, people would look at me and go, you're not humble. By the way, how do you argue with that? You're not humble. Oh, yes, I am. I'm really proud of my humility. So you know what I say? And people don't say this to me anymore, but you know what I used to say? They would go, you're not humble. And I'd just go, oh, it's far worse than you think. Because that's the only way you can win that one. Does this make sense? Confession and repentance is going to be a normal part of your life if you're on the road that Jesus walks, if you're following him. And so let's talk about it. And the truth is, the more guilt you're carrying around, the more conviction that you're carrying around, the heavier your soul will be. And so over the next few minutes, I'm gonna give you four ways to let go of guilt.

These are four practices of repentance, all in the realm of confession. And this will actually bring rest to your soul. The message of the Bible, you guys have heard me say this. If you're a Sun Valley person, it's not shame on you. That is not the message of the Bible. The message of the Bible is shame off you in Jesus' name. It's amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saves wretches like you and me. And so confession is a normal practice. There is always grace. There is always forgiveness. And we are in a constant state of choosing to follow Jesus once again. Letting go of guilt. Let me give you four things here, talking about following Jesus, confession, repentance, stepping into the light. Here's what guilt is. The first thing in your notes, if you wanna take notes on the Sun Valley app. Here's what guilt is. Guilt says, I owe you. Guilt says, I owe you. Everything in the Bible that has to do with guilt and forgiveness is about debt. So guilt says, I owe you. Right in the middle of the Lord's prayer, this is Matthew chapter six, verse 12.

Jesus teaches us to pray this, and forgive us our debts, I owe, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debts. So let's take a look at what guilt says to debtors. Guilt is about debt. It's about owing. So think right now. Have you ever felt guilty when it comes to God? The answer is yes. Why did you feel guilty? Because you owed God something. You shouldn't have done it, and you did it, you owe. He wanted you to do it, but you didn't do it, you owe. So let's make it worse. Picture in your mind the cross. Do you see the cross in your mind? The cross is about vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationship with others. We feel guilty in our relationship with God, and we also feel guilty in our relationships with others. Do you feel guilty right now about any relationship in your life? I was talking to a mom recently, and she feels guilty about something that happened, and she's been carrying this guilt for a long, long time. If you're a mom, by the way, most moms feel that on some level. If you're a mom right now, and you've ever felt guilty, just give me one of these. Yeah, I feel like most moms that I talk to

are carrying some kind of guilt. Guilt works vertically with God and horizontally with others. The reason that we feel guilty is because we owe. So if you're a mom, you're like, I owed my kids this, I owed my husband that. If you feel guilty in a different relationship, I lied, I owe them the truth, I gossiped, I feel terrible about that. We owe, we owe, we owe, we owe. This is why Jesus says, pray, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Guilt is about owing. Think about the cross again. Vertical relationship with God, horizontal relationship with people. Jesus died on the cross to free us of the guilt of both. He died to pay for the debt that we owe God in all the ways that we are guilty. And he died to pay for the debt that we owe others in all the ways that we are guilty. The last thing that Jesus said on the cross was, it is finished. Literally what he said is this word, to telestai. It can be translated, it is finished, but it's actually an accounting term that means the debt has been paid. So there is freedom in Jesus from the guilt of the debt. of what I owe God and other people.

Okay, let me ask you this question. How free would you be if you could let go of the guilt? How free would you be if you could let go of the guilt? The first thing that you do is you think about what is it that you actually owe? What is it that you're carrying around? So I feel guilty, I feel convicted. Holy Spirit, in a time of prayer, help me understand specifically what it is. And you can literally just begin to write those things down. Guilt says I owe you, what is it that you owe? I wrote down some things. I owe them an apology. I owe them my time. I was supposed to be there and I wasn't. I owe them my loyalty, I betrayed someone. I owe them the truth, I lied. I owe them money, I stole. I owe them their reputation, I gossiped. It could be that you have a secret right now that you hope no one finds out about. You're actually lying all the time. Nobody knows the real you. And so you owe everyone the truth, even though you're like, oh, but I didn't lie to them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but nobody knows the real you. This is why you feel so lonely, this is why you don't feel loved, because you are closing the door on the reality of who you are.

Nobody can love who you're pretending to be, you're just wearing a mask with everybody all the time because you're not honest. What is it that you owe? And you think about those things and you talk to God about those things and you get very specific. The first thing you do is you realize that guilt is about debt. It says I owe you, so what is it that you owe? Second thing that you do if you're gonna get rid of guilt is face the truth. Face the truth. What does that mean? You realize what you owe and then you decide you're gonna deal with that. You're gonna own it. Listen to these two words, take responsibility. You don't blame. To blame is lame. That's how it's spelt, be lame. And so you have to take responsibility for your life and you have to take responsibility for your part. This is John chapter eight, verses 31, the second part of the verse, and verse 32, you will have heard this before. Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. What did we just read? Disciples are people that obey Jesus.

Does everybody see that there? It doesn't matter how many John Piper books they read. It doesn't matter how many Bethmore Bible studies they've attended. Disciples do what Jesus says. If you're not a church person and you didn't get those two references, don't worry about it. If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Look at what it says. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The more that you obey Jesus, the more that you will see the reality of the sin in your life and the more that you will have to deal with the truth of it. But the more you deal with the truth of it, the more freedom you'll experience. Everybody see that there? All right, now I'm gonna tell you something no other pastor's gonna tell you. You ready? The truth will set you free. But at first, it will make you miserable. Okay, everybody look, I love you. I'm gonna keep it real with you. Because dealing with the truth is hard. And dealing with the reality of your own sin is hard. And taking responsibility for your life

and your own stupidity is hard. But it'll set you free. Most people gripe about life. Very few people take hold of it. Most people whine about their life. Very few people actually choose to live. You gotta face the truth about you. And stop blaming. At this point, you're an adult. Yeah, your mama wasn't great, your daddy wasn't great. Take responsibility for your life. Stop paying people and going to counseling who are gonna tell you to blame everybody else. Just take responsibility for your life and face the truth. What does Jesus want you to do? Do that. Couple of things I wrote down. To heal from it, you gotta deal with it. That's normal Sun Valley speak. It's always true. Write this down. Denial will deny you freedom. Denial will deny you freedom. Think about this. Truth sets people free. What's the opposite of freedom? It's bondage. What's the opposite of truth? It's a lie. If truth sets people free, what do lies do?

They enslave you. Is there anything in your life that you're lying to yourself about? Let me just go all the way there with you. What are you pretending is not a problem? And people are telling you it's a problem. And other people are telling you it's not a problem. People have mentioned to you it's a problem, but you just keep pretending that it's not a problem. You have to face the truth and you have to take responsibility. God only operates in reality. I said this a moment ago, nobody can love who you're pretending to be, that person does not exist. The same is true with God. You can't fake it with God. So the more honest you are with him, the more you face the truth with him, the more his power shows up in your life. So what do you owe? Face the truth. Third thing, you confess to God. You start to talk to God about your sin. You don't have to talk to a pastor. You don't have to, some of you come from a Catholic background. You don't have to talk to a priest. The Bible teaches that Jesus is our high priest. You can go right to God.

And so you just start talking to God about your sin. Just know he already knows anyway. You can't play poker with God. He knows what's in your hand. Just go ahead and talk to him about it. This is Psalm chapter 32, verses three through five. These are the words of David when he hid his affair with Bathsheba and the fact that he worked behind the scenes to get her husband murdered. This is from the living Bible, but I want you to pay close attention to the words here. Because one of the things that will happen if you're carrying around guilt is it will affect you physically. Some people are sick because they're convicted and dealing with emotional guilt. Some people can't sleep because they're so convicted. They can't eat or they eat too much because of sin in their life. All these things affect us. Psalm 32, verse three through five. There was a time when I would not admit what a sinner I was, but my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. Look at me here for a second. Are you miserable? Okay. Ask God, is there sin in my life?

Is that the root of it? Could be you're bitter. You're like, well, it was this other person. It's not fair. Life is not fair. Only two kinds of fair in this life. You ready? The state fair and the county fair. That's it. And the faster you choose to forgive, the faster you'll be free. What is it that's making you miserable? Look at what he writes. My strength evaporated. He's carrying around this sin. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and I stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, I will confess them to the Lord. And you forgave me and all my guilt is gone. Start talking to God about your sin. If you wanna know, do I talk to God about my sin? Every day. I have this little journal I do. Some of you have heard me talk about this. You've even seen me do it here on the stage because I had it up here and I'm like, here's what I do in the mornings. Here's what I pray. Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus.

I'm a sinner. And fill me with your grace. What do you want me to confess? Because a lot of times I have sin that I don't even know about. And then usually the day before, it's like a post-game analysis. Some things start coming to mind. And then I just start talking to God about that. Do you want me to give you the prayer again? Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus, a sinner and fill me with your grace. What do I need to confess? You confess to God. Number four, you confess to someone you trust. This is the fourth step. So what do you owe? Face the truth, talk to God about it, and then talk to another believer that you trust. This is James 5, 16. The book of James in your Bible is like the cookbook of scripture. If you read it, he's like, do this, do this, and you get this. Mix a little of this, mix a little of this, and then this is what's gonna happen. Here's what he says. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

The more honest you are. are in your life, listen, with yourself, with God, and with other people, the more free your soul will be. You wanna live a life of truth. Anything is possible if you will choose to live true. And most people don't have the courage to do it. But not you, because you know that you're saved by grace. And that this grace is amazing. And it saves and frees and rescues wretches like you and me. You're part of a church where you have opportunity and freedom to talk about your sin with others without judgment. You can go to Celebrate Recovery this week. Cr.sv.cc. All the times are there, check it out. There will be other people in the circle who have sinned more than you. I promise, because I've sat in those circles. You can go and just confess, and talk, and start to get help in your time of need. Confession and repentance is a normal part of the Christian life. We are not a country club for a bunch of hypocrites. We are a hospital for sinners where God's grace sets people free. Do you see the difference? The more honest you are, the lighter your soul will be. And the faster you repent, the lighter your soul will be.

And for some of you today, I'm gonna go heavy just for a second. You're like, you're just now going heavy? That's all been heavy. Okay, I'm gonna get. Today, for some of you, this is your day of freedom. Because if you don't stop doing what you're doing, you are headed towards a path of destruction. And today's your day, and you know it, and you need to have the courage to confess and repent. Because sin will take you farther than you wanna go. It will keep you longer than you wanna stay. It will cost you more than you wanna pay. Trust God and repent. Here's the beautiful thing. When you confess, when you repent, when you live in that flow of grace, you learn to live freely and lightly and send lessons in your life. Why? Because you're ahead of it. Confession is most powerful. When you start confessing the sin, you're thinking about doing. You're just living honest all the time. It protects you. It helps you. It frees you. So let's confess and end that rest in Him. Would you guys pray with me?

Let's pray together. Hey, if you're terrified right now, I wanna tell you I love you. And I wanna invite you to go to Celebrate Recovery this week. What's talked about there stays there. And I wanna invite you to just start dealing with it. If you're like, oh, I thought I was mature, but maybe I'm not. Okay, one of the practices of maturity is that we just do this every day. And we learn to live honest. All of it, all of it, all of it is because He loves us, cares for us, and He wants us to be free. And so let's practice it. Jesus, we thank you that you came to free us of our sin, the sin done unto us, to set us free from all the debt and all of it. And so I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would teach us, that we would practice, that we would not let fear make our decisions, but that we would begin to live free. Jesus, thank you that you paid it all. We celebrated communion today because that's the truth. May we walk in that freedom. In your name we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.