Time to Turn Around

>> Thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Tim Powell, and I have the privilege and the honor of being the campus pastor at our new life church, Greenbriar campus. We are a non-denominational church located in the state of Arkansas with 19 about to be 20 campuses across the state. Our heart behind partnering with Pando through God Behind Bars is to allow your family an opportunity to connect to biblical community so that they can be growing in their walk with Christ at the same time that you were growing. So if you do have family in Arkansas, encourage them to check out newlifechurch.tv to find a campus that fits them. Thank you so much for being here. Now let's listen in to today's message. [ Music ] >> All right, all right. Well, good morning, new life church. Do me a favor and welcome everyone that's listening in with our God Behind Bars ministry this morning. Can we give them a Greenbriar welcome? [ Applause ] Thank you guys for joining us today. Listen, if you have your bibles with you, don't you do me a favor and turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter six? This is where we're going to spend most of our time this morning. As you know, we kicked off a series several weeks ago titled The Holy Way.

And the Holy Way in essence is living a life set apart from sin but set apart for God. How many of you know that the moment that you make the decision that you're going to live a life set apart for God, there's going to be some resistance that faces you, right? You're going to be like in the left-hand lane and so is someone else driving 10 miles per hour on the speed limit, right? I mean, our patients get tested sometimes. Well, if we're going to make a decision that we're going to live a life set apart from sin but set apart for God, it's something that we can't just do for a three-week series. I think you guys would agree with that. It's a way of life. It's the way that we choose to live our life. And it goes beyond just a simple series. The world that we live in today is in such a way that if we're not constantly growing to trying to grow closer to the Lord, there's a gravitational pull that wants to pull us back into this world. I think you guys would agree with that. So it's not an issue of we've grown to the place where we just become submissive. It's an idea that we need to continue to grow. We need to continue to be discipled. We need to continue to get into God's Word and continue to grow closer to Him so that we can then take what the Lord is showing us and share it with the people around us. Amen? Well today, we're going to start a new series

called Foundations of the Faith. And we're going to take a look at foundational Christian doctrine. Now, in other words, for doctrine is just beliefs. And we're going to take the next six weeks and the book of Hebrews, it lays out six foundational doctrines that we're going to study one week at a time. And this is something that I'm excited about because we are aligned across the state. If you go to another campus across the state of Arkansas, you're going to hear us in unison teaching through these six doctrines. And the reason being is because we believe it's important that we establish and we set the foundation that God has established for us through His Word. Amen? So if you got your Bibles, we're going to start in Hebrews, chapter six, verses one through two. Says, "Therefore, let us move beyond elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rights, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." Now, when you first read this, you're like, wait a minute. If this is elementary doctrine, we've got some ground to make up, right? Well, we live in a society that if we're not continually growing, then we're going backwards. And that's our heart for this series.

But this is why we're studying this. You need to understand that the book of Hebrews is written to a group of people who knew the Word of God. They had heard the Word of God. But it stopped moving forward to do what the Word of God says. They were born again Jews who'd been following Jesus for 30 years. So they grew up under Old Testament law. They understood what the Old Testament law was. They'd made a decision to follow Jesus. And now they're facing some persecution. Now they're facing some resistance. And what they're questioning is, is it easier just to go back to the old way of doing things? Anyone ever been there in life? Like you make a decision that you're going to cut some things out of your life? Makes a decision that maybe you're going to step away from some toxic relationships. And all of a sudden you begin to face some persecution. And it's like it would almost be easier just to go back to the old way of doing things. Well the audience that the writer is writing to here is dealing with just that. And in the book of Hebrews there's a repeated challenge in a warning over and over. And that is don't give up. in verse 1, "Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ." Any time the word "therefore" is in Scripture, you need to go back and look what it is there for. You need to see why it's written. Because in this case, doing so gives us a clue into why they are needing to grow up and why they need to go on. If we go back to Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12, it explains to us what this is teaching us and what it's there for. It says, "In fact, though by this time, you ought to be teachers." You should be teachers. You need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again. You need milk,

not solid food. Listen, I like milk, but you can't live on milk alone. You have to go beyond maturity. By this point, his audience should be teachers. They should have taken what they've learned and been sharing it with the people around them. One of the ways that you know if you're maturing in your faith is, are you able to bring people along beside you? Are you able to share the truth of the Word of God with your spouse, with your children, with your sphere of influence, with the people that you come into contact with? Listen, if you've been a believer for years, but you still have a hard time leading your spouse and prayer, and there's some maturity that needs to take place. Maybe you've been a believer for a long time, and the only language you're able to speak is football or dancing with the stars. Maybe there's some maturity that needs to take place. I'm not saying that to somehow for you to feel condemnation around it, no. I pray that there's conviction around that from the Holy Spirit that takes us to the next level in our relationship with Christ. One thing you need to remember, it talks about elementary. You guys remember being an elementary? Anybody remember? I mean, that's a long time for some of you. Just kidding. We learned our ABCs in elementary, right? Well, why did you learn your ABCs? Well, you learned your ABCs so you could form words. You learned how to form words so that you then could form sentences. We learned how to write sentences so that you could then go on and write paragraphs. Well, you learned how to write paragraphs so that you could then go on and tell a story. Why am I telling you this? Well, in other words, the purpose of the alphabet is not the alphabet. It was to prepare you for something much greater. So the foundational doctrine that we're discussing this morning isn't just for the foundational doctrine. It's important, but it's also to prepare you for something far greater than what you currently are experiencing. We're going to begin with the first foundation. We just read in Hebrew 6. And it's repentance from dead works. Everybody say repentance? Now let me say this first. If when I say the word repentance and it strikes a chord with some of you, there's a good chance it's because it wasn't taught correctly. So I just want to speak against that this morning. But I want to teach you what repentance truly is. For repentance, and this is point one, and you need to understand this, you must turn if you want to repent. You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the word and just doing what it is that's comfortable at the time, depending on the audience that you're around. No, if you want to repent, you have to turn. Simply put, turning to God is the first step you must take if you want to follow Jesus.

I read a shirt one time that said, I love Jesus, but I cuss a little bit. And Michael wore that to church. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. The reality is, is we need to take our butts out of sin. That was funny and y'all didn't even laugh about that part. I'll make fun of Michael more often. No, we need to understand that if we're going to live a life that's set apart from this world, it means that we need to live a life that's set apart for God. That is a reflection of his love, his kindness, and the hope that we can only find through him. Amen? If you just read through the New Testament over and over and over, you're going to see repentance taught. Mark chapter 1 verse 15 says, "The time has come," he said, "the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the good news." We repent to believe the good news. Luke 24 verses 46 to 47, he told them, "This is what is written, the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance." to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Act 1730, in the past, God overlooks such ignorance, but now he commands all people, everywhere, what? To repent. More than 60 times, you'll read about repentance through the Bible. More than 60 times. You know, the literal meaning of the Greek word for repentance is to change your mind. That's the literal meaning. Means to think again or reconsider, but the Bible uses it in a much stronger way, a much more direct way. It's a radical change of heart and mind that causes us to turn from sin and turn to God. It's the holy way that we've been teaching on for months. A great example of this comes from Mark chapter five. And there's so many examples throughout the word. But in this story, there was a man

possessed by a legion of demons. And when you get to Mark chapter five, verse five, it says, "Not in day among the tombs and in the heels, "he would cry out and cut himself with stones." I wanna pause here for just a second. I'm gonna step away from this topic, but I wanna hit on something really quick that I believe is important. If you're in a place where you feel like someone's telling you to hurt yourself, let me be very clear, that is not of God. That is not of God. God loves you, he cares for you, he has a plan and a purpose for you. And he is never gonna tell you to hurt yourself. But let me give you some really good news. When you become a Christ follower, when you become a son or an author, the most high king, when those temptations and when those thoughts come up, you have the authority to take them captive and to man them to flee in Jesus' name. And they must flee, they must flee. But I wanna say something else. There are too many people right here in our community that are hurting, but they're doing it alone, and they're doing it in silence. It's been a tough couple of weeks for Greenbriar, it has. Can I just say this? We don't get everything right.

We do everything that we can to be led by the Lord and be led by the Holy Spirit in everything that we do. But I'll tell you one thing that I feel like we're pretty good at, and that's loving others. And if you're in a place where you're struggling in some way with these thoughts, that the world would be better if you weren't a part of it, I speak against that in Jesus' name. Come see us. We've got pastors and leaders here that I promise you, I promise you are not gonna judge you, they're not gonna go around and talk about you. If they do, they will be fired. I mean that, but we are here to love you and support you and bring you back to the Word. And I want you to know that we'll help you get the assistance that you need, amen? By your heads, I wanna pray for you in this room. If you're here today and you're somehow struggling in this area, I just speak against it in Jesus' name. Satan, you have no authority. But Holy Spirit, I just pray that you move in right now. If there's anybody in this room or in our community, maybe it's people that we come in contact with, that they're struggling with these thoughts and these ideas, that they deserve the pain and they deserve to hurt. I just speak against it. Holy Spirit, would you just encourage their spirit right now?

Would you let them know that there is a place for them here, that there is hope? If there's someone listening in right now and they're struggling with these thoughts, don't believe the lies. That is a lie from the enemy. God has a plan for you and he is not through with you. Holy Spirit, I just pray that you move. Put people in connection with the right people. Allow them to find biblical community that'll walk with them through these difficult seasons. It is in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, amen. So Jesus approaches this man and he heals him. And the reason we're teaching on this is he then turns from what he's bound from and the first place that he goes is in the town to share everything that Jesus has done for him. You see, when you have a touch from God, one moment in his presence, you can't keep that to yourself. You can't, you just can't. You just have to tell somebody. You're like, well, I had a touch from God. No, if you truly had a touch from God, you could not keep it to yourself. He wants you to share that to every person that you come in contact with. Listen, our faith may be personal, but it was never designed to be private. He calls us not only to be discipled,

but to then go out and disciple others. You know, if the word repent, like I said, strikes a chord with you, I really want you to pray through this. And I want you to ask the Holy Spirit call from a friend of mine and he said, "Tim, I've got a trip of a lifetime that I just want to give you." And I was like, "Really?" Well, it was a trip of a lifetime, but it wasn't the trip of a lifetime that I was expecting. But how many hunters do we have in the room? We have any hunters in the room? A few of you. The rest of you will pray for. That's all the holy people in the room. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. But I did. I grew up with my father hunting and I love it. There's something about being in the woods and I love it. But this was an all-expenses paid trip to Manitoba, Canada, deer hunting. I'm like, "Man." He said, "Good news is it's paid for. Bad news is you got two weeks and we're leaving." I'm like, "Okay!" Well, I could barely afford to buy my license at that time, much less to buy the clothing that I needed to go to Manitoba, Canada, deer hunting. He didn't tell me that when I got there it was gonna be six below zero. We get there at night, grab a few hours of sleep. Still dark. Get up the guide and I use that term lightly. Says, "You guys need to prepare yourself." Because this is considered one of the toughest hunts in the world. I'm like, "Pfft, whatever." I was 20 something. I was bulletproof, right? So he takes us from there and we get in the truck and we drive for a while and we get out of the truck and we get on this full water that really should have been thrown away a long time ago and put through the woods and seems forever and I'm frozen. I can't even move my arms and he says, "Okay, I want you to go this way for about three quarters to a mile and you'll find your stand." And I'm like, "Man, listen. I just got off an airplane. I don't know north from southeast from west. If you'll just today take me in and show me." He said, "I'm not walking in there. I don't have a gun." I said, "Who needs a gun?" He said, "I do. There are timbrewolves out here and they'll eat you." "But put up." He took off. The last thing he said to me was, "I'll see you at dark. It's dark right

now." He meant that night. Six below zero. So I take off. I'm freezing. The only thing I was wanting to kill at that point was this friend that invited me to go to begin with. And about 30 minutes into this three quarters to a mile walk, I realize I am not going in the right direction. I'm gonna die today. I'm gonna die. They're gonna find me a popsicle just like this. So I had a decision to make. I either continued to go on the path that I was going on or to turn around and go back to where I started and get back on the path headed in the direction that I was supposed to go on. Oftentimes we allowed pride to prevent us from truly repenting and turning from where we are. And we think, "Well, in time I'll get to where I'm supposed to be. I'll just come to church a little more. I'll just serve a little more. I'll just do a little more." And God's saying, "No, that's not what I want you to do. You can't work your way into heaven. And it's not about working your way into heaven. It's about the cross. But all I want you to do is just repent and I want you to turn. I want you to go back and I want you to establish where it was that you got off track and then let me set the path before you. Listen, there are consequences to our actions. We all know that. We learn that when we're children. Touch a hot stove. You're gonna burn your hand. Sometimes you have to touch the stove. But there's also moments in our life when we drift off course to such a place that the only wise decision that we can make is to repent, turn around, and go back to where we got off track and start back to where he's headed us. Amen? Where is heading us to go? Where he's called us to go? Heading us to go? I don't know where that came from. I just made up a word there. This is important you understand though. Repentance doesn't just begin the Christian life. It defines it. This is daily. You get to a place where you're getting off track, repent, come back, get back on track, and go. There's not a person in this room that is perfect. How many of you have already sinned this morning? One trooper. Oh, there's a few of you. Okay, like it's just like the wave at the football game. It started and just went all the way across the room. We've all made mistakes. We've all fallen short. It's when we recognize that we're getting off track and we make the adjustment is where maturity begins. That's the place

where we can truly begin to grow. The reality is the closer you grow to God. The more aware you are of how you cannot do it without Him. I cannot forgive without Him. So I turn to Him. Cannot maintain joy without Him. So I turn to Him. I cannot overcome my sin without Him. So I turn to Him. I cannot deliver you the word without Him. So I turn to Him. You notice I'm saying, "I, not you." It's because it is for all of us regardless of where you are. This may sound like elementary teachings to some of you. This may be that But if you haven't heard it, there's no condemnation around it Let's just establish the foundation Let's get on the track that God's called us to be on and let's move this ball forward. Amen By the way the razorbacks one last night you guys were home praying was just thought I'd throw that in there Nothing to do with my message Listen to me we're as close to God as we want to be It's just the truth We're as close to the Lord as we want to be But we're also as far away from the Lord as we want to be as well You know, I can't tell you how many people that I have been pasturing and sit down with Going through difficulties and that said I never believed this could ever happen to me. I Never dreamed that I would be the one going through this I Can't believe it. I've ended up at this place But let me tell you the common ground with each and every one of them is it didn't happen overnight It started off with one decision One step away which led to another step out Which led to where? Ultimately disaster has happened the thing with sin is it's fun for a little while Just so you know, it's sin is fun for a little while But that's the tactics of the enemy is if he can make it fun and he can pull you away from the intentions of God Then he's got you And when we get away When we repent and come back, that's where the fruit begins the prophet. Hoseaiah writes in Hosea 14 1 through 2

It says return Israel to the Lord your God your sins have been your downfall Take words with you and return to the Lord say to him forgive all our sins and receive us Graciously that we may offer the fruit of our lips Hosea is writing to those in Israel to warn people about the consequences of their sin And they started worshiping Baal and broken their covenant relationships with the Lord and this didn't just happen overnight It was over time And the same holds true to us You want to see God show up in your life? You want to see God show up and perform a miracle turn to him and See what he does And I say this all the time and you guys are probably sick of hearing me say this But we can't expect God to bless something that we're not trusting him with We just can if it's our relationships if it's our career if it's our finances Whatever it is if we're not fully trusting God with it. How can we ask him to bless it? I'm so proud. There's been several couples. I challenged you guys pretty hard several weeks ago and I said listen if If you want God to bless your relationship and you're living together and you're not married You can't ask him to bless something that you're not trusting him with We've had I know four couples that have either gotten married or getting married just within the next couple weeks It said we want Christ in the center of everything. We're doing. That's a great place to give God some praise by the way After you turn this next point is important. You must leave the dead works behind You make the decision to repent and turn and then leave the dead works behind What I mean by this is much different than what you're probably assuming it means Let me go back to verse one for a second. Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ We've talked about that be taking forward to maturity. We've discussed that not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death Acts, it's an action And to understand what dead works are it's good to remember who the author is writing this letter what he's what they're doing He's encouraging this community of Jewish Christians to stick with Jesus remember what's happening understand the historical context behind this Don't just pull from what fits your agenda. God bless you He's telling them not to go back to the Old Testament way of doing things God's called you to live alive set apart follow Christ. Don't give up

Don't fall back into the things of temptation don't fall back into the old way of doing things Specifically he's telling them to stop the religious works that cannot make us right with God He's not saying that works are bad. He's saying if you trust them to give you something that only Christ can give you Those works are dead In other words repentance from dead works means turning away from the idea that I can work my way to God Our temptation may not be to go back to Levitical law and start sacrificing goats If it is your temptation come see us we have pastors that would like to be is to still try to earn our way to God. And they work just a little harder. I mean, dude, just a little bit more. It's amazing when I hear people explaining their salvation, how often they talk about the work that they're doing, and they never mention the cross. They think as long as I go to church, as long as I do enough ride, as long as I say prayer ever once in a while, that should be enough to outweigh my sin. Adrian Rogers said it this way. He said, "Works-based religion is like a man in quicksand. The more he struggles to get free, the further he sinks." That's pretty good. In other words, if our way to heaven is dependent on our good works, we're in trouble. I promise I'm almost finished. Not one person in this room could possibly do enough good to be righteous in the eyes of God. It's impossible. Isaiah 64, 6 says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy for hacks."

All. Weird. We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our sins sweep us away. That means that our best is still messy before God. The best that we can do, the most that we serve is still messy. The gospel doesn't say do. The gospel says done. It's done. It's done. Everything that we need was done by Jesus. And then number three, this is important. It's time to stop second guessing. And what I mean by that is it's time to stop second guessing your salvation. If you've truly made a decision, you've given your life to the Lord. The Word of God says, "If we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is a Son of God, that he was sacrificed in the cross for us, that he died, he was buried, and he rose three days later. If we believe in our hearts, we confess with our mouth and we are saved. But the enemy wants to tell you, well, that just wasn't real. Well, that just wasn't enough. God does not want you walking around uncertain about your salvation. He wants you confident about it. Because with uncertainty, well, it promotes hesitation. It promotes slipping back into the old way of doing things.

God wants you confident back to Hebrews 6-1, not laying again the foundation of repentance. Not again and again and again. I'm not saying you don't need to rededicate your life and get back on track. That's not what I'm talking about. But I am saying, if you've made a decision, that decision is real. Stop allowing the enemy to lie to you. You can stop thinking. You have to be better in order to make the Father love you more. It's just not real. It's just not true. God does not want you doubting your relationship with him. 1 John 5-13 says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may what? Know that you have eternal life. I want you to walk out of this room today with the confidence of the Lord backing you. Because when you have the confidence of the Lord and you know that you've had a touch from God, it doesn't slow you down regardless of what obstacle you face. I want you to leave here on mission. There's a lot of people in our community and around us that are hurting, people that need to know the truth. Well, maybe you're the light that God has sent to shine in the darkest place of their life. If you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can stop wondering, am I good enough?

Or have I done enough? Because the answer to those questions will always be no. No, you're not good enough. No, you haven't done enough. Have you read the Bible enough? No. Have you prayed enough? No, have you been generous enough? No, have you shared your faith enough? No, have you been holy enough? No, no, you have not. None of us have been. If we look to ourselves as the guarantee of our salvation, we're always going to be left disappointed. What we have to do is start asking the right question. Is G. Yes. Yes, he is. Was his death on the cross enough? Yes. Yes, it was. Was his resurrection enough? Absolutely, yes. For those of you that struggle with God's saving grace and you wonder if his forgiveness is finished and final for you, let me remind you of Jesus's last words on the cross. Anybody remember what they were? To tell a stop. Do you know what that means?

It is finished. It is finished. I have people say all the time, I just have a lot of questions. Good. I want you to have questions until you take your last breath on this earth because those questions are going to cause you to look for answers. And looking for answers is going to cause a motion to grow closer to him. You're not going to have all the answers. I don't have all the answers. Nobody does. Well, does the word tell us that at this moment it looks like the pieces look like broken glass puzzling pieces, but one day we will see the picture. So some things just don't make sense. Sometimes we don't have the answers. Sometimes we don't have the answers for the brokenness and the pain and the sorrow and the hurt and everything that accompanies a life in this world. But the one thing that we do have an answer for is his sacrifice on that cross was enough. It is enough. And he loves you if you wouldn't buy your heads for me. Listen, I don't know where you're at this morning. Maybe you've been struggling with this for some time. I don't know. But can we just settle that this morning? If you're listening in or if you're in this room, the most important question I can ask you is,

are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Because that's the starting line. And if the answer to that question is yes, you can do that. You go, well, I need to get my life together. No, it was while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Well, I'm off track. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. Well, I still have questions. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The only question is, are you ready to get closer to the Lord? That's the real question. And if you are, it starts with a personal decision. And if you're here this morning and you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you were to take your last breath on this earth today where you would spend eternity, but you do believe in your heart, you've confessed with your mouth, and you're ready to receive him as your Lord and Savior. I just want you to slip your hand up, so I can pray for you. Anybody in this room? I don't ever want to leave here without an opportunity. Yes, I see you. Yes, I see you. Anyone else. Yes, I see you. Yes, I see you. Anyone else. Thank you, Jesus. The Word says, all of heaven rejoices when just one person turns from their sin.

All of heaven. Thank you, and put your hands down. The next question I want to ask you is this. Maybe you've made that decision before. You're confident in that decision. But maybe for whatever reason, you have found yourself in such a place that you have just drifted off course a little bit, and it's time to repent, come back to where you're supposed to be, and get back on the track that God set for you. If that's you, and you're in this room, and you say, you know what, Tim? Yes, I have gotten off track a little bit, but it's time. Raise your hand up. I don't pray for you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, all of this room. Yes, I see you. Yes, I see you. Father, I thank you so much for those in this room that made a decision to invite you into their life for the first time. Father, if there's someone listening right now, somewhere across the United States, you can still make that same decision today. I just want you to pray with me. Say, Lord, God, forgive me of my sins. God, I accept the fact that I can't do it on my own. I acknowledge you as my Lord and Savior. I repent of my sins, and I turn to you today.

God, I need you in my life. Father, for everyone else that made a decision to readjust the direction that they're headed today. The courage that it's taking to make that decision and God would you just give them biblical community people around them? That are not talking about them, but God that will be there with them and Just challenge them when they get off track a little bit That'll love them enough to ask them the hard questions That'll love them enough to just listen And that'll love them enough To battle spiritually with them Father, I thank you for your word I thank you for the clarity and I thank you for the direction that you're taking your church. This is not our church. This is your church Father, we love you it is in Jesus mighty name. We pray and everybody said amen. Can we give God some praise in this play? You You [BLANK_AUDIO]