Why Can't I See Grace
This week's message continues our series in Overwhelming Grace and traces grace all the way back to the beginning in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth; He formed men and women in His own image, blessed them and gave them purpose, all out of grace. He gave Adam and Eve real freedom, including the freedom to love Him or turn away, because love that is forced is not love at all. Then came the serpent's question, "Has God really said?" and the fall in Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve chose their own way, their eyes were opened to good and evil, and they hid from God in shame. God did not change; He came looking for them anyway, calling out "Where are you?" not in anger but in compassion, already moving toward them in compassion and rescue. Every one of us faces the same pattern of the fall and need to be careful what we hear, what we see, what we feel, and who we blame for these things keep us from experiencing grace. The good news is that God never stopped pursuing us. He clothed Adam and Eve with the skin of a sacrifice, pointing forward to Jesus, the Lamb who was pierced for our transgressions, so that through one act of righteousness, all who receive God's abundant grace can reign in life through Him.
'Cause I've been watching the water, washing the blood. I'm as good as me. Oh hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. Oh, because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Well, I'm clean, sin was stained on me, and shame was running deep. But love was built on Calvary. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. God, how can it be? I'm red, so may I read to you in the city. Sing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as me. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. Oh, because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. It's not what I have done. What have you done for me? ♪ Oh you're hating all up on that tree ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I'm clean ♪ ♪ 'Cause love has overcome ♪ ♪ And the mercy is supreme ♪ ♪ And chasing in your victory ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Wash in the blood ♪ ♪ The skin has been ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Wash in the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, because of me ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Wash in the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, the skin has been ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Wash in the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, because of me ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah ♪ ♪ 'Cause you took away much ♪ ♪ When you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out of pain ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed ♪ ♪ 'Cause you took away much ♪ ♪ When you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out of pain ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed ♪ ♪ 'Cause you took away much pain ♪
♪ When you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out of pain ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed ♪ ♪ 'Cause you took away much ♪ ♪ When you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out of pain ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah and I've been washed ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'll be washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'll just get a guess ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ I'll be washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ No, because of you ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ I'll be washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'll just get a guess ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ No, because of you ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'll just get a guess ♪
♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ ♪ Oh, honey, do you hear a curse ♪ [MUSIC] Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your salvation, for your healing. [MUSIC] We worship you in this place. [MUSIC] We give you glory. [MUSIC] We give you our hearts, Lord, because you're good. [MUSIC] Thank you, Jesus. Sing this again. [MUSIC] You are good. You are good. When there's nothing good in me, you are loved. You are loved on display for all to see. You are light. You are light. When the darkness closes in, you are whole. You are whole. You have covered on my scene. [MUSIC]
♪ So you are pleased, you are pleased, you are pleased ♪ ♪ When my fear is crippling, you are true, you are true ♪ ♪ And you are all the way, you are true, you are true ♪ ♪ You are the reason that I see, you are mine, you are mine ♪ ♪ You're dead as lost as you ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ And oh, I run into your arms, I run into your arms ♪ ♪ The riches of your love will always be enough ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to your embrace ♪ ♪ Light up the world forever made ♪ ♪ Oh, come on church sing it, for you are more ♪ ♪ You are more than my words will ever say ♪ ♪ You are Lord, you are Lord ♪ ♪ All creation will proclaim ♪ ♪ And you are here, you are here ♪ ♪ In Your presence I may know ♪ ♪ You are God, you are God ♪ ♪ Oh, yes I'm letting go ♪ ♪ Oh, yes I'm running into your arms, I run into your arms ♪ ♪ The riches of your love will always be enough ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to your embrace ♪ ♪ Light up the world forever made ♪ ♪ Oh, my heart, my heart will sing ♪ ♪ No other name sing it out, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, my heart will sing ♪ ♪ No other name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, let's give it my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, my heart, my heart will sing ♪ ♪ No other name, Jesus ♪ ♪ I worship Jesus, my heart will sing ♪
♪ My heart will sing ♪ ♪ But no other name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I know I'm running into your arms, I run into your arms ♪ ♪ The riches of your love will always be enough ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing compares to your embrace ♪ ♪ Light up the world forever made ♪ ♪ I'm running into your arms, I run into your arms ♪ ♪ The riches of your love will always be enough ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to your embrace ♪ ♪ Light up the world forever made ♪ ♪ Forever made ♪ ♪ You are the king of our hearts soon, forever made ♪ ♪ My heart will sing no other name ♪ ♪ My heart will sing ♪ ♪ No other name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, my heart will sing ♪ ♪ No other name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, my heart will sing ♪ ♪ No other name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, my heart will sing ♪ ♪ Nor the name Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ She the name above all names ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Let's magnify his name sweet ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪
♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ We lift them out ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ How they live ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, they are the name above all names ♪ ♪ Only you are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart we'll see how great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, you are the name ♪ ♪ Only you are the name above all names ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart ♪ ♪ Jesus, my heart ♪ ♪ We'll see how great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart ♪ ♪ You are the name above all names ♪ ♪ You are the name above all names ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ In my heart we'll see how great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ We'll see how great ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart we'll see how great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Sing with me how great ♪
♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll see how great ♪ ♪ How great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Oh, how great is our God ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Oh, sing with me how great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll see how great ♪ ♪ How great is our God ♪ Come on, church, let's lift up our voices. Sing name above all names. ♪ Oh, name above all names ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ In my heart we'll see how great ♪ ♪ Jesus our God ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, sing that one more time ♪ ♪ Name above all names ♪ ♪ Oh, name above all names ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all names ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ In my heart we'll see how great ♪ ♪ Is our God ♪ ♪ Oh, name above all names ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Name above every sin ♪ ♪ All death ♪ ♪ All darkness, your name ♪ ♪ Your name is over all the earth ♪
♪ Over every name ♪ ♪ You lift up your name high above every name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Just your name Jesus ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Death could not hold you ♪ ♪ I feel tall before you ♪ ♪ You silence the pulse ♪ ♪ Of sin and grain ♪ ♪ The heavens are roaring ♪ ♪ Come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ The praise of you ♪ ♪ For you are raised ♪ ♪ Tonight ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ You have no rhyme ♪ ♪ You have no legal ♪ ♪ Now and forever dark you ring ♪ ♪ Yours is the key down ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory ♪ ♪ Yours is the name of our names ♪ ♪ Death could not hold you ♪ # But fear told me for you # The silence of the lost # Lost in that grave # The chaos of glory # The praise of your glory # For you are ready
# To life again # Oh, Jesus, you have no right # You have no evil # Now and forever God you reign # Yours is a dream now # Yours is a glory # Yours is the name of all of us, amen # What a powerful name it is # What a powerful name it is # The name of Jesus Christ is mine # What a powerful name it is # What a powerful name it is # What a powerful name it is # The name of Jesus # What a powerful name it is # The name of Jesus # What a powerful name it is # The name of Jesus # Your name above all names # You are worthy of all praise # And my heart will see how great # Is our God # Oh, we lift you up, Jesus, singing # You're the name above all names # And you're worthy # It's you worthy # And my heart will see how great # Is our God # We clap our hands for Jesus Christ # The name above all names
# We glorify you in this place # We glorify # Even as we stand here in the presence of God # The presence of the King # Jesus is the name above every name # His scripture tells us # That God lifted into that highest place # And gave him the name # That outranks every other name # So that the name of Jesus # Every knee will bow # And every tongue confess # That Jesus Christ is Lord # To the glory of God, the Father # And the reason that is given # Is that Jesus came and made himself # Obedient to God # Obedient as a servant # Even all the way to death # Death on a cross # And the scripture says, "And therefore "God has highly exalted him." And here in this place, even as we stand together, we're gonna take part of the Lord, suffer together, but we're gonna stay standing. And if you have the elements, I want us to raise them up so often we honor people by raising our glass. We may encourage them and say all the wonderful things they've accomplished
or celebrate a union. And today, we are celebrating that God has brought us to himself through the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, communion is a celebration, a feast for those who have yielded their life to Jesus. I said, "Jesus, I surrender to you, "and I want to follow you the rest of my life." So if that's you, you're welcome to join us in taking these elements. And if that's not the decision you've made yet, we still want to welcome you to, rather than taking the elements, just receive this moment. Listen to the voice of Jesus inviting you to become his follower as well. We're gonna read the scripture out loud together. Even as we have our elements raised here. Let's read this out loud. "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, "that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed "took bread, and when he had given thanks, "he broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. "Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. "Do this as often as you drink, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, and so we hail you, King of Kings. We take part, joyfully, humbly, in the body of Christ, in the blood of Christ.
We welcome you, we thank you, we honor you in this place. And as we sing this next song, feel free to take the body, take the blood. As we sing this song about Jesus' sacrifice and our worship. ♪ Let this moment not just be ♪ ♪ A religious ritual ♪ ♪ That you're part in your blood ♪ ♪ And not be seen as casual ♪ ♪ Let me recognize the way ♪ ♪ Of the price that you have paid ♪ ♪ This is holy ♪ ♪ This is holy ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ The sacrifice you made ♪ ♪ Is this in one ♪ ♪ The way of all our sin upon your shoulders ♪ ♪ The only right response is to say thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ It was for I sake you die ♪ ♪ Through your blood I send a tone ♪ ♪ So as you freely gave your life ♪ ♪ I will fully give my own ♪ ♪ Your deserving of my heart ♪ ♪ All my mind and all my soul ♪ ♪ You are holy ♪ ♪ You are holy ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪
♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ The sacrifice you made ♪ ♪ Is this in one ♪ ♪ The way of all our sin upon your shoulders ♪ ♪ The only right response is to say thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ You were prison, you were beating ♪ ♪ For our holiness and our healing ♪ ♪ You were shamed, you were forsaken ♪ ♪ So we'd never be abandoned ♪ ♪ You were buried in the tomb ♪ ♪ So we could rise again with you ♪ ♪ Now you're seated in the heavens ♪ ♪ And your spirit is within us ♪ ♪ Now my victory is won ♪ ♪ It is finished in the ♪ ♪ And we say thank you ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ The sacrifice you made ♪ ♪ Is this in one ♪ ♪ The way of all our sin upon your shoulders ♪ ♪ The only right response is to say ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪
♪ In Jesus ♪ ♪ You gave it all to give us life ♪ ♪ I've abandoned you ♪ ♪ Heard you sing our freedom with your kind ♪ ♪ The only right response is we say thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ For your place built for us ♪ ♪ For the sacrifice you made ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ We say thank you ♪ ♪ And there will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Worthy of all ♪ See that again, see there will be no one. ♪ There will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, there will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪ Come on, let's lift our voices this morning. There will be no one, there will be no one like you. ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪
♪ There will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ Oh, we lift you up ♪ ♪ There will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ There will be no one like you ♪ ♪ There will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ And there will be no one like you ♪ ♪ Like you ♪ ♪ No one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪ - Let's sing that one more time. ♪ And there will be no one like you ♪ ♪ And no one beside you ♪ ♪ Oh alone are worthy of all praise ♪ - I wanna read the scripture in Colossians that says, and you were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. Let me just say it again, all, all of them. By canceling the record of the debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this He set aside nailing it to the cross. I want you to be reminded today
that Jesus did not die for 50% of your sin. He died for every single thing that you've ever thought about doing, everything that you have done, everything that you will do, and some of you need to be reminded today that His finished work on the cross covers all of you. All of your sin, even the thing you did this morning or yesterday or the day before, He covers all of it. And not only that, but He nailed it to the cross. It's no longer yours, it was His, He took it. And in this last part, And he disarmed the rulers and authority and put them together. You have power through the cross, just say no to sin today. He's defeated your enemy. He put them to open shame. No longer do we stand unforgiven, but we get to come before the throne of God boldly justified by faith and covered in the blood of Jesus because of his finished work on the cross. And if that's not something worth celebrating, I don't know what is. I pray for us this morning, God, I pray for every one of your children today to trust your work, to believe in the finished work of the cross. God, I pray for those who are struggling to believe that a God could forgive them of the darkest things they've ever done would in this moment by the power of the Holy Spirit believe it. They would know even me, even at my darkest moment you forgave me all of my trespasses. I pray that in Jesus, amen, you can have a seat. I'm going to invite our guys to come forward for offering this morning. As they come forward, there's a few ways to give on the screen. I've said this for the last three weeks, I'm a broken record. This is not a step out of worship, but a step deeper into it.
This is an act of worship for us to give of our tithes and offerings for the work that God wants to do in our city and the nation and the nations of the earth. And so I'm going to pray for our offering. In Jesus we ask that you would bless this offering this morning, that you would use every dollar given faithfully and cheerfully for your purposes and your work. God, for your kingdom, we pray that in Jesus' name, amen, amen. I get a podium, but I'm not preaching this morning. Hey, I want to tell you about a couple things. We've been in this series about grace, and there are different ways that we experience grace. We experience grace here on Sunday mornings in life groups, in ministry time, but we also experience grace when we get men and women together for worshiping Jesus, for celebrating together. And so when you came in, you got a card like this. Everybody hold up that card or at least give me a whoop, whoop that you got one. Okay. We have a men's rally coming up and it's going to be incredible. We are inviting every single man. In fact, if you're a man in the room, raise your hand. And if you're a man doesn't want to, wives just grab his hand and put him up. You just raised your hand and you just told me in God that you're going to be there. So we want you there, we want you to bring your sons, people 12 and under are free. There's going to be dinner, worship. Jason Ramos is going to preach. It's amazing. And if you want to tear your rotator cuff like I did last year trying to throw a baseball pretending like I was still in high school, like come and like show your manhood. It's going to be awesome. And then don't worry, ladies. We got you covered as well.
Where are my ladies at? This morning. Okay. Y'all are tired. It's all right. We have a women's brunch Saturday, September 19th, man. Come experience deep fellowship. I think some of the ways that I've experienced God's grace is by coming out of isolation. And this type of event, if you're a man especially, come out of isolation and find friends, find brothers. And same with you women. Come find sisters and mothers and the Lord. Amen. Here's what we're going to do. I know that in a room this size, everybody has a mom or an aunt or a daughter or even a son or a father who they want to really encounter Jesus and to really know the Lord. And so we're going to pray together. I want you to take two seconds and I want you to think of that person in your life. Maybe it's your dad, maybe it's a son, maybe it's a daughter or a mom. And whenever you've got that in your mind, I want you to begin to pray and I'm going to pray with us. But this whole room is going to be praying for those people and believing that God is going to move in power over their lives. So you go ahead and start praying and I'll pray as well. So Father, we ask for the prodigals to come home. God, we ask for the broken to be healed in your presence. God, we ask for those who've been running. God those who've been filled with shame and doubt. God those who doubt your forgiveness and your finished work. We ask for those sons to come home, those dads to return to church, those moms to find
grace for this season. God, would you bring them home? Would you save the lost? Would you do what only you can do? Buy your Holy Spirit. Would you bring them home? In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Bring them home, Lord. Isn't that a good word? God, bring them home and it's his desire, right? When you're praying that stuff, you're praying God's will. So may it be done. Well, hey everybody. Happy Labor Day. We can. Good to see you guys. And I'm excited about today as we continue talking about the overwhelming grace of God. So I'm just going to dive right in. Everybody go with that. Give me an amen. Give me something. All right. Let's go. All right. Overwhelming grace. The grace of God. Define. We've been defining it this way.
Grace is the overwhelming, everybody say overwhelming. Love, pleasure, in favor of God towards undeserving people. Good news, grace is here. And it is the power of God to do the will of God. So grace is not just covering for sin, though it is absolutely that. It is also the power not to sin. That's good word. Grace is the ability to cover our sin, and it is the power not to sin. And again, next, these two weeks here, I'm gonna be talking a little bit about our problem, the problem of sin. Next week, Mick Murray's gonna finish it up and show us how to get power over sin. I might drop a few thoughts in as well as we go. But the other thing that I've been trying to communicate over the last few weeks is this, is that grace is activated through compassion. It's compassion, right? It's grace expressed. When God looks on the multitudes, He looks with compassion, and God looks at you online, watching here live or behind bars. When He looks at you, He looks at you with compassion. Whether you're the most rebellious person in this room, or the most broken person in this room, whether you just feel like you're in neutral right now, God looks at you with compassion because He know He created you for more.
He created you for love, He created you for purpose, He created you for freedom, and He compassionately is activating grace to pursue you for that purpose. All right, I wanna start with a story of grace that I re-heard, if you will, or talked to a friend this past week that I know will just capture your heart. Many of you guys know a couple named Autumn and Yale Wall. They served, they went to Baylor, and they served in the youth, and then they would go overseas to serve in our England church plan in Sheffield, England, and then they would return to Indianapolis, Indiana, and began some church planting in urban inner city work over the last 14 years. Well, as a part of that journey, they felt deeply compelled to foster and to adopt, and they had fostered two siblings and were two years into that journey and eventually would adopt them. And so a beautiful story of God's grace being expressed through them even as they, again, are giving their lives for folks that probably had very few people give their lives for them, not just through their own adoptions, but in the inner city as well. Well, they get two years into this new relationship with these two kids, maybe about five and three years old, and they get a phone call one night.
And the phone call is from the attorney that had negotiated their adoption for their two kids that are now permanent part of their family. And he said this, he said, "Hey, I got a phone call that the birth mother "of your two children is having another baby. "She is going through all kinds of drug addiction "and challenges, she knows she can't have the baby, "can't take care of the baby." And so she was going, they were asking her, "What are you gonna do? "How do you wanna handle the adoption process? "Here's a list of lawyers." And she just randomly pointed at one and it happened to be me, the same lawyer that negotiated the deal before, that she didn't even know about. And here we are, do you want the child? And they're like, nine o'clock at night. And their answer is yes, because they had already said yes to Jesus. So a few hours later, they are there, literally holding this little girl, Kaylee, and Kaylee actually said, "Please share my story, by the way." And they're holding Kaylee, and, but she's in withdrawals. She was a cocaine baby. And if you've ever seen that or experienced that, it's one of the most painful things to watch, that over a six to eight week period of time,
if a child is born with the addiction of their parent, then literally they have to wean them off over six to eight weeks. It's a, they're in the NAICU, it's a touch and go experience, they're giving them morphine to cut the pain while the child withdrawals. And so they're so thrilled to now be able to love this child, but it's looking like six to eight weeks in the NAICU. And so they asked the nurse, is there anything we can do to help? What helps during this time? And the nurse said, "Well, medically it's pretty much "the course is already set. "if the parents come in and hold the child, it helps." And they said, "Of course, okay, we're on it." So as Autumn will say, our little church of X prostitute, X drug addicts and some young scrappy college students, we kind of initiated with the church and said, "We need to hold this child 24/7. "Who's gonna help us?" And 30 people took around the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to hold the child while worship music happened, while she withdrew from the drugs that were in her system. And what was supposed to take six to eight weeks took two weeks. (audience applauds) Isn't that amazing? In two weeks, the child was totally free from drugs, was released into their care.
She is a incredible, beautiful, loving little girl. She has given her life to Jesus. I think we've got a couple pictures here, I think first of them holding her. Then this is her salvation and baptism. That is her older brother. And that's her yesterday in Hawaii with her parents. And when you meet her and when you meet this little family, you experience the grace of God. And the reason you experience the grace of God, because they've experienced the grace of God. It's an amazing thing. And what I've been trying to communicate is that grace is not just a theological concept. Grace is a person, the person of God. In the person of Jesus, the Father that created you and the Holy Spirit that seals you, and that comfort and that care that all of us need to withdraw from all of the garbage in our life, comes from God himself because he put himself inside of you to hug you and hold you always and forever. So today what I wanna do is share some very familiar scriptures, make some comments on it. And basically what I want you to see today about grace is this, God had a great plan in mind. Sin is the problem that keeps us from seeing God's great plan, of grace towards us, for us, and through us. And Jesus is the answer. We good with that? God has a great plan since the problem.
Jesus is the answer. So let's begin looking through the scriptures, Genesis 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Pause. God, out of his great love, grace, created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. The spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, let there be light and there was light. If you're familiar with Genesis 1, it goes on to talk about God creating the sun and the moon and the stars, the water and the land, the trees and the birds and the animals and everything that we would need for living a full life God provided. This morning I was up early walking, the neighborhood was still dark and just the moon, it's out of quarter right now, the stars were out. I looked at this huge oak tree, just thought, man, it started as an acorn, the oak tree. And then I realized I am breathing because God gave me breath. Everything about this earth shouts glory. God opened my eyes to your creation. You created this planet, many of us are saying, man, if I could just get my dream house one day and some of us have different ways that we would design it and what it would look like or we envy somebody else's dream house.
Well, listen, you are living in God's dream house called earth that he created for you and I to flourish. And again, I'm talking presend, yes, there's brokenness, everyone, but the beauty of creation ought to make you stand in awe of the grace of God. The perfection of the air we breathe so that we can live. Alone. Okay, that's just, I can geek off on that for hours. Let's keep going. Then he creates man, again, familiar passages, hopefully you would see with fresh eyes. God created man in his own image, speaking mankind. In the image of God, he created him male and female, he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. "Rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, "and over every living thing that moves on the earth." God created you. Pause, they're just, say a lot, they're, you just, when these things hit me because that alone is stunning. He created you in his image. I wish I looked like this, I wish I looked like them, I wish I looked like, you are created uniquely by God. Everything about you in his eyes is beautiful. You have fingerprints that nobody else has. You have DNA that no one else has. The uniqueness and the intricacies of how God created you should cause you to be stunned by grace. He created me because he wanted me.
In the image of God, he created me like himself. We are not God, but we are made in his image by God. And it says he created us male and female. And I wanna pause because you always need to these days to say you are one of two genders. You are male or you are female created by God in the image of God. And that is not a judgmental statement towards people that are confused. There is grace and compassion for those who are confused, but we don't move clarity because of someone else's confusion because the compassion of God is to be clear. So we know what we're repenting towards, where we're moving back towards. We're not creating identities around sin. We're creating clarity around God. So you've been made male or female and you may struggle with, I don't know who I am or where I am, but that is again a result of sin. And Jesus took care of that so we can help you, sweetheart. We can help you find your identity again as a woman or a man made in the image of God. And it says next and God blessed them. Again, that these things take my breath away. I am blessed by God. You are blessed by God, wanted, created, delighted and desired, seen, known, no matter what sin has marred or warped your opinion of yourself or other people.
You are of the utmost value to God. What it took to get you here is a miracle. The effort it took to create you and then to keep you alive is a miracle. He blessed you. What if you woke up every day feeling blessed with this sense of wellbeing? Okay, I got problems, I know, but I am blessed. I am wanted, I'm seen, I'm known. Man, you would live differently. So this is God's original intent. God blessed them. Then he said, be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth. He gave us a purpose and a plan. So then the beauty of God's creation, we see grace in creation itself. We see the grace of God as we look at one another and we receive his grace towards us, his love for us. He blesses us. And then the scripture says he begins to partner with Adam and eat Adam and then eventually with Eve. And it says this in Genesis two. Then the Lord God took the man, put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now just make note there, we're coming back to that. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.
From the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Then the Lord said, it is not good for man to be alone, but I will make a helper suitable for him. And the point I want to make here, 'cause this will set up the rest of our time, God has given you a free will out of love for you. He's given us, he's made us in his image. He has willed to love us in spite of us. And he has given us the will to decide who to love. God, others, and of course, appropriately ourselves or to love something else. And love is not love if it's forced. When Lauren and I got married, there's so many things that loop in our heads, right? Did I marry the right person? Is this the right person? What about this? What about that? And everything else. And I felt assured by God, she is born again and you're born again. This is a legal union, number one. And number two, do you choose to love her? If you choose to love her, it will be my will. You know what I'm trying to say is, we get so heady about this. In the end, marriage works when someone chooses to love. When you choose to love, the thing can work in God's love. When you choose not to love, it doesn't work. You could say, well, we fell out of love.
We really had feelings for her. She was really hot then, and now this, that, or vice versa, usually. And so, there's all these reasons we, or she didn't want everything I'd dreamed or he wasn't everything I'd dreamed of. And like, hey, welcome to brokenness. Could somebody just love unconditionally because everything can work when somebody decides to love like God? - That's good. - So you choose who to love. This will be a setup for our scriptures and you're familiar with the passage. Then God says it's not good for you to be alone, Adam. He takes his rib, creates woman. The two become one flesh and all is good. All is good. But then, but then the devil comes in and this is where I wanna take our time here. It's so important, my friends, no matter how many times you've read this or heard this, that you go in here with me, just spear to God. Just say, open my eyes, open my eyes to your word. Let it land this time. Because if you understand how we went off, you'll know how to get back. Okay? So here we go. Genesis three, one through five.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed has God said." You shall not eat from any tree of the garden. The woman said to the serpent, first of all, why is she talking to the devil? The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the tree to the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die." The serpent said to the woman, you shall surely not die. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Remember that whole deal about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Again, we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. So this temptation is our temptation every day. And the devil comes in many forms to whisper lies to us, et cetera. But the main form that he comes in is with a question mark of God's goodness. Has God really said? Does God really know what to do? Does God really have your best in mind? Has God really said how to live your life sexually? Has God really said how to live your marriage? Has God really told you how to do your business?
Has God really, is he really the final authority or not? And can I just tell you, the answer is yes, he is. And until he is, you will be in a conversation with the devil and not even know it. In the form of a question. And what I would say to all of us, of course it's normal to question the pain of this life because of sin, we can't see clearly all the time. So God has no problems with questions. As long as he's the one you're talking to for the answers. I love what one person said. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, God a problem? Why don't you go pull away from God and think it through and come up with a conclusion? That's what most of us do. Yesterday I was in the barbershop and saw a friend and hadn't talked to him in a while and there had been a devastating miscarriage in their marriage, their family. And just devastating, he told me about how painful and challenging it was and of course just listening to him. And invariably we know each other well enough that usually in those situations I just listen. Hug 'em, love 'em, say I'm sorry. We don't have theological discussions that we call it the ministry of presence. Just if you don't know what to say, don't say anything. Just love, empathize and hug. In this situation I know him well enough and he asked me,
Pastor I'm really ticked at God. I don't know what to do. What do you think? I pause for a minute and I said this little praise. I said, disappointment causes distance. And I understand, but don't let the enemy feel the distance. Disappointment causes distance but when that gap is there some other voice will fill that gap. The voice of self-care. but I want you to know that I don't understand either why that happened. But you can pour your heart out to God. You can just pour it out, all the pain, all the anguish, all the law. He can handle your pain. He can handle your arguments and your complaints. Just don't pull away from him. He's the only hope for all of us. So grieve, but don't grieve without hope. And I didn't preach to him. That wasn't the context. It was very relational. And we had tears and we had hugs. And he thanked me so much. And I walked out and thought, man, that was good, God. I didn't have that as a prethought way to comfort people in grief. But disappointment causes distance and the enemy fills the gap. We all are disappointed. What you do with it is what determines your destiny. Or another way to say it, whatever voice you listen to or whatever voices you listen to will determine your destiny. Be careful what voice you listen to. And when it comes to the enemy, the way that that voice comes consistently is, has God really said or is God really good? So Eve begins to debate that question a little bit. And then her actions show that she isn't fully trusting in God. She's using her will and deciding to go her own way. It says this in verses 6 and 7, Genesis 3, "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was the delight to the eyes that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, she gave also to her husband with her and he ate, then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew they were naked and they sewed big leaves together and made themselves loin coverings." 1 John says it this way, "Be careful of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, in the boastful pride of life." Another scriptures say this, that the enemies of our soul are the world of flesh and the devil. So as we are in the process of identifying kind of what's my
problem, we wake up, as I often say, drifting the lust of the eyes. If you wake up and you go to Instagram and you see somebody prettier than yourself, you're already either feeling low about yourself or you're angry at them or you're about to do something to try to be like them. If the first voice or face is the world coming at you, then that will begin to set the directions. If the first section we just talked about, be careful what you hear, this would be be careful what you see. She looked on the tree, then it was good for her eyes. The eye is the lamp of the body, if the eye is clear, the whole body is clear. If the eye is corrupted, everything is corrupted. And so this is not about legalism. You are loved by God, whether you watch that TV show that somebody approved of or not, or whatever, you are loved by God no matter what, but you're not seeing God if you're looking at that trash. If you, and I'm not even talking about the worst of it, I'm just saying if the world is the, what you're seeing every day, if you are up and against that, if you're a guy and you're up and against some jack guy, you're looking at it all the time, you know, there's no hope for me. And if you, if you're looking at people who are unreal, if you will, and they become gods to you, or their house becomes a god to you, or their car becomes a god to you, or their job becomes a car to you, if you're looking around not grounded in grace, not grounded in contentment, you will reach out for something else. And even if it is good, if it's not, if it's not God, it doesn't matter and it's unneeded. Be careful what you see and let into your eyes. When we raised our kids back in the day, they had this thing called magazines, and that's how people shopped and, or, you know, found out what they wanted, et cetera. And you may say of this a bit extreme, those, those cyber church stream, hey, I feel good about it. So that's fine. Thank you. I'll tell you a compliment. We just didn't have any magazines around that stirred desire that we couldn't fulfill. That's good. That's not nasty stuff. I'm just talking about shopping and cars. This is not a lifestyle police thing. This is, you gotta know your own self well. So for instance, cars are not my deal. Somebody said, oh did you see that car? But that's not my deal. But if that is your deal, then you gotta quit lusting after cars.
Does that make sense? But if it's not your deal, enjoy your car. Have a nice one, let me drive it. I mean, I have no problem with nice things. And I don't think God does either. All things are being enjoyed when they're sanctified, the scripture says, through the word and prayer. All things are to be enjoyed when they are sanctified by the word and prayer. And what that means is when they're rightly submitted on the rule and reign of Jesus and not the God that you're longing for to meet a need that's outside of God's design for you. Lot there, but we have to be careful what we hear, we have to be careful what we see, then we have to be careful what we feel. Whoo, that felt right. All right, we gotta be careful about what we hear, what voices we're listening to. We have to be careful about what we see, and then we have to be careful about what we feel. So here we go, Genesis three. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and the wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. Now, I just wanna among the trees of the garden, now I wanna pause here and say, why would they hide themselves from the God that just created them in his image,
gave male and female one another. They were experiencing this beautiful planet and the fruit and the joy. They were partnering with God to name animals and to rule and reign, did God change? God did not change, man sinned. And if there's anything that I would hope for you today is that you could see that. That in the big picture of life, it is not that God is not good, is that the sin of man has corrupted everything. Even my thoughts of God are not truly clear, even though my circumstance feel that he is unfair and unkind and whatever, it was usually somebody's sin or sin in the world or the mystery which I will find out when I see him face to face, but God has always been good, will be good, is good, and you will realize it on the last day, you might as well just wake up and believe it today. They pulled back from the presence of the Lord. They made a choice, they made a choice to go their own way instead of God's way. They are now blinded, they're in guilt and shame, they're trying to cover themselves with all these things of life. And now they're saying, well, I'm not only covering myself because I feel exposed in my sin, but I'm actually gonna pull away from the one who created me 'cause he must not be good because I sinned.
Can we think about that a moment? We're accusing God because of other people's sin or sin itself, be careful. He's your only help to overcome their sin done against you or your sin that you have done. They pulled from the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord called the man and said to him, and I'm going to say how I feel it 'cause years ago, I was studying this passage and it was like I heard from heaven. Adam, where are you? I'm in my quiet time and I hear this voice and I just see in my mind's eye like it shattering through heaven and earth and all of mankind from ages past to present to future. God is crying out, where are you? My sons and daughters, he is with compassion, reaching out to them after they did the one thing that he asked them not to. Did I do the unforgivable sin? Have I done the unpardonable sin? Have I done the word? God saw them in their sin and cried out, where are you and what we tend to do is flip the script. God, where are you with this script like this? Can I tell you that is exactly the opposite of what's going on in heaven and earth? You need your eyes open, sin has warped you to shake your fist at God as if he doesn't care about you, and am coming to rescue you if you'll let me be myself. This is the gospel. Adam where are you?
Of course God knew where Adam was. He just wanted Adam and Eve to feel his compassion in the midst of their sin. And here's what they said we heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself. My sin was exposed and so I hid myself and God says who told you that you were naked have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat and and the answer of course was yes. So in this scenario the enemy comes, deceives them, they take of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. They experience the guilt and shame and separation from God because when you separate from God all you have your own resources to rely on and your comparison to other people and your value and your identity is outside of God which always ends in sin and then God says I'm pursuing you what's going on and it's not that God didn't know. He said Adam you got to understand what just happened so that I can pour grace upon you until you understand the impact of sin you won't understand the fullness of grace. And so he's communicating hey Adam you did the very thing that I ask you not to do and there's going to be a little bit more here but I want to pause here to say this remember the name of the tree was the knowledge of good and evil and he said when you take of this tree your eyes will be open. Now I don't have time today to deep dive on this but I want to plant some seeds here in your heart and your mind around this thought. It is not just that sin came into the world and all is evil. It's that our eyes were open to good and evil and so what that means is now the game is on for us to try to be good and to get rid of evil in our own strength and our hope is we wake up every day subconsciously hoping our good outweighs our bad to justify our life. That was a deeper thought than you think it was. We wake up every day apart from the grace of God hoping our good outweighs our bad to justify ourself. If I did more good today then I feel good about myself. If I did bad today then I feel bad about myself and we live in the yo-yo of good and evil trying to prove to us in the world and everybody else that we're worth something instead of crucifying I'm not trying to be good or evil I'm trying to be God's. God's son not a god by the way I'm trying to be God's son God's daughter and get back to the garden and to walk and talk with him to live to love what he loves and hate what he hates to delight in the commands of the Lord because that's who he made me to be to live in the Holy Spirit to live so free from sin that it is not the target for me to be better than the sin in my life the target is to be fully God's and that he is the destroyer of sin and when I sin I have an advocate with the Father I run to Jesus not to myself is the source or answer for victory. In him we live and move and have our being this is the Christian
message my friends you're not just free to go to heaven instead of hell you are free to live an abundant life with a person God himself that he has not only provided a way of access to but then put himself inside you by the Holy Spirit so that you don't even have to focus on sin management but on God himself and when sins when you are aware of sin you're going to have to humble yourself that we'll talk about that next week there is a partnership of humility submission and tenacity against sin but it's by the spirit of the Lord it's not by might nor by power you cannot find victory over sin in yourself and so this wrestle of good and evil you say sometimes you say they don't even know Jesus but they're better than most Christians I know well good they're good at the good and evil game but it's a game because they're more evil than you think they are by the way they just got really strong flesh but that will come to an end. Man I want to want to preach so much but let's let's keep going so Whoo! Yeah, then the woman, then the man said to God, "The woman you gave me, she gave me that tree, and I ate it." Well, at least he said he ate it, all right. Then the Lord God said, "The woman, what's this you've done?" The woman said, "That serpent deceived me, and then I ate it." All right. We got to be careful of what we hear, what we see, what we feel, and who we blame. There is plenty of blame to go around, terrible things. We happen to people because of other sin, and it breaks God's heart. It breaks God's heart so much that he decided to come himself to the earth, demonstrate that he would have power over the sins done against you, and then send the comfort of his Holy Spirit both to empathize with you and to give you power to walk away from the curse of it. Sin is the problem done to you and that you have done, and grace of God through Jesus is the provision for it so I can quit blaming everyone, even myself. I have to own sin, but I don't have to live in it, but I have to quit blaming to find freedom. Here's the deal. If bitterness worked, I'd be for it.
There's some people's pain is so overwhelming to me. It's taken my breath away. I have told Laura on a handful of occasions, I think they have a right to just be better the rest of their lives. I cannot believe the destruction that went on in that little child's life. I can't even comprehend stories of nastiness and destruction and evil that have gone on. In my mind as a human, I would say they get the grace card to be bitter, right? You understand what I'm saying? But all of us kind of feel that about ourselves. I've got the grace card to be bitter. You don't understand. They were a Christian. They were a pastor. They were a priest. They were somebody. They were my mom and dad, and they did all this evil, and therefore I justify the right to be bitter. And all you're doing is hurting yourself. Jesus didn't die for some sin, He died for all sin, therefore He died for their sin. And until that grace is released into the person of Jesus and off of your retribution, you are blocking the grace for your own life. And bitterness defiles many. Lauren and I were talking the other day about a situation, and we were tempted to be bitter. And we caught ourselves in media when we said no way. We will not let bitterness come into our lives for the sake of our covenant, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our children's children. If they, if we partner with bitterness, no matter who empathizes with us, no matter who understands it, if we partner with bitterness, that spirit will get in our house and it'll begin to eat things alive, even the very things we're hoping never happen will end up happening because of our bitterness that's unresolved.
Does anybody hear me? Just wave if you're hearing this. All right, this is the story, but God, let's get to the good news and wrap today. We have to be careful what we hear, what voices we listen to, we have to be careful about what we see, we have to be careful about what we feel, and by careful that just we flag it. What voice is that? What am I looking at? We flag it. You and my blaming today and understandable, you can find empathy in the midst of your pain, and you have to put it in the arms of Jesus so that you can receive the grace that you were created for. Well we go on and we see that God then talks about the consequences of sin, et cetera, and there's a sneaky little verse in Genesis 3.21 that says this, "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and he they felt ashamed. And that means that this is the first example where God killed an animal that blood was shed so that they could have skins to cover them. Anybody feel prophetic about that a second? That blood would be shed so that we could be covered in the person of Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God who takes the sins of the world. Immediately after God says, here's the pain, here's the consequence, here's what's gonna happen because of your sin, but grace will still abound today and I will can make a way throughout the Old Testament and ultimately the consummation in Jesus alone. He became the sacrificial lamb, the blood was shed once and for all so that you and I can come to God, be secure in our eternal standing with God,
but that we can experience the abundant grace of God in this life. Isaiah prophesying of this says, surely our griefs himself bore speaking of Jesus and our sorrows he carried that we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he Jesus was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, the chasing for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging, by his stripes we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity, the sins done to us in the sins we have done, the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. One other scripture and we'll end Romans 5, 17, for if by the transgression of the one Adam and Eve, death reigned through the one, sin was brought into the world. We were all born into sin because of Adam and Eve's original sin, much more those who receive the abundance of grace, the abundance of love, pleasure and favor, the abundance of the power of God to do the will of God, to overcome, to bring us back the God's original intent, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression, there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness, there resulted justification not to some men,
but to all men. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, let's stand together. I don't know where you are today. I don't know what your story is, but God does. We started with the story of our friends, Autumn and Yale Wall, their little daughter, Kaylee, and the accelerated healing that she experienced by being held by God's people, being held by God's people. I believe that is very practical. All of us have the ability to sow grace into one another's lives and our times of need. We become the hands and feet of Jesus. But even more so, I believe it's prophetic of God himself calling himself the Father that you've always longed for. Jesus pouring compassion on you in your addiction, in your brokenness, in your fears, in your anxiety, and coming by the Holy Spirit, calling himself the comforter to live inside of you. Oh God, I wish the moment to hug me. You have been hugged fully and completely by the grace of God in the coming of the Holy Spirit, but you don't feel it yet. And I understand, and God understands. And that's why we're on this grace journey. God break every wall down, break every misconception, break everything that I'm hearing that's not from you. Lord, let me see you as you are instead of this world. God, I pray. Let me feel you, your manifest presence in your grace,
to reassure me that you are with me. And oh God, I let go again of every sin that I've done and others have done. So that rivers of grace can tear down the walls and addictions in me, and I can experience the love of God. Had I needed my prayer teams up here immediately. Don't grab that. Pray with me, just close your eyes right now, wherever you are, just do it. Come on, man. You say, I don't like it, just do it. Just stay with me. And the only reason I say this is so that we can focus. If you're watching online, you're here present. and received His provision for your life, if sin has you and you've never brought it to the feet of Jesus, I'm going to pray for you in a moment for the first time. If you have besetting sins, addictions, brokenness, you need God to hold you, you have disappointment that's caused distance, and the enemies gotten in there, come on, let's come back to God Himself. And lastly, if you need physical healing, you need somebody to pray with you, you just need some help so many times that comes through one another. Bible says, pray for one another, that you can be healed, heart, body, soul, pray for one another. So I'm going to begin praying right now, and if you say, "Man, I'm good. I'm just celebrating God's grace today." Pray for somebody that's hurting, pray for somebody that's far from God, pray for an unsafe friend or neighbor to be saved, pray for a prodigal to come home, or you're coming down for prayer. If you say, "Man, I just need somebody to pray for me." I feel inside the shaking. I don't know what it is, but I need some help. You can come on down, just start coming right now, just start coming. Now everybody else, if you're listening and you don't know Jesus, I want you to pray this simple prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I need you. Tell Him you need Him. He's here. Forgive me of my sins. This is your acknowledgement. No longer blaming anyone else,
taking responsibility. Lord, I have sinned, that gives you and other people. Forgive me of my sins. Now we declare the truth. I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe you rose from the dead. I give my heart to you. I give my life to you. Jesus, I need you. I give my life to you today. Thank you for receiving me into your arms of love. I need you. And for those who need to return, I'm coming back. I've let disappointment cause distance and it's crashing on me. I come back, oh God, would you cut the gap, if you will, of the disappointment and come and comfort me by your Holy Spirit? I'm coming back in my brokenness. I'm coming back to you. Now Spirit of God, you know everything going on in this room and people watching online, you know the marriages that are teetering, you know the fears and anxieties that are overwhelming, you know the pain of the past, you know the pains of the present. Now Lord, come bring your anointing in this last few minutes here in which you touch every space and every place of need as we sing. Amen. We're gonna sing and let God seal it. Just sit here in the presence of God. If you came with somebody said, I don't feel too big of a deal to walk down front. Just grab a friend by the hand and say, would you pray with me right now to receive the grace of God in my area of need. Let's sing. In the freedom you died for. And now my life is yours and I will sing of your goodness forevermore. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Now my shame is gone. I stand amazed in your love undeniable. You grace come ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪
♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ This is the close of our service. But before I do, I'd like to remind you, if you're new to Antioch or you're looking for ways to get connected, please join us after I'm finished praying. Just out those doors and to the right at our Connect Center. We love for this church to be your church home. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, do praise me, and I thank you so much for your goodness. And I thank you for sending your Son our Savior, Jesus Christ. Pouring out His love and His life for us. So Lord God, I do pray that you would help us, help us Lord God to be mindful of what we see, what we hear, Lord God, what we feel, and who we would blame. Lord God, that we would turn to you,
Lord, letting nothing fill the gap, and only letting you, Lord God, embrace us. And so Lord, help us, Lord, to be mindful of you in our daily lives, and continue, Lord God, doing what only you can do. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. We'll see you all next time.
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