Go ahead and grab your phone, but we'll leave it up to you to call for 100 and 400.
Let's get a shower and see what's inside Oh, what a poor taste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God Lord of his Spirit, wash his blood
This is my story, this is my song Raising my Savior all the day long
Perfect foundation, perfectly light Visions of rapture now burst on my side
Angels be standing, dreams of love Echoes of mercy, whispers of love
This is my story, this is my song Raising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, all is at rest I am my Savior and happy and blessed
Marching and waiting, floating above To live his goodness, lost in his love
This is my story, this is my song Raising my Savior all the day long
We have to just bless this service in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, amen.
Y'all sounded good on that first one. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, song number 225.
Nor silver nor gold, hath obtained my redemption. Song number 225.
Nor silver nor gold, hath obtained my redemption. Nor riches of earth could now save my poor soul.
The blood of the cross is my only foundation. The death of my Savior now maketh me whole.
I am redeemed, but not with silver. I am bought, but not with gold.
Father, the Christ, the Lord of Jesus, Precious Christ of love untold.
Nor silver nor gold, hath obtained my redemption. The guilt of my conscience to ready and grow.
The blood of the cross is my only foundation. The death of my Savior could only atone.
I am redeemed, but not with silver. I am bought, but not with gold.
Father, the Christ, the Lord of Jesus, Precious Christ of love untold.
Nor silver nor gold, hath obtained my redemption. The hope of heaven forbade me, my dear.
The blood of the cross is my only foundation. The death of my Savior, renewed in my fear.
I am redeemed, but not with silver. I am bought, but not with gold.
Father, the Christ, the Lord of Jesus, Precious Christ of love untold.
Nor silver nor gold, hath obtained my redemption. The way into heaven could not last me long.
The blood of the cross is my only foundation. The death of my Savior, redemption hath won.
I am redeemed, but not with silver. I am bought, but not with gold.
Father, the Christ, the Lord of Jesus, Precious Christ of love untold.
All right, it's time to go through our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one.
On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 630, Wednesday nights at 7, and we'll be in Psalm 48 this week.
We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms.
Across the page, the mother-daughter tea party has been rescheduled. The dates are now June 7th, 14th, and 21st.
So please RSVP right away with which date you'd like to go, and you can do that on the members-only Facebook group, or you can email the church or contact my wife in some way.
Just be sure to give the pertinent information of how many people are coming, what ages, et cetera.
And this is for all ladies and girls. You don't have to go with your daughter or with your mother. It's just for all ladies and girls. They're welcome to attend.
And then on the back, the coffee and doughnuts this morning we canceled because of the fact that we want to minimize spreading germs,
especially in light of the fact that Brother Foster became deathly ill a few days ago, had to be rushed to the hospital.
And thank God he's been stabilized and he's going to be okay. But they don't know what's wrong with him.
They test him for coronavirus. They're going to get back with the results on that, hopefully like within the next 24 hours or something.
But the doctor said they're pretty sure that that's what he had. And so we want to remain vigilant.
And I know people are just worn out of this whole coronavirus thing, but we don't want to just get to the point where we're just licking doorknobs or something
just to prove how tough we are and how we're not a sheeple or whatever stupid things people are saying.
And folks, that's the kind of dumb stuff that I'm seeing on my Facebook feed every day.
It makes me not even want to go on Facebook because the stupid just burns when I go on there.
Yeah, it's getting a little quiet in here, okay? But you know what? It does, actually.
The way people just want to just show, hey, look everybody, look how I can just completely throw caution to the wind just to show how I don't listen to anybody.
It's like, wow, that's really great. There's 100,000 people dead in the United States alone.
Oh, that's all a lie though, right? Yeah, except that it's people that we know.
Some of those people are actually people that we know. So, you know, don't just be a total idiot and just go off the deep end in the other direction.
And look, obviously I realize that the government messes up everything that they do and that the government's wicked and they do all these things.
But you know what? You don't want to just overreact and overcompensate and just completely go overboard in the other direction
and just jump on this bandwagon of just everything we've been told is a lie.
Next thing, you're going to be telling us how the earth is flat because you believe everything we've been told is actually a lie, okay?
Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest. So, where was I?
So basically just wash your hands, be careful, don't just throw caution to the wind.
This is a very serious illness. It's very likely that one of our church members got it and, you know, almost died a couple days ago.
So, you know, let that be something to think about.
And, you know, it has nothing to do with being scared or afraid with your chicken.
You know, what I find is that the people who go around talking about how everybody else is a chicken
are usually trying to overcompensate for the fact that they have a lot of fear in their heart and that they're a big wimp.
And so that's why they have to go around proving how tough they are.
Sort of like Keith Gomez, right, who basically got up and rebuked everybody for being such a coward and called everybody a chicken.
And then what did he do?
As soon as he got the slightest bit of resistance, he folded like a deck of cards and he completely wimped out, okay, because he's all bluster.
So there's no reason for a normal person to have to go around proving all the time,
I'm not scared, you know, I'm tough.
You know, normal people don't have to go around proving that.
And they don't have to go on Facebook every five minutes to tell that to the world
while they're telling what a great relationship they have with their wife and how they're so madly in love with each other every day.
That's probably a relationship problem there.
Anyway, I digress.
All right.
So keep praying for our ladies that are expecting that they would have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
And then weekly events, we've got the preaching class.
It started up again on Tuesday nights at 7 o'clock.
And that's open to participants only.
We just don't want people showing up just as a spectator because the guys that are preaching, they're beginners, they're nervous.
We don't want them to have to have the pressure of preaching in front of a lot of people.
This way they're just preaching to other people that are in the same boat that they're in, you know, that are also just learning.
And also a lot of times, you know, we need to correct them.
And so we want to be able to correct people without just like embarrassing them publicly or something like that.
And so the preaching class is open to all men who go soul winning.
If you're a man and you go soul winning and you'd like to learn how to preach, if you're serious about learning how to preach,
even if you're never going to be a pastor but you're just serious about learning how to preach, then come on down.
You know, even if you've permanently disqualified yourself from being a pastor, you know, there are still preaching opportunities.
You know, there are opportunities to preach on the mission field and things come up.
And so it's just a good skill to have if you're interested.
That meets on Tuesday nights at 7 but you must come with a sermon prepared, just a 5 to 10 minute sermon, and participate in the class that way.
And then don't forget about the Spanish night coming up on June 11th at 7 o'clock.
And that's about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning for the past few days going back to Thursday.
Anything to report from Thursday?
All right, we've got one here.
All right.
All right, gotcha.
Anything else for Thursday?
Okay, how about Friday?
Anything from Friday?
All right.
Anything else from Friday?
Okay.
And then what about Saturday?
Anything from Saturday?
Okay, gotcha.
Okay, is this some kind of a role that you're on or what?
All right.
Anything else from Saturday?
All right, and then what about today?
Let's start with our main groups.
Brother Scott?
Nine for the main team.
All right.
What other teams are out there?
We've got Chandler.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Anything else?
Okay, seven.
All right.
Anything, another one over here.
All right, anything else from today?
Any other soul winning from today?
Another one right here.
All right, very good.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
Okay, our next song is the psalm of the week.
So if you need one of these blue sheets, go ahead and put your hand up.
One of the gentlemen will get it to you.
Psalm 15.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh upright, be at work in righteousness,
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that walketh upright, be at work in righteousness,
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backpited not with his tongue,
for doing evil to his favor,
the Lord gave a lovely roach against his favor.
He that backpited not with his tongue,
in whose eyes a vile person is condemned,
but the honor and friend that fear the Lord.
He that swear into his own word and change it not,
he that would if not have his money to use free.
He that swear into his own word and change it not,
he that would if not have his money to use free.
He that swear into his own word and change it not,
he that would if not have his money to use free.
Lord, take and reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things shall never be moved.
Lord, take and reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things shall never be moved.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle,
who shall dwell in thy holy hill.
Okay, one more song before the preaching,
and that will be song number 90.
Song number 90 in your song books.
Jesus, lover of my soul, song number 90.
Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly.
While the nearer waters fall,
while the tempest hill is high,
I will know my Savior high.
Till the storm of life is past,
Savior to the haven God,
O receive my soul at last.
Song number 90 on the second verse.
O the refuge have I done,
takes my helpless soul on thee.
Leave, I'll leave thee not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust from thee is slain,
all my help from thee I claim.
Cover my confessors head
with the shadow of my being.
Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find.
Raise the fallen, cheer the fain,
heal the sick and leave the blind.
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all on righteousness.
Fire and full of sin I am,
power full of truth and grace.
When His grace to me is found,
praise to cover all my sin.
Let the healing streams of God
make Him keep me pure within.
Thou of life, the fountain art,
bring me let me take of thee.
Strength thou oft within my heart,
rise to all eternity.
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1.
In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 1.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter,
beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads
1 Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse number 1.
1 Corinthians chapter 1.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God,
and Sosthenes, our brother,
under the church of God, which is at Corinth,
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
called to be saints, with all that in every place
call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
both theirs and ours.
Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father,
and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always on your behalf,
for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ,
that in everything ye are enriched by him,
in all utterance and in all knowledge,
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
so that ye come behind in no gift,
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall also confirm you unto the end,
that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, by whom ye were called under the fellowship
of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions among you,
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.
For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren,
by them which are of the household of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you.
Now this I say, that every one of you saith,
I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,
and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius,
as any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas.
Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved.
It is the power of God.
For it is written, I would destroy the wisdom
of the wise, and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this world?
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in wisdom of God,
the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe.
For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God,
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble, are called,
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise,
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world,
and things which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are,
that no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Father in heaven, thank you for this evening,
and thank you for the gathering of believers here in your house.
I pray that you bless Pastor Anderson with the fullness
and the power of the Holy Ghost as he preaches your word,
and help us, your children, grow in the faith and in your word, Lord.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen.
Amen. The title of my sermon tonight is
God Uses Imperfect People.
God uses imperfect people.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1 26,
For ye see your calling, brethren,
have that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise,
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world,
and things which are despised, hath God chosen,
yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught,
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
So the Bible's telling us here
that when we look at the people that God is using,
the people that are serving God and doing great things for God,
he said there aren't really many of them
that you'd look at as being mighty,
or being super intelligent, or super talented,
or super good looking, or whatever.
He says God has chosen the foolish things of this world
to confound the wise so that he would get the glory,
so that no flesh would glory in his presence.
He will use people who have weaknesses.
But not only that,
he actually uses people that are imperfect spiritually.
Go to Mark chapter number 16, the Gospel of Mark chapter 16.
And as you're turning to the Gospel of Mark chapter 16,
you know, I just sat down and I spent literally
less than five minutes just coming up with a list
of people in the Bible who had major failings in their life,
but yet were used greatly by God.
But yet they made major mistakes.
They had big sins in their life.
They did a lot of wrong things.
And just in like less than five minutes,
I came up with this list.
First of all, Noah got drunk.
Abraham lied about his wife
and put her in a weird situation with Pharaoh.
And he did it twice.
His son Isaac lied about his wife, did the same thing.
Jacob deceived his father, you know,
got his brother's birthright by subtlety as well.
The patriarchs sold Joseph into slavery.
Moses lost his temper and couldn't go in the Promised Land.
Aaron made the golden calf.
Joshua ended up making a league with the Gibeonites
when he wasn't supposed to make a league with any
of the inhabitants of the land.
Rahab was a prostitute.
Barak, the biblical judge in Judges Chapter 4 was scared.
He was afraid.
You know, he had to hide behind Deborah.
Gideon was afraid.
He had to bring Pharaoh his servant with him
because he was scared.
Samson committed fornication.
Saul committed murder and suicide.
David committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Solomon had hundreds of wives and built temples to false gods
in order to please his foreign wives.
Rehoboam desired many wives.
Asa failed to remove the high places.
Hezekiah didn't care about the next generation.
Josiah fought the wrong battle by attacking the king of Egypt.
Elijah got depressed and wished he was dead.
While God was in the midst of protecting him and giving him the victory,
he just throws in the towel and wants to die.
Jonah got bitter and didn't love lost people,
told God to kill him.
Ezra presided over a mass divorce that accomplished precisely nothing.
Nehemiah assaulted people and forced them to swear oaths that they didn't mean.
Peter denied Christ.
James and John wanted to torch a city of the Samaritans for not receiving Christ.
The disciples argued about who was the greatest.
They sat around talking about who was the best.
What in the world?
Paul preached against Judaizing,
and then he Judaized to try to please the Jews in the book of Acts.
He's shaving his head and doing a vow, bringing a sacrifice and all that nonsense.
You know, John Mark, who's probably the author of the Gospel of Mark,
quit on the missionary journey and went home early.
And you know what?
Heroes in the Bible about whom nothing negative is said are very few and far between.
Right.
And I came up with that list in like less than five minutes.
I'm sure if I sat down and thought about it, I could probably double this list
and talk about all the great men and women in the Bible who failed,
who had weaknesses, who made huge mistakes,
committed sins, messed up, and yet were used by God anyway.
I mean, what heroes of the Bible are all positive in the Bible?
I mean, the only one I can think of is Daniel,
you know, guy who got castrated and put into slavery at a young age.
So, you know, yeah, there's our role model, guys, but hold on a second.
You know, we don't necessarily want to live the life that Daniel lived.
No.
And Daniel, I guarantee you, was a sinner.
Daniel, I guarantee you, sinned and made mistakes and did wrong things.
It just wasn't part of the story.
It just wasn't relevant to the book of Daniel.
Give Daniel a break.
But, you know, some of the no-name disciples you could point to and say,
well, you know Bartholomew or what?
But here's the thing.
We know that these men made mistakes
because there are a lot of just blanket statements made about all the disciples,
about, you know, them all being upbraided by Jesus.
So they're all claiming that they're not going to forsake him
and they all run off and whatever.
So, you know, you're hard-pressed to find biblical characters that are perfect.
And, you know, this is one of the things that the Muslims hate about the Bible.
If you ever talk to Muslims, they get all mad and they say, you know,
oh man, you know, the Bible has Abraham lying and David committing adultery and Moses.
You know, they want all their prophets to just be perfect and walk on water.
But you know what?
That's not realistic because there's not a just man upon the earth
that doeth good and sin is not.
The Koran is full of baloney and the Bible actually tells the truth
about what people are like.
This is what people are like.
People are sinners.
There's none righteous, no, not one.
And that's not Mohammed or David or Moses or Abraham or anybody else.
Everybody in the Bible is a human being.
I'm a human being.
You're a human being.
And that's the reality of the world that we live in.
But here's the good news.
God uses imperfect people.
If God only used perfect people, we all better go home.
And just lock down forever because none of us is perfect.
Now, what does the Bible say?
Are you there in Mark chapter 16?
Here's an example from Mark.
It says in verse 7, but go your way.
Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee.
There shall you see him as he said unto you.
Those two words are beautiful words.
And Peter.
Why does he say that?
Go tell the disciples and Peter.
You know why?
Because Peter has just completely blown it.
Peter has denied the Lord.
Peter talked the biggest talk and then he ended up denying Christ
and he went out and wept bitterly.
And I guarantee you he feels like a failure.
He feels like God can never use him again.
He feels like it's over for him.
He feels like he betrayed Christ and so he cannot be used.
But yet Jesus specifically includes him and says,
you know what?
Go tell the disciples, but not just James and John,
not just Andrew and Bartholomew.
Hey, tell Peter.
And you know what?
In spite of Peter getting called Satan and getting rebuked a few times
and denying Christ, you know what?
He ended up being one of the most greatly used disciples in Scripture.
Was it because he was perfect?
I mean he's probably one of the most imperfect of the disciples,
but yet God used him greatly because God uses imperfect people.
Verse 8, and they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher
for they trembled and were amazed.
Neither said they anything to any man for they were afraid.
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week,
he appeared first to the most godly, righteous, possible disciple that he could find.
No, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he had cast,
seven devils.
This is a rough individual.
You know, this is somebody who has a past that's a very rough past.
She had been demon possessed when Jesus came across her.
She was possessed with seven devils and yet Jesus chooses to appear first unto her.
You know, so over here he's saying, hey, let's include Peter.
Over here he's saying, hey, I'm going to appear unto this woman
with a very questionable background.
Why?
Because God uses imperfect people.
The Bible says in verse 10,
And she went and told them that had been with him as they mourned.
And she gets to be the privileged one who basically gets to be the first one
to tell people that Christ arose.
God chooses a lowly, humble person to do that job
of being the very first one to tell people that Jesus Christ
rose from the dead as an eyewitness.
And it says in verse 11,
They, when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, believed not.
After that he appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked
and went into the country.
And by the way, those two guys, if you read the story in Luke,
he's rebuking them for their lack of understanding of the Bible
and for their lack of faith.
And then it says in verse number 13,
And they went and told it unto the residue.
Neither believed they them.
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meet
and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
And you know what? These are the people that are going to turn the world upside down.
These are the people that God's going to use to take the gospel all over the world,
but here they're getting ripped for their unbelief and for their hardness of heart.
They're certainly not perfect people. And if you read the four gospels,
I'll tell you the gospel that paints the disciples in the worst light is the gospel of Mark.
I mean if you read the gospel of Mark,
almost every chapter you're just kind of shaking your head at these guys.
And you're just thinking, you idiot.
But you know what? I guarantee you if we were there,
we would have been an idiot too.
You know, it's easy with us. We got the whole 66 books leather-bound
and we know everything about the story.
Come on, why don't you guys get it?
Because if you're actually there on the ground in this situation, things are a little different.
And so the disciples weren't idiots. They were great men of God.
They were hand-picked for their spiritual quality, but they certainly weren't perfect people.
They were far from perfect and God uses imperfect people.
Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 7.
You know, what does the Bible say? 1 John chapter 1 verse 8,
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
John chapter 8 verse 7, Jesus said,
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
No one is without sin.
There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
What about the MVP of the New Testament?
The superstar, the Apostle Paul himself, certainly he didn't have any major flaws.
He's probably like a New Testament version of Daniel, right?
He's doing all the right things.
Look what the Bible says in verse 14,
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
This is how Paul described himself.
He didn't say, I'm spiritual.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm spiritual.
You know, I quit sinning a long time ago.
I've been delivered of all that.
No, he said, I'm carnal.
Yeah, amazing.
I'm carnal.
For that which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I.
He's saying, look, the stuff that I hate, the sins and the wrong things,
things that I don't allow, things that I would speak against,
you know, I end up doing those things, he said.
And then there are things that I should be doing that I'm not doing.
He says in verse 16, if then I do that which I would not,
I consent unto the law that it is good, verse 17.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not.
But the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Now look, there are some false teachers out there, and let me say it again,
people who teach this are false teachers.
People who want to twist this passage and say,
oh, this is Paul talking about before he was saved.
That's not what it says. Really?
So if this is before he was saved, then why does he say,
why delight in the law of God after the inward man?
Why does he have this inward man that delights in the law of God?
But then he's got this other law in his flesh warring and there's this war going on.
Because what did Paul teach elsewhere?
He said the flesh lusted against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
Is he talking to Christians or non-Christians?
He tells them that they're saved.
He tells them he's speaking to Christians.
In Galatians, he's speaking to people that are saved and he makes that crystal clear
and guess what he teaches? The exact same thing he's teaching in Romans 7.
And you have to ask yourself, what would motivate a Bible teacher
to want to twist this passage and try to say, oh well, that was before he was saved.
When you're saved, you don't go through that.
You know what would motivate them is the false belief that they don't sin.
I mean, how else would you approach this passage and say,
you know what normal people do when they approach this passage?
You know what they do? They say, that's me.
That's what any normal person does when they approach this passage.
You know, that's why it's one of the favorite passages.
Look, when I preach on this passage, you know, I feel like people connect with it
almost more than any other scripture you could possibly preach.
You know, some of the best sermons that I've heard from other preachers came from Romans 7.
You know, this is a powerful passage. It's very deep.
There's so much great doctrine here.
And you know what? It's so relatable because we all have that struggle inside of us
between the inward man that loves God, that delights in the law of God, that wants to do what's right.
And we all have the flesh warring against that, trying to drag us into sin,
trying to get us to do the wrong things.
And you know what? We can relate to that if we're normal people
unless we're these lying devils who just don't sin.
You know, it's amazing how you don't sin, but Abraham sinned.
It's amazing how you don't sin, but Isaac sinned.
It's amazing how Jacob sinned and Saul and David and Solomon and Elijah.
It's amazing how all of these guys sin, but you don't.
That's truly amazing.
But folks, it's a lie.
And the reason the Bible says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
is because we're certainly not deceiving anybody else
because nobody else is stupid enough to believe that you don't sin.
You're the only one stupid enough to believe that if you actually believe that.
And that's why you go on that Jesse Lee Peterson, you know,
the amazing thing that everybody's making reference to.
You know, you go on that interview that I did with him
where he's claiming that he doesn't sin and everything.
Look at all the comments, and you know what it is?
It's just everybody just saying, you're an idiot.
Everybody sins. What are you talking about?
They're like, I'm a fan of your show, but how can you say you don't sin?
That's ludicrous. That's madness.
That's crazy to say that you never sin.
It's nonsense. It's a fraud.
And folks, you'd have to bend this scripture up like a pretzel,
and it still won't teach that.
I mean, have fun making Romans 7 teach that
because Romans 7 is talking about a godly Christian
who delights in the law of God after the inward man,
but they're struggling with the flesh.
That's got a parallel passage in Galatians
that talks about the war that goes on between the flesh and the spirit.
This is something that Paul teaches in other epistles.
I mean, this is a theme with him.
The flesh versus the spirit. Okay.
And it's taught also by James.
I mean, you know, it's just a teaching in the Bible.
I mean, even Jesus Christ himself, while he's on this earth, said,
if any man will come after me, let him deny self
and take up the cross daily and follow me.
The cross has to be taken up daily.
And you know what the apostle Paul said?
I die daily.
He didn't say, oh, I got delivered years back,
and now I don't struggle with sin.
No, he said, I die daily.
He said in Colossians, mortify the members of your uncleanness.
You know, you've got to put the flesh to death every day.
You've got to put on the new man.
You've got to walk in the spirit, put off the flesh.
Folks, the apostle Paul is arguably the greatest Christian in the New Testament,
in the New Testament era,
and here we see him saying, I struggle with sin.
I end up doing stuff that I don't want to do.
In my flesh dwells no good thing.
Oh, wretched man that I am.
So the question is, if God uses imperfect people,
does God use everybody?
No, God doesn't use everybody.
Now go to Luke chapter 5.
I didn't say God uses everybody.
I didn't say, well, everybody's a great servant of God.
Everybody's being used.
Everybody's in God's good grace.
That's not what I said.
I said God uses imperfect people.
But you know what?
There is a criteria for God using you.
It's just not being perfect.
That's not what he requires.
Because if he required us to be perfect, we would not be eligible.
There are certain attributes that if you study the Bible,
and if you study men like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
you study Noah, you study Moses, you study the apostles,
you know, you're going to find certain common denominators
of what made these men great and why God used them
and why God chose them.
There are reasons why.
But he does not expect us to be perfect
or he wouldn't have any servants.
And you know, when I'm out soul winning,
it always blows my mind when I ask people
what you have to do to go to heaven,
and they say, oh, you've got to keep the commandments,
you've got to follow Christ,
you've got to live like Christ and everything.
And I always tell them, you know,
heaven's going to be a pretty lonely place.
Because it sounds to me like nobody's going.
Oh, you've just got to be like Christ.
Oh, is that all?
Oh, piece of cake.
So where should I start?
Walking on water, feeding the 5,000, never sinning?
That's ridiculous.
Folks, here's what you have to do.
Not be like the Most High.
That's not the plan of salvation.
Another guy said that, okay?
The plan of salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't have to be Christ.
You just have to believe on Christ, right?
You just have to put your faith and trust
in what he already did on the cross,
his death, burial, and resurrection.
Now look at Luke chapter 5.
This is one of the greatest stories
in the book of Luke here in verse,
chapter 5 verse 1.
It came to pass that as the people pressed upon him
to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake of Gennesaret
and saw two ships standing by the lake,
but the fishermen were gone out of them
and were washing their nets.
And he entered into one of the ships,
which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out
a little from the land.
And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.
Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon,
launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft.
And notice the plural there.
Let down your nets for a draft.
And Simon answering said unto him,
Master, we have toiled all the night
and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word,
I will let down the net singular.
Now it doesn't seem like Peter has real high hopes here
because Jesus says, hey, pull out all the stops.
Let out the nets, right?
Go big.
Do everything.
And he's like, well,
we've already been working all night.
We haven't caught anything.
I don't have a lot of faith in this.
So I'll tell you what, we'll do one net.
I'll let down the net.
Nothing in the Bible is incidental,
coincidental, or accidental.
There's a reason why Jesus said do the nets,
and he says, well, I'll do the net.
Okay, because he doesn't think it's going to work
and wait until you see what happens.
And when they had this done, verse 6,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes
and their net break.
I told you to do two nets, right?
See, he's trying to put two nets worth of fish
into one net, and it broke.
Now, he understood what happened.
They closed a great multitude of fishes and their net break,
and they beckoned unto their partners,
which were in the other ship,
that they should come and help them.
And they came and filled both the ships
so that they began to sink.
I mean, they're so loaded with fish,
the ship is starting to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, don't miss this.
Don't miss this, folks.
If you want the most important verse in the Bible on Peter,
this is the most important verse in the Bible on Peter.
You want to understand the Apostle Peter?
Understand this verse.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees,
saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Now, look, is this a guy wanting to be a big shot?
Is this the guy who just thinks he's so hot, he's so cool,
he's so holy, he's so righteous?
I don't see him say, I don't sin, I've been delivered.
Folks, here's a guy, and look, if you study the timeline here,
if you understand here,
this isn't even the first time that he met Jesus.
Okay, this guy's already known Christ,
he's already heard him, he's already been around him,
and basically, you know, Jesus, you know,
comes back to him multiple times.
And finally, he basically just tells Jesus here,
Jesus, leave, I'm not worthy, just depart from me,
I'm a sinful man, you don't want me as your disciple.
You know what, we don't see him saying,
hey, I've earned this position, I deserve this.
It's the opposite, he's saying, you know what,
depart from me, I'm a sinful man.
You know what, that's why Jesus could elevate a guy like Peter
to great heights, because he's humble.
Because you know what, God can only use people that are humble.
That's one of the great keys to being used by God.
You have to be humble.
And listen, if you're humble,
the sky is the limit for how God can use you.
Because of the fact that he knows it's not going to go to your head.
Now, if you're a person who's prone to be prideful,
arrogant, puffed up, and wants to glorify yourself,
you know what, God can't elevate you.
Because as soon as he does, it's going to go to your head,
and you're going to just be a total idiot and mess everything up.
But if God sees you being humble, he knows he can lift you up.
That's why the Bible says,
whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased,
but whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted.
If you humble yourself, you'll be exalted.
The Bible says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
that he may lift you up.
He will lift you up if you humble yourself.
Here's a guy who's humble.
Is he perfect?
No.
Is he sinful?
Yes.
But he was humble.
He loved the Lord, he's humble, he's willing to serve.
And it said in verse 9,
for he was astonished and all that were with him
at the draft of the fishes which they had taken.
And so was also James and John, the son of Zebedee,
which were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said unto Simon,
Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land,
they forsook all and followed him.
I mean, Peter's dedicated.
He's willing to forsake everything.
He's willing to give it everything he's got.
But you know what his biggest concern was?
I don't know if I have what it takes.
I don't know if I'm good enough for this position.
And you know what?
That's the attitude that we should all have toward God.
If we'd be honest with ourselves,
we would all approach God saying,
You know what?
I don't know if I'm good enough for this.
You know, depart from me, Lord.
I'm a sinful man.
Isn't it interesting that the two big names
in the New Testament, Peter and Paul,
Peter says, Depart from me.
I'm a sinful man.
And what does Paul say?
Paul says, I'm carnal.
You know, I am a wretched man than I am.
And you know what Paul said?
I'm the chief of sinners.
He said, Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief.
Now look, don't misunderstand the sermon.
I'm not condoning sin.
I'm not excusing sin.
Because you know what?
All the people that I mentioned in the Bible,
you know that big list I gave?
They all suffered for their sins,
every single one of them.
If you go down the list,
we could talk about the repercussions that they faced
and the bad things that happened to them.
Look, if you sin, if you sow that,
you're going to reap that, okay?
And God's going to chasten you and chastise you.
And you know what?
If we love God, we need to keep his commandments.
And so, yeah, we should die daily,
take up the cross, follow him,
mortify the flesh.
But you know what?
The reason I'm preaching this sermon
is because I know that there's a tendency
for good people to get discouraged and think,
you know what?
I'm unworthy.
I can't go to church.
I can't serve God.
I can't be used by God.
I can't win souls to Christ because I'm not good enough.
And here's the thing.
The people who think that way are often the best people
because at least they're humble.
You know, the people that I'd be worried about
are the people who never have that thought in their mind
because they just think that they're so awesome all the time.
You know, that would be a concern
if somebody never had those kind of thoughts
that said, boy, I feel so terrible
that I'm not everything that Christ wants me to be
and that I'm not living up to the standard
set forth in Scripture.
You know, I'm not good enough.
Folks, the people who have those kind of thoughts
are the kind of people that God can use.
So I don't want you to get discouraged.
I want you to keep on trying, right?
The just man falls seven times and rises up again.
And I'm preaching this so that you won't be discouraged
or feel down on yourself when you mess up
because inevitably you're going to mess up.
And so you want to have an attitude that says,
you know what?
I'm a sinner, but you know what?
God can still use me
because he used all these other people in the Bible
that messed up.
And look, here's the thing.
If you're saved,
I don't care how bad you've messed up in the past.
God can still use you going forward
or you would be dead right now.
That's what I believe.
I believe that if God ever gets to the point
with one of his children where he just says,
I'm done with this guy.
I believe he'll just kill you at that point.
He'll just bring you home.
If you're on this earth,
and look, I'm talking about people that are saved.
If you're saved and you're on this earth right now
and you're still alive,
you are here for a reason.
Otherwise he'll just bring you home.
And if you are here on this earth,
it is never too late for the prodigal son to come home.
Dad is going to be there,
ready to receive you home
when you're ready to go to him
and say, hey, I'm ready to serve you.
I'm ready to obey.
You know, I want to do what's right.
Hey, he can use you in the Lord's army.
Now look, that doesn't mean
that you're going to be able to necessarily hold certain positions.
Obviously there are certain qualifications
for the pastor and the deacon
that, you know, you can permanently mess that up
where you can't be a pastor, you can't be a deacon.
But here's the thing about that.
If your attitude is,
well, if I can't be a pastor or a deacon,
what am I supposed to do?
You're the exact person
that should have never been a pastor or a deacon anyway.
I'm glad you're disqualified if that's your attitude
because you know what?
This attitude that says, well, I have to have a position.
I have to be an apostle.
I don't see Peter with that attitude.
You know, and I see many great men of God
who are dragged, kicking, and screaming into the ministry.
And I don't see them saying,
hey, I got to have the title.
I got to have the position.
You know, there are some people
who have that attitude in the Bible.
Hey, I got to have the title.
I got to have the position.
You know who I'm thinking of?
Jephthah.
He was like that.
That didn't end very well.
But you know what?
I look at guys like Moses
and, you know, Moses had to be dragged
into the ministry kicking and screaming.
He's telling the Lord, hey, I'm a bad speaker.
He's not saying, I'm the best preacher around here.
I preach better than any of these guys.
Oh, you're looking for a good preacher?
You just described me.
Is that what Moses said?
Moses is saying, hey, I'm a bad speaker.
Send someone else.
I don't think I'm up to the challenge.
Okay, and he had to be talked into it.
Okay.
We see Peter saying, look, Lord,
I'm going to recuse myself.
You know what I mean?
I'm not good enough.
And yet God used him greatly.
Okay.
So we don't see people in the Bible
demanding title, position,
and wanting to be a big shot.
We see the great men of God in the Bible
actually being humble
and understanding in their heart
that they're simple.
Now, look, I'm not talking about false humility
where you just go around all the time
putting on this big show,
telling everybody how wretched you are.
And you know, there are people who do that.
Sometimes they're just putting on a show
and overcompensating.
But you know what?
Between you and God,
you should be getting on your knees regularly.
You should be getting on your knees regularly
and telling God that you're not worthy
and confessing your sin to God
and humbling yourself before God.
That should be a regular thing.
Getting on your knees
and just pouring out your soul to God
and saying, I'm sorry that I did this.
I'm sorry that I did that.
You know, please help me to do better in this area.
Hey, that's a normal part of every good Christian's life,
confessing their sins to God,
humbling themselves before God.
In fact, in the Old Testament,
this was so important,
God had a holiday every year
where he said, this is the day
you're going to afflict your soul on that day.
I mean, they scheduled a time to afflict their soul.
And let me tell you something,
we need to afflict our souls.
There are times when we need to have
a somber time, a sad time.
We need to have a time of getting with the Lord
and confessing to Him
and weeping and mourning over sin.
You say, well, that's the Old Testament.
Really?
Because last time I checked,
the book of James is in the New Testament
and it says,
Be afflicted and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned into sorrow
and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord
and He will lift you up.
That's in the New Testament.
Okay.
The New Testament is telling you
there's a time to rejoice
and there's a time to weep.
And I'm not saying to be all down
in the dumps all the time
because you know what God's people do?
They go to the cross
and they unburden themselves
and then they go away lighter
and they go away forgiven
and they go away ready to serve God another day.
And so here's the thing.
Yeah, we do afflict our souls.
We mourn and weep.
We take it to the cross
and we leave it there.
Okay.
We confess our sins to God
and we know that He's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And so I'm not saying to beat yourself up about it
but I'm saying,
you know what,
you need to have repentance
and get on your knees before God,
confess your sins,
humble yourself,
confess your weaknesses
and then you know what you do?
You get up and you dust yourself off
and you do it again
and you do better next time
and you improve and you grow
and you move forward.
We need to be humble Christians
that are constantly admitting to God
that we're wrong,
admitting to God that we've made a mistake,
admitting to God that we've said,
don't answer this
but when was the last time you went to God
and confessed your sin to God?
Now we don't go to a confessional booth
and confess to some priest
but we do confess to God.
Right?
Our heart is the confessional booth
and it's the Lord that we confess to
and we confess our sins to Him
and you know what,
if you can't even think of a time,
you say,
oh, I haven't done that in weeks,
I haven't done that in months,
what's wrong with you?
Because I guarantee you,
you've committed sins during that time
and I guarantee you
that there are things that you've done,
why don't you humble yourself before God
and confess that to Him,
admit that to Him
and afflict your soul?
Now look,
this has nothing to do with salvation.
A lot of people think,
oh, you know,
in order to be saved,
you've got to just keep asking forgiveness.
Folks,
you get saved one time.
That's why it's called being born again.
It's not called being born again and again
and again and again and again.
You get born again
by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay,
my children were only born in my family one time
and they're a permanent member of my family.
I have eleven kids,
that's eleven births,
and they are permanent members of the family,
no matter what they say,
no matter what they do,
they will always be my children.
My DNA is in their body
and nothing can change that.
But you know what,
does that mean that they never apologize to me?
Does that mean that they never have to say
that they've done something wrong
or admit something
or say that they're sorry?
Does that mean I never...
Folks,
they don't have to do that
in order to stay my children.
They don't have to come to me
and guys,
look,
if you don't ask me forgiveness
every time you screw up,
you're not my son anymore.
Is that how family works?
You know,
is that how marriage works?
Like,
alright honey,
you better apologize every time you make a mistake
or we're not married.
Is that how marriage works?
No.
But,
in a good marriage,
you are going to confess your faults one to another.
You're going to tell your parents
that you're sorry when you mess up
and that you're going to admit when you've done wrong.
And you know,
the Bible not only talks about
confessing our sins to God,
but it also says confess your faults one to another
and pray one for another
that you may be healed.
So,
many times it's appropriate
to even admit that to other people
and say,
hey,
I've made a mistake.
Or here's an area where I've struggled
or here's something that I did wrong.
And you know what?
That is a normal thought process
that humble people have all the time.
And if what I'm preaching is foreign to you right now,
you've got a serious heart problem.
If you're just like,
huh?
What's he talking about up there?
I mean,
this should be obvious,
right?
That we are all sinners
and that we constantly are making mistakes
and we're constantly trying to grow
and learn from our mistakes and everything.
And look,
you say,
well,
no,
I think that the holiness Pentecostals
have got it right
and you can get delivered of all that.
Well,
isn't it amazing how none of the Bible characters
got delivered except Daniel?
That makes no sense,
folks.
Look,
whatever your doctrine is,
whatever you believe,
whatever your version of reality is,
it better match what's in the Bible.
And you know,
when I look at my view of reality,
I look inside my own heart.
I look at my own life.
I look at the lives of those around me
and I look at what the Bible says
and you know what?
It's a match.
I read about Peter,
I can relate.
I read about Paul,
I can relate.
I'm reading about Moses,
I can relate.
Okay.
Now,
look,
if these guys were,
you know who I don't relate to?
Daniel.
I can't relate.
You know,
it's still a great story.
You know,
it's still one of my favorite books of the Bible.
But you know what?
We probably don't relate as much to Daniel
because we're not really in that situation.
We're not in a situation where we're getting
abducted as children,
castrated,
put in the government school system,
being taught all the learning in the tongue
of the Chaldeans,
you know,
having dreams where we have all this power
with God and we can basically interpret
all these prophecies and you know,
we're being confronted by the angel of the
Lord,
showing us all these apocalyptic visions
of the end of the world,
and you know,
we're getting thrown into a lion's den
and surviving.
Folks,
that's not typically our life as Christians.
You know,
and obviously we can learn a lot from those
stories and,
and we can gain a lot from that,
but aren't you glad that there are some Bible
stories that are a little more relatable?
And there are people in the Bible that are
a little bit more human?
And I'm sure,
I'm sure if we knew Daniel,
he's probably up in heaven right now hearing
this sermon thinking like,
well,
if you only knew,
Pastor Anderson,
if you only knew what my life was really like,
but,
but here's the thing,
we don't,
because we only have what the Bible tells us,
but thank God,
I'm so glad that God didn't give us this
whitewashed Quran where everything's been
sanitized for your protection and sugar coated.
You know,
I'm glad God told us the good,
the bad,
and the ugly about the Bible characters.
I'm glad Noah's Ark doesn't just end with a
rainbow and all the animals getting off the Ark.
You know what?
It's like,
you know,
you see bad things happen and you see people do
wrong things and you know what?
It shows us,
okay,
you know what?
I'm not the only person here that is not perfect.
Okay.
And,
and,
and this is the reality of our situation as Christians.
So don't get prideful.
Don't get puffed up.
Don't get holier than thou.
And you know what?
When you get around other people and,
and,
and they turn out to be imperfect,
you know what?
Receive them as Christ has received us.
And you know,
whenever I get around perfect people,
I get really nervous because they always turn out to
be bad.
You know,
when people are just a little too perfect and you're
just like something,
something isn't right here.
This is a little too perfect.
Things that are too perfect are fake because nothing's
that perfect.
When you read the Bible,
nothing's that perfect.
You know,
people on Facebook,
they really polished the apple,
don't they?
You know,
I,
I saw somebody post something and say,
you know,
like may,
may your life be as exciting as you've made it seem on
Facebook or something,
you know,
because on Facebook,
everybody,
may I be everything that my cat thinks I am or whatever.
But anyway,
you know,
the point is people think when they look at Facebook and
they see other people's lives,
they think that those people just have it all together and
they can even tend to envy them and think to themselves
like,
Oh,
I wish I had their life.
Oh,
I wish I had that marriage.
You don't realize that right after that,
that,
that post was made about how like,
Oh,
I choose you every single day.
And you know,
our lives,
you know,
like,
and I guarantee you the people with the most perfect,
just constantly laying it on so thick on social media or
probably the people have the most problems in their life.
Hey,
everybody look at me.
Look how perfect I am.
Look how much we love each other.
Everybody see,
we love each other.
We really do.
You know,
when they just have to go so overboard,
you know,
it's cause they're overcompensating.
Nobody's that perfect.
And,
and,
and it's just a little too,
or who seemed a little too perfect.
They ended up being the Judas Iscariots,
you know,
because they,
because they're,
they're,
they're trying so hard to put on an act,
and it's just a little too perfect.
So don't go through life.
And here's what I really,
you know,
I'm ending the sermon.
I just,
What I really want to get across tonight
is just,
when you make a mistake,
which you inevitably will,
Don't be too hard on yourself and give up or throw in the towel.
Because what did the Bible say in 2 Corinthians chapter 2?
You know, he talked about the guy who'd committed major horrific sins in 1 Corinthians 5.
And then in 2 Corinthians 2, he said, I want you to confirm your love toward that guy.
Lest such a one be swallowed up with over much sorrow, and he said, we don't want Satan
to get an advantage of us because we're not ignorant of his devices.
You know, the devil uses that over much sorrow to discourage you and get you to quit.
You know, the devil is going to come and whisper in your ear and tell you, you know what, you're
a loser, you're a failure, you don't belong here, you can't be used by God, you can't
win anybody to Christ, who are you kidding, who are you trying to fool, you belong back
with the, go back to the bar, go back to the casino, that's where you belong.
You don't think the devil would love to convince you of that?
And so when you mess up, when you sin, when you fall, don't beat yourself up about it
too bad.
Now obviously we should mourn.
We should feel bad when we sin.
That's part of repentance, right?
So here's what you do when you sin.
When you sin, you go to the Lord, you express your sorrow to the Lord, maybe you cry some
tears, you weep, you pray, you make things right, you humble yourself.
But you know what, you forget after that.
You forget those things which are behind and you reach forth under those things which are
before.
And you know what, that's the only way you're going to make it in the Christian life is
if you're able to push that reset button and say, you know what, hey, I messed up yesterday
but you know what, today I'm going to do it right.
That's the only kind of person that's going to make it in the Christian life.
The person who can't get up after they fall will not make it in the Christian life because
everyone will inevitably fall.
And I'm not saying you're going to fall in some major way.
Obviously I'm not saying everybody's going to commit fornication or drunkenness or adultery.
And folks, those are horrific sins that you should never commit and if you do commit them,
you're going to face serious, serious consequences.
So don't even begin to think that I'm downplaying horrific, major sins.
Some of those sins are punishable by death, you know, adultery, murder.
I mean those are things that God punished with death in the Old Testament.
So I'm not downplaying that.
But look, I'm saying that when you sin, it's typically going to be something smaller than
that, thank God.
But you know what, even if it's a small sin, it can be easy sometimes to just beat ourselves
up, feel bad, and you know what, that has its place in repentance but we need to be
able to just take it to the cross and leave it there and to be able to get up and keep
going.
And let's say you have committed horrible sins in your past.
Maybe you've actually committed adultery in the past.
Maybe you've actually committed murder.
Because you know what, one-fourth of women in America have had an abortion and guess
what, that's murder.
So you know, maybe you have committed murder.
Maybe you have committed adultery.
Maybe you have done what he says but you know what, I'm talking to you, God can use you.
Even the murderer, even the one who has committed adultery, even the one who has been a drug
addict and who has, you know, done horrible things.
God wants to use you or you wouldn't be here.
The fact that you're here, the fact that you're saved and that you're here means that God
still wants to use you.
He's not through with you.
Now look, if you've been some horrible, you know, adulterer, drug addict, whatever, you
know, I'm not saying that you should train to become a pastor because obviously there
are qualifications there.
But you know what, you could be greatly used by God and I guarantee you, if you work hard
for God, you could even get more rewards than a pastor.
You could earn more rewards than a pastor because you know what, you don't get rewarded
based on, oh you're a pastor, oh well you just get a base reward package of 100.
Just for, oh you're a deacon, well that's a base reward of 80 and then we just start
from there.
Folks, many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.
And do you remember the parable about the people who didn't start work until the eleventh
hour of the day?
They showed up at the eleventh hour of the day and they still got a mega reward, didn't
they?
And you know what that tells me?
That tells me that if you spent your whole life living in sin, maybe you spent your whole
life unsaved and then you got saved later in life and you start living for God at the
eleventh hour of your life, if you do a really good job for that one hour, you're gonna get
a mega reward.
That's what I believe.
That's what he taught in that passage.
So don't think to yourself, it's too late for me.
If you're saved, it's never too late.
If you are saved, and I'm speaking to people tonight, 99% saved, except Judas, wherever
he or she may be, I'm talking to people that are saved, God's not through with you.
You don't know what I've done.
I don't have to know.
I don't want to know what you've done.
Spare me.
I want to like you.
Don't tell me all your dirty laundry.
The point is, you know, I want to like you.
I don't want to know those things, but you know what I do want?
I want you to realize that God can forgive you and you should be able to forgive yourself.
If God can forgive you, then you know what?
You should be able to forget that and move on too.
And that's what Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto
those things which are before.
So you might think that it's godly of you when you make a mistake to just keep beating
yourself up about it for days, but it really isn't helpful.
It's actually counterproductive fixating on those things.
There's a place for sorrow and repentance, but you must be able to move on.
If you're beating yourself up for a sin that you did two months ago, you're on course for
discouragement and failure in the Christian life.
You know what?
Oh, I'm still beating myself up for what I did five years ago.
Folks, that's ridiculous.
If you, I don't care if it was a week ago.
If you already have taken that to God, confessed it, and you know, if you needed to make things
right with people, if you've made things right with people, confessed that to God, you shouldn't
even think about that.
Just try to just forget about it and just move on.
Because no good will come of beating yourself up about your past.
No good will come of beating yourself up about that sin that you did three weeks ago.
Because it's sort of like Brother Russell was preaching on Wednesday night.
If you're thinking about sin all the time and thinking about how, you know, oh I don't
want to fall into sin, I can't sin, you know, if you're, if it's on your mind all the time
and you're thinking about it all the time, well then you know what, you'd be likely to
fall into that.
Whereas you're better off doing what?
Just forgetting about it.
Getting busy about the things of God, serving God, doing right, moving forward with your
life and like he said, when those sins come up, let them be a shock to the system.
Like, oh wow, I haven't even thought about that in so long.
But when you're one who can't let things go and just keeps beating yourself up, you know
what, you're probably more likely to fall back into that sin because you keep thinking
about it so much.
Just let it go.
Let it go.
You know what?
You don't have a time machine to go back and change things.
So I can't change the mistakes that I've made in the past.
You can't change the mistakes that you've made in the past.
All we can do is just move forward and do better.
That's it.
And you know what?
If God's not going to hang things from my past over my head after I've confessed and
forsaken them, why would I hang things over my own head if God says that if I bring it
to him, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
You know what?
If my kids come to me and say that they're sorry and I forgive them, you know what?
Do they have to come back like a week later and say, hey dad, I just want to say one more
time, I'm sorry about this.
And it's like, well, have we already done this?
And I've had people come up and apologize to me a second time for something or a third
time for something and it always makes me uncomfortable.
You know what I mean?
It's like someone came and apologized to me and I told them it's fine, I forgive you,
we're all good.
And then they'll come up a week later, hey, I just want to tell you again, I'm sorry.
And to me it's just like, what are you doing?
We've already done this.
You know what it makes me feel like sometimes?
It makes me feel like you don't think that I meant what I said when I forgive you.
Why are we doing this again?
You know, it makes me feel like something's wrong here.
Why are we?
And you know what, you don't have to just go to God and just keep saying you're sorry
about the same sin.
If you really just want to show God how sorry you are, then quit doing it.
But you don't have to just keep, you know, the Catholic mentality in a monastery just
whipping yourself, you know, oh, I'm so sinful, I'm so wicked.
And you say that never happens.
You know, that's what James White said, right?
He said that Catholics don't beat themselves.
Even though a mile and a half from here, a mile and a half from here there's a little
town called Guadalupe where they beat themselves every year around Easter, they actually do
whip themselves a mile and a half from here in the town of Guadalupe, no cell phones allowed
please they say, you know, they don't want anybody filming their rituals of beating themselves.
But not only that, well 45 minutes away you got the Orthodox monastery where basically
people who've been at that Orthodox monastery out by Queen Creek or wherever that is, you
know, they're told over there, oh, you had an impure thought, beat yourself.
And over in the Greek Orthodox monastery, you know, they're whipping themselves because
they had a bad thought.
Folks, that's not biblical.
That's a bunch of paganism.
You know, the Muslims beat themselves too, by the way.
Has anybody ever seen that holiday where they're whipping themselves and Hassan and what do
they say?
The festival they celebrate is Maharam.
Say it again?
Maharam.
Yeah, Maharam.
And they harm themselves on Maharam.
And they're, you know, beating themselves and all this stuff.
You know what?
Christianity is not a religion of beat yourself up.
You know what Christianity is?
It's the religion of he took a beating for us.
By his stripes were healed, not by our own stripes were healed.
By his stripes were healed.
And you know what?
If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all your sins, past, present, and
future, and you know when Jesus Christ saved you, he already knew everything you were going
to do in your whole life.
And yet he saved you anyway.
Yet he saved me anyway.
It's not like it comes as a surprise to him that we're not making the cut of what he expects.
He already knew that when he died for us.
That's why he had to die for us.
So don't beat yourself up literally and don't beat yourself up hypothetically.
Not hypothetically, excuse me.
What's the word I'm on?
I'm getting kind of tired tonight.
Figuratively.
There we go.
Hypothetically.
What am I?
I'm losing it.
All right.
No, I'm just kidding.
The point is, you know, good Christians, they just realize, hey, I'm not perfect.
I made a mistake.
I'm sorry.
They go to God.
Sure, weeping, repentance, yes, but they know how to move on.
And if you can't do that, you're never going to make it in the Christian life.
And I'd hate to see you get discouraged and feel bad and quit on God when, you know what,
God can still use you in some way, shape, or form no matter what you do.
And we're talking about the God who tells us to forgive people 490 times.
We're talking about the God who says that if someone wrongs us seven times in one day,
seven times in one day, and seven times that day comes to us and says, I repent, we're
supposed to forgive them.
Look, I'll be honest with you, that sounds kind of crazy to me.
But you know what?
I'm wrong and he's right.
And so I practice that.
I practice that even though it feels weird to me.
Like that seems a little off.
Seven times a day?
But you know what?
The man said it.
Jesus Christ is the boss.
And you know what?
That's the level of forgiveness.
I don't think God's up in heaven expecting us to have that level of forgiveness and then
he's not forgiving us.
Is that what you think?
If he demands that kind of forgiveness of us, you know what?
He'll forgive us when we sin seven times in one day and seven times say, I repent.
He's going to forgive us too.
Because he's not going to ask us to do something that he wouldn't do himself.
He is the model of forgiveness.
We're patterning our forgiveness after him.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the fact that you use imperfect people.
And Lord, I just pray that every person here would be humble and would love you and want
to serve you.
And Lord, when we mess up, help us to realize that there's forgiveness and that we can move
on and we can get back on the horse and help us not to get discouraged or swallowed up
with over much sorrow.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
If you got your song books, we will sing one last song before we leave this evening.
So go ahead and open that book to song number 126, Anywhere with Jesus.
Anywhere with Jesus, I am not afraid, Anywhere with Jesus, I am not afraid,
Anywhere, anywhere, here I dare not know, Anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go,
Anywhere with Jesus, I am not alone, No other friend may fail me, he is still my own,
Though his hand may lead me over dreary way, Anywhere with Jesus is a house of grace,
Anywhere, anywhere, here I dare not know, Anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go,
Anywhere with Jesus, over land and sea, Failing souls in darkness of salvation free,
Ready as he summons me to go or stay, Anywhere with Jesus, through the pain,
Anywhere, anywhere, here I dare not know, Anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go,
Anywhere with Jesus, I can go into sleep, When the darkening shadows round about me creep,
Knowing I shall wake and evermore to roam, Anywhere with Jesus, through his home sweet home,
Anywhere, anywhere, here I dare not know, Anywhere with Jesus, I can safely go.
God bless you all. Thanks for coming. Have a wonderful night.
Thank you.