Rewritten for Glory: Beyond Buttons to a New Identity in Christ

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:01:10] Let's stand this morning. I may come ready to worship Jesus today. Come on. I may come to praise the King of Kings this morning. Come on, you can do better than that this morning. It's for Jesus. Yeah, come on, let's thank Him this morning. Let's thank Him.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:01:28] To worship you, a thousand generations, falling down in worship, in the song of ages, to the Lamb.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:05:42] And tall have gone, in the song of ages, to the Lamb.
[00:05:55] Come on, let's proclaim it in this house.
[00:05:58] Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest, your name stands.
[00:06:07] just lift your hands king of kings this morning just begin to sing a song to him as a song that only you have this morning maybe he's done something in your life this is the time for
[00:10:41] you just to say thank you god come on church lord we worship you this morning still wonderful lord we praise you in this house god we praise you god that you're the god of miracles
[00:11:07] Lord we worship you Stand above all thrones And dominions and all powers Position your name Come on can you say that church Your name Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above all
[00:11:55] Above all thrones And dominions and all powers Your name stands above them all Come on, profess that, your name Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above all thrones
[00:12:23] Above all thrones, dominions, and all powers Positions Your name stands above them all Stand above them all Come on, give him praise in this place.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:14:45] Love that song.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:01] I love it for a lot of different reasons.
[00:20:06] But I love it for the most because it confronts us with the fact of, he says, you are who you say you are.
[00:20:16] And you'll do what you say you'll do.
[00:20:20] You'll come through.
[00:20:22] you always do. You know, that is the greatest release to be able to stand in front of God and just say, just be totally vulnerable with him. But many of us in this room, even now,
[00:20:42] maybe some watching online are still struggling with that. You're still holding on. And I get it.
[00:20:47] We're not used to that. You know, like let's say, for instance, I wanted to go to Doug and say, Doug, would you, would you teach me how to sing? You see, it's not that Doug doesn't have
[00:21:10] the capacity to teach me to sing. It's that I'm afraid of that. I'm afraid of what he might think about me when I ask him. And so I don't, you know, I might, I might go to Mike and don't you laugh
[00:21:24] again. And I might, I might come to Mike and Mike's maybe been good at business. And, and I thinking about starting up a business i want to talk to him about it and but i didn't because i
[00:21:37] thought he might think i'm stupid or i'm i don't have the capacity and so i just don't i just i'm i stayed in myself you know maybe i'm sitting in the just so happens that carmen and i are sitting
[00:21:51] in the doctor's office together and we start talking in it and she says something it just opens the door for me to share something that's on my heart but immediately i get anxious and i go
[00:22:02] So I don't know what she'd think about me if I told, if I said that, like if I told her what was going on in my family. And so there, instead of being able to open up, I just kind of go through
[00:22:16] the motions. And I think we do that with God. Sometimes we're so used to the, the look or the laugh or the wonder what they would think about me. Huh? Come on. Say it in your mic. He already
[00:22:34] knows. Come on. Yes. And it's not that he already knows where he already knows. And he still loves you in the purest, most, most forgiving, gracious, satisfying love there is. And here's what I want
[00:22:56] to ask you. I'm going to ask them to take us back into that. And look, if you got your defenses up, I'm asking you to just, would you just lay them down? And if there's something you need to do
[00:23:08] business on this altar with god about you come on right now you come on right now don't dare stand before god like trying to just keep him at arm's length and just stay into yourself man he can do
[00:23:22] more in a moment than you can do in a lifetime because he is who he says he is and he will do what he says he'll do and he's already he's already making a way look if it's something
[00:23:44] from the past, if it's something, if it's something in you, if it's something that's unsettling, if it's just something that you made an idol out of and you're holding on to, and you're just like, I'm just going to get this close, but I ain't going to get any closer, man,
[00:23:56] let that down and run to him right now, run to him. And if you've never given your life to Christ, this is the moment. The Bible says, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
[00:24:10] And I'm just going to give you a chance on your own right now, as we sing, say, Jesus, I need you.
[00:24:17] I want you to come into my life.
[00:24:20] I want you to forgive me of my sins.
[00:24:22] I want you to save me.
[00:24:25] I want you in my life.
[00:24:27] I need you in my life.
[00:24:30] And look, if you prayed that prayer, if you pray that to the Lord, here's why we're singing.
[00:24:34] I want you to come get one of these orange bags.
[00:24:37] That's a gift for you to help you in these next steps.
[00:24:40] But don't you dare stand here with your walls up when God is so available.

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:24:48] he is who he says he is come on lead us your word tells us in second timothy paul said i know in

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:27:02] whom i have believed and am convinced and he is able to keep that which he has entrusted to me against such days father you know what your people need you know what everyone who is at the altar
[00:27:15] everyone who is listening online everyone that is standing before your presence now you know what they need you know what where they feel alone you know dear heavenly father where they need to be delivered forgiven dear father rewritten in in the program of their heart and their mind
[00:27:32] and lord i believe you're able to handle that i believe you're able to move i believe dear father that you are able to heal and restore to save to the utmost your father and give energy and
[00:27:46] strength for godly living i believe dear father that you're able to change thinking and you're able to, dear Father, change emotional behavior. I believe, dear Father, that you're able to restore in ways that no one else can. And so God, in faith today, in the responsibility I have as
[00:28:04] pastor, I'm asking you to do that for the people under the sound of my voice. I'm asking, dear Father, for miracles for them. I'm asking, dear Father, for deliverance for them. I'm asking, Lord, for breakthroughs for them. I'm asking for restoration for them and for their families.
[00:28:18] I'm asking, dear Heavenly Father, for healing of their body and their minds and their finances and everything, dear father, that is within their life. I'm asking your father that you will comfort and sustain and strengthen in ways that only you can. And I believe you will. So heavenly fathers,
[00:28:33] we meet here today. I trust you for you to do your work among us. I'm mindful, dear heavenly father, during this part of the season of our college students, many of them going back to
[00:28:44] school and Lord, I ask. And I pray that as they head back into another semester, that you'll bless them to be faithful and faithful unto you.
[00:28:54] To not, dear Heavenly Father, just finish the syllabuses and the work and to be attentive, but Lord, to dig into a holy living.
[00:29:01] And dear Father, to be involved in campus ministries and to grow their spiritual life in you that, dear Father, during these days, they may mark out a pattern and a hunger and a thirst for righteousness
[00:29:11] that this world cannot steal away.
[00:29:14] I pray for mamas and daddies, dear Father, who will watch their babies ride out of their driveways this afternoon and that you'll comfort and encourage them.
[00:29:21] And dear Father, remind them that you got this and that dear Father, you will be with their children and with them through it all.
[00:29:30] And God, that you'll provide financially to make sure the college bills are paid and all the things that need to be done.
[00:29:38] And we believe you for these things.
[00:29:40] Now speak to us, Lord.
[00:29:41] Live our hearts.
[00:29:43] Let us be strong in you.
[00:29:45] And we ask these things in the amazing, powerful name of Jesus and all God's people said.
[00:29:51] Amen and amen.
[00:29:52] Would you find four or five people this morning and welcome them to church?
[00:29:57] It's so good to see all of you this morning and super grateful to have the opportunity.
[00:30:16] Grab that mic.
[00:30:20] No, no.

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:30:31] Set up.

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:30:32] Yep, now we're good.
[00:30:34] Last night, many of you were able to be a part of the Rooted in Grace and Love concert.
[00:30:38] And amen.
[00:30:39] Thank you for scaring the dickens out of me right now.
[00:30:43] I was like, my neck hurts.
[00:30:46] It was a great opportunity.
[00:30:47] I think they sold 803 tickets, but it was packed out.
[00:30:50] It was a great evening, much money.
[00:30:52] Amen, come on, let's celebrate.
[00:30:54] And we don't always get to share this opportunity, but this is Chrissy Heath.
[00:31:00] Her and her husband, Sean, 16 years ago, felt the call of God on their life to believe that God was able to do what he said he would do.
[00:31:08] And Chrissy left a very lucrative pharmaceutical rep position, and Sean being a commercial pilot to go to Peru.
[00:31:16] and to begin their ministry.
[00:31:18] And so we have the privilege of them being here with us.
[00:31:21] So give us, last night we advertised, or before last night, that you guys are stepping into a new season of a children's home.
[00:31:29] And I preface them on a lot of the abuse and stuff that we've talked about throughout the years.
[00:31:34] So give us a synopsis of where we are and what the church can, and even our online viewers can be praying for and what's happening.

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:31:42] All right, sounds awesome.
[00:31:43] Well, thank you so much, Beulah Church, honestly, for praying all these years.
[00:31:47] I mean, we are stepping into year 16.
[00:31:49] I'd mentioned earlier, I remember growing up and sitting over here on this part of Beulah here.
[00:31:54] So many of you guys obviously know a little bit about it, but there's so many new faces here.
[00:31:59] But I did just wanna share just a little bit about Rooted in Grace and Love, and where we do feel like the Lord is leading us.
[00:32:05] This year we've had such a blessing.
[00:32:07] We are really kind of in the impoverished area of Peru.
[00:32:10] It's down near Cusco.
[00:32:11] But many of the kids that we minister to deal with human trafficking the risk of being trafficked and then not only that but the abuse being abandoned and so over the years the Lord's just open the
[00:32:23] doors for us to go into different areas of ministry just real quick one of them project hope what a blessing this year we opened it up to college students so if you can picture with me 300 high school and college students five days a
[00:32:36] week feeding them and discipling them in God's Word we are seeing tremendous growth with these students with their faith this year many of them also being baptized but it's just been such a blessing to see God provide all these years and if you think about it 65,000 meals
[00:32:52] a year last night praise God that is always our biggest fundraiser Brian and it is such a blessing to go into this year and knowing God's going to take care of throughout this year so thank you
[00:33:03] for quite some time now we've helped with two different orphanages but in Peru if you can picture this. Many of the orphanages are very institutionalized. We're working right now with two orphanages where they actually allow us to come in and teach God's word and to be able to
[00:33:18] share the love of Jesus Christ. And that is very rare. These children, so many in Peru are still on the streets, have no parents. And many times, especially even post COVID when they lost parents.
[00:33:31] So there is a great need. And so what we would ask you to do for Rooted in Grace and Love and our board is we are in a process of praying. We are searching land and we're looking for how
[00:33:42] exactly legally and all to start a new children's home. We're just in the beginning phases, but we are praying, Lord, if this is your will, that you'll continue to lead and guide us each step
[00:33:51] of the way. Brian knows this. There is no way 16 years ago when we first felt that call and you guys just saying that I believe and believing and going out on faith. You know what? God's got it.
[00:34:06] and allowing him to lead in God.
[00:34:09] You know, we were really just nobodies thinking about, but I remember many people saying that we would never, we're not even missionary type people, literally.
[00:34:22] I was so discouraged, but God, but God.
[00:34:27] And I could stand here to say, he is faithful.
[00:34:32] And wherever, and I have to say this, Brian, but wherever God has you right now, We have this one moment to live.
[00:34:41] And I've tried to raise my kids.
[00:34:43] I've tried to always, Sean and I are always thinking, you know what?
[00:34:46] Use every single moment.
[00:34:48] And so I pray, if you wanna join us in Peru, we're gonna work you to death.
[00:34:52] Come on down.
[00:34:53] But just pray with us throughout this year.
[00:34:55] Project Hope is an umbrella of a lot of different ministries.
[00:34:58] But if you can just continue to pray, God, lift up Project Hope.
[00:35:01] Lord, lead them so they'll know exactly which way you want them to go.

[00:35:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:35:04] Awesome.
[00:35:04] Well, we are grateful.
[00:35:06] And we're gonna pray over you right now.
[00:35:07] and 65,000 meals a year.
[00:35:09] Many of these kids, Christy said earlier, they're hungry.
[00:35:12] They're hungry physically and they're hungry spiritually.
[00:35:14] So they actually have to travel through the week and basically live wherever they can live so they can get fed throughout the week.
[00:35:20] So a lot of like what we do with our backpack ministry of feeding these kids in our local schools.
[00:35:25] So poverty is everywhere, but they wanna capitalize on that need so they can see the good news of Jesus Christ come through.
[00:35:31] And so we wanna pray over you if we can do that.
[00:35:34] All right, Father, if you guys would just stretch Stretch your hand toward Chrissy as a symbolism of just you standing in faith with him.
[00:35:41] Lord, I thank you and I praise you for who you are and for your calling on our life.
[00:35:45] I giggled, Lord, when Chrissy made the confession of people saying, y'all aren't even missionary kind of people.
[00:35:51] Lord, I love it.
[00:35:52] You qualify the called and call those who you qualify.
[00:35:57] And dear Father, I thank you that you have a plan.
[00:36:00] And Lord, you have walked them through these 16 years.
[00:36:02] Now, Lord, they're in a new season.
[00:36:04] just like we are as a church with trying to navigate the growth and the things that you've allowed us to do here. Lord, they're in a new season, a new season where they need your vision,
[00:36:13] new season where they need a very definitive answers and plans and resources. So Lord, your word tells us in Jeremiah to call upon you and the one to whom Lord all wisdom is.
[00:36:26] If we know not Lord call upon you and you would show us great mighty things that we know not about.
[00:36:31] So Lord, we do that in reference to Rooted in Grace and Love.
[00:36:34] For Sean and Chrissy, Lord, for their ministry team of nine.
[00:36:38] And dear Father, for this summer, when we take a spot of 25 people to go down, Lord, that you would use all that effectively.
[00:36:44] Then they would know without a shadow of a doubt what it is their next step's there to do.
[00:36:49] And you would open up the door for them according to your will.
[00:36:52] Protect them, encourage them.
[00:36:54] In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen.
[00:36:57] Thank you, sis.
[00:36:58] We'll put that back.
[00:36:59] Let's give them a big round of applause and support super grateful let me just uh make mention real quick before we jump into this um many of you ask me a lot of times about what bible i read and what bible i have at that curtain time
[00:37:14] and so a lot of times guys i'll read a bible and i'll give it away okay what are you looking at me for what do i do oh oh all the bibles i give away yeah yeah and so um just but i'm also at a season
[00:37:26] in my life where i struggle seeing the text i mean you know i'm getting to that age where i struggle of seeing the text. So I actually had one of these Bibles before and I wrote in it and then I gave it
[00:37:37] to my buddy Ben Fuller. And so now it travels with him on the road. And so this is a ESV single column journaling Bible, large print. And this is not a study Bible. This is what I call my reader
[00:37:52] Bible. This is where I can actually see the text with my glasses on or my glasses off. And I'm just gonna tell you i'm i'm a pastor i mean it's a job hazard if i don't read my bible but i get
[00:38:07] very discouraged sometimes when i cannot read because it's difficult to see and so i hadn't broken out the magnifying glass but i'm not above it let me just tell you okay and so i want to
[00:38:19] encourage you if this would help you this is the esv uh single column large print journaling bible It's like 38 bucks on Amazon.com, but I want you in God's word. Y'all ready? You ready? Amen. Let's
[00:38:36] go. Let's pray this with me. Jesus, speak to me. Show me that resistance is not enough. I need you to rewrite me, my thinking, my processing down deep inside. I want, in Jesus' name we pray,
[00:39:02] and all God's people said, amen.
[00:39:06] Let me show you a picture real quick.
[00:39:08] You remember this from last week?
[00:39:10] What is this?
[00:39:12] Controller to a video game, the Xbox 360.
[00:39:16] We talked last week about all the buttons and the things.
[00:39:19] And we talked before about buttons and triggers and how certain words and situations and people can set us off.
[00:39:27] You ever been there?
[00:39:29] Oh yeah, I've been there this entire week watching our news and I've asked my family to pray for me that I keep my mouth shut.
[00:39:35] And the most of us spend our lives, though, trying to avoid the button or control the reaction, but here's the hard truth.
[00:39:43] Sometimes it's not the button at all.
[00:39:47] It's what's been programmed underneath.
[00:39:52] Sometimes it's not the button at all.
[00:39:54] It's what's been programmed underneath.
[00:39:56] Think about a game.
[00:39:58] You can mash the controller.
[00:39:59] You can even resist the impulse.
[00:40:02] You can even throw the controller across the room.
[00:40:04] and then complain to your parents, I don't know why this thing don't work.
[00:40:10] It rattles inside.
[00:40:13] But if the game is designed to respond a certain way, the outcome is already coded.
[00:40:20] The button didn't create the response, the program did.
[00:40:26] In the same way, life presses buttons, but what comes out reveals what's been written on the inside.
[00:40:35] And that's the truth.
[00:40:36] Buttons reveal, but programming determines.
[00:40:42] Buttons, your buttons, your triggers, they reveal what really is programmed in you.
[00:40:49] This is why resistance alone eventually fails.
[00:40:54] Many of us pride ourselves on self-control.
[00:40:59] We say things like, I'll try harder next time, or I'll keep my mouth shut, and then the next ballgame, I'm talking again.
[00:41:08] Or, I won't react that way again.
[00:41:12] You ever been there?
[00:41:13] Does that sound familiar?
[00:41:15] And yet, here it is.
[00:41:16] I just don't know why after all these years they don't know that I need 20 minutes.
[00:41:21] When I get home from work, just leave me alone for 20 minutes.
[00:41:25] Right?
[00:41:27] That's the button.
[00:41:29] But what programs is, and what needs to be rewritten is what we're doing the time it took us to get home.
[00:41:37] That's the real difference.
[00:41:38] You see, all that works for a while, but eventually under enough pressure and enough fatigue and enough stress or hurt, the same response shows up again, not because we're weak, but we're still running on the same old code.
[00:41:54] You can't resist, you can resist a trigger temporarily and you can suppress a reaction for a season, but if the internal script never changes, the response will resurface.
[00:42:08] or resurface. And this is what many of us suffer through. This is what breaks down who we are as an individual. This is what hurts our relationships. This is what hurts our families. This is what
[00:42:18] hurts our job relationships. This is what many times hurts our church. The church as a whole is because we come to just try to play pretty, but under enough stress and fatigue, you can't always
[00:42:30] play pretty. This is where Jesus said it plainly, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, Matthew chapter 12. So not out of the button and not out of the trigger, but out of
[00:42:45] the source code. So the idea here, friends, I want us to see today is that salvation and your calling were not assigned buttons you pressed. No, they are written by God's grace before time began.
[00:42:59] And honoring God is not about reacting correctly. No, it's about living from a rewritten heart and embracing the rules God assigned, even when they may involve suffering, even when they may cost you something.
[00:43:15] So if you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me as we think about what this program is.
[00:43:20] And as a way of reminder, let's begin in 2 Timothy 1, verses eight and nine.
[00:43:24] You ready?
[00:43:26] Paul writes and says, therefore, writing to Timothy, who's the pastor at Ephesus, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but what church share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God this is where we illustrated
[00:43:44] this this week that Paul knows Timothy is struggling he is shrinking back from his testimonies he's he may just be before quitting because of the pressure that's on him the persecution the temptations that are ahead of him and and also knowing what Paul's going through
[00:43:59] as his mentor and that that death is coming for Paul and he's like well if it's coming for Paul what's that mean for me this is where he is encouraging timothy to say no no timothy we're
[00:44:09] gonna suffer in this together this is where we use the illustration to talk about as a marriage and as a as a business this is what this is what makes the story of soldiers how many veterans how many
[00:44:20] soldiers do we have in the room come on raise your hand please let us celebrate you today come on let's celebrate our veterans today this is what it makes the stories that many of you don't talk
[00:44:29] about, but that maybe at a reunion or with the guys that you were in bootcamp with, or your, your fellow platoon mates that you were in, in service with, you know, this, you struggled together. You, you went through basic training together. You got shrapnel shot. You know, you,
[00:44:45] you had bombs go off around you. You, you, you saw your buddy get shot. You carried your buddy and, and wrote a letter to his parents. That's, that's what forges this. It's that together suffering,
[00:44:57] But this together suffering is not written in the code of the world.
[00:45:04] The only places that we normally see this where it's effective is national championship teams.
[00:45:09] Or maybe you have a quarterback who understands the truth of it all and they put the microphone in his face and he says something like this, there's no way I could have done this without the team and the coaching staff that we have
[00:45:18] and us all together believing in our mission.
[00:45:23] You ever heard them say things like that?
[00:45:24] You know what they're saying?
[00:45:25] they're coming from the biblical principle of what it means to be so consistent in your calling that you realize that there's going to be suffering, but the suffering is worth it. And it's in the
[00:45:36] suffering we do so for the gospel. And we do by the power of God. I say this again, like I said last week, many people believe that it's the power of God that keeps you from suffering. But my
[00:45:48] friends, I want you to understand it's many times in the midst of suffering that you actually get to see the power of God at work.
[00:45:54] So when you're at your wits end, when everything's kind of going sideways, that you'll submit and say, God, for the sake of your good news in my life, would you sustain us in a way?
[00:46:04] Second service, we had a powerful testimony from Nanette Cochran about when her son Andrew had his very, could have been very tragic accident.
[00:46:13] As a church, we suffered together in that.
[00:46:15] We prayed and were very attentive to what was going on with them.
[00:46:18] But boy, she still hasn't shown a testimony this morning.
[00:46:20] And I text her after the second service.
[00:46:23] I said, thanks for sharing a testimony with the Lord.
[00:46:24] She said, I don't have a clue what I just said, but I know I said it.
[00:46:27] And she said, you know, even before I could get to the, before I could get to the place, God had already warned me.
[00:46:34] God was already sustaining me.
[00:46:35] She said, she said, I was about to run out of gas.
[00:46:38] And she said, I had to stop and get gas.
[00:46:41] She said, I was pumping gas.
[00:46:42] And if you know Nanette, she's like a micro human.
[00:46:44] She's just a little, she's just a little thing.
[00:46:46] She said, I was down on my knees pumping gas and one hand raised going, God, he's yours, we love him, we're not through with him, but whatever you wanna do.
[00:46:57] And all that way through, she gave testimony of how in the midst of their darkest suffering, God sustained them.
[00:47:05] And it's pinpoint in those moments.
[00:47:08] It's not by luck, it's not by chance.
[00:47:10] The problem for us, church family, is we have the same issue of the Israelites, is that it's only in the emergencies that we wanna be sustained by God, but what about in the day-to-day?
[00:47:19] What about in the life?
[00:47:21] What about in the chores and the paying the bills and the show up at work on time and having to get some overtime in and doing the things that we really didn't wanna have to do
[00:47:28] but we suffer through them and we see for the sake of the gospel, we're striving together and the power of God sustains us.
[00:47:35] He says, it's in the middle of this, he said, verse nine, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not by our works.
[00:47:42] And so last week as a way of remembrance, we looked at the new buttons God's given us that I am saved, go forward with me guys, I am saved and I am called and I will pursue a holy life.
[00:47:53] But what I want us to think about this week is that it's not just what buttons we push, it's what they reveal about you and reveal about me.
[00:48:02] See, if I'm pushing the I'm saved button, but I don't care about my calling and I don't care about living a holy life, something's up.
[00:48:13] And it's not so much about the button, it's about what that's revealing about me or about you.
[00:48:21] And this is where, again, it's not criticism, guys.
[00:48:24] It's inspection.
[00:48:27] It's where any of you who've ever been raised by around equipment, you don't just jump in a bulldozer.
[00:48:33] You don't just jump in your truck.
[00:48:36] You just don't jump on your motorcycle and fire it up.
[00:48:38] You can do that for a while, but it's gonna cost you.
[00:48:41] It's where you check the oil.
[00:48:43] You check the air pressure.
[00:48:45] You kick the tires.
[00:48:46] You pay attention to the hydraulic levels.
[00:48:48] Am I telling the truth, guys?
[00:48:50] Why?
[00:48:51] Because of the longevity of it.
[00:48:52] And this is where you and I have to begin to ask ourselves some real questions about ourselves.
[00:49:00] Look, this is where I think most of us want God to love us like a mama loves us.
[00:49:08] You know, a mama, specifically, I'm a boy and I had a mama who loved me.
[00:49:14] And there was a lot of Loretta that just loved me no matter what, right?
[00:49:19] But I'm grateful there was a lot of Loretta that was like, well, I love you, but I'll tear your hind end up.
[00:49:25] But most of us want a mama that just is okay with whatever sinful behavior we have and just still keeps pouring out the best biscuits and the best gravy and the best life and the best clothes and the best this.
[00:49:37] And this is where I'm gonna tell you, ladies, if you're raising a son, don't you dare cripple him because in about 20 years, you're gonna ruin another woman called his wife.
[00:49:50] Oh, y'all might not like, I told you I'll mash some buttons this morning because that guy's going to come into that marriage and he's going to expect that woman to be a second mama.
[00:49:59] And no matter what he does, she's supposed to be okay with it because that's the way mama did.
[00:50:03] And you will damn that household.
[00:50:07] No, make him get up, get his own stuff done.
[00:50:10] Not for a reward, but for the joy of your stuff's clean and it lasted a long time.
[00:50:16] this is where we know that that that that kind of love doesn't exist it's a love that that when we are saved we realize how much god loves us and it and it blesses us because that love never quits
[00:50:33] now ladies let me talk to you for just a sec because i roughed y'all up just a little bit there how many of you are married to a to a man right now that uh just wouldn't take no for an
[00:50:44] answer when you first met him you weren't very interested but bro was like a man he was a hound he just wouldn't quit anybody anybody willing to confess that okay all right yeah here we here we
[00:50:57] go that was fun y'all don't want to confess that now huh yeah okay i'm not saying that's the way you feel now but when he first made shot his shot on you and you were like yeah i'm okay anybody
[00:51:11] thank you I appreciate that thank you very much thank you very much okay there's a few now well here's the point did he quit was he deterred by the fact that you weren't all about him come on
[00:51:25] sis come on missy talk to me no he huh yeah well my sister in Christ missy uh her husband passed away three years ago yesterday when Chris first showed up at the at the park and rec where y'all
[00:51:42] we're all working your summer part-time jobs were you very interested in mr davis not at all but somehow or another he was clueless to all that wasn't he sis and he just kept on pursuing
[00:51:56] you didn't he he kept on pursuing you and he just kind of wore you down right like that none of the rest of y'all want to raise your hand i'm like what y'all were y'all at the scratch and dent
[00:52:06] convention you know and you're like oh he's the one with the less scratches i'll take him okay it's okay no no no so here's the question that i have now when did misty when did you know now
[00:52:17] you're speaking from a widow's point of view right when did you know that this is your dude he didn't give up and from that moment what was that love like it was relentless then as it was
[00:52:36] until the very end when god took him amen thanks for sharing it can we celebrate that testimony now watch this that's the point of love is that when you get saved you realize God's hand has been at work and he has been pursuing you and he won't stop come
[00:52:58] on and from that love determines a different life in other words I don't want to just be at the end of the barrel that God you know he's my celestial Santa Claus that he just keeps pouring Christmas out on me. No, no, no. I now respond to that love
[00:53:14] so that what's revealed in my life is not just his blessings, it's how much I love how he loves me.
[00:53:22] And as I love him back, I don't want to do the things that grieve his heart.
[00:53:27] Are you with me, church family? And so this is where we know that the buttons that we push just aren't about pushing the buttons. They reveal our character. They reveal whether we're a disciple or not. So now watch as the text goes forward, because I got a feeling we don't just
[00:53:46] need to develop some new buttons. I got a feeling we need to reprogram the game and we can't do that without Jesus. Watch what the Bible tells us in the next verses, verse nine being following.
[00:53:58] Now it's not by our works, but by his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. So this is where guys, Jesus is not Johnny come lately, like God's response when
[00:54:15] everything was going south. No, Jesus has always been a part of the Trinity.
[00:54:20] And he says, and which now has been made manifest through the appearing of our, watch what he does here theologically, Savior Christ Jesus. That Jesus has appeared, and he didn't appear as a teacher, he didn't appear as a lawyer, he didn't appear just as a rabbi,
[00:54:38] he is the Savior of the world. Since from the beginning of the ages, before the ages began, he is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, and he is the historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth.
[00:54:51] Paul is doing something very big here theologically, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the what?
[00:55:01] The gospel, the good news for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher, read verse 12 with me, which is why I suffer as I do.
[00:55:20] now this is something we got a clue in on he talked to timothy about suffering together for the gospel by the power of god now paul is going to help timothy understand that in the responsibility
[00:55:35] of his calling there is a level of suffering that comes along but it is a level of suffering that produces life if you're taking notes maybe this will help you the first thing i think we need
[00:55:50] to understand here is that salvation was written way before the game began this is huge he says according to his own purpose and grace which he gave us in christ jesus before the ages began
[00:56:03] salvation is not a response to human action but a decision rooted in god's eternal purpose guys the button i am saved was not triggered by obedience it wasn't triggered by morality or effort before failure or obedience even existed grace was already assigned and this is where we
[00:56:22] have to know that this is where performance driven christianity is destroyed because why you're not saved because you played the game well you're saved because god rewrote your ending before the game ever began isn't that good now some of y'all this weirds you out because um because you're like
[00:56:42] what was my choice? Not really. It was your choice in what you think is your freedom, but God stands over the whole parade. You with me? Now, some of y'all just mess you up because
[00:56:56] you're like, oh, that sounds like reformed theology. Yeah, it is. But here's the point I want you to understand. Reformed theology is an after the fact event. Like as an evangelist, I never go around and go, are you the elect of God?
[00:57:10] Are you elect, my friend?
[00:57:13] No, I say, hey, as loud as I can, do you know Jesus?
[00:57:17] Have you submitted to the cross of Christ?
[00:57:20] Have you asked Christ as your Lord and personal savior?
[00:57:22] Have you repented of your sins?
[00:57:24] And once Christ works in and that comes about, then from that vantage point, you can look back and see, you better believe I'm elect because heaven's hounds were on my trail.
[00:57:37] Anybody know that joy of your testimony?
[00:57:40] Looking back, go, I was running, but I can't outrun the best marathon runner there is.
[00:57:46] Oh yeah, baby, I was rolling, but I couldn't roll past him.
[00:57:51] That's the joy of this, which then gives you a great confidence in to know that God's work in your life is not by happenstance.
[00:58:01] Now guys, here's the point of why Paul is writing this.
[00:58:04] Is Paul writing this from a holiday resort?
[00:58:07] Is Paul writing this letter to Timothy?
[00:58:09] He is in the Mediterranean, but is he in the Caribbean?
[00:58:13] Is he writing this from an all-paid, you know, all-you-can-eat weekend trip?
[00:58:19] Where's Paul at when he's writing this?
[00:58:22] He's in prison, and knowing that death is coming.
[00:58:25] So he is speaking to this young man who is kind of shrinking back, who is kind of drifting, and he's saying, Timothy, bro, you don't belong to yourself.
[00:58:37] you belong to God he according to his purpose and grace saved you friends the best thing that you and I could ever learn is is that you don't belong to yourself you belong to God you belong to God
[00:58:58] think about it this way how many of you don't raise your hand I just want you to process this how many of you in this room or in the sound of my voice either own your own business
[00:59:07] or you are the manager of a business or the leader of your line or your shift, okay?
[00:59:16] And how many of you, knowing that, have tools and equipment and trucks and all kinds of equipment and things to do your job that you have to let your employees use?
[00:59:30] Did I get a nod on that one?
[00:59:32] How well do those employees use what's the company's?
[00:59:38] Now you can answer.
[00:59:42] Easy if they're in the sanctuary, okay?
[00:59:45] Easy if they're sitting in a row over here.
[00:59:46] How well do they use them?
[00:59:49] Huh?
[00:59:50] Not too good.
[00:59:51] Not at all.
[00:59:53] It's like, oh, it ain't mine.
[00:59:54] I didn't pay for it.
[00:59:55] You know, it's their responsibility.
[00:59:57] I'm just supposed to, you know, get my job done, right?
[01:00:00] I think that's the way many of us act in our relationship with Jesus.
[01:00:04] We press the I'm saved button, but it's like, well, if he don't bless me, I ain't gonna do nothing.
[01:00:09] Or I'm gonna live my life.
[01:00:11] I don't really care what he's called me to do.
[01:00:13] and I don't really feel like living a holy life, so he's just gonna have to get over it.
[01:00:16] But I'm saved, praise God.
[01:00:18] Now, if you as an owner or manager get tore up, can we just confess right now?
[01:00:23] Can we just, can I enter into some confession?
[01:00:26] When I was running the recycling facility, can I just tell you, I could handle a wiring harness going out of a forklift, even by user error.
[01:00:34] I could handle having to put a new seal in, even though maybe the operator was just ramming that cardboard, and just blew the seal.
[01:00:42] because I was learning.
[01:00:43] But you know what used to tear me up is to walk out in the plant and find the broom head laying in this corner of the plant and then go to the other corner of the plant
[01:00:52] and here's the broom handle, broken.
[01:00:56] Used to tear me out of frame.
[01:00:59] No more than a $15 broom.
[01:01:02] But it revealed two things.
[01:01:03] Number one, I'm employing people who have the integrity of a dust mite.
[01:01:13] If you break a broom, a $15 broom, and you gotta hide it.
[01:01:18] The other thing it teaches me is that they thought that broom was a D6 dozer and they were like, trying to push a wall down with it.
[01:01:27] Instead of just coming to me and say, hey boss, these are probably not good brooms.
[01:01:32] I would have handled that way better than that.
[01:01:34] And I wonder how many of us do God just like that.
[01:01:36] Instead of going to God with a confession of what we've done, we drop a little in this corner of the altar and then we drop a little in this corner of the altar and we're like, I don't know what happened, Lord.
[01:01:46] got no idea now with that illustration let's think about this way if you're the owner or you're the manager how different is it when you have an employee that actually takes care of the stuff that you put in their
[01:01:57] responsibility like and sometimes there are two steps ahead of you to where they're actually taking the load of the work off of you because they already know they've learned what you do in a company how easier is it for you to deal
[01:02:11] with that employee how easier is it for you to pay that employee more or tell that employee, take the truck home. You don't need to bring it back. I know you'll take care of it.
[01:02:21] Now that's a shadowy representation, but if we have that attitude toward employees who are that good stewards, how do you think God responds to us when we not only mash the save button, but we go, Lord, everything you put in my hands, I want to use for your glory because I'm
[01:02:36] called. Amen. Now hang there because we're going to put that together with some responsibilities in just a moment. This is where we got to know that pressing the right, that living for God is not about pressing the right buttons, friends. Living for God is about having a changed identity.
[01:02:57] If I'm pressing the button that I'm saved and my identity has not changed, that's a problem.
[01:03:06] So either I'm not truly saved, I'm just have a works related righteousness that just because I'm a little bit better than the guy next to me. But friends, I'm telling you, when it comes to
[01:03:17] being right with God. There's no comparison to the guy or the girl to your right or your left.
[01:03:20] The comparison is the cross. And we are the reason why Jesus went to the cross. So unless I come to Christ through the cross, I can't get to Christ. I can't get to God. And all God's people said,
[01:03:34] and that means that there's nothing that I can do that can win God's favor. But God's favor and salvation was won for me by the perfect man, Jesus Christ over 2000 years ago, dying sacrificially
[01:03:46] for me. So now watch this. The gospel didn't improve the game of life. It rewrote the purpose and the outcome. When Jesus comes, friends, he says, which now he made manifest through the appearing of our savior, Christ Jesus. Christ didn't enter history to tweak behavior and to
[01:04:03] refine the rules. No, he appeared to manifest what was already decided for you, what God's plan and will for you. He didn't offer new controls. He reveals a new identity for you and for me how good is that a new identity for us that we don't have to live in our sins but that we can
[01:04:21] be free in him and so the point here is is that christianity is not about mastering a spiritual skill set it's about living in a reality that christ already secured now remember paul is writing this from prison you want to talk about how paul's fighting discouragement he in prison
[01:04:38] beating stripes on his back he's already been had to snot beat out of him a zillion times y'all So he's got the scars, biblically we call it stigmata.
[01:04:46] He's already got the scars to prove his faith and he's saying, look, this is exactly what God laid out for me, even though it's costing me something.
[01:04:55] Because why?
[01:04:56] Christ abolished death and he gave life.
[01:04:59] The gospel is the ultimate cheat code.
[01:05:02] Students, how many of y'all, when you play a hard game, you're looking for the cheat code?
[01:05:05] Anybody know what I'm talking about?
[01:05:06] Get that boost, that extra power.
[01:05:08] The gospel is the cheat code for us.
[01:05:10] How so?
[01:05:10] this is where when he she said I abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel death was the final unbeatable mechanism of the old game right nobody's beating death and so when Jesus steps on the
[01:05:27] scene he handles it how many of you are old enough on the Atari 2600 to play a pole position you may remember that good old game oh yeah something what did y'all do in your life? We had to work. You didn't work that much. You didn't work that much. No. Pole
[01:05:45] position. Yeah. You were outside. That's right. Pole position allowed you to get to a certain like checkpoint and then you could go again and you had to race and get going. So you get to the
[01:05:53] next checkpoint. And that's the way most of us live our life. We have a tendency to press the I'm saved button and like, let me be good. Let me be good. Oh, I wasn't that good. So let me start
[01:06:01] over. Let me be good. Let me be good. Oh, let me start over. Let me be good. Let me, oh, this temptations get me. No, no, no. This is where Christ rewrites the game. Christ didn't, didn't
[01:06:11] pause death or delay it. He abolished it, which means if he abolished death, the fear and the self-preservation and the control no longer run the system. When death is defeated, the motivations behind sin are exposed as lies. What does the Bible say? For the wages of sin is what? So how
[01:06:30] did death get here because of what three-letter word already said it sin so when Jesus abolishes death he comes and destroys the power of sin so that when we are saved we also now don't have to mash the button of I'm a sinner too I
[01:06:48] still sin I like sin and I want to sin I don't worry about my calling the whole life I want to sin sin sin sin sin sin sin sin sin sin sin sin right we're
[01:06:56] here with a sin button like galaga like this that identity has to change if we're truly saved and to do that christ has got to rewrite the program in our heart to where we find no glory or joy or
[01:07:14] comfort in sin anymore we are no under no obligation to sin because he abolished death and this is where he calls us guys not just to this calling but to a new relationship in our life
[01:07:29] go forward with me Jonathan your calling isn't a button it's a role assigned by Jesus there is nobody in this room or under the sound of my voice that's saved on your own if you are
[01:07:46] you ain't saved because none of us can be that good long enough and none of our sorries can appease the holy god but isn't that good isn't that good to know guess what the ground
[01:08:00] is level at the foot of the cross that means that red yellow black or white rich or poor super educated undereducated it's all by the love mercy and grace of god revealed in his sinless life, his sacrificial death, his blood spilt for us. That's how we get there. But every
[01:08:25] calling God has on our life now is not a button that we click on when we want it and a button we click off. No, no, no. It's not a button. It's a, it is a role assigned by Jesus. And these are the
[01:08:40] roles Paul says, I realized that I was assigned by God. I'm a preacher and apostle and a teacher.
[01:08:47] He says, I'm a preacher because I foretell the word of God.
[01:08:50] I'm an apostle because I saw the risen Lord and was given a commission to go forth and help the church emerge and the gospel go forth.
[01:08:58] And he says, I'm a teacher to help you understand this.
[01:09:01] Now, the majority of us in this room are not preachers and we're not apostles, and some of you are teachers, okay?
[01:09:09] So then how do I take what Paul is speaking to Timothy and how do I adapt that into my role of my life?
[01:09:16] Because guys, as you are saved, you and I all have a calling in our life. If you are a man in this room or listening, that is not a button you get to decide to turn off and turn on. That's a sacred role given by
[01:09:36] Jesus. Thank you. If you're a woman in this room or under the sound of my voice, that is not a you get to turn on and turn off even if you don't feel like a woman that is a sacred role given to
[01:09:51] you by Jesus if you are a teenager let's talk about the calling of age brackets if you're a teenager here that's not a button you can go if I mash this faster I'll get out of here sooner
[01:10:07] right isn't that what we normally do teenagers right we're elementary school we can't wait to

[01:10:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:10:13] get to where? Middle school. Yeah. I'm going to play varsity. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to dunk on somebody, right? I'm going to grow a mustache, right? Yeah. Not a lot of middle schoolers grow

[01:10:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:10:26] mustaches these days. Back in the eighties, every middle school male had a mustache and they smart marble lights too. There's a few of you in here. You've been redeemed. Praise God. I'm going to get in trouble for that one. Here we go. Right. When you get to middle school, what is it? What's
[01:10:45] the push? What's the push? High school, high school. I got to get my driver's license, right?
[01:10:48] gotta get my driver's license oh yeah yeah yeah and then when we get to high school what's the push what's the push come on oh i gotta i gotta i gotta get to college right i gotta get out of
[01:10:56] this house right get to college but then what's the push oh i gotta push this what what i'm gonna graduate and i'm gonna i'm gonna get married and i'm gonna make a million dollars in two weeks oh
[01:11:06] hallelujah i ain't saying it can't happen but right so this is where students rushing your calling doesn't work and it's not a button that you can you can speed the process up by just become more intentional about it. It's an assigned role. If you're a middle schooler right now,
[01:11:28] praise God for you. Just take a bath regularly. Okay. It's a joke. It's a joke. It's a joke.
[01:11:35] It's a joke. Okay. If you're a high schooler right now, don't rush it. Don't rush it. All right.
[01:11:43] Cause here's what happens. You want to get out of your house, but then y'all come back and the grocery bill comes back up. Okay. Right. Don't, don't rush it. If you're here and you're single it's it's it's a divine call in your life and here's the point guys it's like my my my high
[01:12:00] schoolers if you if you are not talking to god about your calling what are you doing like it's just your job your goal to go to a big school and you've not thought about what god's calling you
[01:12:12] to do in your life like how does that go along with you being saved i can tell you exactly it doesn't go along that's the reason why saved kids go to big schools and they do a lot of unsaved
[01:12:21] stuff come on this is this is where god what are you calling me to do in my life and where's the best place to where's the best place to to handle this in your singleness are you talking to god
[01:12:41] about who god's going to put in your life hello because if you're not don't be surprised when all you get is just a warm body and all you got to show for the life is just that one body discharging
[01:13:00] on you hello oh yeah i'm mashing buttons today i've heard you talk oh i just i just get pooped on all the time by by him by her that's what you're saying i married a warm body and i get
[01:13:15] the discharge you better be talking to god about it hello this is a fun part for me because i love it when i get a couple who meets partying and meets living in sin and then they get married
[01:13:35] and one of them gets saved and then the other one gets saved and then the struggle is is they don't know how to respond to one another in holiness because most of their interactions have been in
[01:13:48] what in sin so they don't know what to do with one another they don't know what this looks like because they still got old rewiring where they got new intentions but if it doesn't go the way
[01:13:57] they want to they flip back to old rewired programming of sin they say things like well you used to be a lot of fun we were drunk then we were lost then we have regrets christ is calling
[01:14:16] us to new living and this is where as a pastor when i disciple couples like this i'll say hey this isn't a button you get to turn on and turn off because this isn't working very well
[01:14:28] no no no no this is a this is a responsibility designed by jesus for you right now you just haven't really ever thought about what it means to be holy in this calling and that the struggle
[01:14:44] of most of our marriages yeah if you're a parent right now that's not something you just get to click off and click on just because you're tired you won't put an ipad in front of them best thing
[01:14:56] you ever do is probably get rid of the ipads and there's only so many tournaments you need to go to I'm tripping triggers today largely because I've lived through a lot of that I can see it
[01:15:10] every one of these is a calling in your life that your saved identity needs to manifest itself in are you with me as now watch what this bible passage teaches us Paul says for which I am
[01:15:31] suffering as I what? Do. Which is why I am what? Read it with me, church. I suffer as I do. Paul says, this isn't the community suffering. This is the weight of his calling. The weight of his
[01:15:48] salvation manifests itself in the calling that creates suffering. Go back to the teaching point with me, if you will. Jesus rewrites hearts that willingly suffer in their callings. But worldly programmed hearts lead to willful sin in their responsibilities. Here's the point. Christ saves
[01:16:13] you and calls you and you have responsibilities. And you will, in that responsibility, either willingly suffer or you will willingly sin in your calling. Let's think about it this way.
[01:16:28] Guys, how tough is it to be a man?
[01:16:32] It's just like talking to a man.
[01:16:34] Uh, uh.

[01:16:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:16:43] See, I told you, it's just not me.
[01:16:45] Pastor Brian knows it too.
[01:16:46] Oh my God, I get it.

[01:16:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:16:48] Right?
[01:16:49] Give me a little heads up on that one, Pastor.
[01:16:52] I mean, come on, guys.
[01:16:53] We live in a world right now that is crucifying biblical masculinity.
[01:16:58] But the reason why it is is that we've not given them very good examples of biblical masculinity.
[01:17:04] To be able to stand, to be able to serve with no thought of a pat on the back, to be that respectable leader, okay?
[01:17:13] Ladies, how difficult it is to be a woman.
[01:17:20] What, how long I got?
[01:17:26] Most of that's y'all's fault.
[01:17:33] You were the first at the tree.
[01:17:35] No, that's so bad, that's so bad, that's so bad.
[01:17:38] That's so bad, that's so bad.
[01:17:40] Listen, I made fun of the guys, I had to pick on us just a little bit, okay?
[01:17:44] All right, now watch, watch.
[01:17:47] That's the struggle with most of our lives is because as a saved person, we lived in sin and the suffering that comes apart in our lives as a man or as a woman is some of that figuring out
[01:18:07] and bringing into whatever relationship we have the level of sin I lived in because when life got tough for you as a man or got tough for you as a woman, you wanted comfort. And instead of going to God and suffering in that, you willfully sinned in
[01:18:28] your responsibility. Listen, students, purity is difficult, but it's only difficult if you are playing the game by the world. But if you see it as, as the advantage in your life, then you don't go look for the same things that the world teaches you to.
[01:18:54] And when you walk into other relationships, you have less regrets. Are you with me? And this is, this is where it becomes powerful, not something of a regret. And if you've never lived in that
[01:19:08] purity, then this is where you say, okay, God, retrain me. Show me why this is important in my life, in my mouth, in my mind, in my sexuality, in what you want to do in my life. Show me the joy
[01:19:22] and the power of this. Does that make sense? This is where, let's say for instance, singles, how difficult is it being single? Talk to me. And they are like, I'm afraid to say anything now.
[01:19:39] Come on, talk to me. How difficult is it? Yeah, it's rough, right? I mean, this is what, I remember this.
[01:19:45] I was single till I was 27.
[01:19:47] I had the whole idea that I wanted to just travel and preach the gospel, but I knew I couldn't be celibate forever.
[01:19:53] Just honest.
[01:19:54] So I was like, okay, what does it look like to give God glory as a husband?
[01:20:00] And who's God gonna put in my life that has the same calling I have and takes the convictions of the Lord and I'm gratefully put Angie in my life, right?
[01:20:09] So there's suffering.
[01:20:11] But in that suffering of waiting and trying to figure out, okay, how do I pay my bills on my own? And how do I stay holy on my own?
[01:20:20] And how do I live life on my own? If you are unwilling to suffer by the principles of Christ that actually produce life in that responsibility of single, you will live in sin and sin produces
[01:20:35] death. How many of us, how difficult is it in marriage? Dudes are like, I ain't saying a thing.
[01:20:46] it can be there could be real seasons of difficulty can't there yeah because why you have two different wills you sometimes you're projecting things in the marriage sometimes you you just you see it not as a divine call you see it as a button you're just like i'm not really
[01:21:05] happy about you right now clicking this off nope you can't turn it on either no matter what you do all right that's why it's not a button it's a calling given to you by jesus the button stays
[01:21:19] on because it's not a button it's who you are and it's who you're called to you hear me now even in that god-ordained role there are still moments of suffering aren't there you have this plan
[01:21:35] they have that plan you have this way of thinking they have that way of thinking you weren't raised like that they were raised like this right and that that gets crazy sometimes doesn't it you parent this way they parent that way right you want this level of this
[01:21:57] they are okay with that level of this you like the house this way they like it that way in the process of that jesus is somewhere around here because hopefully both of you are saved
[01:22:09] and in all of that if you are unwilling to suffer as the spouse in that relationship then you will willfully sin in that relationship sin against them sin and adultery sin and just isolating your life off from them sin and and pointing out all their sin but never dealing
[01:22:33] with your own sin are you with me but it's the suffering in that role that brings the real joy. How difficult it is at being a parent. Y'all ain't going to talk to me. Forget y'all. How about
[01:22:51] them grandparents? How good is it being a grandparent? Bunch of sinners. I don't want nobody to talk to me, man. What's wrong? Now, how many of you grandparents out there were like, boy, if I could have started with grandkids, oh, hallelujah. I'd have done it. Oh, I'd have done it.
[01:23:09] Now, why do you say that? Because why? It's grandchildren that realized how you sinned instead of suffering with your own children.
[01:23:19] Here's the reason why.
[01:23:20] Because your kids come to you and you go, who are you and what did you do with my mother?
[01:23:27] Your kid, yes, yes.
[01:23:29] That's what I'm talking about.
[01:23:30] That's good preaching.
[01:23:31] Your kids come to you and go, who are you and what did you do with my father?
[01:23:34] If I'd have ever done anything like that, my high name would have been sitting on the back of my neck.
[01:23:39] I would have chewed my hair instead of combed it, right?
[01:23:45] Because why?
[01:23:46] Those grandparents now have perspective to realize in the suffering and the calling of being a parent, they didn't always willingly suffer, they willfully sinned.
[01:24:00] This is why you yelled a lot and you cussed them and you told them, if you just knew half of what it costs

[01:24:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:24:06] to whop your honey and I swear you'd be much more appreciative around here, right?

[01:24:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:24:13] Which is not the gospel, does it?
[01:24:15] Jesus never said if you just knew how hard it was to die for you no he told us for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son that whoever believed in him should not perish
[01:24:26] but have eternal life so grandparents are now able to look back and go I should have done things different I should have done things different because why the buttons that we're now pushing they reveal the programming and this is where as a parent in the struggle of raising our children
[01:24:48] we're raising disciples not just division one athletes and all-star people and super intelligent next answer to cancer are you with me and here's the truth of this friends and whatever the responsibility is you got to make a choice you will either willingly suffer for the glory of God
[01:25:11] in that calling or you will willfully sin against that responsibility and make a mockery of Jesus and set a pattern for everyone around you to when you get to that issue, when you get to that level of living,
[01:25:28] this is how you sin and escape it.
[01:25:31] That's the reason why alcoholism, adultery, drugs, all kinds of mental, all kinds of things are so rampant among God's people because why?
[01:25:42] We don't have a rewritten code.
[01:25:45] We're mashing the button of sin.
[01:25:47] I'm saved, but we're living, avoiding our calling and avoiding holy life so here's the point that i close with and i want you to take this home and listen go back just one second no back to the to the preacher the apostle
[01:26:03] i want you on your piece of paper this afternoon to just write write your three circles just start with three what are what you're calling maybe maybe if you're a woman you're a wife you're a
[01:26:17] mother uh you do this as a profession you're a man you're single you work you have this hobby maybe you're a man i'm a husband i'm a father um on my own company i work at a at a factory
[01:26:39] you with me and i want you to think about what's going on in that are you living called and are you living holy even though you have to suffer?
[01:26:54] All right, let me ask this question before I leave this and head to the next one.
[01:26:59] Any couples in here that are older that in your marriage, you had to go through some suffering that you confess it and you're out of it maybe.
[01:27:14] How sweeter is that marriage now?
[01:27:19] Come on, talk to me.
[01:27:21] Are you less likely to take one another for granted?
[01:27:24] Are you more likely to be gracious to one another?
[01:27:28] Have you found a new reason to serve one another?
[01:27:32] See, serving, suffering in your calling builds a great servant in you.
[01:27:39] And that's what Christ is after.
[01:27:42] So here's what I want you to think about.
[01:27:43] Go forward with me to the end.
[01:27:46] Buttons reveal, but programming determines.
[01:27:51] Honoring God is not about playing the game better.
[01:27:56] It's about being a new creation.
[01:27:59] And here's my question.
[01:28:00] are you genuinely a new creation? If Jesus has rewritten your heart, then faithfulness means playing the role God gave you, even if it costs you. Do you see that? Do you hear that?
[01:28:21] Paul writes this letter from prison to Timothy to say, Timothy, God called me a pastor to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. My faithfulness to this calling has ended me in jail.
[01:28:36] And many people are going to see in a couple of weeks, he says, everybody in Asia Minor left me.
[01:28:41] All my buddies who were like, you're the best thing since sliced bread, bro, are like, we don't know you. And Paul is only able to stay the course because he realizes that he's, God has rewritten
[01:28:54] my heart. And he has not given me buttons, but he has given me divine places I'm called to be and to live in. And those cost me something. They cost me sometimes my comfort. They cost me
[01:29:12] it being my way. They cost me. And if right now you're thinking, well, but when do you ever get your way. See, that's the struggle of a Christian. It's his way. And when we let him rewrite our
[01:29:33] programming, normally what we've been pitching a fit about is our sin rather than celebrating our savior. Think about that. Rewriting. If Jesus has rewritten your heart, then faithfulness means play in the role God gave you, even if it costs you something. And that's when the world sees

[01:30:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:30:00] a passion they can't get from the world, but they can get from the cross and all God's people said.

[01:30:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:30:12] Would you pray with me today? If you say, pastor B, I am not born again. I don't have a new identity.
[01:30:23] I've, I've mashed the button. I got baptized. I mashed the button of salvation, but there's not a new identity in me. Here's what I want to give you the opportunity to do just simply before the
[01:30:33] Lord right now. Say, Jesus, I need you. I've been living in comparison in my sin and in my own works, but I need a new identity in you. I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins,
[01:30:51] save me and come into my life. I'm asking you to be my savior and my Lord. Rewrite me. Today, if you pray that prayer with all of your heart, then I'm gonna ask you, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand,
[01:31:06] but I'm gonna ask you at the end of the service to come grab one of these bags.
[01:31:11] And in this bag with a Bible, with a new believer's guide, there's a contact card.
[01:31:17] And I want you to write that, fill that out and drop it in the basket before you leave here that's in the foyer.
[01:31:23] And we will follow up with you.
[01:31:26] Maybe you're here today though, and you say, pastor, I am saved, but I have been willfully sinning in my calling.
[01:31:32] I have avoided the suffering that my calling demands of me for your glory and I have used it as a button I've turned it on and I've turned it off I've turned it on when it's easy
[01:31:48] and exciting and I've turned it on when it costs me something and I'm not going to ever use it as a button again I want to see it as my role and maybe this will be your prayer Jesus you know my
[01:32:01] ways. You know my thinking. You know my programming. Rewrite me that I may honor you in the callings and responsibilities you've put on me. In Jesus' name, I pray.
[01:32:25] And all God's people said, I love you, church family. Lord bless you.