You are invited to stop blaming God for the pain in your life and instead trust in His loving kindness that leads to repentance. As you obey the Holy Spirit in small moments, you become a vessel for His goodness so others can see Jesus through you. This week, choose to be God-conscious and reproduce His love in every interaction you have.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
And I wanna talk today for a little bit and I just continue to drill down a line of thought that we we started on yesterday in the middle of the messages. **God is good** and there's a reason for his goodness. It's because it's who he is. Period. God is good.
**God is love*. The things that he do flow out of his great love, his compassions* that never fail. You can have faith in him because he is faithful. It's who he is. His "loving kindness" impacts every aspect of our life so we can have hope in the middle of sorrow.
The problem is, and I don't mind reminding you of this. I I know I've said this before, but I will continue to remind you. That's what Peter Peter writes in first and second Peter. He's like, hey. I know I've said this before, but I'm gonna continue to remind you, to encourage you so that we drill it deep.
Just because you're going suit through something doesn't mean that god caused it. So when you blame him, you're showing that you really don't think that he's good. And so you can't seek him because in order to seek him, you have to believe that his plan for you is better than your plan for you. You can't repentance. What is repentance?
*Repentance is turning to him*. Right? So that that's if if you if you don't know what the definition of repentance is, it's basically turning from your way to God's way. *Hebrews-11:6*. Right?
You have to believe he exists, and his plan for you is better than your plan for you. Because if you don't believe that he's good and his plan for you is better than your plan for you, you're not gonna turn from your way to his way. You're gonna say, no. I'm gonna control this area of my life because I feel that my plan for me is better than his plan for me. So I can't experience his goodness in this area of my life until I let go and realize that his goodness is better than my goodness.
And so we get stuck in Lamentations, in sorrow, because we don't call this to mind and have hope that his great love or his loving kindness, because of that, we will not be consumed. So we think that we're consumed in this area of our life. And a lot of times, we blame him once again for what the enemy has done to us because the enemy comes to "steal, kill, and destroy". But Jesus came that we have life and "life more abundantly". So if it's stealing, it's killing, and destroying, who's it from?
Or and a lot of times, it's just from our own choices or or from other people's choices. Like, there's sin in the world. There's destruction in the world, and people choose dumb stuff sometimes. We choose dumb stuff sometimes, and it hurts not only ourselves, but it hurts others. There's a lot of people in here that are hurt because of what somebody else chose.
That wasn't god's will. It wasn't god's plan. And I I think I just need to to dive down this this road just a little bit longer because I talked about it last week, and it's very important to understand this. God's will I'm a I'm a say this, and it and for some people, it's gonna be crushing. For some people, it's gonna be like, wait a second.
That goes against everything I always thought, but let me prove it in scripture. Okay? So let's always go back to the word instead of what we've always been taught. Because if we just believe something because it sounds good, we might be believing a lie and it holding us back from turning to god in every aspect of our life. Right?
A lot of people believe when God wants something to happen, it always happens. When God will something to happen, it always happens. And that's not true. *Hebrews-9* and and because of that, they blame god for all of the bad that's going on in their life and they see him as this dupe this this god of duplicity, this god of of of, you know, if if he's mad at me this day or if he doesn't see me right this day, then then he's gonna cause all this bad stuff to happen, or they see him as this karma type of god. Well, I did my type of bad, and and, man, I believe in karma because no.
That's not that's not from him. That's not the kingdom of heaven. That's not the New Testament. We live in grace and righteousness because of what Jesus has done for us. Watch this.
She likes that or he likes that. Yeah. *Hebrews-9* 0, sorry. Not Hebrews. I'm I'm sorry.
Second Peter. Let's go to 2 Peter-3:9. The lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone or not willing that anyone should perish. Are there people perishing?
Yes. Are there people dying separated from God and living a a life in eternity separated from his goodness? Yeah. Yeah. Is is that true?
Yes. Yes. But God doesn't want that to happen. Yep. Amen.
But it's happening. It's not god's will that that should happen and yet, it's happening. Do you catch that? There's a lot of people saying, but. No.
There's no buts. A lot of time see, God is a loving God, and he gives people a choice. God man, God wants what's best for you, and a lot of times are the what's best for us is not happening in our lives because we don't believe that he's good and he's kind. So we run from him instead of running to him. And in running from him, we're allowing our lives to get cut up by the enemy instead of walking with our heavenly father "hand in hand" through the sorrowful times.
God's plan for you is amazing. He has loving kindness for you. He is good, and it's his goodness. Watch this. This is gonna bust up some stuff in your life so that you can experience his goodness in areas of your life that you never have before because you thought he was mad at you so you wouldn't run to him in those areas of your life.
Watch this. Romans, god's not mad at you. *Romans-2:4* says, or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that god's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. Another version says, god's kindness leads you to repent, not knowing that god's kindness leads you to repentance. Now, before that and after that, it's talking about a lot of people in the world that are choosing to live in junk.
And because they're choosing to live in junk, man, there's a lot of stuff happening to them, and it stinks for their life, and a lot of people end up perishing from him because they didn't realize that god's kindness is intended or god's kindness leads us into repentance. That word for his don't show contempt for the riches of his kindness. And then again, it says, god's kindness. That word for kindness, it's special. The word for kindness in the Greek, in the original text, and I don't always do this but I just, I think it's very important is Crestas.
And it's pronounced the same as Christos which is Christ and it's a name that the Romans would use when they would name a slave. Jesus became a what? Slave. And the meaning of it is it it it we don't have in English again the the exact meaning of that word. We don't have like an adjective to to say all of it.
So, we have to put some stuff together. It means a combination of *goodness* and kindness. God's goodness slash kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. When we experience his goodness kindness, we turn to him. And if we reject his goodness, kindness, or we think, man, he's not good in this area, so we're we're subconsciously going to reject him in that area of our life.
If we're struggling with sin, if we're struggling letting go of something, it's because we don't see him as good in that area. We see our good as better than his good because we don't trust him in that area. We don't trust that his goodness is better than our goodness. So, we hold on to this area of our life instead of realizing that he's good and he's kind. He's kind and his goodness is better for us in this thing.
So, let's just let it go and trust god. Because he's good. He's kind. Mark *Mark-10* We talked about this last last week I just want to hit on it for a second. Is it okay if I'm just sharing my heart like this today?
Amen. Oh, yeah. Okay. Let's go. *Mark-10:17*, as Jesus started on his way What's up, dude?
Alright. As Jesus started on his way, a man read up to him and fell on his knees before him. Good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit **eternal life**? So, once again, like, when I talk with people all the time Hey, do you do you do you know Jesus? Like, you know, do you believe in Jesus?
And I'll I'll talk with them for a while a lot of times before I bring out that question because as soon as I bring out that question, they feel judged. Woah. Simmer down. Man, god loves you. No.
But they're like, well, you know, I'll go to church. That's not what I asked you. A lot of people equate going to church with knowing Jesus. Going to church is a good thing. It is a great thing.
It's a wonderful thing to be. And as a matter of fact, the Bible is very clear. Do not forsake. Do not stop getting together with other people consistently, other Christians as some are in the habit of doing. Don't do that.
It's important. When you isolate yourself, it brings death. Isolation causes you to dry up and die. Don't do that. Stay connected.
It's important. Anyway, I'll I'll talk with people a lot of times, and they'll say, well, I go to church. I'm like, okay. Well, that's good. Do you know like, how's your relationship with do you know him?
You know? And they say, well, I read the Bible. I do these good things. What they're doing is they're trying to prove to themselves that they're good enough to inherit a relations or eternal life. Inherit.
And when they think of eternal life, they think of the "sweet by and by". They think of heaven 1 day or or when I die, you know, I did enough good stuff in my life. That's not eternal life. Eternal life is Jesus defines eternal life as knowing god. Jesus defines eternal life when he was praying in John-17.
He defines eternal life as walking in relationship with him. If I'm gonna walk in relationship with him, I I can't be ashamed and guilty because he's perfect. I have to understand that what Jesus did for me has paid for everything. And when God sees me because of his goodness and his kindness and his giving me what I don't deserve, he's forgiven me completely and totally and washed me completely and totally clean so I can walk hand in hand with the God of the universe. And not only that, God lives in me so I can have relationship with him, and I can talk to him and him talk to me and impact every aspect of my life.
Amen. Amen. That's not, you don't earn that. It's given and received Okay. So, good teacher and Jesus says these words, verse 18, why do you call me good?
Jesus answered. No 1 is good except god alone. Now, Jesus is not saying that he's not good and Jesus is not saying that he's not god because we know Jesus himself said that he was god. And we know that it's written in the beginning was the word. The word was with god and the word was god.
And Jesus, the word became flesh among us, the son of god, yet fully god. Right? So Jesus in that statement there, kind of a the the way that he phrased it, but he's really saying, I am good and I am god. Amen. God and and Jesus himself, no one's good but god.
God is good. Jesus said it. God is good. Don't view him as anything else. And then we said this, in *Luke-6:43* No **good tree** bears or produces bad fruit nor does a bad tree produce good fruit, but each tree is recognized by its own fruit.
Right? If I go and pick I go to an orange tree and I pick a lemon, it'd be weird. Right? Because the nature of what's in the orange tree produces oranges. If I go to an orange tree and everything that I've that I pick from that orange tree is is, you know, doesn't taste good.
It's hard. It's nasty. I'm gonna think, man, that that's a bad tree. I need to I need to have a better tree than that, right? Follow me so far.
A good man before we get there. I don't know if I've shared this before. I think I shared it with the dream team but I don't know if I shared it with the church and if I have, it's good for me to remind you. Staying in line with the the tree analogy, a good tree produces good fruit. Why?
Because of the nature of the tree is good, so the results, the product of the tree is going to be good. It says, a bad tree produces bad fruit because of what's inside of the tree, bad things come out. Yeah. It's just part of it. Grafting.
When a when a a farmer, like a a tree farmer, is that what you call it? Because I'm from Louisiana. We have, like, corn and soybeans and stuff. Yeah. On orchard orchard guy.
Yeah. An orange grove. There we go. When a guy a Grover. Yeah.
Anyway, if they're good, then every tree in that orange grove is a grafted tree. Why? Well, because if if you just take a normal orange tree and you take a bite of it, then maybe the the the peel is a little thicker. You know, it doesn't peel well. Maybe the the fruit is not quite as see sweet.
Maybe there's a lot of seeds in it. And so everything that it produces is from the nature of the tree. But then the the the smart farmer, orange farmer, just gonna call him an orange farmer. Smart orange farmer, he'll take a tree called the father tree, and he'll take some of the fruit of the father tree, and that father tree produces good fruit, man. It's a it's it's a a "sweet to taste".
It's it's a larger orange than what's normally produced. It's got a a thinner skin that's really easy to peel and only has just a few seeds. It's amazing. It's good for the public. And and and so, man, he'll take a piece of the father tree, and he'll lop off or cut off the top of that bad tree.
And he'll graft in the piece of the father tree. K? So imagine this this tree with the the the top cut off with the, you know, the way that they do it, they put a little slit and they they put the piece of the father tree into that little spot there. Now, what will happen? It's amazing how god shows his nature.
God shows his characteristics throughout nature. Romans says, Romans-1 says, man is without excuse. For you can see the invisible qualities of god throughout the created universe, throughout what is clearly visible. You can see his *goodness* throughout creation. So he grafts in this father tree.
Now what happens then from that spot where it's grafted, above that, everything that is produced is the same fruit of the father tree. It's the old tree, but it's producing the fruit with the nature of the father tree. Now, from now on, it produces the fruit that the the same fruit, the the the thick I mean, the bigger oranges with the thinner skin and the the sweeter to the taste and and less seeds. It used to produce bad fruit but the father's nature was grafted in. So, now, it produces that fruit.
There's no 1 good but god is what Jesus said and then it goes on to say, a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart but Jesus said, there's no 1 good but god, it seems like a contradiction. It is not. You can only produce god's type of goodness when god is grafted into your life. Yes. Yes.
When his nature is grafted into your life. And how does that happen? It happens when you're "born again". It happens when you see his goodness and you repent. You turn from your way to his way and he may he gives you a new heart.
He says, he says, we're a new creation in Christ Jesus. His goodness has been completely and totally grafted into us. And we're understanding more and more what that means every single day of our life. Is that my baby? Is she okay?
Okay. Gotcha. That's my that's my 5 year old. She's awesome. She's amazing.
So, why why do I go there again? Because the Bible says, The Bible says in Colossians-1:27 that "Christ in us" is the hope of glory. The Bible says so so God's hope of glory in the world is his nature that's in you. It's his goodness that's in you. The world around us is waiting to see the goodness of God flowing through us.
And when they see it, what happens? Don't you remember? God's goodness or his loving kindness, God's kind goodness, that's what draws people to repentance. It's not me going around and saying, you filthy, rotten sinner. You should turn or burn.
That's junk. It doesn't say it's the fear of God that leads a man to repentance. It says it's his kindness, his loving kindness that leads a man to repentance. Be free. **Christ in us*, the hope of glory*.
So, what does that look like? Jesus how do we reproduce god's goodness? Let's look at what Jesus did. Hebrews-1:3. And please go to your word.
Like, dig this stuff out. If you if you don't believe me, man, go to your word and see what it says. Test what's being said by the word of god. Man, if I'm wrong, the word will show you. Amen.
Don't test it by what you've always heard. Alright, *Hebrews-1:3*. Watch this. The son, talking about Jesus, is the radiance of god's *glory* and the exact, everybody say exact. Exact.
Exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. And he had provided purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So Jesus is the exact representation of the father. So Jesus in his life, if we wanna see how the father is, what the father is like, let's look back to the life of Jesus.
If we wanna see what goodness is incarnate, let's look at how Jesus lived, what Jesus said, what Jesus did. That is his goodness incarnate. That is the exact representation of what the heavenly father would be like if he was walking this Earth. You agree? Amen.
That's amazing. So, what is it that Jesus did in his life? He loved. He loved. Amen.
He loved. He was the and and he was the representation of that goodness and his life that brought about repentance. It caused people to want to follow him instead of following their way. Over and over and over, you see in the New Testament, they would see Jesus. Jesus would say, come follow me, and here's what they do.
They drop everything that they were doing, and they turn, and they'd follow him. Why? Because they saw his goodness. They saw who he was by what he did, and they say, man, his goodness is better than my goodness of what I'm holding on to. And it's not my good it's not just good deeds that leads a man to repentance.
It's not just giving people the shirt off your back that leads a man to repentance, although that is good. It's god's goodness that leads a man to repentance. There's a difference. For instance, like, there's a lot of people that do a lot of good things in the world but it's not leading people to repentance. Like, there's a lot of people that give a lot of money.
It's called the science of altruism. Okay? Altruism or or giving in that way does something inside, and it creates the same chemical reaction in your brain that sex does. So, when when people give large gifts or something like that, there's a there's a reaction and it makes people feel good. Yeah.
It's good but then also, see, the world's goodness, it's a there there's some good stuff but it has the character and the nature. Some of the character nature of god because god created them but it's tainted just a little bit. With a selfishness. Yeah. Yeah.
That's what sin is. It's choosing self over choosing god and you can do a lot of good things in the world but it be tainted with sin, be tainted with selfishness but when it's purely selfless, people see that and they say, I've never seen that before. I want what that is. That's the way that Jesus lived his life. Reproducing as the exact representation of the heavenly father, reproducing god's goodness because he was god in the flesh.
Amen? And it caused people. Now there were some people that saw it and chose their own way. They chose not to follow him. Don't be that.
Choose to follow him in every aspect of your life. Now, watch this. You agree with me. Jesus is the exact representation of the of of the father in flesh. You Yeah.
Right? You agree with me there? Alright. Careful what you're saying. I've said this before a lot and Imma say it again today.
*1 John-4:17*. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence in the day of judgement. In this world, everybody say in this world. In this world. Don't say in the sweet bind by.
No. In this world, we are like Jesus. *Ephesians-5:1* says, follow god's example or it's NIV. Another version says, be imitators of god as dearly beloved children. How are we like Jesus in this world?
Because we are adopted into his family because Christ paid the price for us to be so, and also Jesus is in us. So, we are to be the exact representation of the father to the people around us, of his goodness. Amen. How do we do that? What does that look like?
*Acts-11:25* says, then, Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. Antioch is this place in the way back in the day where the church began to grow and there's people from all over that came all over the the known world lived in Antioch because it was this big trade city and and, you know, so you had people from multiple different races, multiple different socioeconomic classes. You had the rich, you had the poor, you had the the black, you had the white, you had the Mediterranean, you had the the Asian, you had everybody there in in Antioch, right, in this this huge city. I forget, I think it's it it was 1 of the top 5 largest cities and and if I'm correct, it was like number 3 but don't quote me on that 1. In the Roman world.
But anyway, so for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians at first at Antioch. Why am I reading that? Keep that scripture up. Christian, You see 2 words in there.
Actually, you you see the the the root word and then you see the suffix, right? Christ in. Christ in. Right? Christian.
Christ in. I A N. It's a Latin term. We're doing a bunch of English today, but I a n is a Latin term. The Romans, they would plug that on to a word to denote another ethnicity, another race of people.
You know, European, African, Asian, IAN. Another whole another race of people. So what there's and and it wasn't the Christians that called themselves that. Actually, they called themselves the followers of the way, the way of Jesus. It was the Romans that called them or Christians.
They called them usually, especially in that society, you know, you were you were classed off. You know, the rich hung out with the rich. The poor hung out with the poor. You know, the businessmen that hung out with the businessmen. You had the the senators that hung out with the senators.
You had the the the the Africans with the Africans. The Asians, it was all separated. And if you were not Roman, you were nothing. The lowest of the low. And the Romans when they saw this followers of the way, these people that were following the way of Jesus, they didn't identify them as a bunch of Africans and Asians and and and Indians and and Romans and Europe, you know, Europeans.
They didn't identify him as that. They didn't identify them as the rich and the poor, the by their socioeconomic class. They identified them as a whole new race of people that followed what they heard about Christ back in the day. They heard all these stories about this guy named Christ or Christ. Remember, that means loving kindness.
They heard all these stories or means goodness and kindness together. They heard all these stories about this guy named Christos and it was a derogatory term because it was a name meant for a slave. But meant kindness and goodness and they saw them doing the same things they heard about this guy named Christ doing back in the day. 10 years, 30 years, 50 years, 100 years before. Well, it'll be it'll be about 30 years before.
And they called them this whole new race of people. So, that means in their daily life, they were showing the god's goodness to the to those people around them. They were being the exact representation of the father because when they lived and people saw them live, it reminded them of Jesus. What would it be like to live our life in such a way that when people see us, they reminds them of Christ? When people hear us speak, it reminds them of Jesus' goodness.
When people see us walk in a room and see the way that we talk to people or the way that we're radically generous. When people see us walk in the room and see us gravitate to the people that nobody else wants to talk to and love on them well. What would it be like? We are to be the exact representation of the father's goodness to the world. Showing that the kingdom has come and the kingdom is here.
The kingdom lives in me. The kingdom lives in you. So, what was it that Jesus normally did? What does it mean to show god's goodness to the world? Well, let me let me hear.
What's some of the stuff that like when you think about Christ, like the rumors of Christ, what do you know about Christ? What did he do? He forgave. What else? Unconditional love.
He healed people. Oh, no. He cast out demons. What else did he do? He raised the dead.
Made the blind see. What else did he do? Set people free from their sin. He rebuked the religious. Yes, he did.
That's kindness. Just because you rebuke doesn't mean it's not love. Amen. It says a wise man welcomes rebuke. Yes.
Yes. Right? But a fool shuns it. Man, I, man, if if I welcome god's rebuke in my life because maybe that's a place that I'm being religious and being stuck in my old stinking thinking. You know?
He did what god would do because he was god in the *flesh* and so if we're to be Christians, then everywhere that we walk remember, we've been talking about being ministers of the gospel. What are we ministers of? The good news. As if in 2 Corinthians-5:17 or 5 20, as if god is is imploring the world, making his request to the world, showing the world his goodness through us. We're *ambassadors* of his kingdom.
We are to represent him so that when people see us and people hear us, they see and hear god's loving kindness. God's kind *goodness* and what does that do? It causes people to repent. To turn from their sin. I'm just going to share some testimony.
Now, I'll give you an example and this is me boasting in god, right? Paul said, I'll boast in god all the more. I'll boast in what he does. Yes. Right?
We get to be partners with him and what he does and then through our lives in this world. A lot of times, I'll go my wife and I will go to a restaurant and we'll purchase some stuff, you know, buy food and we'll talk with the waitress and or the waiter, get to know their name, and just, you know, share the love of Jesus with them. But then at the end, sometimes, god will lay on our heart to be radically generous like in a way that they don't deserve. Right? Maybe it's a $20 tip or maybe it's a $100 tip, you know, on a $40 check.
I'm not I'm boasting in god's goodness. Okay? So don't take it any other way. But here's what happens. And this is interesting because remember, it's "god's kind goodness", his loving kindness that leads a man to repentance.
Without saying anything about their sin, without saying anything about the way that they're living. I'm just showing them love. I'm showing them how much god loves them. And then I do an act that god lead the Holy Spirit literally leads us to do because the Holy Spirit's in us. Right?
And as we walk in obedience to him, it's him living through us and impacting the world around us. So it's God's loving kindness through us. A good man brings good things out of the good stored in his heart. Well, there's no 1 good but God, so it's god in us. So a good man brings good things out of the god stored in his heart.
A good man brings god things out of the god stored in his heart and it impacts the world around them and leads them into relationship with him. So, a lot of times when I do that, they'll see it and we're like, you, you didn't have to do that. I said, I know but god so loved the world that he gave. So, god's generous. So, I am too because he's in me and he loves you and they'll and then they'll say this a lot of times.
Remember, god's goodness leads a man to repentance. They'll say this, man, I I used to go to church and I just been out of church for a long time and I just I'm I'm going through a lot right now. I'm struggling with drugs or I'm struggling with it. They start confessing their sin. Yeah.
Didn't say anything about their sin. No. What did I do? I showed them god's goodness. And it caused them to want to turn to him.
So, they they they felt because they saw his goodness. They felt comfortable opening up about their wrongness so god could wash it clean and they could walk in relationship with him again. Amen. What's another way god shows his goodness? I was at the YMCA Friday night.
I was going to get to workout, workout at the YMCA and there was someone there that was that was working and and man, I I just I saw him and I just I felt like I I I needed to talk with him. So, I walked over and I said, I said, excuse me, ma'am. What what what's your name? She said her name and I said, ma'am, you know what? I just believe god loves you a whole lot, like a whole lot.
Can can I pray for you? Just like that and and a lot of times when I when I'm talking with people and they're sitting down, oops. When I'm talking with people and I and they're sitting down, I don't stand over them, right? Chris Christ us. Yeah.
He's a servant. He's a slave. Yeah. Yeah. We become a servant to people showing them his love.
We're reproducing him in our life. In every aspect of life, it's it's, man, Christ's humility in and through us. The world is hungry for his love. So, said, ma'am, and I I I bend down and ma'am, well, how can I how can I pray for you? And she said, well, I just whatever Esther was anything specific.
She said, actually, my chest this muscle in my chest, I tore it working out about couple weeks ago and it's really like painful. I said, you're feeling pain right now? And she said, she said, yeah. I said, well, I'd love to pray for you. Can I hold your hand?
So, I held her hand. I said, thank you Jesus for loving us. Thank you for who you are. Thank you that you love this amazing woman and in the name of Jesus, I didn't beg god to heal it. Jesus said, heal the sick.
If you go read the disciple read how the disciples prayed for people, they didn't say, oh god, would you please do this? They took the authority as a son in the name of Jesus and said, be healed. You either believe it or you don't. You know? So it's not it's not me.
It's Jesus healing people. But I'm just taking *authority* based on his word, believing what he said. That's it. As a son in his name. So, I'll grab your hand and say, in the name of Jesus, chest muscle, be healed, pain leave, and I just thank you for loving us.
Thank you for your goodness. I said, ma'am, I said, look. I'm not I'm not a "fake it till you make it" kinda guy. There's no shows here. I said, I didn't say there's no shows here, but I said, I'm not a fake it till you make it kinda guy.
I said, I said, if nothing happened, that's fine. If the pain even got worse, that's okay. Or if it got better, would you test it and see what happened? Now, that that sometimes takes some to ask that, right? What if nothing happened?
What if something did? She tested. She said, you know what? Can move it more. It's still a little painful when I do this, but I can move it more.
So I said, I said, so ma'am, are you saying god's moving in your chest right now? She said, well, well, yeah. I said, can I pray again? She said, okay. I grabbed her hand, and I prayed again.
And she moves, and the pain was gone. And and and and I know it was because she responded like this. What did you do? Oh my gosh. What what what did you I said, "Jesus healed you".
It wasn't me. Jesus healed you. Jesus loves you, and he was just showing you in this moment that he sees you and he cares for you. Yes. So and then I got up and went worked out.
I just seated her with the gospel. That's it. When I got done working out, I walked back over. I said, it was so nice to meet you. Thank you.
Thank you for for you know, let me pray for you earlier and she said, well, well, you know, thank you. I I forget exactly how that interaction went and then I walked out. That's it. What happened there? The same thing that happened when the Holy Spirit said to do this.
The Holy Spirit, God in us, wanted to get his goodness out of us So we get it's not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. A lot of times, we make excuses for not doing god's good things in the world because we get nervous because we're too much in our own mind instead of being in Christ's mind. Instead of saying, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I'm gonna be radically obedient. Remember, we talked about last week.
As you always obeyed, not only in my presence, but so much more in my absence, Paul said. Work out your salvation. How are you working it out? Through obedience. Through obedience to what he's done in you.
As you obey the Holy Spirit in the little things, what he's leading you to do is to show his goodness to the world around you so they can experience it and say, wow. I needed that. God saw me in this place. Thank you so much for being Jesus to me. Now, I have a relationship with him and it's impacting every aspect of my life.
I'm just a disciple of Jesus like you, challenging you to grow in your understanding of his *goodness* and be obedient to his leading day in and day out so the world around you can see his goodness through you. Can we pray? If you bow your head and close your eyes See, god's goodness leading leads you to *repentance* So, I believe that as I spoke today, there's people in here that realize that they don't know god. They've known about god but they don't know him and they want to know his goodness as I talked about today. If you if you don't have a relationship with god, if you don't know him and you want to know him right now, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand.
I'm a count to 3. I'm just gonna ask you to raise your hand, and I wanna talk to you right there in your seat. 1, 2, 3. Raise your hand high so I can see you. Anybody wanna have relationship with god?
Okay. Well, it's wonderful news. I'm just gonna trust you that man, all of you know him. If this message was challenging to you, That's a good thing. Because he's good.
So I'm just gonna pray for you, and I'm a pray that you experience his goodness in every aspect of your life. And not only that, that you reproduce it day in and day out so that when people see you, they see Jesus. Is that okay? Let's pray. Father, I just thank you for this amazing group of mighty men and women of god.
Mighty men and women of you. Holy Spirit, I just ask you to show them how you see them. Your word says you see them as forgiven, as loved by you, in right standing with you, with a future and a hope because you have good plans for them that you've placed in them, that you can't wait to get out of them. Father, I pray that you put such a desire in them to seek after your goodness, to seek after your righteousness. Lord, put such a desire to seek you in them.
Lord, let them, as they walk away, have your goodness on their mind the rest of the week so that they're not sin conscious, but they're god conscious. They're Christ conscious. They're Jesus conscious, and they reproduce your goodness in every aspect of their life. Father, challenge them to be radically generous to the people around them at at Walmart, at Publix, Lord God, in the gym, in the in the in the line, at the gas station. Challenge them to show your goodness off.
Challenge them this week. Lord, let them be reminded of the testimonies to pray for people. Lord, to pray for them to be healed, to pray for them just to bless them, to love them, to say kind words to people when they normally wouldn't. When people don't deserve it, challenge them to love well. And when people ask why, just lord, let them say, "because god loves you".
Because god cares about you, because god sees you, and I know it because he cares about me. Thank you for *revival*.
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