You are invited to examine your heart this week, ensuring you approach God's word with humility rather than criticism. When the Holy Spirit convicts you, remember that conviction leads to freedom, not condemnation, so confess and move forward in your new identity. Embrace the metamorphosis of Christ in you, living in spirit and truth rather than the old patterns of sin.
*Father*, I just thank you for your goodness. I thank you for who you are. I thank you for your love. Before I finish that prayer. *Lord* said, be careful how you hear.
Jesus said that literally. The Lord literally said, be careful how you hear. Yeah. There are people that go to church with a critical spirit, looking to hear something wrong. You will get what you look for.
Look for Jesus. Have a heart that looks for Christ. Have a heart ready to receive what's biblical, what's scriptural. Be careful how you hear, and hear in order to put it into practice. The bible says, though who those who hears the words of mine and do does not put them into practice, they're foolish.
There's a lot of people that go to church and hear the word of the Lord, criticize it, walk away, and don't put it into practice. Don't be that guy or that woman. Be careful how you hear. And if what I said hit you in the heart like that, that's the Holy Spirit conviction. That's it's not condemnation, it's conviction.
He loves you enough to tell you that so that you can receive what God wants to give you today. So what you do is you confess, oh, Lord, Holy Spirit, you're right. That was the way that I've lit I was listening, or I've been listening when I go to church or when I listen to to whatever it is. That's that's the way I taught I was taught to listen. It's wrong.
It's unholy. So confess, you're right, Holy Spirit. I want you to be my Lord, then turn. *Repent*. Turn to him, and you'll see his face because he's turned to you.
K? Alright. Let's keep praying. Lord, I thank you for your goodness. I thank you for your love.
Thank you for who you are. *Lord Jesus*, I pray that we would be careful how we hear. Me, first, Lord, as I'm speaking your word today. Lord, I I wanna speak what you have to say. Lord, and I can speak the truth, your word in the wrong way, and it it be wrong.
*Lord, I wanna speak in spirit and in truth*. I wanna speak what you say in the way that you wanna say it, such that it cuts hearts, Lord God, and every person in here experiences and encounters the word of the Lord in such a way that it separates what's from you and what's from them so that they can surrender what's from them to you and follow you and reflect you more clearly in their life. I rebuke every stronghold, everything that would hinder people from believing, from following you. In Jesus' name, I pray. And everybody said?
Whoo. That was a good amen. When I sit down to write the message, I I've usually been chewing on it for a few days. I don't always sit down and literally write it, but when I sit down to write it and or sit down to process with the Lord, I've been chewing on it for a few days or sometimes a few weeks or sometimes a few months. And I usually write out this.
I'm just gonna read you what I wrote. Father, I thank you for what you're doing in our church, real church. I thank you that I get to be your kid. In your prayers, have a grateful heart. We get to.
You know? Just a side note. Thank you that I get to play the role in real church that you've asked me to play. Thank you, Lord. *Father*, I thank you for this message that you've been birthing me birthing in me.
I ask you to speak it clearly to me and through me. Anchor it in my heart and soul today. I trust you. This is just my journal, writing this thing. And I said, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would prophesy to me what you're going to do.
By the way, that's biblical. John-15 and 16. Holy Spirit says *Jesus* said, I'll send you the Holy Spirit to show you what is yet to come. You walk in relationship with the Lord, he will show you what is yet to come. It's not weird and mystical.
It's just real. It's awesome. It's more than just a religious dogma that we follow every day. No. It's a relationship with a living God that you can know, and walk with, and follow.
I listened to a buddy of mine preach at a church last week, Chris Donald. He preached at Mercy Culture in in Texas. And he said something. He said, God told him that if you preach it, I'll do it. Well, that's biblical because we should be preaching what he's shown us, and if we speak his word, you know, by faith, we'll see the results of that.
For obedient to speak what he's told us, we'll see supernatural results on the other side of obedience. So if I preach what he's showing, it's gonna happen in your lives in this church and in our community. Amen? I've seen that practically in our church with "words of knowledge", miracles, and healing. Preached a message on words of knowledge in May.
All of a sudden, people in our church began to experience words of knowledge in their lives and preach on prayers and healings for the last couple years, and many people are growing as they receive the word, let it birth in them, and they stand in it. They experience healing by praying for people and because *Jesus* Jesus just does that. He loves people. He heals people. Preached on it again, and next thing you know, we see more and more people being healed and more and more miracles in our church.
It's a beautiful thing. Preach on salvation and people get saved. I said, Lord, this Sunday, I want I want to preach your will. And I began to write, and this is what I believe the Lord was saying. He said, I wanna cleanse people of their past.
I wanna set them on a firm foundation of a strong identity in Christ. I wanna bring *repentance* to my children so they can accurately follow me. And then I began to see a vision, not like an open vision, like a movie play but more in my imagination as I'm praying, and just right now by faith what I'm seeing. I see God pouring liquid gold on the foundation today, on the foundation of your life. You're gonna understand a little more what it means to be his son or his daughter.
He's building your life his way today. Side note, we worship him in spirit and truth. Right? That's what we're supposed to worship him in "spirit and in truth". *Romans-12* says, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to him.
This is your spiritual act of worship. So the way that we live our life should be lived in spirit and in truth. Well, what does that mean? That means you can be living or speaking to someone in truth, but not in spirit. We're supposed to seek to know the ways of our *father* and follow him in his way.
Right? So I can say something to you that's a 100% right and say it the wrong way, and it would be a 100% wrong. I wanna say it in the spirit of my I wanna say the truth of my father in the spirit of my father. Amen? So that the way that I come across to people is exactly how the how Jesus would come across to people if he were standing in the room.
The way that I say it, the way that I that I live would would reflect the character, the nature, the love, the grace, the mercy, the kindness, the the firmness, the faithfulness of my Jesus, living in spirit and in truth, the way of my father, and what what he would say the way he would say it. Amen? He is building your life his way today. I saw this beautiful brick house and beautiful yard and garden, but on the inside of the walls, there was pure gold because you had allowed yourself to be refined by fire. The worth of who he created you to be.
I'm a say it again. The worth of who he created you to be is so much more than you know. We do something on Tuesdays called Belong, which is amazing, and you guys are invited. I'd encourage you to come out if you wanna learn how to share the gospel and disciple people. It's prayer, evangelism, and discipleship.
And this past Tuesday, we had another 3 people give their life to Jesus, which was awesome. 5 people that had given their life to Jesus over the last couple months, and they're being discipled, while another 25 or so were going out, sharing the gospel, praying for people, ministering to people, and just loving on people with the love of Jesus in their daily life. It's a challenge for our church to follow the great commission in your daily life. I would encourage you to do it on Tuesdays. It's at least once every 6 weeks or so.
Alright. While we were there, we start with prayer. From 06:30 to 7 is prayer because prayer precedes movement. So we started with prayer, as we were praying, God began to give me a word, and I'm it was for somebody in there, but I believe it's also for you. The word was worthy.
There are people in here that don't feel worthy. You don't feel worthy to share the gospel. You don't feel worthy to serve on a serve team. You don't feel worthy to come to church. You don't feel worthy to live out your calling.
You don't feel worthy You don't think you're worthy to be blessed by God. You don't think you're worthy to be called a son of God. You whatever it is, and it's be probably because you know what you've done, you know you you know who you are, you know where you've been, you know how you feel. This word of unworthy or or worthy. You know the definition of worthy is having worth.
Worth is in the name, Having value. So there are people in here who don't feel worthy. They feel or you feel worthless. And we're gonna talk about worth quite a bit today. Now, some of the things I say, especially in the beginning, are gonna be review to many of you.
That doesn't mean you check out just because, oh, this is review. I already got this here. No. Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying, and allow it to penetrate the depths of your heart, and anchor so deep that you don't just know it here, you know it by your life, and it comes out of you, you're able to share it with others. Amen?
Worth. *John-3:16*. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son or His 1 and only Son, that whoever would *Believe*. That whoever would Believe. Oh, we're gonna talk about that word a bit today.
That whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. I wanna tell you about, like, just some thoughts that have plagued my mind since I was a kid because I grew up a Christian, so it was my teenage years, 20, I wrestled wrestled with these thoughts. Like, if God really loved me as much as he said he did, why would he send his son to die for me? You ever thought about that? If he really loved me, why why would he send his son?
Why wouldn't he come do it? Why would he do it himself? It's like a cop out. Oh, I'll just send this. I'll send my boy.
Have you ever thought about that? I didn't understand why until I became a father. As a father, let's just imagine this scenario where you were gonna die and go to hell. Don't stay there too long. Don't imagine that for too long.
But, let's imagine a scenario where you were gonna die and go to hell, and I had the opportunity to save you, and I wanted to, and I had the choice of either me or my son dying for you. Me or my son, Trip, my firstborn son. I had that choice. You know what? I'm gonna choose.
I'm gonna die for you every single time. You know why? Because I love my son. That's my flesh and blood. And I love him more than I love you.
So I if if I have the opportunity, I'm going to lay my life down instead of his in order to save my son. Yeah. Now, let's imagine that I had to demonstrate the highest value of love that's even further than that. Well, that would mean I would give you what's most precious to me, and my son's life is more precious to me than my own. So in order to let my son die for you would be demonstrated an even higher love than myself.
Does that make sense? For God so loved the world that he gave his 1 and only son, Jesus, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. Jesus, God in the flesh, laid his life down for you, the son of God. You follow me? Now, *John-17:23*.
Jesus is praying to the father, and he says, I in them, and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity, then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Have loved them. So the father, Jesus is saying that you, father, have loved them, the world, even as you have loved me. So Jesus is declaring that the Father loves the world, those that are hurting, those that are broken, those that are far from God, those that are running from God, those that are shaking their fist in God's face, those that are saying, I hate you, those that are saying, how could you do this to me? Those that saying, I don't even believe that you exist.
*Jesus or the Father is demonstrating the love* of Himself for you by sending Jesus to die in your place. And he's saying that he loves you just as much as he loves Jesus. Jesus The father loves the world as much as he loves Jesus. You see it? John-17:23.
That's pretty amazing. We're talking about worth today. Right? I've done this before, but I'm gonna do it again. Something's only worth what someone else would pay for it.
Right? So this bible, it's pretty cool bible. A waterproof bible. I could take it in the ocean and sit in a little thing. The waves rush over me, and it's waterproof.
I could still read it. It's pretty awesome. If I were to auction this bible off, what would you pay for it? Do I have $5? Anybody?
10? 20? Okay. Let's say we got it up. Let's say, man, waterproof bible, I'd pay $50 for it.
That would mean this bible is worth $50 to you. Because something is only worth what someone else would pay for it. You understand? So we're talking about worth. We're talking about value.
That would mean to the father, you're worth the life of Jesus because he paid his son's life for you. You're way more valuable than you could ever imagine. You're worth more than you could ever imagine. God has not turned his back on you. Jerry, would you come here?
I wanna do a demonstration because I want you guys to get something. There's a lot of cords on this side. You're gonna wanna go the other way. Thank you, buddy. If you come on this side.
Let's imagine that this is God the father. Pretty accurate. My boy said pretty accurate. Praise the Lord. Sadly, as Christians or as people in the world, whether you've given your life to Jesus or not, a lot of people live as if God has turned his back on us.
And then, we "play the victim" and pretend subconsciously or consciously that we have to grovel at his feet with God turning his back on us saying, God, oh, please forgive me. Oh, please, won't you turn your face toward me? Won't you heal my diseases? Or won't you bless me with my job? And we pray pray that, man, if I if I just read my Bible enough and go to the right scriptures enough, and I I just play holy enough, and and maybe if I just wear the right clothes or or put on a holy enough face, maybe, just maybe, he'll "turn his face" toward me and bless me, or heal my my son or my daughter.
Maybe, just maybe, he'll help me in this area of my life. You might not say that but a lot of Christians live subconsciously like that's the way that God treats us. Oh, God. Please. But deep down, we're playing the victim like he's at fault because he's not healing this or healing that, so maybe I gotta do more or do not, but we're a bit a little bit bitter at God because we think he should turn to us in that area.
Is that it? Feel like we're unworthy for him to turn for us, and so we try to prove our worth, which is worthless in anyway. Because our works are like filthy rags to him. Our trying to be good enough, our trying to be righteous enough. *Isaiah-64:7* says it's literally like a woman's menstrual cycle rags.
It's pretty nasty. Us trying to be good enough to try to get in our mind this perception of of heavenly father that is really mad at us because we're not good enough. And and man, I was born this way. Why would God not love me the way that I am? I don't get it.
We, and so then we run from him because that's our perception of the way that God looks at us, that he's not even looking. Consciously or subconscious. But that's not true. That's a lie from the pit of hell. The reality is that the father loved the world so much that he sent his 1 and only son, that whoever would believe in him, everybody say believe Believe.
Would not perish, but have everlasting life. So the reality is, the father doesn't have his back turned to us. The father's turned to us with his arms stretched out. Amen? Amen.
Alright. Hold on. Stay this way because I'm gonna be over here. There we go. So he's torn toward us, but here's how we try to follow God.
Baby, would you hand me that water bottle? The empty one's fine. We perceive God to be the other way, but really it's this. And really, this is us. Holding on to what's dear to us, to our relationships that are toxic, to our mindsets, to our control, to our finances, to our drugs, to our alcohol, to our way of life, to our comfort, to whatever it is that's preventing us from experiencing the fullness of God.
But then, wait. Here's what we do. We get invited to church, or we have family that grew up in the church, or we grew up in the church. And so, oh, man, all we have to do is ask God for forgiveness. Right?
So we back up into his presence at a church service on a Sunday morning with other believers, and we say, oh, God, would you please forgive me? And the Holy Spirit's pointing at this very thing, wanting to Jesus to be our Lord, and we say, you're right. That's wrong. Lord God, would you please forgive me? And then we run away from him, and call it being a Christian.
And then we walk an aisle 1 day because he really gets us, and we get on our knees, and we say, oh, God, would you please forgive me? I'm begging you for forgiveness for this thing. Is that not Christianity in America? You can you can stand there still, just put your arms here. Here, buddy.
You're gonna sit here for a little bit. There you go. I talk with people all over Pinellas County, and I pray with them. I minister to them. I pray for healing.
I pray for other things, and ultimately, I get to sharing the gospel. And I say, hey, would you mind if I take 90 seconds to share the gospel with you? Some of them will say, yes. It's fine. And I say, number 1, do you believe that you can have a relationship with God?
And they say, 99% of them say, yes. Then I say, number 2. Do you believe that sin separates people from a relationship with God? 70% of them say, no. I say, why not?
And they say, God just forgives everybody, doesn't he? God loved the world so much he sent his 1 and only son to pay for your forgiveness. But the bible never says that if you walk an aisle, get on your knees, and ask for forgiveness, and then go your own way, that that's Christianity. It never says that that's what it takes to be "born again". I'm sorry it doesn't.
Let's look at it together. The verse people use for that is *1 John-1:9*. Says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. That is very true. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will, everybody say will Will.
Forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. All. I didn't give them I don't know if I gave them this verse or not. But go up to verse 5 and 6 if you have your bible open. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light.
In him, there is no darkness at all. Verse 6. If we claim to have fellowship with him, if we claim to have fellowship with him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. So what gives? Isn't this, *Lord Jesus, I ask you to forgive me on my sin*.
I ask you yes. This is sin. I ask you to forgive me. Isn't that confession? Doesn't that warrant being forgiven?
That's the way that a lot of people who call themselves Christians believe, and it's not. Let me pull out the big book. My it's my Greek lexicon. The word for confess is homologueo. Homologueo is the verb.
It does mean to concede that something is factual or true. Right? So *confession* does have an aspect of saying when the Holy Spirit says, hey, I want that. Yes, Lord. This is sin.
I can see that this is factual and true. Like what you're saying is right. It also homologia, *confession*, confess, means to share a common view or to be of common mind about a matter. It's agreeing with the Holy Spirit. Yes.
Yes. This is wrong. It also has an aspect of of profession of allegiance. Think of Romans-10:11. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, it has this aspect not just of agreeing that this is sin, but also, I'm confessing that, hey, allegiance to you instead of to this thing.
I'm confessing that I'm gonna drop this thing and begin to follow you. It also has an aspect of committing oneself to do something for someone, to promise and assure. Not only am I do I believe that you're Lord, and I'm confessing my allegiance to you instead of this lifestyle that I've been living, I'm committing and promising myself to follow you. See, confession, true confession is always coupled with repentance. The bible says in Acts-2, to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.
There is no forgiveness when there's no repentance, and confession is always coupled with repentance. Without repentance, there's no forgiveness. This *Lord Jesus, would you forgive me of my sins*? I confess you as my Lord and Savior, and then go out and live in your however you wanna live because you're still holding on to this, but you prayed a certain prayer, so now you think that you're saved, but nothing changed. It's not salvation.
It's not Christianity, and this person is still lost, dying, and go to hell. They had a emotional experience, but they didn't come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior of their life. *Acts-2*. Don't worry. God loves you a lot.
He cares for you. This is gonna be great. Verse 37. When the people heard this, they were "cut to the heart" and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? When somebody walks an aisle or someone comes and they feel, they hear the gospel, many people get to this place but don't really repent.
They're cut to the heart. What shall I do? And what does Peter say? Being cut to the heart, feeling like you need to do something, and believing that you need to do something is 1 thing, but that's not repentance. You understand?
Being cut to the heart, and feeling like you need to do something, and believing that you need to do something is not repentance. Next verse. Repent and be baptized, every 1 of you, in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So we looked at homologueo, which is confession or confessing. What is repentance?
The word for *repentance* is metanoia. Metanoia. That's the verb. It's also connected with the noun, metanoia. K?
So metanoia means to feel remorse, *repent. So there's that verse in the bible that says godly sorrow leads to repentance*. Like, I realize that, man, this is wrong. It's not okay. Doesn't mean you just start crying and weeping, you stay there.
That's okay if that happens. But if it's coupled with the action of repentance, then praise the Lord. If it's not coupled with the action of repentance, it wasn't complete repentance. What is repentance? Feel the the godly sorrow.
This is not okay. But then, it's also means to change one's mind. It's The the noun repentance means to turn about. Conversion. So here's here's the reason that a lot of people a lot of people don't really experience a relationship with Jesus.
They have an emotional experience, but don't experience what it means to really know him. It's because they hold on to their sin, they get in the presence of God, they feel the need, and then they pray a prayer, which is awesome. I'm all about praying the prayer of salvation. I think it's important, and I think it's a good first step of giving your life to Jesus for most people. But when they pray the prayer, they leave, and they never turn.
They never let go. They said Jesus is my Lord, but they didn't really believe it enough to turn to him and face him. Real remember, the the outpoured spirit is found in the face of the Lord. When I face, God's facing me, when I turn to him, I'm gonna receive the presence of the Holy Spirit, which will give me the power to let that go and walk to him. That's being born again.
For God so loved the world that he gave his 1 only son that whoever Believe. What is that word believe? I think that's probably important. Because I'll tell you what it's not. There's a lot of people that know that they're eating unhealthy.
And maybe their mom or dad, their kids, grandparents, whatever, they warn them, you're eating really unhealthy. It's not okay. Diet and exercise is very important for you. If you don't change the way your habits of eating, then you're cutting out years of your life, and you're gonna miss out on your kids and your grandkids. It's not okay.
And that person, we can say, I believe you. I believe diet and exercise is really vital and important to my life. I really believe you. You know what? I'm I'm gonna do something about it.
I really am. But then when it comes down, when the rubber meets the road, their actions show what they really believe. And they don't change anything. They can they they continue to eat the same way, they continue to do the same things. What they're showing is, oh, I believe that that's good and wonderful, but I believe in the comfort of this food, and how it makes my belly feel, and how it's an escape for everything else.
So I believe in this, and I don't believe that that, the eating healthy part, or the lifestyle change is worth me giving all of this up. See, the problem is, as we saw in the beginning of the message, the father has forever declared that we're "worth it" by sending his son Jesus. And, we manipulate ourselves into thinking that we're victims, and that we're groveling at his feet, and that He's not turning His face to us because we're not seeing blessings in the way that we want, like He's some kind of a a cosmic gumball machine, and and we we put a a quarter in of prayer or this, that, and the other, and I should get my gumball. But where's my gumball? You don't love me as much as you say that you do.
And we play like we're the victim in different areas of our life, and we've just manipulated ourselves to believe that because in reality, he's turned toward us, and we're here, and we don't believe that he's worth the suffering, and pain, and conflict of change that it takes to turn to him and drop it. The problem is we don't think he's worth it. We don't think he's worth obeying. We don't think he's worth following. We think, read my Bible, go to church, pray, like, all of these things, man, that's hard.
I'd rather just stay doing what I'm doing and pretend that I'm a Christian, pretend that I've experienced him, but really, I'm being ripped up on the inside by all the things I'm holding on to because I've never really turned to him, saw his face, and experienced the presence of God that frees me and empowers me to follow him in in righteousness and holiness. Man, it's so worth it. He's worth it. I have to believe. Bible says in Hebrews-11:6, without faith, it's impossible to please God because you must believe that He exists, and He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
I have to actually *believe* that it is worth. He is worth letting go of this. He is worth turning to. He is worth following because he's actually good and created me to live that way. I actually have to believe it.
And the way that you live, your actions demonstrate what you really believe. **faith without works** is dead. We're saved by grace through faith. A 100%. And if we've really been changed, it will be demonstrated in the way that we live.
Amen? You guys can give Jerry a hand. He did a great job. *Love* you, man. I got it.
Don't worry. I'm putting my big book away. Just read a couple of verses to you. I'm gonna take some action, and then I'm gonna get I'm gonna tell you what it means to be transformed by him. You guys good with that?
Amen. *God loves* you more than you can imagine. He's worth following. *John-12:25 said, he who loves his life* will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it. There it is right there.
In order to be a disciple, you must first deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow him. The problem is a lot of people have tried to be a disciple of Christ without first denying themself. They try to be a disciple of Christ without first saying, you know what? Jesus, you're better than this. They came in half in, not all in.
The only way to follow Jesus is all in. That's it. It's the only way to follow Jesus. I I have a a good old friend of mine who had a dream, and on on the dream, there was a fence. And on the dream, she was on the fence.
And she looked to the left, and it was the devil and hell and the world and all everything that goes with it. She looked to the right, it was Jesus. And she's like, I don't know what I don't know what to do. I I don't know if I believe in this, and I don't know if I wanna choose this, but and I really don't want that because I see the reality of that in the dream. So she just stood on the fence.
She had amount of time to choose Jesus. And then all of a sudden, this whole side went away. This whole side went away. And the devil came to her and said, come on. She's like, are talking about?
I never chose you. She said, don't you realize? Devil said, don't you realize? "The fence is mine". All in or all out?
Fall in, fall out. And I wanna experience the fullness of who he is. *1 John-2:3*. Watch this. We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands.
If we obey Him. Those who love me obey my commands. Whoever says I know Him but does not do what He commands is a liar, And the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him.
Whoever claims to live in him must live as as Jesus did. The Holy Spirit is going to conform you into to his image. He loves you and he cares for you. He's gonna disciple you to look like him. Anyone who claims to be in the *light* verse, 7.
Sorry. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command, but an old 1, which you have had since the beginning. The old command is the message you have heard. Yet, I'm writing you a new command. Its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates a brother or sister is still in darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in darkness, they do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them. Verse 15. *1 John-2:15*.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in them. Do not love the world or anything in the world. Anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. I let it go, and I turn to see the how the Father first loved me.
And that births the love for the Father in my heart so that I can love Jesus by obeying him. He he empowers me to do that as I see that he first loved me by sending his son. Amen? Amen. Verse 18.
Dear children, this is the last hour. And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have have come, this is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Let's skip down to verse 28. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. Man, God is good, and he cares for you. And here's the deal.
There's people in here, I believe, that have been struggling like I've been saying. There's people in here that don't know Jesus and thought that they did and need to be born again. There's people in here that do know Jesus, and you just picked up some junk along the way, and you need to be reminded of who you are. "Today is the day" of confession and repentance. Today is the day for you to experience the light of a father who loves you, has been turned to you the whole time to experience the truth of what that means.
So if I've As I've been talking, the Holy Spirit's been ticking. Hey, that's me. I know I know that I need to either give my life to Jesus, or there's areas of my life that I've been acting like I love more than Jesus, and it's not okay. It's time to repent. Look, the other the other aspect of *confession* that I didn't read to you is it also has to do with the public thing.
You wonder why there's altar calls, wonder why there's people come forward. It's an act of confession. It's an act of of standing and confessing before God, and then pushing you forward to the act of repentance so your life is transformed by the love of the Father who doesn't kick you out for what you've done, but says, finally, you've turned to me. Let me give you my presence and my spirit and empower you to live in the way that I've called you to live so you can experience the freedom that comes with full surrender. So, if this is you, if it's time, and you know it is, the Holy Spirit's been touching you, and it's time to repent, I wanna ask you to come forward.
Whoever, whether it's your life and it's time to give your life to Jesus now, or there's 1 little thing and you've been following Jesus as a believer, but you know that there's things in your life that the Holy Spirit has said that's you, come forward and just get on. Come forward if you can get on your knees, get on your knees. You need to, if if you can if you have to stand, stand. Just come on. *God*'s good.
If you're sitting there, and you're like, man, that's me. I know I need to come, but I'm scared about what people will think about me. Guess what? That's a bottle. I'm scared about what people will think about me.
I'm coming. Just come on. Who else? Praise the Lord. I'm not judging you.
Holy Spirit loves you. This is an opportunity to experience the fullness of his presence, the fullness of his goodness. Come on. Don't worry. I'm not done.
I got an encouraging aspect after this. It's gonna remind you of who you are. Come on. Repentance. Repentance is a good thing.
We're not done. There's more. Oh, my God. I thank you for your goodness. I thank you for your love.
Holy Spirit, I ask for conviction. Conviction. Conviction's not condemnation. Condemnation is sending you to hell. Conviction is saying, hey, that's not who you are.
That's not who I've created you to be. That's not in me, and so it shouldn't be in you. Come on. There's more. Who else?
Holy Spirit's saying, that's you. Get up. Come on. It doesn't matter. I don't care if you're an elder.
I don't care if you're a deacon. I don't care if you're staff. Doesn't matter. We all need to confess and *repent* when the Holy Spirit's leading us. Praise the Lord.
*Lord*, I thank you for your goodness. Thank you for who you are. There are people up here that have never you've never been born again, you've never given your life to Jesus, and you're you're ready to receive the love of the Father, to turn to Him, and be all in. If you've never given your life to Jesus, that's not all of you. Many of you have.
But if you've never given your life to Jesus and you're ready to receive the love of the Father, be born again, I want you to raise your hand if that's you. "I see you". I see you. I see you. Anybody else?
Alright. If that's you, I want you to look at me. I want you to say this out loud. Okay? Say, Jesus, I *believe* that you died for my sin, and that you rose again.
And right now, I'm choosing to turn to you and to follow you. You are the Lord of my life. I commit my life to you. I receive you right now. Come into my life, and make me new.
*Lord God*, I pray for these 2 beautiful women that you would bless them, let them experience your presence and your goodness, and the the the love of the father. Lord God, that they would understand who you say that they are, that they're precious in your sight. For the rest of you, *confession* and repentance. When I realized that I said something stupid to my wife, that I wasn't loving, here's what I do. The Holy Spirit puts his little finger or his big old finger, whatever it is, on me.
I confess, Lord God, you're right. That was not okay. I don't ever wanna do that again. And I go to her, I say, baby, I was wrong, and I *repent* in my heart to God and to her. Lord God, I I don't wanna talk to my wife like that ever again.
I turn Lord, I can't do that on my own. I ask you to empower me to live like you in that area. For the rest of your life, when you fall down, confess and repent. Don't ever hide it. Adam and Eve hid in the Garden Of Eden.
Out of out of fear, shame, and guilt, they hid from God and were cast from His presence. As sons and daughters of God, what we do when we mess up, we don't hide in guilt, shame, and fear. Instead, we turn to Him and let what we've done be seen in the light of our Father because we know He loves us. We let Him continually cleanse us and show us who we are in His presence. Get back up and keep walking with Him.
So just begin to pour out your heart of what you've been holding on in your own way. Pour it out to him. Say, Lord God, I confess I have not been living right in these areas. I've been insecure. I've been prideful.
I've been whatever it is, just do business with the Lord, and I repent. I turn in these areas to you. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, I ask you to empower me by your *grace* to reflect Your character and nature in these areas. I give these things to you. Don't set don't ask him to take it.
Give it to him. Give it to him. He loves you, and he cares for you. Oh, God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your love.
*Lord God*, we thank you for understanding what it means to follow you completely and totally. Lord, thank you for for your love. Now, I want I want all of you if you can stay there, if you can sit down and get comfortable, I want you to look at me. Wanna talk to you for about 5 All of you in here, I wanna talk to you for about 5 minutes, and I'll be done. *Galatians-2:20*.
It says, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In those areas you were you were repenting, right, you have when you gave your life to Jesus, you were crucified with Christ. It's no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. You just forgot in those areas that you were forgiven.
You forgot. That's what 2 Peter-1 says. You've forgotten that you were forgiven. So you took your eyes off of Jesus and put your eyes on yourself. And when we do that, we confess and we repent, and we're reminded by our brothers and sisters in Christ and reminded by Him of who we are.
You are dead to that because you have been crucified with Christ. Romans-6 says says, we have been united with Him in a death like His, crucified with Him, and so how much more are we united with Him in His resurrection life? He gives you His resurrection life, all of you, to empower you, to live out the the the Christian life that he's called you to. The Bible says in Romans-6, we who have died have been set free. Listen to this.
Set free from sin. You're not bound to it anymore. You have been set free. *Romans-6:14*, anyone anyone let me read it because I'm gonna quote it wrong. For sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law, but under grace.
*Sin shall no longer be your master because you are those who have died to sin. You've come under his new covenant of grace*, and you're not under the old covenant of performance, but under new covenant of grace where he not only calls you to righteousness, but empowers you by his spirit in order to live it out as our eyes are on him. Come on. That's beautiful. Yeah.
Watch this. Romans-8:1. This is for all of us. Confession is and repentance is important because the Father is calling us to holiness. He wants us to look like him.
You know the problem is? Like, I'll I I got to speak with 2 Muslim men in Walmart parking lot for about 30 minutes. 1 was from Pakistan, and 1 was from India. And we just went back and forth. Their biggest problem was Christians just ask for forgiveness and don't there's no change.
It's a terrible testimony. Like, we are our life is a testimony of God to the world. We have to understand holiness, that His righteousness doesn't empower us to live unrighteously. It empowers us to holiness. It empowers us to reflect him.
And so constantly for the rest of our life, whenever we fall, there's confession and repentance and moving forward. Because if we ever grab onto this and never let go, that shows that we didn't know him in the first place. Because we would if we really know him, then we would always know that he's so much better than whatever this is. I got good news, man. *Romans-8:1*, quoted all the time.
Therefore, there's now "no condemnation" for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. You're in Christ. There's no condemnation. Conviction is not condemnation.
Conviction is saying, hey, what you've doing is not in me. So why is it in you? Get it out. That's a good thing. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has "set you free" from the law of sin and death.
You realize you are set free from the law of sin and death? You don't have to come under it in those areas anymore? The insecurities, the prides, the the other things, you don't have to come under the law of sin and death anymore? Let me explain it just real the clearest I possibly can. In the world, the law of sin and death is still very real.
When we came to Jesus, it didn't like, the law of sin and death is still here. People still die. People still sin. Right? But we were set free from it.
We died to it, and we're set free. So let me explain. It's like the law of gravity. The law of gravity is still very much real, still very much in the world. Everything succumbs to the law of gravity.
That caterpillar really does succumb to the law of gravity. It can't overcome it. There's nothing in the nature of a caterpillar that can overcome the law of gravity. Nothing. But then it goes through a change.
It dies to itself, goes into a cocoon, and then a 1 single cell called an imagined cell comes up in its nature and character that has a new nature and begins to change. It's called metamorphosis. It's connected with repentance. The imagined cell begins to multiply, and and before you know it, it takes over the nature of the caterpillar to now it has a new nature, the nature of a butterfly. And then it resurrects from the the cocoon, and now, in its new nature, it has everything it needs in order to overcome the law of gravity.
Do you understand? When you gave your life to Jesus, you were crucified with Christ. It's no longer you who live. And then when you came up out of that water, when you came out of that prayer, you were resurrected to a new life, and he gave you his life. So now you have everything in your nature, which is the nature of your father to overcome the law of sin and death.
You are set free from it. Why how could you or why would you choose to live in it any longer? Come on. That's good. Right?
Isn't that encouraging? That's who we are. Now what happens if that caterpillar or that butterfly still thinks it's a caterpillar? Any area of that butterfly's life, it still thinks it's a caterpillar. It's gonna come under the law of gravity instead of flying above it.
That's where confession and repentance is. Renewing confession and repentance, renewing and changing the mind so our life can be completely transformed. *Romans-12:1* and 2, do not conform to the pattern of being a caterpillar anymore, the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Right? So our life is transformed as we renew our mind to the reality of who he made us to be so that we can experience the supernatural power of Christ in us and through us.
No longer we who live, but Christ who lives through us. Amen? You are free. You are loved. And anytime the Holy Spirit says, hey, that's not in me.
Why is it in you? Just confess and repent. Don't hide it anymore. Stay free. Stay loved.
Because that's the way that I live. It's just way much more better. My last verse, and I'm done. It's much more better. Thank you for sitting there uncomfortably.
*John-3*, watch this, 19 20 and 21, this is the verdict. *Light has come into the world, but people love darkness* instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into it for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth, even if I mess up and pick up something I'm not supposed to happen, he who **"lives by the truth"** comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly what has been done and is done in the sight of God. And I see that this is not like my father, So I let it go and keep walking.
It's the rest of our lives, guys. Living in freedom, experiencing the fullness of forgiveness that He paid for completely and totally. You guys good?