Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
God we stand in awe of you today. We are truly in awe that you love us so much. That you sent your only begotten son to die on a cross. For our sins, for all the evil and the wickedness and the lust and the just rebellion and all the things we've done that you would send him to take that upon himself. To die in our place when we deserved that suffering and that death. To provide a way for forgiveness, to provide a way for us to have eternal life. Lord I still after almost 30 years stand in awe. That you love us that much. You just you long to forgive us. You just want us to be willing to humble ourselves, confess our sins and turn away from them. You just want us to put you first. To love you back cuz you already love us. And you want us to love you back with more than our words but with our actions. So Lord I ask you Lord to help us do that today. All of us. Those here, those listening to this message and those who will hear it. Lord we we pray for that in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated this morning. We welcome you to Fire and Grace Church. Those listening by Blogtalkradio we welcome you this morning. Um. This is one of those mornings. And just over the weekend that I've you know been praying and. Different times trying to find the direction of the Lord and sometimes he waits till the very last second. To kind of give me the direction. That's why this morning I didn't really post a title for the message cuz I wasn't sure where we're going with this today. But, I'm just going to share some things with you that's on my heart because um I think it's important for us to understand that you know, I talk a lot about God's judgment and God's wrath and about God dealing with sin and God uh being justified in doing so. I've covered that in the last couple of weeks, I think pretty in-depth. That God is fully justified in his wrath and in his anger to bring judgment upon the earth, the wicked, uh even to discipline and chasten and judge us when his children when we get out of line and we are, you know, rebelling. But, you know, today, uh well, really, I guess it was a few days ago now. I guess when we were driving over to Georgia, the Lord spoke to me something that I've really never preached on. I've really never talked about it, this particular passage in depth.
Um but, go ahead and turn to um Oh, let's turn Let's do it first in Matthew chapter 12. You're going to wonder before the end of this how we ended up where we're going to end up, how we ended up there, but we'll we'll get there, but What did I just tell you? Matthew 12? And let me turn there cuz I didn't even plan on this, so. How many of you remember the the Romans Road of Salvation? You remember that? Did anybody learn that in Sunday school? Oh, come on now. You all didn't learn that? Somebody did. You know, you can go through the book of Romans, there's a thing that and you can basically easily lay out the gospel, which is real simple. Uh the Romans Road talks about um I believe it's Romans 3:10, "There is none good, no not one." Right? There is none good, no not one. No one that's ever lived from Adam and Eve on, no human being has ever been good enough, moral enough, godly enough, righteous enough. No one's ever been perfect enough to go to heaven, to have eternal life, to be right with God. No one has. And that is just a fundamental truth, and that is a fundamental truth where none of us can think we're better than anybody else. Because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, that's another verse there, right? Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Right? So, they do That makes me I'm no better than Nancy, Nancy's no better than me. No one's any better than anybody. Cuz we are all sinners according to God. We've all broken his law. We've broken his commandments. We've all defiled ourselves with the wickedness of this world, whether it be anger or unforgiveness or hatred or greed or lust. We We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've broken the 10 Commandments. At some point, we've broken those commandments. Now, we may not have murdered, but the Bible says if we hate our brother, we are a murderer. Right? And no murderer has eternal life in my So, we can't hate people. And then it says, "Well, you know," some would say, "keep the Sabbath." And there's a big argument, should Is the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? And of course, the New Testament says we're not held to any particular day. But what that means is, hey, we've all chucked church for a time. I know I went through a dark period in my life, even as a Christian, where I didn't go to church for over a year. I didn't like Christians. And I wasn't one. I went through that period, right? Anybody been there? Sick of church, sick of Christians, sick of hypocrites, sick of your you know, sick of yourself, sick of everything. Um but we've all broken those commandments. You know, you say, "Well,
I have never committed adultery." But you know what? Jesus said if we look on another, the opposite sex, and we lust after them, it says we've committed adultery in our heart. Right? So, we've all committed adultery in our heart. You know, the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. How many times we put everything else before God? You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Uh-oh. Everybody's done that one. And you say, "Well, I don't say GD." Well, you might not say GD, but how many times have you said, "I serve Jesus." or "I believe in Jesus." or "I'm a Christian." and yet you've done things completely in public view, completely opposite of that. Taking the Lord's name in vain. We've all done it. I mean, I can go down and keep going down the list, couldn't I? We've we've told lies about people. We've all done that at some point. Right? Or we've skewed the truth a little bit. You know, favorites of some people, especially politicians, is to not tell the whole truth. You know, telling a half truth and presenting it as the truth is still a lie. Deception. Right? So, we've broken them. We've broken the 10 Commandments. Everybody No one can say, "I am I am good. I am holy. I am just. I am moral. I am more righteous than you." No, we've all broken these commandments. Now, some, granted, take these things much further than others, but that still doesn't make you know, just because I might not be a murderer, doesn't make me any better than the murderer. I need the same forgiveness that the murderer needs. Only the blood of Jesus and faith in the blood of Jesus and my confession to Jesus and my willingness to turn away from it, the only thing that makes me clean is the only thing that's going to make the murderer clean. We need the same remedy. We got the same disease. Sin is the spiritual disease that all of mankind have. People talk about, "Oh, it's you know, we we've got the It's a white problem. It's a black problem. It's a It's a Muslim problem. It's a It's a you know, whatever. Communist or socialist problem. Capitalist problem." No, it's a It's a sin problem. The heart problem. All mankind have the same disease. It's a cancer. It's the spiritual cancer. It's called sin. And here is the revelation. You can't cure yourself. Not by yourself. There's no way to cure yourself of it. If there If there was a way you could go to heaven without Jesus, then you could cure yourself, right? We wouldn't need Jesus. He wouldn't have to come and die for us. Right? But there's only one remedy. There's a
lot of people down saying to Oprah and all the rest of them saying, "Oh, there's many ways to God. It doesn't matter who you choose or which way you choose or if it's Allah or Muhammad or Buddha or Krishna or it doesn't matter." No. There's only one. Only one person that's ever lived that said, "I am God. I am the Messiah. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I will give myself as a sacrifice for sin, and I will raise myself back up from the dead and prove it. There's only one that did it. And that's why Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man will come to the Father but through me." Nobody. Now, having said that, I want to say this, being saved and staying saved is real simple. It's not complicated. All God wants us to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins, that he rose from the dead, that only his blood can wash our sins away. All we have to do is believe that, confess our sins to him, ask for forgiveness, and repent. Meaning, FROM THIS POINT ON, I'm going to change. I'm going to turn from those things. Now, listen, I know this. I've been counseling people I've been a minister for 30 almost 30 years now, and I can tell you that Christians do not live sinless perfect lives, but there's a difference between dwelling in something, living in something, habitually practicing something, versus you know what? I'm walking this way, the way the Lord wants me to walk. I trip over something, I fall in something, or I have a bad day, and I do something I shouldn't do. That's different than living in it and doing it every day, or every week, or every weekend. Some people say every weekend. Right? And God KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE. GOD knows if you are sincerely trying to walk with him and obey him and love him and put him first. He knows if you're playing games. He knows. There's no fooling God. You might fool your neighbor, you might fool your spouse. Some people fool their spouse. You might fool the preacher for a little while. You might fool some people, but you're never going to fool God. He knows the intentions of your heart. And And some people, this is their intentions of of Christianity. They want to go to heaven. They want fire insurance. They don't want to go to hell. They say, "Well, I believe in Jesus, but I want to see how close to the edge I can I can live without falling off." I can tell you right now, if that's your mentality, your heart's completely wrong. You're not right with God. Because if you love Jesus with all your
heart and you understand that sin is destructive and dangerous, it's a rattlesnake, you understand that I'm I'm not going to try to see how close to the edge I can live and still make it, I'm going to see how close I can get to Jesus. And you know what? Even if you're trying to get close to Jesus and you fall down, he knows if you're trying. He knows if you're trying to obey, you're trying to put him first, you're trying to love him with all your heart, YOU'RE TRYING TO do what is right because you you believed in him and he's forgiven you and you're grateful for that. He knows if you're sincere or not. And there's SO MANY PEOPLE, SO many Christians And I'm talking about Christians today. I don't even have to talk about the lost. I'm talking to people say they believe in Jesus, they believe they're a Christian. Maybe they did get saved when they were young, maybe they didn't. I don't know, but they they just keep trying to live as close to the edge of the cliff as they can live. And they make up their own rules. Well, I can do this, it's no big deal. God understands. That's the famous line, right? "Oh, God understands." No, he knows. You know, I could look at two Terry, you know, I taught high school students a couple of years. Yeah, it was something else. Room full of them. Taught them tried to teach them the origins of civil government. One class and Bible was another class. But you know what was interesting? It was obvious the kids in the room who were trying their hardest to get their work done and make a good grade and study for the test and the ones that didn't care and were just trying to get by. Trying to do the least amount they could to get by. And that's the way it is with God. He knows who's trying. I'd rather see a kid make a C who was trying his hardest to learn than see a kid who can pull a B out because he just said he's got a sharp mind, but he he knows he can he can pull a B out just goofing off and doesn't really care and he commits only commits stuff to his short-term memory and after he takes the test he's done with and he'll remember any of it. But this is where we are. This is where many Christians are now. The Lord, what he spoke to me as we were driving to Georgia's this week was this verse. And it's quoted it's quoted by Jesus or Matthew about Jesus here in Matthew 12 starting at verse 18, but this is from Isaiah 42. And this is something I want to say to you right here. This is for somebody this morning because I have to do this. Somebody It may be somebody listening. This is a prophecy about Jesus and this
is the Holy Spirit speaking and he says, "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he will show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench till he send forth judgement unto victory and in his name shall the Gentiles trust. Now this is a prophecy about Jesus and it's saying he said he's going to show judgement to the Gentiles but this is an interesting thing and this is what the Lord spoke to me. Verse 20, "A bruised reed shall he not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench." The word bruised here is very interesting because it means basically to be shattered in pieces. And it's talking about people who have been broken and destroyed by life. And this is something that you know I've I've had some concern on my heart because you know what? We're living in an age right now where probably you know I remember back in the 90s the statistics on children that have been sexually molested and abused by adults was one in four girls, one in six boys in the 90s, early 90s. That was the stat. I think it's far worse because a lot of it you never hear of because children bear these things. And really what we're seeing in this generation of adults is a generation that's been broken and battered and beaten down and destroyed mentally, emotionally, spiritually by sexual things happening to them, by parents that were alcoholics or drug addicts or having their own having their own issues so much that they couldn't really be parents. And and so I've been praying about that because you know I preach hard a lot of times. But the Lord wanted He reminded me. He was like, "You know, there's there's two different kinds of people." In Jude, the book of Jude, the the short little one-chapter book right before Revelation, verse 22 and 23 says this. You can put it up, Kim. It says, "On some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." And you know, I've I've preached a lot over the years trying to get people to fear God and to understand that practicing sin will destroy them and send them to hell.
But the Lord wanted me to just remind everybody that there's some people they don't need this. Because their problem is not that they're just willfully rebelling against God and indulging their sins. Their problem is is that they've been so broken by life. You know, I have to say this. Took me growing up to figure out some things. You know, when I was younger, especially when I was became a teenager and I was like in seventh and eighth grade, I remember me and my mother butted heads, right? Teenagers are just little devils, that's what they are. But I mean, it's just the way it is. And we would butt heads. I remember arguing about getting ready for school and getting to school on time. I mean, just arguing about everything. Did I get Just arguing, arguing, arguing. I grew up, you know, I I I knew, you know, my mom and dad went through a divorce and I knew I knew their issues. Neither one of them were saved and walking with the Lord and they had issues, man. Especially when you you know they had issues. That my dad did, my mom did. And You know when your parents divorce and you're a kid and you go through all that, you're like You know, you tend to blame one more than the other sometimes. And then sometimes I think I I began to realize it was both of them. So, I was mad at both of them. I blamed both of them, right? And I went through all that. But you know, I had a real awakening one day. Especially about my mom. Because you know, I knew it, but I didn't know. You know what I'm saying? But you you know, your mom. That's my cousin. My mom's sister. Daughter. But my mom and your mom They lost their parents, both their parents. When they were teenagers. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. And as I grew up and I realized what would it be like to to know that your father was murdered at I think mom was 13 when that happened. So, your mom would have been 11. My grandfather murdered. And then 3 years later our grandmother, which we got we never met either one of them. Died of heart failure, enlarged heart, something of that nature. So, my mom her mom They lose both parents as teenagers. Really one before your mom was a teenager. Can we even imagine
what that did to their heart, to their emotions, to their And and so when you look back on that, and I know what my mom some of the stuff they did as teenagers and young adults and as they as they got married and had their own problems and all these issues, you know, we we can tend to look at and say, you know, well, it's your fault there was a divorce or there was this fault. But really a lot of stuff a lot of stuff in people's lives, it stems back to a lot of pain that happened. And that's why a lot of people drink. That's why a lot of people end up doing drugs. That's why because they're trying to self-medicate themselves from the pain. If they've been abused, if they've been, you know, they've lost someone close to them or they had a rough childhood, they went through a divorce. And this is something we forget sometimes. There's a lot of people walking even adults still walking around with a lot of bruised a lot of They're They're bruised reeds. They're bruised reeds. They just They've been beaten up by life. They've been beaten up by evil people. They've been beaten up by bad circumstances. And so to try to to make themselves feel better, they run to stuff that's bad. Sexual sin, they run to, you know, pills or they run to alcohol, they run to drugs. I did it. I did it. I know. My drinking, my drugs, the things that I ran to, the It was all trying to bury the stuff that happened to me when I was a kid in California. That I don't talk too much about. But the Lord wanted me to say and remind everybody, there's a lot of people out there that are bruised reeds. And God has no desire to break something that's already broken. That's why Jesus said that he came to heal the broken heart. To preach deliverance to the captives. To set at liberty them that are bruised. But the first steps for anybody, it doesn't matter how bad they've been bruised, they need to come and let Jesus be their healer. You have to let him do it. You just got to realize I mean, it I'm glad I realized it as a teenager. 19 years old. That running to drugs and alcohol and sexual sin and everything that I was running to, I realized it wasn't helping me. It was just making me more depressed.
It was just making matters worse. It You know, I thank God that I figured out I know it wasn't me alone figuring it out. It was the Holy Spirit dealing with me and helping me figure it out. This word is interesting. It says a bruised reed shall he not break. And a smoking flax shall he not quench. You know what that smoking flax mean? Talking about a wick on an oil lamp that hasn't been trimmed and it's turned black and it and it so it hadn't been dealt with right. So it's um it's not burning. It's just barely smoldering and it's turning the the lamp black and everything else. It's just not working right, but it's it's still got a little fire. It's still got a little left. And what he's saying is Jesus is saying, "People like that he has he has no desire to come along and take broken broken bruised barely alive people and destroy Even though I talk about Listen, God's wrath is real. His judgment is real. He's coming back and he's going to deal with all of this. There's going to be a final judgment. We will all stand before God and give an account of our lives. But he wants to reveal he's revealing through his heart that he has no desire. You know, I quoted Ezekiel 33 last few weeks. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God has He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It's not God's desire that anything bad happen to you or to me. He just wants us to do a couple of things. Believe him. Believe him. Believe his word. Believe the Bible. Believe what he says and come to him and let him wash your wash your sins away and let him seek him and go after him until you begin to get those wounds and those broken places healed and you get delivered from the from the tormentors. This is this is so important. I know so many people if they would just turn loose if they would just turn loose of some sin or some unforgiveness or whatever they they need to turn loose of one little thing and just just go to Jesus and keep going because it's not always going to be instant. This is what our microwave society can't figure out is that it's not you can't just say, "Okay,
I got all these problems. I got all these sin. I got all these issues and all these wounds and brokenness and mess in my heart from the past. I'm going to drop this for a second. Come over here. Jesus fix it all now." Well, he didn't fix it in 5 minutes so I'm going to back running back over here. No, what I learned is some of the some of the stuff in me that was wrong, that was wounded, that was broken, that was messed up, it's taken years of walking with Jesus for him to peel those layers back and deal with them. All right? But the first step is just going, "You know what? I'm going to be patient." That's why the Bible talks about that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. We don't like to wait. We don't like to wait on anything. We get impatient if there's two people in front of us at Walmart. But that's a word from somebody. Are you willing to seek after Jesus and wait until he comes and you know he's come and healed you. You know, a lot of people don't know. You know, I went through in 2001 a divorce that I didn't want to get. I didn't want. I didn't beat on her. I didn't cheat on her. You think that'd be enough these days. But it happened. I wasn't a perfect husband, but I wasn't a cheating husband. You know? But, it so broke my heart that I couldn't preach anymore. I couldn't I tried for a little while to keep things going. But, I mean you you want to talk about on top of everything else that had gone on in my childhood, to have that rejection and that situation going and my girls my older girls being so young. And I loved being a dad. I wasn't somebody that was out with the fellows all the time. I loved being a dad. I love I came home. The only thing I ever did was play golf on Monday mornings while they were at school. That was all I ever did. And I remember it breaking my heart to the point I I just went into such depression. Not only could I not preach anymore, I didn't want to preach anymore. I didn't even want to go to church anymore. And it wasn't so much I was angry at God as much as I was confused. I said, "Lord, I tried my best. I prayed all the time. I sought you all the time. I did my
very, very best that I could, and it still all went to hell in a handbasket." It blew up in my face and with And it And it just threw me into such pain and such anger and depression and confusion, I couldn't hardly function. Anybody ever felt that way? I mean, I would cry almost every day. And here I am a Pentecostal, spirit-filled, tongue-talking preacher, and I am wrecked. I'm a wrecked human being. I don't want to preach again, and then I got to point I didn't even know to tried to go to church but I didn't even want to be in church. I couldn't even be around all my friends all my Christian friends all my church friends they all turned against me and even most of the pastors in the town I was living in turned against me. I mean you want to talk about feeling alone, feeling rejected, feeling hated. I mean it was just crazy and then of course the stories get bigger and bigger you know and then you know you know I'm I'm I end up being I'm the devil. You know and then I sit there and I but even with that it wasn't I I've had people talk bad about me. I don't care. I'll keep going. They That's what I'm right now talk about. I don't care. I I had one person call me pure evil. Not too long ago. I'm like That's what Jesus said would happen. But what I'm getting at is I I knew people would ask me they would come say Man you know why aren't you preaching? You're That's what you're called to do. You're a preacher. You You have a gift to teach the Bible and preach and and uh and I would I would explain to them. I said a man with a broken leg does not play football for the Tennessee Titans. I can't do it. I said I'm praying and I'm seeking God to heal my heart my broken heart. Maybe one day I'll be able to do it again. And granted I I I let myself disobey God in an area. And I let myself disobey God through that trial and it made matters worse. And I'm not going to lie for a year. I quit going to church. I was as lukewarm and backslidden and in mi as much misery as a person could be in. But you know what? There was one thing I refused to do. Yeah, I quit going to church for a little while. I didn't like Christians. I didn't like preachers. I didn't want to preach anymore. I told the Lord, I don't want to preach anymore. But one thing I refused to let go of, and that was this. I said, "Lord, I refuse I cannot let go of you completely. I know you're real. I know you love me. I don't understand why all this is
happening to me. But I know you are real. I know you love me. And I don't want to die and go to hell, so I'm not going to turn loose completely." And see, before all that happened to me, God had given me a dream that I was standing in a riverbed, a dry riverbed, by myself. And this flood, I'm talking about 30-ft wall of water, came down that riverbed and swept me away with it. And I was I mean, the dry riverbed turned into a, you know, category five river, whitewater river. And I'm in this horrible river, just going down and all of a sudden I knew I was about to hit a spot that was like swirling. It was going to pull me under. And I was like, "I'm I'm done. There's nothing I can do." And on the bank, I probably about, I don't know, few hundred yards up ahead, I saw two angels dressed in white, glowing white. I saw them standing one standing on this side of the river, on the bank, and this one standing on this side. And I could tell they were holding a rope across the river. It was laying across the top of the water. What was interesting, the rope was about that big around, big old rope, like they use for ships, you know, big rope. And I remember the color of it was scarlet red. And I knew that I was about to be yanked under completely, but I knew if I didn't grab hold of that rope, I've gone forever. I They would I would die. So, as I got to that rope, I grabbed a hold of it with one hand, and when I did, I was pulled down under the water with such force. I went down, and I know, because I used to scuba dive, I went down at least 70-80 ft. And I knew I was going to hit the bottom, so I was holding on the rope with all I could with one hand, and I was holding my head cuz it had pulled me down so hard, I was going down headfirst to the bottom. But, I refused to let go of that rope. And when I got I don't even remember what happened. It was like There was like this flash, this blank happened. And the next thing I knew, I was standing, I don't even know how I got there. I was standing up near the shore, probably in knee-deep water, beside that angel right there, and I knew I had survived. Well, when I woke up, I knew that that flood had came that trial, and the divorce, and everything that ensued had come to try to to sweep me away. God had warned me of it. You know, two two months before she told me she wanted a divorce, I had a dream that she told me she wanted a divorce, and I told her. It probably freaked her out cuz she was planning it, of course. Freaked her out. I said, "The Lord told me, you know, I had this dream that you did that." "Oh, no, I would never do that." She was planning it when she was said that. I mean, but I realized the Lord warned me that that was coming. And that red rope represented the blood of Jesus. And that I believe, even though I was
going to go through this flood, that I believe that the blood of Jesus was was real, that his death on the cross, his resurrection. I never What I'm saying is, I never lost my faith in who Jesus was. I knew he was real, and I knew what he had done in my life, and I knew somehow if I just managed to hang on to him long enough I'd get through that. And you know what? I remember the day I finally obeyed God about what he I'm not going to say what it was, but there was one thing he's and he I had disobeyed. And I finally said, "Okay, God, I will obey." And the moment I said, "I will obey. I will do this." God took It was like I felt his hand come down. And you got to realize this years had gone by. Been several years at this point of this horrible trial. And I felt God's hand came down like in my chest and he it's I can't explain it. It's like my heart was really literally broken, cracked in two, and I felt him fix it. Heal it. Just in a moment. Of course, I'm thinking, "Why didn't you do this like 3 years before?" Right? And then he's like, "Why didn't you obey me like 3 years before?" I yeah, well, okay. Got a point. But from that moment it felt like I was a new person all over again. I'm telling you there is nothing better than to obey the Lord, wait on him, seek him, and let him heal every wound, and answer every question, and deliver you from every stronghold in your life. And he began and I'm going to tell you what, that was that was in early 2007. That began. And it wouldn't It still it was the beginning of something. It took a little bit longer. But think about it if I if I had decided I was just going to keep disobeying and keep rebelling and guess what? It wouldn't have gotten any better. I wouldn't have gotten any better. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted but the brokenhearted have to go to Jesus. Right? He died on the cross for our sins but we have to go to him and confess our sins and then he is faithful and just. You know that we we look at the Bible and we see all the people that Jesus healed but you notice something? They went to him.
They heard Jesus was around. The woman with the issue of blood they she heard Jesus was coming. 12 years she's had this this bleeding problem. 12 years given all her money to doctors but she heard Jesus was coming. She said if I can just get there and touch his garment I'll be healed. The crowds would come. They heard this is what I'm saying you have to seek him out. He's already seeking you out. He already loves you. He already is drawing you. You wouldn't go to church. You wouldn't pick up your Bible. YOU WOULDN'T PRAY IF GOD if the Holy Spirit wasn't trying to tug on you. So he's already tugging on you. All you got to do is go to him and say Lord I want you to heal me. I want you to fix what's wrong in my heart in my mind in my emotions in my spirit. Please heal my broken heart. Heal these bruises. Heal these wounds from the past. Wash my sins away. Make me a new person. Give me a new heart. Give me the mind of Christ. Make me a new creature in Christ and he CAN DO IT BUT YOU IT WON'T BE OVERNIGHT. YOU HAVE TO WANT IT. YOU HAVE TO GO AFTER IT. YOU HAVE TO DESIRE IT. AND THAT'S WHAT FAITH IS. FAITH is not just say, "Oh, God will do it when he's ready." No, faith says, "God will do it, but I have to go after him. I have to put some actions with my belief." Amen. My message today is simple. God loves the bruised reeds. He doesn't want to break them. He loves the brokenhearted. His desire is to heal the broken heart. Oh, if we could ever let people understand that. That he wants to heal inside and out. He wants to make them new creature. He wants to give you freedom and peace and joy in this world and in the world to come and eternal Well, Jesus looked at the Pharisees, you know, the religious guys, and he said, "You won't come to me that you might have life." You just refuse to come. Jesus said, "Seek and you will find." A lot of people don't know, but the Greek there, in the Greek language, it really it really says this, "Seek and keep seeking and you will find. Knock and keep knocking and it'll be open to you. Ask and keep asking and you'll get an answer." Don't we give up too quick? Well, I I prayed. I prayed God would set me free from whatever addiction or whatever problem or whatever sin. I prayed GOD WOULD SET ME FREE, BUT HE DIDN'T. SO, I WENT BACK to it.
MAYBE HE WAS JUST ABOUT TO. Maybe he just wants to see if you're going to seek and keep seeking and knock and keep knocking and ask and keep asking if you're going to be persistent. You know, one of one of the signs that you have faith is that you're persistent in your asking, seeking, and knocking. We give up too quickly. We want instant grits, microwave burritos, and Jesus does not work that way. But I'll tell you this, I I tell people all the time. I said, "It may seem like he takes forever sometimes to do something." But boy, when he starts moving in your life, things start happening quick, fast, overwhelming. When God begin to bring that healing into my life, 2007, is when I can tell you he reached down and he started that healing. Man, let me tell you, right after that, I felt that you know, I repented and I obeyed him on what he wanted me to do. And then I couldn't get enough. I wanted to read my Bible. I spent whole days. I didn't eat, not because I wasn't trying to fast. I spent whole days just reading my Bible because it was like it was brand new again. I wanted to read the Bible. Then I wanted to be in church. I knew something had happened then cuz I didn't want to be in church around Christians, you know. A lot of Christians are mean. Right? I don't want to be around them. But all of a sudden I wanted to be in church. All of a sudden I had the desire to preach again. And then as I began to pray, I had the desire to pray again. As I started praying, God begin giving me prophetic words again. The gifts of the spirit started working again in my life. I was like, "Wow." You know, and I knew that I wasn't meant to be single. I was I was very lonely and depressed, but I wouldn't about I didn't date anybody for years. I wasn't going to get I I was so scared of making another mistake. But look at 2007. Toward the end of 2007, the Lord I I'm in Montgomery, Alabama. The Lord says, "Leave. Go to the Go to Georgia." Little did I know. I was finally okay being single. Little did I know he was going to lead me to my perfect match. Which also brought a lot of healing in my life. And then little did I know that he was going to restore something that I had lost. That's why her name's Faith. Amen. God can heal your broken heart.
He can heal your wounds from the past. He can deliver you from demonic strongholds. And he can restore, in his way, what the enemy has stolen from you. And what you've allowed the enemy to steal from you. But you have to let him do it. You know, you say, "Pastor Dane, pray for me." Well, I can pray for you, but I can't tell you it's all going to happen today. You know, we've been pastoring this church now, and a lot of them are not here. There's my boy. We've had sickness run through this place. But there are those here and those that are not here that will tell you that it took a number of years before they got over some things, and they got healed, and they and they got enough of the word of God in them and enough prayer and fellowship and got enough of the scriptures in them to understand some things of what they needed to do. I remember what some of the folks that some of that have been here from the beginning that we didn't know how we didn't know how bad we were until you guys got here. We didn't know We didn't know how bad off it really was. Because they they had come out of a church that the pastor was having an affair with three or four different women. Hurt people, messed up people. And let me tell you something before we close. You know, I don't know if y'all know or not, but Sandra lost her mom a couple of days ago. She was 73, right? I lost my mom a number of years ago. I know what that feels like. You're never ready for it, even if you know it's coming. You're still not ready for it. It's painful to lose a parent. You know what that's like. But the Lord, I'm telling you, just like he did with me, it hurt for a while, but I turned it over to him and he brought the healing and the peace and the strength. I miss her. I still from time to time pick up the phone and call her and realize I can't. Wish I could. So, there's nothing wrong with missing them. That's okay. But I know I'm going to see her again one day. Cuz I know she was ready. She went to be with Jesus. I know she was ready. And you quit worrying about whether she was ready or not. This is This is a word for you cuz I want to tell you something. You were I hope you don't mind me saying this, but but Sandra was a little worried about her mom because her mom she felt like had unforgiveness toward the the man that murdered her sister. Well, we we got some stories in this church, man.
And we little church. But you know what the Lord told me and I'm going to tell you this is for you. The Lord knew that your mother she was a bruised reed from losing that her daughter. And Jesus is not going to break her over that. Well, pastor saying, "What about forgiveness and everything?" Yes, I understand that. But Jesus is the final judge. Amen. And he knows that broke your mother's heart. Can't imagine having one of my children murdered. I can't even fathom that. It hadn't happened to me. And you know what? Her heart was broken over that and if she had a problem do Let me Let me just say that Jesus is not holding that against her right now. All right? I just know that. I can't explain it, but I just know it. Well, okay? And maybe I'm I'm not doing it justice. What I'm saying is the Lord's not looking at you or me or anybody and one sin one thing wrong and you're going to hell. It's the way it works. There is mercy and there is forgiveness and he knows if you are a bruised reed or a smoking flax. He knows if you've been broken, wounded, destroyed by life. He's not looking to finish you off. You understand? And there is great Listen to me. There is great truth that I I probably don't even fully grasp myself. Where it says Abraham believed God. Listen to me. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Uh-oh. Pastor D, now you're preaching one saved always saved. No. But what that tells me, cuz it's repeated in the New Testament, Paul repeated that and he said he said Abraham believed God, meaning he just believed what God said. He didn't know how God was going to do it, but he just believed what God said and it says it was accounted to him for righteousness. Let me just say this to you guys and and to the any of those listening that you've been wounded and hurt and bruised and destroyed by life, the fact that you still believe in Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You still believe the word of God. You still believe the truth. If you believe God, it is accounted to you for righteousness. I'm going to let you figure that one out. I had the Lord tell me that one day. You want me to freak you out? Let me give you another verse that will freak you out. I might as well say it. People think I'm crazy already. Psalm
32. I believe it is. Check me on this. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Now, that's King James, of course. Everybody's looking at me like, what does that mean? We all sin, right? We all fall short, even Christians. Chris- Christians that are trying to do it right fall short. We sin. We fall down. We mess it up. But God knows if you love him with all your heart. He knows if you love him. If you really love him and you don't want to do you don't want to do those things wrong, you hate them. You don't want to do that. You want to You want to do what he wants you to do. 32:2. Let me see. So, I don't have to turn there. Now, let me let me read this verse one and two here. This is This is Psalm 32:1 and 2. Psalm of David. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Now, the word imputeth means the one that God does not calculate and compute and keep a record of what you're doing wrong. Let me explain that. Your faith in him, your love for him, your desire to obey and do what he wants you to do, your desire to be as holy and righteous as you can be, even though you fall short, let me just tell you, God takes that faith and that desire and he knows that love and he knows again, like I said before, he knows the one who's sincere and the one who's playing game. But if you're one of those that's sincere, you can move into that place of relationship with God where even when you mess up, he doesn't even think before you've even confessed it, before you've even tried to deal with it, he's like, "I don't even hold it against you. Son, I'm not even looking at that. I'm not even looking at I'm not even going to put IT ON YOUR ACCOUNT. YOU HADN'T EVEN CONFESSED IT YET. YOU HAVEN'T EVEN tried to repent yet, but it's not even on your account." THAT'S WHAT THAT MEANS. Blessed is the man that loves the Lord or the woman that loves the Lord so much that even when they screw up and fall down, GOD SAID, "I'M NOT even putting that on your account." Your faith in me and your love for me gives you righteousness. Not your per- perfection. You can't do it. You know? Oh, I believe you should try. We should try to do it right. But you can't. You won't. Isn't that good to know that God will still love you, forgive you, and and and
give you a place in heaven even if you don't do it perfectly. Right? Are y'all having a hard time with this? Is it like like Are y'all thinking of Is this Pastor Dean preaching this morning? Look, there are some people because of things in their past molested or they got You know, some Some people when they were molested when they were kids they got into pornography when they were kids. Or they saw things they shouldn't have seen when they were kids. Or they got into drugs too early. They got into alcohol too early. It messed them up. Just Just messed them up. And now because of of being involved, either being having sexual things too early or pornography too early, there are people addicted to sexual lust because of things that happened to them. Or Or because of things that they did really too early in life. And and and they don't even know how to get free from it. They don't even know how to stop. Now, I'm not saying God says that's okay. It's not okay, but he knows. You know, I can I can look at a child. It's like this. I can look at a child. I remember when I used to teach those junior high and high school kids. And you know what? Child here that came from a troubled home, you know, they were fighting and drugs and alcohol and issues going on in their home, and one over here that had a a great home life. And when those two kids acted up in school, because I knew what was going on, even though they may be doing the same thing in class, disrupting, talking, not paying attention, they're doing the same thing. I knew why this kid was acting up versus why the other one was just being a brat. You know what I'm saying? This one's acting out because he has no peace at home. Nobody trains him. Nobody helps him. He doesn't feel loved. He don't feel secure. This one over here is just being a brat cuz he's full. Right? You get what I'm saying? God can look at us and he knows. He knows why you act out. And yet he loves us. Amen. He loves us. He is a good father. He just wants you to believe. Whatever you go through, don't stop believing. Don't stop believing his word. Don't stop believing that he loves you. Don't stop believing that he's got a good plan for you. Don't stop believing he'll take care of you. Don't stop believing he'll forgive you. Don't stop believing
that he wants you to make it to heaven. God wants you to make it to heaven. He wants everyone to make it. Everyone's not going to make it. But he wants That's who he is. I hope I've presented, you know, the job of us preachers we're supposed to be to present the balance. That God is our loving father and he will one day be our judge. I've made the comparison to of my own dad. If my If my father, my dad, Floydy as I call him if he was the only judge, if he was the final judge right? It works like this. I know my dad loves me. I have no doubt about that. He loves me and he would defend me to the end. But if he was the final judge, he would be both my father on this side and the judge on the final day. Now, he would love me even if I became a serial killer. He would still love me. He would love me as his son. He would love me. Wouldn't approve of what I was doing. But he would love me if I became a serial killer. But at the end of my life, if I hadn't repented and dealt with that sin and come to him and let him wash it away and help me get over it, overcome it then what happens is my father at the end when I have to stand before him at the final judge he becomes the judge. He can't be my father anymore. He's still my father, he still loves me, but he's got to be my judge now. So, that gets set aside. Now, he's got to judge me. He's going to say, "You know what? You were You were You were serial killer. You're a murderer. The law says no murderer will inherit eternal life. You never confessed it, you never repented of it, you never stopped it. We have you on videotape. It's called the heavenly videotape. So, you're guilty. So, my father, even though he loves me when he becomes the judge and if I haven't dealt with those things then he has to say, "Depart from me." Right? I mean, even in this world, if a man's a judge, and his son's a serial killer, if he goes by the law, his son will be put to death or get life in prison or whatever. Right? So, know that. God, yes. Father, final judge. In the middle, let's deal with these issues by seeking him and dealing with them before we stand before him as judge. Amen. All right, let's pray.
Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word, for the truth. God, I ask you to touch those here today, those listening, those who will listen, that you love them, you long to bring forgiveness into their lives, you long to bring healing into their broken heart, you long to heal every bruised, broken, shattered part of their life, but they have to seek you, they have to let you, they have to believe. But Jesus, you came to heal the brokenhearted, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to give the gospel to the poor, preach deliverance to the captives. So, Lord, I pray that this would become real in the lives of all that hear this today, that your desire is for that healing, and deliverance, and forgiveness. You do not desire to send anybody to hell, you don't desire to destroy anyone, but we have to we have to let you be our father before you're our judge. Lord, we thank you for the truth. Now, we're going to stand today before we leave today. Um We're going to We're going to do a song. We're going to worship for a minute. If you need prayer this morning before we leave, during this song, and you know, if if need be, we'll play two songs, but if you want prayer for something, we're going to give you an opportunity to come forward, and Nancy and I will pray for you. Um if you need to leave, what we do with the offering, if you have a tithe or offering, you throw it in the basket back there as you go out. We don't spend a lot of time on that. Um but if you need prayer, I want to pray for you this morning if there's anybody that But let's stand and worship with this song, and when we get done, we'll be dismissed.