"Approach God Boldly" | Guest Speaker Pastor Joe Champion

our hope is for you to know god find freedom discover purpose and make a difference after the service begin that process by connecting with a leader and joining one of our many small groups or teams but for now sit back and enjoy this message [Music] make some noise come on church how you guys feeling in the house where everything works perfectly under the provision of god and if you're a visitor we're so blessed that you are here today if we haven't met i'm pastor peter and of course we're gonna have some fun today you guys i i just i i'm so i just i i literally woke up normally i'm not a morning person can i just say that i know some people they think pastors are all morning people we're not okay no but seriously i woke up this morning and it was just like joy in my heart anticipation about what god was going to be doing today and and part of it is because there's some really dynamic people in the house today many of you guys know that carolyn and i try to get you know like we have pastors we're not just pastors but all pastors should have pastors and and there's just people that over time you just see the spirit of the lord on them and you're just like i just need to get more of that have you ever sensed that before in fact some of you you're going to meet people today who have the spirit of god on them and and and god is going to nudge you just to take a little more initiative but at the end of the day it kind of it's incumbent upon us to just get around people like that and of course years ago once you know my wife and i uh carolyn and i very much love to co-lead the church if you've met my wife you know she's a dynamic woman of god and so she just is and so finding finding lead pastor couples that kind of lead the same way it's really rare and so uh years ago we found this really dynamic couple called joe and laurie champion who pastor the most incredible church celebration church in austin texas and they're they're kind of like substance just like years ahead of us and and we were like i i need to get around these people and so we started going to their conferences started reading their books and just over time we ended up becoming good friends with these guys in fact can i have joe and laurie coming up here right now they are in the house today i and and i i love these guys because like i mean there there's as a couple they're not only dynamic but god's word is always on your lips god's word is always on your lips seriously you guys and when your last name is champion you kind of have to live up to it you know i mean you kind of do you know like i have to just live up to hoss what does that mean yeah like when we wake up we say to our three boys we are the champions yeah that's what do you say i say hoss ride the horse ride the white house yes i yeah i i see it's not as cool that's why i need to be around you so i can change my name but i i just no like for real like okay he he's like son of an nfl coach and when your last name is champion and like but you guys really are really truly truly truly dynamic all jokes aside i i feel like even just yesterday getting to hang out with you guys i just felt like you know god's word is always on your lips and i just felt i just i literally went home and i prayed and i i just thought you know how like there's like there's certain people they they make you want to run closer to god and i i just like even like so it was funny because carolyn was like binge binge reading your book joe she hasn't been reading yours yet but i i just no seriously i i was just thinking about your books like your church has not even seen this book yet this is the first time this is like this isn't even on amazon right so if we wanted to make your church jealous if we got this book and then like taunted them with that work yeah okay yeah we're used to it sure no but i love i love your book i just think it's it's called woman up in your face man i'm like now it's okay if i read this right you'll learn something okay like i just like in the the other day my book though is called man down no like i i i picked it up and i started reading it and i actually was like man this is good and i thought is it okay if i'm caught in a coffee shop reading woman up 20 21. 21. no seriously i honestly uh you guys like it is really a treasure to have you here and i i cannot tell you how many times you resurrected the faith of carolyn and i and caused us just to kind of go that extra distance and you know even just like even these buildings that we have here were buildings that you guys prayed in for us in in some of our lowest seasons in church you have to understand the spiritual dna that is in our house has actually come from these guys as well and so wherever you're at west side downtown right here at north town would you guys stand to your feet and give joe champion a warm substance welcome thank you love you buddy thank you hey have a seat good morning everybody and of course i want to say to the campus that it's the closest to us monterey mexico just a few hours down the road in fact being here is feeling like at home because we're in austin our church is on i-35 we're on the same street just a few miles down the road and we just want to say what an honor and what a joy it is to be back at substance it's been a few years i was thinking when i drove onto the property here at this campus it was just a two-lane road that felt more like an outback road in somewhere of australia and then at the end of the road was a dumpster in this building and then now there's these grocery stores but more importantly there's a house of god that is a beacon to this city and to this region of the world and how many know you guys are not into dumpster fires you're into building the kingdom of god maybe your life is like a dumpster fire right now and that's good i'm glad you're watching in fact that's why i think god came was to get us all free but the reality is is to watch what god is doing at substance church and to watch what has happened through your pastors because it's happening through you your your influence is affecting the whole world that's what paul says in the book of romans he says what you're doing is literally changing the world and so lori and i we just counted the privilege to be in your world peter and carolyn and we're just grateful for your staff and for your church and i was just thinking about when it comes to the hosses you know they're they are some of the best leaders but they're some of the best leaders because they're some of the best people we know and and how many know the older you get i'm 57 years old my body is falling apart i've had four major surgeries in my eye in the last six months i normally don't wear glasses but i want to be as cool as peter and number two i wanted to see something and uh so all of a sudden i just start hitting these detached retinas it started to tear and they went in and they started doing all their laser treatments then it went into a full detachment then they had to go back in and do another massive surgery i just had another surgery three weeks ago where they did another buckle and they got an injected oil in my eye and i can't see anything out of this eye and so now i'm having to wear glasses but i'm realizing that's why peter wears glasses because it influences and causes greater influence and so all that to be said i can't see anything but with that the older you get you don't have time to do life with people who don't want to do the life of god and you really don't really have a whole lot of rolodex memory anymore i can't remember a whole lot of names the older i get but these names i remember peter and carolyn and lori and i we're just so grateful for them they're they're pure-hearted they're spiritually sensitive they're culturally aware how many know they are one creative couple they're scripturally solid because i do believe and we'll talk about in fact in that book we kind of address the importance of of not just having a comp a non-compromising life and confronting compromise but the more we leave biblical values and principles the more we begin to lose our way they are scripturally solid they're loyal friends they're global leaders but this is probably the one that's the most important they're local shepherds and pastors they bleed or they live for you their local church and how many are thankful for the local church especially in the days that we're living in so lori and i we've been married 31 years here's a quick picture of our family real quick this is our team the one to the far left that's jackson he's 21 he's in school in auburn living in auburn and also doing some bible college classes the girl next to me is my girlfriend of 31 years then next to me the boy on the other side to my right is connor he's a football coach he's 25 and living in lakeland florida he was at mississippi state he's best friends with dak prescott he and dak the quarterback for the cowboys they were at mississippi state together so connor will probably be somewhere at some point fast at some level coaching hopefully uh doing great and greater things he's a running back coach now at a small school there in fact southeastern in lakeland florida and then that's caroline that's our daughter-in-law thank god for lori she got her first help in the family and then our son mason so we have three boys and our daughter-in-law mason works on capitol hill how many know we need to see the next generation called to help influence the next generation of leaders in america and so mason works for a congressman out of west texas and they have been in d.c now for almost four years and so that's our team that's the champions and so we're um frankly we're grateful for our family i want to get right into the word and i'm excited about speaking what i believe will be a message that i i do believe that might forever mark you for the rest of your life just another little context i was not raised in church my father was as peter said my father was an nfl football coach nfl stands for not for long we were not for long anywhere in the world he was fired every two years he was best friends with bud grant i was thinking about the vikings and many of you would remember of course the previous generations remember bud grant my dad and bud were very close friends a lot of old viking players were friends of our family like joe cap way back in the day my dad was coaching for the bc lions and i was actually born in vancouver british columbia when he was coaching the canadian football league and then to st louis cardinals then back to canada then we moved to new orleans where the new orleans saint my dad was the coordinator and i understand the saints are playing the vikings today i mean the packers today and then we've got then we've got another trip we went from uh st louis from new orleans to st louis again with the cardinals then we went to new york with the new york jets and we went to atlanta with the atlanta falcons and then my dad retired from the green bay packers as the defensive line coach and so in all of those cities didn't go to church we were in football stadiums and then i had an encounter with christ january the 10th 1987 that forever marked my life and from that point on i knew i was not just called to be a christ follower but but i was called to ministry and that was january the 10th of 87th my wife was born and raised in church everyone is a pastor everyone is in ministry everybody serves god everybody has a bible nobody has cussed nobody has sinned nobody's done anything wrong and then god brought me into her life to cause her to cuss and to cause her to sin and to become real come on somebody how many know what i'm talking about now i saw real heathens and real sinners and real lost people she saw real christians and real pastors and real believers and one of the things that we've always prayed is that our life would be real and that that's what ultimately christ wants and this is what when he says he's the truth when he says i am the truth basically what he's saying is i'm reality i'm reality i'm not a reality i am the reality of why this is all here why this is all real everything comes back to him and so with that i just say because i wasn't raised in church i want you to know that and then i went and played football at lsu and then my life really went downhill from there and then lori and i we met as i was leaving lsu she was still in school and got married and been doing this for now 31 years all of our 31 years of marriage we've been preaching and and pastoring and and trying to help people discover who christ really is and so it's an honor again father i thank you for what you're doing in these in these campuses thank you lord for downtown thank you for west thank you lord for monterey and lord we just asked god that you would speak to all of us in a fresh real life-giving way god we give you the glory we give you the honor in jesus name and everybody said amen you know there are two ways to live life in fact i was listening to your message that your pastor was preaching last week on being encouraged and i think there is a connection but there's there's two ways to live life you can live life scared you can live life on the run you can live life fearful afraid if you will shaky always spooked always always uncertain and i think that we're seeing in our day and age especially the times that we're living in now where everything that we thought was certain is now uncertain that we have for the last almost two years if you will especially in the cove at times everything that can be shaken has been shaken in fact look at romans chapter eight the bible says we know that there is in paul would say this to the church at rome he says that the whole creation is groaning and suffering even right now it's in pain all of creation suffers all of this world has its issues even then and he goes and it's suffering the pains like childbirth come on ladies how many know there's just something that happens in childbirth not just a child but a lot of pain but not only this but also we ourselves we have and having the first fruits of the spirit even though we have the spirit of god we even ourselves are groaning within ourselves and there is this groan that is producing a cry that says god we want to be redeemed god we want an answer god we want a conclusion god we want an end to this this this pain this suffering that we're going through even in our world today god is there is there going to be a purpose is there going to be a plan out of this and as paul would talk about even in second corinthians he goes we don't want you to be unaware brethren of our affliction that we went through in asia we were burned excessively beyond our strength we even despaired even of life indeed we had the sentence it's like we had a sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves but in god who raises the dead who delivers us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us he on whom we have set our hope and yet he will we know will deliver us i'm saying all that to say that we're in a time in a season in which there is a lot of fear there's a lot of discouragement there is within all of us a question of the future so we can live our life number one are we going to live scared are we going to live fearful or are we going to live our life solid in the sense that we're we're not just living with our back to the corner but we're going to live bold and that's where i want to really kind of go today i want to deal with our are you living are you living with this fear or are you living with a forward mentality that says you know what i'm not going to live insecure i'm going to live secure i i think we know when it comes to the doctrines of god i think most of us and most of the believers right now that are listening to me are very aware of the doctrine of of escaping judgment the doctrine of getting away or getting from a bad place like hell but what they don't understand or where a lot of believers begin to fail is they don't understand the doctrine if you will of approaching god boldly in other words one is living to escape escape judgment escape death escape out of or get away from that which could be in the form of of hell an eternal life without god we've all heard the message hopefully you've heard the message that christ came to this world for this primary reason to save sinners that we were all separated from god we were we were without the life of god but god in his mercy god and his grace he acted we didn't act he acted where we were sinners and dead to sin he comes he moves in our life he moves into this world and he offers to us eternal life through his name and through what he did for us on the cross as a substitute for us and i think that most of you probably have heard that message wherever whatever campus you're part of in other words you don't have to go to hell you can have eternal life and of course no one wants to burn no one wants to be in a place of pain nobody wants to go to that kind of location in fact we would even discuss if it's such a real place how could there be a god like this that would create that place and all of that to go to this point that we don't want to go there so we we say jesus come into my life so i can escape or so that i can evade or so that i won't have to ever face that potential situation when i die but that's just half of what the grace of god does yes it does deliver us from death and judgment the grace of god does bring us out but the other side of grace is so that we are actually able to approach god and live boldly for god in his presence and this is what i want to get to you today that so many of you are only halfway in what god wants for you in other words don't just have an escape mentality and in fact even in the world that we're living in how many have said boy it would be great to just get out and just like i'm done i'm i'm fed up with attached retinas i'm fed up with whatever you might be fed up with whatever your situation is but you see you're missing half of the point of grace and the other side of this is that god did not bring us out to just leave us out he brought us out to bring us in he delivered israel the book of deuteronomy tells us he delivered israel he led them out he brought them out in order to bring them in to give us the land which he had sworn to the fathers deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 23 that god doesn't just deliver you just so that you can be free from judgment but he delivers you so that you can enjoy this freedom and in that freedom there is this life of joy there's this life that says i can live boldly in his presence i don't have to live insecurely and that's where i want to go today because i really do believe that even from the gospel that we read in matthew chapter 24 watch this jesus said i want to highlight this again he goes you're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not what that you're not frightened in other words there's going to be nation against nation there's going to be all sorts of political issues going on politically but as it relates to nations and fights and of course we're dealing with that now but don't be frightened watch what he says for these things have to take place everything that we're seeing in the world is going to take place but then he goes and yet here's the good news that's not the half of it yay it's not quite over yet in other words it's not time for you to escape it's not time for you to leave he says for nation's going to rise against nation kingdom against kingdom and there's going to be in various places famines and earthquakes or we could say it like this quarantines and all sorts of hurricanes but all in these things are just the beginning yay this is just the start of what is going to be a crazy ride and then it's going to come to your home as believers they're going to deliver you to tribulation and they will kill you and you'll be hated by all nations because you claim my name in other words you're going to be treated as people who don't belong here and frankly this world is not your home how many are thankful for that the reality is is that they we are ambassadors but he goes you're going to be hated because of my name and then he goes on to say and at that time many are going to fall away in that season nation against nations quarantines covid's diseases earthquakes hurricanes fires in the west poor football in the mid west he says then people are going to just deconstruct the church they're going to start falling away they're going to start figuring out in their own mind according to their own reasoning that god is not real and that god's not true and the bible is not real and and this word is not true and and that this is all just a it's just a game it's just a hoax it's just a it's just a way for people to get together on a weekend to have something to do to give preachers who couldn't get a job doing anything else a job many will start to fall away and then they will also go online and betray one another begin to cancel one another and hate one another and then he goes verse 11 and then there's going to come false prophets who who are going to arise and mislead people false prophets with a false gospel and he says and then lawlessness will increase because lawlessness will increase most people's love will start to grow cold in other words there's going to be very little compassion very little love very little grace but then the one who endures to the end will be what will be saved in other words the one who do endures to the end the one who the one who doesn't escape the one who is not checking out but the one who is willing to say i'm going to i'm going to remain encouraged i'm going to remain in connection i'm going to remain in my calling because in the midst of all of this and this is where i want you to see there's two kinds of people the there are those that are going to live with their backs against the wall full of fearfulness full of of trepidation and then there's going to be those that are going to be full of oldness because in the midst of all of this world matthew 24 in all of that he just delivers us he concludes this statement by saying verse 14 oh and the gospel of the kingdom this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come in other words in the midst of all of these problems and tribulations and issues and struggles there's going to be a kind of people who are going to say i was born for this and that i was born for such a time as this and that when these kind of things happen under my watch it's not a time for me to end my watch it's a time for me to step up and say god how can you use me to begin to bring hope to a nation or to a world that has lost its hope somebody and that's what substance is about that's what it means to be a part of something like substance something real something tangible something that is not a vapor it's it's something that lasts and that's what jesus is saying that in the midst of all of these changes in the midst of all of these issues in the midst of this whole world if you will collapsing there's a people not collapsing but there's a kingdom that endures there's a kingdom that is growing there's a life that begins to take place that begins to happen out of the life of those who have connected to god and those who are preaching and those who will carry the gospel are those who have truly experienced what it means to be born again you can understand the simple matter of what it means when jesus said you must be born again your first birth is that you were born in this world and as you were born in this world this world as we know from the garden encounter with god and what happened in that garden when man did what god told them not to do when man touched that tree and went to that tree which he was simply disobeying the word of god god was saying to adam you can have everything but in this tree is a trust some people have said if god would have not put that tree there then we wouldn't have lost everything no that tree is a type and a picture of trusting god's word and when god says that you shall not eat of the fruit of this tree every other tree is yours but not this one just trust me that's relationship how many know all relationships are built on trust but what did man do what is the nature of man what what did adam what did eve what did he know he did he when he touched that which god told him not to touch do that which he told him not to do now that first birth brought in death that first birth as a result of man touching that tree death entered in but now jesus said now that death has got to come out of you and now this second birth instead of being born into this world you're born into his world the kingdom of god that's what it means to be born again the first birth is that you're born into a life that won't last the second birth is that you were born into an everlasting life and that's who are those that are going to carry this gospel it's those who are going to carry forth his word carry forth it's good news this future now i want to say all that by way of introduction because it's important for us to understand that when paul wrote to the hebrews and the hebrew believers he was writing to believers who were once jews and of course or if you will they were primarily following god according to the jewish system the jewish tradition the jewish custom they understood the tabernacle they understood the temple they understood what it meant was to to go to god when god gave them the pattern of connecting to him in the tabernacle as they were coming out of egypt going to the promised land they would meet with god in that prescribed place in that prescribed way now in the old testament the hebrew mind they had with their approaching to god fear and trepidation in fact they said moses you talk to god or if you will the priest would only go and talk to god once a year and even then they would be afraid that the priest wouldn't come out alive that's why the tradition would say they would tie a rope to the priest in case he died in the presence of the holy of holies they would have to drag him out and do a funeral for him all that to be said is they didn't understand that they could approach god boldly all they knew was half of the message so that's the tradition of those who paul is writing to in the book of hebrews he's writing to these people that had a fear of god and rightfully so the wisdom of god the beginning of walking with god is to fear him it's to have a reverence for him but that's the beginning of it that's just the start of it yes it starts with god your god and i'm not you're king and i'm not you're lord and i'm not that's half of it the other side is that god wants relationship and that god wants friendship and that god does not want you to be at all at variance with him or at distance with him now with that being said the hebrews understood half of it i don't want to live or be under judgment i don't want to live under the egyptian rule god get us out of egypt but what happened to most of them most of them did not enter into the promised land most of them did not understand that god was not just delivering them from egypt he was delivering from them from egypt so that he could bring them into the promised land and to enjoy god and enjoy his presence and if you will not just just have this exit mentality but to have an enjoyment mentality so now those are the hebrews that he's writing to these guys understood they understood half of it they still had this old mindset so paul writing to the book of hebrews he is writing to these hebrew christians now notice what he says in hebrews chapter 10 he goes you have confidence therefore brethren since we have confidence we have confidence now because we can enter the holy place not because of the blood of bulls and animals and goats that wasn't prescribed in the old testament but now because of the blood of jesus and what christ did for us we can enter boldly and this is a new and living way versus the old and dead way we have the new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that veil we'll talk about in just a second that is his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of god let us draw near with what a sincere heart in full assurance having our hearts sprinkled for clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let's get into a connect group so we consider how to stimulate one another to love to good deeds and let's not forsake ourselves together as has become the habit of some but encourage one another and even the more as we see what the day of the lord as we see the end times wrapping up as we see what we're seeing in our world today we're going to need one another even more but he says brethren let us with confidence enter or with boldness let us go all the way into what god has given for us and what he has inaugurated for us when he went to that cross and on that cross gave his body gave his flesh as the lamb of god to do what the bible says to inaugurate or to open a way so when christ dies on the cross when he gives up his spirit what happens in the temple the bible tells us as he was in the temple or on that cross it says that from that cross he cries out with a loud voice gives up his spirit and then the veil in the temple was rent from what from top to bottom that was not so that you and i could go in it's so that god's heart can come out it's so that now god says i have inaugurate i've opened the door for you and now this is no longer living with the scared frightened insecure mentality it is now what he's saying to these hebrew believers guys you got the halfway understanding that god no longer has sentenced you to death you're forgiven of your sins but that's not enough that's not what the grace of god comes to do only the grace of god brings us into the enjoyment of life with him that our sins are forgiven and now watch this instead of it being about us it's about other people and to be about other people says now i can preach this good news that the same good news that i've received in the gospel that i'm forgiven through the blood of jesus i can carry this to the whole world as a testimony of god's love so let me show you in the book of luke chapter 17 how this practically manifests it says that jesus was on his way to jerusalem and he was passing between samaria and galilee and he entered a village and there were ten leprous men who were standing a distance because they had leprosy they had to stand so many feet away who were standing at a distance and it says they raised their voices saying jesus master have mercy on us cleanse us but more importantly help us escape help us to get out or to get away from this leprosy so it says he saw them and said go and show yourself to the priests in other words go to the temple and show yourself to the priests and it says as they were going they were cleansed that's a message in itself right there as they were going not all miracles happen at the altar not all miracles happen in one moment it happens along the way you're delivered along the way as you walk god as you walk with god as you walk out his word you wake up one day going hey the fingers i didn't have yesterday i got fingers now because that's what was happening these lepers had no fingers they had no nose they had they didn't have ears that's where the leprosy would begin to attack first and the outer extremities of the cartilage and so he says go show your way as they're walking their cleanse now watch this now one of them of the ten one of them when he saw that he had been healed turned back glorifying god with a loud voice and he fell on his face at his feet giving thanks to him oh and he was he was a samaritan which means he wasn't a jew he wouldn't have known the tabernacle or the temple or the priest he had no religious tradition in him all he knew was he didn't have fingers and now he's got fingers all he knew was that now as he was walking he was healed so he comes back and the samaritan says as he's at his defeat jesus responds were there not ten but the nine where are they was no one found who returned to give glory to god except this foreigner the stranger in other words this man that was not a part of the kingdom of of god because he was a part of the the way of israel the way of jewish understanding and he said to him stand up and go your faith has made you whole or well now having been questioned by the pharisees as to when the kingdom of god was coming he answered and said the kingdom is not coming with signs to be observed nor will they say look he is here or it is this for behold the kingdom of god is in your midst here's what i want you to see where are the nine the ten or the nine only one returned now watch this all escaped all were healed all were cleansed if you will all were delivered all experienced but only one came back and approached god see only one came back falling in and at his feet in other words that's a type in a picture of his flesh the flesh has no you can't glory in god's presence my flesh doesn't glory in god's presence he doesn't share his glory with anyone that's why when it says he fell to his feet he died to himself he let go of himself and approach god all that to be said are you in the nine which means the nine were those who were truly touched by god and truly now delivered from leprosy but what they did not have is what we find in this foreigner or this stranger or this man that had no concept of god until today he comes back and approaches the lord if you type in a picture it's a type and a picture of loving god and saying i'm not going to live wondering if i'm ever going to get this leprosy on me again is now i'm no longer living in fear and trepidation but i have now boldness god didn't just set me free from leprosy he set me free so i can enjoy everything that he has for me and when jesus said go and be whole go and be well go and make sure that you understand that all the life is before you it's no longer about your leprosy see a lot of us are always about our past pain or our past issues or our past problems or our past family that we had i got news for you we were all raised in dysfunctional families we're all jacked up look at the person next to you and tell them you are jacked you are messed in austin we say that what this man is showing us the one showed us that his life would not be framed or wrapped around his leprosy anymore he was delivered and he boldly that word boldness enter in with boldness to the holy of holies is the same word that they use for slaves that would say you're now free you're emancipated what paul is saying to the hebrew believers is something that we need to hear in this year to those that are believers of substance are you enjoying god or are you just exiting from wrath or from your sins or from your paths and into enjoy god means that you are expressing god even in a world that's lost its mind even in a world that we wonder what is going to happen next even in a world that we can all agree we've never seen it change as fast in fact somebody says boy how this country has changed in 10 years no not 10 years how about the last year how about 10 months and i will say the good news and here's the good news out of it all is that god wants you to know anything and everything of this world is going to fall apart but his world doesn't here's what he says and i think this as we close i want to give you just a few thoughts what we experience in this one man is what god wants us to all experience number one god calls us all to come to him come he's looking for you he says you got to come this is something that you take like he took and he began to apply it to his own life jesus said come to me all you are weary and heavy laden and i'm going to give you rest come and learn me study me walk with me i can remember sitting in a church like this saying if i ever get out of here alive i'll never come back maybe you're here for the first time or watching one of the campuses you've never been to a church like this i'm just telling you i understand you may be preaching 31 years later also because i heard a pastor say like i'm saying to you today all god says is come to me and watch what i'll do in your life he calls us clean he calls us all clean you're already clean john 15 3 you're already clean because of what christ did he cleansed you he forgave he offers to you forgiveness father forgive them but he calls you clean some of us are still battling with our past number three god calls us complete you're complete you're whole colossians tells us in him you have been made complete look at that and he is the head over every ruler and authority it's done it's finished we hear those phrases he completes me or she completes me no she can't and he can't complete you he can screw you up is what he can do but only in christ am i complete listen i'm not complete because my football team's complete or because my career is complete or my bank account is complete or solid or whole no i'm complete i am completely at rest because christ has entered into my world i have entered his he calls me clean he calls me complete and then of course he calls us to confess he calls us to confess what does that mean as we hold fast our confession our hope without wavering and doubting to the very end what you're doing is you're enacting or you're you're transacting this is this is why the bible says you can't be saved unless you confess him with your mouth and believe in your heart that christ was raised from the dead there's no salvation without your tongue that's where the transaction begins to take place it's not with the written policy it's not something that you write on a contract it's something that comes out of your heart through your mouth jesus you are my lord and my savior and then of course he doesn't just calls us clean and to come and we're not just complete he calls us companions companions and maybe the greatest of all that is this here's what we come down to he says i don't want you to just be saved i want you to be my family i don't want you to just be satisfied that you're no longer going to hell i don't want you to be satisfied that you're just you you're now going to church which you didn't used to do or that you now are in a connect group which is great and must i think to really find out what substance is all about to be in a small group in fact to find out what christianity is really all about is to be in a small group but even then what god is ultimately calling us to is friendship and companionship and for me more than anything else i would say that this has been my this has been my heart god if you're looking for a friend i want to be your friend i close with this one story from the book of luke the bible tells us there were this of course jesus coming through this another town approaching jericho there was a blind man sitting on the road begging and as he heard a crowd going by he said who is this and they said it's jesus of nazareth and he said jesus son of god have mercy on me another call another cry listen another confession have mercy on me meet me and the bible tells us those who were there told the man to be quiet but he kept on crying out all the more son of david have mercy jesus stopped and commanded that he'd be brought to him and when he came near he questioned him he said what do you want and he said lord i want to regain my sight jesus said receive your sight your faith has made you well and he immediately regained his sight and began to follow him glorifying god and all the people saw it listen there were thousands of people there that day but only one man approached god through his mouth jesus i want you jesus is passing by right now you can either take this moment for granted and you can say you know what it's just a service it's just another day it's just another sunday or you can say no i'm not going to take this service i'm not going to take this moment for granted jesus meet me and i don't want to live halfway i don't want to just come out of my sins i want to come into the enjoyment and the pleasure and the joy of your kingdom because one thing watch this the side of grace that forgives you of your sins is for you the sight of grace that gives you enjoyment and joy is for him and i will tell you the longer i live and especially now if my kids are growing and our three boys and our daughter-in-law the greatest joy i have in life on the natural if you will is being with my sons and my family in fact it's when they pick up the phone they answered the phone they kept glory or they called oh my god can i just tell you god says answer the phone today with every head bat and every eye closed at all of our campuses i want to start with the first group of people how many of you would say pastor joe or joe bob i don't care what you call me but if you're here today and you'd say i i am aware that i have been forgiven of my sins through jesus i acknowledge that he is the lamb of god that takes away the sin of the world and i have confessed christ as my lord and my savior i've asked him to come into my heart but i'm only living on the escape side not the approaching side there's some distance between between me and god and what i mean by that is that you're not living up to all that god has for you in that relationship in that intimacy if you're here today and you say i want to go to another level let me see your hand all over this place you want to move into a greater deeper understanding of who god is so many hands are up all over in fact i see it all over god bless you guys let me put your hand down second group of people you haven't even left your sin yet and god comes to you today and he says i came for you i'm walking right by you like he did in jericho and he says you can call out to me and i will call you to come i'm passing by how many of you would say pastor joe i know i'm not right with god i know that right now if i die i have a question mark over my eternity and i do not want to leave this place i do not want to leave this moment without asking jesus have mercy on me if that's you would you just slip up your hand and say pastor joe include me in that prayer that you're about to pray i i'm not sure about my eternal life yeah thank you so much i'm not i'm not sure if my sins are forgiven in fact i know i'm not forgiven i know i'm not a christ follower and today i'm coming after him if that's you would you just slip up your hand at all of our locations yeah hands are going up here and i'm sure all over to our campuses say this with me everybody together lord jesus i thank you for your goodness and your grace that calls me to you lord i will not go halfway with you i'm not just going to live to be forgiven of my sins and i'm not just going to thank you for giving me mercy but lord i want to live on the side that says i can be boldly in your presence lord open up my eyes open up my ears to who you are thank you for forgiving me cleansing me and being my companion my friend in jesus name and everybody said campus pastors why don't you come can we thank god for his goodness his mercy today

Channel: Substance Church

Views: 90

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: substance church, Peter Haas sermon, cool churches, transformation church, sermons by great preachers, sermons on faith, sermons on trusting God, pastor Michael todd, pastor Steven furtick, sermons 2020, sermons on anxiety, sermons on healing, healing meditation, healing scriptures, sermons on fear

Id: SJRaLKlaWnM

Length: 49min 13sec (2953 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021